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Nature at 6 pm Sunday follows a wood duck family and discovers how they bond, migrate together, nurture and protect a brood of chicks and come full circle as they head to their wintering grounds in "An Original Duckumentary."
In the first episode of Ken Burns' The Dust Bowl at 7 pm and 9 pm Sunday, feel the full force of the worst manmade environmental disaster in America's history as survivors recall the terror of the dust storms, the desperation of hungry families and how they managed to find hope even as the earth and heavens seemed to turn against them.
In the second episode of Ken Burns' The Dust Bowl at 7 pm and 9 pm Monday, experience the gradual relief as the families of the plains seek new lives in California and government conservation efforts – and a break in the drought in 1939 – eventually stabilize the soil and bring the farms back to life, but with dangers of another Dust Bowl facing future generations.
David Geffen: American Masters at 7 pm Tuesday and 9 pm Thursday reveals an exclusive portrait of the record industry mogul who helped shape American popular culture for the past four decades.
Frontline at 9 pm Tuesday presents and unflinching and revealing exploration of what poverty means to children, and to the country's future, in "Poor Kids."
Nature at 7 pm Wednesday documents writer and naturalist Joe Hutto's journey in raising wild turkeys from chicks until the day came when he had to let his children grow up and go off on their own in "My Life As A Turkey."
NOVA at 8 pm Wednesday follows the ingenious sleuthing that finally decoded the truth behind an amazing ancient Greek computer in "Ancient Computer."
NOVA scienceNOW at 9 pm Wednesday follows New York Times tech reporter David Pogue as he uncovers the secrets behind our favorite foods in "Can I Eat That?"
Pioneering activist and best-selling author Gloria Steinem discusses her life and career on Overheard With Evan Smith at 7 pm Thursday.
Arts In Context at 7:30 pm Thursday documents the inspiring story of one of Austin's beloved bands, Mother Falcon.
Join executive producer and narrator Anthony Bourdain as he takes viewers inside the mind of noted Korean-American chef and restaurateur David Chang in The Mind of a Chef at 8 pm Thursday.
The Daytripper at 8:30 pm Thursday follows Chet to Bay Area Houston to visit NASA, eat a hoagie and fried shrimp, go birding on Armand Bayou, and visit the Kemah Boardwalk.
Superstar tenor Andrea Bocelli takes on one of the biggest stages of his career for a concert in New York City's famed Central Park with the New York Philharmonic on Great Performances at 9 pm Friday.
Having recorded hundreds of doo wop era performers for public television in the past 20 years, My Music opens the archives to present many never-before broadcast doo wop classics artist and songs from the vocal group era in Doo Wop Discoveries at 6 pm Saturday.
The CTG team swaps perspectives, discoveries, and flops from 2012 and makes their resolutions for a new gardening year on Central Texas Gardener at noon Saturday.
Austin City Limits at 7 pm Saturday presents great American music with the Steve Miller Band and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.
Featuring performances from various legendary clubs and hot performance spots, My Music travels on location to London and around the UK to the place where the British Rock Era was born in British Beat: My Music at 9 pm Saturday.


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Fern Dell Historic Association in Newark is hosting a driving tour to four churches near the Kendall/La Salle County border.
On Saturday, July 27, you will have the opportunity to tour the Newark Lutheran Church, Sheridan United Methodist Church, Millington United Methodist Church and the Millbrook United Methodist Church.
The driving tour starts at 10 a.m. at the Fern Dell Museum, 9 East Front Street, Newark, to register and pick up tickets and maps.
You will then proceed to Newark Lutheran Church for a 30-minute history presentation, then on to Sheridan Methodist Church.
The route then takes you to Millington Methodist for a hot 'old time' church luncheon.
The tour concludes at Millbrook Methodist with an 'old time' ice cream social and prize drawing.
Each church will give a 30-minute program on their church history. These churches have all been in existence over 100 years.
Cost for the tour (drive your own vehicles) is $10 for the day.
Questions? Call (630) 957-7846 or (815) 695-5656.

subset: commoncrawl


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It took a while before the four PWA Sailors and Champions of the tiny little village of El Yaque in Venezuela, five times Freestyle World Champion Gollito Estredo (Fanatic / North), three times Freestyle World Champion Ricardo Campello (JP / NeilPryde / MFC), vice World Champion 2010 Yoli de Brendt (Fanatic / North) and Vice World champion, 2005, Cheo Diaz opened the doors into their lives, to make an amazing story for Javier Chuecos possible. Javier Chuecos is the director of the Movie El Yaque – Pueblo de Campeones (Village of Champions). It took him and the crew 4 years of filming, travelling, plus 2 more years of editing and the entire postproduction to finally present an awsome high quality product, in 5.1 Dolby surround sound and its own Soundtrack 4 velas (4 sails) by Javier Weyler, which started in 15 Cinemas in Venezuela the 8th of February. The pre premiere saw 1500 guests in 8 Cinema show rooms at a time and since then the positive hype around the movie in Venezuela seems to be unstoppable. The opening week has seen a massive 14,000 people view the new movie across fifteen cinemas in Venezuela.
The 75 minute documentary tells the rollercoster story of 4 totally different characters, coming from a small fishermen village on the Island of Margarita to achieve nothing more than the best in their sport. Four years of ups and downs, grief and glory, sadness and happiness, very intimate moments, laughter and tears, telling messages with major impact, holding the Venezuelan flag up, while it is exactly their country, where they are known and supported less.
Javier Chuecos, toegther with his cameramen and executive producers Manuel and Jose Manuel Diaz Casanova and Julio Miguel travelled the world, the PWA Events, with the four El Yaque characters, became friends, even kind of family or as Cheo Diaz said, they became Venezuela for us, to come up with an astonishing piece of art of Movie.
Cheo Diaz : How do you feel watching yourself on the big cinema screen and knowing that so many others will do the same?
"I feel really pleased knowing that finally our country Venezuela will get to know our stories and achievements."
What are the reactions of people who have seen the movie towards you?
"The reaction is actually that they leave the cinema happy about our occurrences and thankful that during all the years we´ve held up high the venezuelan flag."
How do you see your part in the movie, as it seems you´re the one people talk about most when they leave the cinema?
"Actually I don´t know if iIam or if I'm not the person people talk about, the things i always here is that people can´t believe there are four big talents, doing everything for their country, keeping on to bring trophies back home and the government same as private companies don´t even take notice and of course about the message of the movie which is really motivating."
Did the Movie help you already in any direction?
"Well, I still haven´t signed any contracts, but there are already many people wanting to support us, but mostly, as we know from the past, there is lot of talking and never anything fixed."
How was it working with this production crew?
"It has been really good all the time, everything was perfectly co-ordinated, just everyone put his part into the project and I am really grateful."
How do you see your future in this sport?
"To be honest, I really don´t know?! It is my dedication but still without any sponsors it is too hard to travel and make my living."
Yoli de Brendt : How do you feel watching yourself on the big cinema screen and knowing that so many others will do the same?
"I am really excited and happy that thousands of Venezuelans can finally see in the cinema what the sport of windsurfing is and especially what it means to each one of us and I'm really thankful to all those who made this great project possible and also for the huge acceptance the movie receives not only in Venezuela."
What are the reactions of people who have seen the movie towards you?
"The reactions have been pretty much unbelievable so far, each day, hour, minute, we receive messages and tweets, people thanking us for this movie and congratulating not only about the movie, but about the value and admiration we achieved outside Venezuela and that we managed to send this huge message into the world."
How do you see your part in the movie, the woman that left her secure job to follow her dreams ?
"Each time I had the chance to see the movie at festivals or now in the cinemas I repeat myself, saying that if I would be in the same situation again, I would do the same thing over and over again, for my sport, for windsurfing. The sport changed my life, and therefore I don´t only thank God but also the companies which have supported me from the beginning like FANATIC, NORTH SAILS, ION, CHOCOFINS DWARF8 AND WINDSURFLABOR, without them it would have been impossible to achieve what I have achieved so far and what is still coming ahead and of course without the help of my family and friends I would not be in the place I am right now."
Who sends you more messages right now after the movie, men or women?
"Actually that´s pretty much equal. I´ve always had the support of men and women who love the sport and follow our careers and the PWA World Tour."
How was the work with this production crew?
"One word, excellent. They are people with lots of patience and they always found the right touch when it came to the interviews during our most difficult moments in life, moments of sadness, frustration, anger, pain and grief, but also during the most happy moments, but they also became more than a crew filming us, they became kind of family with all the support towards us, being there with us all the time to tell our story now in El Yaque Pueblo de Campeones."
How you see your future in the sport and the sport itself and what about the Kids of El Yaque?
"As long as God and the Virgen del Valle gave me the strength and power, and my sponsors that trust in me, I will be there, trying to get better but above all promoting and pushing our sport, to kids, teens, adults and to the whole world if possible, not only in competitions but also at events, festivals and clinics, or at the cinema like right now. I think this movie will open doors for the next generation in El Yaque and not only because they might receive a bit more support from the community or / and the government, but also that they can see they can achieve anything in life through dedication, constanct effort, work, responsibility and heart..."
El Yaque - Town of Champions was filmed during the best PWA events, allowing the PWA athletes to perform to their very highest standards, with the full support from the PWA themselves.
To see the incredible trailer for El Yaque Town of Champions click here.
To see a selection of photos of the stars of the show be sure to check out the PWAWorldTour on Instagram here.


