text:
Didn't you read the article/summary? The torrent is dead, because all the seeds went away.
On the other hand, we should just ask China. I'm sure they have some copies of the recipe laying around...
"Fine. We'll help you refurbish your missiles if you'll just shut up about Tibet."
I thought it was just:
svn co https://trident.nnsa.gov/svnroot/fogbank [nnsa.gov] --username=guest --password=topsecret
you can download the instruction from the Pirate Bay...
Just wait a few weeks; you might be right
My immediate thought was related: The US government probably does have the info hidden away in some obscure department's archives, hidden behind a wall of secrecy and classification. The repair guys just don't have the right clearances, and instead of saying "We can't give you that information", the agency says "We don't have that information".
It could also be a case of Clarke's third law. The information is stored away somewhere, but the repair crews don't know the name of the archive or who runs it, and the people at the archive haven't heard that anyone's looking for it. And chances are that if you ask for the info using the part's name, they won't be able to find it; you have to tell them the code number (or whatever they call it) for that particular part.
That is, the information could be hidden by ignorance and incompetence, not by any active efforts to hide or eliminate the information. That happens all the time any large organization, businesses as well as governments.
Actually, my other thought was "Did they google it?" Chances are that google could tell them the part number(s), and maybe also the torrent name at the Pirate Bay.
My wife and I do this all the time. We hide stuff from the kids in a "safe place"... only a week later we can't remember where the safe place was.
I think that's what happened here. Every body properly changed their passwords and cleaned out file drawers... and nobody did the diligence to make sure all the pieces were accounted for... because that would be "insecure" for there to be a checklist. The instructions are probably buried, like you said, and the only people interested in looking thru the archives don't have clearance... I'd venture even the archivists don't have clearance to open files not requested...
I agree with the other guy too. The DoD has been pushing to restart Nuclear Manufacturing of NEW devices since the last prez came to office. If only for the shock value of making new weapons to put some fear out there. I can't believe the current prez would fall for the ruse and burn that kind of international goodwill he's trying to muster.
Well, the current prez doesn't need to look like a pussy in front of the rest of the world either. In that article, the push was for updating making replacement warheads and the like, with no new capabilities other than to replace again cold war stock. The Russians and Chinese are keeping their nukes up to date....why should we not do the same?
Just get Gordon Ramsay to taste it. He'll tell you what's in it.
Apparently Heston Blumenthal has already been experimenting with it in the Fat Duck's ill-advised 'Fogbank and Plutonium porridge':
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/berkshire/7927715.stm [bbc.co.uk]
Who is still flying them? To my knowledge the last SR-71 flight was 10 years ago or so.
On a somewhat related note, I was watching some stuff on the U-2 a few days ago and I have to think that the days are numbered on that aircraft as well. Between advances with satellites and UAVs, manned surveillance aircraft don't seem to make much sense.
Who is still flying them? To my knowledge the last SR-71 flight was 10 years ago or so.
They have two at Beale AFB in Marysville, CA. According to people I know who work on base, one is kept in a constant state of operational readiness. That's expensive, so you wouldn't do this unless you were using the damned thing. You'd never notice a launch, because they're launching aircraft of all sizes out of there night and day with constant training flights and U2 overflight.
You'd never notice a launch, because they're launching aircraft of all sizes out of there night and day with constant training flights and U2 overflight.
Fucking Bono.
Problem is, when you shoot a satellite down, it can take years to develop another one, and weeks to launch it into orbit. UAV's can have their signals jammed, and most depend on satellites for either GPS, or control. A plane can maneuver, and quite often be there much quicker than waiting for a satellite to come into position.
I'm not usually the conspiracy-theory type, but I suspect that the USAF already is flying an SR-71 replacement and this is why they have been retired.
Spy Satellites and UAVs certainly cover parts of the SR-71 mission profile. However, what about battlefield survailence of a major military adversary? Current UAVs cannot survive in combat. Sure, they can loiter over Basra all day when nobody has anything other than a rifle to shoot at them with. Try to get footage of downtown Tehran with a UAV and you'll just have UAV-parts raining all over the place. Satellites certainly work better, but they're very limited in coverage and have no loiter capability. They're also very vulnerable if somebody is determined enough to actually start shooting them down.
I'm not saying you couldn't do the job with a UAV with SR-71-like capabilities. That is certainly an option. Perhaps one already exists. However, neither satellites or the currently public UAV options make the SR-71 completely obsolete. Either the US doesn't think it needs ariel recon of hot areas, or it has some other way of doing it that nobody knows about.
NASA had the same issue with some spaceship components because new people were not trained on how legacy systems were built.
I hope you're not referring to the "we lost the blueprints to the Saturn V" urban legend. Because if you are, you need to be aware that the US has all the plans and the experience it needs to rebuild these craft. What it doesn't have is the heavy industrial base. Material science has moved the US significantly forward from the heavy metal construction and high noise/high latency electronics used in the original SatV. Rebuilding the SatV would be more effort than just designing a new spacecraft.
If you're just referring to a few components here and there, then I have to argue that these things just happen. Systems age, get out of date, and certain challenges arise in maintenance. For someone like NASA, they're not that difficult to solve. It can take quite a few man hours to understand the part properly and re-machine it (even if original staff are on hand; people tend to forget things over time), but the job still gets done with a minimum amount of fuss.
This issue is a far more worrisome problem. Due to the need for secrecy (there was a HUGE concern that the USSR would obtain our technology), many of the steps were maintained as secrets in people's heads rather than on paper. That makes it difficult to combat the brain drain that invariably happened both as the engineers and researchers aged and the Cold War wound down.
I hope you're not referring to the "we lost the blueprints to the Saturn V" urban legend.
According to a friend that did a stint in high level strategy at NASA, that's not really an urban legend. When the project was shelved, the documents were more or less destroyed. Our Shuttle launch capacity isn't the same as then, and we really don't have the capacity to just "put err up." It's not that the blueprints are gone, one presumes that a certain level of that was archived, and reverse engineering the rest of the tech wouldn't be the issue, but you are right about the industrial base.
Also, changing environmental and work conditions would prevent just throwing together the Saturn V. Also, engineers of today don't have the same skill sets as back then. I never learned drafting, the core of engineering then. The archived records would presumably let skilled engineers recreate the project, but we don't have the same skills. Reorienting NASA for the Mars mission was a complete reorg of most of the agency, and a LOT of the work is recreating our technology from the space race with modern techniques and materials, because the old stuff doesn't exist.
Same reason you can't buy a 57 Chevy new... it's not that GM couldn't make a similar truck, but with modern environmental and CAFE standards, you couldn't recreate the classics, even if all the plans were there, and the guys working the lines are trained for robotic factories, you couldn't just recreate the 57 lines.
This is why it's important to document your code... or your warheads. Either or.
The material in the design specification was essentially unobtanium. It couldn't be manufactured at all. Quietly, the manufacturing engineers developed a solution that almost met all of the design specifications, and this was an excellent compromise. Unfortunately, the design engineers couldn't be convinced to sign off on the design change because of quality procedure 15, and military qualification 7. However, the biggest reason the design engineers wouldn't sign off on the change was because of a supposedly critical but practically useless mandatory project requirement, like the missile must work when fired in -40 degree water from 20 feet under the polar ice shelf.
The manufacturing engineers decided that the "fire nuclear missile while under ice shelf function", probably wouldn't be used, so the modified material was actually just fine. They shipped the missiles, got paid, and everyone was happy. Until now, when someone tries to "fix" the original "fix".
This story has happened before and will happen again. Whenever you bump into a design that requires a part that "does not exist", watch out for the possibility that the part never did "exist". It could be that you are reading a "design" document, and not what manufacturing actually built. I've worked in manufacturing, and there are lots of stories about impossible to make designs that somehow got shipped.
My European grandmother made a cake that could easily withstand the middle stages of a nuclear explosion.
The material in the design specification was essentially unobtanium.
... also known as element 404.
That "supposedly critical but practically useless mandatory project requirement" is the result of experience. Inexperienced engineers often make the mistake of assuming that if they can't understand why the requirement exists, it must be arbitrary.
Perhaps this is apocryphal, but during the Cold War, submarines would routinely get stuck under polar ice floes. Having a missile which would work when fired from underneath the polar ice was probably a very large concern for the system designers. Had the engineers pointed out the impossibility of this requirement, it is possible that military doctrine would have been changed to reflect the limitations of the technology. If you are correct about the difference between requirements, design, and actual manufacture, then the actions of these engineers (or perhaps bureaucrats) put the entire United States at risk of nuclear holocaust. Had the Soviets known this during the Cold War, they might have been more willing to risk a nuclear confrontation.
There is a serious side to this. The US hasn't actually built any nukes, stuck 'en on a rocket, fired them and had a successful BOOM for well over 40 years. That must be coming up for 2 generations of rocket / nuclear scientists and the third generation is now in training. That means that the "new guys" will learn from people who didn't have any practical experience and in turn learned from the people who actually *did it* nearly 50 years ago.
See, this is what happens when you don't continue to spend money on extremely advanced engineering projects: you lose the technology. Technology isn't just a textbook and some blueprints, it requires the experience and knowledge of scientists and engineers. It's a living thing: shelve it, and it dies.
It would be nice to think this would serve as an abject lesson to congresscritters, next time they think about cutting funding for something 'we don't need right now.' Although I'm cynical enough not to believe that.
Having worked at this facility in the '80's as an engineer, I can say definitively that this scenario is either misunderstood, or incorrectly reported, or deliberately obfuscated, or a lie, or postulated from sketchy evidence, but it is factually and wholly wrong.
Every project for every material or product, special or otherwise, was properly documented. These files would not be destroyed. (Note here that I'm assuming the files on "fogbank" were not lost in an accident or by malicious destruction.)
Now, has the practical and hands-on knowledge of the step-by-step, moment-by-moment synthesis reaction to make this material been lost? Perhaps in the course of 25 years it has. Lots of people have left the plant since then. But all the information, notations and observations necessary to reconstruct the process/project do exist, I assure you.
Having worked at this facility in the '80's as an engineer, I can say definitively that this scenario is either misunderstood, or incorrectly reported, or deliberately obfuscated, or a lie, or postulated from sketchy evidence, but it is factually and wholly wrong.
Every project for every material or product, special or otherwise, was properly documented. These files would not be destroyed. (Note here that I'm assuming the files on "fogbank" were not lost in an accident or by malicious destruction.)
Now, has the practical and hands-on knowledge of the step-by-step, moment-by-moment synthesis reaction to make this material been lost? Perhaps in the course of 25 years it has. Lots of people have left the plant since then. But all the information, notations and observations necessary to reconstruct the process/project do exist, I assure you.
Great point. My experience is often when people we say "we lost the instructions..." they really mean:
1. We've scrapped the production line and its components so we do not have the physical capability to build x anymore, or
2. We have the instructions but since we last did this 25 years ago all the people who knew the little tricks to really make it work are long gone.
Another possibility is the files have been moved so many times over the years to make space for new material that nobody remembers where they are anymore.Probably locked up in some obscure SCIF, waiting to be moved again when the space is needed.
And I've spend a couple of decades working in the aerospace and commercial aviation biz. And I can tell you that there's documented procedures and then there's the actual way to get it done. The documentation isn't always complete, with some critical steps or knowledge being left out. Either they were overlooked, or in some cases its a matter of a trade secret (a company doesn't want a competitor to bid the contract) or job security (the guy on the shop floor doesn't want to get replaced, so he doesn't document the specifics that keep the whole shebang from blowing up).
I can see how such a situation can arise quite easily.
I find it tough to believe that the foam in the W88 is really that different from the foam in the W76. I thought the goal of the foam was to just become completely ionized and become transparent to X-rays? How hard can that really be when a fission weapon is exploding a few feet away.
I imagine there might be some physical characteristics of the foam related to ballistic devices (can handle G's on launch, re-rentry, etc.) but that would be similar across all ballistic weapons.
Unless there is something they aren't telling us
Where it is a duty to worship the sun it is pretty sure to be a crime to examine the laws of heat. -- Christopher Morley


