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UAS Sitka offers 'A Sense of Place: Alaska and Beyond'
SITKA, Alaska, Feb. 8, 2013 – This spring, the University of Alaska Southeast (UAS) Sitka Campus is offering a Humanities S120 course called "A Sense of Place: Alaska and Beyond." The class is team taught by Associate Professor of Marine Biology Jan Straley and former Alaska Writer Laureate and author John Straley.
This course meets from 6-8 p.m. on Thursdays from Feb. 28 through April 11, with additional times TBA. This three-credit general education requirement (GER) class is available via distance delivery.
In this course, we will study how humans have navigated and thrived in this world. Using readings and discussions, we will investigate how humans became intellectually loyal to the particular places where they live (called "a sense of place").
We also will explore the works and life of renowned writer John Haines, a former Alaska Poet Laureate. We will seek opinions from writers who knew or were influenced by Haines, including those with opposing views to his definition of a sense of place.
For more information and to register, call 747-7700 or go online at www.uas.alaska.edu/sitka. This class is limited to 15 students.


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DLR investigates defensive measures as part of international cooperation
100 years ago, on 30 June 1908, an asteroid exploded in a remote area of Siberia, having hit the atmosphere at a speed of possibly seventy thousand kilometres per hour. Such impacts from space are rare, but they pose a very real threat to Earth. The German Aerospace Center (DLR) is taking part in international cooperative measures in helping to protect us from small, potentially dangerous objects in the Solar System.
The asteroid which collided with Earth 100 years ago had a diameter of about 30 to 50 metres. It exploded some eight to twelve kilometres above the Tunguska river and produced a ground-facing pressure wave, with the explosive power of several hundred Hiroshima atomic bombs. For more than 2000 square kilometres around the epicentre, 60 to 80 million trees were flattened. The Tunguska event devastated an area twice the size of Berlin.
"It has been long known that small bodies from both the inner and outer Solar System pose a potential regional or perhaps even global threat to the planet.", remarked Dr Ekkehard Kührt, who leads the Small Bodies department at the DLR Institute for Planetary Research. "While there is currently no immediate risk, the basic scientific work and planning to take defensive measures is a growing area. These days we can possibly develop the means to avert the danger, if we have enough warning."
Of particular interest are those asteroids and comets whose orbits around the Sun come close to Earth's orbit and are therefore considered to be "Near-Earth Objects" (NEOs). NEOs are intensively monitored and international cooperation is underway in both estimating the dangers to Earth from space and how to take defensive measures. The DLR Institute for Planetary Research reports German research activities at regular intervals to the United Nations Committee for the Peaceful Use of Outer Space (COPUOS).
Asteroids and comets represent a threat to the world
Impacts of asteroids and comets with Earth, other planets and their moons have been normal since the beginning of the Solar System four and a half billion years ago. The many craters visible on Mercury, the Moon and Mars are a testament to this. Millions of tiny dust particles hit and burn up in Earth's atmosphere daily. They can be seen sometimes from the ground as 'shooting stars'.
Very rarely does an object impact Earth's surface and leave a crater. This happened 15 million years ago when a kilometre-sized object landed in the Swabian Jura and created a crater, now world famous as the 'Nördlinger Ries'. Even the evolution of humans is due an asteroid hit - 65 million years ago a mega-impact wiped out the dinosaurs and helped the rise of mammals. Such huge impacts, which devastate whole continents, cause global climate disasters and change the biosystem occur in the history of Earth only every several hundred million years.
An event of the scale of the Siberian impact of 1908, according to theoretical models, occurs every few centuries. A similar event today involving populated areas would cause disastrous consequences - with hundreds of thousands of casualties expected. Should an explosion or impact occur at sea, tsunamis could inundate the coastlines of entire continents, devastating cities. The economic consequences of global crises would follow.
Measures that could be taken
"Basically, there are two ways to prevent the impact of a small body," said Dr Christian Gritzner from DLR's Space Agency in Bonn. "You can either try to destroy the object, or steer it away on a less dangerous course."
In his dissertation at DLR, Dr Ralph Kahle proposed that given a warning of at least ten years, one or more probes could be aimed at the incoming object, using enough force to steer the object off-course.
In 2007, the NASA ran simulations of nuclear explosions using models. This scenario could see us using enough momentum to drive the object away from impacting, but there are two risks. First, could this sort of nuclear material be safely launched? Also, a body whose internal cohesion is low (as in the case of many comets) could lead to the object fragmenting into smaller pieces, some of which could penetrate the atmosphere with unpredictable consequences.
Searching for cosmic missiles
DLR decided only recently to develop a small satellite to orbit with a small asteroid-detecting telescope onboard - trying to find those objects which could pass near to Earth's orbital path. "Model calculations suggest that there are more than a thousand objects with diameters larger than a hundred metres inside Earth's orbit," says Ekkehard Kührt.
Since only nine of these Inner-Earth Objects (IEOs) have been found, it is important that these potential sources of danger are identified - preferably before gravitational interference by Venus could change their courses and set them on a collision course with Earth. The detection and monitoring of IEOs from the ground proves particularly difficult since such objects (as well as the planets Venus and Mercury) lie between Earth and the Sun and are only visible just before sunrise or just after sunset.

subset: commoncrawl


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So let's be fair
In Katrina blame game, media shouldn't get a pass
One year ago this week, Hurricane Katrina nearly wiped out New Orleans, one of the oldest, most culturally rich, poorest, and, indeed, important cities in America.
In the weeks leading up to the anniversary of Katrina's onslaught, a glut of television specials have "looked back" at and "remembered" the storm that killed 1,800 people along the Gulf Coast. Others have asked about lessons learned and tried to determine what or who was to blame for Katrina, the storm's aftermath, and the slow pace of rebuilding efforts, particularly in the Crescent City.
Republicans have accused Louisiana Democrats — Gov. Kathleen Blanco and New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin — of not acting soon enough. Meanwhile, Democrats assert that the administration of President George W. Bush was largely responsible for the magnitude of the disaster (and everyone took turns kicking former FEMA chief and Bush appointee Michael Brown).
On Tuesday, Robert Borosage, co-director of the Campaign for America's Future, New Orleans ACORN organizer Steve Bradbury, and U.S. Reps. James Clyburn, D-S.C., and Maxine Waters, D-Calif., held a news-conference call during which they each took shots at both Nagin and Bush.
"I take no pleasure in finding out that the president was more incompetent than I thought," says Waters when asked whether she deems Bush's mishandling of Katrina a boon to her party's electoral ambitions.
Shockingly immune from criticism to this point, however, have been the news media, which played a large role in bringing to light the immediate crisis on the ground — before federal officials were even aware of the magnitude of the problem, in fact. However, in the midst of the chaos, some members of the media helped, perhaps unwittingly, promulgate hurtful racial stereotypes, and others ignored the news altogether.
Race quickly came to dominate much of the discussion of Katrina and the government's response, starting with a couple of snapshots. One captures what appears to be a white couple wading through the floodwaters after "finding" food; in the other, a black teenager is depicted as having just "looted" a grocery store.
Cable networks also devoted blocks of time to the issue of looting, referred to evacuees as "refugees," and reported rumors of what was going on inside New Orleans' Superdome and convention center, although initially no TV crews were allowed inside.
The media's inert racism might best be evidenced in its treatment of Nagin, a black Democrat who at one point was registered as a Republican. Despite having confessed his screwups — such as not ordering a mandatory evacuation of the city or commandeering school buses to get people out — Nagin has become the favorite whipping boy of media elites.
Nagin drew major heat when, during an interview for 60 Minutes, broadcast on Aug. 27, he referred to Ground Zero, where the towers of New York City's World Trade Center stood before the 9/11 attacks, as a "hole in the ground" after being asked about his city's
hurricane-recovery efforts.
The New York-based media establishment immediately lambasted Nagin for what it perceived to be a below-the-belt jab at the nearly 3,000 victims and their families. He apologized. By contrast, Rudy Giuliani, the New York mayor at the helm during the 9/11 terrorist attacks, has largely gotten a pass from many of the same people who so gleefully take potshots at Nagin.
However, a forthcoming book by New York investigative reporters Wayne Barrett and Dan Collins, titled Grand Illusion, debunks the myth of America's mayor, who, they say, never so much as called for a Twin Towers interagency drill.
Still, Clyburn thanked the media this week for "taking a hard look" at Katrina-related issues. Certainly, in a disaster, nobody comes away squeaky clean, least of all elected officials, and there's always plenty of blame to spread around.
But in doing so, as Nagin suggested to his 60 Minutes interviewer, the media, too, should be fair.
Contact R.L. Nave at email@example.com


