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0.098931 | <urn:uuid:d9babaa5-72e6-47c2-aeb0-fbce54eebde6> | en | 0.972686 | Sign in to comment!
Middle East
Interior minister declares reformist-backed Rowhani winner in Iran presidential vote
Iranian President Hasan Rowhani ran as a moderate, and the release of 11 political prisoners could be evidence of a shift in Iran. (AP) (AP)
The powerful showing by the former nuclear negotiator allowed him to avoid a two-person runoff and demonstrated the strength of opposition sentiment even in a system that is gamed against it. The ruling clerics barred from the race reform candidates seen as too prominent, allowing a list of hopefuls who were mainly staunch loyalists of the supreme leader.
But the opposition settled on Rowhani as the least objectionable of the bunch, making him the de facto reform candidate.
While Iran's presidential elections offer a window into the political pecking orders and security grip inside the country -- particularly since the chaos from a disputed outcome in 2009 -- they lack the drama of truly high stakes as the country's ruling clerics and their military guardians remain the ultimate powers.
Security forces also are in firm control after waves of arrests and relentless pressures since the last presidential election in 2009, which unleashed massive protests over claims the outcome was rigged to keep the combative Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in power for a second and final term. He is barred from seeking a third consecutive run. However the last-moment surge around Rowhani injected some excitement in the race.
Rowhani won with 50.7 percent of the more than 36 million votes cast, the Interior Ministry reported, well ahead of Tehran Mayor Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf with about 16.5 percent. Hard-line nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili came in third with 11.3 percent followed by conservative Mohsen Rezaei with 10.6 percent.
Voters waited on line for hours in wilting heat Friday at some polling stations in downtown Tehran and other cities, while others cast ballots across the vast country from desert outposts to Gulf seaports and nomad pastures. Voting was extended by five hours to meet demand, but also as possible political stagecraft to showcase the participation.
On one side were hard-liners looking to cement their control behind candidates such as Jalili, who says he is "100 percent" against detente with Iran's foes, or Qalibaf, who was boosted by a reputation as a steady hand for Iran's sanctions-wracked economy.
The Interior Ministry said Rowhani had 18,613,329 votes, followed by Qalibaf with 6,077,292, Jalili with 4,168,946 votes and Rezaei with3,884,412. The other two candidates were far behind.
Despite reformists' support, Rowhani's win is likely to be more of a limited victory than a deep shake-up. Iran's establishment, a tight alliance of the ruling clerics and the ultra-powerful Revolutionary Guard, still holds all the effective power and sets the agenda on all major decisions such as Iran's nuclear program and its dealings with the West. The greater comfort level by the theocracy and Revolutionary Guard also sets a different tone from 2009. Opposition groups appear too intimidated and fragmented to revive street demonstrations.
Yet a Rowhani victory is not entirely without significance either as it could make room for more moderate voices in Iranian political dialogue and display their resilience. It also brings onto the world stage an Iranian president who has publicly endorsed more outreach rather than bombast toward the West.
Fervor remained strong for Rowhani's rivals as well.
Qalibaf was riding on his image as a capable fiscal manager who can deal with the deepening problems of Iran's economy and sinking currency.
Jalili drew support from hard-line factions such as the Revolutionary Guard's paramilitary corps, the Basij. His reputation is further enhanced by a battlefield injury that cost him the lower part of his right leg during Iran's 1980-88 war with Saddam Hussein's Iraq, which at the time was backed by the United States.
Ahmadinejad leaves office weakened and outcast by his political battles with Khamenei -- yet another sign of where real power rests in Iran. The election overseers also rejected Ahmadinejad's protege Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei in apparent payback. The usually talkative Ahmadinejad gave only a brief statement to reporters as he voted and refused to discuss the election.
Khamenei remained mum on his own choice even as he cast his ballot. He added that his children don't know whom he backs.
Instead, he blasted the U.S. for its repeated criticism of Iran's clampdowns on the opposition and the rejection of Rafsanjani and other moderates from the ballot.
Iran's state media hailed the apparently high turnout as a boost for the Islamic Republic's political system.
"A great political epic has shocked the world," read a front-page headline inestimated at 75 percent by the hard-line newspaper Kayhan -- Kayhan Saturday. Khamenei had called for a "political epic," saying a high turnout would protect Iran against its enemies.
| http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/06/15/initial-iranian-election-returns-gives-reformist-backed-rowhani-wide-lead/ | dclm-gs1-100670000 |
0.031801 | <urn:uuid:b8b6c70a-902d-4ec9-afda-6f86a38c245e> | en | 0.913315 | Hello everyone!!
Discussion in 'Member Introductions' started by Jessica1990, Jan 13, 2012.
1. sgtsjj
sgtsjj Rockstar 3 Years 1000 Posts
Welcome to the club! and dont mind coach...he just likes to pretend he is young!
2. Coach24
Coach24 Rockstar 3 Years 5000 Posts
Isnt this a make believe world? Obama thinks so. He tries to make us believe he actually knows what he is doing and he is always telling the truth and hiding nothing!
3. ChevyFan
ChevyFan The Sheriff Staff Member 5+ Years 1000 Posts
This is probably a fake account from a spambot ... but I won't delete it just yet.
4. Coach24
Coach24 Rockstar 3 Years 5000 Posts
I am guessing you are correct
5. sevi084x4
sevi084x4 Rockstar 100 Posts
Naaaawwwwww! Cant be haha she just wants to have discussions and stuff Steve. :lol:
6. rileyjr16
rileyjr16 Rockstar 4 Years 1000 Posts
Haha. Welcome aboard Jessica. Don't mind Coach, he escaped from Utah State Mental Health Hospital in 1934 and has been on the run since.
7. AMac
AMac Rockstar 3 Years GMTC Chick 500 Posts ROTM Winner
How would you know that Steve? Do the spambots post avatar pics? Just interested in if they actually do it.
Share This Page
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0.039056 | <urn:uuid:85a41b58-279a-40bf-9cfa-1e1939e5a305> | en | 0.915824 | iPhone 5S Will Come By September, Claims Analyst
The iPhone 5S will arrive in September according to Peter Misek, an analyst with Jeffries who just finished an interview about the new iPhone on Bloomberg TV.
Misek is the second analyst in the past week to point to an iPhone 5S event in September. Katy Huberty of Morgan Stanley points to an iPhone 5S launch in September, though it is not clear if either analyst is discussing the launch or the release of the iPhone 5S.
When Bloomberg asked about the iPhone 5S release in June, Misek waved it off, pointing to later in the year.
It typically takes 60-90 days of production before the phone is introduced to retail. And it hasn’t gone into production, yet, so if we assume production starts in June, that would mean the soonest you’d be able to get it would be late August/early September.
The full interview about the iPhone 5S is below. Misek covers Apple and other tech companies, and weighs in on multiple rumors about the iPhone 5S in this interview.
According to Peter Misek, the iPhone 5S will share a similar design to the iPhone 5, including a 4-inch display. He states, “We think there’s a chance it could still come in multiple colors, a good chance it gets a fingerprint sensor.” and goes on to claim a 12MP camera and a faster processor are all but guaranteed. Misek tells Bloomberg, “changes will be underneath the hood, much like they were with the 4S.”
The iPhone 5S may feature a fingerprint reader.
The iPhone 5S may feature a fingerprint reader.
While the iPhone 5S will compete with the Samsung Galaxy S4, Misek doesn’t see the two as competitors, especially outside of the U.S., stating,
The S4 is a 5-inch screen product, the iPhone 5S is a 4-inch screen product, as best we can tell, and we think, broadly speaking, consumers at least, mainly, outside the U.S. prefer larger screens. So, we actually don’t see the two as all that competitive.
Misek thinks pressure for a larger iPhone will mount, but based on research, Misek thinks Apple is limited to a 4-inch screen until at least June 2014.
Read: Why Apple’s iPhone 5S Problem is Genius
Misek’s iPhone 5S spec and design claims match up with the latest rumors, so there is nothing shocking in that regard, but as production nears analysts and rumors begin to focus on specific features. | http://www.gottabemobile.com/2013/05/13/iphone-5s-will-come-by-september-claims-analyst/ | dclm-gs1-100770000 |
0.022642 | <urn:uuid:aa712e5b-807a-453e-9d7c-b92e0b89e4ec> | en | 0.960042 | Huffpost Sports
Germany Eliminates Argentina From World Cup (HIGHLIGHTS, VIDEO)
Posted: Updated:
CAPE TOWN, South Africa -- No trash talking needed. Germany was just too good for Argentina.
Injured captain Michael Ballack came down to the field, watching from the bench as his teammates celebrated.
Instead, it is Germany that will play the winner of Paraguay-Spain in the semifinals Wednesday in Durban. This will be Germany's third straight trip to the semis and its 12th overall - nobody has more. [Article continues below.]
First Goal - Thomas Muller (2nd minute):
Second Goal - Miroslav Klose (67th minute):
Third Goal - Arne Friedrich (73rd minute):
Fourth Goal - Miroslav Klose (88th minute):
Argentina and Germany have had a testy relationship since trading World Cup titles in back-to-back finals 20 years ago, and it's been downright ugly lately.
Germany didn't wait for the game to get its digs in this time, with Bastian Schweinsteiger on Wednesday accusing the Argentines of lacking respect for opponents and referees. Captain Philipp Lahm chimed in a day later, essentially calling Argentina a bunch of hotheads.
The trash talking appeared to be carefully orchestrated, intended to ignite Maradona's infamous temper and distract his team. Or, perhaps, to put the refs on notice.
Turns out, Germany didn't even need the head games.
Argentina has been one of the tournament's darlings, with Maradona's every move causing a stir and superstar Lionel Messi showing you don't need to score to be sublime. The Argentines rolled into the quarterfinals as one of only two teams to win its first four games - the Netherlands was the other - and had been so powerful they never trailed.
No wonder there was a star-studded crowd on hand at Green Point Stadium, with German chancellor Angela Merkel, Mick Jagger, Leonardo DiCaprio and South Africa's own Charlize Theron all spotted in the VIP seats.
But Germany showed that Argentina doesn't have the lock on flair in South Africa.
Its spacing, pace and flat-out stingy defense made the Argentines look out of sorts all afternoon. The Albiceleste didn't get their first shot on goal until the 33rd minute, and any time they appeared on the verge of making something happen, the German defense shut it down.
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Report: Germany v Argentina - International Friendly - ESPN Soccernet - Maradona's Argentina outshine Germany
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0.088445 | <urn:uuid:d8e605f6-35a6-4aa1-ab36-828a192822db> | en | 0.983152 |
Miroslav Standera
Second World War pilot who fled the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia and flew for the French and the RAF
Miroslav Standera was one of the last surviving Czechoslovak fighter pilots who fought for both the French air force during the Battle of France and for the RAF during the rest of the Second World War. Having fled the Nazi takeover of Czechoslovakia in 1939 he found his way to France, already with 140 flying hours to his credit for the Czechoslovak Air Force during times of peace.
Once in France, by then itself threatened by the Nazi occupation, Standera was snapped up by the French and was retrained in flying French Morane Saulnier MS-406C fighters, first at BA-117 (Base Aérienne) in Paris and later at Chartres – flying patrols aimed, unsuccessfully, at holding back the Luftwaffe and the German invasion. At that time he was a Flight-Sergeant in the French Air Force.
On 11 June 1940, flying out of his base at Lognes-Emerainville, he was shot down near Epernay by a Messerschmitt Bf-109 from the Luftwaffe’s Jagdgeschwader-53 fighter wing nicknamed “Pik As” [Ace of Spades]. He was injured by gunfire but bailed out and was taken to hospital near Troyes. As the hospital was about to be overrun by the Nazis he was moved by train, eventually to the port of Sète to board an Egyptian freighter to Liverpool.
After a spell in a camp for exiled Czechoslovak military personnel at Cholmondeley Park, Cheshire, he joined the RAF’s all-Czechoslovak 312 Squadron, based at RAF Duxford and flying Hurricane fighters in defence of British cities and of vital shipping. Because of his injuries he was not believed to have been among the 88 Czechoslovak fliers who took part in the Battle of Britain as it is usually defined.
He would later join RAF 68 (night-fighter) Squadron based variously at High Ercall, Shropshire, RAF Cranfield and Fairwood Common, South Wales, flying Bristol Beaufighters and Mosquitos, including providing air support for the D-Day landing forces and intercepting German V-1 “doodlebug” flying bombs. In all he flew 1,320 hours in combat and survived two crash landings in April 1944 with his navigator Karel Bednarik.
Miroslav Standera was born in Prague in 1918, days before the city witnessed Czechoslovakia’s declaration of independence from the collapsed Austro-Hungarian empire. His birth came six weeks before the Great War armistice but war would loom large in his life. He trained as a typographer but joined the Czechoslovakian Air Force in 1936 at the Military Aviation School in Prostejov before joining the 4th Aviation Regiment in Pardubice.
After the Nazis occupied Czechoslovakia in March 1939 he fled through Poland and then travelled by ship to France. Initially he and the many fellow Czechs who wished to fight had to sign up for the Foreign Legion, but once war was declared, he joined the Armée de l’Air.
Once the war was over he returned to his homeland a hero, but the freedom for which he had risked his life was short-lived. Soviet-backed communists took power in 1948 and life was made difficult, even hell, for those who had fought alongside Britons and Americans. As many of his old comrades were persecuted or even jailed, Standera fled for the second time in less than a decade.
Freedom for him and his compatriots was not easily won. He returned to the UK and was welcomed back into the RAF. On retirement he settled in London and built up a successful business as a silversmith and jeweller for around 35 years.
Pining for his real home, sensing the decline of communism and inspired by compatriots such as Vaclav Havel, he moved in 1983 to Bavaria in order, as he put it, “to be within sight of my native country.” Six years later, after the Velvet Revolution, he returned to his homeland, where the lived until his death in the west Bohemian city of Plzen (Pilsen), home of the renowned Pilsner Urquell beer.
As with all of the former war heros, Havel promoted Standera symbolically, from Flight Officer to Brigadier-General. He was named an honorary citizen- of Plzen and was awarded the French Legion of Honour.
Miroslav Standera, fighter pilot and silversmith: born Prague 5 October 1918; died Plzen, Czech Republic 19 February 2014. | http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/miroslav-standera-9169015.html | dclm-gs1-100910000 |
0.056536 | <urn:uuid:88f74740-08ad-49ef-9b2a-946f9a3a0a25> | en | 0.981841 |
FBI looks clueless as bomb investigations get nowhere
The failure to deliver a happy outcome has dismayed the US, writes John Carlin
The lesson of the FBI investigations into the explosion of TWA flight 800 and the bomb at the Olympic Games has subversive connotations for a people educated in the proposition that life imitates the movies.
The FBI, repository of many of the celluloid myths that shape the American mind, has betrayed an all-too-human fallibility in its efforts to track down those responsible for what appear, in the light of the evidence unfolding inch by inch in the TWA case, to have been the year's two big terrorist outrages. And, as if that were not humbling enough, the indications are that the Untouchables' case against the two men accused of last year's bombing in Oklahoma City - the worst crime ever committed on American soil - may not be as open-and-shut as it once seemed.
Each of the three incidents has received the full infotainment treatment from American TV. Each has been portrayed as an unfolding drama, replete with good guys and bad guys (with the curiosity in the Atlanta case that the security guard Richard Jewell found himself playing first one role and then the other). Each has seen the FBI presented in a heroic light, as the reassuring real-life expression of those qualities which are the ingredients of every Hollywood blockbuster and by which Americans believe they are defined: boundless optimism and faith in the belief that virtue, dedication, and hard work shall prevail.
The common goal is the happy ending, previously known as the pursuit of happiness. In the particular case of the FBI this means catching and locking up criminals. When the FBI fails to do this, and especially when it is under the national spotlight, the general happiness is diminished. TV has presented the TWA case as a whodunnit thriller. As such the cinematic expectation right from the start has been that the FBI would see justice done. Indeed, James Kallstrom, the FBI officer heading the investigation, played his tough-guy part to perfection when he promised in his first news conference that he would catch "the cowards who did this".
Things have not unfolded according to the script, however. Never mind the "cowards", the main challenge has been to establish whether the explosion was a criminal act at all. The FBI, assisted by a cast of thousands which has included the US navy and Nasa, has pursued its objective driven by another favourite American myth: that if you throw enough money and resources at a problem you will solve it. "I get anything I want," Mr Kallstrom declared at another of his news conferences. "I can use anything. I can do anything I want to do. I don't have any limitations."
The scant fruits of Mr Kallstrom's Messianic bravado were revealed in a New York Times article on Friday which said FBI scientists had found conclusive evidence of explosive particles inside the passenger cabin of the TWA flight that crashed on 17 July, killing all 230 aboard. The FBI confirmed the discovery, but crushed any premature celebrations by adding it was still too early categorically to tell whether the plane had been destroyed by a missile, a bomb or a mechanical aberration.
Either way, the FBI investigation into the plane crash has advanced significantly more slowly after five-and-a-half weeks than the investigation into the Olympics bomb had after five-and-a-half hours, by which time the precise nature of the homemade device that disrupted the revels at Atlanta's Centennial Park had already been established.
As for the identity of the culprits in each case, the FBI does not appear to have a clue. If Richard Jewell, the security guard on whom suspicion fell after the Atlanta blast, has been subjected in recent weeks to trial by TV, this has not been so much the fault of the media as of the FBI. For it was their investigators who made it known that Mr Jewell fitted the profile of the home-grown American terrorist before proceeding to ransack the apartment he shares with his mother.
Last week Mr Jewell submitted himself to a 15-hour lie-detector test, after which the former FBI agent who conducted it declared himself fully satisfied that the suspect was "totally innocent". Now Mr Jewell is demanding an apology from the FBI and hinting that he might sue for defamation.
A deeper embarrassment might lie ahead when the Oklahoma bomb trial eventually takes place. It was not so much Elliot Ness genius as freakish luck that secured the arrest of the prime suspect, Timothy McVeigh. The former soldier was caught speeding by a traffic policeman a few hours after the explosion on 19 April last year, which left 169 dead. The trail led from Mr McVeigh to his friend and co-accused, Terry Nichols, whom the FBI persuaded to implicate Mr McVeigh in the bombing. Or rather, they thought they had.
Last week a judge dealt a potentially damaging blow to the prosecution case when he ruled that statements Mr Nichols made to the FBI after his arrest may not be used in court against his co-accused. The defence lawyers, who won a significant legal battle earlier this year when the trial venue was moved from Oklahoma City to Denver, now believe they may be able to hold separate trials for the two accused. They have been encouraged, too, by a debate raging among seismologists and geophysicists as to whether it was one bomb or two that went off.
Most of the FBI evidence is under court seal, and so it is not certain how great a loss to the prosecution case the absence of Mr Nichols's testimony against Mr McVeigh will prove to be. What is known, however, is that the case is built on circumstantial evidence. No eyewitnesses have come forward to say they saw either of the two accused make, plant or detonate the 4,800lb bomb.
It may be that once again, as in the OJ Simpson trial, circumstantial evidence is not enough. But even if it is, the excruciatingly slow pace of the TWA investigation and the frustrations of the Atlanta case have yielded two pieces of evidence at least as conclusive as the chemical traces found in the wreckage of the downed Boeing 747: that in real life happiness cannot be bought, and optimism is not always rewarded. | http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/fbi-looks-clueless-as-bomb-investigations-get-nowhere-1311382.html | dclm-gs1-100920000 |
0.074785 | <urn:uuid:853633e3-b2e1-471f-96ca-8c7746f718a4> | en | 0.934226 | MENTALLY ILL Woman Raped in Hospital
A 30-year-old speech-impaired woman, who was being treated at a hospital run by Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) in Moshi, was allegedly raped inside the hospital lift by a ward boy and watchman.
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0.038215 | <urn:uuid:021328f3-2185-41fc-ab6e-a18d2cbd9985> | en | 0.914229 | What should the internal temp of properly baked bread be?
Is there an optimal internal temperature that bread should have to be neither underbaked nor overbaked?
I saw a bread recipe recently which called for the use of a precision thermometer to take the bread's temp, but I haven't seen any other recipe suggesting this.
sort by: active | newest | oldest
Burf3 years ago
190 degrees to 200 degrees F.
You really are good at this game of finding esoteric information aren't you /
I asked my wife on this one. :)
Re-design Burf3 years ago
Or 180-190 if you like softer bread like I do.
rickharris3 years ago
I find 40 mins at 200 deg C works OK for me. | http://www.instructables.com/answers/What-should-the-internal-temp-of-properly-baked-br/ | dclm-gs1-100940000 |
0.071586 | <urn:uuid:56b3ce6a-6e76-4902-b1fb-9bfe198f22ef> | en | 0.954841 | The Wall Street Journal ran a great piece in December about the huge disparity between the average worker's retirement plan and that of those working in the C-Suite. According to the Journal, 25% of the top executives at America's largest companies actually made money on their retirement plans in 2008. Did you? You're probably wondering right about now how they did it considering your 401(k) account probably dropped about 20% last year. It's simple - guaranteed returns. As if it's not enough that CEOs make 300 times more than the average worker, corporate boards also feel compelled to guarantee executives huge retirement packages. It's pure poppycock if you ask me. (Before you retire, read Five Retirement Questions Everyone Must Answer.)
Deferred Compensation
One of the companies written about in the article was Comcast (Nasdaq:CMCSA), whose executive vice-president, Stephen Burke, made $7.4 million in interest in 2008 from his deferred compensation, which totaled $71 million at the end of 2008. Burke was able to do so well in an awful year because Comcast pays its executives 12% guaranteed interest on all deferred compensation. Two other executives in the company, the vice president and COO, had a combined pension increase of just under $5 million. I wonder how General Electric (NYSE:GE), its new joint venture partner, feels about this?
What a World
It amazes me that the issues surrounding executive compensation continue to focus solely on the banking industry just because it was the beneficiary of so much assistance. This is a gargantuan problem for investors across every industry. It's something that taints us all and I'll continue to bang my drum as long as corporate boards insist on feeding the pigs at the trough. There is no need for the government to allow this to go on, but it does. If you look more closely at Comcast, you'll see that Burke was able to defer a substantial chunk of his total compensation in 2008. Wouldn't it be nice for the rest of us to be able to put aside funds on which we will be guaranteed a 12% return? It sure would. (For more information on executive pay, check out Evaluating Executive Compensation.)
Workers Be Damned
The Journal article highlights the fact that while the Comcast fat cats were making 12% on their money in 2008, its own employees were collectively losing their shirts to the tune of $649 million, or 28% of their 401(k)s. While it's true that Comcast's plan has likely regained much of those losses, this is a matter of fairness. Compensation plans should benefit all or none, but not a select few. Rare are companies like Intel (Nasdaq:INTC), whose executives receive no special treatment in their deferred compensation plan. In 2008, its top four executives lost 35% in their deferred compensation plan, the exact same loss as the employees' 401(k) plan. Now that's more like it.
Bottom Line
Other companies mentioned in this eye-opener of an article include Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT), Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE:BK) and Illinois Tool Works (NYSE:ITW). All have sweetheart deals for their executives' deferred compensation plans. Having studied executive compensation for awhile, I'd be shocked if the number of S&P 500 companies offering guaranteed rates of return for its executives wasn't well above 50%. But then again, who ever said life was fair?
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0.024004 | <urn:uuid:74c76161-40a3-4d7d-bcdb-377977c284d6> | en | 0.971893 | Jewish Journal
Henry Jaglom discusses ‘Just 45 Minutes from Broadway’ [VIDEO]
by Naomi Pfefferman
September 10, 2012 | 5:00 pm
Henry Jaglom
Q: What was the impetus for the story?
A: I’ve always been fascinated by theater people, and by the fact of my being Jewish, and those two things together led me to explore something that I’d never had any personal experience with, which is the Yiddish theater.
Not only do I have no experience in the Yiddish theater, I had no experience with the Yiddish culture whatsoever. I grew up in a very assimilated, well-off European family. My father was from Russia but his language was not Yiddish, it was Russian and he came from a wealthy background so he had English governesses and French tutors, who didn’t speak Yiddish. And my mother came from Germany, from a prominent family that traces itself back to Moses Mendelssohn. So she didn’t speak Yiddish; in fact her language was German.
For the past 11 years I’ve been writing and researching a book on Jewish history, and in the section on turn-of-the-century America there is a mere mention, a paragraph about the Yiddish theater, but somehow I started writing this family [the Isaacs]. As a writer you don’t necessarily write and plan things out; I like to see what flows, and out comes this guy, who tells a story that he, his father, his grandfather and his great-grandfather, were all in the Yiddish theater; that his great-grandfather was brought over with the Yiddish theater to America, when the czar stopped the Yiddish theater in Russia. And as I was learning more I was writing more, making [Isaacs] the central character, and this whole family comes from a certain tradition from Yiddish theater, and I was absolutely fascinated by it.
Q: Your own family has a unique history.
A: My father eventually became a prominent businessman and actually the person who was running the economy of the free state of Danzig, sort of like the minister of trade, and then when the Nazis came to power they wanted him to continue. And he said, “I’m a Jew, it’s not comfortable to be here, and I’m giving you six months notice.” And so they sent to Berlin and got back the word that they would make him an honorary Aryan if he would stay, and that’s when he told my mother, “It’s time to leave. If they want to make you an honorary what you’re not then it’s not good to be what we are, which is Jews,” and they got in the car and drove off to Poland, and took a plane to London, where I was born.
Read the rest of the interview here.
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Transforming and animating shapes
EaselJS First Look
with Ray Villalobos
Video: Transforming and animating shapes
Transforming and animating shapes provides you with in-depth training on Web. Taught by Ray Villalobos as part of the EaselJS First Look
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Watch the Online Video Course EaselJS First Look
Video Duration: 8m 24s1h 28m Beginner Sep 21, 2012
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EaselJS is a free JavaScript library that makes creating interactive web content for HTML5 more straightforward and intuitive. This course transitions web designers, animators, and content creators who may be used to working with Adobe Flash and ActionScript to this new open web standard. Author Ray Villalobos first explains the capabilities of the EaselJS framework and the HTML5 Canvas element, and what they mean for web design. The rest of the course shows how to use EaselJS's helper classes and hierarchal display list to load images, draw, animate, and handle mouse input from visitors.
Topics include:
• Installing EaselJS
• Understanding how Canvas draws and animates
• Drawing lines and strokes
• Drawing with graphic primitives
• Using the chaining and compacting commands
• Animating shapes
• Working with text
• Importing bitmaps and vector graphics
• Working with sprite sheets
• Handling mouse events
CreateJS EaselJS
Ray Villalobos
Transforming and animating shapes
Transforming shapes with EaselJS is done through a class called the DisplayObject. However, you don't actually access that class directly. Instead, you work with DisplayObject subclasses, like Text, Bitmap, and Shape. When you use one of these subclasses, you have access to a variety of traditional transformations, like Rotation, Scaling, et cetera. So let's take a look. So I'm starting off with a basic HTML template. If you haven't already, make sure you watch the video on Creating a Template and Installing EaselJS.
If we go to our script file, we notice that I have a canvas object, as well as a stage and a shape. There's already a shape in the canvas, so if you need to review how to draw graphics, make sure you check out the chapter on Drawing Graphics. So after you have a shape, you can apply some additional transformations to that shape by just calling the different DisplayObject methods. So I can do shape.rotation=, and I can use degrees for rotations, so let me type in 30, and I'll Refresh, and you can see that it's rotated; however, it may not be what you expected.
Like with canvas, rotation is done against a registration point, and that registration point is always by default at the top left of the stage. Now we can easily move that registration point with the regX and regY properties of DisplayObjects. Before I do that, though, transformations are more easily seen in an animation, so I'm going to add an animation. If you want to review how that's done, make sure you check out the video on Comparing Canvas versus EaselJS. So I'm going to rotate this object eight times through each tick, and then I'm going to update the stage.
So I don't need this stage.update right here, because the stage is going to be updated 30 times per second. I also don't need this rotation anymore, because I'm changing the rotation in every tick. So I'm going to Save and then Refresh, and you can more clearly see that, that rectangle is rotated around this point of origin right here, or this registration point. By making the origin of this object when we drew it, 50 and 50, we've actually moved the object 50 pixels from the left and 50 pixels from the top. So that object is already down a little bit into the stage.
So in order to fix this animation so that it happens around the center, we need to move the registration point of this object. So we're going to move the registration point to 100x100. So let me go ahead and Save. Now it is rotating around the center of the object. Let's go ahead and move this to another position in the stage. So you can see that we can reposition this object wherever we want just by changing the X and Y property. Now why was the registration set to 100x100? When we drew this object, we drew it at a position that was 50 pixels from the left and 50 pixels from the top, and then we told EaselJS that we wanted this object to be 100 pixels by 100 pixels.
Because we had already moved it, to make the registration point in the center of the object, we have to go 50 pixels in, plus half of the width of the object, so that's 50, plus another 50, so that's 100x100. Sometimes this notation can be a little confusing, so you've got a couple of options. Number one, you could set the original position of the object at the top left of the stage. If you do this, we'll Refresh, now the object is rotating around this point, because we've told it to go in 100x100 pixels.
You can come over here and change that to 50, 50, and this is half of the width of the object, the width and height are 100 right now, and if we Save that, then that works really well. If you don't want to use registration at all, you can just delete these two registration points, then automatically position the object so that it's centered already at the 00 point. That means the object will be at -50, -50, and be 100 pixels wide by 100 pixels tall. If I Save that, now the object rotates around the center and we don't need to use the registration commands.
So that's pretty cool! You can actually animate all the different kinds of properties of the DisplayObject, so make sure you check this documentation right here for some of the other options. You see that you have alpha; you also have stuff like regX and regY, the rotation is right here, plus you have a scale factor that you can adjust, as well as skewing and other things. So if you're used to using something like Adobe Flash, these properties will be very familiar to you. Let's go ahead and try some of them. So let's go ahead and move this object horizontally by 1 pixel every grain.
So I'll Save this and Refresh, you can see now the object is moving very slowly. So plus plus in programming languages means that you're going to increment this by 1 every time. So this is the same thing as writing shape.x = shape.x + 1. If you want to do more than one, then you can use +=, just like rotation, do += 5 pixels every time you would do that, so that's moving a lot faster. And the same thing for the Y. So just adjust the Y position by 5 pixels and rotate, and now you could see it moving diagonally.
Now you can also scale things in the X and Y direction by using scaleX and scaleY. A scale of .5 is half the size of the original object and a scale of 2 times is twice the size. So watch how you scale these. Let's go ahead and try some of those. I'll get rid of the position adjustment, so that's in the same place. Then I can come over here and say shape.scaleX = 2. Let's see what that does, and now the object is twice the width.
And I can do the same thing for Y with scaleY, and now the object is twice as big in every dimension. You can also do .5 to make it half as big, and you can tell that everything that EaselJS draws is in vectors, so it doesn't matter what size we make that object, it scales very nicely. You can animate that if you want to. So we could do something like multiply this by 1.1, and I'm going to Refresh, and you could see that it's growing a little bit through every frame of the ticker.
So another useful transformation is alpha. Let me go ahead and get rid of this, Save this, and Refresh. You can set the alpha of a shape by typing in the alpha property and sending it to a number from 0-1. So if we say .5, then the alpha will be 50% of whatever the color of the object was before. If we say 0, then the object will be completely invisible; and 1, completely opaque. So of course you can animate the alpha just like you can any other property. We can do something like times =.8, refresh that, and you can see the object kind of disappear.
So let's get rid of that so we can see our object. You can also skew a shape, and skewing is really an amount you want to skew an object by. So it's not a number from 1-0, like scale and alpha. You usually have to skew by a significant amount. So let's do shape.skewX = 200, and we could see that, that object is kind of skewed over to the side by 200 pixels. Let's go ahead and stop the rotation here, let's comment that out. And you can do the same thing in the Y direction. So if I wanted to animate that, I would do something like I will go ahead and keep the rotation and we'll Save that and we'll Refresh, and you can kind of get an interesting look and effect by skewing object. It's almost like a 3D effect when you combine skewing with the rotation.
You can also set the visible property of an object. Visible is sort of like alpha, so let's go ahead and set the shape.visible = 0. That means that the object is completely invisible. This is different than completely transparent. A transparent object will still be there and will still be drawn and you can click on it, whereas a visible object is not drawn at all, it's not there and you can't click on it, so that's an important difference between the two. Let's go ahead and turn that off.
So there's a few more options, and you should definitely check out the documentation on the DisplayObject to find out more information about this. So placing your graphics into shapes gives you the ability to access the properties of the DisplayObject. This is a powerful class that lets you perform all different kinds of transformations. Shapes are the EaselJS version of vector graphics. Unlike canvas, once you draw a shape, you can continue to animate it and transform it. This is one of the coolest features of EaselJS!
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0.110349 | <urn:uuid:e17b1dc7-8f6c-4dea-961b-23dcef433c42> | en | 0.933843 | Did you know?
reverse discrimination - definition and synonyms
What are red words?
noun [uncountable] reverse discrimination pronunciation in American English
1. a situation in which people who traditionally have the most power or advantages are treated less fairly than other people in order to help those people get a share of their power and advantages
Open Dictionary
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global English and language change from our blog
Macmillan learn live love play | http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/american/reverse-discrimination | dclm-gs1-101170000 |
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0.033508 | <urn:uuid:35bb3310-20f4-4601-9de1-92df68e7dc9a> | en | 0.877819 | Netanyahu in silent protest at UN over Iran deal
2015-10-01 22:55
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has savaged the nuclear deal with Iran and has gone on a silent protest at the United Nations General Assembly.
President Abbas raises Palestinian flag for first time at UN
2015-10-01 08:05
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has raised the Palestinian flag at the United Nations for the first time with a promise that it will be raised soon in Jerusalem, 'the capital of our Palestinian state.'
Abbas out of synch, options
2015-09-28 16:32
At the UN summit, Abbas finds himself out of options and out of synch with an angry Palestinian public.
Abbas heats up Palestinian politics
2015-08-27 17:32
President Mahmoud Abbas is shaking up Palestinian politics by trying to pump new blood into the PLO and some say, cementing his grip.
Israeli opposition fears new Palestinian uprising
2015-08-18 19:35
The Israeli opposition leader has called for a joint effort to prevent a possible third Palestinian uprising.
Leaked Palestinian documents raise anger
2015-08-12 18:42
Leaked Palestinian government documents have sparked anger online over corruption among its leaders.
Israeli expansion blocks any peace deal - Abbas
2015-05-22 15:21
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says he is committed to a two-state solution and blames Israel for standing in the way of any peace deal.
Nzimande visa refusal insult to SA government - grouping
2015-04-27 20:29
Israel's decision to not grant Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande and three other officials visas to visit Palestine "is a diplomatic insult to the South African government and its people".
Abbas against Jewish state bill
2014-11-26 20:40
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says he supports Israeli members of parliament who oppose the plan to formalise Israel's status as a Jewish state.
SA ready to help Middle East two-state solution
2014-11-26 16:28
President Jacob Zuma has met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Pretoria, where he pledged South Africa's support for a two-state solution to the situation in the Middle East.
Palestinians no longer bound by Oslo agreement - Abbas
2015-10-01 16:24
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says that the Palestinians are no longer bound by the 1993 Oslo interim peace accords with Israel.
Netanyahu: Abbas speech encourages incitement
2015-09-30 21:15
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' speech to the General Assembly "is false and encourages incitement and unrest in the Middle East", Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office says.
Netanyahu rejects call to take in Syrian refugees
2015-09-06 14:28
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected a call by Israel's opposition leader to provide refuge to Syrian refugees, saying the country is too small to take them in.
Abbas to resign, briefly, from PLO post
2015-08-23 20:55
The official Palestinian news agency is quoting President Mahmoud Abbas as saying he is resigning from the Palestine Liberation Organisation's top leadership body - a move seen as an attempt to tighten his grip on power.
Palestinian stabs Israeli trooper, shot
2015-08-15 22:18
A Palestinian has been shot dead after stabbing an Israeli paramilitary policeman patrolling a road in the occupied West Bank.
In phone call, Netanyahu, Abbas express peace wishes
2015-07-18 14:00
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have spoken by phone, a rare exchange amid years of paralysed peace efforts.
Vatican recognises state of Palestine
2015-05-13 19:52
The Vatican has officially recognised the state of Palestine in a new treaty.
Israel 'satisfied' as Palestinian resolution fails
2014-12-31 11:37
Israel expressed satisfaction after the UN Security Council failed to adopt a controversial resolution on Palestinian statehood setting a 12-month deadline for reaching a final peace deal.
Zuma urges halt to Israeli settlements as Abbas visits
2014-11-26 17:54
Israel's settlements policy is "undermining" prospects for a two state solution, President Jacob Zuma says as he welcomed Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas on a state visit.
Zuma to receive Palestinian president
2014-11-21 17:04
President Jacob Zuma will meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
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Join the News24 Community to be involved in breaking the news.
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0.036272 | <urn:uuid:082844da-4a6a-48ce-b089-40738cd5d959> | en | 0.984813 | Blaine Border Chief Accused of Raping Foster Child
The Bellingham Herald is reporting that Joe Giuliano, the subject of a previous SW cover story, has admitted to having sex with his 14-year-old foster child.
Giuliano, who is by far the most accessible border patrol agent I've ever interviewed, seemed to me a pretty good guy. As a reporter in Southern Arizona, I spent plenty of time with Border Patrol agents. Most of them - not all - but most of them were complete assholes. Giuliano, I always thought, was a breath of fresh air. He actually considered the lives of the migrants who fell under his control and took the time to listen to the concerns of the community. I always thought that was pretty admirable.
So, to say that this accusation comes as a shock to me is an understatement. I'd like to believe it didn't happen, but if everything the Bellingham Herald says is true, it looks like a pretty open and shut case.
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Friends to Follow | http://www.seattleweekly.com/dailyweekly/2008/10/blaine_border_chief_accused_of.php | dclm-gs1-101740000 |
0.042517 | <urn:uuid:285900aa-3833-4528-b120-76c11a771b88> | en | 0.949806 | Monday, October 5, 2015
Print Email Comment | View 12 Comments Most Popular Save Post Retweet
Bruce Willis: Don't infringe on Second Amendment
By Ryan Pearson
AP Entertainment Writer
LAST UPDATED: 5:01 a.m. HST, Feb 6, 2013
"I think that you can't start to pick apart anything out of the Bill of Rights without thinking that it's all going to become undone," Willis told The Associated Press in a recent interview while promoting his latest film, "A Good Day To Die Hard." ''If you take one out or change one law, then why wouldn't they take all your rights away from you?"
Willis' fifth outing as wise-cracking cop John McClane, due in theaters Feb. 14, comes as his action franchise marks its 25th anniversary. The 57-year-old actor will also be seen firing away at bad guys in the upcoming sequels "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" and "Red 2," both due later this year.
But he believes "the real topic is diminished" when observers link Hollywood entertainment with high-profile mass shootings like those last year in Connecticut and Colorado.
"No one commits a crime because they saw a film. There's nothing to support that," Willis said. "We're not making movies about people that have gone berserk, or gone nuts. Those kind of movies wouldn't last very long at all."
Willis added that he doesn't see how additional legislation could prevent future mass shootings.
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0.101882 | <urn:uuid:7ece0111-0021-4ded-bae0-e29d7f45acb1> | en | 0.968753 | Christie Prody Injured; O.J. Simpson Not a Suspect
by at . Comments
Miami police say O.J. Simpson's girlfriend, Christie Prody, suffered bruises and head injuries on Monday - but it was because of a fall - and not at the hand of the Juice, as several celebrity gossip sources speculated.
Hey, the guy did beat up various wives and kill one of them, so in this case, we can understand why The National Enquirer might jump the gun.
O.J. Simpson Mug Shot III
The Enquirer reported that O.J. Simpson was being investigated as Christie Prody was taken to a Miami hospital with head trauma and bruising.
According to the Enquirer, investigators said from the damage to Christie Prody's body, they believe she was beaten up hard. One detective even said he has never seen such severe bruises on a woman before.
Christie Prody: O.J. Simpson's girlfriend for years. Why? Who knows.
The Miami Police were alerted by hospital authorities after doctors found that Christie Prody was bleeding from her brain â€" and also had numerous, large bruises and abrasions on her face, arms, legs and buttocks.
But cops later told the celebrity news site TMZ that Prody's injuries appear to be "consistent" with a fall she supposedly took "at a gas station."
They don't consider this a criminal case, and that O.J. was never a suspect.
Prody, who has a long rap sheet of her own, has been going out with this guy for years and hasn't turned up dead, so we'd consider the relationship a success.
As for O.J. Simpson, his recent arrest for violation of bail was aired on the MyNetwork series Jail. He's due in Las Vegas for his robbery case in April.
"I sumrise ...."? "....whites do not so the same thing"? Professor!!! Your ebonics are showing. As suggested before, you need to clean up your grammar as well as your spelling if you're going to be playing the race card. Also, you like to speak of education, but we notice it doesn't take long before you're reduced to childish name calling. Clean up your act, you Uncle Tom wannabe.
I sumrise you are probably some skinny pathetic little white guy with a mohawk haircut who has skin on your teeth and who's mom probably wishes she would have drowned at birth. For all the things you say about blacks you can not prove that whites do not so the same thing. If you have proof then prove it.
I read this article because I really do not like OJ Simpson; moreover, I hate the justice system for allowing him to get away with murdering two innocent people. It's wrong - black or white, makes no difference. Black people and white people both kill innocent people all the time. This should not be about anything other than justice for people who have lost their lives at the hands of evil people. Tons of people these days seem to be enjoying stirring the racism pot, and I don't understand why. Life is hard enough - why choose to be angry with the color of another's skin? If you are truly that bored, I have a ton of problems you could help me with!
I just wanted to say that we really need to stop the race thing. Who have all the serial killers in this country been? White people they kidnap, torture, rape, mutilate and numeruous other horrible things to people. The colored people as you call them have gang wars and so on but they are retaliating for the most part on gangbangers not innocent people. The sick perverterd ones are the white ones. Manson, Dahmer, and so on and so on. I would not want to be in a dark alley with a white serial killer. You people are crazy.
lol@ wilbab
And last week a psycho WHITE lab tech strangled, and viciously killed a graduate student before she was supposed to marry...trumped your "argument"!
To the Boss:
Are you REALLY a professor? If so, you need to go back and check out the grammar/spelling in your submittal. Wow, no wonder the education system in this country is in trouble. On the other hand, maybe you teach EBONICS 101. If not, you must be one of those "quota boys".
its time to hang some niggars in pompano beach hammondville road and sitrunk blvd sunrise send them back to the trees they fell out ,, deport them back to were they came from ,,name 3 things you cant give a black person ,, number 1 ,, a job ,, number 2 a fat lip ,, number 3 a black eye
i hate blacks keep te motha suckers in jail with his brothers
It is quite frightening to see such level of hatred and mis-informed individuals. You guys need to be able to thinks independently and not go on what you hear second-hand. I a really scared. I am professor who happens to be black.
fukin niggars
Tags: , | http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2008/02/christie-prody-injured-oj-simpson-not-a-suspect/ | dclm-gs1-101950000 |
0.162199 | <urn:uuid:264d6f72-3d11-4fb7-86e3-059e47b32011> | en | 0.95969 | The Internet wants Netflix to release House of Cards a day early, and while that's probably not going to happen, it's a great chance for the company to show off.
You can see the chorus on Twitter, Politico even made a Storify of the requests
HitFix's Alan Sepinwall, however, threw some cold water on the affair, tweeting: "I’m with others who think Netflix would get a huge PR bump by releasing House of Cards a day early because snow, though I doubt it happens." We've reached out to Netflix PR to see if there is any possibility of this happening, and will update if we get a response.
Netflix really has nothing to lose by releasing House of Cards's second season a day early, but really nothing to gain either. Sure, fans might argue that a snow day will lead to more viewers, but specifics aren't Netflix's game. The company has made a habit of not releasing viewership numbers, and it's likely that they'll be content with however many people watch tomorrow. And yet, Sepinwall is right that an early House of Cards release would be a great PR move. As Quartz's Zach Seward tweeted: "It would be a marketing masterstroke if Netflix debuted season two of 'House of Cards' a day early for snowed-in customers."
In writing about Netflix's trend of not releasing ratings, Peter Lauria of BuzzFeed found data that "suggest[s], rather quixotically, is that the hype and attention around Netflix’s original shows raises awareness among consumers, who then sign up for the service not necessarily to watch those shows but because they are attracted to all the other content (most of it supplied by traditional TV networks) the service offers. The fact that they offer it all on-demand and for a low price makes it even more appealing to consumers."
Essentially, Netflix has built its brand on giving costumers what they want when they want it, whether that be their original programming, all there for binge watching, or their other content. Releasing House of Cards a day early, the company would prove how willing they are to cater to their users interests by doing something that no traditional television network—broadcast or cable—could do. | http://www.thewire.com/entertainment/2014/02/snow-day-house-cards-release-would-be-coup-netflix/358055/ | dclm-gs1-101980000 |
0.02339 | <urn:uuid:69451912-2c7f-41be-85c0-3f78328d7f8a> | en | 0.919002 | 1. Headline
1. Headline
updated 1/11/2011 10:42:41 PM ET 2011-01-12T03:42:41
Arizona legislators quickly approved emergency legislation Tuesday to head off picketing by a Topeka, Kan., church near the funeral service for a 9-year-old girl who was killed in the Tucson shootings.
Unanimous votes by the House and Senate sent the bill to Gov. Jan Brewer, who signed it Tuesday night. It took effect immediately.
Without specifically mentioning the Tucson shooting, the law prohibits protests at or near funeral sites.
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Dozens of lawmakers co-sponsored the bill, and legislative action was completed within 90 minutes. The Senate's committee hearing took just three minutes.
The Westboro Baptist Church said Monday it plans to picket Thursday's funeral for Christina Taylor Green because "God sent the shooter to deal with idolatrous America." The fundamentalist church has picketed many military funerals to draw attention to its view that the deaths are God's punishment for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality.
Lawmakers denounced the church's plan to picket a child's funeral.
"This is just horrific that ... people have to deal with this. We shouldn't have to do this in time of great pain for our state," said Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, a Phoenix Democrat.
The girl was the youngest of the six people killed during the shooting at an event held by U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was among 13 people injured. Giffords was shot in the head and critically wounded.
Numerous states have passed laws restricting protests at funerals after members of the Westboro church began protesting at the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Arizona legislation is modeled on an Ohio law that was upheld by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Sinema said.
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The four-paragraph Arizona bill makes it a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail to picket or conduct other protest activities within 300 feet of a funeral or burial service — about the length of a football field. The prohibition applies from one hour before the event to one hour after.
Shirley Phelps-Roper, a church member and a daughter of its pastor, said the prohibition wouldn't matter because church members plan to picket at one of two intersections more than 1,000 feet from the church where the girl's service will be held.
Phelps-Roper also said church members plan picketing Friday in conjunction with a service for another victim of the shooting, U.S. District Judge John M. Roll.
Sen. Paula Aboud, a Tucson Democrat, said volunteers in Tucson were organizing a human shield to block the protesters from view of victim family members.
Sinema said the prohibition applies only to funeral and burial sites because courts have struck down picketing prohibitions for procession routes.
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"This is a good compromise that doesn't trample our God-given rights," said Senate President Russell Pearce, a Mesa Republican.
Sen. Ron Gould, a Republican from Lake Havasu City, voted for the bill but earlier was the only senator who objected to suspending rules requiring several days of legislative consideration before a final vote.
Gould cited the public's right to know what lawmakers are considering. "And when we suspend those rules mistakes get made," he added.
Video: Shooting victim's family: He covered my mom
Gallery: Tragedy in Tucson: The shooting victims
Photos: Former Ariz. Representative Gabrielle Giffords
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Slideshow (45) Mourning follows deadly shooting in Arizona
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| http://www.today.com/id/41027365/ns/today-today_news/t/law-passed-ban-picketing-tucson-funerals/ | dclm-gs1-102020000 |
0.056894 | <urn:uuid:a205dc9e-bb38-41c0-8694-80426a4831d7> | en | 0.971069 | Friends declare Facebook user 'dead' in social media prank
Posted By KATE STANTON, UPI.com | Jan. 7, 2013 at 10:05 AM
Maine's Rusty Foster, 36, found out the hard way that it's pretty easy to fake a person's death on Facebook. As a prank, Foster's friends falsely reported him dead last week via Facebook's "Memorialization Request" page, which only requires the "deceased" person's name, email and a link to an obituary for the social media site to declare someone dead and block access to their account. Foster's friends used the real obituary of a different person with a similar name to trick Facebook into thinking he had died.
When Buzzfeed's Katie Notopoulos got word of the incident, she used the same tactic to kill off one of her coworkers, the very much alive Buzzfeed FWD editor John Herrman, with the obituary of "John Arthur Herrmann," a 74-year-old Nebraskan who died in June.
Facebook deactivated Herrman's account until about an hour after he filled out a special form. When Buzzfeed asked why it was so easy to fake someone's death, the social media site said, "We try to take all necessary precautions when processing user requests and provide an appeals process for any possible mistake we may make."
According to ABC News, Facebook reactivated Foster's account 27 hours after he reminded them he was alive, just enough time for his friends to play around with his "dead" status.
"The only thing that happened was some of my friends posted little mock-eulogies for me, because word got around that I was locked out, due to a temporary case of death," Foster said.
Jezebel pointed out the story of a Buzzfeed commenter, who said that Facebook's simple "Memorialization Request" form caused confusion in the actual death of a friend.
This happened to one of my good friends who was tragically killed in a car accident a day after getting engaged to her bf of 8 years. Someone (not family) got the page memorialized which removed all of her quotes and her description of herself and her life that she had put on there herself. Her brother, bf, and parents wanted to keep her page alive as a place where friends and family could continue to post memories and messages to her and pictures and see her happy life in her own words. I'm sure it was done by someone with the best intentions, but it still robbed a lot of people of that chance to keep that part of her alive. Her page is gone now (she's been gone for 4 years now) and they ended up making a fb group so pictures and messages can still be put up, but it's not quite the same. They need to take another look at their process, not only because of the pranking, but because it robs real people of the chance to keep some memories alive.