text:
Legendary metallers BLACK SABBATH were honored with a Grammy in the "Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance" category for their track 'God Is Dead' from their newest and come-back album,"13″ at Grammy Awards 2014. According to Blabbermouth.net, the BLACK SABBATH members did not personally accept the award at the pre-telecast ceremony because they were busy preparing to be one of the presenters during the main show. Pop singer Cyndi Lauper, who co-hosted the pre-telecast, said that she spoke with them prior to the event and that they were grateful for the honor. "I know that Ozzy is not here and I saw them last night," she said. "They asked me to accept this award for them. It's awesome. And I'm sure he thanks the Academy. They had to be next door to do something. Thank you, thank you, thank you to everybody."
The bands ANTHRAX, DREAM THEATER and VOLBEAT featuring legendary vocalist King Diamond were also nominated for this category.
Legendary rockers LED ZEPPELIN were also honored a Grammy in the "Rock album" category for the band's live album, "Celebration Day," which was released on 19 November 2012. LED ZEPPELIN celebrated their 45th anniversary last year on September 7, 2013. The bands and artists such as Neil Young, BLACK SABBATH and David Bowie were also nominated for this category at the Grammy Awards 2014.
The winners of the Grammy Awards 2014 were announced on Sunday during ceremonies at the Nokia Theatre and Staples Center.

subset: commoncrawl


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Mel Gibson Strikes AgainApr 15, 2012 at 11:34:19 PM
Mel Gibson, the Hollywood star whose repeated anti-Semitic tirades have offended people of conscience, is at it again.
Joe Eszterhas, who wrote a screenplay for Gibson about the Chanukah hero Judah Maccabee, claims that Gibson
- frequently spews "looney, rancid" derogatory epithets against Jews
- falsely claims that the Torah refers to sacrificing Christian babies
- engages in various forms of Holocaust denial, and
- refers to Jews as "oven-dodgers," a vile allusion to the millions of Jews incinerated in Nazi crematoria.
That's some rap sheet. But that's not all – for years Gibson has incensed Jewish groups, who protested anti-Semitic elements in his controversial film, The Passion of the Christ.
In 2006, when Gibson was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol, his real feelings slipped out and he ranted to the police officer – who happened to be Jewish – that "Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world."
Mel's father, Hutton Gibson, raised his son on a steady diet of conspiracy theories, Holocaust denial and anti-Semitic dogma, which consigned all Jews to hell (as well as anyone else who doesn't buy into his specific brand of radical Catholicism). For rejecting Jesus, Gibson reportedly described Jews as "either Satanic or the dupes of Satan."
At this point, it looks like the end of the line for Gibson's involvement in the Judah Maccabee film. That is surely a relief to all those who honor the memory of this great Jewish hero. And especially given that Gibson, according to Eszterhas, had planned to use the Judah Maccabee movie as a way to "convert Jews to Christianity."
Who knows – when Steven Spielberg gets through with his movie about Moses (or when Russell Crowe finishes filming "Noah"), maybe he'll pick up the Judah Maccabee idea.


text:
Mobile check-in
40 Marriott brands in MEA offer mobile check-in
More than 40 hotels across seven brands of Marriott International in the Middle East and Africa will offer Marriott's mobile check-in and check-out feature, said the president of the global hospital company. The brands incluMore…
Gulf Air launches mobile check-in
Gulf Air, the national carrier of Bahrain, has introduced mobile check-in, where customers can check-in using internet-enabled mobile devices 24 hours in advance until 90 minutes to flight departure. All that customers need to doMore…
Mobile phone check-in standard announced
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has announced a global standard for mobile phone check-in using two-dimensional (2D) bar codes. Mobile phone check-in enables airlines to send 2D bar codes directly to a passenger's mobileMore…


text:
American Views of the Mideast Conflict
by Andrew Kohut for The New York Times
International Surveys: What We Are Finding
In the aftermath of Sept. 11, the Pew Research Center and several other major survey organizations have conducted a number of international polls. These surveys have been illuminating, showing a vast opinion gulf between the American public and people elsewhere. Yet they also reveal, surprisingly, the ways in which the United States is admired around […]
Public Opinion Six Months Later
Nationhood, Internationalism Lifted
Listen Up, Bias Mongers!
by Andrew Kohut for Columbia Journalism Review
The Long Winding Road to the Midterm Elections
by Andrew Kohut for America Online
Bush's Support Solid as Agenda Begins to Shift
President Bush will have the attention and the good will of the American public to an extraordinary extent when he steps to the podium to deliver his State of the Union address. Tuesday's speech will be the most eagerly anticipated in years – our mid-January survey found 54% calling it more important than past efforts, […]
Young People up to Speed on Terrorism News
by Andrew Kohut for America Online
Will Bush Bring the Party With Him?
by Andrew Kohut for The New York Times
Press Shines at a Dark Moment
by Andrew Kohut for Columbia Journalism Review
What the Public Thinks of News Coverage Since Sept. 11
A Brookings/Harvard Forum
The Vanishing Surplus, Barely Noticed
Judging from recent political discourse, "Who lost the budget surplus?" threatens to become the "Who lost China?" question of our times — the focus of finger-pointing for years to come. But there is a problem with that parallel: The American public knew about the loss of China — not so with the surplus. As recently […]
Wobbly Economic Attitudes Key to Bush's Future
by Andrew Kohut for America Online
The Tabloid Public Is Not the Majority
The country has been inundated with news about Chandra Levy, the missing Washington intern. The coverage has seemed almost nonstop on cable television news, and the story has been Topic A on the chat shows. Even Dan Rather, who had resisted covering what he considered a tabloid story, had to give in and let his […]
Fear of Terrorism Weighs Heavily on Public
by Andrew Kohut for America Online
Balancing News Interest: A Great Juggling Act
by Andrew Kohut for Columbia Journalism Review
The Declining Support For Executions
Rising public opposition to the death penalty has been one of the few liberal social trends in recent years. But there is some reason to wonder whether the public's overwhelming enthusiasm for executing Timothy McVeigh will stall or possibly reverse this development. Every nationwide poll taken has found the vast majority of Americans favoring the […]
Why Americans Aren't Stirred by Campaign Finance Reform
Ask Americans why they don't trust government and many will cite their distrust of government's bosses — the politicians. Ask why they don't trust the pols and the role of big money in politics is prominently mentioned. Yet campaign finance reform consistently gets a low rating as a national priority when tested against other issues. […]
Bush, Upstaged and Losing a Crucial Moment
The conventional wisdom that President Bush is benefiting from bad news about Bill Clinton is on increasingly shaky ground as the controversies over Mr. Clinton's pardons grow rather than abate. If anything, as Mr. Bush finds himself vying with his predecessor for public attention, he is losing precious time to establish public support for his […]
May Either Man Win
With each twist and turn in this extraordinary election saga, commentators have marveled at the public's patience with the uncertainty and wondered when it would run out. The simple fact is that most Americans have been tolerant and temperate for the same reason that the election was so close in the first place. George W. […]
Attentive Swing Voters Lean Toward Gore; Inattentive Voters Are Split
As the presidential campaign moves into the home stretch, two distinctly different groups of swing voters may well determine the outcome. Attentive swing voters — those who have followed the campaign relatively closely and are just as likely to vote as those who have made up their minds — currently favor Al Gore and strongly […]


