text:
I'm very new to Java, and I have checked all over the internet and haven't been able to find an easy, suitable answer to my needs.
I'm making a small maze program, and would like to print out an image of the maze, ask the user to press the arrow key in the direction they would like to go, and execute that command. The program would have to stop and wait for an arrow key input.
Do I have to make a new method for this, or can it be done in the main method?


text:
Just how much does the Russian TV show Project Popcorn ape Mystery Science Theater 3000? Check out the theme song. Something tells me nobody from the original MST3K was consulted on this.
Even the plot appears to be ruthlessly cribbed from MST3K. In short, Stephen the protagonist needs money, so he signs up for an experiment run by the nefarious Professor Zamishlavkin. The Professor imprisons Stephen and forces his captive to watch bad films to study the effect on his psyche. Fortunately, Stephen is joined by a duo of plucky puppets — Fidel the penguin and Ketchup the dog — who keep his sanity in check. Here's an entire episode for your viewing pleasure.
I don't speak Russian, so I can't vouch for the quality of the humor, but the whole operation is dredging up memories of Worker and Parasite.
[Via MST3K Info — thanks, Ray!]

subset: commoncrawl


text:
July 03, 2014
What Does the Next-Generation School Library Look Like?
"The libraries of the future are different in so many ways to what we have now, especially in our schools. Step into the future in this MindShift article by Luba Vangelova."
3D printers like this one can be found at Monticello High School's new library/WikiCommons
At a time when public libraries are starting to offer everything from community gardening plots to opportunities to check out humans for conversations, some school libraries are similarly re-evaluating their roles and expanding their offerings.
Case in point: Monticello High School in Charlottesville, Virginia. When librarian Joan Ackroyd arrived there four years ago, she found an environment very different from the "engaging, creative, fun" elementary and middle school libraries to which she was accustomed. "Its library was none of those things," she recalls. "It was a traditional, quiet research space."
Ackroyd decided this wasn't optimal. "People no longer have to come to a library to get information," she says, "so the library has to get people coming in for different reasons. Students need somewhere to socialize, create things and collaborate."
As her first step, she and her co-librarian at the time (music teacher Dave Glover), converted a storeroom into a technology lab. They salvaged computers destined for the landfill and installed music-authoring software on them.
Teachers balked because the library was no longer quiet, but students liked it, and many at-risk students became frequent visitors. Some even admitted to Ackroyd that the only reason they still came to school was to go to the lab.
When the principal witnessed this new level of engagement, she decided to support a full library renovation, funded by rent collected from a company that used the space every summer. They hired an experienced library consultant and took inspiration from libraries designed for younger patrons. "We have open, flexible scheduling, and let students in even when other classes are there," Ackroyd explains. "We also have banked computers that students can use independently, and a circulation desk in a more central area. It's a matter of attitude, to make students feel welcome any time."
"People no longer have to come to a library to get information, so the library has to get people coming in for different reasons."
The book collection was weeded, and shelves were moved to one wall, freeing up space for collaboration and instruction (with glass walls that serve as sound buffers but enable participants to see what's happening in the rest of the library). Rooms that had been used for offices or storage were turned into student areas. The library now also has reading lounge areas with comfortable modular seating, as well as tables with chairs and stools that students are free to move around; two music studios; a HackerSpace (with high-tech equipment such as a microscope, 3D printer, gaming hardware and software, and a green screen for filming) and a Maker Space that also houses a 3D printer and serves as a "hands-on" craft room where old technology can be disassembled and re-configured with other materials. In short, the Monticello Library Media Center has become a "Learning Commons."
"Students work more productively in that kind of environment," Ackroyd says. "It's not an adversarial relationship, with teachers at the front of the room and students at their desks. It makes the teacher's job easier and more pleasant."
"Our library is now more like the workspace of the future," adds Ackroyd's fellow librarian, Ida Mae Craddock, who previously taught English at the school. "Kids who graduate from here will be more productive in those environments."
A New Culture Develops
The new surroundings were also accompanied by a new attitude. "We went from managing students' time to giving them ownership," Ackroyd explains. "They're almost out the door, and they have to be able to manage their time. We are more like an academic library now."
"They need natural consequences," Craddock adds. "What happens when adults don't turn in our work on time? Controlling children that much and then telling them 'goodbye' when they turn 18 doesn't work well."
But it didn't happen overnight — the shift entailed a transition period. "At first they came to the library to experience freedom, but they weren't using it wisely," Ackroyd recalls. "The first year, and even a little bit into the second year, students saw it as a place where they didn't have to be quiet anymore, where they could come and laugh. They weren't studying."
But now, accepting the responsibility that comes with freedom has become ingrained in the school culture, and new students adjust quickly. "You learn behaviors from the people around you," Craddock notes. "They train each other, through social learning."
As a result, parents' worst fears (of "atrophy, a fate worse than death," as Craddock puts it) haven't materialized. "Atrophy is fairly hard to achieve here, because everything is moving," she says, and students are either busy on their own or engaging each other.
Students are free to use phones and other devices. But no first-person shooter games are allowed, and the library uses county Internet filters. Students police each other if they become disruptive to others.
"They know we trust them, and they trust us," Ackroyd says. "We form relationships. We circulate all the time, and try to be welcoming."
A Resource for Teachers
Teachers have come around to embrace the "Learning Commons," holding classes there when they want to conduct lessons that require research, equipment, additional space, personnel or expertise, or that may get messy. "All that has migrated down here," Craddock says. "Teachers want to be creative, do interesting things, and engage students. We provide that environment."
Students are free to use the library during study hall, remediation period, or during internship hours (available to juniors and seniors). They can also use the library during lunch (food and drink are allowed). Some students do their internships in the library, for example by staffing the help desk or maintaining the equipment.
The Virginia School Boards Association recognized the library in its "Showcases for Success," and other librarians have visited Monticello High School to inform their own practices. Many are stunned by the statistics: the "Learning Commons" logs more than 33,000 student visits per year outside class time (the school's enrollment is 1,104).
Visitors also ask if it's loud and messy. "Yes, it is," Craddock tells them," because people are loud and messy. It's not a problem." To accommodate those students who still want quiet, some areas are designated as quiet spaces during certain periods. Students can also use the office for quiet study. Meanwhile, the rest of the "Learning Commons" is buzzing, which suits this new breed of librarians just fine. "It creeps me out when it's quiet in here," Craddock says.
About Luba Vangelova
Luba Vangelova's work has appeared in numerous print, online and broadcast media outlets, including The New York Times, Smithsonian, TheAtlantic.com and Salon (http://www.about.me/lubavangelova). She tweets at @LubaSays.