Related UPI Stories
Latest Headlines | http://www.upi.com/blog/2013/01/07/Friends-declare-Facebook-user-dead-in-social-media-prank/9841357567372/?rel=5421357654035 | dclm-gs1-102120000 |
0.019739 | <urn:uuid:c71c738a-191d-4b8e-805f-eedf524b678e> | en | 0.969683 | A Gangs-Eye-View of the Bronx Streets
Street gangs have always been a part of life in New York City; in some neighborhoods they’re a constant fact of life. WNYC’s Siddhartha Mitter spent time in the Bronx with a teenager to get a street level view.
RICH: Like right here, the four buildings right there is the Blood area. The other side is Crip territory…
REPORTER: Rich Velez is sixteen and lives in the South Bronx, and as we drive around the Mott Haven and Melrose neighborhoods he explains why kids are drawn into gangs.
RICH: Most people they get into it because they scared of other gangs and stuff like that, they scared to be jumped by theyself… and some people get like, like look at my friend, he just got into Blood, and he knows everybody, and nobody mess with him because he’s in the Bloods.
REPORTER: The Bloods are one of the largest street gangs in the Bronx and in the city. Like their rivals the Crips, they are a national phenomenon that started in California, but they are highly decentralized or even scattered into neighborhood sets that don’t always recognize each other. Claiming a gang affiliation offers protection and also the allure of random violence.
RICH: … they like yo, get into this with me, yo. And they be like, nah, nah. And the Bloods be like, yo, son, just hit this guy and get into it, it’s mad easy!
REPORTER: Rich knows from experience. He spent two years as a Blood in the Bronx, in a set that claimed as its territory a stretch of Third Avenue from the Patterson projects at 145th Street down to the Mitchel projects at 138th. He joined the gang when he was 14, which is a typical age for recruitment.
RICH: Basically they tell you to fight in an elevator. So it’s you versus four other guys…
REPORTER: His initiation ceremony was to fight members of the set in a project elevator from the twentieth floor down to the ground.
RICH: It was actually fun doing it.
REPORTER: When he got out, he was a Blood.
RICH: Then the OG was downstairs, and he was like you in, he gave me the papers…
REPORTER: O.G. stands for Original Gangster -- the leader of the set. The O.G. welcomed Rich into the gang with documents and codes to memorize:
RICH: The flag that binds my family is red and stained with the blood of my dead homies. My flag shall never be torn, my flag shall never touch the ground, no blood on my flag shall never touch the ground. That’s the oath.
REPORTER: The O.G. also conferred on Rich his street name, to reel off like a military rank whenever called upon by a superior.
RICH: And who I be was Bloody Smoke, West Side, Rollin’ 20s… Yeah that’s like the shit that you gotta spit when they go like that, when they shake your hand or whatever…
REPORTER: The names and codes aren’t just ritual. They help sort out which sets are considered legitimate by other Bloods or Crips, and which ones are just wannabes. And they give gang members a new identity, a family, to belong to -- in principle for life.
RICH: You’re in it, you’re in it. You can’t get out, you can’t get out. The only way you can get out is if your OG dies… SM: So where we at right now? RICH: We at 149 and Jackson Avenue. And that’s a girl named Jennifer, and I’m about to talk to her. …open your window, open your window!! … Jennifer! Yo! Yo! Yo!
REPORTER: Rich may have been a gang member but in this moment he’s a neighborhood kid, pointing out the places where his worlds overlap.
RICH: And this is my old school. This is a bad school. You would never want to see your kids in here. … Alright, those is Bloods right there. … Two of them is Blood, and the other one is neutral. SM: But they’re not flagging. RICH: No, they’re not flagging. But you see them in Cypress flagging.
REPORTER: Flagging means wearing distinctive gang colors: red for Bloods, blue for Crips, and so on. But Rich says gang members often don’t flag, unless they’re on their turf where they feel in control. They enforce their control by means of violence.
RICH: It’s like you hit this innocent person, basically. … Hit them to rob them.
REPORTER: Rich says that his set would attack people to take their wallets or watches…
RICH: …and sneakers. They’ll take anything that looks nice.
REPORTER: Rich says his set targeted Mexicans – a trend that activists say is on the rise. Mexican immigrants tend to carry cash wages and often won’t go to the police if they’re undocumented. As Rich saw it, Mexicans were trespassing:
RICH: ‘Cause every time we’ll be here, like there’ll always be a Mexican passing by. Say yo, take this Mexican off our block. So the Mexican would get hurt, take his wallet…
REPORTER: As Rich describes it, his own set was somewhere in the middle on the spectrum of criminality. He says he didn’t sell drugs, but he knew some who did. And he says there were guns available. In general, though, Rich says that for most kids in street gangs, gang life is pretty monotonous.
RICH: Every day they do the same thing all over. Sleep, smoke, drink, sleep, smoke, drink, chill, chill…
REPORTER: The idleness is pervasive. But it’s also deceptive. Kids in the gang life do a lot of hanging around, but they’re also alert to the presence of death around them. The city’s murder rate is at a historic low, but it actually went up last year in 22 of 76 police precincts -- including the 40th precinct, which covers much of the South Bronx. One murder victim in 2007, according to Rich, was his O.G.
RICH: He just died recently. He got shot. Fifteen times. By Crips. When he died, they told me that, yo, we gonna go bang out…
REPORTER: Rich had a choice to make: Get out of the gang, or avenge the O.G. and get deeper.
RICH: I was like, uh-uh, you bugging. I was like, I’ll fight…
REPORTER: But Rich wasn’t prepared to shoot anyone.
RICH: …cause I ain’t trying to do no time. And they never went, so the Crips never died.
REPORTER: Rich recently almost did do time after being arrested for assaulting a Mexican. But he managed to get probation. His brother works for an anti-violence organization, and they promised to supervise him. Almost going to prison made Rich think twice. Now with the O.G.’s death, he had a chance to get out. He took his case to the O.G.’s brother, who was taking control of the set.
RICH: He said why, started giving me questions about why do you want to leave the gang. I was like, because I don’t want to be doing this the rest of my life, hitting on people with no reason. And he felt offended, and he told me that. That’s why he told me to fight in the elevator…
REPORTER: It was back to the elevator. Rich had had to fight to get in, now he had to fight to get out. When it was all over, he says, there were no hard feelings.
RICH: Yeah, I’m still cool with them...
REPORTER: Rich still sees the gang members around the neighborhood, but so far, he has stayed out of trouble. He’s looking into G.E.D. programs so he can finish high school.
RICH: So now I’m free, in the ghetto…
REPORTER: These days Jonathan Figueroa, the older brother who helped Rich stay out of jail, is keeping a close eye on him.
JONATHAN: he knows about his chances of going to jail, so he can’t act up, he can’t do anything foolish. I think he’s realized that now, so he’s been much more calm, conscious of what he’s doing. SM: Are you more conscious? RICH: Yeah. I think twice before I do something now… I control myself. I don’t let people control me no more.
REPORTER: Rich Velez isn’t a Blood anymore, but he doesn’t yet have a new direction – a school program, or a job, or anything else he can sink his teeth into and trust himself to succeed. He walked away from the kind of identity and belonging the gang provided. At sixteen, his challenge now is to find a new one.
REPORTER: For WNYC, I’m Siddhartha Mitter | http://www.wnyc.org/story/78572-a-gangs-eye-view-of-the-bronx-streets/ | dclm-gs1-102210000 |
0.179318 | <urn:uuid:d6639869-b54a-4b9d-a476-b42f80909288> | en | 0.920229 | From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
For the religious term, see Intercession
Intermediation involves the "matching" of lenders with savings to borrowers who need money by an agent or third party, such as a bank.[1]
If this matching is successful, the lender obtains a positive rate of return, the borrower receives a return for risk taking and entrepreneurship and the banker receives a return for making the successful match.[1] If the borrower's speculative play with the funds provided by the bank does not pay off, the bank can face significant losses on its loan portfolio,[1] and if the bank fails its depositors can lose some of their money if the deposits are not insured by a third party.
The skill of identifying potential successful new entrepreneurs who can take market share off competitors or develop whole new markets is one of the most vital (and intangible) skills any banking system can possess.[1]
Disintermediation occurs when potential lenders and borrowers interact more directly in the capital markets, avoiding the intermediation of banks.
1. ^ a b c d The Theory of Financial Intermediation, by Franklin Allen and Anthony M. Santomero | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intermediation | dclm-gs1-102350000 |
0.194863 | <urn:uuid:2ad25eba-0b70-424b-90dc-5ae6bcc8fd5d> | en | 0.807361 | Skip to content
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Tiny State Machine Trait
This is a tiny state machine with a single public method trigger, which takes an Event which is an edge between two states, and will progress the current state into the next.
More than anything this is an attempt to put down on paper the pattern I'm using elsewhere.
Below I will build a classic State Machine:
import com.conbere.statemachine._
The "Turnstile" which has two states:
case object Locked extends State
case object UnLocked extends State
When it's locked, the machine sit's waiting for someone to feed it coins.
case class Coin(val value: Int) extends Event
If the coins exceed the cost of the turnstile it can be Pushed, the person can pass, and it will return to Locked.
case object Push extends Event
Let's look at the code given those states and events:
class Turnstile(val value: Int, val state: State)
extends StateMachine[Turnstile] {
def this() = this(0, Locked)
val requiredPayment = 10
override def defaultTransition: Transition = {
case _ => this
val transitions: Transition = {
case (Locked, Coin(v)) =>
if (value + v >= requiredPayment)
new Turnstile(0, UnLocked)
new Turnstile(value + v, state)
case (Locked, Push) =>
case (UnLocked, Push) =>
new Turnstile()
case (UnLocked, Coin(_)) =>
override def toString = "Turnstile: %s: %s".format(state, value)
Something went wrong with that request. Please try again. | https://github.com/aconbere/scala-statemachine | dclm-gs1-102380000 |
0.999481 | <urn:uuid:8393444b-b0d5-434c-a6e5-9c21fad97503> | en | 0.953393 | Physics teacher and film-maker Alom Shaha sets out to uncover a genuinely satisfying answer to his students' most common question: why is science important?
This film was made with funding from the Wellcome Trust, and is being broadcast in the UK on Teachers TV during March 2009. For more background and reaction, see the project website,
The downloadable video is Quicktime .mov format, H.264, 1280x720 resolution.
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Loading videos… | https://vimeo.com/groups/35262/videos/3531977 | dclm-gs1-102420000 |
0.032754 | <urn:uuid:c1b5d6df-59fd-4331-90eb-0b1c3e7da4d1> | en | 0.906765 | asymmetric warfare love
asymmetric warfare
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
• n. armed conflict between belligerents having different strengths and weaknesses
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Sorry, no example sentences found.
• It still sounds way too euphemistic a term, if you ask me. Why bother coming up with a fancy name for this "activity" when there are so many simpler ways to phrase it? Assymetric warfare to an average person doesn't say anything. I had to look it up, and I have a college degree. Still, thanks for an alternative definition!
July 14, 2008
• No, it's more to do with using a conventional army to tackle suicide bombers etc.
July 14, 2008
• assymetric warfare – a euphemism for local violence or unrest, suicide bombing; contained violence
July 14, 2008 | https://www.wordnik.com/words/asymmetric%20warfare | dclm-gs1-102560000 |
0.067204 | <urn:uuid:10d79a17-9ebc-4ecb-aa8a-4ef8e8c1de48> | en | 0.977826 | Skip to main content
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votes without winning ohio. so president obama trying to hold onto this state, in part making the case today about the auto bailout. that is an issue that really resonates with voters, but the president really taking romney to task over his recent claim that jeep is shipping jobs overseas to china. it's a claim the romney campaign is standing by but one that's been smacked down by car executives as well as a number of newspapers here in the buckeye state. so it's a close race. president obama making his closing argument today, martin. >> kristin welker there in ohio. thanks so much. stay with us. our "top lines," the week in review, is coming up. [ female announcer ] born from the naturally sweet monk fruit, something this delicious could only come from nature. now from the maker of splenda sweeteners, discover nectresse. the only 100% natural, no-calorie sweetener made from the goodness of fruit. the rich, sweet taste of sugar. nothing artificial. ♪ it's all that sweet ever needs to be. new nectresse. sweetness naturally. >>> a monster storm and a monster presidential race collide.
under the ryan budget 43%, and now it's been restored by president obama, and they are responding as they should to the northeast and to all states that have been inflicted. they have called it a national disaster zone. new york and new jersey are hit harder than other areas. they're allocating resources, responding, saving lives, and they are helping the first responders, the volunteers, really the city, state, and federal workers who are doing a heroic job in our great city responding to this worst storm in my lifetime for new york. >> you represent constituents here. >> yes. >> how are they reacting to what's happened? >> they were rising to the occasion. the lower east side and lower west side has absolutely no power. there are no traffic lights. people are helping people cross the street. they were serving as the police directing traffic. they were helping each other. it reminded me of the spirit after 9/11 where everyone did whatever they could to help. but you need the city government, the state government, the federal government to come in and help. mr. romney says rely on
. and even for the states, quite frankly. the governor and the mayor weren't shining examples of, you know, state control over that situation. so there was enough blame and mistake-prone action to look at and learn from, and obama is nothing if not a quick study in that regard and understanding and appreciating how to use the tools of this government at a time of crisis. now, we'll see. the expectation for the president is to do his job and to be on top of doing his job. so politically i don't know if there's a huge upside -- there's more of a downside risk than anything if there's a gaffe somewhere, if there's a mistake somewhere in the execution of responding to those in need, but i think this president has shown that his administration will be prepared for that because that's what people expect. >> karen, i was watching your facial expressions there and they were quite perfect. perhaps you'd like to put words to them. >> well, you know, nice try, michael. i mean, let's remember that in terms -- the october surprise in 2008 we saw a real sharp contrast between john mccain and president o | http://archive.org/details/tv?time=20121027-20121104&q=%22obama+state%22~35&fq=program:%22Martin+Bashir%22 | dclm-gs1-102620000 |
0.019653 | <urn:uuid:004cd2bf-6c2f-4743-b136-f1abe2f191a5> | en | 0.840896 | PLOS Biology: New Articles PLOS Publishing science info:doi/10.1371/feed.pbio This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License${webserver-url}images/favicon.ico${webserver-url}images/favicon.ico 2015-10-05T23:32:45Z Subscribe with My Yahoo!Subscribe with NewsGatorSubscribe with My AOLSubscribe with BloglinesSubscribe with NetvibesSubscribe with GoogleSubscribe with Pageflakes Synaptotagmin-1 and -7 Are Redundantly Essential for Maintaining the Capacity of the Readily-Releasable Pool of Synaptic Vesicles Taulant Bacaj et al. info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002267 2015-10-05T21:00:00Z 2015-10-05T21:00:00Z <p>by Taulant Bacaj, Dick Wu, Jacqueline Burré, Robert C. Malenka, Xinran Liu, Thomas C. Südhof</p> In forebrain neurons, Ca<sup>2+</sup> triggers exocytosis of readily releasable vesicles by binding to synaptotagmin-1 and -7, thereby inducing fast and slow vesicle exocytosis, respectively. Loss-of-function of synaptotagmin-1 or -7 selectively impairs the fast and slow phase of release, respectively, but does not change the size of the readily-releasable pool (RRP) of vesicles as measured by stimulation of release with hypertonic sucrose, or alter the rate of vesicle priming into the RRP. Here we show, however, that simultaneous loss-of-function of both synaptotagmin-1 and -7 dramatically decreased the capacity of the RRP, again without altering the rate of vesicle priming into the RRP. Either synaptotagmin-1 or -7 was sufficient to rescue the RRP size in neurons lacking both synaptotagmin-1 and -7. Although maintenance of RRP size was Ca<sup>2+</sup>-independent, mutations in Ca<sup>2+</sup>-binding sequences of synaptotagmin-1 or synaptotagmin-7—which are contained in flexible top-loop sequences of their C2 domains—blocked the ability of these synaptotagmins to maintain the RRP size. Both synaptotagmins bound to SNARE complexes; SNARE complex binding was reduced by the top-loop mutations that impaired RRP maintenance. Thus, synaptotagmin-1 and -7 perform redundant functions in maintaining the capacity of the RRP in addition to nonredundant functions in the Ca<sup>2+</sup> triggering of different phases of release.<img src="" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> Dual-Function Exocytosis Regulator Has Yet Another Job Richard Robinson info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002268 2015-10-05T21:00:00Z 2015-10-05T21:00:00Z <p>by Richard Robinson</p><img src="" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> Meta-research: Evaluation and Improvement of Research Methods and Practices John P. A. Ioannidis et al. info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002264 2015-10-02T21:00:00Z 2015-10-02T21:00:00Z <p>by John P. A. Ioannidis, Daniele Fanelli, Debbie Drake Dunne, Steven N. Goodman</p> As the scientific enterprise has grown in size and diversity, we need empirical evidence on the research process to test and apply interventions that make it more efficient and its results more reliable. Meta-research is an evolving scientific discipline that aims to evaluate and improve research practices. It includes thematic areas of methods, reporting, reproducibility, evaluation, and incentives (how to do, report, verify, correct, and reward science). Much work is already done in this growing field, but efforts to-date are fragmented. We provide a map of ongoing efforts and discuss plans for connecting the multiple meta-research efforts across science worldwide.<img src="" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> Map of Visual Activity in the Infant Brain Sheds Light on Neural Development Janelle Weaver info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002261 2015-09-29T21:00:00Z 2015-09-29T21:00:00Z <p>by Janelle Weaver</p><img src="" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> BOLD Response Selective to Flow-Motion in Very Young Infants Laura Biagi et al. info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002260 2015-09-29T21:00:00Z 2015-09-29T21:00:00Z <p>by Laura Biagi, Sofia Allegra Crespi, Michela Tosetti, Maria Concetta Morrone</p> In adults, motion perception is mediated by an extensive network of occipital, parietal, temporal, and insular cortical areas. Little is known about the neural substrate of visual motion in infants, although behavioural studies suggest that motion perception is rudimentary at birth and matures steadily over the first few years. Here, by measuring Blood Oxygenated Level Dependent (BOLD) responses to flow versus random-motion stimuli, we demonstrate that the major cortical areas serving motion processing in adults are operative by 7 wk of age. Resting-state correlations demonstrate adult-like functional connectivity between the motion-selective associative areas, but not between primary cortex and temporo-occipital and posterior-insular cortices. Taken together, the results suggest that the development of motion perception may be limited by slow maturation of the subcortical input and of the cortico-cortical connections. In addition they support the existence of independent input to primary (V1) and temporo-occipital (V5/MT+) cortices very early in life.<img src="" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> Neuromodulation to the Rescue: Compensation of Temperature-Induced Breakdown of Rhythmic Motor Patterns via Extrinsic Neuromodulatory Input Carola Städele et al. info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002265 2015-09-29T21:00:00Z 2015-09-29T21:00:00Z <p>by Carola Städele, Stefanie Heigele, Wolfgang Stein</p> Stable rhythmic neural activity depends on the well-coordinated interplay of synaptic and cell-intrinsic conductances. Since all biophysical processes are temperature dependent, this interplay is challenged during temperature fluctuations. How the nervous system remains functional during temperature perturbations remains mostly unknown. We present a hitherto unknown mechanism of how temperature-induced changes in neural networks are compensated by changing their neuromodulatory state: activation of neuromodulatory pathways establishes a dynamic coregulation of synaptic and intrinsic conductances with opposing effects on neuronal activity when temperature changes, hence rescuing neuronal activity. Using the well-studied gastric mill pattern generator of the crab, we show that modest temperature increase can abolish rhythmic activity in isolated neural circuits due to increased leak currents in rhythm-generating neurons. Dynamic clamp-mediated addition of leak currents was sufficient to stop neuronal oscillations at low temperatures, and subtraction of additional leak currents at elevated temperatures was sufficient to rescue the rhythm. Despite the apparent sensitivity of the isolated nervous system to temperature fluctuations, the rhythm could be stabilized by activating extrinsic neuromodulatory inputs from descending projection neurons, a strategy that we indeed found to be implemented in intact animals. In the isolated nervous system, temperature compensation was achieved by stronger extrinsic neuromodulatory input from projection neurons or by augmenting projection neuron influence via bath application of the peptide cotransmitter <i>Cancer borealis</i> tachykinin-related peptide Ia (CabTRP Ia). CabTRP Ia activates the modulator-induced current I<sub>MI</sub> (a nonlinear voltage-gated inward current) that effectively acted as a negative leak current and counterbalanced the temperature-induced leak to rescue neuronal oscillations. Computational modelling revealed the ability of I<sub>MI</sub> to reduce detrimental leak-current influences on neuronal networks over a broad conductance range and indicated that leak and I<sub>MI</sub> are closely coregulated in the biological system to enable stable motor patterns. In conclusion, these results show that temperature compensation does not need to be implemented within the network itself but can be conditionally provided by extrinsic neuromodulatory input that counterbalances temperature-induced modifications of circuit-intrinsic properties.<img src="" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> Seeing and Feeling Motion: Canonical Computations in Vision and Touch Christopher C. Pack et al. info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002271 2015-09-29T21:00:00Z 2015-09-29T21:00:00Z <p>by Christopher C. Pack, Sliman J. Bensmaia</p> While the different sensory modalities are sensitive to different stimulus energies, they are often charged with extracting analogous information about the environment. Neural systems may thus have evolved to implement similar algorithms across modalities to extract behaviorally relevant stimulus information, leading to the notion of a canonical computation. In both vision and touch, information about motion is extracted from a spatiotemporal pattern of activation across a sensory sheet (in the retina and in the skin, respectively), a process that has been extensively studied in both modalities. In this essay, we examine the processing of motion information as it ascends the primate visual and somatosensory neuraxes and conclude that similar computations are implemented in the two sensory systems.<img src="" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> Insulator Protein Helps Organize the Gaps in the Axon's Insulation Richard Robinson info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002259 2015-09-25T21:00:00Z 2015-09-25T21:00:00Z <p>by Richard Robinson</p><img src="" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> HDAC1/2-Dependent P0 Expression Maintains Paranodal and Nodal Integrity Independently of Myelin Stability through Interactions with Neurofascins Valérie Brügger et al. info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002258 2015-09-25T21:00:00Z 2015-09-25T21:00:00Z <p>by Valérie Brügger, Stefanie Engler, Jorge A. Pereira, Sophie Ruff, Michael Horn, Hans Welzl, Emmanuelle Münger, Adrien Vaquié, Páris N. M. Sidiropoulos, Boris Egger, Peter Yotovski, Luis Filgueira, Christian Somandin, Tessa C. Lühmann, Maurizio D’Antonio, Teppei Yamaguchi, Patrick Matthias, Ueli Suter, Claire Jacob</p> The pathogenesis of peripheral neuropathies in adults is linked to maintenance mechanisms that are not well understood. Here, we elucidate a novel critical maintenance mechanism for Schwann cell (SC)–axon interaction. Using mouse genetics, ablation of the transcriptional regulators histone deacetylases 1 and 2 (HDAC1/2) in adult SCs severely affected paranodal and nodal integrity and led to demyelination/remyelination. Expression levels of the HDAC1/2 target gene myelin protein zero (P0) were reduced by half, accompanied by altered localization and stability of neurofascin (NFasc)155, NFasc186, and loss of Caspr and septate-like junctions. We identify P0 as a novel binding partner of NFasc155 and NFasc186, both in vivo and by in vitro adhesion assay. Furthermore, we demonstrate that HDAC1/2-dependent P0 expression is crucial for the maintenance of paranodal/nodal integrity and axonal function through interaction of P0 with neurofascins. In addition, we show that the latter mechanism is impaired by some P0 mutations that lead to late onset Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease.<img src="" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> A New Role of the Mosquito Complement-like Cascade in Male Fertility in Anopheles gambiae Julien Pompon et al. info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002255 2015-09-22T21:00:00Z 2015-09-22T21:00:00Z <p>by Julien Pompon, Elena A. Levashina</p> Thioester-containing protein 1 (TEP1) is a key immune factor that determines mosquito resistance to a wide range of pathogens, including malaria parasites. Here we report a new allele-specific function of TEP1 in male fertility. We demonstrate that during spermatogenesis TEP1 binds to and removes damaged cells through the same complement-like cascade that kills malaria parasites in the mosquito midgut. Further, higher fertility rates are mediated by an allele that renders the mosquito susceptible to <i>Plasmodium</i>. By elucidating the molecular and genetic mechanisms underlying TEP1 function in spermatogenesis, our study suggests that pleiotropic antagonism between reproduction and immunity may shape resistance of mosquito populations to malaria parasites.<img src="" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> Vibrissa Self-Motion and Touch Are Reliably Encoded along the Same Somatosensory Pathway from Brainstem through Thalamus Jeffrey D. Moore et al. info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002253 2015-09-22T21:00:00Z 2015-09-22T21:00:00Z <p>by Jeffrey D. Moore, Nicole Mercer Lindsay, Martin Deschênes, David Kleinfeld</p> Active sensing involves the fusion of internally generated motor events with external sensation. For rodents, active somatosensation includes scanning the immediate environment with the mystacial vibrissae. In doing so, the vibrissae may touch an object at any angle in the whisk cycle. The representation of touch and vibrissa self-motion may in principle be encoded along separate pathways, or share a single pathway, from the periphery to cortex. Past studies established that the spike rates in neurons along the lemniscal pathway from receptors to cortex, which includes the principal trigeminal and ventral-posterior-medial thalamic nuclei, are substantially modulated by touch. In contrast, spike rates along the paralemniscal pathway, which includes the rostral spinal trigeminal interpolaris, posteromedial thalamic, and ventral zona incerta nuclei, are only weakly modulated by touch. Here we find that neurons along the lemniscal pathway robustly encode rhythmic whisking on a cycle-by-cycle basis, while encoding along the paralemniscal pathway is relatively poor. Thus, the representations of both touch and self-motion share one pathway. In fact, some individual neurons carry both signals, so that upstream neurons with a supralinear gain function could, in principle, demodulate these signals to recover the known decoding of touch as a function of vibrissa position in the whisk cycle.<img src="" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> Shifts of Gamma Phase across Primary Visual Cortical Sites Reflect Dynamic Stimulus-Modulated Information Transfer Michel Besserve et al. info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002257 2015-09-22T21:00:00Z 2015-09-22T21:00:00Z <p>by Michel Besserve, Scott C. Lowe, Nikos K. Logothetis, Bernhard Schölkopf, Stefano Panzeri</p> Distributed neural processing likely entails the capability of networks to reconfigure dynamically the directionality and strength of their functional connections. Yet, the neural mechanisms that may allow such dynamic routing of the information flow are not yet fully understood. We investigated the role of gamma band (50–80 Hz) oscillations in transient modulations of communication among neural populations by using measures of direction-specific causal information transfer. We found that the local phase of gamma-band rhythmic activity exerted a stimulus-modulated and spatially-asymmetric directed effect on the firing rate of spatially separated populations within the primary visual cortex. The relationships between gamma phases at different sites (phase shifts) could be described as a stimulus-modulated gamma-band wave propagating along the spatial directions with the largest information transfer. We observed transient stimulus-related changes in the spatial configuration of phases (compatible with changes in direction of gamma wave propagation) accompanied by a relative increase of the amount of information flowing along the instantaneous direction of the gamma wave. These effects were specific to the gamma-band and suggest that the time-varying relationships between gamma phases at different locations mark, and possibly causally mediate, the dynamic reconfiguration of functional connections.<img src="" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> Mosquitoes Trade Fertility for Immune Defense against Malaria Caitlin Sedwick info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002256 2015-09-22T21:00:00Z 2015-09-22T21:00:00Z <p>by Caitlin Sedwick</p><img src="" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> Sleep-Dependent Reactivation of Ensembles in Motor Cortex Promotes Skill Consolidation Dhakshin S. Ramanathan et al. info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002263 2015-09-18T21:00:00Z 2015-09-18T21:00:00Z <p>by Dhakshin S. Ramanathan, Tanuj Gulati, Karunesh Ganguly</p> Despite many prior studies demonstrating offline behavioral gains in motor skills after sleep, the underlying neural mechanisms remain poorly understood. To investigate the neurophysiological basis for offline gains, we performed single-unit recordings in motor cortex as rats learned a skilled upper-limb task. We found that sleep improved movement speed with preservation of accuracy. These offline improvements were linked to both replay of task-related ensembles during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep and temporal shifts that more tightly bound motor cortical ensembles to movements; such offline gains and temporal shifts were not evident with sleep restriction. Interestingly, replay was linked to the coincidence of slow-wave events and bursts of spindle activity. Neurons that experienced the most consistent replay also underwent the most significant temporal shift and binding to the motor task. Significantly, replay and the associated performance gains after sleep only occurred when animals first learned the skill; continued practice during later stages of learning (i.e., after motor kinematics had stabilized) did not show evidence of replay. Our results highlight how replay of synchronous neural activity during sleep mediates large-scale neural plasticity and stabilizes kinematics during early motor learning.<img src="" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> Time Adaptation Shows Duration Selectivity in the Human Parietal Cortex Masamichi J. Hayashi et al. info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002262 2015-09-17T21:00:00Z 2015-09-17T21:00:00Z <p>by Masamichi J. Hayashi, Thomas Ditye, Tokiko Harada, Maho Hashiguchi, Norihiro Sadato, Synnöve Carlson, Vincent Walsh, Ryota Kanai</p> Although psychological and computational models of time estimation have postulated the existence of neural representations tuned for specific durations, empirical evidence of this notion has been lacking. Here, using a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) adaptation paradigm, we show that the inferior parietal lobule (IPL) (corresponding to the supramarginal gyrus) exhibited reduction in neural activity due to adaptation when a visual stimulus of the same duration was repeatedly presented. Adaptation was strongest when stimuli of identical durations were repeated, and it gradually decreased as the difference between the reference and test durations increased. This tuning property generalized across a broad range of durations, indicating the presence of general time-representation mechanisms in the IPL. Furthermore, adaptation was observed irrespective of the subject’s attention to time. Repetition of a nontemporal aspect of the stimulus (i.e., shape) did not produce neural adaptation in the IPL. These results provide neural evidence for duration-tuned representations in the human brain.<img src="" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> Extremely High Mutation Rate of HIV-1 In Vivo José M. Cuevas et al. info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002251 2015-09-16T21:00:00Z 2015-09-16T21:00:00Z <p>by José M. Cuevas, Ron Geller, Raquel Garijo, José López-Aldeguer, Rafael Sanjuán</p> Rates of spontaneous mutation critically determine the genetic diversity and evolution of RNA viruses. Although these rates have been characterized in vitro and in cell culture models, they have seldom been determined in vivo for human viruses. Here, we use the intrapatient frequency of premature stop codons to quantify the HIV-1 genome-wide rate of spontaneous mutation in DNA sequences from peripheral blood mononuclear cells. This reveals an extremely high mutation rate of (4.1 ± 1.7) × 10<sup>−3</sup> per base per cell, the highest reported for any biological entity. Sequencing of plasma-derived sequences yielded a mutation frequency 44 times lower, indicating that a large fraction of viral genomes are lethally mutated and fail to reach plasma. We show that the HIV-1 reverse transcriptase contributes only 2% of mutations, whereas 98% result from editing by host cytidine deaminases of the A3 family. Hypermutated viral sequences are less abundant in patients showing rapid disease progression compared to normal progressors, highlighting the antiviral role of A3 proteins. However, the amount of A3-mediated editing varies broadly, and we find that low-edited sequences are more abundant among rapid progressors, suggesting that suboptimal A3 activity might enhance HIV-1 genetic diversity and pathogenesis.<img src="" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> Cellular Defense Enzyme Drives Exceptionally High Rate of Mutation in HIV Richard Robinson info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002252 2015-09-16T21:00:00Z 2015-09-16T21:00:00Z <p>by Richard Robinson</p><img src="" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> The Fitness Effects of Love Roland G. Roberts info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002249 2015-09-14T21:00:00Z 2015-09-14T21:00:00Z <p>by Roland G. Roberts</p><img src="" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> Fitness Benefits of Mate Choice for Compatibility in a Socially Monogamous Species Malika Ihle et al. info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002248 2015-09-14T21:00:00Z 2015-09-14T21:00:00Z <p>by Malika Ihle, Bart Kempenaers, Wolfgang Forstmeier</p> Research on mate choice has primarily focused on preferences for quality indicators, assuming that all individuals show consensus about who is the most attractive. However, in some species, mating preferences seem largely individual-specific, suggesting that they might target genetic or behavioral compatibility. Few studies have quantified the fitness consequences of allowing versus preventing such idiosyncratic mate choice. Here, we report on an experiment that controls for variation in overall partner quality and show that zebra finch (<i>Taeniopygia guttata</i>) pairs that resulted from free mate choice achieved a 37% higher reproductive success than pairs that were forced to mate. Cross-fostering of freshly laid eggs showed that embryo mortality (before hatching) primarily depended on the identity of the genetic parents, whereas offspring mortality during the rearing period depended on foster-parent identity. Therefore, preventing mate choice should lead to an increase in embryo mortality if mate choice targets genetic compatibility (for embryo viability), and to an increase in offspring mortality if mate choice targets behavioral compatibility (for better rearing). We found that pairs from both treatments showed equal rates of embryo mortality, but chosen pairs were better at raising offspring. These results thus support the behavioral, but not the genetic, compatibility hypothesis. Further exploratory analyses reveal several differences in behavior and fitness components between “free-choice” and “forced” pairs.<img src="" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> How to Turn On an Ancient Metabolic Enzyme? Add Insulin and Deacetylate Richard Robinson info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002244 2015-09-10T21:00:00Z 2015-09-10T21:00:00Z <p>by Richard Robinson</p><img src="" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> Insulin and mTOR Pathway Regulate HDAC3-Mediated Deacetylation and Activation of PGK1 Shiwen Wang et al. info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002243 2015-09-10T21:00:00Z 2015-09-10T21:00:00Z <p>by Shiwen Wang, Bowen Jiang, Tengfei Zhang, Lixia Liu, Yi Wang, Yiping Wang, Xiufei Chen, Huaipeng Lin, Lisha Zhou, Yukun Xia, Leilei Chen, Chen Yang, Yue Xiong, Dan Ye, Kun-Liang Guan</p> Phosphoglycerate kinase 1 (PGK1) catalyzes the reversible transfer of a phosphoryl group from 1, 3-bisphosphoglycerate (1, 3-BPG) to ADP, producing 3-phosphoglycerate (3-PG) and ATP. PGK1 plays a key role in coordinating glycolytic energy production with one-carbon metabolism, serine biosynthesis, and cellular redox regulation. Here, we report that PGK1 is acetylated at lysine 220 (K220), which inhibits PGK1 activity by disrupting the binding with its substrate, ADP. We have identified KAT9 and HDAC3 as the potential acetyltransferase and deacetylase, respectively, for PGK1. Insulin promotes K220 deacetylation to stimulate PGK1 activity. We show that the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway regulates HDAC3 S424 phosphorylation, which promotes HDAC3-PGK1 interaction and PGK1 K220 deacetylation. Our study uncovers a previously unknown mechanism for the insulin and mTOR pathway in regulation of glycolytic ATP production and cellular redox potential via HDAC3-mediated PGK1 deacetylation.<img src="" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> The Maternal Maverick/GDF15-like TGF-β Ligand Panda Directs Dorsal-Ventral Axis Formation by Restricting Nodal Expression in the Sea Urchin Embryo Emmanuel Haillot et al. info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002247 2015-09-09T21:00:00Z 2015-09-09T21:00:00Z <p>by Emmanuel Haillot, Maria Dolores Molina, François Lapraz, Thierry Lepage</p> Specification of the dorsal-ventral axis in the highly regulative sea urchin embryo critically relies on the zygotic expression of <i>nodal</i>, but whether maternal factors provide the initial spatial cue to orient this axis is not known. Although redox gradients have been proposed to entrain the dorsal-ventral axis by acting upstream of <i>nodal</i>, manipulating the activity of redox gradients only has modest consequences, suggesting that other factors are responsible for orienting <i>nodal</i> expression and defining the dorsal-ventral axis. Here we uncover the function of Panda, a maternally provided transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) ligand that requires the activin receptor-like kinases (Alk) Alk3/6 and Alk1/2 receptors to break the radial symmetry of the embryo and orient the dorsal-ventral axis by restricting <i>nodal</i> expression. We found that the double inhibition of the bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) type I receptors Alk3/6 and Alk1/2 causes a phenotype dramatically more severe than the BMP2/4 loss-of-function phenotype, leading to extreme ventralization of the embryo through massive ectopic expression of <i>nodal</i>, suggesting that an unidentified signal acting through BMP type I receptors cooperates with BMP2/4 to restrict <i>nodal</i> expression. We identified this ligand as the product of maternal Panda mRNA. Double inactivation of <i>panda</i> and <i>bmp2/4</i> led to extreme ventralization, mimicking the phenotype caused by inactivation of the two BMP receptors. Inhibition of maternal <i>panda</i> mRNA translation disrupted the early spatial restriction of <i>nodal</i>, leading to persistent massive ectopic expression of <i>nodal</i> on the dorsal side despite the presence of Lefty. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that Panda is not a prototypical BMP ligand but a member of a subfamily of TGF-β distantly related to Inhibins, Lefty, and TGF-β that includes Maverick from <i>Drosophila</i> and GDF15 from vertebrates. Indeed, overexpression of Panda does not appear to directly or strongly activate phosphoSmad1/5/8 signaling, suggesting that although this TGF-β may require Alk1/2 and/or Alk3/6 to antagonize <i>nodal</i> expression, it may do so by sequestering a factor essential for Nodal signaling, by activating a non-Smad pathway downstream of the type I receptors, or by activating extremely low levels of pSmad1/5/8. We provide evidence that, although <i>panda</i> mRNA is broadly distributed in the early embryo, local expression of <i>panda</i> mRNA efficiently orients the dorsal-ventral axis and that Panda activity is required locally in the early embryo to specify this axis. Taken together, these findings demonstrate that maternal <i>panda</i> mRNA is both necessary and sufficient to orient the dorsal-ventral axis. These results therefore provide evidence that in the highly regulative sea urchin embryo, the activity of spatially restricted maternal factors regulates patterning along the dorsal-ventral axis.<img src="" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> Resolving Conflicts between Agriculture and the Natural Environment Andrew J. Tanentzap et al. info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002242 2015-09-09T21:00:00Z 2015-09-09T21:00:00Z <p>by Andrew J. Tanentzap, Anthony Lamb, Susan Walker, Andrew Farmer</p> Agriculture dominates the planet. Yet it has many environmental costs that are unsustainable, especially as global food demand rises. Here, we evaluate ways in which different parts of the world are succeeding in their attempts to resolve conflict between agriculture and wild nature. We envision that coordinated global action in conserving land most sensitive to agricultural activities and policies that internalise the environmental costs of agriculture are needed to deliver a more sustainable future.<img src="" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> Face Patch Resting State Networks Link Face Processing to Social Cognition Caspar M. Schwiedrzik et al. info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002245 2015-09-08T21:00:00Z 2015-09-08T21:00:00Z <p>by Caspar M. Schwiedrzik, Wilbert Zarco, Stefan Everling, Winrich A. Freiwald</p> Faces transmit a wealth of social information. How this information is exchanged between face-processing centers and brain areas supporting social cognition remains largely unclear. Here we identify these routes using resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging in macaque monkeys. We find that face areas functionally connect to specific regions within frontal, temporal, and parietal cortices, as well as subcortical structures supporting emotive, mnemonic, and cognitive functions. This establishes the existence of an extended face-recognition system in the macaque. Furthermore, the face patch resting state networks and the default mode network in monkeys show a pattern of overlap akin to that between the social brain and the default mode network in humans: this overlap specifically includes the posterior superior temporal sulcus, medial parietal, and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, areas supporting high-level social cognition in humans. Together, these results reveal the embedding of face areas into larger brain networks and suggest that the resting state networks of the face patch system offer a new, easily accessible venue into the functional organization of the social brain and into the evolution of possibly uniquely human social skills.<img src="" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> A Change in the Ion Selectivity of Ligand-Gated Ion Channels Provides a Mechanism to Switch Behavior Jennifer K. Pirri et al. info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002238 2015-09-08T21:00:00Z 2015-09-08T21:00:00Z <p>by Jennifer K. Pirri, Diego Rayes, Mark J. Alkema</p> Behavioral output of neural networks depends on a delicate balance between excitatory and inhibitory synaptic connections. However, it is not known whether network formation and stability is constrained by the sign of synaptic connections between neurons within the network. Here we show that switching the sign of a synapse within a neural circuit can reverse the behavioral output. The inhibitory tyramine-gated chloride channel, LGC-55, induces head relaxation and inhibits forward locomotion during the <i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i> escape response. We switched the ion selectivity of an inhibitory LGC-55 anion channel to an excitatory LGC-55 cation channel. The engineered cation channel is properly trafficked in the native neural circuit and results in behavioral responses that are opposite to those produced by activation of the LGC-55 anion channel. Our findings indicate that switches in ion selectivity of ligand-gated ion channels (LGICs) do not affect network connectivity or stability and may provide an evolutionary and a synthetic mechanism to change behavior.<img src="" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> Centre of the Cell: Science Comes to Life Frances Balkwill et al. info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002240 2015-09-04T21:00:00Z 2015-09-04T21:00:00Z <p>by Frances Balkwill, Katie Chambers</p> Centre of the Cell is a unique biomedical science education centre, a widening participation and outreach project in London’s East End. This article describes Centre of the Cell’s first five years of operation, the evolution of the project in response to audience demand, and the impact of siting a major public engagement project within a research laboratory.<img src="" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> Correction: Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging: What Water Tells Us about Biological Tissues Denis Le Bihan et al. info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002246 2015-09-03T21:00:00Z 2015-09-03T21:00:00Z <p>by Denis Le Bihan, Mami Iima</p><img src="" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> The Actin Nucleator Cobl Is Controlled by Calcium and Calmodulin Wenya Hou et al. info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002233 2015-09-03T21:00:00Z 2015-09-03T21:00:00Z <p>by Wenya Hou, Maryam Izadi, Sabine Nemitz, Natja Haag, Michael M. Kessels, Britta Qualmann</p> Actin nucleation triggers the formation of new actin filaments and has the power to shape cells but requires tight control in order to bring about proper morphologies. The regulation of the members of the novel class of WASP Homology 2 (WH2) domain-based actin nucleators, however, thus far has largely remained elusive. Our study reveals signal cascades and mechanisms regulating Cordon-Bleu (Cobl). Cobl plays some, albeit not fully understood, role in early arborization of neurons and nucleates actin by a mechanism that requires a combination of all three of its actin monomer–binding WH2 domains. Our experiments reveal that Cobl is regulated by Ca<sup>2+</sup> and multiple, direct associations of the Ca<sup>2+</sup> sensor Calmodulin (CaM). Overexpression analyses and rescue experiments of Cobl loss-of-function phenotypes with Cobl mutants in primary neurons and in tissue slices demonstrated the importance of CaM binding for Cobl’s functions. Cobl-induced dendritic branch initiation was preceded by Ca<sup>2+</sup> signals and coincided with local F-actin and CaM accumulations. CaM inhibitor studies showed that Cobl-mediated branching is strictly dependent on CaM activity. Mechanistic studies revealed that Ca<sup>2+</sup>/CaM modulates Cobl’s actin binding properties and furthermore promotes Cobl’s previously identified interactions with the membrane-shaping F-BAR protein syndapin I, which accumulated with Cobl at nascent dendritic protrusion sites. The findings of our study demonstrate a direct regulation of an actin nucleator by Ca<sup>2+</sup>/CaM and reveal that the Ca<sup>2+</sup>/CaM-controlled molecular mechanisms we discovered are crucial for Cobl’s cellular functions. By unveiling the means of Cobl regulation and the mechanisms, by which Ca<sup>2+</sup>/CaM signals directly converge on a cellular effector promoting actin filament formation, our work furthermore sheds light on how local Ca<sup>2+</sup> signals steer and power branch initiation during early arborization of nerve cells—a key process in neuronal network formation.<img src="" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> Short Lives with Long-Lasting Effects: Filopodia Protrusions in Neuronal Branching Morphogenesis George Leondaritis et al. info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002241 2015-09-03T21:00:00Z 2015-09-03T21:00:00Z <p>by George Leondaritis, Britta Johanna Eickholt</p> The branching behaviors of both dendrites and axons are part of a neuronal maturation process initiated by the generation of small and transient membrane protrusions. These are highly dynamic, actin-enriched structures, collectively called filopodia, which can mature in neurons to form stable branches. Consequently, the generation of filopodia protrusions is crucial during the formation of neuronal circuits and involves the precise control of an interplay between the plasma membrane and actin dynamics. In this issue of <i>PLOS Biology</i>, Hou and colleagues identify a Ca<sup>2+</sup>/CaM-dependent molecular machinery in dendrites that ensures proper targeting of branch formation by activation of the actin nucleator Cobl.<img src="" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> From Friend to Foe: Toxicity Trade-Offs Govern Staphylococcus aureus Infection Severity Lauren A. Richardson info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002230 2015-09-02T21:00:00Z 2015-09-02T21:00:00Z <p>by Lauren A. Richardson</p><img src="" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> | http://feeds.plos.org/plosbiology/NewArticles | dclm-gs1-102800000 |
0.043315 | <urn:uuid:2e196d30-ee2b-4a6f-8267-6aad7c875b61> | en | 0.939296 | Posted December 9, 2010 by Phil Hall in Retro Cinema
Retro Cinema – It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
Its a Mad Mad Mad Mad World
Its a Mad Mad Mad Mad World
Stanley Kramer’s IT’S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD has never been a favorite with film critics and scholars they tend to see the 1963 film’s overkill slapstick and extravagant comic violence as too much of a bad thing. Indeed, the film exists as a deranged live action cartoon: people run through walls, crash airplanes, drive into ditches and valleys, get sprayed with fire extinguishers, and fall down staircases without genuine consequences. And you know that you’re in a roughhouse environment when the most sedate people on screen are the Three Stooges!
But in many ways, IT’S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD is one of the most representative films of American society. Its underlying message on the perils of get-rich-quick irresponsibility provides a funny/nasty commentary on the post-World War II society, where prosperity came too fast and too soon and, still, it wasn’t enough for most people, as witnessed by the film’s line-up of seemingly comfortable middle class Americans that haphazardly throw caution away when they are abruptly offered the chance to gain instant riches by securing a buried treasure in a distant park. The film’s characters offer astonishing displays of feral ingenuity at achieving their greedy goal, and the fact that nearly everyone gets pummeled along the way is irrelevant no one in the film takes a moment to pause for introspective reconsideration on the lunatic nature of their actions.
If anything, the near-death obstacles presented in the film only further inflame the characters’ desire to push harder and faster in reckless pursuit of these ill-gotten gains, without any concern to their own safety or the well being of others. Simultaneously, the characters’ actions are fully monitored in this case, by an inept police force but no one steps in to stop the chaos while the destruction gets out of control. It is funny in a slapstick movie, but numb-headed brute force and the lack of outside protest and intervention to irresponsible behavior continues to permeate American society, with decidedly unfunny results (can you say Iraq or Afghanistan).
On a more upbeat note, IT’S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD is the rare comedy film where everyone is given something funny to do. Most comedy films tend to segregate their heavy laughs to a select minority of performers, but this all-star extravaganza ensures that everyone on screen contributes to the laughs. But what’s even more unusual is that most of the all-star cast had no track record in movies and never truly found their niche in this medium. Only Spencer Tracy, Mickey Rooney, Terry-Thomas and Peter Falk were bonafide movie stars before this production was created. The bulk of the film’s core cast came out of television and theater, and none of them were able to establish themselves as movie icons after this film was released.
There have been some attempts over the years to duplicate IT’S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD in terms of scope, star power and comic fury. None of these films ever come close, simply because the Kramer got there first and set a frenetic standard that is nearly impossible to duplicate. Likewise, vague talk of remakes or sequels also went nowhere. That’s just as well, because there’s no point in duplicating a wonderfully warped original.
Phil Hall
| http://filmsnobbery.com/retro-cinema-its-a-mad-mad-mad-mad-world/ | dclm-gs1-102830000 |
0.367032 | <urn:uuid:3d8d0241-c3a6-4367-aedd-ce19213c8057> | en | 0.846041 | Go Down
Topic: Custom character generator for 16x Freetronics LCD+keypad (Read 10880 times) previous topic - next topic
Ah hah hahah hah. Yup, busted!
Offensive? yes.
Poor form? yes.
Acceptable? nope.
Shameful? yes.
:walks away with tail between legs:
Go Up | http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=164459.30 | dclm-gs1-102850000 |
0.522481 | <urn:uuid:06b1eb88-680f-4998-8561-531e56840f87> | en | 0.96305 | International Catholic University
7. Cosmology and Theology
In the centuries following the birth of science much was learned about the motions of the planets, the constitution of the stars and the structure of the galaxies. This was made possible by the development of ever more powerful telescopes, by spectroscopic analysis and by Einstein's general theory of relativity. For the first time the entire universe, spread out in space and time, has become the subject of scientific investigation. More recently, by applying our knowledge of nuclear and elementary particle physics, we have learned how the universe has evolved from a fiery singularity about ten billion years ago.
If we read about these discoveries in scientific articles and books we seldom find any references to theology. And yet, as Chesterton once remarked, "religion means something that commits man to some doctrine about the universe. Since everyone has some religious beliefs, explicit or implicit, it is not surprising that, just as theology was of vital importance for the birth of modern science, so it continues to influence, in many subtle ways, the continuing development of our knowledge of the universe. Much more obvious is the popularity of books on cosmology containing accounts of the latest discoveries, frequently linked with speculations about creation and the Big Bang, and how it all leads us to religion and a knowledge of the mind of God, or to atheism, depending on the inclinations of the author.