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It doesn't take $3.4M to say "their parents consented to it".
In which case I see no issue.
I see it in the same light as my typing this reply on my work provided notebook over my work provided network connection on my lunch break. My employer is entitled to:
* look at my browser cache
* look at the proxy logs
* instruct the proxy to cache all content to/from my machine on the net
These phones are no different. The teens were employed by the study, payment was in the form of an unlimited phone for the duration of employment. The only difference in this case is the whole reason for employment in this case was to allow snooping, as opposed to my employment being to surf the web and look for security related stuff, then apply what I see/learn to our latest products as an attack, and document my success/failure with said attacks.
Doesn't the summary say they weren't exactly told their activity would be monitored?
no. It says they aren't reminded.
And that makes sense, you want to trap as natural flow of information as possible.
How often are you reminded about the terms of the contract that you've signed with you ISP, credit card companies, cell phone provider, Facebook,
These students were reminded annually, which makes the study more upfront than practically any other signed contract.
And then there's the ethical issue of monitoring those who have not consented to be part of the study, but are friends with those who have.
That's the same issue that most people already have with texts and emails.
If I text you or email you something, I have no idea if you're going to download that message unto your work cell phone, or your work laptop, and besides even if you do own your own cell phone and your own account, I have no guarantee that you won't forward my texts or my emails to others anyway.
You do know that R01 grants aren't exactly done on a secret handshake agreement, right? There are so many hoops academic researchers have to jump through to get federal funding. And I say that as someone who almost lost his job the day after landing a big grant, because I accidentally kept someone out of the loop. Your grant proposal gets reviewed by your department people, by the IRB committee, by the university's office of research, and by internal counsel (if needed) BEFORE it ever leaves campus. And then it gets reviewed by program officers, and many impartial and often vicious grant reviewers. And let's not forget that NIH grant success rates in many institutes are approaching 10%, so likely it won't matter at all because you won't get funded.
And, shockingly, the grant description has been available at NIH.gov since at least 2009: "An important innovation of this phase of the longitudinal study will be careful assessment of social aggression in online communication by providing adolescents with handheld devices and recording and coding the content of their text messaging, Instant Messaging, and email communication." [forbes.com]
You personally may disagree with the decision that the project is ethical, but you can't argue that they weren't honest with everyone about what they set out to do.
Damn, pasted wrong URL. Hate it when I do that.
http://projectreporter.nih.gov/project_info_description.cfm?aid=8070026&icde=12211723 [nih.gov]
LIkely this went through layers of reviews of what exactly can and can't be done with and to the data, and explicitly spelling out to the people getting the phones just what they've agreed to.
You can't get this kind of data without 'violating' privacy in some way or another (I use quotes because as long as they've spelled out what exactly they're doing it's not technically a violate0. But that's also what makes it valuable research, you can't know what people are actually using the devices for without asking them to fully tell you. That real information about how devices are actually use is tremendously valuable to all sorts of different groups of people, from the technical side of things to the sociology and history people.
From TFA they seemed to have based their data gathering on SEC rules for gathering data on employee communications and use the same technology. Essentially the students are being given cell phones the way your employer would give you one, and monitored and data aggregated accordingly. They are yearly paid 50 bucks for visits, sign yearly consent forms and are fully aware of what exactly is being tracked, which, admittedly, produces certain biases in the data. They know they're being monitored and that data will be stored forever, but they may not be entirely aware of what that means, but I guess that's the tricky balance, the data isn't any good if they don't behave normally, but then they might not behave normally if you for every text message you insert one reminding them this call is all being recorded.
As per TFA "Underwood got a Federal Certificate of Confidentiality from the NIH, exempting the researchers from having to report any discussion of crimes to authorities. But her team is required to monitor the database for talk of suicide or abuse. On a weekly basis, they do a search with a long list of words, including rape, kill myself, or older man. They've had to intervene fewer than 5 times, says Underwood."
Now obviously the researcher in question is a bit naive about just what a public dump of the data could reveal, but then you'd never know any of the stuff this data can tell you without being able to get it.
Or a $3.4 million grant to study how federal grant money is wasted on useless studies.
They have to be the coolest kids in school still using an 8730e.
After this study the RIM marketshare is going to drop immensely.
US Government response to their measly $3.4 million dollar program monitoring a tiny fraction of the entire country, as they fire up their $3.4 trillion dollar system...
"Amateurs. You call THAT monitoring? Please..."
It's really amazing the things that can be built when someone else is paying for it...
Assuming costs increase proportional to the number of people being monitored, $3.4 trillion would pay for monitoring 175 million people - it's also probably safe to assume that even though it's the government, the scale is large enough that the cost per person would go down somewhat. So in the end, your $3.4 trillion estimation is probably spot on for a government monitoring program of the United States' roughly 310 million citizens (including the too young, the too old and the too ill).
Well, no.
Economies of scale aside (which would imply order of magnitude 10x gains rather than a 2x gain for the population of this country), you also have to keep in mind that the U.S. Government isn't supplying all of us with top of the line (Remember: 4 years ago, and teens have to be willing to use them) cell phones for 4 years.
And even then, if you do the math, it was a pretty big waste of money just for these 175 teens.
In short, the bigger you go, the more money you blow when it comes to the government
I used to always think of the Blackberry as a leash watching co-workers that had them. But this takes it to the next level:
When teens have run away from home, the researchers have contacted them on their Blackberries at the behest of their parents, reminding them that "continued access to the Blackberry depends on their parents' continuing to give consent" All runaways have returned home."
It makes you wonder if phase 2 would be something like "we also have the ability to send every SMS from the last t
Most runaway teens eventually return home, so this isn't surprising at all.
Sure, the result isn't - but the attempt to use the free blackberry plan as a lure back is pretty novel.
It makes you wonder if phase 2 would be something like "we also have the ability to send every SMS from the last two months to your parents".
It is reward versus punishment (two sides to the same coin)
There is a difference between "you get to keep your free phone" and "we are going to tell your parents every bad thing you did."
When a friend texted one participant about selling drugs, he responded, 'Hey, be careful, the BlackBerry people are watching, but don't worry, they won't tell anyone.'"
Um.. looks like that one slipped out, somehow.
It's simple,. why don't people understand it?
YOu ahve the researcher and the database
You have teen A with one of the devices.
You have teen B with a different device
teen B sends a text to Teen A about drugs.
Teen A responds with the watch out message.
The researchers never replied. They didn't tell anyone.
Ha ha ha, privacy.
That's really all I have to say. Slashdot wanted more text though so here it is.
no, that proves that the person reply to the text told someone.
Does it bother anyone else that, they obtained a waiver to exempt them from reporting ALL illegal activity except for two keywords, which they decided they MUST search for to fulfil legal requirements.
Those keywords were "rape" and "older man".
Really? WTF?
Our society's priorities are fucked.
That's your criteria for deciding our priorities are fucked?
How about wasting 3.4 million dollar to study this crap in the first place?
How about wasting 3.4 million dollar to study this crap in the first place?
Why do you think learning about how teenagers think and interact is a waste of money? There are a lot of bad projects out there, but I don't think this is one of them.
Perhaps I should clarify. Spending 3.4 million dollars of private research money to study teenager interaction? Fine.
Spending 3.4 million of taxpayer money? Not fine. This should not be the role of government.
Bad and sexist priorities.
Reporting "older man" is pretty silly, but reporting "rape" makes sense to me. 50% isn't bad when you're talking about the US legal system.
Does it bother anyone else that, they obtained a waiver to exempt them from reporting ALL illegal activity except for two keywords, which they decided they MUST search for to fulfil legal requirements.
Those keywords were "rape" and "older man".
Let us RTFA shall we?:
But her team is required to monitor the database for talk of suicide or abuse. On a weekly basis, they do a search with a long list of words, including rape, kill myself, or older man. They've had to intervene fewer than 5 times, says Underwood.
They search for more than 2 keyphrases, and they only use the phrases to look at the text more closely. How many teenagers do you know of who talk about an "older man?"
I guess that I don't understand people's privacy objections here. Those people who got free BlackBerries are well aware of the monitoring. Legally, either party may record a conversation and save it and provide it to whomever they want (Though this varies by state). It's the responsibility of the BlackBerry owner to make sure that their friends know the situation -- and based on the last drug-text, they do.
The bigger question that should be in a
(1) dumb phone
(2) BlackBerry
(3) iPhone
(4) RAZR smart phone
(5) CowboyNeal "
I think the problem lies with the headline for the article:
"UT Dallas Professor Captures the Mobile Interactions of 175 Texas Teens"
Makes it sound like the Professor built some sort of tower and/or monitoring device and took the information against the will/knowledge of the Blackberry recipient.
A better (truthful?) headline would have read:
"UT Dallas Professor Studies the Mobile Interactions of 175 Texas Teens"
They were under 18. Some people that age can foresee consequences and make informed decisions. Many can't.
Their parents also signed the consent forms, but what do you think the odds are that the parents understood what the teens were sending and receiving?
These phones were given to 6th graders, with parental consent for a long term study to monitor the behavior of teens on phone as they age.
There is nothing dirty here. You give someone a black berry, tell them you are going to track everything about it and anonymize out PII (both phone users
AND people they are contacting)
Sounds like science experiment to me.
Think of the AI chatbot you could build based on the texts alone...
A chatbot based on the truncated simperings of adolescent narcissists? That's not curious, it's terrifying...
"So, like, OMG, like, I said, like, WTF, and he was all, like, LOL, so I was all like, TLDR, and he was all, like, BRB, so I was all, like, BTWIRLSK8BCDCRCTLA!!!!"
God help us...
Think of it, though. A chatbot communicating with potentially millions of adolescents. Learning even more from them. Talking to them. Getting through to them like no adult could ever imagine. Convincing them of things. Leveraging them. Wielding them.
You know, if you're trying to make it sound less terrifying, you're not doing a very good job...
On the other hand, you've given me a great idea for a short story...
Can a bunch of teenagers legally sign up for something like this?
They can't sign contracts, and they're legally too young to truly be able to consent to something like this. And who knows if their parents truly understand the ramifications of this.
This sounds like it might be in a very grey area, if not outright questionable. Definitely on the creepy side to me.
There are vastly creepier and more exploitative things going on than this. War, financial scams, commercially promoted diabetogenic eating habits, deceitful demagoguery for every political persuasion, etc.
Can a bunch of teenagers legally sign up for something like this?
Considering that they were recruited as 9 year olds, no. Both the kids and their parents agreed to be part of the program.
at fear mongering and trying to create an issue.
The teen know they are being monitored,
And it's research so it's no legally in issue.
âoeWe look at conversations about sex but we donâ(TM)t open photos for obvious reasons. For all the texting, Iâ(TM)m not sure how much sex stuff theyâ(TM)re actually doing. But weâ(TM)ll ask them in interviews.â
Sticking your head in the sand does not protect you. The images are still there and as TFA brings up, creates the issue of having possible child porn in possession. I'd really like to know how they got around that, and what agreements were made to (presumably) bend the l
This study should have really been looking at the psychological impact of teens being forced to use BB devices and how they will end up being scarred for life from the ridicule and bullying for not using an iPhone or Android smartphone.
That large funding must really have helped a lot to bribe those teens to use a BlackBerry in the first place...
Exactly. Google is doing this for millions of people on Google Voice, and they're getting ad revenue to boot.
As far as the size of the grant - imagine paying a cell phone bill for 175 teens for four years and ask yourself where a big chunk of that went.
The participants themselves were made aware of the level of scrutiny their interactions received every year. In addition to gaining parent consent Every Single Year at a yearly data collection vi
...are along the lines of "I wish I had an iPhone instead of this stupid Blackberry"?
These are your tax dollars at work
Experience varies directly with equipment ruined.


