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Table dividers Table dividers are often used in open plan offices to address issues such as lack of privacy, lack of wall space for individual bulletin boards, and poor acoustics. EFG’s ‘EFG Free’ table divider is a small-scale, flexible, individual solution, where a low, folding, felt-covered screen is simply stands on a desk around a user’s working area. Alain Gilles’s ‘BuzziCockpit’ for BuzziSpace is also an individual table divider, but forms a wholly protective, acoustic cocoon around one’s workstation, effectively eliminating background noise and offering a high degree of privacy when needed. More open, but just as flexible, is ‘BuzziFrontDesk’ table divider by the same manufacturer, a single acoustic panel that can either stand on a table, but also comes with fixes which allow it to be affixed onto its edge. Abstracta’s ‘Softline™’ is an expansive range of modular table dividers and freestanding screens, available in a variety of bright colours, which can be assembled to offer privacy, increase acoustic comfort, and even allow their user to pin up documents and photographs. Kinzo-designed, planmöbel.-manufactured ‘Workout Raumteilungs-/Trennwande’ is a smaller panel with a magnetic surface, serving both as a table divider and a small bulletin board. Pedro Feduchi’s ‘Tray’ line of desks and office furniture for Imasoto also includes light frames with semi-transparent screens. OFFECCT’s ‘Playwall’, designed by Cleasson Koivisto Rune, and ophelis’s ‘Syntax Space division system’ are larger-scale solutions, consisting of sizeable table dividers and screens which allow for a more noticeable spatial subdivision and privacy within an open plan office, but still manage to retain an overall sense of the space. Haworth’s ‘Universal Screens’ table dividers are smaller, but offer a wider range of surface materials, from felt, fabric, to laminate and glass. Furthermore, accessories such as shelves and even monitor arms can be attached to the table dividers by means of rails, freeing up the desktop surface. And lastly, Johan Götesson’s and Thomas Svensson’s ‘ScreenIT Table Screen In Screen’, manufactured by Götessons, actually integrates an LED screen in the table divider itself. More More Page 1 2 3 Next page Hits 167 Page 1 2 3 Next page
2011.08.07 - Berlin Newer Older Spent the morning in the Pergamon Museum looking at some really giant museum pieces. In the afternoon, walked through the BeerFest and enjoyed some beer. Ishtar gate.
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Bones Made Of Titanium Tue, 07/31/2012 - 8:41am Tim Daro, Siemens Sinumerik 840D.jpgSubstantial legal requirements result in more complex functional specifications for the implant manufacturers: From the design - including the materials — through production, the complete process chain must be documented and validated. CNC-controlled high-tech machines support the prosthetics manufacturers, and permit high-quality products to be manufactured despite the continuing pressures of high cost. The idea for a new medical implant normally arises to meet a practical need. It is a long process before the implant can be produced in quantity — it takes approximately 12 to 18 months from the first drawing, including the design and job planning, through the completed, approved implant. “After receiving a request for a new product from an orthopedist, we first design and develop a prototype”, explains Hans-Joachim Mahr, production manager at implantcast Corp. in Buxtehude, Germany. “The CNC controller assumes an important function for the transfer of the CAD/CAM data to the actual production. It supports the idea and the virtual model in a workpiece that the orthopedist can then hold in his hands for the first time.” Artificial bones made of titanium are mainly manufactured using the stock-removal process. The production of hip implants runs on DMG turning-milling centers equipped with the Siemens CNC Sinumerik 840D sl (Figure 1). Each implant has an associated, specially-tailored set of instruments required for the implantation. This includes a surgical rasp used to prepare the bone (Figure 2). The fast data processing of the 840D sl is a particular advantage for the standard implants produced in quantity. implantcast also offers, for particularly complicated applications such as cancer patients, the manufacturing of patient-specific implants. In this case, the implants and instruments are cut perfectly to the associated bone structure with the help of a CT or MRI picture. For this single-part production, implantcast uses the comprehensive setup functions of the Sinumerik for fast machine setup. The CNC user interface has, on all levels, self-explanatory icons that can be configured as popular keys. Many intelligent functions are available to assist the measuring of tools and workpieces. These measuring functions can be used both for the setup and process measurement, that is, the overall quality assurance during the machining. The ‘Sinumerik Operate’ user interface also integrates simple swivel commands that simplify the machine setup. The Cycle 800 swivel cycle is characterized by its easy handling, despite its high-level functionality. The swivel functions are available both for the swiveling in a machine axis and also in an axis of the workpiece coordinate system. The CNC immediately handles any required coordinate transformation. Irrespective of the one-off or quantity run, the highest demands are placed on each individual medical engineering workpiece. It is obvious that no letdown may be permitted from rigorous quality and precision standards. Furthermore, the manufacturer is responsible for validating the complete production process, which means that even prototype construction must satisfy the same conditions as the subsequent volume runs. Bone rasps.jpgArtificial Hip Sockets in Twelve Standard Sizes The number of artificial bone implants is continually increasing. Operations, such as the use of a replacement hip made of titanium, also belong to the standard daily program in orthopedic surgery today. In 2010, one million artificial hip and knee joints were implanted in the USA. Forecasts expect this number to exceed 4 million by 2030. This large number, however, does not obviate the fact that the highest demands are placed on each individual medical implant, whether a one-off or production run. Standard implants are now available in various sizes as required for the physique of the patient. The NC programming that defines the functions for machining the workpiece, and consequently includes all associated details concerning the form and technology, is very fast. “Thanks to the user-friendly ‘Sinumerik Operate’, we save a significant amount of time,” explained Axel Robiller, manager of the stock removal department at implantcast. “One reason is that the human-machine interface (HMI) has the familiar Windows style.” The Sinumerik 840D sl provides a comprehensive range of powerful turning and milling cycles. Because all operator functions and cycles are supported with animated elements, the operator intuitively knows how the function is to be used without needing to consult the instruction manual. Dynamic vector graphics can be used when the animated elements do not suffice to explain the purpose of the individual input values, such as the parameterization of complex cycles. These graphics reflect the current input values with their proportional representation. Work Economically & Efficiently Despite the Complexity At EMO 2011 in Hanover, Germany, Siemens will present dual-channel production of bone rasps on machines with two slides. This allows turning-milling centers, such as the DMG CTX alpha 450TC to be operated more effectively, because the complete programming functionality is available in both channels. The ‘Programsync’ function synchronizes the machining channels, whether or not the programs have been programmed in DIN/ISO, standard cycles, or ShopTurn — the proprietary Siemens software. The increasing complexity of the turning-milling machines and the possible production programs also increase the risk of programming errors that, under some circumstances, can cause machine damage. For this purpose, the Sinumerik 840D sl offers a simulation program that shows the stock removal process in virtual 3D. In addition to the complete representation of the cutting actions, the expected machining time corresponding to the programmed technology values is displayed before the production of a single workpiece. A short machining time, however, is critical for the economy of quantity production. The turning-milling center with the Siemens 840D sl used at implantcast, with cross slides for Y and B axes, permits five-axis simultaneous machining (Figure 3), and significantly reduces the processing time. The implants are manufactured in a single operation, with parallel machining on the main and counter spindles. For the complete machining, the Sinumerik 840D sl provides turning-milling functions that can be used in combination. The complete scope of all milling functions is available here — from the cycle technology to the simultaneous free surface machining. Sinumerik Operate user interface.jpgSimple Parts Do Not Exist Bone rasps are an example of very complex workpieces. Their basic form represents a significant challenge in machining, namely, a rasp body with many rasp teeth located on the contoured outer surfaces. The Sinumerik MDynamics technology package ensures the required surface quality at high machining speed. Even for difficult materials, the “Advanced Surface” motion control produces milling results that meet the stringent requirements placed on medical implants and instruments. Each individual part is subjected to a comprehensive quality control. Sensing probes check the accuracy of the contour and the peak-to-valley height and scan the surface for even the smallest damage. To check the material structure, X-ray examinations are also made on some parts. Only when all these hurdles have been overcome are the implants passed to the internal department at implantcast for sterile packaging and subsequent shipping. A Patient Stands at the End of Each Process Chain A patient with bone prosthetics receives a prosthesis pass. This document allows the complete manufacturing process of the prosthesis to be reconstructed at any time. Whereas in other industry sectors, such as automotive or food processing, products must have trackability. This tracking requirement in the orthopedic world is specific to each individual patient’s medical implant. This is a major challenge, considering implantcast produces approximately 3,000 items, each week. Despite the extensive use of highly sophisticated technology, at the end of the process chain there is a suffering patient who must be helped. The difference between the manufacturer of turned, milled, and ground parts used in the medical technology, and one that produces parts for machinery construction, makes itself apparent. “The patient whose prosthesis is in the package would need to wait one day longer for his/her operation if we did not act immediately”, explains Mahr. For such very late requests, and these are not infrequent, it is quite possible that he will personally start the prosthesis on its journey to a patient in need. Share this Story The password field is case sensitive.
CurlTalk ( - General Discussion about Curly Hair ( - - ZOMG How Happy Am I About My Hair Right Now???!!! ( Jessiebanana 03-29-2013 03:26 PM That's's over (until a product gets discontinued at least). I have my HG's and my hair has never looked so good with so little effort. I got the Curl Junkie Curl Assurance Smoothing Lotion and it's everything I've ever wanted. I have so many feelings right now. It's holding in the moisture, like a good leave in, but it's smoothing my hair and creating/keeping the definition. My hair is pretty defined once it's soaking wet, so it's not making curls happen, but I can squeeze water out or play around with the style of my hair and it brings the curls back...perks them up. My hair feels like hair, not like something with crunchy or sticky or oily product in it. It's not weighed down or poofy. When I first opened the packaged I smell it, fondled it, rubbed a bit on my dry hair and I had high hopes when it refreshed a curl. I wouldn't use it on dry hair cause I think you would use a lot...and I don't use anything on dry hair. That's just not how I roll. Being dry and having low porosity kind of sucks. Cause you can't drench hair in heavy things without it sitting there and making your hair gunky, but you still need the moisture. The DB Pumpkin Seed Conditioner has been a blessing for this and the CJ finishes the deal. It's not heavy so I can use as much as I desire to style, but it's not so light I have to use half the bottle to see any results. It smells really good, but the scent is very light, so if you don't like it it's not a huge deal or if you're wearing another scent it won't over power or compete with it. It doesn't smell like vanilla-cotton candy (that isn't something I'd want on my head all day) I'm not sure why the website says that. It's a sweet, non food or candy, slightly floral smell. I've heard it compared on YT to a certain perfume, I've never smelt that perfume, but it does remind me of a few very nice perfumes or like a tea. Like my DB, it's on the pricier side and I have to order it, but I can order them all from one place and if I play my cards right I can wait to order during 20% off. Also I only use three products for everything, so I think I'm saving the dollar bills there. When I want to clarify I add a drop of Suave Daily Clarifying to my cleansing conditioner. That bottle will probably last me a couple decades...seriously. I'm so happy I don't even feel sorry for writing this essay. I needed to share :blob4:! Even if a product gets discontinued, at least I can look for formulations like my HG's. I feel like the guess work part is over, if YKWIM. Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7 Copyright ©2000 - 2014, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd. Copyright 2011
Permalink for comment 540180 Member since: On something tablet sized, I still prefer a miniature keyboard to a touchscreen - just my opinion. Never underestimate the usefulness of tactile feedback! Totally agree. Given the choice I choose a full size physical keyboard anyday over an on-screen one. I was thinking more about "thumb" size keyboards. It was certainly a great market for apple to get into, but even if they hadn't I think the proliferation of modern tablet devices was quite inevitable given the decreasing costs of the technology. Technology's funny that way... some people would say Bill Gates was essential in bringing computing to the masses, but I think he capitalized on a market that was going to grow with or without microsoft. If microsoft hadn't been most popular, it'd just be one of the other players like apple, amiga, atari, xerox, etc. Alot of them would have been able to fit the "bill" ;) For sure. So many examples in history where a technology was independently invented in two different areas just because conditions for it were right. Reply Parent Score: 2
Colombia defense minister says troop cuts after peace 'big mistake' BOGOTA Thu Oct 31, 2013 8:43pm EDT 1 of 3. Colombia's Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon responds to a question during an interview with Reuters in Bogota, October 31, 2013. Credit: Reuters/Fredy Builes Related Topics BOGOTA (Reuters) - It would be a "big mistake" for Colombia to reduce troop numbers or cut its security budget if a peace agreement is signed with Marxist FARC rebels to end a half century of war, the defense minister said on Thursday. Colombia has struggled through a year of slow-paced talks with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in an effort to end a conflict that has killed more than 200,000 people since it began in 1964. Meanwhile the FARC has stepped up combat pressure. "It would be a big mistake, because even if the terrorist organization disappears, it doesn't mean many of its crimes disappear," Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon told Reuters in his Bogota office, ruling out any changes to the armed forces. More than three dozen FARC commanders participating in peace talks in Havana have called on President Juan Manuel Santos to divert funds away from maintaining Colombia's 439,000-strong armed forces and use much of the $15 billion in defense spending for social plans, including healthcare and education. "I personally think Colombia has a security budget that's very limited," said Pinzon, highlighting that smaller Latin American nations without the security risks faced by Colombia have similar defense budgets - about 3.5 percent of GDP. "I think we have to keep strengthening." The war, which has pit the FARC and a smaller rebel group, the ELN, against government troops and illegal paramilitary death squads, trims as much as 2 percentage points from the $360 billion economy. The FARC - and other Colombian crime gangs - engage in drug trafficking, kidnapping, money laundering and illegal mining to fund operations and battle the government, the minister said. Pinzon, a 41-year-old economist who has headed the defense ministry since the end of 2011, has been among the most vocal critics of the FARC as it works through a five-point agenda with government negotiators in host-nation Cuba. The rebels have sharply criticized him for damaging talks, while Pinzon has called on the group to apologize for its crimes. "The terrorist group should understand that the Colombian people don't support it, that it has no prestige within society," he said. "On the contrary, the only opportunity it has is to demobilize, turn in its weapons and ask forgiveness of the Colombian people." The center-right Santos, who took a political risk last year when he announced peace talks, has seen his approval ratings slump in the last few months, partly due to the perception that he has offered too many concessions to the rebels. While most Colombians support the peace process, many doubt it will soon reach a successful end. Opposition leaders like former President Alvaro Uribe are furious that Santos may be bending to the FARC in order to cement his legacy. Considered a terrorist group by the United States and Europe, the FARC has battled a dozen governments since it began as an agrarian struggle against rural inequality. While it has been severely weakened in the past 10 years by a heavy U.S.-backed offensive, the leftist movement remains a formidable threat to the government and civilian population. In recent months, it has sought to boost its relevance in rural areas, bombing oil pipelines and supporting labor disputes that have piled pressure on the government. Pinzon stressed that the FARC's territorial presence has shrunk to as little as 9 percent from over 50 percent a decade or so ago and its fighting force halved to about 7,000 fighters. But he was adamant the armed forces would not let down its guard and would keep fighting until peace is declared or the FARC defeated. "Militarily they are very weak, they never achieved their military objective of taking power by armed force, that's an undeniable fact," said Pinzon, defending his record against criticism that security has weakened since Santos took office. Many complain that no top FARC leader has been killed or captured since Alfonso Cano two years ago. "The majority don't live in Colombia' that's a fact," Pinzon said of the seven-member rebel leadership, which includes top commander Rodrigo Londono, known as Timochenko, thought to be in Venezuela. He declined to confirm where Timochenko was hiding. "But many of the regional leaders have fallen one by one. More or less every 45 days a FARC leader is killed and that shows the dynamism of our armed forces." Pinzon acknowledged that even if peace is reached with the FARC, the battle inside Colombia would by no means end. In such an event, crime gangs and drug traffickers would remain the object of the government's military offensive. (Reporting by Helen Murphy and Luis Jaime Acosta; Editing by Ken Wills) Comments (0)
Join The Community Gen III (maybe!) Well here we go. This may or may not be too popular. 2 months ago we put a deposit down on a S Performance pkg - loaded. Thought that it would be a good and alternate vehicle for us. Both my wife and I have a BMW and Porsches. Although the Tesla is $100K with minimal options (our opinion) - the bonus would be no fuel. Then after much discussion and reading some trauma here - we decided to wait a few years until things were more under control. So we asked for the deposit back. This is where it gets sideways. First - there is no phone number to contact Tesla - you have to send an email. We sent an email stating that we want to cancel the deposit/order. 24-36 hours later my wife received a call from Tesla. He was pleasant and wanted to know what the reason was for canceling, which I will list. Second - he would process this within the next few days. This is our response to him For $100K (and I don't care if this car is power by anti-gravity pods) - a $100K car needs to have a certain amount of options. Example: 3 interior colors 6-7 exterior colors. A new BMW 650 has 15 interiors (with sub options) and 20 exterior colors. I have posted in an earlier thread about the lack of options, so I will not get into this again. 2) Delivery: The signed contract agreement states that the car will be delivered in a COVERED container, and a tech will accompany the car for training. Well, this doesn't look like this is happening 100% of the time. Read one thread that a gentleman received his car in an open trailer, pulled by a pick-up and badly scratched. This tells me that there are problems at the factory. For one - it costs a lot less to ship by pick-up with a trailer than a covered trailer. I have experience with this, I have shipped several cars from both the east and west coasts. This is a BIG concern. 3) Repair: So if something is wrong you "wait" for a tech to come to you. So what are you supposed to do in the meantime? Rent a car? Not for me - spending $100K, I better have a rental delivered to me. Both BMW and Porsche have loaners anytime the I have work done. BMW will give me a loaner even when I am having new tires mounted! Don't tell me that they are working on this. That has been the most common line that I have seen here. If they are still working on it - then the car has been released to early. So the tech shows up at your house (as I was told). So, is this like the cable guy - he will be there between 9 and 3? What, I take off work and wait around the house until he shows? Then what - have a total stranger use my garage as his work shop? You can't leave the house with the tech there - at least I wouldn't. Again, both BMW and Porsche this would not even be a consideration. At one point during routine maintenance on my wife's Cayenne, the dealer forgot one thing. She called and informed them - immediately they asked how long she would be home. The sales manager personally drove out the loaner, picked up my wife's car and told her that they would be back tomorrow and exchange the cars. Again this was on a $108K vehicle - so in this dollar ballpark. 4) Tax refund Yes, everyone is thinking that the $7500 is right of the cost of the vehicle. Well you better look into this. It all depends on your income, deductions, and other items that I was informed off (not an expert oaths at all) Not everyone will get $7500. best to check with your accountant on this one. 5) Fine Print If you look closely at the contract there is a clause (in fine reprint of course) that basically states that the price that you have agreed on with this signed contract does not define the final price. Price increases may result from material, labor and other sources outside of Tesla's control. What!!!! These are the items that my wife briefly informed the rep. He said that this has been the common issues with everyone that has cancelled -and (of course) "We are working on it". Know for the best: It has now been three weeks and we have not received our deposit back - nor have we had any emails returned. So our next step is to disputed the charge to our credit card company and they will with draw the funds from Tesla. Anyone here in business knows that you DO NOT want this to happen to your company. Big no-no in with the credit card companies - big black eye. Multiple incidents will result in that credit card company pulling their account. So Gen III - maybe Canceling sounds like a good option for you. The first round of electrics are not going to be for everyone. Most reports are no problems getting the refund. Hope to see you in a few years with a Tesla when the bumpy waters smooth out. If you don't like it, don't buy it. No need to justify yourself. It isn't that complicated. It reads to me like you are too casual of a researcher prior to ordering things. Those are all things that were true prior to two months ago, and surely you read your contract before signing it? Perhaps just rephrase things next time and confess to being an ill informed consumer that rushes into things. yes, sounds a little SHORT on real involvement; just has a SHORT list of quibbles. In SHORT, someone who counts on TM coming up SHORT. Thankyou for saying that politely Brian. I saw this but decided not to post my inital reaction for reasons of decency. For months, cmadsen has peppered these forums with negative Tesla threads. Considering all the complaining cmadsen has done in the past (about how inferior the Model S is to his precious M5), I'm surprised he put a deposit down on the Model S. Very suspicious... Man!!!! - You just don't get it! What are you guys a bunch of chevy/ford/honda/kia drivers. Yes, the Tesla compared to those is amazing! Bottom line for the last time. Its about the money and what you get for it. Tesla just isn't there - for me at this time. I think that they will get there - I will have to wait. By the TDurden - Yes the M5 is phenomenal. Just a comparison from what I am driving now - every day. If I am spending $110K and that car looks the same (except for the wheels and a little CF on the rear deck) as the base model. That IS a problem for me. If the M5 looked like the base 5 series model. BMW wouldn't sell one of them. For the MONEY the top of the line Tesla -its not there. Not at the present time. Top of the line car should have unique extras and options. Only proprietary to that model and not the lower ones. Make sense yet? I do hope that Tesla will get there. My wife and I enjoyed the car - but just needs some tweaks. Hell - its a start up and I never buy the first series of a car - too many bugs. BMW and Porsche included. I always wait for the 2nd or third year. BTW - no answers to our emails as of yet. So we will call the credit card company and dispute the purchase and get our money back. Tesla doesn't seemed interested right now So you want to make sure people notice the money you spent, huh? Apart for point 1, all the points are completely valid IMO. However I think some of the issues (eg. the flawed delivery) were the exception rather than the norm and is part of the growing pain. I went into this expecting such (1st model year etc), but it hasn't been as bad as I feared; mostly just some software issues and stuff that weren't ready for the initial delivery. If you expect a fully matured experience as you'd get from BMW and Merc, then perhaps you should have waited longer. On one hand I understand the frustration of the OP. This car is five times the cost of my current vehicle (I paid 20K for my Hyundai) yet there aren't that many features I don't already have. I am buying the Model S because I think it's the right thing for my family to do. If you are buying the car because you want a 100K-class luxury vehicle, you could therefore conceivably be disappointed. There is another way to look at it though. You could look at the Tesla Model S and see a vehicle developed from the ground up to be both evolutionary and revolutionary. You could see a vehicle that costs 100K primarily because battery costs are still high. One could also make the case that it's a status symbol and that the laws of supply and demand are in full effect here. (Although I suspect many of us are more interested in my next points rather than status symbols.) Finally you could look and see a vehicle that costs what it does because we are the early adopters who pay extra for a low-volume early production vehicle -- especially one with a totally unproven track record. As a group Model S buyers are much more tolerant and forgiving than most. We love technology and many of us are proud to be a part of what Tesla represents. In short if you are looking to buy a luxury car with few bugs and 4+ star service, that's fine and I'm sure many people would agree with you that Tesla isn't there yet. I hope your experience doesn't stop you from taking another look in a few years when you might like the available options better. Oh, this is ridiculous. It's like comparing a fully loaded piston airplane to a base jet (where the Model S is the jet). Also, the one that's making history, the one that's going to be in museums and top end collections 50 years from now, is not the M5, which is just another Bimmer. cmadsen is demanding that somebody build a complete car company, including a dealer network the size of BMW's, before selling the first car. This is not a good faith demand. Tesla is on the leading edge and leading edge products from small new companies aren't (by definition) sold by large old established ones. I'm going with Brian H here. I don't think this guy is on the level. He comes up a little short, so to speak. cmadsen = "... I never buy the first series of a car... " And yet, "... 2 months ago [cmadsen] put a deposit down on a S Performance pkg - loaded. Thought that it would be a good and alternate vehicle for us ... " How very disingenuous. To: Cmadsen, being a BMW person, did you sign up for either the MINI E or ACTIVE E test programs when they were available? cmadsen, sorry but you are an "IDIOT." I am not sorry to be blunt here but you are like the bunch of Elitist NEW MONEY Americans that think their "Shit" doesn't stink. Don't buy a Tesla, keep you M5, which you defintely overpayed for at 110K (which is a overhyped and doesn't look much different than a 535 which completely negates your arguments). Your car is all whats wrong with Americans who now make over 100K, they think they are entitled to a kings ransom and people kissing their asses... Excuse me but just go away and hope BMW keeps kissing your tush, last time I went into an Audi/BMW dealership they treated me like a piece of shit (matches your personality) and just because I was wearing a sweatsuit and they did not think I was worthy of seeing their 70K car!!! Have fun my man!!! Oh btw, my famous last words, don't let the door hit you on the way out! I'm curious. How long ago was cmadsen on the Sig. waiting list? I didn't think there were any sigs available two months ago. @David70 \| JANUARY 25, 2013: I'm curious. How long ago was cmadsen on the Sig. waiting list? I didn't think there were any sigs available two months ago. He said, "2 months ago we put a deposit down on a S Performance pkg - loaded." He didn't mention sig. But as you know, when you put a deposit down, you don't specify which model features you want. As far as Tesla was concerned, he might have been interested in a 40kWh base model. Sorry. I misread his post. cmadsen is a typical high-end care buyer. Tesla is going after that market. Cmadsen's comments are the frank comments of a somewhat impulsive high-end buyer, and we should just say "thanks." Tesla is working on serving that buyer, but they don't have it all working right yet. That doesn't mean that what they have done so far isn't fantastic. Just building a top-level car that could attract cmadsen is a amazing achievement for a start-up. Typo in previous: car buyer I agree with @Objective1 - cmadsen may be excused for his frustration because today, even mid-luxury vehicles are very well equipped. I recently drove the 2013 Audi A7. What a fabulous, good-looking car (almost 70% as pretty as the Tesla), with superb quality inside and out. All the options you'd have to pay extra for on a Tesla, are standard on the Premium Plus model. Their sale price was a tad over $60k. It does 0 to 60 in 5.4 seconds and I found that passing cars on the highway was quite effortless – going from 70 to 85 felt as quick as in the ’05 Jaguar Vanden Plas. Of course there was that slight lag which the Tesla does not have (and the A7 is not electric), but I now have some sympathy for those who are upset that one has to pay extra for "basic luxury options". I personally did not get the same "Joy" I had driving the Tesla, but the A7 is truly an excellent sedan. Current buyers like us are often enthusiasts who are willing to deal with the frustrations of being early adopters. Buying any car in its first year of production often means putting up with lots of possible down time, niggling problems and increased stress levels. – something not everyone can or should put up with. Dupe posts not necessary or appreciated. Not very long ago (November 2012), Elon Musk was in England, at the Oxford Martin School. He was invited there to talk about the future of Energy and Transport. In the beginning of his speach he said that he actually is always interested in "negative feedback". That means that he can use that "negative feedback" for the better, like a certain tool. Because that "negative feedback" helps him to think (on a more precised level) about how to improve the current level of quality of the products that he has to offer. And that is good. So, I think that we should be thanking the person who started this topic, because he probably has given some input about how to improve the level of quality of the products Tesla Motors. The search for improvement is a never ending adventure. And every step in that direction should be considered as a good thing. Elon Musk has ideas to change the world. We should thank him for doing that for all of us. And if we can provide him with some "negative feedback", then that is to be considerd as something good. Because that's how we can help him ro reach his goals and change the world for the better. The person who has started this topic has used the title: "GEN III (MAYBE!)". I think that in a few years time he actually will buy Tesla car, just because it will be the best possible choice for him to do financially. One day even he will stop buying petrol or diesel. Well - alittle more faith in Tesla restored. My wife, found the phone number for customer service (she told me that there wasn't one). So my previous statement of no number is in error. Called and asked for the guy she was talking to previous. He wasn't available - so the guy taking the call would help. After a brief explanation - the guy started out with the excuses - we're busy, end of year, concentrating on production issues.......... Just when Cathy was about to use a hammer - he stated that "This was their fault and that there was no excuse for what happened to us. The credit will be processed that day, and the concerns that we brought up were being closely looked at and will be considered at a later date." Okay - thats better - credit received later that same day. so all is better. I will continue to watch the site and see what develops. I really do hope that some of these items will be addressed. I have some friends and acquaintances that would order a Tesla Performance Model if these items were added. Again, a good car - working to be a great car. For us - its what you get for $100K+. The service is a big concern - as stated above. Thanks everyone for your comments. BTW - some of you thin skins need to mellow out. On my Porsche websites - some people have hammered the new 991 - but haven't gotten personal like this site. We state our opinions and go on - here you want to give your opinion along with a knife in the back. I don't get it (and - the pissed of people are alittle amusing) Still car guys people - just differences of opinions. Waiting to see Gen III Hi Brain H, What is a "dupe post" - I may be from the wrong generation to know that term. It must be bad, since you disliked what I wrote - why? Duplicate, repeating same post in 2 or multiple threads. Please don't. And I suspect you're from a later (lesser, lower) generation than I am. ;p Being critical is good. You haven't turned your back towards Tesla Motors ("Waiting to see Gen III"). That's also good. The people from Tesla Motors are going to unveil the Gen III when they think its the right time to do so. It will be considerably good, that's for sure if you ask me. If you will compare the Gen III to the other cars that will be available at that time (in the same price range), you will see that it will be good to choose the Tesla Gen III car, both technically as financially. Ask yourself: "How long do you want to be addicted to oil"? Brian H: Duplicate, repeating same post in 2 or multiple threads. Since the majority of users probably DON'T read each and every thread, I think it's okay to duplicate posts if the subject warrants it. Now, if a lengthy post is repeated in the same thread, then I can see that this can be unneeded. However, in different threads with similar subject matter, the posts may not necessarily annoy 98% of posters who do not read every single thread. (apologies for off-topic) Wrong. It is very disruptive, and should never be done. It splits the conversation into separate streams, causes confusion, and generally litters the boards. Linking to posts in other threads will provide access to thoughts/ideas in other threads without the unneeded padding duplicating posts generates. All you folks that like the not-Tesla cars are allright. Those are all fabulous cars, and you will be very happy owning and driving them. As many a poster said, Tesla Model S is not for everybody. It is aimed at approximately 20,000 buyers worldwide per year. You don't need to be one of them. I don't think Tesla will change their business model and philosophy to satisfy every whim of every potential buyer, at least as long as there is a mile long waiting line. When the line shortens, well... then maybe. And don't forget: in their early days in the US, Porsche was laughed at and was the province of engineering geeks. Look how the table has turned... X Deutschland Site Besuchen
Counselor Weighs In On Obama's Gun Control Proposals Harvey Yoder is at the Mennonite Fellowship meeting listening to a man talk who helped some mentally ill people in World War II. Yoder is a psychotherapist at the Family Resource Center. He said many of his patients are covered by Medicaid and Medicare. "If people know how to access care, how to use the system appropriately. Most people can get the care they need," he said. Washington and Lee Law Professor Timothy Jost said access is one of the main problems with the system. He said he agrees with President Obama's proposal of making mental health care as accessible as physical health. "I think it's important that people get care just as when they break an arm or have a disease," Jost said. Yoder said if people are mentally ill, he usually keeps anything they tell him confidential, unless there are some red flags. "When there's any kind of threat to a life, even one's own life. We have the duty to warn, if there's a threat to someone else's life," he said. One of President Obama's proposals is to remind doctors they can report threats of violence to authorities. Yoder said he already does that. He also said if he sees a threat to someone's life, he asks patients about owning a gun. "In cases where someone is homicidal or suicidal, of course, but I don't ask it generally," Yoder said. Obama also wants to remind doctors it is not illegal to ask patients if they have guns. Yoder said he wouldn't feel comfortable asking every patient. "I don't think it's appropriate to ask generally, but if there's some reason to do so." Yoder said he doesn't think this could affect how many people get help. "I suppose it could, in the part of someone with real criminal intent. But I'm not sure that's an issue that will be significant," Yoder said. Obama also proposed to send state health official's information regarding the coverage a person gets under Medicare and Medicaid. Mental health coverage for young people is also under the proposals. powered by Disqus WSVF Public Inspection File
Monty Python's Flying Circus From Wikiquote Jump to: navigation, search And now for something completely different… Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969–1974) was a British sketch comedy television show. Series 1[edit] Whither Canada? [1.01][edit] Whizzo Butter[edit] Various Pepperpots: It's true… We can't… No. Interviewer: [humbly] Yes, yes… Various Pepperpots: Yeah, yeah. It's the Arts[edit] Interviewer: Get your own arts programme, you fairy! The Funniest Joke in the World[edit] Reporter: This morning, shortly after 11:00, comedy struck this little house on Dibley Road. Sudden...violent...comedy. Voiceover: It was a fantastic success. Over 60,000 times as powerful as Britain's great pre-war joke [Cut to stock footage of Neville Chamberlain returning from Munich and holding up the Munich Agreement, the "this is peace in our time"-bit.], and one which Hitler just couldn't match. [Cut to stock footage of Hitler giving a speech.] Hitler: [subtitle] My dog's got no nose! Soldier: [subtitle] How does he smell? Hitler: [subtitle] Awful! Sex and Violence [1.02][edit] Ken: I'll tell you what's wrong with you: your head's addled with novels and poems! You come home reeking of Chateau La Tour! And look what you've done to mother! She's worn out from meeting film stars, attending premieres, and giving gala luncheons! Dad: THERE'S NAUGHT WRONG WITH GALA LUNCHES, LAD! I've had more gala luncheons than you've had hot dinners! [grabs arm and screams] Mum: Oh no! Ken: What is it? Mum: Oh, it's his writer's cramp! Ken: You never told me about this... Mum: No, we didn't like to, Kenny. Dad: I'm all right! I'm all right, woman. Just get him out of here. Mum: Oh Ken! You'd better go ... Ken: All right. I'm going. Dad: After all we've done for him... Dad: Get out! Get out! Get OUT! You ... LABOURER! Announcer: And the results of Epilogue: God exists by two falls to a submission. How to Recognise Different Types of Trees From Quite a Long Way Away [1.03][edit] How to Recognise Different Types of Trees From Quite a Long Way Away[edit] [A projector clicks to a slide showing a tree.] The Announcer: No. 1: The Larch. The Larch. The Larch. Nudge, Nudge[edit] Man: Look, are you insinuating something? Arthur Nudge: Oh, no no no no... yes. Man: Well? Arthur Nudge: Well, you're a man of the world, squire... you've been there, you've been around. Man: What do you mean? Arthur Nudge: Well, I mean, you've done it... you've slept... with a lady. Man: Yes. Arthur Nudge: What's it like? Bicycle Repair Man[edit] Superman One: Oh look... is it a stockbroker? Superman Two: Is it a quantity Surveyor? Superman Three: Is it a church warden? All Supermen: NO! It's Bicycle Repair Man! Owl Stretching Time [1.04][edit] Colonel: Watkins, why did you join the army? Watkins: For the water-skiing and the travel, sir. Not for the killing, sir. I asked them to put it on my form, sir: "no killing". Colonel: Watkins, are you a pacifist? Watkins: No, sir. I'm not a pacifist, sir: I'm a coward. Colonel: [disgusted] That's a very silly line. Sit down! Teacher: [to a student] So, we want to learn about pointed sticks, do we? Feeling all high and mighty, eh? Fresh fruit not good enough, eh? Oh, oh, oh. Well, let me tell you something, my lad! When you're walking home tonight, and some homicidal maniac comes after you with a bunch of loganberries, don't come crying to me! Man's Crisis of Identity in the Latter Half of the Twentieth Century [1.05][edit] Encyclopedia Salesman: Burglar! [rings again] Burglar! [woman appears at other side of door] Woman: Yes? Encyclopedia Salesman: Burglar, madam. Woman: What do you want? Encyclopedia Salesman: I want to come in and steal a few things, madam. Woman: Are you an encyclopaedia salesman? Encyclopedia Salesman: No madam, I'm a burglar, I burgle people. Woman: I think you're an encyclopaedia salesman. Encyclopedia Salesman: Oh I'm not, open the door, let me in please. Woman: If I let you in you'll sell me encyclopaedias. Encyclopedia Salesman: I won't, madam. I just want to come in and ransack the flat. Honestly. Woman: Promise? No encyclopaedias? Encyclopedia Salesman: None at all. Woman: All right. [she opens door] You'd better come in then. Encyclopedia Salesman: Mind you, I don't know whether you've really considered the advantages of owning a really fine set of modern encyclopaedias... You know, they can really do you wonders. Policeman: I must warn you, sir, that outside I have police dog Josephine, who is not only armed and trained to sniff out certain substances but is also a junkie. It's the Arts [1.06][edit] Mr. Figgis: Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, Liszt, Brahms, Panties ...I'm sorry ... Schumann, Schubert, Mendelssohn and Bach. Names that will live for ever. But there is one composer whose name is never included with the greats, why is it the world never remembered the name of Johann Gambolputty de von Ausfern-schplenden-schlitter-crasscrenbon-fried-digger-dangle-dongle-dungle-burstein-Von-knacker-thrasher-apple-banger-horowitz-ticolensic-grander-knotty-spelltinkle-grandlich-grumblemeyer-spelterwasser-kurstlich-himbleeisen-bahnwagen-gutenabend-bitte-ein-nürnburger-bratwurstle-gerspurten-mit-zwei-macheluber-hundsfut-gumberaber-shoenendanker-kalbsfleisch-mittler-aucher von Hautkopft of Ulm? Superintendant Praline: Now, this item, "Crunchy Frog". Am I to understand there's a real frog in here? Whizzo Chocolate Company owner: Yes, a little one. Superintendant Praline: What sort of frog? Whizzo Chocolate Company owner: A dead frog. Superintendant Praline: Is it cooked? Whizzo Chocolate Company owner: No. Superintendant Praline: What, a raw frog?! Superintendant Praline: That's as may be — it's still a frog! Do you even take the bones out? Whizzo Chocolate Company owner: If we took the bones out, it wouldn't be crunchy, would it? You're No Fun Anymore [1.07][edit] Police officer: A blancmange, eh? Woman: That's right. I was just playing a game of doubles with Sandra, Jocasta, Alec and David, when... Police Officer: Hold on. That's five. Five people! How'd you play doubles with five people? Sounds a bit funny if you ask me, playing doubles with five people! Woman: Well, we often play like that. Jocasta plays on the side, receiving service. It helps to speed the game up and make it a lot faster, and Jocasta isn't left out. Police Officer: Look, are you asking me to believe that the five of you was playing doubles, while on the very next court there was a blancmange playing by itself? Woman: That's right. Police Officer: Well, answer me this, then: Why didn't Jocasta play the blancmange at singles, while you and Sandra and Alec and David played a proper game of doubles with four people? Woman: Because Jocasta always plays with us! She's a friend of ours! Police Officer: Call that friendship? Messing up a perfectly good game of doubles? Woman: It's not messing it up, officer! We like to play with five! Police Officer: Look, it's your affair if you want to play with five people, but don't go calling it doubles! At Wimbledon, if Fred Stolle and Tony Roche played Charlie Passarell and Cliff Drysdale and Peaches Bartkowicz, they woudn't go calling it doubles! Woman: Well, what about the blancmange? Police Officer: That could play Ann Haydon-Jones and her husband, Pip! [to a man whose wife has been eaten alive by a blancmange] Detective Inspector: I think what's happened is terribly, terribly funny... er, tragic! Full Frontal Nudity [1.08][edit] Dead Parrot Sketch[edit] Mr. Praline: It's not pining, it's passed on! This parrot is no more! It has ceased to be! It's expired and gone to meet its maker! This is a late parrot! It's a stiff! Bereft of life, it rests in peace! If you hadn't nailed it to the perch, it would be pushing up the daisies! It's metabolic processes are now history! He's off the twig! He's kicked the bucket, he's shuffled off the mortal coil, rung down the curtain and joined the choir invisible. This is an ex-parrot! 20th Century Vole[edit] [Mr Salzburg has just fired two of his writers for his new film, and is closing in on another one] Mr Salzburg: You! Writer #4: Ah, well, I... I think it's an excellent idea! Mr. Salzburg: Are you a yes man? Writer #4: No! I mean, I have a few things against it! Mr. Salzburg: So you think it's lousy! Writer #4: No, no! I mean, it takes time! Writer #4: Yo! Nes! Perhaps! [runs out the door] The Ant, an Introduction [1.09][edit] Arthur Wilson: [talking to George Head about the trek to Mt. Kilinmanjaro, after he explains about the route] Does anyone speak Swahili? George Head: Oh, I think most of them do down there. Arthur Wilson: Does anyone in our party speak Swahili, sir? George Head: Well, the matron's got a smattering. Arthur Wilson: Apart from the two matrons. George Head: Good God! I forgot about that. Arthur Wilson: Apart from them, who else is coming? George Head: Well, we've got the Arthur Brown twins, two botanists called Maychen, the William Johnston brothers- Arthur Wilson: Two of them? George Head: No, four of them; pair of identical twins. And a couple of the Ken Zobana quads; the other four pulled out. And of course, you two. Woman: I object to all this sex on the television. I mean, I keep falling off. Bevis: [explaining his fear of cutting hair to his customer] When I was a kid I used to hate the sight of hair being cut. My mother said I was a fool. She said the only way to cure it was to become a barber! So I spent five ghastly years at the Hairdressers' Training Centre at Totnes. Can you imagine what it's like; cutting the same hair for five years?! I didn't want to be a barber anyway. I wanted to be... a lumberjack! Bevis: I always preferred the outdoor life…hunting…shooting…fishing…getting out there with a gun and slaughtering a few of God’s creatures. Kenny Lust: Now, every so often here in the Refreshment Room it is my honor, my privilege, to welcome some the truly great international artists. And tonight we have one such artist. Ladies and gentlemen, someone who've I've always personally admired. More deeply, more strongly, more abjectly than anyone before. A man, no, more than a man, a god! A great god whose personality is so totally and utterly wonderful, that my feeble words of welcome sound wretchedly and pathetically inadequate. Someone whose boots I would gladly lick clean, until holes wore through my tounge! A man who is so totally and utterly wonderful, that I would rather be sealed in a pit of my filth than dare tread on the same stage with him. Ladies and gentlemen, the incomparably superior human being, Harry Fink! [crowd applauds] Stage-hand: He can't come! Kenny Lust: Never mind. He's not all that's cracked up to be. Kenny Lust: Ken Buddha. A smile, two bangs, and a religion. Spanish TV Host: "Pero las llamas son peligrosas. Si usted ve una llama donde hay gente nadando, usted gritar: ¡Cuidado! ¡Llamas!" ["Llamas are dangerous, so if you see one where people are swimming, you shout: Look out, there are Llamas!"] The Lumberjack Song[edit] Bevis: [sung] I cut down trees, I eat my lunch, I go to the lavatory. On Wednesdays I'll go shopping, and have buttered scones for tea. Mounties Choir: [sung] He cuts down trees, he eats his lunch, he goes to the lavatory. On Wednesdays, he goes shopping, and has buttered scones for tea. He's a lumberjack and he's OK, he sleeps all night and he works all day. Bevis: [sung] I cut down trees, I skip and jump, I like to press wildflowers. I put own womens' clothing, and hang around in bars. Mounties Choir: [sung] He cuts down trees, he skips and jumps, he likes to press wildflowers. He puts on womens' clothing, and hangs around- [starts to show signs of disgust] -in bars? [perk back up] He's a lumberjack, and he's OK, he sleeps all night and he works all day. Bevis: [sung] I cut down trees, I wear high heels, suspenders, and a bra. I wish I'd been a girlie, just like my dear Mama! Mountie Choir: [sung] He cuts down trees, he wears- high heels? [choir storms out in revulsion, as Bevis continues singing, to his Best Girlie's dismay] Bevis's Best Girlie: Oh, Bevis. And I thought you were so rugged! [runs off crying] Man: [letter read aloud] Dear Sir, I wish to complain in the strongest possible terms about the song which had just broadcast about the lumberjack who wears women's clothes. Many of my best friends are lumberjacks and only a few of them are transvestites. Yours faithfully, Brigadier Sir Charles Arthur Strong (Ms.). P.S. I have never kissed the editor of the Radio Times. The Visitors[edit] Victor: [to his girlfriend Iris] I think I'm beginning to fall in love with you. It's silly isn't it? Iris: No, not at all, sweet Victor. Victor: No, I didn't mean that. I meant the fact we've spent time close together for so many months in the soft toy department, yet never truly daring to- Iris: [bemused] Oh, Victor. Victor: Oh, Iris. Arthur Name: [at the door, greeting Victor] Hello! Remember me? In the pub; the tall thin one, with the moustache, about three years ago? Victor: Well, uh- Arthur Name: Ay, it's dark in here. [turns on the lights] That's better; you told me we must have a drink together sometime, so I decided to take you up on it, as the phone society meeting was cancelled. [turns towards Iris] 'Ello! I'm Arthur, Arthur Name. Name by name, but not by nature. I alsways say that, don't I Vicky boy? Is she your wife? Victor: Not really, but- Arthur Name: Oh, I get the picture. Don't mind me; I know all about one-night stands. Victor: [insulted] I beg your pardon?! Arthur Name: Here's a joke I heard down in the pub: what's brown, and sounds like a bell? Dung! Mr. Equator: [introducing himself to Victor] Good evening. I'm Equator; Mr. Equator. Like 'round the middle of the Earth, only with an L. Audrey: [laughs hysterically] Mr. Equator: And this is my wife, Audrey. She smells a bit, but she has a heart of gold. Victor: There must be some kind of mistake, because this isn't- Mr. Equator: [of Iris] Who's she? Who's the bird? Victor: I- Mr. Equator: You've got a nice pair there, haven't you, love? [fondles Iris by the breasts and kisses her, causing her to spazz out] Shut up, you silly bitch. It's only a bit of fun. Audrey: [as Arthur Name is getting drinks for everyone] Three cans of beans for me. Mr. Equator: I told you to lay off the beans, you whore! Audrey: I only want three cans! Mr. Equator: BUTTON YOUR LIP, YOU RATBAG!! [both burst into hysterical laughter] That was rather witty, wasn't it? Goatkeeper: [coughing as he carries in a goat by the leash] I had to bring the goat; he's not well. I only hope he don't go on the carpet. Goatkeeper: The goat's done a bundle! Victor: Get out! All of you; get out!! Mr. Equator: I beg your pardon? Victor: I'm throwing you all out! I'm not going to have my house filled with filthy perverts. Now, I'm giving you half a minute to leave or I'm calling the police! Mr. Equator: I don't much like the tone of your voice. [shoots Victor dead] Untitled [1.10][edit] Vocational Guidance Counselor Sketch[edit] Mr. Anchovy: I've been a chartered accountant for 20 years. I want a new job. Something exciting that will let me live! Counselor: Well, chartered accoutancy is a rather exciting job, isn't it? Mr. Anchovy: Exciting?! No, it's not! It's dull! Dull, dull, my God it's dull! It's so dull and tedious and stuffy and boring and desperately dull! The First Man to Jump The Channel[edit] Interviewer: Ron, now let's just get this quite clear - you're intending to jump across the English Channel? Ron Obvious: Oh yes, that is correct, yes. Interviewer: And, er, just how far is that? Ron Obvious: Oh, well it's 26 miles from here to Calais. Interviewer: And that's to the beach of Calais? Ron Obvious: Well, no, no, provided I get a good lift off and maybe a gust of breeze over the French coast, I shall be jumping into the centre of Calais itself. [Shows brief clip of some Frenchmen in Calais standing under a sign that says "Fin de Cross Channel Jump"] Interviewer: Ron are you using any special techniques to jump this great distance? Ron Obvious: Oh no, no. I shall be using an ordinary two-footed jump, er, straight up in the air and across the Channel. Interviewer: I see. Er, Ron, what is the furthest distance that you've jumped, er, so far? Ron Obvious: Er, oh, eleven foot six inches at Motspur Park on July 22nd. Er, but I have done nearly twelve feet unofficially. Interviewer: Mr. Vercotti, what is your chief task as Ron's manager? Luigi Vercotti: Well my main task is, er, to fix a sponsor for the big jump. Interviewer: And who is the sponsor? Luigi Vercotti: The Chippenham Brick Company. Ah, they, er, pay all the bills, er, in return for which Ron will be carrying half a hundredweight of their bricks. [Ron is having his passport checked by a customs officer] Interviewer: I see. Well, er, it looks as if Ron is ready now. He's got the bricks. He's had his passport checked and he's all set to go. And he's off on the first ever cross-Channel jump. [Ron runs down the beach and jumps. He lands about four feet into the water] Will Ron be trying the cross Channel jump again soon? Luigi Vercotti: No. No. I'm taking him off the jumps, Er, because I've got something lined up for Ron next week that I think is very much more up his street. Interviewer: And what is that? Luigi Vercotti: Uh, Ron is going to eat Chichester Cathedral. [Cuts to Ron approaching Chichester Cathedral, brushing his teeth] Interviewer: Well, there he goes, Ron Obvious of Neepsend, in an attempt which could make him the first man ever to eat an entire Anglican Cathedral. [Ron finishes brushing his teeth, puts on a bib, and flexes his jaws before biting into the corner of a buttress and breaking his jaw] [The interviewer and Vercotti are walking alongside a railroad track] Interviewer: Mr. Vercotti, what do you say to people who accuse you of exploiting Ron for your own purposes? Luigi Vercotti: Well, it's totally untrue, David. Ever since I left Sicily I've been trying to do the best for Ron. I know what Ron wants to do, I believe in him and l'm just trying to create the opportunities for Ron to do the kind of things he wants to do. Interviewer: And what's he going to do today? Luigi Vercotti: He's going to split a railway carriage with his nose. [A scream is heard off screen] [The interviewer is seen standing with Vercotti beneath a ramp with a banner that says "Running to Mercury"] Luigi Vercotti: The only difficult bit for Ron is getting out of the Earth's atmosphere, but once he's in orbit he'll be able to run straight to Mercury. [Wrapped from head to toe in bandages from his previous exploits, Ron hobbles onto the ramp, and as he goes off the edge of the ramp, the scene freeze-frames in mid-jump and another scream is heard.] The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Goes to the Bathroom [1.11][edit] The Agatha Christie sketch[edit] Colonel Pickering: You don't want anybody to leave the room. Inspector Tiger: [clicking fingers to indicate Colonel Pickering has hit the nail on the head] Now, alduce me to introlow myslef. I'm sorry. Alself me to myduce introlow myslef. Introme-to-lose mlow alself. Alme to you introself mylowduce. Excuse me a moment. [bangs himself on the side of the head] Allow me to introduce myself. I'm afraid I must ask that no one leave the room. Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Inspector Tiger. Everybody: Tiger? Inspector Tiger: [whirling around] WHERE? WHERE? Chief Constable There'samanbehindyou: Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Chief Constable There'samanbehindyou. Everybody: There's a man behind you? Chief Constable There'samanbehindyou: No, you're not going to fool me with that one. The Naked Ant [1.12][edit] Mr. Bimmler: Pleased to meet you, squire. I also am not of Minehead but I in Peterborough Lincolnshire's house was given birth to. But am staying in Peterborough Lincolnshire house all time during vor, due to nasty running sores , and vos unable to go in the streets and play football or go to Nuremburg. ah. Am retired vindow cleaner and pacifist, who's not doing war crimes. Oh... and am glad England vin Vorld Cup. Bobby Charlton. Martin Peters. And eating lots of chips and fish and hole in the toads and Dundee cakes on Piccadilly Line, don't you know old chap, And I vos head of Gestapo for 10 years. [Mr. Hilter elbows him in the ribs] Five years! [Hilter elbows him again, harder] No! No! Nein! Vos not head of Gestapo at ALL! I make joke! Intermission [1.13][edit] Head Waiter: This is a vegetarian restaurant — we serve no meat of any kind. We're not only proud of that, we're smug about it. Surgeon: Mr. Notlob, there's nothing wrong with you that an expensive operation can't prolong. Series 2[edit] Face the Press [2.01][edit] Interviewer: Minister, in your plan, "A Better Britain For Us", you promised to build 88 thousand million billion houses a year in the greater London area alone. In fact, you've built only three in the last 15 years. The Piranha Brothers[edit] Vince: One day, I was sitting at home, threatening the kids, when this tank drives up. One of Dinsdale's boys gets out all nice and friendly like, and says Dinsdale wants to have a talk with me. So, he chains me to the back of the tank, and takes me for a scrape round to Dinsdale's place. Dinsdale's there in the conversation pit with Doug, Charles Paisley the Baby Crusher, a couple of film producers and a fellow called Kierkegaard who just sits there, biting the heads off whippets. And Dinsdale says 'I hear you've been a naughty boy, Clement', and he splits my nostrils open, saws my leg off and pulls my liver out. And I says, 'My name's not Clement', and then he loses his temper and nails my head to the floor. Interviewer: Was there anything unusual about Dinsdale? Woman: Certainly not! He was perfectly normal in every way! Except... inasmuch as he thought he was being followed by a giant hedgehog named Spiny Norman. Interviewer:Doug and Dinsdale Piranha were born on probation in this house Kipling Road,Suffolk the eldest sons in a family of sixteen.Their father, Arthur Piranha, a scrap metal dealer and local T.V. Quizmaster, was known by the police and a devout Catholic The Spanish Inquisition [2.02][edit] Reg: Mr. Wentworth just told me to come in here and say that there was trouble at the mill, that's all—I didn't expect a kind of Spanish Inquisition! [Three men in red uniforms burst through the door] Cardinal Ximinez: Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition! "It's" Man: I would tax Raquel Welch. I have a feeling she'd tax me. Judge Kilbraken: [referring to his death sentence for contempt of court] Blimey! I didn't expect the Spanish Inquisition. [The whole court expectantly looks towards the door. Cut to the Inquisition running out of a house in suburbia and leaping onto a bus] Ximinez: Two, er, three to the Old Bailey please. [Credits start] Biggles: Look, they've started the credits. Ximinez: Hurry. Hurry. Hurry. Biggles: Come on, hurry. Hurry! Ximinez: There's the lighting credit, only five left. Hell, it's the producer—quick! [The Inquistion leaps off the bus and bursts through into the courtroom] Ximinez: Nobody expects the Spa... [Smash cut to a frame saying "The End"] Oh bugger! Déjà Vu [2.03][edit] Doctor: [emerging from under a Scotsman's kilt] Look, would you please go away? I'm trying to examine this man! It's all right, I'm a doctor... actually I'm a gynaecologist, but this is my lunch hour. Psychiatrist Milkman: Mrs. Ratbag, if you don't mind me saying so, you're badly in need of an expensive course of psychiatric treatment. Now, I'm not going to say that a trip to our dairy will cure you, but it will give hundreds of lower-paid workers a good laugh. The Buzz Aldrin Show [2.04][edit] Architects sketch[edit] Client 1: Excuse me. Mr. Wiggin: Yes? Client 1: Did you say 'knives'? Mr. Wiggin: Rotating knives, yes. Client 1: Not really. We asked for a simple block of flats. Live from the Grill-o-Mat [2.05][edit] Padre: Sorry I'm late, head master. I've been wrestling with Plato. Head Master: What you do in your own time, padre, is written on the wall in the vestry! Man: Good morning, I'd care to purchase a chicken, please. Vendor: Don't come here with that posh talk, you nasty, stuck-up twit! Man: I beg your pardon? Vendor: A chicken, sir? Certainly. Here we are. Man: Thank you. And how much does that come to per pound, my good fellow? Vendor: Per pound, you slimy trollop? What kind of a ponce are you? Man: I'm sorry? Vendor: Four and six a pound, sir. Nice and ready for roasting. Man: I see. And I'd care to purchase some stuffing in addition, please. Vendor: Use your own, you great poofy poll-nagger! Man: What? Vendor: Certainly, sir, some stuffing. Man: Oh, thank you. Vendor: Oh, "thank you", says the great queen, like a la-di-da pooftah! Man: I beg your pardon? Vendor: That's alright, sir, call again! Man: Excuse me... Vendor: What is it now, you great pillock?! Man: I can't help but notice that you insult me, and then you're polite to me, alternately. Vendor: Oh, I'm terribly sorry to hear that, sir! Man: Oh, that's all right. It doesn't really matter. Vendor: Tough titty if it did, you nasty, spotted prancer! It's A Living [2.06][edit] Announcer: And we move to Bristol where they have a special, Very Silly candidate... Election Offical: Malcolm Peter-Brian-Telescope-Adrian-Umbrella Stand-Jasper-Wednesday-[pop]-Stoat Gobbler-John-Raw Vegetable-[bark]-Arthur-Norman-Michael-[honk]-Featherstone-Smith-[whistle]-Northgot-Edwards-Harris-[bang]-WOOOOOO-Mason-chuffchuffchuffchuff-Frampton-Jones-Fruit Bat-Gilbert-we'll keep a welcome in the-[bang bang bang]-Williams-If I could Walk That Way-Jenkin-[vvvt vvt vvvt vvvvewwww]-Tiger Drawers-Pratt-Thompson-Raindrops keep falling on my head-Darcy-Carter-[honk]-Pussycat-Don't sleep in the subway-Barton-Mannering-[squeek]-mmmmm-Smith... Anouncer: Very Silly Party. Election Offical: Two votes. The Attila the Hun Show [2.07][edit] Cyril: In the debate, a spokesman accused the goverment of being silly and doing not at all good things. The member accepted this in the spirit of healthy criticism, but denied that he had ever been naughty with a choir boy. Angry shouts of 'What about the watermelon then?' were ordered then by the speaker to be stricken from the record and put into a brown paper bag in the lavvy. Any further interruptions would be cut up and distributed amongst the poor. For the Government, a front-bench spokesman said the Agricultural Tariff would have to be raised, and he fancied a bit. Futhermore, he argued, this would give a large boost to farmers, and a great deal of fun to him, his friends, and Miss Moist of Knightsbridge. From the back benches there were opposition shouts of 'Postcards for sale' and a healthy cry of 'Who likes a sailor then?' from the Minister Without Portfolio. Replying, the Shadow Minister said he could no longer deny the rumors, but he and the Dachshund were very happy. And in any case, he argued, rhubarb was cheap, and what was the harm in a sauna bath? Archaeology Today [2.08][edit] Hank Spim: I love animals, that's why I like to kill 'em. Reverend Arthur Belling: There are a great many people in the country today, who through no fault of their own, are sane. Some of them were born sane, while others became sane later in their lives. It is up to people like you and me, who are out of our tiny little minds, to help them overcome their sanity. You can start in small ways, with ping pong ball eyes and a funny voice, and then perhaps paint half of your body red and their other half green, and then stand in a bowl of treacle going "SQWAK SQWAK SQWAK!" Finally, you can roll around on the floor going "p'ting p'ting p'ting!" Announcer: The Reverend Arthur Belling is vicar at the St. Loony Up the Cream Bun and Jam. How to Recognise Different Parts of the Body [2.09][edit] Bruce sketch[edit] Bruce: Rule 1 — no pooftahs. Rule 2 — no member of the faculty is to maltreat the abos in any way whatsoever if there's anyone watching. Rule 3 — no pooftahs. Rule 4 — I don't want to catch any of you not drinking after lights out. Rule 5 — no pooftahs. Rule 6 — there is NO Rule 6. Rule 7 — no pooftahs! Fourth Bruce: Bruce, I call upon you to close our meeting with a prayer. First Bruce: Oh Lord, we beseech thee etc., etc., etc., Amen. All Bruces: Amen! First Bruce: Right. Now let's get some Sheilas. Exploding Penguin sketch[edit] Radio Announcer: That was Part 2 of the death of Mary Queen of Scots; adapted for the radio. And now, Radio Four will explode. [interval music plays until the radio suddenly combusts] Pepperpot 1: We'll have to watch the telly then. Pepperpot 2: Yes. Pepperpot 1: Well, what's on the television then? Pepperpot 2: Looks like a penguin. Pepperpot 1: No, no, no, no! I didn't mean 'what's on the television set?' I meant 'what program?' Pepperpot 2: Oh. Pepperpot 2: Funny that penguin being there, isn't it? What's it doing there? Pepperpot 1: Standing. Pepperpot 2: I can see that! Pepperpot 1: If it lays an egg, it will fall down the back of the television set. Pepperpot 2: We'll have to watch that. Unless it's a male. Pepperpot 1: Ooh, I hadn't thought of that. Pepperpot 2: Yes. Looks fairly butch. Pepperpot 1: Perhaps it comes from next door. Pepperpot 2: Penguins don't come from next door; they come from the Antarctic! Pepperpot 1: BURMA! Pepperpot 2: Why'd you say 'Burma'? Pepperpot 1: I panicked. Pepperpot 2: Perhaps it's from the zoo. Pepperpot 1: Which zoo? Pepperpot 2: How should I know which zoo? I'm not Dr. Bloody Bronowski! Pepperpot 1: How does Dr. Bronowski know which zoo it came from? Pepperpot 2: He knows everything. Pepperpot 1: Ooh, I wouldn't like that. It'd take all the mystery out of life. Anyway, if it came from the zoo, it'd have 'Property of the Zoo' stamped on it. Pepperpot 2: No it wouldn't. They don't stamp animals 'Property of the Zoo'! You couldn't stamp a huge lion! Pepperpot 1: They stamp them when they're small. Pepperpot 2: What happens when they moult? Pepperpot 1: Lions don't moult! Pepperpot 2: No, but penguins do. There! I've run rings around you, logically. Pepperpot 1: Oh, intercourse the penguin! . . . TV Announcer: It's just gone eight o'clock and time for the penguin on top of your television set to explode. [The penguin explodes] Pepperpot 1: How did he know that was going to happen? TV Announcer: It was an inspired guess. And now... Scott of the Antarctic [2.10][edit] Vanilla Hoare: Look, you crumb bum, I'm a star. Star, star, star! I don't get a million dollars to act out of a trench. I played Mrs. St John the Baptist in a trench, and I played Mrs. Napoleon Bonaparte in a trench, and I played Mrs. Alexander Fleming in a furrow, so if you want this scene played out of a trench, well you just get yourself a goddamn stuntman! I played Mrs. Galileo in a groove and I played Mrs. Jesus Christ in a geological syncline! Mr. Last: You've got a pet halibut? Mr. Praline: Yes. I chose him out of a thousand. I didn't like the others; they were all too flat. Mr. Last: You're a loony! Mr. Praline: I AM NOT A LOONY! Why should I be tarred with the epithet "loony" merely because I have a pet halibut? I've heard tell that Sir Gerald Nabarro has a pet prawn called Simon, and you wouldn't call Sir Gerald a loony, would you? Furthermore, Dawn Pelforth, the lady show jumper, had a clam called Sir Stefford after the late Chancellor, Allen Bullock has two pikes, both called Norman, and the late, great Marcel Proust had a haddock! If you're calling the author of À la recherche du temps perdu a loony, I shall have to ask you to step outside! How Not To Be Seen [2.11][edit] Fourth City Gent: Well, I've been in the city for 30 years and I've never once regretted being a nasty, greedy, cold-hearted, avaricious money-grubber... er, Conservative! Reverend Gumby: I believe in peace, and bashing two bricks together! Silly Reverend: We at the Church of the Divine Loony believe in the power of prayer to turn the face purple! Spam [2.12][edit] Hungarian Phrasebook[edit] Narrator: In 1970 the British Empire lay in ruins, foreign nationals frequented the streets, many of them Hungarians (not the streets—the foreign nationals). Anyway, many of these Hungarians went into tobacconists shops to buy cigarettes... Hungarian: My hovercraft is full of eels. [A Hungarian man is reading a badly translated Hungarian-to-English phrase book] Police Officer: What's going on here? Hungarian: You have wonderful thighs. Police Officer: What? Hungarian: Drop your panties, Sir William! I cannot wait til' lunchtime! Police Officer: Right! [arrests the Hungarian] Hungarian: My nipples explode with delight! Mrs Bun: Have you got anything without Spam? Waitress: Well, Spam, egg, sausage, and Spam; that's not got much Spam in it. Mrs Bun: I don't want any Spam! Mr Bun: Why can't she have egg, bacon, Spam, and sausage? Mrs Bun: That's got Spam in it! Mr Bun: Not as much as Spam, egg, sausage, and Spam, Mrs. Bun: Look, could I have egg, bacon, Spam and sausage, without the Spam? Waitress: Bleurgh! Mrs. Bun: What do you mean "Ugh?" I don't like Spam! Vikings: [singing] Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam... Lovely Spam! Wonderful Spam! Waitress: You can't have egg, bacon, Spam and sausage without the Spam. Mrs. Bun: Why not?! Waitress: Well, it wouldn't be egg, bacon, Spam and sausage, would it? Mr. Bun: No need to kick up a fuss, dear; I'll have your Spam. I love it! I'm having Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, baked beans, Spam, Spam, Spam and Spam! Waitress: Baked beans are off. Mr. Bun: In that case, can I have Spam instead? Waitress: You mean Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, and Spam? Mr. Bun: Yes! Waitress: Bleurgh! Royal Episode 13 (or The Queen Will Be Watching) [2.13][edit] Lifeboat Sketch[edit] Sailor 1: Still no sign of land. How long is it? Sailor 2: That's a rather personal question, sir. Sailor 1: You stupid git! I meant 'how long have we been in the lifeboat?' You've spoiled the atmosphere! Sailor 2: Sorry, sir. Sailor 1: Shut up! We'll have to start again. Still no sign of land. How long is it? Sailor 2: 33 days, sir. Sailor 3: 33 days? Sailor 2: I don't think we can hold out much longer. I don't think I did spoil the atmosphere that time. Sailor 1: Shut up! Sailor 2: Well, I don't think I did! Sailor 1: Of course you did! Sailor 1: Do you think I spoiled the atmosphere? Sailor 3: Yes, I think you did. Sailor 1: Look, shut up! Shut up! Still no sign of land. How long is it? Sailor 2: 33 days, sir. Sailor 4: Have we started again? Undertaker Sketch[edit] Man: Excuse me, are you suggesting eating my mother? Undertaker: Well, yeah. Not raw, cooked! Man: What? Undertaker: Roasted, few french fries, broccoli, horsheradish sauce. [licks lips] Man: Well... I do feel a bit peckish. Undertaker: Great! Man: Can we have some parsnips? Undertaker: [calls out behind the desk] Get some parsnips! Man: I really don't think I should... Undertaker: Look, we'll eat her, and if you're feeling a bit guilty about it afterwards, we'll dig a grave and you can throw up in it! Series 3[edit] Njorl's Saga [3.01][edit] Mrs Conclusion: Hello, Mrs Premise. Mrs Premise: Hello, Mrs Conclusion. Mrs Conclusion: Busy day? Mrs Premise: Busy! I've just spent four hours burying the cat. Mrs Conclusion: Four hours to bury a cat? Mrs Premise: Yes, it wouldn't keep still. Wriggling about, howling its head off. Mrs Conclusion: Oh - it wasn't dead then? Mrs Premise: Well, no, no, but it's not at all a well cat. So, as we were going away for a fortnight's holiday, I thought I'd better bury it just to be on the safe side. Mrs Conclusion: Quite right. You don't want to come back from Sorento to a dead cat. It'd be so anticlimactic. Yes, kill it now, that's what I say. Mrs Premise: Yes. Mrs Conclusion: We're going to have our budgie put down. Mrs Premise: Really? Is it very old? Mrs Conclusion: No. We just don't like it. Third Whicker: Father Pierre, why did you stay on in this colonial Campari-land where the clink of glasses mingles with the murmur of a million mosquitoes, where waterfalls of whisky wash away the worries of a world-weary Whicker, where gin and tonic jingle in a gyroscopic jubilee of something beginning with J? Father Pierre, why did you stay on here? Father Pierre: [putting on a pair of Whicker-style glasses] Well, mainly for the interviews. Mr. & Mrs. Brian Norris' Ford Popular [3.02][edit] Mrs. Shazam: Mrs. Nigger-Baiter's exploded! Mrs. Shazam's son: Good thing, too. Mrs. Shazam: She was my best friend! Mrs. Shazam's son: Oh, don't be so sentimental, mother. Things explode everyday. The Money Programme [3.03][edit] Man: Strawberry tart?! Woman: Well it's got some rat in it. Man: How much? Woman: Three, rather a lot really. The Argument Clinic[edit] Mr. Vibrating: I'm very sorry, but I'm not allowed to argue unless you've paid. Man: Aha! If I didn't pay, then why are you arguing? Got you! Mr. Vibrating: No you haven't. Man: Yes I have. If you're still arguing, I must have paid. Mr. Vibrating: Not necessarily. I could be arguing in my spare time. Man: Oh, I've had enough of this! Mr. Vibrating: No, you haven't. Man: Oh, shut up! Blood, Devastation, Death, War and Horror [3.04][edit] Merchant Banker: Ah, Mr. Victim, I'm glad to say we've got the go-ahead to lend you the money you required. We will, of course, need for security the deed to your house, the deed to your aunt's house, of your wife's parents' house, and of your granny's bungalow. And we will in addition need a controlling interest in the stock of your new company, unrestricted access to your private bank accounts, the deposit of your three children in our vaults as hostages, and a full legal indemnity in case of any embezzlement carried out against you by members of our staff during the normal course of their duties. No, I'm afraid we couldn't accept your dog instead of your youngest child, but we would like to suggest a brand new scheme of ours in which 51 percent of your wife and your dog pass to us in the event of your suffering a serious accident. The All-England Summarize Proust Competition [3.05][edit] Arthur Mee: Well, ladies and gentlemen, I don't think any of our contestants tonight succeeded in encapsulating the intricacies of Proust's masterwork. So, I'm going to give the award to the girl with the biggest tits. Narrator: Mount Everest. Forbidding. Aloof. Terrifying. The mountain with the biggest tits in the world. The War Against Pornography [3.06][edit] Documentary Presenter: The gastropod is a randy little fellow whose tiny brain scarcely strays from the subject of you-know-what. The randiest of the gastropods is the limpet; this hot-blooded little beast, with its tent-like shell, is always on the job. Its extramarital activities are something startling. Frankly, I don't know how the female limpet finds the time to adhere to the rock face! How am I doing? Gladys: Disgusting! George: But more interesting! Documentary Presenter: Another loose-living gastropod is the periwinkle. This shameless little libertine with its characteristic ventral locomotion is not the marrying kind! "Anywhere, anytime" is its motto, off with the shell and they're at it! Gladys: What about the lemmelebrates? Documentary Presenter: I'm coming to them. The Great Scallop: This tacky, scrofulous old rapist is second in depravity only to the common clam. This latter is a right whore! A harlot! A cynical, bed-hopping, firm-breasted, Rabelaisian bit of seafood that makes Fanny Hill look like a dead pope! And finally, among the lemmelebrate bivalves, that most depraved of the whole subspecies, the whelk. The whelk is nothing but a homosexual of the worst kind! This gay boy of the gastropods, this queer crustacian, this mincing mollusk, this screaming, prancing, limp-wristed queen of the deep makes me sick! Announcer: We would like to apologize for the way in which politicians are represented in this programme. It was never our intention to imply that politicians are weak-kneed, political time-servers who are more concerned with their personal vendettas and private power struggles than the problems of government. Nor to suggest at any point that they sacrifice their credibility by denying free debate on vital matters in the mistaken impression that party unity comes before the well-being of the people they supposedly represent. Nor to imply at any stage that they are squabbling little toadies without an ounce of concern for the vital social problems of today. Nor indeed do we intend that viewers should consider them as crabby, ulcerous, little self-seeking vermin with furry legs and an excessive addiction to alcohol and certain explicit sexual practices which some people might find offensive. We are sorry if this impression has come across. Salad Days [3.07][edit] Various characters: Lemon curry?! Announcer #1: The BBC would like to apologize to everyone in the world for that last item. It was disgusting and bad and thouroughly disobediant, and please don't bother to phone up because we know it was very tasteless, but they didn't really mean it and they all come from broken homes and have very unhappy personal lives, especially Eric. Anyway, they're all really nice people underneath, and very warm in the traditional show business way. And please don't write in either because the BBC is going through an unhappy phase at the moment, what with its father dying, and the mortgage, and BBC2 going out with men. Announcer #2: The BBC would like to deny the last apology. It is very happy at home, and BBC2 is bound to go through this phase, so from all of us here, good night, sleep well, and have an absolutely super day tomorrow, kiss kiss. The Cycling Tour [3.08][edit] Mr. Pither: You are Rear Admiral Sir Dudley Compton? Chinaman: No. He die. He have heart attack and fell out of window onto exploding bomb, and was killed in shooting accident. Chinaman: [toasting] Buttocks up! Communist: Oh, my lack of God! It's Trotsky! The Nude Organist [3.09][edit] Badger: There's a bomb onboard this plane, and I'll tell you where it is for a thousand pounds. Second Pilot: I don't believe you. Badger: If you don't tell me where the bomb is... If I don't give you the money... Unless you give me the bomb... Stewardess: The money. Badger: The bomb, thank you pretty lady — the bomb will explode, killing everybody. Second Pilot: Including you. Badger: [pause] I'll tell you where it is for a pound. Second Pilot: Here's a pound. Badger: I don't want Scottish money. They've got the numbers. It can be traced. Second Pilot: One English pound. Now where's the bomb? Badger: I can't remember. Second Pilot: You've forgotten. Badger: Aye, you'd better have your pound back. Oh... [rubs it] fingerprints. First Pilot: Now where's the bomb? Badger: Ah, wait a tic, wait a tic. Er, my first is in Glasgow but not in Spain, my second is in steamer but not in train, my whole is in the luggage compartment on the plane... I'll tell you where the bomb is for a pound. Second Pilot: It's in the luggage compartment. Badger: Right. Here's your pound. Narrator: This is the planet Algon, fifth world in the system of Aldebaran, the Red Giant in the constellation of Sagittarius. Here an ordinary cup of drinking chocolate costs four million pounds, an immersion heater for the hot-water tank costs over six billion pounds, and a pair of split-crotch panties would be almost unobtainable. E. Henry Thripshaw's Disease [3.10][edit] Roger Last: Good evening. Tonight on 'Is There' we examine the question, 'Is there a life after death?' And here to discuss it are three dead people. Dennis Moore [3.11][edit] Mrs Trepidatious: It's very good about the spectacles. Mrs O: It's amazing! "Prejudice" Host: Well now, the result of last week's competition when we asked you to find a derogatory term for the Belgians. Well, the response was enormous and we took quite a long time sorting out the winners. There were some very clever entries. Mrs Hatred of Leicester Said 'let's not call them anything, let's just ignore them'. And a Mr St John of Huntingdon said he couldn't think of anything more derogatory than 'Belgians'. But in the end we settled on three choices: number three ... 'The Sprouts', sent in by Mrs Vicious of Hastings... very nice; number two..... 'The Phlegms', from Mrs Childmolester of Worthing; but the winner was undoubtedly from Mrs No-Supper-For-You from Norwood in Lancashire... 'Miserable Fat Belgian Bastards'! A Book at Bedtime [3.12][edit] Presenter: Would Albert Einstein ever have hit upon the theory of relativity if he hadn't been clever? All these tremendous leaps forward have been taken in the dark. Would Rutherford ever have split the atom if he hadn't tried? Could Marconi have invented the radio if he hadn't by pure chance spent years working at the problem? Are these amazing breakthroughs ever achieved except by years and years of unremitting study? Of course not. What I said earlier about accidental discoveries must have been wrong. Scientist: If we increase the size of the penguin until it is the same height as the man and then compare the relative brain size, we now find that the penguin's brain is still smaller. But, and this is the point, it is larger than it was! Grandstand [3.13][edit] The Dirty Vicar Sketch[edit] Vicar: I like TITS!!! [Attacks noblewoman] First Lady: Oh vicar! Vicar! Vicar: [composing himself] Oh my goodness, I do beg your pardon! How dreadful! The first day in my new parish, I completely... so sorry! First Lady: Yes. Never mind, never mind. Chivers, send Mary in with a new gown, will you? Chivers: Certainly, m'lady. Vicar: I do beg your pardon... I must sit down. First Lady: As I was saying, how do you find the new vicarage? Vicar: Oh yes, certainly, yes indeed, I find the grounds delightful, and the servants most attentive. Particularly the little serving maid with GREAT BIG KNOCKERS! [attacks again] Series 4[edit] The Golden Age of Ballooning [4.01][edit] Antoinette: Oh, Joseph! All you think about is balloons. All you talk about is balloons. Your beautiful house is full of bits and pieces of balloons. Your books are all about balloons, every time you sing a song, it is in some way obliquely connected with balloons... Everything you eat has to have "balloon" incorporated in the title. Your dogs are all called Balloono. You tie balloons to your ankles in the evenings! Joseph Montgolfier: I don't do that! Antoinette: Well, no, you don't do that. But you do duck down and shout, "Hey! Balloons!" when there are none about. Your whole life is becoming obsessively balloonic, you know... Oh-h-h! Why do I have to hang from this bloody gas bag all day? [Joseph Montgolfier bursts out of his bath, wearing only a towel, to confront the fake Louis XIV] Joseph Montgolfier: Just a moment! That man is not Louis XIV! Jacques Montgolfier: Joseph, are you out of your mind? Joseph Montgolfier: I've been looking it up in my bath. Louis XIV died in 1717 — it's now 1783! Answer me that! Louis XIV imposter: Did I say Louis XIV? I'm sorry, I meant Louis XV. Joseph Montgolfier: He died in 1774! Louis XIV imposter: [menacingly] All right, I'm Louis XVI! Listen to me, smart-ass, when you're the King of France, you've got better things to do than go around all day remembering your bloody number! Michael Ellis [4.02][edit] Mother: What have you got now? Chris: I bought an ant, mother. Mother: What d'you want one of them for! I'm not going to clean it out. You said you'd clean the tiger out, but do you? No, I suppose you've lost interest in it now. Now it'll be ant ant ant for a couple of days, then all of a sudden, 'oh, mum, I've bought a sloth' or some other odd-toed ungulate like a tapir. Chris: It's really different this time, mum. I'm really going to look after this ant. Mother: That's what you said about the sperm whale... now your papa's having to use it as a garage. Chris: Well, you didn't feed it properly. Mother: Where are we going to get 44 tons of plankton from every morning? Your dad was dead vexed about that. They thought he was mad in the deli. Chris: Well at least he's got a free garage. Mother: That's no good to him... his Hillman smells all fishy. [growl from the tiger] Oh blimey, that's the tiger. He'll want his mandies. Chris: Are you giving that tiger drugs? Mother: 'Course I'm giving it drugs! Chris: It's illegal. Mother: You try telling that to the tiger. Chris: I think it's dangerous. Mother: Listen, before he started fixing, he used to get through four Jehovah's witnesses a day. And he used to eat all of them, except the pamphlets. Chris: Well, he's not dim. The Light Entertainment War [4.03][edit] Private Shirley: Sir! General Shirley: Yes? Private Shirley: News from the Western Front, sir! General Shirley: Yes, what is it? Private Shirley: The enemy attacked at dawn, sir. General Shirley: Yes, how was it? Private Shirley: Well... the enemy were all wearing little silver halos, sir. And they had fairy wands with big stars on the end, and... General Shirley: They what?! Private Shirley: They had spiders in matchboxes, sir! General Shirley: Good God! How did our chaps react? Private Shirley: Well, they... they were jolly interested, sir! Some of them, I think it was the Fourth Armoured Brigade, they... General Shirley: Yes? Private Shirley: Well, they went and had a look at the spiders, sir! Peter Woods: We interrupt show jumping to bring you a news flash. The Second World War has now entered a sentimental stage. The morning on the Ardennes Front, the Germans started spooning at dawn, but the British Fifth Army responded by gazing deep in their eyes, and the Germans are reported to have gone 'all coy'. Hamlet [4.04][edit] Mr Gabriello: Wasn't he great, my boy? Eric: He was great, Mr Gabriello. Eric: Sure, Mr Gabriello. Eric: No. Mr. Gabriello: OK, we'll look around the hall after everybody's gone. Mr. Neutron [4.05][edit] Mr Neutron: I want you to be my helpmate. As Tarzan had his Jane, as Napoleon had his Josephine, as Frankie Laine had whoever he had. I want you to help me in my plan to dominate the world! Mrs Scum: Oh, Mr N! That I should be so lucky! Mr Neutron: You're not Jewish, are you? Party Political Broadcast [4.06][edit] Vendor: A strong hive of bees contains approximately 75,000 bees. Each honey bee must make 154 trips to collect one teaspoon of honey. Hello, sir. Dad: What do you want? Vendor: Would you like to buy some of our honey, sir? Mother: What you doing in here? Vendor: Which would you like, the Californian Orange Blossom, the Mexican, the New Zealand, or the Scottish Heather? Mother: He can't eat honey. It makes him go plop plops. Vendor: Come on, please try some. Dad: All right, I'll have some Icelandic Honey. Vendor: No, there is no such thing. Dad: You mean you don't make any honey at all? Vendor: No, no, we must import it all. Every bally drop. We are a gloomy people. It's so crikey cold and dark up there, and only fish to eat. Fish and imported honey. Oh strewth! Mother: Well why do you have a week? Vendor: Listen buster! In Rejkyavik it is dark for eight months of the year, and it's cold enough to freeze your wrists off and there's only golly fish to eat. Administrative errors are bound to occur in enormous quantities. Look at this — it's all a mistake. It's a real pain in the sphincter! Icelandic Honey Week? My life! Mother: Well why do you come in here trying to flog the stuff, then? Vendor: Listen cowboy, I got a job to do. IT'S A STUPID, POINTLESS JOB, BUT AT LEAST IT KEEPS ME AWAY FROM ICELAND, ALL RIGHT? The leg of the worker bee has... [They slam the door on him.] Other Quotes[edit] • "IT'S..." A hermit right before the opening titles Major cast[edit] All players assumed many various roles. See also[edit] External links[edit] Wikipedia has an article about:
No encontramos iTunes en este ordenador. Para usar vista previa y comprar música de Flipper, descarga iTunes ya. Yo tengo iTunes Descarga gratis iTunes para Mac y PC Ver en iTunes They came, they saw, and they conquered — sort of. Never topping the charts, nor possessing a huge following, San Francisco's Flipper, even in the '90s alt-rock sweepstakes, would still be considered a fringe act. But, in 1982, they were the toast of rock critics across the country with their post-hardcore punk masterpiece "Sex Bomb." Clocking in at over seven minutes, possessing one riff played over and over (and sloppier and sloppier), with vocalist Will Shatter screaming rather than singing (total lyrics: "She's a sex bomb/My baby/yeah"), it was a remarkable record: loud, proud, defiantly obnoxious, and relentlessly dumb. But in it's own gleeful and intentionally moronic way it was (and remains) a perfect record. With "Sex Bomb" providing the impetus, Shatter and fellow Flippers, vocalist/bassist Bruce Loose, drummer Steve DePace, and guitarist Ted Falconi, emerged from the fractious muck of the California hardcore punk scene (Shatter and DePace played in the Bay Area hardcore band Negative Trend in the late '70s) with a crushingly loud, slowed-down sound that resembled the Stooges at their most drug-addled (see "We Will Fall" from the first Stooges LP). Flipper didn't care if you loved or loathed them (most everyone loathed them), they simply played until you couldn't stand it anymore. There was something wonderfully uncomplicated about this attitude, which is probably the reason that Flipper, despite being seen as a one-shot band, had a career that lasted longer than 15 minutes. Their debut album, Album — Generic Flipper, included "Sex Bomb" along with a handful of good-to-great songs about anonymity and desperation that were not all-bleak, nor without moments of humor. In fact, Flipper may have been the first hardcore/post-hardcore band to essay life-affirming messages on its album (no matter how tongue-in-cheek it might sound). So, although there's a track called "Life Is Cheap," there is also "Life" which offers the sentiment: "I too have sung death's praises/But I'm not gonna sing that song anymore." Adding the oft-stated sentiment, "Life is the only thing worth living for." Hmmm. How, uh, un-punk. With much of the rock press singing their praises (and deservedly so), Flipper went on to demi-celebrity status as the reigning kings of American underground rock, for a few years. They never released anything as mind-blowingly good as Album, but until they split up in 1987, the music was usually very good. Precipitating their breakup was Shatter's death from a heroin overdose, with the remaining members spending the next half-dozen years stepping in-and-out of music. In 1992, Flipper fan and American Recordings label honcho Rick Rubin encouraged the remaining members to record a new album. The subsequent effort, American Grafishy, only hinted at their greatness. Their comeback attempt notwithstanding, Flipper's greatness lies in their ability to say "let's rock our way." Top canciones Se formó en: 1978 en San Francisco, CA Años de actividad: '70s, '80s, '90s, '00s Hazte fan de las páginas de iTunes y App Store en Facebook para enterarte de las ofertas exclusivas, recibir lo último en apps nuevas y mucho más.
When Algren returned to the village, travel-worn, battle-weary and alone, Taka looked at him with a wordless smile, a trace of relief visible in the arch of her eyebrows, the curve of her upper lip. Like water dripping over cold stones in a stream peace flooded over him, taking away the guilt he had born for such a very long time – she did not blame him for what had happened. In silence, she took up her basket and opened the small, wooden gate for him. That night, he lay down on the futon spread on the floor and let Taka pour sake on his wounds, the stinging pain on his side and the ache inside him reminding him freshly of the death on the battlefield. Opening his eyes, he looked at Taka's hands, so delicately tying up the wounds he had taken on the behalf of the village he had come to love more than his home. Wordlessly, with needle and thread she sewed his hurts, her fingers staining in his blood. Afterwards, she closed the door behind her and left him to sleep without nightmares. On the morrow – after how many days of slumber, he knew not – Algren walked, stiffly and limping, down the path to the temple where he had conversed with Katsumoto, first against his will; then because he understood. The scent of cherry blossoms lingered in the air and his quiet footsteps reminded him of the samurai and how he had experienced peace in its utmost sense in the place. Algren looked at the serene statue of Buddha and knew that Katsumoto had found his solace. His peace might be in death as well as in life, but Algren's lay elsewhere; not in the mental teachings and meditation, but here – in this village, under the cherry trees, with the people. In Taka's touch when she changed the white linens that covered his wounds, brushing her fingers against his skin, making Algren shudder at the ethereality of her presence. With the approaching summer came a flourish and beauty of nature Algren had never seen before. Autumn in the village had been breathtaking, all world inhaling its last breath before the winter that was spent in quiet foreboding surety, the flowers and trees giving way to the impending fate. The fate Katsumoto had changed, leaving only one man to witness the burden of it. No longer did the samurai go through their daily exercises of endless kata and dance of swords. No longer did Ujio, the fearless warrior, speak orders to the men, mending Algren's pride into honor, bending his desire into determination. No longer did the men laugh with each other after training, nor did they go home to their awaiting wives and children. Algren walked the empty grounds surrounded by trees and endless fields of grass and remembered. The peace created by the sacrifice of so many lives weighed heavy on the shoulders of the man who had finally given up trying to die and had sworn to stay alive to keep that peace no matter the cost.
Californian Survives Avalanche That Kills at Least Nine in Nepal VIDEO: Early-morning avalanche wipes out hikers sleeping in tents at a camp on Mount WATCH Deadly Nepal Avalanche: Rescuers Search for Missing When a massive avalanche swept over a camp of sleeping mountain climbers on one of the highest peaks in the world, extreme skier Glen Plake of California was one of the lucky ones. At least nine people were killed in the avalanche and another six are missing, swept away and buried under tons of snow and ice on Sunday. Ten climbers survived, but many of them were injured. Plake was on Nepal's Mount Manaslu, the world's eighth tallest peak, when the avalanche struck about 4 a.m. It roared through a group of tents at Camp 3 where about two dozens climbers were sleeping. "We won the lottery with this one," Plake's father, James Plake, told ABC News. "Glen does this kind of stuff all the time so we are always worried, but he called us instantly with this one, called Kimberly [wife], and said 'whatever they say on the news I am alive and I'm ok. '" Other survivors describe a brief and terrifying few seconds, and then a darkness that slowly lifted to reveal a landscape of scattered bodies. Italian survivor Christian Gobbi said he and climbing companion Silvio Mondinelli woke to a powerful wind and then snow pummeling their tent. "Then more snow, ice, and then the tent started sliding down," Gobbi told the Associated Press. "It was only a few seconds and we did not know what happened, but we had slid more than 200 meters (650 feet)," Mondinelli told the AP. "All we wanted was for it to stop." "(The tent) was little bit damaged so just like this it opened," Gobbi said. "We were sitting down, everything was dark, without boots, without clothes, without head lamps, without nothing. So we stayed for an hour waiting for the light of the sun." The dawn brought a scene of mayhem. "We see some pieces of tent, some men, something down. We see the first light from Camp 2, maybe some Sherpa wake up and starting to coming up to check on someone. So later when it became a little bit clearer, light, we saw some boots, not our boots, but we use for walk and check our friends," he said. "We see many bodies outside in the snow. Many people were alive. And after one, one and half hours, we check with our probe and we found Alberto and his Sherpa," he said, referring to another Italian climber. The climber and the Sherpa died in the avalanche. Climbers from Camp 2 lower down on the mountain rushed to help those in Camp 3. Eric Simonson, owner of International Mountain Guides out of Washington State, had a party of campers that went to the rescue. IMG's team at Camp 2 climbed 2,000 plus feet to help rescue survivors, who had lost most of their gear, including boots, on the frigid mountain. The avalanche struck at an altitude of 23,000 feet, just short of the 26,760 foot peak. "Our guides were part of the team that responded to search for survivors and also evacuate the injured people," Simonson said. "They assisted locating and digging out the survivors and the remains of the dead and then also coordinating the helicopter flights." Helicopters circled overhead searching for survivors or bodies. "Our understanding is the avalanche was triggered by a large ice wall collapse," Simonson said. "In this case you have an ice wall weighing probably thousands of tons collapsing in a snowstorm that makes the snow move." Simonson said the availability of "very powerful" AS350 B3 helicopters that can function in the thin air that high up the mountain was essential to saving more lives. "They're quite remarkable," Simonson said. "Had this happened a year or two ago it would have been impossible to fly to the site of the avalanche." "The helicopters were able to come in and evacuate the people directly from there, so they didn't have to find boots, clamp ons, climbing gear or things they would have needed to climb down," Simonson said. "So that was fortuitous." IMG's team is safely back at the base camp and is trying to decide if they should try the climb again or call it quits, Simonson said. This was the first time a team from IMG has climbed Manaslu.
Aron Firman's death was accidental. A Taser only contributed to his death. That's the ruling of a coroner's jury today. Firman’s death, the inquest ruled, was caused by a heart condition due to excited delirium and schizophrenia. It isn't the verdict his family had hoped for. His father says he believes the Taser was more than just a contributing factor. “I'm actually disappointed,” says Marcus Firman. “Obviously the science is unclear. This jury's had to sit through 14 weeks of evidence, very contradictory evidence.” Firman, who suffered from schizophrenia, died after he was tasered during an incident with Collingwood OPP officers in June 2010. Police were investigating a domestic call at the group home where Firman lived. The SIU had already cleared the officer responsible of any wrong doing. The jury made 21 recommendations with almost half focusing on the use of Tasers by police. One key recommendation is that more data needs to be collected on police use of Tasers. The jury also called for a national data base of Taser deaths involving police. The jury also recommends more Taser training for police including what to do if the tasered suspect doesn't respond. It says police must contact EMS immediately, take out the probes and start CPR. “Tasers serve a purpose in policing and it’s not about eliminating them, but managing whatever risk there is,” says the family’s lawyer Sunil Mathai. Mathai hopes the province will follow through on the jury's recommendations. “It demonstrates that there is a lot of research that needs to be done," he says. “We need to study this further and hopefully Ontario will heed the call and study this further because there is an opportunity to prevent deaths." Firman’s father is encouraged by the jury's call for more research to help with police training, but isn't sure if this will prevent deaths like his son's. “You can hope that,” he says, “but I suspect not." The jury's recommendations will be sent to the province and the OPP to review but are not required to be implemented.
Canadian Mathematical Society Canadian Mathematical Society location: Publicationsjournals Search results Expand all Collapse all Results 51 - 66 of 66 51. CMB 2003 (vol 46 pp. 291) Sankaran, Parameswaran A Coincidence Theorem for Holomorphic Maps to $G/P$ The purpose of this note is to extend to an arbitrary generalized Hopf and Calabi-Eckmann manifold the following result of Kalyan Mukherjea: Let $V_n = \mathbb{S}^{2n+1} \times \mathbb{S}^{2n+1}$ denote a Calabi-Eckmann manifold. If $f,g \colon V_n \longrightarrow \mathbb{P}^n$ are any two holomorphic maps, at least one of them being non-constant, then there exists a coincidence: $f(x)=g(x)$ for some $x\in V_n$. Our proof involves a coincidence theorem for holomorphic maps to complex projective varieties of the form $G/P$ where $G$ is complex simple algebraic group and $P\subset G$ is a maximal parabolic subgroup, where one of the maps is dominant. Categories:32H02, 54M20 52. CMB 2003 (vol 46 pp. 113) Lee, Jaesung; Rim, Kyung Soo Properties of the $\mathcal{M}$-Harmonic Conjugate Operator We define the $\mathcal{M}$-harmonic conjugate operator $K$ and prove that it is bounded on the nonisotropic Lipschitz space and on $\BMO$. Then we show $K$ maps Dini functions into the space of continuous functions on the unit sphere. We also prove the boundedness and compactness properties of $\mathcal{M}$-harmonic conjugate operator with $L^p$ symbol. Keywords:$\mathcal{M}$-harmonic conjugate operator Categories:32A70, 47G10 53. CMB 2002 (vol 45 pp. 417) Kamiyama, Yasuhiko; Tsukuda, Shuichi Keywords:polygon space, complex structure Categories:14D20, 32C35 54. CMB 2002 (vol 45 pp. 80) Keywords:tangential approximation, Carleman Categories:32E30, 32E25 55. CMB 2001 (vol 44 pp. 150) Jakóbczak, Piotr Categories:32A37, 32A22 56. CMB 2001 (vol 44 pp. 105) Pilipović, Stevan Categories:32A40, 46F15, 58G07 57. CMB 2001 (vol 44 pp. 126) Zeron, E. Santillan Each Copy of the Real Line in $\C^2$ is Removable Around 1995, Professors Lupacciolu, Chirka and Stout showed that a closed subset of $\C^N$ ($N\geq 2$) is removable for holomorphic functions, if its topological dimension is less than or equal to $N-2$. Besides, they asked whether closed subsets of $\C^2$ homeomorphic to the real line (the simplest 1-dimensional sets) are removable for holomorphic functions. In this paper we propose a positive answer to that question. Keywords:holomorphic function, removable set 58. CMB 2000 (vol 43 pp. 294) Bracci, Filippo Fixed Points of Commuting Holomorphic Maps Without Boundary Regularity We identify a class of domains of $\C^n$ in which any two commuting holomorphic self-maps have a common fixed point. Keywords:Holomorphic self-maps, commuting functions, fixed points, Wolff point, Julia's Lemma Categories:32A10, 32A40, 32H15, 32A30 59. CMB 2000 (vol 43 pp. 174) Gantz, Christian; Steer, Brian Stable Parabolic Bundles over Elliptic Surfaces and over Riemann Surfaces Categories:14J27, 32L07, 14H60, 14D20 60. CMB 2000 (vol 43 pp. 47) Božičević, Mladen A Property of Lie Group Orbits Categories:32B20, 22E15 61. CMB 1999 (vol 42 pp. 499) Zaharia, Alexandru Characterizations of Simple Isolated Line Singularities A line singularity is a function germ $f\colon(\CC ^{n+1},0) \lra\CC$ with a smooth $1$-dimensional critical set $\Sigma=\{(x,y)\in \CC\times \CC^n \mid y=0\}$. An isolated line singularity is defined by the condition that for every $x \neq 0$, the germ of $f$ at $(x,0)$ is equivalent to $y_1^2 +\cdots+y_n ^2$. Simple isolated line singularities were classified by Dirk Siersma and are analogous of the famous $A-D-E$ singularities. We give two new characterizations of simple isolated line singularities. Categories:32S25, 14B05 62. CMB 1999 (vol 42 pp. 97) Kwon, E. G. On Analytic Functions of Bergman $\BMO$ in the Ball Keywords:Bergman distance, \BMOA$, Hardy space, Bloch function 63. CMB 1998 (vol 41 pp. 129) Lee, Young Joo Pluriharmonic symbols of commuting Toeplitz type operators on the weighted Bergman spaces Keywords:Pluriharmonic functions, Weighted Bergman spaces, Toeplitz type operators. Categories:47B38, 32A37 64. CMB 1997 (vol 40 pp. 356) Mazet, Pierre Principe du maximum et lemme de Schwarz, a valeurs vectorielles Categories:30C80, 32A30, 46G20, 52A07 65. CMB 1997 (vol 40 pp. 129) Badea, Catalin Sur les caractÃ¨res d'une algÃ¨bre de Banach Categories:46H05, 32A15 66. CMB 1997 (vol 40 pp. 117) Vigué, Jean-Pierre Un lemme de Schwarz pour les boules-unitÃ©s ouvertes Let $B_1$ and $B_2$ be the open unit balls of ${\bbd C}^{n_1}$ and ${\bbd C}^{n_2}$ for the norms $\Vert\,{.}\,\Vert_1$ and $\Vert\,{.}\, \Vert_2$. Let $f \colon B_1 \rightarrow B_2$ be a holomorphic mapping such that $f(0)=0$. It is well known that, for every $z \in B_1$, $\Vert f(z)\Vert_2 \leq \Vert z \Vert_1$, and $\Vert f'(0)\Vert \leq 1$. In this paper, I prove the converse of this result. Let $f \colon B_1 \rightarrow B_2$ be a holomorphic mapping such that $f'(0)$ is an isometry. If $B_2$ is strictly convex, I prove that $f(0) =0$ and that $f$ is linear. I also define the rank of a point $x$ belonging to the boundary of $B_1$ or $B_2$. Under some hypotheses on the ranks, I prove that a holomorphic mapping such that $f(0) = 0$ and that $f'(0)$ is an isometry is linear. Categories:32H15, 32H02 1 2 3 © Canadian Mathematical Society, 2015 :
The Duchess of Cornwall and York, later Queen Mary, was wife of George V and mother to Edward VIII and George VI. An austere and regal figure, she was admired for her strong sense of duty and her steadfastness through both World Wars. Born in London on 26 May 1867, Mary was originally engaged to the heir apparent, Prince Albert, but a year after he died in 1892 she became engaged to his younger brother George, and they married in July 1893. George and Mary held the titles of Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York. Arriving on their liner on 6 May, the Duke and the Duchess were greeted with enthusiasm by the people of Melbourne. They attended a full programme of receptions, dinners and events. Public holidays were granted to allow people to glimpse the royal couple. Australia's connection to the British Empire was clearly evident. The Argus reported a typical event at Government House the day after their arrival, when the Duke 'received all citizens who were anxious to evidence their loyalty in that manner. The gathering was the most important ever witnessed in the colony. About 4,000 gentlemen attended, and paid their respects to the Heir Apparent with due decorum, and yet with celerity. The Duke shook hands with each and by pleasant tact and savoir faire placed all at their ease.' (Argus Melbourne, 8 May 1901, p. 6) The Duke and Duchess were kept busy with a program ranging from dinner and a University Commencement to the presentation of prizes to public schools. They also managed to briefly visit country Victoria and during their 10-day stay managed to fit in a day's shooting. The Royal tour also included visits to other Australian states, New Zealand, South Africa and Canada. George and Mary had six children: Prince Edward, the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VIII and the Duke of Windsor; Prince Albert Frederick Arthur George, later King George VI; Princess Victoria; Prince Henry the Duke of Gloucester; Prince George the Duke of Kent; and Prince John. George ascended the throne on his father's death on 9 May 1910. During his reign, which spanned World War I, the royal house abandoned the title the house of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (or the house of Hanover or Brunswick) and became known as the house of Windsor. After George died in 1936, Mary lived for another 17 years, long enough to see her granddaughter Queen Elizabeth II ascend to the throne, although she died three months before the formal coronation. Mary is buried alongside her husband in St George's Chapel, Windsor. The Daily Telegraph, 9 May 1901, p.4 More Information
One thing I've learned, as I've slumped into adulthood, is that you may have dear friends, but none of them are as reliable as aging English rock stars. Such as Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson, who will do a nice thing for a bunch of Icelanders stranded in New York by Hurricane Irene. Via NME: The singer, who has held a pilot's license for many years and who regularly flies for chartered airline Astraeus, will fly 200 passengers from Newark airport in New Jersey to Reykjavik in Iceland for airline Icelandic Airways. Dickinson will fly a 757 aeroplane which has been painted in Iron Maiden's colours and has been most recently been in use as the band's plane on their extensive world tour, which ended three weeks ago. Yeah, an Iron Maiden plane may not be quite as snazzy as a Sigur Ros plane, but you can trust that it'll make it across the ocean. Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson set to fly post-hurricane Irene flight [NME]
Tuesday, March 03, 2009 Mind over what really matters Obama is going to overturn the horrible HHS conscience clause that Bush enacted shortly before leaving a flaming reenactment of Rome under Nero the White House. But not completely. The Bad News: Team Obama reportedly does not want to jettison the idea of a conscience clause altogether The problem with a conscious clause is that it makes one person's opinion more important than another person's health. It's kinda the opposite of the idea of free speech. Free speech is the idea that you can have any opinion that you want, and you can say anything that you want, but you cannot cause another person physical harm to do so. It's why yelling "fire" in a crowded theater is illegal. But perhaps the only way to show rethuglikans and forced pregnancy blow hards that a conscious clause is a really bad idea is to offer up some examples of how this could go badly for them: Example 1) Let's pretend I am the only pharmacist in a small rural town. I am also a eco-warrior who believes that overpopulation is killing the earth. And this woman comes into my store with her 19th pregnancy. Can I refuse to to provide her with pre-natal vitamins because I believe she should have used birth control or had an abortion instead of killing the earth with more babies? Example 2) I am a receptionist for a GP and this man and his doctor have decided that the man should have a gastric bypass. I am a firm believer in HAES and fat acceptance and I believe it is both cruel and negligent to perform surgery on someone simply because they don't look like a model. Will I get fired if I refuse to submit the referral to a bariatric surgeon? Example 3) I am a bleeding heart feminazi drug addiction counselor and this man has enrolled in a 28 day program at my clinic to kick a drug addiction. Can I refuse to treat him because as a feminazi straw woman I believe that all men are rapists and he should be left to stew in his own addle brained morass? People's ability to get the care they need is more important than the opinions of other people. Period. If dispensing birth control is against your beliefs, don't be a pharmacist (or a nurse who pulls out IUDs for fun. Your freedom of speech ends where someone else's body starts. And you wouldn't want it any other way, or someone like me might refuse to give you treatment for a reason you find unbelievably stupid. No comments:
View Full Version : Player Discussion 1. Aventurine's response on a server merge 2. can't log in 3. @ Icy Wave and the moderation staff 4. Darkfall Armor Hopes 5. who is in charge now 6. Steam Stream and Darkfall 7. What is the best way to help Darkfall UW, as a player. 8. Once nerfed, will anybody care about champions? 9. Let's have an honest discussion about Combat. 10. Serious question 11. The Dream World: A Sandbox Proposal 12. Question: crazy thinking 13. [Nominations]Worst Veteran on each server 14. think about it 15. Vengeful Arbitor 16. For the love of God, increase bank size 17. Jan. Update Discussion Thread 18. Skill Animations 19. Do you think city bind slots should be decreased? 20. Removal of essences 21. If you don't want to add arenas, add a test server. 22. Build GUI for NPE and veterans 23. A good time to introduce specialization with the new armor tier 24. Unofficial "Arena" Discussion Thread [MOD EDITED TITLE] #2 25. Unholy Wars reddit 26. Ping spikes 27. so, AV, how's that monitoring of Champs coming? 28. Enchantment, Villages, Relics 29. New patch suggestions 30. Arena poll - I won't close this one 31. My personal list of top 5 things AV should work on. 32. What are you going to get after they nerf A2E? 33. Should I just give up on ever getting Pain School skills ? 34. Skill points instead of 8+1 skill caps 35. Do you find the Chest Keys fun in their current form? 36. Selentine Prowess 37. Reminder to the devs for the update 38. confused about Dev update 39. Weekly update 40. How to Fix the Game 41. Question to the devs: Directx12 42. My Thoughts on This Game 43. Darkfall Fan Art. 44. Trueshot. 45. I suggest a change in schedules that allow siege go live. 46. Pvp ranking system 47. Next Patch 48. More artificial pvp? 49. New Upcoming Patch - Are the new armours posted on facebook included? 50. Should Stone be removed from the new mob loot tables? 51. Bug or exploit? 52. AV, in this new patch, we really need arcane rings, just arcane rings... 53. Question to Dev 54. AV - "To sum up, we want to raise the level of competition..." 55. The new armor tier: A chance to address the economy and drive open-world conflict 56. Found a Newbie perspective Video 57. Bias by mods 58. Question: Viable play styles in group fights? 59. Chronicles of a new player in Agon 60. EU still down 61. List of Unusable spells 62. Neithal mat change to help the game 63. ETA on new backpack system? 64. Combat and its Current State 65. water fighting 66. massively shutting down Feb 3rd 67. put in a @tag system on these forums 68. Question: Update on todays (If not this weeks) Patch? 69. No patch today, probably tomorrow. 70. AV Read - This is why DFUW Gets Stale - And How to Fix it 71. New Relic 72. The Mentor System 73. Patch today confirmed 74. Patch notes 4/2/2015 75. Can't log in 76. New Loot Tables! 77. Scraping... Scraping Everywhere! 78. Golem Hot Spots 79. Darkfall Insurance 80. Fix food and Alchemy before I will care about berries 81. AV this is how you will make people log back in. This should be your next patchnotes 82. Sprinting Field of View 83. AV - Revert the mob loot tables. This can't be serious? 84. Advisory System 85. Question to dev about new loot tables 86. Today's Patch 87. Mounts 88. Add at least 70% of the drops back to Villain + Mobs = Problem Solved 89. patch failed 90. Why is AV not listening to us? 91. Villages post patch 92. sea ways z5 93. What if AOI severely effected mob loot drops 94. ETA on next Patch 95. Add feats to the advisory system 96. Positive Feedback on the Recent Patch 97. Sample of the New decent loot table 98. Golem loot are perfect dont change 99. Loot Tables & PVE 100. Stop crying about the patch... 101. is this game worth playing yet ? 102. 2/4/2015 Patch - The Numbers & Suggested Fixes 103. New player experience 104. Quick Suggestion: Reorder Starter Feats 105. Why the patch is GOOD for both new players and veterans? 106. Time to kill and Spells fix 107. Theyril Golem Loot is Total Shit 108. Wrong Direction 109. Proposed Loot Table Idea 110. Continuation on the "Timer Fall" Path 111. Darkfall Online vs Unholy Wars Crafting Recipes - Economics and conflict 112. For the love of god AV. 113. Mob Loot 114. Fix PvP balance with a single addition 115. AV why is there no free trial? 116. What's more OP and skilless (in your opinion and why) static or pulverize? 117. Reverting boosters... 118. dread is op. 119. Dread Streaming 120. Splitting Inventory Bug 121. Suggestion: Making post about server status when offline. 122. Who is the DFUW playerbase? 123. Noob dungeon.... 124. Questions to Aventurine - Answer from Aventurine 125. So, AV, what about killed Dungeons and other? 126. AV Fix Earth Ulti 127. Today is my Grandpa's 83rd Birthday. 128. Wow...? 129. Patch announcement 130. 2015 DFUW Test Server 131. Question: Do you agree with the removal of Runestones and Summon Friend? 132. Agron, can you give some information about arcane rings? Lots of my friends is waitin 133. Chaos bank removal to coincide with fast travel elimination 134. Literally - the best patch announcement in 5 years - going to buy a year sub 135. tell us your plans for fast travel 136. boat speed must increase in next patch 137. This is what confuses me... 138. question about runes and portal shards 139. Trial system: Give all new accounts 50k prowess and 1 free respec 140. Server Issues 141. Are you going to at least make the market global? 142. What happened to the runebook idea? 143. What is this? 144. New roles 145. Defender win conditions for campaigns 146. Probably my last day here as my sub runs out tomorrow 147. Av please add large refining matt drops to high end mobs 148. Bitterstep: INclude in patch 149. Gj 150. Heart of Stone Stat Regen 151. The new teleciness Should be higher than the city walls or will be useless . 152. AV With all the Changes in Skills/Spell can we get our prowess back ? 153. Public Service Announcement 154. This just in, Tasos Fired?! 155. Do not touch the movements. 156. Difference Between a Hobgoblin and a Terror Mob 157. Do touch the movements. 158. Market Trends 159. AV make Begone a COMMON skill and increase Common/school skill slots by 2 160. good example of transparency 161. Looking Good AV! 162. Large maps 163. Competetive Housing, Functional Villages 164. UI changes under development 165. Has the prowess system been a success? 166. High end housing (keep and large villa with GRF) tax prices are too low 167. Cool treasure map system 168. Skinning for alchemy 169. Question about Game performance and game screen resolution(To AV and Exp. players) 170. February patch: back to our roots part 1 171. AOI System Messages - Defending Territory, Coordinating Conflict, PvP Balance 172. A Classless game 173. Am I reading the notes right? 4 x 8 = 32 skills available to use? 174. proximity chat 175. 2 more skills slots this patch = because why not. 176. FYI, the patch thread was just updated. 177. Today is my Birthday and AV just said they were reducing Tower Damage. 178. High ping / disconnects earlier tonight 179. Pain, Champion, Backguard 180. Recording software. 181. A (2nd) visit to AV , a list of questions/suggestions. 182. Un-Realistic Feat Expectations 183. New Stream - Everyday - 5-10 Hours - PvP/PvE 184. What is going on? 185. EU get knocked again 186. So many wants.... 187. Is Icy wave a bot? 188. Will EU stand up in time today? 189. no more insta teleportation 190. Get rid of this fog 191. Tell me 192. How do I check how long I have on my subscription? 193. Break the bullsh!t 194. feats for supernode harvesting? 195. [Tutorial] Disable Input Delay 196. hate to dwell on the past but... 197. Patch day 198. Cargo Mounts 199. Darkfall race talk 200. AV: Opportunity 201. How long did it take before your Flow state started? 202. Will they make it? 203. When will AV FIX THIS? For the avg player to notice 204. Patch? 205. Happy Birthday Darkfall 206. My(2nd) visit to AV,epic loot,videos,photos,answers,Devs introductions and more!!!!!! 207. What was your most epic open world fight? 208. anyone else surprised? 209. Patch thoughts 210. how does the wrof work now 211. Simiran Memorial Thread 212. 36 Chaos/NPC banks have been removed - REJOICE!!!! 213. 55% tower damage reduce. Thank you for listening us AV! 214. Comunication and patches - Can populate this game again? 215. Map with chaos banks that are being removed 216. Is this the savior we have been waiting for? 217. Question to AV about Sea 218. Why wasn't ship speed increased? 219. ships spawn/despawn only in ports 220. patching 221. Darkfall Seasons? 222. ETA on Server Up? 223. Do not be alarmed! Due to the massive combat changes your pp spent have been reset 224. Congrats to Lustmord and AV -- You've made it into a Fail Army video. 225. I'm a noob. 226. Hotfix list (combat only) 227. Theorycrafting forum needs you! 228. Harvesting is...broken? 229. Clientcrashes everywhere 230. Horizontal damage discussion 231. Metalkon's Skill Suggestions 232. Darkfall live stream 233. Shouldn't levitation be instant? 234. How do you feel about instant travel removal (Poll) 235. Day one review 236. Archery Discussion 237. Network time out 238. Chaos cities 239. Mantra's feedback 240. patch 28th febuary discussion thread 241. Thank you AV! 242. Suggestion: Current UW Version Suggested Fixes/Changes: 243. Hitbox desync 244. village timers 245. Thank you for fixing the mini map AV (axilmar) ! 246. Question: Did we get a Prowess reset? 247. Quality of Life change ideas? 248. Question: Old player coming back 249. What the hell did you do to boats? 250. Invigoration
Why is iBooks font size universal? Discussion in 'iPad Apps' started by elliotay, Dec 7, 2012. 1. macrumors regular Jul 9, 2001 I have several ebooks on my iPad that have different font sizes. If I change the font size in one book and then switch to another, the font size is changed there too. I feel like the font size setting should be specific to each book. It's annoying to have to change it back and forth as I switch between books. Share This Page
Nokia's WP7-Powered Lumia 710 Is (Probably) Coming to T-Mobile WPcentral did some digging around on the FCCs site and came up with the instruction manual for a T-Mobile branded, Windows Phone-powered Nokia Lumia 710. Sadly, no, it's not this phone, but rather this phone. As it turns out, the actual manual for the device that comes with the phone is now online via the FCC. Scrolling through it reveals fairly standard information, but for one, it is obvious we're dealing with the 710, due to the diagrams for the phone. More revealing though is the picture above from that manual, which clearly shows a Nokia Windows Phone with T-Mobile branding on board. Doesn't get much more definitive than that, does it? What does it all mean? With an event scheduled for December 14, the Lumia 710 is likely what they plan to announce, which I'm sure is a shot in the heart to many an American Windows Phone fanboy. But they'll probably get your killer Windows Phone soon enough. [WPcentral]
Lafayette Animal Aid Rating: 3.67 stars 3 reviews Issues: Animals Location: P O Box 298 Carencro LA 70520 USA 1. To provide care, shelter and medical attention for our community’s stray, abandoned and unwanted cats and dogs. 2. To place homeless cats and dogs in good, loving homes through adoption. 3. To encourage and educate the public to spay and neuter their pets. 4. To oppose and report cruelty to animals. 5. To provide ‘kindness to animals’ and responsible pet ownership education in local schools. Programs: LAA offers a low cost spay/neuter program for low income families, housing and care for homeless animals and adoptions to loving homes. Our volunteers work at the shelter to feed, clean and care for the animals, help with Pet Adoption Days, answer various help lines, organize and help with fund-raising events, organize day- to-day activities. Write a Review Invite people to share their experience with this nonprofit! Filter Reviews by Role Promote This Nonprofit Review this charity on Community Reviews Rating: 1 stars 2 people found this review helpful Don't bother. They refuse to adopt ANY dog to ANYONE living below the Mason Dixon line. They don't serve the poeple or the pets of the area (Lafayette). The staff says they are no kill, but if its a dog that they think will be there for a while, they refuse it. "give it the pink needle" even when its a dog they adopted out! They would rather have flat screen tv's for the paid staff to sit around then actually put the money to the animals. There are many worthy organizations in the area...go with one of them. Would you volunteer for this group again? A little Did the organization use your time wisely? Would you recommend this group to a friend? When was your last experience with this nonprofit? Flag review
How to Write Highly Convertible White Papers Today white papers have to generate leads and, potentially, conversions. This is an awful lot to ask of documents that weren't invented with the intention of ever having to sell anything. Still, this is where we are now, but a lot is known about helping you give your market the things it needs. Content is still king and that is ultimately what will make your marketing successful. That does not mean, however, that you can ignore the way that you package your white paper content. That is what makes it really easy to make mistakes. Use the following tips to help increase the conversions your white papers produce. Only the can help you succeed in your guitar learning goals. Business has had room for white papers for a long time; this isn't changing any time soon. But big changes have been happening to both the lifestyle and the pace for the business world. In short, we're all pressed for time from all directions and this has had an impact on white papers. You must take this into consideration when writing your papers. A lot of professional white paper writers are starting to respond to this huge time shortage by adopting better and user friendlier formats. The original format was 99% text and only employed images that were directly related to the content like with graphs and data tables. Don't abandon the use of important images but make sure your content is quite a lot easier to read, skim through and digest. Before you set about outlining your white paper, make sure that you truly understand exactly who is making up your audience. Unless the assignment is for a very specific audience, you can assume a variety of people will read it. This means that what you write is going to be read by people of all different disciplines and levels of expertise. You will be a lot more successful if you are able to connect with a variety of different audiences. Your tone and style need to be middle of the ground when you want to properly reach people across a variety of disciplines and specialties. There are different solutions in this situation, and one way to be safe is being as neutral as possible in the way you write and speak to audiences. Typically today's white papers, sadly enough, are little more than highly elaborate sales copy. No, you cannot write a long form sales letter and call it a white paper. You are going to be expected to put some copy elements into your white papers when you want to be able to both write and then sell your white papers. Lead generation has worked its way into the format which means that you need to do marketing as well as include above-average amounts of information. Today including calls to action inside of a white paper is pretty normal but it used to be almost totally taboo. Only time will tell if these changes are for the better. That's because the people who get white papers want pure information not mere sales devices. Why someone wrote a white paper - this is the only thing that may be considered questionable with this type of content. Typically, white papers are used not so much for information, but for marketing purposes. So they want their white papers to perform this function as well. So when people read these, and it's not very informative, but a sales pitch, they get upset. Add a Comment • Email E-mail • Share Share • Rss RSS • Report Report Community Authors
Sign up × I can't seem to find the solutions to $z^4+1=0 $. $z$ is in the complex plane. The solutions show four roots; however, how do I find them once $z^4 = -1$? share\|cite\|improve this question Can you find one? Do you know geometrically (in polar coordinates) what happens to a complex number $z$ when raised to power $n$? In the solution, basically you will draw a square in the unit circle. – Berci Nov 29 '12 at 15:31 Do you know the magic factorization $z^4+4=(z^2-2z+2)(z^2+2z+2)$? From this you can get what you’re seeking. – Lubin Nov 29 '12 at 17:10 After answering, I realized I had already answered the same question, not too long ago. Duplicate of:… – mrf Nov 29 '12 at 22:53 Note: I think it is more appropriate to say "find the solutions to $X$" when $X$ is an equation; and "find the roots of $X$" when $X$ is a polynomial. – Pedro Tamaroff Nov 29 '12 at 23:39 5 Answers 5 You can write $z^4=-1$ as $(z^2)^2=-1$. The two square roots of $-1$ are $i$ and $-i$, so we get the two equations $z^2=\pm i$. Since $i$ corresponds to $\pi/2$ on the unit circle, its square root will have to correspond to $\pi/4$ (or use De Moivre if you don't see this). So $$ z=\pm\frac{1+i}{\sqrt 2},\ \ z=\pm\frac{1-i}{\sqrt 2} $$ are the roots. share\|cite\|improve this answer You can write $-i$ in polar form: $$-i = e^{i \cdot 3 \pi /2} $$ Then to find a fourth root... share\|cite\|improve this answer $$z^4=-1=e^{\pi i+2k\pi i}=e^{\pi i(1+2k)}\Longrightarrow z=e^{\frac{\pi i}{4}(1+2k)}\,\,,\,k=0,1,2,3$$ share\|cite\|improve this answer Since we have $i^2=-1$ $$z^4+1=(z^2)^2-(i)^2$$ $a^2-b^2=(a-b)(a+b)$, so we can factor to have $$z^4+1=(z^2)^2-(i)^2=(z^2-i)(z^2+i)$$ It's easy to solve from here on. $$z^4+1=0 \implies \left \{ \begin{align}&z^2-i=0\implies z=\pm\sqrt i \\&z^2+i=0 \implies z=\pm\sqrt{-i}\end{align}\right.$$ Using the properties • $i=e^{i(\pi/ 2)}$ • $-i=e^{i(3\pi/ 2)}$ • $e^{i\theta}=\cos \theta + i\cdot \sin \theta$ you can express the result in much more interesting forms. share\|cite\|improve this answer $$z^4+1 = (z^2+1)^2-2z^2 = (z^2+1-z\sqrt2)(z^2+1+z\sqrt2)$$ share\|cite\|improve this answer Your Answer
