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A special meta show with just Kroc discussing the feedback from last week's show and going on to detail design concerns with the new site under production. Included is a transcription to hopefully help participation.
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Hello, welcome to OSnews podcast episode number 31 and a half. This is a meta show, nobody else is around at the moment, we don't have enough news on the front page to warrant another podcast really and basically I just wanted to cover feedback on the previous show and some other topics I want to discuss personally; so it's just me—Kroc Camen—today and hopefully this should be a short show!
Last week, we discussed all things mobile-computing, so, Palm WebOS, their development announcements. Google's Nexus One. The HP Slate thing, and the possibility of an Apple tablet. Now—we got a comment by elgeb, basically about us giving Palm / WebOS the short end of the stick, and he's saying that there was missing information (mentioning only part of what was shown) and lots of misinformation, saying that Palm is struggling to get significant developers, we misquoted the number of apps, we forgot to mention things like 3D apps on the way from Electronic Arts &c., the Palm [PrÄ"] is technically very similar to the Droid and has double the RAM for PrÄ" Plus (David was saying that "Plam needs its Droid equivalentâ€, something with a bit more visual clout), criticisms of the development tools, little or no mention of tethering on Verzion, Flash 10.1 (the real thing, not Droid's cut-down version)—which is important of course that the Palm OS does indeed have Flash 10.1 proper. "You complete a podcast in serious lack of research before entering a conversation between obviously uninformed parties happy to share their opinions nevertheless. Very, very disappointing from OSnewsâ€.
My reply to that is essentially that the show is, is supposed to be like that. I'm trying to keep things extremely casual and simple, so that people can discuss things off of the top of their head and from their own passions of things, and for the show to not be really formal and like reading the 10 O'Clock news. I think that you get enough of that reading the website anyway and other websites and other podcasts &c. so that the idea of it being a completely informal unplanned, unresearched, 'chat' works for the medium. I think that's what audio is for, otherwise it would be better to just write this stuff up as an article if we were doing it—like the week in review &c.
So, Perhaps the show should come with a warning beforehand saying that it is not intended to be accurate and that's the idea—it's just a roundtable discussion like what you would have in the pub, and where we're inaccurate or wrong &c. that's where we hope that you—the readers &c.—are going to comment and correct us &c. because we can't know it all and often because there's always such a rolling stream of news on the homepage, I'm having to talk about things that I don't really know much about, or care about, or am not interested or enthused about. That's the issue—if we want talk about web development then I can talk the hind legs off of a donkey; it's my area of interest, but we've got to talk about Linux, or Mac, or Windows and it gets kind of tiresome. Even worse is when I'm talking about things I have no proper real experience with, and in the case of Palm—"Web OS†it may be—but I don't have a smart phone of any kind, I'm not interested in getting one, I'm not interested in smart phones at all to be honest. I think my life is complicated enough and I don't want something else that requires yet more responsibility. I'm looking to simplify things.
That's the problem there is that all of us, the regulars on the show (we've only got three or four people that are regular on the show) and we're having to talk about things that we don't necessarily always know about and we don't plan or research everything for the specific purpose of trying to keep the discussion real, and because I simply do not have the time! I've had an absolutely mental last two weeks with work and so, literally it's done in spare time, I'm not getting paid to do this, none of the staff are getting paid to do OSnews (to contribute) and essentially I'm just trying to do what I can, I'm doing my part. Nobody asked me to do the podcast, it was just something I thought "hey I can do thisâ€. It's my way of being able to contribute to OSnews. It's my way of being able to do something that's going to make meaningful content, something that the readers can be interested in, something that will bring some flavour to OSnews—and that's what I want to discuss about really, our content, and especially our original content.
Back in the version 3 days (I know a large percentage of the readership have been with us a long time, from 2005 / 2006 and so forth and I'm always seeing users with dates from around that area) the website used to be a glorified RSS feed (that was back before RSS was extremely popular) and we've been in a long transition away from that to try and produce more long articles (or long items as we call them) where we add our own opinion or writing to the news and extend it to a long item and anything that we don't have the skills to extend or the knowledge &c. then goes into page 2. Page 2 does not necessarily mean that something is less important—not at all—it's just simply that the very few members of staff we have here that are writing have no ability to add anything useful to that information.
You've probably noticed no doubt or know already that Thom is writing basically 90% of the news on OSnews; you can go down the home page—and in fact for the last four years—you will see his name on 90% of items and it's incredible that he's been doing that. I'm continually astonished by the fact that he's so enthusiastic about OSnews and writing for it and keeping up the work, but it's not fair. It's not fair for Thom to be basically lifting this whole site on his own. I'm limited in my time and my style of writing is that I prefer to write articles that are about things that I'm interested about as and when I'm interested about them, and the idea of just news coming in and me having to deal with it by the end of the day makes me feel ill—I'm not that kind of person, it's not how I work.
OSnews is, as I've said before, in a transition where we are trying to move more towards written articles about topics of interest, about people's personal passions &c., a bit more like Ars Technica (not necessarily exactly the same in the way it works) but essentially that there's a huge community out there of passionate people, and us—the staff—are passionate about a number of things and we want to write new articles about that rather than just regurgitating someone else's RSS, not that I don't appreciate greatly our contributors who are passing on the news to us, but this is the thing about OSnews is that we've got all these thousands of readers that are so astonishingly smart, and so astonishingly, skilled and really 'in there' when it comes to a lot of the more niche technology; far more so than myself and far more so than I could ever be when it comes to information about these niche operating systems, and just the more technical side of things really. I'm just really, specialised with the web and, , what I'm trying to say is: If we had just 31 people out of the thousands of readers we've got submitting one article a month—no more than one article a month—then we would be able to have a brand new article each day written by someone who is passionate about whatever they are writing about, who's bringing up news that may not necessarily appear on the regular mainstream news (because they don't cover these sorts of things &c.) and that's really where we want take OSnews ,is for people to be writing about the things that they care about as how technology changes their lives, what makes niche operating systems important and relevant these days. To be able to show the different side of the niche operating system—from an inside perspective—instead of an outside view, which is always very negative (people saying, you know, 'what's the purpose of this?', 'why bother using something like that when I've got Mac OS X / Windows or Linux' or whatever).
It would be completely wrong of me to blame you for not contributing enough and to say 'Ah, well, our readers are just, you know, it's rubbish, they're idiots. they don't contribute to OSnews; why aren't they doing that'. That is a fault of a designer for blaming users, a designer should never blame the users. It is, as I believe it to be, a design issue. I do not think that the website encourages or helps, or even makes it evident that OSnews is a place that they can use a publishing space for information about niche operating systems, and that's what I want to change with the redesign, in creating OSnews version 5.
The new website has got to be able to make it exceptionally easy for people to contribute, but it's also got to make it easy for people to write lengthy articles—to spend a month on an article if necessary—to sit and think, and find what really matters to them when it comes to computers. Why are they in this game? Also, at OSnews we are very happy to publish rebuttals from people about articles that have been written. I strongly believe that the front page of OSnews should be a place for people to correct others and to correct us and to put matters straight and to give accurate information just as much as the comments are. If us the staff write a rubbishy article—especially me—then the first thing I want is someone to write a better article that comes from someone who is so passionate about this that they have to tell me what's right and where I'm wrong and wants to do it in a way that informs others so that the record may be set straight, and we will publish that. We do not censor people; we do not say 'oh, I write a terrible article about Opera and I won't allow anyone to write an article correcting me about that because I want to hide my shame' or something, no! It is exactly that, that OSnews is there to inform and I don't think that the current staff have been really doing a fantastic job of informing because we're limited in our knowledge! We only write about our actual area of expertise in extreme rare circumstances because we're dealing with so much other news that we're having to write up all the time—as I said, Thom writing 90% of the news.
What I want to do is lighten the load on the staff so that we can focus on other things and we can be there—as you lot—contributing an article every week, every month, about our passions. So, the new website needs to put writing at the focus, and it also needs to put users at the focus as well. The homepage shouldn't, it needs to be able to show people that they've got a space that theirs as well, to praise the users, the contributors—rather than making it look like all this news is ((said in an snooty official tone)) 'ours'—this is our homepage, no riff-raff here!
There will always be editorial control, so we will never, ever become—or at least hope not while I'm around—like Digg, or any social news site where people just submit stuff and everybody votes and everything, no, it's about the users, it's not about gaining votes and it's not about popularity contests or anything about that. It's about people's passions, right? It's why we're here. It's why we read OSnews, it's why we use these operating systems because we damn well care about them and we want to tell others.
I'm working on the design of OSnews version 5; I think the cat was let out of the bag some months ago or something like that in one of the conversations and so I've let it slip a number of times since—yes, there is an OSnews version 5, I'm designing it, and it's going to be a long time unfortunately until we're actually through there, as I've said before, everybody is volunteering here and it's being done on spare time, I'm a very busy person and I expect it'll be at least a year I think before we've got it ready. Maybe sooner, maybe later, I don't know. It's too early at the moment, that's the thing, I've only really just started as far as coding. We've done some design and I've only just started doing some coding stuff. The concern is that just putting a new skin on the website isn't going to solve anything, right? Even I know that.
What needs to be solved is the issues like I say, about users, about contributors, about encouraging, having a website that just works towards people contributing to the site and makes as little hurdles as possible as to doing that. Hopefully that way we can get a better OSnews because that's really what I'm in it for. No one's asked me to do this, I'm just offering to do it because that's again how I can contribute to OSnews. I don't think I'm a particularly good article writer, certainly when it comes to OSnews—certainly when it comes to Opera ((:P))—and there's so many far more intelligent people who reply to my articles that I think 'wow, why aren't you writing this! You know better than I do, clearly, why are you not writing this?'. Is it because you're stupid, or that you don't get it, or that you're not interested, or you don't like OSnews—I don't think that's the case. Maybe though there are many users who berate the rubbish I write and think nothing of it, but there are many users who could be writing for OSnews and making a great success of it, and getting their point across and really helping their cause. But at the moment, that's not being advertised; we have a submit news link but it's [so] tedious to go through the process and it's not really geared toward writing and as we all know textboxes in web pages are extremely unreliable things that we have to write our thoughts down as quickly as possible and get it submitted before our browser crashes or before we lose it or before we accidentally hit the back button or something.
