text:
It's Friday! So let's set aside the self-publishing stuff for a second and do something fun.
On Wednesday Nathan Bransford posted his personal list of 100 Favorite Movies and challenged others to do the same. Now as you all know I never met a procrastination activity I didn't like, and I love movies as much as I love books (well, almost…), so today I'm posting my list.
One hundred movies sounds like a lot, and will seem like a lot when you first start trying to think of all your favorite films. You'll enlist the help of friends and family, look up Best Picture nominees on Wikipedia and frantically browse your DVD collection. But soon you'll be saying, "Oh! How could I forget that?" and "But what about—?' and "I feel like there was something else amazing he was in too…" and then suddenly you're up to 149, you need to start whittling them down and you've Argo in twice because you've Ben Affleck on the brain.
Now I've cheated ever so slightly with mine because I've counted series like Toy Story and the first two Home Alones as one entry, but so what? It's my list! I've also picked my favorite movies, many of which would never have had a shot at Best Picture, so don't hate me for loving Spacecamp. Or Dirty Dancing. Or 17 Again.
I also know I've left some out and will think of them as soon as I click the Publish button on this post…
(Yeah. There's a chance I'm over-thinking this.)
Okay, so here we go. 1-10 are my all-time favorite movies, but 11-100 are in no particular order.
(Yep. Definitely over-thinking this.)
My 100 favorite movies of all time are (I think!):
- Jurassic Park
- Contact
- Apollo 13
- American Beauty
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
- Adaptation
- The Truman Show
- Stranger Than Fiction
- The Departed
- The Usual Suspects
- Primal Fear
- Spacecamp
- The Silence of the Lambs
- Wall-E
- The Lives of Others
- The Secret in Their Eyes
- The Shawshank Redemption
- 17 Again
- The Terminal
- The Mist
- Catch Me If You Can
- Any Given Sunday
- Contagion
- Elf
- Dirty Dancing
- The Town
- Return to Oz
- Office Space
- The Cable Guy
- Midnight in Paris
- Home Alone & Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
- Best in Show
- The Devil's Advocate
- Thank You For Smoking
- Christopher Nolan's Batman Trilogy
- Seven
- Jaws
- Forrest Gump
- Cast Away
- Schindler's List
- The Toy Stories
- Independence Day
- Armageddon
- The Sixth Sense
- Fight Club
- Gladiator
- The Insider
- Training Day
- Amelie
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
- Titantic
- Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
- Bicentennial Man
- Mission Impossible
- Tropic Thunder
- Misery
- 1408
- Inside Man
- The Game
- A Perfect Murder
- Jagged Edge
- The Life of David Gale
- Cinema Paradiso
- Minority Report
- The River Wild
- Twister
- The Informant!
- Zoolander
- The Other Guys
- All The President's Men
- The Others
- Bridesmaids
- Arlington Road
- The Vanishing
- Pretty Woman
- Argo
- The Reader
- The Remains of the Day
- Quiz Show
- Jerry Maguire
- Good Will Hunting
- Speed
- Closer
- Midnight in The Garden of Good and Evil
- Clueless
- The Wedding Singer
- The Holiday
- The TV Set
- For Your Consideration
- Senna
- In The Shadow of the Moon
- The Hangover
- Bad Santa
- Supersize Me
- The Hoax
- Grizzly Man
- Recount
- Stepbrothers
- Kiss The Girls
- I Love You, Philip Morris.
Agree? Disagree? Never going to trust me again because I love Return to Oz? (Guess what? I DON'T CARE. It's amazing.) Or have you spotted a glaring omission? And don't say The Godfather II, because even though it's like the greatest movie ever made, it's not a favorite of mine, really. Ditto for 2001. And Apocalypse Now? I'd rather Tropic Thunder any day. And I know many people have a scary obsession with The Princess Bride—I like it, yes, but it's not one of my favorites. Also not a fan of anything Star Warred, Star Trekked or Lord of The Ringed.
Leave your thoughts in the comments below, or read Nathan's list here.
Have a good weekend!
UPDATE: It's happened: I remembered others! Here are a few that I didn't think of when I was compiling the list: A Few Good Men, The September Issue, Easy A, The Cutting Edge, Enchanted, Top Gun (hello? HOW could I've forgotten that? I love that movie…), The Social Network and Superbad. Not sure if they'd have squeezed their way into my Top 100 but alas, we'll never know (because I'm not starting this again!).


text:
Sports Game of the Year: Nominees 2012
These are GameSpot's nominees for the 2012 Sports Game of the Year.
These are GameSpot's nominees for the 2012 Sports Game of the Year.
Dan Chiappini sits down with producer Rob Jones to talk about the new features of NBA 2K13 for Wii U, as well as the process of developing games for Nintendo's ...
Check out a Developer Insight video which breaks down the latest version of NBA 2K13 for Wii U.
Learn all about NBA 2K13's free companion app, MyNBA2K.
NBA 2K13 is now available on your favorite app store!
NBA 2K13 is now available!
This week we check out Resident Evil 6, NBA 2K13, Carrier Command: Gaea Mission War of the Roses and Realms of Ancient War
Step up your shoe game in NBA 2K13!
In the latest episode of "Talkin' 2K" with the Lucas Brothers, Blake Griffin is touted as the greatest dunker of all-time when an unexpected caller joins the debate.
Learn the basic controls of NBA 2K13 to Too $hort's "Blow the Whistle." What's my favorite word?
Build up your MyTEAM to earn the #1 seed and win the ultimate prize player - Michael Jordan.
A trailer for NBA 2K13 showcasing Kinect's voice commands.
Check out a dream matchup between the Dream Team and the 2012 Olympic squad with Jordan taking Kobe one-on-one for the deciding play of the game.
In the latest episode of "Talkin' 2K" with the Lucas Brothers, Blake Griffin shares his NBA 2K13 MyPLAYER with the world.
Learn more about the MyCareer feature in NBA 2K13 in this developer diary video.
Check out the official trailer for NBA 2K13 with the Notorious B.I.G.'s "Victory" in the background.
The Visual Concepts team breaks down real-life motion-capture technology to create spectacular dunks, blending animations and creating more lifelike facial expressions in NBA 2K13.
Blake Griffin is the special guest on comedy twins the Lucas Bros. show Talkin' 2K.
Pre-order NBA 2K13 now and receive additional add-on content including: Sprite Slam Dunk Contest, Foot Locker Three-Point Contest, Rising Stars Challenge Game and the NBA All-Star Game.
The dev team expand their discussion on the control stick in the second developer diary for NBA 2K13.
The dev's of NBA 2k13 give you some insight on what's to come in NBA 2K13.
Here's an interview with Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant, one of three cover athletes for NBA 2K13.
Here's an interview with one of three cover athletes for NBA 2K13, Los Angeles Clippers star power forward, Blake Griffin.
NBA 2K fans can expect a much better soundtrack when NBA 2K13 drops on October 2nd, 2012 with Jay-Z serving as executive producer and hand-picking the 24 tracks featured in ...
Derrick Rose, Blake Griffin and another NBA chump express their excitement over NBA 2K13.
Carlos jumps in to the NBA 2K13 Booth to show off what they're showing off at E3 2012.
Use your keyboard!
Log in to comment

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Val's always poking fun of some of the names of my German ancestors. She's pretty sure there's a Friedrich Heinrich Johann Jakob Jingleheimerschmidt in my tree somewhere. I thought I'd share some of the gems I've uncovered from her side:
- Charity Mack
- Mindwell Mack (there were actually a few Mindwells)
- Mercy Mack
- Resolved Mack
- Jerusha Spicer
- Keziah Latham Spicer
- Experience Geer
- Patience Button (may or may not have been passed to subsequent generations)
- Jemima Parke
- Zilpha Meech


text:
Climate at a Glance
Regional Time Series
Choose from the options below and click "Plot" to create a time series graph.
Please note, Palmer Indices are not available for NWS Regions. Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI), Palmer Hydrological Drought Index (PHDI), and Palmer Modified Drought Index (PMDI) are not offered for multiple-month time scales.
Place mouse on axis and left-click to pan; wheel up/down for zoom in/out (or shift key+left-click).
Citing This Page
- NOAA National Centers for Environmental information, Climate at a Glance: Regional Time Series, published January 2020, retrieved on January 29, 2020 from https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag/


text:
Travel Photography
21st August 2015 PLEASE NOTE: Much of my current professional and personal work is now maintained at Danny Callcut Photography. stickyrice.co.uk will retain older, travel-based images and will be updated as time permits. Danny Callcut Photography has links to sites where my work may be purchased as wall art or licensed for editorial, creative or advertising usage.
What's here: use the Country Galleries menu on the left to browse the photos by country. Browse the links to discover some amazing photographers. The most popular pages are those listing upcoming photo competitions.
To browse thumbs of ALL the images on the site (currently 291), then go to the world photos page. Tech. details about the images or this site are on the gallery page.
The sitemap lists everything here.
Latest Updates
Monday, 11th November, 2013: new images added. The latest from Crickhowell, Wales.
Donnington Castle
See more from the England Gallery
All images on this site are copyright © Danny Callcut and may not be reproduced without permission. Licenses for editorial or commercial reproduction may be purchased via my collection of stock images on fotoLibra. High quality prints, canvases and other wall art may be purchased via my collection on photo4me (UK based) or Fine Art America (USA based).
Alternatively, you may contact me directly for futrher information or to license directly from me.
Tech. Details
Canon EOS 40D - no longer available.
Latest version of this camera: Canon EOS 70D Body Only Camera - Black (20.2MP) 3.0 inch LCD
Aperture: f/8.0
Shutter Speed: 1/125 sec.
Focal Distance:
Copyright © Danny Callcut, All rights reserved
Keywords: Castle · Donnington castle · Grade 1 · Grade I listed · Military Buildings · building · old · ruin · ruined · ruins · scheduled ancient monument · tourism ·
Donnington, Berkshire
more...from around the world
"When you come to a fork in the road, take it."Anon.
Photography Competitions 2020 - 2021
I have posted and will be maintaining a page for announcements about photography competitions - as much to remind myself as everybody else! Hopefully, this will make it easy for everyone to keep up to date with the latest competitions.
Selected images from this site are now avavailable to print Photo4Me.
Or License: Stock photography by Danny Callcut.
About stickyrice.co.uk
This Web site, stickyrice.co.uk, is devoted to my travel photography: predominantly from South and South-east Asia, (most notably photos from India, Thailand, Laos and Myanmar/Burma).
I also license many images as Rights managed stock photographs
Yes, but I've come here looking for sticky rice information/pictures
Yes; a few people do! Read more about sticky rice.
Page last updated Tuesday, 24th November, 2015


text: Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney pauses while speaking at a campaign rally at the Patriot Center at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., on Monday. Charles Dharapak/AP hide caption toggle caption Charles Dharapak/AP It's All Politics How Sandy's Path Could Chart A Course For Romney's Victory November 5, 2012 The superstorm began its destructive tour of the American mainland in Florida, and that's where the GOP presidential nominee needs to begin his march on election night. Other states in its path included North Carolina, Virginia and New Hampshire, states where Mitt Romney has a strong chance.