text:
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Manitoba playdown, Atlantic select and Canada train
In Manitoba two teams will compete in a playoff to determine the provincial representative. The 2008 Team Manitoba will hope to repeat as champions, skipped this year by 2009 Team Canada member Chris Sobkowicz, with Dennis Thiessen, Michael Alberg, Arlene Ursel, and with Terry Lindell as alternate. Their challengers are George Horning (Skip), Richard Dudek (3rd), Don Kalinski (2nd) and Effie Loubardias (Lead).
22 comments:
And so, by CCA demand, the B.C. Team has to spread its talent to four (yes, 4) different teams, and have some type of "pseudo-playoff"....likely the only larger provincial play-off in Canada.......is this another EAST VS WEST issue...........I hope either Armstrong or Neighbour wins and takes the other to Canadians...and kicks ass.....in spite of the ridiculous rules....
- January 7, 2009 at 8:44 PM
I guess Atlantic Canada does not have the restrictions that B.C. has........let's get a level playing field, people........let TEAM CANADA secure its position at the Nationals....rather than watering down B.C.'s chances at the Canadian championships..........let everyone see how they measure up against Armstrong, Neighbour, et al...........rather than wondering if a provincial team is actually competitive................
- January 7, 2009 at 9:27 PM
What would happen if a province "rented" someone like Armstrong (LIKE BODNARCHUK DID IN THE 90'S) to win the Canadian Championships? Lots of funding for a winning province..........
- January 7, 2009 at 9:55 PM
If any province "rented" or tried to "rent Armstrong, his response would be as it was with Bodnarchuk......DROP DEAD......the Brier, as likely will develop in Wheelchair Curling, will thrive on true inter-provincial competition.
Armstrong will advocate for the betterment of our sport forever.
- January 8, 2009 at 7:58 PM
Once again please put ur name to ur post....what are u afraid of????
The same rule applies across Canada ....it just so happens that Team Canada is made up of mostly BC curlers....if Team Canada was made up of mostly Nfld curlers then the same rule wud apply.
FYI Ontario currently has five (5) competitive teams however for some unknown reason the Ontario Curling Association has decided to limit the provincial playoffs to only four (4) teams resulting in a regional playoff which will eliminate one team from the provincials....is that correct or fair when we are trying to grow/expand this sport???
I do not believe that whoever wins a provincial championship can fortify their team by picking up someone they defeated unless perhaps for some very unusual circumstances.....
For those with short memories...it was only a few weeks ago that Alberta, without their top shooter, Bruno, won the Richmond spiel. Here is a trivia question for you....Who did they beat in the final????
Lets Rock 'n Roll
- January 9, 2009 at 3:22 PM
So cn Sobkoicz play for Manitoba, or will he be at camp with Team Canada?
- January 9, 2009 at 7:23 PM
I don't know if you realize this but the only people that are impacted by the CCA rules regarding provincial play downs are the people making up the team Canada pool and all of the members of the pool are from Manitoba westward - so this is no where near a East-West issue! Also, my view is that if Team Canada plays at Nationals they should be prepared to give up the title if they lose.
- January 10, 2009 at 6:54 PM
I agree,,,,ket Team Canada get back to the Natonals, ,similar to the Scotties, and they have to WIN to retain their position...to br fair, maybe a best of three final to start??????
- January 11, 2009 at 8:07 AM
It is time (post 2010), to either have Team Canada compete directly at the nationals, or alternatively, they could be challenged by the national winner.
- January 12, 2009 at 9:00 AM
National winner shoud be able to challenge Team Canada, post 2010
- January 12, 2009 at 9:02 AM
Can you imagine, if Chris Daw represented Newfoundland, won the nationals, then beat Team Canada?
Ottawa wuld have to deal with im all over again...........
- January 12, 2009 at 9:03 AM
Ok, Be smart enough to back you comment up!
What are you saying about me????
I have a great relationship with Ottawa and very few problems wih any one in the program.
So why are people going to have such a tuff problem dealing with me.
Becareful what you say because it is border line beginnings of slander!
- January 12, 2009 at 10:49 AM
Chris, just get ready to play post 2010.
I suspect both Jim Armstrng and Darryl Neighbour are looking beyond next year, and you should keep training.
With Armstrong's guidance, and his specific wheelchair experience by then, it could start a dynasty.
- January 12, 2009 at 11:20 AM
Hey, Chris, lighten up......could be the writer meant that your return to the program would but the staff in their correct place.
- January 12, 2009 at 11:27 AM
Okay, now we are bac to the obvious ongoing qestion:
Is Jim Armstrong (with existing support) good enough to put Canada on the podium.....this year?????......next year??????
What do Canadians think?????
What does the rest of the World think??????
- January 12, 2009 at 12:43 PM
It isn't a matter of whether Jim Armstrong is good enough, it is a question of whether TEAM CANADA is good enough. Curling is a team sport and there are more than just one person who could skip the current team to the podium. One must always remember that in curling anything can happen in one game, one weekend or one spiel. The current team will have games where they curl trememdous and they will also have games when they won't curl so well both as a team and individually.....they are just ordinary people who curl...they are not curling gods...I am sure they will try to curl their best and represent CANADA very well...what more can we ask.....One day we hope that the CCA will see the light and allow the winner of the National Championship to be Team Canada....
Lets Rock 'n Roll
Bruce Cameron
- January 12, 2009 at 2:32 PM
Fair enough. Thank you for the encouraging words. I apologize if I offened anyone. Perhaps I did take it out of context.
Good Luck to everyone at Worlds.
And you never know we just may see you at nationals.
- January 12, 2009 at 4:59 PM
Team Canada's best shot at improvement lies with Jim Armstrong. You are right, Mr. Cameron, that it is a team effort, but I will bet that all involved in the Program will admit that he biggest impact on the Program, both on AND off the ice is Jim, and everyone expects his impact to be felt (maybe not even this season), at the International level. He has to have (assuming ego is not an issue) impacted the Program already. How about asking his team-mates?????
- January 12, 2009 at 6:37 PM
Hey, Bruce,
Name the person that will skip Team Canada to the podium.........that is, other than Armstrong
- January 12, 2009 at 6:44 PM
Canada has been dry at the podium since 2006,
Other teams have obviously improved, as I hope Team Canada has.
Team Canada has two (one-half) new members.
I personally don't think Jim can do it this year.
Maybe with the same team and a year of seasoning, next year.
It is asking too much for a new team to outperform teams that hve had years of experience together. That is the reason I truly hope that the coachs will decide on a team and let them work together for at least a year.
- January 13, 2009 at 8:35 AM
Armstrong not GOOD enough??????
Check out all the threads......EVERYONE IS AFRAID HE IS GOOD ENOUGH......
I, for one, HOPE he is, but that is too much, uncalled for, unnecessary pressure.
I wish mim and his team well, and enjoy the experience.....
- January 13, 2009 at 10:15 AM
For the person who wants me to name those who cud skip the team to the podium.....here's the deal....as soon as u step out from behind "anonymous" and give ur background....are u a wheelchair curler or able bodied curler(competitive or rec), where do u
curl, are u a qualified curling coach, have u worked with disabled or able bodied athletes, have u curled with or against any of the current Team Canada or any of the pool curlers, have u curled against any of the other countries' National teams in the past two years, have u competed in ur provinces playdowns or selection camps as I suspect u are a "left" coaster....once u come "clean" and I expect honesty, I will be glad to provide a list of those who I believe cud skip the current Team Canada to the podium.....
Lets Rock 'n Roll
Bruce Cameron
- January 13, 2009 at 4:27 PM


text:
Health Promotion
The Neil Rossy and Gregory David Health Promotion Hub is a student-focused service that aims to support and improve student health and well-being. Working across the interconnected domains of physical, mental and social health, and following an evidence-based public health framework, we use a diverse range of activities to encourage increased individual and community control over factors that affect health. Health Promotion works to foster knowledge and skills and the policy and environmental supports to help students engage in safer and healthier lifestyles.


text:
Now that the world's thinnest TV bezel race has well and truly been, err, run, LG's focusing its attentions on laptop bezels, with the 12.5-inch Xnote P210 screen fitting in the 11.6-inch space of a MacBook Air.
This isn't just some dinky netbook, though. There's a 1.33GHz Intel Core i5 470UM processor, along with 4GB of DDR3 RAM and a 320GM hard drive. It's destined just for Korea, however, where it'll go on sale in February for the equivalent of $US1,135. [Newswire via Compulenta via Mini-Notebook-laptop via Engadget via Softpedia via Dvice]


text:
Fatal motorcycle crashes drop in Ohio
Motorcycle fatalities in Ohio have dropped by 21 percent since 2010, according to state statistics.
Statistics show 133 motorcycle fatalities last year; 163 in 2012; 166 in 2011; and 168 in 2010. So far this year there have been 28.
The total number of motorcycle crashes in the state declined by 16 percent during that time.
Numbers analyzed by The Columbus Dispatch show that motorcyclists were at fault in fatal crashes from 59 percent to 74 percent of the time from 2010 to 2013. During the same period, bikers were at fault in 57 to 58 percent of crashes resulting in injuries.
Last year, 43 of the 133 motorcyclists who died in crashes in Ohio were not wearing helmets. In 2012, it was 41 of 163 fatalities.
Motorcycle advocates say responsible riding plays as big a role in safety as helmets and speed do. Operating a motorcycle requires a heightened sense of awareness, and riders should assume they could be in a nearby vehicle's blind spot at any time.
"We're a little more difficult to see, and we don't have all that protection (of a car) around us," said Chuck Stiteler, coordinator of Motorcycle Ohio, the largest statewide training program for bikers. "We have to really be on our toes."


text:
It's been nearly a decade since Kill Bill Vol. 1 was released. Yet, the film's most complex and most gruesome scene, the House of Blue Leaves showdown, is still burned in viewers' minds.
The House of Blue Leaves was based on Tokyo's Gonpachi—and the fight itself was a tribute to blood soaked masters of Asian cinema. But what was it like bringing that bloodbath to life?
When the scene was shown in the US, it had to be shown in black-and-white to get by the film censors. When it was shown in Japan, the scene was in full-color.
Earlier this month, Miramax released a handful of behind-the-scenes stills from the filming. Have a look.
Behind the scenes [Miramax via Acid Cow via ザイーガ]
Kotaku East is your slice of Asian internet culture, bringing you the latest talking points from Japan, Korea, China and beyond. Tune in every morning from 4am to 8am.


