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Swimming Pool Blog
by Rob Cox May 17, 2013
How to Restore a Neglected Pool
Pools that are unattended, without chemicals, circulation and cleaning, don't last long. Within weeks, they become green, and within months, home to frogs and mosquitos. If left for too long, pool surfaces begin to deteriorate.
The recent mortgage crisis has also brought about a pool crisis, with swimming pools all around the country sitting half empty and stagnant. In warm weather it creates a mosquito breeding area, and they also present a pool safety issue.
To Drain or Not to Drain?
For gunite pools, the decision may be easier. The pool probably should be drained and acid washed, for best results. For vinyl and fiberglass pools, draining the pool completely has an element of risk. Vinyl liners can relax with the water removed, and if the liner is very old, it may shrink and snap when drained. Fiberglass pools are relatively lightweight, and water removal can cause the shell to pop out of the ground, or shift slightly.
Recovering very poor water, can be a long process, with possibly hundreds of dollars spent on pool chemicals, before any headway is gained. And even though it eventually clears, it will contain the dead organic matter and the cellular memory , if you will - of the swamp it once was, making it more difficult to avoid future algae problems.
Another reason for draining the pool is to remove stains. Pools can soak up stains and deposits easily when neglected. Acid washing restores the finish by stripping away a tiny layer of plaster, exposing the fresh plaster underneath. You may also decide to drain the pool, in order to also make repairs to the plaster or fiberglass, or to replace the pool liner.
Drain the Pool
For pools that are very neglected, and with lots of debris, a Trash Pump would be the best choice. This can be rented for the day, along with a suction and discharge hose, and will drain a pool in under an hour. It can also suck up leaves and twigs, and solids the size of a golf ball, which means no dredging that muck out of the pool!
If the pool is fairly clean, without large debris, a smaller gas pump, or a submersible pump can also be used.
To prevent 'floating the pool', or having an empty pool pop out of the ground, follow these guidelines.
- Assess the topography. Is the pool on a hillside, or down in a 'holler?
- Avoid draining during or immediately after wet periods of heavy rain.
- Pump discharge water far away and downhill from the pool, or into a storm drain.
- When water reaches the floor, open the hydrostatic plugs in the floor (plaster pools only).
- Work fast, and refill the pool as soon as possible.
After draining, the pool can be pressure washed or acid washed (plaster pools only). Vinyl and fiberglass can be cleaned with a mild soap, and low-pressure washing. Acid washing is described on our website, but caution and care should be taken with chemicals such as muriatic acid, and to avoid slips and falls in or into an empty pool.
Don't Drain the Pool
For those of you who are dead set against draining the pool - for whatever reason, here are some alternatives to draining the pool. To recover water that is dark green will take some effort - and some time.
- Clean the pool using Leaf Nets and Leaf Baggers, to remove 99% of the organic debris. Even if you can't see the bottom, work the floor until your nets come up clean. This is an important step, so don't skimp here. Continue to skim and brush the pool daily during treatment.
- Balance the water. pH, alkalinity, hardness, stabilizer will likely all need adjustment. Check and readjust daily during the treatment process.
- Shock the Pool, until the water turns a blue-grey color. If it turns back to a light green color - hit it again! You'll need lots of pool shock, be prepared to use 5-10 lbs per 10,000 gallons of pool water! You will need to use enough to reach at least 30ppm.
- Run the filter 24/7 until the water clears, and resist the urge to clean the filter until the pressure gauge is 5-10 lbs higher. Use a filter cleaner, or change the sand or cartridge if it's not been done in many years.
- Use Clarifier to help coagulate suspended particles or use Flocculant to drop particles to the bottom.
- Fill the pool high with water and vacuum the pool to waste, by setting a multiport filter valve to waste (sand or DE filters). Brush again, it helps to lighten stains.
A No-Dran Acid Wash from United Chemicals can be used to remove most stains from a plaster pool, once the water is clear. For vinyl or fiberglass staining, check out Jack's Magic products.
When we were running pools, we had a piece of equipment we called the Rent-a-Filter; a large DE filter, with a pump. We could bring it out to your house, set it up on the pool deck and plug in the pump. Instant additional filter, for clearing up pools with poor filter systems.
A more advanced take on this is being done in Southern California (and other areas), with a form of water reclamation called the "Puripool Process". Pool Service Technologies, or PST, is a mobile water filtration unit visits the house and completely cleans and balances pool water. They are proud to boast of having saved 5 million gallons of pool water.
Well, Water.
For those who have a water well on the property, filling an inground pool from the hose brings worry about "burning the pump up" or "running the well dry". In most cases, a pool can be filled from the well, but it can be a slow process. I recall one pool taking two weeks to fill, but I suspect the owner was only running it for 6-8 hours per day. Many pool owners with a well, would also like to avoid filling the pool with water high in minerals or metals.
Trucked in pool water is an option in most areas. It can be expensive, however. Depending on where you live, filling a pool from a truck (via a fire hydrant), can cost $1000 or more. A less expensive option may be to fill the pool halfway from a truck, and the rest from the well, or start it from the well, and if needed, finish it from the truck.


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Justin Snow / Poliglot: Nationwide Wins for State and Local LGBT Candidates


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Aliens CM is not the burner, it is not very good as we all know. okay what not so it is great, the graphics in the game. Unfortunately, we think you can not do much about it! But you can use this mod or using this modified data of the game are the following things better. - DirectX 10 is enabled -Better light thanks to DX10 Realistic light-shadow effects lamps. - Weapons reflect better. - Realistic muzzle flash. Fewer problems with Nvidia 3d 3d mode (MAY :) - RAM usage is better for graphics (textures) light animations texture memory load times of textures and shadows. - Game will load faster. - Better Bloom - MSAA ON - Play better with the controller better AIM is active.
