text:
Best idea: Don't use DNS servers located in the United States.
I mean, at the rate our country's going, it won't be long before other countries just start walling us in. Not out. In. "Those 'mericans are craaaazy. They think they own this shit. Well, this here is mah router, and this here is mah website, and those yankee bastards can eat a bag of dicks."
Progress: It's gonna happen, whether Uncle Sam wants it or not.
Progress: It's gonna happen, whether Uncle Sam wants it or not
Uncle Sam ain't the one holding progress, it's corporate America and its shills who do, and it's nothing new either...
Uncle Sam ain't the one holding progress, it's corporate America and its shills who do, and it's nothing new either...
It's getting harder for the foreigners to tell the difference.
Go with the times. Uncle Sam has become a branch of corporate America a long time ago. I'd be surprised if he ain't a Trademark of Disney or something similar by now.
And all this just for the sake of the likes of Justin Bieber and Shakira and Hollywood so they can profit for the crap they do.
If you want to fight censorship you have to go directly to your " "artists" " and ask them why they work for a MAFIAA thats trying to fuck our internet. An active, longlasting and noisy boycott targetted to the "artist" him/herself is all You need.
But no! lets all fiddle with proxies and Tor so we can have our tunez and have the mental-fap that we 0wned the censorz and we can has "teh 1337est freedom"
Engineers think in solutions for engineers.. this is a problem that have root in society and how they consume media. Here we have 8 solutions the don't solve the inherent problem that is: Media industry have failed (You know it, they know it) and it's going down fucking everything in the way, because they can.
They are testing the waters and those 8 "solutions" are what they want to see, not the general public realization of the absurdity this is.
An active, longlasting and noisy boycott targetted to the "artist" him/herself is all You need.
Right, let's get all those millions of 13 year old Bieber fans to join up.
And all this just for the sake of the likes of Justin Bieber and Shakira and Hollywood so they can profit for the crap they do.
That's just it, though. They probably aren't going to profit from this. At all. Not only that, but I doubt they'd see much profit out of people who are, at most, potentially (only potentially) causing a loss of potential profit. Some of those people might not even have any money to begin with, and others won't even have a chance to buy the content anyway (in some cases, perhaps).
It's not "just" for the current hot single music and video artist copyright owners. There's a great deal of content that governments want the infrastructure to control: this especially includes embarrassing content, such as is available at Wikipedia, but also includes data for mining of their own behavior, such as the very documents the Freedom of Information Act is supposed to provide. The photographs of the torture at Abu Ghraib prison with the goofy, smiling, blonde female soldier in front of a man who'd
Best part about this comment:
Justin Bieber is Canadian.
Shakira is Columbian.
Go Go Gadget U.S. lawmakers!
They don't have to wall the US out, all it would take is other nations signing onto an ICANN replacement. Then, even though an IP range may belong to foo.com in the US, everyone else will resolve it to bar.eb (for Elbonia), and their traffic would go to that site. Same with DNS. The international registry may say vendagoat.com goes to the site in Latveria, while in the US, it goes to a company that has had it for a while.
It would be a split, but it would be relatively easy to do if other countries decide
Question: what makes you think those out of the country will be ANY better? in case you haven't noticed you have a good chunk of the countries out there censoring left and right, "for the childrenz!" of course, and the other half have either signed treaties with the USA or are probably being pressured to as we speak.
You see that is the problem with these cartels, in that just like mob cartels they have NO jurisdictional limits to their power. Just as they paid off OUR elected officials? so too can they pay
Set up your own DNS server and let it talk to the root servers directly. It's no big deal to do.
Unfortunately - the ISP:s will probably soon start to filter the DNS requests too in the same way as they have done with SMTP.
"One of the things that the PROTECT-IP act is said to do is make DNS servers censor websites that have been accused of copyright infringement. Drew Wilson
Think of our legislators as black hats, poking holes in our network infrastructure because they are malicious pricks, or getting paid, or both, but the end result is that we learn how to make the network resistant to their attacks. In a way, they perform an important function. Sure, we all prefer white hats, but the black hats are out there, in congress, running major corporations, and even in the White House. Nothing is going to change that, so we must secure our network from the threat they represent.
They are more like script kiddies, playing with buzzwords they do not understand, not even realizing how ridiculous they look. They wield potentially very destructive tools without understanding the consequences.
Crap... If only I read this before I commented eariler... Sigh... I will try and mod you up in a different thread in compensation.
Run your own recursive DNS resolver with DNSSEC validation. I recommend Unbound [unbound.net], because it's easy to set up and it runs on Windows and Linux.
Granted, it is technically still possible to censor your results by intercepting your DNS packets, but if implementations of DNS censorship in other countries are any indication, running your own resolver works nicely.
If PROTECT-IP requires DNS severs in the US to censor domains, wouldn't that apply to your self run DNS server as well?
Well presumably there are sanctions for non-compliance in the act.
There's what's legal, and what's likely to be prosecuted. If you install optware bind on your dd-wrt Buffalo router [buffalotech.com] it's not like men in black will bust down your door. Laws like this are directed at commercial providers and they provide compliance for 98% of the populace.
Commercial providers have their revenue stream to protect, so they comply with laws like this with minimal oversight. What you do in your living room is pretty much up to you. (with a few exceptions)
Legislation, even in a more dictatorial environment like China's is invariably slow and misinformed regarding technology. The delusion of those who think themselves in power can be stated in one sentence, "We think the internet is controllable."
And it is, sometimes, for a while.
More so in China where fewer wish to rock the boat (for the moment), but censorship is a complete fail in countries like the USA and Russia or the former Eastern Bloc countries. Too many unhappy, unemployed, poor engineers. Articles like this one point out just how futile and absurd such efforts are.
Information may not want to be free, but *people* sure are nosy bastards. You can bet they'll work around anything throw in their path, even if means going back to exchanging CDs, tapes or paper.
"We think the internet is controllable."
For the average Joe, which are most of the 'consumers', yes it is.
"We think the internet is controllable."
For the average Joe, which are most of the 'consumers', yes it is.
Yeah, but they have friends. I used to get asked about how to use Kazaa, Limewire, Bittorrent, etc all the time. Now that they've moved on to iTunes and Netflix, the requests are down considerably.
It will be interesting to see how the community responds to this.
Joe won't even know as long as he can get facebook, twitter, iTunes, and porn.
Until someone more knowledgeable helps them out, that is.
In Denmark all the ISPs block The Pirate Bay. I've tried to get around it, turns out it's implemented using DNS, which a retarded chimpanse could circumvent.
The problem is it sounds good on paper. Blocking access to the sites like that gets most of the n00b people away to alternatives, but if you have any technical skill you can get around it. The alternative is some form of deep packet inspection, and no ISP wants that.
I can't see how the blocking makes any sense. It is not impacting piracy whatsoever. Every blocked site has alternatives, and they too will need to be blocked. At some point they will be, but only to give birth to even more alternatives. One buys an internet connection, and that should come without restrictions. It's like selling a car and trying to prevent the driver visiting some foobar number of places.
It doesn't matter what laws they have in place or the methods they use. We'll simply find ways around it. It's really quite silly, they're attempting to hold onto a system that's morally flawed and very nearly outdated by fighting a large number of talented tech saavy people on the internet. They'd have better luck trying to call the internet police on the trolls at 4chan.
Don't use domain names. The abstraction may be convenient, it may be useful, but it isn't strictly necessary. The IP address works just fine.
http://220.127.116.11/ [188.8.131.52] gets you to Slashdot with no DNS involvement.
Of course, the question is now around that missing abstraction. Do you trust me? Is that really Slashdot's address? Is it a rick-roll, a goatse, or a virus-laden fake? What most people don't consider is just how much they trust their DNS providers, but they do so with no authentication on that service. Many of the ways in the article are the ways that malware uses to subvert your relationship to your real DNS server.
It seems to me that getting rid of DNS would mean named-based shared-hosting would cease to work. That would certainly increase IPv6 adoption since if every name-based host all of a sudden needed a unique IP address, they'd be totally depleted by sometime before I finish typing this message.
Of course, good luck getting people to remember http://20014860800c6a/ [20014860800c6a] for Google.
Okay, Slashdot really botched that IPv6 address...
ht tp://2001:4860:800c::6a
Don't use domain names. The abstraction may be convenient, it may be useful, but it isn't strictly necessary. The IP address works just fine.
...unless, of course, the server serves as host to more than one domain, and uses the domain name to decide which website to give you.
Become very rich, bribe enough politicians with more money than the RIAA/MPAA offers, get them to change the laws.
No single person would have to 'become' very rich.
If only a million people would put money toward a fund that would make downloading movies and TV shows completely legal - even if its source is without a doubt questionable, for example, matching that of, say, a Netflix subscription, then....
$10/month * 1,000,000 people = $10,000,000/month.
$10,000,000/month * 12 months/year = $120,000,000/year.
$120,000,000/year * 4 years/term = $480,000,000/term.
I can bet you that the MPAA is not spending half a billion doll
Become very rich, bribe enough politicians with more money than the RIAA/MPAA offers, get them to change the laws.
The Pixar feature is a $200 million dollar production that will gross $1 billion dollars in its first run theatrical release. Tell me how you persuade the voter in California that pumping that much money into the state economy is a bad thing.
The question ultimately is "What does the user DO to bypass these measures." In any of these cases, the user downloads and runs a small script, once. This makes getting illicit material a 2-step process, up from a 1 step one. The technical details of the script are so obvious that any coder could write it. That's better, but still a barrier so small you could trip over it. The past has proven that installing BitTorrent, Kazaa, or another single piece of software is no real barrier to anyone.
By comparis
"If anything, the list raises serious doubts that the PROTECT IP Act will even put a dent on copyright infringement online"
Let's be honest here... I doubt even the asshats who wrote the legislation thought it would do that. At best its real purpose is to create a mechanism the government can use to shut down websites.
"If anything, the list raises serious doubts that the PROTECT IP Act will even put a dent on copyright infringement online"
Let's be honest here... I doubt even the asshats who wrote the legislation thought it would do that. At best its real purpose is to create a mechanism the government can use to shut down websites. =Smidge=
DHS/ICE seems to be doing fine even without PROTECT-IP
Since you are in effect accessing sites declared "illegal for a US citizen to view", is the very act of trying to get around the DNS block considered 'intent' and grounds for search/seizures looking for evidence of downloaded files or just outright criminal charges from the act itself?
Don't laugh. its possible..
If they make any claims of websites being illegal vs. some content being in violation of copyright law they are enacting unlawful censorship. It will be thrown out by the judiciary so fast we'll forget it was ever a problem.
If you can prevent most people from doing it, you can then start issuing insane prison sentences/fines on those who do. Isolate and punish. No one is going to give jail time or excessive fines...(right? please?)...to the 14 year old who stumbled on Napster, but the computer geek who "bypasses DNS" using a dangerous hacker operating system called "linux": http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090414/1837144515.shtml [techdirt.com]
In short, first you make sure only a tiny minority can sympathize with them, follow it up with character attacks, and BAMN: you can start sentencing people to a few decades in prison for a victim-less crime committed in their late teens.
Sure I'm being more than a little hyperbolic here, but the point is that the more steps you go to to bypass this sort of thing, the more you start to look like an unsympathetic, evil hacker to the nice gentlepersons on the jury...don't dismiss the value of making it harder for the average person to the censorship lobby's efforts.
s/found/accused of being/g
Remember, the burden of proof is on the owner, and you can bet it won't be cheap, easy, for fast. Additionally, some iterations of PROTECT-IP include(d?) measures requiring the interception and blocking of non-US roots.
Don't confuse kangaroo courts for courts of law.
*blocked domains from non-US roots. Bleh, typo (braino?)
They haven't voted it in yet. It's on hold in the Senate.
Write your congresscritters (one rep, two senators). Include Senator Wyden, who placed the hold on it. Good old fashioned snail-mail. They pay more attention to that than to emails or phone calls. In your own words, tell them why it's a bad law and should not be passed. Be polite. Then tell them that you'll be paying special attention to their votes on the bill. Follow through on that - write another letter if and when they vote.
They haven't voted it in yet. It's on hold in the Senate. Write your congresscritters (one rep, two senators). Include Senator Wyden, who placed the hold on it. Good old fashioned snail-mail. They pay more attention to that than to emails or phone calls. In your own words, tell them why it's a bad law and should not be passed. Be polite. Then tell them that you'll be paying special attention to their votes on the bill. Follow through on that - write another letter if and when they vote.
I've done this a few times, even for my state representatives but to no avail. The only thing that happens is that I get auto-added to their re-election campaign mailing lists. I've come to the conclusion that the only thing these people listen to is money.
This is slashdot. We bury websites with traffic without even trying hard. Surely we can get up enough letters to Congress to get noticed.
This is slashdot. We bury websites with traffic without even trying hard. Surely we can get up enough letters to Congress to get noticed.
Do you really think a significant number of Slashdotters are going to type up (or write) a letter, put it in an envelope, find a stamp, and mail it? Here's how it would probably go...
1. Slashdotter writes a letter in Word/Pages/OpenOffice/AbiWord.
2. Slashdotter looks for envelope and stamps. No go. His parents might have some, but it's such a pain climbing all those stairs...
3. Slashdotter says "this problem was solved 20 years ago by implementing email-to-mail gateways". Slashdotter spends the next two day
This is Slashdot, where people complain bitterly if things aren't handed to them, for free, on the Internet, in a format they prefer.
Write a letter? Politely? Are you serious?
Don't worry citizen, I'm sure the entertainment industry would never use laws like this to get rid of sites that compete for users time like user generated content. That would be unethical.
Some clever bastard thinks that if you tear gas the national mall, you are not technically silencing the guy at the end of the reflecting pool that is speaking. Just imagine old alabaster Abe Lincoln presiding over that sort of scene.
This is plain thuggery.
Honestly, all the "censorship" talk about copyright makes me imagine a spamlord complaining that he's being censored because he can't get his mass mailings out to everybody.
"But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought."
--- George Orwell (1984)
If the ONLY content on a particular website is copyrighted works being given away (distributed) without license and you can prove that the website/domain name will never ever ever be used for anything else, then you can claim that blocking said website/domain is not equal to censorship. Otherwise you should send the owner notice of violation and take them to court.
In other words, you're going to have to take the position that Walmart and Amazon.com should be able to print up all the copies of books, movies, software, and music that they want, and pay no money to anyone.
Yet Amazon doesn't print up public domain works, instead selling them for the high prices set by parasitic publishers.
I didn't read any of this as an attempt to equate copyright enforcement with censorship. The problem is that the government will have the authority and the means to shut down entire websites simply because someone complains that a copyright has been enfringed. That is, there is no requirement (or even mechanism) for judicial review before an entire site is muzzled. That opens the door to Censorship with a capital-C.
Is copyright a limit on the things I can say, even if what I'm saying is just repeating what someone else has said? If yes, then copyright is censorship. It's really that simple. In fact, copyright started as a method of censorship in medieval Europe before being codified into law and turned into what it is today.
The question is not whether copyright is censorship, because it is. The question is, how much of this censorship is adequate and reasonable to support and enhance creativity, and at what point does
Two thoughts:
1. There is an immediate First amendment freedom of speech issue here, as speech will be silenced without due process. The abrogation of the right to speech is inherent in the abrogation of the ability to be heard in a public forum. If you tear gas the audience of the guy on the soapbox, you are still stifling speech. This silences speech, without any legal determination whether the speech is protected. Historical evidence has shown that laws of this sort will be abused to silence appropriate and protected speech. It will not fail to do this, because there is no process in place other than the will to power. We can bank on that. This aspect of the law should be struck down on basic Constitutional grounds (and it will be severable so it won't affect the rest of it, unfortunately.)
2. We are on our way to the Great Firewall. This is the exact same thing China does to websites that it thinks are against political interests. It's just that our political interests are based in the distorted idea that we can build an economy on censorship and artificial scarcity of information, in an age of unprecedented freedom and speed of communication which enabled that dream in the first place! It's a circular firing squad we're setting up here. We are on the wrong side of history if we let this pass or remain unchallenged. We are just absolutely brain-dead to shoot the nascent information economy in the face with the uncertainties this process will cause.
This provision is a myopic, special interest concern that fails to see that you can't have the good without some measure of bad. We should take the good and mitigate the bad. This is disrupting the whole damned thing, like a player who "wins" a chess game by throwing the board into the air. Write your congressperson a letter on letterhead. Call them. Visit them. March on Washington, if you are able.
For God's sake, we cannot let them do this. We're going for a triple-dip recession if we do.
For God's sake, we cannot let them do this. We're going for a triple-dip recession if we do.
That is: if we'll survive the second, isn't it?
Every drug store has blank DVDs and CDs at the front counter, in the impulse buy section, near the chewing gum and candy bars. Most computers come with a standard DVD/CD burner, and have for years. Why do you think people buy them? Look at the way personal computers are advertised: you buy a computer for Internet access, and you use the Internet for free music and video.
It's been obvious to most people for years now that there's no practical limitation on copying digital media. It's been common practice to
In typical fashion, the technical elite focus primarily on the technical solutions.
In typical fashion, the pseudointelligensia object to technical solutions, but have no solutions of their own ("well nigh unassailable"). Yeah, we fucking know they won't meet us on that battlefield, and will instead concentrate on jailing us. But what else are we to do, throw up our hands and say "Oh, you've taken away our DNS resolution, we are wounded, we will behave exactly as you desire now"?
You want to defeat the enem
Of the approximately 600 members of Dreamboard, only 72 were charged, and twenty of them as John Does. According to the Twitched Indictment, Dreamboard gave advice to its members as to which encryption to use, but obviously the Feds aren't shouting from the rooftops about which security protocols they weren't able to break and/or circumvent...
So we've got to manage infrastructure in a way that's counter to it's purpose. They propose this already knowing the workarounds and that it's technically not a feasible solution for anything, and yet they want it to go through anyway.
Laws shouldn't be there to force third parties to operate in an inefficient or insecure manner. Laws are supposed to be to punish the guilty party, or get restitution for the wronged party. Yes, there are criminal laws that say "don't do this." Don't speed, or don't murder would be examples of those. But I'm having trouble remembering a law that required a 3rd party to censor things at someones request.
If libraries weren't dying as an instituion I'm sure the most obvious similarity would be a librarian being asked to pull books and hide them in the back room because they weren't allowed to show them to the public anymore. I find it interesting that people in America are scared to go to certain websites or look at some of these leaked documents online because it might be illegal or might be used against them. Not only have we bowed down to censorship, we're running scared that someone will find out we aren't so pure and innocent.
People even here are asking "will it be legal to circumvent this?" when the true question should be "why is censorship suddenly a part of the US federal governments mandate?"
The countermeasures look like they've been written by a script-kiddie. They are not 100% effective. Everybody has been concentrating on DNS servers. Guess what...
1) There are already some greedy asshat ISPs intercepting port 53 and replacing results with their own. Right now, they get a lot of complaints when they're caught. But if the government orders it, all ISPs will have to do it.That'll stop *ALL* regular DNS queries to foreign servers (including roots), unless you VPN, or ssh-tunnel, or use non-standard ports.
2) "Undesirable sites" can be null-routed. Remember when Pakistan accidentally knocked Youtube off the net for the entire planet? http://slashdot.org/story/08/02/25/1322252/Pakistan-YouTube-Block-Breaks-the-World [slashdot.org] Even knowing the correct IP address doesn't work then. Only VPN or ssh-tunneling will get you the content if the IP address itself is blocked. Of course if the US managed to knock foreign "infringing" servers off the net, the MAFIAA wouldn't exactly cry about it.
6. Using Command Prompt Quick Explanation: In Windows at least, one can simply open up command prompt (explained in tutorial) and simply type in "ping [insert domain name here]" and obtain a server IP address for later use.
The guy is a fucking cretin.
How do he think PING finds the address? It looks it up using the default DNS.
I thought there were going to be some legit solutions in TFA but... So here are a few that will actually work.
1) Create a DNSSec DNS service that runs over an "unblockable" encrypted protocol. For example, DNS over HTTPS. Blocking HTTPS traffic would fuck the people pushing this legislation in addition to banks, online shops, online services, etc...
2) Build a completely open wireless network using participation, pwnd phones, pwnd wireless, radio packet technologies, even pidgeons.
3) Revolt. None of this "vote them out of office" bullshit. If your congresscritter votes for this type of legislation go to their house, drag them into the street, beat them to death with a stick. I guarantee the next one will vote against it. If not. rinse. repeat.
May all your PUSHes be POPped.


