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Take the 2-minute tour × When I used the exe file to install it it works on first start. Then when I restart it and boot from it, I get a purple screen then it flashes to the login screen what happend to the ubuntu logo? share\|improve this question add comment 1 Answer to put it simply, the graphic driver loads slower than the rest of the system. I fixed it with these directions. Get your precious Plymouth splash screen back I didn't not follow the directions from this particular website, I couldn't find the one I used but these are the correct direction. I have mine back and can now remove the "quiet splash" and see the boot messages if needed. Edit: while there is an detailed explanation of why you might want to check out, I and going to copy and paste the instructions below in case the link expires. Open a virtual terminal and type the following command: sudo gedit /etc/initramfs-tools/conf.d/splash This file may not exist, so you may be creating it from scratch now. Enter the following content on the file you opened on the previous step: Close and save the file. Now, run the following command to commit the change: sudo update-initramfs -u Reboot and enjoy your Plymouth splash screen. share\|improve this answer So i will need my gpu because mine isent working atm – winter4w Jun 13 '12 at 2:50 I'm not sure what you are asking here. The fix has nothing to do with which gpu you have. If you can get to the log in screen your gpu is working. The reason that you have no splash screen is that the new kernels load so fast that the DRIVERS load after the rest of the system. This fix will get the system to wait for the graphic driver to load, hence allowing you to see the boot screen or any boot messages if you Esc. the splash screen. The system will boot slightly slower with this fix but if you have a fairly new system you will not notice the difference. – TrailRider Jun 13 '12 at 21:39 Unless I misunderstood your initial question. after you installed you didn't see the boot screen but went to the log-in screen, you were able to log in and run Ubuntu correct?? If so then Ubuntu is installed and you can use this fix to get the boot screen to show again. – TrailRider Jun 13 '12 at 21:48 Yes i dont see the boot screen but I am able to go on the login screen i was just wondering if I can get the boot screen – winter4w Jun 14 '12 at 3:57 Then this should work for you. – TrailRider Jun 14 '12 at 22:48 add comment Your Answer	665
Well the answer is easy ..... No!? Or is it..... This is really a two fold statement. We do not have a sequencer for NT 4.0. So basically you cannot sequence your application from NT 4.0 directly and put them straight into your Windows XP SoftGrid environment! So if that's the case, how do I get my application from NT 4.0 to Sequenced Virtual Application and then deployed? Well, I hate to say it but there is no easy route! The main thing to understand is getting a process behind you to bring your application up to a specific level and then sequenced on a supportable platform such as Windows XP. Application Compatability Application Migration Process from NT 4.0 (High Level) The above show this process around taking an old NT 4.0 application and passing it through the application compatibility toolkit. Now I am not saying this is the be all and end all but it certainly can be used as a good guide, or flow process you can leverage off! The Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT) enables software developers, independent software vendors (ISVs), and IT professionals who work in a corporate environment to determine, before rolling out within the organization, whether their applications are compatible with a new version of the Microsoft® Windows® operating system. ACT also enables such individuals to determine how an update to the new version will impact their applications. You can use the ACT features to: You can download it from here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=24DA89E9-B581-47B0-B45E-492DD6DA2971&displaylang=en Once your application is to a stable state you can look to run through the sequencing wizards as per normal and capture your application. The core benefit is that you are just trying to get this one suite of applications working! Not regression testing it against many others 1,2,4,8,16,32,64, etc etc application along side it. This can help save you and your business valuable time and stop massive amounts of pain with your upgrades from NT 4.0 to XP/Vista! We know that there are many companies still going through these migrations, and in my humble opinion I hope that this helps you migrate more dynamically from these older legacy platforms. (Good luck to the lads up North! You know who you are :-) )	552
IR Atmospheric Windows The Universe sends us light at all wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum. However, most of this light does not reach us at ground level here on Earth. Why? Because we have an atmosphere which blocks out many types of radiation while letting other types through. Fortunately for life on Earth, our atmosphere blocks out harmful, high energy radiation like X-rays, gamma rays and most of the ultraviolet rays. It also block out most infrared radiation, as well as very low energy radio waves. On the other hand, our atmosphere lets visible light, most radio waves, and small wavelength ranges of infrared light through, allowing astronomers to view the Universe at these wavelengths. Most of the infrared light coming to us from the Universe is absorbed by water vapor and carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere. Only in a few narrow wavelength ranges, can infrared light make it through (at least partially) to a ground based infrared telescope. The Earth's atmosphere causes another problem for infrared astronomers. The atmosphere itself radiates strongly in the infrared, often putting out more infrared light than the object in space being observed. This atmospheric infrared emission peaks at a wavelength of about 10 microns (micron is short for a micrometer or one millionth of a meter). So the best view of the infrared universe, from ground based telescopes, are at infrared wavelengths which can pass through the Earth's atmosphere and at which the atmosphere is dim in the infrared. Ground based infrared observatories are usually placed near the summit of high, dry mountains to get above as much of the atmosphere as possible. Even so, most infrared wavelengths are completely absorbed by the atmosphere and never make it to the ground. From the table below, you can see that only a few of the infrared "windows" have both high sky transparency and low sky emission. These infrared windows are mainly at infrared wavelengths below 4 microns. Infrared Windows in the Atmosphere Sky Transparency Sky Brightness 1.1 - 1.4 microns low at night 1.5 - 1.8 microns very low 2.0 - 2.4 microns very low 3.0 - 4.0 microns 3.0 - 3.5 microns: fair 3.5 - 4.0 microns: high 4.6 - 5.0 microns 7.5 - 14.5 microns 8 - 9 microns and 10 -12 microns: fair others: low very high 17 - 40 microns 17 - 25 microns: Q 28 - 40 microns: Z very low very high 330 - 370 microns very low Basically, everything we have learned about the Universe comes from studying the light or electromagnetic radiation emitted by objects in space. To get a complete picture of the Universe, we need to see it in all of its light, at all wavelengths. This is why it is so important to send observatories into space, to get above our atmosphere which prevents so much of this valuable information from reaching us. Since most infrared light is blocked by our atmosphere, infrared astronomers have placed instruments onboard, rockets, balloons, aircraft and space telescopes to view regions of the infrared which are not detectable from the ground. As a result, amazing discoveries about our Universe have been made and hundreds of thousands of new astronomical sources have been detected for the first time. Due to the rapid development of better infrared detectors and the ability to place telescopes in space, the future is extremely bright for infrared astronomy. Ground based infrared observatories, using advanced techniques such as Adaptive Optics are providing fascinating views of the infrared Universe viewed through our atmosphere's infrared windows. Mauna Kea Observatories Although these observatories cannot view at other infrared wavelengths, they can observe the near-infrared sky almost anytime the weather permits, providing valuable long term studies of objects in space. New missions are being planned to get above the atmosphere to observe the infrared Universe with better resolution than ever before. SOFIA, an airborne observatory, is schedule to start operations in 2004. The Spitzer Space Telescope, launched in August 2003, is NASA's next great observatory in space. In the next decade, you will probably hear much news about discoveries being made in infrared astronomy, as we now can see beyond our atmosphere's infrared windows! Infrared Astronomy HOME PAGE \| Discovery of Infrared \| What is Infrared? \| Infrared Astronomy Overview \| Atmospheric Windows \| Near, Mid & Far Infrared \| The Infrared Universe \| Spectroscopy \| Timeline \| Background \| Future Missions \| News & Discoveries \| Images & Videos \| Activities \| Infrared Links \| Educational Links \| Getting into Astronomy	1,118
How To Read Someone's MindS Impress your friends and terrify your enemies, by pretending to read anyone's mind. It's not as hard as it looks — there are some well-worn tricks that can make you appear telepathic. Screw magicians and their lame fire tricks — we're way more impressed with someone who can guess your favorite movie just by staring into your eyes. We spoke with Las Vegas' resident Mentalist Gerry McCambridge and he broke down the basic steps to wowing people with your powers of telepathy. McCambridge, who has spent the last 7 years at The Planet Hollywood reading throngs of tourists, doesn't just pull information from your brain — he'll also tell you exactly how he got there as well. So we asked him to break down his methods step by step. Select the right subject. You can't just grab any old victim for a good mind sucking off the street. Rather, you should select your prey delicately. McCambridge elaborates: "Some people want to be the center of attention. So, if I'm asking for people to come up on stage a lot of times it's those type of people. And they tend not to be the best assistants because they want to have their 15 minutes of fame at my expense. So I'm looking for people who may not come up on stage at the drop of a hat, but aren't [so] overly shy that they're going to stay in the audience. The first thing I'm looking for is somebody who is smiling and laughing at the jokes that I'm putting out there. There you have someone who wants to interact. Then you have the over-responders and that's someone I don't want necessarily right away. That's what you look for first, the type person." Mirror the subject (make them comfortable). Once you've snared your subject, woo them into a sense of security, by mimicking their ways. "Make sure you try something that they are comfortable with. Do you have any artistic abilities? Then you can do something where you using drawing. You feel them out based on what you're going to ask them to do. Then you use an NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) technique called mirroring. Where you get them comfortable with you by mirroring the way that they're responding to you. People can pick up on that and they feel more relaxed around someone they feel is close to them. If they're a shy person and you're loud and obnoxious, they're not going to feel comfortable standing next to you. If they are a little shy and you back off and act a little timid yourself, introduce yourself nicely, it puts everybody at ease." Know the statistics. Know your stuff. In order to become and excellent Mind Reader, you need to up on the latest trends and tendencies of the mind. McCambridge has spent years documenting his shows, taking notes of the different ages of people in the audience, the cars parked in the parking lots, what kind of event it was. And he makes good use of all this statistical data. "I know statistically how people are going to respond to certain situations. When I offer you a choice of 4 different objects I know 92% of the time you're going to choose the third one on your own. When you tell someone to think of a number between 1 and 10, statisically they are going to gravitate towards 7. If you ask someone to respond to a question very quickly, that changes the response. If I asked you to think of a color very quickly 1, 2, 3 — red is the statistical first choice. Blue is the second choice. If you ask for a color quickly, people go for red. If you ask for a color and you give someone a three or four second space, they will go for blue, because they will change their mind thinking red is the obvious choice." Look for signs. But you've got to be aware of basic responses! "Look for reactions. For example [something I might try] is instruct the person to respond to what I say with the word no. No matter what I say, you respond with no. Then I'll say think of a number between 1 to 10, and I ask is it the number 1? No. The number 2? No. We go through the entire thing with No and I tell them that it's the number 6 because of the fact that they looked at me different when they were actually lying to me. They couldn't make eye contact [or something similar to that]." Utilize the body. Learn the art of muscle reading. "Without the people realizing it, I'm touching them in a very relaxed way that they don't realize what I'm doing. Based on the questions that I'm asking them, I can tell what the answers are by feeling the difference in their muscles. You body echoes what your brain thinks. And I've learned how to pick up on the echoes. An example is I tell the person to think of a letter in the alphabet, and then the audience sing the Alphabet Song. By the time their finished I can tell what letter they have because the second the audience said their letter, their brain thinks to itself "that's it!" That changes the physiological response in your body and I can pick that up, it's different than the other 25 letters." Don't be afraid to admit failure. If you fall flat on your face, pick up and try again. The audience will love you even more for it. "[If the trick doesn't work] I usually try it a second time. If it's an important part of the show I may send the person back to their seat and say, 'OK let's try something else.' There is no sure-fire way, things go wrong, it actually adds more credibility to the show when the audience sees that sometimes it fails. What a mentalist does, it doesn't always work, and that's OK. " The easiest trick in the book. We'll tell you the name of the trick after you do it, because it spoils the reveal! • Pick a number between 1 and 10. • Multiply it by 9. • If it's a 2 digit number, add them together. • Now subtract 5. • Map the result to a letter of the alphabet, where A=1, B=2 and so on. • Think of a country which begins with that letter. • Take the second letter of the country and think of an animal which begins with that letter. • Think of the color of that animal. • Are you thinking of a grey elephant from Denmark? Obviously this is titled the Grey Elephant from Denmark. We tried this on 3 people in the office and, one out of three guessed Grey Elephant. Our suggestion, do it in big group and the odds will be in your favor. Here's a clip of Gerry in action. Check him out over at his Mentalist website or live at the Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas. Top image via Notre Cinema.	1,632
Forgot your password? Submitted by PolygamousRanchKid Link to Original Source Comment: Re:narfled the garthok - I'm not dead yet (Score 1) 405 by nixish (#41601891) Attached to: If I was to be killed by science-fiction villains, I'd rather: The question "If I was to be killed by science-fiction villains, I'd rather:" kind of assumes you're going to die. I'd rather re-word it, I would prefer: "If a science-fiction villain were to attempt to kill me I'd rather:" You cannot deny your mortality. Get in in your head, buddy. We are just dust in the wind, in the end. If you accept that, firstly, you face the truth and not hide from it as can be inferred from the wording in this post. (pardon, if this is not correct but do not change your perception and tell me I was wrong after you have changed your perception. That's just mean.) Secondly, you can channel your thoughts, actions and your life accordingly. You actually become more powerful, with truth by your side. Lo and behold, truth is liberating. Comment: two months ago (Score 1) 250 by nixish (#40731709) Attached to: I most recently switched ISPs ... And that was because I moved. From AT&T Elite DSL, I now have Business Comcast Cable internet (one of my housemates works at home and her work pays for most of the internet bill :) ). It's a bit of an upgrade but on a couple of occasions (once a month in the last two months), it has slowed down to a crawl for several hours notceably. I hope it's not a chronic problem. Comment: Green Tea with Intermittent Fasting (Score 1) 209 by nixish (#39849525) Attached to: What Is Your Beverage of Choice In the Morning? I tend to fast about 16 hours a day. That's counting about 7 hours of sleep plus nine hours in the morning and day. I do this for some health benefits and weight control (managing to lose about 20 pounds in a month and a half was a bonus). Now I am working on my six-pack abs and fitness. Anyway, my point is, because of this Intermittent fasting, I have switched to Green Tea in the morning and perhaps a coffee in the after noon. I love the concentration boosts due to these beverages. Comment: Can't happen without some basic house cleaning (Score 1) 438 by nixish (#38112002) Attached to: Human Survival Depends On Space Exploration, Says Hawking Interestingly, did the ambition of a robust space dream for the US die when the US had no real competition from the Russians or anyone else in the world? It looks like the US accumulated all the technical know-how (probably in some super secret programs) while never really unleashing its full potential. What a shame. Obviously, it's not clear if even with all the technical knowledge, how viable colonizing other terrains is. But having all that technical knowledge gives humans an edge without doubt. And to make a U-turn in my comment, it all goes back to basic human distrust. If the countries could actually agree and work on this together, there would be proliferation of knowledge and a better chance at space colonization. That's not happening any time soon. Space colonization is an issue that probably cannot happen with some basic human unity and cooperation between the countries. Comment: Interview (Score 1) 469 by nixish (#34428662) Attached to: WikiLeaks Should... After reading these interviews on Forbes and Timeand reading up on wikileaks, I came to the uncomfortable conclusion that Assange is doing what he has stood for and has spoken of. He has been very consistent in his actions and his views are visionary. When I read some of the stuff he has said, he comes off as a cynic. However, his underlying motivations are anything but cynical. He truly believes that putting this data out into the world will prevent/has prevented wars(Iran-US war) and that things will progress in the positive direction. I, while more than a decade younger than Assange, have become a bit jaded in my world view unlike Assange. Perhaps he is a cynical optimist,as illogical and paradoxical that sounds. Loose bits sink chips.	1,082
View Single Post Career Officer Join Date: Jun 2012 Posts: 1,263 Because def/acc/crit is poorly balanced and allocated to begin with. And so they should go bye bye! Poof! Gone! We don't even need to consider how nonsensical it is that the enemy using crippling fire to destroy your ship is somehow invisible! Placate on landing a Crit. Why is this garbage? Well it's garbage because it favors ships that do two things well. Hit, and crit! If you have a ship that can do those things often, you're in! It is particularly useful against targets that are easy to hit and crit! It is not very useful against targets that are hard to hit and crit. Poopy! Placate on being hit. Why is this garbage? Well its garbage because it indiscriminately activates regardless of the source of the damage. Sci abilities were never balanced on having to 'hit' the target. Not that many tac abilites are, but lets not visit that just yet. So you have a long duration low damage but very useful hold being broken due to this. Because it happens to pulse a small bit of damage. Or your turret plink plink plink set off the placate. It just doesn't make sense. On the one hand, this is VERY nice for those larger type of ships. They could use some sort of avoidance. NOT a great way to put it in the game though. Giving this to small fast wittle ships is almost criminal. Yah. Cause they NEEDED more defense, they were running out. I'd like to say, that if this placate could be tweaked to only proc off of incoming energy weapons damage it would be better. And then if we could limit it to cruisers and sci's..... but I digress. It is similar to defense in that it ignores facets of the incoming damage. If any damage can cause a placate...well....ok. But not all damage was required to hit before....sooo. Jam sensors, ams, ss, are boff abilites or console. Yah I know we all love ams. Still they are a little bit higher on the cost scale, and they have a bit of a CD and an immunity that sorta works. And yes, as has been pointed out, only firing once to kill someone works, but I don't see that becoming a universally adopted strategy. Cheers happy flying!! Last edited by thissler; 01-22-2013 at 06:47 AM.	592