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Hamelman's Poolish Baguettes - My first Try
After last week's failure at a first attempt at baguettes, I took advice from some of you and started out with an easier recipe. This time I followed it to the word. Hamelman's Poolish Baguette recipe promises a nutty tone, soft crumb with a thin crispy crust. I believe I achieved all of these qualities and am quite happy with the results. It may not be my absolute favourite style of baguette, but it will surely provide me the needed practice into a new journey in bread baking. Many baguettes, here I come.
Also, for those of you who haven't tried it, you must get some thinly sliced prosciutto de parma and lay a few slices on fresh out of the oven piece of baguette. And I thought french baguette and brie was the ultimate. Wow.


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International Student Exchange maintains a strong presence in West Virginia through our East Regional Office. Over the past ten years, our West Virginia regional staff has enriched the lives of over 150 exchange students and countless American kids and families in communities across the state. Our students have attended more than 50 different public high schools in West Virginia.
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SANTA ANA, Calif. -- Immigrant advocates blasted Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday for last-minute vetoes of bills that could have brought sweeping change to the state's large foreign-born population.
The criticism of his decision to nix measures to expand the rights of nannies and house cleaners and protect some illegal immigrants from deportation muted cheers for a bill to give driver's licenses to some illegal immigrants.
The advocates said Brown's signing of the bill offering driver's licenses to young immigrants who qualify for two-year federal work permits _ while welcomed by many immigrants _ doesn't have the far-reaching impact that backing the other measures could have had. They said signing those bills could have further distinguished California as immigrant-friendly compared to states such as Arizona and Alabama, which have been cracking down on illegal immigration.
"It is disappointing that Jerry Brown doesn't want to be the anti-Jan Brewer," said Aarti Kohli, senior fellow at the Warren Institute on Law and Social Policy at University of California, Berkeley School of Law. "The advocates feel very betrayed. They feel like the immigrant and particularly the Latino community have been behind the governor ... and that he hasn't really shown a deep understanding of these really serious issues."
Brown vetoed the so-called TRUST Act, which would have barred local law enforcement officers from detaining suspects for possible deportation unless they were charged with serious or violent crimes, and another bill to provide overtime pay, meal breaks and other labor protections to domestic workers.
Immigrant advocates questioned what drove the Democratic governor to take the positions right before the deadline to sign or veto legislation.
Some speculated that pressure from the federal government to protect its flagship immigration enforcement program, known as Secure Communities, and opposition by some California law enforcement officials _ including Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca _ may have played a role.
Advocates had hoped that Brown _ who supported Cesar Chavez and a number of farmworker issues during his first stint as governor _ would have backed the TRUST Act, which aimed to curtail Secure Communities. The program, which checks the immigration status of arrestees, is touted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement as a vital crime-fighting tool but reviled by immigrant advocates who say it erodes immigrants' trust in police.
Brown said in his veto message that federal agents "shouldn't try to coerce local law enforcement officials into detaining people who've been picked up for minor offenses and pose no reasonable threat to the community." He also noted the bill omitted too many serious crimes that would warrant detention.
"He is willing to work with stakeholders to address major concerns and improve it," Gil Duran, a spokesman for the governor, said about the bill. "Everyone should take a deep breath and recognize the tremendous opportunity here."
Duran called the driver's license bill an "obvious next step" to the Obama administration's immigration policy. But some immigrant advocates said the signing of the bill was a bittersweet victory that could help thousands of young people move around the state once they obtain work permits from the federal government but won't help their families get relief from the threat of deportation.
Juan Santiago, 24, said he was pleased he would be able to get from his home in Madera to his college classes 30 miles away once his work permit application is approved. But he said the measure does little for his mother, who brought him across the Arizona desert into the U.S. when he was 11.
"It was a happy and a sad day for us," Santiago said. "The fact that the governor vetoed the TRUST Act, it means there's nothing to protect the rest of my family members."
Angela Chan, senior staff attorney at the Asian Law Caucus, said the governor failed to step up and show bold leadership on immigration with his veto.
But she said she saw a silver lining in Brown's veto message, in which he offered to work with lawmakers to fix the bill's wording to include crimes such as child abuse, drug trafficking and weapons violations.
Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, the bill's sponsor, said he already had received a call from California sheriffs and they agreed to discuss the measure, which he took as a good sign. He said he'd like to reintroduce the bill as early as January.
Brown also took a mixed approach on other immigration-related bills. He signed a measure that aims to keep families together when a parent faces deportation and vetoed a bill to strengthen regulations requiring growers to protect farmworkers from extreme heat.
Louis DeSipio, a political science professor at University of California, Irvine, said making these decisions on deadline is a sign the bills were among the tougher issues Brown faced in a state where immigration has, at times, played a critical role in politicians' fate. He cited former Gov. Gray Davis, who saw a recall effort spurred after he supported driver's licenses for illegal immigrants.
"He hasn't been a strong immigrant advocate," DeSipio said of Brown, but added that perception could change if he works with advocates on revamping the TRUST Act. If not, he questioned how Brown might fare among Latinos in a future election.
"Would he have that same level of Latino support should he run for re-election?" DeSipio said. "I don't think so."
Associated Press Writer Gosia Wozniacka contributed to this report from Fresno.


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Kataney Couamin
Student Profile
Hometown: Philadelphia, PA
Sociology, Class of 2011
The Jesuit pledge to live as men and women for others has always been central to the mission of Saint Joseph's University. For Sociology major Kataney Couamin '11, this pursuit is carried out daily.
Couamin, who is originally from New York, moved to Philadelphia when she was 14. She attended Abraham Lincoln High School for two years, but soon traveled farther down the east coast and finished high school in Miami, Fla. Luckily, her next move brought her directly to Saint Joseph's University – literally. "My mom bought a house that was in the backyard of campus, and every time I passed by Saint Joe's I would always admire it," remembers Couamin. Since Couamin planned to commute to whatever college she attended, Saint Joe's was an obvious choice. Once she was accepted, it didn't take her long to realize that her logical choice was a perfect fit. "As soon as I started orientation, I just fell in love with the spirit."
