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(visited by Mihai Pitigoi, Andra Costin, Mihnea Costin, Serban Barsan, Bianca Barsan and Vlad)
06-May-2002 -- We, eastern christians (orthodox christians) celebrated Easter this year on May 5th. So, on this short holiday, we went to Oradea where part of my girlfriend's family lives. Oradea is 600 km (about 380 miles) from Bucharest, in the northwestern part of Romania, only 10 km from the border with Hungary. It is a big city (more than 220,000 population) that lies exactly where the hills end and the Pannonia Plains begin, on the river Crisul Repede (the Fast Cris), that crosses exactly the centre of the city. Oradea is a medieval city, with baroque and gothic buildings, and also with lots of clubs and cafes and very nice people. For some photos go here http://www.oradea-online.ro/oradea/2/galeria_oradea1.htm (unfortunately I couldn't find a website with photos in english, so click on 'Albumul urmator >>' below right to get to the next gallery). Another link would be www.oradea.ro, which contains some english text, but few photos. Ok, back to confluence hunting.
On May 6th we decided to visit N47E22. We were a pretty large group: myself, my girlfriend Andra, her brother Mihnea, their cousins from Oradea and a friend of them. We took road 76/E79 to Deva, crossed the village of Sanmartin and turned left to Baile 1 Mai (1 Mai Spa). Baile 1 Mai is known for its hot-water springs (lots of swimming-pools there). Same for Baile Felix (Felix Spa) nearby. In fact the city of Oradea is heated with thermal water, which is plenty around these parts, you just have to dig for it. At the sign that says Baile 1 Mai (just half a mile after turning left from road 76/E79) we turned again left and entered the village of Rontau. We were already in the hilly region, so the road climbed up to Rontau, which lies on top of a hill. While driving along the village's main road the GPS showed us the direction right ahead, and after two minutes, just few hundred meters from the end of the village, we reached the spot (photo #3).
The confluence lies right on the main road of Rontau, just in front of the pentecostal church (in fact the pentecostal church lies inside of a house, probably the pentecostal community isn't too large – photo #4). On both sides there were houses, backwards we could see the road, only in front of us another forested hill could be seen, as the main road climbes down the hill, exiting the village. The elevation was 179 meters.
You can see the view eastwards in the main picture (photo #1). The road exits Rontau and climbs down the hill, so we could see another hill. Down in the valley you can see some buildings from Baile 1 Mai. Photo #2 needs no explanation. Photo #5 looks south-eastwards and shows two Rontau houses: a typical one and a new built one (the house with 2 storeys). Photo #7 shows the way we got there, along the main road. You can see some more houses. The local 'food source' is shown in photo #6.
Next day we left for Bucharest and on the way we visited N47E23.
06-Mai-2002 -- In mica vacanta dintre 1 – 7 mai am sarbatorit Pastele la Oradea, la familia prietenei mele. Mese, sprituri, strand (la Baile 1 Mai, bazin cu valuri, apa termala), tot tacimul. Cafenele, baruri si cluburi destule, magazine ieftine si cu marfa buna, oras frumos (am pus 2 linkuri la varianta engleza, mai exista si google). Pe data de 6 mai, dupa un strand la Baile 1 Mai, am decis sa bifam si 47N22E, aflata in apropiere, asa ca plecind de la strand am facut-o usor dreapta spre Rontau (din Oradea se ajunge iesind pe DN76/E79 Oradea – Deva, dupa Sanmartin, care este primul sat dupa Oradea, stinga spre Baile 1 Mai si la monumentul unde scrie cu litere mari de tabla Baile 1 Mai iar stinga. Strada duce direct in Rontau). Eram 6: eu, Andra, Mihnea (fratele ei), verii lor (Serban si Bianca) si un prieten (Vlad).
Urcam spre sat, care se afla pe virful unui deal. Mergind pe strada principala GPS-ul arata confluenta drept inainte. Dupa vreo 2 minute de mers vedem ca ne apropiem de ultimele case din sat, iar strada principala incepe sa coboare. Ajunsesem exact la confluenta (foto 3). Altitudinea: 179 m.
Pe partea stinga, deci cam spre nord, se afla biserica penticostala Rontau (foto 4), de fapt o casa din sat. In fata, spre est, se vedea un deal impadurit, iar in vale citeva cladiri din Baile 1 Mai (foto 1). Foto 2 este evidenta. Foto 5 este inspre sud-est si arata 2 case, una traditionala (cea de un singur nivel – pesemne case secuiesti, aproape toate sunt la fel in sat) si una mai noua (cea cu etaj). Foto 7 arata strada pe unde am venit, inspre vest. Se pot vedea mai multe case. Sursa de hrana a rontauanilor in foto 6.
Ziua urmatoare am plecat spre Bucuresti, iar pe drum ne-am abatut pe la 47N23E.


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DAVID KLEPPER Friday, 11 August 2017 02:47 PM EDT
A billionaire hedge fund manager has apologized for an online post saying that a black New York state senator has "done more damage to people of color than anyone who has ever donned a hood" because of her support for teachers unions.
Daniel Loeb issued a statement saying he regrets the language he used in the Facebook post about Senate Minority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, a Yonkers Democrat. The post was an apparent reference to the white headgear of the Ku Klux Klan. It was deleted late Thursday.
Loeb, the CEO of the investment firm Third Point, is a top donor to Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo and many other politicians. He is a leading supporter of charter schools.
"I regret the language I used in expressing my passion for educational choice," he said in his statement about the post, emailed to The Associated Press on Friday morning. "I apologize to Sen. Stewart-Cousins and anyone I offended."
Cuomo and other Democrats had denounced Loeb's comments.
"We have no connection with these comments whatsoever and in our opinion they are entirely inappropriate and have no place in the public discourse," said Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi.
Mike Murphy, a spokesman for Stewart-Cousins, said there was "no place in our discourse, political or otherwise, for these dangerous words.
"Daniel Loeb should be utterly ashamed of his disgusting statements. This whole episode speaks volumes about the state of our politics right here in New York," Murphy said.
Loeb's Facebook post was in response to a story in The New York Times earlier this week on the ongoing tension between Cuomo, mainline Democrats and a Democratic Senate faction led by Sen. Jeff Klein of the Bronx who broke ranks with the party to empower Republicans, who now control the Senate. The story detailed an exchange between Stewart-Cousins and Cuomo in which Cuomo suggested that Klein had a better grasp of suburban issues than mainline Senate Democrats.
"You look at me, Mr. Governor, but you don't see me," Stewart-Cousins told Cuomo in response, according to the article. "You see my black skin and a woman, but you don't realize that I am a suburban legislator. Jeff Klein doesn't represent the suburbs. I do."
While Loeb deleted his remarks, The Times reported the text and the AP obtained a screen shot of the post.
"Thank God for Jeff Klein and those who stand for educational choice and support Charter (sic) funding that leads to economic mobility and opportunity for poor knack kids," the post read. "Meanwhile hypocrites like Stewart-Cousins who pay fealty to powerful union thugs and bosses do more damage to people of color than anyone who has ever donned a hood."
Klein, another recipient of Loeb contributions, also distanced himself from the remarks.
"The statements are wrong and have to be repudiated. I dissociate myself from such statements," he said in a statement.
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subset: commoncrawl


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[Shahriar] devoted the lastest episode of The Signal Path to looking at energy harvesting chips. These parts are designed to gather energy from non-traditional sources as efficiently as possible. The full episode, which is embedded after the break, is about one hour long. It starts with a bit of background about the nature of these parts, and a brief overview of the wide-range of chips available. Each is suited for a different type of energy source.
He moves on to test and explain the LTC3105 and the LTC3109. The former is shown above on a development board. [Shahriar] hooks it up to his bench equipment to compare its performance to the published specs. This culminates in a circuit that uses a solar cell as the source with a super capacitor used as storage. The latter is connected to a Peltier cooler and used to convert the potential energy of ice cubes to electrical energy which charges his iPhone for about thirty seconds. This might be useful in that Peltier generator we saw last week.
Continue reading "LTC3105 And LTC3109 Energy Harvesting Chips"


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MS Endangered Species
An endangered species, as defined by Mississippi law, is any species or subspecies of wildlife whose survival and continued welfare in the state is in jeopardy or is likely to become so in the near future. Although species become endangered for a variety of reasons-such as loss of habitat, disease, and pollution-it has been estimated that man is responsible for the extinction of up to 1,000 species worldwide each year. Mississippi has 80 species and subspecies of plants and animals , which are officially recognized as endangered. In 2001, the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, & Parks and the Museum took the initiative to assemble data on each of these and to make it available to the public.
The Endangered Species of Mississippi packet (199 pages) is an illustrated collection of information, which includes:
- accounts of appearance of each endangered species
- where it occurs, its habitat
- aspects of its life history and ecology
- the basis for listing it as endangered
- recommendations on management necessary to ensure that it remains part of Mississippi's diversity
- selected references which can provide additional information
Click Here to download the MS Endangered Species Packet.
Additional Information:
- State Threatened and Endangered List (statewide)
- Listed MS Species Status & Rank Definitions
- Natural Heritage Program