This Weekend Steve Martin Also Apologized For A Racist Tweet This weekend, the world was out to get Justine Sacco fired for her ignorant tweet and failed to notice what Steve Martin was up to. Martin was having some fun on his Twitter page, discussing the merits of grammar. Fans of his would ask him questions about wording and he'd fire back a funny comment until one particular comment struck people the wrong way. @BethanyWedel wrote: "Is this how you spell lasonia?" And Martin wrote back... Moments later, unlike Sacco, Steve Martin had the wherewithal to delete the comment but it was too late. People started calling Martin out for his remark, which honestly I don't even understand. Is he making a joke about how an African American would say lasagna? Or is he commenting about how they wouldn't know how to spell it if it were written in a menu. I have no idea. After many of his fans started calling him out, he wrote: Many of you like to compare Justine Sacco to the scenario of "What if Chris Rock or Sarah Silverman said that!". Well here is a similar scenario presented to you from the same exact weekend starring Steve Martin, an extremely accomplished comedian. And yes, he too had to apologize. Unfortunately for Sacco, she's not a comedian for hire, and her bosses had the right to remove her for her grossly inappropriate comment. In 2004 Gilbert Gottfried made comments about the Tsnumi victims while hired to be the recurring voice of the Aflac duck. He tweeted 12 jokes, one of which was "Japan called me. They said "maybe those jokes are a hit in the US, but over here, they're all sinking." He was then fired from his job. That's right. A comedian was fired...from his job. But the question is was Steve Martin's tweet harsh enough in your eyes to warrant an apology or should he just quit spending so much time on Twitter and write a sequel to The Jerk already. (I love this movie) - Todd Spence (twitter) Um_ok User Just to see, I asked my black friend to repeat Steve Martin's words and I play the part of the stupid person and everyone around us laughed. Then I switched it up and I said it to my black friend around a new group of people and suddenly I was told that was rude and insensitive. Sorry people but the day you all play stupid and start seeing that black neighborhoods tend to have lower IQ levels and the inhabitants have a lesser grasp of the english language then other areas. This isn't me being racist, its simple fact. Go ahead and "axe" somebody. Ebonics came about through laziness just like the Southern Drawl has existed...but we just called it dumb rednecks. Steve made a factual comment that italians would likely know how to spell a dish they have been served all their lives and black families might not. Don't like it? easy, every time you hear another black person speak with terrible english, correct them and tell them they perpetuate a bad stereotype and should learn to use proper english to set better examples for their community. Or, just live with the fact that so many black neighborhoods are just lower on the IQ scale and will never learn...just like so many other poor ethnicities have equally low IQs. Honestly, race makes no difference because we could be speaking about poor white, mexican, or any race for that matter and they all tend to se english as a second language with their primary being their own version of slang.Â Trey-Evitt-16 User I think we're overly sensitive. I am white-as my Saxon Sutton Hoo helmet avatar might be a clue-and from South Carolina. I have joked about pronunciation of certain words with black friends since....ever. "Ask/Axe" being the most common. Where I'm from, near the Geechee/Gullah regions, the "Str" consonant blend is pronounced "scr", so, "Straight" is pronouncedÂ "Scraight". I once said, "Depending on your neighborhood, 'indiscreet' is either an adjective or a preposition"and friends both black and white cracked up. And...get this. We were in jail. Yes it was low-security, classified among minor misdemeanor offenders from traffic violations to small amounts of marijuana, but if you've been locked up, you know jail is no place for a whiteboy to be perceived as "racist", even among non-violent offenders. The real quandary is, "Is my intelligence being questioned, or are we joking around about colloquialisms and pronunciation".Â "1bigfatcat" 's point is well-taken, that, on a serious level, anti-white hate/discrimination goes challenged for the most part; it is rare for an act of black-on-white violence to be classified as a "hate crime". And it awakens my "inner skinhead" that neither Nelson Mandela's memorial services, nor First Lady Obama's previous trip to South Africa, afforded a dialog about white victims the Boer Genocide.Â Black comedians seem to get more leeway;Â "Gynecologist" is correct Cris Rock would never feel the need to apologize for the same remark Steve Martin made.Â Any idiot thinking Steve Martin is racist would have to read this tweet, Google his image and see him with "a banjo on his knee"Â His agnostic free-thought, his description of himself as "born a poor black child" in "The Jerk", and his beginnings as a Second-City/SNL comic in the subversive counterculture of the 60s and 70s should speak volumes. Racist atheists are few and far between. joedoaks User Oookay.... I'd only give that a 3.Â That's for both comedy and racism.Â You everÂ READ how horrifically some supposedly educated people can spell nowadays? TacoLoco User that was probably the funniest thing steve martin has said in 20 years, i guess only black people can make race based jokes in america LMNT115 User I don't get it....why is it a black comedian can stand on stage and tear into ' Whitey ' and everyone laughs...but a white comedian throws down something like what Steve Martin's unacceptable ? Xzelick User Todd Spence thinks that Japanese Tsunami happened in 2004, what an idiot. Â Gilbert Gottfried was fired after the Tohoku earthquake/tsunami in 2011! Would have been funny if Chris Rock said it. BigBlueMouse User " he commenting about how they wouldn't know how to spell it if it were written in a menu.Â I have no idea." That's not surprising, since you've used the word "reocurring", which doesn't even exist. It's an obvious joke, dummy. Lasonia sounds like a black woman's name. 1bigfatcat User I'm a white male and therefore it's legal to hate on me and discriminate against me. Every day, people treat me with prejudice because I am a white male.Â Â How about this:Â Instead of taking offence, take "tolerance!" Comedy is comedy.....unless you don't like it, then it's "racist." Either black, islamic, Japanese, american, etc., comedians ALL tell jokes on each other, or NO one tells jokes on each other. Be fair, and tolerant! Matt-Kim-806 User it's not a double standard you just think the cases are the same because you're stupid Needles_Malloy User @1bigfatcatÂ Since you admitted you are white, you are hereby immediately (at birth) guilty of white privilege. Every word you have ever spoken, is literally, the most racist statement uttered since a Hitler speech. The only way to assuage your much-deserved guilt is to vote for Obama, twice, and then tell all of your other white-guilted Obamadrone friends that you have begun step 1 of your 123,698 step journey to make amends to the blacks.Â	2,043
Decomposition Rates of Biodegradable Materials based on 11 ratings Author: Sarah Benton Although we cannot help but create some trash living in modern society, we do have some choice in what we purchase and how we dispose of this trash. In most areas, at least some sort of recycling is available. Biodegradable waste such as vegetable and fruit skins, peels, and some food scraps can be composted. There are many benefits to composting: it's a great way to keep excess waste from heading to the landfill and perpetuating nutrient cycling. Once organic waste has decomposed, the compost can be used to add nutrients to gardens, flower beds and house plants. When we can’t recycle or reuse items, they ultimately end up in a landfill. One of the main concerns of landfill use is keeping groundwater supplies clean. When it rains, water leaches through the layers of garbage, picking up toxins. These toxins include heavy metals and harmful chemicals that, unless collected or blocked from reaching the groundwater, can have negative effects on the drinking water supply. This runoff from the landfill is called leachate. Another cause for concern in landfill use is the build up of methane gas. Methane gas can be explosive when it accumulates. In order to limit what goes into our landfills it is important for students to learn how a composting system works and how a landfill works. How can one show the decomposition rates of biodegradable materials? • 2 2-liter soda bottles • Spray bottle • 1 apple • Black trash bag • Twist-tie • 2 coffee filters • Rubber gloves • Knife • Scissors • Soil (from the ground, garden or compost, not potting soil) • Leaves/grass clippings • Gravel • Cardboard, paper, plastic from recycling bin • Camera (optional) 1. You will begin by building your compost model. You will need the 2-liter bottle and the knife or scissors to start. 2. Cut the top half off of the bottle and invert inside the bottom half. See figure 1. 3. Take one coffee filter and cut about an inch off the perimeter of the filter. 4. Place the filter down in the neck of the bottle so that it will filter any liquids that might come out of your model. 5. Repeat steps 2-3 to build the outside of your landfill model. 6. Cut the apple in half. You will use one half in the compost model, and one half in the landfill model. Measure the apple and write down observations of how it looks. You may wish to photograph it at this time. 7. Pour an equal amount of gravel into both models to make a shallow first layer. 8. Pour an equal amount of soil into both models to make a bigger second layer. 9. Add leaves and grass clippings into the compost model. 10. Put the ½ apple into the compost model. You might want to place it somewhere where you will be able to see it from the outside of the bottle. 11. Layer cut up pieces of paper, plastic, etc. from the recycling bin in the landfill model. 12. Cut the corner off of the black trash bag to make a mini trash bag. Put the second half of the apple inside the bag and close with a twist-tie. 13. Put the mini trash bag into the landfill model. Layer soil on top of the layer of “trash”. 14. Fill the spray bottle with water and give each model the same number of sprays of water. 15. Put both models on a windowsill where they will get equal light. 16. Throughout the month, observe the models on a regular basis. Do not move the models or take anything out of them. You should spray them with water on a regular basis. Keep track of your observations and watering schedule in a science notebook. You may want to organize it like the table below. (Table 1) 17. Optional) You may wish to take a photo of each of your models on a regular basis. You can use the pictures to illustrate the changes in your project. 18. When your models have been decomposing for one month, take them apart. Find the apple in each. Carefully write down what the apple looks like. Measure the apple. If you have been taking photographs you will want to take a picture of each apple. 19. Also look at any liquid that has come out of the landfill or compost. This is the leachate. Write down some observations of the leachate (you could also take a picture). Does it look clean or dirty? Does it smell? 20. Compare the two models. What was realistic or not realistic about your models? Which is a better method for decomposing the apple? Why do you think this is important? Figure 1 Table 1 Compost Model Landfill Model Watering Schedule # of Sprays Compost Model Landfill Model Add your own comment	1,174
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent Review Whose side is he on? Version tested: PlayStation 3 Not every game looks amazingly realistic. Not every game has fancy menus. Not every game has the official licence, name or tits. Not every game has Mark Hamill doing voice acting. Alright, every game does have Mark Hamill doing voice acting, but not every game has Mark Hamill doing voice acting on a Tuesday. What we can rely on though - what holds the world to order - is the understanding that if someone shoots Mark Hamill, or indeed anyone, to death, they will fall down on cue. So it'd be pretty rubbish if you heard gunshots after somebody had fallen over, and indeed it is pretty rubbish when this happens in Splinter Cell: Double Agent on the PlayStation 3. It happens on level one, when your little agency cohort gets a bit ahead of himself and finds himself captured by Islamic extremists. It's a pitiful sight (and, eventually, sound), and it's symptomatic of a port that's at best loveless and sometimes rather hateful - something made all the more annoying given how brilliant Double Agent was on the Xbox 360. Splinter Cell has always built tension effectively, but Double Agent took things further, putting you in the hands of opposing masters; your ultimate goal was to infiltrate and undermine a terrorist organisation, but to do that you'd have to appease them while you kept your NSA bosses happy, by snipping wires and drawing on terrorist faces while they slept. All sorts of things affected the trust your superiors had for you, and some decisions were genuinely troubling: told to kill a helicopter pilot, would you pull the trigger in his face, knowing that he's dead anyway, or risk pissing off your terrorist boss by refusing? With multiple objectives competing for your time and competing with one another, staying undercover was just as important as finding cover had ever been. Some of the best missions take place at the terrorist HQ, but you get to tour the world too. Double Agent on PS3 is ostensibly the same game - with the same training levels, the same single-player campaign, the same nonsense story you probably won't care about, and a couple of new multiplayer levels that will be released on Xbox 360 before long anyway - but in making the transition to Sony's new console, something's gone wrong. Things are rubbish even before you start, as once-smooth load-screen cinematics shudder and crackle distractingly. In-game, your first task is to infiltrate a geothermal plant in Iceland: on Xbox 360, there's barely a frame missing; on PS3, the frame rate's dipping below the surface of acceptability before you've even climbed out of the water. Were this because the game was trying for 1080p it might be understandable, but Double Agent runs in the same 720p resolution on both consoles. Glitches, like the aforementioned gunshot mentalism, do little to convince you of the game's composure. Fortunately, it's a problem that seems to lessen once the game gets going, and the rest of the package is much the same as it is on Xbox 360. The campaign mode is an agreeable selection of levels that involve all the requisite sneaking around, and trying to avoid discovery by keeping an eye on guards, grabbing them by the neck and dropping silently onto their heads when the need takes you, and everything you need is at your disposal. And now you can be a girl visually, as well as sounding like one. The controls are much as they were, allowing you to manoeuvre Sam Fisher around with the left stick and rotate the camera with the right, while shoulder and face buttons swap between inventory items and perform stealthy take-downs. The main change is that you're given the option to pick locks using the Sixaxis' tilt sensor. Instead of rotating the analogue stick until you feel a buzz, you now tilt the controller left and right until the tumblers in the lock start to jiggle visibly. If you're not taken with this, you can switch it off and simply rotate and watch for movement, but there's nothing massively wrong with the new system, even if it is a bit throwaway. Turning in the direction of the Internet (hello), Double Agent distinguishes itself with a pair of new multiplayer maps and a new skin - the female spy. The latter is what it is (a character model with ladybumps), while the former are more likely to appeal to people who've already played the initial missions extensively, and so may be welcome, but will no doubt attract more interest when they arrive on Xbox Live along with the girlie spy. Otherwise, the multiplayer side of the game is set up in much the same way. The menus are laid out slightly differently, but you can still set up squads, look at global leaderboards for challenges and versus levels, and view your friends list. And that means you get the same excellent, balanced game of cat-and-mouse, as mercenaries try and stop the nimble spies reaching and hacking their data, with the same system of bonuses, unlockables and upgrades to add further incentive to return, which you will, time and again. There are six more expert co-op challenges here, too. It was a lousy job, but balancing a lamp on his back was all that Sam could do with that haircut. Overall, if you've got the option to choose between the two, the Xbox 360 version is definitely preferable. What more the PS3 has will be added via downloads, and in technical terms there's no debate. Taken alone though, Double Agent on the PS3 is still a fine game, and its clunkiness is excusable when taken in the context of its achievements, dragging fans out of their comfort zone in commendable fashion, and arguably providing enough content between its separate single- and multiplayer components that each could stand alone. It's not the easiest game for newcomers to approach (the tutorial's dreadful), but even stealth virgins will see the light after an hour or so in the dark, and probably ought to add another mark to the score. Make ours a double. 8 / 10 Read the scoring policy Comments (138)	1,485
KFFL Exclusive Interview: Brandon Burton, CB, Utah by Cory J. Bonini on February 18, 2011 @ 12:37:02 PDT KFFL.com draft analyst Cory J. Bonini recently conducted the following interview with Utah Utes cornerback and 2011 NFL Draft prospect Brandon Burton. 1) Discuss your process of deciding to declare for the draft as a junior. Uhm, my decision process ... I just sat down with my family, friends and coaches, and uhm, just evaluated, ah, you know, my draft status and got my feedback from the NFL. Sat down, like I said, with a couple other people and just decided to go ahead and make the move, the next step to the NFL draft. 2) Have you reached out to any NFL players about the draft process? If so, what advice were you given? Uhm, yeah, the advice I was given was, just, I made the decision regarding coming out, uhm, so just put everything I have into it. You know, if I can do that, everything will go fine and I couldn't fail at anything I wanted to accomplish. 3) Do you plan on participating in all of the drills at the Scouting Combine? Ah, I do. 4) What is your favorite memory at Utah? Brandon Burton, draft prospect Uhm, favorite memory at Utah ... I'm gonna have to say, just, ah, hanging out with teammates. You know, memories like team dinners, barbeques, interacting with the community, are probably the most memorable times. 5) How much pride do you take in your special teams play? I take <inaudible> pride in my special teams play. You know, to me, it's just as important as my defensive plays. Uhm, so, I'm always loving to go down and make the play on special teams. I feel that special teams <inaudible> can break the game, so I kinda, kinda play like it. 6) What aspect of your game do you feel like you need to improve the most? You know, if I had to choose something, I'd say my eyes. Uhm, you know, I think a lot of defensive backs sometimes get caught looking in the backfield when they're not supposed to. So, I have to say just improvement on my eyes. 7) Compare yourself to a past or current NFL player: Who would it be and why? I wouldn't say a certain player, but if it was a certain player I'd like to be compared to, uhm, ah, does it have to be a corner? No, it can be anybody. I'd like to be compared to, uhm, I'd say, Jerry Rice. You know, he was the ultimate professional about everything on and off the field, so I'd have to say I'd like to be compared to him. 8) Coming from a family with the academic credentials of yours, how important is it to you to finish your Economics degree at Utah? I came out early and I am very close to finishing my degree, and it was very important in my household, I mean, education, academics comes first. My mom is a doctor, my dad is a chemical engineer, so you know they preached to me every day about getting an education, so getting my Economics degree is very important to me. 9) How do you relieve stress and spend your free time? I try to do regular stuff. I sit down and watch movies, go out and see movies. I might go to dinner with some friends. Nothing too exciting <laughs>. I just try to do everything I can when I have time, so just really do something to sit down and relax cause I've been on my feet all day doing drills or something, so something that relaxes me, relaxes my mind. 10) Do you play fantasy football? I'm very familiar with it, actually I haven't played, but it was a big thing in our locker room at Utah and we had a lot of players that played fantasy football. I never actually got into it, but pretty soon I think I will. Facebook Twitter Google + About Cory J. Bonini Don't miss these great reports.... Recent KFFL releases	990
Advertisement -- Learn more about ads on this site. Message Boards FORUM: Diet and Nutrition 3:30 slump? Click here to read our frequently asked Diet and Nutrition questions. Search the Message Boards: Advertisement -- Learn more about ads on this site. Author: Message: Sort First Post on Top Posts: 78 2/28/13 10:15 A My mid-afternoon snack is 1/2 cup Greek yogurt, fruit, and 10 almonds SparkPoints: (720) Fitness Minutes: (150) Posts: 13 2/27/13 6:59 P I usually have fruit (apple, pear, grapes) along with yogurt. Posts: 338 2/27/13 6:38 P For your 3:00 slump, bring a couple clementines to work with you, or an apple or pear, or a handful of pitted dates (these are my candy.) Walk PAST the CVS store and continue to breathe the fresh air- skip the candy aisle. The candy is only going to give you a temporary fix and a crash later. Posts: 380 2/27/13 6:37 P My favorite 3 pm pick me ups are: apple, cheese stick, almonds. Any type of fresh fruit would do. Can you also extend the walk to a 15 minute one? Sometimes getting some exercise can be the best way to wake up :) SparkPoints: (53,927) Fitness Minutes: (14,129) Posts: 9,448 2/27/13 6:06 P By eating. :) I eat healthy snacks a few hours after lunch to compensate for that energy crash. If you're crashing, you also might want to look at your nutrition in the first half of the day to ensure that you're getting adequate fuel for your needs. Looking at your trackers (Thanks for that, by the way, that helps make answering these questions a LOT easier) you aren't getting a lot of protein. For that matter, your evening meals are too light, and include a lot (300-400 calories or more) of alcohol on top of light nutrition, leaving your body wanting. For example, look at your meals on the 24th... more than half of your daily calories are coming from drinks, and 400+ of those are the alcohol, leaving you with barely over 1000 calories of actual nutrition. That's not enough fuel for your body. I t hink the problem is that your body is inadequately fueled overall. You tend to make healthy choices, but they're all mostly low in protein, and you overindulge in liquids/alcohol or candies. As another example, look at your day on the 16th; you burned 400 calories running, but only got 893 calories of actual nutrition. That's simply not adequate, and it's no wonder you're running out of steam! Edited by: DRAGONCHILDE at: 2/27/2013 (18:08) Posts: 26 2/27/13 5:32 P I work an office job, and everyday, between 3 and 4pm, I get really low energy. In the past, I have always used this opportunity to walk to the CVS next door and buy myself a pick-me-up snack--usually candy. Obviously I'm trying to break that habit, but I still get that lull around 3:30. Any suggestions on a snack that might be a good high-energy choice? How do you deal with the low energy that can hit mid-afternoon? Page: 1 of (1) Diet Resources: tea tree oil allergy symptoms \| black tea allergy symptoms \| blood glucose	945
