text:
An old acquintance of mine seen from other people's eyes. - 薛蛮子 一个嬉笑怒骂的好玩老头. comparative reading of "The Paradox of VC seed investing" by Brian Singerman from TechCrunch
An old acquintance of mine seen from other people's eyes. - 薛蛮子 一个嬉笑怒骂的好玩老头. comparative reading of "The Paradox of VC seed investing" by Brian Singerman from TechCrunch
LOL. what jazmine is this in the air ? after all these years
How come it wasn't called a gay particle?
Instead of blocking straight passers-by mass and ask them 'do you have a moment to support gay rights', OBGYN advocates should put out a big sign, converting this god particle to gay particle. It makes perfect sense, isn't it?
A gay particle walks into the church,
The priest says 'I'm sorry but we don't recognize your existence'.
The gay spirit replies 'Well, you can't have mass without me.'
I'm translating 'Occidental Eschatology' (English translation done by David Ratmoko) into Chinese. Can't believe a 23-year-old wrote the book in 1947 in Zurich. I wonder how Jacob Taube had his 'irreparable' break with Gershom Scholem. What was that about? which reminds me to read Gershom Scholem's 'major trends in Jewish Mysticism' (1941).
If Western History is tragedy of Freedom as stated by young Jacob Taube, my impression is that civilization of the East is the tragedy of Family/Tribal conformism.
Taube stated 'The question is How does finite freedom, which is an element of time, relate to absolute freedom, an element of eternity? This relationship can be determined in theistic-transcendental, pantheistic-immanent, and atheistic-materialistic terms.' For my Gnostic inclination, how to determine/comprehend the essence of history through 'Latin, Greek, classic Chinese' terms or 'Arab, Hindi and Hebrew' terms?
ipv6 LINKY 'TO-READ':
I hope raph is behind this knowledge graph launch as well.
Another interesting discovery today is this debate between a linguistic ex-missionary field worker vs. towering intellectual giant on their long stretched battle about recursion & culture-language connection and universal grammar of happiness. I'll give a re-write when I sip through my own factual findings and faith initiatives.
darn! how come I don't have 'come and work among us', like this man and his bosses's tacit understanding ? I wonder if he ever regretted leaving Europe and die in Princeton hospital. I would if I were him. Imagine their treatment of his brain! I bet that wouldn't have happened if he died in a hospital in old Europe.
I can only think of a better design than Chuck's push-down stacks is my poor memory bank striving to replay steps I took on the game board against my imaginary adversaries. I wonder if any master can replay 1000 steps on any normal day against any worthy opponents. It usually won't take more than 200 steps to finish 19x19 game. I've seen teachers play against a dozen students.
New HTML Parser: The long-awaited libxml2 based HTML parser code is live. It needs further work but already handles most markup better than the original parser.
Keep up with the latest Advogato features by reading the Advogato status blog.
If you're a C programmer with some spare time, take a look at the mod_virgule project page and help us with one of the tasks on the ToDo list!


text:
Family: Lycaenidae, Gossamer-wing Butterflies view all from this family
Description The Hoary Elfin or Callophrys polios is a Gossamer-wing Butterflies from the Lycaenidae family found in North America.
Similar species in Henry's Elfin's range include the Frosted Elfin (Callophrys irus), the Brown Elfin (Callophrys augustinus), and the Hoary Elfin (Callophrys polios).
The Hoary Elfin is smaller, males have a stigma, it lacks hindwing tails, the underside of the hind wing outer margin is completely frosted, and the fore wing outer margin is also frosted.
Dimensions 3/4-1" (19-25 mm).
Habitat Meadows & fields, Scrub, shrub & brushlands, Alpine & subalpine habitats.
Range New England, Plains, Rocky Mountains, Alaska, California, Eastern Canada, Southwest, Great Lakes, Northwest, Mid-Atlantic, Western Canada.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Part-time Assistant Professor
Loretta Wolozin's driving professional interest is 'how people learn.' She graduated from Parsons' MFADT program (2002) and also has a Master's Degree (MAT) in English Literature and California Standard Secondary School Teacher's Credential. She is part-time Parsons faculty, teaching MFADT thesis (2002-current) and Design Team member, Quest to Learn School (Q2L). As a founding member of Q2L she is co-author of Quest to Learn: Developing the School for Digital Kids (2011: The MIT Press). In her prior life she was Senior Sponsoring Editor for K-12 Teacher Education books and materials at Houghton Mifflin (Boston). Her projects and publications include: Video: In Classrooms (HM); Parsons Thesis Project: On a Full Moon: Integrating Story and Literacy Skills; StoryKaleidoscope: Character Point-of-View; Quest to Learn Design Dimensions Rubrics; "Look Duck Feet: Kinderboard on Kindertable Goes to School" http://www.tiesmagazine.org/archives/dec_2002/pdf/dec_2002_DuckFeet.pdf; Literacy Inventory Protocol: Pedagogical Tool for Iterative Prototype Design, presented at the CHIkids IDC conference (2005) http://www.daimi.au.dk/~evae/Blandat/Intet/posters/wolozin.pdf. Her current research focusses on how learning happens and deepens with interactive, digital art.
Thesis Studio 1
Thesis Studio 2


text:
Check Out the Weigh-Ins for Legend Fighting Featuring Badr Hari
- Written by Dave Walsh
Yes! This goes down tomorrow, where we get to see Badr Hari take on Zabit Samedov again after their uber-exciting fight from March. Badr has had more time in the gym now and that ring rust won't be a factor like it was last time around, which means that we could see a killer Badr Hari in the ring. Then, of course, there is a pretty awesome one-night, four man tournament featuring some of the best 71kg fighters in the world.
Oh, and Bob Sapp is fighting Aleks Emelianenko.
Watch the weigh-ins video here and don't forget that it will be available on UStream PPV live this Saturday.


text:
2015: 40+ years in space!
Relationships with all satelliteprimes.
Locations in Canada, USA, UK, China & India to access commercial, civil and military programs in the largest space markets
On board 950 satellites and counting...
On over 80% of all commercial communications satellites ever launched.
Supplier of high reliability & quality space hardware and subsystems for almost four decades.


text:
Open source developers are their own best fans. Where is the external support? Bumeer, eh?
Must code. Must... exercise... brain...
Yikes, it's been a while. That pesky software bug is biting again, nagging and pulling at me. Sooner than later I will capitulate.
First needs object libraries. I'm almost there, so it isn't a matter of design as much as implementation. Maybe that's why I haven't been excited about it. Combined with templates, user-defined objects in custom libraries will make it a generally useful tool.
Useful tools are even more useful when they are accessible, which means building a reasonable installer that combines the applet with the desktop components. I hate dealing with installers. None of them are good. If you build an installer builder, read this and are offended, I appologize. But, like it or not, your application sucks. Make it easier to use.


text:
Web Stories
Just war lecture series to be presented, April 15-16
Posted April 12, 2002; 05:16 p.m.
A lecture series on the topic "Just War vs. Just Cause: What Role Does Justice Play in the War on Terrorism?" is planned for Monday and Tuesday, April 15-16, at McCosh 66.
Jonathan Marks, visiting lecturer in the Woodrow Wilson School and the politics department, will speak about "The Search for Infinite Justice: What is the Best Forum for the Trial of International Terrorists?" at 7 p.m. on April 15. Marks is a barrister at Matrix Chambers in London. His fields of interest are international law, human rights law and environmental law.
"The War on Terrorism: The Challenge of Our Lifetimes" will be the topic of Kasey Pipess lecture at 7:30 p.m. on April 16. Pipes, associate director of the White Houses Office of Strategic Initiatives, will present a philosophical defense of why we are fighting, what we are fighting for, and why this struggle is truly the challenge of our times.
The series is sponsored by Ideas In Action , a program dedicated to promoting awareness of issues and student discussion at Princeton through a series of theme weeks. These weeks are the result of the collaborative efforts of student organizations, performing arts groups, faculty, staff and alumni to provide an engaging series of debates, lectures, discussions and performances relating to current issues. The lecture series is co-sponsored by the Projects Board, the Dean of Undergraduate Students and the College Republicans.
Contact: Marilyn Marks (609) 258-3601