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Raider track moves forward with first two-meet week
Raider track came back from spring break with a two-meet week.
The first, at Bridgeport on April 9, was the Brewster Co-Ed Relays. This is a meet where boys and girls are teamed up for relays in all field events. All races are relays, including the sprint and Distance medleys
"As a team we considered the relays to be a hard training day, they also proved to be a lot of fun and a team building experience," Head Coach Lori Adkins said. "We definitely piqued team interest in relay events."
This was not an athletic.net-scored event so results were still not available at deadline.
The Raiders travelled to Royal City Friday for the Ron Vanderholm Invitational, where the Raiders fielded a relay team for the first time. A boys 4x400 team made up of Corban Wilder, Lukas Hermetz, Paladine Williams, and Coltin Williams ran it in 4:26.94 for 12th place in a field featuring many of the top teams in the state.
Cheyenne Kelly-Marconi grabbed another first in the triple jump at Royal City. Kelly-Marconi hopped, skipped, and jumped 31 feet, 10 inches for the blue ribbon. She also placed in all of her events for the second time this season. She leapt 14-9 in the long jump to finish third, and took fifth in the 100 hurdles in 18.36 seconds. In the 400-meter dash, Kelly-Marconi took home seventh in 69.28 seconds.
Sean Waters also placed in both events he competed in at the meet. In the discus, Waters threw 127-8 to take third with a career personal record by 2 feet. Over at the shot, Waters took sixth with a season-best throw of 40-9.
Lukas Hermetz ran his first 100-meter dash of the season 0.4 seconds faster than his best time last year in 13.19, along with his usual 400 and 1600. Hermetz finished the 400 in 61.50 and picked up another career PR in the 1600 at 5:25.87, almost a minute faster than his time at the Eagle Home Mortgage Invite on March 30.
Samantha Turner continues to build up in the discus. At Royal City Turner improved to 74-6, a season best and almost two feet better than what she threw at Oroville before spring break. In the shot put, Turner threw 26-4, and in javelin, 60-6.
Octavio Alejandre also continues to improve as at Royal City he threw the shot 38-11 to finish ninth with a career PR. He looks to break 40 feet this week. Alejandre's debut for the javelin, he flung it 109-9 for a career PR by 25 feet.
Mary Ann Matheson finished 10th in the 3200 in 14:44.26 and improved her 1600 by 42 seconds with a season PR of 7:08.84.
Josh Wilder ran his first-ever 400-meter sprint at the meet, finishing in 68.41 seconds. Wilder also competed in the javelin, where he improved his PR by almost three feet with a throw of 81-1.
Corban Wilder ran the 800 in 2:41.43, along with the 4x400. Paladine Williams made his high school debut at Royal City, running the 800 in a career PR time of 2:35.36.
Alaynah Herman and Alexia Hanway both picked up PRs in the 800 at Royal City. Herman ran a 3:25.26 race while Hanway finished at 3:01.33. Clare Castrodale ran for a PR in the 1600, finishing at 7:43.03. Bryson Goggles-Whalawitsa threw the discus for the first time in high school, hurling it 89-6. Zach Erickson picked up a meet PR in the 1600, running 14 seconds faster than last year in 6:34.61.
The Raiders will compete the annual Clifton Larsen Allen Invitational at Quincy High School this Saturday.
Field events start at 10:30 a.m. and track events at 11:30. As in Royal City, the bulk of the competition comes from 1A South Central and Caribou Trail schools. Manson and Oroville will represent the Central Washington 2B, while Lind-Ritzville-Sprague rounds out the 2B competition. Othello, Toppenish, and the defending state champion Ephrata are the 2A schools in attendence at Quincy.


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The Morris City Council has joined Grundy County and other neighboring communities in supporting Dresden Island and Brandon Road hydroelectric projects.
Northern Illinois Hydropower is looking to create two hydroelectric facilities to utilize water from the rivers to generate electricity, said Mayor Richard Kopczick after the meeting. They are looking for support from the municipalities even though there is no tax dollar gain for Morris.
It will, however, provide a lot of trade jobs through the construction of the projects, he said. The council voted to support this unanimously.
In other business brought forth by the mayor, the council approved waiving the required $3,000 retainer for All Those Left Behind Animal Rescue Inc. of Morris to obtain a conditional use permit to have a rescue center in the city.
The rescue is looking to open in a former part of the old papermill property on North Street. It is currently applying for non-profit status and operates with the use of foster homes right now, according to the letter to the city from Gina and Christopher Bartucci, president and vice president of the rescue.
The city council also approved the bid from D.J. Sickley Construction Co. of $488,448 for the expansion project at the city's water treatment plant.
The city received four bids for this project, said Alderman Duane Wolfe.
The original plant was built in 1981 and designed for expansion, said Kopczick previously. The project will include a fourth unit, a new aerator and multiple water softeners.


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More than 250 police officers from New England have turned the words "blue Christmas" on their head. With the lights of more than 100 cruisers flashing on a 700-mile journey Wednesday from the Burlington Mall to rural Virginia, the officers escorted a cache of Christmas cards for a 5-year-old boy suffering from brain and spinal cancer.
It is a special delivery of holiday greetings for Nathan Norman, a terminally ill child from Rustburg, Va., who is expected to receive their cards, gifts, and good wishes Thursday morning.
"Here's this 5-year-old child with terminal cancer, and all he wants is Christmas cards from police officers and firefighters from across the country," Wellesley police Sergeant Scott Whittemore said as he drove into Virginia on Wednesday.
The convoy, organized from about 80 police agencies, drove single file with blue lights ablaze on a 12-hour trip that left about 6:30 a.m. They picked up other police cruisers along the way, from Central and Western Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. In all, they formed a 3-mile-long line of holiday greeting.
"Our blue lights are kind of like our Christmas lights," said Burlington police Sergeant Gerard McDonough, who organized the trip. "There's not a whole heck of a lot you can do for him physically. Our goal is to create a positive, happy memory for him and his family."
The officers — bearing cards, police patches, department coins, and other gifts — had planned to surprise Nathan by bringing the cruisers to his street with lights flashing. But the local sheriff said the road could not handle the traffic, so Nathan will be met instead at Liberty University in nearby Lynchburg, Va.
For this youngster in a small Virginia town, the attention from police and firefighters, spawned by a local news story, has grown quickly and exponentially, said Cheryl Ellis, a family friend.
"He's received at least 2,000 boxes and 15,000 letters and cards in the last two weeks," Ellis said. "This side of heaven, we'll never know why God chose Nathan and his family for the love being shown."
The convoy will be the single largest delegation to visit Nathan so far, Ellis said.
Nathan, diagnosed with cancer in 2009, has endured three surgeries and seven rounds of chemotherapy, Ellis said. He is currently taking three chemotherapy medicines, which his parents, Bobby and Dawn, hope will be effective for the full 18-month cycle.
"These are just to try and stabilize the tumors but will not get rid of the cancer," his parents wrote on a website. "It is just to try and buy time."
So far, the tumors have stabilized. To lift Nathan's spirits, the Normans have placed a Christmas tree and lights in the house since September.
"We do not expect to lose Nathan before Christmas this year," his mother said in e-mail. "However, we know with each end of treatment, our options are getting less and less."
The Norman family gives as much as it receives. As part of an annual project, they have sent 3,000 bags of Christmas gifts to children in hospitals in Virginia, New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Arizona, and even Scotland, according to the family's blog.
The boy and his three siblings, Sarah, 9; Matthew, 7; and Tabitha, 3, have become accustomed to visitors. New York firefighters arrived last week with a box of cannoli in tow.
Secret Service agents also have called on the house. The agents brought robots used for security at the White House and let Nathan and his siblings move them around the neighborhood.
Most of the officers traveled to Virginia on their own time and are paying for their lodging. Whittemore, the Wellesley sergeant, said he is bearing the cost of the fuel. The officers are expected to drive back to New England Thursday. "If that's what it's going to take to put a smile on his face, that's worth every penny," Whittemore said.
Burlington police Officer Jim Tigges said the 15 members of his department who made the trip also made financial sacrifices.
"At this time of year, we're very busy workwise," said Tigges, who spoke from department headquarters. "They have opportunities to make money for their families, and they chose to take a couple of days out of their lives and bring a Christmas wish to a little boy."
Wellesley police are sending Nathan a battery-operated replica of a town police cruiser, which the child can ride. The hunt for the car became a department quest, with officers finding the last one available in the area. The toy cruiser has even been adorned with the department's lettering.
"That's what being a police officer is all about," Whittemore said. "It always has been."Brian MacQuarrie can be reached at macquarrie@