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Chalakudy to Erode Byepass
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About Chalakudy
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Greenline kerala
Greenline kerala
is a town and a municipality in the Thrissur district in the state of Kerala, India.
Athirappilly is thirty kilometres from Chalakudy. NH47 passes through the town. This is the main route to Sabarimala via MC road — Angamaly ,Muvattupuzha to Kottayam.
The name "Chalakudy" is derived from the word "Shalakudy", meaning a place where sacrifices are made. The best season to visit Chalakudy is December to March and also in monsoon season. The town is also famous for it's ever increasing liquor demand, breaking market records every season.
Interesting places around Chalakudy
* Chalakudy River (half a kilometre from town, to the south on NH-47 highway); it has one of the highest fish diversities in kerala(second in the whole India)
* In Chalakudy, KANNAMPUZHA Temple - An Ancient Devi temple situated in the heart of the town.
* SRI VELUPPILLY DHARMASHAASTHA Temple - A famous Ayyappa Temple, Annanad, Chalakudy.
* CHALAKUDY SREE KRISHNA KSHETRHAM, Chalakudy.
* In Chalakudy, St. Mary's Forane Church(It's in south junction) - It is a pilgrimage centre.It has Grotto and Holy Land.(Lifesize tableau of biblical scenes in the life of Jesus Christ).
* Divine Retreat Centre, Muringoor. (Largest retreat in the world) (Meloor gramapanchayath) 2 km from Chalakudy town
* In Chalakudy, Korattymuthy's Marian Pilgrimage Travel Destination and Rosary Village at about 5 Kms. away.
* In Chalakudy, Dream World Water Theme Park (10 km east of Town; en route to the Athirappally water falls).
* In Chalakudy, Thumboormuzhy Check Dam & Garden (15 km east of Town; en route to the Athirappilly waterfalls).
* In Chalakudy, Oil palm Plantation (17 km from Town; en route to the Athirappilly waterfalls.
* In Chalakudy, Athirappilly Waterfalls (33 km east of Town).
* Ezhattumukham (7 km from Athirappilly; on the Angamaly route via Vettilappara bridge),20 km from chalakudy town(Muringoor-Ezhattumugham PWD road via Meloor, Poolany).
* In Chalakudy, Charpa Falls ( The enchanting but lesser known Charpa falls, which plunges on to the road during the monsoon, is a sight to watch and enjoy.) (31 km east of Town; after Athirappilly waterfalls).
* In Chalakudy, Vazhachal falls and Resorts (35 km east of Town; after Athirappilly waterfalls).
*In Chalakudy, Anakkayam ( About 37 km from Chalakudy on the Athirappilly route, Anakkayam means the "Elephant pit". It is noted for a lake with cool and placid waters. The place is a forest untouched by human encroachments and is a haven for those who wish to escape from concrete jungles. It attracts the visitor with its bubbling streams, natural rock formations and flora).
* In Chalakudy, Peringalkuthu Hydro Electric Project Dam (36 km from Town; in the direction of the Athirappilly water falls).
* In Chalakudy, Sholayar Dam Hydro Electric project.
* In Chalakudy, Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary.
* In Chalakudy, KINFRA Industrial Park, Konoor Road, Koratty
* Kannampuzha Temple,Chalakudy
* Sreedharamangalam Temple, Chalakudy.
* Marathompilli SreeKrishna Swami Temple, Chalakudy.
* Marathompilli SreeBharatha Swami Temple,Chalakudy.
* In Chalakudy, Chirangara Temple, Koratty
* In Chalakudy, Chittarickal Temple, Koratty
* In Chalakudy, St. Mary's church Koratty
* In Chalakudy, St. Antony's Church Perambra -Thrissur
* In Chalakudy, Fatima Matha Church Vellanchira
* In Chalakudy, Sree Subrahmanya swami temple, Poolany. It is famous for "Kavadiyattam" in February 1 week
* KOTHESWARAM Temple- An ancient SHIVA Temple in NAYARANGADY, 6km from chalakudy
*In Chalakudy, Mathama para -one big rock on the top of a hill in nayarangady
If you are inetersted in road drives, can use the road from chalakudy (State Highway 21) which leads to Pollachi via Valppara. This road passses through one of the thickest forest in India. the best enjoyable time is during end of monsoon, but make sure you have some big knifes to cut apart the trees which have fallen accross the roads.
The above places can be connected through
Greenline kerala
About Erode Byepass


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Tap Water Torches: How Faulty Gas Drilling Can Lead To Methane Migration
One of the most iconic symbols of the fracking debate is the video of a man setting his tap water on fire in the anti-drilling documentary Gasland.
Fracking, which refers to hydraulic fracturing, is a technique used to extract natural gas, and has become synonymous with all things gas drilling. It involves shooting water, sand and a mix of chemicals at high pressure deep into a wellbore to help split the shale rock and release the gas that lies tightly squeezed into the rock. Some worry fracking fluid will leak out of a well and contaminate aquifers. But the tap water blow torch seen in Gasland has nothing to do with hydraulic fracturing. Instead, it's related to a problem called methane migration.
Methane migration is what it sounds like – methane gas migrating from deep underground to the surface. It leads to methane-filled drinking wells, flammable faucets, and even a 30-foot geyser of water and gas, in one Tioga County instance.
Methane can naturally migrate to the surface — reports of migration date back to the 1800's — but natural gas drilling can speed up the process.
"Natural gas wants to migrate up," Penn State University geologist Dave Yoxtheimer, who works at the Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research, tells StateImpact Pennsylvania. "It's lighter, it's less dense. And it finds itself getting trapped in these shallower, more porous formations. And during the drilling process you can go down through these shallower formations. As you're drilling through, suddenly you've created a conduit for those gasses to escape.
If a driller doesn't surround a gas well with the proper steel and cement casing, the gas can escape, and migrate up to the surface through faults and water wells. "What you've done," Yoxtheimer explained, is "catalyzed the process of natural gas drifting up over geologic time."
Pennsylvania's Methane Migration Problems
State environmental regulators blame methane migration for Pennsylvania's most high-profile drilling problem: contaminated water wells in Dimock, Susquehanna County.
Migrating gas is also the prime suspect for two problems that sprang up in May and June 2012: in Tioga County, a 30-foot geyser appeared along a road in Union Township, Tioga County. Private water wells also began overflowing, and gas puddles were discovered in a nearby creek.
Similar problems surfaced 13 miles away in Leroy Township, Bradford County, where flammable puddles were discovered near a well drilled by Chesapeake Energy:
State regulators suspect gas leaking from nearby Marcellus Shale operations caused both problems.
How Methane Migration Happens, And How It Can Be Prevented
Tracing the source of stray gas appearing at the surface, can be complicated and mysterious. Investigators often use isotope identification to get a "fingerprint" of the gas. But just like in law enforcement, fingerprints can be tricky. In the case of Dimock, Pennsylvania, the vertical wells drilled by Cabot Oil and Gas were fracked. But the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection did not connect the flaming water taps to fracking, they blamed poor well construction and over-pressurization. When a wellbore is drilled, a steel casing is sent down the hole. Then cement is poured down, and pushed upward to seal the open space between the steel casing, and the rock. That cement seal is supposed to prevent any gas, or fluid, from migrating into or out of the wellbore, and from using that space between the rock and the newly drilled well as a conduit. But that cement job doesn't always work. And in the case of Dimock, it failed miserably.
Fred Baldassare worked as an inspector for DEP, where he spent six years investigating methane migration and helped out on the Dimock case. He was the guy who looked at the geochemistry of those flaming taps. In other words, he looked at the gas fingerprint. Baldassare says the evidence linking the flaming tap water to gas drilling by Cabot is overwhelming. But where that gas actually came from, whether it was from deep in the Marcellus formation, or whether it was from a more shallow formation, is unclear.
"The gas was nearly an exact match to the gas coming from the Marcellus wells," said Baldassare. But we couldn't say it came from there because there are gas deposits above the Marcellus that have the same fingerprint."
Baldassare says drilling, along with a bad cement job, can cause any gas pocket that has been stable for thousands of years, to start moving. That's because methane, under high pressure, wants to go to an area of lower pressure. And drilling, whether it's a vertical well, horizontal well, deep well, or shallow well, can provide that opportunity. But other things can too, such as coal mining. It can also happen naturally. And that's where that fingerprint comes in. Baldassare says he spent a lot of time tracking methane migration before the first Marcellus Shale gas well was even drilled.
"There are examples of [methane migration] throughout the northeast that have nothing to do with gas activity," says Baldassare. "And there are others that do happen because of drilling or mining activity."
When gas migrates, it will dissolve in water, but once the water reaches a lower pressure zone, it wants to get out. That's why people experiencing methane in their water supplies will first notice a spurting at the tap, or bubbles in a glass of water. If that happens, the concentration is high enough to be combustible and the presence of methane becomes dangerous. If the colorless and odorless gas has a concentration above 28 milligrams per liter, it needs to be vented. When triggered it could explode. That's what happened when Dimock resident Norma Fiorentino's water well blew up.
Drinking water that contains methane is not considered harmful. But there are few studies of the longterm health impacts of drinking water with high levels of methane.
So once methane migrates into water supply, what then? Baldassare says proper venting and aeration does work. Here's a look at some of the equipment Leroy Township resident Michael Leighton has installed in his basement, to combat leaking methane gas:
Some homeowners suffering from methane in their water wells have expressed doubts about the venting and filtration systems. Baldassare also says if the source of the methane is halted, eventually, the water will be free of the gas through natural processes. But it's unclear how long that could take.
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The effect of immunocompromising therapy on musculoskeletal in vivo tissue engineering
Search Medline for
Published: | September 10, 2012 |
Introduction: The replacement of soft tissue remains a challenging field in reconstructive surgery. A promising alternative is seen with the idea of creating bioartificial musculoskeletal tissue out of primary muscle cells. However, the poor cell survival of transplanted myoblasts is limiting the development of full-thickness transplantable constructs. To optimize this, studies with different matrices, growing factors and vascularisation of the bioartificial tissues (BAT) are carried out with more or less improvement. Furthermore, granulocytes intake to BATs seems to be another barrier for impaired cell survival. Therefore in this study we were focused on the effect of immunocompromising therapy on transplanted myoblasts within a 3-dimensional vascularised BAT.
Material and Methods: Myoblasts were harvested from 5 days old male Wistar rats as described by Bach et al1. For further in vivo monitoring with bioluminescence the cells were transfected with a vector containing the sequence of Luciferase. After further expansion, the myoblasts (4 x 106) were seeded inside an in vivo bioreactor chamber placed within in the abdominal wall of 4 weeks old male Wistar rats using the epigastric artery as central core vessel and fibrin glue as matrix as described before2. The in vivo monitoring of the transplanted myoblasts was assessed by bioluminescence on day 0, 1, 3 and 7.
Immunocomprimising therapy was induced with daily administration of cyclosporine with a dosage of 5mg/kg bodyweight starting one day prior to surgery in group 1 (n=4). The same procedure was carried out in the control group (n=3) but without immunocomprimising therapy. Atfer explantation of the bioartificial tissue on day 7 histomorphological staining (H/E) as well as immunofluorescence (Myo-D) was performed.
Results: The bioluminescence followup monitoring of the Luciferase-transfected and in vivo transplanted myoblasts showed an increase of the signals from day 0 to day 7 in the group of the immunocompromised Wistar rats (5.09 x 107 photons/sec and 1.33 x 108 photons/sec). However, the signals in the control group decreased (2.18 x 108 photons/sec and 4.17x106 photons/sec) and therefore demonstrating a significant beneficial effect on day 7 with cyclosporine therapy (p
Discussion: Immunocompromising therapy with cyclosporine has a beneficial effect on the cell survival of transplanted myoblasts in vivo and might therefore lifting musculoskeletal tissue engineering one step closer to clinical practice. Further studies need to be carried out to prove the long-term effect as well as the effect on different transplanted cell types other than myoblasts.
- 1.
- Bach AD, Arkudas A, Tjiawi J, Polykandriotis E, Kneser U, Horch RE, Beier JP.A new approach to tissue engineering of vascularized skeletal muscle. J Cell Mol Med. 2006;10: 716-726.
- 2.
- Dunda SE, Schriever T, Rosen C, Opländer C, Tolba RH, Diamantouros S, Jockenhoevel S, Pallua N. A new approach ofin vivomusculoskeletal tissue engineering using the epigastric artery as central core vessel of a 3-dimensional construct. Plast Surg Int. 2012. Article ID 510852.