The SJU spirit wasn't the only thing that left Couamin impressed. When she needed tuition support, the University was able to award her several merit-based scholarships, including an Achievement Award, a Mission Scholarship, and a United Scholars Grant. "I was really taken aback by how Saint Joe's was able to help me out when I needed it," Couamin says.
Couamin's involvement in several campus organizations is a testament to her gratitude. Couamin is particularly active within the Office of Multicultural Life, as a member of the Caribbean Student Association and the Black Student Union. She also serves on the Executive Board of Harambee African Awareness. "It's a student organization that works toward building up an orphanage in Kenya called 'Dagorretti 4 Kids,'" Couamin explains. "I fell in love with the passion that students have for it." "Harambee" is Swahili for "pull together," a theme that runs through all of Couamin's endeavors at Saint Joseph's. Last spring, Couamin was among the founding members of "Bridging the Gap," a diversity campaign that aims to promote interaction and communication among students of different ethnic and social backgrounds. She is also active within the Diversity Recruitment Committee, as well as the Philadelphia Service Immersion Program (PSIP), a summer program that introduces incoming freshmen to the service aspect of Saint Joseph's. Couamin's positive experience with PSIP motivated her to become a service site coordinator for Bluford Elementary, where SJU students provide tutoring and recreation through after school programs.
At the other end of the spectrum, Couamin maintains ties with alumni through her involvement with Telefund. She began her fundraising efforts one year ago, and continues to be impressed by the level of alumni involvement at Saint Joseph's. "It's great to see that alumni keep such a close connection and commitment long after they have passed through here," Couamin says. She also enjoys the added bonus of networking with alumni who share her interests, particularly her devotion to service.
Not surprisingly, Couamin plans to continue serving others long after she graduates, with one clear goal in mind. "I want to be a JV," Couamin says, referring to the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. "I heard about JVC when I was on Urban Challenge. It's one year of service, and you volunteer within the country or internationally, wherever the need is greatest. When I heard about it, that was an 'a ha' moment for what I want to do with my life. It made so much sense."
Though she certainly displays her school spirit on campus, Couamin says her Hawk pride is strongest outside of SJU's borders. "I feel the most pride for my school when I get to talk about it to others," Couamin says. "I still get excited when I'm on the highway and I see the sign for 'Saint Joseph's University, exit 339.'" Couamin credits the SJU community for making her feel so at home. "This is where I'm supposed to be." Couamin says. "I'm always able to do what I love here, and I have a great support system of administration, faculty, and friends. Every time I turn a corner here, there's somebody I can say 'hi' to."
No stranger to life's twists and turns, Couamin is uncertain what lies ahead after graduation. "It's hard to plan because you never know what life's going to throw at you, but God has a way of making things work out," she says. If the present is any indication, Couamin is sure to be a shining example of Jesuit values and Hawk pride no matter what her future holds.


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911 Call In Golfer Attack: 'My Wife's Gone Crazy'
ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. (CBS12) — The wife of a former U.S. Open champion is facing domestic violence charges after attacking her husband who played poorly at The Players Championship, according to a report by the Daily Mail.
According to a report from the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office, deputies arrested Krista Glover in Ponte Vedra on Saturday night on misdemeanor charges of battery and resisting an officer.
The Daily Mail reports Glover, 36, is accused of verbally and physically attacking Lucas Glover. Earlier that day, Glover played his last round at The Players Championship, shooting a 78. According to a report obtained by the Daily Mail, Krista Glover also attacked Glover's mother. The deputies arrested Glover after seeing "visible but minor injuries" on the golfer and his mother. Earlier that night at dinner, Glover reportedly berated the golfer in front of their children and the confrontation carried over to a home the couple rented not far from the tournament golf course.
As deputies escorted Glover to a patrol car in handcuffs, they say she tried to break free, refused to sit in the patrol car and tried to keep deputies from putting her into the backseat of the car. According to the report, once inside the car Glover began kicking and screaming. The kicks were strong enough to "separate the door from the cell of the door frame," wrote deputies.
In a 911 call, the male caller says his wife tried to blame the incident on his mother, "which is not the case at all," said the man on the phone. "My wife has gone crazy," he added. The caller told dispatch that he wouldn't let deputies talk to his wife because she's out of her head at the moment.
Mrs. Glover, of Jupiter, spent about eleven hours in the St. Johns County Jail before being released on bond Sunday morning, according to online records.
Lucas Glover won the U.S. Open in 2009 - his best year as far as winnings go. He's earned $20 million while playing in 380 events on the PGA Tour since 2001, according to the PGA Tour.


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Salt, Fresh & Field is a TV series in development featuring an emotional and visually emersive treatment of hunting, fishing, foraging and exploring food sources on the West Coast of North America.
A vivid, and cinematic experience, Salt, Fresh & Field busts apart old paradigms of the "hook and bullet" genre with style and makes finding your own food sexy for a generation of urbanites who are becoming more conscious and curious about where their food comes from.
Chad Brealey, our authentic and approachable guide embodies the modern urban male — aware of his environment, up for adventure and not afraid to get dirty in and out of the kitchen.
Taking a visceral step beyond the farmer's market, Chad gets out of town and gathers ingredients to prepare a feast for friends and family waiting in the city. Chad's honest and humorous approach and the beauty and fantasy presented in each episode makes it cool to care about where food comes from and crave the art and adventure of putting food on the table.
Looks great, hope to see more about this soon.


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An undeserving reputation has surrounded Midwestern bats thanks to their tropical cousins that feed on the blood of livestock and wildlife. Of course, the bats of Minnesota and Wisconsin don't share that trait, but that doesn't mean the average person enjoys their company.