Tracking Every Signing Grading Biggest Deals How Long before the Parcells Regime Puts a Gag on Dolphin Tweeters? Use your ← → (arrow) keys to browse more stories Twitter. By now, you have likely heard of it. By the name of it, you would think it was a hot new toy for toddlers, or a new female pop group. However, names can be deceiving. In actuality, Twitter is a communication platform so powerful that it has the potential to topple kingdoms. Twitter has been gaining steam for months as a popular way for marketers to reach and interact with their customers, and for news outlets to get an instant pulse on the events of the day, the hour, the second, and the millisecond. Twitter is the world's largest focus group, chat room, news desk, and water cooler wrapped into one incredibly simplistic web platform. Recently, the power of Twitter has even been harnessed for the first time to support an underground movement to defeat fascism and defend Democracy. Iranians have been using Twitter as a means to show the world the injustices they are facing in their land, even after the oppressive government has tried to shut down all communication pathways to the outside world. When Twitter isn't functioning as the Web 2.0 version of the Underground Railroad, it is often being used by fans to contact and interact with the subject of their fanatical idolatry. It seems that anyone that is anyone is twittering, tweeting, or twitting these days. Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk for the cool kids!) has set up a micro virtual kingdom on Twitter, being one of the first celebrities to truly use the platform to its potential. When he isn't busy posting pictures of his MILF wife's hindquarters for his adoring fans to see, he is re-tweeting messages concerning social causes, updating fans on his latest projects, and communicating with his fan base. In recent weeks, we have seen an influx of sports stars enter the world of Twitter. Taking a cue from those who cover them, several well known sports stars have begun using Twitter as a means to reach their fans and further quench their indomitable egos. From Shaq (@The_Real_Shaq) to the NFL's chirpiest WRs Terrell Owens(@TerrellOwens81) and Chad Ochocinco (@OGOchoCinco), Twitter has become a virtual field for trash talking and excessive celebrations. And best of all, there are no refs to take their fun away. However, this wild west mentality might soon change. Social networking sites have already landed several athletes from the sports world into steaming tar pits. A player at the University of Texas got busted for some racist remarks he made on his Facebook status last year. A little-known cornerback for the Philadelphia Eagles also got in a bit of a bind when a photo of himself chortling next to what he would have us believe was a tobacco bong and a line of sugar was posted on Facebook. Just prior to the NFL draft, there was a stir regarding an apparently racist Facebook group that several USC stars joined, but was since deemed to be an inside joke within the team. While several players managed to free themselves from the scorching social tar they found themselves in, others were buried under the pressure. Twitter, unlike Facebook, poses an even bigger potential pitfall for players since their tweets are not only limited to their close friends. The entire world can read their tweets. From the embarrassing "Bout 2 take a dump." to the "I'm in the OC. Hit me up y'all!", its all there for every fan, reporter, and coach to see. Be careful what you tweet, or it will be twittering its way onto the next SportsCenter broadcast. Twitter is one little birdie that can't be subdued. While freedom of speech is the foundation of our Democracy and the right of every free human on the planet, it also poses a dilemma for coaches and organizations that hope to keep their secrets, issues, and strategies in-house. The Miami Dolphins, under the stewardship of Bill Parcells, has been known for their less-than-democratic policies on the media. Loose lips sink ships, and the Tuna isn't too fond of the water, despite his namesake. Parcells, Ireland, and Sparano do their best to control the messages and communications coming out of their complex. In the recent war of words between LB Channing Crowder and Rex Ryan, someone made it known that it was time to drop it because the usually talkative Crowder became mute as a mouse within days. Now, the twittering menace is seeping into their complex like a bad infestation of termites—threatening to take down the restrictive media structure they have so painstakingly built. Yes, some Miami Dolphins have discovered Twitter and now have a direct line to the masses. While rookie Sean Smith (@SeanSmith4) has mostly just been updating fans on how he is adjusting to the NFL and Miami, WR Davone Bess (@Lambo_Weezy) has taken a far different approach. [UPDATE: Lambo_Weezy has been confirmed to be a Davone Bess Twitter impostor. Check here for all the details regarding the Davone Bess Twittergate.] Davone pounced on the Twitter scene like he was orchestrating the Wildcat in Foxborough—pulling no punches. Yesterday, Lambo challenged Titans RB Chris Johnson (@ChrisJohnson28) to a foot race. The Dash of the duo formerly known as Smash and Dash took offense to this challenge, stating, and I RT (RT = ReTweeting which basically means Quote) "Feel insulted because somebody want to race me who ran a 4.64 i ran 4.24 do the math kill me." Since this exchange, Lambo (Davone) has upped the stakes, saying that they should broadcast the race and the loser must shave their dreads off for charity. OGOchoCinco, the reigning king of NFL Twitterland, appeared to reach out to the NFL Network to air the duel. But Davone took the social networking thing to the next level when he posted a link to a Ustream feed so that fans and twitter followers could hear him live. While Ustream generally allows video to stream as well, Davone for whatever reason did not make use of this feature, as only his voice could be heard during the broadcast. Many Dolphin fans took to the message boards to debate whether Lambo_Weezy was the real Davone or not, since some of his antics seemed out of character for the reserved nature of his public persona. However, OGOchoCinco (the verified REAL Chad Ochocinco) seemed to confirm that @LamboWeezy was indeed the real Davone Bess. A man has every right to spend their free time however they see fit as long as it falls within the realm of legality and social mores, but they must also act in a responsible way if they don't want the authority of their employer to whack them upside the head. It is for this reason that platforms such as Twitter are so dangerous for young athletes and so threatening to tight-lipped organizations such as the Dolphins. As an organization, the Miami Dolphins regulate the amount of interaction their players have with the media and with fans. However, Twitter bypasses this control. Through Twitter, players can communicate directly with local reporters, rival players, and fans in Ohio with the click of a button. How long will the Parcells Regime continue to live with this social infestation in their house before they begin to clean it up? They will likely try to reign it in soon before more players start jumping on the Twitter-wagon. On a broader note, does an organization have the right or the power to control how their employees leverage these new social technologies? Or is it their duty as leaders of their organization to keep things like Twitter from toppling their kingdom too? Until we tweet again, this is @Finstache signing off. Load More Stories Follow Miami Dolphins from B/R on Facebook Miami Dolphins Subscribe Now We will never share your email address Thanks for signing up.	1,929
man in dugout canoeEach September, hundreds of people gather in a wooded area outside Rexburg, Idaho, to rediscover their "stone age" heritage. They work with primitive tools, learn to build fire by rubbing sticks together, and participate in a rigorous assortment of classes designed to teach them some of the 'lost' arts. It's called "Rabbitstick," after the aboriginal tool that requires a certain primitive knowledge base to master. The organizer of the week-long event, Dave Wescott, calls it the largest gathering of primitive technologists in the country. "There's not a lot of look-see. It's a lot of hands-on," says Wescott. "And to me that's critical because you don't own a skill until you've done it; and when you've taught it to someone else, you can really call it your own." woman tanning hide"This totally changes people's lives," says Montana resident Lynx, a regular participant at Rabbitstick. "This is as close to a family reunion as I have. It's a remarkable special thing. People come from all walks of life, but we all have this one thing in common; and it's very powerful and special. Maybe we're all the black sheep of our own families, and this is the safest family we can be ourselves in." Dave Wescott has spent most of his adult life as a licensed outfitter; and he's not surprised about all the talk of "family." "For some reason this stuff has made them different," he says. "I wanted to be Tarzan and an Indian until I figured out it wasn't going to happen. None of my family did that. I come here and connect with people who had the same experiences and thought processes as me. They are family." people in costumesSteve Watts travels from North Carolina each year to attend Rabbitstick. He's the president of the Society of Primitive Technology, an international organization. "To me it's about rediscovering our stone age heritage which we all share," he says. "Otherwise, it's just arts and crafts. Whatever I teach I try to put it into some historical anthropological context. The idea is to try to literally touch your own heritage. There are several other gatherings like this across the country, but this is sort of the Mother Church. This is where you'll get some of the best instructors in one place. It's the place to come." More information on Rabbitstick	573
5 Reviews Scarface: The World is Yours Say hello to the most foul-mouthed game since Mario Strikers Unsatisfied by movies where the main character dies at the end? Scarface: The World Is Yours gives you the chance to put things right, glossing over the finale in which murderous anti-hero Tony Montana is shot in the back in his palatial, drug-funded mansion. Instead, Tony gets to blast his way out of the ambush, at the expense of everything he fought so hard to get. The mansion is impounded by the police, the money vanishes into thin air and his precious reputation is left in tatters. Back from the nearly dead, Tony's mission is to win back what he lost, and with the help of old friends who are still intimidated enough to work with him, he sets out to rebuild his criminal empire. You horse! So what we've got is a GTA-style gangster game starring one of the most memorable - and sweariest - gangsters in movie history. You can shake the nunchuk to make him swear randomly as he walks down the street. It's ****ing ace! Tony's Miami adventure isn't set out exactly like a GTA game, though. Instead of completing lots of unconnected missions for different people, spread all over the city, there's a more tightly focused narrative. The aim is simply to earn enough money to fund a return to Tony's former lifestyle, and the only way to do this is by selling drugs. There are dealers all over the place. When you get hold of a new stash, you can sell it in 200g chunks. To get the best price you have to hold the A button while a little meter fills up, releasing it when it's at max strength. Too much or too little and you've blown the deal. The same system is used for talking your way out of trouble with the cops and intimidating rival gangsters. Scarface is underpinned by a mini business sim, in which you take over territory, find the highest price for your merchandise and blow the profits on the luxury items needed to restore Tony's credibility. Gangs and police can be paid off to reduce the two 'heat' meters that make your progress ever more difficult as they build up. Other than that, it's flashy cars, speedboats, guns and women all the way. Red mist When you get into a mission, the gunplay works swiftly and accurately with the Wii remote. There's a free aim function, which is more than adequate, or by holding Z you can lock on to a particular enemy and make small adjustments with the remote to target different areas. Aiming for the nuts (left or right) scores quite highly, as does blowing off a limb, head or kidney. Once your foe is down, shaking the nunchuk gives him some final sweary disrespect. The point is to build up your Balls meter, which can be used to activate Blind Rage mode - ten seconds of first-person invincibility, which is very useful in a tight spot. In fact many missions are extremely difficult if you don't start them with maximum Balls. The best thing about the game is that it manages to be laugh-out-loud funny even while remarkable amounts of crimson pixels spurt forth from those unfortunate enough to cross Tony Montana. Battles are punctuated by shakes of the nunchuk to deliver wittily foul-mouthed ripostes, and even random pedestrians have multiple levels of wisecracks when you start a conversation with them. Luckily Tony refuses to kill civilians, so you can only grin and bear it when a chat-up line goes humiliatingly wrong. The worst thing about the game is the restrictive layout of the city. The visual promise of GTA-style freedom is dashed once you've done a complete circuit around the little islands that make up the map and found that many of the areas around the looping main road are nothing but sealed-off scenery. It's a big game but there are few alternative routes to different areas. 1 2	965
Lessons from a great salesman Published: Tuesday, Jan. 10 2012 12:00 a.m. MST Verizon Wireless store salesman Antione Haynes looks out the front door of a Verizon store with an Apple iPhone advertisement in foreground in Mountain View, Calif., Thursday, Feb. 3, 2011. Verizon Wireless said Friday, Feb. 4, its first day of taking online orders for the iPhone produced record sales. Paul Sakuma, Associated Press Enlarge photo» He may be one of the better salesman I have known. A native of Venezuela, he is called Vlad by his friends. I first met him several years ago when attending a free entrepreneurial seminar called Junto. Among all the participants, he was the most outstanding student. Vladimir Canro arrived in the United States several years ago while still a young man. He had spent his youth in the streets of Caracas selling fruits and vegetables to any customer he could find. Over time, he obtained an associate's degree in engineering. He left Venezuela at the peak of President Hugo Chavez’s crackdown on the opposition. Using a green card, he found a construction job in Texas and decided that America was the best country for him. In time, he came to Salt Lake City to attend college with the hope of finishing his education. He landed in Utah on a chilly day in December without a warm coat, money or a place to live. For the first few cold nights, he found slept inside a large metal dumpster full of cardboard. He tells me cardboard is an excellent insulator from frigid temperatures. If ever there was a person who could overcome the barriers in life, it would be Vladimir. His story, like that of so many emigrants, is one of perseverance, hope, faith and an inextinguishable fire in the belly to succeed. Today, he has surmounted every obstacle. He is working on a computer science degree from Weber State University and has a very good job as a salesman for Geiger Rig, and he is married with two young children. What I have told you so far is in itself a terrific story. There is, however, much more to say about this amazing fellow. As part of the Junto class, he and his 20 classmates were told if they were to be successful in business they will need to sell their idea to investors. The instructor, Greg Warnock, an accomplished entrepreneur himself, first gave Vlad and his fellow students study materials on how to raise money for a new business. The students were then asked to apply what they had learned and report on their successes or failures. The students were invited to meet with strangers, not friends or family, over a course of a week and raise $5,000 to fund a business idea. I am sure I don't need to tell you how very daunting this task is. Following their efforts, class members assembled to report their results. The outcome: Not one had been able to raise the money, except Vlad. Over several days, he had gone into high-rise office buildings, from business to business with no appointment, hoping to tell an owner about his idea. Receptionists hesitated. Owners balked. Vladimir waited and waited. Eventually the owners, hoping to dismiss the young foreigner, invited him into their offices for an anticipated very short visit. Once seated, Vlad went to work. Using amazing skills, both learned and natural, he marched along, collecting a whopping, mind-boggling $135,000. “Vlad, how is this possible?" I asked. "Not even the best salesman would have achieved such success. Your barriers are significant. I can hardly understand you when you speak. You have no company; you have no brilliant idea to commercialize. What’s your secret?” With a wide and pleasant smile on his face, he respectfully taught me the five key principles of selling that he uses and that the rest of us should employ as well. The principles are as follows: 1. Never accept no for an answer. Vlad tells me customers say no six times but on the seventh request, they say yes. 2. Listen to customers. Don’t mention what is being sold until the customer explains what’s on his mind. Earn his respect, trust and confidence first. 3. Tailor the solution to meet the customers’ needs. It is critical to make the solution a perfect fit. 4.Never give up. Be persistent and patient. 5. Think outside of the box. Approach a sales opportunity with innovation and creativity. Do the unexpected. Think big. Do you have a favorite sales story? Let’s hear about it. Please contact me at [email protected]. Get The Deseret News Everywhere	1,087
Retirement will keep getting tougher Corporations and state and local governments have replaced defined-benefit pension plans with less expensive defined-contribution plans. This trend will continue. Health-care costs for retirees are increasing faster than the inflation rate. Residential real estate prices have fallen sharply from their high points in most parts of the country, and the prospects for appreciation are mixed. Home equity loans, which typically have the effect of reducing the net assets available at retirement, are used too often. Corporations are forcing employees out of the work force at younger ages. Conservative investments are returning less than 1 percent. And Congress may reduce entitlement benefits. These are just some of the factors that spell trouble for those who are not saving for retirement at a serious clip. One of the most important things to do is regularly invest a significant portion of your income for retirement. If you are not saving at least 10 percent of your net pay, you are probably not saving enough, especially if your employer no longer offers a defined-benefit plan. When you receive a raise, immediately increase your savings. Rebalance once a year. That way, you are taking some profits from your more successful investments and reinvesting in alternatives that are at lower prices. Do not invest too much of your retirement investments into your employer's common stock. You don't want to be too dependent on the financial stability of your employer. Take advantage of any available tax-deferred retirement options. Make sure you use the benefits of IRAs, Roth IRAs, 401(k)s, and Roth 401(k)s if you can. If your employer offers a 401(k) match, make sure you contribute at least the minimum amount to receive the maximum employer match. Don't wait until your 50s to start a serious investment program. The earlier you start, the easier it will be. Don't accept 100 percent of the financial burden regarding college education for your children. It's too expensive. Let your children know well in advance that they must accept a significant part of the financial burden and encourage them to look for scholarships, grants and loans on their own. Do not be too conservative with your investment selections. If you are 10 years or more away from retirement, it makes no sense to have any of your retirement investments in low-yielding vehicles such as Treasury bills, money market instruments or short-term savings accounts. Select only cost-effective investment vehicles. Invest only in no-load mutual funds, as opposed to commission-based funds. Select only mutual funds and exchange-traded funds that have a history of low costs. If you are many years away from retirement, make sure you have a significant percentage of your investments in some form of common stocks. On a long-term basis, common stocks should provide more growth potential than other investments. Develop a diversified portfolio, with a portion in bonds as well as stocks. Have some investments in global and international vehicles. You may want to have a small portion of your portfolio in commodities including some gold. However, I would not invest a large percentage in commodities that provide no income. Commodity investments are volatile and generally produce no or little income. My limit is 5 percent of the whole portfolio's value. If at all possible, try to go into retirement without an outstanding mortgage. If you can, make extra payments while you are employed to reduce the mortgage, especially if your interest rate is high. You will have a lot more flexibility in retirement if you own your home mortgage-free. If you are close to retirement and you believe your retirement income will be insufficient, consider options that will provide you with additional income. If you are considering self-employment options, talk to volunteers at your local SCORE chapter for free counseling and low-cost seminars before you actually retire. Employers, both in the public and private sectors, continue to introduce policies that make it more difficult for employees to retire in financial comfort. Employees who want a comfortable retirement must take the initiative to improve their own financial future. People who recognize this and take the initiative early in their careers can ensure prosperous retirements. Reader Reaction San Joaquin Brides Advertise with Jobs Legal Notices	938
Reviews for The Devil's Own Hospitality Xion is my fate 'Laura Heart chapter 1 . 10/22/2009 It was very good. I know about "dream writing" and it is very difficult to make understandable. You have a natural talent. Lasgalendil chapter 1 . 12/1/2008 I. Am. Intrigued! The whole dream like sequence showed us how bizarre and confusing the events must have seemed to Molly herself. I still maintain that the strongest part of this piece is the ambiguity-did Molly dream the whole thing, starting with the inn, or did it actually happen? The reader is forced to choose an option, which elevates the tension. Grubbing around in the dirt under the bridle gives me the creeps...her horror and acceptance of the revelation were vivid. Realizing, or knowing concretely, for the first time, what sort of horror this creature is is quite terrifying. Especially given the foreshadowing of 'losing' when playing a fae's game. The repetition of Schmendrick's warnings/plea tied the whole piece together-and left us even more intrigued. Is he wounded, dying? Wanting to hold her? Is danger passed or is it only just beginning? This piece definitely ended on a strong note. Thanks for a great one! Tiamat42 chapter 1 . 7/13/2007 Oh, very nice! The descriptions are just enough to give you an image, but not enough to be overbearing. It feels very much like a dream, but then again, so did the book, really. Molly and Schmendrick...what a couple, if only for the names. Boring normality meets wildly improbable and almost silly fantasy... what's not to like? There were a couple of mistakes, missing words I think, and a few awkward sentences that only stand out because the rest of it flows so well. I haven't read any Last Unicorn fanfic before this...but it's nice to see that it's out there. I loved this book once upon a time. ;) Kyer chapter 1 . 3/23/2007 You wrote this after severe sleep deprivation? It's a wonder it's as understandable as it is. And quite lovely even if I wish it hadn't ended quite so soon. pigtailedgirl chapter 1 . 3/2/2007 Wow. Wonderful story. It reads so much like the novel in style and description, I'm wondering if you are secretly Mr. Beagle. ;D Fantastic and favored and printed.	634
