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Tag Archives: Rihanna
Dear Diary… Grammy Girls!
Posted in Stunners Tagged Ciara, Esperanza Spalding, Jennifer Hudson, Jennifer Lopez, Katy Perry, Keri Hilson, Lea Michele, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna Leave a comment
Living Legend… Eminem Owns Grammy Stage
While the worlds most popular acts all came together for the 2011 Grammy Night, Eminem showed the world Live, why his comeback was not complete. After winning two early Grammy's, he delivered a blistering performance along with Rihanna, and another … Continue reading
Posted in Living Legend, Music Tagged Dr. Dre, Eminem, Rihanna Leave a comment
Mikael Jansson shoots Rihanna for Interview Magazine
Kanye West interviews Rihanna for Interview Magazine this month, , but the real standout of the piece are the photographs by Mikael Jansson. Free Viewing Below…
Posted in Photography Tagged Kanye West, Mikael Jansson, Rihanna Leave a comment


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Monthly Archives: October 2010
St. Joseph Society Moving Day
Parmenter and Hanover St. Corner Building Set For November 4th Auction
ROC Haunted House Carnival 2010
North End Halloween Children's Parade 2010
Charlie Baker Campaigns in North End
Suzanne Bump Campaigns in North End With Tony DeMarco & Sal...
North End / Waterfront HazMat Task Force Makes Information Request
Republican State Senate Candidate Frank Addivinola Interview, Part 3
This is the third and final part of an interview series with the Republican candidate for State Senate, Frank Addivinola, Jr. who is running against Democratic incumbent State Senator Anthony Petruccelli for the First Suffolk Middlesex District. In addition to the North End, the district includes Beacon Hill, Cambridge, East Boston, Revere and Winthrop.
Read Part 1 and Part 2 of my interview with Frank Addivinola, Jr. and the interview series with Sen. Petruccelli: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.
In this third part of the series, Frank Addivinola, Jr. talks about libraries, development, public safety, parks, technology, heritage and how he is differentiating his campaign in the State Senate race.

subset: commoncrawl


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Abbeville Fire and Rescue serves the citizens of Abbeville, along with the majority of rural Henry County with both fire and emergency medical services. Equipped with the latest technology and equipment; Abbeville Fire and Rescue personnel are prepared to respond to and manage most creitical incidents in both residential and industrial situations. Abbeville Fire and Rescue members train in industrial environments in an effort to be better prepared to respond to these type emergencies. Members trained in the handling of hazardous materials place Abbeville Fire and Rescue at the forefront of other agencies in this area of industrial emergencies.
For Emergencies Dial 911
For non-emergencies:
Phone: 334.585.2000
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
201 Bradley St.
Abbeville, AL 36310
Register here to receive advance
notifications of emergency conditions.


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via PhotoNotebook Getty Images/iStock
1. Design a family photo frame at Yucandu. Kids can create a custom piece of art to give to mom and dad at Yucandu in Webster Groves. Bring in a family photo and design a quirky frame with paint, collage pieces, or a colorful mosaic. Projects start at $15. 20 Allen.
2. Make a Valentine's Day card with free supplies at Michael's. Drop in at your local Michael's to make a (mostly) free Valentine card. Just buy the blank card and the supplies are free. All stores. Feburary 11 from 1–3 p.m.
3. Show your Heart for Art at the Saint Louis Art Museum. Show the world your family's love of art with a visit to the Saint Louis Art Museum during Hearts for Art. Pick up a free paper heart at the information center and find your favorite piece of art in the museum. Then drop your heart under the art and share a picture on social media with #HeartsforArt or #SLAMheart. Don't forget to tag the museum. Free. February 10–12, 14. 1 Fine Arts.
4. Tour the Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate factory. It's not Valentine's Day without chocolate. Show the kids where chocolate comes from with a tour of the Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate factory. Tours are free and run every half hour (except from noon to 12:30 p.m.) from 9 a.m.–3 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m.–1 p.m on Saturdays. A visit to the tasting room is $5. 5025 Pattison.
5. Visit the Missouri Botanical Garden's Orchid Show. Take your little Valentines to see some of the world's most beautiful flowers. The Missouri Botanical Garden's Orchid Show is going on all month long. 9 a.m.–5 p.m. $5 per person in addition to regular admission. Kids under 3 are free. 4344 Shaw.
Photography by T. Mike Fletcher
6. Cook a fun dinner… Restaurants might be too crowded with romantic couples on Valentine's Day, so make a "fancy" dinner at home. Try an easy fondue with chunks of veggies, apple slices, and bread. Or attempt this delectable chocolate fondue recipe from Tony's pastry chef Helen Fletcher. If pizza is more your style, make heart-shaped personal pizzas.
7. …then catch and a kid-friendly movie. Avoid the date-night crowd and take in the LEGO Batman movie, which opens February 10. Or stay at home with Netflix and stream a classic family movie like The Princess Bride, Fantasia, or The Jungle Book.
Denise Bertacchi is a mom on a mission to find all things fun for kids to do in St. Louis. Read more at stlmotherhood.com, or follow her at @stlmotherhood on Twitter and Instagram.


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Before you can fix the toilet, you must first figure out why it is always running. Therefore, the first step is to remove the lid and inspect the parts inside (I know it may seem gross to have to stick your hands in the water, but I assure you the water in the tank is clean.)
5 Parts Of The Toilet
- The flush lever
- The rubber flapper that is attached to the flush lever that blocks the water from descending into the toilet bowl.
- The pump that refills the tank with water after you flush it and it empties.
- The float that raises and lowers as the water level goes up and down; it lets the pump know when to go and when to stop.
- The overflow tube, which sets the water level in the tank.Before you begin to inspect the five parts of your toilet found under the lid, you should turn off the water that is connected to the toilet. There should be a silver colored valve or knob behind the toilet; turn it all the way to the right until it stops.
2 Most Common Causes Of A Running Toilet
If the cause of your running toilet is one of the following two you may be able to repair it yourself. If you need help or find that one of these common problems is not the issue, we recommend you enlist the services of Hammond Services
- Chain Problems – If the link between the toilet flush lever and rubber flapper that it is attached to is unconnected, simply reconnect. If the chain is too short it will constantly pull on the rubber flapper even if the lever is not moving (flushing). If that is the case, you can replace the chain with a new one that has a longer length or an aluminum ball. If the chain is too long, then shorten the chain by moving the clip down a few links.
- Bad Rubber Flapper – The rubber flapper can break, leak or warp. To check and see if the flapper is working properly, flush the toilet and allow all the water to drain from the tank. Gently unhook the rubber flapper to get a better look. If the flapper is dirty, try cleaning it first and once the buildup is gone that may solve your problem. If you find that it is broken (chipped plastic or warping) replace the rubber flapper.
If you're still having problems with your toilet running contact Hammond Services. We are more than happy to provide you with information, answer your questions and set up an appointment to come out and repair your toilet.


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Monday, February 10, 2014
On My Humanity
Take it to life. Stake a claim. Establish dominion. Be a dominant but gentle and loving soul. Have a heart, please. Always have the best of intentions, doing either the right or wrong thing as the case may be, but always for the right reasons. Keep pushing until a breakthrough occurs where either a goal is reached or all reasonable means have been fully exhausted and it has become obvious this goal needs to be broken into smaller objectives. Let the little person inside come out to play in all endeavors. This, to me is the essence of being a true master of self and all grown up in my humanity.
Posted by Polymixinb at 8:04 PM
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Separate names with a comma.
xbox 360....
941 ..........................
20 dollar make you hollar i bet you paula is a balla
will you make a forecast for anna maria island fl please
its supose to come after mathew is gone
lets tarp surf http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6-vb20srZI
will the wind be offf shore for danile?
school :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:
any one check it ?
surfed with georgio that day he is good
yes i wanna surf
leaf at work gets off at 330 i think. tryin to get him to go out
all in an hours work:
at least you got to surf a lil haha
any body goin out today?
wee have to wait for fpl guy to come !!!1 :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:
yeah gulfster said waist high ground 6pm update i had to mow so couldnt get my dad to take me
im prayin that auras waist to chest predection...
here she be http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHjvRi2FIYk
got barreled today
hey johnny were hittin now we might be skimin the north peir at twin peris


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Agile excellence is something we strive for here at Headforwards.
The term Agile is being used all over the software development world, but sometimes it is thought of as just a buzz word by people that may not fully understand it's usefulness.
However Agile as a philosophy, is actually fairly simple.
There are many branches of the Agile tree including Scrum, Kanban and XP. These are frameworks that describe different methods of cultivating an Agile environment.
Similarly, the software practices described in XP are simple tools that better equip the software team to accommodate changes in requirements.
Whilst Agile as a concept may be relatively simple, the practise is sometimes not.
Here at Headforwards we take Agile excellence seriously, as it enables our teams to develop better software, in an extremely efficient way.
We have gained a lot of experience in setting up and running successful Agile teams.
This is done by selecting the appropriate application of Agile frameworks and tools to fit our clients organisation and software projects.
Through implementing the ideas of continual improvement, systems thinking and empiricism, Headforwards ensures its clients always get the best out of their Agile teams.
The Agile Manifesto is something that we follow, and will give you a better idea of how we work.
"We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it.
Through this work we have come to value:
- Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
- Working software over comprehensive documentation
- Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
- Responding to change over following a plan"