The whole, just comment forms, as a whole are just geared around writing something right there and then and submitting it as soon as is possible. How can you spend a week or month in a textbox in a webpage? You can't, can you? You can on your hard drive, with your own text editor, but again OSnews is not, not really encouraging that. It's not really saying 'you can do this. this is an option. this is an open avenue for you'. So I think, one of the things I want to do is really merge the two. As well as the front end we need to redesign the back end too. Our submission tools &c. have been extremely basic. They do the job, but they do the job as far as a computer is concerned, they don't do the job as far as a human is concerned. We're finding it tiring writing HTML manually and having a tiny little text box and having to click so many widgets and so on, so forth, and so one of the things I've got to do is greatly reduce the friction to write an article so I'm putting together a WYSIWYG editor that is going to let the staff just focus on writing articles basically and not focusing on battling with formatting and code and so forth, and as well as, basically one of the reasons why there's so few images and screenshots and so forth in OSnews articles is because it's such a ritual to get them up on the server. You've got to do the resizing on the client, and you've got to upload the files and then you've got to write the HTML for it and, these things are not impossible, certainly not! They're just friction, and that's the thing. Any friction what so ever drastically reduces the chance that you are actually going to do something. It's astonishing how much you can put somebody off of something just by adding one extra click!
I'm hoping to add—in fact I wouldn't accept anything less I think—drag-and-drop image uploading; you can drag an image into the editor and it will—using the latest HTML5 stuff—it will show you the file, preview the image in the editor—before it's uploaded—it will upload it in the background, it will do the resize on the server side so you don't even have to resize on the client, you just drag the full high-res image, dump it in. It automatically creates the thumbnail, uploads, all of that! Literally, inserting an image should be no more than drag and drop. It should have been like this for years! The fact that it's 2010 already and, urgh, data-input in HTML is just so ancient is quite frustrating. But, so, if I get that tool better, I can improve the backend, the submission process, then, I think the quality of our stories is going to go up from our own staff &c. Then we've got to get you guys—the readers &c.–interested as well, so I'm going to plan that we need to be able to give you the same tools. We need to make it as easy for you to write a decent article as it is for us to write one, and to jump through as [few] hoops as possible.
Second, we need to provide someway to be able to keep hold of articles that you're writing to encourage you readers to use OSnews as a writing space, as a sort of personal notepad / writing block that you can start preparing articles in and you can come back to them days, weeks, a month later, to be able to fully polish it off if you want to do a lengthy review of an operating system and you're not going to write it in one go in one tiny little textbox—nobody's going to do that. You need a writing space for that. You need something you can come back to at any point, that you can reach from anywhere, that you can read over it and double-check it and proof-read it and so we have to come up with a design that encourages basically quality article writing. I think that's very difficult. I think that's an astonishingly difficult thing to achieve, more so than just re-skinning the website—anybody can do that.
At this early stage we are not doing as we did with OSnews version 4—getting you involved at an early stage because, the problem is that I think OSnews has for a long long time lacked a single vision, or at least since Eugenia left. Eugenia has been exceptionally clear about what she's wanted and she had a great deal of success with the website, certainly. I joined about 2005/6 , something like that (it was during the version 3 era) and it was really good. Version 3 was the only website that I've ever had as my homepage, it's the only website I would accept as a homepage. I think OSnews has been lacking vision as of late. It's been getting by, because the staff have been so limited on time and we've just been basically keeping the ship afloat, and keeping up with bailing the water, and just making do, as is. Not downplaying the importance of OSnews version 4 that Adam Scheinberg wrote, it's obviously a massive amount of work for him to have done. I'm very thankful he did that, especially considering what version 3 was before (when we're talking about the code) and it's really put OSnews in a good position. It certainly makes my life a whole lot easier and I think it's really the springboard for what I'm doing otherwise it would make what I'm doing quite impossible.
I have a vision for what I think OSnews should be doing and I basically want to be able to present that vision, to be able to code it up and hand something that works to people and to say 'this is what I think we should be doing, this is what the site should be doing. this solves these problems &c.' and then polish from there, because the thing is if you get people involved too early then you've got all the cooks standing around the pot before you've put any ingredients in and it really gets in the way of broad, visual thinking about these issues of designing the site around the user, around writing and seeking out those sorts of goals. You get stuck in a re-skin job; of people fussing over minor details which, if you went back to the design you would probably never need those features or functions in the first place because your design negates them.
There's a lot that we're throwing away with OSnews version 5 and then trying to bake back in what we see fits the new ideas, fits the new design. Things like recommendations are gone at the moment, they may come back. We're getting rid of the messaging system, we think e-mail will suffice. It's like we got rid of avatar stuff and moved it to Gravatar. We're just trying to simplify and get back to a real core importance with OSnews. What matters is, the news, okay? Like version 3 was. You open the page and there was the news. it didn't prat about. It was exceptionally straight forward, a fantastic page and OSnews version 4 has become a bit clunky. There's too many clicks involved and there's too many pages, and there's a lot of features that don't really know what they're doing and what their purpose is. Version 5 is going to be honed to a site that functions, that is important about its function,. What it will look like is only to serve the ability that it will present you the news in a clear, concise, manageable way, instead of just pratting about, the Engadget redesign, oh my days! The astonishingly bad Engadget redesign. Muppetry at its finest level. The whole sidebar you can just hide and you've not lost a single thing; it's just filled up with widgets and junk just for the sake of removing whitespace. The header is absolutely massive, it's full of even more AOL tie-ins than ever before. It's an astoundingly bad news design. All news websites are going this direction—well, most news websites I think are going this direction—they are just adding in more complexity and just more awful design as they keep having to appease the parent companies (like AOL in the case of Engadget) and have to keep putting in bad ideas simply because they've got middle managers to appease and all this rubbish, and OSnews doesn't have that thankfully. We don't have anyone to appease except for us and our readers and that's it. All we need to do is do a good job of presenting the news and we need to do a good job of writing the news. We don't have to appease some stupid 'AOL wants a rebrand'.
Ars Technica, oh my days! They took a reasonable website and they found a way to make it worse. Tons of menus across the top, and a "more†menu because there's just so much affiliate crap. Ars Technica just screams to me 'Affiliate! Affiliate! Affiliate!'. Sounds like the web developer here was chained up and had to answer every single e-mail from the affiliates about how they wanted the website to be design, urgh. I want to prove something with OSnews version 5, I want to show that news websites can be done in a proper way and not have all this affiliate junk in it, and not have all this sidebar rubbish and not spam users with tons of UI and just needless stuff—and just give you the news like you care, what you're there for! Stop fart-arsing around.
So that's the plan. It's early yet, and it will pan out, but those are my solid core points—that it's going to be HTML5, it's going to be using very advanced CSS, it will work in the latest browsers, it will work in Internet Explorer 8 at least for the good looks, and Internet Explorer 6 and 7 users will not be left in the cold they will just have a very basic design, which I think is perfectly reasonable. We've got such a technical readership; I don't need to pander—who willingly chooses to use Internet Explorer 6!? Good grief! You don't make up enough people to warrant the effort to support Internet Explorer 6. Nobody could possibly warrant the effort to support Internet Explorer 6 with the readership OSnews has got. So we will be moving forward on that.
But anyway, I'm rambling about web design sort of stuff that isn't in concrete yet and it's still a long, long way off, as I was trying to surmise in the podcast about the design issues of you, the readers. How can I design you? How can I make things work for you? How can I cajole you, for the want of a better word, into supporting OSnews, into providing us content for giving you, the pleasure of being on the OSnews web page, being a part of the community, seeing your work out there, getting a response from other like minded people and the community. I think the OSnews comments, our comment threads, are fantastic. Really, just astoundingly good. I don't read comment threads on other websites at all, I often actually remove them using CSS because I don't ever want to read them and OSnews has got fantastic, interesting comments—even the trolls are interesting! So I have to thank you for that, that's wonderful. It's why I've stuck with the website for so long because it always continues to be a smart, intelligent, well informed community and we need to make the best of that. We should be doing the best of that. We should be helping you help us with the community and again, it's not being advertised. There's nothing on the website that really speaks to you to say that 'we need you to do this' and 'we need you to do that' and 'can you do this?' and 'can you do that?' and 'this is what is urgent', 'this is what is not urgent' and so we've had to resort to the podcast and we've had to resort to blatherings on meta posts and things like that.
At the forefront of my mind is how can I make the new website really change OSnews? And with that, I think, I should solicit your replies. If you've listened to this, thank you very much for being able to put up with me and hopefully we will be back to our normal podcast, if the news is there, next week—who knows—and in the comments for this podcast, please try and write what's important to you. You the readers are important, so what's important to you? What can we possibly do that is going to facilitate you being able to get the platform you want for speaking to others about the things you care about, the niche operating systems, what's important going on in the world about Linux, and free operating systems, and open source software and embedded systems and hardware and Amiga and BeOS and Haiku and SkyOS and MorphOS and—oh gosh—the list is endless. All those wonderful, wonderful, wonderful things. And not get caught up on the petty little changes like 'oh, this colour is wrong' and 'I think this button should say this' and 'we should be able to click this' and 'I think we should have this feature' or 'that feature' &c. because that's, as I say, is just re-skinning a website. It's not really what I'm trying to do here, trying to take the community to somewhere where they can enjoy it, because I don' think us, the current staff, are really, you know, Thom writing 90% of the news, it's not going to go anywhere like that. I love Thom for being able to be able to manage for such a long time and to be able to contribute so much to OSnews by doing that but it isn't going to move the site elsewhere unless we've got contributors of all walks of life and skillsets &c. being able to add their opinion to that because it's (OSnews) is an independent, and it should stay that way and it should make the best use of that. It should be able to present the independent view, stuff that you are not going to find on other people's website, stuff that isn't going to be in your RSS reader somewhere else. Stuff that only you in your mind can communicate to others. The stuff that you care about. That's what matters.
Anyway, thank you!


