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Messiaen (1908–1992): Les Offrandes oubliéesMozart: Piano Concerto No. 23 Tristan Murail (b. 1947): Le Désenchantement du monde, Symphonic Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (U.S. Premiere–New York Philharmonic Co-Commission with Bavarian Radio, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra)Beethoven: Symphony No. 2
New York PhilharmonicDavid Robertson, conductorPierre-Laurent Aimard, pianoFrom an early age, Olivier Messiaen was a devout Catholic who wanted to "shed light on the theological truths of the Catholic faith" through music and musical symbols. This objective — along with his preoccupation with the sounds of nature, especially birds and their song — dominated virtually all of his creative output. And, like Scriabin, he had the gift of synaesthesia, which enabled him to see colors when he heard pitches. His voice among 20th century composers had a unique, personal vocabulary that ecstatically celebrated God and life; his soundscapes were sensuous and harmonically rich; and his music shimmered with exotic inspirations gained from his avid interest in Eastern music. Les Offrandes oubliées, Messiaen's first published orchestral work, concerns mankind's sinfulness and the possibility of redemption. He provides a prose-poem for the one-movement work: "Arms outstretched, afflicted unto death, you shed your blood on the cross. We have forgotten, sweet Jesus, how you love us. Driven onward by madness and forked tongues, in breathless, uncontrolled, and headlong flight, we have fallen into sin like a bottomless pit. It is here to be found, the unsullied table, the source of charity, the feast of the poor, the well of holy sympathy which is to us the very bread of life and love. We have forgotten, sweet Jesus, how you love us." Les Offrandes oubliées is comprised of three continuous sections, Messiaen explains: "The Cross" (nearly slow, sorrowful, profoundly sad), "a lamentation of the strings, whose sorrowful 'neumes' divide the melody into groups of uneven lengths, broken by deep-grey and mauve sighs"; "Sin" (quick, savage, desperate, breathless), "a kind of 'race towards the abyss' at an almost mechanized speed"; "The Eucharist" (extremely slow, with great compassion and great love) "features the long and slow phrase of the violins, which rises over a carpet of pianissimo chords, with reds, gold, blues (like a distant stained-glass window) to the light of muted solo chords." At the end, this symphonic meditation becomes a wave of sound that seems to hang suspended in a kind of timelessness that points towards eternity. Tristan Murail once posed a fascinating question: "Can one still write for the piano today? Through the 19th century and to the beginning of the 20th it was the emblematic instrument ... but has it survived the array of tortures inflicted upon it by the end of the 20th century? After the clusters of Henry Cowell, the preparations of John Cage, the ornithological percussions of Messiaen, the electrified mantras of Stockhausen, and the various scrapings and pinchings of strings, what space is left to the imagination?" His new Piano Concerto could answer this question. It was co-commissioned by the Philharmonic, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in Munich, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra and is having its US premiere at these concerts. The featured soloist is Pierre-Laurent Aimard, whom the composer has known for some 30 years, but for whom he has never before written a work. Five seasons ago, the Philharmonic performed Murail's Gondwana, an important example of the evocatively named composition technique of spectralism. "Spectralism," he explains, "involves the analysis of the complex structure and evolution of a sound's timbre. These aspects then form the basis for the harmony and melody of a spectral composition." And while the Piano Concerto "will employ spectral techniques to some extent," says Murail, "they are not the basis for this work; rather, my exploration of sound provides models for the concerto's musical structures, giving me a large palette of harmonic and timbral colors and gradations to work with…almost like a rainbow." And because he is writing for traditional instruments — piano and symphony orchestra — to achieve spectral effects his score calls for changes in the tuning of some instruments. That said, rather than pondering technical issues, Tristan Murail invites the audience "to listen for the actual sound of the concerto, i.e., the relationship between the solo instrument and the orchestra, as well as its abstract psychological structure. Think of it like the interactions among the characters of a novel."