text:
Due to vendor restrictions this product does not qualify for this offer.
World's Largest Aftermarket Motorcycle Parts and Accessories Superstore!
Input the part number and quantity to add a part directly to your cart.
Due to vendor restrictions this product does not qualify for this offer.
Continue Shopping
$44.96 Save 10%! Regularly: $49.99
Checking availability...
Our customer service has the answer.
J&P Part: 222-881 On Sale!
Design: Solid
Face Shield: No
Gender: Men's, Women's
Helmet Model: Skid Lid Original Helmets
Material: Thermoplastic Alloy
Product Color: Black
Sold in Units: Each
Style: Original
Visor: No
|Head Measurement (Inches)
|Head Measurement (Centimeters)
|19 1/4"–19 5/8"
|49 cm–50 cm
|20 1/8"–20 1/2"
|51 cm–52 cm
|20 7/8"–21 1/4"
|53 cm–54 cm
|21 5/8"–22"
|55 cm–56 cm
|22 1/2"–22 7/8"
|57 cm–58 cm
|23 1/4"–23 5/8"
|59 cm–60 cm
|24"–24 3/8"
|61 cm–62 cm
|24 3/4"–25 1/4"
|63 cm–64 cm
|25 5/8"–26"
|65 cm–66 cm
Good helmet for a good price
Got this for my wife and she loves it. Perfect fit and style and look are top notch.
like it...fits well and looks good,
The fit is perfect, and the description is very accurate. The profile of the helmet is very smooth and not bulky or "mushroomed" at all. even for DOT.
I like the helmet's narrow profile and the fact it doesn't make me look like a conehead. Other half helmets sit too high on my head, so I was pleased that this lid doesn't. Being an open-faced helmet, I was worried ambient noise would be unbearable. I was surprised at how much noise the helmet actually filters out thanks to snug-fitting sides. The inner liner not only covers up the EPS foam layer cleanly, it makes for a comfortable fit and helps cut down the howl of passing wind. The tight seal also means the helmet doesn't try to blow off your head as bad as a half-shell, so the chin strap doesn't choke me out when I'm bombing down the highway. With its stitched diamond-tuck pattern, the inner liner looks cool, too.
Great fit. A bit thick though.
The helmet fit great. Sadly, I only got to wear it four times before I went down on the freeway. Luckily, I'm alive and will be able to ride again. The helmet took a lot of impact and was a lifesaver!
Great fit and it does its job! I only got to wear it four times, before putting it to use. I went down on the freeway, this 23rd and the helmet did its part in protecting my life!
Nice Helmet
Good lid my granddaughter liked it so I gave it to her for when she rides
I just received one in the mail, I am back on the search for a dot helmet. For one thing I used the size chart and got a medium, its so tight I couldn't keep it if I wanted it. For another thing its giant, looks ridiculous, I was thinking the name skid lid would mean it was cool, not so much.
Great fit, nice and light.
Decent helmet for the price.
It's a good cheep helmet. I got lots of help from the staff.
Great helmet for the price!
fits great nice low profile for DOT helmet.
Comfortable but bigger than what was described. A little bit of "mushroom" head going on.
great price and fit
Good fit and not huge. Good helmet!
looking for smaller outer shell size.
Little bulky. But comfortable and made with quality and style.shipping was fast and at a decent price. I will order again
awesome fit love it
good fit from your recommended size,comfortable
enjoy the helmet fine performs as expected as always your products are well explained and shipped out fast very happy doing my shopping with your company
The helmet style was exactly what I was looking for, however, I have a difficult time finding a good fit.
Fits decent and light but not the lightest DOT half helmet. Well worth the cost though. Very happy with it
I bought as a cheapy back up to throw in the bag, in case I needed to pick someone up, that I hadn't planned on. Ended up being so comfortable that I threw one of my older ones in the bag, and I wear the cheapy!
I bought as a cheapy back up to throw in the bag, in case I needed to pick someone up, that I hadn't planned on. Ended up being so comfortable that I threw one of my older ones in the bag, and I wear the cheapy!
Email A Friend
Call Us 24/7 1-800-318-4823


text:
Web Stories
Talk on 'Decoding Race, Religion and Difference' to be held, March 26
Posted March 22, 2002; 07:05 p.m.
Tuesday, March 26, Jaideep Singh will discuss media issues that have faced Sikhs, Muslims and Arabs in the six months since Sept.11. The talk, entitled "Decoding Race, Religion and Difference," will begin at 7:30 p.m. in 302 Frist.
Singh is a visiting instructor at Oberlin College's history department and also serves as managing director for the Sikh Mediawatch and Resource Task Force , a media monitoring and civil rights advocacy organization.
In addition, Singh is working on a documentary film excavating the lost history of Sikhs in World War II, through which he hopes recover this forgotten segment of the Sikh community's collective history. His research interests include South Asian American diasporic communities, the intersections of racial and religious bigotry, contemporary U.S. race relations, racialized media representations and Asian American politics.
This event is sponsored by the Sociology Department , the Arab Society and the Muslim Students Association, Ombudsman's Office, The Council for Regional Studies , Committee on South Asia , American Studies Department , and the International Center . The event is organized by the South Asian Students Association .
Contact: Marilyn Marks (609) 258-3601


text:
Happy Birthday Josh! I'm sorry I missed it too.
Happy Birthday Josh! I'm sorry I missed it too.
BAD needs: HK-50 torso, right arm and head
YVH-1 head
Trusty traders / buyers/ sellers: Tycho, SK99, DarthChuckMC, minirock(X2), Lman316, Turbowars
You didn't miss it. Today IS my birthday. I think you were reading an old post. So thanks guys. I've got to really try and make the most out of this new year in my life - knowing that I'm lucky to have it for sure!
BAD Pts Need: R5-C7 lf leg (x2), , R4-P44 right leg BAD Pts Offered For Trade: PM me - I have lots of parts now including BG-J38!. New Kyle Katarn is also available.
Even if it's no longer on that day, I still send greetings on the way.
I hope my lateness makes you unannoyed, so now go sniff some mint mouse droid.
I predict that the upcoming Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi film will include the word "and." Multiple times.
Happy birthday!
oxycontin and mouse droids, what a perfect way to celebrate a birthday. have a good one Tycho.
Happy Birthday, dude.
Vist http://www.tvandfilmtoys.com!
Or Follow me on Twitter:
Happy Birthday, Tycho! Have a great day!
McCoy: What do those super sensitive ears make of that, Mr. Spock?
Spock: Wood. Rubbing on some kind of leather.
*brushes off teh dust* cough cough
eh! Happy Birthday Mr Josh! Happy Birthday indeed
[FONT=Comic Sans MS]Salsa Shark.. I think were gonna need a bigger boat..[/FONT]


text:
Had 2 spots in mind last night and picked the one holding birds friday morning. Arrived at empty parking spot 4:45 am, was 200 yards from where bird sounded friday at 5:10, I heard footsteps and i flash my gps light at the guy at 20 yards, he stops in the field and plows into the woods right in front of me for 100yards to probably blow them off the roost. So much for ethics. I head to front side as my spot is screwed and his buddy is already there. Moved off 500yards ,sat down and soft called for 2 hours as I listened to somebody setting calls on fire. Figured i'd hang to see what happens. No shots in the area and 3 total in 2 hours. The worst of it is it did not surprise me. Figure these birds screwed for awhile. Vacation next week, Im sure today sapped alot of 1st day hunters for the year.
roughrider out


text:
Adding a logo
You can add an image logo to your Headlines header space very easily by navigating to your Appearance → Theme Options in your WordPress backend and select the General Settings tab. Then click on the Upload button under the Custom Logo header.
Adding your latest tweet to the header space
With Headlines you can display your latest tweet in the header space, to the right of your logo. To set this up navigate to the Appearance → Theme Options then click on the Layout Options and add your twitter username there. Click Save Changes and it should start working immediately.
Setting up your navigation menus
By default the Headlines themes displays two navigation menus below your header space, the top navigation menu is reserved for your WordPress pages, whilst the one directly below is reserved for your blog post categories.
With Headlines you however also have the option to disable any one of these menus under the Appearance → Theme Options → Navigation panel.
You also can overwrite these two navigation menus with menus that consist of pages, categories and external links all combined in whatever order you like.
Find out more about this on the WordPress.com Custom Menu documentation page.
In the secondary navigation you can enable Category Descriptions if you are only using categories in this navigation. To do this, go to WP Menus and click Screen Options in the upper right corner and then click each parent category and fill out the description.
Setting up your home page featured slider
Navigate to your Appearance → Theme Options in your WordPress backend and select the Featured Slider tab. Then tick the Show the featured panel on the front page.
To pull through posts into this featured slider you must tag your blog posts with a specific tag, for example in our demo we've used "featured" as the tag. We set the posts to have this tag and then in theme options panel we specified this tag. You can have more than one tag to pull posts from, just make sure the tags are separated by commas.
You also have the option to show the featured banner in the top left of the post graphics, animate the slider and set auto heights for the slides.
Setting your featured image for your posts
On our demo you will see a thumbnail next to each post, as well as a featured image in each slide of the featured slider on the home page. To set this image, you need to add your image/s to your blog post and then in the Featured Image form, to the right of the WYSIWYG editor, select a particular image to be the one used in the slides and as a thumbnail in the post view.
Moving your sidebar from the right to the left of your theme
With Headlines you can move the sidebar to the left of the content, instead of as how it appears by default after being activated to the right of the content. To set this up navigate to the Appearance → Theme Options then tick the Show sidebar on the left instead of right checkbox.


text:
We have an application, that render and present some output. It have to work in window mode and it have to produce stable 60 fps minimum.
One version of application is using Direct3D 9 and another Direct3D 10. When we are working in window mode, sometimes we have fps decrease (it's not "stable" decrease. For most of time we are producing stable 60 fps, sometimes it suddenly decrease for several seconds and then getting back to 60 fps). On both version of application fps decrease is ~10-20 fps. It's unacceptable.
In Windows Vista and Windows 7 there are new graphic system, called "desktop composition", that changed the way applications display pixels on the screen. Desktop composition is performed by the Desktop Window Manager (DWM). You know, when DWM is enabled, applications draw into off-screen surfaces in video memory, than it rendered by DWM and presented onto display in some time. So, we noticed, when dwm.exe in Task manager don't do anything (have ~0% process time), we have fps decrease and when dwm.exe takes 1-3% process time there are stable 60 fps and all is ok.
We can't influence on it. So, we have to turn DWM off in order to have high stable fps. When we turn it off, all is ok. There are stable 60 fps on both versions of application. But DWM do the vsync in window mode, so when we turn it off, we have to do vsync by ourselves.
But when we turn DWM off, there is a problem with vsync in Direct3D 10 in window mode. There are image tearing in top of a monitor. Direc3D 9 keeps working well.
So, we have a monitor with 60 Hz refresh rate.
While creating swapchain, we set such params:
swapChainDesc.BufferDesc.RefreshRate.Numerator = 60;
swapChainDesc.BufferDesc.RefreshRate.Denominator = 1;
And while presenting we set a flag to turn vsync on:
m_pSwapChain->Present( 1, 0 );
And have the next vsync problem. There are vertical lines, that are moving fast from left side to right. And there is image tearing in the top of a monitor.
At first we think, that we are doing something wrong. So I installed Microsoft's sample "Tutorial 07: Texture Mapping and Constant Buffers" with rotating cube. Made cube bigger, placed it higher, made it to rotate faster and got the same problem (see pictures).
So, on Direct3D 10 in fullscreen mode all is ok. Vsync works perfectly. On Direct3D 9 it's all ok too, with DWM disabled or enabled, vsync works good. On Direct3D 10 in window mode with DWM disabled there are problems.
It was tested on different computers, different videocards (Nvidia 8600 GT, Nvidia 9500 GT, ATI Radeon HD 5870 Eyefinity 6) and different versions of drivers. Problem stably reproduced. We are using Windows 7.
So, why there is such problem? How to solve it and what to do next?
UPD1. If images above are unavailable, there are some mirrors.
UDP2. I want also to notice, that I'm creating window with the flag WS_POPUP in order to hide title bar (it has to be hidden). Image tearing appears in different places. It's always in the top of a screen, but it can be on 20 px, and can be on 50 px. So, while creating window with title bar, image tearing sometimes can be simply not visible with the top part of image.
Edited by nicolausYes, 14 November 2012 - 04:57 AM.