Before describing these discoveries it is necessary to recall a qualification that applies to all science, but especially to cosmology. By experiments in the laboratory we attain some knowledge of the laws of nature, and then we extend them to the realms of the very small and the very large, and to the distant past. Sometimes they break down, as they did for the atom and at very high velocities, and this led to quantum mechanics and special relativity. How then can we be sure that our present understanding is adequate to discuss what happened billions of years ago? Very small changes in the laws, quite undetectable by us, could have large effects when applied to the whole universe. Yet in spite of this difficulty, we must extrapolate the laws of nature, because we have no alternative, but it is important to remember the provisional character of all our knowledge of the distant past, as this sets severe limits on, or even excludes, any possibility of drawing theological conclusions.
The traditional philosophical arguments for the existence of a Creator do not, of course, depend on particular scientific theories of the universe. They are based on simple everyday experiences of order in the world, and of the dependent nature of material things. Nevertheless the desire to integrate our scientific and our theological knowledge into a coherent whole often provides an extra-scientific criterion for preferring some theories of the universe more than others. Thus if we believe from Revelation that the universe was created at a particular instant of time, we must notice that this is more plausibly brought into coherence with scientific theories that describe the development of the universe from a unique beginning than with those that maintain that the universe has always existed. Thus Christians might be expected to favour such theories, while those who wish to do away with the need for a Creator might prefer the alternative steady state or oscillating universe theories.
Such preferences run as hidden, and sometimes not so hidden, threads through all the scientific discussions of the origin of the universe. When they do surface they are mentioned as feelings rather than as argued conclusions. Thus Hoyle remarks: "In the older theories all the matter in the Universe is supposed to have appeared at one instant of time, the whole creation process taking the form of one big bang. For myself I find this idea very much queerer than continuous creation." He also found the big bang theory unacceptable on scientific grounds because it postulates an irrational process that cannot be described in scientific terms, and on philosophical grounds because it lies in principle beyond the realm of observation, irrespective of its success, "it simply cannot be a good scientific theory. Under no circumstances ought anything that sounds like a cosmic beginning be acquiesced in by the scientist." Another cosmologist, Harrison, recoiled from the evidence that the universe will keep expanding forever as a "horrible thought" that "would make the whole universe meaningless." Marxist-Leninist writers naturally reject the notion of an absolute beginning as fundamentally incompatible with the principles of dialectical materialism. Thus Sivderskii rejected the big bang theory as an "unscientific popish conclusion."
This does not imply that it is legitimate to argue from a scientific theory to a theological conclusion. Although some Christians have indeed used the big bang theory as evidence for Creation, others have been more cautious, notably the originator of the theory, the Belgian Abbe Lemaitre, a Catholic priest. Modern Christian writers on cosmology realise very clearly that it is quite unwarranted to argue from a scientific theory, however successful, to a theological belief. It is always hazardous to make links of this character, as has been found very often in the development of science. Science is concerned with the relation between one state of the world and another; it can never provide evidence for an absolute beginning.
The real connection is rather different; it is that the basic beliefs of the time tend to encourage or discourage different types of scientific theories, and these may or may not raise different theological questions. Thus the big bang theory inevitably raises the question about what happened before, whereas the continuous creation theory does not.
Now that Christians have realised that it is unwise to argue from the success of the big bang theory to the fact of Creation, and agnostics have seen the steady state and oscillating theories subjected to severe criticism on scientific grounds, the arena of argument has shifted. Some theists point to the specificity of the universe as suggesting that it was created purposefully, while agnostics tend to emphasise either its necessary or its random character, and therefore its lack of need for a Creator.
Cosmology and Theology
Cosmology, or the study of the heavens, played a central role in the development of science. The regularity of the movements of the stars and of the seasons provided an impressive witness to the power and reliability of the Creator. The power of the Creator is emphasised in the words of Yahweh to Job:
"Can you fasten the harness of the Pleiades
Or untie Orion's bands?
Can you guide the morning star season by season
and show the Bear and its cubs which way to go?
Have you grasped the celestial laws?
Could you make their writ run on the earth?
Can your voice carry as far as the clouds
and make the pent-up waters do your bidding?
Will lightning flashes come at your command
And answer "Here we are" " (Job 38:31-35).
Yahweh also demands:
"Where were you when I laid the earth's foundations?
Tell me, since you are so well-informed!
Who decided the dimensions of it, do you know
Or who stretched the measuring line across it?
What supports its pillars at their bases?
Who laid its cornerstone?" (Job 38:4-7)
The doctrine of creation is the most basic of all Judeo-Christian beliefs. It affirms that God made the world out of nothing, that He is absolutely distinct from His creation, and that all creation depends completely on Him.
This revelation was first given to the Israelites, and their acceptance set them apart from the surrounding idolatrous and pantheistic tribes. The Bible is saturated with the belief in creation from the powerful words addressed to Job to the confident matter-of-fact acceptance by the mother of the seven martyred brothers in Maccabees.
We cannot understand the creation of the universe. It is difficult enough to understand creation when it is applied to our own activities. How does a painter create a picture? He has an idea, but to realise that idea he re-orders existing matter. But God created the universe out of nothing. When the painter has finished his work, the picture remains, even if he forgets about it. But the universe depends utterly on God not only for its initial creation but for its continuance in being. Without God's sustaining power it would instantly lapse into nothingness.
The belief that the universe had a beginning is strikingly different from the beliefs held by most of the nations of antiquity. Almost without exception they believed in an eternal cyclic universe. The Hindus believed in a Great Year, after which everything would be repeated again and again. Such a belief is intensely debilitating, and played no small part in preventing the rise of genuine science: why should we strive to improve our understanding, if everything that happens has already happened many times before and will happen many times again?
This belief was decisively broken by the unique incarnation of Christ. Writing on the doctrine of the Great Year, the French physicist Pierre Duhem said: 'To the construction of that system all disciples of Hellenistic philosophy -- Peripatetics, Stoics, Neo-Platonists -- contributed; to that system Abu Masar offered the homage of the Arabs; the most illustrious rabbis, from Philo of Alexandria to Maimonides, have accepted it. To condemn it and to throw it overboard as a monstrous superstition, Christianity had to come.'
As Jaki has remarked, religions fall into two categories: In one there is the Judeo-Christian religion with its belief in a linear cosmic story running from 'in the beginning' to 'a new heaven and earth'. In the other are all pagan religions, primitive and sophisticated, old and modern, which invariably posit the cyclic and eternal recurrence of all, or rather the confining of all into an eternal treadmill, the most effective generator of the feeling of unhappiness and haplessness. Concerning that treadmill, Chesterton has remarked: 'I am exceedingly proud to observe that it was before the coming of Christianity that it flourished and after the neglect of Christianity that it returned.'
The medieval philosophers actively discussed the nature of the universe. They made full use of Greek philosophy, but did not hesitate to depart from it if is was contrary to their Christian faith. Along with other Greek philosophers, Aristotle believed in an eternal, cyclic universe, and this was rejected because it is contrary not only to the Christian belief that the world has a beginning and an end, but also to the belief in the unique Incarnation of Christ.
Aristotle's speculations, particularly his belief in the eternity of the world and on the difference between unchanging celestial matter and corruptible terrestrial matter, prevented the rise of science in ancient times. They were broken by the Judeo-Christian beliefs in the creation of the universe by an all-powerful God, totally distinct from his creation. The creation of the universe out of nothing transformed a circular view of time to a linear one, and implied that celestial and terrestrial matter, being both created by God, obey the same laws.
Christian theology provided the belief in the orderliness of nature that is the essential basis of all science. Our philosophy of the material world is absolutely crucial for the development of science, and it has its roots in theology. We believe that God created the world out of nothing by the free exercise of the creative power that belongs to Him alone.
The created world has its own intrinsic nature, given to it by God. Normally it continues to exist, sustained always by God, and to behave in the way determined by its nature. The material world, the universe, defined as the totality of consistently interacting things, is thus a totally determined system. If we knew exactly its initial state, and the laws of its nature, we could calculate exactly how it would subsequently behave. This is not of course possible in practice because we cannot know the present exactly, we do not know the laws well enough and we cannot do the calculations. This determined development is not however a logically necessary development, in the sense that it could not be otherwise. God always has the power to intervene, to override the development otherwise determined by the intrinsic nature of the material world.
Throughout the preceding paragraph we are speaking only of the material world, not of man. Man is made in the image of God and has freedom of action and so is not wholly part of the universe as defined above.
This account of the material world specifically excludes other possibilities that are widely held and are inimical to the development of science:
1. It excludes the concept of the world as immediately dependent on the will of God, who determines its behaviour from instant to instant. On this view the world is like a cinema picture, a series of disconnected flashes that appear to have continuity but in fact have none, a world that is re-created continually from one instant to the next. It denies the idea that things have their own intrinsic natures that normally determine their behaviour. This view of the world stresses the freedom of God at the expense of His rationality.
2. It excludes the concept of the world held by deists. This is the idea that God created the world like a clock, wound it up and then let it go so that thereafter it inevitably develops according to its intrinsic design. This idea stems from the concept of God that stresses His rationality at the expense of His freedom.
3. It excludes the idea that God was obliged to create the world in a particular way, so that it is a necessary world. Such a belief also stresses the rationality of God at the expense of His freedom. It denies that the world is contingent and so destroys science by removing the need for experiment. If the world is a necessary world we might hope to find out about it by pure thought.
4. It excludes pantheism, the idea that the universe is an emanation from God or a part of God, because Christ is the only-begotten Son of God. The universe was made, not begotten.
5. It excludes any form of dualism, the idea that different part of the world were created or are controlled by different spirits or gods. All creation takes place through Christ and is therefore wholly good and wholly dependent on God.
6. It implies that the world, though contingent, is completely orderly. This again is necessary for science, for if the world was not orderly science would be impossible. God could not create an chaotic world.
7. It denies that there is any intrinsic indeterminism in the world, and thus excludes the misuse of the word chance as if it were a causative agent. Chance is simply a word that indicates that we do not know the determining causes.
The science made possible by Christian theology has repaid the debt by revealing God's creation in ever more detail.
The Discovery and Exploration of the Universe
It is one of the most astonishing achievements of man that he is able to probe the extremes of the very small and the very large, the recesses of the atomic nucleus and the vastness of cosmic space and time.
The observations of the nineteenth century astronomers showed that our sun is a rather ordinary star in one of the spiral arms of a galaxy of about two hundred thousand million stars that we see in faint outline as the Milky Way. Billions of similar galaxies are visible in all directions, and Hubble found that the frequency of the light from them is shifted in a way that shows that they are all moving rapidly away from us. Furthermore, the greater the distance from us the faster they are receding. In other words, all the galaxies are moving in just the way we would expect if they had all come from a mighty explosion at a time that we can calculate to be about fifteen thousand million years ago. This figure is subject to considerable uncertainty, not only due to inevitable difficulties of measurement, but also because it assumes that the expansion is uniform. It has also been suggested that in the early stages there was a period of more rapid expansion.
A deeper understanding of this expansion of the universe was provided by Einstein's general theory of relativity. His cosmological model was shown to lead to the observed expansion, and Lemaitre derived from it the measured velocity of recession of the galaxies. For the first time the universe as a whole became an object of scientific study. Thus theory and experiment combine to support the idea that what we now see is an ageing universe, the scattered ashes and sparks remaining from the compressed incandescence of its fiery beginning.
Although we see the galaxies flying away from us with velocities proportional to their distance, this does not mean that we are in a specially privileged position. Every galaxy is receding from every other galaxy, so that a being on any of the other galaxies would see just the same recession. More subtly, we must not think of the galaxies as flying apart into an already-existing infinite space, but rather that the space itself is expanding. We cannot imagine this, but the analogy of particles on an expanding balloon may be helpful.
Several other lines of evidence, such as the motions of clusters of galaxies and the relative proportions of various types of nuclei also give about the same result for the time when all the matter of the universe was concentrated in a small volume. We can apply the laws of physics to understand many of the processes occurring during the expansion of the universe from this initial compressed state, but at present there seems no possibility of finding out by scientific means what happened before the expansion began. It seems to be the ultimate limit of science, a limit that some have ventured to call the Creation.
It must however be emphasised again that this is not a scientific inference. It is not possible to show scientifically of any state that there can be no antecedent state. We cannot exclude the possibility that there was a previous state, perhaps one of contraction. It has been suggested that the universe is eternal, either remaining always more or less the same on a sufficiently large scale, or perhaps alternately expanding or contracting. These theories will now be discussed in more detail.
Theories of the Universe
As already mentioned, several lines of evidence indicate that the universe has expanded from a compressed state about fifteen billion years ago. This suggests that the development of the universe is a continuous progression from an explosive beginning to a silent end. The processes occurring in the first few instants of the expansion have been reconstructed in considerable detail, making use of the latest knowledge of nuclear and elementary particle physics. The details are highly technical and still somewhat speculative for the very earliest times, namely the first fraction of a second. The evolution of the universe from about one hundredth of a second from the beginning of the expansion are better understood (Weinberg, 1977)
At that time the temperature of the universe was about a hundred thousand million degrees and consisted of matter and radiation in very close interaction. It was expanding rapidly, but the interaction was so strong that it remained essentially in a state of thermal equilibrium. The most abundant particles were electrons and neutrinos and their anti-particles, and also photons. There were also some nucleons in the proportion of one neutron or proton for every thousand million photons, electrons or neutrinos. These protons and neutrons were in constant interaction with the electrons and neutrinos so that the numbers of protons and neutrons remained the same. There was no possibility of forming more complex particles as the temperature was so high that they would be broken up as soon as they were formed.
As the expansion continued the temperature fell and soon it became slightly easier for a neutron to interact to form a proton than conversely. By the time a tenth of a second had elapsed there were about twice as many protons as neutrons. The density and temperature continued to fall, and after one second the temperature was about ten thousand million degrees. At this stage the neutrinos no longer interacted appreciably with the other particles, and so play no further part in the story, except in so far as their energy contributes to the gravitational field of the universe.
After about fourteen seconds the temperature had fallen to three thousand million degrees, and now the electrons and their anti-particles the positrons annihilated to produce more photons. This rapidly removed most of the electrons and positrons, and also momentarily slowed down the rate of cooling because of the energy released in the annihilation process. Neutrons were still being converted into protons, though much more slowly, and now there were about four protons to every neutron. At this stage it was cool enough for helium nuclei to form, but this could not happen yet because this can only come about through the formation of deuterons consisting of a proton and a neutron, and then tritons (a proton and two neutrons) and helions (a neutron and two protons). These intermediate particles on the way to helium formation are much less stable, and so were broken apart as soon as they are formed. However as soon as the temperature fell low enough for the deuterons to survive, the reactions leading to the formation of helium took place very rapidly and all the neutrons combined with protons to form helium.
After about half an hour the temperature had fallen to three hundred million degrees. All the electrons and positrons had been annihilated apart from the small number of electrons needed to provide one for each proton, so that the universe as a whole is uncharged. Most of the nuclear particles were either free protons or helium nuclei (about 25% in weight), with a very small amount of lithium. The period of intense activity was now over, but the universe continued to expand, cooling all the time, and after about a million years the temperature had fallen to about three thousand degrees, sufficient to allow the electrons and the nuclei to combine to form atoms. The disappearance of the free electrons made the universe transparent to radiation, and this decoupling of matter and radiation allowed the atoms to condense into stars and galaxies.
Inside the stars it became possible to build up heavier nuclei. This could not happen before because nuclei with five or eight neutrons or protons are unstable. Inside the stars, however, the intense gravitational pressure allowed the hydrogen and helium to combine to form the heavier nuclei. The nuclear reactions taking place at that time have been studied in laboratories, and so we can calculate the proportions of the different chemical elements in the universe. This is very similar to what is observed, showing that we have as detailed and quantitative understanding of the processes that took place so long ago.
About ten thousand million years later the evolution of living beings took place, among them men and women who are able to understand and reconstruct the details of the processes that made their existence possible.
How do we know that this story is true? Some parts of it are of course better understood than others, and research is continually providing more details of the various stages, even of the processes occurring in the first hundredth of a second. As already mentioned, the formation of the nuclei is quite well understood, and the results of calculations agree with the measured abundances of the various chemical elements in the universe.
Additional confirmation came from the observation of what is called the cosmic microwave background radiation. At the stage of the formation of the atoms all the electrons were captured by nuclei and thereafter the photons no longer interacted strongly with the rest of the universe. These photons were in statistical equilibrium with each other and their energy distribution is related to their temperature. This energy distribution is well-known from the early days of the quantum theory, and is given precisely by Planck's formula. As the universe expanded the temperature fell, and with it the average energy of the photons. Since we know the temperature at the time when the matter and radiation were decoupled, we can calculate the initial energy distribution of these photons, and also the way that temperature falls as the universe expands. These photons are still present in the universe, and now their temperature is just three degrees above the absolute zero of temperature. Photons of this temperature are in the microwave region.
At the same time as these calculations were being made in Princeton, this microwave radiation was actually observed in 1965 by Penzias and Wilson. These two radio astronomers were hoping to measure the radio waves emitted by our galaxy, but first they had to make sure that there was no spurious noise in their detecting antenna that could mask the signals they were looking for. They found that however they turned their antenna they always detected some radiation, and furthermore it came with equal intensity from all directions and so could not come from our own galaxy. It must come from the universe as a whole. It was then realised that this was probably the radiation left over from an early stage in the evolution of the universe.
It might be asked why the scientists did not actually look for this radiation, since it could have been predicted and to some extent was predicted long before it was observed. Partly this may be the difficulty of the measurements, but it seems that even theoretical physicists sometimes find it hard to realise that their abstract mathematical calculations refer directly to physical reality, that they reach across the vastness of space and time to predict the presence of hitherto unknown radiation, and that if we turn a radio aerial to the sky we find that it is there.
Since that time the background microwave radiation has been studied in detail, and in particular it has been shown to have a spectral distribution closely similar to Planck's formula, and to come almost equally from all directions. It is just what would be expected for the theory of the evolution of the universe, and provides a compelling verification of its truth. The very slight departures from isotropy, found quite recently, are what are needed to allow the formation of galaxies.
Another prediction of the theory that can be experimentally verified is the proportion of helium in the universe. The helium is formed at an earlier stage than the heavy elements, and so its proportion is a sensitive indication of the relative numbers of the nuclear particles and of photons. This ratio in turn fixes the temperature of the microwave background radiation. Thus from the measured temperature of three degrees it can be estimated that the proportion of helium in the matter from which the stars were formed must be about twenty-five per cent by mass. This is just the same as the value for the hydrogen-helium ratio obtained from theories of stellar evolution.
It is worth noting at this stage the extreme specificity of the whole process, a feature that will be returned to later on. In particular the ratio of nuclear particles to photons, electrons and neutrinos must be about one to a thousand million; if there are more photons the number of neutrons and protons will remain about the same, so that as soon as the temperature falls low enough for helium to be formed, they will all combine in this way. Nearly all the nuclear particles will become helium, and then it is not possible to build up any of the heavier nuclei. On the other hand if there are fewer photons the interaction that keeps the number of neutrons and protons the same will cease too soon, and before the helium formation can begin most of the neutrons will have decayed to protons. Nearly all the nuclear particles will then be protons, and so not enough helium can be formed to lead to the production of heavier nuclei. Thus the ratio is exceedingly critical; if it is too large or too small there can be no nuclei heavier than helium, and so no possibility of life.
Carbon is essential to life and like other heavier elements it has been made inside stars by a series of reactions starting from hydrogen and helium. The chain of reactions starts from the alpha-particle, and two of them combine to form beryllium 8. Then another alpha-particle is added to give carbon 12, and another to give oxygen 16 and so on. For this to produce carbon 12 several conditions have to be satisfied. If beryllium 8 were stable, the process would proceed so explosively that the star would be blown apart and the synthesis of heavier elements would be impossible. Beryllium 8 is however just unstable, so this does not happen. It is then difficult to see how carbon 12 can be formed. Beryllium 8 has an extremely short lifetime, and so if carbon 12 is to be formed another alpha-particle must collide with it before it decays. The collision of three particles is a very rare process and so the reaction rate is so slow any carbon formed in this way would soon be transformed into oxygen. The only way the carbon-forming reaction could occur more rapidly if there is a state in carbon 12 just about the threshold at 7.65 MeV. that would make possible a resonance reaction. No such state was known, so Hoyle suggested to some experimentalists that they should look for it. Within a few days it was found, at just the predicted energy. The formation of carbon 12 also require that it is not all transformed into oxygen 16 by the addition of an additional alpha-particle, and this would happen if there were a state in oxygen 16 around the threshold energy. There is indeed such a state, but its energy is 7.12 Mev. far enough below the threshold at 7.19 MeV. for the reaction not to take place. Thus the possibility of the formation of carbon 12 depends on the energies of three states in beryllium 8, carbon 12 and oxygen 16. Is this just a coincidence, or was it planned? This discovery astounded Hoyle, and led him to consider profound questions such as whether the laws of physics are deliberately designed to permit the existence of life, or whether the existence of life is the result ot 'a set of freakish coincidences in nuclear physics'. This is connected with arguments about what is called the anthropic principle to be discussed later on.
The Inflationary Universe
A serious difficulty of the big bang theory concerns the mass density of the universe, which determines whether the universe will go on forever expanding, or eventually slow down, stop and then begin to contract. The density corresponding to the behaviour at the dividing line between these two possibilities is called the critical density. Calculations show that what happens depends extremely sensitively on the mass density near the beginning of time. Indeed, at one second after the big bang the mass density must have equalled the critical density to an accuracy of one part in a thousand million million. If the mass density were outside these limits the universe would either collapse or expand so rapidly that there would be no time for the development of life. Does this have a rational explanation?
Then it was found that the calculations of the density of magnetic monopoles using the well-supported Grand Unified Theory showed that they should be as numerous as protons and neutrons. Since the monopoles are very massive, they would exert such a strong gravitational attraction that the universe would rapidly collapse.
A further difficulty was posed by the extreme uniformity (to one part in a hundred thousand) of the temperature of the cosmic microwave background radiation. Such uniformity could only come about by strong energy-sharing interactions, and yet the parts of the background radiation are too far apart for this to happen.
The solution of all these problems finally came from the concept of the inflationary universe developed from 1979 onwards by Alan Guth. In the very early stages of the Big Bang (around 10 seconds from the beginning) the universe is driven into a stage of very rapid expansion by the repulsive gravitational field due to what is called the false vacuum. This increases the diameter of the universe by a factor of about 10 compared with what was previously thought. Before this expansion begins, thermal equilibrium is established and this is retained during the expansion, thus solving the uniformity problem. The production of magnetic monopoles is reduced by the supercooling of a delayed phase transition. The process also automatically drives the mass density to the same value as the critical density. The very small perturbations that remain are just what are required to lead to the formation of stars, galaxies and clusters of galaxies. Thus what appeared at first to be astonishing coincidences or serious problems all received a rational explanation within the inflationary model, although it must be added that this requires the initial parameters to be assigned values in a narrow range.
In the years since Guth's proposal, many varieties of inflationary theories have been developed, and these are still the subject of intense debate. The general idea is very probably correct, but the details have still to be established. One of the difficulties of cosmology is that there are many imaginative and speculative theories but rather few experimental observations that enable them to be tested. The situation in this respect is now greatly improving. New satellites, scheduled to be launched in 2000 and 2004 should provide even more accurate data, and correspondingly sharp tests of cosmological models.
The whole story shows in ever more detail the extraordinary way the universe has developed from the initial singularity to its present state. It is the ongoing task of the scientists to explore this in every way possible. It is also clear that it is always unwise to ascribe any cosmological event, however improbable it may seem, to the direct action of the Deity. So often it is later found to be entirely explicable by a new theory.
The Steady State Theory
As an alternative to the big bang theory, Bondi and Gold, and also Hoyle, proposed the steady state theory. This was based on what they called the perfect cosmological principle, which says that on a sufficiently large scale the universe is always the same, both in space and time. In particular, the number of galaxies in any large volume of space is constant. Since however we know that the galaxies are receding from each other this can only be ensured if new galaxies are coming into being to replace those that are moving away. They therefore postulated that hydrogen atoms continually appear out of nothing and ultimately condense and coalesce to form new galaxies at a rate just sufficient to replace those lost by recession. The rate of appearance of the hydrogen atoms came out to be so small that there is no possibility of ever observing it, just one hydrogen atom per year in every cubic mile of space.
The motivation behind this theory was avowedly to provide a rival to the big bang theory which, although it does not prove that Creation in time has occurred yet seems to be more consonant with it. To do this, they were obliged to postulate what they called continuous creation, and yet they resolutely refused to consider how this creation occurred, or to attribute it to a Creator. It thus seemed to many to be a somewhat gratuitous hypothesis, and yet they were correct to maintain that it is a legitimate scientific theory that stands or falls when its consequences are compared with observational data.
The most direct test of the theory is to see if indeed the galaxies are uniformly spread throughout all space. At first this seemed to be the case; the number of galaxies increased as the cube of the distance, as it should, Then it was found by the techniques of radio astronomy that at very large distances the galaxies start thinning out; there are not enough of them for the steady state theory to be correct.
The observation of the 3 degrees background radiation by Penzias and Wilson provided further evidence against the steady state theory since it shows that the present expansion of the universe started some fifteen thousand million years ago. On the steady state theory we would not expect this background radiation to be there. The red shifts of quasi-stellar objects are also inconsistent with the theory. For these reasons the steady state theory has now been abandoned and scientists reluctant to envisage the possibility of a Creation turned their attention to the possibility of an oscillating universe.
The Oscillating Universe
At present the universe is expanding, but the question is whether it will go on expanding forever, the galaxies and the stars getting colder and colder, or whether at some epoch the expansion will slow down and go into reverse, leading eventually to the collapse of the universe into a very small volume. If the universe is ultimately destined to collapse we can then see the present expansion and collapse as possibly just one of a whole series of expansions and contractions going on for ever, a spectacle that banishes the possibility of a Creation at a particular instant but not, it must be added, the need for a continuing Sustainer of the whole oscillating process.
This question is physically the same as asking whether as rocket fired upwards will escape from the earth's gravitational field or eventually fall back to the ground. We can answer it in two ways: by examining the way the velocity of the rocket is changing after the motors have been switched off, or by comparing the velocity at that moment with the velocity that we can calculate to be sufficient to take the rocket out of the earth's gravitational field. When we apply this test to the receding galaxies we find that we cannot yet measure the velocities of recession at great enough distances to determine whether they are on the road of eternal expansion or the road of eventual contraction. We therefore have to fall back on the second method, which requires a knowledge of the total mass of the universe. We can also calculate the mass that the universe must have if its gravitational attraction is to be sufficient to slow down and ultimately reverse the recessional motion of the galaxies. If this mass is greater than the actual mass, then the expansion will go on for ever, but if it is less, then the expansion will ultimately turn into a contraction.
Present estimates of the mass of the universe show that it is between ten and a hundred times too small to reverse the motion of the galaxies. This has led to a hunt for the missing mass, particularly among those with a vested interest in an oscillating universe. It is possible that there is a halo of unseen mass around the galaxies, and the neutrinos may account for some more, but even then the best estimate is that only about a tenth of the required mass can be found. This is of course open to revision in the light of further research. It is worth noting in passing that it is remarkable that the masses are so closely the same, and this may well have a deeper significance. The relative abundances of the light elements also supports continual expansion.
There are other difficulties with the idea of an oscillating universe, in particular those connected with the second law of thermodynamics, which requires the total entropy of any system to increase continually. As Tolman showed, when this is applied to an oscillating universe the result is that the amplitude of oscillation becomes less and less, so that eventually it all runs down. Thus the second law of thermodynamics appears to exclude the possibility of an oscillating universe (Tolman, 1934).
Thus at the present time there are considerable difficulties with the theory of an oscillating universe, but it cannot yet be entirely ruled out. It is always possible that further developments will weaken the arguments mentioned above. Scientifically it remains an open question.
Philosophically, an eternal universe is open to the objection that if we are in such a universe then everything would already have happened an infinite time ago. The only way to avoid this conclusion is to say that the whole of history is indeed repeated in all its details an infinite number of times. The periodicity of this repetition need not be the same as that of the universe as a whole, providing it is equal or greater. Such a belief in an oscillating universe has indeed often occurred in human history, but in our civilisation this idea was rejected because the Incarnation of Christ is a unique event that cannot be repeated. God's plan in history is a linear one, from the beginning to the end, and is incompatible with eternally recurring cycles. That is why the Church has always believed in Creation in time, and conversely it is notable that belief in an oscillating universe is always one of the hallmarks of atheism.
Necessary or Singular?
With the abandonment of the steady state theory and the uncertain future of the oscillating universe theory, those who are unable to accept the idea of a Creator have turned their attention to developing the concept of a necessary universe, that is a universe that must be the way that it is. If the universe is necessary, then there is no need to enquire why it is the way it is; it could not be otherwise and so there is no need to look for an explanation, in particular no need for a Creator.
The idea of a necessary universe has a long history, going back to Aristotle. As a scientific hypothesis it encourages the idea that it is possible to obtain the whole of science, including even the values of the fundamental constants, by pure deductive reasoning. There is no need to make experiments; physics, like mathematics, may be carried out by thought alone. Strenuous efforts were made along these lines by Eddington, but in spite of instructive insights, he did not succeed in his endeavours. The structure of the universe is far richer and more sophisticated than could ever be imagined by the mind of man.
But even if it is not possible to discover the structure of the world by thought alone, it remains possible that it is a necessary world. Due to the limitations of our minds we need the help of experiments to understand the order of the universe, and then we could realise that it is in fact a necessary order. The experiments serve as intellectual scaffolding that can be discarded when we have reached our goal.
There are indeed many features of the universe that might seem at first to be given, but which turn out on further examination to be necessary. For example the number of spatial dimensions must be three, for otherwise the solar system would not be stable. As science advances, more and more features of the world seem to be linked together and not at all arbitrary. Indeed the aim of theoretical physics is the unification of our knowledge of the world expressed inevitably in mathematical terms. Already the unification that has been achieved is remarkable, and areas of experience that seem to be quite distinct are seen to be but different manifestations of the same underlying order, as for example electricity, magnetism, optics and radio are all governed by Maxwell's equations. Great efforts are being made to unify the four fundamental forces of nature, and important progress has already been made.
It is quite possible that scientists will eventually succeed in developing a comprehensive theory that explains all phenomena and enables the results of all conceivable experiments to be calculated. Even this, however, will fall short of proving that the universe is a necessary one, as a consequence of a theorem of Godel, who showed in 1930 that no set of non-trivial mathematical propositions can have its proof of consistency within itself, and that there are always meaningful propositions that cannot either be proved or disproved within the system. Thus any scientific cosmology, which is necessarily expressed in mathematical terms must fall short of being a theory that shows that the world must necessarily be what it is. There is always the possibility of the surprising, the unexpected, that points beyond this world for those who have eyes to see.
The Singularity of the Universe
The more closely scientists study the evolution of the universe the more evidence they find of its extreme singularity. A striking example of this has already been quoted: if the proportion of nuclear particles and photons had been slightly different there would have been nearly all hydrogen or nearly all helium, and in each case no heavier nuclei and so no possibility of life. Again, it has been noted that the universe is remarkably homogeneous on a large scale, and this is the result of the initial conditions. It is very difficult to understand why these inhomogeneities should be so small, and yet if they were any larger the matter of the universe would have collapsed into black holes long ago, while if they had been any smaller, there would have been no galaxies.
The evolution of the solar system is also highly specific. There is still no satisfactory theory of how the system of planets was formed, and in particular how they came to be rotating around the sun in nearly circular orbits, and nearly in the same plane. Yet it is only on a planet of a certain size moving on a nearly circular orbit that life could have evolved. The more this evolution is studied, the more we realise that it is immensely improbable that we should be here at all. We have come to where we are on an exceedingly narrow track.
Man in the Universe
We always tend to think that we are at the centre of all things. The ancient Hebrew cosmology, the cosmology of the Greeks, and cosmology of the Hindus all put man in the centre of the universe. In Genesis man appears as God's supreme handiwork on the sixth day, and all creation is his to dominate. This anthropocentric picture received a crushing blow when Copernicus showed that the motions of the planets can be much better understood if they rotate about the sun, so now the sun is the centre, with the earth a rather small planet revolving around it. Man's centrality received further blows when it was shown that the sun, so impressive to us, is a rather undistinguished star near the end of one of the spiral arms of a vast galaxy of billions of such stars, and that this galaxy is but one of many billions of similar galaxies scattered through an unimaginably large universe.
What remains of the centrality of man, and of the world made for him by God? Compared with the vastness of space, we are totally insignificant. We can be filled with awe and reverence, and with the Psalmist we can rejoice that the Heavens show forth the glory of the Lord. Or, with Pascal, we can be terrified by the vastness of space, realising that 'man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature. The entire universe need not arm itself to crush him; a vapour, a drop of water, suffices to kill him.'
It is true that we can reply, again with Pascal, that man 'is a thinking reed. If the universe were to crush him, man would still be nobler than that which killed him, because he knows that he dies, and the advantages the universe has over him; of this the universe knows nothing.' But how can we be sure even of this? Is it not very likely that around some other stars in far away galaxies there are sentient beings in civilisations immeasurably superior to our own, who know what we are doing and regard our activities in much the same way as we regard those of ants and bees. There are indeed few grounds for pride when we consider our position in the universe. And if there is no other life in the universe, this raises another question, posed by Margaret Knight, a well-known humanist: 'If life is the purpose of creation, what conceivably can be the point of countless millions of lifeless worlds? Or of the aeons of astronomical time before life existed? The Church has glanced uneasily at these questions but it has never answered them.' In saying this she was but echoing Maimonides' Guide for the Perplexed: 'Consider then how immense is the size of these bodies, and how numerous they are. And if the earth is thus no bigger than a point relative to the sphere of the fixed stars, what must be the ratio of the human species to the created Universe as a whole? And how then can any of us think that these things exist for his sake, and that they are meant to serve his uses?'
Now, when we know far more about the universe, when we begin to understand in a very detailed way the evolution of the very matter of which it is composed, we begin at the same time to glimpse a new truth, that it looks more and more as if the universe was indeed made just for man. At each stage in its development there seem to be many possibilities, and every time the one is chosen that alone leads to a universe that can produce man. Within this perspective the insignificance of man takes on a completely different aspect. We wonder at the vastness of the universe in space and time compared with the smallness and frailty of man. Why this apparent prodigality? Now we see the answer: all this stupendous evolution was necessary in order that the earth should be made as a habitation for man. The process of nucleosynthesis, by which the elements constituting man's body are built up in the interiors of stars, takes billions of years. And in this time the galaxies containing these stars will inevitably move vast distances from their point of formation. So the universe must be as large and as old as it is, in order that it can be prepared as a home for man.
This is why we can say that it is our universe. Freeman Dyson has summed this up in the words: "As we look out into the universe and identify the many accidents of physics and astronomy that have worked together for our benefit, it almost seems as if the universe must in some sense have known that we were coming."
The idea that the universe has taken just that path in its evolution that leads to man is called the anthropic principle. It must be noted that this principle does not explain why the universe evolved in this particular way, unless we already believe in a Creator who intended this result. Since we are indeed here, then of course the universe must be such as to allow our emergence. If the universe had so to speak taken the wrong turning, then we would not be here to talk about it. Or perhaps there have been millions of different universes in non-interacting spaces, and this is just the one that happened to be such as to allow for the evolution of man. We may or may not think that these arguments are plausible, but they are certainly tenable.
It has sometimes been objected that the anthropic principle is not scientific because it is not testable and leads to no new discoveries. However, Hoyle considered how carbon could be formed, and concluded that it must be by the simultaneous collision of three alpha-particles. The probability of such collisions is extremely small, and so the cross-section can only be appreciable if there is a resonance just above the state in carbon formed by three alpha-particles. He looked at the spectrum of carbon and found that there is indeed a resonance at just the required energy.
There is an even stronger form of the anthropic principle that deserves mention. We are accustomed to think of the constants of nature like the velocity of light or the mass of an electron as fixed and unalterable. Now the strong form of the anthropic principle says that the values of these constants are in fact fixed by the requirement that the universe will allow man to evolve. Some rather detailed arguments have been made to support this idea. This raises the possibility that there are many universes with different values of the fundamental constants, and only those with the values we know can produce man. There is however a difficulty with this argument. The number of fundamental constants is about ten, whereas the number of conditions they must satisfy is substantially greater. This implies that it is not possible, even in principle, to fix the parameters so as to ensure the evolution of man; there are not enough of them. The values of the constants cannot be the result of a random process; the universe is our universe, at the deepest level.
It should also be remarked in connection with the anthropic principle that it is possible that when science advances further we shall see that what appear to be arbitrary choices in the evolutionary process are in fact necessary. That, for example, we might find that the ratio of nuclear particles to photons must be as it is, and similarly for the other apparently very singular parameters. At an even deeper level, the very values of the fundamental constants as we know them might be necessary values, as indeed Eddington tried to show. This would make it even more surprising that we are here.
Although the emergence of life in the universe seems to be a most improbable process, there are so many stars that might conceivably have planets on which life could have evolved that there have been many speculations that conscious beings and perhaps well-developed civilisations exist in many parts of the universe. This has led to ambitious schemes to detect signals that may have been broadcast by such beings, and plans to transmit signals of our own. However until we have factual evidence the whole subject is highly speculative, serving to distract attention from real and solvable problems.
Random or Ordered?
There are two contemporary lines of argument that appear to support the idea of a purely random world, one derived from quantum mechanics and the other from the recent work on chaotic motion.
Quantum mechanics was developed in the nineteen twenties and has been extremely successful in accounting for a wide range of atomic and nuclear phenomena. It is an indispensable part of modern physics. There is however still much dispute about its interpretation, and this is essentially a continuation of the dispute between Bohr and Einstein.
The most important point of difference is that Bohr held that the wavefunction contains all that can be known about each individual system, whereas Einstein held that the wavefunction gives only the average behaviour of a large number of similar systems. Since individual systems behave differently, even if as far as we know they have been prepared in the same way, then according to Bohr they manifest a radical indeterminism. That is what led Heisenberg to say that the law of causality has definitely been disproved by quantum mechanics. Within this perspective it is possible to say that there is no reason to seek the cause of the universe. This denial of causality fails to distinguish between the inability to measure exactly and the objective existence of exact quantities. Einstein however would say that the systems differ because they were different from the beginning, and thus it is quite possible that the world is a fully determined system, although we cannot prove that this is so.
The difference between the two views is thus primarily ontological. Einstein held that there is a really existing objective world that we try to study using the methods of science. We do not yet know all that there is to know, and if there is any apparent indeterminacy then we may be sure that there is some underlying determining process that we may one day hope to discover. Bohr, on the other hand, held that 'it is wrong to think that the task of physics is to find out how nature is. Physics concerns only what we can say about nature.' We see here very clearly how a positivistic stance weakens our grasp on the objective reality of the universe, and leads us to infer a spurious indeterminism. It is not surprising that another fruit of the Copenhagen Interpretation is the misuse of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle to explain the production of matter out of nothing. Even more bizarre is the claim that the universe can exist only because of the presence of an observer, necessary to collapse its wavefunction.
The other line of thought that has strengthened the general belief in the randomness of the world is that connected with what is called chaotic motion. We are familiar with the idea that if we know the initial conditions, then application of the laws of physics enables us to calculate the subsequent behaviour. If, for example, we know the position and velocity of a planet, then using Newton's laws we can calculate its subsequent motion. Recent studies have however shown that in many systems the motion is exceedingly sensitive to the initial conditions. A very slight change will soon lead to completely different behaviour. For example, if we try to calculate the motion of molecules of gas that are continually colliding with each other, then the motion after a collision depends sensitively on the initial trajectory, and so a very small change may easily determine whether a subsequent collision takes place or not.
The effect of this is that it is impossible to predict the future behaviour of such systems. All measurements are limited in precision, and the imprecision of our measurement is always such that our calculations of the future behaviour of a system very soon become quite unreliable. Once again it is an ontological matter. Because we cannot predict the behaviour of a system it does not mean that the system is undetermined or random.
Thus whenever we hear talk about a process that is described as chance or random, this refers to the way it is described mathematically, not to its intrinsic nature, which is strictly determined. We cannot prove that this is so by the methods of science; we know it from the Christian doctrine of creation, on which all science is ultimately based.
Creation from Nothing
There have recently been many speculations about the possibility of providing a scientific explanation of creation itself. The first difficulty is to know whether the laws of physics still apply. It is always possible to invoke the power of God, but it is the duty of the physicist to try to solve problems by scientific methods alone. Thus it might well be thought that creation requires the violation of the conservation laws, but it seems that this is not necessarily the case. There is no difficulty about the total electric charge and angular momentum, since these have values consistent with zero, and the total linear momentum is not definable. The main problem concerns the principle of conservation of energy, and it was realised that the negative potential energy of the universe could exactly balance its positive kinetic energy, so that the total energy of the universe is just zero. So there is no need for God to override the conservation laws during the creation of the universe.
Vilenkin has suggested that the universe could come into being by quantum tunnelling from nothing; this assumes that quantum mechanics can be applied to the whole universe, an assumption that rests on a discredited interpretation of quantum mechanics. Hawking has suggested that time, like space, has no boundary. There is thus no initial singularity, no moment of Creation. Thus 'the boundary condition of the universe is that it has no boundary. The universe would be completely self-contained and not affected by anything outside itself. It would be neither created nor destroyed. It would just BE.' This proposal has the merit that it does not require an initial singularity where the laws of physics break down. However he also supposes that if there is no beginning, then there is no need for a Creator. This is a misunderstanding of the nature of creation, which is the causing of existence, an activity that is continuous. The continuation in existence requires God's causal agency just as much as the initial beginning, so even if there is no initial singularity the creative act of God is still necessary.
It should be remarked that the physicist's concept of the vacuum is quite different from that of the theologian. For a physicist, a vacuum is rich in potentialities, but even then it requires an external agency to cause anything to happen. The theologians' vacuum is absolutely nothing at all, no matter, no space, no time and no potentialities of any kind. From that nothing, nothing can come. The physicist's vacuum, however, needs to be created.
Some attempts have been made to give a scientific account of creation out of nothing by a chance process. Chance is referred to as if it is a causative agent, not as indicating unknown causes. There is a more general difficulty: all a scientific theory can do is to say that if there exists matter with such and such properties that obeys certain equations, then if it is started off in a particular configuration it will behave subsequently in a way calculable from those equations. What it cannot say is whether there indeed exists matter with such and such properties, and how it is put into a particular configuration and no other. As Hawking asked, "what is it that breathes fire into the equations and makes a universe for them to describe?" And who sets the initial conditions? Furthermore, a scientific theory is only reliable in the regions where it has been thoroughly tested; when it is extrapolated to other regions its predictions must be less certain. And what is more unpredictable or more singular than the moment of creation?
Another point worth noticing is the way creation is associated with the very simplest structures. Thus Atkins has remarked: "The creation can generate only the most primitive structures, structures of such simplicity that they can drop out from absolutely nothing." But it must be said that, simple or complicated, small or large, the passage from non-existence to existence is the most radical of all steps. It cannot be glossed over, and no one with any sense of ontological reality could accept this for an instant. However large or small the object may be, the passage from non-being to being is the greatest possible transition. We are talking about creation itself, and that is an activity that belongs to God alone.
Cosmology remains highly speculative, with many new theories but insufficient data to test them thoroughly. One of the most recent is the instanton theory proposed by Hawking and Turek. An instanton is a 'sort of Jump which couples gravity, space, time and matter together', 'a twist in matter and spacetime'. It forms the rounded top of the spacetime cone at the initial singularity of the Big Bang. In this region the distinction between space and time is blurred. The authors of this theory have been asked what are the implications for the existence of a Creator, and have replied that there are none. However, they add, with remarkable confidence, that 'if a divine being wanted to create a universe, the simplest way to do it would be to use our instanton'.
Following the COBE satellite in 1992, the Micro-Anisotropy Probe is scheduled to be launched in 2000, and the Planck Explorer in 2005. These should provide extensive data to test the wide range of current cosmological speculations. Turek comments that 'cosmology is on the threshold of turning into a science', and is confident 'that an understanding of the beginning of our universe is within sight'.
All these scientific developments show in ever-increasing detail the awesome extent and wonderful complexity of our universe. Beneath this complexity we are finding a unified structure, so that the discoveries of nuclear and particle physics can enable us to calculate in detail the processes that took place billions of years ago and eventually spread out over unimaginable distances. Thinking about this can increase our reverence for the power of the Creator. However, as many examples have shown, it is always unwise to base any arguments for the existence of God on particular scientific results. Very often what has seemed at first to have been a remarkable coincidence suggesting a supernatural cause has be shown by further work to be entirely explicable by the laws of physics.
The story of our attempts to understand the world thus shows a complex interaction of theological beliefs, scientific observations and theoretical speculations. It is notable that it was Christian theology that made science possible in the first place. and with it all the vast development that has led to our modern understanding of the universe.
J.D. Barrow and J. Silk, The Left Hand of Creation. Heinemann,1984.
T.A. Brody, The Philosophy Behind Physics. Springer, 1993.
W.L. Craig and Q. Smith, Theism, Atheism and Big Bang Cosmology. Oxford, 1993.
F. Dyson, Scientific American 225. 25. 1971.
S. Hawking, A Brief History of Time. Bantam Press, 1988.
S.L. Jaki, Science and Creation. Scottish Academic Press, 1974;
• Cosmos and Creator. Scottish Academic Press, 1974;
• God and the Cosmologists. Scottish Academic Press, 1989;
• The Only Chaos and other Essays. University Press of America, 1990;
• Is There a Universe? Liverpool University Press, 1993.
J.S. Nilsson, B. Gustafsson and B.S. Skagerstam (Eds), The Birth and Early Evolution of the Universe. Nobel Symposium. World Scientific 1991.
D.W. Sciarna, Modern Cosmology, Cambridge, 1971.
R.C. Tolman, Relativity, Thermodynamics and Cosmology. Oxford 1934.
S. Weinberg, The First Three Minutes. Basic Books, 1977.
A.N. Whitehead, Science and the Modern World. Macmillan, 1925.
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0.063245 | <urn:uuid:5642eb88-bb1c-4e84-87ac-cd7d94c12d3c> | en | 0.976333 | People & Entertainment
Bishop Bullwinkle popped up on YouTube and his single "Hell 2 the Naw Naw" went viral and has had over 3.5 million views over a period of two months. Bishop Bullwinkle is bringing a long overdue approach of telling
This one is going out to all the satanic slick sissy serpents. I do not have much to say on this one except this is what Christ is going to play as His soundtrack when He returns. The "fallen
So the Jade Helm operation to take over America is now over. Let's make sure we understand this correctly, but all of the constant gloom doom and gloom sites need to be held accountable. All of the radio
It looks like Hollywood is running out of ideas and decided to use ancient origins for Christmas. You see Yeshua was not born on December 25 because if you study the Scripture you will discover He was born
If you didn't know the Shemitah year ended today in Jerusalem, Israel at 11:48 AM at the blowing of a shofar horn. Jonathan Cahn, John Hagee, and Mark Blitz (I will leave out all of the other alternative
Before Mike Myers suited up to become the iconic Doctor Evil with his infamous pinky signature move there was an original Doctor Evil. We know him as Aleister Crowley and he was once known as the "World's Most Wicked
Bobbi Kristina Brown, passed away today in a hospice outside of Atlanta. She was placed there June 24th when her family took her off machines and medications keeping her alive. The families were informed by several doctors there
How would you like to make a quick $75,000? The website Deuteronomy is putting their money where the mouth is! How rare is that? Instead of trying to peddle you their books or make
If you ever saw the movie Rosemary's Baby it is unforgettable and timeless movie you can watch anytime. It was one of the first movies I saw which implicated everyday people who work in collusion to serve Satan.
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0.020347 | <urn:uuid:d8b6c35c-77e3-448e-a23a-717e2408d14c> | en | 0.961408 | Saturday, November 5, 2011
Project dropped, heres the resource folder.
In addition to dropping Black Shadow 3d(contains resource files as well) I decided to drop this project too. I'll be focusing what little time I have on a new project code named OCD using the Duke3d, also a Total Conversion, but with a sci-fi theme.
Here is the complete resource folder for The Crawl that was being developed in Evaldraw at the time.
I also have several versions made using Game Maker 6.1 which can be given or posted on request. That version was just handling maps and some environmental effects. First versions of the project generated polygons and simply used Direct 3d while a later version used a 3d plugin form GM 6.1 which I'm unsure if its still supported.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Future thoughts, new methods.
Lately I've been devoting my free time to work on my conversion of Black Shadow into a 3d voxel based game using the Build engine, or more specificly Eduke32. The rendering method is still the original one though done by Ken.
Now working with build, I think the greatest revelation is been working with palettes and the CON scripting. Its given be a bunch of possibly ideas for creating the engine for The Crawl once I finish Black Shadow.
I've learned quite a few things on how the build engine operates and handles actors, counting, and frame animations which can prove very useful in creating the engine for TC.
Currently the method I used to create the AI in previous demos left much to be desired in terms of flexibility. However I got some experiencing working with A* pathfinding that also gave me some good ideas. I may never actually use it and do something similar though.
Getting to the point, I'm not actually considering a scripting system for this, but a detailed editor and just saving the data as numbers to save space and memory. I'll be basing it off how Ken developed the build script, just using byte data.
Another thing is I'll be planning to used a fixed palette like in 8bit, however the game would still operate in 16/32bit screen modes. The idea would be, like the build engine, have a fixed palette so shading and color blending calculations are reduced to look-ups. However instead of having a 256 color limit, it would be 1024, although I haven't decided on the amount of shade variations it should have. I believe build used 8 points per shade, I could use 4 for smoother transition.
Anyway this is all speculations, but working with the Build engine has given me a good amount of ideas on what direction to take when creating The Crawl's engine and editing system. I'd like to make the engine pretty flexible. If possible I'd like to eventually create it all in GLBasic, but getting voxel rendering at the level of Build or Evaldraw in opengl is a challange. Maybe theres something I can learn from the build source instead of working with evaldraw or voxlap. The benefit of using Glbasic is portability, as in I could have it accessibly to Linux, Mac, Mobile as well as windows systems.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Things on hold, what may planned in the future.