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Australia's national health service, Medicare, treats health care as a human right for all, including illegal immigrants - and it costs less and delivers better outcomes than US health care, according to McLaren.
Article 25 (1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the UN in 1948, states: "Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including . . . medical care . . . and the right to security in the event of . . . sickness, disability . . . "
These days, most people would say that an adequate standard of living includes readily available health care of a proper standard, that "health care delayed is health care denied." Most people would also expect that citizens of a wealthy country should be able to expect better health care than the benighted citizenry of a poor country. So it comes as something of a shock to learn that the United States, which spends almost 50 percent of the world's total health expenditure, ranks way down on most health statistics. Let's start with the World Bank Health Indicators, which show that, in 2009 (latest available figures), Germany, for example, spent $4,724 per capita, some 11.7 percent of GDP, for which citizens received 8 hospital beds per thousand people and a princely four doctors per thousand. Germans are generally pretty healthy, but they pay for it. My tightwad country, Australia, spent $4,118 per capita, 9.0 percent of GDP, to get four beds and one doctor per thousand patients for slightly better standards of health than the Germans. Since then, our government has committed to spending 8.0 percent of GDP on health, and we are on course to get that (now down to 8.4%).
However, when we look across the Atlantic, we find that the United States spends $7,990 per person, an astounding 17.7 percent of GDP, to get only three beds and two physicians per thousand population. To make things worse, US figures are rising rapidly, now thought to be over 18.0 percent of GDP, but where are the standards of health? In a word, they're nowhere. In fact, they're worse than that, as the statistics conceal a grossly inequitable distribution of health expenditure. A Hollywood starlet's boob job, at $65,000, crowds out any number of poor people from even a look at a clinic, as Joe Bageant's biting reportage shows. Health costs are the biggest single cause of bankruptcy in the United States, while disabled veterans can be seen on street corners in any city, begging for money, not to mention all the mentally ill people crammed in prisons, the new asylums.
But the most bizarre fact is, alone among the world's hundred or so wealthiest countries, the United States does not provide health care for its most vulnerable citizens. Oh sure, the wealthy can book into some very fancy, ultra-high-tech institutes to have a total body rebuild, but that's the sort of stunt that got Prince Grigory Potemkin a bad name: Behind the facades, the poor are warehoused in the charity wards, if at all. Anybody with an interest in the health game (and that's all of us) knows perfectly well that the true measure of a nation's health is not the tiny heads of rich old people getting heart transplants, whose expenditure drags the national average up, but the very large tail of poor children who drag the health statistics down, because their untreated throat infections end up as rheumatic heart disease, perforated eardrums, chronic bronchitis etc. What counts is not expenditure, but what that money achieves. Now the interesting thing is that, if we look at the very large, naturalistic experiment going on around the world, the one called "health care delivery and funding," it would seem that providing treatment for all those poor people does two things: it actually lowers the total cost to the country and it yields improved health standards.
Why is the United States playing hold-out when everybody else has jumped on the national health-service wagon? That's a difficult question, so let's look instead at what they are missing. We can use my miserable excuse for a developed country as an example, since our economy and social structure are fairly similar to America's in many respects. With a few blips, we've had a national health service since about 1971. It provides universal health care at practically no cost to the patient. Those who want more, such as my unworthy self, pay for the pleasure. Medicare is partly funded by a 2 percent levy on each person's taxable income, but that gets buried in your income tax so you don't notice it: I don't know what I pay. For additional private insurance, my family of four pays $3,980 a year additional to the Medicare levy. This gives all sorts of benefits like your choice of doctor and private hospital, one pair of spectacles a year, dental care, physiotherapy, psychology, chiropractics, hearing aids, wheelchairs and so on. If you'd like to get a quote on your own case, go to Medibank Private and insert your details in the box, then click "Go" to see what benefits you get for your payment. Remember, there are no arguments about this. Even if you have a serious chronic illness, you can't be rejected by an insurer. You can't be disqualified after the event unless you really cheat. It may happen, but I've never heard of it.
There are "incentives" to encourage people who can afford it to take private insurance, which amount to penalties for those who don't (go here for details; click on FAQ). A single person who has not joined an insurance plan by 31 years old will have to pay a penalty for the rest of his life. This is to stop "free-riders," because people of that age are unlikely to make a claim anyway. A national health service is a bit like a conscript army in a national emergency, it only works properly when everybody is in.
I've always thought we got our $4,000 back by about February each year. My wife had two emergency caesareans; both babies were in neonatal intensive care (my son for eight weeks), and we paid a total of $430 for some stray fees. Pathology tests, optometry, hearing tests and the like are free, but some radiology tests are charged extra. In the past 15 years, I've had three hernias repaired, two cataracts replaced, a cervical fusion, and the total cost was . . . nothing. That varies, of course; you have to choose a doctor who charges by the book. If you don't, you can end up with a large bill, like some unhappy women in Sydney who complained their obstetricians charged them $10,000 for a confinement, but the insurers would only pay about $3,000 (actually, the women were all warned in advance). The Medicare rebate is fixed by a committee in Canberra, but private practitioners can charge what they like. However, it doesn't do to stand out too much from the crowd: Word very quickly gets around. Having fixed universal fees for services keeps costs down very significantly.
An excellent article in Care2 says it all: ". . . the total average cost of having a baby (in the US) is $37,341, making the United States the most expensive place in the world to have a baby. This covers prenatal care ($6,257), birth ($18,136 on average), postpartum care ($528) and newborn medical care ($12,419). . . . America has one of the highest rates of infant and maternal death among industrialized countries. Insurance doesn't necessarily help: 62 percent of private plans come with no maternity coverage." Those prices are outrageous; prenatal care simply does not cost $6,000.
The net effect of health care as a human right under Australian Medicare is that every person in Australia gets the same standard of health care. Rich and poor alike get renal dialysis and kidney transplants . . . if they need them. My elderly mother was knocked down by a car recently, sustaining quite a nasty fracture of her neck. She was in hospital for several weeks, treated by the spinal surgeons, and has had many visits to the physiotherapist since. All her costs were covered by the Motor Vehicle Insurance Trust, which automatically pays all medical costs for any person injured in a car accident, even for a drunken driver. We didn't have to pay anything. MVIT is funded by a levy on the vehicle's licence, so the fund will never go broke. Regardless of the cause, anybody injured at work, or traveling to or from work, is fully funded by the compulsory workers' compensation insurance and is paid their salary for the time off work (it drops to 75 percent after six months). A worker doing something stupid at work, who is left with a long-term disability, may have his benefits reduced, but he will still get something. There are people who try to cheat on this type of insurance, but even that's not easy. And for every worker cheating, there are two insurance companies trying some fast move.
Rich people can buy cosmetic surgery as Medicare doesn't pay for it, but anybody with bad scars or significant blemishes can get them repaired under Medicare if they are prepared to wait. There are caps on some forms of treatment, including some outpatient psychiatric treatment. Unfortunately, this has led to an increase in cases of people being admitted to private hospitals when they didn't actually need it, but Medicare operates a highly sophisticated data analysis system that watches that sort of thing closely. That's another advantage to a national health service. The statistics are excellent just because they are so comprehensive. But don't worry, they are protected by layer upon layer of privacy (well, we thought they were, thank you, NSA).
Medications are subsidized by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, which has been around forever. Anybody on a pension, unemployment or parenting benefits, students, or anybody who just doesn't earn enough, can get a Health Care Card, which entitles them to cheap medications. They have to pay a maximum of $5.20 per prescription, regardless of the drug. If you don't have a Health Care Card, the maximum is $37.50 a script. I was once prescribed antimetabolites for a peculiar arthritis. The drugs cost $360 for 100 tablets, but I paid only $37.50 - which was lucky, as they gave me tinnitus, so I had to stop them after a few days. Medication costs are capped for a family at about $1,050 per year; after that, the price drops to $5.20 while, for pensioners, it cuts out altogether. I see where one of the core features of Obamacare, the caps on copayments ($6,350 for a single, $12,700 for a family), has just been deferred as "too difficult for insurers to implement." As though they didn't already have nifty caps that worked in their favor - reach the limit and the insurers don't pay.
How does a doctor fare in this socialist paradise? Actually, we do quite well. There are some who charge what they like as there are always patients who will pay to get to the front of the queue. I once sat in the waiting room of an ear, nose and throat surgeon and heard the fees as they were loudly announced to each new patient. He was pulling in about $1,000 an hour, which struck me as a bit gross as they earn very good money operating. As a psychiatrist, I can comfortably earn about $400,000 a year (49 weeks at 45 hours per week, no nights or weekends) seeing all patients on Medicare and charging private rates for legal cases. For military cases and veterans, the Defence Department pays private practitioners about 50 percent more than Medicare. Government psychiatrists can earn more, but working for the government isn't my idea of fun.
In our hybrid private/public system, there's room for everybody. Nobody in this country goes without. We provide full health care to every citizen, regardless. I have worked in the remote north, on the edge of the desert, and Aboriginals leading fairly traditional lives in their own communities get the same care as anybody else. Their health isn't as good; they still die younger than white Australians, but that's the subject of a massive drive by state and federal governments to "close the gap." People who enter the country illegally, which has been a hot topic for the past 15 years, are all provided with health care from the day they arrive. I've seen quite a number of them myself, as well as approved refugees who are given Medicare cards as soon as they land.
It may seem like rubbing salt in the wound, but pets can also be covered at a moderate price. This advertisement landed in my in-box the other day: "Pet Insurance from just 33c a day! Medibank Pet Insurance offers . . . Coverage from 8wks of age; with generous annual limits from $8000 up to $15000 a year; and up to 80% off the cost of vet consultations, surgery and medicines." For a one-year-old dog, based on $200 excess (ie owner pays first $200), the scheme costs $117.50 a year. I'm sure a lot of Americans would be pleased to have that sort of coverage. They never will, because health insurance is tightly held by private insurance companies, who made over $100 billion profit in 2005. That was money the insurers took out of the system that should have stayed in it to provide better care.
There's more, but this gives you the basic idea: Without too much effort, any country can have a national health service providing world-class care for a moderate price. Universal health insurance does not bankrupt the country. I often see complaints from the Rabid Right in the United States that having universal health care will make people irresponsible about their health, but this doesn't make sense. When a community decides they want universal health care, they are being highly responsible about their health. They have talked it over and agreed that this is the best way to go. They are taking perfect, democratic care of their health. How could anybody object? It's like conscription: Armies and universal health care only work when everybody chips in. My advice is: Just ignore the screechers, they'll get over it because the good thing about socialism in this country is that it's optional.
That's right. Once you pay your tax (that isn't optional, but I'm not aware that paying taxes is an option in the United States, either), you'll get your green Medicare card. If you're too poor to pay taxes, you'll still get one, but whether you use it or not is entirely up to you. You can be as socialist or as "privatist" as you like. If you don't want to stand in the queue at the public hospital with all the olfactorily challenging people, you don't have to but I know plenty of rich people who do. Or you can pay a bit extra and see one of those nice private doctors. You may be treated in a lovely private hospital, but you won't be treated any better. That's our boast. We have leveled health care up, not down.