Before we head to the Winter Meetings in Nashville, Tenn., there's time to dip into the reader mailbag. I'll do another Inbox after the Meetings next week, so keep those questions coming! With Nick Franklin tearing the cover off the ball in the Arizona Fall League, what do you think are his chances of being on the Mariners' Opening Day roster? And if that is the case, could Dustin Ackley see some playing time in the outfield? -- Duane J., Couer d'Alene, Idaho Everyone assumes Franklin, the Mariners' No 3 prospect, is now a second baseman because that's where he played in the Arizona Fall League, but that was more a matter of circumstances. Every Major League team can designate one AFL player who must be played on a regular basis at a certain position, and the Mariners designated catcher Mike Zunino. The Reds chose their shortstop, Didi Gregorius, to be their designated player on the Peoria club. Have a question about the Mariners? First Name, Last Initial: Email Address: So Franklin wound up playing second base in order to be in the lineup and he hit .338 with 22 RBIs in 20 games. He'll get an invitation to Mariners camp again, and I suspect he'll get a good look at shortstop. It's a long shot for him to break camp on the 25-man roster, but I'm sure he'll be much more ready than a year ago when he was a little over his head as a wide-eyed 20-year-old. It seems only a matter of time before he gets his chance. Why did the Mariners pick up Scott Cousins and then just release him without giving him a chance? -- Mark J., Pullman, Wash. Good timing on that question as Cousins -- who played parts of the past three seasons for the Marlins -- was claimed off waivers from the Mariners on Friday by the Angels. The 27-year-old outfielder has had an adventurous offseason, having already been claimed by the Blue Jays and then released, with Seattle then claiming him on Nov. 6. But the Mariners designated him for assignment on Nov. 20 when they added five young players to their 40-man roster to protect them from the Rule 5 Draft. At that point, they just made the determination that one of their young prospects was more critical than bringing Cousins to camp. So now he's with the Angels -- his fourth team in a span of 44 days. With their 40-man roster full at this point, the Mariners are going to need to drop somebody else if they sign any free agents or make a Rule 5 Draft pick. So his situation in Seattle was pretty tenuous anyway. With the new fences at Safeco Field, are they taking down the old wall or simply moving it in closer? -- Linda J., Olympia, Wash. The old wall will be torn down, with a new fence and new padding installed. The Marlins just conducted a huge salary dump. What is the possibility that the Mariners look into acquiring Giancarlo Stanton? -- Jose N., Mount Vernon, Wash. I'm sure pretty much every MLB team has checked to see if the young slugger is available. And, yeah, he'd be the perfect fit for the power-hungry Mariners. But Marlins president Larry Beinfest repeated again this week that his team has no intention of trading Stanton, which isn't surprising given he's still making the Major League minimum of $480,000 and won't be a free agent until 2017. The Marlins were looking to unload salary, not talent. They'll try to now build around the 23-year-old who hit 37 home runs last season, not give him up while he's still under team control for four more years. Are the Mariners going to reach out to Jason Bay for the chance of a comeback? What are the chances he could make the team? -- Beau C., Moscow, Idaho The Mariners are one of several teams that are known to have talked with Bay, and it seems like Seattle could be a perfect landing spot after the Mets released him with $21 million still owed. The 34-year-old Canadian played for Gonzaga University and lives in the Seattle area, and the Mariners had success with a similar reclamation project last year in Oliver Perez, who found a home after agreeing to a Minor League deal and then quietly working his way back as a reliever. Bay was a huge disappointment in his three seasons with the Mets, but this is a guy who averaged 27 home runs and 99 RBIs the previous six years with the Pirates and Red Sox. His chances of making the team would depend entirely on how he performed in Spring Training, but he used to be exactly the kind of player the Mariners are looking for -- a corner outfielder with pop. If he's willing to sign a minimum-salary-type deal, I'm sure the Mariners would be interested in seeing what he might have left. Are the rumors true that the Mariners are possibly going to trade one of their big-three pitching prospects? I heard the Royals were looking to get them for Billy Butler. What are your thoughts on trading one of these future stars? -- William H., Shoreline, Wash. Rumors, rumors. Might as well get used to them heading to the Winter Meetings. The Mariners may well use one of their prime young arms -- Danny Hultzen, Taijuan Walker or James Paxton -- to deal for a hitter at some point this offseason. But all the talk of getting Butler or teammate Alex Gordon from the Royals is off base, in my opinion. The Royals are actually looking to add proven veteran pitching, not prospects, and might use one of their own young outfield prospects, Wil Myers, to swing a deal. But they're not looking to deal Butler or Gordon. They're building around those guys and trying to improve their pitching staff now, not for the future, so I don't see that particular rumor having any legs.	1,481
Take the 2-minute tour × It was recently suggested to me that I use FastCGI with PHP. Now I went to the FastCGI page and read it but I don't really understand what the advantages are. share\|improve this question add comment 3 Answers up vote 32 down vote accepted Using mod_php each Apache worker has the entire PHP interpreter loaded into it. Because Apache needs one worker process per incoming request, you can quickly end up with hundreds of Apache workers in use, each with their own PHP interpreter loaded, consuming huge amounts of memory. (Note, this isn't exactly true, Apache's worker_mpm allows you to serve many requests with a single threaded Apache worker. However, even in 2009, this is not the recommended way to deploy PHP because of suspected threading issues with the PHP extensions.) By using PHP in fast_cgi mode (using something like spawn-fcgi from the lighttpd package) has the following benefits • tune the number of PHP workers separately from the number of incoming connections • allow you to put you PHP workers on a different server, or scale across many servers without changing you web tier • gives you flexibility to choose a different web server, like nginx, or lighttpd • allow you to run your PHP application in a different security domain on your web server share\|improve this answer add comment FastCGI means that the php bits aren't running in the same process as the apache bits, unlike with mod_php. This separation can have some definite advantages when it comes to restarting the server or dealing with runaway applications - in the mod_php case that means that it's the apache process that's "runaway", but under fastcgi it's just a process that apache is talking to, so the entire server doesn't have to be taken down. share\|improve this answer add comment Another advantage not yet mentioned is the fact that with mod_fcgid (which is a newer implementation for using FastCGI on Apache) and suexec you can realize setups where different vhosts use different Linux users for execution, which can be a real security benefit in a shared hosting szenario. With mod_php, all vhosts share the same user, which is Apache's user. This can lead to security issues. share\|improve this answer It depends on the MPM used in this particular Apache httpd setup. For example with MPM-itk (mpm-itk.sesse.net) it is possible to use mod_php and have the scripts (or better: the httpd processes) being run in the context of another user. – joschi Jun 1 '09 at 10:37 add comment Your Answer	625
Forgot your password? Comment: Re:Roomba sucks (but not in the way I paid for) (Score 1) 88 by FirstNoel (#41322571) Attached to: What's Next For iRobot? Same here. Have the Pet one for the basement/rec-room/man-cave/whatever. Runs twice a week. Only issues I've had are when he wonders into the laundry room or closet and can't get back out. Some times he may try to crawl under the couch and get stuck, or if my 5 year old leaves some toys out he may try to pull them in. Over all, great investment for me. Keeps the cat/dog hair in check. And I don't have to lug the big vacuum downstairs and go through that hassle.. I like him. He does need maintenance once in a while, but that's more fun than vacuuming. by FirstNoel (#39367683) Attached to: Wikipedia Didn't Kill Brittanica — Encarta Did . Encyclopedias are what you read when you don't really care all that much about the subject. Thinking about this...you are correct. If you want real in debt knowledge go to the sources. If you want a basic understanding, but not be inundated in the details Encyclopedias do that. I remember grabbing a World-Book Encyclopedia whenever I needed quick bathroom reading. For a pre-teen/teenager it was perfect. I got a lot of real basic info about interesting subjects. But other than for a grade-school writing assignment, they were just dead trees. I think we got the update books up till 1980...so talk about outdated info. Encarta was like a breath of fresh air. except you couldn't lug your PC into the restroom to read it. Now...hell, smartphone+wikipedia and I'm set for life. Comment: What about that pen that records everything (Score 1) 425 by FirstNoel (#38061404) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: What's a Good Tablet/App Combination For Note-Taking? Staples had a pen that would record your strokes as you wrote, that you could then download into your PC. Forget the name, (don't feel like googling), you still need paper though. I like to write my pseudo-code out ahead of time on certain projects, it would be nice to then import that in when I'm done. tablets are nice and all, but there's something about hand-writing it out. helps me with memorizing. Typing, "seems" less so. Comment: Re:Which is what, exactly? (Score 1) 2247 by FirstNoel (#37778242) Attached to: Ron Paul Suggests Axing 5 U.S. Federal Departments (and Budgets) Um, because we're all citizens of the same country? I personally do not have any need for a tsunami warning system. But I'll be damned if I want my fellow citizens put in harms way if we can avoid it. Why can't we all watch each other's backs instead of trying to stab them there? Damn. it's not socialism, it's good citizenship. 1 Sagan = Billions & Billions	811
Take the 2-minute tour × I'm working on a bare-metal cortex-M3 in C++ for fun and profit. Lately I decided to try and use the STL library as I needed some containers. I thought that by simply providing my allocator it wouldn't add much code to the final binary, since you get only what you use. I actually didn't even expect any linking process at all with the STL (giving my allocator), as I thought it was all template code. I am compiling with -fno-exception by the way. Unfortunately, about 600KB or more are added to my binary. I looked up what symbols are included in the final binary with nm and it seemed a joke to me. The list is so long I won't try and past it. Although there are some weak symbols. I also looked in the .map file generated by the linker and I even found the scanf symbols .text 0x000158bc 0x30 /CodeSourcery/Sourcery_CodeBench_Lite_for_ARM_GNU_Linux/bin/../arm-none-linux-gnueabi/libc/usr/lib/libc.a(sscanf.o)¶ 0x000158bc __sscanf¶ 0x000158bc sscanf¶ 0x000158bc _IO_sscanf¶ $ arm-none-linux-gnueabi-nm binary \| grep scanf 000158bc T _IO_sscanf 0003e5f4 T _IO_vfscanf 0003e5f4 T _IO_vfscanf_internal 000164a8 T _IO_vsscanf 00046814 T ___vfscanf 000158bc T __sscanf 00046814 T __vfscanf 000164a8 W __vsscanf 000158bc T sscanf 00046814 W vfscanf 000164a8 W vsscanf How can I debug this? For first I wanted to understand what exactly GCC is using for linking (I'm linking through GCC). I know that if symbol is found in a text segment, the whole segment is used, but still that's too much. Any suggestion on how to tackle this would really be appreciated. Thanks, S. share\|improve this question add comment 2 Answers up vote 2 down vote accepted Using GCC's -v and -Wl,-v options will show you the linker commands (and version info of the linker) being used. Which version of GCC are you using? I made some changes for GCC 4.6 (see PR 44647 and PR 43863) to reduce code size to help embedded systems. There's still an outstanding enhancement request (PR 43852) to allow disabling the inclusion of the IO symbols you're seeing - some of them come from the verbose terminate handler, which prints a message when the process is terminated with an active exception. If you're not using execptions then some of that code is useless to you. share\|improve this answer I'm using gcc version 4.6.3 from Code Sourcery. The -Wl,-v option was very useful. Along the flags I passed to the linker, it also included the following -lstdc++ -lm --start-group -lgcc -lgcc_eh -lc --end-group now I have to understand why, and how to remove them. Especially the gcc_eh which I suppose stands for exception handling. Any suggestions or reading about this? – emitrax Jul 22 '12 at 8:29 If you link with gcc instead of g++ then it won't pass -lstdc++ to the linker, and that might also remove the need for -lgcc -lgcc_eh (I don't remember offhand, I'd have to check) but if you don't use any code from those libs then it shouldn't increase the executable size anyway - the verbose terminate handler in libstdc++ is probably what pulls in the unwanted code – Jonathan Wakely Jul 22 '12 at 11:31 If I use gcc it won't find the _List_node_base::_M_hook symbol.Passing -lstdc++ includes everything else. To narrow down the problem I tried linking directly with ld adding those flags one by one. It's missing __aeabi_unwind_cpp_pr0 in libstdc++.a(list.o):(..._List_node_base7_M_hookE) which then links to libc (memcpy and other), which then links everything else. It's a big chain and a PITA. I just wanted a container. :-) I also figured that,since I have a global object, it needs __static_initialization_and_destruction_0 which I didn't expect. Thanks for your help. – emitrax Jul 22 '12 at 12:21 Ah yes, std::__detail::_List_node_base::_M_hook is not inline, it's defined in libstdc++.a, but the file it's in (list.cc) is pretty small and I'm surprised it requires the unwind support if you've disabled exceptions ... strange. – Jonathan Wakely Jul 23 '12 at 8:14 add comment The problem is not about the STL, it is about the Standard library. The STL itself is pure (in a way), but the Standard Library also includes all those streams packages and it seems that you also managed to pull in the libc as well... The problem is that the Standard Library has never been meant to be picked apart, so there might not have been much concern into re-using stuff from the C Standard Library... You should first try to identify which files are pulled in when you compile (using strace for example), this way you can verify that you only ever use header-only files. Then you can try and remove the linking that occurs. There are options to pass to gcc to precise that you would like a standard library-free build, something like --nostdlib for example, however I am not well versed enough in those to instruct you exactly here. share\|improve this answer I am already passing -nostdlib to the compiler, along with -fno-exception, but it seems not to work. – emitrax Jul 22 '12 at 8:35 add comment Your Answer	1,617
Love, Loss, and What I Wore: Jane Smiley I made the date, I made the dress; I was getting hitched. Was the cat trying to stop me? Getty Images The story I usually tell about my one and only wedding gown is the one about the cat, but first, there was the proposal. I was sitting around with the other Vassar girls, discussing where I should live once my boyfriend graduated from Yale (I still had a year to go). One of the girls said, "Get married; they're bound to give you a car," and so that very night, I proposed. It took him 24 hours to consent, and two more weeks for my parents to...offer us a car. The gown itself I found in a fashion magazine. It was a faux Victorian/peasant/ fairy-tale thing with a high neckline, pleats, ruffles, and floating satin ribbons, in the purest white. I adored it. It somehow represented everything that we were not (we were: tall, gawky, Marxist, bespectacled, middle-class, suburban). I was, of course, going to make it myself. French couture— what could be hard? I sewed. My sewing machine was set up on the desk in my dorm room. My main responsibility was to clothe my fiancé, who was 6'10" and limited in his fashion choices to catalogs for big and tall men, which meant no striped bell-bottom pants or loud hippie shirts. I filled in the gap. For myself, I experimented, usually without success. I loved the strapless nightgown I had designed, but if I took a deep breath, the snap would pop and the whole thing would fall to the floor. I also liked the red polyester double-knit jumpsuit, but it was too hot to actually wear—and I mean caliente, not picante. Undaunted, however, I went to the nicest fabric store in St. Louis (no mill ends for me) and ordered 18 yards of real peau de soie. I showed the salesclerk the picture in the magazine. She told me I could order the fabric already pleated, a godsend because pleats were the essence of this gown—pleats from neckline almost to hem, pleats from shoulder almost to hand, all bound together at strategic points (waist, elbow) with those satin ribbons. I set up my sewing machine in our furnitureless one-bedroom summer apartment in Cambridge. In July, I designed and sewed the underbodice and the lace cap (Marxist compromise with veil). In August, I commenced upon the ruffle. Here's where the cat came in. It was almost five, rush hour in our neighborhood, and I was putting a narrow hem in what would be the bottom of the ruffle. The cat, a nine-month-old Siamese named Timaeus, had been sitting in the window and then strolling around the room. Now he coughed a couple of times. I looked up and saw that he was stroking the side of his face with his paw. He coughed again. I picked him up. He had a needle, a long one, stuck in his mouth, behind his teeth. The closest vet was one stop away on the streetcar. I carried the cat down the stairs and onto the crowded carriage. When we got to the stop, I went to the front to pay the fare. The cat was now struggling in my arms. I reached into my back pocket for two dimes and two nickels. My jeans were so tight that when I pulled my hand out of my pocket, the money exploded into the air. The driver growled, "You getting off or not?" and sped away from the stop. The money was gone, and I burst into tears. Some kind woman paid my fare. I got off at the next stop and walked back to the vet. When I could not hold the cat down in the vet's office, the vet's son, in elbow-length sheepskin mitts, replaced me, while I sat in the corridor listening to the yowling. Finally, the vet emerged with the cat in his arms. The needle had either popped out or "gone down." Since there was no telling which, he wouldn't charge me. I carried the cat home. He seemed fine. That weekend, we went to Martha's Vineyard, leaving a friend with the cat and the wedding gown. When we returned, there was a present for us, left by the cat next to his cat box. It was the needle. I still don't understand how he survived. In the wedding portrait, we look good, the dress and I, pleats fanned out, ruffles springing, satin ribbons drifting about, glasses hidden away, marriage as a strange performance put on by and for the parents. There was no honeymoon—the happy couple went back to arguing about the withering away of the state almost immediately. By now, the peau de soie and the pleats have outlived not only the cat and the marriage, but also the Soviet Union and my career as a needlewoman. I never did it again, but I did do it that once. This Is A Developing Story Don't Miss	1,217
It is San Francisco Ballet's 80th season, and on Tuesday at the War Memorial Opera House, the company pulled out some big, shiny dances in a flourish that reveled in wit, daring and neoclassical tradition. This is a ballet troupe that can dance anything, and on opening night it nearly did, from a big, cheeky 70-year-old ballet right for a Parisian nightclub to a strobe-filled dystopic/utopian premiere to a neurotic beauty from 1970. That's quite a range for any performing arts group. But as versatile as the company is, and as thrilling as it is to watch in all its parts, there is still something this octogenarian can't do: lead us into a daring new future of dance. The birthday news from S.F. Ballet is that the company lacks a reliable radical edge, and that's despite the valiant efforts over the years by artistic director Helgi Tomasson to find one. Tomasson seemed to have located a new dance maverick in Wayne McGregor in 2007. He is resident choreographer for the Royal Ballet in London, and six years ago he premiered his brainy collaboration "Eden/Eden," created with path-breaking minimalist composer Steve Reich and videographer Beryl Korot. It was a hit. But stripped of mesmerizing text and visuals, last year's "Chroma" by McGregor turned out to be built on a dance language much thinner than the earlier work promised, even if the overall conception dazzled. McGregor's newest work, "Borderlands," is in the same league -- captivating, obliquely topical, but not the game changer one might hope for. Mostly, it tries too hard. Weighed down by allusions to the German Bauhaus, "Borderlands" puts the dancers into a beautifully illuminated cube of light (designed by Lucy Carter) and launches them into action like so many poisoned worms squirming in a giant box that changes colors and moods. The movement breaks the body into fragments -- an elbow, a rib cage, a bottom, a foot -- but the physical squiggles and protruding body parts fail to coalesce into a point of view. The too-tame score by Joel Cadbury and Paul Stoney reinforced the timidity of the project. Yet "Borderlands" offered dancers extreme physical challenges, and stunning moments abounded -- Pascal Molat dancing like a dystopic 21st-century Petrouchka, Frances Chung giving new meaning to the passé position of the leg, four dancers walking in sensuous, rocking lock-step along the wall, like soldiers, prisoners or mourners. And eye-popping blasts of purple or green or blue grey light. By contrast, the night's opener was an entertaining and ravishingly outré one-act ballet, "Suite en Blanc," by expat Serge Lifar, who left Russia in 1921, and beautifully mounted by Maina Gielgud, former dancer with the London Festival Ballet among others. It promised nothing more than amusement and delight but offered more. The "pure dance" ballet, propelled by its Spanish melodies and Russian mazurkas, was arranged as a series of dance numbers, and set to Edouard Lalo's "Namouna." This "white" ballet, which refers to the classic-era ballets of dying swans decked in white tutus, was surrounded by black and leavened by the spirit of the Folies Bergere while inspired by the ingenious designs of Busby Berkeley. Lush, rigorous Russian classical and neoclassic dance from the ballets of August Bournonville, Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov to George Balanchine undergird it all. The result was a dance arranged as a show number that brought ballet into new terrain, where the endless quotes from the 19th-century classics were made fodder for modernist wit and expression. It also gave us a parade of stunning individual and Hollywood-big corps performances. Tiit Helimets and Shane Wuerthner partnered with a radiant Vanessa Zahorian in "pas de trois." Sasha De Sola in "serenade" made herself queen of the black stage with its hidden stairs as she executed leg extensions and fouette turns with imperious femininity. The bounding quartet of Daniel Deivison-Oliveira, Steven Morse, Myles Thatcher and Hansuke Yamamoto sprang into the air in relentless beats, jumps and turns. Frances Chung talked with her legs, and Sarah Van Patten danced a subtly witty "cigarette" with signature steel-like clarity. Maria Kochetkova nailed the silkiness of "flute," and Davit Karapetyan was wonderfully sultry in "mazurka," as eight men danced on the ingenious upper landing that gave the whole its nightclub aura. Between these two concept ballets came Jerome Robbins' Chekovian study set to Chopin nocturnes (impeccably played by pianist Roy Bogas) that examines love at three stages of its arc. It is embodied by a trio of couples whose costumes, deepening in color from couple to couple, reinforce the trajectory from innocence to propriety to volcanic rupture. Despite its 19th-century trappings, this is a 20th-century ballet of interior life made public, and it is a slightly neurotic beauty set against a backdrop of dreamy stars -- a welcome whisper between two claps of dance thunder. san francisco ballet Presents the world premiere of Wayne McGregor's "Borderlands," the S.F. premiere of Serge Lifar's "Suite en Blanc" and Jerome Robbins' "In the Night" Where: War Memorial Opera House, 301 Van Ness, S.F. When: 7:30 p.m. Jan. 30, 8 p.m. Jan. 31 and Feb. 1-2, 2 p.m. Feb. 2 and 3 Tickets: $20-$135, 415-865-2000,	1,521