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YORK, Pa. – The York College women's lacrosse team landed a league-high seven players on the 2013 on the All-Capital Athletic Conference team as announced by the conference office Friday.
Senior captains Kim Wayson (Harwood, Md./Southern) and Leah Schultz (Catonsville, Md./Seton Keough) are four-time All-CAC honorees, the only two on this year's all-star squad. Wayson earned a first-team nod while Schultz was a second-team pick. Also earning first-team honors for the Spartans were Erica Mulford (Crownsville, Md./Seton Keough) and Katie Vautier (Harwood, Md./Archbishop Spalding). Rounding out the list with second-team honors were Jordan Hall (Riva, Md./South River), Jess Soroka (Pasadena, Md./Chesapeake) and Ashley Smith (Cinaminson, N.J./Cinaminson).
The Spartans have had another tremendous season, returning to #10 in the IWLCA Division III ranking heading into the CAC semifinals on Saturday. The Green and White have compiled an overall season record of 12-3 and a 5-1 conference record. All three of the Spartans losses have been against other top-ranked teams, including Salisbury, Messiah and Franklin & Marshall.
Wayson makes her third-straight first-team appearance. An incredible force around the goal, Wayson currently leads the CAC in goals scored with 51. She is also tied for first in shots taken with 101 and ranks fourth with 61 total points. Wayson has cemented herself in the all-time Spartan record books, owning career records in points (294), goals (225) and assists (69). Her scoring record stands 132 points ahead of second place, while she has 78 more goals then anyone else in the Spartan record books.
Schultz is another four-year conference honoree for the Spartans. She has been key for York's continued success. Schultz tops the York record books in free-position goals with 43 and draw controls with 251. Schultz also sits in second for total points and goals, as well as sixth in ground balls. This season, Schultz has started in all 15 games for the Green and White, tallying 39 points off of 34 goals and five assists.
Fellow senior captain, Katie Vautier captures her third All-CAC first-team honors. Vautier's rock solid defense has made a huge impact on the success of the team. This season, Vautier has started in all 15 games for the Spartans. She has picked up 28 ground balls, collected 54 draw controls and caused 22 turnovers. After four strong seasons, Vautier currently owns the career record in caused turnovers with 107. She also ranks third overall in ground balls and draw controls.
After having a breakout season last year, Mulford has continued to impress this season, earning her second All-CAC selection. As a junior, she has been an important part of the Spartan attack. Mulford ranks second on the team in scoring with 51 points, 11 assists and 40 goals. With one more season ahead of her, she currently sits in third place in the Spartan record books with 135 totals points and 99 goals, as well as fourth place in assists with 36.
Hall returns to the all-league second-team for the third season. An integral part of the strong Green and White defense, Hall has started all 15 of York's games. She has picked up 26 ground balls, collected 11 draw controls and caused 16 turnovers. Hall is ranked 10th in the record books for career turnovers with 36.
Smith is a first-time All-CAC honoree after having a breakout junior season. Phenomenal in goal, Smith earned herself the starting position in net early in the season for the Spartans. She started in all but two games for the Spartans, totaling 647:01. Smith made 76 total saves so far this season for a save percentage of .484. She allowed 81 goals on 197 shots faced and finished the regular season with 11 wins and two losses. With one more season ahead of her, Smith currently sits fourth for most wins and saves. As a junior, she captured the top spot in the record books with her .486 total save percentage, as well as the lowest goals against average, 7.32.
Soroka is also a first-time All-CAC honoree. She has started all but one game for the Spartans this season, making a big impact during her junior year. As a key defender for the Green and White, Soroka has picked up 13 ground balls, collected five draw controls and caused seven turnovers.
The Spartans head into CAC semifinals against Mary Washington on Saturday at Kinsley Field for a 12:00 pm contest.


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Originally Posted by RuthlessBurgher
Last season, we beat Flacco with Batch starting at QB, and should have beaten Flacco with Leftwich starting (if he hadn't hurt himself tumbling into the end zone on that early TD run). What if a healthy Ben started those games instead?
Probably the same results the last time a "healthy Ben" started against the ravens. Does 2011 (0-2) ring a bell?
Forum Rules


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DataDirect in job slash bloodbath
'Natural hygiene' washes people away
Times are tough. HPC and big data storage array supplier DataDirect Networks has laid off 65 people, decimating its workforce, after six months of lousy sales.
This news is not yet public. The lay-offs follow a poor final 2012 quarter.
We asked DDN about this, about morale problems, and also if there were product-quality issues.
DDN marketing VP Jeff Denworth put a generally positive spin on the move, saying:
Over the last two years, DDN has more than doubled in size in terms of number of worldwide employees. With solid business fundamentals today and the largest pipeline in the company's history coming out of Q1, this is a new chapter for DDN, focused on customers first and driving higher growth.
In order to continue to maintain solid double digit growth, it was necessary to re–align and restructure teams worldwide. With this restructuring, we've eliminated some positions, as well as adjusted some individual roles and responsibilities to better streamline the organization. Elements of this plan were put in place last week, including:
- The exit of some lower performers – less than 10 per cent of the worldwide workforce, by the way (prior to the restructuring, we had 650 employees worldwide)
- The immediate budgetary approval of over 60 [new] headcount; we have currently have 15 positions posted online. We're working to add the balance throughout the quarter
- A reboot in customer support management to enable the next level of organisational scaling and continuously improve customer satisfaction
- I cannot confirm product quality issues. Quite the opposite, our product quality has dramatically improved since we've materially grown the size and breadth of our QA and NPI processes over the past two years.
All told, it's a natural hygiene for a company that has grown as fast as we did, but reflects nothing fundamental about our business.
DDN is different from most companies in that it doesn't have a single senior sales head reporting to the CEO. For example, Bill Downer, the federal sales VP appointed this January and replacing the departed William Minarchi, reports to chief operations officer Erwin Menard who, in turn, reports to CEO Alex Bouzari. This keeping of sales heads at a distance from the CEO may be something that will get changed in order to bring a more forceful focus on to sales management.
The DDN layoffs have taken place at the same time as rumoured Quantum layoffs. They may cause any plans DDN has for an IPO to be put on hold for a while.
No problems overall, then. It's natural hygiene against a background of the largest pipeline in the company's history. ®
Sponsored: Minds Mastering Machines - Call for papers now open


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Brian at MGoBlog, who won his way into the World Series of Poker Main Event, survived the first day of his "quarter" and has advanced to Day #2 on Tuesday. This was no small feat as he had over 2,000 folks in his section alone and had to finish in the top 800 to advance.
While that might sound "easy," folks who didn't make it to day #2 include poker legends such as Doyle Brunson and Phil Hellmuth. In addition, Brian also lasted longer than porn star Ron Jeremy who was at the table next to him. Not many guys can say they lasted longer than Ron Jeremy so that is a victory in itself.
Going into Tuesday, Brian has increased his chipstack from the beginning 10,000 chips to 15K.
Good luck, Brian!
Monday, July 31, 2006
Brian of MGoBlog Makes Day 2 of WSOP
1 comment:
- Cool Hand Mike said...
If you are at the table next to Ron Jeremy and you feel a tap on your shoulder. DON'T LOOK!
- July 31, 2006 3:48 PM
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Best. Luncheon. EVAR.
I just finished up moderating this year's Women in Technology panel here at SQLRally, and it was fantastic. SQLSentry sponsored (thanks!), and our panelists were SQL notables Erin Welker (@sqlbigirl), Jen Stirrup (@jenstirrup), and Wes Brown (@SQLServerIO)*.
The topic was absolutely brilliant: Negotiation. The abstract:
Whether you are searching for a new job or simply needing to relocate your desk, you need the right tools to make your request effective. Come hear how our Women in Technology (WIT) panel of experts have tackled these issues, and learn how you can give yourself the best opportunity to negotiate for what you want.
Man, did they deliver. Among the points discussed…
When negotiating, presentation is key
- You can be too polite. You can polite yourself right out of big raises. (Ask. What's the worst that can happen?)
- We universally undervalue ourselves. IT folk are reclusive and accommodating.
- On dealing with resume gaps: Don't be apologetic. You "took a sabbatical" (whether you did so to raise kids, or whatever, it's still a great way to phrase it.)
Arm yourself with help and information
- Get coaching from those who've done negotiations.
- How do you know what rate to ask? How do you know how to value yourself? Maybe we just need to be better educated. Answer: the internet!
Have goals
- "Money is the means to the end, not the end."
- On balancing salary against intangibles and "rate per hour" (higher salary may mean more hours). "It depends." And, ask! Ask about work environment, especially if you know people on the inside.
- Write down what you want, and use that as a reference when you're fielding offers.
- Ask why the last person left, how many people have gone in the last year.
- Website recommendation: www.GlassDoor.com – People anonymously review places of employment. Cool!
Protect yourself!
- Business is business; businesses watch out for themselves, not you!
- Know and use basic negotiating tactics.
Final thoughts and notes
We have a few more notes that came out of the question and answer period:
- Salary.com and payscale.com
- Don't negotiate from a point of weakness
- Careful about contracts, especially IP
- Consider having a lawyer review your contract
- Review your state laws
And finally, my own thoughts:
- Wes was an excellent choice. He has a ton of solid career advice.
- So was Erin. She's an experienced SQL professional, and one of my favorite people to speak to about career issues.
- And so was Jen. I particularly was pleased that she was able to pull up statistics specific to what we were speaking on!**
A final thanks to everyone, and see you next time. Happy days!
Jen McCown
* Alphabetized by first name, so there.
** And no, that wasn't scripted…none of the session was.
Thanks to @SQLBalls and @SQLChicken for the pix!