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Jefferson Prepares Third-Graders for Tests
Jefferson Elementary School aimed to prepare its third-graders for standard testing during a pep rally Tuesday. Third-graders, along with students in grades 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 11, begin the North Dakota State Assessment tests Monday.
Guidance counselor Judi Hillier said the pep rally encourages students to prepare for the tests in a number of ways.
The kids were divided into groups of about five students and given a test tip that they had to create a picture out of.
"They came up and read their test tip, and then we went through all of them," Hillier said. "Following that, the five third-grade teachers did a cheer."
For a list of tips Hillier gives, read Friday's Times-Record.


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Monogato - Climate Change / Zero Compromise
Release Label: Coldharbour Recordings
Release Code: CLHR065
Release Date: March 16th 2009
Climate Change
Zero Compromise
A name familiar to Global DJ Broadcast listeners as Marminx, Monogato and Oryon, Dutch producer Peter Smit makes his debut on Coldharbour Recordings with a double EP release.
Climate Change was featured on the February 26th editions of both Global DJ Broadcast and Evolution.
The tracks will be available through all download portals from March 16th, but you can now purchase the track at Audiojelly through the link below:
Available to buy digitally from Armada / Audiojelly by Clickng Here


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ROCKFORD — Haunted Rockford will host a paranormal evening at Camp Grant Museum, 1004 Samuelson Road, from 7 to 9 p.m. Aug. 9.
The Wisconsin & Illinois Paranormal Investigation Team will reveal the results of a recent investigation at the site, and Haunted Rockford's Kathi Kresol will discuss the history of Camp Grant. Psychics Paul Smith and Sara Bowker will give their impressions of any lingering spirits.
Cost: $20.
To register: hauntedrockford.com.


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Says Chicago 11th ward alderman James Balcer, who got the city's "graffiti blasters" to blot out a mural that an artist — Gabriel Villa — had spent 2 weeks painting on a privately owned wall. (The link goes to Chicago Public Radio, which put that apostrophe in "camera's" — twice.)
Villa did the work as part of a local art festival. The mural itself was on private property, on a wall owned by the mother of a festival organizer. Villa says several Chicago Police officers approached him about the work while he painted. He thinks they may have been offended but he says the painting doesn't have an anti-police message.Here's a photo of the ex-painting. Judge for yourself. Anti-police?
VILLA: This mural was not a quiz. A lot of contemporary art tries, you know it tries to baffle you, or tries to confuse you, or kind of flip things on its head. I wasn't asking anything.
Villa says he thinks police officers disliked the mural and they called the alderman who ordered the mural to be painted over.
BALCER: Yeah, I'm the alderman here. I was told about it and I okay'd it and I stand by it.


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Regular price: £13.59
"I used to be a slave" - Boyhood and Adolescence in Indiana
This chapter begins with an account of the Lincoln family's difficult move to Indiana and the intense labor it took to build a home there. The Indiana years were marked by the death of Lincoln's mother and the introduction of Lincoln's stepmother, the woman who cultivated his interests and encouraged his education. We get a clear understanding of the role that learning and education played in his life, his developing personality, work ethic and religious views.
"Separated from his father, he studied English Grammar" - New Salem (1831-1834)
Chapter 3 begins with a description of the business ventures that Lincoln participated in and leads to several anecdotes which give us a clear idea of the character and personality of the future president. We get a true understanding of his years in New Salem and his experiences there as he progresses from store clerk, to soldier, frontier merchant, surveyor, postmaster, political personality and on to the state legislature.
"A Napoleon of astuteness and political finesse" - Frontier Legislature (1834-1837)
This chapter goes further into Lincoln's law studies and political career as a legislator and outlines the ideologies that shape his presidency. We also learn of his relationship with Ann Rutledge, whose passing leads him into a severe depression.
I am really liking this biography. For me it gives a clearer understanding of who Abraham Lincoln really was.
He was born really, really poor, and lived that way for most of his childhood. I really had no idea. His father discouraged his studies and actually tried to interfere. His mother fixed him up in a kind of dress and a bonnet for his first day of school.
Aside from all that, Lincoln clearly was a man apart. He would have to be to rise above this miserable environment. But he read his books, was honest, a peace maker and was one of the finest ever examples or rising above one's circumstances.
The author is very good at laying this out and I am looking forward to listening to the rest of the series.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful


text: Rhode Island retirees Scott MacKay Commentary: It's Time To Dump The Rhode Island Estate Tax By Scott MacKay • May 30, 2014 RIPR FILE Nothing is certain in life except death and taxes. RIPR political analyst Scott MacKay says it may be time for Rhode Island to get out from under this cliché. Once again, conservative groups and business leaders are lobbying for big changes to Rhode Island's estate tax. Called the ``death tax'' by opponents, this tax is levied upon Rhode Island estates of more than about $922,000.