text:
Manchester United's Shinji Kagawa was hailed by the Japanese press after his club clinched their 20th Premier League title, but the midfielder said he could have contributed more to the historic feat.
Kagawa, the sixth Japanese to play in English football's top flight, was kept out of contention for two months after sustaining a knee injury in October. He has scored five goals in his 18 league outings so far.
"Counting on you for the World Cup, too," a front-page headline in the daily Sports Nippon blared Wednesday, as Japanese media expressed hope he would lead the Blue Samurai to new heights at next year's World Cup finals in Brazil.
But Kagawa himself was more circumspect.
"I was looking to produce even more results. I was injured and I felt things didn't go well easily," he told his home country's media after United beat Aston Villa 3-0 at home Monday sealing the title with four matches left in the season.
"I had a lot of conflict, frustration and worries. In that sense, I think it has been a profound year," the 24-year-old said.
A post-season signing from Borussia Dortmund for 22 million euros ($28.7 million) last year, Kagawa made an assured start to his Old Trafford career, but his form dipped after his knee injury.
He began to show flashes of his best after returning to the pitch, scoring his first hat-trick against Norwich City in March and playing a creative role in a 2-2 draw at West Ham United last week.
"Honestly, I haven't contributed as much as I did at Dortmund," he said, recalling his role that helped the German club to consecutive Bundesliga titles after moving from J-League club Cerezo Osaka in mid-2010.
"I was even injured. I still don't quite have that feeling of accomplishment," he added.
On a more positive note, Kagawa, citing his United teammate Ryan Giggs's 13 league titles, said: "I've managed to win three in a row. I think my career is bound to get better and better."
He is expected to make his World Cup debut next year after being a non-playing member of the squad which travelled to South Africa in 2010, a tournament in which the Japanese reached the last 16.
"His dream is to be continued," the Nikkan Sports daily said, referring to Kagawa's ambition to win a Champions League title and play in the World Cup.
Japan, who lead their World Cup qualifying group, are on the verge of qualifying for Brazil 2014 with 13 points from six matches and two games left to play.
They are followed by Jordan with seven points, Australia and Oman on six, and Iraq with five points.
Source: AFP

