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Take the 2-minute tour × When I used the exe file to install it it works on first start. Then when I restart it and boot from it, I get a purple screen then it flashes to the login screen what happend to the ubuntu logo? share\|improve this question add comment 1 Answer to put it simply, the graphic driver loads slower than the rest of the system. I fixed it with these directions. Get your precious Plymouth splash screen back I didn't not follow the directions from this particular website, I couldn't find the one I used but these are the correct direction. I have mine back and can now remove the "quiet splash" and see the boot messages if needed. Edit: while there is an detailed explanation of why you might want to check out, I and going to copy and paste the instructions below in case the link expires. Open a virtual terminal and type the following command: sudo gedit /etc/initramfs-tools/conf.d/splash This file may not exist, so you may be creating it from scratch now. Enter the following content on the file you opened on the previous step: Close and save the file. Now, run the following command to commit the change: sudo update-initramfs -u Reboot and enjoy your Plymouth splash screen. share\|improve this answer So i will need my gpu because mine isent working atm – winter4w Jun 13 '12 at 2:50 I'm not sure what you are asking here. The fix has nothing to do with which gpu you have. If you can get to the log in screen your gpu is working. The reason that you have no splash screen is that the new kernels load so fast that the DRIVERS load after the rest of the system. This fix will get the system to wait for the graphic driver to load, hence allowing you to see the boot screen or any boot messages if you Esc. the splash screen. The system will boot slightly slower with this fix but if you have a fairly new system you will not notice the difference. – TrailRider Jun 13 '12 at 21:39 Unless I misunderstood your initial question. after you installed you didn't see the boot screen but went to the log-in screen, you were able to log in and run Ubuntu correct?? If so then Ubuntu is installed and you can use this fix to get the boot screen to show again. – TrailRider Jun 13 '12 at 21:48 Yes i dont see the boot screen but I am able to go on the login screen i was just wondering if I can get the boot screen – winter4w Jun 14 '12 at 3:57 Then this should work for you. – TrailRider Jun 14 '12 at 22:48 add comment Your Answer
The first rule of Fruit Fly Fight Club: Flies can't talk about Fruit Fly Fight Club. Because they can't talk at all. At least not to humans. Researchers at Harvard Medical School took a break from studying lobster fighting and shifted their focus to fruit fly fights, and even mutant fruit fly fights. (Via The Annals of Improbable Research.) Fruit flies are strange creatures. Or perhaps it's that fruit fly researchers are strange creatures. One of my cousins was a fruit fly researcher. She took fruit fly testicles and squashed them and then studied them under a microscope, looking for... something... I forget. I think just finding the fruit fly testicles in the first place was accomplishment enough. Fruit fly researchers like to give their discoveries strange names. Typically, a gene is named after what results when you disable it. For example, a gene without which fruit flies die in two days is named Kenny, after the South Park character. My favorite: The gene without which fruit flies get drunk really easily is called cheap date. (That last page has several more funny gene names.) Yes, that's right. Fruit flies get drunk. There's a fruit fly drunk-o-meter, though I forget how it works. But one amusing aspect of fruit fly drunkenness is that just before they finally pass out, there's a big burst of activity. Strange gene naming has spread beyond the fruit fly world. There is a human gene named sonic hedgehog after the Sega video game character. (It's related to the fruit fly gene "hedgehog", so named because disabling it causes the fly to develop into a ball with spikes.)
Well the answer is easy ..... No!? Or is it..... This is really a two fold statement. We do not have a sequencer for NT 4.0. So basically you cannot sequence your application from NT 4.0 directly and put them straight into your Windows XP SoftGrid environment! So if that's the case, how do I get my application from NT 4.0 to Sequenced Virtual Application and then deployed? Well, I hate to say it but there is no easy route! The main thing to understand is getting a process behind you to bring your application up to a specific level and then sequenced on a supportable platform such as Windows XP. Application Compatability Application Migration Process from NT 4.0 (High Level) The above show this process around taking an old NT 4.0 application and passing it through the application compatibility toolkit. Now I am not saying this is the be all and end all but it certainly can be used as a good guide, or flow process you can leverage off! The Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT) enables software developers, independent software vendors (ISVs), and IT professionals who work in a corporate environment to determine, before rolling out within the organization, whether their applications are compatible with a new version of the Microsoft® Windows® operating system. ACT also enables such individuals to determine how an update to the new version will impact their applications. You can use the ACT features to: You can download it from here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=24DA89E9-B581-47B0-B45E-492DD6DA2971&displaylang=en Once your application is to a stable state you can look to run through the sequencing wizards as per normal and capture your application. The core benefit is that you are just trying to get this one suite of applications working! Not regression testing it against many others 1,2,4,8,16,32,64, etc etc application along side it. This can help save you and your business valuable time and stop massive amounts of pain with your upgrades from NT 4.0 to XP/Vista! We know that there are many companies still going through these migrations, and in my humble opinion I hope that this helps you migrate more dynamically from these older legacy platforms. (Good luck to the lads up North! You know who you are :-) )
IR Atmospheric Windows The Universe sends us light at all wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum. However, most of this light does not reach us at ground level here on Earth. Why? Because we have an atmosphere which blocks out many types of radiation while letting other types through. Fortunately for life on Earth, our atmosphere blocks out harmful, high energy radiation like X-rays, gamma rays and most of the ultraviolet rays. It also block out most infrared radiation, as well as very low energy radio waves. On the other hand, our atmosphere lets visible light, most radio waves, and small wavelength ranges of infrared light through, allowing astronomers to view the Universe at these wavelengths. Most of the infrared light coming to us from the Universe is absorbed by water vapor and carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere. Only in a few narrow wavelength ranges, can infrared light make it through (at least partially) to a ground based infrared telescope. The Earth's atmosphere causes another problem for infrared astronomers. The atmosphere itself radiates strongly in the infrared, often putting out more infrared light than the object in space being observed. This atmospheric infrared emission peaks at a wavelength of about 10 microns (micron is short for a micrometer or one millionth of a meter). So the best view of the infrared universe, from ground based telescopes, are at infrared wavelengths which can pass through the Earth's atmosphere and at which the atmosphere is dim in the infrared. Ground based infrared observatories are usually placed near the summit of high, dry mountains to get above as much of the atmosphere as possible. Even so, most infrared wavelengths are completely absorbed by the atmosphere and never make it to the ground. From the table below, you can see that only a few of the infrared "windows" have both high sky transparency and low sky emission. These infrared windows are mainly at infrared wavelengths below 4 microns. Infrared Windows in the Atmosphere Sky Transparency Sky Brightness 1.1 - 1.4 microns low at night 1.5 - 1.8 microns very low 2.0 - 2.4 microns very low 3.0 - 4.0 microns 3.0 - 3.5 microns: fair 3.5 - 4.0 microns: high 4.6 - 5.0 microns 7.5 - 14.5 microns 8 - 9 microns and 10 -12 microns: fair others: low very high 17 - 40 microns 17 - 25 microns: Q 28 - 40 microns: Z very low very high 330 - 370 microns very low Basically, everything we have learned about the Universe comes from studying the light or electromagnetic radiation emitted by objects in space. To get a complete picture of the Universe, we need to see it in all of its light, at all wavelengths. This is why it is so important to send observatories into space, to get above our atmosphere which prevents so much of this valuable information from reaching us. Since most infrared light is blocked by our atmosphere, infrared astronomers have placed instruments onboard, rockets, balloons, aircraft and space telescopes to view regions of the infrared which are not detectable from the ground. As a result, amazing discoveries about our Universe have been made and hundreds of thousands of new astronomical sources have been detected for the first time. Due to the rapid development of better infrared detectors and the ability to place telescopes in space, the future is extremely bright for infrared astronomy. Ground based infrared observatories, using advanced techniques such as Adaptive Optics are providing fascinating views of the infrared Universe viewed through our atmosphere's infrared windows. Mauna Kea Observatories Although these observatories cannot view at other infrared wavelengths, they can observe the near-infrared sky almost anytime the weather permits, providing valuable long term studies of objects in space. New missions are being planned to get above the atmosphere to observe the infrared Universe with better resolution than ever before. SOFIA, an airborne observatory, is schedule to start operations in 2004. The Spitzer Space Telescope, launched in August 2003, is NASA's next great observatory in space. In the next decade, you will probably hear much news about discoveries being made in infrared astronomy, as we now can see beyond our atmosphere's infrared windows! Infrared Astronomy HOME PAGE \| Discovery of Infrared \| What is Infrared? \| Infrared Astronomy Overview \| Atmospheric Windows \| Near, Mid & Far Infrared \| The Infrared Universe \| Spectroscopy \| Timeline \| Background \| Future Missions \| News & Discoveries \| Images & Videos \| Activities \| Infrared Links \| Educational Links \| Getting into Astronomy
How To Read Someone's MindS Impress your friends and terrify your enemies, by pretending to read anyone's mind. It's not as hard as it looks — there are some well-worn tricks that can make you appear telepathic. Screw magicians and their lame fire tricks — we're way more impressed with someone who can guess your favorite movie just by staring into your eyes. We spoke with Las Vegas' resident Mentalist Gerry McCambridge and he broke down the basic steps to wowing people with your powers of telepathy. McCambridge, who has spent the last 7 years at The Planet Hollywood reading throngs of tourists, doesn't just pull information from your brain — he'll also tell you exactly how he got there as well. So we asked him to break down his methods step by step. Select the right subject. You can't just grab any old victim for a good mind sucking off the street. Rather, you should select your prey delicately. McCambridge elaborates: "Some people want to be the center of attention. So, if I'm asking for people to come up on stage a lot of times it's those type of people. And they tend not to be the best assistants because they want to have their 15 minutes of fame at my expense. So I'm looking for people who may not come up on stage at the drop of a hat, but aren't [so] overly shy that they're going to stay in the audience. The first thing I'm looking for is somebody who is smiling and laughing at the jokes that I'm putting out there. There you have someone who wants to interact. Then you have the over-responders and that's someone I don't want necessarily right away. That's what you look for first, the type person." Mirror the subject (make them comfortable). Once you've snared your subject, woo them into a sense of security, by mimicking their ways. "Make sure you try something that they are comfortable with. Do you have any artistic abilities? Then you can do something where you using drawing. You feel them out based on what you're going to ask them to do. Then you use an NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) technique called mirroring. Where you get them comfortable with you by mirroring the way that they're responding to you. People can pick up on that and they feel more relaxed around someone they feel is close to them. If they're a shy person and you're loud and obnoxious, they're not going to feel comfortable standing next to you. If they are a little shy and you back off and act a little timid yourself, introduce yourself nicely, it puts everybody at ease." Know the statistics. Know your stuff. In order to become and excellent Mind Reader, you need to up on the latest trends and tendencies of the mind. McCambridge has spent years documenting his shows, taking notes of the different ages of people in the audience, the cars parked in the parking lots, what kind of event it was. And he makes good use of all this statistical data. "I know statistically how people are going to respond to certain situations. When I offer you a choice of 4 different objects I know 92% of the time you're going to choose the third one on your own. When you tell someone to think of a number between 1 and 10, statisically they are going to gravitate towards 7. If you ask someone to respond to a question very quickly, that changes the response. If I asked you to think of a color very quickly 1, 2, 3 — red is the statistical first choice. Blue is the second choice. If you ask for a color quickly, people go for red. If you ask for a color and you give someone a three or four second space, they will go for blue, because they will change their mind thinking red is the obvious choice." Look for signs. But you've got to be aware of basic responses! "Look for reactions. For example [something I might try] is instruct the person to respond to what I say with the word no. No matter what I say, you respond with no. Then I'll say think of a number between 1 to 10, and I ask is it the number 1? No. The number 2? No. We go through the entire thing with No and I tell them that it's the number 6 because of the fact that they looked at me different when they were actually lying to me. They couldn't make eye contact [or something similar to that]." Utilize the body. Learn the art of muscle reading. "Without the people realizing it, I'm touching them in a very relaxed way that they don't realize what I'm doing. Based on the questions that I'm asking them, I can tell what the answers are by feeling the difference in their muscles. You body echoes what your brain thinks. And I've learned how to pick up on the echoes. An example is I tell the person to think of a letter in the alphabet, and then the audience sing the Alphabet Song. By the time their finished I can tell what letter they have because the second the audience said their letter, their brain thinks to itself "that's it!" That changes the physiological response in your body and I can pick that up, it's different than the other 25 letters." Don't be afraid to admit failure. If you fall flat on your face, pick up and try again. The audience will love you even more for it. "[If the trick doesn't work] I usually try it a second time. If it's an important part of the show I may send the person back to their seat and say, 'OK let's try something else.' There is no sure-fire way, things go wrong, it actually adds more credibility to the show when the audience sees that sometimes it fails. What a mentalist does, it doesn't always work, and that's OK. " The easiest trick in the book. We'll tell you the name of the trick after you do it, because it spoils the reveal! • Pick a number between 1 and 10. • Multiply it by 9. • If it's a 2 digit number, add them together. • Now subtract 5. • Map the result to a letter of the alphabet, where A=1, B=2 and so on. • Think of a country which begins with that letter. • Take the second letter of the country and think of an animal which begins with that letter. • Think of the color of that animal. • Are you thinking of a grey elephant from Denmark? Obviously this is titled the Grey Elephant from Denmark. We tried this on 3 people in the office and, one out of three guessed Grey Elephant. Our suggestion, do it in big group and the odds will be in your favor. Here's a clip of Gerry in action. Check him out over at his Mentalist website or live at the Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas. Top image via Notre Cinema.
Where Do You Buy Your Video Games?S The daily Speak-Up on Kotaku doesn't have to be an essay. Sometimes all it takes is a simple question. Commenter Rueli is fed up with GameStop, and wants to know where everyone else goes for their retail gaming fix. Gamestop finally broke the last straw. I've dealt with their crap for too long and now turn a new leaf... So now the question: Where do you guys suggest I buy my games? Amazon?
Forgot your password? Submitted by PolygamousRanchKid Link to Original Source Comment: Re:narfled the garthok - I'm not dead yet (Score 1) 405 by nixish (#41601891) Attached to: If I was to be killed by science-fiction villains, I'd rather: The question "If I was to be killed by science-fiction villains, I'd rather:" kind of assumes you're going to die. I'd rather re-word it, I would prefer: "If a science-fiction villain were to attempt to kill me I'd rather:" You cannot deny your mortality. Get in in your head, buddy. We are just dust in the wind, in the end. If you accept that, firstly, you face the truth and not hide from it as can be inferred from the wording in this post. (pardon, if this is not correct but do not change your perception and tell me I was wrong after you have changed your perception. That's just mean.) Secondly, you can channel your thoughts, actions and your life accordingly. You actually become more powerful, with truth by your side. Lo and behold, truth is liberating. Comment: two months ago (Score 1) 250 by nixish (#40731709) Attached to: I most recently switched ISPs ... And that was because I moved. From AT&T Elite DSL, I now have Business Comcast Cable internet (one of my housemates works at home and her work pays for most of the internet bill :) ). It's a bit of an upgrade but on a couple of occasions (once a month in the last two months), it has slowed down to a crawl for several hours notceably. I hope it's not a chronic problem. Comment: Green Tea with Intermittent Fasting (Score 1) 209 by nixish (#39849525) Attached to: What Is Your Beverage of Choice In the Morning? I tend to fast about 16 hours a day. That's counting about 7 hours of sleep plus nine hours in the morning and day. I do this for some health benefits and weight control (managing to lose about 20 pounds in a month and a half was a bonus). Now I am working on my six-pack abs and fitness. Anyway, my point is, because of this Intermittent fasting, I have switched to Green Tea in the morning and perhaps a coffee in the after noon. I love the concentration boosts due to these beverages. Comment: Can't happen without some basic house cleaning (Score 1) 438 by nixish (#38112002) Attached to: Human Survival Depends On Space Exploration, Says Hawking Interestingly, did the ambition of a robust space dream for the US die when the US had no real competition from the Russians or anyone else in the world? It looks like the US accumulated all the technical know-how (probably in some super secret programs) while never really unleashing its full potential. What a shame. Obviously, it's not clear if even with all the technical knowledge, how viable colonizing other terrains is. But having all that technical knowledge gives humans an edge without doubt. And to make a U-turn in my comment, it all goes back to basic human distrust. If the countries could actually agree and work on this together, there would be proliferation of knowledge and a better chance at space colonization. That's not happening any time soon. Space colonization is an issue that probably cannot happen with some basic human unity and cooperation between the countries. Comment: Interview (Score 1) 469 by nixish (#34428662) Attached to: WikiLeaks Should... After reading these interviews on Forbes and Timeand reading up on wikileaks, I came to the uncomfortable conclusion that Assange is doing what he has stood for and has spoken of. He has been very consistent in his actions and his views are visionary. When I read some of the stuff he has said, he comes off as a cynic. However, his underlying motivations are anything but cynical. He truly believes that putting this data out into the world will prevent/has prevented wars(Iran-US war) and that things will progress in the positive direction. I, while more than a decade younger than Assange, have become a bit jaded in my world view unlike Assange. Perhaps he is a cynical optimist,as illogical and paradoxical that sounds. Loose bits sink chips.
View Single Post Career Officer Join Date: Jun 2012 Posts: 1,263 Because def/acc/crit is poorly balanced and allocated to begin with. And so they should go bye bye! Poof! Gone! We don't even need to consider how nonsensical it is that the enemy using crippling fire to destroy your ship is somehow invisible! Placate on landing a Crit. Why is this garbage? Well it's garbage because it favors ships that do two things well. Hit, and crit! If you have a ship that can do those things often, you're in! It is particularly useful against targets that are easy to hit and crit! It is not very useful against targets that are hard to hit and crit. Poopy! Placate on being hit. Why is this garbage? Well its garbage because it indiscriminately activates regardless of the source of the damage. Sci abilities were never balanced on having to 'hit' the target. Not that many tac abilites are, but lets not visit that just yet. So you have a long duration low damage but very useful hold being broken due to this. Because it happens to pulse a small bit of damage. Or your turret plink plink plink set off the placate. It just doesn't make sense. On the one hand, this is VERY nice for those larger type of ships. They could use some sort of avoidance. NOT a great way to put it in the game though. Giving this to small fast wittle ships is almost criminal. Yah. Cause they NEEDED more defense, they were running out. I'd like to say, that if this placate could be tweaked to only proc off of incoming energy weapons damage it would be better. And then if we could limit it to cruisers and sci's..... but I digress. It is similar to defense in that it ignores facets of the incoming damage. If any damage can cause a placate...well....ok. But not all damage was required to hit before....sooo. Jam sensors, ams, ss, are boff abilites or console. Yah I know we all love ams. Still they are a little bit higher on the cost scale, and they have a bit of a CD and an immunity that sorta works. And yes, as has been pointed out, only firing once to kill someone works, but I don't see that becoming a universally adopted strategy. Cheers happy flying!! Last edited by thissler; 01-22-2013 at 06:47 AM.
Topics: Barack Obama John Boehner calls on Obama to 'make the case' to Congress, public for Syrian strike By \| Congress,Susan Ferrechio,Barack Obama,John Boehner,Syria House Speaker John Boehner on Wednesday wrote to President Obama calling on him to “personally make the case to the American people and Congress” for why the United States should engage intervene militarily in Syria after its government used chemical weapons on its own citizens. Obama has not announced how he intends to intervene after chemical weapons were used to kill and injure thousands of Syrians, but a military strike of some kind appears imminent. Dozens of members of Congress, meanwhile, are demanding that any military action be approved by lawmakers first and are circulating a letter with a growing number of signatures that calls on Obama to seek congressional authorization before he acts. Boehner, R-Ohio, is not making the same demand, but his letter calls for more in-depth consultation with Congress and asks for answers to a comprehensive list of questions about the potential upcoming military strikes, including how Obama justifies military action without first seeking constitutionally mandated congressional authorization. Boehner’s letter poses 14 questions to Obama, including why the use of force is needed and how Obama would respond if the Syrian government retaliated with an attack on U.S. allies in the region. Boehner also asked, “What is the intended effect of the potential military strikes?” Boehner signaled in the letter that the Obama administration has not conferred thoroughly with Congress over the matter, despite Obama aides making calls to the top lawmakers on committees that oversee the military. Boehner also received a brief call from an Obama administration official. “While the outreach has been appreciated, it … has, to date, not reached the level of substantive consultation,” Boehner wrote. View article comments Leave a comment
This Weekend Steve Martin Also Apologized For A Racist Tweet This weekend, the world was out to get Justine Sacco fired for her ignorant tweet and failed to notice what Steve Martin was up to. Martin was having some fun on his Twitter page, discussing the merits of grammar. Fans of his would ask him questions about wording and he'd fire back a funny comment until one particular comment struck people the wrong way. @BethanyWedel wrote: "Is this how you spell lasonia?" And Martin wrote back... Moments later, unlike Sacco, Steve Martin had the wherewithal to delete the comment but it was too late. People started calling Martin out for his remark, which honestly I don't even understand. Is he making a joke about how an African American would say lasagna? Or is he commenting about how they wouldn't know how to spell it if it were written in a menu. I have no idea. After many of his fans started calling him out, he wrote: Many of you like to compare Justine Sacco to the scenario of "What if Chris Rock or Sarah Silverman said that!". Well here is a similar scenario presented to you from the same exact weekend starring Steve Martin, an extremely accomplished comedian. And yes, he too had to apologize. Unfortunately for Sacco, she's not a comedian for hire, and her bosses had the right to remove her for her grossly inappropriate comment. In 2004 Gilbert Gottfried made comments about the Tsnumi victims while hired to be the recurring voice of the Aflac duck. He tweeted 12 jokes, one of which was "Japan called me. They said "maybe those jokes are a hit in the US, but over here, they're all sinking." He was then fired from his job. That's right. A comedian was fired...from his job. But the question is was Steve Martin's tweet harsh enough in your eyes to warrant an apology or should he just quit spending so much time on Twitter and write a sequel to The Jerk already. (I love this movie) - Todd Spence (twitter) Um_ok User Just to see, I asked my black friend to repeat Steve Martin's words and I play the part of the stupid person and everyone around us laughed. Then I switched it up and I said it to my black friend around a new group of people and suddenly I was told that was rude and insensitive. Sorry people but the day you all play stupid and start seeing that black neighborhoods tend to have lower IQ levels and the inhabitants have a lesser grasp of the english language then other areas. This isn't me being racist, its simple fact. Go ahead and "axe" somebody. Ebonics came about through laziness just like the Southern Drawl has existed...but we just called it dumb rednecks. Steve made a factual comment that italians would likely know how to spell a dish they have been served all their lives and black families might not. Don't like it? easy, every time you hear another black person speak with terrible english, correct them and tell them they perpetuate a bad stereotype and should learn to use proper english to set better examples for their community. Or, just live with the fact that so many black neighborhoods are just lower on the IQ scale and will never learn...just like so many other poor ethnicities have equally low IQs. Honestly, race makes no difference because we could be speaking about poor white, mexican, or any race for that matter and they all tend to se english as a second language with their primary being their own version of slang.Â Trey-Evitt-16 User I think we're overly sensitive. I am white-as my Saxon Sutton Hoo helmet avatar might be a clue-and from South Carolina. I have joked about pronunciation of certain words with black friends since....ever. "Ask/Axe" being the most common. Where I'm from, near the Geechee/Gullah regions, the "Str" consonant blend is pronounced "scr", so, "Straight" is pronouncedÂ "Scraight". I once said, "Depending on your neighborhood, 'indiscreet' is either an adjective or a preposition"and friends both black and white cracked up. And...get this. We were in jail. Yes it was low-security, classified among minor misdemeanor offenders from traffic violations to small amounts of marijuana, but if you've been locked up, you know jail is no place for a whiteboy to be perceived as "racist", even among non-violent offenders. The real quandary is, "Is my intelligence being questioned, or are we joking around about colloquialisms and pronunciation".Â "1bigfatcat" 's point is well-taken, that, on a serious level, anti-white hate/discrimination goes challenged for the most part; it is rare for an act of black-on-white violence to be classified as a "hate crime". And it awakens my "inner skinhead" that neither Nelson Mandela's memorial services, nor First Lady Obama's previous trip to South Africa, afforded a dialog about white victims the Boer Genocide.Â Black comedians seem to get more leeway;Â "Gynecologist" is correct Cris Rock would never feel the need to apologize for the same remark Steve Martin made.Â Any idiot thinking Steve Martin is racist would have to read this tweet, Google his image and see him with "a banjo on his knee"Â His agnostic free-thought, his description of himself as "born a poor black child" in "The Jerk", and his beginnings as a Second-City/SNL comic in the subversive counterculture of the 60s and 70s should speak volumes. Racist atheists are few and far between. joedoaks User Oookay.... I'd only give that a 3.Â That's for both comedy and racism.Â You everÂ READ how horrifically some supposedly educated people can spell nowadays? TacoLoco User that was probably the funniest thing steve martin has said in 20 years, i guess only black people can make race based jokes in america LMNT115 User I don't get it....why is it a black comedian can stand on stage and tear into ' Whitey ' and everyone laughs...but a white comedian throws down something like what Steve Martin's unacceptable ? Xzelick User Todd Spence thinks that Japanese Tsunami happened in 2004, what an idiot. Â Gilbert Gottfried was fired after the Tohoku earthquake/tsunami in 2011! Would have been funny if Chris Rock said it. BigBlueMouse User " he commenting about how they wouldn't know how to spell it if it were written in a menu.Â I have no idea." That's not surprising, since you've used the word "reocurring", which doesn't even exist. It's an obvious joke, dummy. Lasonia sounds like a black woman's name. 1bigfatcat User I'm a white male and therefore it's legal to hate on me and discriminate against me. Every day, people treat me with prejudice because I am a white male.Â Â How about this:Â Instead of taking offence, take "tolerance!" Comedy is comedy.....unless you don't like it, then it's "racist." Either black, islamic, Japanese, american, etc., comedians ALL tell jokes on each other, or NO one tells jokes on each other. Be fair, and tolerant! Matt-Kim-806 User it's not a double standard you just think the cases are the same because you're stupid Needles_Malloy User @1bigfatcatÂ Since you admitted you are white, you are hereby immediately (at birth) guilty of white privilege. Every word you have ever spoken, is literally, the most racist statement uttered since a Hitler speech. The only way to assuage your much-deserved guilt is to vote for Obama, twice, and then tell all of your other white-guilted Obamadrone friends that you have begun step 1 of your 123,698 step journey to make amends to the blacks.Â
Decomposition Rates of Biodegradable Materials based on 11 ratings Author: Sarah Benton Although we cannot help but create some trash living in modern society, we do have some choice in what we purchase and how we dispose of this trash. In most areas, at least some sort of recycling is available. Biodegradable waste such as vegetable and fruit skins, peels, and some food scraps can be composted. There are many benefits to composting: it's a great way to keep excess waste from heading to the landfill and perpetuating nutrient cycling. Once organic waste has decomposed, the compost can be used to add nutrients to gardens, flower beds and house plants. When we can’t recycle or reuse items, they ultimately end up in a landfill. One of the main concerns of landfill use is keeping groundwater supplies clean. When it rains, water leaches through the layers of garbage, picking up toxins. These toxins include heavy metals and harmful chemicals that, unless collected or blocked from reaching the groundwater, can have negative effects on the drinking water supply. This runoff from the landfill is called leachate. Another cause for concern in landfill use is the build up of methane gas. Methane gas can be explosive when it accumulates. In order to limit what goes into our landfills it is important for students to learn how a composting system works and how a landfill works. How can one show the decomposition rates of biodegradable materials? • 2 2-liter soda bottles • Spray bottle • 1 apple • Black trash bag • Twist-tie • 2 coffee filters • Rubber gloves • Knife • Scissors • Soil (from the ground, garden or compost, not potting soil) • Leaves/grass clippings • Gravel • Cardboard, paper, plastic from recycling bin • Camera (optional) 1. You will begin by building your compost model. You will need the 2-liter bottle and the knife or scissors to start. 2. Cut the top half off of the bottle and invert inside the bottom half. See figure 1. 3. Take one coffee filter and cut about an inch off the perimeter of the filter. 4. Place the filter down in the neck of the bottle so that it will filter any liquids that might come out of your model. 5. Repeat steps 2-3 to build the outside of your landfill model. 6. Cut the apple in half. You will use one half in the compost model, and one half in the landfill model. Measure the apple and write down observations of how it looks. You may wish to photograph it at this time. 7. Pour an equal amount of gravel into both models to make a shallow first layer. 8. Pour an equal amount of soil into both models to make a bigger second layer. 9. Add leaves and grass clippings into the compost model. 10. Put the ½ apple into the compost model. You might want to place it somewhere where you will be able to see it from the outside of the bottle. 11. Layer cut up pieces of paper, plastic, etc. from the recycling bin in the landfill model. 12. Cut the corner off of the black trash bag to make a mini trash bag. Put the second half of the apple inside the bag and close with a twist-tie. 13. Put the mini trash bag into the landfill model. Layer soil on top of the layer of “trash”. 14. Fill the spray bottle with water and give each model the same number of sprays of water. 15. Put both models on a windowsill where they will get equal light. 16. Throughout the month, observe the models on a regular basis. Do not move the models or take anything out of them. You should spray them with water on a regular basis. Keep track of your observations and watering schedule in a science notebook. You may want to organize it like the table below. (Table 1) 17. Optional) You may wish to take a photo of each of your models on a regular basis. You can use the pictures to illustrate the changes in your project. 18. When your models have been decomposing for one month, take them apart. Find the apple in each. Carefully write down what the apple looks like. Measure the apple. If you have been taking photographs you will want to take a picture of each apple. 19. Also look at any liquid that has come out of the landfill or compost. This is the leachate. Write down some observations of the leachate (you could also take a picture). Does it look clean or dirty? Does it smell? 20. Compare the two models. What was realistic or not realistic about your models? Which is a better method for decomposing the apple? Why do you think this is important? Figure 1 Table 1 Compost Model Landfill Model Watering Schedule # of Sprays Compost Model Landfill Model Add your own comment
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent Review Whose side is he on? Version tested: PlayStation 3 Not every game looks amazingly realistic. Not every game has fancy menus. Not every game has the official licence, name or tits. Not every game has Mark Hamill doing voice acting. Alright, every game does have Mark Hamill doing voice acting, but not every game has Mark Hamill doing voice acting on a Tuesday. What we can rely on though - what holds the world to order - is the understanding that if someone shoots Mark Hamill, or indeed anyone, to death, they will fall down on cue. So it'd be pretty rubbish if you heard gunshots after somebody had fallen over, and indeed it is pretty rubbish when this happens in Splinter Cell: Double Agent on the PlayStation 3. It happens on level one, when your little agency cohort gets a bit ahead of himself and finds himself captured by Islamic extremists. It's a pitiful sight (and, eventually, sound), and it's symptomatic of a port that's at best loveless and sometimes rather hateful - something made all the more annoying given how brilliant Double Agent was on the Xbox 360. Splinter Cell has always built tension effectively, but Double Agent took things further, putting you in the hands of opposing masters; your ultimate goal was to infiltrate and undermine a terrorist organisation, but to do that you'd have to appease them while you kept your NSA bosses happy, by snipping wires and drawing on terrorist faces while they slept. All sorts of things affected the trust your superiors had for you, and some decisions were genuinely troubling: told to kill a helicopter pilot, would you pull the trigger in his face, knowing that he's dead anyway, or risk pissing off your terrorist boss by refusing? With multiple objectives competing for your time and competing with one another, staying undercover was just as important as finding cover had ever been. Some of the best missions take place at the terrorist HQ, but you get to tour the world too. Double Agent on PS3 is ostensibly the same game - with the same training levels, the same single-player campaign, the same nonsense story you probably won't care about, and a couple of new multiplayer levels that will be released on Xbox 360 before long anyway - but in making the transition to Sony's new console, something's gone wrong. Things are rubbish even before you start, as once-smooth load-screen cinematics shudder and crackle distractingly. In-game, your first task is to infiltrate a geothermal plant in Iceland: on Xbox 360, there's barely a frame missing; on PS3, the frame rate's dipping below the surface of acceptability before you've even climbed out of the water. Were this because the game was trying for 1080p it might be understandable, but Double Agent runs in the same 720p resolution on both consoles. Glitches, like the aforementioned gunshot mentalism, do little to convince you of the game's composure. Fortunately, it's a problem that seems to lessen once the game gets going, and the rest of the package is much the same as it is on Xbox 360. The campaign mode is an agreeable selection of levels that involve all the requisite sneaking around, and trying to avoid discovery by keeping an eye on guards, grabbing them by the neck and dropping silently onto their heads when the need takes you, and everything you need is at your disposal. And now you can be a girl visually, as well as sounding like one. The controls are much as they were, allowing you to manoeuvre Sam Fisher around with the left stick and rotate the camera with the right, while shoulder and face buttons swap between inventory items and perform stealthy take-downs. The main change is that you're given the option to pick locks using the Sixaxis' tilt sensor. Instead of rotating the analogue stick until you feel a buzz, you now tilt the controller left and right until the tumblers in the lock start to jiggle visibly. If you're not taken with this, you can switch it off and simply rotate and watch for movement, but there's nothing massively wrong with the new system, even if it is a bit throwaway. Turning in the direction of the Internet (hello), Double Agent distinguishes itself with a pair of new multiplayer maps and a new skin - the female spy. The latter is what it is (a character model with ladybumps), while the former are more likely to appeal to people who've already played the initial missions extensively, and so may be welcome, but will no doubt attract more interest when they arrive on Xbox Live along with the girlie spy. Otherwise, the multiplayer side of the game is set up in much the same way. The menus are laid out slightly differently, but you can still set up squads, look at global leaderboards for challenges and versus levels, and view your friends list. And that means you get the same excellent, balanced game of cat-and-mouse, as mercenaries try and stop the nimble spies reaching and hacking their data, with the same system of bonuses, unlockables and upgrades to add further incentive to return, which you will, time and again. There are six more expert co-op challenges here, too. It was a lousy job, but balancing a lamp on his back was all that Sam could do with that haircut. Overall, if you've got the option to choose between the two, the Xbox 360 version is definitely preferable. What more the PS3 has will be added via downloads, and in technical terms there's no debate. Taken alone though, Double Agent on the PS3 is still a fine game, and its clunkiness is excusable when taken in the context of its achievements, dragging fans out of their comfort zone in commendable fashion, and arguably providing enough content between its separate single- and multiplayer components that each could stand alone. It's not the easiest game for newcomers to approach (the tutorial's dreadful), but even stealth virgins will see the light after an hour or so in the dark, and probably ought to add another mark to the score. Make ours a double. 8 / 10 Read the scoring policy Comments (138)
KFFL Exclusive Interview: Brandon Burton, CB, Utah by Cory J. Bonini on February 18, 2011 @ 12:37:02 PDT KFFL.com draft analyst Cory J. Bonini recently conducted the following interview with Utah Utes cornerback and 2011 NFL Draft prospect Brandon Burton. 1) Discuss your process of deciding to declare for the draft as a junior. Uhm, my decision process ... I just sat down with my family, friends and coaches, and uhm, just evaluated, ah, you know, my draft status and got my feedback from the NFL. Sat down, like I said, with a couple other people and just decided to go ahead and make the move, the next step to the NFL draft. 2) Have you reached out to any NFL players about the draft process? If so, what advice were you given? Uhm, yeah, the advice I was given was, just, I made the decision regarding coming out, uhm, so just put everything I have into it. You know, if I can do that, everything will go fine and I couldn't fail at anything I wanted to accomplish. 3) Do you plan on participating in all of the drills at the Scouting Combine? Ah, I do. 4) What is your favorite memory at Utah? Brandon Burton, draft prospect Uhm, favorite memory at Utah ... I'm gonna have to say, just, ah, hanging out with teammates. You know, memories like team dinners, barbeques, interacting with the community, are probably the most memorable times. 5) How much pride do you take in your special teams play? I take <inaudible> pride in my special teams play. You know, to me, it's just as important as my defensive plays. Uhm, so, I'm always loving to go down and make the play on special teams. I feel that special teams <inaudible> can break the game, so I kinda, kinda play like it. 6) What aspect of your game do you feel like you need to improve the most? You know, if I had to choose something, I'd say my eyes. Uhm, you know, I think a lot of defensive backs sometimes get caught looking in the backfield when they're not supposed to. So, I have to say just improvement on my eyes. 7) Compare yourself to a past or current NFL player: Who would it be and why? I wouldn't say a certain player, but if it was a certain player I'd like to be compared to, uhm, ah, does it have to be a corner? No, it can be anybody. I'd like to be compared to, uhm, I'd say, Jerry Rice. You know, he was the ultimate professional about everything on and off the field, so I'd have to say I'd like to be compared to him. 8) Coming from a family with the academic credentials of yours, how important is it to you to finish your Economics degree at Utah? I came out early and I am very close to finishing my degree, and it was very important in my household, I mean, education, academics comes first. My mom is a doctor, my dad is a chemical engineer, so you know they preached to me every day about getting an education, so getting my Economics degree is very important to me. 9) How do you relieve stress and spend your free time? I try to do regular stuff. I sit down and watch movies, go out and see movies. I might go to dinner with some friends. Nothing too exciting <laughs>. I just try to do everything I can when I have time, so just really do something to sit down and relax cause I've been on my feet all day doing drills or something, so something that relaxes me, relaxes my mind. 10) Do you play fantasy football? I'm very familiar with it, actually I haven't played, but it was a big thing in our locker room at Utah and we had a lot of players that played fantasy football. I never actually got into it, but pretty soon I think I will. Facebook Twitter Google + About Cory J. Bonini Don't miss these great reports.... Recent KFFL releases
Automatic theory formation in graph theory Hemerson PistoriJacques Wainer This paper presents SCOT, a system for automatic theory construction in the domain of Graph Theory. Following on the footsteps of the programs ARE [9], HR [1] and Cyrano [6], concept discovery is modeled as search in a concept space. We propose a classification for discovery heuristics, which takes into account the main processes related to theory construction: concept construction, example production, example analysis, conjecture construction, and conjecture analysis.;pid=S0104-65001999000300003&lng=e Biblioteca Digital Brasileira de Computação - Contato: Mantida por:
Documentation Center • Trials • Product Updates PS Product Multiply two physical signal inputs Physical Signals/Functions The PS Product block outputs the product of two input physical signals: u1Physical signal at the first input port u2Physical signal at the second input port yPhysical signal at the output port Dialog Box and Parameters The PS Product block has no parameters. See Also \| \| \| \| Was this topic helpful?
Advertisement -- Learn more about ads on this site. Message Boards FORUM: Diet and Nutrition 3:30 slump? Click here to read our frequently asked Diet and Nutrition questions. Search the Message Boards: Advertisement -- Learn more about ads on this site. Author: Message: Sort First Post on Top Posts: 78 2/28/13 10:15 A My mid-afternoon snack is 1/2 cup Greek yogurt, fruit, and 10 almonds SparkPoints: (720) Fitness Minutes: (150) Posts: 13 2/27/13 6:59 P I usually have fruit (apple, pear, grapes) along with yogurt. Posts: 338 2/27/13 6:38 P For your 3:00 slump, bring a couple clementines to work with you, or an apple or pear, or a handful of pitted dates (these are my candy.) Walk PAST the CVS store and continue to breathe the fresh air- skip the candy aisle. The candy is only going to give you a temporary fix and a crash later. Posts: 380 2/27/13 6:37 P My favorite 3 pm pick me ups are: apple, cheese stick, almonds. Any type of fresh fruit would do. Can you also extend the walk to a 15 minute one? Sometimes getting some exercise can be the best way to wake up :) SparkPoints: (53,927) Fitness Minutes: (14,129) Posts: 9,448 2/27/13 6:06 P By eating. :) I eat healthy snacks a few hours after lunch to compensate for that energy crash. If you're crashing, you also might want to look at your nutrition in the first half of the day to ensure that you're getting adequate fuel for your needs. Looking at your trackers (Thanks for that, by the way, that helps make answering these questions a LOT easier) you aren't getting a lot of protein. For that matter, your evening meals are too light, and include a lot (300-400 calories or more) of alcohol on top of light nutrition, leaving your body wanting. For example, look at your meals on the 24th... more than half of your daily calories are coming from drinks, and 400+ of those are the alcohol, leaving you with barely over 1000 calories of actual nutrition. That's not enough fuel for your body. I t hink the problem is that your body is inadequately fueled overall. You tend to make healthy choices, but they're all mostly low in protein, and you overindulge in liquids/alcohol or candies. As another example, look at your day on the 16th; you burned 400 calories running, but only got 893 calories of actual nutrition. That's simply not adequate, and it's no wonder you're running out of steam! Edited by: DRAGONCHILDE at: 2/27/2013 (18:08) Posts: 26 2/27/13 5:32 P I work an office job, and everyday, between 3 and 4pm, I get really low energy. In the past, I have always used this opportunity to walk to the CVS next door and buy myself a pick-me-up snack--usually candy. Obviously I'm trying to break that habit, but I still get that lull around 3:30. Any suggestions on a snack that might be a good high-energy choice? How do you deal with the low energy that can hit mid-afternoon? Page: 1 of (1) Diet Resources: tea tree oil allergy symptoms \| black tea allergy symptoms \| blood glucose
TED Conversations This conversation is closed. Start a new conversation or join one » Where did atoms originally form? I am studying the Big Bang and trying to make sense of it. Is there research or ideas on how atoms initially formed? Has there been experiments done starting with basic subatomic particles to create a Hydrogen atom, for example? I know we can take existing atoms and smash them together to form higher-order atoms. The question is: Is there an existing level of research addressing (new) Atomic Synthesis? Showing single comment thread. View the full conversation. • Oct 28 2013: Bumping my previous reply to the top as it expounds on my question.. 6 days ago: Stars form heavier atoms by smashing together EXISTING atoms. The (new) in my question obviously refers to the simplest atom, hydrogen. My understanding is that the protons and neutrons make up the nucleus, with the electron currently thought to exist not in a planed orbit, but in a cloud. The electron is moving very fast in it's orbit, and it's angular momentum is what stops it from falling into the nucleus. My question relates more to how the atom forms. Let's say the universe is cooling down and the quarks form the protons and the neutrons, electrons materialize, etc..,,, At this point, there is a real problem, at least in my mind. There is no angular momentum to stop the electron from ramming into the proton at this point, and there is no reason that the electron should prefer to organize versus follow the easy path of electromagnetism. I cannot rationalize this step from particles to atoms. Everything I've read just says the atoms formed once the particles came together. Showing single comment thread. View the full conversation.
Login or register Rebuilding a Toilet Tank; Lawn Watering; Building a Simple Bookcase - Recap <-- Previous EpisodeNext Episode --> This episode opens with Rich Trethewey, discussing the most used plumbing fixture in the house: the toilet. Inside the toilet must flush water from the storage tank, which causes it to drain into the flush rim and then into the bowl. It must also eject waste from the bowl through a “P” trap formed from the ceramic of the bowl and into the waste plumbing. When the storage tank finishes draining, a valve must close and a regulator must operate to properly refill the tank for the next flush. Richard walks down the table, and through history, showing a copper float (one of the first he worked on), a plastic float on an arm, and finally the modern integral arrangement, where the float rides up and down the fill column, and operates a lever that opens or closes the fill valve. The most common problem people have is the constantly running toilet. This happens when the flapper doesn't quite drop properly, or when the fill valve is worn or misadjusted. Sometimes this can lead to a “leak” on the outside of the tank: cold water constantly entering the storage tank causes condensation to form on the outside of the tank, leading to drips and apparent leaks. Rich next moves on to leaks between the tank and the bowl. These require more work. First, he shuts off the water and the angle stop – the valve that allows water to enter the toilet tank. Next, he flushes the toilet, which removes most of the water from the tank. He removes the connection between the angle stop and the tank – more water may drain here, so have a rag handy. A turkey baster or a wet vacuum helps remove any remaining water from the tank. Next, he uses a large blade screwdriver and a ½” open end wrench to loosen the bolts (on most tanks there are two, but some have three) that hold the tank to the bowl. Sometimes these are hard to remove, if corrosion has affected them. Removing the tank to the workbench, Richard shows the possible leak locations – around the water outlet controlled by the flapper, around each bolt, or around the fill valve inlet. Because removing the tank is a big job, he'll replace all the necessary seals. With a large slip-joint wrench, he removes the large nut around the outflow, then removes that nut and the rubber gasket. Next, he removes the fill valve. Finally, he removes the bolts. For about $20, Richard has purchased a complete rebuild kit. At that price, it makes sense to do a complete rebuild. These kits are generally universal; they may require minor adjustment for some tanks. First, he puts in the new fill valve in place – a single plastic nut secures this. Then he puts the new flapper in place, also secured with a plastic nut. He hand tightens that nut and then uses a wrench to give it about another half turn. A spud gasket goes over that; this will form the seal between the tank outflow and the bowl inflow. Finally, he pushes three brass bolts with rubber washers through, and secures them to the tank with brass washers and nuts. That takes care of the internal tank parts. He secures each bolt to the bowl using a rubber washer, a brass washer, and a wing nut, taking care not to overtighten, as this could crack the tank. Both (or all three) bolts should be tightened at the same time to ensure the tank sits properly on the bowl instead of at a slight angle. Back inside the tank, Rich puts the refill tube from the fill valve into the overflow pipe, and checks the height of the overflow – it should be below the height of the flush lever (if it is not, water will leak around the hole where the flush lever passes through into the tank). The overflow pipe is commonly plastic and may be easily cut down if needed. Once he turns the water back on, Rich will adjust the fill valve so the tank fills to the correct height. Kevin goes outside the loft to speak with Roger. He takes with him a sheaf of viewer questions about watering lawns. Roger explains that proper summer care of lawns includes watering them deeply and infrequently. Roger's rule of thumb is one inch of water per week. He measures the water using a range gauge set near the sprinkler, and waters until he sees that one inch has accumulated. By taking care to note how long this takes, he can water by time in the future. But the gauge can help when natural rain falls: by looking at how much rain fell, the homeowner can determine whether he must water and if so, how much. Roger spreads his watering out – he prefers two waterings a week, ½” each time. That keeps the lawn well-watered but at the same time lets it dry between waterings. Roger discusses sprinklers. The oscillating type creates a large rectangle of water, and is excellent for lawns of that shape. He also mentions a sprinkler with a small fan shaped deflector that creates a square pattern, and a sprinkler with several arms for round lawns. Finally, there's the arc sprinkler. It has a spike that may be driven into the ground, and it may be adjusted to water in a large circle, or by setting the stops the homeowner may select any angle of arc he needs. Roger also mentions quick connect fittings that make moving the hose from sprinkler to sprinkler very easy. It is important to water at the right time. Roger recommends against watering at night, as this encourages fungus disease. Watering when the sun is high leads to excessive evaporation, which is wasteful. Roger recommends watering 4am to 5am! But most folks aren't awake then, so Roger has an answer to that problem: a timer. One timer has a spring dial. Turn it to the amount of time desired, and it will slowly wind down until it shuts off the flow. A more sophisticated timer permits the user to program the day and times for watering with a keypad. An electronic circuit opens and closes a valve automatically. A “manifold” can split the water supply into several independently controlled paths. It has separate small valves permitting each “zone” to be operated independently. Finally, for viewers who saw it on a project, Roger shows a semi-permanent sprinkler installation. One digs a shallow hole and buries it. To operate it, Roger lifts on lid and connects a hose to the revealed quick connect, then turns on the water. The sprinkler pops up out of the other side; it is the arc variety and the angle it waters may be adjusted. Viewers have sent in many emails about furniture projects. Tom decides to help them with a simple bookcase. He starts with cabinet grade birch veneer ¾” plywood. This may be painted or finished as desired. Tom's bookcase design is 32” wide, 42” high, 12” deep and has a pair of adjustable shelves. He'll use a sheet of ¼” birch veneer for the back, but before he does that, he'll use it as a straight edge to guide his saw. A pair of spring clamps hold the panels together at the correct position. Tom cuts the sides first. He doesn't want to see the edge of the back panel, so he'll next cut a rabbit into the back edge of the side panels. To make the rabbit he'll use a router with a rabbiting bit. This bit has a ball bearing that rides along the edge of the piece and keeps the bit properly positioned. Measuring from the front to the start of the rabbit, Tom reads 12 1/8”, so that is the size he'll cut the top and bottom pieces. Once again, he uses the back as a straight edge. Once he's cut that piece, he cuts the shelves about ¼” shorter to they are slightly inset. With all the pieces properly ripped to width, Tom crosscuts them to the correct length, using a square to guide the saw for each cut. Next, Tom sets a piece of stock on the sawhorses. This will become the arched toe kick. He measures in a bit from each edge to define some legs, and drives a nail into each sawhorse at that mark. To create an arched base, he measures to the desired height of the middle of the arch, then lays a piece of Masonite against the nails and presses it against the arch. By tracing this, he defines the arch. He picks a side for the front (based on the quality of the veneer) and then cuts the arch from the backside (to minimize chipping) using a jigsaw. Finally, he rips the toe kick to the correct width. Using the same technique, he creates arches in the bottom of the side panels. To make the holes for the shelf pins, Tom first makes a jig by carefully drilling several 5/8” holes in a scrap piece of pine. These accommodate a 5/8” collar that fits around a smaller cutting bit on Tom's plunge router. This arrangement, with proper clamps, ensures that the shelf pin holes are properly positioned. Flipping the template over allows Tom to make the holes for the back of the shelf. To cover the edges of the shelves, Tom uses heat activated edge banding. He cuts and trims this to fit the shelf's edge, and then irons it on with an ordinary clothes iron. He finishes by rolling it in place with a “J” roller, and then trimming the overhang off with a special tool. A few passes with some sandpaper touches it up. To attach the toe kick to the side piece, Tom uses a pocket screw system: a special jig helps him drill the pockets, and special coarse-threaded, self-tapping pan-head screws attach the pieces. This unit is small enough that Tom does not use glue. While Kevin holds each piece in place, Tom carefully drives the screws. In this way, he assembles the carcass. He finishes by cutting a piece of the ¼” plywood and securing it to the carcass with a few nails. Finally, he adds a top made from the same plywood, securing it with the same self-tapping screws. This top adds structure and conceals the pocket screws that help hold the carcass together. It's overhang adds some visual interest, which Tom complements by wrapping the underside of it with some molding. Plumbing or carpentry in the loft, or lawn tips outside the barn – whatever the question, Ask This Old House can help. Share this article with your friends
Take the 2-minute tour × Is there a Ubuntu variant that comes with flash pre-installed? I used to use Lubuntu, as chromium used to have it, but now it doesn't work. The reason I want it pre-installed is that I use it a lot as a live CD. Thanks share\|improve this question Yes, but that's the same as trying to install flash. – CalvT Feb 1 '13 at 6:52 Ubuntu errh.. Canonical can't included Flash on the Ubuntu Live CD because it's proprietary software by Adobe, the same goes for MP3 decoding. You may just want to redo the LiveCD with persistence active and just install flash or install Chrome. – Uri Herrera Feb 1 '13 at 6:58 add comment 1 Answer There is a way to make changes persist that are made in a live session. It relies on a mechanism that searches all drives for a filesystem with the label "casper-rw". It will mount that filesystem as a writeable overlay over the non-persistant filesystem (this is called a union mount). There are multiple ways on how to go about this. If you want to continue booting from a CD, then you can plug in a USB stick (before booting the live session, not after -- it must be present while the live session is booting). Or you could make the USB stick contain two partitions, one with the bootable live system and a second partition with the "casper-rw" filesystem. The details can be found here (read them in this order, the first article seems more to the point): share\|improve this answer Or.. or use Unetbootin, add space for persistence and save yourself of messing with file systems ;) – Uri Herrera Feb 1 '13 at 7:00 Unetbootin is one of the options in the second URL. It might be the preferred option for many. So it's a good point. – holmb Feb 1 '13 at 7:01 add comment Your Answer
Take the 2-minute tour × In regards to cancer why do cells replicate themselves? If it's a mutation, what kind of mutation would this be classified as? share\|improve this question I would rephrase the beginning of the question, if you agree. Right now it seems a bit "backwards". Cancer is defined as an uncontrolled growth of cells, so there is no specific reason (finality) for cancerous cells to grow. When a mutation causes cells to grow in an uncontrolled manner then you have cancer. – nico Aug 17 '12 at 9:12 add comment 1 Answer This article covers some of the key issues of cancer in layman's terms. Essential, cancer is caused by multiple mutations in key regulatory genes which function in maintaining the cell cycle. This provokes uncontrollably rapid cell division, with only furthers the problem with genetic mutation. Here are some quotes from the article to strengthen your understanding in cancer cell mutations. The cell cycle: Wikimedia Commons Image source The cells become progressively more abnormal as more genes become damaged. Often, the genes that are in control of DNA repair become damaged themselves, rendering the cells even more susceptible to ever-increasing levels of genetic mayhem. [...] Most cancers are thought to arise from a single mutant precursor cell. As that cell divides, the resulting 'daughter' cells may acquire different mutations and different behaviors over a period of time. Those cells that gain an advantage in division or resistance to cell death will tend to take over the population. In this way, the tumor cells are able to gain a wide range of capabilities that are not normally seen in the healthy version of the cell type represented. [...] Mutations in key regulatory genes (tumor suppressors and proto-oncogenes) alter the behavior of cells and can potentially lead to the unregulated growth seen in cancer. share\|improve this answer add comment Your Answer
Tracking Every Signing Grading Biggest Deals How Long before the Parcells Regime Puts a Gag on Dolphin Tweeters? Use your ← → (arrow) keys to browse more stories Twitter. By now, you have likely heard of it. By the name of it, you would think it was a hot new toy for toddlers, or a new female pop group. However, names can be deceiving. In actuality, Twitter is a communication platform so powerful that it has the potential to topple kingdoms. Twitter has been gaining steam for months as a popular way for marketers to reach and interact with their customers, and for news outlets to get an instant pulse on the events of the day, the hour, the second, and the millisecond. Twitter is the world's largest focus group, chat room, news desk, and water cooler wrapped into one incredibly simplistic web platform. Recently, the power of Twitter has even been harnessed for the first time to support an underground movement to defeat fascism and defend Democracy. Iranians have been using Twitter as a means to show the world the injustices they are facing in their land, even after the oppressive government has tried to shut down all communication pathways to the outside world. When Twitter isn't functioning as the Web 2.0 version of the Underground Railroad, it is often being used by fans to contact and interact with the subject of their fanatical idolatry. It seems that anyone that is anyone is twittering, tweeting, or twitting these days. Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk for the cool kids!) has set up a micro virtual kingdom on Twitter, being one of the first celebrities to truly use the platform to its potential. When he isn't busy posting pictures of his MILF wife's hindquarters for his adoring fans to see, he is re-tweeting messages concerning social causes, updating fans on his latest projects, and communicating with his fan base. In recent weeks, we have seen an influx of sports stars enter the world of Twitter. Taking a cue from those who cover them, several well known sports stars have begun using Twitter as a means to reach their fans and further quench their indomitable egos. From Shaq (@The_Real_Shaq) to the NFL's chirpiest WRs Terrell Owens(@TerrellOwens81) and Chad Ochocinco (@OGOchoCinco), Twitter has become a virtual field for trash talking and excessive celebrations. And best of all, there are no refs to take their fun away. However, this wild west mentality might soon change. Social networking sites have already landed several athletes from the sports world into steaming tar pits. A player at the University of Texas got busted for some racist remarks he made on his Facebook status last year. A little-known cornerback for the Philadelphia Eagles also got in a bit of a bind when a photo of himself chortling next to what he would have us believe was a tobacco bong and a line of sugar was posted on Facebook. Just prior to the NFL draft, there was a stir regarding an apparently racist Facebook group that several USC stars joined, but was since deemed to be an inside joke within the team. While several players managed to free themselves from the scorching social tar they found themselves in, others were buried under the pressure. Twitter, unlike Facebook, poses an even bigger potential pitfall for players since their tweets are not only limited to their close friends. The entire world can read their tweets. From the embarrassing "Bout 2 take a dump." to the "I'm in the OC. Hit me up y'all!", its all there for every fan, reporter, and coach to see. Be careful what you tweet, or it will be twittering its way onto the next SportsCenter broadcast. Twitter is one little birdie that can't be subdued. While freedom of speech is the foundation of our Democracy and the right of every free human on the planet, it also poses a dilemma for coaches and organizations that hope to keep their secrets, issues, and strategies in-house. The Miami Dolphins, under the stewardship of Bill Parcells, has been known for their less-than-democratic policies on the media. Loose lips sink ships, and the Tuna isn't too fond of the water, despite his namesake. Parcells, Ireland, and Sparano do their best to control the messages and communications coming out of their complex. In the recent war of words between LB Channing Crowder and Rex Ryan, someone made it known that it was time to drop it because the usually talkative Crowder became mute as a mouse within days. Now, the twittering menace is seeping into their complex like a bad infestation of termites—threatening to take down the restrictive media structure they have so painstakingly built. Yes, some Miami Dolphins have discovered Twitter and now have a direct line to the masses. While rookie Sean Smith (@SeanSmith4) has mostly just been updating fans on how he is adjusting to the NFL and Miami, WR Davone Bess (@Lambo_Weezy) has taken a far different approach. [UPDATE: Lambo_Weezy has been confirmed to be a Davone Bess Twitter impostor. Check here for all the details regarding the Davone Bess Twittergate.] Davone pounced on the Twitter scene like he was orchestrating the Wildcat in Foxborough—pulling no punches. Yesterday, Lambo challenged Titans RB Chris Johnson (@ChrisJohnson28) to a foot race. The Dash of the duo formerly known as Smash and Dash took offense to this challenge, stating, and I RT (RT = ReTweeting which basically means Quote) "Feel insulted because somebody want to race me who ran a 4.64 i ran 4.24 do the math kill me." Since this exchange, Lambo (Davone) has upped the stakes, saying that they should broadcast the race and the loser must shave their dreads off for charity. OGOchoCinco, the reigning king of NFL Twitterland, appeared to reach out to the NFL Network to air the duel. But Davone took the social networking thing to the next level when he posted a link to a Ustream feed so that fans and twitter followers could hear him live. While Ustream generally allows video to stream as well, Davone for whatever reason did not make use of this feature, as only his voice could be heard during the broadcast. Many Dolphin fans took to the message boards to debate whether Lambo_Weezy was the real Davone or not, since some of his antics seemed out of character for the reserved nature of his public persona. However, OGOchoCinco (the verified REAL Chad Ochocinco) seemed to confirm that @LamboWeezy was indeed the real Davone Bess. A man has every right to spend their free time however they see fit as long as it falls within the realm of legality and social mores, but they must also act in a responsible way if they don't want the authority of their employer to whack them upside the head. It is for this reason that platforms such as Twitter are so dangerous for young athletes and so threatening to tight-lipped organizations such as the Dolphins. As an organization, the Miami Dolphins regulate the amount of interaction their players have with the media and with fans. However, Twitter bypasses this control. Through Twitter, players can communicate directly with local reporters, rival players, and fans in Ohio with the click of a button. How long will the Parcells Regime continue to live with this social infestation in their house before they begin to clean it up? They will likely try to reign it in soon before more players start jumping on the Twitter-wagon. On a broader note, does an organization have the right or the power to control how their employees leverage these new social technologies? Or is it their duty as leaders of their organization to keep things like Twitter from toppling their kingdom too? Until we tweet again, this is @Finstache signing off. Load More Stories Follow Miami Dolphins from B/R on Facebook Miami Dolphins Subscribe Now We will never share your email address Thanks for signing up.