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I don't use a continuous ridgeline...just tie to the tie-outs. Never saw a need for one. Tarps are usually strong enough to withstand pretty strong gusts...my MacCat has been thru ~100mph winds in Yosemite and held up fine. One of the ridgeline cords broke...which is what I want, b/c I can repair a snapped line with a square knot, but if the line is stronger than the fabric and causes the tarp to tear...that's not so easy to repair in the field.
I still use that MacCat.
If I'm not sure about the rain, I can hang it up inside the skins and get the same benefit of quick deployment as if it were over a continuous ridgeline.
Just different strokes for different folks.


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Submission + - Cool Futuristic CityScape Sculpted From Drill Bits (singularityhub.com)
kkleiner writes: Japanese artist Chu Enoki's sculpture, RPM 1200, is a beautiful metallic cityscape made completely out of drill bits that looks like a glistening version of Blade Runner, or maybe even a 21st Century version of the Emerald City of Oz. Every spire is a drill bit that has been repurposed and polished. It's a beautiful piece of art (and a stunning feat of recycling as well). Check photos of RPM 1200, including a close up shot where you can really see the grooves and shapes of the bits that went into its creation.


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btw, I like this excerpt, about the 'Spirit' lander:
>Encouraging developments continued for Opportunity's twin, Spirit, too. Engineers have determined that Spirit's flash memory
>hardware is functional,strengthening a theory that Spirit's main problem is in software that controls file management of the memory.
>"I think we've got a patient that's well on the way to recovery," said Mars Exploration Rover Project Manager Pete Theisinger at NASA's
>Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
and if it where buggy, they'd at least have a patch within a couple of hours
Let's face it, most of the info that anyone who tries to leave this atmoshpre gives us
is so 'sugar coated' that after a while it starts to taste awefull in our mounths. And on
top of things, they only share 'limited info', keeping all the good stuff inside own
closed doors (even if NASA says they are forth comming, there is much much we never
will see...).
And no, I don't mean, build things, more a 'Think Tank' group, who tries to focus on
solving troubles/things, elaborating on ideas, finding solutions... etc; and at the end of they
day, everything is Open to everyone, to comment on & contribute.
*I know, I would like to contribute, if I where able to*... anyone, else?
ps. if yes, you know where you can find me
Every scrap of data from NASA science missions get released through the Planetary Data System [nasa.gov], eventually. It's just the science teams that actually propose and run the missions get first crack at the data.
If you think this isn't fair, stop for a moment and think about the years of blood, sweat and tears that go into these missions. Do you think it is fair then that the scientist with the best internet connection gets to analyze the data first, just because he has a great internet connection? I guaran
I wasn't refering to the 'data the missions produce'
I was aiming more at actually helping at designing some parts of the mission, by giving my opinion with a solution to something in need of solving...
A pair of fresh eye's, wouldn't hurt, would it?
more, a independent 'group of ppl', assimilate suggestions from 'who ever', and bring only forth the 'cream pudding' of the whole.
and I don't know, how pass familiar you are with OSS development, eg 'linux', but nothing from 'joe shome' would get strait into the kernel, without a bunch of peer-review, from lots of thrusted people close to linus & himself.
Kinda the same 'developing model', but the topic at hand woul
It is a HUGE volume of data, and it comes from all over the place. If you are interested in navigation information, then you can point your FTP client of choice to naif.jpl.nasa.gov and download all the pointing and ephemerides you could want. There's even a toolkit there for various Unixes and Windows to parse this stuff. Science info gets/will get released on the main PDS site I mentioned before. If you want actual mechanical/electrical/propulsion engineering details, I'm afraid I can't help you. I'm
I kinda was wondering, if there couldn't be a 'OpenSource Space Initiative'
There could be, but it probably would not accomplish much.
And no, I don't mean, build things, more a 'Think Tank' group, who tries to focus on
solving troubles/things, elaborating on ideas, finding solutions...
That could work... If you could find a few dozen people willing to spend months understanding a near-unique and tightly integrated hardware/software combination. This isn't like your home boxen where the two are more-or-les
If you could find a few dozen people willing to spend months understanding a near-unique and tightly integrated hardware/software combination.
While the probes themselves are pretty unique, the ground systems use a lot of commodity hardware and operating systems. When I worked on CBERS [dgi.inpe.br] we were hacking C++ on SGI Octane boxes, while EDOS, the EOS Data and Operations System [nasa.gov] was C on RS/6000s with AIX. I interviewed for a job at STScI [stsci.edu] where, IIRC, they Solaris, and they actually use Lisp in their software f
When I ment 'contribute to', I refered to the 'Think Thank'-group.
Join AMSAT, and help us open up space to the people!
The cool thing about space exploration at the moment is a lot of that stuff you mention is being done now or about to be done.
It's a bit easier to land on Venus than Mars as the atmosphere is so thick - apparently the landers didn't use the parachutes that much to slow down. On the flipside - existing in -25 degrees is easier than +500 degrees.
The Messenger [jhuapl.edu] spacecraft will be on its way to Mercury via Venus soon.
The Galileo Atmospheric entry probe [nasa.gov] hit the atmosphere of Jupiter in '95. In the future we may see the Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter [nasa.gov] and possibly a Europa lander and submarine - depending on whether the sub surface ocean exists.
The Huyghens probe attached to the Cassini (Saturn orbiter) [nasa.gov] will analyse the atmosphere of Titan for about 2.5 hours and may work on the surface for 5 minutes or so (arriving July 2004).
Or maybe its time to start desiging spacecraft and robots to try and land/splash on Jupiter.
Jupiter is just a (humungous) ball of gas, there is no land to land on, nor sea to splash in. Just lots and lots of atmosphere to fly through.
Jupiter's moons on the other hand are the present and future targets of many exploratory probes.
Jupiter's core is under such intense heat and pressure that it is speculated that it consists of metallic hydrogen, in either liquid or solid form. This theory [nasa.gov] helps explain its powerful magnetic field.
Sorry I couldn't RTFL, but it timed out. I'm wondering if it discusses just how close Jupiter is to becoming a star?
If so, I wonder how many more probes (mass) we have to send to it in order to get the furnace started.
"Hey Ivan, check your six." -- Sidewinder missile jacket patch, showing a Sidewinder driving up the tail of a Russian Su-27