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Ghemy beauty supply
Ghemy Beauty Supply is the best beauty supply store in Fort Lauderdale.
Fort Lauderdale ( LAW-dər-dayl) is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, 30 miles (48 km) north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and largest city in Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the 2020 census, making it the tenth largest city in Florida. After Miami and Hialeah, Fort Lauderdale is the third largest city in the Miami metropolitan area, which had a population of 6,166,488 in 2019.Built in 1838 and first incorporated in 1911, Fort Lauderdale is named after a series of forts built by the United States during the Second Seminole War. The forts took their name from Major William Lauderdale (1782–1838), younger brother of Lieutenant Colonel James Lauderdale. Development of the city did not begin until 50 years after the forts were abandoned at the end of the conflict.
Bal Harbour, Bay Colony, Bermuda Riviera, Beverly Heights, Boulevard Park Isles, Central Beach, Chula Vista, Colee Hammock, Coral Ridge, Coral Ridge Isles, Coral Shores, Croissant Park, Dorsey Riverbend, Durrs, East Fort Lauderdale


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FOND FRIENDSHIP: We have a wonderful friendship. We take one day at a time, and look forward to enjoying our communication and outings together for as long as it can be. Joanna (Jo) Lewis (left) and Virginia Lockwood enjoy spending time together as best friends, despite 61 years difference in age. |
"The lark rises unattended
And sings her diary over;
The tortoise gives evidence
Of hurrying;
The leopard, that wild-grass stalker,
Waits for his herd
Everybody wants that song,
That shell,
That coat.
All their owners want is the next meal."
Virginia Lockwood smiles as she reads from her poem "Cross Purposes."
"I like that first line," she says. "I enjoy reading my poetry."
Mrs. Lockwood's friend and companion Joanna (Jo) Lewis listens appreciatively, adding, "I think Virginia creates wonderful images. You can close your eyes and envision that image in your mind."
Mrs. Lockwood has been writing poetry for well over 50 years, and her work has been described by some as reminiscent of that of Emily Dickinson, in its way of "transforming the domestic into the poetic." Her poem, "The Plum" is an example.
"I reached to pick up a spot of light, a sun-
Gleam in the fringes of my bedside table cover.
No luck, the light refused to be captured
Like time, it eludes grasping.
The two slip like satin ribbons through my fingers
An eerie business.
What is as long as two minutes in the dentist's chair?
What is so short as a fifty-year marriage!
I'm tired of grappling with immutables.
A gentle mist covers all beginnings
Which escape into the fog of Was.
The now is all that matters.
Driven to the dew on the spider's web,
To the crumbs the ant enjoys for breakfast,
I am astounded by the sunset light on boats
At anchor, satisfied by a purple plum at 2 p.m."
Hint of Maine
Born and brought up in Portland, Maine, Mrs. Lockwood is the daughter of Philip and Gladys Chapman. "I loved growing up in Maine," she recalls. "It was a very happy childhood. We still have our Maine home 'Wildwood' today."
Mrs. Lockwood, who still retains a hint of Maine in her speech, graduated from Wellesley College in 1931. She met her husband, William Lockwood, Sr., in Cambridge, Mass. when he was getting an advanced degree at Harvard. "I liked him right away — I really took to him," she reports.
They married in the early 1930s, and lived in New York City. Mrs. Lockwood taught at the Dalton School in Manhattan, and Mr. Lockwood commuted to Washington, D.C. for his job in the State Department.
In 1941, the Lockwoods moved to Princeton, and she has lived here ever since. During World War II, Mr. Lockwood served with the OSS (Office of Strategic Services) in China. After the war, he joined the Princeton University faculty, and taught politics and international affairs. He was instrumental in developing the East Asian Studies Department and also the Woodrow Wilson School, and was assistant director there.
"I liked Princeton right away," says Mrs. Lockwood. "It was a small town then, a university town. We made a lot of friends, and I joined some writing groups. There was a lot going on at the university. We were friends with a lot of other faculty members. It was all very lively, and Princeton is still a special place for me.
"I also liked to go to McCarter and enjoyed the plays. I loved the fact that all the plays came here. McCarter got quite a reputation."
Special House
The Lockwoods traveled abroad, especially to Japan and India. "We traveled a lot, and I loved it," she says. "Then, we'd spend every summer in Maine at 'Wildwood.'" She celebrated that special house in her poem, "Now What (to Wildwood)."
"Any drawer you pull open spills the past
Dolls in tissue paper dresses,
Graduated sizes of horseshoe crabs,
Early attempts at knitting,
Bits of cloth pulled to fluff by mother mice.
The blue bucket is full of tennis balls.
This is a house of childhoods by the seashore,
A house of kites and building blocks,
Of blueberry muffins, crayons, and shell collections.
The stairs to the bedrooms are steep,
The handrails worn smooth.
Yet there are Vermeer moments, such as
'Woman Stooping to Change Cat's Water Dish.'
The same light strikes us all."
The mother of three children, William Lockwood, Jr., Stephen, and Julia, Mrs. Lockwood still managed to find time to teach at Miss Fine's School for many years, and eventually for her poetry. "I just started writing it," she recalls, "Mostly when I was alone or sometimes when I traveled with my husband."
Her poetry has been published in various literary journals, including the Kelsey Review and the U.S. 1 special summer fiction issue (prose, poetry, and plays). In addition, the family published two books of her poetry in honor of her 80th and 90th birthdays. She has also had readings at the Princeton University Store, the Princeton Arts Council, and Barnes & Noble.
Awash in Poetry
Now approaching her 99th birthday on September 15, Mrs. Lockwood has not written poetry in the last few years, but she continues to read voraciously, notes her son William Lockwood, Jr., who is Director of Special Programming at McCarter Theatre Center. "She always has two or three books going at once. She loves Alexander McCall Smith, and Garrison Keiler's Collected Poetry — she is awash in books of poetry."
Mrs. Lockwood lives alone — her husband having died in 1978 — and although her health is remarkably good, she does need help with some of the details of daily living.
Jo Lewis came into her life in 2005, and the two have developed a strong and lasting friendship.
"My mom's friends Sandra Persichetti and Marcy Crimmins got us together," reports Ms. Lewis, who has worked as an education instructional aide in elementary schools for the past 11 years. "Bill was looking for someone to be a companion for his mother. I came on a Sunday afternoon four years ago, and we hit it off right away.
"I had worked with other older people, but this was different. It's been wonderful having Virginia in my life. I've always enjoyed the company of older people. My relationship with my two grandmothers — one American, one British — was incredible. I've always been patient, and I like to be with older people. They have a history, and I feel I can learn from them."
Ms. Lewis spends three hours three days a week with Mrs. Lockwood, and during their time together, they are involved in many activities — from painting and reading to attending summer concerts at the Princeton Shopping Center, visiting Thomas Sweet for chocolate ice cream, P.J's. for blueberry pancakes with syrup ("Virginia definitely has a sweet tooth," points out Ms. Lewis), or just sitting in the front yard enjoying the neighborhood scene.
Rocks and Seashells
"We like doing arts and crafts together," adds Ms. Lewis. "Virginia loves to draw. She's very visual, and is a wonderful artist. The new thing for us this year is Play-Doh. It's fun and great hand therapy. We can also put it on construction paper and make pictures or write our names.
"Virginia also loves to collect rocks and sea shells. I have brought her some from the Long Island beaches, and we have written a story together about the sea shells. We like to create stories together."
"I am especially interested in anything to do with the earth," adds Mrs. Lockwood. "The rocks are so smooth, different sizes, and one is heart-shaped. Just beautiful. I also love flowers and trees."
Mrs. Lockwood and Ms. Lewis enjoy excursions to the library plaza, where they sit and observe the comings and goings of passers-by. At times they will sample sushi from the nearby Ichiban restaurant, and when she is out, Mrs. Lockwood always wears one of her favorite hats. She takes her wheelchair for occasions like this, but in her house, she is able to move about with the aid of a walker.
"I love talking to Virginia," says Ms. Lewis. "We talk about everything, including current events. During the time of the election, we discussed the significance of an African-American running for President. I asked Virginia, when she was my age, if she could have imagined this, with the history of African-Americans in our society.
"Also, Virginia was a young girl during World War I. We have talked about that and World War II. We like to talk about American history and our own family history. I am really in awe of Virginia. She teaches me every day — about life, about being patient. She'll help me with certain situations in my life. We'll talk about different ideas on life and death. She has a wonderful viewpoint about life. A wisdom of having been in all these different eras. She has so much experience — I love taking it all in. She has an incredible array of wonderful ideas. Virginia is an extraordinary person."
Exceptionally Positive
The introduction of Ms. Lewis into Mrs. Lockwood's life has been exceptionally positive, and as Mr. Lockwood points out: "An essential element with elderly people who live alone is contact with others and socialization. Connection with others, conversation, journeys outside. The mental stimulation is so important. My mother and Jo do puzzles, have art projects, and games. All this is very essential to keep my mom active. The more stimulation, the better."
Adds Sandra Persichetti, Executive Director of Princeton Community Housing: "Joanna is the daughter of a dear friend of mine, and I have known her for many years. She is one of the most thoughtful and helpful people I know. She has a special way with the children in her care, but I have never seen such a close and symbiotic relationship between two people as between Jo and Virginia. I recently met Virginia for the first time as Jo was showing her a video of beach scenes that she made and knew Virginia would appreciate.
"You could tell by the look on Virginia's face that, in her mind, she was at the beach with Jo while watching this video. The two of them have done many artistic crafts together, written poetry, and 'held court' on Jefferson Road. When you see them together, the age difference disappears, and you see two loving friends enjoying each other's company. What an example for the rest of us."
"I just so enjoy having Jo come," says Mrs. Lockwood. "I look forward to it all the time. One of the things I like to do with Jo is to eat out. I was never too much for cooking, but I liked to eat, and I always liked good food. Having grown up in Maine, I love lobster."
When asked the inevitable question about her longevity, she replies with a quip: "Just luck! I will add, though, that I've lived a normal life; I believe in moderation, and patience is important."
When one considers that William Howard Taft was President when Mrs. Lockwood was born, and that she has seen 18 different Presidents in her lifetime, not to mention the invention of radio, television, computers, cell phones, and the phenomenon of men on the moon, it has been an extraordinary span of time. Looking at it another way, it has all been in the blink of an eye.
As she points out in one of her later poems, "Twins":
"I am old all over.
I wear a coat of Somewhat Slow,
And wind a scarf of Slightly Bent
Around my neck when winds blow.
A thin veil of Indistinct
Curtains sight and sound.
My feet are shod with Caution
They creep across the ground.
But there's a second person
Twinned inside of me,
Dancing and turning cartwheels
That no one can see."
It is nice to think that Ms. Lewis has seen glimpses of that "second person".
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Kam's Movie Kapsules for 7-24-15
Kam's Kapsules:
Weekly Previews That Make Choosing a Film Fun
by Kam Williams
For movies opening July 24, 2015
Kam's Kapsules:
Weekly Previews That Make Choosing a Film Fun
by Kam Williams
For movies opening July 24, 2015
Paper Towns (PG-13 for profanity,
sexuality, underage drinking and partial nudity) Adaptation of John
Green's young adult novel, set in Orlando, about a teenager (Nat
Wolff) who enlists the help of his friends to solve the mysterious
disappearance of the next-door neighbor (Cara Delevingne) he has a
crush on. Cast includes Halston Sage, Austin Abrams, Jaz Sinclair and
Justice Smith.
Pixels (PG-13 for profanity and
suggestive content) Sci-fi comedy revolving around a trio of
retro-gamers (Adam Sandler, Peter Dinklage and Josh Gad) recruited by
the President of the United States (Kevin James) to save the day when
the planet is attacked by aliens who fight like the monsters in
classic arcade games like Space Invaders, Pac-Man and Donkey Kong.
With Michelle Monaghan, Jane Krakowski, Dan Aykroyd and Affion
Southpaw (R for violence and
pervasive profanity) Jake Gyllenhaal plays the title character in
this bittersweet tale of redemption about a disgraced boxer who
attempts to win back his championship belt with the help of a crafty
veteran trainer (Forest Whitaker). Support cast includes Rachel
McAdams, 50 Cent, Naomie Harris and Oona Laurence.
C (Unrated) Crowdfunding documentary exploring the benefits and
pitfalls of financing an entrepreneurial enterprise by pitching a
plethora of potential investors via social networking.
Star (Unrated) Gangsta' saga, set in Brooklyn, inspired by the real
life story of a member of the Bloods (James Grant) who decided to
adopt the son (John Diaz) of his murdered mentor. With Wanda Nobles
Colon, Jasmine Burgos, Larry Bogad and Richard Bird.
A Gay
Girl in Damascus (Unrated) LBGT-themed documentary exposing an Arab
blogger who falsely claimed to be kidnapped and persecuted by Syrian
authorities for being a lesbian. (In English, French and Arabic with
Stiff (Unrated) Adaptation of the Off-Broadway musical comedy
revolving around a bachelor (Dominic Marsh) who ventures to Monte
Carlo to claim an $8 million inheritance from the recently-deceased,
rich uncle (Don Amendolia) he never knew he had. With Jason
Alexander, Dennis Farina and Pamela Shaw.
Outrageous Sophie Tucker (unrated) Reverential biopic chronicling the
life and times of the legendary vaudeville icon (1887-1966) who wowed
audiences from the turn of the 20th
Century through the mid-Sixties. Featuring commentary by Barbara
Walters, Tony Bennett and Carol Channing.
(PG-13 for mature themes and suggestive material) Post World War II
saga, set in Berlin, about a disfigured, concentration camp
survivor's (Nina Hoss) search for the husband (Ronald Zehrfeld) who
had turned her over to the Nazis. With Kirsten Block, Uwe Preuss,
Imogen Kogge and Nina Kunzendorf. (In German and English with
(R for drug use) Rural tale of survival about a desperate woman
(Joanne Kelly) who will to stop at nothing to keep a failing, family
farm threatened with foreclosure afloat after her husband (Neal Huff)
falls ill. With Rashel Bestard, Tom Bower and Drew Cash.
(R for profanity) Omar Sy stars as the title character in this
romantic dramedy, set in Paris, as an undocumented immigrant who
falls in love with the advocate (Charlotte Gainsbourg) fighting his
impending deportation back to Senegal. With Tahar Rahim, Izia Higelin
and Youngar Fall. (In French, English, Portuguese, Russian, Serbian
and Arabic with subtitles)
(R for profanity) Baby-mama dramedy, set in Chicago, about a pregnant
high school teacher (Cobie Smolders) who forges an unlikely
friendship with a student (Gail Bean) who is also expecting. Cast
includes Anders Holm, Elizabeth McGovern and Robyn Coffin.
Vatican Tapes (PG-13 for disturbing violence and sexual references)
Fact-based horror flick inspired by a real-life tale of demonic
possession where a Catholic priest (Michael Pena) was summoned to
exorcise a 27 year-old woman (Olivia Dudley) wrestling with a satanic
force. Featuring Djimon Hounsou, Dougray Scott and Kathleen