Bat species found in Minnesota and Wisconsin are quite small, weighing between one-fifth of an ounce to a little over 1 ounce, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. However, that small size is an indication of how easily a bat can enter your home. Bats can enter through holes as small as 3/8-inch or spaces 3/8-by-7/8 inch. The tell-tale signs of bats roosting in your house include scratching and squeaking noises coming from walls and ceilings or seeing bats enter and leave your home at dusk.
Getting rid of a colony once it has made a permanent roosting site in your attic is not as simple as it sounds either, especially if there are many bats taking up residence. Whether taking on the project of bat removal on your own or hiring a pest removal company, the only consistently successful method is physical exclusion.
Exclusion comes with a caveat though - if a colony has taken up residence, exclusion can only happen between late August and March to ensure the young bats are able to fly. Any attempts during summer months will mean flightless bats will starve to death and likely cause an odor problem. With temperatures around the area dropping, now is the time to start removing a colony from local buildings.
Safely removing a colony
The first step to bat proofing is to make sure access points to attics and basements are sealed and any holes in walls or ceilings are repaired so that bats can't accidently enter the primary areas of your house. Next, you will need to locate where the bats are actually entering the building. Typical entrances include chimneys, louver fans, air intakes, exhaust vents, openings around plumbing, power or cable lines, spaces around doors and windows, and where exterior siding has shrunk, warped or loosened. Stains on ceilings or walls from the accumulation of bat droppings are often an indication of entrance points as well. Bat droppings can be distinguished from those of other animals in that they easily break apart and contain many small shiny insect parts. Close inspection during the day will help determine the exact location of the entry points.
After all of the entry points have been located, seal all but one up. With the final entry point, create a one-way escape for the bats. Once it has been determined that all bats have left their roosting place, the final entry point can be sealed up.
Attempts to poison bats, or exclude them using inappropriate methods can actually increase human contact, as sick or homeless bats may disperse through the neighborhood thereby increasing chance encounters with people or pets. Be wary of any pest control company that suggests the use of ultrasonic devices or toxic chemicals. There are no chemicals registered in Minnesota for use on bats.
Finally, after the bats have safely and permanently been removed, it is a good idea to clean up any bat droppings. The primary reason for this is histoplasmosis - a disease associated with some bat colonies. The disease is caused by inhalation of spores or fragments of the soil fungus found in bat droppings. Human infections occur through breathing dust that contains the spores. Some infections produce flu-like symptoms, but many infections in humans produce no symptoms or distress.
Benefits of bats
Bats in your attic shouldn't be ignored and the removal of a colony should be done immediately, however, bats in your neighborhood are likely to cause more good than harm. Bats feed mostly on flying insects, including beetles, moths and mosquitoes which they catch in their cupped tail membranes. Once an insect is caught, the bat transfers prey to its mouth while in flight. While chasing insects, bats often fly erratically. This has led some people to mistakenly believe they are being attacked by the bat. Actually, bats are proficient flyers and can easily catch insects while avoiding people.
The enormous quantities of mosquitos and other insects that bats consume each year certainly make summers more bearable. So the next time you are camping and complain about getting bit by mosquitos, just remember how much worse it could be without bats.


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Making the most of the british summer we have come to the beautiful dorset coast.
This started as a blog to rant frustrations in parenting my 2 'adorable' children. It is now my way of dealing with my diagnosis of Bowel Cancer in August 2011 & the subsequent chemotherapy experience. In April 2013, we were blessed with the arrival of Baby Hope and are feeling very lucky. In October 2013, I was diagnosed with peritoneal disease and liver mets, which are inoperable and require aggressive chemotherapy.
About this Blog
This blog started as an online diary and place for me to rant about annoyances in my family.
However since July it has become a place for me to catalogue and express my views and opinions on the treatment I have recieved following the diagnosis of a potentially cancerous tumor in my bowel.
On 3rd August 2011 I was told that it was cancerous. In April 2012 I was given the all clear.
October 15th 2013 I was diagnosed with peritoneal disease and liver metastases. The cancer was back and this time it is inoperable.
It is a little bit out of date as the NHS doesn't tend to have a WiFi connection in hospital and I can only post when I get home and posts take a while to write.
It is NOT about individuals or the nursing profession. It is about some of the inadequacies in the system and the way the NHS is failing some people.
For more inane ramblings, follow me on twitter
To see my crafty loves follow me on Pinterest
Why not like my new Facebook page
facebook.com/thepoohstickqueen " data-layout="standard" data-action="like" data-show-faces="true" data-share="true">
Or follow my photographic craziness on instragram
Sunday, 26 August 2012
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I finished making a bag which features this colorful leaves embroidery.
This bag is messenger style, but it can be used as a shoulder bag because I made the strap adjustable. The exterior fabrics are cotton canvas and cotton corduroy. I put same embroidery design on both sides of the bag body. When you see it from the top the embroidery pattern is continuous over the zip opening.
The top zipper opens pretty wide so you can easily find your stuff in the bag and get them out. Also I made the strap wide to ease your shoulder off the weight of a lot of things you need to carry.
The lining is a cotton print from Denyse Schumidt's "County Fair" collection. There is one simple pocket and one zipper pocket inside.
This is how it looks like when it is used as a shoulder bag.
This bag is now listed in my Etsy shop. There are some more pictures of this bag in my Flickr pool as well.
We had much snow last night and it seems we are going to have White Christmas this year. My daughter had her first ballet performances "the Nut cracker" last weekend, and she had a Christmas concert at her school last night. There are many holiday activities going on here just like you do. I hope I can write about those sometime soon........ I have so many things on my to do list though.
I hope you all have Happy Holidays!


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Teacher resources and professional development across the curriculum
Teacher professional development and classroom resources across the curriculum
In this session:
Observing Student Representation
Exploring Representation
Defining Representation
Applying Representation
Evaluating Representation
Representations are useful in all areas of mathematics because they help us develop, share, and preserve our mathematical thoughts. "[They] help to portray, clarify, or extend a mathematical idea by focusing on its essential features" (NCTM, 2000, p. 206).