subset: commoncrawl


text:
OSWEGO, NY (April 30, 2014) – The Oswego Speedway Eagles Fan Club Kids Bike Giveaway will continue weekly at the 'Steel Palace' this season, beginning with the Speedway's 64th annual Gater Racing News Opening Night celebration this Saturday, May 3.
The Eagles Fan Club is a volunteer, non-profit organization, formed years ago by a group of fans at Oswego Speedway with the sole intent and purpose of supporting the drivers and owners who compete at the Speedway.
As in years past, the Eagles Fan Club will once again give away a free bike each week at the Speedway in 2014, provided by Doyle's Bike Shop in Fulton, NY. The bike that will be raffled each week is the Lowdown 120 from Eastern Bikes.
Sign-ups to win the bike are free, and only kids 16 and under are eligible to register. To register to win the Eagles Fan Club giveaway bike each week you must sign-up at the Eagles Fan Club booth located across from the Speedway Tiki Bar.
The Eagles Fan Club Kids Bike Giveaway sponsors for this Saturday, May 3 are Mike and Danny Johnson.
The Eagles Fan Club is currently seeking more bike sponsors for the 2014 season. Anyone interested in sponsoring a bike this season can contact Larry Lee at firstname.lastname@example.com.
Gater Racing News will present the 64th annual opening day celebration at the Speedway featuring the first round of the Shea Concrete 'Steel Palace' ISMA Super Series, and the Road to the Championship lid lifter for the Pathfinder Bank Small Block Super Series on Saturday, May 3.
The ultra-fast winged ISMA Supermodifieds will take on the Oswego speed plant for 56-laps in the 2nd annual 'Irish' Jack Murphy Memorial, while the SBS will contend in their first 35-lap main of the year.
Grandstand gates will open at 3 p.m. on May 3 with time trials set to start at 5 p.m. followed by racing at 6:30 p.m.
To purchase tickets for Oswego Speedway's 64th annual opening night call the Speedway box office at (315) 342-0646. General admission seating is available for $25, with reserved seating on sale at $30, and VIP tower seating with all you can eat food and beverage for $90.
Once again in 2014, kids 16 & under will be admitted free of charge with a paid adult with active military also admitted free with I.D.
A rain date for Saturday's event has been posted for Sunday, May 4.
For more information on Oswego Speedway visit online at www.oswegospeedway.com, follow on Twitter @OswegoSpeedway, or like on Facebook at facebook.com/OswegoSpeedway.
About Oswego Speedway: Oswego Speedway, a sports entertainment company, is a 5/8 mile semi-banked pavement racing oval located off the shores of Lake Ontario in scenic Oswego, NY. Oswego Speedway has been a continuously run weekly racing venue since August, 1951. The premier open-wheel pavement short track cars in the world, Supermodifieds, run weekly at Oswego Speedway making Oswego the only weekly Supermodified racing venue in the world. The Small Block Supermodifieds accompany the full blown Supers on a weekly Saturday night schedule which runs from May through September. Oswego Speedway is mentioned in racing circles as the "Indy of the East," as no fewer than a dozen past and present competitors have competed at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway including Mario Andretti, arguably the greatest driver of all time, two-time Indy 500 champion Gordon Johncock, along with former International Classic Champions Bentley Warren, Joe Gosek, and Davey Hamilton.
Oswego Speedway Partners (Oswego Speedway would like to thank the following partners): Advance Auto Parts, All Seasons Inn, Beacon Hotel, Blue Bowl Sanitation, Bracy's Auto Repair, Butler Disposal Services, Bosco's Famous Italian Sausage, Bacc-Off, Canale Insurance, Burritt Motors, CNY CPR, Designs of Elegance, Dufore's Jewelers, Ellsworth Heating and Cooling, Environmental Remediation Services, Gater Racing News, Oswego-Fulton Chamber of Commerce, J&K Plumbing and Heating, Kathy's Cakes, McCaffrey Chiropractic, Cam's NY Pizzeria, Oswego Health, Dahl's Diner, Pizza Villa, Precision Balancing, Press Box, Gioia Signs, RJ Caruso Tax & Accounting, Leon Shapiro Motor Sales, Munski's Auto & Marine, Ontario Orchards, Oswego County Federal Credit Union, Hudson Dairy, Burke's Home Centers, Knights Inn East, Knights Inn West, H. Lee White Marine Museum, Hofmann's, Century 21 Galloway Realty, Dunkin Donuts, Rudy's Lakeside, POMCO Group, Price Chopper Supermarkets, Eagle Beverage, Budweiser, Bud Light, Coca-Cola, Novelis, Pathfinder Bank, C's Beverage Center, G&I Homes, Johnston's Propane, Performance Harley Davidson, Scriba Lane Redemption, Entergy Northeast, Longley Dodge, Best Western PLUS, Quality Inn and Suites Riverfront, Pullen's Plumbing, Vashaw's Collision Service, Scriba Meats, S&S Tractor, Stop DWI Oswego County, Oswego Sub Shop, Sunset RV Park, Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park, White's Car Care, Turning Stone Resort Casino, Fleet Pride, The Evergreen Motel, Elbert & Crate Box, Crop Production Services, Davis Bros. Inc., Hoosier Racing Tire, Helena Chemical Company, U-Pull U-Save Auto Parts, Planet Fitness Oswego, A&P Auto Parts Cicero, Zink Shirts, Fairfield Inn by Marriott, Seminis, D&S Landscaping, Nice Price Auto Sales, Shell Shock Custom Helmet Paint, Lighthouse Lanes, JP Jewlers, Sherwood Racing Wheels, NBT Bank, Radical RaceGear, Trucks R Us, Chestnut Security, Wayne Drugs, Locke Crane Services, Brad Penn Oil, Firefreeze World Wide, Safety Kleen, Oswego County Today, Shea Concrete, Mitchell's Speedway Press, North Country Home Builders, Corr/Pak Merchandising, B104.7FM, TK99/TK105, Ferris Mowers, Terrell's Potato Chips, Eagles Fan Club, Top Stitch, Top Quality Construction, Outdoor Power, John Costello & Associates, Oswego Quality Carpet, Enders Racing Engines, Thomas Video Productions, The CNY Family Sports Centre, ARISE, Ronald McDonald House Charities, Great Strides for Cystic Fibrosis, Rusty Wallace Racing Eperience


text:
Police arrested a man suspected of organizing a dogfighting ring after finding 15 pit bulls, four of them puppies, chained in the basement of his home in the Mosher neighborhood of West Baltimore on Tuesday.
Investigators were met by sights of dogfighting equipment, "dogs chained to the walls" and "lots of blood splattered on carpets and walls" when they executed a search warrant in the 2800 block of W. Lafayette St., officials said at a Tuesday news conference.
The pit bulls were taken to the Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter.
It was the second major development in the case in less than a week, officials said. Detectives had uncovered a similar scene Friday in Harlem Park. Eleven dogs were found in the basement and backyard of a home in the 500 block of N. Fulton Ave., including one lying dead on the back porch, police said. Four arrests were made in the bust Friday, two on drug and gun charges and two on dogfighting charges.
The man arrested Tuesday will likely face "a variety of charges," said Baltimore police spokesman Jeremy Silbert. He was not named because official charges have not been filed.
The two busts stemmed from a 2009 drug case in West Baltimore, in which police found a large amount of marijuana and three guns, Lt. Col. Dan Lioi said. Interviews and further investigation led police to suspect dogfighting, and eventually led to the Mosher and Harlem Park arrests.
Dr. Oxiris Barbot, the city health commissioner, said dogfighting is a public health risk as well as animal cruelty, because those who are predisposed to harm animals are also likely to be violent toward humans.
"We're here to promote responsible pet ownership," Barbot said. "Dogs are products of their owners."
The investigation is continuing, and while the man arrested Tuesday is suspected of leading the dogfighting ring, further arrests could follow, Lioi said.