The Toll of "Rassenschande" on a Family Like us on Facebook You've heard the saying. "The death of one person is a tragedy. The death of ten million people is a statistic." The death toll of World War II is estimated at over 60 million people, including six million Jews in the Holocaust. Each of those deaths is a tragedy, because each has a family story. This photograph has been passed around and discussed because of the one German in the crowd who did not perform the Nazi salute. Some sources say the photograph was taken in 1936 at the unveiling of the ship the Horst Wessel, at which Adolf Hitler was present. However, Irene Landmesser recognized the man as her father August Landmesser, who was sentenced to a labor camp in 1938, and worked in a shipyard as a prisoner, so the exact date of the photograph may be in doubt. The Landmesser family's tragic history under the Nazi regime is chronicled in Irene Messer's book A Family Torn Apart by "Rassenschande," of which a large part is available online in English. August Landmesser was sentenced to two and a half years imprisonment for falling in love. The rest of the family suffered their own fates. August Landmesser joined the Nazi party in 1935 because he thought it would help him with employment. After all, he had a family to support. He had met Irma Eckler in 1934 and they filled out an application to marry in August of 1935. Their application to marry was rejected because Irma was Jewish. The law against such marriages had been passed, but wasn't supposed to go into effect until September. Irma's mother and two sisters had married non-Jews already, and were grandfathered into law. But the untimely rejection of Landmesser's application spelled eventual doom for the family. Previously, Irma wasn't quite sure about her racial designation. Her father, Arthur Eckler, was the product of a Jewish mother and non-Jewish father. Irma's stepfather was a non-Jew, and Irma, her mother, and sisters were all baptized as Protestants in 1931. August and Irma nevertheless stayed together and their daughters, Ingrid and Irene, were born in 1935 and 1937, respectively. Meanwhile, the German government issued an edict in secret: "Secret directive from the Head of Security Police, 12th June 1937, concerning Protective Custody of 'Rassenschänder' : . . . In the case of 'Rassenschande' between a German male and a Jewish female, she is to be taken into Protective Custody immediately after legal proceedings have been completed. The directive is not for public release." "Protective Custody" in this case was not to be taken literally: it was code for arrest. The males in these cases were arrested and charged with breaking the law. August was arrested on July 28, 1937, a few days before his second daughter, Irene, was born. He was acquitted in May of 1938 on grounds of insufficient evidence because of the confusion over Irma's classification. August was arrested again in July of 1938 because he returned to Irma, therefore committing another act of Rassenschande. He was sentenced to two and a half years. His conviction set the secret edict into motion, and Irma was taken into custody. Her children were sent to an orphanage. Irma's Aryan stepfather was able to retrieve Ingrid, who was thereafter raised by her grandmother. Irene stayed behind, eventually to go into foster care. August was sent to Börgermoor Prison Camp, where inmates were used for labor in armament factories and shipyards. Irma was sent to various internment camps: Oranienburg, Lichtenburg, and Ravensbrück. As war broke out and years went by, conditions in the camps deteriorated. Irma Eckler was transferred from Ravensbrück to the Bernburg death camp in 1942, where she was led to the gas chamber. August Landmesser was released from custody in January of 1941. He went to work in Warnemünde, and in 1943 was engaged to a Russian woman who used the name Sonya Pastschenko. When the German army occupied Ukraine, they had found her working as a nurse for the Russian army and deported her to work in Warnemünde. August contacted his daughters and introduced Sonya in 1943. But the family was never reunited. August was drafted and sent into battle with Bewährungsbataillon 999 in 1944. He was reported as missing and presumed dead in November. He was officially declared dead in 1949. Irene was not aware of his status and held hope of his return until 1994, when she finally saw the notification that her sister Ingrid had received. Ingrid Eckling (later Landmesser) was born in 1935, before the Nuremberg Laws went into effect, so she was classified as Mischling (half cast). She therefore escaped much of the anti-Jewish persecution of the Nazi era. Ingrid stayed with her maternal grandmother until adulthood. Ingrid's younger sister Irene, born in 1937, was classified as a Jew, which meant she was eventually subject to carrying an ID card and wearing a yellow star at all times. After a period in an orphanage in which she suffered physical abuse, Irene was taken in by a foster family named Krause in 1940 and then by the Proskauer family in 1941. She was unofficially renamed Reni Proskauer. Around this time, the father, Erwill Proskauer, who was Jewish, was made to perform forced labor. In 1942 Irene, who was five years old, was picked up with a group of Jewish orphans and was to be sent to the camps. However, an acquaintance grabbed her out of the group and disappeared into the crowd. "Auntie Schneemann" took Irene to Austria for several months. She was the only survivor of the group of orphans. Upon her return to Hamburg, Irene was hidden in a hospital ward, during which time her Jewish ID card was "lost." In 1943, Frau Proskauer, afraid her daughter "Reni" would be exposed as a Jew, absconded with the girl to Calvörde in Brandenburg and hid until the end of the war. Erwill Proskauer had no idea where his wife had gone. After the war, the Proskauers never officially adopted Irene, and turmoil in the family caused her to move in and out of an orphanage. She eventually contacted her sister Ingrid and began to research the family history. More from mental_floss... August 9, 2011 - 8:13am submit to reddit
January 25th, 2013 What happened to the conservative press? Here’s an interesting question from a commenter at Ace’s: We have always had a partisan press its just that it use to have two sides. I don’t really know what happened to the conservative side of the press, I suspect the depression and the age of FDR had a lot to do with its disappearance. It’s true that during the 20th century, and particularly after the 30s, the country has generally become less conservative. I’m not sure about the time frame on the following, but there also has been an increasing tendency for newspapers to see themselves as “objective” and above partisanship, as though they are declaiming from Olympian heights. Preposterous, of course; back in the day, newspapers were quite up-front about their biases and political leanings. But there is still another answer to that commenter’s question about what happened: journalism school happened, as well as the rise of the young journalist. Used to be that journalism wasn’t about schooling. Journalists (called “reporters” back then) didn’t even necessarily go to college, much less journalism school. They started young, but at the beginning didn’t have much power or influence at all; they were relegated to lowly tasks. To work one’s way up to becoming a major force at a well-known newspaper took time, and by then the reporter had also done time in the cliched school of hard knocks, which tends to be a lot less compatible with starry-eyed liberalism than j-school is. Remember those hard-bitten hard-nosed reporters in the green eyeshades? Remember Jimmy Olsen, cub reporter, serving his apprenticeship? Well, that doesn’t seem to be the way it works these days. A great many influential reporters are quite young (‘scuse me, journalists), and their pre-reporter credentials are mainly academic ones. So is it any wonder that conservative journalists are getting more rare? The wonder is that there are any left at all, the profession and the educational system being what it is. 13 Responses to “What happened to the conservative press?” 1. Sam L. Says: Well, I think the question really is, what happened to the journals? Big cities had morning and evening papers. Evening papers likely got killed off by TV evening news. The single paper likely went to the “objective” mode and then moved left. My local rag is leftish, and i have concluded I will let my subscription expire when it runs out next month. It’s past time to do so. 2. Sgt. Mom Says: Journalism – sorry, reporting! – was also very much more a blue-collar profession, back in the day, and it is my perception that the working reporters were very much looked down upon as ‘not our kind, darling’. They were rude, crude, drank too much, and hung out with other working-class types… although, I think the ones on the international beat could be dressed up and taken anywhere. 3. holmes Says: On an invidual level, there is more money in being an op-ed star than there is in being a real reporter too. And the systems now in place reward a certain leaning (see Dan Rather’s climb to power). But there’s a governing dynamics problem- not eveyone can be at the top of the pyramid spinning out pyramids, and the product overall worsens. I would think there would be a real market for investigative journalism. James O”keefe seems to have found a niche as have some more liberal leaning organizations like Pro Publica. 4. Marty Says: Now, instead of reporting being a working- or middle-class job, reporting is decidedly elitist. Rather than savvy, street-smart people learning the business on the police beat at the old City News Bureau in Chicago, they now go to J-school and come out with master’s degrees, fully indoctrinated with acacdemic leftist BS and no life experience to tell them any different. If they were smart they’d have been lawyers or gone into hard science, but they’re not smart, so they went into Journalism (the real stupid ones go into Education, a related story). So these not very bright people suck up all the indoctrination about how the left is the only moral choice, and how important they are, they get a job and find that they are indeed part of a powerful, prestigious guild as long as they follow the rules, which is easy because it’s what they believe, anyway. Don’t criticize a liberal Dem, at least not when it might matter, always give Repubs and conservatives a hard time–that’s the way to get ahead in life and be a force for “good.” Your colleagues and bosses will love you and reward you for it and you’ll feel good about yourself–and your too stupid and complacent to be at all reflective about things like “the role of the press in a free society” or any of that old-fashioned stuff. There’s no mystery to it. 5. J.J. formerly Jimmy J. Says: Before WWII, most newspapers were politically biased and advertised that in their names – the Arkansas Democrat, The Arizona Republican, etc. During WWII, the nation came together and there was not nearly as much political critcism of governmment. Rationing, price controls, censoring of mail, etc. were all accepted as necessary evils of winning the war. When the war was over and television was coming into being there was this idea that the government was not to be criticised too much because, after all, we had won the war. Our Federal government had managed to successfully defend us from our foreign enemies and there was a willingness on both sides to defer to the government. Besides, in those days the big money was being spent on defense, not on social programs. Social Security was just getting started. There was no Medicare, no Education Department, no Federal freeways, etc. Many people deferred to the idea that our government was looking out for our interests, particularly overseas. Democrats and Republicans mainly scrapped over union issues, trade issues, “fair trade” pricing in retail stores, trying to get reclamation projects done out west, and how to build the national freeway system. It was the resumption of war in Korea that started some people to question whether our Federal government was always right. The communists embedded in our system saw this as an opening to begin spreading dissatisfaction with our efforts to contain the spread of communism. It was the Vietnam War (that actually began with the fall of Dien Bien Phu in 1954) that opened the way for the flowering of the left’s push into academia and journalism. It was Walter Cronkite that demosntrated the power of a prime time TV anchor when he pronounced the war unwinnable after the Tet offensive. It changed the attitude of our country. It was Woodward and Bernstein who demonstrated the power of investigative journalism when they were instrumental in forcing Nixon to resign. That showed the power of the press. It has been pretty much a downward slope toward being totally biased for the MSM since then, even though they continue to claim they are “middle of the road.” It took 59 years, but the left is now extremely well entrenched. Bernie Goldberg, who worked in MSM journalism, says that it is a reinforcing bubble and you have to give homage to the right (actually left) values in order to rise through the ranks. And that’s how it happened. Our academics, except in the STEM fields, are nearly all leftists and they produce our journalists and many of our politicians. Conservative principles are not self evident to most people. It requires studying history and judging what has worked and what hasn’t. It requires some willingness to understand human nature and why societies succeed or fail. Conservatism is not about feelings as much as it is about realism. Yet feelings are what moves the masses to follow the charismatic leaders. And the MSM is on board with that. 6. expat Says: You probably also have to consider the background of the people who go to Columbia J school. Most are probably upper middle class kids who grew up in a suburban bubble. There is probably not much life experience to counter the received wisdom. 7. Sefton Says: I see this all the time… “We’d do much better if it weren’t for a biased (read indoctrinated) media, the MSM”. Then the discussion turns to the J Schools. But it is not only the MSM. It is the K-12 educational system, the clergy and Hollywood as well. If you could some how fix the MSM you’d still have the others. What they all have in common is a corrupt and politicized higher education system that churns these people out in all directions. Talk about bubbles. Tenured, overfed and underworked. They have plenty of time dream up utopian nightmares and encourage others to share them. To me, the obvious counter tactic is to hit at higher education. Technology is doing its part. But I am amazed that not every conservative politician in this country is pointing out to the young and their parents how colleges have ripped them off. Instead, the competition is for who can extend and forgive college loans fastest. We’ll always lose that one. To hit (politicized and bureaucratized) higher education where it is most vulnerable (the exorbitant tuition) exposes its corruption, helps dry up the major source of its funding and begins to turn a new young generation in our direction. I am not, of course, arguing against higher education, but instead what it has become since the 60s with the help of the enormous funding it was given on the backs of students with the precise purpose of creating what we have today. It is no accident that Hollande in France wanted to hire 60,000 teachers immediately. Heck, I’d bet it wouldn’t be hard to prove that enormous tuition has played a large role in stymieing the middle class. Colleges are our equivalent of Medieval Monasteries. Where is our Reformation? We are missing a great opportunity to turn the young as they realize how they’ve been used by the welfare state. The same can be said of African Americans. No one is pointing out to them how the Democrat controlled educational system keeps them down. Without using these tactics, conservatives are left to argue against high costs. Therefore, they appear mean. They want to cut programs that everyone just knows are for good of the people. We’d won’t get rid of the current MSM, but we should find better political leaders. 8. J.J. formerly Jimmy J. Says: Expat said, “There is probably not much life experience to counter the received wisdom.” Yes, and I have to admit that I was pretty much apolitical until I was faced by students against the Vietnam War in 1967. I was 34 years old (not a callow youth) and had no idea there was such anger and passion against the government’s foreign policy. It shook me to the core to be threatened, called vile names, and see such rage in the faces of fellow Americans. It caused me to start looking deeply into history and politics and reasoning out what the issues were. Today it bothers me to talk with my daughter’s contemporaries (in their 40s) and realize how little they know of the world and politics other than what they see/read from the MSM. Though well educated and not callow youth, they are mostly low information voters. Fortunately for my sanity, my daughter resisted the brain washing and is a staunch, gun-owning conservative. She’s an anomally in her field of psycho-therapy. It’s pretty much dominated by left leaning people. 9. neo-neocon Says: Sefton: actually, we’ve discussed the education problem in many, many other threads. It is indeed a very large one. 10. neo-neocon Says: J.J.: your daughter might be interested in this post. 11. Sefton Says: While I’m pontificating about tactics… Talk about ending the Dept of Education or what have you means nothing to the average Joe. All he cares about is getting a big tax refund come the Spring as if he wasn’t just getting his own money back. But those who feed off Joe through the DOE care a lot and fight to the death to keep the DOE bloated military expenditures, farm subsidies, etc. going. Me? I as a politician (or better some grass roots organization) would suggest we’re cutting the DOE (or even across the entire budget ) this year and every dollar cut will be placed in refund checks come this Spring. Instead, the suggestion is to incentivize the politicians to make cuts. They get more. But there are too few of them now centralized in DC not to be overwhelmed by lobbyists. I’d love to see a congressman explain why his constituents (with an emphasis on the Da Little Guy) won’t be getting an extra $500 (or more) in their refund check this year. The whole dynamic is changed. I’d love to see Krugman explain why they shouldn’t. People might finally see what the government is costing them and how much is siphoned off by K Street. Heck, what can we lose? We’re heading to hell in a hand basket now. At least the enormous amounts of money we’re borrowing and printing might find its way back into the real economy. Will this work as a budgeting tactic? Don’t know. Could just be a populist alchemy or lunacy. Might not matter if it starts some interesting discussions about priorities, how things really work, and makes many politicians squirm. Wasn’t turning tables like this in the plot of some movie the name of which I can’t recall? 12. Kyndyll Says: More than 20 years ago, I was a journalism student at a major university and it was my impression (for what 20-year-old memories from a time when I was a 20-year-old are worth) that the trend toward “active” journalism was kicking into gear. I had gone into journalism idolizing investigative reporters that dug out the truth and war correspondents that put their own lives on the line to bring news to the people. As a teen of the 80s, it never occurred to me to think of the government as a good thing; the government was an impeding force, if not the actual villain, in my world. I don’t specifically recall the trend putting a white hat on the government, but what it did do was try to suggest to a generation of reporters that journalism was about making and shaping news, not just reporting the story. It offended me. I abandoned a career in journalism and went into the sciences instead. (Although, as a footnote, I found out later how political the sciences were, too. My belief in the sciences as a pure and honest pursuit of truth was naive at best.) 13. IGotBupkis, Legally Defined Cyberbully in All 57 States and some Canadian provinces Says: Here’s a link to a facebook thread discussing the whole CT-GC-Liberal Bias meme with a journalist named Derek Rose. Notable for the following comments: THE PUBLIC DOES NOT WANT OBJECTIVITY. Would you really want your TV news read to you by a robot? People want human beings with human emotion bringing them their news. I can’t imagine telling a story of a horrific case of child abuse, say, in an “objective” manner. Or about the Nazi holocaust. OBJECTIVITY IS DEAD, and has been for years. The only people who talk about it these days are bias-hunters who accuse the mainstream media of not being “objective.” GUILTY AS CHARGED. The Society for Professional Journalists removed “objectivity” from its code of ethics guidelines back in 1996. He doesn’t seem to Get It at all that mainstream media STILL SELLS itself as being “objective” to the people. Lots fewer are buying it any more, and I’d argue that has A LOT to do with plummeting revenues in the newspaper and magazine fields, as well as lowered viewer numbers on the TV. Only a percentage of the population only wants to hear exactly what they already believe, and it’s not 50% of them. It’s mostly the True Left (about 30%) and the Honestly Whacko Right (about 10-15%). 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[an error occurred while processing this directive] BBC News watch One-Minute World News Last Updated: Friday, 1 October, 2004, 16:58 GMT 17:58 UK Biodiversity: The sixth great wave As part of Planet Under Pressure, a BBC News Online series looking at some of the biggest environmental problems humanity faces, Alex Kirby considers the current increase in extinction rates. By Alex Kirby BBC News Online environment correspondent Indochinese tiger cubs A quarter of all mammals face some extinction risk All the creatures we share the Earth with are important in some way, however unprepossessing or insignificant they may appear. They and we are all part of the web of life. From the dawn of time, extinction has usually progressed at what scientists call a natural or background rate. Today the tempo is far faster. Many scientists believe this is the sixth great wave - the sixth mass extinction to affect life on Earth. We were not here for any of the previous mass extinctions, but this time our sheer preponderance is driving the slide to oblivion. The index tracks the size of specific populations of selected species It shows them as a percentage of the 1970 populations It shows falling population levels in all three ecosystem types studied We have more than doubled our numbers in half a century, and that is the most obvious reason why there is less room for any other species. We are taking their living room to grow our food, their food to feed ourselves. We are exploiting them, trading in them, squeezing them to the margins of existence - and beyond. Often the choice is hard: conserve a species or feed a community, tourists' dollars or turtles' nests. In 2003 the World Conservation Union's Red List said more than 12,000 species (out of 40,000 assessed) faced some extinction risk, including: • one bird in eight • 13% of the world's flowering plants • a quarter of all mammals. That gives you a ballpark figure. Science has described 1.75 million species, some experts estimate that there may be 13 or 14 million in the world in total - but until they are catalogued, nobody knows. Cretaceous (About 65 million years ago) Triassic (About 208 million years ago) Permian (About 245 million years ago) Devonian (About 360 million years ago) Ordovician (About 438 million years ago) Our pillage of the natural world has been likened to burning down the medieval libraries of Europe, before we had even bothered to catalogue their contents. Many species keep us alive, purifying water, fixing nitrogen, recycling nutrients and waste, and pollinating crops. Plants and bacteria carry out photosynthesis, which produces the oxygen we breathe. Trees absorb carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas given off by human activities. Pandas and microbes Some years ago, when the global annual gross product was about $18 trillion, US researchers calculated the value of the goods and services provided by the Earth to the world economy: $33 trillion. Tropical cone snails contain toxins which show promise for treating some forms of cancer and heart irregularities. One toxin may be a thousand times more potent than morphine for pain relief. But millions of cone snails are now killed annually for their shells, and their habitats are under pressure. That is the argument for utility. But the creatures we can see, and those we can use directly, are just the start of the story. Lord May, president of the Royal Society (the UK's national academy of sciences), has said: "Most conservation effort goes into birds and mammals - creatures like the panda, a dim, dead-end animal that was probably on the way out anyway. "Yet arguably it's the little things that run the world, things like soil microbes. They're the least-known species of all." Complex network And we continue to tug at the loose threads of the web of life, thinking we can split it into its separate parts. Pearl bordered fritillary 71% of UK butterfly species are reported to be declining Brazil nuts are a lucrative harvest in the Amazon. But an experiment to produce them in plantations failed, because the trees bear a good crop in the forest, but are barren in isolation. We are not removing individual species from the Amazon: we are destroying the entire forest. US researchers estimate that by 2020 less than 5% of it will remain in pristine condition. Within 15 years, about a fifth of central Africa's forests will have gone, by one estimate. And the forests of Indonesia are in headlong retreat. Some species are bucking the trend towards extinction. In 1953 there were about 2.5bn people: today there are 6bn. Ensuring other species keep their living space is not sentimental. It is the only way we shall survive. Extinction, whatever Steven Spielberg says, really is for ever. The web is unravelling. Climate threat: What species are at risk? 07 Jan 04 \| Science/Nature World 'ignores extinction threat' 21 May 04 \| Science/Nature World 'losing battle against extinctions' 21 May 03 \| Science/Nature Americas Africa Europe Middle East South Asia Asia Pacific
How to write an effective Cover Letter Why send a cover letter? An effective cover letter links the skills and experience on your resume/CV to the job you’re applying for and the organisation you’re applying to. A strong link increases your chances of an interview. Although each cover letter you write will have a certain amount of repeated information, avoid writing ‘form letters’ where only the name and address of the organisation and contact person changes. If you don’t make an effort with your letter, it may be interpreted that you wouldn’t make an effort in the role; and you could miss out on an interview as a result. It is more effective to send fewer, well researched and tailored letters to targeted employers than to spend time and money sending multiple letters stating, "Dear Sir/Madam, I am interested in a job with your organisation." A good cover letter... • is typed with neat, consistent formatting and printed on one page of plain, white A4 paper. If you leave wide margins (2-3 cm each) it will be easier for the reader to write notes. Never send your first draft and if you can, ask someone else to check your letter for errors or omissions before you send it. You can also attend a Resume Rescue workshop at the Careers Centre to receive feedback on your job application documents. It’s important to keep a copy of any letter you send to reread before an interview. • is addressed to a specific person. This means that you may have to phone the organisation and ask reception for the name and title of the addressee. Use ‘Dear Sir/Madam’ only if you’re unable to find out the addressee’s name. • reflects your personality and your enthusiasm for the role for which you’re applying. On the whole, organisations like to employ people who enjoy their roles and will assume additional responsibilities to enhance their skills and the reputation of the organisation. What to include in your cover letter • your name, address, phone number/s and e-mail address • the title and name of the addressee (spelt correctly), the addressee’s position, the organisation’s address • the date • a greeting e.g. “Dear Ms Jones”, NOT “Dear Sophie” • the title and reference number of the position (if applicable) eg. Application for position of Technical Officer, ref: 9173DGL Suggested structure and layout [insert your name] [insert your street number and street name] [insert your suburb, state and postcode] [insert title and name of addressee] [insert his/her position title if known] [insert the organisation’s address] [insert the date] Dear [insert Ms/Mr Xxx or Sir/Madam] Application for position of [insert name of role], Reference Number [insert if given] Paragraph 1 – Introduction - Mention the position you are applying for and where you saw the advertisement. Paragraph 2 – Why Me - Give a brief outline of your academic and employment history in relation to the selection criteria for the position. State how you could contribute to the role and the organisation (or industry). Provide evidence by describing relevant qualifications and experience, taking care to cover those skills/areas the employer is looking for. These can include your studies, skills developed in extra curricular activities, work experience and employment history. Paragraph 3 – Why Them - Explain why you’re interested in the role and the organisation. In order to do this you need to have thoroughly read the selection criteria relating to the role and researched the organisation using the internet, newspapers, industry contacts etc. If you don’t know the name of the organisation (e.g. the position is advertised by an agency), you can research the industry. Paragraph 4 – The Hoped-For Result of Your Letter - Mention your availability for interview and the best way of contacting you. Conclude that on the basis of your outlined skills and experience you’d like to be considered for an interview. State that your resume, application form etc. is attached. Yours sincerely [insert your signature] [insert your name typed] Enclosures: (e.g.resume) (Use ‘Yours sincerely’ for letters beginning with ‘Dear plus Addressee’s Name’ and ‘Yours faithfully’ for letters beginning with ‘Dear Sir/Madam’)
Rich Tucker Presidential hopeful Howard Dean is off the dole. And that’s a good thing. The former Vermont governor already has raised more campaign cash than any of his Democratic rivals. Now, he says he’ll turn down the government’s generous offer of $18.7 million in federal matching funds and pay for his entire primary campaign out of his own coffers. That means he’ll be allowed to spend as much as he wants, while his opponents who accept public financing will be limited to about $45 million. Predictably, the flinty doctor blamed President Bush for his decision. “The unabashed actions of [Bush] to thwart our democratic process with a flood of special interest money have forced us to abandon a broken system,” Dean huffed. Of course, President Bush hasn’t broken the public campaign financing system. In fact, he’s played by its foolish rules, as set out in last year's McCain-Feingold campaign “reform” legislation. Bush has brought in more than $100 million so far and aims to top $170 million. But the president isn’t cashing in with “special-interest” donations. All of his cash was “hard money” -- donations made directly to his campaign by individuals. By law, those donations are capped at $2,000. Here’s where the system goes off the tracks. Although an individual can give only $2,000 directly to a candidate, he can give an unlimited amount to a private political organization. However, he cannot give that money to one of the major political parties. That’s why billionaire George Soros recently donated $10 million to start a new group called America Coming Together. Soros makes no bones about the goal of his organization. “I've come to the conclusion that one can do a lot more about the issues I care about by changing the government than by pushing the issues,” he recently told Fortune magazine. He wants the president out, and is willing to pay to make that happen. With $10 million in the bank, ACT could be a major player in next year’s election. However, there’s a problem. Since it’s funded by soft money, ACT is not allowed to directly endorse a candidate. It can only engage in opposition research, get-out-the-vote efforts or voter education. Think about it -- the people running ACT will very much want President Bush’s Democratic opponent to prevail next November. But the law prevents them from running ads encouraging people to vote for that Democrat. However, the group is free to spend as much as it wants on ads that educate (warn) voters that Bush is dangerous. The ads can be completely negative, as long as they don’t explicitly urge people to vote against Bush. Ironically, it sounds as if Americans Coming Together will be dedicated to driving Americans apart. Rich Tucker Rich Tucker is a communications professional and a columnist for Townhall.com.
Huff, Gartland capture titles at Southmoreland December 30, 2012 The Altoona Mirror ALVERTON - Hollidaysburg's Damian Huff (113) and Northern Bedford's Drew Gartland (145) captured titles at the Southmoreland Holiday Classic. The third-seeded Huff, who went 4-0, avenged his only loss with a 6-4 win over Forest Hills' top-seeded Triston Law, who beat the Golden Tigers junior in the Sheetz Holiday Classic. Gartland (11-0) went 4-0, including a 9-1 major decision over Beth-Center's Jason Stay in the finals. Northern's Eric Grace (220) pinned his way to the finals, but he had to settle for second when he dropped a 9-7 decision to North Star's Levi Albright. Northern Beford tied with Greenville for third place with 145 points. Butler won the team title in the 34-team tournament by 45 points, 193-148, over Mount Pleasant. Three other area wrestlers placed in NBC's Mason Replogle (132), who finished third, and teammate Damian Corle (138) and Hollidaysburg's Matt Barton (285), who placed fourth. 1. Butler 193; 2. Mount Pleasant 148; 3. Northern Bedford and Greenville 145; 5. Blairsville 130.5; 6. Meyersdale 115.5; 7. Jefferson Morgan 113; 8. Valley 112; 9. Pine-Richland 102; 10. West Greene 99.5; 18. Hollidaysburg 79. Championship Finals 106-Griffiths, Southmoreland, maj. dec. McDermitt, Burrell, 11-2; 113-Huff, Hollidaysburg, dec. T. Law, Forest Hills, 6-4; 120-Reckner, South Side Area, dec. Ju. Patrick, Ligonier Valley, 5-3; 126-Jo. Patrick, Ligonier Valley, dec. Kelly, Pine Richland, 4-2; 132-Gentry, South Side Area, maj. dec. Hetrick, Meyersdale, 11-2; 138-Gavazzi, Charleroi, dec. Tarr, Blairsville, 3-1; 145-Gartland, Northern Bedford, maj. dec. Stay, Beth-Center, 9-1. 152-Doak, Blairsville, dec. Bonzo, Freedom, 5-1; 160-C. Law, FH, dec. Burnham, Pine Richland, 7-3; 170-Hammon, Butler, dec. Davidson, Gateway, 5-1; 182-Conti, Jefferson Morgan, dec. Fields, Valley, 7-1; 195-Morris, Corry, dec. Hines, Hickory, 6-3; 220-Albright, North Star, dec. Grace, Northern Bedford, 9-7; 285-Christmann, Slippery Rock, dec. Beisel, Southmoreland, 5-0. Consolation Finals 106-Howard, Jefferson Morgan, dec. Raliff, Valley, 4-1; 113-Charlton, Meyersdale, pinned Rothka, Bentworth, 1:17; 120-B. Caudill, Butler, maj. dec. Hughes, Valley, 11-2; 126-Dewitt, Valley, dec. K. Caudill, Butler, 7-4; 132-Replogle, Northern Bedford, dec. Houston, Butler, 11-5; 138-Miller, Jefferson Morgan, maj. dec. Corle, Northern Bedford, 9-0; 145-Johnston, West Greene, pinned Mears, Mount Pleasant, 1:58. 152-Long, Mount Pleasant, dec. Horne, Greenville, 3-2; 160-Crook, Marion Center, pinned Gladysz, Greenville, 1:48; 170-Taubert, Corry, dec. Payne, South Side Area, 8-7; 182-Berkley, Meyersdale, dec. Weaver, Butler, 3-2; 195-Holt, Mount Pleasant, pinned Fordyce, Bentworth, 1:38; 220-Evans, Baldwin, pinned White, Blairsville, 1:54; 285-Gladsyz, Greenville, pinned Barton, Hollidaysburg, :54. Pair of Mounties triumph BROCKWAY - Philipsburg-Osceola's Chris Thompson (106) and Dennis Lumadue (182) captured titles at the round-robin Big Dog Tournament, and the Mounties won the team crown. Thompson (8-0) went 3-0, while Lumadue (10-0) went 5-0 to remain undefeated. P-O also had seven other wrestlers finish second in Brian Evans (126), Caleb Shively (138), Andrew Greenawalt (152), Jay Prentice (170) and Nick Gray (220), all of whom lost once, and Chris Barnhart (113) and Bryan Descavish (120). P-O also had two fourth-placers in Justin Millard (145) and Clint Rudy (160). The Mounties won the team title by two points, 22-20, over Port Allegheny. Three Lions place CANONSBURG - Three Altoona wrestlers placed in the rugged Powerade Christmas Tournament at Canon McMillan High School. Altoona's D.J. Hollingshead (132) and Mante Barnes (195) finished fifth, while T.J. Brandt (138) placed seventh. Hollingshead went 6-2, losing both times to Forest Park. Va.'s Dennis Gustafson, while Barnes, went 5-2, and Brandt went 4-2. I am looking for:
Extraterrestrials - Do those of other realms exist? What happened to Miracle Mineral Supplement? Is MMS still available? Spiritual Wellness Resources Help from Other Realms Do you believe in extraterrestrial lifeforms? Is it possible that there are those on other realms that are helping or, according to some, hindering our spiritual paths here on earth? Well, it's a lot like that scene in Contact, The Movie, with Jodie Foster a while back. Jodie Foster plays a scientist who has an extraterrestrial encounter during a scientific experiement. As is typical with such experiences, she really can't prove it happened. When she is testifying, as a scientist, to an unplausible and scientifically unacceptable event in her life, they ask her how she can possibly believe she actually traveled to other realms and met with those of other realms. I do not remember the exact line but the jest of it was that she experienced it. That's why she could believe it. Once you have a personal experience with extraterrestrial life, you can no longer doubt and you also no longer need scientific proof. I've had more than one experience that negated the need for proof in my own life. A lot of those experiences had a mystical aspect, particularly after I got on a conscious path of awakening, became involved in Sacred Ceremony and stepped into realms of Sacred Initiation. However, one certain experience was as third-dimensional and real as any I've ever had. It stands out for that reason. When I was about 12 years old, and well before I knew to think of such things as possible, I looked up into the night sky outside my girlfriend's window and saw a UFO. She saw it too but denied it the next day when I, guileless in my amazement, tried to tell our classmates what we had both seen. There it was, impossibly big, impossibly bright. It was as real as the car in the driveway. Up close, personal, and fully 3D. It had lights that gave off no light and there was no sound at all. Like another scene from Contact which contains one of my favorite lines, I knew for sure They Ain't Local. Years later, driving down that same road one day, I glanced over at that window. The same little mobile home still sits there, with the same tree in front. The UFO I saw all those years ago had appeared to be at the top of that tree. I clearly remember...and yet, the tree is so small. How could something so huge have appeared that close to the earth and only my friend and myself see it? Of course, I don't know if it is that we are the only ones who saw it. Wee never spoke of it to many. I was telling everyone at school the next day and my friend blushed reddest red and denied seeing it so that was the end of that conversation. Maybe others saw it too and didn't know how to talk about it. Since then I've seen things in the sky that "might" have been a UFO but never again have I seen one so clearly as to eliminate all doubt. Other experiences I've had, as I mentioned before, were not so third-dimensional but rather visionary or energetic in nature. That is to say, I saw with inner vision or felt energies around me. That didn't make them less real to me, just different. Each person must decide if they believe or not but believing is not so important, I think. Knowing is important and that only comes thru direct experience. If you want it, ask for it. Easy Site Search Focus on the Metaphysical: Remote Viewing Training Remote Viewing Training Remote viewing is being able to see what is going on in another physical space. I believe it's something that can be done but don't personally need that particular psychic skill enough to develop it. This remote viewing programs makes use of binaural beats to help the brain entrain to the specific brainwave frequencies that are most conducive to being able to remote view. When people do remote viewing successfully, in other words, they are functioning at low delta frequency levels and this binaural beats is designed to take you to an exact mid-delta brainwave frequency and the to cycle the frequency between delta and low theta. And then, close to the end of the recording you are brought to a relaxing and very pleasant alpha state that will leave you refreshed and in a state to remember your experiences. The developer of this remote viewing program posits that you can remote view successfully using it, without extensive practice. If you already remote view, this program can enhance your ability to do so. The remote viewing program is guaranteed so you can return it if it doesn't work for you. More information from the developer: Remote Viewing is indeed real, and used by many law enforcement agencies. The US government has performed many Remote viewing experiments and this technology is widely used today. Remote viewing can be defined as the ability to witness or see events, things, and people without physically being there. Remote viewing takes place in the Mid To Low Delta Frequency Ranges. Your mind reaches these stages daily, but most of the time you are asleep while in the low Delta ranges. Two distinct frequencies which are 0.3 Hertz apart are the dominant Binaural Frequencies within this recording that are responsible for paranormal ability to develop. Learn more about Remote Viewing Training
Waterland Quiz \| Eight Week Quiz B Buy the Waterland Lesson Plans Name: _________________________ Period: ___________________ Multiple Choice Questions (a) That she is about to run off to London to hide from her father. (b) That she is pregnant from Tom, but told Dick it was Freddie's child. (c) That she pushed Freddie into the river. (d) That she saw Freddie attack Dick the night before by the river bridge. (a) Dick Crick. (b) Freddie Parr. (c) Tom Crick himself. (d) Harold Metcalf. 3. After Freddie's death, Mary reacts in a drastic way. What does she do? (a) She locks herself into her father's house for three years. (b) She attempts to commit suicide by drowning herself. (c) She strangles Tom's favorite kitten. (d) She runs away to London. 4. What is the motto of the New Brewery in Gildsey? (a) E Pluribus Unum. (b) Ex Aqua Fermentum. (c) Quid Pro Quo. (d) Sine Qua Non. 5. What gives the Atkinsons the decisive advantage over the other brewers in the Gildsey area? (a) They grow the best malt barley for beer brewing in the area. (b) They invent the steam engine. (c) They return rich from an exploration to the Americas. (d) An ancestor saves Queen Elizabeth, is knighted and given a royal commission. Short Answer Questions 2. Tom Crick mentions a similarity his father found between his home and the battlefields of World War I. What is that similarity? 3. What is the name of the student Tom Crick butts heads with the most? 4. Who is the patron saint of Gildsey? 5. Which of the following does NOT draw Mary and Tom closer together? (see the answer key) This section contains 409 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) Buy the Waterland Lesson Plans Follow Us on Facebook
Twelve identical point charges q are equally spaced around the circumference of a circle of radius R. The circle is centered at the origin. One of the twelve charges, which happens to be on the positive x axis, is now moved to the center of the circle. Find the magnitude of the net electric force exerted on this charge. Express your answer in terms of some or all of the variables q, R, and appropriate constants. Want an answer? No answer yet. Submit this question to the community.
January 20, 2006 -- Defining exactly what Chiari is is not an easy task. Because Hans Chiari first described the condition in terms of the cerebellar tonsils herniating out of the skull, most people define Chiari as tonsillar herniation of greater than 3mm-5mm. Herniation is defined (or measured) as the distance below the foramen magnum, or the opening at the bottom of the skull through which the brain and spine meet. While this definition is still widely used today (potentially to the harm of many patients), research has continued to show that the amount of tonsillar herniation is not related to severity of symptoms or clinical outcome. In fact, some people have significant herniations, greater than 3mm, with no symptoms. In fact, one study examined over 12,000 MRI's (Elster et al.) and found that over 30% of the people who had herniations greater than 5mm were symptom free. Conversely, some people exhibit classic Chiari-type symptoms with little to no herniation. Having symptoms with no herniation is sometimes referred to as Chiari 0, and has become a controversial subject. Some surgeons believe that operating on Chiari 0 type patients is beneficial, while others remain skeptical. Unfortunately, the way Chiari is defined now causes problems for patients in two ways. Some patients, with significant herniations and symptoms, are told that Chiari is no big deal, lots of people have herniations, and that it is benign. At the other end of the spectrum, Chiari 0 patients are told they don't have Chiari because there is only a little herniation, and their symptoms are dismissed as being due to something like stress, or emotional problems. This limited usefulness of tonsillar herniation in defining Chiari has led many experts to base their diagnoses not solely on MRI's, but rather on a combination of MRI, cine MRI, symptoms, neurological exam, and their own experience and judgment. It has also led researchers to look beyond the herniation measurement for more useful metrics which might define the Chiari condition. Along those lines, several research studies over the years have focused on the size of the posterior fossa region in Chiari patients. The posterior fossa is the area in the back of the skull, near the bottom where the cerebellum and brain stem are situated. Research has shown that in general, Chiari patients have smaller posterior fossa's than average people. This has led to the theory that Chiari is not a disorder of the brain, but rather a result of the skull being too small for a normal sized brain. Now, a team from the Allegheny Neuroscience Institute in Pittsburgh, led by Dr. Sekula and Dr. Jannetta, have extended this line of research and shown that so-called Chiari 0 patients tend to have small posterior fossa's, similar to Chiari I patients. They published their work in December, 2005 in the journal Cerebrospinal Fluid Research. Specifically, they looked at 22 patients who were suffering from Chiari like symptoms (see Table 1) and compared their MRI's to 25 people with no evidence of Chiari or syringomyelia (they had been treated for trigeminal neuralgia). The Chiari 0 group [Ed. note: the authors did not use the term Chiari 0 in their paper, they referred to the group as Chiari-like] was comprised of 15 women and 7 men. On average they had been experiencing symptoms for more than 7 years, and none had been treated surgically. The patients were given a complete exam, and filled out both a symptom check-list and a personality assessment. The personality assessment was designed to identify anyone with emotional problems or who was depressed. In addition, the group underwent MRI's which were then reviewed by a physician who did not know their diagnosis. Based upon the results from other studies, the team decided to look at nine different measurements in the posterior fossa region (see image below). They found that in the Chiari 0 group, 4 of the nine measurements were significantly different from the control group (see Table 2). The clivus, the basiocciput, and the basisphenoid were all smaller in the Chiari group, and the tentorial angle was steeper. Interestingly, the most significant difference between the two groups was the clivus. An article in the December issue of Chiari & Syringomyelia News (Tracing The Origins Of Chiari) reported on a study which hypothesized that Chiari is due to a problem in the development of this exact structure It should also be noted that the size of the cerebellum was not significantly different between the two groups. While the authors believe that their findings indicate that the current definition of Chiari may be too restrictive, they are cautious about the surgical implications until more research is done. At this time, they do not recommend surgery for patients with minimal herniation, but suggest observation instead. The findings from one study are not likely to eliminate the controversy surrounding Chiari 0, but it is certainly a start. --Rick Labuda
Dinner is (finally) served: TMIO's Connect Io Intelligent Oven is shipping We've heard promises of these ovens-of-the-future forever- the ones that somehow magically transform from a refrigerator to an oven and can even be programmed remotely. Well the future is finally here, friends, and for $8700 you can get your Jetsons-on with your very own Connect Io Intelligent Oven from Tonight's Menu Intelligent Ovens (TMIO), which can do all that crazy stuff we just mentioned thanks to tech originally developed at NASA. That's right, the same remote capabilities that allow astronauts to perform important hands-free experiments can now be used to lavish you with piping-hot mac n' cheese the moment you arrive home. Along with making changes from your PC, the TMIO oven can be controlled from any Internet-enabled device (your cellphones, your PDAs, your PSPs) or touch-tone phone, which makes it super-handy for last-minute schedule-shuffling or for blowing up your house from afar if the Feds catch wind of that scam you're running. And even if it makes crappy food, how can you fully hate on any appliance that sports a 6.8-inch touchscreen LCD? [Via ZDNet]
The Nernst Equation >> >> The use of standard reduction potentials to predict the course of a reaction is somewhat limited, in that they are only valid under standard conditions. However, they can be used to predict the course of redox reactions under nonstandard conditions. This process of extrapolation of the properties of a reaction under one set of conditions to those under another set of conditions uses the Nernst equation. The Nernst Equation If we know the Gibbs free energy of reaction at under one set of conditions, it can be used to predict the Gibbs free energy of reaction, and from that the reduction potential, under a new set of conditions. Derivation of the Nernst equation Consider the reaction: The Gibbs free reaction energy can be related to the standard Gibbs free reaction energy: Q is the reaction quotient: The reduction potentials may be related to the free energies of reaction: Therefore, the Nernst equation is the result: The Nernst equation relates the non-equilibrium properties of a reaction to those at equilibrium. At equilibrium, the reaction free energy, and hence the potential for the reaction, is zero, and the reaction quotient, Q, is the equilibrium constant, K. We can therefore calculate the equilibrium constant from the standard reduction potential. The exponential dependence of the equilibrium constant on the reaction potential means that a change in reaction potential of one volt results in a change in the equilibrium constant of seventeen orders of magnitude: hence, E* = +2 V means K = 1034, E* = 0 V means K = 1, and E* = -2 V means K = 10-34. When we introduced half-reactions, we saw that we could split up the overall potential for a cell into contributions from the oxidant and the reductant. We can also do this for the Nernst equation, and therefore write a similar expression for each of the reduction couples. pH dependence of reduction potentials The Nernst equation can be used to determine the pH dependence of the potential for a given reaction. Consider the reaction: The Nernst equation gives the potential: But, E* is the reduction potential for the Ox/Red couple, E(Ox/Red), as the standard reduction potential for the H+/H2 couple is zero, and [H2] is given by the partial pressure of H2, which is 1 under standard conditions, and the number of electrons transferred is 2. The Nernst equation becomes: The definition of pH: pH = -log10[H+] So the reduction potential is related to the pH: In general this equation should be adapted for the number of electrons transferred. Stability Fields: Water The values of the reduction potentials for the H+/H2 and O2,H+/H2O redox couples, and their pH dependences, can be used to predict where a given species may be stable in aqueous solution. This stability can be expressed in terms of the stability field (aka Pourbaix diagram). The Stability Field of Water When a reducing agent that can reduce water to H2, or an oxidizing agent which can oxidize water to O2, is placed in water, the reduction or oxidation reaction will take place, and the species will decompose, and hence it is unstable. A species is therefore stable if its reduction potential lies in the range 0 < E < +1.23 V, 0 V being E(H+/H2) and +1.23 V being E*(O2,H+/O2). However, the reduction potentials change with pH, and so the range of stable reduction potentials also changes. The variation of stable reduction potentials with pH is shown in the stability field plot, and in water, the stable species are those which have reduction potentials lying between the solid black lines. If the effects of kinetic control are taken into account, the need for the presence of the overpotential predicts stability for those species with reduction potentials in the range between the dashed black lines. The vertical lines on the diagram have been added to show the range of pH values commonly found in lakes and streams, pH values between 4 and 9. Hence the area in the middle of the diagram represents the area of stability in natural waters. Rate this Page Overall Explanations Diagrams Why is this page good or bad?
FORT MEADE, Md. --Bradley Manning, the Army private who sent hundreds of thousands ofsecret U.S. government documents to WikiLeaks, was found not guilty onTuesday of the most serious charge against him -- aiding the enemy --but guilty of several other charges at a military trial in Fort Meade,Md. Col.Denise Lind, the military judge in the case, made the ruling. Manninghad requested that a judge, not a jury, determine the verdict againsthim. Lind found Manning guilty of five counts of theft, fivecounts of espionage, a computer fraud charge and other militaryinfractions. Manning's sentencing hearing is set to beginWednesday. He still faces a potential 128 years in prison if he receivesthe maximum sentence for the charges on which he was convicted. Inhis closing argument last week, military prosecutor Maj. Ashden Fein,told the court Manning was a traitor who joined the Army to stealgovernment documents, turn them over to the anti-secrecy organizationand enjoy adulation as a whistle blower. Manning's lawyer, DavidCoombs, portrayed him as a soldier troubled by what he saw whiledeployed to Iraq and struggling as a gay man to serve before the repealof Don't Ask, Don't Tell, the policy that resulted in more than 14,000gay troops being discharged. Manning, 25, had faced 21 charges,including the most serious - aiding the enemy, which carries a possiblesentence of up to life in prison. Manning has acknowledged givingWikiLeaks some 700,000 battlefield reports, diplomatic cables andvideos. But he says he didn't believe the information would harm troopsin Afghanistan and Iraq or threaten national security. Theprosecution argued that Manning knew a- Qaeda terrorists could benefitfrom the leaks. Some of the information turned up in the search of Osamabin Laden's compound in Pakistan, they said. Manning pleadedguilty in February to charges that he had misused classifiedinformation. Those charges carry a maximum term of 20 years in prison. Manningwas a low-level intelligence analyst, working at a forward operatingbase in Iraq when he gained access to the files. He used his computersavvy to gain access to sensitive government documents andcommunications. The material he released included footage of aU.S. Army helicopter attack in Iraq in 2007 that killed at least ninemen, including a Reuters journalist. Other documents revealed tepid for the government in Tunisia. Manning's supporters say thathelped bring about the revolution there that sparked the Arab Springmovement. The verdict and sentence will be reviewed by thecommander of the Military District of Washington. A hearing on hissentence is set to begin Wednesday.
Huffpost Books Lev Raphael Headshot Does A Christmas Carol Really Need to be Rescued? Posted: Updated: No, the real danger is poor, dead Dickens himself. Journalist Jesse Kornbluth has published a version of Dickens' novella that's been cut by half. Why? He claims Dickens' writing is dated, clotted, overwrought. That last label is the funniest of the three because a story about a notorious miser visited by four ghosts who scare the hell out of him to make him change his life is by definition overwrought. Kornbluth thinks classics like this Dickens tale won't survive in our short attention span age, and that his version is an improvement. Well, the proof is in the Christmas pudding, right? Let's compare part of the bravura description of Scrooge's cheapness and lack of humanity from the opening pages to what Kornbluth has boiled it down to. Here's the original: And now the rewrite: For Scrooge was the cheapest of the cheap, so tight-fisted that if the coins in his hand could talk, they would scream. His cheapness was cold and hard and it froze him from the inside out; it shriveled his cheek, made his eyes red and his thin lips blue. He seemed to carry winter around with him. The updated version reduces forceful description to basic information without any of Dickens' pizazz. The colorful details have been stripped away, and the wonderful rhythms of Dickens' prose have become something leaden and dull. The new version does nothing to make it clear that Scrooge was an epic miser, a historic miser, the Mother of all Misers. So what led Kornbluth to "rescue" A Christmas Carol? His 8-year-old daughter found the book boring when he read it to her. As a parent myself, I would have waited till my kid was ready, and tried another book. It's not that I think Dickens' story is sacrosanct, it's that it's so wonderfully entertaining as it is. Why chop up a glorious greatcoat to turn it into a scarf? Kornbluth says that after his edit, "[n]othing important is gone." Really? His version cuts the Dickens out of Dickens.
US Sending Egypt 10 Apache Choppers The helicopters are to help Egypt’s counterterrorism operations in the Sinai. Timing may be linked to Russia-Egypt arms deal. By Gil Ronen First Publish: 4/23/2014, 10:14 PM Apache helicopter Apache helicopter Israel news photo: IDF The United States is sending Egypt 10 Apache helicopters to Egypt to help counterterrorism efforts, reports the Oman Observer. US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel called his Egyptian counterpart, Colonel General Sedki Sobhi, and informed him of the decision, according to a statement. The choppers are to help Egypt’s counterterrorism operations in the Sinai. Hagel told Sobhi that the US believes the new helicopters “will help the Egyptian government counter extremists who threaten US and Egyptian security,” according to the statement from Pentagon press secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby. In July 2013, the US put a hold on the delivery of four F-16 fighter jets, M2A1 tanks and Apache helicopters following the ouster of president Mohammed Morsi. The US said it would refrain from making more military deliveries until it determined if Morsi’s ouster was a coup. Hagel told Sobhi that Secretary of State John Kerry would “soon” certify to Congress that Egypt is holding up its strategic relationship with the US and meeting its obligations. But it was not clear if this means the US now believes Morsi’s ouster was not a coup, nor if the other military equipment will be delivered, said the Observer. Hagel also told Sobhi that the US does not yet believe Egypt is supporting a democratic transition. The timing of the US move may be linked to reports Friday that Cairo and Moscow have reached an initial agreement on implementing a new Russian arms delivery deal worth over $3 billion. Egypt's defense minister, Field Marshal Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who is likely to become the new president, negotiated the agreement, aimed at replacing decreased assistance from Washington, during talks in Moscow last Thursday between Russian and Egyptian foreign and defense ministers. Russia's Vedomosti cited Russian defense sources as saying that the sides initialed or signed contracts for the delivery of MiG-29M/M2 Fulcrum fighter jets, air defense missile complexes, Mi-35 helicopters, coastal anti-ship complexes, light weapons and ammunition.
Genome Property Definition Page NameO121(Ec) antigen biosynthesis DescriptionThe E. coli O121 antigen monomer is a linear tetrasaccharide with the structure [->3)bDQui4NGlyAc(1->4)aDGalNAcAN(1->4)aDGalNAcA(1->3)aDGlcNAc(1->]. The 4-aminoquinovose sugar is also known as viosamine and the NGlyAc is an acetylglycylamido group; GalNAcA is N-acetylgalturonic acid, and GalNAcAN is N-acetylgalacturonamide. Additionally, the DGalNAcAN is reported to be 60% O-acetylated at the 3-position. Three glycosyltransferases are present in the sequenced O121(Ec) cluster, WbqEHI. WbqI shares 47% identity with the WfaH enzyme from the O138(Ec) antigen cluster, and O138 shares the [DGlcNAc-a-1,3-DGalNAcA] reaction. WbqE shares 37% identity with WfbE from the O123(Ec) antigen cluster, and O123 also includes a 4-substituted quinovose sugar in the first position of the monomer, although the incorporated amino acid is alanine instead of glycine. By process of elimination, the WbqH enzyme is assigned to the middle linkage. The N-acetylgalacturonamide is likely derived from N-acetylgalturonic acid by the action of the asparagine synthase homolog WbqG. The O-acetylation is likely carried out by WbqF. JCVI RoleBiosynthesis and degradation of surface polysaccharides and lipopolysaccharides Step NameStep NumRequiredEvidence (Method)Evidence Go Terms source of 4-acetylglycylamido-D-quinovoseQ4NGAcYESGenProp1039 (GENPROP): dTDP-4-N-acetylglycylamido-D-quinovose (dTDP-Qui4NAcGly) biosynthesis from dTDP-D-viosamine D-GalNAcAN-b-1,4-D-Qui4NAcGly transferaseWbqEYES2904 (RULE_BASE) D-GalNAcAN 3-O-acetyltransferaseWbqFYES2905 (RULE_BASE) D-GalNAcA amido-ligaseWbqGYES2907 (RULE_BASE) D-GalNAcA-a-1,4-D-GalNAcAN transferaseWbqHYES2908 (RULE_BASE) D-GlcNAc a-1,3-DGalNAcA transferaseWbqIYES2909 (RULE_BASE) O121(Ec)-specific O-antigen transporter (flippase) wzxwzx121YES2903 (RULE_BASE) O121(Ec)-specific O-antigen polymerase wzywzy121YES2906 (RULE_BASE)
AROMAS, Calif. - A convicted felon in Aromas is accused of possessing six illegal firearms, including one that had been stolen from Seattle. Watsonville police began an investigation into the suspected sale of methamphetamine in the city by Hector Rocha. They were able to obtain a search warrant for Rocha's home in Aromas. Monday, Watsonville police, accompanied by a California Highway Patrol K9 officer, served the search warrant at Rocha's residence. There they found three semi-automatic pistols, a shotgun, an illegal sawed-off rifle and a banned assault rifle with large capacity magazines. A number of the guns were loaded. Rocha, 34, is a convicted felon and cannot legally possess firearms. Police also found gang indicia and evidence of narcotic sales and illegal firearm transactions. Rocha was arrested on suspicion of illegally possessing firearms, possession of a stolen firearm, child endangerment and other weapons-related charges. He was booked into Monterey County Jail in lieu of $300,000 bail.
MATHEMATICA BOHEMICA, Vol. 121, No. 1, pp. 41-54, 1996 Two solutions for a nonlinear Dirichlet problem with positive forcing J. Matos, L. Sanchez J. Matos, L. Sanchez, Universidade de Lisboa, Centro de Matematica e Aplicac oes Fundamentais, Avenida Professor Gama Pinto, 2, 1699 - Lisboa Codex, Portugal Abstract: Given a semilinear elliptic boundary value problem having the zero solution and where the nonlinearity crosses the first eigenvalue, we perturb it by a positive forcing term; we show the existence of two solutions under certain conditions that can be weakened in the onedimensional case. Keywords: semilinear elliptic equations, multiple solutions, shooting method, variational methods Classification (MSC91): 34B15, 35J25 Full text of the article:
Be a Supporter! Credits & Info Apr 3, 2012 \| 9:42 PM EDT • Daily 3rd Place April 5, 2012 If you liked this, check these out! Plenty more like this here! • Easter Author Comments Rated 4 / 5 stars Let me preface this with, I am not religious at all, and try to look at both sides of religion. I agree with you in some respects. The Easter Bunny is just stupid. It does not come from any religion, some make the argument that it is based on pagan beliefs. That argument is false, pagans do celebrate fertility around Easter because it is spring, however, there isn't a bunny handing out sweets anywhere in their history. As for the Christen take on Easter, I believe that this video makes some good points. The Old Testament was pretty messed up. God was much more vicious and bloodthirsty compared to the benevolent God of the New Testament. This video does a good job of pointing out some of the failings of a book made thousands of years ago, yet there are and always will be steadfast believers who will follow it to the grave. That is their choice and I believe we must respect that. That doesn't mean that we can't poke fun at it, like this video does, it just means that we can't be abusive towards those who speak their beliefs or minds (I am looking at you FluffyDemon), at least not in good moral standing. As for the video, as I said above, it touches on some good points, although it uses a strawman argument to prove it's point. I would prefer a slightly more balanced presentation. The voice acting was ok, that stuff doesn't bother me as much as it does some people. The jokes were good and I had a nice laugh. i see room for improvement, but you are still doing quite well for yourself. People find this review helpful! Rated 4.5 / 5 stars pretty good job, just wish it was a bit louder @talkingtrousers how does 99% of your review have anything to do with this flash? Rated 5 / 5 stars Yeah, you kinda just did talkingtrousers. Overall I enjoyed the flash because of how it showed how both sides celebrate it. The mic quality could be improved but it's certainly not horrible either. Keep up the good work. People find this review helpful! Rated 3 / 5 stars Slightly choppy animation, weak voice acting, art is fine, overall message is clear, overall effect is weak Rated 2 / 5 stars I'm not going to harp a christian anthem, however topically I find this animation starved of any real content. Your view of Easter, the passover and fasting are hackneyed and shallow. I'm right there with people in protesting against the extreme and objectifying commands of the old testament but surely your ignoring the fact that Easter's profound due to it's emphasis on family unity and the message of a saviour. I agree the ties of the past linger on in fasting but the generations of kids growing up today are becoming more and more undisciplined, you just have to look at the underage pregnancies, premature alcohol abuse and hedonistic selfishness that the world has become so liberally associated with. Shit, I do seem christian in saying that but the easter bunny isn't gonna do fuck all for anyone. It's a simple opium for kids that replaces the ethics and discipline that older generations gripped tight to. I'm caught in the middle between christians that are far too conservative to embrace modern world values, shovelling beliefs in peoples faces and self-worshipping atheists who're far too pretentious to see that they're irritating people who keep their beliefs to themselves. Either eat chocolate and rot in a box or eat chocolate and hope for the best. While i'm reviewin' your mic quality is terrible and muffled, though I love your animation style, it's kinda reminiscent of some cartoon I used to watch but cant quite remember. Anyways, good luck with your future submissions.
Officials of several religious organizations, including the Presbyterian, Lutheran and Episcopal churches, sent an open letter to Congress yesterday opposing the proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. ''Although we have differing opinions on rights for same-sex couples, we believe the Federal Marriage Amendment reflects a fundamental disregard for individual civil rights and ignores differences among our nation's many religious traditions,'' the letter said. The United Church of Christ and the Unitarian Universalist Association, which recognize same-sex marriages, also signed the letter. So did representatives of the Anti-Defamation League, the Union for Reform Judaism, the liberal Alliance of Baptists and the Quakers. The Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, helped orchestrate the letter. As United Church of Christ minister, he said, ''I am disturbed that even though I can perform a religious ritual to unite a same-gender couple, the state won't recognize it because some different religious group thinks I am theologically wrong.'' But Diane L. Knippers, president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, a group that seeks to push the liberal Protestant denominations in a more conservative direction, called the letter ''a blatant attempt by left-leaning religious leaders to undercut and intimidate other religious voices.'' She said the amendment would define marriage in civil law, not religious ritual.