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Archive for Friday, August 30, 2013
KU scholars place Syrian crisis in social, historical perspective
August 30, 2013
Accusations that the Syrian army used chemical weapons in an attack last week that killed hundreds of people have prompted stern rhetoric from president Barack Obama and led British prime minister David Cameron to advocate publicly for a military strike against the Syrian Government earlier in the week.
As the world waits for the international drama unfold, Middle East scholars at Kansas University follow it with an eye for the historical and geographical context surrounding the Syrian conflict.
Marie Grace Brown, an assistant professor of history at KU, took part in a panel discussion on the Syrian conflict earlier this year at the university. Students who attended, as well as students in Brown's classes on Middle Eastern history, showed surprise at how little they knew about the conflict.
With tens of thousands dead, millions displaced and the country's economy in ruins, they asked, "Why don't we know more about this?" she said.
Much of Brown's own interest in the Syrian civil war centers on the role gender plays. With the world in upheaval around them, Brown said that women have gained new authority and autonomy both inside the home and outside it not known before the war.
"In any state of war, when you have men and young boys away from fighting, the women take on additional roles within the household and as breadwinners and providers," Brown said.
Perhaps the most important role women have played in the Syrian conflict, as well as in other uprisings across the Arab world, has been as protestors and fighters, Brown said. "I think it's been really sort of instrumental in making these movements more than strict party politics" and more about human rights, she said.
As for U.S. or international intervention, Brown said it could very likely turn an internal conflict into a regional one. Mike Wuthrich, assistant director at the KU Center for Global and International Studies, echoes that.
"If there's not international intervention, I think that's going to be a problem. If there is intervention, it's going to be a problem."
Wuthrich himself taught college and studied for years in Turkey, a close, if wary, neighbor of Syria.
Since Syria's civil war began, Wuthwrich has watched as a tenuous alliance between the two countries — built largely at Turkey's prompting after years of tension around cultural differences and water disputes over the Euphrates — quickly unraveled and even escalated into skirmishes at points.
More broadly, Wuthrich sees the Syrian conflict as both a unique consequence of Syria's institutions and part of the broader regional movement that ignited with the Arab Spring.
"In one sense, it's impossible to extract what's happening in Syria from what happened in the Arab spring. But then at the same time it's had its own unique trajectory," Wuthrich said.
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I am trying to install FC2 as a Samba server for the Win98/ME boxes in my workshop. FC2 from the LinuxFormat dvd last year. During installation no messages of anything unusal, but after rebooting it comes to a halt at Grub. Stuck, only the word Grub. Not possible to write anything. I have tried twice with the same result.
System P2 300, 256 RAM, Drives 3G for the system and 80G for the files.
Only installing X - KDE - Samba server pluss some minor packages. No mail, internet, firewall nor office packages. Trying to keep it as simple as possible.
I started with Suse Server 9.0 but it started installing the whole linux world and uninstalling packages under Linus is not that simple. Resulted in an unstable system.
So far I am near to concluding Linux as non-productive.


text: Steve Rosenbloom is a sports columnist and blogger who has been with the Tribune since 1996. No one can believe he's still here, most of all him. Steve co-hosts sports movie nights with Tribune film critic Michael Phillips because they're fun and they often let Steve pick the movie, starting with "Slap Shot." Steve has written many "Faker's Guides to ..." that you can buy in poster form, and Steve wishes you would. Steve is featured in daily sports videos despite having a face for radio. Steve loves a woman he calls Luscious, and just you never mind how she got that name, mister. Steve also enjoys cigars and pinot noir, but has developed a recent taste for red blends, if you're buying. Steve likes show tunes and still tears up at the end of "Field of Dreams."


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Friday, November 17, 2006
Kings of the Road?
But in the words of Game Day Goofball Lee Corso, "Not so fast, my friend!"
With an emphasis on focus, execution, and outcome, below is a ranking of the best games played by the 2006 Michigan Football Team.
1) @ Notre Dame
2) @ Indiana
4) @ Penn State
5) @ Minnesota
As you can see, Michigan's best games have been disproportionately road games
Though four games is admittedly not a large sample, it seems that Michigan plays better on the road. They definitely seem more focused. There are a few theories to explain this:
* The "Big Quiet House" Theory: Michigan doesn't get much of a lift at home. Therefore, when Michigan goes on the road it does not relinquish an important advantage that many other team's enjoy.
* The "We're Used to This" Theory: Literally every game Michigan plays on the road is a huge game for their opponent. Because of this, Michigan has developed a steady and apparently successful approach for dealing with opposing crowds that few other teams are forced to develop.
* The "Us Against the World Mentality" Theory: If the Soviet Hockey Team or 1927 Yankees were playing in today's sports culture, they would probably join what seems like every other team in saying, "Nobody believed we could do it but us! We shocked the world!"
The Michigan Football Team seems to have utilized a similar attitude this season following the debacle that was 2005. This unity becomes even more solidified on the road, when a team truly is up against almost everyone else. This thinking when combined with the ultra-aggressive defensive attack that has propelled Michigan all season makes Michigan a very formidable--perhaps unbeatable--force.
I would be shocked if Michigan loses on Saturday due to problems typical of road teams (imtimidation, flat play, etc...)In fact, evidence suggests that playing on the road might spark the focus and intensity that Michigan needs to topple the number one team in the nation.
6 comments:
Good post IC, I was thinking the same thing for the Buckeyes too though (with the exception of Illinois...) For my personal rankings, I'd put game level as
Penn State
So with the exception of Illinois (they were looking ahead, just like Michigan with Ball State), Ohio State seems to rock it out pretty well on the road and at home. But you are right, Michigan is a better road team than home team. Just thought I'd share my $0.02. Welcome back to the blog.
- November 17, 2006 3:28 AM
Not so fast, my friend ...
"* The "Big Quiet House" Theory: Michigan doesn't get much of a lift at home. Therefore, when Michigan goes on the road it does not relinquish an important advantage that many other team's enjoy. "
You've forgotten the jangling keys that intimidate visitors to the "Big House". If Michigan fans who dare to enter "The Shoe" bring their keyrings, they'll transport a feared "home field advantage" unlike any other in football ... the dreaded "Key Play."
When youi've got it, flaunt it!!!!
- November 17, 2006 8:37 AM
- BaggyPantsDevil said...
I agree that this is a team that is more focused and probably plays more intensely on the road. I think it has something to do with the fact that Michigan relies heavily on the defense and I have my own goofy theory about it.
I think there's a fundamental difference between athletes who play on offense and those who play on defense. Offense is about scoring and showing off for your own fans. Offense is positive, it's about building and sustaining drives that ultimately lead to points and displaying running, throwing, and catching skills. Offense is about creating.
Defense is about the negative. It's about spoiling all those attempts at running, throwing, and catching. It's about stopping drives and ruining a team's attempts to score. Defense is about destroying. If offense is about making good things happen for your team, defense is about making bad things happen to your opponent. When on the road, a defense has the extra benefit of making bad things happen to close to 100,000 opposing fans as well.
I'm sure Alan Branch's squishing of Anthony Morelli was all the more satisfying because he did it in front of a stadium full of Morelli's own fans. He got to hear the collective gasp and then silence of the crowd, was able to feel their shock and disappointment.
I think defensive players want to see the negative responses to their actions. They want to see opponents getting up slowly and looking groggy. They want to see their opponents walking stiffly and limping slightly after hitting them. The want to see quarterbacks making bad throws because of pressure and want to see receivers drop easy catches because they're already thinking about the hit that's coming. They want to see fear and frustration in their eyes. Seeing and hearing the distress of a stadium full of opposing fans must add to that exponentially.
I look at an offense as some ancient civilization trying to build a great city with all those accumulated yards and points and the defense as some sort of barbarian horde coming to sack and loot that great city. Pillaging is always best when done in someone else's territory.
- November 17, 2006 10:33 AM
- IC said...
Baggy, there's nothing "goofy" about that theory. Though I didn't describe it nearly as well in the post, your brilliant analysis gets at why I think we're going to win this game.
- November 17, 2006 10:46 AM
- Flop said...
21-20-1 at the 'Shoe. This is our house, too.
Just check the flowers in the rotunda. What color are they again?
- November 17, 2006 8:09 PM
A great place to find out everything you ever wanted to know about DETROIT AND MICHIGAN
- November 19, 2006 2:20 PM