Tag Archives: wordpad #ProgressIS: Using a Text Editor As a Word Processor Funny how they say history tends to repeat itself. As always the old becomes new and technology no matter how much it moves forward doesn’t always seem to get away from this idiom. In thousands of offices all around the world there are billions of widget makers struggling every day to figure out simple and easy as ways to communicate via the written word. Unfortunately, most of them assume the only answer is the modern word processor. Now there was a time when the word processor meant a 20 pound device with the really small screen and a not quite detachable keyboard. Like a typewriter minus the White Out. As computers came into play one the first issues ever tackled was a good word processing solution that could replace the the electronic typewriter and single tasking electronic word processors of the day. This was a fine and dandy solution up until there was some bifurcation of formats between WordPerfect, which was the giant of word processors at the time and Microsoft Word. Microsoft Word at that time was oddly enough the new kid on the block. /little did we know that soon it would take over the world and be the planet’s go to word processor. I personally am not a big fan of Microsoft Word mostly because it has grown into a large program without any usable features added since about Word 6 (Office 4.2). However, as more and more people buy Microsoft Word the need for Word compatibility continues to grow. The odd thing is the majority of the people who use Microsoft Word only use it as a glorified electronic typewriter. Most of the people using Microsoft Word are not using the features that require such a large program. In fact almost all of them basically need a simple easy-to-use text editor with spellcheck. I would say about 90% of the people who use Microsoft Word are really using the comparable feature set of WordPad or TextEdit. Knowing this to be true I have personally boycotted the modern word processor and continue to write all of my communications in my generic text editor. My text editor of choice is TextMate, however there are a slew of other options on the market both free and paid for all platforms available including the modern smartphone. So what does this all mean? It means that I’m going to be putting together a series of articles and tutorials that will teach people how to go back to the text editor as their word processor of choice. Thus eliminating the need for costly programs that hog up gigabytes of data on your hard drive, drain your battery, eat up lots of processing power to sit idle and require proprietary data formats. Yes I’m talking about Microsoft Word but this also includes iWork and a bunch more. So be on the lookout for these things coming soon. Check back on this website often as well as follow my twitter feeds and Facebook posting. I’d like to give a shout out to my friend Brett Terpstra who will be providing some of the tools that I used to get a lot of work done via simple text editing. If you’re fanatical notetaker or just person that loves the store tidbits of information I highly suggest you check out NVAlt which is Brett’s Fork of Notational Velocity. I also want to give a shout out to John Garcia for his #Progressis social media campaign for giving me the inspiration to write this post and begin this series of tutorials that I’ll be producing concerning better living through text. Progress is going back to the simple text editor as a way of communicating better, faster, stronger. photo by: Â Marcin Wichary	794
How to fix distrust in government By Lee H. Hamilton 7 months 20 days ago \|7 Views \| \| \| Email \| Print A lot of this ire is focused on Congress, which an overwhelming majority believe is incapable of acting on behalf of the nation as a whole, but it has come to take in all of Washington. The poll’s findings can be summed up in the words of one respondent, a small-businesswoman from Arizona. “Probably the government in Washington could be trusted at one time,” she told the Times, “but now it seems like it’s all a game of who wins rather than what’s best for the people.” It is a fact of life that American voters respond to likability — a sense of connection — in their candidates. But that’s not how they judge politicians once they’re in office. Instead, they really do care about how elected officials govern. To start, they want fairness from Washington. Whatever you think of the Tea Party or Occupy Wall Street, both have touched a nerve, a sense that our political leaders have not just grown distant from the concerns of ordinary Americans, but actively discriminate against them in one way or another. I’ve always been impressed by the importance Americans place on fairness; they strive to be fair to those around them, and they expect government to do the same. They also want government to be open. This is not a blanket pronouncement — where national security and defense are concerned, or where congressional negotiators need space to find common ground without being forced to posture for the cameras, there is a place for secrecy. But transparency ought to be the rule. Secrecy feeds suspicion and distrust of government. Politicians must be sensitive to this. Speaking to audiences around the country, I’ve also been struck by the deep thirst for accountability in Washington. It is very hard to determine who’s responsible for any given situation in the federal government — so many people have their hands on promoting or blocking a given initiative, it can seem that the entire political system is designed to shrug off responsibility. When the economy is floundering, Americans are desperate for work, and Washington seems incapable of coming to grips with the nation’s needs, this is a huge problem. It is hard to respect institutions whose leaders refuse a forthright accounting of, or deny responsibility for, their failures. Americans do not expect miracles or understate the difficulties of governing. They do not expect a single person to right the ship of state. Quite the contrary. They want a collective effort, a sense that people in government, regardless of party, are rolling up their sleeves and working together to resolve their differences. Americans have some tolerance for disagreement, but not to the point of gridlock — in the end, they prefer cooperation, not confrontation. And they abhor the sort of brinksmanship that has become a Washington specialty, with its last-minute negotiations and short-term fixes. We have serious long-term problems, and Americans want to see their elected officials working on them. They want remedies, not filibusters and scorched-earth politicking. Finally, they want honesty. Americans really do want to know the scope of the problems they confront and to make up their own minds about them. They resent politicians who paper over the difficulties of the problems or toss off inadequate solutions to really tough problems. There is, in the country at large, a thirst for basic facts, not spin. The people can handle the truth, and they deserve no less. comments powered by Disqus Sponsored By: Local Gas Prices Lowest Gas Prices in Point Pleasant Point Pleasant Gas Prices provided by Featured Business Community Directory	839
The Isley Brothers: Harvest for the World / The Heat is On [20 August 2001] By Mark Anthony Neal Eternal, the most recent release by the famed Isley Brothers, is easily one of their strongest since their classic “3+3” era. Almost four decades before “Mr. Biggs” got “Contagious”, The Isley Brothers were largely a vocal trio led by the silky Ronald Isley, with brothers Rudolph and O’Kelly providing backing harmonies on tracks like “Shout”, “This Old Heart of Mine” and their 1969 pop breakthrough “It’s Your Thing”. Responding to changing musical styles including the evolution of funk, the trio began to incorporate the musical sensibilities of younger brothers Marvin and Ernie and Rudolph’s brother-in-law Chris Jasper into the Isley Brother mix. Though they were paid employers of the Isleys since 1969, 3+3 would be the first recording that significantly included the artistic input of Isley, Jasper, and Isley, as they were named when the trio broke from the older members in the mid-1980s. With the breakout success of the single “That Lady”, the younger trio was handed the reigns of the Isley musical legacy, in the process ushering in an era of sustained critical and commercial acclaim. The Heat is On (1975) and Harvest for the World (1976), both just reissued on the Sony/Legacy imprint, were the initial fruits of the full-fledged “3+3” era. Though the Isley’s were steeped in the kind of “do for self” philosophy that ground much of the black nationalist rhetoric of the late ‘60s and ‘70s—having recorded for the family owned T-Neck (New Jersey) label—they were not overtly political performers. Though a modicum of resistance can be read in their pop hit “It’s You Thing”, “Fight the Power”, the lead single from The Heat is On, was their most overtly political tune to date. Nearly 15 years after the song’s release Public Enemy would record a song using the same title. Whereas Chuck D was focused to the larger political realities of black life, the Isley Brothers’ original was fixated on the everyday annoyances that can turn to rage and anger. It is hard not to feel such anger in the song’s chorus as O’Kelly sings “I try to play my music / They say my music is too loud / I tried talkin’ about it, I got the big run around / And when I roll with the punches / I got knocked to the ground / By all this bullshit goin’ down”. Conceived by brother Ernie, “Fight the Power” reflected the wide influences on the younger Isley siblings. Ernie for one was heavily impacted by the late Jimi Hendrix, who was a backing musician for the original Isleys in the early ‘60s. A track like “Hope You Feel Better Love”, for instance, owes some debt to The Doobie Brothers’ “Long Train Runnin’” which was included on their Captain and Me (1973) recording. Whereas the up-tempo workouts helped the Isley’s reach new audiences, it was their balladry, courtesy of lead vocalist Ronald, that distinguished them among other foul/R&B/funk bands of the era. “For the Love of You” is one of the most recognizable Isley ballads and can still be heard in daily rotation on urban and lite-jazz stations. The seven-plus minute “Make Me Say It Again”, which closes out The Heat is On, is as gorgeous as any classic soul ballad and is a thrilling testament to Ronnie Isley’s interpretive skills. From the vantage point of 25 years, many of the funk tracks on Harvest for the World seem dated. The title track is a bouncy vibrant ditty that seems tailor made for Top-40 radio in the mid-1970s. The song which celebrates global unity—not so ironically released in the year that the US celebrated its Bicentennial, celebrating among other things 200 year of American imperialism—anticipates the track “Caravan of Love”, which became a major pop hit for Isley, Jasper, Isley in 1985. The strength of the recording again lies in its ballads. While tracks like the aforementioned “For the Love of You” and raunchy “Between the Sheets” (1983) were well known to hip-hop generation listeners, “(At Your Best) You Are Love” remained an obscure Isley classic until Aaliyah, with production by R. Kelly, recorded the track on her debut Age Ain’t Nothin’ But a Number. “Let Me Down Easy”, is drawn from the same formula that produced “Make Me Say it Again, Girl” where Ronald’s lilting falsetto gently surrounded by Chris Jasper’s keyboards and Ernie Isley’s softly sweeping guitar rhythms. Both of the reissues feature previously unreleased “bonus” tracks, recorded live (with a canned audience) in 1980, including a recording of the Isley’s reading of Seal and Crofts’ “Summer Breeze”. With the release of Eternal, the reissues of The Heat is On and Harvest for the World serve as ideal introductions to the classic Isley sound decades before “Mr. Biggs” comes on the scene. Published at:	1,351
Here is where we meet Reviewer Barry Hill June 18, 2005 Here is where we meet By John Berger Bloomsbury, $45 John Berger, now 80, a venerable olive tree, has been abundantly fruitful, producing novels, stories, essays and poems for the past 50 years. His fans love his open heart, his metaphysical leaps, his enduring, original intelligence, especially when he writes about painting - as he did unsurpassably as a critic in London during the 1950s and 1960s. Later he went to live in rural Savoy, from where he wrote Into Their Labours, those classic novels of French rural life in the shadow of corporate Europe. Even in exile, Berger has never failed his commitment to the ideas of freedom and dignity in work. He no longer writes quite like a Red but behind everything he writes is an insistence on hope, on what might be if we talk with each other in a certain way, and meet with each other at the right time in the right place. Which is to say, hope also depends, to some extent, on a little luck, in a world where we might make our own luck. This is the spirit informing these eight wonderful pieces that are unified by a sense of speaking with the beloved and the dead. In the first, set in Lisbon, Berger re-meets his dead mother. "It's too late! was one of her favourite phrases. And hearing it, I was inevitably filled with fury. Some event, trivial or grave, would have prompted her to use it. Yet the phrase seemed to me to refer not to an event but to the way time folds - something I began noticing from the age of four - the folds ensuring that some things can be saved and others cannot." This is typical Berger: kind towards the other, slightly exhibitionist and even portentous, yet seductive. The passage is also the clue to the narrative method that is so successful here: a matter of moving through dialogue, images and fragments to unfold truths about those he has loved. "The number of lives that enter our own is incalculable." His father first appears in the third piece. Just back from the Great War, a veteran of mustard gas, a man resistant to his son's challenge to the old politics. Everything is contested between them. "He was trying to save me - to crawl out on his belly to a crater in no-man's land and pull me back to relative safety . . . By being himself, my father taught me endurance. By being myself, I reminded him that he was not alone." Always, with Berger, there is relationship, and movement. Nothing is ever still, least of all the sense of Berger taking himself into the "centre" of Europe on his motorcycle. His narratives travel into history: Geneva, Madrid, Krakov. En route, there is a piece called, Some Fruit as Remembered by the Dead, a meditation on melon, peach, cherries, each with their qualities, and none quite like the quetsch, those plums that are "the fruit of song . . . songs of love, solitude and endurance". Berger is an incurable romantic with a passion for the sensual. His sentences give shape to the physical like a Cezanne. Always, in these deceptively meandering, often playful pieces, he will take you by surprise. Sometimes the delight is a luminous narrative detail, as with the unforgettable slice of London memoir, Islington, where Berger revisits a friend with whom he went to art school in 1942, days when he used to sleep over at Colette's house! As if this is not enough, the story turns on a revelation of an early love, and becomes, in the end, the most delicious act of recovery. By the end of this elegiac book, Berger is walled up in a peasant cottage in the Carpathians, making sorrel soup while waiting for friends to arrive. His presence is as domestic as a milking cow. Except that the narrative manages to invoke, miraculously, both the spirit of Rembrandt's Polish Rider, and the arrival of the Panzer Divisions. When the friends finally arrive - and of course they do! - there is a newborn child, a wedding, dancing, and much music. The key to Berger is the absolute warmth of his intelligence. He writes paragraphs that make you want to hug the whole book. If this turns out to be a farewell, its sequencing and spatial music is more than enough. He quotes Bellini: Let me hope again/ Or let me die. Barry Hill's latest book, The Enduring Rip: A History of Queenscliffe (MUP), recently won the Victorian Government's prize for Community History.	1,113
Don't have an account? Click Here Tennis Live Stats Cavaliers Edge No. 1 UCLA, 4-3 in NCAA Championship Match Courtesy: UCLA Athletics Release: 05/21/2013 May 21, 2013 Urbana, Ill. - If there was ever a question of how close a team can come to an NCAA title and not actually win it, the top-seeded UCLA men's tennis team answered that question on Tuesday, as the Bruins suffered a gut-wrenching, 4-3 loss to second-seeded Virginia in the championship match at the University of Illinois' Khan Outdoor Tennis Center. One minute, UCLA (29-2) was within a point of tying Stanford for the second most NCAA tennis titles with 17. The next, the Bruins were watching the Cavaliers storm the court to celebrate their program's first. One thing's for sure, the University of Illinois played host to one of the greatest NCAA tennis finals in history. Unfortunately, it didn't go UCLA's way. "I thought we had it," said UCLA head coach Billy Martin, who was looking for his second NCAA title after leading the Bruins to the championship in 2005. "It's hard to imagine we were that close and didn't get it. We were right there, match point. I will replay it 100 times between now and tomorrow. But we will get over it. It's not the end of the world. We will recover." With the match tied at 3-3, Tuesday's showdown ultimately came down to a battle at court No. 3, where Bruin captain Adrien Puget and Virginia's Mitchell Frank each had their team's national championship hopes rested solely on their shoulders. Puget looked fantastic in the first set, cruising to a 6-0 victory. Frank was able to work his way back in the match in the second, serving it out up 5-4 to tie the match at one set apiece. The two players then traded breaks early in the third, however Puget made his move in the eighth game, breaking Frank for a 5-3 lead. Now serving for the match, Puget got ahead in the game 40-30. That's when the drama unfolded. With a match point in hand, Puget worked Frank deep into the corner on a high, backhand volley. Frank barely got a racket on it, however before the point ended, the chair umpire called a violation on Puget for touching the bottom of the net with his foot. Frank got the game back to deuce, eventually breaking Puget to get the final set back on serve. The momentum took a big swing in Virginia's favor at that point, as Frank held for 5-5 and ended up breaking Puget in the very next game. Frank got up 40-0 in the final game, and despite Puget's effort to save two match points, Frank would convert the third, falling on his back in celebration as his teammates piled on. "If he touches the net and the umpire sees it, you have to call it," added Martin. "It's a tough pill to swallow in this particular match given the importance. It is what it is. It's not like we want (the umpire) to let it go. I know I wouldn't if I was in their shoes. I give Frank credit for hanging in there. It was still deuce. It's not like that one point decided the match. I think it was a fair call." The Bruins got down early in Tuesday's contest, surrendering the doubles point to go down 0-1 heading into singles play, as the Cavaliers took victories at court Nos. 1 and 3 to lock up the point. Puget and teammate Karue Sell were the bright spot for UCLA in doubles, moving out to a 7-4 lead at court No. 2. Virginia, already with an 8-2 win at court No. 1, clinched the point when Justin Shane and Julen Uriguen downed Alex Brigham and Clay Thompson, 8-5 at court No. 3. UCLA got off to a solid start in singles, however by only winning three first sets, it became apparent early on that someone was going to have to come from behind to win. After Shane downed Thompson, 6-2, 6-2 at court No. 5, UCLA answered right back with a pair of wins of its own, tying the dual match score at 2-2 with wins at court Nos. 2 and 4. Marcos Giron pulled off a huge upset at the No. 2 spot, where he beat second-ranked Alex Domijan, 6-4, 6-4. Giron is ranked 25th in the ITA singles rankings. Sophomore Dennis Mkrtchian, the nation's 75th-ranked player, followed that win by registering an upset of his own, beating 28th-ranked Mac Styslinger, 6-4, 6-3 at court No. 4. Virginia would take the battle of No. 1's, as third-ranked Jarmere Jenkins outlasted 27th-ranked Dennis Novikov, 7-6(3), 6-3 at court No. 1. The Cavaliers now owned a 3-2 lead, meaning that UCLA would need to take the remaining two matches. At the time of Jenkins' win, Frank was serving to stay in the match, up 5-4 in the second set at court No. 3, while Sell was up a break, 5-3 in the second and looking to send it to a third at court No. 6. Sell would move out to a 5-1 lead over Uriguen, eventually breaking serve to close out the deciding set, winning 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. Sell's win focused all attention on court No. 3, where Frank and Puget had their dramatic finish. Giron made the all-tournament team at No. 2 singles, as did Sell at No. 6 singles. Puget and Sell made the all-tournament team at No. 2 doubles. UCLA is not done in Illinois, as three Bruins - Puget, Giron and Novikov - will be competing in the NCAA Singles Championships beginning on Wednesday. The complete draw can be found here: NCAA Singles Draw NCAA Championship #3 Virginia 4, #1 UCLA 3 May 21, 2013 at Urbana, IL (Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex) 3. #89 Shane/Uriguen (UVA) def. Alex Brigham/Thompson (UCLA) 8-5 Virginia Wins Doubles Point 1. #3 Jarmere Jenkins (UVA) def. #27 Dennis Novikov (UCLA) 7-6(3), 6-3 2. #25 Marcos Giron (UCLA) def. #2 Alex Domijan (UVA) 6-4, 6-4 3. #39 Mitchell Frank (UVA) def. #22 Adrien Puget (UCLA) 0-6, 6-4, 7-5 4. #75 Dennis Mkrtchian (UCLA) def. #28 Mac Styslinger (UVA) 6-4, 6-3 5. Justin Shane (UVA) def. #119 Clay Thompson (UCLA) 6-2, 6-2 6. Karue Sell (UCLA) def. Julen Uriguen (UVA) 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 Match Notes Virginia 30-0; National ranking #3 UCLA 29-2; National ranking #1 Order of finish: Doubles (1,3); Singles (5,2,4,1,6,3) ‹ UCLA Men's Tennis *UCLA #3 Premium S/S Basketball Jersey - Navy Price: $90.00	1,987