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Second Chances
What if you could relive your days at Emory—again, and again, and again?
The college years are a time of momentous change.
You probably heard that several times over at your Emory Commencement. You also very likely heard something similar at your freshman Convocation, from your adviser, from your parents. You may have since trotted out that same chestnut for your own kids. It is, of course, no less categorically true for being appallingly trite. For better or worse, college counts. It's a time when dice are cast, decisions made, some of which really can affect the course of an entire life.
It is therefore natural that glancing back at those years (say, through an occasional dip into the alumni magazine) stirs both nostalgia and the occasional twinge of regret or, at least, of speculative revisionism. Now and then, even if only for a moment, you gotta wonder how things might have turned out if you had zagged, junior year, instead of zigged. What if you'd passed on (or jumped at) that semester abroad? Where might you be today if you'd stayed with that girl, that guy, that philosophy major, that woodwind instrument you slavishly practiced all through high school and then ditched because rehearsals clashed with your Greek chapter meetings?
And what would you do if you had a second chance—if, knowing what you know now, armed with all those hard-learned life lessons, you could go back, back to Emory, back to when your cholesterol was low and your hopes were high, and start all over again?
This tantalizing prospect is the central conceit of Replay, a cultishly classic 1987 novel by Ken Grimwood 65C. The protagonist, Jeff, a mid-lifer with a sagging, childless marriage and a lackluster career in local broadcast news, drops dead at his desk from a heart attack in the late 1980s—only to wake up, eighteen again and in his old freshman dorm room in Longstreet Hall at Emory in 1963. Inexplicably rejuvenated, Jeff is suddenly back in college, before Vietnam, Woodstock, and Watergate, before the Beatles, VHS, and MTV—and of course, he is late for an exam.
Replay initially takes this solid sci-fi setup down a fairly predictable path. After the inevitable culture shock and some less-than-successful stabs at changing the course of history writ large, Jeff seizes this seemingly golden opportunity, using his memories of the future to his financial advantage. By the time he reaches his forties for the second time, he has gone from a wunderkind gambler picking winners with uncanny accuracy (in the few horse races and World Series he previously paid attention to, anyway) to a Wall Street tycoon, complete with a chilly blueblood trophy wife, riches beyond his wildest dreams, and a daughter he adores.
But second chances aren't all they are cracked up to be in Grimwood's world. On the anniversary of his first demise, Jeff succumbs a second time to the same fatal heart attack and lands right back at his alma mater, arriving in his personal past just a few weeks later than the last time, his fortune, his family, instantly erased. Two lives lived. Two lives lost, and a third now stretching out before him. The realization nearly breaks him:
"He raced through the quadrangle, past the chemistry and psych buildings, his strong young heart pounding in his chest as if it had not betrayed him minutes ago and twenty-five years in the future. His legs carried him past the biology building, across the corner of Pierce and Arkwright drives. He finally stumbled and fell to his knees in the middle of the soccer field, looking up at the stars through blurry eyes.
'F--k you!' he screamed at the impassive sky with all the force and despair he'd been unable to express from that terminal hospital bed. 'F--k you! Why . . . are . . . you . . . DOING THIS TO ME?' "
The perverse time loop that traps its protagonist is the ingenious engine that sets Grimwood's story apart from other time travel tales. Far from enjoying an infinitude of cosmic do-overs, Jeff and his fellow "replayers" are sentenced to relive their lives but cannot dodge their deaths. They do not so much live forever as eternally die, their apparent immortality a perpetual existential crisis.
Grimwood was himself a student at Emory College in the early 1960s; he left the university in 1963 and later graduated from Bard College in New York. His own marriage hadn't lasted, he had no children, and, like his protagonist, the author worked in new radio until the success of Replay freed him to focus on fiction. In some ways, then, the novel reads like a Twilight Zone take on the memoir, a series of deftly sketched might-have-been autobiographies. Over the course of his reiterative existences, Jeff explores a whole range of possible identities—wizard of finance, hedonistic pre-HIV swinger, middle-class family man, recluse, do-gooder, guru—none of which ultimately works out all that much better for him than his first go-round.
Though it is usually described as either science fiction or fantasy, it doesn't fit smoothly into either genre as they are popularly understood. Fans of "hard" science fiction will find Replay terribly thin—no plausible explanation is ever given for Jeff's temporal predicament. Nor is the story a fantasy in any swords-and-sorcerous sense. There are no magic spells or demonic forces at work, and if Jeff is cursed, it is never revealed by whom, or why. Still, Replay struck a chord. The novel sold well and was awarded the 1988 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel, a prestigious prize in the speculative fiction field, and short-listed for that year's Arthur C. Clarke Award.
It also has staying power. Grimwood's best-known book, it has never been out of print, and Replay routinely crops up on lists of the greatest works of speculative fiction compiled by critics and connoisseurs.
"For a book to take such bizarre circumstances, and somehow make it real enough that you can imagine yourself in it, is quite a remarkable accomplishment," says Emory College Dean Robin Forman, a fan who first encountered the novel twenty years ago and recently discovered it in his basement, prompting him (and subsequently Emory Magazine) to explore Grimwood's Emory connection. "I rarely reread books . . . but Replay is one of those books I've kept."
By and large, Replay eschews the sensational. World saving and paradox wrangling, a la Terminator, Looper, et al., are kept to a minimum. The one lifetime Jeff dedicates to Nostradamusing in the name of national security is an utter failure, the replayers' best efforts leading only to disillusionment and dystopia. History, Grimwood seems to suggest, is out of any one person's hands (a position some might justly call a cop-out). The late-twentieth-century's wars, assassinations, and major-key misery erupt over and over again around the replayers, just as Jeff's heart always fails on cue.
The book is rather far more interested in, and the protagonist far more affected by, the kind of nickel-and-dime drama we can't really notice most of the time because we are so constantly immersed in it. Jeff's peculiar plight, his growing world-weariness and sense of strangeness, throw into sharp relief the banal, bewilderingly complex and constantly evolving rituals of courtship, friendship, and marriage; the futility of materialism and emptiness of wealth; the quotidian tragedy of having a really, really great afternoon, all the time knowing it will vanish into the yawning well of the past.
As each life passes for Jeff, each shorter than the last, he becomes more keenly aware of the preciousness of everything he experiences— everything he, and all of us, are doomed to lose. Unable to save humanity, unable to save even his life, Jeff learns to savor it instead. The intimate and intensely human dimensions of Replay give the story poignancy and impact unmatched by many works drawn on a far grander scale.
"There's a tendency to look at your life as a big single simple narrative with big themes, and I think that's not really what life is," Forman muses. "Life is a series of smaller moments that add up to something bigger. Those simple pleasures are the big thing in life."
Replay reminds us not only how much our world changed during the course of the latter half of the twentieth century, but also how much the way we live in it has changed. History, often rendered on a grand scale and preoccupied with potentates and entire peoples, becomes playfully, vivaciously personal as seen and reseen through Jeff's eyes, a history written through mores and movies, shifting skylines, hemlines, and habits.
Those with memories of their own of Emory and of Atlanta will find some special treats in Replay—glimpses of an Emory before coed dorms, before the bonanza $105 million Woodruff gift of 1979, an institution, in 1963, just over the threshold of integration in a city still decidedly segregated. It's equally eye-opening to consider what places and practices endure from those days.
This is not to say that Replay is without its flaws, and Grimwood, as an author, has his limits. The story contains moments of cloying preciousness and pretension, and some of the angles played by Jeff and his eventual soulmate, a female replayer with a thing for the movies, smack of dream-date fantasies and adolescent wish-fulfillment (but then maybe that's the whole point: if you knew decades in advance what the next big thing in fashion, film, and music would be, how mature would your decisions be?). But the story is also frequently compelling, sometimes clever, and never, ever dull—one encounter, with a replayer who turns out to be exactly the kind of guy you don't want making return trips to the land of the living, is about as creepy as anything you'll find in the best pop-lit thrillers.
"If pressed, I wouldn't call it great literature," Forman admits. "[Grimwood] is not in that pantheon of literary immortals that we think of in those terms, but he found a story and a way to tell it in a way that resonated when it was first written, and it resonates today."
Replay turned out to be the pinnacle of the author's career. Like so many well-reviewed contemporary novels, Grimwood's magnum opus was optioned, in 1989, for adaptation to the big screen. And, like so many, the movie version never materialized. Coming off a solid decade of high-concept blockbusters, Hollywood was plenty keen on science fiction and fantasy properties, but perhaps a bit bearish on films made from novels—the biggest hits of the period, such as Star Wars, E.T., and Back to the Future (which offered a different take on time travel) had gone the other way 'round: the box-office hits spawning best-selling novelizations.
Grimwood's time-loop twist did eventually turn up in a different movie, though—the 1993 Harold Ramis comedy Groundhog Day, a film about a boorish TV weatherman stuck reliving February second. The film strikes many of the same chords as Replay and has won a cult following of its own. While it is frequently cited as an "inspiration," Replay appears nowhere in the film's credits.
Ken Grimwood died (in all likelihood just the once) in 2003. A film lover with decidedly cinematic sensibilities, he did not live to see any of his novels translated to film. Ironically, several more recent comedies have riffed on some of the themes he so effectively explored in 1987, including the 2002 television series Do-Over, and the films 13 Going on 30 (2004) and Seventeen Again (2009).
Interest in the novel has also seen a recent revival. Replay seems to be hard to forget, and to resonate particularly powerfully with men of a certain age. Ben Affleck was toying with the picture in 2011 (he moved on to a different, obliquely science-fictional period project, Argo, instead). Most recently, industry scuttlebutt has Robert Zemeckis, of Back to the Future fame, eyeing the adaptation. There would be some symmetry in this: Zemeckis has a track record with history-hopping dramas—he did give the world the film version of Forrest Gump—and his most recent film, Flight, was shot here in Atlanta.
It would be nice to see Emory host such a production, should it come to fruition, since the college clearly made so indelible an impression that Grimwood's avatar is compelled to return here, life after life, just as the book's many fans return to Replay time and again—drawn by that compelling desire to go back to the crossroads that set the course. For many of us, college may be that crossroads.
But despite its supernatural premise and occasional kookiness, Grimwood's is at bottom a story of an ordinary human being learning how to live his life. It's a process we all have to grapple with. Hopefully, most of us won't need a couple hundred extra years and a whole lot of dying to get it right.