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Last month, we explored the revolutionary impact of NaturalMotion's dynamic motion synthesis technology (Euphoria) on next-generation games, and looked at the power of behavioral AI tools to add event-driven behaviors to an NPC's repertoire. While Euphoria is giving NPCs the ability to react autonomously to objects and characters in their immediate vicinity, a new breed of AI "middleware," led by companies such as Kynogon and Engenuity, is sowing the seeds of their emergent intelligence, helping characters reach their goals and destinations in increasingly complex worlds.
For example, if a character's goal is to exit a building by descending a winding flight of stairs, exit through a back door, and cross a street, AI middleware will calculate the best path through the building, while Euphoria will ensure their bodies move and react intelligently to overcome every obstacle in their way—be it enemy guards, bombs, collapsing floorboards, and so forth—to execute the goal. "AI is a huge field right now. And I would say that Euphoria is solving bottom up, whereas we are solving top down," says Paul Kruszewski, chief technology officer for Engenuity, provider of artificial intelligence tools for game development.
Formerly the founder and CTO of BioGraphic Technologies, Kruszewski helped develop the pathfinding middleware software AI.implant, which was subsequently purchased by Engenuity. "We are at the other extreme, establishing the goal and motivation, asking, 'Where should I go, why should I go there, and how do I get there?' Our programs are at opposite ends of the spectrum, but I think they'll meet somewhere in the middle, and they are beginning to do that now."
Incorporating AI middleware into a production pipeline is a growing trend in game development because it relieves the developer of the cost and tedium of having to manually program AI behaviors. Midway Games and Vivendi Games have standardized on Engenuity's AI.implant for all their next-generation titles, while Electronic Arts, Eden Games, and Lionhead Studios are entrusting their pathfinding problems to Kynogon's Kynapse. According to both companies, the multi-core power of next-generation consoles has been the long-awaited missing piece needed to awake the latent potential for middleware such as Kynapse and AI.implant in revolutionizing game AI.
Engenuity's AI.implant
Engenuity's AI.implant 5.0 addresses those challenges by providing dynamic obstacle avoidance and pathfinding in both wide-open spaces and dense urban settings. Offering integration with Epic's Unreal Engine 3, as well as with many animation packages, including Autodesk's Maya and 3ds Max, AI.implant allows developers to author AI behaviors inside the production environment most familiar to them. Moreover, it is designed to make AI programming accessible to the least technically inclined artists, allowing them to create behavior scripts graphically using an intuitive GUI. In this way, it is building bridges across the archipelago of technical and non-technical stations that normally divide and compartmentalize a production pipeline.
This approach stems from AI.implant's origins in the broadcast and film markets. While AI.implant's mandate was always to support intelligent humans in any computer graphics application, when the company began six years ago, Kruszewski and his team tailored the software for creating digital extras. In 2004, it helped Stargate Digital simulate a cast of thousands for USA Network's epic miniseries Spartacus (see "Building an Empire," April 2004), and more recently, generated the crowd scenes for the 2005 golf drama The Greatest Game Ever Played.
Pathfinding is usually accomplished through automatic or manual placement of waypoints that direct the NPCs to tactically advantageous positions throughout an environment. Another form of pathfinding can be done using navigation meshes, which, while yielding more detailed information about walkable surfaces, can be more expensive to compute at run-time. AI.implant supports both.
If an animator, having modeled a guard in Maya, wants to make the character patrol the area surrounding a compound, for example, he or she loads the AI.implant Maya plug-in or a level editor such as Unreal 3, and places a network of waypoints in the environment for the guard to follow, then assigns the behavior "Seek to Via Network" to make it vary its path during the patrol. Assigning other behaviors, including "Avoid Obstacles" and "Avoid Barriers," will make them steer clear of trees, fences, and so forth.
Using AI.implant's software development kit (SDK), a programmer can link AI.implant's engine into the Unreal engine, and drag and drop "human brains" into the environment, and then use markup tools to define waypoint networks and points of interest, such as obstacles, rally points, and cover. The AI.implant system takes over during gameplay and, using this knowledge of the environment, carves out a path.
"AI.implant is unique in that we can change the information on the navigation mesh dynamically," says Kruszewski. "For example, we can mark up dynamically that an area is on fire. So, while the underlying geometry hasn't changed, the character knows not to run through the fire but around it." Sensors help the NPCs perceive events in their environment, while binary decision trees guide their response to the events.
AI.implant divides the environments into three classes of objects: static (walls), semi-static (chairs), and dynamic objects (other NPCs). To prevent NPCs from running into one another, AI.implant uses a process called dynamic obstacle avoidance. The NPC's perception of the environment is achieved primarily through waypoints and navigation meshes. The latter can require the use of raycasting, a form of environmental perception achieved by shooting rays from an NPC's eyes to map objects in its path.
Programming Artists
Four years ago, Disney purchased AI.implant for its high-end broadcast and film work. Like Stargate Digital, the studio's staff comprises artists, not programmers. Watching how they worked, identifying how they fell into pitfalls, and using their feedback, Kruszewski and his team progressively refined AI.implant to deliver a tool set that would effectively allow artists to program in a visual way.
"The problem with game development today is that all the bots are still being done by programmers, either using C++ or script, which is both time-consuming and sets up a wall between the creative person and the end result," says Kruszewski. "We're eliminating the programming stage; now the designer, using these visual tools, will just create the brain himself and hit Go. It's data-driven, so there's no recompiling. If the character should be more aggressive, he can change it literally on the fly. So a process that once took eight hours now takes an hour."
AI.implant also excels at realistic, real-time crowd simulation. Using simple paint tools to fill an environment with a swarming mass of people, an artist can assign such behaviors as milling, panicking, rioting, or looting.
Many games now have ambient crowds just wandering and milling about, going up and down a street, obeying streetlights, and popping into a store or a restaurant, for instance. Some of these behaviors would be prebuilt, others carved out of the personality of the character. The artist would designate random stores of interest with mouse clicks, and then tell the character to choose one to go to, and then another, and another, and so forth, setting a limit to the number of characters who can enter to avoid congestion. "It's a lot like directing a simple film," Kruszewski says.
Psychological Programming
While designing brains, AI.implant allows developers to individualize each NPC's personality and differentiate the model's reactions to similar situations. If, for example, two NPCs are thrown from their path, one may look for the closest edge on the navigation mesh to resume their course; the other, however, might ignore the previous path and bolt "devil may care" for its target, ignoring traffic laws or anything else that gets in its way.
"For me, computer graphics in 2007 is about AI; it's about proceduralism in animation. And in this new era, a new kind of animator is slowly emerging—one who, in a sense, now has the technology to get inside the head of a character and express psychology through motion," says Kruszewski.
Navigating Debris Fields
While companies such as Havok and Ageia have made it trivial for a developer to set up thousands of rigid-body simulations in a game, sending the NPCs through the resulting debris field can be a nightmare for the AI programmer. But because it is a dynamic physics simulation, there's going to be a lot of local minimum, or dead ends. So Engenuity worked with Midway on the studio's big launch title, Stranglehold, shipping this summer.
"The big selling point of the game is 'massive destructibility,' so we had to deliver," says Kruszewski. The game is set among the congested streets, restaurants, and tea shops of Hong Kong, where everything from walls, chairs, and glass windows, to tea cups and chopsticks, can be blown to pieces. To this end, the AI literally analyzes the dynamically changing world in real time, carving out mini-paths for the NPCs through the ubiquitous debris.
The newly released AI.implant Version 5.0 enables massive destructibility and open-ended gameplay by utilizing a unique Dynamic Path Refinement (DPR) technology that adapts and responds to ever-changing in-game physics. DPR allows developers to create games with an exponentially higher amount of game content, while sidestepping the tedium of scripting every possible gameplay scenario. It also features new obstacle traversal and vaulting options that allow characters to navigate environments in multiple ways, including vaulting over obstacles rather than simply walking around them, and emphasizes cinematic movements.
In most games, of course, NPCs spend the majority of their lifetime pursuing the player, making stealth and furtiveness two desirable qualities. Thus, by using its knowledge of the floor material, AI.implant can direct the NPC to pursue a destination via the most carpeted path, because it will be quieter. Also, AI.implant can give the NPC a path that's either invisible or minimizes exposure to the player.
Not only will AI middleware yield more highly intelligent characters, but the newfound hardware power will ensure the environments are teeming with them. Kruszewski estimates that very soon we will see crowds of over 100, and by the end of the Xbox 360 and PS3 era, crowds will soar to well over 1000. AI.implant's Special Everything Wrangler (SPEW) can already process a cast of thousands in real time at any one time. If that sounds like overkill, think again. "I can't disclose details, but we've seen specs for upcoming MMOGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Games) that call for over 1000 NPCs interacting at any given time. They are, of course, splitting it over a couple of processors," he says. "Right now, we're doing demos in the dual-core PC world of about 300, and so with these new quads (see "The Power of Four," pg. 44), soon there will be about 1000 on a PC. I think that in the military space and MMOGs, simulations of over 10,000 will become commonplace."
But what role will AI-controlled NPCs play in the online gaming world, where every character is potentially human-controlled? Will the NPCs be relegated to clerks and waiters? An upcoming MMOG is addressing the problem with what may be the most novel use of NPCs yet, which Kruszewski can only hint at right now. "All I can say is people are building complex virtual worlds, and they could be entertainment facilities, and people will sign on to be entertainment."
Kynogon's Kynapse
Unfortunately, as gaming environments expand to encompass huge numbers of NPCs, and massive destructibility becomes a priority, then manually mapping these massive levels with a grid of waypoints could become impossible. That's because a complete, high-density description of the world could cripple the CPU and overburden the memory, while a low-density description may, again, leave the NPCs blind. Hence, next-generation games may require an automatic method of generating pathfinding data.
Enter Kynogon's Kynapse, an AI middleware tool that automatically generates a model of the world, called Pathdata. The Pathdata is extracted not only from the polygonal terrain, but also from movement and physics-based collision models. Other AI middleware requires a navigation mesh provided by the client, restricting the information to ground-based entities. When computing the Pathdata, Kynapse can identify three models of movement: ground-based, flying, and ant-like (entities attached to walls). Using the Pathdata, NPCs can perform a topology analysis, and then use spatial reasoning to identify at runtime places of interest, such as hiding places, fleeing and attack positions, and so forth.
Used by such developers as EA, Sega, Atari, and Real Time Worlds, and also integrated into Unreal Engine 3, Kynapse can handle pathfinding, team behaviors, and spatial reasoning among the increasingly complex collision simulations.
Opening an NPC's Eyes
To enable NPCs to utilize all the dynamic objects in their world and reach their destination, Kynapse employs Path Objects. For example, a locked door, which can be unlocked and opened to deliver an NPC to its destination, would be considered a Path Object.
With Kynapse, getting an NPC to its destination requires three steps. The first is path planning, which involves extracting a variable path that will take an NPC from point A to point B. The second is path following, which smooths the path as it is traversed to yield a nice, non-robotic trajectory. And, the third step is dynamic avoidance, which involves circumnavigating all the obstacles that could get in the way, including other NPCs.
According to Pontevia, there are a few major challenges facing developers and software vendors in the next-gen era, including assimilating all the new technologies so they function synergistically in a game. Another is finding the best way to exploit the new processing power.
"On the Xbox side, you have three processors. If the GPU [utilizes] one processor, the rest will be dedicated to physics and AI. So the challenge is, how do you best use six native threads in three processors for that purpose?" Pontevia questions. "On the PS3 side, you've got an incredible multi-processing and multi-core architecture bearing the core processor and eight CPUs, yielding an awesome power of parallelism. It has to be mastered, but by whom? The answer is the physics and AI people. So, the learning curve is quite steep, but eventually we're going to be able to deliver thousands of entities, smarter entities, much larger worlds, and much more dynamic worlds. We're going to break a lot of barriers gamers have grown accustom to."
While the potential may exist to create thousands of autonomous, highly intelligent NPCs capable of outmatching the player at every turn, Pontevia and Engenuity's Kruszewski caution that such invincibility can result in a frustrating game experience for the player. "Although it's possible to make an NPC so smart that the player will never see them, is it really worth having them? It's a game; it's not a simulation," Pontevia notes.
Artificial Contender
Imagine any high-impact scenario from last year's Super Bowl, Stanley Cup, or NBA finals. While Euphoria could procedurally simulate those interactions, what if these simulations could transpire according to each athlete's unique style of play?
TruSoft's Artificial Contender (AC), a new behavior-capture AI middleware technology, is making it possible. Already used in Sony Computer Entertainment's This Is Football 2005, AC allows developers and game players to "train" NPCs, allowing them to learn a human player's behavior and playing style. Once trained, they're known as AC agents.
The implementation of AC agents into a game requires three major steps: integration of AC technology into a game using AC's SDK; tuning and testing of AC agents' performance using AC tools, which are accessible to both programmers and designers; and training of AC agents by playing a game in the role of each agent that is being trained.
Training an NPC
By associating similar gameplay situations during learning—adding them to nodes on a graph and associating them through a generalization tree—AC agents can search the graph for learned situations and find the best solution.
"This functionality is the heart of AC technology. AC automatically creates representations for game situations on different levels of abstraction called Zoom Levels," says Umarov. As the designer or end user plays, AC stores the Zoom Levels in a combination of graphs and generalization trees that create a very compact and fast representation of knowledge. The graphs and trees are grown and analyzed hierarchically in real time, giving the NPCs the means to make strategic and tactical decisions during gameplay. While more training yields better strategic and tactical decisions, the average time required to train an AC agent is 15 to 30 minutes for fighting games, 30 to 40 minutes for sports games, and 40 to 90 minutes for real-time strategy games.
Depending on a game and a situation within a game, one minute of training can generate about 10 to 120 training samples. For example, a typical fighting game will usually generate about 60 to 120 training samples a minute; a real-time strategy game, 10 to 60 training samples every minute. Plus, a designer can add more training samples at any time.
While many types of games will benefit from behavior-capture AI, including sports, fighting, real-time strategy, first-person shooters, and action games, sports games will obviously reap the greatest rewards. For the computer-controlled teams and athletes, the style of play will more closely reflect that of their real-life counterparts. "More specifically, in soccer, Brazil will play like the real Brazilian team, Italy will play like the real Italian team, Chelsea FC will play like the real Chelsea FC team, and David Beckham will play like the real David Beckham," says Umarov. The integration of AC into a game will also provide players with new game modes, allowing them to play as a teacher or a coach, training allies or training AC bots to compete with one another or human players.
Additionally, if game designers decide to turn on self-learning, players will find that allies and opponents will learn quickly and improve during gameplay. How their favorite athlete or team adapts to a situation the first time they load up a game will not be the same a few months later, making the gameplay more challenging, exciting, and realistic. AC also seamlessly interfaces with a game's regular AI. For instance, in This Is Football 2005, AC controls the player with the ball, while the rest of the players operate under the game's regular AI, which could be homegrown or middleware.
Moreover, TruSoft maintains that AC holds its own unique role in the development pipeline that doesn't conflict with other middleware offerings.
"For example, let's imagine a typical modern real-time strategy game. While a technology like Euphoria will be responsible for realistic real-time animations, technologies like AI.implant or Kynapse will be responsible for pathfinding, collision-avoidance, and crowd simulation; Artificial Contender's role will be to provide tactical and strategic commands to armies and units corresponding to specific pre-trained routines by game designers or end users, or dynamically adaptable styles of play," says Umarov.
While TruSoft's main focus right now is to integrate AC into more games and support more genres by creating game and genre-specific AC engines, its goal for the future is twofold: enhanced, multi-agent cooperative behavior and training AC agents using captured data from the real world, in addition to that captured from humans playing the video game.
While breakthroughs and creative innovations in AI middleware promise to revolutionize the gameplay experience and streamline the production process, Alex J. Champandard, a professional AI programmer who runs aigamedev.com, an AI Web site and blog, cautions that advancements are still needed. "Kynapse, AI.implant, and Artificial Contender are all great solutions to get projects jump-started, involve the designers early in the development cycle, and not produce anything embarrassingly buggy in the end," he says. "But it's certainly the case that industry experts will be able to do a better job with a game-specific system; all the games that are famous for their AI could have never shipped with these products."
Following the arrival of next-generation consoles, Champandard's vision for the new norm in video games includes more lifelike animation (like that offered by Natural Motion's Euphoria or Havok Behavior) as well as realistic goal-driven behaviors for a massive number of characters.
"Just replace the word 'poly' with 'people,' and you'll have some idea of how crowds will increase. Think of how unacceptable low poly counts in an environment are; that's how unacceptable low NPC counts will be, especially for Grand Theft Auto-type games where you've got 30 seats of Maya or Max cranking out huge worlds, but only 20 people who don't react. That's unacceptable now," says Engenuity's Kruszewski. Hence, for those developers ill-equipped to handle the Herculean programming challenges of the next-gen era, Kruszewski and his fellow AI middleware proprietors may be their only hope of keeping up with the new norm in artificial intelligence.