text:
Hey everybody! spread the word, we have a megafunkyextragroovy gig tonight at MILE MARKER ONE. G-Town gets down on July 3rd and we want to celebrate our freakness with YOU!…..party starts at 8pm sharp.
Even though the Gloucester Fireworks have been canceled for Thursday,Mile Marker One is still the spot to be with Live music from 5- 7 pm with Loose Ends and 8-11 pm with Groove! Be here! #milemarkerone #livemusic #fun#thirstythursday #holiday


text:
Planning Projects
Sustainability Research
The City of Lincoln recognizes that there are multiple long term projects and ideas that, if implemented today, would save money over time. Additionally, Cleaner Greener Lincoln recognizes the importance of research to aid in policy decisions that will be made in years to come with regard to energy use, sustainability, and environmental stewardship.
Water Use Study
The City of Lincoln's water system pays over $3 million every year for electricity to power the pumps that bring residents clean and healthy water. This project aided with the funds of a feasibility study to determine how, through a few changes in pumping protocols and additional software, the City could save hundreds of thousands of dollars through the use of substantially less energy.
Member of ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability
Lincoln's membership in ICLEI provides the city with access to a wide range of sustainability software, tools, trainings, and other resources. This membership also adds Lincoln to a national group of local governments facing similar challenges of making communities more sustainable, livable, and efficient. The group of local governments provides a network of ideas and resource sharing.
Energy Star Partner
Energy Star was introduced by the EPA in 1992 as a voluntary, market-based partnership to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through energy efficiency. On February 23, 2012 Mayor Beutler announces that the City joined the EPA's Energy Star program as a partner.
This partnership allows the City of Lincoln to measure and track the energy performance of city facilities using energy star tools, resources, and the Energy Star portfolio manager software program to track energy use throughout all city buildings and facilities.
EPA's Greening America's Capitals
Lincoln was one of five cities chosen to be part of the EPA's Greening America's Capitals program. The project area is 11th Street from "A" to "J" streets.
The project team included local experts, EPA, City staff, Community ReDesigned, BNIM (a team of architects and planners), and Everett Neighborhood participants. The workshop developed a re-design plan for the area, including plans for complete streets, community gardens, and festival space.
Sustainable Lincoln Plan
The Sustainable Lincoln "targets" will be approved in the fall of 2012. With the dedication of the Sustainable Lincoln Blue Ribbon Leadership team, the Sustainable Lincoln Plan will include measurable community-wide sustainability indicator "targets" for the use of our city's air, water, land, waste, transportation, and energy and community resources. Stay tuned to find out the final decision of the Blue Ribbon Leadership team.


text:
Happy Monday!
It's a Happy Monday for me because I decided to spend the weekend out in the heat; going to see the Beach Boys with the great Tom Clark and Karen Clark Saturday night at Pier Six Pavilion; and hitting up Dave Matthews Band Friday night at Nationals Park with "The Artist Formerly Known as The Luckiest Dang Gal on the Face of the Planet."
I apologize if you've already seen this on my Facebook page (search "Glenn Clark" to add me as a friend; I'll be in a picture at Artscape wearing a Derrick Mason Dan Wilcox jersey); but I thought it was worth sharing again. I've seen Dave Matthews channel Willie Nelson for "Ain't It Funny How Time Slips Away" a handful of times in my life, but I will admit that it was BETTER with Zac Brown along for the ride…
Yeah, I managed to enjoy myself despite the fact that I was surrounded by insufferable folks from Washington. At least I had 4-5 guys come up to me during the night and yell "Go Ravens", which I certainly appreciated.
Let's see what everyone has to say…
1. The AP says Ravens LB Sergio Kindle stable after hitting head in accidental fall down two flights of stairs in Austin Thursday night
I hate to start such a laughable blog with such a serious topic; but clearly this is the most significant story of the weekend locally.
As I wrote yesterday, the news is "troubling" at best. We still don't know many details surrounding the incident or a timetable for Kindle's return; which only allows for more speculation from folks in the area.
What we know is that Kindle is at the University Medical Center Breckenridge in Texas, where he's expected to make a full recovery after falling down two flights of stairs. What we DON'T know is how he managed to fall down two flights of stairs. Was it a fight? Was alcohol involved? Were drugs involved? Was it a simple accident?
It's hard to ignore the troubles Kindle dealt with during his time with the Longhorns; but it doesn't necessarily mean that we should expect the worst here. As I said the night the Ravens selected him and Terrence Cody; they knew what they were getting themselves into. The pair had immense talent, but plenty of red flags to match.
The bigger question is what will it mean going forward. We're hoping to find out more about that this afternoon when John Harbaugh addresses the media at the Best Western in Westminster. Make sure you're tuned in to Nestor Aparicio this afternoon (he's just filling in for Rex Snider this week, calm down everyone) to hear from the coach-hopefully with news on a timetable for Kindle's return.
2. WNST.net's Glenn Clark breaks down 81 players on Ravens roster before Training Camp opens
As of this moment, I have David Hale as the last player MAKING the cut and John Beck the first player MISSING the cut. Want an explanation? You'll have to click the link to check it out; as well as a breakdown of the other 79 players who are preparing to open practice at McDaniel College.
It's really fine work from this particular writer; and I would know a thing or two about fine work. For example, I saw this picture of Shakira over at Don Chavez…
3. BaltimoreRavens.com's Mike Duffy says Terrell Suggs' shape, health of Lardarius Webb & Fabian Washington worth watching out for in Westminster
Also worth watching to see if Luke Jones and I melt in the heat.
Rookies (except Sergio Kindle), quarterbacks and select veterans (players recovering from injuries, practice squad guys, etc.) are all reporting to Westminster today; with the first practice of the year coming tomorrow at 8:45am.
It will certainly be worth watching to see what type of participation the two corners can offer (I'm assuming both will be reporting today) as they return from knee injuries; as well as players like Brandon McKinney-who hasn't fully participated since suffering a back injury last season.
It will also be interesting to hear from Troy Smith, who is reporting to Camp as the #3 quarterback on the roster for the first time since his rookie season in 2007-when Steve McNair and Kyle Boller were ahead of him on the depth chart.
As we get to Thursday & Friday we'll be able to take a look at the veteran players like T-Sizzle who have some question marks surrounding their arrival at Camp.
The good news? There's football to talk about this week. OH.THANK.GOD!
4. The Sun's Rich Scherr says Baltimore Mariners topped Wyoming Cavalry at 1st Mariner Arena to win first AIFA Championship Bowl
Awesome stuff. I'm well aware that it is the AIFA and not the NFL; but it is still a Championship. It's particularly fulfilling in a year when the Baltimore Blast surprisingly DIDN'T win a Championship-as it guarantees the city of Baltimore a title of some sort this season.
Just awesome stuff all around; and an entertaining game whether you attended, listened online or simply followed our updates via Twitter (follow us @WNST.)
If you missed Mariners LB Fearon Wright this morning with Drew Forrester on "The Morning Reaction" on AM1570 WNST; make sure you head over to the BuyAToyota.com Audio Vault to check it out. Other guests this morning included:
-Stacey Long (Camden Chat); who joined us in-studio to break down the end of baseball season in town
-Will Carroll (Baseball Prospectus); who took a look around MLB with Drew
-Ross Tucker (SI.com, GoBigRecruiting.com); who previewed NFL Training Camp season.
They can all be found in the Audio Vault today as well.
5. D1scourse's Patrick Stevens says graduation important to Maryland WR Torrey Smith, who's on pace to finish school in December
It's natural to compare Torrey Smith to Darrius Heyward-Bey; although he hasn't shown ANY of the leaping ability that DHB did during his brief run in College Park. Worse than that, Hey-Bey clearly has yet to live up to his Top 10 NFL Draft status during his time with the Oakland Raiders.
However, should Torrey Smith have a big junior season-he would put himself in the position to at least consider a jump to the NFL; even if he isn't destined to be a Top 10 pick like the the previous Terps receiver ended up being.
So how do the Terrapins keep Torrey Smith in school if he has a big year? I'd suggest they tell him Jessica Hall would be impressed by that (Thanks Busted Coverage/F-Listed!)
Patrick's in Greenboro for the ACC Football kickoff; make sure you check out his site (D1scourse.com) and follow him on Twitter (@D1scourse) for updates. We'll discuss it in depth on this week's "D1scast."
6. The AP's David Ginsburg says Jake Arrieta rocked as Orioles fell to Twins at Oriole Park at Camden Yards
After not watching a single game for the better part of a week; I actually sat down and watched the game yesterday.
I should've switched over to the "Keeping Up With The Kardashians" marathon they had on E!
You can wonder how things might have been different had Arrieta been able to retire Jason Kubel instead of giving up a 2 out grand slam; but it's fruitless. He was playing with fire and got burnt. I'm certainly not panicking about Arrieta; but it has to be at least a bit concerning that he could only go 4 innings yesterday.
Luke Scott had a couple of doubles; which will hopefully help his potential trade value as we rapidly approach Sunday's deadline.
Andy MacPhail can use all of the help he can get in that area. Hopefully Kevin Millwood and Jeremy Guthrie will be a bit more inspired on Tuesday and Wednesday as the Orioles hit Canada; as they could BADLY help this team.
7. The AP/WNST.net provide numerical evidence of loss
Corey Patterson added 2 hits (including a double), as did Felix Pie. Cesar Izturis added a couple of RBI in the 9th inning; which was nice as well.
But trust me-you REALLY don't want to look at this. Instead, look at this photo of Alessandra Ambrosio from What Would Tyler Durden Do. We'll regroup after that…
8. Carroll County Times' Rich Dubroff says Matt Wieters activated, Craig Tatum sent back down to Norfolk
Which is weird-because I remember a certain Drew Forrester saying to me last week "They're NOT sending Tatum down."
Sorta like a guy I knew who said about Maryland football last year "they're not losing to Duke."
I don't like having Jake Fox as a backup catcher. But then again, I don't like Jake Fox. Of course, I have to keep in mind that the choices in this situation are garbage and garbage; but I think Craig Tatum has at least performed at a more respectable level than Jake Fox this season. If garbage can be respectable that is.
Sorry guys, it is what it is.
9. Baysox.com says Steve Johnson pitched Bowie past Richmond Flying Squirrels on farm
And before we move on from the on-field Birds; a couple of things:
-The Orioles are back in action tonight; as they head to Toronto to face the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre. First pitch between Brad Bergesen and Brandon Morrow is at 7:07pm on MASN. The Jays are 9-0 against the Orioles this season. It's hard for me to imagine that changing tonight.
-With the baseball season now OVER in Charm City; we named our first ever "Apologist of the Year" this morning; with "The Great Arbitrator" making the final call. The nominees were:
- MASN's Steve Melewski
- Post-game hosts Jim Hunter & Rick Dempsey
- Chris Stoner
- "Heath" from Dempsey's Army
- The Sun's Peter Schmuck
- 105.7's Tom Davis
- Our pal "Roar From 34"
- The man in charge-Andy MacPhail
- "Neal S" from The Loss Column
- Our own Drew Forrester
And after careful deliberation; we are proud to announce that our first ever "Apologist of the Year" is……fellow Perry Hall High School alum Steve Melewski!
Amazingly, the news has traveled quickly in the PHHS circle; and our alma mater's Wikipedia page has already been adjusted to reflect the honor.
10. MLB.com's Kyle Maistri says former O's PBP Voice Jon Miller honored with Ford Frick Award at Hall of Fame ceremony in Cooperstown
I'm just going to leave this alone for right now, other than to offer this YouTube classic (Thanks Sam Angell!)
Congratulations Jon!
And finally, I leave you with this.
After seeing DMB Friday night; I think I'm gonna go ahead and give "The Greatest Song of All Time This Week" honors to "Cornbread." It's so great…
Flexing my mic muscles since 1983…