On the Record: Benkler on NSA, the Manning Trial, and the Future of Journalism From the Print Edition / Interview / October 21, 2013 / Photo by Jonathan Nomamiukor ON THE RECORD: Can you discuss the Constitutional ramifications of programs like the NSA and the NDAA act? YOCHAI BENKLER: The thing to understand about the NSA surveillance program is that it represents a fundamental inversion of the model at the heart of the fourth amendment: the idea of privacy as a check on government power. We use the term privacy and sometimes we mean vis a vis commercial firms and sometimes we mean vis a vis the state. In either case, they are ways of checking power — either the power of commercial power or the commercial state. In the fourth amendment, the core idea is that the state shouldn’t know too much about us. Large amounts of social behavior and activity need to be outside the gaze of the state. What does that mean? It means that essentially we believe that the state needs to be blind to much of what goes on because we can’t rely on the state perfectly to apply the laws always at the right place at the right time at the right measure with the right level of intensity for all conditions. Instead we have a large opacity and only when the state has reason — articulable reason in advance to look at something specific – do we let the state peek, look inside, and do something. The reason is that law by necessity will be vague, incomplete, there will be gaps, there will be conflicts, there will be ambiguities, and there is a lot of discretion. And in that discretion is where abuse comes. So how does that connect to the question of 5th amendment and due process and particularly vagueness? Nowhere is that clearer than in the material support statute. OTR: Can you elaborate on your last point and discuss the Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project ruling? YB: Material support is so broad and terrorism itself is such a broadly defined set of activities that there’s an entire population of potential subjects that may or may not fall close to the line that are now also under the perfect gaze of the state. When the state is nearly omniscient and has in its back pocket a set of vague and broad laws – be they terrorism related like material support or computer abuse related like computer fraud and abuse act – this provides enormous freedom of action for prosecutors, for investigators, to go after people in ways that are overzealous, in ways that are abusive, in ways that are simply inappropriate. So we see from the banality of the analysts stalking ex-lovers to the amazing report the ACLU put out in September of FBI abuses in pursuit of domestic advocacy groups. We see enormous scope in these vague laws for abuse. And that enormous scope is then enabled by complete visibility of the state onto the behavior. We’re continued to be told by advocates of the program that with the right levels of the rules, with minimization to the left and FISA court to the right, we’d be able to replicate the protections we had on the fourth amendment while we have the information as opposed to without having the information. We’ve seen repeatedly over the last dozen years that these rules fail. They don’t actually deliver. And they don’t deliver because they represent a fundamental conflict between the commitment of the fourth amendment to keep the state relatively blind and the commitment of the NSA and its professional, competent, honest staff to try to get universal visibility so they can deal with the emergency they perceive as overwhelming. And its this fundamental contradiction between the sense of urgency and emergency of people on the inside and the commitmentof the constitution to keep the state blind in order to keep it limited that is causing this series of failures. And that’s why we also need the solution to be one where we basically step back from the war constitution rather that we tweak the institutions a little bit to the left or a little bit to the right. I think one of the things that has become very clear after 9/11 is that America responded with a panic response. With a response of a kind that you see someone fighting for their lives, throwing aside all rules and trying to do something. And in the first instance this may have been understandable. The torture program was the most extreme, violent program of that lapse. Formatively at least we’ve abandoned it. The system of indefinite detention that we’ve retained in the teeth of the fact that fundamentally you really cannot justify continuing to hold people forever under an indefinite war that has no boundaries and has no time limit and yet we’re stuck with it. We see doctrines develop about the unilateral power of the Presidency to initiate war like behaviors – the drone program, the development of secret law whether it be around surveillance, whether it be around targeting of American citizens, all basically building on the notion that the American public probably can’t handle the politics necessary. But in reality what this does is that it takes the emergency immediate response and turns it into a stable constitution. And when you see in area after area, whether it’s surveillance or drone targeting of U.S. citizens, or indefinite detention, or material assistance as it is applied broadly to practically all Muslim communities. You see a series of events that if you step back for a moment and you don’t deal with the particulars, “oh was it legal under this subsection or that subsection,” but you step back for a moment and you say “stop… is it really reasonable for America to think that forever you can have a system of indefinite suspension somewhere. We can have a system of executive branch only-decision to kill Americans. We can have a system that applies to things that are basically straight speech and assembly counting as forms of terrorism in America by Americans with no real direct or imminent threat simply because of the potential that maybe they’ll help a terrorist organizations shift resources somewhere else – even a terrorist organization that is not really directed at the U.S. but at some remote ally. That is what was so powerful about humanitarian law project. There you have organizations – one was Kurdistan Workers Party, the other the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, neither of which had anything to do with the United States. You had an organization whose sole role was to teach them peaceful dispute resolution and interacting with U.N. aid organizations. That was sufficiently close to terrorism that the Supreme Court held that they could be within the material support statute. That’s not really an American constitution we can recognize. OTR: Can you speak a bit about how you came to be a key witness for the Manning trial? YB: I came to participate in the Manning trial initially because I was working on the future of journalism as a broad research question. Journalism had undergone similar discontinuities to those that we have already seen in certain branches of entertainment, in software. Decentralization complimented by multiple business models, and organizational models, both social and commercial. And wikileaks was a particularly interesting example – one that I agreed to write a piece for the CL-CR journal. And then the embassy cables broke out, the attack on wikileaks on multiple dimensions – on their storage, communications, on their payments systems occurred, and I spent a lot of time writing up an article on wikileaks. At the time I was primarily focused on the journalism side, not the whistleblowing side. Then when I saw the treatment of Manning during the first year of his imprisonment, I organized a letter of 300 professors protest- ing the conditions of his incarceration. In that context, his defense turned to me asked me if I would testify… if I could testify particularly on the context of aiding the enemy… on what Wikileaks was like and what the nature of the fourth estate had become. Because what was important at the time was what Manning did in regard to aiding the enemy charge was what any other whistleblower or leaker will do: turn to the press… and that there was no reasonable distinction to be made between Manning and someone who had leaked to the NY Times. And this was important because it was important to establish that the aiding the enemy charge here was essentially leveled under conditions that would’ve made it available as against any leaker, certainly against any leaker subject to the military code, but aiding the enemy is not necessarily limited to those subject to the code. So I spent a bit of time preparing and the testimony itself was interesting. It was a challenging four or so hours of back and forth, particularly with the prosecution. But I think it allowed me to make very clear that a reasonable person looking at wikileaks from the prospective of late 2009, early 2010, would have seen an edgy online journalism source that had broken dozens of stories. Many of which, most of which, had nothing to do with the United States. They would have seen an organization that even the Pentagon’s own report on it kept using the terms “correspondent, journalist, editor, opinion piece,” with regard to pieces on Wikileaks. And when they challenged wikileaks it was never on accuracy but rather on the substance of whether they agreed or disagreed with the argument. So even a reasonable reader of the Pentagon’s memo itself on wikileaks would have come away understanding that this was a new media organization. And that was the substance of the testimony. OTR: Could you discuss the role New Media plays in the 21st century and the future of Journalism? YB: I think a core feature of network economy is the radical decentralization of the capital necessary to produce, process, and store and communicate information, knowledge and culture. This is true for software, it’s true for music, it’s true for video, and relatively later in the game it became true for journalism. We now see a wider array of strategies being deployed to provide the basic thing we call “the news of the day.” Some of it is purely social and voluntary – we see this when people capture videos of riots. We see this when people capture abuses by police in Occupy or in Tahrir Square. Some of this happens with people who are politically motivated, engaged with people who are particularly motivated and engaged in a recreation of the party presses like the Daily Cause or Town Hall. Some of it is small-scale commercial like snopes.com or talking points memo where you essentially have a very small scale organization doing an outsized job able to sustain itself on a low cost low returns model rather than the very high costs, high return model of the traditional media. And some of the traditional media, like the Times, continue and grow and reach to an international English reading audience. Perhaps in this regard the most interesting example is the Guardian which moved from being a respected UK publication into being one of the top ten news outlets read in the United States, with many more readers in the U.S. than in the U.K. So the network fourth estate really now combine all of these components put together. We see organizations anchored in academic institutions like factcheck.org or media matters that are focused specifically on fact checking and media criticisms. We see experts who may be academics or may be in think tanks creating outlets that become much more professional. You can agree or disagree with them. So that’s what we’re seeing – we’re seeing the emergence of a new multidimensional, multi-type of organization and motivation structure media ecosystem. But we also see traditionalists hanging on to the old way of doing things and refusing to recognize the value of the new. And the place we see this the most clearly is the reporters privilege debate and the questions over reporters privilege now in congress where we see the traditionalist hanging on for dear life to the concept that you can only give reporters privilege to people who make a living or somehow make money off of journalism and refuse to recognize the incredibly important role that amateur journalists and people who are not journalists but nonetheless report on specific issues and become major experts play. There’s no question for example that Alexa O’Brien played a larger role in reporting on the Manning trial and provided more professional and thoughtful and really deep understanding of the case than any of the traditional media because she was there following it the entire time. She understood the context. And any law or framework that ignores the journalistic role that she played in covering that case simply misses the critical component of what journalism is today. OTR: Could you discuss some of the pressures modern day journalists face in this country? YB: The most important pressures that American journalists face today has to do with national security reporting and the efforts to prevent public exposure and public criticism of the war constitution and the way that it’s applied. Whether it be on drone strikes, whether it be on indefinite detention, or mostly what’s on everybody’s mind today: surveillance. Primarily that means the question of the investigations of journalists —We saw the public outcry over the subpoenaing of phone records of the associated press, over the affidavit claiming that that fox news reporter Jamie Rosen was a coconspirator in espionage act violations, and we saw the threat of incarceration and subpoena for James Risen over the leak. So the question then becomes how much we actually protect journalists and their sources in the national security area from the state and its power to prosecute them and their sources. And the question is how broadly that protection covers. And the second question is what we do with whistleblowers and whether we give any protection to whistleblowers and if we do whether we limit it to traditional media. What we are seeing today in the efforts in congress is a relatively strong emphasis on defending traditional media although not as much as I think we need. We are also seeing a willingness to throw the online journalists who are not fulltime journalists under the bus. We see this very clearly in Senator Feinstein’s attempt to limit the Schumer bill. We see it very crisply in the house bill that explicitly requires that you make money to be protected. Nonetheless both the Schumer bill and the bill in the House have very strong components that if you do a little mix and match could actually provide coverage to journalism as a function. The critical thing to understand is that journalism is no longer an organization or business model. Journalism is a social function. If you collect news that is relevant to the public and disseminate it with the intent to disseminate it to the public you are fulfilling the function of journalism. It is that social function that the first amendment freedom of the press protects. It is that social function that the law needs to protect. It is that social function that we need as a democracy. If we take some portions of the house bill and we get rid of some limitations of the senate bill we can have a truly powerful bill that will cover all acts of journalism. Acts of journalism rather than journalists: that’s what we need to protect. We have the tools, it’s not clear that we have the political will. We need to keep pushing for protection for journalism as a function rather than journalism as a class of paid professionals. Leave a Reply Your email address will not be published. one × 9 =
man in dugout canoeEach September, hundreds of people gather in a wooded area outside Rexburg, Idaho, to rediscover their "stone age" heritage. They work with primitive tools, learn to build fire by rubbing sticks together, and participate in a rigorous assortment of classes designed to teach them some of the 'lost' arts. It's called "Rabbitstick," after the aboriginal tool that requires a certain primitive knowledge base to master. The organizer of the week-long event, Dave Wescott, calls it the largest gathering of primitive technologists in the country. "There's not a lot of look-see. It's a lot of hands-on," says Wescott. "And to me that's critical because you don't own a skill until you've done it; and when you've taught it to someone else, you can really call it your own." woman tanning hide"This totally changes people's lives," says Montana resident Lynx, a regular participant at Rabbitstick. "This is as close to a family reunion as I have. It's a remarkable special thing. People come from all walks of life, but we all have this one thing in common; and it's very powerful and special. Maybe we're all the black sheep of our own families, and this is the safest family we can be ourselves in." Dave Wescott has spent most of his adult life as a licensed outfitter; and he's not surprised about all the talk of "family." "For some reason this stuff has made them different," he says. "I wanted to be Tarzan and an Indian until I figured out it wasn't going to happen. None of my family did that. I come here and connect with people who had the same experiences and thought processes as me. They are family." people in costumesSteve Watts travels from North Carolina each year to attend Rabbitstick. He's the president of the Society of Primitive Technology, an international organization. "To me it's about rediscovering our stone age heritage which we all share," he says. "Otherwise, it's just arts and crafts. Whatever I teach I try to put it into some historical anthropological context. The idea is to try to literally touch your own heritage. There are several other gatherings like this across the country, but this is sort of the Mother Church. This is where you'll get some of the best instructors in one place. It's the place to come." More information on Rabbitstick
5 Reviews Scarface: The World is Yours Say hello to the most foul-mouthed game since Mario Strikers Unsatisfied by movies where the main character dies at the end? Scarface: The World Is Yours gives you the chance to put things right, glossing over the finale in which murderous anti-hero Tony Montana is shot in the back in his palatial, drug-funded mansion. Instead, Tony gets to blast his way out of the ambush, at the expense of everything he fought so hard to get. The mansion is impounded by the police, the money vanishes into thin air and his precious reputation is left in tatters. Back from the nearly dead, Tony's mission is to win back what he lost, and with the help of old friends who are still intimidated enough to work with him, he sets out to rebuild his criminal empire. You horse! So what we've got is a GTA-style gangster game starring one of the most memorable - and sweariest - gangsters in movie history. You can shake the nunchuk to make him swear randomly as he walks down the street. It's ****ing ace! Tony's Miami adventure isn't set out exactly like a GTA game, though. Instead of completing lots of unconnected missions for different people, spread all over the city, there's a more tightly focused narrative. The aim is simply to earn enough money to fund a return to Tony's former lifestyle, and the only way to do this is by selling drugs. There are dealers all over the place. When you get hold of a new stash, you can sell it in 200g chunks. To get the best price you have to hold the A button while a little meter fills up, releasing it when it's at max strength. Too much or too little and you've blown the deal. The same system is used for talking your way out of trouble with the cops and intimidating rival gangsters. Scarface is underpinned by a mini business sim, in which you take over territory, find the highest price for your merchandise and blow the profits on the luxury items needed to restore Tony's credibility. Gangs and police can be paid off to reduce the two 'heat' meters that make your progress ever more difficult as they build up. Other than that, it's flashy cars, speedboats, guns and women all the way. Red mist When you get into a mission, the gunplay works swiftly and accurately with the Wii remote. There's a free aim function, which is more than adequate, or by holding Z you can lock on to a particular enemy and make small adjustments with the remote to target different areas. Aiming for the nuts (left or right) scores quite highly, as does blowing off a limb, head or kidney. Once your foe is down, shaking the nunchuk gives him some final sweary disrespect. The point is to build up your Balls meter, which can be used to activate Blind Rage mode - ten seconds of first-person invincibility, which is very useful in a tight spot. In fact many missions are extremely difficult if you don't start them with maximum Balls. The best thing about the game is that it manages to be laugh-out-loud funny even while remarkable amounts of crimson pixels spurt forth from those unfortunate enough to cross Tony Montana. Battles are punctuated by shakes of the nunchuk to deliver wittily foul-mouthed ripostes, and even random pedestrians have multiple levels of wisecracks when you start a conversation with them. Luckily Tony refuses to kill civilians, so you can only grin and bear it when a chat-up line goes humiliatingly wrong. The worst thing about the game is the restrictive layout of the city. The visual promise of GTA-style freedom is dashed once you've done a complete circuit around the little islands that make up the map and found that many of the areas around the looping main road are nothing but sealed-off scenery. It's a big game but there are few alternative routes to different areas. 1 2
Take the 2-minute tour × As I follow it, there's a full installer for .NET 3.5 And a .NET 3.5 SP1 installer Also as I follow it, the first of those two links is what you use when you have, say, a clean XP machine with no previous versions of .NET on it (or at least nothing past 1.1). The second link is what you use if you have .NET 3.5 already and just need .NET 3.5 SP1 on top of it. Is there an installer that assumes you have no previous version of .NET on your machine but also has .NET 3.5 SP1 as well? Or am I wrong and that second link does that? share\|improve this question add comment 2 Answers up vote 2 down vote accepted I think the second installer will install everything, even if no previous .NET framework exists. (Apart from V1.1) share\|improve this answer Yeah and I have a clean VM in progress to test this, I was just wondering if anyone knew for sure :) – Schnapple Oct 26 '09 at 15:03 add comment Yes, the second installer link you provided is the full installer for .NET 3.5 SP1. Also do remember to apply the .NET 3.5 SP1 Update too. share\|improve this answer add comment Your Answer
BBC Culture State of the Art Leonardo da Vinci’s groundbreaking anatomical sketches About the author • Jack of all trades Leonardo da Vinci's restless curiosity led him to try his hand as a painter, sculptor, engineer, inventor, anatomist, writer, geologist and botanist, among other things. (Corbis) • Last meal Leonardo's paintings are among the most famous in art history. The Last Supper (completed 1497) depicts Christ and his disciples at their final meal before the Crucifixon. (Corbis) • Dig for victory Leonardo devised machinery for excavating canals (pictured) and a complex system of locks to regulate water flow. (Corbis) • Under the skin The great polymath brought together superb draughtsmanship, scientific knowledge and an artist's sensibility in his anatomical drawings. (Royal Collection) • The beat goes on He stated firmly that the heart was comprised of four chambers at a time when it was generally understood to be made up of two. (Corbis) • In a similar vein Leonardo's work in diverse fields led him to draw comparisons between them. He saw links between the soil and flesh, rivers and blood vessels. (Corbis) • Show some spine The work now known as the Anatomical Manuscript A contains some amazing insights, like the first accurate depiction of the human backbone. (Royal Collection) • All in your head The drawing A Skull Sectioned from 1489 studies the position of the facial cavities in relation to surface features. (Corbis) Alastair Sooke looks through the ultimate Renaissance man’s anatomical sketchbooks – scientific masterpieces full of lucid insights into the functioning of the human body. We tend to think of Leonardo da Vinci as a painter, even though he probably produced no more than 20 pictures before his death in 1519. Yet for long periods of his career, which lasted for nearly half a century, he was engrossed in all sorts of surprising pursuits, from stargazing and designing ingenious weaponry to overseeing a complex system of canals for Ludovico Maria Sforza, the ruling duke of Milan. During the course of his life, Leonardo filled thousands of pages of manuscript with dense doodles, diagrams, and swirling text, probing almost every conceivable topic. Not for nothing, then, is he often considered the archetypal Renaissance man: as the great British art historian Kenneth Clark put it, Leonardo was the most relentlessly curious person in history. Yet according to Leonardo da Vinci: The Mechanics of Man, a new exhibition at the Edinburgh International Festival, one area of scientific endeavour piqued Leonardo’s curiosity arguably more than any other: human anatomy. Leonardo’s interest in anatomy began when he was working for Ludovico in Milan. “On the 2nd day of April 1489”, as he wrote at the head of a page in a new notebook, he sat down to begin his “Book entitled On the Human Figure”. After executing a sequence of stunning drawings of a skull, though, his studies went into abeyance, probably because he lacked access to corpses that he could dissect. Bodies of evidence But his ambitions to publish a comprehensive treatise on human anatomy persisted – and around two decades later, he returned to his otherwise unused notebook, which is now known as the Anatomical Manuscript B and is kept at the Royal Library at Windsor Castle. In it he made a number of pen-and-ink drawings recording his observations while dissecting an old man who had died in a hospital in Florence in the winter of 1507-08. In the years that followed, Leonardo concentrated on human anatomy more systematically than ever before – and by the end of his life he claimed that he had cut up more than 30 corpses. In the winter of 1510-11, while probably collaborating with a young professor of anatomy called Marcantonio della Torre at the University of Pavia, Leonardo compiled a series of 18 mostly double-sided sheets exploding with more than 240 individual drawings and over 13,000 words of notes. Now known as the Anatomical Manuscript A, and also in the Royal Collection, these sheets are full of lucid insights into the functioning anatomy of the human body. Leonardo made many important discoveries. For instance, he produced the first accurate depiction of the human spine, while his notes documenting his dissection of the Florentine centenarian contain the earliest known description of cirrhosis of the liver. Had he published his treatise, he would be considered more important than the Belgian anatomist Andreas Vesalius, whose influential textbook On the Fabric of the Human Body appeared in 1543. But he never did. Heart of the matter Yet arguably Leonardo’s most brilliant scientific insights occurred after Marcantonio’s death from the plague in 1511, when the great polymath fled political turmoil in Milan and took shelter in the family villa of his assistant Francesco Melzi, 15 miles (24km) east of the city. It was here that he became obsessed with understanding the structure of the heart. The heart surgeon Francis Wells, who works at Papworth Hospital in Cambridge and recently published The Heart of Leonardo, recalls coming across Leonardo’s studies for the first time as a medical student. “I remember thinking that they were far better than anything we had in modern textbooks of anatomy,” he says. “They were beautiful, accurate, absorbing – and there was a liveliness to them that you just don’t find in modern anatomical drawings.” During his investigations, Leonardo discovered several extraordinary things about the heart. “Up until and after his time, because of course he never published, the heart was believed to be a two-chambered structure,” Wells explains. “But Leonardo firmly stated that the heart has four chambers. Moreover, he discovered that the atria or filling chambers contract together while the pumping chambers or ventricles are relaxing, and vice versa.” In addition, Leonardo observed the heart’s rotational movement. “If you look at a heart, it is cone-shaped,” says Wells. “But it’s a complex cone in a geometric sense, because it’s a cone with a twist. This is because the heart empties itself with a twisting motion – it wrings itself out, a bit like the wringing out of a towel. In heart failure it loses this twist.” According to Wells, Leonardo didn’t fully understand the function of cardiac twist. “But everything starts somewhere,” he says. “There’s a passage in which Leonardo describes the slaughter of some pigs on a Tuscan hillside. You or I would probably enjoy a nice glass of red wine while the pork was cooking, but Leonardo was thinking about this at the time. They killed the pigs by pushing little spears through the chest into the heart, and Leonardo noticed the rotational movement of these little spears in the heart. It was totally blue-sky research, of no use to anybody of his time, but it was a correct start along the road to understanding cardiac twist, which is now one of the hottest topics in understanding heart failure.” Perhaps most impressive of all, though, were Leonardo’s observations about the aortic valve, which he made while experimenting with an ox’s heart. Intrigued by the way that the aortic valve opens and closes to ensure blood flows in one direction, Leonardo set about constructing a model by filling a bovine heart with wax. Once the wax had hardened, he recreated the structure in glass, and then pumped a mixture of grass seeds suspended in water through it. This allowed him to observe little vortices as the seeds swirled around in the widening at the root of the aorta. As a result, Leonardo correctly posited that these vortices helped to close the aortic valve. Yet because he never published his far-sighted research, this remained unknown for centuries. “This wasn’t understood until the 20th Century,” says Wells, “when it was shown most beautifully in [science journal] Nature in 1968 by two engineers in Oxford. There was only reference to Leonardo da Vinci. There are two extraordinary things about that: first, there was only one reference, and second, the reference was 500 years old.” So what made Leonardo such a brilliant anatomist? “One mustn’t get carried away claiming that Leonardo was a completely unique figure,” says Martin Clayton, head of prints and drawings in the Royal Collection, and the curator of the Edinburgh exhibition. “There were lots of investigative anatomists around at the time, and there were lots of artists who were interested in anatomy. But Leonardo pushed these two things further than anybody else. He was the supreme example of an anatomist who could also draw, or of an artist who was also a very skilled dissector. It was the union of these two skills in a single figure that made Leonardo unique.” Alastair Sooke is art critic of The Daily Telegraph.
Mickey's - Miller Brewing Co. Displayed for educational use only; do not reuse. 819 Ratings (view ratings) Ratings: 819 Reviews: 292 rAvg: 2.53 pDev: 30.83% Brewed by: Miller Brewing Co. visit their website Wisconsin, United States Style \| ABV American Malt Liquor \| 5.60% ABV Availability: Year-round Notes/Commercial Description: No notes at this time. (Beer added by: pezoids on 07-03-2001) View: Beers (26) \| Events Beer: Ratings & Reviews Sort by: Latest \| High \| Low \| Top Reviewers \| Read the Alström Bros Beer Reviews and Beer Ratings of Mickey's Alström Bros Ratings: 819 \| Reviews: 292 \| Show All Ratings: Photo of UCLABrewN84 3.08/5 rDev +21.7% Serving type: can 07-30-2011 03:45:45 \| More by UCLABrewN84 Photo of BuckeyeNation 2.13/5 rDev -15.8% "one night frank was on his way home from work, stopped at the liquor store, picked up a couple of mickey's big mouths, drank 'em in the car on his way to the shell station; he got a gallon of gas in a can. drove home, doused everything in the the house, torched it. parked across the street laughing, watching it burn, all halloween orange and chimney red". That's from the classic song 'Frank's Wild Years' which is on the classic (aren't they all?) Tom Waits album Swordfishtrombones. It was the first time I'd ever heard of Mickey's Big Mouth Malt Liquor. My only regret is that this review will come from a 24 oz. can, not a Big Mouth bottle. Crystal clear straw yellow beneath a voluminous cap of dirty white froth that displays impressive persistance and lays down a surprising, though still underwhelming, amount of lace. The sweet, corny, grainy nose manages to avoid offending. It ain't much, but then anyone drinking this beer is unlikely to give a shit (I'm conducting research and 'horizon expansion' and wish to be excluded from that group). It's difficult to distinguish this beer from other macro lagers. Yeah, I know that it's a malt liquor, but it doesn't strike me as that much different from the lower octane beer; maybe because of the low ABV. It's tastes of sweet grain, bitter grain and sour grain (the trifecta!) with a light, verging on watery, body. The beer is slightly skunky, but that seems to be part of its... ahem... charm. At least there's no deterioration with warming. That's an admirable quality, right? Of course, it wouldn't have far to go in a downward direction. Maybe Mickey's is better from a big mouth bottle (or a chalis?). Maybe it was better before Miller began brewing it. Who knows? Who cares? Don't expect much and I promise you, that's exactly what you'll get. Serving type: can 09-24-2004 21:48:23 \| More by BuckeyeNation Photo of mikesgroove South Carolina 2.9/5 rDev +14.6% huge thanks to the kind trader who realized i was working on this list and sent me this as a great extra. 40oz bottle poured into a tall pilsner glass, this one was consumed on 08/24/2010. the pour was much better then i am used to coming out of a 40 for sure, dark amber color with a nice head of a finger and a half that lay on top of the glass throughout the session, aroma of wet cardboard, earthy malts, hay, corn, lots of grain, basically the standard here that i was pretty much expecting. nice medium feel was a welcome treat as it did not come across as overally thick, but not too light either. clean taste, although terribly malt heavy with a bit of a sting in the finish. still it was easy to polish off and i would not argue it against some of the others i have had lately. overall not bad at all, i have had much, much worse an might do this one again on a whim. Serving type: bottle 08-25-2010 10:53:39 \| More by mikesgroove Photo of womencantsail 2.58/5 rDev +2% A: The pour is a crystal clear golden yellow color with a fizzy white head. S: A fair amount of metal and vegetables. Lots of sweet corn and apple juice. There is a bit of grain and skunk in there as well. T: This is actually quite similar (flavor-wise) to your average adjunct lager (probably why I used to drink it). Sweet grain and corn with a mild skunk. M: Light in body with a fair amount of fizzy carbonation. D: Eh, not as easy to drink as it used to be ("back in the day"). Still, there are definitely worse malt liquors out there. Serving type: bottle 10-16-2010 07:58:08 \| More by womencantsail Photo of ChainGangGuy 2.13/5 rDev -15.8% Appearance: From out of the glass hand grenade pours a clear, bright gold body with a thinnish, white head. Smell: Sweetish, basic, bland malts and adjuncts with some faint hints of garden-variety flowers. Taste: Same with the nose - sweetish, basic, bland malts and adjuncts. There are some faint floral qualities, but there's almost nil when it comes to hop bitterness. Watery, though clean finish. Mouthfeel: Thin-bodied. Medium-low carbonation. Drinkability: No thanks. It's a shame they redesigned the container, getting cut by those peel-back metal tabs was part of the fun. Serving type: bottle 03-20-2009 17:50:03 \| More by ChainGangGuy Photo of TMoney2591 2.48/5 rDev -2% Served in a snifter. And, thus, following the good stuff, Swill Fest 1.5 kicks off, complete with a viewing of Human Centipede. This offering pours a clear straw topped by a finger of white foam. The nose comprises wheat, corn, and hay wet with the runoff from some dark, murky bog in the old English countryside, the kind of thing you'd see in some rustic Gothic throwback tale. The taste holds notes of corn, corn syrup, and a heaping helping of bad apple juice. Up until now, I was unaware that apple juice could go bad in this manner. now I think it could be a possibility. The body is a hefty light, with a moderate carbonation and a watery feel. Overall, I think this gives yet another reason for why malt liquors don't get any real respect: They don't really deserve much. Serving type: can 12-25-2010 03:14:42 \| More by TMoney2591 Photo of NeroFiddled 3.1/5 rDev +22.5% Smells like grain and alcohol with barely a suggestion of hops, ...and it's supposed to taste like that! Serving type: bottle 05-13-2006 18:46:16 \| More by NeroFiddled Photo of biboergosum Alberta (Canada) 2.53/5 rDev 0% Ok, I've seen these around for ever and a day, but never got around to trying one. The bottle is different, kind of like a stubby, but actually more like a mini beer keg, with a large mouth. This beer pours a clear medium straw colour, with lots of puffy white head, which doesn't stick around for long, leaving spotty lace in its wake. It smells of skunky white grain, and backyard weeds. The taste is cloying corn and rice husk sweetness, and a light vegetal skunkiness. The carbonation is average, the body slick, but generally all right, and it finishes fairly smooth and grainy, the sweetness and skunk becoming one unholy duality. Packaging kitsch aside, this is one big-assed pass for me. And I don't even get to laugh it off as a cheap throwaway purchase - up here, this beer sells as a "premium import". Jebus. Serving type: bottle 12-25-2009 06:52:54 \| More by biboergosum Photo of emerge077 2.23/5 rDev -11.9% Can from a shady liquor store, the one time I don't check the date, the can is old. "NOV14 11" printed on the bottom. I was fooled since it wasn't dusty... Pale straw gold, urine shade with rapid rising trails of carbonation. Compact white foam biscuit lid up top, slow to settle, leaving some lace in the glass, and an ever present veil of skim on the surface (surprisingly). Smells like adjunct city, corn and possibly rice, rather sweet with apple notes from the yeast and some metallic, musty dishrag minerality. Wafting notes of misspent college nights and bad judgement. Sweet taste, pretty astringent as it warms, cereal grain, wet paper, vague fleeting apple. Fizzy but relatively clean. In the malt liquor continuum, Mickey's falls a bit short of center. Serving type: can 02-07-2012 01:52:41 \| More by emerge077 Photo of drabmuh 3.08/5 rDev +21.7% Bad beer Thursdays -- two for one edition. This is simultaneously a well known "bad beer" but also a top 5 American Malt Liquor, neat. Poured from a green 40 ounce bottle into a Paulaner 1 L dimpled stein. Beer is yellow and clear, heavily carbonated with a thick head of large white bubbles, actually bubbles of all sizes, no staying power though. It's gone before I know it's there. It actually smells rather pleasant. Sweet, pilsner, it has a slight odd aroma to it but it definitely doesn't smell bad. Beer is medium in body and has an odd bitterness at the finish...and here comes the boiled corn aftertaste. Bummer, you really let me down Mickeys. I was hoping for so much more. At least the aftertaste is short lived. I can say that much for it. It's drinkable, more so than the others, just not very good tasting. Serving type: bottle 02-25-2011 01:16:56 \| More by drabmuh Photo of zeff80 1.95/5 rDev -22.9% It's been about 3 years since my first and only malt liquor. I thought I'd re-visit the style. A - Clear, straw-yellow with tons of bubbles. Two-finger, white bubbly head of foam that does not last long nor leave any lace. S - Not much other than corn and grains. T - Grains and corn with a spicy alcohol presence - I can't really define it as hops but it was spiced. M - Best attribute. Crisp, sharp and dry with a light bodied. D - Still not loving malt liquors. I took my time on this one not to savor it or because of the high ABV - I just wasn't that interested it drinking more of it. Serving type: can 02-28-2010 01:45:31 \| More by zeff80 Photo of Knapp85 3/5 rDev +18.6% My uncle introduced me to Mickey's a few years ago. One new years eve he got a case and we sat around drinking them trying to figure out the guessing game on the bottle caps. The beer might not be the greatest but at least they give you something to do while drinking it. Anyway it pours just like any other American adjunct lager I've had with a yellow body and A white head. The head fades and leaves us with sweet smelling brew. The beer tastes alright and doesn't have a bad aftertaste at all. It was a drinkable brew thankfully and it helped bring in the new year! Serving type: bottle 05-14-2011 00:21:49 \| More by Knapp85 Photo of jwc215 3.55/5 rDev +40.3% 40 oz. screw-cap bottle: Pours straw yellow with a thick white head that slowly descends to a lasting wide patch. Some spots of lacing stick. The smell is more of a macro lager than a malt liquor, but pretty decent within that realm - some grain, but overall quite clean and inoffensive. The taste is of sweet grain, some cooked corn, a touch of husk and a but of alcohol. Honey sweetness in the finish. The body is light and pretty slick. No need to put this one in a paper bag. For this style, it's very inoffensive and very drinkable. A kinder, gentler malt liquor. It has a smoothness to it, and the taste is more than tolerable - a bit too sweet. Not as aggressive as the stinging bee on the label would have it, but very drinkable and inoffensive for the style. Serving type: bottle 07-28-2008 04:36:01 \| More by jwc215 Photo of WVbeergeek 2.03/5 rDev -19.8% Mickey's hand grenades appears pale golden yellow tone with a large bright white quickly dwindling head leaves even fine lacing around my glass. Aromatics have cereal tones with corn and rice pulling up a chair, and mild herbal grass notes as well. Flavors collide upfront with cooked veggies, herbal notes, mild sweetness, and a somewhat metallic note though it finishes relatively clean after all of that. Mouthfeel is light bodied pretty thin with unnatural carbonation that tickles the throat. Drinkability is one of those ghetto college staples that will always sell with or without a marketing campaign. Serving type: bottle 02-06-2007 01:45:04 \| More by WVbeergeek Photo of Halcyondays 2.15/5 rDev -15% 12 oz. stubby green bottle, A: Pours a very pale yellow with a large cap of foam after gushing out of the big mouth bottle into a pint glass. Surprisingly good head retention, light spotty lacing. S: Very light, some grain malt is all I pick up from this one. T: Very fusely with a husky grain character and a bit of wheat. Overall, the flavour is very light. Hop character is barely noticable but adds a grungy wet hay aspect to the aftertaste. M: Low carbonation, very light-bodided, airy. D: An average malt liquor, but too pricey for the style. I got bored with this beer far to easily. At least it doesn't become undrinkable due to an alcohol character like some others of this style are. Serving type: bottle 06-21-2008 18:50:03 \| More by Halcyondays Photo of tempest 3.1/5 rDev +22.5% Drank straight from the wide-mouth, green stubby bottle - as it was meant to be. This beer is surprisingly not bad. I think there's some truth to the bottle's "Fine Malt Liquor" label. Because as far as malt liquor goes, this isn't that far behind Rogue fancy-pants Dad's Little Helper. In terms of flavor, this beer reminds me of a dull PBR. It just has gentle bready malts behind a vague sweetness. Completely drinkable and inoffensive. Worth a try, just because it's Mickey's. Serving type: bottle 12-23-2008 17:01:37 \| More by tempest Photo of rhoadsrage 2.05/5 rDev -19% (Served in a nonic) A- This beer has a straw yellow crystal clear body with a big carbonation of large bubbles and a bubble white head of molten candy. S- The soft green apple acetaldehyde grows as the beer warms with a light flinty note that is nice but soon overpowered. There is a faint field corn note in the finish. T- The clean flavor has a slight tartness with a faint corn flavor that comes through on the exhale. The green apple flavor has a jolly rancher candy quality to it that gets stronger with each sip. M- This beer has a light mouthfeel with a watery texture and a fizzy finish. D- This beer is light but not clean. The tartness and corn and apple flavors are very pronounced and become a bit more obnoxious with each sip. Serving type: can 07-14-2010 16:48:57 \| More by rhoadsrage Photo of Jason 3.03/5 rDev +19.8% Presentation: 40 oz green glass bottle, no freshness date. Tough looking flexing green hornet as their mascot. Under the cap is a psuedo-word of the day, cam-a-flu (n) Feigned illness to get out of work or a date. I guess real winners of the world drink this stuff. Appearance: Pale yellow, crystal clear with a thin white lace with a decent retention. Some of this sample was poured out to get a look at the head retention and true colour. Smell: Light lager like twang, almost import lager-like. Minimal malt in the nose, quite clean. Taste: Touch of smoothness within the crisp light bodied mouth feel. Very slim malt character, quick bite of hop bitterness that fades just as quickly as it comes in. Seltzer water feel to this brew with a pretty clean finish though a tag a long astringent flavour stays around for a bit. Notes: Not much to the brew for flavour, quick and clean to drink. Big time college crowd 40oz brew, a step above Magnum ... the other Miller Brewing produced Malt Liquor. Not a bad web site they put out also http://www.mickeys.com. Serving type: bottle 03-23-2002 06:02:25 \| More by Jason Photo of Wasatch 2/5 rDev -20.9% Serving type: bottle 03-16-2010 00:43:27 \| More by Wasatch Photo of Zorro 2.55/5 rDev +0.8% Pour a clear yellow beer, pretty much what I expected. Smell is mildly malty and grainy, no off flavors. Taste is slightly sweet and is mostly of grain. Not as bad as it could be. Mouthfeel is thicker than expected. It is as drinkable as any other macrobrew. Serving type: can 02-13-2004 02:51:43 \| More by Zorro Photo of woodychandler 3.13/5 rDev +23.7% M-I-C-K-E-Y, Why? Because I want to bump up my bottle numbers. 'S, it's true, I'm ticking. M-A-L-T L-I-Q-U-O-R R U coming over? I have a 40! D-R-U-N-K. Woody's a fool, Woody's a fool, forever may his banner fly! No, I'm not high. M-I-C-K-E-Y-'-S! Man, screw that "Back to the Future" action, this is more like "Peggy Sue Got Married"! This is the kind of drinking action that I did in my earliest prime as a teenager thirty years ago, asking random strangers to go into bars and take-aways to score a 40 or two (or more) of beer so that we could get wildly wasted and totally disrespect beer. I was at IHLNC today for the Winter Warmer bash and after a 5.5 hour shift, I did not need any more of that, nor did I want to give up. Queen Garden 6-Pack to the rescue! No better time than the present to get my bottle count up, up, up. A foamy finger of bone-white head with decent retention, initially. Color was a deep golden-yellow with NE-plus quality clarity, allowing me to look through the walls into the neighbor's doings. Nose was comparably sweet with some of the high ABV offerings of today, but with a none-too-subtle cereal quality mixed in. Mouthfeel was effervescent and scrubbing to the point that I felt like I had a new palate. I kid you not, this was a very pleasant diversion after today's skull-ripping. It was plenty sweet with a lot of adjunct characteristics, but it was also a beer that I felt comfortable sitting with in front of the TV. There was nothing off about it, despite its being in a GREEN (oh, no!) bottle, but either pasteurization or good handling or both kept it that way. YMMV. Finish left me simply craving a Hammond's-brand hard pretzel to cut some of the cloying sweetness. Would I drink this again? Heck, yes! Would it be my first choice? Heck, no! Was it cost-effective/worthy? Yep. What would my back alley homies say? Hey, I've hung out and imbibed with them enough to the point that they call me "Pittsburgh" and don't throw their empties in my yard, instead leaving them hanging in a bag on the fence for me to collect and recycle. They'd applaud me. I applaud you. Serving type: bottle 12-05-2010 00:09:51 \| More by woodychandler Photo of DoubleJ 2.95/5 rDev +16.6% Welcome to start of the Brown Paper Bag Invitational! In this short series, I will be tasting malt liquor for the next few days, and this is sure to be fun. The only other malt liquor I've ever had was Olde English, and I was greatly offended. We'll start tonight with a "light" malt liquor, the one with the stinger that looks to be on steroids...Mickey's! On to the beer: Do you like your body pale? Very pale straw color, the carbonation bubbles providiing some attraction to the eyes, the soapy head providing a solid canopy thus far. The aroma is milled corn, maybe with a trace of the can...run-of-the-mill cheap lager smell. Heyy....this isn't bad at all! The body is light, but the carbonation is conrolled well, it doesn't bombard your palate. This is quite sweet. Sweet corn upfront, then some mild corn syrup-llike texture and sweetness. The alcohol is there, but hidden in the background with a dull bitterness and kick to it. Semi-dry finish. For what you get, this is a solid malt liquor without too many flaws. It's also one of the lightest on the market, so it may not be the best pick if you're looking for a quick buzz and nothing more. I survived the first stage without any major wounds. We'll resume the Brown Paper Bag Invite tomorrow night. Serving type: can 09-19-2008 03:35:48 \| More by DoubleJ Photo of Beerandraiderfan 1.41/5 rDev -44.3% Well, I doubt I'm saying anything we don't already know. This stuff is shhhiiity. Nasty yellow appearance leaving nothing in terms of head, lacing or retention. Horrible dumpster 4 day old beer smell. Taste isn't the worst thing I've drank, but it's close. I guess it gets better the more you drink of it, and it is cheap . . . but all you can taste is the alcohol, which isn't even all that high. Brutal. Serving type: can 11-26-2009 00:37:53 \| More by Beerandraiderfan Photo of beerthulhu New Jersey 2.83/5 rDev +11.9% A: Pours a clear, bright, yellow with a creamy white head that left a spotchy lacing behind. Visible carbonation was soft. S: The nose was light, with some corn and fresh grains. T: For flavor there was corn mash, a light malt sweetness and a light herbal hopping. The beer finishes with a sweet corn malting and herbal hop fade. Overall the flavor was fairly clean albeit limited in complexity but did have a noticeable hop presence. M; light, a tad watery with a decent herbal hopping. D: Decent for an old-school macro. Serving type: bottle 03-06-2008 00:27:10 \| More by beerthulhu Photo of Brad007 3.88/5 rDev +53.4% Pours a pale golden color with a one finger head that quickly fades to nearly nothing. Aroma is strong with corn/bready malt in the nose. Nothing special here and to be expected. Taste is strong and sweet with corn, baked bread and a touch of alcohol in the middle. Mouthfeel is full of the same flavors as above (corn, baked bread) except that they linger. Not harsh or anything. Seems average. Not bad. I was expecting worse but this really isn't a bad example. It's drinkable for what it is. Serving type: bottle 03-20-2009 23:59:57 \| More by Brad007 Mickey's from Miller Brewing Co. 60 out of 100 based on 819 ratings.
Columns \| October 15, 2011 21:44 Non-random Fischer Random Non-random Fischer Random The 2009 poster of the Mainz Chess Classic, which doesn't exist anymore. There Chess960/Fischer Random was played every year. In that blitz game, Nigel Short played the St. George Defense (which usually arises after 1.e4 a6 but now appeared on the board after 1.Nf3 b5 2.e4 a6) and even managed to beat the 13th World Champion (who, admittedly, blundered an exchange in the middle game). He thus created an appropriate echo of another St. George game, in which another British Grandmaster, Tony Miles, managed to beat former World Champion, Anatoly Karpov (at the Skara European Team Championships in 1980). In fact, Short also beat Kasparov with the now-rare King’s Gambit – and with a rare line within the King’s Gambit at that - providing another argument for those people (and I think I consider myself to be among them) who claim that all it takes to solve boring computer preparation is some creativity in the opening. Is that too much to ask of professional chess players? Of course, some will say that it’s easy to experiment in blitz, but that one can’t expect the chess elite to actually start studying the King’s Gambit for important tournament games. Playing this dubious gambit in serious competition will cost them serious money! I only partly agree with this argument, because there’s no reason why playing blitz should, in principle, not be as profitable as playing classical chess. (It seems that even Kirsan Ilyumzhinov agrees with me on this point!) But let’s for a moment assume that it’s impossible to force the King’s Gambit (or the St. George, or any other opening that’s not considered to be ‘main stream’) down professional players’ throat: what if we simply adjusted the starting position a little to help the pros make up their minds? Suppose from now on everybody would needs to start their game with the following position: PGN string So much for all Najdorf and Ruy Lopez theory! And that’s just the beginning, of course. All openings would have to be studied anew, because the slight modification will create all sorts of subtle and not so subtle differences. The game would still resemble chess sufficiently not to lose the interest of the general public, but the nuances would be different enough for the insiders to immediately appreciate the complete make-over of “boring” chess opening theory. Perhaps some will argue that this new beginning position is actually to Black’s advantage, even though it’s still White to move. Well, that might turn out to be true, but how ‘fair’ is the current starting position? Isn’t that considered to be better for White? Even so, to make it a bit fairer maybe we shouldn’t put a black pawn on a6 (which might also makes queenside castling slightly less attractive), but a black knight? PGN string Heck, we could even have this position and let White choose whether he wants to play with White or Black. It still would be a much more modest change and thus be much more likely to be accepted by both professionals and laymen. Doesn’t this modest change of the initial position makes the ‘real’ Fischer Random chess look absurdly radical? We can get rid of all the special regulations of Fischer Random chess, or Chess960 as it seems to be called these days: no more need to create the various starting positions with a special computerized algorithm; no more need for confusing different castling rules. We can simply play the above position for the next, say, 600 years - until theory has evolved so much again that we’re ready for the next step – put a white knight on h3 as well. (And in the mean time, we can enjoy the evolution of completely new chess openings as more and more games are coming in.) Perhaps even more importantly, the quality of the games will be much higher than those played under the current Fischer Random rules. Why? Simply because Fischer Random opening positions are too unfamiliar and weird even to super-GMs, causing them to blunder in a much higher percentage of the games than in regular chess. Normal pattern recognition is mostly useless in Fischer Random. As Tim Krabbé once said, “Fischer Random puts us back 200 years.” I suspect Krabbé was even being polite in his estimation. Maybe it puts us back not 200 but 400 years. Remember those games from the 17th century in which even the strongest players in the world used to fall for what we now think of as ‘cheap opening traps’? Well, I recently went to watch the Dutch Fischer Random Championship in my hometown, Amsterdam. I was just in time to witness what everybody felt was the ‘dream final’ - the decisive game between Dutch GM Dennis de Vreugt and Yasser Seirawan, who in regular chess beat many a World Champion in his best days, including Karpov and Kasparov. I was in for a disappointment: Seirawan blundered a full piece as early as move eight, thus robbing the audience of a thrilling finale (and handing De Vreugt his well-deserved title on a silver platter). I felt bad, not only for Yasser but also for the tournament organizers. Honestly, I think no audience in the world likes to see such ‘drama’. And that’s hardly the only example from GM-practice in Fischer Random chess. I remember Gata Kamsky blundering on move six a few years ago. I think it was against Aronian – I’d love to show you the game, but unfortunately, because to my knowledge there isn’t any good commercial database storing Fischer Random games, let alone allowing for any kind of simple search functionality (no handy ECO opening codes, sorry!), I can’t. Whereas some people are still debating Lasker-Lasker, New York 1924, any game of Fischer Random or Chess960 seems utterly forgettable. Why not get rid of this artificial stuff and just move a pawn or piece to a6 in the starting position instead? Even if you think I sound like a Luddite, it’s hard to deny that it’s a lot easier for all. Share \| Arne Moll's picture Author: Arne Moll arkan's picture Finally possible to comment :) I don't think this will solve anything at all, a pawn at a6. Randomness should be a factor, maybe something like let the tournament software randomly choose beteen the a2-h2 or a7-h7 pawns before each game? Also i don't see why chess960 is so bad? It's just not very common yet Arne Moll's picture Yes, the comments option was switched off by accident. Anyway, why should randomness be a factor? Isn't the main goal of this form of chess to avoid any kind of heavily analyzed opening theory? Well, that can also be achieved by simply putting a pawn on a6 in the starting position. (If the goal is to play a different kind of mind game, then I think the game of Go is a wonderful alternative!) Macauley's picture Nyah. Chess 960 is much more interesting to watch than just putting a pawn on a6. In St. Louis last month they didn't even use a computer to select the starting position. It's not hard to follow the rules for setting up a position. Also, doesn't DGT make a clock that will give you the position a the touch of a button then times the game? Arne Moll's picture I'm not denying Chess960 is interesting to watch, or fun to play - and watching or playing one game with a pawn on a6 would be equally interesting (or uninteresting, depending on your personal preference). What would, in my opinion, become more and more interesting after just one single game, is to see this position occur in more games so that opening theory, one of the key 'scientific' properties of chess, actually gets a chance to develop. This is an aspect that's completely lost in the Chess960 proposal, where each round a new position is chosen (or was this different in St. Louis?). It's this 'reset' principle that, in my view, completely destroys the beauty of opening theory evolution. This, and the 'homework' aspect, are not lost in my proposal, nor would it be hard to collect and distribute games played with this genre in a normal database file and explain its nuances to the general public without having to go through the basics of the starting position each and every time. thechamp's picture Sorry, but boring proposals. Capablanca, Fischer and everyone advocating randomness of sorts is trying to kill classical chess. Possibilities are endless in chess - no need for any adjustments to the starting position. Why not leave this old and still vibrant game alone. Rudy's picture Moving a black pawn one or two square from it's starting square (at random or not) doesn't give rise to a new kind of chess. E.g., the starting position with a black pawn on a6 is the same position with colours reversed after 1.a3 in a normal game of chess. So, this instead limits one's options. A similar argument holds if black places his knight on a6. Thus this doesn't look like the way forward for our game of chess. st32's picture I would have been the first to mention this if the comments were not switched off :) Arne Moll's picture I did realize the situation was the same as after 1.a3 with Black to move: the reason why I kept the pawn on a6 was to preserve the comparison with the St. George Defense. Not sure how this would limit one's options. That's the same as saying that in Chess960, having a bishop on b1 instead of c1 'limits one's options' because you can't put your bishop the a1-h8 diagonal anymore! With a black pawn on a6, 1.e4 c5 would surely look like a Sicilian but it would not be the same, thus killing all existing Sicilian theory and providing a new basis for fresh ideas. It might turn out that 2.b3 is now the best move, or that 1.b3 is a better way of dealing with the situation. It would take decades to establish this. It sounds pretty exciting to me. Rudy's picture The suggestion of putting a black pawn on a6 limits the number of reachable positions compared to the normal configuration of pieces. Thus, in a sense, the complexity of the game decreases and there is less room for creativity. But this problably isn't the reason why you suggested the starting position should be adjusted. As I understand it, there are two reasons. In the first place, it renders established opening theory useless (well, not totally, since there still are ways to transpose to known theory). Second, it enhances our understanding of the game. It would be beneficial to know exactly how a different starting position influences winning chances (or drawing chances for some of you out there!) and then use this knowledge in a normal game. Come to think of it, would Adorjan still say that black is OK if the pawn is on a6? In a way, black has lost some of his reactive possibilities. I'm guessing that a hedgehog with a tempo up for black is disastrous, since he can't put the tempo to use (and this may hold for other sicilians as well). But certainly, i can't disagree it isn't exciting, but it does look a bit artificial. As for chess960, should we not play chess960, because a GM blundered a piece in the first couple of moves? adam's picture interesting proposal; however, imho chess960 is a more promising alternative, it would just need _much_ more support from players, sponsors as well as fans... for instance, although world champions have been crowned multiple times by now, having no database in an age with live rating sites updated several times a day clearly describes the situation i want to ask something that may be trivial: what is lasker-lasker (1924)? Levon's picture adam's picture thx, very nice game. must have heard about it a long back, but couldn't recall Kenneth W. Regan's picture At Hans Bodlaender's, I'm on record as favoring this form of "Fischer Non-random": With 960-squared possibilities, probably a few thousand really meaningful ones, it would really set back "theory" 200 years! thechamp's picture It's interesting that Arne Moll wants to "kill all excisting sicilian theory". The openings - their names and the long tradition of developed theory - is a living cultural treasure. Think again Arne! Arne Moll's picture Thechamp, I think you misunderstood me, or maybe I didn't make it clear enough: I love our game as it is and I think there's plenty of room to avoid boring theoretical duels without doing anything to the starting position! Dan's picture Arne, I've read chess websites for a decade and never commented because I've never felt strongly enough. But this idea of yours is beautifully brilliant and I think it should be the next step in the evolution of chess. Like many such ideas, it seems destined for a long time to be misunderstood and unappreciated by many, possibly even the majority. Also like many profound ideas, it is deceptively simple, but this is a large part of its brilliance. As you rightly point out, the "minor" alteration becomes increasingly significant as one moves up the rating ladder - to GMs, it's a monumental difference. And yet, unlike F-Random, it preserves the essence of the game. Fischer Random's flaw is that it's too wildly different, as you point out. As its name and creator remind us, it's random (incoherent, meaningless), and therefore disrupts in too violent and shocking a way the inner coherence and logic of chess that is its essence. A game perhaps appropriate only for Bobby Fischer himself, or someone of his inner chaos and insanity. If only we could stop idolizing far-and-away the single most insane and dangerous of chess genius, we may be more receptive to good ideas. Many amateurs won't appreciate the idea because they won't think it's a major difference. They like Fischer Random for that reason. But the truth is a pawn on a3 or a6 is a monumental difference. Some of those who bemoan the dying of chess by opening theory, in my view, are plain dishonest with themselves. They laud themselves as ultra-creative as a defense mechanism to defend bruised egos. Their problem isn't really with opening theory, it's that they lack comprehension, may be a bit lazy (or frustrated with past attempts) and, yes, may lack creativity compared to better players. Wanting to "invent" from move 1 is not a sign of brilliance or creativity, people! Like some spoiled child who slaps paint on paper and wants to be praised a brilliant artist, they want to be appreciated as creative geniuses without doing any work or respecting the history of the game. In what other field - math?, science? - do we praise people who want to invent everything anew, without absorbing the body of material collected by humanity first? Most theoretical chess opening lines leave us in early mid-game positions that are unclear, with many possibilities reflecting different styles and values. That's where the limitless creativity kicks in, and if you listen to any GM review his or her games you won't help but be filled with an appreciation for his/her creativity. Do some opening lines lead directly to equal endgames? Sure. The exception proves the rule. I am co-owner and Director of the Chess Club of Fairfield County, With bias but also good reason, I believe we are the best chess club in the world. We are a 4,000 square foot building, newly renovated, dedicated 7 days/week to chess. We do not rely on philanthrophy - our funding is from the chess community. We'd be happy to have a "St. George's" tournament or other event with your idea as the centerpiece. Feel free to contact me at anytime to discuss! Thanks again for the great idea, Arne. Don't be deterred!! Alfonso's picture A "pedantic" note: Skara 1980 was not a chess Olympiad, was an European Team Championship. The 1980 Olympiad was at Malta. Arne Moll's picture You're right of course, thanks. Corrected. patyolat's picture Suppose that Fischer Random was originally invented first. How do you think people would react if someone suggested that 959 possible starting positions should be discarded and only one used from now. They correctly would pont out that whole games could be calculated by a computer than memorized by a player, and "played" it in a tournament. Fischer considered this cheating and he definitely had a point. Unfortunately people as we know like the status quo, and insist to play only that one old boring starting position. By the way I prefer to call it Fischer Random, since I believe the inventor deserves that his name is attached to his invention. We don't call Rubik's Cube Cube54 or Cube4325200327448985600 either. Arsen Babayan's picture "We can simply play the above position for the next, say, 600 years"... And I think this is the error in author's theory which triggers it totally void. 600 years? Seriously? I agree that it took 600 years for the modern chess theory to emerge and get to where it is now. But do not forget, that all the strategic and tactical theory is still out there and even if we completely disregarded the role of computers in modern-day chess theory, it would take no more than 100 years for the opening theory for a new starting position to grow and overgrow. In this computerized era it would take 5-6 years, let it be 10, to get another starting position analyzed and published in all details, while you would never do that for 960 possible positions of Fischer's chess. Fischer's idea was "show me you can play CHESS". By switching between starting positions you do not fulfill Bobby's desire, and if a super-GM blunders a piece on 10th move playing Chess960, sorry, then there are only two explanations for that: either the guy is a theory-freak or that's just an accident, which happens sometimes and the author's suggestion doesn't solve any of those in any way. Another major drawback for this is that it's very difficult to find another position in line with author's idea which would not be of big... if not decisive advantage to either side. Black pawn to a6 - and Black is much better, as the author correctly mentioned. But the alternative (knight to a6) is a disaster for black - not only they are deprived of very important defensive piece on c6 or d7, they basically will have to play a piece down most of the game, as 1.d4 will become an automatic first move for white taking c5 square from the knight, let alone all possible captures Bf1xa6 by destroying black's queenside pawn structure. So briefly, I think this is just another "nice try". In my honest opinion nothing has yet been suggested to even compete with Fischer's idea of revolution. Mattovsky's picture The idea is not really new. I can't find the source right now, but Dvoretsky made a very similar suggestion years ago. chandler's picture Yes, he made it in his chesscafe column a year or two ago; Arne maybe you should have a look at it. His motivation is also that positions should be understandable, but he explains it better and in more detail. And I think his suggestion is different... moving just a pawn or something like that. Please search for it and give a link :) GeneM's picture Dvoretsky discussed FRC-chess960, and his own alternative, on 2008/Jan, in "Polemic Thinking, Part Two", at... Yes, we need to discard the 'Random' from Fischer Random Chess. But No, not the way this ChessVibes column says to. I believe that one of the 959 non-traditional setups should be annointed for the next couple decades, so that grandmasters and amateurs, both armed with Fritz and a creative spirit, could develop a whole broad & deep opening theory for the new setup, to rival the depth and breadth already achieved for the traditional chess1 setup. Watching that new theory grow from nothing would be facinating. It would also be educational in ways we cannot foresee. But what should the new setup be? I recommend the following, which after 1. e3 e6 in the traditional setup, can be reached in nine more legal move-pairs: Importantly, S#549 has no corner bishops, and the two white knights start on the same shade of square. Positions which lack either of these two characteristics should not be considered at this time. I was redirected here from... , its entry dated 2011/Nov/05. GeneM (2011/Nov/05) CastleLong .com Arne Moll's picture Sounds like a sensible suggestion. For me, the most important condition is that this position is fixed for at least a couple of decades, allowing theory to develop and games to be analysed properly by a large amount of people, rather than just a few specialists. GeneM's picture Fritz_13 has a new cloud-derived collaborative analysis feature named "Let's Check". This feature could have a tremendous effect on the rate of growth for opening "theory" for one new stable reused chess960 position such as S#549. The whole chess playing planet could contribute to a central repository of analyzed variations of all the not-yet-discovered opening systems for S#549. Seems like the "Let's Check" feature is a significant new reason to consider adding reuse of S#549 to the long existing reuse of the traditional setup S#518. harryo's picture I think that the 1.a3 idea is too limiting for the future of chess. What would be really wonderful is to change chess competition so that players play three types of games in equal proportion in the really big global tournaments: 1) A traditional chess portion of competition 2) A fixed inter-generational FIDE assigned Chess960 start position portion of competition 3) A genuinely randomized Chess960 portion of competition If we give these names it would be: 1) "Classical" portion of competition 2) "Fixed-position" portion of competition 3) "Fischer-random" portion of competition Each of these three divisions has the following academic advantages: 1) Classical-start -> test of memorization transitioning into the mid-game 2) Fixed-start -> test of good research techniques transitioning into the mid-game 3) Fischer-start -> test of creativity transitioning into the mid-game The big tournaments of the world would feature the elite players facing up in all these three forms of chess competition. The chess rating system would legitimize and recognize these three forms of play by giving them each an official ratings system. Then in other parts of the world specialist tournaments would start to show up focusing on one of these disciplines depending on what the regional interest is. For example there are regions of the world right now that are highly focused on traditional chess. There are regions of the world willing to try fixed-start positions and there are regions in the world such as Germany that already have an exciting Chess960 culture. I appeal to the chess world. Can Chess players of the world finally accept that traditional Chess and Chess960 are not mutually exclusive, but actually complement each other? Please I ask that the chess world lessons it's black and white mentality just for a short time while we rethink the future of chess. Thanks for listening woolyworm's picture Yasser Sierawan's chess variant, where a hawk ( a piece combining the moves of bishop and a knight) and an elephant (a piece combining the powers of a rook and a knight) are introduced on a vacant square on the back rank, maintains the patterns of the classic game while cranking up the voltage. Yasser's game gets exceedingly complex once the new men are placed, but there is no reason why the players can't agree to use the same mechanism to introduce another bishop, say, or any other (or any number of other) pieces during a game. Using this technique preserves the contours of the traditional game and the reliance on opening theory, though valuable, is considerably less so. Try it. You'll like it. woolyworm's picture MatsW's picture You should have a look at this, an alternative to Fischer Random where the pieces are manually (non-randomly) relocated: MatsW's picture By the way, I have already suggested a training variant, Chess256, close to Moll's suggestion: Edwin's picture From what I can tell watching the recent Tata Steel tournament wherein we saw the best players in the world square off, this talk of the death of chess is as premature now as it was in Capablanca's day. In many of the Tata games the top GMs got in trouble in the openings. T's picture Pick 1 960 position and use that for the next 10 years, then pick another and so forth ;) Honestly I think normal chess has a lot of life still though. Anthony's picture I've stumbled across this interesting discussion, and like to add something. First, I should say that I'm not much more than a casual player - I did play for the school team, and I played a bit of club chess later, but if I tell you that I own only two chess books - a 1974 "Ideas Behind the Openings", and Fischer's 60 Memorable Games - you'll know that I'm pretty much a tyro in these computer-driven times. But I do love the game, and I think I agree with those who bemoan the fact that there's so much theory now that you can't even say who just won a game - was it you, or the sound variant you managed to remember move by move from a book? But I also understand why there's such a resistance to Fischer Random and similar variants. It's not "real" chess - it's not "classic" and so on. So here's a suggestion - daft or not, only you really serious players can say. But this suggestion has certain advantages; it's real chess - its' classic, so the purists should be satisfied. But it pretty much wipes out most - not all, and that's important - opening theory. You'd have to start again, which gives you another fifty years to build up theoretical lines! And, finally, I promise two things should any of you try this- and you should try this by playing half-a-dozen games with someone whose game you know well: one, that you'd be as frustrated as hell for the first two or three games - but then, your opponent would be in the same boat. And, two,that it would really test your ability to create - and - as Fischer put it - just play chess. This suggestion isn't even new- in fact, it's several hundred years old!! Let's call it Indian Chess. (Which is where the King's Indian, and Nimzo-Indian get their names of course - which is why I said that not all opening theory gets jettisoned), So what you do is revert to chess - classic chess - as it was played in India. That is, reverse the rule that allows pawns to move two squares from their original position. It was done to "speed up" the game of course, but maybe it's time now to slow it down again! By doing this, nothing about the game as we know it now gets chucked out. But just try this, and think of how little use opening theory is - and yet you're playing real, classic chess. For instance, suppose I happen to hate facing the Ruy Lopez: well, when I see e3 played by white, I can avoid any possibility of that opening by playing a6 straight away. Then my opponent has to think again - and really think again. It would need a mathematician to calculate how many combinations are possible in Indian chess after each player has made, say, two moves each - but whether it's a smaller or larger number than at present hardly matters, because without the book or the computer to do it for you - over the board, that is - you'd have to fall back on your native ability to play the game. Classic Indian Chess: any takers? Your comment
Lessons from a great salesman Published: Tuesday, Jan. 10 2012 12:00 a.m. MST Verizon Wireless store salesman Antione Haynes looks out the front door of a Verizon store with an Apple iPhone advertisement in foreground in Mountain View, Calif., Thursday, Feb. 3, 2011. Verizon Wireless said Friday, Feb. 4, its first day of taking online orders for the iPhone produced record sales. Paul Sakuma, Associated Press Enlarge photo» He may be one of the better salesman I have known. A native of Venezuela, he is called Vlad by his friends. I first met him several years ago when attending a free entrepreneurial seminar called Junto. Among all the participants, he was the most outstanding student. Vladimir Canro arrived in the United States several years ago while still a young man. He had spent his youth in the streets of Caracas selling fruits and vegetables to any customer he could find. Over time, he obtained an associate's degree in engineering. He left Venezuela at the peak of President Hugo Chavez’s crackdown on the opposition. Using a green card, he found a construction job in Texas and decided that America was the best country for him. In time, he came to Salt Lake City to attend college with the hope of finishing his education. He landed in Utah on a chilly day in December without a warm coat, money or a place to live. For the first few cold nights, he found slept inside a large metal dumpster full of cardboard. He tells me cardboard is an excellent insulator from frigid temperatures. If ever there was a person who could overcome the barriers in life, it would be Vladimir. His story, like that of so many emigrants, is one of perseverance, hope, faith and an inextinguishable fire in the belly to succeed. Today, he has surmounted every obstacle. He is working on a computer science degree from Weber State University and has a very good job as a salesman for Geiger Rig, and he is married with two young children. What I have told you so far is in itself a terrific story. There is, however, much more to say about this amazing fellow. As part of the Junto class, he and his 20 classmates were told if they were to be successful in business they will need to sell their idea to investors. The instructor, Greg Warnock, an accomplished entrepreneur himself, first gave Vlad and his fellow students study materials on how to raise money for a new business. The students were then asked to apply what they had learned and report on their successes or failures. The students were invited to meet with strangers, not friends or family, over a course of a week and raise $5,000 to fund a business idea. I am sure I don't need to tell you how very daunting this task is. Following their efforts, class members assembled to report their results. The outcome: Not one had been able to raise the money, except Vlad. Over several days, he had gone into high-rise office buildings, from business to business with no appointment, hoping to tell an owner about his idea. Receptionists hesitated. Owners balked. Vladimir waited and waited. Eventually the owners, hoping to dismiss the young foreigner, invited him into their offices for an anticipated very short visit. Once seated, Vlad went to work. Using amazing skills, both learned and natural, he marched along, collecting a whopping, mind-boggling $135,000. “Vlad, how is this possible?" I asked. "Not even the best salesman would have achieved such success. Your barriers are significant. I can hardly understand you when you speak. You have no company; you have no brilliant idea to commercialize. What’s your secret?” With a wide and pleasant smile on his face, he respectfully taught me the five key principles of selling that he uses and that the rest of us should employ as well. The principles are as follows: 1. Never accept no for an answer. Vlad tells me customers say no six times but on the seventh request, they say yes. 2. Listen to customers. Don’t mention what is being sold until the customer explains what’s on his mind. Earn his respect, trust and confidence first. 3. Tailor the solution to meet the customers’ needs. It is critical to make the solution a perfect fit. 4.Never give up. Be persistent and patient. 5. Think outside of the box. Approach a sales opportunity with innovation and creativity. Do the unexpected. Think big. Do you have a favorite sales story? Let’s hear about it. Please contact me at [email protected]. Get The Deseret News Everywhere
Take a Bite Out of Milling Costs Vibration, excessive heat and silicon dust can bring a $300,000+ milling machine to a grinding halt. With downtime averaging several thousand dollars a day, diligent preventive maintenance and training are wise investments. The cutter head is subject to the most wear. "Depending upon cutting conditions and the type of machine, tools can last [from] just a few hours up to several days," says Thomas Chudowski, product business manager, global road construction, Kennametal. "Normally, increased wear is due to aggressive operation without making adjustments to conform to the jobsite and material conditions," adds Philip Taraschi, product specialist, BOMAG Americas Inc. Watch your speed/depth Operating speed drives much of the wear. "The speed of operation is critical in calculating wear to the cutter bits, holders and drum of the machine, [as well as] the life you get out of track pads and conveyor belts," says Dennis Munks, The Sollami Company. "Running at maximum speeds reduces the life of every component mentioned and increases vibration, which leads to other costly repairs. Running the machine at excessive speeds is usually the main cause for uneven tool wear." Heat generation due to excessive speed deteriorates carbide tips. "When you lose the protective carbide, the tooth becomes dull and blunt," says Jeff Wiley, Wirtgen. "That creates vibration and slows the machine down as much as 40%." In addition, material needs a chance to evacuate. "Massive wear on tools can be caused by not getting cut material out of the housing quickly enough as a result of the machine's cutting depth and/or advance speed," says Chudowski. Material gets re-circulated, causing wear on all components (tools, holder system and even the housing). "Also, water cannot get to the tool, negatively affecting rotation, as well as tool wear." Inspect often The cutter head requires constant attention. "Start by checking hourly and adjust the interval based on the wear you are observing," suggests Eric Baker, marketing manager, Roadtec. "Usually, there is a gap in trucks when this can be done." Visually inspect the cutter teeth and spot-change any that need to be replaced. "Deep cuts in hard asphalt require more frequent inspections, while shallow cuts in soft or deteriorated asphalt will require less," Baker notes. Taraschi also advocates frequent inspections, along with keeping water systems in good operating condition. "Inspections and water are inexpensive and essential tools, whereas labor and downtime are costly," he points out. If abrasive material wears into the holders, the expense and labor costs increase. Why tools fail According to Chudowski, typical tool failures and their causes include: • Carbide breakage - This can occur when tools are mechanically overloaded (hitting hard objects such as drainage covers or steel reinforcements), or due to thermal overload (excessive heat resulting from insufficient water supplied to the tool). • Lack of rotation - This can be caused by too much dirt in the holder bore (possibly due to a lack of water supply to the tool) or a worn tool holder. • Body wear/steel wash - This can be caused by high machine speed in soft (often abrasive) conditions. Reducing machine speed or using a different tool design could help solve the issue. Poor tool rotation quickly destroys teeth. "When the tooth stops rotating, it creates a flat side," says Wiley. "When it flat sides, it gets hot and fails." The type of material being milled can impact tool rotation."Material with high asphalt cement (AC) content can cause tools to stop rotating," says Taraschi. "In some cases, it can be corrected by adding low caustic to the water system. "If tools in a certain position continue to prematurely wear, check impact and skew angle positions," he advises. "If tools become mismatched to the point that the newer tools are wearing faster, clean up the drum with all new tools." Tool holder condition can also play a big part. "For example, if the face of the holder is worn down, this will mismatch tool impact position," Taraschi indicates, "or holder internal dimensions are worn to the point that it will still hold the tool, but will allow the tool to drastically move out of the intended impact angle." Faulty water spray systems are another leading cause of uneven tool wear. "The spray pattern must be a fan spray in order to get good coverage," says Wiley. "This system is filtered and you have to keep that system clean." "Water system faults generally relate to poor system maintenance and/or milling in place without discharging material," says Taraschi. "This allows material to force into spray tips." Causes of vibration Vibration needs to be addressed as it arises. The three levels of vibration include low, medium and high cycle. "High-cycle vibes are normally a pending fault in the engine to drum drive system," says Taraschi. "Medium-cycle vibes are normally a pending fault in the mill drum reduction drive system." Low cycle are the most common form of drum vibration, he continues. They can result from the ZERO mount bearing (opposite drum drive side) beginning to fail, causing the mill drum to run out of cycle; material buildup inside the left and right drum shell areas from lack of wash-down maintenance, knocking the drum off balance; or missing tool holders or material flight blocks. Drum vibration can also indicate worn/blunt tools, says Chudowski. If the vibration does not disappear after changing tools, the reason could be related to the drum being balanced incorrectly (or a lost counterweight); improper lacing design; incorrect drum installation; or a machine bearing that needs replacement. Keep an eye on the product The pattern behind the milling machine can be a good indicator of when to check the cutter head. "If the surface looks rough, stop the machine and inspect cutter tools and holders," says Munks. Also check bits at least twice daily during operation. "There are visual checks you should perform every minute of the day," says Wiley. "For example, ground [personnel] have a job of visually inspecting moving parts - tracks, conveyors and, most important, cutter pattern." The cutter pattern warns of potential issues. "For example, a white streak left behind the machine in the pattern could indicate worn out teeth, or holders that desperately need to be replaced," says Wiley. "Also, highs and lows on teeth and holders can lead to a poor cutter pattern no matter what speed you run the machine. 'Spotting' teeth can create grooves in the pattern that you can't control. Evenness and consistency are important to managing a good, consistent cutter drum and pattern." Obviously, you can't control all variables that impact tool life. "The life expectancy of cutter tools varies so much depending upon the material being cut," Munks states. "Size of aggregate and compaction of material plays a big part in tool life." But there are steps you can take to get as much life from tools as possible. "Once the cutter tool becomes blunt, change it before the carbide tip is totally worn down," Munks recommends. "Once the carbide wears away, extensive damage to holders and blocks can happen very quickly and cause major downtime and repairs. Real blunt carbide tips on cutter tools are also a major cause of vibration. Maintain sharp cutter tools throughout the entire drum, and reduce the amount of times you spot new cutter tools on the drum alongside worn cutter tools." "The idea of every cutting drum system is that the tooth takes the majority of the wear and is the easiest component to replace," says Baker. "If the tooth is no longer there or not taking the wear, then other parts of the system take the wear. The tooth holder on most systems can cost anywhere from four to 10 times as much as the tooth, so you would much rather replace a tooth too soon than replace a holder." Replacing tools as needed will also minimize any "domino" effect. "Usually, when one tooth fails, the tooth closest to that one in the pattern fails next and so on," says Wiley. "They all work together." The size of the carbide on the tip of the tool can impact horsepower and production of the milling machine, as well, Munks points out. "Smaller horsepower machines generally need a sharper, smaller carbide tip on the cutter tool for better penetration, and it will reduce vibration," he explains. "Good penetration of the material being milled is a key factor in getting the most production out of any machine." Use the right tools "Cutting teeth are the No. 1 operating cost for a milling machine, so any improvements in consumption can be the difference between success and failure," says Baker. "Part of the equation is to match the two main components of the tooth - carbide and steel - to the application." Premature failure is normally due to using the incorrect tool type, horsepower per tool impact rating and/or carbide and base structure for the material conditions, says Taraschi. "The life of a tool depends on having the correct tool matching unit horsepower to material conditions," he emphasizes. "Today, a milling contractor might have as many as five different tooth models in his inventory to address every application in his portfolio," adds Wiley. Taking the time to speak with tool manufacturers to ensure a good match (unit horsepower to regional material) will result in better production and longer tool life. "If you opt to install inadequate tools per unit horsepower to material, the results will be more costly due to frequent tool replacement and longer unit downtime," says Taraschi. A tool that's too small for the application or machine won't last long. "A tool too big for a low-horsepower machine slows down the machine," says Chudowski. "The life of the tool might be extended, but the efficiency of the machine is unacceptable (not economical)." That said, there are times when a faster and smaller tool may be better to improve the overall efficiency of the total operation - for example, when the paving operation is directly behind the milling operation. Material density also plays a role in tool selection. "If you are going to be cutting a looser material, you might need more steel to prevent the loose material from washing out the steel before the carbide is used," says Baker. "If you are cutting harder material, such as concrete, you would probably want more carbide, since there will be more impact wear." Another part of the equation is tooth shape or geometry. "Some teeth have a steeper slope for more penetration, while others are more blunt," says Baker. "Proper selection is dependent on the type of material to be cut. The best way to find out which is best is with experience, but the tool manufacturers also have a lot of expertise they can provide to help in the selection."