text:
American Made
Our boys ties are the perfect addition to any little guy's wardrobe. Offered in a wide variety of fun patterns and colors, these ties are sure to make any boy feel like the best dressed in the room.
If you have any questions, please dont hesitate to call us! 312-631-3108, We are here to help.
© Copyright 2020 Collared Greens. All Rights Reserved.


text:
The Hook celebrated the holidays in a big way this past Wednesday, December 11, at the UVA Art Museum, the place everyone still calls "the Bayly."
With such swell digs, partygoers festively attired got to hob-nob with fellow staff, freelancers, advertisers, and other Charlottesvillians "in the know" and affiliated with the Hook.
Dining on sushi, smoked salmon, and other gustatorial delights, invitees were treated to Art Wheeler's piano tinkling amid the Bayly's impressive art collection. Catering staff appropriately dressed whisked away unsightly "used plates" and discreetly refilled platters of holiday delights.
Hope I get invited to this party next year, too! Even if they don't serve spam.


text:
Give us a call to get our secret deals 1-800-293-2602
Property Location
With a stay at favehotel Langko Mataram - Lombok in Mataram, you'll be a 4-minute walk from Islamic Center NTB and within a 5-minute drive of Mataram Mall. This hotel is 9.3 mi (15 km) from Senggigi Beach and 30.7 mi (49.5 km) from Kuta Beach.
Make yourself at home in one of the 117 air-conditioned rooms featuring LED televisions. Complimentary wireless Internet access keeps you connected, and cable programming is available for your entertainment. Private bathrooms with showers feature rainfall showerheads and complimentary toiletries. Conveniences include phones, as well as laptop-compatible safes and desks.
Relax and unwind with massages and facials. This hotel also features complimentary wireless Internet access, concierge services, and a banquet hall.
For lunch or dinner, stop by Lime, a restaurant that specializes in international cuisine. Dining is also available at the coffee shop/café, and room service (during limited hours) is provided. Quench your thirst with your favorite drink at the bar/lounge. Buffet breakfasts are available daily from 6 AM to 10 AM for a fee.
Business, Other Amenities
Featured amenities include a business center, complimentary newspapers in the lobby, and dry cleaning/laundry services. A roundtrip airport shuttle is provided for a surcharge (available 24 hours), and free self parking is available onsite.


text:
Contact UsCSTB500 Fifth Street NWWashington, DCPhone: (202) 334-2605Fax: (202) 334-2318E-mail: email@example.com
Follow CSTB on Facebook and Twitter
CSTB is a part of the Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences.
Sign up for the DEPS newsletter.
Jon Eisenberg, Study Director and Director of CSTBKristen Batch, Associate Program Officer (until September 2008)Shenae Bradley, Senior Program Assistant
Project Information
Related Publications from Other CSTB Projects
Broadband: Bringing Home the Bits (2002)Embedded, Everywhere (2001)The Internet's Coming of Age (2001)The Evolution of Untethered Communications (1997)Computing and Communications in the Extreme (1996)


text:
Friday, October 5, 2012
Dealing with Monster Files
The first thing to over come is the tendency to believe the family tradition that "grandma" did all the family's genealogy. Numbers don't mean a thing unless there is a substantial level of source citations and background. I recently mentioned looking at four extremely large files with four different people. In each case, if found substantial inconsistencies and likely wrong information within a few minutes of examining the file. Another thing to remember is that the person who compiled all that "genealogy" was not related to all of your own lines. It would be extremely unusual to have active genealogists on every one of your family lines, not impossible, just very, very unlikely.
The next hurdle to overcome is intimidation. What could you possibly contribute to all those thousands of names? It is true, large genealogy files are intimidating. But sometimes the numbers turn out to be an illusion. Lines the go "back to Adam" may have a huge number of names and no substance. In addition, as happened in my case, I inherited a huge file that contained more than 18,000 names, but large numbers of the people listed were not actually my relatives. The original researcher had simply listed any one in the jurisdiction she was searching with the same surname, relative or not.
The first step in coping with a huge file is to take the information one step at a time. Do not try to jump back and start with the first "interesting" person you find. Methodically go through each individual until you are both familiar with the information (dates, names, places) and comfortable that the information is accurately recorded. Always, always look for inconsistencies, such as childhood marriages and deaths before births. If the file is on a disk, rather than paper, always import the information into a genealogical database program, hopefully with the tools to handle inconsistencies.
Doubt everything. Just because information is recorded or even printed in a book does not mean it is accurate or even reasonable. I have found an unfortunate tendency in large pedigrees to try to prove a relationship to a famous person. In my own lines these supposed ancestors included relationships to Daniel Boone and J. P. Morgan of bank fame. It took very little research to disprove both assertions. In one case, a Great-great-great-grandmother was claimed to be a princess in Great Britain, also not true. However, doubt can be resolved with additional research. Just think, the story might be true!
As you begin to become acquainted with each of the families in a huge database, the whole project will take on an entirely different perspective. As you look for loopholes and inconsistencies, you will begin to see what is and what is not in the file. If you find that few, if any, of the names and events listed have concrete sources, your first challenge will be obvious, adding sources for all of the family members. As you do so, you will find even more things to research.
2 comments:
I was one of those people who was fortunate to inherit a modestly large genealogical database (about 7,000 entries), but unfortunately none include sources for the facts they assert. So, much of my work has involved sourcing the information contained in the database - validating some claims, and invalidating others - and occasionally extending a branch out here or there when I uncover relevant information. Your recommendation to "doubt everything" is the only approach to take from the standpoint of serious research.ReplyDelete
One struggle I wrestle with now is how to segment off the information that I have documented from that which I have not in order to publicly share much of the sourced research. I have no interest in sharing unsourced claims, but I have found my genealogy software (one of the major players) is hamstrung when it comes to intelligently exporting a subset of a file in order to allow me to create a new file of only substantiated research. In fact, the butchering of source information in various export attempts was so appalling that I have resorted to simply creating an exact copy of the entire database, and am now sifting through that copy name-by-name and deleting those individuals for whom I have no sources. It is a painful exercise on several levels: the sheer monotony of the manual labor involved; the disappointment of pruning away entire branches of the file, as well as numerous individuals, to whom I am likely related; and the heartache of seeing the incredible mountain of work done by others that I cannot treat as credible due to the lack of any sourcing. Granted, I have kept the original database intact to use as a reference, a source for many leads in the past and no doubt many more in the future.
My biggest mistake was integrating my research into that original file for several years before I finally felt compelled to segregate it back out. If I had started my own, separate file from day one, I wouldn't have this challenge now.
If you or your readers have any thoughts on how to approach this challenge, I would be interested to read them.
I have a number of large files going back to no one particularly important, but still no way to really document most of them, and am beginning to see other people's family trees on Ancestry with other ideas, but still no particularly good sources. One that I found this morning had my ancestor going back to the Mayflower. That could be true, I suppose but I sure haven't found it and the information that I have documented does not jibe with what she has. Annoyed.ReplyDelete