text:
Skip to Main Navigation
Skip to Main Content
SWLAW Home
Prospective Students
Current Students
About Southwestern
About Southwestern
About Southwestern Overview
Mission and History
Welcome to Southwestern
Promoting Diversity
Non-Discrimination Policy
Sexual Misconduct Policy
Consumer Information
Student Profiles
Faculty Profiles
Alumni Profiles
Amicus Project
Employment at Southwestern
Campus Safety and Security
Emergency Operations Plan
Academics Overview
J.D. Programs
Day Program
Evening Program
Part-time day JD: PLEAS
Two-year JD: SCALE®
Joint Degree Programs
Learning Outcomes
Traditional First-Year Curriculum Enhancements
Traditional Upper Division Curriculum Enhancements
Three-year SCALE JD/MBA Program
Certificate Programs
Certificate Programs in Law and Public Policy
Certificate Program in Bioscience Industry Law and Practice
LL.M. Programs
Course Listings
Course Information
First-Year Legal Writing
Course Syllabi
Book Lists
First Reading Assignments
Final Exams
Registration Information
Professional Skills and Upper Division Writing Requirements
About Highly Recommended Courses
Customize Your Curriculum
Legal Analysis, Writing and Skills (LAWS)
Experiential Learning
Clinical Program
Externship Program
Entertainment Law Programs
Biederman Entertainment & Media Law Institute
Journal of International Media & Entertainment Law
Honors Programs
Law Review
Journal of International Law
Moot Court Honors Program
Negotiation Honors Program
Trial Advocacy Honors Program
Write-On Competition
Study Abroad Programs
Summer Abroad
Semester Abroad
Summer Session
Program Details
Summer Entertainment Law
Academic Success
Public Interest Law
Southwestern Armenia Fellowship
Jose Siderman Human Rights Fellowship for Argentine Lawyers
Harvey L. and Lillian Silbert Public Interest Fellowship Program
Speakers and Visitors
Faculty Speaker Series
Treusch Public Service Lecture
Academic Calendar
Faculty Overview
Full-Time Faculty
Adjunct Faculty
Faculty Activities
Faculty TWEN Pages
Law Librarians
Board of Trustees
Journal of Legal Education
Amicus Project
Student Services
Student Services Overview
J.D. Admissions
Information for Applicants
Admission Policies
Application Deadlines
Prospects for Admission
Transfer and Visiting Students
Foreign Applicants
Scheduling Campus Visits
Events for Prospective Students
Admissions Application Status Check
Admissions Resource Connection (ARC)
ABA Required Disclosures
LL.M. Admissions
General LL.M. (Individualized Studies)
LL.M. in Entertainment and Media Law
Financial Aid
Tuition Rates
Types of Aid
Apply for Aid
Entrance/Exit Counseling
Frequently Asked Questions
Financial Aid Policies
Helpful Websites
Registration and Academic Records
Academic Calendar
Registration Information
Graduation and Bar Requirements
Enrollment Verification
Transcript Request
Student Services Fee
Career Services
Employment Statistics
Dean of Students and Diversity Affairs
Disability Services
Promoting Diversity
Student Handbook
Academic Success and Bar-Related Programs
Writing Center
Mindfulness, Peak Performance, and Wellness Programs at Southwestern
Student Life
Information for Entering/Current Students
Navigating Southwestern
Student Bar Association
Law School Survey of Student Engagement
Public Interest Law
Campus Overview
Los Angeles and Environs
Living in Los Angeles
Arriving in/Moving to Los Angeles
Bullocks Wilshire: An Art Deco Landmark
History of Bullocks Wilshire
Awards and Accolades
Support Bullocks Wilshire
Visiting Bullocks Wilshire
Room Rentals
Leigh H. Taylor Law Library
Julian C. Dixon Courtroom and Advocacy Center
JDC Features
Trial Advocacy and ADR
A Resource for the Profession
About Julian C. Dixon
Fitness Center
Student Housing
Virtual Campus Tour
Campus Safety & Security
Law Library
Library - Home
Support Southwestern
Support Southwestern Overview
Online Alumni Community
Alumni Events
Alumni Association
Honors Program Members' Challenge
Alumni at a Glance
Alumni Profiles
Annual Fund
Distinguished Giving
Honors Program Members' Challenge
Graduate Class Gift
Scholarship/Loan Funds
Professorship Funds
Building Fund
Special Program Funds
Planned Giving Opportunities
Planning Your Giving
Make A Gift Now
News Overview
News Releases
Southwestern Reporter Blog
Recent Publications
Media Guide
Southwestern Reporter Archives
Social Media
Career Services
Google Plus
Apply Online
Check Email
Contact Us
Media Resources
Employer Resources
Print This Page
Share This Page
Salle Moderne
Room Capacity: up to 75
Suitable for: Receptions, dinner/luncheons, parties, small lectures, meetings
Campus Overview
Los Angeles and Environs
Bullocks Wilshire: An Art Deco Landmark
History of Bullocks Wilshire
Awards and Accolades
Support Bullocks Wilshire
Visiting Bullocks Wilshire
Room Rentals
Facilities Usage Policies
Porte Cochere
Dixon Center
Central Hall
Louis XVI Room
La Directoire
Chanel Room
Wilshire Classrooms
Wilshire Seminar Rooms
Cactus Lounge
Tea Room
Salle Moderne
Seminar Room
Westmoreland Classrooms
Westmoreland Seminar Rooms
Court Classrooms
Student Commons
Elevator Court
Leigh H. Taylor Law Library
Julian C. Dixon Courtroom and Advocacy Center
Fitness Center
Student Housing
Virtual Campus Tour
Campus Safety & Security
Back to Top
©2017 Southwestern Law School. All Rights Reserved. |
Privacy Statement
Terms of Use
Accessibility Reference


text:
Alright it's been a while since I've programmed in C++ so this could be a simple fix but I'm just not seeing it.
I'm using Allegro 5, I have a main.cpp, a character.h, and a character.cpp
I have some test code in my main.cpp that works as it should:
ALLEGRO_BITMAP *characterSpriteSheet = al_load_bitmap("CharacterSpriteSheet.png"); characterAnimation walkingDown(6, 32, 32, 0, characterSpriteSheet); std::vector <ALLEGRO_BITMAP*> testvector(1); testvector[0] = al_create_sub_bitmap(characterSpriteSheet, 0, 0, 32, 32);
and then in the main game loop:
al_draw_bitmap(al_create_sub_bitmap(testvector[0], 0, 0, 32, 32), 0, 0, 0); al_flip_display(); //Blit to screen
al_create_sub_bitmap creates an ALLEGRO_BITMAP* object that shares the same memory but with different size / clipping.
my character.h looks like this:
#ifndef CHARACTER_H #define CHARACTER_H #include "allegro5/allegro.h" #include <vector> #include <string> class characterAnimation { public: characterAnimation(short int numOfSteps, short int height, short int width, short int row, ALLEGRO_BITMAP *spriteSheet); ALLEGRO_BITMAP *getNextFrame(void); private: short int numberOfSteps; short int currentStep; short int imageHeight; short int imageWidth; short int row; std::vector <ALLEGRO_BITMAP*> images; }; #endif
my character.cpp looks like this:
#include "character.h" characterAnimation::characterAnimation(short int numOfSteps, short int height, short int width, short int animationRow, ALLEGRO_BITMAP *spriteSheet) { numberOfSteps = (numOfSteps - 1); currentStep = 0; imageHeight = height; imageWidth = width; row = animationRow; std::vector <ALLEGRO_BITMAP*> images(numberOfSteps); for(int x = 0; x <= numberOfSteps; x++) { images[x] = al_create_sub_bitmap(spriteSheet, (imageWidth * x), (imageHeight * row), imageWidth, imageHeight); } }
the characterAnimation::getNextFrame(void) function is currently setup just to return the first element (0) of the vector to make things easier right now (since it's not working)
The problem seems to be in characterAnimations constructor - I'm thinking that the al_create_sub_bitmap() created pointers goes out of scope and gets destroyed possibly at the end of the constructor? resulting in a bunch of pointers that don't go anywhere sensible. Which would explain why my program crashes when I try to call al_draw_bitmap(images[x]). My question is, is that what's happening?
Currently my program crashes only when I try to draw an element from characterAnimation::images to the screen, For some reason these pointers aren't getting set, or are being destroyed, I have no idea why though, so any help would be awesome.


text:
Monthly payments required. Valid on Amount Financed of $5,000 or more of select new untitled Suzuki powersports models made between May 1, 2017 and June 30, 2017 on installment loan by Sheffield Financial. Model & year exclusions apply.
*Promotional Rate of 0% will be assigned. Example of monthly payments required over a 36-month term at a 0% rate: $27.78 per $1,000 financed. Program minimum amount financed is $5,000 and 0% – 18.4% down payment required. Rate and down payment based on credit approval criteria. Offer is subject to credit approval. Visit www.suzukicycles.com/offers to see which select models qualify for 0% APR for 36 months.
⋄ Suggested Starting Price shown does not include tax, title, or destination charge. Dealer prices may vary. Monthly payment amount is for estimation purposes only and may vary depending on available dealer financing options and / or Suzuki or individual dealer promotions at participating dealers. Contact your Suzuki dealer for details.
For your safety, always wear a helmet, eye protection, and protective clothing when riding any motorcycle or ATV. Never ride under the influence of alcohol or other drugs. Study your owner's manual and always inspect your Suzuki before riding. Take a riding skills course. For the MSF street course nearest you, call 1-800-446-9227. Off-road riders can enroll in the DirtBike SchoolSM by calling 1-877-288-7093. ATV riders can call the SVIA at 1-800-852-5344 and we'll even pay for the training. Suzuki engineered the GSX-Rs™, Hayabusa, and the QuadSport Z400 for experienced riders.
Specifications, appearances, equipment, color, features, materials and other items of "SUZUKI" products shown are subject to change by manufacturer at any time without notice.
Suzuki, the "S" logo, and Suzuki model and product names are Suzuki Trademarks or ®. © Suzuki Motor of America, Inc. 2016.