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Nice Chevy, Eh!It's not often we get a letter from our neighbors to the north, so when we do, it's time to savor the flavor. In the States, the '57 Chevy is American as apple pie, and it must have clout up north, as well, because P. Lessard is all about his '57 sedan. Besides the blue-on-blue color scheme power was also important to Lessar. Under the hood lies a 500hp 403 stroker engine that is sure to outrun any horse-ridin' Mounties! Lessard also upgraded the front brakes with a set of disc brakes. Along with the new engine came a set of Cragar SS 15x3 1/2 wheels upfront, and 15x8 wheels in the back. In addition to the mechanical upgrades, the '57 has a custom grille, and the hood bullets have been removed and extended. If you're ever in the Quebec area, be on the lookout for Lessard and his '57.
Brothers In ArmsBill and Jeff Curry dig their Novas. Bill, from Yakima, Washington, owns the yellow '64 Nova, and Jeff from Portland, Oregon, owns the red '63 SS Nova. Somehow they both managed to get two Chevy II Novas around the same time, and both began restoration immediately. Bill's '64 has a 350 engine backed by a 350 trans. Jeff's '63 is an all-original numbers-matching SS that still runs the 194ci straight-six. Both cars were purchased in parts throughout Washington and Oregon. Even though the cars were pretty bad at first, the brothers took the time to hunt for parts and turn them into a couple of killer Novas.
Take Off "Built for speed" is exactly what Paul J. Kuran's '69 Camaro is. Besides looking long, low, and black, the F-body has some thrust to boast. Under the cowl hood lies a decked-out 350. The motor is equipped with an Edelbrock Performer cam and lifters, along with a new timing set, intake manifold, and carburetor. Keeping the beast cool are Flex-a-lite electric fans. Hooker Super Competition headers and Flowmaster mufflers funnel all that power to the rear. The Camaro also sports new sway bars, bushings, springs, and Competition Engineering traction bars. What really makes the Camaro fun to drive is the T56 six-speed resting behind the 350. So, are we clear for takeoff?


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Linked by Eugenia Loli on Fri 20th Apr 2012 07:19 UTC
I recently delved into the world of hand-drawn comics-style animation, after a lifetime of just sketching on paper. While I have a long experience with video editing, I had no experience with video animation of that kind. When I first got the idea to do the video it felt like a mountain to me, excessively complex. But the steep learning curve got easier with time. This is my top-5 cheat list to get you up and running.
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by DeadFishMan on Fri 20th Apr 2012 13:40 UTC in reply to "RE: Comment"
There are a few really good tools out there. Of them, the Moho "continuation" product is really worth looking at (though it is now unfortunately called "Anime Studio", which gives the wrong impression completely.) It is a really simple to use vector based animation suite, and the kinds of things that take countless hours using Eugenia's techniques, actually take next to no time in AnimeStudio. It runs on Windows and Mac and is really reasonably priced. The older version worked on BeOS - maybe even Linux. It's really worth looking at. You get a lot of the more complex aspects of animation for free, or at a really rapid rate. I can't rate it enough. Amazing software.
Agreed. Moho had a "skeletor tracking" feature that worked in a similar way to most 3D packages rigging tools: you draw your (vector) character, then define a basic skeletor and then "attach" each part of the character to the corresponding skeletor piece. Then it was just a matter of defining keyframes by changing the skeletor on different points of the timeline and Moho takes care of the tweening. I know that Flash may have similar features but Moho was (IMHO) better suited for classic animation.
The results may look somewhat stiff when compared to a carefully drawn frame by frame animation done on something like Toon Boom in the same way that some modern cartoons look "odd" compared to classic Chuck Jones and Tex Avery stuff but it makes it a whole lot easier and look quite good for today's animation standards.
Loved your hand drawn characters. They kind of resemble Seth MacFarlane's characters in a lot of ways. And I remember that I loved your Vision you showed here on OSNews a few years back. Have you done or considered doing any web comics? I'd love to check it out if you did.


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Submission + - Apple Patents Portrait-Landscape Flipping
theodp writes: On Tuesday, the USPTO granted a patent to Apple for Portrait-landscape rotation heuristics for a portable multifunction device (USPTO), which covers 'displaying information on the touch screen display in a portrait view or a landscape view based on an analysis of data received from the one or more accelerometers.' Perhaps the USPTO Examiners didn't get a chance to review the circa-1991 Computer Chronicles video of the Radius Pivot monitor before deeming Apple's invention patentable. Or check out the winning touchArcade trivia contest entry, which noted the circa-1982 Corvus Concept sported a 15-inch, high-resolution, bit-mapped display screen that also flipped between portrait and landscape views when rotated, like our friend the iPhone. Hey, everything old is new again, right?