text:
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Subjective Safety
Some can let go of the reigns from time to time.
Some can let themselves just enjoy the ride from the front seat.
Others are able to let themselves be comfortable anywhere, anytime. Some are lucky enough to be able to stay in the moment and not worry.
Ride on, everyone! Embrace the adventure!
5 comments:
You're right. Once one cycles there is no need to worry anymore. It's just fun and a very comfortable way to get around.ReplyDelete
Don't see many tandems around here, but I'd love to have one myself to go on bike rides with friends (just wouldn't know where to put it safely).
yes for this guy it is totally safety.And you have heard the true thing that is San Fransisco is crowded.ReplyDelete
Free Satellite TV
Safety, Shmafety! I injured my back 3 or 4 times last winter just getting dressed in the morning. Why spend one's life worrying about the safety factor? I respect the road just like I would in a car and I can't say I feel particularly in danger. Good commentary.ReplyDelete
Sounds like you should stop getting dressed! : )ReplyDelete
Off topic or more detailed question -ReplyDelete
The girl on the tandem bike for some reason seems really petite or os that an optical illusion?
You probably don't have other pics of the couple but just caught me as rather odd as her heels seem really tall which adds to my question.


text:
OPM look at the greatest online games on PS3... which aren't Activision's megaton shooter.
What's with all the multiplats when you've got exclusives like MAG and Starhawk? Games that are unique and offer something not available anywhere else. MAG is still being played with a small but dedicated community, and the fun and diversity of Starhawk's multiplayer is off the charts.
Only PSABR being exclusive on that list...lol.
I would say Killzone 2 and 3 and Uncharted 2 and 3 offer some really fun and great multiplayer.
Loving classic mode in Uncharted 3.


text:
If there's anything I love more than my brand new husband…mmm, nope, there isn't. Let's say if there's anything I love more than… buttered saltines, that's pretty far up there.
Okay, if there's anything I love more than buttered saltines, it's awesome banners. I love the banner-worthy event that had to occur in order to necessitate a banner. I love how it takes two or more people to hang them (that's cooperation!). I love the way that, in movies and television shows, half of the banner will fall down right after a character ruins a surprise party.


text:
A Place where devotees gather to share inspiration.
"Holy Mother" painted by Swami Tadatmananda
Used courtesy of the Vedanta Society of Southern California
Gather in Mother's Presence -- A Bravenet Free Live Chat Service
We apologize to Mother and her children for the appearance of ads and pop-up windows.
Click Here to enter Holy Mother's Chatroom


text:
I am a technical writer, not a web developer, but I thought maybe this would be the place to come to ask about something interesting I saw yesterday.
This screen video (1:30) http://www.screencast.com/t/BApMBLs2 is of a resume site called Live Career. I'm wondering if you can tell what basic technology they're using to build the document.
The user can click a template thumbnail, edit the content right there, format margins and fonts by using sliders, and apply a different template just by mousing over a thumbnail.
Does it look to you like they've used some kind of supreme CMS and Flash wizardry that took a 50-member apps team 11 years to complete?
Or is it maybe more of a glorified kind of e-card type of thing that is pretty straight forward for a web developer to put together?
I'm thinking that this might be a way to create different types of docs like forms or school flyers or smallish documents like that, not just a resume.
Again, I'm not a Web developer and I don't mean to waste anyone's time here, so if you think that this is not the appropriate board or forum for this question, I understand. I would, though, appreciate it if you could point me in the right direction.


text: I loaned my copy of Making More Milk to another twin mommy and wondered if anyone here could remind me what it says about fennel. One mom swears by it and I don't remember what it's supposed to do. I'm about done trying everything under the sun to increase my supply but this is one thing I haven't tried. I'm still taking more milk special blend and nursing both babies about 10-12x/day but I am supplementing them about 12 oz combined now since I don't have the scale and am worried about starving them. We have an appt today so I"ll have a wt check at our family doctor's office.


text:
By KATE LINEBAUGH
Honeywell International CEO David Cote says job growth won't improve much until US economic growth tops 3%, in a bleak outlook for employment as the economy continues to bump along.
The conglomerate, which makes avionics, automotive turbochargers and thermostats, among other products, has only been hiring two to three employees for every four or five who leave. Mr. Cote plans to slow his hiring further amid persistent uncertainty over the US economy.
"We've become more concerned recently," Mr. Cote said in an interview. "If we want employment to grow, we have to have GDP growing more like 3%, not 2% or less."
Honeywell's outlook for the US economy this year is more pessimistic than that of some other forecasters. The company expects the economy to grow just 1.9%, down from the 2.2% for 2012 reported by the Commerce Department. Economists are forecasting 2.4% growth this year, according to a recent Wall Street Journal survey, amid signs of improvement in the housing market.
The unemployment rate ticked slightly higher in January to 7.9% from 7.8% in December, according to the Labor Department, but it was lower than the 8.3% rate in January 2012. The economy added 1.9 million private-sector jobs last year.
"We are generating jobs. We just need to generate more jobs," said Joseph LaVorgna, chief US economist at Deutsche Bank, which projects the US economy will grow 2.3% this year. "The trend is going in the right direction. It is just frustratingly slow."
Like other major US companies, Honeywell has been increasing profits faster than sales. In the fourth quarter of 2012, sales for the biggest US companies grew 3.7% from a year earlier, while profits rose 6.1% to their highest level ever, according to data from Thomson Reuters.
To pull that off, companies did things like cutting costs, reducing workers or charging higher prices. Companies are expected to keep running lean until there are signs that a more robust recovery is under way that could further boost sales.
Honeywell has improved its profit margin each year since 2009 and expects to raise it another notch this year. To do that, the company plans to derive more sales from international markets where growth rates are higher, such as the Middle East and China, offer more new products across its portfolio and cut expenses.
Since 2009, Honeywell, which gets 59% of its sales from business in the US, has added 10,000 jobs globally, boosting its employee count to 132,000, while eliminating 2,000 positions in the US. Last year, Honeywell trimmed its US workforce by 1,000 jobs to 52,000 employees.
"We have 1,000 less people in finance than we did when I arrived in June of 2003," Honeywell chief financial officer David Anderson said. The company has also reduced the ranks of its top executives slightly, to 580 from 600.
Honeywell has curtailed spending plans, though it will seek to increase capital spending this year by a third to $1.2 billion. The funds will be used mainly to build two new facilities in the US.
Meanwhile, the effect of the cuts from Washington as part of the so-called sequester will be minimal for Honeywell, which relied on sales to the US government for about 11% of its revenue last year.
"We anticipated and planned for some level and some period of sequestration," Mr. Anderson said. The company expects a slight decline in its defense business in 2013. Dow Jones Newswires


text:
Want to remind yourself or a friend about this program? Fill out this simple form and klru will email you a reminder on the day that it will air.
Hummingbirds: Magic In The Air
series: Nature
air date: 6/16/13 2:00 AM
Hummingbirds represent one of nature's most interesting paradoxes -- they are the tiniest of birds, yet they qualify as some of the toughest and most energetic creatures on the planet. New knowledge gained from scientists currently making great breakthroughs in hummingbird biology makes this a perfect time to focus on these shimmering, flashing jewels of the natural world. Stunningly beautiful high-definition, high speed footage of hummingbirds in the wild combined with high-tech presentations of their remarkable abilities help us to understand the world of hummingbirds as we never have before.
WARNING: Email reminders for this program have already been sent out. Your reminder may not reach the intended address in time for this program's airing.
Back to TV Schedule


text:
I have gone through a couple of tutorials but I am still not sure. So, I decided to do a project as a way of learning better and I need help and guidance to get it done
My project is an application to download background image from bing.com, save it to my hard disk and make it a wallpaper in my Windows 7 machine.
The steps are:
- Goto bing.com and get the url location of the background image.
- Save it a specific folder in my PC
- Make it the wallpaper in my Windows 7
I guess, a scheduler can be used to run it every 24 hrs.
Couple of project I saw on net deal with ubuntu or mac and they get the image from a RSS feed which is stopped updating now.
Where do I start from?