text:
Some ATT customers to get refunds
AT&T is agreeing to pay the federal government $700,000 and offer refunds to customers for mistakenly forcing some smartphone users into monthly data plans.
In late 2009, AT&T began to require new smartphone customers to subscribe to monthly data plans.
Existing subscribers with pay-per-use plans or no plan at all had to get a monthly plan when they upgraded to a new smartphone.
The requirement wasn't supposed to apply when subscribers replaced a lost or broken phone through an insurance program or warranty, or if they moved to a different AT&T service area. But a computer error moved those customers into monthly plans anyway.
AT&T Inc. now must offer to restore the older plans and give refunds, which the Federal Communications Commission says could be up to $30 a month.


text:
La Grange Georgia -
May 8th 1863 - )
Dear Mr. Gage.)
How shall I thank you for the
sweet, sweet long letter I recieved from
you a few days since? I do assure
you I was seriously thinking of sending
you a drift again and right here in
this communication. Let me ask you to think
earnestly upon what I am about to say -
I think that our engagement cannot or
ought not to be consummated before
the termination of this war that
we had better simply have an understand
-ing - that each shall be true - and yet
nothing binding - I Love you devotedly
as you well know - and will be true
to you always - but I do not like this


text:
We are experimenting with a new online editor for cover images. The new editor allows easy point-n-click access to adding titles and other effects to your current image covers. Many writers do not have the tools or skill to create or edit an image cover and this new feature should help alleviate this problem.
Please note that multiple passes of using the image editor will severely degrade image quality. Each time you hit save via the editor is considered one pass. We recommend having the original image backed up on your computer, upload it, and use the editor once or twice to save changes. If you need to start over from scratch, upload the original image on your computer and start the process over again.
- New online image editor for covers. To access, visit Image Manager, click on the image and visit editing link.
- To achieve the best image quality, upload 6/9 ratio images and not squares. 6/9 ratio is equivalent to 300 pixel width and 450 pixel height. If you upload a square image, we crop it and potentially distorting your original image.


text:
Hi Im Matt3985 from youtube, creatator of the fan based series called Ducks Magical Adventure: The Trilogy and the youtube series called Duck & Lady: The Magical Adventures. This forum is dedicated personally to my good friend Lady Kimberly for her g
thomas, modeling, media, productions, forum, matt3985, from, youtube, creatator, based, series, called, #ducks, magical, adventure, trilogy, duck, lady, adventures, this
Free forum : It's time to hop on the computer and start posting! Ultimate after school place to hang, and even better on a SNOW DAY!!
free, snow, computer, anything, everything, topics, dragon, cave, friends, club, penguin, runescape, funny, jokes, videos, video, games, dogs, cats, pets, animals, #ducks, graphics
Free forum : A forum dedicated to the buying and selling of quality heritage poultry in Western Canada.
chickens, western, canada, poultry, swap, heritage, waterfowl, coops, buying, selling, shows, events, breeders, turkeys, #ducks, backyard, urban, hens
Here you can list your Farm Animals, Fruits, Vegetables, Homemade Goods, Hay & Straw Bails, and Much More. Please post all Virginia local Farm & Animal Swaps here as well. All members pos
free, virginia, farm, animal, &, more, swap, board, animals, fruits, vegetables, homemade, goods, straw, bails, alpacas, lamas, cows, donkeys, poultry, #ducks, emus, geese, goats
This site will be a place where people from all walks of life can discuss their adventures in the great outdoors. Join us today and share your stories.
bucks, #ducks, brews, hunting, fishing, glaurus, brewery, glaris, with, waterfowl, today, miller, company, goose, forum, forums
Forum gratuit : Free forum : Tiger Ducks Guild Forum. Free forum : TigerDucks Guild Forum : Flyff : Tiger Ducks Flyff Forum
forum, gratuit, free, tigerducks, tiger, #ducks, guild, flyff
Waterfowl hunting forum for duck hunters
duck, hunting, waterfowl, #ducks, chat, decoys, sneakbox, hunt, boats
Dinorpg The Ducks Forum
All Hockey Talk all the time. Discuss any issues and have fun.
anaheim, #ducks, atlanta, thrashers, boston, bruins, buffalo, sabres, chicago, blackhawks, colorado, avalanche, carolina, hurricanes, columbus, bluejackets, calgary, flames, detroit, redwings, dallas, stars, edmonton, oilers
Free forum : This is a place for Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska backyard farmers to gather and learn
quail, white, chickens, back, yard, coturnix, pheasants, peafowl, game, birds, rabbits, poultry, homestead, swaps, traditional, predators, raising, regional, #ducks, waterfowl, geese, swap
BackYardWaterfowl!!!. BackYardWaterfowl. waterfowl ducks geese eggs hatching birds poultry byw backyardwaterfowl