Comments by youreapwhatyousow • Older Comments • Page 1 of 1 • Newer Comments Written on Belfair Water District manager fired; court to determine severance : I would like to know more about the initial exchange between then homeowner with a citizen complaint Pope and Dave "shramie" Tipton. I agree with Ken, it is a good lesson on customer service and human nature for all (not just elected and staff) to remember! Written on Hit-and-run suspect bites trooper after claiming he has AIDS : in response to technogeek: Since someone has actually contracted HIV from a bite I think the odds don't matter to anyone who got infected. To that person it was 100%. I don't care if the odds are low, it's possible, and the guy should be prosecuted for more than just simple assault! I think you missed the point. Let's recap: hughareu cited some CDC data and concluded that HIV transmission by human bite was a remote risk when blood was present. I posted an example that would illustrate Mark Twain's saying: There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics. Now from that you may wrongly conclude that I somehow think this biter should get off easy, wrong again. There are many other concerns besides HIV when a bite occurs; Hep-B,Hep-C, herpes simplex virus, syphilis, TB and tetanus to name a few. I think he made a deadly threat and then delivered what a reasonable witness would believe to be a very serious if not fatal disease, the biter is fortunate to be alive. Good on the WSP for not being trigger/punch happy after all of the mayhem here locally. in response to hughareu: Okay all you keyboard counselors, here are the facts. Since this story is weak on describing the actual events, injuries and actual diagnosis of the assailant, please read this and get back on your daily regimen of anti-psychotics. Can (a person) become infected with HIV through biting? Infection with HIV in this way is unusual. There have only been a couple of documented cases of HIV transmission resulting from biting. In these particular cases, severe tissue tearing and damage were reported in addition to the presence of blood. Can HIV be transmitted through a human bite? It is very rare, but in specific circumstances HIV can be transmitted by a human bite. In 1997, CDC published findings from a state health department investigation of an incident that suggested blood-to-blood transmission of HIV by a human bite. There have been other rare reports in the medical literature in which HIV appeared to have been transmitted by a human bite. Biting is not a common way of transmitting HIV, in fact, there are numerous reports of bites that did not result in HIV infection. Severe trauma with extensive tissue damage and the presence of blood were reported in each of the instances where transmission was documented or suspected. Bites that do not involve broken skin have no risk for HIV transmission, as intact skin acts as a barrier to HIV transmission. There is no risk from a bite where the skin is not broken. There is a remote risk of transmission by human bite. All documented cases where transmission did occur included severe trauma with extensive tissue damage and the presence of blood. It would be interesting to know how many times an HIV infected person bit another unaffectted person where blood was present and they did/did not contract the virus. Obviously that would be more relevent than say a statistic that weighted a human bite as part of the total numbers of contractions. As an example, if out of 10,000 HIV contractions only 3 were by human bite, but there were only 10 total bites with qualifing conditions, then the risk would be 30%. But if I mix the data with all types of contractions the odds are only .03%. Written on LETTER TO THE EDITOR \| Why I'm voting 'no' on SKFR levy : Ok, here's a breakdown of some more false arguments: rob and dahl = mind projection fallacy dcr = onus probani fallacy just me (the most clever) = fallacy of many questions Written on Vote on Manchester Port Commission petition must be held in April : ˈbʊli' [bool-ee] Written on South Kitsap Fire and Rescue will ask voters to renew levy : in response to PennyRobinson: I moved away from Kitsap County and don't have to be concerned, but if I still lived in SK, I'd be asking Wayne if the taxpaying residents of his fire district could please be informed of any major expensive studies, like the merger study between SK and Bremerton, BEFORE the check to the consultants is written. It was really tacky to find out about the tens of thousands of dollars paid after the fact. (This comment was removed by the site staff.) Written on PDC investigating vehicle complaint against fire commissioner candidate : The timing of the release for this information is irrelevent. It is clearly a violation that the "perp" could have avoided...quit making excuses for the guilty. Dick West is clearly the right guy for this race! Written on PDC investigating vehicle complaint against fire commissioner candidate : (This comment was removed by the site staff.) Written on Finally, some differences among Bremerton port contenders : I've heard both of these guys talk, Shawn gets it, while Axel has to read from crib notes about what he is passionate about, reminds me of a Presidential candidate from Texas! Written on Port Orchard mayor pitches city manager idea : Hey fletc3her, you sound like a victim of a landslide election, lick your wounds and if you are such a hot shot, run for office, let's see what you can do... Written on Part of South Kitsap fire district may merge into North Mason: should have been done 50 years ago, thanks to the leadership in both districts for responding to this need Written on School Replacement, Repairs Riding on Central Kitsap's Levy Measure: in response to w.h.moore#247501: Not correct, again. The increase for the average CK home valued at $250,000 will be $67.50 per year above the current Capital Projects bond portion of your local school collection. It is impossible to tell anyone exactly how much this levy will cost any specific taxpayer because the process is based on the annual appraised value of property in the District. The language of the ballot measure sets exactly how much will be collected for each year. When it is time to send out the tax bills, the county divides that amount by the assessed value of all property and then multiplies the result by the value of each property to determine the amount of tax to be paid. That $67.50 is an estimate based on the current valuation of property in the District. It will change by the time our next tax bill comes. Please explain the math: 58 million over five years is, 11.6 million each year, say the value of cksd is 7 billion, that would require a rate of about 1.65/per 1000 of AV. A home worth 300,000 would pay about 5 grand a year or 400 more a month...why are our numbers so different? so what is that to a homeowner of say a 300,000 dollar home? $500 more a year for five years? Written on Kilmer, Others Propose Bill to Cut State Elected Officials' Salaries: Truth is, this is about leadership, demonstrate the correct fools who choose to only see through your partisan goggles ARE the problem, not dems or gop! Kilmer will continue to soar, but my guess is he slides in behind Dicks. Written on OUR VIEW \| For Congress, Vote Patty Murray, Norm Dicks ... and James Watkins: in response to jodaddy: "Due to what has happened and what I anticipate with the US economy we will have to adopt single payer health insurance." Hasn't that been the plan all along? (This comment was removed by the site staff.) Written on Killer Olympic Park Goat Examined for Disease: When the goats family was interviewed by officials, they said the old goat was hard of hearing and felt the hikers were taunting him by chanting feta, mutton and mazithra...later the hikers claimed they only said "ya betta not move nuttin, or the goat will play hell with ya", sorry that was baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad! Written on Big Savings Anticipated if Bremerton, South Kitsap Merge Fire Districts: in response to USMCSNIPER539: Roger, here is what you sound like to the rest of the world: one shot, one kill Written on Central Kitsap Fire Chief Announces Retirement as Merger Talks Progress: benifit charge means more money out of the tax payers pockets especially the city, this is a hostile take over to drain us of our last pennies, but hey we will have the fish statues to sleep under.... Written on First Kitsap County Swine Flu Fatality Reported: I think the vacination project in Kitsap county has been bumbled, don't cry about being a victim of supply, leadership requires you to take responsibility. When you have people like a health district bureaucrat/MD running an emergency incident you will have failures. Other county health officials recognized early that they needed to enlist those who regularly run large emergency incidents, and then give them the mission goals to run with. In this case our health director thinks this situation makes him king and his ego has caused harm to our community members, shame on you! Written on Central Kitsap Fire and Rescue Will Delay Adding New Firefighters: Let's see, you really didn't lose any money at all, what you lost was your projection of how much money you might have in the future. You still have 3 or 4 million in reserves right? Post your revenue/expense statement on your web site so we can all see how fat you really are. Why did you buy 14 new fire engines last year, at 400 grand each? Why do you have more support people (day shifters) than all the other kitsap FD's? You have plenty of fat to cut and still improve 911 responses (real workers who solve citizen emergencies).Quit BS'n the public and come clean. Written on South Kitsap Voters Approve Levy to Open Station, Add Firefighters: 72% yes for EMS in SK says a lot! This is a service that we that word? VALUE! When a life is saved, be it a car accident, heart attack, alergic reaction to a bee sting while playing...this is low cost high value insurance for what 72% of the community really cares about, that is, the people who make up this community, even the vocal minority who bravely boasts they don't want or need it, anyone with an IQ knows you would beg loudest for help when you or someone you really cared about needed that help, you see as your neighbor we even care about you! Written on Kitsap County Likely to Take on Debt for Bremerton Condos: Dahl: 2 of the 3 county commissioners who approved the deal were from the "red" side, one is now a state legislator from the "red" side...will anyone be held accountable for this? NO just like those "dirty reds" who lied about the motives for entering into a middle east war...this isn't about blue or red, its about people we trust to make decisions for us and when they fail, to this degree there should be a judicial review for negligence. BainbridgeClearCut: Ms. A was a mouthpiece for the KCHA and then was promoted to deputy director by Norm McGlaughlin with no qualifications seen...Norm ran with Cary, Dick Hayes and the others, their regime is so over that even Norm Dicks can't save them this time. How can a non-profit housing authority who acts and looks like governement, unfairly compete with general contractors who make their livelyhood in the development business without the non-profit advantage (condos, city halls, etc)this is criminal! Roger: you are right on the money! PennyRobinson: you are still an idiot and demonstrate that regularly. Written on LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Vote ‘Yes' for SK's EMS Levy: candyman, Ms. Penny is actually a guy who is an out of work county employee who has learned to drink too much...the world population reference is a dead give away with many other posts under different names where he thinks that death is an acceptable result of not enforciing safety codes, skate boarding accidents or what have you...a true nut job who gets boob boners from stupid blog posts that rile normal people. Place him on iggy! jhazmar, you must be a product of the SK school system when they weren't passing their levies! OK, let's review your math...24 hours a day times 365 days a year equals 8760 hours a year. With 3, 24 hour shifts that about 56 hours week. When you take the 8760 and try to cover that with 8 hour shifts, you can take 40 hours a week times 52 weeks and you get 2080 hours a year. Divide 8760 by 2080 and you get a little more than 4 shifts required to cover that same 24/7 goal. So to do this would requires an increase of one additional shift or a 33% increase in the manpower...skcharge is right, you should change the batteries in your calculator or take a class at OC! PS. Penny admit you are an idiot, its the first of 12 steps to your a friend of Bill and Ed Written on OUR VIEW \| Vote ‘Yes' for Mason District 5 Levy: This just in....Mason 5 doesn't provide paramedic services so the law caps them at 25 cents per 1000 of assessed value for their EMS levy, that is why they are not asking for 50 cents....this is the most they can have per the law! How did the merger with Shelton effect costs here? Written on OUR VIEW \| Economics Mean Central Kitsap EMS Levy Must Wait: hello fire commissioners....are you awake? Stop tnhe madness...before you lose all faith Written on OUR VIEW \| Renew Support for South Kitsap EMS Levy: What a laugh and a half..."drive yourself to the emergency room", be brave and post that information around your neck so all emergency responders can respect your wishes, its natures law of selection at its best! I live and work in SK and things are hard right now, but not so hard that we can't figure out a way to pay 3 dollars more a month to keep the EMS services SKFR now provides. I checked and compared to CKFR and Mason 2, SKFR has the lowest tax rate by far, yet they protect the most people and have more 911 calls for help each year than the other two combined! Let's perserve our community and its critical emergency services, join me in VOTING YES FOR EMS! Written on SK Fire Ups Incentive for Voters to Pass Levy: Once again SKFR has prepared for opportunities that benefit our community, the 1.3 million in 2008 SAFER act grant money avoids local property tax impacts for that exact amount. They have demonstrated our need for more Firefighter/EMTs on a national competitive process. The chief told us at a community meeting that the waiver on SAFER act grant matching funds is NOT for the 2008 awards, its for the 2009-2010 awards. He also told us that with this award, no Fire Department in Washington State has received more federal grant money than SKFR, because it is based on need. Look at SKFR's web site, you will see that they have the most work, nearly 9100 calls a year, yet have the lowest tax rate...that gets my suport! Written on LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Sorry, SK Levy, My Tax Dollars Are Already Taken: Yeah yeah yeah blame it on the new generation, that's a great move for the future, funny thing is back in the day when cars were invented, the horse riding generation said the same thing about the "young" generation (ask dahl, he sounds like he was there) So your enlightened approach is to pass along criticism to the future generation just as you were convenienient that the social problem isn't part of your doing! The definition of insanity is repeating the same thing and expecting a different result, guess that makes you a coo-koo, coo-koo... Written on LETTER TO THE EDITOR: We'd Be Paying More With SK Levy: With your thinking, you don't buy bread, milk or eggs anymore, because no matter what, the prices just keep going up and you aren't getting any more eggs than you got when you were 8 years old...have you gone on a fast in protest? Get over yourself, it cost more than a nickle to see a movie these days! Ohhhhhh, I think dahl has been nailed. He and others are not interested in value for their tax dollar as they allude, they simply think all taxes are bad and they all need to go away, even when they serve the basic emergency needs and our children...I nominate dahl for chair of the CAVE club! Remember you get what you pay for! • Older Comments • Page 1 of 1 • Newer Comments
What's Up With Drilling and Earthquakes? \| Tue Jul. 24, 2012 1:44 PM GMT There has been increasing concern about the potential role of fracking in earthquakes. The worries prompted the the US Geological Survey to look into it, and scientists found that the increase in earthquakes is likely man-made, but probably caused more by wastewater disposal than fracking itself. Now, a fabulous new piece from EnergyWire looks a little more deeply at the wastewater connection. Reporter Mike Soraghan visited Oklahoma, where state officials are taking their time investigating the connection between the industrial processes and a magnitude-5.6 quake that damaged homes and highways along the Wilzetta Fault last year: The whole article is an informative read on the state of science and policy when it comes to these quakes.
Retirement will keep getting tougher Corporations and state and local governments have replaced defined-benefit pension plans with less expensive defined-contribution plans. This trend will continue. Health-care costs for retirees are increasing faster than the inflation rate. Residential real estate prices have fallen sharply from their high points in most parts of the country, and the prospects for appreciation are mixed. Home equity loans, which typically have the effect of reducing the net assets available at retirement, are used too often. Corporations are forcing employees out of the work force at younger ages. Conservative investments are returning less than 1 percent. And Congress may reduce entitlement benefits. These are just some of the factors that spell trouble for those who are not saving for retirement at a serious clip. One of the most important things to do is regularly invest a significant portion of your income for retirement. If you are not saving at least 10 percent of your net pay, you are probably not saving enough, especially if your employer no longer offers a defined-benefit plan. When you receive a raise, immediately increase your savings. Rebalance once a year. That way, you are taking some profits from your more successful investments and reinvesting in alternatives that are at lower prices. Do not invest too much of your retirement investments into your employer's common stock. You don't want to be too dependent on the financial stability of your employer. Take advantage of any available tax-deferred retirement options. Make sure you use the benefits of IRAs, Roth IRAs, 401(k)s, and Roth 401(k)s if you can. If your employer offers a 401(k) match, make sure you contribute at least the minimum amount to receive the maximum employer match. Don't wait until your 50s to start a serious investment program. The earlier you start, the easier it will be. Don't accept 100 percent of the financial burden regarding college education for your children. It's too expensive. Let your children know well in advance that they must accept a significant part of the financial burden and encourage them to look for scholarships, grants and loans on their own. Do not be too conservative with your investment selections. If you are 10 years or more away from retirement, it makes no sense to have any of your retirement investments in low-yielding vehicles such as Treasury bills, money market instruments or short-term savings accounts. Select only cost-effective investment vehicles. Invest only in no-load mutual funds, as opposed to commission-based funds. Select only mutual funds and exchange-traded funds that have a history of low costs. If you are many years away from retirement, make sure you have a significant percentage of your investments in some form of common stocks. On a long-term basis, common stocks should provide more growth potential than other investments. Develop a diversified portfolio, with a portion in bonds as well as stocks. Have some investments in global and international vehicles. You may want to have a small portion of your portfolio in commodities including some gold. However, I would not invest a large percentage in commodities that provide no income. Commodity investments are volatile and generally produce no or little income. My limit is 5 percent of the whole portfolio's value. If at all possible, try to go into retirement without an outstanding mortgage. If you can, make extra payments while you are employed to reduce the mortgage, especially if your interest rate is high. You will have a lot more flexibility in retirement if you own your home mortgage-free. If you are close to retirement and you believe your retirement income will be insufficient, consider options that will provide you with additional income. If you are considering self-employment options, talk to volunteers at your local SCORE chapter for free counseling and low-cost seminars before you actually retire. Employers, both in the public and private sectors, continue to introduce policies that make it more difficult for employees to retire in financial comfort. Employees who want a comfortable retirement must take the initiative to improve their own financial future. People who recognize this and take the initiative early in their careers can ensure prosperous retirements. Reader Reaction San Joaquin Brides Advertise with Jobs Legal Notices
Reviews for The Devil's Own Hospitality Xion is my fate 'Laura Heart chapter 1 . 10/22/2009 It was very good. I know about "dream writing" and it is very difficult to make understandable. You have a natural talent. Lasgalendil chapter 1 . 12/1/2008 I. Am. Intrigued! The whole dream like sequence showed us how bizarre and confusing the events must have seemed to Molly herself. I still maintain that the strongest part of this piece is the ambiguity-did Molly dream the whole thing, starting with the inn, or did it actually happen? The reader is forced to choose an option, which elevates the tension. Grubbing around in the dirt under the bridle gives me the creeps...her horror and acceptance of the revelation were vivid. Realizing, or knowing concretely, for the first time, what sort of horror this creature is is quite terrifying. Especially given the foreshadowing of 'losing' when playing a fae's game. The repetition of Schmendrick's warnings/plea tied the whole piece together-and left us even more intrigued. Is he wounded, dying? Wanting to hold her? Is danger passed or is it only just beginning? This piece definitely ended on a strong note. Thanks for a great one! Tiamat42 chapter 1 . 7/13/2007 Oh, very nice! The descriptions are just enough to give you an image, but not enough to be overbearing. It feels very much like a dream, but then again, so did the book, really. Molly and Schmendrick...what a couple, if only for the names. Boring normality meets wildly improbable and almost silly fantasy... what's not to like? There were a couple of mistakes, missing words I think, and a few awkward sentences that only stand out because the rest of it flows so well. I haven't read any Last Unicorn fanfic before this...but it's nice to see that it's out there. I loved this book once upon a time. ;) Kyer chapter 1 . 3/23/2007 You wrote this after severe sleep deprivation? It's a wonder it's as understandable as it is. And quite lovely even if I wish it hadn't ended quite so soon. pigtailedgirl chapter 1 . 3/2/2007 Wow. Wonderful story. It reads so much like the novel in style and description, I'm wondering if you are secretly Mr. Beagle. ;D Fantastic and favored and printed.
A/N: Hahaha, wow. Two chaps in two days. Fantastic! Thanks for all your awesome reviews and support! Ya'll rock! On the Run Again As Light sat up blinking bleary eyes, he couldn't help but think – just how many times was this guy going to show up at his motel room? At least this time the assassin brought coffee instead of a baseball bat, but still. The situation was too surreal. Well, no, it passed surreal a long time ago. Now it was just nerve-wracking. And where was L? A sinking feeling made itself known in the pit of Light's stomach. Three billion dollars . . . "Mornin' Asian guy! You want some coffee?" asked Tank, waving a cup towards Light. "Uh, no, not right now, thanks. Where's Ryuuzaki?" asked Light, his eyes darting around the room. Yes, all of L's things were missing. Although, Light's duffle bag still sat on the low dresser next to the TV. He could feel it – the panic – licking at the edges of his mind, but he kept it at bay. He needed his head about him. "Ruuu -? Ohhhh! You mean Spike? Uhhhhh, damn, Asian guy, I hate to break it to ya, but dude took off reaaaal early this morning. Just threw his shit in that nice ass car and dipped. I, uhh, hope it wasn't one of those one night stand kind of things. Awkward as hell. I've had my fair share of those, let me tell ya. Remember that one time I told you I tried college? Yeah, totally did the walk of shame. I still had whipped cream and crap all over me. But, not like, real crap or anything. That's more Greg's sty- . . .Umm, yeah. Sorry, I get chatty when I'm nervous. My mother always told me it would get me in trouble one day," shrugged Tank, who had set the coffee on the table and made himself at home sitting in one of the small chairs. "Right," said Light, his mind still stuck on the notion of L leaving him now, of all times. Something wasn't right, and his suspicions about Tank, planted by L, began rising ever higher as each second L wasn't there ticked by. Lawli wouldn't leave him. He just wouldn't. "So why are you here?" asked Light, and then, once he had caught on to what Tank said, added, "And what the hell are you nervous about?" Tank? Nervous? The thought did little to keep him calm, and Light had to take a small breath to focus himself. His mind was being pulled a hundred diferent ways, and they all led to the conclusion that L was in trouble – had to be in trouble - because L would never just leave. And if L was in trouble, then Light had to save him. Simple as that. Now he just needed to figure out how, and the first step to that was to keep Tank talking. He needed to know what was going on. Tank sighed, bringing Light back from his thoughts. Tank, crossing his arms behind his head, looked up at the ceiling. "Okay, well, first I thought that Spike kidnapped you, and I was all pissed off. But I kept remembering how close you two were, and I was like, nahh, Spike wouldn't hurt the Asian guy. So I figured I'd just check in on you two and make sure everything was gravy. But then I got a call from my real boss, and she said I had to bring you in for questioning – still don't know how she knew I knew you. Maybe she doesnt? Oh well, anyway, she said if anyone got in the way, I should get rid of 'em. And I thought that was kinda shitty, you know? I mean, damn, the only one who'd get in the way is Spike, and he's like your bff. That would be a totally fucked up thing for me to do to the guy who saved my life. So I figured I'd just, you know, knock the little man out or something, but then I get here and dude's, like, right in the middle of getting the hell outta dodge, so yeah, makes my job easier. Now I just gotta bring you to my boss, and that makes me nervous, because she's not as nice as I am – she's a bitch – and I like you! She does shitty things to people to make them talk! Not cool when it comes to my friends." Light took a moment to let everything Tank just said sink in. It was hard to keep up with the man while he talked without pause or breath. He frowned. There was no way in hell he was going to go with Tank. Not with L missing. Not when Tank had proven himself to have ulterior motives than merely being his friend. Real boss? What the hell was that all about? Who was this guy? "Why were you ordered to bring me in for questioning? And by who? Who's your real boss? And what makes you think I'd go with you?" asked Light, his eyes flashing to the door, calculating the chances of making it out without Tank catching him. He took another look at Tank's bulky frame. Yep, wasn't looking too good for the home team. Damn it. Maybe he could knock the assassin out? Tank hesitated, obviously searching for words. Light groaned internally, once again sweeping his eyes up and down Tank's bulky frame and calculating the chances of Light getting past him. There was no way in hell he was going to get out of this one, was there? Not unless some miracle happened, and with his track record, he seriously doubted there was any miracle forth coming. Tank sighed. "Man, fuck all this secrecy shit. Okay, look, I'm really part of the British secret service -" "MI-5?" interrupted Light, his eyes widening. What the fuck? What did MI-5 want with him? And Tank was really a government agent? What? "Yeah! How did you know? I thought you were foreign – oh, wait, your parents were in the service. Duh. I forgot about that." "How do you know about my parents?" asked Light, suspicions rising even further. What the hell was going on here? "Dude! One question at a time! Asian people are so curious! Geez! I know because Greg's my best friend, and because MI-5's been looking for Light Layfield for a loooong time. I just didn't put two and two together until my boss told me to bring you in, which was stupid of me. It's not like your name is John Smith or something. I don't know, man, apparently you have access to some shit that could possible blow up the world or something if evil people get it. Like I said, I don't know, I just do the grunt work and spy on old dick face, who's apparently the evil guy the blow up thingie was stolen from. Wait, that didn't sound right. But, well, I wouldn't put it past the nasty old geezer to have a blow up thingie hidden in his closet, but, ugh, I'll stop. Bad mental images." Light's head spun, and he leaned forward, staring at Tank intently. "Are you saying that you're an undercover MI-5 agent spying on Roger? And your boss thinks I have access to some sort of weapon that was stolen from Roger that could blow up the earth? So she wants you to bring me in to see if I know where the weapon is?" asked Light, trying to make sense of what Tank was saying, his confusion mounting. Tank grinned. "Yeah! That sums it up in a nutshell! I knew you'd get what I'm saying! You're Asian!" "But I don't know about any fucking weapon! I just want to go home!" yelled Light, his anger finally getting the best of him. However, his accidental admission shocked him into the realization that all he really wanted to do was go home. He didn't care about spies, or weapons, or Roger, or Death Notes, or his dead parents – he just wanted to go home. But first he had to find Lawli, because Light could never go home without L. There wouldn't be any point. The other man was his home. Tank raised his hands, looking guilty. "Woah, Asian guy! Don't shoot the messenger! I'm just telling you what's up! I mean, I don't know that you've got some crazy ass weapon exactly. I'm just guessing because she made it sound like serious business, and weapons that'll blow up the earth are serious business." "So what exactly am I supposed to have that she wants?" growled Light, clenching his fist. Tank shrugged. "Something that was stolen from old dick face?" "I don't have anything that was stolen from Roger. Everything I have is in that duffle bag by the TV. You're more than welcome to look through it," said Light, gesturing towards his duffle. "Damn I'm not good at this. I usually just go in and knock people out. I'm shit at trying to explain things. Look, man, I'm liking this about as much as you are. Hell, you're practically family considering your Greg's nephew, but orders are orders, and I've been in enough trouble with that bitch that I can't afford to get into any more," said Tank, a sad look on his face. "So that's it, then? You're just going to drag me to your boss to be, and I can only surmise from your ealier words, tortured for information on something that I don't even know about?" asked Light. Tank looked pained. "Asian guy -" "I don't make friends easily, Tank. I honestly felt like I had made one the day I met you. Obviously, I was wrong," said Light, looking away from the other man. Maybe if he got Tank to feel bad enough he'd let him go. Light had to stop himself from snorting. Ha. Like that would happen. He was so fucked. "Ahhh, shit," said Tank, standing up abruptly and pulling out a gun. Light threw himself over the side of the bed, his heart in his throat. Shit! Maybe he shouldn't have said that. Light squeezed his eyes shut. He couldn't bare to look at Tank pointing a fucking gun at him. He hated guns, and now it looked like - Light flinched hard at the sound, and it took him a second to realize that the pained whimper wasn't coming from him, as he would have expected, but from someone on the other side of the room. Light peeked over the edge of the bed, his eyes widening in shock. "Tank! What the hell did you just do?" yelled Light, stumbling to his feet and to the groaning man on the floor. "Here," said Tank, shoving a blood covered gun into Light's hands. Light barely kept himself from dropping it. "Tank -" "I'll be f-fine, A-asian guy. It's just a . . . shoulder wound. Take the gun, and r-run. Get out of the country if you c-can. I'll tell that bitch that -" cough "-you shot me and g-got away." "No one would believe that! And I just can't just leave you here!" shouted Light, at a loss. "Yes you can! B-b-but, we're e-even now, 'kay A-asain guy? D-don't let me find you again. Take my c-car! Go! R-run, Asian guy! They'll be here any m-minute! Go!" coughed Tank, pointing at the door. Light grabbed his duffle bag, and ran, taking one more horrified look at the man bleeding on the floor. He practically fell down the stairs to the ground floor, and it was only when he'd scrapped his toe on the rough concrete of the stairs did he realize he had forgotten his shoes, but it was only a passing thought and not important What mattered now was getting the hell out of there before whoever Tank mentioned was on the way arrived. His eyes immediately zeroed in on Tank's car, having recognized it from when he first rode in it with L, and he was beyond relieved to find the door unlocked and the keys in the ignition. He threw his duffle bag into the backseat and slammed the car door. He turned the key, half expecting the car to sputter, but it started just fine, and Light wasted no time in pealing out of the motel parking lot. Blueberries were God's gift to mankind. This loaded theory was confirmed somewhere around the second or third blueberry muffin that he'd eaten. He flicked the windshield wipers on once it became hard to see out. It was drizzling, but this was England. It was always either drizzling or all out pouring, but L paid no mind. He only thought about how nice it was to have this fifth – warm! - blueberry muffin in his hand. His toes wiggled appreciately against the peddle, making the car jump. He blinked, scolding himself for not paying enough attention to the road. He hoped Light liked the chips he'd picked out for him. Who knew the grocery store had so many different kinds of barbeque chips to choose from? As L pulled onto the street where the motel was, he narrowly avoided being side swiped by some lunatic that looked suspiciously like – wait. Was that? The car that had almost slammed into him screeched to a stop, and L found himself stopping his car too. Surely it wasn't - He was so shocked when Light jumped out of the other car that the blueberry muffin he had been eating fell from his slack jawed mouth. "WHERE THE FUCK HAVE YOU BEEN?" screamed Light, as he ran to L's car, leaving the vehicle he had been driving running, car door wide open, in the middle of the road. The brunet jerked on the door handle repeatedly. "Goddamnit, Lawli! Open the fucking car!" L, not needing to be told twice, pressed the unlock button. Light threw the door open, tossing his duffle into the back, and himself into the passenger's seat. "Light? What -" started L, his eyes widening in concern once he realized that Light was covered in blood. "Just drive! Get us the fuck out of here!" yelled Light. L didn't need to be told twice, throwing the car into reverse, and screeching it around in the opposite direction of the motel. "What happened to you? Are you alright? Do you require medical attention?" asked L, trying to study the blood covered Light and the road at the same time. "Never mind what happened to me! What happened to you? Why the hell would you pack up your shit and leave me?" "Did you not see the note?" asked L, confused, and still more than a little concerned at the amount of blood that was covering his friend. "Wha- note?" "Is that you're blood?" "No! I didn't see a -" "I left it on the bathroom counter." "Why the hell would you leave it on the bathroom counter?" "Because that's where Light-kun usually goes first thing in the morning. And he's stays there for quite some time, grooming himself. I figured it would be a safe bet," said L, giving Light a pointed look. Light's mouth twitched, and L could tell that the other man was holding himself back from punching him. Good. Wouldn't go over well while L was trying to navigate the sudden, heavy traffic he'd found himself in. "Where the hell -" started Light, sounding more than agitated. "I went to pick up breakfast," said L, holding up a grocery bag filled with pasteries. "And I went ahead and packed the car. I knew by the time I returned, we would need to check out." L pointed to the clock on the dashboard. "See? It's almost 10. That's when we needed to check out." Light sighed explosively. "Goddamnit, L. What did you tell me last time I disappeared on you? You should have woken me up! Or taken me with you!" L bristled. "I tried to wake you up, but Light-kun is a heavy sleeper. I assumed I'd be back before you awoke." "Yeah, well look how well that plan turned out," said Light, pulling out a bloody gun from under his shirt and throwing it onto the floor board of the car. L raised an eyebrow. "So why is Light-kun covered in blood and carrying a gun?" "Huh, well, maybe you'd know if you had stuck around for the show!" "You're being difficult on purpose," pointed out L, who took a particular sharp curve going faster than he should. Light's head slammed against the window. "Seatbelt, Light-kun," murmurmed L. "Fuck you, Lawli," growled Light, rubbing at the side of his head. L didn't follow that particular insult up with a comeback, letting Light stew until he was ready to tell him what was going on. It didn't take long. "Fucking Tank burst into the room this morning," started Light. "Tank?" interrupted L, checking once again to see that the blood Light was covered in wasn't his own. "Yeah, Tank. You were right to be suspicious of him, but he's not after you. He's an undercover MI-5 agent. He was sent by his boss at MI-5 to retrieve me for interrogation. More like torture, according to Tank." L blinked. "That's -" "And then the bastard took out his own gun and shot himself!" exclaimed Light. "He's dead?" asked L, more than confused by what Light was telling him. "No, at least, I hope not. The way he was talking bout it, he'll be fine. He told me we're even now, which I suppose we are, but I figured we were when he didn't kill me at Whammy's, but I guess that doesn't matter now. He gave me the gun and his car and told me to get out of the country because MI-5 would be at the motel at any minute, and when they found him, they'd start looking for me." "What does MI-5 want with you?" asked L. He was obviously missing something. Did it have something to do with Light's biological parents? "Apparently I have access to a weapon that will blow up the world," said Light, deadpanned. L wasn't exactly sure what to say to that. He almost brought up the Death Note, but held his tongue. He knew how sensitive Light was to that subject. "I don't fucking know, okay? Tank didn't know either – that's just what he guessed. The only thing I know for sure is that MI-5 has apparently been looking for me for a "loooong time," - here Light threw up the universal quotation fingers - "because I apparently have something of Roger's that was stolen from him years ago. I can only assume by my parents – why else would MI-5 think I have it? - but Tank didn't come out and say it, and -" Light stopped. L shot him quick glances between watching the road and the asshole who was tailgating him. "And? . . . And what, Light?" asked L. Obviously Light had just come to some sort of realization, and L hated being in the dark about it. He made it a point not to be in the dark (figuratively and literally). Light slammed his fist down on the armrest. "That fucking piece of paper! That has to be it! Whatever's on that paper must somehow tell the location of the weapon. Or whatever the bloody thing is. Yeah, it makes sense. My biological father, who was in the MI-5, gave the paper to his brother, who gave it to me. And my mother, also in the MI-5, was the adopted daughter of Roger, so she was in the perfect position to steal whatever it was that she stole! And if that piece of paper wasn't important, then Greg wouldn't have hung on to it all these years. It makes sense!" "It does make sense. However, I still do not see where I come into play in this conspiracy," said L, rubbing his thumb against his bottom lip. "Yeah, I haven't figured that part out yet either," admitted Light, leaning back into his seat. "Well, I suppose I'll have to reschedule our flight to Japan. We can't very well fly out of London next week if we must escape the country today," said L, biting around his thumb in thought. "Yeah, that's probably a good idea. Where are we going to go?" asked Light. "I'm thinking Germany," said L. "You remember Aiber, don't you?" asked L. Light nodded. "We're going to him?" "He has a safe house in Germany, and he's one of the only people I'd trust with our safety until we can get out of Europe. Obviously the government is looking for you, whether because you're a murder suspect or you supposedly have knowledge of a secret weapon that may or may not have the power to blow up the world. Either way, there'll be a manhunt for you now, so contracting Aiber to aid us, who is most certainly not involved in the government in any legal ways, is our best option. I would suggest flying to Japan today, but -" L pulled out the numbered paper. "There's a bank in Germany that we need to visit, which makes Aiber all the better choice," said L, handing the paper to Light. Light's eyes roamed the paper. "You figured it out?" "Between the second and third muffin. It's a very simple code. So simple that it took me quite a few hours to break it. I studied it for awhile after you had gone to bed, but I only figured it out this morning," said L. "So what is it?" asked Light, turning the paper around, as if expecting the answer to jump out at him. "It's -" "Coordinates! Latitude and longitude! And . . . wait, you said a bank? An account number? Ah, here!" Apparently it did jump out at him. L scowled. It had taken him ages, but he consoled himself with the fact that he figured it out first. One point to him. "Correct. Along with what I can only assume is a four digit personal pin number for identification purposes." "So we're going to Germany to check it out?" asked Light. "And we're staying with Aiber once we get there," finished L. Light sighed. "This is a huge mess." "Yes, Light-kun. It is." "So how are we going to get out of the country?" asked Light. "Europe works a little differently than Japan. We'll take the train. We won't need passports, but you still have yours on you, right?" asked L. "Yeah, it's in my duffle," confirmed Light. "Good. Then I only need Aiber to make one fake passport." "But how did you get – oh. Private plane. I forgot," said Light, rolling his eyes. "I'll introduce you to the pleasures of private air transport. You'll never be able to fly public again," promised L. "Sure, sure," agreed Light, putting his seat down. "I'm exhausted." "I'll wake you when we get to the station, if you care to sleep" said L, his eyes spending more time than necessary on Light's lithe form. "Feel free to change clothes at anytime, Light-kun." ". . .Ass." It was at this moment that L noticed in his review mirror that the man who had been tailgating them for several miles was aiming a gun out of his window. A/N: Ahh, the plot thickens - again. Squee! OMG! I had another "Ohhh shit that would be sooooo fucked up" moment. And it's bad. Like, anybody remember the last time I had that moment? I killed Light! BWAHAHAHA! OMG I'm so excited. I can't waaaaait. Actually, I have one really big OMG that's so fucked up moment, and then a minor one coming along laaater! Oh, wait, make that 1 big one, a minor one, then another big one! OHH WOW I'M SO EXCITED! Happy Holidays! I hope I'll have another one up before I leave (yay east tn!), but if I don't, I'll see ya'll later! Feel free to say something! XD Check out my new poll if you want (hahaha, i originally wrote pole!). It's not very interesting, but I wanted to look at something different when i clicked on my profile, lol. :D
Thank you reviewers for your reviews, it means a lot, and provides needed encouragement to continue. Enjoy!!! 8 ¾ Months Later... "Come on Colt, let's go already!!" shouted Rocky from down the stairs. "I'm coming, I'm coming!!" Colt stuffed the last items on his bed into his duffel bag, and rushed down the stairs. "Finally, Let's go." The Douglass boys were once again on their way to their Grandpa's cabin for a summer of ninja training. This summer however was going to be different then every other summer that they had been there. The difference would be in the form of a new member. A week before, the boys mother had had a weird look on her face when Rocky Colt, and TumTum walked through the door from school. "What's up mom, is anything wrong?" Asked Rocky. "No, everything is fine." When their father came home from work however, their mother took their father into his study which was only done on occasions that they wanted to speak about something serious, and they didn't want to be overheard by the kids. When they came out, Mr. Sam Douglass called his children together. "Mom has an announcement to make" said Mr. Douglass. "Well, gosh this is hard" said Jessica Douglass, "I don't know if you know or not, but you guys have two cousins in Japan." "WHAT!!?" exclaimed the three ninjas, their jaws dropping in unison, this was quite unexpected. "Yes" said there mother, "I had a brother. It's a long story, but I'll try to shorten it. I had an older brother who married, and had two children, a girl, and a boy. The girl whose name was Sara was older, and the boy, Zack was younger. My brother was much older than me, and Sara is now twenty-two, and Jake is eighteen. "The reason that you probably never heard of them, as I see from how surprised you are, is because we try to avoid bringing them up when grandpa is around, and I just can't stand bringing them up because of the tragedy that happened. Talking about them just reminds us of the tragedy. "Around fourteen years ago, their father was killed." Jessica signed, and her eyes started watering. "He was a ninja like my father, and you guys" she smiled when she said that, "but he had a secret. When he finished training by my father, he went to Japan to study history, which was always his favorite subject. He mainly wanted to know about the rich history of ninjas. Anyway, and this is where I'm not sure exactly what happened, but it seems that he found out about a secret ancient ninja chamber that held valuable artifacts from ancient ninjas. Somehow, some bad people found out about his knowledge of this chamber, and they tried to get it out of him, but when he wouldn't tell them, they..." Jessica paused as tears trickled down from her eyes. Rocky ran to the bathroom, and got some tissues for her. "Thanks Rocky" Jessica said mustering a small smile,"this is so hard, he was such a great older brother. Jessica dried her eyes, and continued. "Anyway, they killed him, I'm not going to go into details because it is too gruesome, but he didn't die a pleasant death. "After their father's death, they came back to America with their mother to stay with Grandpa. The group that killed my brother thought that my sister-in-law may know something about the chamber, and so one night, while grandpa was away, they came to his cabin, and confronted her. She of course had no idea about the chamber, but they didn't believe her, so whomever it was that went down to the cabin, killed her. Thank Heavens they didn't kill Jake and Sara, I guess that they figured there was no use in even questioning the children. It could also be they were in a rush all together since they seemed to have been afraid of Grandpa. Many People were afraid of my father when he was younger, so maybe they didn't want to get caught by him. "After that, Jake and Sara really moved in with us until a sister-in-law of my brother decided to take them in, and as I was having babies of my own, it worked out that she should take them. They went to Grandpa for the summers however. Some time later, they moved to Japan so their aunt that had taken them in could be with her boyfriend. When Sara turned eighteen, they moved out of their aunt's house, and have been living in Japan by themselves ever since. "The reason why I'm telling you this now is because today, I just got a call from Jake, and he and Sara would like to come spend the summer with us. They want to get to know us - their family - better, and Sara also has to be in the US for business. Sara will be staying at a friend of hers because her main reason for coming is on business, and this friend is closer to where she has to be. Jake will be staying with you boys at Grandpa." Everyone started talking at once. "Is he a ninja?" "Did grandpa train him at all?" "What type of guy is he?" "Does he like Jelly Beans?" Mr. Douglass held up his hand for silence. "We don't know much about him either, you'll just have to ask him when he comes in a week." That all happened a week ago. Now, they were going to the airport to pick up Jake, and Sara. Mr. Douglass had gone to the airport straight from work, and the rest of the family would go with Grandpa. After picking up Jake, Mrs. Douglass, and Sara would go home with Mr. Douglass, while the rest went straight to Grandpa's cabin. Sara would, after staying for dinner with Mr. And Mrs. Douglass, be picked up by her friend that she would be staying by. As Rocky and Colt got outside, they were greeted by Grandpa in his Hawaiian tee shirt waving at them to get into the old convertible next to TumTum who was munching on jelly beans in the back seat. "What took you guys so long?" asked TumTum as they raced to the car to join him. "Colt was taking too much time" said Rocky throwing his duffel bag into the trunk. "No I wasn't!!!" said Colt giving his duffel bag to his bother to put into the car. Mrs. Douglass locked the house door behind the boys, and then followed them into the car. Grandpa turned the ignition, and drove out of the driveway. They got to the airport on time, and piled out of the car. "There's dad!!" shouted TumTum rushing over. Mr. Douglass was on his cell phone, talking with a very serious look on his face. Seeing his family rushing over, he motioned for them to wait for him to finish the call. "All right Gary, so try to keep tabs on him. We need many more agents on this case as well, it's probably the most important, and hardest. All right, I gotta go, bye. Mr. Douglass hung up his phone, and turned towards his family. "Remember around nine months ago I told you that Snyder had escaped from jail?"said Mr. Douglass addressing grandpa, "He hasn't been spotted for nine months, but now it seems that he has returned to his old ways. Some of my agents spotted him supervising the unloading of boxes somewhere after being alerted by police who said pedestrians had called in saying men in black costumes with masks were unloading boxes. My agents just saw them get into a truck and drive away, but couldn't follow after their tires were shot out by Snyder's men. That's just one, he has been spotted two other times this week." Mr. Douglass shook his head and said "I don't think it is smart to let the boys stay with you this summer Mori, Snyder will want his revenge." "NO!!!" Shouted the three ninjas making many people in the airport turn their head towards them to see what caused the noise. Grandpa laughed. "You still aren't convinced I can protect them?" "It's not that Mori, it's that they will be more protected by someone, like me that has a gun. Remember, on the ship, non of you would have gotten off if I hadn't showed up with my gun, Snyder was going to shoot you all even if you were the better ninja." "If anything, I would say you need extra protection besides for a gun Sam, you need a ninja, because otherwise you may not get a chance to use your gun. I however will have Jake with me, and you know he has a gun, and knows how to use it, in fact I hear he helped you FBI guys a little in Japan." Mr. Douglass looked a little more relieved at this. "But Sam" continued Grandpa, "I seriously think that you and Jessica should join us this summer." Mr. Douglass laughed, "I have a job Mori, and I can't travel back and forth everyday. Besides, Snyder isn't going to start with me, he knows I'm too good for him to take down, and he would get into more trouble then he can handle with the government." Grandpa shook his head. "You shouldn't be so overconfident Sam" He glanced at Colt who smiled. "Look who's coming!" said Mrs. Douglass interrupting the verbal dispute. Grandpa, Mr. Douglass, and the boys all turned toward where she was pointing. Walking towards them was a boy and a girl. Each wheeling one suitcase behind them, and carrying a carry on bag. The boy was tall, probably around six feet, and he walked with the posture of one that worked out quite a lot. He had brown hair, and well tanned skin. His eyes were hidden behind a pair of sunglasses. The girl was a little shorter, with blond hair and dark brown eyes. "How's it going grandpa?" asked Jake, giving Grandpa a hug, "long time no see." He then went over to Mrs. Douglass, and gave her a quick hug, and then shook Mr. Douglass' hand. "It's been a long time since I saw all of you in person. Sara followed her younger brother in giving Grandpa and Mrs. Douglass hugs, and shaking Mr. Douglass' hand. Jake then turned to the boys. "The last time I saw any of you was when Samuel was still a baby. You all are so old now, I missed basically the beginning of your lives." He said taking off his glasses to reveal dark brown eyes that matched his sisters. "It's not Samuel anymore, it's Rocky" said Rocky smiling, "and it's nice to finally meet you too." "Yeah, it's my ninja name, and Jeffrey's is colt, and Michael's is TumTum." "Yeah mines the coolest" said TumTum, "Bet you can't figure out why it's TumTum. It's because I love eating." Jake laughed. "I know that you love eating, and that you guys started training with Grandpa, after all, I do speak to your parents once in a while, but I didn't know that you already got your ninja names." "Hey, didn't didn't you also train by grandpa?" said Rocky, "What's your ninja name?" Jake smiled, "I remember that day well, Grandpa called me 影 Kage." "What does that mean?" asked TumTum taking out his jelly bean bag and popping a handful into his mouth. "It is the Japanese word for a shadow" interjected Grandpa, and the reason that I chose this name for Jake is because he can be so silent when he wants to be, like when he is sneaking up on someone that it seems that he is as quiet as a shadow." Colt looked at Jake's huge build and shook his head. "I can't believe that such a big guy can be as quiet as a shadow when moving, I think that Rocky would have been much more appropriate, look at those muscles." "While Kage may be very strong, his ability to move quietly far outweighs that quality because of many reasons, but the main one being that if one can sneak up on his enemy, no matter how strong his enemy is, the one sneaking up has the advantage of being prepared, and can take down the strongest man in the world as long as he knows a little about fighting." Mr. Douglass' cell phone rang. He excused himself, and went to answer it. When he returned, he had a worried look on his face. "I'd better get going" he said, "Jake, do me a favor, and keep an eye on the kids with Mori, I'll feel a lot better having two watching them then one." "No problem, you can count on Grandpa, and I." With that, Mr. Douglass drove off with Mrs. Douglass, and Sara. "Well," said Grandpa, "I think it's time we started heading towards the cabin ourselves. Rocky, Colt, help Kage with his bag." and with that he headed towards his car. "Hey Grandpa, you still have the same car you had for the past fifteen years, or longer." Grandpa laughed, "And why should I get a different one when this one is perfect?" Kage chuckled and hopped over the door into the front seat, " I'm glad you still have this car, it's a great car." Rocky, and Colt jumped over the door into the back seat. "Wait you guys!!" said TumTum climbing into the car behind them. Grandpa turned the ignition, and drove off towards his cabin. Next chapter is coming. I expect to have a lot more action in my story, but these chapters are needed to lead up to that. Once again thanks a lot for the review, you have no idea how much it means to me to get feedback from my readers, it is a great encouragement to continue writing. KEEP UP THE REVIEWS!!! Thanks.