text:
A fire Sunday afternoon destroyed three buildings at what
was once Belcher's Auto Ranch in Tyler.
The fire started at around 5 p.m. off of FM 850 in East
Tyler, near Highway 31.
Fire officials say no
one was seriously injured in the fire. One man was taken to ETMC in Tyler to be
treated for a heart condition, after trying to pull items from the fire.
feels like I lost a piece of me. This is where we came and just relaxed," says
Hayden Belcher, grandson of Leroy Belcher.
says his grandfather opened Belcher's Auto Ranch more than 35 years ago.
"I know this makes my
grandfather pretty sad because this is something he built with his own hands and
now it's just burnt."
Smith County Fire
Marshal Jim Seaton says it brings back memories, "Back in my teen years I used
to buy auto parts and things like that here."
After the auto yard closed, Hayden turned one of the three
buildings on the property into a music hang out. He says the property was about
to have a new name.
were going to make this into a venue in two years, it was going to be called 'junkyard
Officials say no one was inside any of the buildings when
the fire started. Black smoke from burning tires filled the air as Hayden, his
father, and grandfather tried to save what they could.
I got here the first building was completely engulfed in flames. I was able to
get my drums and some other articles out that were of importance and watched
everything else burn," Hayden Belcher says.
All three buildings are destroyed. Still, Hayden says he is
not giving up and one day 'Junkyard Jams' will stand in place of the debris.
Chapel Hill, Jackson, Winona, and Whitehouse Fire Departments all responded to the fire. ETMC sent two units to the scene and the Smith County Sheriff's Office and Tyler Police Department assisted in blocking off FM 850 while firefighters got the flames under control.
Officials are still investigating the fire and don't know
how it started.
Hayden Belcher says the fire caused more than $50,000 in
Copyright 2013 KLTV. All rights reserved.
Two people were killed last night in a three vehicle crash on Loop 49 just North of Highway 64 in Smith County.


text:
Yottaa's CEXi is a compound index that quantifies the desktop and mobile user experience of a web application far more accurately than any single metric. The CEXi combines objective, measurable aspects of performance, such as page load speed from both mobile and desktop simulations, with specific weighting calculations to provide online businesses with an overall performance score that simulates the actual feeling, positive or negative, of using their web applications for a modern, cross-device user.
The Customer Experience Index focuses on three aspects of web performance: speed, parity of experience (across devices), and how well a site is optimized in relation to its complexity.
Click the button to get your organization's CEXi calculated and see where you stand in comparison to your competitors.


text:
Nice work by Issa.....
Issa's Benghazi document dump exposes several Libyans working with the U.S.
Nice work by Issa.....
Issa's Benghazi document dump exposes several Libyans working with the U.S.
"For everyone to whom much is given, of him shall much be required." -- Luke 12:48
Raven - Moneybird's Black Magic Marker***
(Esprit's Power Play x Trumarc's Lean Cuisine)
Mick - Moneybird's Jumpin' Jack Flash***
(Clubmead's Road Warrior x Oakdale Whitewater Devil Dog)
Peerless - Moneybird's Sole Survivor
(Two River's Lucky Willie x Moneybird's Black Magic Marker)
just doing his job someone has to if obama and hillary had done theirs none of this would be going on
The House Republicans voted unsuccessfully 32 times to repeal the Health Care Act (Obamacare). They brought lawsuits against it which get chucked out by the courts. They hold hearings ad nauseum. What a waste of taxpayer's money and time! No wonder the 112th Congress has been the least productive of any post-war Congress. What a pathetic joke! Term limits, please.
Last edited by zeus3925; 10-20-2012 at 12:02 PM.
I don't want to feed an ugly dog!


text:
Obesity is one of the main drivers of type 2 diabetes, and the increased prevalence of obesity underpins the increase in type 2 diabetes around the world. Nevertheless, there are many overweight and obese people who do not develop diabetes, and many leaner people do develop the condition. One of the reasons for this apparent discrepancy is varying genetic predisposition. Scientists have spent many years attempting to identify the DNA sequence variations and genes involved. They hoped that this work to discover genes would help them pinpoint the molecular defects that influence insulin resistance and insulin secretion, leading to new therapies, and help predict the risk for the disease. Tim Fraying provides this timely update.
Health Delivery [5]


text:
23rd Annual Studio Arts Workshops' Show and Sale Begins Nov. 4 at ACCC Art Gallery
October 29, 2008
MAYS LANDING--Atlantic Cape Community College's Art Gallery is featuring artwork from participants in its Studio Arts Workshops program Nov. 4-Dec. 10. An opening reception to meet the artists will be 1-4 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 9. The exhibit and reception are free and open to the public.
This exhibit marks the 23rd anniversary of the Studio Arts Workshops Program. The workshops offer a variety of visual arts instruction to the community-at-large and the opportunity to work with a professional artist for a nominal fee. The workshops have featured notable instructors such as Howard Watson, Homer Johnson and James Toogood. The exhibit, showcasing works by participants, will primarily include watercolors, pastels and drawings.
ACCC's Art Gallery is located on the college's Mays Landing Campus, 5100 Black Horse Pike, adjacent to the theater in C-building (C-125), parking lot #3. Gallery hours can be obtained by calling the ACCC Art Gallery Information Line, (609) 343-5040 (press 1).
For more information about ACCC's Art Gallery, or to book a group visit, contact Buddy Jacobs, at (609) 625-1111, 343-4900, 463-4774, ext. 5346 or email@example.com. Visit our gallery online at http://www.atlantic.edu//artgal/artgal.html.


text:
Renewable energy forum is March 5 at CLC
The future of renewable energy in Minnesota will be discussed by four professionals in the field at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 5, in the Chalberg Theatre at Central Lakes College in Brainerd.
Presenters at the free event are former state Sen. Ellen Anderson, now senior adviser to Gov. Mark Dayton on energy and environment; Jason Edens, director of the Rural Renewable Energy Alliance (RREAL) in Pine River; Troy Goodnough, sustainability director at the University of Minnesota-Morris; and Craig Fink, a principal owner of Minnesota-based Denali Energy.