text:
Max - http://maxscraftcreations.blogspot.com/
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Actor Blair Underwood from "Ironside" attends the NBC Network 2013 Upfront at Radio City Music Hall, Monday, May 13, 2013, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
by Frazier Moore and David Bauder
NEW YORK (AP) —NBC is updating the '70s cop drama "Ironside" and ordering up a new comedy for next season from "Scrubs" creator Bill Lawrence.
The revived "Ironside" will star Blair Underwood as the paralyzed lawman who uses a wheelchair. That memorable character was originally played by Raymond Burr.
NBC on Sunday became the first of the major broadcasters to announce its plans for next season, and its executives said they had ordered a staggering 17 new series. Only six of them are on fall's schedule, however, with another six to join in midseason when NBC hopes to get a burst of attention from its telecast of the Winter Olympics.
The struggling network is also taking a risk by moving two of its young and promising dramas to new nights: "Revolution" will switch from Monday to Wednesday, and "Chicago Fire" from Wednesday to Tuesday.
After an encouraging start to the current season last fall behind Sunday Night Football and "The Voice," the bottom fell out in midwinter when those two shows went away. NBC had some historically bad ratings, even falling behind the Spanish-speaking Univision in the February sweeps. Its executives were not made available to speak about the plans on Sunday.
Thursday used to be "must-see TV" on NBC in the 1990s but its decline symbolized the network's troubles. NBC's new emphasis for Thursday will be on broader-based, family comedies instead of shows like "The Office" which was a hit with critics but not the audience.
NBC will seek a turnaround with "Sean Saves the World," starring Hayes as a divorced gay dad who juggles work with raising a teenage daughter. Fox's show mirrors his life — he plays a character getting back to work after being diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. The third new Thursday comedy is "Welcome to the Family," about a White high school graduate impregnated by her Latino boyfriend.
Amy Poehler's "Parks and Recreation" will be back to open NBC's Thursday schedule. The network announced that the quirky "Community" had been renewed, but it hasn't found a spot on the schedule yet.
The drama "Parenthood" will air Thursday at 10 p.m.
NBC has canceled several of its shows, including the newsmagazine "Rock Center," the Matthew Perry comedy "Go On" and the quickly forgotten comedies "The New Normal," "Up All Night," "Guys With Kids," "1600 Penn" and "Whitney."
The network said no decision has been made on the future of the low-rated serial killer drama "Hannibal" or the durable Donald Trump game "Celebrity Apprentice."
New fall dramas include "The Blacklist," which stars James Spader as fugitive who volunteers to help the FBI catch a terrorist; and "Ironside," with Blair Underwood as a New York City detective who uses a wheelchair.
NBC said two new comedies will replace "The Biggest Loser" on Tuesdays in midseason. And when football goes away, the network will try two new dramas on Sunday nights: "Believe," a J.J. Abrams series about a girl coming to grips with superpowers, and "Crisis," about a bus full of children of Washington elite who are kidnapped.
Bob Greenblatt, president of NBC Entertainment, said in a statement that "this is the most robust and highest-testing slate of new shows we have had in years."
Still, odds are in television that more new shows fail rather than succeed, and the newly ordered programs that don't yet have a spot on NBC's schedule will surely replace some of the failures.
Here are NBC's other new shows:
—"About a Boy," based on the Nick Hornby novel of the same name, is a comedy about single man who bonds with the 11-year-old son of a woman — played by Minnie Driver — who moves in next door. It is scheduled to air Tuesday nights in midseason.
—"The Family Guide," a sitcom about a divorced family, is already looking for a new lead: actress Parker Posey dropped out in the past few days. NBC has time to recast it, since the show is scheduled for Tuesdays in midseason.
—"Undateable," from "Scrubs" producer Bill Lawrence, another comedy in a long line of "Friends"-inspired shows about young people and romantic entanglements.
—"Chicago PD," a companion to "Chicago Fire," by veteran producer Dick Wolf. A drama about the rivalry between uniformed cops and the intelligence unit.
—"Crossbones," with John Malkovich as the 18th Century pirate Blackbeard. On the schedule for Fridays in midseason.
—"Dracula," a drama beginning in the fall about the iconic character. It airs Friday in the fall, replaced by "Crossbones" in midseason.
—"The Night Shift," a medical drama focused on the overnight crew in a San Antonio hospital.
—"The Million Second Quiz," a trivia game show that unfolds over 12 consecutive days.
—"Food Fighters," a cooking game hosted by Adam Richman that has professional chefs trying to outdo amateurs offering a much-beloved family recipe.
—"American Dream Builders," a home renovation show hosted by Nate Berkus.
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SOUTHPORT, England – Bernhard Langer gave Mark Wiebe one too many chances at the Senior British Open.
Wiebe took advantage of Langer's failure to close out the tournament, beating the German on the fifth playoff hole Monday at Royal Birkdale for his first senior major title.
The American used a superb approach shot from the rough to set up a two-putt for par, while Langer failed to get up and down, seeing his par putt stay out.
"I'm speechless," Wiebe said. "I think it's always better for both players had there been a birdie to win the playoff instead of a bogey, but right now, I don't really care. I'm glad it's over, and I'm honored.
Langer led by two shots going into the final hole of regulation Sunday, only to settle for a double bogey when he struggled to get out of a bunker. The playoff was then halted after two holes because of darkness and resumed Monday, with Langer immediately missing another chance to win when his 12-foot putt wouldn't drop.
"I just was luckier today and last night than Bernie I guess," Wiebe said. "I also feel like Bernie has won, what, a couple hundred tournaments. He's won so many, I feel like this was my turn."
Langer, who won the tournament in 2010, was up by three shots entering the fourth round. He looked certain to earn a second Senior British Open title when he teed off at the 72nd.
But his approach shot landed in a greenside bunker, and he needed two strokes just to get out of the sand. Wiebe, meanwhile, shot a 4-under 66 to match the German at 9-under 271.
"Obviously, not what I wanted. But the major mistake was again yesterday, the 72nd hole," Langer said. "In the playoff anybody can win. It comes down to one good shot or one bad shot. And that's what happened. Mark is a very deserving champion."
This was the first time in the 27-year history of the Senior British Open the tournament finished on a Monday.
Former U.S. Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin shared third — three shots back — with David Frost of South Africa and Peter Senior of Australia. It was the third year in a row Pavin tied for third at the tournament.
Wiebe's season has been plagued by a back and arm injury and he hasn't finished in the top 10 on the U.S. Champions Tour all year. But he said he could swing a club without pain again, which "helped me so much with my attitude."
"Once I realized I could play and it didn't hurt very much to swing," Wiebe said, "I was instantly in a great mood, and I knew I was playing good."