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HOWTO: Living in New Zealand (or Other Suitable Locale) for a Month! August 27, 2013 2:27 AM Subscribe I've been traveling in South America and India for about five months now at a fairly frenetic pace, and am looking for a change. I've decided I want to settle down in one city from around September 15-October 15, and I'm thinking New Zealand is the place I want to do it (but I am open to other cities in other countries that meet my criteria, so feel free to throw them out!). I'd greatly appreciate any thoughts you have on the best city, the best way to find lodging, transport, etc. - details on what I'm looking for below! I'm looking for a place that meets the following criteria: (i) ready access to the outdoors. I love to hike, and I want to spend a good amount of time exercising, so I'd like to be in a place where I can hike on an almost daily basis, weather permitting, and have some variety in trails - though I'm happy to hike the same route repeatedly too. I am happy to rent a car, take cabs, public transit, etc. (subject to budget), to get to trails, though if everything is close enough that I could walk, that would be great too. (ii) ready access to a decent supermarket. I'd like to cook for myself a decent amount of the time. (iii) good internet access. I still do some work while travelling, and need a strong internet connection to connect to my work's network. (iv) access to a gym. Exercise will be a major priority during this month, and I'd like access to a gym with weights. Nothing fancy needed. (v) rent studio/small apt or hotel room for around $1000 USD for the month. My budget for the month is around $3000-$4000, so I could probably go over $1000 a bit, but would prefer to keep it to $1000 or less. Everything else is less important to me - a fun bar/restaurant scene, possibility to meet people, etc., would be great too, but are not absolutely necessary. I'd love any thoughts people have as to where in New Zealand I should set up, how to go about getting a short term rental from overseas, how to handle transportation (longterm car rental?), and so on. From talking to people I know, I feel like Queenstown and Wanaka could fit my needs, but my limited work trying to find apartments so far have not resulted in fantastic success. Thanks in advance! posted by traveltheworld to Travel & Transportation around New Zealand (5 answers total) 4 users marked this as a favorite Costa Rica? posted by empath at 4:19 AM on August 27, 2013 Trademe.co.nz is a good place to find rentals and flatmates. You might find short term rentals geared towards international students. You could also have a look at holidayhouses.co.nz although they will be geared towards short term stays. posted by poxandplague at 4:34 AM on August 27, 2013 Benchmarking for rental prices in New Zealand. $1NZ = $.78US. A month is going to be tricky though in terms of arranging something set up with the utilities you need at the price you want for a place of your own. For example, when I wanted a three month short term rental a few years back in Oz the landlord wanted a hefty deposit and they considered three months very short. I also paid a short term rental premium - this was not a managed accommodation place either, which will be more expensive - bills came in our name. I'd suggest looking into a long term rental at a cabin in a holiday park and negotiating on price as a long term rental. As an example, the one in Dunedin is NZ$60 a night for a seven night stay, so US$1,400 for the month. It won't be glamorous but may be adequate. The park (although perhaps not the cabin) has wifi and a pool but no gym. It has communal bathroom and kitchen facilities. It is on the bus network. There is a supermarket down the road. Dunedin is a university town with attractive scenery and coastline nearby. I've never been to this specific campground so it could be good or bad, but Top 10 is a decent organisation and if you go down that route you can look for other camp grounds with cabins that fit your needs and budget. I doubt in any of them the wifi will be that great though. Another route is youth hostels, but you have to pick your spot. My general rule is that if they have a bar, avoid like the plague and you can guarantee that everyone will be using the wifi heavily at peak time. Even then, a single room comes out at NZ$60 a night somewhere like my Dunedin example. Finally - I'd look at house sitting. It's more of a long shot, but given what you want - space to work, cheap, privacy, utilities set up, it might be a good option to try for before you have to pay. posted by MuffinMan at 4:43 AM on August 27, 2013 You could also try AirBnB, but I've had a quick look there and I'm not finding many good options for that period. If you were open to sharing, then you'd probably find something in your price range. (Bear in mind, property prices in NZ are high, and with the low US dollar costs are going to seem higher than you're used to). Queenstown and Wanaka, being major tourist areas, are also very expensive. Also, September isn't really the best time to visit NZ as it will still be reasonably cold. Maybe somewhere in the north of the country would be better, but I'm not sure where exactly to suggest. Maybe the Lake Taupo area? This place could be an option... posted by Infinite Jest at 12:40 PM on August 27, 2013 I'm an American who recently lived in New Zealand for 4 years. What kind of weather do you want to experience? There's a pretty wide variety across the country, and if you're looking for the best access to mountains and trails, keep in mind that your timeframe puts you in the trailing end of winter there. There are few places in the country that aren't a couple hours' drive from several hiking trails. But if you want ready access to the outdoors and varied hiking terrain as your top priority (so long as the other criteria are met), I'd recommend ordering your search this way. Caveat: I know little about the country north of Auckland, save that there's lots of Maori (many of whom are poor). Someone else may be able to point you to an area up there worth investigating. Queenstown, Wanaka, to a lesser extent Ohakune and Christchurch will all be wintery, as in snow and cold. You'll encounter wind and rain in Wellington, and some rain and snow (it's a toss-up) in Ohakune. Nelson will likely be sunny and less cold, and Taupo should be sunny and even warmer. Coromandel will be the warmest. Queenstown, Wellington, Nelson and Christchurch will all have lots of options in terms of supermarkets, gyms, and internet access. Wanaka and Taupo will have options as well, just not as many as the others. Ohakune is the most small-town on this list, but you wouldn't have to look too hard to fit these criteria there. It would be difficult to find a place in Coromandel that will satisfy your criteria, but it's worth a look, especially if you're wanting a warmer location. Surrounding areas in the mountains/hills, like Arrowtown (about 30 minutes outside of Queenstown) or Blenheim, will have plenty of terrain but you'll have very few options to meet these criteria. You'll have to spend a fair amount of time searching for a place in Queenstown that will meet your price point and still have the other criteria in place. Same but to a lesser extent for Wanaka. Keep in mind that you're dealing with winter ski season in the mountains. Wellington and Christchurch will have a lot of options to look through. It seems like you're looking for a place by yourself. You'll have much better luck sticking to your budget if you're open to having a room in a flat with other people - this is very common practice in NZ even for adult professionals. In addition, you won't need to get things like kitchenware that a potential flatmate(s) would already have. As far as how to search: my first option would be trademe, then gumtree, flatfinder and the like. If you're having trouble finding listings for a single or studio that would meet your criteria, then I'd reconsider the flatmate option. Fair warning, you might get a bit frustrated in your search online - NZ is a small country that's very community-driven, and a lot of this kind of thing is done word-of-mouth. Another option would be staying in a backpackers or hostels, though this will come with its own headaches like a bunch of loud/unruly 18-year olds partying on holiday, spotty internet access and the like. You might find something that meets your criteria on bookabach or other holiday rental listings, though these are generally pretty pricey. I think you picked well - New Zealand is an amazing country, and the people are some of the most genuinely kind and hospitable folks I've ever encountered. Good luck! posted by hootenatty at 4:10 PM on August 27, 2013 « Older I'd like a PC emulator for the... \| I like music videos that featu... Newer »
Take the 2-minute tour × I know this is none of my business, still, since Microsoft always tries to bump its competitors, i was wondering what current legal issues are going on between Ubuntu and Microsoft Corp., and is there anyway common ubuzens like me can help in those matters? share\|improve this question Related: askubuntu.com/questions/88366/… – Rinzwind Jan 26 '12 at 10:02 add comment closed as not a real question by Bruno Pereira, Uri Herrera, fossfreedom, Rinzwind, bodhi.zazen Jan 26 '12 at 18:28 1 Answer up vote 4 down vote accepted I don't know of any legal issues between Ubuntu and Microsoft. Indeed, Microsoft is contributing to the development of several key technologies we use in Ubuntu -- most notably Linux and Samba4. They're not the same bad guy they used to be. There are other companies I would be more afraid of, with Apple being the primary bully. share\|improve this answer If we're in the subject... does buying some stuff from Ubuntu Shop helps its development, or these items are just a cool stuff? – Misery Jan 26 '12 at 12:18 add comment
Before we head to the Winter Meetings in Nashville, Tenn., there's time to dip into the reader mailbag. I'll do another Inbox after the Meetings next week, so keep those questions coming! With Nick Franklin tearing the cover off the ball in the Arizona Fall League, what do you think are his chances of being on the Mariners' Opening Day roster? And if that is the case, could Dustin Ackley see some playing time in the outfield? -- Duane J., Couer d'Alene, Idaho Everyone assumes Franklin, the Mariners' No 3 prospect, is now a second baseman because that's where he played in the Arizona Fall League, but that was more a matter of circumstances. Every Major League team can designate one AFL player who must be played on a regular basis at a certain position, and the Mariners designated catcher Mike Zunino. The Reds chose their shortstop, Didi Gregorius, to be their designated player on the Peoria club. Have a question about the Mariners? First Name, Last Initial: Email Address: So Franklin wound up playing second base in order to be in the lineup and he hit .338 with 22 RBIs in 20 games. He'll get an invitation to Mariners camp again, and I suspect he'll get a good look at shortstop. It's a long shot for him to break camp on the 25-man roster, but I'm sure he'll be much more ready than a year ago when he was a little over his head as a wide-eyed 20-year-old. It seems only a matter of time before he gets his chance. Why did the Mariners pick up Scott Cousins and then just release him without giving him a chance? -- Mark J., Pullman, Wash. Good timing on that question as Cousins -- who played parts of the past three seasons for the Marlins -- was claimed off waivers from the Mariners on Friday by the Angels. The 27-year-old outfielder has had an adventurous offseason, having already been claimed by the Blue Jays and then released, with Seattle then claiming him on Nov. 6. But the Mariners designated him for assignment on Nov. 20 when they added five young players to their 40-man roster to protect them from the Rule 5 Draft. At that point, they just made the determination that one of their young prospects was more critical than bringing Cousins to camp. So now he's with the Angels -- his fourth team in a span of 44 days. With their 40-man roster full at this point, the Mariners are going to need to drop somebody else if they sign any free agents or make a Rule 5 Draft pick. So his situation in Seattle was pretty tenuous anyway. With the new fences at Safeco Field, are they taking down the old wall or simply moving it in closer? -- Linda J., Olympia, Wash. The old wall will be torn down, with a new fence and new padding installed. The Marlins just conducted a huge salary dump. What is the possibility that the Mariners look into acquiring Giancarlo Stanton? -- Jose N., Mount Vernon, Wash. I'm sure pretty much every MLB team has checked to see if the young slugger is available. And, yeah, he'd be the perfect fit for the power-hungry Mariners. But Marlins president Larry Beinfest repeated again this week that his team has no intention of trading Stanton, which isn't surprising given he's still making the Major League minimum of $480,000 and won't be a free agent until 2017. The Marlins were looking to unload salary, not talent. They'll try to now build around the 23-year-old who hit 37 home runs last season, not give him up while he's still under team control for four more years. Are the Mariners going to reach out to Jason Bay for the chance of a comeback? What are the chances he could make the team? -- Beau C., Moscow, Idaho The Mariners are one of several teams that are known to have talked with Bay, and it seems like Seattle could be a perfect landing spot after the Mets released him with $21 million still owed. The 34-year-old Canadian played for Gonzaga University and lives in the Seattle area, and the Mariners had success with a similar reclamation project last year in Oliver Perez, who found a home after agreeing to a Minor League deal and then quietly working his way back as a reliever. Bay was a huge disappointment in his three seasons with the Mets, but this is a guy who averaged 27 home runs and 99 RBIs the previous six years with the Pirates and Red Sox. His chances of making the team would depend entirely on how he performed in Spring Training, but he used to be exactly the kind of player the Mariners are looking for -- a corner outfielder with pop. If he's willing to sign a minimum-salary-type deal, I'm sure the Mariners would be interested in seeing what he might have left. Are the rumors true that the Mariners are possibly going to trade one of their big-three pitching prospects? I heard the Royals were looking to get them for Billy Butler. What are your thoughts on trading one of these future stars? -- William H., Shoreline, Wash. Rumors, rumors. Might as well get used to them heading to the Winter Meetings. The Mariners may well use one of their prime young arms -- Danny Hultzen, Taijuan Walker or James Paxton -- to deal for a hitter at some point this offseason. But all the talk of getting Butler or teammate Alex Gordon from the Royals is off base, in my opinion. The Royals are actually looking to add proven veteran pitching, not prospects, and might use one of their own young outfield prospects, Wil Myers, to swing a deal. But they're not looking to deal Butler or Gordon. They're building around those guys and trying to improve their pitching staff now, not for the future, so I don't see that particular rumor having any legs.
Royal Wedding 'Too Boring' for AmericaS Just when America's stricken media industry thought it finally caught a windfall in royal wedding hoopla—Collector's edition magazines! Bridezilla-bait TV specials! Ads for Rogaine!Page Six reports this: Hasn't the media suffered enough already? How dare these inbred jerks wed without a single mental breakdown or sexting scandal between them! England, we will give back Piers Morgan, Skins, and Delaware if you can produce even one juicy tidbit from this mindnumblingly bland regal affair. (Sneak laxatives into the royal fruitcake, maybe?) You're the nation that produced Shakespeare and Amy Winehouse. We expect more engaging entertainment from you. [P6, photo via Getty Images]
[an error occurred while processing this directive] BBC News watch One-Minute World News Last Updated: Tuesday, 25 May, 2004, 16:18 GMT 17:18 UK Abu Ghraib: Dark stain on Iraq's past By Martin Asser BBC News US troops in Abu Ghraib, 22 April 2003 (Photo: BBC/Martin Asser) US troops inspect a mass grave after taking control of Abu Ghraib in April 2003 Abu Ghraib prison lurks behind high walls and brooding watchtowers on the main highway west of Baghdad. A square kilometre of hell during Saddam Hussein's horrific rule, it has retained some of its malevolence since US forces took over the facility, two weeks after toppling the Iraqi regime. The huge prison complex was built by Western contractors in the 1960s. The size of a small town, the area was divided into five separate walled compounds for different types of prisoners. By the fall of the regime in 2003 these compounds were designated for foreign prisoners, long sentences, short sentences, capital crimes and "special" crimes. Yehiye Ahmed But there is little doubt that the Baathist regime used it as a vast holding tank for enemies and "undesirables", who were incarcerated, tortured and executed at the leisure of Saddam's security enforcers. In contrast to the US occupation, there are no Saddam-era photographs from inside Abu Ghraib - but human rights agencies have numerous accounts of the violations witnessed there. Amnesty International reports give some idea of the scale of the brutality - though researchers admit to being unable to provide a full picture because of the regime's secrecy. • 1994 - More than 150 detainees executed over two days in January • 1996 - Hundreds of opposition group members executed in November Click here for a satellite image of the Abu Ghraib prison (51K) • 1998 - 60 people executed in June, mostly detainees from 1991 Shia uprising • 1999 - At least 100 prisoners executed on 12 October • 2001 - 23 political prisoners, mainly Shia Muslims, executed in October In addition to the mass executions, detainees were subjected to extreme torture - including the use of electric shocks, drills and lighted cigarettes on the body; the extraction of fingernails, beatings, mock executions and threats to rape detainees' relatives. Local resident Yehiye Ahmed was quoted in April 2003 recalling the constant sound of prisoners' screams over the prison walls. He said he witnessed atrocities when he entered the compound to sell sandwiches and cigarettes. "I saw three guards beat a man to death with sticks and cables. When they got tired, the guards would switch with other guards. I could only watch for a minute without getting caught, but I heard the screams, and it went on for an hour," he told the US publication Newsweek. Bizarre decoration It is reported that about 15,000 detainees were held at Abu Ghraib, most of them kept in row-upon-row of one- or two-storey cellblocks. Mural at Abu Ghraib jail (Photo: BBC/Martin Asser) Prison mural showing Palestinians celebrating as Saddam decapitates "Zionist snake" Each block was as spartan as could be expected, with a dining room, prayer room, exercise area and rudimentary washing facilities. The cells were horribly overcrowded, with up to 40 people in a space four metres by four. The only decoration to break the drab oppressiveness of the surroundings was the bizarre adulatory portraits of Saddam Hussein and inscriptions of his "words of wisdom". Pictures showed him liberating Palestine and benevolently presiding over grandiose infrastructure projects in Iraq, while the inscriptions urged prisoners to maintain hygiene and be loyal to the Arab nation. Perhaps the most bitterly ironic image, given the benighted nature of his regime, was the monumental portrait at the main gate. A smiling Saddam in business suit and Islamic architectural backdrop subtitled: "There is no life without the Sun and no dignity without Saddam". New regime By chance, while reporting for BBC News Online, I was at Abu Ghraib on 22 April 2003, the very day that US military police arrived to take over the facility after the fall of the regime. It had been only lightly looted, vandalism mainly, and the MPs - reservists led by a colonel from Florida - were there to secure the location "as a possible centre for operations". Section for Abu Ghraib prisoners at Karkh Islamic Cemetery (photo: BBC/Martin Asser) Hundreds of victims of Abu Ghraib were buried in numbered graves at a nearby cemetery Neither the colonel nor I had any idea that this little-known remnant of an ugly past was destined to become one of the most vivid and memorable locations of the "new" Iraq. The American troops knew neither the name nor the past function of the set of map co-ordinates they had been given. I remember wondering whether they weren't sending the wrong message to Iraqis by installing themselves in the very heart of the darkness of Saddam's regime. To underline the point, as the MPs fanned out through compound, we stumbled across the remains of probably the last victims of Saddam's Abu Ghraib nightmare. Near the foreigners' section there was a half-buried, three-week old corpse - one of about 20 inmates apparently shot at the prison as the regime teetered on the brink of collapse. Almost farcically, the commanding officer declared the site a "crime scene" and ordered the arrest of half a dozen local civilian police who had been sent by their commander to liaise with the US soldiers. US abuses In the months that followed, Abu Ghraib jail has been re-designated as the Baghdad Central Detention Center, now holding up to 5,000 Iraqis detained by US forces for a variety of offences. Until recently, detainees were mainly kept in two tented areas - camps Vigilant and Ganci. These were replaced in May 2004 by Camp Avalanche, built on concrete to reduce the dust problem. Abu Ghraib abuse picture (AP Photo/Courtesy of The New Yorker) Under the dictator Abu Ghraib was a symbols of death and torture. That same prison became a symbol of disgraceful conduct by a few American troops George W Bush There is also the Hard Site, the Americans' name for the old cellblock complexes refurbished to US military specifications. It is here that troublesome inmates and more serious cases are sent, and where by all accounts the infamous abuses took place and photographs taken. Haydar Sabbar Abed has identified himself as one of the victims of US torture. He told the BBC he was arrested for not carrying his ID card and he was taken to Abu Ghraib's Hard Site after having a fight with an Iraqi prison employee in one of the tent camps. "They cut off our clothes and... told us to masturbate towards this female soldier. But we didn't agree to do it, so they beat us," he said. "They made us act like dogs, putting leashes around our necks. They'd whistle and we'd have to bark like dogs. We thought they were going to kill us". Apparently, an intrinsic part of the abuse was to take photographs of the humiliated prisoners, which is how the scandal has come to light. The coalition has put the abuse down to the work of a "few bad apples" who do not represent the US army. Critics say the prison guards must have been acting on higher authority and claim it was a routine used to soften up prisoners for interrogation, but this has been denied by the coalition. Now, as Washington struggles to patch up its battered policies in Iraq after the prison scandal and as the anti-US insurgency continues unabated, President George W Bush has promised to demolish Abu Ghraib "as a fitting symbol of Iraq's new beginning". The announcement drew enthusiastic applause from the assembled top brass at the US Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. But many Iraqis have spent the last year wondering why Abu Ghraib wasn't torn down long ago. We asked if you thought Abu Ghraib should be closed and demolished? Your comments: It probably should be torn down, albeit a little late. At this point it's just a ploy by the president. I think that the president is now on a mission of damage control. It appears that the recent events there will yet again be covered up by the US government whose official comment anytime anything happens is "we didn't do it", "it wasn't us". As bad as it was, it's a good thing that pictures were taken so that my government could not say yet again, it's just a rumour. Brian M, USA, WA It should be kept as a reminder of America's double talk Astra Chang, Trinidad Abu Ghraib is a potent reminder of what can happen when people dehumanize and hate one another. I do not believe for a second that the US soldiers were acting independently, and it should be kept as a reminder of America's double talk. Why should I believe anything they now say? Astra Chang, Trinidad, West Indies I think the Abu Ghraib should be closed down but preserved so that this horrendous history of maltreatment and their victims will not be forgotten. Gas chambers by the Nazis and the site of Hiroshima nuclear bombing are preserved for these purposes, and hopefully the site of Abu Ghraib will continue to remind people that violence resolves nothing. Miwa, Chicago, US No, not demolished, for to demolish is to forget. Abu Ghraib should be severely dismantled, like the castles of England Cromwell "slighted," so that it cannot be used as a prison again. But part of it must be saved as a warning to ourselves and to future generations. Don't pave over a symbol of shame for Iraqis and Americans alike. Even so, I don't expect the US administration to promote the memory of its own mistakes. Clinton Crowley, Fort Worth, Texas, US Abu Ghraib should definitely be shut down because it was a symbol of Saddam's tyranny. By using Abu Ghraib, the US has also unfortunately tied itself to that prison's dark legacy. Omair Saadat, Stanford, CA, USA Abu Ghraib prison is an icon of cruelty against the humanity whether it is under USA or Saddam. Why somebody need a prison wall when the whole country is a prison - only the prison guards has changed. Hussain Chirathodi, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia This land should be left barren Bo Arnold, Columbus Yes! This prison and all of the prisoner/human rights abuses that it has stood for should be demolished. This land should be left barren to finally give the tortured souls a chance to seek their peace. Bo Arnold, Columbus, USA My first thought was to definitely destroy the prison, erase it from history. But then I thought of the concentration camps. We cannot erase history. Forever this prison will be a symbol of Saddam's regime and now it is also a symbol of the torture at the hands of the American soldiers. It should be preserved and memorialized so that we can visit with our kids and show them how horrible human beings can be to one another. Carrie, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA It should be transformed into a mausoleum for those who perished under tyranny everywhere for generations to come. Shakib Ahsan, Oklahoma No! It should not be torn down. It should be made a memorial to the atrocities of both Saddam Hussein, the US and UK Army. Rakesh Jain, Edison, USA No I do not think it should be demolished, especially if it is to make way to a new prison. Why spend money to remove a jail just to erect a new one when that same money could be used else where... say in opening up a new school. A prison is meant for criminals. Abu Ghraib housed many innocents. Maybe if it is used for what it was built for people would not object. But it is dumb to think that destroying it and erecting a new one would some how make the memories all better. Rau, India The BBC's Clive Myrie "The speech didn't deliver" Americas Africa Europe Middle East South Asia Asia Pacific
Search tips Search criteria ACS Chem Biol. Mar 19, 2010; 5(3): 265–272. Published online Feb 12, 2010. doi: 10.1021/cb900293a PMCID: PMC2842019 Why Does Binding of Proteins to DNA or Proteins to Proteins Not Necessarily Spell Function? Buyong Ma, Chung-Jung Tsai, Yongping Pan, and Ruth Nussinov* Basic Science Program, SAIC-Frederick, Inc., Center for Cancer Research Nanobiology Program, NCI-Frederick, Frederick, Maryland 21702 * Corresponding author, ruthnu/at/ Received November 22, 2009; Accepted February 12, 2010. An external file that holds a picture, illustration, etc. Object name is cb-2009-00293a_0003.jpg Object name is cb-2009-00293a_0003.jpg Studies of binding are often question: first, is the observed binding functional, and second, if it is, which function? Is it activation or repression? The first question relates to binding at different sites; the second relates to binding at similar sites. These questions apply to transcription factors binding to genomic DNA and to protein interaction domains binding to their partners. Here, we explain that both can be understood in terms of allostery and the cellular (or in vitro) environment. The idea is simple yet powerful; it emphasizes the role of allostery in defining whether binding between transcription factors and (cognate or noncognate) DNA sequences will lead to function and to the type of function. Allosteric effects are the outcome of dynamically shifting populations; thus binding to even slightly different DNA sequences will lead to different transcription factor conformations that can be reflected in the binding sites to their co-regulators. Currently, allostery is not considered when trying to understand how binding phenomena determine the functional outcome. Allosteric effects can enhance the binding specificity in a function-oriented manner. Here we provide a biological rationale that considers cellular crowding effects. To be functional, proteins need to bind their partners; expressing function in the cell entails a network of binding events. Yet, in vivo and in vitro, binding of transcriptional control (TC) proteins to their cognate DNA response elements (REs) or of protein molecules to their protein partners does not imply function. Function is based on events taking place following binding, that is, whether the binding leads to specific subsequent binding events as specified by the cellular program. Consequently, identification of the location of the REs in the genome by chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) that obtains protein−DNA interactions is often coupled with microarray readout of these experiments (ChIP-chip) (1). Such a combination assists in defining the in vivo utilization of genomic sequences by the TC proteins and the functional consequences. Toward this aim, the higher resolution and greater coverage ChiP-seq technique for genome-wide profiling of DNA-binding proteins is also gaining momentum (2). In genomic DNA, not all REs are chromatin-available (3). However, even for chromatin-available REs, binding of a TC protein does not necessarily indicate function. Similarly, detection of protein−protein interactions by co-immunoprecipitation via endogenous (not overexpressed and not tagged) proteins with subsequent Western blotting implies direct or indirect (via a bridging protein) binding; however, again, the binding may or may not specify function. Moreover, REs that are very similar, with only a single base pair (bp) change, can lead to vastly different functional consequences (48). Yet while it is broadly accepted that binding, whether of a TC protein to its RE or between proteins, does not indicate function, the reasons are not entirely understood. At one end of the spectrum, some types of specific binding are linked to specific functions ((1,1, panel A); at the other, specific binding is insufficient. Function is determined by subsequent events ((1,1, panel B). There are examples for both. For the first (4), p53 has a very large number of similar REs in the genome. Binding to certain REs activates DNA repair, cell-cycle arrest, senescence, or apoptosis; binding to others represses or inactivates pathways via either involvement of the histone deacetylase, inactivation of other DNA-bound and DNA-unbound activators, or other routes (5). The transcriptional repressor REST (NRSF), which encodes DNA binding affinity hierarchies contributing to regulation during lineage-specific and developmental programs, provides another example (9). Canonical REST REs bind strongly and control REST targets common to all cell types, whereas atypical motifs involve weak interactions in cell- or tissue-specific targets. Hence, selective binding of a certain RE already determines the functional outcome. The nuclear receptor (NR) provides an example for the other end of the spectrum; NR binding to its REs is insufficient. The functional outcome is determined by subsequent co-regulator, co-activator, or co-repressor, binding events at different sites (6,7). The Apak (ATM and p53-associated KZNF protein), a Krüppel-associated box (KRAB)-type protein(10) that regulates p53-dependent apoptosis, provides an example for a yet different mechanism: binding to both p53 TC and to DNA via its zinc-finger motif. At the same time, not all binding events away from the co-activator binding site are functional ((1,1, panel C). Why then does binding not necessarily imply function? We propose that to be functional, binding either should be a consequence of allosteric amplification of a minor conformational change, as in p53 and REST, or should lead to it, as in NR, or both, as in Apak. A similar situation can be seen in protein interaction domains (PID) such as PDZ, 14-3-3, Bromo, SH2, SH3, and LRR (11). Ligand binding to PID, mutations, or post-translational modifications away from the binding site allosterically alter the PID binding site conformation (12,13). ).22 provides two examples illustrating how binding at other sites by an RE (6) or agonist/antagonist ligand (14) can alter the respective co-regulator binding site conformations leading to activation or inhibition. Cellular fluctuations play key roles in all, either in the initial allosteric event or in subsequent binding events. Similar conformational changes can be elicited by perturbation (binding, post-translational modification) events on major allosteric pathways elsewhere in the structure (12). On the other hand, in nonfunctional binding the perturbation site is not on a major pathway between the RE’s (or agonist’s) and the co-regulator’s ((1,1, panel C). Thus chromatin immunoprecipitation obtains binding; however, microarray readout may not present functional change. This emphasizes the shortcomings in cellular network diagrams: pathways are neither simply sequential nor “yes/no” contingent events. Mechanistically, pathway steps are the outcome of allosteric response reflected in conformational selection (1520). This mechanistic picture rests on a dynamic view of molecules as ensembles of conformations. Figure 1 Figure 1 An illustration to explain why binding does not necessarily spell function. The response elements (REs, red boxes) of a given transcriptional control protein (TC) have very similar DNA sequences, with small base pair (bp) changes, yet they regulate genes (more ...) Figure 2 Figure 2 Two examples illustrating how binding at other sites−by an RE (A) or agonist/antagonist ligand (B)−can allosterically alter the respective co-regulator binding site conformation leading to activation or inhibition. In the left panel of (more ...) In solution proteins exist as conformational ensembles, which can be described by statistical mechanical laws, and their populations follow statistical distributions (2123). The number of states is vast, the conformational differences are generally small, and the barriers are low ((3).3). The more flexible the proteins are (as in the case of transcription factors that are often disordered), the larger the number of states. Ample data from single molecule, NMR, and other techniques (2434) validate this description (19,3537). During binding, higher energy lower population conformers that are most complementary to the ligand are selected and the equilibrium shifts toward these conformers (1518). This validated (19) “conformational selection and population shift” model1518 for molecular recognition provides an alternative to the 50-year old “induced fit” hypothesis(38). Relating this description to binding and function, in our first case type ((1,1, panel A), binding implies function; hence a key question is how the TC protein selects a particular RE among all similar and available REs in the genome (4) and similarly, how the PID (11), which can have hundreds of partners binding at the same site (39), selects a specific one. Since here the affinities are generally low, selection is dictated by prior binding (or post-translational modification) events. These allosterically shift the ensemble toward specific conformations. At the other end of the spectrum ((1,1, panel B), the TC already binds with high affinity many REs. One or two bps changes are amplified via population shifts in the TC ((2,2, panel A). Similar shifts are reflected in the PID(11) following phosphorylation/acetylation or ligand (e.g., agonist/antagonist (14,40,41), ),2,2, panel B) binding. The outcome is surfaces complementary to a specific co-repressor or co-activator ((1,1, panel B) (14). This explains the fundamental question of how the minor differences elicited by substitutions of single bps among REs or mutational, post-translational modification or ligand-binding events can lead to vastly different functional effects. This question is particularly crucial since protein factors and DNA generally present only small conformational changes. We note that here we assume that one RE is recognized by a specific TC. Although to date no cases of one RE recognized by multiple TCs has been observed, in principle this can happen; under such circumstances the RE can block the TC binding site, mimicking an antagonist. Figure 3 Figure 3 Simple illustration of conformational selection in terms of the free energy landscape. Several crystal structures of the glucocorticoid receptors and their corresponding REs are used here as examples. GR samples the conformational space around the native (more ...) Gene expression is controlled by cellular networks, which consist of linked processes. Text books, such as Cell Biology(42) depict processes as diagrams of series of binding events, where one follows the other or is contingent on the other. However, events like those of the nuclear receptor (5,6) question such simple descriptions ((4).4). Conformational changes elicited by one RE differ from those of another. Eventually, which co-regulator, e.g., acetylase or deacetylase, is selectively recruited depends on co-regulator concentration, post-translational modification states, etc., that is, on the network. In turn, the network reflects the cellular environment. Similarly, a PID can bind similar ligands but elicit different conformational changes in the partner-binding site ((1,1, panel B). Hence, here DNA (or, ligand) binding observed by experiment does not indicate whether it activates or inhibits expression; function depends on sufficiently high concentration of protein factors that recognize a specific binding site conformation amplified by a certain RE (or ligand). On the other hand, in the first case (e.g., of p53 (4) or REST (9), ),1,1, panel A), binding implicates function. Such a description further sheds light on the often observed low affinity binding: affinity measurements may not reflect in vivo scenarios. Figure 4 Figure 4 Allosteric regulation underlies the complex binding−function relationship in cellular networks. The figure highlights the inadequacy of current cellular diagrams that depict series of binding events. As an example. we depict the estrogen receptor, (more ...) From the mechanistic standpoint, we face two problems: first, if binding is at different sites, is it functional or nonfunctional, and second, if at similar sites, what is the outcome, activation or inhibition? Experiments reflect steady-state concentrations; they do not follow the time course of the immense fluctuations in the cellular environment and the consequent allosteric effects. This problem transcends into cellular network binding diagrams that do not reflect this changing selectivity. Yet affinity is a function of allosteric effects, and “yes/no” contingencies cannot mirror such changes. Binding can be a function of concentration or selectivity; in turn, selectivity is the outcome of shifts of the ensemble of conformational states following perturbation events, that is, the outcome of allostery. To increase binding selectivity is then the key role of allosteric events, and allosteric effects are not accounted for in cellular network diagrams. Binding is not necessarily highly selective, as in the case of the transcriptional repressor CoR or NotchIC binding to CSL (43), where binding reflects cellular concentrations; at the same time, cellular events reflect allosteric effects that amplify minor conformational changes, thus spelling higher selectivity. Cellular network descriptions should mirror both. Network modules have been featured from the topological standpoint (44,45). Recent work highlighted the relationship between protein conformational fluctuations and their “promiscuous functions” and how they can greatly facilitate the evolution of new functions. Such mechanisms have been delineated both experimentally (46) and theoretically(47). Phenomena described here further apply to the biological functions of protein disordered states where similar conformational principles apply (48,49). Here we suggest a mechanistic conformational level description where cellular processes consist of independent components governed by dynamically shifting populations. Such a description accounts for molecular level binding selectivity and incorporates the immense fluctuations in cellular conditions. It is based on a picture of molecules as dynamic conformational ensembles and at the same time explains how evolution minimizes errors in molecular recognition. Development increases functional complexity. We speculate that evolution faced the question of how to exert efficient response to the environment: engineer new control proteins or make use of the conformational space of existing ones? Developing new molecules is risky and slower, yet expanding existing ones is wasteful, requiring high concentrations with only some of the binding events being productive. To minimize the chance of errors, evolution nonetheless chose this route. The number of similar REs and similar PID partners increased dramatically (3,39,50,51), leading to numerous nonproductive binding events as in the case of the NR. However, at the same time, evolution embraced allostery: through environment-triggered conformational changes that lead to enhanced specificity, allosteric effects enforce an ordered sequence of events in multimolecular associations, leading to complex yet less error-prone structures as in the case of viral capsids. Allostery limits the conformational space of the association, reducing the chances of nonproductive associations inherent to diffusion-collision-type processes, thus offering advantageous solutions. We further note that our definition of function as binding that leads to specific subsequent events explains why interface design is so difficult: the binding should be such that it would elicit an allosteric transition culminating with (far away) binding sites that have “correct” conformations. To conclude, here we present a perspective of protein−DNA binding that suggests possible criteria that can be used to discriminate between functional and nonfunctional binding events. A key ingredient of the discriminant criteria is the presence of allosteric effects that are capable of enhancing the binding specificity in a function-oriented manner. Allostery plays a key role in determining whether a binding event is functional and the type of function (4,8,13,1520,52,53). This provides a new definition of function and as such of biophysical events that qualify as “functional”. This project has been funded in whole or in part with Federal funds from the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, under contract number HHSN261200800001E. 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Take the 2-minute tour × It was recently suggested to me that I use FastCGI with PHP. Now I went to the FastCGI page and read it but I don't really understand what the advantages are. share\|improve this question add comment 3 Answers up vote 32 down vote accepted Using mod_php each Apache worker has the entire PHP interpreter loaded into it. Because Apache needs one worker process per incoming request, you can quickly end up with hundreds of Apache workers in use, each with their own PHP interpreter loaded, consuming huge amounts of memory. (Note, this isn't exactly true, Apache's worker_mpm allows you to serve many requests with a single threaded Apache worker. However, even in 2009, this is not the recommended way to deploy PHP because of suspected threading issues with the PHP extensions.) By using PHP in fast_cgi mode (using something like spawn-fcgi from the lighttpd package) has the following benefits • tune the number of PHP workers separately from the number of incoming connections • allow you to put you PHP workers on a different server, or scale across many servers without changing you web tier • gives you flexibility to choose a different web server, like nginx, or lighttpd • allow you to run your PHP application in a different security domain on your web server share\|improve this answer add comment FastCGI means that the php bits aren't running in the same process as the apache bits, unlike with mod_php. This separation can have some definite advantages when it comes to restarting the server or dealing with runaway applications - in the mod_php case that means that it's the apache process that's "runaway", but under fastcgi it's just a process that apache is talking to, so the entire server doesn't have to be taken down. share\|improve this answer add comment Another advantage not yet mentioned is the fact that with mod_fcgid (which is a newer implementation for using FastCGI on Apache) and suexec you can realize setups where different vhosts use different Linux users for execution, which can be a real security benefit in a shared hosting szenario. With mod_php, all vhosts share the same user, which is Apache's user. This can lead to security issues. share\|improve this answer It depends on the MPM used in this particular Apache httpd setup. For example with MPM-itk (mpm-itk.sesse.net) it is possible to use mod_php and have the scripts (or better: the httpd processes) being run in the context of another user. – joschi Jun 1 '09 at 10:37 add comment Your Answer
Forgot your password? Comment: Re:Roomba sucks (but not in the way I paid for) (Score 1) 88 by FirstNoel (#41322571) Attached to: What's Next For iRobot? Same here. Have the Pet one for the basement/rec-room/man-cave/whatever. Runs twice a week. Only issues I've had are when he wonders into the laundry room or closet and can't get back out. Some times he may try to crawl under the couch and get stuck, or if my 5 year old leaves some toys out he may try to pull them in. Over all, great investment for me. Keeps the cat/dog hair in check. And I don't have to lug the big vacuum downstairs and go through that hassle.. I like him. He does need maintenance once in a while, but that's more fun than vacuuming. by FirstNoel (#39367683) Attached to: Wikipedia Didn't Kill Brittanica — Encarta Did . Encyclopedias are what you read when you don't really care all that much about the subject. Thinking about this...you are correct. If you want real in debt knowledge go to the sources. If you want a basic understanding, but not be inundated in the details Encyclopedias do that. I remember grabbing a World-Book Encyclopedia whenever I needed quick bathroom reading. For a pre-teen/teenager it was perfect. I got a lot of real basic info about interesting subjects. But other than for a grade-school writing assignment, they were just dead trees. I think we got the update books up till 1980...so talk about outdated info. Encarta was like a breath of fresh air. except you couldn't lug your PC into the restroom to read it. Now...hell, smartphone+wikipedia and I'm set for life. Comment: What about that pen that records everything (Score 1) 425 by FirstNoel (#38061404) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: What's a Good Tablet/App Combination For Note-Taking? Staples had a pen that would record your strokes as you wrote, that you could then download into your PC. Forget the name, (don't feel like googling), you still need paper though. I like to write my pseudo-code out ahead of time on certain projects, it would be nice to then import that in when I'm done. tablets are nice and all, but there's something about hand-writing it out. helps me with memorizing. Typing, "seems" less so. Comment: Re:Which is what, exactly? (Score 1) 2247 by FirstNoel (#37778242) Attached to: Ron Paul Suggests Axing 5 U.S. Federal Departments (and Budgets) Um, because we're all citizens of the same country? I personally do not have any need for a tsunami warning system. But I'll be damned if I want my fellow citizens put in harms way if we can avoid it. Why can't we all watch each other's backs instead of trying to stab them there? Damn. it's not socialism, it's good citizenship. 1 Sagan = Billions & Billions
Take the 2-minute tour × I'm working on a bare-metal cortex-M3 in C++ for fun and profit. Lately I decided to try and use the STL library as I needed some containers. I thought that by simply providing my allocator it wouldn't add much code to the final binary, since you get only what you use. I actually didn't even expect any linking process at all with the STL (giving my allocator), as I thought it was all template code. I am compiling with -fno-exception by the way. Unfortunately, about 600KB or more are added to my binary. I looked up what symbols are included in the final binary with nm and it seemed a joke to me. The list is so long I won't try and past it. Although there are some weak symbols. I also looked in the .map file generated by the linker and I even found the scanf symbols .text 0x000158bc 0x30 /CodeSourcery/Sourcery_CodeBench_Lite_for_ARM_GNU_Linux/bin/../arm-none-linux-gnueabi/libc/usr/lib/libc.a(sscanf.o)¶ 0x000158bc __sscanf¶ 0x000158bc sscanf¶ 0x000158bc _IO_sscanf¶ $ arm-none-linux-gnueabi-nm binary \| grep scanf 000158bc T _IO_sscanf 0003e5f4 T _IO_vfscanf 0003e5f4 T _IO_vfscanf_internal 000164a8 T _IO_vsscanf 00046814 T ___vfscanf 000158bc T __sscanf 00046814 T __vfscanf 000164a8 W __vsscanf 000158bc T sscanf 00046814 W vfscanf 000164a8 W vsscanf How can I debug this? For first I wanted to understand what exactly GCC is using for linking (I'm linking through GCC). I know that if symbol is found in a text segment, the whole segment is used, but still that's too much. Any suggestion on how to tackle this would really be appreciated. Thanks, S. share\|improve this question add comment 2 Answers up vote 2 down vote accepted Using GCC's -v and -Wl,-v options will show you the linker commands (and version info of the linker) being used. Which version of GCC are you using? I made some changes for GCC 4.6 (see PR 44647 and PR 43863) to reduce code size to help embedded systems. There's still an outstanding enhancement request (PR 43852) to allow disabling the inclusion of the IO symbols you're seeing - some of them come from the verbose terminate handler, which prints a message when the process is terminated with an active exception. If you're not using execptions then some of that code is useless to you. share\|improve this answer I'm using gcc version 4.6.3 from Code Sourcery. The -Wl,-v option was very useful. Along the flags I passed to the linker, it also included the following -lstdc++ -lm --start-group -lgcc -lgcc_eh -lc --end-group now I have to understand why, and how to remove them. Especially the gcc_eh which I suppose stands for exception handling. Any suggestions or reading about this? – emitrax Jul 22 '12 at 8:29 If you link with gcc instead of g++ then it won't pass -lstdc++ to the linker, and that might also remove the need for -lgcc -lgcc_eh (I don't remember offhand, I'd have to check) but if you don't use any code from those libs then it shouldn't increase the executable size anyway - the verbose terminate handler in libstdc++ is probably what pulls in the unwanted code – Jonathan Wakely Jul 22 '12 at 11:31 If I use gcc it won't find the _List_node_base::_M_hook symbol.Passing -lstdc++ includes everything else. To narrow down the problem I tried linking directly with ld adding those flags one by one. It's missing __aeabi_unwind_cpp_pr0 in libstdc++.a(list.o):(..._List_node_base7_M_hookE) which then links to libc (memcpy and other), which then links everything else. It's a big chain and a PITA. I just wanted a container. :-) I also figured that,since I have a global object, it needs __static_initialization_and_destruction_0 which I didn't expect. Thanks for your help. – emitrax Jul 22 '12 at 12:21 Ah yes, std::__detail::_List_node_base::_M_hook is not inline, it's defined in libstdc++.a, but the file it's in (list.cc) is pretty small and I'm surprised it requires the unwind support if you've disabled exceptions ... strange. – Jonathan Wakely Jul 23 '12 at 8:14 add comment The problem is not about the STL, it is about the Standard library. The STL itself is pure (in a way), but the Standard Library also includes all those streams packages and it seems that you also managed to pull in the libc as well... The problem is that the Standard Library has never been meant to be picked apart, so there might not have been much concern into re-using stuff from the C Standard Library... You should first try to identify which files are pulled in when you compile (using strace for example), this way you can verify that you only ever use header-only files. Then you can try and remove the linking that occurs. There are options to pass to gcc to precise that you would like a standard library-free build, something like --nostdlib for example, however I am not well versed enough in those to instruct you exactly here. share\|improve this answer I am already passing -nostdlib to the compiler, along with -fno-exception, but it seems not to work. – emitrax Jul 22 '12 at 8:35 add comment Your Answer
The Pittsburgh Promise is essentially three promises in one. We promise the following to those who live in the City of Pittsburgh and attend Pittsburgh Public Schools: 1. We will provide you with up to $40,000 as a scholarship to pursue higher education. 2. We will reform our urban public schools so that we are preparing you well for success in higher education. 3. We will develop our urban neighborhoods so that where you live and go to school is a place that is conducive to learning. Video by: Demetrius and Christina Wren Loading more stuff… Loading videos…
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?
Love, Loss, and What I Wore: Jane Smiley I made the date, I made the dress; I was getting hitched. Was the cat trying to stop me? Getty Images The story I usually tell about my one and only wedding gown is the one about the cat, but first, there was the proposal. I was sitting around with the other Vassar girls, discussing where I should live once my boyfriend graduated from Yale (I still had a year to go). One of the girls said, "Get married; they're bound to give you a car," and so that very night, I proposed. It took him 24 hours to consent, and two more weeks for my parents to...offer us a car. The gown itself I found in a fashion magazine. It was a faux Victorian/peasant/ fairy-tale thing with a high neckline, pleats, ruffles, and floating satin ribbons, in the purest white. I adored it. It somehow represented everything that we were not (we were: tall, gawky, Marxist, bespectacled, middle-class, suburban). I was, of course, going to make it myself. French couture— what could be hard? I sewed. My sewing machine was set up on the desk in my dorm room. My main responsibility was to clothe my fiancé, who was 6'10" and limited in his fashion choices to catalogs for big and tall men, which meant no striped bell-bottom pants or loud hippie shirts. I filled in the gap. For myself, I experimented, usually without success. I loved the strapless nightgown I had designed, but if I took a deep breath, the snap would pop and the whole thing would fall to the floor. I also liked the red polyester double-knit jumpsuit, but it was too hot to actually wear—and I mean caliente, not picante. Undaunted, however, I went to the nicest fabric store in St. Louis (no mill ends for me) and ordered 18 yards of real peau de soie. I showed the salesclerk the picture in the magazine. She told me I could order the fabric already pleated, a godsend because pleats were the essence of this gown—pleats from neckline almost to hem, pleats from shoulder almost to hand, all bound together at strategic points (waist, elbow) with those satin ribbons. I set up my sewing machine in our furnitureless one-bedroom summer apartment in Cambridge. In July, I designed and sewed the underbodice and the lace cap (Marxist compromise with veil). In August, I commenced upon the ruffle. Here's where the cat came in. It was almost five, rush hour in our neighborhood, and I was putting a narrow hem in what would be the bottom of the ruffle. The cat, a nine-month-old Siamese named Timaeus, had been sitting in the window and then strolling around the room. Now he coughed a couple of times. I looked up and saw that he was stroking the side of his face with his paw. He coughed again. I picked him up. He had a needle, a long one, stuck in his mouth, behind his teeth. The closest vet was one stop away on the streetcar. I carried the cat down the stairs and onto the crowded carriage. When we got to the stop, I went to the front to pay the fare. The cat was now struggling in my arms. I reached into my back pocket for two dimes and two nickels. My jeans were so tight that when I pulled my hand out of my pocket, the money exploded into the air. The driver growled, "You getting off or not?" and sped away from the stop. The money was gone, and I burst into tears. Some kind woman paid my fare. I got off at the next stop and walked back to the vet. When I could not hold the cat down in the vet's office, the vet's son, in elbow-length sheepskin mitts, replaced me, while I sat in the corridor listening to the yowling. Finally, the vet emerged with the cat in his arms. The needle had either popped out or "gone down." Since there was no telling which, he wouldn't charge me. I carried the cat home. He seemed fine. That weekend, we went to Martha's Vineyard, leaving a friend with the cat and the wedding gown. When we returned, there was a present for us, left by the cat next to his cat box. It was the needle. I still don't understand how he survived. In the wedding portrait, we look good, the dress and I, pleats fanned out, ruffles springing, satin ribbons drifting about, glasses hidden away, marriage as a strange performance put on by and for the parents. There was no honeymoon—the happy couple went back to arguing about the withering away of the state almost immediately. By now, the peau de soie and the pleats have outlived not only the cat and the marriage, but also the Soviet Union and my career as a needlewoman. I never did it again, but I did do it that once. This Is A Developing Story Don't Miss
Best way to spread Club Nintendo coins? #11ObtuseAnginaPosted 4/25/2013 8:43:46 PM the gold prize is normally just a calender for the next year. so the platinum prize is always better pretty much ./\|,-``\(o)_\,----,,,_ But if you're gonna cheat, ( `\(o),,_/` : o : : :o `-, might as well be a fairy while you're at it. #12Sharky8Posted 4/29/2013 9:34:44 AM They reveal some time in July. Also, it's not always to best strategy to register only enough to reach platinum. Some of the older games, especially, might no longer be eligible for coins next year. So if you are going to stop at 600, register only the older games first and save some of the newer ones for later. But even with that strategy, the coin value next year will likely decrease. You need to decide: if you can get 50 coins for a game this year, what if next year it's worth only 30? Would you rather register it now, even if you've already reached platinum, so you can have more coins to get rewards? Or, would you rather wait until next year and register it for fewer coins toward your platinum status? I always just register everything after I get it. That way, I can maximize the number of coins per purchase. #13GhetsisPosted 4/29/2013 9:43:10 AM Emeraldrox posted... Most of those games in that 8 year span won't be worth any coins. This is very true. I've registered well over a dozen GC and GBA games, such as Crystal Chronicles and FFV Advance, and though it lets you register them to your CN account, they gives no coin.
It is San Francisco Ballet's 80th season, and on Tuesday at the War Memorial Opera House, the company pulled out some big, shiny dances in a flourish that reveled in wit, daring and neoclassical tradition. This is a ballet troupe that can dance anything, and on opening night it nearly did, from a big, cheeky 70-year-old ballet right for a Parisian nightclub to a strobe-filled dystopic/utopian premiere to a neurotic beauty from 1970. That's quite a range for any performing arts group. But as versatile as the company is, and as thrilling as it is to watch in all its parts, there is still something this octogenarian can't do: lead us into a daring new future of dance. The birthday news from S.F. Ballet is that the company lacks a reliable radical edge, and that's despite the valiant efforts over the years by artistic director Helgi Tomasson to find one. Tomasson seemed to have located a new dance maverick in Wayne McGregor in 2007. He is resident choreographer for the Royal Ballet in London, and six years ago he premiered his brainy collaboration "Eden/Eden," created with path-breaking minimalist composer Steve Reich and videographer Beryl Korot. It was a hit. But stripped of mesmerizing text and visuals, last year's "Chroma" by McGregor turned out to be built on a dance language much thinner than the earlier work promised, even if the overall conception dazzled. McGregor's newest work, "Borderlands," is in the same league -- captivating, obliquely topical, but not the game changer one might hope for. Mostly, it tries too hard. Weighed down by allusions to the German Bauhaus, "Borderlands" puts the dancers into a beautifully illuminated cube of light (designed by Lucy Carter) and launches them into action like so many poisoned worms squirming in a giant box that changes colors and moods. The movement breaks the body into fragments -- an elbow, a rib cage, a bottom, a foot -- but the physical squiggles and protruding body parts fail to coalesce into a point of view. The too-tame score by Joel Cadbury and Paul Stoney reinforced the timidity of the project. Yet "Borderlands" offered dancers extreme physical challenges, and stunning moments abounded -- Pascal Molat dancing like a dystopic 21st-century Petrouchka, Frances Chung giving new meaning to the passé position of the leg, four dancers walking in sensuous, rocking lock-step along the wall, like soldiers, prisoners or mourners. And eye-popping blasts of purple or green or blue grey light. By contrast, the night's opener was an entertaining and ravishingly outré one-act ballet, "Suite en Blanc," by expat Serge Lifar, who left Russia in 1921, and beautifully mounted by Maina Gielgud, former dancer with the London Festival Ballet among others. It promised nothing more than amusement and delight but offered more. The "pure dance" ballet, propelled by its Spanish melodies and Russian mazurkas, was arranged as a series of dance numbers, and set to Edouard Lalo's "Namouna." This "white" ballet, which refers to the classic-era ballets of dying swans decked in white tutus, was surrounded by black and leavened by the spirit of the Folies Bergere while inspired by the ingenious designs of Busby Berkeley. Lush, rigorous Russian classical and neoclassic dance from the ballets of August Bournonville, Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov to George Balanchine undergird it all. The result was a dance arranged as a show number that brought ballet into new terrain, where the endless quotes from the 19th-century classics were made fodder for modernist wit and expression. It also gave us a parade of stunning individual and Hollywood-big corps performances. Tiit Helimets and Shane Wuerthner partnered with a radiant Vanessa Zahorian in "pas de trois." Sasha De Sola in "serenade" made herself queen of the black stage with its hidden stairs as she executed leg extensions and fouette turns with imperious femininity. The bounding quartet of Daniel Deivison-Oliveira, Steven Morse, Myles Thatcher and Hansuke Yamamoto sprang into the air in relentless beats, jumps and turns. Frances Chung talked with her legs, and Sarah Van Patten danced a subtly witty "cigarette" with signature steel-like clarity. Maria Kochetkova nailed the silkiness of "flute," and Davit Karapetyan was wonderfully sultry in "mazurka," as eight men danced on the ingenious upper landing that gave the whole its nightclub aura. Between these two concept ballets came Jerome Robbins' Chekovian study set to Chopin nocturnes (impeccably played by pianist Roy Bogas) that examines love at three stages of its arc. It is embodied by a trio of couples whose costumes, deepening in color from couple to couple, reinforce the trajectory from innocence to propriety to volcanic rupture. Despite its 19th-century trappings, this is a 20th-century ballet of interior life made public, and it is a slightly neurotic beauty set against a backdrop of dreamy stars -- a welcome whisper between two claps of dance thunder. san francisco ballet Presents the world premiere of Wayne McGregor's "Borderlands," the S.F. premiere of Serge Lifar's "Suite en Blanc" and Jerome Robbins' "In the Night" Where: War Memorial Opera House, 301 Van Ness, S.F. When: 7:30 p.m. Jan. 30, 8 p.m. Jan. 31 and Feb. 1-2, 2 p.m. Feb. 2 and 3 Tickets: $20-$135, 415-865-2000,
Tag Archives: wordpad #ProgressIS: Using a Text Editor As a Word Processor Funny how they say history tends to repeat itself. As always the old becomes new and technology no matter how much it moves forward doesn’t always seem to get away from this idiom. In thousands of offices all around the world there are billions of widget makers struggling every day to figure out simple and easy as ways to communicate via the written word. Unfortunately, most of them assume the only answer is the modern word processor. Now there was a time when the word processor meant a 20 pound device with the really small screen and a not quite detachable keyboard. Like a typewriter minus the White Out. As computers came into play one the first issues ever tackled was a good word processing solution that could replace the the electronic typewriter and single tasking electronic word processors of the day. This was a fine and dandy solution up until there was some bifurcation of formats between WordPerfect, which was the giant of word processors at the time and Microsoft Word. Microsoft Word at that time was oddly enough the new kid on the block. /little did we know that soon it would take over the world and be the planet’s go to word processor. I personally am not a big fan of Microsoft Word mostly because it has grown into a large program without any usable features added since about Word 6 (Office 4.2). However, as more and more people buy Microsoft Word the need for Word compatibility continues to grow. The odd thing is the majority of the people who use Microsoft Word only use it as a glorified electronic typewriter. Most of the people using Microsoft Word are not using the features that require such a large program. In fact almost all of them basically need a simple easy-to-use text editor with spellcheck. I would say about 90% of the people who use Microsoft Word are really using the comparable feature set of WordPad or TextEdit. Knowing this to be true I have personally boycotted the modern word processor and continue to write all of my communications in my generic text editor. My text editor of choice is TextMate, however there are a slew of other options on the market both free and paid for all platforms available including the modern smartphone. So what does this all mean? It means that I’m going to be putting together a series of articles and tutorials that will teach people how to go back to the text editor as their word processor of choice. Thus eliminating the need for costly programs that hog up gigabytes of data on your hard drive, drain your battery, eat up lots of processing power to sit idle and require proprietary data formats. Yes I’m talking about Microsoft Word but this also includes iWork and a bunch more. So be on the lookout for these things coming soon. Check back on this website often as well as follow my twitter feeds and Facebook posting. I’d like to give a shout out to my friend Brett Terpstra who will be providing some of the tools that I used to get a lot of work done via simple text editing. If you’re fanatical notetaker or just person that loves the store tidbits of information I highly suggest you check out NVAlt which is Brett’s Fork of Notational Velocity. I also want to give a shout out to John Garcia for his #Progressis social media campaign for giving me the inspiration to write this post and begin this series of tutorials that I’ll be producing concerning better living through text. Progress is going back to the simple text editor as a way of communicating better, faster, stronger. photo by: Â Marcin Wichary
How to fix distrust in government By Lee H. Hamilton 7 months 20 days ago \|7 Views \| \| \| Email \| Print A lot of this ire is focused on Congress, which an overwhelming majority believe is incapable of acting on behalf of the nation as a whole, but it has come to take in all of Washington. The poll’s findings can be summed up in the words of one respondent, a small-businesswoman from Arizona. “Probably the government in Washington could be trusted at one time,” she told the Times, “but now it seems like it’s all a game of who wins rather than what’s best for the people.” It is a fact of life that American voters respond to likability — a sense of connection — in their candidates. But that’s not how they judge politicians once they’re in office. Instead, they really do care about how elected officials govern. To start, they want fairness from Washington. Whatever you think of the Tea Party or Occupy Wall Street, both have touched a nerve, a sense that our political leaders have not just grown distant from the concerns of ordinary Americans, but actively discriminate against them in one way or another. I’ve always been impressed by the importance Americans place on fairness; they strive to be fair to those around them, and they expect government to do the same. They also want government to be open. This is not a blanket pronouncement — where national security and defense are concerned, or where congressional negotiators need space to find common ground without being forced to posture for the cameras, there is a place for secrecy. But transparency ought to be the rule. Secrecy feeds suspicion and distrust of government. Politicians must be sensitive to this. Speaking to audiences around the country, I’ve also been struck by the deep thirst for accountability in Washington. It is very hard to determine who’s responsible for any given situation in the federal government — so many people have their hands on promoting or blocking a given initiative, it can seem that the entire political system is designed to shrug off responsibility. When the economy is floundering, Americans are desperate for work, and Washington seems incapable of coming to grips with the nation’s needs, this is a huge problem. It is hard to respect institutions whose leaders refuse a forthright accounting of, or deny responsibility for, their failures. Americans do not expect miracles or understate the difficulties of governing. They do not expect a single person to right the ship of state. Quite the contrary. They want a collective effort, a sense that people in government, regardless of party, are rolling up their sleeves and working together to resolve their differences. Americans have some tolerance for disagreement, but not to the point of gridlock — in the end, they prefer cooperation, not confrontation. And they abhor the sort of brinksmanship that has become a Washington specialty, with its last-minute negotiations and short-term fixes. We have serious long-term problems, and Americans want to see their elected officials working on them. They want remedies, not filibusters and scorched-earth politicking. Finally, they want honesty. Americans really do want to know the scope of the problems they confront and to make up their own minds about them. They resent politicians who paper over the difficulties of the problems or toss off inadequate solutions to really tough problems. There is, in the country at large, a thirst for basic facts, not spin. The people can handle the truth, and they deserve no less. comments powered by Disqus Sponsored By: Local Gas Prices Lowest Gas Prices in Point Pleasant Point Pleasant Gas Prices provided by Featured Business Community Directory
The Isley Brothers: Harvest for the World / The Heat is On [20 August 2001] By Mark Anthony Neal Eternal, the most recent release by the famed Isley Brothers, is easily one of their strongest since their classic “3+3” era. Almost four decades before “Mr. Biggs” got “Contagious”, The Isley Brothers were largely a vocal trio led by the silky Ronald Isley, with brothers Rudolph and O’Kelly providing backing harmonies on tracks like “Shout”, “This Old Heart of Mine” and their 1969 pop breakthrough “It’s Your Thing”. Responding to changing musical styles including the evolution of funk, the trio began to incorporate the musical sensibilities of younger brothers Marvin and Ernie and Rudolph’s brother-in-law Chris Jasper into the Isley Brother mix. Though they were paid employers of the Isleys since 1969, 3+3 would be the first recording that significantly included the artistic input of Isley, Jasper, and Isley, as they were named when the trio broke from the older members in the mid-1980s. With the breakout success of the single “That Lady”, the younger trio was handed the reigns of the Isley musical legacy, in the process ushering in an era of sustained critical and commercial acclaim. The Heat is On (1975) and Harvest for the World (1976), both just reissued on the Sony/Legacy imprint, were the initial fruits of the full-fledged “3+3” era. Though the Isley’s were steeped in the kind of “do for self” philosophy that ground much of the black nationalist rhetoric of the late ‘60s and ‘70s—having recorded for the family owned T-Neck (New Jersey) label—they were not overtly political performers. Though a modicum of resistance can be read in their pop hit “It’s You Thing”, “Fight the Power”, the lead single from The Heat is On, was their most overtly political tune to date. Nearly 15 years after the song’s release Public Enemy would record a song using the same title. Whereas Chuck D was focused to the larger political realities of black life, the Isley Brothers’ original was fixated on the everyday annoyances that can turn to rage and anger. It is hard not to feel such anger in the song’s chorus as O’Kelly sings “I try to play my music / They say my music is too loud / I tried talkin’ about it, I got the big run around / And when I roll with the punches / I got knocked to the ground / By all this bullshit goin’ down”. Conceived by brother Ernie, “Fight the Power” reflected the wide influences on the younger Isley siblings. Ernie for one was heavily impacted by the late Jimi Hendrix, who was a backing musician for the original Isleys in the early ‘60s. A track like “Hope You Feel Better Love”, for instance, owes some debt to The Doobie Brothers’ “Long Train Runnin’” which was included on their Captain and Me (1973) recording. Whereas the up-tempo workouts helped the Isley’s reach new audiences, it was their balladry, courtesy of lead vocalist Ronald, that distinguished them among other foul/R&B/funk bands of the era. “For the Love of You” is one of the most recognizable Isley ballads and can still be heard in daily rotation on urban and lite-jazz stations. The seven-plus minute “Make Me Say It Again”, which closes out The Heat is On, is as gorgeous as any classic soul ballad and is a thrilling testament to Ronnie Isley’s interpretive skills. From the vantage point of 25 years, many of the funk tracks on Harvest for the World seem dated. The title track is a bouncy vibrant ditty that seems tailor made for Top-40 radio in the mid-1970s. The song which celebrates global unity—not so ironically released in the year that the US celebrated its Bicentennial, celebrating among other things 200 year of American imperialism—anticipates the track “Caravan of Love”, which became a major pop hit for Isley, Jasper, Isley in 1985. The strength of the recording again lies in its ballads. While tracks like the aforementioned “For the Love of You” and raunchy “Between the Sheets” (1983) were well known to hip-hop generation listeners, “(At Your Best) You Are Love” remained an obscure Isley classic until Aaliyah, with production by R. Kelly, recorded the track on her debut Age Ain’t Nothin’ But a Number. “Let Me Down Easy”, is drawn from the same formula that produced “Make Me Say it Again, Girl” where Ronald’s lilting falsetto gently surrounded by Chris Jasper’s keyboards and Ernie Isley’s softly sweeping guitar rhythms. Both of the reissues feature previously unreleased “bonus” tracks, recorded live (with a canned audience) in 1980, including a recording of the Isley’s reading of Seal and Crofts’ “Summer Breeze”. With the release of Eternal, the reissues of The Heat is On and Harvest for the World serve as ideal introductions to the classic Isley sound decades before “Mr. Biggs” comes on the scene. Published at:
Here is where we meet Reviewer Barry Hill June 18, 2005 Here is where we meet By John Berger Bloomsbury, $45 John Berger, now 80, a venerable olive tree, has been abundantly fruitful, producing novels, stories, essays and poems for the past 50 years. His fans love his open heart, his metaphysical leaps, his enduring, original intelligence, especially when he writes about painting - as he did unsurpassably as a critic in London during the 1950s and 1960s. Later he went to live in rural Savoy, from where he wrote Into Their Labours, those classic novels of French rural life in the shadow of corporate Europe. Even in exile, Berger has never failed his commitment to the ideas of freedom and dignity in work. He no longer writes quite like a Red but behind everything he writes is an insistence on hope, on what might be if we talk with each other in a certain way, and meet with each other at the right time in the right place. Which is to say, hope also depends, to some extent, on a little luck, in a world where we might make our own luck. This is the spirit informing these eight wonderful pieces that are unified by a sense of speaking with the beloved and the dead. In the first, set in Lisbon, Berger re-meets his dead mother. "It's too late! was one of her favourite phrases. And hearing it, I was inevitably filled with fury. Some event, trivial or grave, would have prompted her to use it. Yet the phrase seemed to me to refer not to an event but to the way time folds - something I began noticing from the age of four - the folds ensuring that some things can be saved and others cannot." This is typical Berger: kind towards the other, slightly exhibitionist and even portentous, yet seductive. The passage is also the clue to the narrative method that is so successful here: a matter of moving through dialogue, images and fragments to unfold truths about those he has loved. "The number of lives that enter our own is incalculable." His father first appears in the third piece. Just back from the Great War, a veteran of mustard gas, a man resistant to his son's challenge to the old politics. Everything is contested between them. "He was trying to save me - to crawl out on his belly to a crater in no-man's land and pull me back to relative safety . . . By being himself, my father taught me endurance. By being myself, I reminded him that he was not alone." Always, with Berger, there is relationship, and movement. Nothing is ever still, least of all the sense of Berger taking himself into the "centre" of Europe on his motorcycle. His narratives travel into history: Geneva, Madrid, Krakov. En route, there is a piece called, Some Fruit as Remembered by the Dead, a meditation on melon, peach, cherries, each with their qualities, and none quite like the quetsch, those plums that are "the fruit of song . . . songs of love, solitude and endurance". Berger is an incurable romantic with a passion for the sensual. His sentences give shape to the physical like a Cezanne. Always, in these deceptively meandering, often playful pieces, he will take you by surprise. Sometimes the delight is a luminous narrative detail, as with the unforgettable slice of London memoir, Islington, where Berger revisits a friend with whom he went to art school in 1942, days when he used to sleep over at Colette's house! As if this is not enough, the story turns on a revelation of an early love, and becomes, in the end, the most delicious act of recovery. By the end of this elegiac book, Berger is walled up in a peasant cottage in the Carpathians, making sorrel soup while waiting for friends to arrive. His presence is as domestic as a milking cow. Except that the narrative manages to invoke, miraculously, both the spirit of Rembrandt's Polish Rider, and the arrival of the Panzer Divisions. When the friends finally arrive - and of course they do! - there is a newborn child, a wedding, dancing, and much music. The key to Berger is the absolute warmth of his intelligence. He writes paragraphs that make you want to hug the whole book. If this turns out to be a farewell, its sequencing and spatial music is more than enough. He quotes Bellini: Let me hope again/ Or let me die. Barry Hill's latest book, The Enduring Rip: A History of Queenscliffe (MUP), recently won the Victorian Government's prize for Community History.
