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(Daily News File Photo)
Shelby County home sales slowed slightly in October, with Realtors selling fewer homes compared to the same month last year, according to real estate information company Chandler Reports.
However, while overall home sales in Shelby County slowed, pricing remained strong, and 16 out of 33 ZIP codes in the county had an increase in overall sales activity for the month. In addition, year-to-date sales information point to a steady rebound for the industry.
The county netted 1,343 home sales in October, down 4 percent from 1,401 sold in October 2012, according to Chandler Reports, www.chandlerreports.com.
However, average home sales prices in Shelby County jumped 17 percent in October to $143,447, up from $122,906 in October 2012, and total sales volume for the month was $192.6 million, up 12 percent from $172.1 million a year ago.
"Things are pretty good," said Regina Hubbard, president of the Memphis Area Association of Realtors. "Things are looking OK toward the end of the year."
It has taken five years, but the Memphis-area market is finally recovering from the bursting of the housing bubble, with sales now returning to more stable, sustainable levels.
"We just came off some terrible, terrible historic lows," said Doug Collins of Prudential Collins-Maury Inc. Realtors. "Compared to where we've been, everything has been positive."
The housing market has been going through a much-needed correction, with rising prices and interest rates that are still historically low, inviting potential sellers and buyers into the market, Collins said.
Owners who are above water and have been considering selling are entering the market, while the number of homeowners who are underwater has helped keep a lid on inventory, producing a bump in sales prices.
"As prices increase, there are people who were underwater who are over water so they can sell," Collins said. "And we have people who couldn't buy over the last five years who can buy now, and with historically low interest rates, I think they're correct."
Cordova North's 38016 ZIP code had the highest number of sales in October, with 103, according to Chandler Reports. The 38018 ZIP code of Cordova South was second, with 97 homes sold. Next was Collierville's 38017 ZIP code with 82 sales.
Collierville led the way in sales volume in October at $23.2 million, while Germantown East's 38139 ZIP code had the highest average sales price at $486,300.
There were 1,099 non-bank sales in October, up 1 percent from 1,087 in October 2012.
There were 244 bank, or foreclosure, sales in October, down 22 percent from 314 in October 2012.
There were 1,265 existing homes sold in October, down 4 percent from 1,313 existing homes sold last October. The average sales price for an existing home in October was $135,819, up 19 percent from $113,990 last October.
Realtors sold 78 new homes in October, down 11 percent from 88 new homes sold last October. The average sales price for a new home in October was $267,152, up 4 percent from $255,943 in October 2012.
The strength of the housing market recovery in Shelby County is evident in the year-to-date numbers, with noticeable increases in number of sales, average sales price and total sales volume.
Through October, 13,636 homes have been sold in Shelby County, up 8 percent from 12,577 over the same period last year, according to Chandler Reports. Total sales volume through October was $1.88 billion, up 20 percent from $1.56 billion over the same period last year. The average sales price year to date through October was $137,937, up 11 percent from $124,151 over the same period last year.
"Over the last year we have made good improvement, and we're still in a healthy position," Hubbard said. "I know we're going to finish our year on a positive note."
The numbers through October resemble pre-bubble numbers and signal a healthier, more organic market, Collins said.
"I like the slow, steady growth," he said. "I'd rather leave the run-up and run-down to the stock market and have a consistent housing market."


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Enter your US/Canadian Postal Code for a customized experience.
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subset: commoncrawl


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We're moving like molasses in March on the progress of this 1970 Nova. But moving we are. Avid readers of Super Chevy's Nova may remember that in the '06 Nova annual, (page 35) we installed one of the first sets of subframe connectors from Global West. Take a gander at the April '07 issue of Super Chevy and you'll see the rusty old Nova clip receiving the royal treatment with upgrades from Global West and ECI.So what do we have in this issue for the $250 swap-meet special? Were glad you asked. It's time to dive deep into one of the most time-consuming processes of building any hot rod: bodywork. We're not going to sugarcoat anything here. This Nova is uglier than a baboon's butt and is going to require extensive amounts of surgery to replace the rotted and rippled metal.
Our friends at CARS Inc. stepped in and provided us with enough sheetmetal to keep us busy on bodywork for several months. After browsing through their catalog, it's amazing how much replacement sheetmetal and patch panels you can get for these Novas. You can replace practically the whole car out of their catalog. Besides sheetmetal, CARS Inc. has just about everything you would need to restore a '63-79 Nova. Luckily for us, they have a Southern California location. All it took was a pickup truck and a few minutes at their warehouse. After we loaded up the truck, we hightailed it to Harrison's Restorations in Upland, California, to start the long process of restoring the body on this Nova. This is only the beginning of this car's buildup; we have lots more in store for the future.
We weren't kidding when we said this thing was ugly. It makes our face pucker up like a lemon just looking at it.
The first order of business was to completely gut the inside of this vehicle. There is no sense in having a stray spark from our welder or grinder catch anything on fire. Anyone want a set of stock Nova seats? We'll hold onto them for a while before we dumpster them. Some knucklehead in years past used about 30 sheetmetal screws to screw the 1-inch-thick household carpet into the floor. That was a fun time pulling up that carpet and trying to find those screws. And if that wasn't bad enough, I gave myself a wicked black eye trying to remove those seatbelt anchor bolts. Yup, you guessed it: the ratchet slipped, and I punched myself in the eye so hard I saw stars-the clear, iridescent ones that float dizzyingly by in that anguished water some call tears.
After removing the bumper and using a hammer to shatter the decades-old Bondo job, we found out why there was so much mud back there. This car has been smacked in the heinie and, rather than fix it the right way, a mudslinger from years past just slathered the body filler on to cover up the mess.
Now comes the fun part. It's time to separate the rear valance from the rest of the car. Notice the arrows. This is where the factory welds are located, right along this lip. We used a cut-off wheel to grind out the welds and then separate the mangled old valance.
This is the brand-new valance (tailpan) from CARS Inc. As you can see, it's not just a patch panel, it's a full replacement panel.
Harrison Ortis test-fits the valance so we can adjust where we need to start and stop cutting. Truthfully, in our case it really doesn't matter too much. We decided it would be better to install this valance at a later date. Both rear quarters, and even the trunk floor, need to be replaced. But it's always good practice to play it smart and bite off a little sheetmetal at a time. If we installed the valance now, it would just be in the way when we do the floors and quarters.
Be sure not to get too overzealous and hack up the support brackets in the trunk (I almost did). In this case, the braces were fine. All we need to do is separate them from the old valance and reweld them to the new one.
Just take a look at this quarter-panel. It kind of reminds me of the beach; you can ride the waves and ripples in this quarter-panel. Both sides of the vehicle are in this poor condition.
Here's the real reason the entire quarter is being replaced: the metal is about as rotten as summer roadkill on a Texas highway.
Armed with an air chisel, I was careful not to get overly enthusiastic when I cut the quarter off. A liberal amount of metal was still left on. One can always cut more off as more progress is made. I have seen cases where a guy removed too much of the old metal and ended up creating problems when it came time to install the new metal.
This is one of the surprises we found after removing the old panel. The inner panel was just as rotten underneath. There was no real way of knowing this until we removed the outer panel. At first, we thought we would have to fabricate a new inner piece, but after looking again at the CARS Inc. catalog, we saw brand-new inner panels ready to go. That will save us lots of time. We went ahead with the new quarter-panel install anyway. Well, sort of. Our plan was to trim it down to its perfect size and tack it into place for fitting reasons.
Believe it or not, editors actually do work on their own vehicles. I'm busy separating the old outer panel from the inner panel. That makes it easier to locate the factory spot welds and either drill them out or grind them down. It's hard to tell from just the handful of pictures thus far, but it's taken two days of work to get to this point. I understand why body shops charge what they do; it takes a good amount of time to get the job done right.
Before welding spatter has the chance to get all over the rear window, Harrison removed it and put it in a safe location.
The rear window and trim is still in good shape, and we want to salvage what we can.
Let's take a detailed look at the new quarter-panel provided to us by CARS Inc. In the front, the jamb goes all the way down to the rocker panel and all the way to the interior.
In the rear, it goes over the fender's lip and right under the decklid where the weatherstripping is located. That's not a bad piece of metal.
We don't plan to use every square inch of it, so some trimming down to size will be required. Still, it's nice to have a full-sized piece.
Albert Venegas (the shop foreman at Harrison's Restorations) took the lead role in getting the panel trimmed and fit to size. I decided my skills could still use some more improvement in this department, so Albert demonstrated his skills. In this photo, he's scoring the metal or tracing where we need to make our preliminary cuts.
We decided we didn't need to replace the door jamb, since the jamb on the Nova was in excellent shape. We simply trimmed the panel to fit.
After the panel is clamped into place, further trimming is required to create a perfect butt joint for the welds. You might have to take the panel off and on several times, trimming a little off with every fitting. It's kind of like getting a tailor-made suit: there's lots of measuring and test-fitting.
A couple of hours later, the panel is perfectly fit, and Albert starts tack-welding it into place. Like we said earlier, we plan on removing the panel again on account of the rusted inner panel. Our plans for this Nova are to take it to a media blaster and have it blasted down to the bare metal. Before we do that, we want to get all the sheetmetal trimmed and fit. That way, when it comes back from the blaster, we can jump right into it.
In the April '07 issue of Super Chevy, we took the stock clip from this Nova and had it blasted, re-welded, and powdercoated. We then added Afco single adjustable shocks; Global West upper and lower control arms; springs; and, finally, ECI 13-inch rotors with calipers.
We attached the front clip so we could test-fit all the new front sheetmetal.
Along with new front fenders, we also ordered a 2-inch cowl hood from CARS Inc.
Luckily, we still had one of the original inner wheelwell panels. Along with the sheetmetal, we ordered all the attaching hardware from CARS Inc.
Here we can see that this shell of a car is actually starting to look like a real vehicle again. We didn't have a set of 17-inch wheels laying around (on account of the new big brakes on the clip), so we had to settle for a jackstand for the photos. For the record, all the sheetmetal you see here has either been trimmed and tacked into place or mocked up for test-fit reasons. This Nova is far from done.
Now it's time to remove all the metal and the clip, put the body on a rotisserie, and get it blasted. When it comes back, we'll continue the panel replacement and cover more of it in future issues of Super Chevy. The plans and vision for this Nova are always in a constant state of evolution. After getting the chance to see the Smokey Yunick Camaro and the Penske Camaro, we plan to turn our Nova into a vintage-styled Trans-Am racer. Stay tuned for this Nova's progress.