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Please click 'Read More' to find the ongoing liveblog.
1:58PM And the Q&A is over! Thanks for reading, everyone.
1:57PM "Is Sartharion getting lonely in Wyrmrest Temple?" "...possibly. We'll see."
1:56PM "Any plans to go to Nazjatar, and will we see an Azshara encounter?" No Nazjatar, but we may learn things about Azshara.
1:56PM Argent Coliseum hard modes won't be near the difficulty of Yogg+0 but will be much harder than the normal modes.
1:55PM Hard modes get iterated a lot because they're difficult to test.
1:54PM How extensive is your raid testing, and did anybody internally kill Yogg+0 pre-nerf? Daelo: Encounter team is 5-people, but we bring in other leads and raiders on staff for the 10-man. It's hard to get 25 developers together, but QA does those. "It's pretty much impossible for 25 people on QA to reach the skill level of a good raid. They didn't beat Yogg+0, they got spanked pretty hard by Yogg+4."
1:53PM Will we get a cinematic planned for Arthas's death, or something special? "100%. Absolutely. It's going to be awesome, there's no way you're going to be disappointed."
1:52PM Will attunement quests be coming back? "It's a possibility." If it's the right place and the right time, you might see them. They use other mechanics as well, the one boss a week of Argent Coliseum.
1:49PM Nefarian, Ragnaros and Onyxia have come back, and Naxxramas has come back. Any plans for, say... Ahn'qiraj? Stockton: We have no plans for that. Onyxia is the only one of the recent crop that is reused. The rest is influenced. Blackrock Descent is brand new content.
1:48PM Will the focus on AOE on raids bosses continue, or will we go back to single target? Daelo: There was an evolution towards AOE DPS, especially in 5-man dungeons. We gave everyone CC, then nobody used it because they didn't need it. We play on using casters more in dungeons so that's not as easy. Raids will be varied.
1:47PM "The Sons of Hodir loved when I polished their helm, but they didn't care that I saved their dad. Will you bring back reputation in raids?" Stockton says yes, they want to continue implementing rep in dungeons, but the guy heading up that system isn't at the panel. Sounds like Afrasiabi is in charge of that.
1:45PM My laptop battery is going to die out in a few minutes, so the full 20 minutes of Q&A may not be covered, but we'll try.
1:44PM There's a solution being deployed right now. Some servers already have it. The tech that allows them to fix this problem is the same tech that empowers cross-server LFG. In a few months, this problem shouldn't ever be seen again.
1:44PM Q&A starting. Question about "Instances cannot be launched."
1:43PM There will be a reward system for it. If you're the leader of a PUG and you complete the dungeon successfully, you will be rewarded. Tentative release is 3.3.0, definitely before Cataclysm.
1:42PM It's designed to make it easier to PUG.
1:42PM You can LFG for 5-man instances with players from other realms. "The tech supports raids, but we're going to kick it off with only 5-players." It will work off of battlegroups, like battlegrounds.
1:41PM Cross Server LFG!
1:41PM Onyxian Whelpling is adorable. Everyone will get it if they log in during the anniversary celebrations. The pet has animations such as... trying to Deep Breath.
1:40PM 1074 topend damage on the new OEB.
1:40PM We've talked about this before on the site, but the loot will be based around Tier 2 helms and other classic loot, like Deathbringer, Obsidian Edged Blade, and Quel'serrar.
1:39PM Holy crap. Showing off the new Onyxia loot stats. 182 Stamina on the Prot Warrior helm.
1:39PM Onyxia before she finished puberty, if you will.
1:38PM It kind of looks like teenage Onyxia. Not full-on Onyxian dragon, but more than just a drake.
1:38PM Showing the Brood of Onyxia flying mount. Looks great.
1:38PM "Even more Deep Breath randomization!"
1:37PM The fight will still feel like Onyxia, but there are new spells and mechanics that will come into play. "There's still many whelps." "Yeah, you'll need more DoTs, for sure."
1:36PM Stockton is back behind the mic to talk about Onyxia's anniversary arrival. Will arrive "sometime around November." Wow.
1:35PM Wow, the visuals are beautiful. The trash mobs look like Ragnaroses that popped Avenging Wrath.
1:35PM The Firelands is an exterior raid zone. We're taking the fight to Ragnaros, and it's not "too soon" anymore. He'll be at full strength.
1:34PM Blackwing Lair 2.0, Daelo implies we'll be seeing some old friends.
1:34PM You dawg, we heard you like raids so etc etc. There's a raid zone in Nefarian's old throne room. He's alive.
1:34PM "Do you see this? Nefarian's room? You might notice something is different about it."
1:33PM Moving on to Cataclysm raids now.
1:33PM Video preview of the 5-mans had some outdoor footage, too. Curious!
1:32PM Jaina, Sylvanas, and others will make appearances.
1:32PM Wow, multiple 5-man dungeons in Icecrown. 8 bosses across the dungeons. An epic questline carries you from one wing to the other, unlocking them in series. After you finish the chain you can do them all whenever you want.
1:32PM Showed some video of Icecrown. Looks beautiful.
1:30PM Patch 3.3 will also have a 5-man dungeon.
1:30PM 4th floor is just Arthas. It's a big, round throne room. "Parts of the room will break off. And if you fall of... well, it's bad."
1:29PM 3rd floor has multiple wings
1:29PM The two ships fire at eachother, and the two ships board eachother with rocket packs. You need to attack/defend.
1:29PM On the 2nd floor, you board your faction's airship. Alliance boards with Varian, Horde boards with Saurfang. You race the other faction up to the next floor.
1:28PM There are 4 floors to the dungeon, and it's still a spire. It's inside of the huge metal casing we see.
1:28PM It will use the waypoint system from Ulduar. Sindragosa and the Lich King are the two bosses they just named.
1:27PM There's actually 12 bosses.
1:27PM 10 and 25 player raid. "31 epic bosse-wait what? Did Ghostcrawler get ahold of this slide?"
1:27PM Icecrown Citadel sneak peek!
1:27PM Wow, Blackrock Caverns looks amazing. They weren't kidding. I'm getting all nostalgic.
1:26PM Oh right, better description. Take the egyptian stuff from Ahn'Qiraj and cobble it together with Ulduar. That's Uldum.
1:25PM This dungeon will be linear.
1:25PM "The Beast still lurks..."
1:25PM Deathwing has literally drilled a hole from Blackrock Spire to Grim Batol to transport supplies and troops. This is the Blackrock Caverns. The Twilight Hammer is there, naturally.
1:24PM Blackrock Caverns is up. "Reinventing a fan favorite." People love UBRS, but they didn't want to use that as one they made a Heroic for. They are going to recreate the experience.
1:24PM They just showed a video preview. It's very much Titan architecture. Imagine Ulduar, except with pharaoh statues instead of constellations.
1:23PM The story is that there is some sort of super weapon in Uldum and/or the Halls of Origination. Everyone wants it. Horde, Alliance, Deathwing, all of them.
1:22PM Concept art of the aesthetics. WoW's version of a sphinx is basically a gryphon.
1:22PM Brann Bronzebeard will be there, and it's non-linear again.
1:22PM The aethetics of Uldum and the dungeon Lost City of Tol'vir is WoW's take on Egyptian aesthetics.
1:21PM The other dungeon for Cataclysm noobs is an outdoor 'dungeon' in Uldum.
1:20PM Er, it was only 5 seconds long.
1:20PM They're playing video now. We'll try to get that, but no promises.
1:20PM Abyssal Maw will be one of the first dungeons you experience in Cataclysm. Showing off concept art now.
1:18PM The dungeon is non-linear.
1:18PM Abyssal Maw is the first they're showing off. It's in the Sunken City of Vashj'ir, a 5-player dungeon. You will literally get pulled down into the elemental plane of water. There are rifts in the ocean floor due to the Cataclysm, which allows access to the plane. The Naga have taken a huge interest.
1:17PM Slide of the "dungeon matrix." 4 raid zones, 8 dungeons, 2 "Old World Heroics." AT LAUNCH. Yes, that's 4 full raid zones at launch.
1:16PM Cataclysm preview now!
1:15PM After lots of iteration, "What just happened?" they pass it off to QA and the PTR.
1:15PM Playtesting comes next. Apparenly there are 5 encounter designers, which makes playtesting rather straightforward.
1:14PM And the screen that displays how much she Deep Breaths! Stockton: "Wow, looks like it's random." Daelo: "Yeah, how weird!"
1:14PM Creature editing panel for Onyxia pulled up. It has all of her 3.2.2 details. Abilities, health pool, damage range, loot, model, etc.
1:13PM They're showing an actual shot of Wowedit right now. Mob placement and mob path is plotted out with dots and lines.
1:13PM A tool called "Wowedit" is what they use to actually place things and make them do what they do.
1:12PM "What makes an encounter cool?" and making sure variety is provided come after.
1:11PM A dev mentioned vehicles can ride other vehicles and that's when they decided, "We need to do a Voltron fight." Hence Mimiron.
1:11PM Brainstorming is the ground level for encounter designers. "We sit down at a table in a dimly lit room and just start throwing out ideas." Inspiration comes from anywhere.
1:10PM Daelo is taking over for Stockton now and getting into Encounter Design.
1:09PM Showing off some concept art. Some for Icecrown, some for Cataclysm dungeons. Oh hey, and the train to Mimiron!
1:09PM Then they go to the artists and work closely with them. Artists play a role in dungeon design as well. Example, Utgarde Keep's entryway came out of concept art. The flames out of the forge, etc.
1:07PM They plan the interactive pieces of the dungeon very early in development, because they need to spend a lot of extra time on those things. Example, shattering floor in Malygos, moving bridge before Vashj.
1:07PM They're showing off some very raw 3D maps. Completely untextured.
1:06PM After blocking it out in 2D, they do it in 3D. They repeatedly check the scale, and they plan on using the Ulduar-esque teleporters more to allow them to make larger areas.
Hello I am filler text to make a 'Read More' link show up!
1:04PM Halls of Origination 2D map as well. Picture coming later.
1:04PM Stockton confirms that there will be 4 levels/floors to the dungeon. More Icecrown information later in the panel.
1:03PM Map of Icecrown Citadel! Will try to get images late,r again. There are floor labels, "3rd Floor" "4th Floor"
1:03PM Image coming later, there's a basic mockup of Grim Batol on the scren.
1:02PM From there they block the dungeon out in 2D. The maps, the flow, bosses and boss placement, and assorted other points of interest.
1:01PM They're going into their design process first, the steps to how they make a dungeon. First is "Epic Idea." Where is this place, who lives there, and what the player goals are.
1:00PM Corey Stockton and Scott Mercer are our panelists today. If you were unaware, Scott is also known as Daelo.
1:00PM Directv display just turned off here at the panel, meaning panelists will be out in just a minute or two.


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Grow to Learn Grant Writing & Garden Planning Workshop
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
9:00 a.m.–11:00 a.m.
Please note: This event has already taken place. Please use the Search options on the right to find upcoming events.
Need help applying for a Grow to Learn Mini-Grant? Attend a grant-writing and garden design workshop! We will walk you through the application and garden design process and help answer any individual questions you may have.
GrowNYC Office
Directions to this locationLocation Details:
51 Chambers St., Room 214
You will need ID to enter the building.
Event Organizer
Grow to Learn


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HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania Legislature on Monday fitfully opened what was expected to be a long and hectic week before lawmakers depart Harrisburg for the summer.
Both chambers were expected to be in session every day through Sunday, the last day of the fiscal year, as the GOP-controlled Legislature works to finish a new state budget and reach consensus on several priorities of Gov. Tom Corbett, also a Republican.
But planned committee votes to advance bills on three key topics — transportation funding, a fiscal-year budget, and alcoholic beverage sales — were each delayed Monday.
A scheduled House Transportation Committee meeting to vote on a $2.5 billion-a-year transportation funding bill that the Senate passed earlier in June was postponed at the last minute. The delay was explained as necessary to correct an amendment that would scale back the cost and make other substantive changes.
But Republicans acknowledged they also needed more time for caucus members to discuss the measure, prompting questions about whether supporters lacked the necessary votes to win committee approval.
"Obviously, this is an issue that's important to a cross-section of legislators," said House GOP spokesman Steve Miskin.
The Senate Appropriations Committee put off a vote on a $28 billion-plus state spending plan that could include some additional money for distressed school districts. It will be at least Tuesday before committee members take a vote on the budget.
Meanwhile, a Senate committee vote on a bill to liberalize the sale of wine, liquor and beer in Pennsylvania was postponed from early afternoon Monday and was still possible later in the day.
The future of the wine, liquor and beer bill is uncertain because the Senate's anticipated version, which Bucks County Sen. Charles McIlhinney is writing, would not necessarily end the state's participation in alcohol sales, as Corbett and House Republican leaders have sought. Democrats have criticized the bill and signaled they will oppose it.
In floor action Monday, the House was scheduled to debate a bill that would impose tougher ethics rules and academic standards on charter schools, while reducing about $150 million in taxpayer payments for employee pensions and food services to cybercharter schools over two years.
Later in the week, the Senate is expected to consider legislation to enable a federally funded Medicaid expansion under certain conditions, an overhaul of public employee pension systems and the appointment of a new state Supreme Court justice, Correale Stevens.
Corbett was also expected to resubmit a contract to hire a British firm to manage the Pennsylvania Lottery after Attorney General Kathleen Kane rejected his first attempt as illegal.