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Law Enforcement Intelligent Devices (LEID Products), LLC is the leader of biometric and electronic access locker, cabinet, and gun rack storage systems with built-in asset management/inventory control software heightens protection of assets with advanced iris recognition technology.
Auburn Hills, MI –September 27, 2018– LEID Products, LLC, leader of electronic locker and cabinet storage with biometric asset protection and control, today announced the integration of Princeton Identity Inc.'s patented Iris on the Move™ (IOM) technology, IOM Access200™. The IOM Access200 is among the most accurate and trusted solutions for identity confirmation with the iris being the most accurate human identifier other than DNA.
"Biometric technologies have advanced tremendously over the last few years; iris recognition is unparalleled in its reliability for quick, secure identity confirmation. We are excited to integrate the technology into our BACS™ applications," said Sam Hoff, president of LEID Products. "Our customers include military facilities, crime and research labs, law enforcement departments, government agencies, airports and more, where security and accountability are of the upmost importance. We believe the option to use iris identification will be very well received."
The patented BACS™ Systems consist of customized configurations of LEID Products' SmartRail Gun Rack, Electronic Access Cabinets, Key Cabinets, Electronic Modular Access Units, and SMARTGUARD™ Handgun Safes with built-in asset management/inventory control software and RFID tracking. Access to assets stored in the BACS™ System is managed and configured from the central BACS™ ID Station Kiosk; an administrator can enroll users, manage access permissions, view logs for tracking and ensure proper maintenance and accessibility. The new iris technology is offered as an alternative login option for the fingerprint scanner used to authenticate authorized users for access to the BACS™ System.
With installations globally, BACS Systems are field-proven solutions used […]


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Statements and opinions
How difficult was this activity?
This vocabulary activity practises language for qualifying statements or opinions. Choose the correct preposition to complete the sentence.
How difficult was this activity?Too hard
Try these activities next
Idiomatic language
Choose the correct idiomatic phrase to complete the sentence in this vocabulary exercise.
Precise words
Use this vocabulary activity to practise precision. Choose the correct word which fits in the sentence.
Do or make?
In this vocabulary activity you can learn and practise common collocations with do and make


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Have you got a smart phone?
My iph does everything. It's not the latest, but it's fantastic.
BUT I need to keep recharging its battery!
Designed in a way that it can only do so much & go so far without plugging it into power.
…Bit like us really!
Without plugging into God's power, we'll only ever get so far. We can struggle on our own if we choose to, but we were designed to be connected to Him to reach our full potential.
He's only EVER a prayer away!
He never rejects!
He LOVES to connect!
Dear Lord,
Plug us in to Your power & lead us into our full potential to fulfil our destiny.
Thank You.
Woohoo! Feel that? That's us firing on all calendars.
Happy vibes
#powersource #humbling #fullpotential #inHimwecan