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You are herejustie
Dave Mason Plays Earth Day DC 2012 - "We Just Disagree"
APR 24, 2012 - The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Dave Mason played Earth Day 2012 on the National Mall here in Washington D.C. last Sunday, and played one of his biggest hits, "We Just Disagree". Dave Mason started his career in 1967 with Traffic, and wrote the classic rock and roll song, "Feelin' Alright" made famous by Joe Cocker. Dave has played with Jimi Hendrix, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, the Rolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac, Michael Jackson and even Cass Elliot to name just a few.
JTMP supports Earth Day, and if you are wondering what part you can play, you can help Mobilize The Earth and we all can do A Billion Acts of Green.


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Trav-ial Pursuit - Traverse Quiz
Start:8 July 2013
Time:7/7.30pm to get a seat and organise teams. Quiz starts at 8pm.
Teams of up to 6 will be made up with whoever turns up...
LocationThe Traverse, Edinburgh
Download as vCalendar (for Microsoft Outlook etc.)
New name, same legendary quiz!
For a moderate mental workout, gather some friends and take part in Travial-pursuit. Never a sports round…guaranteed!
What's the name of Sherlock Holmes' brother?
Was Romeo a Montague or a Capulet?
How many of Elizabeth Taylor's husbands can you name?
Which Opera features the characters Nanki-Poo and Yum-Yum?
£1 per person (maximum of 6 per team). All proceeds go to Maggie's Centre, Edinburgh.
Trav-ial Pursuit will take place on July 8 at 8pm.
Further details and contact information
Cat Joss - Social Events Guru
Email: email@example.com


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Mayday Anti-PAC On Its Second Round of Funding 247
wonkavader (605434) writes 'Lawrence Lessig's MAYDAY.US Super PAC to end all Super PACs (and more) is now on its second round of funding. The PAC has been reported on here before, but now the numbers are bigger. They hit their $1 million first goal easily, but now they aim to get another $5 million in the same time period. Lessig says that he's arranged for matching, again. It seems like the goals will be even higher in 2016: "For 2014, our goal is to raise $12 million and use it to make fundamental reform the key issue in five congressional races. And we'll apply what we learn then to 2016."'


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Say you have a differential equation like this:
(1/y)dy = dx
When you integrate both sides, you get this:
ln|y| = x + C
Taking e to the both sides...
|y| = e^(x + C)
From here, my teacher says that the answer would simply be y = e^(x + C).
However, taking a simpler situation involving absolute values:
|y| = 1
In this case y = ±1.
1 is always positive, and so is e^(x + C).
So applying this to the above, I would get this instead:
y = ±e^(x + C)
Can anyone explain why the plus or minus is not (or is) needed?


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Eagles have strong finish, prevail over Chucks
PUNXSUTAWNEY — In most likely the best boys' basketball game to date this season, the two opponents gave the Senior Night crowd an intense and hard-fought affair.
In the end, Bald Eagle Area proved its mettle with a strong finish to prevail over Punxsy, 61-53, on Wednesday night in Punxsutawney.
Leading by only two points with six minutes left, the Eagles' center, Dennis Fisher, who had a game-high 24 points, netted the next five points and 10 of his team's final 12 points to double up the Chucks, 12-6, for the win.
"Bald Eagle is 19-2 for a reason. They have a nice ball team," pointed out Punxsy head coach Dirk Neal. "We just had a bad spurt at the wrong time. We were down two but missed a 10-foot jumper that would have tied the game."
Neal continued, "The kids played with a lot of emotion. The effort was there. It was just a couple bad shots and have to wonder what if they would have went down."
The home club produced a balanced scoring night for its 53 points.
Brandon Mancuso led all Punxsy (13-8) scorers with 13 points. The point guard dished out five assists, grabbed six rebounds and stole three passes.
The two senior starters, Garrett Zimmerman and Devin Nicholson, combined for 23 points with 10 made field goals. Zimmerman hit for 12 points, while adding five rebounds and a blocked shot.
Nicholson contributed 11 points of his own.
Tyler Young chipped in nine points. He netted Punxsy's first five points and the final four points. The junior pulled down five boards, while handing out three assists and swiping a pair of balls.
Cory Geer fought for seven points on the inside. He finished with a team-high nine caroms. Geer also had three blocked shots, an assist and one steal.
Michael Klingensmith added a made free throw. The Chucks final senior Zach Minich was held without a point.
"The guys talked with each other tonight and had good chemistry, which we had not been getting. There was team unity. What we got tonight, we did not have in other outings," added Neal.
Along with Fisher's 24 points, the Eagles received 11 points from Bryan Greene and 10 points by Tyler Schall.
The first half of the contest was very well-played between the two teams, which have totaled 32 victories between them.
Young gave the Chucks what would be their only lead of the night 31 seconds into the evening. He took a pass from Mancuso and drained a right corner triple.
Bald Eagle answered back with the next nine points over the following four minutes. The visitors tied the game with a trey of their own. The Eagles added three layups by three different people, as they took advantage of three Chucks' misfires and a turnover to run to a 9-3 advantage.
Jump shots by Young and Nicholson pulled Punxsy back within three, 10-7.
Punxsy's Geer soon banked in a layup to make the tally 14-10. Bald Eagle's Bryce Greene stole the ball and laid it in the bucket, and Fisher added a basket for an 18-10 visiting lead at the end of the first frame.
The two clubs were just heating up. The foes produced 39 points in the second eight minutes of action.
Punxsy struck first with a Mancuso fading jumper and a pair of Geer free throws. Bald Eagle answered with two consecutive buckets from Bryan Greene.
The Eagles lead grew to double digits, 26-16, midway through the second period.
The Chucks turned the momentum to their favor, starting with a Zimmerman fastbreak lay-in from Geer. After a Bald Eagle turnover, Mancuso drove in for a score to make it 26-20.
Trailing 34-27 after the second of two Eagle three-pointers in a row, Mancuso lofted a baseline driving layup. After a long rebound, the Punxsy guard found Zimmerman for another layup for a 34-31 tally with six seconds in the half.
Bald Eagle made the second of two foul shots with 1.8 seconds to go. Nicholson fired the ball the length of the court on the inbounds pass, where he hit Geer in stride, who was fouled as he charged to the hoop at the buzzer. Geer hit one of two from the charity stripe to cut the margin to three, 35-32, at intermission.
The third quarter gave images of two talented fighters exchanging punches.
Bald Eagle opened the second pair of quarters with a bucket, only to be met with a Mancuso driving layup and an offensive rebound and reverse layup by Geer for a one-point game, 37-36.
The Eagles pushed in front by five points, 43-38, with 3:54 in the third quarter only to be met by another jab from the home Chucks.
Mancuso and Zimmerman put in back-to-back drives into the lane and for the third time of the period the difference was but a single point, 43-42.
The 6-7 Fisher, who netted 17 of his 24 points in the second half, started to truly make his presence felt in the final nine minutes.
Off a Punxsy turnover, the ball fell into an Eagle's hands off a scramble, who promptly found a cutting Fisher for the lay-in and foul. The center converted the three-point play for a 46-42 score.
Klingensmith was fouled on an offensive rebound and made his first free throw.
On the final offensive trip of the quarter, Bald Eagle's Fisher gave his team the momentum heading into the final period with a turnaround 12-foot jump shot in the paint right before time expired to make it 48-43.
After a scoreless opening minute of the fourth quarter, Punxsy called a timeout. The talk worked, as Nicholson drove hard into the lane for the two points to cut it to 48-45.
Bald Eagle made one of two free throws on the next trip before Mancuso cut the difference further with another driving layup, 49-47, with 6:08 showing on the clock.
Mancuso stole the next Eagles possession, but the Chucks could not convert it into points. A missed shot was rebounded by Punxsy, but Bald Eagle picked the pocket and the result was a Fisher dunk on the other end.
The dunk proved to be the turning point of the final five minutes and game-changer.
Punxsy missed a three-pointer on the next trip. Bald Eagle pulled in the long missed shot and found Fisher for his second conventional three-point play to make it 54-47.
Young gave the Chucks one last gasp with a steal and assist to Nicholson for a 54-49 score with 4:14 left.
It would be the last home basket for the next three minutes. Bald Eagle netted the next seven points, with five of them coming on a layup and trey by Fisher, for a 61-49 contest with only 1:59 on the clock.
Young made the final two baskets of the night for Punxsy but it was not enough against the strong Bald Eagle finish for a 61-53 final.
The junior varsity tilt proved to be an exciting undercard as well.
Trailing 38-31, Klingensmith and Clayton Dale pumped in back-to-back triples before four points by Will Curtis tied the game at 41 at the end of three frames.
The JV Chucks enjoyed four two-point leads in the fourth period. The final advantage came when Brandon Blose made a bucket in the paint amidst traffic to make it 51-49 with 2:06 to go.
The Blose two-pointer would be the final points by Punxsy. Bald Eagle answered on the next trip with a top-of-the-key three-pointer to jump in front, 52-51.
After three fouls had to be committed by Punxsy to reach the penalty, Bald Eagle made two of four free throws to make it 54-51 with 8.5 seconds.
The Chucks rushed the ball to midcourt for a timeout. The potential game-tying three-point attempt fell short for the home team to give Bald Eagle the 54-51 JV win.
Curtis powered in a season-best 22 points to pace the JV Chucks.
Ryan Sloniger chipped in nine points. Andy Fedigan added six points.
Ruben Taylor downed four points while both Klingensmith and Dale had their one three-pointer.
John Matthews and Blose had two points each.
Punxsy will complete its regular season on Friday night against Bradford with the JV contest starting at 6 p.m.