"Mathematical representation" refers to the wide variety of ways to capture an abstract mathematical concept or relationship. A mathematical representation may be visible, such as a number sentence, a display of manipulative materials, or a graph, but it may also be an internal way of seeing and thinking about a mathematical idea. Regardless of their form, representations can enhance students' communication, reasoning, and problem-solving abilities; help them make connections among ideas; and aid them in learning new concepts and procedures.
Learning Objectives
This session shows you how to help students do the following:
NCTM Representation Standard
Instructional programs . . . should enable all students to --
Principles and Standards of School Mathematics (NCTM, 2000). For more information on this Process Standard, see the NCTM Web site.
|Teaching Math Home | Grades 3-5 | Representation | Site Map | © |
© Annenberg Foundation 2017. All rights reserved. Legal Policy


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Subscribe To American Hustle Will Con Its Way Onto Blu-ray In March Updates
I've already subscribed
With ten Oscar nominations and plenty of support from members of the Academy, it's very possible March 2 will prove to be a wonderful evening for American Hustle. There are few joys like celebrating a Best Picture victory, or at least so I've been told, but regardless of whether the film wins or not, the larger month should be a great one because that's when the film is finally going to be available for purchase. It'll officially hit Blu-ray, DVD and Digital on March 18 from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
The lengthy, heavily soundtracked and beautifully dialogued film stars Amy Adams and Christian Bale as two con artists who get in way over the heads with the FBI in an effort to keep themselves out of jail. With the help of Bradley Cooper, the two engineer a scheme to catch elected officials accepting bribes. Was the plan basically entrapment? Was it needed to root out the easily corruptible? Historians have plenty of different takes on ABSCAM, and while director David O Russell's film is the least factual, it is far and away the most interesting. It netted Academy Award nominations in all four major acting categories, a feat duplicated by Russell's last movie Silver Linings Playbook.
Whether it really was the Best Picture or not, the film is unquestionably a careful and extremely interesting film that spins a pretty fascinating yarn. It'll play very well with those who didn't get a chance to catch it in theaters, and in theory, it should play just as well to those who want to take a look at it for a second time. That's the thing about con movies. There's almost always a handful of things that can only be discovered the second time around. You can remind yourself of the brilliance of the trailer below…
At 129 minutes, American Hustle, the film, certainly isn't hurting for lack of content, and yet, it somehow still apparently had some material good enough to be seen but not quite good enough to make the larger film. Both the DVD and the Blu-ray will come with both deleted and extended scenes, as well as a featurette that goes into how the film was made. We don't have run-times yet on any of the special features materials, but with a movie this good, it isn't typically the bells and whistles that convince buyers to open their wallets.
American Hustle Blu-ray Bonus Features


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As you pull the cabinet door, the first set of baskets travels along
with it, while drawing the concealed set of baskets into the space previously
occupied by the first set, minimizing the need to crouch, twist and turn
to reach stored items. A soft self-closing mechanism pulls the door closed
in the last few inches of travel, preventing it from slamming shut.
For use in cabinets with minimum dimensions of 870mm (34-1/4") wide,
508mm deep (20") and 550mm tall (21-5/8"). Door width must be 355mm
(14") or greater. Each mechanism includes two door-mounted 430mm x 248mm
(17" x 9-3/4") baskets and two hidden 460mm x 380mm (18" x 15") baskets.


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Discover Metabo unique safety solutions to keep YOU safe on the job.
Mechanical Safety Slip Clutch, Brake System, Vibration Reduction, Drop Secure... Metabo offer the widest and safest range of Metalworking solutions.
Weld preparation, edge preparation, bevel, chamfer and radius... Discover new possibilities with Metabo new beveling tools!
With Metabo new line of Beveling tools, get perfect results easier, 5 times faster and safer. Small beveling tools, corded and cordless, will let you bevel at 45deg up to 5/32" deep or 1/8" radius while the large beveling tools will bevel metal at any angle from 0 to 90deg up to 5/8" (at 45deg) deep.
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Be a part of the conversation.
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The Metabo Club is a community of skilled, professional tradespeople that take pride in their craft, with a deep concern for quality, performance, productivity and safety (their own and others).
The Metabo Club is a forum to exchange ideas with similar-minded pros to improve their skills and get the job done. It is a place of knowledge sharing, passion and pride.
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The rapid growth in popularity of DNA testing and genetic profiling is proving many skeptics wrong. A recent poll shows that the benefits available from genetic tests outweigh consumers privacy concerns. From dating to preventative heart medication, the use of genetic data to drive health and lifestyle decisions is gaining acceptance.
As DNA tests become more affordable, their use in lifestyle areas such as family tree genealogy and dating is overtaking the traditional areas of health and criminal justice. In a recent series of polls, 72% of consumers felt that the benefits of DNA tests are outweighed by the risks of the results being used for other purposes. On the dating potential, 58% of respondents felt that the use of genetic tests to determine compatibility and sexual attraction will form an important part of the information used on matchmaking websites in the future.
The polls were conducted as part of the morefocus groups on-going health and lifestyle research initiative, designed to study the changing attitudes of US consumers to healthcare, leisure, education and work. The results will be used to focus the design of an in depth online study to be run across a selected network of health and lifestyle internet and mobile websites late in 2008.
Commenting on the initial results, Dr. Regan Carey, who heads the Morefocus Media division that will conduct the research, said, It is clear that the potential of genetic testing to drive health and lifestyle decisions has captured the imagination of many. Analysis of online searches conducted across our network shows a remarkable awareness of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008, otherwise known as GINA, and its implications for the protection of consumers rights.