So it looks like this project will be on hold for a little while as I've gone into full speed developement of creating another voxel based project. I'll be created a 3d version of my Black Shadow game. Details will be posted on a new blog.
What does that mean for this project? Well there were a number of setbacks from the beginning. Although Evaldraw is perfect rendering wise, it's limited and wouldn't not make a very flexible engine to create this project. This left me with two choices, use Voxlap or create my own rendering.
The latter is a challange in itself and I've attempted a few goes, but nothing close to being quick enough.
I had limited time to work on figuring out Voxlap's source code, but that may be a route I'll take in the future.
Another programmer was working on a voxel display engine, has started work on a GLBasic compatible DLL, but haven't heard any future results. Last I saw it was displaying voxels, but it too had limits that would be too much for this project.
So in the mean time I'll still work on my Strip2Vox program for creating models for my voxel projects and plan on doing a Voxel To Poly for polygon alternatives.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Doom, or do it yourself.
It seems that voxels are starting to become a little more popular among the indie crowd, as I've seen some new activity in the creation of voxel engines and displays.
Lately I've been in contact with one such coder working on a voxel engine. However it's more suited towards a different style of games instead of a FPS. The limitations of sprite sizes will prevent me from being able to use it at its current state. However I proposed to do a future project with it, geared towards a NES style to it, most likely adapting one of my other projects to the style...
There are some new options for progressing this project from it's current slumber. Although I had iffy success getting the basics of Voxlap to work, and Evaldraw being not the ideal for creating a game such as this, I found that ZDoom has recently added a branch off project that supports voxel rendering.
What caught my attention was sample shots that some had of a wall and floor tile from Doom converted into a voxel object. So I may be able to get what I need from it's open source code to figure out my own voxel sprite system.
My other choices are to go back to Voxlap, create my own voxel rendering system or find someone to create a basic voxel drawing chunk that I can incoorperate into my project from the Zdoom voxel project.
When I think about it, I may be stuck with trying to figure my own method of rendering...but time will tell.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
New directions = new engine?
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
The Crawl RPG, game details continued, Kingdoms and climates.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Using old world map.
Here are three version of the map.
Here is the basic map.
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0.080249 | <urn:uuid:3a3ca740-42f2-42eb-96b0-941abae26754> | en | 0.903868 | Sign up ×
My saved-messages and sent-mail "folders" (actually Unix MBX files) are huge because of attachments, most of which I've saved to disk anyway.
I want to keep the messages, but replace the attachment w/ a text file saying "Attachment removed: /full/path/to/attach.txt".
How do I do this?
I'm using Alpine, but any tool that does this for Unix MBX is fine. Alpine does let me delete attachments from emails, but I can't replace them w/ a text file. Notes:
• I realize I can save the message to a file and edit the file using emacs, but that's kludgey and probably messes up "Content-Length" headers and stuff.
• I also realize I can forward the message, with headers, to myself after removing the attachment. Again, kludgey.
• I don't think Alpine lets me add attachments to stored mail (unless I want to send it somewhere [which messes up headers]), so I can't delete the big attachment and add a smaller one.
• I realize I could write a Perl script to do this, but hoping for an existing well-tested solution.
share|improve this question
Wow, you must be the other person in the universe that understands that email isn't a filesystem! – pboin Mar 25 '11 at 16:56
@pboin Unless, of course, you use M$ Outlook :( ... actually, some Unix mail programs use the Maildir/ format, where each message is a file, and mail folder is really a directory. – barrycarter Mar 25 '11 at 17:10
@forcefsck I know I can patch Alpine to use maildir but really don't want to. Plus, I still don't think that solves my problem. – barrycarter Mar 25 '11 at 17:15
2 Answers 2
OK, I poked aorund, and when Alpine "deletes" an attachment, it actually replaces it with something like:
X-Content-Type: image/jpeg
X-Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
Content-ID: <>
[ The following attachment was DELETED when this message was saved: ]
[ A Image/JPEG segment of about 93,336 bytes. ]
I can then use emacs to edit this message (and it doesn't mess up any Content-Length headers or anything)
share|improve this answer
I use Thunderbird/icedove with the AttachmentExtractor add-on for this.
share|improve this answer
Your Answer
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0.078698 | <urn:uuid:66bcb48e-68d9-490d-8fbf-e991a094c09d> | en | 0.932681 | If you’ve ever been to an ocean, you’ve probably seen sand dollars on the beach or in souvenir shops. You may have even seen live sand dollars moving around on the sandy ocean floor. But what exactly are these creatures?
Sand dollars — sometimes called sea cookies, snapper biscuits, sand cakes, cake urchins or pansy shells — are species of flat, burrowing echinoids that belong to the order Clypeasteroida. Sand dollars are related to sea urchins, sea cucumbers and starfish.
When sand dollars are alive, they live in shallow coastal waters along the sandy ocean floor. Unlike the white color of dead sand dollars, live sand dollars are usually green, purple or blue. Some people think live sand dollars look like fuzzy cookies!
Live sand dollars are covered with a dense, velvety layer of short spines and tubular feet. They use these spines and tubular feet to burrow into the sand and move around.
You may have noticed that sand dollar skeletons feature a pattern that looks like a flower. This pattern is where the live sand dollar’s tubular feet are located. In addition to helping the sand dollar move, these tubular feet also help direct food found on the ocean floor to the sand dollar’s mouth.
Wonder What's Next?
We might need some help with tomorrow’s Wonder of the Day. Can you lend us a hand? | http://wonderopolis.org/wonder/how-much-is-a-sand-dollar-worth/ | dclm-gs1-103280000 |
0.027281 | <urn:uuid:92816995-9bfb-42e5-8884-44312df51d0e> | en | 0.884905 | 1. Agriculture tariffs to fall under TPP
TPP to cut agricultural tariffs across the board, but US sugar protections remain
2. Joyce visits Jakarta to argue for greater certainty for cattle farmers
Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce is visiting Jakarta today to argue for greater surety for Australian cattle farmers and Indonesian consumers.
1. Better date pollination
2. The true free range story
3. Tackling rural mental health
CBH and Black Dog Institute take a different approach to farming mental health help
4. Mangoes slow down
Unusual weather splits the mango harvest in the NT, reducing supply and affecting prices to consumers.
5. 'Godzilla El Nino' on the way
6. Seaweed harvest opposition
Limestone Coast residents says no to Chinese seaweed harvest expansion, but PIRSA says they need evidence.
7. Cherry industry blossoms
8. Droning out pests
Rural Life
1. Kangaroo Island gin venture
2. CWA embraces bake revival
The SA Country Women's Association celebrates interest from younger women.
3. Nuffield to study spraying
4. 150 sheep in stampede
5. Challenges in pub game
6. Pigs on Twitter
7. Youth take over spring show
8. Aboriginal control the land
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More - Blueprint for Living | http://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/?site=goulburnmurray | dclm-gs1-103320000 |
0.213346 | <urn:uuid:4bad1ece-c01e-4c86-8eb7-732817c215b7> | en | 0.957276 | 5 LGBT Characters We'd Love to See in a Justice League Movie
5 LGBT Characters We'd Love to See in a Justice League Movie
Why him?
Green Lantern of Earth 2
Why him?
Why her?
Ystin 633
Shining Knight
The original Shining Knight first appeared in 1941, but the current incarnation of the character is true rarity in comics – an intersex superhero. The current Shining Knight, known also as Sir Yestin, first appeared in the comic series Demon Knights in 2011.
Why this hero?
It would be wonderful to see a modern, positive intersex hero on the silver screen, one who isn’t confused or tormented by their identity. While this version of Shining Knight battles evil in medieval times, it would be fairly easy to bring the hero into the modern age – much like the former version of the character that existed in our modern times. Also, the Shining Knight wields a blade that can both cut through almost anything and is resistant to magical attacks. For a powerhouse like Superman, who has well-known weaknesses to magic, this ability would be key. Also, the Shining Knight rides a flying horse. How cool would it be to see a winged horse soaring across the screen in 3D?
The teenage Latino hero Bunker debuted in 2011 with the relaunch of the Teen Titans comic book series. From the get-go Bunker never hid or downplayed his homosexuality. For a time he was viewed by some fans as an eye-rolling stereotype, but he has since developed into an important, multilayered character.
Why him?
Bunker has the ability to create purple bricks in various forms (a subtle nod to Stonewall), which he can use to levitate himself and others, and also use defensively as a concussive force. Visually, Bunker’s brightly hued purple constructs would be an eye-popping element to a live-action Justice League movie. Character-wise, he could fill the role of the wisecracking comic relief, providing moviegoers with a much-needed dose of levity and what has thus far been a darker DC film universe.
Tags: Geek, DC Comics | http://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/geek/2014/06/12/5-lgbt-characters-wed-love-see-justice-league-movie?page=0,3 | dclm-gs1-103340000 |
0.025369 | <urn:uuid:cafe34e2-850c-48e7-af3e-8095174b4a3c> | en | 0.985573 | After last week’s cliffhanger, I was itching to find out what would happen to Shu now that he’s joined the Undertakers. Will he actually join them and forget about Makoto asked him to do? Or will he join with the pretenses to betray them all? Either way, things are about to get interesting! The episode starts off with Shu, Gai and Inori all returning to their headquarters, though Shu looks less than pleased about the whole idea. Once there, Gai asks about Kenji and his second-in-command says that he shows no signs of waking up, though they’re unsure of whether or not it’s because of the stress of having his Void used. Gai looks quite tired and irritated by this, but continues by introducing Shu to everyone again. He informs them all that since Shu has the Void Genome, all of their missions will be orchestrated around Shu’s abilities. Someone then asks him what their next step is and Gai tells them that they will be infiltrating the Leucocyte. He then brings up several hundred strategies based on patterns of what could or could not happen before instructing everyone to memorize all of them if they plan on joining them in the battle. One member pipes up and asks what happens if they don’t memorize everything and Gai simply states that they won’t have a place in the operation if they won’t take the time to seriously dedicate themselves to the plan. His second-in-command then addresses the worry of fatigue for the troops, but Gai rounds on him and is quite angry. He shouts at him, saying that he’d rather they be tired in the field than be fighting with their eyes blurry and glazed over from sleep. His second hand then backs off and leaves Gai to his business.
Meanwhile, Shu is scanning the room and notices a young girl in the balcony, happily chatting with another member. He seems surprised (as was I) to see someone so young as a member of the Undertakers. Shu’s attention is quickly drawn back to the matters at hand by Gai, who summons Ayase over to them. At first, Ayase is nervous but quickly becomes flabbergasted and possibly insulted when Gai asks her to train Shu for a mock battle. She finally relents when Gai tells her that she’s the only one he trusts to train Shu. Gai then tells Shu that he needs to pass the mock battle in order to become an official member of Undertaker, so he shouldn’t take the task lightly. Then, as quick as he was to give out orders, Gai leaves for his room to come up with a plan. Ayase then approaches Shu and tells him to get ready, but Shu tells her that he doesn’t want to make her feel obligated to train him since she’s in a wheel chair. She smiles and tells him that he’s sweet, but she can handle herself. When she holds out her hand, Shu grasps it, but is shocked when Ayase uses her wheelchair to knock his knees out from under him and slam him to the ground. She then angrily tells him that just because she’s in a wheelchair doesn’t mean that she can’t fight on her own. Shu apologizes and is ushered away to get changed, but as he leaves, we see the receiver that Makoto had given him lying on the ground. Uh oh! Some time later, we see Shu all dressed in the Undertakers’ uniform – and looking quite dashing, if I may say so – and meets Ayase in the hallway. He’s shocked to see her writing things in a notebook with the receiver he was given (apparently it also functions as a pen) and he tried to get it back from her. Instead of just giving it to him, Ayase makes a deal with Shu. If he can pass the mock battle in three days, he’ll get his pen back. If he doesn’t pass it, she gets to keep it. Unfortunately, Shu has no other option but to agree to her terms.
Su is then summoned to a small room where he meets Arugo Tsukishima, a second-year at a local high school. Apparently the boy is incredibly skilled at hand-to-hand combat and tosses a knife at Shu. Shu hesitantly asks if the blade is real and Arugo laughs, saying there would be no point in training with one that wasn’t real. He then tells Shu to come at him like he’s going in for the kill, but Shu promptly faints when Arugo charges at him. We then see a montage of Shu’s training, all of which highly amused me. When he’s running, Tsumugi scolds him for being so out of shape and Shu counters with the excuse that he’s into more cultural things than sports. He eventually becomes more accustomed to fighting, which is a good thing, since by the time the montage is done, all three days have passed and his mock battle is in the morning! As Shu wanders around the halls, he spots Inori sitting in a room overlooking the city, quietly singing to herself. He approaches her and comments on how it’s similar to how they first met. Inori doesn’t say anything, but Shu continues on about how he’s glad that he met her and that they’ll make a good team. As he reaches for her hand, she pulls her hand away and puts some distance between them. Shu is confused when Inori tells him that she’s not his friend and he shouldn’t get close to her. He asks her what she meant when she said that she was his and that they’ll be together forever. You can see his heart break when Inori says that Gai was the one who told her to say those things and she only did because she’s loyal to Gai. Shu tries to ask what she means by that and tells her that they can run away together, but Inori says that she can’t ever leave Gai’s side because he’s the one who gave her her name when she lost her memories. She then stands up and leaves, telling Shu not to get close to her. Shu sadly leaves the room and sees Inori entering Gai’s room. Upset, he runs down the hall towards his room but accidentally bumps into Ayase, knocking her out of her wheelchair. She shouts at him for not looking where he’s going, but quickly calms down when she notices how upset he is.
She asks him if he saw Inori and Gai and when Shu says yes, she tells him that everyone’s noticed them spending the night together like that two or three times a month, but no one wants to say anything. Shu asks her how she can stand it when she likes Gai, but she quickly denies any feelings for Gai other than respect. After a quick encouraging conversation, Ayase tells Shu that she doesn’t need help climbing into her wheelchair, but she’d like him to leave her alone since she doesn’t look very graceful doing it. Shu agrees and tells her good night before heading down the hallway. While Shu heads to his room, we see Gai and Inori together, but they’re not doing what everyone probably thinks they are. Gai looks like he’s getting a blood transfusion – for what reason, we don’t know yet – and he says that Inori looks just like “her”. Inori asks him if that bothers him and he says no. The next day, Gai and the young girl Shu saw when he first entered the Funeral Parlor head out to scout out an area to launch their attack and Shu gets ready for his mock battle. He’s facing Ayase, who is piloting her Endlave, and the whole goal of the mock battle is for Shu to get past her Endlave and safely into the building behind her without taking any hits. She warns him that even though they’re just using paintballs, they’re still hard enough to stun someone if hit. The battle begins and though Shu runs away at first, he spots Arugo and remembers that Arugo still has the ability to produce a Void. Ditching his paintball gun, he summons Arugo’s Void, which is a rod that surrounds the enemy in darknes. Using this, Shu is able to get to the car safely and wins the mock battle. Shu apologizes for cheating, but Ayase says that it’s alright because he just used what skills he has that makes him unique. After that, everyone congratulates him and welcomes him into the Undertakers; Ayase makes sure to hold up her end of the deal and gives Shu back his pen as well. The celebration is short lived as Tsumugi rushes in and informs everyone that the area Gai was scouting out was hit by a missile!
Opinions: As always, there was a good balance of plot, action and something to intrigue the viewer. I’m really curious about why Gai appears to need blood transfusions and how he’s able to tell what sort of Void people will be able to produce. Of course, there’s the ever-lasting mystery of Inori and her origin, though now I want to know who she looks like. Seeing Shu finally become part of the Undertakers was incredibly gratifying, but I wonder if he’ll turn on them and give Makoto the information he asked for or if he’ll betray Makoto. And of course, why does Gai want to take over that building so badly? Is there some sort of importance to it? Either way, it looks like we’ll have to wait until the next episode to find out what happens to Gai!
Score: A/A+
• FlareKnight
This was quite the episode. First it feels like Shu’s ability to trust others is broken down even further with Inori saying it was all orders. Of course hard to tell since she could have been ordered to say they were orders. Or it could be a mixed truth. Regardless if Shu had that pen they would have all been in trouble. Before that chat with Ayase he definitely would have used it.
I really liked Ayase’s character in this one. Went from simply the pilot who has a thing for Gai to a more full character. May have been teasing a bit much when Shu saw Inori go with Gai, but could just be payback from those two fooling around during the shooting training. In the end she didn’t blow up at him and helped give him the motivation to do what he could during that mock battle. At least during that moment she became one person he could accept and get along with. A long road to friendship, but I liked that scene.
The situation with Gai is full of mystery. Certainly doesn’t appear to be a good thing if he needs transfusions like that. And the identity of the girl that Inori looks like has to be key.
It was nice when Shu won and was accepted. People respond to actions and the more Shu proves himself the more people will appreciate him. Certainly seemed more likely as well that he wouldn’t use the pen since it’d betray those people who finally seemed to accept him.
In terms of why Gai wants to capture the building so badly I think it goes like this: The Leucocyte seems to be a weapon considering Tsugumi said it was fired at point delta. Looking at the insane damage to the area I can understand why Gai’s group would want to secure it or at least make sure their enemies can’t use it. It looked more like some kind of attack satellite from the image.
• nagicakes
It definitely was a pretty action-packed episode! I feel terrible for Shu; he finally found someone he could believe in and it may or may not have been a facade created by Gai’s orders. I don’t think that it’s completely has to do with Gai though. In episode 4, when Shu was arrested by GHQ, Inori was talking to Funnell and asking why she felt so cold before commenting on how Shu would probably know why. Coupled with the fact that she disobeyed Gai’s orders to rescue Shu, I think she does have some sort of feelings for him, even if she doesn’t understand them herself. Though it may not be romantic in any way, she definitely has strong feelings towards him.
I loved Ayase’s character! She’s sassy, witty and head-strong. The fact that even while she’s in a wheelchair, she can take someone down is awesome. I do think she was teasing Shu a bit too much, but I agree with what you said. It was probably payback for Shu trying to take it easy on her at first. It definitely feels like there could be a strong friendship between them, but we’ll have to wait and see how that goes. And you’re right; it was probably a good thing that Ayase had the pen with her when Shu saw Gai and Inori because he probably would have seriously contemplated using it right then and there.
As for Gai, I really want to find out what’s going on with him. He’s obviously not well, but he continues to push himself – and his team – daily. Inori is still a complete mystery, but maybe once we figure out who this girl she looks like is, we’ll have more of a clue as to who she is and where she came from.
The Leucocyte did look like a satellite instead of a building. 8|a I can see why Gai would want that under his control instead of letting GHQ have it, especially after seeing how much damage it can cause! I hope that we’ll find out what it’s all about in the next episode. And that Gai is okay! | http://www.anime-evo.net/2011/11/16/guilty-crown-05/ | dclm-gs1-103360000 |
0.018126 | <urn:uuid:36d5b1b5-8e03-40f2-9bb1-46add86179e4> | en | 0.974005 | End of an Era
Sunday, May 1, 2011, was a historical day in American history. I don't usually watch the news; it's predominantly depressing, and I have enough things to worry about in my life. But when I saw on Twitter that President Obama was going to make an annoucement declaring that the United States had killed Osama bin Laden, I flipped on the TV. Even though I was getting ready to go to sleep. Even though I was sick and needed my rest. This was huge. I ran downstairs to tell DH. Then I changed the channel for him to a news network, and he said, "Hey!...more
Bloggers React to Osama bin Laden's Death
Late last night (EST), United States President Barack Obama announced on television that American military forces located, fought with and killed Al Qaeda leader and 9/11 mastermind, Osama bin Laden. Bloggers and politicians all over the world are reacting today....more
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Regarding the death of an angry man
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Be A Better Blogger: What's Going On In the "Mosque at Ground Zero" Controversy
In case you have been on vacation from cable television and twitter for the last month or so, the summer's domestic political headlines have been dominated by a dispute over a proposed Islamic community center near the site of the World Trade Center attacks that has come to be known, variously, as Park 51, Cordoba House and, most popularly, the "Ground Zero Mosque." A Muslim organization has proposed building a 13-15 story community center on the site of a building that was damaged by debris fro...more
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Imagine a Different Experiment: Ted Kaczynski and the Murray Experiment at Harvard
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How protected from terrorism are we?
The security/intelligence system is "so large, so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programs exist within it or exactly how many agencies do the same work," The Washington Post says after a two-year investigation of the national security buildup following 9/11. What does that mean for us citizens?...more
Keep Calm and Carry On
Five years ago I was living in a lovely shared house in South East London with Husband and 3 other friends. Husband and I had been living together for over a year and we were engaged to be married that September. I was finishing up my internship as part of my masters course in central London. On that particular day, I was headed into my part time job in Chelsea. I was running late (as usual) and had to get a later train than husband did. As the train pulled up to Waterloo Station, people began to stir. Something was wrong in central London, but no one knew what yet....more
Aliou Niasse, a Muslim Immigrant, Alerted Police to Times Square Bomb
You could watch the major networks reporting on the Times Square failed car bomb for hours and possibly not catch this politically pertinent piece of information: The first person to alert the police about the smoking car was a Muslim immigrant from Senegal, Aliou Niasse. ...more
I heard Salmon Rushdie mention it and that was literally all I heard about it.
Deana ...more
Hot Burkas & Hot Bods
Times Square Car Bomb Case Broadens with U.S. Suspect Arrest and More Overseas
The New York Times and other sources report that the investigation of the Times Square failed car bombing has spread beyond the U.S. Not only has Faisal Shahzad, a 30-year-old U.S. citizen from Pakistan been arrested and charged, but the Pakistani government has captured additional suspects. However, U.S. officials have not confirmed the arrests reported by Pakistani intelligence. ...more | http://www.blogher.com/free-tagging/terrorism?page=2 | dclm-gs1-103420000 |
0.991247 | <urn:uuid:5f0bbd6a-d271-46d6-a0da-964befe56d58> | en | 0.853471 | The radioactive nuclei 60Co iswidely used in medical applications. It undergoes beta decay,and the total energy of the decay process is 2.82MeV per decay event. The half-life of this nucleus is272 days. Suppose that a patient isgiven a dose of 6.9 μCi of60Co. If all thismaterial decayed while in the patient's body, what would be thetotal energy deposited there? (1 Ci =3.70x1010 decays/sec.)
Get this answer with Chegg Study | http://www.chegg.com/homework-help/questions-and-answers/radioactive-nuclei-60co-iswidely-used-medical-applications-undergoes-beta-decay-total-ener-q564335 | dclm-gs1-103470000 |
0.106712 | <urn:uuid:7fef83c4-4424-42b0-8fe9-9de67de52c77> | en | 0.864079 | Renaissance 1st edition
Renaissance 0 9783822852965 3822852961
Details about Renaissance:
The rebirth of culture Art as we know it today could not exist had not the revolutionary work of the Renaissance artists paved the way. Widely considered the most important and influential movement in the history of fine arts, literature, architecture, and science, the Renaissance marked the emergence of Western civilization from the Middle Ages into the modern era. Beginning in the 14th century in Italy, the movement spread throughout Europe by the late 15th century, the main centers of fine art activity being in Florence, the Low Countries, and Germany. For the first time, art became intellectual; influenced by humanism, artists experimented with secular subjects and revived classical antiquity. Advances in anatomy and geometry produced more realistic depictions in terms of space and perspective for the Italians, while new oil painting techniques made their mark in Flemish painting and woodcuts and engravings were the specialties of the Germans.
Artists featured: Albrecht Altdorfer, Fra Angelico, Giovanni Bellini, Hieronymus Bosch, Sandro Botticelli, Pieter Breughel, Agnolo Bronzino, Vittore Carpaccio, François Clouet, Correggio, Lucas Cranach the Elder, Albrecht Dürer, El Greco, School of Fontainebleau, Piero della Francesca, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Giorgione, Matthias Grünewald, Maerten van Heemskerck, Hans Holbein the Younger, Fra Filippo Lippi, Lorenzo Lotto, Andrea Mantegna, Masaccio, Antonello da Messina, Michelangelo, Parmigianino, Pontormo, Raphael, Luca Signorelli, Tintoretto, Titian, Paolo Uccello, Veronese, Leonardo da Vinci About the Series:
Each book in TASCHEN's Basic Genre Series features:a detailed illustrated introduction plus a timeline of the most important political, cultural and social events that took place during that perioda selection of the most important works of the epoch, each of which is presented on a 2-page spread with a full-page image and with an interpretation of the respective work, plus a portrait and brief biography of the artistapproximately 100 colour illustrations with explanatory captions
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| http://www.chegg.com/textbooks/renaissance-1st-edition-9783822852965-3822852961 | dclm-gs1-103480000 |
0.045219 | <urn:uuid:2c3547e5-7830-408b-a93d-1153317606d3> | en | 0.979001 | A fitness video featuring Jessica Simpson is set to go public, despite the pop star's efforts to keep it off shelves.
The singer fronted the project for exercise company Speedfit, but she didn't like the finished result and filed legal papers to keep the DVD from being sold.
But now a Hollywood producer has bought the rights to the video - and he's challenging Simpson and her handlers to stop him from making it public.
In a defiant letter to Simpson's lawyers, obtained by WENN, the new owner, Ed Meyer, writes, "After much due diligence, I have purchased rights to distribute the as yet unreleased Jessica Simpson Exercise Video from Speedfit.
"While your client Jessica Simpson believes that she has a valid New York court order preventing such a contract, she actually does not."
Meyer insists his contract with Speedfit is "valid", and he has threatened Simpson with legal action if she insists on moving forward with "any tortuous interference or restraint of trade".
The producer plans to re-edit the fitness film, which was shot in 2005, and release it. Simpson won an arbitration ruling to keep the exercise video from being distributed – a huge hurdle for Meyer.
She also won a ruling barring Speedfit from using her name and likeness to promote the video. | http://www.contactmusic.com/jessica-simpson/news/contentious-simpson-fitness-video-under-new-ownership_1196954 | dclm-gs1-103560000 |
0.037765 | <urn:uuid:05bbc9bd-af3e-44c0-81da-c6061d2c1360> | en | 0.907444 | > > >
Curry Powder
Curry Powder, like Chili Powder, is a convenience for Westerners, and doesn't actually exist in the culture that inspired it.
Curry Powder comes in mild, medium and hot. Madras style is hot (as far as the commercial scale goes, at any rate.) It is a combination of several spices. Most Curry Powder mixes use coriander seed as a base, then include any of the following ground spices: cardamom, cloves, chili pepper, cumin, ginger, nutmeg, red and black pepper, and turmeric. Some mixes will go beyond that with caraway, cinnamon, dried basil, fenugreek seed, garam masala, mustard seeds, etc.
In India, you don't buy Curry Powder. It's something you mix up for a particular recipe or need. Some recipes will call for up to 20 different spices and herbs to be combined.
Curry Powders can also be bought in a paste.
Cooking Tips
If you are using commercial Curry Powder, you can wake its taste up by frying it lightly for a minute or so in some butter or oil before proceeding with your recipe and adding other ingredients to the pot.
Mix together equal parts of the following ground spices: cumin, pepper, turmeric, ginger, coriander. Other spices from the list in the first paragraph above as the fancy strikes you.
History Notes
British merchants, wanting to cash in on the curry craze back home in Britain, devised this powder to make the cooking of Indian-style dishes easier for British housewives. The idea for Curry Powder was probably inspired by Garam Masala. The benefit to British housewives was not only that it made curries easier, but that they didn't have to acquire all the expensive spices individually.
The first Curry Powder was made in Madras, India in 1780. It was exported to the UK and throughout the Empire.
Also called:
Poudre de curry (French); Currypulver (German); Polvo de curry (Spanish)
See also:
Spice Mixtures
You may also like:
Looking for home canning information?
Bon mots
"The food here is terrible, and the portions are too small."
-- Woody Allen (1 December 1935 - )
Myth of the Day
Myth Picture Read more > | http://www.cooksinfo.com/curry-powder | dclm-gs1-103580000 |
0.454626 | <urn:uuid:12857029-1094-4616-87cc-e9710e411caa> | en | 0.736953 | 1. Boards
2. Wii U
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The Zelda Timeline (Poll)
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Recommend me some good games. (Archived)KittenLina99/7/2013
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1. Boards
2. Wii U | http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/631516-wii-u?page=3850 | dclm-gs1-103730000 |
0.0198 | <urn:uuid:c05978ca-3a88-47ba-85c8-a17fd267ca72> | en | 0.948896 | Philo and SophiaPhilosophicasl questions approached in ways that make them accessible to people who are not academics or intellectuals. Here are ideas, fresh perspectives on life and enough insight to enable you to take the advice of ?Brian in the Monty Python film and 'Think things through for yourselves.'
Mathematics and Reality
Contact us:
Mathematics, God and Reality
by Ian R Thorpe
25 April 2012
Marcus du Sautoy, Mathematician, Professor for the Public Understanding of Science (having succeeded Richard Dawkins in the Chair) last year presented a series of TV programmes about mathematics and nature entitled ‘The Code’. Advance publicity for the show led potential viewers to believe Prof. Du Sautoy would be presenting a mainstream view of mathematics in an attempt to demonstrate the subject is not really as difficult or nerdy as people think, rather than promoting his own very nerdy version of atheistic metaphysics. Du Sautoy is not so much a mathematician, he's a maths geek.
In the televised debate on why British pupils in the state education system are failing so badly in Mathematics, Marcus du Sautoy opened for the pro maths side and demolished his own case in his first sentence, saying: “When Wayne Rooney takes a shot at goal he first does a simultaneous equation.”
Now Wayne Rooney is one of our finest soccer players and probably the best goalscorer of his generation. But he is not the brightest light on the Christmas Tree. While a wonderful, instinctive athlete in his chosen sport it's doubtful he even knows what an equation is. So can we imagine him pausing to do complex algebraic calculations in his head in the split second he has to steady himself and strike the ball. I think not. Can you imagine a sports commentator raving: “ ... and the ball comes to Rooney. He does an equation, he shoots, he scores.”
It's laughable. Cats catching their prey, dogs catching a Frisbee in mid air and horses taking a fence so high they cannot see the ground on the other side would also have to do equations, not one but many. And if Wayne Rooney does not seem capable of such a mental exercise those creatures certainly aren't.
Few of us are taken in by Du Sautoy's hyperbolic overselling of mathematics. Having read articles and essays Du Sautoy has published, he seems to be a rather cranky academic who is totally besotted with his specialist subject. In his published work he has made such outrageous claims as because music can be mathematically analysed, without mathematics we could not have created music and that the Universe is constructed according to a very complex mathematical design (nothing outrageous about that you might think but he and his supporters deny this is just a version of intelligent design, dismissing intelligent design as religious nonsense).
Du Sautoy’s view of the physical dimension is that, as the Pythagoreans expressed it, ‘Number is everything.’ This is not as original as you might think, in fact it has been around since the ancient Geek Pythagoras (570 - 490 BC) floated it as an answer to the religious and naturalistic schools of philosophy. Pythagoras was a scientist, a mathematician in fact, so as far as Marcus Du Sautoy is concerned, QED. The idea that everything emanates from numbers and mathematics is clearly as undemonstrable as the Biblical creation story or Big Bang theory. This should make the proposition anathema to a mathematician and identify it as a faith-based religious concept. Philosophers of mathematics and informed students of mathematics know that there is, to date, no satisfactory understanding of the relationship, if any, between mathematics and reality; to suggest that there is a relationship, and what such a relationship might be, is an act of faith. And yet, more and more we see, especially among theoretical physicists and mathematicians (and of course among the Climate Science lobby who base their studies on mathematical models rather than observations of reality) that "Science" is becoming more and more like a religion.
It is very unfortunate that scientists working with speculative mathematics are behaving as though mathematics is the original reality to which the physical world ‘must’ conform through such things as ‘laws’. Science has been hideously corrupted in the last 80 years because of this and further corrupted through it's becoming a branch of government which has brought into it an element of The King's New Clothes". It is not politically expedient to question science.
Many Christians will be delighted to see and hear Du Sautoy suggesting that numbers are at the root of all reality, this is in some ways adds a of kind of scientific endorsement to the theory of Intelligent Design. However Du Sautoy is an avowed atheist who says he intends to is take a more gentle approach to undermining religious belief than Richard ‘The Rottweiler’ Dawkins (whom all can see is a bigoted fanatic) and is not citing design, or even apparent design, as the basis of everything but referring to some mysterious entity he calls ‘The Code’. A code at the very least implies information content, but The Code (as a proper noun and with the definite article) suggests something unique and powerful. God?
In his own words Du Sautoy puts it like this "…underlying everything that surrounds us, from the natural world to the cities we live in, there is a hidden code that explains why things look and behave they way they do. This hidden code (‘The Code’) has the power to unlock the laws that govern the universe. The Code is the truth of the universe, and its numbers dictate the way the world must be."
So, this hidden code, this entity that Du Sautoy calls ‘The Code’ is identical to Absolute Truth, The Oneness, The Ancient Of Days, and can lead us to All Truth, and is completely deterministic.
This is unquestionably a religious view of the Universe. In fact it is the old heresy of Pythagoras, the pagan Greek philosopher, re-worked by gnostics, Kabbalists, Freemasons, Rosicrucians, Illuminists, and now, it appears, New Atheists. What a great scam it will be if modern scientists s can pull it one off!
Most people know very little about Pythagorean philosophy other than the Pythagorean Theorem of the triangle, which was attributed to Pythagoras, but was most certainly known and used for well over 1000 years before Pythagoras lived. The man himself however was rather more complex than a triangle and apart from believing that the universe and everything in it was made out of numbers and mathematical formulas he also never ate beans because he believed every time we fart a little bit of our soul escapes. Bertrand Russell, the twentieth century mathematician and philosopher, whilst unsympathetic to Pythagoras' view of the nature of things, stated.
Pythagoras and his followers believed that all relationships could be reduced to numerical equations, that mathematics (holos) is the true reality, while the world (cosmos) with time and space and all other manner of artifice is a nothing more than a construct of human minds. Pythagorean metaphysics stated that ‘The Essence of Being Is Number’, number being understood to be ‘that which prior to all things subsists…by which and from which all things are coordinated, and remain connumerated in an indissoluble order.’ (Christians will notice a usurpation of the divine Logos therein). The Pythagorean philosophy was dominated by the ideal that numbers were not merely symbols of reality, but were the final substance of real things.
Aristotle fleshes this out in his Metaphysics, where he states that the Pythagoreans
"…believed that the principles of mathematics were also the principles of all things that be. Now, since the principles of mathematics are numbers, and they thought they found in numbers, more than in fire and earth and water, similarities with things that are and that become (they judged, for example, that justice was a particular property of numbers, the soul and mind another, opportunity another, and similarly, so to say, anything else), and since furthermore they saw expressed by numbers the properties and the ratios of harmony, since finally everything in nature appeared to them to be similar to numbers, and numbers appeared to be first among all there is in nature, they thought that the elements of numbers were the elements of all that there is, and that the whole world was harmony and number."
While pagans both modern and ancient, do not believe in their gods as followers of the Abrahamic religions, the Pythagoreans definitely believed in an omnipotent, omniescent God who is in fact a number or numeric code.
Allocated a generous budget by the BBC from funds generously but involuntarily donated by taxpayers Du Sautoy starts his series with an expensive jolly to Chartres cathedral, said to be first of the great Gothic cathedrals (in fact Durham Cathedral in north east England was begun first but not completed until after Chartres because of local problems about who was the rightful King of England. Chartres has become far more widely known in recent years thanks to a certain fictional work.
Chatres Cathedrsal south transept Durham Cathedral
In the Middle Ages the cathedral school at Chartres, like most of the religious communities, was the centre for learning and for a revival and development of Pythagorean ideas. The monastic orders were fiercely independent of the Vatican and openly defied Papal control freakery especially if it related to suppression of ancient knowledge deemed "ungodly" by The Holy Father. Chartes cathedral was built on the site of a Druid temple, the crypt beneath the cathedral being a dolmenic chamber. Diodorus Siculus, writing in 36 BC, describes how these Druids followed Pythagorean teachings although that is probably wrong - the Druids, like the Babylonians, Egyptians, Assyrians, Persians and Minoans were using Pythagorean mathematics long before Pythagoras was even a twinkle in his Daddy's eye. Thanks to such links to a mysterious era in human development, Chartres has become one of the main centres for people interested in the The Grail Mystery and certain lost arts and sciences. The cathedral contains a mass of Masonic, gnostic, pagan, astrological and Pythagorean symbols.
As this stuff is the bread and butter of Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code and the genre of revelatory fiction it spawned along with the speculative history books concerning The Holy Grail, The Knights Templar, Ark Of The Covenant, Freemasonry, Pagan symbols in Christian art and the secrets of the ancients perhaps Chartres was not the most helpful place to start a series that claimed it would reveal a great spiritual truth.
Down the centuries the Abbots of Chartres tried to ‘Christianize’ some of the Pythagorean ideas and make use of them in theology, hence as Otto von Simson (The Gothic Cathedral, Harper & Row, New York, 1956) states,
"The masters of Chartres, like Pythagoreans of all ages, were obsessed with mathematics: it was considered the link between God and the world, the magical tool that would unlock the secrets of both."
Mathematician David J. Stucki, in his published essay Mathematics As Worship (pdf) comments
"…from the dawn of Western Civilization and through the Middle Ages the heart of mathematics was strongly tied to religious thought. Eventually, however, the humanism of the Renaissance and the empiricism of the Scientific Revolution began to open the door for the breakdown of this marriage. Scientism, the granting of absolute authority to the empirical and objective, became the mistress of the modern mind. The resulting ‘mathematization’ of science and culture (Howell & Bradley, 2001) had a myriad of consequences. The Church was no longer perceived as having a monopoly on Truth. The success of mathematics in accounting for the structure and behavior of the physical universe ultimately led to a naturalistic version of the Pythagorean ontology that ‘Everything is number.’ The divorce of theology and mathematics in the modern age created the 20th century crisis of ‘Foundationalism’ in mathematical philosophy…[and] epistemological progress in mathematics is devastating to Christian theology under the Pythagorean legacy."
Stucki obviously thinks Pythagoreans mathematical theology still has followers; Du Sautoy, as we have seen, is one, but also an increasing number of physicists are being seduced into thinking that ‘the principles of mathematics are also the principles of all things that be’, that somehow mathematics is the primary reality or as some might say the supreme force of the universe.
Another example of a scientist who has lost sight of reality is I. V. Volovich, a physicist at the great centre for wasting taxpayers' money, CERN. In his paper Number Theory As The Ultimate Physical Theory Volovich concludes that: " ... the fundamental entities of which we consider our Universe to be composed cannot be particles, fields or strings but numbers ..." Obviously the man is daft as a brush, numbers are a construct of the human mind. Numbers are what we use for accounting and measuring. Many things can be said to have divine properties but not abstract concepts like numbers.
Others have dived into the same dark pool only to find on braining themselves on the bottom it was not as deep as they thought, for example Vasilios Gardiakos:
"That ‘all is number’ will allow us to create what many theologians thought only God was capable of…all can be numerated and computerized…Mathematics is the most basic requirement for existence. It has no mass, dimension and time and yet it can create these and many more phenomena.
The Thales era which brought us science is near the end. It is to be followed by the Pythagorean era with…the realization that ‘all is number’…we will gain the vision that ‘all is mathematics’…This is the point that we begin to perceive our existence as numerical."
The philosophy of mathematics is pure philosophy and not science as it's devotees like to claim, it proposes, but never resolves. Pythagoreans aim to cut through the debate between the Platonists and the Formalists, the Realists and the Nominalists by making both views redundant through asserting a radical third way, which aims to dominate the whole scientific enterprise.
Platonists and Realists believe that mathematical entities exist independently of the human mind, abstract and immutable; apart from this material universe in which absolute mathematical truths reside. In this view, mathematicians do not invent mathematics but discover it. New mathematical concepts are "revealed". But if these entities are not part of this universe, how can they be discovered and recognized? The standard answer to that it is by intuition or (divine?) revelation and illumination, thus we have a dichotomy. The scientists who most despise religion embrace the methodology of the religious thinker as their own. Christians might be attracted to such a view, in that such entities ‘exist’ in the mind of God, (or somehow in God himself, who is transcendently not part of this universe but something which, as one of the gnostic gospels puts it, is so great the entire firmament is contained within it and yet so small it's whole is contained within the smallest thing.
Formalists/Nominalists on the other hand deny the existence of mathematical entities, dismissing mathematics a purely a construction of the mind (whether the mind of man or the mind of God). In this view, mathematics is a very useful common language and tool that can help us try to make sense of the world, and can lead us towards beneficial discoveries and enhance our understanding, but which is for all that an artifice, a human invention. St Augustine had some interesting thoughts along these lines as well, that numbers are the universal language conveyed by God to us as confirmation of the truth.
Realists and Nominalists are agreed that there are no mathematical entities within this universe, but Pythagoreans assert that mathematical entities are not only within the universe, but actually comprise the universe. This has been an attractive idea for atheist scientists who take a reductionist approach in their efforts to avoid answering the unanswerable questions that are food and drink to philosophers. If everything can be reduced to numbers, everything can be explained by an equation. Except Wayne Rooney's goalscoring ability of course, or how a cat times it's leap to catch a bird that is about to fly away, or how a monkey swings with such apparent ease from branch to branch among the trees while so many humans struggle to solve even simple equations.
Realism then proposes that mathematical entities exist outside the reality of the physical universe. The connection, if any, between these entities and reality is an ongoing debate.
Nominalism holds that there are no mathematical entities; mathematics is a product of the mind apart from reality.
Pythagoreanism: asserts that there are mathematical entities within the universe, which constitute the whole of reality. All else is a product of the mind.
St Augustine said, "If you see anything at all that has measure, number, and order, do not hesitate to attribute it to God as craftsman."
With those things in mind, imagine the hysterical fury that would come pouring from the mouths and fingers of militant Atheists, if this TV series had been titled "Intelligent Design?" rather than the more cryptic "The Code." while highlighting the intelligence of the design underlying the patterns and numbers of which the universe is formed. ROTFLMAO.
One of the many sources I used in researching this artilce, (The Language Of Life, Keith Devlin, The Guardian, September 2004)attracted this letter in response (the article was published before online commenting was available in the newspaper.) The misrepresentation, bigging up, of mathematics the writer refers to is something I see more and more often. Swcience is becoming a religion, with dogmas, a creed and fanatical followers determined to convert or silence all infidels. Letter to The Guardian in response to Keith Devlin's article The Language Of Life. Keith Devlin should beware of misrepresenting the nature of mathematics (The language of life, September 13). Although many things in the real world can be described in mathematical terms, mathematics itself is part of our imagination rather than part of the physical universe. Devlin and others are in danger of falling into the same trap as the Pythagoreans, who thought the universe actually consisted of mathematics. After Pythagoras, the philosopher Zeno proposed several paradoxes, such as the one about Achilles and the tortoise, to show the distinction between mathematics and reality. One example concerns division: in mathematics it is clear that there is no limit to dividing. It is far from clear, however, whether the same applies to the real world; the apparent alternatives - that there is a limit to dividing the constituents of the universe, or not - seem equally hard to swallow. The universe is as it is simply because that is how things are. It is not because of mathematics. So, even though we may see the Fibonacci series in nature, that still does not mean that the maths existed before we thought of it. Michael Bulley Chalon-sur-Saône, France RELATED POSTS:
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An electrical accident at a World Cup stadium has killed a worker in the Brazilian city of Cuiaba, temporarily halting construction and adding to setbacks in the rushed preparations for the tournament.
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Wii Storage Solution - Not as good as it sounds?
Posted by Anthony Dickens
Nintendo announce a "direction" of what they will do to fix the Wii's memory problem, but is it actually any good?
It's probably been hard for Nintendo to ignore the issue, the media and owners have been banging on about it for a long long time, finding it hard to understand why we can't just load directly from SD cards.
After last weeks announcement a huge amount of websites and blogs have reported this as the "solution" to the problem, we here at Nintendo Life beg to differ, if you look at what Nintendo actually said it's not that great.
Firstly, as it is going to be a software update it is horribly late, probably a good 18 months over due. Secondly if you look at what they say, you STILL won't be able to play directly from the SD card, you'll have the same limited memory for "channels", they're just saying it'll be "easier" (one click) to move something to the internal memory... basically speeding up the process, but not fixing it.
I guess if they really really don't want gamers to play directly from SD it should feature some form of memory overflow stacking, so that whenever you download something new it'll always save to the internal memory and then if required, move the least accessed (or games that haven't been accessed recently) onto the SD card, at least then you won't have to move stuff around unless you want to play something you've not touched in a long time.
Hmm, I don't think this will be the end of it.
From the web
User Comments (5)
motang said:
Now that I took a deep breath and read what they really said, I understand it. Thanks Nintendo we really know how it works. Too bad it wasn't what I was thinking, where you can just download to the SD card and play off of that. Why not make it so we can save game data and load saved game data off the SD card. That should free some memory as well, right?
Zenman said:
um...that looks like it just covers wiiware and VC games,which can already be moved to an SD card. what i want to know is what about regular games like Okami and Wario Ware that take up similar space?
antdickens said:
Yeah, they didn't even mention how it will handle save game files... being able to load saves directly from SD would help, and it wouldn't break their "security".
SuperMarioX said:
It doesn't sound to bad... no it's terrible. Why didn't they come out with a Hard Drive or something like NORMAL developers? The X360 and PS3 have better ways of storage solutions. Nintendo your not in next-gen at all
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Also, any movie with Rifftrax becomes instantly watchable, if not enjoyable, to me. Any movie.
As far as shows go, the list of things I want to watch is a considerable bit longer that what I actually have. My favorites are MST3K, Bob's Burgers, Psych, Futurama, Whose Line is it Anyway, QI, and Monty Python.
I'm all over the place, musically. To drop some names: Muse, System of a Down, MC Frontalot, K.Flay, Cake, Rhapsody, Van Canto, Lupe Fiasco, Symphony X, The Glitch Mob, The Dear Hunter, The Creepshow, Infected Mushroom, KMFDM, Queen, That Handsome Devil, Five Finger Death Punch, Dan Bull, Supercommuter, I Fight Dragons, Sabaton, The Atomic Fireballs, Diablo Swing Orchestra, Iron Maiden, and if we're being completely honest here, Lady GaGa is pretty goddamn catchy.
There's not much I won't eat as far as food is concerned. I'll try anything. Except olives. Olives can go straight to hell.
On a typical Friday night I am
One of the great joys of working in retail is that Fridays tragically hold no special meaning anymore. Tragic.
But when whatever currently passes for a Friday rolls around, I'm usually hanging out with friends.
As for what we do, well, this is a long shot here, but it might just involve alcohol. Past that, the sky's the limit.
The most private thing I’m willing to admit
I’m an empty essay… fill me out!
Awkward moments in shows and movies make me wince. Hard.
People find this more entertaining than than I would like.
You should message me if
Offer a few tips to help matches win you over.'re creative, and want someone to talk ideas with.'re adventurous, and want someone to explore with. love talking about literary theory, mythology, folklore, philosophy, the mind, or just love having discussions in general. saw this profile, and thought, "dang, this guy is amazing/a genius/dead sexy/hilarious/the most charming man on the face of the earth/mildly interesting."
I get that all the time. I swear. | http://www.okcupid.com/profile/Kyle0019 | dclm-gs1-104090000 |
0.026026 | <urn:uuid:493a395e-d683-490e-ad70-72bedeaa0b65> | en | 0.919861 | My morning-train reading:
• Financial Television & The Culture of Charade (Above the Market)
• Wall Street’s New Housing Bonanza (DealBook)
• World risks deflationary shock as BRICS puncture credit bubbles (Telegraph), see also As China’s Economy Slows, the Pain Hits Home (NY Times)
continues here
Category: Markets
7 Responses to “10 Thursday AM Reads”
1. RW says:
When corporations are healthy but the economy is not then junk can outperform equities …at least for awhile.
HY bond market weathering the storm
2. rd says:
There are trees growing north of the Arctic Circle where the climate is warm enough to sustain them. Trees have a hard time rooting themselves in permafrost. There have also been previous discoveries of very large fossilized leaves in the Arctic, incidcating that they grew in a warm climate above the Arctic Circle where there is abundant sunshine in the summer and none in the winter.
If the world is warm enough to melt the ice caps and eliminate near surface permafrost, we would have the potential for trees everywhere on the planet. Who knows, maybe the next big farmer migration will be to Antarctica (the North Pole is sea water, so it would need to be hydroponic only)..
3. rd says:
This is a neat map that may be the best single indictor of where the wealthy live and travel in the US:
4. hue says:
The Food May Be Fast, but These Customers Won’t Be Rushed (NYTimes) “I don’t eat fast food. I just come here to hang out and deal with my mail.”
Happy New Year: A Beautiful Map of the World’s Largest Annual Human Migration (Slate)
Why Twitter Is So Big in Saudi Arabia (the beeb)
The New York Times’ Most Popular Story of 2013 Was Not an Article (The Atlantic)
5. hue says:
sorry wish there was an edit function, missing quote mark, like a scene in Swingers
(the beeb) | http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2014/01/10-thursday-am-reads-103/ | dclm-gs1-104260000 |
0.020083 | <urn:uuid:c1d7c7a2-5b4b-4978-a129-279c62699952> | en | 0.971248 | Strong earthquake shakes central Chile
— A strong, magnitude-6.7 earthquake rocked central Chile late Monday, prompting authorities to order a preventative evacuation of a stretch of coastline, causing hundreds of people to flee buildings in panic and shaking up the visiting prime minister of Canada.
The U.S. Geological Survey initially put the quake's magnitude at 6.5 but later raised it to 6.7. Its epicenter was 26 miles (42 kilometers) northeast of Valparaiso, and it had a depth of 23 miles (37 kilometers). It struck just minutes before midnight local time Monday (3:50 Tuesday GMT).
