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Joined: 14 Sep 2011
Posts: 54
Location: Western Michigan
Posted: Thu 08 Dec 2011, 08:50
Post subject:
smokey01 wrote:
You can find it here:
Then choose the DVD icon for Distributions.
Thanks. This is more convenient. I took a brief look last night and it seems it can have Chrome, OpenOffice, and Gimp. These are what I need. Although they are slightly older versions of the software, they might be good enough.
Thanks again.
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Joined: 10 Mar 2010
Posts: 5453
Location: Ontario
Posted: Sat 10 Dec 2011, 13:00
Post subject:
Here's three apps for you to put in the next version of Akita.
1) The newest Quick Launch 2.0 for Akita.
Remember Ctrl-shift-L is the launching keystrokes.
2) A pet package by Stu90 ---> makepet
that I have found useful. You should take a look at it.
It takes a folder and makes a pet in a flash with a right click. Amazing.
3) The latest Bacon Recorder 235. I am still working on
improving how it detects hard drive partitions.
I'll have a new version in a few days.
I discovered that when I selected a more rectangular screen
resolution the right hand side icons were in their proper place.
Perhaps it's only wide screen resolutions (like 1400x900)
that are causing the causing the icon placement to be confused.
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Joined: 10 May 2008
Posts: 75
Posted: Sun 25 Dec 2011, 03:32
Post subject: alt. downoad link?
Subject description: the Beast lives (sorta!)
not sure if this ia a pup to try on an old toshiba sattelite 490cdt w/ 64mb ram, 3.4g hd , and a 1/2 calfed win98se system w/500 mb linux swap
>>off topic but related .....
-- puplite esp. the wary version actually looks promising and (yeah) didnt have the video crash on x-logoff to a distorted text screen (colored lines no letters) in Xvesa,-- it was beautifully legible - only puppy so far that i tried that behaved
it does still go to a white screen on x-logout with the other vid driver but this is that stupid s3virge 2mb card so that happens w/all puppies ...( i can tap thru blindly to make a save file or reboot out of if needed now that i have had the practice! LOL)
.. nice - netsurf is speedy, linksys wusb54g wireless running no prob -- wow! ( tried firepup ghastly slow, FF/Opera -egad!!and no patience to see if flash and/or youtube will ever load on this sad beast!) but it's built like a BSH and solid so i want to try to see what i can get it to do....... will let ya know...
>>enough digressing.. back to the topic
but what i want to know, is are there other download links -- all i have tried give me some windoze download manager to install... and well..
that is not making my puppy happy.( love the irony tho!) i dont think i have the resources for wine, so i decided to whine instead! if u think i could do better w/akita, plse provide an alt. linux friendly link
great job on all you have done (or put together) i have seen so far
will keep you posted on how it goes with both builds and i am wading thru the forum for other lite pups so can compare
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Joined: 04 Apr 2007
Posts: 6815
Location: Chatham, Kent, UK
Posted: Sun 25 Dec 2011, 18:05
Post subject:
charbaby66 wrote:
but this is that stupid s3virge 2mb card so that happens w/all puppies
That works, but is limited to 1024x768x16, IIRC, setting frame rate to 60hz on xorg tune setting, or also fine in xvesa
I think you'll struggle with only 64mb ram, though, regardless, so swap partition will be essential, I'd have thought
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Joined: 18 May 2008
Posts: 4873
Location: Blue Springs, MO
Posted: Sun 25 Dec 2011, 23:17
Post subject:
I've recently gotten rox + jwm + xvesa running with mtpaint, minimum profit text editor and dillo1 in under 8mb. I'll need to do some further tweaking to get drivers and internet working, but it looks promising for older boxes with as low as 16mb of RAM and a 586 compatible.
Check out my
github repositories
. I may eventually get around to updating my
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Joined: 16 Sep 2009
Posts: 2796
Location: UK
Posted: Sun 01 Jan 2012, 13:59
Post subject: Akita Linux Beta 5
Subject description: uploaded Jan 1st, 2012
Akita Linux Beta 5
Download Mirrors:
md5: 979819d4b148a884f99bf3c3fd9d4844, 89.55 MB
Devx, for compiling:
(sfs3, 90MB)
This is probably release candidate, minus a few things that still need to be done..
(Remember, Akita linux is, for now, still using sfs3, k184.108.40.206, just like puppy 4.1, 4.2 and 4.2.1)
I have made many changes since Beta 4, here is a summary:
- added ssh-gui, grandr, more right click options, more translations
- many additions to Akita Repository (akita.scottjarvis.com)
- fixes to GParted, PuppyPin, JWM stuff, many other system scripts
- much more compatible with Openbox, Xfce, Fbpanel, Lxpanel (all in PPM)
- lots of other updates and fixes
- upgraded: PupApps, PupControl, PupSnap, PupSaveConfig, Defaults-Chooser, VLC-GTK, Grub4DOS, Browser-Installer, others
And here are all the changes I have not previously posted about:
(for the other changes in BETA5, read my previous posts in this thread..)
Dec 03:
- small fix for /usr/sbin/create_jwm_drives.sh, better checking of unmountable partitions
- added to Akita repo:
- firefox-7.0.1-1-akita: like above but also includes ghostery, better layout, ubuntu fonts
- fbpanel-6.0-patched-1-akita: includes pinstall script, an updated pfbpanel and an icon fix
- obconf: the openbox settings GUI
Dec 07, 2011:
- updated openbox package in Akita repo:
- added /usr/bin/obconf to package
- fixed /usr/bin/ob-xdgmenu, changed default openbox menu to use 'obconf', added 'fixmenus' and 'restart X'
Dec 20-31, 2011:
- fixed /bin/mount for NTFS drives (silent option added, hides NTFS errors)
- fixed gparted - reverted to libparted and parted from pup4 repo
- fixed /usr/sbin/fixmenus to run varicons if fbpanel is running
- fixed "save2flash" to always run "snapmergepuppy"
- fixed /tmp permissions: chmod 1777 /tmp
- fixed /usr/sbin/toggle-rox-desktop (pidof jwm is used more, before jwm related cmds)
- fixes for xfce: wmreboot, wmexit, restartwm, wmpoweroff
- fixes for xfce: /usr/sbin/fixmenus
- fixes for xfce: added xfce4-mixer to audio mixers in /usr/bin/defaults-chooser:
- fixes in /usr/sbin/script_grepper
- fixes in ~/Startups/gtk-mnt-links
- fixes in /usr/sbin/drive_mounter.sh
- fix in /sbin/pup_event_frontend_d: all JWM drive icons stuff only runs if JWM is running
- updated ~/Startups/freememapplet: added right-click menu entry for increasing save file size
- updated latest pupzip to support xarchiver
- updated psync to 2.7
- updated pfilesearch to 1.28, more M3U or ID3 support
- updated swapfile manager to 4.2
- updated /usr/sbin/startups and all locales, to support psync: ~/Startups/timesync.sh
- updated savefile MIME type icons (2fs, 3fs)
- added /usr/sbin/ssh-gui (version 0.7)
- added gtk icon refresh to system boot (rc.sysinit.. `gtk-update-icon-cache -f -i /usr/share/icons/hicolor`)
- added /usr/local/bin/rpl (a replace tool)
- added /usr/sbin/sfsoptimise - can strip and optimise (compress) whole filesystems
- added common repo to elinks bookmarks
- added menu entry for initrd-editor.sh, in Filesystem Utilities
- added to Akita repo:
- irda-utils-0.9.18+smcinit-0.4.pet (IR remote control stuff)
- lirc-0.8.3-k184.108.40.206.pet (IR remote control stuff)
- avidemux-gtk-2.5.3-i486-akita.pet (5mb)
- avidemux_NLS-gtk-2.5.3-i486-akita.pet
- xfce_minimal-184.108.40.206.pet (1MB, dougals package, petted)
- xfce_minimal-184.108.40.206-akita.pet (1MB, custom setup, most minimal)
- zepsdreamland-1.02.pet (good platform game)
- JNKPlat-20100420-akita.pet (a nice game)
- exiv2-0.18.2-akita.pet
- updated VLC-GTK to 2.3.5:
- fix: detect dual screen displays, then resize/locate window accordingly (very basic/hacky but works)
- fix: better DVD, VCD and Audio CD playback
- fix: vlc-gtk-btns now faster, more reliable
- fix: added VLC icon to GUI <window>
- fix: code cleanups, added kill_vlc function, etc
- added: option to disable on screen controls to main GUI, under 'Controls' tab
- fixed PDF conversions: recompiled poppler (0.14.5) utils (then added its pdftohtml, pdftotext)
- added Akita repo additions from Nov 27 onwards to Akita PPM (~/.packages/livepackages5a.txt)
- fix pmount mounting of UDF CDs/DVDs, using guess_fstype
- fixed JWM shutdown menu (undid changes in restartwm)
- fixes in ~/.packages/livepackages5a.txt
- fixes in /usr/sbin/puppyinstaller
- updated xdotool to version 2.20110530.1
- added /usr/sbin/text2xpm
- fixed: /bin/umount using grep -w to catch mount points
- fixed: /usr/sbin/bootmanager: fixes v424, 10060, 100831 (kernel 3.0 fixes, OLPC fixes, sfs version checks)
- fixed: /usr/sbin/wcpufreq: checkfor other module dir if none found; kernels have moved the relevant modules
- fixed: /usr/bin/woofy should support 3.0 kernels ok now
- fixed: /usr/sbin/filemnt:
- fixed OLPC kernel checks, and 3.0 kernel support
- now supports mounting of encrypted save files (password required)
- added /bin/vercomp to main fs and initrd.gz
- fixed JWM Drives, PuppyPin, /sbin/pup_event_frontend_d: no crash with dodgy drive labels
- updated blkid-name-generator function: removed 'eval'..