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Rogue. Hawkeye. Magneto. Madder Red. Comics are filled with villains who turn hero. Rarely is a story about a bad guy going good, well, this good.
Bedlam #9, written by Nick Spencer, pencilled by Ryan Browne and colored by Jean-Paul Csuka from Image Comics, is unleashed this week. Fillmore Press is still assisting the police in a case that has otherwise normal people committing heinous crimes. These people are making irrational decisions and it's up to Fillmore to get into the head of whoever is controlling them.
We open with a flashback of Madder Red in less happier days. He's taken over a restaurant and is murdering indiscriminately. Spencer writes Red's dialogue as witty and filled with clever puns. When he is told to let his server go, his response is, "Well I dunno if she should get fired for it." It then cuts to 12 years later and the police with Fillmore's help are investigating the freak occurrences. He is making progress as he realizes the public is being subconsciously controlled by public communications. He refers to the easy manipulation of the human brain as sticky tricky. The grimness is broken up with funny scenes of The First, Bedlam's first and only masked protector, arguing with his mother.
Frazer Irving's cover is creepy as he has Fillmore smiling while jumping off a skyscraper. The shadow he casts is that of Madder Red while bodies trail behind him. The only splash of colors are the pinks of the sky and lettering, with light teal in the background, and the reader's eye is drawn to the red of Madder Red's eyes.
The pencils by Ryan Browne are very loose and raw, mimicking the chaotic nature of Madder Red and the world he left behind. It would almost be like Lemire's artwork if he was able to draw more than one facial design. This is all complimented by Csuka's brilliant color designs. The sole color choice in the flashback scene is red, highlighting the design of Madder Red's costume and the blood of his victims. Major color themes throughout the rest of the book include blues and oranges, contrasting the recurring red theme splashed throughout. The bright daylight scenes showcase the heroic nature of The First.
There are quite a few books on the stands with a villain turned hero but not many have the creepy factor of Bedlam. There are also not many written as well as this one. The way Fillmore gets into the villain's brain is uncanny and reminds me of a good drama like Dexter. Bedlam #9 is a book about choices and freedoms and the consequences of your actions.


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Acer America has released its Acer K272HUL 27-inch LED display with a WQHD (2560 x 1440) resolution in a 16:9 aspect ratio for consumers in the United States.
By enabling PiP using both DisplayPort and either a HDMI or DVI port simultaneously, the Acer display also offers wide viewing angles -- up to 178 degrees horizontally and vertically -- to enhance collaboration with others whether it's viewing slide shows, creating presentations, or watching movies.
The Acer K272HUL provides high level of clarity with its high 16.7 million colors and a 6ms response time. It is also VESA wall-mountable and the stand enables the monitor to be tilted back from 5 - 25 degrees for comfort and ergonomics.
The 100,000,000:1 maximum contrast ratio provides bright whites and dark blacks. Acer Adaptive Contrast Management (ACM) optimizes contrast to present clarity and detail by analyzing every scene, adjusting images frame by frame, and enhancing gradation.
The Acer K272HUL is outfitted with DisplayPort, DVI, and two HDMI ports for attaching multiple gaming consoles. It also has dual built-in speakers. ENERGY STAR qualified, it adheres to strict environmental, performance, and ergonomic design standards.
The Acer K272HUL display features a standard three-year warranty, and is available at online retailers in the U.S. with suggested prices starting at $449.99.


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My little sister, Lee (actually Jean Lee) was born when I was five years old. I don't remember that she ever took dancing lessons, but she liked being a ballerina as much as I did so my mother always made sure that she was included in all the dance business that went on around our house.
|Dancing girls.
What we wouldn't give to have those figures now!


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well played
Mailbag Is In Ur Calendar Killin Ur D00dz
Some Penn State Fan who works with Anonymous Blog Reader, you have been pwned:
A remote co-worker of mine is a PSU fan. I spent last week in his location, in his cube to be exact since he was on vacation. His entire cube is decorated in PSU memorabilia, quite nice if you're a PSU fan, however I am not
I took the liberty of modifying the August page of his official PSU calendar. My only regret is that I can't be there when he flips that page on August 1st and is greeted by one of the greatest college football pictures ever snapped.
That is all. Carry on with your weekend.
sneaky stuff
It brings tears to my eyes.
has just been made.
aspect of this pic is that there is actually an o lineman under Morelli.
I actually looked back at the picture to see if I missed something. Realizing I hadn't made this comment even funnier. Nice job.
I still wonder how much of that game Morelli can remember.
Well done.
I think I'd have gone with the Manningham catch at the end of the 2005 game. I suspect that could elicit a stronger reaction from a PSU fan.
This made spending Saturday at work manageable.
was actually funny due to this article.
I can't wait to use this on my coworkers (one of whom is an OSU fan, and another who is an Illini fan).
Just when I got done puking from wandering over to a Buckeye board out of boredom, I see this to put a smile on my face.
I know we all know this but it is insanely mind numbing reading the constant scUM, Michigan sux, f Michigan that nearly all posts contain. Get over it you white trash bitches. Try talking about something coherent and having a meaningful discussion. Or just go back to your corndogs and popov slurpees and continue jerking each other off to pictures of TP and Tressel. Done venting, proceed.
would you get on a Buckeye board? That's kind of like getting on your ex-wifes Facebook.
August. Finally. Spring practice seems like six years ago.
I'm lovin it.
But, but Morelli > Henne...
The best thing about that pic is that you see 4 linemen walking away from Morelli!!! Either clueless, or apathetic, about letting the qb get crushed to death. How embarrassing. Go Team...
Did you put a thumb tack on his chair as well?
stapler in jello maybe??
That picture reminds me of something you would see in a medical book describing the decorticate position due to a midbrain lesion!
has a sense of humor. I have this picture framed in my basement. It is available thru Pictopia from the Detroit News. Makes a great Christmas gift!
Morelli has admitted this was the hardest hit he has ever taken.
Hey, I can't seem to find that picture on Pictopia. They don't seem to have a Detroit Press collection and I tried basic searches for football, Anthony Morelli, etc. Any ideas?
Try this...
This is the link they sent me for their catalog.
Couldn't get that link to work. I'm not sure whether it was because I wasn't logged in, but it just redirects me to the front page.
The link below seems to allow you to buy the picture, though. Which, sweet.
I am overcome with pride. Thank you.
one of the other guys in my office is a PSU fan and between me and another coworker Mfan we have tons of fun switching people's wallpapers...and of course endless JoePa jokes/wallpapers like this gem:
What game did you take this pic in?
This is a great picture, have to say Manningham's game was better though.
I'm getting married next week, and one of my groomsmen is an OSU fan (I know, I know - we've known each other for 20 years). Thing is, the bridal party introductions are right after the cocktail hour - and we needed music for the occasion.
"What tune did you select?" you may ask. "Something by Perry Como? I rather like his version of 'Papa Loves Mambo.'"
Sorry, but no. Instead, bridal party introductions will be done to a lovely rendition of "The Victors."
Can't wait til he finds out.
is this the game where we knocked out 2 more QB's?
One of my favorite games ever. That 3rd string QB looked sooo scared... LOL.