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Hello i been trying to get my cata macro to work. Basicly what it do is use up all runes for Obliterate and then start pumping out Frost Strike. So if i dont have runes but runic power i use frost strike and then the other way around. Msg me if someone can remake this macro so it works in MoP TYY
DK Macro for Frost 2h Obli.
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The Guild Wars 2 "expansion" will not be so expansion-like.
Welcome to another week of GuildCast the Guild Wars 2 show. This week Colin Johanson sets players straight regarding their expectations of a Guild Wars 2 "expansion". A quote from Johanson states that:
"To set expectations accordingly, the January release will be a relatively small release that sets the table for the stories and features we plan to roll out with the Feb/March releases and beyond. also, there will be no new race, profession, or new region with these larger Feb/March releases."
So, while technically there may be enough content amount-wise to equal an expansion, the kind of content being released may not what players imagine when they think "Guild Wars 2 expansion."
Culling may actually be removed from dub v dubs.
So while there won't be a true Guild Wars 2 expansion any time soon, players might be happy to know that engineering programmers are hard at work on the issue of culling in dub v dubs. The team does believe they can do it and look forward to making the announcement that it's been done.
More players are smacked by the ban-hammer for exploiting.
Really guys? Really? You didn't learn the last time around that ArenaNet is serious about this whole "Do not exploit." business?
Yes, we know… you didn't know it was an exploit. It's ArenaNet's fault for letting it through. The problem here is that they don't buy that. In fact, support Liason Gaile Gray had this to say about it:
"Any time you take one think and can make two, and then four, and then sixteen… Ya gotta know that's just wrong. (I won't quibble on the odds, but overall, that form of doubling was not outside the realm of possibility.) And to perform this action hundreds and hundreds of times? That's called 'exploitation,' and that's against the user agreement, the rules of conduct, and all that is holy."
All this, plus your viewer questions on this week's episode. And, if you happened to miss last week's GuildCast, you can check it out here.
So… Join Gary Gannon, Richie "Bogotter" Procopio, Massively's Elisabeth Cardy and ZAM's Scott Hawkes for another expansive edition of GuildCast!


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Our iconic Brompton, in a versatile pursette (our designer loves it as a camera bag). Perfectly proportioned for everything from bike rides to brunch, the cross-body silhouette lets you go hands free—or detach the shoulder strap for an instant clutch. In an array of amazing hues and leathers. Online only.
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STOCKTON - Under slate-gray skies slowly turning to charcoal and despite a damp, penetrating breeze, dozens of San Joaquin County Sikhs gathered Sunday evening to commemorate and express their sadness over Friday's tragedy in Newtown, Conn.
STOCKTON - Under slate-gray skies slowly turning to charcoal and despite a damp, penetrating breeze, dozens of San Joaquin County Sikhs gathered Sunday evening to commemorate and express their sadness over Friday's tragedy in Newtown, Conn.
Even as that New England community held its own multifaith memorial service, at which President Barack Obama expressed the sorrows of a nation, those gathered at the Gurdwara Shahib, Stockton's Sikh temple, lit candles, prayed and spoke of the shootings that took 28 lives, including 20 children.
Kuljit Singh Nijjar, the temple secretary, describes the killing of the innocent children as the most heinous crime.
"As an American, as a community of Sikhs, our sympathies go out to the families," he said.
American Sikhs were victims in August, when a lone gunman killed six people at a temple in suburban Milwaukee.
But Nijjar said tragedy of the lives lost in Connecticut go beyond a single community or creed.
"Those are our children, no matter if it's a Sikh, no matter if it's a Christian, no matter if it's a Muslim," he said.
And the response to such a crime should also be universal.
"We should stand together no matter who you are, no matter what religion you belong to," Nijjar said.
About 5 p.m., the gathering began around a courtyard fountain outside the temple on South Grant Street.
Men, mostly in turbans, women wearing head scarves and children, many the ages of those who died in Newtown, sat or stood solemnly as dozens of votive candles were lit.
Carlos Villapudua, a San Joaquin County supervisor who was addressing the candlelight vigil, underlined the parallel.
"They're God's people," he said of the children of Stockton. And of the shooting victims, "Those kids, too, were God's people."
Sonny Dhaliwal, the mayor of Lathrop and an organizer of Sunday's vigil, spoke out against the violence.
"We pray to God, there has to be a divine intervention to stop these mass murders," he said of the long, sad list of multiple-victim shootings in this country.
And while Dhaliwal was uncertain whether it was time for the nation to impose greater gun control, he said it was certainly the proper time to begin a discussion of that issue.
Contact reporter Reed Fujii at (209) 546-8253 or firstname.lastname@example.com.