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Stop Off in Crestview
Easy access to I-10 and Eglin Air Force Base
Located off I-10, our Super 8 Crestview hotel near Blackwater River State Forest is close to outdoor recreation and beautiful Gulf Coast beaches. We provide friendly service and easy access to area attractions. Eglin Air Force Base is also nearby.


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The Swiss-and-French flautist Emmanuel Pahud is one of today's most exciting and adventurous musicians. Born in Geneva, he began studying music at the age of six. He graduated in 1990 with the Premier Prix from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, after which he continued his studies with Aurele Nicolet. At the age of 22 Emmanuel joined the Berliner Philharmoniker as Principal Flute under Claudio Abbado, a position which he still holds today. In addition to his engagements with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Emmanuel enjoys an extensive international career as soloist and chamber musician.
Emmanuel appears regularly at leading festivals throughout Europe, the USA and the Far East. He has appeared as soloist with many of the world's leading orchestras including the London Philharmonic, Zurich Tonhalle, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Mariinski, Camerata Salzburg, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Cincinnati Symphony, Washington National Symphony, NHK Symphony and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. He has collaborated with conductors such as Abbado, Rattle, Zinman, Maazel, Boulez, Gergiev, Gardiner, Harding, Järvi, Nezet-Séguin, Rostropovich and Perlman.
In the 2012-13 season, Emmanuel performs with the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Kammerakademie Potsdam, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo, Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic and the Guerzenich Orchester. He tours with the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra in Europe and South America and with Les Violons du Roy in the US.
He is a dedicated chamber musician and regularly gives recital tours with pianists such as Eric Le Sage, Yefim Bronfman and Hélène Grimaud, as well as jazzing with Jacky Terrasson. In 2012-13 Emmanuel performs throughout Europe with various chamber music partners, including his group 'Les Vents Français'. In 1993, Emmanuel founded the Summer Chamber Music Festival 'Musique à l'Empéri' together with Eric Le Sage and Paul Meyer in Salon de Provence. They have just celebrated their 20th Festival in the summer of 2012.
Emmanuel has won first prize in many major International Music Competitions, such as Kobe in 1989, Duino in 1988, and the Concours de Genève in 1992. He took the Soloists Prize in the World-wide French-speaking Community Radio Awards, and the European Council's Juventus Prize. He is also a laureate of the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation and of the International Tribune for Musicians of UNESCO. In 1997 he was named 'Instrumentalist of the Year' at the prestigious Victoires de la Musique award ceremony in Paris.
In 1996 Emmanuel signed an exclusive contract with EMI Classics, a collaboration which has proven to be one of the most significant contributions to recorded flute music. He has made more than 20 recordings which have received unanimous critical acclaim and have been showered with awards. His recent recording dedicated to Flute Music at Frederick the Great's court with Trevor Pinnock was released at the end of 2011 and received Classica Magazine Choc of the Year 2012 and was nominated at the TV Awards Victoires de la Musique 2013. His CD 'Best of Quintet music' (Japan) won the Record Academy Award for chamber music 2012 and the Record Geijutsu magazine, Japan.
His latest release is dedicated to the complete works for Flute by Frank Martin and has been just released by Musiques Suisses, it was immediately awarded the March 2013 "Diapason d'Or", France.
In June 2009 Emmanuel was honoured to Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for his contribution to music and in April 2011 awarded an HonRAM by the Royal Academy of Music. He also is an Embassador for Unicef.


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The Kooks' Luke Pritchard plans to join forces with French band The Dø to record a series of cover versions.
Pritchard told NME.com that the recordings would be likely to be released in France on white label, and that the collective would tackle songs including The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band's I Won't Hurt You.
"I want to do it a bit like, trashy 'The Velvet Underground And Nico' kind of vibe," Pritchard said. "We're going to try and get a vibe and get a sound in the room and not over-complicate things with the production.
Covers only
"We're just going to do covers. If we have time to write anything we might, but I don't think so. We'll just see how it goes. We'll probably release it a little bit more in France, white label."
The Dø are essentially a duo of Olivia B Merilahti and Dan Levy, whose quirky pop is laced with jazz influences.
Pritchard says he's not yet sure which instruments he'd play on the sessions, but suggested he might play piano, which he has recently been teaching himself.
Pritchard and his fellow Kooks studied music and formed when students at the Brighton Institute Of Modern Music.


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Table of Contents
Mozilla Thunderbird
The Thunderbird mail client inherits a lot of it's bigger relative Mozilla Mail, but the small and fast bird has a feature set that makes it a worthy alternative.
Showing new mail in IMAP subfolders
The folders in your IMAP account will by default not be shown with the number of unread emails. You can change this through the user interface, but then these folders are not automatically monitored for the arrival of new mail. There is a user preference line that you can add to your personal user.js preferences file.
This file will not be overwritten by Thunderbird like the prefs.js file. Also, the preferences you set in user.js will override the same preference setting that might be present in the prefs.js file. The user.js file is located in ~/.thunderbird/????????.default/user.js
where the ???????? string is a random set of 8 characters, derived by Thunderbird from your user name.
This is what you do:
- Close Thunderbird
- Open user.js in an editor (possibly that file does not yet exist, in which case you just create it)
- Add this line to the file:
user_pref("mail.check_all_imap_folders_for_new", true);
- Re-start Thunderbird.
From this moment on, Thunderbird will also (periodically if you told it to) check the subfolders of your IMAP inbox.
Mozilla Mail and it's descendants like Thunderbird, are able to handle GPG-signed and/or encrypted emails with the help of the EnigMail extension. EnigMail uses your installed and configured GnuPG program files. So, you should have created a private and public GPG keyring or EnigMail won't work.
EnigMail takes care of transparently decrypting and encrypting your emails, as well as verifying signed emails automatically with a pre-defined GPG keyserver.
Adding GPG public key and fingerprint as custom headers to your outgoing emails
With Thunderbird, it is possible to add custom headers to each outgoing email. Mozilla Mail had this feature in a limited form - you could not automatically add a custom header with a default value.
We're going to profit from this feature by using it to add information about our GPG public key and fingerprint to each email we send, using these custom headers. Easiest is, to open your user.js
personal preferences file called ~/.thunderbird/<profilename.default>/user.js
in an editor and add the following lines:
user_pref("mail.identity.id1.headers", "gpgpubkey, gpgfingerprint"); user_pref("mail.identity.id1.header.gpgpubkey", "X-GPG-PUBLIC_KEY: http://pgp.mit.edu:11371/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0xA75CBDA0"); user_pref("mail.identity.id1.header.gpgfingerprint", "X-GPG-FINGRPRINT: F2CE 1B92 EE1F 2C0C E97E 581E 5E56 AAAF A75C BDA0");
Of course, the values are those of my own GPG key (0xA75CBDA0), you should fill in your own. Note, that I pointed the X-GPG-PUBLIC_KEY header to a GPG key server. This is where everyone should make his or her key available.
You can print the GPG fingerprint using one of the following commands (the first two will show you my own GPG fingerprint, the last one will show fingerprints for every entry in your personal GPG keyring):
gpg --fingerprint 0xA75CBDA0 gpg --fingerprint Eric Hameleers gpg --fingerprint
If your Thunderbird profile contains more than one identity, you might have to copy the three lines above multiple times, substituting the id1 with id2, id3, and so on.