text:
The robots.txt was first officially rolled out 20 years ago today! Even though 20 years have passed, some folks continue to use robots.txt disallow like it is 1994.
Before jumping right into common robots.txt mistakes, it's important to understand why standards and protocols for robots exclusion were developed in the first place. In the early 1990s, websites were far more limited in terms of available bandwidth than they are today. Back then it was not uncommon for automated robots to accidentally crash websites by overwhelming a web server and consuming all available bandwidth. That is why the Standard for Robot Exclusion was created by consensus on June 30, 1994. The Robots Exclusion Protocol allows site owners to ask automated robots not to crawl certain portions of their website. By reducing robot traffic, site owners can free up more bandwidth for human users, reduce downtime and help to ensure accessibility for human users. In the early 1990s, site owners were far more concerned about bandwidth and accessibility than URLs appearing in search results.
Throughout internet history sites like WhiteHouse.gov, the Library of Congress, Nissan, Metallica and the California DMV have disallowed portions of their website from being crawled by automated robots. By leveraging robots.txt and the disallow directive, webmasters of sites like these reduced downtime, increased bandwidth and helped ensure accessibility for humans. Over the past 20 years this practice has proved quite successful for a number of websites, especially during peak traffic periods.
Using robot.txt disallow proved to be a helpful tool for webmasters; however, it spelled problems for search engines. For instance, any good search engine had to be able to return quality results for queries like [white house], [metallica], [nissan] and [CA DMV]. Returning quality results for a page is tricky if you cannot crawl the page. To address this issue, Google extracts text about URLs disallowed with robots.txt from sources that are not disallowed with robots.txt. Google compiles this text from allowed sources and associates it with URLs disallowed with robots.txt. As a result, Google is able to return URLs disallowed with robots.txt in search results. One side effect of using robots.txt disallow was that rankings for disallowed URLs would typically decline for some queries over time. This side effect is the result of not being able to crawl or detect content at URLs disallowed with robots.txt.
Here are some of the most common robots.txt mistakes I encounter:
Implementing a robots.txt file. - Google has stated that, you only need a robots.txt file if "your site includes content that you don't want search engines to index. If you want search engines to index everything in your site, you don't need a robots.txt file (not even an empty one)." Most situations are best resolved without using a robots.txt or disallowing URLs. When you think about using robots.txt to disallow URLs, think of it as your last option. Consider things like retuning a 410 HTTP response, using noindex meta tags and rel=canonical, among other options first.
Not disallowing URLs 24 hours in advance. - In 2000 Google started checking robots.txt files once a day. Before 2000, Google only checked robots.txt files once a week. As a result, URLs disallowed via robots.txt were usually crawled and indexed during the weeklong gap between robots.txt updates. Today, Google usually checks robots.txt files every 24 hours but not always. Google may increase or decrease the cache lifetime based on max-age Cache-Control HTTP headers. Other search engines may take longer than 24 hours to check robots.txt files. Either way, it is entirely possible for content disallowed via robots.txt to be crawled during gaps between robots.txt checks during the first 24 hours. In order to prevent pages at URLs that should be disallowed with robots.txt from being crawled, the URLs must be added to robots.txt at least 24 hours in advance.
Disallowing a URL with robots.txt to prevent it from appearing in search results. - Disallowing a URL via robots.txt will not prevent it from being seen by searchers in search results pages. Crawling and indexing are two independent processes. URLs disallowed via robots.txt become indexed by search engines when they appear as links in pages not disallowed via robots.txt . Google is then able to associate text from other sources with disallowed URLs to return URLs disallowed via robots.txt in search results pages. This is done without crawling pages disallowed with robots.txt. To prevent URLs from appearing in Google search results, URLs must be crawlable and not disallowed with robots.txt. Once a URL is crawlable, noindex meta tags, password protection, X-Robots-Tag HTTP headers and/or other options can be implemented.
Using robots.txt disallow, to remove URLs of pages that no longer exist from search results. - Again, the robots.txt file will not remove content from Google. Google does not assume that content no longer exists just because it is no longer accessible to search engines. Using robots.txt to disallow URLs of pages that have been indexed but no longer exist, prevents Google from detecting that the page has been removed. As a result, these URLs will be treated just like any other disallowed URL and will probably linger in search results for some time. In order for Google to remove old pages from search results quickly, Googlebot must be able to crawl the page. In order for Google to crawl a page, it must not be disallowed with robots.txt. Until Google detects that content has been removed, keyword and link data for these pages will continue to appear in Google Webmaster Tools. When pages have been removed from a website and should be removed from search results pages, allow search engines to crawl the pages and return a 410 HTTP response. I was recently able to have 150,000 pages removed from search results in 7 days using this method.
Disallowing URLs that redirect with robots.txt. - Disallowing a URL that redirects (returns a 301 or 302 HTTP response or MetaRefreshes) to another URL, "disallows" search engines from detecting the redirect. Because the robots.txt file does not remove content from search engines indexes, disallowing a URL that redirects to another URL typically results in the wrong URL appearing in search results. This in turn causes analytics data to be even further corrupted. For redirects to be handled by search engines correctly and not screw up analytics, redirected URLs should be accessible to search engines and not disallowed via robots.txt.
Using robots.txt to disallow URLs of pages with noindex meta tags - Disallowing URLs of pages with noindex meta tags will "disallow" engines from seeing the noindex meta tag. As a result and as mentioned earlier, disallowed URLs can appear indexed in search results. If you do not want the URL of a content page to be seen by users in search results, use the noindex meta tag in the page and allow the URL to be crawled.
Some sites try to communicate with Google through comments in robots.txt - Googlebot essentially ignores comments in robots.txt like you see at nike.com/robots.txt, yelp.com/robots.txt and etsy.com/robots.txt.
Using robots.txt to disallow URLs of pages with rel=canonical or nofollow meta tags and X-Robots-Tags - Disallowing a URL prevents search engines from seeing HTTP headers and meta tags. As a result, none of these will be honored. In order for engines to honor HTTP response headers or meta tags, URLs must not be disallowed with robots.txt
Disallowing Confidential Information via robots.txt. - Anyone who understands robots.txt can access the robots.txt file for a website. For instance, google.com/robots.txt and apple.com/robots.txt. Clearly, the robots.txt was never intended as a mechanism for hiding information. The only way to prevent search engines from accessing confidential information online and displaying it to users in search results pages is to place that content behind a login.
WHOA NELLY robots.txt. - Even though most sites do not need a robots.txt file many look like https://www.google.com/robots.txt. I call these "WHOA NELLY robots.txt files." Complex robots.txt files make for mistakes on your end and by search engines. For example, the maximum file size for a robots.txt is 500 kb. Text in robots.txt over the 500 kb limit is ignored by Google. Robots.txt files should be like Snickers Mini bars, short and sweet.
Robots.txt postpone. - If Google tries to access a robot.txt file but does not receive a 200 or 404 HTTP response, Google will postpone crawling until a later time. For that reason it is important to ensure that robots.txt URLs always return a 200, 403 or 404 HTTP response.
403 robots.txt. - Returning a 403 HTTP response for robots.txt indicates that no file exists. As a result, Googlebot can assume that it is safe to crawl any URL. If your robots.txt returns a 403 HTTP response and this is an issue, simply change the response to a 200 or 404.
User-Agent directive override - When generic user-agent directives come before specific directives in robots.txt, later directives can override earlier directives as far as Googlebot is concerned. This is why it is best to test robots.txt in Google Webmaster Tools.
Robots.txt case sensitivity - The URL of the robots.txt file and URLs in the robots.txt file are case-sensitive. As a result, you can expect issues if your file is named ROBOTS.TXT and included URLs are accessible via mixed cases.
Removing robots.txt file URLs from search results. - To prevent a robots.txt files from appearing in Google search results, webmasters can disallow robots.txt via robots.txt and then remove it via Google Webmaster Tools. Another way is by using x-robots-tag noindex in the HTTP header of the robots.txt file.
robots.txt Crawl-delay - Sites like http://cs.stanford.edu/robots.txt include a "Crawl delay" in robots.txt but these are ignored by Google. In order to control Google crawling, use Google Webmaster Tools.


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Plagiarizing Paleontologists
Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 4:58 pm
There's an interesting story up at Nature News about scientific ethics. It seems that while one group of scientists is figuring out details about aetosaurs (ancient crocodiles), another group in New Mexico is repeatedly taking credit for their work and naming the new animals they 'discover'. It also looks like the state government, which has been asked to intervene, is trying to sidestep the issue. 'The New Mexico cultural-affairs department, which oversees the museum, conducted a review of two of the instances last October and concluded that the allegations were groundless. But some experts call that review a whitewash, claiming that it failed to follow accepted practices of US academic institutions faced with claims of misconduct. Now all three cases are before the Ethics Education Committee of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, a professional organization based in Northbrook, Illinois, which is awaiting responses from the New Mexico team before making a ruling.'
Sound familiar?
http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080130/ ... 1510a.html
Sound familiar?
http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080130/ ... 1510a.html


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SOUTHPORT -- Making life choices that don't include abortion is crucial to carrying out the dream of Martin Luther King Jr., a niece of the slain civil rights leader told Notre Dame High School students Tuesday.
The Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision of 1973 made it possible for women to choose to abort their babies and violate their babies' civil rights, Alveda King, pastoral associate and director of African-American outreach for Priests for Life and Gospel of Life Ministries, said during her talk, "How Can the Dream Survive?"
"A woman has the right to choose what she does with her body, but the baby is not her body," she said. "Where's the lawyer for the baby? How can the dream survive if we murder the children?"
The law says the woman can make the decision to have an abortion and take away the civil rights of another human being even if the father wants the baby to be born, said King, 60.
She said she is the grandmother of five and has six adult children, as well as two aborted children and one miscarried child.
"I made a mistake to have abortions, and they were terrible mistakes, terrible choices," she said.
"My mother wanted to abort me in 1950. Dr. Martin Luther King Sr. told her, 'You know, that's not a lump of flesh. The Birth Control League is lying to you. That's a little girl with brown skin and bright red hair. I saw her in a dream three years ago,'" said King, whose heritage is Irish, Cherokee and African.
"I'm talking about Martin Luther King Sr., who prophetically saw me and said what I looked like with no pretty ultrasound."
King also was featured during a Tuesday evening program at the Clemens Center in Elmira. Chemung County Right to Life sponsored her appearances because the right to life is fundamental to all civil rights, said Steve Spaulding, president of the organization.


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Li Zhesi Banned For EPO Positive
Jan 29, 2013 - Craig Lord
(File updated since original file, adding name of banned coach)
Following our report and questions in December and a pending question from the USA, FINA today imposed a two-year ban on Li Zhesi, the Chinese teenager who at 16 last March 31 tested positive for EPO, and her coach Wang Shun.
Feng Zhen coached Li from a young age and was her coach leading up to Shanghai 2011 world titles, when Li won relay gold for China. Feng oversaw the rapid development of Li, who produced world-class speed at 12, as well as Li Xuanxu, Xu Yin and Yu Meihong, all world-class at 13 years of age.
When the news of Li's banned came out today, FINA was unable to reveal the name of the coach when asked by SwimNews. It would take 24 hours to come through. China then named Wang Shun.
Some of Feng's swimmers ended up with his coaching deckmate Wang Shun, now named by FINA as the suspended coach who will also receive a fine of 5,000 Chinese Yuan (about 600 euros), small fry in the world of doping. The same fee, to cover the cost of testing, was imposed on Zhesi. For those who supplied the banned substances, such sums are paltry.
More interesting was the accompanying action in the case: Liaoning Provincial Swimming Association received a warning and will cover the costs of 20 anti-doping controls, so around euros 12,000.
Feng remains in charge of a squad of young athletes, Wang the man who takes the drop. Feng was mentor to Li Zhesi and Li Xuanxu, who claimed bronze in the 400m medley at London 2012 in the race in which teammate Ye Shiwen clocked a stunning 58.6 last 100m for a world-record victory in which she swam as fast on freestyle as five of the finalists in the equivalent event among men.
China has sought to clamp down on its doping problems in recent years after more than 45 positive tests between 1993 and 2002. Precisely why the provincial swim association should receive such punishment has not been made clear, though it is known that one way in which China tries to control its doping problem is to select for national teams only those it believes to be clean. Team selections for major events in recent years have left swimmers in the China top 3 at home, while swimmers ranked between 4th and even 12th have made it to international waters on some of the biggest of occasions.
While some wonder why a young sprinter would need a substance associated with endurance sport, EPO stimulates RBC production, sprinters able to benefit from the increase in oxygenation during specific training phases. The fines and bans involved do not reflect the level of dangers inherent in giving under-age athletes EPO. In the wake of the GDR doping trials of the late 1990s, German laws stretch to jail terms for those who supply banned substances to under-age athletes.
Meanwhile, no explanation has been given as to why it took China so long to confirm what was known within their system in April and publicly by June. At Christmas, nine months after the positive test was returned, FINA had had no official word from China despite a rule that obliges member federations to report positives within 14 days of a report. Chinada made the case public in June.
Today, FINA added the case to its anti-doping file as follows:
Doping Offence - Li Zhesi (CHN)
In March 2012, the swimmer Li Zhesi (CHN) was tested positive to the substance EPO (Class S.2 Peptides Hormones) following a doping control test conducted out-of-competition by China Swimming Association in cooperation with CHINADA.
The China Swimming Federation imposed a sanction of two (2) years' ineligibility on Ms. Li Zhesi, as well as on her coach.