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A Kentucky Derby win launches the relatively obscure into a spotlight brighter than Hugh Hefner's smile. Who knew Barclay Tagg, Michael Matz, John Shirreffs, or Bennie Woolley before they ate Derby pie?
I covered my first Triple Crown as a reporter in 2008, Big Brown.
(Sidebar: once you get into horse racing you start to forget years, or, if you remember years, associate them more with Derby winners than anything. For instance I got married on September 25, Super Saver. I adopted my dog on April 27, Giacomo. Graduated from high school in June of Charismatic and college in Smarty Jones. Didn't bet on Animal Kingdom on May 7, Animal Kingdom.)
But in Big Brown I traveled to Baltimore for the Preakness and was at the post draw, which, at the time, had no Kegasus. I was nervous, as I usually get when I speak with trainers (because there are many who talk down to non-horse people—because we're not horse people—and we want to know a little bit about their craft and relay it to fans and readers. God forbid! Moving on ...), but especially because this was my first experience face-to-face with many. While most folks spoke with Michael Iavarone of IEAH, a man stood in the corner, by himself. He was the trainer of Icabad Crane. It was Graham Motion.
I forget the questions I asked him, likely the usual mundane junk reporters ask trainers at post draws because you have to ask these usually mundane questions (How do you like your post? What will you have to do to beat Big Brown? How's he training? ... Did you like buffet? Scotch or bourbon? I usually throw in one or two of those.)
I spoke with him for about five minutes and never did he speak down to me. Rather he treated me with respect and answered everything evenly and with that ever-gentlemanly tone he approaches all his interviews. He is what you would call a "class act."
I saw that after the Kentucky Derby at the press conference. But what I also saw up on that podium was unnerving and had nothing to do with Motion.
1. John Velazquez. Future Hall of Famer, won the Derby after Uncle Mo was scratched to due his ever-present GI infection. Body language told you this guy's dog was hit by a truck. Sure, the extenuating circumstances were as follows: Robby Albarado had the mount ===> Gets kicked in the face by a horse ===> Takes off Thursday and Friday mounts ===> Team Valor elects to change riders once Velazquez is available ===> Albarado is miraculously back in the saddle on Saturday and wins the Grade 1 Humana Distaff with the Dale Romans-trained Sassy Image ===> Velazquez goes on to win the Derby on what Albarado had told him was, "a good horse." ===> What's this about karma?
Velazquez was quick to tell NBC that (his horse wasn't warming up well? Not this time!) he won it for both he and Albarado and hinted that he'd take care of him. I thought that was smooth. In the press conference, Velazquez seemed short. When people asked him what it was about Animal Kingdom, he gave them that look as if to suggest you'd be better off eating Frosted Flakes and minding your business than asking me what I think of this horse. This is a horse that is lightly raced, done most of that racing on forgiving surfaces like grass and polytrack and, as a result, probably has as good of a shot at winning the Triple Crown as Big Brown did back in Big Brown.
2. Barry Irwin. I don't know how I feel about Irwin. I love spirited, out-spoken, strong-opinionated people. We're too conservative and PC these days. I loved what he had to say about Animal Kingdom's mare (a German mare who was drug free, very strong, and that the Germans don't allow drugged horses to breed with theirs) who, subsequently, produced a damn good Kentucky Derby winner. Loved that. But when he took this platform to call out past trainers for lying to him and took this platform to call out track management for the way partnerships are treated, I felt like I wouldn't want to touch this guy with a 39-and-a-half-foot pole. I even met someone on Derby Day who called Irwin a "scumbag a--hole." Irwin has a point about his complaints, but you just won the Derby on the one stage where people actually pay attention to you and this is what you say?: that trainers are liars and that track management stinks. See you next year, says the general fan ... maybe.
Motion was subdued and drained right after the race but was quick to add that he thought privately training for Team Valor was a "good decision on my part," with a smile. I'd keep my old clients on speed dial because Irwin may be on top of racing's Everest now, but what'll happen later?
Motion has the demeanor to get it done. He deserves this kind of spotlight to highlight how good he's been (the legendary Better Talk Now, third place in the Preakness with Icabad Crane, won the Whitney with Bullsbay in Mine That Bird).
The world just met Graham Motion and trust me, it'll be better for it.
Brendan O'Meara is the author of Six Weeks in Saratoga: How Three-Year-Old Filly Rachel Alexandra Beat the Boys and Became Horse of the Year. It is available for pre-order at Amazon.com or at SUNY Press's website. Read about narrative nonfiction at The Blog Itself, more horse racing at The Carryover Classic, read his "Bourbon Underworld" stories at Kentucky Confidential, follow him on Twitter, or friend him on Facebook. His website is http://www.brendanomeara.com.


text:
Buyers interested in the emerging super SUV class should take note: Eterniti is providing a first look at its upcoming Artemis SUV at the Beijing auto show this week. The London-based company is hard at work readying its super SUV, which it says will be on sale in the fall of this year. The Eterniti Artemis will compete with luxury SUVs on the way from Bentley, Lamborghini, and Maserati.
No details have been released about the Eterniti Artemis' underpinnings, but the size and profile suggest it is based on the Porsche Cayenne SUV. Eterniti says the Artemis offers plenty of legroom for a limousine-like feel. Rear passengers are pampered with heated and cooled, reclining seats, a drink cooler, and iPad holders. Eterniti says the SUV handles better than conventional executive sedans while offering increased ground clearance on poorly maintained roads.
The Eterniti Artemis can be custom ordered with a wide variety of interior and exterior options and colors. The cabin is filled with high-quality leather, carpet, and lambswool rugs. Buyers can choose from natural wood, piano black, or carbon fiber trims as well as sunroof and headliner styles. Hand-built composite body panels reduce weight. Owners can choose from multiple styles of 23-inch lightweight, forged alloy wheels wrapped in massive 315/25 tires. For what it's worth, the Lamborghini Urus concept rides on 24-inch wheels wrapped in 305/35 tires.
Another hint at its possible Cayenne underpinnings is the Artemis' twin-turbo 4.8-liter V-8 cranking out 553 lb-ft of torque and just under 600 hp. Eterniti claims the super-SUV can hit 62 mph in 4.5 seconds and continue on to a top speed of more than 180 mph. The 2012 Porsche Cayenne Turbo, which already has a base price above $100,000 in the U.S., suffices with 500 hp and 516 lb-ft of torque. Eterniti says the Artemis will cost the equivalent of 210,000 pounds ($339,000 U.S.), or more than twice as much as the Cayenne S in the UK. As for China, Eterniti plans a "unique pricing strategy" for that market.
Eterniti is currently taking orders for the Artemis at its European (London) and Asia-Pacific (Hong Kong and Taipei) sales operations. Do you think the Eterniti Artemis should be offered in the U.S. as well?


text:
First I want to thank Lxnay, and all Sabayon team for 3.4F, a beautiful distro. But here is the thing:
My brother has bought a new Toshiba Satellite A135-SP4146 laptop, and I tried first with 3.4F DVD and then with the 3.4 mini cd and none of them had Sound on live cd mode. The boot was o.k., but once it enters on desktop screen there is a message: I dont remember exactly but it said something that it was going to use a nolloft driver or something, but never had sound on the laptop.
Another thing, it always happen that when closing (shut down or restarting Sabayon, it gets stucked in the white bar of the booting out, and never turns off, then I have to shut down manually or reset the PC. This occurs on my dell desktop, and my brother Toshiba laptop.
Here are the specs (in spanish)
(1)Procesador(GHZ): Intel pentium Dual Core T2130 (1.86GHz/L2 2MB/533MHz) (2)Memoria (MB): 1024 DDR2 667MHz (2x512) número de ranuras 2 (3)Máximo : 4GB (2 x 2048MB) (4)Lector de memorias: 5 en 1 (SM, SD, MMC, MS/PRO ) (5)Pantalla: Lcd TFT 15.4" WXGA (1280x800) (6)Almacenamiento: Disco duro (GB): 120GB SATA 5400RPM (7)Drive : DVD±R/RW DL (8)Sonido: bocinas interconstruidas (9)Video: Intel Graphics Media 950 with 8Mb - 64 Mb memoria de grà ficos compartida dinámicamente (10)Comunicación: -Red 10/100 -Modem 56Kb -Wireless lan IEEE 802.11a/b/g -Bluetooth (11)Puertos 4 USB 2.0 (12)Monitor externo (DB-15): 1 (13)S-video: 1 (14)RJ-11: 1 (15)RJ-45: 1 (16)IEEE 1394 : 1 (17)Micrófono (18)Auricular
Oh, I remember trying Sabayon on olders Toshiba laptops and they also had message problems at starting the desktop.
Could someone help me to solve this sound issue?


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My 2g lobe journey
Around the end of June, I pierced my ears in my bathroom with a 14g piercing needle followed by 14g circular barbells. I left those in for about 8-10 weeks until I came across some 10g steel plugs that I liked. I wanted to stretch to a 00g to begin with but the longer I thought about it, I decided I wasn't going to stretch, until I found those 10g steel plugs. I ordered them, a 12g steel taper, 12g captive bead rings, and a 10g steel taper. I wasn't going to stretch right away, not knowing much about it, so I read around on the Internet. I decided for a while, I would wait.
Well a friend of mine came over and he was currently at a 14g still. He saw the 12g captive bead rings and liked them. So, we stretched his to 12g since I wasn't planning on using them. A few weeks after that, I began thinking of doing mine again, but I had already given my 12g captive bead rings to him. I decided to skip 12g and go straight from 14g to 10g since it didn't seem like that much of a difference to me. I soaked the plugs and taper in alcohol while I washed my hands. I took the taper and plugs out and dried them off. The taper slid in with no problems, with the aid of Neosporin. I already know about the stinging and burning feeling that accompanies stretching, so I was prepared for it. It wasn't too bad, and I actually liked it.
I kept those in for about 3-4 weeks or so and decided I wanted to be able to wear tunnels. I ordered an 8g taper, 8g single flare tunnels, and 8g steel plugs. When I got home from school, they were at home waiting in the mail. I went into the bathroom and put the taper and plugs in alcohol and washed my hands. The taper went right through with the Neosporin. I didn't really like the look of the plugs this time because the O-Rings looked too big to me, so I decided to put the single flare tunnels in. I soaked them in alcohol and put them in.
I liked the 8g steel tunnels, so I was going to keep these in. I didn't plan on stretching anymore, but the 8g wasn't hollow enough for me so I got to looking on the Internet and decided I would go to 4g.
I had the 8g tunnels in for well over a month if not two months. I ordered a 6g steel taper, 6g steel plugs, a 4g steel taper, 4g steel plugs, and 4g saddle plugs with a cross in the middle. When they got here, I went into the bathroom, soaked my 6g taper and plugs in peroxide (I was out of alcohol, and a trip to town wasn't worth it), dried them off, put Neosporin on the 6g taper, and pushed it through. This was by far the worst stretch I've went though so far. It didn't go in as easily as the other sizes, but it still went in with a little more force than the others. It stung a lot more and was sore longer than the other sizes, but I still liked it.
This time my healing was a little different. My left ear was fine, but my right ear wanted to give me a few problems. For the first few days when I took the right one out, it would hurt a little. I pinched the hole with a paper towel, and there was a little bit of a clear looking liquid (not sure what it was) and a very small amount of blood. I decided to leave them in and give them time to heal. I've always heard this was the worst stretch, so I shrugged it off as normal.
So my dad says a week after stretching to 6g (On Thanksgiving, need I say), "Don't stretch your ears further than you already have." It sucked, but he at least didn't make me take the 6g's out. So naturally, I didn't go against his word...NOT! I had already bought the 4g steel taper, 4g steel plugs, and 4g steel saddle plugs with a cross inlay, so what is a boy to do?..Hmmm.. Stretch to 4g and hope no one notices.
So about a week and a half after stretching, I got my 4g steel taper and 4g plugs and went to the bathroom. I soaked it all in peroxide. I slid the 4g into my left ear (I always do the left ear first, don't know why), this time using Vitamin E oil followed by the right. It hurt pretty bad and putting the plugs in sucked. I had to put the taper back in the right one at least three times before I actually got that one.
Fast forward about two weeks. I tried to put the 4g saddle plugs in and for some reason couldn't get them in. I guess the hole was too small for double flared jewelry so I decided to go to 2g. I went to one of my local piercing shops (cleaner, nicer owner, more knowledgeable, and been around for a long time). I bought a pair of 2g steel pinchers because he didn't have any steel tapers. I paid $20 for the pinchers and went on my way, a little pricey, I know but your ears are worth quality. They were beautiful. I got home, decided to go ahead and do the 2g's, so I soaked them in peroxide, lubed them up with Vitamin E oil and slid them in. This stretch wasn't hard at all and it didn't sting or burn as much as the 8g to 6g stretch or the 6g to 4g stretch.
I wouldn't advise buying more than one size at a time because if you are like me, you will be very tempted to go to the next size up and you will be rushing it. But do like I did if you buy more than one size at a time: take it slow, let it heal, be patient. Trust me, you will not regret it in the long run. It's not a race, so take your time, and your ears will thank you. No one wants messed up ears. But if you are a patient person, buying stretching kits with multiple sizes is cheaper in the long run, if you know what size you want to end up at. I have no goal size so I don't know when I'm going to stop, although 2g is probably it for me because one day I might decide I don't want them anymore.
That experience read, I do not advise in self-piercing because there are a lot of problems that can occur, I was just lucky. And be careful with stretching because you can have complications with that as well, such as blowouts and tears, so be careful with that and if you take it slow, you should be fine.
submitted by: Anonymous
on: 21 Dec. 2009
in Ear Piercing
Artist: me
Studio: my+bathroom
Location: +