text:
I'm getting tired of having to spoonfeed this to some of you people individually. As it turns out though, thankfully, I can edit the OP so at least read this. I am not arguing against love, relationships or commitment, or anything the like. Quite the opposite, I'm saying they're good enough on their own without the need for the legal paperwork, money-waste and label of marriage. I welcome any opinion whether I like it or not, but not when you're missing all of the actual points like a little boy splashing the rim and substitute your own. No one's forcing you to read the whole thread, but at least read the damn OP of the thread next time or don't bother. It's getting frustrating having to read through your condescending tones just to find out you just didn't pay attention.
Hey. I'm not sure if I made a thread before but I'd like to put some of my thoughts on marriage here and see what all of you guys think. I see many of you as much smarter than me, and I think I can learn some. This got a little long, and I don't know if I should post it as a blog instead, but since my objective is to get some sort of exchange/discussion going a thread is more fitting. This is my opinion only. I'm not going to talk about gay-marriage or things like that, we all already know enough about that. I want to talk about marriage itself.
My stance on marriage is not that everybody should be allowed to have one, including gays. My stance is that nobody should get married, including straight people. And I'm often confused as to why atheists, secular intelligent people, would want to engage in this antiquated, forcefully contrived and often religious social construct.
I've said this in one form or another before. People like to think about marriage as this magical bond between two people in love, but for the bigger part of its history marriage wasn't about love at all. We know that in the past ages marriage was only used as a form of sales-contract, a political relationship building tool between two parties, and a way for the rulers to keep tabs on their subjects, while making sure they don't run amok fucking and raping each other aimlessly. It was an easy social structure to introduce into a primitive society that would otherwise kill each other over women to rape (which they did, and still do regardless). As a religious construct, it has been solely used for the above mentioned purposes, plus turn women into property. We need only look at some religious men and their harem of wives, to see that in that marriage women have become nothing more than a commodity. In marriage, even today, women are often nothing more than merchandise. Why do you think religious men always emphasize the importance of staying pure and staying away from sex until marriage? Because some men have very small penises. And some men with small penises are willing to pay high prices for a certain commodity: virginity. They want sex with virgins, because the small-dicked man knows the virgin doesn't know any better, so he has a confidence boost. Same reason they marry old geezers to little children, under the ruse of "our prophet did it." It's all about keeping the business running. Tell girls not to fuck. Slut-shame them should they dare to have sex outside of marriage. Call them whores, sluts, whatever. Put peer-pressure on them. Because if they do, the market will run dry.
There are a some popular arguments for/about marriage that I'd like to take on.
- It's a public declaration of loyalty. / It shows commitment.
This is a common error. Marriage doesn't make someone any more loyal then s/he would've been anyway, and if it does it's either because of peer-pressure (look up countries with the lowest divorce rates) or simple disingenuity. If you are in a relationship (which is not open), then you should be able to stay loyal and make it clear you're committed all by yourself, without a ring on your finger to vouch for you. Saying marriage ads to the commitment and shows loyalty is really no different than, for example, saying the bible gives us strength and hope. We should be able to have those things by ourselves, and those who cling to it show only a lack of those traits in themselves; just as someone who can not be as loyal without marriage shows a lack of confidence in their loyalty to begin with.
Now there also many people who say that they want a marriage to make sure their partner is committed. To me, a person who says they cannot expect loyalty and commitment unless their partner agrees to marry them is a person who displays a severe lack of trust, confidence and faith in their partner. A crucial flaw which wouldn't work out too well for a relationship to begin with.
I'm quoting the next point from a post from another member, MikeLong, here. I originally wanted to answer you in that thread, but the lack of a reply button was getting on my nerves, sorry.
- If shit goes south, marriage makes us try harder to preserve the relationship, rather than simply cast it aside as just another failed relationship.
Again, I think this should go without having to be married. If the relationship is worth it you should put all effort in, but not because you think "Oh well, we're married now. And it's kinda too much work to get divorced anyway." If marriage is your only incentive to keep a relationship alive, it's not a relationship of love as it is a cold iron chain locking you together.
More importantly though, just because a relationship is over doesn't mean it's failed. We fall in love, and then often we get jaded, and it's over. But that doesn't mean it wasn't worthwhile, that it was a waste of time, or that it failed. We experience something nice, and then it's time to move on. What marriage does is hold you trapped, after you've had enough. And I believe that the idea of an ended relationship being a "failed" relationship is something, more often than not, pushed into our culture by clergy. They are mostly the ones we hear bitching about divorce rates in secular countries and how it's somehow directly related to the moral decline in that country. That's bullshit. The only thing a divorce means is that two people no longer want to be together. What does the reason matter? Clergy often pretend like it's because people turn gay and the men divorce their wives because they want to go to a gay bar and have wild gay sex out of wedlock (ironically the solution would be to allow same-sex marriage, but I digress). But even if it were so, so what? How would it make those two people any more happy if they were continuously trapped in a marriage? Even when, at first, only one of the two partners wants a divorce, to me it would be much more horrible to force the other person to stay married. I certainly wouldn't want to be in a relationship with someone who doesn't want me anymore. Platonic love doesn't end well for either party.
So what I'm rambling on about it that ending a relationship is not always a bad thing. Call me a cynic, but I believe that it's a good time even most of the time. Something sucks, you work at it. But at some point you have to stop and accept that it might just not be worth it to try and pick up all the pieces off of the floor so you can glue them together and hope it sticks for just a little while longer. At some point you just have to leave the pieces lie and move the fuck on.
- marriage is the sacred bond between a man and a woman
Obviously, this is an argument that comes from the theist camp. Now I'm not going to argue about how retarded it is to suggest that gays have any less of a right to a marriage, we already know that, but instead tell you why I think religion loves pairing different genders so much. It's because man + woman = baby. Baby = another unit in the army. That's it. Nothing profound to it. Sacred bond my ass. It's about growing numbers like a virus. Rulers in all ages understood that if you want to build a powerful nation, what you need are people. Many many people. As many as possible. Living conditions, quality of life - doesn't matter. If he can hold a weapon and become cannon-fodder he's good enough. Same reason religion values men more than women. They're physically stronger. Same reason clergy are against abortion, it kills potential units and dwindles their numbers. (It also kills off all the pussy in the age range they like.)
- We do it for the civil / legal / financial rights.
I actually don't know enough about this to be able to fairly comment, so I'd love some input. Obviously I still don't like it. I know people who have been together for years but have no intentions of getting married for any benefits, my own sister included, and they seem to lead happy lives. But are the benefits worth compromising your integrity?Is there no other way to achieve those rights? Would it be at all possible for us to change this? I'm aware that gays fight for marriage because they want the rights that come with it. Now I remember Strega saying in a different thread that if they made some other civil construct which would allow her, as a gay person, to have all the benefits of a usual marriage provides, she'd do it right away. Even if it wasn't called a marriage. Do you agree with this, or do you think that, if anything, both straight people and gays should get the exact same thing? In which case it cannot be a religious union, because all major religions are homophobic. And so...I'm tired.
That's it for now. I actually have much more to say, but I kinda already wrote more than usual and I'm getting bored and I'm sure I've bored most of you by now too. I might add some later. Cut me some slack!
Views: 2984
Of course statistics themselves are not risk factors. I don't believe that and I don't think I wrote that. However, someone who ignores statistics does take a risk, such as when someone smokes or when they decide to raise a child even though they can't at the time see how they'll be able to provide for it adequately.
And, sure, I don't think there's any doubt that living in a situation with our extended family would, on average, improve the lives of children. Seeing grandma/grandpa daily is far better for them than video chatting occasionally. A lot of parents would behave better and less selfishly, I'm sure, if their own parents were looking over their shoulder.
The risks related to single parenting ARE intrinsic when the choice is made to have a child without being sure one is prepared to provide for the child. True, smoking to any degree involves risks whereas the risks I was referring to in deciding to have a child are related to circumstances. But circustances can be analyzed and the risk assessed.
Well, Kris, if I'm a woman thinking of having a child, I can look at my salary and (in a hypothetical case) determine that my income is not far above the poverty line and look at the statistics for the outcomes of children in single-parent low-income households and realize that bringing a child into that situation is betting my child that I can improve the situation.
You keep adding qualifiers. Can we give her a meth habit as well?
No situation is perfectly general. Every situation can be described with qualifiers.
"We need to promote and cultivate marriage for one reason: it really does benefit children."
I completely agree.
It would be great if that statement went, "We need to promote and cultivate marriage for two reasons: it really does benefit children and spouses."
Well, if you want to go the "everybody has a bias" route, then that calls into question all of science. Ms. Whitehead had a bias going into the study. She was of the opinion that the idea that the traditional family was better for children was nonsense and that she could show that children thrived just as well in other family situation. But then she ran into the statistics.
Well, if you want to go the "everybody has a bias" route, then that calls into question all of science
Not to be pedantic, but it calls into question all of psychology, not all of science. Bias doesn't really affect the boiling point of water. Altitude does, and other factors, but bias is irrelevant. The study of psychology requires subjective interpretation, so at best it is estimations rather than fact.
The study of how society is impacted by, say, divorce can never be accurate, simply because we cannot know which additional influences other than the ones being considered, may affect the study. It is virtually impossible to create a control group, without it being contaminated by other elements. Statistics are one of the most manipulable measurements, when it comes to human society, because they require interpretation..
Bias in the sense of letting one's belief in a hypothesis infect one's methodology and interpretation of results can infect the hard sciences as easily as the soft sciences.
True to be sure. But it's harder to do so in a subject where there are fewer external variables to fog everything you are trying to do.
"People like to think about marriage as this magical bond between two people in love..."
There's nothing magical about being in love. Have you been in love before kOrsan? How did you know that you were in love? You seem cynical in nature and I am not trying to be mean or attack you personally. Has someone violated you in a past relationship that left you feeling victimized?
I had many relationships before finally marrying at the ripe old age of 37. I was always the one to end these past relationships as it seemed like all my partners had some annoying flaw(s) I could not deal with on a permanent basis. Then I finally realized that there is no one person perfect for anyone else. Everyone has qualities in their own personality & character that is not flattering or attractive to others. The idea is that you must focus on the good and be willing to overlook the shortcomings. Once I realized that Miss Right was an illusion I began to have more realistic expectations in what a 'life partner' represents.
The vows of matrimony are not for everyone. The better or worse, sickness & health stuff. It is simply making an oral commitment to be there for the other person in thick and thin. When you meet someone who makes you feel absolutely at ease to be yourself then I believe you may be on the right track to finding a mate that you might want to grow old and gray with. I wish you the best in your journey to this end.
What is a friend? I will tell you.
It is a person with whom you dare to be yourself. Your soul can be naked with him. He seems to ask of you to put on nothing, only to be what you are. He does not want you to be better or worse. When you are with him you feel as a prisoner feels who has been declared innocent. You do not have to be on your guard. You can say what you think, so long as it is genuinely you. He understands those contradictions in your nature that lead others to misjudge you. With him you breathe freely. You can avow your little vanities and envies and hates and vicious sparks, your meannesses and absurdities and, in opening them up to him, they are lost, dissolved on the white ocean of his loyalty. He understands. You do not have to be careful. You can abuse him, neglect him, tolerate him. Best of all, you can keep still with him. It makes no matter. He likes you - he is like the fire that purges to the bone. He understands, he understands. You can weep with him, sin with him, laugh with him, pray with him. Through it all - and underneath - he sees, knows, and loves you. A friend? What is a friend? Just one, I repeat, with whom you dare to be yourself.
C Raymand Beran
Ed you completely stumbled by my actual point, which means I must really suck at writing. I never said relationships or love is bad. I am merely, completely talking about the label of marriage here, not human relationships. I'm saying the label marriage adds nothing to them, just as slapping the word "extreme" on a candy-bar doesn't make it taste any better. But I still love candy bars. Your whole post sounds like you're trying to convince me of how human relationships are a good thing, despite me never saying anything to the contrary. Quite the opposite, I was arguing that a true, good relationship between two intelligent people who trust and love each other should not require any legal contracts to make it complete. Rest assured, I did not mean what you fear I meant.