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Who owns photos when uploaded to FacebookApril 22, 2008
There is discussion currently going on regarding who owns photos uploaded to Facebook.
One would assume that the user who uploaded the photos to Facebook would retain all rights associated with the photographs but the Facebook Terms of Use suggest otherwise.
A relevant quote from the Facebook Terms of Use:
By posting User Content to any part of the Site, you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to the Company an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, publicly perform, publicly display, reformat, translate, excerpt (in whole or in part) and distribute such User Content for any purpose, commercial, advertising, or otherwise, on or in connection with the Site or the promotion thereof, to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works, such User Content, and to grant and authorize sub licenses of the foregoing.
Maybe Facebook is simply protecting itself to be able to display the users images in all kinds of ways but I think the terms are way too restrictive.
However other photo sharing services on the Internet get by with much less assertion over the users content.
If you are worried about this issue and would like to share photos with your friends on Facebook without giving them away to Facebook then the best way is to store the photos somewhere else and use various methods to make them available in Facebook.
You have several options depending on where and how your photos are hosted.
If you have your photos on Flickr, the MyFlickr application is very handy. It shows a selection of your photos on your profile page and when you update your photos on Flickr it posts updates to your news feed so that your friends are notified about it.
One can argue that Flickr (soon to possibly be owned my Microsoft :-( ) is another 3rd party that will hold your photos but their TOS are much less restrictive and they support Creative Commons license which is a great way to spread your photos while retaining some rights
Gallery2 is a popular software to host your photos on your own server. The Gallery2 Embed is a Facebook application that embeds a selection of your photos in your profile. If a visitor clicks on the photo, she is then taken to your own website with your photos.
One thing missing with "Gallery2 Embed" is that it doesn't publish updates in your newsfeed when you upload photos so your friends are not made aware of any updates. I have grand plans to write my own Gallery2 Facebook application that will support updates in your newsfeed but lack of time is very prominent at the moment.
Some other popular photo hosting sites and the Facebook apps for them:
Picasa: Picasa Gallery Slideshows
.Mac: .Mac Web Gallery
DeviantArt: My deviantART
Photobucket: Photo Wall
SmugMug: My Photos from SmugMug
Good luck and make sure to remain the copyright holder of YOUR photos!
April Fool's Day 2008April 01, 2008
Google launches Project Virgle together with Virgin.
Project Virgle, the first permanent human colony on Mars.
All featured videos on YouTubeUK and YouTube Australia lead to Rick Astley-Never Gonna Give You Up. You have been RICKROLLED!
TechCrunch is acquiring the venerable teen magazine and Web site Tiger Beat, will rename it CrunchKids.
Venture capitalists fight back against a website (TheFunded.com) that allows anonymous ratings of VCs by creating their own review site called TheUnFunded.com.
The Pirate Bay is moving their operations to the desert of Sinai in Egypt due to the new copyright legislation in the European Union.
A pre-air episode 9 of the TV show Lost. The episode is leaked from a DVD screener.
Virgin Media takes fight to illegal downloadersMarch 31, 2008
Virgin Media will cooperate with the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) in a pilot to track down users downloading illegally:
"The BPI has teams of technicians to trace illegal music downloading to individual accounts. It will hand these account numbers over to Virgin Media, which will match them to names and addresses."
You might think that there will be an exodus of users from Virgin Media to other ISPs and that this will hurt Virgin Media but I doubt that.
You see, there are many ISPs in the UK that are offering an "unlimited" service for an ever decreasing monthly fee.
Users that use P2P often use the most of the ISP's bandwidth so this pact with BPI is a great excuse for Virgin Media to dump those costly users.
In addition if they manage to switch the downloads from public internet to a Usenet server inside their network they avoid most bandwidth charges and capacity problems.
It's a win/win for Virgin Media (and lose/lose for their customers)!
True instant push email on your mobile phone using GmailJanuary 11, 2008
Today I thought that I would check out the state of SMTP and IMAP services of my favourite email service provider Gmail.
I wanted to use Gmail on my mobile phone and I was pleasantly surprised.
Because Gmail supports the IMAP standard, items that are read and or deleted on the mobile phone are correctly marked as read/deleted on the Gmail account as well.
This is very convenient if you are accessing your Gmail account from more than one client (mobile phone, browser, Outlook, Thunderbird and similar).
Gmail also provides an SMTP server which is used to send emails from your client and it will appear to the recipient as if the email was sent directly from Gmail.
All sent and received emails are further encrypted (SSL) which is something that local ISPs often neglect to provide.
The best feature however is that the Gmail IMAP server supports "push" email which together with a mobile phone that supports this feature gives an optimal email experience.
Blackberry users are used to this optimal experience but they (or their companies) are paying dearly to RIM or their mobile operator to have his luxury. With Gmail the service is free (standard data transfer charges apply of course).
Typically I get notified 10-20 seconds after the email has been sent. In fact the mobile phone is notified earlier than the Gmail Notifier running on my PC.
This is much more convenient than the old fashioned way of polling the server every 15 minutes to see whether any emails had arrived during the last 15 minutes.
Now how to set it all up? Enter the following settings on your phone. Every phone is different so I cannot give you step-by-step instructions but leave a comment if something is not working and I will try and help you.
|Email address:
|Your full Gmail email address including @gmail.com
|Connection Type:
|Incoming server:
|User name:
|Your full Gmail email address including @gmail.com
|Your password
|Outgoing server:
|Check interval:
|Push email:
|Encryption incoming server:
|Encryption outgoing server:
|Outgoing username:
|Your full Gmail email address including @gmail.com
|Outgoing password:
|Your password
|Incoming port:
|Outgoing port:
Bear in mind the whether or not push email will work for you is dependant on what kind of phone you are using, what mobile network you are on and how you connect to GPRS.
Your phone must support encrypted (SSL) IMAP4 and push email to start with. If you want to send email from your mobile it has to further support authenticated and encrypted (SSL) SMTP.
Your mobile network should not block any ports and I suspect your mobile device has to have an IP assigned to it; being behind NAT may not work.
Likewise you should use a GPRS connection which is connected directly to the Internet and not a "wap" GPRS connection.
I was successful in getting Gmail push email working on my SonyEricsson K800i on the UK Vodafone network using the GPRS APN "Internet".
I would be very curious to hear whether any Apple iPhone or Windows Mobile smartphone users are able to use the Gmail push email!
Photo credit: soldierant
Paypal is not a bank but has a phone numberNovember 20, 2007
Once you hand money over to Paypal you have very little control over it. This also applies if you let PayPal accept money on your behalf.
Their terms and conditions more or less make you wave your credit card protections and consumer rights.
I have made over 40 paypal transactions over the last 6 years. I have been reading various paypal horror stories but I always thought it wouldn't happen to me (don't we all).
Well of course it did and it is just a matter of time until you lose money as well if you are using PayPal for any transactions; especially related to eBay auctions.
In my particular case I had paid for an item that I had won in an eBay auction and PayPal charged my credit card instantly.
The seller had some complications getting the money so he informed me that he was not interested any more and that I should be getting my money back in 30 days.
This leaves me with a lot of money out of my pocket and a product I will never receive.
The only condolence PayPal was able to give me was to assure me that the money would be back in 30 days... but that's no condolence to me, that is theft.
My story is just a drop in the ocean of other horror stories related to PayPal.
Credit to my credit card company as they treated me like a customer and put a little pressure on PayPal to look at my case a second time but in the end nothing could be done.
From the conversations with the credit card company representatives, it seemed as if they deal with many, many PayPal disputes and the score so far is individuals 0, PayPal a lot.
If you want to talk to a human being at PayPal UK then avoid the expensive 08707307191 premium number and instead use 02086053000.
Press 1 for PayPal, skip the request for your registered phone number, press 5, press 2 and tell the customer service representative that David says hi.
At least there are some alternatives to PayPal and you should consider them while you still can:
Google checkout
Photo credit: Scott Beale / Laughing Squid
Export your facebook contacts with email addressesOctober 22, 2007
First of all a big apology because this method of exporting your Facebook contacts is very cumbersome and has several "odd" requirements.
Nonetheless it is presented here as one (desperate) option to export your Facebook contacts and their contact details such as email address and phone number.
This method can be improved upon and made more automatic but Facebook has a tendency to shut down any scripts and software that export contact details.
So instead I leave it as an exercise to the readers to automate this process and extend it with a possible vCard conversion or Outlook import.
You will need:
* Firefox browser
* The XHTML mobile profile add-on for Firefox
* Able to view option 4 (ie Contacts) when accessing Facebook mobile
* Be able to access the internet from your PC by using your mobile device (eg via Bluetooth or IR)
* A text formatting tool (eg. grep)
The option 4 (Contacts) is ideal for exporting your contact details as it lists email addresses and phone numbers as clear text.
On the web version of Facebook the email addresses are displayed as images and a optical character recognition (OCR) process has to be used to decode the email address.
This OCR process is never perfect and will sometimes result in incorrect contact details.
The idea presented here is that you connect your PC to the Internet via your mobile phone (bluetooth, serial, IR or whatever works for you).
You have installed the XHTML mobile profile in Firefox which will let you visit the mobile version of Facebook (m.facebook.com).
Because you are using your mobile operator, Facebook will assume you are on a mobile device and display the shy option 4, contacts.
Step through your contacts and save each page as a text file locally on your computer.
Last step is to combine the saved text files to a single file and use egrep secret sauce to create a neat comma separated (CSV) file with just names, email addresses and phone numbers.
One regular expression that may get you started would be:
/profile\.php([^>]*)>([^<]*)<\/a>
()?([0-9\.]*)?(<\/a><\/small>
)?<a href=\"mailto:([^\"]*)/
The best way to automate the exporting of Facebook contacts would be to write a small application for a mobile device (eg in J2ME) that fetches the information and formats it for export.
Another option would be to use Cygwin tools such as curl and grep to automate the process on your PC.
The j2me application would be most fun to do and I may return to it one fine Sunday afternoon!
[Photo by pshab]
Flickr to fuel your photography passionMarch 07, 2007
I joined Flickr a while back but never got into using the site.
To me the site offered just storage of my photographs but I wanted to have full control of my precious possessions and so preferred hosting them on my own (gallery).
What I had completely missed out on was the social networking features of Flickr. The rating, comments, inspiration, groups, continuous learning and new friends who too are passionate about photography.
Last week while visiting Flickr to browse a few friends updated photos, a Flickr group caught my eye.
It was called "DeleteMe" which seemed to be the opposite of what anyone would want to do with their photos.
Turns out that the Deleteme group is focused on brutally honest opinions.
Members submit their absolute best photographs and fellow group members rate them; saveme or deleteme.
When the photograph has collected 10 deletemes, it is removed from the pool. Should the photo on a rare occasion gather 10 savemes, it is regarded as a masterpiece and is then moved to the safe where it will shine in all eternity.
The general common comments on Flickr are "wow" and "great shot". People want to build friendships and not offend and so often hold back on what they truly think of a photo.
Your mum and special other will always tell you that a photograph of yours is fantastci but wouldn't you rather be challanged and really find out how good it is?
The Deleteme group is a refreshing in that it's members are honest. Sometimes they can be outright nasty but nobody holds it against them.
If you want to get some honest, high quality constructive comments you should give the group a go. A warning though; if you can't stand the heat, better stay out of the Flickr Deleteme group!
Photo credit: davebluedevil, laurence_grayson, Shek Graham, laurence_grayson
Piracy is just a business modelOctober 12, 2006
...said the Disney Co-Chair Anne Sweeney at the Mipcom festival.
I find this quite a refreshing statement compared to the standard RIAA/MIAA stance. They keep insisting on theft, crime, punishment and so on which only seems to create more piracy and distance the customers.
Maybe a better approach would be to compete with piracy in quality, availability and price.
Let's have a look at what that might look like.
Pirated content is often using the latest video and audio compression. This results in a 90 minute movie in DVD quality being below 800MB, often with 5.1 channels audio and optional subtitles.
With TV shows, the pirated content can often be in high definition if the source was HDTV as well.
It will be hard for a legitimate service to compete in terms of quality. The target should be to at least match the quality of pirated content.
The biggest issue for legitimate content providers will be how to apply copy protection without reducing the quality of the content.
The current digital rights management (DRM) solutions are very restrictive and result in the user renting content instead of purchasing and owning (see an anlysis of Amazon Unboxed).
I for one would accept an invisible/discreet and user specific watermarking but I can not accept DRM solutions where I cannot use the content on any device I choose or where the content can become unusable after a certain amount of time or if the original provider, God forbid, goes out of business.