Chief Rabbit Sir Jonathan Sacks Friday, 18 September, 2009, 08:24 AM - Sacks Rating 3 out of 5 (Fairly platitudinous) There's a big Jewish festival tonight - happy Jewish New Year everyone! We'll be having a brilliant time blowing rams' horns (but not any other kind of animal horn because that would be just silly). It's a time for reflection. We all need to stop and slow down, to think about where we've been, where we are, where we're going and whether we should use a horse and cart or an MPV to get there. For all our advances in technology it's still just work, work, work, Chief Rabbitting all day long. Now we're pursued by emails and mobiles, "We urgently need some Chief Rabbitting," they'll say. The chauffeur shofar is the satellite navigation system of the soul, telling us how far we have to go. It is the telephone answering machine that reminds us what we have missed, the fan assisted oven that evens out the temperature of life, the battery driven pepper grinder that reduces the corn of our problems to granules, the multi-purpose remote control that allows us to switch devices off. So let's all take time to thank the Invisible Magic Friend for satnavs, answering machines, fan assisted ovens, battery driven pepper grinders and multi-purpose remote controls. Let us ask the Invisible Magic Friend to provide many more convenient and ingenious labour saving devices in the year ahead. 13 comments ( 953 views ) \| permalink \| ( 3.1 / 241 ) Reverend Lucy Winkett, Canon Precentor of St Paul's Cathedral Thursday, 17 September, 2009, 03:57 PM - Money, Winkett Rating 3 out of 5 (Fairly platitudinous) Here I am, in the middle of the City of London, surrounded by flash blokes in Saville Row suits, driving Porches and swigging champagne by the magnum. How come they get paid so much? And multi million pound bonuses? The Archbishop of Canterbury is appalled and so am I. I'm just as good as any banker but you don't here my employers saying they have to up my salary to keep the best person for the job. Some of these City types should have a go at Canon Precenting. They'd soon know what it's like to have a proper job. Jesus had the right idea, pay everyone the same no matter how much work they do. Christian teaching opposes anyone being that rich. All human beings are children of the Invisible Magic Friend. They are of equal worth and should be treated equally. 3 comments ( 569 views ) \| permalink \| ( 3 / 219 ) Shaikh Abdal Hakim Murad, Muslim Chaplain at the University of Cambridge Wednesday, 16 September, 2009, 09:51 AM - Invisible magic stuff, Murad Rating 4 out of 5 (Highly platitudinous) Dan Brown's new novel is available from all good book stores from today. This one's about the Freemasons - a secret society that everybody knows about who conspire to run the world for their own benefit. Doubtless this'll be a best seller and a box office hit in due course. The masses inevitably read rubbish like this instead of listening to intellectual, sensible, rational people like me. His latest piece of fiction is nearly as loopy as the "Da Vinci code" where Jesus is reputed to have had a wife and descendants. I mean, how likely is that? Conspiracy theories abound amongst the gullible out there. Whether it's faked moon landings or US government involvement in 911, there are always nut cases who just can't deal with reality. It seems people will believe any old rubbish, no matter how absurd it sounds or how clearly deranged the person telling the story is. Some people even believe in hidden forces, like magic and the occult. Phew, what a bunch of loonies! We're coming up to the end of Ramadan, when the Invisible Magic Friend decides what's going to happen in the year ahead. We know this for a fact because Mohammed told us that an angel told him all about it. So don't forget to tell the Invisible Magic Friend that you've been good little boys and girls this year and ask for lots of nice things as a reward. 11 comments ( 1106 views ) \| permalink \| ( 3.4 / 331 ) Wallopingly Reverend Tom Butler, Lord Bishop of Southwark Tuesday, 15 September, 2009, 08:20 AM - Democracy, Butler Rating 3 out of 5 (Fairly platitudinous) Today I want to talk to you about cats. (Hic!) Catch 'n cheese 'n onion. (Hic!) No, no that'sh not what I want to talk about. I want to talk about the partly politic-ill conferensh she (hic!) sheashon. Did I ever tell you how to choose an Aposhle? Well I'll tell you anyway. Firsht you get (hic!) get all the poshible Aposhals. Then you shay to 'em. (Hic!) Which o you lot hash the sherry bottle? Eh? No, no, which o you lot knows Jeshus best? (Hic!) Then you do a bit a prayin. Then you jumble up all the cuddly toysh, pick one at random and he getsh to be an Aposhle. That'sh how the Apishlotic slusheshin got all the way to me. (Hic!) I'm the Biship a Suffurk. S'wat I do. 'S bit like votin, innit? (Hic!) 16 comments ( 950 views ) \| permalink \| ( 3.1 / 299 ) And now for something not entirely different Monday, 14 September, 2009, 08:33 AM - Science, Not TFTD I've always wished there were some learning materials for people like me, who have a smattering of maths, but are nowhere near being professional physicists. I find all the popular accounts of gauge theories, symmetry breaking and space time curvature, really quite frustrating. In their desperation to avoid an equation at any cost, they're often forced to argue by analogy that leaves me feeling that I haven't really learned anything. A few days ago I discovered that Leonard Susskind has done just that. If you're comfortable with some basic calculus (and he'll remind you as he goes along about most of it) then these lectures are an absolute joy. He starts off with Classical Mechanics. Classical Mechanics is boring, right? Not the way he teaches it. By lecture 4 he's gone from what's allowed as a physical law to Noether's theorem. (If you haven't come across this before then this will blow your mind. It basically says that physical conservation laws arise from symmetries in nature - symmetry in your choice of spatial coordinate systems leads to conservation of momentum, symmetry in your choice of time zone leads to conservation of energy - and he demonstrates all this on the whiteboard.) This is far more advanced than anything I did in undergraduate physics and he makes it all look effortless - pen in one hand, cup of coffee in the other. These are the best things I've discovered since the Feynman Lectures on Physics. It's really all I can do to tear myself away from them and get on with something else. I can hardly wait to get onto the Relativity and Quantum Mechanics lectures. 18 comments ( 1141 views ) \| permalink \| ( 3.1 / 219 ) Rev Dr Dr David Wilkinson, Principal of St John's College Durham Monday, 14 September, 2009, 08:28 AM - Science, Wilkinson Rating 2 out of 5 (A little platitudinous) I want to talk to you today about space exploration, so there'll be no need whatsoever to gratuitously mention the Invisible Magic Friend. I'll mention the Luna 2 anniversary and the The Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite search for water on the moon. The amount of water on the moon will impact the plans for manned flights to Mars. Isn't this fun? A TFTD where I actually tell you things? Of course many complain about the $19 billion NASA budget. All that money wasted when it could be added to something useful, like the $33 billion annual U.S. expenditure on beauty products, or the $600 billion spent on weapons to kill and maim people. If you find exploration and discovery boring, if you're the sort of person who really doesn't like learning stuff then you're fortunate to have me around. As a Reverend Doctor Doctor, and unlike people who only have one Ph.D., I'm able to both extol the virtues of science and remind you that the heavens declare the glory of the Invisible Magic Fr... Oh bugger! 5 comments ( 1081 views ) \| permalink \| ( 3 / 253 ) Lord Black of Crossharbour - Why I became a Catholic Sunday, 13 September, 2009, 09:14 AM - Money, Prison, Not TFTD Rating 4 out of 5 (Highly platitudinous) As I languish here in prison, incarcerated for crimes of which I am entirely innocent, I wish to tell you all how I came to be a Catholic. But first, let me just dismiss the lies that have been told about me in court. The selfish shareholders of Hollinger International simply do not realise the vital business function played by my wife's expensive designer handbags, or the need for us to use the company jet on vacation. When I sold Hollinger titles, it was inevitable that we would have to sign non-compete agreements with the purchasers and that the fees for these should rightfully come to me rather than the company. With my wide business interests, it is surely no surprise that some of these agreements would ensure that I did not compete with myself, and on the one occasion where the agreement was not finalised, I think everyone will understand that I fully deserved to take the fees regardless. I doubt there is a single hard working entrepreneur out there who does not see a $62,000 bill at La Grenouille restaurant as a perfectly legitimate business expense. A busy CEO such as myself always needs a shaving stand and Napoleon Bonaparte's fitted the bill precisely. I needed some stools, so naturally I purchased Louis XVI stools - who wouldn't? How a succession of shareholders, juries and judges came to see this as fraud and embezzlement is completely beyond me. One person at least has trusted me. My good friend, Saint Tony of Bliar had me ennobled. Like me, Saint Tony is a fellow Catholic convert, a man who has similarly done no wrong, told no lies and was born without the stain of sin on his soul. So why did I become a Catholic? Although I have a quite undeserved reputation as a merciless businessman with a love of suing anyone who crosses me, I have nevertheless always had a deeply spiritual side. I was the most perfect being I knew, yet still I was not omnipotent. Logically, there had to be a being superior even to me. Even Hitler and Stalin secretly believed in God and if it was good enough for Hitler and Stalin then it was good enough for me. So I knew for a fact that God existed, but how to worship Him? I had always been impressed by the good work of individual Catholics, looking after the deprived and underprivileged. Their names go unmentioned - a tradition which I shall maintain. It is work that has my full moral support. I thoroughly approve of other people looking after the sick and the poor, and am happy to take my share of the credit by identifying their religious beliefs with my own. I was therefore prepared to consider Catholicism, but only after I had rigorously justified all of its dogmas by wanting to believe them. My first encounter with the Catholic church was with the Roman Catholic hierarchy of Quebec. I was most impressed by their understanding of the world, with their good business sense and their tight control of money. They stood firm against the anti-Christ of communism, an atheistic creed that is very poor for legitimate businessmen such as myself. My good friend Cardinal Carter of Toronto also had some very nice claret. When he retired it seemed a shame to waste his business knowledge, so he became a director of one of my companies. My first visit to St Peter's made a great impression on me. The grandeur, the scale, the magnificent solidity and architectural genius of high art. I felt immediately at home. Here, I thought, is my sort of church, wealthy, opulent, ostentatious. I was unimpressed by science. Science diminishes us by explaining things. The Copernican idea, that the universe does not revolve around me, I find deeply unappealing. Similarly, evolution, which strips me of my God-like powers, can hardly be a source of inspiration. With the benefit on my immense intellect, I find it easy to dismiss the claims of science as no more valid than claims of miracles. Although I have not actually witnessed any miracles, I think the scientifically verified miracles of Lourdes proves that miracles do in fact exist. So, having established that God and miracles are real, which religion should I accord the benefit of my membership? I knew nothing about the Eastern religions, so they had to be wrong. Islam seemed to have a disproportionate number of brown people in it that made it entirely too foreign. So what of the claims of Christianity? Napoleon thought that Jesus was even better than Alexander or Caesar and it would be foolish to argue with Napoleon. We know from the New Testament that Christ was divine and there is no reason to doubt that he told St Peter to found a church. But then there are so many Christian churches. Which to choose? Clearly the Eastern Orthodox are heretics and I hadn't met a single one of them that was a company director or had a decent bottle of claret. The Church of England, unlike the Catholic Church, was more concerned with money and temporal power than God. Having considered all the religions that were very nearly Catholic, I could see that whatever was left, the Catholic Church, had to be the true religion. By a happy coincidence, it turned out that the true religion was in fact the one with which I had become most familiar and that was run by my most powerful and wealthy friends. You will note that in reaching my conclusion I have taken account of the views of Napoleon, Hitler and Stalin. I have mentioned Caesar and Alexander. It may surprise you that I have not chosen to quote Jesus. Jesus' actual teachings are of course irrelevant. What matters is that he was a being greater than me and therefore a suitable object of my worship. The life of a devoutly spiritual person in prison is not so difficult as one might at first suppose. Happily there are a great many Catholics here in prison with me. Which is Conrad Black and which is Vincent Nichols and have they ever been see in the same room together? 2 comments ( 999 views ) \| permalink \| ( 3 / 257 ) Saturday, 12 September, 2009, 08:56 AM - Morality, Theology, Fraser Rating 4 out of 5 (Highly platitudinous) You are all SINNERS!!! That's why none of you should be allowed near children. Trust me, I know about this, I'm about to be installed as Canon Chancellor of St Paul's Cathedral by a crack Church of England team of Canon Chancellor installers. (In keeping with CofE policy, this highly qualified installation team will remove all packaging and ensure that the old Canon Chancellor is safely disposed of in an environmentally friendly and sustainable way.) Thank the Invisible Magic Friend the government has finally woken up and realised we need databases full of what your next door neighbours are saying about you all. Thousands of state employees will pour over millions of informers' statements about how you suspiciously helped your niece out of the swimming pool that time - you dirty, depraved sinner you. Some think that people brought up in happy homes will basically turn out nice, honest and generally well adjusted, that humanity can rise above its base instincts, that we can aspire to a better world, with an optimistic view of the future. Well let me just tell you the Church knows better. You're all evil at heart and you always will be. You were born with the stain of original sin on your invisible magic bit and need to be watched 24 hours a day to stop you fiddling with kids in your filthy perverted way. We know you're all sinners because Saint Augustine said so. The only one who ever disagreed was Pelagius and he was a heretic so you can ignore him. I mean, if you aren't all sinners who need to be saved then the Church would be pretty pointless, wouldn't it? My career advancement would be nothing more than a meaningless new title conferred by an organisation whose only reason for existence was its own self promotion, so you must all be sinners. That Humphrys fellow rudely questioned the wisdom of such detailed intrusion into the lives of a quarter of the population. Well I'm a Reverend, nearly Canon, Doctor, you don't get to criticise me Humphrys, you sinner you. 7 comments ( 1123 views ) \| permalink \| ( 3 / 234 ) Catherine Pepinster, editor of the Catholic newspaper, The Tablet Friday, 11 September, 2009, 08:27 AM - Money, Pepinster Rating 2 out of 5 (A little platitudinous) Kraft want to takeover Cadbury's, turning it into a proper, American company. Mr. Cadbury was a Quaker. He wasn't just any old Quaker though, he was a Christian Quaker, as indeed they all were at the time, which is why he was nice to his workforce. Aren't Quakers just fantastic? They're just really nice - a bit like Buddhists, but not as creepy, and some of them have an Invisible Magic Friend, which is nice. Quakers don't have a fixed set of beliefs, so they can't come on here on TFTD and tell you about them. Besides, some of them are secular humanists, so you might accidentally get an agnostic or even an atheist talking to you, and we can't have that, can we? I like Quakers so much that I'm going to stay a Catholic. Because despite being very nice, Quakers are of course, wrong. They've got no infallible pope to guide them, no strictly celibate male hierarchy with magic powers to tell them what's right and wrong, no sensible Vatican dictated liturgy. And then there's all those strange beliefs, like peace and equality and rights for gay people - totally weird. Despite all that, they're really, really, really nice. Which just goes to show that even nice people can make money, sometimes. 17 comments ( 1126 views ) \| permalink \| ( 3 / 199 ) Reverend Lucy Winkett, Canon Precentor of St Paul's Cathedral Rating 5 out of 5 (Extraordinarily platitudinous) 13 comments ( 1152 views ) \| permalink \| ( 3.1 / 282 ) <<First <Back \| 220 \| 221 \| 222 \| 223 \| 224 \| 225 \| 226 \| 227 \| 228 \| 229 \| Next> Last>>
It’s their job: Teresa Tapia What exactly does your job entail? I answer the telephones, direct calls and take messages. I stock in new inventory that comes into the store. I send off contracts to banks. I handle a lot of paperwork. I work on vehicle service contracts and handle those so that our customers’ vehicles are covered. Mostly I handle all the general clerical work. What is a typical day like for you? Every day is different. I am always busy with something. Why did you choose this job? It actually chose me. When I applied here, I was actually applying for a sales representative. After they found out that I had a family, they offered me the receptionist position that was about to be available because they knew it would allow me to have more family time. Did this position require any training? If so, what kind? Yes. We use a specific computer system for all of our transactions, so I had to learn how to use it. It took me a while to get the hang of it, but I eventually did. What do you enjoy most about your job? The people I work for. The people I work with. Also, the customers. Everybody knows everybody around here because Portales is so small. Everyone is so warming that it’s almost like a home away from home. Everyone here is family oriented and very close. It’s been such a blessing to work with such amazing people. — Compiled by PNT Correspondent Carrie Pendleton
Articles tagged harvey danger READ more A Tragedy Requires a Little Greatness to Begin With: Harvey Danger’s Unsung Masterpiece In 1998, Seattle rock group Harvey Danger had a hit song with "Flagpole Sitta", a hyper-literate alt-rock dissection of the stupidity of the modern age. They were written off as one-hit-wonders. Two years later, they released one of the best albums of the decade. No, really. READ more 9 Oct 2009 // 6:30 AM One in a long line of one-hit wonders that deserve to be multi-hit wonders. READ more //Mixed media // Sound Affects READ the article
Shell sales by seashore suit owner Resident now runs landmark shop started by his parents — For 25 years, Bibbey's Seashell Shop has not only been a place where tourists can pick up a puka shell necklace or a kitschy beach scene made from assorted shells. It's a place for serious collectors, too. The blue-hued Bibbey's, across from the Imperial Beach pier, is one of those old-fashioned shell stores where workers behind the counter know what they're talking about. “Lucky for me, I grew up around shells and we were my dad's workers,” said Michael Bibbey, referring to his brother Marion Bibbey. “When I see a seashell, I see the scientific name.” Bibbey and longtime employee Fidel Chavez run the shop. Marion Bibbey operates a small gift shop in another area of the store on weekends. Their parents, Loyal Joe and Elvira Bibbey, ran both a wholesale business and the store. Their father worked the wholesale side and their mother the retail side, each for more than 20 years before retiring a few years ago. The store carries about 500 different types of shells, including a few named for Loyal Joe Bibbey, who is well-known after spending more than 40 years in the seashell business. The store and a nearby warehouse hold at least 100,000 shells, Michael Bibbey said. Bibbey, 53, said his father got the idea to collect and sell shells after being offered big money for a couple of shells he found while stationed in Guam and later in Pensacola, Fla., with the Navy. He started selling shells as a hobby in 1957. He moved to San Diego in 1970 and opened his store in 1984 in Imperial Beach, importing shells from the Philippines. Loyal Joe Bibbey has about a dozen seashells named after him. A few, including Bibbey Murex and Bibbey Triton, are on display at the store. The building on the corner of Seacoast Drive and Elm Avenue, with its shelves, baskets and showcases full of seashells inside and its ocean-themed murals outside, is a local landmark. A great white shark painted on the front of the building a few years ago sparked some drama when city officials thought it might be misinterpreted as a warning. But Bibbey says it's just good clean fun and thousands of tourists and locals have snapped pictures in front of the shark. “People like the building because it's old I.B.,” Bibbey said. “People ask me what we're going to paint next.” The Art Kids, a local arts group for children, has painted the building's murals for the past five years. They change panels every few months. “I would say that besides the pier, Bibbey's is the most popular attraction we have in Imperial Beach,” said Howard Woodward, the program's director. Business is slow these days, Bibbey said. His three largest wholesale customers are from Mexico, where tourism has slowed and they can't sell the shell crafts they have now. But the Bibbeys own their building and are better able to weather the financial downturn than some other businesses. The store is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. It stays open until 7 p.m. in the summer. Despite the economy, locals and tourists shopped on a recent, unseasonably warm day as the Art Kids worked on a mural. In addition to shells, the store carries shark heads, conch shells, fossils, coral, butterflies and wood carvings. Tony Lepore, 41, and Francisco Lugo, 20, both of Santa Rosa, visited the store Monday and bought a few souvenirs for family and friends. They had just finished a job installing furniture and decided to head to the beach. Jennifer Garcia and Tannia Contreras, both 17 and from Imperial Beach, shopped Monday for jewelry. Each had on at least one piece purchased earlier from Bibbey's. “It's a very one-of-a-kind store,” Jennifer said. “It's very friendly, very local, very I.B.-ish.” Shell collectors can spend thousands of dollars on shells. They look for rare deep water shells, which Bibbey travels to find. There aren't many shell stores in San Diego, so he gets his share of collectors. Shells at the store range from 25 cents to $2,400 for a giant sea snail shell from southern Mindanao in the Philippines. Bibbey said his father had to retire about five years ago because he went blind from diabetes complications. His mother retired two years ago after having a stroke. He sees himself continuing the seashell tradition. “There's no stress with this job,” Bibbey said. “I get to travel. How can you not like working at the beach every day, especially on days like this?” Janine Zuniga: (619) 498-6636;
What I learned from my global surf-and-turf challenge. Notes from different corners of the world. Oct. 30 2009 10:18 AM Climb Every Continent, Surf Every Ocean Francis Slakey. Click image to expand. Francis Slakey If you ever find yourself surfing the Arctic Ocean, here's a tip: Don't borrow a wet suit from a Norwegian. Those people have massive feet. The wet-suit boots I borrowed are so loose that my toes feel as if they're soaking in a bucket of ice water. This sort of thing happens when you're trying to become the first person to summit the highest mountain on every continent and to surf every ocean. And cold feet only ranks about a 2 on a 10-point "get me the #$!% out of here" scale. I've been through worse over the last 10 years while I worked on setting the record. Getting shaken down at gunpoint by Indonesian soldiers ranks a 7. Suffering a tongue lashing in the dung hut of a Maasai chieftain registers a 9. I endured a 10 with every one of those horrid gym workouts that pureed my muscles but drove my resting heart rate down to an efficient 39 beats a minute. There have been plenty of good times to balance out those bad ones. I was given an amulet etched with the meaning of life. I was serenaded in the streets of Tblisi, Georgia. I met my wife climbing Everest. I'm thinking about all those experiences as I step out of the surf and onto the Arctic sand, my feet sloshing in the borrowed boots. As I unzip the wet suit, having just set the record, I realize that the best moments didn't come when I was on a board or wearing crampons. I had been climbing for years when I came up with the global surf-and-turf idea. The first step was to draw up the to-do list. Seven mountains to climb—that was clear. But how many oceans to surf? That depends on the map. You might think that map-making matured when we realized that the Earth wasn't flat. No, geographers still haggle and muse. In fact, the only reason that some maps show an Antarctic Ocean is that a few years ago, the International Hydrographic Association established it on a 27-to-1 vote, with 40 abstaining. That's not much of a mandate—40 voters obviously had something better to do with their time. I admit I didn't want to surf Antarctica. I had climbed in Antarctica, and I had no desire to return. It's a lung-freezing, ass-numbingly cold place. Thankfully, the National Geographic Society made its own cartographic assessment and concluded that there was no Antarctic Ocean. That was authoritative enough for me. I struck surfing Antarctica off the to-do list. Finding a place to surf the Arctic Ocean turned out to be more manageable than expected, thanks to continental drift. After South America hooked up with North America a few million years ago, a gulf stream was redirected northeast, eventually creating a remote beach on Vestvagoy Island, Norway, that runs about 10 degrees warmer than anywhere else in the Arctic. I circled it on my map and decided to save it for last. That left 11 items on the to-do list, including climbing Mount Everest. When I was on my way to Everest, our expedition passed the monastery of Thyangboche, the home of the most holy rinpoche of the Khumbu. The rinpoche has staying power. According to his followers' best estimates, he has had at least six incarnations spanning three centuries, and he's been living at Thyangboche for most of the last 100 years. As far as I can tell, he's spent most of that time sitting on a cushion. It's not every day that you get to talk to someone who's been meditating for 300 years, so I stopped in to ask him the meaning of life. The translator whispered my question to the rinpoche, who paused in deliberation. Finally, he leaned into the ear of the translator and whispered a phrase. I prepared for an epiphany. The translator cleared his throat and said, "He'll get back to you on that." That evening, I heard rustling outside my tent. I pulled up the flap to find a young monk with a scarf-wrapped bundle from the rinpoche. When I unfolded the scarf, I found a freshly etched amulet. I rushed to the tent of my Sherpa friend Pemba and asked him for a translation. "It is written in old language," Pemba responded, "I don't know it." "Who does?" "What do you mean, 'nobody'? Obviously, the rinpoche knows what it says. He wrote it." "No, the rinpoche doesn't know. It is very, very old Tibetan from scrolls. Everybody just recites—we don't know what it means." The next day, Pemba took my amulet and sewed it up tight in a pouch woven from the fabric of a blessed scarf. He explained that I should wear it around my neck and not take it off, even if it itched. I obliged. Weeks later, I was descending from the summit of Everest when clouds blew in. A blizzard hit us hard and left the team badly scattered along the Southeast Ridge. We made a few key decisions that pulled everyone through. Some of the Sherpas saw it differently. They attributed our survival to the amulet. It was inscribed with the meaning of life; it had juice. With every surf trip, every climbing expedition, another bizarre entanglement popped up. Debacles led to friendships; failed summits led to lawsuits; and on a climb half a world away I met my wife, even though she lived in Washington, D.C., just two Metro stops from me. Thinking back, I realize now that every adventure was telling me the same thing: The world is an intertwined, luminous, unending ball of threads. And after 10 years of puzzling over that amulet, it is here, with my wet suit dripping on a small crescent of sand in the Arctic Circle, where I finally realize what it says. It's a simple message, really: Go pull a thread. Francis Slakey is a professor of physics at Georgetown University and a lobbyist for the American Physical Society. As part of the 2002 Olympic Games, he carried the Olympic torch from the steps of the U.S. Capitol. Slate Plus Political Gabfest
Frogger Decades Currently Unavailable Recent posts about Frogger Decades Frogger Decades Review Just like Pac-Man, Frogger is a game that’s been remade and rebooted countless times. There have been sequels and spin-offs, but few that match the simple joy of the original. Frogger Decades is an attempt to celebrate the game’s 30th anniversary, and it does so surprisingly well. Decades takes what was great about the original and expands on it, making for a much more substantial experience. There’s actually a story in the game, though it’s really just there to provide an excuse for Frogger to go on his adventure. It works though, and is in keeping with the anniversary theme. A cartoony Frogger– who looks a lot like Kermit the frog– is off to find his birthday surprise when a villainous crocodile rearranges his map, forcing him to take the more scenic, and dangerous, route. At its most basic, the gameplay is the same as in the original Frogger. You can move one space at a time and the goal is to reach the end of the stage while avoiding a host of obstacles. Unlike the original, which had you crossing just a road and a river, Decades spans a total of 10 levels spread across five differently themed worlds. That may not sound like a lot, but completing each stage will likely take some time because Decades is decidedly difficult. As the game so helpfully pointed out, we died more than 70 times in one stage alone. To get to the other side. This is because the number of obstacles thrown Frogger’s way have increased substantially. There are enemies prowling about and moving platforms to deal with, in addition to the steady stream of traffic to navigate. The levels are also quite large but, thankfully, checkpoints are placed rather liberally throughout each. Even still, getting from one red flag to the next is almost always a difficult challenge. To deal with this extended range of obstacles, Frogger’s own abilities have been increased as well. He can jump across gaps, leap high into the air, and even use his tongue to move boxes and crates. These abilities make Decades feel somewhat like a cross between the original Frogger and a more traditional platform game like Super Mario. Unfortunately, while in theory controlling Frogger is quite simple, he doesn’t always do exactly what you want. To jump across gaps, for instance, you need to hold your finger for a moment and then swipe in the direction you wish to move. But sometimes Frogger would leap before we even swiped and in a seemingly random direction. The level design can also make the game harder than it needs to be, as occasionally things like bridges or train tracks will obscure parts of the screen. It’s not so bad when it’s simply hiding a fly, but when an enemy lurks about unseen it can be quite frustrating. With its modern presentation and expanded gameplay, Frogger Decades is a Frogger sequel that’s actually worth playing. But just be sure you’re ready for a challenge, as the titular frog will get squished many, many times before you manage to find his birthday surprise. discussion by
Paternity suit runs into double trouble It is a paternity suit that not even DNA testing can solve. A five-year-old boy may never know his father's identity because his mother claims she had sex with identical twins at the time he was conceived. Lawyers admit that the most advanced genetic testing techniques are unlikely to prove which of the twin brothers - in their late twenties - fathered the child. The unprecedented case in Montreal, Canada, is a real-life rerun of a plot twist in Zadie Smith's 2000 novel White Teeth, in which the character Irie Jones has sex with the Iqbal twins on the same day and becomes pregnant. Whereas siblings usually have enough genetic differences to be told apart, identical twins' DNA is almost exactly the same. Justice Paul Jolin, of the Quebec Superior Court, said of the case: 'There's a high risk that it is impossible to determine who the father is.' One of the twins, who cannot be named for legal reasons, went to court last summer in the hope of forcing the mother to grant him access to the child. Although his name is not on the birth certificate, he claims he is the only father the boy has known, cared for him every other weekend, provided financial support and was even known to him as 'papa'. But then the man's relationship with his girlfriend broke down and the visits halted. When he began legal proceedings to prove his paternity, the mother made her claim that she had been sleeping with his twin at around the same time. The twins have said they knew they were both having sex with the woman, but argue that only one had sex during the period of conception. Both refused to undergo a DNA test: the complainant refused to pay the £335 charge while his brother, who has since married and fathered children, does not consider himself involved in the dispute. Now, however, Judge Jolin has asked the complainant to take a DNA test by 1 December to ensure he can claim even possible paternity, while his brother may also be tested. Scientists in Canada have said it is possible for identical twins to have slightly different DNA because of genetic mutations while the embryos are duplicating in the mother's womb at an early stage of pregnancy. But such differences are not detectable with the standard method of testing. Kristine Ashcraft of Genelex, which provides DNA testing, warned: 'There's no way to tell who the father is. They have the same DNA.' If technology fails to end the mystery, the paternity question may ultimately rest with the judge. Myriam Pamphile, the twins' lawyer, said: 'The other twin is known by the rest of both families as the uncle of the child. The man claiming paternity said he has given financial support to the mother, even when she refused it. He saw the child every two weekends. 'In the best interests of the child, if he had known the first brother to be the father, I would think that the judge would give a decision where he still assumed that responsibility.' Catherine Bamber, the mother's lawyer, said her client was not committed to either twin. 'The brothers are her friends and had sexual relations with her, but they were never together as a couple,' she said.
Marcus Wohlsen/Wired Yahoo's narrative arc as a company can be defined by its acquisitions, which taken together also serve as one take on the history of the web itself. In the Yahoo version of that history, founders and backers of overvalued companies enjoy huge exits while the buyer tends to learn too late that its exuberance was irrational. Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer will soon find out whether her company's $1.1 billion (£720 million) purchase of Tumblr becomes the latest chapter in a saga littered with mediocrity and failure. (1999) -- In one of the frothiest moments of the first dot-com bubble, Yahoo bought a financially unsuccessful internet radio startup for a reported $5.7 billion (£3.7 million) in stock and made Mark Cuban very rich. The service was rebranded Launchcast and has cycled through multiple corporate partners as better ideas -- from the first Napster to Spotify -- have made the very idea of "broadcasting" on the internet obsolete. Geocities (1999) -- When the first great '90s nostalgia movie hits, we'll undoubtedly meet the protagonist as he rocks out to Pearl Jam while creating some sweet tiled backgrounds and table-based layouts on his GeoCities page. It's hard to fault Yahoo for swapping $3.6 billion (£2.4 billion) in stock for what at the time was one of the web's most trafficked sites. It's easier to blame the company for allowing GeoCities to sputter in dot-com limbo before shuttering the US version a decade later. Overture Services (2003) -- Yahoo's purchase of Overture for more than $1.6 billion (£1 billion) stands as its largest acquisition not directly aimed at consumers. The Google AdWords competitor was quickly rebranded as a Yahoo property and continues to serve up a high volume of internet advertising. But Yahoo has struggled to get those ads to generate as much revenue per ad as Google's, and has faced the wrath of advertisers over changes to the service. Right Media (2007) -- To bulk up in its battle against Google, Yahoo spent $680 million (£450 million) to complete its acquisition of ad auction service Right Media. The purchase helped fill out Yahoo's Panama ad platform but hasn't helped Yahoo close the gap in the company's perpetual race to catch up to its dominant competitor. Kelkoo (2004) -- Yahoo bought European price-comparison site Kelkoo in 2004 for nearly $600 million (£390 million). In 2008, Yahoo reportedly unloaded the sputtering service for about one-quarter of what it paid. (2002) -- Yahoo battled online job search rival Monster Worldwide to acquire HotJobs for $436 million (£286 million). Less than a decade later, Monster took HotJobs off Yahoo's fumbling hands for $225 million (£148 million). eGroups (2000) -- In one of the few bright spots in Yahoo's history of acquisitions, its $432 million (£283 million) purchase of eGroups helped build the foundation of the incredibly popular Yahoo Groups. But popularity has never been Yahoo's main problem. Converting that popularity into profit is where the company has always foundered, and its priority if the Tumblr acquisition is to avoid a GeoCities repeat. This story originally appeared on Latest on
Good Sam RV Travel Guide & Campground Directory One Tank Trip for North British Columbia Camping Map of British Columbia NorthFor outdoor enthusiasts, it's almost impossible to pick a location that offers more heart-pounding, endless recreation and serene beauty than Northern British Columbia. The wilderness alone covers more than half of the province, it is larger than the state of California, and is filled with raging rivers, pristine lakes, and jagged mountain peaks. If ever there was a heaven for the outdoorsman, this region is definitely it. Let's start our one tank trip in Prince Rupert, a small marine city with a lot to offer those in need of some one-on-one time with Mother Nature. Well known as a popular stop on various cruises, Prince Rupert is one of the few places where you will see tame deer roaming the streets, and wild grizzly bears seen safely via boats. Surrounded by lush, old-growth rainforest, there are little treasures to be found throughout the town, from petroglyphs to beautiful architecture. For the angler, Prince Rupert is a paradise of saltwater fishing opportunities and enough Halibut, Chinook and Coho to keep you busy for hours. Many anglers opt for charters that will take them out on a fishing experience they won't soon forget. For the culture seeker, you won't want to miss the Museum of Northern British Columbia, which will take you on an incredible journey of exploration through the Northwest Coast dating back to the last ice age. The museum is packed with archaeological discoveries, works of art, and unique artifacts that will keep you spellbound. The Northern Pacific Cannery is a historic site, which protects the oldest surviving salmon cannery village along the coast. If you've ever wondered what it must have been like to spend long summer seasons working in a cannery, now is your chance! The plant closed in the 1960s, but you can still take a self-guided tour through the 30 buildings still standing, which include primitive living quarters, bunkhouses, and the main cannery building. For our next Northern British Columbia RV camping stop, we're heading down HWY-16 E through some spectacular mountain ranges to Terrace. Depending on the weather, and the number of stops you take for photos, this trip will take you about 2 hours. No matter what time of year you visit Terrace, it has something incredible to offer. From its location along the Skeena River, anglers won't be able to resist casting a line for salmon. The summer months also bring hiking, rock climbing, kayaking, and canoeing. Winter has deep powder downhill skiing in store for you, as well as cross-country skiing, snowboarding, and snowshoeing. And if you're lucky, you'll catch a glimpse of the Kermode bear, a rare black bear born with a pure white coat. This rare beauty is also known as the Spirit Bear and holds a special place in the hearts of the locals. Our next stop takes us to Kitimat. Take HWY-37 out of Terrace, and turn right at Haisla Blvd, then take the first left to stay on Haisla Blvd. This leg of our trip is about 2 hours, weather permitting. What Kitimat lacks in population, it makes up for in some of the most scenic and peaceful views found anywhere on earth. The nearby Kitimat River and ocean channels are perfect for a variety of water sports, including fresh and saltwater fishing, kayaking, canoeing, boating, and even a visit to the hot springs. The surrounding area is beautifully untouched, and hikers and rock climbers will find themselves drawn to the many trails and climbing opportunities. And it's on one of these hikes that you just might run into the jewel of the Kitimat Valley, a Giant Sitka Spruce, which is over 500 years old. Now, that's worth an hours hike, isn't it? Our last Northern British Columbia RV camping destination has us backtracking on HWY-37, and returning to HWY-16 where you need to take a right. After several miles, turn left at Churchill and continue onto HWY 62/New Hazelton Hi-Level Rd. This is the longest leg of our one tank trip and should take you in excess of 3 hours. Hazelton is one of a group of towns that comprise an area known simply as The Hazeltons, and is a true hidden gem just waiting to be discovered by those curious enough to venture off of HWY-16. It's here that travelers will discover the beauty of the First Nations culture surrounded by serene natural beauty. There is a wealth of activities available to the outdoorsman including boating, hiking, and fishing for both steelhead and salmon. For those looking to dive head first into local aboriginal culture, pay a visit to 'Ksan Historical Village and Museum where you will discover a replicated village, totem poles, and beautiful history to be rediscovered. As far as adventures go, this is one that you won't want to end. Back to One Tank Trips for 2011 Woodall's Recommended British Columbia RV Campgrounds
on Translating “Yalo” Drake Stutesman: Yalo is interesting for the various different voices that it employs, and the ways in which it combines vernaculars, languages and perspectives into a single narrative. What do you think this multitude of elements points to, and how did you work to incorporate them into the English text? Peter Theroux: Yalo is remarkable among Arabic novels for the way Khoury lets his characters speak naturally. He definitely belongs to a new wave of Arab novelists who treat Arabic as a living language rather than rendering dialogue in formal Arabic. His characters speak Lebanese dialect, sing songs in dialect, throw in French and English words, and of course the grandfather, the priest or cohno, speaks whole passages in Syriac, which in the book is frequently not even called Syriac but Suryoyo, which is the Syriac word for Syriac. Khoury blithely makes his characters reveal themselves through their speech, which in the complex and very multilingual setting of Beirut (readers even find a Russian-Lebanese soldier in this novel!) means showing off the layers of their social class, their pretensions, and their deep history, as well, of course, as their feelings, moods, and so on. For me, that involved just the usual new challenges you find in a new book by a fearless author. I don't know Syriac but my knowledge of Hebrew helped, because the two languages are close. Of course, I didn't leave it to chance just because so many of the words were familiar—I located a wonderful friend of a friend, Tony Badran, who helped me get the Syriac one hundred percent right. As to the colloquial Lebanese speech, sometimes it looked unusual on the page, but I have spent lots of time in Lebanon, so I just read it out loud and it made sense. Lebanese Arabic is a riptide of Arabic and other languages. French words are common, and some Lebanese virtually make it their first language. English words are common, and some native Lebanese communities have other first languages—Syriac, Armenian, even Kurdish. The influence is mostly in the form of a multitude of loan words. DS: The book is full of the theme of "not being able to speak." How does Khoury convey that in the writing itself? Did this pose any problems or present any highlights for you as a translator? PT: This presented no real problems or highlights for me as a translator. Yalo is frequently mute, or coerced to speak as he is interrogated or tortured; his grandfather resorts to a dead language; Yalo cannot make a young Arab woman appreciate the Egyptian songs of Abd al-Halim Hafiz because she is deaf to Arabic culture and he isn't good at explaining it. Think about the opening scene of the book, with Yalo standing in front of the interrogator. Shirin's presence there leads to several flashbacks where they interact, and that can take your attention away from the fact that ten pages go by with Yalo scarcely speaking at all. His constant tendency to close his eyes seems to be another aspect of the same alienation. When it comes to his inability to convey to Shirin his feelings about the poetry of Qabbani or the songs of Hafiz, that is as much a cultural as linguistic issue. DS: The novel has a very strong sense of rhythm. Is this something that was difficult to transmit from the Arabic? PT: The novel is very rhythmic, but not in a way that makes it hard for a translator to convey the rhythms of Khoury's Arabic. For example, the speech of the cohno, the grandfather, is always very rhythmical, not surprisingly, since he speaks several languages and has had a long life of giving sermons and chanting the liturgy. And Yalo may be mute and inarticulate, but he is capable of thoughts that are rhythmically rendered, for example, "in this city called Beirut, which was sinking toward its death, he could smell an aroma of sea, salt, and incense …" It is typical of him to be challenged, and to give an inadequate verbal response, but then to have thoughts that are extremely articulate, and rhythmically rendered by Khoury. It makes sense—Yalo is his grandfather's grandson, and has grown up listening to his eloquence. But he can't express himself (except through violence, which is his downfall). DS: Does the complexity of Lebanon's long history of war and all its interweaving make translating a book like Yalo difficult, since it so crucially is trying to portray the effect of war, more than the literal details? PT: For my purposes, the main issue here was in how much less evocative the literal details would be to my audience than to Elias's readers in Arabic. The Lebanese Civil War lasted about fifteen years, and the slightest mention of place names—the Museum or Galerie Semaan checkpoints in central Beirut—summon up vivid images of the scarred state of landmarks in that beautiful city. Even without the backdrop of the war, place names and locations convey drama and visual images to Arab readers that, for the most part, Americans will miss—the village of Ballouna in Mount Lebanon, the beach at Ramlet al-Beida (which means White Sand) in West Beirut, and many more. DS: Did you ever worry that you weren't conveying some element of Khoury's style in your translation? Could you speak a little bit about some of the devices or nuances that operate in the original Arabic, and what you did to preserve them? PT: Khoury is more of a storyteller than a stylist. He is evocative and detail-oriented in presenting the various characters' points of view, but he is not an innovator in style despite the various shifts in format—for example, Yalo's confessional writing exercises. Yalo's spoken voice is quite different from the exposition in the book, even though so much of the novel is told from his point of view. Khoury has a very deft storytelling style, where Yalo is inarticulate. He sings songs, he argues about the Arabic songs and singers that Shirin doesn't care about, and yet despite all his efforts to be articulate and loving, he is still a damaged person who expresses himself most clearly in violence. He undergoes a certain evolution as he tries to keep telling his story in prison He digs deeper into himself and manages to get more truthful. However, his real breakthrough comes with the torture inflicted on him. The skill of the narrative voice of the novel is especially deft because it tackles both the everyday and so much that is shocking—rape, torture, the frightful massacre at Tur Abdin, scatology, degradation, and religious rituals that will be familiar to practically none of Khoury's readers. To me, that really expresses the modern Lebanon of the novel—people who like you or me, are intermittently exposed to such horrors, or indeed commit those horrors, and the ancient world that keeps intruding on their lives in the oddest ways. Peter Theroux is the translator of a dozen books from Arabic, including Abdelrahman Munif's Cities of Salt trilogy and other works by Egyptian, Iraqi, Israeli, Lebanese, and Nubian authors, and is the author of Sandstorms, Translating LA, and The Strange Disappearance of Imam Moussa Sadr. He was educated at Harvard and the American University in Cairo and lives in New York. Want to respond to Peter's Q&A? Head over to our Yalo Discussion Forum and join in the discussion.
Adobe says Flash will be huge...when will Apple follow Android's Flash lead? Hey, Apple...Android seems to be able to handle security with Flash. Is iOS that delicate that it needs pure HTML? Flash is a big deal. I know HTML5 is the best thing since sliced bread and we can all do wonderful things with AJAX and Javascript (and Java, for that matter) and CSS. But when it comes right down to it, if you want to code up a high-impact, media-rich, seriously interactive site, you're probably going to look to Flash. Adobe has used this week's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona to highlight the continuing trend towards the use of Flash, particularly on mobile platforms, despite Apple's unwillingness to budge on support for Flash in iOS. According to ReadWriteWeb, Thanks in no small part to the rise of Android devices, Flash adoption has topped Adobe's earlier forecasts. At the Adobe MAX Developer Conference earlier last year, Adobe had forecasted 9% of mobile phones would support Flash in 2010, but as of year-end, the actual number was 12%. And it isn't just Android. Android certainly wasn't even the first platform to support Flash (that honor actually goes to Windows Mobile), although it leads the market by a significant share at the moment. Windows Phone 7, RIM's BlackBerry OS, and HP's WebOS all currently or will shortly support Flash on their mobile phones, ensuring that everything from YouTube to the latest hardware-accelerated web-based games are supported on every major mobile platform. Except, of course, iOS. There's no Flash on your iPad, your iPhone, or your iPod Touch. Plenty of rich and wonderful apps, but a whole lot of empty boxes on a whole lot of websites. Sure, plenty of those empty boxes just wanted you to spank a monkey and download some malware anyway, but Flash remains a dominant force on the interactive Web. Apple maintains that Flash in inherently insecure, although its desktop and laptop products have supported it for years. Again, as Adobe representatives put it, Video in particular is driving demand for the plugin, as people browsing the Web on their mobile phones "want to have access to the sort of content they're used to being able to access," says Adobe's Anup Murarka, Director of Product Marketing So when will Apple finally jump on the train? If Flash isn't a universal standard, it's about as close as you can get for web multimedia. The sorts of ongoing development using Flash Media Server, whether targeting mobile or desktop devices, are quite compelling. Real-time video and audio collaboration? Check. High-performance web gaming? Check. 3D visualization and modeling? Check. Further death knells for the desktop computer? Check. I give Apple a year until they cave. Android tablets will just be too cool and too useful for both entertainment and enterprise applications if they don't. Subscription failed. See All See All
Jacques Maritain Center: Thomistic Institute Angst of reason Rémi BRAGUE (Paris I) The main move in the Encyclica [1] is a powerful turning the tables. The "et" in the title is in fact a hinge. Apologetics traditionally conceived of its role as being a defence of faith against an overly obtrusive reason. Such a task was accomplished by the first Vatican Council, more than a century ago. The Pope reminds us of this achievement (§ 52-53, p. 71-73). But what is at stake at present is no longer staving off reason by showing that it has not a clear consciousness of its own limits. On the contrary, reason itself must be defended against its own devils. Faith becomes the advocate of reason (§ 56, p. 79). The all-pervading keytone is uneasiness. At first sight, this somehow contrasts with the famous first words of the newly elected Pope: "don't be afraid". However, the ultimate aim is the same: courage asserts itself in the teeth of what is fearful. In order to be courageous, and not simply foolhardy, you have to feel how scared you could be. By this token, there is no contrast. On the contrary, the Encyclica applies the battle-cry to the realm of intellectual pursuits. In what follows, I will first summarize the diagnosis, and complement it by delineating the types of dangers that await reason. I will remind us of the rationalistic nature of Christianity and the Christian nature of rationality. Then, I will elaborate a plea for the metaphysical dimension of reason. Finally, I will say some words on the implicit concept of Truth that underlie our enterprise. 1. The diagnosis The Pope ventures a diagnosis on the present disease of reason. He does that from several outlooks. Some are traditional, some more original. Among the former, he f.i. mentions reason that does not look upwards any more and rejects any transcendence. He calls this by the name of bent reason, "ratio incurvata" [2], a variation on Bernard of Clairvaux' anima incurvata (§ 5, p. 9). Behind this lurks the attempt at a self-sufficiency of man, the alleged "humanism". Furthermore, the vice of philosophical pride is mentioned twice. Curiously, the phrase is to be read in Voltaire: " [É] l'orgueil philosophique / Aigrit de nos beaux jours la douceur pacifique" [3]. Reason should not be overbearing (§ 4, p. 7 and § 76, p. 101). A whole school of apologetics took this as its point of departure: humiliating reason by the tools of scepticism, in order to make place for faith. F.i. Montaigne's endeavour is to be replaced in a whole tradition of christian scepticism, and Pascal somehow flirts with it: "humiliez-vous, raison impuissante" [4]. Even Kant alluded to this procedure in the famous formula in the second preface to his first Critique: "das Wissen aufheben, um zum Glauben Platz zu bekommen" [5]. It is important to note that, with the Encyclica, the bells are tolling for this style of apologetics. For the Pope stresses heavily the opposite vice of pusillanimity. On the one hand, the critique of pusillanimity is hoary. This is the ancient, Aristotelian mikroyucia [6]. Descartes called this: lowlyness (bassesse) or vicious humility [7]. What is new is its application to intellectual pursuits, all the more in a Christian context. Overly modesty of reason is harped upon. The theme crops up no less than four times: we should not content ourselves with partial and provisional truths, and give up the hope of reaching ultimate meaning (§ 5, p. 10); we should not yield to the diffidence against reason theat arose at the end of the Middle Ages (§ 45, p. 63); we should not set our sights too low in philosophical reflection (§ 56, p. 78); we should overcome our crisis of confidence towards reason's capabilities (§ 84, p. 114). 2. Historical pathology of reason Let me know replace this on a broader setting. In order to do that, I will have to sketch a typology of the various dangers that lie in ambush around reason. I will do that on the basis of history of ideas. This approach receives some legitimacy from the fact that the Pope himself makes use of a historical frame, very broad in nature, that takes its bearings from the commonly accepted distinction between ancient, medieval and modern times, nay condones the characterization of our present time as post-modern. He f.i. suggests that modern reason sinned more seriously than its antique or medieval versions (§ 49, p. 69). Nevertheless, the diagnosis itself has a modern ring, f.i. when the concept of nihilism is brought to bear, three times (§ 46, p. 64; § 81, p. 109; § 90, p. 120), for this is an idea that was brought to the fore by Nietzsche. The crisis of the Ancient World may have been a crisis of reason, too [8]. Classical reason was supposed to spread light and to be itself a light that can't fade. Its devils were outer fiends: either other powers of the soul: the senses, as in Plato's Phaedo, passions or imagination as in the Stoa or Spinoza. They could be placed in an evolutive scheme. Prejudices of individual childhood (Descartes) or of the early ages of the whole mankind, what the rhetoric of the Enlightenment called the powers of darkness and prejudice. More recent reason has inner fiends, too. The idea has several aspects. The first one, more moderate, is static. Reason is supposed, not so much to yield to its enemies, but to somehow switch itself off. This can be expressed through the images of drowsiness. As a philosopher, the Pope Wojtyla belongs to the phenomenological school. Now, the founder of this school, Husserl, explained in a famous lecture given in Vienna in 1935 that the most serious danger for Europe is tiredness (Müdigkeit) [9]. There is somewhat more refined version of the idea in the Encyclica. According to the Pope, the present-day disease of reason is despair -- the "temptation to despair" (§ 91, p. 122), a phrase coined by the French novelist Georges Bernanos [10]. Despair is more than simple tiredness. It has a temporal dimension. Post-modern man despairs because he has given up the idea of progress. But this idea originated in Enlightenment reason. Thise leads us to a deeper, more radical assessment of the problem. Reason does not only fades; it puts itself out. Let us look at a famous etching by a man of the Enlightenment, the spanish painter Goya (1746-1828) -- drawn, by the way, exactly two centuries ago. A man is sitting at a table, asleep and reclining on his elbow. From the rearground, strange animals emerge. A feline creature is sitting behind his chair, another one right behind his back. Flying creatures that can be bats or birds overshadow him. The birds evoke birds of prey. One is about to land on the sleeper's shoulder. The legend is: "the sleep of reason produces monsters (el sue-o de la raz -- n produce monstruos)" [11]. We are not given any answer to the question as to how it is that reason can fall asleep and have nightmares. Now, the picture is more complex than it looks like at first blush. On the one hand, the sleeping man might be the painter himself. On the table lie sheets of paper and what looks to be a painter's brush. The sleeper is not a brute, but a civilized white male, clad in correct garments. On the other hand, the nightmarish birds that assault him resemble very much owls, the very bird that functions as a symbol of Athena, the goddess of reason. The title itself is ambiguous, for the spanish sue-o may mean "sleep" and "dream" as well. We don't know whether the danger is to be looked for in reason's dozing off or in its very unability really to lose consciousness. The idea that reason can be endangered by itself originates in Kant's transcendental dialectics in the first Critique. Reason can get caught in its own snares, be "hoist by its own petard". Kant's revolution somehow brushes the classical ranking of psychological faculties against the nap. He rehabilitates the lower faculties of the soul, such as perceptual knowledge, to begin with, or imagination. He even very forcefully pleads for the senses [12]. The lower faculties are no longer fetters or traps. On the contrary, they are helpful banisters that prevent it from falling prey to itself. Nietzsche's idea of a "faithfulness towards the Earth" is -- strange bed-fellows -- a remote consequence of Kant's discovery. The idea of a dialectic of the Enlightenment was first expressed by Adorno and Horkheimer in their famous book [13]. It can be understood as the historicized version of Kant's transcendental dialectics. If reason undermines itself, the historical project of a full rationalization of life is doomed to failure. Modernity, that set out to fulfil this project, and that always conceived of itself as an experiment, does not meet its own claims. It parasitically feeds on what it can't reproduce -- an idea that is to be read in Péguy [14]. 3. Christian rationalism. The Pope pleads for what he calls an alliance between "parrhesia of faith and audacity of reason" (§ 48, p. 67). I will begin with the second point, reason. I don't do that for the sake of rhetorics only, but because I feel impelled by the thing itself. It looks like that, according to the Pope, despair in reason is more serious than giving up christian faith. The Pope mentions: "a positivistic mentality [É] which not only abandoned the christian vision of the world, but more especially rejected every appeal to a metaphysical and moral vision", § 46 [French, p. 64]). We witness the same stance some pages further, in a different context: "quite apart from the fact that it conflicts with the demands and the content of the word of God, nihilism is a denial of the humanity and of the very identity of the human being" (§ 90 [French, p. 120]). There are obviously two steps: first comes metaphysics, morals, or man, second faith. The danger is not only atheism, but man's destruction. To quote a phrase made famous by Foucault, but that originally stems from André Malraux, God's death must be followed by Man's death [15]. As a matter of course, the claim is that lack of faith endangers man's humanity. But the logical move has to be paid attention to. It shows that Christianity does not preach for itself, which it would unmistakably do if it were an ideology. It defends man. It is the deacon of Truth (§ 2, p. 5). Now, defending reason is not a strategic ploy, but belongs to the very essence of Christianity. Chesterton's Father Brown, when he is asked how he succeeded in unmasking a fake priest, answers: "he spoke against reason, this is bad theology". Jews and Christians are rationalists. At the Beginning, at the Principle of everything, there was Logos. The first words of the Fourth Gospel echo the first words of Genesis. God is a rationalist, too. This is beautifully expressed by Isaias, who has God say: "For this is the word of the lord,who created the heavens -- he is God! -- who formed the earth and made it; he established it firmly; he did not create it a chaos (tohu), he formed it to be inhabited: "I am the lord, and there is no other. / I have never spoken in secrecy, in some place in the land of darkness; I have never said to the children of Jacob, 'Seek me in the void' (tohu). I, the lord, speak the truth (dÜber î dq), declare what is right (maggid mey ëarim "" (Isaiah, 45, 19-20) [16]. Little wonder that the human response should be a "sacrifice of the intellect" -- i.e. a sacrifice brought by the intellect -- or a "rational worship (logikh latreia)" (Romans, 12, 1). We are not only rationalists, we may be the only who are, we may be the last consequent rationalists left. Alleged "rationalists" are not. According to them, reason comes from the Irrational. Reason is a behaviour selected by natural selection of the fittest: a being endowed with reason has more trumps in such a struggle. For us, all those phenomena, or, to be precise, all those hypotheses, come after Logos. Logos alone is at the beginning, is the principle. The ultimate principle is not a big bang that is, as the very name has it, a meaningless noise. The intelligibility of Being is commonly taken for granted and left unexplained. It should become again the center of philosophical reflexion. We need an up-to-dated version of German idealistic and/or romantic Naturphilosophie that could at least give an account of the very rationality of nature, a logos of the logos, so to speak. To be sure, christian faith does not claim to refute the scientific hypotheses that have just been mentioned and displace them with better ones. Neither does it expect to provide this philosophy of nature. The affirmation of an ultimate rationality of Being does not furnish science with any answer. But it gives it the very ground that it treads. Nietzsche saw this with a perfect lucidity: even if we are the most confirmed supporters of Enlightenment, we are still too pious; our belief in reason is still the aftermath of a Faith kindled by Plato [17]. As for Nietzsche, he wanted us to cast the last moorings that link us up to this faith. But can we? 4. Do we need Truth? We must now face a radical objection. Couldn't we do without reason, and without truth? Why shouldn't we imagine a "happy (gaio) nihilism", to borrow the felicitous phrase probably coined by the Italian philosopher Augusto Del Noce? In the last resort, there isn't anything, but this does not matter. This is an Epicurean stance, properly speaking. This may hold water as long as we stick to the present time: since we anyway exist, since we already belong to the whole show, why shouldn't we make ourselves comfortable? In order to do that, you need some practical savvy, but no metaphysics. On the contrary, we should listen to Nietzsche's contention: the very fact that we say that life has a meaning -- the core affirmation of any metaphysics -- presupposes that life needs something different from, and superior to, itself. Hence, it debases and condemns life while wanting to salvage it. Let me first answer with a pun that can be done in French only. In my mother tongue, the word for "meaning", sens, has several acceptions. One is "meaning", but other ones are "perception" and "direction". Now, life is not only being alive (Greek zwh), but having a life story, a bioV -- the subject-matter of what we accordingly call a biography. Life is a motion of sorts, too. It spreads from one individual of a species to its offspring. It evolves from one simpler level of organisation to another, more complex one. In human beings, it accumulates its own experience through psychological and social memory (language and writing, etc.) and grows like a snow-ball. Now, even if we granted, for the sake of argument, that life has no sens as "meaning", the question would remain as to whether we can do without a sens as "direction". We don't understand such a sens by outsoaring concrete realities, but on the contrary by sort of inserting ourselves into their stream, or, to use an image by Plotinus, by dancing to their rhythm. We are supposed to accept life as such, without asking whether it measures up to some external standard. But the question must arise: do we really love life? I will bring to bear on the question a distinction that Augustine makes in a passage from the Confessions that the Pope quotes in another context § 25, p. 36f. The passage I would like to use comes right afterwards [18]. It was commented upon by Heidegger, in a lecture-course that was published some years ago [19]. The question is exegetical in nature: how is it that the Scripture, more precisely John, can say that some people hate Truth? Augustine distinguishes two aspects of Truth. Truth can be lucens and it can be redarguens. We love lucens truth, whereas we hate redarguens truth.Lucens does not mean only shining, but light-shedding. Truth does not only shine in itself, thereby manifesting itself. It casts its glow on other things and enable us to get cognizant of them. Redarguens means first: what "argues" against us, but at the same time, as the very root *arg- suggests it, it is some sort of light. I suggest it could be rendered as lucidity. Now, lucidity is not that pleasant, because it reveals many shades, no to say dust and cobwebs, in the nooks and corners of our soul. Now, if we really loved Truth, we would wish other people, nay everybody, to be able to pry into our soul and expose its content. The first love of Truth is thirst for knowledge. The second one is: honesty towards oneself. The Pope alludes to this function when he mentions that, among the reasons that thwart our access to Truth, there is the fact that we fear its demands (§ 28, p. 40). The first love for truth, for truth lucens, unmasks itself as love for the knowledge that we can get. Hence, it is in the last resort self-love. We don't like Truth, we like what truth enables us to know. To apply a classical Augustinian distinction, we use (uti) Truth, whereas we should enjoy (frui) it. In the same way, love for life may mean two very different things. There is the lucens love for life, such as it is expressed by the set phrase in Homeric Greek: "to live and see the sunlight (zwein kai oran faoV helioio)" [20]. Life is bathing and basking in the light of presence. We naively love our life, such as we can experience it. We like to be alive because this enables us to do and enjoy many pleasant things, from the basest to the highest and most dignified. But to what extent do we love life as such? There must be an equivalent of the redarguens kind of life. We love our own life, i.e. we love ourselves. We can be sure that we love life as such in so far as we foster life outside of ourselves. The trouble comes to a head when what is at stake is not merely living on, but transmitting life, i.e. "creating" a life that is not there, making the present encroach upon the future. This question is not academic; it lies at the bottom of several crucial problems that all have to do with the long run: demography, ecology, education. As a matter of course, you can live without truth. To be precise, you can survive without it. But you cannot love life, i.e. foster life. Playing one's part on the scene properly can be done -- since it must be done, anyway. The trouble begins when the question is whether one has a right to bringing other players onto the scene. Are we allowed to foist life off on other people, whom we can't ask about their wishes? We can't do that unless we are sure that life is a gift, that life is good in itself. If we are not, the taking Schopenhauer or Buddha seriously becomes a sacred duty. If we are, the question is whether we can do that without something like implicit or explicit faith. This has direct consequences on the idea of truth. For some people, the Pope reminds us, Truth is nothing more than the result of consensus (§ 56, p. 78). Now, obviously, such a consensus must obtain among people who are alive at the same time. Thus, the truth that they decide will have to be imposed upon future generations. Clearly, those generations will be able to change by building a new consensus that will make new decisions. But they will have to do that on the basis of the "truth" of the former generation. Democracy will boil down to absolute lack of democracy. There must be something like an objective truth to be handled down to generations still to arise, if they are not to be left prey to the whims of their forebears [21]. 5. Conclusion: Truth as ocean Modern consciousness has misgivings with that kind of Truth, because it mistakenly conceives it as a set of ready-made objects. It therefore values research higher than possession of truth. We remember Lessing's well-known parable: if God were to present us with Truth in one hand and unceasing striving for Truth in the other one, we should have to choose the latter [22]. But Christian tradition possesses an idea that is worth retrieving, for it could prove more palatable for modern mentality. Truth is something in which we are, a field more than a thing. This is the implicit concept of truth conveyed through the splendid image that closes ch. 2: launching oneself onto the infinite ocean of truth (§ 23, p. 34). This is an implicit quotation of the Greek Church Fathers, who spoke of the infinite ocean (apeiron pelagoV) of the Godhead [23], a phrase that entered the Latin West through commentaries written on Dionysius by people like Eriugena or Hugo of Saint-Victor [24]. God is thereby conceived of as a field, not as an object. God can't be reached, but -- sit venia verbo -- sailed or surfed upon. The Goodfriday liturgical sequence quoted § 24, p. 36, takes up the Augustinian theme of the cor inquietum. But the same Augustine strikes another chord elsewhere, that must complement the first one: "Ut inveniendus quaeratur, occultus est; ut inventus quaeratur immensus est" [25]. [1] I quote the paragraphs and the pages of the French translation, Paris, Téqui, 1998. I checked on the English translation wherever the wording seemed crucial. Unfortunately, I could not access the Latin official text. [2] First in Persius, Saturae, II, 61; see Bernard of Clairvaux, In Cant. , XXIV, II, 6-7; PL, 183, 897ad. [3] Voltaire, À Horace (1772). [4] Pascal, Pensées, Br. 434, t. 2, p. 347 and see Br. 282, p. 205. [5] Kant, Kritik der reinen Vernunft , B XXX. [6] Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics , IV, 3, 1129b9-11; 1125a19-27. [7] Descartes, Traité des Passions , III, § 159; AT, t. XI, p. 450. [8] M. Zambrano, La agonía de Europa , Buenos Aires, Sudamericana, 1945, p. 105-106 [non vidi]. [9] Husserl, "Die Krisis des europäischen Menschentums und die Philosophie" (Vienna Lecture 1935); Husserliana, t. VI, p. 348. [10] Bernanos, Sous le soleil de Satan (1926), Title of the 1st part. [11] Goya, Los caprichos , n° 43 (around 1799). [12] Kant, Anthropologie, § 8-10; ed. W. Weischedel, Darmstadt, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1983 [1964], vol. 6, p. 432-436. [13] T. W. Adorno and M. Horkheimer, Dialektik der Aufklärung. Philosophische Fragmente (1947). [14] See Péguy, De la situation faite au parti intellectuel dans le monde moderne devant les accidents de la gloire temporelle (1907); Oeuvres, Paris, Gallimard, Pléiade, t. 2, p. 725. [15] A. Malraux, La tentation de l'Occident (1926), Paris, Livre de poche, p. 128. [16] See my La Sagesse du Monde. Histoire de l'expérience humaine de l'univers , Paris, Fayard, 1999, p. 59f. [17] Nietzsche, Die fröhliche Wissenschaft , V, § 344; KSA, t. 5, p. 574-577. [18] Augustine, Confessiones, X, XXIII, 34. [19] Heidegger, Phänomenologie des religiösen Lebens (GA, vol. 60), Francfort, Klostermann, 1995, p. 199-201. [20] Homer, Ilias, 24, 558; Odyssey, 4, 540 et al . [21] For a forceful illustration of this point, see C. S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man , ch. 3. [22] Lessing, Eine Duplik , 1, last words; Werke, Darmstadt, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, t. 8, p. 33. [23] St. Basil, Against Eunomius , I, 16; PG, 29, 548c; st. Gregory Nazianzen, Oratio 38 ; PG, 36, 317; Dionysius, Celestial Hierarchy , IX, 3; ed. M. de Gandillac, SC n° 58, Paris, Cerf, 1958, p. 135. [24] John Scotus Eriugena, Expositiones super Hierarchiam caelestem ; PL, 122, 218a; Hugo of Saint-Victor, In Hierarchiam caelestem ; PL, 175, 1093d-1094a, etc. [25] Augustine, Commentary on John , 63, 1; CCSL, t. 36, p. 485.