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According to Brendan Eich, CTO of Mozilla the blocking technology, which is still being refined, will go live in the next few months. It is similar to that being used on Apple's Safari browser, which blocks all third-party cookies. But advertisers have slammed the move claiming that it is disrupting a business model under the guise of protecting privacy.
Lou Mastria, the managing director for the Digital Advertising Alliance which runs a self-regulated industry program called Ad Choices, which allows consumers to opt out of some types of targeted advertising. After all the best people to help you opt out of advertisers spying on you are the very people who aim to make a lot of dosh spying on you online. Mozilla will be using the Cookie Clearinghouse lists to act as cookie blocks.
The Cookie Clearinghouse is a six-person advisory panel, which includes representatives from Mozilla, Opera and the Future of Privacy Forum, who will help develop an "allow list" and a "block list" of cookies. This does mean that not all cookies will be blocked by the Firefox patch. Instead there will be a cookie-analysis logic engine to Firefox.


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Why Did You Wear That: Rain, Rain
Spring in New York tends to be more fickle than the beautiful women who inhabit it. One minute it's all sunshine and soft breeze. The next it's dark storm clouds and running for cover. One must always stow a small umbrella in her bag and never become too attached to her blowout. When Figleaves was kind enough to send me some stellar swimwear, I could not wait to suit up. Problem is, it's hardly warm enough for exposed limbs and there's definitely not enough sunshine for SPF. So, when the second to last day of April gave us just one last monsoon to remind us who's boss, we had to get creative. If rooftop poolparties aren't in Mother Nature's forecast for me, I'll just have to make due with my own watering hole.
shirt:Lucca Couture, hat: Big Buddha, bathing suit: Huit c/o Figleaves, shorts: Joe's Jeans, shoes: Steve Madden, sunglasses: Pucci, bag: Diane von Furstenberg, towel: Cynthia Rowley, bracelets: Alex and Ani
photos by Brian Schutza


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Most animal people have known this for years but obviously there are still people buying China Made Products for their pets...and the pets are suffering for it (as are their owners after the fact). I can't believe I still see these products on the shelves of petsmart and all chain stores. Shameful....they should all be pulled from the market!!!!
Also, if you see someone in the store about to buy these "treats", don't hesitate to educate them. I always do and they are always grateful. They wouldn't be buying "treats" for their pets if they didn't love them and would never want to knowlingly harm them.
I have gotten gifts from well-meaning friends...China Made pet treats...I always tell them why I won't be able to use them. And no, I don't take them to the Humane Society...I throw them away!