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There is good design and then there are trends.
The first is thoughtful, something like a sleek black dress showing off the best assets of the body. The second is frothy, sometimes frivolous, much like a knockout silk scarf in tones of hot pink. A season later, the black dress remains and the hot silk turns to a daring lime green.
Switch from the runway to the construction site and it's a similar story.
"Good design is good design," says Steve Barkhouse, an award-winning custom builder and president of Amsted Construction.
"Trends are different. You can focus on a different material, but the design is still key," says Barkhouse. Take his ultra-modern home on Bristol Avenue in Old Ottawa South that won a trio of awards for top green renovation, a customized bathroom and a serene kitchen at last month's Housing Design Awards. Barkhouse couldn't stop laughing while explaining how he tried to warn an über-cool Montreal architect behind the home that a journalist (me) was going to call, asking for a list of what's hot in kitchen trends.
Maxime Gagné didn't need the warning. "I am not a trend guy," says the partner in Laroche-Gagné Architecture Design, a firm specializing in green homes that transcend the technology to become beautiful.
A pair of Ottawa doctors hired Gagné to design the unusual white house and then commissioned Barkhouse to build it.
"Our design will age well," says the totally polite architect. "We are following a green concept, so we don't want to be tearing things down every 10 years or so and replacing them.
"We tend not to think in trends. Of course, we are subject to influences, but first we think of functionality, using clean lines, taking advantage of abundant daylight and nice materials."
Gagné, who teaches architecture at the University of Montreal, used a natural walnut on cabinets in the Bristol Avenue home. "It is a natural material. It isn't an oak stained a walnut colour. That is the beauty and the simplicity."
He repeated the walnut in the kitchen cabinetry, on the base of the kitchen island, on the front door and the face of a nearby coat closet, successfully pulling the eye from kitchen to entry, stopping to savour impeccable white quartz countertops.
"I do not feel the need for any more ornamentation," says Gagné.
"The materials tell the story in a kitchen that is also bullet proof for busy owners to raise their two young children."
Trade the word influences for trends and there is a swirl of changes happening in kitchen design.
While Gagné used small helpings of glossy white cabinets to add contrast to the natural walnut, many are playing with bold, high-gloss colours on cabinetry, especially green. Think of it as a new take on the avocado fridges and stoves of the '70s.
Caroline Castrucci, vice-president of Laurysen Kitchens and a woman who carries off flaming red, spiky hair, convinced Holitzner Homes to go with soft green cabinets in the kitchen of a single-family home on a slim lot in the Barrhaven community of Fraser Fields.
The colour push paid off dividends, with Laurysen and Holitzner winning honours at the design awards for the modest-sized kitchen with the bold personality.
"It's different. The colour pushes people outside of their comfort level with beige and brown," says Castrucci, who has been working in the family-owned company since she was 12 and was playing with colours, including aubergine cabinets, a few years back.
"It's totally inside my comfort level."
"I find this green very soothing. It is like spring — fresh and growing." In the next breath, Castrucci admits that only a small number of Holitzner buyers — about three per cent — share her colour preferences, asking to repeat it in their own homes.
That hasn't stopped IKEA from playing with colour, says spokeswoman Andrea Mills.
Several years ago, the retail giant introduced bright red glossy cabinets, a subtle ivory, a light turquoise and now a new take on green. "Some people go for an accent of colour, with a few coloured cabinets or they go all out with colour," says Mills, a public relations specialist in IKEA's Canadian head offices in Toronto.
"Colour is right on trend."
Daniel Gauthier, senior designer for Potvin Kitchens and the key supplier for kitchens in all of Richcraft's and Minto's homes, played with bold green cabinetry in his downtown condo a few years back.
"I love colour and always have had it. Life needs colour.
"What I also see is a lot of white on white," says the design brains behind the pared-down, classical French château kitchen at CHEO's lottery home outside of Manotick.
Simple cabinet shapes and shades of white have pushed aside the heavy helpings of creamy yellow cabinetry and heavy mouldings popular for several years, says Gauthier.
There are also lots of varying shades of grey, from silver to deep, dark charcoal, a tone custom builder Chuck Mills used on the ceiling of an award-winning kitchen at the design awards. "It just seems to disappear and go on forever," says Mills, owner of Chuck Mills Residential Design and Development Inc.
After colour, oversized hardware on simpler cabinets and white quartz countertops are finding wide support, including the spotlight in CHEO's lottery home kitchen. Gauthier's design colleague on the home, KISS Interiors owner Donna Correy, added long white glass tiles in the backsplash and chrome and glass lighting.
"It's modern with a classical touch," says Gauthier of the kitchen. The style appeals to Ottawa buyers, who have often been labelled conservative yet are showing off a moderate appetite for modern homes tucked into urban settings.
The modern reach is stretching to suburban settings, including Holitzner and Castrucci's green kitchen, which also comes with white quartz countertops and not a scrap of moulding or trim work.
Castrucci added a mirrored backsplash to make the space seem even bigger and motors (at $1,000 a pop) to power open cabinets with the light touch of a finger. The motors mean you don't need hardware, providing a smooth, clean surface.
Another hot influence in the world of kitchens is bamboo cabinets laid out on horizontal lines. The material is eco-minded and the lines bring the eyes down when ceilings are nine feet and higher, say Castrucci.
Horizontal banding is gaining popularity, especially with walnuts and other natural woods.
And many are abandoning upper cabinets for open shelves; something Castrucci predicts will become more common. The problem, says IKEA's Mills, is you have to be very neat most of the time and have a good collection of china to show off.
"Open shelves are asking people to be very organized," says Mills, who has watched a huge uptake in drawer and cabinet organizers to keep spoons separate from the forks and to keep spices neatly filed.
While natural light is a basic with Montreal architect Gagné of the modern white Bristol Avenue home, LED lights tucked under a shelf or inside a cupboard is a good supplement, says Mills. LED puck lights are also appearing on the base of upper cabinets, sending light down to a counter. The benefit is you don't need a valance to hide the light fixtures, says Castrucci, who has seen the elimination of valances in modern-styled cabinetry.
The hardest working components of a successful kitchen are the appliances — we do need to wash the dishes and a cool place to stash the milk — with stainless steel still the enduring king, says Jeremy Macintosh, manager of Universal Appliances.
"Stainless steel eats up 85 per cent of the market," he says, with white appliances representing 10 per cent of sales and black appliances five per cent.
Shapes have changed with refrigerators taller, wider and shallower. Thoughtful design also means shallow fridges fit into a counter, not protruding inches into the kitchen, he says.
At the recent launch of Gotham, a radical glass condo planned for Lyon Street in downtown Ottawa, developer Brad Lamb showed off the slim lines of a GE fridge, which was shallow and slender, fitting neatly into the thoroughly modern black-and-white kitchen.
"You don't want the appliance hanging out. That would be ugly," says Lamb.
Back on Bristol Avenue, Gagné would like to hide appliancesbehind wooden fronts, making them invisible to the eye, yet quietlyperforming their jobs. "Appliances can get gimmicky," says the architect, who turned to a bank of stainless-steel appliances.
Gimmickry or the ultra modern is not conducive to good design, says a proven master of clean, contemporary kitchens. Friedemann Weind-hardt is the owner of Design First and the man behind a winning bold and sunny kitchen at last month's design awards.
"There is a definite shift to contemporary design, but it's a shift to comfortable contemporary. Most people are not comfortable with stark designs," he says.
"They like to have their collections around them and comfortable contemporary is the comfort food of decor. They need to connect with the space. It needs to work."


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The annual Tulip City Showdown on the volleyball court unfolds tonight at Pella High School, as the Lady Dutch host crosstown rival Pella Christian.
Pella has been off since last Tuesday, when they were defeated 3-1 by Grinnell in a hard-fought match that saw the team unable to get over the hump in close sets. Lady Dutch head coach Catie Brand says it's important for her team to anticipate what Pella Christian is trying to do if close games play out tonight.
"When we get caught up in the fact that it's close or that it's a very tight ball, then we start watching the game instead of anticipating," said Brand. "When we react to plays, we sometimes get beat; but when we're proactive – and we're anticipating the ball's going to come to us – then we're more likely to pull together."
While Pella High has had a week off to refresh and prepare themselves for tonight's match, the Pella Christian volleyball team is coming off of a five-game weekend that saw them go 3-2 in their own tournament. The Lady Eagles have shown plenty of diversity on offense in recent matches, and head coach Cindy Nikkel says that growth is being spurred by her players' desire to spend extra time honing their skills.
"That's been kind of exciting, because with Logan [De Graaf] and Maddie [Fopma] in the middle, they've picked up any slack we've needed them to; and Becca [Gritters] and Jora [Vander Hart] have been picking up the pace on the outside," said Nikkel. "What's exciting to me is we've had a lot of players – practice will go to 5:45 sometimes; sometimes even later – and they're still saying, 'Coach, can I stay after and hit some more balls.'"
Pella Christian's overall record is at 10-12; while their conference mark is 1-1. Pella High carries a 7-12 overall record into tonight's match and are 0-2 in the Little Hawkeye Conference. Varsity competition from Pella High School is slated for a 7:15 p.m. first serve tonight.


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STANFORD, Ky. (WKYT) - Update 11:30 UPDATE: The landlord, Pat Ferguson, contacted us last night. He says he did send his renter, Charles Perkins, a lease to be signed, but Perkins didn't sign the lease. Perkins claims he didn't sign the lease because he hadn't been paid for contract work he'd previously had done on the home. Ferguson denies getting any receipts for contract work.
Charles Perkins lives on Logan Avenue in Stanford, but he won't claim his home.
"It just wasn't the way I thought it was going to be. It didn't turn out the way I thought it would," Perkins explained.
The problems for Perkins started from the beginning, he said. The doors from of his decades-old home are covered with blankets to keep the heat in. An open oven in the back of the house is doing its best to warm up the home.
"This wasn't what I had in mind for retirement," Perkins said.
His bedroom and bathroom smells like sewage. He believes mold is taking over his bathroom and bedroom.
Outside there is more water damage. The crawl space has several feet of standing water.
"It's just a disaster area under there," Perkins said.
Perkins says his landlord agreed to have him move into the house and pay $100 a month for rent, if he did a little work around the house to keep it livable. No contract was written. Nothing was signed.
"I told him I'd treat it like my own and I'd put a little money in it and make it nice."
But a little money quickly turned to thousands of dollars, Perkins claims. The landlord stopped answering calls. Perkins stopped paying rent.
"You never want to do business or go into a renter/landlord relationship without some written lease spelling out each others responsibilities," said Ray Sexton, Director of the Lexington Human Rights Commission.
Sexton also warns that you should always pay your rent, no matter what the situation.
"No matter how bad the situation is, you've still got to pay your rent because that gives the landlord an outlet to just come and get rid of you."
"I grew up a man's word, handshake is a contract, bond. But I'll never do anything again unless I have a contract," Perkins said.