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Home Depot Cancels Sale, Overnights Free Tool To Customer After EECB
SgtBeavis ordered a clearance item from Home Depot last week. The site claimed that the item was on backorder, and let him place the order. Then they canceled it. Fortunately, the good sergeant reads Consumerist, and decided to write to the CEO of Home Depot to get the situation fixed. It worked: Home Depot overnighted the item to his house for free. He and his woodworking buddies were stunned,
.Last week I tried order a new "Work Sharp 3000" sharpener from Home Depot. This tool is normally $200 but they had it on clearance for $62.25. This tool is very highly rated in the woodworking world and is rarely on sale for less than $150.
The thing is, the tool was already sold out on Homedepot.com. However it was shown as being "on backorder". So I went ahead and order anyways. I certainly don't mind waiting a few weeks for such a huge discount.
Fast forward to two days ago, I found out that my order has been canceled. Looks like someone screwed up by saying it was on back order. This seemed to tick off quite a few people on the various woodworking forums I frequented.
So I looked on Consumerist.com and found the email address of Home Depot CEO, Frank Blake, and wrote a quick message explaining the issue and pointing out the various forums that had been discussing this sale. I make sure to remain very polite and state that I was a regular customer and I intended to remain a regular customer. I also didn't ask for any specific compensation, but I was hoping for maybe a 20% off coupon. I gave this advice to the guys on the woodworking forum, one guy took my advice, others kinda laughed at me saying that there was no way the CEO of a multi-billion dollar company would give me the time of day. I have attached a copy of the email which also has a link to the thread on the Woodnet.net forums as well as screen shots of my order.
Today I got two calls from Home Depot. The CEO (or someone in his office) forwarded my email to Tish in customer services. She called the manufacturer and had this tool OVERNIGHTED to my house. Oh, and it's FREE! I offered to pay the sale price but she was having none of it.
The one guy on those message boards that followed my advice got a $150 HD gift card. Pretty much the same value as the tool I'm getting.
You can see a photo of my new FREE Work Sharp 3000 on my Flickr page.
I also made sure to inform the guys at the Woodnet forums of my success. I hope you'll show this off on Consumerist.com.
Amazing. Of course, you can harness the mystical power of the executive e-mail carpet bomb for yourself: here's how.
Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.


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Jillian Reilly has worked for twenty-one years in the global aid industry across Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe. In 1993 Jillian came to South Africa to work with a human rights organisation during the dying days of apartheid and was lucky enough to monitor the historic 1994 elections. Hooked on the promise of the new South Africa, she stayed for another four years working with a US non-profit to strengthen the capacity of local NGOs. During that time Jillian was also given the opportunity to develop new projects in countries across east and southern Africa, including Mozambique, Botswana, and Ethiopia. In 1997 she moved to Zimbabwe to start an HIV/AIDS programme. Feeling helpless as she watched the country being brought to its knees by an epidemic and the man who claimed to be its liberator, Jillian left in 2000 and began consulting to the aid industry.
06 Mar 2014 | Tags: Botswana, Ethiopia, global aid industry, HIV/Aids, human rights, Mozambique, US Non Profit 0 comments


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Avoid These Holiday Online Scams
The start of the holiday season is a time of cheer for cyber criminals, who attempt a variety of online scams on holiday shoppers. McAfee online security expert Robert Siciliano discusses on digits. Photo: AP Images.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
... I ... the ... one of the ... biggest online scams you need to avoid ... the data to tell some of them and the McCafe online security tree well that's a silly on an e joins us now ... from Boston Rover thank you very much for joining us ... are you ... so tell us I'd I don't like to get scammed aam was the one of the big ones the need to look for ... Sunday ... Daimler sites online that is actually ... a website designed to its credit card based its first lead the nation ... on the deal get to the state Web sites ... for search engines to get to our basic organic search ... and the guy is a ... really good at putting those stake websites at the first page search ... additionally you might get to bow of State website ... the fishing emails e mails received look like legitimate eat eleven or that they want you ... into the ... sex body ... else ... in the exhibition ... there was a will Smith said yes ... dismissing ... I ... think what they see is the emails you get a bit shy text message ... is that I'm yet to fully you Lord you it's going to get the onset of a product ... of the best ... thing to do is simply statistically ... I like the I believe the summing even I could do well so well this gift cards I missing any of the in laws something on a gift card you don't want to be bogus ... how to avoid that ... it's hard to notice it starts to occur when a generally fine for ... its third party websites that not knowing what ... you're best off by your gift ... cards for the record low heat sales right at the checkout counter or at the kiosk in the middle of all ... it's a little risky ... why is it that speech was not the killers ... and when you didn't tell people to spend it ... on spending immediately in case of Calvinism anime all when you try to spend a ... social media scams let's talk about battle of people spending an awful lot of time on social media perhaps too much perhaps not ... plans which way you look at it but what can you learn about being scammed from that ... to ... be treated ... the way the ALM that that guy he actually Ardi infected people paid huge tripling ... that ... are designed to get it for information or to an actor actual like to read you keep that up the heater on your own Twitter or become a Facebook page ... I've that they did this really great beyond eye pattern I phone ... the stock religion ... we ignore that can go right to the retailer's website ... that makes a lot of sense he said baddies ... who all ... the people who would try this can be you and me doing a whole are they saying the same supposedly ... of good chat ... the doctor or catch criminals it's not too sure if you want to go hat in the front page in the dark or not or could I ... be of high rocketing out of pocket at the quarter's ... end of the social engineers ... that ... you'll pick pick pick pick out I returning cash aikido experimental therapy for me you back in progress the world ... wheel callable organized where the market he told the club's cards are convinced that statistically to get offers for information ... again turned in to catch ... up time will will hopefully everyone can never watch and this can avoid that lots of other people to thank you Brian much for that ... so silly aam and is the McCafe online security attacks but so we really appreciate the time ...