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Audio production Part 4 - Filters and effects
From LXF Wiki
|Table of contents
Audio and Music Production - part 4
(Original version written by Graham Morrison for Linux Format magazine issue 66.)
Mastering an audio project involves fixing all the minor inconstancies. We take to the controls for the final stage in the process.
For the penultimate instalment to this series of Linux audio tutorials, we're fittingly going to cover the final stages of a typical audio project. This is where all the disparate components of a composition are made to play nicely with each other, massaging their respective frequency ranges and squeezing a little more energy out of some parts while restraining the energy in others. It's what's known in the industry as mastering, and is usually performed by highly skilled engineers. In fact, this is the only way to professionally finish a piece, as a fresh set of objective ears can make the difference between success and failure. But it is still worthwhile understanding a little more about the mastering process, and more often than not with virtual studios, this process is actually becoming part of the compositional stage.
Mastering uses a few essential audio processes. We briefly covered the basics of these effects during the first audio tutorial but it's worth covering them in more detail. There are broad divisions in the way that effects are used and implemented. Some are purely utilitarian, while others are creative, but the majority fall somewhere between. They can be classified according to how they act on the sound into roughly three broad categories, delays, filters and dynamics. Obviously, the best way to get to grips and understand the various effects available is to use them, and currently, the application that provides the best environment for effects processing is Ardour.
It's all an illusion
It is true that any Jack compliant application can be used for inserting effects into the audio chain but Ardour has been built from the ground-up to take maximum advantage of this interconnectivity. This means that effects can be inserted manually into each channel, or what are called 'sends' can be created in the same place. This creates a separate Jack channel where a track's audio can be sent to an external program and re-inserted back into the track after processing. This is the same as working with external processors in a studio, and can still be used in this way by simply making the Jack channel connect to physical input and output ports.
Ardour is also better suited to mastering a project thanks mainly to its ability to perform the same trick with effect sending from the master bus right at the end of Ardour's audio chain. This makes it perfect for the final optimizations that often need to be made to a piece before it's suitable to burn onto a CD. To get the same functionality out of Rosegarden would involve connecting the mastering effects manually into the final audio stream from Jack, with Rosegarden having neither knowledge nor control over what happens to this stream once it leaves the application.
Effects are inserted into Ardour on a track-by-track basis, with a working style very similar to that of Rosegarden. In fact, they both feature functionally similar mixing windows, which is no surprise when they're both designed to replace them. The main difference is that Ardour's mixer features white space both below and above a channel's fader for inserting effects. Rosegarden only supports effects added after the fader, and while it may not sound it, there is a distinction between the two. As the fader controls the volume level of a track, it means that effects inserted before the fader will process the original audio level before it can be amplified or attenuated while those inserted afterwards process the audio post-filter. Depending on the effect, this can make either a little or a lot of difference, but we'll get to that.
Frequency Effects
Multi-band mayhem with FreqTweak
For generating a modest amount of audio mayhem, try passing your audio through FreqTweak, a graphical frequency-dependant filter. It also has more practical uses, such as for monitoring audio, as both the input and output audio stream can be viewed as a stereo spectrogram.
Both the colourful graphs at the top and bottom of FreqTweak's main window plot the volume level of each frequency in a horizontal spectrum of colour. Blue represents the lower levels, while red hues furnish the middle, ending predictably with violet. Time is on the vertical, so as the audio passes through the spectrograph, patterns of frequency look like rainbows at night.
FreqTweak is basically an effects processor. The only difference is that it limits the frequencies affected to those drawn on several histograms by the user. The first effect, for example, is a filter, and removes the frequencies from the audio path depending on the levels drawn into its corresponding histogram.
Once audio has been loaded and dropped onto its own track in Ardour, effects can be assigned to the track from either the mixer window or the channel strip in the arrange window. This is done by right clicking in the small box below the channel's fader (the post-effect slot). The opposing box above the fader is for pre-fader effects. LADSPA compatible effects can be inserted by selecting "New Plugin", the first of which to try is a delay.
Delays, filters and dynamics
Delay effects don't just work on sound in the immediately obvious way. Many processes rely on an array of tiny delays to generate a more complex effect than that of simply playing back a section of audio at a later time. The most widely used of these in audio production is reverb (an abbreviation of reverberation). This is an attempt to create an acoustic environment that differs from that of the source material. Audio in a recording environment is usually recorded 'dry', that is, without any external ambiance or effect. A dry signal is far more versatile, and doesn't impose its recording environment on other tracks.
The reason that reverb is considered a delay, is that it's usually nothing more than calculated reflections and filters from a mathematical model of a room. In a canyon sized 'room' you'd get an obvious echo, but with a smaller environment you get an almost imperceptible impression of space. As a result, these algorithms computationally intensive, and it's only relatively recently that native processing has been able to compete with external DSP hardware. Notable reverb effects for Linux include Freeverb and gverb, and they're both perfect for augmenting a synth such as one created with AMS. Other notable delay based effects include phase and flanger. Both use discrete delays to create similar effects. The flanger was famously invented to accommodate John Lennon's hate of multi-tracking recording, using two tape machines and varying the playback speed of one by holding a finger on the machine's reel flange to produce timing fluctuations.
The main function for filters, at least at the mastering stage, is for equalisation. In a similar way to those gigantic graphic-equalisers on the front of a 1980's hi-fi, they can either amplify or reduce the audio signal at varying frequencies. The difference in the studio is that the frequency range can usually be configured, as can the range and density of the effect. Early digital designs were aimed at creating the perfect equaliser, but it was soon discovered that there was always something missing from their character, in the same was as with the filters for synthesisers. This has resulted in modern designs trying to incorporate some of the imperfections of those older hardware devices.
The least obvious, but perhaps most important group of effects are those involved in changing the dynamics of the audio. The simplest such device is a noise gate, which mutes the sound when the level falls below a certain threshold. This is especially useful for eliminating the background noise from a typical guitar amplifier. Another dynamic effect is called a 'compressor', otherwise known as 'the bane of modern music'. When misused, and it often is, it forces a uniform signal level across a whole track. Music shouldn't be this way, but that doesn't mean that a compressor doesn't have its uses. In fact, it's pretty much the only way to bring out some of the detail that often lies just under the surface of a recording. This is most obvious when recording vocals, a look at the waveform would show that there's often wide variation in the level of the signal (imperceptibly compensated for when listened to in isolation). This can make the track difficult to hear when combined with the other tracks in a project. That's where the compressor comes in. As its name suggests, it compresses the dynamic range (that's the gap between the loudest and the quietest parts), generating a more consistent level. In simple terms, it attenuates the loudest parts while amplifying the quieter.
The whole point in covering these processes in some detail is that they're all involved in the mastering stage of a project. Using a compressor with equalisation on a vocal track is often essential. The same is true, to a greater or lesser extent, of the other components in a project. Bass tracks rely on compression to create the pumping punctuation in a typical dance track as much as compression on a vocal can change the emphasis in a performance, so it's not all about volume. If you've managed to take all this in, we can now move on to the mastering stage. Linux features a specific mastering application, and in keeping with other dreadfully named Linux audio utilities is called 'Jamin'. It's basically a hard-wired group of mastering effects, arranged as you might typically use them for finalizing a project. This is meant to be the last process in the audio chain before the track is burned to disc (actually the very last should be a dither algorithm for making best use of your native 32-bit sound files when they're converted to 16-bits for CD).
Master and servant
In Ardour there is a section on the master bus for processors that need to occupy the final stage of an audio chain. It is below the master channel fader (labelled 'post-fader inserts, sends & plugins'). As Jamin is a standalone application and not a plugin, Jack connections need to be made from this point to the Jamin process. Right clicking in the white box below the master channel's fader should present you with the option of inserting a new plugin, a send or an insert. The distinction between these three is that a plugin is for internal LADSPA effects, a send simply pipes the output from the channel to an external process while an insert does the same but expects the signal to be directed back to the channel. It's this final one that we need to use so that the output from Jamin comes back to Ardour's master channel.
Taking Control
External controllers and Linux
Getting the volume levels right for a project with 11 tracks of audio is difficult at the best of times, but moving virtual sliders with a mouse button makes it even harder. Mixing consoles give an engineer instant access to a track's volume through its corresponding fader, and unlike a mouse, several can be moved at the same time. The only way to achieve the same thing with a mouse is using automation by recording the movement on each channels fader over several passes of the piece of music. There are two possible solutions to this problem. One is to output each individual track from a well specified hardware interface and into an external mixer. The other way is to use an external hardware controller that's interfaced to the computer in some way.
While you may think that these controllers may be the domain of other more popular operating systems, this isn't necessarily so. Because most of them use MIDI as their transport protocol, nearly any generic interface is compatible.
What's more there are now interfaces that accept incoming MIDI which allows them to update their surfaces to reflect the on-screen version.
Once an insert has been created, Jamin itself needs to be started. By default, it automatically connects itself to the hardware outputs in Jack. This will create a problem on playback, as you would get a duplication of the signal, one being from Ardour, the other from Jamin. To prevent this, just disconnect Jamin's output from within qjackctl's connection window. The next step is to wire Jamin into the audio chain. While this can be done from qjackctl's connection window, Ardour has a considerably simpler interface and is often far easier to use than the spaghetti wiring you often get qjackctl. To make this connection from within Ardour, right click on the newly created insert and select 'Edit'. This brings up Ardour's own connection window, with the inputs on the left and the outputs on the right. At the moment, there's only a single output enabled - the equivalent of sending audio in mono. This is useful for some effects, but would be catastrophic for the master track. To add the other channel, just click on 'Add Output'. To make the connection, just select the Jamin tab for both the input and output channels, followed by clicking on the Jamin outputs as they appear in the list. This should move them to the output box on the left of each section and at the same time make the connection within Jack. Finally the insert needs to be enabled, either from the menu, or by middle clicking on the insert (this should remove the brackets).
If all has gone well, when you next play through the project, the output should be routed first to Jamin and from there back to Ardour. You can tell that Jamin is working when there's lots of activity in its window. That window is a little intimidating at first, but it's really only providing access to a combination of three compressors and a parametric equaliser, plus a couple of boost and limit sliders. Why three compressors? Well, each is frequency dependant, which means they each process a separate frequency range. To help with this, the upper area of Jamin's display houses a spectrum analyser, which maps the volume on the Y axis and the frequency on the X. Lower frequencies are on the left, higher on the right, and the frequency at the cursor position is displayed underneath the window.
Parametric equalization can be edited from either the spectrum analyser or from the more familiar slider interface presented under the '30 band EQ' tab. From the spectrum analyser the equalisation curve can be either drawn by hand, or edited by dragging the curve anchor points shown in yellow. Points over the middle line boost the signal while those below obviously reduce it, and the width of the boost can be edited by broadening the curve. A tight notch at 50 or 60 Hz for example could reduce hum from an electrical supply, while a broad gain at around 2-5 KHz would lift a vocal slightly, whereas further gain in the 15 KHz+ region can introduce an almost imperceptible 'air' to a recording.
Compressed Ardour
The green and red vertical bands are the 'crossover' points for the three compressors. Any frequencies that fall between the left border and the green bar are sent to the low (or bass) compressor. Those that fall between the two bars are for the mid range, and the remaining area to the right of the red bar are sent through the high frequency compressor. Each compressor shares the same controls, labelled as ARTrKM across the top of each section. These letters represent attack, release, threshold, ratio, knee and makeup gain and are typical to nearly every compressor.
Beneath the each compressor's sliders are two level indicators, with the top one displaying the volume for each respective compressor's frequency, and the lower showing the gain reduction incurred on the source frequency range by each compressor. All these elements are brought together in the curves that are shown in the corresponding compressor tab. These are basically a graphical representation of the lower parameters and show the level of attenuation for any given input level. Unaltered volume would be a straight line between the lower left corner and the right side of the horizontal zero gain line (values above this line represent gain).
In a typical session, you would move the threshold to the point where the gain reduction indicator starts to bounce, then alter the attack and release depending on the material and the frequency range. Slower material obviously benefits from slower envelopes, while punchier material needs the faster recovery times of a quicker envelope. It's important to hear the effect of each change, and this can be made much easier using the solo switch, isolating the audio that's sent to the current compressor. The most important parameter though, is ratio and as you can see when changing this value on the graph; it changes the ratio between the amount of attenuation and the input volume.
Once the project has been tweaked within Jamin, the next thing to do is 'render' or record the final output to an audio file. This should make it relatively easy to either burn the track to a CD, or upload your masterpiece to a website. From Ardour, open the Export Session window (Session->Export->Export Session to an audio file) and the first thing that needs to be changed is the filename. The rest is project dependant, for CD you would obviously need to make sure that the sample format is set to 16 bits and that the frequency is 44.1 KHz.
The show must go on
If you have been working with high sample and bit rates (and as Ardour uses 32 bit floats for internal processing, you probably have) the output quality can be improved by using dither. Dither in audio works in exactly the same way as dither in video, and is a great way of hiding the imperfections of digital stepping behind a veil of noise. For best results, try setting the dither option to Shaped Noise, but depending on your material, one of the other dither algorithms may be better suited. Finally, make sure the master outputs are selected in the Output selection and click on 'Export'. Ardour will then run through the whole project and render the output to an audio file.
And that's it. You should now have the finished product in the shape of an audio file on your system. Over the last few pages, this series of tutorials has covered the basics of Linux audio, starting with the fundamentals of ALSA and Jack, followed by synthesis and sound generation before the reaching the final stages of mastering a project. While in many ways this has been only a brief overview of the many audio possibilities available to Linux users, the main intention has been to whet your appetite enough to hopefully push you into actually doing something, and if you do, you know where you can send the results!
Software used in this tutorial
- Ardour (0.96beta26): www.ardour.org
- Jamin (0.95.0-beta2): http://jamin.sourceforge.net
- SWH Plugins (0.4.13): http://plugin.org.uk


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Trumpette Baby Socks for Boy or Girl
Keep the tiniest feet happy and warm! This 6-pack of fun and stylish socks by Trumpette fits babies ages 0-12 months. The "Johnny" boy socks resemble high-top sneakers, each pair a different color. And for the little ladies, the "Marissa" Mary Jane-inspired socks are decorated with colorful flowers and a sweet bow. Arriving in adorable branded packaging, they make a truly original gift for baby showers or to welcome their new little bundle of joy.


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Two of the top girls basketball teams in the County, Cajon and Etiwanda, will play each other at 3 p.m. Saturday at Staples Center as part of a tripleheader that includes the Clippers' game with the Milwaukee Bucks that night. The "Downtown Showdown" will start with a game between South Torrance and Palos Verdes at 1 p.m., followed by Cajon and Etiwanda at 3 and the Bucks-Clippers game at 7:30.
The 13-0 Cowgirls, the CIF-SS Division II-A champions a year ago, are led by 5-foot-9 senior point guard Layshia Clarendon, who has signed a letter of intent to play at California, and 6-2 senior center Darshae Burnside, who has signed with Arkansas. Clarendon averages 20.5 points, 8.8 assists, 8.5 rebounds and 3.9 steals per game while Burnside averages 19.8 points and 18.5 rebounds per game.
Etiwanda comes in with a 10-5 record but played the Cowgirls tough in the championship game of the Magnolia Classic on Dec. 20, falling 60-58. The Eagles are led by senior guard Amber Williams – who averages 17.5 points and 4.3 steals per game – junior guard Natalia Hawthorne (11.8 points, 3.7 steals) and 6-1 junior center Jasmine Bernard (10.4 points, 8.5 rebounds).
Tickets to all three games are $20 for upper-deck seats and $43 for lower-level seats prior to Saturday. On Saturday, they'll be selling for $25 and $50, respectively. You can also click this link or call Rob Strikwerda at 213.742.7541 to order by phone, or via email at email@example.com


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Generals in the White House
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Kristin Gassaway's patterns
- About the Designer
Always on the hunt for a new creative outlet, Kristin's love of quilting began years ago while attempting to make her first baby blanket. After spending a few years working as a quilt designer for Connecting Threads, she decided it was time to start her own little pattern company called Thrilled to Pieces. When she's not busy doing all things quilt-y (which is almost always), she's hanging out with her husband and four teenage boys in the lovely Pacific Northwest.