text:
Vanuatu Population: 261,565
|« Previous Country | Next Country »
|Multiple waves of colonizers, each speaking a distinct language, migrated to the New Hebrides in the millennia preceding European exploration in the 18th century. This settlement pattern accounts for the complex linguistic diversity found on the archipelago to this day. The British and French, who settled the New Hebrides in the 19th century, agreed in 1906 to an Anglo-French Condominium, which administered the islands until independence in 1980, when the new name of Vanuatu was adopted.
A Y-shaped chain of four main islands and 80 smaller islands; several of the islands have active volcanoes and there are several underwater volcanoes as well
|Oceania, group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean, about three-quarters of the way from Hawaii to Australia
|Geographic coordinates:
| total: 12,189 sq km
land: 12,189 sq km
water: 0 sq km
note: includes more than 80 islands, about 65 of which are inhabited
Size comparison: slightly larger than Connecticut
|Land Boundaries:
|0 km
|2,528 km
|Maritime claims:
| measured from claimed archipelagic baselines territorial sea: 12 nm
contiguous zone: 24 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin
|tropical; moderated by southeast trade winds from May to October; moderate rainfall from November to April; may be affected by cyclones from December to April
|mostly mountainous islands of volcanic origin; narrow coastal plains
|Elevation extremes:
| lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m
highest point: Tabwemasana 1,877 m
|Natural resources:
|manganese, hardwood forests, fish
|Land use:
| arable land: 1.64%
permanent crops: 10.25%
other: 88.11% (2011)
|Irrigated land:
|Natural hazards:
|tropical cyclones or typhoons (January to April); volcanic eruption on Aoba (Ambae) island began on 27 November 2005, volcanism also causes minor earthquakes; tsunamis volcanism: significant volcanic activity with multiple eruptions in recent years; Yasur (elev. 361 m), one of the world's most active volcanoes, has experienced continuous activity in recent centuries; other historically active volcanoes include, Aoba, Ambrym, Epi, Gaua, Kuwae, Lopevi, Suretamatai, and Traitor's Head
|Current Environment Issues:
|most of the population does not have access to a reliable supply of potable water; deforestation
|International Environment Agreements:
| party to: Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 94
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
|^Back to Top
| noun: Ni-Vanuatu (singular and plural)
adjective: Ni-Vanuatu
|Ethnic groups:
|Ni-Vanuatu 98.5%, other 1.5% (1999 Census)
|local languages (more than 100) 72.6%, pidgin (known as Bislama or Bichelama - official) 23.1%, English (official) 1.9%, French (official) 1.4%, other 0.3%, unspecified 0.7% (1999 Census)
|Protestant 55.6% (Presbyterian 31.4%, Anglican 13.4%, Seventh-Day Adventist 10.8%), Roman Catholic 13.1%, other Christian 13.8%, indigenous beliefs 5.6% (including Jon Frum cargo cult), other 9.6%, none 1%, unspecified 1.3% (1999 Census)
|261,565 (July 2013 est.)
|Age structure:
| 0-14 years: 37.9% (male 50,548/female 48,477)
15-24 years: 19.7% (male 25,685/female 25,900)
25-54 years: 34% (male 43,552/female 45,273)
55-64 years: 4.9% (male 6,493/female 6,289)
65 years and over: 3.6% (male 4,817/female 4,531) (2013 est.)
|Dependency ratios:
| total dependency ratio: 69.5 %
youth dependency ratio: 62.8 %
elderly dependency ratio: 6.7 %
potential support ratio: 15 (2013)
|Median age:
| total: 20.8 years
male: 20.4 years
female: 21.1 years (2013 est.)
|Population growth rate:
|2.06% (2013 est.)
|Birth rate:
|26.35 births/1,000 population (2013 est.)
|Death rate:
|4.2 deaths/1,000 population (2013 est.)
|Net migration rate:
|-1.53 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2013 est.)
| urban population: 26% of total population (2010)
rate of urbanization: 4.2% annual rate of change (2010-15 est.)
|Sex ratio:
| at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
0-14 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
15-24 years: 1 male(s)/female
25-54 years: 0.96 male(s)/female
55-64 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 1.07 male(s)/female
total population: 1.01 male(s)/female (2013 est.)
|Maternal mortality rate:
|110 deaths/100,000 live births (2010)
|Infant mortality rate:
| total: 17.15 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 18.34 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 15.91 deaths/1,000 live births (2013 est.)
|Life expectancy at birth:
| total population: 72.38 years
male: 70.83 years
female: 74 years (2013 est.)
|Total fertility rate:
|3.47 children born/woman (2013 est.)
|Contraceptive prevalence rate:
|38.4% (2007)
|Health expenditures:
|5.3% of GDP (2010)
|Physicians density:
|0.12 physicians/1,000 population (2008)
|Hospital bed density:
|1.69 beds/1,000 population (2008)
|Drinking water source:
| improved:
urban: 98% of population
rural: 87% of population
total: 90% of population
urban: 2% of population
rural: 13% of population
total: 10% of population (2010 est.)
|Sanitation facility access:
| improved:
urban: 64% of population
rural: 54% of population
total: 57% of population
urban: 36% of population
rural: 46% of population
total: 43% of population (2010 est.)
|Obesity - adult prevalence rate:
|27.5% (2008)
|Children under the age of 5 years underweight:
|11.7% (2007)
|Education expenditures:
|5.2% of GDP (2009)
| definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 83.2%
male: NA 84.9%
female: NA 81.6% (2011 est.)
|School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education):
| total: 11 years
male: 11 years
female: 10 years (2004)
|^Back to Top
|Country name:
| conventional long form: Republic of Vanuatu
conventional short form: Vanuatu
local long form: Ripablik blong Vanuatu
local short form: Vanuatu
former: New Hebrides
|Government type:
|parliamentary republic
| name: Port-Vila (on Efate)
geographic coordinates: 17 44 S, 168 19 E
time difference: UTC+11 (16 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
|Administrative divisions:
|6 provinces; Malampa, Penama, Sanma, Shefa, Tafea, Torba
|30 July 1980 (from France and the UK)
|National holiday:
|Independence Day, 30 July (1980)
|30 July 1980
|Legal system:
|mixed legal system of English common law, French law, and customary law
|18 years of age; universal
|Executive branch:
| chief of state: President Iolu Johnson ABBIL (since 3 September 2009)
head of government: Prime Minister Moana CARCASSES Kalosil (since 23 March 2013)
cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the prime minister, responsible to parliament (For more information visit the World Leaders website )
elections: president elected for a five-year term by an electoral college consisting of parliament and the presidents of the regional councils; election for president last held on 2 September 2009 (next to be held in 2014); following legislative elections, the leader of the majority party or majority coalition usually elected prime minister by parliament from among its members; election for prime minister last held on 23 March 2013 (next to be held following general elections in 2016)
election results: Iolu Johnson ABBIL elected president, with 41 votes out of 58, on the third ballot on 2 September 2009; Moana CARCASSES Kalosil was elected prime minister following the resignation of Sato KILMAN on 21 March 2013
|Legislative branch:
| unicameral Parliament (52 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms)
elections: last held on 30 October 2012 (next to be held in 2016)
election results: percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - VP 8, PPP 6, UMP 5, GJP 4, NUP 4, IG 3, GC 3, NAG 3, RMC 3, MPP 2, NIPDP 2, PSP 1, VLDP 1, VNP 1, VPDP 1, VRP 1, and independent 4; note - political party associations are fluid note: the National Council of Chiefs advises on matters of culture and language
|Judicial branch:
| highest court(s): Supreme Court (consists of a chief justice and 3 judges); note - appeals from the Supreme Court are considered by the Court of Appeal, constituted by 2 or more judges of the Supreme Court sitting together judge selection and term of office: Supreme Court chief justice appointed by the president after consultation with the prime minister and the leader of the opposition; other judges are appointed by the president on the advice of the Judicial Service Commission, a 4-member advisory body; judges appointed until age of retirement
subordinate courts: magistrates' courts; island courts
|Political parties and leaders:
|Greens Confederation or GC [Moana CARCASSES Kalosil] Iauko Group or IG [NA] Land and Justice Party (Graon mo Jastis Pati) or GJP [Ralph REGENVANU] Melanesian Progressive Party or MPP [Barak SOPE] Nagriamel movement or NAG [NA] Natatok Indigenous People's Democratic Party or (NATATOK) or NIPDP [Alfred Roland CARLOT] National United Party or NUP [Ham LINI] People's Progressive Party or PPP [Sato KILMAN] People's Service Party or PSP [Don KEN] Reunification of Movement for Change or RMC [Charlot SALWAI] Union of Moderate Parties or UMP [Serge VOHOR] Vanua'aku Pati (Our Land Party) or VP [Edward NATAPEI] Vanuatu Democratic Party [Maxime Carlot KORMAN] Vanuatu Liberal Democratic Party or VLDP [Tapangararua WILLIE] Vanuatu National Party or VNP [Issac HAMARILIU] Vanuatu Progressive Development Party or VPDP [Robert Bohn SIKOL] Vanuatu Republican Party or VRP [Marcellino PIPITE]
|International organization participation:
|ACP, ADB, AOSIS, C, FAO, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IDA, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, IOC, IOM, ITU, ITUC (NGOs), MIGA, NAM, OAS (observer), OIF, OPCW, PIF, Sparteca, SPC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU (NGOs), WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO
|National symbol(s):
|boar's tusk
|National anthem:
| name: "Yumi, Yumi, Yumi" (We, We, We)
lyrics/music: Francois Vincent AYSSAV
note: adopted 1980, the anthem is written in Bislama, a Creole language that mixes Pidgin English and French
|Diplomatic representation in the US:
|Vanuatu does not have an embassy in the US; it does, however, have a Permanent Mission to the UN
|Diplomatic representation from the US:
|the US does not have an embassy in Vanuatu; the US ambassador to Papua New Guinea is accredited to Vanuatu
|^Back to Top
This South Pacific island economy is based primarily on small-scale agriculture, which provides a living for about two-thirds of the population. Fishing, offshore financial services, and tourism, with nearly 197,000 visitors in 2008, are other mainstays of the economy. Mineral deposits are negligible; the country has no known petroleum deposits. A small light industry sector caters to the local market. Tax revenues come mainly from import duties. Economic development is hindered by dependence on relatively few commodity exports, vulnerability to natural disasters, and long distances from main markets and between constituent islands. In response to foreign concerns, the government has promised to tighten regulation of its offshore financial center. In mid-2002, the government stepped up efforts to boost tourism through improved air connections, resort development, and cruise ship facilities. Agriculture, especially livestock farming, is a second target for growth. Australia and New Zealand are the main suppliers of tourists and foreign aid.
|GDP (purchasing power parity):
| GDP (purchasing power parity): $1.251 billion (2012 est.) $1.219 billion (2011 est.) $1.201 billion (2010 est.)
note: data are in 2012 US dollars
|GDP (official exchange rate):
|GDP (official exchange rate): $783 million (2012 est.)
|GDP - real growth rate:
|2.7% (2012 est.) 1.4% (2011 est.) 1.6% (2010 est.)
|GDP - per capita (PPP):
| GDP - per capita (PPP): $5,000 (2012 est.) $5,000 (2011 est.) $5,000 (2010 est.)
note: data are in 2012 US dollars
|GDP - composition, by end use:
| household consumption: 58.5%
government consumption: 16.5%
investment in fixed capital: 22.2%
investment in inventories: 0%
exports of goods and services: 52.2%
imports of goods and services: -49.4% (2012 est.)
|GDP - composition, by sector of origin:
| household consumption: 58.5%
government consumption: 16.5%
investment in fixed capital: 22.2%
investment in inventories: 0%
exports of goods and services: 52.2%
imports of goods and services: -49.4% (2012 est.)
|Agriculture - products:
|copra, coconuts, cocoa, coffee, taro, yams, fruits, vegetables; beef; fish
|food and fish freezing, wood processing, meat canning
|Industrial production growth rate:
|-3% (2012 est.)
|Labor force:
|115,900 (2007)
|Labor force - by occupation:
| agriculture: 65%
industry: 5%
services: 30% (2000 est.)
|Unemployment rate:
|1.7% (1999)
|Population below poverty line:
|Household income or consumption by percentage share:
| lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA%
| revenues: $159.5 million
expenditures: $181 million (2012 est.)
|Taxes and other revenues:
|20.4% of GDP (2012 est.)
|Fiscal year:
|calendar year
|Inflation rate (consumer prices):
|Inflation rate (consumer prices): 1.4% (2012 est.) 0.9% (2011 est.)
|Current account balance:
|-$126.9 million (2011 est.) -$105.2 million (2010 est.)
|$55.9 million (2012 est.) $67.4 million (2011 est.)
|Exports - commodities:
|copra, beef, cocoa, timber, kava, coffee
|Exports - partners:
|Thailand 59.9%, Japan 20.9% (2012)
|$316.4 million (2012 est.) $310.2 million (2011 est.)
|Imports - commodities:
|machinery and equipment, foodstuffs, fuels
|Imports - partners:
|China 19.9%, Singapore 18.6%, US 14.8%, Japan 11.4%, Australia 10.3%, Fiji 5.7%, NZ 4.7% (2012)
|Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:
|$207.7 million (31 December 2012 est.) $173.8 million (31 December 2011 est.)
|Debt - external:
|$307.7 million (31 December 2011 est.) $258.9 million (31 December 2010 est.)
|Stock of direct foreign investment - at home:
|$571.1 million (31 December 2012 est.) $527.1 million (31 December 2011 est.)
|Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad:
|$23.3 million (31 December 2012 est.) $23.3 million (31 December 2011 est.)
|Market value of publicly traded shares:
|Exchange rates:
|vatu (VUV) per US dollar - 92.81 (2012 est.) 89.47 (2011 est.) 96.91 (2010 est.)
|^Back to Top
|Electricity - production:
|55 million kWh (2009 est.) country comparison to the world: 202
|Electricity - consumption:
|51.15 million kWh (2009 est.)
|Electricity - exports:
|0 kWh (2010 est.)
|Electricity - imports:
|0 kWh (2010 est.)
|Electricity - installed generating capacity:
|12,000 kW (2009 est.)
|Electricity - from fossil fuels:
|100% of total installed capacity (2009 est.)
|Electricity - from nuclear fuels:
|0% of total installed capacity (2009 est.)
|Electricity - from hydroelectric plants:
|0% of total installed capacity (2009 est.)
|Electricity - from other renewable sources:
|0% of total installed capacity (2009 est.)
|Crude oil - production:
|0 bbl/day (2011 est.)
|Crude oil - exports:
|0 bbl/day (2009 est.)
|Crude oil - imports:
|0 bbl/day (2009 est.)
|Crude oil - proved reserves:
|0 bbl (1 January 2012 est.)
|Refined petroleum products - production:
|0 bbl/day (2008 est.)
|Refined petroleum products - consumption:
|1,170 bbl/day (2011 est.)
|Refined petroleum products - exports:
|0 bbl/day (2008 est.)
|Refined petroleum products - imports:
|676.4 bbl/day (2008 est.)
|Natural gas - production:
|0 cu m (2010 est.)
|Natural gas - consumption:
|0 cu m (2010 est.)
|Natural gas - exports:
|0 cu m (2010 est.)
|Natural gas - imports:
|0 cu m (2010 est.)
|Natural gas - proved reserves:
|0 cu m (1 January 2012 est.)
|Carbon dioxide emissions from consumption of energy:
|146,500 Mt (2010 est.)
|^Back to Top
|Telephones in use:
| 6,200 (2011)
country comparison to the world: 207
|Cellular Phones in use:
|137,000 (2011)
|Telephone system:
international: country code - 678; satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Pacific Ocean)
|Broadcast media:
|1 state-owned TV station; multi-channel pay TV is available; state-owned Radio Vanuatu operates 2 radio stations; 2 privately owned radio broadcasters; programming from multiple international broadcasters is available (2008)
|Internet country code:
|Internet hosts:
|5,655 (2012)
|Internet users:
|17,000 (2009)
|^Back to Top
| 31 (2013)
country comparison to the world: 114
|Airports (paved runways):
| total 3
2,438 to 3,047 m: 1
1,524 to 2,437 m: 1
914 to 1,523 m: 1 (2013)
|Airports (unpaved runways):
| total 28
914 to 1,523 m: 7
under 914 m: 21 (2013)
| total 1,070 km
paved: 256 km
unpaved: 814 km (1999)
|Merchant marine:
| total 77
by type: bulk carrier 38, cargo 8, chemical tanker 2, container 1, liquefied gas 2, passenger 1, refrigerated cargo 24, vehicle carrier 1
foreign-owned: 72 (Belgium 1, Canada 5, China 1, Greece 3, Japan 39, Norway 1, Poland 9, Russia 7, Singapore 2, Taiwan 1, UAE 1, US 2) (2010)
|Ports and terminals:
|Forari Bay, Luganville (Santo, Espiritu Santo), Port-Vila
|^Back to Top
|Military branches:
|no regular military forces; Vanuatu Police Force (VPF), Vanuatu Mobile Force (VMF; includes Police Maritime Wing (PMW)) (2013)
|Manpower available for military service:
|males age 16-49: 62,216 (2010 est.)
|Manpower fit for military service:
| males age 16-49: 43,331
females age 16-49: 44,927 (2010 est.)
|Manpower reaching militarily significant age annually:
| male: 2,323
female: 2,230 (2010 est.)
|^Back to Top
|Transnational Issues
|Disputes - International:
|Matthew and Hunter Islands east of New Caledonia claimed by Vanuatu and France
|^Back to Top
« Previous Country | Next Country »
Source: CIA - The World Factbook