Article Header Image Death and Dying in D&D Legends and Lore Mike Mearls Having written about clerics these past two weeks, it’s a short leap to write about the terrible fate all those cure light wounds spells try to fend off: death. Character death has been a part of D&D since the beginning. After all, without some sort of risk then the rewards we earn in the game are cheapened and made hollow. Raise the Dead In AD&D, the raise dead spell was available to clerics of 9th level or higher. To give you an idea of the power of such a character, the cleric’s advancement table only spelled out the first 11 levels—so reaching 9th level was clearly considered quite an accomplishment. The person being raised had to survive a Resurrection Survival percentage chance, as determined by their Constitution; but, so long as they hadn’t been dead for more days than the cleric raising them had levels, they’d be fine (albeit weakened from the ordeal). 2nd Edition added one more small wrinkle, the loss of a point of Constitution, to the process. 3rd Edition kept raise dead at the same level, but added more drawbacks to the spell. In AD&D you had to make the Resurrection Survival check to see if the character was able to be raised, and then the character was too weak to act for one day per day spent dead. In 3E, the caster needed a 5,000 gp material component to cast the spell, while the recipient now lost a level. Arguably, that’s a softer penalty than the permanent loss of a point of Constitution; then again, due to how ability score bonuses worked in 2nd Edition, plenty of characters could lose a point of Constitution without really noticing it. In 4th Edition, raise dead became a ritual that required 500 gp to cast. In addition, the target suffered a –1 penalty to most d20 rolls for six encounters of adventuring. It’s interesting to see how death became less of an obstacle in 4th Edition, after 2nd and 3rd raised the penalties for it. That said, it’s important to remember that 2nd, 3rd and 4th Edition extended the levels of expected play, with 2E and 3E plotting advancement to 20th level and 4E to 30th (though, while 2E did extend to higher levels, like 1E it primarily focused on levels 1-12, with most adventures topping out at around 7th level). I’m Not Dead Yet Oddly enough, the process of dying remained largely the same in 1st and 3rd Editions. Characters knocked down to -10 hit points died, and characters dropped to 0 or fewer hit points lost 1 point per round until reaching that threshold. In 1st Edition, a character so incapacitated was forced to rest for a week and lost a limb (or suffered some other permanent injury) at -6 hit points or lower. 2nd Edition was far more draconian, with death at 0 hit points (as it worked in Basic D&D), but with the 1st Edition rule available as an option. 4th Edition extended the death threshold to a negative number equal to half the character’s maximum hit points. In addition, rather than lose hit points each round, a character must make a death saving throw. Fail three of those, and the character dies. For an added wrinkle of complexity, 2nd Edition added a rule for instant death when a character took more than a set amount of damage from a single attack. 3rd Edition also preserved this rule. 4th Edition removed it. Thus, aside from 2nd Edition (and frankly, I think most people used the optional rule), death remained fairly constant in D&D until 4th Edition. In 4E, it is now harder to die from damage as opposed to failed death saving throws. Some Observations First of all, I have to admit that I was completely surprised at all the little changes to death, dying, and raise dead through the years. I knew that Basic D&D killed off characters at 0 hit points, but otherwise I would’ve assumed that the AD&D rule was consistent from 1st to 3rd Edition. I also assumed that the loss of Constitution was another 1st to 3rd constant, and I never would’ve guessed that the 2nd Edition default was death at 0 hit points. I’d like to think it’s because I’ve rarely had a character die (except for my elf wizard Dayereth Sunstar; curse you Jim Cirillo!). More likely it’s because it’s easy to let rules that look similar blur into each other over the years. So what is it with death? Why all these little tweaks and changes? I think it boils down to this: Death is really DM dependent. Some DMs like slaughtering characters by the truckload. They dare their players to delve into dungeons, battling through fiendish traps and endless hordes of monsters. Other DMs find losing a character to be an enormous headache, especially if they have plots and plans surrounding them. Eoden the Chosen makes a fairly poor champion of Helm if a gnoll stabs him to death outside Baldur’s Gate before he can complete his prophecy. I’ve talked a lot about how D&D players are a diverse bunch, with their own sets of priorities and preferences when it comes to the game. That extends to DMs and game designers, too. Recently, R&D went back and played every version of D&D ever produced. While the changes in the rules were interesting, what caught my attention the most was the adventures. Playing Basic D&D in an adventure that emphasized exploration and strategic thinking was far more enjoyable than using those same rules to fight monster after monster in a dungeon. In comparison, we played a fairly combat intensive 3E adventure and had a blast. The rules of D&D and the adventures designed for it have a clear effect on how people play and perceive the game. Death and dying play a big role in that feel—from a gritty, harsh game of survival, to a story-driven game where the players know that resolving the plot, not living or dying, is the point of the campaign. Legends & Lore Poll Results: 05/03/2011 What do you do? • Search the western wall: 61.6% • Head south: 20.1% • Return to the northern intersection and head north: 14.5% • Return to the northern intersection and leave the dungeon: 2.0% • Return to the northern intersection and head west: 1.7% Poll Time 1. What do you think of character death in D&D? What do you think of character death? Character death should be a regular part of the game. Character death should happen once in a while. Characters should die only rarely. 2. What do you think of characters returning from death in D&D? What do you think of characters returning from death? A dead character should stay dead, with no options for return. A character should come back at a heavy price that encourages most players to abandon a dead character. A character should come back at a moderate price, one that most players will pay. A character should come back easily, like recovering from any other condition. 3. What should drive character death? What should drive character death? Random chance; any fight or trap might kill an unlucky character. Bad choices; smart players can avoid death if they plan well and pay attention. The plot or the story; a character should die only if the DM sets that up to happen. Any of the above; a DM should have options to introduce any of these situations into the game. 4. Continuing our adventure from last week, as you inspect the wall you note that it is clearly of supernatural origin. As you examine the stones in their checkerboard pattern, they give way to your touch and the lantern pulses a flash of white light. The wall disappears, revealing three shambling, rotting figures beyond it. With a moan, they shuffle toward you. What do you do? What do you do? As a rogue, I throw a dagger at the nearest one before it can react. As a fighter, I draw my sword and charge. As a cleric, I brandish my holy symbol and turn these obviously undead creatures. As a wizard, I draw my wand and unleash a burning hands spell. Mike Mearls Sort Items By: Newest First Oldest First Top Rated Create Comment Follow Us Please enter a city or zip code	2,005
We are unable to find iTunes on your computer. To preview and buy music from Watermark by Enya, download iTunes now. I Have iTunes Free Download iTunes for Mac + PC Open iTunes to preview, buy, and download music. iTunes Review A professional musician for nearly a decade before this album was released in 1988, the multi-platinum Watermark is the recording that made Enya an international sensation. A native of Ireland, her true musical inspiration lies with her Celtic roots, and though she may have been branded the quintessential New Age vocalist in the U.S., that’s a simplification of her style and a bit of a misnomer in general. (Of course, it's a marketing approach that certainly did boost sales). So though, yes, this album does perfectly complement, say, a bubble bath, it’s too intricate and intriguing to simply dismiss it as soothing background music. What sets it apart from so many other relaxing albums is Enya’s voice. Stunning and pure, it's further enhanced by the vocal overdubs and layered keyboards that lend it a trace of echo and effectively draw the notes out, giving it a trace-like quality. The music rises and falls pleasantly around her without stretching for contrived drama, and there are piano and string passages throughout that are as gorgeous as they are subtle, along with some excellent use of traditional Irish pipes. Strong from start to finish, Watermark also contains “Orinoco Flow,” the album’s runaway hit single with the catchy “sail away” chorus. Arguably her finest and most consistent release. Customer Reviews I'm the only person I know that's heard of Enya, but her songs are gorgeous, they make you want to dance and cry at the same time! I always reccomend her music to people and they look at me like I'm nuts-- but I always have it on in my room, with a book and a cup of tea, it's so pretty and relaxing. Get Orinoco Flow, Only Time, and Wild Child ALL her music is BEAUTIFUL One of those albums you need to listen to before you die Enya has been at the forefront of her genre for a long time now. But this 1988 album is perhaps her crowning achievement. Every song flows with a vital energy. Each song transitions with the motion of waves on the beach, in and out, from dark to light, loud to soft, lazy to energetic and back again. Enya fashions an ingeniously unique sound through the combination of modern mixing and synthesizing and the melodic library and instruments of her ancient Celtic roots. While this sort of music is not for everybody, this is the cream of the crop and its worth a listen for all those who haven't. You might find you've been missing out all these years. There is alot more to this woman than Orinoco Flow (Sail Away)! Absolutly Beautiful She is one of those rare artists who use there music to inspire people. I cry everytime I listen to her songs. I just stumbled upon her and she is the best thing i have heard in a really long time. And although i am a teenager I know what real music sounds like and this is it. Born: May 17, 1961 in Gaoth Dobhair, Donegal, Ireland Genre: New Age Full Bio	792
The air was hot and dry. It stifled all life and forced what was left into hiding. There was no refuge from the burning wind as it whipped through the desolate town. A lone figure walked barefoot through the deserted alleys, imprisoned by dilapidated wooden structures on either side. The dust swirled up from the barren earth in tiny whirlwinds to dance around his ankles. He was alone. He'd always been alone. He'd never known love, or the warmth of a mother's touch. From the moment he'd awoken to find himself in this place, this desolate hole on the peripheries of civilization, he'd fought to survive. In the distance he could see what the others called Soul Society. It was rumoured to be a great city full of important people called Shinigami. He would sometimes sit and watch them wander in and out of their great white city wearing black robes. They looked proud and strong. He longed to belong to their world, but there was no place behind those perfect walls for one such as him. So unlike him, the buildings were tall and pristine. Their white walls reflected the bright sunlight and surrounded the city with an ethereal glow. They invited him in, taunted him with thoughts of what he could not have and what he would never know. Gin they called him - the ones who stalked him through the streets pretending he was their prey. They taunted him with it as they beat him, laughing at the unusual silver colour of his hair. It bothered him at first, being beaten for no reason other than the fact that he looked different, but soon it too became a regular part of the life he didn't understand. With time he discovered ways to avoid the gangs and learned which alleys were safe to traverse along. He'd learned the ways of the world quickly. He had to, for there was no one to teach him and he would have died otherwise. He was like a ghost, drifting from one place to the next as the mood struck him. He traveled with no one and needed no one. For the entirety of his short, traumatic life he'd been shown that there was no good in the selfish hearts of others. They weren't worth caring about or associating with. They disgusted him and he scowled at anyone who perchance happened to pass him by. On this day he was in a particularly foul mood. His lunch had been stolen (again!) and his stomach ached from the blows he'd received trying to get it back. His hand rested overtop the tender, bruised skin of his gut and his young body stooped from the pain as he walked. He grimaced and blew his bangs out of his eyes with a great huff of breath. He wanted to stop and sit down but his feet urged him forward. They moved him farther and farther away from the shanty town, with its broken down houses, haphazard family units and roving thugs. It was no place for a child to be and he did not long for it even after leaving it far behind. It took several days of walking before he was far enough. By the time his aching feet finally came to rest he was surrounded by nothing but rocky, barren terrain. Lifeless trees dotted the landscape here and there, their snarling branches twisting towards the sky, but apart from their rotting trunks there was not a spec of life to be seen. Even the ground was cracked and brittle, lacking life and water. Turning his eyes to the sky he noticed that though it was perpetually grey and bleak, not a single drop of rain ever spilt to the earth below. It puzzled him, but he did not bother to dwell on it. What did he care if it rained? It was then that he heard soft muffled cries coming from a tiny depression nearby. Curious, he stepped towards the sound, experience warning him to be wary. As he crested to the top of the hill his eyes widened with surprise to see a young girl, alone like himself, and crying bitter tears. He stared at her in fascination for some time before making a move to approach. He debated turning around and leaving her be. He had no need for a companion, much less a girl. She would only slow him down and create problems for him when he eventually returned to the village. He wanted to leave, willed himself to, but his stubborn feet refused to budge. They remained firmly rooted to the earth and would not go anywhere unless it was forward to her side. With a sigh of resignation he gave in and stumbled down the shallow embankment until he was standing in front of her. Hearing his approach she sniffled and ceased sobbing. She turned her face upwards to peer at him curiously. Her eyes were sapphire blue and swimming with tears. A few escaped down her cheeks and tiny droplets clung to her lashes like dew drops to a spider's web. Gin held his breath. Her eyes were open and inviting. They didn't speak to him of malice or cruel intentions, merely a kind heart and a willingness to trust. She did not fear him, but did not make a move to approach him either. He stepped forward cautiously, approaching her as one would a frightened animal. Though he didn't know her, he was overcome with a desire to shield her from the life he'd lived thus far. He couldn't bear to see the innocence he saw in her eyes, her blind faith in the inherent goodness of man, vanish like they had from his. He stopped in front of her and tilted his head to the side inquisitively. She looked hungry. Reaching into the inner folds of his kimono he retrieved a bread roll and held it out to her. "Hungry?" he asked, his voice dry and tight. She nodded her head and with wide eyes snatched the offering from his hands. She devoured it quickly and when she was finished she beamed up at him, a warm and grateful smile. He returned the gesture easily. It was the first time he could ever remember smiling and was surprised his face knew what to do. That seemingly inconsequential moment, a simple smile shared between two new friends, would shape the course of Ichimaru Gin's life, though he couldn't possibly have known it at the time. Author's Note: This is going to be a Gin and Rangiku fic. It's an introspective lead up to volume 20 (episode 62 of the anime series) where Rangiku tries to hold Gin back from leaving with Aizen. I want to try and explain why he did what he did and what their relationship is actually like since they don't get into it too much in the anime. At the time this was written I hadn't read the manga yet (bad me! I know!) so if there are any inconsistencies because of that I apologize! I'd love to know what you think about what I've written so far so please take a second to review. Thank you!!	1,614
Health knowledge made personal Join this community! › Share page: Search posts: One step away Posted Sep 07 2008 8:36pm There are times when I am literally one step away from exiting my car, opening up the back, finding the tire iron and beating the crap out of the car in front of me. Can anyone say anger issues? Road rage? I have lived in Santa Rosa, California most of my 23 years of existance…of those 23 years I have been driving for 6 full years, they have been “renovating” highway 101 for most of those 6 years. So there is a lot of traffic, what I mean by a lot of traffic is that my commute to the old dialysis clinic was at least 20 miles away from where my parents lived. A 20 mile commute took me an hour and a half. An hour and a half of seriously considering ramming into the car ahead of me, or just leaving the damn piece of crap Ford Focus I drove for 5 of those 6 years right in the middle of the road. The thing about California drivers, however, is that we are a bunch of aggressivelittle behind the wheelers, we weave in and out of traffic, if spent a second to long at a green light a symphony of honks errupts behind you. It is the music of highway 101. Having left California behind me for the slower pace of Washington, I have noticed a few things that have made me more and more noticible as a Californian. This will perhaps be my greatest downfall. When traveling through the lower eastern part of the great state of Washington, I noticed a lot, I mean a lot of Christian rock stations, ranging from perhaps this is Christian rock or just rock with a positive message that isn’t about bangin’ the ladies or drinking then there is the um, really, really religious Christian rock about Jesus dying on a cross and leaking blood all over the ground. There is also a lot of Country. In Seattle, well to be honest I have kind of given up on the radio, personally I am just a little afraid of what might actually be on there. Another example about how weird different Washington is. People drive the speed limit! I mean really, they drive the speed limit, like even the younger people. They also pause when the light turns green, like maybe, perhaps it’s just a trick, that perhaps it will turn red again and they will be trapped in the intersection. Dear lord. Oh the traffic lights, slower then the ones in Florida, no wonder there is traffic problems in Seattle, everyone waits 5 minutes for the light to change. This is just about the time my right eyelid starts to twitch and the fucks and bitches and oh my god, I will beat you with a tire iron start to spring from my mouth. Just be happy my actual tired iron is below the back bench seat and you have to unscrew it before you can actually beat someone with it, that would probably take up the entire five minutes waiting for the light. I do love you Seattle, but really, learn to drive. Post a comment Write a comment: Related Searches	719