subset: commoncrawl


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SEATTLE - The family of a Washington state man imprisoned in North Korea for more than a year expressed alarm and sadness Monday after an invitation was cancelled for a U.S. envoy to visit Pyongyang and discuss Kenneth Bae's release.
Terri Chung, Bae's sister, said in a statement, however, that relatives are encouraged by a growing number of people - including the Rev. Jesse Jackson - calling for her brother's freedom.
"It has been 474 days since Kenneth has been detained in the DPRK," the statement said, referencing the nation's formal name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. "Kenneth is just an ordinary American father of three who is desperately trying to return to his family."
The statement continued, imploring U.S. and North Korean leaders "to work together to let this U.S. citizen come home to his family."
The 45-year-old from Lynnwood, who had been living in China for seven years, was taken into custody in November 2012 while leading a tour group into a North Korean economic zone.
The cancellation, announced by the State Department on Sunday, comes only days after a detained Bae told a pro-Pyongyang newspaper that he expected to meet this month with U.S. envoy on North Korean human rights issues, Bob King.
The move signals an apparent protest of upcoming annual military drills between Washington, D.C., and Seoul, South Korea. North Korean officials also say the U.S. has mobilized nuclear-capable B-52 bombers during training near the Korean Peninsula.
North Korea calls the planned drills a rehearsal for invasion, a claim the allies deny.
The State Department said Jackson, the civil rights leader, has offered to travel to North Korea at the request of Bae's family. The State Department did not elaborate and referred questions to Jackson, whose spokesman didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Analysts say North Korea has previously used detained Americans as leverage in its standoff with the U.S. over its nuclear and missile programs; North Korea denies this.
The North accused Bae of smuggling in inflammatory literature and trying to establish a base for anti-government activities at a border city hotel.
Chung says Bae's Christian faith got him into trouble.
In August, North Korea also rescinded an invitation for King to visit, saying Washington had perpetrated a grave provocation by flying B-52 bombers during military drills with South Korea.
Chung said Friday that her family learned from the State Department that her brother had been taken back to a labor camp from a hospital where he had been treated after losing 50 pounds.
On Monday, Chung said in the statement that his family is "gravely concerned that the stress Kenneth endures at the labor camp will be too much for him."
Associated Press writer Hyung-Jin Kim contributed from Seoul, South Korea.


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The Institute communicates its scientific and educational information in a number of ways. One major outlet is peer-reviewed publications and reports. Cary Institute staff regularly publish in the best-rated journals in their respective fields.
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Climate and competition effects on tree growth in Rocky Mountain forests", Journal of Ecology, vol. 105, no. 6, p. 1636 - 1647, 2017., "
Climate drivers of seed production in Picea engelmannii and response to warming temperatures in the southern Rocky Mountains", Journal of Ecology, vol. 104, no. 4, p. 1051 - 1062, 2016., "
Dispersal and recruitment limitation in native versus exotic tree species: life-history strategies and Janzen-Connell effects", Oikos, vol. 119, p. 807-824, 2010., "
Divergence from the growth-survival trade-off and extreme high growth rates drive patterns of exotic tree invasions in closed-canopy forests", J. Ecol., vol. 98, p. 778-789, 2010., "
Why forests appear resistant to exotic plant invasions: intentional introductions, stand dynamics, and the role of shade tolerance", Front. Ecol. Environ., vol. 7, p. 142-149, 2009., "
Invasion biology and parasitic infections", in R. S. Ostfeld, F. Keesing, and V. Eviner (eds.). Infectious Disease Ecology: Effects of Ecosystems on Disease and of Disease on Ecosystems, 2008, p. 179-204., "
Neighborhood models of the effects of the invasive Acer platanoides on tree seedling dynamics: linking impacts on communities and ecosystems", J. Ecol., vol. 96, p. 78-90, 2008., "
Vegetation-environment relationships in forest ecosystems of the Cordillera Central, Dominican Republic", J. Trop. Ecol, vol. 132, p. 293-310, 2005., "
Environment, disturbance and forest pattern in a montane tropical forest in the Dominican Republic", 2004., "
Forty years of tropical forest recovery from agriculture: Structure and floristics of secondary and old growth riparian forests in the Dominican Republic", Biotropica, vol. 36, p. 297-317, 2004., "