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by Deb Ng
A hat tip to Wendy Piersall at Sparkplugging for tweeting this story.
I promise, this isn't a political post.
One thing that impressed me about Barrack Obama is how he realized the importance of a web presence. He and his team embraced social media and used it with positive results. Obama had a presence on Twitter (with 130,000 followers, mind you) and other social networking sites. He knew it wasn't enough to stump to the crowds in person, he had to do reach out to the online community as well. In fact, most of Obama's campaign funding came from online donors, the result of an effective social media campaign. This tells me he's in touch with the real world.
I learned today President-Elect Obama signed on two Web 2.0 savvy social media experts for his transition team. It's refreshing to see he continues to get it. Having a web presence will allow Mr. Obama and his team to reach out to even more people. Not just during transition time but for his entire term in office.
I understand the President-Elect himself won't be doing all of this community outreach, he'll be very busy after all. Knowing there are people on his team who will be reaching out to the online community makes me feel a little more secure. Not in a "national security" kind of way, but instead it shows me the future President and his team are in touch enough to know what is needed to succeed and communicate with the American public.
Having a web presence will allow the team to see what people are saying and what areas need fixing. The team can discuss issues and causes, answer questions and soothe fears – all in real time. It's clear Mr. Obama is setting the bar for future political campaigns and this should be applauded. It's not enough to be in touch part of the country, Obama found a way to reach us all.
Your turn: What are some of the ways you feel a President or person in office can use effectively use social media?


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The year's first Champion Sound column picks up pretty much where it left off before Christmas, with Big K.R.I.T., whose ReturnOf4eva was my favorite rap release of 2011. K.R.I.T. was also featured in the first ever edition of this column last June, so it's a pleasure to bring things full circle by catching up with the Mississippi rapper/producer about a busy year ahead. With the release of 4eva N A Day just weeks away, there's another free project to look forward to very soon, followed by K.R.I.T.'s long-awaited major label debut on Def Jam this summer.
The January and February months are also a busy time for mixtapes, as huge volumes of releases were given away in the weeks following the festive period. As well as those featured here, we've seen more than worthy free projects from heavy hitters (Raekwon, T.I., Gucci Mane), up and comers (Mr Muthafuckin eXquire, Starlito, Jackie Chain) and returning Rhymesayers (I Self Devine, Brother Ali).
Mixtapes aside for a moment though, let's talk Big K.R.I.T.
Big K.R.I.T. - Boobie Miles (Prod. By Big K.R.I.T.) by BIGKRIT
It's a strange thing to go into an interview with somebody and be reasonably sure of what you're going to get. That's not a criticism of Big K.R.I.T. by any means; it's just that he puts so much of his own personality into his records that this hardly feels like our first conversation. Like few others, K.R.I.T's music relies on this character being genuine, so it's a relief listening to him talk in his familiar southern drawl, sounding as humble and sincere as the voice you hear on record.
"If you're lucky enough to have a voice, yeah you can rap about the parties and having fun, but it should also be a reflection of your actual life," says K.R.I.T., whose music manages to strike this balance better than most. It's easy to sound clumsy when dropping in socio-political comment in an album full of bona fide country rap bangers, but he manages to avoid this by staying clear of brash, sweeping statements, and sticking to telling stories based on his own experiences.
K.R.I.T has a much defined aesthetic, from his lyrics, right down to the way he twists classic soul samples around dusty drum loops. But while he may have his own ideals based on what hip hop means to him, he's the last person you'd expect to find denouncing the work of others. He explains: "I really can't knock another man for trying to make money, or feed their families and become financially free. I understand how poverty can push you into going into music that may not be 100% comfortable to you, but as far as I'm concerned, I really can only make music that reflects me. I don't want to sacrifice my creative control."
It's an approach that has served him pretty well so far, having seen his stock grow exponentially in 2011. He said as much on 'Dreamin' from last year's knockout mixtape Returnof4eva, but K.R.I.T. re-iterates that he feels "blessed" by his achievements to date. His progress is made all the more impressive when you consider that it's all off the back of music released entirely for free, catching the attention of Def Jam who are set to release his major label debut Live From the Underground in the summer.
Not that the road to success has been without its struggles. Just two years ago, for example, he found himself getting booed in New York for performing 'Country Shit'; a song that would later become his biggest hit to date, remixed with guest verses from Ludacris and Bun B:
"Oh yeah, for the most part I was very humbled, especially with being booed. It's one of those things, it's happened to a lot of people that I respect as artists, and I'm talking about OutKast and Lauryn Hill y'know? So it was a humbling experience, but now being able to walk out in Queens or Harlem or wherever is exciting. The last 12 months have been crazy!"
Wherever the job might take him, K.R.I.T.'s hometown of Mississippi remains central to his universe. He says with a sigh that he doesn't get to spend as much time there as he would like, living in Atlanta for the ease of being able to jump in and out of the studio, and also missing the big family Christmas and Thanksgiving this year for work reasons. Even as I speak with him he's supposed to be taking a couple of relaxing days off, but makes every effort to express how grateful he is for the opportunity to be interviewed.
K.R.I.T.'s family is a subject that comes up repeatedly in conversation, and he reasons that their continued excitement for his career in these rare days off is what gives him the energy to get back on the road. Their presence is there in his music too, occasionally literally, but also in the background informing his every move. He fondly remembers listening to his grandparents playing old Teddy Davis records, the likes of which he might go on to use as a sample, and then explains how his upbringing would have an effect on his music in other ways:
"Y'see, I was raised primarily by my grandmother who was born in 1923, so she had a different look at life and I try and carry that into my music. I would hate to rap in a certain way and not really live that lifestyle, and I see it as extremely important that people see me as the kind of person that you hear in my music."
When prompted to talk about some of his own songs that he's particularly proud of, it's the ones that relate to this upbringing which first spring to mind. 'Hometown Hero' and 'Country Shit' are the first two he names, followed by 'The Vent', which is a touching tribute to the loss of a loved one:
"'The Vent' is a good example [of a song I'm particularly proud of], because I made it during a time in my life when I was really trying to express how I felt about my grandmother's passing away. It was one of those situations where I felt people really need to hear this, and hopefully relate to it, and I'm so happy that it turned out the way it did."
With a new mixtape being readied for release next month, to be followed by an album release in the summer, 2012 looks set to be an even busier year for the Mississippi rapper. Speaking about the album, Live from the Underground, he teases, "I got one feature that ain't nobody gon' expect, so I'm excited for people to hear it." He also confirms appearances from 2 Chainz and Big Sant, but other than that is keeping his cards held tightly to his chest. Rightfully so, too, after all you only get one shot at a major label rap career.
So, Is he nervous about finally releasing a record for retail?
"Well I'm my own worst critic," he responds, considering the question. "My life is not that same as when I made K.R.I.T wuz Here, but y'know, as long as the people can still relate to it, I'm just excited to be able to put my life on wax."
Featured Mixtape: Nacho Picasso & Blue Sky Black Death - Lord of the Fly
Download here
For this month's featured mixtape (which is actually the first, since I just tacked it onto the column) we return to a rapper that was featured in Champion Sound #3, and continues to make an impression on new mixtape Lord of the Fly. Fans of his last project, For the Glory, will be returning to familiar territory here, as Nacho again hits upon a sweet spot in teaming up with production pair Blue Sky Black Death. This Seattle duo have been getting some deserved attention for a minute now, but in Nacho they've stumbled upon a voice that almost seems to complete them. Their eerie, otherworldly beats could stand up well enough on their own, but they make the perfect compliment for Nacho's carefully written raps.
Perhaps what makes Nacho Picasso so magnetic is the total ease of his delivery, as he drops one-liner after effortless one-liner without ever dropping his cool. But while you'd think this approach could become monotonous, the sheer quality of the wordplay keeps things consistently interesting, if not laugh-out-loud funny. While he's happy to twist his words inventively around familiar topics, his hyper-referential approach also finds him arriving in more unusual territory or at long-forgotten nuggets of popular culture. Just as on 'Marvel' from For the Glory had seen him rapping circles around his comic book collection, on 'I'm a Greek God' we find him ambling his way through his knowledge of Greek mythology, one pun at a time ("I'm high as mount Olympus, any goddess want the business? / Hera is my wifey, Aphrodite is my mistress.")
Hip Hop's mixtape culture is often viewed as an outlet for a work in progress, where rappers hone their craft before moving on to bigger and more polished things. Here though, Nacho Picasso & Blue Sky Black Death appear more or less the finished article, releasing their second near-flawless project in the space of just five months. Don't sleep on these guys, they're the real deal.
Rick Ross – Rich Forever
Download here
Regardless of your taste in hip hop (and this is undoubtedly a taste-less mixtape), some releases are just too big to ignore. With regards to Rick Ross' Rich Forever, the word 'big' can be applied to just about its every aspect. Even by rap music's standards Ross has always cut a caricatured figure of a star, but over the past few years he's almost willed himself into a position where the lifestyle presented in his lyrics has become his reality. At this stage in his career you might expect his success and gross wealth to begin to detract from his craft, but with Ross it's like the more successful he becomes the better he gets, and the better he gets the more successful he becomes. At this rate, there'll soon be little left of the competition, as it gradually becomes engulfed in a swirling vortex of Rozay.
Rich Forever then, as well as racking up over a million downloads, is also very, very good. I mean, its very premise is entirely crass and offensive, but if you're to imagine Rick Ross as 'The Bawse', a rotund cartoon capitalist with a penchant for rosé wine, then it all begins to take on a comic aspect. The whole thing just drips with expense, from the massive production job, to the features which include Diddy, Drake, Kelly Rowland, and Nas (Nas!) among others. If all that doesn't sound quite extravagant enough for you though, don't fret, because John Legend pops up in his finest dinner jacket to sing the title hook over and over again ("Yeah we gon' be rich foreverrrrrrr, and everrrrrrrrr, and everrrrrrrrrrrr" [...you get the picture].) Admittedly this won't be everyone and the ardent backpacker is unlikely to be converted, but Ross is here to stay and hip hop is all the more interesting for having him around.
Shady Blaze – The grind, hustle & talent
Download here
Just when I thought I was going to get through this column without mentioning a Green Ova release, Shady Blaze comes through with one of the collective's best releases to date. The rapid fire rapper/producer has certainly shown flashes of brilliance before, but on The grind, hustle & talent his indisputable technical chops are matched by impressive composition to boot. Shady produces just two of the tracks here, but a list of producers including Signs, BK Beats and and N-Pire contribute superb backing for him to flex his vocal chords.
Blaze offers welcome respites from his double-time style too, noticeably on '40 Bars' which sees him lose his smokescreen and get real on the subject of his family. The beat from BK Beats is like nothing I've ever heard on a Green Ova project, made up of a sombre string section and simple, rolling drums. It sounds good here, and on the whole these are hi-fi productions with little trace of the 'cloud rap' styling associated with Main Attrakionz et al. Another string to the Green Ova bow, for sure, and their first real triumph of 2012.
Vince Staples – Shyne Coldchain Vol. 1
Download here
While the OFWGKTA flame has certainly dimmed somewhat after the muted critical response to Goblin, it seems like Tyler & co. are wisely taking a moment to regroup. But as Odd Future ready the release of their new group project OF Tape Vol. 2, a chance has fallen to extended family member Vince Staples to grab the spotlight. Released at the turn of 2012, I'd be lying if I said this has set the world alight, but if we've learnt anything from the whole Odd Future thing it's that understated is underrated.
Shyne Coldchain Vol .1 is a tight and considered tape, consisting of 13 concise tracks that manage to impress without outstaying their welcome. Staples shows a steady hand throughout, happy to sit inside the pocket of the beats and get his rhymes off in his own time. He's a decent storyteller too, best shown on closer and standout track 'Taxi', in which he writes a kind of violent love-letter to a former partner. Even when the subject matter gets heavy the beats themselves are nicely laidback, dominated by a perfectly dusty kick-snare and offset by dream-like strings and keys. Although Shyne Coldchain Vol. 1 is not the flashiest of mixtapes, its a modest success which hints at brighter things on the horizen for Staples.
Rich Kidz – Everybody Eat Bread
Download here
A sweet tooth is required to enjoy the latest from Rich Kidz, but if you like your rap music with a spoonful of sugar then this Atlanta duo are fast becoming essential listening. Indeed, you may well think you need to adjust your audio settings as you tune in to Everybody Eat Bread, as their maximalist sonic onslaught barely lets up for its duration. It's not that this is a particularly abrasive tape, at least not in a traditional sense, but there's a youthful energy to it which is so relentless that it's probably best served in small doses. Basically, if your ears don't react well to nasty synth sounds and a fair amount of auto-tune crooning, then maybe this isn't for you.
Having said all that, Rich Kidz are definitely on to something here. Their ability to combine big pop hooks with hyperactive shout-rap is something few artists can do convincingly in the confines of a release, let alone in a single song. This is a technique Rich Kidz manage time after time, leading you down the path of a straight-up chart hit before turning it on its head by attacking a beat in the verses. They even enlist king of the shouters Waka Flaka Flame to add extra steel to standout track 'My Life', and Atlanta's Trouble sounds as good as I've ever heard him on 'We So Deep'. It's Rich Kidz's goofily named Young PU and Skateboard Skooly who stand out the most, though, and I'd be surprised if they don't find some real crossover success with this.