The Chilean navy's hydrographic and oceanographic service discounted the possibility of a tsunami, but authorities maintained an order for people to move to higher ground along a roughly 500-mile (roughly 780 kms) stretch of coastline running from the city of Constitucion to Tongoy, north of the capital.
Visiting Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper was awakened by the earthquake, but was not hurt.
"The prime minister and his wife were at the hotel when the earthquake happened," said Andrew MacDougall, Harper's director of communications. "All members of the Canadian delegation, including the prime minister, and his wife, Laureen, are just fine."
Still, the event shook up delegation travelling with Harper at the end of a four-day trip to Colombia and South America.
On his Twitter page, Canadian Parliament member Randy Hoback wrote, "With PM in Chile. Just experienced Earthquake. Everything A ok! Just freaky!"
The Associated Press | http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2012/apr/16/strong-earthquake-shakes-central-chile/ | dclm-gs1-104280000 |
0.018305 | <urn:uuid:10f89c88-1a30-4b07-9eb9-5e3b802c46f3> | en | 0.856951 | Edit Article
This move is a good way to avoid hurting your leg muscles when you land from a jump. It's not very hard and doesn't require a lot of practice.
1. 1
Find a place to jump from.
2. 2
Jump up.
3. 3
While you are in the air, bend your legs.
4. 4
While you are coming down, put your hands forward and above the shoulder of your stronger arm (if you are right handed, above your right shoulder) with your fingers forming a triangle, as if you were catching a football.
5. 5
Land with your toes. Don't lock your knees but allow them to bend to absorb some of the energy.
6. 6
Let your weight go forward
7. 7
Bring your triangle-formed fingers downwards to make contact with the ground.
8. 8
Brace your arms to let them take the impact.
9. 9
Push your upper body forward and roll.
10. 10
Jump again from a higher place.
• When you roll, roll with your shoulder, not your head.
• Remember to never lock your joints.
• After your toes hit the floor, bend your knees and ankles to take pressure of your hips and shins and prevent injury such as hyper-extension and bone breaks.
• Practice the rolling motion.
• Move gradually from a small height to higher up.
• Be ready for the impact with the ground.
• Don't get frustrated.
• Careful how far you jump from, especially on your first couple jumps.
• Don't use your head when rolling.
• You could get seriously injured.
• This might cause injury if not done correctly.
Things You'll Need
• A place to jump from.
Article Info
Categories: Athletic Jumping
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0.024111 | <urn:uuid:39251d82-14ba-4530-a439-1874e777369e> | en | 0.977229 | Skip to main content
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the union because of president obama's re-election. another 19% said they weren't sure whether their state should secede or not. that means leave america, become something else. it isn't just people tell anonymous pollsters. in many states people were signing in open public marketplaces, out in the street, petitions to leave the country. in seven states the petitions have received enough support to force the white house to respond actually. take a look at this map and where the petitions have received -- well, that's a big shock. tennessee, north carolina, i love north carolina, georgia, florida, alabama, louisiana, and texas. the secession movement has the most signatures in texas, of course, with nearly 120,000 people signing on. according to the "new york times," quote, secession fever has struck parts of texas. in texas talks of secession has steadily shifted to the center from the fringe. what is really going on here? let's find out. dana milbank has the right attitude, and ron reagan, a good friend of mine, an msnbc political analyst. i have to let you at this first, ron reagan. ever
th election. in iowa the campaign's numbers showed them tied with obama. in reality obama beat romney by about 6 points. in colorado romney's team thought they were up by 2.5. they actually wound up losing by 5.5. excuse me, i'm burping here. in new hampshire they had him ahead by 3.5. the reality, obama won by 5.5. these are like 9-point differences. his internal numbers were off in wisconsin, pennsylvania, and minnesota. a closer look shows more clearly why their confidence peaked right before the vote. over the last weekend there, the romney numbers showed romney gaining strong momentum in these key states. in wisconsin, obama lost 4 points in the polling just as romney gained 4 tying up the race. in new hampshire obama lost 4 while romney gained 3. the magazine quotes a romney aide on election night talking to romney's son tagg as the results were coming in. he looked like he was in a complete state of shock, as if these numbers cannot be real. to make matters worse, their polling told them florida and virginia, two states that romney lost, were in the bag. the republican party is
in 2012, in a general election with barack obama, an african-american, a democrat, and a relatively popular president would create a different electorate than the one you saw say in 2010 or in a primary situation? >> well, i think -- as you know, every poll starts with an assumption. here is who we think is going to show up and vote, therefore that's who we ask the question of. republicans and not just the romney campaign, but republican pollsters all across the country guessed wrong. we didn't see the intensity that there was there for the president, particularly among young voters. we oversampled male white voters. and, you know, you add all that together and you're going to see two, three, four-point differences. plus, the assumption always is that the incumbent is not going to pick up any votes on election day. i think this time -- >> i think that's right. bob, you're a pro-let's go through the first one. perception is about the enthusiasm level. we were watching the last election. you could see well before the election of 2008 the excitement for obama. i felt it myself obviousl | https://archive.org/details/tv?time=20121129-20121207&q=%22obama+election%22~35&fq=topic:%22texas%22&fq=program:%22Hardball+With+Chris+Matthews%22 | dclm-gs1-104580000 |
0.318082 | <urn:uuid:f5d03acb-41df-47e4-8e90-c309b2592c06> | en | 0.915178 | Baby boom
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
For other uses, see Baby boom (disambiguation).
A baby boom is any period marked by a greatly increased birth rate. This demographic phenomenon is usually ascribed within certain geographical bounds. People born during such a period are often called baby boomers; however, some experts distinguish between those born during such demographic baby booms and those who identify with the overlapping cultural generations. Conventional wisdom states that baby booms signify good times and periods of general economic growth and stability;[citation needed] however in circumstances where baby booms lead to very large number of children per family unit, such as in the case in lower income regions of the world, the outcome may be different. One common baby boom was right after WWII during the Cold War.
France experienced a baby boom after 1945; it reversed a long-term record of low birth rates.[2] The sense that the population was too small, especially in regard to more powerful Germany, was a common theme in the early twentieth century . Put in a list policies were proposed in the 1930s, and implemented in the 1940s.[3][4]
• Decreţei: (1967-1989), A baby boom in Romania caused by a ban on abortion and contraception.
United States[edit]
The term "baby boom" most often refers to the post–World War II baby boom (1946–1964) when the number of annual births exceeded 2 per 100 women (or approximately 1% of the total population size).[citation needed] There are an estimated 78.3 million Americans who were born during this demographic boom in births.[7] The term is a general demographic and is also applicable to other similar population expansions.
United States birth rate (births per 1000 population per year).[8] The United States Census Bureau defines the demographic birth boom as between 1946 and 1964[9] (red).
Recent baby boom periods include the following:
See also[edit]
1. ^ Rosenthal, Elisabeth (14 April 2012). "In Nigeria, a Preview of an Overcrowded Planet". The New York Times.
5. ^ Colin Jones, Paris: Biography of a City (2004) p 438
9. ^ U.S. Census Bureau — Oldest Boomers Turn 60 (2006)
Further reading[edit]
External links[edit] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_boom | dclm-gs1-104620000 |
0.112571 | <urn:uuid:3d8d9dda-81f4-4e91-ac28-a2dcce9c379b> | en | 0.933129 | Smokin' Aces
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Smokin' Aces
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Joe Carnahan
Produced by Tim Bevan
Eric Fellner
Written by Joe Carnahan
Starring Ben Affleck
Andy García
Alicia Keys
Ray Liotta
Jeremy Piven
Ryan Reynolds
Music by Clint Mansell
Cinematography Mauro Fiore
Edited by Robert Frazen
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release dates
• December 9, 2006 (2006-12-09) (Austin Butt-Numb-A-Thon)
Running time
109 minutes
Country United States
United Kingdom
Language English
Budget $17 million
Box office $57,103,895
Smokin' Aces is a 2006 American-British-French action-crime film written and directed by Joe Carnahan. It stars Jeremy Piven as a Las Vegas Strip magician turned mafia informant and Ryan Reynolds as the FBI agent assigned to protect him. The film was the debut of singer Alicia Keys and rapper Common as actors, and also starred Ben Affleck, Jason Bateman, Andy García, Ray Liotta, Taraji P. Henson, Chris Pine and Matthew Fox. The film is set in Lake Tahoe and was mainly filmed at the MontBleu casino, called the "Nomad Casino" in the film. The film grossed $57 million at the box office against a $17 million production budget.
Locke dispatches Messner and Carruthers to take Israel into custody when the deal is struck. Meanwhile, a team of Las Vegas bail bondsmen, Jack Dupree (Ben Affleck) and his partners, "Pistol" Pete Deeks (Peter Berg) and Hollis Elmore (Martin Henderson), has been hired by the sleazy lawyer who posted Israel's bail, Rupert "Rip" Reed (Jason Bateman), to bring him into custody. The bondsmen are gunned down by the Tremors, but Elmore survives. Messner is dispatched to the murder scene while Carruthers proceeds to Israel. At the same time, each of the assassins gain access to the hotel in their own various ways.
Carruthers encounters Acosta, disguised as a security officer, in an elevator at the hotel. Carruthers senses something is wrong and both are mortally wounded in a gunfight. Meanwhile, Soot gains access to the penthouse by posing as one of Israel's henchmen. Israel's second-in-command, Sir Ivy (Common), learns that Israel agreed to inform upon Ivy as part of the plea deal and attempts to kill him, but Israel injures Ivy by throwing a playing card at his eye, causing him to shoot his gun wildly around the room. The hotel security team hear the shots and restrain Ivy in riot cuffs in the hallway. Georgia finds Carruthers and Acosta, both riddled with bullets and bleeding to death, in the elevator, but assumes Acosta is Soot. In Los Angeles Locke abruptly withdraws from the deal with Israel and orders that Messner and Carruthers are not told. The Tremor brothers reach the penthouse floor, where they engage in a shootout with the security team and Ivy, who manages to kill Jeeves and Lester. Israel, learning of the FBI's new position, attempts suicide by gunshot but passes out before he can.
Messner arrives at the hotel and sets up a position around Georgia's elevator. Sharice provides cover from another high-rise hotel with a Barrett M82 anti-materiel rifle, outgunning the FBI agents. Acosta, still alive, shoots Georgia, but is shot by Carruthers. Sharice, thinking Georgia is dead, refuses to escape and keeps shooting at the FBI team. Georgia escapes to the penthouse where she stops Darwin Tremor before he can kill Ivy. Darwin Tremor escapes by posing as an FBI agent in stolen clothes, and Messner, distraught over the death of Carruthers, stops Ivy and Georgia on the stairwell, but decides to let them escape. Sharice, after seeing the pair alive and free through her rifle scope, is gunned down by the FBI from behind.
Locke and a team of FBI agents descend on the penthouse and take Israel to the hospital, while Soot escapes by dressing as a member of hotel security. Acosta, carted away on a gurney, is also shown to be alive. Darwin Tremor nearly escapes, but is gunned down by Hollis Elmore on the casino's parking garage roof.
Messner arrives at the hospital and learns the truth about the day's events from Locke at gunpoint. It transpires that the mysterious Swede is actually a prominent heart surgeon from the University of Stockholm and that Soot was hired by Sparazza to get Israel's heart so it could be transplanted into the body of Sparazza. Sparazza is further revealed to be Freeman Heller (Mike Falkow), an FBI agent who went undercover and was thought to have been killed by the mob. The FBI had attempted to kill Heller, after they thought his assignment had blurred the lines between being a mobster or an FBI agent. But Heller miraculously survived and ended up taking on the role as Sparazza full-time after his mind snapped. The mobster has agreed to expose the mob's operations in exchange for Israel's heart as he is in fact Sparazza's son, and thus, the most compatible donor.
Messner, furious over the unnecessary deaths, especially Carruthers', protests and is ordered by Locke to either resign on the spot or return to Washington, D.C., and forget about the case. Realizing that the FBI will never admit what they did, he walks into the emergency room, locks the door and pulls the plug on both men. He then lays his gun and badge on the floor while Locke and his men desperately try to break in.
Title sequence[edit]
During the making of the film Joe Carnahan's on set photographer captured thousands of stills. These stills (over 3000) were given to the London-based studio VooDooDog who found sequential photographs that could be animated into title sequences. The images were then manipulated using After Effects giving control of camera movement and depth of field. The sequence takes inspirations from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and other 1970's movies. To give the rostrum type hand made feel, ink textures were filmed using a Canon 5D stills camera.
The movie itself contains 18 songs,[2] leaving only one out of the official soundtrack which was "Spottieottiedopaliscious" by Outkast. The score music was composed by Clint Mansell who has also scored such movies as The Fountain and Requiem for a Dream.
Track listing[edit]
No. Title Artist Length
1. "First Warning" The Prodigy 4:21
3. "Ace of Spades" Motörhead 2:48
4. "Down on the Street" The Stooges 3:45
5. "Play Your Cards Right" Common feat. Bilal 3:09
6. "Trespassing" Skull Snaps 4:00
7. "Segura o Sambura" Nilton Castro 2:55
8. "Touch Me Again" Bernard "Pretty" Purdie 4:23
9. "Under the Street Lamp" Joe Bataan 2:52
10. "I Gotcha' Back" GZA 5:00
11. "I Love You" The Bees 4:33
12. "Morte di un Soldato" Ennio Morricone 3:12
13. "Save Yourself" The Make-Up 3:22
14. "Like Light to the Flies" Trivium 5:43
15. "FBI" Clint Mansell 3:00
16. "Shell Shock" Clint Mansell 3:09
17. "Dead Reckoning" Clint Mansell 3:16
Release and reception[edit]
Box office[edit]
According to Box Office Mojo, the movie grossed $14,638,755 on its opening weekend (2,218 theaters, averaging $6,599 per theater). The movie grossed a total of $35,662,731 in the North American market and $18,878,474 outside the U.S, making a total worldwide gross of $54,541,205.
Critical reception[edit]
The film received negative reviews, scoring a 29% on Rotten Tomatoes, with that site's consensus being that it is "A violent mess of a movie, Smokin' Aces has some of Quentin Tarantino's style but not much of his wit or humor". Despite this, the film has gained a cult following with its viewers.
Home media[edit]
Prequel [edit]
1. ^ Donnellon, Paul. Interview with Ian Albinson. London Retrieved July 19, 2012. Missing or empty |title= (help)
3. ^ "Smokin' Aces - DVD Sales". The Numbers. Retrieved 2010-07-10.
External links[edit] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smokin%27_Aces | dclm-gs1-104650000 |
0.106812 | <urn:uuid:42c0a0ff-5263-4963-b575-de7cfa52c893> | en | 0.987539 | Disclaimer: Boys Over Flowers/Boys Before Flowers/Hana Yori Dango is not mine. This fic is by no means for profit.
A/N: I'm sure that I'm not the only one who thinks that Song Woo Bin needs more love! I never expected that my very first BOF fic will be starring Woo Bin in the forefront, as he is not my favorite character in the show (Yi Jung is!). I think he'll be one of the nicest characters to play with in a fic, given the large space in the sandbox the creators provided. :) Anyway, this ficcie is a "re-imagination" of the F4 After Story Episode 2: Song Woo Bin. Some scenes here will be a part of a multi-chaptered BOF series I'm co-writing with a friend. R & R and enjoy!
Four-leaf Clover
by Schizoid Sprite
He clenched his fist around the stems of the half-destroyed bouquet, not even flinching at the thorns that painfully sank into his palm. Pain? He snorted disdainfully. He erased that word in his life's dictionary a long, long time ago.
Smirking bitterly to himself, he lifted his eyes warily and stared at her back, at the way the fabric of her orange sundress hugged her curves. His arms used to envelope her soft profile, too… and the manner the wind whispered through her hair, it reminded him of the very way he played with every precious strand while murmuring sweet nothings to her ears…
He let out a sarcastic laugh. Who would've thought that a harmless-looking lady like her can defeat a proud, violent Mafia bloke like him? It was so Samson-and-Delilah-ish: she managed to crush his heart into smithereens by just uttering a few words.
...but had she betrayed him?
Refusing to think about it, he veered his mind towards somewhere else. Memories then came flooding his headspace when he let his eyes flutter close, bringing him back to the time when he first cross paths with this woman.
Insecurities were the last thing an onlooker would think about if he would scrutinize Song Woo Bin that night. The young man was sporting his characteristic lopsided smile, and the way he carried himself in his dapper windbreaker hinted of the start of his Don Juan-ish escapades for the night. Unknown to everybody, he was struggling to keep the cool facade unyielding...and he was slowly crippling himself inwardly in the process.
He found a bar in a quite squalid alleyway in search of a different kind of refuge. He wasted the whole day there, imbibing countless bottles of beer—yes, beer over expensive wine or cocktail—and by dinner time he finally felt the kick of the drinks.
His surroundings were getting fuzzy; he was gripping the edge of the bar top for support and for the first time in his life he scowled at the aftertaste of alcohol in his tongue. His temples were throbbing hard and the sole idea playing in his mind was to find the loo—or anywhere else where he could possibly throw up. He wobbled from the stool; he looked up, and the dim lights of the bar loomed around him like some local gangpeh1 he encountered before, cornering him, threatening him…
"Yo, mah bros," he said rather comically, "wanna play a game?"
And with that, he started throwing uncontrolled blows and kicks around, hitting anything solid that came in their path. There were feminine shrieks overlapping the soporific music—he thought he saw fleeting faces of admiring, blushing girls, and he scowled at them in disgust. Seriously, why does the majority of the female population prefer to have kick-ass boozers as their ideal mates? He knew he couldn't understand it so he never tried to. As long as he could use it to his advantage, he wouldn't really care.
By the time he released his last punch, the beer-stained floor was already carpeted with unconscious men that he beat black-and-blue all by himself.
He brushed the warmth that trickled down his chin—blood, he realized with a note of surprise—and marched out of the awkwardly hushed scene. He slumped against the nearest wall once he escaped the suffocating atmosphere of the place, his breathing a tad labored as though he had just run a marathon. He laughed quietly to himself and reached inside the pocket of to get his last Black Bat stick.
"Is the commotion over, Sunbae-nim2?"
His fingers twitched around the cigar. He snapped his head at the direction of the voice while his other hand instinctively curled up into a fist. Blinking twice, he discovered that the speaker was just a girl; he willed his breathing to steady and permitted himself a sigh of relief. Funny oaf, he chided himself. Is this a sign that I should never go alone on a binge again? Perhaps I should invite Yi Jung next time…
"Sunbae-nim? Are you alright?"
"Sunbae-nim?" he echoed with a one-sided smile. "Do I look old enough to be addressed like that?"
The girl seemed to tense. He trapped the cigarette between his lips once he successfully lit it.
"Not that old to be called Ahjussi3," the girl responded too coyly that it was almost impossible to tell if she said it in jest or not. "I mean…well, I initially said it out of respect, but squinting now, I can say that you do look older than me."
He thought of arguing but something in her voice forced him to swallow a string of narcissistic remarks back down his throat, along with the sour rush of his breakfast, lunch, and dinner for today: beer. Who knows, the lassie might not be lying at all. He himself felt ugly and old in his own skin tonight.
"Good girls are taught to tell the truth, aren't they?" He said with a half-released laugh and blew a cloud of sweet-smelling smoke, which she timidly waved away with her hands. He tilted his head to study her face. "No fag?"
"What?" the girl asked with furrowed brow.
"Fag, mama," he said in nonchalant abandon, raising a brow. "Cigar. You don't smoke?"
She frowned. "No."
He shifted his weight to his other leg while he went on studying her. Even behind the alcohol-induced blur in his eyes he could tell that the girl was of exquisite beauty, the kind that would work its way to your head and cling there for a long time until someone or something more beautiful comes to replace it. He had seen beauties before, but none deserved to stay in his head for even a single minute. This time, however, the charm of innocence proved to be a factor to make this face a potential afterimage in his mind. He absentmindedly nodded to himself.
The only lights falling on them were moonlight and the band of colored fluorescents escaping from the bar. He could clearly see how the glowing colors bounced off her buttermilk skin and her slightly wavy hair that swirled down to her elbows. The lights played on her eyes, too, he observed.
It was only when she looked away that he noticed she was blushing under his scrutiny. He chuckled and limply let the cigar fall to the ground.
"I should be going back inside," she said, carefully avoiding eye contact. "I suppose that the commotion is over already…"
"It is," he confirmed readily, "because the one who started and ended it is standing right in front of you."
She stepped back once but unexpectedly, she didn't look scared. With exaggerated slowness she lifted a hand and brushed a thumb on his chin. He tensed at her warm touch; much to his surprise, he didn't pull away.
"Sunbae-nim," she said with reproach, eyes focused on the dried trail of blood there, "I know you're old enough to know that you don't have a set of milk teeth anymore—they won't grow back once they go off. I guess it's really true that bad guys lose their teeth so soon even before their hair turn white."
"You're breaking my heart," he said as he pouted in mock hurt. "I'm a bad guy?"
She smiled and stepped back. "Good guys don't start trouble."
"Good guys and heroes often stop trouble," he added in retaliation. "I stopped what I started, so I'm not fully a bad guy."
"I can't argue with that," she laughed and took a bow. "I'll be going now."
She came to a halt when he blocked the entrance.
"Password?" he asked with a devilish grin.
She rolled her eyes but answered anyway. "Please?"
"Wrong answer."
"Please is wrong?"
He winked. "Song."
"Song Woo Bin." He gently took her hand and planted a soft kiss on it. "That's me. Not Sunbae-nim or Mr. Bad Guy."
Flushing scarlet, she tugged her hand away from his lips. "S-so that's the password? Y-your name?"
"No, but yours is."
"My name?"
He nodded eagerly. "I'll only let you in if you give me your name."
There was nothing else she could do but sigh in defeat.
"Yang Sun Byul4," she said quietly.
"Sun Byul," he repeated. What a fitting name, he thought. Byul—a star.
Sun Byul pushed him when he didn't move. "Excuse me, Woo Bin Sunbae."
"Quit attaching the title," he complained as he shimmied drunkenly to the side. "It makes me feel a lot older—never mind the respect part. And by the way, Sun Byul—"
She stopped in her tracks.
"There's a small flaw in your bad-guy-lose-teeth theory," he said over-cheerily. "I didn't lose any tooth tonight."
"That doesn't explain the blood," she said with a final wave, obviously dismissing his statement as a lie.
"My cut lip does," he answered back. "And thanks for the balm."
The devilish smile was back on his face when she came to halt once again.
"The kiss," he said. "Your skin's more than enough to heal my—"
He ended his sentence in a loud gulp of laugh when she threw him a glare that accused him of being a pervert, before she hurried inside.
The flashback betrayed him, he realized as he refloated to the present. He hadn't completely deleted 'pain' in his vocabulary. In fact, he had been soaking in it all this time, enjoying its presence.
Ha, so how's that? Prince Song the masochist? He rolled his eyes at his own thoughts.
After their first meeting, he and Sun Byul kept in touch. It helped that Sun Byul actually studied in Shinhwa University as well; they were both wide-eyed when they ran smack into each other while she was hurrying to her next class. Woo Bin remembered resisting the urge to punch Jun Pyo that day after the said F4 leader suggested on giving her the 'red card treatment' because she didn't bother to apologize for the little incident. Some things never really change, he thought then, rolling his eyes.
Sun Byul escaped the professor's reprimand afterwards, thanks to Woo Bin's undying charm that she refused to acknowledge at first. And then they started their frequent meetings. Whenever Woo Bin thought the F3 wasn't paying him any attention, he would sneak out of the private lounge and convince Sun Byul to ditch her remaining class so they could go out. They would walk hand-in-hand, laughing and teasing each other, sometimes stealing kisses and sometimes even 'accidental' touches. Without a doubt, Sun Byul liked him—he could even swear that she actually loved him. Well, he did love her...
…and he still does.
He tightened the grip on the thorny stems until a certain wetness was felt. He didn't bother to know if it was just sweat or blood. Physical pain was, needless to say, no match for the ache throbbing in his chest right now.
Gathering all the courage he got, he marched towards Sun Byul. She let out a gasp when he grasped her arm and forcefully swung her around.
That was when the realization hit hard: he wasn't in pain.
He was angry.
"What's the reason?" he demanded. He drowned himself in the blackness—and blankness—of Sun Byul's eyes as he waited for her answer. His eyes then traveled down to her lips.
"I'm sick of it," she whispered. "I'm sick of your kindness."
Everything went in slow motion after she said that word. She whirled around, the sound of her stilettos decrescendoing. He watched her retreating back with gnashed teeth and angrily suppressed a growl, effectively destroying the bouquet by smashing it against the pavement.
"Woo Bin, come over and play with us."
He grudgingly peeled his eyes away from the flower he was cradling in his hand and focused them on Jun Pyo and Yi Jung, who were busying themselves over another childish game of building blocks. He pressed his lips in a thin line as he stood up and efficiently astonished the other boys by swiping the little wooden tower off the desk. He wordlessly turned around and left, but not before he heard Jun Pyo asking: "What's his problem?"
Okay, so he was brooding. The proud, cool Don Juan of F4, who was popular for always carrying the I-can-always-fix-everything-with-a-wink-and-a-flash-of-smile attitude, was brooding.
Well, he sighed, Why the hell not? I'm still human.
He perched himself on the stairs and thought about…those days when the F4 shone. Their high school days, the times when their world changed because of Geum Jan Di's entrance in their lives. He remembered the way the whole school would gather to wait for their arrival; he remembered his tap dance, the movements of Yi Jung's hands that the God of Pot blessed, Jun Pyo's boiling temper about false scandals involving Jan Di, Ji Hoo's silent times and his careful strumming of the guitar…
"The memories will always be the same," he murmured as he stared down at the four-leaf clover he was twirling with his fingers, "but I could've been the one to change."
Let's go back, he told himself.
And go back he did.
It felt like home, being back there in their private classroom. Woo Bin settled himself on his cozy old chair with a satisfied sigh. A book toppled down to the floor when he accidentally brushed against it; when he picked it up, and old snapshot slipped out of the dusty pages.
Gu Jun Pyo, Yun Ji Hoo, So Yi Jung, and himself.
The little boys in the picture grinned at him and he couldn't help but to smile back. How could he be so naïve to think that they'd stopped shining? Friends like them would never cease to shine. Yes, sometimes they're weird, sometimes teeth-achingly sweet, and never by any means nondescript. They were his special gifts.
As long as he has friends like them, the world would be beautiful and life would blossom beautifully like no other flower.
A movement to his side arrested his attention; he snapped his head at it, and found his nose inches from a birthday cake.
"How can you go here alone?" Yi Jung complained churlishly, sliding the cake closer towards Woo Bin. "Gu Jun Pyo started to feel bad, somewhat. Didn't we promise to be together forever?"
A toothy grin spread over Woo Bin's face.
"Happy?" Jun Pyo asked, trailing Yi Jung.
"Happy birthday!" Yi Jung greeted contentedly.
Woo Bin playfully lifted the cake to his eye level and blew the candles out in several puffs. The moment his fingers came in contact with the icing by mistake, a mischievous thought flitted across his mind. Jun Pyo and Yi Jung were sharp as ever, of course; they dodged out of reach as soon as Woo Bin commenced flinging amorphous lumps of icing at them.
After almost half a dozen years, F4's private room once again echoed with laughter.
Woo Bin realized that brooding wouldn't—would never—suit someone like him at all.
Additional notes:
1. Gangpeh- also spelled 'kkangpae' or 'ggangpae', it is a Korean gangster. An organized crime gang is called a 'pa'.
2. Sunbae- what you call your "senior" or anyone who's older than you; is often used with the suffix "nim" which makes it polite. It can go without the suffix but it is more casual that way.
3. Ahjussi- a middle-aged man.
4. Yang Sun Byul- yes, she's practically an OC, but there is a real girl who broke up with Woo Bin in the After Story episode. It's like I just gave her a name and a story with Woo Bin. 'Byul' means star.
As I have said above, some scenes from this will be a part of a multi-chaptered series I'm co-writing with a friend. Consider this a 'teaser'.
"If love is the answer...can you repeat the question?"- anonymous | https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5211684/1/Automatic-Love-Letters | dclm-gs1-104720000 |
0.108639 | <urn:uuid:92bb3049-c6ad-4f71-883c-8e86cb4b5077> | en | 0.992717 | Okay, ladies and gents... Here's a story I've been working on for a little while and was planning on putting up before all my little issues started rearing their ugly heads. I figured I'd post it up to keep you occupied until the rest of my stories have been updated... Enjoy!
This is an AU Yu Yu Hakusho fan fiction. The only two characters from that series that are going to be in this story are Hiei and Youko Kurama. It is set in present day and Youko never took up residence in Suichi Minamino's body. He and Hiei are friends and partners, very notorious thieves in the Demon World. While escaping demon bounty hunters, they use their energy to enter Human World and wind up becoming separated in a raging blizzard...
I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho.
Scant seconds after being blinded by a field of white in his vision, Youko felt his left hind leg snap and an intense shooting pain ran through his body. Then he landed in an awkward position upon a blanket of white snow in a horrendous blizzard. The snow was falling tremendously and the wind was making the already frigid air feel all that much colder. He was relieved at the moment that he was in his Fox Form. He didn't think that he'd be able to handle it as well as he was if he'd taken on his humanoid shape before coming here.
The fox took a moment to try and catch his breath, wincing as the cold air seemed to cut straight into his lungs with each intake, and then took in his surroundings. He soon found that such efforts were useless in this weather as the snow was falling so heavily he could only see six or seven feel around him. However, as he looked above himself he found the reason for his broken leg... a large tree. His leg must have hit it after he had gone through his portal. He sniffed the air and his eyes flared red briefly in his frustration. The cold had made his acute sense of smell completely and utterly useless. And he could hear nothing but the howling of the wind.
He took stock of his current situation. He was freezing cold, the weather very effectively crippling his sense of sight, smell, and hearing. The energy he had exerted in order to fight, escape his pursuers and open the portal had drained him significantly, and his leg was injured. In spite of his efforts to keep himself composed, he started to shiver as the biting wind and snow made it past his fur, leaving him to try and cover himself with his five tails. It did very little to help stave off the cold.
Hiei? He called out in his mind. After waiting several minutes and receiving no answer, the kitsune elicited a rare sigh. The fire demon would have the ability to keep him warm, if he were near. Unfortunately, that did not seem to be the case. They had been separated in all the confusion. And chances were that Hiei was just as drained of his energy as the fox himself was.
It would be difficult to recover when he was immobile, but it could be even more dangerous to wander around when he could hardly see what was in front of him. Glancing down at his leg, he saw the break was severe, a small hint of white bone sticking out amongst the fur. At least the cold would help to prevent infection... not that that was much of a concern in the first place. He could possibly walk on three legs, but with his energy depleted the way it was, he felt it would be in his best interests to remain where he was and hope Hiei located him with his Jagan Eye. He silently hoped it would be soon. Although his leg would heal in only about a day and a half or so, he didn't relish the thought of rebreaking it so he wasn't burdened with a limp.
So, resigning himself, the fox curled up into as tight a ball as he could to fight off the cold and started to wait.
Time crawled by slowly, despite the kitsune's efforts to ignore the howling wind and the horrifically cold temperature. He would occasionally shake his fur to keep from becoming completely buried in the snow, before he would settle down once more. He wasn't sure if hours had gone by or only minutes, but finally something caught his attention.
Suddenly, in addition to the howling wind, Youko heard the crunching of footsteps in the snow, and it sounded as if it was coming closer. The fox stiffened. Without his sense of smell, he was unable to discern if it was Hiei, but he realized that if it was his friend, the koorime would have called out to him telepathically before making an entrance. So the kitsune quickly looked in the direction the new arrival was coming from, hoping it wasn't the demon hunters being even more stubborn than he had initially thought.
The figure slowly became visible, and it became evident that it most certainly was not Hiei. The figure was a few inches too tall, for one, and for another, there was no way his partner would be caught dead in such a bulky get up. Obviously it was a native to the area he now found himself in. Although that made him relax slightly, he refused to drop his guard.
The figure wore a light brown jacket that looked rather bulky, and the fox had the impression that there were several layers of clothes hidden underneath. Around his legs was another protective layer to protect from the cold... black pants and heavy boots to keep the snow from the wearers feet. The only thing he could make out of the face of this mystery man was his eyes, and even they were difficult to see with the onslaught of snow assailing his vision. A hood attached to the jacket was securely in place on his head, and he could see the front of another fabric hat that was on beneath it.. Across his face was a thick red scarf. Warm gloves protected the hands of the oncomer.
Youko quickly went over his possible means of defense in the event this human should seek to do him harm. Of course, even though his youki was severely depleted, he could still muster up enough of it to spring a deadly plant upon him. But doing so would leave the kitsune unconscious due to the energy drain. So that was something he didn't want to do. Such a thing would leave him completely defenseless. He wondered if he could muster up the strength to physically attack should the need come for such action. His claws and teeth would be more than enough to take care of this mortal, but what if friends or family noticed he was missing and sent out a search party? The fox was in no condition to take on a group, even if they were only humans.
Youko held his breath and waited, hoping the human was too engrossed in his trek to notice him.
No such luck. Seconds after that thought went through his mind, he heard a sharp intake of breath and saw the human had stopped in his tracks and was looking at the fox with wide eyes. He started forward immediately and the fox let out a loud growl of warning.
The human stopped and crouched down where he was, which was about five feet away from the kitsune's current position. The two of them regarded one another, another slightly softer growl escaping from the throat of the fox.
"Easy, big guy. I'm not going to hurt you," the human said, the scarf muffling the sound of his voice. "What happened? You look like you've got a broken leg there," he continued on in what Youko assumed was an attempt at a comforting voice. He came a little closer and the fox let out another growl.
"Easy, easy. It's okay," he said, raising his hands. The human was now only a few feet away from the fox and the kitsune glared into his eyes, trying to determine his intentions. He was met with a sea of blue.. "Let me try and help you, okay? I used to work as a vet and I've taken care of animals on a regular basis for the past three years. I've got supplies at my place, and I could have your leg set and you in a nice comfy environment in no time if you'd let me take you home with me."
The human slowly reached out, fully prepared to pull away should the fox try to take one of his hands off. Youko let out a continuous growl but froze the moment one hand gently touched the back of his neck. He could almost imagine the smile of relief on the humans face concealed beneath the scarf.
"There, you see? I'm not going to hurt you." The human took him in once more. "Hmmm. Larger than your average fox for sure, but I think I could handle the weight until we get to my house. I can't just leave you here, that's for sure! I'd never forgive myself if a beautiful creature like you froze to death."
Youko considered for a moment and frowned mentally. He would play along with this human for now, but the instant he made a wrong move, the kitsune would be standing over his bloodied corpse before he could blink. Being held in the arms of the human could actually work to his advantage in conserving his energy.
The fox went rigid and prepared himself for the pain, expecting the human to inadvertantly jostle his leg in the act of picking him up. But the human surprised him with the gentle and careful manner with which he took him into his arms, making sure the injured leg was out of harms way.
"Now let's get you to my place and take a look at that leg! It'll be nice to have company for once, even though you're not going to be much for conversation," he said in a somewhat cheery manner.
Youko breathed a mental sigh of relief. So the human lived alone. That would make things even easier for him. Once Hiei located him, the two of them could be rid of this pest and come up with a plan of their own.
The human continued on his way once more, this time holding a shivering kitsune in his arms. Youko scowled at himself for showing such pathetic weakness, but the cold wasn't leaving him much choice in the matter, and he didn't have the strength to warm himself with his youki. What body heat the human might be giving off was effectively locked in by the clothes he wore, so he had no relief there.
Frankly, the kitsune had no idea how the human knew where he was going. He walked for almost a half hour before turning and the fox could then see a light up ahead, made more clearly visible by the darkening skies. As they drew nearer, he saw a cozy looking home, smoke billowing out of a chimney and he couldn't help but feel a small measure of relief.
The man carefully repositioned the fox in his arms so he could open the front door and entered the home, leaning against the door with undisguised relief upon being safely inside the warm dwelling. He let out an immense sigh.
"Ah, blessed, blessed warmth! I'll bet you're happy to be out of that hellish weather! I was freezing myself in all these layers! I can't image how cold you must have been with only one!" After carefully setting fox down on some soft blankets in front of the fire place, he went toward the hearth and threw a couple logs on the smoldering embers to get a roaring fire going.
He stood up straight once more and stretched. "Wow! You're definitely heavier than I figured you'd be! Well, no rest for the weary. After I get out of these things, I'll see how your leg is and get you something to eat." He headed off toward a closet without another word and Youko took stock of his new surroundings.
It was one large room, with a short hall leading to what he assumed were the bedrooms and restroom. The room he was in right now had a dark brown wood on the walls, several pictures hanging upon it. Right in front of the fireplace was a couch for three or four people, and on one side of it was a large potted plant.
Youko grinned feraly. Good. If there was a plant in the house, then should his so called savior turn out to be a threat to him after all, he could easily use what little youki he had to dismember him with little effort.
Before he could examine the rest of the room, which seemed to be both a kitchen and a living room, his ears perked up when a huge sigh or relief sounded from by the closet. And he felt a jolt of shock go through his system with what he heard next.
"Ahhhh... Now that is much better!"
It wasn't the words that shocked him. It was that the voice was unmistakably female.
His surprise increased when the human came back into sight. Youko couldn't help it as the thought entered his mind.
His golden eyes were met with wide and expressive blue. A small lightly upturned nose, and wide mouth with full lips were framed by slightly tousled dark brown hair that billowed over her shoulders. She stood a few inches taller than Hiei and was currently unbuttoning a cream colored sweater, revealing a blue shirt beneath which, although was slightly loose, did nothing to hide her gorgeous body. Her breasts were a little larger than average, and she had a slender but athletic build. Her hips were wide, accentuated nicely by the snug blue jeans she wore.
When she looked at him, her lips formed a luxurious smile. Youko immediately decided that, were he in his humanoid form and not currently injured, he'd pounce on her.
"Okay, handsome, now that we're both relatively comfortable, why don't I take a look at that leg and get it set for you?" She came forward slowly in case he should be adverse to her approach. Youko didn't even growl this time, his mind still trying to compute the fact that his rescuer was female.
She sat down beside him, her face now scrunched in concern as she very gently reached out with long, slender fingers to examine his injury. He felt only the slightest shooting pain when she contacted him and he let out a low growl. She cast a quick glance at him and, once she was relatively sure that he wasn't going to lunge at her and tear her throat out, she continued to examine his injury.
She winced noticeably. "Ooohhhh... Compound fracture. You poor thing. How'd you manage that one?" Then she smiled prettily at him. "Well, no worries. I can have you fixed up in no time. Just wait here while I get my supplies, handsome!"
As the kistune watched her make her way down the hall, he couldn't help but notice that the back was just as nice as the front.
Fox! Are you all right? If that onna did anything to you, I'll be more than happy to permanently remove her for you!
Youko perked up immediately upon hearing the voice enter his mind. Looking at a window to the left, he saw a set of red eyes looking in. Hiei! There you are! And she didn't do anything to harm me, although I'm not entirely certain of her intentions as of yet...
I'll determine that. We're not going to take any chances.
Outside the window, Hiei watched apprehensively as the woman reentered the room, carrying a metal box in her hands. She took her place beside the kitsune once more and started rummaging around inside it. She pulled out some splints, bandaging and a syringe.
Youko stiffened as she started filling the last item and let out a warning growl as she prepared it.
She blinked and then smiled at him. "No worries, handsome. All this is going to do is numb your leg so I can set the bone without it causing you pain. You'll get all the feeling back in your leg in just a couple of hours."
Hiei used his Jagan to delve into her mind and detected no deception. You can trust her in this, Youko. She has absolutely no desire to bring you harm.
Trusting in his friend's judgement, Youko settled down and allowed the woman to inject him with the syringe. She smiled once she did so and got to her feet.
"I'll take about ten minutes for it to fully kick in, so I'll get you something to eat while we wait. You must be hungry." She went to the fridge and dug around in it for a moment. Then she pulled out a container. "I'll give you some chicken," she said, grinning a little mischievously. "I made far too much for myself yesterday, and so you, as the guest of the house, get first dibs on the leftovers." She set it down on the table briefly as she filled another bowl with some water from the tap and then came forward, setting it down in front of him.
Realizing his was absolutely famished, Youko dug right in, much to the woman's delight.
She smiled at him warmly. "Glad you like it." Then she leaned back with a small sigh. "You may not be much of a conversationalist, but it is nice to have some company this time of year. The past three years it's all been the same: Mom and Dad go running off to some nice warm southern region, along with all the neighbors. Funny how they never did that before I quit my job as a vet and moved back here. But since I'm best qualified to take care of their animals while they're all gone on a nice winter vacation, I get to grit my teeth and bear the cold to watch over everything for them." She shrugged. "Not that I mind watching over them. I love animals, so why would I? It would just be nice if someone could actually come and visit with me once in a while. It sucks being out here by myself all the time. I don't even have a social life any more."
Her narrative was cut off by a large yawn. "Wow... it's been a long and tiring day. Let me just get your leg fixed up, and then I'll check to make sure you don't have any frostbite." She very carefully pressed on Youko's broken leg and, when he didn't even blink at the contact, she smiled in relief. She quickly set the bone in its proper place, positioned the splints, disinfected the open wound, and wrapped it securely. The fox had long since finished his meal and was currently watching her silently.
She smiled at him sweetly. "Okay, now to check your ears and tail for frostbite..." She went for the tail first and her eyes widened in obvious surprise. "Five tails?"
Outside the window Hiei stiffened while Youko prepared himself for the worst, but both were surprised at what she said next.
She shrugged after a moment. "I've seen stranger. Minor genetic defects are common in the animal kingdom, though this is the first time I've had a patient with one..." Then she started to examine his tails one by one. "Besides, somehow they make you even cuter. I'm surprised I never noticed them until now actually."
Youko frowned inwardly. Genetic defects?
Hiei shrugged from his perch outside the window. Just consider yourself lucky that she never made the real connection, fox. I would hate to have to kill her when she's in the middle of taking care of you.
Youko said nothing in response as the woman turned her attention to face him again, a gentle smile on her face.
"I'd like to check your ears and I'm hoping that since you just had a meal, that you won't feel inclined to bite my hand off." She carefully reached forward and, when Youko didn't so much as growl, she carefully prodded his ears with her soft hands. The fox was only barely able to keep himself from purring in delight, much to his partner's amusement.
Trying to keep yourself under control, Youko?
The fox inwardly growled in delight. If I were able to at the moment, I'd revert to my humanoid form and make her into a woman...
The girl pulled away after a couple of minutes and smiled at him. "You lucked out. No frost bite. I've gotta say, though, that you surprise me. You're easily the most cooperative patient I've had." Then she got to her feet and plunked down on the couch, grabbing a remote and turning on the television. She immediately changed the station to the weather network and after a few minutes of listening to the reports for other regions of the country, they got to her home province.
"And the Edmonton region is experiencing what historians are calling 'The Storm of the Century!' The snowfall and blizzard conditions are expected to continue throughout this week. Overnight, they can expect to receive another 30 cm of snow, and temperatures are expected to plummet to 37 below zero overnight..."
The woman moaned loudly hearing this and shut off the television. "Just great. Well, it looks like I'm in for a long day outdoors tomorrow. I have to shovel the snow off the front steps again and, since there's no way in hell I'm walking in three feet of snow, I'll have to dig in front of the entrance to the garage too. I'll be using the snowmobile. I just hope the damn thing is running properly..." Then she sighed and forced a smile on her face as she looked at Youko again. "I'm just gonna sleep here on the couch tonight. I wouldn't be a very good caregiver if I just up and left you alone, now would I? Goodnight, handsome." She fluffed a pillow on the couch briefly before reaching up to turn off a lamp on one of the side tables, and curled up into a ball, going to sleep almost instantly.
Youko, after waiting a few minutes to ensure she was truly asleep, looked to the window to tell Hiei to come inside, but was stunned when he already saw his friend leaning against the wall, his arms crossed. His head band was off, leaving his Jagan Eye exposed.
"She won't wake up. My Jagan will make sure of that. So, why don't you tell me what happened, fox? How the hell did you wind up in the company of this woman?"
Youko shrugged mentally. She came across me while I was injured and lying in the snow. To be perfectly honest, I didn't even know she was a female until she removed her clothes once we got here. She seemed genuinely concerned from the moment she saw me, and after considering the option of staying there, I decided to take a chance. After all, if she turns out to be a threat in the future, I can easily make use of that plant there and take care of her permanently. Although to do something like that would be a sad waste of a beautiful woman...
Hiei rolled his eyes. "You foxes and your hormones. If you want to fuck her, then it will have to wait until your energy is restored, and that won't happen until tomorrow night. Are you willing to play the dumb fox until then? Then we can get rid of her and get out of here."
Youko rolled his eyes. And go where? The hunters are probably still looking for us in Demon World, and we know next to nothing about Human World. The woman has proven herself trustworthy thus far... Why don't we reveal ourselves to her tomorrow night, tell her our situation and see if she can't be 'persuaded' to help us?
Hiei stared at him. "You're willing to put that much trust in some ningen onna after being with her for only a couple of hours? Have you lost your mind, fox?"
The kitsune looked at him evenly. Hey, if she doesn't want to go for it, or if she goes for it and proves to be less than honorable, then we'll just kill her and be done with it. It's not like someone like her will prove a challenge. And it's not like she knows how to get into contact with the hunters that were after us in the first place, so what can she do?
Hiei considered this for a moment. "I suppose you do have a point. But at the first sign of deception on her part, I'm lopping off her head." He looked at the sleeping woman for a moment, and then turned his attention back to the fox. "You realize she's going to be terrified of us."
Youko grinned. That fear will pass... provided SOMEONE isn't threatening to send her head rolling from the get go... or brandishing his sword in her face. Just leave the majority of the talking to me and things should go all right.
Hiei shrugged. "Hn. If you say so. Just hope you're not making a mistake, kitsune."
Youko didn't bother to reply as he carefully curled up into a ball, wrapping his tails around him, and went to sleep.
K, I'll put up the next chapter tomorrow. Tell me what you think! | https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6363016/1/Blizzard | dclm-gs1-104730000 |
0.077056 | <urn:uuid:92d9e196-1d8c-487b-919e-8446451b422e> | en | 0.946706 | Human trafficking discussed in Wichita
November 05, 2010|By Rebecca Gannon | KWCH 12 Eyewitness News
(WICHITA, Kan.) — It's something you see in movies or crime dramas, but you'd never think it was on Wichita's streets.
But Wichita is ranked as one of the top 5 cities in the US for human trafficking. Experts say teens leave Kansas (sometimes willingly, sometimes by force) and are then dropped hundreds of miles away. They are drugged and stripped of their money and identification, and then used for sex.
A movie due out next year highlights the trend -- and puts the spotlight on a Wichita woman who is working to stop the sexual exploitation everywhere.
It's not a Hollywood movie based on fiction. It's a documentary, highlighting a Wichita woman. "Sometimes I think it's just easier to turn our faces and say this doesn't happen here," said Karen Countryman Roswerm. "Because it's gut wrenching to believe that it does."
She works with teenage runaways - and many told the therapist they were kept as sexual objects. In her 12 years of working with them, she's heard dozens of heartbreaking stories. She read one 14 year old's words:
And she said, 'I guess I feel like nobody understands me. I feel like people look at me, and talk to me, like I am dirty and nasty. But I didn't do anything wrong. I am not a prostitute. I am just a girl. I am just a kid.'
The statement goes on to say a pimp jumped out in front of the teen, threw her into his car, and drove her away. The then-12 year old was threatened to do what she was told, or she and her grandmother would die.
Stories like that prodded Kansas City based filmmaker Susan Cook to action in a movie titled Hope Road. "The whole point of the film," said Cook, "is to film warrior women who are trying to stop this, exposing the johns, exposing the pimps.
Countryman - Roswurm said its an uphill battle to get people in Wichita to consider sexual exploitation could be happening on the city's streets. "To believe that people who look just like you and I can be trafficked," she said, "and people who look just like our Dads or our husbands can be the johns, or the traffickers."
Local authorities estimate as many as 400 teens from Wichita are at risk of sexual exploitation. That's the size of a graduating High School class in Wichita. And if you think it doesn't happen in this city --- it already has.
Back in 2005, Wichita Northwest High Football standout Bobby Prince Jr. pleaded guilty to using two girls from Wichita for the sex trade in Oklahoma City. "Kansas is an originating state, Wichita is a originating city, meaning that traffickers come to Wichita and take our girls, or boys, elsewhere."
Countryman-Roswurm said Oklahoma and Texas are prime destinations for teens taken from Kansas, thanks to the I-35 highway. "We're right in the center, we have easy access to highways. We're kind of a byway of just, kind of, get the young people, and get them out of here."
The movie focused on Wichita, in part for the reasons above, and in part because of the Anti-Sexual Exploitation Roundtable Countryman-Roswurm founded. The movie suggests solutions - and the main one is for community members to work together to identify the problem, raise awareness, and try to stop it from happening.
kwch Articles | http://articles.kwch.com/2010-11-05/wichita-woman_24816984 | dclm-gs1-104860000 |
0.14903 | <urn:uuid:dcae681e-241e-46fa-a132-bd0b9bb90afe> | en | 0.955465 | $3 Billion Cost Of War A Bargain -- So Far
December 26, 2001|By William E. Gibson Washington Bureau Chief
WASHINGTON — The cost to U.S. taxpayers of the war in Afghanistan could reach $3 billion, a burst of unexpected spending far less expensive than major conflicts of the past but still a burden to the precarious federal budget.
Each Tomahawk missile that swoops into the caves of Afghanistan costs about a million dollars. Each B-2 bomber costs $13,700 an hour to fly. Each "bunker-buster" bomb costs $145,000 -- about the same as the median price of an American home.
These war costs are just the tip of the iceberg when measuring the price of terrorism and its consequences.
The military operations overseas have been "cost-effective" compared to past wars, mounting to a mere $2.2 billion over the first two months, according to The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a non-partisan research group. Ongoing costs during a mopping-up phase could add another $200 million per month. That's all relatively cheap, compared to history's massive ground wars.