- replace spaces with underscores in drive labels
- strip all non-alphanumeric chars from drive labels, except underscores
- fixed /usr/sbin/blkid-name-generator, same sanitization, also now uses ash
- fixed: /usr/sbin/remasterpup2.. added small fix to name zdrv correctly for akita (and other pups)
- fixed: /usr/bin/edit-sfs, choose right SFS version for 3.x kernel
January 1st, 2012
- added: grandr-0.1-i486, xarchive-0.2.8-8-akita
- updated firefox package in "browser-installer" to firefox-7.0.1-1-akita.pet
- updated: grub4dos-0.4.4.v1.7.1, htop-1.0-i686, pciutils-3.1.7-i486, PupApps-1.6.1, PupControl-1.8.5,
pupsaveconfig-2.0, PupSnap-1.6.3_Scrot-0.8_32Bit, Pup-SysInfo-2.0
- fixes in /etc/rc.d/rc.shutdown:
- 110405: fix 'free' applet output format different in later versions of busybox.
- 110808: L18L: if geany still running at shutdown, delete socket.
- 110928: fixed, reboots when choose shutdown. very old bug, dates back to 2009.
- 111106: do not execute fuser if network share mount.
- 111107: ldolse: unmount network shares before taking down the network
- added to Akita Repo (yet to update livepackages5a.txt):
- gadmin-sshd-0.0.1-i486.pet, 452K
- geeqie-1.0-i486.pet, 1.1M
- libdrm-2.4.25-w-20110427.pet, 20K
- libgpg-error-1.10-w-20110914.pet, 25K
- pciutils_DOC-3.1.7-i486.pet, 7.2K
- tar-1.26-w-20110313.pet, 164K
- pmusic-2.3.0.pet, 89K
- pburn-3.4.2.pet, 65K
- poppler_DEV-0.14.5-i486.pet, 2.7M
- xdotool_DEV-2.20110530.1-i486.pet, 7.2K
- xdotool_DOC-2.20110530.1-i486.pet, 13K
Things to do:
- default menu not up to date (just do Menu->Refresh at 1st boot for now)
- fixes for `jwm -reload`: xinitrc, /usr/local/petget/*,/usr/sbin/petget,toggle-rox-desktop,fixmenus,JWMConfig
- fix deps for msgfmt msgunfmt (libgettext*).. write a "MO_Editor", update run action
- delete unused sound devices as shutdown (see shinobar, rerwin, barryk, woof2)
- fixes for snapmergepuppy & PPM (see shinobar, rerwin, barryk)
- update dillo package to 3.0 in browser installer, or add both...
- prepare for kernel upgrades, check Barry Ks blog, /etc/rc.d/*, sysinit, shutdown, etc
- update VLC-GTK: add playlist button to on screen controls, if no video window, load playlist window as default window, change control commands accordingly
- update Frisbee to latest
- add Asian fonts and various language packs (inc 'all') to Akita PPM and repo
- update mksquashfs to latest, so it support the new SFS types (xz?) floating around
- get EduRoam into Network Gui thing (
more info
- update to firstrun > 1.9.6
Last edited by sc0ttman on Sat 25 Feb 2012, 12:46; edited 1 time in total
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Joined: 31 Dec 2008
Posts: 453
Posted: Mon 02 Jan 2012, 19:58
Post subject:
Downloaded Beta5 and played with it for a bit. You know that Deadbeef won't play a large MP3 audio file, right? It maxxes out my CPU with silence until it reverts to the 'Stop' mode. No matter, Pmusic does play my mp3 audio book, so you've got the bases covered. Is Deadbeef there pretty much for wav files?
I need to learn how to use your CLI audio player.
I like Akita -- it's nice and clean, with obvious thought put into the apps chosen.
BTW: I really like the boot up menu of Beta5!
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Joined: 04 Apr 2007
Posts: 6815
Location: Chatham, Kent, UK
Posted: Tue 03 Jan 2012, 09:48
Post subject:
I meant to ask...Is there a difference between makepet and dir2pet, as they seem to have the same function?
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Joined: 16 Sep 2009
Posts: 2796
Location: UK
Posted: Tue 03 Jan 2012, 12:09
Post subject:
Aitch, I've no idea either... We'll wait for Don..
Roy wrote:
You know that Deadbeef won't play a large MP3 audio file, right? It maxxes out my CPU with silence until it reverts to the 'Stop' mode. No matter, Pmusic does play my mp3 audio book, so you've got the bases covered.
No I did not know that - I never had any problems with Deadbeef at all,
although I prefer to use mocp generally...
VLC-GTK will be usable as a music player, too - prob in the next release..
How large are the mp3 files we're talking about?
The largest I think I have is "Shine on you crazy diamond", only 41mb...
I may have larger, but as I say, all my music plays fine for me..
EDIT: Just played a 250mb mp3, with no problems...
Is Deadbeef there pretty much for wav files?
It's a very minimal version (~200kb), only for most popular formats..
I need to learn how to use your CLI audio player.
Mocp? Load it up and press 'h' to see the help...
I love Mocp, it continues playback even after you exit X..
I like Akita -- it's nice and clean, with obvious thought put into the apps chosen.
Thanks, I tried to include everything that is small, potentially useful and works well...
I also tried to include many useful CLI programs as standard..
I know many believe "1 application per task".. I may release an Akita with this approach,
which would be ~65-75mb inc browser and office, I reckon..
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Joined: 10 Mar 2010
Posts: 5453
Location: Ontario
Posted: Tue 03 Jan 2012, 17:50
Post subject:
Aitch wrote:
I meant to ask...Is there a difference between makepet and dir2pet, as they seem to have the same function?
There is two versions of dir2pet floating about.
One is by stu90 (which I use in Right click options and pemasu uses
it in his distributions).
The other is by the guy that made Solid pup.
pemasu put together 'makepet' from stu90's dir2pet rather fast.
He wanted a right click option.
I would have done it differently, with an easier to understand
English phrase like 'Create a pet package' and a pretty icon.
There's a new version of mtpaint 3.40.
I'll compile a Jasper free version and see if it works
on this new beta that I've just downloaded.
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Joined: 04 Apr 2007
Posts: 6815
Location: Chatham, Kent, UK
Posted: Tue 03 Jan 2012, 18:57
Post subject:
OK thanks
I'll have to try them, I think
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Joined: 10 Mar 2010
Posts: 5453
Location: Ontario
Posted: Wed 04 Jan 2012, 14:44
Post subject: new mtpaint and gtkhash
I compiled mtpaint without jasper and it works nicely.
I also noticed that there is no way of calculating MD5sums
so I included a version 3 of gtkhash that I put together.
The most recent version of gtkhash (Version 5) didn't
I put it all in an archive to download.
Last edited by don570 on Thu 19 Jan 2012, 14:35; edited 1 time in total
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Joined: 10 Mar 2010
Posts: 5453
Location: Ontario
Posted: Wed 04 Jan 2012, 15:27
Post subject: mp3splt
I was able to split mp3 files with this application by ttuuxx
You should put it in your repository.
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Joined: 10 Mar 2010
Posts: 5453
Location: Ontario
Posted: Wed 04 Jan 2012, 17:11
Post subject:
There seems to be a problem with opening rar archives.
There are two right click options
'Open Archive with PupZip' and 'View Contents'.
Neither would work for me.
Here's a pet package by pemasu that will open rar archives
using unrar. You could put it in your repository and
avoid installing rar.
Files that have the extension .tar.bz2 have missing md5sum link
Files that have .tar.gz extension ------>
right click option 'View contents' gives a warning message
that something doesn't exist.
Audio files with the extension .flac ------->
right click option 'Edit with mhwaveedit' doesn't work for
obvious reasons. mhwaveedit does open .mp3 and .aif files.
You have set up pfind to search inside a folder properly.
You could have gone one step farther and set it up to do a search
in a partition. This is easily done by putting a right click option
in the folder
You should use the script I use in Right-click for making an
archive out of a Folder of files. It's very simple and quick.