text:
Mohamed Sallauddin Mohamed Shah @ Mat Sah
General Manager, Marketing
Mohamed Sallauddin is the General Manager of Marketing for Malaysia Airports.
He graduated with BSc. Degree in Accountancy and Computer Science from Northern Illnois University, USA in 1985. He also holds an MBA (Strategic Management) Degree from the International Business School, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.
He has been in the aviation industry his entire professional life, starting in 1986 as a Management Trainee in Malaysia Airlines (MAS). He went on to diversify his aviation knowledge in 1997 when he joined Malaysia's first aircraft manufacturing company Composite Technology Research Malaysia (CTRM) Sdn. Bhd., which presented him the opportunity to serve in general aviation sectors in the USA and Australia.
He joined Malaysia Airports in 2001 as the pioneer group that led the marketing of the international gateways managed by Malaysia Airports.
Entrusted to encourage more airlines to operate to Malaysia, his immediate and long term aim is to establish KLIA as the Next Generation Hub for both commercial airlines and travellers.


text:
by Anne Lynam Goddard, ChildFund President and CEO
Anne is in Kenya this week, where more than 3.5 million people need food aid as the worst drought in 60 years spreads across the Horn of Africa. One of the most affected areas is the Turkana region, where ChildFund is responding.
It's a dusty and bumpy drive to Lokitaung in northern Kenya. You can taste the dust in the air. It's early in the morning and already the heat is unbearable. Without water, nothing grows in this hostile environment.
We stop at a health tent. "Thirty-seven percent of children under 5 are malnourished here," a local nurse tells me as she weighs a young girl. "Eight percent are severely malnourished. That's a sharp increase compared to last year."
In times of food shortage, children under 5 are the most vulnerable to malnutrition. Inadequate food intake in young children has lifelong growth and development implications. That's why ChildFund is focusing its relief efforts on providing food to those 5 and younger, as well as pregnant and nursing mothers. We are using existing structures we have in place on the ground, including health facilities and Early Child Care and Development (ECCD) centers, to deliver food and water.
At the ECCD in Lokitaung, it's just past 11 a.m., and the children are crying and hungry. They line up to receive a bowl of unimix – a nutrient-rich porridge. This is their first meal of the day. Since ChildFund started providing supplementary food, the number of children coming to the ECCD has soared. Mothers tell me they have carried their children for more than 5 kilometers, walking in the blistering heat to reach the ECCD center this morning.
Back at the health tent, Emuria, a 5-year-old boy, is having his mid-upper arm circumference measured. He looks frail. ChildFund's health interventions include monitoring child growth to spot malnutrition at the early stages, providing vitamin A and iron supplements, deworming, vaccinating against measles and polio and also treating minor illnesses.
Mothers I speak to complain about eye irritations because of the dry and dusty conditions. Children are coughing. Today, we're also testing mothers for HIV/AIDS. Luckily, all have tested negative.
In the afternoon, we visit the remote village of Kariburi. The road is even bumpier and dustier than the one we traveled this morning. Everywhere you look is the same landscape — dust fields. We drive through one dry riverbed after another. Turkana really is the epicenter of the drought in Kenya.
The situation in Kariburi is dire. Malnutrition levels far exceed emergency thresholds. In the local ECCD center, the young children are calm and quiet. They lack the energy to play. A combination of food insecurity, falling nutrition levels and poor access to health and water facilities has left children in need of urgent support. Immunization coverage is extremely low, which puts the under-five population at risk.
ChildFund is distributing relief food (maize, legumes and beans) to families today. Women line up and carry bags away on their heads. They have come far distances.
I'm happy to see that local women are involved in the relief distribution. The more you can involve the community, the better. ChildFund has also trucked in drinking water. A large crowd has gathered around the tap. Women have brought their containers to carry water back to their homes. ChildFund is also providing training on hygiene and sanitation practices. It's in times of food shortage that people become weak and more vulnerable to disease outbreak.
Our help is needed most desperately. Thank you for your support.
I would like to applaud Child Fund International for promoting and protecting the Rights of the vulnerable Children. Please continue to put a smile on child's faces. God Bless You all.
Thank you for your kind and encouraging words, Jude. We will keep working hard for children in the drought and worldwide.
Thxs ChildFund for the great support you are offering to hunger stricken victims in Turkana.When donors see and listen to this story the are touched and feel their support is spend the right way.God bless.
It's encouraging to see ChildFund reach where help is needed most. Bravo for the good work you are doing in Turkana and other affected areas.
Children and women are the community's asset; their survival is an indication the community ties are growing strong and will flourish.
It's heart touching to witness and feel myriads of hope in the air. Thanks to ChildFund and more so the President who had time with our community. May God bless her with strength in addressing the plight of underprivileged globally.
Ngacha Njeri.


text:
By The Associated Press
OKOLONA — The three finalists for superintendent of the Okolona schools will attend a town hall meeting March 17.
Okolona School Board president Jerome Smith tells the Chickasaw Journal that the board wants to keep the community informed of the progress toward regaining local control of the schools from the state.
The Okolona district went into conservatorship in February 2010 due to poor academic rankings and financial instability. The school board was dissolved and the superintendents' post vacated when a state conservator was named.
The district came out from under state sanctions last summer. Smith says the new board has made selecting a new superintendent a top priority.
Officials say nine people have applied for the position and the school board will trim the list to three.


