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California Biographies Transcribed by Peggy Hooper This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives Source: History of the state of California and biographical record of the San Joaquin Valley, California. An historical story of the state's marvelous growth from its earliest settlement to the present time. Prof. James Miller Guinn , A. M. The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1905 Notes: Missing Page: 865-866,983-984,1175-1176 CLARENCE A. STARKWEATHER. Actively identified with the advancement of the agricultural interests of Merced county is C. A. Starkweather, well known as the manager of the Los Banos Creamery. He is wide awake, full of energy, and not only possesses a thorough knowledge of the details of his work, but is a man of excellent business capacity and judg- ment, having inherited in no small measure the substantial qualities of a long line of honored New England ancestors. A son of A. Starkweather, he was born, October 28, 1864, in Whately, Mass., while his mother was there visiting friends and relatives. The immigrant ancestor of the Starkweather family came from England to New England in early colonial days, and settled in Connecticut, from whence his descendants have scattered to all parts of the Union. The grandfather of Air. Starkweather was a life-long farmer, and a resident of west- ern Massachusetts. Born and bred in the old Bay state, in the town of Northampton, A. Starkweather grew to manhood on the ancestral homestead, where he was early trained to farming pursuits. Mi- grating to California in 1851, he located eight miles north of Stockton, where he was employed in tilling the soil for a number of years. In 1858 he visited his old home in Massachusetts, returning the same year to his ranch near Stockton, where he resided the following ten years. In 1868, on account of ill health, he sold his land, and went back to Massachusetts with his family. Not content, however, among the rocks and hills of his native state, he returned to the Pa- cific coast in 1878. locating on a ranch near Farmington. He subsequently bought land in that locality, and was there employed in general farming until after the death of his wife, when he removed to Alameda, where he now resides. Mr. A. Starkweather's wife was Frances Loomis, who was born in Whately. Mass., a daughter of Leonard Loomis, a prominent farmer of that town, and for many years its town clerk. She died in 1899. Three children were born of their union, namely : H. K.. a well known business man of San Francisco; C. A., the special subject of this sketch, and H. R., in business with his brother, C. A., in Los Banos. During the earlier years of his boyhood, from 1868 until 1878, his parents being residents of Massachusetts, C. A. Starkweather attended the public schools of Northampton. Returning with them to California, he took a two years' course at the Stockton Business College, from which he was graduated in 1883. From that time until attaining his majority he remained at home, as- sisting his father in the care of the ranch. Subsequently forming a partnership with J. L. Beecher. Mr. Starkweather was engaged in grain farming from 1886 until 1898, being located in Stanislaus county, and operating from fifteen hundred to twenty-five hundred acres of land. Selling out in 1898, having become discouraged on account of a series of bad crops, Mr. Starkweather gave up farming as an occupation. Going to Stockton, he entered the employ of Fred Arnsberger, manager of the Stockton Creamery, and during the three months that he continued with him he learned the details of the creamery business. Mr. Stark- weather then took charge of the Oakdale Creamery, which, while he was engaged in farming, he had helped to build, serving die company as its secretary and as a director, and remained there as its manager for two years. Going from there to San Joaquin county, he had charge of the Lockeford Creamery from 1901 until 1902. Accepting then a position with Schultz. Niggle & Co., he was for a time head butter-maker at the Hygea Creamery in San Francisco, then spent two months with the Jersey Creamery in Alameda, after which he spent a year in San Francisco with his brother, being city salesman for his brother, then took up his business as butter-maker for the Encinal Creamery Company until it became consolidated with the Jer- sey Creamery Company, when he was made head butter-maker at the Alameda plant. In September. 1903, Mr. Starkweather accepted the position of manager of the Los Banos Creamery for Miller & Lux, the proprietors, and since the leasing of the plant, on June 1, 1904, to the San Francisco cream depot, has continued its management, his work being in every way satis- factory, meeting the approval of his employers and of the patrons of the creamery. The plant, having a capacity of eighteen hundred pounds of butter per day, is furnished with all the latest improved machinery and appliances, including steam power, being up .to date in all- respects. In addition to manufacturing butter of a superior grade. Mr. Starkweather ships cream to San Francisco daily. In Farmington, Cal., Mr. Starkweather married Anna H. Anthony, who was born near there, being a daughter of Simeon H. Anthony, a native of Massachusetts, and one of the early pioneers of California, having come here in 1851, settling as a farmer, after leaving the mines, in San Joaquin county. Mr. and Mrs. Starkweather have two children, namely : Clara A. and Elfleda H. Politically Mr. Starkweather is an earnest supporter of the principles of the Republican party. He is a member of the National Union and of the California Creamery Operators' Association. Religiously he belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church.
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What to know on Egypt's new political drama
— Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court, made up of judges appointed by Hosni Mubarak before his ouster last year, ordered the dissolving of the Islamist-dominated parliament and upheld the right of Mubarak's former prime minister Ahmed Shafiq to run for president. The rulings came only two days before the start of this weekend's runoff election between Shafiq and the candidate of the Muslim Brotherhood. Here are some questions and answers on the rulings and their impact.
Egypt's transition to democracy is effectively thrown back to square one where it was 16 months ago after Mubarak fell and the military took power. New elections must be held to choose a lower chamber of parliament to replace the now dissolved one, which was primarily tasked with writing a new constitution. The drafting has not even begun because of disputes over Brotherhood attempts to dominate the process.
For now, the ruling generals will be in charge of legislation, taking back an authority they handed in January to the then-freshly elected parliament. Depending on who wins, they may hand over both executive and legislative powers to the new president. Many Egyptians believe the military wants that to be Shafiq, who was Mubarak's last prime minister. But if the Brotherhood's Mohammed Morsi wins, the generals - who have said previously they will never allow the group to dominate Egypt's politics - are likely to balk at handing over many powers.
The generals are also likely to step in to form the constituent assembly in charge of drafting the country's new constitution, now that parliament is dissolved.
It upheld a lower court's ruling that the law governing the way parliamentary elections were held was unconstitutional. Under the law, the 498 contested seats (the other 10 are appointed by the head of state) were chosen as follows: Two-thirds of them went to candidates running on party lists, while the other third were contested by individual candidates, in which party members were also allowed to run. The Constitutional Court ruled that allowing party members to compete on the individual lists violates the principles of equal opportunity because it gives party members two chances to compete for all the seats while independent candidates don't have the same opportunity.
The court threw out the "Political Exclusion Law" passed by the parliament last month which barred from running for office anyone who served in senior posts in Mubarak's regime during the last 10 years. The court said the law violates the right of equality before the law and excludes people on the basis of profession not a crime. The parliament passed the law after Shafiq and other former Mubarak regime strongmen applied to run, arguing that after a revolution that toppled Mubarak, his aides should not be allowed to run for office.
The decision is a blow to the Muslim Brotherhood in its struggle for power with the military establishment, which has been the behind-the-scenes power in Egypt since 1952. After Mubarak's fall, the Brotherhood rose to become Egypt's most powerful political movement, winning 47 percent of parliament's seats alongside other, more radical Islamists who took another 25 percent. But the dissolving of parliament robs it of its main concrete gain since the uprising against Mubarak and its foothold in governing.
The Brotherhood is in a tough position, as it has few friends left. It disillusioned many leftist and secular revolutionaries and parts of the public that supported it in the parliamentary elections because of its perceived attempts to monopolize politics.
Members of the Brotherhood, as well as many leftist and secular activists and rights monitors, say the verdicts amount to a coup by the military by tightening the generals' grips on the levers of rule in the country. No constitution defines the powers of the coming president, giving the military enormous sway over his authorities. Forming a new parliament will likely take months and may not come until after a new constitution. Only a day earlier, the military-appointed government gave military police and intelligence the power to arrest civilians to enforce order, a power likely to last even beyond June 30, when the army said it would hand over authority to the president and go "back to the barracks."
The Brotherhood-military power struggle is not finished. Morsi is still in the race, backed by a powerful Brotherhood electoral machine. Anti-military protests by secular and youth groups that have raged over the past year are likely to continue.
The Associated Press
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We Dont Know How Much They Have Left, We Do Know Theyll Give All
BY Ron Borges ON May 17, 2010
Of all the questions swirling around this weekend’s fourth confrontation between Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez the biggest one is the simplest to state but most difficult to answer: Can they really do that to each other again?
The problem with rematches and even more so with third and fourth fights is that both fighters become acutely aware of what the other does and how he tries to do it but more significantly they become aware of the kind of damage each can inflict on the other.
Human nature being what it is, if you beat the tar out of each other in the way Vazquez and Marquez have in their trilogy of personal destruction, eventually it would seem logical to conclude a voice inside would whisper, “Enough already!’’
Might that finally be the case Saturday night when they square off for a fourth brutal confrontation at the Staples Center in Las Angeles? Might those voices inside suggest they consider self-preservation this time rather than engaging in another brutal assault which if it occurred on the street would result in felony convictions?
No one can know this until the two are alone in the ring with each other again and that includes the fighters themselves. Surely Vazquez, a three-time world champion, and Marquez, a champion in two weight classes, believe they are willing to pay the steep price of doing to each other again what they did in their first three fights but once the pain is visited on them can they simply ignore that which they know will be required to win and press on at their own expense?
That no one knows the answer is one reason why people will watch. The other is that neither man was affected by such concerns the first three times they committed felonious assault, so why would they start worrying about their own health now?
“I think it surprised everybody with how great the first three fights were,’’ said Vazquez (44-4, 32 KO). “No one expected them to be so great. We surprised everybody and we surprised ourselves.
“More than anything, we treated the fans. I still get stopped in the street and people say ‘Hey, are you going to fight him again?’ Or, ‘When are you going to fight him again?’ so I have to thank the fans because without them there wouldn’t be a fourth fight.
“I have a lot of gratitude for the fans for sticking by me because I’ve been out for such a long time and there’s still an interest in the fight.’’
After winning the final two of the three back-to-back-to-back wars, Vazquez was so beaten up he has fought only once in the past 26 months after a 19-month layoff following the third fight while undergoing three surgeries to repair a damaged eye.
Marquez, who stopped Vazquez in the first fight, was himself stopped in the second and lost a bloody, hotly disputed split decision in the third when two of the judges scored the bout 114-111 in opposite directions while the third saw it for Vazquez by a single point, 113-112.
To add to the tight symmetry between these two sons of Aztec warriors, Marquez (38-5, 34 KO) also has fought only once in the past 24 months, needing a 14 month respite from boxing after the third fight to rekindle a fire that had all but consumed him in pursuit of victory.
Vazquez’s one return was little more than a sparring session and it was another year before he reached the point where he feels again ready to face an opponent with whom he knows he will be linked for as long as men fight for money.
“It’s going to be a great fight, just like the other three,’’ Marquez insists. “It’s going to be a spectacle. That’s the kind of fights we make.’’
The kind of fights they make seem like they belong in the Roman Colosseum because they are more gladiatorial confrontations than boxing matches. Each time they fought it was assumed the next fight could not possibly be as brutal but each exceeded its predecessor and now they are back for whatever follows a rubber match, each damaged goods to be honest but not so damaged that they are not ready to damage each other and themselves once again to entertain people’s bloodlust.
“Someone once said to me when we were involved with the Gatti-Ward fights that we were part of history,’’ recalled Golden Boy Promotions COO David Itskowitch. “I know we all get caught up in the details of promoting a show but one thing we should all do is sit back and realize we’re part of boxing history with these fights.’’
It is a bloody history to be sure, one now punctuated by so much familiarity that it seems there is nothing Marquez can think inside a boxing ring that Vazquez will not anticipate and vice versa.
That causes its own problems yet both feel, as they do with everything about facing each other, that they can handle those issues in the same way they will handle the pain they are again sure to inflict upon each other.
“We know each other very well,’’ said Vazquez. “We know each other’s strengths and weaknesses. It’s our job to do what we have to do and it’s our job to prevent the other guy from doing what they have to do. We’re fighters.
“I’ve had big fights that have taken a lot out of me but I still feel good. That’s why I’m still fighting.’’
In the gym, they may both feel fine but neither looked like his old self in their one venture back into the ring. On those nights they just looked old.
This was especially true for Vazquez, who although he stopped journeyman Angel Priolo in the ninth round by dropping him three times looked tentative and unsure of himself for long stretches.
Considering what Marquez and the size of his own heart have put him through that is understandable but if he is slow to react, or hesitant to engage, it could be a dangerously difficult night for a guy who is 32 years old on the calendar but far older than that in boxing years.
“I know his tendencies,’’ Vazquez said. “I know where to attack him from. But how will we hold up physically? How much did those past fights take out of us? These are the questions that will be answered.
“My motivation is to shut those naysayers’ mouths. They say I shouldn’t be fighting anymore. I want to shut their mouths and let them know I can still make great fights.’’
The story – and the questions - are much the same for Marquez, who claimed recently that the only difference between him now and when their trilogy began is that he is “more mature.’’ He may be more mature but he is not what he was when they started this long walk.
Whether he knows that or not he’s not saying but one thing about boxing is that all will be revealed and undeniable Saturday night.
“I still feel physically fine,’’ Marquez insists and he probably does. They both will…until about two or three minutes after the first bell echoes inside the Staples Center. Then it will all come back to them.
What they have done to each other.
What they are risking to do it again.
What they have left inside them once the leather begins to crash home and the pain and exhaustion wash over them with an odd familiarity.
Most of all, what will come back to them is the price the other will demand of him to win.
Not even they know what will happen after those realizations hit with the force of their punches but one thing is sure. Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez will give all they have left inside them to win.
How much that is, no one knows.
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Tuesday, August 11, 2009
The Tiger's Tail Review
Sometimes the hub and I need a "post kid bedtime" date night, now don't take that with your mind in the gutter.... but sometimes we just need to veg out with a movie. We decided to do so this past weekend with a movie that we had never seen before, as we usually just end up with one that we've seen a million times over.
We relaxed on the couch and popped in "The Tiger's Tail" and though normally, this style of mystery, crime, drama, you name it, isn't my style... "The Tiger's Tail" definitely kept my interest. Without ruining the whole movie for you, because you KNOW you have to at least rent this, if not purchase it, it's really easy to get immersed in a movie that follows someone who is trying to figure out his past after seeing his "double."
After watching "The Tiger's Tail," both the hub and I looked at each other and had no words except... "Whoa..." Kim Cattrall is able to pull off an Irish accent wonderfully, and a story of someone trying to figure out who he is, is definitely engaging!
You can purchase "The Tiger's Tail" at amazon.com.
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After last week’s cliffhanger, I was itching to find out what would happen to Shu now that he’s joined the Undertakers. Will he actually join them and forget about Makoto asked him to do? Or will he join with the pretenses to betray them all? Either way, things are about to get interesting! The episode starts off with Shu, Gai and Inori all returning to their headquarters, though Shu looks less than pleased about the whole idea. Once there, Gai asks about Kenji and his second-in-command says that he shows no signs of waking up, though they’re unsure of whether or not it’s because of the stress of having his Void used. Gai looks quite tired and irritated by this, but continues by introducing Shu to everyone again. He informs them all that since Shu has the Void Genome, all of their missions will be orchestrated around Shu’s abilities. Someone then asks him what their next step is and Gai tells them that they will be infiltrating the Leucocyte. He then brings up several hundred strategies based on patterns of what could or could not happen before instructing everyone to memorize all of them if they plan on joining them in the battle. One member pipes up and asks what happens if they don’t memorize everything and Gai simply states that they won’t have a place in the operation if they won’t take the time to seriously dedicate themselves to the plan. His second-in-command then addresses the worry of fatigue for the troops, but Gai rounds on him and is quite angry. He shouts at him, saying that he’d rather they be tired in the field than be fighting with their eyes blurry and glazed over from sleep. His second hand then backs off and leaves Gai to his business.
Meanwhile, Shu is scanning the room and notices a young girl in the balcony, happily chatting with another member. He seems surprised (as was I) to see someone so young as a member of the Undertakers. Shu’s attention is quickly drawn back to the matters at hand by Gai, who summons Ayase over to them. At first, Ayase is nervous but quickly becomes flabbergasted and possibly insulted when Gai asks her to train Shu for a mock battle. She finally relents when Gai tells her that she’s the only one he trusts to train Shu. Gai then tells Shu that he needs to pass the mock battle in order to become an official member of Undertaker, so he shouldn’t take the task lightly. Then, as quick as he was to give out orders, Gai leaves for his room to come up with a plan. Ayase then approaches Shu and tells him to get ready, but Shu tells her that he doesn’t want to make her feel obligated to train him since she’s in a wheel chair. She smiles and tells him that he’s sweet, but she can handle herself. When she holds out her hand, Shu grasps it, but is shocked when Ayase uses her wheelchair to knock his knees out from under him and slam him to the ground. She then angrily tells him that just because she’s in a wheelchair doesn’t mean that she can’t fight on her own. Shu apologizes and is ushered away to get changed, but as he leaves, we see the receiver that Makoto had given him lying on the ground. Uh oh! Some time later, we see Shu all dressed in the Undertakers’ uniform – and looking quite dashing, if I may say so – and meets Ayase in the hallway. He’s shocked to see her writing things in a notebook with the receiver he was given (apparently it also functions as a pen) and he tried to get it back from her. Instead of just giving it to him, Ayase makes a deal with Shu. If he can pass the mock battle in three days, he’ll get his pen back. If he doesn’t pass it, she gets to keep it. Unfortunately, Shu has no other option but to agree to her terms.
Su is then summoned to a small room where he meets Arugo Tsukishima, a second-year at a local high school. Apparently the boy is incredibly skilled at hand-to-hand combat and tosses a knife at Shu. Shu hesitantly asks if the blade is real and Arugo laughs, saying there would be no point in training with one that wasn’t real. He then tells Shu to come at him like he’s going in for the kill, but Shu promptly faints when Arugo charges at him. We then see a montage of Shu’s training, all of which highly amused me. When he’s running, Tsumugi scolds him for being so out of shape and Shu counters with the excuse that he’s into more cultural things than sports. He eventually becomes more accustomed to fighting, which is a good thing, since by the time the montage is done, all three days have passed and his mock battle is in the morning! As Shu wanders around the halls, he spots Inori sitting in a room overlooking the city, quietly singing to herself. He approaches her and comments on how it’s similar to how they first met. Inori doesn’t say anything, but Shu continues on about how he’s glad that he met her and that they’ll make a good team. As he reaches for her hand, she pulls her hand away and puts some distance between them. Shu is confused when Inori tells him that she’s not his friend and he shouldn’t get close to her. He asks her what she meant when she said that she was his and that they’ll be together forever. You can see his heart break when Inori says that Gai was the one who told her to say those things and she only did because she’s loyal to Gai. Shu tries to ask what she means by that and tells her that they can run away together, but Inori says that she can’t ever leave Gai’s side because he’s the one who gave her her name when she lost her memories. She then stands up and leaves, telling Shu not to get close to her. Shu sadly leaves the room and sees Inori entering Gai’s room. Upset, he runs down the hall towards his room but accidentally bumps into Ayase, knocking her out of her wheelchair. She shouts at him for not looking where he’s going, but quickly calms down when she notices how upset he is.
She asks him if he saw Inori and Gai and when Shu says yes, she tells him that everyone’s noticed them spending the night together like that two or three times a month, but no one wants to say anything. Shu asks her how she can stand it when she likes Gai, but she quickly denies any feelings for Gai other than respect. After a quick encouraging conversation, Ayase tells Shu that she doesn’t need help climbing into her wheelchair, but she’d like him to leave her alone since she doesn’t look very graceful doing it. Shu agrees and tells her good night before heading down the hallway. While Shu heads to his room, we see Gai and Inori together, but they’re not doing what everyone probably thinks they are. Gai looks like he’s getting a blood transfusion – for what reason, we don’t know yet – and he says that Inori looks just like “her”. Inori asks him if that bothers him and he says no. The next day, Gai and the young girl Shu saw when he first entered the Funeral Parlor head out to scout out an area to launch their attack and Shu gets ready for his mock battle. He’s facing Ayase, who is piloting her Endlave, and the whole goal of the mock battle is for Shu to get past her Endlave and safely into the building behind her without taking any hits. She warns him that even though they’re just using paintballs, they’re still hard enough to stun someone if hit. The battle begins and though Shu runs away at first, he spots Arugo and remembers that Arugo still has the ability to produce a Void. Ditching his paintball gun, he summons Arugo’s Void, which is a rod that surrounds the enemy in darknes. Using this, Shu is able to get to the car safely and wins the mock battle. Shu apologizes for cheating, but Ayase says that it’s alright because he just used what skills he has that makes him unique. After that, everyone congratulates him and welcomes him into the Undertakers; Ayase makes sure to hold up her end of the deal and gives Shu back his pen as well. The celebration is short lived as Tsumugi rushes in and informs everyone that the area Gai was scouting out was hit by a missile!
Opinions: As always, there was a good balance of plot, action and something to intrigue the viewer. I’m really curious about why Gai appears to need blood transfusions and how he’s able to tell what sort of Void people will be able to produce. Of course, there’s the ever-lasting mystery of Inori and her origin, though now I want to know who she looks like. Seeing Shu finally become part of the Undertakers was incredibly gratifying, but I wonder if he’ll turn on them and give Makoto the information he asked for or if he’ll betray Makoto. And of course, why does Gai want to take over that building so badly? Is there some sort of importance to it? Either way, it looks like we’ll have to wait until the next episode to find out what happens to Gai!
Score: A/A+
• FlareKnight
This was quite the episode. First it feels like Shu’s ability to trust others is broken down even further with Inori saying it was all orders. Of course hard to tell since she could have been ordered to say they were orders. Or it could be a mixed truth. Regardless if Shu had that pen they would have all been in trouble. Before that chat with Ayase he definitely would have used it.
I really liked Ayase’s character in this one. Went from simply the pilot who has a thing for Gai to a more full character. May have been teasing a bit much when Shu saw Inori go with Gai, but could just be payback from those two fooling around during the shooting training. In the end she didn’t blow up at him and helped give him the motivation to do what he could during that mock battle. At least during that moment she became one person he could accept and get along with. A long road to friendship, but I liked that scene.
The situation with Gai is full of mystery. Certainly doesn’t appear to be a good thing if he needs transfusions like that. And the identity of the girl that Inori looks like has to be key.
It was nice when Shu won and was accepted. People respond to actions and the more Shu proves himself the more people will appreciate him. Certainly seemed more likely as well that he wouldn’t use the pen since it’d betray those people who finally seemed to accept him.
In terms of why Gai wants to capture the building so badly I think it goes like this: The Leucocyte seems to be a weapon considering Tsugumi said it was fired at point delta. Looking at the insane damage to the area I can understand why Gai’s group would want to secure it or at least make sure their enemies can’t use it. It looked more like some kind of attack satellite from the image.
• nagicakes
It definitely was a pretty action-packed episode! I feel terrible for Shu; he finally found someone he could believe in and it may or may not have been a facade created by Gai’s orders. I don’t think that it’s completely has to do with Gai though. In episode 4, when Shu was arrested by GHQ, Inori was talking to Funnell and asking why she felt so cold before commenting on how Shu would probably know why. Coupled with the fact that she disobeyed Gai’s orders to rescue Shu, I think she does have some sort of feelings for him, even if she doesn’t understand them herself. Though it may not be romantic in any way, she definitely has strong feelings towards him.
I loved Ayase’s character! She’s sassy, witty and head-strong. The fact that even while she’s in a wheelchair, she can take someone down is awesome. I do think she was teasing Shu a bit too much, but I agree with what you said. It was probably payback for Shu trying to take it easy on her at first. It definitely feels like there could be a strong friendship between them, but we’ll have to wait and see how that goes. And you’re right; it was probably a good thing that Ayase had the pen with her when Shu saw Gai and Inori because he probably would have seriously contemplated using it right then and there.
As for Gai, I really want to find out what’s going on with him. He’s obviously not well, but he continues to push himself – and his team – daily. Inori is still a complete mystery, but maybe once we figure out who this girl she looks like is, we’ll have more of a clue as to who she is and where she came from.
The Leucocyte did look like a satellite instead of a building. 8|a I can see why Gai would want that under his control instead of letting GHQ have it, especially after seeing how much damage it can cause! I hope that we’ll find out what it’s all about in the next episode. And that Gai is okay!
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Embers #3 - Hollow Cage
Facebook / embersembers.com
Manchester's Embers returned yesterday to remind everyone just why they sent so many blogs into hyperbole overdrive after the release of their initial demo tracks a year or so ago, new track "Hollow Cage" is without doubt their best yet and will blow anything else you've heard this week out of the water, recorded live in a dimly lit Manchester Monastery (full marks to the director for final video quality) "Hollow Cage" is groundbreaking, a seven minute journey beyond comprehension that is truly, truly stunning.
Joined by an orchestra and backing choir who add sweeping strings and ethereal harmonies to the bands cinematic soundscapes the track creeps along majestically from quiet, ambient beginnings to reach a conclusion as grandiose on scale as anything you'll hear, murky keys and shimmering guitars become more and more saturated until they explode upon a cataclysm of shattering emotions, turning the beauty conveyed before into a deafening cacophony as instruments and voices merge under the crashing of colossal drums and skyscraper sized guitars.
I'll say it again, truly, truly stunning. Come down south soon please lads.
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Netball: Colling unconvinced by lift's long term value
By Adrian Seconi of the Otago Daily Times
Former Silver Ferns captain Belinda Colling is not entirely convinced netball's lineout-style lifting manoeuvre will prove that successful in the long run.
Northern Mystics goal keep Anna Harrison's acrobatics have been the talk of the sport since the game against the Melbourne Vixens on Saturday.
Former Otago defender Harrison (nee Scarlett) was able to bat away or grab several shots at goal after getting some assistance from her team-mates, who hoisted her in the air to give the former beach volleyball representative the extra elevation she needed.
The "chairlift", as it has been dubbed, proved crucial in the Mystics' 49-45 win over the Vixens in Melbourne.
But the tactic has divided the netball community. Some feel it gives the defenders too much of an advantage and should be outlawed in a similar way to basketball's goal tending rule. In basketball, the ball can be swatted away on its upward path but not its downward trajectory.
Others, Colling included, believe it is a skillful innovation which adds to the spectacle.
"To be honest I didn't see it because I was driving during the match," Colling said.
"But I have seen it practised for a long time. It is innovative and I think it will be interesting to see how teams react to it.
"Quite simply, there is two defenders involved in it so all you have to do as an attacker is pass off.
"And it is a difficult thing to do for a defender. I've seen this being performed and it was practised when I was in the Ferns. So it has taken them this long to actually get it right in a game. It is not quite as easy as you think."
Should teams start grouping defenders under the net and using the tactic with more accuracy, then Colling believes a rule change may be required.
"I would hate to see defenders not defend anything else except stand under the goal posts and lift someone up. If it got to that point, then they would address it."
Dame Lois Muir was very much in the Colling camp. She was impressed by Harrison's athleticism but believes the tactic will only be useful when both shooters are close to the post.
"It couldn't have been anyone else but Anna because she has that marvelous standing jump and great timing," Muir said.
"But it is only useful if both shooters are close to the post. You couldn't do it to Maria Tutaia because she shoots from further out.
"[Sunday] was a prime example of the other shooter standing there with her mouth open. Had she moved aside or been available for the ball, the lifting defender wouldn't have been able to do it because she would have been drawn away."
Dunedin-based international umpire Jono Bredin said as long as the defender did not interfere with the post, net or hoop, then the manoeuvre was within the rules. As for whether the rules will need amending if teams become too adept at it, Bredin said he could not comment.
Steel defender Demelza McCloud had an interesting take on the situation.
"Do you know how gutted I am that that happened in that game when, honestly, right back to under-21s, Mo'onia Gerrard and I used to practise lineouts all the time?" she said.
"At the Thunderbirds we also used to practise getting into a squad position and someone jumping off your quads. But no-one actually had the balls to try it on court."
Now the genie is out of the bottle, McCloud believes other teams will adopt the tactic.
"You've still got to stop the ball getting that close to the posts, so we can't get too wound up in it. But I think any innovation like this is unreal.
"If the shooters play smart they can baulk the shot and wait for the jump to happen and it will become irrelevant.
"But attackers have all the advantages and this is the first time, really, a defender has come up with a tactic which is exciting and different."
- Otago Daily Times
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Write a little about yourself. Just a paragraph will do.
My goal in life is to tell people about all the cool ideas I have. Turns out, excitedly rambling for hours on end wasn't really impressing anyone. And so, I started writing.
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I work in the meat department of a certain organic grocery chain that shall remain nameless. So, I suppose if you have moral objections with meat-eating, this miiiight not work. Your diet is your business as far as I care, but it'd be a bit like a D.A.R.E. officer hanging out with a drug dealer.
Really though, I'm just making my way towards being free of student loans, as my ultimate goal of aimless adventuring/travel is harder to do when loan sharks are staring menacingly at my kneecaps. Figuratively speaking, of course.
They're really staring more towards my kidneys.
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I once managed to tie my shoes while wearing mittens.
Ladies . . . I'm available.
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So, about books. Growing up, I think I actually read more words than I spoke. That ought to paint a pretty clear picture.
My favorite authors include Lovecraft, Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett, Asimov, Jim Butcher, Fritz Leiber, A. Lee Martinez, and Jack Vance.
I read comics too, although I usually stick to the one-shots or short series.
Some of my favorite movies are Clue, The Naked Gun series, The Marx Brothers movies, and generally anything touched by Mel Brooks. I'm quite the sophisticate.
Also, any movie with Rifftrax becomes instantly watchable, if not enjoyable, to me. Any movie.
As far as shows go, the list of things I want to watch is a considerable bit longer that what I actually have. My favorites are MST3K, Bob's Burgers, Psych, Futurama, Whose Line is it Anyway, QI, and Monty Python.
I'm all over the place, musically. To drop some names: Muse, System of a Down, MC Frontalot, K.Flay, Cake, Rhapsody, Van Canto, Lupe Fiasco, Symphony X, The Glitch Mob, The Dear Hunter, The Creepshow, Infected Mushroom, KMFDM, Queen, That Handsome Devil, Five Finger Death Punch, Dan Bull, Supercommuter, I Fight Dragons, Sabaton, The Atomic Fireballs, Diablo Swing Orchestra, Iron Maiden, and if we're being completely honest here, Lady GaGa is pretty goddamn catchy.
There's not much I won't eat as far as food is concerned. I'll try anything. Except olives. Olives can go straight to hell.
On a typical Friday night I am
One of the great joys of working in retail is that Fridays tragically hold no special meaning anymore. Tragic.
But when whatever currently passes for a Friday rolls around, I'm usually hanging out with friends.
As for what we do, well, this is a long shot here, but it might just involve alcohol. Past that, the sky's the limit.
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Awkward moments in shows and movies make me wince. Hard.
People find this more entertaining than than I would like.
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Offer a few tips to help matches win you over.'re creative, and want someone to talk ideas with.'re adventurous, and want someone to explore with. love talking about literary theory, mythology, folklore, philosophy, the mind, or just love having discussions in general. saw this profile, and thought, "dang, this guy is amazing/a genius/dead sexy/hilarious/the most charming man on the face of the earth/mildly interesting."
I get that all the time. I swear.
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Computer technology has the power to transform the face of education, the government believes — that's why it's spending £1.8bn in the six years from 1998-2004 on information and communications technology for schools.
But those at the sharp end of educating children believe it will take much more than computers and money.
To an incredulous audience at the British Education and Teaching Technology Show today in Olympia, London, education secretary Estelle Morris ran a video of the government's vision of future schools: a Jetson-like, computer-simulated utopia featuring 'buildings specially designed to provide light, space and flexible use of ICT... an environment where learning is encouraged... and class sizes varying according to need'.
"No school in the country looks like this yet," said Morris, acknowledging the sniggers of the assembled teachers and ICT suppliers. "But there's nothing in the video which isn't already being done in one school or another.
"It's important to know now where we want to be in 10 or 15 years time," added Morris, formerly a teacher herself. "I want ICT to close the attainment gap between the achievement level of the children of the wealthy and the achievement level of the children of the poor."
As part of the government investment programme, Morris earmarked a further £50m to provide free laptops for head teachers in addition to the £50m announced for this initiative last November.
The government's big picture is of an egalitarian wired educational community linking pupils, teachers and parents.
But those responsible for supplying and buying computers for schools are less grandiose in their vision.
"Wireless classrooms? Very amusing," said one deputy head at the show, adding that it's a hard enough job stopping kids nicking the few computers he does have.
The government has already provided 50,000 teachers with PCs through various schemes over the last few years. But to provide every teacher in Britain's schools with a free laptop would cost billions of pounds.
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RUSH: The first thing I would do is whatever it takes to stop illegal immigrants crossing the southern border. That's the first thing I would do. Whatever it takes, fence, what have you. Look, especially with what I know the Senate's trying to do, this Hagel-Martinez bill. I think there's a legal way. We have legal immigration established. There is a way for this country to grow by way of immigration and I have no intention to shut that out. My desire is not to stop immigration. It's to promote it with the proper assimilation, with the right numbers that we could absorb economically and so forth, and then I would elevate the number of qualified immigrants who could get into this country, high-tech graduates, specialists and so forth, I would double that.
As to what I would do with the 11 or 12 million or whatever that are here now, I'd recognize they're here. I wouldn't talk about deporting them. I would do what's necessary to fine them and put them through a process that makes them legal, hoping that would be the last time we'd have to do it. If we get tough on the border, there aren't going to be 11 or 12 million the next 20 years or 200 million the next 20 years. We'll have some control over it. If you don't have a border you don't have a country, and if we're not going to enforce our borders we're not worried about having a country.
After I did all that, then I would go to Washington during the daytime only -- I'd leave every night -- to find out what the hell is really behind the asinine thinking that's been going on with this issue for 20 years, aside from the obvious "we need votes, the Democrats need victims, we want to try to show the Hispanic community, Latino community we don't hate them." There's something more to this than all of that and I want to find out what it is. I don't know how I could, but I mean that's the last thing I would do. It might have to be the first thing I would do in order to establish the other two planks of my platform. But I think given 9/11 and everything else, the security of the border and getting that handled is project number one. I think if you did that, people who are, you know, roiled and upset about the 11 to 12 million illegals in the country, you'd have a lot of easier time in dealing with them and solving that if the border was secured. You'd have a much easier time coming up with an enforcement plan that people would go along with. As long as that border remains a sieve and there's no end in sight to an 11 or 12 million always here, always illegal, it's going to continue to be an issue that they're not satisfied with. That's off the top of my head, that's that's my ideal situation.
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Issue: May 2007
Technical Definitions
Author: Laura Muha
SF 0507
The Skeptical Fishkeeper: May 2007
Technical Definitions
GH is an abbreviation for Gesamthaerte. This is German for “total hardness.” GH is the sum of divalent cations in solution. In aquatic habitats, the vast majority of these ions are calcium and magnesium.
KH is an abbreviation for Karbonathaerte, German for “carbonate hardness.” This is a misnomer, since KH does not measure cations; it therefore does not measure any type of hardness. It measures anions that contribute to alkalinity. In natural aquatic habitats the majority of these are carbonate and bicarbonate.
Sidebar 2:
While many adult fish seem able to adapt to water that is harder or softer than their optimal range, they may not breed successfully in it. Water that’s too hard may cause the outer membrane of a fish’s eggs to toughen, hindering fertilization or preventing the eggs from hatching. And if the water is too soft, so much of it may pass through the cell membranes of the eggs and sperm that they literally burst.
There are two letters of the alphabet that have always struck confusion, if not outright fear, in my hobbyist’s heart: “G” and “H.”
Taken individually they’re innocent enough. But put them together and they add up to what, to me, has always been one of the murkiest concepts in fishkeeping: “general hardness.”
Or is it “German hardness”? No, wait … maybe I’m forgetting a letter. Isn’t there a “D” in there somewhere? As in dGH? Or is it just DH? I’ve seen references to all three in aquarium literature, along with something called “KH”—although one of my test kits calls it “dKH.” What’s the difference between all of them? And what’s their significance to my fish?
The Mental Block Gets Lifted
My head hurts just thinking about it, and I might have avoided doing so indefinitely had I not decided last summer that caring for my ever-growing collection of tanks was taking up way too much of my time. The obvious solution would have been to find new homes for some of my fish. But with a logic that only another hobbyist could understand, I came up with a better idea: to buy yet another tank—a really big tank—so I could condense most of my smaller tanks into it.
“That way,” I enthused to my husband, “I’ll only have one or two freshwater tanks to take care of, instead of five or six!” Having heard similar rationalizations in the past, he looked a bit skeptical; somehow, the number of tanks in our house always goes up, never down. But he didn’t say no, so I set about figuring out whether the fish I wanted to keep in this new tank could handle the same water conditions. And that is what brought me to a moment of truth: I could no longer put off confronting my long-time mental block about GH, or whatever it is that it’s called.
I bring up that particular water parameter and not the others (temperature and pH), because those two didn’t differ significantly in the tanks I wanted to combine: a 55-gallon tank containing pearl gouramis, platys, and emerald catfish; a 55-gallon tank containing rainbowfish, rosy barbs, and zebra danios; and several 10-gallon tanks containing Neolamprologus multifasciatus, a tiny shell-dwelling cichlid from Lake Tanganyika. (I realize this is not the most common mix of fish for a community tank, but that discussion will have to wait ‘til next month!)
A Question of Water Parameters
In the meantime, let’s get back to the water parameters, most of which, as I’ve already noted, didn’t worry me. I keep the temperature in all my aquariums at 77°F, and the pH of the water in all of them except for the shell-dweller tanks was 8.1, which is exactly what it was when it came out of our tap. (As I noted in my April 2006 TFH column on pH, I’ve never adjusted it, and although conventional wisdom says that many of the species I keep prefer water that is neutral or acidic, mine seem to live happily and breed regularly in our high-pH well water.) In the cichlid tanks, the addition of coral substrate and cichlid salts boosted the pH higher than that of the other tanks, to about 8.4. But multis are tough little fish and, according to aquarium literature, they can easily handle a pH range of 7.8 to 9, so I was confident they would adjust if the pH of their new home was a little lower than the pH to which they were accustomed.
The hardness of the water was another matter, however, because when it came to that parameter, there was a significant difference between the cichlid and community tanks. According to my test kit, the water in the “regular” tanks was moderately hard, but in the cichlid tanks, it was “very hard.” Because the test involved comparing colors on a test strip to colors on a chart, and those colors never quite seem to match, I couldn’t figure out the exact numbers, but my best guess was that it was somewhere around 100 parts per million in the regular tanks, and twice that—200 ppm—in the cichlid tanks.
Since I sensed a column topic brewing, and I wanted to be able to do more than guess at the numbers, I purchased a second test kit hoping it would give me more precise results. This one involved dripping reagent into a test tube of aquarium water and counting the number of drops that it took to change the water from orange to green. The problem was that the results for that kit were given not in parts per million, but in degrees. In the “regular” tanks, it took 5 drops to elicit the change, which according to the instructions meant that the water had 5 degrees of hardness. In the cichlid tank, it took 11 drops, meaning that it had 11 degrees of hardness. I wasn’t sure how those figures compared to the “ppm” results of the test strips, but the implications were clear anyway: If the occupants of my various tanks were to live together successfully, the cichlids were going to have to get used to softer water, or the community fish were going to have to get used to harder water. The question was whether they could.
Understanding Water Hardness
Before I tackled that issue, I decided it might help to have a definition of water hardness, and for that, I turned to one of my favorite (and easiest-to-reach) sources: My father, Dr. George Muha, a professor emeritus of chemistry at Rutgers University. “I told you that you should have taken more chemistry in school,” he said when I put my question to him. My poor father has never quite gotten over the fact that none of his three children followed him into the sciences, and his tone of voice suggested that he was rolling his eyes at the other end of the phone.
“You’re getting way too confused about this,” he said. Hardness is just a way of measuring how many metal ions—specifically calcium and magnesium—are dissolved in water, he explained; simply put, hard water has lots of them and soft water does not. The explanation for the difference can be traced to the journey water makes from its point of origin to our faucets. As it travels, it comes into contact with rocks, and as it does some of the minerals in these rocks dissolve into the water. Since the type of rock varies from one place to another, so does the mineral content of the water—and thus its hardness.
One way to measure hardness is in parts per million, a scale commonly used in the United States; the other is in degrees, a scale known as the German scale after its country of origin. Both are used regularly in the aquarium industry, which is where some of my confusion originated. For the record, one degree of hardness equals 17.9 ppm, but the math-phobic among us needn’t worry, since conversion charts are available online and with the instructions that come with many test kits. By consulting one, I quickly determined that the hardness of the water in my shellie tanks was 11 degrees or 196.9 ppm, and in the “regular” tanks, it was 5 degrees, or 89.5 ppm.
As for that alphabet soup of acronyms that I listed at the beginning of the column: GH most often seems to refer to the American scale and dGH to the German scale, although I’ve seen them used in reverse. I’ve also have seen DH—which depending on who you ask means either “degrees of hardness” or “Deutsche hardness”—used with both scales. But if you think about it, the acronym you choose or what it stands for isn’t as important as knowing whether you’re measuring parts per million or degrees. Describing the hardness of your water as 17, for instance, is useless, since water with a hardness of 17 degrees is radically different from water with a hardness of 17 ppm.
The one that acronym that does means something very different is KH, sometimes also referred to as dKH, from the German word meaning “carbonate hardness.” Carbonates are important because they buffer water against swings in pH by neutralizing acids in the water, including those produced during the breakdown of organic waste in fish tanks. It’s a subject I’ve written about before (TFH April 2006) so I won’t go into it here, except to say that many fishkeepers are moving away from using the term “KH,” since it is misleading, and instead referring to it as the alkalinity or buffering capacity of the water.
Water Hardness and Fish
But whatever you call water hardness, and however you measure it, the bottom line is what it means to your fish, which is something a lot different than what it means to you and me. For us, water that’s too hard or too soft is more of an inconvenience than anything else; hard water can cause limescale to build up on pipes (and aquarium fixtures) and make it difficult to work up a good lather with soap or shampoo; soft water creates too much lather and makes it difficult to rinse off.
But to fish, water that’s too hard or too soft is more than an annoyance—it can be a significant stressor. That’s because freshwater fish live in an environment less saline than their body fluids, and if you remember anything about osmosis from science class you know that when you have solutions of two different concentrations on either side of a permeable membrane—such as the cell walls of a fish—they have a tendency to want to equalize. That means that in the case of a freshwater fish, water from the environment is constantly trying to flow across its cell membranes and into its body. If this process were unchecked, not only would a fish’s cells explode like overstretched water balloons, but its internal saline balance would be thrown completely (and potentially fatally) out of whack. So the fish must work hard to control the amount of water that moves in and out of its cells through a complex process known as osmoregulation.
All the literature I could find on multis suggested that they needed very hard water, so I decided to set up an experimental tank without the cichlid salts and coral sand so that the hardness would be the same as it was in my regular tanks, and to transfer a few of my ever-growing colony into it to see what would happen. I had my answer a few weeks later when I peered into the tank a month or so later and saw fry darting among the shells.
Clearly, water hardness was not much of an issue for multis; the only question that remained was whether they would get along with the other fish I proposed mixing with them.
But fish compatibility, as I said, is a subject for next month.
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Baby boom
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
For other uses, see Baby boom (disambiguation).
A baby boom is any period marked by a greatly increased birth rate. This demographic phenomenon is usually ascribed within certain geographical bounds. People born during such a period are often called baby boomers; however, some experts distinguish between those born during such demographic baby booms and those who identify with the overlapping cultural generations. Conventional wisdom states that baby booms signify good times and periods of general economic growth and stability;[citation needed] however in circumstances where baby booms lead to very large number of children per family unit, such as in the case in lower income regions of the world, the outcome may be different. One common baby boom was right after WWII during the Cold War.
France experienced a baby boom after 1945; it reversed a long-term record of low birth rates.[2] The sense that the population was too small, especially in regard to more powerful Germany, was a common theme in the early twentieth century . Put in a list policies were proposed in the 1930s, and implemented in the 1940s.[3][4]
• Decreţei: (1967-1989), A baby boom in Romania caused by a ban on abortion and contraception.
United States[edit]
The term "baby boom" most often refers to the post–World War II baby boom (1946–1964) when the number of annual births exceeded 2 per 100 women (or approximately 1% of the total population size).[citation needed] There are an estimated 78.3 million Americans who were born during this demographic boom in births.[7] The term is a general demographic and is also applicable to other similar population expansions.
United States birth rate (births per 1000 population per year).[8] The United States Census Bureau defines the demographic birth boom as between 1946 and 1964[9] (red).
Recent baby boom periods include the following:
See also[edit]
1. ^ Rosenthal, Elisabeth (14 April 2012). "In Nigeria, a Preview of an Overcrowded Planet". The New York Times.
5. ^ Colin Jones, Paris: Biography of a City (2004) p 438
9. ^ U.S. Census Bureau — Oldest Boomers Turn 60 (2006)
Further reading[edit]
External links[edit]
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Human hands
A hand is the part of the body at the end of an arm. Most humans have two hands. Each hand usually has four fingers and a thumb. On the inside of the hand is the palm. When the fingers are all bent tightly, the hand forms a fist. The joints that are the hardest part of the fist are called knuckles. Many other animals, especially other primates, have hands that can hold things. Human hands can do things other hands cannot.
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Screaming Circuits: Fun With Electrolytics
Fun With Electrolytics
I was fiddling with one of my robot boards the other day - popping some passives on and off and checking out subs and alternate values. I was doing this on a couple of boards at the same time. Everything was going along fine until I started to do a power-on test. The first board was fine. The second one would briefly light the power indicator LED. It would start a full brightness and then fairly quickly fade out.
My first thought was that I had been too agressive with my soldering iron and had burnt something out. (who has already guessed what really happened?). Turns out, that wasn't the case. I put it aside and came back to it a few days later. This time, I gave it the finger test and discovered that my regulator was hot. Darn. Next, I found a hot tantalum cap. Nothing looked out of the ordinary/ I stared at it for a while. The + side was on the left in both parts and... The plus side was on the left in both parts. One was supposed to be on the right. Oops. The cap had a high enough voltage rating that it didn't blow up. It just pulled down the supply until the over-current protection in the regulator shut it down.
I've heard a number of folks recommend that you try and keep all of your polarized parts facing the same way. It's not always possible, but it can certainly reduce opportunities for errors like I made here.
Duane Benson
Left, right. Left, right. Left, right. Left, left. Left, right...
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Speaking of tantalums, I had the strangest thing happen a good while ago.
I had built a filter for a computer case fan which was generating a heap of EMI, and had tacked that on - but the computer would no longer start. Since the computer was in a less than accessible location and hooked up to a flaky UPS, I had the idea to try plugging it straight into the outlet.
Well, turns out the tantalum was shorted out, and the UPS was preventing the computer from drawing enough power to actually blow it up - but it didn't actually blow any fuses in the UPS or computer PSU. Once it got what it needed, there was a loud bang and smoke streaming out of the no longer filtered fan. And some choice comments being said about it too.
The comments to this entry are closed.