Both VLC player and FBReader worked nicely
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Joined: 10 Mar 2010
Posts: 5453
Location: Ontario
Posted: Thu 05 Jan 2012, 14:10
Post subject:
There is a third version of dir2pet I've seen.
Lazy Puppy by RSH has a version that he wrote.
When I click on a .htm file in Rox, I get this message
however if I type in the console
elinks filename.htm
The file opens properly. Also the right click option will
open the file properly as well.
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Scientists scan the human heart to create digital anatomical library
On April 18th JoVE (Journal of Visualized Experiments) will publish a new video article by Dr. Paul A Iaizzo demonstrating the anatomical reconstruction of an active human heart. The research uses contrast-computed tomography (CT) to allow in-depth 3-D computer modeling of hearts that can be used for prolonged archiving.
Computational technology, when combined with advanced imaging techniques like CT, gives researchers extensive insight to the structure and function of human organs. While often these techniques may be applied to modeling structural elements like a vertebrate's skeletal system, applying these imaging capabilities to cardiac tissue can create maps of an individual heart's venous system and musculature. In JoVE's new video article, surgeons and biomedical engineers from the University of Minnesota use these new technologies to create a digital library of human heart specimens.
Dr. Iaizzo's laboratory is able to collect human heart specimens from organ donors that were not deemed viable for transplant because the donor had been expired for too long, had a congenital heart defect, or the donor organ did not match a patient's immediate need. In these cases, Dr. Iaizzo and his colleagues around the world gain access to these organs for medical research and indexing. "We can look at a lot of the variations in heart anatomy [and] because everybody's heart is unique we can really understand variations and how the heart changes with disease."
By using contrast dyes and other reagents, Dr. Iaizzo can preserve and prepare the donated hearts to be in a diastolic state, the part of a heartbeat where the heart is filled with blood from the ventricles before expelling it into the aortas. This brings a deeper insight into physiological attributes of the heart, including fluid capacity and pressure on the heart chambers. Once the preserved hearts are scanned, computer models are generated, which allow approximations and correlations to be established between various heart shapes and disorders. Dr. Iaizzo expects this to assist in the design of cardiac devices.
"You don't have an appreciation for these specimens, and that you can still add contrast agents to them, without the video component," Dr. Iaizzo says of his decision to publish his methods in a video article, "The JoVE video shows how you can critically develop these [3-D models]. If someone is developing devices that can go into a cardiac venous or arterial system, then you can really look at these before and after treatments and see how the therapy actually worked."
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Two reviews from the opening night of Sundance 2020.
"I don't think any word can explain a man's life," says one of the searchers through the warehouse of treasures left behind by Charles Foster Kane. Then we get the famous series of shots leading to the closeup of the word "Rosebud" on a sled that has been tossed into a furnace, its paint curling in the flames. We remember that this was Kane's childhood sled, taken from him as he was torn from his family and sent east to boarding school.
Rosebud is the emblem of the security, hope and innocence of childhood, which a man can spend his life seeking to regain. It is the green light at the end of Gatsby's pier; the leopard atop Kilimanjaro, seeking nobody knows what; the bone tossed into the air in "2001." It is that yearning after transience that adults learn to suppress. "Maybe Rosebud was something he couldn't get, or something he lost," says Thompson, the reporter assigned to the puzzle of Kane's dying word. "Anyway, it wouldn't have explained anything." True, it explains nothing, but it is remarkably satisfactory as a demonstration that nothing can be explained. "Citizen Kane" likes playful paradoxes like that. Its surface is as much fun as any movie ever made. Its depths surpass understanding. I have analyzed it a shot at a time with more than 30 groups, and together we have seen, I believe, pretty much everything that is there on the screen. The more clearly I can see its physical manifestation, the more I am stirred by its mystery.
It is one of the miracles of cinema that in 1941 a first-time director; a cynical, hard-drinking writer; an innovative cinematographer, and a group of New York stage and radio actors were given the keys to a studio and total control, and made a masterpiece. "Citizen Kane" is more than a great movie; it is a gathering of all the lessons of the emerging era of sound, just as "Birth of a Nation" assembled everything learned at the summit of the silent era, and "2001" pointed the way beyond narrative. These peaks stand above all the others.
The origins of "Citizen Kane" are well known. Orson Welles, the boy wonder of radio and stage, was given freedom by RKO Radio Pictures to make any picture he wished. Herman Mankiewicz, an experienced screenwriter, collaborated with him on a screenplay originally called "The American." Its inspiration was the life of William Randolph Hearst, who had put together an empire of newspapers, radio stations, magazines and news services, and then built to himself the flamboyant monument of San Simeon, a castle furnished by rummaging the remains of nations. Hearst was Ted Turner, Rupert Murdoch and Bill Gates rolled up into an enigma.
Arriving in Hollywood at age 25, Welles brought a subtle knowledge of sound and dialogue along with him; on his Mercury Theater of the Air, he'd experimented with audio styles more lithe and suggestive than those usually heard in the movies. As his cinematographer he hired Gregg Toland, who on John Ford's "The Long Voyage Home" (1940) had experimented with deep focus photography--with shots where everything was in focus, from the front to the back, so that composition and movement determined where the eye looked first. For his cast Welles assembled his New York colleagues, including Joseph Cotten as Jed Leland, the hero's best friend; Dorothy Comingore as Susan Alexander, the young woman Kane thought he could make into an opera star; Everett Sloane as Mr. Bernstein, the mogul's business wizard; Ray Collins as Gettys, the corrupt political boss, and Agnes Moorehead as the boy's forbidding mother. Welles himself played Kane from age 25 until his deathbed, using makeup and body language to trace the progress of a man increasingly captive inside his needs. "All he really wanted out of life was love," Leland says. "That's Charlie's story--how he lost it."
The structure of "Citizen Kane" is circular, adding more depth every time it passes over the life. The movie opens with newsreel obituary footage that briefs us on the life and times of Charles Foster Kane; this footage, with its portentous narration, is Welles' bemused nod in the direction of the "March of Time" newsreels then being produced by another media mogul, Henry Luce. They provide a map of Kane's trajectory, and it will keep us oriented as the screenplay skips around in time, piecing together the memories of those who knew him.
Curious about Kane's dying word, "rosebud," the newsreel editor assigns Thompson, a reporter, to find out what it meant. Thompson is played by William Alland in a thankless performance; he triggers every flashback, yet his face is never seen. He questions Kane's alcoholic mistress, his ailing old friend, his rich associate and the other witnesses, while the movie loops through time. As often as I've seen "Citizen Kane," I've never been able to firmly fix the order of the scenes in my mind. I look at a scene and tease myself with what will come next. But it remains elusive: By flashing back through the eyes of many witnesses, Welles and Mankiewicz created an emotional chronology set free from time.
The movie is filled with bravura visual moments: the towers of Xanadu; candidate Kane addressing a political rally; the doorway of his mistress dissolving into a front-page photo in a rival newspaper; the camera swooping down through a skylight toward the pathetic Susan in a nightclub; the many Kanes reflected through parallel mirrors; the boy playing in the snow in the background as his parents determine his future; the great shot as the camera rises straight up from Susan's opera debut to a stagehand holding his nose, and the subsequent shot of Kane, his face hidden in shadow, defiantly applauding in the silent hall.
Along with the personal story is the history of a period. "Citizen Kane" covers the rise of the penny press (here Joseph Pulitzer is the model), the Hearst-supported Spanish-American War, the birth of radio, the power of political machines, the rise of fascism, the growth of celebrity journalism. A newsreel subtitle reads: "1895 to 1941. All of these years he covered, many of these he was." The screenplay by Mankiewicz and Welles (which got an Oscar, the only one Welles ever won) is densely constructed and covers an amazing amount of ground, including a sequence showing Kane inventing the popular press; a record of his marriage, from early bliss to the famous montage of increasingly chilly breakfasts; the story of his courtship of Susan Alexander and her disastrous opera career, and his decline into the remote master of Xanadu ("I think if you look carefully in the west wing, Susan, you'll find about a dozen vacationists still in residence").
"Citizen Kane" knows the sled is not the answer. It explains what Rosebud is, but not what Rosebud means. The film's construction shows how our lives, after we are gone, survive only in the memories of others, and those memories butt up against the walls we erect and the roles we play. There is the Kane who made shadow figures with his fingers, and the Kane who hated the traction trust; the Kane who chose his mistress over his marriage and political career, the Kane who entertained millions, the Kane who died alone.
There is a master image in "Citizen Kane" you might easily miss. The tycoon has overextended himself and is losing control of his empire. After he signs the papers of his surrender, he turns and walks into the back of the shot. Deep focus allows Welles to play a trick of perspective. Behind Kane on the wall is a window that seems to be of average size. But as he walks toward it, we see it is further away and much higher than we thought. Eventually he stands beneath its lower sill, shrunken and diminished. Then as he walks toward us, his stature grows again. A man always seems the same size to himself, because he does not stand where we stand to look at him.