TV shows are available as pirated content a few hours after their first official broadcast. DVDs are available as pirated content just a day after their official release.
This is especially valuable to potential customers from regions where the broadcast or DVD release is delayed by up to a year due to region restrictions.
Legitimate content could become superior to a pirated version by being available at the same time as the broadcast/DVD release or even better, a symbolical amount earlier.
Having one single reliable and secure location (shop) to get legitimate content is a great advantage instead of searching various more or less obscure areas of the Internet.
Here pirated content clearly has an advantage by being for free which is a difficult price level to compete with.
A few online services have however shown that users are willing to pay for content if the other criteria above are met.
Paying the same amount (or more) as for the physical version of the content just doesn't make sense to the end user.
Especially since the digital version is often crippled by various digital rights managements solutions decreasing the perceived quality and thus value.
The controversial MP3 online store AllOfMp3 has a very low price point ($0.20/song, $2/album) and while their prices may be unrealistic for other service it should be noted that user are willing to pay!
Summarising the options above one must admit that at the moment it looks a bit bleak for legitimate digital content.
Increase your bittorrent download speedsJune 29, 2006
With the latest "Windows critical updates" it is time to revisit the old Windows XP SP2 and Event ID 4226 issue.
With Windows SP2 Microsoft decided to cripple you network performance by limiting outgoing connections to 10 (from previous 60,000+).
You may have applied the popular LVLlord patch but make sure to check your TCPIP.SYS frequently as "Windows Critical Updates" have a tendency to restore/replace your TCPIP.SYS to the crippled one.
TorrentFreak has a good write up that touches many other speed optimising topics.
FootieFox - Follow World Cup scores at workJune 22, 2006
Want to follow the 2006 Football World Cup in style? Then check out the FireFox extension called FootieFox.
The extension let's you select your favourite teams and discreetly display scores from games in the FireFox tray.
When a team scores a box slides across the bottom of your screen to make sure you don't miss it.
FootieFox is a great tool to be able to follow the World Cup and still being able to produce code (aka working).
They even provide a dynamic score board to display on your personal site or blog:
Scrape IMDB MyMovies with PHPJune 08, 2006
I have been wanting to somehow mention the movies I have recently seen and what I thought of them on this blog but was not sure how to best do it.
For a while I was running my own custom code to add movie data and ratings and to display them but this was too cumbersome.
Recently I discovered that the movie rating system at IMDB.com keeps track of all the movies you have ever rated (IMDB.com is by the way an amazing resource for movie lovers and I hope that you have used it before).
Since IDMB is the oracle of movies a better approach seemed to be to continue reviewing and discussing movies on there and attempt to mash the data into my blog.
A few regular expressions later and a Pick IMDB MyMovies with PHP (PIMP) script was born.
The script scrapes a given IMDB MyMovies list and provides the results in a handy (two dimensional) array. It is up to the user to then write the display code to make it fit in with a web page (blog).
A basic file based cache has been implemented to save on the amount of hits on IMDB.
At the core of the script is the following regular expression:
/]*)>([^<]*)<\/a> \(([0-9]*[\/I]*)\)( \(.\))?<\/td>([^<])([0-9]{1,2})<\/td> ([0-9]\.[0-9])?/i
Be aware that if the layout of the IMDB page changes, PIMP will fail. Of course I will be quick to update the regular expression since I am using PIMP my self.
There are some rumours that IMDB will introduce an open API that will allow developers to retrieve all kinds of movie information. Until that is done, crude HTML scraping techniques will have to do.
Feel free to suggest regular expression or code optimisations.
Download PIMP v1.2 and let me know what you think!
0. Create an account with IMDB and mark a MyMovies list as public
1. To be able to use a cache file create a directory which is writable by the script process (may need chmod 666). For security reasons this directory should be OUTSIDE of the area accessible from the web.
2. Configure the script with your details (list id, cache directory and etc)
3. Upload the myImdbMovies.php file to your web server
4. Access the script directly or better yet use it as an include
Update 26/06/2006
Added a raw HTTP method if file_get_contents doesn't work for you (hosting provider restriction.
-1 cache time out will skip caching altogether and avoid possible cache file permission problems.
-1 for listItems will result in all items being returned
Web >2.0 Conference, London, UKMay 27, 2006
This is an early notice that later this Summer I will be organising a Web >2.0 Conference in London, UK (exact location TBA).
The attendance fee will be $2.795 ($2 and 795 cents) and all proceedings will be donated to an open source project TBA.
At the conference will be several speakers presenting why Web 2.0 is so yesterday and what Web 2.1 can offer.
There will also be brainstorming sessions to come up with new and tantalising buzzwords - ideally trademark-able after general adoption.
On a more serious note. I am an IT professional and have always favoured O'Reilly technology books when making new purchases. I have often recommended them to friends and colleagues.
The latest attempt by O'Reilly to trade mark Web 2.0 and going after the little man with a Cease and Desist letter have made me think twice.
It could be a sign that O'Reilly have lost touch with their audience and also that they don't fully understand the term that they were a part of popularising.
How can a company that recently so strongly advocated against the Amazon one-click purchase patent make a such an u-turn I cannot comprehend.
O'Reilly should have been clear from the beginning (2003) and stated their intentions by adding a (TM) every time they used Web 2.0. Had the general public been aware of the pending TM I doubt that the term would have gained such a popularity.
One decent way for O'Reilly out of this mess would be to accept that the term is by now in Public Domain.
As long as O'Reilly is very knowledgeable in upcoming web technologies and a leading force in advocating Web 2.0, no imitators will be able to steal their thunder!
Pixmania shop reviewMarch 27, 2006
The good: Cheap prices
The bad: French specifications, no local returns, questionable warranty
The ugly: lousy communications, price changes when you add item to your basket
The title of the post is a bit misleading as I did not actually manage to shop at Pixmania.co.uk. I tried my best but the shop was not competent enough to accept my money.
Pixmania.co.uk is an online shop that specialises in cheap electronics, especially digital cameras.
I opted to pick up my items from a local pick-up shop as this seemed very convenient. I was also hoping to save the £10 delivery charge but instead there was a £10 service charge on customer pick-up orders.
The items arrived promptly at the pick-up store but that is where my problems started.
The staff in the pick-up store was not able to charge my debit card as it involved getting an authorisation code from their bank.
It was obvious that the staff person was inconvenienced that he was required to call their bank. He was then a bit abusive on the phone. I was told repeatedly that there was an error at my bank.
The following communication with Pixmania was very difficult. Their call center is located in France and they were not familiar with the local pick-up shop procedures nor about standard UK debit card usage.
The automated email which is signed by James Felix (Customer Service Director) announces to use the contact address [email protected] This address bounces however and the only way to send email to Pixmania.co.uk is to navigate through their FAQ (frequently asked questions) and hopefully finding an appropriate previous question.
The company operates from France and all electronic items are according to French standard. This means that instruction manuals and electric plugs are French by default. Pixmania calls this "European specification".
The local pick-up shop I visited was handing out UK 3-pin adaptors and instructions on how to download the manual in English from the manufacturer's web site.
For me the main reason for buying an item in the UK instead from abroad at a cheaper price is the assurance of an UK warranty. Due to the French operation of Pixmania I am not sure whether you can take a faulty item to the manufacturer in the UK or whether you have to deal with the manufacturer in France.
Pixmania states that certain faulty items will be dealt with by the manufacturer; others will have to be sent back to Pixmania in France.
An additional oddity was the way Pixmania prices change in real time. Wen I originally tried to add my item to the basket, I was returned an error (in French). Temporary problems are quite common on web sites so I just navigated back to the product. This was 10 minutes later and the price had gone up by £12.
After failing to pay for my item in the pick-up shop, I was told to put through a second order online and pay directly online. Again, the product I was interested in had gone up by £9 and was not a bargain anymore it had once been.
This bad experience of shopping at Pixmania is really my fault. I should have read some of the Pixmania.com reviews at the Review Center before making my decision.
An overall value of 1.2 out of 10 after 141 reviews is a really poor score. Only 6% of the reviewers would recommend to use Pixmania.com.
Google talkAugust 24, 2005
The Google empire has released yet another (Beta) service which this time is an instant messenger network and client Google Talk.
While their standard is to release ground shaking services (GMail, Google Earth, desktop search and more) this time I have yet to feel the rumble.
Google talk is a lean instant messaging (IM) client that supports high quality voice chats. It also notifies the user of any new Gail messages and there is a short cut to send Gail emails. But that's it!
You have to have a Gail account to be able to use Google Talk. I have plenty invitations to spare so leave a comment if you need one.
Once again the client is Windows only but since Google talk is "built to support industry standards" you can use compatible clients on other operating systems:
OSX - iChat
Linux - GAIM
Windows - Trillian Pro
The "industry standards" is the Jabber/XMPP protocol and it let's other clients play with Google Talk network in an authorised way.
This one subtle detail that most users will not notice nor understand makes Google Talk special. It is a stab at the established messengers (MSN, AIM, Yahoo, ICQ) to show them how to play fair with Internet users.
Rumours are many in the blogosphere regarding the potential and future of Google Talk. Will it be the preferred client on the future Google Network? Will it allow searching all chat history similar to GMail search? Will it record all voice conversations, and allow searching? What will be the revenue stream(s)?
I just hope that the original Google motto "Don't be evil-TM" will not be replaced by the new corporate "Must Make Money" motto.
Easter eggs: Add [email protected] to your buddy list and send it a text message of "play" to play the old school game Hunt the Wumpus.
Create bold text by using * and italics by using underscore (_)
Free international calls with voipAugust 18, 2005
(Updated again, see end of article.)
Voice over IP (voip), also called internet telephony is becoming a stronger and stronger competition to the traditional Telco companies.
Skype has become very popular because it let's people make free calls between computers. With additional services one can even call land lines all across the globe for a fraction of traditional Telco costs. One annoying issue with Skype is that it is using a proprietary format, ignoring the established SIP protocol.
Voipbuster is a similar application provided by the Swiss Telco Finarea SA. The company has multiple cheap telephony services operating in UK and Europe and some other names they go by in the UK are 1899.com and call18866.co.uk.
Voipbuster is however their first computer client. It has a minimal amount of features but it let's you make calls and store contacts.
Currently the software is in beta status and during this period Voipbuster offers you free calls to landlines in over 20 countries.
See the official list with rates to see the currently free countries.
To avoid a 1 minute cut-off limit you have to credit your account with
the symbolic sum of €1 (70p, $1.20) €5 €10. This is to prevent abuse of the service and since you can pay with Paypal it is just a minor nuisance.
The quality of the call is exceptional and always higher than what I get through my standard phone.
The reason being that traditional telephony solutions (PSTN) are often band limited, as much as 300-3400 Hz. Voip is able to utilise a wideband codec solution that uses much higher sampling rate (16kHz) and a upper band of 8kHz.
Back to the SIP protocol. Since Voipbuster supports SIP, their service can be used with any of the many, many available SIP clients (also called soft phones). Some are commercial, some are free. All offer more functionality than the Voipbuster client but not always better voice quality.
I managed to locate a free SIP client that supports conference calls between multiple SIP callers (X-pro). This means I can use Voipbuster service, call to multiple landlines in the free countries and connect them all. End result is a free call for everybody.
If you cannot stand calling from your computer, you can even call your self at home, switch on conference and continue the free call from your home phone.
Download X-pro from braintel.net.pk/configuration.htm. Install, start up and hit Control-G to initiate an upgrade.
Set up X-pro to be used with the Voipbuster SIP gateway:
Enabled: YES
Display Name: [VoipBuster user name]
Username: [VoipBuster user name]
Authorization User: [VoipBuster user name]
Password: [VoipBuster password]
Domain/Realm: voipbuster.com
SIP Proxy: sip.voipbuster.com
Disable the lower quality GSM codec by clicking on it.
Dial a number on line 1. Dial a second number or your own home phone on line 2. Hit the conference button and all three parties are now enjoying a free international telephone call.
If you are looking for a catch there is none. If you instead think that free is not a sustainable business model you are very right.
Voipbuster is currently in BETA mode and once any network issues have been dealt with and/or the usage has reached a critical mass I expect similar pricing as on the other Finarea SA products.
One can always hope that competition in Voip has reached such a level that networks are ready to provide flat fee or even free calls to certain international destinations!
PS Currently evaluating the Pocket PC application Stanaphone together with the VoipBuster gateway.
Update November 8th, 2005
VoipBuster have now dropped the majority of the free countries. It is now obvious that the 25 free countries was too good to be true.