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Army veteran pleads not guilty in anthem assault on teen
SUPERIOR, Mont. (AP) — An Army veteran pleaded not guilty to assaulting a 13-year-old boy who the suspect said refused to remove his hat during the national anthem at a rodeo in Montana.
Attorney Lance Jasper has told the Missoulian that defendant Curt Brockway, a 39-year-old veteran with a traumatic brain injury from an automobile crash, believed he was doing what President Donald Trump wanted him to do.
Brockway told investigators the boy cursed at him when he asked him to remove his hat.
Witnesses have said Brockway picked the boy up by his neck and slammed him to the ground. Court records say the boy suffered a skull fracture.
Brockway, of Superior, Montana, entered his plea Wednesday in the Aug. 3 encounter.
He remains free without bond. His next hearing is Oct. 23.

subset: commoncrawl


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Advertising can be informative, entertaining, metaphorical, or even tell a story. However, any factual claims and offers should always be credible and accurate. Misleading, inaccurate, and deceitful ads hurt everyone – users, publishers, developers, and advertisers. To ensure the ads we show are accurate and safe, we've developed the following advertising policies around accurate ads:


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LANSING (AP) — Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder has signed legislation requiring public school employees to pay more for their pensions and ending state-provided health coverage in retirement for new hires.
The overhaul of the Michigan Public School Employees Retirement System was signed into law Tuesday by the Republican governor after the GOP-led Senate and House passed the legislation this year.
Officials say the measure cuts at least $15 billion from a $45 billion liability on the system. The reductions include a $130 million contribution by the state toward retirement costs.
Democratic lawmakers as well as many retired and current teachers argue the changes erode promises of pensions and health care coverage in retirement. Snyder says the measure eases a tremendous debt on school districts and taxpayers and ensures retirement benefits are funded.


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10 best locals casinos in Las Vegas5 February 2014LAS VEGAS -- We all know Las Vegas isn't only for the tourists. Here's a look at the Top 10 casinos for locals, based on the Best of Las Vegas rankings as of Tuesday. Vote for Best of Las Vegas year-round here. 1. Tropicana Las Vegas Reviewers said the Trop has great customer service and feels more like a locals casino than a Strip casino. Except for this guy: "Anyone else tired of voting? I'm tire of being harassed. This is the last time that I'm voting. I don't get paid enough for this. I don't think anyone will believe we have the best architecture if we win that too." 2. Aliante Casino Hotel Locals raved about the service at Aliante. "Its a mix of the quality level you might get at Monte Carlo or Red Rock (not exactly opulent but new and clean) and the value you might get downtown," one reviewer wrote. 3. South Point Hotel Casino and Spa Reviewers called the South Point an "all-in-one experience." "It's a great place to take out of town guests because they make them feel like VIPs without costing a small fortune," one local wrote. 4. Red Rock Casino, Resort & Spa Red Rock got great reviews for a helpful staff. One reviewer wasn't too hot on the casino's cocktails, but overall the casino is rated five stars. 5. M Resort M Resort gets high ratings for its easy access, plentiful parking and friendly staff. "Awesome but a wee bit pricey for that far off the strip," one reviewer wrote. "Awesome bar with exceptional beer options." 6. Silverton Casino Lodge Las Vegas Cheerful staff and a relaxed atmosphere help the Silverton make the list. "This casino is very low key for people that do not like a bunch of crowds and drunks, for people that are there for fun, gambling, eating and drinking," one reviewer wrote. 7. Green Valley Ranch Resort, Spa and Casino Reviewers said Green Valley Ranch is the best of all Station Casinos for locals. "They didn't have as many movies on as other cinemas in town, so we were limited but just wanted to kill some time," one reviewer wrote. "Love the casino itself, though." 8. Sam's Town Hotel & Gambling Hall Sam's got good reviews for having a staff that has been there long enough to remember the locals. One reviewer raved about the daytime bingo cocktail waitress: "She is very kind and professional she always knows what I want to drink. I want you to know what an asset she is to that company and she is one of the reasons we go there to play bingo." 9. The D Las Vegas Locals praised the D for bringing a party atmosphere downtown. Reviewers suggested checking out the Long Bar. 10. The Orleans Why is the Orleans a good casino? Well, obviously because of the lack of tourists, reviewers said. Like most casinos on the list, the Orleans also got props for a friendly staff. Copyright GamingWire. All rights reserved. |


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The fourth installment of the Inexhaustible Documents record club has now been announced. Troy Olson of Elusive As Robert Denby has selected the 2004 album The Dirty South by Southern rock band Drive-By Truckers. The discussion will be taking place at his blog on August 29, so if you'd like to participate, all you have to do is listen to the album before then and show up to read his thoughts and offer your own comments.
If you'd like to promote the Record Club, you can display the banner below by pasting the code onto your own blog.


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Tim Allen and Bob Vila: Back to the Future
Reminiscing about Tim Allen's Home Improvement—here's another chance to watch us competing in the now-classic "Great Lawn Mower Race."
If you haven't checked out Tim Allen's new ABC comedy sitcom, Last Man Standing, you should. He's an awfully funny guy and the show is produced very much like his very successful Home Improvement was—in front of a live studio audience. In a recent Los Angeles Times interview, Tim himself referred to the new show as "comfort food for the entertainment industry."
As some of you may recall, I had the good fortune of appearing on a couple of episodes of Home Improvement. One was the Hot Rod Race, where they shut down a runway at Burbank Airport to shoot the big scene. The other, perhaps better-known episode was the Great Lawn Mower Race (the photograph above was taken on the set of the latter). Both races pitted Tim's TV character—a witty, accident-prone, know-it-all handyman and host of "Tool Time"—against his arch rival, me. If you haven't seen it, here's another blast from the past!