A TV review of Star Trek: Picard.
This message came to me from a reader named Peter Svensland. He and a fr...
A review of Netflix's Dracula, from the creators of Sherlock.
The 2020 Oscar nominations.


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Buffy, Not, Pregnant
Don't mean to gloat but this is why I hate Bump Watch. Totally not interested. Click here for a refresher. So six weeks ago, it was practically a forgone conclusion from MANY of you that she was pregnant. At the time, I wrote that her boobs didn't match the bump, and seriously…just because someone's a little bloated, or isn't sporting a Hollywood concave stomach, doesn't mean there's a baby on board.
And as you can see from her appearance last night at a Tribeca Film Festival event, Sarah Michelle Gellar was NOT pregnant then because if she were pregnant, there'd be even more belly now. She does however look lovely. And healthy. And trying to sell her new movie. The movie with the most assy title: Suburban Girl – chick lit on celluloid and not Bridget Jones. Definitely DVD on a rainy Friday night, don't you think?


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Thursday, March 20, 2008
Happy Flying Spaghetti Monster Day!
Statement at Installation Ceremony
March 21, 2008
We are lucky enough to live in a country that allows us, its citizens, the freedom of speech. I have chosen to put up a statue of the Flying Spaghetti Monster to represent the discourse between people of all different beliefs. The many faiths, ethnicities and backgrounds of Cumberland County's residents make our community a stronger richer place. I respect and am proud that on the people's lawn, the county courthouse, all of these diverse beliefs can come together in a positive dialogue. Here, we are all able to share the issues close to our hearts whether it is through a memorial to the soldiers killed fighting for our country, the Statue of Liberty honoring our nations welcoming promise to all, a group's fight to stop homelessness, or powerful symbols of faith. I greatly treasure this open forum between everyone in the community.
The Flying Spaghetti Monster is a pile of noodles and meatballs, but it is meant to open up discussion and provoke thought. Being able to put up a statue is a celebration of our freedom as Americans; a freedom to be different, to express those differences, and to do it amongst neighbors— even if it is in a noodley way.
57 comments:
- Damian said...
More epic than Caturday.
- March 20, 2008 at 9:25 PM
- snoid said...
aarrgghhh, matey! Noodly blessing on alla you!!!
- March 21, 2008 at 6:34 AM
Bravo!! Bless his noodly appendages
- March 21, 2008 at 6:56 AM
- ceriboo said...
- March 21, 2008 at 7:11 AM
- Principessa of Cervesa said...
2 balls? more male dominance. when will it end?
- March 21, 2008 at 7:27 AM
Very nice. Now I know what to put on my lawn during Christmas.
- March 21, 2008 at 7:34 AM
Ah...Tennessee! Some days you make me proud to be a citizen!
Maybe now Bredesen will finally take seriously the threat of global warming as it relates to the diminishing number of pirates.
More Pirates = Less Global Warming!
- March 21, 2008 at 7:39 AM
What an incredible display of His Noodly Goodness.
A proud day for Pastafarians (and I even read this on our weekly religious holiday fridays! Excellent!)
- March 21, 2008 at 7:44 AM
I suspect that the pregnant Giada DiLaurentiis is the Holy Marinara...
- March 21, 2008 at 7:52 AM
- Blueb4 said...
I have seen the linguini!
- March 21, 2008 at 8:03 AM
Sending love to all Pastafarians!
- March 21, 2008 at 8:10 AM
A big day for pastafarians!
- March 21, 2008 at 8:10 AM
Pasta be with you.
He is beautiful.
- March 21, 2008 at 8:17 AM
- Unknown said...
one small step for the FSM, one big step for religious freedom!
- March 21, 2008 at 8:20 AM
Ramen from the Squarestate.
- March 21, 2008 at 8:25 AM
I'm curious to know what the reaction to your statue has been in the town?
- March 21, 2008 at 8:32 AM
You rock! We'll want pictures, you know :)
- March 21, 2008 at 8:37 AM
by which I mean: reaction shots! The awed masses! Weeping children! Old people touching the Sacred Meatballs, eager to be healed!
- March 21, 2008 at 8:40 AM
That is just wonderful. You should be proud of your work!
Please post more pictures :)
- March 21, 2008 at 8:44 AM
You RULE!
- March 21, 2008 at 9:11 AM
I don't know how old you are, but you need to get a real job. This must have taken up time and money, so if you want to change the world, try donating your time and money to something worth while!
- March 21, 2008 at 10:07 AM
- Caroline Selby said...
Finally, I am proud to be a Crossvillian! :D
- March 21, 2008 at 10:17 AM
- Norm said...
You are a true American. I am overcome with patriotic fervor, and must go do my part to combat global warming by pillaging comely wenches. ARR! rAmen.
- March 21, 2008 at 11:13 AM
- David said...
I'm impressed by your effort and courage.
Let's hope the wackos don't undo it.
- March 21, 2008 at 11:14 AM
And a fine noodly day to you.
- March 21, 2008 at 11:31 AM
Ahhhhhh, another excuse to get sauced!
- March 21, 2008 at 11:32 AM
How can one think of eating any pasta or meatballs ever again! That would be a sacrilege! If people continue to devour it, can it really exist? That is a question to ponder. Can Pastafarinism be passed on through further generations? Pasta is the energy for life, meatballs help sustain that energy. May you be blessed with the passion, spirit and energy to sustain you as you continue to fight for freedoms in which you believe, passing this legacy on to future generations...... Love c
- March 21, 2008 at 12:25 PM
- ZicklePop said...
You are awesome!
- March 21, 2008 at 1:18 PM
- Hannahberri said...
Genius! I am in awe....
- March 21, 2008 at 1:20 PM
This is truly a great blessing!
- March 21, 2008 at 1:47 PM
Thank you for spreading the word of religious freedom.
- March 21, 2008 at 1:48 PM
- A-Train said...
This is so sweet. I'll be making my pilgrimage soon.
- March 21, 2008 at 2:01 PM
- LadyVTavora said...
To the anonymous that thinks the creator of this statue has too much time on his or her hands: I happen to know that this person has done more to promote and protect human rights-- in this country and in others (in the form of tireless volunteer work and in the form of bona fide jobs)--than most anybody in his or her generation. Whether you agree with the concept of this stunt or not isn't my issue with you... the fact that you can't understand it's satirical purpose makes me wonder whether you can access any sort of higher thinking.
- March 21, 2008 at 2:02 PM
- Pulpatooner said...
Next time I'm driving across Tennessee, I'm swinging by Crossville.
- March 21, 2008 at 2:11 PM
Typical "60's hippy" living in the 21st century. With this thought process a person can see why our country is struggling with this 1960's leadership.
- March 21, 2008 at 2:26 PM
- Unknown said...
You've invented the only reason to go to Crossville. I'm still not going, but if I did, this would be why.
- March 21, 2008 at 2:59 PM
- Ron88keys said...
This makes me incredibly happy, since I live a 3 blocks away from the courthouse...I usually avoid Main Street but now I will drive by there everyday and shout out a pirate *arrrgh*.
- March 21, 2008 at 3:14 PM
I have been touched! All I want to say is hats off to you Ariel. It is about time Crossville moved forward and embraces the new. Thank you for this, thank you, thank you.
- March 21, 2008 at 4:15 PM
- Unknown said...
is this an Offical Installation? how was this accomplished? more history/narrative plz! as a dunlapper, it feels incomprehensible, impossible for such a thing to occur!
- March 21, 2008 at 5:18 PM
- John Shuck said...
Wonderful! Noodley good fun.
- March 21, 2008 at 5:40 PM
i am a proud crossvillean today. thank you for opening our eyes to religious faiths beyond our city's borders.
- March 21, 2008 at 5:41 PM
- Unknown said...
Wonderful! What a work of devotion! The best part of religion is the art it inspires.
I am sure Lady Liberty welcomes this awe-inspiring neighbor. I had hoped for a Star of David, Wiccan Pentacle, or Crescent for diversity on our Courthouse lawn, but this is even better!
Check out the quote concerning separation of Church and State on the Statue of Liberty. There is a new one each month.
- March 21, 2008 at 7:23 PM
Walmart Paint?! Still, I love it! Earlier I ate thy royalness, It was spaghodly!
- March 21, 2008 at 8:20 PM
- Micah Cochran said...
Why are you erecting a religious statue on public property?
- March 21, 2008 at 8:58 PM
Micah, because in Crossville, you can. It has been happening with Christian symbols for over a year now. I believe it is past time for other religions to step forward.
- March 22, 2008 at 7:50 AM
I think it's just a sad mockery of our belief in God and someone else's effort to honor him with a symbol. Shame on you....go to church.
- March 25, 2008 at 10:10 AM
- Unknown said...