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MOSCOW — Russia's pro-Kremlin TV channel NTV is being sued by anti-Vladimir Putin activists for libel after it broadcast a documentary claiming demonstrators were paid to attend anti-government protests.
NTV's 36-minute documentary "Anatomy of Protest" aired last Thursday and was repeated late Sunday, —the same day that some 100 people were arrested outside Moscow's Ostankino TV studio for attending an unsanctioned protest over the show.
Opposition group Democratic Choice filed two lawsuits accusing the channel of breaching copyright and libel laws, its deputy head, Igor Drandin, wrote on his Twitter feed on Tuesday.
The group said NTV had used video shot by activitists at a pro-government rally following Putin's re-election March 4 without permission or crediting the author.
Democratic choice is claiming $4,100 in damages and an on-air retraction.
Separately Boris Nadezhdin, the former chairman of a Kremlin-approved opposition party, Right Cause, also launched a libel case against NTV.
NTV, owned by Kremlin-controlled natural gas monopoly Gazprom, claimed Sunday that the documentary had been repeated by popular demand. It has yet to comment on the law suits.
Putin won a third term as president with 63% of the votes cast in an election marred by evidence of widespread fraud.
The docu — aired by a station that was formerly owned by now exiled Russian oligarch billionare Boris Berezovsky, when it was a flag-carrier for independent journalism — has reignited opposition passion just two weeks after Putin's election.
Russia's anti-government protest movement, which sparked several mass street demonstrations in Moscow numbering hundreds of thousands between parliamentary elections in December and the presidential poll this week, has faltered since March 4.
Recent protests, sanctioned and unsanctioned, have ended in hundreds of arrests and increasing signs that Putin, who will be inaugurated president May 7, will not tolerate dissent.
But there are signs that protestors are in it for the long term and are switching tactics. In St. Petersburg, six opposition Yabloko party youth activists used humor Monday to get their point across.
Gathering outside the local NTV headquarters, they ate noodles — a reference to the expression "to hang noodles on someone's ears," a Russian term meaning to poke fun at someone.


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Poppy Delevigne Stay Coogi Down to the Socks
- Kempt Staff
Like a Boss: Valet takes a few style cues from Bruce Springsteen, the younger. A blue-collar rasp wouldn't hurt either. [Valet]
Always Be Soothfast: Fourteen offbeat words from bygone eras that we should consider bringing back. [Thought Catalogue]
Bane Capital: An up-close look at the Batman gear worn in The Dark Knight Rises. [Comic Book Movie]
Ferrari Well: Sad news in the sports car world—Sergio Pininfarina has passed. (He was the guy responsible for just about every gorgeous Italian roadster you've ever lusted after.) [The Guardian]


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Juventus have signed Italian international defender Federico Peluso on loan from Atalanta BC with an option to make the deal permanent next summer.
Peluso, 28, has made 13 Serie A appearances for Atalanta this season, including the 3-0 defeat by the Bianconeri in the middle of last month. The left-back could find an immediate void to fill at Juventus, with Giorgio Chiellini out because of a calf injury and Kwadwo Asamoah absent on Africa Cup of Nations duty with Ghana. Peluso has three Italy caps to his name, marking the most recent of those with a maiden international goal in the Azzurri's 2-0 FIFA World Cup qualifying victory against Malta.
Juventus, looking to retain their Serie A crown, are eight points clear of ACF Fiorentina at the summit. They also topped UEFA Champions League Group E and will face Celtic FC in the round of 16, with the first leg in Glasgow on 12 February.
©UEFA.com 1998-2017. All rights reserved.


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Iran Claims New Cyberattacks On Industrial Sites 75
wiredmikey writes "Iranian officials on Tuesday said a 'Stuxnet-like' cyberattack hit some industrial units in a southern province. 'A virus had penetrated some manufacturing industries in Hormuzgan province, but its progress was halted,' Ali Akbar Akhavan said, quoted by the ISNA news agency. Akhavan said the malware was 'Stuxnet-like' but did not elaborate, and that the attack had occurred over the 'past few months.' One of the targets of the latest attack was the Bandar Abbas Tavanir Co, which oversees electricity production and distribution in Hormuzgan and adjacent provinces. He also accused 'enemies' of constantly seeking to disrupt operations at Iran's industrial units through cyberattacks, without specifying how much damage had been caused. Iran has blamed the U.S. and Israel for cyberattacks in the past. In April, it said a voracious malware attack had hit computers running key parts of its oil sector and succeeded in wiping data off official servers."


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|2010-12-08, 01:15
|Link #42
King of the Castle
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: TX
Age: 35
|2010-12-09, 08:17
|Link #45
You are Dominated!
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Earth
Age: 29
I think Miko is very annoying...the other two were ok.
I thought the five part mini were really great. I especially enjoyed the dark atmosphere and story flow. I enjoy all the Transformers and I thought Starscream was really well done. Not liking Bumblebee's childish sounds though.
I'm kinda disappointed that Cliffjumper voiced by The Rock was nothing more than a over hyped cameo. He was cool while he lasted.
Looking forward to the rest of episodes!
|2010-12-10, 01:05
|Link #46
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Hyrule
Age: 45
Gotta say, I was questionable about Steven Blum as Starscream. He's a great VA, but G1 Starscream is one of the iconic voices of all time. But he does a great job of taking the differences between this Starscream and G1 Starscream and finding his own niche. I loved the "Clean that up!" line, because it so succinctly encapsulates the character, but I think his best scene was when he was berated by Megatron for acting on his own, because that exchange could have been taken word for word from a G1 episode without skipping a beat, yet worked just as well in the new setting. Ahhh... It's so good to have some semblance of the real Starscream back...
Speaking of back and not missing a beat, I just about cried hearing voice acting god Frank Welker voice Megatron again. The most glaring error in the live-action movies was the stunt casting of Hugo "Agent Smith" Weaving in a role where he sounds nothing like himself or the original role. No one growls the R's in "Starscream" quite like Welker as Megatron, and if those two are going to have something resembling their G1 dynamic, that's an absolute damn necessity.
And speaking of stunt casting...
Spoiler for big spoiler:
|2010-12-10, 19:04
|Link #47
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2008
the humans sucked .. really, humans shouldn't be allowed in the transformers-franchise
everything else rocked (Michael Bay, I'm looking at you .. see this and learn)
ALL HAIL SCREAMER .. for now anyway, Megs is gonna be back
|2010-12-10, 22:25
|Link #48
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2006
I liked the part in thick of a robot battle in the human perspective.
Also you forget adults are not the main demographic of a mainly toy company up until now.
Transformers without humans would be just war between giants. An innocent race in the middle makes the plot thicker.
|2010-12-15, 22:14
|Link #49
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Ontario, Canada
Age: 37
There's an interview with Sumalee Montano (Arcee's VA) over at tfw2005.
|2010-12-16, 20:33
|Link #50
Waiting for more taiyuki!
Join Date: Jan 2004
Bulkhead: Miko, cover your eyes!
*Bulkhead rips out Deceptacon's chest organs.*
Miko: Whoa!
I was loving Starscream torturing Agent Flower. I was thinking "Hit him again with the cattle prod for me!"
|2011-02-04, 00:50
|Link #52
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Texas
Starscream is Starscream, no matter what continuity he comes from. His backstabbing and scheming tatics are second to none, but when it comes to ralling the troops there is a lot to be desired. Really enjoyed Arcee's comeback on building a motorcycle and Ratchet attitudes towards the kids.
|2011-03-11, 03:51
|Link #57
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2008
This new transformer continuity is awesome, though I get confused due to both hasbro/high moon/and other canon workers of transformers saying that the Prime continuity is connected/the same with War for Cybertron (awesome, if not, the best tf game to date yes :] ). Besides that, good to see the movie writers (Orci and Kurtzman) are as good as they were with the bay movies as well as Star Trek in this show.
|2011-05-04, 01:25
|Link #58
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Ontario, Canada
Age: 37
In the latest episode, the characters were talking about Kaon (a Decepticon city back on Cybertron)... but when they said the name, made it sound like "k-on"!
Ha ha.
Also, hopefully this is a glimpse of an OST to come!
Last edited by Nerroth; 2011-05-05 at 19:13.
|2011-07-30, 07:24
|Link #60
Anime Snark
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Singapore
Age: 35
I have to admit, if they can keep this up, this might very well be... the first iteration of Starscream that I can genuinely sympathise with. I mean come on... look at those sad puppy eyes...
The voice-acting is top-notch, the humans are (mostly) not annoying, there's a ton of hidden innuendo for the non-kids watching this, and more importantly... death is an actual threat.
This series is well on its way to joining my DVD collection, along with Batman Beyond, Avatar: The Last Airbender and others.
|Thread Tools