Hank Haney Gets Absolutely Torched By Craig Carton, Hangs Up On InterviewS Every morning, the fine folks at Sports Radio Interviews sift through the a.m. drive-time chatter to bring you the best interviews with coaches, players, and personalities across the sports landscape. Today: Tiger Woods's old coach can't take the heat. Hank Haney joined WFAN in New York with Boomer and Carton to talk about the response he has gotten from the book he wrote, on Tiger's agent and the response he had to the injuries that Haney talked about in the book, why Tiger's wife was brought up in the book, and Carton's anger with the book. On the response from the book: "The responses that I'm getting from the people that have read the book have been overwhelmingly that way. It's just incredible. People that are writing me on Twitter, sending me messages, and it's been amazing. That's what they view it as. I didn't think everyone would have the same view. That wasn't something that I was totally concerned about. I just wanted to write the book about what I considered to be the golf history and my time helping someone that I think is the greatest player ever." On Tiger's agent's response to how the injuries occurred: "There's a lot of things that I will respond to but I will pick the thing about the injuries. Tiger's left knee, I first heard about his knee being injured with a lady at a clinic that I was at where her husband is a Navy SEAL stationed in California and he was there the day that Tiger was there and he said that Tiger hurt his knee that day. He thought he hurt it pretty bad. Then Tiger told a friend of mine that's also a friend of his that that is where he blew out his knee was at the Navy kill house near San Diego where he was working with the SEALs. He came around the corner, didn't brace himself, and got kicked in the side of the knee. That's what I was going off of, two different sources telling me that. As far as his Achilles injury the first time he hurt his right Achilles was at the NIKE training facility where he was testing some shoes or doing some sort of testing for them. He re-aggravated it during Olympic style lifting and that was the right Achilles that Dr. Galea treated. I've got pretty specific details and more than one source that backs up all of these things." On Haney talking about Tiger's wife in the book: "I talk about his wife only in areas where it pertains to his golf. The first time I talked about his wife was when she said asked Tiger what are we going to do to celebrate and Tiger said we don't celebrate victories like that. (Host: Hank you talked about the icy stares between them after the accident when you saw him on the range outside his house. What does that have to do with golf?) Because Tiger was preparing for his first tournament back, which was the Masters and I was there preparing with him and it was pertinent to his mindset at the time. When you're a golfer it's a very mental game and I thought that was pertinent to his preparation so when I am saying something like that in the book, one little comment about an icy stare. (Host: But it goes beyond golf and what happens within the ropes.) Well, people have different opinions. I'm very aware that is going to be the case but I'm not the first coach that has ever written a book." Tiger let you into his life, paid you a lot of money I assume to be his coach and you don't view it as a basic violation of the man's trust: "I view it as my memories too. These weren't just his memories. He didn't have them exclusively. I wanted to share my observations, my thoughts about his greatness, the complexities that make him up as a golfer and a person. If I had all positive things in the book it wouldn't have been an honest book. I wanted to write an honest book about working with Tiger Woods and the observations that I made about his greatness and what it was like to coach him. I realize people are going to have different opinions. I'm not the first coach that has ever written a book. (Host: It doesn't make it right though.) It doesn't make them right either but if I broke the code then they broke the code too." That is such an egotistical thing to compare you as Tiger's coach against Butch Harmon as Tiger's coach: "Like you've said you have never met me and I'm looking forward to when we do meet. I'm sure you will have quite a different opinion because it's not an opinion that many people share but I understand your opinion, that was a chapter in the book that summed up Tiger's record and also kind of predicted how I thought he was going to do in the future in terms of Jack Nicklaus' record. You've chosen to take things the way you want to take them but other people have chosen a different path and have enjoyed the read. It's a great insight into the greatest player that I think has ever played. (Host: Do you think of yourself as a martyr?) No sir I don't." You betrayed the most fundamental of trust that anyone could have. You betrayed the man's trust! "I thought this was an interview. Why won't you let me talk? (Host: This is offensive to me!) Ok guys. (Host: Now you're going to hang up because you are a coward.) I'm not going to hang up. I would never hang up. (Host: Good. Don't be a coward.) You don't even know me. (Host: How many times in the book do you write and it seems like it's every freakin' page, that every time Tiger hits a bad shot you're like ‘I saw that coming, I could've fixed that.') I never wrote that. (Host: It's in the entire freaking book!) You're making stuff up now. You said that these other coaches broke the code so at least I'm in good company." (Editor's note: Hank Haney and Craig Carton continued to argue for a few more minutes. Carton called him a horrible human being and the scum of the earth. Eventually, Hank Haney did hang up.) More from Sports Radio Interviews Steve Nash wouldn't mind taking his talents to South Beach. Josh Beckett calls out Curt Schilling. Don Nelson doesn't feel like he's a Hall of Famer.	1,546
io9’s March Movie Madness Second Round: Blade Runner vs. GhostbustersS Let the io9 March Movie Madness tournament rage on. Last week, underdog Galaxy Quest trampled blockbuster mega-smash Avatar. But will it live on to fight again? Polls are open now — vote for the greatest science fiction movie ever made! There some serious heat in the io9 movie tournament this week. Blade Runner Vs. Ghostbusters promises to be an all out blood bath. Same goes for Akira Vs. Alien. Here is the schedule for voting for the rest of the tournament. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back had the most votes last week with 4,641 votes. Which gives some credence to the speculation that the final will be Blade Runner Vs. Empire. That is, if Blade Runner can beat the beloved Ghostbusters today. There are eight match-ups today, and there will be eight more match ups on Wednesday. So if you're looking for Wall-E Vs. Terminator, that showdown is on Wednesday the 23rd. Here is the schedule for voting for the rest of the tournament. Remember, you decide who moves on to the next round. So vote! Monday, March 21 TODAY and Wednesday, March 23: Second Round Friday, March 25: Sweet Sixteen Monday, March 28: Elite Eight Wednesday, March 30: Final Four Friday, April 1: Final Four Monday, April 4: Championship VOTE RIGHT NOW For the movie you WANT to win. Polling ends tonight at 11 PM. 1. Blade Runner Vs. 9. Ghostbusters 1. E.T. Vs. 8. Serenity 2. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back Vs. 7. The Matrix 2. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) Vs. 7. District 9 3. Metropolis (1927) Vs. 11. Jurassic Park 4. Alien Vs. 5. Akira 4. Inception Vs. 5. Planet of the Apes (1968) 6. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Vs. 14. Galaxy Quest	558
Seeking Alpha Seeking Alpha Portfolio App for iPad Profile\| Send Message\| (467) The title of this article may seem to be a statement of the obvious. Cash and cash equivalents are accounted for as assets on a company's balance sheet. Yet a surprising number of investors appear to view Apple's (AAPL) massive cash hoard as a negative for the stock. Recently, hedge fund manager Leon Cooperman of Omega Advisors jumped on this bandwagon. He told CNBC that several other stocks, such as Qualcomm (QCOM) and Google (GOOG) were now preferable to Apple, because of Apple's "financial policy". Cooperman's preference for Qualcomm over Apple seems particularly odd, as Qualcomm faces as much competitive pressure as Apple, or more, but trades at a higher valuation by most metrics. Like Apple, Qualcomm currently enjoys a dominant position in high-end smartphones, but is under threat from competitors: for Qualcomm, these include Intel (INTC), Nvidia (NVDA), and Samsung (OTC:SSNLF). Qualcomm's competitors are well-financed, and Intel and Samsung enjoy potentially massive economies of scale. Like Apple, Qualcomm may be able to maintain earnings growth if it innovates more rapidly than the competition, but it faces three credible competitors, where Apple faces just one. So what could justify picking Qualcomm over Apple? Cooperman was apparently dismayed that Apple did not issue a special dividend last month, as many other cash-rich companies did. Cooperman's fund still holds some Apple stock, but has cut back on its position. However, Apple's failure to issue a special dividend hardly seems like a good reason to scale back positions in Apple at the same time that the stock price has fallen by more than 25%. Indeed, as of a year ago (when Cooperman was more bullish), Apple had not returned any cash to shareholders in over fifteen years! This March, the company announced a regular dividend and a modest $10 billion stock repurchase plan. Apple estimated that it would return $45 billion to shareholders over the course of three years. While this is less than the company will earn this year alone, it is hardly a pittance. With Apple finally showing some willingness to return cash to shareholders, and the company trading at its lowest P/E valuation in more than a decade (aside from a very brief period in the depths of the 2008-2009 recession), doubling down on Apple seems more appropriate than taking money off the table right now. By contrast, Cooperman's decision to take money off the table implies that Apple's cash is a liability. Cooperman was bullish on Apple when the stock was trading between $600 and $650. If Apple had paid a $50 special dividend, Cooperman would presumably still like the stock at the adjusted price range of $550-$600. In that scenario, the company would have less cash on hand but trade at a higher price; the only way that valuation would make sense is if Apple's cash is a liability rather than an asset! This valuation of Apple's cash as a liability is irrational, but it should not come as a total shock to investors. Last year, famed NYU finance professor Aswath Damodaran raised the possibility that Apple could be punished by investors for holding as much cash as it does. Due to investors' naivete, worries about management wasting the money on frivolous acquisitions, or the missed opportunity for enjoying the tax benefits of leverage, holding too much cash could damage Apple's stock price. While Damodaran believed last March that this was not yet happening, it is hard to deny that investors are now discounting Apple's cash. Apple's single-digit P/E excluding cash hardly seems warranted for a company that has shown strong earnings growth for many years, and is likely (at a minimum) to grow earnings at a low double digit or high single digit rate for the next few years. I agree with those investors who want Apple to deploy its cash more aggressively. I think that Apple shares are so deeply undervalued at this time that it could even make sense to pay a higher tax rate in order to repatriate cash to the U.S. and execute a significant buyback (reducing the share count by more than 10%). In other words, Apple would be worth more if it were committed to returning all excess cash to shareholders. However, I see Apple's conservative cash policy as a missed opportunity rather than a black mark against the company. When Apple finally moves to return cash more aggressively, it should propel the stock higher, because the current "discount on cash" will evaporate. As a long-term investor, I am happy to wait for this share appreciation, insofar as Apple's long-term prospects seem very good compared to the stock's valuation. It is ironic that investors are starting to discount Apple's cash at roughly the same time that the company has begun returning cash to shareholders. While Steve Jobs was in charge at Apple, it was plausible that money would continue to pile up on Apple's balance sheet as retained earnings. Jobs ruled the company with an iron fist, and didn't seem to have any interest in catering to shareholder wishes. Yet Jobs produced such incredible growth that there was no possibility of a real shareholder revolt. Today, with Tim Cook at the helm, there is little reason to believe that Apple will hold on to its cash indefinitely. In all likelihood, management and the Board are waiting to see if the U.S. government manages to pass some sort of corporate tax reform. It would be foolish for Apple to spend a significant amount on taxes in order to repatriate cash when it is possible that corporate tax rates will be lowered as part of the debt ceiling/sequester debate over the next few months. As a result, Apple's cash should just be seen as what it is: an asset. Source: Apple's Cash Hoard Is An Asset, Not A Liability	1,393
Take the 2-minute tour × i’m using wp-ecommerce (getshopped) and WPML on a website, all pages display correctly when i use the default (/ugly…) permalink structure, but when i try to use the much desired permalink structure /%category%/%postname%/ something weird happens: 1. product categories list page displays the homepage 2. single category and single product pages show the main blog page (list of post) This prevents me from using my desired permalink structure, which is a major issue for me. I tried updating WPEC to the latest beta version (didn’t help) and i tried switching to twenty ten to see if the problem is related to my theme (and it isn’t) Questions: 1. Could this be related to the fact that i use hebrew words in my slugs? 2. Is there any known issues related to WPEC and permalinks that i should be aware of? 3. Can anyone point out the solution? Thanks in advance share\|improve this question I'm not sure how relevant this is, but i notices that different tables in my DB have different encoding - most are utf8_general_ci, some are latin1_swedish_ci, and some are hebrew_general_ci... – Talbatz Feb 7 '12 at 16:12 add comment 1 Answer up vote 1 down vote accepted Apologies, I find this a little bit a non-issue as it states clearly everywhere that WPML works 100% when you use a permalinks structure of day and name (http://domain.com/2012/02/07/sample-post/). If this is something you cannot accept, then you's better come to terms with the fact that WPML most likely is not going to work 100% for you. Or, to answer your questions: re 1. no, this has nothing to do with the fact that you use Hebrew words in your slugs re 2. no, there are no other known issues related to WPEC and permalinks that you should be aware of re 3. the solution is to use a permalinks structure of day and name (http://domain.com/2012/02/07/sample-post/). share\|improve this answer Wow... how easy was that! thanks a lot :-) – Talbatz Feb 9 '12 at 9:58 add comment Your Answer	602
Comments Threshold RE: The World is Too Big By JediJeb on 1/13/2010 5:36:45 PM , Rating: 2 I think you and I disagree and I think both of our minds are pretty well made up. However I also think both of us are open to the idea that we may be wrong. As long as science continues to be open to the idea that it could be wrong then science will be alive and healthy. I didn't get in on the begining of the discussion, but I will agree this one has been rather civil and productive for the reason you stated. I think the problem we not experts have with the current pro AGW scientists is that most seem to not follow the above statement on being able to admit they could be wrong. That is what is ruining the whole study of the change in climate and possibly driving us into some very bad political areas with the false belief that government can control the climate. Someone mentioned using their knowledge of math in examining the problem, I use my knowledge of chemistry. The one thing about many of the theories that troubles me the standard line on temperature versus CO2 concentration in the oceans. The AGW group says that CO2 concentration rises in the atmosphere, causing temperatures to rise, causing the ocean to absorb more CO2 and become more acidic. The problem with that from a chemists view is that as temperatures rise the ocean will desorb CO2 which should make it become less acidic. It would seem that CO2 rise in the atmosphere should follow behind temperature rise not cause it. Their theory from a chemistry standpoint would suggest that climate over-rides the laws of chemistry and physics which should not be able to happen. I may be wrong and not be seeing something that is taking place there, but none of the AGW theories have yet to explain the discrepancy. RE: The World is Too Big By Smilin on 1/13/2010 5:50:33 PM , Rating: 2 I thought the AGW consensus was the opposite of that. Warming should cause the oceans to emit CO2 rather than absorb it. RE: The World is Too Big By TheEinstein on 1/13/2010 9:03:29 PM , Rating: 2 There are so many 'ocean this and ocean that' theories as to make me cry for sanity. All the ones who include the ocean have so many variances in what is supposed to happen, it almost feels like they are trying hard to account for anything so they can say 'eureka' when their model follows the oceans a bit. Recently however Al Gores primary scientist backtracked when he said the Oceans were not heating as much as his models had indicated they should, showing a greater ability to diffuse heat somehow. The real scientists of the oceans however have said... oh crap I forget the word... Submarines move between the layers in the ocean commonly... dangit I hate forgetting a word!!! Anyways these thermal barriers keep divergent tempatured waters away from each other, and each section can grow, or shrink, with local temperature conditions. The layers therefore can be huge for a warm spot, when weather above increases, compacting the lower, more cooler, levels down, or it can be visa versa. The current situations also help dictate changes in how these thermal levels work, since the areas with a permanent current get cycled from warm to cold, or visa-versa. But your chemical study could be a great avenue to go down. The scientists I follow have said a lot that carbon dioxide in the past increased as a result of heating, and not the other way around. RE: The World is Too Big By JediJeb on 1/14/2010 2:00:50 PM , Rating: 2 Is the word " thermocline "?	870
Print 17 comment(s) - last by kenny24000.. on Apr 20 at 6:12 AM Amazon released a letter to record labels on Monday saying that the Cloud Drive is legal, but is willing to meet with record labels today to discuss licensing rights After much debate and disapproval regarding Amazon's Cloud Drive, the online retailer is finally meeting with record labels today to discuss licensing rights. Amazon's Cloud Drive is an internet-based storage application that offers 5 GB of storage free of charge. Users can store music, pictures and documents in the cloud and pull them up on different devices. The Cloud Drive also features a Cloud Player, which is a music streaming application. When Amazon first launched the Cloud Player in March of this year, record labels were angered at the fact that Amazon hadn't paid for licensing rights to stream music to its users. According to those in the music industry, Amazon only had licensing rights to sell digital downloads, which may make the new Cloud Drive illegal. Amazon released a letter to record labels on Monday saying that the Cloud Drive is legal, and even compared it to Microsoft's SkyDrive or Google Docs. The letter also noted that Amazon's Cloud Player is similar to Microsoft's Windows Media Player, and that it had increased sales of digital songs in Amazon's MP3 store. Despite Amazon's disagreement with record labels over the legality of the Cloud Drive, the online retail giant is willing to meet with record labels today to discuss licensing rights. "We don't publicly discuss our meetings with partners, and we have not announced any changes to Amazon Cloud Drive or Amazon Cloud Player since the launch," said Cat Griffin, an Amazon spokeswoman. Record labels are likely eager to meet with Amazon as well since the risk of other companies following in Amazon's footsteps is too great to chance. Other companies could create services like the Cloud Drive, where the music industry is not included in regards to licensing rights. Comments Threshold I Don't Get It By NaughtyGeek on 4/14/2011 12:07:05 PM , Rating: 4 I cannot for the life of me figure out what gripe the music industry can have with this. Do they license every media player in existence today? Amazon has a media player that allows a consumer to play their bought and paid for music from a network drive. What's the issue? Am I supposed to be paying some sort of fee because my music lives on a network drive and I'm "streaming" it to my PC? RE: I Don't Get It By Dr of crap on 4/14/2011 12:41:01 PM , Rating: 2 I agree. What's there beef? They are getting paid when the song is bought. If I would then have to pay everytime I listened to that song, it's a NO for me to even go with this program. RE: I Don't Get It By michael2k on 4/14/11, Rating: 0 RE: I Don't Get It By bodar on 4/15/2011 7:46:55 AM , Rating: 2 What is the difference if I download my DRM-free track from Amazon and stream it from my PC to my laptop using a network share, or if Amazon stores the track for me on their server and I stream it to that same laptop? You can already do something similar to this with other cloud storage services. They could be suing Acronis or Symantec for backing up people's music to an external drive. Or Apple for letting people rip CDs & copy music from their computer to an iPod. This isn't Pandora or I paid for the track already. Let me listen to it in a reasonable way, as long as I'm the one using it. CMIIW, but in order to effectively share your Cloud Drive you'd have to give someone else your credentials. They aren't facilitating file-sharing in any way. They need to stop constantly trying to screw their customers. I'm waiting for them to announce the "pay-per-listen" model with embedded ads mid-song. We can have chips embedded in our heads, so if we pass by someone's stereo or start humming a song we can be charged "appropriately". God help you if you get a song stuck in your head. Slippery slope? Hell yes, but you know this is a record exec's wet dream. RE: I Don't Get It By michael2k on 4/15/2011 7:29:10 PM , Rating: 2 The difference? Amazon signed a contract saying they would pay for every track downloaded from Amazon MP3 servers. Amazon UK doesn't have Cloud Drive, so you can clearly see their FAQ: Can I download another copy of my MP3 files after the initial purchase? Your Amazon MP3 purchases can only be downloaded once... We are currently unable to replace any purchased files that you delete or lose due to a system or disk error. How exactly can it be legal for Cloud Drive to allow you to download multiple copies when the exact same infrastructure in Amazon MP3 can't? See, if Amazon stores it for you and allows you to download it multiple times, they are committing copyright infringement in the strictest interpretation regardless of how common sense it is. Let me flip the question on you. What is the difference if I download my DRM-free track from Amazon MP3 after I accidentally delete it from my hard drive, or if Amazon stores the track for me on Cloud Drive and I download it to that same laptop? Why bother with Cloud Drive in the first place? RE: I Don't Get It By bodar on 4/15/2011 8:03:45 PM , Rating: 2 That makes sense, but I didn't see anything that said it's specifically a contractual obligation. It's heavily implied though, because they already know what I've bought from them in the past, so in theory it shouldn't be a problem to send me a new download link. The only thing I can think of is that they didn't want to code some kind of track recovery system, but that seems really easy to do. Still, it's ridiculous that it's licensed like that, but hey, if Amazon agreed to that, then unfortunately I think they're gonna lose. More importantly, the customers lose. Score another one for the record mafia if this is the case. Re: the Cloud drive's purpose -- the cool thing is that you can upload tracks from your own MP3 collection, so it's not like you are limited to just your Amazon MP3s or are in any way locked in to Amazon MP3, like the old iTunes DRM. RE: I Don't Get It By Uncle on 4/14/2011 1:17:34 PM , Rating: 2 They might not have the right but they would like everyone to think they do. If not it gets tied up in court for years while no one moves forward with fresh ideas and technology. RE: I Don't Get It By gorehound on 4/14/2011 4:49:28 PM , Rating: 3 just do yourself and all of us a favor and boycott RIAA Labels and any artists who sign with them. There you go problem solved. no indie label would be doing this BS nor would any indie bands i know of. RE: I Don't Get It By michael2k on 4/14/11, Rating: 0	1,785