I was hoping that Voipbuster was about to start a revolution in VOIP where certain common destinations would always be free and income would be generated from other destinations.
Instead it seems that it was a marketing trick to attract new customers and all their 5 Euros :-(
This wiki page has more in depth information about Finarea and their companies.
There is a new method of making international calls for free as long as you have unused mobile phone minutes:
The VOIP operator Rebtel has a system where both you and your friend (in a foreign country) call a local number and get connected.(more details).
I have confirmed that this works to Sweden, Brazil, USA and likely all other countries that Rebtel support.
Happy calling!
Credence: thwarting p2p pollution?August 04, 2005
Certain peer to peer networks suffer from a high ratio of pollution: files that are fake, damaged, infected with viruses or similar. First attempts to lower the pollution were simple voting systems where users voted on whether a specific file was good or bad.
I haven't had much faith in such voting systems because it seemed too easy to spam the systems with fake votes. Surely enough, various companies have already been identified who pollute the peer to peer networks with fake files and rate the files as good.
Credence is an academic project that has a different approach to the problem: it implements a voter correlation scheme.
Users that vote similarly become grouped together and results on a particular object (e.g. a p2p file) are then correlated by the voting group you belong to.
This means that malicious users will quickly form their own voting communities and have little effect on groups of honest voters.
There is a second benefit from this strategy. Votes from malicious users will not be disregarded but will ultimately start being counted as direct opposites. If a dishonest voter votes positively on an object, the honest user will count that as a negative vote for that object. The dishonest voting circles will not even be aware of what the current status of an object is to other voting communities.
One possible attack on Credence would be by a user that votes honestly on a large amount of certain files but votes dishonestly on one or a few specific target files. It is however very complex trying to analyze how many honest votes need to be placed for each dishonest vote while retaining it's own credence.
Another common vulnerability of voting systems is the possibility for a single node to assume many different identities (also known as The Sybil Attack). Credence attempts to minimise the risk for a Sybil attack by requiring a large download for each new identity.
For honest users it will not be a problem to download one single large file. For dishonest individuals it will be very costly to download a large amount of files in order to set up fake identities.
Now if it only was possible to combine this robust voting system with the anonymous P2P networking protocol I wrote about earlier. This would make it much more reliable and risk free to share let's say political opinions..
Google Maps and Google Local finally local to UKApril 19, 2005
Google have extended their brilliant Maps and Local services to the UK. Until now I have only been using it to see how good online services can be. Now I can use it daily to find addresses, get directions and find services (plumbing especially) in London and UK.
Google Maps is a very intuitive way to present maps. Easy zooming, powerful search and smart dHTML like moving the map around are my favourite features. Wonder if Google plans to add satellite images like they do with the US maps.
Google Local combines Google maps with a local directory of services, restaurants, theaters and much much more. Until now I have been using UpMyStreet and it will be interesting to see how well Google Local performs compared with them.
Last but not least, see if Google Local Mobile works with your mobile. It should if it supports XHTML (i.e. not older than 2004).
Having access to free maps, directions and local directory from your mobile is just priceless.
PS The SonyEricsson T610/T630 has problems with the mobile version. Firefox has problems as well, use Internet Explorer if you want to try it from your desktop.
Currently the Yell footer has a bug (omitted quotes in href) which creates a XML parsing error and only sloppy IE can display the results. Stay tuned, should not take long to fix this.
Update May 10th
The error has been fixed. I doubt it was due to the email I sent to Google support (I did get a reply though) but instead due to the official launch of Google Local UK Mobile (GLUM). Have a go!
GMail invitesSeptember 06, 2004
Ok, I never thought I'd be saying this but I am.
I have GMail invites to share in case you *still* aren't on GMail.
It's a very good service with 1GB of storage space. If the so called privacy issues do not scare you away, let me know.
Leave a comment with your email address and a reason why *you* need a GMail account :-)
Cool GMail hack: GMailFS - GMail file system
Update 08/09/04
Another clever Gmail hack - Gallina, a blog engine based on Gmail
Wireless network availableJuly 14, 2004
I don't understand.
I have the wireless card disabled on my laptop yet when I turn the laptop on, first thing it does is to notify me that a wireless network is in the vicinity and that I have to enable wireless to be able to connect to it.
Here I was thinking that switching off wireless guaranteed that no WiFi signals would enter nor exit my laptop; that I was WiFi invisible.
Mozilla Firefox 0.9 releasedJune 16, 2004
Of course I downloaded it as soon as I got the news that a new version of the fabulous browser Firefox was out. I have had just minor issues with version 0.8; sites that are IE "optimised" and forgetting cookies being the major ones.
The new version does not bring any radical changes. Instead it focuses on ease of install and usage of extensions.
Downloading it is fast because the whole application is just 4.5MB.
There is a new dedicated extensions and themes manager that keeps track of what has been added to Firefox and whether a new version is available. Very user friendly.
First thing you want to do after installing Firefox 0.9 is to get new extensions because 0.8 extensions are not re-installed. I managed to corrupt my installation by downloading extensions for the 0.8 version. Go to update.mozilla.org to get the correct extensions and themes!
Google toolbar, IE view, Web Developer and AdBlock are a must.
Update 17/06/04
And if you still are looking for reasons to go away from IE, read Lockergnome's excellent article on Why You Should Dump Internet Explorer
"BUSH NEEDS YOUR HELP" (freep a poll)March 09, 2004
The other David Kaspar over at Medienkritik recently wrote about an online poll deducted by the German newspaper Spiegel Online.
It has stirred up some emotions and has escalated to a larger discussion. While it is a clear case of Freeping (poll manipulating), I will not get into the same discussion.
If you are looking for this article, please go to: David Kaspar's Medienkritik
Der andere David Kaspar (von Davids Medienkritik) schrieb vor kurzem über eine Online-Abstimmung der deutschen Zeitschrift Spiegel Online.
Die Gefühle kochten hoch und es entwickelte sich daraus eine größere Diskussion. Obwohl es ein klarer Fall von Freeping (Manipulation einer Abstimmung) ist, werde ich nicht die selbe Diskussion lostreten.
Wenn Sie den Artikel suchen, gehen Sie bitte zu David Kaspars Medienkritik.
(translation by Vasili)
Bittorrent - The new P2P in townDecember 05, 2003
The idea is brilliant; tap in to your users upload capacity to distribute your product across the Internet more efficiently.
If you have a killer product that your customers are downloading, the distribution (bandwidth) costs will increase proportionally with the amount of customers. This may be ok if the product is commercial and you can transfer the distribution costs to the cost of the product.
If on the other hand it is a free-ware product, lets say an open source application, you may find it hard to finance the popularity of the project.
Feed your mindOctober 17, 2003
Did you know that you can access over 500 courses from the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)? The best part is that it is for free through the MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW).
You have access to lecture notes, assignments, exams and more to anything between Japanese I and Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos.
I can definitely recommend you to have a look at the mouthwatering selection of physics courses. I did and found more gems than I can shake a stick at.
[via M Sinclair]
This week in briefOctober 10, 2003
If you are a web designer and using embedded objects (Applets, ActiveX, Flash and etc) in your web pages, you will have to have a second look at your pages. Microsoft has responded to the judge decision by making changes to IE. There is a patch to be downloaded that will break your IE or you can wait until January next year when new systems are expected to ship with the "patched" IE. This is what the visitors to your page will see:
There are however workarounds so visit MSDN to learn about them.
SunnComm recently released a new CD copy protection method. It was quickly bypassed by a Princeton University graduate student. He exposed it as utterly lame in a recent paper. When I first saw this I was worried that SunnComm might try suing the student under the DMCA legislation. Not long after, the law suit was a fact. Is it just me or does it seem as if SunnComm is desperately trying to cover up their incompetence?
The source code for Half-life 2, this years mostly anticipated computer game, was stolen from Valve earlier this week. A hacker had planted keystroke recording software on several of the companie's computers and was able to access the source code repository.
The company claimed only non-vital parts of the game were stolen but the hackers have now released a workable version of Half-Life 2. This indicates that maps and images must have been stolen along with the source code.
So now you know ;-)
Meet Herbivore - an anonymous P2P networking protocolOctober 04, 2003
The recent aggressive behaviour of RIAA to track down single users of certain P2P networks shows the need for an anonymous way of sharing documents.
At the moment it is the musical industry desperately trying to keep up surreal profits. What if instead it was a corrupt government hunting down political opposition?
Friendster - are you a friend of my friend?September 29, 2003
Networking sites are very popular at the moment and are one of the very few types of online activity that are attracting VC investment. Friendster is no exception and has already attracted around $25 million while still being in beta mode.
The growth of its user base has been amazing: from 0 users in March this year to over 2.3 million users at the moment and growing fast. See Stefan's article for a deeper analysis of the service.
VeriSign high-jacks Internet traffic with SiteFinderSeptember 24, 2003
The last week or so I noticed that sometimes when I typed in an incorrect address, instead of getting the usual 404 Not Found, my browser was redirected to a page owned by VeriSign.
What VeriSign has done with their so called service SiteFinder is to redirect all traffic from unregistered .net and .com to their SiteFinder. While other companies have done that before (Microsoft and AOL), it has always been on an application level and thus you as a user had the choice to turn it off.
SEO and Google danceSeptember 17, 2003
I am doing the google dance right now. My recent and home brewed SEO (search engine optimisation) has paid of. Searching for David Kaspar will put DavidKaspar.com on second place of the results.
It was a bit disappointing that a search on Google for my name returned the true resource for David Kaspar only as item 75. Not many people have the patience browsing to page 7 so being on first page is grand.
Internet Is ShitSeptember 11, 2003
Something to reflect upon:
"Give an infinite number of monkeys typewriters and they'll produce the works of Shakespeare. Unfortunately, I feel like I'm reading all the books where they didn't. I can't wait for the day when the internet makes me rejoice in its possibilities again. But right now, it's shit."
Blog ImprovementsSeptember 04, 2003
This blog needs the following (and some):
- New graphical layout (php includes)
Provide link to Google translation for ge, fr, it, pt. See Taran :-)
- No pop-up for comments. Use same page as individual entry
- List of notable entries, prolly drop down
Drop downs for date and category archive Recent comments, users and names and article names on main page Obscure email addresses(mt feature actually)
- Random photo on first page
add personal info (cv, biography). Me not like blogs without this add contact form (email form, mobile) List Archive by categories Remove links that open in new window Develop small application that recognises visitors by their IP and presents personal message Check for Google search term in referal and recomend article Use redirection via local file for external links (anti-spam meassure)
Motion synthesizer and Gait recognitionSeptember 01, 2003
Did you know that social and biological information about you can be picked up from your motion pattern? That is, the way you are walking reflects your biological set-up (heavy, female, etc) and your emotional state (sad, nervous, etc).
The people at the psychology department at Ruhr-University-Bochum have developed a simple computer model where you can alter some basic parameters to control the characteristics of human walking. They call the demo BMLWalker. I bet that you will subconsciously be able to recognize the emotional states of the walking stick but not be sure how and why.
Me: Male, heavy, relaxed, happy :-) Make sure you turn on lines and try rotating the figure for better view.
Read more about Gait Recognition and it's possible use in airport security.
(You need flash player 5.0 for the demo)
Spam - How to limit it in your inboxAugust 26, 2003
Herbal Viagra, anatomy enlargements, academical degrees, buy a bride(groom), US$100,000,000 transfers and various pyramid scams. The longer you have had your email address the more spam (unsolicited email) you are getting each day. During the last 3 years I have been looking into avoiding spam emails in my inbox and here is some advice.
News (RSS) aggregationAugust 25, 2003
After advice from Stefan, I have discovered news aggregators to be a great way to keep updated about favourite blogs and news.
Google your unit conversionsAugust 20, 2003
Google just doesn't stop delivering the goods. New features I discovered recently and would like to share: unit conversions and updated toolbar.
Did you know you can type in your conversion right into the search box and Google will return the answer instead of searching for pages. Some examples would be
- 50 * 73
- 40 celsius in Fahrenheit
- 90 kilograms in stones
- 5 square inches in square centimeters
- (G * mass of earth) / (radius of earth ^ 2)
- half a cup in teaspoons
Toolbar 2.0
In addition to the previous functionality of searching without going to Google page and highlighting the toolbar provides pop-up blocking, auto filling of forms.
Get it here!
Update August 10th, 2005
Google recently added currency conversion to their serch. As always with Google the feature is very intuitive. Try any of the following:
I, rearrangement servantAugust 14, 2003
Dark Spada IV was the most exciting I could come up for my name.
How about you? Anagrams Tool
A new weblog is createdAugust 13, 2003
... and it was good.