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From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Denial, in ordinary English usage, is asserting that a statement or allegation is not true. The same word, and also abnegation (Verneinung), is used for a psychological defense mechanism postulated by psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, in which a person is faced with a fact that is too uncomfortable to accept and rejects it instead, insisting that it is not true despite what may be overwhelming evidence.
The subject may use:
- simple denial: deny the reality of the unpleasant fact altogether
- minimisation: admit the fact but deny its seriousness (a combination of denial and rationalization)
- projection: admit both the fact and seriousness but deny responsibility by blaming somebody or something else.
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In psychoanalysis
The concept of denial is particularly important to the study of addiction.
The theory of denial was first researched seriously by Anna Freud. She classified denial as a mechanism of the immature mind, because it conflicts with the ability to learn from and cope with reality. Where denial occurs in mature minds, it is most often associated with death, dying and rape. More recent research has significantly expanded the scope and utility of the concept. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross used denial as the first of five stages in the psychology of a dying patient, and the idea has been extended to include the reactions of survivors to news of a death.
Many contemporary psychoanalysts treat denial as the first stage of a coping cycle. When an unwelcome change occurs, a trauma of some sort, the first impulse to disbelieve begins the process of coping. That denial, in a healthy mind, slowly rises to greater consciousness. Gradually becoming a subconscious pressure, just beneath the surface of overt awareness, the mechanism of coping then involves repression, while the person accumulates the emotional resources to fully face the trauma. Once faced, the person deals with the trauma in a stage alternately called acceptance or enlightenment, depending on the scope of the issue and the therapist's school of thought. After this stage, once sufficiently dealt with, or dealt with for the time being, the trauma must sink away from total conscious awareness again. Left metaphorically upon a back burner or put away in a cupboard, the process of sublimation involves a balance of neither quite forgetting nor quite remembering. This allows the trauma to re-emerge in consciousness if it involves an ongoing process such as a protracted illness. Or sublimation may begin the full resolution process, where the trauma finally sinks away into eventual forgetfulness. Occasionally this entire cycle has been referred to in modern parlance as denial, often confusing the full cycle with only one stage in the cycle. As well, to further muddy discourse, the term denial or cycle of denial sometimes gets used to refer to an unhealthy, dysfunctional cycle of unresolved coping, particularly with regard to addiction and compulsion.
Unlike some other defense mechanisms postulated by psychoanalytic theory (for instance, repression), the general existence of denial is fairly easy to verify, even for non-specialists. On the other hand, denial is one of the most controversial defense mechanisms, since it can be easily used to create unfalsifiable theories: anything the subject says or does that appears to disprove the interpreter's theory is explained, not as evidence that the interpreter's theory is wrong, but as the subject's being "in denial". However, researchers note that in some cases of corroborated child sexual abuse, the victims sometimes make a series of partial confessions and recantations as they struggle with their own denial and the denial of abusers or family members. Use of denial theory in a legal setting therefore must be carefully regulated and experts' credentials verified. "Formulaic guilt" simply by "being a denier" has been castigated by English judges and academics. The main objection is that denial theory is founded on the premise that that which the supposed denier is denying is truth. This usurps the judge (and/or jury) as triers of fact.
It is important to note what makes denial denial and not just refusal to admit to or accept a truth or fact rests in the degree of individual's awareness of the existence of the truth or fact. In denial, an individual does not see or is mostly unconscious of existence of the truth or fact. The choice to refuse reality, then, is unconscious as well. Refusal to admit to or accept a truth or fact differs from denial in that the individual recognizes or is conscious of the existence of the truth or fact but consciously refuses to accept it as such.
Denial and disavowal
Freud employs the term Verleugnung (usually translated either as "disavowal" or as "denial") as distinct from Verneinung (usually translated as "denial" or as "abnegation"). In Verleugnung, the defense consists in denying something that affects the individual and is a way of affirming what he or she is apparently denying. For Freud, Verleugnung is related to psychoses, whereas Verdrängung is a neurotic defense mechanism. Freud broadened his clinical work on disavowal beyond the realm of psychosis. In "Fetishism" (1927), he reported a case of two young men each of whom denied the death of his father. Freud notes that neither of them developed a psychosis, even though a "a piece of reality which was undoubtedly important has been disavowed [verleugnet], just as the unwelcome fact of women's castration is disavowed in fetishists."
Other uses
The concept of denial is important in twelve-step programs, where the abandonment or reversal of denial forms the basis of the first, fourth, fifth, eighth and tenth steps. The ability to deny or minimize is an essential part of what enables an addict to continue his or her behavior despite evidence that—to an outsider—appears overwhelming. This is cited as one of the reasons that compulsion is seldom effective in treating addiction—the habit of denial remains.
Understanding and avoiding denial is also important in the treatment of various diseases. The American Heart Association cites denial as a principal reason that treatment of a heart attack is delayed. Because the symptoms are so varied, and often have other potential explanations, the opportunity exists for the patient to deny the emergency, often with fatal consequences. It is common for patients to delay mammograms or other tests because of a fear of cancer, even though this is clearly maladaptive. It is the responsibility of the care team, and of the nursing staff in particular, to train at-risk patients to avoid this behavior.
Denial of fact
In this form of denial, someone avoids a fact by utilizing deception. This lying can take the form of an outright falsehood (commission), leaving out certain details to tailor a story (omission), or by falsely agreeing to something (assent, also referred to as "yessing" behavior). Someone who is in denial of fact is typically using lies to avoid facts they think may be painful to themselves or others.
Denial of responsibility
This form of denial involves avoiding personal responsibility by:
- blaming: a direct statement shifting culpability and may overlap with denial of fact
- minimizing: an attempt to make the effects or results of an action appear to be less harmful than they may actually be, or
- justifying: when someone takes a choice and attempts to make that choice look okay due to their perception of what is "right" in a situation.
- regression: when someone acts in a way unbecoming of their age (e.g. whining, temper tantrum, etc.)
Someone using denial of responsibility is usually attempting to avoid potential harm or pain by shifting attention away from themselves.
For example:
- Troy breaks up with his girlfriend because he is unable to control his anger, and then blames her for everything that ever happened.
Denial of impact
Denial of impact involves a person's avoiding thinking about or understanding the harms of his or her behavior has caused to self or others, i.e. denial of the consequences. Doing this enables that person to avoid feeling a sense of guilt and it can prevent him or her from developing remorse or empathy for others. Denial of impact reduces or eliminates a sense of pain or harm from poor decisions.
Denial of cycle
Many who use this type of denial will say things such as, "it just happened". Denial of cycle is where a person avoids looking at their decisions leading up to an event or does not consider their pattern of decision making and how harmful behavior is repeated. The pain and harm being avoided by this type of denial is more of the effort needed to change the focus from a singular event to looking at preceding events. It can also serve as a way to blame or justify behavior (see above).
Denial of awareness
This form of denial attempts to divert pain by claiming that the level of awareness was inhibited by some mitigating variable. This is most typically seen in addiction situations where drug or alcohol abuse is a factor, though it also occasionally manifests itself in relation to mental health issues or the pharmaceutical substances used to treat mental health issues. This form of denial may also overlap with denial of responsibility.
Denial of denial
This can be a difficult concept for many people to identify with in themselves, but is a major barrier to changing hurtful behaviors. Denial of denial involves thoughts, actions and behaviors which bolster confidence that nothing needs to be changed in one's personal behavior. This form of denial typically overlaps with all of the other forms of denial, but involves more self-delusion. Denial at this level can have significant consequences both personally and at a societal level.
Harassment covers a wide range of offensive behaviour. It is commonly understood as behaviour intended to disturb or upset. In the legal sense, it is behaviour which is found threatening or disturbing.
DARVO is an acronym to describe a common strategy of abusers: Deny the abuse, then Attack the victim for attempting to make them accountable for their offense, thereby Reversing Victim and Offender. This may involve gaslighting and victim blaming.
Psychologist Jennifer Freyd writes:
- "...I have observed that actual abusers threaten, bully and make a nightmare for anyone who holds them accountable or asks them to change their abusive behavior. This attack, intended to chill and terrify, typically includes threats of law suits, overt and covert attacks on the whistle-blower's credibility, and so on. The attack will often take the form of focusing on ridiculing the person who attempts to hold the offender accountable. [...] [T]he offender rapidly creates the impression that the abuser is the wronged one, while the victim or concerned observer is the offender. Figure and ground are completely reversed. [...] The offender is on the offense and the person attempting to hold the offender accountable is put on the defense."
See also
- Climate change denial
- Closed circle
- Closeted
- Cognitive dissonance
- Confirmation bias
- Cover-up
- Deniable encryption
- Denialism
- Foreclosure
- Gaslighting
- HIV/AIDS denialism
- Holocaust denial
- Lie
- Moral blindness
- Narcissistic defence sequences
- Non-apology apology
- Non-denial denial
- Plausible deniability
- Polite fiction
- Psychological manipulation
- Self-deception
- Self-fulfilling prophecy
- The Politics of Denial
- Willful blindness


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Let's say you want to take an early-summer break from the weekly onslaught of action pictures and want to trade up in quality to an art-house film. Which actors would attract you? Surely Michael Fassbender, a smoldering sensation in Hunger, Fish Tank, Inglourious Basterds and Jane Eyre and a true MENSA heartthrob. Perhaps James McAvoy, the winsome Scot who played the naïve doctor to Forest Whitaker's Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland and Keira Knightley's noble servant-class lover in Atonement. If these two aren't the Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud of modern movies, they personify better than any 30ish stars the yin-yang of Brit passion and sensitivity. Add Jennifer Lawrence, the Best Actress Oscar nominee for Winter's Bone, and Mad Men's pretty, pouty January Jones, and you have an ideal cast for an uplifting transatlantic indie drama — or, since the director is Matthew Vaughn of Stardust and Kick-Ass luster, the makings of a smart fantasy parable.
Instead, McAvoy, Fassbender, Lawrence, Jones and several other actors with upmarket résumés (Oliver Platt, Rose Byrne, Kevin Bacon) are the stars of X-Men: First Class, a farfetched farrago meant to serve as the "origins story" to the 2000-2006 trilogy about the Marvel comics' crew of preternatural mutants. First Class alludes not just to the earliest group of strangely gifted students assembled by their genial mastermind Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart in the other movies, McAvoy here) but also to the new film's self-congratulatory air. It boldly solicits reviewers' blurbs proclaiming that the picture lives up to its title — that it is less a cash cow than a sacred one, equal to the éclat of its celebrated young stars. Too bad that First Class torpedoes its lofty intentions with flights of idiocy so wrongheaded as to be almost endearing.
The X-Men films portrayed the battle of powerful minds: even-tempered, righteous Charles Xavier and the menacing Erik Lehnsherr, aka Magneto (Ian McKellen), representing all that is evil, cunning and cinematically seductive. First Class transports them to their respective pre-teens, when Charles was a privileged orphan in a Westchester castle and Erik a Jewish prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp, where a prison doctor (Kevin Bacon) ordered the boy to "Bend this coin with your mind or I'll kill your mother right in front of you." Erik couldn't; the doctor did. By 1962, now in their 20s and played by McAvoy and Fassbender, Charles and Erik have joined forces to assemble other diff-abled young people, resolve the Cuban Missile Crisis and save the world — a mission that conveniently coincides with Erik's obsession to avenge his mother's death by killing the doctor, now a standard-issue sneering villain, named Sebastian Shaw, with some special powers and mutants of his own.
To begin a superhero movie with the cataclysmic slaughter of one war (with the gaunt, haunted faces of Jewish victims) and end it with an event that brought the world close to Armageddon (with newsreel footage of Kennedy and Khrushchev) takes, well, nerve. It is the film's conceit, in both senses of the word, that the combined talents of the X-kids can avert wars and mass death; too bad they sat out Vietnam, Czechoslovakia, the Cultural Revolution and any number of African genocides. The problem with dreaming up a scheme this grand is that you cheat the audience by applying it selectively. First Class does. Young Erik, for example, needs emotional fury to stoke his disruptive potency. But a gun aimed at his helpless mom — not to mention the knowledge that the doctor pointing it is part of a government conspiracy to eradicate his people — isn't sufficient incentive, until he sees her killed.
OK, hundreds of movies, books, plays and novels have fictionalized the Final Solution for purposes of melodrama. We're not knocking First Class for fitting Art Spiegelman's definition of Holokitsch — though we could have done without the hint that Erik's pursuit of Schmidt/Shaw is the vengeance of all Jews on all their predators. (Erik's climactic declaration: "Never again!") But why the Cuban Missile Crisis? In part, to propose Charles as the sensibly omnipotent JFK figure, with Erik as a more combative Khrushchev type. And why the early '60s? Because it gave rise to three pop-cultural currents that flow in the blood of adults and kids a half-century later.
The most obvious is the Marvel comics renaissance. In the first three years of that decade, Stan Lee and his cohorts spawned their glorious mutants: Spider-Man, the Hulk, Iron Man, the Fantastic Four and the X-Men. But this was also the period when Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis and others in the Rat Pack made their jokey, randomly numeraled action films: Ocean's Eleven, Sergeants 3, Robin and the 7 Hoods. The new film cites the Rat Pack oeuvre by setting an important scene in a Las Vegas hotel, where Shaw's Hellfire Club meets. First Class also sets up Jones — who in the role of the mutant ice goddess Emma Frost is a cheesecake vision in skimpy white lingerie — as First Class's Angie Dickinson, channeling Dickinson's connections to both Sinatra (she was the female lead in the original Ocean's Eleven) and Kennedy.
And the third pop phenomenon of 1962? The first James Bond film, Dr. No, which opened in London the same month as the Cuban Missile Crisis. In all but name, First Class is a Bond movie, from the Cold War scheming of rival superpowers to the script's plethora of glamorous or treacherous locations — right up to the end, with an animated credits sequence very much in the spirit of Maurice Binder's work on the Bonds. Above all, it a handsome, platinum-jawed agent: Erik, with Sean Connery's aplomb and Daniel Craig's ruthless determination. (In this context, the more thoughtful, sedentary Charles Xavier is M to Erik's Bond.) Speaking of which, and with due respect to Craig: Wouldn't Fassbender, the macho dreamboat, make a perfect oo7?
Among actors of his generation, Fassbender has few competitors for radiating brains and heat: touch his forehead, and your fingerprints burn off. I n the indie films he's made so far he's almost always been volcanic; and Vaughn obviously didn't tell him to lighten up just because this is a fantasy prequel. Apparently under the impression that this is Shakespeare, not Stan Lee, Fassbender exerts all his skills to transform this Magneto-in-the-making into a tragic hero. He simmers and rages, cries real tears, in an outsize performance that, whether appropriate or not to the superhero genre, dwarfs the work of his colleagues.
(Has Hollywood killed superheroes?)
McAvoy's job as the mind-reading Charles Xavier is to keep massaging his temples like a sideshow mentalist with a migraine. Bacon has a snarky authority when he tells Charles' young mutant pupils that "You can stay and fight for the people who enslave you, or follow me and live like kings," though his tone is less Marvel 1962 than Diner 1982. But the actor is sabotaged in the big showdown by having to wear a metal helmet (to ward off Charles' mind waves) that makes him look like Butters in his Professor Chaos outfit on South Park. Remember that Butters' loyal assistant Dougie, also in supervillain garb, was known as General Disarray? That's what First Class collapses into when Erik puts on the helmet. And the movie sinks into its own silliness with him.
It's hard to be hard on any movie with Jones as a nasty bikini babe in bondage, and a point-of-view shot from inside a Swiss banker's mouth as a gold filling flies out, and some energetic work from the young actors who play the mutants (each of whom, in the cosmic Marvel design, may some day get his or her own movie) and a brief cameo by Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, who, when Charles Xavier comes to recruit him, mutters "Go f— yourself." Audiences may be grateful that they won't have to spring an extra $4 for goggles: First Class is in ordinary, good-looking 2-D. And even a movie that drives itself crazy with the internal contradictions of its big ideas is preferable to one that just lies there feet up, like a dog taking a nap. (Yes, you, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.)
But if Fassbender, Jones, McAvoy and Lawrence are going to be cast together in a story about bright, crippled people desperately battling their demons and tearing one another part, I'd just as soon it were a remake of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?