« So Long Old Friend | Main | Via Shifting »
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Dave Brillhart's Blog https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/ Enjoying the Journey... Anticipating the Destination en-us Copyright 2007 Sun, 23 Sep 2007 06:33:57 +0000 Apache Roller BLOGS401ORA6 (20130904125427) https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/sun_kit Sun "Kit" dcb https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/sun_kit Mon, 25 Apr 2005 23:47:13 +0000 Computers <p>Have you noticed the increasing use of the term 'kit" to refer to a hardware vendor's products? Articles will refer to, for example, Sun's "kit", when discussing our latest servers or storage and desktops.<br> </p> <p>I really like that term - because it drives home the point that when you are in the market to purchase "kit" from a product vendor, you sign up to be the kit builder. And for the hobbyist out there, that can be really fun and educational, even thrilling to some degree.</p> <p>Many of us grew up <a href="http://hem.bredband.net/thomaskolb/art/models/introduction_e.htm">building kits</a>. I \*loved\* building ships, trucks, airplanes, tanks, cars, rockets, etc. It was a blast, and possibly contributed to (and/or was because of) my engineering mindset. The sense of accomplishment of building highly realistic, detailed and customized models, from a bunch of bare parts, is quite rewarding.<br> </p> <p>However, most IT shops I work with are less interested in the process of constructing their own unique one-off configurations from collections of parts (kit). I applaud clients for their increasing demand for solutions built from established patterns and reference implementations. I applaud IT vendors for their increasing portfolios of pre-integrated and hardened solutions.</p> <p>Kit building is a great weekend hobby for kids (and adults). But when it comes to running our businesses and defending our country, we need to leverage, as much as possible, the experience and factory integration of trusted IT solution vendors. For some, it is hard to give up the thrill/challenge of the IT equivalent of "junk yard wars". But there are even more interesting and higher-valued challenges and rewards awaiting those who free up their time from the tyranny of the "nuts and bolts".</p> <p>The following is a great weekend hobby project. But you don't need to let your IT projects look like this...</p> <p><img src="https://blogs.oracle.com/roller/resources/dcb/Kit.gif"></p> https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/project_lifecycle_cartoon Project Lifecycle Cartoon dcb https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/project_lifecycle_cartoon Sat, 9 Apr 2005 16:16:33 +0000 Computers While this is intended to be funny, it's a little too close for comfort in many cases. But due diligence up-front <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">VOC</span> </span>(voice of the customer) needs assessment interviews, and a subsequent translation into well-formed and reconciled SMART (<a href="http://www.lucka.nl/education/downloads/whitepapers/cttnews3q04_smart_requirements.pdf">1</a>, <a href="http://www.win.tue.nl/%7Ewstomv/edu/2ip30/references/smart-requirements.pdf">2</a>) [Specific, Measurable, Achievable/Attainable, Realistic/Realizable, Traceable/TimeBounded] <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">Requirements</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">, along with an ongoing <span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">Risk Log</span>, would have made this a very boring cartoon. A lesson we would be well advised to remember in many contexts.</span><br> <br> <img src="https://blogs.oracle.com/roller/resources/dcb/Proj_LifeCycle.gif"><br> https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/stocks_sunw_vs_ibm_hpq Stocks: SUNW -vs- IBM, HPQ, MSFT, ORCL dcb https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/stocks_sunw_vs_ibm_hpq Fri, 8 Apr 2005 15:59:17 +0000 Computers In the following graphs I've compared Sun Microsystems (SUNW) to some of our competitors and/or partners: IBM, HP, Oracle, Microsoft. The charts look at the five companies all the way back to the late 80s, and back just five years. In the first graph, you clearly see the "exuberant" six year ramp that SUNW experienced starting in 1995. That's the year we launched Java and the UltraSPARC processor. I also joined Sun that year :-). The post Y2K dot-com implosion hit us pretty hard, but after a two year slide we've settled down and ended up a significantly better long-term investment than some. In hindsight at least.<br> <br> The second graph looks at the same companies since Y2K. It's interesting to see that we all declined (at various rates) until mid-2002, at which point we all found a plateau that we've pretty much sustained for the last two and a half years.<br> <br> I don't know about you, but I think the market is primed to move again. The IT industry landscape has changed a lot since the Y2K peak. Pressure is building. Innovation has been occurring all along. Which of the five will break out of the horizontal? My bet is that it'll be those companies that successfully combine targeted innovation and exceptional services.<br> <br> <img src="https://blogs.oracle.com/roller/resources/dcb/Stock.gif"><br> https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/64_bit_smp x86: 64-bit & SMP dcb https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/64_bit_smp Wed, 30 Mar 2005 12:32:06 +0000 Computers <P>The following news story "<EM><STRONG>IBM, HP take different tack as Xeon MP moves to 64-bit</STRONG></EM>" has some interesting quotes: <A href="http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2005/0330ibmhpta.html">http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2005/0330ibmhpta.html</A></P> <P><STRONG>First</STRONG>: "<FONT color=#990000><EM>HP has decided to cease production of its eight-way ProLiant DL740 and DL760 systems.</EM>..</FONT>". HP is following Dell's withdraw of the 8-socket server space. Apparently Dell and HP believe that there is little market demand for more than a handful of threads (today an OS schedules one thread per core or hyperthread context). Or, could it be that their Operating Systems of choice (Windows and Linux) simply can't (yet) scale to larger thread counts? Hey Dell & HP... you might want to check out Solaris 10. A million of your prospects have <A href="http://www.sun.com/smi/Press/sunflash/2005-03/sunflash.20050328.1.html">downloaded and registered</A> this OS in just the last two months! And it <A href="http://www.sun.com/bigadmin/hcl/data/sol/systems/views/desktop_server_system_all_results.page1.html">runs just fine</A> on your (small and large) x86/x64 servers, up to hundreds of threads.</P> <P><STRONG>Second</STRONG>: <!--StartFragment --> Andy Lees, corporate vice president with Microsoft's server and tools business, said "<EM><FONT color=#990000>If you run a 32-bit application on 64-bit Windows [Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition] on 64-bit hardware, you'll get about a 5% bump in terms of performance," he said. "If you go ahead and add 64-bit [application] capabilities, then things get dramatically better.</FONT></EM>"</P> <P>Hmmm. This is an interesting admission that 64-bit might actually be worthwhile. It is (not really) amazing that up until Microsoft (x64 Edition) and Intel (EM64T) had decent 64-bit offerings, that they told the world that 32-bit was all that anyone would need for the foreseeable future - except maybe for huge databases and extremely large memory footprint compute jobs. I guess "foreseeable" means <EM><STRONG>until we can field a team</STRONG></EM>. Oh, by the way, Solaris has been 64-bit forever (in Internet years), has unmatchable security features and reliability, and a bundled virtualization technology that alone is worth the price of admission (oh yeah, it's free).</P> <P>Combine small and high-thread count performance, security, reliability, and virtualization... and Solaris 10 will allow you to stack multiple applications on a single x86/x64 server with confidence. All of a sudden an 8-socket server (with 16 high-performance cores) looks like an important sweet spot for driving utilization rates up and operation cost and complexity down.</P> <P>HP and Dell have withdrawn from that space (a strategic blunder I believe). It'll be interesting to see who steps up to claim that prize!</P> https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/itanic_davy_jones_locker Itanic: Davy Jones' Locker dcb https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/itanic_davy_jones_locker Tue, 29 Mar 2005 07:33:44 +0000 Computers <p><!--StartFragment -->In the year 2000, just as the first Itanium processor from Intel hit the market, <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/02/28/itanium_04_sales/">IDC predicted</a> that 2004 Itanium server sales would hit the $28 billion mark! But IDC missed their projection slightly. They were off by about $26.6 billion, or ~95%. Ouch!!</p> <p>Of the few Itanium-based servers that were actually sold in all of 2004, HP lead the "crawl" and accounted for 76% of them. But HP, as of mid-2004, joined Sun and IBM in the Opteron-based server market, so expect Itanium sales at HP in 2005 to slow at a faster rate than HP's general server sales numbers. IBM came in 2nd with 10% of the Itanium market, but has strongly hinted that they are killing off their Itanium-based server offerings in favor of Opteron, Power, and traditional Intel processors. Dell captured 3rd place with just 5% of the tiny Itanium pie, and so far Dell has resisted selling Opteron-based servers... but how long will Michael watch from the sidelines?</p> <p>For those who like to look under the hood, it seems to me there are three server-oriented processor families that <a href="http://freespace.virgin.net/m.warner/Roadmap2005.htm">deserve attention</a> and will still be important in 2010:</p> <ol> <li>Sun's (and Fujitsu's) SPARC-based CMT families (US-IV, Olympus, Niagara, Rock, etc)</li> <li>IBM's Power family (Power4, Power5, Power6, etc)</li> <li>AMD/Intel's x86/x64 families:</li> <ol> <li>Opteron/AMD64 [Egypt, Italy, etc]</li> <li>IA-32/EM64T [Nocona, Potomac, Smithfield, Tulsa, etc]</li> </ol> </ol> <p>It will be fun to watch. They all have well funded R&D, aggressive rates of innovation, compelling roadmaps, and market/ISV traction. I believe all three horses will be in the race five years from now, but only two will be perceived as the market leaders. Unpredictable market dynamics and execution challenges will likely cause one of the three to stumble and fall behind. But anyone's guess as to which will stumble would be just that - a guess. Intel can survive a $25 billion dollar mistake, and learn from it; and AMD is actually delivering new processors faster than their roadmaps suggest (an amazing feat for a processor design shop)! IBM's roadmap and processor technology look great, but massive CMT could explode and their Cell Processor could turn into the next Itanic for server applications. Sun has Olympus to compete with Power6, and very exciting new yearlings (Niagara and Rock) that could, well, Rock the world soon. Single-threaded deep pipeline performance processors, throughput-oriented massive-CMT chips, and price-efficient desktop/presentation CPUs are all up for grabs. I doubt one horse will win the Triple Crown. Stay tuned.</p> <p>Of course, OS traction will dictate this to some degree (Solaris, Linux, and Windows64 are all interesting candidates), as will J2EE -vs- .NET adoption and COTS app support. I think that security and efficient/reliable virturalization technology will be key drivers of platform selection in future years.</p> <p>The one thing we can predict with near certainly is that Itanium (aka: Itanic) is headed to <a href="http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-dav1.htm">Davy Jones' locker</a>.</p> <p><img src="https://blogs.oracle.com/roller/resources/dcb/Itanium.gif"></p> https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/good_enough_vs_gratuitous_upgrades Good Enough -vs- Gratuitous Upgrades dcb https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/good_enough_vs_gratuitous_upgrades Wed, 23 Mar 2005 05:20:28 +0000 Computers <p>Sun offers a really cool thin-client called the <a href="http://blogs.sun.com/roller/resources/simons/sunray.jpg">SunRay</a>. Check out <a href="http://www.sun.com/software/media/flash/tour_sunray">this flash</a>! We've got 30,000 or so running our desktops throughout Sun. Zero-admin, highly-reliable, energy-efficient clients have saved us millions and driven up productivity. Many of our customers are running these as well. There isn't much to the device... No OS, no disk, no fan, no viruses, no patching, no state... you can almost think of it as a remote/networked frame buffer on steroids. Coupled with USB peripheral support, mobile session capability, Java card security, DoD approved multi-compartment support, VIOP telephony, this is a device that deserves all the attention and acceptance it is getting.</p> <p>Using Tarantella, Citrix, or other techniques, this device can even display full screen Windows (indistinguishable from a Windoze thin client) if desired, or it can run "Windows in a window" from a native GNOME Linux or Solaris desktop. With the Java Desktop System's integration of hundreds of bundled apps (StarOffice [MS Office], Mr. Project [MS Project], GIMP [Photoshop], Evolution [Outlook], etc, etc) some are looking at the oppty to stop payment to Redmond.</p> <p>Whatever your choice of display and environment, just pull your Java Card (your session is preserved on the server) and reinsert it later at home, or the next day in another office, and your session will "instantly" pop up in front of you ready to continue your work.</p> <p>However, a customer recently expressed a concern that the SunRay isn't powered by the latest processor technology, and isn't populated by a huge bank of RAM. Hmmm. I wonder if this person might also consider writing to and asking:</p> <p><font color="#993300"><i><b>Norelco </b>why their electric razors are powered by two AA batteries! When MegaRaz offers your choice of 220V 3-phase or dual-feed 30A single-phase units that can rip thru facial hair and auto-exfoliate the top layer of skin in record time.</i></font></p> <p><font color="#993300"><i><b>Panasonic </b>why their microwave ovens are still powered by radio-wave emitting magnetrons. Don't they know that MicroRad now offers lead-lined plutonium-powered resonant-coupled chamber ovens that can cut food prep time by a factor of 50 over obsolete microwave ovens?</i></font></p> <p><font color="#993300"><i><b>Kenmore </b>why their refrigerators have not kept up with the times. That DeepFrz and many others now offer a turbo-switch option that circulates liquid hydrogen to drop the freezer compartment temp to near absolute zero, extending food storage times to future generations. Many use this feature to preserve small pets during vacations, eliminating the need for pet sitting or boarding.</i></font></p> Those were designed to be funny, and to make the point that often engineering makes design choices that are "good enough". The SunRay has to have enough power to paint pixels. And it does. Future versions might require more capable processors to handle stronger encryption at faster network speeds, 3D Acceleration, etc. But gratuitously incorporating leading-edge technology into a design can increase cost, heat, power, noise, and instability with no added benefit. Be careful what you ask for... because you'll end up paying for it. <u><b>Requirements should be linked to the business value they provide</b></u>, and not to an emotional "got to have it just because" craving that is fueled by consumer marketing campaigns.<font color="#660000"><em><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"></span></em></font> https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/debating_our_cto_in_public SOA: Debating our CTO dcb https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/debating_our_cto_in_public Mon, 14 Mar 2005 04:25:15 +0000 Computers <p>I have the utmost respect for our CTO of <strong><em>Enterprise Web Services</em></strong>, John Crupi. He is a great guy and one of our sharpest arrows. If you get a chance to hear him speak, you will enjoy the time and take away valuable insights. John recently joined the BSC community (blogs.sun.com) and posted a <a href="http://blogs.sun.com/roller/page/crupi/20050312#br_br_soa_means_a">brief intro to SOA</a>. Welcome John! I look forward to future updates on this topic on your blog.</p> <p>Me, I'm a Lead Architect with a background built on consulting and systems engineering primarily at the IT Infrastructure level, focused on most of the solution stack - up to but not generally into the functional business logic or S/W app design space. Prior to Sun I spent years as a programmer translating business requirements into S/W solutions... but that's been a while.</p> <p>With that context (the fact that I come to the table with certain biases and experiences that color my perceptions, and I suspect John does as well, to some degree) I'm going to suggest that <font color="#990000"><em>maybe John is slightly off-base w.r.t. his premise about SOA</em></font> and IT / Business Unit (BU) alignment. In the spirit of extracting deeper insights and clarifying positions, I'm going to challenge John with an alternate view (a debate), and ask him to either agree with me or defend his position. Hmmm...is this a <em>Career Limiting Move</em> - publicly challenging one of our Chief Technology Officers? No... not at Sun. We encourage our folks to question assumptions and even our leaders, resolve/align, and then move forward in unity. Okay, with that:</p> <p>John, you suggest that: <em><strong><font color="#990000">one of the critical success factors for SOA is a tighter relationship/alignment between Business Units and IT</font></strong></em>. In fact you say we can not even do SOA without effort on the part of the Business Unit.<br> </p> <p>Now I could not agree more that Business/IT alignment is absolutely paramount. The lack of business focus and alignment is one of the top reasons why so many IT initiatives fail to deliver or meet expectations or provide a higher return to the business than its cost. I've blogged about that very topic.</p> <p>However, that alignment, IMHO, is not related to SOA. In fact, I believe there are benefits to <span style="text-decoration: underline;">isolating</span> service construction techniques from the consumers and owners of those services. To reuse the power utility metaphor:<br> </p> <p style="margin-left: 40px; font-style: italic;">You don't care how <a href="http://www.sargentlundy.com/fossil/">S&L</a> built the power plants that deliver your electric service, or how power distribution provisioning logic taps into multiple grid suppliers and peak-load gas turbines. You simply have specific service level and financial demands, and expect a quality experience when/if you have to interact with the service desk to resolve a dispute, request a change in your service, or report an incident.</p> <p>There are two primary components to IT... the <span style="font-weight: bold;">design/development</span> of services, and the <span style="font-weight: bold;">opertaion/delivery</span> of services.<br> </p> <p>"<span style="font-weight: bold;">Business - IT </span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Development" </span>alignment is driven by business requirements (functional, service level, cost, time-to-market, etc). SOA isn't a "requirement", but a technique that helps IT achieve the desires of the business to support their business processes.<br> </p> <p>"<span style="font-weight: bold;">Business/IT </span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Operations" </span>alignment is properly performed as defined by ITSM/ITIL Best Practices, and as illustrated in my graphic below. Business and IT need to work as a intimate partnership to define, implement, deliver, and continually refine an optimized Service Portfolio at contracted service levels and an established and predictable cost point. Again, SOA is simply a technique that helps IT achieve operational excellence.<br> </p> <p>All other functions are internal to IT. The fact that requirements are fleshed out in an Agile fashion and constructed/deployed using a SOA strategy is meaningless to the Business Unit. They simply want IT to build the capability they need, adjust it when asked, and deliver it as expected.<br> </p> <> <p>As a consumer and purchaser of various utilities (electricity, gas, cable, phone, water, etc) you don't need nor want to know the details of how the utility achieves scale economy or service resiliency or security or efficiency/utilization or adaptability or regulatory compliance. Well, okay, you and I by nature might be curious and like to know how these things work. But, in general, exposing the internal details of how a Service Delivery Platform is constructed is, IMHO, counter-productive to the Business/IT conversation and partnership. Some curious BU stakeholders will likely want to understand and even attempt to influence your model (eg: buy EMC, use .NET, etc). But that kind of inquiry can expose dysfunction and introduce inefficiency in the model. You don't tell Pacific Power to buy GE turbines or supply power at 62 hertz, unless you want to pay extraordinary fees for your own custom power plant. </p> <p>I strongly believe in the principles of Agile development and architecture. Clearly the days of throwing a fixed requirements document over the wall are over. Business Units, IT Operations, and IT Development all must work together in a healthy partnership focused on continuous business process optimization and refinement. However, in my opinion, the true value of SOA is in the benefits it delivers to the <i><b>internal</b></i> IT function w.r.t. scale economy, resiliency, efficiency, adaptability, etc. Business Units don't need nor want to know about SOA... they simply have (frequently changing) requirements and expectations.</p> <p>Bottom line: SOA is a architectural style/technique that IT Shops will employ to quickly respond to changing service level demands, while operating IT as an efficient adaptable business with an ability to tap into (integrate with) <a href="http://blogs.sun.com/roller/page/dcb/?anchor=sun_the_nobel_prize">external/outsourced partners</a> (blog on Coase's Law).<br> </p> <p>John - I respectfully invite a reply.</p> <p><img src="https://blogs.oracle.com/roller/resources/dcb/Crupi.jpg"><br> </p> https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/itsm_transforming_it ITSM: Transforming IT dcb https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/itsm_transforming_it Fri, 11 Mar 2005 13:50:56 +0000 Computers <p><!--StartFragment --><font color="#000000">Here are two recent letters I sent to customers following workshops designed to map out a strategy to transform their IT organization thru the assessment of their people, processes, and technologies and the application of best practices. I thought that these might be beneficial to others who are attempting to do likewise. There are no great pearls of wisdom here, but it might get you thinking about having the conversation. ITSM = IT Service Management.<br> </font></p> <p>One client is <!--StartFragment -->attempting to synthesize several frameworks (ITIL, Sigma, ISO, and CMM-I) into a multi-year strategy to uplevel their operational capability. They asked for a mapping between ISO and ITIL, to which I replied in the 2nd letter (below).</p> <p><font color="#003300"><i>Hi <--->,<br><br>I'm glad to see you are moving forward with this. As we mentioned during our workshop, some clients choose to perform the SunTONE assessment by themselves. Others seek assistance from Sun or a partner. Still others do both... performing an informal survey themselves and then requesting a formal evaluation from Sun. Either way, since I'm just down the street from you, I would like to keep tabs on your efforts and help ensure you get the assistance you need and the results you desire. If you find there are areas that you'd like to target for improvement, I can also help suggest services and/or technologies and/or best practices that will help improve your "score". Of course, it isn't about the score - but a firm's ability to deliver a quality service and experience that meets documented SLOs at a desired level of security and cost.<br><br>As I've mentioned, your operational capability is already (it appears) at a higher state of maturity than most. A SunTONE "stamp" will certify this capability and is a badge of honor. You'll join hundreds of other firms that have attained this status, and will differentiate yourselves from the other hosting centers.<br><br>If you have a standing meeting to discuss status and actions and gaps associated with this effort, and if you think I could add value to this meeting, I would be more than happy to attend and provide insights and suggestions where appropriate.</i></font> <br><br><font color="#663300"><i>Hi <--->,<br><br>I'm more of a Sigma guy than an ISO guy... But from my investigation of ISO, it seems clear that a clean mapping exists between ISO and Sigma. These are initiatives to create and document and control processes to ensure a high degree of quality and predictability and continuous improvement/refinement. These are wonderful tools to ensure a process continues to be aligned with expectations and goals, and is as efficient as possible.<br><br>ITIL and SunTONE, on the other hand, DEFINE best practices and processes.<br><br>See the difference? ITIL is a set of practices/processes, whereas Sigma and ISO are mechanisms to ensure any process is (and continues to be) optimized.<br><br>So, in that sense, they are HIGHLY complementary, but orthogonal. I don't believe there is overlap or mapping between ISO and ITIL. You really need both the processes (ITIL) and the means to define and measure and analyze and implement and control (Sigma/ISO) those processes.<br><br>Note that both ITIL and Sigma/ISO are systemic/intrusive frameworks that, if done right, will infiltrate the whole organization and will be embraced and promoted from the highest levels. It is a culture change that takes more than a training campaign, MBOs, and a tiger team. You already know this, but many clients fail because they are not prepared to endure the multi-year evolution that this kind of change requires. But, for those that succeed, there are great rewards all along the way... incremental quick-hit benefits that don't require huge time or resource investments.<br><br>Many IT shops, I believe, will be outsourced and/or be "consolidated" over the next few years because they can not control their costs, security, and service levels. ITIL+Sigma/ISO is the path to survival and excellence.<br><br>Hope this helps!!</i></font> <br></p> https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/java_jingle Java Jingle dcb https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/java_jingle Fri, 11 Mar 2005 11:09:46 +0000 Computers <p><img src="https://blogs.oracle.com/roller/resources/dcb/JavaLogo.jpg" height="70" width="41"> <strong><font color="#990000" size="4">Java Jingle from 1997</font></strong>: <a href="http://blogs.sun.com/roller/resources/dcb/Java.mp3">http://blogs.sun.com/roller/resources/dcb/Java.mp3</a></p> <p><em><font color="#330033">I think Sun employees wrote and recorded that song. Anyone recall who? A verse near the end states: "Nobody can tell you what the future may bring...". Well, that was 8 years ago. Check this out!<br> </font></em></p> <p>As Java technology enters its 10th year, the Java Brand is a one of the most powerful technology brands on the planet. You'll see it on your Java powered mobile phone from Sony Ericcson, Motorola, etc or your Palm PDA, on a variety of new PCs from the factory, built into various printers from Ricoh, baked into mobile games, and a part of slew of websites from our partners like Borland, Oracle, and others. Java technology is on over <em><u>2 Billion devices</u></em> and counting! <br><br><strong><em><u>The Facts</u></em></strong> <br>In our most recent study we found that 86% of consumers and 100% of developers and IT recognize the Java brand. In addition we have seen the association of Java and Sun grow by 15% year over year. Over 80% of Developers and IT professionals know that Java comes from Sun. In addition 1 in 3 consumers will buy a product with the Java brand over a comparable product, this is up from 1 in 5 just a year ago. <!--StartFragment --> <a href="http://java.com">Java.com</a> just blew past 10 Million visitors per month, which is more visitors than Nintendo.com, Wired.com, Playstation.com, Time.com, Businessweek.com, and many others. Here are some facts and figures:</p> <ul> <li>2 million downloads of J2EE 1.4 - the most popular release ever!</li> <li>4.5 million Java developers, up 7% from June 2004</li> <li>2 billion Java-enabled devices, up 14% from June 2004</li> <li>750M Java Cards, up 25% from June 2004</li> <li>579M phones, up 65% from June 2004</li> <li>650M PCs, up 8% from June 2004</li></ul> https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/power_hungry_grids Power Hungry Grids!! dcb https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/power_hungry_grids Fri, 11 Mar 2005 07:03:47 +0000 Computers <p>I find it ironic that our industry uses Power Generation and Distribution Grids as a metaphor to describe the utility based computing model that is being promoted by vendors and demanded by an increasing number of customers. Actually, it is a reasonable and appropriate analogy. You don't build your own unique power generator for your home or business, and you don't hire a Chief Electrical Officer. Instead you plug into the Power Grid(s)... and leverage standards and scale economics and the variable cost structure of a reliable shared service provider for which you pay for what you consume at a predictable cost per unit. Being a commodity adhering to standards, you can easily switch providers with little or no impact to your operation. You demand a level of service quality, and know what you are willing to pay for that service.</p> <p>I find it ironic simply because it will take a main artery from the Power Grid to, well, <font color="#660000"><strong>power</strong></font> the Compute Grids being designed. There are plans on drawing boards to increase the compute density of future servers such that a standard 19" datacenter rack will (fully populated with the most dense compute servers) consume up to 25KW of power!! That's huge. Consider a data center floor filled with these racks. You can imagine the engineering challenges associated with extracting that much heat from these blast furnaces. And then, of course, it's up to the datacenter to do something with that all that heat. One customer measured hurricane force chilled air speeds underneath their raised floor tiles! To make matters worse, according to p.20 of <a href="http://datacenters.lbl.gov/docs/Data_Center_Facility7.pdf">this report</a> (see the table below), computer equipment accounts for less than half of the power demand for a typical data center.</p> <p>The good news is that you'll have an unprecedented amount of compute power on each floor tile, so in theory, you won't need as many racks. Of course, we all know that the demand for compute capability exceeds the supply. On the other hand, the ultimate realization of the utility model suggests that you might not even have your own datacenter. Like your gas, water, electricity, cable, and phone services, the cost of the building, of powering, cooling, and administering the equipment, of security, insurance, disaster recovery, etc, will all be absorbed by the utility provider. You simply pay for the service at a known rate per unit of consumption.</p> <p>That sure sounds great in theory (unless you are the Chief <span style="font-weight: bold;">Integration</span> Officer, or Chief <span style="font-weight: bold;">Infrastructure</span> Officer). It'll be fun to watch this play out. And watch IT earn the title: "Information Technology".<br> </p> <p><img src="https://blogs.oracle.com/roller/resources/dcb/GridPwr.jpg"></p> <p><img src="https://blogs.oracle.com/roller/resources/dcb/DC_Pwr.jpg"></p> https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/the_science_of_data_recovery The Science of Data Recovery dcb https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/the_science_of_data_recovery Wed, 9 Mar 2005 00:19:53 +0000 Computers <p><a href="http://blogs.sun.com/roller/page/chrisg/20050308#disk_scrubbing">Chris Gerhard</a> made an off hand comment about the fact that disk scrubbing simply hinders (doesn't necessarily prevent) a motivated attempt to retrieve information from a disk drive. Disk Scrubbing is the process of (attempting to) securely erasing a disk to prevent others from accessing previously stored information. This is typically done by writing (possibly multiple times) random data over the entire surface of a disk.</p> <p>Since I work with various government accounts/agencies/programs, this is an area of interest to me and some of my clients.</p> <p>You might think that a digital medium designed to store only zeros and ones would be immune to forensic recovery of residual data once the zeros and ones are randomly altered. The fallacy with this is that magnetic storage is not a digital medium at all. Magnetic domains are created when the read/write head applies energy to a bit location to align some (not all) of the particles to reflect either a zero or a one. The precise location of the "domain" for each write varys slightly in three dimensions (including depth). This reality provides interesting opportunities or risk (depending on your perspective).<br> </p> <p>A colleague (thanks Joe) pointed me to a <a href="http://www.dataclinic.co.uk/data-recovery/learn-more-about-microscopy.htm">fascinating report</a> on techniques involved in recovering data from ostensibly erased disks and computer memory. This is amazing and spooky stuff for the technically inclined. Here is <a href="http://mareichelt.de/pub/notmine/livegate.netwipe.html">another report</a> (thanks Kurt) that's also very interesting and enlightening. Joe also pointed me to <a href="http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/%7Epgut001/">Prof. Gutman's website</a>, who has a lifetime of security related knowledge to share!</p> <p>Here are a few brief excerpts (read the <a href="http://www.dataclinic.co.uk/data-recovery/learn-more-about-microscopy.htm">article</a> for context):<br><br><font color="#666600"><i>When all the above factors are combined it turns out that each (disk) track contains an image of everything ever written to it, but that the contribution from each "layer" gets progressively smaller the further back it was made. Intelligence organisations have a lot of expertise in recovering these palimpsestuous images.<br></i></font><br><font color="#666600"><i>To effectively erase a medium to the extent that recovery of data from it becomes uneconomical requires a magnetic force of about five times the coercivity of the medium... (</i><i>a modern hard drive has a coercivity of 1400-2200 Oe).... </i><i>Even the most powerful commercial AC degausser cannot generate Oe needed for full erasure. </i><i>It may be necessary to resort to physical destruction of the media to completely sanitise it (in fact since degaussing destroys the sync bytes, ID fields, error correction information, and other paraphernalia needed to identify sectors on the media, thus rendering the drive unusable, it makes the degaussing process mostly equivalent to physical destruction).<br><br></i><i>One example of an adequate degausser was the 2.5 MW Navy research magnet used by a former Pentagon site manager to degauss a 14" hard drive. It bent the platters on the drive...</i></font></p> https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/sun_db_the_open_database "Sun DB" The Open Database dcb https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/sun_db_the_open_database Mon, 7 Mar 2005 09:00:09 +0000 Computers <P><SPAN class=artText><FONT color=#660000><BIG><FONT color=#000000><SMALL><SPAN class=artTitle>Our President & COO recently talked to the press about our plans regarding Sun's Open Source SQL database (see the link and excerpt below).</SPAN></SMALL></FONT></BIG></FONT></SPAN></P> <P><SPAN class=artText><FONT color=#660000><BIG><FONT color=#000000><SMALL><SPAN class=artTitle></SPAN></SMALL></FONT></BIG></FONT></SPAN><SPAN class=artText><FONT color=#660000><BIG><FONT color=#000000><SMALL><SPAN class=artTitle>I believe "Sun DB" (a generic term for the concept) will provide huge value to our industry. Many will continue to choose to deploy their largest, most active, and most mission critical data stores on technology from traditional database vendors. However, Sun DB will provide a supported open standard and open source SQL data store at an extremely attractive price point (free?). IT Shops, Government Programs, Research Facilities, etc, will find this offering to be technically and financially irresistible for many types of deployments. And, I'm guessing that traditional database vendors will find intensified market pressure to readdress license models increasingly irresistible. It's a win-win for everyone... Well, almost everyone.</SPAN></SMALL></FONT></BIG></FONT></SPAN><!--StartFragment --></P> <P><SPAN class=artText><FONT color=#660000><BIG><FONT color=#000000><SMALL><SPAN class=artTitle></SPAN></SMALL></FONT></BIG></FONT></SPAN><SPAN class=artText><FONT color=#660000><BIG><SPAN class=artTitle><A href="http://www.infoworld.com/article/05/02/16/HNsunpresident_1.html"><I><SMALL><FONT color=#000000>http://www.infoworld.com/article/05/02/16/HNsunpresident_1.html</FONT></SMALL></I></A></WEBHEADLINE></SPAN><B><SPAN class=artTitle><WEBHEADLINE><BR><BR>Sun president talks databases, Sparc, and HP</WEBHEADLINE></SPAN></B></BIG></FONT><BR>Jonathan Schwartz talks about Sun's open source plans and offers Fiorina's successor some advice</SPAN></P><SPAN class=artText> <P class=ArticleBody page="1"><STRONG>IDG: Does Sun have a concrete plan to offer an open source database, or was Scott McNealy just being provocative when he suggested that recently?</STRONG> </P> <P class=ArticleBody page="1"><FONT color=#003300>Schwartz: To be a complete application platform you have to have some form of persistent storage. You can achieve that through a file system, a directory engine, a messaging store, the persistence engine in our application server -- those are all forms of databases. What we haven't done is address the SQL access database, which has been served well in the open source community by MySQL and PostgreSQL. We're committed to filling the hole -- all of the hole, not just the file system. We have to address the requirements of the SQL database, so I think we're quite serious about it. </FONT></P> <P class=ArticleBody page="1"><STRONG>IDG: Would you use the same model as you did with Linux on the Java Desktop System, i.e. take an existing open source product, tweak it for your needs and put a Sun label on it?</STRONG> </P> <P class=ArticleBody page="1"><FONT color=#003300>Schwartz: That's to be determined. Customers have said, 'We'd like an alternative to the existing choices we have.' And they are consistently asking Sun to go work on that issue.</FONT> </P> <P class=ArticleBody page="1"><STRONG>IDG: So it's a matter of when and not if?</STRONG> </P> <P class=ArticleBody page="1"><FONT color=#003300>Schwartz: Absolutely.</FONT></P></SPAN> https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/in_good_company_ceo_cio In Good Company: McNealy/Vass dcb https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/in_good_company_ceo_cio Fri, 4 Mar 2005 12:15:44 +0000 Computers <P>My 30 minutes of fame! Some of our C-levels came to town to yesterday to present at the IPIC 2005 Conference. Our execs love to meet with customers at every opportunity, so we were given a couple hours of their time before their flights - to host an exec roundtable. We invited some of our top customers. Scott entertained and enlightened the crowd from 10-11am. Bill Vass was on from 1-2pm. And, during our catered lunch, between Scott and Bill's talks, I was asked to talk about "Innovation & Value". It was a blast. Mapquest tells me I'm 2908 miles from Corporate HQ. <A href="http://www.geobytes.com/CityDistanceTool.htm">CityDistance</A> tells me I'm 2443 miles away. But, for 30 minutes... I was on the "A", um "C" team! :-)</P> <P><IMG src="http://blogs.sun.com/roller/resources/dcb/GoodCompany.jpg"></P> https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/client_engagement_prep_form Client Engagement Prep Form dcb https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/client_engagement_prep_form Tue, 1 Mar 2005 18:19:42 +0000 Computers <P><!--StartFragment --><FONT color=#006600>I created this a few years ago when I was an Area Product Specialist, flying into accounts all over the place for workshops and architectural or technology discussions. At the time, I needed a way to synchronize details about the account, the specific challenges/opptys we needed to flesh out at the meeting, and travel logistics. It helps to set expectations and align messaging before a customer facing meeting. Account teams were great at filling these out.... I have 100+ of these in my e-mail archive! I generally used a descriptive subject line, such as:</FONT></P> <P><B>Subject: Brillhart Customer Engagement: Xerox@Rochester [9 May 03]</B><BR><BR><FONT color=#006600>Here is the form. Feel free to adapt and reuse!</FONT></P> <P>This note contains important information regarding our upcoming meeting(s). Please verify that the meeting logistics are correct, and then complete the Meeting Questionnaire (see below).<BR><BR>If you intend on us disclosing any confidential information, please ensure you've completed all the Non-Disclosure (ND) paperwork and secured any approvals in advance. Some account teams believe they have a general bi-lateral ND in place, when in fact each meeting requires a separate approval. Please have the paperwork at the meeting. Thanks!<BR><BR>This Questionnaire doesn't take long to complete, and it really does help ensure success. Sales teams often benefit from this exercise as much as the presenter.<BR><BR><U><B>MEETING LOGISTIC SUMMARY</B></U><BR>I'm scheduled to meet with you and your customer, [<FONT color=#cc0000>Xerox</FONT>], in the [<FONT color=#cc0000>Rochester Area</FONT>] on [<FONT color=#cc0000>Friday, May 9th</FONT>] for [<FONT color=#cc0000>about 2 hours</FONT>]. This engagement [<FONT color=#cc0000>\*is\*</FONT>] covered by a signed ND agreement. The primary focus of this meeting will be [<FONT color=#cc0000>item #3</FONT>] as described below, with particular emphasis on VCS competitive positioning.<BR><BR>Please let me know ASAP if any of this has changed. It might be useful for your customers to know a little about me before the meeting: <A class=moz-txt-link-freetext href="http://brillharts.com/sig">http://brillharts.com/sig</A><BR><BR><U><B>MEETING QUESTIONNAIRE</B></U><BR>In order to prepare for our upcoming meetings, I'd like you to fill out the following brief questionnaire as soon as possible for my preparation. Please try to fill out everything just to be sure we are all on the same page. I've found this process really helps ensure a successful meeting. Thanks in advance for your time!!<BR><BR><I><B>1. Account Team Contact Info:<BR></B></I>Sales Rep: 10-digit office/pager/cell<BR>Client Solutions Contact: 10-digit office/pager/cell:</P> <P><I><B>2. Customer Name and their Function, Department or Group:</B></I><BR><B><BR><EM>3. Directions to Meeting </EM></B><EM>(<FONT color=#666666>or an address - and I'll use MapQuest</FONT>)<BR></EM>Hotel Recommendations, if an overnight stay is required<BR>Do I need a car, or will you be picking me up at the airport?<BR><BR><I><B>4. Customer Prep Call</B></I><BR>Do we have a customer con call scheduled with one of the key meeting participants to better understand their expectations for this meeting?<BR><BR><I><B>5. Primary \*Business\* Challenges/Goals</B></I><BR>What are the primary \*business\* challenges/goals we are trying to help them with during this meeting?<BR><BR><I><B>6. Key Discussion Topics & Desired Outcome/Takeaway/Actions/Agreements</B></I><BR>When we leave, what do \*we\* hope was accomplished?<BR><BR><I><B>7. How many people will be attending? Who are they?</B></I><BR>What is their experience level or technical competence related to the topic of the meeting? Are they generally advocates, skeptics, or opponents of our approach to or stand on this topic? What level of influence do they have to make commitments and/or decisions? Who else from Sun will be in attendance? Consider inviting SunES personnel and strategic partners. Should someone from Sales Mgmt attend?<BR><BR><I><B>8. Do you anticipate the need to talk about Futures?</B></I><BR>CPUs, Servers, Clustering, Storage/SANs, Solaris, Web Services/SOA, etc.... If so, have you secured ND approval?<BR><BR><I><B>9. Competition / Position / Traps?</B></I><BR>What is the main competitive threat related to the topic of this meeting? Are we the incumbent or the challenger in this space? What "traps" might have the competition set for us?<BR><BR><I><B>10. Service Escalations / Quality Issues?</B></I><BR>Have they had any serious product or service issues that might surface in this meeting?<BR><BR><I><B>11. Odds and ends:</B></I><BR>What is the dress code?<BR>Will there be a laptop projector?<BR>Do they understand the general Sun product line and vision?<BR><BR>A quick FYI: Presentations are often more effective in a "chalk talk" interactive format. Please ensure there is something to write on (white board or easel). Sometimes the best approach is a laptop projector that projects onto a white board to facilitate annotations to the slides that relate to the customer's situation. Also, if we only expect the meeting to last a couple hours, try to secure other meetings to make the most of the day.</P> <P><U><B>MY SERVICES</B></U><BR>1. Engage the customer in an open discussion about their technical and business requirements, goals, and the expectations of both their mgmt and the end-users of the services they plan to deliver. Assist the customer in thinking through the various options and tradeoffs they can choose from during the architecture and design phase. Work with the Sales Team to produce a solution proposal. Continue to provide support to the Sales Team and customer as needed to secure the order.<BR><BR>2. Discuss our Vision and Roadmap and the Technologies that surround Datacenter Architecture and Operations. This can include N1, SOA and Web Services, ITIL Disciplines, Operational Capability, Utility Computing, Managed Services, etc.<BR><BR>3. Discuss High Availability using SunCluster 3, Replication Techniques for Disaster Recovery, and End-to-End Solution Architectures, and help the customer design a solution that solves the business challenge they are facing.<BR><BR>4. Perform an Architectural Review and Systems Performance Audit of the customer's current environment, and propose changes that will optimize their environment for their current and projected business requirements.<BR><BR>5. Deliver an in-depth technical review of our Servers, Interconnects, and Chip Architectures and position Sun w.r.t. competitive offerings, to help guide the customer to a decision that is appropriate for their current and projected needs.<BR><BR>6. Provide a high-level strategic overview of our Vision, Value Proposition, Broad Product and Technology Overview, and Competitive Positioning, to help the customer make an informed and confident decision to partner with Sun.<BR><BR>7. Work with Customer Engineers and SysAdmins at the customer's site to build a Proof of Concept evaluation environment using Best Practices, and then assist the customer in exercising the POC to demonstrate how it's features and functions will enable the customer to succeed.<BR><BR>8. Other. Such as Storage NDs, Blade NDs, Volume Server NDs, etc.<BR></P> https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/rocket_science_open_standards Rocket Science & Open Standards dcb https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/rocket_science_open_standards Thu, 24 Feb 2005 15:10:47 +0000 Computers <P>Here is a letter I sent to a Lead Architect I met at a particular "space agency", as a follow up to our discussion about one of their infrastructure redesign projects. I think many clients are wrestling with this topic, so I offer this as an open/anonymous letter for your consideration.<!--StartFragment --></P> <P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color=#330033>Hi <----->,</FONT></P> <P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color=#330033>It was great meeting with you yesterday. Thanks for sharing some insights into your strategy and challenge. I applaud you for starting to think about your future infrastructure needs and the potential risk of status quo at this point. Too many clients wait until the last minute and then they find themselves in an urgent/reactive mode making poor and costly choices.<BR><BR>I was thinking more about your philosophy regarding the use of non-proprietary open standards. This is very important, and I'm a huge advocate of this approach. I agree that it is critical to architect a solution that promotes choice and permits you to migrate to different products and technologies and vendors without cost, delay, or pain. To me, and I would guess to you as well, this is the reason to select interoperable standards and "open" platforms.<BR><BR>As you know (although many people confuse the two) the "open source" movement is different than the value proposition of "open standards". The measure of whether something is open or not is determined by the cost/pain of extracting that component out of your solution and replacing it with another choice. Examples could include the server vendor (eg: HP to Sun Opteron), the OS (eg: Linux to Solaris), the SAN fabric switches, the J2EE App Server, the SQL Database, the Compilers, etc, etc.... Note that open source does not factor into the measure of being "open".<BR><BR>I do also recognize the value of open source. It can increase the rate of innovation through a global community. It can provide for independent security assessment and validation. It can offer a client the ability to tweak the product for their own needs (although I generally discourage this due to support and quality and complexity reasons). As you know, Sun has open sourced the code to Solaris10! I never thought I'd see that happen, but it has.<BR><BR>There is another aspect that I believe is part of your strategy. If you build the upper layers using interoperable standards, then the layers below are often interchangeable even if they aren't fully open. For example, if you build your business logic using J2EE running in an App Server, then the OS and the H/W choice is much less "sticky". You can switch between SPARC and Opteron or between Solaris and Linux without cost or delay or pain. Also, if you code and compile your own apps, you can choose to use standard library calls that make the underlying platform easy to change.<BR><BR>There are, however, drawbacks associated with choosing products that do not have a well established and directed engineering and support mechanism. The key, in my opinion, is to select partners and products that embrace open standards (and open source) and yet have an auditable and proven support and engineering model. This gives you high confidence in your solution as well as the ability to change at will.<BR><BR>I believe Linux is fine as a personal desktop operating environment. I also think Linux can be a viable choice on which to run stateless replicated (load balanced) presentation tier services. However relying on Linux to host mission critical applications and tier 2+ services, in my professional opinion, will significantly increase the risk associated with your mission support. It just isn't mature enough yet. There are reliability concerns, security concerns, scalability concerns, functionality concerns, support concerns, bug fix responsiveness concerns, legal indemnification concerns, etc.<BR><BR>I offer the same counsel about the choice of your supplier of Opteron servers and other components in your solution stack. Many have found that the potential initial cost savings associated with building a whitebox generic server, and using freeware software, is often lost many times over in the frustration and hassle of dealing with bugs and quality issues and the lack of features. These issues are highly mitigated when using "open standard" products offered by a partner like Sun that pours billions per year into R&D and QA.<BR><BR>I'll close by reiterating my suggestion that these should probably play a role in your infrastructure redesign:<BR> - Sun's industry leading Opteron servers (btw, our future roadmap is extremely interesting)<BR> - Sun's open source Solaris 10 operating environment<BR> - Sun's open standards "platform software stack"<BR> (app server, directory server with ActiveX interoperability, portal server, identity server, etc, etc)<BR><BR>We also have an interesting suite of virtualization and automation solutions, including our N1 Service Provisioning Server.<BR><BR>I'd love to support you in learning more about and even evaluating these products and technologies and strategies. I'd also be glad to act as a general sounding board and/or provide architectural review and guidance as desired.<BR><BR>Please feel free to contact me any time. I look forward to hearing from you.<BR><BR>Best Regards,</FONT></P> <P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color=#330033>-- Dave</FONT></P> <P><!--StartFragment --> <BIG><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Dave Brillhart</SPAN></BIG><BR><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(51,0,153)">Lead Architect - Strategic Government</SPAN><BR style="COLOR: rgb(51,0,153); FONT-STYLE: italic"><SPAN style="COLOR: rgb(51,0,153); FONT-STYLE: italic">Client Solutions Organization</SPAN><BR style="COLOR: rgb(51,0,153); FONT-STYLE: italic"><SPAN style="COLOR: rgb(51,0,153); FONT-STYLE: italic">Sun Microsystems, Inc.</SPAN></P> https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/superg_2005_paper SUPerG 2005 Paper dcb https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/superg_2005_paper Wed, 23 Feb 2005 02:00:00 +0000 Computers <P>SUPerG (<I>Sun Users Performance Group</I>) is Sun's premiere technical event for customers interested in large scale solutions architected for data centers and high-performance and technical computing. The program is designed to provide highly interactive and intimate exchanges between Sun's leading technical experts and our customers.</P> <P>You can read more about the event, and register to attend at: <A href="http://www.sun.com/datacenter/superg/">http://www.sun.com/datacenter/superg/</A></P> <P><STRONG>This year, I've been invited to speak</STRONG> at this event. In the spirit of blogging, I've posted my abstract (below). I need to get busy writing the paper and creating a clear, concise, and compelling technology demonstration. If you'd like me to address a particular topic or concern or challenge in the paper (related to the abstract), or have an idea that I might include in the demo, please drop me a line or submit a comment to this entry. If I use your idea, I'll attribute it to you in the published paper, and here in blog land, so please include your name and contact info.</P> <P>Hope you see you at SUPerG in April in Virgina. Stop by and say "hi".<BR><BR><U><B><FONT color=#993300>\*SUPerG 2005 Abstract\* </FONT></B></U><BR><FONT color=#663366><B>Effective Deployment & Operational Practices for Dynamically Scaled SOA and Grid Environments<BR><BR></B><I>Scalability is taking on a new form and introducing new challenges. The traditional "vertical" platform with dozens of powerful CPUs bound by local memory offering (nearly) uniform memory access, is being threatened by a new model - networked grids of powerful but low cost compute nodes. <BR><BR>Grids are not new. But powerful new techniques are emerging that allow commercial workloads to take advantage of this style of computing. This includes SOA-based application design, as well as auto-deployment and provisioning to drive efficiency and utilization in infrastructure operation. <BR><BR>Modern designs provide for on-the-fly horizontal scaling with the push of a button.... in which new containers join the grid into which a distributed app may expand to offer new levels of performance and service level. A side effect of this approach is a highly-resilient platform, such that bound dependencies can fail without a catastrophic impact on the running service. <BR><BR>This talk will provide an update on the State of the Technology with respect to SOA and Infrastructure Provisioning, and how these can be leveraged to offer Adaptable, Scalable, and Resilient services. <BR><BR>I may also include a demonstration that will show how a collection of bare metal servers can be established into a Grid using N1 SPS (integrated with JET). Following this provisioning phase, the demo will then show a sample app deployed and executed across multiple nodes. Finally, it'll show a node being added to the live Grid using SPS, and how that app can then expand, at run-time, to leverage this new node, increasing its work rate.</I></FONT> </P> https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/boycotting_oracle Boycotting Oracle dcb https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/boycotting_oracle Tue, 15 Feb 2005 04:26:43 +0000 Computers <p>So the news (<a href="http://news.com.com/2102-1006_3-5572958.html">news.com.com</a>) is reporting that Intel and HP are getting into the game... joining the ranks of multi-core chip vendors and their customers who see Oracle's license strategy (to charge by the core) as misaligned with the times. These are times of virtualized resources that are consumed and funded as needed, they say.<br><br>I was thinking of an analogy for Oracle's position... Consider how you would feel about a policy at Blockbuster Video if, when you rented a DVD, you had to pay $10.00 per seat (your sofa counts as three - being multi-seated). No, it doesn't matter if it'll just be you and your spouse watching the movie. Since you have 15 seats that you \*could\* utilize (the bar stools and folding chairs count too) you will pay $150.00 per night for that movie. Oh, you'd like to display that movie in PARALLEL in your family room and in your entertainment room? Sure, you can do that with their "shared disc" technology. But now add up all the seats in both rooms (25), and that'll be $20.00 per seat! So please pay us $500.00 per night for that movie.<br><br>Now, why in the world would Oracle change that policy? They've maximized their revenue pull - and customers are still writing checks. They are in business to extract as much from their "value" as the market will bear, not offer charity discounts to a world that can't rationalize the price tag assigned by a market share leader (I won't use the other "m" word). Oracle reports having $10B in cash, about equal to their annual revenue. It would take less than a thousand E25K customers to decide to run Oracle RAC on their servers to deliver another $10B to their warchest. Not bad, for the price of DVD blanks :-)<br><br>Choice in this market segment is the only lever that will work. Customers are demanding choice. And they will respond when it appears. Oracle should note that when choice knocks, many will answer even if they then respond with a competitive position. It takes a long time to get a bad taste out of your mouth. Many will boycott Oracle just because they finally can.<br><br>There are some hints that choice might be <a href="http://techrepublic.com.com/5102-10585-5563417.html">just around the corner</a>.</p> https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/the_fall_and_rise_of The Fall and Rise of IT: Part 1 dcb https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/the_fall_and_rise_of Sat, 12 Feb 2005 14:15:15 +0000 Computers <P>Here's a collection of charts, graphs, and images that provide insight into the abyss of the typical datacenter operation. It's scary out there, when we apply benchmarks used to measure utilization, efficiency, and contribution from other part of the business.</P> <P>But there is hope. For example, just this month Sun released a valuable and comprehensive (and free) <A href="http://www.sun.com/blueprints/0205/819-1693.html">BluePrint</A> book called "Operations Management Capabilities Model". We've been working on this one for some time - so check it out. In addition, you can sign up (for free) with our <A href="http://www.suntone.org/">SunTONE Program</A> for self-assessment guides and self-remediation activities related to our ITIL-plus Certification program. It is based on, but extends ITIL. Thousands of companies are registered. We'll help if you'd like. Finally, the <A href="http://www.sun.com/products-n-solutions/sodc/">Service-Optimized DataCenter</A> program will act as a Center of Excellence for putting these concepts into practice along with innovative new technologies in virtualization, provisioning, automation, and optimization, and other best practices. As you read about the state of IT below, realize that there is an escape from the pit of mediocrity. Part 2 will explore the oppty.</P> <P>For now, for this post, I'll survey some of the problems that need fixing...</P> <P>Let's assume that the prime directive for a datacenter is simply to: <FONT color=#990000><STRONG>Deliver IT Services that meet desired Service Level Objectives at a competitive cost point</STRONG></FONT>. There are all kinds of important functions that fall within those large buckets [Service Level and Financial Mgmt], but that'll work for this discussion.</P> <P>In my experience working with customers, there are two primary barriers that prevent a datacenter from being as successful as it might be in this mission. First, there is <FONT color=#000099><STRONG>rampant unmanaged complexity</STRONG></FONT>. Second, most <FONT color=#000099><STRONG>IT activities are reactive </STRONG></FONT>in nature... triggered by unanticipated events and often initiated by unsatisfied customer calls. The result: <B>expensive services that can't meet expectations</B>. Which is the exact opposite of the what an IT shop should deliver!</P> <P>Here are some related graphics (with comments following each graphic):</P> <P><IMG style="WIDTH: 629px; HEIGHT: 363px" height=389 src="http://blogs.sun.com/roller/resources/dcb/stovepipes.jpg" width=656></P> <P>This illustrates the typical "silo" or "stovepipe" deployment strategy. A customer or business unit wants a new IT service developed and deployed. They might help pick their favorite piece parts and IT builds/integrates the unique production environment for this application or service. There is often a related development and test stovepipe for this application, and maybe even a DR (disaster recovery) stovepipe at another site. That's up to four "n"-tier environments per app, with each app silo running different S/W stacks, different firmware, different patches, different middleware, etc, etc. Each a science experiment and someone's pet project.</P> <P>Standish, Meta, Gartner, and others describe the fact that ~40% of all major IT initiatives that are funded and staffed are eventually canceled before they are ever delivered! And of those delivered, half never recover their costs. Overall, 80% of all major initiatives do not deliver to promise (either canceled, late, over budget, or simply don't meet expectation). Part of the reason (there are many reasons) for this failure rate is the one-off stovepipe mentality. Other reasons are a lack of clear business alignment, requirements, and criteria for success.</P> <P><IMG src="http://blogs.sun.com/roller/resources/dcb/complexity.jpg"></P> <P>This is a interesting quote from a systems vendor. While 200M IT workers seems absurd, it describes the impact of accelerating complexity and the obvious need to manage that process. We saw the way stovepipe deployment drives complexity. We're seeing increasing demand for services (meaning more stovepipes), each with increasing service level expectations (meaning more complex designs in each stovepipe), each with increasing rates of change (meaning lots of manual adjustments in each stovepipe), each with with increasing numbers of (virtual) devices to manage, each built from an increasing selection of component choices. The net result is that each stovepipe looks nothing like the previous or next IT project. Every app lives in a one-off custom creation.</P> <P><IMG src="http://blogs.sun.com/roller/resources/dcb/utilization.jpg"></P> <P>If all this complexity isn't bad enough, as if to add insult to injury, each of these silos averages less than 10% utilization. Think about that.... say you commit $5million to build out your own stovepipe for an ERP service. You will leave $4.5M on the floor running idle! That would be unacceptable in just about any other facet of your business. Taken together, high complexity (lots of people, unmet SLOs) and low utilization rates (more equip, space, etc) drive cost through the roof! If we could apply techniques to increase average utilization to even 40% (and provide fault and security isolation), we could potentially eliminate the need for 75% of the deployed equip and related overhead (or at least delay further <!--StartFragment --> acquisitions, or find new ways to leverage the resources).</P> <P><IMG src="http://blogs.sun.com/roller/resources/dcb/outages.jpg"></P> <P>We've seen what complexity and utilization does to cost... But the other IT mandate is to deliver reliable IT services. This graphic summarizes a few studies performed by IEEE, Oracle, and Sun as to the root cause of service outages. In the past, ~60% of all outages were planned/scheduled, and 40% were the really bad kind - unplanned. Thankfully, new features like live OS upgrades and patches and backups and dynamic H/W reconfigurations are starting to dramatically reduce the need for scheduled outages. But we've got to deal with the unplanned outages that always seem to happen at the worst times. Gartner explains that 80% of unplanned outages are due to unskilled and/or unmotivated people making mistakes or executing poorly documented and undisciplined processes. In theory, we can fix this with training and discipline. But since each stovepipe has its own set of unique operational requirements and processes, it nearly impossible to implement consistent policies and procedures across operations.</P> <P><IMG src="http://blogs.sun.com/roller/resources/dcb/opr_maturity.jpg"></P> <P>So it isn't surprising, then, that Gartner has found that 84% of datacenters are operating in the basement in terms of Operational Maturity... Either in Chaotic or Reactive modes.</P> <P>Okay... enough. I know I didn't paint a very pretty picture. The good news is that most firms recognize these problems and are starting to work at <!--StartFragment --> simplifying and standardizing their operations. In Part 2, I'll provide some ideas on where to start and how to achieve high-return results.</P> https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/the_cell_processor The Cell Processor dcb https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/the_cell_processor Wed, 9 Feb 2005 03:27:25 +0000 Computers <P>The <A href="http://www-1.ibm.com/businesscenter/venturedevelopment/us/en/featurearticle/gcl_xmlid/8649/nav_id/emerging">latest buzz</A> on the streets, at least around those neighborhoods frequented by the eXtreme crowd, seems to be about the <A href="http://www.blachford.info/computer/Cells/Cell0.html">Cell Processor</A>. I wrote a little <A href="http://blogs.sun.com/roller/page/dcb/?anchor=the_fallacy_of_ibm_s">blog</A> on the Power 6 recently and one reader warned me to watch out for The Cell.<BR><BR>Well, I have to admit, I'm a bleeding edge junkie myself at times. And the theory of operation around The Cell is pretty compelling. The problem is that theory doesn't always translate to reality! In fact, it seldom does. Especially when S/W is a critical component of the translation.<BR><BR>Gartner suggests that only 1 in 5 major initiatives that Sr. Mgmt funds and resources ever delivers to promise... 80% fail to meet expectations. IBM talks about a recent <A href="http://www.standishgroup.com/sample_research/chaos_1994_1.php">Standish Group</A> report that suggests only 16.2% of S/W projects are delivered to promise. <A href="http://www.knowledge-advantage.com/your_why.asp">Another study</A> suggests that > 40% are canceled before delivered (and most that are delivered are late and/or way over budget, often never recovering costs).<BR><BR>If you read the reports about Cell, it isn't about the H/W... That's the point really. The H/W is made up of standard building blocks (cells) of Power cores. A socket holds a Processor Element which contains a main Processor Unit (core) and several (often 8) Attached Processor Units (cores). However, the interesting part is the "Cell Object", which is a S/W construct that includes code and data that can migrate around looking for a "host" Cell system on which to execute. There is talk of dynamically-orchestrating pipelines. Of S/W self-healing properties. Of dynamic partitionability with multiple native OS support. All S/W ideas.<BR><BR>So it isn't really about H/W. The H/W "Cells" are simply the "amino acids". The more interesting question might be: <STRONG><EM>is there an "intelligent designer" who can breath life into a soup made up of these "single celled" organisms?</EM></STRONG> There is a precedent for doom - where advanced life forms failed to thrive due to a lack of S/W life support (eg: EPIC/VLIW, Stack Machines, etc).</P> <P>We saw earlier the dismal failure rate of projects using well established S/W development paradigms. It'll be amazing if Sony/Toshiba/IBM can turn the PlayStation3 engine into a viable <STRONG><U>general purpose computing platform</U></STRONG> that can threaten AMD, Intel, and SPARC at home and in the datacenter. From what I hear, the development tools and processes for PlayStation2 are an absolute nightmare.</P> <P>It'll be fun to watch this pan out. One thing is for sure... at least PlayStation3 will ROCK, if they can deliver a reasonable flow of affordable immersive networked games. I hope so.</P> <P>The Cell makes for great reading. Unfortunately, when it comes to a general purpose platform, this one might never recover from Stage 3:</P> <P><IMG src="http://blogs.sun.com/roller/resources/dcb/HypeCycle.jpg"></P> https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/chips_cores_threads_oh_my Chips, Cores, Threads, OH MY!! dcb https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/chips_cores_threads_oh_my Sun, 30 Jan 2005 12:47:55 +0000 Computers <P>I don't know about you, but the whole mess around the emerging lexicon associated with modern processors is very frustrating. Terms are frequently redefined and twisted based on each vendor's whim and fancy. But words (should) mean something and obviously it's important that we all talk the same language.</P> <P>A perfect example... you might have been approached by a <A href="http://www.carm.org/jw/nutshell.htm">Jehovah's Witness</A> in the past. Or have a friend who is a <A href="http://www.carm.org/lds/nutshell.htm">Mormon</A>. I do. They are wonderful people in general. When they talk about their faith their words and themes sound very similar to Biblical Christianity. But dive a little deeper and you'll find the belief systems are radically different. I'm not making a statement on value or correctness or anything like that (so don't bother starting a religious debate). My point is that two people can talk and maybe even (think they) agree, when in fact they are as far from each other as heaven and hell (so-to-speak).</P> <P>When it comes to the engines that power computers, people talk about CPUs, and Processors, and Cores, and Threads, and Sockets, and Chips, and n-Way, and TEUs, and CMT, and Hyper-Threading, and and and... Whew!</P> <P>I like to use three terms... Chips, Cores, and Threads. Note that this is pretty much what SPEC.ORG uses: <A class=moz-txt-link-freetext href="http://www.spec.org/cpu2000/results/rint2000.html">http://www.spec.org/cpu2000/results/rint2000.html</A></P> <P>I stay away from Sockets and Processors and CPUs and n-Way, as these are confusing or ambiguous or redundant.</P> <P><U><STRONG><BIG>Here are some examples [Chips/Cores/Threads]:<BR></BIG></STRONG></U>V880: 8/8/8<BR>V490: 4/8/8<BR>p570: 8/16/32<BR>V40z: 4/4/4<BR><A href="http://www.sun.com/processors/throughput/MDR_Reprint.pdf">Niagara</A>: 1/8/32 (for a system with just one of these chips)</P> <P><BIG><U><B>Here are my definitions:</B></U></BIG> </P> <P><STRONG><U><FONT color=#009900>Chips </FONT><BR></U></STRONG>This refers to the laser scribed rectangle cut from a semiconductor wafer, which is then packaged in a plastic or ceramic casing with pins or contacts. A "chip" may have multiple processing "cores" in it (see: Cores). The US-IV and Niagara and Power5 and Itanium and Opteron are all single "chips".</P> <P><STRONG><U><FONT color=#009900>Cores</FONT><BR></U></STRONG>This term refers to the number of discrete "processors" in a system or on a chip. Some chips, such as Power5, US-IV, Niagara, etc, have more than one core per chip. A core is also know as a TEU (thread execution unit). Each "core" may also be multi-threaded (see Threads), which can support concurrent or switched execution. Some cores have more than one integer, floating point or other type of "execution unit" that supports instruction level parallelism and/or more than one concurrent thread.</P> <P><STRONG><U><FONT color=#009900>Threads</FONT><BR></U></STRONG>Threads are really a S/W construct. These are the streams of execution scheduled by the OS to do work driven by the computer's processor(s). Some cores can handle more than one thread of execution. Some cores can execute more than one thread at the same time. Other cores can be loaded with multiple threads, but perform H/W context switching at nanosecond speeds. The Thread Count of a processors equals the number of cores multiplied by the number of threads handled by each core. The US-IV has a Thread Count of 2\*1=2. The Power5 has a Thread Count of 2\*2=4. Niagara has a TC of 8\*4=32.</P> <P><STRONG><U><FONT color=#cc0000>Sockets (avoid)</FONT><BR></U></STRONG>This term is designed to communicate the number of processor "chips" in a system. However, in reality it is an ambiguous term, because IBM's MCMs (multi-chip modules) have four "chips" per motherboard "socket". And, a long time ago, some sockets were stacked with more than one chip. Regardless, this term is supposed to equate to the number of "chips", so why confuse the issue. Just use "chips".</P> <P><STRONG><U><FONT color=#cc0000>Processors (avoid)</FONT><BR></U></STRONG>This is technically equal to the number of cores. However, marketing has corrupted this term and some vendors (like Sun) equate this to the number of chips (or sockets), while others equate this to the number of cores. Vendors also use the term "n-Way". But since the number "n" equals the number of processors, this means different things depending on the vendor. For example, a 4-way V490 from Sun has 8 cores, and Oracle will charge you $320,000.00 (list price) to run Oracle on it.</P> <P><STRONG><U><FONT color=#cc0000>CPUs (avoid)</FONT><BR></U></STRONG>This suffers from the same marketing overload problem as Processors. </P> https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/soa_jsr_208_reality_check SOA & JSR 208: Reality Check dcb https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/soa_jsr_208_reality_check Sun, 30 Jan 2005 11:22:16 +0000 Computers <p>A friend recently asked me what I'm hearing about SOA adoption and the buzz around JSR 208.</p> <p>"JSR 208" might be a new term for some. Here is a brief overview: <a href="http://www.bijonline.com/PDF/Chappell%20oct.pdf">http://www.bijonline.com/PDF/Chappell%20oct.pdf</a></p> <p>SOA is so over hyped these days that everyone probably has something different in mind when they hear that TLA (three letter acronym). Kinda like "Grid" - the concepts are real and useful, but the hype around SOA and Grid is running years ahead of reality.</p> <p>Remember when N1 was first discussed... the vision of heterogeneous datacenters managed by a meta-OS that auto-provisions virtual slices into which services are deployed and managed to sustain business-driven SLOs based on priorities and charge-back constraints. Just roll in new equip and N1 will "DR" (read: dynamically reallocate) services into the increased capacity. If something fails... no problem... N1 will detect and adapt. We'll get there... eventually. And we've made important steps along the way. Investing almost $2B/yr in R&D will help. But it'll take (a long) time.</p> <p>In some circles I'm hearing similar visions of grandeur around SOA. They talk of business apps described at a high level of abstraction (eg: business process models) loaded into an "application orchestrator" that broadcasts descriptions of the various components/services it needs, and then auto-builds the business app based on services from those providers (both internal and external) that offer the best cost point and service level guarantees. As new "service" providers come on-line with better value (or, if existing providers go off-line), business apps will rebind (on-the-fly) to these new service components.</p> <p>Now, combine N1 and SOA and ITIL, and we could paint a beautiful picture of Service Delivery based on self-orchestrating business apps made up of discrete reusable and shared (possibly outsourced) components that each exist in their own virtual containers that are auto-provisioned and auto-optimized (based on SLAs and Cost and Demand) to maximize asset utilization and minimize cost, all while meeting service level objectives (even in the event of various fault scenarios).</p> <p>Okay - back to reality :-) I'm finding there is a common theme from many of my customers/prospects. Many are seeking to increase efficiency and agility thru "horizontal integration" of reusable building blocks (eg: identity, etc), a shared services platform (grids, virtualization, etc), and higher-level provisioning (automation, SPS).</p> <p>That isn't SOA, per-se, but is a good first step. The "building blocks" most are looking to share today are infrastructure services, rather than higher-level business app components. There is a maturity gradient that simply takes a lot of hard technical and political work to negotiate. Every customer is at a different place along that gradient, but most are embarrassingly immature (relative to the grand vision). It takes strong leadership and commitment at all levels, and a synchronization of people, processes, technology, and information, to even embark on the journey. It takes a tight coupling of S/W engineering, IT Architecture, and Business Architecture.</p> <p>So, yes, I'm passionate about SOA, and JSR 208 will help integrate discrete business services. There are some firms that are pushing the envelope and building interesting business/mission apps from shared "service providers". But, in general, SOA is an abused term and the hype can derail legitimate efforts.</p> <p>I'd be curious if others are sensing "irrational exuberance" around SOA, which can lead to a <a href="http://www.wordspy.com/words/hypecycle.asp">"Trough of Disillusionment"</a> and a rejection of the legitimate gains that an evolutionary progression can provide. As Architects, we can establish credibility and win confidence (and contracts) by setting realistic expectations (hype-busting) and presenting not only a desired state "blueprint" (something that gets them existed about the possibilities for their environment), but a detailed roadmap that demonstrates the process and the benefits at each check point along the way.<br> <img src="https://blogs.oracle.com/roller/resources/dcb/HypeCycle.jpg"><br> </p> https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/sun_the_nobel_prize Sun & The Nobel Prize dcb https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/sun_the_nobel_prize Thu, 27 Jan 2005 06:44:09 +0000 Computers <p style="font-family: times new roman,times,serif;"><font size="3">Back about 15 years ago, an economist named Ronald Coase won the Nobel Prize based on some very interesting ideas that we're just starting to see drive serious considerations and behavior in the the world of IT. Sun is well aware of this and responding with initiatives (that I can't talk about here). Like the "perfect storm", our industry is at an inflection point driven by the confluence of various trends and developments. These all add up to an environment that is ripe for <a href="http://www.strassmann.com/pubs/cw/outsourcing-it.shtml">Coase's Law</a> to be enforced with prejudice.</font></p> <p style="font-family: times new roman,times,serif;"><font size="3">Coase's Law states that: <strong><em>firms should only do what they can do more efficiently than others, and should outsource what others can do more efficiently</em></strong>, after considering the transaction costs involved in working with the outside suppliers.</font></p> <p style="font-family: times new roman,times,serif;"><font size="3">There is nothing earth shattering about that simple and intuitive statement. However, back in the 90's, when this idea was explored in theoretical circles by bean counters, the "escape clause" related to transactional costs rendered the idea impotent, or at least limited, in the IT world. A captive internal service (eg: payroll) might not be highly efficient, but the thought of outsourcing a business function was quickly evaporated under the heat of a financial impact analysis. It just cost too much per transaction to realize a worthwhile return. And the incredible growth and prosperity of the "bubble years" leading up to Y2K was not a climate that drove consideration of the business value of outsourcing.</font></p> <p style="font-family: times new roman,times,serif;"><font size="3">But all that is changing. You are familiar with many of the <a href="http://mstm.gmu.edu/mstm720/Articles/TechnologyLaws.htm">various "laws"</a> that describe trends in IT, such as:</font></p> <ul style="font-family: times new roman,times,serif;"> <li> <font size="3"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Moore's Law</span> (fab process trends that underpin cheap powerful compute infrastructures)</font></li><li><font size="3"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Gilder's Law</span> (the ubiquity of high-bandwidth network fabrics interconnecting businesses and consumers)</font></li> </ul> <p style="font-family: times new roman,times,serif;"><font size="3">You are also familiar with concept of Web Services that leverage standard interfaces and protocols and languages to facilitate secure B2B and B2C transactions over these networks.</font></p> <p style="font-family: times new roman,times,serif;"><font size="3">Taken together, the cost of an outsourced transaction is now <strong>dramatically</strong> lower than it was pre-bubble. Today, outsourcing is not only a viable consideration for certain business functions, but a necessary competitive reality. Here's the way I interpret and apply Coase's Law... Every business has a strategy to capture value and translate that value into revenue and profit. But the realities of running a business require common support functions. Every company had to build their own network of these supporting services (think: Payroll, HR, PR, Legal, Marketing, Manufacturing, etc, etc, etc). Think of these as chapters tucked away in the back of a company's Business Process handbook... necessary ingredients to implement the Business Design, but not part basic value capture. Many of these necessary support functions operate with limited efficiency and effectiveness, because delivering these services is not part of the company's DNA.</font></p> <p style="font-family: times new roman,times,serif;"><font size="3">But there are provides that live on Gilder's external network fabric, operating grids of Moore's compute capability, offering highly efficient Web Services based business functions. These providers specialize in specific support services and can drive efficiency (and lowered cost) by aggregating demand. Their core competency is delivering secure reliable business functions at contracted service levels at a highly competitive transactional cost point. Wow! Think about that.</font></p> <p style="font-family: times new roman,times,serif;"><font size="3">And moving forward, as we begin to explore the implications of Service-Oriented Architectures, as we implement business processes by orchestrating applications that are built from loosely coupled networked "services", it is not unreasonable to expect some or many of these SOA-based business components to be supplied from one (or more) outsourced suppliers.</font></p> <p style="font-family: times new roman,times,serif;"><font size="3">Some people believe that targeted outsourcing will drive massive deconstruction and reconstruction, and that this will be THE major disruptive catalyst in business designs over the next several years. If so, IT will play a major part in this transformation. Sun needs to aggressively tap into this oppty (and we are). To do so will require building B2B/B2C services (and the underlying distributed service delivery platform) that integrates & optimizes business processes beyond the four walls to include the external value chain.</font></p> <p style="font-family: times new roman,times,serif;"><font size="3">In his 1997 book, <b><i>The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail</i></b>, Harvard business professor Clayton Christensen posited that, thanks to the Internet, companies are becoming more vulnerable than ever to a competitor wielding a disruptive technology - a technical process or business model so transformative that it could shake a Fortune 500-sized corporation, or even an entire industry, to its foundation. The lesson is that companies must structure themselves so they can rapidly build a new business around a disruptive technology even as they sustain their core competency.</font></p> <p style="font-family: times new roman,times,serif;"><font size="3">IBM's OnDemand Enterprise is described as: "An Enterprise whose business process – integrated end-to-end across the company and with key partners, suppliers and customers – can respond with speed to any customer demand, market oppty or external threat".</font></p> <p style="font-family: times new roman,times,serif;"><font size="3">Like Coase's Law, the expression of IBM's OnDemand vision is really common sense. It is the confluence of technology and economics today that has caused these ideas to become very interesting. Now it all comes down, as it always does, to execution.