Wikinews talk:Welcommittee From Wikinews, the free news source you can write! Jump to: navigation, search Is there any way that we could possibly create a template, such as {[helpme}} WP that would add users to a category which would appear on this page? Thunderhead(talk) 06:56, 15 October 2006 (UTC) Sounds like a very good idea!--Steven Fruitsmaak (Reply) 18:51, 15 October 2006 (UTC) Voila: Template:Helpme.--Steven Fruitsmaak (Reply) 19:05, 15 October 2006 (UTC) Okay, I added a DPL. Thunderhead(talk) 01:02, 29 October 2006 (UTC) Clean out[edit] I think we need to clean the list of helpers out as we dont want new people asking people who are not present for help - wouldnt exactly be the best introduction. Anyone else agree??--Markie 19:50, 13 February 2007 (UTC) Your right. (It seems like I just did that not too long ago). Bawolff 23:12, 13 February 2007 (UTC) Right then as per this talk add your name to the list below to be added onto the NEW welcommitte list. Past Welcommittee members[edit] These were removed in good faith, because they hadn't been active for at least 3 months, and failed to re-enlist themselves in the section above, in the spirit of the previous discussion.--Steven Fruitsmaak (Reply) 16:42, 17 March 2007 (UTC) Wikipedia charged with "bad information" Hi, I posted a headline in accord with main page policy, and then I was illogically and unrepentently criticized for just posting a headline, even after explaining and asking for an alternative. In addition to the illogical criticism, this editor engaged in a content dispute for which he had no evidence (sensationalism). This was a bad experience for me, that felt like being trolled. Right now I feel like telling others to avoid Wikinews. Is he just "one of those editors" to ignore/avoid, or worse, is he entrenched here, so I definitely need to warn others away? Milo 00:36, 23 March 2007 (UTC) Either way, I don't think it would be fair to scare other users away because of your bad experience: there are other users here who came from Wikipedia, such as myself, who have decided to stay because of the friendly atmosphere. It's true that some users have a bad experience the first time they come here: we should work very hard to improve this, but we won't be able to show how we can do better if you tell others not to come; let them come if they want, and let them judge for themselves. I'm sorry that your first experience was one were you felt bitten as a newbie, please don't judge us just on the basis of a single incident. Enjoy wiki, --Steven Fruitsmaak (Reply) 13:25, 23 March 2007 (UTC) OK, I'm new here, so....[edit] I need a quickie orientation, if someone wouldn't mind. I'm an experienced Wikipedian so know my way around their guidelines and policies, but I've been interested in the possibilities of WikiNews for a while now so I'd like to learn the ropes; or how the ropes differ from those in Wikipedia, and how many leaps there are from proposal to published (as I seem to gather, roaming the introductory pages, there is such a process). I've only done minor edits on any WikiNews articles, so don't know if there's a distinct MOS or how anything like NPOV applies or what it is. There is of course a host of content across Wikipedia articles that is more current events, rather than being encyclopedic in nature; it is episodic, and I've wondered aloud at times if there could be a "move to WikiNews" template; sometimes it's whole articles, as with one now-deleted one on the snowmobiler deaths by avalanche near Revelstoke, British Columbia, last year or the one before; having a "see items in WikiNews" template to replace the material moved to Wikinews would help increase traffic, and participation, here at WikiNews, no? I posted in response to Beleaguered British Columbia Premier resigns, partly asking what the "local rules" here were for the use of news blogs and political commentary/research blogs as news sources, and why that's important in British Columbia because of the unreliability of the major media, and their incompleteness of coverage on a range of important issues. Can only major media outlets be used as citation here, or any recognized source of reliable information and critique? In BC this isn't just journalist blogs or independent journalists, but also a vibrant political-blogging community, on all sides of the place's complex political spectrum. I realize now the article is about the resignation in particular, and wouldn't be added to like a Wikipedia article, rather follow-up headlines/articles are needed. Events are unfolding quickly in the now-buzzing Liberal leadership race, and an extendable (rather than fixed) article, tracking promises and statements made by teh candidates, and keeping track of news/background items on them that emerge (it's gonna get nasty, there'll be lots of mud, and there's lots of mud to be tossed, too). There's also a body of news items on policies unveiled, or which preceded, the resignation speech, which Campbell has brought to the fore - some like the new NRO Ministry they were not consulted on, like so much else, the destruction of the pharmaceutical regulation branch, cuts to child services sand other ministries, and talking more loudly than ever of the bright future that the partnership between goevrnment and business will bring to British Columbia etc etc - these news items are increasingly in the major media, but near-always after they come out in the blogs. Another article could be the growth of dissent against the BC Rail guilty plea and its aftermath, and the mounting calls for a public inquiry into BC Rail, and now warnings that BC Hydro is being deliberately driven into bankruptcy so as to justify privatizing it - all set in motion even before the new Premier takes power in February (or perhaps March, he'll be "Premier-anointed", rather than Premier-Elect from the leadership convention to the time he hits Government House and gets the mandate from the L-G). There's also a possibility of a relatively snap election after the leadership convention, as Kevin Falcon, who just announced his candidacy, has suggested moving the HST referendum forward to June - in spite of mainstream media obfuscation that the next election will necessarily be on the fixed election date in 2013, but that just doesn't have to be so, at all, at all. And there still could be a caucus revolt, especially with Campbell hanging on like he is, and the way he is (amok), that could precipitate a minority government - a lot will hang in the balance at the leadership convention; depending on who wins the fracture in the party may not heal; better to avoid that and call an early election and rely on a sell job in the media, and hope that third party that's expected doesn't come out of anywhere; the NDP are in leadership uncertainty and their own leadership review convention is in November of next year, so part of the reason for Falcon's suggestion of moving up the HST referendum to June is potential election timing, as some columnists did speculate an early election would snafu the NDP, forcing them to go to election with an unpopular leader (she's not as low as Campbell, but she's low). People don't want a government that got into power just by inheriting it from someone who had to resign under pressure of corruption charges and highly unpopular policies and too many broken promises (even for one year) to list here. The Liberals know this, hence talk of an election, and easing public impatience over the timing of the HST referendum - which was another unpopular move by Campbell, seen as delay for delay's sake. An election would also head off the very strong possibility of fracture of the Liberal caucus; the "rebels" are in a wait and see position, but many may follow Bill Bennett out of caucus, and it would only take five to give Carole James a shot at paying a visit to Government House; not having a sitting has been away to avoid both debate and the possibility of an actual vote of confidence being called on some hot issue (there's a lot of Liberals backbenchers that have had a lot of hard explaining, and dodging anger, to do with their constituents). BC Rail/Basi-Virk and BC Hydro and the highways and bridge contracts, the NRO - people are really mad, and this is only partly reflected in teh major media (though there's more and more admission of it). I guess what I'm saying, by explaining all this, that there's a lot of news coming from BC, some of it very hot-wire in terms of scandal or allegation, and probably the emergence of a new political party just as there has also been the emergence of an alternative media in blogspace. Please note, I don't mean to blog here, and I intend to be as de-POV in any article writing as possible (though I do object to overly "soft" language, avoidance etc), I'm here intending to learn what it is to be a wiki-journalist and do proper news articles - I don't have my own blog (I have its name and may use it yet), but partake in other blogs and forums under this same username - and I don't have time to write a lot of these articles myself - alone - though would gladly collaborate with experienced WikiNewsers to keep track of important news. But I also want to know, as I said, about the nature of RS and VS here, or whatever equivalent policies/guidelines there are; and I'm not big on using complex citation templates...and while I realize editorializing in content is not in the mandate, and certainly not invective, I hope there's also policies about not "dumbing-down" coverage or summaries which bias in one direction or another....but I'd expect that reporting on what various columnists have said, or notable bloggers revealed or researched, should have equal weight with what the corporate media publishes.... I'm also "up" on current events in general, though I follow Canadian federal politics with the usual casual disinterest, and distaste, that is typical of most British Columbians; BC's politics are so much more....aggravating; but I may also take interest in certain international events articles; my thing is history, and geography, so particularities of reference or account that occur in news articles e.g. with historical background passages that may be in error in some way. I'll try and read around WikiNews more and see what I can contribute, or propose....but also, given pointers to a handy-dandy quick guide to how to write/sumbit a Wikinews article that I can also show to other writers, journalists and what their limitations are; the bloggers in particular I know would have to rein in their language; the point is to repreesent facts without editorial comment save editorial comment that exists elsewhere. But say, if this one professor I know wanted to submit an article, where's a quick guide for him to its ruling guidelines/parameters, and on exactly, er, which of the many pages there are here does he propose it....most people I think need a "quicker path" in to somewhere saying "hi, please submit your news copy here and citations, we'll launch it on the process for you and help you get it done". Being newbie-friendly, perhaps, but also to encourage some very dedicated "citizen journalists", as they've been called in BC, and give them a common focus/arena. Some articles, like the unfolding story of the highways and infrastructure contracts, or as mentioned the Liberal leadership race, or any new Campbell post-resignatino policies, are not so much news as "keeping track of the mileage" on certain issues....could there be anything like, maybe WikiJournal, or WikiLog - or WikiMagazine, a wiki arena for Op-Ed type materials? BTW I also think there should be a "move to WikiTravel" template simllar to the "moved to WikiNews" suggestion above, given the amount of tourism-spam (and eco-spam, for that matter) that plague various Wikipedia articles (towns and parks mostly, in BC anyway). Sorry just daydreaming in technicolour but like I say the possibilities of wikinews for being a dynamic news "wire" or information clearing-house are rather staggering; whether it's avalanche news or political/economic/social news. Another bout of Canadian news about to come down the pipe...or rather, the cable, that is.... some of which may very well be about British Columbia, i.e. the WikiLeaks cables, of which there are 2,350 concerning Canada. I've been waiting with baited breath; certainly a priority article proposal for the Canada project here would be prepping to pounce once those are released, and providing a full summary here (not editorializing the arch-summaries given in the major media; nearly eerything they're saying, and the politicians are saying, is trying to downplay the impact....but the WikiLeaks release-inertia is not going to leave Canada untouched, mark my words). If there's anyone here keeping direct track of the releases, please advise me - I'd be into helping with their coverage here....I'll read through teh collaboration process and other pages later; I jut wanted to cut to the quick and ask for a hand up, or in....I spend a lot of my day in Wikipedia that could probably be a lot better and more valuably spent here in WikiNews....(I hope there's not as much code/format-tweaking going on here as there, I'm interested in content, not design....). I know there's no formal connection between WikiNews and WikiLeaks, of course, just wanted to clarify that. But the time for a public news arena has come; making it more user-friendly, to encourage more participation and a role for it in the spreading and full coverage/integration of news, whether local or global; I know there's only so many Wiki-elves to go around....but with teh right cookies and milk "you" could probably get a lot more elves around, some of them very talented ones. Break enough big news stories, too, and WikiNews could become "hot" or "cool", whichever, sort of like a global news digest that, like Wikipedia, "anyone can edit"...well, not quite. And it's those "not quites" I want to know about, and how to make it easier for people not as used to Wiki environments as I am....05:47, 1 December 2010 (UTC) Sorry, I only read the start of your thing (I only have a couple minutes right now, I'll try to read the rest later). Some initial helpful hints though - Wikinews is similar to 'pedia in many ways, but its also different in many ways (as you noted). Articles tend to be developed by a single person, (although collaboration is encouraged, it just doesn't happen to the same extent). Our equivelent to the manual of style is Wikinews:Style guide. Timeliness is also an area where we differ from wikipedia, since events that happened months ago aren't really news. Last of all, as a general rule preferred capitalization of Wikinews is with the n lowercase (Some people care about that a lot, others not so much). If you havn't already found it, Wikinews:For Wikipedians might be useful to you. Cheers. Bawolff 05:58, 1 December 2010 (UTC) New here, and...[edit] I'm an experienced Wikipedian, but I'm new to Wikinews. All I'm curious is: even though I am somewhat aware of the time, I'm curious on if a page on something from August 5 (2012) would be news. I'm just wondering about this because I wanted to write about the Pocono Raceway lightning strikes from August 5, which killed 1 and injured 9. Though this was 6 days ago, would this warrant an article here, or is it considered old news/stale? ZappaOMati (talk) 01:30, 11 August 2012 (UTC) August 5 would be a bit dated unless there was something in the past day or so that would make it fresh. Synth articles generally need to be submitted within 24 to 48 hours at the outside. Original reporting has a bit more leeway. --LauraHale (talk) 01:59, 11 August 2012 (UTC) As Laura said......dig around a bit and see if something (maybe re: the investigation into the fire??) has bubbled up today or yesterday.....?--Bddpaux (talk) 02:10, 11 August 2012 (UTC) Of possible interest: Wikinews:For Wikipedians. --Pi zero (talk) 02:19, 11 August 2012 (UTC) I've been swimming around Yahoo for a while, and I found a small handful of sources from less than 24 hours ago (as of 02:46, 11 August 2012 (UTC)). ZappaOMati 02:46, 11 August 2012 (UTC) Keep in mind, what matters is when new information came to light, not necessarily the publication dates on source articles. --Pi zero (talk) 02:59, 11 August 2012 (UTC) Yeah. That. If there is a sporting event, for example as I tend to write sports, that is played on Friday night, it might not get reported on until Monday. Thus, it makes sense for a synthesis article to be submitted on Tuesday and still be timely. --LauraHale (talk) 03:24, 11 August 2012 (UTC) Depending on the nature of the sporting event. On the other hand, an article from, say, AP, may continue to appear under successively later publication dates, but there's nothing new in it so the date that matters is when its content was first available. --Pi zero (talk) 03:29, 11 August 2012 (UTC) FYI, the event was the 2012 Pennsylvania 400, a NASCAR race. As for the sources, I'll deal with it later. ZappaOMati 03:54, 11 August 2012 (UTC) Hm? For a Wikinews synthesis article, start with the sources. --Pi zero (talk) 04:46, 11 August 2012 (UTC) Erm, do you know that when I said that, it was 9 pm here where I live? I was getting tired, so when I said that I'll deal with it later, I meant tomorrow (or today, as it is 7:35 in the morning right now). ZappaOMati 14:32, 11 August 2012 (UTC) Ah, syntactic ambiguity. :-) Noted. And it was midnight where I live (nearly 1am, when I replied). Just trying to avoid misunderstandings; it's easier if one can be sure these things are understood ahead of time rather than try to straighten them out later after they've started sliding sideways. --Pi zero (talk) 15:25, 11 August 2012 (UTC) .....and, I haven't been engaged in Civic Journalism long enough yet to have my own sayings, but if I did, my main one would be this: Don't marry your story! Get it, write it, submit it and move on! --Bddpaux (talk) 21:56, 11 August 2012 (UTC) So is it alright for me to try to write the article now, or is it maybe too soon/late? The 2012 Finger Lakes 355 at The Glen starts tomorrow (according to here in California). ZappaOMati 01:56, 12 August 2012 (UTC) Go for it. Even if it doesnt get published, going through the review process is still useful for resubmission or writing new articles. My first one didn't get published either. --LauraHale (talk) 04:54, 12 August 2012 (UTC) It's certainly not too early.....not by a long shot......BUT, pick your news event you're writing about carefully. Will it be, 'The Race started', 'So and so won the race', 'so and so is picked to win the race'.......see what I mean? What is the event......I saw the Wikipedia article......(seems a bit odd to have an entire encyclopedia article about one race.....but that's just me)'ll need to determine what exactly the "news" is you're going to talk about, and write about that. --Bddpaux (talk) 02:10, 12 August 2012 (UTC) I already have my news event, which is located at the "Lightning strikes" section. I'm only intending on mentioning the race winner a few times, as he did state that he heard the strike. I'm not planning on writing all those crazy predictions and what-not. Overall, the title (for now) would be "Lightning strikes at Pocono Raceway kills one, injures nine". ZappaOMati 02:24, 12 August 2012 (UTC) Sounds newsworthy. ....and on the topic of catch-phrases......If it bleeds, it leads. --Bddpaux (talk) 05:16, 12 August 2012 (UTC) Alright guys, I just created the page. Lightning strikes Pocono Raceway killing 1, injuring 9. ZappaOMati 16:04, 12 August 2012 (UTC) You need to submit it for review; that's part of what the {{develop}} tag is for, to provide a button with which to submit. --Pi zero (talk) 16:26, 12 August 2012 (UTC) Woops, guess I forgot. ZappaOMati 16:29, 12 August 2012 (UTC) You led, particularly in the title, with the oldest part of the story; so old it's history now, not news. -- (talk) 22:40, 12 August 2012 (UTC)
It is a timid creature. It does not come unless It is certain that It is time and yet, It is strong. It is goodness in the middle of evil's kingdom. It makes you float up from the bottom of the ocean. It pushes you up and It makes you soar above the clouds. It is an explosion of light in a black cave. Because the smallest light can defeat an army of darkness. Because after the darkness of an eclipse, light will always return.
Saturday, May 14, 2011 So long Stanners Jon Stanhope stepped down as Chief Minister. Now most politicians seem terribly flawed. A great fat combination of bloviated self-importance that is just so delish when it explodes leaving a saggy, rubbery husk when they fuck up even beyond recovery. Stanners wasn't one of these people. As Chief Minister he was a decent, caring man who performed outreach beyond what was expected. He lacked any pretension even when he deserved to lay some pride beats down. He did not suckle at the teat of News Ltd. Indeed their cacophony of shrill disconnected corporate print whores shrilling decried Stanhope any chance they got and roundly mocked Canberra as a chilly place of roundabouts and the only semi decent Asian tucker you could get was if you went down to Manuka during the sitting schedule. Stanhope took knocks on principle. When Howard was running around like Chicken Little demanding the power to look up the eye-hole of a penis of any suspect whether or not they had anything to do with anything Stanhope said no, the ACT wasn't going to allow search powers like that. He fought for the right to have gays receive equal marital recognition even when the Federal party, still festooned with tatt knuckle covered rusted on trade union members that will cling to their dated concept of society until dead in the cold, cold grave, refused to change the rules to allow it. He championed then built a correction centre based more on rehabilitation instead of punishment, despite pretentious bogans in nearby Jerra, in another state mind, whining that a prison within 20 kays of their plush semi-gated estate of narrow eaved monstrosities would somehow lower property values. In short, he was a dude. And when I had moments where I disliked intensely what the Federal party does I was always reminded that I am a ACT ALP member and that we have had the most progressive, decent government in State or Territory political history. I for one am sad to see him go. Though I thank him for his time on deck and the decency he showed. I also thank him for telling News Limited and Channel Nine on those occasions they attempted to monster him to fuck off. 1 comment: 1. I liked Stanhope too. Awesome dude. Seems like all I heard in the few days after he announced his plan to step down was whining about the GDE and public art. I mean, seriously? No comments needed, really.
Both John Terry (L) and Luis Suarez have been banned for racism (Reuters) A survey conducted by football magazine FourFourTwo has revealed that the game remains riddled with match-fixing, racism, homophobia and recreational drugs. The damming indictment of the game follows a poll of 100 professional players across all four English divisions and the SPL, including 11 Premier League players. Over one in seven of the footballers surveyed (14%) said they believed match-fixing was still an issue in the sport, even though no British player has been convicted of the offence since 1964. One League Two defender said: "It goes on, I'm telling you. I've had players call me and tell me to bet on the outcome of a match, especially at the end of a season in League Two or the Conference. I've never been approached myself, but I know it goes on." A League One player added: "I was playing in non-league football and the chairman was into it and everything. We would be told to throw a game and everyone lumped into it." As well as match-fixing, 13 percent of players believing performance-enhancing drugs are used in the game. One Premier League striker said: "You do wonder - I've come up against a defender who wasn't the quickest one season and then like s**t off a shovel the next." However it appears that recreational drugs are far more prevalent. Half of those interviewed said footballers use recreational substances such as cocaine as it leaves the system quickly. A League One midfielder told the magazine: "I've witnessed it between team-mates and players from other clubs. I can't believe it goes on but it definitely does." The study also finds more than a quarter (26 percent) of the players interviewed have claimed to have heard another professional make racist remarks first-hand. One Championship striker revealed when discussing racism in the game: "It's still there. I've had a defender racially insult me throughout a game and I know black team-mates have suffered the same. "Maybe it doesn't happen as regularly as it did, but it's still there - it has never gone away." One SPL striker added: "When I first started playing, I knew of players who would use racist language to get the edge on an opponent." The revelations from the survey follow a string of high-profile racism rows which have plagued the game over the past two years. Chelsea's John Terry was banned by the Football Association for four games for racially abusing QPR's Anton Ferdinand during a game - despite being found not guilty by a court - while Liverpool's Luis Suarez was banned for eight games for similar offences against Manchester United's Patrice Evra. A month after Liverpool midfielder Suso was fined £10,000 by the FA for calling team-mate Jose Enrique "gay" on Twitter, more than a quarter of those interviewed believed a gay footballer would be considered an outcast. However, 62 percent disagreed, with one Championship and international striker saying "he wouldn't be treated any differently". FourFourTwo's editor David Hall was surprised at the level of honestly the payers in the poll professed. He said: "Even anonymously we thought players would be reluctant to give a brutally honest opinion on the issues in the game. We were wrong."
Monday, May 7, 2012 The MLS Grinder: Rhythm Peek-a-Boo Before we dive into all that MLS offered us this weekend - and there was a fair amount - you should know that Stanislaus United Sturlock Express has drawn Fresno Fuego (PDL) in the first round proper of the US Open Cup. Don't worry, we'll be keeping tabs on them for you, and the winner will take of the Fort Lauderdale Strikers in the second round. That said, back to the big leagues! Will's off doing his thing this weekend, so while I'll be keeping the same general premise of the grinder intact, I'll also be doing things my way. With roughly a quarter of the season completed, the "it's just a slow start" excuses have lost their weight while some early burners are starting to fade. At this point, it's all about who's finding that rhythm, who's losing it and just what in Brian McBride's name they can hope to do about it. Just Groovy Seattle 1-0 Philadelphia The Sounders are the best team in the league right now and they're not even going on all cylinders. Nobody personifies this more than Mauro Rosales. By his and Sigi Schmid's admission, the guy's knee isn't yet 100 percent. Still, his soccer brain is constantly ticking and it's very likely the best in the league. Check out the highlights and try to find a play not involving Rosales. Good luck. To the surprise of no one, Seattle created the first half's best chances. That's not to say that the Union weren't plugging away in attack. They were truly going for it, but they never made me even think they were going to score. Whenever I contemplated thinking they would, it was with Freddy Adu leading the visitors forward. And while Mauro Rosales excels being nominally deployed on the wing, it's far from Adu's M.O and it shows. Sound familiar? Philly gets a bad rap for being a defensive team and that's not really fair. This game showed why. The Union can attack, they just don't do it particularly well. They have the skill to break out and do some damage, but they don't have the squad that Seattle does that can dictate play. So yeah, grinding, defending and countering is their best bet. Leave too much space and they're screwed. Naturally, it was Rosales exploiting that space. For as good as he is on the ball, he might be better off of it. Thought poor spacing had a role to play in it, the Argentinian No. 10 had the whole right flank into the 18 to touch up to his 63rd-minute winner. Regardless, he's making his teammates immeasurably better. Just look at Eddie Johnson, who, while pretty much playing for his career, has suddenly become a very viable professional again. The faint calls for him to be called up are grossly premature, but the (grown-ass) man has grown out west as the super-sub role seems to be a perfect fit for now. Kind of Funked Kansas City 0-2 Montreal After a historic start, a loss, and a bye week, you would have expected Sporting to come out firing. And they did, but they came up short again. It's not that they're not still supremely talented, team-oriented and just plain good, but they've lost that sort of invincible gleam. That and they haven't scored in three weeks. That never helps. Now don't get me wrong, this team is still scary good. How much noise is Graham Zusi making after all!? Yet if this KC squad wants to go down as one of the truly great and dominant teams in MLS history, simply outplaying their opposition isn't enough. They have to take care of the ball, close down on defense, keep their wits about them and otherwise play like the champs they should be. Too coachy? Yes, but it's also truth. Go read the team sheet, that includes the subs, and explain why they didn't punish an expansion team short on rest. Kansas City didn't close down Felipe on the first goal (2:50) and Jimmy Nielsen caught it at an awkward angle. In the build-up to the penalty and what was ultimately the second goal, there is an obscene amount of space between the defense and midfield lines. Of course, KC had to lose their own throw-in first by making it an unnecessary 50-50 ball, then some lead-footed defending gets duly punished by Lamar Neagle. There were some understandable shouts against the penalty call on Aurélien Collin's tackle from behind. But it was a tackle from behind, deep in the box that took out Neagle and his goal-bound run. Collin was lucky to escape a card, and frankly, he and his entire team should know better. Losing It Dallas 0-2 Colorado You can understand the damage done by the loss of Brek Shea to turf toe. It's a lingering injury the guy's been fighting for a while now, and let's face it, he's the most talented player on that team right now. So losing him was always going to hurt. That doesn't give the rest of the team the right to losing their freaking minds. I'm looking at you Assistant Coach Hernandez. I don't know what Hernandez said to referee Mark Geiger to earn his first yellow card, but the challenge he put in on Martin Rivero for his second was straight dafty. Rivero did well to get the ball out quickly, but Hernandez had enough time to pull out of the tackle, especially with Geiger standing all of 10 feet away from him. Anyone who's played has been in that situation where you have one of two choices. The first being to hang out there for a second longer and really stick the guy. The second is simply side-stepping temptation. Dallas-Colorado is a rivalry of sorts, but not the kind where you'll get away with picking the former choice. Even before that though Dallas looked pretty badly off their game. For at least the first 15 minutes any pass from Colorado traveling more than 20 yards had to go just as far up in the air first, yet the home team didn't look much better. The midfield build-up play was sloppy and their best bet was to pick out Blas Pérez up top and hope for some magic from Jackson and Fabian Castillo overlapping. Unfortunately for the home crowd - hold that thought - Pérez left his studs up a little too long, straight into the knees of Drew Moor, earning himself a straight red card. The call looks a little questionably bang-bang on the replay, but assuming that Pérez had his eye on the ball, then he also would have seen Moor's leg; something he's not supposed to kick. You can see all the acts of questionable intelligence below: You can't really fault Dallas for losing. They held on until the 61st minute when Jaime Castrillon's close-range header got past Kevin Hartman. For half an hour George John and co. proved why they rank among the best defenses in the league. But without David Ferreira - and he won't be back for some time now - this team can't really hope to control a game. They're a formidable counter-attacking team, they threatened to punish Colorado on a number of occasions, and getting Shea back will help with that, but even when they did go forward at full-strength it was in headless chicken fashion. Props to Larentowicz - there is nothing he can't do that Kyle Beckerman does, by the way - for running his side through a weakened team. It really wasn't as easy as most 9-men opposition is, but the Rapids were committed to breaking down a truly struggling team. FC Dallas is still one of those teams you absolutely do not want to meet on their day, but for now they are poop luckless. Back to the crowd: Dallas is averaging about 14k a game this season. Not awful, but the crowd today at least was very timid. I know there hasn't been too much to cheer about, at the same time, you expect a little more from one of MLS's original soccer specific crowds. Maybe it's the heat, maybe it's the team, regardless, it's a serious bummer to see all those empty seats. - Jacob Klinger Will Parchman said... I will say this about the crowd. I've lived in Texas on and off for the last 12+ years, and I have never, in my life, been hotter than I was at an FCD game in Frisco last July. Like, never. It was so hot, in fact, that they cordoned off the side of the stadium opposite the press box because it was in the sun. As in, you could not sit in the sun because it was a health hazard. It's not quite that hot just yet, but it's probably averaging somewhere in the realm of 90-95 already. Dallas isn't a super great sports town to begin with, but the horribly oppressive heat kills high-octane cheering/chanting/singing. Thus, Portland and Seattle's temperate climates serve perfectly for fervent cheering. Sounds strange, but it's totally true. Jacob Klinger said... I believe it. I've never been and like I said it makes a lot of sense. From what I can tell it's not a very TV-friendly stadium either. Makes sense if the suns that bad on the other stand. dikranovich said... in a funny twist, you play the MLS season at the same time as europe,and seattle and portland are not going to be so fan friendly. and new england..... yikes. Jacob Klinger said... All the more reason not to if you ask me. John said... but don't you know Jacob, Wynalda says MLS will become a superpower if we just switch to the "world's calendar" (I guess South American is just too cool to be a part of that calendar) dikranovich said... eric wynalda causes nothing but trouble for us soccer. he has since 1990. who wouldnt love to see harkes and wynalda go at it MMA style? Jacob Klinger said... I'm just an American. I can't understand how big boy soccer works. Don't overwhelm me with your knowledge of Europey land or the interwebs. John said... @dikranovich give me WWE style Hell in a Cell called by Jim Ross
You are here: HOME Architecture Stadium Design Oita 'Big Eye' Stadium Select area: Central America Middle East North America South America Oita 'Big Eye' Stadium Oita Stadium was chosen as an arena for the World Cup Games in 2002. It is nicknamed "Big Eye" as the stadium's roof opening looks like a human eye. To enhance the feeling of being part of the soccer arena, the spectator seating was placed right up to the edge of the field. This type of feature would normally be inconvenient for track events, but through a retractable seating system the problem was resolved. Through the gentle curves of the spherical design, the stadium matches well with the surroundings in the background. The choice of a sphere is naturally an expression of abstract symbolism, but the shape actually enables the retractable portion to move along its surface. The use of ultra-modern teflon membrane panels with 25% light-permeablity removes the need for artificial lighting during daylight hours. In order for the field to get proper sunlight exposure, the elliptical roof opening runs along the north-south axis. The economical structure of the main beam arch with perpendicular horizontal-running sub-beams corresponds to the elliptical shape of the roof opening. The pipe-arch structure, as a type of large space frame, is the most reasonable design for this project. The vastness of the site also made this type of structure possible. A slit allowing ventilation is set between the roof and the spectator seating permitting both a view of the mountains and comfort for the summer spectator. The slit also is designed to not create a feeling of being closed inside the stadium. www.bugarrishoes.com - Get taller today! © World Stadiums - Copyright Policy - Privacy Policy
Sunday, 19 September 2010 Metaphor and Symbolism in Fiction Metaphor v Simile Why use metaphor, similes or symbolism in fiction? Because they are just some of the useful tools available to a writer to add extra dimension to their work, to make it interesting, more palpable and more entertaining. A metaphor is an analogy, a figure of speech, to convey an idea or object. It compares dissimilar things without using ‘as’ or ‘like’ This shouldn’t be confused with similes, which are used to convey something that is very much like, whereas metaphors state that something is. With metaphors, you don’t have to write ‘like’ or ‘as’. For example: ‘His eyes were fireflies’. (Metaphor) ‘His eyes were like fireflies’. (Simile) Both examples tell us the character’s eyes glittered or glowed like fireflies in the dusk, because the fireflies are used as an analogy. ‘John was a tank’. (Metaphor) ‘John was like a tank’. (Simile) Both of these tell us that John is very strong and stocky. Used correctly they can add a bit of flair to the narrative, but if used poorly, and too often, they can spoil the piece entirely. How do metaphors help? Metaphors and similes have the ability to create mental pictures and imagery with a limited number of words. They can enhance your novel or story by adding depth, colour and powerful imagery to your narrative, and it’s a useful way of drawing in your reader and keeping them hooked. As with most fiction writing, however, you need to find a balance when using metaphors and similes. Misuse or too may will bore or confuse your reader and may ultimately weaken your writing. Use them sparingly. While there are advantages to sprinkling your narrative with them, there are some disadvantages of using metaphors, too. Be careful you don’t make them into clichés. For instance: He was a brick wall. Her face was thunder. These are well-worn metaphors way past their sell-by date. The idea is to think of new ones, something fresh the reader hasn’t read before. The other thing to avoid is mixed metaphor. A mixed metaphor combines incompatible metaphors, creating an illogical comparison. Here are a couple of examples: Stick that in your pipe and chew it.’ You can’t chew what’s in your pipe, but you can smoke it... Or what about this famous one...‘Float like a butterfly and sting like a bee. The inflated use of similes and metaphors might also lead to hyperbole, which is an obvious form of exaggeration. They are similar to similes and metaphors but are overly exaggerated for effect and sound too much like clichés. The bag weighed a ton.’ This is not only exaggerated, but also cliché. Or what about this overused hyperbole, ‘I laughed so hard I nearly split my sides... Try to avoid hyperbole and mixed metaphors. Think clearly and carefully before choosing a metaphor or simile to help enhance your narrative. Remember to remain new and fresh in the way you want to enhance your writing. The use of symbolism is an important tool in fiction. It’s a way of creating depth and meaning to your narrative, and it takes the story beyond simple plot or character development. It illuminates the narrative, gives the reader something extra to think about as you sprinkle the story with symbols. Used correctly, they act as clues and hints of what may happen further in the story. But how do you find the right symbols? That depends on the theme of your story and how you want them to work in relation to the story. A romance story may want to use colours, or flowers. A thriller might use certain people, or repeated objects or words. Symbols can be anything from words, colours, sounds, objects and similes. Symbolism is about the relationship between the symbol and the character and/or plot and how this shores up the story as a whole, if properly used. You should introduce a symbol in a way that delicately underscores the story's emotional core and enhances the story. Shakespeare uses symbolism to good effect in Macbeth. He uses blood as a code to the reader; as a representation of the deep guilt felt by Macbeth. He also uses a raven, which usually represents foreboding and ill fortune, to inform the reader of what is to come. In my own novel, I use the ocean and the tide as symbols by equating tidal movement to thoughts and dreams and life rushing in and out and crashing over rocks. I planted them sparingly throughout the story, so each time they appear, the reader understands the hidden meaning of the main character’s true emotional state. Symbols don’t have to be complicated in construction, because even simple ideas work. My favourite symbolism is the gathering of dark clouds to foretell something awful and ominous is about to happen. It’s simple, concise and effective. The colour red is very evocative. It can symbolise love and romance, sex and death. Black is a dark brooding colour which could be used effectively in the surroundings, or as part of character’s description to represent fear. There are limitless options. You have to know how the symbols will affect the plot and the character and how it will trigger a response in your reader to know which one to use. Generally, have the symbol appear early in the story, then perhaps at key points in the novel, and maybe towards the end to emphasise the theme. Always try to be inventive and avoid cliché. Symbols are a way of association and hidden communication with your reader. They say so much in so few words. Next time: Revealing character through dialogue No comments: Post a Comment
poison's new, improved Green Bulge log, with more violence and carnage Page 1 of 2 12 Last 1. poison's new, improved Green Bulge log, with more violence and carnage Some of you may recall my last log for Controlled Labs, which I did for Blue Gene, which took a different angle than most logs. You can check it here if you haven't already: Inside: poison's unsponsored Blue Gene log. Violence! Grappling! Deadly techniques! I'll be running the log the same, though with slightly more emphasis on weight workouts. I now compete, so hopefully I'll have an opportunity to do so while on Green Bulge. Here are the stats on Green Bulge: Supplement Facts Serving Size: 5 Capsules Servings per Container: 30 Amount Per Serving % Daily Value Vitamin B6 (as pyridoxal 5 phosphate) 75mg 3,750% Vitamin B12 (as Methylcobalamin) 1,000mcg 1,6666% HyperCre Complex™: Magnesium Creatine Chelate (2000mg), 2CM™ Dicreatine Malate (500mg) 2,500mg HyperBulge Complex™: Curcumin (95% Curcuminoids), Gymnema Sylvestre (Extracted for 25% Gymnemic Acid), Orotic Acid, L-Norvaline and K-RALA 940mg * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet. Percent Daily Values not established. INGREDIENTS: Maltodextrin, Gelatin, and Magnesium Stearate I received it last night, and took my first dose this morning a half hour before breakfast. I'm looking forward to this, the new ingredients look great. I'm a big fan of curcumin, orotic acid, and gynostemma. We'll see how it affects my aerobic and anaerobic limits, as I push them every class. I'll be taking EGCG, fish oil, whey, Orange Triad, and I'll continue with the half dose of Super Cissus daily, which I've been on for months. My next workout is tomorrow! 2. Awesome, I'm lovin this. Subb'd! 3. Thanks, renegade! I worked yesterday, and will be working today, 11a-11p. So I popped 5 Greenies, dropped my daughter off at school, and hit the gym. I was pressed for time, so here's what I did: 200 burpees (barf) Alternating pullups and dips with 10 seconds between sets to failure, like this (each number is for 1 round of pullups AND dips): 7, 7, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 3 Burpees kill abs and legs, and pullups and dips hit upper nicely. I was out in under 20 minutes, and the intensity had my heart rate spiked to the ceiling. Pump was intense, but that's to be expected with that kind of workout. Vascularity was also great. I am excited to see how green bulge performs under these workout conditions once the ingredients load up and kick in fully. 4. I missed the last two judo classes due to work, which drives me nuts, I'm like a junkie. I am off tomorrow, and I'm really amped about class, champing at the bit to get on the mat and see how Green Bulge performs. Here are a couple videos from a competition a couple weeks ago, both matches with the same guy. He was much stronger than me, so the outcome is nice. I hit him with a left sasae, then thinking he'd shy away from that side, hit him with the same technique on the opposite side, lol. Poor guy. He came out hard and stiff, and it worked against him. Sasae tsurikomi ashi - YouTube - Barstow Judo YouTube - Barstow Tournament Oh, yeah, I got 1st in my weight division. 5. Congrats man!!!! Judo is a tough sport, to get #1 in your division is definitely something to be proud of! 6. Thanks man! I will try to get video of practice, its really intense. I get thrown hard 50-60 times a night. 7. I worked the last 6 days, 12 hours a day. I'm a bodyguard, working a big client. Stressful stuff. Tuesday (yesterday) I got called in early, and went straight out to advance a location, met the client there, and we were going all day. Usually there are tons of paparazzi, but we managed to give them the slip. I didn't eat much from 10am to 8pm, 2 Clif Builder Bars and some trail mix. Only one glass of water. I ate well today, my day off, but expected judo to suck due to lack of glycogen, compounded with the late dinner which wrapped up an hour before judo. I took 5 GB just before dinner, around 5:45, and started judo at 7. In a word, awesome! I felt great, did not gas a bit, and when class wrapped up I felt like I was just getting started. I have no idea what it was, could be random, could be the GB. I've done that before, ie not eat day before, and it kills me every time, so take it for what it's worth. Technique of the day was ko-uchi gari, and transitions from kouchi to other techniques, like seoi nage. Kouchi gari - Seio nage - So basically you pull back, and the person step with you. As his right foot comes forward, you sweep across with your right and continue his foot motion forward until he falls. If he avoids the sweep, you are already in place, back to him, to grab his arm and toss him over your shoulder into seoi nage. The opposite is also possible: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nehKHu39Kx0"]YouTube - Okano Seoi Nage to Ko Uchi[/ame] It's all about creating opportunities, and taking them. 8. Much respect to the profession. My sifu (sensei) was a bodyguard as well. 9. Oh, nice! Interesting, weird profession. 10. I took my Green Bulge tonight around 6pm, hit the gym for pullups and dips, alternating sets of 7-10 to failure, and hit judo. I only had around 10 minutes before judo to workout, so I really went back to back, no rest, got 5 sets of each, dips and pullups. Pump was insane. Lots of noobs in judo tonight, so the first half hit the basics, and I was working with a guy who had only done one class before. Fun, but not challenging. The last 45 minutes I got tore up pretty good, and kicked ass too. I was practicing the seoi nage technique from last class, and trying to work it in where I could, as well as transition from it to other techniques. I went hard with two black belts, and legitimately threw both without it being handed to me (and of course got hammered after for it, lol), and dominated a brown belt or two. On the other hand, I went with a tiny 14-16yo female black belt, no idea how old she is. I could pick her up with one hand, or drag her down and crush her with a pin. But that would be brute force, not good judo technique. So when I fight her, which is as often as I can, I try to rely only on technique. I don't want her to feel any power from me. She pretty much has her way with me; she's fast, she has great technique, and she's aggressive. Awesome to experience! The sensei came up after class and said 'Getting good, eh?' Power was good, endurance was good. Pump was thick. I wonder how long orotic acid takes to kick in fully, because I'm feeling really good. The Main Mechanisms Of Orotic Acid: 1. Enhancement and maintenance of ATP pools 2. Increased glucose uptake. 3. Increased ribose moieties (R-1-P & R-5-P) leading to enhance ribose formation. 4. Increased muscle carnosine stores. 5. Support and enhancement of muscle hypertrophy (via RNA synthesis support during growth). 6. Elevates uridine a DNA base shown to increase muscle contractile capacity. Also, Renegade, why did you guys include curcumin in this, a creatine formula? I'm not complaining, I'm a huge fan and try to take LEF's Bio-Curcumin all the time (which I wasn't when I started this log due to funds), but I'm just curious if it's for anti-oxidant effects, or if there's some performance effect it adds to the formula? Hmm, this entry needs more flying people. This vid is absolutely beautiful. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkuTkdzVb_0"]YouTube - Judo[/ame] Ok, ** that, thi is supposed to be violent. HOw about judo in MMA? Some spectacularly devastating stuff in here. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhKsGgUCaUI&feature=re lated"]YouTube - Judo - Efficiency[/ame] 11. I've been busy, so here's Monday's log entry: I took my Green Bulge around 6pm, hit the gym around 6:40, and did decline bench and Hammer Strength low rows. Strength and pumps were ridiculous; I went a good 20lbs heavier than last workout on each side on the low row, and got a few extra reps in on the last set. More weight + more reps = win! Got to judo 5 minutes late due to having such a good weight workout. We practiced sasae on both sides, osoto gari, and harai goshi, then stacking them up in different sequences. So as you're moving left, I block your left foot and off-balance your upper body. If you resist, and don't go over, you're vulnerable to the same technique on the other side. If you block that attempt, you basically hand me osoto, and if you resist osoto by dropping your weight low and forward, you're vulnerable to harai, a forward throw. I was working with a 260lb brown belt who had been out for a couple months. Moving him around was tough, and he was pretty clumsy. I ended up with a black eye, he was flailing around so much, lol. But the lesson was great; you need to feel where the opponents balance is. If you try osoto, a rearward throw, he resists by pushing forward. If you're fast enough, you can take that momentum, and toss him with little effort. If he doesn't resist, you just complete the rearward throw. In theory, he either resists, or doesn't, and gets thrown either way. The techniques need to be drilled until they're instinct, because if you have to think about doing them, the opening has already passed. That's why judo emphasizes full-contact fighting so much, a full 45 minutes 3 times a week. It must be instinctive. Anyway, after that we hit ground fighting for 15 minutes. I worked with some BJJ guys...and bonked on the last round. The combination of the killer workout, moving the 260lb guy around, and hard grappling killed me. I could barely stand, hands were shaky. I skipped the first 5 minutes of fighting to rest, then came in semi-refreshed. I fought hard, dominated a couple brown belts, threw 2 black belts a couple times each. It was a really great practice! 2 sensei's came over after and commented on how much I've improved in the last 6 weeks: I am moving more fluidly, moving my opponent, creating opportunities, and setting up throws much better. Green Bulge: It's not Cordyceps, or citrulline. It doesn't help you breathe better. But it does seem to increase work capacity, strength, and intra-set recovery. I was absolutely done after grappling, but pulled another 45 minutes hard fighting out of my ass (or the Green Bulge bottle). 12. interested to see how the GB works for u. Question ? how in the hell do you get stuck working 11-11? no offense but that might be the worst shift in the world! Im sure the $ good with 12 h shifts but how do you do anything? banking, etc. etc.? 13. Quote Originally Posted by searl12 View Post interested to see how the GB works for u. I agree, it sucks. It's actually better than 8a-8p, as I can do some stuff in the morning between 9-11. 8-8 everything is closed. It's security work. I have had a really tough year, job-wise, just trying to feed my kids. 14. Quote Originally Posted by poison View Post brother, brother, I feel for you, I lost 2 jobs this year and I truly respect what your doing, a man has one duty in his life....To take care fo his seed, his children, his family, and if he cannot do that he doesnt deserve them and he should have never had them. This economy is killing so many of us, Im Canadian and 4 years ago where I live there was the biggest economic boom here ibn the world, now its a slum, unemployment, transients, boozers, its pathetic! I have no children, but when I look at my girl I see the mother of my future children and something inside me keeps telling me no matter what that my duty is to protect her and support her at ALL COSTS! I am a very big believer in this, Ill die for her to protect her with a huge smile on my face, as long as I know she will be ok. Keep your head up brother and if you like GB you will like there powdered green mag, im on it now with great strength increases. Good luck with everything and Ill see you on here bro! 15. Thanks, friend! 16. Last night I took my GB around 6:15, hit the gym by 6:40, and did alternating sets of 7 dips and 5 pullups to failure, only rest was the 10ft walk in between the stations. I failed on the 8th round. EDIT: after judo, I did Tabata squats: 20 second bodyweight squats as fast as possible, ass to heels, 10 seconds rest, for 4 minutes. I got 20 reps per set until the 7th round, where I got 19, and 16 on the last set. last rep was a 3-4 second rep. Not bad considering the workout and 2 hours judo picking people up. The head sensei is out of town right now, so his dad, who used to be head sensei, was in charge. This is a good thing, as he allows all sorts of old-school, nasty, ugly judo to be taught. We were shown a bunch of throws, takedowns, and chokes, which I've only seen taught once before. Pretty cool. Here's a sampling: And some stuff I can't find .gif's of, mostly because I don't remember the names. We'll probably do the same stuff Friday, because sensei will be out. I was still feeling Monday's class; when I say I bonked, I hit the wall, and went through. It doesn't help that Tues I took my kids to Universal Studios, so I didn't pound carbs like I needed to, though protein intake was fine. I'll be raring to go for tomorrows class. And Green Bulge is definitely doing it's job; despite being tapped, I was able to continue hard and finish hard, and yesterday's pullups/dips were great, so ATP isn't the problem. Oh, pumps were thick yesterday, and I'm looking hard and jacked today. I've been getting 17. Another great practice last night. Green Bulge around 6:15, gym at 6:40, Hammer Strength low rows and decline bench, alternating 6 sets each. Back was sets of ten @ 45, 70, 90, 100, 110, 120 (each side on hammer strength). I rested 10 seconds between sets, max. Judo was cool. Sensei was gone, so we got more techniques that can be dangerous, more advanced stuff. We spend a good amount of time on o guruma: That clicked with me, fits my style well. I actually threw a couple guys with it in the end of class. We practiced transitions from o guruma to double leg backward sweep, if he resists o guruma to the front. Cool stuff. Endurance was very good, strength and power were excellent. 18. I will be missing judo tonight, as I am working 8-8. I will be hitting the gym, which is fine, as it'll let me abused body rest. I have been following the directions on the GB bottle, namely taking it 30-45 minutes pre-workout, and whenever I feel like it on off days. I have been noticing 2 things: 1) if I take it first thing in the morning, and eat a half hour later, I get really vascular and pumped. If I take it in the morning first thing, and wait to eat, I get shaky from low blood sugar. I am assuming that's from the r-ala. 19. Workout tonight: I started with abs, did a brutal judo style ab workout, situps, reverse situps, reverse crunches, and some gnarly oblique stuff. Then sets of 5 pullups and 7 dips, no rest in between, to failure. I got 8 sets of pullups and 9 sets of dips. Then I did 50 x 135 on deadlift and out. Pump...sick. Huge. Veins in my arms, between my bis and tris, crisscrossing my delts, abs. 20. Got up this morning wanting to replicate my food pump experience from the weekend. Woke up at 6:10, popped my gb and 1 super cissus, and hit the shower. I started eating at 6:30, a banana, large bowl of oatmeal, and casein shake. I feel hard, but not pumped like I did over the weekend. Maybe 20 minutes in between the gb and food is not enough. I will try 40 next time. 21. Great updates so far Poison. The curcumin in the formula was added for it's antioxidant properties and healthy effects on blood glucose levels. 22. Like I said, I love curcumin, so it's a great addition. I got food poisoning yesterday. I was escorting a client, and ate a sandwich I bought much earlier in the day. Oops. I ended up working the last 5 hours feeling like I was going to vomit, crap my pants, and/or pass out. I came home, ate a big bowl of oatmeal just to get some calories in, and hit the sack. I feel much better, but dehydrated and empty, and I got some serious diarrhea going. Not sure if I'll make judo tonight, as I'm working a night shift from 11p-7am tomorrow morning. Dammit. 23. $5 Subway : 1 Me : 0 Holy hell, that isht trashed me. I'm weak, achy, mild fever, Hershey squirts. The upshot is I'm getting a free cleansing. 24. OK, I survived that, damn. I missed judo, had a fever, worked a night shift last night feeling like crap. I slept good today, woke up feeling MUCH better. I took my GB and ate a huge plate of Indian food, and looked pumped after, markedly so. I'm working a night shift now, 8 hours off, then swing tomorrow, 8 hrs off, then morning on Saturday. Ugh. I'll be fitting a workout in after work Saturday, if I can. 25. Wow. I got killed this week; first the food poisoning, then work. Together I got jacked up. I worked two night shifts, which is fine, but then i had 8 hours off, worked swing, then 8 off and worked morning. I also had a school function for my daughter in there, and so missed basically a whole nights sleep. I missed 2 Green Bulge doses due to the stomach nonsense, too. Ugh. I was off yesterday, got some rest, saw my kids, put a new sway bar on my car. I'm working morning shift now, get off at 3, and will hit the gym before judo at 7pm. We'll see how it goes. 26. I hit the gym before judo last night. Time was short, so I got a few nice sets of bench and rows. Judo was great! It's been a week since I went, and the minute I step on the mat it's as if all my worries melt away, and I'm a new person. Dunno, I'm a junkie! They split the white belts and everyone else, this class, and a different sensei taught the theory portion of class. This guy was a serious competitor, and he taught us some competition variations on throws we already know, like osoto gari: What you see above is a traditional osoto. In competition, it can be very hard to do, because many competitors stiff-arm you, and bend over, keeping you away and making it impossible to get close enough. So the modified technique involved stepping to the left, pulling their lapel under their neck/chin with your right, then as you step in to do the osoto, you yank up with your right. It's essentially some good pressure on their throat, and they cannot resist it, so as they straighten up, you take advantage of that momentum and continue it to throw them on their back. Very cool. I planned on going easy, due to the week off and the food poisoning, but I felt great. I had some very good fight rounds at the end, and got compliments from the senseis on some good throws. After class, I received my promotion to 2nd degree brown belt! Green Bulge is very good stuff. It aids power and pumps. My pre-judo workouts are going great, and I'm able to pump out more reps than before taking Green Bulge, even though I was taking creatine before starting this log. Strength is up and weight is up 3lbs. It doesn't aid my endurance in judo like citrulline or Cordygen5, but it does enable me to apply good strength longer than before, even when tired. I was fighting an experienced BJJ/muay thai guy, who ring fights in Mexico. around the 3 Minute mark, I was slowing down a bit with my attacks, and at some point, I got thrown. I got up, thinking 'dammit, call the round', but took a grip and started working. The guy took a grip too, but kind of leaned on me, shook his head, and just gasped. I realized he was more tapped than me, so I threw his ass. That happens a lot, I feel like I'm getting to the end of my rope, but every time the other guys is worse off than me. NEVER QUIT! Enough rambling./ 27. Some cool judo pics: 28. I worked Tues night, got 5 hours of sleep Weds morning, and hit class last night. Ugh, lol. I ate 3 Taco bell chicken Buttito Supreme's, no dairy, and a Clif Builder bar, all between 4-5pm. I took my Bulge around 6pm, and was in the gym by 6:30. I did dip and pullups to failure, and once again, despite being tired and underfed, I got in 8 sets each. I was a bit out of it in class, kind of half-heartedly did the techniques and grappling part. Once we got to to last 45 minutes of fight time, I did well. It took me a minute to get into it, but I hit a groove, and threw some black belts as well as dominated some brown belts. I was not feeling particularly explosive, or fast, but was kind of moving on instinct, kind of a no-mind state, where techniques were just flowing on their own. This is good. I got several comments from bystanders on my progress. The Bulge is deceptive. Again, it's not helping much with oxygen debt or uptake, but it keeps me pushing hard when strength is necessary, long past my usual abilities. 29. Missing judo tonight due to work, so on my way in to work, I snuck a gym workout. Warmed up with abs, then I alternated rows and bench press, and wrapped up with 50 x 135 on deadlift. I was still sore from Weds judo, abnormally so. Like I said, Weds I was in kind of a tired daze, but ended up fighting hard; apparently it was harder than I realized at the time, because my erector spinae, abdominal girdle, neck, hamstrings, and rear delts are sore. Hmm, cool. Pump today was great, very full, and veins popping in my shoulders and across my bis to my tris, again, something I never had before. I weighed 194 on the gym scale, up 3-4lbs. Odd, because I am not training in a conducive manner for good weight gain, I'm burning a ton of calories in judo, and I AM NOT gaining fat. If anything, I lost a bit. 30. Just for fun, here's Ronda Rousey, who's mom was a world champ, and who won bronze at the 08 Olympics. She trains at my dojo, and kicks my ass at will. Bio - :huh: http://www.rondarousey.net/blog/?page_id=5 Similar Forum Threads 1. Replies: 10 Last Post: 03-09-2011, 05:03 PM 2. poison's White Flood and Green Bulge log By poison in forum Supplement Logs Replies: 75 Last Post: 08-24-2010, 03:42 PM 3. Replies: 188 Last Post: 09-30-2009, 07:10 AM 4. The New & Improved GREEN BULGE (sponsored) By jdg487 in forum Supplement Logs Replies: 103 Last Post: 07-18-2009, 12:11 AM 5. Replies: 58 Last Post: 11-19-2008, 12:35 AM Log in Log in
badgerbag: (Default) [personal profile] badgerbag What is geekiness, anyway? What do we mean by it? Kids or teenagers say "Wow, you're such a geek". They mean it either cruelly or half-admiring, but always with the sense that "you're an alien, with alien thought patterns." It took me a while to recognize what those things were likely to be, how to mask them sometimes in order to pass, and how to relate to other people. Actually, it took smoking some pot and realizing that when people "hung out" and chatted, there was a subtext and it was not all just completely boring time wasting when we could have been DOING SOMETHING or MAKING SOMETHING. That drive to do and make and learn every second -- that was geeky thought. It would make me geeky to communicate some of the thoughts that went through my head just now as I washed out my handkerchiefs. I like handkerchiefs lately and have fancy flowered ones my sister made me out of very fine fabric. The handkerchiefs were dry and clean-ish, but when they got wet in the sink I could feel all kind of slimy mucus on there. What makes mucus do that? How can it dry and then re-wet? What, chemically, is going on there? Is there some scale of measurement to describe snot's ability to dry up and re-slime itself? Note to self to look it up and think about sliminess, rehydration, viscosity, and solvents. This thought came back around to my thought of the day about the definition of geekiness. I realized this entire thought train about mucus was geeky. I imagined saying it to this girl Susan I knew in middle school. Susan used to come to my birthday parties and sometimes spend the night, though we didn't have anything in common. I imagined her response to my rambling thoughts on mucus. I could totally hear her sighing and explaining what a geek I was. She would say I was "like a boy". Or not like a boy, but not a proper girl, either. It astonished and embarrassed her. Today I spent hours reading about soil science because of some random thoughts about gardening and soil and zond7's mention of Kevin Kelly's mention of a service to send off a soil sample for analysis. That led me to giant government web sites, maps, explanations of whether the soil in our map selection was firm enough for tanks to cross, or soft enough for mass burials of large animals in pits. I absorbed the beautiful jargon of the taxonomy of soil. Now I'm burning to read a basic soil science college textbook. Though this has has nothing to do with computers or electronics, it expresses a geeky trait - just being interested in some random thing, and then wanting to find out all about it, and its classification systems and language and data and maps. Geeks are the people I know who have this trait. They could happily spend several days (or their education, or a life or career) fooling about with all the details of something - anything - and who just think things are neat. It's about enthusiasm and passion for detail. I thought as I have before (slowly but relentlessly) about the moment at BlogHer 05 (or 6?) when Mena Trott stood up and started babbling about knitting blogs and I freaked out along with half the room. I say babbling intentionally. She wasn't, but I was perceiving it that way! My internalized misogyny and my ignorance from 2005, let me show you it. I was like, OMG, CNN is here, and I thought you were going to be my blogging coder rock star and instead....you're talking about knitting! That's so embarrassing! We were finally getting noticed as women doing stuff on the web not just literarily but as programmers and... knitting?!!! I'm pretty sure I had the decency not to say that on blog because I sensed I didn't know what she meant, and that she was so passionate there must be a there there, beyond what I could imagine which was: "Well, women do knitting I guess, and, women talking to each other on the Internet is inherently good, so, I guess it's good they find each other there and talk about what they like, which is this trivial, embarrassing, girly thing unfortunately, that I'm sure is a skill but I don't want to talk about doing that, it might as well be talking about painting our nails." OH HOW WRONG I WAS. I could also see she was pained as she gave the talk, that she knew very well she was being misunderstood by the room and CNN was going to mangle her ass. Her face was sort of all scrunchy and red like she was going to scream, out of the frustration of not getting across to us and the media... Which was also embarrassing, but made me respect her and know I was wrong. I'm so sorry for my thoughts and my ignorance and lack of insight. And failure to see and jump in and support what was amazing. I cringed for a year, I swear. Years later: my attitude now is that knitting a sock is this amazing thing like building a suspension bridge, a feat of engineering, and is like code in that it is ... code.... but made out of physical stuff.... I'm in awe of it, I wish I could do it, I see people have the vocabulary to talk with each other about the deep technics of it and the level they have to go into each others' minds and knowledge to convey information - the amount of knowledge and skill (techne!) they have as a background to read patterns, reverse engineer something already made, and so on. I'm a knitting groupie. I signed up on Ravelry, which is the most amazing piece of social software and community in practice I've ever seen, not because I want to knit anything, but just to gawk and admire at the textile rock stars. That's my rant. The thoughts that go with it are about men who were with their friend in middle school, their equivalent of my not-quite-friend Susan who sighed and told them they were geeks, or punched them and taunted them and called them geeks. And I was thinking that being a geek, oddly, for them, would have been hauntingly similar to being called girly, being called gay and being taunted or punched and called alien, that girliness you'd have to desperately avoid to survive, or suffer terribly from; that that misogyny, as a punishment, was called out against them sometimes partly because of their geekiness, which must underlie some of the fierce defense of the masculinity of their geekiness. That is their investment, it is not about jobs, it is about the early challenge to machisimo, to their boy and manhood because they were geeky in their thoughts, they were alien (and what is alien, will be beaten up and associated with all that is other. ) So they have tried to make a new geek macho that insists on their heterosexuality and manliness and that defines girls as a thing apart - and claims geekiness for manhood. Right down to saying it is in our brains and hormones that we can't THINK in the right way, or concentrate, or plan or have vision to dive into and create complexities. It is a desperate pushing away and a demand that there be something, someone, that is that. For boys to go outside their gender role, they have the option to redefine that thing they do as macho anew. How is it, then, that when I was geeky, and talked about mucus chemistry, or computer programs, I also wasn't being a girl correctly? The ways men are to each other - their homosocialities - the ways they pay attention and size each other up - are certainly alien to me and I find them instructive to study on the street, their evaluations of each other - and then extrapolating back in time to what that equivalent would have been in school when we learned a lot of socialization... What you do to be not a geek is to not care, to be cool, to brush it off, not to get too excited, to read those social subtexts I couldn't see at all without smoking a few bong hits in college to quiet my mind the fuck down instead of telling some hapless fool all about Herodotus... Then as I thought about gf and open letter & giant reactions to it by various hosebags all over the net, I thought about the awesome relief of translating deep into a poem with Kragen, which just cleared my mind completely! That, also, was massively geeky! It's what you pay attention to It's about a stance towards knowledge and doing It's about communicating about knowledge. how deep do you go, into a realm of knowledge, with another person witnessing or participating? Certain areas are permissible - dancing, music, being in a band (obviously still geeky) Others are geeky with pejorative meaning attached. Why should that be? Further thoughts on string: I first learned cat’s cradle from other little kids on the playground in kindergarten. Through elementary school, yarn and string fads would sweep the playground. We’d do cat’s cradle, finger crochet, or string figures. Some other kid in Detroit taught me four-finger knitting. Like hand-clapping games and jumprope rhymes, string figures are passed from young girl to young girl over decades and centuries. Older women teach these games too and of course also teach knitting, weaving, and other textile crafts. But think about how great it is that kids teach each other this complicated, geeky skill. At some point I realized that most guys didn’t even know how to make a braid, much less the complicated ways to do fingerloop braiding, and that most women, and most girls, in the U.S. of my generation, could braid, single crochet, and do particular string figures. That seemed quite odd, since U.S. society hasn’t depended on women doing textile work by hand for many years. Yet it’s still ingrained very deep that it’s something we teach each other. It strikes me we could learn something crucial, as geeky feminists, from the pattern of how knowledge is passed on between young girls, and how that is presented to them and by them as gendered knowledge – as something “girls know how to do”. Single crochet is just making a loop with your fingers and thumb, and tying the same sliding knot over and over. It teaches the skill of maintaining tension on a strand. It’s easy enough to teach to a very small child, and it’s useful skill for life to make a weak cord into a stronger, thicker one. Four-finger knitting seems a bit more rare in the world of playground games with yarn. I remember being absolutely fascinated with the way it worked, how the structure would evolve as it got longer, falling from the back of my hand like the rib cage and spine of a very long dinosaur, then would magically change to a knitted tube once I’d finish it and pull it taut. Cat’s cradle I learned very early, maybe around 4 years old. Later, around 5th grade, I tried to make drawings of the possible configurations; the cradle, the manger, the candles, the diamonds, cat’s eye, and the other ones I didn’t have names for, and charts of how they connected to each other. It was hard to graph out, and now in poking around on the net, I don’t see any such graph. Let me know if you make one or find one! It is also interesting to find how-tos that try to develop a vocabulary like that of knitting to describe the actions and name the sections of the bits of string as they change. I learned everything I knew about string from other girls. Though I didn't realize it, that was my introduction into geek sisterhood. Date: 2009-09-29 02:35 am (UTC) rivenwanderer: Me crafting in front of a window. (crafting) From: [personal profile] rivenwanderer Can't think of anything to add/contribute, but this is a fantastic fantastic post :) September 2015 1234 5 67 89 10 11 12 1314 15161718 19 Most Popular Tags Page Summary Style Credit Expand Cut Tags No cut tags Page generated Oct. 6th, 2015 01:45 am Powered by Dreamwidth Studios