But this cost does not count homeland defense, government bailouts of airlines, new security expenses at home, anthrax testing, postal inspections, insurance and countless economic spinoffs that have been loosely estimated at a billion dollars a day.
The war abroad is the most obvious expense, but the mounting costs have not aroused controversy. The nation will simply have to bear these burdens, members of Congress said last week. "We were attacked at home. About 3,200 innocent citizens died. When you have to defend yourself in war, it's going to be a costly venture," said Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., a member of the Armed Services Committee. "Our entire country and way of life is being threatened, and we will spend whatever it takes to defend ourselves."
The military costs, though relatively efficient, further strain a federal budget already depleted by a big tax cut and a recession. Those costs will keep mounting as the war continues, in Afghanistan or elsewhere, forcing the federal government to run deficits, make deep cuts in domestic spending, or both.
New kinds of costs
This new kind of war has employed new kinds of firepower, some with daunting price tags. A Black Hawk helicopter that crashed in Pakistan cost $11 million. A Pave Low helicopter lost in Afghanistan was worth about $40 million.
Yet the expensive technology has kept total costs down, partly by effectively striking key targets, military analysts say. "In the narrow sense, some of these weapons are very expensive, but in the broader sense they are more cost-effective than old gravity bombs," said Steven M. Kosiak, budget analyst for The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.
The absence of much resistance from Taliban forces, particularly in the air, has kept costs down, and the use of Northern Alliance ground forces has spared the United States the vast expense of deploying tens of thousands of troops, tanks and heavy artillery for a land invasion.
The scale of the current conflict is substantially less than the Persian Gulf War, when the United States deployed roughly 250,000 troops in the region. U.S. forces in Afghanistan may reach closer to 2,000.
"What you have is a whole new different kind of war, best symbolized by special forces personnel riding on horseback with the Afghan forces and calling in targets for pinpoint air strikes," Nelson said. "It's low-tech combined with high-tech -- a much more surgical-strike kind of war. That in itself is a lot less costly than a land-mass war. As you develop new technology that is more expensive, in the long run it is less expensive because you are using technology in place of large land armies."
These costs bring potential economic benefits, including development of technology that can be applied to science and health care. But for the most part, this form of defense spending is unlikely to pry the sluggish economy out of the rut of recession, some economists and budget experts say.
"This isn't like an old-fashioned war, not one where you build five ships a day and 4,000 new tanks and hundreds of new airplanes," said Robert Reischauer, former director of the Congressional Budget Office. "We have more hardware than is necessary to fight the enemy that we confront. What is needed is intelligence and security measures, which stimulate the economy a little, but not in the same way as building masses of tanks and airplanes."
Past war costs
Historians generally credit the massive defense buildup during World War II for pulling the nation out of the Great Depression. Government spending and jobs programs under the New Deal helped millions of families survive hard times, but it took a great war to prompt an economic rebound.
Munitions factories demanded workers, the armed services absorbed the young and able-bodied, and women joined the workforce en masse. World War II may be an exceptional case, however. Other major wars also stimulated the economy, but with dire results.
Sun Sentinel Articles | http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2001-12-26/news/0112250175_1_war-costs-military-costs-budgetary-assessments | dclm-gs1-104890000 |
0.037178 | <urn:uuid:5cbef7ba-0af9-41ee-8bb1-c31a5c29ff30> | en | 0.963494 | Exercise Challenge Spirometry
used to counteract the effects of bronchoconstriction, before repeating the spirometry. This will help also referred to as a reversibility test, or a bronchodilator post and can bond to distinguish asthma. .Negative and false positive results are possible in bronchial asthma test. In addition, asthma can be temporary due to exposure to harmful or exercise stimuli.Bronchial provocation test is physically demanding, and the results can be affected by muscle weakness or exhaustion. Inhaled medicines could stimulate higher respiratory enough to cause a violent cough. This can if not more difficult, even impossible spirometry. This test is contraindicated in patients with severe airway obstruction by the apparent worsening of the disability. Can contain, how quickly you into the lungs of the lungs can move oxygen air and eliminate carbon dioxide in the blood. Test to diagnose lung disease, the severity of lung problems and see how does it treat for lung diseases to be measured. Other tests, such as. Check the residual volume, diffusion tests, Bodyplethysmographie, the challenge of breathing and movement stress test to determine pulmonary function of the gas can. Spirometry is the lung function test and most commonly practiced. It measures how much and how fast you can move air into the lungs. For this test, you breathe through a mouthpiece, connected Exercise Challenge Spirometry to a device for recording (spirometry). Information collected by spirometry a Spirogram can be printed in a chart called. The most common lung function with spirometry values:. ARTP are the guardians of quality spirometry in the United Kingdom. And the British Thoracic Society, we offer a variety of methods for those beginners in this measure and an accreditation system to ensure that those that are completed our qualification and the interpretation of results to the internationally recognised standard. Recently was a report of spirometry and noticed that the FVC was lower than normal. A low suggest a restrictive lung disease, but time was warned only 4 seconds to exhale. I took a look at the maps in the report recorded and proven curved volume, ended these efforts well before 6 seconds, and then the first thing I thought was that the FVC is reduced very probably due to suboptimal patient effort than anything else.I always try to check the spirometry results, every time, if no longer the test results and any oil immediately saw that the FVC was reported, in fact a connection, so there is something suspicious. Spirometry and the interpretation of ERS-ATS statements say that the results of the highest CV without frees thoughts about what evidence (includes also the slow vital capacity measurements of lung volumes and diffusion capacity inspiratory volume) report of spirometry should be used. In this case, the VSH defect by an effort, FEV1, and everything else came a different variety. The interesting thing is that the efforts that the VSH 10 seconds duration, came the shows that it was indeed a sufficient effort. On the other hand, the efforts of the FEV1 were only 4 seconds and at the beginning of exhalation and sudden Ende.Der technician, the execution of the selected test correct efforts of a connection. The patient had five efforts of spirometry and other expenses but FEV1 was significantly better than all selected FVC, because the same efforts significantly smaller than several other initiatives. Our selection criteria for FEV1 not to go for the largest FEV-1, also watching the peak-flow (PEF) and if there are no subsequent extrapolation and FEV1 on the was had the highest peaks and no subsequent extrapolation. A good choice in two attempts will be made.When it comes to select various efforts of the spirometry values, there are only a limited number of results, our laboratory software, you can combine the. The FVC, FEV1 & graphics (curl and volume flow volume curve are connected) can individually be selected, but everything else, including the exhaled time, PEF, FEF25-75, MEF50 etc. etc. can be selected only as a group. One plausible explanation for the inconsistent results is vocal cord dysfunction (VCD). VCD is characterized by a paradoxical vocal cord closure what wheeze or stridor and difficulty in breathing. The gold standard for diagnosis is the Laryngoscopy, while the patient is symptomatic, but it can be difficult making a final diagnosis, as the symptoms often come and can go. VCD can mimic asthma, but usually does not respond to bronchodilators patients and the challenge of the negative tests. Spirometry, as these are only indicative, but possible.The real problem was that the spirometry effort, which has been selected, show for the reports that had the patient of upper airway obstruction (56% of the predicted FEV1) in moderately severe and there are several initiatives have been created had a significantly higher FEV1. When I checked the numeric values, it was clear that this effort has been selected, because it burden, was fulfilled the criteria of the TTY-ERS with the highest FEV1 including back Extrapolacion. A report of spirometry, appeared highly questionable, was recently on my desk. Flow-volume loop were falsified and technical notes pointed out that the results were very different and should be interpreted with caution. Raw test results heard and saw a series of efforts to test the volume flow circuit slightly flattened and no coherence in numerical results or links were.This kind of inconsistency can reflect poor patients efforts but can also occur because of respiratory diseases. Cardiac Thoracic Surgeons at my hospital have an active program of airway Stenting and see a whole series of patients with Trachemalacia. A special feature of the Tracheomalacia is that there is usually a restriction of capital movements, and this means that there is usually a maximum end-expiratory flow volume flat loop shelf. These links are peak flow bumps-ish, but the bumps appear in different places in each round and seemed a Wingbeats which often relatively high. I've seen after a report about the pre and Post Bronchodilatator spirometry, which showed a relatively large increase in the FVC and FEV1 changes was not significant. It is not impossible that a patient at this kind of pattern, with a bronchodilator, but is rather unusual. Usually, when I see it, this means that exhale much more post-BD, the pre-BD. But as I saw, saw I happened, otherwise it was actually shorter end-expiratory time post-BD efforts, which was thanks to the efforts of the pre-BD. The current ATS/ERS guidelines require that a person a boost while it is considered after use of FEV1 bronchodilator or at least 12% of the FVC and 200 ml right, clear answer. However, numerous studies have shown that many patients, not does not meet these criteria, in particular those with COPD have a clinically significant improvement with bronchodilators.The edition of September 2014 breast had a series of editorials on this point to evaluate standard tailstock and the response to bronchodilators in General. Both sides have some interesting things to say, but above all a page talking about apples (Physiology) and other Orange aside (statistics). I think that both sides are feeling considerable problems with the rules of the ATS/ERS are only, what they believe is wrong and the best way to repair them.A statistical argument was that the ATS/ERS guidelines is a unique solution that detect more asthma-like responses for more subtle changes that can occur in people with COPD who are low, clinically relevant. I rather agree, as I and others believe that the likely current standard of the ATS/ERS, which require that a revision of the difficulties that spirometry is one according to the measurement with high variability.Variability of spirometry and borders is the accuracy of the sound of family problems for all of us. ,,. | http://beyondracemagazine.com/index.php/articles/Features/53-features/481-the-real-worlds-brianna-taylor | dclm-gs1-104980000 |
0.165423 | <urn:uuid:9eff9a1b-5ddd-4111-8bf7-2973777060a4> | en | 0.772938 | Check out for a working application utilizing the SMS Message Interceptor...
Windows Mobile 5.0 and the Compact Frame V2 introduce a neat and simple concept that allows you to easily intercept a SMS message and do some processing on it effectively enabling you to use SMS as an underlying transport for your applications - be it a game or some line of business app.
You can tell the SMS Interceptor to look out for specific message types by specifying a message signatures and then just structuring the SMS message body with the data you want to ship around, pretty darn cool and simple.
For the moment you wont find a lot about the "Microsoft.WindowsMobile.PocketOutlook.MessageInterception Namespace" in the VS 2005 B2 documentation but you can find enough to get you going on MSDN here and just spotted a webcast on MSDN titled "New Managed Messaging, State, and Notification APIs in Windows Mobile (Level 300)" probably worth a gander...
Appreciating that Windows Mobile 5.0 is not broadly available in real devices yet and the compact framework V2 is still beta there is still plenty that you can do with the technology using the Windows Mobile 5.0 emulators. You can download the emulator/sdk from here or you can order it here. Interestingly enough I found the emulator running on a 3.2 GHz HT CPU faster than a Motorola MPx200 and fast enough to try stuff for real, yeah contrary to my "emulator is slow article:-)"
To enable the SMS Interceptor you need need the following lines of code...
Declare and instantiate the message interceptor classes
using Microsoft.WindowsMobile.PocketOutlook;
private MessageInterceptor SMSProcessor = new MessageInterceptor(InterceptionAction.NotifyAndDelete, true);
private MessageCondition msgCondition = new MessageCondition();
In your start up code
//set up filter - for messages to be intercepted by this app then they must start
msgCondition.Property = MessageProperty.Body;
msgCondition.ComparisonType = MessagePropertyComparisonType.StartsWith;
msgCondition.ComparisonValue = "?"; //Intercept messages starting with a ?
SMSProcessor.MessageCondition = msgCondition;
//set up event handler to process incoming messages
SMSProcessor.MessageReceived += new MessageInterceptorEventHandler(SMSProcessor_MessageReceived);
Declare your event handler
void SMSProcessor_MessageReceived(object sender, MessageInterceptorEventArgs e)
theSMS = (SmsMessage)e.Message;
// process your message
// work around to a message pump issue
To send a SMS Message inside the emulator to the emulator then use the magic +14250010001 number.
using (ol = new OutlookSession())
SmsMessage testMessage = new SmsMessage();
testMessage.To.Add(new Recipient("+14250010001"));
//Using the '?' character as the message signature
testMessage.Body = string.Format("?{0}", messageToSend);
I'm working on a larger app that implements the interceptor and will post up on to web when done, it's 60% done, just need a few free evenings to finish it off - I'll blog it's location when it's done
A Bug
Alas for the moment there is a bug in the compact framework that tends to blow up your app if it's left too long or gets switched out of focus, it's a known bug that is being worked on. Don't let it dampen your enthusiasm for giving this stuff a go but just be aware that there is an issue.
If run the interceptor on the same thread as your form then you may get a
testIntercept.exe ArgumentException at SafeNativeMethods.DispatchMessage() at Microsoft.WindowsMobilePocketOutlook.MessageInterception.MessagingMessageWindow.MessagePump()"
if you run the interceptor on it's own thread then you'll get
"An unhandled exception of type 'System.ArgumentException' occurred in Microsoft.WindowsMobile.PocketOutlook.dll.”
Cheers and have fun!! Dave | http://blogs.msdn.com/b/dglover/archive/2005/07/26/443227.aspx | dclm-gs1-105130000 |
0.028531 | <urn:uuid:adae18d9-f15f-4e5d-9e14-e0904dc85e87> | en | 0.962808 | esc_attr( get_the_title( $cat_image ) )
CIA informants? A few suggestions as to who Pakistan’s ISI might want to arrest
Pakistan rounded up five informants who provided information to the C.I.A. that helped lead to the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, according to the New York Times. The arrests, which reportedly include a Pakistani Army major who copied the license plates of cars visiting the compound, highlight once again how strained the relationship is between Washington and Islamabad. As Pakistan’s powerful Inter-Service Intelligence directorate (ISI) was able to uncover and arrest the alleged C.I.A. informants very soon after the killing, one might wonder what they could do if they put as much energy into locating some of the world’s other most wanted people believed to be hiding out in the country.
Here are a few bad guys who remain at large.
Sajid Mir
The man believed to be behind the Mumbai terrorist attacks in 2008 is a shadowy figure with ties to militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba and reportedly to the ISI, though they deny it. He directed the Mumbai operation as it was happening and can be heard on recorded phone conversations instructing the terrorists on the ground where to go, whom to kill, and when to go out in a storm of bullets. He also recruited the American David Headley to act as a scout for the group.
Ayman al-Zawahiri
Bin Laden’s longtime deputy, the Egyptian-born doctor is one of America’s prime targets in Pakistan. Since bin Laden’s death, the United States has upped the pressure on the Pakistani government, military and ISI to provide more information on his whereabouts, according to reports.
Siraj Haqqani
The current leader of the powerful Haqqani network sends weapons, recruits, and supplies to attack U.S. forces in Afghanistan. The group is closely allied to the Taliban. Some analysts say it works as a proxy force used by the ISI, elements of which are accused of providing financial and operational support for their attacks in Afghanistan.
‘Major Iqbal’
Perhaps the most mysterious fugitive in Pakistan, Iqbal is an officer in the ISI who helped plan the 2008 Mumbai attacks, according to testimony from David Headley, who claimed that he provided money and helped choose targets. He’s named as Headley’s ISI handler in a Justice Department indictment. But very little is known about him–including his real identity and how high up in the ISI he was.
Dawood Ibrahim
In 2009, Forbes Magazine named. Ibrahim the 50th most powerful person in the world. The head of the Mumbai-based crime syndicate D-Company, he is also India’s most wanted man, believed to be involved in everything from drug and weapons trafficking to terrorism (he’s suspected of organizing attacks in Bombay in 1993 that killed 257 people and the U.S. says he has links to al Qaeda). He’s reportedly hiding out in Pakistan, using plastic surgery to help avoid detection–as well as his connections in the ISI. | http://foreignpolicy.com/2011/06/15/cia-informants-a-few-suggestions-as-to-who-pakistans-isi-might-want-to-arrest/ | dclm-gs1-105530000 |
0.685054 | <urn:uuid:1e723f21-ce84-4f0d-8c66-86d799abe4f9> | en | 0.963705 | or Connect
New Posts All Forums:
Posts by alandail
Those are the last things I'd ever do. You might as well start them with keypunch cards. Object oriented programming is the first thing any new programmer should learn. Why start them with bad habits (procedural programming) that the next class has to break. And what is the point in using less than state of the art tools. Xcode shows errors as you type them, playground lets you execute the code as you type it.
try the new mac pro track pad. you can touch, click and deep click. There clearly is difference between touch and drag (select) and click and drag (move). The track pad doesn't actually move when you click or deep click it aside from haptic feedback, the haptic feedback causes you to feel movement that doesn't actually occur. Force Click could provide similar kinds of additional functionality on iOS devices.
The phones became computers
They have force touch on the apple watch.
I would also expect glances to make their way to iOS. You should be able to check something like the weather without leaving the active app.
The limit is 16 megapixels, not 16GB.
One difference between Google and Apple is Apple doesn't tell you what they are working on until the have a product. The fact that you hear about things from Google first doesn't mean Apple wasn't already working it too. Another difference is Google will release alpha quality stuff they have to then scrap or that isn't fully thought out. For example, how many different set top boxes have they done, I've lost track (their first one was a mess while Chromecast is...
there's this Google's service is only free for those uploading video under 1080p and photos under 16 megapixels. Upload anything larger — say, a great DSLR shot — and if you're on the free plan, it's automatically compressed
I can't be the only one waiting for carplay before I buy my next car. I've driven cars with some of the other alternatives and they are brain dead. I listen to a streaming app in the car and it switches to music if I turn my radio up. I haven't even tried car play and I know it won't do something as stupid as that.
what is wrong with a developer wanting to be able to work on code when they have their iPad, but not their computer, with them? Anything from an iOS developer working on the app they are building to a web developer fixing an issue on their web site. Then there is the larger issue of people who only have iPads. There is something inherently wrong with a computer that can't be directly programmed. We should be opening programming to more people, not less. When the...
New Posts All Forums: | http://forums.appleinsider.com/forums/posts/by_user/id/13623/page/30 | dclm-gs1-105540000 |
0.999994 | <urn:uuid:086af7fc-ce0e-4686-8894-38cab97243b5> | en | 0.949634 | [Verse 2: Heems]
Lyric Meaning
This verse is structurally similar to verse 1, with all the nouns changed around. Heems is parked in a different car, wearing different clothes, etc. but is basically doing the same things. Soup Boys being Soup Boys day in and day out.
| http://genius.com/1280738/Heems-soup-boys-pretty-drones/Verse-2-heems | dclm-gs1-105680000 |
0.32384 | <urn:uuid:cff156d8-e8dc-48d8-aca9-64e61e98a1fd> | en | 0.84025 | Sign up ×
I have a set of GPS coords with X,Y and Course. I need to interpolate additional points based on the course of each point. It would be a simple line intersection based on lines drawn using the 2 locations and course.
EDIT: Let me clarify .. i have a set of gps logged points, each with lat/long, heading and speed. I need to interpolate an additional point between each known location based on the 2 known points and there headding. Kind of like dead-reconing but after the fact. It'll be a linear interpolation.. here is an image of said problem 1...
share|improve this question
@Jan de Jager, what GIS software are you using? – artwork21 Jun 8 '11 at 14:04
here is a similar question:… – Nicklas Avén Jun 8 '11 at 15:33
@artwork21 - no specific GIS software. I'm generating KML data from mass data stored in MongoDB. – Jan de Jager Jun 8 '11 at 17:08
@Nicklas ... uhmmm.. huh? – Jan de Jager Jun 8 '11 at 17:09
I'm looking for an algorithm/formula for this solution... – Jan de Jager Jun 8 '11 at 17:10
2 Answers 2
up vote 3 down vote accepted
This can be solved using either the Haversine or Vincenty formula. Please see my answer here: How to create a point along a line given distance
share|improve this answer
Have you tried GPSBabel?
gpsbabel -i gpx -f track.gpx -x interpolate,time=10 -o gpx -F newtrack.gpx
gpsbabel -i gpx -f track.gpx -x interpolate,distance=1k -o gpx -F newtrack.gpx
share|improve this answer
Your Answer
| http://gis.stackexchange.com/questions/10751/point-interpolation-in-route | dclm-gs1-105730000 |
0.223976 | <urn:uuid:666423e9-217e-4008-ba71-1c957dc859ac> | en | 0.937284 | A peanut butter and jelly burger is totally weird but I'd still eat it
Peanut butter and jelly is as perfect a combination as there can be in sandwich form. A hamburger is the most delicious thing you can have between two buns. Is it possible that combining two perfectly delicious food things can actually backfire and be awful? I want to find out by eating this PB & J Burger from Cook… »9/30/15 1:42am9/30/15 1:42am
What happens to your body one hour after eating a Big Mac?
When you first bite into a Big Mac, it is absolutely glorious. The two patties sandwiching the chewy bread in the middle with the lovely thousand island sauce mixing in with the pickles and lettuce, the taste is iconic. Add in fries and a sip of Coke in between bites and you have reached Fast Food nirvana. But after… »9/21/15 9:52pm9/21/15 9:52pm
Shake Shack's newest burger is a surf and turf lobster and beef beauty
My, my, my. Shake Shack, unquestionably the best tasting burger chain on the face of planet Earth for people with discernible taste and half working tongues, is upping the decadence in its latest burger by going surf and turf. That is, they’re adding a beautifully buttery layer of lobster to their already perfect… »8/17/15 11:00pm8/17/15 11:00pm
This french fry burger taco proves that happiness comes in many forms
This is probably an unnecessary use of genius but I won’t deny the awesomeness of turning a taco into a vehicle for hamburgers and fries. That is, the fries become the taco shell that holds the burger food together. The form of a taco is nearly perfect and the taste of a hamburger is unbeatable (it is true vice versa… »7/02/15 8:00pm7/02/15 8:00pm
All the unbelievable food porn in this video makes my eyes hungry
This video shows different types of food that people in the UK eat and let’s give all glory to the food gods or something because it is unbelievably gorgeous. And here I thought food in the UK was supposed to suck! The close up shots, the quick cuts, the progression of how the food is prepared, it weaves together a… »6/24/15 11:38pm6/24/15 11:38pm
This is the biggest burger that McDonald's new menu lets you make
Video: Chef makes wonderfully miniature burgers in a super tiny kitchen
You wouldn't be wrong to think that a tiny cheeseburger is just a slider but you also wouldn't be all the way right, either. That's because Miniature Space stretches (compacts?) the imagination of what tiny food can be in their tiny kitchen. Here they are grillin' up some burgers that are so tiny, they're probably… »3/25/15 7:05pm3/25/15 7:05pm
Black bun fried frog burger looks scary but is probably delicious
Fried frogs can look frighteningly like failed science experiments and imagining eating them might conjure gooey liquid slime down your throat but they're actually quite enjoyable to eat. So even though this black bun burger looks like it has disgustingly trapped a gross frog, I'm sure it tastes just fine. »3/07/15 1:19am3/07/15 1:19am
A pho burger looks way more delicious than a ramen burger
The good people at Foodbeast created a new frankenfood that tops the ramen burger in my eyes (and more importantly to my tastebuds): the pho burger. Made with deep fried rice noodle buns, Vietnamese style cole slaw and a juicy patty, it looks like a fantastic combination of the ingredients of Pho but in burger form. »2/19/15 9:36pm2/19/15 9:36pm
Shake Shack's new fried shallots burger looks like crunchy deliciousness
Shake Shack, very probably the world's best burger chain, is introducing a new burger to their vaunted lineup: the ShackMeister Burger. It's a 100% all-natural Angus beef cheeseburger that is topped with crispy marinated shallots and their famous ShackSauce. It's like a cheeseburger with fancy onion rings in it. I'm… »12/30/14 10:59pm12/30/14 10:59pm
Video: How to make those delicious looking porn burgers
Nobody makes a burger look better than pornburger master Matthew Ramsey. Each of his burgers are stunning works of art that you can almost taste and feel the savory meat juice just by looking at them. Here's a video he made with National Geographic that reveals how he makes his creations look so damn good. »11/21/14 7:33pm11/21/14 7:33pm
Can fast food restaurants actually make burgers that look like the ads?
Most humans have accepted that fast food burgers will never look as good in real life as they do in commercials and advertisements. Those puffed up buns, saliva inducing patties, perfectly melted cheese, wonderfully dressed greens, etc. are all disgustingly limp in real life. But we eat them anyway! But what if you… »6/16/14 8:45pm6/16/14 8:45pm
This burger has 17 different types of beef in it
I mean, I don't even think I could name 17 different types of beef and yet one delicious, blood thickening burger will have all that in between its buns. Totaling in at over 2,500 calories and costing more than 40 bucks, the Holy Cow burger is basically like sandwiching an entire cow. With that much beef, you can't… »6/10/14 12:40am6/10/14 12:40am
I want to eat all these Shake Shack burgers made by world class chefs
If you have a tongue equipped with moderately functional taste buds and can put aside regional allegiances, you'd know that Shake Shack is very probably the world's best burger chain. And to celebrate its 10 year anniversary, Shake Shack got the best chefs in the world to create a special burger for them. I'll trade… »6/04/14 12:04am6/04/14 12:04am | http://gizmodo.com/tag/burgers | dclm-gs1-105750000 |
0.039464 | <urn:uuid:0a0275ff-fc78-438b-86f5-4e452bf9e59a> | en | 0.900842 | Exilim EX-FH20: The Next Casio Slo-Mo Shooting Camera Hits 1000 FPS
Back in March we raved about Casio's EX-F1, and it's just six months later and now Casio's got another super-fast frame rate camera for us: the EX-FH20. It's a smaller and lighter beast than its predecessor, but it has 9.1-megapixels, can still shoot ultra-high-speed bursts at 40 fps and high speed movies at "up to… »9/16/08 4:41am9/16/08 4:41am
Casio Exilim W63CA 8-Megapixel Super Japanese Camera Phone Hits FCC For Some Reason
The super Japanese Exilim W63CA cellphone has hit the FCC, which comes with a flip body and an 8-megapixel camera. Casio's taking the same tactic Sony Ericsson does with their Cyber-shot cellphones and placing a camera brand on a high-end camera phone, hopefully to advance both the phone and the camera brand in the… »8/26/08 2:50pm8/26/08 2:50pm
Casio EX-F1 Captures Battlebot Devastation In Super Slow-Mo
Mo' Slow-Mo: Objects Breaking (or Not) for the Casio EX-F1
Our friend Robert Woodhead (of slow-mo Mentos-n-Coke fame) has kindly shared another of his Casio Exilim EX-F1 masterpieces, this time water balloons and china slowly shattering (and occasionally not shattering) to the tune of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture. They're a mixture of 300, 600 and 1200 frame-per-second shots,… »5/11/08 9:00pm5/11/08 9:00pm
Casio Exilim EX-F1 Slow-Mo Super Cam Full Review (Verdict: Totally Unique, Shockingly Powerful)
OK, say it: What the hell? What's with all the Casio EX-F1 love? It's because this camera is the most underrated gadget to hit the market in at least a year—the camera fiend's equivalent of a jungle gym, with slow-mo, super slow-mo, high-speed stills, and simultaneous HD video and full-resolution still shooting, to… »4/25/08 11:45am4/25/08 11:45am
Casio Announces More Skinny, Probably Mediocre EXILIM Point-and-Shoots
Casio just announced some new point-and-shoots in its EXILIM line, including the "world's smallest and thinnest 10-megapixel camera," the EX-S10. Look, I'm as excited as the next guy that you've managed to make a 15-mm-wide camera, but if it takes crappy photos I could really care less how small it is. And with the … »1/06/08 6:00pm1/06/08 6:00pm | http://gizmodo.com/tag/exilim | dclm-gs1-105760000 |
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Some of our more popular articles include:
AbleGamers Launches Consultation Lab To Help Disabled Gamers
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Just How Reliant ARE We On Modern Tech?
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What We Can Learn From New Zealand's Ban On Software Patents
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Nine Awesome Old School Party Games
| http://inventorspot.com/gaming_games_video_online_mobile?page=19 | dclm-gs1-105870000 |
0.046708 | <urn:uuid:1a8f4afa-4f79-4a37-8251-a96529ddf0ce> | en | 0.978723 | Entrepreneur On The Road To Wellness After Firing
By Deborah L. Cohen
Four years later, sales at Carlsbad, California-based Sonic Boom Wellness are approaching $2 million. Van Noy's startup is fighting office sloth by promoting unorthodox activities such as lunges en route to the restroom and hula-hoops in the halls. It relies on a social media platform that encourages employees to interact and inspire each other.
"We were willing to take a huge risk," said Van Noy, 39, the former national sales director for American Specialty Health, who said he was let go during a sales retreat after he raised a "red flag" about what he perceived to be an outmoded strategy.
"All the big (wellness) companies were going down the same path - health assessment, biometric screening and telephonic coaching," he said. "We knew the door was left wide open."
"We started to say, 'Gosh, why isn't anyone using social networking? Why isn't anyone using high tech for team-based competitions to get employees healthier?" said Van Noy, who married Korn in 2008. "Danna put the bug in my ear. She'd always told me that the place I worked seemed a little constrained."
"Selling Air"
Sonic Boom users, who engage in a host of fitness and educational challenges to reach goals and win prizes, are anything but constrained. They embrace office rivalry, create custom challenges and reward each other for good behavior. "Sonic Striding" allows them to track everything from lunchtime walks to weekend bike rides using a wireless device that attaches to their shoe, uploading their data into a personal profile.
"We focus on changing people's habits, making it fun and energetic," said the effusive Korn, 49, who often travels to a new client's office for a kick-off event, inciting workers to engage in imaginary football passes, invisible jump rope contests and other affronts to office protocol.
"Last time I did this, I couldn't get them off the stage," Korn said, noting Sonic Boom's nationwide employee participation averages 65 percent - a rate she contends is significantly higher than the industry average.
The co-founders concede it hasn't all been smooth sailing. Several times they were close to packing it in, after burning through their own seed money of $100,000 and making costly mistakes such as spending $50,000 farming out development to India.
"We had to completely start from scratch after that," confessed Van Noy. "We learned the most valuable lesson - never outsource your core competency."
"We were selling air," Korn said. "We'd go out to companies and we'd talk about this program but we had nothing. We didn't have software developers yet."
"They signed up, they took the leap of faith and then from there we just started refining the program," Korn said.
Healthy Bottom Line
The company's early foibles have been invisible to customers such as Janet Wickstrom, director of employee benefits and wellness for Super Store Industries, a Stockton, California-based processor and distributor of dairy products. She said the founders' enthusiasm is contagious.
"You can't bottle that kind of energy," said Wickstrom, noting one of her workers had lost over 50 pounds and gone through "a complete transformation." Nearly half the company's 750 employees are actively using the plan.
"We had done pretty much the standard wellness fairs, lunch-and-learns, weight loss programs with healthcare providers," she said, "but nothing where the employees could go in and have their own Web page, receive their own information and then interact with their peers."
"It sounds like Sonic Boom is really trying to take advantage of the rise in social media, with people challenging each other and becoming more of a team," Gotass said.
"Some people don't have daily computer access but almost everyone now has a smartphone," Van Noy said. "We've got this Web-based program, and it's looking great. Let's take it to the mobile space."
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In-class Exercise
The Rhetoric of Performance: Teaching Logos through Disney Movies
This assignment uses clips and text from Disney movies to teach students to analyze logos as part of a unit on rhetorical analysis.
Mind mapping paper 3
Teaching Close Reading through Short Composition/Revision
A black and white image of WEB Du Bois
Mapping a Controversy (Literally)
Students create Google maps to contextualize events and locations related to their controversies.
Speed Dating with Thesis Statements
Identifying Reasons and Evidence with Friends
This lesson uses the popular sitcom Friends and the classic public debate of "Faith Vs. Reason" to create a fun, accessible way of understanding the relationship between claims, reasons, and evidence.
Exercises in Style
Image by Claude Strassart-Springer, from the book "Alphabet" by Raymond Queneau
Teach revisions and the infinite possibilities of rewriting the same paragraph with this exercise, adopted from Raymond Queneau's Exercises in Style
Words in Motion: Kairos and Kinetic Typography
Kinetic Typography
Kinetic typography is an animation technique that allows writers to mix text and motion. Students will take part of a speech or a piece of dialogue and animate it, carefully considering how they might visually enforce and/or subvert the text's underlying themes.
Bridging Summary and Analysis with Standup Clips
Aziz Ansari Comedy Poster
This assignment uses clips from standup comedy specials to hone student skills of summary and synethesis, for the controversy map essay assignment.
Bridging Summary and Analysis with Standup Clips
Aziz Ansari Comedy Poster
Concession, Refutation and Rebuttal Through Amazon Reviews
In this activity, students will use Amazon reviews of the Women's Sexy PhD Halloween costume to identify places where the authors concede, refute and rebut the idea behind the costume. They will then come up with their own Amazon reviews for a product, real or imagined, of their choice.
Teaching Kairos through Allegorical Performances
Digital/Physical Library Scavenger Hunt
Library bookshelves
Kairos and Ideology Analysis: American Values and Contexts
Lego Captain America Stands In Front of American Flag
This assignment asks students to fill out a worksheet for analyzing the ideological presuppositions of two arguments that rely on a popular superhero, Captain America, to make their respective arguments. This assignment can be used to solidify student understanding of kairos and presuppositions.
A Structured Approach to Teaching the OED as a Close Reading Tool
Enthy/memes: Making Memes to Teach Logos
To pratice creating and breaking down enthymemes, I had students create memes (about anything), break down the stated and unstated premises and ultimately, come to a conclusion as to the meme's argument.
Building Word Clouds to Generate Search Terms
Voyant Word Cloud for Marijuana Legalization Corpus
Help your students get an overview of their topic and a leg up on their research by creating word cloud visualizations of their topics.
Introducing Rhetorical Analysis with the 1491s
The 1491s Logo
This lesson plan uses the 1491s' youtube videos "I'm an Indian Too" and "Lincoln Was a Douche" to introduce students to rhetorical analysis.
Introducing Rhetorical Analysis with Contemporary Advertisements
The aim of this lesson is to provide students with an accessible and engaging introduction to rhetorical analysis. Students will view four brief texts—three thirty-second videos and one print advertisement—and try to identify the audience, the speaker, and the argument contained in each.
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June 10, 2013 by Krista Conger
And there's the rub: The immune system's ability to protect against foreign invaders like bacteria or viruses hinges on its ability to differentiate them from our body's own tissues, to which it must not react (a phenomena called ). So it's a catch-22 when researchers attempt to prime B and T cells, macrophages and all of our many other to wipe out cancer cells. Often, what seems to be a promising response is dulled over time as immune cells called T , or Tregs, recognize the cancerous tissue as "self" and call off the attack.
Now, Ronald Levy, MD, professor of oncology at the School of Medicine and pioneer in the field of , and postdoctoral scholar Aurelien Marabelle, MD, have shown it's possible to perpetuate an anti-cancer immune response in by blocking the activity of Tregs with specific antibodies injected directly into the tumor site. The work, which has resulted in the recent initiation of a phase-1 and -2 clinical trial in humans, was published May 24 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
"These monoclonal antibodies target and eliminate T regulatory cells mixed in with the tumor that dampen the immune response against it," Levy said. "With these negative regulatory cells out of the way, the killer of the immune system are unleashed to seek and destroy the cancer cells wherever they are in the body, including in the brain."
Levy and his colleagues studied laboratory mice in which human had been implanted under the skin or injected into the blood. Once tumors were established, they treated the mice with a combination of two highly specific, or monoclonal, antibodies that recognize and bind to two molecules on the surface of the Treg cells.
Although some of these anti-Treg antibodies have already been approved for use in humans (one, ipilimumab, marketed as Yervoy, is currently used to treat metastatic melanoma), they can have negative side effects. That's because they're injected in fairly large doses into a patient's blood stream, inhibiting the Tregs not just in the tumor, but throughout the body. As a result, even normal, healthy tissues is subject to attack from the immune system.
Levy and his colleagues found that injecting much smaller amounts of the anti-Treg antibodies directly into the animals' tumors effectively targeted the Treg cells. What's more, coupling this treatment with the local injection of a molecule known to rev up the anti-tumor immune response causes an effect that ripples throughout the body to other organs and the central nervous system.
"We have found in animal experiments that by injecting certain into cancer in one place in the body we can trigger the immune system to fight cancer throughout the body," Levy said. "This result has the potential to change the way we use the immune system to treat cancer."
The researchers saw that the triple treatment—the two anti-Treg antibodies plus an injection of a molecule to stimulate the anti-cancer immune response—in one tumor site was highly effective even in mice with distant metastases. The animals lived longer and were resistant to a second administration of the .
The ability of the treatment to induce a response in distant tumor sites is particularly interesting, say the researchers, because some sites in the central nervous system are very difficult to target or reach with conventional therapies. Holbrook Kohrt, MD, PhD, assistant professor of oncology, will now be leading a parallel phase-1 and -2 clinical trial in patients with melanoma, lymphoma and colon cancers.
Explore further: 'Two-faced' cells discovered in colon cancer: Immune cells can suppress or promote tumor growth
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0.422401 | <urn:uuid:b8d88fdd-ad25-4dae-bbf7-68f997e5bacb> | en | 0.936447 | The most common substance in the universe is called dark matter. It doesn’t shine or reflect light. We can’t even see it.
It is an invisible substance composed of atoms that are far different from those that make up the universe’s normal matter, such as stars and galaxies.
In fact, if you drove into a wall made of dark matter, you wouldn’t crack a headlight or inflate an airbag. You wouldn’t even know it happened. But what happens to dark matter during a collision?
Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope got a first-hand view of how dark matter behaves during a titanic collision between two galaxy clusters. The wreck created a ripple of dark matter, which is somewhat similar to a ripple formed in a pond when a rock hits the water.
The ring-like structure is evident in a composite image of the cluster made from Hubble observations. The ring can be seen in the blue map of the cluster’s dark matter distribution, which is superimposed on an image of the cluster.
The Hubble astronomers say it is the first time they have detected dark matter as having a unique structure that is different from the gas and galaxies in the cluster. The researchers spotted the ring unexpectedly while they were mapping the distribution of dark matter within the galaxy cluster Cl 0024+17 (ZwCl 0024+1652), located 5 billion light-years from Earth. The ring measures 2.6 million light-years across.
Although astronomers cannot see dark matter, they can infer its existence in galaxy clusters by observing how its gravity bends the light of more distant background galaxies, a powerful effect called gravitational lensing. The blue streaks near the center of another Hubble image of the cluster are the distorted shapes of more distant galaxies, whose light was bent and magnified by the powerful gravity of Cl 0024+17.
The collision between the two galaxy clusters, the astronomers explained, created a ripple of dark matter that left distinct footprints in the shapes of the background galaxies. It’s like looking at the pebbles on the bottom of a pond with ripples on the surface. The pebbles’ shapes appear to change as the ripples pass over them. So, too, the background galaxies behind the ring show coherent changes in their shapes due to the presence of the dense ring. Although the invisible matter has been found before in other galaxy clusters, astronomers say it has never been detected to be so largely separated from the hot gas and the galaxies that make up galaxy clusters.
The astronomers found previous research that suggested the cluster had collided with another cluster 1 to 2 billion years ago. They then created computer simulations of galaxy cluster collisions. The simulations show that when the two clusters smash together, the dark matter falls to the center of the combined cluster and sloshes back out. As the dark matter moves outward, it begins to slow down under the pull of gravity and pile up, like cars bunched up on a freeway.
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Taco Bell's Chihuahua kept on short leash
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0.021812 | <urn:uuid:fbd3fcdf-fa36-4fb6-9979-9eafc8b4d5cc> | en | 0.814991 | Richard Clamp > Pipeline > Pipeline::Base
Annotate this POD
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use Pipeline::Base;
$object = Pipeline::Base->new()
$object->debug( 10 );
The new() method is a constructor that returns an instance of receiving class.
init( LIST );
init() is called by the constructor, new() and is passed all of its arguments in LIST.
debug( [ SCALAR ] )
The debug() method gets and sets the debug state of the OBJECT. Setting it to a true value will cause messages sent to emit() to be printed to the terminal. If debug() is called as a class method it always will return true.
emit( SCALAR )
emit() is a debugging tool. It will cause the the SCALAR to be formatted and sent to the log() method if the current debugging level is set to a true value.
log( SCALAR )
The log() method will send SCALAR to STDERR by default. It performs no processing of SCALAR and merely sends its results to the error handle. To change your logging mechanism simply override this method in the class as you see fit.
James A. Duncan <>
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United States
Journal orthogonal's Journal: Visitors to US to be tagged with RFID by Homeland Security 4 reports that 'the US Department of Homeland Security has decided to trial RFID tags' .... 'to track both pedestrians and vehicles entering the US to automatically record when the visitors arrive and leave in the country.'
Welcome to the Land of the Free!, number 4c62c570-70c5-11d9-9669-0800200c9a66! You'll be reflecting at 2450 MHz, enjoy your stay!
The article goes on to explain that
. . . .
What is your frequency, Kenneth?
Remind me again why the most talented foreign scientists are no longer doing research in America?
And how soon will the "success" of this program lead to tagging government employees and contractors as a prelude to tagging all citizens?
Visitors to US to be tagged with RFID by Homeland Security
Comments Filter:
• It would be unconstitutional.
I am *absolutely* confident that we can stop tagging of all US Citizens; even if the neoncons manage to get a court that would let them do it, this is beyond what the public will stand for. This is so obvious that even said neocons would not try it.
Government employees will almost certainly get RFID tags, especially in security-conscious sections.
Convicted felons? Parolees? We've already got the bracelets. Them too.
However, I fully expect the vast majority of people to carry
• It would suck if a current of sufficient voltage were to ARC across the required RFID tag...
• Thus, the question for privacy advocates is how to keep the information our wallet-based RFID tags transmit out of the goverment's hands. In this case, the outcome is entirely up-in-the-air.
Block the signal [] so you are not transmitting when you don't want to. Design the Faraday cage wallet and you have just made your millions.
• It seems mainland American is in denyal that the real threat [] is from Saudi Arabia [] and its state sponsered terrorism []. Its a pity because it would be interesting to visit the States at some time. But with the current restrictions myself as an allied Australian I wont set foot on US soil.
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Comment Re:I'm afraid to try (Score 1) 136
The USB port and SD card port have plastic flaps to keep the water out. The phone has a proprietary magnetic connector that doesn't need a flap for charging, though. Fortunately, there's plenty of knock-off connectors on Amazon for a few bucks.
It's actually pretty cool, I picked up a cheap stand that I use to charge the phone at night, and I have a Sony car stereo that holds the phone in its magnetic connector.
Comment Re:Get a business partner (Score 1) 146
In my experience, data coverage in the woods varies tremendously. What we call "in the middle of nowhere" is so relative; in the "middle of nowhere" in a state like Massachusetts is probably a mile or two "as the crow flies" to an area dense enough to have wireless data. "In the middle of nowhere" in California or Nevada will have excellent camping; but no data coverage.
In my opinion, you're better off finding a handful of camping sites and general locations that you know will have rock-solid data coverage; and spend your working hours there.
Comment Sony Xperia Z3 (Score 3, Interesting) 208
I've had a Sony Xperia Z3 for 6 months, and the battery capacity is shockingly giant. Idle, browsing, and reading on Kindle hardly use the battery. GPS and talking also are rather gentle on the battery. The only thing that eats battery is copying 100 GB of music over WIFI. The phone has a stamina mode to help throttle applications as well; but IMO, I'd rather only use it in emergencies.
Comment Re:Could not agree more (Score 1) 413
BUT, if you run the numbers, you will see that we NEED nukes
I used to be for nuclear power. The problem is that, when nuclear reactors get old, they require hyper-vigilance to ensure that they aren't leaking radioactive materials. We just don't have the political climate to regulate a leaky nuclear power plant.
If the US was pro-regulation, I think we could have enough checks and balances to run nuclear power safely. But, given how we don't like regulations, I'd rather just invest in energy sources that don't require such close watch.
Comment $35 Chromecast! (Score 1) 158
Use a $35 Chromecast!
You can send your entire screen to your TV with a Chromecast. You'll probably want to find some kind of wireless keyboard and/or mouse to do this.
You could also look at Android TV and see if there's a screen mirroring application. I don't know if Android TV can run ordinary Android apps, but if it can, there's already a screen mirroring program.
Finally, stick PCs are a thing. You could always run a screen sharing program on a stick PC.
IMO, I think trying to connect a PC to a TV is quickly becoming more effort than it's worth. This is for the following reasons:
• - I used to use my $1200 HTPC for Netflix and Youtube. Now, it's much easier to use a $35 Chromecast for these applications
• - Now that Android TV came out, I think we'll get a much better experience with apps designed for a remote control instead of PC apps designed for a mouse and keyboard.
• - Many smart TVs will have Android TV built-in.
Comment "Unfinished" areas (Score 1) 557
One thing I like about my house is that it has a large unfinished basement. Not only does it give me a lot of room to do messy projects, but it's very easy to run ethernet to anywhere it's needed on the first floor. I do wish I could get some kind of wired network onto the second floor, though.
In my opinion, avoid installing lots of "tech" in your walls. My house is loaded with so much obsolete wire: An old intercom system, coaxial, old electric heating wires, an old split-lead from before there was cable TV. Conduits are good, and unfinished space where you can access the ends.
Comment Re:Low Maintenance (Score 1) 557
"for example; much easier to have time to spend with people or on new productive projects rather than doing the same old maintenance; less to remember or coordinate between multiple maintenance people"
"If your municipality lets you, install a septic instead of connecting to city sewer. No sewer fee. (Just get it pumped every few years)."
My parents and I live in the same town. They have septic, I have sewer. The sewer fee is very cheap; much more preferable to dealing with a septic tank. A septic tank is also a liability if you need to get it replaced.
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Parshas Ki Sisa
When Dignity Really Counts
By Rabbi Pinchas Winston
Friday Night:
G-d told Moshe, "When you take a count of the Israelites to determine their number, each one should be counted by giving an atonement offering for his life. In this way, they will not be stricken by the plague when they are counted ... " (Shemos 30:11)
Blessing is only found on that which is hidden from the eye ... And not on that which is weighed, measured, and counted ... (Ta'anis 8b)
We already discussed the concept of ayin hara from one vantage point in Parashas VeYechi (5758). However, the addition of the concept of "blessing" alludes to another dimension of this discussion, and alludes to some very deep and central concepts.
For example, the concept of a blessing is the idea of increasement (which is why the word "brocha" begins with the letter bais, which represents the number "two"). Sometimes G-d wishes to increase our lot in life miraculously, without our being directly involved (as in the case when someone earns a "bonus" at work). However, He also looks to work "undercover," only performing revealed miracles on special occasions. Therefore, if someone checks his bank account and watches it to the penny, then how can G-d increase the amount without it being known to the individual that a miracle has occurred? According to this idea, counting the money closes it off from such miraculous increasement.
Another way of looking at this idea is in a broader, more universal sense. Many people seem to have this innate desire to unify mankind, one way or another. People talk about "universal brotherhood" and similar ideas. Though their methods for achieving this ultimate state of humankind may be "off the wall," the notion itself is rooted deep within the esoteric teachings of Torah.
Kabballah talks about how everything can be traced back to a single source, G-d Himself. As the light of G-d "leaves" and "moves away" from G-d, it becomes more physical. The more physical the light becomes, the more "complex" it becomes, until, eventually, it results in so many different kinds and species, the number of which is beyond comprehension.
Eventually, the Kabballists explain, as history moves toward the 6,000th year (and beyond), creation will naturally re-unify with G-d once again to such a degree that many of the differences that interfere with such sublime unity will completely disappear. This is what the Talmud means which it says that "the only difference between this side of history and that of Moshiach's is that in the latter, no nation will oppress another" (Brochos 34b).
Weighing, measuring, and counting all are aspects of this physicality. The expression "Stand up and be counted" might as well say, "Stand out and be counted," since counting something makes something separate from everything else around it, a fragment of the whole. It is excessive individuality that interferes with the accomplishment of unity with others; the same thing is true of that which is measured and weighed.
Shabbos Day:
G-d said to Moshe, "Carve out two tablets for yourself, just like the first ones ... " (Shemos 34:1)
Well, not exactly. The first set of Ten Commandments that Moshe had descended with at the time of the golden calf had not only been inscribed by G-d, but the Tablets themselves had been carved out by G-d as well. Though the "replacement" tablets were also going to be inscribed by G-d, the actual carving out of the tablets, it seemed, was to be Moshe's doing.
This difference was also alluded to by the fact that the First Tablets contained 17 less words than the Second Tablets (Ba'al HaTurim, Parashas Aikev). This can be understood to mean that, as a result of the golden calf and the ensuing "physicalization" of the Jewish nation, it took more words to express the same lofty concepts found on the First Tablets. As a result, says the Pri Tzaddik (Parashas Aikev, 2), we are forced to exert more energy to draw out the levels of meaning meant to be available to us through Torah.
The Tablets were the work of G-d and the writing was that of G-d engraved (charus) on the Tablets. Don't read charus (engraved), but cheirus (freedom), for there is no one freer than one who studies the Torah. (Pirke Avos, 6:2)
The answer is, the Second Tablets were not the replacement for the First Tablets, but a medium through which to access them. Just as seeing glasses act as a corrective device for one whose vision has become impaired, so too did the Second Tablets act as a "corrective device" to help us recover what was lost when Moshe broke the First Tablets.
Seudos Shishi:
G-d said to Moshe, "I have chosen Betzalel son of Uri son of Chur of the tribe of Yehudah, by name. I have filled him with Divine spirit, with wisdom, understanding and knowledge ... " (Shemos 31:1)
It is one thing to be an architect; it is something altogether different to be G-d's architect in the building of the Mishkan, a miniature version of the G-d's own creation, the world itself. What made Betzalel so special? The Talmud explains:
Betzalel was named as an indication of his wisdom. When The Holy One, Blessed is He, told Moshe, "Tell Betzalel to make Me a Mishkan, an Aron, and implements," Moshe switched the order and said, "an Aron, implements, and a Mishkan." He [Betzalel] asked him, "Moshe Rabbeinu, is it not the way of the world to first build a house and then after put the vessels into it? And yet, you are telling me to first make the Aron and the implements! Where shall I put them?" He answered him, "[You're right!] That's how The Holy One, Blessed be He, told me to do it ... Make a Mishkan, an Aron, and then the implements. Perhaps you were in the shadow of G-d (b'ztel E"l)?" (Brochos 55a)
But, as if that genius wasn't enough, the Talmud adds:
... Betzalel knew how to combine the letters [of the Aleph-Bais] that were used to make heaven and earth.