</font></p> <p><font size="3"><span style="font-family: times new roman,times,serif;">And one of the initiatives we're driving at Sun that I can talk about is the </span><a style="font-family: times new roman,times,serif;" href="http://www.sun.com/products-n-solutions/sodc/">Service Optimized Data Center</a><span style="font-family: times new roman,times,serif;"> (SODC). The Sun Service Optimized Data Center program is comprised of an extensive set of services and technologies. Sun creates a comprehensive roadmap, which is used to transform your data center into an efficient, risk-averse, and agile service-driven environment that emphasizes IT operation as a strategic business driver and competitive weapon</span>.</font></p> <p style="font-family: times new roman,times,serif;"><!--StartFragment --></p> https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/oracle_tech_day_ny_cabbies Oracle Tech Day & NY Cabbies dcb https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/oracle_tech_day_ny_cabbies Wed, 19 Jan 2005 15:41:46 +0000 Computers It's been awhile since I've visited New York. Last time I was there I met with customers in the World Trade Center. Yesterday I was in <span id="textEdit0">midtown Manhattan at the Grand Hyatt, attached to Grand Central</span> Station.<br> <br> I presented at an <a href="http://www.oracle.com/webapps/events/EventsDetail.jsp?p_eventId=34998&src=3226594&src=3226594&Act=181">Oracle Technology Day</a>. Over 500 people registered for the event to hear about technology and solutions from Sun and Oracle. I discussed, among other things, our ERP Grid <a href="http://www.sun.com/products/architectures-platforms/referencearchitectures/">Reference Architecture</a> that combines Oracle's 10g RAC with our Opteron-based Servers and Infiniband. Sun is sponsoring five cities. Over 700 are registered for the Atlanta session, to whom I'll be presenting next week.<br> <br> On the way back home from the NY session, I was dropped off at LaGuardia. I had to cross a two lane street to get across to the main gate/check-in curb. It was a clear (but cold) day, 100% visibility. In front of me was a wide brightly painted cross-walk. Several people were standing there waiting to cross (which should have been my first clue that things are different in New York). Finally a natural break in traffic... the next group of vehicles is about 70 feet away, lead by a black limo approaching at about 20mph. Great! It's our turn... I step out and start to cross. Suddenly someone yells out to warn me... "Hey Buddy, Watch Out"! I look to my right and the limo driver apparently has no intention to respect the <b>inalienable </b>rights of pedestrians in crosswalks! He slows down just enough to allow me to back up onto the curb and get out of his way!<br> <br> The term "inalienable" is apropos to this experience :-) The root, <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=alien">alien</a>, has this definition:<br> <span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> Adj. Belonging to, characteristic of, or constituting another and very different place, society, or person; strange</span><br> <br> I think I saw the cabbie mutter: "you're not from around here, are you". Or, something like that :-) I'm reminded of Morpheus' line in <span style="text-decoration: underline;">The Matrix</span> when he explains to Neo that: "Some rules can be bent, others can be broken". Seems to be the creed of the <a href="http://www.nycabbie.com/">NY cabbie</a>.<br> <br> Anyway, New York is a lot of fun. Just look both ways before you cross. And then, run like hell.<br> <br> <img src="https://blogs.oracle.com/roller/resources/dcb/NYCab.jpg"><br> https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/cio_longevity_and_it_execution CIO Longevity and IT Execution dcb https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/cio_longevity_and_it_execution Sat, 15 Jan 2005 06:35:33 +0000 Computers This is a little longer than I generally like for a blog entry. So, I tell you what to expect... I quickly review the essence of IT, then consider why many IT groups are considered ineffective, and finally what can be done to improve execution.<br> <br> The essence of Information Technology is to create, deliver, and sustain high-quality IT services that meet (on time and within budget) the <b><font color="#006600"><i>functional specs</i></font></b> and the on-going <b><font color="#006600"><i>service level agreements</i></font></b> (SLAs) as established thru a partnership with the owners of the requested services. This is, in a nutshell, the role and ultimate responsibility of the CIO.<br> <br> The <b>creation </b>of IT services generally focuses on functional requirements (the purpose of the application - what the service needs to do for the consumer/user). The <b>delivery and support</b> of those services focuses more on quality of service (QoS) attributes, such as performance, as well as the non-functional or systemic qualities (aka: the "ilities") such as reliability, availability, maintainability, securability, manageability, adaptability, scalability, recoverability, survivability, etc. A quick Google search found <a href="http://www.objs.com/aits/9901-iquos.html">this</a> paper among many on the topic.<br> <br> Unfortunately, achieving success is often doomed from the start. And is probably why the average <a href="http://www.strassmann.com/pubs/cw/jobholding.shtml">CIO survives for just 30 months</a> (a new <a href="http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=20712">Gartner report</a> even suggests that 2/3rds of CIOs are worried about their job)! Quality is sacrificed on the alter of expedience. Developers focus exclusively on the functional spec. For example, it is rare to find developers who are concerned with <a href="http://roc.cs.berkeley.edu/papers/ROC_TR02-1175.pdf">Recovery-Oriented Computing</a> techniques (ref: Berkeley's David Patterson, et al) that can help mask infrastructure faults by, say, performing run-time discovery and binding of alternate dependencies. It is too easy for a developer to assume their target platform is failsafe, or that recovery is outside their area of concern. That's just lazy or ignorant, IMHO.<br> <br> Just as guilty are the teams responsible for the implementation of those services. Too often new services stand alone in a datacenter as a silo, constructed using a unique set of components and patterns. Often, even if there is an <b>IT Governance Board</b> and/or an <b>Enterprise Architectural Council</b>, their strategic vision, standards and best practices are ignored, ostensibly to achieve time-to-market goals. In reality, it's just easier to not worry about the greater good.<br> <br> What am I leading up to? Well, I believe there are <span style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline;">two key areas</span> that IT must take more seriously in order to increase their value to shareholders and to those who desire their services. These might even help the CIO keep his or her job.<br> <br> <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">The first is the effective leadership and influence of an Enterprise Architecture Council</span>. One that has a clear and compelling vision of a shared services infrastructure, and has established a pro-active partnership with the developer community and strategic vendors to realize that vision. One that fights hard against human nature to ensure that IT services meet standards in quality, adaptability, observability, platform neutrality, etc.<br> <br> <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">The second is a focus on the disciplines associated with running a world-class datacenter operation</span>. There is a well established set of standards that are useful as a framework around which these disciplines can be built. It's called the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) and is widely adopted in Europe and increasingly being pursued in the States across business, agencies, and institutions.<br> <br> There are 10 ITIL "Best Practice" disciplines associated with the Delivery and Support of IT Services. These prescribe relevant and desirable processes that an IT group should seek to implement if they desire to evolve to a higher level of Operational Maturity. ITIL is highly focused on building a working partnership between IT and the associated Business Units, on increasing the quality of IT services, on reducing the true cost of operations, on establishing communications and execution plans, on the promotion of the value of IT, on understanding the cost and priority of services, etc.<br> <br> Of the ten focus areas, the ITIL discipline that is probably the most important to start with is "Change Mgmt". This is a key area with a significant ROI in terms of service quality and cost. The cost of sloppy change control is huge. In a Fortune 500 acct I visited recently, the S/W developers all have root access to the production machines and make changes ad hoc!! Unfortunately, this isn't uncommon. The introduction of structure and discipline in this area is a great test case for those who think they want to implement ITIL. While the benefits are self evident, it isn't easy. The change will take exec level commitment. There will be serious pressure to resist a transition from a cowboy/hero culture to one that produces repeatable, consistent, predictable high-quality service delivery. The "heroes" won't like it, and they often wield influence and power. But, if this ITIL discipline can be instilled, the other nine have a chance. It's a multi-year effort, but the results will be a highly tuned and business linked competitive weapon.<br> <br> The journey that many IT shops will have to take to achieve higher levels of maturity as suggested by Gartner and Meta, and described by the ITIL Best Practices, is a systemic culture change that fills gaps, eliminates overlap, aligns effort, and establishes structure and methods, designed to increase quality and lower costs. But, ultimately, it is a journey to prosperity and away from dysfunction. ITIL isn't to be taken lightly. It isn't for all IT departments (well, it is to some level, but many aren't ready to make the commitment). These charts show that most (>80%) have stopped and camped on the shore of mediocrity way too early in the journey.<br> <br> <img src="https://blogs.oracle.com/roller/resources/dcb/OMCM.jpg"><br> <br> <img src="https://blogs.oracle.com/roller/resources/dcb/Meta.jpg"><br> <br> There is a certification track for ITIL. A 3-day ITIL Essentials class is available to provide an introduction and "conversant" knowledge of the various discipline areas. A multiple choice cert test validates this level of understanding. This class is a pre-req for the very intense two-week ITIL Managers (aka: Masters) class. More than 50% fail the two 3-hour Harvard Business School type essay exams that are taken to achieve this level of certification. This is a respected certification and actually demonstrates true command of the principles of IT service excellence.<br> <br> Sun also has offerings around our <a href="http://www.sun.com/products-n-solutions/sodc/">Service Optimized Data Center</a> program, a new comprehensive roadmap of services and technologies to help customers deploy and manage IT services faster, smarter and more cost-effectively in their data centers. EDS Hosting Services is <a href="http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/041115/sfm125_1.html">pleased</a> with it. SODC leverages, among other things, our Operations Management Capability Model, based on principles from the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) and the Controls Objective for Information and Related Technology (COBIT).<br> <br> I believe Sun can establish itself as more than a parts and technology vendor by demonstrating value in helping our customers address the "Process of IT", into which our Technical Solutions are best delivered.<br> https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/the_fallacy_of_ibm_s The Fallacy of IBM's Power6 dcb https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/the_fallacy_of_ibm_s Fri, 14 Jan 2005 09:00:54 +0000 Computers <p>IBM is leaking FUD about its processors again. The Power5+, it is said, will be released later this year, ramping to 3GHz. The Power6, according to a "leaked" non-disclosure preso discussed by <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/08/07/ibms_power5_to_hit_3ghz/">TheRegister</a>, will sport "<i><b>very large frequency enhancements</b></i>". At the end of another <a href="http://news.com.com/2102-1006_3-5091294.html">news.com</a> article, IBM suggests the Power6 will run at an "<i><b>ultra-high frequency</b></i>".</p> <p>In engineering terms, those kinds of phrases generally imply at least an "order of magnitude" type of increase. That's [3GHz \* 10\^1], or an increase to 30GHz! But let's view this thru a marketing lens and say IBM is only talking about a "binary" order of magnitude [3GHz \* 2\^1]. That still puts the chip at 6GHz.</p> <p>And therein lies part of the problem. First, even <a href="http://news.com.com/2102-1006_3-5409816.html">Intel can't get past 4GHz</a>. In an embarrassing admission, they pulled their plans for a 4GHz Pentium and will concentrate their massive brain trust of chip designers on more intelligent ways to achieve increasing performance. More on that in a minute. Now I know IBM has some pretty impressive semiconductor fab processes and fabrication process engineers. But getting acceptable yields from a 12" wafer with 1/2 billion transistor chips at 6GHz and a 65nm fab process is pure rocket science. They can probably do it, at great shareholder expense. But even if that rocket leaves the atmosphere, they are still aiming in the wrong direction. As Sun, and now Intel, have figured out, modern apps and the realities of DRAM performance (even with large caches) render "ultra-high" clock rates impotent.</p> <p>I've also got to hand it to IBM's chip designers...Here is an interesting technical overview of the<a href="http://www.research.ibm.com/journal/rd/483/slegel.html"> z990 (MainFrame) CPU</a>. The Power6 is targeted as the replacement for the z990, so it'll have to meet the z990 feature bar. The Power6 is rumored to be a common chip for their M/F zSeries and Unix pSeries platforms... (but they've been talking about a common chip for 10 years now, according to <a href="http://regionals4.gartner.com/regionalization/img/gpress/pdf/2004_chapter_datacenter.pdf">Gartner</a>). Here is an excerpt of the z990 description:</p> <p><small><font color="#990000"><i>"These include millicode, which is the vertical microcode that executes on the processor, and the recovery unit (R-unit), which holds the complete microarchitected state of the processor and is checkpointed after each instruction. If a hardware error is detected, the R-unit is then used to restore the checkpointed state and execute the error-recovery algorithm. Additionally, the z990 processor, like its predecessors, completely duplicates several major functional units for error-detection purposes and uses other error-detection techniques (parity, local duplication, illegal state checking, etc.) in the remainder of the processor to maintain state-of-the-art RAS characteristics. It also contains several mechanisms for completely transferring the microarchitected state to a spare processor in the system in the event of a catastrophic failure if it determines that it can no longer continue operating."</i></font></small></p> <p>Wow! Still, they are continuing to fund rocket science based on the old "Apollo" blueprints. And that "dog don't hunt" any longer, to mix metaphors. Single thread performance and big SMP designs are still important. Sun leads the world in that area, with the 144 core E25K. And our servers with US-IVs (et al), AMD Opterons, and the engineering collaboration we're doing with Fujitsu should continue that leadership. But extreme clock rates are not the answer going forward.</p> <p>In the benchmarketing world of TPC-C and SPECrates, where datasets fit nicely inside processor caches, performance appears stellar. But the problem, you see, is that for real applications, especially when micro-partitioning and multiple OS kernels and stacked applications are spread across processors, the L1/L2/L3 caches only contain a fraction of the data and instructions that the apps need to operate. At 6GHz, there is a new clock tick every 0.17 ns (light only travels about 2 inches in that time)!! However, about every 100 instructions or so, the data needed by a typical app might not appear in the processor cache chain. This is called a "cache miss" and it results in a DRAM access (or worse - to disk). Typical DRAM latency is about 150-300ns for large/complex SMP servers. Think about that... a 6GHz CPU will simply twiddle it's proverbial thumbs for over 1000 click ticks (doing nothing but generating heat) before that DRAM data makes it way back up to the CPU so that work can continue. If this happens every 100 instructions, we're at <10% efficiency (100 instructions, followed by 1000 idle cycles, repeat). Ouch!! And that ratio just gets worse as the CPU clock rate increases. Sure, big caches can help some, but not nearly enough to overcome this fundamental problem.</p> <p>What to do? The answer is to build extremely efficient thread engines that can accept multiple thread contexts from the OS and manage those on chip. And we're not talking 2-way hyper-threading here. Say a single processor can accept <b>dozens </b>of threads from the OS. Say there are 8 cores on that processor so that 8 threads can run concurrently, with the other threads queued up ready to run. When any one of those 8 threads need to reach down into DRAM for a memory reference (and they will, frequently), one of the H/W queued threads in the chip's run queue will instantly begin to execute on the core vacated by the "stalled" thread that is now patiently waiting for its DRAM retrieval. We've just described a design that can achieve near 100% efficiency even when DRAM latency is taken into account. <a href="http://www.aceshardware.com/read.jsp?id=65000333">Ace's Hardware</a> reports that "<font face="trebuchet ms,tahoma,arial,helvetica" size="-1"><strong><em>Niagara has reached first silicon, and is running in Sun's labs</em></strong>".</font></p> <p>I won't comment on the veracity of that report. But if true, we are years ahead of competition. We're orbiting the Sun, and IBM is still sending its design team to the moon.</p> <p>An analogy - consider an Olympic relay race... There are 8 teams of 4 runners. Each runner sprints for all they are worth around the lap once, and then hands the baton, in flight, to the next runner. We've got 32 "threads" that are constantly tearing up the track at full speed. On the other hand, a 6GHz single threaded core is like a single runner who sprints like a mad man around the track once, and then sits down for 15 minutes to catch his breath. Then does it again. Which model describes the kind of server you'd like running your highly threaded enterprise applications?</p> <p><img src="https://blogs.oracle.com/roller/resources/dcb/Niagara.jpg"></p> https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/solution_consulting_sun Solution Consulting @ Sun dcb https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/solution_consulting_sun Thu, 13 Jan 2005 13:21:45 +0000 Computers <p>I just met with a large customer up here in Virginia. The rep I was with spoke of a colleague who has an amazing ability to sell complete solutions (not just a collection of parts). He delivers Solution Proposals with the not so subtle expectation that they will not be broken down into component parts with line item veto authority on the part of the customer. Somehow we need to bottle that sales behavior... The benefit of a proven solution w.r.t. cost, risk, complexity, support, etc, is self-evident. Too often, I believe, Sun's field is conditioned to (or we've conditioned the customer to think that we) offer solutions as strawmen that we expect will be hacked up and put back together (with many pieces left on the garage floor).</p> <p>Client Solutions (read: Professional Services from Sun and our Partners) needs to be part of the total Solution Package. And we need to present the package with the clear expectation that we'll assist in the design, test, deployment and on-going mgmt/support, be committed to our customer's success, share in the risk, etc. But that the solution stands as a whole... If the customer simply wants a miscellany of parts, then we'll need a note from their mom :-) (eg: the CIO) that they understand the increased risk to their project's cost, timeline, and ultimate success. That they are "skiing outside the boundary area".</p> <p>I've noticed that about half of the customers I deal with have senior techo-geeks on their staff. They often go by the title "Architect". Often they are far from it... but they've been there forever, and they are often brilliant technologists that can integrate "creative" solutions from random piece parts. In fact, this is how they thrive and how they (think they) sustain their value add... They become threatened by and obstacles to a solution sale in which the integration work is done for them. Somehow we need to figure out how to make these "technical grease monkeys" feel comfortable with a custom automobile that comes from Detroit already well tuned and ready to run. Sun can't survive being in the auto parts business. We need to leverage their brilliance and secure their vote of confidence. There is an art to getting folks like this to "come up with an idea" that you already have :-) If they become the "owner" of the reference architecture (upon which the proposed solution is built), and still get to play with the technology and learn new techniques, and they can still look like they came up with the idea, then I think we can get past that common roadblock.</p> <p>However, I think there is a development gap in Client Solutions that we have an oppty to address... We have a lot of people who can talk the talk... but we have fewer people that have actually implemented complex solutions such as N1 SPS, Trusted Solaris based SNAP solutions, Retail-oriented SunRay POS gigs, comprehensive ITIL compliance audits, strategic BCP consultation, etc... This is a natural fallout of the fact that most of us came from the pre-sales side of the merged Client Solutions organization. As we become even more successful in securing solution architecture and implementation gigs, we'll need to step up and hit the ball out of the park - not just talk about being able to do it. I encourage everyone to get as much hands on experience as possible with our strategic solution offerings. I know I'm doing that with N1 SPS, SOA, and Sol10. I know we're all are ramping our skills. That's goodness. Thankfully, I think it is easier to engage partners and teach (or remind) bright technical pre-sales "SEs" how to architect and implement solutions, than it is to teach implementation gurus the inter-personal skills and acumen needed to talk to CIOs about business value and relevance.</p> https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/original_think_pad Original "Think Pad" dcb https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/original_think_pad Sun, 9 Jan 2005 21:53:58 +0000 Computers <p>As an Electrical Engineering undergrad, I worked for IBM for four semesters as an intern/co-op student back in the very early 80's in Boca Raton, FL, just as the first IBM PC was brought to market. It was an incredible experience, in many ways. Today, about 25 years later (wow, I can't be that old!!) I was cleaning out my attic, preparing to put back all the Christmas boxes for another year. I opened some of the boxes to figure out what I had up there... And came across something from my days at IBM. An original IBM "Think Pad". Measuring just 3" x 4.5", this is the pocket-sized progenitor of the now ubiquitous lap-sized room heater.</p> <p>You know... there is something to be said for the utility and durability and availability and cost-effectiveness of the original. Where will your "modern" ThinkPad be in 25 years? I'll still have mine, and it'll still be as useful as it was in 1980 :-) No upgrades and no viruses.</p> <p><img src="https://blogs.oracle.com/roller/resources/dcb/ThinkPad.jpg"></p> https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/cobalt_qube3_w_sunrays_redhat Cobalt Qube3 w/ SunRays, RedHat 9 dcb https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/cobalt_qube3_w_sunrays_redhat Wed, 5 Jan 2005 13:17:19 +0000 Computers <P>I've got a Cobalt Qube 3 Professional Edition computer. Remember those cute blue cube Linux appliances? Sun was handing these out to SEs at one point.</P> <P><IMG src="http://blogs.sun.com/roller/resources/dcb/cobaltqube.jpg"></P> <P>They only have a 450MHz processor. But they are the perfect little home file server and networked backup device. The Business and Professional Editions also have a SCSI port to which additional storage can be attached. In fact, the Professional Edition has two internal disks and a built-in Raid1 Controller. It's headless, but has nice features for a server. Problem is (well, you might consider this a problem) it runs an old Linux release (based on a 2.2 kernel) and has been EOL'ed. But in true Open fashion, there is a grassroots community of developers and advocates, and there are instructions for how to refresh this device to a 2.4-based RedHat (v7.2)kernel here:</P> <P><A href="http://www.gurulabs.com/rhl-cobalt-howto/index.html">http://www.gurulabs.com/rhl-cobalt-howto/index.html</A></P> <P>I just exchanged e-mail with <!--StartFragment -->Dax Kelson of Guru Labs, who told me that this procedure can be used to install RedHat 9 or even <!--StartFragment --> the newer Fedora releases.</P> <P>I think I'm going to give this a try. I'll let you know if/how this works out. Hmmm, with the new Linux-based SunRay Server Software, I could even potentially drive a couple wireless SunRays around the house, using an 802.11g Wireless Bridge, such as: <A href="http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=241">http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=241</A></P> <P><IMG src="http://blogs.sun.com/roller/resources/dcb/HomeNet.jpg"></P> https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/big_sun_clusters Big Sun Clusters!! dcb https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/big_sun_clusters Thu, 23 Dec 2004 15:34:02 +0000 Computers <font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT"> <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The Center for Computing and Communication (CCC) at the RWTH Aachen University has recently published details about two interesting clusters they operate using Sun technology. <!--StartFragment --> RWTH Aachen is the largest university of technology in Germany and one of the most renowned technical universities in Europe, with around 28,000 students, more than half of which are in engineering (according to their website).</font></p> <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Check this out!</font></p> <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">First, there is a huge Opteron-Linux-Cluster that consists of 64 of Sun's V40z servers, each with four Opteron CPUs. The 256 processors total 1.1TFlop/s (peak) and have a pool of RAM equal to 512GB. Each node runs a 64-bit version of Linux. Hybrid Programs use a combination of MPI and OpenMP, where each MPI process is multi-threaded. The hybrid parallelization approach uses a combination of coarse grained parallelism with MPI and underlying fine-grained parallelism with OpenMP in order to use as many processors efficiently as possible. For shared memory programming, OpenMP is becoming the de facto standard.</font></p> <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">See: </font><a href="http://www.rz.rwth-aachen.de/computing/info/linux/primer/opteron_primer_V1.1.pdf"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">http://www.rz.rwth-aachen.de/computing/info/linux/primer/opteron_primer_V1.1.pdf</font></a></p> <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Another Cluster is based on 768 UltraSPARC-IV processors, with an accumulated peak performance of 3.5 TFlop/s and a total main memory capacity of 3 TeraByte. The Operating System's view of each of the two cores of the UltraSPARC IV processors is as if they are separate processors. Therefore from the user's perspective the Sun Fire E25Ks have 144 “processorsâ€, the Sun Fire E6900s have 48 “processors†and the Sun Fire E2900s have 24 “processors†each. All compute nodes also have direct access to all work files via a fast storage area network (SAN) using the QFS file system. High IO bandwidth is achieved by striping multiple RAID systems.</font></p> <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">See: </font><a href="http://www.rz.rwth-aachen.de/computing/info/sun/primer/primer_V4.0.pdf"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">http://www.rz.rwth-aachen.de/computing/info/sun/primer/primer_V4.0.pdf</font></a></p></font></font> https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/big_vs_small_servers Big -vs- Small Servers? dcb https://blogs.oracle.com/dcb/entry/big_vs_small_servers Thu, 23 Dec 2004 13:57:51 +0000 Computers <p>Big Iron -vs- Blades. Mainframe -vs- Micro. Hmmm. We're talking Aircraft Carriers -vs- Jet Skis, right?</p> <p>Sun designs and sell servers that cost from ~$1000 to ~$10 million. Each! We continue to pour billions into R&D and constantly raise the bar on the quality and performance and reliability and feature set that we deliver in our servers. No wonder we lead in too many categories to mention. Okay, I'll mention some :-)</p> <p><img src="https://blogs.oracle.com/roller/resources/dcb/val.jpg"><br><br>While the bar keeps rising on our "Enterprise Class", the Commodity/Volume Class is never too far behind. In fact, I think it may be inappropriate to continue to refer to our high-end as our Enterprise-class Servers, because that could imply that our "Volume" Servers are only for workgroups or non-mission-critical services. That is hardly the case. Both are important and play a role in even the most critical service platforms.<br><br>Let's look at the next generation Opterons... which are only months away. And how modern S/W Architectures are fueling the adoption of these types of servers...<br><br>Today's AMD CPUs, with on-board hypertransport pathways, can handle up to 8 CPUs per server! And in mid-2005, AMD will ship dual-core Opterons. That means that it is probable for a server, by mid-2005 or so, to have 16 Opteron cores (8 dual-core sockets) in just a few rack units of space!! If you compare SPECrate values, such a server would have the raw compute performance capability of a full-up $850K E6800. Wow!<br><br><span class="moz-txt-link-freetext">AMD CPU Roadmap:</span> <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/ProductInformation/0,,30_118_608,00.html">http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/ProductInformation/0,,30_118_608,00.html</a><br><span class="moz-txt-link-freetext">AMD 8-socket Support: </span><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.amd.com/us-en/Corporate/VirtualPressRoom/0,,51_104_543%7E72268,00.html">http://www.amd.com/us-en/Corporate/VirtualPressRoom/0,,51_104_543~72268,00.html</a><br><span class="moz-txt-link-freetext">SPECint:_Rate:</span> <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.spec.org/cpu2000/results/rint2000.html">http://www.spec.org/cpu2000/results/rint2000.html</a><br><span class="moz-txt-link-freetext">E6800 Price: </span><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://tinyurl.com/3xbq2">http://tinyurl.com/3xbq2</a><br><b><br></b>Clearly, there are many reasons why our customers are and will continue to buy our large SMP servers. They offer Mainframe-class on-line maintenance, redundancy, upgradability. They even exceed the ability of a Mainframe in terms of raw I/O capability, compute density, on-the-fly expansion, etc.<br><br>But, H/W RAS continue to improve in the Opteron line as well. One feature I hope to see soon is on-the-fly PFA-orchestrated CPU off-lining. If this is delivered, it'll be Solaris x86 rather than Linux. Predictive Fault Analysis detecting if one of those 16 cores or 32 DIMMs starts to experience soft errors in time to fence off that component before the server and all the services crash. The blacklisted component could be serviced at the next scheduled maintenance event. We can already do that on our Big Iron. But with that much power, and that many stacked services in a 16-way Opteron box, it would be nice not to take a node panic and extended node outage.</p> <p>On the other hand, 80% of the service layers we deploy are already or are attempting to move to the horizontal model. And modern S/W architectures are increasingly designed to provide continuity of service level even in the presence of various fault scenarios. Look at Oracle RAC, replicated state App Servers with Web-Server plug-ins to seamlessly transfer user connections, Load Balanced web services, TP monitors, Object Brokers, Grid Engines and Task Dispatchers, and SOA designs in which an alternate for a failed dependency is rebound on-the-fly.<br><br>These kinds of things, and many others, are used to build resilient services that are much more immune to component or node failures. In that regard, node level RAS is less critical to achieving a service level objective. Recovery Oriented Computing admits that H/W fails [<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://roc.cs.berkeley.edu/papers/ROC_TR02-1175.pdf">http://roc.cs.berkeley.edu/papers/ROC_TR02-1175.pdf]</a>. We do need to reduce the failure rate at the node/component level... but as Solution Architects, we need to design services such that node/component failure can occur, if possible, without a service interruption or degradation of "significance".<br><br>In the brave new world (or, the retro MF mindset) we'll stack services in partitions across a grid of servers. Solaris 10 gives us breakthrough new Container technology that will provide this option. Those servers might be huge million dollar SMP behemoths, or $2K Opteron blades... doesn't matter from the architectural perspective. We could have dozens of services running on each server... however, most individual services will be distributed across partitions (Containers) on multiple servers, such that a partition panic or node failure has minimal impact. This is "service consolidation" which includes server consolidation as a side effect. Not into one massive server, but across a limited set of networked servers that balance performance, adaptability, service reliability, etc.</p> <p><img src="https://blogs.oracle.com/roller/resources/dcb/sc.jpg"></p> <p>Server RAS matters. Competitive pressure will drive continuous improvement in quality and feature sets in increasingly powerful and inexpensive servers. At the same time, new patterns in S/W architecture will make "grids" of these servers work together to deliver increasingly reliable services. Interconnect breakthroughs will only accelerate this trend.<br></p> <p>The good news for those of us who love the big iron is that there will always be a need for aircraft carriers even in an age of powerful jet skis.</p>
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INFORMATION SECURITY HAS ALWAYS BEEN ONE OF THE LARGEST BARRIERS to e-commerce. Those of us who spend most of our waking moments thinking of new and different ways to secure these systems and applications know it starts with the data. After all, it’s information that we are trying to protect.
One of the primary challenges in e-commerce security is coming up with practical ways to secure payment transaction data. This term means a lot of different things to a lot of different applications, but for the purpose of this writing, let’s focus on credit card data such as account numbers, security and CV2 codes, PIN numbers, magnetic stripe data, and expiration and issue dates. We will also include extra data we deem necessary to make this process more secure, such as to authenticate or authorize a transaction.
Let’s look at the possible points of failure for credit card information. When a consumer makes a purchase using his credit or debit account where a card is not involved, whether online or offline in a scenario such as a phone purchase, he supplies this data to the merchant in order to prove he has the resources or credit to pay for the merchandise. This data passes through various systems within and beyond the merchant environment through payment gateways, back-office applications, acquiring banking networks and systems, issuing banks, and card association networks.
Some of these merchants (affiliates) may resell items on behalf of other merchants, while other merchants (packagers) bundle merchandise and services from various providers and resellers. This currently means that the data must pass through all of the service providers and secondary merchant systems as well, increasing many times over the number of places where sensitive payment data is housed (see Figure 5-1). Finally, degrading safety further, many of these networks and systems contain legacy applications and operating systems that make it difficult to secure the payment data.
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I have a set of GPS coords with X,Y and Course. I need to interpolate additional points based on the course of each point. It would be a simple line intersection based on lines drawn using the 2 locations and course.
EDIT: Let me clarify .. i have a set of gps logged points, each with lat/long, heading and speed. I need to interpolate an additional point between each known location based on the 2 known points and there headding. Kind of like dead-reconing but after the fact. It'll be a linear interpolation.. here is an image of said problem 1...
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@Jan de Jager, what GIS software are you using? – artwork21 Jun 8 '11 at 14:04
here is a similar question:… – Nicklas Avén Jun 8 '11 at 15:33
@artwork21 - no specific GIS software. I'm generating KML data from mass data stored in MongoDB. – Jan de Jager Jun 8 '11 at 17:08
@Nicklas ... uhmmm.. huh? – Jan de Jager Jun 8 '11 at 17:09
I'm looking for an algorithm/formula for this solution... – Jan de Jager Jun 8 '11 at 17:10
2 Answers 2
up vote 3 down vote accepted
This can be solved using either the Haversine or Vincenty formula. Please see my answer here: How to create a point along a line given distance
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Have you tried GPSBabel?
gpsbabel -i gpx -f track.gpx -x interpolate,time=10 -o gpx -F newtrack.gpx
gpsbabel -i gpx -f track.gpx -x interpolate,distance=1k -o gpx -F newtrack.gpx
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Hugin Coding Style Guide
Consistent application of a style makes life easier for everybody. You'll find other people's code more readable, and they will find your code more readable. While nobody will tap on your fingers for not following these conventions to the letter, it is highly recommended that you familiarize with them and follow them.
History and Status of this Document
This document started from a discussion on coding style and consistency. It is currently just a collection of the wisdom and opinion of Hugin contributors and we won't do hard enforcement / policing, but it would be nice if we could all stick to the same convention and make the code more readable and manageable for everyobdy.
Naming Conventions
Contraction Lists
The list is incomplete.
Document your code (or the code you are reading and understanding) with doxygen. Doxygen is a useful tool and can also be used to create other documentation that just class interface descriptions. It works by prefixing the function prototypes with a special comment. Pablo usually puts the documentation in the header files.
The basic usage is very javadoc like:
/** One sentence class description
* more detailed description
* @todo pet the cat more often
* @bug might scratch if annoyed
class Cat
/** hunt food
* @param prey type of animals that we should hunt
* @return true if the cat is sated
bool HuntFood(Prey prey);
Identify Work in Progress
Comments and inline-documentation are always welcome, please give them lines of their own and don't append them to existing code:
exit(); do_stuff(); //Don't do this
File Names
Try to keep one class per file, and give the file a meaningful name in CamelCase.
Code Layout
Spacing and indentation contirbute a lot to the readability of the code. Use them liberally.
There are many different indentation styles. 1TBS (like the Linux Kernel) is the preferred one. However it is more important to keep consistency within a file, so if you are editing a file with a different convention, adopt it (or read the clean up section of this style guide).
if (1 == 0) {
} else {
Use spaces instead of tabulators (to maintain consistency across editors). The preferred indentation is four spaces for one tab, but most important is to keep consistency within a single file.
I would not go into that much detail. or maybe we should adopt/adapt a strict coding guide like Blender?
Line Ends
Set your editor to Unix-style line ending (LF) - not Windows' LF+CR. Or if you are on Windows, use the Mercurial EOL extension.
To prevent accidentally committing a file with Windows line endings, you can add the following snippet to your global .hgrc or mercurial.ini file:
pretxncommit.crlf = python:hgext.win32text.forbidcrlf
Character Set
Ideally we are striving to use UTF-8, but because Windows has issue dealing with it, the wxWidgets XRC ressources are ISO-8859-1.
Multiple Statements on one Line
Avoid multiple statements on one line, it makes the code harder to read.
Line Width
Try to keep line width below 80 characters.
It is tempting to clean up old code while fixing bugs or adding new code. Please don't - it makes the committ (diff!) much more difficult to read / understand. Keep style clean up committs separated and mention them as such in the log message.
It is important that nobody goes around changing existing code to suit without thinking about it first - We have several branches waiting to be merged, changing the amount of whitespace makes that difficult, and splitting or joining lines of code makes it enormously more so.
Work in Progress
If something needs work, mark it with a // FIXME or // TODO comment so that a grep will reveal places that needs attention. Gedit automatically highlights TODO and FIXME.
For minor changes, feel free to commit directly into the default codeline. For everything else, branch out. Branches are cheap.
Strings for Translation
Release branches are string-frozen. Strings for translation are updated prior to branching and in principle no new string shall be added to a release branch. An exception may be requested if the underlying motive is important enough. The request must receive the support of a significant majority of developers (coders, builders, translators) to be granted. Silence is interpreted as supportive of the request.
API stability
Release branches are frozen regarding classes/function/namespace names and functions parameters. An exception may be requested if the underlying motive is important enough. The request must receive the support of a significant majority of developers (coders and scripters) to be granted. Silence is interpreted as supportive of the request.
** <one line to give the program's name and a brief idea of what it does.>
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** the Free Software Foundation, either version 2 of the License, or
** (at your option) any later version.
** GNU General Public License for more details.
** along with this program. If not, see <>.
Goto / Case Labels
Try to write code that is linear to read and does not jump all over the place too much.
Compilation Warnings and Diagnostic Output
Try to prevent compiler warnings.
Encapsulate diagnostic output in a condition and commit it so that by default there is no diagnostic output. Consider that some CMake output must be clicked away on Windows while it is just an extra line of display in Linux.
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The Destruction of the Memory of Jewish Presence in Eastern Europe; A Case Study: Former Yugoslavia
, November 16, 2008
• The memory of the large pre-war Jewish presence in Eastern Europe is increasingly being destroyed. Part of this process is intentional; part is because of neglect of Jewish sites, monuments, and memorials.
• The successor states of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia provide a good case study of many aspects of the process of memory destruction. This federation’s breakup over the past two decades has accelerated processes that are slower elsewhere. This concerns both attempts to change the collective memory of citizens, as well as the physical degradation of Jewish sites, monuments, and memorials.
• All successor states are rewriting their histories. The memory of the Holocaust is thus also fragmented according to the national context. In the history of humanity the Holocaust is an unprecedented mega-event. This larger understanding, however, gets lost in societies where no historical research has been undertaken since the Second World War.
• Collective memory will change further. Yet monuments and memorials stand while societies change. It is important that the physical Jewish infrastructure is not further degraded and that memorial sites in Jewish locations are well kept. The memorials make local people remember what happened to the Jews. For many, the existence of a Jewish memorial does not allow them to forget the crimes of the past.
Destroying Memory
Ivan Ceresnjes was the head of the Jewish community of Bosnia- Herzegovina and a vice-chairman of the Yugoslav Federation of Jewish Communities until his emigration to Israel in 1996. At the Hebrew University’s Center for Jewish Art, established in 1979, he documents Jewish infrastructure such as synagogues, ritual buildings, and cemeteries in Eastern Europe. He also maps Holocaust memorials and monuments.
Ceresnjes furthermore assists the U.S. Congressional Commission for Protecting and Preserving American Property Abroad. Despite its name, this commission was created in 1985 for the survey and research of Jewish cemeteries, monuments, and memorials. Almost its entire emphasis is on Eastern Europe, because it is mainly there that this infrastructure is rapidly disappearing.
Ceresnjes remarks: “When people in Eastern Europe see or hear the words ‘American property’ it has a magic effect on them. Often when one tells that one is Jewish and has come to research the documentation of Jewish monuments, tombstones, and memorials, the reception is unfriendly. However, if you say that you are coming on behalf of the American government you are much better received.”
The Role of Collective Memory
Ceresnjes reflects on the role of collective memory in society: “The upsurge of nationalism in Eastern Europe has led to an ideology of memory. In its most extreme form, nationalist ideologues consider that the main role of each generation is to transmit the memories of the previous one to the next.
“This ideological position claims that nations mainly exist to remember their past. In its extreme version the state, society, and economy are largely tools for promoting national memory. Economic growth frees people to spend their time on the recovery of memory. These ideologues say that societies should be dominated by memory-related activities.
“One does not even have to go that far. There is, for instance, the more moderate position that the recovery of memory in Eastern Europe was the essence of national liberation. Indeed, one of Stalin’s major crimes was his destruction of national memories.”
Ceresnjes comments: “However, focusing exclusively on changing collective memory without linking it to moral judgment remains highly problematic. In this context, attitudes in various countries toward Holocaust memorials need to be assessed. The case of Yugoslavia’s successor states illustrates this in many ways.”
Politically Correct Memorializing
“Many Europeans collaborated with the Germans. Croatia, for instance, had a murderous nationalist government of Nazi puppets. In most areas of Yugoslavia, members of several specific groups of people were murdered at the same time. It was rare to find a location where only Serbs, only Jews, only Gypsies, or only Croats were killed. Usually it was an ethnic mixture of people that might also have included-according to the local population configuration-Muslims, other enemies of Nazism, as well as fascists.
“After the Holocaust a new form of Jewish memorializing slowly emerged. It took place exclusively within the family at home. The next step was that memorials and monuments were gradually erected in places owned and used by Jews, such as synagogues and Jewish cemeteries. The latter were the more important since very few functioning synagogues remained in Yugoslavia. Putting up a memorial plaque was even considered a kind of protest against the communists because the Soviet Union usually didn’t allow it. One would gradually find more memorial plaques or specific monuments, which mainly gave the numbers of Jews killed and listed their names.
“Very slowly in the early 1950s, specific monuments for Jews started to appear in public places as well as memorial plaques on institutions, not specifically connected to Jews. Thus, Jews were given a place in national history. Memorializing in East European countries is closely connected to nationalism, which had been strongly suppressed under communist rule. The Soviet Union under Stalin had even annihilated a number of nations. Broadly speaking, however, Holocaust memorials were found only in very few places where the Soviet Union and communism ruled.”[1]
Fragmentation of Holocaust Memory
“After the demise of communism, the outburst of suppressed nationalism destroyed the Federation of Yugoslavia. Seven independent countries have emerged, each of which rewrites its history. In Bosnia-Herzegovina the situation is even more complex. It is officially one country, but is inhabited by three nations-Muslims, Serbs, and Croats-who are writing their parallel histories that differ from each other in many ways. In this process, each one changes the names of streets and institutions, thus planting the seeds for a new collective memory.
“Nations also manipulate the count of victims. The numbers given for people brutally murdered at Jasenovac, a major Croatian concentration camp on the border of that country and Bosnia, vary from 50,000 to 1,200,000, with the most reliable estimate apparently being about 500,000.”
Unattended Sites
“Germany is the one country where a large part of the remnants of the Jewish past is relatively well taken care of. On Kristallnacht, 9-10 November 1938, many synagogues were burned, which was part of the erasure of Jewish presence and memory. Over the past fifteen years we have documented over one thousand rural Jewish synagogues and several thousand Jewish cemeteries in Germany. The overwhelming majority of these are well maintained by the local municipalities.
“In Eastern Europe two major factors are at work regarding Jewish memorials. The first is that usually no specific monuments to murdered Jews were established. The second is that memorial sites where Jews were murdered are being destroyed or disappearing.
“Sometimes in Serbia, for instance, the names of Jews are maintained next to those of Serbs, while those of victims of all other nationalities are deleted. Furthermore, often monuments throughout Yugoslavia that were damaged during the wars of the 1990s are not being repaired because of a lack of consensus on what should be memorialized on them. Understanding the developments and the current situation requires discussing individual countries.”
“Before the Second World War there was a strong Jewish community in Serbia. It numbered thirty thousand, of whom six thousand survived. Jews also have an important place in Serbian history. Like the Serbs they were oppressed by the Ottomans. Jews started getting civil rights in the Serbian kingdom, which were only fully granted before the First World War. These were maintained in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, which was established in 1919.
“During the Second World War, Serbia was a puppet state ruled nominally by collaborating Serbs but, in actuality, by Germans. Serbs, except in some extreme cases, did not themselves kill Jews. In northern Serbia many local Jews were murdered by Germans and Hungarians. In February 1942 in Novi Sad the Hungarian occupiers gathered Jews and some Serbs, brought them to the middle of the frozen Danube where they had dug a hole in the ice, and killed four thousand people. Elsewhere Serbs gathered Jews and handed them over to the Germans, a crime that is suppressed and forgotten in Serbian history.
“In the Jewish cemetery in Belgrade there is a monument to the Jewish soldiers who fell in the First World War. In almost every Jewish cemetery the dead of that war are remembered. As far as the two Balkan wars are concerned, there is only one monument in Serbia that explicitly mentions the Jews. It is in a public space by the town of Nish near the country’s eastern border. It commemorates those who died in the battles against the Bulgarians in the 1913 Second Balkan war. Three sides of the monument have plaques with Serbian names; the fourth has Jewish names. At its bottom is written: ‘They fought and died for the homeland.’
“In Nish, about a thousand Jews were butchered to death during the Second World War; only one member of the community survived. The Jewish cemetery in the town dates back to the seventeenth century, but it has been destroyed because Gypsies have settled on it in recent decades. There are other towns in former Yugoslavia where Gypsies have set up their villages on Jewish cemeteries because they know nobody will come to reclaim them. Among these are Djurdjevac in Croatia, Zabalj in Serbia, and Dojran in Macedonia.
“On Serbian monuments to the fallen in the Second World War, Serbs and Jews are presented in various ways such as victims of ‘Nazism, Croatian Nazism, European Nazism, German Nazism, Hungarian Nazism,’ and so on. When the Serbian nationalist movement began at the end of the 1980s, a new Serbian-Jewish Friendship Society was created that erected some war memorials. It was quite strong during the 1990s but by now has few members left.”
Jews Are Again Guilty
“For the Jewish community of former Yugoslavia, inter-ethnic ties of this kind were generally attempts to manipulate and misuse Jews in wider ethnic conflicts in a country that was collapsing and disintegrating. In Croatia there is a Croatian-Jewish society that supported the Croatian fight against Serbian domination. I consider it a major success that in Bosnia-Herzegovina the Jewish community managed not to be dragged into supporting one side or the other.
“Since Serbia lost the recent wars, its history had to be twisted and hence its collective memory as well. Somebody had to be blamed for the loss of Serbian supremacy in Yugoslavia, the defeat in the recent wars, and the outcome of the Kosovo crisis when Serbia was aerially bombarded by the Western powers. These were Serbia’s former allies in the fight against Germany during the Second World War.
“One then started to hear in some circles that the Jews had played a major role in Serbia’s defeat. Henry Kissinger was a famous American name in Serbia, though he has been out of government for a long time. In the Clinton administration, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke, and Defense Secretary William Cohen were all perceived as Jews. Thus, in several Serbian blogs and internet forums one could read that Jews created the crisis in Serbia, organized its bombardment, and were responsible for its defeat.”
“During the Second World War most of what is now Bosnia-Herzegovina belonged to the Croatian puppet state. The exception was part of Herzegovina, which was governed by the Italians until 1943, after which it passed under direct German rule.
“Before the war there were 28,000 Jews in the country, 3,000 of whom survived. Most Jews lived in Sarajevo; all other communities were small. The main war monuments in Sarajevo were built by the communist government. The Jews built one on the grounds of their huge sixteenth-century Sephardic cemetery there. In the war of the mid-1990s, both Bosnian Serbs and Muslims engaged in the battle for Sarajevo trained their artillery on the monument.
“In Travnik, one of the smaller Bosnian communities, a monument to the murdered Jews was created by putting the three oldest tombstones together and making them into a Holocaust memorial in the Jewish cemetery. The head of the Jewish community did not participate in this project, but gave his approval.
“In Banja Luka, the Jewish cemetery was erased to make room for a tennis court. In the general cemetery there is now a small Jewish compound where there is a monument to those Jews who fought in the Second World War as well as those who died in the Holocaust.
“In Mostar, there is a memorial cemetery for partisans who fought against the Germans. In the town’s Jewish cemetery there is a modest monument to the Jewish partisans only. There, also a few years ago, the small Jewish community of Mostar erected a monument memorializing the victims of the Holocaust.
“The town of Donji Vakuf is now in the Muslim part of Bosnia. When the original war memorial was built in 1965 it contained the names of the victims of all nationalities. Now it is one of those memorials where only Muslim names remain.
“Sometimes one finds people who go out of their way to preserve Jewish memory. In the town of Brcko on the Sava River in northern Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Jewish cemetery has been destroyed as part of the town’s urbanization plan. The Orthodox parish priest requested my permission and rescued four tombstones there that he turned into a Holocaust memorial, which is now located in the Bosnian-Serb cemetery.”
“In Sarajevo, the Jewish community was forced to donate the largest synagogue to the city in 1965. Later it was turned into a cultural center. There a stone menorah (candelabrum) was set up, which indicates that this building had earlier been the town’s largest synagogue.
“The major Second World War memorial in the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo is in a dilapidated state. Fourteen thousand people murdered in the war are memorialized there. There is an inner section that recalls the Jewish victims specifically, with over seven thousand names. This memorializing of the Jews in the general section, even though there is also a special section for them, is unique in the world.
“The memorial was severely damaged in the war of the mid-1990s as it is adjacent to a fortress. Many letters fell off the memorial because of explosions and, after the war, almost all of them disappeared. In its Holocaust sections only a few stone letters remain from the names of the local Jews who were murdered. If one visits there today and doesn’t know what was there originally, one will not recognize that it was a specific monument to the Holocaust. The removed letters are sometimes affixed to crosses, which is an ultimate insult. It shows that the Jewish past is not part of the collective memory.
“The monument is likely to be rebuilt and the Bosnian government is applying for funding internationally. I’m concerned that there will be additions relating to the war of the 1990s and also, insofar as the Second World War is concerned, new political choices about who were the perpetrators and who the victims.
“In the Croatian part of Bosnia-Herzegovina there is only one partisan memorial that also mentions Jews. That area was overwhelmingly pro-Nazi during the war when it belonged to Croatia. Hardly any partisans there were memorialized after the war. Since the fall of communism, these partisans have been seen as enemies because they were communists who killed priests, monks, and other Croats.
“There are about twenty small sites that were either concentration and extermination camps or prisons scattered all over Croatia, Serbia, and Bosnia. In none of these are the Jewish victims mentioned specifically. A typical example is a ‘small’ extermination camp, Kruscica, near Travnik in Bosnia. There three thousand people were killed by the local residents during the two months of its functioning, among them one thousand Jews. The Italian occupation army was located only twenty kilometers from there and, after they complained about the cruelties, the camp was closed.
“Two entire Jewish communities were murdered there yet Jews are not referred to on the Kruscica monument, which only mentions the Serbian and ‘communist’ victims. The latter usually refers to Muslims. Those now living near the site are the children or grandchildren of the murderers.”
Changing Collective Memory
Ceresnjes explains that the Bosnian Muslim authorities want to find a new place for their country in history. “They are creating monuments that are connected solely to Islam. They aim to have the outside world recognize that Bosnia is a purely Islamic region of Europe. One example concerns the ancient market area of the country’s capital, Sarajevo. It was burned down after the Second World War by the communist authorities, despite the fact that it had major artistic and historic value.
“For the communists this past had to make place for an area that was indicative of the bright-red-painted future their rule would bring. Twenty-five to thirty years ago the old market area was restored. It is now a center for kitsch where souvenirs and cheap merchandise are sold.
“When I was chairman of the Bosnian Jewish community I claimed that there were Jewish buildings and sites from our five-hundred-year-old history that met the highest criteria of UNESCO’s World Heritage List. When I applied for their restoration, the then Bosnian authorities told me that the market complex of Sarajevo had their highest priority.
“The Old Sephardic synagogue of Sarajevo dates from 1567 and was in use until 1941. By then it was the oldest synagogue in the Balkans as all others had either been rebuilt, redone, or destroyed. It took us twenty years to convert it from an empty ruin to the Jewish museum that it now houses.
“In Bosnia a clash of collective memories takes place. Muslim collective memory is different from that of Christians and Jews. History, however, is very different from memory. Until 1991, Bosnia was perhaps the most ethnically mixed society in Europe. Thus not only the telling of history but also collective memory should reflect that fact, even if Bosnian society is now sharply divided along ethnic lines.”
“Before the war there were twenty-eight thousand Jews in Croatia of whom four thousand survived. Today very few Jews remain in Croatia, most of them living in Zagreb. There are also three small communities on the coast in Split, Dubrovnik, and Rijeka.
“The situation in Croatia is very different from that in many other parts of former Yugoslavia. The Croatians are very well aware that Jasenovac, because of the brutality of the killing, is among the notorious concentration camps of the Second World War. Franjo Tudjman, the first Croatian president after the country broke away from Yugoslavia, falsified history. Against the overstated claim of the Serbs that in Jasenovac 1,200,000 were murdered, he strongly understated the number of victims as 20-50,000. He then claimed that only a few thousand of them were Jews and accused them of having been kapos and responsible for the killings there.
“Tudjman even published this in a book, leading to an outcry among international Jewish organizations. Tudjman then dropped the chapter where it was mentioned, also because he wanted to established relations with Israel.
“In the Serbo-Croatian war of the 1990s the Jewish community of Croatia decided to be politically correct. They issued a number of strong statements against Serbian attacks and the occupation of part of Croatia. Hence, during that war they had an honorable place in Croatian society.
“After it ended the Jews raised the issue of restitution for Jewish assets that had been stolen by Croats during the Second World War. The authorities discreetly warned the Jewish community that they should not make too much noise. If the Jews were to regain factories and other properties, it might lead to many Croats losing their jobs as the new owners could then choose who would work for them. Restitution with support from the outside might spark a reaction in Croatia that could endanger the remaining Jews.”
Telling History
“Nowadays history is told more or less correctly in Croatia. Monuments commemorating the Holocaust were not destroyed during the war with Serbia. This, however, is mainly because there were so few to begin with. In Jasenovac in the early 1970s, a monument was built to the victims and it mentioned the Jews as well. It listed Serbs, Jews, Gypsies, Croats, and communists, but only in general as victims of fascism. There were no names and no numbers.
“The word Holocaust has been mentioned there only in the last few years, after the memorial was repaired because of extensive damages it suffered during the war in 1992-1995. The whole concept was then altered and now only numbers are on display, without names and nationalities of the victims. There is no separate memorial for the Jews. The most accurate estimate of Jews murdered in Jasenovac is in the area of twenty-five thousand.
“In recent years Holocaust monuments have been regularly vandalized and covered with graffiti. This is done by neo-Nazis who use the ‘U’ symbol for the Ustashe movement, which collaborated with the Nazis during the Second World War. Swastikas are another symbol frequently used in vandalizing memorials. They are also put on other monuments to those murdered by Germans and their allies in the Second World War.
“One sign of change in collective memory is that the Croats are increasingly bringing up the story of the murders in Bleiburg in Austria. After the Second World War the British allowed Tito’s army to cross into their zone of Austria. There they slaughtered a mixed group of German allies including Serbian nationalists, members of the Croatian Ustashe, White Guards of Slovenia, Muslim pro-Nazi militias, ethnic Germans, and so on. Among them were also civilians including politicians, peasants, women, and children-almost anyone.”
“In Macedonia before the Second World War there were 7,000 Jews. About half of them managed to escape to Albania where they were safe. During the war Macedonia became part of greater Albania; yet it was the Bulgarian government that ruled there. While it protected the Jews in prewar Bulgaria, those in Macedonia were transferred to the Germans who sent them to their death in Treblinka.
“There is a Jewish memorial in all Macedonian towns where there was a Jewish community before the war whose members were murdered, such as Bitola (Monastir), Shtip, Idrizovo, and others. It is usually located where the Jews gathered for deportation or where the synagogue was. There are also plaques at other locales.
“In the capital, Skopje, the Jewish cemetery was almost entirely destroyed by an earthquake in 1966. A very distinguished war memorial was erected in the new section of the Jewish cemetery. There are three memorials for the Jews in the town: at the place where the Jews were gathered for deportation, at the location of the communal buildings, and in the former cemetery.”
Other Successor States
“Slovenia was under German rule during the Second World War. The small Slovenian Jewish community numbered 250 before the war. Of these about fifty survived, most of whom had fled to Italy. Many Jews fought in the anti-Nazi partisan units. Toward the end of the war the partisans threw out anyone who didn’t have a Slovenian name. The Jews were all Ashkenazi and had German or Hungarian names, and the Slovenian partisans killed most of them.
“Before the war the number of Jews in Montenegro was very small. The country had maintained an anti-Jewish policy over hundreds of years. Already 350 years ago the Orthodox prince-bishop ruler decided that no Jews should live in the country because they were ‘Satan’s seed.’ There were only some Jews who lived in the Catholic areas near the sea.
“During the Second World War the Italians were in control in Montenegro but the Germans were present. Wherever Italians put Jews along with communists in prisons, the Germans would kill them. These were Jews from other parts of Yugoslavia captured in the territory of Montenegro. The estimated number of Jews murdered is about twenty. The main prison, Bogdanov kraj near Cetinje, has no memorial and nobody tends to it. But for the Jews it is a place that should be memorialized.
“In Kosovo there were about 500 Jews before the Second World War, of whom 250 were handed over to the Germans by Kosovar Albanians. There were also a few examples where Kosovars killed Jews, and there was also a Kosovar SS unit. About twenty righteous gentiles helped the other 250 Jews escape to Albania where the Jews were protected.
“After the war, in Kosovo’s capital, Pristina, a huge memorial was erected for all victims of Nazism including the partisans and the Jews. When the Serbian-Albanian fighting broke out in Kosovo in 1999, almost all names were removed, also including most of the Albanians who were considered communists. Kosovo is such a tightly knit society that everyone knows who was or wasn’t a communist.”
The Jew as an Instrument in National Policies
“Jews are instruments in the current politics of the successor states of Yugoslavia. This is part of these states’ international positioning. If you visit Bosnia today and say you are a Jew, you will be told that Jews came there five hundred years ago and were embraced. They will add that Muslims and Jews were the best friends in the world. This is a fallacy because Jews were second-class citizens like anyone who was not a Muslim.
“Even worse, when one looks at pictures from 1941 of the looting of Jewish synagogues, shops, and apartments, one sees people wearing a fez. Germans didn’t wear fezzes, neither did Croats, only Muslims did.
“When the Republic of Bosnia was established in 1992, only three constituting minorities were given the right to elect members of parliament: Muslims, Serbs, and Croats. There are, however, twenty other minorities in the state such as Poles, Slovenians, Jews, and Gypsies, who are not necessarily happy with this arrangement. They can only be elected if one of the three larger minorities elects them. So, for instance, the present Bosnian foreign minister-a Jew, Sven Alkalay-joined the Muslim government party SBiH (Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina) of Prime Minister Haris Silajdzic.
“In Serbia there was a Jewish deputy prime minister, Zarko Korac (2002-2003). Even under the anti-Semitic President Tudjman in Croatia there were Jewish ministers-Nenad Porges, economy, and Andrija Hebrang, health and social policy-in two successive governments from 1990 to 1998. These are examples of showcasing and one wonders whether these appointees actually do any good for the Jewish community.
Interview by Manfred Gerstenfeld
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[1] See, e.g., Mordechai Altshuler, “Jewish Holocaust Commemoration Activity in the USSR under Stalin,” Shoah Research Center, Yad Vashem,
About Ivan Ceresnjes
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Welcome to LXB4J, a Java library and API used for light-weight XML binding.
Most Java XML binding solutions work with XSD compilers that create a large number of Java classes
implementing all the XSD types and elements.
The problem is that when working with large schemas, the overhead of managing this large number of classes might be problematic.
LXB4J tries to solve this problem and create an easy to use, lightweight, 100% pure Java binding solution.
How does it work?
LXB4J has a special compiler that reads XSD files and create binary representations of the schemas.
Later you will use this binary representation to marshall (Java -> XML) and unmarshall (XML -> Java) XML
files that were created by the schema.
Note that the original XSD file is not needed on runtime, only the binary format of this file. LXB4J will use
this binary format to make sure that all the elements and attributes are used correctly as stated in the schema.
Above that, LXB4J also has a very simple API to work with Documents and Elements, this API is written above the W3C DOM API
but is simpler and requires less code.
LXB4J is 100% pure Java and is developed over the Java 5.0 platform, so the first thing you have to make sure
is that you have with JDK 1.5!
There is only one jar to use: lxb4j-{version}.jar
Needed third party software:
General design notes
To make things really easy for developers, a BoundedElement in LXB4J can have:
• Children - ComplexType elements (elements with child elements and / or attributes). Every child is also a BoundedElement.
• Members - SimpleType elements (elements with #PCDATA content) or attributes.
Note that a simple typed element and an attribute are both considered members, this means that adding or reading simple elements and attributes can be achieved using the same code. LXB4J identifies the member using the schema data provided with the BoundedDocument.
The idea here is that working with simple typed element should be as easy and fast as adding attributes, and the developer should not deal with text nodes and DOM methods for that.
See usage examples on the Short manual page and sample directory provided with the release.
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LXB4J is hosted on sourceforge.net
Site last updated: 13-dec-05
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Saturday, March 19, 2011
FULL MOON: hearts breaking open
My heart, like so many of yours, is breaking for our world. While I feel full what sometimes feels like never-ending grief, I am also keenly aware of the beauty and resiliency in communities coming together, mobilizing actions, and taking care of one another. It's so vital that we stay grounded right now. Grounded in the reality of the crisis and grounded in the reality of what opportunities arise for healing and transformation during a time of such uncertainty. The day is just dawning here and I woke up before light to write what’s on my heart. I’ll tell you a true story and then offer some practices to help support us during these times. (I've also added some new recipes to the previous post)
As the radioactive fallout moves across the pacific, it falls into the beautiful sea, where life began from magical teeny tiny stuff. We’re watching our great mother be poisoned and nuclear is forever. My little human mind can hardly even comprehend the scale of time of nuclear toxicity, though my body knows it well. My own knowledge of how to care for the body and spirit in the face of radiation comes from a profoundly personal place. I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer when I was 21 years old. Thyroid cancer is pretty rare and has a fairly high survival rate; it also is most common in people with radiation exposure, with spikes in children post- Chernobyl. The year after I was diagnosed, a class action suit was filed from very sick residents of the San Fernando Valley (it’s true, I’m a valley girl, for sure.) against Rocketdyne, a nuclear lab which has had leakages since the 50s. After two hellacious surgeries, I had what is the common treatment for thyroid cancer: Radioactive Iodine 131. I took this tiny pill, had a Geiger counter pointed at me, and was quarantined for a three days, because I myself was radioactive.
14 years later, I am still dealing with the toxic fallout from the treatment for cancer. I bow to cancer and I bow to the spirit of radiation, both big teachers for me in my path as a healer. I know that touching what felt like the bottom of the ocean of my own mortality at such a young age deepened my capacity for compassion and holding the suffering of all beings, grew my fiery passion for justice, and broke open my heart even further to connect with the earth herself, who like me, is a body capable of receiving both love and toxins. Someone recently sent me an email, which said, “Toxic is the new normal.” Yes, we’re exposed to junk all the time- EMF, heavy metals, PCBs, pesticides and even more so if you’re poor or a person of color or someone living in the global south.
It can be hard to not get mired or paralyzed in fear or freak out. It can feel like you are going crazy, living in this world, in which the dominant culture invalidates our experiences and instead offers empty options to numb ourselves with or buy our way out of fear. I just want to say, and maybe I am just talking to myself, that it is normal and so human to be scared, sad, uncertain, shut down, angry, and overwhelmed right now.
I invite you to ask yourself if your feelings of fear or grief can allow you to feel even more connected to everyone and everything, to the whole sparkling web of life? Can you extend your compassion as far as it can reach and also extend it to yourself, at this moment, living in this time of great anguish and uncertainty? And can you let it break your heart right open, so as you feel your pain for the world, you can sense that it is rooted in your love for the world and your love for life?
Last post I listed some nutritional and herbal remedies for these times and so now I want to offer some practices to help us keep on keeping on.
1. Get Present: easy to say, harder to do. A way to come into presence when it's hard is to slow down and take notice of what's inside and outside of you, without judgment or the need to fix or do anything. Be mindful of your consumption of media and how it makes you feel. Breathe.
2. Gratitude: When big waves of fear arise, or any emotions that feel overwhelming, inviting yourself to make a list of things you're thankful for can set your heart right again. This morning I am so grateful for my most precious magical dog curled up at my feet, a cup of nettles, contra dancing, running water, the sounds of the crows in the pine tree out my window. A good way to begin this practice is just to notice the things immediately around you and make yourself count 10-20 things. Place your hand on your heart and feel that pumping muscle and just how much you actually love this intense planet and all the beings here.
3. Gather: be with people. Make soup or a potluck with people and rather than get worked up in a collective freak out, create space to cry, laugh, or make rituals. Make plans for emergencies with your neighbors. Reach out to elders, marginally housed folks, people with disabilities in your buildings or neighborhoods to assess needs in case of emergency. Make a list of all the amazing skills all the people you know have, and then find new friends who have skills that might be missing. Find out about vigils, protests, rituals, or workshops in your area. (see below for some in the bay area and New England)
4. Grieve: I mentioned in the last post the importance of letting the rivers flow. I invite you to create a container with some people, perhaps around a bowl of water, and take turns going in the center of the circle to let tears, fears, or whatever comes come. Also, I love the buddhist practice of tonglen, which is to breathe in suffering and breathe out love, healing, or gratitude. Rather than turn away from the pain, we can experience our own capacities to transform suffering into love.
5. Give: make food for people. give yourself extra love and nourishment with baths or walks or a day off. if you have some extra, give money to doctors without borders or social justice organizations. Make offerings of your tears or songs or prayers to the earth, the sea, the creatures, the people. Give yourself respite from taking in news or images from time to time. Give your time to what's important.
6. Grow: allow your heart to get bigger from being stretched. Grow out of some old patterns. Maybe now's the time to stop eating sugar or stop using your microwave or spend less time on the computer or get involved more or rest more. Grow roots and tendrils, letting yourself grow towards others in solidarity.
7. Gentle: be kind and easy with your self. these are tough times and there's no need to go at anyone else's pace or be in anyone else's process. take a little time each day to tend to the tenderest part of you as if it's a baby. or a toddler. or a kitten. whatever works for you to bring out your kind, nurturing self.
7. keep Going. we're all in this together.
Happy full moon!
May this serious moonlight bathe the planet and all beings in healing, love, and balance and may our fears and grief connect us with everything, everyone and most of all with our love and reverence for life.
with much love,
San Francisco: Elm Dance
Sunday 3/20 5-7pm Justin Hermann Plaza (canceled in the event of rain)
New England : Vigil at Vermont Yankee
Sunday, 3/20 1pm
The Herbal Highway with Sarah Holmes
3/17 show all about herbal and nutritional support for radiation
see below- Joanna Macy's site has links to other health information. Take care not to get too overwhelmed in all the things you should be doing. Keep it simple and remember that we all need seaweed, miso, etc...let's share.
Information on stopping US Government subsidies and loan guarantees to nuclear industries, including bills that are before Congress now.
Joanna Macy
information on workshops in the Work that Reconnects
Verhext said...
Love this & love you
Leah Lakshmi said...
thank you so much for this light. <3
Milla said...
Ooh! Seems I love your blog. I'm definitely adding this to my reader. What a magical mystical place. Thank you for your kind comment on my log that led me here.
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NBC's 'Playboy' Pitch Failing With Feminists, Not Just Traditionalists
NBC's going to have a tough time with critics from both directions on its new show "The Playboy Club." Radical feminist Gloria Steinem casually dismissed the series in a panel discussion at the Television Critics Association confab in Los Angeles. Steinem, who once went undercover as a Playboy bunny, strongly suggested the show was exploiting the past to feed the male need for nostalgia in tough economic times.
TV critics weren't buying NBC's claim the show was female-empowering. “I hear someone use the word ‘empowering’ but I’ve heard from my female readers that a show centered on Playboy…they don’t see it as empowering,” said one TV critic. “And your central story involves a woman who needs to rely on a man to get through the crisis that she in the middle of. How is this show empowering and how are you going to be able to sell female viewers on this show -- a show centered on a nudie magazine -- as empowering?”
In the pilot, openly lesbian actress Amber Heard stars as a young woman named Maureen who is hired as a bunny at the Playboy Club in Chicago. Maureen gets sexually harassed by a mobster in a back room of the club and, as she tries to escape, the mobster falls, and she accidentally (implausibly) kills him by plunging her stiletto heel into his skull. A club regular, Nick, a lawyer who has political aspirations and mob connections, comes to her rescue, sneaking her out of the club – and over to his place. That’s not a female-empowerment narrative. It’s a barely-clothed-waitress-in-distress plot.
Ian Biederman, another executive producer of “Playboy Club,” tried to toss out NBC’s primary talking point. “Well, the first thing I’d say is, it’s not based on the magazine, it’s based on The Playboy Club in 1961. It’s entirely different.”
The critic shot back sarcastically, “That’s an empowering institution for women. I can see that.”
Why can’t NBC be honest enough to proclaim that the network is promoting and associating itself with porn? They want to pretend the Playboy Club is very tame, sort of a Sixties version of Hooters. So why don’t they just make a show about Hooters? Somehow, NBC thinks that Playboy in the Sixties is far more glamorous. Then they try to deny they’re promoting the entire Playboy empire.
Another critic wanted to talk about one of the show’s silly promotional slogans about the club being a place where men hold the key but women run the show. “That just seems ridiculous to me… all the Playboy Clubs were run by men. And Hugh Hefner, I’m sure, had a lot to say about how women were portrayed, what they could do, couldn’t do. How are women running the show here in reality?”
"There is no Playboy Club without these women,” explained cast member Naturi Naughton, which is almost as dumb as claiming there is no McDonald’s without the cattle. “At the end of the day, of course the men hold the key. But let’s be real. This is a world that you come to enjoy the music. You walk in. You feel like you’re in this fantasy, and that’s what it was. It’s like Disney World for adults.”
That whirring sound you hear is Walt Disney spinning in his grave at being associated with Hugh Hefner.
# # #
Tim Graham
Tim Graham
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Friday, February 22, 2013
Grow Your Way Out of Federal Largess?
Recently, a slew of know-it-all Keynesian policy junkie types have hit the media with suggestions that those in favor of limited government (or a merely a more limited version than the current incarnation) style budget cuts are dwelling too much on the numerator of the debt-to-GDP ratio and not enough on the denominator.
The suggestion being that we could easily turn around our insolvency problem if the government would simply focus on GDP growth and NOT on the growth of federal spending.
A quintessentially maniacal Keynesian solution indeed!.... Better, smarter government spending will stimulate GDP growth enough to reduce the debt-to-GDP!
Ha! What absurdly delusional times these are.
Reader... let's first establish a few basic facts and then take some time to absorb the chart below.
Nominal GDP has a trailing 20 average annual growth rate of 4.71% while the average growth rate for nominal federal government debt is 7.41%.
Right there you can see a problem, for the last 20 years, GDP has been growing at nearly half the rate of federal government spending.
But taking the Keynesian policy junkies contention seriously for a moment, let's assume that "smart" policy makers could manage to generate an 8% annual nominal GDP rate... a literal farce.... and kept the federal government spending pumping along at it's average 7.41%.
Even given this absurd growth assumption, debt-to-GDP would remain above 100% till 2018 and would still be at a level of 82% in 2050!! ... bear in mind, the debt-to-GDP averaged roughly 50% during the 40 years preceding 2008.
Sorry policy junkies, you can't grow your way out of it federal largess... and certainly not with MORE largess... bring on the cuts and LOTS of them!
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Broncos Fall to Gaels on the Road
April 8, 2006
Moraga, Calif. - The Santa Clara women's tennis team dropped a key West Coast Conference match on the road to Saint Mary's this afternoon by a score of 7-0. Kelly Leathers pushed her opponent to three sets at the No. 1 spot to spark her team, but came up just short with her 4-6, 6-4, 1-0 defeat.
Santa Clara drops its record to 6-9 on the year and returns to action on April 14 against UC Santa Cruz in a make-up match. Game time is set for 3 p.m. at the Degheri Tennis Center.