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(BPT) – From an early age, children can roll up their sleeves and get involved in helping reduce the amount of trash they produce by participating in recycling programs. Across the country, children will celebrate Earth Day April 22 with science fairs and environmental educational seminars about the importance of recycling. When children start recycling early in life, they're more likely to continue that behavior as they get older – and pass the practice on to their own kids.
Recycling is a growing program in households, cities and schools across the country. In fact, Americans recycled 82 million tons of materials in 2009 – the most recent year for reported data, and that number keeps increasing, according to Keep America Beautiful.
School programs are a great way to not only promote recycling in younger generations, but also to create a fundraiser for the schools. This year, as Earth Day approaches April 22, schools can organize aluminum can drives and participate in cash-for-schools programs based on recycling lunch packaging. One such program is The Recycle…Reuse…Replenish Earth Day Campaign which encourages school children to recycle their Entenmann's Little Bites Pouches with TerraCycle, resulting in cash back to the school.
In addition, here are some more recycling, reusing and replenishing tips, perfect for school children to promote every lunch day at the school.
* Know your numbers – Teach your children to look for numbers and recycling symbols on plastic containers to know which containers can be reused through a recycling program.
* Sign up for cash back programs – Sign up your school for the TerraCycle program – if it's not already registered – and have your children recycle their Little Bites pouches each lunch hour. Visit www.terracycle.com/en-US/brigades.html to find a listing of other lunch items TerraCycle collects.
* Keep the container – Send your children to school with their daily sandwich packaged in a reusable container they can bring home and use again the next day. Let them decorate the container to make it a personal item to show off at lunch.
* Craft material supplies – Before throwing anything away, teach your children to think about how the material might be reused in a crafting project. TerraCycle provides several do-it-yourself project ideas at www.terracycle.com/en-US/do-it-yourself-projects.html.
* Have leftovers? – Set up a compost pile at home, and give your children a lesson in biodegradable foods. Ask them to bring leftovers that are biodegradable home in their sandwich container to add to the compost pile.
* Grow new lunch materials – Give your children a small garden to plant and tend that contains their favorite vegetables. Show them how beneficial their lunch compost is for growing those plants they can eat at future lunches.
Entenmann's will be giving away weekly prizes, including Little Bites coupons home improvement gift cards for starting an Earth Day garden, and a $ 5,000 cash grand prize through a sweepstakes link at www.facebook.com/Entenmanns. Register your school now for a chance to win the prize and build a beautiful Earth Day garden.
Help teach your children the importance of the three R's: recycle, reuse and replenish. The earlier they start, the more likely they'll be to participate the rest of their lives.


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The political parlor game being played out in Washington over whether or not the economy "goes over" the political construction known as the fiscal cliff is one helluva cliffhanger.
Yet even though we've all heard for months now of the disastrous consequences if the cliff is not averted, policy and economic experts don't all agree on what may happen if President Obama and the Republican leadership of the House and Senate don't forge a compromise to steer the economy away from the cliff before the last day of this month.
According to Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke, avoiding the cliff would be the "most effective way Congress could help to support the economy right now." And he stated in late November that 2013 could be a "very good year" for the economy-- if Congress and the President move quickly to dismantle the cliff.
On the other hand, some experts prefer such terms as "fiscal slope" and "fiscal ramp" to describe the legislative phenomenon. That's because they contend the impact of Washington inaction would be drastic but gradual and, in some ways, reversible.
"The slope would likely be relatively modest at first," wrote Chad Stone, chief economist at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities think tank, in a recent analysis piece. It's his view that a "relatively brief implementation of the tax and spending changes required by current law should cause little short-term damage to the economy as a whole.
"The federal budget is expected to shrink dramatically between 2012 and 2013 if the laws governing revenues and spending remain largely unchanged," explained Stone. "With no action from policymakers, that sharp reduction in the deficit would slow the economy dramatically, likely creating a mild recession in 2013."
However, he emphasized that even under that scenario, "the economy will not go over a cliff and immediately plunge into another Great Recession" in January.
"Rather, most households will begin to receive somewhat smaller paychecks due to higher income tax rates and the expiration of the payroll tax cut, but the impact on their cash flow would play out over the year rather than being concentrated in January," Stone pointed out.
"More important," he added, "there is bipartisan support for extending most of the middle-income tax cuts through 2013, so the impact of a temporary expiration of the tax cuts on consumer spending is likely to be modest, given the very high likelihood that lawmakers will end up extending them retroactively to January 1, if they haven't acted by New Year's Day."
Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) and President Barack Obama will have to compromise to forge a fiscal-cliff deal.
We can all hope that a compromise deal will keep the economy entirely away from sailing over the cliff— or at the very least land it on a reversible fiscal slope.
Meanwhile, tried-and-true economic indicators otherwise suggest the economy will grow at a faster clip next year compared to this year.
If not driven over the fiscal cliff or not overly impacted at any point by the ongoing Eurozone financial crisis, the U.S. economy will continue to grow into next year, albeit at a "modest pace," according to Bob Costello, chief economist for the American Trucking Assns.
What's more, he has stated that in step with that moderate economic growth, trucking will see "limited growth."
That's because he said "some economic fundamentals are looking better," including most notably housing. "Housing is turning the corner so much so that in the next few years I would not be surprised if we have a housing shortage," Costello noted.
"Once the job market improves and pay goes up, demand for housing will rise," he pointed out, adding that this is "already happening but at a low level," which means trucking "will see higher volumes out of housing" in 2013."
While Costello said manufacturing was up 5% in 2012, next year total manufacturing will rise only 2.7%; with durable goods climbing 4.7% and non-durable goods going up just 0.8%. "So, we won't see the same freight growth from manufacturers" as in 2012, he noted.
Put it all together and Costello expects that GDP "won't get to 2% growth until the 3rd quarter of next year."
Of course, that scenario does not factor in whatever negative punch leaving a fiscal cliff or ramp in place for the economy to go over or down will land.


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The U.S. Commerce Department today reported that the country's 2010 trade deficit was $497.8 billion, an increase of $122.9 billion from 2009.
Exports increased from $1.57 trillion to $1.83 trillion, and imports increased from $1.95 trillion to $2.33 trillion.
Increased imports are often a sign that the U.S. economy is growing. Imports typically fall during recessions and increase during economic recoveries.
Prospects for a strong economic recovery could be boosted by extending agreements like the Andean Trade Preference Act and implementing new trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama. The government should also reduce its budget deficit. Record U.S. budget deficits are partly financed by selling hundreds of billions of dollars in Treasury bonds to foreign buyers, soaking up money that could otherwise be used to purchase U.S.-produced goods and services.
Source material can be found at this site.