Microsoft's $1 Billion Xbox 360 Recall Problems Caused By Chip Cheapness Microsoft's red ring Xbox 360 problems have cost the company about a billion dollars in warranty repairs, but the research vice president and chief analyst at Gartner said that the hardware problems were caused because Microsoft wanted to be cheap. Instead of using an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) vender to make a graphics chip for the 360, Microsoft decided to design it themselves and have Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing create it. This saved "tens of millions of dollars" in design costs. Yes, only tens of millions. The good news is that when Microsoft said that their red ring problems are fixed on newer units, they were probably right. They went to "an unnamed ASIC vendor based in the United States and redesigned the chip." Probably ATI, is what EETimes thinks. Moral of the story is to not skimp on chip design so you can save tens of millions, because that may come back and bite you in the ass down the road. [EETimes]
Browse Subject Areas Click through the PLOS taxonomy to find articles in your field. For more information about PLOS Subject Areas, click here. Two Modes of Cell Death Caused by Exposure to Nanosecond Pulsed Electric Field • Olga N. Pakhomova , Affiliation: Frank Reidy Research Center for Bioelectrics, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia, United States of America • Betsy W. Gregory, • Iurii Semenov, • Andrei G. Pakhomov • Olga N. Pakhomova, • Betsy W. Gregory, • Iurii Semenov, • Andrei G. Pakhomov • Published: July 23, 2013 • DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0070278 High-amplitude electric pulses of nanosecond duration, also known as nanosecond pulsed electric field (nsPEF), are a novel modality with promising applications for cell stimulation and tissue ablation. However, key mechanisms responsible for the cytotoxicity of nsPEF have not been established. We show that the principal cause of cell death induced by 60- or 300-ns pulses in U937 cells is the loss of the plasma membrane integrity (“nanoelectroporation”), leading to water uptake, cell swelling, and eventual membrane rupture. Most of this early necrotic death occurs within 1–2 hr after nsPEF exposure. The uptake of water is driven by the presence of pore-impermeable solutes inside the cell, and can be counterbalanced by the presence of a pore-impermeable solute such as sucrose in the medium. Sucrose blocks swelling and prevents the early necrotic death; however the long-term cell survival (24 and 48 hr) does not significantly change. Cells protected with sucrose demonstrate higher incidence of the delayed death (6–24 hr post nsPEF). These cells are more often positive for the uptake of an early apoptotic marker dye YO-PRO-1 while remaining impermeable to propidium iodide. Instead of swelling, these cells often develop apoptotic fragmentation of the cytoplasm. Caspase 3/7 activity increases already in 1 hr after nsPEF and poly-ADP ribose polymerase (PARP) cleavage is detected in 2 hr. Staurosporin-treated positive control cells develop these apoptotic signs only in 3 and 4 hr, respectively. We conclude that nsPEF exposure triggers both necrotic and apoptotic pathways. The early necrotic death prevails under standard cell culture conditions, but cells rescued from the necrosis nonetheless die later on by apoptosis. The balance between the two modes of cell death can be controlled by enabling or blocking cell swelling. Cell death induction by nsPEF has recently been proposed as a new therapeutic modality to ablate cancer. Cytotoxic efficiency of nsPEF against multiple cancer types has been demonstrated both in vitro [1][7] and in vivo [1], [5], [6], [8][10]. Interestingly, cancer cells reportedly were more vulnerable than matching normal cell lines [7]. Contemplated advantages of nsPEF over other ablation methods include higher probability of complete elimination of cancer cells; reduced collateral damage to healthy tissues and extracellular matrix; relative simplicity of the treatment; inhibition of angiogenesis; minimal systemic side effects; and fast recovery. The exact mechanisms responsible for nsPEF cytotoxicity have been a subject of numerous studies [1][4], [11][17], but nonetheless remain elusive. Early studies in this area have noted fast and massive externalization of phosphatidylserine in nsPEF-treated cells, which was interpreted as a sign of apoptosis and a proof that apoptosis is the prevailing or even the sole mode of cell death after nsPEF [4], [18], [19]. As a result, the vast majority of studies into nsPEF-induced cell death focused solely on the apoptotic death pathway. Indeed, various types of cells exposed at lethal nsPEF doses expressed such manifestations of apoptosis as caspase activation, poly-ADP ribose polymerase (PARP) cleavage, cytochrome C release into the cytoplasm, and internucleosomal DNA fragmentation [4], [6], [12], [14]. The only type of necrosis considered in these studies was the so-called “secondary necrosis” (a final cell destruction following the apoptotic process in vitro). However, the validity of PS externalization as a sign of apoptosis has been challenged with understanding that nsPEF opens pores in the cell plasma membrane. These pores could provide passage for calcium ions into the cell, causing scramblase activation and fast PS externalization [20], [21]. In addition, the pores can serve as a lipid-water interface pathway from the cell inside to the outside, allowing for calcium-independent lipid scrambling by a hypothetical “lateral drift” mechanism [22], [23]. In either case, the fast onset of PS externalization (<1 sec after nsPEF) suggested that this effect is not necessarily a step in the organized apoptotic process. These findings suggested that the conclusion about apoptosis prevalence after nsPEF (which was based primarily on the PS externalization data) may need to be revisited and revised. Concurrently, several groups reported that nsPEF-treated cells typically swell [17], [24][27], which is a morphological hallmark of necrosis. Permeabilization of the cell plasma membrane was identified as the principal cause of the necrotic cell transformation [17], [24]. Recently we reported that a significant fraction of nsPEF-treated Jurkat and U937 cells died at intervals much shorter than what it typically takes to complete the apoptotic process [12]. The number of “live” cells (impermeable to Trypan blue) decreased almost twofold already at 2 hr after the nsPEF exposure (600 pulses, 10 ns, 100 kV/cm), but the internucleosomal DNA fragmentation developed only in 3 hr; hence, a large fraction of cells died before reaching this apoptotic step. Significant cell death could be observed in the absence of PARP cleavage, suggesting a caspase-independent mechanism [28]. In agreement with the above findings, Yin et al. [6] observed destroyed cells and cell fragments after intense nsPEF treatments in vitro, and interpreted it as a necrotic effect of exposure. Several studies have reported both apoptotic and necrotic cell death after nsPEF treatments of tumors in vivo [9], [29]. In this study, we show that cell swelling and membrane rupture are the predominant mechanisms of the early cell death following nsPEF exposure. The prevalence of the early necrotic death was characteristic for nsPEF treatments with either “long” 300-ns pulses or “short” 60-ns pulses, within a wide range of doses, and for diverse pulse delivery protocols. This primary necrotic death prevented the development and observation of apoptosis in nsPEF-treated cells. However, the inhibition of the primary necrosis led to a much higher incidence of delayed cell death by apoptosis. Materials and Methods Cells and Media Experiments were performed in a suspension cell line U937 (human monocytes). The cells were obtained from ATCC (Manassas, VA) and propagated at 37°C with 5% CO2 in air in RPMI-1640 medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum, 2 mM L-glutamine, 100 IU/ml penicillin, and 0.1 µg/ml streptomycin. The media and its components were purchased from Mediatech Cellgro (Herdon, VA) except for serum (Atlanta Biologicals, Norcross, GA). Other chemicals used for this study were from Sigma–Aldrich (St. Louis, MO) unless noted otherwise. Modifications of the Growth Medium to Inhibit nsPEF-induced Cell Swelling The nsPEF-induced water uptake is driven by the colloid-osmotic mechanism and can be blocked by the presence of a nanopore-impermeable solute such as sucrose [26]. Importantly, this effect is achieved without changing the integral osmolality of the extracellular medium. In this study, the RPMI medium containing sucrose (hereinafter, “RPMI+sucrose”) was produced by mixing RPMI (containing cells and all supplements listed above) with an isoosmotic (290 mOsm/kg) water solution of sucrose. Mixing was performed at the proportion of 4:1 or 7:3, yielding fractional osmolalities due to the sucrose of 58 or 87 mOsm/kg, respectively. As found in preliminary experiments (data not shown), such fractions of sucrose provided an accurate colloid-osmotic balance to the cytosol, thereby preventing any volume changes in cells permeabilized by nsPEF. An unavoidable side effect of the isoosmotic mixing of RPMI with sucrose was the dilution of nutrients, salts, serum, and other ingredients of the medium. This dilution was well tolerated by cells, although could cause a minor slowdown of the propagation rate. Nonetheless, in order to match this dilution, the parallel control samples were diluted by an isoosmotic NaCl solution at the same proportions (“RPMI+NaCl”). Na+ and Cl- ions are small solutes capable of passing the nanopores and therefore do not prevent the water uptake [25], [26]. As shown below, the growth rate of control U937 cells (not exposed to nsPEF) in RPMI+sucrose was the same as in RPMI+NaCl. In several sets of experiments, the parallel control samples were diluted with fresh RPMI instead of NaCl (“RPMI+RPMI”). In such cases, cells were left in RPMI+sucrose and in RPMI+RPMI only for a brief time interval (e.g., 30 min). Afterwards, all samples were diluted 10x with fresh RPMI, thereby canceling out any differences in the medium composition. The exact protocols that were employed for each specific experiment are described in the Results section and in figure captions. As shown below, the RPMI+sucrose medium always modified the effects of nsPEF in a similar way, irrespective of the specific protocol employed. nsPEF Exposure Methods and Protocols In most experiments, we used trapezoidal pulses of 300 ns duration from an AVTECH AVOZ-D2-B-ODA generator (AVTECH Electrosystems, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada). Pulse trains of needed duration at a selected repetition rate of 200 Hz were triggered externally from a model S8800 stimulator (Grass Instruments Co., Quincy, MA). Pulses were delivered to an electroporation cuvette with cells using a 50- to 10-Ohm transition module (AVOZ-D2-T, AVTECH Electrosystems) modified into a cuvette holder. The pulse amplitude and shape were monitored using a Tektronix TDS 3052B oscilloscope. More details of this exposure procedure were reported earlier [30]. Main findings of this study were replicated using 60-ns pulses from a high-voltage home-made pulse generator described previously [4], [31]. The goal for testing 60-ns pulses and different exposure protocols was to demonstrate that the established mechanisms of cell death hold true for diverse nsPEF treatments rather than just for a specific, randomly chosen type of treatment. The 60-ns pulse generator utilizes the pulse forming network technology and a simple spark gap in the atmospheric air works as a switch. With this device, the pulse repetition rate can only be approximately controlled by the rate of network charging. We utilized the pulse rate of about 1 Hz, and the number of pulses delivered to the sample was controlled manually. Because of multiple differences in the pulse delivery protocols for 300- and 60-ns pulses, any quantitative comparison between these treatments was not intended. For nsPEF exposure, cells were harvested during the logarithmic growth phase, pelleted by centrifugation, and resuspended in a fresh growth medium. As found in preliminary experiments, the cell density at the time of exposure within the range from 0.5 to 8×106 cells/ml did not affect the nsPEF efficiency (data not shown). For cell survival studies, the cell density at the time of exposure was 0.6 or 1.2×106 cells/ml; for Western blot measurements which required larger cell quantities, the density was increased to 7×107 cells/ml. Immediately following nsPEF exposure, cells were diluted to 0.2–0.7×106 cells/ml into RPMI+RPMI, RPMI+sucrose, or RPMI+NaCl medium and stored in the incubator until further measurements or manipulations. In several early series of experiments, cells were placed in the modified medium prior to nsPEF exposure. Although slightly lower electrical conductance of RPMI+sucrose compared to other media could affect the efficiency of nsPEF, we observed no differences compared to post-exposure dilutions. In any series of experiments, samples in different media and/or exposed to different nsPEF parameters were handled in exactly the same manner, and different treatments were applied in a random sequence. All series were also accompanied by parallel sham-exposed controls. NsPEF exposures were performed at a room temperature of 22–24°C. Heating of cell samples by nsPEF did not exceed 7°C, as measured with a fiber optic ReFlex-4 thermometer (Nortech Fibronic, Quebec City, Canada). Viability Assays Cell survival was measured at different times after nsPEF exposure using either MTT (3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazoliumbromide) assay or a fluorescent dye exclusion/quenching method (AO/PI assay). Both assays were described in detail previously [30]. In brief, for the MTT assay (BioAssay Systems, Hayward, CA) we used a 96-well format and a Synergy 2 microplate reader (BioTEK, Winooski, VT). 10 µl of the MTT reagent were added to 100 µl of cell suspension and incubated for 4 hr until adding the solubilization buffer. The plates were left on an orbital shaker overnight and the absorbance was read at 570 nm. The AO/PI assay utilized a mixture of a membrane-permeable dye acridine orange (AO) and a membrane-impermeable dye propidium iodide (PI). This method detected only massive PI uptake characteristic for dead cells with fully ruptured plasma membrane. Immediately prior to measurements, a 20 µl aliquot of the cell suspension was mixed with the equal volume of staining solution (0.5 µg/ml AO and 100 µg/ml PI in a phosphate-buffered saline, PBS). The sample was loaded into a counting chamber of the automated cell counter Cellometer Vision with two-channel cell fluorescence detection (Nexcelom Bioscience LLC, Lawrence, MA). Live cells were distinguished by bright AO fluorescence (exc./em. 475/535 nm). In cells with compromised membrane AO emission was quenched by PI uptake. Combined fluorescence of either AO or PI (exc./em. 525/595 nm) was used to determine the total (live+dead) cell counts. Cell Diameter Measurement Cells in the counting chamber of the Cellometer were imaged in bright field, automatically de-clustered and distinguished from debris. The automated recognition of cells in the sample was verified manually and corrected if needed. The diameters of 400–600 cells per sample were automatically measured from the image and logged using Cellometer software. Cell images were taken using an Olympus IX71 inverted microscope equipped with a Retiga 2000R Fast 1394 CCD camera (QImaging, Surrey, BC, Canada). We used 5 µg/ml PI and 1 µM YO-PRO-1 dye (Life Technologies, Grand Island, NY) as fluorescent markers of membrane permeabilization. The dyes were added about 10 min prior to scheduled measurements, and cells were allowed to settle down. Images taken with a 20x, 0.40 NA dry objective were captured and processed with MetaMorph 7.5.2 software (Molecular Devices, Foster City, CA). For a more detailed but mostly qualitative analysis of morphological effects of nsPEF, we used an Olympus FluoView 1000 confocal scanning system. It utilized an IX81 microscope equipped with differential-interference contrast (DIC) optics. 10-µl aliquots of cells with the dyes already added were placed on a coverslip, allowed to settle down for 5–10 min, and then examined with a 40x, 0.95 NA objective. Due to the small size of the sample and varied times for cell settling, the images were not used for cell scoring. Caspase 3/7 Activity We utilized a Caspase- Glo®3/7 Assay from Promega Corporation (Madison, WI) according to manufacturer’s instructions. Briefly, cells were exposed at 7×106 cells/ml and diluted tenfold into RPMI+sucrose or RPMI+NaCl. The cells were incubated at 37°C in 5% CO2 humidified air. In 1, 2, 6, and 24 hr after nsPEF, cells were aliquoted in triplicate at 50 µl/well into a 96-well plate; 10 µl of Caspase- Glo®3/7 reagent were added to each well, and the plate was briefly mixed on an orbital shaker. After 40 min of incubation at room temperature, the level of luminescence was measured by the Synergy 2 reader. U937 cells incubated with 10 µM staurosporin were used as a positive control for the induction of apoptosis. Immunoblot Analysis and Quantitation of Poly-ADP Ribose Polymerase (PARP) Cleavage Specific PARP cleavage is an established hallmark of apoptosis [32], [33]. Both the full-length 116 kDa PARP and its 89 kDa fragment can be detected together by immunoblotting. Quantitation of the apoptotic fraction of cells from the relative amounts of intact and cleaved PARP is intrinsically ratiometric and therefore more quantitative than most of comparable assays. At 1, 2, 6, or 9 hrs after nsPEF exposure, samples containing approximately 4×105 cells were chilled on ice and pelleted by centrifugation. The pellet was washed twice with ice-cold PBS and lysed in 30 µl of a buffer containing 20 mM HEPES (pH 7.5), 200 mM NaCl, 10 mM EDTA, 1% Triton X-100, and freshly added 1 mM DTT (dithiothreitol), 10 µM Leupeptin, 1 mM PMSF (phenylmethanesulfonyl fluoride), and 0.2 mg/ml Benzamidin. The samples were vortexed and centrifuged at 15,000 g at 4°C for 10 min. The supernatant containing PARP was stored at −80°C. Proteins were separated by electrophoresis on a NuPAGE 4–12% Bis-Tris SDS-polyacrylamide gel (Life Technologies) and then transferred to Immun-Blot Low Fluorescence PVDF membrane (Bio-Rad Laboratories, Hercules, CA) by wet electroblotting at 30 volts for 1 hr. Odyssey marker IRDye 680/800 was added as a molecular weight standard (LI-COR Biosciences, Lincoln, NE). The blots were blocked by incubation overnight at 4°C in the Odyssey blocking buffer (LI-COR Biosciences). Rabbit anti-PARP primary polyclonal antibodies (Roche Diagnostics GmbH, Mannheim, Germany) were diluted 1:2,000 in the Odyssey blocker with 0.2% Tween-20. Donkey anti-rabbit IgG(H+L) secondary antibodies conjugated with an infra-red fluorophore IRDye-680LT (LI-COR Biosciences) were diluted 1:20,000 in the same buffer. The blots were treated with the primary antibodies for 1 hr at room temperature, washed 4 times (5 min each) in PBS with 0.1% Tween-20, treated with secondary antibodies for 1 hr, and washed again. The membranes were imaged using Odyssey 9120 Infrared Imaging System (LI-COR Biosciences) in the 700 nm channel. The images were quantified using MetaMorph software (Molecular Devices). The fraction of the cleaved PARP (K, %) was measured as: where L and S are the fluorescence intensities of the 116 kDa full-length PARP and of the 89 kDa PARP fragment, respectively. The coefficient 1.3 was used for S mass correction. The quantitative data from 4–5 independent experiments were processed for each timepoint and for each type of nsPEF treatment. Staurosporin-induced apoptosis was used as a positive control. General Protocols and Statistics All of experiments were designed to minimize potential biases and to ensure the accuracy and reproducibility of results. All experiments included a sham-exposed parallel control group, which was subjected to all the same manipulations and procedures as the nsPEF-exposed samples, excluding only the nsEP exposure itself. Various regimens of the nsPEF treatment and parallel control experiments alternated in a random manner, and no “historical” controls were accepted. Diverse buffer conditions were also tested in parallel. When measurements were made in triplicate (e.g., cell viability using MTT assay), the mean of the three values was counted as a single experiment. To achieve statistical significance, we usually ran 4–6 independent experiments per each group (a minimum of 3). Student’s t-test with Dunnet’s correction when applicable [34], [35] was employed to analyze the significance of differences. The data were presented in the graphs as mean values +/− s.e. The difference at p<0.05 level (2-tailed) was regarded as statistically significant. Due to multiple statistical comparisons made (exposures versus controls; different buffers; different timepoints; etc) we chose to let the error bars speak for the statistical difference with minimum use of special symbols. For clarity, the special symbols were only used for the RPMI+sucrose groups, to indicate the significant difference from the RPMI+NaCl group () and from the sham-exposed control (#). In fact, most effects reported below were quite robust and statistically significant at p<0.01 or better at least for several timepoints. Sucrose Inhibits nsPEF-induced Cell Swelling and Prevents Membrane Rupture In a recent study [26], we showed that 60- as well as 600-ns pulses cause water uptake and cell swelling due to the colloid-osmotic imbalance [25], [36][38]. In brief, the water uptake results from the fact that small solutes can diffuse through membrane pores towards the concentration equilibrium, whereas the larger solutes cannot. Hence, the larger solutes remain trapped inside the cell, thereby creating an osmotic gradient to attract water. This gradient can be counterbalanced by replacing small solutes (such as Na+ and Cl-) in the bath buffer with larger, pore-impermeable solutes such as sucrose. Such replacement prevents cell swelling even though the osmolality of the extracellular buffer remains unchanged [26]. Fig. 1 shows a typical time dynamics of cell volume changes following nsPEF treatment. All cell samples were exposed to 600 pulses (300-ns pulse duration, 7 kV/cm, 200 Hz) in a standard RPMI medium. Immediately after the exposure, the samples were mixed 7:3 with isoosmotic NaCl or sucrose as described above. Sham-exposed cell samples that served as controls were diluted the same way. Figure 1. Sucrose inhibits cell swelling and membrane rupture caused by nsPEF. The bar charts show the frequency distribution of cell diameter values at the indicated time intervals after nsPEF exposure and in sham-exposed controls. Cells were exposed in the RPMI medium and placed immediately afterwards into either RPMI+NaCl or RPMI+sucrose (87 mOsm/kg due to sucrose); see text for more details. 400–600 cells per group were measured at each timepoint. Note fast cell swelling followed by membrane rupture and apparent shrinkage in RPMI+NaCl, but not in the RPMI+sucrose. Representative cell images in the differential interference contrast (DIC) and propidium iodide (PI) fluorescence channels illustrate swelling and eventual membrane rupture in the RPMI+NaCl medium. The diameter of control cells did not depend on the time of incubation after nsPEF or on whether the sucrose or NaCl was added to the medium. The distribution of cell diameters was bell-shaped, with the peak at 16–18 µm. NsPEF exposure caused rapid swelling in the RPMI+NaCl group, eventually followed by membrane rupture and cell destruction. The destroyed cells shrunk abruptly, almost to the size of the nucleus, so the cell death was manifested as an increased fraction of smaller cells. This mode of cell death was essentially identical to the classic scenario of hemolysis caused by the electroporation of erythrocytes [38]. Consistent with the earlier observations [26], the dilution of RPMI with sucrose fully prevented cell swelling (Fig. 1, right column). Consequently, sucrose also prevented the secondary cell shrinkage due to the membrane rupture. Dual Effect of Sucrose on Cell Survival While it was most logical to expect that the inhibition of cell swelling and prevention of membrane rupture by sucrose should improve cell survival, the experiments showed that it was not the case. At 24 hr after nsPEF exposure, and for a wide range of exposure intensities, the cell survival stayed remarkably the same in the presence or absence of sucrose (Fig. 2). Figure 2. Lack of the effect of sucrose on the 24-hr survival of nsPEF-treated cells. Cells in RPMI were mixed with sucrose (RPMI+sucrose; 60 mOsm/kg due to sucrose) or fresh RPMI (RPMI+RPMI) before nsPEF exposure (600 pulses, 300-ns). At 30 min after the exposure, all samples were diluted tenfold with fresh RPMI and incubated until measuring cell survival by the MTT assay at 24 hr (mean values +/− s.e. for 6 independent experiments). This unexpected finding has stimulated the analyses of the time course of nsPEF-induced cell death under diverse conditions (Fig. 3). Panels A, B, and C represent three independent series of experiments. In all these series, cell survival was monitored by the AO/PI assay for up to 24 hr (A) or 48 hr (B and C) after the nsPEF exposure. For experiments in panel A, cells in RPMI were diluted with either sucrose or fresh RPMI prior to nsPEF treatment. For experiments in panels B and C, the dilution with either sucrose or NaCl was performed immediately after the exposure. The nsPEF exposure was either 600 pulses, 300 ns, 200 Hz at 7 kV/cm (panels A and B), or 50 pulses, 60 ns, approximately 1 Hz at 40 kV/cm (panel C). Figure 3. Inhibition of swelling improves the short-term but not the long-term survival after nsPEF exposure. Panels A, B, and C represent the data from three independent sets of experiments performed under different exposure conditions and using different protocols. For panel A, cells in RPMI were mixed with sucrose (RPMI+sucrose; 60 mOsm/kg due to sucrose) or fresh RPMI (RPMI+RPMI) before nsPEF exposure (the same protocol as in Fig. 2). For panels B and C, cells were exposed in the RPMI and placed immediately afterwards into either RPMI+NaCl or RPMI+sucrose (87 mOsm/kg due to sucrose), same as in Fig. 2. See graph legends and text for more details. Cell survival was measured by the AO/PI assay and normalized to the pre-exposure value (mean+/− s.e., n = 4–6). Cell survival in sham-exposed controls is shown by dashed lines and open symbols. p<0.05 for the difference of RPMI+sucrose from RPMI+NaCl (or RPMI+RPMI); # p<0.05 for the difference of RPMI+sucrose from the respective sham-exposed control. Other significant differences are not shown for clarity. Irrespective of the methodological differences, the effects observed in these experiments were similar. In sham-exposed cells, modifications of the growth medium had little or no effect: cells grew similarly in RPMI+sucrose and in RPMI+NaCl (panels B and C), and perhaps slightly faster in the RPMI (panel A). At the same time, the presence of sucrose profoundly improved the survival of nsPEF-exposed cells at early time intervals (1–8 hr). However, at the later time intervals the cells protected by sucrose continued to die, whereas those without sucrose protection already started to recover. Eventually, the percent of viable cells became the same, and the protective effect of sucrose was nullified. This phenomenon can also be illustrated by measuring the fraction of dead (PI-positive) cells at different times after nsPEF exposure (Fig. 4). Without the sucrose protection, the fraction of dead cells increased rapidly to its maximum at 8–10 hr, and gradually decreased afterwards. With the sucrose protection, the fraction of PI-positive cells increased after a delay of several hours, but showed no reduction within the period of observation. Figure 4. Inhibition of swelling blocks the early cell death after nsPEF. Dead cells were identified by the AO/PI assay. The total number of cells counted at each timepoint was taken as 100% (mean+/− s.e., n = 4–6). The data in panels A and B are from the same experiments as in Fig. 3, B and C. See text and Fig. 3 for details. PI uptake in sham-exposed controls is shown by dashed lines and open symbols. To summarize, the presence of sucrose efficiently inhibited the early cell death (just as expected from the blockage of cell swelling), but the rescued cells nonetheless died later on because of some other reason. As a result, the cell survival at intervals of 24 and 48 hr was not significantly improved by the inhibition of cell swelling (Figs. 2 and 3). Blockage of Cell Swelling Switches the Cell Death Pathway from Necrosis to Apoptosis The cell survival data reported above were consistent with gradual changes in the cell appearance and the uptake of membrane-impermeable dyes with time after nsPEF (Fig. 5). Figure 5. Effects of sucrose on cell swelling and membrane permeability. DIC and fluorescence images of nsPEF-exposed cells incubated in either RPMI+RPMI or RPMI+sucrose. Green: YO-PRO-1; red: PI; yellow: both dyes overlapped. Parameters of exposure and times after it are given in the legend. Cells were handled the same way as in Fig. 2 but without additional dilution at 30 min. The dyes were added 5–10 min prior to taking an image. Note early cell swelling and rupture in the RPMI+RPMI but not in the RPMI+sucrose medium. The survivors show no YO-PRO-1 uptake in the RPMI+RPMI, but remain permeable to the dye in the RPMI+sucrose group. An arrow points to a group of cells that display the apoptotic blebbing and fragmentation. At 0.5–1 hr after the exposure, cells left in the RPMI were swollen and developed necrotic-type blebs (also sometimes called “blisters”). In the presence of sucrose, nsPEF-exposed cells displayed few if any morphological changes. In both these cell populations, the plasma membrane was partially compromised, allowing the uptake of YO-PRO-1 but not of PI (propidium ion is larger than YO-PRO-1 and has low permeability through nsPEF-opened pores [25], [26], [39]). Later on, membrane rupture in swollen cells resulted in massive PI uptake and dual staining of dead cells by both Yo-PRO-1 and PI. However, cells that did not rupture became impermeable to YO-PRO-1 and regained the normal appearance. At 4 and 6 hr after nsPEF, most of cells in RPMI were either dead (double-stained) or normal (no staining). In the presence of sucrose, many cells developed cytoplasm fractionation (apoptotic blebbing) and remained permeable to YO-PRO-1. These manifestations suggested that the delayed death in sucrose-rescued cells could be a result of apoptosis. Indeed, protection of nsPEF-treated cells by sucrose caused profound activation of caspase 3/7 already at 1 hr after the exposure, reaching maximum at 3–6 hr (Fig. 6). The cells left in RPMI+NaCl after nsPEF exposure showed just minor caspase activation. These findings were corroborated by another hallmark of apoptosis, namely the markedly increased cleavage of PARP (Fig. 7). The data looked similar for exposures to 300- and 60-ns pulses; taken together with the cell swelling and survival measurements, the data indicated that the cell damage and cell death mechanisms caused by 300- and 60-ns pulses were similar. Figure 6. Inhibition of swelling in nsPEF-exposed cells facilitates caspase 3/7 activation. The exposure parameters and media are identified in the legend. Growth media were changed the same way as in Fig. 1. Caspase-3/7 was measured by a luminescence assay. For a positive control, apoptosis was induced by 10 µM of staurosporin. Mean values +/− s.e. for n = 3. See text and Fig. 3 for details. Figure 7. PARP cleavage in nsPEF-exposed cells. A: The fraction of cleaved PARP is increased when nsPEF-exposed cells are protected with sucrose. Mean values +/− s.e. for n = 4–5. Growth media were changed the same way as in Fig. 1. NsPEF and media conditions are specified in the legend. The numbers in parentheses correspond to the lanes in panel B, which shows representative Western blots for intact and cleaved PARP (116 and 89 kDa, respectively). See text and Fig. 3 for details. Figs. 6 and 7 also include the data for a chemically-induced apoptosis as a positive control. We used staurosporin, a well-established agent which, at the tested concentration, caused apoptotic cell death in almost 100% of U937 cells (data not shown). Interestingly, caspase 3/7 activation and PARP cleavage in the staurosporin-induced apoptosis developed as much as 2–3 hr later as compared to the nsPEF-induced apoptosis. One possible interpretation of this observation is that nsPEF just “bypassed” the initial steps of the staurosporin-induced apoptotic cascade [40]. At the same time, we showed earlier that the internucleosomal DNA fragmentation in nsPEF-exposed cells developed later than in heat-shocked cells [12]. Overall, the time course of the nsPEF-induced apoptosis appeared within the time limits reported for other apoptotic factors. The Balance between the Two Modes of Cell Death The proportion of necrotic, apoptotic, and non-apoptotic live cells, as determined by different approaches, is presented in Figs. 8 and 9. Figure 8. The structure of nsPEF-exposed cell populations with and without blockage of cell swelling with sucrose. Bars show relative fractions of non-apoptotic, apoptotic, and dead cells at different timepoints after nsPEF (600 pulses, 300 ns, 7 kV/cm). Growth media were changed the same way as in Fig. 1. Dead and live cells were counted by the AO/PI assay. The fraction of apoptotic cells among live cells was considered proportional to the fraction of cleaved PARP. The data were averaged from 4–5 experiments; the error bars are omitted for clarity. Figure 9. The effect of sucrose on Yo-PRO-1 and PI uptake by nsPEF-exposed cells. Growth media were changed after nsPEF exposure (600 pulses, 300 ns, 7 kV/cm) the same way as in Fig. 1. The number of cells displaying no dye uptake, YO-PRO-1 uptake, and both YO-PRO-1 and PI uptake were automatically counted in microscope images as described in Methods. The total number of cells counted in each sample was taken as 100%. The PI-positive cells were presumed dead. YO-PRO-1-positive cells could be either apoptotic or just transiently permeabilized to this dye by nsPEF. Cells negative for either dye were regarded as live, non-apoptotic. The data were averaged from 3 experiments; error bars are omitted for clarity. In Fig. 8, the fraction of PI-positive (dead) cells was determined by the AO/PI assay. The remaining fraction of live cells was split into the “apoptotic” and “non-apoptotic” subpopulations based on the relative amounts of intact and cleaved PARP measured in the same sample. With time after nsPEF exposure, non-apoptotic cells could shift into either “apoptotic” or “dead” categories, and the “apoptotic” cells could also become “dead”. After exposure to 600 pulses (300 ns, 7 kV/cm), 60% of cells were already dead at 1 hr if kept in the RPMI+NaCl medium. Taking into account the early occurrence of the cell death, morphological signs (cell swelling and membrane rupture), and the lack of concurrent caspase 3/7 activation or PARP cleavage, the early cell death can be categorized as a primary necrosis. Later on, a fraction of cells kept in RPMI+NaCl entered the apoptotic pathway; however, even assuming that the entire cell loss after 2 hr was due to the apoptosis only, the cumulative fraction of apoptotic cells was just 16%. In contrast, the same calculation for sucrose-protected cells yields over 50% of apoptotic cells. Thus, the primary necrosis was the predominant cell death pathway unless cells were protected with sucrose. For the data in Fig. 8, the primary necrosis was responsible for about 87% of the cell loss, versus 43% in the presence of sucrose. Fig. 9 shows the time dynamics of cell subpopulations permeable to either YO-PRO-1, or both PI and YO-PRO-1, or not permeable to any of the dyes. Notably, YO-PRO-1 is both a sensitive indicator of membrane nanoelectroporation [25], [39], [41] and a marker of selective membrane permeabilization early in the course of apoptosis [42]. In contrast, the uptake of PI through nanopores is minimal; with the employed method of PI detection, its uptake manifests the irreversible cell destruction, by either primary or secondary necrosis. Nanopores created by nsPEF still remained permeable to YO-PRO-1 at 20 min after the exposure, as seen by YO-PRO-1 uptake by most cells. In the RPMI+NaCl medium, these cells swelled and got destroyed (became PI-permeable) already within an hour. In the RPMI+sucrose group, many cells remained permeable just to YO-PRO-1 for several hours after the nsPEF exposure. The fraction of PI-positive cells was much smaller and stable at 1–4 hr after the exposure, followed by a delayed increase by 6 hr. While it is widely accepted that nsPEF-exposed cells die by apoptosis, our results demonstrate for the first time that the primary necrosis was the predominant cell death mode. We also established that necrosis results from plasma membrane permeabilization, followed by water uptake, cell swelling, and eventual membrane rupture. This necrotic pathway is similar to what is seen with “classic” electroporation pulses or when applying various other necrotic factors. This result may appear contradictory to the prevalence of nsPEF-induced apoptosis as reported by multiple other studies [1], [3], [4], [10], [14], [43]. However, these reports were based primarily on the flow cytometry counts of cells that display PS externalization; as discussed above, the relevance of this parameter to apoptosis in nsPEF-treated cells is questionable. Although a number of studies reported evidence for necrotic cell death after nsPEF [4], [6], [9], [17], [28], this pathway has received little attention. Most of research focused on cellular mechanisms of nsPEF-induced apoptosis, whereas necrosis was viewed as a less common and less important event. In this study, for the first time we report that under standard cell culture conditions necrosis can be a prevalent mode of cell death. This finding holds true for rather diverse nsPEF exposure conditions, including different pulse durations, E-field values, and pulse delivery protocols. With that said, the balance between apoptosis and necrosis can be profoundly dependent on the cell type and on the cell environment. For example, cells that do not have a large “stock” of spare membrane to swell will have less time for membrane repair after nsPEF, and are more likely to die from the membrane rupture. This fact may explain why smaller Jurkat cells were more vulnerable than larger U937 [12]. Cells within tissues in vivo may have limited room for swelling. Instead of the presence of sucrose, swelling can potentially be limited by the space constraints, thereby shifting the in vivo cell death towards apoptosis. The profound increase of apoptosis in nsPEF-treated cells in the presence of sucrose raises a question if sucrose just “unmasked” the latent apoptosis or also facilitated the apoptotic cell death. For example, in Fig. 9 (right panel, RPMI+sucrose), the pool of YO-PRO-1 positive cells remained large for several hours after the exposure. This pool concurrently shrunk due to both resealing of nanopores and cell death, and expanded due to the development of apoptosis. One may speculate that the presence of sucrose could somehow inhibit the cell membrane repair, thereby leaving it permeable to YO-PRO-1 for longer time. Such long-lasting membrane disruption due to the impaired repair would be a plausible explanation for the onset of apoptosis in sucrose-protected cells; however, this mechanism does not appear to be supported by the data. Indeed, a large increase in the fraction of cells that did not uptake any of the dyes (between 0.3 and 2 hr) argued for the successful pore resealing in the RPMI+sucrose group. Therefore the development of apoptosis was not a side effect of the sucrose; instead, it was an effect of nsPEF exposure itself, which was masked by the faster necrotic process under the normal cell culture conditions. The fact that nsPEF triggers both necrotic and apoptotic death mechanisms makes it an attractive modality for cancer ablation. First, the concurrent induction of both cell death modes reduces the chance for malignant cells to escape the death sentence, despite the sophisticated death evasion mechanisms developed by various cancers. Second, varying the nsPEF exposure parameters and combining nsPEF with sucrose injection or a similar treatment is an approach to deliberately induce either the apoptotic or necrotic death, or a combination thereof. For an in vivo cancer treatment, a carefully tuned combination of necrotic and apoptotic cell death may be an optimal solution for tumor elimination without excessive pain and inflammation while stimulating the immunogenicity of tumor cells [2], [44]. Author Contributions Conceived and designed the experiments: ONP BWG IS AGP. Performed the experiments: ONP BWG. Analyzed the data: ONP BWG IS AGP. Wrote the paper: ONP AGP. 1. 1. Schoenbach KS, Hargrave B, Joshi RP, Kolb J, Osgood C, et al. (2007) Bioelectric Effects of Nanosecond Pulses. IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation 14: 1088–1109. doi: 10.1109/tdei.2007.4339468 2. 2. 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Beebe SJ, Fox PM, Rec LJ, Willis EL, Schoenbach KH (2003) Nanosecond, high-intensity pulsed electric fields induce apoptosis in human cells. Faseb J 17: 1493–1495. doi: 10.1096/fj.02-0859fje 15. 15. Stacey M, Stickley J, Fox P, Statler V, Schoenbach K, et al. (2003) Differential effects in cells exposed to ultra-short, high intensity electric fields: cell survival, DNA damage, and cell cycle analysis. Mutat Res 542: 65–75. doi: 10.1016/j.mrgentox.2003.08.006 16. 16. Pakhomov AG, Miklavcic D, Markov MS, editors (2010) Advanced Electroporation Techniques in Biology in Medicine. Boca Raton: CRC Press. 528 p. 17. 17. Andre FM, Rassokhin MA, Bowman AM, Pakhomov AG (2010) Gadolinium blocks membrane permeabilization induced by nanosecond electric pulses and reduces cell death. Bioelectrochemistry 79: 95–100. doi: 10.1016/j.bioelechem.2009.12.007 18. 18. 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Pakhomova ON, Gregory BW, Khorokhorina VA, Bowman AM, Xiao S, et al. (2011) Electroporation-induced electrosensitization. PLoS One 6: e17100. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0017100 31. 31. Schoenbach KH, Beebe SJ, Buescher ES (2001) Intracellular effect of ultrashort electrical pulses. Bioelectromagnetics 22: 440–448. doi: 10.1002/bem.71 32. 32. Casiano CA, Ochs RL, Tan EM (1998) Distinct cleavage products of nuclear proteins in apoptosis and necrosis revealed by autoantibody probes. Cell Death Differ 5: 183–190. doi: 10.1038/sj.cdd.4400336 34. 34. Dunnet CW (1955) A multiple comparison procedure for comparing several treatments with a control. J of the American Statistical Association 50: 1096–1121. doi: 10.1080/01621459.1955.10501294 35. 35. Winer BJ (1971) Statistical Principles in Experimental Design. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company. 36. 36. Kinosita K Jr, Tsong TY (1977) Formation and resealing of pores of controlled sizes in human erythrocyte membrane. 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Comment on: Use of Birth Certificates to Examine Maternal Occupational Exposures and Autism Spectrum Disorders in Offspring. 13 Feb A recent hypothesis-generating study by the epidemiology team at Kaiser in California looks at whether one can use birth certificates as a starting point to identify possible maternal exposures which might increase autism risk. Birth certificates include parental occupation. So, the authors propose, one could categorize occupations by possible exposures and, if there more autistic children are born to parents with various occupation types. The study is: Use of Birth Certificates to Examine Maternal Occupational Exposures and Autism Spectrum Disorders in Offspring. Here is the abstract: The continuing rise in the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders has led to heightened interest in the role of nongenetic factors, including exogenous exposures, but little research has been conducted. To explore a possible role in autism etiology, we used data available from our prior studies to examine potential occupational exposures, as these may occur at higher levels than environmental exposures. Parental occupation was obtained from birth certificates for 284 children with autism and 659 controls, born in 1994 in the San Francisco Bay Area. Self-reported occupation and industry were coded into eight exposure/chemical groups based on potential neurotoxicity or reprotoxicity by a board-certified physician in occupational medicine and an industrial hygienist blinded to case-control status. Mothers of autistic children were twice as likely to work in occupations considered exposed (14.4%) as mothers of controls (7.2%) (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 2.3 [95% confidence interval {CI} 1.3-4.2]). The exposure categories of the greatest frequency among case mothers were exhaust and combustion products (AOR = 12.0 [95% CI 1.4-104.6]) and disinfectants (AOR = 4.0 [95% CI 1.4-12.0]). Paternal occupational exposure was not associated with autism, potentially consistent with a direct in-utero exposure effect. There are several limitations of this hypothesis-generating study, including lack of detail on workplace and job duties, leading to possible misclassification and low proportion exposed. However, this misclassification would not be biased by case-control status and is unlikely to explain the associations we did find, suggesting that further research on exogenous exposures may yield useful etiologic clues There are a lot of limitations to this study, and the authors make that quite clear. The study is written as a “hypothesis-generating” study. I.e. they can create hypotheses of possible exposures which might increase autism risk. Taken in that context, a limited study which can generate hypotheses, this is a good study. One which takes a fairly inexpensive and straightforward route to narrow the list of possible exposures which increase autism risk. By Matt Carey Leave a Reply You are commenting using your account. Log Out / Change ) Twitter picture Facebook photo Google+ photo Connecting to %s Get every new post delivered to your Inbox. Join 1,287 other followers %d bloggers like this:
Dismiss Notice Subscribe to BeerAdvocate magazine? Subscribe now → Big Daddy J's Malt Liquor - Full Sail Brewery & Tasting Room & Pub Not Rated. Big Daddy J's Malt LiquorBig Daddy J's Malt Liquor Educational use only; do not reuse. 35 Reviews very good (Read More) Reviews: 35 Hads: 58 Avg: 3.51 pDev: 14.81% Wants: 17 Gots: 2 \| FT: 0 Brewed by: Full Sail Brewery & Tasting Room & Pub visit their website Oregon, United States Style \| ABV American Malt Liquor \| 8.00% ABV Availability: Rotating Notes & Commercial Description: Beer added by: msubulldog25 on 12-16-2008 No notes at this time. Beer: Reviews & Ratings Sort by: Recent \| High \| Low \| Top Raters \| Read the Alström Bros Beer Reviews and Beer Ratings of Big Daddy J's Malt Liquor Alström Bros Reviews: 35 \| Hads: 58 Photo of smakawhat 4.02/5 rDev +14.5% Poured from the bottle into a nonic pint glass. Creamy off white one finger head, settling to a soft thin puck on top and thick rich collar. Body color is a cloudy somewhat murky amber. Not a single noticeable bit of carbonation can be seen. Nice glow to it, if a little lifeless. Large sweet chewy apple fruit and orange notes. Hints of mild sensing fussel grain but very tiny. Clean and straightforward, about as simple and good as malt liquor can get. Some warmth but not overly strong or boozy. Palate comes straight forward with a good dose of flavor and controlled booze. Not too much surprise taken from the nose, bringing in warm apple and sweet malt flavors. Finishes with a bit of a thump, good thick coating without too much of a syrup rush, a creamy feel as well, but no mistaking for the style. Basically if you want a balanced controlled malt liquor with some decent taste look no further. 916 characters Photo of Phyl21ca 3.03/5 rDev -13.7% Bottle: Poured a bright yellow color ale with a medium size white foamy head with good retention and light lacing. Aroma of light cereal notes is pretty bland. Taste is also dominated by light cereal notes with adjunct barely noticeable. Body is about average with good carbonation. Nothing really special about that one and I can’t say I would have notice this was malt liquor if it had been a blind tasting. 411 characters Photo of BeerAdvocate 3.81/5 rDev +8.5% From BeerAdvocate magazine Issue #71 (December 2012): Nope, we did not drink from a paper bag nor did we spill a little bit out for our homies, this is craft beer after all. It is what it is … a Malt Liquor and Full Sail does a good job at it. A bit more crispness and it would be heavenly. STYLE: American Malt Liquor ABV: 8.0% LOOK: Hazed full amber, thin lacing SMELL: Malty, cooked cereal, faint herbal hop, clean alcohol, faint white cherries, biscuity TASTE: Malty sweet, slick, medium bodied, bready, growing warmth, slight hoppiness, husky, grainy, dried grass, mildly boozy, clean, semi-dry finish 637 characters Photo of Cyberkedi 2.99/5 rDev -14.8% Pours a typical clear yellow with a thick but effervescent white head. Aroma is malty, slightly fruity, crisp but unremarkable. Flavor is more fruity than malty, somewhat sweet but not cloying, not quite bold but better than what the aroma promises. Texture is smooth, but lacking in fizz or viscosity. OK, not so hot, but I am more of a stoutie; a lager lover should give it a fairer shake. 391 characters Photo of pkalix 2.39/5 rDev -31.9% bought this on the heels of the Full Sail Barrel-Aged Stout thinking 'how can I go wrong?'.... let's see.... pours an effervescent transparent golden with low effervescence. looks like a Mickey's Big Mouth... smells like .. . .. .. ... .. idunno... some fruit maybe? mostly just a regular commercial barroom tap... total commercial stuff.... fancy bottle though.... I mean Olde English 800 doesn't have THIS much to read on its label. probably because it KNOWS its clientele doesn't need to be bothered with reading much. tastes . . . . idunno again. I suppose kind of smooth. has that kind of Olde English 800 twang to it, but I don't think even Olde English is this strong.... it's only, like a 6.9%... I don't know what to think of this stuff. prejudiced? maybe. I mean, who calls their stuff 'malt liquor' these days? and who refers it to BIG DADDY J's MALT LIQUOR if they want any respect for their product? maybe a homey little cutesy name for their home crowd? it just kind of sits there with a few bubbles rising from the bottom of my tulip glass. under the heading 'malt liquor, it IS ranked 12th at a respectable (cough) 3.57 for BA... idunno. I just don't get it. why would a reputable brewery do something like this? why would they brew something that automatically brings to mind Mickey's, or Olde English 800, or Colt 45? unless they made it super awesome.... maybe my taste buds are snobs. maybe it's because I just had an AVENTINUS. maybe it's because it was RIGHT NEXT to the Barrel-Aged Stout from Full Sail in the store and I thought it could do no wrong? close to dumping this one. I mean, I guess it's not bad if you're on a budget and looking for a decent way to get buzzed; but then, if you're on a budget why are you in a Total Wine store and buying a 'malt liquor' beer for $6? I dumped it.... sorry. it really wasn't that bad; i'm just spoiled today. after the surgery, and with all the pain (and the pain killers) I just didn't have the tolerance for this beer. not totally bad, but I wouldn't buy it again... I saw it was for a charity. geez, put something out that tastes SPECTACULAR if you care about the charity, ya know? and you know what? ratebeer has it at a 47 ! ! ! ! and we ALL know ratebeer has loose standards.... seems EVERYTHING is 15 to 25% higher rated on ratebeer... so I don't feel bad about this assessment at all... 2,363 characters Photo of facundoCNB 3.89/5 rDev +10.8% a somewhat hazy, mostly clean golden/copper pour with a finger of white head which dissipated rather quickly. as far as malt liquor goes, this smells fantastic - almost barleywine-like.. lots of sweet malt, caramel, nutty/biscuity aromas. lots of sweet malt, nutty/biscuity/bready flavors..subtle bitterness, oh man.. THAT flavor.. yeah, the flavor i haven't tasted in YEARS! holy crap.. does malt liquor have a hidden ingredient that causes that somewhat rusty skunkyness? for the style, again, this beer is FULL of flavor. hands down the best tasting malt liquor i've ever had. medium to full body, mild carbonation, very sweet finish. overall, i feel like this is almost a gimmick beer or whatever, but in the same sense i can appreciate it because.. i've been there. i think we all have. this brings back memories of a forgotten (mainly due to blackouts) style of beer but in a very tasty effort. thanks, full sail, for making this. 937 characters Photo of MasterSki 3.64/5 rDev +3.7% Another fine malt liquor, thanks to Chris (spycow). Served in a tulip. A - White foam settles to a collar and a few stray specks of lace. Transparent golden body. Style-appropriate, with a bit better retention than expected. S - Pretty authentic aroma too, with notes of corn, cereal grains, yeasty bread, and light alcohol. No discernible hop character, and thankfully no chemical or overly fusel flavors either. T - The taste is more saccharine, with the corn flavors emerging more significantly and some nebulous fruitiness as well. Sweeter than I prefer, but thankfully never reaches cloying levels. Well-hidden booze here, with no chemical or off flavors. M - Smooth, medium body, with a light grain to the texture. Pleasant carbonation, and some slight warming in the finish. D - A well-executed malt liquor. Not the best craft attempt I've had, but a lot better than most mass-produced offerings. Would obviously lose the price/performance debate, but otherwise pretty true to style. 995 characters Photo of DavoleBomb 2.25/5 rDev -35.9% Poured into a perfect pint. 3.0 A: Lightly hazed light orange color. One finger of frothy white head. Retention is worse than average and not much in terms of lacing. 3.0 S: Graininess, corn and more corn, and some breadiness. Not digging it. Light earthy hops. 1.5 T: The corn does not mix well with the hop bitterness at all. Perhaps this is why there's never any hops in malt liquor. Grain and breadiness. 3.5 M: Medium body. Good moderate carbonation. Light creaminess. Not bad here. 2.0 D: Ehh, kinda sucks. 518 characters Photo of t420o 4.01/5 rDev +14.2% Full Sail Malt Liquor A- pour produces a 1 finger white head that fizzes away leaving slight lacing. Beer is golden in color. 3.5 S- this brings back some memories here. The typical malt liquor alcohol/grainy smell is most prevalent. Corn, sweet malt and no real hop presence. Smells better than the average Malt Liquor for sure. 3.75 T- this is a very smooth and quaffable brew. Corn and grain are on the forefront with a caramel malt and the Hallertau hops make there presence known even though the presence is very small. Hides the 8% abv extremely well. 4 M- smooth and crisp. Medium body 4 O- rating this compared to other malt liquors, its the best malt liquor I've ever had. Brings back some college memories (funny because first thing I thought was smells like college, then I read the label and it says it was brewed in part to "celebrate the inner college student in everyone" me likey. 4.5 909 characters Photo of UCLABrewN84 3.66/5 rDev +4.3% Pours a murky orange with a foamy beige head that settles to wisps of film on top of the beer. Tiny dots of lace line the glass on the drink down. Smell is of malt, grain, fruit, and nail polish remover aromas. Taste is much the same with fruit and alcohol flavors on the finish. There is a mild amount of hop bitterness and an alcohol kick on the palate with each sip. This beer has a lower level of carbonation with a slightly crisp mouthfeel. Overall, this is a pretty good beer with some odd aromas but the flavors are tasty. 529 characters Photo of kojevergas 1.98/5 rDev -43.6% 28 IBU. Old style rustic label. Acquired for $5.00 at a local SoCal beer store. 1 pint 6 fl oz brown glass bottle with branded standard pressure cap. 8% ABV confirmed. Not big on this brewery, but expectations are above average; I'm in the mood for the style, actually. Served into an Oskar Blues pilsner glass in me gaff in low altitude Los Feliz. A: Pours a 1.5 finger white colour head of pretty good (~3 minute) retention for the high ABV, but it's devoid of cream and the thickness is below par. Body colour is a weak pale translucent clear yellow-copper. Carbonation bubbles are rampant. Not much to look at. No yeast particles are visible. No bubble show. Meh. Sm: Sweet malts, pale malts. A light simple aroma. Heavy corn adjunct. Somewhat sugary. Meh. T: Generic floral hop character alongside a pleasant sweet malt/corn adjunct foundation. A bit grassy. Some artificial fruit. A bit of pineapple acidity in the third act. It's more balanced than most beers in the style. The corn feels cheap and weak. A bit of caramel malt on the climax is all the good flavour you're gonna find here. Weak and empty up front; no depth of flavour to this one. Simple and lackluster. Meh. Mf: Thin, weak, smooth, and wet, with some adjuncty coarseness. Artificial buttery feel. Crystal malt lends it a light tingly feel. Overcarbonated. It's to style, but it isn't all that great. Dr: 'Overpriced garbage' might be a bit harsh of a label, but it did go through my mind. Is it better than Mickey's? I don't know, actually. To be honest, Steel Reserve is probably better. I any case, it does a decent job of hiding its ABV. Why brew this? I think many reviewers are giving this high scores merely because they want to support this brewery and its take on this specific style over macro-brews, but in a blind taste test they'd prefer the very breweries they're attacking. Make no mistake, this is pretty crappy. Difficult to drink. It does remind me of college, but is that really a good thing? Congratulations, Full Sail, you've brewed a shittier malt liquor than Miller does. How cachet. 2,200 characters Photo of AlCaponeJunior 4.35/5 rDev +23.9% Very happy to have just purchased this beer from Gabriel's in San Antonio! I can already tell you that I am going to get more of this one just in case they run out! Pours a nice clear tan color with slight orange notes. Head and lacing weren't bad at all. Aroma is already FAR beyond any malt liquor you've ever tried. It's incredibly complex, assuming from the (probably generous amounts of) Hallertau hops. It's not overpowering like an IPA, rather more delicate and subtle, but wonderful! I get tons of herbal and grassy notes, a delicate peppery smell, and some fruitiness. It would be impossible to categorize this as a malt liquor if this were blind and you were just going by aroma (and maybe taste, see next paragraph). Flavor... again, WOW! Very nice! The peppery spiciness is more apparent now, as is the fruitiness. Although it's got some malt-liquor like properties (a little sweet corn, grainy notes, some light alcohol), it's more between a strong dry pale ale and a very strong, hoppy lager. Body is dry and light, alcohol apparent on the backside, and overall just plain delicious. Just amazing, great flavor, great aroma, great body, great job Full Sail! This is getting a ridiculously high rating because it's hands down the best American Malt Liquor I've ever tried. Rate to style, right? This beer is just amazing and deserves a great rating. 1,370 characters Photo of LiquidAmber 3.8/5 rDev +8.3% Poured into an Arrogant Bastard Ale pint glass. Pours a light to medium golden amber with a thin white head with good retention and slippery lacing. Aroma dominated by biscuit malt, a hint of citrus. Flavor is sweet bready malt, vague fruit esters and just a touch of pure alcohol. Pretty cool, the brewer captured the essence of a cheap malt liquor (malt and alcohol), but made it pleasantly drinkable. The hint of pure grain alcohol was genius and appropriate for the style. Medium bodied with a touch of creaminess, much too nice a mouthfeel for a malt liquor, but I appreciated it. I'm not sure I'd buy this as a go-to beer, but for an attempt to craft-ize a classic brown bag American style, they nailed it. I like this Brewers Share series. Most haven't knocked my socks off, but all are interesting and well worth trying. 828 characters Photo of srandycarter 2.8/5 rDev -20.2% I love Full Sail and I didn't even look to see what type of beer I bought. I took it out of the fridge tonight and realized it was a malt liquor. Ok, well, that could be an ok thing, so I give it a go. Murky orange, not much head, no head, actually, no lace. Smells sours, off. Cidery. Tastes sour, off. Cloying and cidery. Mouthfeel is just about as bad. If I wanted Old English 800, I would have bought it and it would have been a lot cheaper. 469 characters Photo of Ryan011235 4.02/5 rDev +14.5% Poured into an Olde Hickory glass on 12/5/12 Dulled gold and honey hues; looks a lot like apple juice. Light haziness. One thumb head rises willingly and washes out shortly thereafter. Drippy lace. Cereal grain jump out of the aroma with notes of orange rind and herbal/grassy hops. Hints of biscuit dust. Overtones of apple, too. Pretty good aroma. Alcohol is not at all apparent. The taste has more of a malt liquor bent. Toasted and steeped grains with some alcohol slickness and heat, especially on the back end. Hops are at a low level; not a bad thing, just less notable than in the aroma. The finish fairly dry. Medium body with average, maybe a tad lower than average, carbonation. The bubbles aren't overbearing. The alcohol actually dries up after a while. Slightly dusty finish. I like it. Overall, this is pretty darn solid. It really comes together after setting out of the fridge for a while. It's rare to get a quality beer in a $3.99 bomber in Ohio; cheers to Full Sail for that. For whatever reason, I never see their bombers in Columbus. 1,060 characters Photo of Reidrover 3/5 rDev -14.5% 22oz bottle from "Habits" in S.Salem. $3.99\ I am drinking this from the bottle wrapped in a brown paper bag. aroma from the bottle is mostly malty slightly caramel in aspect. Taste caramel,sugar and cheap vodka.. Mouthfeel very dry for style it helps. not great really..but i will drink it. 291 characters Photo of sabinelr 4.65/5 rDev +32.5% 22 oz bottle poured into a Samuel Adams Winter Lager glass. Took a whiff, found the fragrance but not the skunkiness of Mickey's. Slammed down a decent swig, like you oughta with malt liquor, and had a good experience all the way. There isn't hardly any head, and the brew is a respectable clear amber. No harshness like the corner brews like Olde English or Steel Reserve. It's too bad this is a limited release. It's great stuff, and just what you need for watching your favorite football team or monster movie. 513 characters Photo of beerpadawan 3.66/5 rDev +4.3% What I like is that it actually has a lot in common with high alcohol classics such as Old English. The essence is there, they've just civilized it a bit, like Taco Bell in Demolition Man but with better results. Gone is the medicinal, metallic, artificial twang that is the "finish" of common "high gravity" malt liquor. It is replaced with a clean-finishing, medium-bodied beer that still has a twang at the end. But it comes from mild but noticeable noble hops (Hallertau), providing light bitterness and a little spicy/earthy quality. The alcohol is hiding in plain sight. The malt body adds sweet grain and a drop of honey. Very quaffable. Enjoyable offering that is both true to the style and not a mere stab at ironic self-deprecation, nor intended for those who might use it as a tool for such shenanigans. 817 characters Photo of flagmantho 3.47/5 rDev -1.1% Poured from 22oz bomber into a pint glass. Appearance: golden hue with a moderate haze and lazy effervescence. Head is nonexistent. Pretty normal for the sytle. Smell: moderate malt aroma with a character a lot like a Scotch ale, but with a nice hint of malt liquor. Not bad. Taste: it's like a corn-tinged Wee Heavy. Perhaps not the best beer in the world, but absolutely outstanding for an American malt liquor. This is even a lot better than a Euro strong lager (usually a pretty equivalent style). Mouthfeel: medium-light body with a decent effervescence and creaminess. Not bad. Overall: drinkable and tasty example of the style. Perhaps not award-winning, but hey, I'm drinkin' a malt liquor here! 708 characters Photo of twiggamortis420 3.5/5 rDev -0.3% What...no clear bottle? 22 oz bomber pours a clear gold color with a small, wispy white head. Not much to look at, but what malt liquor is? Nose is alcohol, sweet grain and an actual nice little burst of honeyed malt. Taste has got to be the most quaffable malt liquor I have ever had. Nice little grain and alcohol, very little hops. What this has that most of the common MLs dont have is a nice caramel malt presence and a fine carbonation. As a beer in general, it is just ok, but as a malt liquor it is quite good. Coming from a craft brewery though, it just seems wrong in principle, so I cant morally give this beer perfect marks...sorry, I just cant. I might buy it again, depending on if I feel like having a reasonably priced high ABV bomber. 753 characters Photo of metter98 3.55/5 rDev +1.1% On-tap at Pony Bar Upper East Side, New York, NY A: The beer is crystal clear yellow in color and has no visible carbonation. It poured with a thin off-white head that died down and left a large collar around the edge of the glass. S: There are light aromas of sweet malts in the nose. T: Like the smell, the taste has flavors of sweet malts and some vinous notes of grapes as well as some slight hints of alcohol. M: It feels a little more than medium-bodied and slightly thick on the palate with a moderate amount of carbonation. O: There is nothing overly special about the taste of this beer but it is extremely drinkable and doesn't have any off flavors or a taste of alcohol. 682 characters Photo of Rutager 3.67/5 rDev +4.6% Appearance. Pours a pretty clear gold with over a finger of frothy white head. Smell. Tons of light malts and a bit of corn. Some light grassy hops. Taste. Sweet light malts, a little sweet citrus juice and light grassy hops again. Sweet aftertaste with a little bitterness. Giving this a seemingly high mark, but considering the company in this style that I've tried, this is pretty good. Mouthfeel. Medium+ body, Medium carbonation. Overall. This didn't exactly knock my socks off, but like I said, not bad considering most of the others out there... 558 characters Photo of GMB 2.92/5 rDev -16.8% Big Daddy J's Malt Liquor pours a golden body and fizzy white head that are typical of the style. Carbonation is at first typically vigorous, but very soon settles. The scattering of slowly rising bubbles tell me that this may be gentler on the tongue than most malt liquors. The smell of alcohol is backed by that of toasted starches. Yeah, this is malt liquor alright. But wait. What's that? Where's the putrid smell? I must admit that I expected to pour this into the glass, take a few sips, and then pour it down the drain. But the nose, while not enticing or appetizing, is certainly more appealing than expected. Can a beer earn a high rating simply because it exceeds its reviewer's expectations? Hmm. Nevermind the philosophy. Let's press on... First sips can be deceiving. Fortunately, the taste of this beer is too monotonous to deceive. Alcohol and sweet grainy and corn (or is it rice?) malt. There you have it. As I predicted, the beer is gentler on the tongue and more substantial than some of the cheap malt liquors I've tried over the years. Still, it doesn't offer anything special to recommend itself. Full Sail earns points for its bravery. I am certain that there was a lot of heated debate at the brewery when one of the brewmasters suggested putting out a malt liquor as seasonal brew. And I suppose this beer should earn points for being a craft malt liquor that is widely available and relatively drinkable. That said, Big Daddy J's Malt Liquor loses points for being a beer that, all things considered, I wish I hadn't had and won't drink again. It's better than most of the malt liquors out there, but that isn't saying much. By the way, some argue that a malt liquor's high ABV ought to be taken into account in its review. I don't agree. There are plenty of beers out there with high ABVs that are also delicious. This one isn't. 1,865 characters Photo of oberon 3.68/5 rDev +4.8% Poured into a becker a deep golden with a large one finger white head that faded pretty quickly leaving a few small chunks of lace behind.Aromas were light with a touch of sweet booze and toast malt,a little corn came into play as the beer warmed.The flavors were not nearly as potent and boozy as I thought they would be,grainy and lithly toasted with just a light zing of sweet alcohol,the corn/adjunct flavors were pretty well hidden.This is a standard for American malt liquor wich might not being saying a whole lot, but this was pretty damn good and easy going down for how big it is. 590 characters Photo of atr2605 3.5/5 rDev -0.3% A-pours a golden straw color with a white head with average retention S-just smells kind of sweet, no real distinction and no hop presence T-lots of adjunct sweetness and a bit of bitterness to offset it in the finish M-light-medium bodied despite the high abv O-pretty much what you would expect from a malt liquor. Even though it isnt a fancy style, I think its pretty cool that full sail decided to make one, just something different 436 characters Big Daddy J's Malt Liquor from Full Sail Brewery & Tasting Room & Pub 81 out of 100 based on 35 ratings.