In doubles action, Kelly Leathers and Myra Davoudi beat Feline Charlot and Kate Harden 8-5 at the No. 2 position, but Saint Mary's won the remaining doubles matches to take the quick 1-0 lead. The Gaels demonstrated their strength in singles by sweeping all six contests. With the exception of the contest on Court 1, Saint Mary's won the rest of the matches in straight sets.
Saint Mary's 7, Santa Clara 0
Doubles (Saint Mary's wins the doubles point)
1. Aude Lambert/Jessica Hoath def. Erika Barnes/Stephanie Galainena (SCU), 8-6
2. Kelly Leathers/Myra Davoudi (SCU) def. Feline Charlot/Kate Harden (SMC), 8-5
3. Stef Ordoveza/Erin Young (SMC) def. Kim Daniel/Stephanie Herrmann (SCU), 8-1
1. Aude Lambert (SMC) def. Kelly Leathers (SCU), 4-6 6-4 1-0
2. Jessica Hoath (SMC) def. Stephanie Galainena (SCU), 6-0 6-2
3. Kate Harden (SMC) def. Kim Daniel (SCU), 6-2 6-2
4. Erin Young (SMC) def. Erika Barnes (SCU), 6-2, 6-2
5. Stef Ordoveza (SMC) def. Myra Davoudi (SCU), 6-4 6-3
6. Kristin Kummer (SMC) def. Stephanie Herrmann (SCU), 6-2 6-2
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Seeking Alpha
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When stocks are cheap they either represent a great buying opportunity or will ultimately be a nasty value trap. This article will take a close look at Sequans Communications (NYSE:SQNS) and review both the investment case and the competitive landscape.
Business model
An investment is SQNS is a pure play on 4G and the secular growth trend of the mobile internet. Founded in 2003 the company was formed to address the WiMAX opportunity where it is now a global leader, SQNS expanded in 2009 to address the LTE market.
King of WiMAX
SQNS currently enjoys healthy market share in the 4G WiMAX space and the lion share of the smartphone market. SQNS early success in WiMAX was attributed to the following factors;
1. Highly integrated chip, ideal for smartphones.
2. Successful relationship with smartphone maker HTC.
The HTC EVO 4G smartphone released on the Sprint (NYSE:S) network in June 2010 was a smash hit for SQNS and key behind the company's revenue ramp last year. Then in July last year SQNS largest customer HTC signaled softness in demand and since then WiMAX sales have fallen off a cliff.
LTE is the way forward
LTE comprises of two main standards, TDD-LTE used in China, India, Russia, Japan and Australia and FDD-LTE used in USA and Europe. SQNS initially positioned itself to compete in the TDD-LTE space and is currently in trials with wireless carriers in India and China.
I believe management made a mistake betting their chips on TDD-LTE rather than FDD-LTE. We have seen delays in the rollout and commercial deployments in China and India and this has affected SQNS. Whilst SQNS has announced CPE and embedded device wins in Australia and Brazil the real action is in the US FDD-LTE market with smartphones embracing LTE. SQNS was late to the party with their SQN 3110.
LTE handset market
As I am unable to source market share data for the LTE market I will refer to the top selling smartphones in the US as a barometer for this market.
Smartphone4G ChipSet
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Iphone 5Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) MDM9615M
Samsung Galaxy S IIIUS market QCOM built in LTE System on a chip, other markets Samsung's own chip.
HTC One XQCOM built in LTE System on a chip
Motorola Razr MaxxMotorola's own T6VP0XBG chip
QCOM is the leading independent 4G chip vendor with key design wins for the Iphone 5, Samsung Galaxy S III and HTC One X. Samsung and Motorola have taken a vertically integrated approach and use their own chips. Vertical integration amongst handset providers may not leave much room for independent providers outside of QCOM making it very difficult for SQNS to achieve design wins in this market.
According to ABI Research, the number of 4G chipsets shipped annually will increase from 14.5 million in 2010 to 245.9 million in 2014, representing a CAGR of approximately 103%. Most notably the growth will be in LTE and not WiMAX.
click to enlarge
Turnaround story: What to look for before investing in SQNS
It's tempting to look at SQNS with a market value of just $60million and think its super cheap. After all they are a pure play on 4G and the forecasts provided by ABI Research are staggering. In order for SQNS to turn around their business investors should look for one of two catalysts;
1. LTE smartphone design win with a Tier 1 handset vendor: This would secure their future and lead to a massive revenue ramp. As mentioned smartphone vendors are using a vertically integrated approach and this is a competitive market.
2. Revenue growth: SQNS has announced CPE and embedded device wins in LTE. Time will tell if these and future design wins actually lead to any material revenue growth. Ideally we would need to see strong revenue growth as evidence of success in the non-smartphone/tablet market.
WiMAX sales have dried up for SQNS, and so far they haven't been able to replicate their success in WiMAX to LTE. Management's strategy was to initially focus on TD-LTE particularly China and India, rather than FDD-LTE and the US smartphone market. This was a mistake as the US smartphone market has started supporting LTE.
ABI Research is forecasting strong growth for 4G device chipset sales with most of the growth in LTE. QCOM has a strong foothold in the US Smartphone market, and numerous smartphone vendors are using their own 4G chips making it difficult for SQNS to compete.
Investors should look for one of two catalysts before investing in SQNS; an LTE smartphone design win with a Tier 1 handset vendor or a strong ramp in revenues from their non-smartphone business. Until then investors may be better served with QCOM as the preferred play in the fast growing 4g chip market.
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United States
Journal orthogonal's Journal: Visitors to US to be tagged with RFID by Homeland Security 4 reports that 'the US Department of Homeland Security has decided to trial RFID tags' .... 'to track both pedestrians and vehicles entering the US to automatically record when the visitors arrive and leave in the country.'
Welcome to the Land of the Free!, number 4c62c570-70c5-11d9-9669-0800200c9a66! You'll be reflecting at 2450 MHz, enjoy your stay!
The article goes on to explain that
. . . .
What is your frequency, Kenneth?
Remind me again why the most talented foreign scientists are no longer doing research in America?
And how soon will the "success" of this program lead to tagging government employees and contractors as a prelude to tagging all citizens?
Visitors to US to be tagged with RFID by Homeland Security
Comments Filter:
• It would be unconstitutional.
I am *absolutely* confident that we can stop tagging of all US Citizens; even if the neoncons manage to get a court that would let them do it, this is beyond what the public will stand for. This is so obvious that even said neocons would not try it.
Government employees will almost certainly get RFID tags, especially in security-conscious sections.
Convicted felons? Parolees? We've already got the bracelets. Them too.
However, I fully expect the vast majority of people to carry
• It would suck if a current of sufficient voltage were to ARC across the required RFID tag...
• Thus, the question for privacy advocates is how to keep the information our wallet-based RFID tags transmit out of the goverment's hands. In this case, the outcome is entirely up-in-the-air.
Block the signal [] so you are not transmitting when you don't want to. Design the Faraday cage wallet and you have just made your millions.
• It seems mainland American is in denyal that the real threat [] is from Saudi Arabia [] and its state sponsered terrorism []. Its a pity because it would be interesting to visit the States at some time. But with the current restrictions myself as an allied Australian I wont set foot on US soil.
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Sign up ×
it's a similar source I've uploaded yesterday but solve some problems thanks to your help.
it's a little bit shame asking another question about somewhat same problem:(
but though I deliberated what is the problem all day,I failed to find. So,
it looks good and do work,but the problem is, some thread never terminate themselves for a long time.
I waited even 10 minutes but 6 threads are still alive.
it's the biggest mystery thing since I started learing programming...
would you please teach me what's wrong with it?
import os
import threading
import multiprocessing
def finder(path, q, done):
for root, dirs, files in os.walk(unicode(path)):
for dirname in dirs:
if target in dirname.lower():
for name in files:
if target in name.lower():
#print "good bye",threading.current_thread()
#print threading.active_count()
def printer(q,done,worker_count):
total = 0
while 1:
try: done.get_nowait()
except: pass
else: total += 1
try: tmp=q.get(timeout=1)
except: pass
else: print tmp
if total == worker_count:
if __name__ =="__main__":
results = multiprocessing.Queue()
done = multiprocessing.Queue()
root, dirs, files = os.walk(u"C:\\").next()
for dirname in dirs:
if target in dirname.lower():
for name in files:
if target in name.lower():
target=raw_input("what you wanna get\n")
for i in xrange(thnum):
full_path = os.path.join(root, dirs[i])
t=threading.Thread(target=finder,args=(full_path, results, done,))
share|improve this question
It could be that it really takes that much longer. For example large cache folders from mail clients like thunderbird or outlook express, and from web browsers, may make this take very long (????) Or you could be looking at cycles somehow. Can you build in code somehow to signal the existing threads that they should print out their status? – Andre Blum Jul 10 '12 at 0:26
by comparing the result with that of my another program, it just find all the file but the thread just stop but not exit... – from __future__ Jul 10 '12 at 0:37
Um… you're walking the filesystem and putting every file in the tree into the queue, and then for each file in the queue you're walking the entire tree again and pushing every file in that tree into the queue. All this pointless repetition is going to take a very, very long time for even a modest subtree. – abarnert Jul 10 '12 at 1:13
Actually, hold on a sec… you're using target without ever defining it. So, unless your C: drive is completely empty, this is obviously not the code you're running, because this code will throw a NameError and quit immediately. – abarnert Jul 10 '12 at 1:17
can you try and run in a shallower and overseeable subdirectory, instead of your hard disk's root? – Andre Blum Jul 10 '12 at 2:09
1 Answer 1
up vote 0 down vote accepted
[ First, of course, I had to make some trivial changes to make this code 'compile']
The good news is: it just works as you think it should work. Well done. The bad news is: it doesn't work as fast as you had expected.
On my machine, running it on my home directory alone already takes approx 10 minutes:
[andre@hp ~]$ time python
what you wanna get
... results removed ...
real 9m39.083s
user 0m30.368s
sys 0m22.664s
[andre@hp ~]$
The question is whether implementing this in processes and threads is a good idea. I think not. Chances are the performance suffers from this massive multithreading.
share|improve this answer
I finally make it work with coroutine. make a connection with coroutine instead of using "done" with Queue.put, but it just 2 seconds faster:( I agree with you. it was not a good idea. thank you! – from __future__ Jul 11 '12 at 6:23
Your Answer
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Sunday, September 4, 2011
First Rotation
1. I'm in the middle of my IM rotation as well, and I feel the same way about the clinical experience. The interns and residents don't have the opportunity to spend as much time as they'd like with patients, but as a third year medical student I can stretch out the history and physical to let the patients share as much as they'd like. I've found that just listening to patients can help in their healing. Best of luck to you on your rotations!
2. Hi Jennifer,
I am a sophomore in college and I really think I want to be a PA. This year is my first year taking college-level sciences and so far I am not doing to well in Chemistry. I was wondering how important our course pre-requisites were when applying to PA school? I know they put an emphasis on Bio, Chem, Organic Chemistry, etc, but will it make or break my chances of getting accepted if my grades are not high? I am really considering going to PCOM because of your blogs. Thank you so much for all of your advice. Reading your posts makes me want to be a PA more and more.
3. Hi Stephanie,
I am so glad to hear you are thinking about being a PA. I think that everyone has their strong and weak science classes, chemistry just happens to be your weaker one. Just keep with it and do the best that you can. As far as pre-reqs it depends on the school how strongly they look at each part of you application. I think pre-reqs are definitely important but so is the rest of your application. So, dont put all your eggs in one basket so to speak, strengthen everything. Increase your health care experience, community services, and try to pass chem with the best grade possible. My grades in the sciences were definitely not the best, but I tried really hard and passed them all. I knew for me that was the best I could do and I got into PA school. I did have to explain some of my grades in interviews but I was honest. I also had an upward trend to my science grades which helps because it shows you are improving and taking the necessary steps to do so. My goal, and it is pretty much what I tell everyone, was to get to the interview because I knew that I could sell that by being unique and personable. Ultimately, they are looking for a person to represent the school and become a good PA that is relatable to patients and knowledgable in the profession.
I am glad you are considering PCOM, it's a great school. You will like it here. .Let me know if there is anything I can do to help in your application process. I am glad you like reading my blog, it's great meeting new people on this and inspiring others.
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Public Statements
Floor Speech
Location: Washington, DC
Mr. WATT. I move to strike the last word.
The Acting CHAIR. The gentleman from North Carolina is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. WATT. Mr. Chairman, I don't come to the floor very often anymore to debate. I have kind of changed my pattern. Eighteen years ago, 19 years ago, when I saw egregious things, I would be right here in the heart of the debate, ranting and raving, some people would say.
When my colleagues and sometimes my constituents now ask me, Have you lost your passion, I tell them that there are some reasons that I don't come to the floor anymore. One is that I find that most of the time, my colleagues on the opposite side are tone deaf. They are not really listening to what anybody is saying to them. They are off on some radical right undertaking, falling off the right edge of the Earth, and they are not listening to anything I say.
They don't share my values, and they don't really care about this debate that we had, 3 hours of talking about women, infants, and children going hungry. They really don't much care about that, I say to my constituents. And, third, they just make up stuff. You know, they have this--you know, if we repeat it enough, it's got to be true, and we will convince the American people of about anything if we just keep saying it over and over again. Or they ..... have convenient memories that forget that it was President Bush----
The Acting CHAIR. The gentleman will suspend.
For what purpose does the gentleman from Nebraska rise?
Mr. FORTENBERRY. The gentleman has accused our side of the aisle of lying. Is that a cause for having his words taken down?
The Acting CHAIR. The Chair construes that as a demand that words be taken down. All Members will suspend. The gentleman will take his seat.
The Clerk will report the words.
[Time: 20:20]
Mr. WATT. Mr. Chairman, in the interest of time, some people have said that I called somebody a liar and, obviously, that would be in violation of the rules. I am aware of that. So if I did, I ask unanimous consent that those words be removed from the RECORD.
The Acting CHAIR. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from North Carolina?
There was no objection.
The Acting CHAIR. The gentleman from North Carolina may proceed in order.
Mr. WATT. Can the Chair tell me how much time remains in my 5 minutes?
The Acting Chair. The gentleman from North Carolina has 3 minutes remaining of his 5 minutes.
Mr. WATT. All right. Well, let me try to pick up essentially where I was without offending anybody else.
There's some conveniently forgotten items that I think we need to be reminded of. Number 1, that it was President Bush who requested the government bailouts. That occurred on his watch. It was President Bush that was responsible for the tax cuts for the rich that got us out of surpluses as far as the eye could see and into this deficit spending. And it was rampant speculation and abuse of derivatives on Wall Street that resulted in a meltdown that made Dodd-Frank and the CFTC regulation that we're here debating necessary. Those are the three important things that I think we need to take note of.
It also resulted in a tremendous economic down turn that resulted in more people needing food stamps and the benefit of the WIC program. So these two things are really not disconnected from each other, the 3 hours of debate that we had previously and the debate on whether we are going to adequately fund the CFTC, which has been given authority under the Dodd-Frank legislation to rein in the speculation that is taking place that's driving up food prices, oil prices, and if we're not careful, will result in the same kind of economic meltdown that we experienced that got us into this in the first place.
So this whole process of being in denial about this and ignoring the facts is something that I think we should not countenance on this floor. We need the CFTC to regulate derivatives and speculation. And to the extent that we cut the staff and the funding of the CFTC, we could be replicating exactly what led President Bush to say we needed a bailout in the first place.
So, that's what this debate is all about. I think it's terrible that we are cutting funds under this bill for women, infants, and children, the most vulnerable in our society. But it's even more terrible that we are going to run the risk of allowing the same kind of rampant speculation, unregulated, to get us back into another meltdown that will result in our being back here trying to figure out how to dig ourselves out of this ditch. A year from now, 18 months from now, 2 years from now we'll be right back here again.
Now, this is not rocket science. It's all just connected to each other. And my colleagues can deny it all they want. They can say that this is about drilling for oil in the United States. That's not what it's about. All of the science I've seen says there's more supply of oil now than there is demand, and if we were operating in a regular domestic market on regular economics, the price of gas would be going down.
We need to regulate the CFTC. We need to have them regulating derivatives and speculation.
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Government Shutdown 2013: D.C. Lottery to stop cashing winning tickets
If you get rich playing the D.C. Lottery, your luck will run out when you try to cash your prize. Lottery officials said they have temporarily suspended all pay-outs.
They said pay-outs will resume, but not until the federal government re-opens. On day 11 of the shutdown, it is unclear when that might happen.
"It's so unfair that they're not paying those that win the lottery," said Arlington resident Shaylee Carmona.
The D.C. Lottery is solely funded by ticket purchases - with no taxpayer money - so some players don't understand why the federal government shutdown would stop pay-outs.
D.C. Lottery player Bobbie Coles said, "It doesn't make any sense at all."
Coles and many others said it's not fair. If they're paying to play, they should be paid when they win.
Lottery player Jorge Rojas said, "Everybody needs their money right now. If you won, you're supposed to get your money."
But after a legal review, D.C. Lottery Director Buddy Roogow said attorneys decided the pay-out process must be suspended. They determined pay-outs are not "essential to the protection of public safety, health, and property," as defined by Mayor Vincent Gray when he kept the D.C. government operating during the shutdown. Therefore, they said pay-outs cannot happen until after funding has been appropriated by Congress.
Legally, Roogow explained, he's caught between a rock and a hard place.
"The District law that established the lottery requires us to run a lottery and hold drawings," Roogow said. "We actually are required to continue to sell the tickets. But we're also required not to make the pay-outs."
He continued, "I know that sounds crazy. It's the last thing I want to say. I'm the director of the lottery. I want our sales to go normally. I want our players to trust the lottery and continue to play because we're going to honor those winning tickets if they buy them today, yesterday or tomorrow."
Beyond the complicated and confusing legal situation, many players feel lottery officials should have done more to inform them of the change.
Thanks to a viewer's news tip, NewsChannel 8 discovered the D.C. Lottery - as of Thursday morning - initially decided to suspend payments on winning tickets, $600 in value and greater. Winning tickets worth less than $600 were still cashed out.
When players showed up Thursday to claim centers and retail locations to redeem tickets worth more than $600, they were turned away.
At the same time, other players continued buying tickets, unaware of the change. Once they learned about the suspended pay-outs, many players said lottery officials should have - at least - posted a disclaimer on lotto ticket vending machines.
Roogow acknowledged the policy was in flux this week and finalized Friday afternoon. At that time, he said Mayor Gray was informed of the change - that no winning tickets of any value will be cashed until the government shutdown ends.
After NewsChannel 8 started asking questions about whether the public was adequately informed or educated about the suspended pay-outs, an alert was posted on the D.C. Lottery website and a press release was sent to the media. Roogow also vowed, by Saturday, notifications would be added at retail locations across the District, even on the front of tickets.
Roogow said, "We're actually putting them on the tickets that people are buying now - that we're not able to redeem tickets until the shutdown ends."
While D.C. Lottery officials said they consulted attorneys, it does not appear D.C. Attorney General Irvin Nathan reviewed the legality of withholding payments from winning players. The Attorney General's spokesperson declined to comment, saying "at this moment, we can't discuss this."
However, it is worth noting, the D.C. Chief Financial Officer has directed the suspension of other payments during the shutdown, including tax refunds.
Like many other problems caused by the government shutdown, this lottery pay-out suspension is unique to the District of Columbia - due to D.C.'s lack of budget autonomy. In neighboring Maryland and Virginia, it's business as usual for lottery operations.
In the event that someone wins a substantial jackpot playing Powerball or Mega Millions in the District during the shutdown, lottery officials said they would advise that player to ensure the safe-keeping of their winning ticket. They would also advise that player to contact them. While the player would need to wait for their pay-out like everyone else, they could still begin the process of certifying their claim.
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The Retina IIa can be a little finicky at age 50. All three of mine are awaiting repair. I would go with one of the Japanes RFs or maybe something Soviet. The Kiev 4a can be very good if your hands are big enough to handle the "Contax grip". Also worth looking at are the Fed 2,3, and 4 and the Zorki 4 and 6. One of the lesser known Japanese models that usually goes for a song is the Petri 1.9. The lens is decent and the rangefinder, viewfinder, and overall ergonomics are superb.
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Man Run Over by Army Truck in New York
Man Run Over by National Guard Truck in New York
That must have been one of those truck drivers I spoke of who like driving a vehicle larger than everyone else’s.
The accident happened at around 1:15 pm on November 6, 2012 on Canal Street in New York’s Chinatown, between Centre Street and Lafayette Street. An eye witness alleges that he saw the convoy of at least 10 National Guard trucks like the one in the photo above run the red light when crossing the previous intersection.
The middle-aged man who was run over was of Asian descent. He was reportedly crushed like a ripe tomato under the truck’s wheels but survived. He was carried away on a stretcher with a neck bracelet by paramedics and taken to Bellevue Hospital with life threatening injuries.
There’s been a bit of a media blackout about it because it was an army truck that crushed the man, so all there is are reports by eye witnesses who allege to have seen the accident.
What People Searched For To Land Here:
• squashed bodies
38 thoughts on “Man Run Over by Army Truck in New York
1. You’re in the middle of the street and you need to watch for on coming traffic. When you fail to see big deuce n half truck coming at you, well you end up flattened like a tomato! No second chance after this meeting dumb bastard..
2. His slanted eyes must have blurred the truck to make him think it was one of those Chinese parade dragons, and he wanted to be part of it, so…underneath it he went!
• damn straigh pale we own a double duece n 1/2 and that fucker is a fucking monster i still remember when we took it camping and we yanked a 6′ diamiter tree right out of ground with the roots pulled out of the ground we had to the chains out of the trunk of the tree trunk to and we camped out for a month. though we got a 1k fine for takeing a live tree that didn’t need be removed out 😛
3. I say run the bastard over again!! I live in Seattle and ill tell ya, the fucking hipsters do NOT look both ways here. If there are 3 major things I remember from kindergarten its learn to share, don’t cut in line, and always look both fucking ways!!! He was probably homeschooled.
4. There is a media blackout because i live in New York and this is the first time hearing about this story. The guy walking probably had headphones on and not paying attention to the big ass convoy truck. How do you not notice a convoy truck. Fucking people crossing streets need to pay fucking attention.
5. Mm that idiot driver of the convoy must have thought they were still in vietnam or something. He should have spotted that red trafic light. Accident my ass, that is murder. l hope the family of that asian gets a big check for xmass.
6. What is it with people getting run over by great big bulky vehicles, fist a steamroller, then an army truck! Is it that the vehicles are so high off the road that the people driving them can’t see low enough, is it just carelessness, or are the pedistrians somehow at fault? Personally I think it’s allt three!
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Archive for category Democracy
This is England
Those who squeezed in to the Scottish Green conference this weekend were greeted by thought-provoking image on the front of their delegate packs – an inverted map of the UK with Scotland in the middle nestling comfortably between Norway and Ireland, England fading into the distance.
In England though Scotland is as peripheral as ever. On a Saturday afternoon in rural Oxfordshire people mill about the bus stops and market in Witney, the nominal home of the Prime Minister. This is small town English life as the modern Tories envisage it. Pavement cafes and bistros line the high street, itself furnished with ample parking. Witney is a bus ride from Oxford, and functions as a jumping off point for even quainter Cotswold towns and villages.
A few miles away, just down the road from the RAF base at Brize Norton, sits the town of Burford. Its long street of pubs and restaurants is straight out of the Visit Britain adverts plastered on the white walls of airports across the globe.
The town hall has a noticeboard outside listing all the goings on, a public letter of support about the maintenance of rural bus services in West Oxfordshire taking centre stage among the bulletins. There’s no appeal for food bank donations or invitations to public meetings though. The various crises and pressures hitting contemporary Britain from both left and right are well beyond being felt here. Burford is the final navigable point on the Thames, and it feels a very long way from London.
In the local deli, a phenomenon quickly replacing the dying village shop in places like Burford across the South, a woman is giving out samples of locally grown organic fruit liqueur. “I’m guessing you’re not local” she says, pushing over a thumbfull of red liquid. “It’s very nice here, even if it is a bit Midsomer Murders sometimes.”
Stepping outside on the street it is obvious she is right. This is not the kind of place that needs to put up Union Jacks. Its Englishness is written into the buildings, as is its wealth.
A taxi driver who ferries people from village to village, a British-Asian called Abdul, puts it succinctly. “I mostly just do station runs or take non locals to weddings. Almost everyone here has a car.”
At a local wedding venue you can hear the transport aircraft whine as they race up the runway at Brize Norton, headed for Afghanistan, the Falklands and perhaps now Syria too. Inside a Ceilidh band is starting up and a mixed crowd of nervous home counties partyers peppered with a few Scots nervously practice the dances the band want them to play. The Scots, kilted-up and playing their part, lead everyone else as the good whisky is uncorked on the sidelines. This is the only manifestation of Scotland that could possibly work in this part of the country, detached as it is from the reality of the England outside too.
The following morning the TV at the local pub broadcasts a silent Andrew Marr as guests tuck into their full English breakfasts. The UKIP election victory in Essex is comparable to the shockwave the SNP have created in Scotland, he says. In Burford and Witney though it is very easy to forget what is going on, chillax and eat your cereal.
The Two Faces of Democracy
Today’s guest post is from Duncan Thorp, who’s previously written for us about social enterprise and hate in politics. Thanks Duncan!
12978395593_3fbf45b646_mWe’re living in exciting times, Scotland has changed for the better. Nothing’s changed but everything’s changed. The referendum has been recognised by most people as an exercise in peaceful democracy. It’s true.
In terms of the vote itself, the huge level of popular participation and the technical and legal agreements, it was incredible.
97% of the voting population registered to vote. 16 and 17 year olds enfranchised for the first time, an 85% turnout. A true Scotland-wide debate. More information, slogans and facts flowing like never before. All this over an extended timeframe, far longer than any election.
We should genuinely celebrate this achievement. Only with historical perspective will future generations understand how powerful it was, an independence movement without bloodshed is virtually unheard of. A few bad eggs are as serious as it got.
But there’s another side to this exercise in direct democracy. The environment of the wider society that it took part in was very much anti-democratic. The dominant state narrative of Britishness is ever-present in every aspect of our lives. In this context it’s nothing less than a miracle that 45% of those voting wanted independence.
Much of the mainstream corporate media was of course a blatant case of misinformation, bog standard bias or agitprop. Years of daily, unrelenting, anti-independence news from nearly 100% of the print media can’t be dismissed. Broadcasters often struggled with their values and biases in favour of the status quo. Any media “neutrality” simply means that a story includes views from both sides – it doesn’t cover the decisions to include/exclude certain stories in the first place.
Similarly, large corporations making even vague anti-independence statements, while wielding huge economic power over jobs and investment, were leapt on by the mainstream media. The very fact of the unequal economic power balance in favour of big business meant that any potential relocation was a huge threat (genuine or not).
Indeed without straying into silly conspiracy theory territory, it would be naïve to suggest that HM Government and all the apparatus of the British state, were not deployed (under the radar) to save the state itself in its most critical moment of need. Would you lie back and allow your own power to be fragmented and taken away?
It’s also perplexing that the British nationalists of the far-right were absent until after the votes were counted. It was upsetting to see a mob performing Nazi salutes, singing Rule Britannia and burning a Saltire in George Square, Glasgow. They clearly didn’t get the memo about the “war against nationalism”. Where were they in exercising their democratic rights during the campaign?
It’s certainly unfair to suggest that every no voter was simply fooled or voted out of fear. Some were emotionally dependent on the British narrative and some were basically happy with the way the UK had turned out. Many people voted no because they didn’t think that the economic case had been made. They just disagreed with the other side. Acceptance of the referendum result is vital; we can identify flaws while still abiding by it. It’s all relative. We must move on. But getting back in the box is not an alternative. “One Scotland” unity, while well-meaning, is easily abused. Orwell’s Unity is Strength springs immediately to mind because unity is often a code word for compliance and conformity. There’s no place for eat your cereal politics.
There is only wisdom in crowds, not in elite decision-making. The huge participation wasn’t simply because of the subject, it was because we, the people, were making the actual decision ourselves. Unlike in elections, we were not voting to choose other people to make decisions for us. One of saddest things I read on 19 September was Happy Dependence Day, a slogan but also a defiant recognition of the need for autonomy.
We’ve been too conservative in using the powers that The Scottish Parliament already has. By using current and newly devolved powers a real difference can be made. From the missing link of radical devolution to local communities, land reform, community energy and building our own community organisations to real public sector reform. We need creativity and commitment. We also need to drive forward social media and democratic, inclusive, unbiased media. We don’t need alternative media that just reinforces our own views without challenge.
There are many incredible people-led movements across the world and there’s also a wider war against democracy. We should be aware of these many campaigns against elite, minority rule and for direct people power. It’s only with mass and persistent action that fundamental change happens.
While the UK state infrastructure remains powerful, the unionist campaign was temporary. The Indy infrastructure is now thriving. Energised, motivated and determined, they’re going nowhere. Much of this has thankfully gone beyond narrow nationalism and indeed beyond narrow independence. It’s not about the 45%, it’s about the 100%. We now need this to be a democracy movement.
But forget the challenges, the truth is self-evident. Autonomy and authentic, direct democracy is addictive. One taste and people want more. This vote was important but it was just one step as part of an ongoing journey.
Forget governance, Scotland is more of a nation than ever.
Sweden enters a brave new world
Olof Palme, the last Social Democrat to enjoy a full majority
Today Stefan Löfven, a former industrial welder from northern Sweden, expects to begin moves to assemble a Social Democrat-led government. As the latest in a long line of Social Democrat prime ministers, Löfven assumes not just the trappings of power but an office of both party and state that defined Sweden for the latter part of the 20th century. But the party that led Sweden through its golden age of economic and social prosperity after the Second World War and made the country a role-model across Europe and the wider world is not in good shape.
It used to be said the Social Democrats were in control even in opposition. Now the question is whether they are in control when they are in government. In coalition with the Greens, they no longer have the ability to lead and make others follow. When former Social Democrat leader Göran Persson left office in 2006, Sweden still possessed many of its Nordic economic and social features, from a monopoly on the nation’s chemists to extremely high levels of sick-pay eligibility and a relatively protected public healthcare system. In the past eight years many of the old certainties have vanished, and the country the Social Democrats should inherit is, for the first time in over half a century, not a land for which they have written the rules.
Since 2006 Sweden has been led by the conservative-liberal ‘Alliance for Sweden’, a joint front of the Moderate, Christian Democrat, Liberal and Centre parties. By far the biggest partner in the coalition were the rebranded ‘New’ Moderates, who successfully overhauled Swedish conservatism under the leadership of Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and proved a big influence on David Cameron’s reinvented British Conservative party.
Elected on a promise to safeguard the Swedish model, the Alliance for Sweden have fundamentally changed key aspects of the Swedish system. Since the 1950s the country has been famous for extremely high levels of employee protection, gender and economic equality and a robust economy that has weathered global trends.
Since 2006 the expansion of profit-driven free schools has increased educational division, and tax cuts for both the wealthy and the restaurant sector, intended to stimulate employment, have had little impact on the overall prosperity of the country. Combined with an affordable housing crisis in Stockholm and well-publicized scandals involving private healthcare companies, the Moderates look set to limp over the finish line with just two-thirds of the support they won at the previous election.
The complex maths generated by Sweden’s combination of open national lists and a 4% barrier for entry to parliament means that a likely Social Democrat-Green coalition could horse trade with the Left, Liberal and Centre parties to form a majority. Unfortunately for Löfven, the Feminists failed to make it past the finish line, robbing them of a natural ally. Traditionally Sweden has operated as two electoral blocs, with the Social Democrat-dominated left competing with what Swedes label ‘bourgeois’ parties in coalition.
The difficulty for either side in assembling a complete majority has been created by the entry of the far-right Sweden Democrats. The party, which first appeared in 2010 and is rooted in neo-Nazism, was vying with the Greens to become the third largest in national politics, comprehensively pushed them into third place. Both the Greens and the Sweden Democrats had consistently hovered at around 10%, with the Greens promoting their ability to keep the far right from influence to no avail. The Sweden Democrats hit 13% though, making themselves kingmakers if anyone would be willing to work with them. For now though, unlike in neighbouring Norway where the strongly anti-immigration Progress Party is in a governing coalition, the Sweden Democrats remain political outcasts.
What is happening in Sweden mirrors the fragmentation of European politics more generally, with voters abandoning traditional Social Democratic and Conservative parties in favour of newer voices on both left and right. In the recent European elections the Greens beat the Moderates into third place, whilst the grassroots Feminists mobilised largely young and female voters to win an MEP. More worryingly for the traditional blocs, the far-right have been able to take votes from both conservatives and white working class voters.
The changed nature of Swedish politics means that a return to pre-Alliance days is firmly out of the question, and the time when the Social Democrats would haul in upwards of 40% of the vote and make small concessions to other parties are long gone. It also means that the Swedish model so admired by Sweden’s European neighbours is on shaky ground even without the Alliance at the helm.
Government without overwhelming support leaves the Social Democrats with an existential question. Outflanked on the progressive left by Feminists and Greens, but unable to move further right without hemorrhaging their core support, they remain comfortably the largest party but without a clear vision of why they want to be in office. At a time when Sweden’s problems with social exclusion and income distribution risk removing it from the realms of Scandinavia and dumping it firmly within the demographic trends of the rest of Western Europe, Löfven will lead a group with the smallest percentage of Social Democrat MPs since the 1920s. His government needs to revive the Social Democratic project and make it relevant for the 21st century if the party and the society they created are to survive.
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All-Time US Best XI shameless hit and comment bait
"Oh, right, the centennial," was what I thought after three or four days of lying awake at night wondering where all these US all-time teams were coming from. I thought people were being all shock talk radio host or something. "That's a good enough excuse. Now I can pick my own team, and no one will accuse me of trying to get cheap attention!" Although it's going to be hard to top Hope Solo carping at Julie Foudy's picks. (Sorry about the obligatory ad the Worldwide Leader always sticks on its videos.) There are plenty of reasons that this is a wonderful, amazing time to be an American soccer fan, but near the top of the list is the privilege of watching Hope Solo's ongoing journey into a truly, hilariously horrible human being. The only advice I can give Hope is to commit her inevitable multiple felonies while she still has the money to afford a good lawyer. The way she's going, she's not going to want to be met at the bottom of the hill by a public defender.
But I digress. A few weeks ago the Total Soccer Show had an all-time US draft, and I thought about challenging other bloggers here to a similar draft. Except (1) you don't end up with a best XI, some of the best players and guys you're settling for, and (2) there are going to be formation issues. There would be anyway, but when there's a run on wing backs and you're down to Burns or Agoos - well, that's an empty feeling.
And once things started going wrong for me, I'd draft Gat Miller and the rest of the Boston Oneida team, then spend the rest of the draft going "Never lost a game. Never gave up a point. Never gave up a goal. My team is invincible," until someone finally told me they didn't actually play soccer, and then I'd just pout the rest of the day.
So I'm just gonna pick some dudes. I'm going 4-4-2, because that was the position we used in 2002, and anyway going 2-3-5 just because it's easier to pick forwards isn't the cowboy way.
Goalkeeper: Oh, this is the other reason I'd be bad in a draft situation. We're SO DEEP at keeper, is the conventional wisdom. But I need Brad Friedel. If you look at World Cup success, and Friedel's 2002 performance is so overpowering, I can't settle for the single game heroics of Borghi, Keller, Howard and Meola. I must have Friedel. I don't care about his accent. I don't care that I was there for Keller's game in LA over Romario. I don't care that Borghi and Meola beat England. I don't care that Friedel recommended Carlo Cudicini to Bruce Arena. But drafting Friedel first is a great way to make sure that a lot of my faves at thinner positions are gone almost instantly.
Left backPaul Caligiuri. See, if I don't draft Cal, and draft his ass early? I'm down to Bocanegra playing out of position, Hejduk (whom I love, and would be a good pick, but best of all-time?), or sticking one of the 1950's team into a position that didn't exist. Much easier to just order these guys to report to my team. Which, as longtime Crew fans will attest, is exactly how Caligiuri wants to be treated.
Central defenders: Marcelo Balboa and - crap. I was so, so set on Alexi Lalas out of sheer defiance. He was so good in 1994 and 1995, and so much better in big games than people remember. But...Eddie Pope, man. Or Harry Keough. Screw it, I'll die on Lalas Hill. I know Lalas would still be on the board late in a draft, though, as everyone rushed to get Bocanegra because soccer didn't exist before 2007.
Right back: I'm kind of reaching and cheating here...but odds are, so are you, if you're not picking Cherundolo or Hejduk. One of the things I strongly believe is that the best player of one era would be at least as good in another era, because that same player would have had the same positive (or negative) environment. I also don't think that comparing World Cup records should trump the achievements of the great players in earlier eras. I think if, say, the best player of the 1950's would have come up in the MLS era, he'd be amazingly famous. And even though this position didn't really exist in 1950 - they played a 2-3-5 against England - I think right midfield is close enough for government work. So I'm putting Walter Bahr here. Otherwise I'd have to pick another captain, wouldn't I?
Left wing: Go and read some of your fellow posters. A LOT of people are putting Dempsey here, which I regard as cheating. Alexi Lalas put Tab Ramos here, which, c'mon. Although maybe they're not playing a 4-4-2. I should get off their case. Anyway, I really see the temptation. I'm picking Cobi Jones, our all-time caps leader, and feel like I'm settling.
Defensive midfielder: Oops. Can I get away with Claudio Reyna, or do I need to pick a proper defensive midfielder? I can't, can I? Wow, I'm being a hypocrite. One of the things I detest about best XI teams is how they have no one in the middle who plays any defense, which means that on the field they would end up like - well, how did Joe-Max Moore and Tab Ramos do against Iran? Okay, well, this is where I'd put Michael Bradley, who I don't quite have on the field otherwise, and that'll fend off some criticism. (EDIT - except for people who want to criticize me for not having Dooley here.)
Central midfielder: Crap, crap, crap. Reyna or Ramos. I'm already going to - well, hold on one second.
Right wing: Landon Donovan, because he can play anywhere. He and Cobi can switch around, even. I'm going to need to keep Cobi on the field, probably, because I don't think any of the other nominees for AM could co-exist, and I'm trying to pick a team that could actually win a game. Getting back to the draft situation - I don't know what the hell you do if you don't have the number one pick overall and you don't stick Landon here to cover the hole. I suppose you could bareface Bahr or Hugo Perez, or move an AM over here and hope for the best. But this is where Landon lined up against Mexico in 2002, so this is where I'm putting him.
Central midfielder: Ramos, Reyna or Dempsey. I forgot about Dempsey, he deserves consideration. I don't really think I could stick any of these guys in Cobi's position. Tab Ramos was so, so damn good once upon a time. If Leonardo misses with that elbow, this is a much easier pick. Claudio Reyna wasn't an "attacking" midfielder, but I think he probably controlled the game better than anyone else in US history. Right up until his leg gave out against Ghana. I think he's the smartest choice here. Clint Dempsey is too streaky, and I'd like to that the Seattle Sounders for making this opinion a lot more defensible.
Forward: Finally, an easy pick. No, I never saw Billy Gonsalves play. I'm sure he'd do just fine. Although maybe he was just Patenaude's caddy - Bert was the World Cup hat trick hero, after all. Until someone starts streaming old ASL games so I can actually compare, I'm going with Babe Ruth.
Forward: Boy, am I glad Eric Wynalda doesn't read my blog. But I'd even rather face Waldo's wrath than bench Brian McBride.
Only four Galaxy players. I think I showed admirable restraint.
Oh, a women's team. Hope Solo is right about a few things. The 1999 team is overrated, and should not be used as a measuring stick. The 1996 Olympic team should be. Midfield of Akers, Hamm, Foudy and Lilly. That'll do for starters. I love Shannon Boxx more than anything, but she'll understand. It also gives me room up top for both Wambach, who I really can't justify leaving off for April Heinrichs, despite the huge temptation, and Jennings-Gabarra, who gives me an excuse not to buy into the Morgan hype or delve into old Milbrett controversies. Chastain, Rampone, Fawcett and Overbeck can be my backline (with apologies to Kate Markgraf, but Overbeck was also a starter on the 1991 team, which also doesn't get enough love), and...
...I think Hope Solo was a better goalkeeper, because she had similar success with slightly less accomplished players in front of her. We'll never know if she could have beaten Brazil in 2007, but she was astonishing a year later in the Olympics - and that team didn't even have Abby Wambach. If I was actually building a team, I'd take Scurry, but since I don't have to worry about locker room harmony, I'll pick Solo.
And I will regret it.
I already kinda do.
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White House attacks worry some Dems
Full Story on Politico.Com
1. woody188
If the American people don’t want cap and trade and American business doesn’t want cap and trade, just who does want cap and trade other than Al Gore, Obama, Congress, and the United Nations and why are we being saddled with it?
Our Liberties We Prize and Our Rights We Will Maintain
2. Sandra Price
Cap and Trade won by default. We are saddled with it because there was no alternative action from any political party. Hell, I don’t care what the opposition was called I would have supported the LP but I would have preferred the GOP. Woody, there is only one party in America and a lot of whining hate spewing members of the lost generation of freedom lovers.
Even at CHB we are professional whiners and know what destroyed us. It will take a set of steel balls to stand up to our one party which looks to be worse than the last two Administrations.
I’ve got to get out of here before I blow again. I saw the crap that President Bush brought to the government and I saw nothing any better coming from President Obama. I did not vote for either but had hoped that this great site could be a team to plan something better. Damnit! we have both sides of our government found here and we sit back and watch our nation fall into a pit of hell. I blamed the religious right and I blamed the redistribution of wealth on the other side and all I managed to do was piss off most of the CHB’s members.
A long time member of CHB is over at another forum explaining why I was banned from RR. It is not my point of view but I dared to question the status quo of the two parties. I dared to ask people to get off their lazy butts and take action with their Congress. I’m an uppity old bitch and I’m taking a month off the internet. I respect Doug enough not to blow again on his site.
I have no warnings left. We have gone past the point of no return to sanity.
3. woody188
Yeah I’m stressed out too. Hang in there. Spend time with family and friends and talk. You are not alone and might be surprised who thinks like you do about current events.
4. RichardKanePA
I worked for Obama’s election but dreaded that he would be torn apart like Jimmy Carter was.
Then Obama began fighting back, and I was hopeful.
But not only Rep. Jason Altmire, and Doug Thomas on this blog, but also David Corn who is a real radical complained. Only MoveOn.Org, is defending fighting back.
Daily Kos’s comments avoiding the issue by saying people can talk to who they want, even the President, is a disgrace.
Jimmy Carter ignoring all the smears, Obama is fighting back and people who should know better are complaining.
Somehow most only complain about Israel trying to manipulate things. The Rupert Murdock, Washington Times, Dick Cheney alliance is trying to change this country and change the world. The next US President may actually be proud of torture and human right’s abuses.
The shrillest Washington Times attackers get rewarded by getting on Fox News. See Scoobie Davis online,
Why are those petrified by the Israeli Lobby, which doesn’t hide behind trickery, don’t also worry about what Rupert Murdock, and his partners are up to.
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CPS Selective Enrollment: A Veteran’s Tale
By Marianne Walsh
Member of the Chicago Parent Blog Network
I've got three days to decide if I want to go through the process of trying to get my middle son into the same Selective Enrollment school as his older brother. With the Dec. 16 cut-off looming, I have been procrastinating since October.
My middle son barely missed getting into his brother's school two years ago. When I had him tested the following year, he still had a good score, but it wasn't enough. He is now happily entrenched in the neighborhood school, but the pressure remains. These SE schools are the finest in the state. As parents, aren't we wired to always seek the best education possible for our kids?
In trying to figure out my plans for testing, I was suddenly overcome with a strong sense of déjà vu. It came not from my years of engaging in this educational rat race, but rather from another unlikely source: "The Canterbury Tales."
You might wonder what a Middle English story has to do with CPS. Let me explain. In "The Canterbury Tales," a bunch of random pilgrims from all walks of life bundle together to flee the Black Death. They engage in a story-telling contest to pass the time. Yet throughout the tale, there is an underlying friction between the social classes of the day.
Sound familiar yet?
Welcome to "A Veteran's Tale." If you're thinking of testing your kid for Selective Enrollment, here's how it's going to go down:
1. You're going to pick schools that require testing (see http://cpsmagnet.org/)
2. You're going to send some stuff in
3. You will receive a test date in the mail
4. On the day of the actual test, and against your better judgment, you will promise your kid a puppy if he/she does well
5. You're going to wait. A very, very long time
That's the formal process. But before all the snow melts in April when you hear back from CPS, you're also going to read up on the tier system, ratios for placement, principal picks, sibling preferences, and all the other bureaucratic bullsh*t that exacerbates class warfare and cronyism within the school system. It is a wretched and horrible process that I believe is designed to keep CPS parents fighting with each other instead of turning their wrath elsewhere (and I'll let you decide where that wrath should be directed).
So, I'm going to help you out. Don't. Just don't. There is no amount of obsessing that will change the outcome. Your kid will either get into one the preferred schools or he won't. Work on accepting or planning for both possibilities. Don't yell at your mailman. Don't stalk the Office of Academic Enhancement. Don't promise your kid that puppy. I made all of these mistakes and I regret them whole-heartedly.
I have driven myself crazy during the last few years over something beyond my control. I understand that many parents are desperately fleeing a sort of Black Death of Education given that many of the worst-performing schools in the entire nation are right here in Chicago.
Yet if you're still set on spending the winter making yourself nauseous after testing, be sure to visit cpsobsessed.com. The lady over there knows her stuff. And you will find others just like you. An entire army of Chicago parents visits regularly: obsessing, commenting, posting test scores, and even putting together spreadsheets on cut-offs for the current year for all the different SE schools. The level of devotion is astounding. I commend their spirit and willingness to fight the good fight. I was once one of them.
But this year, things have changed. I might just pour myself a big glass of Merlot and opt out. I'm so very tired and unwilling to let a seriously flawed system ruin my winter. I need to remember that if the laundry in my house can make anxious, just imagine what another round of SE testing could do to me.
I could die.
Then who would they get to finish all this flippin' laundry?
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Phil Shaw, victim's brother
Phillip Shaw was born on January 7, 1975, in Taylor, Mississippi, the eldest of two children born to Jane and Chad Shaw. He was seven when his little brother Jerry was born.
The age difference between the boys meant Phil spent a lot of time watching over his brother. He tried to teach Jerry the importance of honesty and integrity, but as the boys got older, Jerry increasingly resisted Phil's guidance.
Their parents held Phil responsible whenever young Jerry acted out, which Phil considered unfair, especially since he couldn't find any way to get Jerry behave, no matter how much he tried.
Other than his inability to control Jerry, Phil excelled in everything he did. He made top grades and had a lot of friends.
When Phil graduated from high school, he wanted to go to college but there wasn't enough money so he got a job as a busser at Taylor Grocery & Restaurant. He put every penny he could spare in a savings account that he planned to use one day to pay for college.
In 1994, his parents went to Memphis, Tennessee for the weekend to celebrate their 20th anniversary. Tragically, they were murdered during that trip, and the case remains unsolved to this day.
Phil became Jerry's guardian and used his share of their parents' large insurance policy and sizable savings account to support the smaller, sadder version of his family and to pay for his classes at Ole Miss.
Phil invested some of the insurance money, and when he graduated, he still had a large bank account. He leveraged that nest egg to build his own tax firm, which became a very successful business.
When Jerry dropped out of high school and proceeded to squander his inheritance like the proverbial prodigal son, Phil avoided him.
After that, the only time he heard from Jerry was when he came asking for money because he'd gotten himself into yet another financial jam. Phil always refused to lend him a dime and told him to get a job if he needed money.
Phil is single and lives alone. By his own account, he and Jerry hadn't seen each other for years at the time of Jerry's death.
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• Phil wasn't much of a brother to Jerry. It appears that Jerry was on his own totally when he dropped out of school. He was probably 16 years old. Who knows what kind of life he had besides the gambling.
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The newly crowned World Superbike Champion Colin Edwards and his wife Alyssia.
For Americans road racing overseas the year 2000 was a good one. Two World Champions were crowned – Kenny Roberts Jr. in Grand Prix and Colin Edwards in World Superbike. For both Roberts Jr. and Edwards it would mark their first World Championship, but for Edwards it was not his last. He would go on to win another World Superbike Championship in 2002, before joining Roberts Jr. in the recently rebranded Grand Prix Championship, MotoGP.
For this week’s flashback Friday, we go back to that year known as Y2K and our interview with the newly crowned Edwards where he talks about growing up, racing, and his championship season.
By Henny Ray Abrams
Colin Edwards left home when his stepmother caught him spitting in the shower. He was 14. The way he describes her brings to mind a cross between Norman Bates and Cujo. That she listened to him showering may prove his point. The spitting incident isn't what caused him to leave, it was the smashing of the television.
Edwards started riding when he was three, racing when he was three and a half. He did it continuously until he was about 14, at which point he was burnt out. Instead of riding he was working, cleaning oil stains off garage floors with gasoline and kitty litter. It was hard work but it paid well and before long he'd made his first major purchase - a $250 color television. Embodied in that TV was everything he'd worked for to that point, which is why it hurt so much to see it destroyed.
"My dad's new wife had problems with me. Come to find out she's schizo," Edwards says.
The argument over the shower incident had ended and she'd gone away, only to return with evil intent.
"She comes back, rips the TV off the counter and smashes it on the floor. I moved out the next day. It was just a bad situation." With his father's blessing, he moved in with a friend of the family. He's been on his own ever since. "I think that's halfway why
I 'm the way I am," Edwards says of his decision to strike out on his own. "I was out of the house early. I took care of myself early."
Edwards recounts the story without the slightest a tinge of regret.
"It worked out good. I wouldn't change a thing," Edwards said from the driver's seat of his oversized Dodge Ram dually driving from George Bush International Airport in Houston to Conroe, the town he grew up in and calls home about half an hour north of Houston. Edwards is driving, talking, and spitting. Because of his fondness for snuff - Skoal Rough Cut - he always has a can or a bottle nearby, anything to drain hi s lower lip of the syrupy mix that looks like a mixture of dinosaur pus and espresso. Once, at Monza, when he ran out of snuff, he broke open a cigarette and stuffed that in his gums.
Colin Edwards has a fiercely independent streak.
It's in his blood. His father, Colin Sr., is an Australian who worked in the oil business and chased work wherever he could find it. The younger Edwards was born in Houston, then moved briefly to Australia, then to Aberdeen, Scotland. The Edwards clan settled back in Houston when Colin was three and he began to ride and soon began to race. The racing was extreme, Friday night and Sunday, up to three classes, two different bikes, 40 weekends a year, but there was never any pressure from his father. If Colin gave 110 percent, Colin Sr. would give 110 percent of his time and money.
"I thought we were loaded," Edwards said. "Come to find out we were $40-50,000 in debt at the end of the year. It was never a matter of how we were going to pay the bills. The order was where was the race? Where were we going to eat? How were we going to pay our bills?"
Colin Senior's prized possession was a Rickmanframed CB-750 with a supercharged engine. He traded it in for two Kawasaki KX-60s and a KX-80.
By the time Edwards was eight he had over 250 trophies. A house fire claimed most of them and the rest he donated to a local motocross track. He burned out on motocross by the time he moved out of his parents' house. He was already a factory rider. Tom Halverson, who heads Yamaha's road race team, worked on his machines at Loretta Lynn's. When he was home he'd get picked up after school, ride for three or four hours, clean the bike, wash the filter, wash the riding gear, get ready to ride the next day, eat a little dinner, do a little homework, then crash. This went on for three years.
"My whole life to that point was riding," he says. "It was good, but there was no time to be a kid. I was working for a goal that was 10 years down the road."
Was it dedication, passion, or zealotry? A little of each, but mostly just that he's an extremist. In the lake house he shares with his wife Alyssia and their three dogs for the three months of a year he's home in Conroe, he works on his golf game. For hours at a time he'll practice his golf swing on a piece of AstroTurf in the living room, irons and wedges first. When he tires of that he breaks out a few balls and putts them at a tin of Skoal on the living room floor.
Golf is only his latest passion following tennis, ping pong, bowling, and wakeboarding. When he was into wakeboarding, he'd do it day and night, his wife holding a spotlight on the pitch-black lake so he and whoever was driving the boat could see where they were going. Photography is also a passion, and his wife is often his willing subject. He has a closet full of equipment and a mini-studio on the second floor of his house. There is progress in his pictures, which are mostly portraits in black and white.
Racing was an extreme passion while it lasted. He remembers a race at Ponca City.
"Crashed big time, couldn't hardly move my neck. I had a good chance of winning the stock class, but I was all banged up and beat to shit," he recalls. "Dead last when I started out in the final. Finished I don't know, 15th or something. At that point, I don' t know, I scared myself; I crashed and was banged up. My dad pulled me to the side and it was kind of a heart-toheart moment and he said this next race could win or break or us for the next year if we get factory bikes next year or not. I had like five points going into the third moto. I was crying, he was crying. I know I can win. It was just one of those minutes I could never explain.
"I went out the next race, beat to shit, couldn't move my neck, hurting like hell. Holeshot and just blew them away and won the National. I'm just that kind of guy. It's not physical. If I perform, it's mental -99.9- percent mental. It doesn't matter what physical shape I'm in. If I believe I can win, I'll win."
He was 13 at the time and a year later he was out of the sport and on his own. At the end of 1988, he decided at Loretta Lynn's that he was through with racing.
"Dude, I'm done," he told his dad.
His dad thought he might go into road racing, but he wanted out. "If I started when I was six, seven, eight, I'd still be doing it. Instead I was three and a half."
By then he was at Conroe High School, home of the Fighting Tigers, a school where he'd complete his education and meet his future wife, Alyssia, then, as now, a cute little redhead with a hint of the devil that redheads are blessed with.
In high school he says he "saw what kind of trouble he could get into - alcohol, drugs. I found I couldn't afford it," he says.
Eventually his older brother moved back to the area and they rented a house together. On Friday nights it became beer party central with crowds of 150 to 200. Inevitably the police would show up. "We'd lock the doors and wave at them," Edwards says.
There were a few years when he didn't race, didn't ride. But, looking back on it, he believes his father had a master plan. When Edwards was 16 his dad bought a beater Yamaha FZR1000. It'd been loaded on a wrecker and the bodywork was destroyed. They cleaned it up and Edwards thought he'd like to ride it. He went to the motor vehicle department, passed the test, "and the next thing you know all of a sudden my dad didn't own it any more. I was on the thing all the time. I got to where I could wheelie that son of a bitch through every gear, set it down at 130 mph and hope that the front forks wouldn't break in half."
His father remains a central influence, but now at a distance. Because Colin travels so much, he doesn't get to see "Pops" as much as he'd like, and his father can't travel like he once did. A few years back, the elder Edwards underwent a liver transplant and he's had a rough time ever since. The course of anti-rejection drugs is brutal. It didn't stop him from attending this year's races at Laguna Seca and the final round at Brands Hatch where he got to see his son officially crowned World Champion.
They greet each other with a hug at his father 's apartment not far from Edwards' house. Edwards Sr. looks well, but, on this day, he moves slowly. The house, which he shares with a trio of dachsunds, is filled with mementos of Edwards' career, framed covers of Cycle News and lesser road racing monthlies, one now defunct. There are photos everywhere along with a few helmets. In the pictures, the younger Edwards appears only slightly younger than he is now, the buzz cut he wears now replaced by a vertical quiff. The smile is just as bright, the teeth, notwithstanding the years of snuff, just as white. Edwards appears ageless, though his body is a little thicker and tighter than it was when he started, even if he doesn't work out much.
"In 1999 I worked my ass off and Fogarty still kicked my ass," Edwards complains.
The world is available to his father through the Internet and he keeps in touch that way, monitoring the news on websites and communicating through e mail.
For a time, his father managed his son's career, but now he's more of an advisor. Edwards doesn't have a manager, doesn't want one. One of the highprofile moneymen offered his services for a mere 25 percent of Edwards' earnings.
"I know what I'm worth," Edwards says.
The Edwards' men have been known to drive a hard bargain. There was the time when Edwards was in limbo after the 1997 season. He had an offer to ride for the Red Bull Yamaha WCM 500cc GP team. Most riders would have jumped at the chance, and the money wasn't bad, but it was a third less than he'd made that year racing a Superbike for Yamaha, so he turned it down. Instead he ended up at Castrol Honda for even less money, but the chance to be on a winning race team.
"It wasn't really until I got with Honda that I understood what we were out there for," Edwards says.
For his 17th birthday his father bought him a Kawasaki ZX-7 and financed it with money he didn't have. It meant they could ride together and one day his father suggested they ride to a local road-race track in Henderson, Texas. Local meant three-and-a-half hours away.
Jeff Covington was racing that day and Covington was a rider Edwards had beaten in motocross. "I thought, 'I know I can do this,"' he says.
They remembered each other and he allowed Edwards to borrow his Ninja 250 on a practice day. Stuffing himself into his mother's orange and black two-piece leathers, which matched his father's old Rickman, Edwards went out and started dragging his toes, motocross style, elbows up, feet hanging down. "I came in and the first thing I told my dad is I can go fast on this thing."
Before long he was endurance racing and winning and learning.
"And all it was was track time, getting more and more and more track time. The more I learned the faster I was and that was really instrumental into where I'm at today."
He was hooked. "I've got 11 years, here I am, 16 years old, 11 years motorcycle experience, I may as well try to put it to use. From that point on I was looking ahead. I wasn't even thinking about the alternative. I was thinking, I know we can go far with this. I knew that [Doug] Polen had come out of here and [Kevin] Schwantz had come out of here, and their stories are more or less similar. I knew that as long as I did the right things and knew the right people and kept winning, something might happen."
As a Novice he rode a trio of bikes, a Yamaha FZR600 and TZ250 and Honda RC30, and he went undefeated. Novices started at the back of the Expert fields and there were some races where he beat all the Experts as well. At the Daytona Race of Champions in 1991, he won five titles and eight more at the WERA Grand National Finals at Road Atlanta. His sponsor was Eric Klementich, a fellow Texan who owned OTS, Oil Technology Services, the backer of Chris D'Aluisio. Edwards and D'Aiuisio would be teammates in 1992. In 1991, Edwards traveled to a few of the AMA rounds to enter the endurance races on his Novice license. He earned his provisional Pro license just before the final round of the championship at Miami and finished second to Jimmy Filice.
The following year would be defined by his yearlong battle with Kenny Roberts Jr. It began with Edwards, who rode the year with a broken wrist, winning at Daytona and ended with Edwards winning at Texas World Speedway - and there were three wins in between. He beat teammate D'Aiuisio for the title by 35 points.
"We had some good races," he said of his brief rivalry with Roberts Jr.
One of the best was at Brainerd where they both looked certain to crash in every corner, but didn't "Brainerd, he tracked me down and tracked me down and it come down to the last lap. We were both on the fine line. At the beginning of the year I think people expected Kenny and D'Aluisio. There was a little buzz about me in the air, but I think once the first race, after Daytona, I won that, then I think it kind of shifted. In my mind at that point, I was winning. We won five of the nine races. I think that year I was not so much lucky, but I think it panned out to where Filice was on the Honda that year and that was not the bike to be on that year. If he had run the Yamaha, who knows."
The next year, he auditioned for the Vance & Hines Yamaha seat made available by the death of his friend Larry Schwarzbach. Schwarzbach was from Houston, and he was one of the riders Edwards looked up to. Vance & Hines brought their trailer to Henderson, the track where Edwards got his start, for a tryout.
"I knew the track like the back of my hand. I went out there and I was two or three tenths off of Jamie's [James] times, first time out on the bike. I was happy with it. I knew there was a lot more there. At the same time I wasn't a crasher. I didn't want to go out there and chuck it down the road. I knew that I could go fast. I just needed to learn a little bit more."
What he also realized is that he was developing something of a split personality. A week before a race, tension would develop between Edwards and his wife.
"Looking back I know I would demand some things or I would maybe be an asshole, but that was just knowing that I 'm going to race and getting kind of in the mode, getting ready. It went on for probably about a year. And then finally we sat down one night and it was like, 'okay, we've got to figure out a plan here. A week before a race, just let's try to control this thing some way. Try not to mess with me too bad and I'll do my damnedest not to nitpick at little things.' We fought it pretty hard. Now we've just refined into a few minutes before and after a race. I think where it comes from, not that it's a second personality, but it's a pressure-packed personality. You're about to go perform, you're about to go put your balls on the line, you're about to go do what you do best and you need to be focused."
The two personalities still exist, but now they 're more controlled.
"I've got the easy go lucky, hang out, drink a couple of beers with the boys, relax. Nothing flamboyant, don't get loud when I’m drunk. Don't do anything really off the cuff. I do what I do. Three, four, five minutes before I get on the bike and probably about 10-15 minutes after I've gotten off the bike, I'm a different person - I switch into race mode. Whenever I'm in race mode, basically don't fuck with me. Don't mess with me. I have a job to do and I would appreciate it if you let me do my job. It's just a matter of just a couple of minutes to focus. That's the only thing about it. On the scooter riding up to the garage, I 'm just a normal guy. But once I get in the garage and I've got photographers all over the place and I know I've got five minutes, start putting my earplugs in and start getting ready, I'm a different guy."
There are occasional lapses.
"I do some things every now and then that I can lose my temper. It's not that I'm a spoiled brat. Some people think I am when they see these things. I busted my fucking ass when I was a kid. I worked in a damned garage to make four dollars an hour. I sacked groceries at Randle's to make $2.50 an hour plus tips. I'm by far not spoiled. It's just my emotion comes out when I don't win or when I don't perform up to my capabilities.
"Once I get to the press conference I'm usually okay. At the podium straight after the race I'll still be the other guy. I'm still the race guy. When I get to the press conference and questions are asked and this and that, I start to calm down and I'm back into the normal guy set. It's not something I control. It's just who I am. I get the race fever."
His team knows how he acts and how to react and forgives him his occasional indiscretions.
"Monza, I owned it this year. I was a second faster than everybody. In the first race [Pier-Francesco] Chili beat me fair and square and kicked my ass. And I was pissed. And it stemmed from the week before when he sprayed me with champagne. I had won the first race at Donington. He sprayed me with champagne after the first race. It's kind of an unwritten gentlemen's agreement that we've got another race. I love Chili to death. He is probably the most awesome guy out there and we get along great. Good friends. I kind of didn't make a scene, but I said, 'Chili, we got another race.' [This is at Donington]. 'Okay, sorry, sorry.' Sure as shit after the first race at Monza he was happy. I mean the guy is full of emotion. He's nothing but emotion. He won the race and he was excited about it. He rode his ass off. And he sprayed me with champagne. And before I could catch it or even think about it I just dropped the champagne bottle on the podium. Which, looking back, it was stupid. Then again, that's emotion coming out. I was pissed that I lost. And the fact that he just sprayed me with champagne when I got another race to go, the second weekend in a row, that just pissed me off more."
Edwards finished sixth his first year on the Vance & Hines Yamaha team and wasn't a world-beater the next year. By now he was in the house with his brother and his best friend, Mark Meyers. They worked, Edwards raced, and they all spent time on racing projects.
"We spent six months of our lives converting two KX80 big wheels and a YZ80 into lOOs. We'd stay up until three four in the morning, drinking beer, listening to the radio. Get the blow torch out welding, cutting, grinding."
Early one morning while channel surfing, he came on an infomercial touting the benefits of positive thinking.
"Sold me on it. Picked up the phone, called them up, said I 'll take them. $39.95 or whatever it was for six tapes."
The tapes were called Passion, Profit, and Power. Edwards only listened to the Power tapes. They changed his life.