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There are certain moments in your life when you know you will never forget what you are witnessing. To attend a Presidential Inauguration, for me, was just one of those unforgettable moments. As cliché as it sounds, I felt proud to be an American, inspired by our political process and the hope that we can do or be anything we dream. Standing on ground that has been marched on by servicemen, camped on by protestors, a stage for messages to be heard not only on our soil but around the world to change our lives, all of our lives, for the better was an important reminder to be thankful for our freedoms and not take for granted the right we have to the American Dream….
Congratulations Mr. President
"Today we continue a never-ending journey, to bridge the meaning of those words with the realities of our time. For history tells us that while these truths may be self-evident, they have never been self-executing; that while freedom is a gift from God, it must be secured by His people here on Earth."
"…our individual freedom is inextricably bound to the freedom of every soul on Earth."
"We, the people, still believe that our obligations as Americans are not just to ourselves, but to all posterity."
"We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths – that all of us are created equal – is the star that guides us still"
"My fellow Americans, we are made for this moment, and we will seize it – so long as we seize it together."
From the Poem by Richard Blanco
We head home: through the gloss of rain or weight
of snow, or the plum blush of dusk, but always—home,
always under one sky, our sky. And always one moon
like a silent drum tapping on every rooftop
and every window, of one country—all of us—
facing the stars
hope—a new constellation
waiting for us to map it,
waiting for us to name it—together.
What does one wear to the Inaugural Ball?… Oscar de la Renta was the first thing that came to mind! With an unparalleled history of dressing our leader's First Ladies for decades, they also called my dress "White House Embroidery" and that was that.
Of course, if you're wearing Oscar, you should be wearing diamonds! Chopard accessorized me in earrings set in platinum with pear shaped, marquise cut, and round diamonds. On my wrist a bracelet set in platinum with 78 pear shaped diamonds… amazing, no!?
Many, many thanks to my darling friend Max for taking me as his date, carrying my lipstick, and keeping my champagne filled. I'll never forget this day together, friend.


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DK People & Places: North & West Africa
The Sahara desert is vast and covers most of north and west Africa, stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the east. Few people live in this desert area, which separates the Arab and Berber peoples of the north coast from the mainly Black African peoples to the south. Most of the 63 million Africans who inhabit this region live on the narrow coastal plain where the climate is milder.
During the 7th century AD, Arabs from the Arabian peninsula swept across north Africa, bringing their new religion of Islam with them. Today, most north and west Africans are Muslims, speak a common Arabic language, and share a culture based on the Islamic faith. Every town has at least one mosque, where the faithful are called to prayer.
Few people live in the Sahara because it regularly has temperatures of over 122°F (50°C) and water is very scarce. People such as the Tuareg have learned how to survive in these extreme conditions, and live by trading salt and other goods across huge distances. Camels are their transportation and also provide milk, meat, and hides. However, long droughts and other hardships have led many to give up desert life.
This is the name for the growth of the world's deserts. It means that good farmland is turning into dry wasteland, which causes famine. It begins when expected rains fail to arrive in areas near the desert. Crops are still grown but the soil becomes infertile, and as the plants die, it turns to dust. With the Sahara spreading south, huge areas are under threat.
Most of the people of this region live on the land alongside the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean. The climate here is warm and wet in winter and hot and dry in summer, which is better for farming than the desert interior. Many crops can be grown here, from citrus fruits and dates, to olives and tomatoes.
The colorful and busy souks (markets) of Morocco and Tunisia sell anything from traditional goods and handicrafts such as jewelry, leather, handwoven carpets, and embroidered clothes, to fresh meat, fish, vegetables, and household items. A souk is vital to the economy of a town, and is also a meeting place for workers, farmers, and traders coming in from the countryside.
The Nile, the world's longest river, is an essential part of Egyptian life. When it floods in the summer, it brings vital water and rich mud from the highlands of Ethiopia and Sudan to its deserts, creating a fertile valley for crops. It also provides drinking water for those who live alongside it, and money from tourists who visit the many ancient sites along its banks.
Fez has hardly changed for centuries. Like all medieval Islamic cities, the old town of Fez was built according to rules laid down in the Qur'an, the holy book of Islam. The mosque is in the center, each religious and ethnic group has its own quarter, and the streets are narrow enough to give shade and wide enough for two fully laden camels to pass through.


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First Space Shuttle Launch Since 2003
News story originally written on July 13, 2005
NASA is getting ready to launch a space shuttle for the first time in more than two years. The shuttle Discovery is set to blast off on Wednesday, July 13, 2005. The space shuttle fleet has been grounded since February 2003, when the shuttle Columbia was destroyed while re-entering Earth's atmosphere.
NASA has made many changes to the shuttle since Columbia was lost to make the spacecraft safer. The seven astronauts on this new mission will test many of the new safety equipment. The shuttle has a new robot arm with cameras that will help astronauts inspect the shuttle while it is in space. If they find any problems, there are new repair kits that NASA hopes the astronauts can use to fix any damage they spot.
Discovery will also take food and other supplies to the International Space Station (ISS). This mission is supposed to last 12 days. If the shuttle can't be launched on Wednesday, NASA has until the end of July to try the launch again. Hopefully Discovery will have a safe blast-off, mission, and landing!


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SRD:Animal Domain
From D&D Wiki
This material is published under the OGL 1.0a. |
Granted Powers: You can use speak with animals once per day as a spell-like ability.
Add Knowledge (nature) to your list of cleric class skills.
Animal Domain Spells
- Calm Animals: Calms (2d4 + level) HD of animals.
- Hold Animal: Paralyzes one animal for 1 round/level.
- Dominate Animal: Subject animal obeys silent mental commands.
- Summon Nature's Ally IV*: Calls creature to fight.
- Commune with Nature: Learn about terrain for 1 mile/level.
- Antilife Shell: 10-ft. field hedges out living creatures.
- Animal Shapes: One ally/level polymorphs into chosen animal.
- Summon Nature's Ally VIII*: Calls creature to fight.
- ShapechangeF: Transforms you into any creature, and change forms once per round.
*Can only summon animals.
Back to Main Page → 3.5e Open Game Content → System Reference Document → Spells → Cleric Domains


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FDA approves first seasonal influenza vaccine manufactured using cell culture technology
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced today the approval of Flucelvax, the first seasonal influenza vaccine licensed in the United States produced using cultured animal cells, instead of fertilized chicken eggs. Flucelvax is approved to prevent seasonal influenza in people ages 18 years and older.
The manufacturing process for Flucelvax is similar to the egg-based production method, but a significant difference is that the virus strains included in the vaccine are grown in animal cells of mammalian origin instead of in eggs. Cell culture technology has already been in use for several decades to produce other U.S. licensed vaccines.
"Today's approval represents the culmination of efforts to develop a seasonal influenza vaccine using cell culture as an alternative to the egg-based process," said Karen Midthun, M.D., director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.
Cell culture technology is another manufacturing alternative to conventional egg-based influenza vaccine production. Advantages of cell culture technology include the ability to maintain an adequate supply of readily available, previously tested and characterized cells for use in vaccine production and the potential for a faster start-up of the vaccine manufacturing process in the event of a pandemic.
Flucelvax was evaluated in a randomized controlled clinical study conducted in the United States and Europe that involved about 7,700 people ages 18 to 49 years who received either Flucelvax or a placebo. The study showed that Flucelvax was 83.8 percent effective in preventing influenza when compared to placebo. The use of Flucelvax in people older than 49 is supported by antibody responses in about 1,700 adults which showed it to be comparable to Agriflu, an egg-based seasonal influenza vaccine approved by FDA for use in people 18 years and older.
The safety evaluation included about 6,700 individuals who received Flucelvax in controlled clinical studies. Injection site and general reactions to Flucelvax were typical of those seen with current influenza vaccines. Pain, redness and soreness at the injection site and headache and fatigue were the most common reactions.
Getting vaccinated each year remains one of the best ways to prevent seasonal influenza. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that everyone 6 months of age and older receive an annual influenza vaccine.
Flucelvax is manufactured by Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics GmbH, Marburg, Germany.
For more information:
Flu.gov: consumer site for flu information
FDA: Influenza Vaccine Safety & Availability
CDC: Seasonal Influenza – Who should get vaccinated against influenza (Flu)
Flu Vaccine Finder disclaimer icon
The FDA, an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, protects the public health by assuring the safety, effectiveness, and security of human and veterinary drugs, vaccines and other biological products for human use, and medical devices. The agency also is responsible for the safety and security of our nation's food supply, cosmetics, dietary supplements, products that give off electronic radiation, and for regulating tobacco products.
For Immediate Release: November 20, 2012
Media Inquiries: Heidi Rebello, 301-796-4566,[email protected]
Consumer Inquiries: 888-INFO-FDA, [email protected]