text:
Digital Television
Digital television (DTV) is a set of new technologies and transmission standards that offer several advances over the analog television technology that has been used for more than a half-century of television transmission.
Through the use of data compression, approximately ten times as much audiovisual information can be sent over a single channel, allowing for either much higher-quality video (high-definition television, aka HDTV), or multiple standard-quality video programs transmitted via a single channel.
Digital television can be received via digital satellite television services, digital cable, or digital broadcast television. Availability of each of these services varies by country and region.
- 1 Broadcast television
- 2 Notes
Broadcast television[edit]
Broadcast television, also called over-the-air or terrestrial television, is television received through an antenna such as the ones pictured at right. Several European nations have already completely switched over their terrestrial TV service to an all-digital format, and many others throughout the world are well into the transition or have near-term plans to switch to digital service. See Wikipedia:List of digital television deployments by country for detailed information about each country's plans.
United States[edit]
In the United States, the digital switchover is planned to occur on February 17, 2009; after that date, all major broadcasters will stop transmitting analog signals altogether.[1] These broadcasters have already been broadcasting digital versions of their programming alongside the analog signals for several years. These digital signals can be only received via a digital tuner; such tuners are included in any new television set and some DVD recorders.
Older (analog-only) televisions can use a digital converter box to receive digital programming. The US government has established a coupon program offering up to two $40 coupons per household good toward the purchase of such boxes (see Wikipedia:Coupon-Eligible Converter Boxes and the US government's FAQ on the program). Most converter boxes are being offered for about $60, and only one coupon can be applied toward the purchase of one box, so each box will cost about $20, plus taxes and shipping costs, if any. The coupons can be applied for online at https://www.dtv2009.gov/ or by calling 1-888-DTV-2009. The coupon cards must be redeemed within three months, and are processed by retailers exactly like a credit card (although it is nonrefundable), providing an instant $40 credit.
According to a study performed in 2004, approximately 19% of US households receive television through broadcast signals only;[2] to continue receiving television signals after February 19, 2009, these households must purchase a converter box, a new TV with a digital tuner, or subscribe to a for-pay cable or satellite TV service.
Purchasing a converter box[edit]
Several dozen models of converter boxes are available that are eligible for the coupon program; a list of them, including a breakdown of their basic features, is available at Wikipedia:Comparison of CECB units. Most major retailers are only stock one or two models (provided they have any units in stock at all). The following table lists what units are listed for sale on each company's website:
|Best Buy
|Insignia NS-DXA1
|Circuit City
|Zenith DTT900
|Zenith DTT900 & DTT901, Digital Stream 9900 & 9950
(Also GE 22730, which they claim on their website is not coupon-eligible although the model is on the government's "eligible" list)
|Venturer, GE (they do not list specific model numbers for these units on their website)
|TB100MW9, RCA DT800 (they do not specify if it is a 800A, 800B, or 800B1)
These units may or may not be available in your local store, or even online. You might want to call your local retailer before setting out to see what they actually have in stock.
Kmart and Sears do not list any boxes on their respective websites, although supposedly they both have the Magnavox/Philco TB100 available in some stores.[3] A number of other online, telephone, and local retailers are also participants in the government's coupon program and may have different boxes available than those listed above. See https://www.dtv2009.gov/VendorSearch.aspx for a listing of vendors (fill in the "Locate Retailers Near You" form for additional local listings).
Coupon-eligible boxes are limited in what features they can offer (only very basic video and audio connectors, for instance). Units with more features, such as DVD recorders, or units that can be hooked up to PC monitors, HDTVs, or other non-analog equipment are available, but you cannot use a coupon to purchase them.
Advice about specific models[edit]
- Units using LG's sixth-generation DTV chipset (the LGDT1111 family), including the Digital Stream, Insignia, and Zenith models listed above, will supposedly get better reception of signals, especially in areas with a lot of obstructions (buildings, trees, etc.) between the receiver's antenna and the broadcast antennas.[4]
- The Insignia NS-DXA1 and Zenith DTT900 models are both manufactured by LG Electronics, and are essentially identical products. The Magnavox TB100MW9 and Philco TB100HH9, both manufactured by Funai, are also believed to be identical models.
- Users have reported audio artifacts (sibilance) in the high treble range on Zenith DTT900 and Insignia NS-DXA1 models. This problem supposedly has been fixed in units marked April 2008 and later.[5]
- The Digital Stream DTX9900 may have issues with unwanted picture cropping in both "zoom" and letterboxed mode.[6][7]
- A small of models offer "analog pass-through": this feature allows you to receive both digital TV signals and analog signals through the same video setup (and antenna). This feature is important if there are stations in your area that you wish to receive that have a good analog signal but a weak or nonexistent digital signal. Digital Stream DTX9950, Zenith DTT901, and Insignia NS-DXA1-APT models which incorporate this feature are due to be released in mid-2008, or may already be available.
Advantages and disadvantages of broadcast digital television[edit]
Digital television incorporates new functionality not previously available in analog broadcasts. The new features include:
- High-resolution video (HDTV), including widescreen formats
- Surround sound audio
- Multiple programs per channel (through the use of subchannels)
- Built-in electronic programming guide (program description and broadcast schedule)
- Near-perfect picture quality (provided the signal is strong and steady)
SDTV and HDTV[edit]
Standard-definition digital video (SDTV) is equivalent to the resolution available on a good analog TV set. HDTV is broadcast in two forms: 1080i and 720p. Both are widescreen formats, with an aspect ratio of 16:9 -- this means the picture is 78% wider than it is tall. (Contrast this with the 4:3 aspect ratio of older TV sets and SDTV broadcasts, where the picture is 33% wider than it is tall.) 1080i has five to six times the resolution of standard-definition pictures and 720p has more than twice the resolution. However, 720p is also broadcast at twice the frame rate: the picture is refreshed 50 or 60 times a second instead of 25 or 30 times a second. As a result, both 1080i and 720p convey about the same amount of visual information, with 720p being better-suited to high-motion programming such as sports.[8]
Although digital cable providers may provide local stations (including local affiliates of national networks), to save bandwidth, many provide a reduced-quality HDTV signal compared to the one that is available over the air.
Surround sound[edit]
Some digital programming may be broadcast with Dolby Digital AC-3 surround sound. To experience the full benefit of this, your TV or receiver must include a Dolby Digital decoder and be hooked up to a 5.1 speaker system (five speakers placed in specific positions plus a subwoofer).
Many broadcasters provide one or more subchannels in addition to their regular content; for instance, in the United states, ABC and NBC both provide 24-hour national and local weather coverage, similar to The Weather Channel; ION provides qubo (kids' programming), ION Life, and The Worship Network; PBS stations may offer PBS Kids, Create, PBS World, or other supplemental content; and many local stations offer supplemental content as well.
These subchannels are numbered in the form of x.1, x.2, etc., where x is the virtual channel number assigned to the broadcaster. If you ABC on Channel 7 in your market, for instance, its main programming will appear on 7.1, and additional content may be found on channel 7.2, 7.3, etc. (Not all subchannels will be contiguously numbered: the subchannels might be numbered 7.1, 7.2 and 7.4, with 7.3 nonexistent.)
The virtual channel of a station will not always be the same as its broadcast channel: Channel 7.1, above, might be broadcast on UHF channel 45. The virtual channel will only be displayed by your TV if it is able to receive the broadcast channel in the first place (at which point, it will automatically renumber the channel to its virtual number). When trying to locate a weak signal on a given channel, your TV must be tuned to the broadcast channel, not the virtual channel. When in doubt as to which is which, note that virtual channels are always in the x.x format and broadcast channels have no trailing number: 7.1 is a virtual channel, but 7 is a broadcast channel corresponding to the actual VHF channel 7.
Electronic programming guide[edit]
The digital format also allows broadcasters to provide program information and schedules along with their programming; most provide several hours' or days' worth of listings, usually including program titles, planned broadcast times, and often a short description of the content. This information is accessible through your receiver, in the form of a menu overlaid on the screen; how much information is displayed is dependent on what the broadcaster provides and how your receiver's program information menu is designed. Some receivers only display information about the program currently being viewed, or "now/next" information; others offer multi-hour, multi-day, or even 14-day grids.
Reception issues[edit]
The biggest disadvantage of broadcast digital television is the digital "cliff effect": weak or variable signals which would provide a poor but still watchable picture in analog may be totally unwatchable in digital format. If the signal is strong enough, the digital picture will be perfect, but weaker signals will not produce any picture at all, and marginal or variable signals will produce intermittent loss of audio and/or video (and pixellation). These dropouts can be caused by something as simple as someone walking in front of the antenna or strong winds causing trees in your vicinity to move.
The best defense against these signal dropouts is to use the best-quality antenna setup possible.
- ↑ Technically, "low-power" analog TV broadcasts will be permitted to continue after 2009; these stations are only available in limited areas and often carry only religious, ethnic, or other speciality programming.
- ↑ http://www.nab.org/Content/ContentGroups/Legal/Filings/2004/OTAAtt81104.pdf
- ↑ http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1008310
- ↑ http://www.tvtechnology.com/dlrf/one.php?id=1515
- ↑ http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=13892772#post13892772
- ↑ http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=13448384#post13448384
- ↑ http://thomaskraemer.blogspot.com/2008/03/tv-converter-box-by-digital-stream.html
- ↑ Technically, both 1080i and 720p are refreshed at 50 or 60 frames per second; however, in 1080i, only half of the screen is updated each frame. The refresh pattern is in the form of interlaced lines; odd-numbered lines are updated in one frame, then even-numbered lines in the next frame (hence, 1080i). In 720p, all lines of the screen are updated every frame, providing smoother motion; this is known as progressive scan (thus, 720p).


text:
| Dragonflies & Damselflies of Aruba Theo Muusse - the Netherlands
Aruban Skimmer (Orthemis arubensis).
The Orthemis family is very difficult to identify since there is no consensus about its status.
On Aruba there may be more than just one species involved although the coloring of eyes, nose, underside of the thorax, abdomen and ptreostigma look homologous on all animals seen here. There is also no visible difference in its hamulus, and in the female, the shape and colour of its valves on S9 does not seem to vary. Also, note the markings on the thorax on female and immature male, looking alike in the pictures.
So far, I will call it Orthemis arubensis on this website, until there is more transparancy.
The Skimmers tend to be less territory in relation with the Red-tailed Pennant. Quite a few times the Skimmer male was seen being pushed off a good spot above the water by the smaller Pennant. The Pennant could succesfully keep the Skimmer from the branch.
'Aruban' Skimmer (Orthemis arubensis). Male.


text:
Models and multiple database connections
By default, Yii uses the 'db' component for the interaction between your model and database. But Yii also supports multiple database connections. To use multiple database connections requires come configuration. In this blog I will explain how to configure multiple databases, preparing your models and use gii for creating models from all databases.
Serving large static files using Yii
Earlier I explained how you can use X-SendFile to serve large static files more efficiently using PHP and Apache. Serving the files with PHP (and Yii) is really easy and I will explain how to do this after the break.
Validate unique constraints with more then one attribute
Yii comes with bucket of validators including a unique validator which validates whether an attribute value is unique in the corresponding database table. But what if your database unique constraint contains more than one attribute?
CacheDependency, a real cache dependency
Using cache dependencies enables you to be in control of your cached data. Yii provides several dependency methods such as database, file and globalState.
They all work fine but when I use memcached as caching provider, I do not want Yii to check dependencies located on the hard drive everytime Yii::app()->cache->get() is called
Minify and merge your CSS and JavaScript
It is good practice to optimize CSS and JavaScript for lower load time, it is never good to have a lot of <link ref="stylesheet" href="...> or <script src="...> tags in <head>.