However, as the Talmud concludes, that was wisdom that came from G-d. Nevertheless, it was Betzalel's initial wisdom that prompted the gift of Divine understanding, for, as the Talmud concludes, G-d gives wisdom to the wise.
Perhaps the original verse itself indicates another aspect of Betzalel's greatness and reason for being chosen from amongst millions of people, when it mentions the name of Betzalel's grandfather and tribe (his father's name can be considered an identifying family name).
Who was Chur?
There is a disagreement in the midrash as to whether Chur was Miriam's (Moshe's sister) husband or son. Regardless, Chur had illustrious ancestry: Yehudah, Peretz, Chetzron and Kaleiv. His was the line through which the kingship of Israel passed on the way to King David, and eventually Moshiach.
However, Chur's own trait was not unique to him, but to his entire tribe. When Yehudah was faced with the choice of "facing the music" and taking responsibility for unknowingly impregnating his daughter-in-law, Tamar, or letting her die accused of improper behavior, Yehudah "took the wrap" (as they say). For this reason, Yehudah's own father, Ya'akov Avinu, on his deathbed not only praised Yehudah, but he cited that event as the basis for the consensus of his right to the Jewish throne.
Why should this trait play such a central role in building the kingdom of the Jewish people? Because being "modeh" (admitting) to truth without concern for personal humiliation reveals a commitment to a higher level of truth, G-d's truth. This is a trait that most kings of the past barely even grappled with, yet, it is the root of the Jewish Malchus. It was also Chur's and Betzalel's spiritual inheritance ... the foundation upon which the Mishkan would eventually stand.
Melave Malkah:
The commentators "go to town" on the name Amalek, the ancestor of Haman, each one looking for another clue to the essence of Amalek's inherent evil. One such "drush" is "amull-kuf" (ayin, mem, lamed-kuf), made up of Amalek's letters of his name, which means "work of a monkey."
There are many ways to understand this, but one very relevant way is to understand that Amalek comes to reduce human dignity. Man was made in the "image of G-d," which was to be our sense of loftiness, and to separate us from the animal world that, physically, can come very close to what we look like and do. The question many still pose: Is man imbued with a holy soul, or only some hitherto unexplained form of consciousness and self-awareness ... Is he a monkey, or something altogether different (no matter how well-trained a chimpanzee can be)?
On the surface, such questions seem self-honest. After all, what fulfillment-seeking human being doesn't want to better understand his origin, be it physical, spiritual, or both? Science demands that we ask questions-all the questions-even if they reflect negatively on the stature of man.
No, says the Torah, that is not so. The Torah states outright that man did not descend from apes, but was formed from the dust of the ground (as were the animals), and then imbued with a holy, godly soul (unlike the animals). If you want to ask a scientific question, such as, "How do we know Torah is true, and that G-d gave it at Sinai?" and then research the answer, that is an important step along the way to finding G-d, a key to developing a keen sense of human dignity.
However, to dismiss the Torah out-of-hand and ask questions like, "Why does the monkey look so familiar to us, and act so human? Can it be ... ?"
Questions such as those are the work of Amalek, of the "monkey" himself. Why? Because, ultimately, the goal of Amaleks, and of Hamans, and of Hitlers, is to sever man's connection to G-d. The Amalekian approach is one that attacks the relationship of man to G-d by reducing man's own sense of godliness. Does it really make a difference, in the long run, whether you call man descended from monkeys, or whether you make him build golden calves, or more recently, stand, completely disgraced and immodest in front of one another and cruel murderers (one can't help but wonder if allowing the public to view pictures of such scenes doesn't, in fact, perpetuate this deep sense of shame and humiliation)?
(After all, Hitler, may his name and memory be erased, was a self-professed Social-Darwinist, who believed whole-heartedly in the philosophy of "survival of the fittest." One of his chief complaints against the Jewish people was that they corrupted the natural course of mankind, by teaching that the strong must help the weak survive.)
Purim celebrates the reversal of this trend. It comes to "lift the heads" of mankind (to borrow the language of the first verse of this week's parsha), to defeat the Hamans of history by restoring our sense of Elokus (godliness). This is why, according to the Rambam, there is an special mitzvah of helping out the poor on Purim, and why one who does is compared to G-d Himself. For, when one helps out a downhearted person, they restore his hope, just as G-d did to the Jews of Persia in Haman's time.
A Freilechen Purim,
Shabbat Shalom.
Pinchas Winston
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0.034774 | <urn:uuid:c2a1d805-983b-4881-baa8-fdb846f880a0> | en | 0.943095 | End Of The World
December 11th, 2012
Wassup Wit Dat! :shock:
25 Responses to “End Of The World”
1. GA Bows:
If I knew it was garans... I would spend as much time with my family. Da wife and keikis would get all of my attentions.
2. BowlingBuddy:
Whether if its true or not, I would not change a thing. I would wake up on the day to see if its true or not. I will turn on the tv to watch the news and see if anything was happening anywhere else in the world. I want to see the predictor of this event and see what kind of excuses that person will make "why it didn't happen".
3. M:
Howzit BL!
It will be anadah day fo me, no different dan any adah day. I plan to go SUP on Saturday like I always do.
4. kamaaina808:
Nothing's garrans but death & taxes. 8-O
I find it pretty funny about the doomsayers' fixation on 122112, oh teh panic! But in reality, today could be the 'end of the world' for any of us... just sayin.' If I remembered this throughout the day, my time would be spent less frivolously.
5. zzzzzz:
Check the news before you go to work on 12/21, because if the world ends that day, it will already have ended in places like Japan, where right now it is tomorrow.
6. roach:
Utter nonsense (sent from my underground bunker).
7. che:
First thing on my bucket list would be to cancel the Christmas party on the 21st. I don't want to spend the last day cooking on the grill. I would then with draw all my money and travel to Japan but will anyone at the airlines be working?
8. M:
My ex is living on da mainland and is one of dose "Doomsday Preppers". She's stocked up with supplies and food and she's calling her compound "Da Ark". :lol:
9. M:
If dis is fo real, I no like be around. Going get all the suffering and all the lolo's out deyah. If dey find out you get fuud and stuff dey going kill you fo it.
10. king katonk:
The first thing on my bucket list would be to buy a bucket. That way they can scoop up my remains and discard it in an orderly fashion. Also, I gotta make sure the BVDs are on tight.
Perhaps a Costco-size box of Depends may come in handy as well.
11. king katonk:
Come to think of it the Mayans are right. The end of the world is coming as we all fall off the fiscal clifffffffffff.
Rats, now I'll have to pay death taxes as well.
12. PFP:
Wouldn't change a thing. Would keep family first as focus, as I always have.
13. Kage:
I am going to just sit and watch TV.
Then call my sister. She keeps reminding me that the world will end this month. :lol:
14. sally:
Wherever the target is, I wanna be smack dab in da middle of it.
15. Ynaku:
For all those that believe the world is ending on 12/21/12, please cash out all your holdings and let me store it for you. then if the world doesn't end that day, I'll give you back half :lol:
With the other half we throw one heck of a party.
16. 9thIslandGirl:
I would definitely spend time with my and eat lots of chocolate.
17. M:
Guud morning BL!
If dis is fo real, I going to have all my family together on dat day.
18. NKHEA:
Ynaku you got my check yet.........
I think we goin get one heck of a PAH-TAY
19. cojef:
Me, 87 years old and still kicking so Mayan Calendar prediction or not inokea. Outlook, what ever happens, hapin. The calendar over 5,000 years old, so many things change, no kan help.
20. M:
Waaaasssssuuuppppp BL!
21. rayboyjr:
:cool: Good Morning Everyone!!! :cool:
... hey Braddah Lance ... why worry about it??? ... if the world is going to end, we really have no control over that ... sadly ... so I just hope it's in one thunderous and quick moment ... boom!!! ... and done ...
... I don't think we have enough time to do anything on our bucket list anymore ... wait, I don't even have a bucket list ...
22. mows:
I would be with my wife and 2 mo'olelo and hug them and kiss them and just love on them as I do everyday. They are really the most precious things to me in the world.
23. Coconut Willy:
Aw, how come the world going end on my day off!
24. SittingInLimbo:
So i'm assuming that I don't need to pay any bills this month being tomorrow is the last day for earth. LMBO!
25. Braddah Lance:
I'm spending everything I got........ but I'll be in trouble tomorrow if I'm still around. :lol: | http://wassupwitdat.staradvertiserblogs.com/2012/12/11/end-of-the-world/ | dclm-gs1-107480000 |
0.036106 | <urn:uuid:bc424e4f-c360-40ba-8b5a-bc8d298fba3a> | en | 0.895329 | Topic: Lena Dunham
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0.020009 | <urn:uuid:38b36966-112d-4ae8-9d4c-a6e72ba95cd2> | en | 0.969453 | The National Catholic Review
Whether Mitt Romney wins the Republican nomination for the presidency or not, his serious-contender candidacy has sparked an explosion of empirical research on Mormons in the United States. In due course, this research should serve not only to enhance public respect for the Mormon minority, but also to give Catholics some clues about how to strengthen their own faith community.
In a report issued in January 2012, “Mormons in America: Certain of Their Beliefs, Uncertain of Their Place in Society,” a research team representing the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life found that most Mormons are regular churchgoers and that more Mormons (73 percent) believe that “working to help the poor” is “essential to being a good Mormon” than believe the same thing about “not drinking coffee and tea” (49 percent).
According to a new study previewed on March 15 by an expert panel convened at Pew’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., most members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints practice what they preach about helping the needy. Led by Ram A. Cnaan, a renowned Israeli-born social-work scholar at the University of Pennsylvania, the study concludes that churchgoing Mormons “are the most pro-social members of American society.”
On average, Mormons dedicate nine times as many hours per month (nearly 36 hours) to volunteer activities than other Americans do. The comparison stands up even after one subtracts from the Mormon totals the work of young, full-time Mormon missionaries.
Mormons reliably tithe to their churches and also give about $1,200 annually “to social causes outside the church.” Even Mormons who have relatively low household incomes both tithe fully and give more of their income to assist non-Mormons in need than other Americans do.
What is behind these differences? At the Pew panel, David E. Campbell, a University of Notre Dame political scientist who is a Mormon, quipped that while Mormons are even more “hierarchical” than Catholics, hierarchy is definitely not the answer. Nor, he said, does the fidelity of individual Mormons to particular Mormon religious tenets explain the differences.
Rather, research suggests the secret to filling church coffers and packing the pews while simultaneously stimulating robust ministries that benefit needy nonmembers is what a religion does to induce intrafaith friendships, transcend Sunday-only ties and foster widespread participation in faith-motivated, civic good works for people in need.
Cnaan’s surveys were administered to Mormon congregants in four different regions of the country after their usual three-hour worship services, which are typically followed by many members and their families intentionally socializing together.
Let’s face it, in too many Catholic parishes, the minority of self-identified Catholics who attend Sunday Mass regularly expect it to take not more than an hour, punctuated by a contrived communal “sign of peace” wave or handshake and followed by a post-Communion dash to the parking lot.
By contrast, last month I attended standing-room-only evening Purim services (complete with costumes, small children running in the aisles and raucous noise at every mention of Haman) at an Ortho-dox synagogue in New Orleans. I was joined by a small group of Catholic undergraduates who were on an interfaith, service-learning trip.
As one Catholic student put it, hearing the all-Hebrew singing-reading of the Book of Esther took well over an hour but was “a blast,” as was the communal after-party that included eating, drinking, card-playing—and collecting donations for the poor.
Catholic bishops should pay as much attention to how much time churchgoers spend together at or after Sunday Mass as they have recently paid to which words get used (consubstantial!) during nearly empty worship services. The bishops should continue to promote annual donations to wonderful Catholic nonprofit organizations like Catholic Charities, which also attract thousands of Catholic community-serving volunteers. They and all Catholics should also strive to make our churches places where ever more Catholics come to worship, socialize and serve neighbors in need.
Bill Taylor | 4/4/2012 - 1:00am
I come from a strong LDS (Mormon) background and have been around Mormons all of my life. Mormon churches are small, usually around 150 families, where everyone knows everyone. Generous Mormon giving is not really voluntary. The church asks its members to contribute up to 12% of its income before taxes, with a strong sanction directed at those who don't, with eternal consequences. A lot of this centers around a "recommend" allowing entrance into a temple, which will not be given if the member had not been paying tithing or contributing to other financial obligations in his "ward." Once a year, every faithful Mormon, down to the kid receiving an allowance, has to stand before his bishop and make a financial accounting.
A generation ago, Mormons did not help people outside their church, but this has changed. It is interesting to see that, when large disasters occur, Mormons have funneled their help through Catholic Charities, or at least this is what I have been told.
I read a lot of material meant only for Mormons and have concluded that this is a works-oriented church to the nth. degree. The members make up lists of things they have to do if they are going to "qualify" for the Celestial Kingdom, the highest of three heavens in the Mormon faith, which is a path toward godhood. Helping the poor is one of them, along with keeping a clean house.
Catholics would like to emulate the Mormons, but the Mormons believe in revelation given to the different members of their Melchizedek Priesthood: From the President of the church down to the father of a family. This belief in revelation gives Mormon authorities clout a Catholic bishop or priest can only dream of.
This means that a Mormon bishop can assign one of his ward members to a sensitive ministry. The man or woman cannot say no, because the assignment came by revelation. If the person does say no, the day of reckoning will come when it comes time to ask for a temple recommend. Whew. I can only ask for volunteers and most people look away.
Richard Kingston | 4/2/2012 - 11:26am
I was a Mormon for 30 years - technically I still am. This appears to me to be a very fair article regarding the Mormon church. We should never decry a religion for their acts of service even when we may have more fundamental issues with their belief system.
Service in the Mormon church is emphasised andencouraged at all levels and age groups. However, the emphasis is definitely on service within the Mormon church to other church members, or as a means to proselyting when directed to non-members. In this latter scenario it is a means of showing that the church is a community player and influential. The church is well organized and therefore this is a sign that it is divinely instigated. When performing service to non-members, a bright yellow vest with "Mormon Helping Hands" is often worn.
When a person who is not a member of the church moves in to your area, members ares encouraged to help them move in, take a casserole to them, invite them to church. The emphasis is on bringing the person or family "unto the LDS church", not primarily "unto Christ", though the two in a Mormon's mind are often the same.
I readily accept that my comments are sweeping generalities and that there are LDS members who do these acts of servide for the love of Christ - the LDS church is just the vehicle that they bring the people to Christ. Now, I am sure Catholics belive the same - that the Catholic Church brings people to Christ, but I would maintain that the presence and nearness of Christ in their actions is more pronounced.
When looking at what service the LDS prople do, do the statistics in the article include:
1. Teaching in church on: a Sunday; weekday seminary for the 12 to 18 year old children.
2. Home and Visiting Teaching: a visit a month to all families and women who are members.
3. Missionaries - 18 month or 2 years proselyting.
4. Temple work - service on behalf of the dead.
5. Cleaning the chapel.
All of the above are inward focused on the Mormon community or its proselyting effort on gaining new members. I agree that the greatest service is to bring people to Christ.
Otward focused actions may be less - though still praise worthy:
1. Mormon helping hands.
2. Disaster relief.
3. Prison ministry (though often only to LDS members).
So much to learn from the organization of the Mormon church. Does organization at this level cause problems with keeping the motive pure. I once saw a film on the life of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, where it protrayed Mother as rejecting the business approach to the work of the Sisters of Mercy.
Just my Two Cents worth. Hopefully someone can pick up on the good parts and develop them
Graham Ambrose | 4/2/2012 - 2:27am
When individuals, regaredless of formal ecclesiastical standing, are called and authorized to fulfill church positions, then a sense of community naturally follows. As you may know, in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, lay members in a local church are called to serve by the Bishop or Branch President in a wide range of activities and organizations, including:
- Priesthood quorums (from 12 years of age on up)
- Relief Society (women's organization)
- Sunday School (adults, young men and young women)
- Primary (a Sunday School for children 11 and under)
- Scouting (Cubs, Scouts, Varsity and Explorer)
- Young Women (12 to 18)
- Young Men (12 to 18)
- Missionary service (for both young and old)
- Home Teaching (priesthood holders visiting members)
- Visiting Teaching (women visiting women members)
- Temple service
Since the Sabbath is when most members see each other as a group during a local church's three-hour block, most members can't help but stick around to talk to each other about various issues naturally arising out of their callings.
C Walter Mattingly | 3/31/2012 - 3:10pm
A few comments.
These young interfaith students who found the singing in Hebrew of the Book of Esther "a blast," which surely they understood scarcely a word of. Might they not appreciate some of the old Latin hymns which they might understand a word or two of? If they can appreciate ancient Hebrew traditions, perhaps they might not be as opposed to ancient Church traditions as some here anticipate.
Also that community of dynamic activity sounds a lot like my pre-Vatican II parochial and high school days, when the churchyard/schoolyard was filled with CYO sports teams competing with one another, skinned knees, and hot dogs, popcorn, etc being hawked by the Dad's club. Still is like that in some parishes, but is by no means as common as it was in the late 50's/early 60's. How best to regain that sense of communal involvement, which existed widely in my city Fr just visited before but declined so rapidly after Vatican II (not necessarily causally related)?
Bill Parks | 3/30/2012 - 11:19pm
CLAIRE SPELTA MRS | 3/30/2012 - 12:29pm
I think this article is right on point. One step further, I think we need to consider the families that attend or want to attend Sunday Mass. At our Parish, preschool classes are offered during the Mass. What an excellent idea that benifits not only the child but the parents as well. Rahter than sitting through a Liturgy and a Homily geared towards adults, my daughter attends a preschool class and is fully engaged in the daily lesson. It also allows my wife and I the opportunity to fully participate in the Eucharist celebration without having to watch over a fussy child during the Mass. I understand this may be offered at other churches but why not offer this service at all churches? Why not establish a national program that is well thought-out and administered. The future of our Church is with our children. Shouldn't we pay more attention to them?
This is just a small example. The key issue, as stated in the article, is to strive to make our churches places where even more Catholics (and those who want to become Catholic) come to worship. To create a Holy Catholic community. A community where families gather for both religious and non religious activities (i.e. sports leagues, teenage dances, etc.) all under the fellowship of the Church.
Mike Evans | 3/30/2012 - 11:12am
First, Mormons are mostly engaged in charitable activities for their own membership, not in community at large activities although some exceptions are noted. But more importantly, the sense of community, fellowship and family that exists in the competing protestant churches, not just the mega-churches, should challenge Catholics. We tend to live in spiritual 'bubbles' and are mindful mostly of personal piety, not communal life. And we are grossly understaffed and undersupported in our parish life. Typically we have one over-burdened parish priest, a part-time secretary and mostly unpaid volunteers to help in every other ministry, liturgical and social. Contrast this with the numerous associate pastors in most Protestant churches who take responsibility for programs and outreach. And they really spend time and money on music, preparation and activities connected with each service. You get what you pay for.
Kent Skor | 3/30/2012 - 10:25am
I live in Atlanta and am an active member of my local parish. We have a good attendance on Sunday but that is the only time most parishioners visit the church.
I am also a member of the Health and Fitness Club at the local Baptist mega-church. Anyone can join. They have yoga and spin classes, workout rooms, indoor track and a pool. I seem to talk more to members of my parish at the club (many are members) than I do at church. On the way home from working out, I pass by my darkened parish (including the locked school gym and empty parking lot).
I mentioned this to our pastor at a Liturgy Committee meeting when we discussed how to “compete” with the mega-churches. He said that he was not in the business of "offering Stairmasters or coffee-bars" (they have one of these, too). True, but he is in the business of creating a community – one feature that is sorely lacking. (Plus, he doesn’t realize the revenue generated by the health club that the Baptists plow into their other programs.)
Recently by John J. Dilulio, Jr.
Broken Promises? (August 13, 2012)
Recently in Columns | http://www.americamagazine.org/issue/5136/columns/mormons-and-charity | dclm-gs1-107690000 |
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0.998752 | <urn:uuid:8f346a21-d9a1-4c0f-8a02-e9cdd3002298> | en | 0.971257 | If it came from NASA, it most likely is either Kodak or Agfa film. Let's assume Kodak. It could be either aerial film (very likely for 70mm) or cine film or ordinary still film. Since it came with that back and is unperforated, it is unlikely to be cine film. It could be either negative or positive. Many Kodak negative aerial films did not have an integral orange mask, but they were compatible with C-41 processing. My guess is that it is aerial film. | http://www.apug.org/forums/viewpost.php?p=1380706 | dclm-gs1-107740000 |
0.998302 | <urn:uuid:39439284-c207-45f5-b442-c0e443c736f3> | en | 0.822577 | Written for the 6th Anniversary Fest Prompt #135 submitted by hunnyhugs: Lyrics - "All the Things You Never Knew" by Leehom Wang Sometimes, things happen and nothing makes sense anymore.
-Stars in the Sky, a story by dove
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0.025242 | <urn:uuid:f6353b88-a1d3-48a1-8e7f-47bd22facae7> | en | 0.94462 | Please read here first regarding the site update.
My Khaini Merchanting guide, with prices.
General MapleStory General MS questions and answers
Hello Basilmarket.
This is my merching guide which is based in Khaini prices since my world is Khini, I will be happy to bind my guide with other world guides and give the mercher guide to other people in other worlds.
Please be aware that this is my personal guide to merching, and my personal guide only, if you have a different or in your sense a better way of merching, then create your own merching thread.
[header]Merching in general-[/header]
This section will be on the general merching, just idea and some attitudes towards it all.
[header]Moral code-[/header]
Some people think Merchers are heartless people who just want to scam you to make money, correct? Well I as one, make sure I do NOT merch off of guildies, Alliance or friends, unless they agree to being ripped off (if that's what they call it), make sure you double check that is what they want, because this will earn you some brownie points in the future, if you want to rip off known people, I suggest making a different account.
This can be an optional code, as you might want to keep your status of being a mercher/rich on the down low, create an account that is the same class as your main, for example, I am an adventurer, you will want to be an adventurer to transfer your store across as the CS inventory does not combine with other classes/types.
Or you can keep your main, if you are a higher level, you are bound to get a bit more trust thrown your way, as some newer people trust higher leveled people than lower leveled.
If you are not ready to stand in the FM and spam continuously, then I suggest merching is not for you, but I also have a way to keep your hate for the FM away, because hating the FM can result in a big boredom factor which will affect your merching ways, I also suggest getting a bot for spamming, it isn't against the ToS therefore you cannot be banned because it is undetectable.
biThat is the start-up part, if you have just skipped this part, which I am guessing most have, I would probably just skim through it, because some can be of importance.[/b][/i]
iMost people will say 'Buy low, sell high', yes, this is the basic point of merching, but how the hell do you know what to buy and sell? You don't...
Most people say buy and sell GFA, and 10 ATT WG, which is obviously one of the main ones I have seen floating around the marketplace and filling up newer players with hope they will become very rich merching these, which is actually wrong.[/i]
[header]Greed & the look-[/header]
Don't be greedy otherwise you will most likely lose money during the period, and thus not merching efficiently, I suggest only spamming 3 ITEMS, you don't want people to think you are a mercher otherwise you will lost respect and people will not trade you to sell you the items, also having a rich look can also attract peoples eyes and maybe even try and look bright and colorful, and change your appearance from time to time to attract the same player.
[header]Funds- [/header]
If you have a bigger fund, obviously you have more money to spend which will result in higher merch value, and meaning you make more money, , I suggest for a welfare amount, which will give you a reasonable profit, around, 100m (100,000,000 mesos), which will get you started good, if you do not have 100m (100,000,000 mesos) then do not stress, I will put many types of merching ways down the bottom which don't require much.
[header]Know your prices of what you are merching-[/header]
First of all, make sure you know the general basis of Merching, and make sure you scim through the FM iEVERYDAY[/i] to make sure you know the prices, this takes time, I personally know prices from experience, which you will learn eventually, but I will put most prices of the things I merch below this paragraph.
Most people will consider 10m as a deal point in which, say your buying an item for 150m, if you are merching it, you should not negotiate, people who say 10m more than the asking price is not acceptable, hold your ground on buying for a certain price, otherwise this will trick your mind into raising the buying price higher and higher, which is NOT a good law of merching, I cannot stress this enough.
[header]10 ATT WG Merching-[/header]
bWARNING: These prices for 10 ATT's and the continuing are iKHAINI[/i] prices, do check around your world for others.[/b]
Obviously 10 ATT Work Gloves (WG) is a common merch, which MOST people which at least 150m merch, which to be honest you really shouldn't be doing, in my mind, I say;
Buy 10 ATT WG for 140m.
Sell for 160-170m.
That is a 20-30m profit, correct?
In most cases in Khaini FM and probably most others, is that people know that you can get more than 140m for 10 ATT's at the moment, so it is very UNLIKELY for people to sell you them for 140m, so I suggest avoiding 10 ATT WG due to the factor that EVERYONE does it.
[header]GFA 60% (Glove for ATT 60%) Merching-[/header]
Another common way to merching that EVERYONE does, which you again, really SHOULD NOT, be doing, for the same reason as gloves for ATT.
Buy the scroll for 7m in most cases.
Sell the scroll for 10-13m in store, 13m being an almost unsellable price.
That is only a 3-6m profit.
STOP doing that, 6m profit, for 3 scrolls a day is rediculous, you need to aim higher, be more optimistic, and stop being so newbie and start merching items that will make you more profit, yet if you only have a solid 10m spending money for merching, I do suggest that you merch GFA scrolls, or some other things I will suggest.
[header]Chair and Mount merching[/header]
Chair and mount merching is a brilliant way to start off knowing price and beginning your quest of wealthiness, because many people are unaware of inflating and deflating prices in chairs, since they do vary extremely fast, I will do my best to cater to the chairs and to the mounts prices at the moment, although due to the increase in mounts, some may be a bit more expensive than others.
b(The prices I list will be selling prices, not buying prices.)[/b]
b15-Day mounts-[/b]
Usually are a great start, if you buy ALL 15-Day mounts for 10m, the look of the mount will cost more than the other looks, for example, there are 3 main structure mounts, which are;
Red Truck - 20m
Gargoyle - 20m
Lion - 30m
b30-day mounts-[/b]
These mounts will probably not be sold much considering I have only seen a few, but they do sell for a little bit, usually by for 30m and sell for 50m, although the prices may vary.
b1-year mounts-[/b]
These are great, but don't be tempted to use it like I did with my Lion mount , you can buy these for a stable price, and sell them for an unstable price, considering people have NO IDEA on the price of these mounts, usually some are better than others, these are the prices;
Red Truck- 150m (buy for 90-130m)
Gargoyle- 150m (buy for 90-130m)
Lion- 150-300m (buy for about 150m and less, don't really spend too much considering people will know the price, Lion mount is HIGHLY desired in the market, as I know of about 5 people who are buying, selling for an extremely high price would be extremely profitable)
[header] Chairs-- [/header]
b(The price I list will be selling prices, not buying prices)[/b]
Chairs are a difficult thing to remember, a lot of chairs may vary, I will not list EVERY chair in the world, although I will suggest that buy/sell chairs that have unstable prices, such as 'Zakum Chair', 'Easel Chair' and others, make sure you never buy witch chairs for more than 1m as they are an extremely hard sell for 10m, so I suggest keeping the budget for chairs too about 60-150m for different chairs, the chairs I suggest to merch are;
Zakum Chair
Buy: 60-70m
Sell: 100m (NO LESS)
Easel Chair
Buy: 70-90m
Sell: 110-120m (NO LESS)
Dragon Chairs (Abyss and Inferno)
Buy: 100-200m
Sell: 250-300m
Bloody Rose
Buy: 100-180m
Sell: 200-300m
World End
Buy: 100-200m
Sell: 250-300m
Von Leon Chair (AT THE MOMENT)
Buy: 200m (NO MORE)
Sell: 250-300m (Might be a little more.)
Gold Seal Cushion
Buy: 100-150m
Sell: 180-250m
(There are other chairs that are a lot more expensive, and I will list them if they are requested through PM's, and also there are a lot of other chairs below the price of these, I don't suggest buying them, such as Balrog chair, because they barely sell.)
[header] Rings (Lv 17 II and Lv 17-10 rings I)[/header]
bWARNING: Please be aware that the prices of Lv17 Rings II are UNSTABLE and vary quick, buy and sell at own risk, the same as the other rings.[/b]
Okay, first of all, usually these rings are a great thing to merch, this is my main merching type at the moment, that I am working on, so far I have made about 300m with the Lv17 Ring II.
Lv17 Ring II
Buy: 100-110m (NO MORE NO MORE!)
Sell: 150-200m (I suggest 150.)
Okay, now first of all the first event rings are stabilizing, due to the fact that the focusing on Lv17 Ring II, so these are prices of 17-10 leveled rings.
Lv17 Ring I (I don't suggest merching due to the high prices and unstable fortunes)
Buy: 300-400m(Stable)
Sell: 450-500m (Unstable)
Lv16 Ring I
Buy: 100-150m(Unstable)
Sell: 200-300m(Unstable)
Lv15 Ring I (Good to merch with)
Buy: 60-80m (NO MORE)(Unstable)
Sell: 100-110m (NO LESS)(Unstable)
Lv11-14 Ring I
Buy: 10-20m (Unstable) (Do not focus on these types of rings, because they are extremely unstable)
Sell: 40-60m
I personally would warn you to stay away from them, as they are extremely unstable, and always will be, prices will vary, and no accuracte price can be available, this is ALWAYS from experience, no one can estimate a price of a weapon unless they see it really, I suggest contacting a friend or me if I am available in Khaini.
End of.
This is a section about selling with a store, and selling without a store.
[header]Attempting profit with a store-[/header]
Obviously this is the most favored way of merchanting, it is eaier with a mushie, so if you are alright with spending the money on a mushie, I suggest buying, and then selling in the mushie while you are buying, so your are merching simultaneously, this is the most recommended way of merching, permits, also work well as well, what I do is buy in the day, and sell at night, I suggest getting more than one if you can, since they last 90 days, it is of good value.
There are many places to set the store, here are some good spots which I usually sell the most;
FM 1-3 (These are obviously the best)
FM 7 (Try and avoid it though, Ludi doesn't sell much)
FM 13 (Do not go to 14 or any other perion place)
FM 18 (Again do not go to 19)
I know this is a bit of a high mark, but if all of those aren't available, set up in FM 12, I have sold A LOT there, just because people randomly go there for some reason.
[header]Attempting profit with-out a store[/header]
Okay, this is really not recommended, I highly suggest you do not do this, because you can make next to no profit, but it is do-able, these tips should help;
Find a great guild/Alliance, they can buy your items if they need it for average price, follow the code and don't rip guildies off.
Spam in FM for more over-priced items and hope someone buys it, which to be honest, some people actually do.
Find a friend to put your item in their store, and pay them a fee of some sort, this is the most recommended way of merching if you don't want to spend NX.
Be a supplier; this may sound ridiculous, but people like me, who buy rings for 110m, you could buy them for 100m, and go and sell to me for 115m if you have a lot of them, it's a good easy way, the same with chairs.
b That is all I am merching at the moment, and is raking me in some good money.[/b]
[header]Thankyou for viewing my guide, PM me for questions and help, if I get enough requests in the comment section below I will continuously update it.[/header]
KingKong06PoopGreener - Level 119
Posted: April
Page TopHome 1 2 3 4 5
thanks for the guide
gotnone0ExcitedType - Level 202
Apr 06 2011
Lol... what? The reasons for it being ok are because it's not against the ToS and it's undetectable? Why should detection matter if it's not against ToS? (Btw it's totally against ToS).[/quote]
Look, it helps a lot, and I'm trying to make people happier about it, I know it is wrong because it's enhancing the game, but what can you do...
KingKong06PoopGreener - Level 119
Apr 06 2011
Could you make this for Windian prices plz?
Xbl1tz3rXXbl1tz3rX - Level 138
Apr 06 2011
It's fine that you're trying to help people, but don't lie to them.
ChuckNasteeNastrofizick - Level 120
Apr 06 2011
Wow leave it up to a Corsair to make an awesome guide like this. Corsairs ftw.
Apr 06 2011
You should throw a MTS Merching guide in there
Apr 06 2011
Wow nice guide ^_^
Now I just need Zenith prices -_-[/quote]
This. Selling scrolls atm there and I'm still at ~60m
Apr 06 2011
lol youre right about the outfit thing espeically the bear suit. I have suits for diffrent kind of merchs I have :
Bear, Pro (What im wearing now but with 8k wings) Super hero (New one in CS) casual (black casual with black pants) and captian (my favcorite but my sprite wont update)
btw if your looking for a good bear one get the one that goes on your head those gin eyes from bleach teddy bear etc etc
btw my sprite wont upadate but my level will can someone tell me how to fix that?
Apr 06 2011
This part is so true, whenever I see a char with a gold-scary-mask with some weird equips, I 've never sell/buy something from that person.
Apr 06 2011
Yeah, this is a decent guide
I think it looks really time consuming... due to the really low buying prices of most items.
Apr 06 2011
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0.018559 | <urn:uuid:4eb0e779-8f53-471c-b75c-904c01e77109> | en | 0.961215 | Archive for category Democracy
This is England
Those who squeezed in to the Scottish Green conference this weekend were greeted by thought-provoking image on the front of their delegate packs – an inverted map of the UK with Scotland in the middle nestling comfortably between Norway and Ireland, England fading into the distance.
In England though Scotland is as peripheral as ever. On a Saturday afternoon in rural Oxfordshire people mill about the bus stops and market in Witney, the nominal home of the Prime Minister. This is small town English life as the modern Tories envisage it. Pavement cafes and bistros line the high street, itself furnished with ample parking. Witney is a bus ride from Oxford, and functions as a jumping off point for even quainter Cotswold towns and villages.
A few miles away, just down the road from the RAF base at Brize Norton, sits the town of Burford. Its long street of pubs and restaurants is straight out of the Visit Britain adverts plastered on the white walls of airports across the globe.
The town hall has a noticeboard outside listing all the goings on, a public letter of support about the maintenance of rural bus services in West Oxfordshire taking centre stage among the bulletins. There’s no appeal for food bank donations or invitations to public meetings though. The various crises and pressures hitting contemporary Britain from both left and right are well beyond being felt here. Burford is the final navigable point on the Thames, and it feels a very long way from London.
In the local deli, a phenomenon quickly replacing the dying village shop in places like Burford across the South, a woman is giving out samples of locally grown organic fruit liqueur. “I’m guessing you’re not local” she says, pushing over a thumbfull of red liquid. “It’s very nice here, even if it is a bit Midsomer Murders sometimes.”
Stepping outside on the street it is obvious she is right. This is not the kind of place that needs to put up Union Jacks. Its Englishness is written into the buildings, as is its wealth.
A taxi driver who ferries people from village to village, a British-Asian called Abdul, puts it succinctly. “I mostly just do station runs or take non locals to weddings. Almost everyone here has a car.”
At a local wedding venue you can hear the transport aircraft whine as they race up the runway at Brize Norton, headed for Afghanistan, the Falklands and perhaps now Syria too. Inside a Ceilidh band is starting up and a mixed crowd of nervous home counties partyers peppered with a few Scots nervously practice the dances the band want them to play. The Scots, kilted-up and playing their part, lead everyone else as the good whisky is uncorked on the sidelines. This is the only manifestation of Scotland that could possibly work in this part of the country, detached as it is from the reality of the England outside too.
The following morning the TV at the local pub broadcasts a silent Andrew Marr as guests tuck into their full English breakfasts. The UKIP election victory in Essex is comparable to the shockwave the SNP have created in Scotland, he says. In Burford and Witney though it is very easy to forget what is going on, chillax and eat your cereal.
The Two Faces of Democracy
Today’s guest post is from Duncan Thorp, who’s previously written for us about social enterprise and hate in politics. Thanks Duncan!
12978395593_3fbf45b646_mWe’re living in exciting times, Scotland has changed for the better. Nothing’s changed but everything’s changed. The referendum has been recognised by most people as an exercise in peaceful democracy. It’s true.
In terms of the vote itself, the huge level of popular participation and the technical and legal agreements, it was incredible.
97% of the voting population registered to vote. 16 and 17 year olds enfranchised for the first time, an 85% turnout. A true Scotland-wide debate. More information, slogans and facts flowing like never before. All this over an extended timeframe, far longer than any election.
We should genuinely celebrate this achievement. Only with historical perspective will future generations understand how powerful it was, an independence movement without bloodshed is virtually unheard of. A few bad eggs are as serious as it got.
But there’s another side to this exercise in direct democracy. The environment of the wider society that it took part in was very much anti-democratic. The dominant state narrative of Britishness is ever-present in every aspect of our lives. In this context it’s nothing less than a miracle that 45% of those voting wanted independence.
Much of the mainstream corporate media was of course a blatant case of misinformation, bog standard bias or agitprop. Years of daily, unrelenting, anti-independence news from nearly 100% of the print media can’t be dismissed. Broadcasters often struggled with their values and biases in favour of the status quo. Any media “neutrality” simply means that a story includes views from both sides – it doesn’t cover the decisions to include/exclude certain stories in the first place.
Similarly, large corporations making even vague anti-independence statements, while wielding huge economic power over jobs and investment, were leapt on by the mainstream media. The very fact of the unequal economic power balance in favour of big business meant that any potential relocation was a huge threat (genuine or not).
Indeed without straying into silly conspiracy theory territory, it would be naïve to suggest that HM Government and all the apparatus of the British state, were not deployed (under the radar) to save the state itself in its most critical moment of need. Would you lie back and allow your own power to be fragmented and taken away?
It’s also perplexing that the British nationalists of the far-right were absent until after the votes were counted. It was upsetting to see a mob performing Nazi salutes, singing Rule Britannia and burning a Saltire in George Square, Glasgow. They clearly didn’t get the memo about the “war against nationalism”. Where were they in exercising their democratic rights during the campaign?
It’s certainly unfair to suggest that every no voter was simply fooled or voted out of fear. Some were emotionally dependent on the British narrative and some were basically happy with the way the UK had turned out. Many people voted no because they didn’t think that the economic case had been made. They just disagreed with the other side. Acceptance of the referendum result is vital; we can identify flaws while still abiding by it. It’s all relative. We must move on. But getting back in the box is not an alternative. “One Scotland” unity, while well-meaning, is easily abused. Orwell’s Unity is Strength springs immediately to mind because unity is often a code word for compliance and conformity. There’s no place for eat your cereal politics.
There is only wisdom in crowds, not in elite decision-making. The huge participation wasn’t simply because of the subject, it was because we, the people, were making the actual decision ourselves. Unlike in elections, we were not voting to choose other people to make decisions for us. One of saddest things I read on 19 September was Happy Dependence Day, a slogan but also a defiant recognition of the need for autonomy.
We’ve been too conservative in using the powers that The Scottish Parliament already has. By using current and newly devolved powers a real difference can be made. From the missing link of radical devolution to local communities, land reform, community energy and building our own community organisations to real public sector reform. We need creativity and commitment. We also need to drive forward social media and democratic, inclusive, unbiased media. We don’t need alternative media that just reinforces our own views without challenge.
There are many incredible people-led movements across the world and there’s also a wider war against democracy. We should be aware of these many campaigns against elite, minority rule and for direct people power. It’s only with mass and persistent action that fundamental change happens.
While the UK state infrastructure remains powerful, the unionist campaign was temporary. The Indy infrastructure is now thriving. Energised, motivated and determined, they’re going nowhere. Much of this has thankfully gone beyond narrow nationalism and indeed beyond narrow independence. It’s not about the 45%, it’s about the 100%. We now need this to be a democracy movement.
But forget the challenges, the truth is self-evident. Autonomy and authentic, direct democracy is addictive. One taste and people want more. This vote was important but it was just one step as part of an ongoing journey.
Forget governance, Scotland is more of a nation than ever.
Sweden enters a brave new world
Olof Palme, the last Social Democrat to enjoy a full majority
Today Stefan Löfven, a former industrial welder from northern Sweden, expects to begin moves to assemble a Social Democrat-led government. As the latest in a long line of Social Democrat prime ministers, Löfven assumes not just the trappings of power but an office of both party and state that defined Sweden for the latter part of the 20th century. But the party that led Sweden through its golden age of economic and social prosperity after the Second World War and made the country a role-model across Europe and the wider world is not in good shape.
It used to be said the Social Democrats were in control even in opposition. Now the question is whether they are in control when they are in government. In coalition with the Greens, they no longer have the ability to lead and make others follow. When former Social Democrat leader Göran Persson left office in 2006, Sweden still possessed many of its Nordic economic and social features, from a monopoly on the nation’s chemists to extremely high levels of sick-pay eligibility and a relatively protected public healthcare system. In the past eight years many of the old certainties have vanished, and the country the Social Democrats should inherit is, for the first time in over half a century, not a land for which they have written the rules.
Since 2006 Sweden has been led by the conservative-liberal ‘Alliance for Sweden’, a joint front of the Moderate, Christian Democrat, Liberal and Centre parties. By far the biggest partner in the coalition were the rebranded ‘New’ Moderates, who successfully overhauled Swedish conservatism under the leadership of Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and proved a big influence on David Cameron’s reinvented British Conservative party.
Elected on a promise to safeguard the Swedish model, the Alliance for Sweden have fundamentally changed key aspects of the Swedish system. Since the 1950s the country has been famous for extremely high levels of employee protection, gender and economic equality and a robust economy that has weathered global trends.
Since 2006 the expansion of profit-driven free schools has increased educational division, and tax cuts for both the wealthy and the restaurant sector, intended to stimulate employment, have had little impact on the overall prosperity of the country. Combined with an affordable housing crisis in Stockholm and well-publicized scandals involving private healthcare companies, the Moderates look set to limp over the finish line with just two-thirds of the support they won at the previous election.
The complex maths generated by Sweden’s combination of open national lists and a 4% barrier for entry to parliament means that a likely Social Democrat-Green coalition could horse trade with the Left, Liberal and Centre parties to form a majority. Unfortunately for Löfven, the Feminists failed to make it past the finish line, robbing them of a natural ally. Traditionally Sweden has operated as two electoral blocs, with the Social Democrat-dominated left competing with what Swedes label ‘bourgeois’ parties in coalition.
The difficulty for either side in assembling a complete majority has been created by the entry of the far-right Sweden Democrats. The party, which first appeared in 2010 and is rooted in neo-Nazism, was vying with the Greens to become the third largest in national politics, comprehensively pushed them into third place. Both the Greens and the Sweden Democrats had consistently hovered at around 10%, with the Greens promoting their ability to keep the far right from influence to no avail. The Sweden Democrats hit 13% though, making themselves kingmakers if anyone would be willing to work with them. For now though, unlike in neighbouring Norway where the strongly anti-immigration Progress Party is in a governing coalition, the Sweden Democrats remain political outcasts.
What is happening in Sweden mirrors the fragmentation of European politics more generally, with voters abandoning traditional Social Democratic and Conservative parties in favour of newer voices on both left and right. In the recent European elections the Greens beat the Moderates into third place, whilst the grassroots Feminists mobilised largely young and female voters to win an MEP. More worryingly for the traditional blocs, the far-right have been able to take votes from both conservatives and white working class voters.
The changed nature of Swedish politics means that a return to pre-Alliance days is firmly out of the question, and the time when the Social Democrats would haul in upwards of 40% of the vote and make small concessions to other parties are long gone. It also means that the Swedish model so admired by Sweden’s European neighbours is on shaky ground even without the Alliance at the helm.
Government without overwhelming support leaves the Social Democrats with an existential question. Outflanked on the progressive left by Feminists and Greens, but unable to move further right without hemorrhaging their core support, they remain comfortably the largest party but without a clear vision of why they want to be in office. At a time when Sweden’s problems with social exclusion and income distribution risk removing it from the realms of Scandinavia and dumping it firmly within the demographic trends of the rest of Western Europe, Löfven will lead a group with the smallest percentage of Social Democrat MPs since the 1920s. His government needs to revive the Social Democratic project and make it relevant for the 21st century if the party and the society they created are to survive. | http://www.betternation.org/category/democracy/ | dclm-gs1-107960000 |
0.029656 | <urn:uuid:c07333cc-77cd-48c0-92c9-d6bb510b05a5> | en | 0.979533 | Alternative title: Mahatma Gandhi
Gandhi, Mohandas Karamchand [Credit: Ann Ronan Picture Library/Heritage-Images]Gandhi, Mohandas KaramchandAnn Ronan Picture Library/Heritage-Images
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, byname Mahatma Gandhi (born October 2, 1869Porbandar, India—died January 30, 1948Delhi), Indian lawyer, politician, social activist, and writer who became the leader of the nationalist movement against the British rule of India. As such, he came to be considered the father of his country. Gandhi is internationally esteemed for his doctrine of nonviolent protest (satyagraha) to achieve political and social progress.
Sojourn in England and return to India
In the boardinghouses and vegetarian restaurants of England, Gandhi met not only food faddists but some earnest men and women to whom he owed his introduction to the Bible and, more important, the Bhagavadgita, which he read for the first time in its English translation by Sir Edwin Arnold. The Bhagavadgita (commonly known as the Gita) is part of the great epic the Mahabharata and, in the form of a philosophical poem, is the most-popular expression of Hinduism. The English vegetarians were a motley crowd. They included socialists and humanitarians such as Edward Carpenter, “the British Thoreau”; Fabians such as George Bernard Shaw; and Theosophists such as Annie Besant. Most of them were idealists; quite a few were rebels who rejected the prevailing values of the late-Victorian establishment, denounced the evils of the capitalist and industrial society, preached the cult of the simple life, and stressed the superiority of moral over material values and of cooperation over conflict. Those ideas were to contribute substantially to the shaping of Gandhi’s personality and, eventually, to his politics.
Painful surprises were in store for Gandhi when he returned to India in July 1891. His mother had died in his absence, and he discovered to his dismay that the barrister’s degree was not a guarantee of a lucrative career. The legal profession was already beginning to be overcrowded, and Gandhi was much too diffident to elbow his way into it. In the very first brief he argued in a court in Bombay (now Mumbai), he cut a sorry figure. Turned down even for the part-time job of a teacher in a Bombay high school, he returned to Rajkot to make a modest living by drafting petitions for litigants. Even that employment was closed to him when he incurred the displeasure of a local British officer. It was, therefore, with some relief that in 1893 he accepted the none-too-attractive offer of a year’s contract from an Indian firm in Natal, South Africa.
Years in South Africa
Africa was to present to Gandhi challenges and opportunities that he could hardly have conceived. In the end he would spend more than two decades there, returning to India only briefly in 1896–97. The youngest two of his four children were born there.
Emergence as a political and social activist
Gandhi was quickly exposed to the racial discrimination practiced in South Africa. In a Durban court he was asked by the European magistrate to take off his turban; he refused and left the courtroom. A few days later, while traveling to Pretoria, he was unceremoniously thrown out of a first-class railway compartment and left shivering and brooding at the rail station in Pietermaritzburg. In the further course of that journey, he was beaten up by the white driver of a stagecoach because he would not travel on the footboard to make room for a European passenger, and finally he was barred from hotels reserved “for Europeans only.” Those humiliations were the daily lot of Indian traders and labourers in Natal, who had learned to pocket them with the same resignation with which they pocketed their meagre earnings. What was new was not Gandhi’s experience but his reaction. He had so far not been conspicuous for self-assertion or aggressiveness. But something happened to him as he smarted under the insults heaped upon him. In retrospect the journey from Durban to Pretoria struck him as one of the most-creative experiences of his life; it was his moment of truth. Henceforth he would not accept injustice as part of the natural or unnatural order in South Africa; he would defend his dignity as an Indian and as a man.
While in Pretoria, Gandhi studied the conditions in which his fellow South Asians in South Africa lived and tried to educate them on their rights and duties, but he had no intention of staying on in South Africa. Indeed, in June 1894, as his year’s contract drew to a close, he was back in Durban, ready to sail for India. At a farewell party given in his honour, he happened to glance through the Natal Mercury and learned that the Natal Legislative Assembly was considering a bill to deprive Indians of the right to vote. “This is the first nail in our coffin,” Gandhi told his hosts. They professed their inability to oppose the bill, and indeed their ignorance of the politics of the colony, and begged him to take up the fight on their behalf.
Resistance and results
After a night’s work which had shattered men with much bigger frames, I came across Gandhi in the early morning sitting by the roadside eating a regulation army biscuit. Every man in [General] Buller’s force was dull and depressed, and damnation was heartily invoked on everything. But Gandhi was stoical in his bearing, cheerful and confident in his conversation and had a kindly eye.
The British victory in the war brought little relief to the Indians in South Africa. The new regime in South Africa was to blossom into a partnership, but only between Boers and Britons. Gandhi saw that, with the exception of a few Christian missionaries and youthful idealists, he had been unable to make a perceptible impression upon the South African Europeans. In 1906 the Transvaal government published a particularly humiliating ordinance for the registration of its Indian population. The Indians held a mass protest meeting at Johannesburg in September 1906 and, under Gandhi’s leadership, took a pledge to defy the ordinance if it became law in the teeth of their opposition and to suffer all the penalties resulting from their defiance. Thus was born satyagraha (“devotion to truth”), a new technique for redressing wrongs through inviting, rather than inflicting, suffering, for resisting adversaries without rancour and fighting them without violence.
“The saint has left our shores,” Smuts wrote to a friend on Gandhi’s departure from South Africa for India, in July 1914, “I hope for ever.” A quarter century later, he wrote that it had been his “fate to be the antagonist of a man for whom even then I had the highest respect.” Once, during his not-infrequent stays in jail, Gandhi had prepared a pair of sandals for Smuts, who recalled that there was no hatred and personal ill-feeling between them, and when the fight was over “there was the atmosphere in which a decent peace could be concluded.”