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the dry, volcanic Atacama is often compared to the Martian surface.
Except that it has an ozone layer protecting it, and the surface isn't covered by free radicals ready to destroy anything organic.
There is nowhere on Earth that is comparable to the surface of Mars. There is no life on the surface of Mars. There might be life under the surface, but that is a completely different comparison.
"So pack some sunscreen and antioxidants. Big whoop."
You meant Big pop? Popcorn actually contains large amounts of antioxidants.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/26/antioxidants-in-popcorn-polyphenols_n_1380334.html [huffingtonpost.com]
Still, probably not enough for the Martian summer.
Seems to me the operant words from the article were the following:
"With their rocky terrain, thin atmosphere and high radiation, the Atacama volcanoes are some of the most similar places on Earth to the Red Planet."
" 'If we know, on Earth, what the outer limits for life were, and they know what the paleoclimates on Mars were like, we may have a better idea of what could have lived there,' he [Steve Schmidt] said."
I may easily have missed it in the article but I saw no direct comparisons made apart from "rocky soils in the Martian-like landscape" which refers to appearance, and by my lights "most similar" does not mean "the same."
What interested me was the five percent or more difference of these various critters from current DNA database. What fascinates me is that Life has of late been found in places we'd thought it to be least likely to impossible.
I used to do extremophile research. I can chip in a little knowledge about microbial research to neutralize some of this sensationalism
Ribosomal RNA sequences are often the basis for speciation in biology. And while the human and ape species may be less than 1 percent difference, they are described to be different species. The full genomic DNA seqs may have more difference.
With microbes, the rRNA threshold for a different species is 13%. There are species of E.coli that have 50% less genomic DNA (meaning beyond 50% different since they already are missing half), that are called E.coli because the rRNA is not varied enough (less than 13% different).
My point is that in the world of microbes, and furthermore extremophiles, a 5% difference is not much. That may be a sensational news point. I persnally genetically identified several organisms from the Boiling Springs Lake Microbial Observatory (65-95 deg C, pH 1.7) that were 11-12.7% different than previously described species....
Thanks for that. Just off the top of my head a "5% bulk DNA sequence difference" doesn't mean a whole lot. I'm surprised that they're pushing stuff with this little actual hard data.
Reminds me of the last time NASA went looking for alien DNA [slashdot.org].
I think Slashdot needs to make a policy not to accept anything from anyone's PR department. Especially NASA and any US University.
Thanks for the clarification and background.
"Used to..." What happened?
I do stemcell research for a major lab. mRNA based cell reprogramming.
Thank you. Neat stuff, hope it's going well for you. Now, if'n somebody'd just fix them pesky telomeres....
I reprogram cells to become other cell types. Its a lot of fun.
The telomere issue is underway since 2 years ago. I'd love to live forever, but imagine a world where the new cannot own the world.... where the old persist and never let go of their influence. For example, today's politics largely votes the interests of 50-60 year olds. 30 years ago, the same people voted, but the politics followed their parents who were 50-60 at the time. Since people still die, I expect in 20-30 years for cannabis to
I'm glad you've found interesting work that you enjoy - that's rare enough at any time.
Yeah, the probs attendant longevity... I had the stray thought mid-Seventies that long lives or no, just given population growth, the notion of private ownership of land, for instance, would come into question. This alone, of all the possible disruptions of having a bunch of people living for, say, centuries, acts like a panic/rage button for lots of people, self included. (I've long yearned for a piece of land to build
Since you're on Slashdot I assume you might be into Linux.
As of late, Linus Torvalds and my Boss just shared a prize together!
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iQ1KdxYp6hhmkeOKwcripY54iC-A?docId=CNG.a1b878f71ac27feae178698ffd633dd4.291 [google.com]
I thought about making a Slashdot thread suggestion... but then I realized I don't care to come up with some savvy abstract and just sent you the link right here.... haha.
Anyway, rockon.
Good link to succinct article, thanks. Interesting boss.
Yah, been messing about in a consumerish way with Linux since '03; main OS for almost four years. Cheers.
The basis for speciation is quite complex, still theoretical, and always under debate.
What we are talking about is percentages of variance in the ribosomal subunit called "16S" rRNA sequence. In eukaryotes its 18S.
I'm on. Phone typing this, so I just realized how annoying it will be to spell out the scientific history.... so I will just be frank.
The truth is that species in all cases are a man made idea. The genetic variance among organisms on earth is large, even among same 'species', especially consideri
Not to mention that they come from a life-rich planet that has given this area a multitude of different combinations to try before any became sustainable. Life on Earth can adapt to all sorts of hostile environments, but that doesn't mean that it can originate from them.
And the atmosphere has a completely different composition and density and it's much warmer and it does in fact get precipitation from time to time and large animals such as humans can survive there for extended periods. In other words, aside from practically everything important, it's a lot like Mars.
Actually, we don't KNOW that there's no life on Mars. We just don't know that there is. But we do know of no species (yet) that could survive there. If we find something that could survive there, it'll prob
IIRC, there have been experiments at JPL in which bacteria were subjected to ever more Martian-like conditions, and that if the environmental change was slow enough, some bacterial successfully adapted. My brief search didn't turn up those experiments. However...
During the assembly of the Phoenix spacecraft (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_(spacecraft)) cultures taken from the clean room in which the spacecraft was assembled and tested noted a shift in the organisms cultured towards those capable of su
( http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20827915.800-live-wires-the-electric-superorganism-under-your-feet.html [newscientist.com] )
The "arsenic based bacteria" which were supposed to revolutionize the way we viewed biology didn't even turn out to be a hoax, but bad science. Although, after RTFA, it looks as if these scientists are being a bit more cautious before making outrageous declarations.
Biologists are finding fascinating new microorganisms in harsh environments all the time - this is mostly very good science, but nothing revolutionary or remotely controversial. The microbes in TFA are interesting because there isn't an obvious energy source available (since they're non-photosynthetic). This means that they may have evolved some unique metabolic strategy. But there is no inherent reason why these microbes can't or shouldn't exist; they're just something we haven't seen before.
The arsenic bacteria article was immediately controversial because for the claims of the authors were true, it would directly conflict with some very basic chemical phenomena, and didn't make sense in light of everything else we know about cellular biochemistry. (The mere existence of microbes in such high levels of arsenic is intrinsically interesting, since they would have had to evolve tolerance for what is effectively a poison, but again hardly revolutionary.) It was doubly controversial because it didn't do a very good job experimentally supporting the primary claim, that the bacteria preferred arsenate to phosphate in nucleic acid backbones. If you're going to put forward such an extreme hypothesis, you need to really nail the evidence 100%. The hand-waving science-by-press-release was an added slap in the face. Every scientist (especially the great ones) loves a bit of PR now and again - that's why universities issue press releases like TFA - but you have to know your limits.
Does it have a very thin CO2 atmosphere, and Ome third gravity?
Not really that much like Mars then is it?
It does have a very thin CO2 atmosphere. About 40 Pa partial pressure.
There was a well-reviewed movie about the Atacama Desert last year called Nostalgia for the Light, which touches on both the science and local politics of the area.
The Atacama desert was also featured in Planet Earth: Deserts[*], and even in the 2009 Top Gear holiday special.
[*]: And thus likely also in various American shows where they replace Attenborough with old B-stars reading scripts badly, and cut a quarter of the footage to make room for commercials.
Why press releases like this fail to link the actual article is beyond me - surely that helps the research to be more widely read.
(abstract is free, fulltext behind paywall)
Then there must be a place on Mars that is like Earth.
Curiously, there are some parts of Mars that are the spitting image of the Atacama Desert. You'd feel right at home!
I'm from the Atacama Apetizer actually, so, no.
I have it on good authority that Mars has no bodies of water as delectable as the Atacama Apertif.
The biosphere up there is now tainted by the intestinal and vaginal flora and fauna carried by the researchers. Thanks Boulder.
Maybe it was all dudes, so we don't need to worry about the vag bugs...
I can't believe researchers would drop drawers and scoot around on the desert floor rubbing their
Oh! That kind of tainted!
I can't believe researchers would drop drawers and scoot around on the desert floor rubbing their
Oh! That kind of tainted!
'Tis or taint, S'cooter.
I have ways of making money that you know nothing of. -- John D. Rockefeller


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15" AAA Remy DIY, 32"/80cm Wide St, #1b/BurgAAA Straight weft as seen in the photos. This weft can used for clipin extensions, where you cut the weft and sew on the clips. It could also be installed as a Micro Weft, or with Cornrow Weave or with our newest system of installation which has hit the world by storm (please search Google for Air Flex or our FB page for a full install https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.697578330271334.1073741859.281172928578545&type=3) Air Flex Tapein system, where the pieces are taped in with Air Flex/Protac Tape (lasts for approx 4 weeks before needing to be retaped) you can purchase Air Flex from us and then if want you can transform them into clipins. All products are available in this folder.
We have just purchased this stock from another NZ supplier, this has been in the NZ for the past 6 years. We have a HUGE range of colours & mixes, available in a variety of lengths in Straight and different widths, previously you have only been able to buy these in full 100gms wefts from us.
Colours Available: #1b Natural Black/Brown and beautiful Burgundy mix as seen in the first 2 photos
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DIY 6-10 Pce head Set, 70-160gms for a full head - 15"/38cm long X 32"/80cm wide, approx 58gms (whilst stocks last)
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32" wide weft can be cut into pieces of your choice and doubled wefted.
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Thanks for shopping with kattygurl. Credit cards are processed by third party gateways. We never see, or store your Credit card information. All the hair extensions and other products you can see on our website are in stock right now. Once an item goes out of stock it is no longer visible to purchase. Your hair extensions will be delivered by Courierpost, or can be picked up from our shop at 717 Manukau Road Royal Oak Auckland. Regardless of how many items you buy at one time we charge only $4.30 for Urban delivery. Rural delivery is $7.50. Courier delivery is normally overnight, slightly longer to some rural addresses.


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This time last year, Newpoint Bay High School had just received its third consecutive D grade and was facing a possible shutdown. This year, it's an entirely different story.
"Over the last four years we have really focused on our students and their needs" said Jennifer St. Germain. "They have finally shown what we all along knew they could do."
And what the staff and students of Newpoint did was earn a B grade.
"We missed making a C by one point, so that was heartbreaking last year," said Germain. "This year we're gonna have a celebration when the kids return back from break. It just feels awesome."
The school made some significant changes in curriculum and classroom activities, laying a more substantial foundation for students. Many were unfamiliar with the standardized testing they faced in high school.
"The first year, I feel like it was kinda a learning experience for the teachers as well," said Dalton Heap, a 2012 graduate of Newpoint. "After that they kinda knew what the students needed help with, what they could do to improve."
Because of a smaller enrollment, Newpoint wasn't held to the same grading standard as other area high schools. Regardless, both school and district officials say the achievement is a huge step in the right direction.
Bay, Mosley, and Arnold high schools also received a B grade.


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Web 2.0: How to Teach the Public about Social Software - Description [1]
The digital divide isn't about the Internet haves and have-nots anymore; instead, it is about who has access to fast broadband connections for streaming media and exposure to content creation tools. The Internet has evolved to become a participatory medium, and libraries, in their role of providing information and resources, may be the only vehicles for citizen's voices to be heard in the Web 2.0 culture. This workshop will:
- Empower you to teach the public how to use specific Web 2.0 tools
- Learn to field challenging questions specific to Web 2.0
- Develop best practices for designing workshops that address the specific needs of adult learners
Workshop Description: Web 2.0 makes some people nervous; privacy, safety, attribution, authority and standards are major issues. In this all-day, hands-on session, we'll cover fielding challenging questions specific to Web 2.0 and focus on best practices for designing workshops that address the specific needs of adult learners. Group discussion and hands-on exercises will help you develop the skills and handouts to better help your users understand the ins and outs of Web 2.0 concepts and applications.
Preliminary Course Outline
- Conveying Web 2.0
- How to explain Web 2.0 concepts
- Creating helpful handouts
- Social Bookmarking
- How to explain the tagging phenomenon
- Applying tags through applications such as Google Images, Flickr, and del.icio.us
- Blogs, Wikis, and RSS
- How to explain the subscription and collaborative elements
- Applying the concepts through applications such as Bloglines, Blogger, and PBwiki
- Social Software
- How to explain online communities
- Finding the right community by age, ability, and interests: examining communities such as MySpace, Ning, and Eons
Workshop Instructor: Beth Gallaway [2]