text:
Important: My vehicle was NOT in motion when this was taken! In fact, this was during a total standstill, which happened to afford a glimpse of resting gulls amid a view of leading lines in reverse juxtaposed with a pause in forward motion. Briefly. Shot with my iPhone, processed with the TTV Photo Studio app.
Related articles
- Flickr, I Want to Leave You (likewhy.com)
- a screech of gulls (sivanea.com)
- Is It Ever OK to Burn a Bridge? (blogher.com)


text:
Attend community blood drives and provide excellent and enthusiastic customer service to blood donors to make their donation experience fulfilling and set the stage for a long-term commitment to regular blood donations.
Welcome and greet donors, escort them as necessary, and assist with the initial intake.
Ensure that donors...
Become a member of a Red Cross Disaster Action Team (DAT). As a DAT member, you'll respond to disasters, such as house fires, hurricanes and winter storms and assist victims with their immediate emergency needs, such as shelter, food, and clothing. Disaster Action Teams also provide canteen services to emergency workers on the scene.
The First Home Program helps furnish apartments for mothers who are moving from St. Joseph's Center's shelter or transitional housing program to permanent housing. The goal of the program is to make a mother's dream come true - to have a place to call home - to have her own First Home.
Volunteers can help mothers with these...
Help out at blood drives. You will enjoy flexible locations and times and can volunteer as much and as often as your schedule permits. You will meet donors and hear why they give blood or how blood transfusions have touched their lives. It may change your own.


text:
Saturday, February 15, 2014
Sports News
LC men's & women's cross country earn academic all-American honors
Send a link to a friend
[February 15, 2014]
The Lincoln College men's and
women's cross country team earned all-academic honors from the NCJAA
for the 2013 fall season. The men's team was fourth in the nation
with a GPA of 3.70, and the women's team was 18th in the nation with
a GPA of 3.36.
"I am very proud of our men's and women's teams," head coach
Brian Herron said. "They work very hard on the practice fields and
in the classroom. I know that they are very excited about being
academic all-Americans and they should be. They are a great group of
young men and women that I know have bright futures ahead of them."
[Text from file received from Jeff Nelson,
Lincoln College sports information director]
College cross country
< Sports index
Back to top


text:
National Weather Service issues red flag warning
Southern New Hampshire put under class 4 flag warning
On Saturday, southern New Hampshire was listed under a red flag warning for high brush fire danger.
The National Weather Service issued a red flag warning for Merrimack, Strafford and parts of Rockingham counties. The warning is in effect from 10 a.m. till 8 p.m. Saturday.
On Friday, crews were busy battling small brush fires, including one in Hooksett. Firefighters in Allenstown set a controlled brush fire just to show how rapidly these fires can spread. They urge everyone to use extreme caution.
On Saturday, according to the Division of Forests and Lands, southern New Hampshire was put under a class four flag warning. Under class four, fires can begin very easily and are quick to intensify. There is potential for spot fires and for the fire to burn deep. Wind gusts could reach up to 40 mph. Low humidity could intensify fires.


text:
Unique style facebook cover design. Photo frame facebook cover. High quality design and high detailed. Just change the smart object or use as it on…
Free font used and text layers are easily editable. All are mentioned in readme file..
- High quality and Detailed
- 1700×630 pixel
- Smart object feature
- Free font used
- Detailed Readme text
Pictures used in here-


text:
Create an Account - Increase your productivity, customize your experience, and engage in information you care about.
The Taylor Police Department is dedicated to upholding a professional and ethical standard while providing a safe and secure environment for all persons living in, working in or visiting the City of Taylor.
It shall be our continuous goal to deter behavior and conditions that lead to crime and the fear of crime, while building a close partnership with the community we serve.
Therefore, we, the officers and staff of the Taylor Police Department, are committed to the ideal that every citizen is to be treated in a professional manner with dignity, compassion and respect.


text: 14Oct The Digital Life of Walkable Streets Categories: Data and Infrastructure, Digital, Digital Media Tags: Flickr, FourSquare, streets, UK, Walkability, Walkable, walking, Yahoo Labs Comments: No by Walkonomics It may be hard to believe, but each day we post over 1.8 billion photos to the internet, thats over 20,000 a second! While many of these are likely to be selfies, there must be many millions of photos of everyday streets and urban places. Read more


text:
This week for I Heart Cooking Clubs participants were to pick a Giada recipe "Out of Italy" -- meaning something not Italian. I tried Giada's Vegetable Chow Mein, which I have had bookmarked for a while. I keep wanting to call this recipe Lo Mein instead of Chow Mein because I always think Chow Mein is served with crispy noodles, but I guess that's just the westernized way of thinking with this dish. I found this article regarding the difference between Chow Mein and Lo Mein but am still not quite sure I really get the difference, oh-well. Vegetable Lo Mein is one of my favorite dishes when we order out for Chinese and this dish is quite like most restaurant Lo Mein dishes.
Vegetable Chow Mein
2 large carrots, peeled, trimmed and cut into matchstick-size pieces
8 ounces fresh or dried chow mein noodles
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 (2-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and minced
3 garlic cloves, minced -- I used roasted garlic cloves
6 large shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced -- I doulbed this to 12 shiitakes
1 (8-ounce) can sliced water chestnuts, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth -- I used vegetable broth
1/2 cup hoisin sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons honey
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper -- did not use
2 green onions, thinly sliced -- did not use
This was an easy and yummy little lunch for me and my two preschoolers. Both taste testers, ages 3 and 4, ate their whole bowl of Chow Mein and enjoyed it very much, especially since I got out the chop sticks for them to practice eating with. My 4 year old son said this was the best Chow Mein ever, which is kind of funny because I've never served them something like this called Chow Mein before -- we've had lots of Asian noodle and sauce dishes but this was the first "Chow Mein" and I think it's cute that he remembered the name of the recipe.