Dr. Carey continued, In just a few short years, there has been a dramatic shift in individuals attitudes and a growing understanding of the long-term effects of lifestyle choices. It is logical that the explosive growth in services such as personalized training and personalized medicine would lead to a rapid understanding of the benefits provided by personalized genetics. As the testing market matures and regulatory compliant genetics testing labs grow their databases, the promised health benefits are enormous. Bridging the health and lifestyle divide are the possibilities offered by using genetic dating to determine sexual attraction and compatibility. At the fun and hobby end of the spectrum, there is huge interest in genealogy today. The potential to use combined DNA databases to build or expand family trees is enormous.
On the ethics and education aspects, 84% of respondents considered that expanded privacy and ethics education is vital for doctors, nurses and healthcare administration workers. Colin Lucas-Mudd, morefocus groups CEO, said, Since the enactment of the HIPAA legislation at the start of the decade, privacy and ethics issues have been an increasingly important aspect of healthcare education. Several states have DNA testing legislation with New York acting earlier this year to warn 31 genetic labs that they are in breach of state regulations and California ordering thirteen laboratories to cease operations. As GINA takes full force it is clear that confidence in the benefits of DNA analysis will grow.
Dr. Carey concluded, The potential to avoid a broken heart through genetic dating, or a failed heart through early intervention is just to tempting to ignore.


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Given Meiko's comments I propose we leave some things as is, and to make some changes. To leave as is a) Keep the document as diff from original XPath. Maybe later on we can move this diff to an appendix. b) Keep the descendant axis // I understand Meiko's concern now, descendant axis does produce a lot more evaluation contexts. But I am thinking that this should be bounded by the depth of the tree. I.e. if the tree is n levels deep, at the maximum we need 2^n contexts, but usually a lot less. c) Keep the or operator | Again this will produce multiple context, but it is not exponential. If there n possible Or alternatives, we need n contexts. d) Keep the local-name() and namespace-uri() functions e) Not allow relative XPath foe now. But we should still think of this, because there are many use cases. E.g for a SAML Assertion, the Signature is a child element of the Assertion element, so the signature could refer to the assertion using "..". However this is not streamable. Maybe we can define the context node as an application defined node. To change A) Disable the string() function with no arguments. Similarly do not allow the no argument forms of string-length() and normalize-space() Because these no argument forms take the string value of the current node. B) Allow predicates in all steps, not just the final step. C) Add the "following" and "following-sibling" axes. Pratik -----Original Message----- From: Meiko Jensen [mailto:email@example.com] Sent: Tuesday, August 10, 2010 5:47 AM To: Pratik Datta Cc: XMLSec WG Public List Subject: Re: Streamable XPath Profile Review Hi Pratik, see inline (this message still relates to Action-614 ) Pratik Datta wrote: > 1. The document by now is structured as a kind of "limitation of XPath > 1.0". This means it is very hard to read (or understand) it without > having the XPath 1.0 spec next to it. I'm not sure this is the ideal way > to shape the spec, though being a "profile" for XPath. > > Pratik: Are you saying that the spec is pointing out limitations of XPath? That is definitely not the intention. It is rather a "diff" of the XPath 1.0 grammar and the proposed grammar. Instead of a diff we can put in the new grammar - that might make it easier to read. > That's what I wanted to say: the document lists a diff between XPath 1.0 and Streaming. Instead, I'd propose writing the resulting grammar itself, explaining its differences from full XPath 1.0 in plain text where appropriate. > 4a. Allowing the descendant axis implies that it is possible to have > XPaths resulting in more than one context node at each step. For > instance, evaluating "//A//B" in the XML document > "" has up to three different context > nodes during its evaluation, and ends up with two nodes being part of > the result, one of them being result of three different evaluation > paths. We've been talking about this before. It is valid to have such > selections, it just makes evaluation become more complex (potential for > Denial of Service here!!), since you have to maintain more than one > context node per streaming event. > > ------ > Pratik: I am not following this very well. What do you mean by a "context node during evaluation". We have seen use cases for something like this "//A". i.e. sign all  elements wherever they are in the document. So we do need to support the descendant axis. Maybe we can allow only one descendant axis? Imagine an XPath of "//A//B" evaluated against the document given above. On streaming processing you encounter the first , so first step of the XPath is found. The next  marks the first "hit" of the XPath. However, since this XPath used the descendant axis, the subsequent other occurrences of  and  elements produce additional evaluation contexts and hits. For instance, right after parsing the third , there are four different XPath evaluation contexts open concurrently, three looking for a  (one for each previous occurrence of ), and one still looking for an  (the initial XPath, stil searching for matches to the step "//A"). If you omit such "wildcard" axes, the number of concurrent evaluation contexts is reduced to 1, for all cases. /A/B is either a hit (if document node is called A) or not, but not both at once. Of course, you still can find more than one "XPath hit" here (as in ""), but the evaluation context always has a single context node (first the document root, then the single A, then the first B, then the single A, then the second B, then the single A, then the document root, then you're done). > > > > > 4b. Similar to 4a, having "|" allowed implies possibility of more than > one context node. > > ------ > Pratik: Again I am not understanding this. But if we do not support this, then our selection cannot have multiple disjoint subtrees, and we would need a separate reference per subtree. To me that is very limiting, > Well, it would still be possible to have multiple disjoint subtrees, as long as they are selected using the same XPath (see  in the example above). Besides that you are right, for other cases we'd need another Reference for additional subtrees. We just have to decide whether we want this or not. Just to clarify my position: I have no objections against allowing descendant and the "or" operator. Both are streamable, and the additional complexity is minimal. I just wanted to point out that there is a less complex subset that has about the same capabilities (but may require more than one Reference to be used). > > 4c. the profile explicitly excludes the use of the "text()" and "node()" > operators in order not to run into complex text node collection issues, > which are very difficult in streaming evaluators. However, XPath 1.0 has > some loopholes that still run into selecting texts. For instance, the > XPath 1.0 function of "string()" without explicit argument implies to > convert the context node to string, which means concatenating all its > text node descendants. Hence, we have implicit text() selection here. In > the same line, I'm not yet convinced whether other conversion functions > of XPath 1.0 (any "node-set to X conversion") might also result in > implicit access to data that is not available in the streaming model. > This would require an in-depth compatibility analysis between the > Streamable XPath profile and XPath 1.0. > > ------ > Pratik: There is one limitation that we have places that eliminates many of these problems. Predicates can have expressions referring to attributes. E.g. you cannot do something like string(/foo/bar), you