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I creep them out more than they creep me out.
I guess my personality to them is alien.
Havent been on since work keeps me busy. Sorry if i make late replies.
I'm really shy. People are constantly asking me why I don't talk. It gets annoying because I do talk, I just don't go out of my way to talk to people I don't know (I usually end up giving one word responses). That and I'm not very good at holding conversations. I get too nervous and never know what to say, so I usually end up not saying anything at all. I tend to be quiet even around my friends although I do have my talkative moments, they just don't happen all that often. People tend to avoid me because I'm shy. So, I guess it can be a problem sometimes. But, I don't think being shy is a bad thing. I just think most people don't understand how hard it is to talk to others when your shy.
I only talk when spoken to...
And barely anyone knows the real me~ they have no opinion of me but 'shy'. Do I really lack a personality...? No one will know...
Sometimes you have to let go of a dream and face reality.
StarLightMagic wrote:
I only talk when spoken to...
And barely anyone knows the real me~ they have no opinion of me but 'shy'. Do I really lack a personality...? No one will know...
you are really cute
I`m leaving Crunchyroll today.
If the girl is cute, I'll have a bit of crush with her.
But if not, then I'd still be friendly but not like..
Actually I think it's kinda weird but not really bad at all..
It's very common already
Waiting for my buds to add me up in my contact.. deleting this one soon
A being of immense destructive powers, capable of destroying your eardrums and sanity within minutes.
Life is full of shit but it's the delicious part that makes it worth it.
No opinion about shy people. I'm shy myself, but the characteristics you're describing doesn't define every person that is shy. I only open up and talk to someone when I feel comfortable with you or to be polite. My voice is soft when I'm nervous. I don't spend hours reading either (I'd like to once in my life).
I generaly find them charming I guess would be a good word, I'm pretty shy myself so maybe thats why. I dont find them creepy at all though mostly I find them to be quit sweet, in my opinion.
Such a beautiful and heartfelt story, left me only in tears.
Rito2Ru wrote:
Shiori approves of this
but seriously, it's sometimes fun to get to know the girl first, if you can get past the shy phase, you will be considered pretty special by her...in anime of course
in real life, results may vary lol
Just had to
Personally i think they are cute
I look at shy people and go CHALLENGE ACCEPTED! I'm a bit shy myself, so I already have something in common with said person, so I can make friends easier that way. All they shy people I've met are far less likely to do really stupid shtuff, which is something I avidly avoid.
I wish i could tell what was on their mind & get close to them, im not good at holding conversations myself so ppl used to mistake me for a shy person, but i fix ppl with stares so intense they shy away from my eyes, so now its clear that im not shy, i just have nothing to talk about, maybe they're that way too
Thank you for your patience.
I don't see much of them, its usually children who are very shy, girls when they grow up usually are not like that for the most part. Unless someone likes to act shy for attention, etc other reasons. But ehm, friends are ok, if i know them, no opinions on strangers
I'm really shy -__- But only to people I don't know. If you get to really know me, you'll think I'm insane :p. People always ask me if I'm ok, or if I'm sad. I'm not! Just shy ^^
♥ Current Theme: Lovable - Next Theme: Summer ♥
i think girls who are shy are a lot more interesting then ones that talk...and i enjoy the game of getting them to start talking! It's like opening flood gates hard at first but once they are open it all comes out lol
I'm a somewhat shy guy myself but when it comes down to shy girls, I can actually talk to and have a conversation with one especially if I'm getting to know her. Its a challenge but I'll gladly take on that challenge lol.


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Submission + - Open source licensing debate has positive effect on GitHub
Lemeowski writes: Critics have been pounding GitHub recently claiming it is hosting tons of code with no explicit software license. The debate was thrust into the limelight last year when James Governor of RedMonk issued an acclaimed tweet about young developers being "about POSS — post open source software," meaning they disliked or avoided licensing and governance. Red Hat's IP attorney Richard Fontana explores the complaint, saying there is a positive aspect of the POSS and GitHub phenomenon: Developers are, for the first time in the history of free software, helping inform each other about licensing and aiding in the selection process. The result is that it's becoming easier to suggest legal improvements to GitHub-hosted repositories.


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The Belgian designer Benoît Deneufbourg launched his practice B.dnb designstudio in 2004.
His '120° CoatStand' was inspired by the classic coat rack that we find in the typical Dutch pub.
"Each pole of the coat stand is connected to the 2 others by smaller poles: 1 on the bottom and 1 on the top. The connections are both structural and usefull: they make the object more rigid and the little extension at each end gives the opportunity to hang an extra coat."
'120° Coatstand' is made of solid oak.


text:
early 14c., "to fasten or gird with a belt," from belt (n.). Meaning "to thrash as with a belt" is 1640s; general sense of "to hit, thrash" is attested from 1838. Colloquial meaning "to sing or speak vigorously" is from 1949. Related: Belted; belting. Hence (from the "thrash with a belt" sense) the noun meaning "a blow or stroke" (1899).
Old English belt "belt, girdle," from Proto-Germanic *baltjaz (cf. Old High German balz, Old Norse balti, Swedish bälte), an early Germanic borrowing from Latin balteus "girdle, sword belt," said by Varro to be an Etruscan word.
As a mark of rank or distinction, mid-14c.; references to boxing championship belts date from 1812. Mechanical sense is from 1795. Transferred sense of "broad stripe encircling something" is from 1660s. Below the belt "unfair" (1889) is from pugilism. To get something under (one's) belt is to get it into one's stomach. To tighten (one's) belt "endure privation" is from 1887.
verb phrase
To prepare for an economic recession or depression: tightening our belts due to gas prices
Related Terms


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Cassidian Launches Coastal Security Radar
Cassidian has introduced the new SPEXER™ 2000 Coastal radar which aims to open up completely new opportunities for the wide-area protection of coastlines, maritime infrastructure and harbours against asymmetric threats.
"SPEXER 2000 Coastal is the worldwide first security radar using the latest radar technology of Active Electronically Scanning Array (AESA) which provides a multi-tasking and multi-mode capability and increases the detection and target assessment capability substantially", explained Elmar Compans, Head of Cassidian Sensors & Electronic Warfare. "Therefore, one SPEXER 2000 Coastal can replace two or more conventional radars."
With an instrumented range of 40 km, the SPEXER 2000 Coastal's high Doppler and velocity resolution as well as its high sea clutter suppression, enables it to detect, track and classify even very small and slow moving objects such as swimmers and rubber dinghies, as well as fast objects such as speed boats. Due to a unique signal processing architecture, the radar is able to reliably detect sea, land and air targets. Therefore, the deployment of different sensors for simultaneous land and sea surveillance is rendered unnecessary. In addition, a camera can be cued to the radar in order to identify suspicious objects.
This ensures a superior surveillance performance and a high level of situational awareness providing security forces in a littoral environment with additional reaction time towards illicit intrusions.