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No matter how you get from Point A to Point B, you're likely to do it with the help of Corning automotive technologies.
Our ceramic substrates and filters have taken billions of tons of harmful pollutants out of vehicle exhaust over the past four decades, enabling longer and healthier lives for people all around the world.
And as we made thinner and thinner glass for consumer electronics, we began to apply those same innovations to vehicle design, too. The tough, lightweight alternatives we offer for windows and sunroofs can help significantly lower the weight of a car – which, in turn, can improve fuel efficiency.
Glistening dashboard touchscreens, colorful aesthetic outlines, and next-generation speakers are other high-end, glass-enabled features that automakers are beginning to incorporate in their designs.


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Boston College's Pat Mullane envisioned a nightmare scenario a few weeks ago. Johnny Gaudreau had stuck with his commitment to Northeastern and was on a line with Kevin Roy.
Frightening, at least for an opposing player.
"I would hate to play against him and Kevin Roy," Mullane said at the time. "That would be terrible for us. I'd have a lot of minuses against those guys, that's for sure."
Roy and Gaudreau are two of the best offensive forces in college hockey, something Roy proved again on Monday, nabbing the Beanpot MVP trophy despite being on the losing side as Northeastern fell to BC, 6-3, in the championship game at TD Garden.
He is just the fifth MVP from a losing team in Beanpot history, and the first since Boston University's Sean Fields in 2004. He is also the fifth MVP for Northeastern, and the first since the Huskies won the tournament in 1988.
Roy also made it two freshman MVPs in a row – Gaudreau won it last season.
"[Roy's] similar to Johnny Gaudreau on Boston College," Northeastern coach Jim Madigan said. "He's a great player. And great players make great plays at the right time. Obviously Johnny Gaudreau did tonight also."
Still, it would have been hard to choose anyone else after Roy scored five goals in the tournament. He followed up his hat trick in the first round with two more goals on Monday. (He was matched by two goals from Gaudreau on Monday.)
Until Braden Pimm scored in the third period, all five of the Huskies goals were by Roy. And he came close to more, with a breakaway chance with about two minutes to go in the second period as he tried for his second consecutive hat trick.
It was after that save by Parker Milner that BC stole a goal of its own, turning a chance at a tie score to a 3-1 BC lead.
"I had a lot of time, and I don't know. He ended up making a big save for his team," Roy said. "If I score it's 2-2. It was definitely a turning point of that game."
It was one of the few misses for Roy in a tournament that demonstrated just how good he can be in the biggest moments.
Even after Northeastern had gone down, 4-1, the fourth goal scored with a single second left in the second period, it was Roy who helped bring the Huskies back into a game that could have been lost in that moment. He netted his second goal just 11 seconds into the third period.
"Bang. Bang, right off early in the third period. He knew we needed a jump and a lift, and he created that for us," Madigan said. "Now that's momentum and we got the third one right away. That's him. That's the type of player he is."
But unfortunately for Northeastern, Roy couldn't do everything. He couldn't do enough to keep Gaudreau and his teammates from winning BC's fourth consecutive Beanpot. He couldn't get the victory, though he did win the MVP. And he did enough to give Mullane bad dreams, even with Gaudreau safely ensconced in the BC lineup.
"You saw what he brings to our team," Madigan said. "He's a highly offensive, intelligent skill player. Around the net he's very dangerous. He creates his shot as well as anyone.
"So when he's got the puck on his stick, good things are going to happen. And that's what happened."Amalie Benjamin can be reached at email@example.com. Follow her on Twitter @amaliebenjamin.


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|Between SkekUng the Garthim-Master and SkekSil the Chamberlain there was bitter rivalry, for SkekSil hoped his smiling poison and suspicious craft would lead him, not SkekUng, to succeed to the Emperor's glory. Both were deceived.
|~ The World of the Dark Crystal
|Gelfling, YOU DIE!!!
|~ SkekSil
SkekSil is the Chamberlain of the SkekSès and one of the primary antagonists in The Dark Crystal. As Chamberlain, SkekSil was second in line to the Skeksi throne. SkekSil's Mystic counterpart is the Chanter UrSol.
He was performed by Frank Oz, with the late Barry Dennen providing his voice.
He wears a red robe with large red hump, and a black lace-filled collar and robe accents.
The most well-known of all the Skeksis, SkekSil played a major role in The Dark Crystal. After the death of the emperor, his greed and lust for power led to a challenge by the Garthim-Master, SkekUng the General, when he decided to crown himself the new self-appointed emperor. Without hesitation, SkekUng confronted SkekSil and issued the challenge for supremacy. The Chamberlain responded by declaring the challenge be a Trial By Stone. After the battle, the Chamberlain was declared an outcast by the High Priest as punishment for losing to the new emperor, SkekUng.
Just as soon as the Chamberlain lost his place among the Skeksis, the remaining clan learned that the Gelfling, Jen, had escaped. As SkekSil saw it, this was his chance to prove himself to his fellow Skeksis. With the unauthorized help of the new emperor's Garthim, he traveled to the the home of Aughra, where the Garthim tracked the gelfling's location. After the Garthim demolished Aughra's home in an attempt to capture the gelfling, SkekSil plotted to lure Jen to the castle.
Later, as one of the Garthim attempts to capture Jen and his new companion Kira, SkekSil holds off the Garthim long enough for the Gelflings to escape. After the Gelflings find the ruins of their lost civilization and read the prophecy, SkekSil tries to convince them to go with him to the castle in order to "make peace" with the Skeksis.
The Gelflings reject the offer; however, after Jen and Kira sneak into the castle, SkekSil corners them and attempts to force them into going with him to the throne. As a last resort, Jen stabs the Chamberlain. Angered by this action, the Chamberlain tries to kill Jen by burying him in a pile of stones. While seemingly ending Jen's life, he grabs Kira and takes her to the throne to redeem himself and show his dedication to the emperor. After presenting his prize to the emperor, the Chamberlain is reinstated, and remains in favor until Jen heals the crystal, and the Mystics and Skeksis are reunited as UrSkeks.
- Pre-production notes for the film describe the Chamberlain as "resembling an overstuffed chair, with springs, sawdust, horsehair, webbing, sacking, and underfelt layered under a carapace of carved animal limbs and a collar like a headboard."
|Muppet Villains
Muppet Films
Independent Films


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Wide receiver Anquan Boldin is in San Francisco and tight end Dennis Pitta will miss the entire season, which leaves wide receiver Torrey Smith as the team's top returning pass catcher after running back Ray Rice.
Either one of those losses would lead to calls for Smith to step up his production in the 2013 season, but the double whammy leaves an even brighter spotlight on him heading into the season. Smith knows that he and others need to step up, but he says he isn't feeling any more pressure to do so than he would if all hands were on deck.
"No, I never feel pressure at all," Smith said, via Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun. "My job doesn't change. Obviously, I expect more out of myself performance-wise whether they were there or not. It's tough to lose Anquan. He was the leader of our group. Pitta, it's an unfortunate injury. We are going to miss him out there. We have a next man up mentality. I think we have some guys who are ready."
Smith's job may not be changing in the larger sense as he's still an NFL wide receiver, but it's hard to imagine his role is going to be the same as it was last season. Smith is the team's No. 1 receiver now and that means he'll have to take on a wider variety of routes and responsibilities than he filled when he was a little lower down in the pecking order. That doesn't mean he should be feeling more pressure than he is, but Smith's going to be a big part of keeping the offense from going off track in 2013.


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Readers, WOTT won't lie to you - today has been a slow day in the Twittosphere. Although our favourite footballers have tried, they have simply either been too absorbed in daytime television or are still watching replays of Eden Hazard kicking that poor (or malicious, depending on your stance) ballboy.
However, several tweeters have come out in full force - first and foremost to congratulate Andy Murray on his Australian Open semi-final victory over Roger Federer, while there is also the odd gem from Rio Ferdinand (as always).
Prepare yourselves then, ladies and gentleman, for what will no doubt be yet another enthralling installment of Word on the Tweet...
"Well done @andy_murray another grand slam final."
Stoke City's Charlie Adam congratulates his fellow Scot on reaching his third Australian Open final.
"What a game this is... Murray v federer.. I want to watch the Qatar golf but can't switch over.. #lovemysport"
Pundit and former England man Michael Gray lavishes praise on what turned out to be yet another classic encounter in the tennis.
"This Federer Murray match looks to be another classic in the making. As a big Nadal fan, I'm very neutral in this one."
Federer fans, get him! Stoke goalkeeper Asmir Begovic (pictured right) reveals his tennis allegiances.
Sunderland defender Carlos Cuellar is similarly overjoyed at Murray's victory, although he could just be reacting late to his side's 3-2 win at Wigan on Saturday.
"If our goalkeepers get injured, I think I'm ready to step in #moveoverhugo"
Tottenham's Gareth Bale unleashes his diving skills on YouTube, posting a video of him making a fantastic save in training. And no, you can't have a go at WOTT - he definitely meant to dive!
"@wilfriedzaha well deserved move bro. Still amazes me what the boy can do with the ball at his feet. Prem defenders watch out!."
Southampton defender Nathaniel Clyne congratulates Wilfried Zaha on mis move to Premier League leaders Manchester United.
"I saw Busquets give someone a crazy nutmeg tonight against Malaga. It was cold!!"
Club Deportivo Quevedo midfielder Rohan Ricketts expresses his admiration for Barcelona midfielder Sergio Busquets' trickery. WOTT is similarly impressed but mainly because the Spaniard didn't feign injury while carrying out the nutmeg.
"Happy birthday Mum!!! Love you so much have a great day! X"
We find out there's a birthday in Josh McEachran's household. Will a few goals at the weekend do as a present, mum?
""Morning..you had a top game the other day didn't you..for an old fart"! That was the chat with the lady cashier while paying for my petrol!"
Rio Ferdinand reveals he is as popular as ever with the ladies...
"OK....so TODAY....is my BDay...Thank You for all of your well wishes.. 35...Feel....45!!! Hahaha....#PremierLeaguePensioner"
Reading's Jason Roberts (pictured left) reveals his excitement at turning 35. WOTT shares his delight and is similarly UNABLE to control its CAPITAL letters - #PrayforPremierLeaguePensioners!