Jamaican Dancehall Deejay Arrested in Multimillion-Dollar Lottery Scam Tommy Lee Sparta was arrested Friday in Montego Bay. Tommy Lee Sparta Tommy Lee Sparta Tommy Lee Sparta reportedly was serving up more than crazy dancehall beats and rude riddims. The popular Jamaican dancehall deejay was arrested Friday for his alleged involvement in a multimillion-dollar lottery scheme that targeted mostly elderly Americans, the Associated Press reports. Details are still emerging about the crime and the extent of it. And a lawyer representing Sparta told the AP that a court date has not been set for his client and four others who were arrested with him. But here is what police do know: The victims were reportedly coaxed into sending money to cover taxes after being told that they won millions in an international lottery, the article says. Those who fell for the scam were repeatedly harassed for money. Lists of names and addresses of U.S. citizens were recovered from a house where the arrests occurred, the report says. Sparta, whose given name is Leroy Russell, resides in Montego Bay, which police claim served as the headquarters for the scam. The investigation continues. Read more at the Associated Press.
Don't have an account? Click Here Tennis Live Stats Cavaliers Edge No. 1 UCLA, 4-3 in NCAA Championship Match Courtesy: UCLA Athletics Release: 05/21/2013 May 21, 2013 Urbana, Ill. - If there was ever a question of how close a team can come to an NCAA title and not actually win it, the top-seeded UCLA men's tennis team answered that question on Tuesday, as the Bruins suffered a gut-wrenching, 4-3 loss to second-seeded Virginia in the championship match at the University of Illinois' Khan Outdoor Tennis Center. One minute, UCLA (29-2) was within a point of tying Stanford for the second most NCAA tennis titles with 17. The next, the Bruins were watching the Cavaliers storm the court to celebrate their program's first. One thing's for sure, the University of Illinois played host to one of the greatest NCAA tennis finals in history. Unfortunately, it didn't go UCLA's way. "I thought we had it," said UCLA head coach Billy Martin, who was looking for his second NCAA title after leading the Bruins to the championship in 2005. "It's hard to imagine we were that close and didn't get it. We were right there, match point. I will replay it 100 times between now and tomorrow. But we will get over it. It's not the end of the world. We will recover." With the match tied at 3-3, Tuesday's showdown ultimately came down to a battle at court No. 3, where Bruin captain Adrien Puget and Virginia's Mitchell Frank each had their team's national championship hopes rested solely on their shoulders. Puget looked fantastic in the first set, cruising to a 6-0 victory. Frank was able to work his way back in the match in the second, serving it out up 5-4 to tie the match at one set apiece. The two players then traded breaks early in the third, however Puget made his move in the eighth game, breaking Frank for a 5-3 lead. Now serving for the match, Puget got ahead in the game 40-30. That's when the drama unfolded. With a match point in hand, Puget worked Frank deep into the corner on a high, backhand volley. Frank barely got a racket on it, however before the point ended, the chair umpire called a violation on Puget for touching the bottom of the net with his foot. Frank got the game back to deuce, eventually breaking Puget to get the final set back on serve. The momentum took a big swing in Virginia's favor at that point, as Frank held for 5-5 and ended up breaking Puget in the very next game. Frank got up 40-0 in the final game, and despite Puget's effort to save two match points, Frank would convert the third, falling on his back in celebration as his teammates piled on. "If he touches the net and the umpire sees it, you have to call it," added Martin. "It's a tough pill to swallow in this particular match given the importance. It is what it is. It's not like we want (the umpire) to let it go. I know I wouldn't if I was in their shoes. I give Frank credit for hanging in there. It was still deuce. It's not like that one point decided the match. I think it was a fair call." The Bruins got down early in Tuesday's contest, surrendering the doubles point to go down 0-1 heading into singles play, as the Cavaliers took victories at court Nos. 1 and 3 to lock up the point. Puget and teammate Karue Sell were the bright spot for UCLA in doubles, moving out to a 7-4 lead at court No. 2. Virginia, already with an 8-2 win at court No. 1, clinched the point when Justin Shane and Julen Uriguen downed Alex Brigham and Clay Thompson, 8-5 at court No. 3. UCLA got off to a solid start in singles, however by only winning three first sets, it became apparent early on that someone was going to have to come from behind to win. After Shane downed Thompson, 6-2, 6-2 at court No. 5, UCLA answered right back with a pair of wins of its own, tying the dual match score at 2-2 with wins at court Nos. 2 and 4. Marcos Giron pulled off a huge upset at the No. 2 spot, where he beat second-ranked Alex Domijan, 6-4, 6-4. Giron is ranked 25th in the ITA singles rankings. Sophomore Dennis Mkrtchian, the nation's 75th-ranked player, followed that win by registering an upset of his own, beating 28th-ranked Mac Styslinger, 6-4, 6-3 at court No. 4. Virginia would take the battle of No. 1's, as third-ranked Jarmere Jenkins outlasted 27th-ranked Dennis Novikov, 7-6(3), 6-3 at court No. 1. The Cavaliers now owned a 3-2 lead, meaning that UCLA would need to take the remaining two matches. At the time of Jenkins' win, Frank was serving to stay in the match, up 5-4 in the second set at court No. 3, while Sell was up a break, 5-3 in the second and looking to send it to a third at court No. 6. Sell would move out to a 5-1 lead over Uriguen, eventually breaking serve to close out the deciding set, winning 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. Sell's win focused all attention on court No. 3, where Frank and Puget had their dramatic finish. Giron made the all-tournament team at No. 2 singles, as did Sell at No. 6 singles. Puget and Sell made the all-tournament team at No. 2 doubles. UCLA is not done in Illinois, as three Bruins - Puget, Giron and Novikov - will be competing in the NCAA Singles Championships beginning on Wednesday. The complete draw can be found here: NCAA Singles Draw NCAA Championship #3 Virginia 4, #1 UCLA 3 May 21, 2013 at Urbana, IL (Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex) 3. #89 Shane/Uriguen (UVA) def. Alex Brigham/Thompson (UCLA) 8-5 Virginia Wins Doubles Point 1. #3 Jarmere Jenkins (UVA) def. #27 Dennis Novikov (UCLA) 7-6(3), 6-3 2. #25 Marcos Giron (UCLA) def. #2 Alex Domijan (UVA) 6-4, 6-4 3. #39 Mitchell Frank (UVA) def. #22 Adrien Puget (UCLA) 0-6, 6-4, 7-5 4. #75 Dennis Mkrtchian (UCLA) def. #28 Mac Styslinger (UVA) 6-4, 6-3 5. Justin Shane (UVA) def. #119 Clay Thompson (UCLA) 6-2, 6-2 6. Karue Sell (UCLA) def. Julen Uriguen (UVA) 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 Match Notes Virginia 30-0; National ranking #3 UCLA 29-2; National ranking #1 Order of finish: Doubles (1,3); Singles (5,2,4,1,6,3) ‹ UCLA Men's Tennis *UCLA #3 Premium S/S Basketball Jersey - Navy Price: $90.00
Article Header Image Death and Dying in D&D Legends and Lore Mike Mearls Having written about clerics these past two weeks, it’s a short leap to write about the terrible fate all those cure light wounds spells try to fend off: death. Character death has been a part of D&D since the beginning. After all, without some sort of risk then the rewards we earn in the game are cheapened and made hollow. Raise the Dead In AD&D, the raise dead spell was available to clerics of 9th level or higher. To give you an idea of the power of such a character, the cleric’s advancement table only spelled out the first 11 levels—so reaching 9th level was clearly considered quite an accomplishment. The person being raised had to survive a Resurrection Survival percentage chance, as determined by their Constitution; but, so long as they hadn’t been dead for more days than the cleric raising them had levels, they’d be fine (albeit weakened from the ordeal). 2nd Edition added one more small wrinkle, the loss of a point of Constitution, to the process. 3rd Edition kept raise dead at the same level, but added more drawbacks to the spell. In AD&D you had to make the Resurrection Survival check to see if the character was able to be raised, and then the character was too weak to act for one day per day spent dead. In 3E, the caster needed a 5,000 gp material component to cast the spell, while the recipient now lost a level. Arguably, that’s a softer penalty than the permanent loss of a point of Constitution; then again, due to how ability score bonuses worked in 2nd Edition, plenty of characters could lose a point of Constitution without really noticing it. In 4th Edition, raise dead became a ritual that required 500 gp to cast. In addition, the target suffered a –1 penalty to most d20 rolls for six encounters of adventuring. It’s interesting to see how death became less of an obstacle in 4th Edition, after 2nd and 3rd raised the penalties for it. That said, it’s important to remember that 2nd, 3rd and 4th Edition extended the levels of expected play, with 2E and 3E plotting advancement to 20th level and 4E to 30th (though, while 2E did extend to higher levels, like 1E it primarily focused on levels 1-12, with most adventures topping out at around 7th level). I’m Not Dead Yet Oddly enough, the process of dying remained largely the same in 1st and 3rd Editions. Characters knocked down to -10 hit points died, and characters dropped to 0 or fewer hit points lost 1 point per round until reaching that threshold. In 1st Edition, a character so incapacitated was forced to rest for a week and lost a limb (or suffered some other permanent injury) at -6 hit points or lower. 2nd Edition was far more draconian, with death at 0 hit points (as it worked in Basic D&D), but with the 1st Edition rule available as an option. 4th Edition extended the death threshold to a negative number equal to half the character’s maximum hit points. In addition, rather than lose hit points each round, a character must make a death saving throw. Fail three of those, and the character dies. For an added wrinkle of complexity, 2nd Edition added a rule for instant death when a character took more than a set amount of damage from a single attack. 3rd Edition also preserved this rule. 4th Edition removed it. Thus, aside from 2nd Edition (and frankly, I think most people used the optional rule), death remained fairly constant in D&D until 4th Edition. In 4E, it is now harder to die from damage as opposed to failed death saving throws. Some Observations First of all, I have to admit that I was completely surprised at all the little changes to death, dying, and raise dead through the years. I knew that Basic D&D killed off characters at 0 hit points, but otherwise I would’ve assumed that the AD&D rule was consistent from 1st to 3rd Edition. I also assumed that the loss of Constitution was another 1st to 3rd constant, and I never would’ve guessed that the 2nd Edition default was death at 0 hit points. I’d like to think it’s because I’ve rarely had a character die (except for my elf wizard Dayereth Sunstar; curse you Jim Cirillo!). More likely it’s because it’s easy to let rules that look similar blur into each other over the years. So what is it with death? Why all these little tweaks and changes? I think it boils down to this: Death is really DM dependent. Some DMs like slaughtering characters by the truckload. They dare their players to delve into dungeons, battling through fiendish traps and endless hordes of monsters. Other DMs find losing a character to be an enormous headache, especially if they have plots and plans surrounding them. Eoden the Chosen makes a fairly poor champion of Helm if a gnoll stabs him to death outside Baldur’s Gate before he can complete his prophecy. I’ve talked a lot about how D&D players are a diverse bunch, with their own sets of priorities and preferences when it comes to the game. That extends to DMs and game designers, too. Recently, R&D went back and played every version of D&D ever produced. While the changes in the rules were interesting, what caught my attention the most was the adventures. Playing Basic D&D in an adventure that emphasized exploration and strategic thinking was far more enjoyable than using those same rules to fight monster after monster in a dungeon. In comparison, we played a fairly combat intensive 3E adventure and had a blast. The rules of D&D and the adventures designed for it have a clear effect on how people play and perceive the game. Death and dying play a big role in that feel—from a gritty, harsh game of survival, to a story-driven game where the players know that resolving the plot, not living or dying, is the point of the campaign. Legends & Lore Poll Results: 05/03/2011 What do you do? • Search the western wall: 61.6% • Head south: 20.1% • Return to the northern intersection and head north: 14.5% • Return to the northern intersection and leave the dungeon: 2.0% • Return to the northern intersection and head west: 1.7% Poll Time 1. What do you think of character death in D&D? What do you think of character death? Character death should be a regular part of the game. Character death should happen once in a while. Characters should die only rarely. 2. What do you think of characters returning from death in D&D? What do you think of characters returning from death? A dead character should stay dead, with no options for return. A character should come back at a heavy price that encourages most players to abandon a dead character. A character should come back at a moderate price, one that most players will pay. A character should come back easily, like recovering from any other condition. 3. What should drive character death? What should drive character death? Random chance; any fight or trap might kill an unlucky character. Bad choices; smart players can avoid death if they plan well and pay attention. The plot or the story; a character should die only if the DM sets that up to happen. Any of the above; a DM should have options to introduce any of these situations into the game. 4. Continuing our adventure from last week, as you inspect the wall you note that it is clearly of supernatural origin. As you examine the stones in their checkerboard pattern, they give way to your touch and the lantern pulses a flash of white light. The wall disappears, revealing three shambling, rotting figures beyond it. With a moan, they shuffle toward you. What do you do? What do you do? As a rogue, I throw a dagger at the nearest one before it can react. As a fighter, I draw my sword and charge. As a cleric, I brandish my holy symbol and turn these obviously undead creatures. As a wizard, I draw my wand and unleash a burning hands spell. Mike Mearls Sort Items By: Newest First Oldest First Top Rated Create Comment Follow Us Please enter a city or zip code
We are unable to find iTunes on your computer. To preview and buy music from Watermark by Enya, download iTunes now. I Have iTunes Free Download iTunes for Mac + PC Open iTunes to preview, buy, and download music. iTunes Review A professional musician for nearly a decade before this album was released in 1988, the multi-platinum Watermark is the recording that made Enya an international sensation. A native of Ireland, her true musical inspiration lies with her Celtic roots, and though she may have been branded the quintessential New Age vocalist in the U.S., that’s a simplification of her style and a bit of a misnomer in general. (Of course, it's a marketing approach that certainly did boost sales). So though, yes, this album does perfectly complement, say, a bubble bath, it’s too intricate and intriguing to simply dismiss it as soothing background music. What sets it apart from so many other relaxing albums is Enya’s voice. Stunning and pure, it's further enhanced by the vocal overdubs and layered keyboards that lend it a trace of echo and effectively draw the notes out, giving it a trace-like quality. The music rises and falls pleasantly around her without stretching for contrived drama, and there are piano and string passages throughout that are as gorgeous as they are subtle, along with some excellent use of traditional Irish pipes. Strong from start to finish, Watermark also contains “Orinoco Flow,” the album’s runaway hit single with the catchy “sail away” chorus. Arguably her finest and most consistent release. Customer Reviews I'm the only person I know that's heard of Enya, but her songs are gorgeous, they make you want to dance and cry at the same time! I always reccomend her music to people and they look at me like I'm nuts-- but I always have it on in my room, with a book and a cup of tea, it's so pretty and relaxing. Get Orinoco Flow, Only Time, and Wild Child ALL her music is BEAUTIFUL One of those albums you need to listen to before you die Enya has been at the forefront of her genre for a long time now. But this 1988 album is perhaps her crowning achievement. Every song flows with a vital energy. Each song transitions with the motion of waves on the beach, in and out, from dark to light, loud to soft, lazy to energetic and back again. Enya fashions an ingeniously unique sound through the combination of modern mixing and synthesizing and the melodic library and instruments of her ancient Celtic roots. While this sort of music is not for everybody, this is the cream of the crop and its worth a listen for all those who haven't. You might find you've been missing out all these years. There is alot more to this woman than Orinoco Flow (Sail Away)! Absolutly Beautiful She is one of those rare artists who use there music to inspire people. I cry everytime I listen to her songs. I just stumbled upon her and she is the best thing i have heard in a really long time. And although i am a teenager I know what real music sounds like and this is it. Born: May 17, 1961 in Gaoth Dobhair, Donegal, Ireland Genre: New Age Full Bio
The air was hot and dry. It stifled all life and forced what was left into hiding. There was no refuge from the burning wind as it whipped through the desolate town. A lone figure walked barefoot through the deserted alleys, imprisoned by dilapidated wooden structures on either side. The dust swirled up from the barren earth in tiny whirlwinds to dance around his ankles. He was alone. He'd always been alone. He'd never known love, or the warmth of a mother's touch. From the moment he'd awoken to find himself in this place, this desolate hole on the peripheries of civilization, he'd fought to survive. In the distance he could see what the others called Soul Society. It was rumoured to be a great city full of important people called Shinigami. He would sometimes sit and watch them wander in and out of their great white city wearing black robes. They looked proud and strong. He longed to belong to their world, but there was no place behind those perfect walls for one such as him. So unlike him, the buildings were tall and pristine. Their white walls reflected the bright sunlight and surrounded the city with an ethereal glow. They invited him in, taunted him with thoughts of what he could not have and what he would never know. Gin they called him - the ones who stalked him through the streets pretending he was their prey. They taunted him with it as they beat him, laughing at the unusual silver colour of his hair. It bothered him at first, being beaten for no reason other than the fact that he looked different, but soon it too became a regular part of the life he didn't understand. With time he discovered ways to avoid the gangs and learned which alleys were safe to traverse along. He'd learned the ways of the world quickly. He had to, for there was no one to teach him and he would have died otherwise. He was like a ghost, drifting from one place to the next as the mood struck him. He traveled with no one and needed no one. For the entirety of his short, traumatic life he'd been shown that there was no good in the selfish hearts of others. They weren't worth caring about or associating with. They disgusted him and he scowled at anyone who perchance happened to pass him by. On this day he was in a particularly foul mood. His lunch had been stolen (again!) and his stomach ached from the blows he'd received trying to get it back. His hand rested overtop the tender, bruised skin of his gut and his young body stooped from the pain as he walked. He grimaced and blew his bangs out of his eyes with a great huff of breath. He wanted to stop and sit down but his feet urged him forward. They moved him farther and farther away from the shanty town, with its broken down houses, haphazard family units and roving thugs. It was no place for a child to be and he did not long for it even after leaving it far behind. It took several days of walking before he was far enough. By the time his aching feet finally came to rest he was surrounded by nothing but rocky, barren terrain. Lifeless trees dotted the landscape here and there, their snarling branches twisting towards the sky, but apart from their rotting trunks there was not a spec of life to be seen. Even the ground was cracked and brittle, lacking life and water. Turning his eyes to the sky he noticed that though it was perpetually grey and bleak, not a single drop of rain ever spilt to the earth below. It puzzled him, but he did not bother to dwell on it. What did he care if it rained? It was then that he heard soft muffled cries coming from a tiny depression nearby. Curious, he stepped towards the sound, experience warning him to be wary. As he crested to the top of the hill his eyes widened with surprise to see a young girl, alone like himself, and crying bitter tears. He stared at her in fascination for some time before making a move to approach. He debated turning around and leaving her be. He had no need for a companion, much less a girl. She would only slow him down and create problems for him when he eventually returned to the village. He wanted to leave, willed himself to, but his stubborn feet refused to budge. They remained firmly rooted to the earth and would not go anywhere unless it was forward to her side. With a sigh of resignation he gave in and stumbled down the shallow embankment until he was standing in front of her. Hearing his approach she sniffled and ceased sobbing. She turned her face upwards to peer at him curiously. Her eyes were sapphire blue and swimming with tears. A few escaped down her cheeks and tiny droplets clung to her lashes like dew drops to a spider's web. Gin held his breath. Her eyes were open and inviting. They didn't speak to him of malice or cruel intentions, merely a kind heart and a willingness to trust. She did not fear him, but did not make a move to approach him either. He stepped forward cautiously, approaching her as one would a frightened animal. Though he didn't know her, he was overcome with a desire to shield her from the life he'd lived thus far. He couldn't bear to see the innocence he saw in her eyes, her blind faith in the inherent goodness of man, vanish like they had from his. He stopped in front of her and tilted his head to the side inquisitively. She looked hungry. Reaching into the inner folds of his kimono he retrieved a bread roll and held it out to her. "Hungry?" he asked, his voice dry and tight. She nodded her head and with wide eyes snatched the offering from his hands. She devoured it quickly and when she was finished she beamed up at him, a warm and grateful smile. He returned the gesture easily. It was the first time he could ever remember smiling and was surprised his face knew what to do. That seemingly inconsequential moment, a simple smile shared between two new friends, would shape the course of Ichimaru Gin's life, though he couldn't possibly have known it at the time. Author's Note: This is going to be a Gin and Rangiku fic. It's an introspective lead up to volume 20 (episode 62 of the anime series) where Rangiku tries to hold Gin back from leaving with Aizen. I want to try and explain why he did what he did and what their relationship is actually like since they don't get into it too much in the anime. At the time this was written I hadn't read the manga yet (bad me! I know!) so if there are any inconsistencies because of that I apologize! I'd love to know what you think about what I've written so far so please take a second to review. Thank you!!
Take the 2-minute tour × In Euclid's geometry context, I have the following problem: Let ABC a triangle and P laying in AB. We need to find a point Q in AC or BC such that the triangle APQ has the half of the area of ABC. Let M be the medium point of AB. Construct a parallel segment to PC passing by M, and call Q it's intersection with AC (or BC). Prove that Q is the point we find. share\|improve this question add comment 1 Answer The median $CM$ divides $\triangle ABC$ into two triangles of equal area. If $P=M$ we are finished. We can suppose without loss of generality that $P$ lies between $A$ and $M$. Draw a picture. Note that the area of $\triangle CMB$ is the area of $\triangle MBQ$ plus the area of triangle $MQC$. But the area of $\triangle MQC$ is the same as the area of $\triangle MQP$, since they have the same base $MQ$, and by parallelism the same height. Thus the area of $\triangle PBQ$ is the same as the area of $\triangle CMB$, that is, half the area of $\triangle ABC$. This completes the proof. share\|improve this answer add comment Your Answer
I have a co-worker who is also a user of Stack Overflow. (Web programmer). Today I noticed a question on SO that I knew he'd be able to answer as we do it all the time here. I emailed him the link, he answered it off the top of his head... boom bam easy. I then joked it was too bad SO didn't have an "assist" badge like in the NBA when one player passes the ball to another who then scores. There would need to be a mechanism to link the assist to the answer in the link... but seems trivial. You would have to decide if its an internal or external pass/track mechanism. I would probably lean towards an external process as it ensures that links are shared between users who know each other outside of SO. Shooting from the hip SO has the link share feature and tracks who created the link. So, if another user who accessed the question via your link answers the question that's accepted... it's an assist. If it were an internal tracking process I could forsee 10k+ users getting bombarded by questions from those hunting the badge. As for naming: Assist for the bronze level. "Pippen" for the silver version (famous assist man for Jordan). Finally Stockton all time NBA assist leader as the gold level. It meets the purpose of SO badges... encourages good usage of the site and is fun. Update Edit - it could easily lose the NBA reference while retaining the point of the badge. It was just the NBA assist stat that made me think of it. share\|improve this question Why do we have to use NBA names? What about all the people who hate basketball? -.- – animuson May 4 '12 at 19:12 Pippen didn't assist Jordan. He was a good second banana. – LarsTech May 4 '12 at 19:13 Funny... I actually am a sports fan but basketball comes in way behind MLB, NFL, and anything my kids are doing. But basketball has the most famous ASSIST stat - any other common usage of the assist would be good. – RThomas May 4 '12 at 19:14 How would it be managed? I mean, there's already badges for linking to the site already. – Makoto May 4 '12 at 19:14 If a person who used your link then answered the question. bam – RThomas May 4 '12 at 19:15 Completely irrelevant to the question, but I'll take this opportunity to plug Sports. – mmyers May 4 '12 at 19:19 Okay then. How about a bit more bite to it? Suppose then that bronze required 2 or 3 upvotes, silver required 6, and gold required 10 and an accept. – Makoto May 4 '12 at 19:22 Yeah, ixnay on the NBA. – Robert Harvey May 4 '12 at 19:23 Nixing the NBA reference is fine... it was only the catalyst for reminding me of the stat and the seed of the idea. I do like the idea tho. – RThomas May 4 '12 at 19:25 @Mak still too less for a gold badge. I say 2-3,10,25 and accept for silver/gold – Manishearth May 4 '12 at 19:31 @LarsTech especially since Jordan had more assists with the Bulls than Pippen did – Some Helpful Commenter May 4 '12 at 19:33 What? A badge request that has potential? Madness! The names do need to be less "USA basketball in the 90s"-oriented, though. There are plenty of famous assistants who have worldwide recognition, predate Pippen/Stockton and will endure for longer to boot. Robin? Igor? Sancho Panza? Dr. Watson (of Sherlock Holmes)? Dr. Watson (of Watson and Crick)? – Pops May 4 '12 at 19:36 I like the Dr. Watson idea, but in the realm of computers, I think of that darn Microsoft bug reporting utility... – Dan Sorensen May 4 '12 at 19:50 I think gold should be named RThomas – RThomas May 4 '12 at 19:51 @DanSorensen, you're right. We should go with Clippy (silver) and Microsoft Bob (gold). – Pops May 4 '12 at 20:01 show 7 more comments 2 Answers Hmm, what's better Share a link to a that is visited by 25/300/1000 unique IP addresses Share a link to a question that results in it getting answered I think it's obvious which is better, but if you're undecided let's consider that I could put a link to The Definitive C++ Book Guide and List on a C++ forum and probably get a link sharing badge and yet I don't think I've actually done anything useful. Examples below On the other hand if I shared a link to a question and that got it answered I think that has much more value. Is there some degree of random luck involved if we use the same link-sharing mechanism? Sure but there's a lot of stuff on Stack Exchange that's like that. People should just accept that. Especially if it means that even 1% of the nearly 600,000 unanswered get answered that otherwise wouldn't. The following are questions by which people earned the Gold Publicist Badge. Did we really need to incentivize getting views to these questions? share\|improve this answer Exactly - there lies the value. well put. – RThomas May 4 '12 at 20:35 Also, my intent would only be an accepted answer counts. – RThomas May 4 '12 at 21:07 Again, you've identified the same exact thing just from a different angle. It doesn't matter if we encourage users to post links to get answers or post links to get views, the bottom line is they're posting links. That's all they're doing. Same behavior. – animuson May 4 '12 at 21:21 I disagree... putting the link in front of 1000 eyes who can't help vs putting it in front of one set of eyes that can are two different things. – RThomas May 4 '12 at 21:27 @animuson well the same argument could be said for Revival and Nice Answer. They are for the same general behavior (answering a question). Except that one is for answering old questions and one is for answering with high quality. Announcer is to drive visits. Assist would be to drive answers to questions that you don't know the answer to. – Some Helpful Commenter May 4 '12 at 21:31 @SomeHelpfulCommenter: Reversal is for +20 to a -5 question, which usually only happens on meta since chances are a question on a main site with -5 score will be closed and deleted. As for answering old questions vs quality answers. There is a difference. Answering old questions also requires the effort of searching and finding a question that is old enough that you can actually answer. – animuson May 4 '12 at 21:40 I might support this on a one-time basis, awarding a bronze badge for getting an accepted answer to a previously unanswered question from a referral link, but silver and gold badges is definitely going beyond the boundaries. – animuson May 4 '12 at 21:41 @animuson that's fine not everything needs to have bronze/silver/gold levels. By the way I wrote Revival not Reversal, not that it matters. – Some Helpful Commenter May 4 '12 at 21:47 @animuson I've updated my answer to include some questions that highlight my point that the current requirements of the Announcer type badges doesn't necessarily result in community value – Some Helpful Commenter May 4 '12 at 21:59 I wouldn't consider historically locked questions to be good examples. They were good questions by previous standards, and are still very helpful to a lot of people. – animuson May 4 '12 at 22:02 @animuson So what do you think Bill or Jeremy's strategy was? I think these questions don't get enough attention? – Some Helpful Commenter May 4 '12 at 22:13 Those sharing badges are VERY helpful for growing non-SO stack exchange sites, especially betas. – Ben Brocka May 7 '12 at 15:59 @BenBrocka That's great, and honestly I'm fine with people earning their badges however they can. I was just trying to point out that not all link sharing is the same. And this new badge could create an incentive for behavior that doesn't exist for the current set of badges. – Some Helpful Commenter May 7 '12 at 16:04 @SomeHelpfulCommenter "Meme-friendly" questions do have an insane success rate. I'd guess I've shared fewer than 40 links to earn the 17 Stack Overflow Publicists. However, I feel like sharing meme-friendly links to smaller sites is quite a Good Thing even if the question doesn't need a new answer (or doesn't deserve one). The site will probably benefit from the exposure even if the question is bad. So while I don't agree that generating an answer is strictly more valuable on all sites, I do agree that it is very valuable and should be encouraged. +1 – Jeremy Banks May 7 '12 at 20:12 @RThomas as I understand it when the dev team decides to take a position one of the red [status-*] tags gets applied. But you should note there are 10,000 feature requests and only about 2,000 actually have a red tag, with the smallest set being status-planned – Some Helpful Commenter May 8 '12 at 21:17 show 6 more comments The only problem I see with this is the sprout of random Assist-related badges being awarded. If you use the existing linking system, you're already getting badges for advertising the question (and potentially answers). It then becomes a game of chance if someone who happens to visits your link (versus someone else's link) also happens to post an answer, which may happen to get accepted. Likely, it will get awarded to a lot of people who have absolutely no relation to the other user for doing something already encouraged by another badge. There really isn't any solution to this problem. Even if you create secondary "unique" links to send to specific people, what's to stop people from just posting that link all over the place instead? Then you have to build in checks and such to make sure the link doesn't get used multiple times and you get people complaining that it didn't count because they opened it the first time and left and tried to open it again and it didn't recognize the link, blah blah blah blah blah. Bottom line: the behavior is already encouraged, we don't really need another badge for it that looks at the same behavior from a different angle and level of light. Don't look at it as "posting links to get views." Look at it as posting links. That's what we're encouraging. What results from those link postings is not really relevant. The number of views just happens to be how we track the links you post. share\|improve this answer As animuson says, there are already badges for this kind of behavior. Additionally it would be innacurate. I can see a gold badge for the following scenario: I share N links where each link results in an accepted answer. So if I share a question and you answer and I share again and he answers, that's two assists in a row. Find an acceptable threshold and that can weed out the "one-off"s. – Moshe May 4 '12 at 20:12 @Moshe I would recommend limiting only to accepted answers – RThomas May 4 '12 at 20:28 add comment You must log in to answer this question. Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .
CBS2-Header-Logo WFAN 1010WINS WCBS tiny WLNYLogo Yvette Rosario NJ TRANSIT Rail Supervisor Sean Kushner Sparky and Yvette Osorio. (credit: Handout) NJ TRANSIT Crew Rescues Lost Dog From Train Tracks The American Eskimo dog named Sparky ran away from home in Garfield and wound up stuck on the tracks in front of a Hoboken-bound train.
Update coming that will make signal appear to be better Verizon Galaxy Nexus signal strength It's not every day that smartphone users want to be lied to. But in the case of signal strength, we'll apparently make an exception. Verizon has told Computer World that in the case of the Verizon Galaxy Nexus, the LTE signal is being received and reported accurately. Too accurately, actually. So accurately, in fact, that if you appear to have a worse signal and more 3G/4G bouncing with the Galaxy Nexus, it's probably because your other LTE phones weren't as accuate as the Galaxy Nexus. So, as Verizon told Computer World, it will make the Galaxy Nexus report signal strength a little less accurately as to ease our minds and be more in line with its other LTE devices. And so long as the phone at least appears to have a better connection, we're apparently OK with it. This isn't an unprecedented move -- Apple did pretty much the same thing with the iPhone 4. While we're not disputing that things have appeared to be a bit off -- our own Verizon review unit definitely has appeared to be more wonky than our other 4G devices -- there's probably a little bit of the internet microscope at work here, too. Verizon (and every other carrier) is always working on improving connection, even after a phone is released. It's why we see new radios in updates all the time. Anybody want to put money on what the next bug of the week is going to be? Source: ComputerWorld More: Verizon Galaxy Nexus forums There are 66 comments bold1193 says: First lol sproketz says: I'm going to take a wild guess and say that because this is a Google Nexus phone aimed at developers it's reporting the signal correctly. Other 3rd party phones we are used to are probably doing what Apple did with their signal strength software and jacking up the signal a bar so you think you're getting more than you are. icebike says: I doubt it has anything to do with precise signal strength. This problem has always been around. When do you drop 3G and just go back to Edge? As soon as 3G signal gets weaker than Edge? WRONG: You stay on 3G as long as signal strength is adequate, and drop to Edge only when you can no longer hold 3G. And you don't go back to 3G until it is SIGNIFICANTLY stronger than Edge, and has been for a while. The idea is to minimize switching. Because switching is disruptive. Its probably way more disruptive to Verizon because they are completely different Radios. Verizon appears to be swapping radios too soon, and wanting to blame someone else. They need to stay on LTE till it won't work, then drop to 3G and stay there until LTE is again strong and steady, instead of bouncing back and forth. They simply need to lengthen their dwell interval and stop jumping back and forth. Actually, in the case of WCDMA on AT&T, WCDMA drops down to EDGE when about half of the requested data doesn't come back. If you lock your phone into WCDMA only mode, you will always see faster data speeds and the entire system will work better, as WCDMA and EDGE have the same J/S failure point. The only reason why carriers drop down to EDGE is because there is too much traffic on the WCDMA channel, making any new connections impossible. The fallback is designed to support a large number of users in one area, or to provide legacy coverage from an older network. In terms of going back to WCDMA, that time is all in the firmware and differs from phone to phone(although you can change it in your firmware if you really know what you're doing. There switching takes more power on the UE end of things, using more power and reducing your battery life. The entire LTE thing is a completely different beast, as Verizon hasn't upgraded all their towers to LTE yet. A lot of the handover stuff will be sorted out once Verizon fully upgrades its network. There are advantages and drawbacks to setting specific handover times, and I feel that the Galaxy Nexus preforms quite well in that regard. RaiderWill says: You can't imagine the laughter I'm getting from this "Half-Baked" joke of a phone with my Droid Charge parts in it.. My EP4D Radios work just fine Thank You.. What a ripoff product!.. $800-900.00 (Off Contract + Tax & Accessories ) for this.. Really? Blazing ( Laughing & Connected! ) on my 1,300 mhz Droid Charge.. Awaiting a Real SuperPhone KAL-EL.... hoosiercub says: I <3 it when trolls, specifically you, have no idea what you're talking about.. the inside of the gnex has about as much in common with the charge as it does a stack of pancakes. Happy holidays sfreemanoh says: mmm...pancakes... drools threepio says: Sorry for everyones complaints, but I have full bars of 4G at my office and 3-4 at my house with the Gnex. I am satisfied. Rigelian says: Sounds like you share the same office and home that I do. Full bars at my office and 3 to 4 at home. You're not stalking are you? Wicket says: I get 3-4 in between home and work.. 1 at home sometimes and none at work :( glassmanstan says: I knew it! It's all in my head (or perhaps I'm going deaf). smooth3006 says: This happened on the nexus s 4g i believe. Maybe google willsmarten up next time and have htc make the nexus. MazoMark says: After spending $12.5 billion on them, I think Motorola has the inside track. Happened on the Nexus One as well. In fact, every new phone seems to have network issues when they first come out. It's how well, and how soon, they get fixed that matters. gtg465x says: Or maybe Google will smarten up and go back to releasing unbranded GSM versions here. Delayed release? Verizon's fault. Bad press from bloatware and restricted tethering? Verizon's fault. Poor battery life? Because of Verizon's non-integrated radio approach to LTE. Complaints of less bars than other phones? Because Verizon has been lying with every other phone and people got used to it. Meanwhile, the GSM version released everywhere else is getting high praise all around while the Verizon version flounders. Regardless of what's being said here i know exactly what i saw on my Lg Revolution before purxhasing my Galaxy Nexus. I get great 4g LTE sevice everywhere except home when my device falls to 3g with always zero to 1bar of service at always -120dBm 1asu. I have never seen LTE 4G service inside my home yet since purchase last Thursday. My Revolution at showed LTE servuce at 2bars but switched often between 4g and 3g as well as 1x. This is just wierd.. MazoMark says: Sounds like you have weak 4G and 3G signal inside house - that's why Revolution jumps between all three and your GN shows weak signal on 3G. Might want to think about investing in a network extender to boost signal. icebike says: Or replace that Aluminum Siding they sold him in the 70s. squiddy20 says: What you apparently fail to realize is that your LG Revolution was reporting the wrong signal all along. Your shiny new Galaxy Nexus is reporting the ACTUAL signal strength you are getting. And if your home is made of concrete, brick, steel, or aluminum, it greatly affects signal strength. I guess people who need to be shown how to use modern day technology don't understand even the most common sense things. How sad. orlanka says: I now have no signal. No network. Um, pretty sure it's not the phone. orlanka says: Signal is back after a reboot. Called Verizon tech. They said they have been issues since 2am last night but that they are rolling it back out now. Told me to pull the sim for a few seconds and that should help. I am not sure how that fixes anything but the phone is now back on and still 2 bars. I'm only 30 minutes west of St Lou so shouldn't be an issue. On a side note, since I bought the phone at the store, this is the first time I have ever taken off the battery cover. Scary taking it on and off. Really surprised at how flimsy they would make it on a developer phone considering battery pulls may be a common fix for things. Then again, I am not a developer and this is my first Nexus so nothing to compare it to except my old DInc. Azaurath says: Um. Its actually really not that fragile. This video is for the SII but its cover is just as thin. orlanka says: I'll take their wor...er.., video for it as I am not going to test it out. Rigelian says: I've been taking it off and on a lot. I'm a heavy user and I have a backup battery. After you get use to it you realize nothing is going to break and all is good. gtg465x says: It's not fragile. Same backing material on my Galaxy S II. I am a developer and have taken the back off probably a thousand times (no joke). Still as good as the day I bought it. BKVic says: I dont know much but I do know that I drive about an hour and fifteen min to and from work and I never lost the siganl with my Droid X while streaming Slacker. My GNex lost it 3-4 times Mon and Tues and of course there was nothing this morning. I live in a rural area. My dx had 1+ bars all the time. My gn reports zero bars AND PROVIDED ZERO SERVICE. AFTER 3 DAYS OF ZERO HOME SERVICE I RETURNED IT AND BOUGHT THE DROID RAZR. I'M SURE IT WAS ALL IN MY HEAD.. gtg465x says: Yeah, we aren't as impressed. milesmcever says: DO YOU YELL AT YOUR FRIENDS TOO? I have to say my nexus works better than my HTC Thunderbolt and Motorola Bionic, but remember I could buy another one tomorrow and it work totally different. I've always been a moto fan when it came to cell service but my gnex just took the lead. moosc says: If u go to mydroidworld u can fkash the newest radios and bootloader thanks to P3droid. Bob61 says: Maybe it's all in the bars.... I just picked up a Nexus, I'm showing 2 bars but signal strength is show as -93dBm, inside my house in interior room. Calls on the phone sounded great, I asked those I talked to how it sounded and they said it was fine. Who knows. Fillyo says: So its official, HTC Thunderbolt has a better radio than the Nexus, because this thing drops out or drops to 3G all freaking day, my Thunderbolt didn't do that. Depressing, aint it?!? aergern says: Yeah, and there were like 9 radio updates between May 2011 and ... oh .. LAST week when yet another dropped as part of that update they pushed. I mean SERIOUSLY .. my TB had some BIG issues with 4G and it's radios when I got it in May. So you can't TALK trash and compare because GN = New Shiny while the TB = is old and patched. ;) I have both the Thunderbolt from day 1 of its release and the Galaxy Nexus from day 1. I recall when I first got the Thunderbolt it having all kinds of connection issues. There are even videos of it on my youtube account from way back then (wow, 9 months, LOL). It took three different radio flashes to finally make the thing stable, but it was a miserable device (connection-wise) the first month or two. I'm willing to give Sammy a bit of time to fix it if there really is a radio issue... ...and I think there really is because side-by-side testing my Thunderbolt gets 5 bars but the GN only gets 2. Okay, it's just the signal indicator, they say; I don't buy it. If I lay both phones side-by-side on top of my aluminum MacBook Pro, the Nexus loses all signal, including voice and can't place a call, but the Thunderbolt maintains its 5 bar connection. It's just strange, I even commented on this the moment I got it the first day. I didn't think anything of it at the time, but I'm not sure it's THE CUSTOMER's fault Verizon. I know Moto might have better radios than Sammy, but still I went from a Droid Charge to the GNEX and so I have some Experience with Samsung. I always had 3-4 with my Droid Charge and it never dropped to 3g at my house, with the Gnex, I have 0-1 4G bars and it’s constantly dropping to 3G. I think there is more than meets the eye with this one Verizon. If my Droid Charge is now reporting the 4G strength but is instead displaying 1X CDMA or even 3G, then why has this never been a big issue before. majiklantrn says: Damn you mifi, Thunderbolt, Rezound, and Razr for lying to me! I came from the thunderbolt and droid razr and the first thing i notixed was poor 3g strength and dropped data and calls... Its not the customers Verizon. XavierMatt says: I dont want to see a lie. Not only do I always have 4G my speeds are always great. NordicNinja says: I can't comment on other Android's, this is my first one, but using the GSM/HSPA+ GNex at home I am at times completely losing my signal and being dropped from service. If I move around the room it comes back. My place is notably bad for having spotty cell reception as I live pretty close to a big rock wall, but my last phone (a Bold 9700) never had issues with completely losing the connection. Vetdoctor says: Apparently phonearena was confused too. I guess Verizon will set them right. Maybe a couple of guy's named Vinnie will drop by and explain their error. stkman7733 says: I have a Bionic and GNex...my Bionic keeps 3-4 bars ALL the time and I can put my Gnex right beside it and maybe get 2 bars...mostly back in forth from 1-2 on 4g signal. Nice try Verizon but um try again!!!! hoosiercub says: Moto has always inflated their signal strength. My friends with. DROID X's would always pick at me over the weak signal bars on my Incredible til we speed tested right next to each other and I always came out on top with my de-throttling script and such on CM7. Signal bars are there for the sake of piece of mind. They mean a whole lot of nothing in the real world. Its all dependent on environment to regulate how strong the radio frequency is in your location.. big aluminium building? Not so much. No question Anandtech needs to really understand the truth....http://www.androidpolice.com/2011/12/19/this-is-why-your-verizon-galaxy-... vinny jr says: There is no excuse for this lousy quality on a phone that took so long to put together. The techs who spent months doing their homework should all be fired. I didn't buy the new Nexus because I just wasn't too thrilled about some of the choices about the so called LandMark phone. No SD card is complete bull shit I don't care how the so called know it alls want to spin it. Just bull shit. I know the camera isn't terrible but come on, all the new phones, even Samsung's GS2 has a better camera and Google decided on a cheaper camera. Just those two features along with a screen that is just a little too big for me turned me to buying a better piece of hardware and flash the ICS Rom on it myself. I own several of the past Nexus phones and I am just bull shit over this. radgatt says: So basically, the Nexus has been reporting accurately. If a phone has a -107dBm it shouldn't show having 2-3 bars. It should only show 1 bar. They are going to update the phone to show 2-3 bars when it should only show 1 bar??? This is dumb, in my opinion. There is a problem with data going in and out, I agree to fix that, but I don't agree with being lied to and saying that I have 4 bars when I should have 1-2 bars. Verizon is giving in to the customers complaints because customers stating they used to have 4 bars on their old phone but now only have 1-2. I hope that when they do this update they have an option to go into the settings and change it back to how it shows the signal strength. This would be a way of Verizon messing up the nexus if they do this. Fix the data issues but don't do anything to how the signal strength is displayed. Lastly, everyone should know by now that the dBm and not the bars is the true way of telling you if you have good signal strength. It would be funny if Verizon updated this phone to show us having 3 bars with -95dBm when it reality it should show 1-2 bars with that dBm. I urge Verizon to be smart when they do this update. Forget bars, ever since last Thursday my SGN had a -120dbm and no data (except an occasional 1x sniff) where my Thunderbolt was giving me -92dbm and solid 3g. I took it back to Verizon and tried out another one with the same results (both in the store & at home). I am fighting beck the tears as I am now a Thunderbolt user again. I hope & pray they actually fix the things so I can get one again b/c I loved it! ro1224 says: I remain mystified why anyone would buy a phone that doesn't offer signal where they live or work. We spend most of our time in these two places so should we at least have SOME signal there? I left Verizon when they couldn't provide a signal at my home and I have never looked back since. 25 years later they still DON'T provide any signal. At work we have signal from all four carriers. Well I hope that Verizon improves its network, but tweaking the phone to ARTIFICIALLY "improve" signal is just another chapter of smoke and mirrors, that can be chalked up with those annoying inaccurate (read: intentionally misleading) coverage maps. Davest says: This makes me really angry. I had a Bionic for over two months, and was always able to get a 4G signal at my home. I exchanged it for a GNex, and I can never get a 4G signal at my home. It's that simple. I don't care how many bars it shows, or what the dbm numbers are. All I know is that one phone would give me 4G connectivity, and the other won't. craigrn16 says: I have had no signal issues so I have to agree with Verizon on this one. I get 3g and 4g when I am suppose to get it and my sisters Thunderbolt shows more bars but yet I am still able to download pages faster than hers. People calm down. LangHoo says: My download speeds are great (25Mbps+) and so is my call quality. If someone lives in an area with crappy service on their Nexus they should get something else. I also don't spend all day staring at the signal bars or dbms pretending I know what is good or not based on some other phone. Davest says: So, because you're not having an issue, no one is? nkd says: Thank you for reporting this and verizon better fix this. Me and my friend at work both have same issues. It is not the bars it is not damn speed. It is the reliability of the signal. Going to 3 bars to none and than dropping data all together? really verizon? It happens 4-5 times a day. Coming from a razr I can tell the difference. One of my friends still has his razr, pulls out his phone and bamn -80dbm and I pull out my phone it is at a lousy -100dbm, really? Yea its in my head. I don't even care about the dbm, just stop the 4g drop outs. Razr never did that, if I am in 4g area painted in bloody red color, I better have 4g. LangHoo says: Here we go again with people comparing signals on different phones that are measuring different signals. If you are having a problem, you should just take the GN back and get something else. Davest says: He's not comparing different signals - he's comparing 4G on a RAZR to 4G on a GNex. I agree that you can't compare a 3G signal to a 4G signal...that's not what he's doing. I'm in the same situation...I went from a Bionic to a GNex, and I'm never able to receive a 4G signal at home now, while I always could with the Bionic. The larger issue, though, is why do you care? If you're not having a problem, great...congratulations. Why does it bother you so much to hear that others of us are having issues? gwtx2 says: I had this same problem with a 3G phone. Would have three bars and several times a day it would just drop the data and switch to 1X. With the Gnex, I don't see this happening when on 4G nor do I see it happening when the phone is set to 4G off. MazoMark says: I've been watching this whole discussion unfold as I try to decide if I want to spring for a GN. While I am sure there is a group of people who have a legitimate signal problem, based on what I've read on this and other sites, I think the majority of people are just plain throwing a hissy fit because they are confused about how to interpret the signal strength information this phone reports in comparison to other phones. I think most people have to take a deep breath and remember this phone has only been out a week. If you can't live with it, take it back and get something else. Life's too short to have a coronary over a phone. Jambanc says: Just another throttling ploy 2 get people 2 take their gnex back and buy a droid line phone. Think about it they didnt even want 2 release the dam thing! craigrn16 says: Good point.. I never looked at it that way. It makes complete sense. paul_704 says: Sitting here at work and figured I would look to see what my phone is reading, I'm at a downtown Boston location and I am getting -88dBm of LTE with two bars showing on my HTC Rezound.......that doesn't seem like false advertising to me. I hope Verizon fixes this problem for all the GN people out there, I think it's a great phone and just needs some tweaking to get it right.I gave my son my old Thunderbolt and got the Rezound for myself and both are working well with no signal issues at all and I have to say the Rezound is the best phone I ever owned. Hang tight people I'm sure their working on a fix to make the GN a great phone that it is. dacp283 says: The Nexus is the problem not Verizon. If you don't like it get rid of it. End of story. Blaming verizon for the pos nexus is just ridiculous. Synycalwon says: You can put lipstick on a pig..... This is most likely a hardware issue just like the GSM volume bug (due to poor shielding). Like that issue, may be it can be fixed via software, but both of these problems speak to quality of hardware! Unacceptable! Wonder what other bugs may be lurking? drinks says: On my GN, it's not so much as switching to 3g, but the signal just dropping out all together. Last night at dinner, my friends bionic was at 4 bars, functioning perfectly while my gn could not lock on any signal. Davest says: Exactly. I've seen quotes from Verizon execs saying that this is simply an issue of how the signal is being reported. While that may also be an issue, the bigger issue is that a lot of us are unable to pick up a signal at all, while other 4G devices have no problem in the same location. Trun says: So wait, "reporting signal TOO ACCURATELY." So they are saying it's our fault their signal quality is low because the Galaxy Nexus is reporting signal too accurately? I'm confused here. Maybe it's because I'm not a Verizon employee or something. bonito13 says: well i received my nexus Wednesday.about 11am. about 1 pm i tried to activate it with no success. called Verizon, an after about 40 minutes we finally got it to activate. As the crow flys i am about 1100 feet from Verizon's tower. I had one bar of service with 3g for about 2 minutes. Then i lost 3g and have not got it back since even after talking with tech for over an hour. Two droid x's on my plan with my nexus and they all have great 3g service. No 4g lte in my area till spring. I had enough, i just called and reactivated my old droid x. Good luck all
SGOD and CLUB Gear Guide Terms & Conditions • $99 minimum order required, excluding gift cards • Enter promotion code 34FLAT during checkout • Additional shipping charges for large or heavy items still apply • Offer does not apply to firearms • Good on Standard Express shipping to U.S. Deliverable Addresses ONLY • Not valid with any other offer • Offer cannot be used on prior purchases • Offer is valid for purchases made at or catalog call center • Cabela's reserves the right to exclude certain products from this promotion • Not available to Cabela's employees Transducers at Cabela's Author: Lowrance The transducer must be able to withstand high transmitter power impulses, converting as much of the impulse into sound energy as possible. At the same time, it must be sensitive enough to receive the smallest of echoes. The transducer is the sonar unit’s "antenna". It converts the electric energy from the transmitter to high frequency sound. The sound wave from the transducer travels through the water and bounces back from any object in the water. When the returning echo strikes the transducer, it converts the sound back into electrical energy which is sent to the sonar unit’s receiver. The frequency of the transducer must match the sonar unit’s frequency. In other words, you can’t use a 50 kHz transducer or even a 200 kHz transducer on a sonar unit designed for 192 kHz. The transducer must be able to withstand high transmitter power impulses, converting as much of the impulse into sound energy as possible. At the same time, it must be sensitive enough to receive the smallest of echoes. All of this has to take place at the proper frequency and reject echoes at other frequencies. In other words, the transducer must be very efficient. The active element in a transducer is a man-made crystal (lead zirconate or barium titanate). The chemicals are mixed, then poured into molds. These molds are then placed into an oven which "fires" the chemicals into the hardened crystals. Once they’ve cooled, a conductive coating is applied to two sides of the crystal. Wires are soldered to these coatings so the crystal can be attached to the transducer cable. The shape of the crystal determines both its frequency and cone angle. For round crystals (used by most sonar units), the thickness determines its frequency and the diameter determines the cone angle or angle of coverage (see Cone Angles section). For example at 192 kHz, a 20 degree cone angle crystal is approximately one inch in diameter, whereas an eight degree cone requires a crystal that is about two inches in diameter. That’s right. The larger the crystal’s diameter - the smaller the cone angle. This is the reason why a twenty degree cone transducer is much smaller than an eight degree one - at the same frequency. Transducers come in all shapes and sizes. Most transducers are made from plastic, but some thru-hull transducers are made from bronze. As shown in the previous section, frequency and cone angle determine the crystal’s size. Therefore, the transducer’s housing is determined by the size of the crystal inside. There are four major housing styles in use today. Thru-hull, shoot-thru-hull, portable, and transom mount. Thru-hull transducer. Thru-hull transducers are inserted through a hole drilled in the hull. These typically have a long stem that slides through the hull and is held in place with an equally large nut. If the hull is flat, this is the extent of the installation. However, if the transducer is to be mounted on one side of a "vee" hull, then a fairing block must be made from wood or plastic that allows the transducer to be mounted vertically. Thru-hull transducers are typically used on inboard powered hulls so the transducer can be mounted in front of the rudders, propellers, and shafts. Shoot-thru-hull transducer Shoot-thru-hull transducers are epoxied directly to the inside of fiberglass boat hulls. The sound is transmitted and received through the hull of the boat - but at the cost of some loss of sonar performance. (You won’t be able to "see" as deep with a shoot-thru-hull transducer as one that’s mounted on the transom.) The hull has to be made of solid fiberglass. Don’t attempt to shoot through aluminum, wood, or steel hulls. Sound can’t pass through air, so if there’s any wood, metal, or foam reinforcement, it must be removed from the inside of the hull before installing the transducer. Another disadvantage of the shoot-thru-hull transducer is it can’t be adjusted for the best fish arches. Although there are disadvantages to a shoot-thru-hull transducer, the advantages are considerable. One, it can’t be knocked off by a stump or rock since it’s protected inside the hull. Two, since there is nothing protruding into the water flow, it generally works quite well at high speed if it is mounted where a clean laminar flow of water passes over the hull. Three, it can’t be fouled by marine growth. Portable mount transducer Portable mount transducers, as their name implies, temporarily mount to a boat. These transducers typically use one or more suction cups to hold them to the hull. Some portable transducers can also be adapted to electric trolling motors. Transom mount transducer Transom mount transducers are installed on the boat’s transom, directly in the water and typically sticking a little below the hull. Of the four housing types, the transom mount is by far the most popular. A well designed transom mount transducer (like the Lowrance HS-WS Skimmer®) will work on almost any hull (except inboard powered boats) and at high speed. Speed and the transducer Years ago, when the sportfishing sonar unit was in its infancy, most fishing boats were small, outboard powered affairs. A really large outboard had 50 horsepower. At the same time, most sonar units were portable, with the ability to move from boat to boat easily. This was considered more important than high speed operation. However, as boat capabilities increased, more and more people wanted a permanently mounted sonar unit that would work as fast as the boat. Thus, the search began for a transducer that would work at all speeds.f Cavitation is a major obstacle to achieving high speed operation. If the flow of water around the transducer is smooth, then the transducer sends and receives signals normally. However, if the flow of water is interrupted by a rough surface or sharp edges, then the water flow becomes turbulent. So much so that air becomes separated from the water in the form of bubbles. This is called "cavitation". If these air bubbles pass over the face of the transducer (the part of the housing that holds the crystal), then "noise" is shown on the sonar unit’s display. You see, a transducer is meant to work in water - not air. If air bubbles pass over the transducer’s face, then the signal from the transducer is reflected by the air bubbles right back into it. Since the air is so close to the transducer, these reflections are very strong. They will interfere with the weaker bottom, structure, and fish signals, making them difficult or impossible to see. The solution to this problem is to make a transducer housing that will allow the water to flow past it without causing turbulence. However, this is difficult due to the many constraints placed upon the modern transducer. It must be small, so that it doesn’t interfere with the outboard motor or its water flow. It must be easy to install on the transom so that a minimum of holes needs to be drilled. It must also "kick-up" without damage if struck by another object. Again, the patented design of the HS-WS transducer is Lowrance’s latest improvement in high-speed transducer technology. It combines high speed operation with easy installation and will "kick-up" if struck by an object at high speed. The cavitation problem is not limited to the shape of the transducer housing. Many boat hulls create air bubbles that pass over the face of a transom mounted transducer. Many aluminum boats have this problem due to the hundreds of rivet heads that protrude into the water. Each rivet streams a river of air bubbles behind it when the boat is moving, especially at high speed. To fix this problem, mount the face of the transducer below the air bubbles streaming from the hull. This typically means you have to mount the transducer’s bracket as far down as possible on the transom. Click here for our complete selection of Transducers.
[xmonad] Proposal: Advanced Scratchpad-Features Dominik Bruhn dominik at dbruhn.de Thu Feb 28 09:41:50 EST 2008 I recently found the Scratchpad on the Mailinglist (thanks, Braden for this). But, im missing two features: 1. Is it possible to hide the scratchpad (not close, only hide) with the same hotkey? So if I press the Hotkey once the scratchpad apears and another hit it disapears and I can recall it with the same hotkey. 2. Can the scratchpad made visible on all workspaces? So if I switch my workspace it stays visilbe and I can recall (with 1.) the same scratchpad The reason for this is: I want to start a musicplayer (mocp or something like this) in the scratchpad and want to view it on every workspace im on. Is this possible? Dominik Bruhn mailto: dominik at dbruhn.de A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/pgp-signature Size: 189 bytes Desc: Digital signature Url : http://www.haskell.org/pipermail/xmonad/attachments/20080228/8754cd0e/attachment.bin More information about the xmonad mailing list
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.