Montreal budget fallout: MTC cuts services The Montreal Transit Corporation says it has no choice but to make some cuts to service because of less money for them in the city of Montreal budget. The MTC is calling its $1.3-billion dollar budget an austerity budget. It says it has to make $65-million in cuts, leaving a $20-million shortfall. The MTC got a $12.5-million boost from the city but says it's far less than what it needed. The cuts will mostly affect bus service during non-rush hours and weekends: there'll be fewer buses on routes so that means longer waits and the buses will be packed with more people. Other cuts mean decreased hours for metro ticket takers, metro platform workers and metro maintenance. "Clearly it's not what we want. We want to add hours and not constrain hours," said MTC vice-chairman Marvin Rotrand. "But with the budget that we have which already contains delaying certain expenses, cutting certain administrative costs, we can only do so much and maintain affordable fares." The MTC is also delaying putting in more bike racks and is aborting its beautification project to plant flowers outside metro stations. Leave a comment: showing all comments · Subscribe to comments 1. Joe posted on 01/29/2014 04:54 PM There will be cuts to metro maintenance? It does not appear to be much even now. How can there be less? I would venture to guess that Rotrand does not use the metro so has no idea just how bad it is as it is now. STM motto "We will give you less for more". 1. GT posted on 01/30/2014 11:31 AM @Joe Actually "je me souviens" (I remember) would also work as the new STM motto. Je me souviens quand le service etait mieux (I remember when service was better). 2. Elton posted on 01/29/2014 07:53 PM Saw this coming a mile away! They could have ordered better buses, instead of pissing our money away on stickers, sweaters and other self glorifying bull****....As a transit user and enthusiast, things started going downhill with the STM in '09. 3. Drew posted on 01/30/2014 08:31 AM Metro maintenance watch the infrastructure fall apart did we not learn our lesson with the bridges and overpasses. How about decreasing the salaries of management that will get some money back 4. Joe posted on 01/30/2014 08:37 AM We have seen just in the last few days hoe the STM maintenance is like as it is. Now they want to cut even more? What a joke these people at the top are. They have no idea what is happening with their metro system. Most stoppages now are the result of breakdowns. That means that the system is old and requires more maintenance, not less. 1. GT posted on 01/30/2014 11:38 AM @Joe Agreed, but the management is only concerned with the short term and how they can manipulate the numbers so that they can be grossly rewarded with bonuses and then the real problem is handed off to someone else who will need another public inquiry/commision to find out what happend and further delay any concrete solutions. 5. Sam posted on 01/30/2014 03:25 PM There should be NO PARKING for any municipal employees , bureaucrats, or elected councilors and their staff. If they all had to use the public transportation system, it might improve. Until that day, expect a steady decline in service , quality and a steady increase in costs. showing all comments Share this article: News Videos Latest News
Am i going to die? over the summer, me and my friend found a piece of cardboard shaped like a cigar. nought was in it. we be idiots. we smoked it. i inhaled it. also last year in october of 2006 outside they be burning stuff like tar. i inhaled it (not conscious this time). please, i have ocd. help me. is this worst than smoking cigs? please don't dispense me that crap "yes, everyone dies" it was 2 puffs. is it gonna do anything? how can it be worst than cigs or cigars tho? Answer: If you're OCD, you should be seeing a doctor for it, and you should ask your doctor. We're not doctors. We don't know the answer. No you are not going to die from inhaling smoke. Even if it was really bad stuff. The lungs main purpose besides keeping us alive is to filter out the crappy stuff. You know the crap you cough up when you are sick- well that's the unwanted items being cleaned out of your lungs. No it's not worse than smoking cigerettes- Bad yes- just different. You won't enjoy any lingering effects from just a touch smoke. For your own peace of mind and your health- Try not to smoke anything you just "find" again. If you want to really get "high" try running. Running cause you to release endorphines into the blood stream giving you a natural high- a feeling of ably being. Quit worrying so much- take comfort. (Stress releases a cortisol hormone which is not good for you- relax more.). Well it was a pretty stupid entry to do, and yes it is worse than cigs or cigars, because those things have to pass regulations, the subjective stuff you smoked, did not. However, if you haven't had any strange symptoms at this point you should be find, unless you have respiratory troubles down the strip, but that will come anyway from smoking anything. Bad: You might have AIDS and you will die in several months. Good: Try to quit smoking so you can forget going on for it. Try taking Tylenol or some other medicine. Don't ever try this again. If you see or touch anything that looks like cigarettes, throw it away please, but don't tolerate it cause a fire.. Um... no. How could that possibly kill you? It take smokers years and years of smoking (or non-smokers years and years of intense second-hand smoke) to develop lung cancer or emphysema. Look at pictures of the smog in LA. People live surrounded by that and most of them are surviving. You had two puffs of random burning things. Honestly, at this point your body probably doesn't even remember.. nope. you are fine if it have been this long my friend and 2 puffs? you have nought to worry about. OCD will not gross anything worse either besides being passionate compulsive that is. ;) Stop worrying! You are gonna be okay. I don't think you own anything to worry about, cardboard is basically thick paper, kindly of like what a cig is made with to set off with but its thick. You'll be fine.. yes u will die approaching all of us • My heart is gonna pop out of my chest any second presently? • How can i get hold of rid of stretch results??(on hips)? • LHodgkins lymphoma? • My heart pound rate is 42? • Hi, i in recent times wax my privates and i simply realised they're pitch-black,and my inner thighs,im a bedside light skinned latina • I cant grasp the Q please backing me!? • Stomach virus or food poisoning? • Genital wart?
Air TV vol. 1 ADV Films // Unrated // $29.98 // August 14, 2007 Review by Todd Douglass Jr. \| posted September 3, 2007 E - M A I L this review to a friend Graphical Version The Show: Air is a show with a rich background which includes visual novel games and manga. Consisting of 13 episodes the series began air-ing (pun intended) in 2005 and went on to receive a movie around the same time. I heard about the show shortly after it was released but I do have to say I wasn't expecting to see the amount of hype surrounding it. It would seem that quite the fan base has been formed within the American audience and though I hadn't seen any of the show I had plenty of expectations when it came time to watch it. Yukito Kunisaki doesn't have much in the way of possessions or wealth. He has the shirt on his back, the dirty puppet in his pocket, and a story about a girl with wings, as told to him by his dead mother. The series begins unsuspectingly enough with Yukito traveling from town to town attempting to make money with his bizarre puppet show. You see, he has a small-ish telekinetic ability that allows him to control inanimate objects and make them walk around or dance. You'd think he'd make a killing with this skill but more often than not he's scoffed at by onlookers. One day Yukito wanders into a seaside town and finds more than he bargained for. While gazing blearily at the sky and bemoaning his lack of food a girl happens by and startles him out of a daydream. The girl's name is Misuzu and she takes a liking to Yukito rather quickly. She offers to buy him something to snack on and even brings him home so that he can sleep beneath a roof for the night. At first he's opposed to it but she seems so genuine and her mother eventually warms up to the idea so he decides to be a freeloader. Misuzu is a strange duck indeed. She has a tendency to make dinosaur noises, behaves much younger than she is, and has virtually no relationship with her mother whatsoever. Through circumstances Yukito basically becomes Misuzu's babysitter and makes sure that she doesn't get into trouble. While she's in school he spends his time trying to earn money with his puppet show, which is less than successful to say the least. Fortunately he manages to meet another strange young girl, her dog Potato, and through these events lands a job with the local doctor. It is quite obvious early on that some things are not all that they seem to be. The latest young girl he has met wears a ribbon on her wrist and merely says that it is there to keep her from using magic. When Yukito and Misuzu stumble upon her at the town's shrine enrobed in light with visions of grassy fields dancing around her we know right away that something is amiss. In between the daily insanity of Yukito's life this is merely another unsolved mystery that continues throughout this introductory volume. As things progress we meet several other characters as well. More of Misuzu's classmates show up and some of the adults in town have their own way of doing things and rewarding people. Throughout the four episodes here you'll get the sensation that something is amiss in this seaside village. There is something beneath the surface that defies explanation and as Yukito spends more time with these people this becomes evident. Air definitely skirts many issues as it tells its serene and somewhat bizarre tale. Things are peculiar, yet comforting, and the world surrounding Yukito is certainly robust enough to draw you in. So far some of the characters are fairly stereotypical but the story is intriguing enough to allow for that. Overall my expectations were met but not exceeded in the case of Air. I'm interested in seeing where the series goes from here since this volume was a great launching point but with such a limited perspective on the show it's hard to gauge the quality at this juncture. The DVD: Air originally aired in 2005 and features a very up to date presentation with pristine artwork and an impressive technical side to things. ADV has released the show on DVD with an anamorphic widescreen presentation and the image is practically flawless. This is one of the most vibrant shows I have ever seen with a color palette that titillates the senses. Quite honestly there are few shows out there as rich looking as Air and from the ground up the design here is marvelous. Technically speaking the video quality suffers slightly from some softness and grain here and there but neither really detracts from the experience. Considering Air is a dialogue driven show devoid of action of any variety I was very surprised to see 5.1 surround sound being available for both English and Japanese. A show like this could have gotten by with a 2.0 stereo track just fine but it seems that the producers wanted to make this project a labor of love. The extra attention to the sound pays off with a well-crafted sound field that draws you in with ambient noise and keeps dialogue and music separated nicely. The sense of immersion isn't the greatest but it's certainly better than I was expecting when going into the show. Clean animations and some trailers for other ADV products are all that you're going to find on the first volume of Air. Final Thoughts: Air is a highly unusual show that capitalizes on its detailed atmosphere and level of intrigue. So many aspects of the first four episodes are minimal in terms of how they are presented, yet somehow they all come together to craft an interesting and somewhat evasive story. The slow pacing and seeming lack of direction gives the world and characters the time they need to grow beyond their stereotypes but nothing satisfactory happens in this installment. I'm certain that every little detail is leading up to something much grander in scope by until we get there Air has the potential to merely string you along with a certain amount of frustration. For now this is a promising looking series with a strong start so we're going to recommend it.
Online Electrical Engineering Electrical Fault Calculation \| Positive Negative Zero Sequence Impedance Under Electrical Protection Before applying proper electrical protection system, it is necessary to have through knowledge of the conditions of electrical power system during faults. The knowledge of electrical fault condition is required to deploy proper different protective relays in different locations of electrical power system. Information regarding values of maximum and minimum fault currents, voltages under those faults in magnitude and phase relation with respect to the currents at different parts of power system, to be gathered for proper application of protection relay system in those different parts of the electrical power system. Collecting the information from different parameters of the system is generally known as electrical fault calculation . Fault calculation broadly means calculation of fault current in any electrical power system. There are mainly three steps for calculating faults in a system. 1. Choice of impedance rotations. 2. Reduction of complicated electrical power system network to single equivalent impedance. 3. Electrical fault currents and voltages calculation by using symmetrical component theory. Impedance Notation of Electrical Power System If we look at any electrical power system, we will find, these are several voltage levels. For example, suppose a typical power system where electrical power is generated at 6.6 kV then that 132 kV power is transmitted to terminal substation where it is stepped down to 33 kV and 11 kV levels and this 11 kV level may further step down to 0.4kv. Hence from this example it is clear that a same power system network may have different voltage levels. So calculation of fault at any location of the said system becomes much difficult and complicated it try to calculate impedance of different parts of the system according to their voltage level. This difficulty can be avoided if we calculate impedance of different part of the system in reference to a single base value. This technique is called impedance notation of power system. In other wards, before electrical fault calculation, the system parameters, must be referred to base quantities and represented as uniform system of impedance in either ohmic, percentage, or per unit values. Electrical power and voltage are generally taken as base quantities. In three phase system, three phase power in MVA or KVA is taken as base power and line to line voltage in KV is taken as base voltage. The base impedance of the system can be calculated from these base power and base voltage, as follows, Per unit is an impedance value of any system is nothing but the radio of actual impedance of the system to the base impedance value. Percentage impedance value can be calculated by multiplying 100 with per unit value. Again it is sometimes required to convert per unit values referred to new base values for simplifying different electrical fault calculations. In that case, The choice of impedance notation depends upon the complicity of the system. Generally base voltage of a system is so chosen that it requires minimum number of transfers. Suppose, one system as a large number of 132 KV over head lines, few numbers of 33 KV lines and very few number of 11 KV lines. The base voltage of the system can be chosen either as 132 KV or 33 KV or 11 KV, but here the best base voltages 132 KV, because it requires minimum number of transfer during fault calculation. Network Reduction After choosing the correct impedance notation, the next step is to reduce network to a single impedance. For this first we have to convert the impedance of all generators, lines, cables, transformer to a common base value. Then we prepare a schematic diagram of electrical power system showing the impedance referred to same base value of all those generators, lines, cables and transformers. The network then reduced to a common equivalent single impedance by using star/delta transformations. Separate impedance diagrams should be prepared for positive, negative and zero sequence networks. There phase faults are unique since they are balanced i.e. symmetrical in three phase, and can be calculated from the single phase positive sequence impedance diagram. Therefore three phase fault current is obtained by, Where I f is the total three phase fault current, v is the phase to neutral voltage z 1 is the total positive sequence impedance of the system; assuming that in the calculation, impedance are represented in ohms on a voltage base. Symmetrical Component Analysis The above fault calculation is made on assumption of three phase balanced system. The calculation is made for one phase only as the current and voltage conditions are same in all three phases. When actual faults occur in electrical power system, such as phase to earth fault, phase to phase fault and double phase to earth fault, the system becomes unbalanced means, the conditions of voltages and currents in all phases are no longer symmetrical. Such faults are solved by symmetrical component analysis. Generally three phase vector diagram may be replaced by three sets of balanced vectors. One has opposite or negative phase rotation, second has positive phase rotation and last one is co-phasal. That means these vectors sets are described as negative, positive and zero sequence, respectively. positive negative zero sequence voltage The equation between phase and sequence quantities are, Where all quantities are referred to the reference phase r. Similarly a set of equations can be written for sequence currents also. From , voltage and current equations, one can easily determine the sequence impedance of the system. The development of symmetrical component analysis depends upon the fact that in balanced system of impedance, sequence currents can give rise only to voltage drops of the same sequence. Once the sequence networks are available, these can be converted to single equivalent impedance. Let us consider Z1, Z2 and Z0 are the impedance of the system to the flow of positive, negative and zero sequence current respectively. For earth fault Phase to phase faults Double phase to earth faults Three phase faults If fault current in any particular branch of the network is required, the same can be calculated after combining the sequence components flowing in that branch. This involves the distribution of sequence components currents as determined by solving the above equations, in their respective network according to their relative impedance. Voltages it any point of the network can also be determine once the sequence component currents and sequence impedance of each branch are known. Sequence Impedance Positive Sequence Impedance The impedance offered by the system to the flow of positive sequence current is called positive sequence impedance . Negative Sequence Impedance The impedance offered by the system to the flow of negative sequence current is called negative sequence impedance . Zero Sequence Impedance The impedance offered by the system to the flow of zero sequence current is known as zero sequence impedance . In previous fault calculation, Z1, Z2 and Z0 are positive, negative and zero sequence impedance respectively. The sequence impedance varies with the type of power system components under consideration:- 1. In static and balanced power system components like transformer and lines, the sequence impedance offered by the system are the same for positive and negative sequence currents. In other words, the positive sequence impedance and negative sequence impedance are same for transformers and power lines. 2. But in case of rotating machines the positive and negative sequence impedance are different. 3. The assignment of zero sequence impedance values is a more complex one. This is because the three zero sequence current at any point in a electrical power system, being in phase, do not sum to zero but must return through the neutral and /or earth. In three phase transformer and machine fluxes due to zero sequence components do not sum to zero in the yoke or field system. The impedance very widely depending upon the physical arrangement of the magnetic circuits and winding. 1. The reactance of transmission lines of zero sequence currents can be about 3 to 5 times the positive sequence current, the lighter value being for lines without earth wires. This is because the spacing between the go and return(i.e. neutral and/or earth) is so much greater than for positive and negative sequence currents which return (balance) within the three phase conductor groups. 2. The zero sequence reactance of a machine is compounded of leakage and winding reactance, and a small component due to winding balance (depends on winding tritch). 3. The zero sequence reactance of transformers depends both on winding connections and upon construction of core.
Jay Friedman Why the days of skipping ads are over Soon, marketers will have figured out a way to correctly measure and monetize online display. Here's how real-time bidding will affect the way we view TV. Doug Wintz An essential guide to changing ad platforms Here are the most common mistakes and quick remedies to ensure a smooth transition between ad platforms. Chris Smith How to successfully combine video and TV buying It's now safe to say that TV and digital video need to work together, but no one can agree on what the future holds. Here are five ways to get the most from the TV-online convergence. Doug Wintz Why your company is hiring a consultant If you're in ad operations, the arrival of a consultant can elicit mixed emotions. But it's not the end of the world. Here's how you should react when your company brings in a third-party resource. Doug Wintz How to avoid disaster when changing ad platforms When switching ad platforms, why do some companies succeed and others flounder? Use this guide to lead your company through successful change management. James Lamberti 7 roadblocks to mobile marketing success Mobile represents one of the largest opportunities in the industry, but there are still glaring issues to be resolved. Here are the challenges we face as marketers, as well as some ideas on how we can work toward solutions. Ari Brandt 5 things brands should consider when running mobile video ads Video is the fastest-growing mobile ad format and offers marketers one of the best ways to run engaging creative. Here are the nuts and bolts to help you do it right. Sebastian Tonkin Is cost-per-engagement the hot new ad buy? Is CPE just a parlor trick used by publishers to get higher rates, or can it close the gap between ad spend and engagement? You be the judge. Alex White How to handle the challenge of brand safety in RTB The brand safety segment is crowded with different approaches and a lot of confusion about what "brand safety" actually entails. Use this article for some much-needed clarity. Christine Pereira 5 points to consider before buying video ads Video advertising is a powerful opportunity, but buyers need to do some homework before investing their dollars. Here's what to consider before purchasing video ads. Alex Rahaman How to get the most out of rich media ads To ensure complete mobile engagement, marketers must understand the marriage of rich media ad creation and RTB. Here's a crash course. Greg Skipper Ad networks are one of the most confusing areas of the digital industry. This article answers seven of your most pressing questions. Eric Picard Why publishers should stop selling remnant inventory The way publishers monetize their sites has evolved to a point where a lot of energy is expended on work that doesn't pay off. Find out how some are adapting. Andy Ellenthal Why RTB is failing media buyers Real-time bidding can leave media buyers feeling vague about their online ad purchase. Here are two points to consider that will help them know their dollars were well spent. Joe Casale How to address concerns raised by real-time bidding Ari Buchalter How to know if your DSP is really working How does your DSP decide which RTB impressions to buy for your campaign? Most do it wrong by guessing at audiences or just bidding low. Here are four fundamental concepts for understanding whether your provider is making the right decisions.
Tags: \| barack \| obama \| ground \| zero \| mosque Obama's 'Tolerance' a Risky Bet By David Limbaugh \| Tuesday, 14 Sep 2010 07:48 AM Why did President Obama choose tolerance as the subject of his speech at the Pentagon ostensibly to commemorate the victims of 9/11? Why is it that he insists on making this the overarching point at such events rather than, say, express our deep regret for the lost lives of the murdered Americans and repeat our national resolve to "bring to justice" those behind the massacre? Then again, we are talking about President Obama here, the man who also believes the primary lesson we should learn from the Islamists' beheading of journalist Daniel Pearl is that the freedom of press is alive and well. Speechless here. Obama's the guy who, instead of somberly lamenting the killing of 12 soldiers and a security guard by U.S. Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan at Fort Hood, began his remarks with a detached "shout-out" to Dr. Joe Medicine Crow, leaving the world to wonder just how warm the blood flowing through his veins is. But it's not Obama's curiously bloodless behavior and strange disconnectedness (as British journalist Toby Harnden put it) that most concerns me about his Pentagon speech and the others. It's his reflexive instinct to lecture Americans, when they're not the ones who need lecturing. His first reaction, for example, when Americans protested the building of the ostentatious mosque at ground zero was to assume Americans were being intolerant and bigoted. He came out strongly in favor of the mosque and the importance of religious tolerance. He later pretended he was talking about the Muslims' and Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf's First Amendment rights, but no one was suggesting they didn't have the right to build. You will note that when Pastor Terry Jones threatened to burn the Koran, Obama didn't come out stumping for his First Amendment rights, not that I think he should have done so here, either, but it certainly reveals a double standard in his thinking. He and Defense Secretary Robert Gates thought they had to personally contact Jones to dissuade him from engaging in his gratuitously provocative act, but they didn't similarly feel the need to contact Rauf to dissuade him of his grossly insensitive act. You would think that if Obama wanted to lecture someone on the need for tolerance, it would be the imam, who can't possibly believe that his plan to build a mosque on the very sacred grounds of 9/11 is a bridge-building overture — as opposed to the obviously in-your-face statement that it is. But Obama remains silent. Why does he constantly have to remind the Muslim world that we are not at war with Islam, but only al-Qaida, when we have never indicated otherwise? If he truly wants to make a point about tolerance, especially religious tolerance, don't you think he owes us a better handle on reality? Is it not the United States that permits virtually unfettered religious liberty for Muslims, as well as all other religious people, except for the persistent discrimination against Christians? Is America not the home of some 2,000 mosques? Has Obama even considered pointing his finger at the Muslim world, asking them why they are so uniformly intolerant in their countries? Why they don't permit churches? Why they don't permit Muslims to convert to Christianity? Why they commit so much violence against Christians and Jews? America is the most tolerant society in the history of the world, so Obama's constant apologies to the contrary while ignoring the truly intolerant societies are increasingly offensive. Besides, contrary to what Obama and many of his fellow liberals believe, so-called tolerance is not the highest virtue, especially when it gets in the way of truth and national security. The fact that his administration willfully ignored the radical, jihadist behavior of Fort Hood shooter Hasan might well have enabled his murders. The administration's willful coverup of his jihadist motivations after the fact may well enable future jihadists. While leftists are congratulating themselves on their moral superiority in mouthing tolerance, more people's lives are at risk as a result of their refusal to consider radical Islam a motive in many murderous attacks, which is hardly the same thing as categorically indicting the entire Muslim religion — as Obama implies. Surely it should be obvious to Obama and his ilk by now that Islamists don't attack us because of our alleged "intolerance." They don't even respect tolerance. They don't aspire to it. They reject it. And they reject us — and will continue to, regardless of how nice and "tolerant" we are. David Limbaugh is a writer, author and attorney. His new book, "Crimes Against Liberty," has been No. 1 on the New York Times best-seller list for nonfiction for its first two weeks. To find out more about David Limbaugh, please visit his website at www.davidlimbaugh.com © Creators Syndicate Inc. 1Like our page America's News Page © Newsmax Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Baptism By Lre J.H. Patel's airbus ministry steadies after a turbulent take-off send via whatsapp WHEN Chief Minister J.H. Patel announced his 45-member cabinet, he thought he had pulled off the ultimate balancing act. Every third party MLA was now a minister, and this was the biggest cabinet in Karnataka's history after Veerappa Moily's 46-member circus. But Patel couldn't have been more wrong. Barely hours after the swearing-in on June 5, four dejected aspirants sent in their resignation letters to Speaker Ramesh Kumar. Rebel MLAs may get plum state posts. Bigger carrots are being dangled in front of Manjunath and the Patils. The next morning the number had swollen to 10. By evening, there were 17, including three incumbent ministers and three MLAs who were ministers under H.D. Deve Gowda. Crisis had struck the six-day-old Patel Government and the jubilation of having a Kannadiga prime minister paled. "I'm not protesting because I wasn't reinducted. My grouse is: the party image has suffered because of the way the jumbo cabinet was constituted," says D. Manjunath, a Dalit leader who was minister for higher education under Gowda. Former ministers A.B. Patil and Vaijyanath Patil latched on to the ruse and said that they were unhappy about the severe regional imbalances caused by the unilateral choices Patel had made. "This council is the result of four paley -gars (chieftains)," quips Manjunath, who is not among those who resigned but is still their rallying point. Though the number of rebellion-minded MLAs who took the cue was surprising, the reaction of Manjunath and Patil was predictable. For, goaded on by pressure groups in the party, Patel had turned things around a bit drastically—dropping nine ministers from Gowda's council of 31 and inducting 23 new faces. Trouble had started brewing the morning before Patel was sworn in. A hurried debate was held to throw up some names to be sworn in alongside him, but in vain. Next morning, Patel and deputy Siddaramaiah flew to Delhi and returned with a list of 35 names, including nominees of Gowda and Hegde. At the swearing-in that evening, the list had swelled to 43. The revolt was obviously unplanned. The rebels had neither a common platform nor an action plan. Even their resignation letters were flawed, leading to doubts about their seriousness. Says the Speaker: "I received 10 resignation letters and four others conveyed their resignation on the phone. But none has given a letter in the prescribed form. Technically, I haven't received a single resignation letter." Instead of a one-line saying that they were quitting their assembly seats, the MLAs had written a page or two about how they had been mistreated. Patel, on his part, waxes belligerent: "Those who want to resign can resign. I won't succumb to blackmail." He even hints at disciplinary action. All this has left the rebels stumped. The Janata Dal, after all, has just a wafer-thin majority of 116 in a House of 224 and the rebels had expected Patel to go on the defensive. Ramakrishna Hegde, still sulking over the 'snub' he received when arch-rival Gowda was elevated, chose to distance himself from the goings-on though Gowda's men accuse him of instigating the crisis to unsettle the prime minister. Says he: "It's a storm in a teacup, it will blow over." Gowda decided on a more hands-on approach. He contacted the Speaker and asked him not to act till he (Gowda) talked to the MLAs. Gowda then assured the rebels that he would hear their case after passing the June 11 vote of confidence in the Lok Sabha. Gowda, says a senior JD leader, offered Manjunath the state party chief's post, and even governorship. Though he declined both, he agreed to wait till June 11 and talk to Gowda. Gowda's headache didn't end here. He had to assuage ministers like Roshan Baig, Leeladevi Prasad and B.A. Mohideen. The first two, ministers of state, were hoping to be promoted and Mohideen, of cabinet rank, was peeved with the small scale industries portfolio, which was manned by a minister of state under Gowda. But that's an aside. The main plot: dissenting MLAs will be mollified with the vacant top posts in the various boards and corporations. And Manjunath and the Patils will be told that their actions would be to the party's detriment. There's also the vacant state party chief's post as C.M.Ibrahim has moved to Delhi. With such feelers, the rebellion began to peter out over the weekend. Says a state minister: "None of the MLAs is prepared to lose his membership for the remainder of the term and risk an election after this charade. All they wanted to do was get Gowda to take Patel to task. In the process, they ended up exposing themselves." Read More In: send via whatsapp Translate into: Post a Comment You are not logged in, please log in or register Or just type in a few initial letters of a topic:
NewsApp (Free) Read news as it happens Download NewsApp Available on Rediff News All News » Business » Global factors spell trouble for the stock market Global factors spell trouble for the stock market Last updated on: August 11, 2014 12:03 IST One of the issues about managing an open globalised economy is that trouble can arrive out of left field. While World War II historians are familiar with Donetsk, Luhansk, Sverdlovsk, Kharkiv and other dots on the map of the Eastern Ukraine, it is unlikely that too many members of the current Indian Cabinet have much acquaintance with those parts. Yet, trouble in those regions was responsible for the loss of market value on Dalal Street in the last week. In World War II, the East Ukraine was one vast battlefield - Donetsk itself saw as many as five battles between 1941 and 44 - as the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, and were then driven out. The Great Patriotic War, as the Russians refer to it, was an existential struggle between two ideologically opposed regimes. Tens of millions died before Stalin came out on top. The conflict now raging is of relatively minor dimensions. But it could have serious consequences for global order and it could, in certain scenarios, scale up considerably. The Ukrainian republic has used artillery and air strikes to support actions by armour and mechanised infantry against rebels of Russian ethnicity. But those rebels, backed by Vladimir Putin's regime, are clinging to their strongholds. Russia has amassed a large force on the border (after having annexed the Crimea) and there are fears that it could invade in support of the rebels. It's an open question whether NATO would be prepared to resort to direct military action if Russia did intervene. That would mean escalation in the direction of the worst case scenarios. As of now, the European Union (EU) and the US have announced punitive sanctions against Russia, including sanctions directed against specific oligarchs, and against the Russian banking system. Russia could well retaliate by cutting off energy exports to the EU. Western Europe is seeing a fragile recovery and Russia's economy is not in great shape. Concerns about West Asia - Gaza, Iraq and Syria - accentuate fears of a fuel squeeze. The Chinese Central Bank has reportedly postponed its informal moves towards making the yuan fully convertible by 2015. So this situation has resulted in risk-off behaviour from global investors and that brings us back to Dalal Street by way of the Kremlin, Shanghai and Brussels. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers of Indian assets through the past fortnight. Domestic investors were net buyers. The equity mutual fund industry got a big boost as Assets Under Management rose by over Rs 10,000 crore in July. This suggests retail investors are still bullish despite net selling from retail investors who hold equity directly. The good news on the international front is that the US economy seems to be strengthening. The latest labour data beat estimates comfortably with a lower-than-expected unemployment number. The Federal Reserve will continue to taper the Quantitative Expansion III programme but it has sounded several notes of caution about the state of the US economy. Mirroring the US Fed, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) also kept its stance more or less unchanged, with a very minor cut in the statutory liquidity ratio. The Indian central bank professed to be satisfied with the trend of inflation. It is targeting retail inflation of eight per cent or less by January 2015 and the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) is at 7.3 per cent. But it remains cautious in the face of external crises and the possibility of a sub-par monsoon. The central bank's estimates for full-year growth also remain unchanged. Reading between the lines, RBI will wait to see how effectively the new government manages food inflation and also whether there is significant acceleration in infra project activity as promised by the Modi sarkar. The former impinges on the CPI while the latter could have a big impact on non-performing assets. A rate cut now could have been welcomed by some corporations. However, it could also trigger rupee depreciation and that would really hurt if crude prices also spiked. Quite a few Indian corporations will struggle to meet external debt obligations if the rupee dropped significantly. There has already been some pressure on the rupee due to FII selling and end-of-month dollar demand from crude importers. Hopefully, this may be temporary. If the rupee does slide, there will be a certain amount of interest in information technology stocks. Most currency traders have developed a reluctant but healthy respect for Raghuram Rajan's ability to manage currency fluctuations and sustained rupee selling is unlikely. There has been some disappointment and puzzlement about the World Trade Organisation stance and India's refusal to sign the trade facilitation agreement. The lack of any substantive outcomes from US Secretary of State John Kerry's visit is also mildly disappointing, though the scuttlebutt is that some announcements may be planned for the PM's US visit. The Q1 corporate results have, by and large, confirmed that the economy is making a slow recovery. Projections suggest that major acceleration is unlikely in the July-September quarter. Meanwhile, the Vedanta-Cairn-Sesa Sterlite affair is indicative of the standards of Indian corporate governance. In a different way, so is the alleged Syndicate Bank-Bhushan Steel nexus. The initial euphoria about "acche din" has died down. It's business as usual for the National Democratic Alliance. It needs to pass legislation on the foreign direct investment front and in labour laws to demonstrate that it can actually utilise the mandate it received. It needs to deliver greater efficiency in bureaucratic processes. The market is precariously poised. If there is a further escalation of the Ukraine crisis, it could nosedive regardless of what happens to India's economy. Otherwise, it is likely to continue range-trading until some sort of major trigger is visible. Devangshu Datta
AIG And Its Aftermath Just when I thought that the age of bailouts had come to an end with the Treasury and Fed agreeing to let Lehman bite the dust for its various poor investment decisions, I am confronted with the Treasury and Fed deciding to bail out AIG. Needless to say, this is appalling. The Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac nationalizations were explained away with the argument that since Fannie and Freddie were never private entities, they didn’t count in the nationalization game. I worried that the nationalization of those two entities would set a precedent, and thus it has. To the extent that Treasury and the Fed had drawn a line in the sand against further bailouts, that line is now completely swept away. Moral hazard is now officially running amok; companies whose balance sheets reflect problems will now run to the United States government to be the bailout agency of last resort. And why not? On what basis can the United States government say no? If a company is not as big as AIG, it can argue that the government could more easily afford a bailout for it than it could for AIG. If a company is bigger, then it will use the “too big to fail” argument to the same effect that AIG, Fannie and Freddie did. Treasury and the Fed now suffer from a massive credibility problem and the end result is a disaster for any semblance of financial governance and economic integrity. In order to get that integrity back, Treasury and the Fed must now announce that there will be no more bailouts of any size, shape or form and mean it. That their word will initially be tested should surprise no one but the government must show that there is credibility behind its claim that the bailout culture has come to an end. CEOs, CFOs and COOs must now take it upon themselves to undergo a rigorous examination of their balance sheets to see whether there are time bombs waiting to explode. If problems arise, the best thing to do is to act on the safe side, assume that those problems could be company-threatening and take swift and decisive action to head those problems off at the pass before they become bigger. This means not waiting until the last minute before engaging in merger talks or selling assets in order to raise collateral–a similar delay helped bring about the downfall of Lehman, after all. To the extent that the situation calls for it and to the extent that it is permissible by law, Treasury and the Fed may serve as mediators or arbitrators or honest brokers in any behind-the-scenes activities to save a particular endangered company, but this is as far as government should go; if talks fail, the government should no longer be expected to step in and bail out a particular company. In light of the fact that the Federal bank insurance fund is dwindling, it is impossible to conceive of further bailouts without contemplating severe strain on the financial system as a whole. We ought to remember as well that failure on the part of companies is contemplated and anticipated by the capitalist system. More people need to be aware of the process of creative destruction that Joseph Schumpeter described; it is through that “destruction” that we achieve success and innovation in the future because the market’s power to reward good and smart actors and punish bad and stupid ones is a sine qua non for socioeconomic success and innovation. The genius of capitalism, however, is not that it puts more money in your pockets (though it does), or that it raises your standard of living (though it does), or that it leads to medical, technological and scientific breakthroughs (though it does), or that it leads to innovation on a whole hosts of fronts designed primarily to help the consumer (though it does). The genius of capitalism runs deeper than that. It stems from the fact that because of capitalism, we are well-positioned to learn from our mistakes. We will still make mistakes in a capitalist system but we will come back stronger thanks to capitalism’s regenerative aspects, which assist us in learning what we did wrong and learning how to do right the next time. Our ability to be educated is greatly enhanced thanks to capitalism and if we throw the capitalist baby out with the bathwater, the current credit and housing crisis will look like a walk in the park compared to what we will have to contend with next. Of course, the current mania is to call for increased regulations. Barack Obama is already on the case, having gone on record as blaming the policies of the Bush Administration for the current credit crisis. How the Bush Administration was supposed to get companies like AIG to refrain from investing in subprime mortgage derivatives is, of course, anyone’s guess and Megan McArdle–herself an Obama supporter–does an excellent job in dismantling her candidates pabulum here, here and here (in which Obama is specifically taken on). It should be added that calling for “more regulation” is about as useful as calling for “more cowbell.” How are regulators smarter and wiser and better-looking than other people? Seriously. How? Because that is essentially the nonsense that so many have bought into; the belief that regulators are magical beings with magical powers that will prevent us from making silly mistakes with our own money or with other people’s money. You know, I don’t think that we lack for regulators in this country. I certainly don’t think that we lack for regulation; browse around and look at how unbelievably massive the Federal Register is. Try to remember as well the various crises with Enron, Worldcom and all the other bad actors from years past. We decided to opt for more regulations to combat said bad acting by passing the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. I had argued six years back that perhaps opting for more regulation was premature, but of course, no one listens to a blogger. But there were a lot more people who were and are and always will be more famous and prominent than little old me arguing the same thing. They–we–were not listened to. How did Sarbanes-Oxley turn out? Ahem. And there is a lot more where that came from. It is a shame, of course, that these issues are mostly being ignored. We could lessen the pain that the economy is suffering through if we get smart about matters. Unfortunately, we are too busy treating symptoms instead of the disease and seeking to wreck the corpus economicus altogether through unnecessary and destructive regulation. Get Alerts
Shared space makes its way back to mainstream Economic times stimulate growth in households refitted for multi-generations Raising the height of appliances can improve convenience for senior family members. From “Staying Put” by Duo Dickinson; courtesy of Taunton Press Holidays may bring nerve-racking family gatherings, but imagine the reality of multiple generations living in one house all the time? Today, more than any era since the Great Depression, numerous generations are doubling up and testing the restrictions of limited space. Shifting demographics mean that many college grads are back living in their old bedrooms, single parents who have lost jobs are moving in with adult kids, and Grandma could actually be living in the backyard! After the San Diego City Planning Commission voted in 2011 to allow granny flats as large as 700 square feet, our community has experienced an increase in construction of outbuildings. Across the United States, other communities are pressing for similar changes in zoning laws to allow legal in-law suites and quarters with separate entries. Families are supposed to help each other out in tough times, but the strains on a physical structure can lead to emotionally charged situations. My sister is a single professional woman over 50 who welcomed her son home after college. At 27 he is eager to be out and living on his own again; Mom has her days when she would love to come home to an empty house and eat popcorn for dinner. We’ve strategized about how she might create a separate entrance for my nephew in order to give them both more privacy. Ultimately, they decided that to help him buy a short-sale condo is the better solution, but not everyone has this option available. Co-habitation creates issues about noise and privacy for family members. A senior may desire afternoon quiet; an older sibling blasts loud music when the younger ones should be in bed or studying and resists having to tone it down. Technology can solve some of these issues with earphones, yet human beings naturally bristle for numerous reasons when packed together in small space. Finding ways to allow the different age groups relaxation space is thought provoking, yet fortunately in San Diego we have the ability to capture outdoor space as realistic living quarters. With portable gas heaters or electric ceiling fans we can regulate the temperature on a patio so that activities like reading, using a laptop or watching TV might comfortably occur. Again, technology offers us outdoor-rated TV screens as well as sound systems. There are outdoor area rugs, fabrics and furnishings that allow one to create welcoming living space. Moving elderly parents into one’s home can be psychologically beneficial for the parent and perhaps less expensive than assisted living, but the physical layout must be safe. For some families, the answer is to retrofit a part of the house so that it facilitates aging in place. Basic guidelines include improved lighting, removal of area rugs; eliminating level changes in flooring, addition of grab bars in bathrooms and replacement of a toilet with an ADA-compliant model. Some homeowners prefer more extensive remodeling that allows lifting appliances such as a washing machine, clothes dryer, wall oven or dishwasher to optimal heights so that the user doesn’t have to bend down. Another unique solution for those who have room on their property is the MEDCottage ( — a prefabricated 12-foot-by-24-foot bedroom-bathroom-kitchenette unit that can be set up as a free-standing structure in the backyard. It’s different from other cottage kits because the unit is equipped with high-tech 24-hour monitoring and safety features that are similar to most long-term care facilities. For example, the units feature rubber floors and a lighted runway mat that stretches from the bed to the toilet that illuminates when used and turns off automatically after 10 minutes. There is a kitchenette and handicapped-accessible bathroom. Water and electricity connect directly to the main residence. You can purchase a unit outright or arrange a five-year lease. Ample room on your lot also means that a typical cottage kit might be a solution for a non-senior family member now and ultimately for additional income. You must check the restrictions carefully for your area, but note that off-street parking for each bedroom has been retained in the San Diego City Planning guidelines. Some local families have kept their home through the recent financial crisis by renting out a room or a level of the house on a nightly basis through A separate cottage is perfect for that purpose. There are city occupancy tax requirements that apply to vacation rentals, and some adjacent communities have outlawed the practice, so investigate applicable rules for your neighborhood before you decide to rent out part of your home.