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|Rollerball (Special Edition)
|Tuesday, 18 June 2002
"Rollerball" takes the world of extreme sports 20 minutes into the future. Directed by John McTiernan, the nonstop action film has more in common with the 1987 "Max Headroom" episode "Rakers" than the 1975 original "Rollerball" featuring starring James Caan. The film follows high school buddies Jonathan Cross (Klein) and Marcus Ridley (Cool J) as they make names for themselves as the stars of a violent cross between roller derby and floor hockey televised from third world countries by ruthless ex-KGB agent Petrovich (Reno). Mixing breathtaking stunts with social commentary, the naive Cross discovers that owner Petrovich is staging accidents on the court in order to win global ratings.
What follows is a muddled thriller, as Cross attempts to flee the county with Ridley, leaving behind true love and teammate Aurora (Romjin-Stamos). When Ridley is murdered, Cross takes justice into his own hands, aided by the dirt-poor miners of the team's hometown as they bring Petrovich down. One lone high point is Penn (of Penn & Teller) as the American sport commentator. However, his scenes are little more than an extended cameo, and while they lend a sense of satire to the film, they cannot even hope to save it from wretchedness.
While the stunts are noteworthy, McTiernan's overblown direction and maudlin attempts at drawing attention to the plight of the poor and downtrodden create a mire from which none of the actors are capable of extricating themselves. The characters are broadly drawn caricatures with little to redeem them. The climactic death of Ridley is shot in grainy night-vision green so blinding as to induce migraines. Klein, best known for playing sweet but dense characters in the "American Pie" franchise and the wickedly funny satire "Election," comes off as a cardboard hero, while Romjin-Stamos' role is limited to sex object girlfriend and little else. Reno hams it up, along with co-star Andrews as mustache-twirling villain, and shows none of the charisma he displays in such films as "The Professional" and "Ronin." The film is gratuitous in every sense, packed with senseless violence and sophomoric sex (the girls and boys share a locker room, solely to facilitate a few topless female athletes to keep the guys drooling).
Visually, the disc is quite sharp. Fleshtones are not always optimal, and there is some grain in the night shots, but overall the transfer is clean and the colors vibrant, at times -- such as the night-vision scene -- a little too intense. The sound mix heavily favors bass rumbles and the techno rock score, which blares from mains and rears and does much to support the pounding pace of the action sequences. The dialogue is easy to understand (for those who are interested).
The absence of any kind of commentary from director McTiernan is immediately damning, and the commentary track Klein and Stamos, intercut with LL Cool J (recorded separately), does nothing to illuminate the film. Cool J in particular seems disjointed, as most of his commentary consists of shouts of glee, repetitive praise for his co-workers and excitement regarding his own stunts. While the film was vaguely watchable the first time around, watching it with commentary felt like a chore that even Romjin-Stamos' penchant for talking dirty could not make entertaining.
However, a pleasant surprise is the very through half-hour documentary on the film's stunts, which includes segments on Klein's training with members of Canada's Olympic speed-skating team, and the many motorcycle stunts performed by a variety of extreme sport enthusiasts and Olympic-level athletes. Rounding out the special features is an interactive roster of the fictitious teams portrayed in the film, chock-full of computer graphics that make you feel as if you are in a hockey stadium watching them on the overhead screens.
The disc is worth renting for the stunt documentary alone, if that's where your interests lie. However, skip purchasing it, unless it's as a gag gift.


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Since it is a general reference, you do not need the article.
Student or Learner
Senior citizens across the world love keeping their brains busy with crossword puzzles, sudoku or word jumbles. These brain-teasers actually help keep neurons firing clearly and quickly. Now a new study has a prescription for the Internet age. According to a paper to be released in an upcoming issue of the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, surfing the web can improve brain function in older adults.
Can I use "the brain function" here? Is it wrong or Does it have different meaning?
Since it is a general reference, you do not need the article.
it improves 'brain functioning'.
The functions of the brain develop from birth onwards, maturing at about 24. So it is not the actual functions that are improved, it is how well the brain is functioning. As the article says, actively using the brain and its functions keeps the established neural pathways firing, as opposed to some repetitive habitual pattern of daily living that is a 'no-brainer'.


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That route giude took them through the airspace at blackrock at under 300ft?
"He is an enemy officer taken in battle and entitled to fair treatment."
"No, sir. He's a sergeant, and they don't deserve no respect at all, sir. I should know. They're cunning and artful, if they're any good. I wouldn't mind if he was an officer, sir. But sergeants are clever."
R116 had no comms with R118 directly? Am I reading this right?
Everyone who's ever loved you was wrong.
Please Read the report. WHile the avionics does indicate the spot height, it did not indicate the correct terrain. The FLIR Operator warned the pilot before impact. Avionics gave the pilot an incorrect situational awareness.
Honeywell provided the specific avionics, which has geographic data provided by a third party (Unnamed in the report).
The Secondary, and to me more concerning aspect to the interim report was the apparent failure of the crew PLB due to the storage of the PLB antennae on Mk 44 Crewmans lifejacket.
Should this be later identified as a failure, it could have serious consequences worldwide for the manufacturer. One could speculate that their failure to operate led to the loss of at least 1, if not 3 of the crew of R116.ICAO Annex 13 requires that survival aspects of an aviation accident are considered as part of the Investigation. At this preliminary stage, the Investigation has not gathered all of the evidence and information required to deal with this matter comprehensively. However, the Investigation identified a matter of concern relating to the installation of the locator beacons in the lifejackets worn by the pilots. The installation appeared to be in accordance with a picture contained in a Service Bulletin issued by the lifejacket manufacturer showing the GPS antenna in the same pouch as the beacon. However, the beacon manufacturer's publications recommend a minimum separation between beacon and GPS antenna of 30 centimetres (cm). In order to ensure that locator beacons in Mk 44 lifejackets function as expected a Safety Recommendation is issued to the manufacturer of the lifejacket
German 1: Private Schnutz, I have bad news for you.
German 2: Private? I am a general!
German 1: That is the bad news.
So lets just leave the investigation to the professionals and wait for the final report.
Well, government doesn't stop just because the country's been destroyed! I mean, annihilation's bad enough without anarchy to make things even worse!
Well, government doesn't stop just because the country's been destroyed! I mean, annihilation's bad enough without anarchy to make things even worse!
I guess there are still a lot of questions to be considered ....
Is it not best to let the official process follow its course
Primetime is covering the Crash tonight, reporting that during testing of the 92's the lack of island was flagged 4 years ago.
On now.
Prime time are covering safety failings in CHC Ireland tonight
the IAA's charts were found to be seriously wanting. When you buy an IAA chart, they always ask you to review the chart and point out an errors, such as a failure to include a wind farm and so on. Now, you would have to fly the entire island to find all the faults unless you consult literally every pilot of every aircraft type on the island and that's not practical, so you depend on the OS, who drew up the original, to be accurate........apart from all that, why were the crew at 282 feet, facing inland, when the same quadrant on the chart has the mountains of Achill exceed 2000 feet. Normal instrument flight practise is to stay at least a thousand feet above the highest land mass or obstacle in the given quadrant at all times, unless you are actually "in" an approach procedure, ie conducting an ILS or VOR or NDB approach. To me, they appear to have believed that they were safely "in" the approach procedure but didn't grasp that they were too low and therefore not protected from terrain. It makes no sense to me to instigate an approach at only 282 feet, as it leaves little room for error.
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CONCORDVILLE — Most mornings, Debbie Zyskowski and Darren Henderson see the sun rise.
Recently, they opened a new Great Harvest Bread Co. at the bustling corner of Brinton Lake Road and Route 1, next door to a new Hill's Quality Seafood Market.
Baking starts early in the bread and sweets business — between 1 and 2 a.m. for bread and 4 and 5 a.m. for sweets.
"Our days aren't short," Zyskowski said with a rueful laugh.
Owning and operating a bakery is not for loafers.
The husband-and-wife team have had a larger Great Harvest in Wayne since 2010.
Both cut their teeth in retail, so they know what they're doing. Zyskowski was a senior vice president with Macy's and Henderson managed a Target store.
"We always wanted to own a business, close to where we live in Glen Mills," Zyskowski noted. "We were somewhat disenchanted, working for someone else."
After years in corporate America, they decided to kick off the dark suits, ditch their Blackberrys and open a small business.
Zyskowski first stumbled across the Great Harvest in Wayne when she'd visit the then-Strawbridge & Clothier store in Ardmore.
Anxious to sell, the Wayne operator sent an e-mail to customers, asking if anyone was interested in buying. Zyskowski and Henderson didn't hesitate.
Soon afterward, they started scouring the region for another location.
Bernard Grogan, who owns the Hill's chain, was looking for a bakery to go alongside his new Concordville store. A few years ago, Grogan bought an existing building on the corner of Route 1 and Brinton Lake Road for a reported $1.5 million.
"He wanted nothing cookie-cutter," Zyskowski recalled. "He was looking for a unique bakery business."
Once home to an old-school Wawa and then a medical imaging business, the one-story building with ample parking stood forlorn and empty until workers updated it early last year. They took it down to the studs, added a new roof, new plumbing and electric and an exterior shell, all to the tune of $250,000, Zyskowski said.
When she and her husband toured the building, it had a dirt floor. Nevertheless, they saw the potential and soon after signed a lease for their new 1,500-square-foot store.
Today they sell about 1,000 loaves of bread a week from each location, as well as a full complement of sweets — muffins, scones, cinnamon twists and cookies. At both locations, they make hot and cold paninis on whatever bread is fresh that day. At Concordville, paninis are to-go only because the store lacks indoor seating.
Great Harvest's signature cookie is the Dillon, an oatmeal chocolate chip variety whose name pays homage to Montana, where Pete and Laura Wakeman opened the first Great Harvest Bread Co. in 1976 after graduating from Cornell University and selling their multi-grain bread there.
(Great Harvest currently has more than 220 franchised bakeries in 43 states. A team of investors, including Great Harvest chairman Nido Qubein and president/chief executive Mike Ferretti, bought out the Wakemans in 2001.)
Opening a Great Harvest franchise costs $175,000 to $350,000. Zyskowski and Henderson used retirement funds to invest in their business. "At the end of the day, if we failed, we didn't want our house to be at risk," she said.
The company allows operators to vary basic bread and sweet goods names and recipes to suit their locations. For instance, what Zyskowski and Henderson call Main Line Crunch in Wayne is called Garnet Crunch in Concordville.
A marathon runner, Zyskowski added more dried fruit to a Great Harvest recipe and calls it Marathon Bread.
The couple's youngest child, daughter Caylee, a senior at Garnet Valley High School, works nights and weekends at her parents' Concordville store. Second son Mike, a team leader for the Christiana, Del., Target, might one day take over his parents' business. "Not any time soon," his mother hastened to add.
Older son Paul is a chef for the Birch & Barley restaurant group in suburban Washington, D.C.
The Concordville store employs 12 and the Wayne store 15.
Eventually, Zyskowski and Henderson want to open another Great Harvest in the area but not until sales at their Concordville store grow.
The Wayne store is a challenge, given that the area is pretty built-up, parking is a challenge and the town center is more vibrant at night than during the day, what with the community's growing cadre of restaurants.
"Our business needs daytime foot or auto traffic to survive," Zyskowski said. "Getting people in the door isn't as easy as you think."
Signage issues with Concord at the new location are on their way to being resolved, she said.
To contact correspondent Sarah E. Moran, send an e-mail to firstname.lastname@example.com.
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Jeanette Corporon
Born In: Wedgeport
Born: February 13th, 1940
Passed on: February 7th, 2013
CORPORON, Jeanette Bernadette- 125 Chemin de l'Est, Wedgeport, Yarmouth Co., passed away peacefully on Thursday, February 7, 2013 at the Yarmouth Regional Hospital, with her family by her side, after battling cancer for more than twenty three years. Born February 13, 1940 in Wedgeport, she was the daughter of the late Bruno and Marion LeBlanc. Jeanette enjoyed going to TOPS, watching her favourite programs on television (especially The Bachelor) and she loved listening and dancing to music. In her later years, she looked forward to going on Sunday drives to Tim Horton's. Jeanette was a member of Saint Michel Parish, Wedgeport. Her positive attitude towards life, her easy going personality and her one of a kind smile will always be remembered. Jeanette leaves behind her devoted daughters, Christine Corporon, Montréal; Patsy (Todd Johnson) Doucette, Plymouth, grandchildren, Mandy and Melissa, and great grandchildren, Austin, Logan, Emily, Brooke and Ethan; devoted son, Vernon (Kathy) Corporon, Wedgeport, grandchildren, Jason, Trisha and Tessa. Also surviving are siblings, Anna (Stanley) Davis, Wedgeport; Ernest (Andrea) LeBlanc, Wedgeport; Vernon (Louise) LeBlanc, Wedgeport; Margaret-Rose (Buddy) Thompson, Pembrooke; a sister-in-law, Edna LeBlanc. Aside from her parents, she was predeceased by her husband, Leonard Corporon; a sister, Pauline LeBlanc, in infancy, and brother Paul LeBlanc. Visitation took place from 7 to 9 p.m. Sunday at H. M. Huskilson Funeral Home, Wedgeport. The funeral mass was held at 11 a.m. Monday, February 11 at Saint Michel Parish Church, Wedgeport. Interment followed in the parish cemetery. Memorial donations may be made to the V.O.N. (Tri-County Site). You may leave messages of condolence or sign the on-line guestbook by visiting www.huskilson.net.