text:
DESTRUCTION OF WORLD'S EASTERN HERITAGE IN IRAQ: Eastern foundations of Western civilization
Paper No. 733 09.07.2003
by K Gajendra Singh
'It would be a good idea.' Mahatma Gandhi, when asked about his views on western culture.
There was an international cry and outrage in April and May, when following the collapse of the Saddam Hussein regime, US armed forces as the occupying power, had allowed the heritage Museum in Baghdad and other museums in Iraq to be damaged and looted along with libraries, institutions and ministries, except for the ministry of oil (and the oil fields) In spite of warnings, the most comprehensive archives of Iraq's history were set ablaze. Baghdad's National Library smouldered for two days with its half a million books, newspapers and documents reduced to ashes. The Awqaf Library in Baghdad with more than 5,000 manuscripts was destroyed. The Saddam Manuscripts Library, with more than 40,000 manuscripts was looted.
Dr Charles Tripp of the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, who had used the Iraqi National Library in the 1980s said, 'It had newspapers from the 1920s and thousands of documents telling tales of the Ottoman period and the British mandate. Its hard to accept it is all gone. ' Mosul University Library with its valuable collections was also partly looted and burnt.' These collections offered a representative sample of the intellectual output of Islamic civilisation,' said Tim Winter, a divinity lecturer at Cambridge University. 'The loss of a thousand years of scholarly interpretation will impoverish Islamic thought, and strengthen the extremists indifferent to it anyway. 'Iraq's history has been savagely massacred,' said Dr Irvine Finkle of the British Museum. "To burn books is possibly the lowest form of human activity. Who would do this And why?"
During the peak of anarchy, chaos and looting US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had commented "Free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things,"
Professor Michalowski of Michigan said that this was "a tragedy that has no parallel in world history; it is as if the Uffizi, the Louvre, or all the museums of Washington DC had been wiped out in one fell swoop". Professor Zinab Bahrani from Columbia University claimed that, "Blame must be placed with the Bush administration for a catastrophic destruction of culture unparalleled in modern history. " From Edinburgh Professor Trevor Watkins lamented that, "The loss of Iraq's cultural heritage will go down in history - like the burning of the Library at Alexandria - and Britain and the US will be to blame. " Others used phrases such as cultural genocide and compared the US in particular to the Mongol invaders of 13th-century Iraq.
Cultural heritage bodies in USA and UK had requested their governments to protect hospitals, schools and cultural institutions, but these requests were largely ignored. Martin Sullivan, Chairman of President's Advisory Committee on Cultural Property and its member Gary Vikan resigned because the US military had had advance warning of the danger to Iraq's historical treasures. "We certainly know the value of oil but we certainly don't know the value of historical artifacts," said Vikan, director of the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore.
On March 20, when US and its allies began their attack on Iraq with Stealth and B-52 bombers, Tomahawk cruise missiles, smart and stupid bombs, museums and curators, universities and scholars across the world were worried what that might do to monuments in Mesopotamia, the fertile crescent land between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates, the cradle of civilisations, the land of Nineveh, Babylon, Nimrud and Uruk, the world's first city. Where the Sumerians invented writing 5,000 years ago, where the epic of Gilgamesh, which formed the model for Noah and the flood, was committed to cuneiform writing 1500 years before Homer. The land of the Old Testament, of the Tower of Babel and of Ur, where Abraham, the father of the three great monotheistic religions, was born. The museum at Mosul, with its oldest churches and from nearby Nineveh has the remains of personality cult of Sennacherib, a seventh-century BC cruel Assyrian ruler. From nearby Nimrud, the giant winged Assyrian bulls with human heads were stolen and now awe the visitors to the British Museum. The attack on the museum in Saddam's home town of Tikrit was, perhaps, a 21st century symbolic strike at the personality cult of Saddam Hussein.
So US pro-Consul in Iraq Paul Bremer allowed the gates of Baghdad's heritage museum to be opened on July 3 for some diplomats and media, with heavily armed US troops and black-uniformed Italian carabinieri providing security. But it was only a symbolic one day photo opportunity. The opening was symbolic to convey the message that things were under control. The Museum once had one of the world's best collections of pre-Hellenic statuary, gold jewellery and cuneiform tablets "It's important that people know the museum is coming back. We hope to open properly within a year or two," said Dr Donny George, an Assyrian Christian and the museum's director of studies.
But a most remarkable thing has been the return of around 3000 priceless pieces under the "no questions asked "amnesty in which the clerics played an important role. Some looters brought back the stolen artifacts, after imams had threatened to ban thieves from worship at mosques. The retrieved treasures included a statue of King Shalmanezzer III from 852BC, the Warka vase - a 5ft-high alabaster vessel from 3000 BC, encircled by several layers of sculpted figures, still with traces of red and grain colouring. Another rare exhibit is the gold treasures of Nimrud consisting of exquisitely crafted crowns, bracelets, cups and pendants discovered only in 1989 and rarely exhibited. These had been stored in a vault of the central bank and had survived the US invasion, when the bank building was looted, set on fire and partly flooded. When the banks vaults were opened, bodies of looters killed in shoot-outs with rival gangs, were found inside, but the seals on the crates of the antiquities were intact. The collection had been carefully stored with thousands of pieces hidden in secure rooms around the museum, in vaults in the central bank and in bunkers around Baghdad. This was done according to plans drawn up for 1991 Gulf war.
But of the 42 most valuable items, 32 are still missing, including a bronze relief from 4000 BC, "worth 100 Mona Lisas. And many pieces still remained unaccounted, with thousands gone from the storerooms. The museum did not have an inventory of its collection, not even on a handwritten card index, let alone on a computer. Who stole the museum's best items would take time to find out. Dr George denied that some of the looting was done by museum staff. But it was not just vandalism, he added. It was clear that there were some professional thieves. "They had plans, glasscutters, and knowledge. We found keys brought by the looters. They opened the museum director's safe where they found other keys. " There are reports that some retrieved pieces are copies.
Why the initial reports of the losses were exaggerated remains a mystery but Dr George clarified that it was because of a misunderstanding that the 170,000 pieces were reported missing. He had only given the total number of objects. The reports had outraged the world making it a symbol of the lawlessness of postwar Iraq and America's failure to establish security after its quick victory. Now investigations are under way, with help from Interpol and FBI teams. It is quite possible that the reports of losses were intentionally exaggerated to attract world attention for provision of security by US authorities which was then lacking and to scare away the professional as well as amateur looters
While playing down the numbers stolen, Colonel Matthew Bogdanos, head of the investigating team appointed by USA said, "Almost 3,000 items have been recovered, but over 12,000 are still missing. " He divided the looters into three kinds, those who went through the public galleries, picking out the most valuable or easily transportable items. "They were selective in what they stole," he said. When it came to the items looted from storage chambers, two dynamics were visible. "One was absolute indiscriminate looting. Bags and boxes were taken from one end of the museum and dropped at the other." The "most troubling" thefts were of items "in the most remote corner of the most remote room. Other stuff on the way to it was not taken. You couldn't get there unless you knew it well. This was the priceless collection of cylinder seals and Hellenistic, Roman and Islamic coins". Under amnesty half the items were returned by people who took them for "safe keeping "or given by friends, the other 1,500 were seized after tip offs.
About ancient monuments, experience with US armed forces is not very encouraging. American bulldozers had razed the ruins of Tell al-Lahm, south of Ur, during the 1991 Gulf war. The great arch of Ctesphion, still the widest unsupported brick arch in the world, was cracked by the vibrations of the American carpet bombing. John Curtis, the keeper of the department of the ancient near east at the British Museum, who visited Ur last year had little doubt the Americans strafed the ziggurat - a great, stepped pyramid - with heavy machine-gun fire the last time they passed that way. "Whether this was an accident, I couldn't say," he says. Another European invader Napolean had tested his artillery against Cairo's pyramids. Talibans had bombed Buddhist statues at Bamiyan in Afghanistan a few years ago, leading to international uproar.
On the other hand US and its allies point out that Iraqis have used ancient defences for parking tanks and point out that Iraqi airbase is in the shadow of the great ziggurat of Ur, city of Abraham. Incidentally "the Ur airbase was built by the British in the days of its colonial mandate, when the RAF first demonstrated the civilising capabilities of bombing civilians from the air." Also if you put a machine-gun emplacement anywhere in Mosul, for instance, it will only be next to antiquities. But that doesn't make Mosul a valid target.
There was another reason for the Iraqis placing machine guns outside museums. After the last Gulf war, when Kurds and Shiites of Iraq were encouraged by US president to rise up against Saddam, several important museums and archaeological sites were looted in the chaos. Of the 4,000 precious objects missing (many more were destroyed), most stolen items followed the well-worn route to Israel, Switzerland and, finally, to London, where many Assyrian pieces, broken up for easier transit, ended up on the art market or in the back rooms of antiquarian dealers. As a pariah state, Iraq could not get them back through official channels, but the Iraqis were still trying to buy some of them back from western collectors when the 2003 invasion started." Any responsible government must protect their cultural heritage," said a western expert. Dan Cruickshank, the architectural historian whose film on the subject was screened by the BBC, said, 'It is simply not true that the people of Baghdad looted their own museum,' 'they have far too much respect for their own heritage to do that, he added.
For all his faults, Saddam Hussein was protective of archaeology, promoting it for a national rebirth and a repeat of the glories of the past, and comparing himself to Nebuchadnezzar (what about US presidents as Roman emperors ) who had built the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. His rebuilding the old city walls with bricks embossed with his own name next to that of Nebuchadnezzar was a crime against archaeology and aesthetics. But to protect Iraq's heritage as a patriotic duty, five years ago, 10 men from near Mosul who had cut the head off an Assyrian winged bull at Khorsabad, were executed.
But such is the insatiable hunger of western collectors for eastern artifacts that Iraqis continue to loot and smuggle them out of Iraq. Some American and European experts say that most of the 33 missing items were taken in the first few hours of the collapse of Saddam's regime and were stolen 'to order'. Professor McGuire Gibson, an Oriental specialist from Chicago University and a member of the Unesco team investigating the thefts, had received reports that the 'top five' items among the 33 had been smuggled to Tehran and Paris within days of their removal. The loot of eastern heritage has continued since millennia. But ignorant Europeans have derided eastern civilization and culture. One ignorant Englishman gave more weight to works of William Shakespeare than the whole of Indian literature. Recently an uncouth Italian Prime minister described Muslims as culturally inferior.
In the arbitrary division of the world in to the West and the East along the straits of Bosporus, Dardanelles and Gibraltar ( from Arabic Jebel el Tariq ) or into Europe ( and USA ) and Asia, the Europeans first came in to contact with Asians and were either civilised or evolved their own civilisation after encountering superior and existing civilistaions in Asia. These Eastern countries i.e. Egypt, Syria, Iraq , Iran and Turkey, now Muslim countries, have fallen on bad days .In their heydays the Muslim empires, the Arabs ruled and civilised most of Spain and Ottoman Turks reached right up to the Gates of Vienna . They developed and spread culture and civilised Europe. Classical Greek and Hellenic works were translated into Arabic and thus saved as these had been lost in the west. As conservative fundamentalist forces emerged on top, Muslim empires and civilisation decayed and they were colonised by the west with superior arms for waging wars. As had been done earlier by the Indo-Europeans, Turks and Mongols.
It is rather unfortunate that Muslims, because of Islam 's origin in Arabian Peninsula have classified everything that existed before it, even elsewhere, as Jahilya ( ignorance). Most lands conquered by the swords of Islam or Sufis and saints had ancient and flourishing civilisations. Thus, unfortunately little work has been done by Muslim countries to discover their hoary past, which are such rich sources of ancient history, culture, human thought and philosophy. Only tourism has made them take some interest in their past i.e. Egypt and secular Turkey. Even in Turkey, Government publications on their history start with 6th century Gök Turk empire (in Mongolia) and then come to 11th century AD after the Byzantine defeat at Manzikert by Turkic tribes. Thus a mis-conceived attempt is made to black out its pre-Greek, Greek, Hellenic, Roman and Byzantine past. The percentage of Turkic blood, mostly Turcomen would not be more than 15% in the Republic of Turkey. Other examples are the governmental attitude to Pharaonic past in Egypt and Indus Valley and Vedic past in Pakistan.
Most ancient Indo-Aryan and eastern writings were brought to world attention by western scholars. But some of them were not so enlightened and writing in 19th and first half of 20th century at the height of colonial period, tended to strengthen the notion of ruling white man's civilising mission and hence his superiority and supremacy over the native genius throughout history. The propensity of the Brahmins, the highest caste among Aryans, to control and keep everything to themselves i.e. their close family members or caste men led to lack of transparency and hindrance to the culture of writing. So there are few reliable records. Only the oral tradition remained. Lack of transparency persists even to this day in Indian polity encouraging nepotism, inefficiency and corruption. India is No 71 in world transparency order. Writing has been acknowledged as one of the most important tools of civilisation.
Apart from intrepid Buddhist travelers from China and others like Megesthnese, Alberuni, Ibn-batuta etc we have to rely mainly on Western sources or translations when it comes to the origins of history, religions, culture and civilisations. As for the western bias we can see even today how CNN and BBC moderate, distort and even tell blatant lies about events taking place in Afghanistan, Pakistani, Jammu and Kashmir and now Iraq. Even TV channels like Discovery and National Geographic distort the truth. Truth is becoming a major casualty because of western control of communications and thought, more so after fall of the Berlin Wall. Pravada and Izvestia had exercised some check. But the so-called impartiality, especially of US media has been exposed by independent Arab channels like Al Jazeera etc during the recent US war on Iraq.