Aim higher, reach further. Hollywood Tries a New Battle Plan 'Act of Valor' director Mike McCoy. ENLARGE 'Act of Valor' director Mike McCoy. Courtesy of 'Act of Valor' Ten years after the Sept. 11 attacks opened an ongoing chapter of U.S. military action, Hollywood's long history of depicting fighters at war is entering a new phase. The grinding wars in Afghanistan and Iraq spawned films that highlighted characters in uniform who were disillusioned with their missions and scarred in their homecomings. With the conflicted protagonists of movies such as "Green Zone" and "Stop-Loss," filmmakers tried to tap into the public's ambivalence about the conflicts, but their movies mostly sank at the box office. Now that deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq are tapering down, filmmakers are homing in on the more clear-cut job of battling terrorists. And they're finding heroes in the elite—and now famous—special-operations forces leading the hunt. Projects in the pipeline focus on the armed heroics, high-tech tactics and teamwork involved in getting the bad guys. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer recently struck a deal with ABC for a pilot about the family life and field missions of Navy SEALs. Universal is readying "Lone Survivor," a script about a decorated SEAL who fought through a rout in the mountains of Afghanistan. Sony recently set an October 2012 release date for "Hurt Locker" director Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal's account of the decade-long hunt for Osama bin Laden, capped by the SEAL-led killing of the al Qaeda leader. The box-office taint on movies with a perceived political bent, combined with the budget pressures that combat narratives bring, have made many contemporary war stories seem too risky for the studios, says director Peter Berg. He co-wrote the script for "Lone Survivor," which he will direct, based on a memoir by former SEAL Marcus Luttrell. For research, Mr. Berg embedded with a special-forces team at a remote base in Iraq near the Syrian border. Universal signed off on the project only after Mr. Berg agreed to first direct "Battleship," a big-budget extrapolation of the board game property, slated for release next spring. Nevertheless, Mr. Berg says "Lone Survivor" wouldn't have been greenlighted had it not offered some commercial potential for the studio. "The idea of a good old-fashioned combat yarn, in which the politics are very clear—we support these men—was more appealing to them." Unlike many of the portraits of soldiers at war presented in recent years, "Lone Survivor" is about "the core warrior spirit," he said. "It's an unabashed tribute to the courage of these men." Production is scheduled to begin next spring. Director Scott Waugh films the SEALs. ENLARGE Director Scott Waugh films the SEALs. Courtesy of 'Act of Valor' In 2008, Navy Special Warfare invited a handful of production companies to submit proposals for a film project, possibly a documentary, that would flesh out the role of the SEALs. The goals: bolster recruiting efforts, honor fallen team members and offer a corrective to misleading fare such as "Navy Seals," the 1990 shoot-em-up starring Charlie Sheen as a cocky lone wolf. "In the SEAL ethos, the superman myth does not apply. It's a lifestyle of teamwork, hard work and academic discipline," said Capt. Duncan Smith, a SEAL who initiated the project and essentially served as producer within the military. As the SEALs' stories unfolded on camera and over beers, the filmmakers began to question the idea of casting actors to play the sailors. In one interview, a lieutenant spoke articulately and without affect about feeling envious while looking down at a comrade's coffin, knowing the man had fulfilled his duty to the end. In the lieutenant and another SEAL, a voluble father of five, the directors realized they'd found their leads. But it took them four months to persuade the men and a half-dozen other SEALs to take roles in the movie, thus bucking their community's ideal of the "quiet professional." For the SEALs, the decision meant potentially risking "ridicule for the rest of their careers for stepping outside the community," Mr. McCoy says. After they made a group decision to participate, deciding the project served the SEALs' greater good, the Navy made the film a formal task for the sailors, who were between deployments. Their names won't appear in the "Act of Valor" credits; instead, the film will list Naval Special Warfare members killed since Sept. 11. The Bandito Brothers commissioned a script from Kurt Johnstad, who had co-written "300," a comic-book-style depiction of ancient Spartan warriors that has many fans among U.S. troops, but that many critics dismissed as heavy-handed and excessively violent. His "Act of Valor" screenplay revolved around a SEAL team's mission to stop a Chechen jihadist cooperating with a smuggler to send suicide bombers across the Mexican border toward U.S. targets. (A villain from Eastern Europe was a less obvious and potentially sensitive choice than an Arab, the filmmakers say.) Most of the story's big action scenes were plotted around training operations that the Navy already had on the calendar. The filmmakers came away with key scenes for "Act of Valor," while the Navy would receive blanket footage of the exercise for use in future training. Having paid for the initial shoot themselves, at less than $1 million, the Bandito Brothers showed the clip to potential investors to demonstrate they could execute the film's unusual concept. Over time, financing came from about dozen parties, including Legendary Entertainment, the company behind blockbusters such as "The Dark Knight" and "Inception." Bandito Brothers Chief Operating Officer Max Leitman declined to discuss the film's total budget. The Bandito Brothers' L.A. headquarters is nestled in a maze of converted warehouses. A loft-style office space opens onto a cactus-studded garden, where a silver Airstream trailer serves as an office and clubhouse. In an adjacent lot, a hangar-size building is being converted into a production facility, supplementing a garage that houses a studio and a small fleet of dusty motocross bikes. On a recent afternoon, artists at computer monitors toiled over visuals for the coming superhero movie "The Avengers," directed by Joss Whedon. The digital-effects job resulted from the Bandito Brothers' joint venture with design studio Cantina Creative. "Radness?" Mr. McCoy said to one worker as he walked by. "Making radness?" The director has a slight, wiry build (hence his nickname since childhood). He smokes small Macanudo cigars, and his loping gait suggests both a swagger and a history of broken bones. Mr. McCoy and his partners have clearly been influenced by their time in the SEALs' midst. Six out of their seven SEAL "actors" have been deployed since the film wrapped. Just days after a helicopter had been shot down in Afghanistan carrying more than 30 men, 17 of them SEALs, the filmmakers spoke carefully about the "really heavy burden" they felt to accurately portray the sailors' skills and sacrifices. On Friday, the Navy Special Warfare community gathers at Arlington National Cemetery for a private burial ceremony. In the movie, authenticity came with some trade-offs. Some dialogue-driven scenes seem stilted, including banter between the SEALs, who address each other as "dude" or "sir." The sailors' rapid descriptions of their mission plans could speed over some viewers' heads. Mr. McCoy acknowledged, "These guys are not Johnny Depp or Daniel Day-Lewis." The filmmakers say the SEALs tackled their acting duties methodically, as they would a new tactical skill. In a scene where one of them discovers a female CIA operative who has been kidnapped and tortured, the directors coached him to slow down and tap into the emotion of the rescue. "For the audience, you need to get really compassionate. The women are going to need to connect," Mr. McCoy recalled saying. Studios immediately angled for projects that might capture some of the public fascination with the SEALs who led the strike. The most high-profile was the Bigelow and Boal script, which had been in development since 2008. Sony scooped up the movie about the bin Laden hunt within three weeks of his death. The movie is expected to be released in October 2012, a date that has drawn some political controversy. Rep. Peter King (R., N.Y.) called for an investigation into whether the White House gave the filmmakers access to confidential information and suggested that the film's planned release next fall could influence the presidential election soon after. White House spokesman Jay Carney called the suggestion "ridiculous"; the filmmakers said in a statement that their film had no political angle. Bin Laden's death found the Bandito Brothers sitting on a completed SEALs movie, but they didn't immediately put it on the auction block. "We were nervous about seeming exploitative," says WME agent Liesl Copland. The agency set up two "Act of Valor" screenings for potential buyers in June, four weeks after bin Laden was killed, by which time most of the related deal-making had died down in Hollywood. A half-dozen distributors, including Alcon Entertainment and Film District, made serious bids for the movie. It sold to Relativity Media, known for titles such as "Bridesmaids" and "The Social Network," for $13 million. In addition to the financial terms of the deal, the filmmakers said they were won over by the company's plan for a long-term rollout, led by marketing head Terry Curtin, who comes from a line of Navy aviators and admirals. Relativity plans a wide release on Presidents Day weekend, Feb. 17. The Bandito Brothers acknowledge that the bin Laden timing helped them land a faster, more attractive deal than they might have otherwise. But they're gratified that Relativity didn't want to rush the movie out just to capitalize on the SEALs' moment in the spotlight. By February, Mr. Leitman says, "Act of Valor" can be expected to "sink, swim, live or die on its own." Show More Archives Popular on WSJ Editors’ Picks
Sexual slang From Wikiquote (Redirected from Hot carl) Jump to: navigation, search Sexual slang is a set of linguistic terms and phrases used to refer to sexual organs, processes, and activities; they are generally considered colloquial rather than formal or medical, and some may be seen as impolite or improper. • Donkey Punching, kids? You've heard people joke about it and other extreme and/or stupid sex acts. But while attempting your Hot Karls, Icy Mikes, or Louisville Pluggers is unlikely to result in injury, death, or incarceration, attempting a Donkey Punch can lead to any or all of these unpleasant outcomes. And not only is the Donkey Punch dangerous and likely to land your ass in jail, the damn thing doesn't even work. • MOOJ: It's not about these rusty trombone, and dirty sanchez. It's not about rainbow showers and camel-toe slide, and your Cincinnati bowtie, your Arabian goggles or the hot carl and pearl necklace, or pussy juice cocktails, and the jagged-head dildos, and the double-decker pussies. ANDY (scared): OK. I, y'know, double pussies and-- MOOJ: Shit stained balls, and cum swapping, and the hanging brain, it's not about the rattlesnake wiggle, and the alligator fuck house, donkey-punching, the tea-bagging-- ANDY: Mooj, just please stop. • Heinz Hummer: I am Heinz Hummer. I'm the gigolo with the most below. Okay? I can give you a Filthy Lopez like you never had before. I could give you a Cambodian Creamsicle... that will make you scream all night. Okay? But not now because I'm busy. So leave me alone, bitch. • And while you're visiting you're going to have to be able to hang with the guys and roll with the punches. The donkey punches, that is. And the dirty Sanchez. And just about every other dirty phrase and nickname ever invented. • Put succinctly, the question is this: How does a generation with absolute knowledge of felching, donkey punching, and the dirty sanchez maintain healthy sex lives? • The donkey punch is one of the most unique euphemisms of our time. It falls into the class of theoretical euphemisms that are infrequent, impractical, and violent. The almost purely theoretical nature of the donkey punch makes it one of the most informative euphemisms about contemporary American society. • Obviously dudes are way better at talking about sex—from Shakespeare, creator of the word “undress,” to the first dude who said “donkey punch.” • It’s never too early for a father to teach his son about sex. So as soon as your boy can talk, make certain he knows how to say, and appropriately use, the phrases "doggy-style," "donkey punch," and "popping her cherry." • Clay Travis, Deadly Hippos (2008). Man: The Book. Citadel. p. 138. ISBN 0806528710. • Though tempting, never combine the Donkey Punch with the Eiffel Tower. • Dirty Sanchez (2009). Dirty Sanchez's Guide to Buck Nasty Sex: Cincinnati Bow Tie, Donkey Punch, Rusty Trombone, Hot Carl, Rodeo, Strawberry Shortcake. Amorata Press. p. 40. ISBN 1569757941. • I wish there was a set doctrine per bar, nametags on every gal that said her availability: / Hot to trot / Smart and skanky / Proficient in the donkey punch See also[edit] External links[edit] Wikipedia has an article about: Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Wikisource has original text related to:
Editorial: Immigration and the Unions The New York Times, 4/20/2009 The very idea that unions would endorse legalizing illegal immigrants, as the country’s two big labor federations did this month, strikes some as absurd. Americans have a hard enough time competing with cheap foreign labor. Why undercut them within our own borders? Especially with millions of citizens losing their jobs? These questions deserve an answer since the bad economy will only strengthen the stiff winds of opposition that President Obama will have to fight if he is going to win the sweeping immigration overhaul he has promised. Legalization was already politically treacherous thanks to the tireless work of restrictionists who have spent years denouncing illegal immigrants as harmful to the country’s health. They have long compared the undocumented to invaders and parasites; it’s a very short distance from there to scabs. Read more… Leave a Reply WordPress.com Logo Twitter picture Facebook photo Google+ photo Connecting to %s
Disclaimer: I'd love it if I owned RENT, but like Mark and Roger, I'm not gonna pay rent. Notes: Well, I'm back! I almost feel bad doing two Roger songs in a row, but I knew I wanted to do "One Song Glory," and it fit the plot perfectly. There are also snippets of the Tune Ups. (#3 is the lead in to One Song Glory in this.) So… hopefully you like Roger! But don't worry, almost everyone contributes to the chapter. Scene Six: One Long Story (In front of the Nederlander Theatre, six friends stand in a line, staring solemnly ahead and wondering which season it is- sunsets, coffee, diapers, or love.) Joanne: Tell me again, why are we standing in line when we're trying to break in? Mark: 'Cause Maureen's late with the chips. Maureen (offstage- AKA, elsewhere): Humph. Why don't you just look on Joanne's shoulder? Roger (sulkily): Then why we can't erect a tent city? gestures towards Collins and Angel, who have broken formation and appear either to be having a catfight or madly making out Mark: We don't want to tip Benny off, do we? Roger: points to Mimi She might. Mimi: hands on hips Did you see me standing at his dog house door? Roger: Oh, so that's why we have a dead akita on our hands? gestures to dead dog at his feet Mark, Collins, and Angel: Evita! Mimi: Want me to get tickets? Joanne: At this rate, the only ticket we're getting is going to be for loitering. (They all stare at the door, as if waiting for it to spontaneously combust.) Mark: Well, technically, it has a "For Rent" sign on it… (They all charge at it, pounding on it, slamming each other against it, likely doing some sexually explicit things, and saying some of those same things too.) Roger: Ouch! Angel, how'd you blow this thing up every day in front of an audience? Angel: Easy. I was a brownie. Roger: Is that why Collins is always trying to eat you? Mark: The door's padlocked! Roger: Dude, I think we covered that last chapter. Mark: Shut up, I'm narrating. points to his camera This is Roger everyone. Say hi! Roger: threatens to moon the camera Joanne: Damn it, Collins, can't you just hack into the damn lock like you did with the ATM at the Food Emporium? Collins: I can't figure out the password. Mark: Er… try 543… Angel (exhilarated): Open Sesame! (Upon hearing the password, the door spontaneously combusts. They stare at the burning remnants.) Roger: Clearly, Benny was the last one to change the locks. Mimi: That's funny, he never locked his door when… Roger: eyes bulge Mimi (hastily): … I stole stuff from him. Like, uh, his heart. Collins (seeing the rising tension): Now, let's go open up a restaurant on center stage! (They create a riot racing to the stage, which Mark captures on his camera and later sells to Alexi Darling in exchange for his soul.) Mimi: Oh my god! That's the table I died on 5,124 times! Angel: No, no, no, I'm fairly certain that's my table. Mark: You're both wrong. That's the table I… Wait a second, what exactly I was doing under those sheets? Roger: Not me! Everyone: stares Roger: turns away uncomfortably Mimi: …so, who's for telling each other how much we love each other? (Angel and Collins comply. Mark and Joanne fight over Mark's old footage of Maureen and end up in a Tango: Maureen. Mimi tries to stuff herself into Roger's baggage, but it turns out, the airlines have some pretty strict rules about that since 9/11. Someone decides it would be a good idea to start up the band and blows a party horn.) Everyone: stares Benny: is riding piggy back on Mimi Happy nude year? Mark: How did you know we'd be here? Benny: I had a hunch. a beat You're not mad? Roger: Nah, just a bit horny. Everyone: more stares Roger ("that came out wrong"): Crap. There's a reason I only talked to my guitar for a year, you know? Mimi (seductively): That's okay, "I Should Tell You" is really only speaking metaphorically… Mark and Joanne: WHERE'S MAUREEN? Benny: Still in Oz. Mark: What the hell is she doing in Australia? Benny: I don't know. She said she was going to fly here, but apparently Chistery was being uncooperative. So, did you get my peace offering? Roger: glances at Mimi, who is now on Benny's back Benny: You know, the dead akita? Roger: Oh. In that case, no, I don't think anyone gets that part. Mimi: Yeah! If you didn't want a pet, why'd you keep me for all those performances? Benny: Damn. That was my akita? I thought it was that Dodo puppy that Maureen's been going after for years. Oh well. Roger: Hey, since Benny the Bulldog's so fond of killing dogs, can he commit suicide instead of April? Benny: Relax, dude. I kept approaching Mimi on our original run because I only wanted to hire her for Maureen's bachelorette party. Roger: What? How come I wasn't invited? Angel: PEOPLE! (Everyone freezes and stares at him/her.) Angel (cont'd): Is this any way to start the show? As I recall, the audience didn't find out about the intimate relations between Benny and Mimi until late Act I. Roger (scoffing): What audience? (Mark and Joanne's eyes widen as they upgrade their relationship to the "chum" level.) Mark: I think I smell the whiff of a scheme… Benny (raising hand): No, that was just me. The meatless balls didn't agree with me. Roger (muttered): Does anyone? Joanne (ignoring them): You know, all Broadway shows nowadays let a bootlegger or two get away for publicity… Mark: And I don't know about boots, but I've got a camera! Joanne: Are you thinking what I'm thinking? Mark: does mental checklist Lights, camera… Joanne: ACTION! Mark: Roger, Roger! (Everyone waits.) Mark: No, literally, Roger, come here! Roger: Why? Joanne: We need one great song to convince people it's worth two hundred bucks, a long line, and living broke for a month to come to our show! Roger: But why me? Joanne: You've seen American Idol, you should know why. Roger: Why? Joanne: Exactly! The only requirement to win is a Y chromosome. People will flock to RENT when they see how good of cute badboy you are! You know, after we autotune all the genuine talent out of your vocals. Roger: But why not Angel? Mark: gives him a Gibb's slap Stop being homophobic! Roger: …what? (He is whisked off to a table in center stage and has his guitar shoved at him. Mark powers up his camera while Joanne shouts stage directions. Mimi watches admiringly while Benny watches her admiringly. God knows where Collins and Angel are. Could be that new Shanty Town near the river or a suite at the Plaza.) Mark: Alright, everyone, tune up! (Mark flips his camera on and starts filming the commercial.) Tell the folks at home, What you're doin' Roger! I'm righting one great wrong… Mark: Wait, wait, wait…. (Everyone listens intently for a moment before hearing a lone cell phone ringing in the audience.) Benny (sheepishly): My bad. flips it open Muffy, go back to Arthur! snaps it shut Mark: It's okay, I had no juice in my battery. Joanne: Reshoot! Tell the folks at home, What you're doin' Roger! Reciting all night long, For glory… Mark: rolls eyes Now, something that doesn't remind us of Musetta's waltz. (He flips the camera around and films himself for the introduction.) Closed on Broadway, The Boheme playbill said, I quote, "You'll watch RENT and rave Before slitting your wrists in the bathroom…" (The lights dim as angsty riffs start playing. Close in on Roger, playing the fender guitar he hasn't played in a year…) One long One long Three hour show. The songs aren't worth the time… One long, One cast in vain, With a pity-struck dumb man Who wastes away in misery, By this one girl on the street, From the guys in the front row And one dope. My story, Sung in some cheap colored lights, One song, So they can change sets. Is another empty plight. Crowd buys, RENT dies! All craze is corny! Because we're horny! My story Is a song that goes "Moo!" Choosing herds of buyers Over art and fame. My one song Is not about love Or heat, It's the goal of a young man Who's dyin'. I'm the one song, A door to every man's soul. I will forget. Come on, Live a dream no one can find? "Your Eyes" Took a whole year to belt out to a corpse! Just die… (Like this song did. Long ago.) Mark: … Roger, that wasn't about RENT's glory, that was all about you! Now everyone's gonna think RENT's about a crazy people who give up on glory for life! Mimi: Well, I could always do my famous lawn chair handcuff dance to the sound of ice tea being stirred. Assuming Roger's the chair. Joanne: Seriously, whose brilliant idea was it to have him advertise? No one's going to phone in for tickets now. (The phone rings.) Mark (narrating): The phone rings! We screen! Voicemail: SPEAK! Voice: Mark, it's the Wicked Witch of the West… Mark, Joanne, and Benny: MAUREEN! wrestle for the phone Voice: …Your mother. Hopefully, this isn't turning out to be just one long story. But I needed a transition chapter, and the Bohemians needed an audience. (Not that they don't have an awesome one here- they LOVE fanmail, AKA reviews.) Anyone else think that "One Song Glory" was Roger's song of glory and that many of the songs that get the glory aren't really the glorific ones?
Peter Flynn wrote: >>If you have a tomcat webapp that serves jsp's such as >>http://localhost:8080/mywebapp, then you can map jsp requests to that >>webapp using JkMount /mywebapp/*.jsp >> >> > >Ah...this exposes the gap in my understanding. >Where do I get a "tomcat webapp that serves jsp's"? >This is what I need. I thought one was built into Tomcat -- in fact I >thought JSP serving was the original purpose of Tomcat. > >If Tomcat doesn't have any such webapp, where do I get one? >I certainly can't write one, as I'm not a Java programmer. > I am limited in my knowledge of tomcat but from my understanding, tomcat can be ran either as a standalone server or behind a webserver. In your case, it seems like you don't actually need a webserver in front so you should be able to connect to tomcat using the url: http://localhost:8080/ Just make sure in your server.xml that you have this line: or whatever port you want to connect to. In fact, I don't think you even need mod_jk if you are using tomcat as a standalone. Hope that helps. --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: For additional commands, e-mail:
close menu Stanford Biologist Explains the Science of Cap’s Strength and Hulk’s Muscles Stanford Biologist Explains the Science of Cap’s Strength and Hulk’s Muscles Stanford biologist Sebastian Alvarado wants to make you an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. — at least a part of their science division. Working in tandem with Marvel to bring the science of its superheroes to the people in a new Times Square exhibit, Alvarado now has two videos covering his work trying to figure out how to make a regular human into a Captain America or The Incredible Hulk. For Captain Steve Rodgers, the secret is in the serum, as Alvarado explains: Though there’s no way to tell what was in that fictional injection, we have a good idea of what it did for Cap: he had his genes tweaked. For example, we know the genes responsible for the amount of oxygen that is ferried around your blood and that increase muscle mass. These were likely altered for Rodgers. And as the science of genetics advances, being able to turn these genes on and off will plausibly lead to physical enhancements that Captain America enjoys. Epigenetics then — the study of how the environment regulates and changes the expression of genes within our DNA — could get us closer to Cap. And the “Vita-Rays” that activated all the serum’s potential in Rodgers aren’t far-fetched either. We are developing drug capsules that can release their contents when hit with ultraviolet light. It’s not clear how this delayed reaction would enhance any super serum we come up with, but maybe that is the only way to deliver the drugs safely. Maybe. Next up is the ion-smashed genome of the Hulk: The Incredible Hulk is an incredible genetic anomaly. Bruce Banner got his super-powered rage when he was blasted with lethal amounts of gamma radiation. Gamma radiation is dangerous because it has enough energy to be ionizing radiation — electromagnetic radiation (like radio waves or visible light) strong enough knock electrons off of atoms and molecules. So when Banner was exposed to his fateful gamma ray burst, the ionizing radiation ripped atoms and molecules and electrons from his DNA, nearly destroying it. But somehow his body and his DNA rebuilt itself, allowing him to Hulk-out. Alvarado speculates that what allows the Hulk to transition from Banner to the Big Green Guy also happens to be some kind of epigenetics. Because Banner can transition between the two so easily, it would seem as though certain genetic light switches are being flipped on and then off again. This process is different from something like genetic mutations, which aren’t reversible. My favorite bit of superhero science that Alvarado explains is why the Hulk is green. He muses that because the process of becoming the Hulk is so violent — muscles stretching and tearing, veins popping — the result of the transformation is a lot of cellular damage. Normally, when these damaged cells are recycled by your body, the chemical byproducts can produce a greenish color in the skin, much like how a bad bruise sometimes has a tinge of green. The Hulk is green because he is one big bruise. That would make me angry too. Alvarado’s efforts to bring superheroes closer to science is a part of the interactive Avengers-based exhibition, Marvel’s Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N., in Times Square in New York City. He and his fellow scientists actually had a panel based entirely on Marvel superhero science at Comic-Con this year, which you can read about here. Of course, one thing science still can’t solve is how Bruce Banner’s pants stay on. IMAGE: © Marvel 1. Titus says: I dont think there is a “d” in Captain Rogers’ name
Journaling: 1. snow - snow and more snow. 2. my tree - the scenery surrounding this tree changes on a daily basis. 3. chai - it makes a cold day warmer. 4. sorrow - a dear friend known to me only through the internet has died and I feel like I’ve lost a life long friend. 5. wishing - Hermes stares out the door at all the snow. Wonder what’s going through his mind. 6. cold ? - the picture speaks for itself. Cathy Zielske: Cathy Zielske's 52 Weeks Vol. 01B Katie Pertiet: Little Bits Alphabet Catana Kit Pocket Cards: Vintage No. 01 Lynn Grieveson: All White Now Paper Pack Garden Mystery Kit Font: Bailey's (Starlite9711) XXL - Kayleigh W.
You can tell that the liberal writers had a hard time making this. • Topic Archived 1. Boards 2. Assassin's Creed III 3. You can tell that the liberal writers had a hard time making this. 3 years ago#21 I will never understand why some people feel the need to demonise those who disagree with them. 3 years ago#22 Best case scenario the guy is a troll. Worst case: he actually believes what he's saying. Tip: being an Independent doesn't mean "Someone who goes onto Gamefaqs forums to tell others it firmly believes in political stereotypes (however misconstrued)." 3 years ago#23 BigBadDogIV posted... Shad0wG0d posted... dfghdfghfdeh posted... Just for fun. That was the liberal of yesterday, and sadly that is the conservative of today that you mentioned. The liberal of yesterday said things like, "I may disagree with what you say but I will die for your right to say it." Now the lib of today says, "How dare you destest the King! He is a God because he gives us free hand outs! I am not sure where the money is coming from but whatever! I disagree with what you say and I will die for the king silencing you." Face it libs, you don't have free will. You CANNOT disagree with Obama. I on the other hand AM a free thinker, watch this, Obama I think your presidency has been a complete failure and Romney I don't think you would have been any better! Gasp "OH MY GOSH HE DIDN'T!" i actaully read i a article recently about obama (ive read a lot of articles like the one im about to mention but im only mentioning one)...this sort of went under the rader when it happened but did you know obama recently gave Black farmers 1.2 billion dollars of tax payer money...the reason he gave was that we owed it to them for there years as a slave. keeping in mind that none of the farmers that got the money had ever been a slave in there whole life. he did it thru the courts b/c there no way congress would have allowed it and the judge responible for letting it go thru is guilty of reverse discrimation which is technally illegal but i guess he got a free pass or something thanks to obama. This is the most hilarious thing I've read all day. "Don't come this way!" 3 years ago#24 make love (after marriage and always procreatively), not war! 3 years ago#25 Shad0wG0d posted... Hell, it is about resentment to a higher power(the king), freedom, and fighting back against abuse of power. Everything liberals hate! You can tell when they mention conservative things like the Tea Party how liberal the writers are. Also they glorify the king and they also glorify the worsphiping a king way of life. I never understood liberals inherant need to worship a man, why not just be free willed and a free thinker? Anyways, I just thought this was funny. Someone is mad because they didn't win the election. Lol "Ummm... Brotherhood was in Rome, not Italy." X-Box Live Gamertag--GageIsLegend 1. Boards 2. Assassin's Creed III Report Message Terms of Use Violations: Etiquette Issues: Notes (optional; required for "Other"): Add user to Ignore List after reporting Topic Sticky You are not allowed to request a sticky. • Topic Archived
Re: htdig: Windows?? Geoff Hutchison ( Mon, 27 Jul 1998 09:03:20 -0400 (EDT) > Why not then use Ada? This would provide you with even more machines > where htDig can be run on, since there are still a lot of machines with no > Java byte-code interpreter available for them. While I can't speak for Andrew, I can briefly give a few reasons for not using Ada. The current Ada language and compiler offer outstanding advantages for builtin objects and outstanding modularity, IMHO. I have used Ada for some fairly large projects and have found the verification features very nice as well. On the major downside for Ada is the compilation. While I feel safe in assuming that a user has a C++ compiler on a UNIX platform, I don't feel safe in assuming someone has an Ada compiler. In additon, the GNAT project is the only truly free software Ada compiler and it requires binaries to start building. Granted, not everyone has Java installed on their servers either, but we don't have to assume they have a Java compiler. We could ship with the source and bytecode and then you'd only need a Java runtime. I'll go so far as to say I prefer to work in Ada over C++ or Java. But as Mr. Mcpherson mentioned, it's more likely that a system administrator would install Java than an Ada compiler. And they're much more likely to know enough C or C++ or Java than Ada, so they're more likely to suggest fixes, enhancements, etc. -Geoff Hutchison Williams Students Online the body of the message.
Step 4: Final Design One final adjustment to the design that I made was to remove the prongs on the slider that held the elastic band. I removed these and added a cut-out in the middle layer of the slider so that the band could hook around the screw. This meant there was no chance that the bands could come off when firing. Once I'd tweaked the bits I wanted to, the final design was laser cut from 5mm acrylic. The files in this step are provided for personal use on the condition that they or parts cut with them aren't sold. The pistol's bolted together with M3 machine screws and nuts. The end plates and slider are spaced with washers so that the plunger doesn't get caught on the end plates, since it's the same width as them. <p>Cool project. I've been thinking about something like this for a while now. Glad someone did the design for me already. </p> Thats Awesome<br> i dont have a laser cutter........is there another way i can get the gun cut out you could print out the template on a piece of paper, then tape it or glue it to a sheet of plywood, then cut it out with a jigsaw, or band saw if possible. It can`t be fun playing with someone with one of those, unless you also have one Incredible! Amazing! Astonishing! First-class! The best! I'm running out of adjectives! 5/5!<br> Win Guy It's cool, man <br>I like it That looks very awesome Sometimes cheating's fun :p it would be fun if you just hid this under the table at your house and played some jenga, and right whenever there are "no more moves" you just come and blast out a center piece, leaving THEM with no moves.<br><br>however, the surprise of the gun would be given away slightly by the fact that your friends would already know something was up by the way you were so intent on playing jenga.... Nice pistol.<br>I'm trying to load the autocad file and am getting the following error.<br>Unknown value "AC1021" encountered in drawing version.<br>Invalid or incomplete DXF input -- drawing discarded.<br>I have Autocad 2004. If you are using a newer version, could you back peddle it into 2004 format for me? Otherwise what's up? I'll have a look tonight. If you want to try the 3d files instead of the dxf they're on my website, <a href="http://www.redtorope.com/file_downloads/jenga_pistol_2.zip">here</a>. I thought I'd already added them to the instructable, but apparently not.<br> Arghhh stupid site deleted what I wrote and pasted in a previous comment. What I meant to say was.... <br><br>No, you don't need to take the front off, just the side panel of the slider. I played with having the bands held on with hooks but when the slider was forward they were too saggy and sometimes fell off. This way it's a little harder to change the bands, but impossible for them to fall off. I've not broken a band yet though so I don't think it's an issue. actually, it seems to me that this comment was meant to go on the one below this one.... great idea...awesome... @Jayeffu; Hi! Coolness! The video demo rocks :) When I saw the title, Jenga Gun, not remembering what "Jenga" was, I kept thinking, SO... rubber band guns are called Jenga guns, aye?<br> <br> It looks like the trigger band is threaded through one of the four slanted holes in the lower middle. Would it be easier to make them into notches, so that replacing bands is quicker? After peering mightily at your excellent pictures... is it the case you have to take off the front piece when replacing the main bands?<br> <br> Cheers! :)<br> Site Great innvention, really great What a nice design, Jayefuu! Thanks :) totally agreed man<br>high five I've never seen anything like this before! Great idea and a perfect make! 5* and voted! Thanks, the original's very clever too: http://woodgears.ca/jenga_pistol/<br><br> PHEW i thought i was gonna have another boring day of 9/11 with just regular jenga again! just in time and great for the occasion!! HAPPY 9/11 EVERYBODY i can pull out all 3 on the bottom row with nothing but my hands.<br><br>awesome 'ible tho! I say rotate the barrel, replace the push rod with a holder, and make a disk shooter. The disks could be made out of foam board. Great job! So is that a block trigger or what? Nice, build a shotgun to pull the tablecloth out from under the place settings for a royal dinner. Most people would call it a "true trigger", simply because it gets pulled as one.<br>Or, they would've in 2008. I can't tell - is the design independent of thickness (that is, do you need to change the template if you use thicker or thinner materials)?<br> Yes, it's independent of thickness. I thought 3mm would be too thin and 10mm takes toooooooooooo long to cut on our laser cutter. Never would have thought of that. I have hands that shake like an addicts, so it would help me TONS. Unfortunately, i have no laser cutter. But good job anyway! Show Off Laser Cutter You :-)<br><br>Cool Concept to the game. About This Instructable 123 favorites Add instructable to:
PA News Feeds 60% say immigration is hurting UK One in six feels that immigration has brought benefit to the country, while 60% feel it has caused more disadvantages than advantages to Britain, with just 17% believing the opposite. A major concern was the economy, with 77% believing a dramatic reduction in immigration would reduce pressure on public services and welfare, making it easier for British people to find jobs. Just 23% felt it would harm the economy. A further 62% said their biggest concern about immigration was foreign nationals claiming benefits and using public services, while just over a third said they or a relative had been denied housing or other public services apparently because of competition from immigrants. But almost half - 49% - of those polled felt that immigrants often took on jobs that British people were unwilling to do. When questioned about the recent campaign by the Home Office which involves messages on advertising vans telling illegal immigrants to "Go home or face arrest", 79% of respondents supported the message, but just 17% felt the policy would work. In the report, which is released on Monday, Lord Ashcroft says the public have a poor view of politicians' understanding about their concerns. Writing in the Sunday Times, he said: "Many feel that over the past 15 years immigration has been allowed to happen on a scale we cannot cope with, and without public consent being sought or given. Whatever people's views of immigration itself, few think any recent government has had any real grasp of it, or that any of the parties does today.
Saturday, April 12, 2014 no yelling for a year "There should be no yelling in the home unless, there is a fire." -David O. Mckay I remember when I was newly pregnant holding a book in a discount store and thinking to myself "I'm going to be that parent." You know, the one that doesn't YELL. The book was called, "Scream Free Parenting." I read the book from top to bottom and was excited to take on the challenge. Then I had Jack, and as he slowly got older, I slowly began to yell. I remember someone telling me, "sometimes you just need to yell." At the time I brushed her off. Years later I agreed. And now I'm pretty solid in the idea that you don't need to yell. "Words that soak into your ears are whispered -not yelled." -unknown Even now, I'm picturing a teacher in grade school who would make a hand signal above her head when she wanted us to be quiet. Slowly the room would become quiet as each kid caught on, while I was usually the last one talking... and then I'd notice. No yelling involved. A room full of 15-20 kids quieted without yelling, pretty profound huh? Did it take patience? Oh I'm sure, but after accomplishing her goal I bet it felt so good on the inside. I remember when I put the book in our garage sale and another mom bought it. I thought to myself, "good luck" and was happy to see it go. I'm going through another season in my life. A season where my children yell, and I wish they didn't. A season where I sometimes yell at Joel and I don't like it. A season where I sometimes yell over cries and arguing when it would be better if I just stepped into the middle and took control with my presence and soft voice. Don't get me wrong I'm not a compulsive yeller. I actually think our house is pretty peaceful, but when my boys fight, when I'm frustrated and I'm tired, I raise my voice, and I don't like that part of me. I want to be better. I want to have a more peaceful home, one where my presence is felt, not heard. It didn't hurt that I read this today when googling "how to stop yelling." I think it's a realistic goal, and a good one to strive for. No yelling for a year. I'll post a few follow ups along the way. 1 comment: 1. Best of luck to you my dear. I can't remember the last time I yelled, but then I don't have children either. I'd be willing to bet some yoga and meditation will help you with this goal. Good luck! I'm excited to read about how it goes. There was an error in this gadget Blogging tips
Rearrangement reaction From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search A rearrangement reaction are organic reactions where the carbon skeleton of a molecule is rearranged. The result is a structural isomer of the original molecule.[1] Often a substituent moves from one atom to another atom in the same molecule. In the example below, the substituent R moves from carbon atom 1 to carbon atom 2: General scheme rearrangement Intermolecular rearrangements also take place. Isochorismate Pyruvate Lyase converts Isochorismate into salicylate and Pyruvate Sometimes chemists draw diagrams with arrows that show how electrons are transferred between bonds during a rearrangement reaction. Many organic chemistry text books have such diagrams. But they do not tell the full story of the reaction mechanism. The actual mechanism of a rearrangement with an alkyl group moving is for the group to slide smoothly along a bond, not ionic bond-breaking and forming. One example of this is the Wagner-Meerwein rearrangement: Isoborneol Camphene Conversion In pericyclic reactions, the orbital interactions are important. The reactions can not be explained by a series of simple discrete electron transfers. But, the curved arrows showing a sequence of discrete electron transfers can give the same result as a rearrangement reaction. Yet, the diagrams are not necessarily realistic. In allylic rearrangement, the reaction is ionic. Three important rearrangement reactions are 1,2-rearrangements, pericyclic reactions and olefin metathesis. 1,2-rearrangements[change \| change source] A 1,2-rearrangement is an organic reaction where a substituent moves from one atom to another atom in a chemical compound. In a 1,2 shift, the substituent moves between two adjacent atoms. But moves over larger distances are possible. Examples are the Wagner-Meerwein rearrangement: and the Beckmann rearrangement: Beckmann rearrangement Pericyclic reactions[change \| change source] A pericyclic reaction is a type of reaction with multiple carbon-carbon bond making and breaking. The transition state of the molecule has a cyclic geometry. The reaction progresses in a concerted fashion. Examples are hydride shifts Sigmatropic Hydride Shifts and the Claisen rearrangement: Claisen rearrangement Olefin metathesis[change \| change source] Olefin metathesis is a formal exchange of the alkylidene fragments in two alkenes. It is a catalytic reaction with carbene. It has transition metal carbene complex intermediates. General mechanism olefin metathesis References[change \| change source]
• n. Mutual exchange of food between adults and larvae of certain social insects such as bees or wasps. from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License • n. The mutual exchange of food between individuals, especially in social insects troph(o)- + Greek allaxis, exchange (from allassein, to exchange, from allos, other; see al-1 in Indo-European roots). • The species displays unusual and in one or two cases possibly even unique social behaviours, including the consumption and sharing of infrabuccal pellets, the apparent absence of adult transport, a primarily or exclusively mechanical form of colony defence, and a remarkable form of abdominal trophallaxis. ScienceBlogs Channel : Life Science • Placing a food item would lead to mostly the same behavior as they'd eat enough to bring back to the nest, where they could transfer food through trophallaxis to the nursery workers, but when they realized the fact that they were not getting home soon, they'd instead give mouth-to-mouth to the other members of the spiral until all were fed, regardless of who ate the food originally. what's new online! • Thank you for playing, the game, that is. trophallaxis, merdiverous, hive bottom feeders. the lot. LA Weekly \| Complete Issue • The bait is distributed to other members of the colony through the exchange of food known as trophallaxis. MachineMachine (formerly 'The Huge Entity') • As the adults deny the giving of predigested food to their young, so do they deny it to one another, and thus there is absent one of the strongest bonds which maintains intact the structure of the higher colonies - the bond of trophallaxis. It is indeed questionable whether the body structure of this lowly, semisocial ant would permit of such procedure, for its crop, or "social stomach," which enables the higher ants to distribute ingluvial food to their nest mates by regurgitation, is not well developed. - Caryl P. Haskins, Of Ants and Men, 1939, p. 32 December 4, 2008
Rapper T.I.'s No. 1 -- and headed to jail October 09, 2008\|By Greg Kot, TRIBUNE CRITIC The artist with the No. 1 album in the country is going to prison. Billboard confirmed Wednesday that rapper T.I., scheduled in a few months to begin serving a one-year prison term for gun possession, has scored his third straight chart-topper. The Atlanta rapper's sixth album, "Paper Trail" (Grand Hustle/Atlantic), sold 568,000 copies in the last week. He also has the nation's No. 1 single, "Live Your Life." (With 217,000 copies, Jennifer Hudson's self-titled Arista/RMG debut lands at No. 2 on The Billboard 200.) It's the latest high in a year, and a career, that has also seen plenty of lows. T.I., born Clifford Harris Jr. 28 years ago in Atlanta, was a drug dealer who transformed himself into a best-selling rapper and movie star. But last year T.I. was arrested for buying machine guns and silencers. After paying a $100,000 fine and doing community service, he will begin serving a one-year term in 2009. All of which has been prime fodder for his career as one of the best-selling rappers ever to emerge from Atlanta and the "Dirty South" of ghetto misadventure. Much of "Paper Trail" was recorded under unique circumstances -- while its maker was under house arrest awaiting trial. With its cocky, drawling celebrations of his prowess as an indestructible anti-hero, "Paper Trail" is a far more commercial work than his more introspective 2007 release, "T.I. vs. T.I.P." But it also addresses -- and admittedly exploits -- his real-life legal troubles. "You watch it, I live it ... go grab some popcorn," T.I. cackles on "My Life Your Entertainment." Spoken like a man who's about to star in his own MTV reality show. No wonder it's much easier to buy T.I. as an entertainer, a rapper who crafts catchy singles for the pop market, than it is T.I. as a philosopher with Deep Thoughts about reforming his personal life. "I'm Illy" reaffirms his sound: a slow, grinding, drawling chest-beater with a touch of anger, watered down by recycled rhymes about stacking "cash like the U.S. Treasury." There's plenty more filler, most egregiously a no-brainer called "Porn Star" that sounds like it was dashed off in the men's room at a strip club. More disappointing is "Ready for Whatever," which offers a long-winded and somewhat defensive explanation for his arrest. The short version: He's guilty, but he's not sorry. Something about not judging him until you walk a mile in his shoes. In this political season of never directly answering a question, T.I. equivocates with the best of them. But a healthy portion of the album should at least keep T.I. on the pop charts while he's locked away. "Paper Chase" ranks as T.I.'s most accomplished grab for pop-crossover success, never more blatant than on "Live Your Life," which incorporates the beyond-silly hook from the "Numa Numa" YouTube hit. Far better is "Swagga Like Us," with Kanye West, Jay-Z and the ubiquitous Lil Wayne swapping verses with gold chains swinging to a martial beat and a chorus that borrows from M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes." Ludacris adds his live-for-today mirth, complete with pitch-perfect shout-out to actor Samuel L. Jackson, to "On Top of the World." And John Legend adds a smooth R&B hook to "Slide Show." Tucked in the middle of the album, T.I. stands defiant over the swirling, bluesy backdrop of "No Matter What." He speaks in the language of a boxer who refuses to let his guard down. But on "Dead and Gone," the gloves finally drop. The track caps the album with T.I. vowing to leave his gangsta life behind for good, over a dramatic strings-and-piano arrangement punctuated by Justin Timberlake's melancholy chorus. From the opening bravado of "I'm Illy," it's a long journey to the somber reflection of this track. But the vulnerability is probably just another pose. T.I., after all, realizes that even the most difficult realities can be repackaged on albums that go No. 1.
Thursday, January 24, 2013 Beetles most fashionable Figure 1: Beetles wearing clothes. Adapted from [1] and [2] So let me tell you about some of the most adorable research about beetles going on right now. Done by Marie Dacke and Jochen Smolka (and many others) this work has led to many interesting insights, all of which are overshadowed by the research methods of the group. Namely, these guys love to put clothes on beetles. The picture on the right of the dung beetle (Scarabaeus lamarcki) wearing some stylish green silicon boots comes from the much-publicized paper in late 2012 by Smolka et al entitled "Dung Beetles use their dung ball as a thermal refuge". Published in Current Biology, this paper found out that the balls of dung constructed and rolled around by the intrepid little dung beetles provided the beetles with a place to escape the scorching desert sand. Not only that, the dung balls also acted as a heat sink! Since the balls are cooler than the surrounding sand, they absorb heat from it. Dung beetles push their balls in front of them as they move through the desert, and this can actually lower the temperature of the surrounding sand by 1.5 degrees C. (This is about 34 degrees Fahrenheit, for all those unfamiliar with metric). Back to the boots- Smolka et al coated the beetle's legs with heat-resistant silicon in order to gauge which legs the beetles use to sense heat. It turns out they seem to sense the hot sand with the protibia of their front legs. The picture on the left shows a beetle with a rather dashing hat. This hat was used in the 2013 paper by Dacke et al titled "Dung Beetles use Milky Way for orientation", also published in Current Biology. In this paper, the authors determined that a different species of dung beetle (Scarabaeus satyrus) used not only stars in the night sky, but specifically the Milky Way galaxy to keep themselves rolling their dung ball in a straight line. When the beetle's vision was obscured with these stylish hats, they took significantly longer to push their dung ball out of a predetermined arena because they couldn't seem to push it in a straight line. A further battery of tests confirmed that these beetles actually use the Milky way galaxy specifically to orient themselves and keep moving in a straight line. With all that in mind, I encourage whomever reads this to go and put clothes on any animal you find, and record your observations. Trust me, it is for science. [1] Dacke et al 2013. Dung Beetles Use the Milky Way for Orientation. Current biology : CB doi:10.1016/j.cub.2012.12.034 [2] Smolka et al 2012. Dung Beetles use their dung balls as a mobile thermal refuge.doi:10.1016/j.cub.2012.08.057 Saturday, February 4, 2012 So I spend a lot of time thinking about human evolutionary origins, or at least in the context of the morphological novelties we possess that set us apart from other species. Fitting, as this is essentially what my research focuses on, albeit in beetles. One thing that just baffles me is the patchy distribution of hair on our bodies. There are many theories that try to explain this phenomena, but I think most of them are largely incomplete. P.E. Wheeler puts the onus on thermal regulation coupled with bipedality, Markus Rantala claims it had to do with a fitness advantage against ectoparasites, and Elaine Morgan even claims it was an adaptation to aquatic environments! Mine may seem like a fatuous criticism, and that is a valid complaint, but my criticism really hinges on what I consider an outstanding problem in evolutionary biology. Wednesday, October 19, 2011 A slight rant about organic agriculture The scientific blogging community has largely become a voice not just for science, but also for skeptical inquiry. Legions of established scientists, scientists in training, citizen scientists, science enthusiasts, and everyone in between have made it a personal collective mission to evaluate claims about the world at large with an eye towards interpretations backed by evidence. Rightly so, this cadre of skeptics tears apart claims of the paranormal, faith healing, alternative medicine and other quackery in the name of evidence and reason. There is a sort of "dark side" to all this, however, in that some things get a bad reputation due to their close proximity or endorsement by people who generally accept worldviews contrary to those of the skeptic army. One such field that has a tendency to get shit all over by skeptics is the organic foods movement. One would assume that a movement that largely aims to reduce pesticide use in farming, decrease the dependence on monocultured growing practices, and take a skeptical view on GMO crops wouldn't be too difficult of a sell for most anyone with a basic understanding of ecology. Unfortunately the tendency for proponents of organic agriculture to have a decidedly "anti-science" attitude tends to draw the skeptic community like flies, and they waste no time denouncing these "wackos" and criticizing the entire shebang. Now, it is fair to say that there are some legitimate criticisms of the organic movement, especially with the increasing desire to commercialize and oversell the claims made...but this doesn't mean we should throw the baby out with the pesticide-free bathwater! Monday, October 17, 2011 A return to blogging -or- interesting bug of the week! As it turns out, moving to the other side of America and starting your PhD program has a negative correlation with posting on your blog. View Larger Map But! No longer will this little corner of the internet languish in a state of shameful neglect! I mean, come on I spent like a whole hour making that banner image at the top of the page! So, without further ado, I resume posting starting now. Monday, June 27, 2011 Steak Made from Poops? Like this quote: a reaction enhancer and an exploder. Its like these people aren't even trying. Friday, June 24, 2011 A Letter to PZ Myers Sincerely, RZINZ Tuesday, June 21, 2011 Why aren't there insects in the sea?
Wednesday, May 27, 2009 The Relevance of Reggaeton - NPR show This afternoon I was on WNYC (NPR) radio show Soundcheck discussing our book Reggaeton. The comments folks have left on the WNYC webpage have left me wondering. Where we being flat out uncritical? It's such a tricky balance to achieve: to be critical but not to engage in simplistic bashing. M said... I actually enjoyed this interview, especially when comparing it to other interviews you've done -- say, on radio stations in the middle of the country, for example... The questions were, of course, a bit predictable, but in reading the comments, I think that people seem to be responding less to you and more to whatever issues they had with reggaeton before listening to the interview in the first place. Where I thought this interview was strongest was in providing a historical perspective, and trying again to speak against the search for a single point of origins in one nation-state or another. You are right, it is a tricky line to walk between facile dismissal and lack of critique; it's even more difficult to walk that line in an interview, where you are being herded in particular directions by the interviewer. But there's enough there for commentators to truly engage with, even if they don't. Notice, for example, how no one wants to talk about what happens to racial politics once the genre is popularized, or how popularization always involves depoliticizing the racial in favor of shallow aesthetic stereotypes? The interviewer asked you about Bonsai, but not about Loiza -- and they're from the same album. raquelzrivera said... Thanks for the feedback! For a second I was like: who is this person who heard me on a radio station "in the middle of the country"? And then it hit me. Hi M! And thanks for your great company during that radio ordeal! N said... Comments both on the show and the comments. Regarding the dismissive comments on the NPR page- You know, music from the streets, especially if made by "black" people is not typically considered worthy of respect or attention until it is no longer popular and no longer the actual voice of the underclass. Once it doesn't speak uncomfortable truths and remind people of that which they wish to ignore or deny, then it becomes "worthy" of merit and attention. IMO people's reaction to the products of a culture show how they truly feel about that culture ie those people. What the Marsalis family does is worthy of attention, its "different". Well decades ago jazz occupied a place similar to that of reggaeton. The name jazz itself is said to refer to sexual intercourse.But since black folk arent playing it in the streets, getting drunk in clubs and dancing to it anymore, its now Art. Not that we don't all know this already. Sex, vulgarity and sexism- If people want to adhere to a simplistic view of sexuality and equate vulgarity with sexism and misogyny, that is their right. But some of us who believe that in certain contexts a mutual expression of sexual lust is acceptable and even desirable. I do not object to vulgar descriptions of male desire if it is done so in a way that does not demean or objectify the desired person. So I think what you said was on point. Millie Jackson and Bessie Smith gave as good as they got, lyrically speaking.Let La Sista do the same! Were you critical enough? PR Sexism- Listen, there is sexism in almost every culture on earth. Perhaps sexism in lyrics encourages it in the population, but I think its simply a reflection of existing attitudes and would be expressed some other way if there were no reggaeton. Re Reggaeton being male dominated. Most boleristas are and have been male. Salseros? Male. Merengueros? Male. Congueros? Male. Bluesmen? Male. Classical composers? Male.Swing bandleaders? Male. Classical conductors? Male. Why you have to "excuse" or explain when it comes to reggaeton, I don't know. There certainly doesn't seem to be this emphasis on lack of female superstars when discussing other genres. Enough blogjacking.I think you did a good job and I am SO glad you guys are out here doing this!!!! Keep up the good work! raquelzrivera said... Beautifully said: "Millie Jackson and Bessie Smith gave as good as they got, lyrically speaking.Let La Sista do the same!" n said... Oops, I misread the Marsalis part. Well, I'll retract that and say that I am just idly discussing how reggaeton compares to jazz, a genre that is respected now but once wasn't. Anonymous said... It's not relevant anymore. There were some dark years, those being 2004-mid 2008. Yeah no one's blasting this awful music from their cars anymore in Hispanic neighborhoods. Good riddance. The book could stand as a testament to a fad but no more than that. Certain genres of music had their day, Reggaeton is another casualty. By the way, everyone I know agrees with me from a white guy I'm friends with who lives in the thick of it in Washington Heights to a Latino Barber - going to a barbershop in any Latin neighborhood would prove my point. Reggaeton was what it was but it's done now. raquelzrivera said... I think you're overstating your case, anonymous. If top-sellers like Wisin and Yandel are STILL putting reggaeton into their albums and if my neighbors in East Harlem are STILL blasting it... then I think pronouncing it dead might be a little premature. I absolutely agree with you that reggaeton is not what it was. But it is still relevant. And it will still be relevant once it's dead... in the same way that museum pieces are relevant. One more thought: if the same artists that made what you describe as the "awful" sounds of reggaeton popular in 2004 are the same artists using the same cliché lyrics over pop balads and tecno and calling it "urban music".... Is the problem really dead? Is there really that much to celebrate? Jennifer said... LOL he said it all when he said he was a white guy. Non-Spanish speakers, for some unexplicable reason, LOVE to bash reggaetón. Why? You don't understand it... I would never go out of my way to criticize French musicians... why? Because I don't know French lol! Ahhh haters, gotta love 'em! :) You sound so FULL OF IT because everybody knows Washington Heights is full of Dominicans and the Dominican youth LOVE reggaetón. Dominicans and Ricans are the biggest supporters of reggaetón in NY. I'm 20 yrs old & Puerto Rican and have a ton of Dominican friends.... and guess what? They all LOVE reggaetón. Maybe you're bashing because you're bored or because you're an older person who frowns upon music for the youth because of the suggestive dancing and lyrics or whatever, I don't know.... PS - Wisin y Yandel had the #7 spot on the Top 200 billboard chart two weeks back. Reggaetón artists still easily sell out concerts in Latin America. Reggaetón will be dead when the Latin community doesn't support it anymore, not when one person says he doesn't hear it in the Heights anymore. LOLz. When's the last time you saw a reggae/dancehall album on top of the charts? Blasted on the streets 24/7. The answer is you can't remember. Does that mean reggae/dancehall is dead? It's still booming in Jamaica and neighboring islands. Stop acting like you know anything about reggaeton/what you're typing lol.
Subscribe \| Contact \| Advertise \| RSS Feed Other Publications Thursday, 26 September 2013 18:24 Heart of the matter Written by Filled with the musical attitudes of bluegrass, old-time country and early rock-n-roll, the band is influenced as much by Bill Monroe as The Band, by Johnny Cash as The Grateful Dead. It’s about creating something bigger than yourself, about embracing the deep roots of mountain music and incorporating it into modern times, and sharing it with those family and friends you care about most. At the center of the group is Burress, a beloved singer amid the regional music scene. He has the look and swagger of someone destined for greatness, a notion that seems closer and closer as the years wear on. His family has been in Western North Carolina for generations. He aims to bridge the connection between his ancestors and himself through the vocals he pushes through the microphone with every ounce of his soul. The past year is shaping up to be a cornerstone time for Burress. Besides the recent formation of the band last summer, he also himself a character on the Discovery Channel reality show “Hillbilly Blood.” The show features two survivalist expert hosts from Western North Carolina who encounter different people throughout each episode. Besides being brought onto the program as part of his father’s blacksmithing trade, Soldier’s Heart was also filmed performing at a party held for the show. Yes, it has already been quite the year for Burress and Soldier’s Heart, but the journey is long and there’s plenty more to do before all is said and done. TG: How did Soldier’s Heart come about? Caleb Burress: Joey and myself have known each other for 15 years and hadn’t really done anything together. Soon, we noticed we had similar musical tastes and decided to get together on the porch and see what we could do. That was about a year ago. It really kind of just fell together and has congealed ever since then. TG: How would you describe the sound? CB: We want to make music that sounds the way your grandmothers cooking taste, comfort music, something that is comfortable and embracing. TG: Where does the name come from? CB: Soldier’s Heart is an Antebellum [Civil War era] term for posttraumatic stress disorder or shell shock. It’s a tender way to talk about something awful. It kind of ties us to the past and we are aware of our roots. It’s love and war, happiness and sadness. The last shot for the war of southern independence was shot in this area. My dad still has my great-great-grandfather’s drum he beat for the 62nd North Carolina before he was captured at Cumberland Gap and spent two years at a prison camp on the south side of Chicago. TG: Why is this project different from past musical endeavors of yours? CB: I’ve got some older songs I’ve written from other projects that I feel are better represented in this project. It’s more about how the song feels and the mood it creates, and that’s really at the center of all of this. It shows a lot more of those roots, instead of just playing rock-n-roll music, why don’t we play something that’s more true to this area? Everybody thinks of this area as bluegrass, but its part of the equation and not all of it. CB: I was worn out. I was a character on the show, picked up a week of work as a member of the build crew, and then we did the band thing for one of the episodes. I think the experience will open up some doors for us. It’ll definitely be a feather in our cap. We’ve been working hard for a year. We’re ready to get this out there and drive it around a little bit. Read 8070 times Last modified on Wednesday, 25 June 2014 15:58
PfW logo. Search PfW photo of Merlot by Tim Ramey.Merlot is the second most widely-planted black wine grape in the world.1 Most major wine-producing country have Merlot vineyards, including Argentina, Australia, Austria, Chile, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, the United States, and of course France. It is by far the most widely planted grape of the entire Bordeaux region and third, behind carignan and grenache as the most planted black variety in France. However, it has a starring role in only one region, historically, north of Bordeaux's Gironde River, where it is the basis of the wines of St. Emilion and Pomerol. Château Petrus, which has risen in consumer stature in the past four decades, is over 90% Merlot.2 South of the Gironde, however, merlot played a supporting role, usually about a third or less of typical Medoc blends with cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc, until 1950, when plantings began to increase. Today, an average Medoc red blend has a base of two-thirds merlot, with the other grapes lending support. Most of the increased merlot planting has come at the loss of the cabernet franc, carmenere, malbec, and verdot varieties. Merlot cluster.Because merlot ripens at least a week earlier than either cabernet variety, it is "vineyard insurance" where rains are a factor at harvest. The best quality merlot grows in rocky, arid ground, but is fairly adaptable and grows better than the cabernets in clay-based soils, even in damp, cool climates. Since merlot both buds and flowers early, growers' main worry is susceptibility to shatter or coulure, brought about by frost, rain, or early heat waves in the Spring. The berry of merlot is relatively thin-skinned and somewhat prone to rot. Merlot is moderately vigorous in vine growth, but must sometimes be reined in from setting too large of a crop by judicious pruning, often followed weeks later by cluster thinning. Merlot leaf.Merlot on fertile soil may produce eight tons per acre, but best fruit quality is gained if the crop is kept at six tons per acre or less. Merlot's tendencies towards both shatter and over-cropping are paradoxical. Careful selection of both clone and site can avoid this problem, as shatter is more serious in colder climates. Merlot was brought to California in the 1850s and 1870s, but made little impact and was practically unknown. Almaden put in some in San Benito County in the late 1950s, Inglenook had some old acreage (planting date uncertain), and Louis M. Martini planted merlot in 1962, near Healdsburg. Merlot was first bottled as a stand-alone varietal by Louis M. Martini on a blend of 1968 and 1970 vintages. California Merlot was not a big seller until the end of the '80s. But in the 1990s, Merlot became to the American wine consumer what "burgundy" was in the '70s: the generic red wine flavor of fashion. Less than 2,000 acres existed in California in 1985, but over 50,000 acres were bearing by 2003. Gunlach-Bundschu, an historical producer of Sonoma County merlot has produced this highly amusing, entertaining and educational short video on the popular history of the grape... While its flavor profile is similar to Cabernet Sauvignon2, Merlot tends to be less distinctive and slightly more herbaceous overall in both aroma and taste. Ripeness seems critical; both under ripe and overripe grapes lean away from fruit and towards herbaceousness. Merlot has slightly lower natural acidity than Cabernet and generally less astringency, therefore usually a more lush mouth-feel. The most frequent, but not exclusive, aromas and flavors typically found in Merlot include: *Typical Merlot Smell and/or Flavor Descriptors Varietal Aromas/Flavors: Processing Bouquets/Flavors: FRUIT: currant, black cherry, plum OAK (light): vanilla, coconut, sweet wood FLORAL: violet, rose OAK (heavy): oak, smoke, toast, tar SPICE: caramel, clove, bay leaf, green peppercorn BOTTLE AGE: truffle, mushroom, earth, coffee,leather, cedar, cigar box HERBAL: bell pepper, green olive Earlier than Cabernet Sauvignon to mature in bottle, Merlot is held in higher esteem by wine drinkers than by wine collectors. Syrah is richer and darker, Pinot Noir lighter and more velvety, but Merlot has become the darling red wine. Is it because the consumer finds Merlot easy-to-drink or is it perhaps, because Merlot is easy-to-say? I'll have a glass of Merlot, please, while I think about it. by Jim LaMar 1. A bottle of the 1970 (excellent vintage) Ch. Petrus sold for under US$45 in 1975; a bottle of Ch. Petrus 2006 (similarly-rated vintage) lists for an average price of over US$2,200 in 2011. 2. A recent study by an analytical chemist at the University of Bordeaux determined that the flavor distinction between Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot was possibly due to the grapes containing different amounts of one chemical: 4-hyroxy-2,5- dimethylfuran-3(2H)-1, or HDMF. Four times the level of HDMF in Merlot accounted for a more pronounced "caramel" flavor, according to the panel of expert taster subjects, who graded nine samples on the relative strength of 12 aroma categories. RETURN arrow back. arrow up. arrow forward. Page created October 5, 2001; last updated July 1, 2015 Protected by Copyscape DMCA Takedown Notice Violation Search
Veteran airline captain and GA legend Barry Schiff enters the paper versus electronic chart debate with Senior Editor Dave Hirschman. November 1, 2013 Getting perspective You can’t see that on a screen By Barry Schiff When I accepted Dave Hirschman’s challenge to defend paper charts in a debate against digital charts, I knew that I would be pitching him a softball. The economics and convenience of digital charts make it difficult—but not impossible—to argue against them. Paper VFR charts obviously are best for spreading on the floor to gain a perspective of a planned cross-country flight. Yes, you can squish and expand a chart on your iPad, but detail and perspective are lost. The beauty of paper charts is that they don’t break when dropped or fail when you spill something on them. They don’t fade to black or get hung up for inexplicable reasons. I shiver just thinking about a tablet failure when in the clouds and about to begin an unfamiliar instrument approach. This is why airline pilots using them are required to have backups. A paper chart doesn’t create glare in sunlight, doesn’t need batteries, is easier to use in turbulence, and often has a larger “screen.” It also cannot change function or switch programs by inadvertently touching something on its face. A paper chart is infinitely more reliable than anything electronic. (Notice that Hirschman prints approach plates before departing on an IFR flight. If I’m not mistaken, he prints them on paper.) Another problem with electronic charts is that downloading revisions makes it difficult to detect changes made on commonly used approach charts. Nor can you easily compare charts that seem identical but are not (such as the Yankee and Zulu approaches to San Carlos, California). Also, you can’t use an iPad to swat flies. Well, I suppose you could, but it might be an expensive swat. Nor can it be used as a sun shield or an improvised instrument hood, as can a paper chart. The good thing about a failed iPad is that you can glue mileage scales along its edges and use it to measure distances and draw lines on a paper chart. Tablets can be heavy to hold for long or even short periods, and mounting them in small cockpits is challenging. A chart can be conveniently tucked anywhere. I like writing and making notes on paper charts. You should have seen Hirschman’s face when I wrote on the face of his iPad with a black Sharpie. It wasn’t pretty. Every pilot should have a Plan B, and “B” means “back to basics,” which to me means having paper charts in the cockpit. Someday, though, none of this will matter. Paper charts eventually will be unavailable, another step off the cliff of excessive technological reliance—and I will miss them. Visit the author’s website ( Paper is passé Take a memo (electronically) By Dave Hirschman In case you haven’t seen the memo, the era of navigating with paper charts is over. Sure, aeronautical charts are astonishingly accurate and beautifully drawn wonders of cartography. The hand-painted silk maps they replaced are even more sublime, and a few treasured examples adorn my office wall. But in actual airplanes, electronic charts are far more useful, and they’re getting better and cheaper at a rapid rate. A single tablet computer today can easily store every VFR chart and IFR procedure for the entire country, and digital subscriptions are painless to keep current. Add an ADS-B receiver and tablet computers get even more miraculous with free weather, traffic, pireps, and synthetic vision. Like other aviators of my generation, I learned to fly cross-country with a thumb held to my position on a VFR sectional. That was an interesting and perhaps character-building exercise, but cockpit chart-reading and folding skills are as useless today as typewriter ribbon. Open any aviation app and the blue dot shows your position (as well as heading, altitude, and groundspeed) with updates coming 10 times a second. I’m a pretty decent map reader, but not that good. Also, digital charts are one of those rare anomalies in aviation in which prices are actually falling, and dramatically so. A paper subscription for VFR and IFR charts used to cost in excess of $1,200 a year. Flight bags full of heavy approach plates meant job security for chiropractors, and countless trees paid the price. The same information is available in electronic form for $100 or less per year, weighs nothing, and never gets lost in the mail. No technology is perfect, and tablet computers can stop working when they get too hot, or too cold, or run out of power. But paper charts are no panacea. They get ripped or smudged, lost, attract spilled coffee, and float away from open-cockpit airplanes. (I lost a New York sectional from a Waco somewhere over Saratoga Springs, and an Atlanta terminal chart near Stone Mountain.) Today, tablet computers are our EFBs; handheld and panel-mount avionics contain their own moving maps and navigation databases; and we can print approach plates at just about any FBO for our destination airports, alternate airports, and any number of others. We can even get them in large print if desired. Paper charts had a good run, and they will live on as colorful keepsakes, conversation pieces, and gift wrapping. If Captain James Cook, the greatest cartographer and explorer of them all, were with us today, he’d carry an iPad.
Close Lobsters: Firestation Towers: 1986-1989 Track List Album Notes As one of the groups featured on the legendary C86 cassette release by the NME, Scotland's Close Lobsters' place in the history of indie pop was already cemented. Their contribution, "Firestation Towers," was one of the set's highlights and featured all the things that made them special. The skittering and breezily melodic guitars, the uptempo pulse of the rhythm section, Andrew Burnett's inscrutable lyrics, and the solid craft of their songwriting are all present. Over the course of several singles and two really solid album, Close Lobsters operated outside the realm of mass popularity, but listening to Firestation Towers: 1986-1989, Fire's 2015 collection of their complete recorded works, it's clear that the lack of heaping amounts of popularity wasn't their fault at all. The disc of singles (which was previously released as Forever Until Victory! The Singles Collection in 2009) has a bunch of songs that sound like hits, especially "Let's Make Some Plans" and the sprightly "In Spite of These Times." Maybe their songs are less immediate than, say, the Smiths, but the hooks are skyscraper tall and the energy is always infectious. The two albums included here, 1987's Foxheads Stalk This Land and 1988's Headache Rhetoric, are both solid to excellent indie pop collections with plenty of jangle, plenty of mild angst, and a brilliantly shiny sound. Foxheads comes out ahead by just a touch thanks to slightly stronger songs and a looser production style, but really it's a toss-up. The three discs together tell the story of a band that may not have received the same accolades over the years as some of its contemporaries, but which deserves them all the same. Mid- to late-'80s guitar pop doesn't get much better than this, and Fire has done a great favor to both original fans of Close Lobsters and those who might discover the band's charms here for the first time. ~ Tim Sendra There are currently no reviews, be the first one! Login or Create an Account to write a review

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