"The key is to listen to them over and over, but I listened to them one time, gave a couple of minutes to think about it, tested out some theories and listened to them again. Now I've got the thing memorized."
What the tapes taught him was to be supremely confident: To know something in your heart, not your mind. To removes words like 'can't,' 'won't,' and 'hope' from your vocabulary. "Hope...I hope I'll win. You just replace it with 'will.' I will win. The key to the whole thing is to believe in your heart. The key to this whole thing is you can believe in your head all you want, but if your heart's saying, 'Man there's some stiff competition out there, I don't know, it's going to be tough today,' you're beaten, you're done, you're finished. You might as well go home.
"If you wish for it, you're not going to succeed.
You've got to know and you've got to be confident that you're going to succeed. And I just turned that around into racing. I went to Mid-Ohio and I'd been listening to these tapes for a couple of weeks and I said, 'Okay, well, lap record, pole position, and win the race. But, it's easy to say it and it's easy to lie to yourself all day long and it's easy to think that. But what this guy really got across to me is that you've got to believe it wholeheartedly and you have to commit to it. I went there that weekend and people would ask me, 'You haven't won a Superbike race? What are you going to do?' 'I'm going to win.' 'Well that's a little cocky don't you think.' 'Well, that's what I'm going to do.' And you find that the more you commit, the more you start to believe in your heart. And that's what really, really counts.
"I went there that weekend, new lap record, pole position, won the race. First race I'd won on a Superbike. Went the next weekend [actually two weeks later at Brainerd] and did the same. Went the next weekend [three weeks on] and did the same at Sears Point. Went three in a row there. That's my whole philosophy; you can't think, you can't wish, you can't hope. As long as you know, it'll happen.
"And I see people all the time, Supercross, road racing, NASCAR, whatever sport may be. They get on the podium, or they finished fifth. You hear people say things aren't going too good, I just hope to get on the podium today. Well that's bullshit. Why even waste your breath. Getting on the podium is not getting on the top. That's the only place to be. If I finish second, I'm pissed. If I finish 10th, I'm pissed. The only thing I'm happy with is winning."
Which is what made the transition to World Superbike so difficult.
Edwards was the wunderkind who, along with Yasutomo Nagai, would spearhead Yamaha's entry into World Superbike. At Yamaha's U.S. headquarters, he was told that he didn't have to win, and it enraged him.
"I still remember his name, Tom Watanabe, he sat me down in Cypress, California, and said, 'Listen, we're not too worried about you winning races, we just want you to go out there and give Yamaha a good image and be good to the fans.' This was at the end of '94, I'd just finished my last year here. That just pissed me off. Why am I here? Maybe in his mind he was saying there's no pressure, but he was saying: 'Don't worry about winning any races.' Whenever I got to Honda there was no other thought, 'Just go win races. And that's all we care about. We want Honda to win some races. The more races the better, and if the championship comes along with it, then great, but we want to win races.' "
The years at Yamaha World Superbike were fallow, especially following his breakthrough in America.
"I never really was happy, but I knew that I put in the best ride that I could've put in on the day," Edwards says. "And there wasn't a lot of times I was happy with the results, but the way I rode I was happy. And I brought that out of it. I rode my balls off. I damn near crashed 10 times saving the front and just learning. I crashed the thing big time and I hurt myself quite a few times trying to ride it. I wouldn't change that for anything. That right there is what taught me to ride it at its full limits. And once I got on a bike that was capable of winning, then I won."
At certain tracks he was competitive, and Noriyuki Haga proved that if you ride with no respect for life you can win on the Yamaha, occasionally.
"I almost won a couple of races in Australia. He [Haga] won some races in Australia. Donington it went pretty good there. He won both races there. He started finishing sixth and eighth and I think it was for him... the first few races, I don't know what he was running on, I want some of it. He was out to prove himself and in the process he hurt himself at Monza pretty bad trying to get the thing around the track - just the same as I did. You push the bike to its limit and then it bites you really hard."
The handling wasn't the problem, it just didn't have the grunt and raw-speed power you needed. It would work at finesse tracks to keep it in line. At a power track, it was hopeless.
Compounding that were the problems Dunlop was having in the aftermath of the Kobe earthquake. It wasn't until his final year with Yamaha, 1997, that he began getting tires that he felt were up to the job. He didn't get much chance to use them.
At the fourth round of the series, in Monza, Italy, he was knocked down in practice. The injuries kept him out of the rest of the year. Scott Russell flew the Yamaha flag and Haga would join him in 1998. Edwards was offered the Red Bull Yamaha WCM ride, but declined. He had nothing but a tentative offer for a private team with Yamaha support. Within a week he was on the Castrol Honda team, thanks to John Kocinski.
Kocinski had won the World Championship for Castrol Honda in 1997. It earned him a seat on Sito Pons' 500cc team. Honda needed a rider and Edwards had just turned down the Red Bull offer.
"It was a blessing in disguise. I was out in the cold for a week. Finally, John [Kocinski] went to Grands Prix and we called up Honda and they said we didn't know you were available and within a week it was done."
The transition was quick and smooth.
"Third race of the year we did the double at Monza. That was for me, that was a big learning year, new suspension, new bike, new tires, some new places. Some places that year were hit or miss, big time. Sometimes we would take the thing off the trailer and it would work like a charm. Sometimes we would jack around with it all weekend and we couldn't hit our ass with both hands.''
Going from Dunlop to Michelin was made easier by his extended lay-off.
"It had been so long since I had been on the bike, that by the time I got on the Honda I didn't know what to expect. I knew what the tires did and stuff, but once I got on it, I just kind of learned the Michelins pretty quickly. I think I had enough time to actually forget about what the Dunlops felt like, got on the Michelins and then it was good."
The RC45 had a fatal flaw. As soon as you let the front brake off, the front end would pop up and, nine times out of 10, when Edwards crashed it was by losing the front. New Zealander Aaron Slight was his teammate and Slight had developed the 45, so he knew to ride over the front wheel. "He was all over the front of it keeping it loaded. And my style slowly progressed into that throughout the three years I've been with them, but that's just a Honda character. You look at Mick [Doohan] and they're all over the front of the thing keeping the thing loaded and I looked and I learned and finally I started adjusting my own way of riding to get the thing around the track."
The RC51 would be similarly problematic this year, and it wasn't until late in the season that he got it figured out.
Edwards was second to Carl Fogarty in 1998 and again the next year, though he'd hoped for, and predicted, better. It was at the Nurburgring that his season disintegrated.
"I went into that year really ready, determined.
Probably the whole season shifted in one race, which was at Germany."
In the first race he had a second-and-a-half lead when he hit oil in the first corner and rode through a gravel trap. He fell back a few spots, but was on the move when he crashed on the same oil patch. There'd been no warning, no flag, even though a total of six riders would crash.
"I just thought, if there's oil there's going to be a flag. That's basically where my judgment was wrong. The race went on and I ventured kind of back out into the pack and crashed. I was already pissed, because I'd already had the win taken away from me right there.
"I lost a little faith in the whole organization there. Here you've got six bikes down the road and there's still not a red flag out. I crashed in the oil there and I was pretty pissed off about that. I should've won that weekend. I was going better than everybody all weekend and I should've done the double and it was taken away from me by the organization, more or less. I crashed my good bike and I got on my spare bike and it wasn't what I wanted.
"Up to that point I was 20 or 25 points behind Fogarty and then I crashed and he won. Then it went to 50 points instantly. Honestly, I think it was just myself. I just lost faith in the organization and what we were out here doing. Those guys were playing with my life for no reason."
It took a few races to get the confidence back. At Brands Hatch he did another double. "By then the fight was kind of over. Fogarty was in."
Entering the 2000 season Edwards was supremely confident. He'd had a hand in developing the RC51 and he knew how good it could be. The pre-season tests had gone well. In the opening round of the season at Kyalami, South Africa Edwards gave the RC51 its first major race win. Then Fogarty crashed in the second race at Phillip Island and the championship was wide open.
The saying for the last few years is that if you can beat the fastest Ducati you can win the championship. All of a sudden, Fogarty wasn't there any more. Edwards never saw Fogarty at the opening round in South Africa where Edwards won one leg. In Australia, he says he felt Fogarty was struggling.
"He just wasn't on like he normally was and you could tell by his riding and I think he saw the championship going away at the second race. He was down on points already. I think he saw the championship drifting away in the second race. However he crashed, he crashed. Obviously, it was just kind of take a step back and say we got it, win some more races, keep the thing on two wheels and we'll have it. To be honest, at that time I thought this was going to be a piece of cake, really. Then again, I'm learning. There's nothing in this world that's going to be a piece of cake.”
Over the course of the 2000 season, Edwards went through nine or 10 sets of leathers.
"It just happened to be every time I crashed the thing I was on a brand new set of leathers. Thankfully, only two of them were in a race."
The team couldn't figure out why he kept falling. "We'd done pre-season testing and everything was halfway decent, the bike was a lot of, as long as you do the same thing you'll be all right, brake the same place, turn the same place, because it worked the last lap, it'll work this lap. Basically not a whole lot of feel with what the front was doing. And some times you did the same thing that you did the lap before and it would just go away. It was just after mid-season that we decided we needed to seriously reconsider what we're doing here. So that's when we jacked the thing way up and got a whole lot of weight on the front. We jacked it way up and in turn of jacking it up, we got a little bit steeper steering angle, a little more weight on the front and we were able to feel a little bit better what was happening and that's what really turned us around, and we won four of the last six."
The controversy of the season didn't involve Edwards. It involved Yamaha's Haga. The Japanese rider had tested positive for ephedrine, a banned substance that was an ingredient in the herbal supplement Ma Huang, at the first race of the year in South Africa. It would be three races before it came to public light, and it would be the final race of the year before there was a resolution. All season, Edwards raced as if Haga would keep the points he earned by winning in South Africa.
"We went the whole year, every race, after every race, we were giving him 45 points and taking off five points for me."
That, like the punishment, was simple math for Edwards.
"When you're caught with it in your system, take the points away, whatever, it should have been taken care of."
Haga and Edwards are friends, and when Edwards saw the trimmed down Haga at the first race he asked how he'd done it. Haga freely had admitted that he'd used ephedrine to lose weight.
"He said he wasn't even working out a whole lot.
Go sit in the sauna and do some stuff and the weight was just falling off of him." He'd lost about 20 pounds. People don't understand that that in itself is a performance enhancer. Whatever the ratio may be, I've heard seven pounds to a horsepower, whatever
you want to put it down to, that in itself is a performance enhancer. It was ignorance, really. He didn't know that it was wrong, I know that for a fact. He didn't know what he was doing was wrong."
Rumors about his punishment were rampant. Initially he was going to get his points taken away. He was going to get banned for a year. He was going to get banned for a race. It all went in one ear and out the other. Edwards was willing to win the fight on the track. Yamaha wanted to fight with the FIM. When the races ended at the penultimate round in Germany, where Edwards did the double, he held a 52-point lead. Barring Haga getting his points back, and competing at the final race in Brands Hatch, Edwards was champion.
The final ruling came down just before Brands Hatch. Haga was out and Edwards, who'd already celebrated the title, was indeed World Champion.
There was little time to celebrate. By the time you get this, he will have been to England and South Africa, tested twice in Australia, visited Thailand and the Philippines, gone off-roading in the Canary Islands, and accepted his World Champion's trophy at a ceremony in Monaco. Then he heads for an extended snowboarding vacation in Jackson, Wyoming, before the start of serious testing in January. Ducati has a new motorcycle and will start the season with a trio of very hungry riders.
Edwards wants to win more races and retain his title, but sees the Ducati team as the main obstacle. Bayliss, with a full season's experience and a fresh start to a full season, will be formidable, he believes.
"I look for [Ben] Bostrom to come around. He knows the tracks, he knows the culture, he knows the people. He's definitely got talent - he's got loads of talent. I just don't think he was ever really happy. The one race of the year that he was happy was Laguna. He had all his friends and family there. He just seemed to get along with the tires instantly and get along with the bike, get along with the track. I look for him to turn it around next year. He's got a lot of pressure as well." Bostrom was occasionally criticized for his off-track behavior, the fancy leathers and cowboy hats and disco ball in the motorhome. Edwards isn't buying it.
"He knows when it's time to switch into a different mode."
In one way, the season may be less difficult. Haga has gone to GPs and Yamaha has pulled out of World Superbike, which was a body blow to the series. Edwards is a staunch supporter of Superbikes, believing that they draw nearly equal or bigger crowds most places, with some obvious differences. In Spain and Holland the GP's are much more popular, while in England and the opposite is true.
"In my mind, Grand Prix has always been the pinnacle. I'm not going to deny that at all. It's always the dream, the 500 Grands Prix. But, at the same Superbikes have grown well beyond my expectation. I first came to Superbike as a stepping stone to get Grands Prix, learn some tracks, learn the European mind frames, but it's grown to such a caliber that I think it'd be silly to give it up to go to a lesser package that you're not sure you can win on."
Honda has a four-stroke Grand Prix machine in the works. It will likely debut in 2002 and Edwards knows it. Should he successfully defend his title, his ascent would be almost guaranteed. "I'll have nine years experience racing four-strokes. If four-strokes do come into Grand Prix, who better to ride it than me?"
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'30 Rock': Gary Cole, Amy Sedaris, Kellan Lutz, and Don Cheadle guest! | EW.com
News | PopWatch
30 Rock
(Ali Goldstein/NBC)
At the fundraiser Lemon was rudely awakened when 1) she ran out of shrimp, and 2) realized that by “chum” Jack meant “the bait I throw in the water to attract the big fish.” Dammit second meaning! (Ed. note: “chum” would be a perfect fit for Jack’s NBC game show, Homonym.) Lemon vented all her liberal frustrations to Jack’s conservative group, hoping they would right their wrongs. Or I guess, “left” their wrongs. Apologies for that terrible pun. Anyway, her rampage had the opposite effect, convincing the attendees to donate even larger amounts to Jack’s Super PAC.
This led to a battle of wills to see who could sway American voters. Liz decided to use her words and ideas on TGS, while Jack stuck to money because there’s “no problem in the world that can’t be solved by throwing money at it.” May the best gender non-specific person win! But as it turns out, neither money nor ideas can win an election. But what can? Or rather who can? Jenna Maroney. That’s who.
Let me explain: Jenna found surprising success with “Catching Crabs in Paradise,” her Jimmy Buffett-esque song that attracted throngs of crab catching fans. (Both kinds, because I know you were wondering.) Jenna couldn’t be her diva self because she had to appease her easy-living followers—a fact that Frank, Lutz, and Toofer tried to use to their advantage. While Jenna was getting in touch with her island side, Jack and Liz realized that the Northern Florida population would ultimately determine the results of the presidential election. And those Northern Floridians, the ones from the penis of American, happened to be Jenna’s new army of followers. Twist! And to be continued…
NEXT: Guests galore and the best lines from the episode…
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Science Briefs
Cassini Encounters Titan
The Cassini/Huygens mission to Saturn is one of the most exciting planetary exploration projects ever undertaken. Launched in 1997, Cassini went into Saturn orbit on June 30, 2004, beginning its four-year tour of the planet's complex systems of rings, moons, radiation belts, and atmospheres. The major highlight will take place on Jan. 14, 2005, when the Huygens probe will drop into the smoggy atmosphere of Saturn's mysterious moon Titan, conducting a two-and-a-half hour survey of its cryogenic environment. Seeking to understand Titan's atmosphere, GISS scientists Anthony Del Genio and Michael Allison are involved in three of Cassini/Huygens instrument teams: the Imaging Science Subsystem and Cassini Science Radar Team on the orbiter and the Doppler Wind Experiment on the Huygens probe.
Titan's atmosphere is mostly molecular nitrogen, as is Earth's, but it is about 50% thicker. The surface is hidden by a stratospheric haze (see Fig. 1), believed to form when sunlight breaks apart methane molecules and forms hydrocarbon particles that settle to the surface. This would have easily depleted all methane in Titan's atmosphere over the life of the solar system, so the presence of atmospheric methane today implies a methane source. One possibility is that, similar to Earth's water cycle, lakes or shallow seas of liquid methane-ethane feed a "hydrologic" cycle of methane evaporation, cloud formation, and rain.
Infrared Imagery
Pictures of Titan taken in visible light are almost featureless, showing only its hydrocarbon haze, but at other wavelengths surface details are revealed. In the infrared, wavelengths longer than the human eye can see, the haze is more transparent, and Cassini's cameras can obtain beautiful global maps of dark and bright surface regions (see Fig. 2). It is tempting to interpret the bright areas as water ice "continents" and dark areas as methane/ethane "seas" or surfaces coated with hydrocarbons, but we do not yet know what the regions are made of. Regions of enhanced reflection, called sunglint, would be expected from a smooth liquid surface. Ground-based radar observations made several years ago did show evidence of enhanced reflection, but so far the Cassini imaging team has not.
We do know that bright patches near the south pole in these images are clouds. Clouds cluster near the pole because it is summer there, and constant sunlight has probably warmed the surface enough to cause methane rainstorms. Outside the polar region, clouds are scarce. The reason for this is a mystery. Perhaps there are no methane seas on Titan. Instead, occasional geysers from a subsurface methane reservoir might be the only methane source for the atmosphere, and the resulting low relative humidity of methane gas prevents cloudiness in most places. Or perhaps there is plenty of methane to make clouds but few aerosol particles to act as seeds for cloud formation, as sulfate pollution and sea salt do on Earth.
Venus, Titan's slowly rotating cousin, has strong "super-rotating" winds of up to 200 miles per hour planetwide despite the solid planet's own slow rotation. Climate model simulations made a decade ago by GISS scientists led by Del Genio predicted this should also be true of Titan. To demonstrate the effect actually occurs we need to see clouds drifting with the winds, and that required Cassini.
Outside the polar region, looking for clouds on Titan is like looking for a needle in a haystack, but every once in a while you find a needle. In late May, as Cassini approached the Saturn system, a cloud was detected by Del Genio and John Barbara in distant images of Titan at 38°S (see Fig. 3). Over two and a half hours the cloud moved eastward at a speed of 76 mph. Images from the October flyby of Titan yielded several other examples of midlatitude clouds, all moving eastward. These represent the first direct evidence of super-rotation on Titan and confirm at least one prediction about the mysterious moon.
Radar Imagery
Surface detail is revealed at wavelengths beyond the infrared, in the microwave and radar range. Cassini's first Titan radar maps acquired during its low-altitute flyby on Oct. 26 — within 750 miles of the surface — revealed a variety of distinct features and surface properties (see Fig. 4). Although these maps showed little definitive indication of impact craters, a few especially smooth regions may reflect small areas of hydrocarbon liquids or sludge. Radar altimetry measurements showed only small variations in elevation, less than 500 ft. over a ground track 250 miles long. Active radar mapping of Titan during a single flyby covers only a tiny fraction of the surface, so many more close passes will be required to build up a global picture of its topography and roughness.
The Cassini radar instrument also operates in a passive "listening" mode, providing large-scale but crudely resolved maps of the satellite's brightness at microwave and radio frequencies. The contoured image in Fig. 5 shows Cassini's first Titan radiometry scan. The contours and colors show observed variations in Titan's radio temperature at 2 cm wavelengths, while the light and dark shading show the structure in the near infrared.
Huygens Descent
On Christmas Eve, 2004, Cassini will release the wok-shaped Huygens probe on the start of its inbound approach to an intimate date with Titan. On Jan. 14, at 4 a.m. EST, Huygens will enter Titan's atmosphere at a speed of 12,000 mph, rapidly decelerate, then deploy its parachute at an altitude above 90 miles. For the next two and half hours, Huygens will measure the temperature, pressure, and chemistry of Titan's atmosphere and observe the surface with a downward looking camera. Precise measurements of the Doppler-shifted frequency of the probe-to-orbiter radio relay will measure Huygens' wind drift and therefore Titan's atmospheric circulation. (The Doppler measurement works on the same principle as the apparent shift in the sound-pitch of a passing train's whistle.)
The expected wind-blown drift of Huygens will likely carry it some 10-20° east of its original entry point. Tracking the variation of the apparent position of the Sun in the Titan sky as seen from the probe by its imager should provide an independent estimate of its wind-carried motion. If the probe and its radio relay survive surface impact, another specially designed instrument package will provide further information on the surface's solid or liquid character. All these measurements will represent an essential "ground truth" check on the continued survey of Titan by Cassini's remote sensing instruments for years to come.
Allison, M., D.H. Atkinson, M.K. Bird, and M.G. Tomasko 2004. Titan zonal wind corroboration via the Huygens DISR solar zenith angle measurement. In International Workshop on Planetary Probe Atmospheric Entry and Descent Trajectory Analysis and Science (A. Wilson, Ed.). ESA SP-544, pp. 125-130. ESA Publications Division, ESTEC. Noordwijk, The Netherlands.
Bird, M.K., R. Dutta-Roy, M. Heyl, M. Allison, S.W. Asmar, W.M. Folkner, R.A. Preston, D.H. Atkinson, P. Edenhofer, D. Plettemeier, R. Wohlmuth, L. Iess, and G.L. Tyler 2002. The Huygens Doppler Wind Experiment: Titan winds derived from probe radio frequency measurements. Space Sci. Rev. 104, 611-638.
Del Genio, A.D., and W. Zhou 1996. Simulations of superrotation of slowly rotating planets: Sensitivity to rotation and initial condition. Icarus 120, 332-343, doi:10.1006/icar.1996.0054.
Elachi, C., M.D. Allison, L. Borgarelli, E. Encrenaz, E. Im, M.A. Janssen, W.T.K. Johnson, R.L. Kirk, R.D. Lorenz, J.I. Lunine, D.O. Muhleman, S.J. Ostro, G. Picardi, F. Posa, C.G. Rapley, L.E. Roth, R. Seu, L.A. Soderblom, S. Vetrell, S.D. Wall, C.A. Wood, and H.A. Zebker 2004. RADAR: The Cassini Titan radar mapper. Space Sci. Rev. 115, 71-110, doi:10.1007/s11214-004-1438-9..
Porco, C.C., R.A. West, S. Squyres, A. McEwen, P. Thomas, C.D. Murray, A. Del Genio, A.P. Ingersoll, T.V. Johnson, G. Neukum, J. Veverka, L. Dones, A. Brahic, J.A. Burns, V. Haemmerle, B. Knowles, D. Dawson, T. Roatsch, K. Beurle, and W. Owen 2004. Cassini imaging science: Instrument characteristics and capabilities and anticipated scientific investigations at Saturn. Space Sci. Rev. 115, 363-497, doi:10.1007/s11214-004-1456-7.
Please address all inquiries about this research to Dr. Anthony Del Genio or Dr. Michael Allison.
Click on any figure to view a large version.
False-color image of Titan approximately as it would appear to the human eye.
1. Purple Haze
An image taken by the Cassini Imaging Science Subsystem shows Titan as it might appear to the human eye. (The image is actually a colorized version of ultraviolet imagery.) The overall orange color is due to a hydrocarbon "smog" that pervades the stratosphere. At very high altitudes the particles are small enough to scatter blue light effectively, accounting for the purple-blue tint shown around the edges of the planet. (Image: CICLOPS/Space Science Institute via NASA Planetary Photojournal)
Map of Titan in the infrared, as rendered by the Titan24 application
2. Detail in the Infrared
This global map of Titan was constructed from Cassini infrared images. The less defined area uses images taken during June 2004, while the better defined section comes from images obtained in the October 2004 flyby. This screen shot from the Titan24 sunclock is centered on Huygens' targeted entry point (11°S 199ºW). Also marked are the Titan-centered positions of the Sun (yellow dot) and Saturn (pink dot) during the descent. The bright "continent" east of the descent point is called "Xanadu". (Images: CICLOPS/Space Science Institute)
3. Spotting Cloud Motion
A faint bright area in the image at the left is a cloud. This image was mapped onto a latitude-longitude grid and an image one Titan rotation later was subtracted from it to highlight cloud features that change with time, relative to surface features that do not. The same was done with an image acquired two and a half hours earlier. The results, shown on the right, indicate that the cloud (arrows) has moved eastward over this time interval. (Image: Source)
Passive radar image of Titan with contour lines drawn in.
4. Diversity on Titan
This radar image obtained during the October 2004 flyby reveals an area about 150 km by 250 km. The smallest details visible are only 300 m across. (Image: NASA JPL via NASA Planetary Photojournal)
Passive radar image of Titan with contour lines drawn in.
5. Radar Whispers
This radiometry image combines data from different wavelengths. Colors and contours are based on microwave imagery, while light and dark are based on near infrared images. Brightness decreases as the angle of the surface is tilted away from the viewer, so the center-to-edge contrast in the contours is larger than the probable variation of the actual surface temperature. The more irregular east-west variations likely indicate differences in structural and compositional properties of the surface. (Image: NASA JPL via NASA Planetary Photojournal)
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Interstate Banking
DEFINITION of 'Interstate Banking'
The expansion of banking across state lines. Interstate banking became widespread in the mid 1980s, when state legislatures passed legislation that allowed bank holding companies to acquire out-of-state banks on a reciprocal basis with other states. Interstate banking has led to the rise of both regional and national banking chains.
BREAKING DOWN 'Interstate Banking'
Interstate banking has grown in three separate phases, starting in the 1980s with regional banks. These companies are limited to a specific region, such as the Northeast or Southeast, and were formed when smaller, independent banks merged to create larger banks. Then state law permitted a national trigger that allowed mergers with banks in any other state after a certain date. The Reigle-Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act allowed banks which met capitalization requirements to acquire other banks in any other state after Oct. 1, 1995. The direct result of these legislations was the onset of nationwide interstate banking.
1. Reciprocal Statutes
Legislation enacted between two or more states promoting commerce. ...
2. Bank Reserve
3. Tax Accounting
4. Chain Banking
Conceptually a form of bank governance that occurs when a small ...
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Wrapup: ACLU Works With Eagle Forum
CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - An unlikely duo made for an effective
lobbying team in the 2009 Nevada Legislature, with the American
Civil Liberties Union of Nevada and the conservative Nevada Eagle
Forum showing, once again, that politics makes for strange
Throughout the session, the two groups teamed up on bills that
addressed election laws, warrantless wiretapping, privacy issues
and freedoms of speech. And after the session, lobbyists from both
groups credited each other with helping advance their agendas.
"I know we turned a lot of heads in the hallway, because we'd
be sitting together in a cluster of chairs, and we had people walk
by and almost break their necks," said Lynn Chapman, lobbyist for
the Nevada Eagle Forum. "But we worked very well together, and I
think it was advantageous because of all we accomplished. They were
The groups worked together to defeat SB52, the "Real ID" bill
which would have brought Nevada into compliance with a federal law
that's aimed at making it tougher for terrorists, illegal
immigrants and others to get official identification. The ACLU had
called the bill "Orwellian."
The bill had sat on the Senate Secretary's desk for months, and
then resurfaced for a vote on the next-to-last day of the session.
When they found out, both groups agreed to send out e-mails to
their memberships calling for action, and lawmakers' electronic
inboxes were flooded with pleas from gun advocates, conservatives
and civil libertarians.
"It would have forced the state to be connected to a national
database, and all the states would have been hooked up to the
federal government, and that's scary in itself," Chapman said.
"It goes beyond anything we should really want our government to
have access to."
Chapman said she regularly e-mailed and called the ACLU
lobbyists to coordinate efforts, exchanged information when they
attended different hearings, and updated each other when lawmakers
committed to a vote.
"There was just tons of stuff we worked together on this
time," Chapman said.
Rebecca Gasca, public advocate for the ACLU of Nevada, said she
wasn't surprised that the two groups came together since both
groups work to protect the interests of the individual, using the
U.S. Constitution as a medium.
"It was really neat to see how there are individuals who may be
on the opposite sides of the spectrum, but we can come together on
some issues," Gasca said. "I think we helped fend off some bad
public policy."
The two groups weren't always on the same page. When a bill was
introduced to bring Nevada in line with the Equal Rights Amendment,
which never passed in Nevada, the Nevada Eagle Forum warned members on its Web site, and called the measure "the newest threat to Life and Family."
The two groups also held opposite views on SB283, the bill which
granted rights to domestic partners, which Chapman said the Eagle
Forum opposes because it's viewed as allowing same-sex marriage.
But when the Assembly voted on the domestic partnership bill,
Chapman said she was in the gallery watching and tried to quickly
write down all the votes, but didn't get them all. She noticed ACLU
attorney Lee Rowland, who worked passionately to get the domestic
partnership bill passed, was doing the same thing.
Even though they were on opposite sides of the issue, they fell
into their usual routine of counting votes together and helping
each other out.
"It's not about being rude to each other, we were helping each
other," Chapman said. "Families are hurt by a lot of liberties
that are stolen or evaporated, and I believe the ACLU feels the
same way when it comes to liberties."
In the end, they respected and helped each other, and all said
they had fun along the way.
"People would see us in the hallway together and say, 'Uh oh,
there's trouble,"' Gasca said. "We liked to ruffle feathers
together. Definitely."
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Upworthy Co-Founder Eli Pariser Explains What Upworthy's Doing And Why It Annoys Me So Much
Thursday, September 19, 2013 - 11:00 AM
(Wikimedia Commons)
Last week, Upworthy, the website built for viral progressive political content, secured $8 million in funding. I wrote a piece about how annoying I find it. I compared it to San Francisco, which is the deepest epithet in my epithet bullpen.
I also complained that while Upworthy co-founder Eli Pariser wrote a book about the danger of people online segregating into bubbles of like-minded viewpoints, Upworthy itself seems to be one. Pariser got in touch to explain how he sees the role of the site. Our Gchat is below:
ELI: Hi PJ. You there?
PJ: Hey! Yes. Thanks for doing this. I was thinking we could just sort of do a gchat about this, and I'll put it up on the blog. The only thing I'd edit is the myriad typos I'll probably have, and I can do the same for you if you don't mind.
ELI: OK, sounds great.
PJ: Cool, ok. So, what I was hoping to do was run my two complaints about Upworthy by you and see what you think.
ELI: Great.
PJ: The first one is the idea that Upworthy, to me, feels like a Filter Bubble. I get that it's not invisible, the way a Google search that shows you personalized results without telling you is. But it feels like a place where, if I'm a certain kind of progressive, I'm going to sign on and see ideas that I'm very likely to agree with.
Am I wrong? Or missing the point?
ELI: Totally fair question. So, to back up a bit: The critique I was trying to make in the book (and TED talk) had a couple of pieces. Part of it was about partisan echo chambers. But the other big piece was about information junk food, and the concern that in a personalized, filtered world, the whole public sphere might slide out of view for a lot of folks.
I think they're both problems, but I've always been a bit more concerned about the second problem than the first one. That is: I think it's better to hear more views about X important public topic than just the one I believe. But I think it's better to hear anything about it than nothing, and I think there's a real possibility that for a lot of folks, that's the first challenge to conquer.
Upworthy was really designed to try to tackle that piece -- to draw attention to topics that really matter on a mass level, and help it win out against the empty information calories.
And of course, we do have a point of view -- we felt like being honest about that was important to be able to connect with a large audience. But I'd like to think that there are a lot of important civic issues that don't fit neatly on a left-right spectrum. Our biggest pieces of content are about bullying and the way the media treats women, which lots of folks all across the political spectrum are concerned about.
PJ: Right. And that mission statement makes sense to me.
I guess I will say that the Upworthy story that made me start thinking about this was a story linking to a video where an actor posing as an Islamaphobe hung out at convenience store and yelled hateful stuff. Eventually, heroic strangers confronted him. It was sort of Candid Camera: Social Justice edition.
A lot of people on my various social networks shared it. In fact, they loved it. And it's not like I disagree with the message of a video like that. But to me, that sort of content feels sort of silly and manipulative. Of course most of us are against Islamaphobia. What's the point of sharing a video reminding us that we're on that page? As content, it seems kind of empty. And even from an activism perspective, I don't quite get what it does.
I feel like when I read Upworthy, a good chunk of the headlines are telling me that a piece of content, often a video, is going to enrage me, or break my heart. Maybe it's the journalist in me, but there's something rankling about that. I might also just be a curmudgeon.
ELI: Yeah. No question that that video isn't great journalism, in the classical sense of the word. We've been careful to say we're not doing journalism. (We love journalism, though! Many of our best friends are journalists!)
Part of the reason we started the site, though, was that we've seen a *LOT* of amazing journalistic coups over the years that never actually go anywhere. Great news institutions put huge amounts of money, time, and resources into getting the scoops and crafting the prose. And then they hit publish and the piece just, like... sat there. Or it got 10,000 hits.
So our starting point, which definitely rubs a lot of folks from more traditional editorial culture the wrong way, is -- if a lot of people aren't paying attention, it really doesn't matter if you crafted the perfect story.
We also err on the side of emotional story-telling rather than rattling off facts and figures, because we think that's what usually sticks with people. (Great journalism, I think, does that too, but standard journalism often doesn't.)
In the best moments, we're able to bring all of those things together. The top thing this month may well be this piece we published yesterday: http://www.upworthy.com/his-first-4-sentences-are-interesting-the-5th-blew-my-mind-and-made-me-a-little-sick-2?c=fea
It's 5 minutes of dense healthcare statistics, but it's emotionally compelling and interesting and a couple of million people will probably see it when all's said and done. I'm proud of that.
PJ: Yeah. As a sidenote, John Green is a brilliant superhuman who was probably made in a lab somewhere.
I guess my worry is that, beyond the John Green exception, it's really hard to make anything complicated go viral. So you end up with more emotional appeals and less like, Pro Publica pieces. Which maybe is fine! Like you said, it's not Upworthy's job to spotlight long thinkpieces.
I guess the other thing I'm curious about, and this is a genuine question, not a critique disguised as a question, is how much this translates into action.
You guys are doing a series with the AFL-CIO right now. Is there some conversion rate where, 1 million views equals X amount of people who sign up for a mailing list? Or Y amount of people who attend a rally?
ELI: Well, that's a little above our pay grade. (Is that how you use that phrase? I'm never sure.) Upworthy's goal is to draw massive amounts of attention to worthy topics -- like, in this case, the American middle class. We're not an advocacy group, so we're not trying to translate that into legislative reforms or whatever.
To go back to the conversation about journalism: We're trying to accomplish some Dewey-esque journalistic goals -- helping people pay attention to and understand the big things that are going on in our society -- through non-journalistic means. And the hope is that if that bar is met, that people will get together and do the right thing. But we focus on the first part of that equation.
One other thing I'll add here: I'm not convinced that "news" as it's traditionally construed actually does a tremendously good job of this. It's super-focused on stuff that's new, over stuff that's important
So you get daily coverage of various court cases, but very little coverage of, say, climate change or poverty or global health, which are clearly more important in the scheme of things. Hopefully if we're really successful we can help shift that balance a little bit.
PJ: Yeah. I very much agree as far as a lot of news reporting.
It's weird. Talking to you, I feel completely convinced that what Upworthy is doing makes a lot of sense, and that I am very silly to be agitated by it. And then, I'll quietly tab over to the site itself, hit refresh, and be like, no! It's the tone! The tone still bothers you, Vogt! Do not be seduced by Eli Pariser's soothsaying.
I know that's not a question. I guess the last thing I'm curious about -- you said up top that the thinking behind these emotional appeals is that it's the way to get people to focus on and share a story. Uh, is there some other way? Or is this just what works and I need to grow up and get used to the internet / human nature / social network psychology?
ELI: Haha. I know it doesn't suit everyone. But I'd just so much rather be on the side of trying to make important stuff seem more fun and interesting -- and maybe be a little over the top tone-wise -- than the kind of Officially Boring headline-writing that mostly convinces people to skip over it entirely. Just think how many fewer people would watch that awesome John Green video if it was titled, like, U.S. Healthcare Costs In Context: A Report.
I do think this is one of the blessings and curses of social media. To fit in, you have to sound like a person, not an institution. And people can be so much more annoying than institutions. And also so much more interesting. I think that's the trade-off.
PJ: If this were a radio interview, this is where I would say, "Thanks, that's a really great last thought." Really, thank you for doing this.
ELI: Sounds great. Thanks for engaging here. I'm a big OTM fan.
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Comments [13]
Another good idea by a young, naive, enterpreneur who thinks he's changing the world, but in reality is supporting tyranical industrialists by degrading family and traditional values in favour of socialist progressive movements that lead to totalitarian laws of anti-hate, anti-speech, anti-freedoms. Pity such a good ideas was in the wrong hands. What it should be used for is supporting freedom of speech, freedom of dissent, freedom of association, family values and anti-UN totalitarian agendas. Everything on Upworthy plays into the hands of the big bankers whose aim is to bankrupt the US, move wealth and industry to sub-sahara and control it all from Europe.
Mar. 25 2014 07:46 AM
After subscribing for months, I finally unsubscribed, primarily because nearly 90% of the content seemed to be: "Here's a LGBT person being treated badly; isn't that terrible?"
Well, yes, of course it is, and casting a light on things like that is generally a good thing.
But when the site's content became *only* that, week after week after month after month, it transforms the site into either a treating-LGBT-badly-is-normal kind of message and/or a pity-party. Both of which are ultimately unproductive and unhelpful.
Feeling bad about bad things is not the only possible emotional response to the world; it's not even a particularly good one. "Doing good" is better than "feeling bad," and I thought Upworthy would have gotten that. But they don't, which is especially disappointing because that's their (claimed) raison d'etre. Good on paper; poor execution.
So, even when the choir doesn't appreciate your singing, because every note is sour, you know you're in trouble.
Nov. 13 2013 03:39 PM
Ophiuchus from San Francisco
Yeah, I still think Upworthy is super-annoying, from the name to the concept to the execution.
And to the people who are so hurt that PJ dissed San Francisco: you do realize that reaction PROVES PJ'S POINT about smug self-congratulatory insularity, right?
Counter-insulting Brooklyn=the proper tactic. Refusing to read an article because someone said a thing about where you live=really?
Nov. 13 2013 11:31 AM
Tom from Michigan
P.J., a "soothsaying" means foretelling the future. Do you really mean to suggest Eli Pariser does that?
Oct. 18 2013 11:43 PM
Bob_Jacobson from Tucson, AZ & Malmô, Sweden
I am amazed that Upworthy considers itself left or progressive, the two claims that got me to subscribe initially. It's very bourgeois in its approach to lifestyle and culture, and treacly when it comes to politics. I unsubscribed in Week Two. Just couldn't abide the cute-cats-in-print approach to serious issues.
PS Funny, "NYC" is the epithet that comes to mind when I want to be despicably degrading.
Sep. 23 2013 01:25 AM
Javier Ruiz from San Francisco
"If you build like-minded people a safe place to agree with each other, they will come. (see also, San Francisco.)" - comment written from a Chipotle-greased MacBook keyboard in Brooklyn. How did you write this and your head not explode in a blinding flash of cognitive dissonance? Save your lazy, hackneyed critique for your own stereotypical bubble, bro.
Sep. 20 2013 06:24 PM
Dave Newton from Yakima, WA
Thanks, PJ, for bending over backward to be fair. It's better treatment than the bubble editors are likely to give those they disagree with. Bending is uncomfortable but necessary if we're ever to break through the mighty barriers between us and our ideological-opposite fellow citizens.
Sep. 20 2013 10:07 AM
Micah Abrams
I agree with everything said here but maintain that all of these reasons to be annoyed by Upworthy are trumped by the larger annoying reason: A company that rewrites headlines is valued at tens of millions of dollars more than the companies that create the content being headlined.
Sep. 20 2013 09:24 AM
Eric Goebelbecker from Maywood, NJ
You've managed to write several words about Upworthy this week without using the word "patronizing."
Sep. 19 2013 10:17 PM
Buzzfeed link-bait vs. Upworthy link-bait.
With Buzzfeed, I'm fully aware that I'm reaching for candy I don't need.
With Upworthy, I feel like I'm being tricked into eating a "healthy snack" I don't want.
Sep. 19 2013 05:43 PM
Ariock Knight from Oakland, CA
"I compared it to San Francisco, which is the deepest epithet in my epithet bullpen."
This was the point where I just scrolled past the entire rest of whatever this was supposed to be because you're an a-hole.
Sep. 19 2013 03:56 PM
Stick to your guns, PJ – there’s much not to like about Upworthy. It’s indiscriminately searching out left-leaning content, slapping a flirty “click me” header on it, and hoping it goes viral. The Buzzfeed impulse is trumping the Bill Moyers impulse. As a result the content may be reaching more and more people who already agree with its point of view, but it’s going to convince nary a soul to change his mind on a significant issue. The convenience-store clip is a classic example, and even fast-talking John Green is unlikely to have any real impact. (While liberals are closing their eyes and saying “Wash over me, John, with your waves of facts that support my point of view,” skeptics will give his rapid-fire delivery the same credence they would to a carnival barker’s pitch.)
You question Eli about the low-quality content, and he skirts the issue by saying “we’re not journalists.” No, but what they are in effect is publishers (or republishers). They don’t preface their pieces by saying “the views expressed are not necessarily those of Upworthy.” Just the opposite. When they feature a story, that story serves to define their identity, and their credibility.
Spoon-feeding liberal media to liberals may seem harmless enough, but by setting a low bar for the quality of its content, Upworthy does a disservice to the causes it believes in. The more it perpetuates its brand identity as Buzzfeed for lefties, the more it turns into a shorthand way for opponents to dismiss liberal ideas. (“You’re not going to believe something you saw on Upworthy, are you?”) It’s similar to the effect that Michael Moore has had by applying his love of clownish, attention-getting gestures to complex and contentious issues. You don’t sway the opposition by insulting its intelligence.
The new infusion of financing doesn’t help Upworthy’s credibility. Investors aren’t measuring success in votes cast or minds swayed. What matters is links clicked, and that need for traffic is just going to push the bar for quality lower and lower.
Sep. 19 2013 03:24 PM
Linda Moskowitz
You missed mentioning the two biggest problems with Upworthy. The first is the constant pop-up every time you go to the site. I certainly understand UW is looking to increase saturation, but it actually annoys more than engage. Secondly, the lack of writing along with most of their content. It's lazy to just aggregate content without some sort of introduction or analysis of it. This is particularly annoying when they provide videos. A little bit of information about the content goes a long way.
As for opinion reinforcement, you're making the assumption that people who like to read websites that reinforce their beliefs aren't also reading neutral or opposing media as well. I can watch "The Newsroom" and know that the subtler nuances of a political point are missing.
Incidentally, I would have used an internet pseudonym, but Bob Garfield shamed me out of it on last week's show. Now I'll forever be googleable for my viewpoints on Upworthy. Thanks, Bob.
Sep. 19 2013 12:15 PM
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Offbeat: Addicted to weirdos
Non-Smoker with Thin body type
North vancouver, British Columbia
Caucasian, Virgo
Offbeat is looking for a relationship.
Some University
Student (UBC)
Moose hat
I am Seeking a Woman For Long Term
Needs Test Not Completed Chemistry View his chemistry results
Marital Status Single Do you do drugs? No
Hair Color Black Eye Color Other
Longest Relationship Over 2 years
Pets No Pets
About Me
I am a stranger in a strange land, to rip off Heinlein. I am constantly elated and/or frustrated by people, and I don't see this changing. I have a career that I am pursuing, a job, and soon a car, but I am still kind of lost. I am not the alpha type with all his ducks in a row, even though my ducks are actually lining up nicely. I think a lot about things, everything, and am sensitive while sometimes still coming off as arrogant. Sometimes I am arrogant.
I rewrote this profile because the earlier one was too slick, too polished, too un-me. I talk a lot and run a lot as a result. I am often found to be insufferably funny. I am sometimes unbearably cruel. I am stupidly loyal and good to those few I love, and offhandedly manipulative and charismatic to those I merely like. I don't hate anyone.
I love art, music, and literature. The only time I ever cry is for those things, or when a son loses a father. I hate the idea of men crying. I don't hate people but I hate concepts and abstractions. I hate Modern Art, and if I were to hate anyone, it would be Andy Warhol. I often violate my own absolutes. I hate Andy Warhol. I often chairdance to music videos, and I engage total strangers in conversation on the bus. I once gave a meth addict tic tacs because methamphetamines make your breath smell bad - probably from the rotting teeth. His breath smelled like it could eat through a bank vault. The tic tacs didn't help, even when I gave him the whole pack.
I am looking for a girl who is kind. Kind, and gentle, and strong and fierce, and lots of other things that can't coexist but do anyways. I don't care what you look like, because my desire is fueled by character, not breasts. I do like breasts though, but not in a crass way. Half crass. Two-thirds, tops.
I seem to attract unusual people, which is good. The usual don't interest me much. They don't see through me. I am very evasive and eloquent. I am also very humble. I am probably smarter than you. I hope that isn't the case. My desire is also guided by big brains, because brains are sexy as all get out. I sometimes use archaic words/phrases because I love language and don't want any part of it to die or be forgotten. If I had my way, nothing would die, ever. It wouldn't get too crowded because the Universe is actually increasing in its expansion rate. Edwin Hubble discovered that. I sometimes read Wikipedia for hours when I can't sleep. Sperm whales are the largest of the toothed whales, and can dive to depths of over 2 miles down. When a sperm whale dies, an entire ecosystem forms around its corpse. Hundreds of animals living for years off of the whale's corpse. Is it morbid to think that cool? I think that is pretty ****ing cool.
First Date
I am a big fan of the unplanned-downtown-wandering-adventure-date. Exploring book stores, spotting celebrity look-a-likes, inventing tales of romance and adventure between unsuspecting tourists, these are a few of my favorite things. However meeting for coffee or a movie is always good too (even though I don't drink coffee).
Update: My new idea for an adventure is making sandwiches and giving them to homeless people in exchange for their life's story. I have always wanted to hear their tales, and would love to have someone along for the ride.
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Pr Ntr Kmt Pharaoh Khufu
Pharaoh Khufu
Khufu was the second Pharaoh of the fourth (4th) Dynasty. The Greeks called him Cheops.
4th dynasty 2589 - 2566 B.C.E., son of Pharaoh Sneferu and Queen Hetepheres, father of Djedefra (his successor), Khafra, other sons, and daughter Queen Hetepheres II
See list of Pharaohs.
picture courtesy of
John Moore’s the Ancient Egyptians were Black
hieroglyph cartouche for Khufu
Khufu (pronounced kew-foo), called Cheops (pronounced key-ops) by the Greek, was the second pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty, ruled for 23 years, and was the builder of the first of the Great Pyramids of Giza (the only Seven Wonders of the Ancient World that is still standing).
The Turin Papyrus states that Khufu came to power in his twenties and was remembered in folk history as cruel and ruthless. Manetho claims Khufu ruled for 65 years, while Herodotus claimed that Khufu ruled for 50 years. The funerary cult for Khufu lasted until the 26th Dynasty, the last native Egyptian royal dynasty (almost, 2,000 years after his death).
Only one miniature statuette of Khufu has survived to modern times (pictured above).
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On the beaches of Mexico starfish are washed and left on the sand by the tide
When the tide goes away and the sun keeps on burning the starfish are left there to die
On a beach there in Mexico a young girl is walking she's usually walking alone she bends and pick up a starfish she sees there and into the sea it is thrown
On a beach there in mexico a young girl is walking one day she's not walking alone an old man who see her throwing the starfish and there something that he wants to know
He says" Hey little girl don't you know there are hundreds of beaches in all Mexico and thousands of starfish wash up on each one. Nothing at all can be done.Nothing at all can be done."
The young girl continues to pick up the starfish and throw them back into the waves the old man says" Silly girl you're making no difference there too many starfish to save"
The young girl just looks the old man in the eye and stares past the waves to the sun. as she trows another starfish back into the sea she says" A difference was made to that one."
Commentthis is my favorite song
CategorySolemn Songs
Song ContributorAshley Bankhead
Date Entered05-Aug-2006
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Boiler Room Safety
Large industrial and commercial facilities often have dedicated boiler rooms that house boilers, water pumps, heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment, and other mechanical equipment required to run a facility. The heated water or fluid used in boilers can be used in a variety of processes or heating applications, including central heating and local power generation. As boilers have been modernized to burn natural gas or a combination of fuels that are less expensive and more flexible than coal and oil, there are significant risks of leaks occurring in the gas plumbing and from the burners at the front of a boiler. Such combustible gas leaks create the hazardous condition of a potential explosion. An additional risk is the production and leakage of Carbon Monoxide (CO), an odorless, colorless and toxic gas that results from incomplete combustion, which occurs when there is not enough oxygen mixed with the fuel. All improperly ventilated or malfunctioning boilers have the potential to produce CO in varying concentrations. Consequently, the building facility manager must ensure that the boiler room is instrumented with a comprehensive gas detection, alarm, and mitigation system to protect the facility and its personnel.
Gas Detection
Hazardous gases found in boiler rooms include:
• Combustible Gases such as Methane
• Carbon Monoxide
Combustible gas leaks rapidly disperse throughout a boiler room, creating a hazard for any worker, who can act as an ignition source, by walking into the room. Fixed point combustible gas sensor modules are used to monitor boiler fronts and associated natural gas supply lines. The gas sensor modules are connected to controllers that provide relays to enable activation of visual and audible alarms for warning conditions and for boiler shutdown at emergency levels. Typical set points are 40% lower explosion limit (LEL) for warning and 60% LEL for emergency.
In addition, fixed point toxic gas sensors are used to monitor for CO leaks in boiler rooms. If not detected, the buildup of CO can pose a threat to any worker walking into the room. The sensor modules can be connected to the same controllers used for combustible gas, creating a complete hazard detection system.
Personal gas monitors are generally not appropriate for boiler room applications because they cannot detect buildup of combustible and toxic gases in a non-occupied area.
Automation and Integration Strategies
A gas detection system usually incorporates a controller that can drive various alarming devices such as strobes and horns to indicate hazard. However, as boiler rooms tend to not be accessed frequently, facility managers often need a remote monitoring solution as well. It is common for facility managers to connect the boilers to the central Building Automation System (BAS) so they can monitor the functioning and efficiency of the boilers remotely. But it is also necessary to integrate the gas detection system in the boiler room with the BAS so that the alarms can be displayed within the central facility management console and can be acted upon as part of a facility-wide control strategy.
Codes and Regulations
Various national and international codes pertain to the safe manufacturing and placement of boilers. In the United States, manufactured boilers and the rooms in which they reside are designed to comply with one or more of the codes written by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). Other approval bodies, such as the Underwriters Laboratories (UL), National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), and International Code Council (ICC), could also be a regulating body.
Major codes governing boiler rooms include:
Products for Boiler Room Safety
Boiler rooms require a gas and fire detection system that includes gas and fire detection modules, a method to communicate to a controller, an ability to collect large amounts of data for subsequent analysis and flexible alarm handling with a method for communicating data to higher-level systems.
Gas Detectors
Fire Detectors
Fire and Gas Detection Controllers
Unlike most fire and gas vendors, we also include our leading FieldServer multi-protocol gateways within our controller to connect our Sentry IT system to the facility’s local BAS, and to the cloud for remote monitoring, control, and big data analytics.
FieldServer Gateways
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Member Since 09 Aug 2009
Offline Last Active Jan 23 2010 01:38 PM
Posts I've Made
In Topic: Vancouver Olympics
20 August 2009 - 02:09 PM
^Thats not memorable. Thats just poor hygeine.
That's why not many people can do it. But I can, congratz to me.
In Topic: Vancouver Olympics
16 August 2009 - 05:23 PM
Well, I don't watch the Olympics, cause they're dumb. I thought they were all in Vancouver. 'cause they're dumb.
You just sad because anyone who competes in the Olympic games has already achieved more than you ever will. :(
I haven't changed my underpants in three weeks, and I just went wake boarding without changing into a swimsuit, so now I'm going on four weeks and they're soaking wet, but I still haven't removed them.
Tell me half the 'Olympians' have accomplished that.
No, but seriously, if you feel so strongly about your derogatory (and what I found hurtful) accusation, then you can explain to me the point of watching other people achieve instead of doing something memorable myself?
In Topic: Flagraiders' paint.
16 August 2009 - 05:14 PM
Yah, it's bull, we've acknowledged that. Lets move on, or figure out how to smite them for it.
In Topic: Flagraiders' paint.
14 August 2009 - 02:41 PM
Exactly, it's (for the most part) a dumb rule.
In Topic: Vancouver Olympics
14 August 2009 - 02:40 PM
I'm just saying that, yes, tug of war is difficult, but not a sport. There is no team coordination, it's a one-track-mind objective. GOLF, doesn't even have teams, unless you consider the caddy, who is more of a slave.
I've heard a lot of people saying that Paintball will never get into the Olympics simply because it's not a sport, it's damn well more than a sport than Tug-Of-War.
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Feb 23, 2010 (09:02 AM EST)
In-Home Telemedicine Study Launched
Read the Original Article at InformationWeek
1 2
Mayo Clinic, GE Healthcare, and Intel have launched a new initiative to study the care and cost benefits of home-based health monitoring for elderly patients with chronic illnesses.
During the year-long study, 200 high-risk patients over the age of 60 who suffer chronic conditions such as heart failure, diabetes, and lung disease will daily use at-home medical devices to take their vital signs, such as blood pressure, peak air flow, weight, or blood sugar readings.
The medical devices transmit the information to an Intel Health Guide remote patient monitoring system located in the patient's home. Depending on the particular medical device, data is transmitted to the Intel Health Guide system either via wired or wireless connection, such as Bluetooth. Then, the Intel system electronically transmits to Mayo the patient's vital sign data, as well as the patient's answers to several disease-specific questions asked via text or audio by the Intel system.
The Intel Health Guide system features a touchscreen for patients to easily answer the questions, which can be personalized by clinicians based on the individual's particular medical issues, said Ray Askew, Intel Health Guide marketing manager. Those inquiries could include things like asking a patient how many cups of water they've consumed that day or whether the individual is feeling better compared to the prior day.
The data is collected into a central Mayo database. Preset data "thresholds" determine whether a medical reading -- such as weight -- is within a normal range for that patient, said Dr. Gregory Hanson, a principal Mayo researcher in the study and a physician in Mayo's department of primary care internal medicine.
A team of Mayo clinicians, including nurse practitioners, accesses the patient data online for review via a dashboard. Color codes help clinicians recognize which of their patients are experiencing out-of-range vital sign readings.
"The system red-flags problems, "said Hanson. Yellow codes mean a patient hasn't provided data yet for the day, and green means a patient's readings looks within normal range.
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Winds needn't be your biggest problem if you learn how to tame them
Wind brings the weather. As I write, a northerly is slicing through the garden, hustling through the cracks and gaps (plenty of those) in the house. It's a sunny day and I'm at my desk in two shirts, a cashmere jersey and a fleece. If it wasn't for that nagging, rushing shake-down of the branches snagged by the wind I would think I was ill. Mercifully, the north winds are almost as rare for us as the bitter easterlies that we occasionally get in spring. On this west side of England our prevailing wind is a wet and warm westerly. Southern winds bring dry weather and the stench of concentrated turkey shit from the poultry factory at the end of the lane.
Wind is usually the biggest single influence on how a garden grows. One of the first things you should do when you take over a garden is to map the wind; not on paper, but in your head. Get to know exactly what the relationship is between your plot of ground and the prevailing winds. The shape of the wind is as important as its direction and strength. It can come in so many forms.
A wind flowing as straight as an arrow will tumble over walls and fences, crushing and flattening plants like a boisterous wave. A mild breeze can be funnelled down alleys and the gaps between houses and in the process become a rapier, bayonetting a few choice (and usually slightly tender) plants. We have all seen the wind pick up a pile of leaves and swirl them around like a spoon in a cup of tea. Wind bounces and rebounds off solid surfaces like a ball, hitting crazy angles and causing wierdly unguessable microclimates. What often surprises people is the damage that wind causes at the base of a wall because the force is directed down just as strongly as it is pushed up over the top.
I guess that wind is the gardener's biggest problem. I was about to write 'enemy', but it does have its virtues. A south wind is wonderfully effective at drying up soggy ground and a north or east wind scours the garden like a dose of salts. Not pleasant, but the garden comes out from it generally healthier. And the rare times when there is no wind at all are fine for a day if it is sunny, but then the air gets as stagnant and rank as a scummy pond. If there is no real wind then fungal diseases proliferate and air pollutants linger. Good ventilation is essential for plants, especially woody trees and shrubs such as apples and roses, and half of all pruning is to establish a good airflow through the branches. But to make that effective you need flowing air.
So what does wind do? We all think that it makes cold weather feel colder. But there are times when the lack of wind is disastrous to the gardener for precisely the opposite reason. If your garden is on a slope with a building or wall at the bottom, cold air will flow down the hill, meet the wall and eddy back up - exactly like water. Wind would help disperse that cold air and stop it collecting at the bottom of the slope. If your garden is at the bottom of a slope or in a natural basin then it is essential to design your shelter to let the wind in where you want it, to flow through and get out again.
Wind cools the air around plants as they grow, and in spring will often be sufficient to drop an otherwise mild day below the critical growing point of 6°C. In the past few years we have had weeks of just this situation, where the entire garden is locked in stasis by the dry wind. The lop-sided effect of wind-exposed trees is caused by the wind slowing the growth dramatically on the exposed side, while at the same time being absorbed so that the sheltered side grows normally.
We think of wind damage being a physical assault and conjure up images of cliff-top trees sliced diagonally by the wind, but by far the biggest problem from wind is its drying effect. Leaves dry exactly like a row of shirts on a washing line, and the stronger the wind the more plants dry out. Evergreens are particularly vulnerable to damage from wind in winter because they are constantly transpiring and losing water.
If there is a cold, dry wind blowing that water will not be replaced, and it is not uncommon for otherwise quite hardy plants, like box or holly, to die of winter drought, especially on roof gardens. This can happen very rapidly if the soil that they are in is frozen, as the roots will not be able to absorb any water at all. One of the best solutions in very cold dry weather is to spray the plants with water, which then freezes and forms a protective film around the leaves.
Wind also causes physical damage. Branches get broken and trees ripped up by the roots and hurled over. But even in violent storms the wind can be diffused, although I remember visiting some plantations after the storm of 1987 and all the exterior rank of trees remained standing while the interior ones - which they had been protecting -were flattened. This was because the outside ones had grown exposed to the wind and had developed stronger roots as a result. The moral of the story is to plant trees small and only stake them for the first year or two so that they can gradually develop their own wind-resistance. Wind will cause 'root rock' in young shrubs and herbaceous perennials if they are exposed or not planted firmly.
There is nothing that you can do about the wind itself, but if you know exactly how it behaves as it passes you and your garden then you can start to protect the site and, where it is unprotectable, adjust your planting so that you are not exposing the garden unnecessarily. A filter is much more effective than a solid barrier. The latter, by the way, is effective if your garden is on the leeward side of the wind, but only provides a shelter zone reaching a distance roughly twice the height of the wall. Beyond that the wind often comes down harder than ever.
The best and most usual filter is a hedge. An evergreen one is more solid but a thick deciduous one is often most effective of all in filtering the wind, absorbing and gently diluting its force. In a large garden, hedged divisions will create a web of barriers so that there are pockets of very protected areas within a larger, generally protected space. Hedges don't have to be tall - a low box, lavendar or santolina hedge will make a real difference to a herb garden, for instance.
Shrubs and trees are also very effective. When we moved into this site I planted a double row of fast growing poplars as a wind break and have just cut them down now that there job of protecting other plants is done. Best of all is a double-baffle of a line of trees with a belt of shrubs inside them. Wind breaks do not need to be permanent. Jerusalem artichokes or runner beans can be used to great effect at the edge of a veg garden during the growing season. I have seen wheat used in a garden as a temporary windbreak. I don't know how effective it was, but it looked great.
I have found that woven hurdles make the best temporary shelter, especially along a newly planted hedge. Hazel ones are best but willow are a reasonable substitute. Trellis also works well, especially if the spaces are small. Even more temporary is netting, but very effective.
The beneficial value of a windbreak can at times be outweighed by the shade that it casts. Tall trees and huge hedges around a small garden will cut out as much light as they do wind. Any barrier will create a lot of shade to its north, quite a lot to its east and some to the west. Any barrier will create more shade in every direction in winter than in summer. Common sense rules.
Plants for exposed gardens
No plant likes wind, but some are much better able to endure it than others. A good guide to the durability of a plant in wind is the thickness of its leaves. If they are very small, or spiny or waxy they will be much tougher. The following are good to absorb the wind and to protect less robust plants:
Trees Leyland cypress, holly, alder, willow, hawthorne, mountain ash
Hedges Hawthorne, hornbeam, leyland cypress (if you must) beech, thuya plicata holly
Shrubs Escallonia, rosa rugosa , berberis, elder such as sambucus 'Black Beauty'
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Recipe: Quick Weeknight Pasta with Hearty Tomato Sauce
Weeknight Dinner Recipes from The Kitchn
This is one of the first dishes I ever learned to make on my own. It was also the first that I stopped needing a recipe to cook, and the first that actually received compliments from my dinner companions. And it's still one of my standby recipes! This simple tomato sauce hits all the requirements for a weeknight dinner: easy, versatile, and ready in about thirty minutes. Oh, and lick-the-pot good.
If you're just getting into cooking, this is a great recipe for learning some basics. You chop vegetables. You sauté and simmer. Timing isn't terribly important, but the results are consistent. You can try out different vegetables in the sauce and play around with the spices in your cupboard to see how they work together.
Speaking of spices, I really like the flavor of smoked paprika in this dish. But that's me. I've also been known to throw in a teaspoon of chili powder for a Southwestern spin. Which is maybe a little weird, but I think it's tasty all the same. If you'd rather stick with traditional flavors, go with some Italian seasonings like oregano and basil.
Quick Weeknight Tomato Sauce with Pasta
Serves 4-6
2 links chicken sausage, diced (or other leftover meat)
1 large onion, diced
1 12-oz jar roasted peppers, drained and diced
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
1 whole star anise
1 bay leaf
1 28-oz can diced tomatoes
1 pound pasta
a splash of balsamic vinegar
Heat a teaspoon of olive oil in a large skillet or dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the sausage and cook until the sides are seared and the sausage is warmed through. Transfer the sausage to a bowl.
Add the onions and 1/2 teaspoon of salt to the pan and reduce the heat to medium. Cook until they are softened and beginning to turn brown. Add the peppers and cook to evaporate the liquid from the peppers. Clear a space in the middle of the pan and sauté the garlic until it becomes fragrant, 30 seconds. Stir it into the vegetables along with the paprika, the star anise, and the bay leaf.
Add the sausage back into the pan. Pour the tomatoes and all their juices into the pan and bring to a simmer. Mash the tomatoes with the back of your spoon for a saucier sauce, or leave as they are for a chunky one. When the sauce comes to a simmer, reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for 10-20 minutes as time allows.
While the sauce simmers, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook the pasta with a generous tablespoon of salt until al dente. Strain.
Add a splash of balsamic vinegar to the sauce and give it a taste. Add more salt or other seasonings as needed. If it tastes bitter, a tablespoon of brown sugar helps balance it out. Remove the star anise and bay leaf before serving.
Leftovers will keep refrigerated for one week.
Related: Make or Buy? Tomato Sauce
(Images: Emma Christensen)
(Image credits: Emma Christensen)
6 g (9.2%)
1.3 g (6.4%)
0 g
102.2 g (34.1%)
8.2 g (33%)
11.6 g
21.3 g (42.6%)
21.6 mg (7.2%)
221.8 mg (9.2%)
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Quality-in-Reporting Check
MSNBC, which apparently adheres to the “repeat what one side says, then repeat what the other side says” model of journalism, is running a story on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’s appearance before the Senate Intelligence Committee today. In it is this gem:
News accounts have suggested the program vacuums up vast amounts of communications and sifts through them for possible links to terrorists. Gen. Michael Hayden, the nation’s No. 2 intelligence official, rejected that, saying on Sunday that the NSA first establishes a reason for being interested in the calls or e-mails.