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15 Automotive Museums - Gearhead Getaways
Fifteen must-see automotive museums for your bucket list!
Automotive museums are repositories of history and caretakers of dream cars. They're places every hot rodder and gearhead should visit occasionally to remind themselves of how far the hobby has come in such a short time, and how all the different genres of the hobby are really just bits of fabric in the same cloth. Plus, they're just plain fun to wander through.
Beyond that, they're the perfect way to introduce the next generation to the hobby and teach them why cars are an important part of our culture—even beyond the enclave of car culture itself. Find one near you and make plans to visit soon!
The Petersen Automotive Museum
Affectionately known as the "The Pete" after founder Pete Petersen, who practically birthed the whole automotive enthusiast magazine concept, the Petersen houses the incredible collection he and his wife, Margie, put together over the years. All four floors offer hours of entertainment, but it's the second floor that is infamous for its five rotating galleries with race cars, classics, vintage motorcycles, concept cars, celebrity and movie cars, and auto design and technology.
What to see:
The Pete is constantly changing its exhibitions by either dipping into its own extensive collection or through loans from private individuals. Recent favorites of ours are NHRA: 60 Years of Thunder, Cars and Guitars, Muscle Cars: Power to the People, Tribute to Trans-Am Racing, and Steve McQueen: The Legend and The Cars. Currently, it's Supercars and Scooters. Tell us that doesn't sound fun to check out. Take the kids to the hands-on May Family Discovery Center on the third floor; it's designed to spark interest in science by teaching basic scientific principles through the fundamental functions of a car.
The Petersen Automotive Museum
Los Angeles, CA
Antique Automobile Club of America Museum
The Antique Automobile Club of America (AACA) is all about preserving history and educating the public on the history of the American automobile. The concept of an automotive museum actually evolved as a complement to the AACA's Research Center and Library. They're really doing outreach PR for all car guys; most of the exhibitions are supported by educational programs for school and community and the AACA sponsors workshops and activities designed to raise public awareness. It hasn't gone unnoticed either; the AACA Museum was recognized by the Smithsonian as an Affiliate Museum, which is an extremely rare honor.
What to see:
The AACA is unique because virtually all the cars on display have been loaned or donated by AACA members. You'll take a trip back through time since most are arranged in settings appropriate to their eras so visitors can see how cars shaped life and vice versa. If you find a particular favorite car, you can even participate in the AACA's Adopt-a-Car Program that lets enthusiasts help the museum care for individual cars. A list of adoptable cars is on the museum's website.
Antique Automobile Club of America museum
Hershey, PA
National Corvette Museum
This is mecca for lovers of America's sports car. The 115,000-square-foot National Corvette Museum houses one of the world's greatest collections of Corvettes ever assembled and includes a library and archive for those wanting to brush up on their Vette history. The enormous Skydome also houses the Corvette Hall of Fame, where the rarest of the rare are on hand. The museum puts on a ton of events throughout the year, and is even working on creating its own motorsports park: a reconfigurable 2.94-mile road course.
What to see:
For one thing, they have the only '83 Corvette in existence. The museum has an ever evolving collection that often includes cars from private individuals and rarely seen concepts and race cars. Don't forget to check out the "nursery" where brand-new Corvettes await their new owners who chose the museum delivery option.
National Corvette Museum
Bowling Green, KY
Don Garlits' Museum of Drag Racing
Don Garlits is on a mission with his museum. It's been the personal obsession of the Patriarch of Drag Racing for the past 34 years to establish a home for the International Drag Racing Hall Of Fame. The goal is to preserve the history of drag racing for all associations around the world. That's an ambitious goal, but if anyone can pull it together it's Big Daddy. The museum is also home to Super Stock Magazine's Drag Racing Hall of Fame.
What to see:
The majority of Swamp Rat dragsters from 1 to 34 (though a couple are recreations), including the influential rear-engine Swamp Rat 14, are present along with plenty of history and stories about them straight from Don. It's not just Don's stuff though; there's also an unbelievable collection of other historic drag cars from all the big names—Jungle Jim, Connie Kalitta, and Tom McEwen to name a few. Beyond drag, the museum also houses Don's personal classic car collection. Even the Little Red Wagon Wheelstander is there! Matter of fact, you might even spot Don himself walking around; he's there regularly when not consulting for Top Fuel Teams.
Don Garlits' Museum of Drag Racing
Ocala, Florida
Floyd Garrett's Muscle Car Museum
Starting with a black '70 Chevelle purchased in 1975, Floyd Garrett amassed over the next 36 years a collection of over 90 of the most sought after and dreamed about muscle cars of the '60s and '70s, with a sampling of important cars from the '50s as well. An accomplished muscle car expert, Floyd tries to bring back a bit of the magic of that era in automotive history when horsepower and attitude were what mattered most.
What to see:
As Floyd says: "90 cars worth over $8 million!" Honestly, there is just about any high-profile, high-horsepower muscle car, from LS6 Chevelles to Boss Mustangs, ZL1 Camaros, and Hemi 'Cudas. Floyd is still collecting, so there may be more cars added soon.
Floyd GarretT's Muscle Car Museum
Sevierville, TN
Gilmore Car Museum
The Gilmore actually began as just one car—a '20 Pierce-Arrow project—that Donald's wife, Genevieve, gave to him back in 1963. Following the full restoration of that car, Donald's new hobby quickly grew into a 30-car collection. That led to the purchase of 90 acres and the moving of several historic barns to the site to house everything. Today the museum actually consists of several sites includes eight historic barns, a re-created 1930s service station, a small town train station, and nearly three miles of paved roads, and it's not unusual to see museum cars out for a cruise.
What to see:
The picture-perfect 1930s Shell gas station is a perennial favorite; we recognize it from many readers' rides photos. The re-created Franklin dealership from Los Angeles circa 1910 is another must-see. For 2011, their popular History of Stock Car Racing and Ford Muscle and Super Cars exhibits are headlining. If you're into emblems, the Gilmore also has one of the country's largest displays of automotive hood ornaments and name badges.
Gilmore Car Museum
Hickory Corners, MI
The Henry Ford
While it is a massive museum with one of the world's best collections of historic automobiles of every conceivable type and brand (not just Fords!), the Henry Ford houses actually so much more than that. The nine-acre structure is nothing less than an attempt to "document the genius of ordinary people by recognizing and preserving the objects they used in the course of their everyday lives." From cars and planes to diners and houses, travel, and even exhibits on Thomas Edison and Abraham Lincoln, the Henry Ford is quite a slice of American history. That flows outside as well into the Greenfield Village, which is an 80-acre time machine that includes 83 authentic, historic structures, from Noah Webster's home, where he wrote the first American dictionary, to Thomas Edison's Menlo Park laboratory, to the courthouse where Abraham Lincoln practiced law, and the Wright Brothers' workshop where their first plane was built.
What to see:
There's so much, to see it all will take at least a couple of days. Mustang No. 1 is in the museum as well as the Le Manswinning GT40, to cherry-pick a couple. The awesome 600-ton Allegheny steam locomotive is one of the best photo ops. Made In America, Heroes of the Sky, and Presidential Limos are also must-see exhibits.
The Henry Ford
Dearborn, MI
Indianapolis Motorsport Museum
Situated on the grounds of the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the Motorsport Museum is the only automotive museum we know of that's actually been recognized as a National Historic Landmark. It's well-deserved, too; the museum houses some of the greatest race cars in the history of the sport. Though the exhibits change occasionally, the museum keeps at least 75 cars on display at all times with more than 30 Indy 500-winning cars, including the four cars driven to victory by A.J. Foyt Jr., Zora Arkus-Duntov's infamous '57 Corvette SS, and the original Marmon Wasp, which won the inaugural 500 race in 1911.
What to see:
There's plenty to learn about the history of Indy racing, such as the equipment and methods used for timing and scoring from the first race to the 21st century, including an interactive computer presentation that explains the progress through the years. Also, check out the trophy collection, including the BorgWarner Trophy, which honors the winner of each Indy 500. To offer a taste for those who've never been to a race, the museum also features the 48-seat Tony Hulman Theater that runs a 20-minute presentation of rare historic footage and Indianapolis 500 race highlights.
Indianapolis Motorsport Museum
Indianapolis, IN
The International Motorsports Hall of Fame
Located on 35 acres next to the Talladega Superspeedway, The International Motorsports Hall of Fame was founded to pay tribute to those who put their lives on the line in pursuit of speed. It actually includes more than half a dozen different Halls of Fame—the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) Hall of Fame, the Western Auto Mechanics Hall of Fame, the Quarter Midgets of America Hall of Fame, the World Karting Hall of Fame, and the Alabama Sports Writer's Hall of Fame—intermixed with that is a prime selection of dozens of famous, record-setting race cars.
What to see:
A favorite is Bill Elliott's '85 Thunderbird, which not only won NASCAR's Winston 500 in 1985, but set the world record for the fastest 500-mile race ever run at 186.288-mph average speed. Speaking of fast; they also have the Budweiser Rocket car, the first car to break the speed of sound on land. Of course, they have a '69 Talladega Torino, namely Donnie Allison's. Also, check out the remains of Michael Waltrip's number 30 Pontiac after his huge crash at Bristol in 1990. The car was essentially ripped in half, but Waltrip walked away.
The International
Motorsports Hall of Fame
Talladega, AL
LeMay: America's Car Museum
This one is a bit of a cheat since this museum is still technically under construction, but the collection it boasts, as well as the grandness of its design, earned it a spot on our list. Despite currently only being a 165,000-square-foot shell of what it will be, the LeMay is already hosting events and car shows on its 3.5-acre show field. The collection itself is what's left of the largest privately owned automobile collection in the world amassed by Harold and Nancy LeMay, and it may very well be the best representation of the evolution of the American automobile over the course of the 20th century, since everything from the brass era to modern cars are represented.
What to see:
For now, the best way to see samples from the collection is to attend one of the LeMay events or shows as some of their cars are usually present. The museum itself is scheduled to open in 2012. You can check out the construction progress photos on the website as well as the delayed camera feed of the site that's updated every 15 minutes.
LeMay: America's Car Museum
Tacoma, WA
Muscle Car City Museum
What do you do with a 40,000-square-foot building vacated by Wal-Mart? You load it up with one of the largest collections of GM muscle cars in the world if you're anything like Rick Treworgy. This museum celebrates the days when Detroit was churning out big brawny power and currently boasts over 65,000 hp on display. Tell us that doesn't get you excited. The 99,000-square-foot museum has 200 cars on display with a focus on the mid '60s to early '70s.
What to see:
All the GM muscle you possibly want: '67-69 Z/28, '70 Z28 Camaros, '68-71 396 Camaros, '64-71 SS Chevelles, '65-71 SS El Caminos, '58-67 big-block Impalas, '64-71 Pontiac GTOs, '64-72 Oldsmobile 442s, and a sampling of hot rods and antique Chevys. Rick even managed to collect one or more Corvettes of each year from 1954 to 1975, and several of each series from 1975 to 2006.
Muscle Car City Museum
Punta Gorda, FL
National Automotive Museum
Many of the National Automotive Museum's cars come from the collection of the late Bill Harrah. After he died, and his hotels and casino were purchased, the investment group announced that they intended to auction the cars off. Citizens of Nevada were justifiably upset, so Governor Robert List formed a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and convinced the group to donate 175 cars from Harrah's research library to the organization. It was the largest corporate philanthropic gift in American history at the time.
What to see:
Much of the collection focuses around important antique autos, but there is also a collection of historic race cars, historic off-road racers, as well as some celebrity cars, like one of Elvis' Caddys and John Wayne's '53 Corvette. The original Thomas Flyer that won the first Great Race for America is currently there as well.
National Automotive Museum
Reno, NV
Volo Auto Museum
The Volo likes to say it's "Lake County's high-octane theme park." It's one of the oldest museums on our list and over the course of 51 years it has become home to the world's largest muscle car collection as well as the George Barris TV and Movie Car Collection, and an impressive array of military vehicles as well. Where the Volo is truly unique, however, is that all 300 or so classic cars on display are for sale.
What to see:
There's really something for everyone here—lots of movie and TV cars, like KITT, the General Lee, The Bluesmobile, and the infamous Vette from Corvette Summer, contrasted with heavy-duty military hardware, and a great selection of classic and antique cars of all stripes. The rugrats won't even be bored; the Volo has dedicated exhibits for kids like Herbie, Ecto-1, Lightening McQueen and Doc Hudson, the Truckasaurus, as well as the wild Hall of Fame caricature cars, some of which are actually driveable.
Volo Auto Museum
Volo, IL
Wally Park NHRA Motorsports Museum
It has NHRA in the name, so you know there will be historic drag cars on display, but there's actually much more than just that to this museum. A longtime dream of Wally Parks, one of the founders of the NHRA and structured drag racing as we know it as well as being the first editor of Hot Rod magazine, the NHRA Museum honors all forms of hot rodding from street cars to Indy cars and land speed racers. One of the best times to show up is the evening of the first Wednesday of every month for the Twilight Cruise—there's always tons of great cars that show up and the museum stays open.
What to see:
The NHRA often puts together temporary exhibits for special occasions (including one featuring PHR's Project Talladega), but one of A.J. Foyt's Coyote Indy Cars, Kenny Bernstein's first dragster to go over 300 mph, and The Bug (the first "rail") are always there and definite must-sees. Additionally, the museum has an eclectic collection of artifacts from early events in the history of land speed records and hot rods. We love the display that demonstrates how much nitro a Top Fuel engine ingests during a pass.
Wally Park NHRA Motorsports Museum
Pomona, CA
Wellborn Muscle Car Museum
The Wellborn is the mothership for lovers of Ma Mopar, boasting the largest collection of historic Mopars in the country. Tim Wellborn grew up in a Mopar family, even helping his father pick out a new '71 Hemi Charger. A few years later he and his wife, Pam, met and fell in love in a Mopar (a Charger that's still in the museum) and since then they've shared a passion for collecting and preserving muscle car history that has culminated in an impressive museum.
What to see:
Mopars definitely rule the roost, but that doesn't mean that's all the Wellborns appreciate; the museum also houses a few Corvettes, 442 W-30 convertibles, Ford Boss 429 Mustangs, LS6 Chevelles, GSX Buicks, AMC Javelins, a super-rare Pontiac Ram Air IV GTO Judge convertible, a Gulf edition Ford GT, and the greatest collection of '71 Hemi Chargers in the world.
Wellborn Muscle Car Museum
Alexander City, AL
More Museums Across the U.S.!
This is only a teeny sample of a few of our favorites, but there are so many great museums across the country. Want to see exactly what's near your home? Check out this killer database we found of nearly every automotive museum in the country broken down by state: www.Team.net/www/Museums/us.html. Or search the overall database at: www.MuseumsUSA.org