How Alexander "the Great " has been glorified as a Western conqueror of the East. He was a small town homosexual boy who was taught the intricacies of state protocol, running of an empire and the divinity of the emperor by older civilisations of Asia Minor, Egypt and Persia. If he had followed the advice of his teacher Aristotle and not learnt from the so called barbarians, his vision would have remained limited and shallow. The desert Arab tribes were civilised by the Byzantine courtiers and princesses in Damascus and Sassanians from Persia in Iraq after being conquered by Muslim Arabs. So were the nomad Central Asian Turks and Mongols (also by Chinese) by the Persians.
As there was little comparable civilisation in Western Europe and certainly USA in pre Christian era, they claim that there civilisation, culture and thought originates from the Greeks of Aegean and Asia Minor (Turkey). According to them, Greek civilisation and culture evolved and flourished in Crete and evolved when Greeks (pirates) coming from the Aegean islands settled on the west coast of Asia Minor (called Ionia-Yunani) There fore Minoan civilisation of Crete forms the basis of Greek and hence Western civilisation. It is too simplistic and illogical, if not downright absurd. Why not Cyprus, Malta, Sicily? At that time, there were flourishing civilisations in Egypt, Asia minor, Mesopotamia, Persia, Sogdiana and India. Persian Empire extended up to western Turkish coast with Sardis as its out post. Most Greek city states in Asia Minor were under the Persians, who could cross over the Dardanelles or the Bosporus at will or occupy Greek lands. The first Greek victory over Persians is celebrated as Marathon race in sports. The first victory of the West over East!
Cretian civilisation is derived from Egyptian and Phoenician. Both are indebted to Mesopotamian, verily the mother of all civilisations, which evolved mostly between Tigris in Euphrates in Iraq and southeast Turkey. The evolution in human progress took off six millennia ago. But fourth millennia BC was remarkable, not only in Mesopotamia but in the Nile valley and the Indus Valley. From family units polity developed into villages and cities, kingdoms and empires. The cities were ruled by a god and in his name by the king. To begin with, the first deity was Earth, Mother Goddess. Civilisations in Mesopotamia were created by Sumerians, Babylonians, Akkadians, Assyrians and others. Nile got cylindrical seals from Mesopotamia and the beginnings of writing. The Nile civilisation is magnificent, well preserved but unidirectional and flourished in isolation, without the stimulus of exchange.
If one studies the Egyptian or Pharoanic civilisation, much has been contributed to it by the Nubians of Upper Egypt. Many Pharao's had thick lips and crinky hair. Or La la, Egyptians are bad enough and now to claim that the Sudanese might have influenced the Greek and hence the Western Judo-Hellenic Christian civilisation. Yes, after the development of civilisations in Mesopotamia and the Nile valley, it filtered to eastern Mediterranean, which became a cradle of civilisations, with exchange of ideas through trade and people. That is how the island of Crete acquired civilisation.
The achievement of a civilization may be expressed in terms of its best points—moral and ethical, aesthetic, scientific, and, not least, literary. Legal theory flourished and was sophisticated. Early on, it was expressed in several collections of legal decisions, the so-called codes, of which the best-known and the earliest is the Code of Hammurabi. Throughout these codes recurs the concern of the ruler for the weak, the widow, and the orphan.
There are 25 firsts achieved by Sumerians. These include wheels, the plough, the loom, the potter's wheels, the brick, and the sail, working with metals and finally writing. Technical accomplishments were perfected in the building of amazingly accurate Ziggurats (temple towers resembling pyramids), with their huge bulk, and in irrigation, both in practical execution and in theoretical calculations. At the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC, an artificial stone often regarded as a forerunner of concrete was in use at Uruk (160 miles south-southeast of modern Baghdad), The ultimate weapon to spread civilisations remains systematic writing.
Judaism, mother of all revealed Abrahmic religions in West Asia is claimed to be the first monotheistic religion. But it could have been perhaps influenced by Avestan/Zoroastrian/ pre-Vedic religions in Mesopotamia. In 14th century BC it was an Aryan Mitanni (a kingdom at the borders of Turkey and Syria) princess Gilukhepa, perhaps the well known and famous Nefertiti, who fully supported her husband Pharaoh Akhneton's (AmonhotepIV) efforts to bring in (and perhaps inspire) monotheism, for single God Aton (Sun or Mithra like!). This concept was too sudden and undermined the vested powers of the priests. It was dislodged and soon after Akhneton was removed from power. New work in Egypt is moving in that direction. It was from Egypt that Moses led the Hebrews out to lay the foundations of Judaism.
Now let us take the story of Illiad and Odyssey. For Western culture and civilization, they are almost like Mahabharata and Ramayana are for India, making its author Homer one of the most influential authors in the widest sense. The two epics provided the basis for Greek education and culture throughout the classical age and formed the backbone of humane education down to the time of the Roman Empire and the spread of Christianity. The Homeric epics had a profound impact on the Renaissance culture of Italy. Since then the proliferation of translations has helped to make them the most important poems of the classical European tradition.
Illiad was finalised probably around 750 BC and Odyssey 650 BC (Greek writing started around 650 BC). It is felt that Odyssey, so different from Iliad was not composed by Homer, the blind bard born in Asia Minor, but probably by a young lady (a Jane Austin) somewhere on the Sicilian coast with time to spare. Let that pass. But there certainly is historical basis for the story of abduction of Spartan King Menelus's wife Helen by Trojan Prince Paris. Menelus's brother King Agamemnon of Achaeans, then decided on a voyage of punishment and retrieval. This is when strangely an artificial line, straits of Dardanelles, has been introduced by the Europeans to divide the world into East and West and the victory over Trojans is taken as of the west over East. Why? Later Alexander made offerings at Troy (also at Egyptian oasis Siva) before embarking on his conquest of Asia. Ottoman Sultan Fethi after conquering Constantinople, also visited Troy.
We need not go into the details of the two epics and Troy. But in the search to find the exact place and the time of the events, credit might be given to Heinrich Schliemann. Inspired by Iliad's description, he started digging at Troy site but damaged the real Troy. He was a mythomaniac and big liar. Paris's father King Priam King of Troy is an hour's walk on the Asian side from the Dardanelles. This strategic site, controlling the sea borne trade from the Mediterranean and Aegean to the Black Sea and beyond has been inhabited since fourth millennium BC. Troy 6, site of Homer's Illiad has been dated to about 1260 BC.
At the same time, there was the majestic and magnificent Asian Hittite Empire (1800 BC to 1200 BC) in central Turkey, whose capital Bogazkoy 's citadel has a circumference of five kilometres. The Troy fortress measures 200 yards by 150 yards. Excavations show that Troy perhaps fell as a result of weakening by an earthquake. It was assaulted and set on fire, women and children taken as slaves. Evidence from Hittite archives indicates that Troy was a small state in alliance or subordinate to it. It was attacked when the Hittite empire was in decline and fighting its new enemy the Assyrians in the East. So all this 10 year long Great Trojan war drama was a storm in a tea cup in the ocean of Hittite Empire, which extended from north of Turkey to Syria and up to Babylon (Iraq.) Hittites were contenders for the control of Syria with the Egyptian Pharaohs and local Aryan kingdom of Mitannis in Turkey and Syria.
The regions linking the river basins of Euphrates and Tigris, Oxus and Jaxartes, Indus and Ganges have contributed more to religion, culture and civilisation than the rest of the world put together. Comprising of Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Central Asian Republics, Afghanistan and the Indian sub-continent, there has always been natural interaction in the area through travel, trade, migration and conquest for over five millennia, with many civilisations having also evolved and flourished in desert oasis. The more civilised areas were dominated first by Indo-Europeans charioteers and then the horse riders from Asian Steppes who shaped the Eurasian history. Aryans of India migrated from the steppes of north of the Black and Caspian Seas and Khazakhstan from 3rd to 1st millennia BC. Later Turks and Mongols migrated from the eastern Asian steppes to the Indian sub-continent, Iran and Turkey then known as Asia Minor, where as mentioned earlier had evolved and flowered ancient Greek and Hellenic thought, culture and polity as a result of interaction of incoming Greeks with the existing Asian civilisations of Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Persia, and India beyond. Turkey has more Greek sites than Greece and more Roman monuments than Italy.
With a continuous history this area has been the cradle of most civilizations, thought, philosophy and religions; pre-Vedic to Vedic religions, Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism, Avestan, Zoroasterism, Manichaeism, Judaism, Christianity with its various strands and schisms, Islam and such bye-lanes as Alevis, Alawaites, Yezidis, Druzes and many others. Indo-Iranian, Ural- Altaic and Semitic languages have mingled with each other and local languages to produce such a mosaic of languages and tongues. Culturally, linguistically, ethnically and spiritually there is no region in the world which is so rich and diverse but also has so much in common.
Let us now take western (hence Greek) philosophy, which begins with Thales (who predicted 585 BC solar eclipse). Thales who established the Miletian school (near Smyrna-Izmir, Turkey) speculated that everything consisted of liquid, his disciples Anaximander said there was unity behind multiplicity and Anaximanes that everything was vapour. They are considered spiritual forefathers of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. By 6th century BC schools of Jain and Buddhist philosophy were well established apart from Upanishads, Yoga, Charakva and Sankhya, which have an even older tradition perhaps going back to 8th century BC. While religion and philosophy in India are fused; Buddhism, Jainism and some other schools started as philosophy of life without creating or relying on Gods. Socrates with his inner (intuitive) voice and trances with Plato made a team like Ramakrishna Paramhansa with Swami Vivekananda i.e. intuitive speculator and philosopher with his eloquent spokesman. We know about Socrates only from Plato' writings.
The Orphic and Pythagorean and later Parmenides philosophy or cults are similar to Indian philosophy. Perhaps the ideas had traveled via Alexandria, hub of eastern Mediterranean, then held in high regard as a place for learning and wisdom , where Greeks and others used to congregate and learn. Ugarit port on the Syrian coast was another meeting place for traders, travelers and wise men from the west i.e. Cyprus, Crete etc and east i.e. Iraq, Persia and India beyond. Greeks and Indians were employed in Susan, capital of the Persian Empire, which also ruled north India. So exchange of ideas and philosophy was normal. Scylax, a Greek origin Persian subject from Asia minor was commanded by Emperor Darius to navigate river Indus from Kabul to its delta on the Arabian Sea, from whose records Herodotus and West learnt about India.
Earlier Greek writings and thought had everything; logic, speculation, myths, mystery and beliefs. It's a difficult to say when the divergence between East and West commenced. And why? European rationalism and renaissance! Does it have something to do with the colder climate of Europe, which made them think more rationally and did not lend to development of intuitive powers. We can see the divergence even in the evolution of Christianity, Western and Orthodox. Western theology turns towards dualism making a distinction between the spirit and the matter. Eastern theology maintains that spirit and matter are the two interdependent manifestations of the same ultimate reality. Christianity has been influenced by Mithraism (from pre-Vedic cult ), then very popular with Roman legions, senators and even Emperors who built Mithra temples all over central and east Europe and Asia Minor. Christmas is celebrated on 24 December eve, time of Mithra's birth ( when the Sun starts waxing ).
The divergence between conscious intuition of the East and rational thought of the West was perhaps complete after de la Carte announced "I think therefore I am. ' Of course there's no place for intuition in this. But many western scientists have declared that only intuition had led them to the discoveries of science. Zen masters use Kaons, apparently illogical riddles, to unlock intuitive powers. West then took as faith Darwin's theory of evolution that mutations cause species to change at random and the fittest survives and not Lamarck's theory that species change because they make determined effort to change. It has played havoc with human history. Survival of the fittest theory brought in colonialism, imperialism and cultural orientalism. West also evolved divisive nationalism, Marxism, capitalism, ideological totalitarianism. For these causes and ideologies many scores of millions were butchered in, so far the most violent of all , the 20th century.
And now globalisation (forceful promotion of western corporate interests), under the garb of economic deregulation and integration, creating a system akin to Capitulations ie granting sovereign power to foreign interests and expatriates, roles now played by local presidents, prime ministers and others. Capitulations undermined the mighty Ottoman empire. Globalisation is another ruse to control wealth around the world with out any accountability. No concern of the ruler for the weak, the widow, and the orphan. It started with the mercantilism of Genoa and Venice if not Miletians, when merchants started emerging as power brokers in Europe.
West now believes that there is nothing superior to human rational knowledge. In Greek philosophy, the idea of unwritten laws exists - which ''live always and forever, and no man knows from where they have arisen". Western belief in an external moral universe, to which men owe obedience, has been changed to a rational secular alternative to this moral structure. Isaiah Berlin advice that ''solutions to the central problems existed, that one could discover them, and, with sufficient selfless effort, realize them on earth'' has been lost. Popular religious belief in the West still remains strong, but since mid 20 century its elites have become secularized with radical autonomy and absolute freedom to do whatever one chooses - alone in the universe.
What are a few centuries in human evolution ? Should we not change course. Does West need more stunning events like 11 September, which could be really devastating and catastrophic. The course being followed by US neo-conservatives in Iraq and elsewhere bodes ill for all.
(K Gajendra Singh, served as Indian Ambassador to Turkey and Azerbaijan in 1992-96. Prior to that, he served as ambassador to Jordan (during the 1990-91 Gulf war), Romania and Senegal. He is currently chairman of the Foundation for Indo-Turkic Studies email@example.com)