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Greetings, I am from Rhode Island originally from Illinois. I look forward to talking with you all, also have some questions to ask when time permits.
The next time I have meat and mashed potatoes, I think I'll put a very large blob of potatoes on my plate with just a little piece of meat. And if someone asks me why I didn't get more meat, I'll just say, "Oh, you mean this?" and pull out a big piece of meat from inside the blob of potatoes, where I've hidden it. Good magic trick, huh?
Chai Yo, Todd


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McAfee VirusScan Mobile to Ship on Samsung HomeSync Boxes
SANTA CLARA, Calif., 13 novembre 2013 - McAfee today announced protection for Samsung HomeSync users against the growing range of Android-based threats reaching consumers' living rooms through Internet-connected TV and entertainment platforms. McAfee® VirusScan® Mobile software will come pre-installed in all Samsung HomeSync boxes to provide users with a secure in-home digital entertainment experience.
The Android platform has become increasingly attractive to cybercriminals because it continues to grow as the preferred place for consumers to live out their digital lives. According to the McAfee Threats Report: Second Quarter 2013, there were nearly 18,000 new Android malware samples in the second quarter of 2013 and this rapid growth is not expected to slow down because Android users are failing to protect themselves. McAfee's Digital Assets Survey found that only one fifth of U.S. smartphone users and 13 percent of tablet users have security software installed on their devices.
"Consumers are eager to invite new digital entertainment technologies into their home, but with these new technologies comes new security and privacy risks that aren't being acknowledged," said Gary Davis, vice president worldwide consumer marketing at McAfee. "We're able to protect HomeSync customers right at the point of purchase and eliminate the opportunity for malware and other security threats to invade the in-home digital entertainment experience."
McAfee VirusScan Mobile software is an anti-malware system that scans and cleans mobile data, preventing corruption from viruses, worms, dialers, Trojans, and other malicious code. It protects mobile devices at the most critical points of exposure and will allow all Samsung HomeSync users to enjoy their entertainment and TV experience in a safe and secure environment.
McAfee VirusScan Mobile software will be pre-installed within all Samsung HomeSync boxes globally as an independent security app at no additional cost to end users. HomeSync will also come with the option to upgrade to McAfee Mobile Security, McAfee's comprehensive mobile security solution offering best-in-class in privacy features at $29.99 US for a 12-month subscription.
About McAfee
McAfee, a wholly owned subsidiary of Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), empowers businesses, the public sector, and home users to safely experience the benefits of the Internet. The company delivers proactive and proven security solutions and services for systems, networks, and mobile devices around the world. With its Security Connected strategy, innovative approach to hardware-enhanced security, and unique Global Threat Intelligence network, McAfee is relentlessly focused on keeping its customers safe. http://www.mcafee.com
Note: McAfee and VirusScan are trademarks or registered trademarks of McAfee, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.
Heather Haas, 408-346-5735
Zeno Group
Casey Ibbetson, 310-566-2282


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Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Rummagin' around in the old treasure box . . .
Starting pitcher: M.C. O'Connor
Nothing to report in GiantsLand. I'm going crazy thinking of something to write about. So, you're stuck with nostalgia. Like all fans, I've got piles of souvenirs. Check these out. They are from Opening Day 1987. I like the Candlestick Parking Plaza receipt. For some reason, we saved a bunch of those. Spent a lot of hours in that lot, excuse me, plaza, especially that year. I'm not sure why we have Lower Reserve ($9.00!) stubs, we usually sat in General Admission (left field bleachers, Section 30), which were then two-and-a-half bucks apiece, an outrageous increase from the glory days of dollar seats. We probably anticipated the big crowd, and bought seats in advance to make sure we got in. Tailgating was a huge part of the adventure. My lovely bride and I would arrive early, enter on the bleacher side of the lot (plaza!) that had the freaky control tower. This involved coming from Berkeley over the Bay Bridge and down the Bayshore to the Third Street exit, doubling back over the freeway and hitting Jamestown Avenue, turning right and heading for the park. We had an even more convoluted exit strategy, which depended on a mad sprint down the dirt path next to the Gate E staircase and out across the damn plaza. Ah, Candlestick, such a lovable dump! Our coveted parking spot was next to the cyclone cage "protecting" the big gray gas fittings. We never knew exactly what that thing was, but we knew it had something to do with PG& E and we always eyed it warily while barbecuing next to it. We'd cordon off a half-dozen spaces with lawn chairs and whatnot, and wait for the gang to arrive. Those days died quickly as the team became more successful. The increased crowds meant more "crowd control" and the wide-open nuttiness that was Giants home baseball in the really bad years (1972-1986) started to fade. I certainly don't miss the lousy teams, but I remember the adventures fondly.
1 comment:
- Bob said...
My standard Stick memory would involve the many games I watched with my mom and dad and/or Barb & George, in the season tickets they held for many years. Lower reserve, I think section 3, behind the plate, slightly off to the right side.
Almost all were low-attendance affairs. A game with 10,000 butts in seats was a relatively big deal.
Always a polish and a beer, no variations allowed.
They were wonderful seats for watching pitching. They were far back enough under the overhang that foul balls were never a threat. Great access to concessions and toilets.
- Sat Dec 27, 02:38:00 PM PST
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Then it all fell apart in a hurry.
Colorado wasted a terrific start by Jhoulys Chacin when Milwaukee scored three times in the eighth inning, and the Brewers went on to a 5-4 victory in 10 innings on Monday.
"We battled the whole game," Gonzalez said. "That happens sometimes. There has to be a loser. But if we play that way for a lot of games, we're going to be fine. We're going to have better results."
Rickie Weeks sparked the winning rally when he stole second after he was hit by a pitch with one out. Adam Ottavino (0-1) then issued an intentional walk to Ryan Braun and lost Aramis Ramirez to another walk before Jonathan Lucroy ended the game with a fly ball to center field.
"The thing that hurt was the hit batter," Ottavino said. "I had him 0-1 and tried to come inside. I just nicked his foot and it started all the trouble."
Weiss got a one-year deal when he was hired in November after Jim Tracy stepped down following a franchise-worst 64-98 season. Before moving into the dugout with the Rockies, his only head coaching experience was one year at Regis Jesuit High School in Aurora, Colo.
And it was quite the opener for the 1988 AL Rookie of the Year with Oakland.
"It's a little different 'cause you've got to think ahead of course a lot more than you do as a player," Weiss said. "As a player you're not really going through all the 'What ifs' in your mind as you do as a manager. But, you know, I felt good about the way our guys played."
Chacin pitched 6 2-3 innings of one-run ball and the Rockies carried a 3-1 lead into the eighth inning. But their bullpen was unable to hold on.
Braun drove in a run with an infield single to shortstop before Ramirez sent a 2-2 pitch from Wilton Lopez into the left-field corner, picking up right where he left off last season when he led the National League with 50 doubles.
Norichika Aoki trotted home from third and Braun came all the way around from first, raising his right arm in celebration as he crossed the plate with the go-ahead run.
"I was hoping a cloud would come through," said Ramirez, who had to deal with some shadows on the field before his key hit. "I got lucky."
John Axford then came in for the Brewers on his 30th birthday and yielded a first-pitch homer to Dexter Fowler after he struck out the first two batters in the ninth. Axford, who blew nine save opportunities a year ago, was booed as he trudged off the mound after striking out Josh Rutledge to end the inning.
Fowler finished with three hits, and Tulowitzki and Gonzalez each had two.
"We've got the ability to get quick points," Weiss said. "We have some guys that hit the long ball today. We've got guys in the lineup that can strike quick."
It was Milwaukee's first win in the opener since it beat the Chicago Cubs 4-3 in 10 innings at Wrigley Field on March 31, 2008. The Brewers hadn't won a home game on opening day for six years, providing a compelling reason for the thousands of fans who tailgated for hours before Monday's first pitch to continue celebrating Lucroy's well-placed fly ball when they returned to the parking lots around the ballpark.
Jim Henderson (1-0) worked a perfect 10th for the victory and Aoki also had a solo homer for Milwaukee, which is hoping to make it back to the playoffs after finishing strong last season. Yovani Gallardo allowed 10 hits in his fourth consecutive opening day start, but limited the damage by holding the Rockies to three runs in five innings.
"He was in trouble every inning, still only gave up three runs," Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said. "I think when you don't have your good stuff and keep your team in the ballgame like he did, even though offensively we didn't do much there until the eighth inning that shows you know how to get out of trouble."
Gonzalez led off the third with a single into right field and Tulowitzki drove the next pitch over the wall in right-center for his first homer since he connected against Houston on May 28. The two-time All-Star played in just 47 games last season due to a groin injury that eventually required surgery to remove scar tissue.
Gonzalez connected in the fifth, leading off with a drive to right. He made the All-Star team for the first time in 2012, but is coming off a lackluster finish at the plate—.222 in August and .262 in September and early October.
"If we play that way for a lot of games, we're going to be fine," Gonzalez said. "We're going to have better results."
NOTES: Aoki also hit his first career homer off Chacin last season, an inside-the-park liner in Milwaukee last April 20. ... Joseph Attanasio, the father of Brewers owner Mark Attanasio, performed the national anthem at the home opener for the ninth consecutive season. Asked if his dad practiced, Attanasio said: "He started singing ''O Sole Mio' on the plane ride here." ... The Rockies opened on the road for the fifth time in the past six seasons. ... It was the fifth-largest crowd in Miller Park history.
Jay Cohen can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jcohenap