Kansas State Board of Education to require the teaching of intelligent design as an alternative to biological evolution. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Spaghetti_Monster
The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster - Eight "I'd Really Rather You Didn'ts" - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gospel_of_the_Flying_Spaghetti_Monster
Dawkins: http://www.venganza.org/2006/10/04/richard-dawkins.htm
- March 26, 2008 at 7:00 AM
love you Safdies ^^
- March 26, 2008 at 6:46 PM
i think this was a horrible way to get the message of religious tolerance across. i feel you have created more negative feelings and encouraged more close mindedness by mocking relgion as a whole. good friday is a christian holiday so therefore it would make sense to display a christian symbol. i am sure the courthouse lawn could be decorated with other religious symbols on their religious holidays if someone chose to honor that particular holiday in that fashion....instead of creating an absurd "deity" why not display other religious symbols on their particular holidays. don't you think that could be a much more effective avenue of discourse?
- March 28, 2008 at 8:22 PM
I have been hoping for many moons that someone would set up a different religious display. There was talk of a Buddha and other ideas. No one had the nerve to do anything until this courageous and witty young woman decided to act. May she be blessed by his Noodleyness!
- March 29, 2008 at 12:14 PM
- RedShasta said...
I think this was terrific! To anonymous, think that way if it gives you comfort, but not everyone is religious or thinks that religious doctrine should have any place in a court of law. This is a humourous way of making that point.
If you can have something tangible that represents your beliefs, then how about giving others the courtesy of the same - even if you disagree with them.
- March 29, 2008 at 3:33 PM
@Principessa of cervesa, they could also be boobs. FSM has no gender, and blesses all. Though you have to admit our god has bigger balls/boobs than their god. (R)Amen.
And, as long as anyone can put anything up, within reason it's fine for religious statements. As long as it doesn't endorse it ect.
- March 31, 2008 at 9:42 AM
De noodles say it all, bless de flour, de water, and de sweat dat went into de making of dat fine holistic dish-spread de sauce around-let de meatballs fly-FSM de big daddy finally come up topside--many tanks--dig in--/wave, ching
- April 1, 2008 at 11:37 PM
this is a mochery of christ. you all will pay in the end on judgment day.It isw truly a sad day in crossville when something like this is tolerated
- April 2, 2008 at 1:10 PM
- Byron said...
only by accepting our noodly creator shall we avoid an eternity of torment. anyone professing beliefs in non-noodly lords shall be judged unfavorably at their death.
- April 3, 2008 at 1:31 PM
Ahhh...what scares me people is the fact that these Pastafarians could be a diabolical plot to undermine our very souls and institutions. They could be the Al Queda of the future.
Please will someone contact DHS and alert them to the very threat they pose to our well being as a country.
Peace Out
- April 9, 2008 at 6:12 AM
- Unknown said...
The Pastafarians are peaceful types. The only battle they would engage in is a food fight.
- April 9, 2008 at 8:25 AM


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Osceola County Government in Central Florida, one of the fastest growing counties in the United States, was intent on linking their human resource training efforts to the areas of most need, but there was frustration from the executive manager that people were reluctant to look for new and better ways to improve the organization. With these expressed goals and concerns, we implemented the LPI and developed a way to pinpoint the areas where the most improvement would be needed and areas where the group is the strongest using the following activity.
In the Leadership Practices Inventory Facilitators Guide, Third Edition, Part III: Appendixes contains an Appendix G, LPI Statements by Leadership Practice (page 211). This one page lists The Five Practices and the six behavioral items in the LPI that measure each of The Five Practices. It is a great summary page. For this activity we had in enlarged to poster size. At the end of a two-day session using The Leadership Challenge® Workshop, and prior to the Commitment portion, we asked each participant to identify the top three items that they felt were their strongest behaviors. We purposely chose to focus on strengths rather than weaknesses. Each person was given three dot stickers on which they were to put their initials. They were then asked to place their dots next to the three items in which they were strongest. (They could choose their highest self-scores, the highest Observer scores, or a combination).
The results had a great visual impact. First, we could plainly see that this group was very strong at Enabling Others to Act but only one person (out of 30) placed one of the three dots in Challenging the Process. It plainly reinforced the frustration that the Executive Manager had expressed in the quest for process improvement. Second, this very visible snapshot of strengths and weakness gave the human resources staff some good ideas for the type of training needed to improve areas in need of attention. A third benefit used from this activity was that each person could look at areas where he/she would like to improve and partner with a person that had that item or area as a strength. During the Commitment Memo activity, there was great discussion around how someone who wanted to improve in an area could benefit by what another is doing or saying (behaving) that made others perceive that item as a strength.
The participants thought this was one of the best activities they did in the two days and we summarized the results and distributed to all for future reference. In this way, they could continuously remember the strengths of each other and use that for formal and informal mentoring.
Stephen Hoel is President of Diversity Leadership Consultants.


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Lackey myseriously scolded the media in the locker room after the Red Sox won their 14-inning showdown with the Yankees: "Let me tell you the truth, [t]hirty minutes before the game I got a text message on my cell phone from one of you, somebody in the media, talking about personal stuff. I shouldn't even have to be standing up here dealing with it." Five hours later, TMZ reported that Lackey was "divorcing his wife battling cancer" and there's our answer.
Video via JP Cambareri


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Download Adobe Flash playerAlternatively, read the transcripts, attached below, containing a text version of the information displayed in the Flash Animation.
This animation explains the concept of confidentiality. If you are unable to access the video a Transcript (.doc 27kb) has been provided. The animation requires Adobe Flash Player to run. There is no audio in this animation.


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Note: passwords are case-sensitive
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Oregon has a diverse range of OHV riding opportunities, from the High Desert to the Coast Range and everything in between. Here is the online version of the Oregon State Parks: Oregon OHV Guide-ATV Riding Map. Check with the land manager for riding area information before you head out. With the Forest Service's Travel Management rule, it is imperative you contact the appropriate Forest Service office to obtain a Motor Vehicle Use Map (MVUM) to know where you can legally ride on Forest Service lands.
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Arizona moves to CWS finals with 10-3 win over FSU
AP Sports Writer
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – Arizona coach Andy Lopez couldn't imagine taking a hotter team to the College World Series finals.
That's where the Wildcats are heading after their 10-3 victory over Florida State on Thursday. They'll go into the best-of-three championship round Sunday coming off nine straight wins and 16 in their last 18 games.
"I'm not sure we're invincible. In fact, I'm quite confident we're not," Lopez said. "We're playing good baseball. But, honestly, we've done that for more than a weekend or so."
Florida State gave the Wildcats lots of help, committing three of their four errors in Arizona's six-run first inning.
Freshman starter Brandon Leibrandt was pulled after he recorded just one out for the Seminoles, who used eight pitchers to tie a CWS record for a nine-inning game.
Robert Refsnyder and Bobby Brown homered in a span of three at-bats in the fourth as the Wildcats built their lead to 10-1.
"About the easiest way to sum it up is say we got taken to the woodshed today," FSU coach Mike Martin said.
Kurt Heyer (13-2) worked 7 1-3 innings while taking the national lead for wins as the Wildcats (46-17) won Bracket 1.
Arizona will be playing for its fourth national championship and first since 1986 after losing in regionals the past two years. The Wildcats did not qualify for the NCAA tournament in 2009.
"Having the experience of losing and feeling what it feels like to go back on a charter plane and nobody talks, it's a depressing feeling," Refsnyder said. "I think we're on a mission this year, myself and Kurt and the other juniors, to really get to the College World Series, and now we're in the position to win a national title. That's what we came here to do."
Arizona's surge began in early May after it lost a series at Oregon. Lopez challenged his players, and they went on to win the Pac-12 co-championship and then sweep through the regional and super regional at home.
"I grabbed the group together and said, 'Listen, if you want to win the Pac 12 or host regionals and do things that we've set as goals, we can't lose another series from here on, end of story. To be very candid with you, they've played exceptionally good baseball from that point on. And so far so good. They'll continue the process, hopefully."
The Wildcats' run at the CWS started with a 4-3, 12-inning win over Florida State. Konner Wade threw a complete-game shutout two nights later against UCLA, and then they won easily in the rematch with the Seminoles.
The Seminoles (50-17) were making their 21st appearance in Omaha and no other team has played in the CWS as many times without winning a championship. Martin has been coach for 15 of those trips to Omaha.
He said the championship drought isn't testing his patience.
"Not at all," he said. "I'll tell you exactly how I feel. It's Christmastime. You get to come to Omaha, Nebraska, and experience the week of Christmas with great people. You'll have memories that you'll cherish for the rest of your life.
"No, I don't feel like Job. I feel like King David, because I am on top of the world with people that will fight for you for 27 outs in a game."
Leibrandt (8-3) was knocked out after 4 1-3 innings of the Seminoles' first-round loss to Arizona. On Thursday, he threw 31 pitches, only 15 strikes, and his throwing error set the stage for Arizona's big first inning.