can only do string(@title). But yes, as you pointed out , we still allow string() with no arguments. I didn't realize that his led to text node collection. We would need to disallow this. However we should still allow local-name() and namespace-uri() with empty arguments, because they don't result in text node collection. > Regarding this point: I once suggested the use of XPath expressions like //*[local-name()="X" and namespace-uri()="Y"] to get around the namespace prefix issues. Maybe we should explicitly allow---and recommend---such constructs in the profile as well? However, this would imply allowing more complex predicates for non-final XPath steps. > 4e. The "following" and "following-sibling" axes in fact are streamable, > yet I don't see a good reason to keep them in this profile since they > would make evaluation get way more complex again. > > ------ > Pratik: I guess they are streamable, because they are forward only. We could add them. > Regarding complexity, I think it is ok to be complex. XPath 1.0 is complex and 2.0 is even more. What we are proposing is much less complex than either. I am assuming most Signature implementation will just be DOM based and not use streaming at all. Streaming is only for very performance sensitive usages. > Agreed, however, to my consideration the streaming capability has been one of the major goals behind the design of XML Signature 2.0, and I can imagine a broad adaptation community for this in the Web Services world (where performance really matters). Hence, we should not treat this as some side-effect of 2.0, but merely as a major factor. In that light, we have to decide about a general strategy for the streaming support: do we want to have it most feature-complete hence most complex to implement, or have it essentials-only but easy to implement (and maybe thus better in terms of performance)? Again, I do not insist in having "following" in, but I have also no objections to keep it out. Maybe we have to get back to this issue once we've made a decision regarding the "relative XPath" issue (where the XPath is relative to the <Signature> element or whatever). In such cases, a "following-sibling" axis may be useful (e.g. in "sign the "following" node of the <Signature> element that is named soap:Body"). > > 4f. The given grammar explicitly disallows predicates in non-final XPath > steps. This contradicts with example no. 5 that says > "/book/chapter[2]/title[1]" would be allowed. In fact, "chapter[2]" is > an abbreviation of "chapter[position()=2]", hence being a regular > predicate. In this case I'd strongly recommend to allow position > indicators to be used in non-final XPath steps. This is one of the major > requirements for fending signature wrapping attacks: the XPath > expression must pin down the signed element's location precisely, hence > would definitely need position indicators at every step. I'd even go so > far as to recommend having position indicators being REQUIRED for every > step. > > > ----- > Pratik: Good catch. Earlier we were not allowing predicates in non final XPath steps. I made some changes to allow that, but I guess I forgot to change the grammar. > > But I don't agree with pinning down the position. Suppose somebody says /soap:Envelope/soap:Body[1]. There should be only one <soap:Body> in a <soap:Envelope> element. However a rogue client might capture a signed message with one body, and then add a second body to the message -the signature will only be on the first one. The server which is expecting only one soap:body might look at the last one - so it will end up processing work of the unsigned one. To prevent this we should recommend using an XPath like this /soap:Envelope/soap:Body , with this if a rogue client attaches a second soap:Body , the signature will break, because the Xpath will select both the soap:Body ies. > You are right, in this scenario the use of /soap:Envelope/soap:Body will render that attack infeasible. However, if the application logic is written in a way that it always processes the last soap:Body this means that the application logic already contains an error, and that this error is not inline with the XML Signature. In such a scenario, the correct approach woulf have been to use an XPath expression like /soap:Envelope[1]/soap:Body[position()=last()] in order to exactly reproduce the behaviour of the application logic. (To anticipate: I know that we kicked the last() function). What I wanted to say is that pinning down the exact position is better than being "generous" and hoping that the attack will become infeasible by other means (such as you described). > > > > 4g. The specified subset of XPath in fact is very close to the FastXPath > subset we've been proposing in 2009 > (http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/freeabs_all.jsp?arnumber=5175871&abstractAccess=no&userType=inst). > One of the interesting differences, though, is that FastXPath also > prohibits the use of the "or" operator within predicates. The rationale > behind that was to stick to the "policy of reduction": during > evaluation, every test in every step of the XPath either keeps a > (single) context node or switches to the empty result set (and > immediately cancels further evaluation). The "or" operator violates this > policy: if the first condition evaluates to "false" (=> result-set gets > empty), it is possible that the second condition might become "true", > putting the context node back in to the result-set. Again, this causes > additional parsing complexity (Denial of Service via huge amount of "or" > conditions). However, this was a design decision for FastXPath that I'd > recommend to consider for the Streamable XPath Profile, but I do not > insist in its adoption. > > > ---- > Pratik: I do not understand this denial of service here. In the algorithm that I have in my mind, Streaming XPath evaluator is a filter. The entire XML document is streamed through this filter one event at a time, and the filter says Yes or No and passes it on to canonicalization. No XML event is processed more than once. What do you mean by "keeping a context node"? > That DoS was a theoretical threat which I wouldn't see as a real-world attack vector. It was just a hint at the complexity issues you might run into, especially if the "or" predicates would have been allowed to contain full XPath expressions themselves. Again, I have no objections against "or", I just wanted to reason why FastXPath excluded it. > 5b. in "1. Introduction" list item "2.b." says that "/book/chapter[3]" > is not expressable in XMLDSig's XPath Filter. > "ancestor-or-self::chapter[ . = /book/chapter[3] ]" should do, yet I > agree with the intention behind this sentence that it is way too complex. > > ------ > Pratik: I don't think this expression means the same thing. As far as I understand the equality operator compares the string-value of the node sets. So if /book/chapter[4]'s string value was exactly the same as /book/chapter[3], then ancestor-or-self::chapter[ . = /book/chapter[3] ]" will sign both of those chapters. In fact this will also match /book/appendix/chapter[1] if its content is the same. > You're right, I thought node-set comparison with "=" would be node-by-node identity comparison. Once again a weird design decision of XPath.... best regards Meiko -- Dipl.-Inf. Meiko Jensen Chair for Network and Data Security Horst Görtz Institute for IT-Security Ruhr University Bochum, Germany _____________________________ Universitätsstr. 150, Geb. IC 4/150 D-44780 Bochum, Germany Phone: +49 (0) 234 / 32-26796 Telefax: +49 (0) 234 / 32-14347 http:// www.nds.rub.deReceived on Tuesday, 24 August 2010 07:53:02 UTC
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The ruins left behind after warfare speak a language of their own. Even more strikingly, no matter where the conflict has taken place — whether it's in northern Europe or the South Pacific, the Middle East or Central Africa — the vernacular of destruction is often the same. Buildings reduced to rubble and dust. A scarred, tortured landscape seemingly devoid of life, aside from small human forms trying to piece it back together. Twisted, rusting, abandoned vehicles. And always, above it all, the indifferent sky.