Jim Mergard Source: WSJ Comments Threshold RE: Ho hum By Reclaimer77 on 10/14/2012 4:40:34 PM , Rating: 2 Right I see, so you're more tech oriented AND a better person to boot. Anything else I should know? /sarcasm And no, I don't think I'm the a-hole in the discussion; you're the guy who thinks Bill Gates is an idiot and should hoard his fortune. Disgusting. That's bullcrap and you know it. You'll NEVER find me having called Gates an "idiot", ever. I challenge you to find that. You know what, I don't really need this crap. You get in a hopeless debate with Retro, who has you by the balls, and you keep deflecting it with BS about "Reclaimer this, reclaimer that" as if that's going to pull you out of the hole you're in. Why even bring me up when I'm not even the one you're arguing with? I'll tell you why, it's because you've got nothing else but insults, personal attacks, and straw men. Whatever point you were actually trying to make was blown away long ago. Last time you got this retarded over Apple you resorted to "trailer park" comments about me, lashed out over how "ignorant" everyone on DT is (despite your continued visitation) and stormed off in a huff for a few months. Looks like you're repeating that trend now, I just have one request: This time don't come back. RE: Ho hum By TakinYourPoints on 10/14/2012 5:42:51 PM , Rating: 2 From a Bill Gates philanthropy thread a few days ago: I think it's a great thing what he's doing...lmao okay, I can't even pull that BS off with a straight face. No, it's a big waste of money imo, but whatever, it's his to waste. You sure don't seem to think Gates is being smart about his fortune, wiping out polio and all that nonsense. He said that Apple copied Samsung with photo-stitching apps, something that is ridiculous given that other such apps have been on iOS for years prior, and outside of smartphones for long before that. He had nothing by the balls, it was a stupid post and I called him on it. As for using Apple "inventing" things as an excuse to make that post, that's also ridiculous. "Inventing" things is never the point with Apple. Their significance is in the execution, where their execution on existing technology creates new product categories where others follow. Base technology is one thing, but implementation is just as important. Its been going on for three decades, it isn't just luck. Because you, along with Swash and Motoman, are among the most extreme examples of idiocy and bad posting here. I don't mind disagreeing with someone at all. I think retrospooty generally makes good posts, but sometimes his emotion pushes him into posts like the ones above. What does bother me is when the ways people use to debate are so broken and based on sensationalism. Fact checking goes out the window and rhetoric takes over. I also don't recall ever leaving here for a few months. I checked over my post history to be sure and there are no significant gaps. It really is my problem given that the level of writing here is so bad and I really should know better than to participate. Unfortunately DT is on the sidebar of Anandtech, an actual good site that I've been going to for over a decade. Then this happens: RE: Ho hum By retrospooty on 10/14/2012 6:46:12 PM , Rating: 2 OK' all bs aside. I said that Apple copied panoramic photos from samsung because the Galaxy S 3 just came out and it's the highest selling Android phone it's a direct competitor to the iPhone and now the iPhone came out with the same feature. Nowhere did I say samsung invented it I said apple copied it, that is the point, and that is the point that you refuse to address. Apple copied that, and plenty other tech as well, and copies all the time going back decades... I'm not sure why you're dancing around that subject, is it something you just can't admit too or won't admit too? RE: Ho hum By TakinYourPoints on 10/14/2012 10:51:39 PM , Rating: 2 Nope, its just a point that I don't agree with. Panaoramic photo taking has existed for years, and it already existed for years on iOS. Apple doing their own implementation on panoramic photo taking doesn't happen overnight, especially given how long they take to make something. I do not think that Apple put panoramic photo taking into the iPhone 5 because of the Galaxy alone, sorry. If you want to dodge and turn this into a semantic argument now then I'm not interested. RE: Ho hum By retrospooty on 10/14/2012 11:09:57 PM , Rating: 2 right back at'cha buddy RE: Ho hum By TakinYourPoints on 10/15/2012 5:58:38 AM , Rating: 2 <3 :) RE: Ho hum By Reclaimer77 on 10/15/2012 1:47:36 PM , Rating: 2 That's light years from saying "he's an idiot" is it not? Just admit you were using hyperbole and lets move on. This talking point didn't get traction the first time you tried it, and it's not working now either. And you're not? Woooo, we got some serious confirmation bias here. I love how you bring up Swash. Not because you're wrong about him, but it's just ironic that you use the same exact arguments he does, yet view yourself as being above him as well. Bad posting? Now it's getting deep. I'm one of the best posters here, bar none :) Anyway it's been REALLY fun, but there's more important things to discuss. However you did succeed in steering this discussion away from Apple and on to everything and everyone else. So congratulations on that I guess, mission accomplished.	1,582
Documentation Center • Trials • Product Updates Plot Bode frequency response with additional plot customization options h = bodeplot(sys) bodeplot(..., plotoptions) h = bodeplot(sys) plot the Bode magnitude and phase of the dynamic system model sys and returns the plot handle h to the plot. You can use this handle to customize the plot with the getoptions and setoptions commands. bodeplot(sys) draws the Bode plot of the model sys. The frequency range and number of points are chosen automatically. bodeplot(sys1,sys2,...) graphs the Bode response of multiple models sys1,sys2,... on a single plot. You can specify a color, line style, and marker for each model, as in bodeplot(AX,...) plots into the axes with handle AX. bodeplot(..., plotoptions) plots the Bode response with the options specified in plotoptions. Type help bodeoptions for a list of available plot options. See Example 2 for an example of phase matching using the PhaseMatchingFreq and PhaseMatchingValue options. bodeplot(sys,w) draws the Bode plot for frequencies specified by w. When w = {wmin,wmax}, the Bode plot is drawn for frequencies between wmin and wmax (in rad/TimeUnit, where TimeUnit is the time units of the input dynamic system, specified in the TimeUnit property of sys.). When w is a user-supplied vector w of frequencies, in rad/TimeUnit, the Bode response is drawn for the specified frequencies. See logspace to generate logarithmically spaced frequency vectors. Example 1 Use the plot handle to change options in a Bode plot. sys = rss(5); h = bodeplot(sys); % Change units to Hz and make phase plot invisible Example 2 The properties PhaseMatchingFreq and PhaseMatchingValue are parameters you can use to specify the phase at a specified frequency. For example, enter the following commands. sys = tf(1,[1 1]); h = bodeplot(sys) % This displays a Bode plot. Use this code to match a phase of 750 degrees to 1 rad/s. p = getoptions(h); p.PhaseMatching = 'on'; p.PhaseMatchingFreq = 1; p.PhaseMatchingValue = 750; % Set the phase to 750 degrees at 1 % rad/s. setoptions(h,p); % Update the Bode plot. The first bode plot has a phase of -45 degrees at a frequency of 1 rad/s. Setting the phase matching options so that at 1 rad/s the phase is near 750 degrees yields the second Bode plot. Note that, however, the phase can only be -45 + N360, where N is an integer, and so the plot is set to the nearest allowable phase, namely 675 degrees (or 2360 - 45 = 675). Example 3 Compare the frequency responses of identified state-space models of order 2 and 6 along with their 2 std confidence regions. load iddata1 w = linspace(8,10pi,256); h = bodeplot(sys1,sys2,w); setoptions(h, 'PhaseMatching', 'on', 'ConfidenceRegionNumberSD', 2); Use the context menu by right-clicking Characteristics > Confidence Region to turn on the confidence region characteristic. Example 4 Compare the frequency response of a parametric model, identified from input/output data, to a nonparametric model identified using the same data. 1. Identify parametric and non-parametric models based on data. load iddata2 z2; w = linspace(0,10pi,128); sys_np = spa(z2,[],w); sys_p = tfest(z2,2); spa and tfest require System Identification Toolbox™ software. sys_np is a non-parametric identified model. sys_p is a parametric identified model. 2. Create a Bode plot that includes both systems. opt = bodeoptions; opt.PhaseMatching = 'on'; bodeplot(sys_np,sys_p,w, opt); More About expand all See Also \| \| \| \| Was this topic helpful?	1,063
Treaty of Nymphaeum (1214) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Treaty of Nymphaeum The Latin Empire and the other Byzantine successor states. The Asian border reflects the provisions of the Treaty of Nymphaeum. Signed December 1214 Location Nymphaeum Signatories Empire of Nicaea Latin Empire The Treaty of Nymphaeum (Greek: Συνθήκη του Νυμφαίου) was a peace treaty signed in December of 1214 between the Nicaean Empire, successor state of the Byzantine Empire, and the Latin Empire, which was established in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade of 1204. Following the Fourth Crusade, Baldwin IX of Flanders was elected emperor of the Latin Empire and was recognized to have not only a portion of Constantinople (the remainder was given to the Venetians), but also the north-west region of Asia Minor,[1] although recognition of sovereignty did not mean actual control of the territory. It was up to the emperor to exercise that control, by force of arms if necessary. Following the Fourth Crusade, Baldwin was occupied with events in Thrace and was later taken prisoner by the Bulgarians in the Battle of Adrianople in April 1205.[2] Asia Minor was ignored by the Latins for the time being, thus giving a breathing space for Theodore Lascaris, who had declared himself emperor and was based at Nicaea, to consolidate his power and focus his attention on the Sultanate of Rûm during this time. Baldwin's brother, Henry, took over the Latin Empire and started operations against the Nicaean Empire at the end of 1206, but these were only minor engagements until Henry focused his attention in 1211.[3] On October 15 of that year, Henry won a major victory at the Rhyndacus River and pushed forward onto Pergamum and Nymphaeum, but guerrilla warfare on Theodore's part limited Henry's further advances.[3] Due to both sides being exhausted, the Treaty of Nymphaeum was signed between the two emperors, halting the Latin advance into Asia Minor. The Latin holdings were confined to the north-western part of Anatolia, comprising the coasts of Bithynia and most of Mysia. Although both sides would continue to fight for years to come, there were some important consequences of this peace agreement. First, the peace treaty effectively recognized both parties, as neither one was strong enough to destroy the other. The second consequence of the treaty was that David Komnenos, who had been a vassal of Henry and who had been carrying out his own war against Nicaea with the support of the Latin Empire, now effectively lost that support. Theodore was thus able to annex all of David's lands west of Sinope in late 1214, gaining access to the Black Sea. The third consequence was that Theodore was now free to wage war against the Seljuqs without the distraction of the Latins for the time being. Nicaea was able to consolidate their eastern frontier for the remainder of the century. Hostilities broke out again in 1224, and a crushing Nicaean victory at the Second Battle of Poemanenum reduced Latin territories in Asia effectively only to the Nicomedian peninsula. This treaty allowed the Nicaeans to go on the offensive in Europe years later, culminating in the reconquest of Constantinople in 1261.[4] 1. ^ Ostrogorsky 1969, p. 425. 2. ^ Ostrogorsky 1969, p. 427. 3. ^ a b Ostrogorsky 1969, pp. 429–430. 4. ^ Ostrogorsky 1969, p. 431.	940
Piers Morgan, arbitrator of all things "sexy and feminine," went on the Today Show this morning to spout things like "more women on the red carpet should think about men." And that's just the beginning. Morgan appeared alongside Today style editor Bobbie Thomas and they couldn't have picked two more different guests. While Thomas has mostly positive things to say about the fashions, Morgan seems to take a particular pleasure in pointing out physical flaws and making stay in the kitchen-style jokes. Right off the bat, the two disagree about Sandra Bullock, who Morgan says isn't "a great natural beauty compared to the others." When Thomas steps in to defend her Bullock, Morgan shuts her down, saying "Well, I'm the fashion expert around here." Cue uncomfortable laughter. For the next several minutes, Morgan makes it clear that being a "fashion expert" is somehow synonymous with "jackass." He bemoans Charlize Theron's dress on the grounds that it is an example of "women dressing for women." Carey Mulligan is the "perfect woman" because of the "kitchen utensils" covering her Prada dress. The entire segment is kind of uncomfortable to watch, as the guests clash and host Meredith Vieira does minimal damage control. Morgan's criticism exemplifies two of the biggest problems of red carpet commentary: mean-spirited bitchiness combined with open sexism. Mocking celebrities has become something of a national pastime, but there is a point where the all-in-good-fun critique veers into dangerous territory. For lack of a better word, Morgan's brand of commentary is purely bitchy. There is nothing fun about his appearance; he isn't trying to be particularly quick or witty. He is little more than a poor man's Simon Cowell, but instead of doling out harsh truths, he plays on stale jokes and outdated stereotypes. In lieu of insight, Morgan panders to our basest impulses. And it seems that far too much of the red carpet talk has fallen into this pattern of alternating between vicious take-downs and praise made fainter by the smattering of backhanded compliments. I'm not exactly a believer in the if you cant say anything nice school of thought, because being truly and consistently nice can get rather boring. But maybe "fashion experts" like Morgan should follow this modified rule, borrowed from our own commenting policies: If your statement is neither complimentary, insightful, or redeemed by the sheer brilliance of your wit, maybe you should keep it to yourself.	610
Race and Social Inequality August 13, 2003 // 12:00am Event Co-sponsors: Latin American Program As part of an ongoing program jointly sponsored by Brazil's Ministry of Culture and Brazil @ The Wilson Center three scholars presented their findings after two months of research at the Wilson Center. Brazilian Minister of Culture Gilberto Gil and his staff also participated by live videoconference, from Brasília, DF Brazil. Debora Carrari, who arrived this summer with her recently completed Masters Degree in Conflict Analysis from Nova Southeastern University, discussed the implications of police behavior in the context of the concerns with racial equality. Based on the assumption that discriminatory practices in law enforcement have a significant impact on racial equality, she focused on racially biased police behavior in Brazil and the United States. Utilizing publicized documents and statistics, she compared police behavior in both countries, and investigated the structural mechanisms that help perpetuate racial inequality through discriminatory law enforcement. Katia Santos, from the University of Georgia, focused on Afro-Brazilian women and their struggle to gain access to education in a context of social and racial oppression. She was also concerned with disenfranchisement in a society that she believes is still shaped by the rules of what many in Brazil would term an era of "amiable" slavery. By examining literature produced by African-American scholars on issues related to black women and blacks in general, she is interested in discovering ways to empower Afro-Brazilians. Katia felt that because black populations in Brazil and the U.S. are both derived from forced African diasporas, U.S. civil rights accomplishments could be used as a guide by Afro-Brazilians. Liv Sovik, from the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, discussed the influence of popular culture on the formation of new identities and the resulting increase in attention towards the margins of Brazilian society. She focused on the demand by Afro-Brazilians for equality as well as more specific policies designed to address social inequalities. Liv is concerned with the impact of "whiteness" as an aesthetic ideal and a social determinant. She believes that social limitations stem not only from prejudice against Afro-Brazilians, but also from the elevation of "whiteness" to the top of the social pyramid. She posed the question: "What can be done to remove whiteness from the top of the social scale?" Sovik believes that it is necessary to consider whiteness not in demographic terms, but instead as a social value that has a broad impact across all areas of society. Nevertheless, she believes that although the self-perception of black identity is increasing in Brazil, this does not indicate that Brazil is headed for a dynamic similar to that in the U.S. after the civil rights movement. There are, however, affinities and similarities between Brazil and the U.S.— whiteness, for example, continues to be valued in both countries as a social and aesthetic ideal. Minister of Culture Gilberto Gil underscored the difficulties in comparing realities in Brazil and the US. He noted that despite superficially similar conditions, race relations have evolved on different paths in Brazil and the U.S. In Brazil he noted that after slavery, blacks were not formally segregated, as in the US. He pointed out that, despite the lack of ideological segregation, there were social, political and economic separations in place. Minister Gil also observed that, soon after slavery, there were important contingents of blacks living well with whites and other races in Brazil. In the US, however, segregation was a pervasive and largely accepted practice for an extended period of time. Ron Walters from the University of Maryland agreed with Carrari's findings on the similarities between rates of incarceration in Brazil and the U.S. In the U.S., although rates of arrest are higher for whites, 53% of the prison population is black – and blacks compose only 13% of the American population. Walters highlighted the lack of legislation to address racial profiling, equalization of sentencing, and targeted policing which are generally limited to black communities. Dr. Walters applauded Santos's description of her experiences and challenges as a black woman coming up through the educational system in Brazil. He raised the issue of identity, and in particular highlighted the concept of being both black and a woman. As Walters sees it, the black female identity is one of double oppression, which historically has only guaranteed diminished access to the opportunity structure. Walters also stressed the importance of viewing the black-white paradigm in light of the struggle for civil rights. On Sovik, Walters continued his discussion of civil rights noting that the struggle which resulted in this regime benefits all, in the form of laws relating to public accommodation, voting, and housing. This raises the issue of the intersection between power and identity; in America, a unified collective identity meant power, and with struggle, resulted in the establishment of a civil rights regime. Walters agreed with the need for activism in the federal government, positing that if the civil rights agenda in the US had been put to a vote it would have failed. He feels it is necessary for the federal government to look beyond the dangerous and regressive politics of fear by "adopting an enlightened view of its own future." For Dr. Walters, in both countries the future will require the development of regimes that "promote, enrich and give citizenship of full meaning to all individuals," regardless of race, creed or color. Walters concluded by noting that accomplishing these goals would expand the historically limited circle of democratic participation to the entire population. Wilson Center Photo Gallery Browse or share photos from the Wilson Center’s events. To Attend an Event Unless otherwise noted: Experts & Staff	1,285
Printed from Apple hits 10 billion App Store downloads [U] updated 11:25 am EST, Sat January 22, 2011 Apple reaches 10 billion app mark (Update: winner named) Apple overnight said it had reached 10 billion downloads on the App Store. The milestone came just over a week after the countdown began and saw Apple accumulate about 250 million downloads in just the past week. The company hasn't yet said who has won the $10,000 iTunes gift card offered for the download or the free contest entry. The App Store's growth rate has been accelerating ever since it was launched in July 2008 and has so far made it the most popular mobile app portal on any platform. Apple took nine months to reach its first billion but managed to double that figure just five months later. It reached three billion slightly over three months later and was at seven billion by October of last year. The diversity of the store and the variety of the devices have been credited for the increasing growth. Apple started with just 500 apps but now has over 300,000, at least twice as many as Android Market. Unlike the Google portal, it has over 35,000 apps specifically optimized for tablets. A strong contingent of MP3 player users is also a factor, as iPod touch owners can buy apps without needing a cellular subscription. Most competing stores don't publish their lifetime app store download counts but either started later or don't have very large app stores. BlackBerry App World, for example, reached 15,000 apps. Update: the 10 billionth download was for Paper Glider (free, App Store), a take on the classic Mac game Glider. Gail Davis of Orpington in Kent, UK won the iTunes card. By Electronista Staff Comment buried. Show 1. write_thesis Joined: Jan 2011 comment title cool nice one, this is so informative 1. Feathers Grizzled Veteran Joined: Oct 1999 How on earth can you spend $10,000 on iTunes? Wouldn't $10,000 that you can spend at the AppleStore be a lot more realistic. Anyone who has got a gift voucher at Christmas will know how difficult it can be sometimes to spend as little as $100 in a single place! 1. Cronocide Fresh-Faced Recruit Joined: Nov 2010 With $10,000 on iTunes... You could download another billion apps! 1. Fast iBook Fresh-Faced Recruit Joined: Mar 2003 It wouldn't let me.... It wouldn't let me fill out the form. Compensation please? : - A 1. testudo Forum Regular Joined: Aug 2001 Why in the world would anyone want a $10,000 itunes gift card? How long would it take to find enough music, movies, apps, etc to use it all? Apple, stop being cheap! You should have given them a $10,000 Apple Store gift card (or $5000 each). Then they could have gotten some hardware to play all that c*** on. 1. brainiac Fresh-Faced Recruit Joined: Sep 2003 Yeah, like the others are saying You are cheap and nobody wants that silly prize. (but since they don't want it you could give it to me) 1. facebook_Sam Via Facebook Joined: Feb 2011 Incredible numbers! Incredible number of downloads. 3 billion more downloads that people alive today! We actually know the guy whose App was the 10 billionth – Login Here Network Headlines Most Popular Recent Reviews Mionix Naos 7000 and Avior 8000 gaming mice LG G Pad 8.3 Google Play Edition Akitio Thunder dock Most Commented Popular News	1,010

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