Health knowledge made personal Join this community! › Share page: Search posts: One step away Posted Sep 07 2008 8:36pm There are times when I am literally one step away from exiting my car, opening up the back, finding the tire iron and beating the crap out of the car in front of me. Can anyone say anger issues? Road rage? I have lived in Santa Rosa, California most of my 23 years of existance…of those 23 years I have been driving for 6 full years, they have been “renovating” highway 101 for most of those 6 years. So there is a lot of traffic, what I mean by a lot of traffic is that my commute to the old dialysis clinic was at least 20 miles away from where my parents lived. A 20 mile commute took me an hour and a half. An hour and a half of seriously considering ramming into the car ahead of me, or just leaving the damn piece of crap Ford Focus I drove for 5 of those 6 years right in the middle of the road. The thing about California drivers, however, is that we are a bunch of aggressivelittle behind the wheelers, we weave in and out of traffic, if spent a second to long at a green light a symphony of honks errupts behind you. It is the music of highway 101. Having left California behind me for the slower pace of Washington, I have noticed a few things that have made me more and more noticible as a Californian. This will perhaps be my greatest downfall. When traveling through the lower eastern part of the great state of Washington, I noticed a lot, I mean a lot of Christian rock stations, ranging from perhaps this is Christian rock or just rock with a positive message that isn’t about bangin’ the ladies or drinking then there is the um, really, really religious Christian rock about Jesus dying on a cross and leaking blood all over the ground. There is also a lot of Country. In Seattle, well to be honest I have kind of given up on the radio, personally I am just a little afraid of what might actually be on there. Another example about how weird different Washington is. People drive the speed limit! I mean really, they drive the speed limit, like even the younger people. They also pause when the light turns green, like maybe, perhaps it’s just a trick, that perhaps it will turn red again and they will be trapped in the intersection. Dear lord. Oh the traffic lights, slower then the ones in Florida, no wonder there is traffic problems in Seattle, everyone waits 5 minutes for the light to change. This is just about the time my right eyelid starts to twitch and the fucks and bitches and oh my god, I will beat you with a tire iron start to spring from my mouth. Just be happy my actual tired iron is below the back bench seat and you have to unscrew it before you can actually beat someone with it, that would probably take up the entire five minutes waiting for the light. I do love you Seattle, but really, learn to drive. Post a comment Write a comment: Related Searches
CW—Chapter 9 Dean sat flipping through the journal, but Sam could tell he wasn't really reading anything. Sam had spent the better part of an hour trying to not be obvious about the fact he'd been watching Dean. His brother's face was that passive, neutral expression that made Sam think Dean was absorbed in some inner conversation with himself. He was sitting on the bed, seeming relaxed, but the tension that hung in the air Sam could part with his fingers. He didn't have to guess much to know what Dean was contemplating or why there was the tension. "I'm sorry." The words blurted out of Sam's mouth before he thought much about them. Dean glanced up, genuine surprise and curiosity on his face. "About what?" "That I didn't tell you. That it even happened…that I'm—" Bristling and sitting straighter Dean's face turned to anger. Pointing at Sam he snapped out, "If you say because you're half demon I'm beating the crap out of you right here and now." Sam shut his mouth and stared at the end of his bed. "Why didn't you just tell me, Sammy?" Shrugging, Sam had no ready answer for that one, and about a dozen reasons lined up in his head. None of them really explained anything. The truth was there was one and only one reason. "I was…I didn't know…it scared me." "I traded my soul for your life, Sam. I've put you above everyone and everything. Maybe you could have given the guy who raised you and knows you better than anyone a tiny, little bit of credit?" Okay, now didn't that just bite? "Don't you get it by now there are some things I just don't give up on? I'll never give up on?" Dean asked quietly. Sam nodded. In retrospect his fears and keeping what he knew from Dean seemed stupid. It had certainly been unnecessary and caused him much unneeded grief and sleepless nights. "Is there anything else, Sam?" Picking at the sheet Sam shook his head, "I don't think so." Dean laughed at that. "I've sort of lost track myself." His voice and face softened. "I'm not giving up, Sam. Not ever, for any reason. I don't care what you think was done, or how bad it is. You're the only brother I've got and I'm not giving up. That's a promise." Sam swallowed around the lump in his throat. He didn't know what to say, or even if there was anything to say. It didn't matter; speaking wasn't going to happen for a few minutes. "I found something." Dean held the Colt's journal up facing out so Sam could see what was on the page Dean had opened it to. He had to blink a few times to clear his vision while his eyes skimmed the entry and his brain homed in on some key words. Lawrence, Kansas, John, Mary. Sam sucked in a breath and looked up, meeting Dean's clear, steady eyes. "I don't know if I want…if I can…" "I don't know if I can't," Dean said softly and set the book down on his bed beside his leg. Sam's eyes followed the movement then went back to Dean's face. This time his brother's expression was open and readable. Dean wanted to know, he wanted to see his parents and know what brought them together with Jake and Ben Colt. Dean wanted it very much, but he'd give it up for Sam. Yet another thing in their lives Dean would give up for Sam, do it willingly and without regret or malice. Not this time. Not anymore. Sam leaned over, fingers brushing over the old, worn leather for a few seconds before he took firm hold of the book, leaned back against the headboard and opened it to the page Dean had shown him. "I think we can." He watched Dean rustle around for a few minutes, getting more comfortable. "Dude! Why don't you just stand up, turn around three times and make a nest?" Dean tossed a pillow at him, which Sam caught and chucked right back. "I'm comfy now." Snorting, Sam cleared his throat, took a swig of water, propped the journal on his bent knees and began to read. July 1, 1977 Lawrence, Kansas "I'm getting too old for this crap." Jake mumbled for the third time and shoved against the car door, one hand inside turning the not so agreeable steering wheel. "She's definitely getting too old for this. Will you put your back into it?" The final words were snapped at Ben. Huffing, Ben ignored Jake's sour mood. He wasn't in such dandy spirits himself and if he didn't keep his mouth shut the two of them were going to end up yelling at one another. It wasn't his fault the car had broken down and it wasn't his fault it was so damn old getting parts took some sort of act of Congress, God being their second choice. Jake stopped long enough to wipe one arm across his forehead. Of course when he stopped, the car stopped and Ben tripped up the back end, sprawled over it for a few seconds before nearly ending up on his butt. Ben barked out a, "Hey!" when Jake turned to him, Ben silently chastised himself for not engaging brain before mouth. "It's not my fault." "I know," Jake said softly and settled on the running board. "This is one heavy-ass car." Straightening, Ben leaned back, then stretched side to side. "Sit tight, I have an idea." "Where are you—?" "Just give me a minute, I'll be right back." Ben called over his shoulder as he jogged down the street. The back of the repair shop Ben spotted was open, a fan in one end blowing warm air through the large, damp space inside. "Hey. Hello? Anyone home?" Please let there be someone here before I have a damn heart attack pushing that car. "Can I help you?" A kid, maybe twenty to twenty-five appeared from under one of the newer, smaller, more gas efficient cars. He wiped his hands on a rag that didn't do much other than move the grease around his hands and smiled at Ben. "Yeah, I hope so. I've got a car…" The kid glanced around at the garage full of cars in various states of repair, "Me too." Sighing, Ben pinched the bridge of his nose between thumb and forefinger, why did everyone feel the need to drench him in sarcasm? "I have this car…it's the size of a very large Sherman tank and weighs about three times as much." The kid nodded, "We should probably use the flatbed then." A few minutes later Ben was climbing into the passenger side of the flatbed truck. "I should probably warn you, it's my brother's car and I think he believes he gave birth to it." Suddenly the kid brightened, huge grin splitting all over his face. "She must be a great car!" Before the truck even pulled up next to the Chevy Master and the kid beside him exhaled a sharp, "Schweet car!" Ben knew he'd become invisible and marveled once again at how the generation gap snapped shut when two guys found common ground in an old car. Ben managed to coax Jake out of the repair shop and head to a nearby diner telling Jake he needed to let the kid work on their car in peace. "We'll find the money, we always do." Ben said between bites of BLT. "We're all too old for this." Jake mumbled. "Speak for yourself." Ben grinned and poked Jake's shin with his toe. "Naw, seriously, Benny. We follow the trail and it dies. Every time it's getting harder and harder to pick up on Yellow-Eyes. You want to be doing this when you're seventy? Because I sure don't. We have to find it. We have to stop it and I'd sure like to do that before I die." "You're nowhere near dying," Ben said quietly. Jake's eyes softened, "I know. You know what I mean." "Look, we did everything we could and we've done a lot of good things along the way. Maybe it's time we just let it go. There're others, Singer, others we've met who are far more spry than we are and with more ambition. Let them have a crack at it too. Our turn is over." Jake shrugged, threw down some money on the table and nodded. "Let's go check out the car." The kid—Ben made a mental note to ask his name—was sitting at a dirty desk, writing on a piece of paper when they got back to the garage. He looked up and smiled at them with kind, dark eyes. "I have a quote for you. It'll take a few days to order parts, some aren't easy to come by." Ben peered over Jake's shoulder at the paper the kid handed him. Jake's hand shook and Ben saw how his face fell. Hand on Jake's shoulder, it suddenly hit Ben hard, this was their home and it might have to be left behind. "Would we be able to store it here for a bit? That's a lot of money for us right now." "Yeah, I figured it was. I'd be happy to look after her for a bit for you." "I brought you some lunch, John." A female voice ended in a sharp gasp, "Schweet car!" Ben's chin dropped to his chest, it was some sort of gathering, had to be. Ben turned to see a girl, about the same age as the mechanic kid. She had long blond hair and fair features which contrasted sharply with his darker hair. "We're going to store her here for a bit," John said. "Oh, cool." She handed a bag to John without taking her eyes off the car, pacing around it and peering in the windows. Stopping near the rear passenger window, she arched one eyebrow. "Are you a photographer?" "I am," Ben said. "We're getting married in a few days and no one to take pictures. July fourth weekend is popular I guess and we didn't book anyone in time." Ben nudged Jake's arm, they looked at one another. Jake grinned suddenly. "Don't suppose you'd trade some wedding shots for some car repairs?" The girl looked over at her fiancé. John nodded, "I think we could work something out. You get your car fixed, Mary and I get some pictures." "Schweet." Ben shook John's hand. Not only were they keeping their car, they'd get to go to the wedding of a couple of sweet kids by the name of John and Mary. John slid his arm around Mary's waist, smiling down at her before giving her a kiss and then nodded to one of the offices. "I'm going to take my lunch in the back." She gently caressed his arm, a look of unspoken understanding and excitement passing between them at their good fortune, before he took his leave. "I'll be right there," she replied. John raised a hand to both Ben and Jake. "Call the shop when you find a place to stay, I'll keep you updated on the progress." Mary watched her fiancé duck back into his office and then turned back to the two of them, crossing her arms and hitching a hip up against the desk John had been sitting at before. "You two hungry?" she asked. "Just ate, ma'am," Ben nodded toward the direction of the diner. "Sounds like you need a place to stay," she said, looking once again to the car. "Been on the road long?" Jake straightened his hat and went to the trunk to get their bags. "You could say that," he snorted as he ducked beneath the trunk lid. Ben gave her a quick, apologetic look and shrugged. "A while." Mary's eyes continued to gloss over the car, eyes narrowing a little in thought, head tilting in curiosity, especially when Jake hauled out two bags, talismans hanging from the leather straps. Her lips thinned, the smile there waned into a sadness Ben couldn't place…until he saw her run a hand though her hair, tucking a wayward blond strand behind her ear, the charm bracelet visible against her slender wrist. Sigils and talismans and marks of protection clanked together along the circlet. Nothing you could find in some common jewelry shop either. Iron and silver, brass and tiger's eye, all the charm shapes wards against the supernatural. The tools of a hunter. "Nice talisman," she said, nodding to Jake's bag, subtly calling him and Ben out. "You have been on the road a long time." Ben tipped his chin toward her wrist. "Been hunting a long time," he said. "You ever hunt, Miss—?" "Campbell," she said, sad smile reflecting now in her big eyes. "And…yes. Not anymore. Not now." The nervous way she looked back to John's office made Ben understand to some degree the reason her arms had come to cross over her chest, her demeanor becoming more guarded. "Did you…" she pushed away from the desk, "ever meet Samuel or Deanna Campbell?" Her voice shimmered a bit as though she was both scared and hopeful. Jake had returned to stand beside Ben and shook his head. "No. Like to keep it just the two of us," he said. "Tried to steer clear of other company, 'less we need the help. Family?" She huffed, shaking her head. "Parents. And your philosophy sounds almost exactly like my father's." For a moment her smile returned full before she looked away, eyes glistening. "They're dead. And I'm done." "I'm sorry," Ben replied. "I have John," she said, voice stronger, but the slight bob of her throat gave away her pain. "I'm gonna have a family someday and they'll know nothing of that life or of what's out there…" Her eyes locked with Ben's then moved to Jake's. "And people like you two make that possible. You make this world safer. No one really knows what sacrifices are being made…but I do. Thank you." Ben looked over at his brother and saw the tiredness seem to ebb from his eyes in that moment. And then, suddenly, like they'd been talking about the weather or the latest ballgame, Mary's face brightened as she shrugged, the pain brushed from the soft lines of her face, returning the youthful features. "If you go down Banker Street toward the north of town, there's an Inn, friend of mine works there." She looked one last time at the camera in the backseat, grinning. "Tell June, Mary sent you. She'll be able to help you out. And thanks for doing this; you don't know how much this means to John and me." Ben watched her leave to join her fiancé, only able to shake the sadness he felt for her with the hope of what she had spoken. She had made a choice. One Ben never made. This life was for the called and he understood the need to get out. It was just never in him to leave. It was never in either of them, Jake or him. When their time was up, when it was time to lay down arms, they would know. Now wasn't that time. Ben shook his head. "I wish them luck." Jake was silent a moment, then re-shouldered his bag. Ben noticed that he'd stubbornly chosen the heavier one. "Me too. Now let's go before I fall over." Another 'I'm too old for this crap' fell from his lips as he turned and headed for the Inn, Ben following, shaking his head. Three days later the Chevy was working like she was brand new. They had their 'home' back and they got to go to the wedding of a couple of sweet kids by the name of John and Mary. Those were the last words written in the journal. There were no more entries after, just empty, blank and worn pages that Dean trailed his thumb over, muscles working against the tightness of his own throat. To be that close to them, to his mother and father, to see the lives they were trying to make for themselves, to hear the way his mother thought about their future, a family that would never touch the life of the supernatural…his gut tightened and an ache built. The anger he'd felt toward her began to abate toward sadness, then churn sickeningly into a fated hopelessness. He been livid at his father for the deal he'd made to save Dean's life, and had then turned around and done the very same thing to save Sam's. He would do it again in a heartbeat, and that was why this hurt so damn bad. Their mother, even if it had been unwittingly, had given up the one person Dean had given his soul for. Sam was carrying the burden of the blood in his veins, the curse he owned no matter what Dean said, and in that moment of learning that he had followed in his family's footsteps, Dean felt hollowed out. His whole life he'd pictured his mother a certain way. The faded photographs and the even more faded memories of a four-year-old were all he'd had to hold onto. And from them he'd resurrected some semblance of an idea of what she'd been like and who she was… And in these two days that image had been torn apart… He knew what it was like to hold the body of someone you loved, to give up your soul for them; and it was the only way he'd seen at that moment to save Sam. There'd been no other choice, no other way after he'd carried around the months of pain from hurting Sam and from being torn open by his father. The frustration of being choice-less, that mark, he now felt deeply embedded in their family line. He knew his mother's pain and at the same time that did little to calm the sting of choices the she'd made. I'm here, Sam. So are you. We got nothing but each other and whatever we have to do to deal with this thing, all this crap, we will. We'll do it together. "She was beautiful." Sam's voice was tired, weighted. "They looked…happy." She sold me out. She didn't even know me. "She had no idea what she gave up when she made that deal." Dean cleared his throat, the sting lessoning, loosening the stiff muscles. "God, she was a hunter…" He breathed in disbelief, still struggling to wrap his head around that one. It gave a whole new meaning to 'the family business'. "She thought she could escape. She wanted whatever family she had as far away from this life as possible. She wanted us to live lives we never got to live…She had no idea…" Dean's eyes settled on Sam's, which were unsuccessfully trying to hide beneath his bangs. "I know…" "But I did…" Dean rubbed at his lips, letting that roll over him and through him. Sam lifted his head, eyes deepening with understanding. I did… "I wasn't going to let go, Sam. Not of you. She had no idea what she gave up, but I knew exactly what was worth my soul." The ghost of a smile pulled at the corner of Sam's mouth, his eyes glassing over. He nodded slowly, pulling his knees up into his chest. "You woke up, Sam. I came back from Hell. And our supposed family curse…I don't believe in it. Only real curse is that you're stuck with me, Sammy," Dean smirked. Sam huffed out a short laugh, shaking his head. "Goes both ways, Dean." Dean nodded. "Damn straight." We're going to be okay, Sammy. Sam relaxed a little, releasing a shaky breath and taking in a stronger one, as though he had overheard Dean's thoughts and was in agreement. Dean felt the tension inside himself, the coiled ache in his gut lessen. After bringing Sam back last night he'd tried to deal with the anger at the truth inside himself knowing the last thing Sam needed was for him to fall apart. But it was lessening in the wake of knowing that through all of this—through all the demons and deals, through all the trade-offs and trials—they were still there. He still had his brother. There was a moment of silence between them, before Sam laughed a little into his knees, causing Dean to lift his eyes from the journal and arch a brow. "What?" Dean inquired. "So, you're named after our grandma," Sam snickered. "Deanna." Dean threw his pillow at Sam, the journal slipping from his lap and landing on the spine, opening on the floor. "You're lucky I've got a bad leg." He'd damn near killed himself on it last night. Though, if Sam tried anything again, he'd damn-well make that leg work. "Dean…" Sam said, eyes now fastened to the floor and the open journal. There was a photo sticking out between the pages. It was of their parents. On their wedding day… Sam reached down and picked it up, and Dean watched his throat move in a bout of emotion. "I looked through that thing…cover to cover…" Sam breathed. "But we never saw the last entry either," Dean reminded him. "I want to meet them," Sam replied quietly. "Who? Mom and Dad when they were that age? We kinda just…" "No," Sam shook his head, setting the picture down on the bed-stand as though he was afraid it would crumble to dust in his hands. "Jake and Ben." "Bobby, hey, it's me," Sam held his cell in the crook of his neck, while he stuffed more of his clothes and Dean's into a duffel, not paying attention to whose was whose. They'd sort it out on their own when they got to Ohio, or when Dean found himself swimming in the wrong shirt. "Dean's doing better, and I got some rest. We're heading to Ohio. I know you're coming out to meet us now, but head for Cleveland, okay? Call me when you get this, I'll tell you where we're staying." Sam snapped the phone shut and tossed the duffel to the door before knocking on the bathroom door. "You're not trying to look better for your prom date. We're just going to find two dudes, Dean." He heard the shower curtain shink against the metal rod as it was ripped back violently. "Be nice to the damn cripple," Dean bellowed, and something that sounded like a wadded up towel thunked against the door. Sam laughed, the sound only slightly gravely, his lungs getting stronger after a night of sleep. "Hurry up, or no coffee." The threat was met with unintelligible mutterings behind the door. The box Dean had purchased at the yard sale sat on Sam's lap, his arms hung over the corners, hands dangling loosely as he watched the scenery roll by. Every time Dean glanced over at him, Sam met his sometimes concerned, often questioning expression with a small, soft smile, the one reserved for big brothers only. The fact Sam didn't ignore him surprised him, Sam thought. He fingered the items, picking one up, staring blankly at it then putting it back. He'd been doing that for the past half hour and he knew Dean's worry was ramping up bit by bit with each passing mile. Focusing more on the contents of the box and less on his brother, Sam picked up a newspaper clipping of a weather report, the city and date caught his eye. Lawrence, Kansas, May 1, 1983. A place he had connection to and history in, yet other than brief trips through a few years ago, no memory of. "You want some more coffee?" Ben swung off the picnic table bench, stood and stretched. "No." Jake sat hunched over the table, papers and maps sprawled in front of him, he'd barely glance up when Ben spoke. "Hey, take a break for five minutes." Straightening and leaning back a bit, Jake surveyed the small park surrounding the table. A group of three or four small children and two women were nearby enjoying the day and taking advantage of the swing set. "How are we going to find a six month old baby, the right six month old baby in this city? How many women do you suppose are pregnant right now?" "Well, the kid has to be six months old before the end of this year, so, technically we only have to worry about the ones born before June first." The vile glare Jake aimed at him made Ben smirk and fake a cringe. His witty retort was cut off by a football hitting the table and bouncing through their papers making everything flutter and scatter. " 'm sorry." A small voice stopped them both from lunging and grabbing at the papers. "Can I have my ball back?" Large hazel-green eyes peered at them from under fair-haired bangs. Ben grinned at Jake's surprise when a small hand tugged on his sleeve. Blinking down at the kid Jake nodded and retrieved the wayward football. "Quite an arm you got on you there." The little boy, maybe four or five nodded and grinned brightly at them. "I'm so sorry." One of the women Ben had seen earlier near the swing set had both hands on the boy's shoulders now and was moving him away. "He didn't bother you did he?" "Na, we're just discussing his football career." Jake smiled and Ben saw the woman, probably thirty years younger than him nearly melt from Jake's charm. "Do I have to stay at your house all night?" The little boy cranked his neck backwards to look up at the woman. "Yes, you do. Your mom and dad will be gone for the whole night. But you know what, Dean? When you go home you'll be a big brother." Taking Dean's hand in one of hers and his football in the other the woman smiled at them then headed back to the group near the swing set. Dean turned around and waved at Jake, who waved back. "Well," Jake sighed, "We know who it's not." "That kid's not involved. He's obviously well over six months old." Ben snorted a laugh. "I'm going for more coffee." "You want to stop for coffee?" Sam jerked straighter and pulled his gaze from the box to Dean. "What?" "Coffee, want to take a break and get some coffee?" Dean's eyes narrowed when Sam let the piece of newsprint slip from his fingers and drop back into the box. "You okay?" "Ya-yeah, I'm fine." Dean guided the Impala to an off ramp. "Uh huh." They found a small diner off the highway and coffee turned into a lunch stop. Sam climbed out of the car, box tucked under one arm. "You bringing that in?" Sam nodded and fell into step beside his brother. Shrugging, Dean held the door open for him. "I thought you outgrew the security blanket thing a few years ago." There was a sign reading Please Seat Yourself, so Sam flipped Dean off and headed for the first vacant table. He slipped into a chair and set the box carefully on the chair next to him as Dean settled across the table and snatched up a menu. Rummaging through the box, he glanced up when Dean poked his forearm with the corner of one of the menus. "Just order me something. You should know what I like by now." Dean quirked an eyebrow at him, shrugged and went back to reading his menu. "What was the name of the uncle who paid for Mom's grave?" Dropping the menu far enough to look over its top edge at Sam, Dean blinked at him. "I dunno. Dad just said an uncle. It's not like I could ever question him on details about…well anything, but particularly that. Why?" Sam extracted a small slip of paper from the box and held it between two fingers, turned so Dean could see. Swallowing hard, his brother's face went blank as he reached across the table and took the scrap of paper from Sam. "You've got to be kidding." "How would they even know?" Sam took the paper back and returned it to the box. "Well, obviously they, or at least Jake did, if he paid for our mother's grave and headstone." "I wonder if we did meet them. We've met a lot of people, Dean." Dean shrugged, "Maybe, I think we'd remember. I'd definitely remember the car." "Jake, you do know Twinkies and DingDongs aren't a food group, right?" "And cheese curls are?" "Hey," Ben held up both hands in mock defense, "at least there's cheese in them." "You go right on believing that little brother." Jake was talking to him, but his attention was on something farther down the aisle of the small store they'd stopped off for some supplies. He grabbed another handful of Twinkies and tossed them into the cart Ben shoved along in front of him. Ben's eyes skipped to the far end of the aisle and landed on what must have caught Jake's interest. "Do you believe how late people let their kids wander around by themselves?" Jake mumbled. He headed for the next aisle over. "Maybe their parents are in the store too?" Ben followed behind Jake, once they were around the corner Jake stopped part of the way down the aisle, reaching up for a box of pasta but looking a few feet to his right at two little boys. "Then why are they price comparing?" "I don't know. I've never had kids, why do you ask me these things?" Tossing both hands in the air, Ben grabbed a few more things off the shelf and tossed them into the cart. Jake snorted but didn't answer. The smaller of the two boys walked in their direction, looking for something. He stopped when he nearly collided with Ben's legs and ran one hand through his hair. Peering up at Ben, then Jake he mumbled "'cuse me," and snatched a few cans of spaghetti before ducking away. "It's okay." Jake grinned down and Ben felt a stab of pain. His brother truly loved children and took any opportunity to interact with them. Which, Ben was sure was going to get the two of them arrested at some point. The boy's eyes skated to their cart. "Those are my brother's favorites, but we need to get other stuff instead." He pointed to the Twinkies. "I'm seven today." "Well, happy birthday." Jake grinned. The older of the two boys appeared behind his brother and slid one arm across his shoulders. Ben swallowed the lump in his throat down, remembering how many times his own big brother had performed that same maneuver on him. "C'mon, Sammy, we have everything." He nodded curtly to Jake and Ben before steering the younger boy away towards the cashier. As he was paying he glanced over, Jake's eyes met his for the briefest instant before he hustled his brother outside. Ben quietly followed Jake to pay for their own purchases. He couldn't help feeling an odd sense of déjà vu or whatever. Maybe it was the older of the two boys had the same coloring as his own brother, dark blond hair, greenish-hazel eyes, and though the kid couldn't have been more than eleven or twelve he sported a solid, athletic build. Somehow the idea he'd just seen in the man who was his brother and this boy he didn't even know two people cut from the same cloth. Grabbing one of the packs of Twinkies out of their bag, Ben sprinted out the door. "Hey! Kid!" When the two boys turned to him he threw the packet across the small parking lot. The younger of the two caught it, jumped up and down a few times and smiled brilliantly, his face breaking into dimples when he turned and offered it to the older boy. Ben was back inside the store before either child could return his gift. "You going to eat that?" Sam's arm got a rough poke with the blunt end of Dean's fork. "Huh?" His gaze slipped down, a plate of food sat in front of him and he hadn't even noticed it being set there. Or Dean ordering their meal for that matter. "Too much cold syrup, made me spacey." Sam answered Dean's question before it was asked. He was offered a dubious look, but his brother ate and didn't ask any more questions. Sam put the box in the back seat as they pulled out of the diner's parking lot and back onto the highway. Dean's sidelong glances in his direction didn't slow down one bit, however. When they pulled off to refill the tank a few hours later, Sam clicked on his small flashlight, twisted around and routed through the box some more, determined to find some clue as to what happened to Jake and Ben Colt. There was a small, folded piece of paper tucked into one pocket of the old camera bag, Sam freed it, unfolded it carefully and read. He felt more than a little guilty when Dean popped his head in the window to ask if Sam wanted anything from inside the station store and Dean found him sitting there, tears dripping down his cheeks. "Dude," Dean snapped, making Sam jump. "Do not try to tell me this is from too much cough medicine." "Can we…? Not here, please?" Dean leaned against the car but didn't get inside. "What has been with you today?" "What if they're dead?" Swallowing, Dean didn't answer. His lips pressed together in a fine line. Moving out of Sam's line of vision for a minute he heard the chink and clunk of the gas nozzle being removed from the car and replaced. Dean tapped the roof of the car a few times, letting him know he was heading inside to pay. Back out a few minutes later Dean slipped silently into the car. Driving a few miles down the road Dean pulled the car off in a small park. Shutting down the engine he glanced over at Sam expectantly. Sam handed him the paper. "It's dated two-thousand-three. I can't tell by the handwriting which one wrote it, but then this is thirty years after the journal ended," he said quietly. Dean took the offered paper and read it. Sam watched the emotions, all too familiar to them both, rolled over his brother's features. He knew rereading the letter was only going to make him feel worse, but Sam couldn't help himself. He wished he could figure out which of the brothers had written it. The handwriting was close to that of Jake's in the journal, but not the same. There had been a few things written by Ben and his handwriting had been very similar to his brother's. I've tried everything, tried calling in every favor I could think of, but nothing. After everything we've been through, it's not the kind of evil I ever thought one of us would die from. Bone cancer is insidious and I hate I can't do anything but watch my brother's life waste away. The doctors say a year, if we're really lucky. What I wouldn't do to stop it. I've even tried calling Yellow-eyes, I'd gladly give my own soul so stop this. But I guess Yellow-eyes has other things keeping him busy these days. He's not answering. Sam slid down until his head rested against the seat and wondered, yet again, what sort of place they'd find when they reached the address that was their destination. Ben pushed through the diner door, ducking the bell out of habit. He glanced around, there were a few empty tables, but he headed to the counter. Lunch was take-out today. "Hey there, it'll be up in a minute." The pretty blonde behind the register smiled at him and poured him some coffee, nodding to one of the stools at the counter. She retied her pony tail and moved closer to where Ben sat. "How's Jake today? He couldn't come with you?" Shrugging, Ben sipped his coffee. "We're heading out in a day or so. Going back to Ohio." "Leaving sunny Palo Alto for Ohio?" "Well, when you put it that way, Jess," Ben laughed. He sighed, "time to head home I think. What's new with you?" Jess leaned over the counter. "I met a boy." Nodding, "His name is Sam. He reminds me a lot of you actually. Our second date is tonight." Ben snorted, "That might not be such a good thing." He dropped the money on the counter for the bag of food one of the cooks brought out. "You know how to get a hold of me, if this Sam of yours misbehaves, I'll break his kneecaps." He tapped the counter as he stood up, grinning. "We're leaving tomorrow, we'll be sure to stop by." "You'd better," Jess called after him before turning to help other customers. Sam pushed himself straighter and took a look around. It was dark, there were a few stars out. He had the oddest sense of making this trip before, and dismissed it as imagination and lack of sleep. "You want me to drive for a while?" "Na. There's a motel coming up. Let's just crash there for the night." Dean's quiet, firm tone left no room for dispute. Sam had been off the entire day and he knew his brother was worried. While Sam gathered their things to take inside for the night, Dean went to the motel office and paid for their room. He was on his phone when he came out, nodding to the room a few doors down from where they'd parked. Dean took one of the duffels from Sam, finished his call and closed his phone. "That was Bobby. He got the message and will meet us there tomorrow." Jake pushed slowly out of bed. They'd just crossed the Ohio border and he knew one of them would be finishing their trip alone. He sat on the edge of the bed, breathing in the night air and letting his eyes adjust to the lower lighting before heading to the bathroom. The trip from California had taken longer, but then they weren't as young as they'd once been and driving cross country wasn't as easy as it once was. Ben turned restlessly in his own bed, but didn't wake up. Jake watched him sleep for a few minutes. He eased down on the edge of Ben's bed and gently wrapped his fingers around Ben's wrist, knowing in the morning just one brother would wake up. Sunset Memorial Park, North Olmsted, Ohio… Billy Gareau had worked here since his college days, now he was the head grounds keeper at this cemetery. He'd seen lots, but nothing touched him nearly as much as the day one man came to bury his brother. He'd known the names Jake and Ben Colt, of course, since his dad had worked with Jake in the Cleveland Police department many years ago. His father said Jake had gone nuts, taken off and dragged his younger brother with him. Billy wasn't so sure he didn't believe the stories his dad told of what Jake claimed to have seen. Strange things went on in cemeteries and he was in one day and night on a regular basis. Maybe Jake Colt hadn't been the crazy one. He'd checked on the guy every day when he took lunch, the remaining brother who came to visit a grave religiously for three years. Sometimes he'd talk to the guy. Billy had been married and divorced twice, yet here was a man who'd lived his life with a brother and they never once gave up on one another. There was a message in there somewhere, Billy was sure. What he found this day didn't surprise him one bit. He knew he'd have to take care of this sooner or later and about a year ago had simply offered to make sure things were done however this guy wanted. The coroner would be here soon, after all the proper paperwork Billy would do as he'd promised and have the man he found hunched dead over his brother's grave today cremated. He didn't get what the small packet of herbs and salt was for, but he'd put that in with the body. People had asked for odder things. "This is it?" Dean stopped the car and nodded out the window. "That's the address." Sam's heart fell, he was afraid this is where they'd find the Colt brothers. "Which way?" Guiding the car through the front gates of the large cemetery, Dean glanced sideways at Sam. Wordlessly Sam pointed to the road leading to the right. It wasn't a long drive, a few minutes through immaculate grounds. The sun shone down brightly on freshly cut grass and flowering shrubs. Finally, they found the marker they'd been searching for. Climbing from the car, Sam stretched in the sun and scanned the section of cemetery. "Which one do you think died first?" He pulled his lower lip between his teeth for a few beats. Dean turned and leaned both arms on the roof of the car. "I don't think it matters, Sammy. Whichever way it went it was the end for them both. We'll find out soon enough." He pushed off the car and followed Sam off the road and onto the grass, "Hey, Sammy, what do you suppose happened to their car?" Dean jogged to catch up with him and pushed his elbow into Sam's side. Sam snorted, rolled his eyes and shook his head as he walked over the grass, reading grave markers, chanting a continuous I love my brother in his head. They stood in silence before two bronze plaques near an oak tree, staring at the names etched there in reverence. Even Dean was quiet, becoming more still than Sam could ever remember him being. They hadn't even spent this much time at their own mother's grave. Dean had never seen the point of standing where there was no body. He'd scoffed at visiting a headstone that had been put up by someone they didn't even know. And now that they did, Sam wondered what Dean was thinking now. Like too many times in their lives, his brother's expression gave away nothing. Sam had already accepted that they were gone. He'd known before they got much closer to their destination that the address wasn't residential. It didn't lessen the ache of disappointment in his breast. He'd wanted to meet them, even if he had spent the past few days in their shoes. Everything dies... He sighed, shuffling a little, before kneeling down to touch the plates before they left, moving unconsciously in a gesture of respect and remembrance. There was no way to tell who went first, no dates were beneath their names, and he knew Dean was right. It didn't matter who went first...It would have been the end for both of them. But not for us, Sam thought as he felt Dean move beside him, his shadow spilling over the graves. Everything dies, but not everything comes back. His fingertips ran the edge of their names, gracing the only thing that was written on each: Brother A deep pressure started to build behind his eyes, spreading along the bridge of his nose and bleeding back through his frontal lobe. He sucked in a breath, the grave markers shimmering in and out of vision, the beating of his heart echoing through his ears. And then there was nothing, no sight or sound, no sensation, before the deluge of images bombarded him. Jess smiling as she poured coffee, Dean in the park when he was young and an older man giving him back his football, Sam getting a birthday present from a kind stranger when he was seven, and then he knew the ones he was seeing were Jake and Ben, the last flashes of faces and moments of Jake by Ben's bedside... Sam lurched away from the graves, finding Dean's arm against his back, a hand at his shoulder, his voice echoing through the fog of Sam's mind, calling his name. Dean was helping him up, spinning him to face him, hands steady against his face while the rest of the world tilted for a moment. Pressing his eyes shut, Sam drew in a deep breath and re-centered himself. Dean was there. Always there. For the first time in a long time Sam didn't feel like such a freak. For the first time in a long time, he wasn't some curse. Dean had reminded him of that by just giving a damn, by running after once again showing Sam there was nothing that could change what he was to Dean. "'M okay..."Sam muttered before opening his eyes, finding Dean's expression saturated with concern. Sam's hand settled against Dean's shoulder, squeezing it to convey some semblance of reassurance. "'M okay, Dean. I am." He shook his head, voice breathy, throat tight. The last image of Jake and Ben causing his eyes to sting. "Really need to figure this psychic thing out...getting sick of not being able to control it..." Dean had released him, staying close. "We will, Sam. You have my word." Sam smiled a little, hand going to his eyes, pressing against them, the images still seared there behind his lids, reanimating as he pressed harder creating sparks of light. "What did you see?" Dean asked. "You saw them didn't you?" Sam's hand dropped away, eyes sliding to the bronze plaques which were glinting, catching the sun. "I got some last looks. Nothing that made sense..." He sighed deeply. "You're right, Dean. Doesn't matter how they died...they fought long and hard...and together." Dean nodded slowly. "That's all that matters." The soft crunch of grass beneath someone's feet caused both of them to turn in unison. Sam saw Bobby walking toward them, hands shoved deep in his pockets, ball-capped head bowed. He looked up at the two of them from under the brim, smiling weakly, eyes going to the graves. "Always wondered what happened to them," he said quietly, coming to stand at Sam's side. Sam had called Bobby again just outside of Cleveland, telling him the truth about where they'd been these past few days. He remembered how quiet Bobby had become, the names, Jake and Ben Colt, breathed through the phone like they were to be revered. Bobby never knew what happened to them. Only found their car with Rufus a few years ago. Sam had asked him not to tell Dean. Sam had plans for that car and for his brother. Bobby gave Sam a nod and removed his baseball cap, running a hand through his hair. "You two reminded me of them in a way," he sighed. "Jake always had some smart ass thing to say." His eyes slid to Dean who huffed, ticking up the corner of his mouth in response. Bobby then nodded to Sam. "Ben always seemed to know what to do." Bobby returned his cap and shrugged. "In hunting, family is where you find it. What you two have is rare. A gift. I'm glad I got to know them, Jake and Ben, even if it was just when I was starting out. Saved my life...You two are the only family I have now. Took what those two gave me and wanted to do the same for you. Had no idea you'd become like sons." Sam smiled at that, and Dean clapped Bobby on his shoulder. "You're getting soft in your old age, you know that?" he asked. "Ever the smart ass," Bobby shook his head. "Say I'm old again and I'll whoop your ass, boy." Dean smirked. "All I'm saying is this war is dark and ugly and suffocating...but you have each other. There will always be comrades, brothers in arms, people fighting the good fight, one generation to the next." He nodded to the graves. "Consider the torch passed." Sam swallowed against the tightness gathering in his throat, taking in what Bobby was saying, nodding in agreement. Bobby looked over at Dean, shaking his head. "Good to see you're not knocking on Death's door," he said. While it was said with a joking air, Sam heard the deeper thread of concern. Bobby had to have driven there straight, no sleep, to be with them now. That or he'd discovered a way to cheat time and space. "You're walking, too. Good sign." "I just got back, I'm not looking to check out anytime soon," Dean said quietly, eyes sliding to Sam's with a promise. "As for the leg...I've had worse." "Good, kid. Wanna keep you both around." Bobby threw a glance back toward his rusted out Chevelle at the entrance to the cemetery. "I'll give you two some time. There's a diner back at the street before last. Meet you there." Sam watched him go wondering once again if he knew what he'd done for them. If he had any concept of what it meant to know he'd come all this way, even if it was to find them both well. He could see the gratitude etched in his brother's face as he stared after their friend, then slowly back to the graves. Comrades. Brothers in arms... There was no greater peace in Sam in that moment, as he studied his brother, then knowing that they were the next generation to fight and survive, to live and protect and overcome. They were going to fight the good fight, and there was no greater hope in Sam than in the promise that he had a brother who would fight unconditionally alongside him. -The End- A/N: Thank you all for reading and for the encouragement along the way! Special thanks again to our betas as well. We hope you've enjoyed this story as we've both enjoyed writing it. If you are interested, the next installment in the War Without Front series will be A Bright World by Bayre, and comes out tomorrow here: (http : // bayre. webs .com /abrightworld. htm) Remember to take out the spaces. This link won't work until July 16. Since Jake and Ben didn't become hunters out of revenge, but more because hunting things, saving people, it made sense that their end wouldn't be a typical hunter ending. We've loved having you along for the journey. Take care. --Bayre & SJ
Tracking Every Signing Grading Biggest Deals Blueprint for a Minnesota Vikings Super Bowl Run Use your ← → (arrow) keys to browse more stories Blueprint for a Minnesota Vikings Super Bowl Run Hannah Foslien/Getty Images Rebuilding an NFL team is a long and laborious process as much for the fans as it is for the team itself. Maybe in some ways worse because as a fan, you have zero control over anything. Of course, you aren't the one sweating, bleeding, losing and winning, so it's all relative. Some teams try to buy their way into a championship (this goes for any sport). The smarter ones build towards a championship. That doesn't mean they HAVE to take five or six years to make the playoffs or see the Super Bowl, just that they build carefully, one piece at a time. They have a blueprint for success, and they follow it. The following is what the Vikings' blueprint for a Super Bowl run looks like if I am new general manager Rick Spielman. These are long term goals as well as short term ones. Whether they are immediate payoffs or pay dividends down the road, they will all have the net effect of winning this team the Super Bowl. Mike Powell/Getty Images It's said so often in these situations that it's almost trite, but it has the virtue of being true—a franchise needs to believe it can win any time they step on the field. In so far as attitude and confidence, the Vikings aren't in a bad position. They sniffed a Super Bowl not long ago, after all. However, last season was close to a disaster, and the sooner the team can start washing that out of their system the better. What that will take is wins—not just any wins, but significant ones. I have long contended that the Vikings are going to be in a perfect spot to be spoilers for some NFC North team come the end of the season. Nothing strikes a better tone for the next season than sending one of your rivals home to watch the playoffs with their fans. The Vikings are unlikely to make the playoffs this year, but they can still end the season on a positive note. Then you build on that. Of course, more than anything else, this needs to become an expectation—that if you come to Minnesota, you will go home with a loss. The Patriots did this after struggling for years. The Packers did this. The Bengals are trying to do this, as are the Bills. The Lions are well on their way. The Vikings need to make sure that the culture of winning is forever at the forefront of all their preparations, film study, practice and game planning. Yes, they don't exactly slink into practice now like Eeyore in a purple jersey. But two bad years can become three really easy—more than anything else, if they want to be on the road to a Super Bowl in the next three to five years, they need to instead make winning the habit. Bruce Kluckhohn-US PRESSWIRE In this league—in this division—a team needs a good quarterback to win. A great quarterback would be better, but a very good one will do. Is Christian Ponder that guy? They have to find out in the next year or so. It'd be great if they had more time, but they don't. If they find out Ponder isn't the one, they have to retool and reboot. That takes time. They have a lot of pieces in place—we'll get to that as well as what still needs to be done—and there is no sense in wasting time hoping a guy will get better if he's not making strides forward. Just ask the New York Jets. Mark Sanchez has been there for several years now and seemingly hasn't gotten any better—and if they need to dump him, they have some trouble brewing because they'll have to rethink everything. That takes time and sets franchises back. So they need to find out if he's "the guy." If not, it's back to the Draft—because we know what happens when you bring in retread quarterbacks, right Mr. McNabb? If you want to give Ponder the best chance to succeed, well, you have to give him the right tools. So far, the Vikings have done an admirable job—adding Matt Kalil, Jarius Wright and Greg Childs through the draft and bringing in Jerome Simpson. There is an element of risk to Simpson as well as John Carlson, but neither are so expensive that the risk is huge. Both have some upside though, and Simpson in particular could be a huge help to Ponder. They need to continue adding pieces each year. They don't have to be lavish spenders in free agency—in fact, we know that isn't always a great way to go—but they should be aggressive and make sure that they get solid pieces which fit. If they do that, Ponder will show us for sure if he's the future at quarterback. Bruce Kluckhohn-US PRESSWIRE I just mentioned Kalil, but along with him, the offensive line needs to continue to be built up. Seeing Steve Hutchinson (and to a lesser extent Anthony Herrera) go might worry the Viking faithful, but long term, they needed to start rebuilding. Hutchinson was fading and Herrera was not that good. Adding Kalil and Geoff Schwartz gets the line a bit younger, and the last three—Phil Loadholt, John Sullivan and Charlie Johnson—are all in their mid to late twenties. So the line isn't terribly aged, though they can start thinking about what they could do to shore it up. I would mostly address it through the Draft—high quality free agents can be hard to come by and usually require a big bid with all the suitors. Slowly building up the line while you still have a good offensive line is also smart—having quality depth is never a bad idea as the Packers showed in 2010. Bruce Kluckhohn-US PRESSWIRE As much as I like the acquisition of Simpson, it's not enough. The depth behind Percy Harvin and him isn't great. Which is why I also liked the drafting of Greg Childs and Jarius Wright, both of whom have the potential to be quality starters in this league. Let's face facts—Adrian Peterson is a stud, but in the North alone, the team faces three teams which will throw the ball a lot and have varying degrees of high-powered offenses. Ponder (or whomever throws the ball) needs a deep group of reliable weapons. Look at the successful teams here: the Packers have Greg Jennings and Jordy Nelson to start with James Jones, Randall Cobb and Donald Driver behind. The Lions have Calvin Johnson, with Nate Burleson, Titus Young and soon enough Ryan Broyles. Even the Bears have finally started piecing a receiver corps together with Brandon Marshall, rookie Alshon Jeffery and Earl Bennett. They fall off after that and maybe that's their undoing, but it's a good start. The Vikings also have a good start of it, with Harvin/Simpson and the rookies. They need to keep bringing guys on through the draft and get as deep as they can. If there is one thing they need to emulate (and this is across the board) that the Packers do, it's create depth. Nowhere will that be more critical than at wide receiver. Hannah Foslien/Getty Images We'll have to see just how good Adrian Peterson is post-knee implosion, but so far he looks on schedule. Assuming he comes back at close to 80 percent AP (which I have said before is better than 99 percent of the backs in the league), he'll continue to be a guy who the team builds around. Percy Harvin has made some noise about being unhappy—the why is unclear, but the fact is that he was underused last season (and in previous seasons) and is probably worried about his next contract. Harvin has begun to show what he is capable of, and I wouldn't want another team to reap the benefits of the Vikings' patience with him, through all the migraines and such. Find a way to make them both happy (Peterson seems the easier one on that score) and keep them in town. Build around them both. Harvin is a huge asset to Christian Ponder, and while rookie Jarius Wright duplicates the broad skillset of Harvin, he lacks the pure upside. If at all possible, keep your studs. Make sure they feel appreciated (some will require money, some a pat on the back in the press), and they will stick with you through the rebuild. Keeping veterans like these guys, who make a difference with the ball in their hands, will keep you in games. Adam Bettcher/Getty Images How much do Jared Allen and Kevin Williams have left in the tank? Chad Greenway? That's the question the VIkings need to ask themselves. The truth is that at least one of those guys is likely out before the Vikings get to a Super Bowl. The Vikings should prepare for that, and besides, as I said before, depth is good. You can never tell when someone might go down (Jasper Brinkley for example) and for how long. The Vikings should be working towards building some significant depth and more than just warm bodies. They have some likely prospects, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't keep looking for more. Pressure is half of how you beat the likes of Green Bay, New Orleans and New England. A continual adding of talent will make sure they can always bring the heat—a necessity to win a Super Bowl. Hannah Foslien/Getty Images Here's the other half of the way you bring down the top contenders—a good secondary. While the unit is OK, it's not a shutdown group by any stretch. Adding Harrison Smith should make a big difference in the safeties, but the corners still need work. The truth is that if they can put together a good group of defensive backs, they can bridge the gap with their pass rush. The Vikings have the tools for that—and they have what looks like a good enough secondary to compliment the front seven. However, they need to keep adding pieces and improve the overall talent that they have. They have some talent already—but not across the board and it's not deep. Keep improving the secondary because any team fighting for a playoff berth, much less a Super Bowl, will test yours early and often. Hannah Foslien/Getty Images So far the Minnesota Vikings look like that team. New GM Rick Spielman has been cautious for the most part, adding a piece here or there in free agency and making smart choices in his first NFL Draft as General Manager. Vikings fans are hoping that keeps up. While the goal every season is winning the Super Bowl, the blueprint I've put together is one which won't just serve to propel the Vikings to a championship once, but allow them to contend for a long time to come. 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Hank Haney Gets Absolutely Torched By Craig Carton, Hangs Up On InterviewS Every morning, the fine folks at Sports Radio Interviews sift through the a.m. drive-time chatter to bring you the best interviews with coaches, players, and personalities across the sports landscape. Today: Tiger Woods's old coach can't take the heat. Hank Haney joined WFAN in New York with Boomer and Carton to talk about the response he has gotten from the book he wrote, on Tiger's agent and the response he had to the injuries that Haney talked about in the book, why Tiger's wife was brought up in the book, and Carton's anger with the book. On the response from the book: "The responses that I'm getting from the people that have read the book have been overwhelmingly that way. It's just incredible. People that are writing me on Twitter, sending me messages, and it's been amazing. That's what they view it as. I didn't think everyone would have the same view. That wasn't something that I was totally concerned about. I just wanted to write the book about what I considered to be the golf history and my time helping someone that I think is the greatest player ever." On Tiger's agent's response to how the injuries occurred: "There's a lot of things that I will respond to but I will pick the thing about the injuries. Tiger's left knee, I first heard about his knee being injured with a lady at a clinic that I was at where her husband is a Navy SEAL stationed in California and he was there the day that Tiger was there and he said that Tiger hurt his knee that day. He thought he hurt it pretty bad. Then Tiger told a friend of mine that's also a friend of his that that is where he blew out his knee was at the Navy kill house near San Diego where he was working with the SEALs. He came around the corner, didn't brace himself, and got kicked in the side of the knee. That's what I was going off of, two different sources telling me that. As far as his Achilles injury the first time he hurt his right Achilles was at the NIKE training facility where he was testing some shoes or doing some sort of testing for them. He re-aggravated it during Olympic style lifting and that was the right Achilles that Dr. Galea treated. I've got pretty specific details and more than one source that backs up all of these things." On Haney talking about Tiger's wife in the book: "I talk about his wife only in areas where it pertains to his golf. The first time I talked about his wife was when she said asked Tiger what are we going to do to celebrate and Tiger said we don't celebrate victories like that. (Host: Hank you talked about the icy stares between them after the accident when you saw him on the range outside his house. What does that have to do with golf?) Because Tiger was preparing for his first tournament back, which was the Masters and I was there preparing with him and it was pertinent to his mindset at the time. When you're a golfer it's a very mental game and I thought that was pertinent to his preparation so when I am saying something like that in the book, one little comment about an icy stare. (Host: But it goes beyond golf and what happens within the ropes.) Well, people have different opinions. I'm very aware that is going to be the case but I'm not the first coach that has ever written a book." Tiger let you into his life, paid you a lot of money I assume to be his coach and you don't view it as a basic violation of the man's trust: "I view it as my memories too. These weren't just his memories. He didn't have them exclusively. I wanted to share my observations, my thoughts about his greatness, the complexities that make him up as a golfer and a person. If I had all positive things in the book it wouldn't have been an honest book. I wanted to write an honest book about working with Tiger Woods and the observations that I made about his greatness and what it was like to coach him. I realize people are going to have different opinions. I'm not the first coach that has ever written a book. (Host: It doesn't make it right though.) It doesn't make them right either but if I broke the code then they broke the code too." That is such an egotistical thing to compare you as Tiger's coach against Butch Harmon as Tiger's coach: "Like you've said you have never met me and I'm looking forward to when we do meet. I'm sure you will have quite a different opinion because it's not an opinion that many people share but I understand your opinion, that was a chapter in the book that summed up Tiger's record and also kind of predicted how I thought he was going to do in the future in terms of Jack Nicklaus' record. You've chosen to take things the way you want to take them but other people have chosen a different path and have enjoyed the read. It's a great insight into the greatest player that I think has ever played. (Host: Do you think of yourself as a martyr?) No sir I don't." You betrayed the most fundamental of trust that anyone could have. You betrayed the man's trust! "I thought this was an interview. Why won't you let me talk? (Host: This is offensive to me!) Ok guys. (Host: Now you're going to hang up because you are a coward.) I'm not going to hang up. I would never hang up. (Host: Good. Don't be a coward.) You don't even know me. (Host: How many times in the book do you write and it seems like it's every freakin' page, that every time Tiger hits a bad shot you're like ‘I saw that coming, I could've fixed that.') I never wrote that. (Host: It's in the entire freaking book!) You're making stuff up now. You said that these other coaches broke the code so at least I'm in good company." (Editor's note: Hank Haney and Craig Carton continued to argue for a few more minutes. Carton called him a horrible human being and the scum of the earth. Eventually, Hank Haney did hang up.) More from Sports Radio Interviews Steve Nash wouldn't mind taking his talents to South Beach. Josh Beckett calls out Curt Schilling. Don Nelson doesn't feel like he's a Hall of Famer.
6.1.7 Client Programming Security Guidelines Applications that access MySQL should not trust any data entered by users, who can try to trick your code by entering special or escaped character sequences in Web forms, URLs, or whatever application you have built. Be sure that your application remains secure if a user enters something like ; DROP DATABASE mysql;. This is an extreme example, but large security leaks and data loss might occur as a result of hackers using similar techniques, if you do not prepare for them. A common mistake is to protect only string data values. Remember to check numeric data as well. If an application generates a query such as SELECT * FROM table WHERE ID=234 when a user enters the value 234, the user can enter the value 234 OR 1=1 to cause the application to generate the query SELECT * FROM table WHERE ID=234 OR 1=1. As a result, the server retrieves every row in the table. This exposes every row and causes excessive server load. The simplest way to protect from this type of attack is to use single quotation marks around the numeric constants: SELECT * FROM table WHERE ID='234'. If the user enters extra information, it all becomes part of the string. In a numeric context, MySQL automatically converts this string to a number and strips any trailing nonnumeric characters from it. Sometimes people think that if a database contains only publicly available data, it need not be protected. This is incorrect. Even if it is permissible to display any row in the database, you should still protect against denial of service attacks (for example, those that are based on the technique in the preceding paragraph that causes the server to waste resources). Otherwise, your server becomes unresponsive to legitimate users. Many application programming interfaces provide a means of escaping special characters in data values. Properly used, this prevents application users from entering values that cause the application to generate statements that have a different effect than you intend: Other programming interfaces might have similar capabilities.