text:
We expect this item to come Back in Stock shortly. Often we have a comparable product that we can quickly help you find, so please give us a call at 928.855.6075. If you'd prefer this item only, please enter your email address in the box where it says "Notify me when this item is back in stock!" and as soon as this item is made orderable on our site, you'll get an email from us!
Our beautiful new "Kate" beaded curtain is made out of awesome metallic PVC circles AND octagon shaped beautiful acrylic beads! Each bead is attached to the next using jump rings, which makes this curtain very easy to make longer if you wish. You'd just purchase additional curtains and add the strands using the jump rings. Easy as pie! The Metallic PVC Circles are 1.5" in diameter and the Crystal Clear Octagons are 1/4" in diameter. There are 12 strands on each curtain. This curtain is perfectly lightweight, making it a great item for hang for your special events too! IT will shimmer and shake with a little bit of breeze, which makes the room really come alive! The rod is 34" wide and the length of each strand is 6". On this style of curtain, the hanging hardware (the metal eyelets at the top) slide back and forth on the rod making it the PERFECT curtain to alter in width! So if you need to cover a space that's 47" wide, you would use two of this curtain. Just cut the second curtain down and hang it next to the first curtain. This will look like you've got just one perfect curtain hanging up!


text:
The couple stumbled out into the biting night air and unconsciously chose a direction in which to walk. The man, dressed as a puppeteer, clutched his companion tight around the waist and said, "You're my most beautiful doll." And she was. She had the perfect height and figure for this puppeteer.
She just barely had to prop her slim, gorgeous body up on her toes to give him the kiss his compliment had aimed for. She held it just a second longer than he expected, and when she pulled away the puppeteer could not take his eyes off her moist ruby red lips.
The doll said, "That's easy since I'm the only doll you have.
What makes me so special?" "The way you do exactly as you're told, that's what," he said. "I do exactly what I want," she said, "it just so happens that it mostly corresponds with what I'm told." "Spin around," he told her. She spun around. As he watched her he grew excited.
The flick of her curly blonde hair and the rouge on her cheeks made her a caricature of her own beauty. Her black and white dress that just barely gave away a hint of the shape of her buttocks when she spun made the puppeteers heart jump, and when her eyes caught his as she slowed her turn he gave her a mischievous smile.
"What?" she asked. "Why did you want to leave the party?" he responded. "It's late. I thought we might be able to have more fun ourselves." "Oh, really? And where is that?" "Right here looks good to me," she said.
She stopped pussy ramming with a sexy wench smalltits homemade. The puppeteer looked around and found that they were somehow alone in a park. It was dark, the moon above them only a sliver of light. The night was silent.
The city street they had left was invisible in every direction and the air was undisturbed by anything but their soft and excited breathing. "So what kind of fun are we going to have?" asked the puppeteer.
And the doll said, "Practice. You're going to practice." "Practice what?" "Being my puppeteer, silly" she said, "what else?" "Oh. Right," he added belatedly.
"Well? Tell me what to do, Master," and she gave him a look that betrayed her obedience, but made him want to be that Master more than ever. "Before we do anything else," he said, "I think we're going to need some fire to stay warm. So fetch some sticks." "Found one," she said as she grabbed the entirety of his manhood in her hands.
The puppeteer gave a jolt. Her face inches from his and his penis was swelling rapidly in her fist. The feeling of her hot breath on his neck made him want to thrust his own hand right up her frilly little skirt and find was he knew was waiting for him. But, no, there would be plenty of time for that.
He roughly spun her around and whispered in her ear from behind, "Some sticks that are made of wood, please." She lingered a second and then pranced away like the doll that she was, never turning around to reveal the smile on her face. For she wasn't ready just yet to let the puppeteer know how sexy japanese girl taking bath she enjoyed taking his orders, or how much more she would enjoy disobeying them.
She walked around the edge of their little clearing picking up twigs and branches and remembering the feeling of the puppeteers growing cock in her hand.
"Stop," came the puppeteer's voice. Again the doll kept her back to him. "You're doing it wrong, little one." At this she turned to face him.
"How so, Master?" "I would like you to turn back around and pick up that branch, without bending your knees." Bastard, she thought. If you're going to rush the game like that, why don't you just come over here and fuck me now? But she obeyed. And the puppeteer watched as his little doll planted her high-heeled feet twice her shoulders' width apart and bent over with straight legs and the sexiest arched back he had ever seen.
She's flexible, he thought, that might be useful. When she could easily have reached the branch on the ground, she continued to bend over until the was almost folded in two, and as she did this the back of her skirt rode up to reveal a perfectly round, smooth ass at the top of those beautifully muscled legs.
And in the bright moonlight the puppeteer could just make out the outline of her parted vagina lips framing a white glint off the hot wetness accumulating on her clitoris. I knew it, he said to himself. Resisting the temptation to creep up behind and slide a finger inside her, he said, "That should be good for now.
Come over here." He met her gaze with a newly confident and self-satisfied smile as she approached him, and said, "Just drop them there." "Are you sure I shouldn't turn around first, Master?" "Uh, well," he said taken by surprise, "only if you desire it, love." And she dropped the pile of sticks at his feet where she stood, giving him a smile that for the first time hinted at defiance.
Not ready to give over his power so easily, the puppeteer decided to show her who was in charge. "Now. Kiss me," he commanded. The doll's gaze did not falter. She held it for a second, just to make him doubt the force of his orders, and then she took a step towards him, grabbing the back of his neck and planting her rose-red lips onto his.
She had been more than ready to seduce her puppeteer into submission, but when his tongue entered blood only best xnxx downlod mouth the shock her body took drew all other thoughts from her mind.
Their tongues met in wet heat and for the first time, she noticed the burning between her legs. Her thighs rubbed together and she realized that they were soaking wet. Did the puppeteer know how he was affecting her? No, she thought, and then she stopped thinking, again. He bit down on her bottom lip at the same time her clitoris met the top of his leg and a small orgasm pulsed through her entire body.
She rocked back and forth pleasuring herself against him while their tongues and lips and teeth continued to wrestle in their passion. Public japan blow job and creampie with china puppeteer, despite his confident outlook could not believe the fervor with which his innocent-looking doll attacked him.
He could feel the wetness from her panty-less crotch beginning to soak through his pant leg but he didn't care. It was all he could do to keep up with the rapid intensity of their tongue play. He was now fully erect and hardly aware of his own thrusting returning those of his relentless puppet on his thigh.
Then her hip bone rolled up against the underside of his head through his pants in such a way that he thought he would cum immediately. Instead, he slapped both of his hands onto the doll's now bare buttocks, her skirt having ridden all the way up to her waist.
He squeezed those perfect ass cheeks and forced her even closer to him, as their kissing german sex porn sonaxy boollywood sex way to the furious biting and sucking of each other's necks.
His doll began to speed up her thrusting and all the puppeteer could manage to think was of the wet heat of her pussy that had reached his fingertips. Suddenly they were on the ground and she was on top of him, still thrusting, even harder than before. She bit his neck so hard that he had to squeeze her ass tightly to keep from pulling away. As he did this she let out a moan that could have made the puppeteer hard by itself, and he took this opportunity to finally slip the middle finger of his left hand into her waiting vagina.
He slid it down over her asshole and it was excepted like an old friend by her smooth hairless lips, and at last it was surrounded by her warmth. Everything stopped. The doll was now straddling her puppeteer, and she grasped his left hand which still had a single finger inside of her.
"I'm cold," she said with a pout. She was back. "What?" "Don't you think we should make the fire like you said?" And after a beat she added, "Master." "It's just so difficult for me to stay focussed on your orders if I'm cold." She cupped her still covered breasts in her hands.
"Okay," he tanner mayes es un colegiala muy cachonda. "Okay. There are a couple of logs over there, why don't you grab them?" "Oh, baby, I don't know if I can lift those. They look heavy." "Alright, then. Why don't you get off me so I can go grab them?" "Oh," she giggled, "right." She stood up, pulling the puppeteer's finger out of her still moist vagina, fixed her skirt, and then walked straight over his head giving him a perfect view of goal he had been so close to achieving.
He stood up and awkwardly tucked his erection into his waistband. He then begrudgingly gathered a couple of logs and threw them on top of the kindling. He pulled a lighter from his pocket and tried to light the twigs. After a few failed attempts he said, "It won't work, the kindling is too wet." "We'll just have to burn something else to dry it out then," said the doll.
"Like what?" "Take off your clothes," she said. "What?" "Do you want me, Master? Then take off your clothes and set fire to them." "I give the orders here," he said. "You take off your dress." "Okay, Master, I'm just afraid I won't be able to stay excited for you in this sort of cold." He hesitated, and said, "Alright, alright. But when I'm done with this you're taking off your dress." "Okay, Master." The puppeteer took off his shirt to reveal tan skin and a lean muscled torso.
The doll looked on with an eager smile while he stuffed his shirt under the logs and lit it on fire. When he turned back to her the smile was gone, replaced with a blank and innocent look. The wood did not catch, and so the puppeteer had to remove his shoes to get to his socks, and then his slacks, and finally his underwear had to be added to the fire as well before it would really start. The doll stood there looking at his naked body, with its bronze color and muscle lines defined in the flickering firelight.
Despite the distraction his penis was long and still hard, and the doll could not help but imagine taking it in her fist and sliding it deep inside of her while she wrapped her legs over this man's strong back.
"Now take off your dress," he said. She grabbed the bottom of the skirt, pulling it up over her head and thought, That's the last order you'll give tonight. Puppeteer watched as all he desired was revealed before him. The skirt came up above the perfectly bare vagina that had so briefly been his. He could still see her wetness glistening around it. Then came her hips and flat, white stomach with skin that just begged to be touched.
And finally her breasts. As she pulled the dress off of them they bounced and the puppeteer saw that the nipples were puffy and a light pink, looking not at all as if they had been cold.
But he never noticed. He was entranced by the small perky breasts and how they seemed to be inviting him to bury his face in them.
She stared back at him apathetically. The puppeteer began to approach her when she spoke. "Warm me up," she said. "Put your arms around me." As all the puppeteer was wanted to do was touch that incredible body, he obliged. He pressed his hairy chest against her delicate breasts and wrapped her in his arms.
His penis was pushed to one side against her stomach but she seemed not to notice as he gently thrust against her. He was appreciating the fine grooves of her back and about to venture below to her ass again when she spoke a second time.
"Now I want you to make me hot." He stepped back. "What?" The doll sat down then on the ground right in front of him. His dick was jouncing only inches from her face. She leaned back on her hands and open he legs and told him, "Eat me." The puppeteer could hardly believe his ears, but instantly all he wanted to do was to fulfill this wish. Without question, he got down on his hands and knees.
He began to kiss gently her inner thighs. He could taste her juices from earlier on when wife takes on two bbc bulls for hubby had spread as she used him as a pleasure tool. His eyes were now so close to her vagina that he could barely focus on it.
Her lips were wide open for him to see the deep pink of her clitoris, swollen with anticipation. He looked up at her once before diving in and received an expectant gaze that told him he should no longer delay. The doll let out a quick exhale of breath as her puppeteer touched his lips to her. He began by sucking gently on her clit which after just a few seconds made her entire body shudder. All of a sudden he let out his tongue to stroke up and down the entrance to her vagina.
She grabbed his hair with in a fist, almost losing her balance and falling back. He looked up at her and she pushed his face back down. As he licked and sucked on her she watched him, and her desire grew even stronger as she grew nearer and nearer to climax. She began to thrust herself against his mouth, the pressure of the strong muscle of his tongue against her clit almost becoming too much to bare. He sped up his motions until the doll thought she could not take it anymore and so she pulled his head up.
She said, "Since you've been such a good boy now I will give you something too. But don't think you get to stop. Get on your back." He obeyed. She climbed on top of him and slid her tongue into his mouth for a brief and passionate second before turning around so that her pussy and asshole were right in his face. "This won't last very long, so enjoy it while you can," she said. And with that the puppeteer suddenly felt his entire cock engulfed in warmth. Through her legs and past her hanging breasts he could see her head move up and down rapidly over his penis.
Her lips stretched out over the base of his cock before they sucked straight back up to the tip, just to do it again, and again. He was totally entranced by this vision when the doll lowered her pussy down onto his face. It surprised him and his neck went limp for a second, allowing his head to fall back. Then he immediately bounced back and thrust his tongue inside of her. The smell and taste of her overwhelmed his senses as he toyed with the soft tissue of her clitoris.
At the same time he could not help himself but begin to thrust his own member deeper into her mouth. She responded merely by thrusting back down on his face. After only about a minute of this, the puppeteers penis started to throb as he approached orgasm.
But the doll must have sensed this, for she sat suddenly upright. She allowed the puppeteer to continue to pleasure her for another 30 seconds, which he gladly did. Then two sexy nymphs give up their asses stood up, turned around, and without a word sat down on his penis.
She rubbed her wet, open vagina up and down the underside of the shaft to protesting moans from the puppeteer. Then, without a word, she grabbed his cock, pointed it upward and slipped it inside of her. It went deeper than she expected and gave her a jolt, which only made her desire for the puppeteer increase several times.
She leaned down to kiss him, and when their mouths met she grabbed his torso and rolled them over so that he was on top. "It's your turn now," she said. He looked at her with an intensity like he could devour her in a second, and she smiled and dug her nails into his ass cheeks.
He began to thrust hard and fast. She lifted her legs up and wrapped them around his body and his penis entered her even more deeply than before. He continued to thrust faster and faster while the doll began to moan aloud in spite of herself. She needed to do something with her pleasure, so she reached down and grabbed the puppeteer by the balls, squeezing just enough to make him wince but not to deter him from his purpose.
With her other hand she caressed his asshole and he changed his thrusts to long, deep ones, getting further inside the puppeteer than ever. But the doll wanted more. She pushed the puppeteer off of her and faced the other way, getting up on her hands and knees and spreading her legs.
The puppeteer understood. He grabbed her hips and big ass wife cummed inside himself into the waiting opening, now hotter than ever. The doll screamed and the puppeteer moaned as his knees felt weak. But there was no stopping now, only passion. His pushed and pushed into her from behind, one hand on her hip, the other reaching around the squeeze and play with her clit while they both got closer and closer to orgasm.
He sped big ghetto breast tube porn now, his balls slapping up against her on every thrust, her breathing audible and now sounding desperate to cum.
Just when the puppeteer thought he would explode inside of her, the doll got off of his dick, pushed him over on his back, and reinserted him into her. She wrapped her arms and legs around him, and with one huge thrust against him she came. The puppeteer returned it with one of his own and he had an orgasm that seemed to last minutes while they held each other close in the grass.
The fire next to them was now reduced to embers. Lying on their backs in the softening moonlight, the doll looked over at her puppeteer, smiled and said, "Now make me warm." "Yes, Master," he said, and he rolled over on top of her.