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NBC News producer Baruch Ben-Chorin just returned from Turkana, a remote region in northwestern Kenya badly hit by the drought that is afflicting parts of East Africa. While the international community has focused largely on suffering in Somalia, relief workers say close to 40 percent of Turkana's population is suffering from hunger and malnutrition.
While concentrating on his main task of producing, Ben-Chorin took pictures for himself and his friends and family.
Editor's note: These images were altered by a software application that uses filters to mimic the effects of shooting with an antique plastic film camera, even though they were taken with a modern digital phone camera.
Baruch Ben-Chorin / NBC News
A hut in the village of Kalapata, Turkana region, Kenya. Most of the people in Turkana live in small villages like Kalapata, depending on their herds for their livelihood. But the drought has killed most of their animals, and left them with nothing. Their traditional way of life may not survive.
Baruch Ben-Chorin / NBC News
A boy, foreground, receives food for the first time in two weeks at a Red Cross feeding point at a school. His father died in the famine in Loitanit, North Turkana. The drought over the last five years has devastated this region. In some parts the the region close to 40 percent of the people are malnourished.
Baruch Ben-Chorin / NBC News
A child collects maize grains from the ground.
Ben-Chorin wrote the following upon his return from the region:
I've used my iPhone to take pictures while on assignment or on the road for a while, and discovered the Hipstamatic application while playing around with it. I find the low-tech, old-fashioned look appealing, and there is always a sense of mystery in the resulting picture. This technique adds an interesting dimension that allows me to focus beyond the immediate, which a regular camera doesn't.
These photographs were taken during a three-day trip to the remote Turkana region, which has been badly affected by the long drought in the Horn of Africa. Because it is so remote, and to some extent ignored by the Kenyan government, there is little reporting about widespread hunger and malnutrition in Turkana. But it is bad, very bad. We visited a number of communities and witnessed these proud and beautiful people who have maintained their traditional way of life for thousands of years struggle to survive.
Baruch Ben-Chorin / NBC News
Turkana women waiting for food distribution in the village of Kalapata. Five people have died of hunger in this village alone over the last few months.
Baruch Ben-Chorin / NBC News
Turkana women. The people of Turkana are beautiful, proud and gracious, living a traditional life that dates back thousand of years.
Baruch Ben-Chorin / NBC News
Not far from the worst famine stricken areas, the USAID-sponsored Morulem project offers a sign of hope. The simple irrigation project has created vast green fields of maize and sorghum that feeds 3,000 households in the Lokori area. People here have a surplus of food that they can store or sell.
Watch an NBC News report from Turkana:
Rohit Kachroo reports from Turkana, in north-western Kenya, where famine is spreading deeper into the country causing many Kenyans to turn their attention away from the crisis in Somalia and work towards relieving the hunger within its own borders.
Related content:
- Slideshow: Suffering spreads as Kenyan drought deepens
- Slideshow: Famine strikes East Africa
- More images from Kenya and Somalia on PhotoBlog
- Story: World Bank calls Horn of Africa famine manmade
- Story: Somalia famine aid stolen, sold at markets
- Story: Ghana schoolboy launches $13 million drive for Somali kids
- PhotoBlog: Using an old camera, instead of a new app, to get that vintage look