“This isn’t a drift net over Lackawanna (N.Y.) or Fremont (Calif.) or Dearborn (Mich.), grabbing all communications and then sifting them out,” Hayden said of three U.S. cities with sizable Muslim populations.
There are two problems with this passage. First, the news reports haven’t suggested that the program involves scanning large volumes of communications, they’ve explicitly stated it. Second, the passage is terribly uncritical of the General’s statement. For a sampling of what good reporting looks like, turn to the Christian Science Monitor:
On Jan. 23, former NSA director Gen. Michael Hayden, in an appearance at the National Press Club, said that the program “is not a drift net over Dearborn or Lackawanna or Fremont, grabbing conversations that we then sort out by these alleged keyword searches or data-mining tools.”
But it’s possible that General Hayden has just chosen his words carefully, some experts say. Given the NSA’s massive size, and the dire nature of the terrorist threat, it would be surprising if the agency had not tried to develop cutting-edge techniques that old gumshoes might not recognize.
NSA has had the ability to do automatic speech and voice recognition for at least a decade, says John Pike of GlobalSecurity.org. It may have the technical capability to essentially monitor all electronic communications crossing US borders.
The key here may be what Hayden meant when he said “grabbing conversations.” Having phone and e-mail traffic flow though NSA computers may be one thing. A computer identifying something that might be important, such as a combination of phrases that could indicate a sleeper cell communication, and pulling it out, is another.
The difference is obvious– The Christian Science Monitor, instead of reading into the General’s words and assuming them to be a flat denial, took the General for what he said and considered how his words might be intentionally misleading. It’s not unlikely that the General is simply repeating a phrase that is carefully crafted to be literally true but highly misleading. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time this has happened.
Comments are closed.
Economics, Energy, and the Environment.
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This has been an incredible year for JFrog and Artifactory that is wrapped-up with winning the DUKE at JavaOne and this new release.
What's New in this Release:
This major release of Artifactory introduces the following new features and changes:
1. YUM Repositories and RPM Provisioning - Artifactory can now act as a fully-featured YUM repository, including auto-updating repo metadata and RPM detailed view directly from the Artifactory UI.
2. P2 Repositories - Artifactory can be your single access point for all Eclipse® updates. Eclipse plugins proxying and hosting take advantage of Artifactory's exiting advanced caching and security controls.
3. Major Performance Improvements - in storage management, CPU and memory utilization and search speeds
4. Security is Fully Manageable via REST API
5. User Regexp Tokens in Repository Layouts - You can now add your own custom regexp-based tokens to repository layout definitions for better module identification.
6. New additions to the Artifactory Public API for User Plugins (move, copy, search, not downloaded since, etc.)
7. Usability improvements and many bug fixes
Read more about Artifactory 2.4 release at JFrog's wiki - release announcement
Enjoy Your Build, Enjoy Artifactory!
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Meet Jackie Evancho, Opera-Singing Sensation, 10
YouTube singing sensation amazes audience on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent”
A 10-year-old YouTube singing sensation amazed the audience on NBC's "America's Got Talent" Tuesday night.
Jackie Evancho, who hails from the Pittsburgh area, sang the Puccini aria "O Mio Babbino Caro" to overwhelming applause and the judges' universal praise.
Evancho was chosen by YouTube viewers to compete on the show.
If she advances to the next round, she will join 23 other semifinalists competing for $1 million and a Las Vegas recording contract.
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People vs. Dr. Conrad Murray
Opening Statements
9/27/2011 9:30 AM PDT BY TMZ STAFF
David Walgren -- Prosecutor's Opening Statement
Updated 9/27/11 at 9:35 AM
Prosecutor David Walgren delivered an opening statement, using a graphic of what appears to be Michael Jackson's body on a gurney.
* Michael Jackson trusted his life to the medical skills of Dr. Murray and it was "misplaced trust"
* The cause of death was an overdose of Propofol, administered by Dr. Murray
* We will prove Conrad Murray repeatedly acted with gross negligence and incompetence
* Walgren explained that Murray would obtain $150,000 a month, not the $5 million Murray demanded for the duration of the "This is It" tour.
* Murray made arrangements with a pharmacy to purchase very large quantities of Propofol on a regular basis
* Murray lied to the pharmacist by saying he had a clinic in Santa Monica when he did not
* On May 10, 2009, Murray made a voice recording on his iPhone ... the recording documents MJ highly under the influence of "unknown agents" with Murray sitting there. It shows Murray knew Michael's state and what he was doing to the singer
* In the weeks before MJ died, he was cold, shivering, rambling but Murray kept giving him Propofol, and Kenny Ortega will testify MJ was clearly not well
* A meeting was held at Michael's house on May 20, 2009, MJ died, with Kenny Ortega, Murray, MJ and others. Murray scolded Ortega for expressing concerns about his health, saying he was the doctor, adding, "Michael is physically and emotionally fine. I am the doctor."
* On the day MJ died, at 1 AM, MJ came home from rehearsal and Murray spent the night at the house -- as he did every night for the prior 2 1/2 months -- for the purpose of putting him to sleep with Propofol.
* Walgren acknowledged what TMZ has been reporting almost from the beginning ... that Michael died in his bed -- that he was clinically dead when paramedics arrived.
* Murray was texting and making phone calls while he sat by MJ. He made 8 phone calls, the last at 11:51 to a girlfriend, and that's when Murray realized there was an emergency.
* Murray calls bodyguard Alberto Alvarez and says Michael Jackson had a "bad reaction."
* Murray instructs Alvarez to essentially hide the evidence in a blue bag ... putting, among other things, the Propofol bottle that was hanging on the IV stand -- Walgren is implying that's the bottle that had the fatal dose
* 911 was called at 12:20. And, Walgren says, when paramedics arrived, MJ was dead
* Murray never told the EMTs he gave MJ Propofol, even though they asked what drugs Murray had administered
* Paramedics pronounced MJ dead, but Murray insisted he be transported to UCLA
* UCLA doctors asked Murray what drugs had he given MJ, but Murray never mentioned Propofol
* Two days after MJ's death, Murray met with LAPD detectives, and disclosed he was giving MJ nightly doses of Propofol everyday for more than 2 months to put him to sleep. This is the first time Murray fessed up.
* MJ told Murray at around 5 AM that he needed to sleep and they agreed Propofol was the answer. Murray said he gave MJ 25 milligrams of Propofol, but that would only put him to sleep for minutes. Prosecutors say much more Propofol was administered.
* Murray explained to cops he went to the bathroom to urinate, came back 2 minutes later to discover MJ wasn't breathing. Prosecutors says that is called "ABANDONMENT," leaving a patient unattended is medical abandonment.
* The prosecutor says Murray was on the phone for 45 minutes after giving MJ Propofol
* Conrad Murray acted with gross negligence and was not acting in MJ's best interests ... he was working for $150,000 a month.
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Andy Cohen and Jay Leno Andy Cohen and Jay Leno
Jay Leno is putting an end to rumors about a feud with David Letterman.
"We started out together, he still makes me laugh as much as anybody." Leno told Andy Cohen, a guest on his show. "Brilliant wordsmith, very funny guy."
9 TV shows on the bubble
During an appearance on The Tonight Show, Cohen asked Leno to play his favorite Watch What Happens: Live game, "Plead the Fifth," in which Cohen asks three questions and the guest must answer two. Leno's admission came when Cohen asked, "What is the misconception about you that irritates you the most?"
See how Leno answered Cohen's other two questions:
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Richard Dawkins encourages atheists to mock and ridicule Christians
Depending on the source, between 10,000 and 30,000 atheists and agnostics gathered on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., last Saturday in the rain to "unify, energize, and embolden secular people nationwide, while dispelling the negative opinions held by so much of American society," according to the organizer's website. Featured speakers at the Reason Rally included David Silverman, president of American Atheists; actor and "comedian" Bill Maher; magician/comedian Penn Jillette; and famous atheist (or agnostic, depending on the source) Richard Dawkins.
Rather than trashing religion, the Reason Rally was supposed to be a "positive experience" to celebrate "secular values" and motivate atheists to "become more active." While that might sound reasonable, if you listen to Dawkins's speech, you'd get a different impression.
Dawkins called on atheists and agnostics to "ridicule and show contempt" for the religious and their doctrines. The example he used was the Roman Catholic belief that the bread and wine of communion turns into the actual body and blood of Christ. He encouraged atheists to mock and ridicule the religious in public.
Although Protestants don't adhere to the doctrine of transubstantiation, we do believe in the virgin birth and that Christ rose from the dead, which atheists find equally mock-worthy. But it wouldn't occur to this Protestant to mock and ridicule Roman Catholics. We can reason together from Scripture the doctrine's veracity.
If Saturday's gathering was a rally for reason, why didn't Dawkins urge the crowd to reason with people of faith? His own words betray his contempt not just for Christians, but also for God. Isn't it telling how strongly the godless embrace godlessness? One wonders why Dawkins, an intelligent man, would promote scorn instead of discourse. Perhaps he's afraid of conviction.
Intelligent people should understand that faith and reason are not incompatible. Reason and revelation guide us. Christ made the bold assertion that He was the Son of God. We read about His miracles and His claim to forgive sin. We read about the Old Testament prophecies and their fulfillment in Christ. We read the credible testimony of witnesses and other evidence that point to the truth of Christ's claims. But beyond evidence, we acknowledge Christ as Savior through the Holy Spirit.
To the unbeliever, it all sounds absurd. Yet they have faith that a "mechanical, unplanned, unconscious," and undirected force resulted in complex creatures with the capability to ponder their existence. Dawkins and the atheists suppress the truth of God, and they do so in unrighteousness. The Bible tells us that God's invisible attributes are clearly seen and understood—His power and divine nature—and Dawkins and his fellow unbelievers are without excuse.
Like Dawkins, we once were unforgiven. In fact, I was downright hostile toward Christianity. But in his infinite mercy God forgave me and paid the penalty for my sins past, present, and future. God may yet forgive Dawkins, who turned 71 Monday, and many of the people who gathered in the rain to celebrate godlessness.
La Shawn Barber
La Shawn Barber
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Bar the doors?
The U.S. Supreme Court’s gay marriage decision may increase…
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Suggestions for Further Research
Breaux Act: History
Through my research I have become interested in many other topics and specific questions that would be valuable for me, other students, and the academic community to examine. Even though my project primarily focused on an aspect of coastal wetland loss in Louisiana I found myself asking questions that spanned both scientific and social science realms. Here are some of my suggestions for further research:
Political questions:
• What groups/individuals fought against/fought for the passing of the Breaux act?
• Are the funds for priority projects being properly distributed, historically Louisiana has not had the most reputable political structure, is corruption playing a part?
Science questions:
• Which aspect of coastal wetlands loss is the most important to address first? For example, are barrier islands the key to swift remediation? Is it more important to use funds to improve the quality of many areas, or should efforts focus on a single key ecosystem first?
• How temporary is the solution of dredging and depositing material? If this has to be done ever 2, 5, 10 years would it be more worthwhile to restore natural sedimentation processes?
Social questions:
• How many people, particularly in the Mississippi watershed realize this problem exists? How many are willing to do something about it, and what can we do to change that?
• By destroying barrier islands how at risk are the people of Louisiana? Do these people know the true danger of a catastrophic weather event? Do the large number of people who visit New Orleans every storm season have any idea that they are below sea level and are susceptible to massive storm surge?
Hrmmm, what now?
Task Force: Action
Case Studies: Funding at work
Who are we?
Further research
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Page protected with pending changes level 1
William Henry Harrison
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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For other people named William Henry Harrison, see William Henry Harrison (disambiguation).
William Henry Harrison
William Henry Harrison daguerreotype edit.jpg
A daguerreotype of Harrison
9th President of the United States
In office
March 4, 1841 – April 4, 1841
Vice President John Tyler
Preceded by Martin Van Buren
Succeeded by John Tyler
United States Minister to Colombia
In office
May 24, 1828 – September 26, 1829
Nominated by John Quincy Adams
Preceded by Beaufort Taylor Watt
Succeeded by Thomas Patrick Moore
United States Senator
from Ohio
In office
March 4, 1825 – May 20, 1828
Preceded by Ethan Allen Brown
Succeeded by Jacob Burnet
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Ohio's 1st district
In office
October 8, 1816 – March 3, 1819
Preceded by John McLean
Succeeded by Thomas Ross
Governor of the Indiana Territory
In office
January 10, 1801 – December 28, 1812
Appointed by John Adams
Preceded by Position established
Succeeded by Thomas Posey
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from the Northwest Territory's At-large district
In office
March 4, 1799 – May 14, 1800
Preceded by Constituency established
Succeeded by Paul Fearing
Secretary of the Northwest Territory
In office
June 28, 1798 – October 1, 1799
Preceded by Winthrop Sargent
Succeeded by Charles Byrd
Personal details
Born (1773-02-09)February 9, 1773
Charles City, Virginia Colony, British America
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Resting place Harrison Tomb State Memorial
North Bend, Ohio
Political party Whig
Spouse(s) Anna Symmes (m. 1795; his death 1841)
Children 10, including John Scott Harrison
Alma mater Hampden–Sydney College
University of Pennsylvania
Profession Military officer
Religion Episcopalian
Signature Cursive signature in ink
Military service
Allegiance United States
Years of service
• 1791–1798
• 1811
• 1812–1814
Rank Major general
Unit Legion of the United States
Commands Army of the Northwest
William Henry Harrison (February 9, 1773 – April 4, 1841) was the ninth President of the United States (1841), an American military officer and politician, and the last President born as a British subject. He was also the first president to die in office. He was 68 years, 23 days old when inaugurated, the oldest president to take office until Ronald Reagan in 1981. Harrison died on his 32nd day in office[a] of complications from pneumonia, serving the shortest tenure in United States presidential history. His death sparked a brief constitutional crisis, but its resolution left unsettled many questions following the presidential line of succession in regards to constitution up until the passage of the 25th Amendment in 1967. He was the grandfather of Benjamin Harrison, who was the 23rd President from 1889 to 1893.
Before election as president, Harrison served as the first territorial congressional delegate from the Northwest Territory, governor of the Indiana Territory, and later as a U.S. representative and senator from Ohio. He originally gained national fame for leading U.S. forces against American Indians at the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811,[1] where he earned the nickname "Tippecanoe" (or "Old Tippecanoe"). As a general in the subsequent War of 1812, his most notable action was in the Battle of the Thames in 1813, which brought an end to hostilities in his region. This battle resulted in the death of Tecumseh and the dissolution of the Indian coalition which he led.[2]
After the war, Harrison moved to Ohio, where he was elected to the United States House of Representatives. In 1824, the state legislature elected him to the U.S. Senate. He served a truncated term after being appointed as Minister Plenipotentiary to Colombia in May 1828. In Colombia, he spoke with Simón Bolívar, urging his nation to adopt American-style democracy.
Returning to his farm in Ohio, Harrison lived in relative retirement until he was nominated for the presidency in 1836. Defeated, he retired again to his farm. He was elected president in 1840, and died of pneumonia in April 1841, a month after taking office.
Early life[edit]
Early life and education[edit]
William Henry Harrison was born February 9, 1773, the youngest of Benjamin Harrison V and Elizabeth Bassett's seven children. They were a prominent political family who lived on Berkeley Plantation in Charles City County, Virginia, where he was born.[3] He was the last president born as a British subject before American Independence. His father was a planter and a delegate to the Continental Congress (1774–1777), who signed the Declaration of Independence. The senior Harrison was governor of Virginia between 1781 and 1784, during and after the American Revolutionary War.[4] William's older brother, Carter Bassett Harrison, was elected to the United States House of Representatives from Virginia.[3]
In 1787, at the age of 14, Harrison entered the Presbyterian Hampden–Sydney College.[5] He attended the school until 1790, becoming well-versed in Latin and basic French. He was removed by his Episcopalian father, possibly because of a religious revival occurring at the school. He briefly attended a boys' academy in Southampton County. He allegedly was influenced by antislavery Quakers and Methodists at the school.
Angered, his proslavery father had him transfer to Philadelphia for medical training, where Harrison boarded with Robert Morris. The young Harrison entered the University of Pennsylvania in 1790, where he studied medicine under Dr. Benjamin Rush.[6] As Harrison later told his biographer, he did not enjoy the subject. Shortly after Harrison started these studies, his father died in 1791, leaving him without funds for further schooling. Eighteen years old, Harrison was left in the guardianship of Morris.[7]
Early military career[edit]
Governor Henry Lee of Virginia, a friend of Harrison's father, learned of Harrison's situation after his father's death and persuaded him to join the army. Within 24 hours of meeting Lee, Harrison was commissioned as an ensign in the U.S. Army, 1st Infantry Regiment at the age of 18. He was first assigned to Cincinnati in the Northwest Territory, where the army was engaged in the ongoing Northwest Indian War.[8]
General "Mad Anthony" Wayne took command of the western army in 1792 following a disastrous defeat under its previous commander, Arthur St. Clair. Harrison was promoted to lieutenant that summer because of his strict attention to discipline, and the following year, he was promoted to serve as aide-de-camp. From Wayne, Harrison learned how to successfully command an army on the American frontier. Harrison participated in Wayne's decisive victory at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794, which brought the Northwest Indian War to a successful close for the United States.[9] After the war, Lieutenant Harrison was one of the signatories of the Treaty of Greenville in 1795, which forced cession of lands by Native Americans and opened much of present-day Ohio to settlement by European Americans.[3][10][11]
Marriage and family[edit]
In 1795 at the age of 22, Harrison met Anna Tuthill Symmes, of North Bend, Ohio. She was a daughter of Anna Tuthill and Judge John Cleves Symmes, a prominent figure in the state and former representative to the Congress of the Confederation.[3] When Harrison asked the judge for permission to marry Anna, he was refused. The pair waited until Symmes left on business, then they eloped and married on November 25, 1795.[13] They married at the North Bend home of Dr. Stephen Wood, Treasurer of the Northwest Territory. The couple honeymooned at Fort Washington, as Harrison was still on duty. Two weeks later, at a farewell dinner for General Wayne, Symmes confronted his new son-in-law for the first time since the wedding, sternly demanding to know how Harrison intended to support a family. Harrison responded, "by my sword, and my own right arm, sir."[14] Afterward, still concerned about Harrison's ability to provide for Anna, Symmes sold the young couple 160 acres (65 ha) of land in North Bend.[15] Symmes did not come to accept Harrison until he had achieved fame on the battlefield .
Together, the Harrisons had 10 children. Nine lived into adulthood and one died in infancy. Anna was frequently in poor health during the marriage, primarily due to her many pregnancies. She nonetheless outlived William by 23 years, dying at age 88 on February 25, 1864.[16]
In a biography of Walter Francis White, the noted African American civil rights leader and president of the NAACP in the mid-20th century, historian Kenneth Robert Janken notes that White's mother Madeline Harrison traced some of her mixed-race white ancestry to Harrison in Virginia. Her family holds that Dilsia, a female slave belonging to William Henry Harrison, had six children by him, born into slavery. Four were said to be sold to a planter in La Grange, Georgia, including a daughter, Marie Harrison. Marie was Madeline's mother.[17]
Political career[edit]
Harrison resigned from the army in 1798 [18] and began campaigning among his friends and family for a post in the Northwest Territorial government. With the aid of his close friend, Secretary of State Timothy Pickering, he was recommended to replace the outgoing Secretary of the Territory. Harrison was appointed to the position, and frequently acted as governor during the absences of Governor Arthur St. Clair.[3][10][19][20]
As Member of Congress[edit]
Harrison had many friends in the elite eastern social circles, and quickly gained a reputation among them as a frontier leader.[19] He ran a successful horse-breeding enterprise that won him acclaim throughout the Northwest Territory.[21] He championed for lower land prices, a primary concern of settlers in the Territory at the time. The U.S. Congress had legislated a territorial land policy that led to high land costs, a policy disliked by many of the territory's residents. When Harrison ran for Congress, he campaigned to work to alter the situation to encourage migration to the territory.[22]
In 1799, at age 26, Harrison defeated the son of Arthur St. Clair and was elected as the first delegate representing the Northwest Territory in the Sixth United States Congress. He served from March 4, 1799, to May 14, 1800.[3][23] As a delegate from a territory, not a state, he had no authority to vote on bills, but was permitted to serve on a committee, submit legislation, and debate.[24]
Without informing Harrison, President John Adams nominated him to become governor of the new territory, based on his ties to "the west" and seemingly neutral political stances. Harrison was confirmed by the Senate the following day.[27] Caught unaware, Harrison accepted the position only after receiving assurances from the Jeffersonians that he would not be removed from office after they gained power in the upcoming elections.[28] He then resigned from Congress.[29] The Indiana Territory consisted of the future states of Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and the eastern portion of Minnesota.[30]
As Governor[edit]
Harrison moved to Vincennes, the capital of the newly established Indiana Territory, on January 10, 1801.[29] While in Vincennes, Harrison built a plantation-style home he named Grouseland for its many birds. It was one of the first brick structures in the territory. The home, which has been restored and has become a popular modern tourist attraction, served as the center of social and political life in the territory.[16] He also built a second home near Corydon, the second capital, at Harrison Valley.[31]
As governor, Harrison had wide-ranging powers in the new territory, including the authority to appoint all territorial officials, and the territorial legislature, and to control the division of the territory into political districts. A primary responsibility was to obtain title to Indian lands. This would allow European-American settlement to expand and increase U.S. population to enable the region to gain statehood.[3] Harrison was eager to expand the territory for personal reasons as well, as his political fortunes were tied to Indiana's rise to statehood. In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson granted Harrison authority to negotiate and conclude treaties with the Indians.
Harrison supervised the development of 13 treaties, through which the territory bought more than 60,000,000 acres (240,000 km2) of land from Indian leaders, including much of present-day southern Indiana. The 1804 Treaty of St. Louis with Quashquame led to the surrender by the Sauk and Meskwaki of much of western Illinois and parts of Missouri. This treaty and loss of lands were greatly resented by many of the Sauk, especially Black Hawk. It was the primary reason the Sauk sided with the United Kingdom during the War of 1812. Harrison thought the Treaty of Grouseland in 1805 appeased some of the issues for Indians, but tensions remained high on the frontier.
The 1809 Treaty of Fort Wayne raised new tensions. Harrison purchased from the Miami tribe, who claimed ownership of the land, more than 2,500,000 acres (10,000 km²) of land inhabited by Shawnee, Kickapoo, Wea, and Piankeshaw peoples. Harrison rushed the process by offering large subsidies to the tribes and their leaders so that he could have the treaty in place before President Jefferson left office and the administration changed.[31][32] The tribes living on the lands were furious and sought to have the treaty overturned, but were unsuccessful.
In 1803, Harrison lobbied Congress to repeal Article 6 of the Northwest Ordinance, to permit slavery in the Indiana Territory. He claimed it was necessary to make the region more appealing to settlers and would make the territory economically viable.[33] Congress suspended the article for 10 years, during which time the territories covered by the ordinance were granted the right to decide for themselves whether to permit slavery. That year, Harrison had the appointed territorial legislature authorize indenturing.[34] He attempted to have slavery legalized outright, in both 1805 and 1807. This caused a significant stir in the territory. When in 1809 the legislature was popularly elected for the first time, Harrison found himself at odds with them as the abolitionist party came to power. They immediately blocked his plans for slavery and repealed the indenturing laws he had passed in 1803.[35][36]
President Jefferson, the primary author of the Northwest Ordinance, had made a secret compact with James Lemen to defeat the proslavery movement led by Harrison. Although a slaveholder, he did not want slavery to expand into the Northwest Territory, as he believed the institution should end. Under the "Jefferson-Lemen compact", Jefferson donated money to Lemen to found churches in Illinois and Indiana to stop the proslavery movement. In Indiana, the founding of an antislavery church led to citizens' signing a petition and organizing politically to defeat Harrison's efforts to legalize slavery. Jefferson and Lemen were both instrumental in defeating Harrison's attempts in 1805 and 1807 to secure approval of slavery in the territory.[37]
Army general[edit]
Tecumseh and Tippecanoe[edit]
Tecumseh launched an "impassioned rebuttal", but Harrison was unable to understand his language.[40] A Shawnee friendly to Harrison cocked his pistol from the sidelines to alert Harrison that Tecumseh's speech was leading to trouble. Some witnesses reported that Tecumseh was encouraging the warriors to kill Harrison. Many of the warriors began to pull their weapons, representing a substantial threat to Harrison and the town, which held a population of only 1,000. Harrison pulled his sword. Tecumseh's warriors backed down after the officers had pulled their firearms in defense of Harrison.[40] Chief Winnemac, who was friendly to Harrison, countered Tecumseh's arguments and told the warriors that since they had come in peace, they should return home in peace. Before leaving, Tecumseh informed Harrison that unless the treaty were nullified, he would seek an alliance with the British.[41] After the meeting, Tecumseh journeyed to meet with many of the tribes in the region, hoping to create a confederation to battle the United States.[42]
A depiction of Tecumseh in 1848
The press did not cover the battle at first, and one Ohio paper misinterpreted Harrison's dispatch to Eustis to mean he was defeated.[45] By December, as most major American papers carried stories on the battle, public outrage over the Shawnee attack grew. At a time of high tensions with the United Kingdom, many Americans blamed the British for inciting the tribes to violence and supplying them with firearms. In response, Congress passed resolutions condemning the British for interfering in American domestic affairs. A few months later, the U.S. declared war against UK.[46]
War of 1812[edit]
After receiving reinforcements in 1813, Harrison took the offensive. He led the army north to battle the Shawnee and their new British allies. He won victories in Indiana and Ohio, and recaptured Detroit, before invading Canada. He defeated the British at the Battle of the Thames, in which Tecumseh was killed.[47] The Battle of the Thames was considered one of the great American victories in the war, second only to the Battle of New Orleans.[47][48]
Postwar life[edit]
Public office[edit]
Harrison returned to North Bend after he was replaced as Governor of Indiana Territory, and he returned his farm to cultivation and enlarged the log cabin farmhouse.[49] In 1814, he was appointed by President Madison to serve as a commissioner to negotiate two treaties with the Indian tribes in the Northwest. Both treaties were advantageous to the United States, as the tribes ceded a large tract of land in the west. It provided more land for American purchase and settlement.[23]
Harrison was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives to finish the term of John McLean of Ohio, serving from October 8, 1816, to March 4, 1819. He was elected to and served in the Ohio State Senate from 1819 to 1821, having lost the election for Ohio governor in 1820. In 1822, he ran for the U.S. House, but lost by only 500 votes to James W. Gazlay. In 1824, he was elected to the U.S. Senate, where he served until May 20, 1828. Fellow westerners in Congress called Harrison a "Buckeye", a term of affection related to the native Ohio buckeye tree.[23] He was an Ohio presidential elector in 1820 for James Monroe.[50] and an Ohio presidential elector in 1824 for Henry Clay.[51] In 1817, Harrison declined to serve as Secretary of War under President Monroe.
Appointed as minister plenipotentiary to Gran Colombia, Harrison resigned from Congress and served in his new post until March 8, 1829.[23] He arrived in Bogotá on December 22, 1828. He found the condition of Colombia saddening. Harrison reported to the Secretary of State that the country was on the edge of anarchy and he thought Simón Bolívar was about to become a military dictator. While minister in Colombia, Harrison wrote a rebuke to Bolívar, stating "... the strongest of all governments is that which is most free". He called on Bolívar to encourage the development of a democracy. In response, Bolívar wrote, "The United States ... seem destined by Providence to plague America with torments in the name of freedom", a sentiment that achieved fame in Latin America.[52] When the new administration of President Andrew Jackson took office in March 1829, Harrison was recalled so the new president could make his own appointment to the position. He returned to the United States in June.[53]
Private citizen[edit]
In these early years, Harrison also earned money from his contributions to a biography written by James Hall, entitled A Memoir of the Public Services of William Henry Harrison, published in 1836. That year, he made an unsuccessful run for the presidency as a Whig candidate.[54] Between 1836 and 1840, Harrison served as Clerk of Courts for Hamilton County. This was his job when he was elected president in 1840.[55] By 1840, when Harrison campaigned for president a second time, more than 12 books had been published on his life. He was hailed by many as a national hero.[56]
1836 presidential campaign[edit]
Chromolithograph campaign poster for William Henry Harrison
Harrison was the Northern Whig candidate for president in 1836, one of only two times in American history when a major political party intentionally ran more than one presidential candidate (the Democrats ran two candidates in 1860). Vice President Martin Van Buren, the Democratic candidate, was popular and deemed likely to win the election against an individual Whig candidate. The Whig plan was to elect popular Whigs regionally, deny Van Buren the 148 electoral votes needed for election, and force the House of Representatives to decide the election. They hoped the Whigs would control the House after the general elections. (This strategy would have failed, as the Democrats retained a majority in the House following the election.)[57][58]
Harrison ran in all the free states except Massachusetts, and the slave states of Delaware, Maryland, and Kentucky. Hugh L. White ran in the remaining slave states except for South Carolina. Daniel Webster ran in Massachusetts, and Willie P. Mangum in South Carolina.[59] The plan narrowly failed, as Van Buren won the election with 170 electoral votes. A swing of just over 4,000 votes in Pennsylvania would have given that state's 30 electoral votes to Harrison, and the election would have been decided in the House of Representatives.[57][58][60]
1840 presidential campaign[edit]
Poster of Harrison's accomplishments
The Democrats ridiculed Harrison by calling him "Granny Harrison, the petticoat general", because he resigned from the army before the War of 1812 ended. When asking voters whether Harrison should be elected, they asked them what his name backwards was, which happens to be "No Sirrah". Democrats cast Harrison as a provincial, out-of-touch old man who would rather "sit in his log cabin drinking hard cider" than attend to the administration of the country. This strategy backfired when Harrison and his vice presidential running mate, John Tyler, adopted the log cabin and hard cider as campaign symbols. They used the images in banners and posters, and created bottles of hard cider that were shaped like log cabins, all to connect to the "common man".[62]
People singing the chant would spit tobacco juice while singing "wirt-wirt".[64]
The Whigs boasted of Harrison's military record and reputation as the hero of the Battle of Tippecanoe. Their campaign slogan, "Tippecanoe and Tyler, too", became among the most famous in American politics.[64] On election day, Harrison won a landslide electoral college victory, though the popular vote was much closer, at 53% to 47%.[64]
Presidency (1841)[edit]
Shortest presidency[edit]
William Henry Harrison (Bass Otis, 1841)
When Harrison came to Washington, he wanted to show both that he was still the steadfast hero of Tippecanoe, and that he was a more learned and thoughtful man than the backwoods caricature ascribed to him in the campaign. He took the oath of office on March 4, 1841, a cold and wet day.[65] He wore neither an overcoat nor hat, rode on horseback to the ceremony rather than in the closed carriage that had been offered him, and delivered the longest inaugural address in American history.[65] At 8,445 words, it took him nearly two hours to read, although his friend and fellow Whig Daniel Webster had edited it for length. Harrison then rode through the streets in the inaugural parade,[66] and that evening attended three inaugural balls,[67] including one at Carusi's Saloon entitled the "Tippecanoe" ball, which at a price of US$10 per person (equal to $229 today) attracted 1000 guests.
As leader of the Whigs and a powerful legislator (as well as a frustrated presidential candidate in his own right), Clay expected to have substantial influence in the Harrison administration. He ignored his own platform plank of overturning the "spoils" system. Clay attempted to influence Harrison's actions before and during his brief presidency, especially in putting forth his own preferences for Cabinet offices and other presidential appointments. Harrison rebuffed his aggression, saying "Mr. Clay, you forget that I am the President."[70] The dispute intensified when Harrison named Daniel Webster, Clay's arch-rival, for control of the Whig Party, as his Secretary of State, and appeared to give Webster's supporters some highly coveted patronage positions. Harrison's sole concession to Clay was to name his protégé John J. Crittenden to the post of Attorney General. Despite this, the dispute continued until the President's death.
BEP engraved portrait of Harrison as President.
BEP engraved portrait of Harrison as President.
Harrison's only official act of consequence was to call Congress into a special session. Henry Clay and he had disagreed over the necessity of such a session, and when on March 11 Harrison's cabinet proved evenly divided, the president vetoed the idea. When Clay pressed Harrison on the special session on March 13, the president rebuffed his counsel and told him not to visit the White House again, but to address him only in writing.[75] A few days later, however, Treasury Secretary Thomas Ewing reported to Harrison that federal funds were in such trouble that the government could not continue to operate until Congress' regularly scheduled session in December; Harrison thus relented, and on March 17 proclaimed the special session in the interests of "the condition of the revenue and finance of the country". The session was scheduled to begin on May 31.[76][77]
Administration and cabinet[edit]
Death and funeral[edit]
Death of Harrison, April 4, 1841
On March 26, Harrison became ill with a cold. According to the prevailing medical misconception of that time, his illness was believed to be directly caused by the bad weather at his inauguration; however, Harrison's illness did not arise until more than three weeks after the event.[78]
The cold worsened, rapidly turning to pneumonia and pleurisy.[78] He sought to rest in the White House, but could not find a quiet room because of the steady crowd of office seekers. His extremely busy social schedule made any rest time scarce.[66]
Harrison's doctors tried cures, applying opium, castor oil, leeches, and Virginia snakeweed, but the treatments only made Harrison worse, and he became delirious. He died nine days after becoming ill,[79] at 12:30 am on April 4, 1841. Harrison's doctor, Thomas Miller, diagnosed Harrison's cause of death as "pneumonia of the lower lobe of the right lung", but a 2014 medical analysis concluded that he instead died of enteric fever. The authors base their findings on the president's symptoms and the close proximity of the White House to a dumping ground for sewage and human waste.[80][81]
Harrison's funeral took place in the Wesley Chapel in Cincinnati, Ohio, on April 7, 1841.[84] His original interment was in the public vault of the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C. He was later buried in North Bend, Ohio. The William Henry Harrison Tomb State Memorial was erected in his honor.[85]
Impact of death[edit]
Statue of Harrison on horseback in Cincinnati, Ohio
The William Henry Harrison Memorial in North Bend, Ohio
Harrison's death was a disappointment to Whigs, who hoped to pass a revenue tariff and enact measures to support Henry Clay's American system. John Tyler, Harrison's successor and a former Democrat, abandoned the Whig agenda, effectively cutting himself off from the party.[86]
Due to the death of Harrison, three Presidents served within a single calendar year (Martin Van Buren, Harrison, Tyler). This has happened on only one other occasion, 40 years later in 1881, when Rutherford B. Hayes was succeeded by James A. Garfield, who was assassinated later in that year. With the death of Garfield, Chester A. Arthur stepped into the presidency.[87]
Harrison's death revealed the flaws in the constitution's clauses on presidential succession.[88] Article II of the Constitution states, "In case of the removal of the President from office, or of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said office, the same shall devolve on the Vice President ... and [the Vice President] shall act accordingly, until the disability be removed, or a President shall be elected". Scholars at the time disagreed whether the vice president would become president or merely acting President. The Constitution did not stipulate whether the Vice President could serve the remainder of the President's term, until the next election, or if emergency elections should be held.
Harrison's cabinet insisted that Tyler was "Vice President acting as President". After the cabinet consulted with the Chief Justice Roger Taney, they decided that if Tyler took the presidential Oath of Office, he would assume the office of President. Tyler obliged and was sworn in on April 6. In May, Congress convened. After a short period of debate in both houses, it passed a resolution that confirmed Tyler in the presidency for the remainder of Harrison's term. Once established, this precedent of presidential succession remained in effect until the Twenty-fifth Amendment was ratified in 1967.[86][89] Following the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the succession of Lyndon B. Johnson to the presidency in 1963, the Twenty-fifth Amendment dealt with the finer points of succession. It defined in what situations the Vice President was acting President, and in what situation the Vice President could become President.
As the shortest-serving President, Harrison was the only one not to appoint a single federal judge at any level.[90] No states were admitted to the union during his term.[91]
Harrison was the first sitting President to have his photograph taken, on Inauguration Day in 1841. Photographs exist of John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, and Martin van Buren, but those images were all taken after these men had ceased to be President. The Harrison image was also the first of these photographs to be taken. The original daguerreotype, made in Washington on his Inauguration Day, has been lost—although at least one early photographic copy exists in the archives of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.[92]
Harrison's chief presidential legacy lies in his campaigning methods, which laid the foundation for the modern presidential campaign tactics.[93] Harrison died nearly penniless. Congress voted to give his wife a Presidential widow's pension, a payment of $25,000,[94] one year of Harrison's salary. This is equivalent to $571,532 today. She also received the right to mail letters free of charge.[95]
Harrison's son John Scott Harrison served in the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio between 1853 and 1857.[96] Harrison's grandson, Benjamin Harrison of Indiana, was the 23rd president, from 1889 to 1893, making them the only grandparent–grandchild pair of Presidents.[97]
Numerous places were named after Harrison:
Three schools were named William Henry Harrison High School (in Evansville and West Lafayette, Indiana and Harrison, Ohio) in his honor.[98][99][100]
During the American Civil War, the Union Army named a post near Cincinnati Camp Harrison.,[101] and a military fort in Montana was named for him.[102] Because of his short service, no military vessel was named after him as President.
A statue of Harrison was erected on Monument Circle in Indianapolis. Additionally, Harrison is shown (on the left, facing the building) in a pediment on the Tippecanoe County Courthouse, Lafayette, Indiana, 1882.
See also[edit]
Explanatory notes[edit]
1. ^ Buescher, John. "Tippecanoe and Walking Canes Too". Retrieved 8 October 2011.
2. ^ Langguth, A. J. (2006). Union 1812:The Americans Who Fought the Second War of Independence, New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-2618-6. p. 206
3. ^ a b c d e f g "William Henry Harrison Biography". About The White House: Presidents. Retrieved June 19, 2008.
4. ^ Owens 2007, p. 3.
5. ^ Freehling, William. "William Henry Harrison: Life Before the Presidency". American President: An Online Reference Resource. University of Virginia. Retrieved December 10, 2010. The boy enjoyed a solid education—tutored at home, then three years at Hampden-Sydney College in Hanover County, Virginia.
6. ^ Owens 2007, p. 14.
7. ^ Langguth 2007, p. 16.
8. ^ Owens 2007, pp. 14, 22.
9. ^ Owens 2007, p. 27.
10. ^ a b Langguth 2007, p. 160.
12. ^ Owens 2007, p. 39.
13. ^ Owens 2007, pp. 38–39.
14. ^ Bob Dole, Great Presidential Wit, 2001, page 222
15. ^ Owens 2007, p. 40.
16. ^ a b Owens 2007, p. 56.
18. ^ "Historical register and dictionary of the United States Army : from its organization, September 29, 1789, to March 2, 1903".
19. ^ a b Owens 2007, p. 41.
20. ^ Green 2007, p. 9.
21. ^ Owens 2007, p. 43.
22. ^ Owens 2007, pp. 44–45.
24. ^ Owens 2007, pp. 45–46.
25. ^ Langguth 2007, p. 161.
26. ^ Owens 2007, pp. 47–48.
27. ^ Owens 2007, p. 50.
28. ^ Owens 2007, p. 51.
29. ^ a b Owens 2007, p. 53.
30. ^ Owens 2007, pp. 49, 50, 54.
31. ^ a b Funk 1969, p. 167.
33. ^ Owens 2007, pp. 68–69.
34. ^ Owens 2007, pp. 69–72.
35. ^ Gresham 1919, p. 21.
36. ^ Owens 2007, pp. 179–180.
38. ^ Langguth 2007, pp. 158–160.
39. ^ Langguth 2007, p. 164.
40. ^ a b c Langguth 2007, p. 165.
41. ^ Langguth 2007, p. 166.
42. ^ Langguth 2007, pp. 164–169.
43. ^ Langguth 2007, pp. 167–169.
44. ^ Owens 2007, pp. 219–220.
45. ^ Owens 2007, p. 220.
46. ^ Owens 2007, pp. 221, 223.
47. ^ a b Langguth 2007, pp. 268–270.
48. ^ a b Langguth 2007, pp. 291–292.
49. ^ Milligan, Fred (2003). Ohio's Founding Fathers. iUniverse, Inc. pp. 107–108.
50. ^ Taylor & Taylor 1899, p. 102.
51. ^ Taylor & Taylor 1899, p. 145.
52. ^ Bolívar 1951, p. 732.
53. ^ Hall 1836, pp. 301–309.
54. ^ a b Burr 1840, p. 258.
55. ^ "Patricia M. Clancy – Clerk of Courts: History of the Clerk of Courts Office". Retrieved 2011-12-06.
56. ^ Burr 1840, p. 257.
61. ^ Carnes & Mieczkowski 2001, p. 39.
62. ^ Carnes & Mieczkowski 2001, pp. 39–40.
63. ^ Carnes & Mieczkowski 2001, p. 40.
64. ^ a b c Carnes & Mieczkowski 2001, p. 41.
65. ^ a b "Harrison's Inauguration". American Treasures of the Library of Congress. Retrieved 2009-01-21.
67. ^ United States Senate (June 10, 2013). "Inaugural Ball".
68. ^ "William Henry Harrison Inaugural Address". Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents of the United States. 1989. Retrieved February 11, 2009.
70. ^ Borneman 2005, p. 56.
71. ^ Letter from Harrison to R. Buchanan, Esq., March 10, 1841
72. ^
77. ^ "Harrison's Proclamation for Special Session of Congress" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-24. Retrieved June 21, 2009.
78. ^ a b Cleaves 1939, p. 152.
79. ^ Cleaves 1939, p. 160.
80. ^ Jane McHugh, Philip A. Mackowiak (March 31, 2014). "What Really Killed William Henry Harrison?". The New York Times. Retrieved August 27, 2014.
81. ^ Jane McHugh, Philip A. Mackowiak (June 23, 2014). "Death in the White House: President William Henry Harrison's Atypical Pneumonia". Clinical Infectious Diseases 59 (7): 990–5. doi:10.1093/cid/ciu470. PMID 24962997.
84. ^ ""Presidential Funerals" - White House History".
86. ^ a b "John Tyler, Tenth Vice President (1841)". Retrieved June 18, 2008.
87. ^ Kelly, Martin. "Tecumseh's Curse and the US Presidents: Coincidence or Something More?". Retrieved June 9, 2008.
90. ^ Abraham 1999, p. 35.
91. ^ "Admission of States to Union". U.S. Retrieved February 5, 2009.
93. ^ Green 2007, p. 100.
97. ^ Calhoun 2005, pp. 43–49.
Further reading[edit]
External links[edit]
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Interlude in Ereworn, part 3
30th December 2011
Waielbi gargoyle at chesterThe ruins were quiet except for the trickle of water from the carved mouth near the well. Sir Grimble Bobbleberry, Zagro the Warlock and Aldo of the Brilliantly Coloured Robe enjoyed the sunshine while they considered their next foray into Gallows Wood. They had not been thus pondering long before they heard a loud crashing and clumping from the path to the south. From the dark trees emerged a huge Ogre, clutching his head and looking decidedly green about the gills. The three intrepid heroes hid bravely behind a crumbling wall. Zagro peeked out and saw the Ogre slurping water loudly from the well, belching and moaning about his colossal hangover. Aldo wanted to slay the thing but Sir Grimble would have none of it — perhaps it was honour or merely sympathy for a another creature suffering from alcohol poisoning. In time the giant fell a-snoring by the well, and the three crept out and followed the path southwards.
Back in the perpetually dim woods they passed a mysterious faery circle where no vegetation grew, and picked their way carefully around the perimeter. They emerged from the woods to see a ridge. On top of the ridge was a large nest and above that circled several Harpies, crying harshly. Zagro knew that these vicious creatures might well have treasures in their nest, but up on the cliff face they had a distinct advantage. He suddenly whispered a clever idea to Sir Grimble, who smiled and pulled out the harpy heads he had grabbed as trophies a couple of nights past. Aldo and Zagro impaled the heads on their spears and began a gruesome pantomime as they moved towards the hill. Sure enough, two of the harpies flew down to investigate and were swiftly impaled themselves. The remaining couple of harpies harried them as they climbed the cliff but were eventually slain or driven off. Unfortunately Zagro stumbled and fell, hurting his ankle a little. But Aldo and Sir Grimble returned as expected with some treasure from the nest.
Liftarn swinging corpseBeyond the harpies’ nest the forest thinned out and they found the road as dusk thickened. The body of a monk hung in a gibbet at a grim gallows by the roadside. Sir Grimble realised the man still lived, and cut him down. There were sinister twitterings in the evening gloom and suddenly Zagro made out the gleam of inhuman eyes surrounding them. “Give him to us,” hissed the voices. They were ghûls, eaters of the dead. Grimly, Aldo and Zagro lowered their spears and Sir Grimble on his warhorse raised his sword. The ghûls attacked ferociously. It was a hard fight. Zagro and Sir Grimble were wounded and tired. Zagro had very little magic. Aldo stabbed ghûl after ghûl — so many that Zagro admiringly called him Ghûl-killer. Eventually, the foul creatures lay scattered on the ground around the gallows in the darkness.
Aldo revived the monk but he was too far gone. He talked of a haunted island monastery in the river to the south where a holy cup could be found. Then he died. By now it was night and the three needed rest. They rode up the road toward the ruined villa with the subterranean temple, knowing it was a safe hideout. They rested and healed and in the morning returned to the gallows and headed south.
Sure enough, they soon came to the river bank and saw the island. A rowboat lay waiting, but Sir Grimble had to leave his faithful black warhorse behind. The island was peaceful and dotted with ruins. They came to a ruined chapel with no roof. There on the altar was a silver cup. Cautiously they approached it and Aldo took the cup. Nothing happened, so they hotfooted it back to the boat. This time they rowed to the south bank. They heard the howls of wolves and several of the creatures bounded into the clearing. But a well-aimed dragonbreath spell, and arrow fire drove them off. Aldo remembered that Hobgoblins were associated with wolves. Soon the tracks led them to a well, just like the one Ned the Hobgoblin had jumped down into and disappeared.
They descended the well with Sir Grimble’s rope and found an iron door in the side. They pushed it open and found themselves in a chamber filled with stolen rubbbish from the village. Behind a screen came a cry for help — the voice of the landlord’s daughter. Suspicious of Ned’s tricks, Zagro asked a few more questions of the lass before he released her, to make sure of her identity. Then the real Ned showed up and the battle was joined. Ned used some crafty spells but he was no match for the doughty heroes.
Liftarn gravestone with pumpkinNed was soon dead
They severed his head
And rode back to the village for tea.
NickDaniel nehwon
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Best Doula programs?
1. 0
Wha are the best Doulas programs. I have heard of DONA and ALACE, what are some others?
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2. 10 Comments...
3. 0
you may find it hard to get a straight answer about this as not too manypeople have experience with more than one organization. Currently i am going through dona certification. From what I've heard from my trainers, differences occur depending on where you are. My in-class training was very personal and emotional. However my trainer says when she travels to train with other people, it can become a lot more clinical (if thats possible with doula work) or bookish. I also think you get from it what you put into it. With dona, I learned a great deal from my 3 day in class training, and now its up to me to make the most of the required readings, essays, childbirth ed, and births. Hope this was a little helpful. Good luck on your path to becoming a doula!
4. 1
I have a friend who's a doula and recommended Childbirth International. I'm not sure if you've already chosen a program or not, but after doing the compare and contrast I can see why she went through them over DONA or ALACE.
While those organizations might be fabulous, they nickle and dime you to death (recertification fees, workshop fees, annual membership fees, etc) and don't offer near as much support or flexibility as Childbirth International does.
For instance, through CBI you could start today... that isn't the case with any other doula training program. There are weekly chats, your introductory class is free, you can pay for your training in installments, recertification and annual membership is free and they also offer trainer support to name a few things.
Here's a link to a Comparison of Doula Programs: http://www.childbirthinternational.c...omparisons.htm
I'm planning on starting Doula/Childbirth Educator training in Sept. I've done loads of research on the programs out there and think that this place really is most benefical to me. Even better is that both courses are only costing me $850. Not bad.
Good luck in whatever you decide. Being a doula is a pretty awesome endeavor!
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5. 0
just my two cents. ALACE is awesome for flexibility both in training and in how they teach you to interact w/clients-rather than being stuck promoting only one method, et cet. They don't have the name recog everywhere but are much more cost effective and WAY less time than DONA. Ask around your area, figure out where your referrals would come from, and ask their opinion!
6. 0
Seattle Midwifery School has one of the original training programs. Look at the link for Extension and Doula Education on the left side of the page. Penny Simkins, the grandmamma of doulas and labor support, is based here and teaches some of the classes. I took this class in June.
7. 0
bridey, thanks for the link to that comparison chart. Very helpful.
8. 0
It's been years now, but I certified through CAPPA. I don't even know if they are around anymore. I did it because I wanted to be certified in postpartum. DONA is maybe the largest, making it easy to find a training near by. Of the 15 doulas in my (ex) doula group, they all were DONA trained except me. I know 1 direct-entry lay midwife who went through ALACE training, but she had to go out of the area to find a session. I also remember hearing that ALACE doula did internal exams- which freaked me out- I wouldn't touch that liability issue with a 10 foot pole.
In my opinion, it's going to come down to the trainer. If you have a good trainer, you're going to have a good training. Some trainers can be a little heavy in promoting their own agenda, so I'd just say heads up about that- but otherwise good luck to you and enjoy it!!!
9. 0
I'm going through CAPPA and the whole set-up seems great because they have a traditional route, which you obtain training in your local area, and they also have a distance route, which the materials are mailed to you! After you receive your training packet and videos, you then attend a childbirth education class in your local area, a breastfeeding class in your area, and attend 3 births free of charge. It seems simple enough!
Good luck!
10. 0
I haven't been very impressed with CAPPA's training. It's not very extensive, compared to DONA or ALACE.
11. 0
I am certified thru DONA and will offer my 2 cents. Originally, I took the DONA course b/c it was the cheapest in my city. I am glad I did. DONA provided me with comprehensive training. Although the certification packet is long and requires a lot of work, I think the DONA "name" is very well-respected. I know that the doula collective I work with requires all of the seasoned doulas to be certified through DONA. That said, I am any of these organization will provide you with excellent skills to go serve women and their families--after all, so much of doula work is compassion, love, and a sense of humor....those personality traits can't be taught in a course
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Opposable Thumbs / Gaming & Entertainment
Gunnar Optiks wants to sell you $100 3D eyewear
Gunnar Optiks is back with 3D glasses that look like a real pair of spectacles …
The last time we took a look at a pair of Gunnar glasses, ones designed to ease eye strain when playing games or looking at a computer screen for long periods of time, the results were somewhat controversial in the comments. The company has just sent us another set of glasses to review, and this time the product is even more niche: higher quality 3D glasses.
These are passive 3D glasses, compatible with the RealD technology used in theme parks and movie theaters, so if you're in the market for a TV that uses active glasses technology, you're out of luck here.
Like all 3D glasses, they're not cheap, costing between $100 and $200 depending on style and options. That being said, I carried my pair around E3—which is a 3D-rich environment—and have used them extensively in the past few weeks. They're easy to fall in love with.
You don't realize just how terrible the disposable 3D glasses you're used to in movie theaters truly are until you wear a pair that actually fit a human head and don't make you look silly. These are pure luxury, and it's hard to find anyone who spends so much time looking at 3D content that this seems like a good deal. Still, these glasses, quite simply, are awesome. They look good, they feel great, and I noticed far less eye strain when wearing these compared to the bulky and uncomfortable stock glasses.
Gunnar is a company that seems to invite scorn with its techno-speak and high claims to go with their high prices, but every time I've used one of their products I've come away very happy with that's being offered, even at the price being asked.
I still have my original set of glasses, and I'm thinking these would be a great addition to our Child's Play drive this coming holiday season; who doesn't want a super-comfortable pair of 3D glasses when watching a movie?
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Worldwide Locations
Worldwide Locations
Nauru was occupied by Germany in 1888. In the early 20th century, a German-British consortium mined its phosphate deposits, and the Europeans named it Pleasant Island. During World War I, Australia occupied the island. Later, Nauru became a League of Nations mandate. World War II led to a brutal Japanese occupation, followed by a joint Australian, New Zealand and British administration when Nauru became a UN trust territory. Nauru became independent in 1968. It joined the UN in 1999 as the world’s smallest independent republic.
Nauru’s main source of income, its phosphate deposits, are nearly exhausted, and according to some western sources, the island’s future is unclear, especially since Nauru imports everything, from food to water to fuel. Recent financial crises nearly bankrupted the country, when it had to sell its properties in Australia to raise money for the millions of dollars it owed to an American company. The government is making attempts to diversify, adding tourism and offshore banking as sources of income.
In 2001, Nauru agreed to shelter detained asylum seekers from Australia in exchange for millions of dollars in aid. Australia ended the “Pacific Solution” program in 2008 and is now providing financial expertise to Nauru to help sort out its problems
The current president of Nauru is Marcus Stephens, a former professional weightlifter and Commonwealth Games medalist. Stephens was sworn in as president in December 2007, after his predecessor, Ludwig Scotty, was defeated in a no-confidence motion in the 18-member parliament. To resolve a budget crisis in the parliament, Stephens imposed a state of emergency and dissolved parliament. His party has since won a majority in the April 2008 elections.
Sources: BBC, International Crisis Group, CIA World Factbook.
Full Name: Republic of Nauru
Form of Government: Republic
Year of Independence: 1968 (from the Australia-, NZ-, and UK-administered UN trusteeship)
Population: 14019
Capital: No official capital; government offices in Yaren District
Largest City: n/a
Area: 21 sq km (8 sq miles)
Major Languages: Nauruan (official, a distinct Pacific Island language); English widely understood, spoken, and used for most government and commercial purposes
Life Expectancy: 61 years (men), 68 years (women)
Monetary Unit: 1 Australian dollar = 100 cents
Main Exports: Phosphates
GDP - Per Capita (PPP): $5,000 (2005 est.)
Internet Domain: .nr
International Dialing Code: +674
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How the World Cup Has Gone Wrong for Spain and Right for Chile
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Julian Finney/Getty Images
Spain, the reigning world and European champions, are out of the 2014 World Cup.
Their exit has come not after a brave defeat in the latter stages of the tournament, a cruel elimination on penalties or as a result of inept or potentially corrupt refereeing, but at their own hands, through their own faults, just two matches into the defence of their title.
Both Netherlands and Chile found the tactical and mental cracks in Spain's armour, and both made La Furia Roja pay heavily. The South American side in particular has exposed the areas of the game where Spain have fallen from their heights of four years ago.
Off the Ball
Remembering Spain at their best, one of the most memorable traits of the time was the phenomenal, relentless pressing to win the ball back. Whether because of ageing legs or the safety that their possession has for so long offered them, there has been none of that this time from Spain.
Matthias Hangst/Getty Images
Sam Tighe's tactical analysis of the match shows how Chile did the exact opposite, working like demons to win back the ball and deny Spain the room to move significantly up the pitch in possession, even if sometimes they made five or six passes in succession around the midfield area.
But Spain did not. There was no hounding, harassing or great will to win back possession, neither against Netherlands nor Chile.
It was slow, a little lazy and completely at odds with the tactics that brought them success in the first place.
On the Ball
If Spain's approach out of possession was slow, that was nothing compared to the lack of pace compared to their opponents at the World Cup with the ball.
Netherlands sought to fly Arjen Robben beyond the defence at every opportunity. Alexis Sanchez did the same for Chile, ably supported by runners from the second line of attack.
David Ramos/Getty Images
Significantly, both Spain's opponents played with wing-backs in variations of a 3-5-2 system, allowing the wide players to get very high up the pitch. Spain are supposed to do that anyway, at least on one side with Jordi Alba, but their full-backs rarely posed a problem beyond the opposition defensive line, and almost every Spanish attacking midfielder tried to find a way through the defence by passing rather than penetrating themselves with runs.
It didn't work: Spain didn't score a single goal in open play before being eliminated.
That Unbeatable Feeling
The mental side of the game cannot be underestimated.
Jamie Squire/Getty Images
If David Silva scores just before half-time in the opening game, Spain go in two up at the break against Netherlands. Instead, his shot was saved, and Robin van Persie went and scored on the other end—Spain go in on a downer, and going behind soon after was tough to take.
This isn't supposed to happen is a killer feeling, one which can provoke panic and deviation from tactical instruction.
Chile came into the second match with a win behind them already; Spain knew it was all or nothing. The pressure was already there and only increased when the South American side scored the first goal.
The hunger perhaps wasn't there. The ability to come from behind certainly wasn't.
David Ramos/Getty Images
Combined with the actual footballing traits that have deserted Spain bit by bit over the qualification campaign and two excellent tactical managers who figured out how to make the most of Spain's weaknesses, we can see just how everything came together to bring an end to Spain's fantastic time at the top of world football.
Chile, meanwhile, will have their sights set on top spot in the group and the knockout stages beyond.
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Aspiritech, a Chicago-based tech start up, is a software testing firm that exclusively hires people with Asperger's syndrome. Why? Because apparently, people suffering from Asperger's make for the perfect software tester. And this isn't even news! Studies have shown people with Asperger's thriving in tech fields because it supposedly makes them feel "safe" and gives them "control".
The founder of Aspiritech takes it a step further:
Recent research from Harvard Business School and others showed that the strengths of people with Aspergers and high-functioning autism actually make them superior at software testing. They're ability to focus, good memory, their high intelligence, their strong technical skills, their ability to detect details and also to stay focused over lengthy periods, really makes them ideal for software testing work. People with Aspergers can become ideal software testers.
Let's face it, it sounds a helluva lot like exploitation. But! The founders of the company have a son who suffered from Asperger's and got fired from his previous job. They're hoping to "solve the employment challenge of individuals with Asperger's syndrome and high functioning autism". Let's hope it's not anything more malicious than that. [ZDNet]
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Take the 2-minute tour ×
I am trying to solve two equations that take the form:
$W_0 \sqrt{1+\left(\dfrac{z}{\lambda\,\pi\, W_{0}^2}\right)}=W_1\;\,\quad \ldots(1)$
$W_0\sqrt{1+\left( \dfrac{z+0.1}{\lambda\, \pi\, W_{0}^2}\right)}=W_2\quad\;\, \ldots(2)$
The quantities $\lambda, W_1, \text{ and } W_2$ are known parameters. I am trying to solve for the unknowns $W_0\text{ and } z$. How would I go about doing this. The result is to be in the $\mathbb{R}$. My attempts are below:
Attempt 1:
Solve[{W Sqrt[1+(z/(\[Lambda] \[Pi] W^2))^2]==A,W Sqrt[1+((z+0.1)/(\[Lambda] \[Pi]
Attempt 2:
FindInstance[W Sqrt[1+(z/(\[Lambda] \[Pi] W^2))^2]==A&&W Sqrt[1+((z+0.1)/(\[Lambda]
\[Pi] W^2))^2]==B,{W,z},Complexes]
Attempt 3:
W^2))^2]==B,{{W,1.03 10^-3},{z,4.0 10^-1}}]
My question is what is the best method to solve equations such as these and what will yield the best numerical or analytical result.
share|improve this question
If you are trying to do this symbolically, remember to avoid introducing approximate numbers--change 0.1 to 1/10, for example. The result of Solve[{W Sqrt[1 + (z/(λ π W^2))^2] == A, W Sqrt[1 + ((z + 1/10)/(λ π W^2))^2] == B}, {W, z}] // FullSimplify is IMO quite nice. – Oleksandr R. Sep 23 '12 at 0:21
If you check your code then W (or W_0 in TeX) comes out to be at the power 4 under square root. In your TeX code it is at the power 2. – Vitaliy Kaurov Sep 23 '12 at 0:39
@OleksandrR. I've heard this before: changing 0.1 to 1/10. Why is that? – drN Sep 23 '12 at 18:15
@drN: halirutan's answer explains why. – Ｊ. Ｍ. Sep 30 '12 at 23:38
1 Answer 1
up vote 8 down vote accepted
All you need is already mentioned in the comment. Let me give you some more information, how you could have prevented your mistake. When I solve something, I almost always try to get an analytic solution first, because then you not only having an answer, but you can investigate under which circumstances your solution is true.
What you have to understand first, that it is crucial in Mathematica, to give problems in the right form: And here I mean, the right form of numeric quantities. You have 3 types of numeric quantities in Mathematica:
• Analytic (exact) values like 1,100,Exp[2],Pi
• Machine numbers 1.0, Exp[2.0], N[Pi]
• Arbitrary-precision numbers 1.0`10, N[Exp[2], 10]
Please read the Numerical Precision carefully to understand the differences. The first thing to know is, that whenever you use exact values only, Mathematica will never do a computation where you lose information. It will only do mathematical correct transformations. See the difference
Out[17]= -1
Exp[I*Pi + 0.0]
-1. + 1.22465*10^-16 I
In the last example I forced Mathematica to leave the save field of exact evaluation by using 0.0. This told Mathematica to solve the expression numerically introducing some roundoff error.
And now you know, why you don't want to use 0.1 in your equation. This forces an numeric evaluation which gives you only numeric output instead of analytic.
Therefore, replace the 0.1 by 1/10 and use Solve or Reduce.
W Sqrt[1 + ((z + 1/10)/(\[Lambda] \[Pi] W^2))^2] == B}, {W, z}]
If you try Reduce, you may have to wait half an hour and you'll get output which takes 10 sheets of paper, but you get conditions which have to hold for an particular solution. Maybe not for this, but for smaller problems this can be very insightful.
share|improve this answer
Great detailed answer on this topic – kale Sep 23 '12 at 3:46
Excellent! This was a great response I was looking for, and has also shed some light on me for going about solving equations more efficiently as to the type of solution I want out of it. +1... Thanks. – night owl Sep 30 '12 at 21:28
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Loading Deferred Content (WCF Data Services)
By default, WCF Data Services limits the amount of data that a query returns. However, you can explicitly load additional data, including related entities, paged response data, and binary data streams, from the data service when it is needed. This topic describes how to load such deferred content into your application.
When you execute a query, only entities in the addressed entity set are returned. For example, when a query against the Northwind data service returns Customers entities, by default the related Orders entities are not returned, even though there is a relationship between Customers and Orders. Also, when paging is enabled in the data service, you must explicitly load subsequent data pages from the service. There are two ways to load related entities:
• Eager loading: You can use the $expand query option to request that the query return entities that are related by an association to the entity set that the query requested. Use the Expand method on the DataServiceQuery<TElement> to add the $expand option to the query that is sent to the data service. You can request multiple related entity sets by separating them by a comma, as in the following example. All entities requested by the query are returned in a single response. The following example returns Order_Details and Customers together with the Orders entity set:
// Define a query for orders that also returns items and customers.
DataServiceQuery<Order> query =
WCF Data Services limits to 12 the number of entity sets that can be included in a single query by using the $expand query option.
• Explicit loading: You can call the LoadProperty method on the DataServiceContext instance to explicitly load related entities. Each call to the LoadProperty method creates a separate request to the data service. The following example explicitly loads Order_Details for an Orders entity:
// Explicitly load the order details for each order.
context.LoadProperty(order, "Order_Details");
When you consider which option to use, realize that there is a tradeoff between the number of requests to the data service and the amount of data that is returned in a single response. Use eager loading when your application requires associated objects and you want to avoid the added latency of additional requests to explicitly retrieve them. However, if there are cases when the application only needs the data for specific related entity instances, you should consider explicitly loading those entities by calling the LoadProperty method. For more information, see How to: Load Related Entities (WCF Data Services).