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Burying a Limb
My elderly father is very sick. Gangrene has set into his leg, and it now needs to be amputated. My question is: What is the proper way of disposing of the leg afterwards?
The Aish Rabbi Replies:
A limb that is amputated should be buried in the grave where the person will eventually be buried. If the gravesite has not yet been decided, it should be temporarily buried, and later reburied with the person in his grave.
(sources: Code of Jewish Law – Y.D. 362:1, with Pitchei Teshuva; Noda B'Yehuda Y.D. 2:209; Igros Moshe Y.D. 1:231)


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You can lose face, but you cannot get face.
Student or Learner
When you made a bet with somebody but failed, you lost your face. is get face correct for receiving honour?
You can lose face, but you cannot get face.
To get face is slang for to get a kiss; e.g., gimme some face / give me a kiss.
Although face, as in to loose face, isn't a Western phrase, having lived in Asia for almost a decade I have often heard the phrases keep face and gain face.
Max: Sam made a mistake. Should I tell her?
Pat: No. Let her keep face.
<one day later>
Max: I told Sam she made a mistake, and now she won't speak to me.
Pat: Allow her the opportunity to gain face by letting her correct one of your mistakes.
Max: But I am a teacher! I don't make mistakes.
Pat: If you want Sam to speak to you again, you'll make the effort.
I have heard 'save face', and my English-Chinese dictionary has the term "save one's face".
Thanks a lot, 2006.


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Bulldogs End Two Weeks of Training in Maryland
ST. MARY'S CITY, Md.- The No. 5 Bulldogs will face top competition for the second weekend in a row at the St. Mary's Women's Intersectional Mar. 20 and 21. Following a difficult weekend at Navy, the Bulldogs are looking forward to sailing in the sun and regaining the wind in their sails.
Last year, the Bulldogs finished third. Jane Macky '09 and senior Marla Menninger finished fifth in A division while Kate Hagemann and junior Elizabeth Brim finished second in B division.
For the second straight weekend the Bulldogs will face many of the top teams in the country including No. 1 Charleston, No. 2 Boston College, No. 3 St. Mary's and No. 4 Brown.
St. Mary's sails on the St. Mary's River out of its brand new boathouse. At the moment the forecast is calling for light breeze of about five knots for both Saturday and Sunday. Hopefully the wind will cooperate a bit more than last year when inconsistent and very little breeze made racing erratic.
The Bulldogs will sail in both 420s and FJs, both of which they will have the opportunity of practicing in prior to the event, as the team is training at St. Mary's with the Seahawks, as well as with Connecticut College and Harvard for the end of the week.
The Bulldogs will launch off the docks at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, hopefully in the rays of the warm sun.
Report filed by Margot Benedict '12, Yale Sports Publicity


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3. Ubuntu Desktop 12.10
Also released in October was plain old Ubuntu 12.10, the client version of Canonical's free and open desktop software. Positioned as a Windows 8 alternative, Ubuntu offers a "setup that's faster than a PC and prettier than a Mac," according to the company's website. The new client delivers an enhanced Unity interface that integrates more tightly with the Web, for instance including digital assets (files, books, music, etc.) from Amazon, Google Play and Drive in clickable search results.


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Delete searches & other activity
You can delete past searches, browsing history, and other activity from your Google Account. You're in control of what's stored in My Activity, and you can stop saving most activity at any time. Learn more about My Activity and what's saved there.
Delete My Activity items
Delete all activity
- On your computer, go to My Activity.
- At the top right of the page, choose More Delete activity by.
- Below "Delete by date," select the Down arrow All time.
- Select Delete.
Delete individual activity items
For example, this could include a search you did on Google or a website you visited on Chrome:
- On your computer, go to My Activity.
- Find the item you want to delete. You can find an item a few different ways, including:
- Browse by day. At the top right of the page, choose More Item view
- Search or use filters.
- On the item you want to delete, choose More Delete.
Note: All similar activity might not be grouped together.
- On your computer, go to My Activity.
- Find the group of activity you want to delete. You can find it a few different ways, including:
- Browse by day. (If you don't see groups of items: At the top right of the page, choose More Bundle view.)
- Near the top of the page, search for a term or use filters.
- Find activity by date or product.
- At the top of a group, choose More Delete.
Delete activity by date or product
- On your computer, go to My Activity.
- Near the top of the page, select Filter by date & product.
- From here you can:
- Add a date range.
- Choose which Google products to include. (Note: Some Google products don't save activity in My Activity.)
- At the top of the page, select Search
- To delete activity, next to the search bar, select More .
- To delete certain items: Choose Select. Choose the items you want to delete. At the top right, select Delete .
- To delete all items: Select Delete results.
Delete activity in other places
Your activity might be saved in places other than My Activity. For example, if you've turned on Location History, that activity is saved to your Maps Timeline instead. You can delete most of your activity that's saved in those places.
- On your computer, go to My Activity.
- At the top right of the page, select More Other Google activity.
- From here you can:
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Aaron is a Search expert and author of this help page. Leave him feedback below about the page.


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Pope's Resignation - With the surprise announcement by Pope Benedict XVI that he will resign effective February 28th, Kim Lawton reports on the process that will lead to the selection of his successor. We also report comments from prominent Catholics and other religious leaders about Benedict's legacy and their expectations for the future. Bob Abernethy hosts a discussion with Rev. Thomas Reese, S.J. Senior Fellow at Georgetown University's Woodstock Theological Center and former editor of America magazine, author and journalist David Gibson and Kim Lawton on the pope's tenure and what they expect the future will hold.
Visit the Website: http://www.vatican.va
Episode #1624 / Length: 26 minutes


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"You know I think we can skate and score with any team in the league," says Blugolds men's hockey coach, Matt Loen.
The Blugolds men's hockey roster boasts experience with 20 upper class-men, who are contributing to an offense that is averaging five goals a game.
"We've got the big tough, strong guys that will go grind it out in the corners," adds Loen, "but unfortunately we didn't have a lot of scoring the last couple of years so they've added the scoring touch for us."
"(We're) Putting pucks on net and people are burying goals, so the more that, that comes, the more goals that come, the more confident that our team becomes and the more wins that we have," comments senior defenseman David Donnellan.
The Blugolds credit their current success to the way the team has come together, including the addition of local players.
"You know after the games, there's so many familiar faces that I've grown up with around the rink," says senior forward Isaiah Bennis who played at Eau Claire Memorial. "And just seeing them after games, and playing in front of the, it's a great feeling."
"Playing in the same rink since I was a little kid so it's been fun," adds Donnellan who also played at Memorial. "Having the support of the community and my family and friends."
"Everything I've wanted and more actually," says senior forward and Eau Claire Memorial grad, Andrew McCabe. "It's a great school, academically and athletically and I've had a lot of confidence in the coaching staff coming in and I knew Coach Loen really had high aspirations for the program."
Through 10 games the Blugolds are exceeding pre-season expectations from the league...but not themselves.
"Work hard and to not feel satisfied," says McCabe. "I think we have the right tools in place and the right guys in the locker room to continue this success."