text:
The Path to My Garden is Never Long
We moved here in 2003 to a backyard of overgrown wild foliage and cottonwood trees. On my hands and knees I was relentless at pulling weeds. When I started designing gardens, I had to take into consideration that we have two big dogs. I also wanted pathways to wonder through the gardens as well as sitting areas. I wanted "eye candy" around every bend. So my gardens are dog friendly. "Rooms" were built around existing dog trails and plants are dog hardy. If a wayward ball got thrown into a garden and the dogs went running after it, they had to be strong to survive. So I don't grow a lot of tender perennial plants. I'm mindful of the dogs needing room to run and they have proven that they can stay on the trails and paths I provide. On any given day you can find a grandchild wondering down the paths, straining their necks to see new wonders. The creek bed was created to hide a french drain and there's even a sandy beach for the grandkids to play on. So not only is this a dog friendly yard, but kid friendly as well. Perfect for a busy family! Welcome to my garden!
Back Yard Firepit Fun for Kids Garden Hardscape Large (5,000 - 10,000 sq ft.) Path / Walkway
Comments / Questions
awhile back you asked about greenhouse stuff...I tried to comment on your blog but you musta not seen me...In our Fox Gardens on yardshare I have a whole garden show on how i added on to our greenhouse...check that if you wish...and please ask again if you want any other info...Gary & Teresa
Very nice work indeed !! its good to see another garden from Alaska here. We are 150 miles south of artic circle so I wish we could grow some more beauties like yours...very nice accents also...we enjoyed the show ! Gary & Teresa
Add Comment or Question
Login to add comments.


text:
Atom comes to android
Japanese robot powered by Intel chip
In Blighty, Intel's Atom is usually confined to netbooks and MIDs. But in Japan, Atom has been used to provide processing power for a highly flexible robot.
Robovie is powered by a 1.6GHz Atom
Google's translation of Japanese manufacturer Vstone's website is a little scruffy, but states that Robovie-PC - a two-legged android – has a 1.6GHz Z530 Atom 'heart' mounted on a 100 x 72mm motherboard.
Robovie measures 225 x 115 x 390mm and its frame is littered with polyurethane pads. Why? To protect the droid in case of falls while cycling through its list of 20 user-definable axes of movements.
For example, Robovie can perform numerous leg, arm and head movements. The robot's hands don't move, but for a little extra cash Vstone will ship it with a set of hands able to grip small objects.
A 1.3Mp webcam hidden inside Robovie's head allows you to see a robot's eye view of the world. There's no mention of on-board storage, so it looks like saving images and videos taken using Robovie's 'eye' is out of the question.
Robovie has 20 different movements and a webcam 'eye'
Robovie is equipped with several USB ports, however, so you'll at least be able to see what it sees in real-time.
Shipped pre-assembled and with a wireless controller, Robovie is compatible with Windows XP, Vista and Linux. Plans are also underway for Windows 7 support, Vstone said.
Batteries are included with Robovie, Vstone added, which runs on a single internal battery pack.
Robovie is currently only available in Japan, where it will set you back a cool ¥399,000 (£2794/$4476/€3039). ®
Sponsored: Minds Mastering Machines - Call for papers now open


text:
Despite the less-than-stellar reception it's received in the press, Call of Duty: Ghosts remains one of the most anticipated launch titles in the Xbox One line-up. Not because the game itself, so much as the power of its brand.
Word is the game's single-player stutters badly on Xbox One and less so on PS4.
As for multiplayer, we haven't heard of framerate dips for PS4.
So this is good news for both platforms, I suppose. Smooth framerate in MP.
Still though, Infinity Ward could have done better, man. Especially after copy and paste-gate.
I seriously doubt that there are problems with the campaign, if there were don't you think we would've hear about from a reliable source by now.
Of coursE it does after seeing the direct feed video of game play .all these lies and FUD from the folks on the other side is horrendous about the game frame rate.


text:
Argo won for best picture.
Give me a break. It was a nice little movie, a pleasurable little movie.
It was not nearly in the class of Life of Pi, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Lincoln — in that order.
Not even close.
What a silly Academy Award for best picture.


text:
A Pooler man on Wednesday was indicted for criminal attempt to commit murder in the November assault with a meat cleaver on his 8-year-old stepdaughter.
Li Chen hit Judy Chen in the head with the "bladed end of a meat cleaver" on Nov. 27, the Chatham County grand jury determined. The assault occurred in the presence of at least two other minor children, the indictment charged.
The indictment obtained by Assistant District Attorney Ann Elmore also charged Chen, 31, with multiple cruelty to a child counts including by assaulting the victim in the presence of two children under age 18, and family violence aggravated battery by rendering the victim "rendering useless her eyes… by penetrating her skull … and causing her to lose vision."
The victim survived.


text:
"With the succession plan in place and Penny White installed as President/COO, I suggested to the board of directors to consolidate the chairman and CEO positions," stated John McPherson, former chairman. "I felt that as the company now moves into its acquisition of private rail operators, that the role of chairman should be a hands on one and that is clearly Mr. Barron."
"I am honored that my board would entrust this responsibility to me," stated Michael Barron. "I will do my level best to achieve our objectives."


text:
HARRISBURG – The Department of Health has reported there has been a significant rise in influenza activity across Pennsylvania since Thanksgiving.
The Department of Health is reporting flu activity has increased from sporadic to widespread throughout the state meaning at least half of the state's regions are experiencing outbreaks of influenza or increases in influenza-like illness. The flu made an appearance earlier this year than in most flu seasons, as widespread activity is usually not seen until January. The number of cases reported to the department more than doubled in the past week.
"If you decided to wait, now is the perfect time to get vaccinated against the flu," Acting Secretary of Health Michael Wolf said. "Ensuring that you and your family get vaccinated will reduce the chance that your holiday plans will be affected from the flu."
The flu strains causing illness in Pennsylvania appear to be well matched to this year's vaccine. The Department of Health recommends the flu vaccine for everyone over the age of 6 months. But the vaccine is especially important for the elderly, pregnant women, and people with chronic health conditions that place them at increased risk of complications from the flu.
It takes 10 to 14 days to obtain the full protective benefit from the flu vaccine.
Most illness being seen in Pennsylvania is due to type A influenza H3N2; the type of flu most often linked to more severe flu seasons. This form of the flu can also be treated with antiviral drugs, especially when recognized early.
Now that the flu is here, in addition to getting vaccinated, everyone should take common sense precautions to keep it from spreading to others. These include:
- Cover your nose and mouth when coughing or sneezing.
- Stay at home when ill.
- Wash your hands often with soap and water. Alcohol based hand sanitizers can also be used when soap and water are not handy.
- Clean and disinfect high use surfaces, especially if someone has been coughing or sneezing in the area.
"We want everyone to have a safe and healthy holiday season," added Wolf.
For more information on seasonal influenza, contact your local health care provider or visit www.health.state.pa.us.


text:
Release Notes: This release fixed replication reporting of progress by bytes transferred, symlink issues when a file does not exist, symlink permissions, and a clustered DSE buffer size mismatch issue. The Guava library was upgraded to version 1.7.
Release Notes: This release includes fixes for both inline fixed and variable block deduplication. It also includes fixes for Azure block storage. Until the final 2.0 release, the focus will be on bugfixes, and there will be no new features or architectural changes.
Release Notes: This release adds Variable Block deduplication for local and cloud storage. This allows accurate inline deduplication for structured and unstructured data with the SDFS filesystem.
Release Notes: This release includes a fix for reclaiming blocks from file-based chunkstores and basic structure for variable block deduplication. Beta 4 will include basic support for variable block deduplication.
Release Notes: A deduplicated virtual volume manager was added. Opendedup can now run as a virtual block device and dedup any filesystem on top of it. EXT4, btrfs, and OCFS2 were tested for validation and QA. All perform and function as if they are running on block device. odvol.make, odvol.start, and odvol.cli were updated with details, and a quick start guide is now available.
Release Notes: This version features re-factored clustering capability.
Release Notes: This release fixes unique block deletion for filebasedchunkstore, volume freezing due to thread deadlock, and Azure bucket name not being honored. It enhances read performance by 40% under NFS through better locking techniques and file caching, and better file level locking under concurrent I/O should allow for lower latency multi write to the same file. It adds block caching for the S3, Azure, and FileChunkStore and defaults to 10MB. This should improve performance for multiple writes. This option can be configured during volume creation using the --chunk-store-read-cache option.
Release Notes: This version includes an updated Windows port, better garbage collection, and better performance. It also fixes replication, garbage collection, and threading bugs.
Release Notes: This release adds major enhancements to volume replication.
Release Notes: This release has many major enhancements including Azure deduplicated storage backend and better volume replication. It also includes murmur3 hashing, which can improve performance by up to 40%.