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Leaf Cuttings
Some, but not all, plants can be propagated from just a leaf or a section of a leaf. Leaf cuttings of most plants will not generate a new plant; they usually produce only a few roots or just decay. Because leaf cuttings do not include an axillary bud, they can be used only for plants that are capable of forming adventitious buds. Leaf cuttings are used almost exclusively for propagating some indoor plants. There are several types of leaf cuttings.
Remove a leaf and include up to 11⁄2 inches of the petiole. Insert the lower end of the petiole into the medium (Figure 1). One or more new plants will form at the base of the petiole. The new plants are then severed from the original leaf-petiole cutting and the cutting may be used once again to produce more plants. Examples of plants that can be propagated by leaf-petiole cuttings include African violet, peperomia, episcia, hoya, and sedum.
Leaf without a Petiole
This method is used for plants with thick, fleshy leaves. The snake plant (Sansevieria), a monocot, can be propagated by cutting the long leaves into 3- to 4-inch pieces. Insert the cuttings vertically into the medium. African violet, a dicot, can also be propagated from the leaf blade itself. Cut a leaf from a plant and remove the petiole. Insert the leaf vertically into the medium making sure that the midvein is buried in the rooting medium (Figure 2). New plant(s) will form from the midvein.
Detach a leaf from a rex begonia and remove the petiole. Make cuts on several prominent veins on the underside of the leaf (Figure 3). Lay the cutting, lower side down, on the medium. If the leaf curls up, hold it in place by covering the margins with rooting medium. New plants will form at each cut. A variation of this method is to cut the leaf into wedges, so that each piece has a main vein. The leaf wedge should be inserted into the media with the main vein partially covered.
Leaf-bud Cuttings
Leaf-bud cuttings are used for many trailing vines and when space or cutting material is limited. Each node on a stem can be treated as a cutting. This type of cutting consists of a leaf blade, petiole, and a short piece of stem with an attached axillary bud. Place cuttings in the medium with the bud covered (1⁄2 to 1 inch) and the leaf exposed (Figure 4). Examples of plants that can be propagated in this manner include clematis, rhododendron, camellia, jade plant, rubber plant, devil's ivy, grape ivy, dracaena, blackberry, mahonia, and heart-leaf philodendron.
Cane Cuttings
Cane cuttings provide an easy way to propagate some overgrown, leggy house plants such as dumbcane, corn plant, Chinese evergreen, and other plants with thick stems. Leafless stem sections (2 to 3 inches long) are cut from older stems. Each cane should have one or two nodes (Figure 5). Lay the cutting horizontally on the medium, or insert it vertically with about half of the cutting below the surface of the medium, and leave a bud facing upward. Cane cuttings are usually potted when roots and new shoots appear.
Root Cutting
Some plants can be propagated from a section of a root. Root cuttings of woody plants are usually taken from plants during the dormant season, when carbohydrate levels are high. Root cuttings of some species produce new shoots, which then form their own root system, whereas root cuttings of other plants develop root systems before producing new shoots. Examples of plants that can be propagated from root cuttings include raspberry, blackberry, rose, trumpet vine, phlox, crabapple, fig, lilac, and sumac.
Plants with large roots are normally propagated outdoors. The root cuttings should be 2 to 6 inches long. Make a straight cut on the proximal end (nearest the crown of the parent plant) and a slanted cut on the distal end (furthest from the crown) of each root cutting. Tie the cuttings in bundles with all the same type ends together. It is important to maintain the correct polarity of the cuttings. Store for 3 weeks in moist sawdust, peat moss, or sand at 40°F. Remove from storage. Space the cuttings about 2 to 3 inches apart in well-prepared garden soil. The tops of the cuttings (proximal ends) should be 2 to 3 inches below the soil surface.
For plants with small roots, cut the roots into 1 to 2 inch sections. Lay the cuttings horizontally on the medium surface in a flat and cover with about 1⁄2 inch of soil or sand. Place the flat inside a plastic bag or cover with a pane of glass. Place the flat in the shade and remove the protective cover after new shoots appear.
For Further Reading
- Bryant, G. 1995. Propagation Handbook. Stackpole Books: Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.
- Dirr, M. A. and C. W. Heuser, Jr. 1987. The Reference Manual of Woody Plant Propagation: From Seed to Tissue Culture. Varsity Press: Athens, Georgia.
- Hartmann, H. T., D. E. Kester, F. T. Davies and R. L. Geneve. 1996. Plant Propagation, Principles and Practices. 6th ed. Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.
- McMillan Browse, P. D. A. 1978. Plant Propagation. Simon and Schuster: New York.
- Toogood, A. 1993. Plant Propagation Made Easy. Timber Press: Portland, Oregon.
Publication date: Jan. 31, 1999
N.C. Cooperative Extension prohibits discrimination and harassment regardless of age, color, disability, family and marital status, gender identity, national origin, political beliefs, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation and veteran status.


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Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse Color Sundays Vol. 1: "Call of the Wild"
Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse Color Sundays Vol. 1: "Call of the Wild"
Out of stock
We're jumping from black and white to classic color — as Mickey Mouse makes his Sunday strip debut! Bright hues highlight our hero as he races through action-packed epics... taking him from Uncle Mortimer's Inferno Gulch ranch to the icy peak of frigid Mount Fishflake! Back home in Mouseton, Mickey welcomes a famous co-star — Donald Duck — and nearly lives to regret it!
Floyd Gottfredson, artist of the Sunday Mickey Mouse from 1932-38, created the most famous Mickey tales ever told in print. These long-form color strips, many never before reprinted in the USA, also feature the work of later Donald Duck master Al Taliaferro. Collectively, they form a group that fans have been seeking for a lifetime!
Highlights include "Mickey's Nephews," introducing Morty and Ferdie Fieldmouse, and "Dr. Oofgay's Secret Serum," which turns Horace Horsecollar into a brainwashed wild mustang! Classic gag stories round out the book, offering manic Mouse mischief at a fever pitch.
Restored from Disney's line art sources and enhanced with an eye-popping recreation of the strips' original color, Call of the Wild also brings you more than 40 pages of chromatic supplementary features! You'll enjoy rare Gottfredson drawings, vintage publicity material, and fascinating commentary by a prismatic pack of Disney scholars, including an appreciation of Gottfredson by celebrated alternative cartoonist Kevin Huizenga.


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This article is more than 1 year old
Last.fm charges for mobile
Free-for-all across other platforms
Last.fm will start charging for streaming to its mobile applications from next Tuesday, although the desktop web versions of the site in the UK, Germany and the USA will remain free.
So too, curiously, will the Windows Mobile 7 version of the service – but not in Germany. Xbox Live members in the US will continue to get free music streaming.
"You'll see that this change brings us in line with other music services that already charge you to listen to music on mobile devices," wrote Matthew Hawn, Last.fm's "VP of product".
At £3 per month, ad-free streaming is in line with Pandora's $36 annual sub, and less than than We7's and Spotify's £10-a-month mobile packages. The latter allow offline caching, however.
Last.fm has bled red ink in each of the seven years since it launched in 2004, losing tens of millions of pounds, although the annual loss narrowed to £2.8m (pre-tax) in 2009. ®


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Class Central Tips
This course will introduce you to the different sensors and how we can use them for state estimation and localization in a self-driving car. By the end of this course, you will be able to:
- Understand the key methods for parameter and state estimation used for autonomous driving, such as the method of least-squares
- Develop a model for typical vehicle localization sensors, including GPS and IMUs
- Apply extended and unscented Kalman Filters to a vehicle state estimation problem
- Understand LIDAR scan matching and the Iterative Closest Point algorithm
- Apply these tools to fuse multiple sensor streams into a single state estimate for a self-driving car
For the final project in this course, you will implement the Error-State Extended Kalman Filter (ES-EKF) to localize a vehicle using data from the CARLA simulator.
This is an advanced course, intended for learners with a background in mechanical engineering, computer and electrical engineering, or robotics. To succeed in this course, you should have programming experience in Python 3.0, familiarity with Linear Algebra (matrices, vectors, matrix multiplication, rank, Eigenvalues and vectors and inverses), Statistics (Gaussian probability distributions), Calculus and Physics (forces, moments, inertia, Newton's Laws).


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If I am playing a deck with Snow-Covered Mountains, does a creature with Mountainwalk become unblockable or do they require Snow-Covered Mountainwalk (where "mountain" is interchangeable with plains, islands, swamps, forests and mountains)? Conversely, if I had a creature with Snow-Covered Mountainwalk, is it unblockable if an opponent has only regular Mountains in play?
I lack the experience with the Comprehensive Rules to be able to conclusively go one way or the other.
702.12a Landwalk is a generic term that appears within an object's rules text as "[type]walk," where [type] is usually a subtype (as in "islandwalk"), but can be the card type land, any land type, any supertype, or any combination thereof (as in "snow swampwalk" or "legendary landwalk").
702.12b Landwalk is an evasion ability. A creature with landwalk is unblockable as long as the defending player controls at least one land with the specified subtype and/or supertype. (See rule 509, "Declare Blockers Step.")
I suppose the question boils down to this: is "Mountain" a supertype of "Snow-Covered Mountain"?


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Home / Products / Meteorology / OpenWIS®
WIS Compliance
WIS Compliance
The WMO Information system (WIS) is the pillar of the WMO strategy for managing and moving weather, climate and water information in the 21st century.
WIS provides an integrated approach suitable for all WMO Programmes to meet the requirements for routine collection and automated dissemination of observed data and products, as well as data discovery, access and retrieval services for all weather, climate, water and related data produced by centres and member countries in the framework of any WMO Programme.
WIS was designed to dramatically extend WMO members' ability to collect and disseminate data and products. Owned and operated by members, WIS is the core information system utilized by the WMO community, providing linkages for all WMO and supported programmes associated with weather, climate, water, and related natural disasters. It is being built upon the Global Telecommunication System of WMO's World Weather Watch, using standard elements and at a pace feasible for all members.
WIS is an enhanced information system capable of exchanging large data volumes, such as new ground- and satellite based systems, finer resolutions in numerical weather prediction and hydrological models and their applications. These data and products must be available to National Hydrological and Meteorological Services, but also national disaster authorities for more timely alerts where and when needed.
WIS is the vital data communications backbone integrating the diverse real-time and non-real-time high priority data sets, regardless of location.
OpenWIS® is both an association and a software.
The OpenWIS® association (originally a consortium) was created in 2011 by 4 National Meteorological Services (Australia, France, Korea and UK) and 1 service provider (MFI) in order to come up with a technical solution for WIS compliance.
The first version of the OpenWIS® software was released in 2012 and it has since then been engaged in a process of ongoing improvement. It allows fulfilling all WIS requirements for GISCs (Global Information System Centers), DCPCs (Data Collection or Production Centers) and NCs (National Centers).
Today, it is the reference solution for WIS compliance in the world as the majority of GISCs centers are operated under OpenWIS®.
- WIS compliance: OpenWIS® software is compliant with the WIS and other relevant standards. It addresses the needs of all WIS centers for data discovery, access and retrieval.
- Sustainability: OpenWIS® software is underpinned by the OpenWIS® association ensuring long-term sustainability for WIS compliance.
- Interoperability: OpenWIS® software integrates with NMSs core systems using clerly defined interfaces
- Community: using OpenWIS® is being part of a growing using community around the world.
There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.