Leibrandt's struggle marked the third time in this CWS that a starting pitcher lasted an inning or less. Florida's Hudson Randall made it one inning against Kent State on Monday and UCLA's Zack Weiss was pulled after one-third of an inning against Florida State on Tuesday.
The last time so many CWS starters failed to get more than three outs was in 1995, when five got the early hook.
Arizona's six runs in the first resulted from four singles, three walks, a sacrifice fly and the three errors. No team at the CWS had committed as many errors in an inning since Miami had the same number in a 2004 game against Cal State Fullerton.
Heyer scattered nine hits, walked three and struck out three. His 7 1-3 innings raised his nation-leading total to 153, the most of any pitcher in Division I since 2006.
Arizona has gotten at least seven innings from its starter in each of its eight NCAA tournament games.
"The only thing I would probably take away from my performance is that I can't walk three guys," Heyer said. "That's unacceptable, very uncharacteristic of me. One walk I'll tolerate, but three is unbelievable for me. You take away those three walks, I'm probably still pitching."
The Wildcats came into the CWS with a .333 batting average. After hitting just .219 in their first two games (16 of 73), they collected 15 hits. Refsnyder went 3 for 4, four of his teammates had two hits apiece and Johnny Field extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a single in the eighth.
"They did not give us any room to breathe," Martin said.


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Interferon Gamma-1b
Interferon Gamma-1b Solution for injection
What is this medicine?
INTERFERON (in ter FEER on) Gamma-1b helps your immune system work better. In patients with chronic granulomatous disease, this medicine helps to fight infections. In children with osteoporosis, interferon gamma helps to slow the progression of the disease.
This medicine may be used for other purposes; ask your health care provider or pharmacist if you have questions.
What should I tell my health care provider before I take this medicine?
They need to know if you have any of these conditions:
blood or bleeding disorders
bone marrow disease
depression or other mental disorders
heart disease
liver disease
seizure disorder
an unusual or allergic reaction to interferon, proteins, other medicines, foods, dyes, or preservatives
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I wish I had had time to send his chocolate chip cookies to our friend in DC, who brought this frame to Arlington National Cemetary the same day his son was born.
But it was more important to us that on his son's first day of life, the two of them were together in spirit if not in letter.
When we go to visit him in a few months, we'll have his cookies; and a bottle of Scotch to toast the baby he knew about before he left for war; the baby he named in hopes it would be a boy.
And G. Darling G?
She is engaged to J.


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text:
I arrived in San Diego yesterday afternoon to a partly cloudy day and intermittent sprinkles. However, that didn't stop the IHRSA 2010 show, which was in full swing with seminars yesterday.
I headed over to the San Diego Convention Center to catch the last portion of the REX Roundtables. Unfortunately, a 90-minute rain delay prevented me from sitting in on any of the roundtables, but I did get to hear Bo Burlingham, editor-at-large for Inc., offer the keynote, which focused on small business giants. Burlingham is the author of the Inc. article about Joe Cirulli, founder of Gainesville Athletic Club, which he considers a small giant.
Burlingham focused on the common thread that makes companies great: mojo. He calls this the business equivalent of charisma.
"When a business has charisma, you want to work there, buy their product and be there," Burlingham said.
He emphasized that getting bigger does not equate to becoming greater, but he also said that a company does not have to stay small in size to continue to be great.
Burlingham has a new book, "Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big," that focuses on 14 small giants that he says have mojo. But what are the qualities these companies had? He offers five in the book and a sixth one that he determined after the book was published. Here are those qualities:
1. The businesses are owned and led by people who know who they are, what they want out of their business and why.
2. The companies are rooted in the communities in which they do business.
3. The companies enjoy close, personal ties with their customers and suppliers.
4. The customers come second. The employees come first. Burlingham did say that this was an over exaggeration, but that a business owner must take care of employees so that employees take care of the customers, especially when the business becomes so big that the employees are now the face of the business rather than the owner.
5. The owners and leaders are in love with what their companies do. They want everyone who comes into contact with the business to feel the same way.
6. The companies have a sound business model and protect their gross margins. They don't have to have big margins, but they have to be in control of them.
Burlingham emphasized that greatness is not a destination but a journey.
"Companies need to nurture and protect their mojo or it goes away," he said, adding that it's dangerous for a company to sit around and think it's great.
The fitness industry is an industry that lends itself to having a lot of companies with mojo.


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A bit of PVP learning
I'd like to discuss a couple of spells I'd used pretty close to never in PVE, but in PVP they've become… not primary, but definitely high on my keeper list. I'm speaking of Mana Burn and Mass Dispel.
I've come to really enjoy mana burn in PVP – but it has to be used wisely.
Now it's worth remembering what Mana Burn does. Every 3 seconds – 2 if you've talented for it – you burn (at highest level) a bit over a thousand mana off your target (who can be up to 30 yards away), and it does half that as damage. It' s not improved by talents or gear. It's a situational spell, but I've found it immensely useful in BGs (remember, I BG, not yet Arena.) The situations, however, are frequent.
There are two classes against whom I'll use it even if they've a full mana bar. Paladins and Hunters. ESPECIALLY hunters. Regardless of spec, they've got a (relatively) tiny mana pool which can be killed with two or three burns. And a hunter without mana is a hunter who can't sting or trap or… well, pretty much anything but autoshot. It doesn't kill them, but I'm not a killer – I'm a priest. I heal, and I add utility. And cutting a major DPS's damage by half AND eliminating HIS utility is, well, pretty darn useful.
The other full class is the Paladin. While not as bad off as the hunter, the paladin tends to suffer from a still rather low mana pool, and is typically not blessed with massive means to restore the pool. (Typically, folks. If you prepare, and sacrifice OTHER abilities, you can overcome it.) Again, it won't kill the paladin. What it does is weaken them enough that they're meat for the killers on your side.
For pretty much everyone else, I tend to only use it when they're below half. All the big casters have some mana tricks to recover losses given even a ghost of a chance – and the 6-12 casts (at 2 seconds each) necessary to drop the whole thing are going to grant more than a ghost of a chance. Still, the opportunity does arise.
But the hunter/paladin issue alone, in BGs, has been surprisingly useful often enough that I'll probably include it in every build possible.
My other spell is Mass Dispel (MD). Now, every arena-bound priest takes it, and many try to take the talents to push it to half a second cast time. They do it for one reason – to break the Pally bubble. Unfortunately, there are a pair of really annoying counters. First, stack a bunch of buffs — even (or especially) "useless" ones. Second, warlocks can toss an Unstable Affliction in there. Remember that UA (before talents and gear enhancements) will do about a thousand damage to its target, but if you dispel it you take about 1500. And it can crit – 2250, pre-bonus. So you always have to watch out – a spelldamage UA on two or three of your party, buffed with spelldamage and other bonuses, with one crit — Hero to Corpse in one easy Kaboom.
Now, the nice thing about MD in this case is its weakness becomes a strength. It removes one debuff and one buff from up to five friends and foes (respectively) in its area of effect. AND, while it selects a random debuff there is a modifier. It always selects something to remove that cannot be removed by normal dispel first.
All this contributes to why it's useful in a BG snarl – big mass fight. Now as DaPriesta noted, people don't tend to slap a lot of buffs onto each other after they've died. Which means… they're only tossing the ones they consider critical. And every class has one or two critical buffs.
Do you still have to beware of UA? Yep. Fortunately the sheer fluidity of the BG helps you here. In Arena it's almost EXPECTED the priest will use it. In BG? ummm, not so much. And even when there is a warlock, it's rare that UA will be the only dot.
So what happens – provided I don't overuse it and so give a warlock REASON to set up a mousetrap – is that it doesn't have to gamble with "useless" buffs. It gets… let's call them "priority" buffs and debuffs. The ones that when pared to the bone the player uses anyway. And even when the warlock tosses UA, it's a gamble, not a trap.
It's not a game-winning spell. But it's got enough utility often enough – and fast enough – that it's worth keeping. Me, I tend to toss it once, no more than twice, after about 5 seconds into a furball. I'll catch a couple of dots and three or four buffs. And to me, that's enough. It's a game of increments, and this is a pretty big one IMO.
6 Responses to "A bit of PVP learning"
Comedy is zapping a mage ice block. 🙂
And the time I nailed two bubbled pally's. Quite enjoyable 🙂
Referring to your PvP build post (and my comment there) – if you feel this strongly about Mass Dispel, you should *definitely* look into pointing a point or two in Absolution. It sounds like you cast it enough over the course of a BG to really appreciate the mana savings, even if it's only 5%.
Played with a bit of MD, throwing it every now and again on defence in AV. Seemed worthwhile, even without talents, and that's a smart argument about critical buffs. I am fairly certain the priest on the other side of the AV thought it a sufficiently good idea to copy. Nice one. 🙂
*AV alliance _bridge_, that is
I must have bad luck cause I seem to run into pallys with 300mp5 gear on. I burn them to zero and suddenly 105 mana ticks, that seems to be enough mana to heal to full. Curse them we hates them!