text:
Go undercover with National Geographic correspondent Lisa Ling as she journeys into mysterious and reclusive North Korea.
We know so little about life in North Korea since they have the world's least free press (that is not hyperbole--Freedom House ranks countries from 0 to 99 with 0 being the most free and 99 being the least free. North Korea has recently "improved" its rating to 97, the worst in the world). Official coverage is highly censored and filled with government propaganda. This 2009 glimpse is incredibly poignant.
Tags: East Asia, development, states, poverty.


text:
The Salvation Army in Tyler took extra people into their building Thursday night to keep them safe from the cold weather.
"Every night where the temperature gets below 40 degrees they let us come in where we're not out in the cold and the elements, you know," says Joseph Fulton, a man taking refuge in the Salvation Army .
"Without this place I would be outside on the streets," says Megean Huddle, a woman who is also staying at the Salvation Army in Tyler.
For many, it's not just a place to stay warm, it's also a place to feel welcomed.
"It's a blessing to have people like this and an organization like this to help people," Fulton says.
Andre Thompson says the thought of the people in need at the Salvation Army is keeping him going as he tries to win the Salvation Army bell ringing contest.
"Still moving, still ready to go, nothing has changed, same mental state."
Heaters, coffee, and local support are helping Thompson stay in the race.
"Everybody is just dropping by, encouraging us, saying what it means to them, and it's really helping" says Thompson.
Earlier in the day TxDOT trucks filled up with sand, ready to take on any incoming ice.
"We're going to be starting on bridges and overpasses primarily, lot's of activity on the interstate," says Larry Krantz, TxDOT's public information officer.
Krantz says, if our roads ice over, the speed limits posted on signs will be too fast for the road conditions, "Weather like this only magnifies the need to practice those good driving habits of leaving space between the vehicle in front of you."
He says driving slow is key and asks that you give TxDOT crews extra room as they work to keep East Texas roads safe.
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text:
When the trucks came to pick up trash from homes near East Second and South Gainsborough in Royal Oak on Thursday, Aug. 14, Jeremy Chambers' wife did something unusual.
"My wife actually went out and thanked them because she was so happy," said Chambers who said they were surprised that the trucks came on time despite the huge piles lying on the curbs all over communities in southern Oakland County.
But since then, the pickup trucks are running behind schedule due to an unprecedented amount of trash that they are having to pick up and transport to the dumping sites.
"They didn't come yesterday. I am hoping they come today," said Chambers who says his neighborhood's regular pickup day is Thursday.
The City of Royal Oak, like other nearby communities, has been struggling to have all the trash picked up and come back to its normal schedule due to heavy amounts of trash people are throwing out after their homes were flooded in the recent storms.
"The City of Royal Oak's refuse hauler, Rizzo Services, is bringing in 60 trucks on Saturday, Aug. 23, to make an impact on trash collection," a statement on the city's website said. "While every effort will be made to pick up as much trash as possible on Saturday, there are no guarantees."
Residents in communities including Berkley, Huntington Woods, Oak Park, Hazel Park and Madison Heights are also having late pickups due to schedule delays.
Apart from the floods, one reason for the pickup delays, according to the South Oakland County Resource Recovery Authority, or SOCRRA, is the controversy surrounding its use of land in Madison Heights to dump the trash.
SOCRRA, which uses the land on John R Road only twice a year for dumping waste, dumped about 3,000 tons of waste last week until the city of Madison Heights stopped them after complaints from residents.
"The illegal dumping of thousands of tons of garbage in Madison Heights represents a direct and imminent threat to the public health, safety, and welfare," a statement by the city said.
When contacted, a SOCRRA official said the agency has the permit to use its Madison Heights facility for dumping.
"We have a permit to operate at that location twice per year which is what we normally do. At this point when we are in a disaster area," said Karen Bever, Executive Assistant at SOCRRA's office in Royal Oak.
"We have to have the material go somewhere because we are receiving about five times the amount of trash that we would normally receive daily at our facility," she said.
As of Friday morning, the facility had reopened after meetings between the city officials and the agency.
Bever said if everything goes smoothly, the agency expects to transfer all the trash from the Madison Heights site to its regular facility in Troy by Sept. 1.


text:
Breaking news people,
The guys over at GSC -fan.com manage to get their hands on NEVER BEFORE seen unique concept art and renders. They have added a small description on the monsters in these arts and renders, informing what they do and what they are all about. I will do my best to translate in my own understanding.
Damn, those monsters look awesome. To bad Stalker 2 is dead :(
Alienblaster. That was 11 January 2012. STALKER 2 is dead. The developer GSC Company was shut down...
Lol no problem man
Dang, these monsters sound horrific and well designed! Unfortunate that they wont be used.


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World Opinion & Israel
How much does it really matter?
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(29) David, December 24, 2012 3:29 PM
But what if perhaps we're doing 'wrong'?
If we're really doing what is Jewishly 'right', then I agree - we need not fear what the world says, as Hashem will 'be behind us'. But if we are doing something that, according to Jewish ethics, is sadly and tragically 'wrong'? I'm thinking about the death - however unintended - of many innocent child civilians in Gaza, and the consequencial suffering to those who are not themselves our enemies. What do those ghastly pictures all over the world's media [even after discounting the many fraudulent photos potently highlighted by Aish] say about the integrity of Yiddishkeit and its moral basis?
(28) Howard Newman, December 13, 2012 10:55 PM
I agree
(27) David, December 1, 2012 2:55 PM
True - up to a point
So long as world opinion is just that - opinion - it should not dictate a country's actions. Nations have interests, not friends. Protecting the lives of citizens is a country's ultimate interest. Afterward, there are also commercial, cultural, and diplomatic interests that may be impacted by world opinion. World opinion should be considered at its apropriate weight in any cost/benefit analysis in which it is relevant.
(26) sonya, November 30, 2012 6:44 PM
Re: world opinion
We are the world's default scapegoats. I don't see that changing. If we could find a larger fertile country with a sparse population in need of our skills and willing to allow it to become our country in return for our assistance, with no crying after we make it into something, I don't know, can that be done? Then bomb what Israel built back into the stone age it was before the Jews arrived, and give it to the terrorist rabble calling themselves true Palestinians. Otherwise, make the separation wall as strong as possible, quietly close all borders, discontinue allowing arabs into Israel for any reason, including work. [ Why on earth does Israel help Arabs by hiring them, never understood that. Let them in and you let in bombers.] After doing all the above, keep yourself to yourself, and tell the press to go to hell, a complete press blackout. The world will rage, but what's new about that. After a while of trying to bait us, they'll look for other news. Anyone tries to get over the wall, shoot them. As I see it, either find a new country or hunker down and make this one as strong and impenetrable as possible.
(25) Independent, November 30, 2012 9:25 AM


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This applies to me - my Grandmother passed from breast cancer. My Mom had it and beat it. It also applies to my girls so I know I'll encourage them to breast feed too.
Although I haven't been tested for the genes. I'm a little worried about the possible insurance implications. So I just operate as if I'm at risk in general, because I am. Has anyone else been tested?