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Inside IIS 6by Mitch Tulloch, author of Windows Server 2003 in a Nutshell
Internet Information Services (IIS) is not only a popular platform for hosting web sites, it's also a required component for a number of Windows server system products, including Content Management Server, Exchange Server, and Systems Management Server. Because these products rely on IIS for many of their core functions, understanding how IIS works is essential if you need to deploy, administer, or troubleshoot such products.
With the release of Windows Server 2003, Microsoft has made significant changes to how IIS works compared with earlier versions. This article is designed to quickly get you up-to-speed regarding the new architecture of IIS 6 and how it differs from IIS 5 (Windows 2000) and IIS 4 (Windows NT) in three key areas: application isolation, HTTP request handling, and the XML metabase. For a more detailed examination of IIS 6 architecture, see chapter 2 of my book IIS 6 Administration.
Application Isolation
IIS 4 first introduced the idea of an out-of-process application, that is, ISAPI or ASP code that runs in a separate memory space from inetinfo.exe, the core web server process associated with the IISAdmin and WWW services. The advantage of using out-of-process applications was that they could be stopped and started independently from one another, and if one of them crashed it didn't bring down the entire web server.
There were disadvantages, however -- out-of-process applications couldn't communicate with each other, ran slowly, and consumed huge amounts of memory. As a result, running applications out-of-process was usually used only during the development phase for troubleshooting unstable applications, and once an application was debugged it was moved in-process with inetinfo.exe. And then if any bugs were still left, the server crashed and had to be manually restarted.
IIS 5 added a new type of application protection called pooled process, which let you run several applications together in a COM+ host process called dllhost.exe that was separate from the core inetinfo.exe process where the WWW service resides. The advantages of running applications as pooled process included improved performance and better resource usage over isolated processes. Plus, if one application in the pool died it would bring down only the other pooled applications and not the entire server.
Additionally, IIS 5 could automatically restart pooled applications if they failed, reducing the number of manual reboots required on your machines. IIS 5 ran all applications as pooled processes by default, but they could also be moved out-of-process for troubleshooting purposes or in-process for top performance. One limitation, however, was that IIS 5 only had one pool for lumping applications together.
The architecture of IIS has been completely revamped in IIS 6 (see Figure 1 for a comparison of architectures for different IIS versions). There is now only one kind of application isolation available: application pools. These pools are similar to pooled processes in IIS 5, but now you can create as many pools as you like and group your applications accordingly.
These pools are completely isolated from each other and thus combine the benefits of out-of-process and pooled-process as in IIS 5. And in IIS 6 you can no longer run web-application code in process with inetinfo.exe, though this process still encapsulates all FTP, SMTP, or NNTP sites running on the server. Instead, a new service called the Web Administration Service (WAS) replaces IISAdmin as the user-mode component of the WWW service.
Figure 1. Comparison of architectures for different versions of IIS.
This new architecture for IIS 6 is named "worker process isolation mode," because any user-developed application code must now run within a worker process (w3wp.exe) as its host process instead of the dllhost.exe process used by IIS 5. There are several advantages of this new architecture. For example, one worker process can service several applications within a pool, providing isolation between applications running within other pools. One pool can also be serviced by several worker processes in a configuration known as a web garden that increases availability on a single machine the way web farms do using multiple machines.
The WAS also monitors the health of worker processes and can terminate blocked processes and spin up new ones to take their place, further improving performance. And on a multiprocessor machine a new feature called processor affinity lets you assign individual worker processes to specific CPUs to fine-tune performance.
But what happens if you move your existing IIS 5 applications to IIS 6 and they have trouble running on the new architecture? Simply switch your server from worker process isolation mode to IIS 5 isolation mode (see Figure 2) and suddenly there are no more application pools, worker processes, WAS, or processor affinity -- you've got IIS 5 instead. Or at least something that's similar to it in architecture, which should keep your legacy apps running until you can recode them to take advantage of the new features of worker process isolation mode.
Figure 2. Switching from worker process isolation mode to IIS 5 isolation mode.
HTTP Request Handling
In previous versions of IIS the core inetinfo.exe process was hooked into the TCP/IP stack to pull out incoming HTTP requests and pass them to the WWW service (w3svc.dll) or a dllhost.exe helper process as appropriate. In IIS 6 however, the WWW service has now been moved out of inetinfo.exe into the WAS, and inetinfo.exe no longer fields HTTP requests from the stack. Instead, this activity has now been taken over by the new kernel mode HTTP listener (http.sys), which resides within the TCP/IP stack, listening for incoming HTTP requests and routing them to the appropriate worker process.
Related Reading
Windows Server Hacks
This architectural change (both within IIS and the networking subsystem) has several significant results. Responsiveness is improved because http.sys can queue HTTP requests if the worker process that services them is blocked or busy. Performance is improved because http.sys is a kernel-mode process, in comparison with inetinfo.exe, which was a pageable user-mode process. And reliability is improved because http.sys cannot encapsulate any user-developed code the way inetinfo.exe could in IIS 5. Http.sys also caches HTTP responses for both static and dynamic content, generates IIS log entries, and manages establishing and tearing down TCP sessions for HTTP communications.
Note that while http.sys means big performance gains for applications running on IIS, it can cause compatibility problems for third-party HTTP applications you have running on your server. Fortunately there's a workaround using a command-line tool called httpcfg.exe, found in the \Support\Tools folder on your product CD. See article 813368 in Microsoft's Knowledge Base for information on how to use it.
XML Metabase
Finally, a major change in IIS 6 regards the metabase, the memory-resident database used in place of the Registry for storing most IIS configuration settings. The biggest change here is from the proprietary binary format used in the IIS 5 metabase to a text-based XML format. This change makes it easier to edit and customize the metabase to meet your needs.
In fact, IIS 6 now lets you edit the metabase even while IIS services are running on your machine, something you couldn't do in earlier versions and which helps avoid downtime for your sites. (Note that you have to enable this first, see Figure 3). IIS 6 also makes it easier to back up and restore the metabase, even to a different machine, opening the way for you to create a master IIS machine, clone its settings, and copy them to other machines. The new metabase history feature even generates backups automatically whenever changes are made to the metabase. And a new WMI provider for IIS lets you programmatically edit the metabase, allowing you to script changes and apply them to multiple sites much faster than you could do using IIS Manager, the GUI console for managing IIS.
Figure 3. Enabling the new metabase edit-while-running feature on IIS 6.
Does this mean you'll have to learn XML in order to get the most out of IIS? Maybe, but the format for the metabase is simple to understand and as long as you make backups before you begin, go ahead and start messing around!
Mitch Tulloch is the author of Windows 2000 Administration in a Nutshell, Windows Server 2003 in a Nutshell, and Windows Server Hacks.
Return to WindowsDevCenter.com.


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LAS VEGAS, March 25, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- PharmaRoth Labs, Inc. (OTCPink: FROI) the exclusive producer, marketer & distributor of Sucanon®, an oral Type-II Diabetes treatment, announced today that the name of the company has been changed from Fero Industries, Inc. to PharmaRoth Labs, Inc. The company also relocated corporate headquarters to Las Vegas, Nevada from Canada.
Luis Lopez , CEO of PharmaRoth Labs states: "We changed the name to PharmaRoth Labs to better reflect our business. We are also in the process of changing our ticker symbol as well. In addition, we moved our official office to Nevada, as our CFO Barry Hall is located there. These changes exemplify our desire to move the company forward and be better positioned corporately. We will announce the ticker symbol change when we receive the notification. We have not changed the web address yet, but have purchased the URL of www.pharmaroth.com."
About Sucanon®
Sucanon® is one of only three approved drugs in the multi-billion dollar market for a class of diabetic medications called "insulin sensitizers". Pre-clinical and clinical studies show that Sucanon® and other insulin sensitizers lower a patient's blood sugar by increasing the muscle, fat and liver's sensitivity to the body's own naturally produced insulin. Sucanon® has been approved for prescription sale in China and Peru. Sucanon® is also approved as an OTC treatment for Type-II diabetes by regulatory authorities in Mexico.
For further information regarding Sucanon®, please visit PharmaRoth Labs, Inc. website at www.feroindustries.com.
About PharmaRoth Labs, Inc.
PharmaRoth Labs, Inc. (OTCPink: FROI) is focused on diabetes prevention and treatments. The Company holds the intellectual property and all exclusive world-wide rights related to the production, marketing, and distribution of Sucanon®, an oral treatment for Type-II diabetes. Sucanon® is a member of a class of diabetic medications called insulin sensitizers. Insulin sensitizers lower blood sugar by increasing the muscle, fat and liver's sensitivity to insulin. Insulin sensitizers are blood sugar normalizing or euglycemic drugs that help return the blood sugar to the normal range without the risk of low blood sugars. PharmaRoth's strategy is to increase awareness, acceptance, and distribution of Sucanon® globally.
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These forward-looking statements are based on the current plans and expectations of management and are subject to a number of uncertainties and risks that could significantly affect the company's current plans and expectations, as well as future results of operations and financial condition. A more extensive listing of risks and factors that may affect the company's business prospects and cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements can be found in the reports and other documents filed by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
For investor relations contact:
Michael Irving
Paramount Advisors, LLC
(407) 878-5462
|SOURCE PharmaRoth Labs, Inc.
Copyright©2012 PR Newswire.
All rights reserved


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Nativia Jones and Brian Rivera said they have Officer Nathan Monteiro to thank for their little 8-pound angel, Amyiah Angel Jones-Rivera.
NEW BEDFORD — Nativia Jones and Brian Rivera said they have Officer Nathan Monteiro to thank for their little 8-pound angel.
Monteiro helped deliver Amyiah Angel Jones-Rivera on the bathroom floor of the couple's South End apartment at 3:31 a.m. New Year's morning.
It was a very difficult birth. The umbilical cord was wrapped around the baby's neck and she was initially unresponsive, according to the 38-year-old New Bedford police officer.
Monteiro said he unraveled the cord and swiped the baby's mouth with his finger and a few seconds later the child began to cry.
"It was a good eight seconds before we heard the baby cry," he said, adding both he and the mother were very relieved. "What a beautiful way to start the New Year."
Jones, 21, said in an interview at St. Luke's Hospital Wednesday night that she was scared and, although her boyfriend was with her, she felt alone because neither had delivered a child on their own.
She and the baby, the couple's second child together, are scheduled to be discharged today.
Jones said she originally went to the hospital at 8 p.m. New Year's Eve but was sent home three hours later because doctors didn't feel she was ready to deliver. She was scheduled to have a Caesarean section on Friday.
But around 3 a.m. New Year's Day, she said she went into labor and began to panic because the baby was coming so fast.
"She was hysterical, screaming 'The baby's coming, the baby's coming.' She went to the bathroom and the baby's head was beginning to come out," said Rivera, who called 911 and pleaded for a medic as quickly as possible.
"She was coming," Jones said. "There were no ifs, ands or buts about it."
But Monteiro beat the paramedic to their apartment. "He said 'Push, push, push; this is going to happen right now,'" said the 20-year-old Rivera.
"He helped me; he coached me through everything," Jones said. "The officer said, 'I believe in you. You can do it; you can do it.'"
Although he has received some training in childbirth, the officer said this was a first time for him, too. He has three children of his own, but they were all born by C-section.
"Doing it for real is a totally different ballgame," said Monteiro, who was privately hoping the paramedics would arrive first. "I just used my common sense and things worked out."
Although it was a frightening experience, Jones and Rivera said they will remember it fondly because of its happy ending. Jones said she wants to buy flowers and go to the South End Police Station with the baby to thank the officer personally.
"She really is an angel because she made it through without a doctor," Jones said. "I can't wait to tell (the baby) the story. She was in such a rush to get out."


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About this paper
Organizations struggling with bigger, more complicated data are finding new ways to turn this information into results. This paper provides a framework to embrace the technological and cultural shifts driving the way we consume and use information. It also outlines the ways that organizations can anticipate this shift - and turn big data into a corporate asset.
About SAS
SAS is the leader in analytics. Through innovative analytics, business intelligence and data management software and services, SAS helps customers at more than 83,000 sites make better decisions faster. Since 1976, SAS has been giving customers around the world THE POWER TO KNOW®.