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|2018 (e)
|2019 (f)
|GDP growth (%)
|Inflation (yearly average, %)
|Budget balance (% GDP)
|Current account balance (% GDP)
|Public debt (% GDP)*
(e): Estimate. (f): Forecast. *Including central bank debt and the rest of the financial and non-financial public sector.
- Mineral (gold) and agricultural (coffee, sugar, meat) resources
- Membership of Central America/United States and Central America/EU free trade zones
- Significant remittance flows from expatriates
- Highly vulnerable to natural disasters
- Healthcare and education shortcomings and persistent poverty rate
- Inadequate infrastructure (energy, transport)
- Dependent on international aid; highly dollarised economy
- Institutional failings: concentration of power within the executive and the Sandinista party; corruption
- Worst business environment in the region (132/190 in the 2019 Doing Business ranking)
Growth still affected by political unrest
The political crisis that has been ongoing since April 2018 is expected to continue to affect economic activity in 2019. The tourism and construction sectors will be the most affected by the political instability and increased insecurity, with long-term effects because of lower investment (up to five years for the tourism sector, according to the National Chamber of Tourism). However, the relative easing of armed clashes at the end of 2018 should allow some road traffic to resume and encourage a moderate recovery in the wholesale and retail sectors. Foreign investors will likely continue to be cautious, after the honeymoon between President Daniel Ortega and local entrepreneurs ended following the government's violent repression of protests. In addition, private investment will suffer from the contraction of credit due to the loss of liquidity at banks, who were hit by the sharp decline in deposits (15% down in August 2018 compared with April).
Although supported by inflows of expatriate remittances – which were up 9.0% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2018, with a particularly sharp increase from the United States – private consumption should also suffer from the consequences of the crisis. The unemployment rate is expected to continue to climb, while inflation is also set to rise, mainly on higher energy and food prices. The trade balance is expected to contribute negatively to growth, as the crisis has affected exports, despite strong US demand.
Public and current accounts both weakened by the political crisis
Triggered by a widely contested attempt to reform social security, the political crisis has significantly affected the country's already fragile public spending. The 2019 budget forecasts a significant drop in tax revenues (17.6% down from the first 2018 budget before amendments) due to the contraction of activity. The parallel decrease in expenditure will not be enough to limit the increase in the government deficit. The anticipated decline in multilateral lending as a result of tensions between multinational organisations and the Ortega administration will prevent the government from meeting its financing needs. The government is considering issuing sovereign bonds to close this gap, but the success of this strategy is uncertain. Investors remain cautious about the possibility of US sanctions after the adoption of the Nicaragua Human Rights and Anticorruption Act by the US Senate at the end of September 2018. This act follows on from a first bill passed by the House of Representatives in 2017 aiming to make future loans to Nicaragua (including multilateral loans from international organisations) conditional on the holding of early elections. Despite being subject to the vagaries of the US political agenda, the bill is likely to be adopted in 2019. As a result, Nicaragua could approach China for funding.
The current account will be affected by the decline in exports of tourist services, which will only partially offset the large trade deficit. The trade deficit is structurally high but should be lower in 2019 due to the sharp contraction in imports resulting from weaker domestic demand. Expatriate remittances will not be enough to balance the current account. Capital outflows, limiting external financing opportunities, will force the central bank to draw on its foreign exchange reserves to maintain the cordoba's peg to the US dollar (fixed exchange rate system within a fluctuation range). These reserves shrank from USD 3 billion to USD 2.3 billion between April and the end of September 2018. In this context, a substantial devaluation cannot be ruled out, although the central bank has tools that it can use first to control capital flight, such as limits on dollar purchases by banks.
Increased political risk after bloody repression of protests
After winning a third consecutive term in the November 2016 presidential elections, President Daniel Ortega of the Frente Sandinista de Liberacion Nacional (FSLN) Party enjoyed strong popularity until early 2018. However, attempts (since abandoned) to reform the pension system triggered a major protest movement in mid-April 2018. Repression of the demonstrations, which led to several hundred deaths and many arrests, caused the conflict to deepen. Conciliation talks organised by the Catholic Church are struggling to reach a real agreement, while the government continues to repress demonstrators who are demanding the departure of President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice-President Rosario Murillo. United under the Unidad Nacional Azul y Blanco banner since October 2018, but without a designated leader, opposition groups are struggling to assert themselves in the face of the control exercised by Sandinists over the country's institutions. The presidential couple are thus likely to see out their mandate, which runs until the next elections in 2021. Against this backdrop, relations with the international community are becoming more strained.
Last update: February 2019