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NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. stock futures pointed to gains at the Wall Street open Tuesday as investors digested media reports of a potentially imminent bailout request by Spain and previous pledges by global central banks to take action in the face of global growth worries.
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average US:DJZ2 rose 39 points to 13,476.
S&P 500 Index futures SPZ2, +0.00% rose 6.9 points to 1,443.8, while Nasdaq-100 futures US:NDZ2 advanced 11.75 points to 2,800.
No major U.S. economic data are due on Tuesday, but auto manufacturers will hand in their report cards on September sales of new vehicles.
Accordingly, investors focused on developments abroad. The pan-European Stoxx 600 Index SXXP, +0.21% gained 0.3% in afternoon trade, as Reuters reported that Spain was prepared to seek a full bailout but that Germany was urging Madrid to hold off. See: Spain ready for bailout, Germany objects: report.
Still, the report suggested Spain could deliver a bailout request ahead of a meeting of euro-zone finance ministers on Monday.
"If this happens, it is likely to provide a further boost to risk appetite given it will bring eventual [European Central Bank] bond buying a step closer," said Chris Walker, currency strategist at UBS.
A subsequent news report, however, said Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy had told Spanish regional presidents that a request wasn't imminent.
U.S. stocks ended mostly higher Monday, buoyed after the Institute for Supply Management's index of manufacturing activity unexpectedly rose into expansion territory. Similar gauges from Asia and Europe, however, had pointed to a further contraction in manufacturing.
"The measured response in financial markets to weak data on global manufacturing and trade suggests to us that investors have been reassured by the strengthened 'policy puts' in Europe and the United States and that expectations for the recovery have been ratcheted down enough to mitigate the risk of disappointed and anxious reactions," wrote strategists at Barclays. "We continue to expect a supportive environment for risk assets."
Those policy puts refer to the Federal Reserve's September decision to implement a third round of quantitative easing and the European Central Bank's outline of a plan to aggressively buy government bonds from struggling countries that seek help from the euro zone's rescue funds and agree to abide by strict policy conditions.
"In different ways, the Fed and the ECB last month altered their policy frameworks in highly market-supportive ways," the Barclays strategists said.
Top U.S. central banker Ben Bernanke on Monday reiterated that the Fed intends to keep monetary stimulus in place until the nation's labor market improves.
Overnight, the Reserve Bank of Australia surprised markets by cutting its key lending rate in the face of a weakening external outlook. See: Australia surprises with another rate cut.
Shares of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. JPM, +0.92% were little changed in premarket trade. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman filed a civil lawsuit against the blue-chip heavyweight late Monday, alleging fraud related to the sale of mortgage-backed securities issued by Bear Stearns & Co., which J.P. Morgan acquired in 2008. J.P. Morgan said it plans to contest the charges. See: N.Y. AG sues J.P. Morgan over mortgage securities.
Also Tuesday, Credit Suisse analysts upgraded U.S. banks to overweight from benchmark, citing expectations for loan growth and asset quality to "surprise on the upside." See: Credit Suisse lifts U.S. banks to overweight.
Shares of PetSmart Inc. US:PETM were expected to be in focus after Standard & Poor's said the company will become the newest component of the S&P 500 Index SPX, +0.74% SPX, +0.74% The pet retailer will take the place of Sunoco Inc. SUN, -0.97% after the close on Oct. 4.
In commodities, Nymex crude-oil futures CLX2, +0.18% rose 23 cents to $92.71 a barrel in electronic trade. Gold futures GCZ2, +0.07% dipped $3.20 to $1,780.10 an ounce.
And in foreign exchange, the dollar index DXY, -0.26% slipped 0.2% to 79.685. The euro EURUSD, +0.0679% rose 0.2% to change hands at $1.2920, while the dollar USDJPY, -0.19% nudged 0.1% higher on the Japanese yen to ¥78.12.


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Now it really feels just like the 2000 season all over again for the Tennessee Titans.
That was the season Tennessee posted the NFL's best record at
13-3 and earned the AFC's No. 1 seed with home-field advantage -
just like this year. Tampa is hosting the Super Bowl, just like in
2000. And the Baltimore Ravens added to the deja vu feeling Sunday
by beating Miami 27-9 to earn a trip to Music City for an AFC
divisional playoff game next Saturday.
The Ravens won that 2000 divisional playoff game 24-10 en route
to their Super Bowl championship.
The Titans? Well, they are targeting an eventual trip to Tampa,
too, in what will be a rematch of a 13-10 win over the Ravens in
Baltimore on Oct. 5.
"Now that we know our opponent, we have a tremendous challenge
ahead of us," Titans coach Jeff Fisher said in a statement Sunday.
"Baltimore has improved in all areas since we saw them earlier
this season. They are built around a strong run game and a great
defense, which reminds us of the classic matchups against them in
the past."
This won't be the first time these teams have met in the
playoffs since that divisional showdown. Tennessee went to
Baltimore for a wild-card game in the 2003 season and beat the
Ravens on their field 20-17, a win that provided some small
redemption for Steve McNair and Eddie George.
While the Ravens still feature a key player from that 2000
playoff win in Ray Lewis, Baltimore now has ex-Titans cornerback
Samari Rolle, receiver Derrick Mason and fullback Lorenzo Neal on
its side.
The only Titans still in Tennessee who played in that painful
loss are punter Craig Hentrich, defensive end Jevon Kearse in his
second stint with the team, and linebacker Keith Bulluck. The
linebacker was a rookie then and played only special teams, in
goal-line situations and in extra linebacker packages.
Before knowing they would play Baltimore, Bulluck said he's sure
the Titans will talk about how much work they've put in to get to
this point.
"These opportunities don't come across too often, so we'll
definitely get that point across," Bulluck said.
"Right now we've really got to look at it as a three-game
season for us. We take one game at a time. Most games that we can
play in this season are three. The approach that we have to take is
very serious, and plus, it's not too often you get to this point.
The 2003 season, we went to the AFC championship. Albert and
myself, we haven't been back since."
That would be Pro Bowl defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth, who
missed the final two games of the regular season with a sprained
left knee. Fisher said during halftime of the Ravens' win over
Miami that Haynesworth and defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch, who
missed the last three games with an injured groin, would practice
this week.
That will provide a big boost to a Titans defense that ranked
second in the NFL in fewest points allowed. The Titans are
scheduled to return Monday from a weekend off and practice Tuesday.
Pro Bowl center Kevin Mawae will be the big question for the
Titans. He hurt his right elbow late in the Titans' 31-14 win over
Pittsburgh on Dec. 21, sat out the finale at Indianapolis and did
not practice during the team's bye week. He will be a key against
the Ravens in helping protect quarterback Kerry Collins.
"He may be questionable going into this game ... probably be
day to day with him," Fisher said.