Mana burn is also very useful against shaman. Another idea against shaman and hunters is to rank1 sw:p them, to trick them into cleansing over and over, using up their mana. Sometimes that works. Because for me, fighting pallys and shaman is a war of attrition. I just have to keep alive and use my massive mana regen to stay at near full mana while they burn theirs all away trying to kill me. Then I burn em down and they are easy pickings even for a holy priest.
I am no expert of course that's from maybe 100 killing blows out of tens of thousands of deaths 🙂
However, in groups, I just start targetting and burning. As long as no one notices me I can get a few in before getting focus fired to death. But that ping is pretty noticeable, especially hunters Will immediately target me after one burn. If they're an MM hunter then I'm dead in a few seconds 🙂 Priests as well are hard because we know the sound and if I try it the priest immediately comes after me.
Oh one more note that I found out: warlocks can lifedrain even if they have 0 mana. Maybe they just have to start the drain first but it will keep going. So don't rely on that to stop a lifedrain. 😛
i meant pallys cleanse not hunters 🙂


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Friday, May 08, 2009
Stress Test Done, Crisis Over; Buffett Wrong, Kass Right.
Fed Sees Up to $599 Billion in Bank Losses
Worst-Case Capital Shortfall of $75 Billion at 10 Banks Is Less Than Many Feared;
Some Shares Rise on Hopes Crisis is Easing
—The Wall Street Journal, May 8, 2009
Three weeks ago, in "Stress Test On, Crisis Over," we here at NotMakingThisUp argued that the fact the government was finally getting around to "stress-testing" the health of the nation's largest banks, at a time when banking fundamentals were starting to improve, meant that the crisis itself was over.
We summed up our admittedly cynical, but grounded-in-30-years-of-watching-The-Market view this way:
Putting it into a formula, we derive the following:
Improving Fundamental Outlook + Severe Government Reaction = Crisis Over.
And we think you can take that to the bank.
—NotMakingThisUp, April 17, 2009
Today, with the results of the Federal stress test in, and many financial stocks using the occasion to continue their recent rally, we think a greater and far more important voice than our tiny virtual speaker-phone could ever be—The Market itself—has made itself heard.
And we think The Market is saying, "Crisis over."
Now, by what perverse logic has this come to pass, you may wonder? How, as Don Corleone would have asked, did things get so far—that bank stocks would actually rally on headlines that Federal authorities fear up to $599 billion in bank losses and a capital shortfall of $75 billion at the top 19 banks?
The Feds gave it their worst—for the moment, anyway—and that worst-case scenario proved to be not, as most investors had previously feared, widespread bank nationalization and more bank failures, but merely a new round of capital-raising that most of the banks in question appear capable of persuading The Market to handle.
In brief, the government has shown The Market its very worst case, and with that in mind, investors can now evaluate financial stocks they might want to own, without the sort of dreadful gnawing that some kind of unquantifiable black hole still lurks in the wings.
Which brings us to the headline of today's piece.
What, exactly, did Warren Buffett get wrong, and Doug Kass get right?
Well, Buffett himself spoke out on the stress-test just last weekend at the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting—Buffett's "Woodstock for Capitalists," which we attended with more than a rooting interest in the questions being asked of the "Oracle of Omaha."
(See "What They Want to Know: Our Top Ten List for Warren Buffett " from April 23, 2009 for details on those questions, and stay tuned here: we'll have a follow-up on the meeting, and the questions that were asked, next week. But by way of a preview, Buffett was asked one of our Top Ten questions, and by Aznaur Midov, a student from San Francisco State University's Financial Analysis & Management Education group no less. Aznaur made the pilgrimage to Omaha with his fine classmates barely a month after we all met on their home turf for an intense, intelligent, and fun discussion of Buffett, Berkshire, and hedge funds.)
And what Buffett said, when discussing Wells Fargo—one of Berkshire's largest stock holdings—was this:
"Wells Fargo is gonna be a lot better off—unless they have to issue a lot of shares, which they shouldn't…"
Yet just this morning Wells Fargo issued 341 million shares, which is "a lot" in anyone's book. In fact, it's more than the 290 million shares that Berkshire Hathaway currently owns.
Buffettologists will, I know, complain that Wells Fargo really shouldn't have been required to issue those shares, so Buffett wasn't really "wrong."
They'll say today's 341 million share offering was done only in response to the Fed's stress test, and besides don't you know Buffett has compounded Berkshire at 20% a year for 44 years and who are you to point out something the Oracle got wrong, and when did you become the expert and yadda yadda yadda…
But the fact is, Wells was required to issue "a lot" of shares less than a week after those words were spoken.
Besides, there's no criticism implied in making the point that Buffett got it wrong. For one thing, we've never been on the short side of Wells Fargo, for the simple reason that we remember too well that the same arguments now being made against Wells Fargo were being made back in 1990, when smart people told us how stupid Buffett was about Wells Fargo, and that Wells was up to its eyeballs in bad loans, and how could Buffett not realize Wells Fargo was going tapioca, and yadda yadda yadda…
...not long before the U.S. housing market, and Wells Fargo stock, began a very long rise up and to the right, to the benefit of Buffett and Berkshire shareholders.
Furthermore, the reason Buffett made the comment in the first place was that he'd been telling the story of how he told a business class from the University of Chicago, on the day Wells Fargo hit $9 a share, that, if he could, he would have put his "entire net worth" in the stock at that price.
Not a bad call at all. In fact, a great one.
(Having spoken to the very same University of Chicago Booth School of Business group just prior to their visit to Omaha, we give a shout-out to Chris Knapp, Jennifer Yang and the rest of that fine crew: they asked some of the best questions we've gotten about Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway, and it doesn't surprise us a bit the Oracle mentioned their visit.)
Finally, the Wells offering makes our "Crisis Over" point better than anything we could write: the deal was priced at $22 and the stock is currently north of $25. A market that doesn't blink while swallowing $7.5 billion of stock is a market that's hungry for more.
Now what, you might be wondering, did Doug Kass get "right"?
For starters, in Doug's "20 Surprises for 2009," which we highlighted late last December on these virtual pages, Surprise #2 was this:
Housing stabilizes sooner than expected.
That nugget—widely derided at the time—looks like it is coming to pass, with tremendous implications for all kinds of businesses.
But second, and more importantly, we recall seeing Doug on "The Kudlow Report" during the dark days of late February/early March, when the S&P 500 was on its way to a negative 25% start to the New Year, on top of last year's performance-killing negative 37%, and not many people wanted to hear from optimists.
But Douggie was optimistic. And he said so.
His exact words, as we recall them, were an echo of Buffett's most famous comment on The Market—indeed, the best and most unequivocal market call ever printed—"Now is the time to invest and get rich," which Forbes published at the market lows in the dark days of late 1974.
Just as ridiculous as those words might have seemed when Buffett spoke them in 1974, they seemed ridiculous the night Doug Kass spoke them, before he went on to elucidate why he believed them true.
And in light of all that has happened since those dark days of early March, 2009, our virtual hat goes off to Doug Kass, for getting a big thing very very right.
For what it's worth, that same hat goes off to Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger, too, for taking the time to talk to shareholders for five hours last weekend. It's something no company Chairman or Vice-Chairman has ever made a regular part of his or her annual meeting, and likely ever will.
And it's something we think not only every investor, but every CEO, CFO and board director should experience at least once in their careers.
We'll have more on our first impressions from Omaha come Monday.
Jeff Matthews
I Am Not Making This Up
© 2009 NotMakingThisUp, LLC
The content contained in this blog represents the opinions of Mr. Matthews.
Mr. Matthews also acts as an advisor and clients advised by Mr. Matthews may hold either long or short positions in securities of various companies discussed in the blog based upon Mr. Matthews' recommendations. This commentary in no way constitutes investment advice. It should never be relied on in making an investment decision, ever. Nor are these comments meant to be a solicitation of business in any way: such inquiries will not be responded to. This content is intended solely for the entertainment of the reader, and the author.
16 comments:
- CP said...
Sold to YOU
- BobE said...
In re WFC's share issuance:
When Wells bought Wachovia, they said they would issue $20 billion of fresh common equity, since WB didn't bring any of its own (WB in fact had a common equity deficit of $3 billion owing to writedowns and charge-offs that consumed all of its equity).
Wells was able to issue $11 billion, but the eruption of crisis and the ever-changing rules promulgated by the government prevented them from doing more.
So, consider the offering today as the second half what they meant to do last fall.
What I really wonder is why Buffett didn't remember that.
- Sam Antar said...
"Fed Sees Up to $599 Billion in Bank Losses"
Wow! At least its under $600 billion. The Feds must have taken a marketing course on Crazy Eddie:
"We are giving money away at a price that's insaaaaane!!!!!!!!"