The religious quest
Gandhi, Mohandas Karamchand [Credit: Margaret Bourke-White—Time Life Pictures/Getty Images]Gandhi, Mohandas KaramchandMargaret Bourke-White—Time Life Pictures/Getty ImagesGandhi’s religious quest dated back to his childhood, the influence of his mother and of his home life in Porbandar and Rajkot, but it received a great impetus after his arrival in South Africa. His Quaker friends in Pretoria failed to convert him to Christianity, but they quickened his appetite for religious studies. He was fascinated by the writings of Leo Tolstoy on Christianity, read the Quʾrān in translation, and delved into Hindu scriptures and philosophy. The study of comparative religion, talks with scholars, and his own reading of theological works brought him to the conclusion that all religions were true and yet every one of them was imperfect because they were “interpreted with poor intellects, sometimes with poor hearts, and more often misinterpreted.”
Shrimad Rajchandra, a brilliant young Jain philosopher who became Gandhi’s spiritual mentor, convinced him of “the subtlety and profundity” of Hinduism, the religion of his birth. And it was the Bhagavadgita, which Gandhi had first read in London, that became his “spiritual dictionary” and exercised probably the greatest single influence on his life. Two Sanskrit words in the Gita particularly fascinated him. One was aparigraha (“nonpossession”), which implies that people have to jettison the material goods that cramp the life of the spirit and to shake off the bonds of money and property. The other was samabhava (“equability”), which enjoins people to remain unruffled by pain or pleasure, victory or defeat, and to work without hope of success or fear of failure.
Gandhi felt an irresistible attraction to a life of simplicity, manual labour, and austerity. In 1904—after reading John Ruskin’s Unto This Last, a critique of capitalism—he set up a farm at Phoenix near Durban where he and his friends could live by the sweat of their brow. Six years later another colony grew up under Gandhi’s fostering care near Johannesburg; it was named Tolstoy Farm for the Russian writer and moralist, whom Gandhi admired and corresponded with. Those two settlements were the precursors of the more-famous ashrams (religious retreats) in India, at Sabarmati near Ahmedabad (Ahmadabad) and at Sevagram near Wardha.
South Africa had not only prompted Gandhi to evolve a novel technique for political action but also transformed him into a leader of men by freeing him from bonds that make cowards of most men. “Persons in power,” the British Classical scholar Gilbert Murray prophetically wrote about Gandhi in the Hibbert Journal in 1918,
Return to India
Gandhi decided to leave South Africa in the summer of 1914, just before the outbreak of World War I. He and his family first went to London, where they remained for several months. Finally, they departed England in December, arriving in Bombay in early January 1915.
Emergence as nationalist leader
For the next three years, Gandhi seemed to hover uncertainly on the periphery of Indian politics, declining to join any political agitation, supporting the British war effort, and even recruiting soldiers for the British Indian Army. At the same time, he did not flinch from criticizing the British officials for any acts of high-handedness or from taking up the grievances of the long-suffering peasantry in Bihar and Gujarat. By February 1919, however, the British had insisted on pushing through—in the teeth of fierce Indian opposition—the Rowlatt Acts, which empowered the authorities to imprison without trial those suspected of sedition. A provoked Gandhi finally revealed a sense of estrangement from the British Raj and announced a satyagraha struggle. The result was a virtual political earthquake that shook the subcontinent in the spring of 1919. The violent outbreaks that followed—notably the Massacre of Amritsar, which was the killing by British-led soldiers of nearly 400 Indians who were gathered in an open space in Amritsar in the Punjab region (now in Punjab state), and the enactment of martial law—prompted him to stay his hand. However, within a year he was again in a militant mood, having in the meantime been irrevocably alienated by British insensitiveness to Indian feeling on the Punjab tragedy and Muslim resentment on the peace terms offered to Turkey following World War I.
By the autumn of 1920, Gandhi was the dominant figure on the political stage, commanding an influence never before attained by any political leader in India or perhaps in any other country. He refashioned the 35-year-old Indian National Congress (Congress Party) into an effective political instrument of Indian nationalism: from a three-day Christmas-week picnic of the upper middle class in one of the principal cities of India, it became a mass organization with its roots in small towns and villages. Gandhi’s message was simple: it was not British guns but imperfections of Indians themselves that kept their country in bondage. His program, the nonviolent noncooperation movement against the British government, included boycotts not only of British manufactures but of institutions operated or aided by the British in India: legislatures, courts, offices, schools. The campaign electrified the country, broke the spell of fear of foreign rule, and led to the arrests of thousands of satyagrahis, who defied laws and cheerfully lined up for prison. In February 1922 the movement seemed to be on the crest of a rising wave, but, alarmed by a violent outbreak in Chauri Chaura, a remote village in eastern India, Gandhi decided to call off mass civil disobedience. That was a blow to many of his followers, who feared that his self-imposed restraints and scruples would reduce the nationalist struggle to pious futility. Gandhi himself was arrested on March 10, 1922, tried for sedition, and sentenced to six years’ imprisonment. He was released in February 1924, after undergoing surgery for appendicitis. The political landscape had changed in his absence. The Congress Party had split into two factions, one under Chitta Ranjan Das and Motilal Nehru (the father of Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister) favouring the entry of the party into legislatures and the other under Chakravarti Rajagopalachari and Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel opposing it. Worst of all, the unity between Hindus and Muslims of the heyday of the noncooperation movement of 1920–22 had dissolved. Gandhi tried to draw the warring communities out of their suspicion and fanaticism by reasoning and persuasion. Finally, after a serious outbreak of communal unrest, he undertook a three-week fast in the autumn of 1924 to arouse the people into following the path of nonviolence. In December 1924 he was named president of the Congress Party, and he served for a year.
Return to party leadership
Round Table Conference: Gandhi with delegates of the Indian Round Table Conference, London, U.K., 1931 [Credit: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]Round Table Conference: Gandhi with delegates of the Indian Round Table Conference, London, U.K., 1931Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.During the mid-1920s Gandhi took little interest in active politics and was considered a spent force. In 1927, however, the British government appointed a constitutional reform commission under Sir John Simon, a prominent English lawyer and politician, that did not contain a single Indian. When the Congress and other parties boycotted the commission, the political tempo rose. At the Congress session (meeting) at Calcutta in December 1928, Gandhi put forth the crucial resolution demanding dominion status from the British government within a year under threat of a nationwide nonviolent campaign for complete independence. Henceforth, Gandhi was back as the leading voice of the Congress Party. In March 1930 he launched the Salt March, a satyagraha against the British-imposed tax on salt, which affected the poorest section of the community. One of the most spectacular and successful campaigns in Gandhi’s nonviolent war against the British Raj, it resulted in the imprisonment of more than 60,000 people. A year later, after talks with the viceroy, Lord Irwin (later Lord Halifax), Gandhi accepted a truce (the Gandhi-Irwin Pact), called off civil disobedience, and agreed to attend the Round Table Conference in London as the sole representative of the Indian National Congress.
The conference, which concentrated on the problem of the Indian minorities rather than on the transfer of power from the British, was a great disappointment to the Indian nationalists. Moreover, when Gandhi returned to India in December 1931, he found his party facing an all-out offensive from Lord Irwin’s successor as viceroy, Lord Willingdon, who unleashed the sternest repression in the history of the nationalist movement. Gandhi was once more imprisoned, and the government tried to insulate him from the outside world and to destroy his influence. That was not an easy task. Gandhi soon regained the initiative. In September 1932, while still a prisoner, he embarked on a fast to protest against the British government’s decision to segregate the so-called untouchables (the lowest level of the Indian caste system) by allotting them separate electorates in the new constitution. The fast produced an emotional upheaval in the country, and an alternative electoral arrangement was jointly and speedily devised by the leaders of the Hindu community and the untouchables and endorsed by the British government. The fast became the starting point of a vigorous campaign for the removal of the disabilities of the untouchables, whom Gandhi referred to as Harijans, or “children of God.” (That term has fallen out of favour, replaced by Dalit; Scheduled Castes is the official designation.)
Gandhi, Mohandas K. [Credit: © Bettmann/Corbis]Gandhi, Mohandas K.© Bettmann/CorbisIn 1934 Gandhi resigned not only as the leader but also as a member of the Congress Party. He had come to believe that its leading members had adopted nonviolence as a political expedient and not as the fundamental creed it was for him. In place of political activity he then concentrated on his “constructive programme” of building the nation “from the bottom up”—educating rural India, which accounted for 85 percent of the population; continuing his fight against untouchability; promoting hand spinning, weaving, and other cottage industries to supplement the earnings of the underemployed peasantry; and evolving a system of education best suited to the needs of the people. Gandhi himself went to live at Sevagram, a village in central India, which became the centre of his program of social and economic uplift.
The last phase
Gandhi, Mohandas Karamchand: Gandhi, 1942 [Credit: Wallace Kirkland—Time Life Pictures/Getty Images]Gandhi, Mohandas Karamchand: Gandhi, 1942Wallace Kirkland—Time Life Pictures/Getty ImagesWith the outbreak of World War II, the nationalist struggle in India entered its last crucial phase. Gandhi hated fascism and all it stood for, but he also hated war. The Indian National Congress, on the other hand, was not committed to pacifism and was prepared to support the British war effort if Indian self-government was assured. Once more Gandhi became politically active. The failure of the mission of Sir Stafford Cripps, a British cabinet minister who went to India in March 1942 with an offer that Gandhi found unacceptable, the British equivocation on the transfer of power to Indian hands, and the encouragement given by high British officials to conservative and communal forces promoting discord between Muslims and Hindus impelled Gandhi to demand in the summer of 1942 an immediate British withdrawal from India—what became known as the Quit India Movement.
In mid-1942 the war against the Axis Powers, particularly Japan, was in a critical phase, and the British reacted sharply to the campaign. They imprisoned the entire Congress leadership and set out to crush the party once and for all. There were violent outbreaks that were sternly suppressed, and the gulf between Britain and India became wider than ever before. Gandhi, his wife, and several other top party leaders (including Nehru) were confined in the Aga Khan Palace (now the Gandhi National Memorial) in Poona (now Pune). Kasturba died there in early 1944, shortly before Gandhi and the others were released.
A new chapter in Indo-British relations opened with the victory of the Labour Party in Britain 1945. During the next two years, there were prolonged triangular negotiations between leaders of the Congress, the Muslim League under Mohammad Ali Jinnah, and the British government, culminating in the Mountbatten Plan of June 3, 1947, and the formation of the two new dominions of India and Pakistan in mid-August 1947.
Gandhi, Mohandas (Mahatma): funeral procession [Credit: Public Domain]Gandhi, Mohandas (Mahatma): funeral processionPublic DomainIt was one of the greatest disappointments of Gandhi’s life that Indian freedom was realized without Indian unity. Muslim separatism had received a great boost while Gandhi and his colleagues were in jail, and in 1946–47, as the final constitutional arrangements were being negotiated, the outbreak of communal riots between Hindus and Muslims unhappily created a climate in which Gandhi’s appeals to reason and justice, tolerance and trust had little chance. When partition of the subcontinent was accepted—against his advice—he threw himself heart and soul into the task of healing the scars of the communal conflict, toured the riot-torn areas in Bengal and Bihar, admonished the bigots, consoled the victims, and tried to rehabilitate the refugees. In the atmosphere of that period, surcharged with suspicion and hatred, that was a difficult and heartbreaking task. Gandhi was blamed by partisans of both the communities. When persuasion failed, he went on a fast. He won at least two spectacular triumphs: in September 1947 his fasting stopped the rioting in Calcutta, and in January 1948 he shamed the city of Delhi into a communal truce. A few days later, on January 30, while he was on his way to his evening prayer meeting in Delhi, he was shot down by Nathuram Godse, a young Hindu fanatic.
Place in history
Pune, Maharasthra, India: Gandhi Memorial Stone [Credit: © Hemera/Thinkstock]Pune, Maharasthra, India: Gandhi Memorial Stone© Hemera/ThinkstockThe British attitude toward Gandhi was one of mingled admiration, amusement, bewilderment, suspicion, and resentment. Except for a tiny minority of Christian missionaries and radical socialists, the British tended to see him at best as a utopian visionary and at worst as a cunning hypocrite whose professions of friendship for the British race were a mask for subversion of the British Raj. Gandhi was conscious of the existence of that wall of prejudice, and it was part of the strategy of satyagraha to penetrate it.
His three major campaigns in 1920–22, 1930–34, and 1940–42 were well designed to engender that process of self-doubt and questioning that was to undermine the moral defenses of his adversaries and to contribute, together with the objective realities of the postwar world, to producing the grant of dominion status in 1947. The British abdication in India was the first step in the liquidation of the British Empire on the continents of Asia and Africa. Gandhi’s image as a rebel and enemy died hard, but, as it had done to the memory of George Washington, Britain, in 1969, the centenary year of Gandhi’s birth, erected a statue to his memory.
Research in the second half of the 20th century established Gandhi’s role as a great mediator and reconciler. His talents in that direction were applied to conflicts between the older moderate politicians and the young radicals, the political terrorists and the parliamentarians, the urban intelligentsia and the rural masses, the traditionalists and the modernists, the caste Hindus and the untouchables, the Hindus and the Muslims, and the Indians and the British.
Gandhi, Mohandas (Mahatma): postage stamp [Credit: © iStock/Thinkstock]Gandhi, Mohandas (Mahatma): postage stamp© iStock/ThinkstockScholars have continued to judge Gandhi’s place in history. He was the catalyst if not the initiator of three of the major revolutions of the 20th century: the movements against colonialism, racism, and violence. He wrote copiously; the collected edition of his writings had reached 100 volumes by the early 21st century.
Much of what he wrote was in response to the needs of his coworkers and disciples and the exigencies of the political situation, but on fundamentals he maintained a remarkable consistency, as is evident from the Hind Swaraj (“Indian Home Rule”), published in South Africa in 1909. The strictures on Western materialism and colonialism, the reservations about industrialism and urbanization, the distrust of the modern state, and the total rejection of violence that was expressed in that book seemed romantic, if not reactionary, to the pre-World War I generation in India and the West, which had not known the shocks of two global wars or experienced the phenomenon of Adolf Hitler and the trauma of the atom bomb. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s objective of promoting a just and egalitarian order at home and nonalignment with military blocs abroad doubtless owed much to Gandhi, but neither he nor his colleagues in the Indian nationalist movement wholly accepted the Gandhian models in politics and economics.
In the years since Gandhi’s death, his name has been invoked by the organizers of numerous demonstrations and movements. However, with a few outstanding exceptions—such as those of his disciple the land reformer Vinoba Bhave in India and of the civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., in the United States—those movements have been a travesty of the ideas of Gandhi.
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1. woody188
If the American people don’t want cap and trade and American business doesn’t want cap and trade, just who does want cap and trade other than Al Gore, Obama, Congress, and the United Nations and why are we being saddled with it?
Our Liberties We Prize and Our Rights We Will Maintain
2. Sandra Price
Cap and Trade won by default. We are saddled with it because there was no alternative action from any political party. Hell, I don’t care what the opposition was called I would have supported the LP but I would have preferred the GOP. Woody, there is only one party in America and a lot of whining hate spewing members of the lost generation of freedom lovers.
Even at CHB we are professional whiners and know what destroyed us. It will take a set of steel balls to stand up to our one party which looks to be worse than the last two Administrations.
I’ve got to get out of here before I blow again. I saw the crap that President Bush brought to the government and I saw nothing any better coming from President Obama. I did not vote for either but had hoped that this great site could be a team to plan something better. Damnit! we have both sides of our government found here and we sit back and watch our nation fall into a pit of hell. I blamed the religious right and I blamed the redistribution of wealth on the other side and all I managed to do was piss off most of the CHB’s members.
A long time member of CHB is over at another forum explaining why I was banned from RR. It is not my point of view but I dared to question the status quo of the two parties. I dared to ask people to get off their lazy butts and take action with their Congress. I’m an uppity old bitch and I’m taking a month off the internet. I respect Doug enough not to blow again on his site.
I have no warnings left. We have gone past the point of no return to sanity.
3. woody188
Yeah I’m stressed out too. Hang in there. Spend time with family and friends and talk. You are not alone and might be surprised who thinks like you do about current events.
4. RichardKanePA
I worked for Obama’s election but dreaded that he would be torn apart like Jimmy Carter was.
Then Obama began fighting back, and I was hopeful.
But not only Rep. Jason Altmire, and Doug Thomas on this blog, but also David Corn who is a real radical complained. Only MoveOn.Org, is defending fighting back.
Daily Kos’s comments avoiding the issue by saying people can talk to who they want, even the President, is a disgrace.
Jimmy Carter ignoring all the smears, Obama is fighting back and people who should know better are complaining.
Somehow most only complain about Israel trying to manipulate things. The Rupert Murdock, Washington Times, Dick Cheney alliance is trying to change this country and change the world. The next US President may actually be proud of torture and human right’s abuses.
The shrillest Washington Times attackers get rewarded by getting on Fox News. See Scoobie Davis online,
Why are those petrified by the Israeli Lobby, which doesn’t hide behind trickery, don’t also worry about what Rupert Murdock, and his partners are up to. | http://www.capitolhillblue.com/node/20069 | dclm-gs1-108170000 |
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Number Format Pattern Syntax
Emma Peel
Joined: Feb 18, 2003
Posts: 10
Can anyone explain how to read:
'\\u0000'..'\\uFFFD' - specialCharacters
It is part of Number Format Pattern Syntax:
pattern := subpattern{;subpattern}
subpattern := {prefix}integer{.fraction}{suffix}
prefix := '\\u0000'..'\\uFFFD' - specialCharacters
suffix := '\\u0000'..'\\uFFFD' - specialCharacters
integer := '#'* '0'* '0'
fraction := '0'* '#'*
found at
Thanks! Emma Peel
Greg Charles
Joined: Oct 01, 2001
Posts: 2962
Greetings Mrs. Peel,
That link you provide has examples of building patterns for number formatters. (java.text.NumberFormat) The extra unicode characters allow you to parse and format strings with more than just numbers, for example a currency character.
One example they give is:
That pattern lets you parse or format string with the Yen sign in front of a series of numbers.
I agree. Here's the link:
subject: Number Format Pattern Syntax
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This page provides all possible meanings and translations of the word unenforceable
Princeton's WordNet
1. unenforceable(adj)
not enforceable; not capable of being brought about by compulsion
"an unenforceable law"; "unenforceable reforms"
1. unenforceable(Adjective)
Resistant to enforcement.
1. Unenforceable
An unenforceable contract or transaction is one that is valid, but which the court will not enforce. Unenforceable is usually used in contradistinction to void and voidable. If the parties perform the agreement, it will be valid, but the court will not compel them if they do not. An example of a transaction which is an unenforceable contract is a contract for prostitution under English law. Prostitution is not actually a crime under English law, although both soliciting a prostitute and living off the earnings of a prostitute are criminal offences but so long as the contract is fully performed, it remains valid. However, if either refuses to complete the bargain, the court will not assist the disappointed party. Sometimes, contracts may only be enforceable one-way, and unenforceable the other way. Again, there is an example from the field of prostitution: In Germany, where prostitution is also legal, a law exists that—once a contract has been entered into—makes a prostitute's demands for payment legally enforceable, while leaving the John's demands for fulfilment of the contract and rendition of sexual services unenforceable. German lawmakers made only the claims of prostitutes enforceable because they intended for the German prostitution law to protect only the prostitutes, without helping or furthering the interests of buyers of sexual services.
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PISCES + ARIES (March 21 - April 19)
Aries is the zodiac's first sign, Pisces its last. You're the Alpha and the Omega, the dawn and the sunset. You're as far apart and as close together as two signs can get. Although your differences are vast, you also have a broad expanse of material from which to fashion your relationship. Your polar positions can actually make you a great match. Aries loves to be adored and spoiled, and generous Pisces will give everything in the name of love. In Pisces' worshipful gaze, Aries feels brilliant and boundless, and his insecurities melt away. This is important for the sensitive Ram, whose "wounded soldier" archetype is healed by the Pisces nurse. In this relationship, Aries is free to follow his natural hunting instincts; Pisces prepares a banquet from his conquests. The danger: You both have vivid imaginations, but with two dreamers at the helm of this romance, the ship can veer off course. Aries is a take-charge leader, but needs a strong second mate. Bravado and confidence don't come easy to insecure Pisces, who falls into feigned helplessness under duress. Moody spells are common for your signs, and digging yourselves out of emotional ditches can be a challenge. You'll need a council of advisors to help you manage aspects of daily life—accountants, lawyers, coaches, therapists. Aries can be naturally aggressive, where Pisces is passive or passive-aggressive. You'll need to adapt your communication styles in order to be heard.
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PISCES + LEO (July 23 - August 22)
Your signs are very different, but you can eventually gel into a lasting relationship. Pisces is a flowy, sensitive Water sign who needs a decisive mate. Confident Leo, a Fire sign, is a natural leader, eager to rule the relationship. Because Pisces takes longer to articulate his needs, Leo could mistakenly assume he's got the upper hand, and that Pisces is content to follow. Not so fast. In your own ways, you both wear your hearts on your sleeve, but you need to tune into each other's sensitive spots. You're incredibly romantic, and the tender passion between you is great in the beginning. However, you may hit a dry spell when it's time to get truly intimate.
Secretive Pisces feels so vulnerable when his soul is exposed, and may lash out at Leo in an unconscious reaction to the Lion's strength—for example, criticizing Leo's appearance, weight or intelligence. These cruel barbs are actually just a projection of Pisces' own self-doubt, but they plunge a thorn in the Lion's paw no less. Pisces must work through the tedious knots of his insecurities, which lay deep in his psyche. Leo is a powerhouse who can run the show with his eyes closed, but he'll do best to step aside and give the Fish his chance to shine. Shy Pisces is a true creative force, but his brilliant imagination and keen intuition can be eclipsed by showy Leo. Work through this. Luxury is a weakness for your signs, and you love to indulge. You may need to take courses on money management together, or team up to make a fortune so you never have to worry about it.
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PISCES + VIRGO (August 23 - September 22) ♥♥♥♥
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PISCES + LIBRA (September 23 - October 22)
Drifting into a dappled dreamscape of your own imagination, your poetic souls entwine against astrological odds. Libra is an Air sign and Pisces is a Water sign; together you can stir a gentle sea breeze or drown in your own sexual tsunami. But oh, the romance is worth it. Like any good bodice-ripper, there's passion, intrigue and mystique to spice up this storyline. You can get lost for days in a decadent meal, a gorgeous sonata, each other's luminous eyes. While the cynics gag, they secretly envy your enchanted, oxytocin-addled bliss. Living in a fantasy is fun for your signs, and gratification eclipses all boundaries and structures. Another Sancerre, an hour less sleep—it can all be justified in the name of pleasure. It's when reality steps in that things get hairy. After waking past noon in your umpteenth limb-and-linen tangle, you remember that pesky paycheck, your stuffed Inbox, the unopened mail. Oops. Hung over and wholly unequipped to deal with the overwhelm, you lash out at each other. Without outside contact and obligations to anchor you, you can both descend into bouts of moodiness, indulgence and even depression. Balance—the Libra catchphrase—must be practiced early on.
PISCES + SCORPIO (October 23 - November 21) ♥♥♥♥
PISCES + SAGITTARIUS (November 22 - December 21)
What happens when the most sensitive, tender-hearted sign (Pisces) links up with the most insensitive, tactless sign (Sagittarius)? Disaster, unless you handle each other with extreme care. Romantic Pisces is a Water sign who craves deep emotional bonding, while independent Sag is a Fire sign who feels smothered by too much of the touchy-feelies. You'll need to balance your most distinctive traits and parcel them out in measured doses. Your communication styles don't work together naturally either. Sagittarius is honest to a fault, dishing the unvarnished truth and heavy-handed advice (usually unsolicited), then whistling while Pisces weeps. Indirect Pisces would rather flee to Katmandu than face conflict, but standing up to Sagittarius requires it. Pisces is prone to passive-aggressive tactics; yet, subtle cues and hints will sail right over Sag's head, while the Archer's arrow of truth spears the Fish's heart. What do you have in common? You're both skittish about commitment—namely, the terrifying idea of being "trapped." Since Pisces rules fantasy and Sagittarius rules adventure, you can neatly escape the daily drudge together—at least until reality comes crashing down. Still, life is always tinged with magic when you're together, and the bedroom remains an enchanting space of divine communion for you.
PISCES + CAPRICORN (December 22 - January 19)
On the surface, you might seem like an odd match—imagine a Harvard MBA in Armani dating a paint-splattered artist in Oshkosh. Yet, your signs pair well, even if you don't want to admit it. With classic good looks and a dutiful nature, Capricorn fits neatly into the system. Pisces is a flowy Fish who excels at playing the the artsy rebel, the indie darling, the adorable mess. By comparison, Capricorn seems structured and regimented—but appearances deceive. While Pisces may delight in coloring outside the neat lines Capricorn draws, the real surprise is that Capricorn is the bigger freak behind closed doors. Capricorn has a dominant, even cruel streak that can play out in the bedroom (not that submissive Pisces doth protest). Leather, whips and kinky fun—it's all fair game. You both love to find lesser-known wine, music, and art, a pride yourself on having cultivated tastes. Together, you can traverse the tony uptown spaces to the lowbrow dives, discovering cultural jewels wherever you go. Your diverse strengths could make you great business partners, too. Open a gallery, with Pisces as curator and Capricorn as financial backer.
PISCES + AQUARIUS (January 20 - February 18)
PISCES + PISCES (February 19 - March 20)
You love each other; you love each other not. Pisces is denoted by two fish swimming in opposite directions—one toward security, the other to freedom. Such tender bait is a fellow Fish who's equal parts commitment-phobe and serial monogamist! As partners in paradox, you'll play nursemaid, Shiatsu-ist, and sous chef to one another, doting until it hurts. Then, of course, comes the Great Escape—intimacy overload strikes, but you feel too "guilty" to ask for a night off from gazing into each other's eyes as some angsty singer-songwriter pipes through the iPod. Instead, you fly into a passive-aggressive panic, turning on each other vis a vis a good self-flogging. "It's not you, it's me," you call over your shoulder as the door shuts behind you (read: "I'm too gutless to demand better foreplay"). "I'm such an awful person—you deserve better," Pisces laments (translation: "You suck"). The real problem isn't your chemistry, it's that you're both so damn indirect. Communication is the 101 cornerstone of a lasting relationship, and if you keep walking on eggshells, you'll end up resentful, depressed (anger turned inward) or eventually exploding with rage. With the right prescriptions, a good therapist and maybe a couples' karate class (think: the socially-sanctioned chop to his midsection that you've been dying to deliver), you can swim together like happy little minnows forever. | http://www.elle.com/horoscopes/love/a2342/pisces-compatibility/ | dclm-gs1-108690000 |
0.025845 | <urn:uuid:14e5e1a5-f512-446e-b0d0-5a1753687977> | en | 0.959927 | Experience Project iOS Android Apps | Download EP for your Mobile Device
The Monster That I Love.
The man I fell in love with is the monster I will never leave. If love could cost a life, surely I have almost paid in full. Keep the advice, and the refund because this heart of mine would never allow me to turn my back on the only person I've ever met who understands who I really am. No words or actions could ever change the way I feel. I would give my life before I lived a life without him. False love runs when things take a turn for the worst. There have been moments when I felt like my heart was literally being ripped from my chest, and I would stand here bleeding right in front of him as a living reminder that I am the one person who will never turn her back and walk away.
Your words can cut like a knife, but it's your hand that applies the bandage that stops the bleeding. If I hurt, it is you who soothes my pain. If it's pain you brought, you soothe it tenfold and whisper promises of forever into my begging ear. All love comes with pain, it's not the perfection wrapped in a pretty bow that shines from your movie screen. I've suffered for you, just to have your body next to mine when I lay down to sleep every night. Have you suffered for me? You will tell me so. I've been kept awake at night with questions close to falling from my lips and waking you from your peaceful sleep. Those questions will go unanswered because I know you would never forsake me for another. Fear haunts me, but never the fear of you laying your head down next to another. The fear of the pain that being so deeply in love can visit upon someones heart. Sometimes when you look at me I feel like I am naked, completely exposed and unable to hide secrets from your curious eyes. We've stayed up all night talking about every subject that wandered into our minds and yet sometimes I feel like this love is a book I will never finish. One I can never put down for a new story.
LuhxLeMieux LuhxLeMieux 22-25, F Mar 4, 2011
Your Response | http://www.experienceproject.com/stories/Know-Words-Are-Easy-And-Can-Cut-Like-A-Knife/1437674 | dclm-gs1-108790000 |
0.036362 | <urn:uuid:da9c0259-89b6-4303-8756-b65343f4af49> | en | 0.945563 | Traditional Buttery French Croissants for Lazy Bistro Breakfasts
Total Time
26hrs 20mins
Prep 26 hrs
Cook 20 mins
Ingredients Nutrition
1. Preheat oven temperature to 200C/400F/Gas 6.
2. BREAD MACHINE: Put the milk, water, egg, flour, salt, sugar, 1 oz butter and the yeast into your machine and select dough, normal. This will mix, knead and prove the dough and takes about an hour and a half depending on your machine.
3. BY HAND: Put the egg, flour, salt, sugar, 1 oz butter and the yeast in a large mixing bowl. Using a wooden spoon, slowly mix in the warm milk and the warm water until the mixture forms into a pliable dough. Cover and put the dough in a warm place, until it has nearly doubled in size.
4. BUTTER DOUGH: Place the dough (both from the bread machine and by hand) on a floured surface and knead well until it feels elastic.Return the dough to the bowl, cover and chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour. Return the chilled dough to your floured work surface and roll it into a rectangular shape, around 50cm X 20cm - 20" X 8".
5. Separate the remaining butter into 3 portions and then using one third of the butter, dot the butter over the upper two thirds of the rolled dough, keeping a 1cm/1/2" border around the edges. Fold the dough into three , bringing up the bottom unbuttered part of the dough, and then folding the top buttered part of the dough over.
6. Give the dough a half turn so that the open edges are now top and bottom and seal the edges with your rolling pin. Then take your rolling pin and press the dough at intervals to seal the dough and create air pockets. Roll out into a rectangle again, the same size, and then continue as before, two more times until your butter is used up - please see photos as a guide. It is important to return the rolled dough to the fridge in between each rolling to ensure the butter does not melt and the dough does not become too sticky. After the last rolling when all the butter is used, return the dough to the refrigerator to chill for a further 30 minutes.
7. Remove from fridge and roll carefully into a big rectangle 50cm/30cm/24inx12in cut in half lengthways, divide each half into 4 to 6 triangles. Take one triangle at a time,and brush the triangle with the egg wash of milk and egg. Then from the widest edge of the triangle, roll up loosely and place in a crescent shape on a tray. Brush with the egg wash over the top for the glaze.
8. TO FREEZE: At this point the croissants can be frozen; Open freeze them on a large tray, a baking tray is fine and then pack them into a rigid container or freezer bags when they are frozen. For use, remove from freezer the number required for breakfast, put onto baking tray and leave overnight. Put into a hot oven and cook for about 20 minutes until browned and risen.
9. TO BAKE: Place the shaped croissants on baking trays lined with silicone baking parchment and leave to rise for 30 minutes to 1 hour.Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until golden brown and puffy.
Most Helpful
5 5
Wow , these are amazing! They did not raise as much as I had hoped but still wonderful. I had to convert the measurements, it took me a long time so let me help someone else out! 1/2 c milk or 3 7/8 oz, 1/8 c water or 1 1/8 oz, 2 1/3 c flour + 1 tsp, 7/8 oz butter, 1 tsp yeast, 6 1/8 oz butter. I made half of them into regular croissants and filled the other half with a cream cheese and sugar mix with homemade strawberry jam. Next time I will try the cream cheese mix and choc chips. I took them to work and everyone has made special requests for our Monday meetings, thanks for the pics they really help!
5 5
These are amazing and incredible easy (when following the pics). For those converting to US units, I found that using 1 TBS of yeast worked well, and they turned out amazingly fluffy. I make these randomly for friends and neighbors and everyone is surprised they didn't come from a bakery. I lived in France for awhile and these bring me right back. Great to dunk into a fresh cup of coffee!
5 5
I would give it 10 stars if I COULD!!! This is HANDS downnn THEE BEST thing Ive EVER made in my LIFE!!! Follow the Directions carefully and you will have PERFECTION!! The pictures are an immense help or I wouldve been lost. I made mine with Bonne Maman Raspberry Preserve with a piece of Dark Lindt chocolate inside. I wish Id quadrupled the doesnt make many, and this is definitely a recipe to have ON HAND to impress friends and family! | http://www.food.com/recipe/traditional-buttery-french-croissants-for-lazy-bistro-breakfasts-327458 | dclm-gs1-108860000 |
0.938664 | <urn:uuid:0b4ca5c3-6b93-4853-8c80-d9d45d0b0457> | en | 0.948456 | Morrowind still worth buying?
• Topic Archived
1. Boards
2. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
3. Morrowind still worth buying?
5 years ago#1
I am terribly bored waiting for skyrim. I was wondering if this game is too outdated to have fun with, I can buy it on steam for 20$ so I'm just wondering if it's worth it. I have already played through most of oblivion, not to mention fallout 3, new vegas, and even dragon age origins and loved those games.
5 years ago#2
If it was $10, maybe.
--- ~ by masterpug53
5 years ago#3
20 is a little much for how much you can get it elsewhere, I'd look online you can probably find it new for 10 dollars retail.
But is silence not the symphony of death? -Lucien Lachance
5 years ago#4
It's worth getting though I agree it's kinda pricey at 20.
If you never played it, I reccomend using the UESP guide for getting used to Morrowind after Oblivion. It's a much different and less forgiving game. It's pretty outdated but the nostaglia in me always finds it entertaining when I go back to it, though I've done about every quest two or three times already.
I'm untouchable (you get it??)
5 years ago#5
morrowind has terrible controls, dont waste your money unless you enjoy static slashes that resemble somthing from n64 zelda slashers.
5 years ago#6
Alright I can probably get it for 10$ or less online or at a local store. So my other question is: Is it still fun compared to some modern RPGs?
5 years ago#7
I love it still. Its an actual RPG instead of an action RPG like every modern RPG has been.
Being a Mage is like being a parent, but without the sex at the start.-Formalhaut.
5 years ago#8
If only you could get it free somewhere...
Although i'm sure thats immoral and you would never think of doing such.
5 years ago#9
Morrowind is always worth buying.
compared to some modern RPGs?
That depends. Have you only ever played modern RPGs? Morrowind utilizes what modern RPGs don't - depth. It's also a whole lot more difficult, as the game doesn't hold your hand like you might have seen in Oblivion.
If you can dig the more oldschool gameplay than you'll love it, I'm sure.
--- - Metal Gear Solid Parody in LBP2
5 years ago#10
It's more RPG-ish than other RPGs. If you are more like a "hardcore" RPG player you will like it. Generally, people complain it's too difficult but they probably aren't used to using their brains and accepting a challenge of any kind.
--- ~ by masterpug53
1. Boards
2. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
3. Morrowind still worth buying?
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• Topic Archived | http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/615803-the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim/58268404 | dclm-gs1-108930000 |
0.274702 | <urn:uuid:17b2ab40-5b64-49a9-a2e3-1930eea79c3f> | en | 0.933435 | Why do I scream in my sleep at night? - health problems 101
Health Problems & Symptoms
Position：Health Problems 101 > Sleep > Content
Why do I scream in my sleep at night?
Well, it sounds like she is having night terrors! These usually occur in children, but adults can have them too! Various factors can contribute to night terrors, including: Sleep deprivation, Fatigue, and Stress! ! Any Suggestions here?
1. Alexander Reply:
If you ask children how they feel about being yelled at, they will all tell you they don't like it. Here is my The day after committing to this plan, I screamed at my son. Afterward . At night when we're sleeping, instinct tells even house How Do Source:http://www.ehow.com/how_2102069_stop-yelling-children.html
2. Octavia Reply:
Why do I scream in my sleep? I’m 18 now, but since I was about 10 I’ve been screaming in my sleep nearly every night! And it’s got worse as I’ve got older. I don’t
3. Dahlia Reply:
Birds are always on the look out for predators. They sleep wherever they think they will be safe, and out of the wind, like bird houses, eaves of buildings, dense trees. Some sleep in wide open spaces, where they can see any danger approach… Source:http://answers.ask.com/Science/Nature/where_do_birds_sleep_at_night
4. Valery Reply:
Do not eat anything for 3 hours prior to when you are going to be sleeping. Turn off lights and all sounds. Try to get the room your sleeping in at a comfortable temperature. Source:http://answers.ask.com/Health/Diseases/how_to_get_a_good_nights_sleep
5. Malvina Reply:
Getting your child to sleep in his own bed can be a difficult process. Many experts recommend that you do the cry-it-out method, but that can be difficult for both the child and his parents. You do not need to go this difficult route to suc… Source:http://www.ehow.com/how_6109134_kid-own-bed-night-screaming.html?ref=Track2&utm_source=ask
6. Verdell Reply:
I guess I am suffering from I have as I can Sleep Disorders am unable to at night..? Late NIGHT hours are the sleep at night. I get sleep very late best T I M E pursue so many
7. Eliz Reply:
Whenever i eat then g2 sleep, i always have nightmares like me killin a person i hate or a scary man chasing me!!!!! if you eat befor u sleep, stop! your wife wont wake you up cause you were screaming lol!
8. Gertrud Reply:
Further it can also occur during REM sleep at which time it represents a motor or profane sleep talking; Sleepwalking · Night terror – intense fear, screaming,
Your Answer
Spamer is not welcome,every link should be moderated. | http://www.healthproblems101.com/sleep/why-do-i-scream-in-my-sleep-at-night.html | dclm-gs1-109130000 |
0.03598 | <urn:uuid:36fed5ba-6803-4652-b164-fab433deb47d> | en | 0.939336 | The World Cup kicked off last week as soccer teams from around the globe converged in South Africa. The once-every-four-years tournament is one of the most-watched sporting events in the world; and as you can imagine, it involves large amounts of money for the host country and participants.
There are a few clear-cut favorites to win the 2010 World Cup, and it could boost their economy as consumers spend more money and rejoice in a victory. I have chosen my five favorites to win the tournament based on the FIFA rankings and my own bias. (For related reading, check out The World Cup 2010 Portfolio.)
IN PICTURES: 20 Tools For Building Up Your Portfolio
iShares MSCI Spain ETF
(NYSE: EWP) is one of the PIIGS of Europe, and the ETF's performance reflects the name, losing 29% so far in 2010. The fact that the ETF has 42% of its assets in two stocks, Banco Santander (NYSE: STD) and Telefonica (NYSE: TEF), makes this a very risky investment. With debt troubles along with unemployment near 20%, it is not a good situation when more than 44% of the ETF is invested in financials. However, the ETF and country are oversold and could rally with a World Cup win.
iShares MSCI Netherlands ETF (NYSE: EWN) is a quiet, yet smart, pick to win the title. The country is similar in the eyes of investors because it is not the most popular choice among international ETFs. The ETF is down 12% in 2010, much better than Spain and in a better situation going forward. The ETF's largest holdings are consumer staples and industrials with Unilever (NYSE: UN) making up 17%. GDP turned positive in the first quarter, and the future looks bright for the orange team.
iShares MSCI Germany ETF (NYSE: EWG) is the largest economy in the Eurozone and is a popular pick to win the World Cup. The ETF is down 14% in 2010 and has avoided some of the mess, but considering it is the largest economy in the continent, it will suffer. The ETF is very diverse with six sectors making up at least 10% of the allocation. Germany is a solid bet to win the tournament and provide solid returns in Western Europe. (For more, see Going International.)
South America
iShares MSCI Brazil ETF
(NYSE: EWZ) is one of the clear favorites to win the tournament and a favorite among investors as well. The country rebounded nicely from the recession in 2009 and has now strung together four consecutive quarters of positive growth capped by a gain of 2.74% in Q1 2010. The ETF has 76 stocks and is heavily weighted toward the materials, energy and financial sectors. Brazil remains my favorite emerging-market country, and it will be hosting the 2014 World Cup and a future summer Olympics.
iShares Chile Investable Market Index ETF (NYSE: ECH) is my Cinderella story and my long shot to win it all. Chile has about the same odds as the U.S., so why not? The Chile ETF consists of 30 stocks that are nicely diversified between the utilities, industrials and materials sectors. Several of the ETF's largest holdings are either at or near all-time highs. Lan Airlines (NYSE: LFL) closed out last week at the best level ever. The country's stock market often moves with the price of copper due to the fact it accounts for about half of the GDP. ECH is an aggressive play, though it does have upside with a worldwide economic rebound.
Final Pick
At the end of the day, my heart goes with the U.S. (not listed). But if I were forced to choose, it would be with Brazil to win the World Cup and Chile to provide the best return for the remainder of 2010. (For more, see Broadening The Borders Of Your Portfolio.)
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0.769398 | <urn:uuid:0276e69c-4429-4f8c-9062-21b4f9c2d923> | en | 0.913124 | Financial Structure
DEFINITION of 'Financial Structure'
The specific mixture of long–term debt and equity that a company uses to finance its operations. This financial structure is a mixture that directly affects the risk and value of the business. The main concern for the financial manager of the company is deciding how much money should be borrowed and the best mixture of debt and equity to obtain. The financial manager also has to find the least expensive sources of funds for the company to use.
Also referred to as capital structure.
BREAKING DOWN 'Financial Structure'
Financial structure is divided into the amount of the company's cash flow that goes to creditors and the amount that goes to shareholders. Each business will have a different mixture depending on its needs and expenses. Therefore, each company will have its own particular debt-equity ratio. For example, a company could issue bonds and use the proceeds to buy stock or it could issue stock and use the proceeds to pay its debt.
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0.969354 | <urn:uuid:dda80790-17d3-47e3-83b8-f58f6bc068cd> | en | 0.931264 | Interstate Banking
DEFINITION of 'Interstate Banking'
The expansion of banking across state lines. Interstate banking became widespread in the mid 1980s, when state legislatures passed legislation that allowed bank holding companies to acquire out-of-state banks on a reciprocal basis with other states. Interstate banking has led to the rise of both regional and national banking chains.
BREAKING DOWN 'Interstate Banking'
Interstate banking has grown in three separate phases, starting in the 1980s with regional banks. These companies are limited to a specific region, such as the Northeast or Southeast, and were formed when smaller, independent banks merged to create larger banks. Then state law permitted a national trigger that allowed mergers with banks in any other state after a certain date. The Reigle-Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act allowed banks which met capitalization requirements to acquire other banks in any other state after Oct. 1, 1995. The direct result of these legislations was the onset of nationwide interstate banking.
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0.082017 | <urn:uuid:cc08e33d-bb64-44da-a8f0-a3aeac630ac3> | en | 0.946031 | Berkley Riverfront Park
The park hosts events such as RiverFest, Kansas City’s annual Independence Day Celebration. Berkley Riverfront Park is a vibrant connection between Kansas City and its most significant natural asset: the Missouri River.
The park is located at E. Front Street and Riverfront Road in Kansas City, Missouri.
| http://www.kcportauthority.com/index.php/amenities/berkley-riverfront-park/ | dclm-gs1-109430000 |
0.105066 | <urn:uuid:c1dd7185-0049-4ed8-a081-ee1ed8c8c989> | en | 0.946827 | Law School Discussion
Nine Years of Discussion
Show Posts
Messages - eslite119
Pages: 1 2 3 [4] 5 6
Studying for the LSAT / Re: Pithypike's Complete LSAT Study Guide
« on: September 28, 2008, 02:09:52 PM »
Pithypike, that's some rigorous three month study plan. After going through your plan, I think that I should've structured my study plan a little. Basically, I just did all the PTs, read all Powerscore materials (including the recent RC Bible), and some other stuff that I probably should not have wasted my time on. Seems like mine could've been more efficient. Oh well.
Chigirl, Kaplan's Big Orange book is one of their course materials from the old days (someone correct me if I'm wrong). The book organizes the questions (LG, RC, and LR) into question types, has some old PTs on the back, and Kaplan's explanations to the questions covered in the book.
Studying for the LSAT / Re: PrepTest 42, section 2, number 18
« on: September 28, 2008, 01:54:53 PM »
Is this question about bee's vision? If so, then I believe the answer is A (please double check for me if I'm correct since my answer key is messed up last time I checked).
Main point of the stimulus is that bee's vision did not develop in response to flowers' colors, but it is probably the opposite. Sorta like cause and effect, but the author believes the cause and effect is actually reversed; flowers' color developed in response to bee's behavior.
Flowers' color --caused -> Bee's Vision X
Bee's Vision --caused -> Flower's color O
Answer choice A introduces a new information indicating that other insects that have vision VERY SIMILAR to that of bee's and it does not depend on object's color (including flower, perhaps). This actually aligns with the second cause and effect diagram that I displayed above and as a result, it tends to strengthen the argument made in the stimulus. In other words, information given in answer choice A makes it less probable that the first cause and effect diagram displayed above is true.
I hope this helps at least a little.
Superprep LGs are pretty tough, even the linear games. Although I got everything correct, it took me more efforts to finish the section in 35 minutes. Not to brag or anything, but just wanted to confirm your statement. As Thales indicated, recent LGs are easier. If you want practice, try focusing on some earlier PTs in addition to LG Bible.
That's what I thought. Mine must be a typo. Thank you for confirming this.
I think you misunderstood the question. Question states: "Which one of the following COULD be an accurate and complete list of the students who review only Sunset?"
In other words, under certain situation (and abiding by the rules states), which one of the following can be a complete list of those who only review Sunset?
Jiang and Lopez cannot be review a same play according to rule 2.
Studying for the LSAT / Re: October 2003, some misc. LR questions
« on: September 14, 2008, 08:02:45 PM »
1st LR section:
10) I marked that (d) was correct because I figured that had the gene change affected the flies in some other way, then that alternate effect could have in turn affected UV vision (ala create a possible alternative cause). My thought was that if the gene change DID affect the flies in some other way that was connected to eyesight, then this effect would undermine the connection the scientists made between the altered gene and lack of UV vision.
Apparently I'm completely wrong, since B is the correct answer. Help? Thanks!
Thinking about alternative effects is a bit of stretch.
Logical negation of choice D would be, "The gene change had SOME effects on the flies other than the lack of UV cells."
Personally, I don't see this statement having any effect on the argument's conclusion:
"Thus, scientists have shown that flies of this species lacking ultraviolet vision must have some damage to this gene."
Looking at choice B: "No other gene in the flies in the experiement is required for the formation of the UV cells."
Logically negate this and you get: "SOME other genes (other than the specific one mentioned in the conclusion) in the flies in the experiment is required for the formation of the UV cells."
This will actually go against the conclusion, which hinges on ONE particular gene that the scientists believe to effect the vision.
Studying for the LSAT / October 2005 Test (PT46?) section 1 LR question 20
« on: September 14, 2008, 07:18:11 PM »
I'm staring at the question and I cannot explain to myself why I got this question (only question in the section) wrong.
This is an assumption question and it is about government subsidizing high-quality day care. When taking this under timed condition, I did not hesitate and chose D. Turns out I was wrong as the answer key that I have says the correct answer is B.
I just can't seem to connect the dots between choice B and the stimulus.
Studying for the LSAT / Re: lsat 180
« on: September 14, 2008, 01:52:51 AM »
anyone know if the questions in lsat 180 are actual lsat questions?
they're not... and they're terrible.
Ah S%*T! I just met with one of my LSAT buddies and gave him my old LSAT 180 with the quote, "This book contains some of the toughest LSAT questions that's out there." I gotta warn him.
Studying for the LSAT / Re: Tips on working LSAT prep into busy schedule?
« on: September 13, 2008, 01:14:48 AM »
Hey guys, I just realized that I have to buckle down this year if I want to apply in the 2009-2010 cycle. My goal is to take the LSAT this Feb, so I can have the summer free to do a program and work on my apps (want to get them all in by late Sept. before school starts so I don't have to worry about it during the year). Got any tips on fitting LSAT prep into a busy schedule? I have a full courseload at a top 15 university, work part-time (15 hrs a week), hold a citywide leadership position, and train hard athletically everyday. I'm trying to get my scores up to 170+ from a 150. Any tips are much appreciated. thanks.
That's a pretty busy schedule. But it seems like you're preparing ahead of time, so hopefully you'll reach your goal with adequate preparation.
I currently work full-time and travel very frequently. Despite the stress I occasionally face, I try to find time to prepare for the test. I believe the key is to maintain consistency. Even if it is only one hour per day, I'd suggest you study constantly and avoid any major "gaps" in between your studies. I once had a study schedule when I studied 3-4 hours, took a break for one to two days, and studied again for another 3-4 hours. For me, this routine did not result in much improvement.
These days I study at least 2 (continuous) hours during the weekdays and take at least one timed prep test (consisting of 5 sections) during the weekends. This routine actually helped me improve in many ways.
Studying for the LSAT / Re: Possibly 1 of the worst games ever?
« on: September 13, 2008, 12:54:10 AM »
I think this was one of the oldest ones. More so than contrapositive, I think you'll get some great inferences by combining the rules.
First, I'd make the symbols simple by marking "for" with "+" and "against" as "X." Second, I will just use the short hands for Republican, Moderate, and Democrat as R,M, and D, respectively.
By combining the rules, I mean the following:
Because rule 4 indicates that at least one R voted against, when you try to work out a scenario according to rule 1 you'll get the following (this is the only possibility under the rules given):
X X X X X + +
R R M M D D D
Combine rule 2 and 4 and you get the following:
X X ? ? + + +
R R M M D D D
In order for you to work out a scenario according to rule 2, it must be that all three Ds voted FOR and two Rs voted AGAINST (this is due to rule 4). Moderates can swing either ways under this scenario.
Sometimes combining the rules can help in answering some of the toughest questions. It can also generate some crucial inferences that can minimize the time you spend on games.
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