When paging is enabled in the data service, the number of entries in the feed that the data service returns is limited by the configuration of the data service. Page limits can be set separately for each entity set. For more information, see Configuring the Data Service (WCF Data Services). When paging is enabled, the final entry in the feed contains a link to the next page of data. This link is contained in a DataServiceQueryContinuation<T> object. You obtain the URI to the next page of data by calling the GetContinuation method on the QueryOperationResponse<T> returned when the DataServiceQuery<TElement> is executed. The returned DataServiceQueryContinuation<T> object is then used to load the next page of results. You must enumerate the query result before you call the GetContinuation method. Consider using a do…while loop to first enumerate the query result and then check for a non-null next link value. When the GetContinuation method returns null (Nothing in Visual Basic), there are no additional result pages for the original query. The following example shows a do…while loop that loads paged customer data from the Northwind sample data service.
// With a paged response from the service, use a do...while loop
// to enumerate the results before getting the next link.
// Write the page number.
Console.WriteLine("Page {0}:", pageCount++);
// If nextLink is not null, then there is a new page to load.
if (token != null)
// Load the new page from the next link URI.
response = context.Execute<Customer>(token)
as QueryOperationResponse<Customer>;
// Enumerate the customers in the response.
foreach (Customer customer in response)
Console.WriteLine("\tCustomer Name: {0}", customer.CompanyName);
// Get the next link, and continue while there is a next link.
while ((token = response.GetContinuation()) != null);
When a query requests that related entities are returned in a single response together with the requested entity set, paging limits may affect nested feeds that are included inline with the response. For example, when a paging limit is set in the Northwind sample data service for the Customers entity set, an independent paging limit can also be set for the related Orders entity set, as in the following example from the Northwind.svc.cs file that defines the Northwind sample data service.
// Set page size defaults for the data service.
config.SetEntitySetPageSize("Orders", 20);
config.SetEntitySetPageSize("Order_Details", 50);
config.SetEntitySetPageSize("Products", 50);
// Paging requires v2 of the OData protocol.
config.DataServiceBehavior.MaxProtocolVersion =
In this case, you must implement paging for both the top-level Customers and the nested Orders entity feeds. The following example shows the while loop used to load pages of Orders entities related to a selected Customers entity.
while (nextOrdersLink != null)
foreach (Order o in c.Orders)
// Print out the orders.
Console.WriteLine("\t\tOrderID: {0} - Freight: ${1}",
o.OrderID, o.Freight);
// Load the next page of Orders.
var ordersResponse = context.LoadProperty(c, "Orders", nextOrdersLink);
nextOrdersLink = ordersResponse.GetContinuation();
For more information, see How to: Load Paged Results (WCF Data Services).
WCF Data Services enables you to access binary large object (BLOB) data as a data stream. Streaming defers the loading of binary data until it is needed, and the client can more efficiently process this data. In order to take advantage of this functionality, the data service must implement the IDataServiceStreamProvider provider. For more information, see Streaming Provider (WCF Data Services). When streaming is enabled, entity types are returned without the related binary data. In this case, you must use the GetReadStream method of the DataServiceContext class to access the data stream for the binary data from the service. Similarly, use the SetSaveStream method to add or change binary data for an entity as a stream. For more information, see Working with Binary Data (WCF Data Services).
© 2014 Microsoft
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• FC-B/I method;
• [18F]β-CFT-FE;
• DAT;
• monkey;
• brain
The competitive inhibition of dopamine transporters (DAT) with cocaine, a specific DAT inhibitor, was evaluated with a feedback-controlled bolus plus infusion (FC-B/I) method using animal positron emission tomography (PET) in the living brain of conscious monkey. 2β-Carbomethoxy-3β-(4-fluorophenyl)-8-(2-[18F]fluoroethyl) nortropane ([18F]β-CFT-FE; Harada et al. [2004] Synapse 54:37–45) was used for this study because it provided specific, fast, and reversible kinetic properties to DAT in the striatum. In FC-B/I method, the real-time image reconstruction was started just after intravenous bolus injection of [18F]β-CFT-FE to generate a time-activity curve in the striatum, and the infusion rate was adjusted to achieve an equilibrium state of the striatal radioactivity concentrations by means of a feedback-control algorithm. The first equilibrium state in the brain was reached within 20 min after the infusion start. Intravenous administration of cocaine at the doses of 0.02, 0.1, and 0.5 mg/kg shifted the equilibrium radioactivity level to the second equilibrium state in a dose-dependent manner, while no significant alterations was observed in the cerebellum. The present results demonstrated that the combined use of FC-B/I method and PET probe with fast kinetics like [18F]β-CFT-FE could be useful to assess the occupancy of drugs in the living brain with PET. Synapse, 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Take the 2-minute tour ×
Why electrons in low lying levels of individual atoms stay localized in their own atoms in a crystal? Doesn't this contradict Bloch's theorem?
share|improve this question
1 Answer 1
They do not stay localized actually. It's only that their eigenstates (which are non-local) are very close in energy, and we can choose the basis of localized states and they would be close to eigenstates with high accuracy.
You can consider the tight-binding model, and take it to the limit of zero overlap of orbitals of neighboring atoms, and zero overlap integrals. That would be close to what low-level electrons in a crystal behave like.
share|improve this answer
So if there was only one electron in the crystal with lowest possible energy (1S orbital) it could be found on all nuclei with the same probability? – richard May 9 '13 at 9:24
Yes (that would be the lowest state in the energy band, to which 1s energy level would expand to). But in that case the crystal would be unstable, because the average charge density would be positive then. To make a zero average charge density, you need to take as many electrons as protons in the nuclei. For the simpler model, consider 1 electron per 2 protons - an $\mathrm{H}_2^+$ hydrogen molecular ion. – firtree May 9 '13 at 10:03
and why these electrons couldn't conduct in Insulators if they are extended?(thanks) – richard May 9 '13 at 10:07
Ha! That's a great question! That's because all the band is completely filled with electrons, and it consists of a complete set of wave vectors (quasimomenta). Thus, there are as many electrons moving from left to right, as moving from right to left. The total current of these electons is zero, and such bands take no part in conductivity, just the same as completely empty bands. Only partially filled bands can conduct anything, and those appear only in metals, semiconductors and such. See Fig. 1 in en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_band_structure – firtree May 9 '13 at 11:30
then by applying an electric field you can destroy this balance and have current! no? – richard May 9 '13 at 11:39
Your Answer
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Bill Gates Proves to be the Best Secret Santa, Giving One Redditor a Replica Loki Helmet and a Donation in Her Name to a Vaccine-Providing Charity
christmas,random act of kindness,Secret Santa,santa,Bill Gates,g rated,win
- -
Oh right, there was a coffee table book in there as well. But seriously, we were all in it for the Loki helmet.
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A small puck (mass of 0.100 kg) is sliding to the right withan initial speed of 8.00 m/s on a frictionless table. Thepuck collides with a larger puck (mass of 0.400 kg) that isinitially at rest. After the collision the smaller puck movesoff at an angle of 60 degrees to the left of the origianl line ofmotion, and the larger puck moves off at an angle of 30 degrees tothe right of the original line of motion. What are thefinal speeds of the pucks and is this an elastic or inelasticcollision?
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It's no surprise that Disney's upcoming adaptation of "Into the Woods" will be less dark than its source material, but the pic will also feature major plot changes.
According to composer Stephen Sondheim, who wrote the music and lyrics for the less-than-chipper 1987 musical reimagining of classic fairy tales, revealed the new plot details during a recent speaking engagement with high school drama teachers.
To make the pic more family-friendly, Rapunzel (Mackenzie Mauzy) will not die. The film will also be less sexual as Cinderella's Prince (Chris Pine) won't sleep with the Baker's Wife (Emily Blunt) and the relationship between Big Bad Wolf (Johnny Depp) and Red Riding Hood (Lilla Crawford) won't be sexually-laced.
According to Playbill, one of the teachers at the event said he is considering putting on a production of "Into the Woods," but is concerned about the lascivious relationship between Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf.
"You'll be happy to know that Disney had the same objections," Sondheim said. "You will find in the movie that Rapunzel does not get killed and the prince does not sleep with the [Baker's Wife] ... You know, if I were a Disney executive, I probably would say the same thing."
This means that the song "Any Moment" performed during Prince Charming and the Baker's Wife's tryst will "probably" be cut. It's unclear what will happen to "Lament," which the Witch (Meryl Streep) sings after Rapunzel dies, and "Moments in the Woods," which the Baker's Wife's belts out after the Prince leaves. The film will feature two new songs that Sondheim penned with James Lapine.
A teacher then asked how to respond to high school students frustrated with performing edited, PG versions of plays.
"You have to explain to them that censorship is part of our puritanical ethics and it's something that they're going to have to deal with," Sondheim responded. "There has to be a point at which you don't compromise anymore, but that may mean that you won't get anyone to sell your painting or perform your musical. You have to deal with reality."
The movie, directed by Rob Marshall, hits theaters on December 25.
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HIGH on the agenda of John Kerry, America’s secretary of state, as he paid brief visits to Seoul and Beijing this week, was the perennial headache of how to deal with North Korea. It is probably small consolation that at least things are not as bad as they were in 1968. That was the year North Korea seized an American spy ship, the USS Pueblo, killing one crew member and torturing the 82 others it held hostage for nearly a year.
A fine new book, however, “Act of War: Lyndon Johnson, North Korea and the capture of the spy ship Pueblo”, is a reminder also of how little fundamental has changed in the North Korean regime since then. It is still not so much a rogue state as a gangster one, which maintains its power with unmatched brutality at home and sets its own rules abroad.
The book, by Jack Cheevers, a former reporter for the Los Angeles Times, is based on extensive interviews with the crew and others involved in the disaster and on newly declassified material. It is in part a painful human story of the suffering of the crew and in particular its captain, Lloyd M. (“Pete”) Bucher.
They endured terrible physical beatings at the hands of their captors and appalling conditions. And Bucher had to live with the humiliation of being the first American naval commander since 1807 to surrender his ship without a fight—and to a tinpot communist dictatorship, at that, with what Mr Cheevers calls “a bathtub navy”.
As a result North Korea gained access to a treasure trove of American secrets, which it presumably shared with its then ally, the Soviet Union. It was, nearly half a century before the revelations of Edward Snowden, what one historian of America’s National Security Agency called “everyone’s worst nightmare, surpassing in damage anything that had ever happened to the cryptologic community”.
The American debacle was the result of what seems extraordinary incompetence. The Pueblo “groaned under the weight of a small mountain of secret papers”, yet had no means of disposing quickly of them or of its state-of-the art electronic snooping kit. It was too lightly armed to defend itself, yet other ships and planes were too distant to come to its aid when it was hijacked off the North Korean coast. Just before the Pueblo arrived, North Korean radio had threatened “determined countermeasures” against American “spy boats”, and tension had risen when North Korean commandoes were intercepted in South Korea, on a failed mission to assassinate President Park Chung-hee. Yet the warning signs were ignored.
For North Korea, the affair was a triumph. Besides the intelligence windfall, it is still able to portray the capture as a triumph over the superpower, using the Pueblo as a tourist attraction. And it only freed the crew after receiving an abject and untrue American apology.
Two outrageous characteristics of North Korean behaviour in 1968 are still, as it were, official policy. One is a total disregard for international law. The Pueblo was in international waters. Since then North Korea has engaged in terrorist attacks against airliners and in third countries (such as Burma in 1983); in counterfeiting currency and smuggling drugs; in walking out of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty; and, as recently as 2010, in sinking a South Korean naval ship.
Another is the skilful use of the fear of unacceptable escalation to get its way. Lyndon Johnson, at the height of the Vietnam war, was reluctant to open a second front in Korea, fearing that reprisals against the North might provoke it to attack the South, or indeed encourage President Park to invade the North. Now the North’s primitive nuclear arsenal gives its blackmail another deterrent edge. What Mr Cheevers writes about 1968 remains true: that the real danger on the peninsula is “miscalculation by one side about how the other would react to a serious provocation”.
A third aspect of North Korean behaviour then, however, may no longer be tenable. Before signing the humiliating American apology that secured the release of the Pueblo’s crew, the Americans made clear in public that they thought it was nonsense. This did not matter to the North Koreans, since their own people need never know about the “pre-repudiation”.
In dealing with North Korea now it is some comfort to think that its leaders can no longer be so sure their control of information is so impermeable. But then again, that might actually make them even more intransigent.
(Picture credit: AFP)
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pop time warp or lust when alterac valley starts.
#1seabass40Posted 4/25/2013 10:17:59 PM
kids get mad, and scream kick him. lol. grow the *** up.
#2GForceDragonPosted 4/25/2013 10:18:30 PM
Sounds like you're mad that you got kicked for doing that.
#3seabass40(Topic Creator)Posted 4/25/2013 10:19:33 PM
not really, just found it hilarious, it's just a game grow a back bone . and deal with it. so many butt hurt wow players these days
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Huffpost Black Voices
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Patricia Wilson-Smith Headshot
Four Years Later: Are You In?
Posted: Updated:
Are you in? It's the current battle cry of the 2012 version of the Obama Campaign, and though on its surface, it feels like a casual question, it's rife with deeper meaning three-and-a-half years after the historic election of President Barack Obama.
The question is an acknowledgement that a lot has changed in four years. The average Obama supporter is no longer in wide-eyed wonderment over the prospects of electing our first black president -- many of us are still grappling with the socio-economic ravages of Bush Administration policies, and confounded over what seems to be President Obama's commitment to adhering to some of the most unpopular of them. Whatever their race, many of the President's supporters find themselves disappointed in the wake of seemingly broken promises made during the 2008 election, and have been vocal about their belief that President Obama has given up too much in fights with Republicans these last few years.
Even a rabid Obama supporter like me can admit that there have been some disappointing moments this term. I question the wisdom, of expending vast amounts of political capital on waging a protracted healthcare reform fight. I understood the rationale then, and I understand it now -- tackle the sector of our economy that seems most intractable, and that is in the most danger of destroying our nation's ability to sustain a healthy economy and more importantly, a healthy citizenry for the future -- I get it. But waging that fight at a time when the country was literally hemorrhaging jobs that have been too slow to come back can't help but make even the President's biggest supporters wonder what he and his advisors were thinking.
So it's 2012, and even I, the original Black Woman for Obama have to ask myself the question: am I in? It's not just about will I vote for President Obama -- of course I will. The question for me and others like me is will I work myself into the ground again to ensure his re-election? Has he earned it?
In my opinion yes, and to illustrate why, I'll tell you a short tale. I call it, "The Tale of Two Shovels."
So, imagine there's a job -- everyone wants it. And to do this job, you have to be good at doing two things -- digging a hole, and filling it back up with dirt -- that's it. The thing is -- you have to dig this hole in such a way that the one that comes after you, can always either a) start the digging where you left off or b) begin to fill the hole where you left off. Simple, right?
Now imagine that you get this job -- from what you've heard, every one of your predecessors, from the beginning of time, has dug the hole, oh, maybe 5, six feet deep, and worked like crazy to fill it back in. So you know you're going to have to dig a little, or toss a little dirt in, and you're up for the task. But imagine your surprise, on your first day when (shovel in hand), you discover that the guy that had the job before you, has dug a hole 100 feet deep, and left it or you to fill. Oh -- and you have no idea where the dirt is. You still only have 5 feet worth of dirt to fill the hole in with.
In essence -- your predecessor has thrown his shovel down, and run back to his ranch in Texas, I mean, back to wherever he came from, leaving you to deal with the mega-hole. And now, not only are your co-workers pressuring you to fill in the hole, those folks who want the job after you are yelling for you to fill the hole. Everyone everywhere wants you to fill in the hole. Fill it in! Do it now! Yikes.
You try to reason with them -- "my predecessor dug a much bigger hole than he should have, a-and there's no more dirt with which to fill it kind people!", and they tell you to shut your trap! Enough about your predecessor, it's your hole now, and you have to find a way to fill it with dirt! Whiner!
Get the picture? President Obama took office at an historic time for America and the world; 700,000 plus jobs were exiting the economy each month; our auto industry was on the verge of collapse, and in danger of taking another one million jobs with it; the financial institutions in this country were disintegrating in the wake of too much greed and too little regulation and because of an expensive and unjust war in Iraq, our reputation around the world was in tatters -- when President Obama took the oath of office, he had been left with a very deep hole to fill indeed.
And yet -- here we are four years later, with an auto industry that's back on, and with an economy that has added jobs each of the last three months. This is of course not to say that Americans are no longer feeling the pain of the recession, but it can definitely be argued that as a result of Obama's leadership and his administration's policies, a lot of the magical, disappearing dirt has made its way back into the hole. So yes -- I'm in. And you should be too.
Why? Simple. There are important realities that we face as a nation; realities that I believe have informed the President's policies, and which are as important and impactful today as they were then. I call them "the three shuns:"
Globalization: It's a harsh truth -- ability to conduct commerce across shores easily and seamlessly due to technology means that there are many, many jobs that have left this country that are never coming back. Period.
Education: Out of 34 countries, the U.S. ranks 14th in reading, 17th in science and 25th in math. And even as unemployment continues to hover around 8.5 percent, many jobs that require high-tech skills are going unfilled and leaving companies no choice but to look outside our borders for workers they need.
Innovation: In every major recorded recession, it's taken major innovation to spur the country back into economic health. But innovation takes a level of commitment that the nation has lost, and as a result, countries are cleaning our clocks when it comes to keeping up with our infrastructure, and investing in alternate forms of energy.
I'm convinced that President Obama has tried over the last three-and-a-half to manage the country to these realities always, with shovel in hand, trying to restore order to the hole.
And so as I look back on what's been since my time as an Obama volunteer, I can honestly say that no -- this time there may not be the adoring, impassioned crowds, the t-shirts and theme songs. And there may not be the fired up, engaged volunteer corps that helped propel the President into office. So -- that's where Black Women for Obama comes in. It's our job this time to spread the message of his real record -- the record that includes passing the Lily Ledbetter Act to give woman equal pay for an equal days work; a record that includes more financial reforms meant to protect average Americans than any time in history, and an expansion of environmental policies that rivals any recent President. And a record that shows an ability to go after and defeat our enemies, in ways that actually make us safer as a nation, without all the lip service.
I'm in -- I'm still a Black Woman for Obama. I believe in what the next four years will bring, and I believe in the President's ability to bring it. So I hope you'll come on in too -- the political waters are fine.
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By Jason Stipp and Christine Benz | 05-09-2013 03:00 PM
401(k) Pros and Cons
Jason Stipp: I'm Jason Stipp for Morningstar. As company defined-benefit pension plans become a rare species, the 401(k) has become many investors' primary investment vehicle. But they are not all cut from the same cloth. Here to talk about the pros and cons of 401(k)s is Christine Benz, our director of personal finance. Thanks for being here, Christine.
Christine Benz: Jason, great to be here.
Stipp: So 401(k)s can be a great vehicle for investors. In fact, it’s maybe the only choice through your employer for a lot of investors. There are some pros and cons you should keep in mind about investing in 401(k)s. Let's start with the pros of 401(k)s. You say one of the biggest is just the discipline that a 401(k) brings to the retirement-investing process.
Benz: Right. It's enforced discipline. Your contributions go in without you having to lift a finger except to initially get the thing going. So it does keep you investing in good markets and in bad, and that I think tends to serve as a safeguard against investors' own worst behavioral tendencies.
The other thing is that they really make it easy for people who are a little bit lazy about their investments. So you can add on nice features that can get your plan back into whack. So you can put in place auto-escalation in a lot of plans, so your contributions bump up if you get a raise in salary. You can also auto-rebalance if you want to have your portfolio periodically scaled back to your target allocation. So those are additional features that a lot of plans have these days, and they really make it quite easy to stay disciplined and stay on track with your plan.
Stipp: Another very important feature of many 401(k) plans is some form of employer match, which can really make your money work a lot harder.
Benz: Absolutely. So regardless of the quality of your plan, once you've done a little bit of homework on what the investment options are like, you do want to contribute at least enough to earn that match if your company is indeed offering one. That's something that you will not get, obviously, if you invest outside of the confines of a plan.
Stipp: One thing that a plan can bring to investors is because it may be a bigger company you might have access to funds you wouldn't necessarily have access to otherwise, or you might get a better deal on some of those funds perhaps?
Benz: Absolutely. So there are institutional share classes of mutual funds. They often feature very, very low costs alongside the share classes that are available to retail investors buying the funds on their own. So that is a nice perk for 401(k) investors. If they are in a larger plan where the management company has swung a nice deal on behalf of participants, your total cost load for owning that plan can be very, very low.
An additional thing, Jason, is that there are investment types that only appear within 401(k) plans. You won't find outside of them. So stable-value funds, for example, would be one option. The key feature there is that you do typically get a higher interest rate than you would earn on your cash, but you get all of the safety or nearly all of the safety of cash, or you get cashlike attributes, I should say. People who invest in the Thrift Savings Plan that is available to federal government employees have a nice option that is somewhat similar called the G Fund, where you have higher interest rates, but again a lot of safety built in. You will not get these particular funds outside of the 401(k)/403(b) plan confines.
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Edition: U.S. / Global
Cuba After Castro
Published: April 9, 2000
To the Editor:
With all due respect to Gary Hart (Op-Ed, April 2), whether the United States has formal diplomatic relations with Cuba is irrelevant to Elian Gonzalez's well-being and to the larger question of Cuba policy, since we have had such ties since the late 1970's, disguised as liaison offices in Washington and Havana.
The American interest, whether couched in moral terms or political ones, lies in helping Cubans prepare for life after Fidel Castro. A post-Castro Cuba is likely to be politically unstable, economically needy and a constant source of immigrants. A violent struggle among his successors would be likely to prompt American military intervention.
Unless this is what Americans want, we should lift economic sanctions (which after 40 years have failed to oust Mr. Castro), except those directed at the military and other agents of repression. Let the market do what it did for Eastern Europe and set the stage for a more liberal Cuba.
Boca Raton, Fla., April 5, 2000
The writer was United States ambassador to Costa Rica, 1980-83.
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Chapter 8: Easy Is the Flow
The first question:
Am I a restless, confused buddha and only need to accept right now the peculiar nature of my buddhahood, or is it different from and comes after all this stuff happening now?
You are a buddha from the very beginning, as everybody else is. Buddhahood is the source and the goal. You are a buddha from the very beginning, and you will remain a buddha to the very end. The only question is of recognizing it, not of realizing it. Real, it is already; real it is. Realization is not the question, but recognition, a turning in. That is the meaning of the word conversion: turning upon oneself.
Consciousness is continuously engaged by objects. It moves outwards. Its engagement, its commitment, is to the without. When you disengage it from the without and allow it to fall within itself the recognition arises. Then you start tasting your being for the first time. You have been tasting the other for millions of your lives, and the other only keeps you occupied; nothing else ever happens. The other only keeps you engaged with toys. And as you are engaged with the other, the other is engaged with you - because you are the other for him or her.
To look at the other and forget oneself is ignorance. To remember oneself and forget the other is awakening. And once you have become awakened to yourself, recognized your buddhahood, then you can look outside too. Then never again is the other to be found. If you have come to know who you are, the other disappears in that very knowledge.
This is the paradoxical nature of self-recognition: when you recognize the self, the self disappears, and with the self, the other. The other cannot exist without the self. I-thou exists as a pair. They are not two words, it is a pair-word. You cannot separate them. You go on looking at the other; in the shadow the I is created. And you remain engaged with the other, and you go on falling into new traps, new games. The other is the world.
Turning in..
But you are too concerned with turning on. You are turned on by the other. You become excited with the other, you want to explore the other; hence you continue moving always in the other and remain unrecognized, remain unremembered, remain unaware. Buddhahood is nothing but becoming engaged with oneself. And once you know who you are the I disappears, and with the disappearance of the I, the you, thou, the other, disappears. Then it is all one. There is nothing in and nothing out. That is what is called enlightenment.
You ask me,
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IMF fiscal policy and income inequality paper
Oxfam spokesperson Nicolas Mombrial said:
"This is the final judgment on inequality being bad for growth."
"The IMF says it does not endorse particular policies for redistribution, but their evidence is clear: The solutions to fighting inequality are investing in health care and education, and progressive taxation."
"Austerity policies do the opposite, they worsen inequality."
"It’s concerning that the IMF does not identify corporate tax dodging as a driver of inequality. For growth to be sustained it must be shared more equally, and companies must pay their fair share."
"We hope this signals a long term change in IMF policy advice to countries - to invest in health and education and more progressive fiscal policies."
Contact information:
Caroline Hooper-Box + 1 202 321 2967
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Women joined the workforce in WWIIDuring the Second World War, women proved that they could do "men's" work, and do it well. With men away to serve in the military and demands for war material increasing, manufacturing jobs opened up to women and upped their earning power. Yet women's employment was only encouraged as long as the war was on. Once the war was over, federal and civilian policies replaced women workers with men.
The Boom
After the war, the birth rate increased dramatically. Although many people assume that the baby boom happened because peace and prosperity returned, historian Elaine Tyler May points out in Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era that the rise in the number of births went far beyond what was expected from a return to peace. Previous periods of post-war prosperity, notably the period after World War I, had not led to such dramatic increases in marriage and childbearing. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Americans in their childbearing years had weathered the Depression and a devastating war, and they were living under a cloud of possible nuclear war. After studying statistics, personal testimony, and popular culture imagery and language, May concluded, "Americans turned to the family as a bastion of safety in an insecure world... cold war ideology and the domestic revival [were] two sides of the same coin."
Rigid Gender Roles
The dramatic dichotomy in gender imagery in the 1950s makes people laugh 50 years later. In Dick and Jane readers, advertisements, educational films, and television shows, post-war Americans saw feminine, stay-at-home moms cleaning, cooking, and taking care of children while masculine dads left home early and returned late each weekday, tending to their designated roles as lawnmowers and backyard BBQers on the weekend. In More Work for Mother, Ruth Schwartz Cowan wrote that psychiatrists, psychologists, and popular writers of the era critiqued women who wished to pursue a career, and even women who wished to have a job, referring to such "unlovely women" as "lost," "suffering from penis envy," "ridden with guilt complexes," or just plain "man-hating."
Yet Married Women Worked
With the international expansionTupperware targeted women who were interested in working of the American economy after the war, men's wages were higher than ever before, making it possible for the first time in U.S. history for a substantial number of middle class families to live comfortably on the income of one breadwinner. Yet the figures reveal that by the early 1960s, more married women were in the labor force than at any previous time in American history.
Domesticity and Money Pressures
The reality of many middle- and aspiring middle-class families' finances didn't match their dreams. Many families wanted extra income -- and required a wife's earnings -- to afford the lifestyle they desired. Yet middle-class women felt the pressure of the culture telling them to stay home. Many also had little desire to work in the nine-to-five jobs open to them. They didn't want to be factory workers, secretaries, bookkeepers or department store salespeople in an increasingly bureaucratic, corporate workplace, which demanded that home and work life be clearly separated. In The Organization Man, a best-selling book of the period, William Whyte, Jr. wrote that organization men "are the ones of our middle class who have left home, spiritually as well as physically, to take the vows of organization life." How could a woman reconcile the ideal of female domesticity and the desire to earn?
Home-Centered and Lucrative
Tupperware home sales offered a solution, providing women with work they could do in their homes -- part-time, for as many or as few hours as they chose, on flexible schedules that accommodated the needs of children and the demands of housework. Home party selling allowed women to do income-producing work they didn't need to call "work," but instead "having parties." When they joined "the Tupperware family," they didn't need to leave their own families behind.
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Multiverse (DC Comics)
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A depiction of several alternate Earths within the Multiverse and the variations of the Flash inhabiting each Earth. Art by Dan Jurgens and Art Thibert
The Multiverse, within DC Comics publications, is a "cosmic construct" collecting many of the fictional universes in which the published stories take place. The worlds in this multiverse share a space and fate in common and its structure has changed several times in the history of DC Comics.[1]
Golden Age[edit]
The concept of a universe and a multiverse in which the fictional stories take place was loosely established during the Golden Age. There was not a consistent continuity, many stories were forgotten or dismissed in order to tell new stories. In addition, stories in other publications had no influence nor relation between each other. With the publication of All-Star Comics #3 in 1940, the first crossover between characters occurred with the creation of the Justice Society of America which presented the first super hero team with characters appearing in other publications (comic strips and anthology titles) to bring attention to less known characters. Characters with their own titles became "honorary members".
In 1941, World's Best Comics No.1 showcased the first cover with Superman and Batman and Robin appearing together. However, it was merely in the cover, as these characters were considered to be worlds apart as the stories from Superman were filled with superpowers and Sci-Fi and Batman dealt with crime and mysteries in situations similar to the real world.
Later in 1952, in Superman #76, the first adventure with Superman and Batman working together was published. This story put the most important heroes of DC Comics in the same fictional world ipso facto.
Wonder Woman #59 (May 1953) presented the DC Comics' first story depicting a parallel "mirror" world. Wonder Woman is transported to a twin Earth where she meets Tara Terruna who is exactly like her. Tara Terruna means in the native language of that world, Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman describes this world as being a twin world existing alongside with Earth with duplicates of everyone but with a different development. It is not stated that the "twin" Earth was in a "twin" Universe, though. The concept of different versions of the world and its heroes was revisited in the pages of Wonder Woman several times later.
Silver Age[edit]
Led by editor Julius Schwartz and writer Gardner Fox, DC Comics' super heroes were given a "reboot" with the publication of Showcase #4 in 1956 where a new version of The Flash made its first appearance. The success of this new Flash led the creation of new incarnations of the Golden Age characters who only shared the names and powers but had different secret identities, origins and stories. Later, new versions of other heroes, namely, Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, were also restarted by retelling their origins but keeping their secret identities.
Gardner Fox, who worked before in the creation of the JSA, where other heroes met for the first time, created the story "Flash of Two Worlds" in The Flash #123, where Barry Allen, the new Flash, is transported to the Earth where the original Flash, Jay Garrick, existed. To Allen, Jay Garrick's world was a work of fiction as it was in the real world. A key concept of the Multiverse was told in this story: each universe vibrates at a specific frequency which keeps them separated, by "tuning" to that vibration, an individual is capable of breaking the "barriers" between the universes, in the case of Allen, he "tuned" his entire body by vibrating and was capable to travel to the other Earth, in the case of Gardner Fox himself and other comic book writers in Barry Allen's Earth, their minds tuned to Jay Garrick's world and had dreams of the happenings of that world, which they later wrote as comic book stories.
The success of this story led to the first team crossover between the new Justice League of America and the Golden Age JSA, in the stories Crisis on Earth-One (Justice League of America #21) and Crisis on Earth-Two (Justice League of America #22). This story arc started a tradition of a yearly crossover between the JLA and the JSA and established firmly the concept of a Multiverse and the designation of names, being Earth-One the JLA reality and Earth-Two the JSA reality. The success of these crossovers spawned publications telling the further stories of the Golden Age heroes in the present day parting from many of the stories told, thus, establishing a more defined continuity for every Universe.
This concept of parallel Earths with differences in locations, persons and historical events became a very important ingredient within DC Comics' publications. It helped (among other things) to explain continuity errors, retell and retcon stories and incorporate foreign elements that could actively interact with everything else and allowing them to have an "existence". Continuity flaws between the established Earth-Two and several stories from the Golden Age, were given separate earths. "Imaginary" stories and some time divergences of Earth-One were given also separate realities (such as Earth-B and Earth-A). In addition to the stories appearing mainly in the pages of JLA that created new Earths, the acquisition of other comic book companies and characters by DC Comics, brought even more Earths to the Multiverse. By the 1970s, everything that was published or related officially to DC Comics' titles could become part of the Multiverse, although much of it remained largely uncatalogued.
The names of the worlds were usually in the format Earth, hyphen, spelled numeral/letter/name. In the case of worlds with numerals, the "rule" of spelling the number was not always followed, even within the pages of the same issue.
Crisis on Infinite Earths[edit]
As the 50th anniversary of DC Comics was close, major events were proposed for the celebration: an encyclopedia (Who's Who) and a crossover throughout the ages, characters and worlds appearing in DC Comics. As told in the letter section of Crisis On Infinite Earths #1, as the research started in the late 70's, it became evident the many flaws in continuity. The way used to circumvent some of these errors was the "Multiple Earths" which also showed a chaotic nature that brought even more continuity problems that were not easily explained or were simply left unexplained. Examples of this included, Black Canary of Earth-One being the daughter of the original Black Canary of WWII even though the original Black Canary was a resident of Earth-Two, and the existence of Golden Age comic books on Earth-One and the people not noticing that some of the characters in those comic books existed in "real-life". In addition, many universes had multiple alternate timelines, such as Kamandi and the Legion of Super-Heroes, both being form Earth-One.
Writer Marv Wolfman took this crossover event as an opportunity to reform all the fictional universe of DC Comics to avoid further continuity errors and update the DC characters to modern times. The whole Multiverse is destroyed except for 5 Earths (Silver Age Earth-One, Golden Age Earth-Two, Fawcett Comics Earth S, Quality Comics' Freedom Fighters Earth X and Charlton Comics Earth 4). Later, the universe is recreated as one single universe from those five.
Modern Age[edit]
DC Comics[edit]
After the conclusion of Crisis on Infinite Earths, the concept of a single Universe containing most elements of the "surviving Earths" was established and heavily enforced to avoid the continuity problems of the Multiverse. However, alternate realities affecting the new DC Universe made their appearance very quickly. In Superman Vol.2 #8, a Universe inside the Universe was revealed to have been created to preserve the Legion of Super Heroes' 30th century in New Earth. This world was used to allow crossovers with certain characters of the Legion of Super-Heroes and recreate characters that otherwise couldn't exist in the new continuity (such as Kryptonians as in the New Earth, Superman was the only survivor of Krypton). Alternate timelines were also used, being most notable the event Armageddon 2001 in 1991. An Antimatter Universe existed as well which had some "reversed" events in a similar way as the former Earth-Three. The Earth within this Universe was called "Earth 2". In addition, there was a Limbo, where some heroes and characters that could not be brought back to "existence" after the Crisis on Infinite Earths, lived outside the Universe.
An important rule in the new DC Universe was that there could only be one timeline, so any change caused by time travelers caused the destruction of their timelines of origin. Changes in the past were often "fixed" or have to comply with the present to prevent continuity errors.
Nonetheless, continuity errors appeared. The retold origin of Hawkman presented errors regarding the existence of the Golden Age version (Carter Hall) and the Silver Age version (Katar Hol) in the same continuity without a good explanation. The interaction of "possible timelines" also created continuity holes. This led to a new crisis to address the problem: The Zero-Hour. The resulting universe had a slightly re-written story with no continuity errors even though it was acknowledged that reality-shattering events did happen (including Crisis on Infinite Earths). This Universe kept the concept of one universe, one timeline. Such timeline was "mapped" from beginning to present (1994) at the back cover of Zero Hour #0, it also included certain key dates in the future.
The need to publish stories outside the strict DC Universe continuity led to the creation of certain DC imprints. Stories that set DC characters in different situations published by DC Comics after the Crisis On Infinite Earths, were considered "imaginary stories" under the Elseworlds imprint. None of these stories were ever to be included in the "real" continuity of the DC Universe.
Certain characters were reinvented in a mature context and were published under the Vertigo imprint. Most of the times, the tales depicted within the Vertigo imprint had no relation to the original DC Universe versions or the events in this imprint had no influence over the new Universe.
Later, DC Comics published under a special publishing deal with Milestone Media a new series of comic books that told the stories of the heroes living in Dakota City, formed mostly by African-American super heroes and other minorities. These characters lived in a universe separated from the DC Universe (known as the Dakotaverse or Milestone Universe). The event World's Collide presented one of the first modern intercompany crossovers within the established continuity of the Universes instead of being "imaginary" and showed that there could be other Universes or even Multiverses outside the new DC Universe.
In a similar way to World's Collide, the crossover event DC VERSUS Marvel Comics/Marvel Comics VERSUS DC showed another in-continuity crossover with another reality completely separated from the DC Universe and that has a Multiverse of its own: Earth-616 of the Marvel Multiverse.
In summary, from 1986 to 1999, everything not happening in the "mainstream" continuity appearing in DC Comics, was either an "apocryphal" story or happened in a completely different and separated reality/Universe/Multiverse that could not be easily crossed-over.
The universes were rarely referred to with specific names within the stories but were named in the "Real World" (both officially and unofficially) using the name of the editorial, imprint or even an element in particular.
While in the comic books the concept of a "real" Multiverse was avoided, the Multiverse played an important role in cartoon series and live-action shows (see Other versions).
In 1999, the unexpected and overwhelming success of Elseworlds: Kingdom Come and other stories, led to the creation of the concept known as Hypertime in order to publish crossovers with those characters and the mainstream continuity. This structure gave "existence" to alternate timelines, stories in Elseworlds, appearances in other media and any other appearance of DC characters in the past. The main timeline or "Central Timeline" was like a river and all of the alternate stories were branches of it. Hypertime was similar to the former Multiverse as it allowed each and every reality ever published to co-exist and interact as most branches tend to return to the original stream (explaining some retcons as well as crossovers). However, all realities existed within only one Universe.
Originally, the stories appearing in WildStorm Productions' comic books occurred in a Universe that was part of the Image Universe along with other characters appearing in Image publications. It was separated from it during the event Shattered Image consolidating the separate WildStorm Universe which had its own Multiversal structure. After the purchase of WildStorm by DC Comics, crossovers occurred with the new DC Universe which were still separated just like Milestone and Marvel.
21st Century[edit]
In 2005, a new universal crisis story arc was published as a way to update once more the super heroes of DC Comics, bring together other "realities" (namely, Milestone and Wildstorm) and bring back the Multiverse, this time with a limited number of Earths instead of infinite.
During the event Infinite Crisis, the Universe was "splintered" and the original Multiverse was restored briefly, showing that the entire Hypertime and many other appearances of the DC characters, were part of the original Multiverse, including Tangent Comics which were published 12 years after the Multiverse was no more. In the end of Infinite Crisis, the multiverse is merged back as a New Earth with a new continuity with many stories re-written and many others from the Modern Age still happening.
In parallel, Captain Atom: Armageddon tells the story of how Captain Atom of the DC Universe causes the recreation of the Wildstorm Universe upon its destruction (and possibly its Multiverse as well). The recreated universe became part of the newly recreated DC Universe.
The aftermath of Infinite Crisis and Captain Atom: Armageddon (52, 'Countdown and Final Crisis) showed that a new Multiverse was created. The new Multiverse consisted of 52 positive matter universes, an Antimatter Universe and a Limbo. The main continuity still occurred in New Earth (also called Earth-0), Earths 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 10 resembled Earths One, Two, Three, Four, S, and X of the original Multiverse respectively. Earths 13 and 50 were Vertigo and the rebooted Wildstorm Universe. Many important stories from the Elseworld imprint were also given Earths within this new Multiverse.
In the miniseries, Milestone Forever, in a similar fashion as Captain Atom: Armageddon, the events that led to the end of the Dakotaverse and its integration to the new DC continuity are revealed. Most of the stories that were told in Milestone Comics publications now occurred in New Earth and the Dakotaverse ceased to exist as a separated Universe.
A naming convention was established and followed this time in the format Earth, hyphen, numeral, from Earth-0 to Earth-51.
Even with a new Multiverse, not every published or related work had an "Earth" within the 52 and there were no in-continuity intercompany crossovers.
Taking advantage of the fact that many of these universes were mostly unchronicled or merely glimpsed and that Final Crisis also changed the Multiverse slightly, many stories featuring alternate worlds and their interactions were published, which led certain inconsistencies and retcons to appear, such as Earth-1 being originally a "mirror" of Earth-One and later being the reality of J. Michael Straczynski's Superman: Earth One or Earth-16 being the home of an alternate Superman/Christopher Kent, the home of the Super-Sons, and later the reality of the Young Justice TV series. Also, some Universes appearing in the new continuity were never given a proper place within the 52 Universe, such as Prime-Earth.
The New 52[edit]
The new restored universe with only 52 worlds opened a myriad of possibilities for new stories and crossovers with different versions of heroes interacting with the main versions of heroes as well as the stories resulting from the new integrated characters from Milestone and Wildstorm. However, it became chaotic in just 5 years. Many stories and situations of other Universes were not followed well. The number designations could be completely disregarded from story to story and some universes were recreated over and over. In addition, as most of the history of the Modern Age was still being the main continuity, younger readers could not follow the stories of the mainstream versions of the DC Heroes, just as it happened prior to the original Crisis on Infinite Earths.
In order to overcome these new problems, a new event was created to restart the DC Comics' Universe. In the Flashpoint miniseries (May–September 2011), The Flash alters the timeline of Earth-0 creating a ripple effect that affected several past events, Earth-13 (Vertigo Universe) and Earth-50 (new Wildstorm Universe).[2] Similar to the end result of Crisis on Infinite Earths, a new mainstream Earth is created from the former three, with a whole new history.[3] Most of the stories have been retold anew but certain events of New Earth remain (such as Batgirl being crippled by The Joker). Since it was established after Infinite Crisis that if something ever happened to the main Universe, the whole Multiverse could be affected as well, a new Multiverse of 52 worlds was also recreated. This new Multiverse is called The New 52.
This time, not all universes were revealed right away, only a couple were revealed in the first two years of The New 52. In addition, in a similar fashion as the Elseworlds logo would appear in comics that did not occur in the "real" continuity, the logo THE NEW 52! would only appear in publications with stories occurring in the new continuity, while those taking place outside of this new continuity (such as Smallville: Season 11 or Batman Beyond Universe) would not bear this distinction. At first it seemed that there was not going to be a naming convention for the Earths as it happened with the 52. The mainstream continuity was known as Prime Earth, although it was not a similar world to the real world as Earth-Prime was. J. Michael Straczynski's re-envisioning of classic Batman and Superman stories was released as part of a series called Earth One. In Grant Morrison's The Multiversity (2014–), the Earths are named in the same format as in the former 52 Multiverse (Earth-6, Earth-7, Earth-8 etc.) Morrison intends for The Multiversity to reveal remaining universes of The New 52 multiverse, and the underlying structure for the multiverse was revealed in a detailed map in the back of several comic books, for which an interactive online version is being maintained and updated on the DC Comics website.
Fictional history, structure and worlds of the DC Multiverse[edit]
Infinite Multiverse[edit]
As told in Crisis on Infinite Earths #7, the DC Universe was a single positive matter Universe until a scientist named Krona from the planet Oa, altered the very moment of the creation of the Universe, causing it to split into countless similar universes and an antimatter universe. Oa, however, had no duplicates in the Multiverse but did have a twin in the antimatter universe: Qward. A satellite on each of these planets was created in the cataclysm and it was there where the embodiments of the Multiverse were born: The Monitor and the Antimonitor.
The Multiverse had countless duplicates of planet Earth. Every Earth had a different history from one another but they always developed heroes and inspired heroic ages (which, according to Harbinger, it somehow made them a focal point among all the worlds in every universe). Some of the heroes of Earth knew about other Earths and their own counterparts and fought side by side in many occasions.
Later, a scientist from Earth named Kell Mossa (known initially only as Pariah)) created another device that would allow him to the same thing Krona had attempted before. His actions allowed the antimatter universe to enter and "devour" his universe and start the destruction of the positive Multiverse. Pariah thought that he had awaken the Antimonitor in the process, but it was later revealed that the Antimonitor simply used him to enter the Multiverse. The time period of Earth when this take place or the name of the Earth are never revealed.
The Monitor is awakened by the destruction of the positive matter universes and starts a plan to save the Multiverse but his efforts and later those of his protégé, Harbinger, with the help of the heroes of the Multiverse, only manage to save 5 universes. In a desperate effort to save all existence, heroes and villains unite in order to stop Krona from splitting the Universe and stop the Antimonitor from altering the moment of creation and make the Antimatter Universe the only one. They succeed in saving all existence but in the process, the Multiverse, its countless duplicate worlds and its history ceased to exist.
All the Universes existed within the same space but had a unique vibration that kept them separated. Only by "tunning" to the specific frequency of a Universe, a person could leap to another Earth, as Barry Allen discovered as he tried to perform disappearing act by vibrating his molecules at super speed (Flash #123). The "speedster" later developed a machine called "Cosmic Treadmill", which when it was used by people who controlled the Speed Force, it allowed the users to trespass the "vibrational barriers". Magic and cosmic incidents also made many people to travel to other universes.
Every Universe could have its own dimensions, such as the fifth dimension (where Mr. Mxyztplk, Mr Mxyzptlk and Bat-Mite came from), alternate timelines (Kamandi and the 30th Century of Earth-One) and realms (Hell, Heaven, Gemworld, etc.). Additional to the unique Antimatter Universe, the dimension of the New Gods (Fourth World) existed aside of the Multiverse and was also unique, although there's evidence that there could have been alternate versions of them (as those appearing in Earth-17 and Earth-Crossover).
Even though the interaction between multiple Earths was common in the 20th Century with relative safety and ease, most of the population of Earth was unaware of the Multiverse until Crisis on Infinite Earths.
The following is a short list of the most notable universes in the Multiverse.
DC Universe and The Megaverse[edit]
15 billion years ago, a single Universe with a single timestream was created. 4.4 billion years ago, Krona, the renegade Maltusian (a race of highly evolved beings) creates the Antimatter Universe and releases entropy in the universe by linking the beginning and the end of the timeline in his attempts to reveal the secrets of the creation of the universe.
In this single universe, the timeline was destroyed in the early 1990s by Hal Jordan (possessed by Parallax) and created an slightly changed timeline (Zero Hour, 1994). It was later revealed that this Central Timeline was like a river with branches. This branches were like different realities, the history of Earth was different in every branch and everything could be possible in them. They could affect the Central Timeline as they return to the mainstream and the heroes could encounter with different versions of themselves. However, they where somewhat ephemeral as the Central Timeline is the only one that could prevail (The Kingdom, 1999).
After Crisis on Infinite Earths, there was no place for alternate realities, although they could exist in the form of ephemeral timelines (Hypertime), dimensions (such as the fifth dimension or the Fourth World) or Universes inside the Universe (Legion of Super-Heroes' Pocket Universe, Amalgam Universe).
However, there was contact with realities that existed outside the Universe such as those from Marvel, Milestone and Wildstorm. The collection of universes, multiverses and others that are unrelated, is most of the times called Megaverse. Some also call it the Omniverse but tend to include the Real World when using this denomination.
The contact of these worlds usually brought cataclysms, being the most common, the amalgamation. Traveling between these realities was extremely hard, only two characters were capable of doing so with natural abilities: Rift, who existed in both the DC and Milestone Universes, and Access, who had the task of keeping DC and Marvel separated to prevent amalgamation.
Most of the times, these events were either forgotten (as shown in the Unlimited Access miniseries as Access has the power to annul or restore the memories of heroes) or believed to be "dreams" (as shown in DC/Milestone: Worlds Collide and DC/Wildstorm: Dreamwar), which in the end left few traces of the events in the respective continuities.
The Wilstorm Universe was part of a larger multiverse but was separated after a multiversal cataclysm, forming a multiverse of its own (Shattered Image). Organizations known as Planetary and The Authority were capable of traveling across the Multiverse and were also able to map it. Its structure was described as a web of 196,833 universes arranged in a pattern resembling a snowflake, each universe separated from its neighbors by a medium called the Bleed. The Bleed prevented the Universes from colliding and was inhabited by "fauna" that despised all different Earths.
Alexander Luthor Jr. of Earth-Three, and Superboy of Earth-Prime grew tired of their exile. After successfully escaping their prison, they seek to restore their worlds and search for a perfect new world as they believe the happenings at New Earth after the Crisis make it a flawed reality. The whole Multiverse is restored but with great instability that could cause the end of all existence (Infinite Crisis). In parallel to this events, Captain Atom arrives in a different Multiverse, jeopardizing the very existence of it, in the end, Void destroys the now corrupted universe in order to recreate it (Captain Atom: Armageddon).
The heroes of Earth manage to merge back the Multiverse into a single universe but it could not hold so much energy. 52 identical worlds are created to liberate such energy. Mister Mind, finally in his ultimate form, has the power to devour parts of the time continuum, literally eating parts of the Earths' history creating major differences between each other(52[4]) [5]
In the Universe where the city of Dakota existed, a man known as Dharma, foresaw the final demise of Earth and searched for a way to avert it. His very efforts were responsible for that apocalypse he tried to prevent. He managed to salvage the remains of his Earth by merging them to the main Earth of the new Multiverse that was reformed after the death of the New Gods (Milestone Forever, Final Crisis).
This Multiverse consisted of only 52 worlds, 51 resting upon Earth. According to Rip Hunter in 52 #52, every universe occupied the same space, each on a different vibrational plane (as it was in the original Multiverse). However, it was stated later that the universes were also separated by a fluid known as the Bleed (just like in the former Wildstorm Universe). The Bleed is interconnected to the Source Wall (which separates existence from the force that created it or "The Source") and the Multiversal Nexus, where the 52 Monitors watched over the Multiverse and had the task of avoiding contacts between the universes that could cause cataclysms. If the main Earth should be destroyed, it would cause a chain reaction, destroying the rest of the 51 universes and leaving the opposite Antimatter Universe in existence. Each of the alternate universes have their own parallel dimensions, divergent timelines, microverses, etc., branching off them.[6] The Monitors originated in a world called Nil and were a sort of descendants of the original Monitor, who was created by Overvoid, a limitless intelligence who investigated the Multiverse at the beginning of time. Nix Uotan, the Monitor of Earth-51 erased the Monitors as they self-proclaimed the judges of what happened in the worlds of the Multiverse.
The New 52[edit]
The Flash wakes up in an altered timeline. As he tries to find the cause, he discovers that he was responsible for the alteration and attempts to fix it. In doing so, it is revealed that the timelines of Earth-0, Earth-13 and Earth-50 were originally one but were splintered. The result is a new timeline formed by those three and along with it came a new history for the other 52 worlds within the Multiverse (Flashpoint, 2011).
Years later, The Harbinger Program at the House of Heroes gathers several heroes of the "Orrery" to fight against a force known as the "Gentry" who have already decimated Earth-7 and threaten the rest of the worlds of the Multiverse. As the story unfolds, Earths within the Orrery are visited and reveal the new nature of them after the Flashpoint event. Also, mysterious comic books published by DC and Major (Marvel) appear and are believed to be cursed or to be messages from parallel earths (The Multiversity, 2014).
Several stories and even the structure of the entire Multiverse have been retold after the events of Flashpoint. As it has been revealed so far, most of the 52 worlds suffered drastic changes such as Earth-2 which is now a reboot in the present day of the heroes that formed the Justice Society or Earth-3 which reverted to be the opposite of the main Earth (Earth-0 in this case), instead of the opposite of Earth-2. Others retain most of what they were in the 52 multiverse such as Earth-5, Earth-10 or Earth-23. The Monitors are now described as a race of countless members and only 52 remained after the CRISIS event, suggesting that there were Monitors for every world in the original Multiverse instead of just one. Several elements that have appeared across the history to what now is DC Comics have also been actively incorporated in the new structure, such as The Source (The New Gods), The Bleed (Wildstorm's The Authority), the Speed Force and the vibrational barriers (The Flash) and the Rock of Eternity (SHAZAM!).
This new Multiverse has a sphere-like structure with several levels (or Vibrational Realms) as described in the map:[7]
• The Source Wall: the limit of existence, beyond lies the Source and the Unknowable. The Overvoid is shown in the map to exist outside it as well.
• Monitor Sphere: origin of the Monitor race who preserve and study the universe.
• Limbo: "where matter and memory break down". Place were the lost and forgotten go.
• Sphere of the Gods: within it, the realms of old and new gods, demons and even dreams exist.
• Speed Force Wall: also known as the Speed of Light and is the limit to matter. Within it is the Orrery of Worlds and certain worlds exist in it (such as Krakkl's world).
• Orrery of Worlds: realm where the 52 universes exist in the same space, vibrating at different frequencies, within the Bleed. In the center of it are the Rock of Eternity and the House of Heroes.
Print collections[edit]
Contact between the universes (or stories set on the other Earths) have been reprinted in the following graphic novels.
Title Material collected
Crisis on Multiple Earths: The Team-Ups
Volume 1 The Flash #123, 129, 137, 151
Showcase #55-56
Green Lantern vol. 2, #40
The Brave and the Bold #61
The Spectre #7
Volume 2 The Atom #29, 36
The Brave and the Bold #62
The Flash #170, 173
Green Lantern vol. 2, #45, 52
The Spectre #3[22]
Crisis on Multiple Earths
Volume 1 Justice League of America #21-22, 29-30, 37-38, 46-47
Volume 2 Justice League of America #55-56, 64-65, 73-74, 82-82
Volume 3 Justice League of America #91-92, 100-102, 107-108, 113
Volume 4 Justice League of America #123-124, 135-137, 147-148
Volume 5 Justice League of America #159-160, 171-172, 183-185
Justice Society
Volume 1 All Star Comics #58-67
DC Special #29
Volume 2 All Star Comics #68-74
Adventure Comics #461-466
Crisis on Infinite Earths Issues #1-12
Infinite Crisis Issues #1-7
Lord Havok and the Extremists Issues #1-6
Countdown: Arena Issues #1-4
Power Girl Showcase #97-99
Secret Origins #11
JSA Classified #1-4
(contains a few plot-related pages from JSA #32 and #39)
Showcase Presents: Shazam Shazam #1-20, 26-29, 33
(stories are set on Earth-S)
Huntress: Dark Knight Daughter DC Comics Super Stars #11
Batman Family #18-20
Wonder Woman #271-287, 289-290, 294-295
52 Issues #1-52
Countdown to Final Crisis Issues #51-1
Other versions[edit]
Teen Titans Go! #48 introduces its own multiverse. Each world pays references to various incarnation of the Teen Titans. The worlds shown are:
• The majority of the story is set on a world which is menaced by the Teen Tyrants (evil Teen Titans), and is defended by the Brotherhood of Justice (heroic versions of the Brotherhood of Evil). Similar to Earth-3.
• Malchior's (from the Teen Titans episode "Spellbound") homeworld.
• A world similar to the past from the Teen Titans episode "Cyborg the Barbarian".
• A world containing the teen Lobo.
• A world consisting of the animalistic Teen Titans (from the Teen Titans episode "Bunny Raven").
• Another future timeline with Nightwing (from the Teen Titans episode "How Long Is Forever").
• A world consisting of the Chibi Titans.
• A world in which the Teen Titans (as depicted in the Silver Age comics) consist of Robin, Speedy, Wonder Girl, Aqualad, and Kid Flash.
• The home of Larry the Titan.
• A futuristic world where the Teen Titans consist of Nightwing (a vampirish version, based on Dagon of the Team Titans), Battalion (who resembles Cyborg), Mirage (who resembles Raven), and Killowat.
Super Friends[edit]
In the animated television series Super Friends, the superhero team has encounters with other universes, including the world of Qward. In the episode "Universe of Evil", a freak accident causes Superman to switch places with his evil counterpart.
DC Animated Universe[edit]
The DC animated universe (DCAU) has depicted the Multiverse many times. Several characters from the main DCAU have visited parallel universes that were similar to the DCAU.
• In the Superman: The Animated Series episode "Brave New Metropolis", Lois Lane fell into a parallel Earth where Superman and Lex Luthor had taken over Metropolis, turning it into a fascist police-state.
• In the Justice League episode "Legends", several members of the League were accidentally sent to a parallel universe where John Stewart's comic book idols, a pastiche of the Justice Society of America named the Justice Guild of America, live. One member of the Justice Guild hypothesized that there are an infinite number of parallel dimensions.
• In the Justice League episode "A Better World", the Justice League were held captive by their authoritarian counterparts from another universe, the "Justice Lords". In this universe, Lex Luthor had risen to the U.S. Presidency and had started a war which had killed the Flash, sparking the Lords' takeover of the world. Later in the series, the regular Lex Luthor ran for President solely to enrage Superman.
• In the Justice League Unlimited episode "Question Authority", the Question is surfing through Cadmus's files on a computer. One of the files is titled "Multiverse" and another file shows footage from the episode "A Better World" where the alternate Superman murders Lex Luthor. Ironically, after viewing files on the Justice Lords, he initially believes that instead of looking at an alternate universe, he is looking at the future of the universe in which the League lives. The exact means by how Cadmus came into possession of footage from the death of President Luthor seen in "A Better World" remains unknown.
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman[edit]
In Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, the show's primary protagonists, Lois Lane and Clark Kent, encountered an alternative version Clark Kent from a parallel universe in the episodes "Tempus, Anyone?" and "Lois & Clarks". In the episode "Tempus, Anyone?", the dimension included these differences:
The primary version of Lois, who was abducted by the villain Tempus and taken to this dimension, helped the alternate Clark become Superman, only to have Tempus expose his secret identity to the world on television. Despite Clark's alien origin, the world embraces him as their champion.
Later, in the episode "Lois & Clarks", the alternate Clark visits the primary L&C dimension to aid Lois in stopping Tempus while the Clark Kent of her world is trapped in a time vortex. After Tempus's defeat, it is implied that the alternate Clark would travel to the past with H.G. Wells and take his world's Lois Lane to his own time thus, under a predestination paradox, explaining her disappearance.
The live-action television series Smallville also featured the Multiverse concept. In the season 5 episode "Lexmas", Lex Luthor visits an alternate timeline where Lionel cuts Lex out of the family fortune while Lex is married to Lana and has a son named Alexander. Clark Kent is a reporter with the Daily Planet, Chloe is publishing a book exposing LuthorCorp with Lex's help, and Jonathan Kent is a state senator.
In the season 7 episode "Apocalypse," Clark is taken to an alternate timeline where his counterpart had not arrived in Smallville and is killed by Brainiac. In that dimension, Clark Kent encounters another version of himself who is a human biological son of Martha and Jonathan and never met Lana Lang (who is a cheerleader with a different group of friends). Also in this dimension, Chloe Sullivan is engaged, Lana Lang is a married woman living in Paris, Sheriff Nancy Adams left Smallville and works as a member of the government, and Lex Luthor became president of the United States. While this dimension's Earth is destroyed by President Luthor, Clark travels back in time and sends his infant self to Earth, thus restoring his timeline.
In the season 10 episode "Luthor", Clark Kent travels to an alternate universe dubbed Earth-2 with the help of a Kryptonian mirror box. There, Lionel Luthor is his adopted father instead of Jonathan Kent. Clark is a blood-thirsty tyrant whose persona is Ultraman. He has a relationship with his step-sister, Tess. Clark Luthor killed his brother Lex. When Clark Kent travels to the alternate earth, his counterpart, Clark Luthor, travels to his. Lois Lane is engaged to Oliver Queen, who bought land in Smallville for its kryptonite. Lionel lures Clark into Oliver's kryponite trap and beats him. With the help of Oliver (who closes the kryponite portal), Clark uses the mirror box and returns to his world. Unbeknownst to him, Lionel comes with him.
Earth-2 is featured again later in the season in the episode "Kent", as Clark Luthor returns to his counterpart's world once more, and Clark Kent meets Earth-2's Jonathan Kent. After Clark Kent interacts with his deceased adoptive father's counterpart, he returns to his own world and lures Clark Luthor to the Fortress of Solitude, where he sends his counterpart back to his world.
In the fourth issue of the television series' comic book continuation Smallville Season 11, an alternative version of Chloe Sullivan from Earth-2 arrives to Clark Kent's world and reveals that her universe is destroyed before her death.[23] In issue #11, it is reveals that the Monitors are responsible for Earth-2's destruction.[24]
Batman: The Brave and the Bold[edit]
In Batman: The Brave and the Bold, a kind of "multiverse" is referenced in the episodes "Deep Cover for Batman!" and "Game Over for Owlman!", which feature several references to alternate incarnations of DC Comics heroes and villains, including Batman and Owlman. The Multiverse is briefly revisited in "Night of the Batmen!", with a large group of Batman gathered from across various Earths coming together to help an injured Bruce Wayne protect Gotham. The army of Multiverse Batmen contained various iterations of Batman from different media adaptions, such as from The Batman, the DC Animated Universe, the 60's Batman TV series, and Batman Beyond.
Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths[edit]
The direct-to-video feature Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths deals with the Multiverse as part of its story. The main story deals with a good Lex Luthor from his Earth (based on the pre-Crisis Earth-Three) coming to the Earth where the Justice League are located to help fight their counterparts, the Crime Syndicate. While the two Earths inhabited by the Justice League and Crime Syndicate are not named, names of other Earths are mentioned. These names are not from the official pre-Crisis nor post-Infinite Crisis Multiverse, but are nods to a degree. Examples include: "Gamma F-1", "Theta-Alpha", "Zeta-Pi", which are all Greek numbers. Earth-Prime is featured in the film, but is not the same Earth-Prime from the comics where it was "our" Earth. In the film, Earth-Prime is shown to be the cornerstone of all reality, and that decisions made by humankind on this world caused alternate Earths where the opposite decision was made to come into being. This world is shown to be a desolate barren wasteland of a planet, with ruins as far as the eye can see. It is unknown what exactly caused its desolation, though Owlman reasons that it was mankind who destroyed itself.
DC Universe Online[edit]
In the video game DC Universe Online, Brainiac decides to conquer New Earth in order to know the secret of the multiverse. After he was defeated, the heroes have to face the Council of Luthors, who wants to take control of the Nexus of Reality and rule existence through the achievement of ultimate power. But the Council of Batmen wishes to stop the Luthors and undo the damage that has been done.
Injustice: Gods Among Us[edit]
The storyline of Injustice: Gods Among Us features an alternate reality where the Joker has tricked Superman into killing Lois Lane and their unborn son and destroying Metropolis with a nuclear explosion. This tragedy completely ruins Superman's moral compass to a point of no return and the Kryptonian murders the Joker in retaliation. As time passes, he establishes a new world order as the High Councilor. Soon enough, Superman's iron-fisted rule triggers a war between the Regime and those allied with Batman's Insurgency. Five years into the war, the Insurgency discovers an alternate universe where the Joker's plan did not succeed and transports several of its super heroes (Wonder Woman, Batman, Aquaman, Green Arrow, and Green Lantern) to their world in order to help them defeat the Regime. Also in this universe, Lex Luthor never becomes a criminal and instead he is a selfless business man, best friend of this world's Superman and cares for the people of Metropolis.
Infinite Crisis (video game)[edit]
The video game Infinite Crisis (which is unrelated to the comic book of the same name) features a multiverse with 52 different worlds. This multiverse is threatened by a sudden assault and all realities stand on the brink of annihilation. Now, the last hope for Earth lies in the powers of the DC legends.
During the events of the tie-in comic book Infinite Crisis: Fight for the Multiverse, it's said that the Monitors were a race of beings native to the world of Nil that resided outside all realities in the Overvoid. Their existence came following the creation of the Multiverse and the Bleed where they watched the infinite Earth's and sought to protect the infinite strands of creation. It was claimed that they were a people that cared little about the existence of the inhabitants of these universes and more for the preservation of their grand order. Such was their existence until one of their kind turned against the others and became the Anti-Monitor. A Crisis emerged as a result whereby many universes were destroyed but the Anti-Monitor was defeated but at the cost of almost the entire Monitor race. From this Crisis, there existed only 52 universes left in the Multiverse that were kept in perfect balance. The only survivor of their race was Nix Uotan who detected a new Crisis emerging from an unknown menace who made use of corrupted Monitor technology and struck at Earth-48. Nix Uotan returned to his peoples homeworld in order to reactivate the machinery to help contain the damage from the Crisis. As a result, he began to seek out champion's and even villains to help combat this menace from across the Multiverse. These individuals would be charged with recovering artifacts from across the many Earth's that were being taken by the mysterious enemy to aid in their assault. Among his agents was a human female from Earth-48 who went by the name of Harbinger.