text:
Follow RFF News on your cell phone. Text follow rff to 40404 you will receive txt messages with RFF News
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
I really like both Ciera and Katie, but for some reason I can't bring myself to fully cheering for them because I don't like their mothers. #weirdlogic
I like Ciera more than Laura, and Tina more than Katie.Candice is so much more likable when she doesn't have to scheme and is yet still in the running <333 Just has to fight and fight challenge after challenge, which is the most stunning aspect of her times in Survivor.
Page created in 0.075 seconds with 33 queries.


text:
Blogger Michael McKisson got a bit of a surprise when he turned on the TV and saw a familiar video. The clip, which McKisson had filmed and uploaded to YouTube for his own blog, was featured in a story on the local news.
McKisson had not given them permission to use the video, and noticed that they didn't attribute the clip to him either. Slightly miffed, he decided to bill them for his services. McKisson shared his plan with Jim Romenesko:
"I have sent an email to the news director with an invoice attached for the use of the video footage. I billed them $US300. I figured a decent rate was $US100 per hour and I worked at least 3 hours shooting, editing and posting the video."
The news director has responded, and said they'll be looking into things, but apparently still hasn't decided if the station will pay McKisson what he's asking for. At the very least they could have asked, or given him credit even if they didn't. But now that it's a bit late for all that, some cash might be able to make things right. [JimRomenesko.com]
Image by S. Tsuji/Shutterstock


text:
Assistant Manager
Job details
Great choice, outstanding value, unbeatable customer service. That's Topps Tiles. But there's more too: for example, did you know just how ambitious and fast-moving we are as a business? Yes, we've exciting plans and we'd love you to help us make them happen.
What we're looking for
First things first: you don't need to know about tiles to work in a Topps Tile store. And you don't need to be someone who spends all their spare time DIYing. If retail's your speciality and you share our passion for exceptional customer service, you'll make a great Assistant Store Manager.
Working alongside the Store Manager, you'll inspire, manage and develop a small store team, driving sales and profitability while delivering outstanding customer service. And that outstanding service? It's something you pride yourself on. As well as making sure that your store works like clockwork and is beautifully presented, you'll help team members to become product experts and give them the confidence (and know-how) to make the most of sales opportunities. That could be through coaching, training, or simply sharing what you know and your experiences. But, as Assistant Manager, it's not just people who'll improve with you around; you'll constantly be looking for exciting new ways to improve your store and the customer experience.
Who you are
A store customers enjoy shopping in and colleagues love working in - that's what you do brilliantly. You've worked in retail, you've managed people and you can show us where you've exceeded sales and profit targets. But more than anything, you know the ingredients that make for magical customer experiences – and you're able to get the best out of team members to make it happen.
As Assistant Manager, you're can-do, will-do, someone who rolls up their sleeves while leading by example. You do everything you can to help your team members, coaching them, supporting them, sharing advice and knowledge. You're commercially switched on too, with business acumen to keep ahead of your competition and set your store apart.
What we'll do for you
In a culture where hard work is recognised and great results are rewarded, you can look forward to uncapped personal commission and company bonus schemes that will give you a share of our success and substantially increase your base wage.
Then there's a generous staff discount, a Share Save scheme, pension and life assurance, a holiday allowance that increases with length of service and a wide range of other benefits. We're committed to promoting talent from within too, which means you'll be well-supported to build a rewarding career with an individual development plan and lots of training on offer. And while you'll need the flexibility to cover store opening hours including weekends, there's no evening work to worry about – and no working on Christmas Eve or Boxing Day either.
Who we are
Big things are happening at Topps Tiles. As Britain's largest specialist tile retailer, selling only the very best quality on-trend products, £1 of every £3 spent in the UK domestic tile market is spent with us. We've just opened our 350th store and hit record sales of £215m. And we're as big on career opportunities as we are on outstanding service and great value. After all, it's brilliant, friendly, knowledgeable people that makes us special. Right now we're on a journey of exciting growth, as we build on seven consecutive years of success – there's never been a better time to join the Topps Tiles family.
A career with Topps Tiles
There's plenty about Topps Tiles that might surprise you. Like the fact that you don't need to be a DIY or tile expert to work in one of our stores or Head Office.


text:
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Now I know. Or at least I know a little.
I know what it looks like in there. I know exactly what it smells like - cigarette smoke, cooking grease, urine, rotten food, sweat. She has stayed in five houses since I've known her and the only thing that stays the same is the smell.
She showed me around while I side-stepped garbage bags spilling baby clothes and cracked toys, and all I could think was, this place could be a knock-out. You'd never know it from the outside.
The carpet was filthy, but a vacuum? How in the world could she ever have a vacuum? Small appliances aren't in the cards for this one. She'd just like to get her hands on some dishes.
I was tired on my drive over to see her. I didn't want to go. I wanted a regular Sunday afternoon. A nap. A book. Something cozy. Something just for me.
I wanted to tell her I couldn't help this time, because I see into the future. I know her fingers on that rental agreement had better be loose. I thought of the book, and how it's such a convenient excuse for when we'd really rather not help.
Then, there she was. I saw her from a block away - I'd know her anywhere. I saw her red cheeks and nose, bitten by the air. I saw the crazy hair and the skin I would kill for. The cigarette, her easy laugh, her grandiose plans that sound to me like impossibilities. All I could do was smile.
So we stood there in the sleet. I watched tiny pearls of ice collect in the part of her hair, catch light from the arc of a curl. I don't know that I've ever stood so long in the sleet, but I would have stayed so much longer.
I went in with my own big ideas and listened while she shattered each one with the clean crack of truth. She needs help. She's drowning. She's alone in the entire world, raising four little boys while every single dad sits in jail. She's taking a step, then taking more in reverse. She has one person in her corner.
So I won't leave, even when I think I want to or I run out of ideas or enthusiasm.
I'll promise to always play it straight and I'll expect the same from her. I'll say no sometimes. I'll say wait.
She drags her untied shoes through the mud and the slush and something happens between us. I still don't know what it is, or if it's even for me. I have my doubts about her future in that house. But maybe two or three months is plenty. Maybe she'll show me a thing or to about my big, stupid plans.
Maybe we'll shine it up, that job she's waited on will land at her door, and we'll watch the months collect like lucky pennies in our jar.
40 comments:
Beautifully written.ReplyDelete
I SO hope and pray for good things for her. Her life sounds incredibly difficult.
I'm so glad she has you in her corner.
there's not just one person in her corner. to hear her story gives us words to pray for.ReplyDelete
just keep showing up.
whatever comes or doesn't come her way...you show up.
sometimes that will be enough.Replies
You are inspiring me. Thank you.ReplyDelete
I felt like I could see her standing there in the sleet. I will pray for her tonight...pray for God to send blessings her way, to show her He is in her corner too.ReplyDelete
You are making my world tilt sideways and I like it. Don't stop.ReplyDelete
I am so glad you have each other! You spent this afternoon close to the heart of God! Well done, this afternoon, FPFG!ReplyDelete
Lovely writing. Really.ReplyDelete
*Sigh* Shannon, just *sigh*. I'm so feeling this post right now, and it totally coincides with the thoughts I'm having over here that are keeping me up to write this comment at 12am, but I didn't want it to end, "MAYBE". I want it to end with somebody shaking something out of anything. Shake that gal and see if something falls out, shake that house, pull blood from that stone over there!ReplyDelete
I dunno. I'm sure I'll come back and read it tomorrow and feel different about it...but for now I want to putt that "MAYBE" there across the lawn.Replies
- Lisa in PasadenaJanuary 14, 2013 at 5:08 AM
I see myself in both of you. The hope, the despair, the dreams, the reality, the longing to make a difference.... That's what you're doing Shannan. Making a difference in so many lives.ReplyDelete
Thanks so much for standing with her....ReplyDelete
I just checked "the book " out of the library a few days ago. So often you write right where my brain is simmering.ReplyDelete
I can't go into too much detail but. Our foster baby's mom has come into my life. As I read your blog I am reminded to live the gospel. I am reminded that it IS my job to 'show up'. I would like to ignore her for selfish reasons but I simply cannot (Proverbs 24:11-12). I want to just love her sweet baby that is special on every level. But I know that God expects me to love her as well. Comfortable no. But necessary. THANK YOU for reminding me that I must look past my selfish(ness) and 'show up'.ReplyDelete
I want to rescue her and the babies. I want to find her a vacuum cleaner. I want to buy books to read to the little ones. And I want some of her courage to keep looking for the good that may not come.ReplyDelete
Thanks for allowing us to see this through your eyes.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousJanuary 14, 2013 at 11:25 AM
Do not lose the hope, someday somehow, things will change!ReplyDelete
You're such a brilliant storyteller. This reads like a novel and I want so badly to read the whole story, all the way up to the ending. My kids have a book where you flip to certain pages to determine the storyline and ending. Maybe by petitioning heaven with you for our new friend, we can do something like that. I hope so.ReplyDelete
I love reading your heart and all the comments here. So very grateful, FPFG.
I am so in awe of how God's love shines through you. What a blessing you are to all of the people who know you (in person and here online.)ReplyDelete
Simply amazing! From the way that you translate your heart, her heart right through the keys on the board, onto the page and into our homes and hearts - truly amazing!ReplyDelete
Simply amazing! How you are obedient even when you'd rather be selfish, how He keeps showing up to pull you in further.
Simply amazing! How He will use you to touch not only her but hundreds, if not thousands through this blog world!!
Simply amazing! How He chooses you - chooses us, to be His hands and feet in this broken and weary world!
Praying for you Shannan, as you continue to step into the sleet, to answer His call, to pour forth His grace, tenderness, mercy, love. Praying for your husband and he supports and goes with you - for your children as they see Jesus modeled first hand in the heart of their home!!
Yes, keep showing up my friend and we will be right there with you <3
Praying for you as your love this one and hers with the big love God has given. You are such an example of being His hands and feet. Everyone needs someone in their corner...ReplyDelete
Hope & prayer & a vacuum......ReplyDelete
Gah...I hate how your posts always make me weep.ReplyDelete
Then again...
Gah...I love how your posts always make me weep.
You are just a true blessing and an inspiration to us all!ReplyDelete
Can we all chip in and get her a vacuum cleaner?ReplyDeleteReplies
We are all that girl. We just have more money, nicer clothes and a vacuum! Life is hard, pain runs deep and tomorrow is another day!!ReplyDeleteReplies
You got it, Sister.Delete
Thank you for these words. They are true, and beautiful and helped my heavy heart today. I am so thankful you are in this women's life...even if she can't tell you, to be sure, know she appreciates you more than words can say.ReplyDelete
There's so much to said for just...being there. I know what smell you're talking about.ReplyDelete
you don't know how much i love this. how you did church twice on a sunday. thank you, on behalf of this beautiful woman.ReplyDeleteReplies
Ditto, Em.Delete
Thank you, Shannan, for taking us with you.
Why did I not comment on this? Oh wait, I remember, because I was boo-hooing.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousJanuary 16, 2013 at 5:36 PM
Your posts make me hunger for more of Him :)ReplyDelete
Beautiful and hard - I pray you are renewed as you pour out, and that she takes hold of all His goodness for her and her boys. Thank you for seeing her beauty.ReplyDelete
Others have said my thoughts better than I could... Thank you for this post. I will pray for all the families behind the faded sheets. I'll also try harder to " show up" for some who could be my kids classmates...ReplyDelete
Oh girl, our lives are like little mirrors of each others' . . . I am grateful for encouragement through your heart and words. Know that I am praying for your friends and for your family and every time we walk into our own neighbor's houses, I think of you and am glad to know we are not alone in walking with Jesus to the smelly and hard places :-) LOVE you!ReplyDelete