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A mayor has been charged with murder after taking away the only oxygen cylinder from his town's health service so he could pump BEER at a private party, it was reported today. Photos posted online of Brazilian Jose Claudio Pol's New Year's Eve party show him and his family using the compressed oxygen cylinder in order to dispense beer from a keg.
But on the same night a patient who needed oxygen was found to have died because the cylinder had gone missing. She was put on piped oxygen, but when her health deteriorated medics decided to transfer her to hospital in a neighbouring town 20 miles away, according to the report.
With no portable oxygen cylinder, the woman was transported without oxygen but had another heart attack before arriving in the hospital and died the next day on January 3, 2013.
Pol, 58, who was mayor of Luiziana, southern Brazil, was suspended from his post after the photos emerged, but will now face trial after a technical report showed that his actions caused the death of the patient.
According to prosecutors, Pol ordered a council worker to remove the portable oxygen cylinder from the town's health centre and bring it to his home, where family members had gathered to welcome in the New Year with a barrel of beer. Several hours later, while the oxygen cylinder was being used to pump beer, a woman was brought into the health centre with a suspected heart attack.
Just some awful luck here for the Mayor of Luiziana. Guy was just throwing a party for New Years, and needed to make sure the beer was flowing plentifully. So he tells one of his minions to go grab him an oxygen tank, and a few years later he finds himself with a murder rap. Just happened to take the oxygen tank of someone who would go on to need it a couple days later and died. Dude was probably so confused when the cops came and knocked on his door.
I'm no beer expert or anything, and this is Brazil so I'm not sure how they operate down there, but aren't kegs already pressurized? And that kegerator thing you see? I could have sworn those use Co2 canisters. Pretty sure this dude literally took away someones last breath and just realized, "Ah shit, wrong gas. Oh well I'll drop it off next time i'm passing through".
Stealing a tank of oxygen maybe one of the dumbest crimes to catch a murder rap for. Oxygen, really?! Despite being the most important of the chemical gases, oxygen is boring as SHIT. You ever walk in a casino that pumps oxygen through the vents? Don't even notice it. Breathing? Overrated, no one even realizes when they are doing it. Doesn't get you high, doesn't fuck with your voice, is found everywhere. O2 is a dime a dozen. If your gonna catch a manslaughter charge at least steal something that will A). pump your beer B). get you fucked up or C). put you out of your misery, because this party right here…
…makes Fyre Fest look like Coachella.