In this reality, the Monitors had access to energy constructs that were able to record messages and transmit communiques across the Multiverse. They also forged orbs that glowed with light and served as a guide across the alternate universes as well as serve as a communicator with the Monitors. On their homeworld of Nil, there were spatial engines that could be used to help prevent large scale universal breaches that would damage the Multiverse.
• Bongo Comics published a comic book series featuring characters from The Simpsons and Futurama titled Futurama/Simpsons Infinitely Secret Crossover Crisis. One of the conventions of DC's Multiverse that the series parodies is the existence of one universe's characters as fictional comic book characters in another.
• IDW's Super Secret Crisis War!, parodies DC's Crisis in Infinite Earths and Marvel's Secret War in their logo as this is a major crossover event featuring several charcters and their worlds from their Cartoon Network-based publications.
See also[edit]
1. ^ Wallace, Dan (2008). "Alternate Earths". In Dougall, Alastair. The DC Comics Encyclopedia. London: Dorling Kindersley. pp. 20–21. ISBN 0-7566-4119-5.
2. ^
3. ^ The New 52 FAQ: Answering Your Questions about the Relaunched DC Universe
4. ^ Wizard Entertainment: '52' Roundup Week 52 (archived)
5. ^ "WW: Chicago '07: Dan DiDio on 'Countdown: Arena'". Newsarama. Retrieved February 4, 2011.
6. ^ "Baltimore Comic-Con '07: DC Nation Panel Report". Newsarama. Retrieved February 4, 2011.
7. ^
9. ^ "Earth-7". DC Comics. Retrieved August 22, 2014.
10. ^ "Earth-8". DC Comics. Retrieved August 22, 2014.
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rogers, Vaneta (July 28, 2014). "Grant Morrison on Multiversity: It's Going to 'F' People Up". Newsarama. Retrieved August 22, 2014.
12. ^ Brettauer, Kevin M. (May 15, 2013). "All Becoming Starchildren: An Evening With Grant Morrison". MTV. Retrieved June 15, 2014.
13. ^ Rogers, Vaneta (April 15, 2014). "Everything We Know About Grant Morrison's Multiversity From Years of Hints". Newsarama. Retrieved August 22, 2014.
14. ^ The Multiversity 8: Ultraa Comics (March 2015)
15. ^ a b c d e f g Appleford, Steve (August 20, 2014). "‘Multiversity': Grant Morrison maps other Earths for DC event series". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 22, 2014.
16. ^
17. ^ The Multiversity 1 (August 2014)
18. ^
19. ^
20. ^ Multiversity 1: Hall of Heroes (August 2014)
21. ^
22. ^ "DC Comics Solicitations for Product Shipping February, 2007". Comic Book Resources. November 13, 2006.
23. ^ Smallville Season 11 vol. 1 #4 (August 2012)
24. ^ Smallville Season 11 vol. 1 #10 (February 2013)
External links[edit]
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Consider the Weierstrass cubic $$y^2z = x^3 + A\, xz^2+B\,z^3.$$ This defines a curve $E$ in $\mathbb{P}^2$, which if smooth is an elliptic curve with basepoint at $[0,1,0]$.
I'm interested in having an explicit description of the locus of $p$-torsion points of this curve, where $p$ is prime.
In fact, suppose $p\neq 3$. Then ideally I'd like to be able to find a curve $C$ in $\mathbb{P}^2$, given by an equation $f=0$ of degree $d=(p^2-1)/3$, so that the scheme $X=E\times_{\mathbb{P}^2} C$ is precisely the locus of points of exact order $p$.
Example: For $p=2$, it's well known that $f=y$ gives such a curve.
I'd like $f$ to be an expression which depends on $A$ and $B$; i.e., I want to do this over a generic part of the moduli stack. I would also like this expression to work in characteristic p; in this case, $X$ should turn out to be the "scheme representing Drinfeld level structures $\mathbb{Z}/p\to E$". (Edit: I'm particularly interested in families of curves which include supersingular curves.)
(My example curve $E$ is never smooth in characteristic $2$, but if you consider a more general Weierstrass form which is smooth in char. $2$, then you can find a degree $1$ curve $C$ which does what I ask. For instance, if $E: y^2z+A\,xyz+yz^2=x^3$, take $f=A\,x+2\,y+z$.)
So my questions are:
1. Is it usually possible to find an equation $f=0$ such that $E\cap C$ is exactly the $p$-torsion? (Is this the same as asking that $X$ is a complete intersection?) Can you ever show it's not possible?
2. Are there known methods for computing the locus of $p$-torsion points explicitly? Are there software packages which do this? (I'm aware there are ways to find explicit torsion points on elliptic curves defined over some field or number ring; I'm asking for something a little different, I think.)
3. Have people carried out these sorts of computations for various small values of $p$ (even $p=5$), and are these computations described in print? (I'm probably most interested in this question.)
Warning: I am not an algebraic geometer or number theorist.
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3 Answers 3
That's not the best wikipedia page. "The division polynomials form an elliptic divisibility sequence." is mentioned well before the far more important "the roots of the n'th division polynomial tell you the n-torsion in the curve".
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PS finite flat group schemes are always complete intersections ;-) – Kevin Buzzard Mar 4 '10 at 16:56
Okay, I will look into that! I'm worried it's not what I want, though. The roots of the division polynomial $\psi_p$ are the $x$-coordinates of the $p$-torsion points, which means it degenerates in characteristic $p$ to something of smaller degree; it will never give the thing I want if the curve is supersingular, for instance. But since the algorithm seems to give a formula for $[n]:E\to E$, maybe I can get what I want out of it ... – Charles Rezk Mar 4 '10 at 17:13
I'll tell you a formula for [n]:E-->E; it's [n-1]+[1]. This works even in characteristic $p$. I am wondering whether if you think hard enough about this trivial observation that it will solve your problems without actually having to do any computations... – Kevin Buzzard Mar 4 '10 at 17:27
To be honest, perhaps the main contribution of the answer is telling you what to google for, rather than anything else... – Kevin Buzzard Mar 4 '10 at 17:29
PS @Charles: I've just realised that I don't understand your comment earlier about degenerations. You absolutely want the p'th division polynomial to degenerate mod p, because in characteristic p the identity of the group (the point at infinity) is a root of the equation [p]P=0 with multiplicity at least p, and hence you want some of the roots of the polynomial to go off to infinity, which is exactly what is happening. – Kevin Buzzard Mar 4 '10 at 17:39
Since you asked about software, I'd just like to point out (if you don't know already) that SAGE (available at sagemath.org) can compute division polynomials easily. The commands
R.<A,B> = PolynomialRing(GF(5))
E = EllipticCurve([A,B])
f = E.division_polynomial(5)
return the result
2*A*x^10 - A^2*B*x^5 + A^6 - 2*A^3*B^2 - B^4.
The warnings of the commenters apply; you must be cautious about interpreting the division polynomials. It is true that the roots of this polynomial give you the "physical" 5-torsion points of the elliptic curve in characteristic 5, but that's about all it says. The polynomial does not tell you, eg, the structure of the group scheme E[5] over the supersingular locus.
A little more helpful might be the formal group associated to this family:
G = E.formal_group()
which returns
2*A*t^5 + (2*A^6 - A^3*B^2 - B^4)*t^25 + O(t^30)
There's also a command G.group_law() whose output I'm not going to give here. Together these data give you the structure of E[5] over an infinitesimal neighborhood of the zero section of your elliptic curve over $\text{Spec}\mathbf{F}_5[A,B,\Delta^{-1}]$.
I'm a firm believer in explicit calculations as a means of developing intuition about algebro-geometric concepts. But by all means read Katz-Mazur :-).
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Here is an attempt to answer my own question, using the "division polynomials" of Kevin's and Jared's answers. It is probably the maximally naive idea, and I do not claim it works, though it's not clear to me that it can't. I've community wiki-ed this answer, as it's probably junk anyway ...
Fix $A,B\in \mathbb{Z}$, obtaining an elliptic curve $E$ over $S=Spec \mathbb{Z}[\Delta^{-1}]$, and a prime $p\geq 5$ not dividing the discriminant $\Delta=\Delta(A,B)$. The division polynomial $\psi_p(t)$ is supposed to be a polynomial of degree $d=(p^2-1)/2$ over $\mathbb{Z}$, whose roots are the values $t(P)=x(P)/z(P)$ as $P$ ranges over the points of exact order $p$ in $E$.
Turn $\psi_p$ into a homogeneous polynomial $g$ of degree $d$ in $\mathbb{Z}[x,y,z]$, so that $g(x,y,1)=\psi_p(x)$. The polynomial deterimes a curve $C=(g)$ in $P^2/S$, and thus a closed subscheme $D=E\cap C$ of $E$. Over $\mathbb{Z}[\Delta^{-1},p^{-1}]$, $D$ should consist of the points of exact order $p$ on $E$ (with multiplicity $1$), together with the basepoint of $E$ with multiplicity $d$.
Claim. $D$ is an effective Cartier divisor on $E/S$, of degree $3d$.
Proof. I don't know. I need to prove that $D\to S$ is flat, the main concern being the behavior over $\mathbb{Z}_{(p)}$. I don't even know if this is really plausible in general.
Let's pretend we somehow know $D$ is an effective Cartier divisor on $E$ relative to the base $S$. There is another relative Cartier divisor, namely $$ D' = E[p] \quad + \quad (d-1)[0]$$ where $E[p]$ is the $p$-torsion subgroup scheme of $E$, and $[0]$ is the degree one divisor of the basepoint of $E$. It seems clear that away from characteristic $p$, the divisors $D$ and $D'$ are equal. Equality of effective divisors on a smooth curve is a closed condition, so they should be equal over all of $S$.
The divisor I want is thus $D''=D-d[0]=D'-d[0]$ (which is still effective). Then it's really easy to find a homogeneous polynomial $h$ of degree $2d/3$ which defines $D''$; because of the form of the Weierstrass equation, you can produce it from $g$ by hand, and if my claim is true you can produce it globally, i.e., with coefficients in $\mathbb{Z}[A,B]$.
I've carried out this out in the case $p=5$, and it appears to "work". That is, I get an answer which appears sane for general $A$ and $B$, and which for some explicit cases I've tried of $A,B\in \mathbb{Z}$ appears to give me a flat $D\to S$. For instance, if $E/\mathbb{Z}[6^{-1}]$ is the curve with $(A,B)=(0,1)$ (which reduces to a supersingular curve at $p=5$), I find $$h= 729z^{8}-1350x^4z^4+360x^6z^2+5x^8.$$
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What you seem to be doing is writing down the divisor $E[p]$ minus the identity section. I thought you wanted the scheme parametrising points of order $p$ in the sense of Drinfeld. The problem is that in characteristic $p$ the relationship between these two things is delicate. For example $E[p]$ minus the identity, over an ordinary elliptic curve over an alg closed field of char $p$, will typically have all its components non-reduced. But the moduli space for the Drinfeld level structure will have reduced components IIRC. I am unclear about what you want though. – Kevin Buzzard Mar 6 '10 at 19:34
If you're happy with $E[p]$ minus the identity then great. That sort of notion was understood in the 1960s. Drinfeld level structures are more subtle and weren't around until the 1980s. – Kevin Buzzard Mar 6 '10 at 19:35
Perhaps I am confused, or am using incorrect terminology. The gadget I want should not have reduced components in char p; I want a Gamma_1(p) structure in the sense of Katz-Mazur, 3.2. – Charles Rezk Mar 6 '10 at 22:22
Well perhaps I am confused as well; I'll try and remember to look at my copy of K-M on Monday (you seem to indicate that I've forgotten what the special fibre of X_1(p) looks like, which might be true; I had thought it had two components, one a (reduced) Igusa curve and one non-reduced). But my point is this. Why should E[p] minus the origin represent points of order p in the sense of Drinfeld? If that's true (which it might be) then it's news to me. I'll try to remember to get back to you. If this trick works then you're in business! – Kevin Buzzard Mar 7 '10 at 15:42
Well, K-M define a $\Gamma_1(m)$ structure as a group homomorphism $f:Z/m\to E$ (equivalently, a choice of $f(1)\in E[m]$) which satisfies a certain condition (an inequality $\sum [f(i)]\leq E[m]$ of effective divisors). This is a closed condition, so $\Gamma_1(m)$ is a closed subscheme of $E[m]/S$; I believe they show it is flat and finite over the base $S$ (KM 5.1.1), of rank $\#\text{injections}(Z/m,Z/m^2)$. For $m=p$, this should do it, no? – Charles Rezk Mar 7 '10 at 19:25
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SqlDataReader.Close Method
Closes the SqlDataReader object.
Namespace: System.Data.SqlClient
Assembly: System.Data (in System.Data.dll)
public override void Close()
You must explicitly call the Close method when you are through using the SqlDataReader to use the associated SqlConnection for any other purpose.
The Close method fills in the values for output parameters, return values and RecordsAffected, increasing the time that it takes to close a SqlDataReader that was used to process a large or complex query. When the return values and the number of records affected by a query are not significant, the time that it takes to close the SqlDataReader can be reduced by calling the Cancel method of the associated SqlCommand object before calling the Close method.
Caution noteCaution
Do not call Close or Dispose on a Connection, a DataReader, or any other managed object in the Finalize method of your class. In a finalizer, you should only release unmanaged resources that your class owns directly. If your class does not own any unmanaged resources, do not include a Finalize method in your class definition. For more information, see Garbage Collection.
The following example creates a SqlConnection, a SqlCommand, and a SqlDataReader. The example reads through the data, writing it out to the console window. The code then closes the SqlDataReader. The SqlConnection is closed automatically at the end of the using code block.
private static void ReadOrderData(string connectionString)
string queryString =
"SELECT OrderID, CustomerID FROM dbo.Orders;";
using (SqlConnection connection =
new SqlConnection(connectionString))
SqlCommand command =
new SqlCommand(queryString, connection);
SqlDataReader reader = command.ExecuteReader();
// Call Read before accessing data.
while (reader.Read())
reader[0], reader[1]));
// Call Close when done reading.
.NET Framework
.NET Framework Client Profile
Supported in: 4, 3.5 SP1
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I've installed Sublime Text 3 from the .deb found here: http://www.sublimetext.com/3
Now, how to set it as the default text editor in place of gedit in Mint 16?
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1 Answer 1
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Open /usr/share/applications/defaults.list in Sublime:
sudo subl /usr/share/applications/defaults.list
Search for all instances of gedit and replace them with sublime_text. Save the file, quit Sublime, log out and back in, and you should be all set.
While the above instructions should work with any .deb-based system (I use Ubuntu), apparently there is an issue with Mint where changes to /usr/share/applications/defaults.list are lost upon reboot. To work around this, do the following:
1. Create a new file (if it doesn't already exist) called ~/.local/share/applications/defaults.list in Sublime. The first line should be [Default Applications].
2. Open /usr/share/applications/defaults.list in Sublime. Hit CtrlF to open the Find dialog and type gedit into the search box.
3. Hit AltEnter or click the Find All button to select all the instances of gedit in the file.
4. Hit CtrlL to expand the selections to the entire line, then hit CtrlC to copy the lines.
5. In ~/.local/share/applications/defaults.list, hit CtrlV to paste the lines containing gedit.
6. Hit CtrlH to open the Replace dialog. Search for gedit and replace with sublime_text. Hit CtrlAltEnter to Replace All (or click the Replace All button) and you're all set.
7. Save ~/.local/share/applications/defaults.list, log out and back in, and Sublime Text should now be your default text editor.
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It works at first, but after rebooting, defaults.list gets reverted, gedit back in place of sublime_text. What can I do to prevent this? – xichael Jan 19 at 23:58
Apparently this is an issue with Mint which can be circumvented by using .local/share/applications/defaults.list instead. So, I've copied/pasted/edited the gedit lines to this file, and they're now successfully overriding their counterparts in /usr/share/applications/defaults.list, even after a reboot. – xichael Jan 20 at 1:13
@xichael - thanks for the info. I've updated my answer to describe exactly how to set things up to work around this issue. I usually use Ubuntu, where my original solution works fine, and since Mint is quite similar I figured it would work! – MattDMo Jan 20 at 16:31
You're missing a small step: the first line on ~/.local/share/applications/defaults.list must be "[Default Applications]" for this to work – Alexandre L Telles Sep 17 at 13:55
@Alexandre thanks for that, I'll update the answer. As an Ubuntu user, I've only worked with existing files, so I kinda missed that detail :) – MattDMo Sep 17 at 15:58
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Sad news on the FFRF site.
It shows us how harmful religion and dogma can be.
Catholic Church's heavy hand weighs down the Irish
November 19, 2012
By Annie Laurie Gaylor
FFRF Co-President
Last week I wrote a blog about the heavy hand of the Catholic Church upon women in the Philippines. Two days later came news of the horrifying and unnecessary death of a young, professional Indian woman living in Galway. Savita Halappanavar died after an incomplete miscarriage, denied a life-saving abortion because in predominantly Catholic Ireland the hospital was too cowardly to save her life.
Even though Ireland’s constitution bans abortion, a 1992 Supreme Court ruling was issued permitting abortion when the woman’s life is at risk.
Savita’s pregnancy was wanted. She wasn’t seeking an abortion, she was seeking medical intervention to complete a miscarriage. The hospital, afraid of Catholic criticism, held back, waiting for the fetus to die on its own. Thus, in the name of saving an already doomed fetal life, a woman’s life was lost as well. Savita, a married dentist, was pronounced dead Oct. 28, after a week of suffering. Dying of blood septicemia (blood poisoning) is one of the most gruesome and painful of deaths.
Read the rest here.
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Thank you Joan. I agree with your statement and especially: "If we continue to treat other people as badly as the religious communities have, we are doomed beyond doubt."
Just look at the religious people you know and their behavior. How do they treat others?
Actions speak louder than words. What do their actions tell you?
True, Religion only has DOGMA, not ethics.
Yet, there are many forms of Ethics in some we refer to as Universal Ethics though they could be called Western oriented Ethics which many in the Western society hold as valuable, many of these are supported by groups such as the U.N. and Western aid organizations, then there are cultural ethics that differ with each society.
Basically ethics of a culture are derived from the way the children are raised and indoctrinated into these ethics. Ethics in Iran are often markedly different to ethics in France many of these ethics have a religious basis, but, since the inhabitants were raised within that ethical framework, their ethical basis, which appears archaic and non-humanistic to us, appear to them as common sense and correct.
Much of the dislike for USA and the Western world by even the general population of countries like Iran and even parts of Asia is Westerners imposing their foreign ethical framework over their religious based deeply ingrained dogma framework.
Ethics is malleable, it changes with society and is based on social consensus.
Though, not necessarily of the majority but of those in positions of power to enforce control.
Educating the general population of these countries to the tragedy of their dogmas when compared to advanced Western, humanist ethics is extremely difficult and can result in backlashes, especially from the usurpers (government/dictatorship) that need the dogmas to maintain control over their sheep.
Such that dictatorships are removing their countries from the Internet, cutting off communications avenues and limiting access to news services and books to shield their inhabitants from such lessons and knowledge. This appears to be happening in Iran at the moment. Yes, the regime is frightened of secular humanism and closing the doors to outside influences.
Though we will need to find a way to undermine their attempts to re-indoctrinate the entire population to their dogmas.
Secularism must find a way, for the sake of the humanistic rights of the Iranian population.
Because, dogma is even dangerous in small amounts.
It causes pain, misery and even kills.
As we have found within Irish Catholic Hospitals.
Yet, like Iran, even the Usurpers (priests, Cardinals and Pope) of Catholicism may attempt to close the doors on Sectarian Humanism, but, because they cannot isolate a disparate, widely spread flock, they are vulnerable to our attacks.
So let's hit them low and hard!!!
Aye M8z!
G'Day! apart from question of westren and eastren ethics, our fight with religious social structures like Iran and Even mine in Pakistan is of stagenency. Religious ethics don't change with time. What Mr. Holly So and So said is perfect for all coming times? Can a child or a women living in todays world of internets and cell phones, working alongwith men can be subjected to ethical codes of societies of thousands of years earlier. It is rediculous.Her environment and needs are totaly different from women of those societies. At least etics should be in line with todays social needs.
It is only possible if religious code of life are abolished. Let the need decide the ethics, wether eastren or westren.
You are correct G'Day - religion has only Dogma - no ethics. I agree.
I realize you live in Pakistan, and when I looked up Islamabad I saw many Mosques in the city, yet I also realize you made contact with us at Atheist Nexus. Knowing you are an educated man, and may be in conflict with your country's laws am I out of line to ask you about your status regarding religion?
Joan! I am an open athiest for last 14 years or so. Being open in a closly netted religious society means everyone in the surroundings knows it and it also means being in conflict with whole of the society. Being a stubern critic of religon I often face resistance even within the family sometimes. Sometimes feeling of alienation and lonliness creeps in but as they say, knowledge is one way traffic. You can't go back to religious trash after understanding life on atomic and molecular bases.
I don't know the facts about you or your country. However, it seems you came to atheism through education; is that correct?
I assume your resistance comes from loved ones and friends, and in addition you have your religious and political influences working against you. How do you manage?
If my questions are too personal, just say so; I will not be offended.
I experience religion as ... I can't think of anything positive so I will write nothing.
Oh yes I will! I experience religion as crippling, stifling, limiting, oppressive, out of touch with how to live a happy life, and I will go so far as to write "disgusting".
Joan do feel at home to ask anything. I came to athieism through a teacher who taught English at college I studied. I read Litrature and then philosophy under his influence. Being a science student basically it didn't took long to break religious shakels.
In Pakistan athiests have no physical threat of any sort at all. But psychologically it is very difficult. People are emotionally attach to the religion. While going to work, just out of nothing you see hate in a passerby's eyes saying like"oh not him, it is a bad morning". At home you notice your father, wife, uncles and aunts takinking special care to teach religion to your children, telling them not to be like their father. Silance on you entering a gathering.
Its ok in the begining when you are young and energatic but when this sort of things happens year after year, you become weary. Feel bored at it wishing if they can behave normally for a day or two.
Amer - you are right. Religions have no ethics.
Amer, what do you think it will take to guarantee the right of women in your culture to be able to make decisions for themselves, support themselves, and be an equal partner in marriage?
I know I am asking a lot, but where do you begin? Do you have daughters? How do you feel about women, even your mother, wife, or daughters?
Joan! I have three sons. My wife says she is fed up of guns and balls and wishes to buy froks and dolls but.. My mother was a teacher with a very energetic, social and dominant personality. I grew up in a female dominated home.
Unfortunatly most of women are not like her in this country. Religion and inheritance laws under influence of religion practically make a woman an object instead of a human which is property of men. Situation is verse than it apparently looks because poor women accept it as normal. When I was young I use to fight this behaviour vigorusly but now I feel Only way out is education and economic independance of women. Things had improved in families where women are working. Things are improving but at a very slow rate. With base of economic independance one can fight religious influence. Without it, even concerned party is not intrested.
Just had a fun argument with a devout Catholic who tried to prove to me that the Bible is not misogynistic.
I warned him not to use those passages he threatened to use, as it would backfire against him.
He used them and yes, they backfired, because they are themselves misogynistic.
They use terms like "office of husband" (misogynistic, nobody holds office in an equal relationship); "Peter tells women to be submissive", (misogynistic, nobody should have required submissiveness in an equal relationship"; and "boys get visions, old men get dreams, while both get prophesy, (misogynistic, because the males are favored, thus it doesn't display equality).
Yes, the bigoted Catholic asshole got jarred big time, since I did warn him.
He evidently couldn't see why I warned him, which shows him as not being very intelligent either.
He cannot ever win such an argument as the Bible is severely infected with misogyny!
Aye M8z! :D :D
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Old Scores and New Readings eBook
Purcell is too commonly written of as “the founder of the English school” of music. Now, far be it from me to depreciate the works of the composers who are supposed to form the “English school.” I would not sneer at the strains which have lulled to quiet slumbers so many generations of churchgoers. But everyone who knows and loves Purcell must enter a most emphatic protest against that great composer being held responsible, if ever so remotely, for the doings of the “English school.” Jackson (in F), Boyce and the rest owed nothing to Purcell; the credit of having founded them must go elsewhere, and may beg a long time, I am much afraid, in the land of the shades before any composer will be found willing to take it. Purcell was not the founder but the splendid close of a school, and that school one of the very greatest the world has seen. And to-day, when he is persistently libelled, not more in blame than in the praise which is given him, it seems worth while making a first faint attempt to break through the net of tradition that has been woven and is daily being woven closer around him, to see him as he stands in such small records as may be relied upon and not as we would fain have him be, to understand his relation to his predecessors and learn his position in musical history, to hear his music without prejudice and distinguish its individual qualities. This is a hard task, and one which I can only seek to achieve here in the roughest and barest manner; yet any manner at all is surely much better than letting the old fictions go unreproved, while our greatest musician drifts into the twilight past, misunderstood, unloved, unremembered, save when an Abbey wants a new case for its organ, an organ on which Purcell never played, or a self-styled Purcell authority wishes to set up a sort of claim of part or whole proprietorship in him.
Hardly more is known of Purcell than of Shakespeare. There is no adequate biography. Hawkins and Burney (who is oftenest Hawkins at second-hand) are alike rash, random, and untrustworthy, depending much upon the anecdotage of old men, who were no more to be believed than the ancient bandsmen of the present day who tell you how Mendelssohn or Wagner flattered them or accepted hints from them. Cummings’ life is scarcely even a sketch; at most it is a thumbnail sketch. Only ninety-five pages deal with Purcell, and of these at least ninety-four are defaced by maudlin sentimentality, or unhappy attempts at criticism (see the remarks on the Cecilia Ode) or laughable sequences of disconnected incongruities—as, for instance, when Mr. Cummings remarks that “Queen Mary died of small-pox, and the memory of her goodness was felt so universally,” etc. Born in 1658, Purcell lived in Pepys’ London, and died in 1095, having written complimentary odes to three kings—Charles the Second, James the Second, and William the Third. Besides
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Old 02-03-2013, 02:29 PM #200
ESB Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 765
vCash: 500
Originally Posted by Cableaddict View Post
Really? Please name them.
Any ESB member could have written that, and it makes no sense. First, why would any management company invest even one dollar in a fighter they don't have confidence in?
I believe you might be confusing things here. A manager/management company, has to find a promoter with the resources and contacts to make things happen, I believe Boytsov is being brought along better than Wilder. Boytsov, is going rds and fighting worn veterans and learning on the job. So his management are doing their job. The confidence part I will answer next.
Since I am in the US I will, name just a few american HW's
-Chris Arreola
-Steve Cunningham
-Bryant Jennings
-Jonathan Banks
-Seth Mitchell
Is this enough or do you need more, I will add the Klitschko's, they need fresh beatable meat with nice paydays behind them, a 27-0, with 27ko's, American HW and for icing on the cake Wilder has a major company behind him, are you kidding me, the big K's would love it, and anyone of the HW's I mentioned would leap at the opportunity to fight Wilder. Wilder and GB, would bring, HBO, or SHOWTIME, which translate into major money for anyone fighting Wilder.
Boytsov, I will let you name the Europeon HW's that might want a piece of him, and make it worth their while.
Both Wilder and Boytsov are not ready right now to face the elite HW's, and their management and their promoter obviously are not "confident" enough in their abilities to fight anybody who might have a shot at beating them, they are still both works in progress.
Re Wilder: GBP is LOSING money on Wilder. I was hoping you might have some insight as to why they have done almost nothing for him, but "protecting him" is clearly not the answer.
Sorry to have to say this but thats true, 'er who do you think pays Wilder and his carefully chosen opponents? Let me ask you something, Is Wilder drawing
the fans in that would pay for his fights? Mmm, the answer is no!
Every single fight that Wilder and Boytsov had, somebody paid for. Their fanbase which they really have none didnt pay his purse so that left the promoter to cough up the $'s. Overall in the 27 fights, GB has made no money on Mister Wilder, or Boytsov with whoever he is with right now. First GB, has given Wilder a substantial bonus, a monthly training expense stipend, paid for transportation to and from fights, for at least four people, and at least 3-4 hotel rooms plus meals for him and his opponent. Plus whatever purse for each.
Now tell me where Wilder drew by himself a million or more, than you would be right, if you cant then GB is in the hole for at least that much.
Raising a prospect costs money and who do you think is paying for it the promoter is.
A wise investor "protects" his investment cos at one point he plans to recoup his investment and make some money, this is the way its done in any business. The saying, "It takes money to make money", applies here and in any business, as an example. Say you are opening a retail business, You have to rent or buy a site, you have to stock your business, hire employees all expenses before you even open the door and make a dime.
Re Boytsov: You DO realize that Universum went bankrupt, yes? And evidently, the guy who now owns Boytsov's contract won't let him fight unless it's in a bout that he controls, which means Boytsov is in limbo. It has nothing to do with the new boss'es confidence, and everything to do with greed.
Sorry but you are wrong by a big margin here, if it were greed then GB, could cash out Wilder and whoever has Boytsov, with a Klitschko fight. When you are building a fighters career, if you are wise you go slowly until you feel your fighter is ready and the payoff is big enough for them to recoup their investment. I would agree that whoever controls their careers might be overly cautious or they may feel that the payoff and risk is not big enough at this point in their careers.
- but thanks for playing, Jane Merrill has some lovely parting gifts for you on your way out.
Since you are familar with whoever Jane Merrill is, I will let you have my parting gifts, I am sure you will know what to do with them.
Last edited by dempsey1234; 02-03-2013 at 02:39 PM. Reason: correcting statement
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Lisa Falcone: Who You Calling 'Wife Of'?
(Corrects spelling of "Diary" in 5th paragraph.)
Lisa Falcone is sitting at the head of a conference table, rapping to music by Swizz Beatz and waving her tanned arms above her head. She's meeting with the two employees of her fledgling company, Everest Entertainment. Just outside the room, her husband, Philip Falcone, is running his $9 billion hedge fund, Harbinger Capital, but that doesn't hold her back. She produced the song and sings along as it blasts from iPod speakers on the table: "Come on bitches, get your hands in the air, ugly bitches too, we don't care!"
Harbinger analysts walking by barely look up at Lisa, 41, who is striking in a low-cut leather dress and a huge diamond cross pendant. They know she's the boss's wife. Harbinger's young, blond British receptionist brings a tray with a mug of green tea for Lisa, who likes to point out that the space is as much hers as her husband's. "This is our office," she says. "Eighteen years and no prenup means family office." She quickly adds that Everest will soon move to a new location away from Harbinger, revealing a dilemma that is central to Falcone's ambition: how to leverage her husband's connections and resources while differentiating herself as an entrepreneur in her own right.
Philip, a former hockey-playing junk bond trader who founded Harbinger in 2001, made a fortune betting against subprime mortgages in 2007. His fund has since encountered rockier times, but that hasn't damped the Falcones' enthusiasm for lavish living. At the height of the financial crisis, when other billionaires were pulling back on ostentatious spending, the couple bought a $49 million townhouse that formerly belonged to Penthouse founder Bob Guccione and embarked on a series of high-profile philanthropic donations.
As eager as Falcone is to establish herself as a movie producer and patron of the arts, she relishes the role of an outsider. She comes from an underprivileged background and doesn't censor her behavior for anyone. By starting her own entertainment company, she has taken the traditional role of the Park Avenue spouse and turned it upside down, while also giving hope to independent filmmakers who have seen their opportunities dry up over the last few years. Falcone's venture has attracted Hollywood talent such as Annette Bening and Paul Giamatti, and Sony Pictures Classics and Fox Searchlight have agreed to distribute her first few movies. While she didn't have to go out and find investors to finance her projects like most independent producers, that doesn't mean she hasn't worked to get where she is. "Obviously, my husband's made the money, but we've been together 18 years, and the person behind the person isn't usually seen," she says. "So the money I'm using I've earned."
It was through the New York City charitable circuit that Falcone first made herself known to the world. In 2007 she appeared at the American Friends of Versailles tour in Paris, where tickets cost as much as $50,000 per couple. She was wearing a backless, white-and-purple gown with a matching hairpiece and arrived on the arm of a Filipino stylist named Zaldy Goco. Then, in 2009 she leaped—literally—into the public consciousness by grabbing the microphone in the middle of a speech by Joshua David, the co-founder of a charity that raises funds for New York's High Line park, and announcing a spontaneous $10 million donation. She later held the after-party for Everest's first production, Mother and Child, at the High Line, where she danced onstage with Kerry Washington and Alicia Keys. She also joined the board of trustees of the New York City Ballet. "She's something of an enigma," says New York Social Diary editor David Patrick Columbia. "She looks out of place at all these things but she puts herself out there. She's a stranger in her own land."
Before they started the renovation of the Guccione mansion, expected to cost $10 million, the Falcones hosted an elaborate third birthday party there for their twin daughters, Carolina and Liliana. Lisa had muralists paint the walls with The Wizard of Oz scenes and sent out hand-calligraphed invitations, according to two guests. Little people wore uniforms monogrammed with her daughters' initials in green rhinestones. (The Falcones are living in the townhouse next door, which they also own, during the renovation.)
One afternoon early this summer, Falcone lounged on a plush daybed in her Versailles-inspired drawing room. She smoothed down her Balenciaga minidress and lifted a toned leg, braced in a cast, up onto the couch. She had recently fallen off a Vespa that her husband had given her. "I thought it worked like a regular bike," she laments, "but it had a motor."
When the couple bought the mansion, it looked exactly like a place you'd expect the Penthouse mogul to live in—a piece of Las Vegas transplanted to Manhattan. Now Falcone says she's trying to restore it to its pre-Guccione elegance. "It's actually not the Guccione Mansion, but the Milbank House," says Falcone. "[Jeremiah Milbank] had two daughters who loved to swim, then Guccione bought it and turned it into a 1980s Caligula."
Either way, it's a long way from Spanish Harlem, where Lisa Velasquez was born and raised, as she tells it, by a "rageaholic" single mother on welfare. "It was like walking on broken glass," she says, describing her childhood. "You don't even want to make noise on that broken glass."
She is reluctant to discuss her upbringing in detail—she won't disclose where she went to high school, for example—but says she learned through the experience to seek out the positive aspects of any situation. "People with challenging backgrounds are the most optimistic, I heard," she says. Her father, whom she saw intermittently growing up, "was the best busboy in the world." She still has a slight Puerto Rican accent, the legacy of her immigrant parents. "I'm proud of my background," she says. "I'm not changing, and I'm not getting a speech coach. I do what I want to do, and I wear what I want to wear."
She met Falcone at Canastel's restaurant on Park Avenue South, now Angelo & Maxie's Steakhouse, when he was a young junk bond trader. She was working as a model and happened to be sitting with some friends who knew Falcone. He came over and sat with them, and five years later, in 1992, Philip and Lisa married.
Philip, 48, grew up in small-town Minnesota, where his father was a utilities superintendent and his mother worked in a shirt factory. He took the first plane ride of his life when he visited Harvard University as a hockey recruit. After graduating from Harvard in 1984, he tried playing professionally until an injury ended his sports career and forced him into a more practical line of work. He joined Kidder Peabody as a bond trader. Early on, according to Lisa, the couple had little income and slept on an air mattress in a tiny studio apartment. That soon changed. Philip became increasingly successful and eventually launched Harbinger Capital. In 2007 he made a spectacular bet against the real estate bubble and amassed an estimated $2 billion fortune.
At its peak in 2008, Harbinger managed $26 billion. It is down to about a third of that after client losses and withdrawals. For the past four years Falcone has been trying to build a high-speed wireless network, and at least 40 percent of Harbinger's assets are tied up in the wireless spectrum wager. Falcone has committed to the Federal Communications Commission to build a network that will cover 100 million people by 2012 as part of the agreement to hold the wireless license. Investors have complained that such a large, illiquid bet is not appropriate for a hedge fund. Harbinger's main fund is down approximately 14 percent so far this year, while rival funds have returned about 5 percent, on average.
It was on Philip's suggestion that Lisa started Everest Entertainment in 2008. "People would have scripts and say, 'Take a look at this,' and I would tweak them and fine-tune them," Falcone says. "Then my husband said, 'You should get into this business.'"
While she doesn't have a film background, Falcone says she loves movies: "I was always trying to figure out the ending before the beginning and pretty much was always right." She grew up watching Gone with the Wind over and over and would ask herself, "How did they do that?" She didn't get a chance to explore her interest until decades later. "It wasn't like my parents were like, 'let's get her a video camera' like Steven Spielberg's did," she says.
With $5 million in family funds as the initial budget for her first project, Falcone decided to focus on independent movies she could relate to. After seeing the critically acclaimed Precious, about a girl's ordeal in the projects of New York that reminded Falcone of her own childhood, she hired one of its executive producers, Tom Heller, as her business partner. When Rodrigo Garcia, who directed Nine Lives and Passengers, sent her a script about an orphan called Mother and Child that he'd been shopping around for a decade, Falcone decided to produce it. She still had an upward climb. "I had one person who has been in this business a very long time saying, 'Don't do this movie,' " she remembers. "But I'm like, 'I'm doing this movie.'"
Annette Bening and Naomi Watts were persuaded to play the title roles, and in 2009 the movie made its debut at the Toronto International Film Festival, where Sony Pictures Classics bought the rights to distribute it. It was later shown at the Sundance Film Festival. Falcone says the man who had questioned her decision to make the movie in the first place approached her after the first screening. "He apologizes a hundred times and is like, 'Wow, what a vision,' " she says. "He said it was like threading a thin needle." She has since established a reputation as a reliable, if eccentric, source of funding for quirky movies. "Even if people have unlimited resources, how many times do you just see vanity projects where they do generic work?" says Geoffrey Gilmore, chief creative officer of Tribeca Enterprises, which runs the Tribeca Film Festival. He says her latest movie, 127 Hours, "isn't necessarily a slam dunk of a story, but at the end of the day she's making choices about films that are complicated, that take risks, and at the same time that I think are going to play."
Early in 2009, Everest hired a third executive, Gareth Smith, formerly a vice-president at the luxury concierge service Quintessentially. They now have two movies in the works. Win Win—written and directed by Thomas McCarthy, who also directed the Oscar-nominated independent film The Visitor—stars Paul Giamatti and Amy Ryan. The other, 127 Hours, features James Franco and was shown at the Toronto festival this month. Fox Searchlight will distribute both. "Given Lisa's position financially, she doesn't need to make money off of this, and the film company doesn't need to make money," says Smith. Instead, a percentage of their profits will be donated to a charity relevant to each film's content, and the rest will be reinvested in the next project.
Falcone says she's committed to producing artistic movies rather than blockbusters. "It has to be something where you can leave the theater and say, 'Holy ____, I can relate to that,' whether it's a happy story or it made you cry."
Back in the Harbinger conference room, she tries to play the trailer for 127 Hours on her iPad, to no avail. "Why won't this open?" she asks as she pokes the screen, bending over with the orange silk of her dress spilling over the papers on the table. "Can someone figure this out?"
When she isn't busy making films, renovating, or giving to charity, Falcone says she spends most of her time with her daughters. On a typical day she wakes up at 4 a.m., eats breakfast, goes to the gym for an hour, makes coffee for her husband, and takes her girls to school. She then works for four hours on her own projects, listening to new music tracks she's thinking about producing and making notes on film dailies. She picks her daughters up from school and takes them to their afternoon activities or to Central Park. Falcone is philosophical about the world she now inhabits. "I've taught my daughters to stop and smell the roses," she says. She glances around her living room. "This is all borrowed stuff," she says. "God kind of loans it to us, and somebody takes it afterward. Am I going to go to Heaven sitting on this couch?" she asks. "Do I take my house with me? No."
With the success of her first movie, Falcone is confident that her next big push, into the pop music business where she plans to collaborate with artists such as Mary J. Blige, Keys, and Jay-Z, will be equally rewarding. "I have a very good ear," she says. "But God gave me something that I'm better at than anyone else. And that's being me."
The Good Business Issue
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What if all of the moviegoers would have been armed?
What if all the people at the colorado movie theater had been armed? The man who had decided to commit mass murder would have been shot and stopped before he killed so many. Msnbc is spewing non stop anti gun propaganda.We need to organize a totall boycott of msnbc. The solution is not to ban guns but to require every law abiding citizen to be armed at all times, just like a samauri warrior who can not be without his sword. If the pilots on 9/11 had been armed they could have prevented the terrorists from taking over the cockpit.If all law abiding citizens were armed at all times then robberies, rape, and home invasions would go down drasticly and the anti gun forces who want to impose tyranny on the united states people would be defeated and labeled the traitors to freedom that they really are.
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No, but wait!
What if NONE of the moviegoers had been armed? Oh, wait, never mind. That's just what happened.
Also not the answer
The guy who did this was wearing body armor. If everyone was armed and pulled out their guns and started shooting in the dark. The perpetrator would probably be the only one left alive!
Try again!
Next week it will be 12 more people by someone else. There needs to be a real solution! There needs to be real punishment! There are no consequences for this kind of behavior. We don't need to outlaw guns. We just need punishment that fits the crime!
Back a few hundred years ago, this is how they did it, if someone kills someone else they would be put to death. If someone killed a group of people unjustly they would be burned with candles to the verge of death allowed to heal and then burned to the verge of death for each count. They would do this publicly. Problem solved! Absolutely no mass killings. I don't think this is cruel and unusual. Cruel and unusual would be chopping off someone's hands for stealing a loaf of bread. Cruel and unusual would also be not punishing this person it would be cruel and unusual for the families of all the dead. PS this guy will probably get life in a nut house. That's three hots and a cot for life. Candles are cheaper! If we do this just once, we will have an outbreak of sanity in the United States. No more nuts going around killing people !
Albert Einstein
100% agree with this.
However, there's 1 issue. When you say we should "require every law abiding citizen to be armed at all times", I really think you mean "encourage every law abiding citizen to be armed at all times". Remember, it is your right to choose to bear arms. But it is also the right for someone else to choose not to. Mandates will get us nowhere if we are truly about liberty.
you are right. In fact I said
you are right. In fact I said as much in a reply to the first comment. We need to legalize and encourage the carrying of firearms, not require it. Require was a poor choice of words.
Problem is not just gun-control
but also limited self-defense laws and a legislature and judicial branch dominated by the most hawkish elements of the law enforcement community. If u use your firearm outside of your home, business, or vehicle, you end up like George Zimmerman. The self- defense laws on the books have been scrutinized and minimized through agency litigation and lobbying. Even in so-called "red-states", self-defense statutes have been under constant attack since the 70s in the form of legislation and, most importantly, judicial precedent.
All laws that protect defendants have been severely weakened over the years as well. The so called "tough on crime" approach has, of course, resulted in an overall deterioration of civil liberties. Even long standing principals, i.e. "innocent before proven guilty", are practically meaningless in today's de-facto conception of justice.
The NDAA et al have awakened us, but the modern weakening of civil liberties had its origins in criminal law reform.
What if ANY of the moviegoers were armed?
A lot of lives (perhaps all) could have been saved.
Please pray for the individuals and families involved in this tragedy - for comfort, healing, help, and love.
And please pray that the wish of our founders would come true that every responsible male (and female) citizen would be armed and skilled in defending life.
With deep respect for all life from fertilization to the old age grave.
Through Christ, the Prince of Peace!
Ron Paul 2012
The Champion of the Constitution
At the cross Jesus Christ defeated sin, death, hell, and the new world order.
C’mon boys, let’s take the plunder!
Mikerascan's picture
Herd Immunity
It sure is curious how Herd Immunity works for self defense against a virus but not for self defense against bullets and gas.
Just sayen'
Yes and no
If those people had been armed, it's likely the carnage would have been cut short, or better yet, with a mind set that society at large is permitted to be armed, it may have discouraged many would-be mass shooters (Most who are cowards in the first place and often self- suicide rather than shoot it out with armed police) to rampage in the first, place.
But on the other, trying to shoot a perp in a dark theater with smoke and people running around is fraught with consequences. Even a trained shooter risks hitting a bystander. Not saying it shouldn't be attempted, just that its an imperfect solution in a difficult scenario
I believe in the right to be armed for self-defense, but as I posted in a similar thread, that is not enough. Armed self-defense is reaction to a symptom of a greater problem. We need to be pro-active in promoting non-aggression of our libertarian philosophy to others.
Conscience does not exist if not exercised
---Lily Tomlin
while it is true a dark
while it is true a dark theater is not the best scenario for hitting a target, the muzzle flashes would have made a good target after people realized what was happening.
Where is Batman when you need him?
Take responsibility to defend yourselves.
Don't be ridiculous. People
Don't be ridiculous. People shoudln't be allowed to defend themselves. Only the government and it's trained officers should have that authority.
yes, that is sarcasm.
There must be a million
There must be a million police officers in this country who are armed at all times and I dont remember any incidents where one of them committed mass murder at a theater. If armed police make us safer then armed honest citizens would also. When the police want to kill somebody they just beat them to death with their clubs like they did to kelly thomas in california. Why aren't bloomberg and msnbc calling for anti club laws.
When seconds count....
the police will be there in 15 minutes.
Friedrich Nietzsche
and then they will hide
and then they will hide behind their cars in the parking lot for hours while people bleed to death like they did at colombine
Samurai had weapons because they were the elites' soldiers
Here's what they thought about everyone else:
-- Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Shogun, August 1588
I still support your main point.
reedr3v's picture
Arming of all citizens would not be required,
if an uncertain but large percentage were presumed armed and ready to stop aggression at all times. The factor that leaves all of us vulnerable is not universal gun-toting, but a ready acceptance and glorification of official violence as the basis for the culture.
perhaps require was not the
perhaps require was not the right word. What if everyone was encouraged to be armed and it became expected in our culture? First we need to get rid of all laws that prevent citizens from carrying a gun either concealed or open.
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Comment: Where/When did he say that?
(See in situ)
Where/When did he say that?
Can you prove that? Anyway, I agree a new investigation would be good! It couldn't hurt at least. But from what I've seen he won't touch 9/11 theories with a 10-foot pole.
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Helen Mirren's husband is secret New Orleans movie guru
HELEN MIRREN's moviemaker husband TAYLOR HACKFORD has had a huge impact on the film fortunes of New Orleans, Louisiana, in recent years - he advised city officials on how to attract movie projects to the area.
The director has adopted New Orleans as his second home and quietly teamed up with former TV executive Brandon Tartikoff to help local businesses adapt for the Hollywood crowd.
He tells WENN, "Brandon ran NBC and he was the brightest programming mind of his generation. His daughter got into an accident in L.A. and he resigned and moved to New Orleans to be with her. We were the only two guys from Hollywood in New Orleans and we taught some classes at the University of New Orleans and they said, 'What can we do to make this a production centre?'
"We wrote a paper of what they could do: 'Need an incentive, build a studio, tell your students that a grip and a gaffer are pretty good pay.' We did it and seven years later I got this call from the chancellor of UNO saying, 'We did all the things you said.'
"My film Ray was the first film to really use the place. The difference is when I did Ray there was about a third of a crew in New Orleans; now there's six crews. There were no actors in New Orleans and now there's actors. It's the second biggest production centre for feature films in the United States so I'm thrilled."
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Cubs send pitcher to Red Sox as comp for Epstein
Determining his value to the Chicago Cubs, another title-starved franchise desperately hoping to be saved by the Boy Wonder, turned out to be a much more complicated issue. Turns out the architect of a two-time champion who restored pride to a franchise that had long been known for choking in the biggest moments was worth a 26-year-old reliever and a player to be named later.
"I guess my name will go down in history," Carpenter said.
After the Red Sox blew a nine-game lead in the AL East by going 7-20 in the final month of last season, Epstein started to look for a new challenge. He became Chicago's president of baseball operations and got a five-year, $18.5 million deal in October.
But completing the deal proved to be much more than a formality as both sides grappled with comparing the skill set of an executive on the suite level with what a player brings on the diamond. The teams were not able to agree on compensation and wound up submitting arguments to Commissioner Bud Selig.
"I think it took this long because it was a unique circumstance," said Red Sox GM Ben Cherington, who served under Epstein before succeeding him. "We talk to teams all the time about trades and it's player-for-player and it's ... easier to assign value and figure out what's fair, what's not fair. In this case it was just tougher because it involved not just an executive but a friend."
It had to make for awkward conversations. Would Cherington throw out a name, only to have Epstein say, 'No, I'm not worth that much'?
"It was just difficult because these things don't normally happen," Cherington said with a chuckle. "It's hard to figure out what was appropriate. In the end both teams compromised and we feel really good about the guy we're getting and we're happy it was resolved and we were able to resolve it between the teams without the commissioner getting involved."
For one deal, at least, Epstein went from talent evaluator to the actual talent being acquired.
"I am relieved that this process is over and particularly pleased that the teams were able to reach agreement on their own without intervention from MLB," he said in a statement released by the team. "I truly hope and believe that this resolution will benefit both clubs, as well as Chris, who is an extremely talented reliever joining a great organization at a time when there's some opportunity in the major league bullpen."
Selig said he was glad he didn't have to get involved.
"I am pleased that the Cubs and the Red Sox have resolved this matter," Selig said in a statement. "It has always been my preference that Clubs resolve matters like this amongst themselves, as they understand their unique circumstances better than anyone else could. Though the matter required time, both clubs demonstrated professionalism throughout their discussions, and I appreciate their persistence in finding common ground."
Carpenter was a third-round draft pick by the Cubs in 2008. He made 42 relief appearances between Double-A Tennessee, Triple-A Iowa and the Cubs. He spent four years in the minors before seeing his first major league action last season, when he posted no record and a 2.79 ERA in 10 appearances.
"If you're going to pick two teams to play for, why not the Cubs and the Red Sox?" Carpenter said. "You can't complain about that."
The Red Sox bullpen is in a state of flux and it's one of new manager Bobby Valentine's chief concerns this spring. Andrew Bailey was acquired from Oakland in December to replace closer Jonathan Papelbon and setup man Daniel Bard has been moved to the starting rotation. The Red Sox have 36 pitchers in camp, hoping that the numbers will help them bolster the depth of the relief corps.
The Cubs, meanwhile, can finally close the book on their biggest acquisition in years.
"Now we can just move forward with the spring without worrying about the compensation," Cubs GM Jed Hoyer said in Mesa, Ariz., at Chicago's spring training complex. "Chris is a very good reliever. He's a difficult guy to lose. I think we all realized we were going to lose something of significant value when Theo came over here, and this doesn't change that.
"I hope Chris has a lot of success over there. Obviously the Cubs are really excited about the new management team with Theo leading it, so there was a price to be paid for that."
As for the players to be named later, Hoyer called it a "procedural" thing to meet MLB transaction rules.
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Palladium July Birthstone Rings (319)
About Palladium July Birthstone Rings
Rings have long symbolized the circle of life. At Gemvara, we believe that the rings you wear should be one of a kind, like you. That's why our rings are made to order in your choice of conflict-free gems and recycled precious metals. Choose blue topaz and palladium or citrine and platinum: it's your choice. Mix and match gems and precious metals for a look that's exactly you. It's jewelry for all life's occasions, from a birthday or Mother's Day to your own personal milestones and celebrations. Our unrivalled selection of designs by Randy Dixon, Jeet Palavwala, Jessica Behzad, and other talented jewelry designers means you can find a ring that's just your style. Because all Gemvara palladium july birthstone rings are made to order, we can hand-select the finest quality materials to perfectly suit your design. July's birthstone is ruby, the boldest of gems with a classic color that plays off every other color in your wardrobe beautifully. Rare and naturally white, palladium is a platinum group metal that weighs a bit less than gold, making it versatile even for large jewelry designs. Be careful when removing rings to wash your hands. Don't leave your ring on the rim of a sink where it can slip down the drain! Clean palladium july birthstone rings with mild dish soap: use a soft brush where dust collects. Gemvara's fine quality palladium july birthstone rings are designed to be passed down for generations to come, crafted by hand in the United States.
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Monsanto and Bollgard
I attended the Public Voice meeting in Washington, D.C. March 14th,
and heard a presentation by Randy Deaton, Technical Manager for New Products
and International Markets, Monsanto, speak about the great success they feel
farmers had last year with Bollgard (Monsanto's Bt-transgenic cotton), and
of course he also stressed the great market success Monsanto and Delta Pine
were having, with sales moving along so fast. A several page "Bollgard
Backgrounder" put a happy face on the spotty performance of Bollgard
throughout most of the US cotton belt, and was silent on the serious
efficacy problems experienced in most Australian cotton growing regions. In
Deaton's talk and Monsanto's PR, there are only oblique references to the
fact that Monsanto is as concerned as anyone with resistance, and that
afterall, it is their technology and market to loose, and hence they have a
vested interest in assuring resistance management works.
He did not discuss, nor does the "good science" company feel obliged
to report that the spotty control of Bollgard in the field in all regions
undermines completely the always theoretical and weak scientific basis for
the high dose plus refugia resistance management plan that Monsanto
presented, and used to pressure EPA to approve the registration. The theory
is that through very high expression of Bt in plant tissues, virtually all
feeding leps will die, and hence no resistance gene pool will build up. It
works fine in parts of all fields, but as long as it works in only 98% of
the fields, or 98% of the time, it is doomed to failure.
Nearly all independent consultants and entomologists who have
studied Bollgard in the field report the same thing -- lower portions and
some parts of most cotton plants seem to sustain a fair degree of damage,
and support surviving populations (these will soon become the resistant
members of the population); that in parts of the field where poor soil,
compaction, head-rows, physical injury to the plant from wind/rain, other
unusual circumstances leads to uneven or stunted growth, the plant shuts
down the production of Bt as a survival measure enough to lower levels well
below where they are supposed to be, at least in part of the plant's tissue,
and some insects survive on these plants; we also know now some insects
develop "behavioral resistance", the capacity to avoid the high-expression
parts of the plants. There are other reasons why entomologists are now
convinced that Bt-transgenic plants have 3 to 5 years max, before burning
out and leaving Bt-resistant genes in a dozen major lep species that will
then have a field day, as it were, in high value fruit and vegetable crops.
EPA is holding a public hearing 3/21 during which CU colleague
Michael Hansen and I will be presenting some of the data supporting the
above conclusions, in the hope we can convince EPA to pull back the
Bt-transgenics before it is too late. I am sure many others will present
additional data, some of it contradictory, but I suspect no one will argue,
at least not with a straight face, that they are convinced the science shows
that resistance "will not emerge." In our judgment, the debate is not over
whether, but when, and "who cares" and does EPA have any authority to do
anything about it? And if so, when?
The consequences of the loss of Bt on the sustainability of fruit
and vegetable production and food safety are immeasureable. The loss of Bt
will force thousands of farmers to dramatically increase reliance on toxic
OPs and carbamates, just at the time the Food Quality Protecton Act will be
placing much stricter controls on those high-risk pesticides. How EPA deals
with the information, and how or whether they act to reign Bt crops back in,
is going to be a test of whether corporate PR, determined lobbying, and
political connections wins regardless of what science says.
I hope people will use the March 21 EPA hearing, and the information
it generates, as a catalyst in making the case to EPA much more forcefully
that the "hundreds of thousands of pounds" of cotton insecticide use
Bollgard may save on cotton (a non-food crop) for a few years is NOT WORTH
the inevitable need to apply MILLIONS of pounds more OPs and carbamates on
fruits and vegetables each year for perhaps decades -- crops which people
eat and about which EPA is ardently trying to reduce risks. You might ask
any fruit or vegetable grower-friends what they would do for leps control if
they lost Bt to resistance. You will soon get the picture. Remind them
Admire is already on the slippery slope of resistance after just two years
of field use.
Charles Benbrook 202-546-5089 (voice)
Benbrook Consulting Services 202-546-5028 (fax)
409 First Street S.E. benbrook@hillnet.com [e-mail]
Washington, D.C. 20003 http://www.pmac.net
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The big day has come. You're ready to deliver your talk. But you need to do a few final things before facing your audience.
• Check in early. Arrive early so that you can check out the logistics of the room in which you'll be speaking. Where is the platform? Where will you be when you are introduced? How will you reach the lectern? Is the audience close enough to build intimacy? Is the light on you?
• Familiarize yourself with the microphone. Learn how to turn it off and on, and how to remove it from the stand. Practice talking into it and walking without tangling the cord around your feet.
• Understand your technical equipment. Whether it's an overhead projector, slide projector, or a VCR, make sure that the equipment is in working order and that you know how to use it. Inspect your slides, transparencies, or videotapes. Are they in the right sequence? Are they in good shape?
• Be ready to write. Do you have lots of appropriate writing materials for your easel or chalkboard, and extras of everything? Can you write some of your information beforehand to save time during your presentation?
• Connect with the organizer or emcee. Be clear about who will introduce you and where you'll be. (Best is to walk on from the wings.) If it's a banquet, check that you will have a clear path to the mike -- no tripping over wires, chairs, or diners. Hand the emcee your prewritten introduction, and be sure that he or she can pronounce your name correctly. Have it written in 18 - 20 point type so that it is easy to read, and make sure it clearly includes any special instructions. Let the introducers know that if there are any words they are not comfortable with, they can substitute their own.
It's time to look your audience in the eye and tell them all the exciting things you know they are eager to hear. If the butterflies in your stomach are taking some of the joy out of the occasion, here is what the professionals do.
Find a private place to warm up by relaxing your body and face. Stand on one leg and shake the other. When you put your foot back on the ground, it's going to feel lighter. Switch legs and shake again. It's a technique that actors use. Shake your hands fast. Hold them above your head, bending at the wrist and elbow, and lower them. This will make your hand movements more natural. Relax your face muscles by chewing in an highly exaggerated way. Do shoulder and neck rolls.
Give your speech. Remember that the audience is on your side. That's the good news. People are giving you their time, and they want you to be good. They'll stay on your side for about 30 seconds. You have about that much time to keep them on your side for the rest of your speech. How do you do that?
1. Look the part. First impressions are hard to overcome. Looking professional adds to your credibility and that of your business.
2. Act naturally. "What an actor has to do is be personal in public," said acting coach Lee Strasberg. Being on a stage makes you a larger than life, but you also need to be personal in public. That's what all those warm-up exercises are about -- to help you feel natural and act naturally.
3. Don't tell what you can show. I learned this from Chuck Norris and Jean-Claude Van Damme. Norris learned it from his friend, the late Steve McQueen, who advised Norris, "Say the last word in the scene, and don't say anything you don't have to." Audiences don't go to hear what Norris or Van Damme say. They go to see what they do.
4. Choose your emphasis. Examine each word in your speech, looking for the emotion. Every word is not equally important. The audience will get your message based on the inflection and emphasis you place on key words and phrases.
5. Move about if you can. I urge you not to stand behind the lectern throughout your entire talk. It puts a barrier between you and the audience, and they feel it. However, if you feel more secure standing behind the lectern, never lean on it.
6. Vary your intensity. You're new to speaking, and you're not an actor, but you can add excitement to your talk just the same. When I saw myself on video at an communications seminar many years ago, I thought they were running the video on double time. The teacher said, "Your strength is your energy, but think of a symphony. It has a slow, quiet movement and then builds to a crescendo. The variety makes each element more effective." The enemy of the speaker is sameness. Stand, move, be serious and be funny, talk loudly, talk softly, don't speak in black and white. Speak in Technicolor!
Read the rest of this series:
Part 1: Get Publicity and Bolster Profits through Public Speaking
Part 2: Writing and Organizing a Winning Speech
Part 3: Polishing and Rehearsing for a Perfect Presentation
Copyright © 2000 Patricia Fripp
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Ultimate Puzzle Games Game Boy Advance
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1. Is this game for you? Why bother? Pick up a newspaper and flip to their crossword puzzle. You'll end up with more money in your wallet and less frustration in the long run.
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Kilduff: That sounds like a very valid outsider's critique, but how ... do you get this done inside a very elaborate system?
De Geus: You cannot. My point is, if Gavin is going to be the CEO of the state, he has to appoint a CEO of education that is empowered (by) a fundamental redesign of the architecture.
Ken McNeely, California president, AT&T: I absolutely agree. As a large employer in the state, we're simply not able to get the qualified applicants that we need. I think we've lost a generation. I think we're ready for a complete overhaul, and I think something has to happen, or businesses are going to go where they can find the talent that they need; and, unfortunately, that may not be in the state of California. It may not be in the United States.
Ellen Moir, executive director, UC Santa Cruz New Teacher Center: Someone has to "own" public education in this state and be aggressive about it. Our school system, with a school board ... are often lovely, smart people, but dysfunctional. They don't have the impetus and the drive and the focus and the control and the power to transform what's going on in (school) districts.
And finally, I think, we need to do a much better job of recruiting the best teachers.
Kilduff: What practical steps do you think need to be taken to have these changes come about?
Moir: I'm not sure how to tackle the school board situation. I think it definitely needs to be thought of. We have to look at how you measure teacher effectiveness. It has to be beyond just test scores.
Kilduff: UC, CSU, community colleges - they seem to be getting whacked every year. What would ... you do to re-supply whatever these higher-ed institutions need, to get them back on their feet?
Newsom: You simply don't make those cuts in higher education. It's a question of what you value, and the next governor needs to value higher education more substantively, not just rhetorically.
Kilduff: How do you pay for a system that seems to need a lot more dough to operate ... even at a modest level?
De Geus: I think you can't. There is not enough money right now. Therefore, efficiency is what's going to be the driver. I think it's a good place to start with higher education, because it's the shortest pipeline between doing something and having a workforce that actually impacts things.
Moir: I want to comment on the tragedy that we see in this state right now. You have young people preparing for college, and they are getting there with fewer courses, fewer professors, and, you know, faculty that are discouraged because of furlough days and whatnot. We have to prioritize education in this state.
Kilduff: How do you deal with union resistance to change - reform preventing tenure, the seniority systems, mobility, offering higher pay to science and math teachers?
Moir: I do not see the unions as the obstacle. I think that the ... biggest obstacle is that we haven't imagined together how to transform our systems. We have to all be at the table to build out the kind of new structures that we want. I personally think that education needs to dramatically overhaul its performance-management plan. We need to build solid methods for evaluating teachers and principals and superintendents simultaneously. We need to look carefully at what it means to get tenure.
Kilduff: What qualities do you want to see in a graduating student who's coming to your office?
McNeely: What we've not really talked about is, we ... still train our kids like we're in the 1950s, the 1960s, and we live in ... an era now of Facebook and (Twitter) and texting and the kids are being bombarded with information technology from all sides. Yet we haven't evolved - the educational system hasn't evolved - to really challenge those kids, and harness that energy, and that is exactly the kind of energy and the kind of creativity that I think, as large businesses, we're going to need for the future. The jobs that our students today will be applying for don't even exist. So being able to create a student that's going to be able to excel in that environment really means imbuing a sense of creativity, of energy, and a perspective that doesn't exist, I think, in today's classroom.
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1 definition by mythbustah
1. a Grammy winning American, smooth jazz, saxophonist. Kenny G earned a place in the Guinness Book of World Records for playing the longest note ever recorded on a saxophone. Using circular breathing, Kenny G held an E-flat for 45 minutes and 47 seconds at J&R Music World in New York City
2. a person who kills a joint or blunt in one hit
1. That last album by kenny G really sucked ass.
2. I didn't get to hit the blunt because joe pulled a kenny g.
by mythbustah May 12, 2010
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