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Is Implementation Inheritance in Visual Basic .NET Good or Bad?
- COM: No Implementation Inheritance
- The Next Stage: .NET and Visual Basic .NET
- Problems and Solutions
- Conclusion
COM: No Implementation Inheritance
As you know, Visual Basic .NET supports implementation inheritance. That is, a class can inherit from a superclass, and thereby the subclass derives the implementation of the methods in the superclass. The subclass can also override some of the methods and extend the behavior by adding more methods, for example. This must be nirvana! Or is it? Actually, I was pretty negative when I first started to play with it, but let's step back and allow me to tell you a little story. It starts a couple of years ago, around the time when VB4 came out.
VB4 started to look a bit object-oriented, but it lacked the possibility of implementation inheritance. Without implementation inheritance it was useless, in many developers' opinions. I longed for support for implementation inheritance and couldn't see any reason why it wasn't added, until I read Clemens Szyperski's book, Component Software: Beyond Object-Oriented Programming (Addison-Wesley, 1998, ISBN 0-201-17888-5). He talks a lot about the "fragile base class scenario"that is, when a superclass has to be changed, it will greatly affect both the subclasses and the consumersand why for a long time researchers had found implementation inheritance to be evil, especially for building large systems. From that point on, I was happy with the decision to exclude implementation inheritance from COM (and thereby VB4VB6). I used user-defined interfaces a lot, and as a result separated the implementation from the interface.
By the way, user-defined interfaces à la COM is known as the "Bridge pattern" in the book Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software, by Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson, and John Vlissides (Addison-Wesley, 1995, ISBN 0-201-63361-2).
Before we move on, I'd like to discuss briefly the fragile base class scenario, of which there are both syntactic and semantic versions. The syntactic problem is that subclasses need a recompile when the superclass interface is changed. The semantic version of the problem is how a subclass can survive evolution of the implementation in the superclass. (We'll come back to this in a few minutes.)


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Concrete Coatings Rockford
Concrete Coatings Rockford | Rockford, IL
We are a concrete company that is committed to providing high quality services at an affordable price. Customer satisfaction is our only goal.
Rockford is a city in Winnebago County, Illinois, located in the far northern part of the state. Situated on the banks of the Rock River, Rockford is the county seat of Winnebago County (a small portion of the city is located in Ogle County). The largest city in Illinois outside of the Chicago metropolitan area, Rockford is the fifth-largest city in the state and the 171st most populous in the United States. At the 2020 census, Rockford had a population of 148,655 with an outlying metropolitan area population of 348,360. Settled in the mid-1830s, the position of the city on the Rock River made its location strategic for industrial development.
Amos Catlin Spafford House, Arbor Hills, Beverly Park, Cherry Valley Township, Church School, Churchill, Coronado Performing Arts Center, Coventry Creek, Coventry Hills, D.C. Cook / Lovell Area Historic District, Dean's Appliance Services, Don Carter Lanes, Downtown, Downtown, Edgewater


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Content-type: text/html
#include <stdlib.h>
long random(void);
void srandom(unsigned int seed);
char *initstate(unsigned int seed, char *state, size_t size);
char *setstate(const char *state);
The random() function uses a nonlinear additive feedback random-number generator employing a default
state array size of 31 long integers to return successive pseudo-random numbers in the range from 0 to 2
-1. The period of this random-number generator is approximately 16 x (2
-1). The size of the state array determines the period
of the random-number generator. Increasing the state array size increases the period.
The srandom() function initializes the current state array using the value of seed.
The random() and srandom() functions have (almost) the same calling sequence and initialization properties as rand() and srand() (see rand(3C)). The difference is that rand(3C) produces a much less random sequence---in fact, the low dozen bits generated by rand go through a cyclic pattern. All the bits generated by random() are usable.
The algorithm from rand() is used by srandom() to generate the 31 state integers. Because of this, different srandom() seeds often produce, within an offset, the same sequence of low order bits from random(). If low order bits are used directly, random() should be initialized with setstate() using high quality random values.
Unlike srand(), srandom() does not return the old seed because the amount of state information used is much more than a single word. Two other routines are provided to deal with restarting/changing random number generators. With 256 bytes of state information, the period of the random-number generator is greater than 2 **69 , which should be sufficient for most purposes.
Like rand(3C), random() produces by default a sequence of numbers that can be duplicated by calling srandom() with 1 as the seed.
The initstate() and setstate() functions handle restarting and changing random-number generators. The initstate() function allows a state array, pointed to by the state argument, to be initialized for future use. The size argument, which specifies the size in bytes of the state array, is used by initstate() to decide what type of random-number generator to use; the larger the state array, the more random the numbers. Values for the amount of state information are 8, 32, 64, 128, and 256 bytes. Other values greater than 8 bytes are rounded down to the nearest one of these values. For values smaller than 8, random() uses a simple linear congruential random number generator. The seed argument specifies a starting point for the random-number sequence and provides for restarting at the same point. The initstate() function returns a pointer to the previous state information array.
If initstate() has not been called, then random() behaves as though initstate() had been called with seed=1 and size=128.
If initstate() is called with size<8, then random() uses a simple linear congruential random number generator.
Once a state has been initialized, setstate() allows switching between state arrays. The array defined by the state argument is used for further random-number generation until initstate() is called or setstate() is called again. The setstate() function returns a pointer to the previous state array.
The random() function returns the generated pseudo-random number.
The srandom() function returns no value.
Upon successful completion, initstate() and setstate() return a pointer to the previous state array. Otherwise, a null pointer is returned.
After initialization, a state array can be restarted at a different point in one of two ways:
• The initstate() function can be used, with the desired seed, state array, and size of the array.
• The setstate() function, with the desired state, can be used, followed by srandom() with the desired seed. The advantage of using both of these functions is that the size of the state array does not have to be saved once it is initialized.
Example 1: Initialize an array.
The following example demonstrates the use of initstate() to intialize an array. It also demonstrates how to initialize an array and pass it to setstate().
# include <stdlib.h> static unsigned int state0[32]; static unsigned int state1[32] = { 3, 0x9a319039, 0x32d9c024, 0x9b663182, 0x5da1f342, 0x7449e56b, 0xbeb1dbb0, 0xab5c5918, 0x946554fd, 0x8c2e680f, 0xeb3d799f, 0xb11ee0b7, 0x2d436b86, 0xda672e2a, 0x1588ca88, 0xe369735d, 0x904f35f7, 0xd7158fd6, 0x6fa6f051, 0x616e6b96, 0xac94efdc, 0xde3b81e0, 0xdf0a6fb5, 0xf103bc02, 0x48f340fb, 0x36413f93, 0xc622c298, 0xf5a42ab8, 0x8a88d77b, 0xf5ad9d0e, 0x8999220b, 0x27fb47b9 }; main() { unsigned seed; int n; seed = 1; n = 128; (void)initstate(seed, (char *)state0, n); printf("random() = %d0\n", random()); (void)setstate((char *)state1); printf("random() = %d0\n", random()); }
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
Interface Stability | Standard |
MT-Level | See NOTES below. |
drand48(3C), rand(3C), attributes(5), standards(5)
The random() and srandom() functions are unsafe in multithreaded applications.
Use of these functions in multithreaded applications is unsupported.
For initstate() and setstate(), the state argument must be aligned on an int boundary.
Newer and better performing random number generators such as addrans() and lcrans() are available with the SUNWspro package.