text:
Not that finding the new Saga Legends is exciting, but I did find 2 cases of the new SL figures at Walmart in Salt Lake City this morning. It is a rather boring assortment of figures, but amazingly enough Walmart had them priced at only $1 per figure. They were crammed on the bottom shelf of a clearance section with no price tag. I was interested in a SpaceTrooper or 2, so I scanned one at the price-checker and was shocked to see them at that price. In hingsight, I probably should have snagged a couple more.
I knew this Walmart had moved all the remaining Saga Legends to the clearance section a couple weeks ago (a few Anakins, Obi-wans, and Mauls), but they never had a price tag on them, so I assumed they would be full price.
Here's a scan of my receipt:


text:
Interview: Satchel of Steel Panther Takes 'Balls Out' Approach to Gear, Strippers and New Album
When you went back to the studio, did you feel pressure to live up to the success of the last album?
There was some pressure because the first album was so fuckin' awesome that we knew there was gonna be people that didn't think that we'd be able to make another album as awesome, because it was so fuckin' good, and then there were some people that hated the shit out of our first record and expected our second record to suck, just because they hated our first record. I think we're gonna be able to please both camps, because our second record is fucking awesome.
But the same people that hated our first record, those people are stupid, so they're gonna think that our second record sucks. But we expect that from stupid people because stupid people don't know shit when they hear it. So even though our second record is totally bitchin' and just as bitchin' as our first record, those stupid people that hated our first record are gonna hate our second record. But the people that loved our first record are gonna realize that our second record is just as genius as our first record.
What gear did you use for this album?
I play Kramer guitars, which are bitchin'. And they're totally heavy metal. Their guitars have six strings. I know a lot of kids these days are playing seven-string guitars and shit. But if you can't get the tone you need out of six strings then you need to fucking put the guitar away and pick up like a harp or a fuckin' bassoon or something, because the guitar is a fucking six-string beast. You should be able to make a guitar sound bitchin' with six strings.
I understand some guys, the seven-string guys, they're tuning low and shit. If you're trying to hit these really low notes, tell the bass player to hit it, because he's got really, really low notes on his instrument. A lot of these guys don't understand that and a lot of kids these days, bass players are hard to find now, because there's a stigma attached to it. If you're playing bass everybody knows that you're probably not smart enough to play guitar. Guys are shying away from that. There's not that many smart bass players out there, so a lot of these guys are picking up guitar because they don't wanna be a bass player, and understandably so. Guitar players get way more pussy than their bass players do.
What Kramer model do you use?
I've been playing the Pacers, and they're awesome. They're absolutely killer, and you got Floyd Rose whammy bars. I'm a big fan of the Floyd Rose. There's a few companies out there that I fuckin' love; Floyd Rose is one of 'em. They're great. Kramer's great. Apple Computers are great. Shit. I don't know. Speedo makes the best bathing suits. Have you ever tried those bathing suits?
And they make your package look killer.
Was the band sad when Steve Jobs died?
I was a huge, huge Steve Jobs fan. He was fuckin' awesome and we've used Apple Computers to record a lot of stuff. I don't know how to use 'em very well but they're killer for lookin' at porn. Oh, my God. And Steve Jobs is a genius. I'm speaking to you on an iPhone right now. It's amazing.
Why the Floyd Rose whammy bar? What makes it so special?
There's always been a rivalry between Floyd Rose and Kahler, for instance. But to me, the design of the Floyd Rose is just superior to any other whammy bar ... the experience of the Floyd Rose and how well it stays in tune, you will never play another whammy bar. They haven't changed the design in frickin' 35 years. It's the best bridge tremolo system made. Any they're not even payin' me to say that. It's just bitchin'. It's always looked bitchin' and it's always worked perfectly, so I've never had a problem with it. They should hire me to endorse them. That's how much I like their shit. But they don't need to. You know why? 'Cuz they make great shit, kind of like Apple. I'm tryin' to get an iPhone endorsement right now and they keep tellin' me to fuck off, which is really not very nice.
Do you think Steel Panther might get an iPhone app made?
Yes. We're makin' an app right now. I don't know what the hell it's gonna do, but I'm pretty sure it's gonna sell. It's probably gonna make us very rich, 'cuz there's probably gonna be naked ladies involved. A whole lot of our bitchin' songs will be on there.
What made the band think that the song "17 Girls in a Row" was the best choice for the first single?
Believe it or not, it was the cleanest song we had. Most of the other ones are pretty filthy. And [the record company was] like, "Well, we gotta figure out something to play on the radio. You guys are filthy." That was the one that was kind of the cleanest song. Plus it really rocks and I don't know anything about radio. I'm an old guy, and I'm pretty bitter and jaded, and people who listen to the radio these days, there's not a whole lot of stuff on the radio that's good, so even getting on the radio is like, it's just strange.
Stuff that gets played on the radio, it's very political. I'm amazed that we're able to get on any radio stations. We sort of threw out that whole thing years ago and went, "You know what? Let's write songs that we really like and let fans spread the word," and that's the secret of our success. It certainly hasn't been radio or anything else. But that song has been getting played in certain markets and chicks seem to dig it. I mean, I've been getting laid even more than normal. Which is a lot.
One of the lyrics in the song says the band didn't believe Michael when he told you guys he banged 17 girls. Why the hate?
Well, Michael's 56 years old, and he's our lead singer and I love him, but I'd be very surprised if he could screw two girls in a row and keep an erection. Because he's not a spring chicken anymore. He's had two hip replacements and 18 liposuction surgeries, and if he can even get an erection at all at this point I'd be surprised. For him to say, "Yeah, I screwed 17 girls in a row," nobody's gonna believe that. But we're talking about Viagra maybe endorsing the band, so, if that happens, you know, you pop 10 or 12 Viagra and you can party for quite some time. Really, really do it for quite a while.
The album looks at some deep relationship issues — "Why Don't You Trust Me" talks trust and commitment and fidelity. Did the band grow up a bit since its last album?
On this album, we really tried not to grow as artists. Because our first record was so good and we figured, "If we grow, we might get worse, so let's try not to grow our artistry or our songwriting, and we'll just try to stagnate in our bitchin-ness. Instead of a second record, a sophomore effort, let's do a second debut record." So it's more like, instead of a sophomore effort, it's the second first record. And it's like the same, but different.
Most of us in the band, the longest relationships we've had have been like, one to two weeks. But girls have a tendency to, when you come home at 6, 7 in the morning, and you have lipstick all over your crotch, they tend to question you like you've been cheating on them, and that's happened to all of us. Girls tend to be jealous and they tend to control who you talk to and who you put your penis into, and that can be a big hassle when you're in a band. 'Cuz there's a lot of girls out there, and when we have sex with girls, as a band, that's not just, "Hey, I'm having sex with this girl because I want to have sex with her," that's also promoting the band. We are promoting the band, and if a girl is with us in the band, they have to understand that, you know? This is self-promotion. You ever heard the song "Community Property" on our first record?