- Kieran McCarthy said...
I think you are a touch too confident in your declaration that Doug Kass was right. He may be right. But he might be wrong. Housing inventories are still at near all-time highs and existing home sales are still at near all-time lows. Delinquencies on prime mortgages have doubled in the last six months.This means that prices will likely continue to decline until that situation is remedied.
This rally has been impressive. I, too, was very bullish at S&P 700, but I am very, very cautious at these levels. And to declare the crisis over, definitively, when unemployment is still growing, strikes me as premature. It may be. But, given the debt levels, leverage, and changing social mood, it is far too early to declare any such victory.
Baghdad was conquered easily enough, but the clean up took a little longer than expected. A similar approach might be warranted with the "crisis" today.
- invstmnt said...
Jeff Matthews shows more "Buffett-envy" in this story.
His "Buffett wrong, Kass right" headline reveals more about Matthews than about Buffett or Kass.
Why did he not entitle his piece: "Buffett right; Kass wrong"?
In the fact that Kass's prediction #1 did not come about. Russian oligarchs in fact were NOT found to be investors with Madoff and no attempt had been made on Madoff's life.
And the fact that Buffett made the ultimate call to those University of Chicago kids...that WFC was cheap enough to put an entire net worth into. The stock then tripled in the next 8 weeks.It's about making money not making 20 guesses each year and Buffett is well ahead of both Matthews and Kass in this regard.
Matthews will tell you that he mentions this in his commentary. But the headline says it all: Buffett-envy.
- invstmnt said...
PS: Expect to see Berkshire Hathaway to be a buyer of 34M of those 341M shares issued by WFC today.
- Jeff Matthews said...
"CP" may be right in the end, and that's what makes markets. Time will tell.
"BobE" brings up a very good point, well made. Thank you.
"Sam E. Antar," which is the commentator's real name, makes an amusing observation--yes, Sam, it is interesting that the number rounds down to 599...
"Kieran" takes the less-ebullient side of the housing market. By way of background, I have not always been a housing fan: I made a call on these pages in August 2005 that anybody buying a house at that point was an idiot; today I think anybody NOT buying a house is missing a terrific opportunity.
Supply is plentiful, bidders have been scarce, and interest rates are at multi-generational lows. Plus, real estate should provide a long-term inflation hedge, if the current deficit spending result in what many fear it must.
So I take the other side of Kieran's housing call. (By the way, inventories in CA are down to 5 months. I believe they peaked at 12 months, and I believe the current level is a 4 year low.)
But, again, that's what makes markets, and I appreciate the feedback.
"Invstmnt" goes off the deep end, as in past hyper-sensitive defenses of the world's greatest investor.
Both Buffett, when he told those Chicago B-School students he'd buy all the WFC he could get his hands on at $9, and Kass, when he told Larry Kudlow that 'now is the time to invest' somewhere around 666 on the S&P 500, made great calls.
And I said so.
Buffett's statement last Saturday that WFC shouldn't have to issue "a lot of stock" was almost immediately proven wrong--it's just a fact.
Does it matter in the grand scheme of things?
Not a bit--not to Berkshire shareholders including myself; not to anyone who bought WFC on the $22 print (it closed the day at $28.18); and certainly not to Buffett himself.
"Invstmnt" needs to take one of Buffett's best pieces of advice from last Saturday's meeting to heart: "You have to have an emtional stability, an inner peace" in this business.
- cargocultinvestor said...
As you say differences in opinions make the markets
In the present situation my formula
is: Blogging hedgie sees blue skies ahead=top of bear market rally.
The 599 figure is interesting. As everyone knows the x99 is a marketing ploy to MINIMIZE the perception of the amount. ie this number indicates a mindset that is trying to put the best face on the issue, not really a worst feared scenario. That's my "tell" on the veracity of the stress test potential loss number. I doubt it really is their worst case. It might be way to low. Unless real estate markets rebound strongly I think it is.
We'll see.
- Anonymous said...
It is rare when I disagree with your posts, but, respectfully, I must do so here.
I don't buy that Wells Fargo is out of the woods by any stretch of the imagination. One need only remember that, in addition to home loans, Wells Fargo also originates commercial real estate mortgages.
According to a report dated 4/23/2009 on Commercial Real Estate Direct.com, Wells wrote over $70 billion of commercial mortgages in 2007 and over $30 billion in 2008. This doesn't include Wachovia's $90 billion worth of commercial mortgages in 2007 and $13 billion in 2008.
To readers, in the spirit of Jeff's mantra, I am not making this up. You can see the article for your self here.
The government's stress test scenario of Well's commercial loan holdings saw a total of only 10.7% for Wells' entire commercial real estate and industrial loan portfolio "going bad" in 2009 and 2010.
I wonder whether the government's estimated losses on Well's commercial portfolio goes high enough considering the worsening (slowing?) on the U.S. economy, and Wells is only setting aside $21 billion in loan loss provisions (see pg 37 of the Wells 2008 Annual report, in the balance sheet provision Allowance for Loan Losses).
I think the managers of Wells Fargo in 1990, Reichardt and Haizen, are far different from Stumpf and Kovacevich managing Wells today. Also, the size and scope of Wells assets has nearly tripled (I think) from 1990 to today. Wells is a different "financial animal" today, Jeff. The size and scope of Well's loan portfolio back then are not the same size and scope of commercial (and residential, I might add) loans Wells owns today.
I hope both you and Doug Kass are right but remember, markets have a funny way of allowing investors to be "fooled by randomness" (nod to taleb).
I could be wrong in my skeptical opinion above, however; guess that's what makes markets, right?
- Anonymous said...
I have to agree the judgement that Kass was right looks premature. Rallies of over 30% are not uncommon after crashes like we had. I am a bit surprised though that Jeff is taking Feds tests so seriously. I think they were a lot more about trying to project some confidence than really testing... Worst scenario, really? 10% unemployment by year end? Hmmm
- invstmnt said...
My comments were to your HEADLINE on Buffett.
"Inner peace" could be considered to be lacking for someone who needs to trash the greatest investor of all time in his headlines, and then try to provide some factual cover deeper in the story.
Your headlines are the tell for your thinking, Jeff. Buffett went after the hedge fund community a few years back and since then, I sense that you have never forgiven him for it.
His sole purpose in the market in his words is the following:
"Our method is very simple. We just try to buy businesses with good-to-superb underlying economics run by honest and able people and buy them at sensible prices. That's all I'm trying to do."
Everything else is just noise and banter. In the long run Wells will have looked to be a tremendous buying opportunity at these prices. Scuttlebutt about whether Kovacevich is going to wake up with a pimple on his butt tomorrow or not is irrelevant.
And for the short term oriented, envious hedgies attempting to play "gotcha" with Buffett, then that scuttlebutt is important.
You might well be served to focus on the same long term performance Jeff. The results are in his numbers and can't be denied.
- Jeff Matthews said...
"Invstmnt" says 'I sense that you have never forgiven' Buffett for going after hedge funds.
Not sure what there is to 'forgive' and who cares what Invstmnt 'senses', but for what it's worth, I happen to agree with Buffett that many hedge funds haven't deserved the fees they've gotten, and that the tax benefit from the partnership structure is, as Buffett named his first corporate jet, Indefensible.
My point is far simpler: Buffett ran a hedge fund for 13 years, and he benefitted from the same high fee structure and low tax rate he now critizes. (In fact, the tax advantage was far higher back then.) That's just a fact.
It's one that Buffett doesn't raise much, and apparently some readers have a hard time grasping, but it's a fact.
'So we beat on, boats against the current...'
- invstmnt said...
"My point is far simpler: Buffett ran a hedge fund for 13 years, and he benefitted from the same high fee structure and low tax rate he now critizes. (In fact, the tax advantage was far higher back then.) That's just a fact."
But in carefully selecting your fact, Jeff, you conveniently fail to offer up an even more important fact that, unlike you and other hedge funds today, Buffett set up a contractual obligation with his investors where he would participate in any losses in the partnership. Of course there were no losses.
But I don't see you or anyone else with the guts or confidence in his investing skills to take on that kind of clause in your partnership agreement.
In my opinion, he is fine to criticize the profit sharing, loss protected hedge fund managers of today.
- Jeff Matthews said...
"Invstmnt": thanks for making the same point I already made.
It IS fine to criticize hedge fund managers; and Buffett, who criticizes them, started by running a hedge fund.
Let's move on.
- invstmnt said...
Thanks Jeff. I also agree to move on.
And I assume that you acknowledge the point that Buffett did NOT have the "same" high fee structure that you or anyone else has today. He shared in the losses if there were any.
- Jeff Matthews said...
Sorry, he got 50% of the upside, and that's "high" in anyone's book.
His willingness to take part of the downside was indeed unique. All in all, the incentive fee structure made him, as well as his investors, quite rich, which is how it should be in this business.
Read "Pilgrimage to Warren Buffett's Omaha"!