[Buy the book, D-Day: Remembering the Battle that Won the War – 70 Years Later]
Here, LIFE.com presents a series color photos — none of which were published in LIFE magazine — made in northwestern France by LIFE photographer Frank Scherschel and detailing the devastating impact of the invasion and its aftermath. The impulse behind posting the gallery, meanwhile, is really no more complicated than this: to commemorate those Allied troops who fought and died; to honor those who fought and lived; and to mark the occasion by also remembering what happened to countless towns — and townspeople — in France and around the globe when the Second World War unleashed hell in the midst of their lives.
A note on the photographer: Frank Scherschel (1907-1981) was an award-winning staff photographer for LIFE well into the 1950s. His younger brother Joe was a LIFE photographer, as well.
In addition to the Normandy invasion, Frank Scherschel photographed the war in the Pacific, the 1947 wedding of Princess Elizabeth, the 1956 Democratic National Convention, collective farming in Czechoslovakia, Sir Winston Churchill (many times), art collector Peggy Guggenheim, road racing at Le Mans, baseball, football, boxing, a beard-growing contest in Michigan and countless other people and events, both epic and forgotten.
Finally: Information on the specific locations or people who appear in the photographs in this gallery is not always available; Scherschel and his colleagues simply did not have the means to provide that sort of data for every single one of the countless photographs they made throughout the war. When the locale or person depicted in an image in this gallery is known, it is noted in the caption.


text:
Singapore's property market is unlikely to be hit too hard by the concerns about an unwinding in U.S. monetary stimulus which are giving Asian asset prices a drubbing, analysts say.
Expectations that the cheap liquidity which has helped boost Asian real estate markets will come to an end with the U.S. Federal Reserve likely to start winding down its monetary stimulus soon have hit Asian risk assets hard. The sell-off in emerging markets this week has been particularly pronounced.
(Read more: First India, then Indonesia... who is next?)
The hit from the Fed tapering fears to Singapore's property market is already underway, said Tim Gibson, head of Asian property equities at Henderson Global, which has around $107 billion worth of assets under management.
"Anything that is yield-like has been sold off," he said, saying there has been a knee-jerk reaction to worries about an unwinding of the Fed's asset purchase program. He expects the shake-out period to last three to six months.
But he added, "we are in a cyclical macro recovery … It should be positive for real estate in terms of top line rental growth."
Singapore's new private home sales dropped by around 73 percent to 481 homes in July from June's 1,806, in part due to the city-state's efforts to cool the market, according to data from Singapore's Urban Redevelopment Authority.
But in the second quarter, private home prices rose 1.0 percent from the previous quarter, remaining around record highs.
(Read more: Singapore takes further steps to cool housing market)
Property prices are not likely to fall too much in the months ahead, said Tata Goeyardi, a property analyst at Religare Capital. "It usually comes down because of distressed selling. But economic growth is stronger than expected. People are keeping their jobs," he noted. "Even if it comes down, there won't be a crash."
Singapore's gross domestic product (GDP) for the second quarter rose 15.5 percent from the previous quarter on an annualized basis, topping analysts' expectations for a 14 percent rise and spurring some economists to raise their full-year forecasts for economic growth.
Employment conditions in Singapore meanwhile remain relatively robust. The country's unemployment rate stood at 2.1 percent in the second quarter, up from 1.9 percent in the first quarter. Still, that compares with an unemployment rate of 3.9 percent in Japan and 7.4 percent in the U.S.
Goeyardi said it was a good time to buy into Singapore's property stocks since concerns that potential Fed tapering would turn Singapore's real interest rates positive was probably priced in a couple of months ago.
(Read more: Which emerging market stocks have it the worst?)
Going strong
"There's still strong demand for homes, especially in the suburbs and there's still liquidity in the market," added David Neubronner, national director for residential property at Jones Lang LaSalle Property in Singapore.
But there might be some trouble ahead, he added.
"In the short term, it [housing market] should hold up, but medium to long term, there will be pressure because of the new supply coming up," Neubronner said.
In a July research note, Daiwa estimated the pipeline of new homes in Singapore at 200,000 units for 2013-17.
(Read more: Singapore investors fearless despite easing prices)
Neubronner added that public housing prices were falling, which could undermine demand for condominiums.
Another property analyst, who asked not to be named, said Singapore's property market was clearly at a peak right now.
"Any negative development could trigger a sharp correction in the market. I would guess the Fed tapering could be one of those catalysts," he said.