text:
Erica Boni
Ian Hoch
Contributor & Sales Rep
Jennifer Abbott
Big Easy Bites
April Siese
Mountain woman, April Siese is eager to break into the New Orleans writing scene, having left her hometown of San Francisco several years ago. Although working as a stagehand, she has contributed to local papers in San Francisco for years. She enjoys anything artsy and creative and especially loves the food in her new hometown. She attended the Academy of Art and has worked extensively in the non-profit world.
Lianna Patch
NoDef Contributor Lianna Patch is 23 and has made peace with being poor forever. She can usually be found on the couch at Z'otz Café, toying with her laptop and daydreaming of finding a wealthy benefactor.
When she is not coming up with schemes for transforming trash into easily monetized objets d'art, Lianna writes and edits as the English Maven. She hopes to someday run a business big enough for the IRS to care about it.
Kerem Ozkan
HORNETS BEAT REPORTER Kerem Ozkan is a 24-year-old writer, pedicab driver, and explorer from Istanbul, Turkey. He previously edited the sadly-defunct blog Hoops, I Did It Again, and has won his fantasy basketball league for four consecutive years. He is a firm believer in corner threes, zone defense, liberated fandom, and Ryan Anderson. His work has appeared in Offbeat Magazine, Advertising Age, The Week, and Creative Loafing. Follow him on Twitter at @HornetsDefender, or e-mail him at firstname.lastname@example.com.
William Dilella
Stephen Babcock
Mary Kilpatrick
CRIME REPORTER: Mary Kilpatrick is a crime and politics reporter in South Louisiana. She graduated from Tulane University with a degree in English and art history, and enjoys white wine, oak trees and T.S. Elliot.
Sarah Esenwein
Sarah Esenwein comes to us from Houston, TX…but she's been metamorphosing into a true NOLA local for the past 7 years as she worked as Executive Producer for the Walton and Johnson Radio Program. In that time, she developed a deep love and connection to the spirit and character of New Orleans and found it the only place to be when she wanted to get the hell out of that studio.
Ryan Sparks
STAFF WRITER: Ryan Sparks
I'm Ryan Sparks, a free range writer in New Orleans. I grew up in North Carolina, but New Orleans has been my true home since 2005. My primary interests are music, pork, and bourbon. When not out and about collecting stories from people wiser than I am or at a show, I'm in my uptown home covered in pet dander and reading.
Philip Yiannopoulos
A native New Orleanian, Philip has also lived in Portland, Oregon, and Paris, France. He may have spent a lot of time studying dead French writers, but no legitimate job-offering entities seem to care. While he has no idea where life will take him, he believes that regularly walking on three foot stilts gives him a better perspective for the future. During his constant pursuit for the best Bloody Mary in town, he somehow came across the entirety of the Nola Defender staff, who accidentally offered him a spot covering theatre and general city shenanigans.
Elaina Patton
A born and bred Southerner, Elaina reached New Orleans after venturing out West for a stint on the Golden Coast. Hoping to find a refuge from the Bright Lights, Big City mentality, Elaina has made a home in the city that really never sleeps and begun a career of bar hopping and binge writing. Elaina is retracing the steps of the great, in the city that inspired authors to wax poetic on debauchery and indulgence. She has found much to write home about.
Jonas Griffin
Jonas Griffin is from Opelousas, LA. Days before the Federal Flood, he arrived in New Orleans to study creative writing at NOCCA. He graduated with an English major from Loyola where he opined for The Maroon. After graduation, he was hired for one year as the Capital Campaign Coordinator for Trinity Episcopal Church and School. Currently, he works at Commander's Palace while also contributing theater reviews and general reporting to the Defender.
Derick Dupre
Derick Dupre was born in New York City in 1985 and reared in Connecticut. He received his Bachelor's degree from the University of Connecticut in 2007, and shortly thereafter began a string of unpaid internships in the publishing industry. His record there was so poor that he was asked not to return, and the next year he spent wandering about the country and working odd jobs. In 2011 he drifted down to New Orleans, where he happens to be employed.
David G. Hedges
David G. Hedges is an adventurous, fun-loving Chicago native who considers New Orleans his true home. He is a licensed tour guide who does free historic walking tours of the French Quarter and St. Louis Cemetery every Saturday at 11am. Check out his company Nola Tour Guy here.
NoDef Staff
NoDef staff reports provide updates on breaking news, cultural tidbits and other happenings around the Crescent City. Have tips or story ideas? E-mail firstname.lastname@example.com.
Leslie Gamboni
NOCCA grad Leslie Gamboni will enter her senior year at Loyola this coming fall. In addition to writing news, Leslie dabbles in photography and design. The journalism-world religions double major wants everyone reading this to know that she is open to all post-grad job offers.
Leslie tends bar to pay the bills, and she requests that readers grab a drink at Little Gem Saloon. Tips will be directed into Leslie's skydiving fund.
Pitch Leslie a story at email@example.com.
Lauren Zanolli
Summer Moore
Summer is a former sharecropper and migrant farmer turned community advocate , working mainly in food justice issues with such organizations as the Lower 9th Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development (CSED) in their food security initiative, the Lower Ninth Ward Food Access Coalition (LNWFAC), and The Latino Farmer's Cooperative of Louisiana.
Sarah Shachat
Sarah Shachat was born and raised about ten minutes from Maple Street Book Store, and she has had to explain the concept of crawfish heads in every other place she's lived, even though she doesn't really like them. After completing a BA in Film Studies from Wesleyan University, she bounced around the tri-state area then moved to Chicago, in the meantime working her way through Roger Ebert's list of great movies. When she's not watching films or TV, writing about film or TV, or posting facebook statuses about film or TV, she interns and drinks Scotch. Sometimes both.
Scott Hunter
Scott moved to New Orleans last year after a stint in Ethiopia, where he worked as a community health advisor for the Peace Corps. Scott is getting his Master's in Public Health at Tulane, and he spends his free time tramping around the Bywater/Marigny with his dog, procastinating, and cursing at electronic devices. Scott firmly believes that any food which cannot be covered in hot sauce can be covered in chocolate.
Jacob Bielanski
Hardened by a lifetime of bitter winters in Wisconsin, Jacob Bielanski now finds himself slowly thawing in the Marigny triangle. A journalism graduate of the University of Wisconsin, Jacob's work has appeared in publications you don't care about. When time allows, Jacob brews beer and writes/illustrates stories for his daughter. He also speaks German, for some reason. You can find out more at www.Jacobski.com, or follow him on twitter @jacob_ski.
Thomas Mattera
CONTRIBUTOR: Always a relentless celebrator of the ridiculous, Thomas Mattera has finally found his match in the city of New Orleans. A native of Brooklyn, NY he has made his way to Fat City via stops in Washington, DC (to be raised) and Chapel Hill, NC (to be diplomaed). Though allegedly a full grown adult at 24, he possesses both a boyish charm and lack of social awareness befitting a person half his age. When not fighting a losing battle with the English language, he can be found at a construction site, basketball court, or chinese food buffet.
Kelly Parker
Kelly Parker is a freelance features writer who has had the privilege of sharing wonderful stories of journalist Soledad O'Brien, author Carl Weber, culinary legend Leah Chase and countless extraordinary New Orleanians. Work has been featured in the Lake Charles American Press and the Louisiana Weekly, and many online news sites.
She is a native of Gentilly a graduate of Southern University at New Orleans and attended Dillard University and the University of Mississippi.
Sam Nelson
STAFF WRITER: Sam Nelson grew up in Virginia and got his degree in writing from the University of Pittsburgh. After shifting around the hemisphere listlessly for a few years, he visited New Orleans one weekend.
Rebecca Theim
GUEST WRITER: Rebecca Theim was a reporter at The Times-Picayune from 1988-94. Her book, Hell and High Water: The Battle to Save the Daily New Orleans Times-Picayune, was published in October by Gretna's Pelican Publishing Co.
Stacy Coco
CONTRIBUTOR: Stacy Coco is a New Orleans native and LSU alum with a passion for writing, her dog, and unicorns. A self-proclaimed klutz, Stacy struggles with balance, directions, and social media. Stacy recently returned to New Orleans after nine years in Baton Rouge, and she is happy to be home.


text:
Pressing Issues: Exploring a Small Portion of the Maze of Winemaking Decisions
To press or not to press? That is NOT the question. Rarely does anything in winemaking have an absolute however pressing is one of the few. Grapes must be pressed at some point in the process to release the juice or wine. However, even though grapes mu...Read more »


text:
define('FOO', 'Hi');It prints 'FO'.
I do believe PHP got this from Perl:
perlIt works even if you're strict:
print FOO . "FOO"; # Prints FOOFOO
perl -wRuby behaves differently depending on whether you try to print an undefined variable/method or an undefined attribute:
use strict;
print FOO . "FOO"; # Prints FOOFOO
irbPython raises an exception:
>> print a
NameError: undefined local variable or method `a' for main:Object
from (irb):1
>> print @a
nil=> nil
pythonIn a compiled language, these sorts of errors would be caught at compile time. However, a compiled language would never let me do something like:
>>> print a
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
NameError: name 'a' is not defined
pythonThis example is a bit contrived, but I've definitely done things like it.
>>> var_name = 'a'
>>> locals()[var_name] = 'yep'
>>> print a
Personally, I like the flexibility of a scripting language. I like it even more when there's a tool like pychecker that can catch these sorts of errors. However, just because a scripting language doesn't have a compilation step that can catch stupid spelling mistakes doesn't mean it should accept them at runtime. I'd much rather deal with an exception than spend half an hour fighting a bug caused by a spelling error!
As a general rule, I think software should fail fast rather than glossing over bugs that will surely cause trouble later. I can handle the exception if I need to, but what I can't handle is a silent bug.


text:
DRC: UN Deputy Humanitarian Chief calls for end to "immense suffering"
The United Nation's new Deputy Humanitarian Chief, Kyung-wha Kang, has called on government and rebel forces to end the "immense suffering" of civilians in North Kivu, in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Ms Kang was speaking at the end of a visit to Goma, the capital of North Kivu. The visit – Ms Kang's first as Deputy Humanitarian Chief – came just days after heavy fighting between the Congolese Army and the M23 rebel movement displaced thousands of people in and around the city.
"The latest fighting on the outskirts of Goma shows how fragile the situation is in North Kivu," Ms. Kang said. "The killing of civilians by shelling last week is unacceptable and I call on all parties engaged in armed conflict to fully respect International Humanitarian Law."
Ms Kang met with families living in the Sotraki camp outside Goma, where an estimated 3,000 people sought refuge in the wake of last week's fighting. She also met with representatives of some of the agencies trying to provide them with support.
"The immense suffering of the people in North Kivu and other parts of the DRC where violence continues has gone on for too long. It is time to end the horrors of this man-made emergency," she said.
The epicentre of a complex crisis
Ms Kang's visit and statement echo the concerns shared by the Humanitarian Coordinator for the DRC, Moustapha Soumaré, in the immediate aftermath of last week's violence.
"Civilians have been injured during military operations because military positions and military actions are taking place too close to where civilian populations are located," he said.
"I call on all parties to take all measures necessary to avoid civilian casualties."
North Kivu has been the epicentre of DRC's complex crisis for nearly two decades. It is home to some 973,000 internally displaced people – more than one third of the 2.6 million displaced in DRC.
Despite being home to some of Africa's wealthiest mineral deposits, the region's economy is virtually non-existent. Schools are frequently used as military barracks or to house displaced families, and farming and other livelihood activities have been interrupted.
Providing relief and protection to civilians is a priority for the humanitarian community, but insecurity and poor infrastructure makes it challenging to reach affected communities.
Ms Kang arrived in Kinshasa, DRC's capital, on Monday (27 May) for a four day visit.
Before leaving for Goma, she met with Government officials, NGOs, and senior humanitarian officials. They discussed issues including the protection of civilians, a more enabling environment for humanitarian actors, and the continued and heightened need for large-scale humanitarian response.
More>> OCHA DRC


text:
Am I the first to think about switching from Java to something else, with the latest announcement from Sun that Java will not be open-sourced? Is it the principle of it, or is it just a trend? I don't feel comfortable with something that is controlled by a company who may not have my interests, or the interests of a wider community, but hey, I bought into that when I took java on. I also like the way that Big Blue is trying to get Sun to open Java, but have few contributions themselves (will websphere ever be opened up?)
So, Python beckons - and looks nice too. How does it compare with the multiple widgets system, and which one to chose?


text:
Russian Premier League Standings
Premier League News
Sardar Azmoun: I was right to stay at Rostov despite Liverpool interest
In November, sources told ESPN FC that Liverpool were among a host of clubs monitoring the situation of the Iran international forward.
Rostov banned from playing at home until state of pitch improves
The Russian Football Premier League has banned Rostov from playing on the pitch at their Olimp-2 stadium until the state of the surface improves.
Russia defender Vasily Berezutsky retires from international football
Russia defender Vasily Berezutsky retired from international football on Friday, one year before his country hosts the World Cup.
FIFA still waiting for information on Russian doping cases
FIFA is still waiting for details on players implicated in an investigation of doping in Russian soccer, secretary general Fatma Samoura has said.
Rostov fan makes big cash offer for son to be Zlatan Ibrahimovic's mascot
A man apparently called the offices of FC Rostov this week and offered almost $3,000 to have his son serve as Zlatan Ibrahimovic's mascot.
What led to Ivanovic leaving Chelsea
Gab Marcotti and Alexis Nunes break down the circumstances behind Branislav Ivanovic's move from Chelsea to Zenit.


text: ObamaCare could "result in a significant decline in the overall quality of medical care nationwide."10 Obama and his allies have refused to listen to the American people, who by wide margins continue to oppose their health reform plans. Will they also ignore our family doctors, almost half of whom warn that they would quit if forced to labor under the burdens of state-managed care?Sadly, the answer is: Probably.