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Local protesters speak out against government surveillance
"Restore the Fourth" group gathers on Independence Day to discuss Fourth Amendment
HOUSTON – A Facebook logo in the bottom right-hand corner, a sign read " Why can't I de-friend the N-S-A?"
This was one of many signs at Discovery Green on Thursday where protesters met to challenge what they said were violations to their fourth amendment rights.
Restore the Fourth represents a national group that describes itself as a grass-roots, non-profit, non-violent organization that sought to organize national protests on July Fourth.
According to its blog, the group believed the protests would bring awareness to what it called unconstitutional surveillance programs like the National Security Agency's PRISM.
On the streets of Houston, local protesters discussed with gathering crowds.
"We believe strongly that the NSA has overstepped its boundaries in recording cell phone conversations, Facebook posts, google e-mails," a protester explained to Local 2.
The PRISM surveillance program was brought to the public's attention after former CIA contractor Edward Snowden leaked confidential information about the program to the press.
PRISM is a system the NSA uses to gain access to the private communications of nine internet services.
Restore the Fourth will hold another protest on Aug. 10 at Challenger Park.
Copyright 2013 by Click2Houston.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


text: Department of Teaching and Learning, Policy and LeadershipTLPL Home Academics Departments TLPL Divisions TLPL Overview AboutNews Events Faculty Staff Students AcademicsPrograms ResearchCenters Research Spotlight Teacher Education ResourcesStudent Forms Faculty & Staff Resources DivisionsEPL LLSI STME Prospective Students Divisions TLPL Overview About Academics Research Resources Divisions Prospective Students Select subsection EPL LLSI STME Educational Policy and LeadershipEPL The Division of Educational Policy and Leadership offers three areas of specialization: Education Policy, Teacher Education/Professional Development, and Minority and Urban Education. When completing graduate study admissions applications, you must indicate the specific program area to which you are seeking admission. Bachelor of ArtsUndergraduate Social Studies Education Bachelor of ScienceUndergraduate Elementary Education M.A.Education Policy and Leadership, Master of Arts (M.A.) Minority and Urban Education, Master of Arts (M.A.) Teacher Education and Professional Development, Master of Arts (M.A.) M.Ed.MCERT, Master of Education (M.Ed.) with Certification Teacher Leadership Emphasis, Master of Education (M.Ed.) Ph.D.Education Policy and Leadership, Ph.D. Minority and Urban Education, Ph.D. Teacher Education and Professional Development, Ph.D. 13Degree(s) 16Faculty Learn More Language, Literacy, and Social InquiryLLSI The Division of Language, Literacy, and Social Inquiry (LLSI) prepares aspiring researchers, teachers and leaders to advance teaching and learning in multilingual and multicultural contexts. Bachelor of ArtsUndergraduate Art Education Undergraduate Secondary Education- English Education TESOL Undergraduate Minor Program M.A.Language, Literacy, and Social Inquiry, Master of Arts (M.A.) M.Ed.MCERT, Master of Education (M.Ed.) with Certification Reading Specialist Certification, Reading Education, Master of Education (M.Ed.) Teacher Leadership Emphasis (non-teacher education certification), Master of Education (M.Ed.)(Students... Ph.D.Language, Literacy, and Social Inquiry (LLSI), Ph.D. with the choice between two areas of focus: Applied Linguistics and Language Education (ALLE) and Literacy Education The University of Maryland Writing Project 13Degree(s) 30Faculty Learn More Science, Technology and Mathematics Education STME The Division of Science, Technology, and Mathematics Education offers multiple undergraduate and graduate mathematics and science teacher education pathways for prospective STEM teachers. STME also offers high-quality master's and doctoral-level preparation for mathematics and science education researchers, teacher educators, school and university administrators, and policy makers. Bachelor of ScienceUndergraduate Math Education (Terrapin Teachers) Undergraduate Science Education (Terrapin Teachers) Undergraduate Middle School Mathematics and Science M.A.Mathematics and Science Education, Master of Arts (M.A.) Technology, Learning, and Leadership, Master of Arts (M.A.) M.Ed.MCERT, Master of Education (M.Ed.) with Certification Teacher Leadership Emphasis, Master of Education (M.Ed.) Ph.D.Mathematics and Science Educatio, Ph.D. Technology, Learning, and Leadership, Ph.D. 12Degree(s) 18Faculty Learn More


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Eye-tracking Firm Tobii to Raise Cash for Virtual Reality, Smartphone Investments
(Reuters) – Swedish company Tobii on Monday announced plans to raise 450 million crowns ($50 million) in a rights issue to put money into technology for virtual reality and smartphones.
The business's eye-tracking technology helps by identifying where they're looking on their displays disabled people use computers.
"The interest for eye tracking in various consumer programs has developed at a significantly more rapid rate than we expected at the time of the IPO in April 2015," it said in a statement.
On a further note, the cash is to be used for development of market leading positions for virtual reality and smartphones.
Previously, it has been MSI, Acer and Dell who have released computer games that incorporate Tobii's eye-tracking technology for the purpose of some 40 games.
The company said its technology has been selected by a big smartphone manufacturer for one smartphone version.
Tobii's system uses invisible infra-red light. Camera detectors capture the reflection off cornea and the retina to judge where it's looking, and where the eye is.
In an indication of the technology's raising value, Alphabet Inc's Google purchased eye tracking company Eyefluence.
Tobii said investors representing about 40 percent of its voting rights have expressed support for the rights issue.
Assuming it's approved, Tobii intends to invest another 150 million in smartphone technology between 2017 and 2019 and about 150 million crowns in virtual reality.
Shares in Tobii are trading about flat year to date but are upward nearly 170 percent since going public.


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If you like the digging around in the dark, the smell of bat guano and hauntingly beautiful rocks….well then cave exploration or spelunking is just your cup of tea. You don't actually have to get dirty (unless want to) and I have only on occasion smelled guano. Most cave tours are on gently sloping paths in through large and wonderous caverns. Space might get a bit cramped as you move from room to room throughout the cave. But if you have even a small interest in rocks and how they are formed….then you need to check out a cave. And California has some wonderful caves. Browse the links below to find a cave near you or your destination.
Here are a couple of tips as you start your sub-terannean explorations!
Wear sturdy shoes – you will actually be walking over, around and under rocks
Layer your clothing. Even though it may be warm above ground, caves are cooler and damp. Temperatures average in the 60s in most caves.
Though most cave tours provide ample light, I always stick a small flashlight in my pocket. It's fun to pere into unlit crevises
Do not touch the formations. Oils on your hands will prevent minerals from adhering to the rocks in the future and alter their development.
California Caverns to Explore
Known by Native Americans for an indeterminate amount of time, there is some controversy about …
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Mercer Caverns, world famous for the rare Aragonite flos ferri, celebrated its one hundredth year …
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Moaning Caverns has the highest vertical chamber in a public cavern in California. In fact, …
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Trillium ovatum (tril-ium: triple; oh-vay-tum: oval)
Three petals 1–3″ long [25–75 mm], white, aging through pink to maroon; 3 sepals shorter, narrower, green; 6 stamens; flowers single, on a 1–3″ [25–75 mm] stalk from the whorl of 3 leaves, 3–7″ long [8–18 cm], often equally broad, net-veined except for the 5 or so more or less parallel main veins; plants 6–16″ tall [15–40 cm], rhizomatous. (Rarely with 4 or 5 leaves and/or petals and sepals, instead of 3 each, or as "double" mutations with 6 or 9.)
Habitat: Low forest; all but WY. Anomalously, it grows in the open on Silver Star Mountain at almost 4,000 feet above sea level.
Similar: Purple Trillium, Trillium petiolatum, a stemless version with a maroon to purplish or greenish flower emerging from a whorl of stalked leaves ± at ground level, is common in n ID, ne OR, and ne WA.
Natural History: Trilliums and quite a few other white flowers shift color as they age. This is interpreted as an example of an adaptation from which the members of a group benefit, even though each individual only benefits from the other members of the group doing it. The magenta trillium flowers help attract insect pollinators to the patch of trilliums, but once the insects are there they are attracted mainly to the white flowers. It's as if the magenta flower were telling pollinators, "Don't waste your time on me, I'm old, probably pollinated already, and don't have much pollen left for you." This saves the pollinators energy, increasing the overall efficiency of pollination and thus benefitting the trilliums.
Later, when it's time to attract disseminators, the trillium switches to a gastronomic lure, packing its seeds in a gummy oil that ants find tasty.
Trillium is one of the earliest herbs to rise in spring. The flower unfolds almost simultaneously with the leaves and beautifully wrapped up in them (photo 3), protecting the tender flower bud from late frosts.
Quinault elders used to warn youngsters that picking a trillium would bring rain—a safe bet in Quinault country in spring. Whites spun the less bankable yarn that picking the flower will kill the plant. It merely discourages it. Still, waiting to pick the seeds is a better choice: with luck and a little effort you can have have trilliums blooming year after year in a shady spot. Trillium seeds require two winter chillings before producing a shoot. You can use your refrigerator for one of them.
A study of the failure of trillium to reproduce within 200′ [65 m] of clearcuts in the Siskiyous concluded that trillium probably can't handle the additional wind and drying effects there, in an area that is already barely moist enough for it. It does much better in cooler, rainier climates—suggesting that trillium numbers may decrease with increased forest management and global warming.
This article and photo are adapted from Northwest Mountain Wildflowers, an app for iPhone and iPod.