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Wish List - Hardware
From Openmoko
Hardware enhancements
Some small hardware enhancement could be cheap, but very useful. Please add your ideas/wishes here:
Video-capable camera
- preferably in rotatable turret set into top of unit, so it can face in either direction, making it useful for video conferencing
Integrated WiFi hardware
- To sync data
- To access Internet when WiFi is available (at home, work, school, friends)
- For VoIP (this uses much power but maybe the user have the charger connected)
- for videoconferencing (as with AccessGrid)
- A blinking LED would be cheap and low power, good for informing the user about new SMS/Email....
- A simple alternative to this would be for one small segment of the LCD to be seperately backlit. There are typically many LEDs in the backlight, all normally on equally. This has the large advantage that you can display reasonable amounts of information on the bit of the screen that's illuminated. The disadvantage is the field of view is smaller, and it's comparatively dimmer, as the LCD absorbs some light.
- Note: the LED and button ideas could be combined: illuminated buttons
D-Pad and Buttons
- Adding a D-pad (to the bottom of the phone) and 2 to 4 buttons (to the top) would provide some tactile input controls, in addition to the touchscreen. They could be used as shortcut keys in the menu, or playback control when playing media. When the phone is held sideways, they can be used as games controls. (With touchscreen alone, gameplay options are limited)
SIR transceiver
- Could be used to detect when to turn of the display (if the low power IR signal is reflected) and activate the key lock. And could be used as a remote. iPhone has a proximity sensor.
Standard 3.5mm jack
Multitouch screen
Multi I/O adapter
- VGA, standard Jack (line in & out), standard USB
MMC/SD/SDIO slot (rather than?) miniSD or microSD
- Cheaper cards
- More durable cards
- Cards are harder to lose
- Wider selection of accesories, including SDIO accessories.
- More widely accepted format
- Only because CF takes too much room (or CF would be the wish, instead)
- See also Expansion Back
Thumb keyboard or keyboard attachment accessory
- Could be slide out or clamshell (hinge on long side) design with an external OLED. The keyboard should be protected when not in use.
- Could be a clip on keyboard that attaches to the serial port or communicates by bluetooth (not preferred for permanent keyboard users).
- cheap clippable miniusb keyboard
LASER keyboard (can be a full QWERTY keyboard)
- someone knowing sth about the price?
- This doesn't sound like it is likely to be cheap, and (at least for myself) I'm looking for a phone/pda/mp3 player, not for a very bad personal computer with a tiny screen that I can barely read. If it were cheap enough, I suppose it would not be a problem, but I doubt I'd pay a premium for it...--Perry 14:52, 15 February 2007 (CET)
- I see. I thought sth. like that. In my opinion it would be better to implement an IrDA connector or use the bluetooth interface to connect to a small keyboard. So you could use it if you want but not everyone has to pay the price for such an exclusive feature --denis_std 19:47, 15 February 2007 (CET)
EDGE support
Ability to insert more than one Sim-Card and (if possible) connect to more than one network at the same time
RFID tag
- Advantages of a RFID tag? I would see a lot privacy problems
- The tag could be switched on or off. A nice feature would be a module able to clone tags. This would unfortunately probably be rather expensive.
powered USB 2.0 host
UMTS support
Dump the egg-shaped case design and go rectangular for more screen space
Speakerphone functionality
Reposition Speakers
- putting the two speakers on opposite sides of the screen would make the stereo sound much more effective
Small metal frame for protection (like Siemens M65, only with more style)
free GPIO ports on a connector to allow easy, simple hardware extensions
Video acceleration
Hardware acceleration for video playback.
3D acceleration
3D hardware acceleration for 3D games, GUIs, etc.
Alcohol Sensor
Alcohol sensor adjacent to microphone. It doesn't have to be accurate, just has to detect any amount of alcohol on the speaker's breath.


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Janis K. Baltisberger, 65, of Newton, Iowa, died on Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2012, at University of Iowa Hospital in Iowa City, Iowa.
A celebration of her life will be at 10 a.m., Saturday, Dec. 1, at the Smith Funeral Home in Grinnell. Interment will be in Ivy Hill Cemetery in Malcom.
Visitation will be from 2 to 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 30, at the Smith Funeral Home and the family will be present to greet friends from 5 to 7 p.m.
Memorials may be designated to the Janis K. Baltisberger Memorial Fund and mailed in care of the Smith Funeral Home, P.O. Box 368, Grinnell, Iowa 50112. Memories and condolences may be shared with the family at www.smithfhcom.
Janis is survived by her children, Ben (Paula) Baltisberger of Newton, Rebecca (Blake) Anderson of Keystone, Iowa, and Brian Baltisberger of Grinnell; seven grandchildren; and her siblings, Georgia VanRoekel of Montezuma, Iowa, Ruth Vanderhoof of Red Oak, Iowa, Chris (Rig) Nerhus of Fort Madison, Iowa, Linda (Chuck) Miller of DeWitt, Iowa, and Steven Suess of Des Moines, Iowa.


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FROM TCT -- Topeka Civic Theatre & Academy announced their summer musical tonight to a crowd of theatre supporters, volunteers, and patrons. The smash hit musical, Les Misérables, will be performed July 12 – August 10, 2013.
Topeka Civic Theatre & Academy will be one of the first community theatres in the nation to perform the show, which has played exclusively on Broadway and through national tours since the 1980's and remains one of the top selling and longest running productions of all time.
A motion picture of the same name starring Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, and Anne Hathaway is being released on Christmas Day.
Topeka Civic Theatre & Academy looks forward to holding auditions for Les Misérables cast members in May 2013 and presenting the show in the summer of 2013. Tickets go on sale to the general public on July 2nd, and earlier for season members and donors.
More information is available by calling the TCTA box office at (785) 357-5211 or by visiting: www.TopekaCivicTheatre.com.


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The Baltimore Ravens are going to the Super Bowl! Happy New Year? Surprised? Divine Intervention (according to Ray Lewis)? Are you kiddin' me? Yes, Yes, Possibly and No. How about if we just call it "pleasantly unexpected?" Or maybe ……the team is simply on a roll, playing inspired football. Whatever it is, it has Baltimore and its fans energized. The Ravens are headed to New Orleans to play in the NFL championship game.
I had written the Ravens off after the Houston Texans blow out game on October 21st. Ray-Ray was gone, Camera Cameron was still at the helm, defense was porous and they had just come off "gift wins" against the Kansas City Chiefs and Dallas Cowgirls. Anyone out there claiming, "I knew they were going to make it to the Super Bowl", is either lying or ignorant to the game of football. Bye week – then handily beat the Browns and Raiders. They receive 2 more "gift wins" at Steelers and at Chargers. Then they close it out with 4 of 5 losses. Oh yeah, the Ravens were by far – the peoples choice to head to the promised land. Crash and burn – I thought. Thanks to sub-par efforts by the rest of the division – the Ravens were handed the division title and slipped into the playoffs.
A few significant events happened along the way, though. 1. Camera Cameron was fired – "They have a chance!" 2. Ray-Ray was coming back for the playoffs -"They have a chance!" 3. Ray-Ray announces retirement – "They have motivation!" Rut-row rest of NFL, look out – it's a brand new ballgame. Indy Irsays into town for Wildcard game – Ray Lewis' last home game – yeah right, Irsays – you were leaving Baltimore with a win on that one ……..don't think so. Travel to Mile High against another nemesis, Peyton Manning – A Ravens Classic game surfaces with a double overtime victory. Finally they travel to the dreaded Northeast against a whiner – result is a second half beat down – Ravens are off to the Super Bowl. Yeah, buddy.
None of those circumstances were on my radar. You can wish, you can hope, you can dream. But when such positive results endure such an unexpected series of events – it is just darn good for the soul. Baltimore is back on the map. The Orioles with their magic season and now the Ravens with their unexpected run of success. Win or lose, it's been a nice past two sports seasons here in Charm City.
How about Rays retirement party being delayed 2 weeks? Hey Boston, MA – how was your season ending party Sunday evening? Better yet, how was your Monday? Come February 3rd though, Super Bowl Sunday will be Ray Lewis', "Last Dance" – Donna Summer. In my book, Ray Lewis is one of the top 3 linebackers of all-time (if not #1). He is also the greatest team motivator and leader, I have seen in my lifetime. From the first game against Oakland at Memorial Stadium up until this past Sunday, Baltimore Raven and football fans all over, have been blessed with the opportunity to witness a legend in the making. Ray Lewis is taking/willing this team to the Promised Land.
In my point of view, he is a little over the top with his preaching, praying and quoting of bible verses. He is a passionate man on a mission to close out his football legacy………….whatever works Ray………you play it out. Carry John Horribaugh and your teammates as far as you can. Let them ride your coat tails Ray-Ray. Horribaugh has been on them the whole time. One more game, one more ride, one last dance.
And to think this season started out with "Replacement Refs". GO RAVENS!


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The 24-year-old father of a 2-year-old girl who shot and killed herself in Pooler has been charged with reckless endangerment and contributing to the deprivation of a minor.
The second charge is a felony.
Joshua John Henry was arraigned Thursday afternoon and escorted to the Chatham County Jail. Bond was set at $3,500.
Cheyanne Henry was sleeping in her father's bedroom the morning of July 5. Henry, a soldier in the Army, woke to discover his housemate had returned from duty in Afghanistan about 3 a.m. that morning, Pooler police Lt. Neal Owens said. As the two men talked, they heard a gunshot from the bedroom.
The girl had wakened and, seeing her father's .40-caliber handgun on the nightstand, took it into the bed with her, Owens said.
"She was able to manipulate the gun by herself," Owens said.
A single round, which had been in the chamber, struck the child in the chest. She was found on the bed.
Pooler police consulted with the Chatham County District Attorney's Office before filing charges.
Owens, lead investigator John Schmitt and Chief Mark Revenew, all fathers themselves, agreed that as difficult as the circumstances were, charges were appropriate.
"We had a duty to this community to do something about it," Owens said.
For more on this story, read Friday's Savannah Morning News or check back at savannahnow.com