text: Last month I started a new thing by asking you to suggest titles from the Netflix Instant library for me to watch. You choose it, I review it. I got a lot of good suggestions and put everything into a list then closed my eyes and pointed. The result? The BBC miniseries Downton Abbey (submitted by commenter Clementine). When I added Downton Abbey to my queue, Netflix suggested another BBC miniseries, the three-part Sherlock Holmes starring Benedict Cumberbatch (that NAME) and Martin Freeman (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the young Bilbo in The Hobbit). So I added Sherlock, too. It was really good—I didn't know it was set in the present but that worked out well for the show. I'd recommend checking it out. Cumberbatch is oddly sexy as the socially retarded Sherlock. Continue reading "Netflix Instant Share review: Downton Abbey"


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MPAA overturns Blue Valentine's NC-17
Written by Sarah
Fist pump!
Fist pump fist pump fist pump!!!
This almost never happens. In just the last few months alone, the ratings board upheld multiple challenged ratings.
But not Blue Valentine! People can actually see it now! There will be a mad dash by theater owners to pick it up in time for the December 31 release. Not that it will be everywhere—this was always planned as a limited release with possible expansion if the box office justifies it. But more screens equals more chances to earn money, which means it could reach a much larger audience. Which helps its Oscar chances enormously, since in this competitive year, a successful theatrical run is key to getting that extra bit of attention.
Look at Get Low—Robert Duvall is favored for a Best Actor nomination and Bill Murray has a shot at Supporting Actor, but is anyone talking about screenwriters Chris Provenzano and Gaby Mitchell? Director Aaron Schneider? How about Sissy Spacek for Supporting Actress? No, they don't talk about them, because hardly anyone saw Get Low. What attention it does get derives from Duvall and Murray's standing in the industry.
With the more user-friendly R rating in place, Blue Valentine loses that perceived taint of being a "dirty nasty movie". People will see it, especially Academy voters who thirty minutes ago maybe thought Blue Valentine didn't have a real shot since the Academy already has a hard enough time reconciling their tastes to the public's, so why go nominating an NC-17 movie no one saw? But now it's an acceptable R and it won't be a "wasted" vote. The odds on director Derek Cianfrance and the writing team of Cianfrance, Joey Curtis and Cami Delavigne suddenly look a lot better.
And let's give credit where credit is due. First, to the MPAA for admitting their ratings board was a bunch of idiots and correcting their original, cowardly decision (I maintain the board punished Blue Valentine for its emotional honesty because it made a bunch of parents face the fact that no, cute children don't solve everything and yes, your lives are empty). And second to Harvey Weinstein for masterminding the public shaming of the MPAA. Lainey kept going on about too many screenings but really, all this publicity only helped Blue Valentine's case. Every positive review and exclamation of, "What a great movie," only added to the demand to see it. Weinstein made it look like the MPAA was trying to put the kibosh on The Greatest Movie Of The Year Ever.
Special credit to Ryan Gosling, who was slated to attend the hearing with Weinstein and Cianfrance, because let's face it. He sexied the board into submission.


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Anonymous has just dumped files today about IRC Federal, a government-contracted IT firm, in honour of their #FuckFBIFriday 'holiday'. They've gotten access to contracts, internal documents, development schematics, logins and more.
It doesn't seem like anything particularly big was found, but they did take a peak at a proposal "for the FBI to develop a "Special Identities Modernization (SIM) Project" to "reduce terrorist and criminal activity by protecting all records associated with trusted individuals and revealing the identities of those individuals who may pose serious risk to the United States and its allies".
More pointedly, Anon addressed the workers of IRC Federal with a pseudo-mission statement/philosophy:
"If you place any value on freedom, then stop working for the oligarchy and start working against it. Stop aiding the corporations and a government which uses unethical means to corner vast amounts of wealth and proceed to flagrantly abuse their power. Together, we have the power to change this world for the better."
I think it's safe to assume they're going to keep going with these hacks then? You can find the torrent to download the leak files at The Pirate Bay. [@AnonymousIRC, The Pirate Bay]


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Please let there be a throwdown!
Am inviting all kinds of calamity on my Chinese ass for this but I have to tell you, this Miley Cyrus cheating mother story is about as smutty as it gets. But hey, I'm not the one who cheated. And not with BRETT F-CKING MICHAELS!!!
Us Weekly is reporting that this is why they're divorcing. That Tish Cyrus was getting down with Brett behind Billy Ray's back, and maybe some other dudes too, and that Billy Ray found out and is severing her ass from his home. OMG.
Of course both Tish Cyrus and Michaels are denying it. Please. PLEASE. I want that sex tape. I won't watch that sex tape – sick! – but I want it to exist. So badly. Because remember how wholesome they're supposed to be? Remember how righteous? Remember when the little one danced on a pole? Remember how she dressed up for Halloween? Remember that Tish Cyrus manages Miley's career? Some sh-t can never be cleaned. It's the ilk. You can't change the ilk.
And then there's the offspring. Just a matter of time. You throw all this on top of her parental pimping duties and now suddenly Dina Lohan has a new best friend. Or rival.
Jacek particularly likes the tattoo over the beltline.
Photo from WireImage/Gettyimages.com


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Holiday Inn Haydock M6, Jct.23
Holiday Inn Haydock M6, Jct.23
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Visit Liverpool to explore the Albert Dock and The Beatles Story, a museum dedicated to the Fab Four. In Manchester, see a football match at Old Trafford or discover the Museum of Science and Industry. Browse the latest styles at Cheshire Oaks outlet or into Trafford Centre, both within half an hour's drive of the hotel.
Expansive lawns and 11 meeting rooms of varying sizes make the hotel ideal for a range of events, from corporate meetings to weddings. Friendly staffs are happy to help with printing and copying. All guests and delegates enjoy free WiFi and free parking.
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1 February 2010 at 2.01pm | Comment on this article
The growth of learning and participation work within cultural organisations has been built partly on its ability to serve a wide range of educational, social and health agendas. I'm very happy that the arts are able to play such a broad role. The old "instrinsic versus instrumental" debates are wearisome and pretty pointless. If you derive something positive and valuable from your engagement with art, do you care whether it was intrinsic or instrumental?
That having been said, I do frequently feel that the art can get a bit lost in arts education, that educational and social aims can over-dominate. Perhaps the fact that they're the ones that often attract funding has made us reluctant to be bolder about artistic goals. Even the Arts Council seemed to go through a period of not mentioning the art much in setting out policy and priorities for learning, though happily that's changed in more recent times.
There are signs that the pendulum's swinging back to the art. Even politicians are talking about "art for art's sake", as they seek to reassure the arts sector that we'll be in safe hands if they're in Government.
"Learning how to create and enjoy art for art's sake, if you will. I believe this is a vital part of growing into a happy, functional citizen in adult life."
That's Shadow Culture Minister Ed Vaizey in a speech last week.
I hope he'll be talking to colleagues about the importance every child learning how to create and enjoy art for art's sake; and the importance therefore of enabling and encouraging schools to make it a reality.
Challenging the age-old subject hierarchy, in which the arts are considered less important than subjects like maths and science, would be an ideal start. Ed may have his work cut out though. A fellow Shadow Minister for Children, Schools and Families talked last August about standards being lowered by the invasion of "soft" subjects, picking out dance for a special mention. There could be some interesting conversations ahead.