Return to Transcripts main page Interview with Pastor Joe Carter; Whitney Houston's Death; China's VP Visits Aired February 14, 2012 - 19:00 ET ERIN BURNETT, HOST: Whitney Houston's funeral has been set and today I sat down with the pastor of the church where it will be held. And we take you inside Syria tonight, a dozen people killed. Is it time for America to intervene? What would it cost in money and lives? And the man widely expected to be China's next leader is in the United States today. He met with President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, but why is he going to Iowa? Well of course we're going to tell you. Let's go OUTFRONT. Good evening, everyone. OUTFRONT tonight, questions and sorrow over the death of Whitney Houston. Here's what we know right now. Family and close friends will say farewell to the late pop star in a private funeral on Saturday in her hometown of Newark, New Jersey. Governor Chris Christie has ordered flags lowered to half-staff in honor of Whitney Houston. Sources tell CNN that her body was found by her assistant Mary Jones whom she often called Aunt Mary. Houston's ex-husband Bobby Brown released a statement today about their 18-year-old daughter Bobbi Kristina saying this. Quote, "Obviously the death of her mother is affecting her. However, we will get through this tragedy as a family." Bobbi Kristina, as you may be aware had been taken to Cedar Sinai Hospital following the death of her mother. Well the official cause of her death may not be known for weeks. Beverly Hills police have requested a security hold on the coroner's report, a common practice in high-profile cases. Our Don Lemon has been following this story from Los Angeles. He talked with the medical examiner today, and what did you find out Don? DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: A lot of interesting things and the first thing I found out, Erin, from the coroner, he's like there are so many rumors out there that he wishes he could get on television to tamp them down, but he can't because he has to work on this investigation. One of them he said was interesting. He's getting calls from all over the world saying the DEA is going to join the coroner's investigation because prescription medications are killing celebrities in Hollywood. He said completely not true, and Erin, he wanted me to get out to the media to stop you know all of this just speculation about what happens and also he gave me a time line on the actual report. He said while it takes six to eight weeks he said sometimes they do get things earlier, maybe within two to three days or within a couple of days he said like if something spikes, like a certain medication or certain drug or something, and they will take a look at that, why that drug spiked, and they have to retest it, so that six to eight-week period is to give them enough time so that they can make sure of what it is. Here's what he said to me. He said, Don, we don't like to say oh, well, maybe he said. We want to say definitively, definitely, here's what we found at this level with this medical condition, the decedent according to us, our pathologist, the consultant, this professional, this is what we believe killed this person. So that's what he is telling me, so they may get some early indications of something like some sort of drug, some sort or amphetamine whether she had Tylenol or anything like that in her body, they'll get that early, but then they're going to retest it as well to make sure that it's absolutely correct. BURNETT: Which is interesting breaking news that you have I mean that we could find something out potentially if something spiked in the next few days as opposed to that six to eight-week period. Don, I'm very curious though as to -- are you getting any sense of whether prescription drugs were involved or what direction they are leaning in? Because obviously as you are well aware so many people are speculating that, but you know talking to the family pastor today -- BURNETT: -- I certainly got the other side of the story a lot of her friends say, which is look, she had really tried to turn things around and that may not be accurate. LEMON: Yes. Well, here is the thing, and Kelly Price, we saw her on CNN yesterday, the person who was having the party at that true (ph) nightclub on Thursday night, the last pictures we really saw of Whitney Houston. We know that she was drinking from her friend and from people who were at that party. The prescription drugs we know from the coroner were in the room, and he is downplaying the amounts, saying it's you know for an overdose, it wasn't that much and -- LEMON: -- there are more in a typical household, even his household, so that's what we are hearing. We don't know for sure. Only Whitney Houston at this point knows what she took for sure, and now the coroner is trying to figure it out. Erin, if I can just say something -- we talked about the memorial and the burial for Whitney Houston -- if you go online and you look at it and I'm sure if you checked your social media, your Twitter, your Facebook, there are many of her fans who are upset because they want to be able to honor her and pay their respects, and they are upset that it is just private. They want a public ceremony so that they can go out and honor Whitney Houston. BURNETT: Well that's interesting and Don, I'll just say because we were speaking to Reverend Joe Carter who we're going to hear from in a moment, but I can report that he said that those rumors of a big service and ceremony perhaps at the Prudential Center for 18 to 20,000 were never true. He said to the best of his knowledge -- LEMON: Right. BURNETT: But he did say that while many people can't fit in the church, they're going to put a jumbotron (ph) outside the church in Newark which as you know is a little tiny street so that members of the public could come, which obviously is not what most people want, but they will have that for people to participate, so we will see if they end up adding another and much larger platform as well. All right, Don, thanks so much -- LEMON: I think what they wanted -- BURNETT: Go ahead. LEMON: I think what they wanted was some sort of ceremony like the Staple Center for Michael Jackson -- LEMON: -- and apparently now at least at this point, Erin, it is not going to happen. BURNETT: That's right. All right, well absolutely. Thanks very much, Don Lemon, for that reporting there. You have the very latest on when we might know how Whitney Houston really died. But now let's talk about how her death will be commemorated and celebrated. Obviously, admired and loved by millions around the world. You heard from Don how a lot of people are going to be frustrated that they can't participate, but on Saturday her closest friends and family will celebrate her lift at The New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey. It's the first place that anyone heard a young Whitney Houston's voice as she sang in the choir. I went to the small parish church earlier today and spoke to Pastor Joe Carter who shared his thoughts about the late pop star, and what he's planning for Saturday. PASTOR JOE CARTER, THE NEW HOPE BAPTIST CHURCH: I pray -- I pray that we can honor her the way she deserves it on Saturday. BURNETT: And you were saying it is something that African- Americans get right? You know how to -- you know how to grieve. CARTER: Yes, I really believe that we know how to mourn. We know how to grieve. We know how to get it out and in a way of hope, in a way of joy. The Christian faith teaches that death is not the end, and so we know how to look forward to the next life, and celebrate here on what is coming up ahead. BURNETT: So, what you are putting together the service now. BURNETT: What are you putting together? And what is going to happen and who is going to sing? CARTER: Well I would love to answer who is going to sing. I just would say everybody that has a great, great voice. We are hearing a lot of entertainers who are going to be here, and we are excited. The family really has put together a program that is going to be musical, be happy, be joyful and really give the kind of feel to congregation and those there that I think Whitney would want to be remembered by. BURNETT: And you have known Whitney now for a long time? CARTER: About since '93, yes. BURNETT: What -- do you remember the first time you met her? CARTER: Yes, yes. And you have got to remember I was a teenager when she came out, so I was -- CARTER: -- I was a big fan -- BURNETT: You were star struck? CARTER: Yes, (INAUDIBLE) as a preacher not to be star struck, but it was an amazing moment. I actually met her in church on an Easter Sunday morning singing in the sanctuary and that was -- I will never forget it. I thought she could sing before I heard her in person, and the conviction and strength of her voice was just phenomenal. I will never forget it. BURNETT: And she came every year to church, usually around the holiday times? CARTER: At one time, it was kind of like around the high (ph) Sundays, but she never, never forgot her church. She always made sure she let us know she loves us and remembered us. BURNETT: What did she sing? CARTER: Well, she sang a song "He would not come down from the cross" and it was a song that when Whitney came, you would expect to hear. BURNETT: She sang the same song -- CARTER: Yes, most of the time she sang that song. Most of the members of the church remember her in the recent past of singing that particular song here. BURNETT: And you said she had not been recently to the church? CARTER: No, I haven't seen her in a little while. It has been a couple of years. BURNETT: All of the talk out there about what happened to her, what state she was in, did you ever see any of the times you saw her, any sign of that? CARTER: No, no, not me personally. Every time I saw her she was just happy, joking around, just, you know, upbeat. BURNETT: You spent some time I know with the family getting the program together -- BURNETT: -- the service together. How is her mother? CARTER: Well, she's hurting. She's grieving of course, but Cissy Houston is a woman of strong faith. She actually was testifying about how God had been so good to her to this point and how she said He's not going to leave her now and I was there to lift her spirits and she ended up lifting mine. It's just an amazing testimony of the grace of God. BURNETT: Well, Reverend Carter also told me when we were there we went into the sanctuary which is what they call the part of the church where people are going to be for the service, saying about 1,500 people would be sitting there. They were counting the seats. And I can also report tonight who will be delivering the eulogy. Reverend Martin Winans (ph) will be doing that at the request of Cissy Houston. He's known Whitney Houston since the early 1980's and of course, his daughter Ceecee (ph) was Bobbi Kristina Whitney's daughter's Godmother. He will be delivering the eulogy on Saturday Reverend Carter told me today. Well rumors that Whitney Houston was out of money that she died are spreading, and it's pretty amazing when there have been reports that she had $100 million contract. We get to the bottom of that. And the man expected to be the next leader of China is here meeting with the president and visiting the Pentagon. Yes, I'm sure a lot was blocked off. And congressional leaders announce they're close to a deal on that payroll tax cut. Why did Republicans cave? BURNETT: So, as Don Lemon has been reporting when he was talking to the assistant coroner in Los Angeles just tonight, we don't know yet what caused Whitney Houston's death, but we do know that the singer was battling drug addiction for years. Obviously, a question as to how much of a role it played in recent times. Her personal problems for many years made more headlines than her music. One of the problems that Houston may have been struggling with at the time of her death though was running out of cash. And to give us an insight into her lifestyle, Janell Snowden, she has been following Whitney Houston for VH1 for seven years and great to have you back, Janell, again. Zack O'Malley Greenburg is a writer for "Forbes" -- UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thanks for having me. BURNETT: And Paul Callan is a contributor for us here at CNN to talk about legally what happens here. Janell first can I just ask you, you know there have been reports she had a $100 million contract. A lot of that obviously recently signed for an album she had not yet produced, but can you tell us about her lifestyle. How did she spend money? How did she live? JANELL SNOWDEN, HOST, VH1 NEWS: You know Whitney Houston was a very private person surprisingly. I mean we know about all of her troubles thanks to interviews that she has done, but if you really think about it, she hasn't done many over the course of the years. There are the blockbuster ones like Dianne Sawyer and Oprah Winfrey, but for the most part Whitney Houston was pretty private. So we don't know exactly how she spent her money. There were reports that she signed a $100 million record deal back in 2001. She released her last album in 2009. I can tell you that since her death, her sales have been soaring on iTunes and they've raised the price from 99 cents for a single to $1.29 and I can just give you a point of reference. Michael Jackson's estate has earned more than $279 million since he died in 2009, so I don't think that if she was suffering from any financial trouble, her estate is going to be in trouble because we all know that artists typically make more money when they are dead unfortunately. BURNETT: Well we know that with Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson. Zack, though you've been reporting on this. BURNETT: Obviously there are some differences in that many of Whitney Houston's songs were written by other people so a lot of that money in her case unlike Michael Jackson would go to someone like say Dolly Parton or someone else? ZACK O'MALLEY GREENBURG, WRITER, FORBES: Exactly and actually we had Michael Jackson's estate -- it's about half a billion dollars over the past 2.5 years, so I mean Whitney Houston is going to have a really hard time catching up to that, especially because like you said she didn't write her own songs. She's not going to share in the publishing that includes any time a song is licensed for TV, movies, et cetera. BURNETT: And what's your sense of how much money she was making? I mean obviously Janell has been reporting on that -- (CROSSTALK) BURNETT: -- $100 million contract, but how much has she made, you know? GREENBURG: Yes, Janell, I heard the same thing too and you know $100 million for a deal signed in 2001, you know paid out per album, sounds like a lot of money to us, but when you think about the fact that her last album was 2009, you know her last tour was 2010, you know it means that she wasn't really seeing that kind of steady stream of income in the recent years, so you know it is not too hard to believe that she could have died in a little bit of financial trouble. BURNETT: Paul, what is your sense of that? Dying in financial trouble, I mean I know a lot of people were shocked when it came out that Michael Jackson had, but often people who have great talent don't have great talent in managing money or managing the people who manage their money. PAUL CALLAN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, that tends to be the case. In many situations we see a lot of very wealthy entertainers who die destitute. It's hard to say here, but you know in the end of course with respect to this estate we know she owned property in New Jersey, in Georgia and in Florida. So the states are going to be, one of those states is going to be handling the estate, so we have to see which state it will be and whether she left a will or trust. That's going to be a very, very big question as to -- BURNETT: She is young. I mean she had a daughter, so you would think that she did, but you know she's -- can I just ask you about this issue though of where the royalties go? How does this work? How unusual in it in this case that, you know because Janell is reporting that the cost of the songs has gone up, everything, but you know it is not all going to go to her estate. CALLAN: No, it's not all going to her estate, but there were contractual agreements in place, and whatever she has the right to as she lives most of that will go to her estate or to a trust if she has been smart enough to set herself up that way. CALLAN: You know it really depends on the sophistication of her tax planning and whether when she was in the money whether she hired good financial assistants to direct this. BURNETT: Janell was there any evidence from what you had heard and I know, you know you spent a lot of time not just with her at certain events, but with a lot of people who knew her, that she may have been struggling financially or no? SNOWDEN: There are reports that just weeks before her death she had to ask friends for $100, and her publicity team came out and said that was absolutely not true, and that she had just made the movie "Sparkle," and that she did not work for free. That was their defense. I think it's interesting to note that after her "Moment of Truth" tour, which was in 1987, she was listed by "Forbes" magazine as the highest earning black woman and the third highest earning entertainer only after Bill Cosby and Eddie Murphy, so it's just amazing that so much money seemed to be flowing through her hands throughout her career, but we're still so uncertain as to what she actually left with. BURNETT: Yes. I mean it is interesting and you're saying you know because was she private it is hard to say what she spent it on, but Zack, it does appear that a lot of it went away. GREENBURG: That's right, but you know if you look at the sales of Michael Jackson's albums after he died, eight million in six months, you know probably 20, 30 million worldwide, if she can do even half of that, you know we're talking tens of millions of dollars flowing through her estate through the end of the year. BURNETT: All right, thanks very much to all three of you, appreciate your taking the time -- Paul, Zack and Janell. Well the man expected to be the leader of China is in the United States and we told you a little bit about him yesterday and what we thought was the coolest part, you know his wife being a famous singer in China, and by the way, we know something about her. We're going to tell you later, but we also know why he is going to Iowa tomorrow, and you'll find out next. And fashion innovator Diane von Furstenberg comes OUTFRONT, maybe that's the link to the folksinger (ph) Chinese next first lady. We'll see. She responds to Republicans (ph). BURNETT: Right now the man widely expected to be China's next president is about to sit down to dinner with Vice President Joe Biden at his home in Washington. The end of a busy day, he went and -- Xi Jinping with President Obama. He visited the Pentagon, had lunch at the State Department. The visit comes at a time when we all know there are major questions surrounding China's rise and whether it is an ally or an enemy of the United States. We got a taste of the discussion today when a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Capital Hill commenced. Listen to Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina asked the joint chief's chairman if Chinese hacking into our defense would be considered a hostile act. GEN. MARTIN DEMPSEY, CHAIRMAN OF THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: I would consider it to be a crime. I think there are other measures that could be taken in cyber that would rise to the level of a hostile act. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What would they be? DEMPSEY: Attacking our critical infrastructure. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that could be a hostile act. DEMPSEY: I think so. SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: Allowing us to respond in kind? DEMPSEY: Well, in my view, that's right -- yes. GRAHAM: So I'm going to have lunch with the vice president of China in about 20 minutes, so what do you want me to tell him? DEMPSEY: Happy Valentine's Day. GRAHAM: OK. All right. OK. I will do that. BURNETT: This is just the beginning of Xi Jinping's five-day trip to the United States. Tomorrow he is headed to Iowa. That is right, Muscatine, Iowa, a town he visited in 1985. CNN's Ted Rowlands is in Des Moines for us tonight. Ted, good to see you, and I know Muscatine a little bit out of the way, about three hours away from the capital, why is he going there? TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's a great story, Erin. Vice President Xi, when he came to Muscatine in 85, of course he wasn't the vice president of China. He was just part of a very small delegation that came to tour a couple of Iowa farms. When they were there, there were five people and they all stayed in homes in Muscatine with local residents. Well fast forward 26 years, he says, if I'm coming to Iowa, I want to go back and visit with those same people. This was his first trip to the U.S., so he is going to detour from his trip here in Des Moines and head over there and meet with those same people in one of those same homes. They're apparently going to have a little champagne, and some tea, but we talked to a couple of folks there, and they are absolutely thrilled. In fact one of them ran upstairs when she found out that he was coming and dug out an old photo, and sure enough there he is, the new -- going to be the new leader of China standing in her kitchen just -- it's just a great story. BURNETT: It is a great story. I know you talked to them. Here is a little quick clip so everyone can see a little bit about how they feel about him. Here it is. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You look at the logistics and the cost of him putting in and coming to this little town that is 35 miles removed from an airplane that will accommodate him and his entourage, there is some motivation just for a little time to spend an hour or hour and a half in a room with as he says his old friends, that's significant. BURNETT: It is nice and I know Iowa's exports to China 1,200 percent higher than they were a decade ago, $600 million. Did that visit drive that drive -- that jump? ROWLANDS: Well, it is unclear if it drove the jump much at all, but here is what is interesting is Terry Branstad said, the governor of Iowa now, was the governor, was his first -- back in '85, so he met him then and then they also met over in Beijing in the fall of this year, so here is what is clear is the relationship that they have with the vice president, soon to be president here in Iowa, they are hoping is going to extend those exports out of Iowa. China, as you mentioned, are consumers of soybeans and farm machinery, a lot of things, they're hoping that that special relationship with the vice president, soon to be president will help the state. BURNETT: All right, thanks very much to Ted Rowlands reporting from Iowa where the next Chinese president will be tomorrow. Well we go inside Syria next, dozens were killed today, what will it take to end the violence? What does an American intervention "Nuts and Bolts" mean? And could Amanda Knox be sent back to Italian prison? BURNETT: We start the second half of our show with stories that we care about, where we focus on our own reporting, do the work, and find the OUTFRONT five. First, tonight, Whitney Houston's funeral will be held Saturday in her hometown of Newark, New Jersey. Private services will be held at New Hope Baptist Church where Houston sang in the choir growing up. Today, I sat down with the church's pastor, Joe Carter, at the church, and he told me that her long time friend Marvin Winans will give the eulogy. I asked Pastor Carter about the plans for Saturday. PASTOR JOE E. CARTER, THE NEW HOPE BAPTIST CHURCH: We are hearing that a lot of entertainers will be here, and we're excited. The family really has put together a program that's going to be musical, be happy, be joyful and really give the kind of feel to congregation and those there that I think that Whitney would want. BURNETT: Number two: Egyptian authorities detailed today the charges against 16 Americans working for international democracy groups in Egypt. Now, we are told that the 24-page document is currently in the midst of being translated from Arabic to English. But Sam LaHood, the son of transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is among the Americans charged. The Egyptian government has blamed unrest in the country on foreign interference. Number three: Italian prosecutors have appealed the decision to overturn Amanda Knox's murder conviction. We spoke to our legal experts Jeff Toobin just a few moments ago and he told us the appeal won't really matter because even if the prosecutors win the appeal, they will have to apply for extradition, which Toobin says is very unlikely. Knox and her boyfriend Raffaelle Sollecito were convicted of murder in 2009, but cleared after a judge found a lack of evidence. Number four: new legislation being introduced to close the carried interest loophole. It's an issue regular viewers know we have been watching closely here at OUTFRONT. This loophole lets hedge fund, but primarily private equity managers or former managers like Mitt Romney, pay a 15 percent tax rate, not the 35 percent that most people on their income. Representative Sander Levin has introduced the Carried Interest Fairness Act, which would tax carried interest at normal income rate. Well, it has been 193 days since the U.S. lost its top credit rating. What are we doing to get it back? Well, sales of U.S. retailer rose four-tenths of a percent in January, take out things like cars and building materials, which is actually more than anyone expected. And that's good news. And now to Syria. An astonishing new video that we have from today that captures the horror and, frankly, in what is in some cases heroism against brutal force. It shows a young boy in the middle of a crossfire between rebels and troops when a man risks his life to rush in, pick the child up and carry him to safety. There are reports that 400 children have been killed in Syria since January. In total, the year-old uprising has claimed at least 6,000 lives according to activists in the country. Now, we also wanted you to see something else. This is video that appears to show a group of people. As you can see, if you watch them coming forward, being used as human shields for Bashar al Assad's, the president of Syria, tanks, which you see right there in the video. In the clip, the soldiers chant, quote, "With our blood, and our souls, we defend you, Bashar." And there you see that. CNN's Arwa Damon is inside Syria and we cannot reveal her location. But she joins us with the latest on the crisis. ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Erin, we have been moving from safe house to safe house in various locations in Syria, and these safe houses tend to be normal citizens' residences, their families are around. The children, when you speak to them, even if they are 3 or 4 years old, talk about bombs. They ask their parents if the government forces are going to be raiding their homes. One of the homes we were in was also at the same time an underground secret clinic, although calling it an actual clinic would be something of a stretch of the imagination. The clinic itself was nothing more than a family's living room with a bunch of medical supplies, basic medical supplies in it. There is a lot of frustration in one area we were in because they have managed to gather a number of medical supplies, blood to try take into another area that was harder hit. But it had been blocked off for days, and they were also trying to evacuate wounded from this area, trying to actually get them out of the country, because these were severe injuries, and they were unable to do so. At this location as well, the opposition members who we were with have managed to capture a man who said that he worked at a ministry of interior prison. He was caught in cross fire and an ambush. These opposition activists we were with were actually treating him, because they intended to trade him for one of their own with the captured by government thugs. And he was talking about how, yes, he was given orders to shoot to kill. That in some instances, he was confronting unarmed demonstrators with a scope on his rifle that allowed him to see people in front of him as if he were looking at himself in the mirror. He also said that on one occasion, he did in fact slit a man's throat. Now, the opposition activists were naturally very distressed, angry and disgusted at what this man was saying, but they also had a belief that they had to treat him well, because they say they had to be better than the government they are fighting so hard to bring down -- Erin. BURNETT: All right. You can see Arwa Damon there. Again, we cannot reveal her location. As you can see, incredible reporting there, an incredible situation in Syria. Well, pressure is building on President Obama to respond to the Syrian crisis. And Defense Secretary Leon Panetta was on Capitol Hill, talking about massive military cuts at the same time. The Pentagon is going to be slashing $500 billion over the next decade. And Panetta said today that those cuts could come at a cost. LEON PANETTA, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Let me be clear. Let me be clear. You can't take half a trillion dollars out of the budget and not incur additional risks. We believe they are acceptable risks. But there are risks. BURNETT: Panetta calls them acceptable. But what would happen if the United States decided to get involved in Syria? So, even just take Libya? We asked retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton about the cost. Colonel Leighton was deputy director the National Security Agency, said, look, Libya cost about $900 million for the U.S. And Syria, frankly, is nothing like Libya. An air campaign there would last at least two weeks. The price tag of that alone would be $2 billion, and Syria is not Libya. As we have been reporting, Syria's military boasts 5,000 tanks, 550 Russian MiG jets. A ground force of more than 300,000. So, should the United States use forces to remove Assad? And if so, can we pay for it, money and lives on the line? OUTFRONT tonight, Kori Schake, fellow at the Hoover Institution and former McCain/Palin adviser, and Ed Husain, senior fellow with the Council on Foreign Relations. I appreciate both of you taking the time. And, Kori, let me start with you. You think it's time to consider a military action. How come? KORI SCHAKE, RESEARCH FELLOW, HOOVER INSTITUTION: Because what the Assad government is doing is genuinely irreprehensible. The U.N. high commissioner for human rights believes that they're committing war crimes by indiscriminately targeting their own population. They killed probably 7,000 people since March. And the situation is dramatically escalating towards a civil war and towards one that might draw in other countries in the region. This is bad and getting worse. BURNETT: Ed, I mean, she's right, it is bad. And there are awful things happening. You could just see those videos that we were showing. So, there's kind of a moral reason people may want to get involved. But then there's Iraq and what we went through there. ED HUSAIN, SENIOR FELLOW, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: Moral repulsion maybe isn't strong enough to drive U.S. foreign policy. I was living in Syria when the Iraq occupation happened for two years. I saw Iraqi refugees come in from Iraq into Syria. Syria is much more diverse. Its ethnic compositions, its sectarian differences and its the tribal rivalries makes Syria look far more disastrous than anything that Iraq had been. And I think it's not just about morality. If it is about saving lives, we should think twice, because thus far, with all of the problems, we have had 7,000 plus people killed in Syria, intervening militarily in Syria and trying to topple the Assad regime without a clear day two plan in case, we don't know what happens after he goes down, risk millions more being killed in Syria. And worse, overspill into Lebanon, Israel, Turkey, Iraq, and other countries which border this hot spot that is Syria. BURNETT: Perhaps even Iraq. Well, Kori, how do you respond to that? Because I know some people have said, well, look at Iraq, everyone said that it would be hard for U.S. forces, but they went in, and immediately the Iraqi government fell. That's true. But then it took 10 years for the troops to leave, and still Iraq is not settled. SCHAKE: Yes, I actually agree with many of the concerns that he raised, but not every intervention is Iraq, and not every intervention is Libya, not every intervention is Afghanistan. There are lots of different ways to do this. I particularly like the plan that the Arab League is putting forward which is the progressive penalization of the Assad government for using force against its own civilians. That is that you threaten and will carry out the arming and the training of Syrian opposition forces if the Iraqi government -- excuse me, if the Syrian government continues to do this. SCHAKE: And you eventually diminish the Syrian government's ability to use repressive forces against its own society, force it into a negotiating position to remove the strength. BURNETT: Let me play devil's advocate for a second, Ed, and set this question up to you. And, obviously, you know, al Qaeda said they supported the rebels. I talked to an activist yesterday who was appalled that with that, they want nothing to do with al Qaeda. I want to put that out there. But then I want to ask you this -- you look at Afghanistan back in the day the Taliban was a friend of the United States, and then it became the foe. Arming an opposition doesn't always end in a black and white outcome. HUSAIN: Especially, especially when we don't know who the opposition is. This is an opposition who is sporadic. This is an opposition that's not organized. This is an opposition that has a strong extreme Muslim Brotherhood element. These are not the brotherhood that are the same in, say, Egypt or, say, Lebanon, or other countries. It's an extreme Muslim Brotherhood, and we ought to be very careful in getting into bed with people about whom we know very little, and who are not coherent in what it is they want. BURNETT: All right. HUSAIN: And the real risk there is toppling a regime such as Assad's regime, and unleashing civil war, and rival factions which are already fighting among themselves, by the way, you know, and then putting U.S. lives and U.S. resources at risk for something we don't know much about. BURNETT: Well, thank you, Kori and Ed, thank you very much. A discussion a lot of people I'm sure are having tonight at home, and as America continues to decide what to do. Thanks to both of you. We look forward to talking to you about this again soon. And we are hearing word out of Washington, we could have a deal on the payroll tax extension. We're going to try to confirm that for you and have that breaking news for you after the break. And the latest national poll numbers -- a surge in the GOP's race. Whose surge is it? We'll find out. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) BURNETT: Well, we have breaking news from Capitol Hill. We can confirm that Congress has reached a tentative deal to extend the payroll tax cut until the end of this year. It means average Americans will save between $700 to $2,300 a year. But the compromise didn't come easily. Weeks of negotiations that we all painfully know went nowhere, House and Senate leaders finally announced they're going to extend it without -- oh, this is good -- finding a way to pay for it, $100 billion. Along with the tax cut, negotiators agreed to two other controversial items, extending unemployment benefits and avoiding a fee cut for Medicare doctors. Together, those measures cost about $50 billion. Congress says it will pay for the measures, but, they're not sure yet how. BURNETT: I guess it's not a comedy show. OK, turning to other political news. Mitt Romney is taking to the air waves in Michigan today to try to make sure he doesn't lose his home state in the Republican race for president. A new polls shows Rick Santorum beating him in Michigan. Romney is emphasizing his roots, trying to convince voters he's one of them. But as you can see, hmm. MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Now, I grew up in Michigan, it was exciting to be here. I remember going to Detroit auto show with my dad. That was a big deal. The people here in Detroit are distressed. I want to make Michigan stronger and better. Michigan has been my home and this is personal. BURNETT: At the same time, he is standing by his position that the auto bailout is a mistake and writing an op-ed in "The Detroit News" today, that "The president tell us that without his intervention things in Detroit would be worse. I think that without his -- I believe that without his intervention, things there would be better." John Avlon and Reihan Salam are with us, along with Jamal Simmons, the three musketeers are together. BURNETT: You are back. All right. Reihan, it's personal. REIHAN SALAM, THE CALLER: Oh, that's my favorite part of that commercial. It is so awesome. It seems like a kind of slightly villainous, but yes. BURNETT: But how much does this matter if he loses it? This is his home state, that's the way he pitches it? SALAM: It's an enormous blow partly because demonstrating that you are the kind of candidate who can do well in a state like Michigan is part of your appeal to GOP primary voters, because, you know, Michigan is not necessarily going to be a true swing state. But a lot of those industrial Midwestern states will be up for grabs. And if Romney can't win Michigan, it raises a lot of doubts about whether or not he is really a serious presidential contender. JOHN AVLON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes. I mean, look, he won Michigan last time, won it by nine points. He grew up there. His father was a popular governor. So, to lose Michigan, to lose your de facto home state would be a major blow. And here is the thing, I mean, there's still plenty of time for the death star to sweep into effect, and ran negative ads against everyone -- BURNETT: Otherwise known as Restore Our Future. AVLON: Otherwise known as Restore Our Future. Plenty of time for those negative ads to make a real difference in this race. What amazes me, though, when you see that op-ed, where he's saying I'm doubling down, I'm saying, I would not have supported the auto bailouts -- now, he decides to stop flip-flopping, really? I mean, this is a high stakes move on his part. I think it's standard principle, but high stakes. BURNETT: Jamal, in the op-ed he begun by writing, I am a son of Detroit, and as you saw his new ad talks about going up in Detroit, going to the auto show with his dad. You're from Michigan, Jamal, how big of a deal is it if Romney loses when he won, as John and Reihan were saying, by nine points last time? SIMMONS: Yes, I, too, am a son of Detroit. And I will say that Michigan is very interesting, because it's kind of a microcosm of the country. It's urban. It's suburban. It's got a lot of the rural areas, a lot of evangelicals. And if you look at the inside of some of these polls there, what's happening there, Romney is losing among Tea Party supporters, he's losing among evangelicals, he's losing every county in the state except for Oakland County. Oakland County is the wealthiest county in the state and one of the top 10 wealthiest counties in the United States of America. It's the one place Mitt Romney is doing well right now and betting Santorum in the poll. He has got to find a way to get back to the Michigan blue collar, evangelical kind of Republican base and let them know, because as John said a second ago, he won it last time and his dad was a governor there. It's a de facto home state, and he's got to find a way to bring that all together, or else I think that as someone said earlier, it's a bedlam in the Republican Party if he can't win this one. BURNETT: Bedlam. That would at least be fun to watch. All right. Thanks to all three of you. Appreciate it. One person who might like that is Diane von Furstenberg. She's involved in this political race. We'll tell you why. And we'll get her response to the Republican National Committee, because they called her contribution to the Obama campaign ritzy, at a time when 12 million Americans remain out of work. Really? BURNETT: Have we really come a long way? With all the controversy surrounding birth control, women in the military, even women in the workplace during this election, it's a fair question. And tonight's "IDEA" guest was wondering the same thing when she had an idea that was so revolutionary, it became the symbol of women's liberation. Diane von Furstenberg disrupted the fashion world when she created one of the most basic staples in a lot of women's closet, the wrapped dress. In the '70s, its simplicity became synonymous with feminism and freedom and sexual revolution. Well, tonight, she's changed a lot. She shared her thoughts behind the initial idea and how it has grown into something a whole lot bigger. DIANE VON FURSTENBERG, FASHION DESIGNER: I didn't know what I wanted to do when I started, but I knew the woman I wanted to be, I knew the kind of woman I wanted to be -- a woman who is independent, who doesn't need a man to pay her bill, you know, all of that. And I became that woman. As I was becoming that woman, because it was fashion, I was helping other women to become the women they wanted to be. So when I decided to create the DVF Awards, I wanted to create something that will last after me and that will enable certain women, five women every year, to get exposure on the great work that they do. Usually, most of these women have endured great hardship themselves, and not only have they survived it, but they used that to help other women. BURNETT: This weekend on "Meet the Press," David Gregory read a passage from Rick Santorum's book. And the book is called "It Takes a Family." And here's what he read. He said, "The radical feminists succeeded in undermining the traditional family and convincing women that professional accomplishments are the key to happiness." And I wanted to play, after David read that quote to Rick Santorum, how Rick Santorum responded? RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My wife is a working woman. We had children and she decided to take her career -- take off time from her career and raise children. I can tell you, this section was written in large part in cooperation with her as a mother who was a lawyer, a neonatal intensive care nurse, someone with a great amount of professional experience, who felt very much like society and those radical feminists that I was referring to, were not affirming her choice. BURNETT: What do you think about Rick Santorum's point of view? VON FURSTENBERG: Well, what I think is that I believe, really, that all women should have children, I do. I think that our body is made for that and I think we all should have children, and if we can't, somehow, we should adopt. I think women are made to have children and to be mothers, for sure. I also think that women have to have an identity outside the home, and it makes for much healthier relationship, first for themselves, which at the end is very important, the relationship you have with yourself, with your partner, and certainly your children. I think that if you want the happiness of your children, you want to raise them to be independent children. And there's no better way to make your children independent than being independent yourself. BURNETT: You talk about your third generation, for your business and your company. That involves a big bet on China. VON FURSTENBERG: Yes. I am a great believer -- I think that one of the most extraordinary things that is happening is the speed of the growth of China. It's the speed that is incredible. And I really want to tell everybody that we shouldn't be afraid of that because, you know, when I was a little girl, if I didn't eat my soup, my mother would say, think of all the Chinese that have nothing to eat. When it came to the generation of my children, you say the Chinese make everything. VON FURSTENBERG: And now for my grandchildren, it's the Chinese buy everything. So I don't think we should always look at the Chinese like they're taking jobs away. They're also bringing us more and more jobs. And, of course, you know, there's a lot of things we may agree, we don't agree, but there are a billion and a half people, that's a lot of people to govern. BURNETT: You are a president -- a supporter of President Obama, right? I mean, in terms of your politics and I know that you have designed some of those "Runway to Win" tote bags, scarves. Republicans have panned some of those products as out of reach for many Americans, $75 to $95 each. What's your reaction to that? VON FURSTENBERG: Oh, I don't know. I mean, this is -- this is designing something to raise money. The more you can raise the better it is. You know? It's -- clearly, it's not -- I'm not saying the value of the bag is what they ask for, I don't know. But it is a way of raising money. And I do like President Obama, and so I help him the best I can. BURNETT: All right. Well, interesting. We're going to put more of her interview online so you can take a look at the full segment on our Web site and our blog OUTFRONT. It will be out there soon. OUTFRONT tomorrow, we'll be talking to South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham. He's pushing legislation on how the United States should deal with Iran and its growing nuclear threat. We're going to talk to him about it. And also, as you may have heard, earlier in the show in our back and forth that you saw there with the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he said he's going to have lunch with the man who is going to be the next president of China. So, we're going to talk to him about that, too. Plus, something that we saw that was pretty fun today, we were at the Baptist Church in Newark where Whitney Houston, the funeral will be. We saw a sign that said, a budget, God's way. Perhaps that will help us solve the budget crisis. We'll talk about that with Lindsey Graham. Have a great night. Happy Valentine's Day. "ANDERSON COOPER 360" starts now.
Memory Alpha Hyper-evolved Human 36,776pages on this wiki Transwarp humans offspring Janeway and Paris' offspring. These three hyper-evolved Humans were amphibian-like creatures that were the offspring of Tom Paris and Kathryn Janeway after they experienced hyper-evolution. (VOY: "Threshold") The transwarp Human offspring were partly small puppets and partly CG-creations. (Red Alert: Visual Effects Season 2, VOY Season 2 DVD special features) Advertisement \| Your ad here Around Wikia's network Random Wiki
Take the 2-minute tour × How can I create a smoothing effect like this?: enter image description here It's clearer in his hairs and face. share\|improve this question Look through the painting style plugins. It's basically blurring or smudging but likely done via a plugin. – DA01 Jan 11 '13 at 16:25 Is there any such plugin / script-fu ? – Shanth Jan 12 '13 at 6:42 This seems to be done with Oil Painting Effect in Photoshop With Pixel Bender. Is there a way to do this in GIMP.link – Shanth Jan 14 '13 at 11:39 If you google "GIMP Oil Painting" there are several results, a few of which mention plugins. – DA01 Jan 14 '13 at 15:17 add comment 1 Answer Got it :) its done with G'MIC plugin for GIMP . 'G'MIC => Enhancement => (Anisotropic) Smoothing' This filter could do a similar job with several iterations, a big tensor and gradient smoothness and big amplitude. share\|improve this answer add comment Your Answer
הרשמה Hebrew חפשו מילה כלשהי, כמו fuck: 2 definitions by Misty De Meo Onos - oh'noss - n. - A Greek concept of rational worry; represented by Homer's Odyssey in Athena, a Greek Goddess, and many Greek heroes in other traditional works, it is considered a positive attribute. Romans considered "onos" a negative attribute, like Odysseus' intelligence, and it became transmuted into the less-positive "onus," or "burden." Athena's onos was manifested in her fear of Poseidon's threat to Odysseus' homecoming. מאת Misty De Meo 20 במרץ, 2004 32 20 "Have you heard the new T-Square album?" מאת Misty De Meo 26 במאי, 2004 19 8
io9’s March Movie Madness Second Round: Blade Runner vs. GhostbustersS Let the io9 March Movie Madness tournament rage on. Last week, underdog Galaxy Quest trampled blockbuster mega-smash Avatar. But will it live on to fight again? Polls are open now — vote for the greatest science fiction movie ever made! There some serious heat in the io9 movie tournament this week. Blade Runner Vs. Ghostbusters promises to be an all out blood bath. Same goes for Akira Vs. Alien. Here is the schedule for voting for the rest of the tournament. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back had the most votes last week with 4,641 votes. Which gives some credence to the speculation that the final will be Blade Runner Vs. Empire. That is, if Blade Runner can beat the beloved Ghostbusters today. There are eight match-ups today, and there will be eight more match ups on Wednesday. So if you're looking for Wall-E Vs. Terminator, that showdown is on Wednesday the 23rd. Here is the schedule for voting for the rest of the tournament. Remember, you decide who moves on to the next round. So vote! Monday, March 21 TODAY and Wednesday, March 23: Second Round Friday, March 25: Sweet Sixteen Monday, March 28: Elite Eight Wednesday, March 30: Final Four Friday, April 1: Final Four Monday, April 4: Championship VOTE RIGHT NOW For the movie you WANT to win. Polling ends tonight at 11 PM. 1. Blade Runner Vs. 9. Ghostbusters 1. E.T. Vs. 8. Serenity 2. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back Vs. 7. The Matrix 2. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) Vs. 7. District 9 3. Metropolis (1927) Vs. 11. Jurassic Park 4. Alien Vs. 5. Akira 4. Inception Vs. 5. Planet of the Apes (1968) 6. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Vs. 14. Galaxy Quest
Subject: tseng et4000 registers memory map? To: None <> From: Todd Whitesel <> List: port-atari Date: 09/18/1999 08:32:57 [ please cc: me as I am not on port-atari ] I have started on a generic version of pci_tseng.c and friends, but the card still isn't displaying anything and I am beginning to suspect that it is because I can't find a good description of how the card's 16 meg PCI address space is laid out. The atari code is full of mempory mapping and hardcoded numbers, and is very confusing to read. So far my best guess is that the VGA IO shows up at 0003c0-0003df or thereabouts, and the text screen shows up at 0a0000. This would all be inside the 16 meg region specified by PCI configuration register 0x10 for the card. Many hours of web searching, reading atari and xfree86 source, and so on haven't enlightened me any. Does anyone have a databook that could reveal the necessary offsets? Todd Whitesel toddpw @
Seeking Alpha Seeking Alpha Portfolio App for iPad Profile\| Send Message\| (467) The title of this article may seem to be a statement of the obvious. Cash and cash equivalents are accounted for as assets on a company's balance sheet. Yet a surprising number of investors appear to view Apple's (AAPL) massive cash hoard as a negative for the stock. Recently, hedge fund manager Leon Cooperman of Omega Advisors jumped on this bandwagon. He told CNBC that several other stocks, such as Qualcomm (QCOM) and Google (GOOG) were now preferable to Apple, because of Apple's "financial policy". Cooperman's preference for Qualcomm over Apple seems particularly odd, as Qualcomm faces as much competitive pressure as Apple, or more, but trades at a higher valuation by most metrics. Like Apple, Qualcomm currently enjoys a dominant position in high-end smartphones, but is under threat from competitors: for Qualcomm, these include Intel (INTC), Nvidia (NVDA), and Samsung (OTC:SSNLF). Qualcomm's competitors are well-financed, and Intel and Samsung enjoy potentially massive economies of scale. Like Apple, Qualcomm may be able to maintain earnings growth if it innovates more rapidly than the competition, but it faces three credible competitors, where Apple faces just one. So what could justify picking Qualcomm over Apple? Cooperman was apparently dismayed that Apple did not issue a special dividend last month, as many other cash-rich companies did. Cooperman's fund still holds some Apple stock, but has cut back on its position. However, Apple's failure to issue a special dividend hardly seems like a good reason to scale back positions in Apple at the same time that the stock price has fallen by more than 25%. Indeed, as of a year ago (when Cooperman was more bullish), Apple had not returned any cash to shareholders in over fifteen years! This March, the company announced a regular dividend and a modest $10 billion stock repurchase plan. Apple estimated that it would return $45 billion to shareholders over the course of three years. While this is less than the company will earn this year alone, it is hardly a pittance. With Apple finally showing some willingness to return cash to shareholders, and the company trading at its lowest P/E valuation in more than a decade (aside from a very brief period in the depths of the 2008-2009 recession), doubling down on Apple seems more appropriate than taking money off the table right now. By contrast, Cooperman's decision to take money off the table implies that Apple's cash is a liability. Cooperman was bullish on Apple when the stock was trading between $600 and $650. If Apple had paid a $50 special dividend, Cooperman would presumably still like the stock at the adjusted price range of $550-$600. In that scenario, the company would have less cash on hand but trade at a higher price; the only way that valuation would make sense is if Apple's cash is a liability rather than an asset! This valuation of Apple's cash as a liability is irrational, but it should not come as a total shock to investors. Last year, famed NYU finance professor Aswath Damodaran raised the possibility that Apple could be punished by investors for holding as much cash as it does. Due to investors' naivete, worries about management wasting the money on frivolous acquisitions, or the missed opportunity for enjoying the tax benefits of leverage, holding too much cash could damage Apple's stock price. While Damodaran believed last March that this was not yet happening, it is hard to deny that investors are now discounting Apple's cash. Apple's single-digit P/E excluding cash hardly seems warranted for a company that has shown strong earnings growth for many years, and is likely (at a minimum) to grow earnings at a low double digit or high single digit rate for the next few years. I agree with those investors who want Apple to deploy its cash more aggressively. I think that Apple shares are so deeply undervalued at this time that it could even make sense to pay a higher tax rate in order to repatriate cash to the U.S. and execute a significant buyback (reducing the share count by more than 10%). In other words, Apple would be worth more if it were committed to returning all excess cash to shareholders. However, I see Apple's conservative cash policy as a missed opportunity rather than a black mark against the company. When Apple finally moves to return cash more aggressively, it should propel the stock higher, because the current "discount on cash" will evaporate. As a long-term investor, I am happy to wait for this share appreciation, insofar as Apple's long-term prospects seem very good compared to the stock's valuation. It is ironic that investors are starting to discount Apple's cash at roughly the same time that the company has begun returning cash to shareholders. While Steve Jobs was in charge at Apple, it was plausible that money would continue to pile up on Apple's balance sheet as retained earnings. Jobs ruled the company with an iron fist, and didn't seem to have any interest in catering to shareholder wishes. Yet Jobs produced such incredible growth that there was no possibility of a real shareholder revolt. Today, with Tim Cook at the helm, there is little reason to believe that Apple will hold on to its cash indefinitely. In all likelihood, management and the Board are waiting to see if the U.S. government manages to pass some sort of corporate tax reform. It would be foolish for Apple to spend a significant amount on taxes in order to repatriate cash when it is possible that corporate tax rates will be lowered as part of the debt ceiling/sequester debate over the next few months. As a result, Apple's cash should just be seen as what it is: an asset. Source: Apple's Cash Hoard Is An Asset, Not A Liability
Take the 2-minute tour × i’m using wp-ecommerce (getshopped) and WPML on a website, all pages display correctly when i use the default (/ugly…) permalink structure, but when i try to use the much desired permalink structure /%category%/%postname%/ something weird happens: 1. product categories list page displays the homepage 2. single category and single product pages show the main blog page (list of post) This prevents me from using my desired permalink structure, which is a major issue for me. I tried updating WPEC to the latest beta version (didn’t help) and i tried switching to twenty ten to see if the problem is related to my theme (and it isn’t) Questions: 1. Could this be related to the fact that i use hebrew words in my slugs? 2. Is there any known issues related to WPEC and permalinks that i should be aware of? 3. Can anyone point out the solution? Thanks in advance share\|improve this question I'm not sure how relevant this is, but i notices that different tables in my DB have different encoding - most are utf8_general_ci, some are latin1_swedish_ci, and some are hebrew_general_ci... – Talbatz Feb 7 '12 at 16:12 add comment 1 Answer up vote 1 down vote accepted Apologies, I find this a little bit a non-issue as it states clearly everywhere that WPML works 100% when you use a permalinks structure of day and name (http://domain.com/2012/02/07/sample-post/). If this is something you cannot accept, then you's better come to terms with the fact that WPML most likely is not going to work 100% for you. Or, to answer your questions: re 1. no, this has nothing to do with the fact that you use Hebrew words in your slugs re 2. no, there are no other known issues related to WPEC and permalinks that you should be aware of re 3. the solution is to use a permalinks structure of day and name (http://domain.com/2012/02/07/sample-post/). share\|improve this answer Wow... how easy was that! thanks a lot :-) – Talbatz Feb 9 '12 at 9:58 add comment Your Answer
Hooray for fall!! If you're like me, you can't wait for the Autumnal Equinox on September 23rd to roll around so you can officially say It's Fall! for those that are excited for the cooler weather and changing colors, check out the Michigan.org website for information about the changing colors and where and when to go to get the best view. Also be sure to check our catalog for books about fall/autumn in the aadl.org catalog!
\| \| Five Most Serious Challenges and How to Overcome Them June 23, 2008 In this article ANA members share their secrets for successfully planning, executing, and staffing integrated marketing programs--starting with breaking down functional silos. Members Only Content User Name (email):
Comments Threshold RE: The World is Too Big By JediJeb on 1/13/2010 5:36:45 PM , Rating: 2 I think you and I disagree and I think both of our minds are pretty well made up. However I also think both of us are open to the idea that we may be wrong. As long as science continues to be open to the idea that it could be wrong then science will be alive and healthy. I didn't get in on the begining of the discussion, but I will agree this one has been rather civil and productive for the reason you stated. I think the problem we not experts have with the current pro AGW scientists is that most seem to not follow the above statement on being able to admit they could be wrong. That is what is ruining the whole study of the change in climate and possibly driving us into some very bad political areas with the false belief that government can control the climate. Someone mentioned using their knowledge of math in examining the problem, I use my knowledge of chemistry. The one thing about many of the theories that troubles me the standard line on temperature versus CO2 concentration in the oceans. The AGW group says that CO2 concentration rises in the atmosphere, causing temperatures to rise, causing the ocean to absorb more CO2 and become more acidic. The problem with that from a chemists view is that as temperatures rise the ocean will desorb CO2 which should make it become less acidic. It would seem that CO2 rise in the atmosphere should follow behind temperature rise not cause it. Their theory from a chemistry standpoint would suggest that climate over-rides the laws of chemistry and physics which should not be able to happen. I may be wrong and not be seeing something that is taking place there, but none of the AGW theories have yet to explain the discrepancy. RE: The World is Too Big By Smilin on 1/13/2010 5:50:33 PM , Rating: 2 I thought the AGW consensus was the opposite of that. Warming should cause the oceans to emit CO2 rather than absorb it. RE: The World is Too Big By TheEinstein on 1/13/2010 9:03:29 PM , Rating: 2 There are so many 'ocean this and ocean that' theories as to make me cry for sanity. All the ones who include the ocean have so many variances in what is supposed to happen, it almost feels like they are trying hard to account for anything so they can say 'eureka' when their model follows the oceans a bit. Recently however Al Gores primary scientist backtracked when he said the Oceans were not heating as much as his models had indicated they should, showing a greater ability to diffuse heat somehow. The real scientists of the oceans however have said... oh crap I forget the word... Submarines move between the layers in the ocean commonly... dangit I hate forgetting a word!!! Anyways these thermal barriers keep divergent tempatured waters away from each other, and each section can grow, or shrink, with local temperature conditions. The layers therefore can be huge for a warm spot, when weather above increases, compacting the lower, more cooler, levels down, or it can be visa versa. The current situations also help dictate changes in how these thermal levels work, since the areas with a permanent current get cycled from warm to cold, or visa-versa. But your chemical study could be a great avenue to go down. The scientists I follow have said a lot that carbon dioxide in the past increased as a result of heating, and not the other way around. RE: The World is Too Big By JediJeb on 1/14/2010 2:00:50 PM , Rating: 2 Is the word " thermocline "?
Print 17 comment(s) - last by kenny24000.. on Apr 20 at 6:12 AM Amazon released a letter to record labels on Monday saying that the Cloud Drive is legal, but is willing to meet with record labels today to discuss licensing rights After much debate and disapproval regarding Amazon's Cloud Drive, the online retailer is finally meeting with record labels today to discuss licensing rights. Amazon's Cloud Drive is an internet-based storage application that offers 5 GB of storage free of charge. Users can store music, pictures and documents in the cloud and pull them up on different devices. The Cloud Drive also features a Cloud Player, which is a music streaming application. When Amazon first launched the Cloud Player in March of this year, record labels were angered at the fact that Amazon hadn't paid for licensing rights to stream music to its users. According to those in the music industry, Amazon only had licensing rights to sell digital downloads, which may make the new Cloud Drive illegal. Amazon released a letter to record labels on Monday saying that the Cloud Drive is legal, and even compared it to Microsoft's SkyDrive or Google Docs. The letter also noted that Amazon's Cloud Player is similar to Microsoft's Windows Media Player, and that it had increased sales of digital songs in Amazon's MP3 store. Despite Amazon's disagreement with record labels over the legality of the Cloud Drive, the online retail giant is willing to meet with record labels today to discuss licensing rights. "We don't publicly discuss our meetings with partners, and we have not announced any changes to Amazon Cloud Drive or Amazon Cloud Player since the launch," said Cat Griffin, an Amazon spokeswoman. Record labels are likely eager to meet with Amazon as well since the risk of other companies following in Amazon's footsteps is too great to chance. Other companies could create services like the Cloud Drive, where the music industry is not included in regards to licensing rights. Comments Threshold I Don't Get It By NaughtyGeek on 4/14/2011 12:07:05 PM , Rating: 4 I cannot for the life of me figure out what gripe the music industry can have with this. Do they license every media player in existence today? Amazon has a media player that allows a consumer to play their bought and paid for music from a network drive. What's the issue? Am I supposed to be paying some sort of fee because my music lives on a network drive and I'm "streaming" it to my PC? RE: I Don't Get It By Dr of crap on 4/14/2011 12:41:01 PM , Rating: 2 I agree. What's there beef? They are getting paid when the song is bought. If I would then have to pay everytime I listened to that song, it's a NO for me to even go with this program. RE: I Don't Get It By michael2k on 4/14/11, Rating: 0 RE: I Don't Get It By bodar on 4/15/2011 7:46:55 AM , Rating: 2 What is the difference if I download my DRM-free track from Amazon and stream it from my PC to my laptop using a network share, or if Amazon stores the track for me on their server and I stream it to that same laptop? You can already do something similar to this with other cloud storage services. They could be suing Acronis or Symantec for backing up people's music to an external drive. Or Apple for letting people rip CDs & copy music from their computer to an iPod. This isn't Pandora or I paid for the track already. Let me listen to it in a reasonable way, as long as I'm the one using it. CMIIW, but in order to effectively share your Cloud Drive you'd have to give someone else your credentials. They aren't facilitating file-sharing in any way. They need to stop constantly trying to screw their customers. I'm waiting for them to announce the "pay-per-listen" model with embedded ads mid-song. We can have chips embedded in our heads, so if we pass by someone's stereo or start humming a song we can be charged "appropriately". God help you if you get a song stuck in your head. Slippery slope? Hell yes, but you know this is a record exec's wet dream. RE: I Don't Get It By michael2k on 4/15/2011 7:29:10 PM , Rating: 2 The difference? Amazon signed a contract saying they would pay for every track downloaded from Amazon MP3 servers. Amazon UK doesn't have Cloud Drive, so you can clearly see their FAQ: Can I download another copy of my MP3 files after the initial purchase? Your Amazon MP3 purchases can only be downloaded once... We are currently unable to replace any purchased files that you delete or lose due to a system or disk error. How exactly can it be legal for Cloud Drive to allow you to download multiple copies when the exact same infrastructure in Amazon MP3 can't? See, if Amazon stores it for you and allows you to download it multiple times, they are committing copyright infringement in the strictest interpretation regardless of how common sense it is. Let me flip the question on you. What is the difference if I download my DRM-free track from Amazon MP3 after I accidentally delete it from my hard drive, or if Amazon stores the track for me on Cloud Drive and I download it to that same laptop? Why bother with Cloud Drive in the first place? RE: I Don't Get It By bodar on 4/15/2011 8:03:45 PM , Rating: 2 That makes sense, but I didn't see anything that said it's specifically a contractual obligation. It's heavily implied though, because they already know what I've bought from them in the past, so in theory it shouldn't be a problem to send me a new download link. The only thing I can think of is that they didn't want to code some kind of track recovery system, but that seems really easy to do. Still, it's ridiculous that it's licensed like that, but hey, if Amazon agreed to that, then unfortunately I think they're gonna lose. More importantly, the customers lose. Score another one for the record mafia if this is the case. Re: the Cloud drive's purpose -- the cool thing is that you can upload tracks from your own MP3 collection, so it's not like you are limited to just your Amazon MP3s or are in any way locked in to Amazon MP3, like the old iTunes DRM. RE: I Don't Get It By Uncle on 4/14/2011 1:17:34 PM , Rating: 2 They might not have the right but they would like everyone to think they do. If not it gets tied up in court for years while no one moves forward with fresh ideas and technology. RE: I Don't Get It By gorehound on 4/14/2011 4:49:28 PM , Rating: 3 just do yourself and all of us a favor and boycott RIAA Labels and any artists who sign with them. There you go problem solved. no indie label would be doing this BS nor would any indie bands i know of. RE: I Don't Get It By michael2k on 4/14/11, Rating: 0
Jim Mergard Source: WSJ Comments Threshold RE: Ho hum By Reclaimer77 on 10/14/2012 4:40:34 PM , Rating: 2 Right I see, so you're more tech oriented AND a better person to boot. Anything else I should know? /sarcasm And no, I don't think I'm the a-hole in the discussion; you're the guy who thinks Bill Gates is an idiot and should hoard his fortune. Disgusting. That's bullcrap and you know it. You'll NEVER find me having called Gates an "idiot", ever. I challenge you to find that. You know what, I don't really need this crap. You get in a hopeless debate with Retro, who has you by the balls, and you keep deflecting it with BS about "Reclaimer this, reclaimer that" as if that's going to pull you out of the hole you're in. Why even bring me up when I'm not even the one you're arguing with? I'll tell you why, it's because you've got nothing else but insults, personal attacks, and straw men. Whatever point you were actually trying to make was blown away long ago. Last time you got this retarded over Apple you resorted to "trailer park" comments about me, lashed out over how "ignorant" everyone on DT is (despite your continued visitation) and stormed off in a huff for a few months. Looks like you're repeating that trend now, I just have one request: This time don't come back. RE: Ho hum By TakinYourPoints on 10/14/2012 5:42:51 PM , Rating: 2 From a Bill Gates philanthropy thread a few days ago: I think it's a great thing what he's doing...lmao okay, I can't even pull that BS off with a straight face. No, it's a big waste of money imo, but whatever, it's his to waste. You sure don't seem to think Gates is being smart about his fortune, wiping out polio and all that nonsense. He said that Apple copied Samsung with photo-stitching apps, something that is ridiculous given that other such apps have been on iOS for years prior, and outside of smartphones for long before that. He had nothing by the balls, it was a stupid post and I called him on it. As for using Apple "inventing" things as an excuse to make that post, that's also ridiculous. "Inventing" things is never the point with Apple. Their significance is in the execution, where their execution on existing technology creates new product categories where others follow. Base technology is one thing, but implementation is just as important. Its been going on for three decades, it isn't just luck. Because you, along with Swash and Motoman, are among the most extreme examples of idiocy and bad posting here. I don't mind disagreeing with someone at all. I think retrospooty generally makes good posts, but sometimes his emotion pushes him into posts like the ones above. What does bother me is when the ways people use to debate are so broken and based on sensationalism. Fact checking goes out the window and rhetoric takes over. I also don't recall ever leaving here for a few months. I checked over my post history to be sure and there are no significant gaps. It really is my problem given that the level of writing here is so bad and I really should know better than to participate. Unfortunately DT is on the sidebar of Anandtech, an actual good site that I've been going to for over a decade. Then this happens: RE: Ho hum By retrospooty on 10/14/2012 6:46:12 PM , Rating: 2 OK' all bs aside. I said that Apple copied panoramic photos from samsung because the Galaxy S 3 just came out and it's the highest selling Android phone it's a direct competitor to the iPhone and now the iPhone came out with the same feature. Nowhere did I say samsung invented it I said apple copied it, that is the point, and that is the point that you refuse to address. Apple copied that, and plenty other tech as well, and copies all the time going back decades... I'm not sure why you're dancing around that subject, is it something you just can't admit too or won't admit too? RE: Ho hum By TakinYourPoints on 10/14/2012 10:51:39 PM , Rating: 2 Nope, its just a point that I don't agree with. Panaoramic photo taking has existed for years, and it already existed for years on iOS. Apple doing their own implementation on panoramic photo taking doesn't happen overnight, especially given how long they take to make something. I do not think that Apple put panoramic photo taking into the iPhone 5 because of the Galaxy alone, sorry. If you want to dodge and turn this into a semantic argument now then I'm not interested. RE: Ho hum By retrospooty on 10/14/2012 11:09:57 PM , Rating: 2 right back at'cha buddy RE: Ho hum By TakinYourPoints on 10/15/2012 5:58:38 AM , Rating: 2 <3 :) RE: Ho hum By Reclaimer77 on 10/15/2012 1:47:36 PM , Rating: 2 That's light years from saying "he's an idiot" is it not? Just admit you were using hyperbole and lets move on. This talking point didn't get traction the first time you tried it, and it's not working now either. And you're not? Woooo, we got some serious confirmation bias here. I love how you bring up Swash. Not because you're wrong about him, but it's just ironic that you use the same exact arguments he does, yet view yourself as being above him as well. Bad posting? Now it's getting deep. I'm one of the best posters here, bar none :) Anyway it's been REALLY fun, but there's more important things to discuss. However you did succeed in steering this discussion away from Apple and on to everything and everyone else. So congratulations on that I guess, mission accomplished.