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Monday, February 20, 2012
Hero dog saves two girls, but loses her face
The dog's head landed directly on the motorcycle's front wheel, and as it rolled, her snout got stuck in it. "I thought somebody threw the dog on the motorcycle, but I could not see anyone who might have done that," Urpiano said. He said it later came to him that Kabang had intentionally blocked the motorcycle's path to save the girls. Rudy Bunggal, Dina's father who works at a nearby vulcanizing shop, also saw how Kabang saved the lives of his daughter and niece. "The bones holding her upper snout were crushed, and we could not do anything to save it. We just pulled her off the wheel," Bunggal said. Thus freed, Kabang ran away as fast as she could and went missing for two weeks. When she finally returned to the family home, she looked very different. But her human family could not care less.
"It does not matter if she's ugly now. What is important to us is she saved our children and we cannot thank her enough for that," Bunggal said. "Kabang is a hero," said his wife Christina. Bunggal said Kabang's heroic act might have been triggered by her closeness to Dina and Princess. He said he found Kabang as a puppy near the family home a year ago. "We raised her like she was ours. We gave her Bear Brand (a milk brand) and porridge," he said. Buying milk for the dog was a big deal for the family, according to Bunggal, because he and his wife, who sells candies, have a combined daily income of only about 150 Phillipine pesos, (£2.25, $3.50). Christina said that as Kabang grew, she was fed the same food that the family ate. "We did not mind if she was an addition to our expenses. We regarded her as part of the family," she said.
Bunggal said Dina and Princess always played with the dog. "They even sleep together," he said. He recalled that Kabang had no history of wandering outside the house, which was why, he said, "we could not believe she went out when she sensed that the girls were in danger." Veterinarian Anton Lim of the Tzu Chi Foundation said Kabang's act of saving the girls showed that she was grateful to the family. Lim has been treating Kabang for her injuries and has administered antibiotics so her wounds would heal faster. Kabang now uses her paws to eat. She is back to her old self, and has resumed playing with Dina and Princess. And she is expecting puppies, according to Christina.
8 comments:
Poor beast probably can't even smell or eat properly anymore. I'm afraid I'd probably have had it put down.
- 11:47 am
She'll make a great mother.
- 12:48 pm
- blitherypoop said...
Reminds me of Chase Noface.
- 3:05 pm
Wow... Amazing it survived - I would've thought that sort of trauma would have led to a slow and painful death. Best of luck to the poor little thing, although it's good to see that it does seem to be happy still.
- 5:32 pm
I hope the dog is happy in it's condition. I'd probably also put it down.
- 8:29 pm
- Dr Vadim said...
Judging by the photo this dog will not cope and needs to be euthanased.
- 5:26 am
- alabmemei said...
if japan's had hachiko, i think we found our own hero too.. and kabang is definitely a hero...
i hope, everyone will realized the everybody can be a hero no matter who she/he was or what he/she is as long as they put their heart on what purpose they'd want to.
- 1:55 pm
She wasn't put down, fortunately. It's October and she's on her way to the US for snout reconstruction.
- 4:23 pm


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Alternate endings: Till death do us part isn't always the case with the papacy
Most popes take the job to their grave, but a few others before Benedict XVI have opted for early retirement.
As news of Benedict XVI's resignation broke, Rome's La Repubblica newspaper sent a reporter to gauge the reaction in the streets of the city. Some said they were speechless. Others thought the reporter was kidding. A historically minded interviewee recalled the most famous papal abdicator, saying, "This is just like Celestine V." According to Dante's Inferno, Celestine is spending eternity just outside of hell. Hell, Dante reasons, was for people who actually did things, and the only noteworthy thing about Celestine was that he quit.
If resigning the papacy was a crime, Celestine should have some company sitting and crying outside hell. Before 1294, the year of Celestine's abdication, at least six popes had resigned, though the facts of several of these cases are difficult to ascertain.
The first case of papal tumult reportedly occurred shortly after St. Peter's death. Clement I was Peter's successor to lead the Christian community in Rome, but supporters of two other candidates, Linus and Anacletus, objected. Clement temporarily stepped aside, first allowing Linus to serve, then Anacletus. After Anacletus' death around 90 A.D., Clement resumed his leadership.
Pontian, who served as pope during the third century, resigned upon learning he was to be arrested by Roman authorities and sentenced to hard labor in Sardinia for practicing Christianity. A few decades later, perhaps mindful of Pontian's fate, Marcellinus took a different route when faced with pressure from the Roman government. During emperor Diocletian's reign, Marcellinus allegedly offered sacrifices to the Roman gods. While this may have spared his life, it cost him his credibility among his fellow Christians, and Marcellinus resigned around 304 A.D.
When the threat of Roman persecution ended in the fourth century, instead of facing emperors who wanted to kill them, popes had to contend with emperors, kings, and aristocratic Roman families who endlessly meddled in church affairs.
The events that drove Martin I from office during the seventh century were unusual in that they stemmed from a genuine theological controversy. The church, particularly in Asia Minor, was wracked by an increasingly nasty debate over the divinity of Christ. The Byzantine emperor Constans II tried to settle the matter by forbidding anyone to discuss Christ's divinity. Martin defied this edict and opened a synod to settle the debate. Constans responded by having an army invade Rome and drive Martin from office. Realizing he would likely die in exile, Martin reportedly consented to have a successor elected in his absence.
Far more typical were the cases of Benedict IX and Gregory VI. Scion of a powerful Roman family, Benedict was a 20-something layman with a violent temper and a reputation for hosting orgies when he succeeded his uncle, John XIX, in the papacy in 1032. In 1044, a revolt drove Benedict from Rome, and other contenders for the papal throne emerged.
One was another uncle of Benedict, Gregory VI. Genuinely concerned for the church's well-being, Gregory attempted to restore order to Rome by paying Benedict to abdicate. Benedict took the money, and Gregory became pope. However, since he bought his office, some challenged Gregory's legitimacy. Ultimately, the Holy Roman Emperor Henry III forced both men to relinquish their claims to the papacy.
Given the often sordid circumstances surrounding papal resignations, Celestine should get some credit for his dignified departure. Pietro del Morrone was an octogenarian hermit with a reputation for holiness when he was elected to serve as Celestine V. Woefully ill-prepared for the job—Celestine barely read Latin—he resigned after five months in office and without ever setting foot in Rome. On December 13, 1294, before an assembly of cardinals gathered in Naples, the pope read a statement announcing his resignation, swapped his papal vestments for a gray hermit's habit, and resumed life as Pietro del Morrone.
Well, almost. Celestine's successor, Boniface VIII, feared that having another properly elected pope at large, even though that pope had resigned, could prove a threat. Boniface had his predecessor placed under house arrest, and Celestine died a short while later.
In the saga of papal resignations, Celestine may well have had the last laugh. One more pope, Gregory XII, would resign after him, in 1415. Celestine, however, set the precedent that a pope could legitimately resign and another pope could legitimately be elected without bribery or bloodshed. While Dante may have placed him in hell, the church declared Celestine V a saint in 1313.
In 2009, an earthquake in the Italian city of L'Aquila badly damaged Santa Maria Collemaggio, the church that houses Celestine's remains. During a trip to L'Aquila, Benedict XVI placed his pallium on Celestine's tomb. At the time this papal gift was seen as a gesture of kindness toward a traumatized city. Now many are wondering if Benedict's action signaled his own intention to follow in Celestine's footsteps.
This article appeared in the April 2013 [1] issue of U.S. Catholic (Vol. 78, No. 4, pages 24-25).
Image: Flickr photo cc [2] by frank1030 [3]


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Massachusetts health care consumers have millions of interactions every month with the health care professionals and entities licensed by the boards of registration and certification, usually to the mutual satisfaction of both parties. However, when a patient alleges that a licensee violated standards of professional conduct, he or she has a right to file a complaint with the Bureau of Health Professions Licensure. Grounds for complaints can include, among other things, negligence, practice beyond the scope of licensure, failure to adhere to acceptable standards of practice, fraud, practice while impaired by alcohol or drugs, sexual misconduct, fraudulent procurement of a license, and practice while license is lapsed. The boards do not handle disputes over fees.
When the Bureau receives a written complaint, staff reviews it to determine whether it concerns an issue that falls within the relevant board's jurisdiction. If additional information is necessary to make that determination, staff will notify the complainant by telephone or in writing. If the matter falls within the board's jurisdiction, the Bureau will notify the complainant of its decision and begin to conduct an investigation. The investigation may include personal interviews with the complainant, the licensee, and other appropriate individuals, as well as on-site visits to health care facilities or the licensee's office of practice to review records and make observations.
With the advice of legal counsel, the appropriate board of registration will review the completed investigation and decide whether the complaint suggests possible professional misconduct that justifies an informal or formal hearing. The complainant is notified in writing about how the board intends to proceed on the complaint.
If the board decides that an informal conference is appropriate, the complainant and the licensee will be asked to explain the circumstances of the complaint to the board. After hearing the explanations, the board may recommend a resolution or schedule a formal hearing. It is up to the board to determine whether or not there are grounds for a formal hearing.
In many cases, as an alternative to a formal hearing, the board will attempt to resolve a complaint by negotiating an agreement with the licensee. However, if the board decides that a formal conference is appropriate, it will issue an "Order to Show Cause" to the licensee as to why his or her license should not be revoked or suspended. The order describes the allegations made in the complaint. The licensee has 21 days to respond to the Order.
At a formal hearing, the licensee may be represented by an attorney and may present witnesses. The board may subpoena witnesses. You may be asked to testify. Board members, the hearing officer, the board's prosecuting attorney, the licensee, or the licensee's attorney may question witnesses. If the evidence presented proves the misconduct, the board may impose discipline. Disciplinary actions include suspension or revocation of a license, a reprimand, a fine, probation, or an order to bring facilities into regulatory or statutory compliance, depending on the authority of the board.
If you have a complaint against a licensee, you can download a Complaint Form to fill out and send back to the Bureau.
- Dental Complaint Form (PDF)
- Genetic Counselor Complaint Form (PDF)
- Nursing Complaint Form
- Nursing Home Administrator Complaint Form (PDF)
- Perfusionist Complaint Form (PDF)
- Pharmacy Complaint Form (PDF)
- Physician Assistant Complaint Form (PDF)
- Respiratory Care Complaint Form (PDF)
This information is provided by the Division of Health Professions Licensure within the Department of Public Health.