text:
John Otway
Top SongsSee All
The Local Mister Strange (feat. John Otway)Alan Clayson & The Argonauts 2017
I Will SurviveThe Essentials 2007
HoneyThe Essentials 2007
BlockbusterThe Essentials 2007
TheresaThe Essentials 2007
Je T'aime Chose Sauvage (I Love You Wild Thing)John Otway & Sarah Ross 2007
AlbumsSee All
Singles & EPsSee All
CompilationsSee All
MoviesSee All
About John Otway
Armed with only a modicum of musical ability, a self-deprecating sense of humour and no apparent fear of public humiliation, this Cockney bloke carved out a modest recording career. Anything to avoid returning to his former calling as a garbageman.He first attracted notice with his frenzied live shows, in which he showed no respect for his personal safety. He parlayed the buzz generated by fans of his stage act into a single called "Cor Baby That's Really Free." Eager to cash in on a punk phenomenon it didn't really understand, Polydor signed Otway to a deal which would result in five albums for the label. His wilfully amateur approach was actually an asset with the ascendancy of punk.He's caught the attention of some of Britain's biggest rock stars. Pete Townsend produced and played on John Otway and Wild Willy Barrett, the 1977 debut. Steeleye Span drummer Nigel Pegrum also played. Paul McCartney once asked Otway to open on a tour by Wings, but he had to decline due to other commitments.Otway didn't rely on only his whacked-out stage shows or loony-tune recordings to earn a reputation as one of rock's true eccentrics. On one of his albums, three tunes had only the backing vocal track. If your copy lacked the headliner's voice, he would volunteer to come round to your place and belt out his part while you played it on your stereo. Desperate for a hit at another time in his career, he refused to admit anyone for dates on a national tour who didn't have a copy of his latest single. This worked for fans because the price of the single was less than the cost of a concert ticket.When his music career faltered, the resourceful Otway diversified before the term became popular. Co-writing a play called Verbal Diary, he created a role for himself playing a disorganized, likable twit. By playing himself to perfection, he found other work playing the same character in commercials on the telly. Branching out still farther, Otway wrote his autobiography during a slow time for both his music and acting endeavors. Cor Baby That's Really Me (Rock and Roll's Greatest Failure) crystallized his strategy of marketing himself as a lovable loser. Within weeks the book outsold almost all of his albums.Encouraged by a crowd of 2,500 at his 2,000th concert in London in 1993, Otway spent the next two years to record new songs. Premature Adulation was his first album in five years.As the millennium ground to a halt, Otway continued to get music and acting work where he could find it. ~ Mark Allan
Similar ArtistsSee All


text:
You're currently on:
- Description
DetailsIllegal, inappropriate and harmful Web content can enter your network via any user's browser. Unfiltered content can infect your network with malware, drain productivity, as well as put your organization at risk for regulatory non-compliance, funding withdrawal and even criminal liability. For instance, schools and libraries that receive eRate funding are required by law to install a content fi ltering solution in compliance with the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA). SonicWall® Content Filtering Service (CFS) provides unequalled content filtering enforcement for businesses, educational institutions, libraries and government agencies, as well as distributed public Internet hotspots. SonicWall CFS blocks inappropriate content, reduces organizational liability and increases productivity for organizations of any size. SonicWall CFS utilizes a comprehensive database of millions of URLs, IP addresses and Web sites. Using a high-performance rating and caching architecture, CFS dynamically updates ratings locally on a SonicWall network security appliance for instantaneous comparison. With CFS, administrators can apply access or denial policies based upon over 56 URL categories, individual or group identity, or time of day.
Features & Benefits:Granular content filteringallows the administrator to block all pre-defined categories or any combination of categories, and to apply these policies on a granular level. User Level Authentication (ULA) and Single sign-on (SSO) can be used to enforce username and password logon. CFS can block potentially harmful content such as Java,™ ActiveX,® and Cookies, as well as schedule filtering by time of day, such as during school or business hours. CFS also enhances performance by filtering out IM, MP3s, streaming media, freeware and other files that drain bandwidth. Dynamically updated rating architecturecrossreferences all Web sites as they are requested against a highly accurate database categorizing millions of URLs, IP addresses and domains. The SonicWall appliance receives ratings in real time, and then compares that rating to the local policy setting. The appliance will then either allow or deny the request, based on the administrator's locally-configured policy. Regulatory reporting and complianceis supported by direct integration with SonicWall's award-winning Global Management System (GMS) and SonicWall ViewPoint™ reporting package. SonicWall ViewPoint™ reporting software along with SonicWall CFS can allow management to easily run detailed or "at-a-glance" graphical reports on real-time or historical data. Easy-to-use Web-based managementenables flexible policy configuration and complete control over Internet usage. Administrators can enforce multiple custom policies for individual users, groups or specific category types. Local URL filtering controls can allow or deny specific domains or hosts. To more effectively block objectionable material, administrators can also create or customize filtering databases. High-performance Web caching and rating architectureallows administrators to easily and automatically block sites by category. URL ratings are cached locally on the SonicWall appliance, so that response time for subsequent access of frequently visited sites is only a fraction of a second. IP-based HTTPS content filteringallows administrators to control user access to Web sites over encrypted HTTPS. HTTPS filtering is based on the categorical rating of inappropriate Web site types, such as Gambling, Online Banking, Online Brokerage and Trading, Shopping and Hacking/Proxy Avoidance. Scalable, cost-effective solution controls content filteringfrom the SonicWall network security appliance, eliminating the need for additional hardware or deployment expenditures from a separate dedicated filtering server.
SonicWall Content Filtering Service ArchitectureAdministered through an intuitive interface, SonicWall Content Filtering Service (CFS) enables filtering and control to take place directly over a LAN, wireless LAN or VPN. Combined with the power and scalability of SonicWall network security appliances, and the robust reporting and management of the SonicWall Global Management System (GMS), CFS delivers an integrated, easy-to-use, highly-manageable filtering solution for organizations of any size.
CFS Premium
CFS Standard
Categories (view here) 56 12 User/Group Policies Yes** No Dynamic Rating Yes No Reporting ViewPoint* ViewPoint* Web site caching Yes Yes Safe Search Enforcement Yes*** No CFS Policy Enforcement per IP Range Yes*** No *ViewPoint sold separately. ** SonicOS Enhanced required. ***Requires SonicOS 5.2 or greater.
Available On
CFS Premium
CFS Standard
TZ 180/180W Yes Yes TZ 190/190W Yes Yes TZ 100/100W Yes No TZ 200/200W Yes No TZ 210/210W Yes No NSA Series Yes No E-Class NSA Series Yes No
- Technical Specs
Additional Information
Global UPC No Manufacturer SonicWALL Supplier Other Subscription Service Content Filtering Service Subscription Length 5 year Subscription Length (New) 5 Years Special Sales Message No
- Images