text:
By Michael Aneiro
You write down $8.8 billion ONE TIME and credit rating agencies are all over you.
Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), which is already dealing with an embarrassing accounting scandal at its Autonomy unit, just saw its rating cut by Moody's to Baa1 from A3 with a negative outlook. The rating agency said the downgrade concludes a review initiated Oct. 4 and interestingly it didn't mention the write-down or the scandal as a reason for the downgrade (although it previously called the write-down "credit negative" for HPQ). Moody's said the cut impacts about $25 billion of debt securities.
Moody's said the new rating reflects its expectations that "although HP will maintain strong to leading positions in a number of product areas, the company's credit profile will remain weaker than previously expected over the intermediate term," according to Moody's senior VP Richard Lane.
Moody's said the negative rating outlook reflects concerns about HPQ's ability to contend with the significant competitive, secular and execution challenges facing the company. A "broad portion of HP's portfolio, including PC's, some enterprise servers, printers, and services, representing over 75% of revenue, will face slow to no growth prospects over the coming years," Lane said. The ability to restore growth and profitability has sufficient uncertainty that we believe event risk in the form of more shareholder friendly actions or portfolio repositioning could develop, which would pressure the company's credit ratings.


text:
Women's Zoot Performance Swim Fastlane SuitItem #ZTW501
VIP, All Your Benefits Apply!
Loading product details ...
Reviews (0)
Need Help?
Product Description:
Women's Zoot Performance Swim Fastlane Suit :: Durable chlorine resistant Xtra Life LYCRA® that lasts for up to 280 hours. Thick straps for a secure and comfortable fit, and a high back for added coverage. Flatlock stitch construction ensures next-to-skin comfort and minimizes chafing. Lightweight and quick drying. Fully-lined front and back. UPF 50+ sun protection.
Features & Benefits:
Your Help Is Here
Shop with confidence knowing your team of Fit Experts is waiting to answer all your questions. You can always find your perfect product and your perfect fit. Your Road Runner Sports Fit Experts will make sure you get exactly what you want and have tons of fun in the process! Give us a call, chat, or email!
Call 800-743-3206 to
You May Also Like


text:
BALTIMORE (Stockpickr) -- With trading desks across the country getting ready for the Fourth of July market holiday, prepare for a riveting day of low volume. Despite a pile of economic data that hit at 8:30 this morning, and earnings season kicking off next week, the day before the July 4 break tends to be one of the quieter sessions of the year.
>>4 Stocks Breaking Out on Big Volume
That doesn't mean that you should turn your attention to readying the grill and procuring a case of legally questionable fireworks for tomorrow just yet. Even though volume is going to be light today, there are still some big summer gains about to be set in motion. That's why we're turning to the charts to find five big-name stocks that look ready for a summer breakout.
If you're new to technical analysis, here's the executive summary.
Technicals are a study of the market itself. Since the market is ultimately the only mechanism that determines a stock's price, technical analysis is a valuable tool even in the roughest of trading conditions. Technical charts are used every day by proprietary trading floors, Wall Street's biggest financial firms and individual investors to get an edge on the market. And research shows that skilled technical traders can bank gains as much as 90% of the time.
>>Book Double the Gains With These 5 Shareholder Yield Champs
Every week, I take an in-depth look at big names that are telling important technical stories. Here's this week's look at five high-volume stocks to trade this week.
First up is $13 billion electronic instrument maker Ametek (AME), a stock that's turned out some solid performance in the last year. Since this time last summer, AME has rallied more than 24%, beating the rally in the S&P 500 over the same stretch. Things have slowed since the calendar flipped to 2014; since then, shares haven't budged much at all.
>>5 Stocks Insiders Love Right Now
But that sideways consolidation is the very thing that's hinting at a second leg up in the second half of this year.
Ametek is currently forming an ascending triangle pattern, a bullish price setup that's formed by a horizontal resistance level above shares (in this case at $54) and uptrending support to the downside. Basically, as AME bounces in between those two technically important levels, it's getting squeezed closer to a breakout above that $54 price ceiling. When that happens, we've got our high-probability buy signal.
Momentum, measured by 14-day RSI, adds some extra confidence to this setup. In spite of the sideways price movement this year, RSI is still making higher lows in the intermediate term. Don't jump in until price actually punches through $54 resistance.
Fidelity National Information Services
$16 billion banking and payment services firm Fidelity National Information Services (FIS) is showing traders the exact same setup right now. For FIS, the breakout level to watch is $55, a price level that's swatted shares down on the last five tests. When FIS pushes through $55, we'll have a buy signal.
>>5 Stocks Set to Soar on Bullish Earnings
Why all of that significance at $55? It all comes down to buyers and sellers. Price patterns are a good quick way to identify what's going on in the price action, but they're not the actual reason a stock is tradable. Instead, the "why" comes down to basic supply and demand for FIS' stock.
The $55 resistance level is a price where there has been an excess of supply of shares; in other words, it's a spot where sellers have previously been more eager to step in and take gains than buyers have been to buy. That's what makes a breakout above $55 so significant -- the move means that buyers are finally strong enough to absorb all of the excess supply above that price level.
One final note on FIS: A bull trap in early February previously broke out above $55 only to get batted down at $56. That means that it's important to wait for a confirmed move through the $55 level. Don't jump into this name on the first hint of a breakout.
Apple (AAPL) is making a play for all-time highs this week. Following the share split earlier this month, Apple pushed up to resistance at $95, only to get swatted lower for the rest of the month. But the $563 billion tech giant is making a second play at that $95 price ceiling, and it could clear the way to a return to a triple-digit price tag for Apple.
>>4 Huge Stocks on Traders' Radars
AAPL is currently forming a rounding bottom setup, a price setup that indicates a gradual transition in control from sellers to buyers. The pattern's name is a pretty good description of how it looks on a chart. Even though Apple's rounding bottom came in at the top of its recent price range (not the bottom), the trading implications are just the same. The buy signal triggers on a move through our $95 price ceiling.
One final indicator to watch in AAPL is relative strength. AAPL started outperforming the broad market towards the end of April, and it's been making higher lows since. Statistically speaking, positive trends in relative strength make a stock likely to keep outperforming the broad market for the following three-to-10-month window; that bodes well for AAPL buyers right now.
U.S. Bancorp
It's easy to forget that $79 billion regional bank U.S. Bancorp (USB) tips the scales as the fifth-largest U.S. bank by market capitalization -- but the fact is that this big banking stock has some serious heft behind it. And right now, that market heft is pointing towards a big breakout signal for shares of USB in the week ahead.
>> 5 Rocket Stocks to Buy in July
Like Apple, USB is another name that's forming a rounding bottom pattern. For this setup, the breakout level to watch is resistance at $43.50. If buyers can muster the strength to push USB through that $43.50 price ceiling, then we've got a signal to join them. The minimum measuring objective for the pattern in USB puts this stock's price target at $47 after the breakout happens. That's a potential 8% upside move from here.
If you decide to buy USB when it triggers, I'd recommend keeping a protective stop just below the 50-day moving average.
Last up is $22 billion tobacco firm Lorillard (LO), another name that's sending traders some bullish signals this week. And as luck would have it, you don't need to be an expert technical trader to figure out what's going on in this stock. A quick glance at the chart should tell you just about everything you need to know. In short, LO looks like a "buy the dips stock", and we're coming out of a dip to end this week.
Lorillard has been in a well-defined uptrending channel since mid-February, bouncing its way higher in between a pair of parallel trend lines that identify the high-probability range for LO's stock to stay within. When it comes to trend channels, up is good and down is bad it's really just as simple as that. So, as this stock tests trend line support for the sixth time since this pattern came into play, it makes sense to buy the next bounce off of support, a signal we could see as soon as today.
Waiting for a bounce is important for two key reasons: It's the spot where shares have the furthest to move up before they hit resistance, and it's the spot where the risk is the least (because shares have the least room to move lower before you know you're wrong). Remember, all trend lines do eventually break, but by actually waiting for the bounce to happen first, you're ensuring LO can actually still catch a bid along that line before you put your money on shares.
To see this week's trades in action, check out the Must-See Charts portfolio on Stockpickr.
-- Written by Jonas Elmerraji in Baltimore.


text:
BELL COUNTY (WKYT) - School officials in one southern Kentucky county say several school buses were having issues getting around due to heavy snow.
The picture (right) was posted on twitter by user @KimberlyLaceey and sent to Chief Meteorologist Chris Bailey. @KimberlyLaceey tweeted, "stuck school bus in my yard."
The bus was stuck in the yard around 2 pm today on Beansfork Road.
A School Transportation official from Bell County says several buses couldn't make it up hills because of the wintry weather, adding they were forced to pull over in order for salt trucks to pass through. Officials say all children on the buses were able to eventually get home safely.
Officials say there was one report of a fender-bender involving a school bus and a car, but say it was after all the children were taken home and only the driver was involved. Officials say there were no injuries or damages in that accident.
According to National Weather Service storm spotter reports, some areas in Bell county got between 2" to 4" of snow. Reports form fire and rescue, along with highway officials, in the Middlesboro area claimed 4" had fallen in that area as of 4:00 pm.
Numerous accidents have been reported due to the winter weather in southern Kentucky. WKYT Meteorologists say snow should start to taper off early this evening.
Road crews say they helped at least 6 buses who had trouble navigating the slick roads.