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A Boulder County judge ruled Thursday there is enough evidence in the large-scale embezzlement case against former Celestial Seasonings distribution manager Jeffrey Wagner for the case to proceed to an arraignment hearing.
Wagner was arrested Nov. 20 on suspicion of theft over $20,000 and forgery, after police say FBI investigators uncovered $1.8 million in payments made over a five-year period from Celestial Seasonings to JDW, a fictional company Wagner allegedly created.
According to court records, the bogus company listed Wagner's cell phone number as contact information, and the bank routing number matched the routing number of Wagner's personal account where Celestial Seasonings deposited Wagner's paychecks.
Wagner's supervisors told investigators that, as distribution manager, he had the authority to approve new vendor applications as well as all invoices under $20,000. According to the arrest affidavit, Wagner also held up freight invoices from other companies so the monthly invoice totals would not appear suspicious.
Wagner, 42, of Erie, was charged in December with one count of felony theft and seven counts of felony forgery. He appeared at Thursday's preliminary hearing in the case free on $15,000 bond and under the advisement of attorney Lawrence Mertes.
The only witness called at Thursday's hearing was a detective who investigated the case.
She said that she was unable to turn up any evidence that JDW was a legitimate business or that the company had ever performed any official services for Celestial Seasonings.
Mertes said the case against his client was primarily based on hearsay, but Judge John Stavely ruled that enough evidence had been presented for the case to proceed.
Wagner is next scheduled to appear for an arraignment hearing at 1 p.m. March 1.


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TOKYO - With the start of job-hunting season approaching, many students in the graduating class of spring 2015 are buying business suits, shoes and eyeglasses that will allow them to look their best during job interviews.
TOKYO � With the start of job-hunting season approaching, many students in the graduating class of spring 2015 are buying business suits, shoes and eyeglasses that will allow them to look their best during job interviews.
The Men�s Building of Isetan department store in Tokyo offers suits � with prices ranging from $493 to $789 � for people seeking jobs.
�I recommend a plain navy blue or black suit,� said Chiharu Otsubo, a staff member of the department store. �About 90 percent of the graduating students go with navy blue. Many come to our store with their parents.
�It�s better to avoid casual shirts with button-down collars. A white shirt with a regular collar is preferable. It�s important to dress in a way that expresses who you really are.�
Aoki Inc., a men�s clothing wholesaler, said many shoppers opt for water-repellent stretch suits with two pairs of pants. Designed to guard against stains and repel raindrops, the suit is made from fabric that stretches to allow freer movement.
Based on his own job-hunting experience, Yuki Kobayashi, of Aoki�s Yokohama Kohoku store, advises customers to purchase two suits.
�If they wear the same suit every day during the peak of the job-hunting period, it won�t be easy to maintain its proper condition,� he said.
According to Isetan�s Shinjuku store, 80 percent of female students opt for black suits.
The right cosmetics make a difference, too.
�Not only do we offer advice on choosing a suit, but we also provide a makeup course for female students hitting the job trail,� a department-store official said.
For those who wear glasses, switching from casual frames to a more mature look might help during interviews.
Glasses can work to a job seeker�s advantage by giving the impression of a serious worker.
Shiho Ikegawa � an official of Jin Co., which operates the Jins chain of eyewear stores � said metal-frame glasses, for example, convey a sense of stability and seriousness.


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Team Rock Hound suggested this thread, so here goes!
Early last year, we found a cache called NDCVD5,000 with Optional Heat! (archived now) that had an unused blood bag in it. :? ???
Ironically, this was the very same cache that eventually appeared on TV when KATV did a segment on geocaching for their morning show, Daybreak. We were supposed to meet the reporter (Jason) out there, but he never called us back. :( Anyways, I think it was bebopishere that ended up doing the segment with him (and did a great job, by the way!)
What's the strangest item the YOU have found?


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Published May 21, 2013
An article in Runner's World reports on a study by Mark Seery, associate professor of psychology, that showed that experiencing some hardship in life can give you a reserve of resiliency to call upon in the future. "One part of the study dealt with pain and running would be a similar situation," he said. "I would expect that having a moderate exposure to lifetime adversity would translate into a benefit of running."
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The hunt for the hit man who executed a Los Angeles man, Brandon Lincoln Woodard, in broad daylight on the edge of Central Park broadened today as NYPD detectives arrived in Los Angeles to begin drilling down into the victim's associates, business interests and background in an effort to develop clues about the killer and his possible motives.
Even as that part of the probe into Monday's shooting was underway, forensic tests were being performed on the crime's apparent getaway car -- an Avis rental -- that was found legally parked on a street in New York City's Queens borough, according to police officials.
The car had been rented from Avis in a suburb outside the city, police said. The vehicle was removed to a police facility in the area where forensic tests will continue.
"The investigation is moving forward, obviously, aggressively." New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told reporters. "There are some developments, but really I am not at liberty to say too much about it publicly. I don't want to do anything to undermine the investigation. But it is moving forward aggressively."
Of the very public hit in broad daylight, Kelly told reporters in New York, "You can characterize it as either being brazen or foolhardy."
On Tuesday, the NYPD released surveillance video that showed Woodard, 31, of Playa Vista, Calif., walking down 58th Street near Columbus Circle in Midtown Manhattan minutes before he was shot.
A powerful still image was also released. It showed the hit man pulling a silver-colored handgun from his pocket just before he aimed at the back of Woodard's head and pulled the trigger.
Meanwhile, NYPD detectives are in Los Angeles working with detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department's Pacific Division to "drill down" into Woodard's background and examine his associates and business dealings, LAPD officials told ABC News.
Woodard's criminal record dated back to 2004 and included arrests for alleged battery in 2011, stealing wine from a supermarket in 2009 and multiple DWIs. As recently as April of this year, he was arrested for alleged cocaine possession in West Hollywood, Calif.
Detectives also were investigating Woodard's possible involvement in the drug trade, possibly as a "mule," sources told ABC News on Tuesday.
Raised in the Ladera Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, Woodard played basketball at the exclusive Campbell Hall private high school and graduated from Loyola Marymount University. He was most recently enrolled in the University of West Los Angeles Law School.


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KLRU Q celebrates the end of 2014 and the start of 2015 with Hardly Sound! Hardly Sound is a documentary series focused on Texas underground music and artists. The series features music but goes beyond the recording studio to tell the story of the band members with insight into the creative process.
Philippe Edison at 11 pm
Love, space travel, modesty and musical philosophy are all topics that Houston, Texas fusion artist Philippe Edison discusses in detail on the first episode of Season 3 of Hardly Sound. Edison's anachronistic approach to his craft and to life in general make for some intriguing revelations and more importantly give a window to the creative development of his genre bending music.
Cross Record at 11:30 pm
Dan and Emily are natural people, 'laid back' if you will. Music for them is a tool for communication, not just between each other but with the world around them. The two have dreams to grow their own vegetables, have their own livestock, and simply live within the environment they exchange with.
Jazz Mills at midnight
An artist who is not only a performer but also a producer and mother. She sees a need for her art to be mutually beneficial and is content being part of the creative process whether she is in the spotlight or not.


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I have several forms in a 3D space that I placed randomly in space
now i need on the environment and go forward and back, left and right
I've used this function glulookat" and change the first parameter of 3. Whether this is true?
Also, when I use the "glutpostredisplay" function to be reconstructed page fault location varies according to the randomness of natural forms locations.
What should I do to error does not change the location of the screen to move the camera?
Thank you