Search Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More » Sign in 1. Advanced Patent Search Publication numberUS3582336 A Publication typeGrant Publication dateJun 1, 1971 Filing dateJul 18, 1967 Priority dateJul 18, 1967 Publication numberUS 3582336 A, US 3582336A, US-A-3582336, US3582336 A, US3582336A InventorsRasmusson Ben E Original AssigneeRasmusson Ben E Export CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet Method of preparing oil-milk-sugar clad cereal particles and the resulting product US 3582336 A Previous page Next page Description (OCR text may contain errors) United States Patent O 3,582,336 METHOD OF PREPARING OIL-MIL -SUGAR CLAD CEREAL PARTICLES AND THE RESULTING PRODUCT Ben E. Rasmusson, 12510 SE. 62nd Place, Bellevue, Wash. 98004 No Drawing. Continuation-impart of application Ser. No. 555,810, June 7, 1966. This application July 18, 1967, Ser. No. 654,058 Int. Cl. A231 1/10 US. CI. 99-83 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Prepared cereal particles clad with an oil-milk-sugar mix, wherein a proteinaceous constituent in the form of toasted, fried, and/or expanded cereal particles is enveloped or coated with a cladding constituent having a melting point in the range of from about 96 F. to about 110 R, which cladding constituent is at least principally comprised of substantial amounts of hard butter vegetable oil, milk solids, and sugar or a sugar substitute, and being applied to the cereal particles only superficially, the cereal particles thereby being in substantially noncrushed condition. Food products of the invention can comprise a relatively small amount of cladding constituent so as to leave the final product in flake or loose form in a manner characteristic of boxed breakfast cereals, or suflicient cladding constituent can be applied to render the product in fixed form, i.e. bar-like. Optionally, such food products can incorporate one or more additional ingredients such as an emulsifier, salt, flavoring, an antioxidant, vitamin and mineral additives, and the like. In general, the oil-milk-sugar cladding constituent imparts to the prepared cereal particles a sweet, creamlike taste when eaten, which is comparable to that of a breakfast-type prepared cereal to which both sugar and fluid milk have been added. This taste simulation results either when the food product is eaten in dry form, or with water added. CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application is a continuation-in-part of my copending United States patent application Ser. No. 555,810, filed June 7, 1966, and entitled Automated Forming of Molded, Non-Refrigerated Food Products, Feeder Mechanism Therefor, and Products Formed Thereby. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention This invention relates generally to cereal based, readyto eat food compositions, and methods of making such compositions. Prepared cereal particles such as dry breakfast cereals and the like, having a charactersitic toasted, fried and/ or expanded (i.e. puffed) form and characteristic taste depending on the cereal grain source and the manner of preparation of the particles, are clad with an uncooked adherent coating which is in solid form at normal room temperature and which has a melting point at about body temperature. Such cladding adherent is essentially comprised of so-called hard butter vegetable oil, milk solids, and a sugar or sugar substitute, and optionally includes salt or other flavoring or texturizing constituent, emulsifying agents, anti-oxidants, vitamin and mineral additives, and the like. Description of the prior art So far as is known, there are no prior non-refrigerated, ready to eat, oil and milk bearing, prepared cereal type food products wherein the cereal particles are sweetened ICC and cream-like and retain the characteristic uncrushed form and taste imparted by the manner of preparation of the cereal particles (i.e. the crisp, fragile nature thereof), and which allow one the convenience of eating the product without necessity of having to add fluid milk, cream or the like thereof to simulate a fresh cereal in milk product taste. Matz US. Pat. No. 2,824,806 discloses a compressed food product involving cereal type ingredients With binder additives, the compositions being compressed into bar form to provide a food product of the type commonly used for military field rations. In such a product, the cereal particles become severely compressed and crushed, and become substantially impregnated with the bindner additives. As is well-known, the taste and desirability of this type of product leaves much to be desired, primarily because of its crushed nature and the thorough impregnation of the cereal by the binder constituents. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In general terms, the present invention is directed to a food composition comprising a cereal constituent made up of toasted, fried and/or expanded prepared cereal particles, such as so-called breakfast food cereals, having a characteristic form and taste imparted by the manner of preparation of the prepared cereal from cereal grain. In accordance with the invention, such cereal particles are clad with an uncooked oil-milk-sugar cladding constituent. Such cladding constituent is applied to the cereal particles in generally fluid condition, having been preheated above its characteristic melting point (about 96 F. to about 'F.). Such cladding constituent at least principally comprises hard butter vegetable oil as the fluidifying ingredient, with a relatively high content of dry milk solids, preferably non-fat dry milk solids, and adequate sugar or sugar substitute to provide the desired sweetened, cream-like taste in the final product. In addition, various optional ingredients can be employed, such as an emulsifier, salt or other flavoring, an antioxidant, vitamin and mineral additives, and the like, as desired. Optional additional solid constituents can be dried fruits, freeze-dried fruits, nuts, nut meants, bacon bits, dried meat particles, and the like. It is among the features of the invention to provide a pleasant tasting cladding constituent for prepared cereals and the like, which is comprised of an oil-milk-sugar mixture and which is stable on storage. Cladding of dry pre; pared cereal type aggregates with this constituent produces pre-prepared and ready-to-eat food products of the breakfast cereal type, either in flake or loose form as commonly characteristic of boxed breakfast cereals, or in preformed bar form. Products of the invention, thus constituted, can be eaten without any fluid milk added or without other further preparation, either in dry form or with simply water added, and without addition of sugar or sweetener, or without use of utensils such as bowls and spoons, if desired. Also, properly packaged products of the invention are storable indefinitely in non-refrigerated storage. As used herein, the term proteinaceous, toasted, fried and/or expanded or puffed cereal particles, or the like, means any of the wide variety of dry, cereal grain based food products available commercially, such as corn flakes, puffed corn, toasted oat cereal, toasted rice cereal, puifed rice, toasted rice, whole bran cereal, Whole bran cereal with wheat germ, bran flakes, wheat flakes, puffed wheat, shredded wheat, wheat germ, French fried noodles, French fried corn meals, and mixtures or combinations thereof, for example. Known protein fortifiers such as soy flour can also be employed in the course of preparation of the cereal constituent, if desired. The hard butter vegetable fats or glyceridic oils used in the binder base are types which are free of lauric acid. Suitable lanric acid-free vegetable oils or fats include corn oil, cottonseed oil, olive oil, palm oil, peanut oil, rice bran oil, soybean oil, sunflower oil, and mixtures thereof. These oils are treated, as by hydrogenation, interesterification, or fractional crystallization, so as to stabilize the oils and modify their melting points consistent with the desired melting point temperature range of approximately 96 F. to 110 F. In practice of the invention, the hard butter vegetable oil melting point is selected generally in accordance with the climatic conditions in the geographical region in which the product is to be stored and used, with relatively higher melting points being used in products intended for storage and use in hotter climates. The cladding agent, which otherwise might be termed an encasing or enveloping agent, forms only a superficial sheath or encapsulation of the cereal particles, without substantial impregnation thereof, so as to not destroy the inherent form and taste of the cereal particles. Such cladding constituent has a relatively high content of dry milk solids to provide, in conjunction with the oil content of the cladding constituent, a taste simulation which is cream-like in character. With the sugar ingredient thereof, the composite cladding constituent provides simulation of both a cream-like taste characteristic and a sweetened taste characteristic which are very palatable. Functionally, the cladding constituent, being at least principally comprised of the oil with the dry milk solids and sugar or sugar substitute additives, functions as what might be termed a taste carrier, whether the final food product is in loose form or in bar form. Further, the cladding constituent, being applied to essentially all exposed surfaces of the cereal particles, functions as a moisture sealant to safeguard the cereal particles against increase in moisture (i.e. against loss of crispness) and against oxidation. In the case where the final product is in fixed, bar-like form, sufficient cladding constituent is present to function as an interparticle binder, filling the particle interspaces substantially completely and thus providing the characteristic fixed form of the product. In the case where the final product is in loose or flake form, the cladding constituent also serves as an adhesion agent for optional, subsequently applied dry ingredients, such as in the case where the oil-milk-sugar cereal particles, after solidification of the cladding constituent, are dusted or superficially dry coated with instant soluble milk powder, powdered sugar and the like, the subsequently applied powder in this instance being principally adhesively retained by the cladding constituent and being nonetheless available (in the instance where the dry coating comprises milk powder) to dissolve instantly in added water so as to simulate the appearance of fluid milk. Since it is desirable to avoid graininess in the cladding constituent, all dry powder incorporated therein should be refined to the smallest practicable particle size. The milk solids as incorporated in the cladding constituent are preferably spray-dried skim powder, i.e. non-fat dry milk solids. Optionally, the dry milk solids can have included therewith a proportion of spray dry powdered whey from cheese manufacture, if desired. Casein or so-called nondairy imitation milk solids also can be employed as or included in the dry milk solids, within the context of the present invention. The sugar used in the binder preferably should be finely powdered sucrose, such as 6X or X grades of :highly refined manufacturers type sugar. If desired, dextrose type sugar can be substituted for at least a portion of the sucrose. In the context of the present invention, the sugar constituent can also include or consist of corn syrup, molasses, brown sugar, invert sugar, honey, or malt syrup, simply by way of further example. Artificial sweeteners can also be employed, if desired. For the flavoring ingredient, vanillin and ethyl vanillin are preferred if the end product is to have a milky or cereal-like character. However, other oil soluble imitation flavors can be added to provide the end product with any desired milk, fruit, nut, or candy-like flavor. Salt is preferably added to enhance the flavor and to reduce the oily taste. The salt should be refined to a 44 micron size or siftable through a 325-mesh sieve. An emulsifier, generally lecithin, may be added in a small quantity as shown by the following tables. In addition to lecithin, there are several other products which may be used, including polyoxyethylene esters of higher fatty acids, triglycerides of fatty acids, mono and diglycerides and the palmitates of sorbitan. In a manner conventional per se, the food compositions of the present invention can also comprise an anti-oxidant such as BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole) or BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene). Also in a manner conventional per se, various vitamins and minerals in prescribed amount can be added to food compositions of the present invention, such as thiarnin (F1), riboflavin, niacinamide, pyridoxine (B6), Vitamin B12, ascorbic acid (C), iron, lysine, vitamins A-D in vegetable oil, iron phosphate, sodium acetate, glycine, calcium carbonate, tricalcium phosphate, sodium ascorbate, and the like, for example. A typical formulation for the cladding agent is shown below. TABLE L-GLADDING CONSTITUENT (Using hard butter only) Broad range, Preferred, percent percent by weight by weight Sugar, refined (or p0wdered) 48-60 52-55 Hard butter vegetable oils. 25-35 28-31 N on-fat dry milk s01ids.. 10-20 13-17 Flavor (artificial) 0. 1-0. 2 0. 1-0. 2 Salt 0. 1-0. 2 0. 1-0. 2 Emulsifiers 0. 25-0. 75 0. 5-0. 7 BHA anti-oxidant 0. 000-0. 006 0. 002-0. 004 TABLE II.CLAD DIN G CONSTIT UENT (Using hard butter with giyceride limpid oil) Broad range, Preferred, percent by percent by wt. wt. Sugar, refined (or powdered) 48-50 52-55 ard butter vegetable oil 23-35 28-31 Limp l 0-3 9&2 Non-fat dry milk solids 10-20 12-16 Flavor (artificial) 0. 1-0. 2 0. 1-0. 2 Salt 0. 1-0. 2 0. 1-0. 2 Emulsifier... 0. 25-0. 75 0. 6-0. 7 Anti-oxidant 0. 000-0. 006 0. 002-0. 004 Added after tempering completed or just prior to use offinlshed mix, the limpid oll tends to serve as solvent like-carrier for the hard butters creating a smoother more cream-like (non-waxy) taste characteristic. Typical formulation ranges of the final mixture of binder and food aggregate is as follows: TABLE III.CLAD AGGREGATE (BAR TYPE PRODUCT) (Using expanded crisp rice) Broad range, Preferred, percent by percent by wt. wt. Cladding 60-80 70-72 Aggregate.-. 20-40 28-30 TABLE IV.CLAD AGGREGATE (LOOSE TYPE PRODUCT) (Using expanded crisp rice) Broad Preferred range range Cladding, percent by wt 10-40 15-30 Aggregate, percent by wt 60-90 70-85 Dry milk particles subsequently dusted onto clad aggregate 0-15 1 8-10 first melted to a temperature of 130 F. to 140 F. in a thermostatically heat controlled mixing tank. As an optional practice, seed fat, approximating about 2% to 4% of the total fat content, may be withheld in which event it is not melted initially but is added later. The temperature is then reduced to approximately 115 F., and the emulsifier, 50% of the lecithin, and all dry ingredients are added to the melted fat and mechanically blended at about 115 F., using care not to overheat and cook the milk constituents. Such blending is continued for a period of time sufficient to ensure complete dispersion and wetting of all ingredients. Since the powdered dry milk solids, sugar and salt are not wholly soluble in the fats of the mixture, it is desirable to finely pul-verize these ingredients sufiiciently to prevent graininess. This may be done by processing the blended mass through a conventional 5-roll refiner. After refining the mix is reheated, if required, to about 115 F. and pumped to a mixing tank where, under controlled temperature, it is mechanically mixed by moderate agitation for to 12 hours. If the optional seeding" procedure is practiced, the seed portion of the fat and lecithin are then added. The finished mixture is then pumped to a holding tank or to shipping containers. If the cladding agent is to be used directly, it is tempered at about 110-115 F. for at least about 30-40 minutes prior to use, whereupon the aggregate is added and under thermostatic control the temperature is reduced to near the solidification or setting point of the mixture, determined by the preselected melting point of the hard butter. In practice, the temperature must be held at that point which will keep the mass plastic, but will not be warm enough to cause the binder to run freely off or be adsorbed into the enrobed aggregate particles. An alternative procedure, for making the milk base cladding agent without a refining process, eliminates the need for the 5-roll refiner and instead requires the use of prerefined powdered or pulverized dry particles with a particle size comparable to 325 mesh screen, i.e. approximately 44 microns, or smaller. In this method, the hard butters are melted at 130-140" F., then cooled at 115 F. Other ingredients are then introduced and all ingredients are thoroughly blended at about 115 F. for 45 to 60 minutes or sufiicient to insure complete dispersion and thorough wetting of all ingredi ents. If stored prior to use, the cladding mixture is preferably tempered for 30 to 40 minutes at about 115 F. and then held at that temperature until used. To achieve mixing without damage to the relatively fragile aggregates, a heated trough and mixing screw conveyor is used. The blades of the conveyor must be suitable to ensure both thorough mixing and delivery of the cladding agent and aggregate to the production line without damage. The heated trough, usually water-jacketed, is maintained at about 100 F. to 115 F. throughout the mixing and delivery process with its temperature carefully regulated to ensure full plasticity of the cladding constituent near the melting point of the hard butters being used. It has been found more advantageous to mix the dry, solid aggregate into the warm, fluid cladding agent, rather than vice versa. The fluid cladding agent serves as a lubricant to ensure movement of the dry aggregate throughout the mixing procedure without damage to or crushing of the particles. The fluid cladding agent and solid particles are fed into the mixing conveyor at a measured and/or regulated flow rate, such control being effected by any of various suitable techniques, including visual observation with manual or automatic control of pump speeds, etc. or by mechanically controlled measuring and/or weighing devices which accurately match flows of ingredients with production speeds. One or more vibration type dispensing hoppers can be installed above and along the infeed end of the screw mixer. With the dry ingredients thus being added to the wet, fluid binder, the ingredients are gently tumbled over and over as they progress through the screw nnxer. .After the tho-roughly blended mixture of solid particles and cladding agent leaves the mixer conveyor, the mixture is then elevated to the hopper of a filling, proportioning, or dispensing device, such as disclosed in my co-pending application 555,810. It has been found, if elevation is required, that screw-type elevating conveyors can severely damage the fragile cereal aggregate. Bucket-type conveyors can be used but are not preferred. In practice, the best elevating method has been found to be an edged rubber or neoprene belt having raised laterally extending sections or flights which serve both to carry the mixture upwardly and forcibly transfer the material off the belt as the sections or flights course the uppermost pulley 0f the conveyor. In this instance, depending upon ambient room temperature, it may be necessary to keep the moving belt warm. Heat is readily applied by mounting infrared heat lamps on the conveyor chassis. As mentioned above, it is important to keep the cladding agent just plastic enough to ensure fully covered cereal particles. Otherwise stated, if the binder is overheated, it will be absorbed into and/ or run off the particles and adhere to them unevenly. Conversely, too little heat causes insufficient particle coverage and premature setting of the cladding. As indicated, proportioning and dispensing of the mixed composition may be accomplished with the filler equipment disclosed in my above-mentioned US. patent application Ser. No. 555,810. Other filling or dispensing equipment might be used if it is heat-maintained and capable of handling the mass without damage to the fragile aggregates. EXAMPLE I To provide a supply of pre-mixed cladding mix for use in this and subsequent examples, approximately 10 kilograms of binder base was prepared in a steam jacketed candy kettle maintained at 115 F. To formulate the binder base, the following constituents in the following amounts were mixed in the kettle: Grams Dry refined sugar (6X) 5,400 Hard butter vegetable oil (M.P. 96 F.) 2,900 Spray dried non-fat dry milk 1,700 As a first example of practice of the invention, 151 grams of expanded crisp rice( Rice Krispies) was gradually mixed into 362 grams of heated (115 F.) cladding agent to provide a mixture of cereal and cladding agent which was proportionately about 30%70% by weight. The total mixture volume was about one quart. The mixed ingredients were gently and thoroughly .intermixed with a large tablespoon for several minutes until each crisp rice particle was thoroughly and evenly coated with the agent. During such mixing the temperature was maintained at 115 F. Upon removal of the mix from the heat source, and upon gradual cooling, when the temperature of the mixture was reduced to about 100 F., i.e. slightly above the selected setting-melting point of the particular hard butter vegetable oil ingredient of the cladding agent, the mixture began to congeal slightly so that the cladding was still plastic but exhibited no further runoff on the cereal particles. At this point the conglomerate mass was characterized by an even distribution of the cladding agent throughout the cereal particle interspaces, and by complete though only superficial coating of the particles. With the temperature maintained at approximately 100 F the mixture was maintained under gentle agitation while the mass was transferred and spread evenly onto a flat pan at normal temperature (70 F Upon cooling below 96 F, the mass fully congealed into solid form and was then cut into bar-like segments, then separated and individually packaged. Upon storage, the formed product exhibited no substantial separation of clad coating from the cereal particles, or other deterioration. When eaten, the formed product had the taste characteristic of a bowl of freshly creamed and sugared crisp rice. EXAMPLE II The procedure and proportions of Example I were duplicated with corn flakes, shreds of shredded wheat, expanded crisp oats, puffed wheat, and pufied rice sq'uares. In each case it was necessary to vary the amount of cladding agent only slightly depending on the type and size of aggregate. In each case, also the resultant product was a solid breakfast cereal food tasting much the same as a prepared bowl of freshly creamed and sugared cereal. The clad cereals formed in Example II, as well as the clad crisp rice of Example I, were free of oflF-flavor taste and preserved examples have remained moisture stable during several months storage. EXAMPLE 111 The processing of Examples I and II was repeated, except that after the cladding agent had been fully tempered for approximately 45 to 60 minutes of moderate agitation 'at approximately 115 F then fluid limpid oil, in this case EMMPLE IV A test production run was conducted with a six-wide Vitaline type refrigerated confection forming machine, modified to incorporate the mechanism disclosed in my aforesaid copending application Ser. No. 555,810. Such mechanism includes (1) hard butter melting and mixing facilities, (2) a temperature controlled heated mixingscrew conveyor, (3) dry aggregate hopper means for the cereal constituent, (4) vibrating feeders, and (5) a temperature controlled heated measuring-filling machine. To produce approximately 48,000 volumetric 3 ounce product units, it was calculated that the cereal constituent would involve use of 1440 pounds crisp rice (about 400 volumetric gallons), and about 3200 pounds binder constituent (about 350 volumetric gallons). The hard butter was melted and the cladding constituent was prepared using the ingredient proportions disclosed in Example I, except that in this instance the hard butter vegetable oil used had a melting point of 102 F. The cladding constituent was maintained at approximately 115 F., and was subjected to continued mechanical agitation until smooth and free from lumps or streaks, which tempering agitation proceeded for about 45 minutes. Meanwhile, the crisp rice aggregate was elevated to and stored in the hopper above the mixer-blending screw conveyor. The heated cladding agent was pumped into the revolving screw of the mixing-blending conveyor, and the vibrating feeder device under the aggregate hopper was activated. With the conveyor carefully temperature controlled to about 105 F., the cereal particles were thoroughly intermixed with the binder as these constituents proceed along the screw conveyor. All units were adjusted to produce a flow of the heated conglomerate mixture discharged from the conveyor to provide the discharge rate required to produce about 540 dozen product units per hour, an average production rate for a six-wide Vitaline confection forming machine. Once in operation, the mixaforesaid application Ser. No. 555,810, which was also heated and maintained at a regulated temperature of about F. As the conglomerate mass was delivered to the heated hopper of the filling machine, its flow was adjusted to provide sufficient mass supply to maintain uniform filling of the Vitaline molds. Certain modifications of a Vitaline machine are required when utilizing such for forming a non-refrigerated product according to the present invention. A Vitaline machine, as normally used to produce frozen confections, involves product refrigeration in a brine tank maintained from about -32 F. to 45 F. Such sharp refrigeration is not necessary for practice of the present invention. Accordingly, the brine tank of the Vitaline machine employed in this example was maintained at a temperature of about 5 F., with the compressors of the refrigeration system controlled to maintain this temperature. Also, the stick inserter mechanism of the Vitaline machine was moved upstream, i.e. near the filler end of the machine, approximately 4 feet from the filler machine, so the sticks were inserted into the mass-filled mold cavities within 3 feet of the molds first entering into the cold brine. The purpose of this relocation was so that the sticks would be placed into the heated, congealing mass prior to actual hardening or setting thereof to ensure that the cladding was still fluid enough to encompass the embedded sticks prior to complete hardening of the mass in each mold and thus ensure firm adherence of the mass to the inserted stick. Also, the usual hot water defrost temperature of the Vitaline machine was reduced from the normal F.-180 F. temperature to about 110 F.-l20 F., and the mold washing sections of the machine were set at a relatively higher than normal temperature, i.e. to about F.- F., to ensure complete washing of the exhausted molds in the event of stick failure or failure of the extraction mechanism. Similarly, the final mold rinse section of the Vitaline machine was adjusted to be relatively very hot (about F.-l95 F.) in comparison with its normal operating temperature, to ensure that the molds were both as dry and as relatively warm as possible upon return thereof to the filling machine. It is notable that all of the above-recited changes in operation of the Vitaline machine, incident to practice of the present invention, are relatively minor and relatively easy to effect incident to actual production changeover. The products formed in this run were wrapped and packaged in the same manner as is conventional with ice cream bars, with the exception that the products of course did not require refrigeration after manufacture. The formed products produced in this test run were firm to the point of no noticeable crumbling under normal handling. On extended non-refrigerated storage the products showed no deterioration in apperance or taste characteristics. EXAMPLE V A production run similar to Example IV was carried out with crisp rice and raisins, each of which was discharged separately into the mixing conveyor containing the binder. The raisins replaced about 5% of the crisp rice, by weight, and were fresh whole oiled, free-flowing raisins. In the formed product, both the crisp rice and raisins were enrobed with binder, the binder in this instance serving to seal in the freshness of both the cereal and dried fruit constituents. EXAMPLE VI Another test run was made as in Example V, except that freeze-dried pineapple was substituted for the raisins, in the amount of approximately 3% of the crisp rice. In this example, the cladding agent was flavored lightly with oil soluble pineapple flavoring in the amount of oz. flavoring to 100 lbs. cladding mix, to fortify and enhance the characteristic fruit flavoring. EXAMPLE v11 A further test production run was made with the binder and aggregate ingredients according to Example IV. In this instance the constituents were extruded from the filling machine onto a flat, moving conveyor with the indi vidual portions thus being automatically formed into individual bar shape. In this instance the conveyor was arranged to immediately pass the product through a refrigerated air blast tunnel maintained at approximately 15 F. This test run demonstrated that the products can be made without molding equipment, much in the manner conventional candy bars are formed. It will be apparent to those conversant with the art of making frozen confections with equipments such as the Vitaline machine, the Polarmatic machine, the Nelson machine, and other cold air blast confection forming machines, that the products of the present invention can be made on or with such equipments, simply by appropriate modification of temperature in the various equipment sections. As will also be evident, products, according to the present invention, whether formed by an automatic molding operation or otherwise, can be subjected to a post-forming coating or dry enrobing operation such as disclosed in my aforesaid copending application 555,810. Practice of the present invention to form a flaky or loose type product, rather than a bar type product, involved use of considerably less cladding constituent, suitably in the range of from about to about 40% binder by weight, relative to the weight of the cereal constituent, and preferably about %30% by weight. In forming this type of product, the dry cereal can be tumbled at elevated temperature, e.g. 115 F. in a spray or atomized mist of the binder constituent. As will be apparent, this can be done either on a batch or a continuous basis. In view of the reduced amount of cladding constituent present, it has been found advantageous in preparing the loose form of product according to the invention to first subject the cereal particles to application of a cladding, suitably formulated as in Example I, then subsequently dust the clad particles with dried milk solids and/or sugar in dry particle form. This dusting serves to not only reduce the oiliness of the product and inhibit the enrobed particles from sticking together, but also add to the tastiness of the product in regard to its sweetness and milky characteristics. Further, when the enrobed and dusted particles have water added thereto, the presence of superficial milk solids on the surface of the binder coating results in a degree of prompt liquefication of the milk product and provides a milky appearance to the added water. EXAMPLE VIII In order to specifically demonstrate the forming of a loose type product according to the present invention, the following test was conducted. A cladding constituent was formulated as in Example IV, including hard butter vegetable oil having a melting point of 102 F., and corn flakes was selected as the prepared cereal aggregate. A five quart saucepan was preheated in an oven to about 120 F. The cladding constituent was melted in a double boiler at approximately 115 120 F. and tempered at this temperature with sustained mixing for about 30 minutes. Then, 115 grams of corn flakes (at 72 F.) were placed in the heated saucepan and gently tumbled with a large spatula while 30 grams of the heated cladding constituent was sprayed upon the tumbling flakes from a heated atomizer. During this procedure, it was found advantageous to have the cereal aggregate slightly cooler than the cladding constituent to minimize absorption or impregnation of the cladding agent into the corn flakes. After application of the cladding constituent to the loose flakes, the tumbling of the flakes was continued at a temperature of about 105 F. to further aid in spreading the coating uniformly over the surfaces of the flakes, which additional tumbling was continued for about 3 minutes. At the conclusion of the cladding operation, it was estimated that about 25 grams of the cladding constituent had been picked up by the cereal aggregate. The thus clad cereal particles were essentially completely covered with a thin, superficial coating of the cladding constituent. Then, a pre-prepared dry particle mixture was formulated from grams powdered skimmed milk and 20 grams powdered sugar, and the milk-sugar particle mix was lightly sifted onto the clad flakes while the tumbling action was continued for approximately 3 minutes, during which time the temperature of the tumbling flakes was gradually reduced to about F. Upon conclusion of this dusting operation, it was estimated that about 12 grams of the milk-sugar particle mix had firmly adhered to the solidifying clad coating on the flakes. After cladding and dusting, the treated flakes were then cooled to ambient room temperature (72 F.) and packaged in airtight containers in like manner as conventionally employed with boxed, dried cereals. Upon storage, the product maintained its essentially loose character, without substantial interparticle bonding, and the crispness and taste characteristics thereof were quite stable. Upon mixing a serving of the clad particles with a substantial amount of water, suflicient to wet most of the particles but insufficient to flood the particles, the added water immediately took on a substantial whitened or milky appearance, by reason of the superficial availability of the solid milk particles and the ready solubility thereof in the water. EXAMPLE IX The constituent preparation and mixing procedure set forth in Example VIII was repeated, except in this in stance there was added to the cladding constituent about 3% by weight (based on the weight of the cladding constituent) of a limpid oil, specifically a lauric-acid free, winterized cottonseed oil. The cottonseed oil was added to reduce the melting point of the cladding constituent slightly and promote thinner coverage of the cereal aggregate with the cladding mix. Also, the cottonseed oil addition demonstrably improved the creaminess of the final product, by releasing the vegetable oils more quickly to the taste buds when eaten. EXAMPLE X To simulate an intermediate volume test run for the production of a loose flake type product, some 16 pounds (about 20 gallons) of corn flakes were tumbled in an axially rotated, open ended, slightly inclined tumbler drum maintained at about F. This tumbler drum was constructed with interior, generally circumferentially extending, inwardly directed vanes to produce a more pronounced cascading effect in the particle aggregate moving through the drum. To provide a spray or mist application of the cladding constituent onto the cascading cereal particles, a longitudinally arranged set of nozzles was constructed within the drum and supported above the drums inner lower surface by non-rotating supports in spaced locations at the ends of the drum. A cladding constituent mix, heated to about F. was fed through the nozzle array and thus sprayed onto the cascading cereal particles in the drum. It was estimated that the average transit time or exposure time of the flakes in the tumbling drum was about 3 minutes, and this extent of exposure proved adequate to provide on the flakes an essentially uniform cladding or covering of the cereal particles. The same cladding constituent mix was employed as utilized in Example VIII, i.e. a mix having a melting point of about 102 F. In addition to the cladding spray, the clad aggregates were also subjected to being dusted with the milk-sugar particle mix utilized in Example IX, which dusting operaton was performed by lightly sifting the dry particles onto the cascading flakes in the discharge end of the tumbler drum. Cladding constituent pick-up and dry particle pick- 1 1 V up on the formed product during this run was comparable to that obtained in Example IX. Upon discharge of the clad and dusted particles from the tumbling drum, such was allowed to cool to room temperature and the formed product was packaged as in Example IX. EXAMPLE XI A further test was conducted as in Example X, with the constituents in this instance being 21 lbs. crisp rice (about 20 gallons), 5 pounds cladding constituent, and 7 /2 lbs. dusting particle mix, the latter being formulated from 6 lbs. powdered skimmed milk and 1.5 lbs. powdered sugar. In this instance somewhat less pick-up of the dry milk solids was observed, apparently because of the lesser relative surface area of the rice particles as compared with the surface area of the flaked corn. However, the sweetness and creaminess level of the finished product when eaten appeared substantially comparable to the product formed in the earlier example. It will be apparent that various degrees of sweetness and creaminess can be achieved with any type of cereal aggregate by altering the constituent amounts, processing temperatures and exposure times. From the foregoing, various further modifications and adaptations of the invention will occur to those skilled in the art to which the invention is addressed, Within the scope of the following claims. What is claimed is: 1. The method of superficially cladding toasted, fried or expanded prepared dry cereal particles with a cladding constituent having a melting point in the range of about 96 F. to about 110 F. and comprised of substantial amounts of hard butter vegetable oil, milk solids, and a sweetener to provide a ready-to-eat food product having the characteristic taste and form of the prepared cereal particles and also sweetness and cream-like taste characteristics comparable to that of the prepared cereal particles with sweetener and fluid milk added, said cladding constituent being comprised of a sweetener in an amount to provide the desired degree of sweetness in the final product, about 23-35 parts hard butter vegetable oil, and about 10-20 parts milk solids, relatively by weight and the proportion by weight of the cereal particles being coated, relative to the proportion by weight of the cladding constituent, being about 20-90 parts cereal particles 12 to about 10-80 parts cladding constituent, said method comprising: (a) heating the cladding constituent to a temperature slightly above its melting point; (b) non-crushingly agitating the cereal particles; (0) lightly applying the heated cladding constituent to superficially and substantially uniformly clad the uncrushed cereal particles while maintaining agitation of the particles; ((1) cooling the clad, uncrushed cereal particles to the point of solidification of the cladding constituent; and (e) packaging the clad cereal particles in a form wherein the cereal particles remain uncrushed. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the amount of cladding constituent applied to the cereal particles substantially fills the interparticle spaces and binds the clad particles into fixed form upon solidification of the cladding constituent. 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the amount of cladding constituent is only sufiicient to substantially envelope the agitated cereal particles without substantially interparticle adhesion; and maintaining agitation of the clad particles during solidification of the cladding constituent. 4. The method of claim 3, comprising agitating the cereal particles in a tumbling drum during application of the cladding constituent. 5. The method of claim 3, additionally comprising applying to the clad cereal particles a dry particle mix at about the time of solidification of the cladding constituent. 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the clad cereal particles are superficially dry coated with dry particles selected from the group consisting of dry milk solids, refined sugar or sugar substitute, and mixtures thereof. 7. A packaged food product made according to the method of claim 1. 8. A packaged food product made according to the method of claim 5. References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,170,155 8/1939 Musher 9983 2,278,466 4/1942 Musher 99-1 2,824,806 2/ 1968 Matz 9983 3,431,112 3/1969 Durst 9983X RAYMOND N. JONES, Primary Examiner Referenced by Citing PatentFiling datePublication dateApplicantTitle US3868471 Apr 9, 1973Feb 25, 1975Pillsbury CoProcess for preparing clustered, mixed ready to eat cereal products US3876811 Jul 9, 1973Apr 8, 1975Quaker Oats CoReady-to-eat cereal US3959498 Sep 20, 1974May 25, 1976Nabisco, Inc.Emulsified oil and sugar cereal coating and incorporating same US3961091 May 1, 1974Jun 1, 1976Caccavale John LProcess for producing flavored popcorn US4038427 Mar 31, 1975Jul 26, 1977General Foods CorporationProcess for preparing a dried agglomerated cereal mixture US4055669 Jun 16, 1975Oct 25, 1977Sunmark, Inc.Food bar and process of preparing same US4178392 Jul 1, 1977Dec 11, 1979Kellogg CompanyMethod of making a ready-to-eat breakfast cereal US4382924 Jun 25, 1980May 10, 1983The Procter & Gamble CompanyPalatable composition containing oil or oil-like materials US4568557 May 11, 1983Feb 4, 1986Warner-Lambert CompanyProcess for producing snack food product with high dietary fiber content US4594252 Sep 11, 1984Jun 10, 1986The Quaker Oats CompanyMethod for making dipeptide sweetened ready-to-eat cereal US4608263 Sep 11, 1984Aug 26, 1986The Quaker Oats CompanyMethod for making flavored dipeptide sweetened comestible US4927645 Feb 21, 1989May 22, 1990Borden, Inc.Process for making candy coated snack foods such as popcorn US4981697 Nov 14, 1988Jan 1, 1991Land O'lakes, Inc.Method of weaning piglets US5413805 Aug 31, 1992May 9, 1995Kraft Foods, Inc.Low or no fat granola cereal mix and process US5518744 Dec 23, 1994May 21, 1996Multiforsa AgPackaged food combination with edible fatty barrier US5612075 Jun 7, 1995Mar 18, 1997The Pillsbury CompanyCoat dehydrated potato slices and a process of making the coated potato slices US5698248 Sep 26, 1996Dec 16, 1997The Pillsbury CompanyCoated dehydrated food pieces and a process for making the coated dehydrated food pieces US5709902 Dec 13, 1994Jan 20, 1998General Mills, Inc.Method for preparing a sugar coated R-T-E cereal US5919503 Jul 25, 1997Jul 6, 1999General Mills, Inc.Flaked R-T-E cereal and method of preparation US6051262 Jul 27, 1998Apr 18, 2000Krause; Arthur A.Cereal having a functional surface coating US6099875 Dec 9, 1998Aug 8, 2000Krause; Arthur A.Individual serving size cereal package US6153235 Jun 18, 1998Nov 28, 2000Krause; Arthur A.Milk-coated cereal product US6183788Mar 2, 1999Feb 6, 2001General Mills, Inc.Flaked R-T-E cereal US6676982Jun 26, 2001Jan 13, 2004Cadbury Adams Usa LlcNutritional food bar for sustained energy US7118774Dec 30, 2002Oct 10, 2006Kraft Foods Holdings, Inc.Cereal bars and methods of their manufacture US8470741May 7, 2003Jun 25, 2013Croda Americas LlcHomogeneous liquid saccharide and oil systems DE2802959A1 Jan 24, 1978Aug 10, 1978Nestle SaNahrungsmittelprodukt auf getreidebasis und verfahren zur herstellung desselben EP0128666A1 May 10, 1984Dec 19, 1984Warner-Lambert CompanyA food product having a high fibre content and a process for producing the food product WO2001064044A2 *Mar 1, 2001Sep 7, 2001Mody Seema KNutritional food bar for sustained energy U.S. Classification426/93, 426/309, 426/305 International ClassificationA23L1/164 Cooperative ClassificationA23L1/1641 European ClassificationA23L1/164B
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?
The Nizkor Project: Remembering the Holocaust (Shoah) Shofar FTP Archive File: orgs/american/freemen/duke-on-freemen From Thu Jun 6 07:52:52 PDT 1996 Article: 41336 of alt.revisionism From: (Rich Graves) Newsgroups: alt.activism,alt.conspiracy,alt.politics.nationalism.white,alt.politics.white-power,,alt.revisionism,alt.skinheads Subject: Michigan Militia, Bo Gritz, Charles Duke denouce Freemen as criminals and frauds (was Re: Warning to FBI) Followup-To: misc.activism.militia Date: 5 Jun 1996 14:27:03 -0700 Organization: Uncensored Internet, Lines: 165 Sender: [email protected] Message-ID: <[email protected]> References: <4p29q7$> Xref: alt.activism:51585 alt.conspiracy:56011 alt.politics.nationalism.white:21662 alt.politics.white-power:31147 alt.revisionism:41336 alt.skinheads:26657 Followups set to misc.activism.militia, which these trollers are avoiding because everyone with a clue knows that the Freemen are nothing but a bunch of crooks. >From today's Los Angeles Times,, also carried in the San Jose Mercury News, and "MERCURY" on America Online: FBI Lets 'Freemen' Talk Themselves Out of Allies Standoff: Sympathy sours among right-wing groups after negotiations fail. Federal agents reap the benefits. By KIM MURPHY, Times Staff Writer When Colorado state Sen. Charles Duke first entered the "freemen" compound, it was with the hope of preserving the rights of free Americans to oppose their government, and of ending the FBI standoff without bloodshed. When he left five days later, Duke--a longtime supporter of the patriot movement with sympathies for right-wing groups across the country--had had enough of this particular brand of anti-government militancy. The legislator was so mad that he could be seen waving his arms in fury from a mile away. He was yelling, he said, at Rodney Skurdal, who had--along with the rest of the freemen--reneged on the second of two carefully crafted deals, this one to release two young girls held at the compound. "You aren't enough of a man to come face me, get out of that car!" Duke shouted as Skurdal climbed into an automobile. "I told him, 'I'm going to go out of here and I'm going to tell the American people what you're doing here. You will not get support from the patriot community, you will not get support from the militia community and if you die, nobody's going to avenge you.' " "People in contact with them understand now that what they were doing was fraud," said Randy Trochmann, spokesman for the Militia of Montana. "With the public, a good percentage of them want the FBI just to leave, put a berm around the house and let the state police patrol it. And another percentage just want them [the FBI] to go in and finish them off." It is a position that has not been lost on the right-wing community, some of whose leaders have joined a chorus demanding that the FBI up the ante against the militants. Duke, who said he twice crafted deals with the freemen for release of the girls, ages 8 and 10, said he lost all confidence when the FBI carefully agreed to the conditions, only to see the freemen's demands "Initially, we believed they were trying to stand for constitutional principles and were simply trying to do some of the same techniques that are practiced on a daily basis by the banks and the Federal Reserve system," said Duke, referring to the freemen's declaration of the U.S. monetary system as invalid and their subsequent issuance of their own money orders, the subject of a federal indictment against about a dozen of the 21 people still at the ranch. "But the overall group there has very little to do with the patriot/constitutionalist movement. They're trying to hide behind that as a way of avoiding arrest, in my opinion," Duke said. "They're just scam artists. And the fact that they're willing to hide behind those two little girls, I realized we're not dealing with honorable people here." One by one, all of those initially most prepared to be sympathetic to the freemen and to help them meet their demands for a public forum against the federal government have thrown up their hands in exasperation and denounced the group as unreasonable. Gritz, in obvious disgust, said he had come close to working out a deal in which half of those at the compound would have left willingly. "But any time that happens, they are immediately put down verbally by these vitamin salesmen who would have to get a job if this whole thing collapses," Gritz said of the two to four most militant freemen leaders. Brent McRae, who is heading the current petition drive, said the new attitude comes in part with a growing respect and sympathy in Jordan for the FBI, which initially was regarded with suspicion. For months, Jordan residents have had the chance to shoot pool and lift a beer with off-duty agents at the Hell Creek Bar; they run into each other at the hardware store and the supermarket. They stop for a chat at the checkpoints on the way out toward the freemen ranch, where bored but cheerful agents are continually begging for homemade cookies and coffee. "It's humanized a government agency. We found out FBI agents aren't like they're portrayed on TV," McRae said. "It's been a shock to everybody, myself included. The people have had the opportunity to meet them, and found them to be very courteous. But they're frustrated. This isn't what they're trained to do, to sit and watch. These people that are here have the ability and the expertise to bring this thing to a conclusion, and feel they could do it without bloodshed if they were given the ability and the go-ahead to do it." "At the beginning, it was all about, 'Here was this poor community in Montana that was being descended on by the federal government.' But it became very apparent very quickly to the general public that this was not a community rising up in opposition to the federal government, that in fact some of them had even asked the federal government for help. To me, that's when the spin started to unravel out of the right," Toole said. On radio talk shows across the country, Toole in recent weeks has said that he had expected hate calls from right-wing sympathizers. But instead, "everywhere what I was getting is: 'The government is mollycoddling those guys.' " Toole said that people like Gritz, Duke and the Militia of Montana's Trochmann brothers found themselves facing a choice of courting either mainstream political support or the freemen. And it was an easy pick. "They could come out and say, 'Those guys are extremists, and we're the reasonable middle.' They could say, 'Those guys don't want to pay their bills, and they're acting like 2-year-olds.' " Duke said his talks broke down because the freemen refused to live up to the bargains they'd made. Today's New York Times: "Long-Running Freemen Standoff No Longer Rattles Locals" ...and so on. Home · Site Map · What's New? · Search Nizkor © The Nizkor Project, 1991-2012
Press Esc to close Vol. 226 No. 10 Handling Produced Water Comparing oil-in-water measurement Varying government regulations and measurement methods call for standardization. Colin C. Tyrie, Consultant, and Dan D. Caudle, Consultant Oil and grease in produced water is not a chemical substance. It is defined by the method specified to measure it. These methods vary from one area to another. For example, in the US Environmental Protection Agency Method 1664 defines it. In the North Sea, an infrared spectrometer defines it. But there, it was not called oil and grease but total oil or total hydrocarbons. There are several instrumental methods for measuring oil in produced water. None of them measure all the organic compounds in the water. Comparing what the commercially available methods actually measure will illustrate the problem of interpreting oil in water (OIW) analysis. Oil concentrations in water are reported as a mass or volume unit in a given volume of water, either milligrams per liter (mg/l) or microliters per liter (ml/l). Each analytical method measures some property of oil that can be related to this mass or volume value. The problem is that the composition of oil in produced water varies for a number of reasons: • Changes of source due to opening and closing wells • Level of separation treatment • Use of treating chemicals. Authorities define oil for regulatory purposes. Method 1664 measures the mass per unit volume of oil directly and is not affected by the variables listed above. All other methods must relate their measurements to oil mass or volume. How each instrument or method correlates oil concentration to its measurement makes interpreting and comparing results difficult. OSPAR defined oil for the North Sea by specifying the measurement procedure. The original procedure used infrared absorption of a water extract. OIW measurement seems such a simple process that there should be no problem in understanding it. However, in practice, there is a significant problem interpreting and comparing results from various methods and instruments. This article looks in detail at measurement factors down to very simple concepts and attempts to make the process clear. Organic compounds in produced water exist as dispersed droplets or dissolved compounds. Droplets are crude that was dispersed in the water from production operations and contain the constituents in the produced oil. In addition, dispersed droplets of production or workover chemicals may also be present. The dissolved organic compounds include oxygenated hydrocarbons, such as carboxylic acids, low-molecular weight aromatic hydrocarbons, and aromatic acids. In sour production, sulfur compounds such mercaptans or thio alcohols may be present. Production treating chemicals are also present as soluble compounds. Sometimes the aromatic carboxylates are the major portion of the soluble oil in produced water. Hence, all the produced water organic constituents can be measured as oil. However, if they are not measured by the defining method, they are not legally oil. There are five properties used to measure oil in produced water, four can be applied in the field and one in the laboratory. These are: 1. Direct weight measurement 2. Color 3. Infrared absorption 4. Ultraviolet fluorescence 5. Particle counting. Each method can be applied in several ways. Each has advantages and limitations that must be taken into account. Direct Weight. Gravimetric methods measure oil directly, but the oil they measure does not include all the organic compounds in the water being tested. Method 1664 is a good example of a direct measurement method. The procedure for applying Method 1664 is to acidify a water sample to pH 2 or less and then extract it with n-hexane. The hexane is then evaporated and the residue is weighed. The weight of this residue is divided by the volume of the water sample to arrive at the concentration in weight per unit volume units (mg/l). Using this method, only a subset of the organic constituents is measured, comprising compounds that are extractible from water in n-hexane at pH 2 and remain after the hexane is evaporated. Materials not soluble in hexane are not measured and are, therefore, not oil. Materials soluble in hexane that have boiling points below n-hexane are not measured and are not oil. This method is cumbersome and requires a high level of manual skill to use. It cannot be used in most field environments. Because it is the required method for compliance monitoring in the US, it is important that other field monitoring methods be correlated to it. Colorimetric. The colorimetric method was widely used before OIW was measured for regulatory compliance. It is usually used on very dark oils. The absorption of energy in the visible light range is used as the detection process. Since most light oils have very little color, it cannot be used to measure such oils in water. However, in areas where very dark, usually asphaltic oils are produced, it is still used. The instrument is calibrated with a standard of known concentration and this calibration is used to convert the absorption reading to an oil concentration. The calibration is only good as long as the ratio of the components measured to the total oil remains constant or within acceptable limits. Infrared absorption. Several types of chemical bonds absorb infrared (IR) energy. The instruments using IR absorption target the carbon hydrogen (C-H) bond, which is common to all organic compounds. This bond absorbs IR energy at the wavelength 3.41 microns. Since water absorbs infrared energy at the wavelengths used to measure oil, measurements must be made on an extract of the water using a solvent that does not absorb IR radiation. Many organic compounds contain bonds other than C-H bonds, and many of the compounds in soluble oil are carboxylic acids. Each acid group contains two oxygen atoms. These molecules weigh much more per C-H bond than hydrocarbons. If the ratio of oxygen-containing molecules to total weight changes, oil analysis errors will result. Once a sample is extracted, the oil measurement can be achieved either on the extract or on the oil residue left after evaporation. This extract contains all the organic material in the water that will extract into the solvent, including both oil droplets and some water soluble organic compounds, if the pH is low enough. In IR instruments (whether measuring extract or residue), the oil reported is not the oil measured. Each instrument is calibrated with a standard sample of known concentration and the instrument is adjusted to read that concentration. Since the instruments actually measure IR energy absorption, the absorption measured must be assigned to a concentration. Measurements made on duplicate samples by each instrument type would yield the same concentration. However, the absorption value for the instrument measuring oil in extracts would have a higher absorption value than the one measuring oil in a residue. The calibration is only good if the ratio of the components actually detected to the total component weight remains constant or within acceptable limits. Ultraviolet fluorescence. Aromatic compounds absorb ultraviolet (UV) radiation and emit it (fluoresce) at another wavelength. Almost all produced waters contain aromatic compounds. The amount of fluoresced light is proportional to the concentration of aromatic compounds. Therefore, the amount of fluorescence measured is proportional to the OIW sample. Assuming the composition of the sample remains constant, a relationship can be developed between fluorescence and oil concentration. Since UV radiation is not absorbed by water, oil determinations can be made directly on a water sample or by solvent extraction of the water. Both measurements are common. Most instruments measuring OIW directly are used as continuous monitors to control treatment processes. There are advantages and disadvantages to both UV instrument types. There are other components of produced water that fluoresce. Iron is a good example. Iron is not present in the solvent extractions that recover oil from produced water, so the instrument using extractions has an advantage. This instrument is also easier to calibrate. Conversely, there is an advantage in process control to having continuous OIW measurements on a process stream. Interference is not usually a problem and, if it exists, it might be corrected by adjusting the instrument calibration. As with other instruments, measuring a specific property of oil and relating that to concentration, the calibration is only good as long as the ratio of the florescence measured to the weight of oil in the sample remains constant. Particle counting. There are three variations for measuring or estimating oil or solid particle concentration by counting particle numbers and sizes: 1. Turbidity measurement 2. Coulter counter, measuring batch samples in a lab or clean area 3. Visual recording of particles, their sizes and characteristics online. One of the earliest ways to monitor water quality was to measure turbidity. For many years operators have attempted to measure the number of discrete particles and their sizes in produced water. When fine particles are dispersed in water, the water becomes cloudy due to the scattering of transmitted light. Prescribing an upper turbidity limit was once specified to control water quality for injection. However, turbidity depends on particle size or particle concentration, and is a very approximate measure of both. The true effect of turbidity on water quality was often determined by experience. The Coulter counter method estimates the number and size of particles by passing the water through a small circular orifice of know dimensions. An electrical current is generated through this orifice. As the individual particles passed through the orifice, they blocked part of its area, reducing the current flowing through the orifice in proportion to the particle size. This technology is limited because it is delicate and must be done in a laboratory. It also does not distinguish between solid particles and oil droplets. It usefulness as an OIW monitor is very limited. A microscopic video camera now makes it possible to visually record particles in a water stream and identify their type (solid, oil, or gas). The particles detected are counted, sized and identified using computer algorithms. This data can then be used to determine particle size distributions, oil and solids concentrations. Oil droplets in a known volume of water can be calculated and summed to determine the OIW concentration. All of these methods can only detect what they can see. Particle counting methods cannot normally see below about two microns. This means that they cannot measure soluble oil concentrations. Direct determinations of oil weight, such as Method 1664 or particle counting methods, do not have to be calibrated, since oil concentrations are directly determined. All other measurement methods do not directly measure oil concentrations. To get oil concentration from the measurement of color, infrared absorption or ultraviolet fluorescence, a relationship must be developed between the factors measured and oil concentration. In the calibration process, an oil is chosen as a standard. Known concentrations of this oil are prepared and measurements are taken using the instrument of the parameter they measure. For example, IR instruments would determine the IR absorbance of each standard sample. Then, the known oil concentrations are plotted against the measured absorbance values and a best-fit line is determined. The relationship between the absorbance and the concentration must be linear. If it is not, then it is out of the instrument’s range and lower concentrations must be used. Subsequently, oil concentration is read from the calibration correlation plot corresponding to the measured absorbance. Most modern instruments incorporate a computer that converts the measured parameter to oil concentration and directly displays it. This same procedure is followed for colorimetric and UV fluorescence instruments. Calibration problems. For the correlation to be valid, the standard composition should be the same as the oil being measured and, if it is not the same composition, the ratio of the parameter being measured to the total oil weight in the sample should be constant. When a calibration standard is chosen, it is presuming that the oil being measuring has the same composition as the standard oil. This is seldom the case. Many people mistakenly assume that the oil in produced water is crude and calibrate with it. There are two problems with this practice: 1. The oil in produced water contains crude, as well as other dissolved oils. Some treating chemicals also measure as oil. Therefore, the OIW composition will be different from crude oil. 2. Oil composition changes with treatment. The oil in the untreated water entering the water processing system has a different composition from the treated oil exiting from the processing system. An example illustrates the problem. An IR instrument measures the number of C-H bonds in a sample. If a particular, untreated oil contains 95% dispersed oil and 5% soluble oil, most of the dispersed oil will be removed by treatment, but the dissolved oil will not be removed. In this case the effluent oil could be 50% dispersed oil and 50% dissolved oil. This is important because the calibration of the IR unit, in effect, assigns a specific weight of oil to each C-H bond. Dispersed oil is mostly hydrocarbons. Most dissolved oil also contains oxygen atoms. Oxygen is relatively heavy compared to carbon and hydrogen, although more weight should be assigned to a C-H bond for oil that contains dissolved oxygen. The magnitude of this problem is hard to determine, but effluent oil concentrations could be underestimated by as much as 20%. A problem that the authors have encountered illustrates a potential calibration problem with UV instruments. It is common practice to measure the soluble content of water by first measuring the total oil content of a water sample, then treating the extract with silica gel to absorb the soluble components and measure the oil content again. The difference in the two measurements is the concentration of soluble materials. In an attempt to measure the soluble content of the treated water, it appeared that nearly all the oil in the treated water was soluble material. However, this instrument measures UV fluorescence and calibrates that measurement to oil content. In the treatment process, dispersed oil droplets are removed and soluble material is not. For this particular oil, most of the fluorescening materials were in the soluble oil and were not removed. Silica gel absorption removed most of these materials from the treated sample and the instrument falsely indicated that the oil concentration was low. When this artificially low concentration was subtracted from the total, it indicated that most of the oil in the sample was soluble oil. One might ask, what oil should be used for calibration? The answer is that there is no good calibrating oil. If oil is defined by the instrument measurement, it doesn’t matter, as long as the analysis is consistent. There is one special case. One type of IR instrument measures oil from the residue of the sample extraction. The sample is extracted and then an aliquot (known fraction) of the oil is placed on a plate on the instrument and the solvent is evaporated before a measurement is made. This simulates Method 1664. If the goal is to measure results equivalent to Method 1664, one can calibrate the instrument with residue from Method 1664 analysis and the instrument will provide Method 1664 results directly. An instrument calibration is only good for one place in the treatment system. Treatment changes the oil composition in most produced waters. Since oil is defined by a particular analytical method in the US, and this method cannot be used in the field, it causes a problem for production operations. IR and UV instrumental methods were developed to fill this need. The residue from Method 1664 analysis is the material that must be measured. The common practice is to calibrate IR and UV instruments with crude from the facility discharging produced water. The oil concentration measured by IR and UV instruments, calibrated with crude (or some other oil), are different from Method 1664. Correlating the instrumental results to Method 1664 results can solve this problem. Duplicate samples covering the measurement range of interest are analyzed by Method 1664 and the instrument of choice. The results are then plotted against each other and a straight line fit is made (a method correlation). The resulting linear relationship can be used to predict Method 1664 results from instrumental results. Method correlations suffer from the problems that afflict calibrations. Where to get replicate samples over the concentration range needed? The authors have found that correlation problems are very common and that an industry standard should be developed to produce uniform results. It is important to know how the results from various methods relate to each other. The methods discussed above can be subdivided into either direct measurement or instrumental methods, as summarized in Table 1. Table 1 Particle counting methods measure visually observed particles by counting them, sorting them into classes, and calculating the volume of each class by summing the volume of each individual particle’s volume and dividing by the sample volume. If oil components are soluble, it cannot detect them and they will not be counted. Oil concentrations measured by either method can be higher or lower than the other, Table 2. Table 1 Two attributes of OIW determine whether or not the direct methods will detect the components of the oil. These are the volatility of the oil and its physical state, i.e., dispersed or dissolved. Droplets of a volatile crude could be detected and measured by particle counting methods, but may boil away during Method 1664 analysis. This factor tends to yield larger oil concentrations for particle counting methods. Produced waters containing significant concentrations of dissolved oil might appear higher when measured by Method 1664, as compared to results from a particle counting method. For produced water containing droplets of a volatile crude oil and a high solubles content, it is unclear which method would yield the higher oil concentration, since the two factors would complement each other and cancel out differences in measured concentration. Although these methods measure slightly different things, they each have advantages in particular applications. For example, if one were evaluating oil droplet removal, a particle counting method that measures only oil droplets would be an advantage. For compliance monitoring, the gravimetric determination might be more appropriate. If one compared the results of analyses on the same produced water using IR and UV instruments calibrated with the same oil, the results would be the same order of magnitude, but not necessarily identical. Several factors influence oil concentration measurements: • The calibration oil is not the same composition as the measured oil • The composition of the measured oil changes with treatment, which can increase the differences between calibrant and measured oils • The extraction solvents may be different and extraction efficiency can affect oil composition. It is not possible to predict how different the measured concentrations will be or which instrumental method will give a higher value. When comparing IR and UV instrument results with Method 1664, the instrumental results are almost always equal to, or higher than, Method 1664. One might assume that IR instruments measuring the absorbance from extractant solution would give higher concentrations than IR measurement of absorbance of an extraction residue, however, this difference is removed by instrument calibration. In the past, oil measurements focused on assuring compliance with discharge regulations. Now, interest is shifting to using OIW determinations to improve production operations. Changes in oil concentrations can indicate a wide spectrum of production and treatment problems. Changes in environmental policy are also altering OIW measurement needs. OIW measurement and recording will become a factor as the OSPAR regulations change in the North Sea. The changes foreseen will spread worldwide and the problem of meaningful measurement will become more critical. While no water treatment manufacturer constructs equipment to comply with specifications that are set for oil in produced water, the problem is the efficient application of the equipment. Therefore, the final measurement of the discharging sample will not be as important as the measurement of changes in the water clarification steps or in water separation across equipment stages. When it can be seen that the removal of 1 mg/l (1 ppm) of oil from the produced water discharge can generate many thousands of dollars annually, the call should be for smart monitoring across the whole system. This can predict problems and optimize both equipment efficiency and chemical dosing. The major problem with many systems has been solids control. The monitoring of oil and solids across the system at all equipment inlets and outlets, which can be logged and analyzed with computers, will be the answer to the control of lower discharge quantities of oil in produced water. WO This article is based on a paper presented at the Produced Water Management Forum in Aberdeen, UK earlier this year. Colin Tyrie is a consultant with Clean H2O Services Inc and has been active in the industry for 30 years specializing in the problems produced and allied oilfield waters. He is secretary of the Produced Water Society and the organizer of the Produced Water Seminar. Tyrie earned a degree in Mechanical Engineering. Dan Caudle has worked in the oil industry for 39 years, 27 years with Conoco, Inc. and as an independent consultant for the last 12 years. He specializes in oilfield chemistry, water treating and environmental consulting. Bookmark and Share Engineering Data Tables 2013 Fracturing Technology 2013 Fracturing Technology Upcoming Events
high school I had just realized that I was probably on a date when he told me that he had naked pictures of me from when I was a teenager. I bind you, Nancy. I bind you from sending me wiener pics on Twitter. The first thing you probably want to know is, Hey, Julieanne, why do you have a penis enlarger? Well, I have a question for you: why do you NOT have a penis enlarger?
id,summary,reporter,owner,description,type,status,priority,milestone,component,version,resolution,keywords,cc,os,architecture,failure,difficulty,testcase,blockedby,blocking,related 2595,Implement record update for existential and GADT data types,simonpj,,"Ganesh writes: The most important thing for me is supporting record update for existentially quantified data records, as in the error below. In general I also find working with code that involves existential type variables quite hard work - for example I can't use foo as a record selector either, even if I immediately do something that seals the existential type back up again. I don't understand this stuff well enough to be sure whether it's an impredicativity issue or not, though. {{{ Foo.hs:11:8: Record update for the non-Haskell-98 data type `Foo' is not (yet) supported Use pattern-matching instead In the expression: rec {foo = id} In the definition of `f': f rec = rec {foo = id} }}} Program is: {{{ {-# LANGUAGE Rank2Types #-} module Foo where data Foo = forall a . Foo { foo :: a -> a, bar :: Int } x :: Foo x = Foo { foo = id, bar = 3 } f :: Foo -> Foo f rec = rec { foo = id } g :: Foo -> Foo g rec = rec { bar = 3 } }}} Simon says: Ah now I see. The relevant comment, `TcExpr` line 465, says {{{ -- Doing record updates on -- GADTs and/or existentials is more than my tiny -- brain can cope with today }}} Should be fixable, even with a tiny brain. ",feature request,new,normal,6.12 branch,Compiler,6.8.3,,,noah.easterly@… adam.gundry@… byorgey@…,Unknown/Multiple,Unknown/Multiple,None/Unknown,Unknown,tc244,,,
Treaty of Nymphaeum (1214) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Treaty of Nymphaeum The Latin Empire and the other Byzantine successor states. The Asian border reflects the provisions of the Treaty of Nymphaeum. Signed December 1214 Location Nymphaeum Signatories Empire of Nicaea Latin Empire The Treaty of Nymphaeum (Greek: Συνθήκη του Νυμφαίου) was a peace treaty signed in December of 1214 between the Nicaean Empire, successor state of the Byzantine Empire, and the Latin Empire, which was established in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade of 1204. Following the Fourth Crusade, Baldwin IX of Flanders was elected emperor of the Latin Empire and was recognized to have not only a portion of Constantinople (the remainder was given to the Venetians), but also the north-west region of Asia Minor,[1] although recognition of sovereignty did not mean actual control of the territory. It was up to the emperor to exercise that control, by force of arms if necessary. Following the Fourth Crusade, Baldwin was occupied with events in Thrace and was later taken prisoner by the Bulgarians in the Battle of Adrianople in April 1205.[2] Asia Minor was ignored by the Latins for the time being, thus giving a breathing space for Theodore Lascaris, who had declared himself emperor and was based at Nicaea, to consolidate his power and focus his attention on the Sultanate of Rûm during this time. Baldwin's brother, Henry, took over the Latin Empire and started operations against the Nicaean Empire at the end of 1206, but these were only minor engagements until Henry focused his attention in 1211.[3] On October 15 of that year, Henry won a major victory at the Rhyndacus River and pushed forward onto Pergamum and Nymphaeum, but guerrilla warfare on Theodore's part limited Henry's further advances.[3] Due to both sides being exhausted, the Treaty of Nymphaeum was signed between the two emperors, halting the Latin advance into Asia Minor. The Latin holdings were confined to the north-western part of Anatolia, comprising the coasts of Bithynia and most of Mysia. Although both sides would continue to fight for years to come, there were some important consequences of this peace agreement. First, the peace treaty effectively recognized both parties, as neither one was strong enough to destroy the other. The second consequence of the treaty was that David Komnenos, who had been a vassal of Henry and who had been carrying out his own war against Nicaea with the support of the Latin Empire, now effectively lost that support. Theodore was thus able to annex all of David's lands west of Sinope in late 1214, gaining access to the Black Sea. The third consequence was that Theodore was now free to wage war against the Seljuqs without the distraction of the Latins for the time being. Nicaea was able to consolidate their eastern frontier for the remainder of the century. Hostilities broke out again in 1224, and a crushing Nicaean victory at the Second Battle of Poemanenum reduced Latin territories in Asia effectively only to the Nicomedian peninsula. This treaty allowed the Nicaeans to go on the offensive in Europe years later, culminating in the reconquest of Constantinople in 1261.[4] 1. ^ Ostrogorsky 1969, p. 425. 2. ^ Ostrogorsky 1969, p. 427. 3. ^ a b Ostrogorsky 1969, pp. 429–430. 4. ^ Ostrogorsky 1969, p. 431.
Piers Morgan, arbitrator of all things "sexy and feminine," went on the Today Show this morning to spout things like "more women on the red carpet should think about men." And that's just the beginning. Morgan appeared alongside Today style editor Bobbie Thomas and they couldn't have picked two more different guests. While Thomas has mostly positive things to say about the fashions, Morgan seems to take a particular pleasure in pointing out physical flaws and making stay in the kitchen-style jokes. Right off the bat, the two disagree about Sandra Bullock, who Morgan says isn't "a great natural beauty compared to the others." When Thomas steps in to defend her Bullock, Morgan shuts her down, saying "Well, I'm the fashion expert around here." Cue uncomfortable laughter. For the next several minutes, Morgan makes it clear that being a "fashion expert" is somehow synonymous with "jackass." He bemoans Charlize Theron's dress on the grounds that it is an example of "women dressing for women." Carey Mulligan is the "perfect woman" because of the "kitchen utensils" covering her Prada dress. The entire segment is kind of uncomfortable to watch, as the guests clash and host Meredith Vieira does minimal damage control. Morgan's criticism exemplifies two of the biggest problems of red carpet commentary: mean-spirited bitchiness combined with open sexism. Mocking celebrities has become something of a national pastime, but there is a point where the all-in-good-fun critique veers into dangerous territory. For lack of a better word, Morgan's brand of commentary is purely bitchy. There is nothing fun about his appearance; he isn't trying to be particularly quick or witty. He is little more than a poor man's Simon Cowell, but instead of doling out harsh truths, he plays on stale jokes and outdated stereotypes. In lieu of insight, Morgan panders to our basest impulses. And it seems that far too much of the red carpet talk has fallen into this pattern of alternating between vicious take-downs and praise made fainter by the smattering of backhanded compliments. I'm not exactly a believer in the if you cant say anything nice school of thought, because being truly and consistently nice can get rather boring. But maybe "fashion experts" like Morgan should follow this modified rule, borrowed from our own commenting policies: If your statement is neither complimentary, insightful, or redeemed by the sheer brilliance of your wit, maybe you should keep it to yourself.
Could You Take A Three-Minute Shower? The Body Shop would like you to at least give it a shot. The eco-conscious brand issued an "Earth Lovers Three-Minute Shower Challenge" in honor of yesterday's celebration of Earth Day: To help time yourself, the company suggests playing a three-minute song and trying to finish by the end. Or, you could always count to 180 slowly. Ah, yes. A relaxing shower should ideally involve focused counting and playing "beat the clock" to the tune of a 2:59 minute song. That's the best part! In all seriousness, I am well aware of the roughly 70 gallons of water Americans use every time they take a 10-minute shower and yes, that's an insane amount of water waste. I've always been someone who takes very brief showers (primarily because I always seem to get very, very bored while trying to take one of those ridiculously long, supposedly relaxing showers you always see women taking in the movies), and I think that challenging people to re-evaluate the amount of time they spend in the shower is a terrific idea. Maybe playing "Let's pretend you live in a dorm where thirty girls are waiting to use the shower and you'd better hurry up and get out of there!" isn't the most user-friendly way of getting people to be more eco-conscious, but hey, whatever works. Could You Cut Your Shower Time Down to Three Minutes?
Race and Social Inequality August 13, 2003 // 12:00am Event Co-sponsors: Latin American Program As part of an ongoing program jointly sponsored by Brazil's Ministry of Culture and Brazil @ The Wilson Center three scholars presented their findings after two months of research at the Wilson Center. Brazilian Minister of Culture Gilberto Gil and his staff also participated by live videoconference, from Brasília, DF Brazil. Debora Carrari, who arrived this summer with her recently completed Masters Degree in Conflict Analysis from Nova Southeastern University, discussed the implications of police behavior in the context of the concerns with racial equality. Based on the assumption that discriminatory practices in law enforcement have a significant impact on racial equality, she focused on racially biased police behavior in Brazil and the United States. Utilizing publicized documents and statistics, she compared police behavior in both countries, and investigated the structural mechanisms that help perpetuate racial inequality through discriminatory law enforcement. Katia Santos, from the University of Georgia, focused on Afro-Brazilian women and their struggle to gain access to education in a context of social and racial oppression. She was also concerned with disenfranchisement in a society that she believes is still shaped by the rules of what many in Brazil would term an era of "amiable" slavery. By examining literature produced by African-American scholars on issues related to black women and blacks in general, she is interested in discovering ways to empower Afro-Brazilians. Katia felt that because black populations in Brazil and the U.S. are both derived from forced African diasporas, U.S. civil rights accomplishments could be used as a guide by Afro-Brazilians. Liv Sovik, from the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, discussed the influence of popular culture on the formation of new identities and the resulting increase in attention towards the margins of Brazilian society. She focused on the demand by Afro-Brazilians for equality as well as more specific policies designed to address social inequalities. Liv is concerned with the impact of "whiteness" as an aesthetic ideal and a social determinant. She believes that social limitations stem not only from prejudice against Afro-Brazilians, but also from the elevation of "whiteness" to the top of the social pyramid. She posed the question: "What can be done to remove whiteness from the top of the social scale?" Sovik believes that it is necessary to consider whiteness not in demographic terms, but instead as a social value that has a broad impact across all areas of society. Nevertheless, she believes that although the self-perception of black identity is increasing in Brazil, this does not indicate that Brazil is headed for a dynamic similar to that in the U.S. after the civil rights movement. There are, however, affinities and similarities between Brazil and the U.S.— whiteness, for example, continues to be valued in both countries as a social and aesthetic ideal. Minister of Culture Gilberto Gil underscored the difficulties in comparing realities in Brazil and the US. He noted that despite superficially similar conditions, race relations have evolved on different paths in Brazil and the U.S. In Brazil he noted that after slavery, blacks were not formally segregated, as in the US. He pointed out that, despite the lack of ideological segregation, there were social, political and economic separations in place. Minister Gil also observed that, soon after slavery, there were important contingents of blacks living well with whites and other races in Brazil. In the US, however, segregation was a pervasive and largely accepted practice for an extended period of time. Ron Walters from the University of Maryland agreed with Carrari's findings on the similarities between rates of incarceration in Brazil and the U.S. In the U.S., although rates of arrest are higher for whites, 53% of the prison population is black – and blacks compose only 13% of the American population. Walters highlighted the lack of legislation to address racial profiling, equalization of sentencing, and targeted policing which are generally limited to black communities. Dr. Walters applauded Santos's description of her experiences and challenges as a black woman coming up through the educational system in Brazil. He raised the issue of identity, and in particular highlighted the concept of being both black and a woman. As Walters sees it, the black female identity is one of double oppression, which historically has only guaranteed diminished access to the opportunity structure. Walters also stressed the importance of viewing the black-white paradigm in light of the struggle for civil rights. On Sovik, Walters continued his discussion of civil rights noting that the struggle which resulted in this regime benefits all, in the form of laws relating to public accommodation, voting, and housing. This raises the issue of the intersection between power and identity; in America, a unified collective identity meant power, and with struggle, resulted in the establishment of a civil rights regime. Walters agreed with the need for activism in the federal government, positing that if the civil rights agenda in the US had been put to a vote it would have failed. He feels it is necessary for the federal government to look beyond the dangerous and regressive politics of fear by "adopting an enlightened view of its own future." For Dr. Walters, in both countries the future will require the development of regimes that "promote, enrich and give citizenship of full meaning to all individuals," regardless of race, creed or color. Walters concluded by noting that accomplishing these goals would expand the historically limited circle of democratic participation to the entire population. Wilson Center Photo Gallery Browse or share photos from the Wilson Center’s events. To Attend an Event Unless otherwise noted: Experts & Staff
Printed from Apple hits 10 billion App Store downloads [U] updated 11:25 am EST, Sat January 22, 2011 Apple reaches 10 billion app mark (Update: winner named) Apple overnight said it had reached 10 billion downloads on the App Store. The milestone came just over a week after the countdown began and saw Apple accumulate about 250 million downloads in just the past week. The company hasn't yet said who has won the $10,000 iTunes gift card offered for the download or the free contest entry. The App Store's growth rate has been accelerating ever since it was launched in July 2008 and has so far made it the most popular mobile app portal on any platform. Apple took nine months to reach its first billion but managed to double that figure just five months later. It reached three billion slightly over three months later and was at seven billion by October of last year. The diversity of the store and the variety of the devices have been credited for the increasing growth. Apple started with just 500 apps but now has over 300,000, at least twice as many as Android Market. Unlike the Google portal, it has over 35,000 apps specifically optimized for tablets. A strong contingent of MP3 player users is also a factor, as iPod touch owners can buy apps without needing a cellular subscription. Most competing stores don't publish their lifetime app store download counts but either started later or don't have very large app stores. BlackBerry App World, for example, reached 15,000 apps. Update: the 10 billionth download was for Paper Glider (free, App Store), a take on the classic Mac game Glider. Gail Davis of Orpington in Kent, UK won the iTunes card. By Electronista Staff Comment buried. Show 1. write_thesis Joined: Jan 2011 comment title cool nice one, this is so informative 1. Feathers Grizzled Veteran Joined: Oct 1999 How on earth can you spend $10,000 on iTunes? Wouldn't $10,000 that you can spend at the AppleStore be a lot more realistic. Anyone who has got a gift voucher at Christmas will know how difficult it can be sometimes to spend as little as $100 in a single place! 1. Cronocide Fresh-Faced Recruit Joined: Nov 2010 With $10,000 on iTunes... You could download another billion apps! 1. Fast iBook Fresh-Faced Recruit Joined: Mar 2003 It wouldn't let me.... It wouldn't let me fill out the form. Compensation please? : - A 1. testudo Forum Regular Joined: Aug 2001 Why in the world would anyone want a $10,000 itunes gift card? How long would it take to find enough music, movies, apps, etc to use it all? Apple, stop being cheap! You should have given them a $10,000 Apple Store gift card (or $5000 each). Then they could have gotten some hardware to play all that c*** on. 1. brainiac Fresh-Faced Recruit Joined: Sep 2003 Yeah, like the others are saying You are cheap and nobody wants that silly prize. (but since they don't want it you could give it to me) 1. facebook_Sam Via Facebook Joined: Feb 2011 Incredible numbers! Incredible number of downloads. 3 billion more downloads that people alive today! We actually know the guy whose App was the 10 billionth – Login Here Network Headlines Most Popular Recent Reviews Mionix Naos 7000 and Avior 8000 gaming mice LG G Pad 8.3 Google Play Edition Akitio Thunder dock Most Commented Popular News
3/30: Slow Motion Match Strike Newer Older With many thanks to Intellectual Ventures, for use of their Phantom V12, and to the various folks at Hackerbot Labs that helped me set up this shot, back in January of 2011. Match was clamped in a vice, and my hand was holding the box. (very clumsy) music by me, done in Garage Band. Someday, I'll get better tools for music creation, and learn how to use them. I hope. New-to-me feature of note: variable speed playback. Yer Photo Xpression, Miguel Vera, and 6 other people added this video to their favorites. 1. 3ricj 32 months ago \| reply ooOOoO, does this let you slowly ramp up or down the framerate? 2. lindes 32 months ago \| reply Yup. :) Pretty schnazzy, eh? Alas, it has less control over the rate of ramping than I might like... or at least, it's clumsy to control that specific thing, but you can speed up and slow down with a great deal of control, and it does do a ramp in between. You can also reverse stuff, which I haven't actually tried just yet, but surely will. :) FCP X is certainly less than "everything I could possibly want" (for one thing, I want more RAM now ;)), but I'm pretty happy with it, for the most part. It's definitely a VAST improvement over any video editing system I've used previously -- with the possible exception of the Sony RM 450. ;) (I'd love to have a modern version of something like that as a custom controller for FCPX... I know there are jog/shuttle wheels out there; I'll probably get myself one at some point.)
General Question bookish1's avatar What condition should I leave my car in over the summer? Asked by bookish1 (13038 points ) June 2nd, 2012 I’m going to be out of the country for 2 months and my poor car will be languishing out on a hot blacktop with no shade. (Note: I won’t be using it to return from the airport at the end of my trip; I’m taking a cab.) -Should I leave it with a full tank of gas, near-empty tank, or does it not matter? -Is it especially necessary to change oil/refill tires before I leave, or does that not matter? -Is there anything else you can think of to suggest? Thank you. Observing members: 0 Composing members: 0 10 Answers jerv's avatar I’ve left cars sitting for longer and had them start up without difficulty. Two months isn’t terribly long. I would fill the gas tank since an empty one will collect more condensation out of the air unless the space where moist air would be is filled with something else, preferably gas. The oil should be fine for that period of time, but the tires should probably be filled. The only possible concern I can think of is the battery, but if it is relatively new and your charging system is still in good working order, it should still be able to fire up on the first try in a couple of months. Hell, I left an old beater VW in the corner of the yard neglected for five months and it fired up on the first try. bookish1's avatar Thanks alot @jerv! I’ll be sure to fill the gas and tires before I go :) LuckyGuy's avatar I have cars that sit for months too. I just leave them – with gas. I throw in a gallon of gas mixed with Stabil fuel stabilizer . I don’t know if it makes a difference but I never have trouble starting the cars. The brake disks will be rusty when you get back so be careful for the first few stops. JLeslie's avatar If you have a neighbor you trust you could ask them to start up the car every 2 or 3 weeks. That’s what I have done, let it run for 5 minutes. I don’t know if it helps, but I feel like it does. bookish1's avatar @JLeslie: That sounds good, but I have no neighbors I would trust with the keys, haha. laketommy12345's avatar I wouldnt worry too much.. Its only 2 months. I WOULD, however, get a cover to put over it to make sure that the hot sun doesnt damage the clear coat on the paint. That is a VERY costly fix to have the vehicle repainted, ecspecially a whole car paint job. If you do, i would reccomend getting a rain-x cover. They are about 75 dollars, but they can be purchased online for cheaper. (Amazon, Ebay, Etc.) They may be expensive, but if you get a cheap one, water will puddle on the hood and trunk and roof, and cause damage to the body panels. The rain-x covers force water down instead of pulling it in underneath, preventing puddle. Overall, this will protect your car. Also, if you want to, it wouldn’t hurt to purchase a siphoning pump, and remove the gas in the tank, not completely dry, or the tank and other fuel parts will get overly hot and dry-crack from the heat. just leave about a half tank or so and you will be good to go. I DO NOT reccomend leaving a full tank of gas in it, because if the heat/sun were to hypothetically damage something in the fuel pump or similar part, you will have to remove the tank to repair the parts. This would mean alot of work for you, or alot of money that the mechanic would charge you. Also, the battery might be a concern. I would reccomend disconnecting the battery and cleaning any and all corossion and debris on the connectors. DO NOT disconnect any ground from the frame and leave them off while you are gone, or you may return to find some erors in one or more internal communication modules, a very costly fix as well. bookish1's avatar @laketommy12345 : Hey, thanks for the advice. Too late to buy a cover… I’ve been out of the country for a month, haha. But I was only able to afford to leave her with half a tank of gas in her anyway, haha. laketommy12345's avatar @bookish1 Haha oh sorry. I just now looked at the post date. Haha. Out of curiosity, what kind of car is it? bookish1's avatar 2003 merc sable, just under 70,000 miles. Answer this question to answer. Your answer will be saved while you login or join. Have a question? Ask Fluther! What do you know more about? Knowledge Networking @ Fluther
"People scared, phones rammed", says radio presenter Sonic boom Sonic boom Photo: PA A radio presenter has told ITV Central News that a loud bang heard across parts of the Midlands yesterday evening left people scared – and his station’s phone lines “rammed”. The big bang was the result of a sonic boom, which the Ministry of Defence has confirmed was caused by two Typhoon aircraft responding to an emergency. The RAF jets were scrambled after a small civilian helicopter emitted a signal on a frequency normally reserved for emergencies only. Such a signal could indicate the aircraft had been hijacked or had "gone rogue". John Dalziel told ITV Central News: "I think people were scared. It's not a noise you hear every day. I was at home at the time. The door shook and I thought may be some work was being done or a neighbour dropped something big or it was a crash or something.You really couldn't gauge actually what this sound was. "The level of response was crazy. Texts shot in. The phones were rammed yesterday. People wanted to know what the bang was, if the rumours that were going round were true.”

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