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This resource is no longer available
How to Choose a Warehouse Management System
Choosing a warehouse management system (WMS) for your business isn't a simple process - there are lots of considerations, including your individual warehouse needs and what benefits you could experience from an integrated WMS.
So if you're looking to finally automate warehouse operations, or just want to upgrade your current system, and don't know where to start - check out this helpful guide.
Inside, you'll find all you want to know about choosing the right WMS for your business, including how to create a project team, what to ask resellers, and how to implement the system.
As a bonus, discover the top five most common mistakes NOT to make when choosing your WMS!


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16th-annual Ultimate Duals Preview
BROOKVILLE — Some of the top wrestling squads in the state will be making their way to Brookville Junior-Senior High School today to participate in the 16th-annual Johnson Motors Ultimate Duals.
"It's the second-, third-, fourth-, fifth- and sixth-ranked teams in the state, all in our gym (today)," Brookville head coach Dave Klepfer said. "There's really no breaks."
The six participating teams are host-Brookville, Fort LeBoeuf, Biglerville, Reynolds, Pen Argyl and Benton, all of which have state-ranked wrestlers on their respective teams. The headlining match-up will feature District-IX powerhouses and rivals, Fort LeBoeuf and Reynolds at 7 p.m. tonight.
Three new teams, Biglerville, Pen Argyl and Benton, will begin the day along with Brookville; the duals will be a one-day, two-mat format with matches beginning at 8:30 a.m.
Brookville is coming off a heartbreaking loss against Class AAA squad DuBois Tuesday night, and Klepfer said the most important job he faces is making sure his wrestlers are ready for a competitive day.
"I just have to get the team rebounded now and get them thinking the same way we (coaches) do, getting them excited about it," Klepfer said. "It's an opportunity to go in there and prove to a lot of people that you have a good program and you have a bunch of good individuals as wrestlers."
Klepfer said that while Reynolds and Fort LeBeouf are the highest-ranked squads that will be competing, he knows every team is tough and expects there not to be any breaks.
The Raiders, who have struggled in the Duals, going 15-37, do not have high expectations but still will enter the competition to win as much duals as possible.
"I think if you try to set yourself up for all of these goals and expectations in the middle of the season, it can come back to get you at the end," Klepfer said. "What I really expect and want is for our guys to just compete as hard as they can and get ready for the team duals in a few weeks, because that's the season."
Last year, Brookville went 3-1, winning 43-21 over Fort LeBoeuf, 50-22 over Northern Lehigh and 51-18 over Mercer. Brookville's only loss last year came to Reynolds (36-22).
Reynolds will be tough competition yet again this year, as it has a 46-8 record at the Ultimate Duals and are currently undefeated on the season.
At 132 pounds, Dylan D'Urso is a senior captain for Reynolds, and his undefeated 19-0 record will be tough to combat. Also, at 138 pounds, junior Austin Matthews has lost just one match this season with a 24-1 record.
Taylor said he is most looking forward to the competitive atmosphere that the Ultimate Duals always provides.
"This is something our team and our community looks forward to every year," Taylor said. "The guys that developed the Ultimate Duals, they definitely provide us with the competition we need every year as a team and individually to get ready for the postseason."
Taylor is expecting rival Fort LaBoeuf or Brookville to be the toughest competition for Reynolds.
"Brookville is a very storied program; we respect them very much," Taylor said. "Even though they've had some down years (recently), they are a rich tradition-type team like we are."
The biggest key for any team to go undefeated, according to Taylor, is momentum. Each wrestler must be both physically and mentally in shape in order to compete at a high level throughout the entire day.
"How well you trained yourself is going to determine the physical nature; what we try to do is after their match, get them rest," Taylor said.
Fort LaBoeuf is returning to the Ultimate Duals for just the second year, but the Bison were successful last year, going 3-2 with wins over Northern Lehigh (45-20); Mercer (49-16); and Ridgway (49-13).
Two returning state-medalists — George McGuire (113 pounds) and Evan Daley (220 pounds) will represent the Bison today.
Biglerville will be making its debut at the Ultimate Duals. The Canners are having a successful season this year with an 18-1 record.
Two of the best returning wrestlers for Biglerville are Laike Garner, who was a state runner-up last year at 130, and Trevor Hernandez, who qualified at the state level last season at 119.
Although the Canners have not participated in the Duals before, Biglerville head coach Bob Gano said he knows to expect "good, tough competition."
"They're all pretty good," Gano said. "Obviously, Reynolds and Fort LaBoeuf have that pedigree of at least getting to the state dual finals, if not winning at some point."
Biglerville will add another competitive team to the field today, as the Canners were runners-up in District-III.
Gano, like Klepfer, said he does not want to set too lofty of goals for his team, but he hopes to remain competitive.
"I guess my main goal is to wrestle well," Gano said. "If we wrestle well and compete and perform well, and we don't win a match, that's okay as long as the kids have wrestled up to their abilities."
The Benton Tigers are also a new addition to the field this year.
"I would expect that it's going to be extremely difficult, which is good," Benton head coach Russ Hughes said. "We're going through some growing pains. We're a young team, but they show up, and they fight, which is something I expect."
Benton's Colt Cotten placed fourth overall at the state level last year at 132. The Tigers also have two returning state qualifiers — Matt Welliver (120 pounds) and Brandon Lontz (138 pounds) — and two returning regional qualifiers — Jeric Kausnic (152 pounds) and Jake Mankey (182 pounds).
Hughes said he expects one of the toughest fields the Ultimate Duals has ever seen.
"This is probably one of the better years they've had," Hughes said. "Everyone is going through their growing pains of wrestling right now, and whoever steps up and accepts the challenge will win it."
The final team in the six-squad field will be Pen Argyl, which is joining the tournament this year also. The Green Knights were the runners-up last year in District-XI, second only to Bethlehem Catholic.
Junior Mike Racciato won a state title and is continued to be ranked No. 2 in the 145-weight class.
Klepfer has been studying the field and said he knows his team will be prepared by today's first match-up against Benton at 8:30 a.m.
Brookville's road will continue with Fort LeBoeuf at 11:30 a.m.; Bigerville at 1 p.m. and Reynolds at 4 p.m. before finishing off the day against Pen Argyl at 5:30 p.m.
"We know that this is going to be a real good test for us," Klepfer said. "We're still not back to 100 percent (in terms of injuries), but once we get our lineup straightened out, we're pretty confident that we're going to be able to compete with just about anybody in AA."


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To join the discussion about Free, or to order a copy, go here.
Free, by Mark and Lisa Scandrette, is a self-improvement book for Christians who've lost sight of the main thing in their lives.
Americans are distracted and over-stimulated. We're all hoarders of one sort or another, whether it's experiences or cash. It seems that whatever we do, we take it past our benefit to our harm.
Free is designed to lead its readers into a structured self-analysis which, hopefully, will show them ways to let go of the things that they are holding onto so tightly. It tries to encourage readers to back away from the greed for experience, money, stuff that is frazzling and entrapping them.
I suppose whether or not this works depends mostly on the person who is reading the book. If you're the sort of person who takes tests in magazines and on internet web sites to determine what kind of lover you are or how long you may live, then Free is your kind of book.
The first chapter of Free asks you to stop for a moment and consider one thing: What matters most to you.
Of course, the long answer to that can and does change as people travel through life. Passing your driver's license test may rank pretty high on your list when you're 16, while having enough money to send your kids to college might be more important in your 40s or 50s. Keeping your health becomes a major goal as you age, and my 88 year old mother can tell you that just hanging on to your memory is a big goal later on.
These transitory goals and concerns are not unimportant because they are transitory. They matter. The reason they matter is that they are the stuff of life. We don't live our lives in mountaintop experiences where the only reality is some transcendent notion of eternal good. We live our lives down here in the daily pits where getting a driver's license or sending your kids to school make a difference in the quality and scope of the time we have.
The trick is how to separate the flotsam from the things that make a difference. Watching tv 24/7 is a waste of life. Oddly enough, so is spending you precious time as a career-obsessed money slave chasing after gold for its own sake. Everybody has to make a living, but making money is only useful to us when it supplies the goods that make life livable. When chasing after a buck becomes the purpose of life, then that endless chase after the carrot that's always a bit too far ahead becomes just as much a waste of life as vegging on the sofa watching tv.
This is because we are hybrid creatures. We are bound by our physical selves to a physical existence ruled by the temporal realities of time and inevitable death. Seen this way, everything we do is, as Solomon put it, "vanity."
Only God can give meaning to our lives because only God transcends our living,. As I said, we are hybrid creatures. While we live out our days in this life within the limitations of our physical existence, there is in each of us a longing for transcendence. We ache for the immortality we cannot see but know is there. Meaning in this life is found in the reality of the transcendence of God.
When we look at our span of years and the things we do with them in the light of that transcendence and our unrealized part in it, then even the most daily of endeavors takes on dimensions of meaning that give them deep dignity. There is satisfaction is living life within the scope of a transcendent God. What we do matters. Everything we do matters. And we matter, too.
The trick is keeping the main thing the main thing. Even while we are caught up in the dailiness of our lives, we can know and understand that we are also part of the great web of eternity, that our smallest actions are writ large in the overall scheme of things in ways that we cannot know now.
We are children of the living God.
And that is the main thing.


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If you have negative traits, constantly work on acting in a manner that is diametrically opposed to them. This will make those negative traits foreign to you.
Take it slow, and keep in mind that this is a lifelong process!
(see Rabbi Eliyahu Lopian - Lev Eliyahu, vol.1, p.43; Rabbi Pliskin's "Consulting the Wise")