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Gutter Cleaning Lexington
The best gutter cleaning service and maintenance Lexington has depended on for years!
There's no need to worry about clearing your gutters or downspouts. We are the trusted choice for the best professional Lexington gutter cleaning services. Lexington home owners consistently turn to the property maintenance and cleaning experts at Lexington Gutter Cleaning to provide the highest quality gutter and downspout cleaning services. Our trained specialists thoroughly examine your downspouts and gutter systems to determine how to most effectively clean your gutters. Let our Lexington Gutter Cleaning professionals take care of your clogged-up gutters! We are the best choice for gutter cleaning in Lexington, Kentucky and surrounding areas.
Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County. By population, it is the second-largest city in Kentucky and 57th-largest city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 28th-largest city. The city is also known as "Horse Capital of the World". It is within the state's Bluegrass region.
Andover Forest, Andover Hills, Ashland Park, Athens, Autumn Ridge, Bell Court, Brigadoon, Brighton East, Calumet, Cardinal Valley, Castlegate, Cherokee Park, Chevy Chase, Clemens Heights/ Clemens Grove, Colony


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This print making major from Boston and cofounder of the experimental publishing/printmaking project Apenest recently relocated to Santa Fe and wrapped up a 3 person show at NYC's 92Y Tribeca. He's also shown at Philly's Space 1026 and SF's Park Life. His paintings are simply distinct, unique, and refreshing. Brian has his own voice in an age when that always isn't common and a skill set that's beyond most. He's onto something that we're eager to follow. 25 years old and on a good path. We like this guy.
My name is Brian Willmont. I am living in dusty Santa Fe, New Mexico. I'm from Boston and went to the Massachusetts College of Art, majoring in printmaking.
Majored in printmaking, which almost meant "the works on paper department" there, and anything that held up against critique up was ok to do. It was a super small and tight major and a lot of the work was really good, I met Cody Hoyt there and started Apenest. We had a hangar sized print shop with our studios in it, with free reign and lots of shit went down.
Wasted youth, totally lost and really angry. I hung out downtown drinking beer, getting high, cheering on bum fights, and going to shows. I was probably one of the worst students in my high school but did great in art school, ha!
There is a whole lot of crap here, but also a couple good galleries and art spaces. My favorite things to see have been in the folk art museum and in meth heads yards along the highways. The people are tired or something, maybe it's the altitude
I often have a couple of ideas of where a piece might go before I start. I write down a lot of my ideas in notebooks and usually make my sketches directly on the paper. I try to work on a couple of pieces simultaneously so that I can take some time making decisions on one piece while I work on another.
Right now mostly gouache on paper, but I also make sculptures, bits and pieces, other kinds of painting, installation and whatever I think is awesome at the time.
A cyclical creation myth based on conquest, which plays as the primary creator and destroyer. Set off by and sucked into black ether thicker than mashed potatoes, I paint weirdo Americana choose your own adventure novels in acrid colors that bleed into one another, creating vividly patterned compositions bordering on decorative, which are designed to entrance the viewer (like a siren), disguising and distorting violence.
Awkward, loud, nasty, and a bit boisterous, I might call them "American Miniatures".
Looking at it again, my space it feels like a show celebrating loss and revenge. It was great to go to New York and see lots of friends I haven't seen in a while.
It was a 3 person show curated by Ben Sisto with Eric Shaw and Denise Kupferschmidt, they're all good folks I know from Boston and have worked with each of them in the past.
I came to the land of big skies, and turquoise a little over a year ago. I was looking to move somewhere cheaper than and totally different from Boston where I would have the space to breath and make art for a little while. The History of the west and all of the conflicts between American, Spanish, Mexican, and the many American Indian tribes is really interesting to me and integral to my understanding of our countries history, present and future. I've had family here ranching for 5 or so generations, so hearing my grandma's stories of the ranch and what it was like in the real wild west had intrigued me for a long time. Integrating these histories with my own is a way for me to personalize the American myth.
Oh, I don't live on a ranch, I live in a fake adobe house.
The ranch I mentioned is my uncle Gilbert's, he has cattle, it's on a giant canyon with the Canadian river at the bottom. He is 86 and has had so many back surgeries he can't ride a horse anymore, so last time I was there he had just got this 4x4 with a roll cage and we were getting air off cacti and generally it up. I will be back there soon.
Green Chile, the desert, my studio, it wasn't a state a hundred years ago, there are lizards in my yard, mountains that look like sleeping buffaloes outside of my window, outlaws, witches, cowboys + Indians, Old Man Gloom, Skin Walkers Etc.
We would probably go explore some ghost town or cave dwellings, swim in a canyon and go to El Santuario to collect sacred dirt. Pockets full of magic earth, we'd stop at El Parasol in Espanola, home of the low rider, for authentic New Mexican burritos for the drive to back to the city. Then we'd drink tequila and Q it up in the backyard and howl at the coyotes.
I work at an art gallery. It's my first time sitting down at a job, I have a desk. I've learned a lot and am grateful for the experience.
Everything. This is a great time to be alive.
Whenever I'm relaxed, anxiety is my productivity killer. I try to be in the studio most of the time that I am not working a day job, I work part time and usually get the most done on my days off when I can really get into it.
I drove to LA and back alone in January, that was fun.
Recently Electric Wizard, T Rex, a little Modern Lovers when homesick, Annihilation Time, The Showcase Showdown, Orange Goblin, Neil Young, Big Youth, Beirut, Os Mutantes, The Stones etc.
In the morning I deal with emails, run errands, and take care of Apenest tasks. Then I try to be in the studio until I cook dinner with my girlfriend and watch a show or movie, then I'm back into the studio till 1 or 2. If I went to the day job then the above schedule resumes at dinner. Sometimes I do something fun and call it "research".
Not especially, I ride my bike to work, but my job isn't nearly as physical as past ones.
I want a dog, but I think it's a bad idea for many more years.
Center Street Cafe in J.P., Boston, amazing food and you feel like family there. You always have to wait forever because it's tiny, but they give you coffee and pep talks when it's cold.
I pretty much wear a uniform of jeans and a hoodie with rotating t shirts made by me or someone I know, I don't like to think about it. I wear a button down at work now, It's kind of like being housebroken.
Mike Nason and some other folks are going to come to town in July for a western we're making. I'm really excited about this. I'm about to get started making sets, props and costumes. I think it'll be a real charge.
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Conference Updates
Black Hat USA 2012 Archives
Read the whitepapers and view the slides from Black Hat USA 2012More Info
Re: Black Hat USA mass reg email
Read the Latest Intel post to find out what really happened...More Info
The Black Hat Briefings have become the biggest and the most important security conference series in the world by sticking to our core value: serving the information security community by delivering timely, actionable security information in a friendly, vendor-neutral environment.
Black Hat USA 2012 is set to bring together the best minds in security to define tomorrow's information security landscape in Las Vegas. This year's training courses offer the essential knowledge and skills to defend your enterprise against today's threats.
It is Black Hat's mission to find the most passionate, engaging and relevant leaders in the information security field who have compelling stories to tell and love sharing what they've learned with others. Please check back often to see our updated list of prestigious speakers and teachers.
Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas, NV
located in the middle of the famous las vegas strip, in the heart of the entertainment capital of the world, Caesars Palace is famous worldwide for its magnificent beauty and impeccable service. This majestic Las Vegas hotel offers a 129,000 square foot casino, 26 restaurants and cafes, sprawling gardens and pools, a world-class spa, and the renowned Colosseum spotlighting world-class stars.


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Dec 7, 2016
Welcome to Angels Don't Lie with Jeanne Street! Jeanne is a God based medium, owner of Inspirit Healing Studio and author of the book The Goddess You. Angels Don't Lie is a show dedicated to healing and love. Jeanne takes live questions during the show, every Tuesday at 7PM EST (Call> 646-891-5252), listen to the show live on the web player at jeannestreet.com or you can email a question to email@example.com.


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- Grab your current read
- Open to a random page
- Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
I reached for his hand, then hesitated as I remembered that face. The one with the brown eyes. The boy with the hands that fit mine just right.
Top Ten Books I'd Recommend to Someone that Doesn't Read YA Dystopian1) The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins- I'd recommend this novel to any person, old or young, male or female and everyone in between. If you want something amazing in your hands, I always start with this series.
2) Divergent by Veronica Roth- Any fan that loved The Hunger Games is bound to love Divergent. Tris is just as tough and able to care for herself as Katniss but she isn't as cold.
3) Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi- I feel like this is geared more toward your comic book loving gal. Shatter Me is heavy on the romance but has an interesting world to back it up.
4) Matched by Ally Condie- This is definitely a quiet sort of novel. I'd recommend it to those who really like contemporary and are itching to try something new.
5) Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi- Good for both girls and guys, Under the Never Sky is a great novel for the fantasy/sci-fi readers in your life.
6) XVI by Julia Karr- This is something for everyone and I honestly wish they'd require this novel for school. I feel like this is a great book to open up dialog between teens.
7) Wither by Lauren DeStefano- Another quieter dystopian that would be perfect for a contemporary or romance reader.
8) Eve by Anna Carey- Eve is full of action but is is also heavy on the romance. I'd say this would definitely work for a paranormal or romance lover!
9) The Way We Fall by Megan Crewe- Got any zombie loving fans out there? This one is about a virus that spreads (though it isn't a zombie virus) that would be perfect for them or fans of psychological horror.
I know there are quite a few other dystopians out there but I still haven't gotten to read them all. These are the ones I'd recommend out of the books I've read this far.
What's you list about?