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Orioles working on repeat of charmed 2012
Baltimore looking to improve on breakout 93-win campaign
By Anthony Castrovince | 12/04/12 7:28 PM ET
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- What the Baltimore Orioles accomplished last season was attributable to a certain amount of magic.
It wasn't all magic, mind you. When it comes to building a winner, there always is science, there always is effort and execution, there always is fortitude of both a mental and physical sort.
But when you jump from 69 wins to 93, when you post the best one-run record in the modern era, when you play 18 extra-inning games and win 16, yeah, there's a magic act in there somewhere.
So what do you do when the act (and the encore that was the 2012 postseason) is over? What is the postscript to the pleasant surprise the O's bestowed upon us this past season?
"It will be different from the surprise factor, I guess," manager Buck Showalter said. "For who, though? Who is it a surprise to? Who was this year a surprise to? It wasn't to our players. It wasn't at all. They weren't walking around going, 'Wow!'"
No, the wows were reserved for the rest of us. Those of us who looked at that O's Opening Day roster and admittedly had no ability to envision their run to the AL's second Wild Card.
Careful, then, with the conclusions about the O's. They are a case study in how a contender can be built under the radar. Subtlety still exists, even in an environment such as these Winter Meetings, where every hint of a move is sent out from a smartphone and abundantly analyzed by the masses.
Dan Duquette arrived a year ago and built a winner in, frankly, unusual ways. Several years ago, it was envisioned that the next competitive Orioles team would be built around Nick Markakis, Adam Jones, Matt Wieters, Brian Matusz, Chris Tillman and Jake Arrieta. But the latter three of that group endured injuries and/or inconsistency, and so the O's found themselves scrambling for help elsewhere.
Duquette flipped Jeremy Guthrie and got Jason Hammel, who, injury issues aside, was one of the O's most dependable arms. International free-agent Wei-Yin Chen exceeded all expectations. Angels and Red Sox castaway Miguel Gonzalez signed as a Minor League free agent and became a lynchpin. Nate McLouth and Endy Chavez became important patchwork pieces, and Manny Machado was promoted well ahead of schedule.
It only took 178 roster moves, but the O's stayed afloat. Their ability to always find the right guy for the right spot at the right time was remarkable, in retrospect.
And when you keep the O's payroll realities in mind, you understand that the ability to identify undervalued assets and turn them into key contributors has to remain a backbone to the way the O's operate.
"With the movement we had and the opportunity that we gave people," said Showalter, "being able to tell people things and then follow through with it, we have had a lot of interest from some the peripheral things -- the six-year free agents, some things that don't normally appear on the radar screen of headlines, but, as you saw last year, really play into some successes."
What happens below the surface, though, doesn't stir souls this time of year. If fans of the O's are looking for big moves in the wake of last year's successes, they might wind up disappointed. Sure, the O's enjoyed some added attendance revenue at year's end. And sure, their reputation in the industry is worlds better now than it was last winter, when Duquette seemed to be the only guy willing to take the GM job.
But with all the in-house raises about to be put in place, the O's don't have the payroll flexibility to be major players in free agency. Their payroll for 2013 could trend north of $100 million without adding anybody of serious monetary impact, because Markakis and Jones are getting big bumps, per the terms of their extensions, and Wieters, Hammel, Chris Davis and Jim Johnson are all up for arbitration.
"If we're going to keep Wieters and Jones and Markakis and these guys, you've got to know who you are," Showalter said. "That's why the farm system is so important."
The farm system and, more pressingly, the trade market, because the latter is the only place the O's seem eligible to significantly improve the output of an offense that ranked seventh in the AL in OPS and ninth in runs scored. Various reports have linked the O's to the Nationals' Mike Morse (if the Nats are able to re-sign Adam LaRoche) and the Royals' Billy Butler. It would make a tremendous amount of sense for the O's to dangle their starting pitching depth in front of the Twins' faces and try to land left fielder Josh Willingham.
The prevailing sense around the O's is that something is going to happen on the trade front, because the need for a bat is too obvious and the market value of the type of starting pitching they possess is too high.
But the other, overriding sense is that the O's are going to have to continue to stock their system in shrewd, under-the-radar ways. And they're going to have to approach 2013 with the knowledge that, while the record in close contests is likely unrepeatable, the mental fortitude it took to put that mark together is going to have to be relied upon once again.
"There was a different look in a lot of our guys' eyes [in October]," Showalter said. "Now that they've got a taste of it, I feel real confident that they'll continue to pay the price to do the things it takes to get there."
Bring on the magic.


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1st round of Match Play:
Tiger - see ya!
Rory - see ya!
1st round of Match Play:
Tiger - see ya!
Rory - see ya!
I wonder if those new clubs are causing Rory more trouble than one might think? I see the PGA is sticking up for the belly putter. I have no idea why it was banned after being used for so many years.
I've gone back and forth on this anchor ban. At heart, you shouldn't be able to anchor a club. But, it's been around for so long and the best putters don't use them. Also, as a PGA Pro, making the game easier for golfers is a good thing. The game is way too difficult for so many.
The Match Play tournament stinks. Watching the first two rounds is really exciting, but the last few rounds are so boring. I'm really not sure how it's fixed, but the drama is gone come Sunday. Playing in match play tournaments is a lot fun, and it's cool that the Tour has an event like this, but watching it is a whole different story. I didn't even watch the final match yesterday.
"....the two players I liked watching the most were Barry Larkin and Eric Davis. I was suitably entertained by their effortless skill that I didn't need them crashing into walls like a squirrel on a coke binge." - dsmith421
Read more: http://www.golf.com/ap-news/mcilroy-...#ixzz2MJ5nei9nRory McIlroy's rough start to the year has taken a bad turn. He withdrew from the Honda Classic on Friday without finishing nine holes.McIlroy already was 7-over for eight holes at PGA National and certain to miss another cut. He hit his second shot into the water on the par-5 18th and was done for the week. He told reporters as he walked to the parking lot that he was not in a good place mentally.McIlroy made a double-bogey on the 11th, a bogey on the 13th, a triple-bogey on the 16th and a bogey on the 17th before walking off the course on 18.
McIlroy quits in the middle of a round. How often does that happen? Aside from John Daly, of course.
I'm not concerned with Rory and I believe he'll play well in the near future, but I am a little surprised how rough it's been for him to start the year. Changing equipment is a big deal, but with all the technology today I didn't think it'd be too difficult for him.
Here's my take on switching clubs. Last year, I switched from Cleveland to Titleist. Switching irons is pretty seemless. The wedges were a big concern, but that quickly evaporated after trying the new ones. In fact, I strongly believe Vokey makes the best wedges. They're awesome.
Now, onto the driver, 3W, and putter. Switching drivers nowadays isn't that difficult. Trackman displays all the important stats and it's not that difficult to get the right loft, shaft, etc., especially when you're the #1 player in the world. The 3W is a bit different though. 3 woods are, in many professionals opinion, the toughest club to find. It's hard to find one that you like off the tee and the ground. And in Rory's case, he had a Titleist 3W that he hit about 290 in the fairway most of the time. A great go-to club!
Now the putter. I've been using the same putter for 20 years, a Wilson 8802. I personally didn't consider switching putters. And Rory shouldn't have either. Too many switches at once can cause some doubt. The putter, obviously, is a sensitive subject for golfers. Rory should use what's comfortable and gradually switch to a Nike putter when he's ready, similar to what Tiger has done. In fact, it took Tiger quite a few years before he made the switch.
Balls. I played Titleist forever, then switched to Srixon, then back to Titleist. Surprisingly, I didn't have any issues. Both make great golf balls. The balls are so good nowadays. I will say I'm not a huge fan of Callaway balls. They feel hard around the greens. I haven't tried the Nike ball that Rory and Tiger are playing.
If I was Rory, I would've said I'll play the driver, irons, and wedges. And I'll use the ball. But, I won't switch to the 3W and putter until I'm ready. Obviously, lots of $$$ had something to do with his options.
Can't wait to see the drama unfold at this year's Masters..........
"....the two players I liked watching the most were Barry Larkin and Eric Davis. I was suitably entertained by their effortless skill that I didn't need them crashing into walls like a squirrel on a coke binge." - dsmith421
That's a really interesting take, Redhook. I'm a long ways from a pro, but my experience has been similar. I've been able to go between irons without too much adjustment. If I keep the shafts the same profile, I'm usually good to go.
It's taken a little more adjustment with the driver, but very little. Again, I will keep my shafts the same so that makes it much easier.
But 3 wood is the one I find myself going back to the one I know I can hit. I've always been a solid fairway wood player, but that's the one I struggle with the most when I've attempted to switch.
I've also recently gone back to my old reliable putter. It's old and beat up, but I finally thought I'd give it a try after I could never seem to line the ball up well with my new putter that felt so great all those times I demo'ed it. Never worked on the course. I went back to my old one and I was instantaneously putting as well as I ever had. So I have an older fairway wood and putter in my bag. The rest is pretty new.
Grape works as a soda. Sort of as a gum. I wonder why it doesn't work as a pie. Grape pie? There's no grape pie. - Larry David
I've never found a 3-wood that I like. I've got a Callaway X-series that I keep in the bag, but I never find myself wanting to hit it.
But, that's about par for the course for me -- my iron set is one of those Adams Idea (half graphite hybrid, half steel regular) jobs that I've had for 6 years, and it's gotten to the point where I can't stand swinging anything under the 7 iron.
Cincinnati Here We Go.
26 Years and Counting...
In regards to clubs I do agree with you that a 3 wood is one of the most important clubs in your bag. When you find a good one you often stick with it for quite a while. Its a club that enables you to still get distance but is also a more comfortable one to hit. If your not hitting your driver well you can sacrifice a 20 or so yards and hit a more reliable club. Its not often that you hear "I hate my 3 wood" from any golfer.
As for irons wedges are something that takes some getting used to. Most PW's come with a set and you either like one or don't like it. Gap, Sand, and Lob take some getting used to and I agree with you that Volkey are the best in the business. Granted I am not Rory and don't hit near as many balls as he does, it takes a while to get the spin right. The first number of shots you hit with a Volkey spin milled wedge is going to seriously back the ball up. But after a while the ball doesn't back up as much.
One thing I think your missing in regards to a set of irons is the love/hate you may have for a particular iron. In a given set you may hate your 4 iron and love your 8 iron. You have a great deal of confidence with one club but with another your lost. When your struggling it always seems like the distance that keeps coming up is the one with the club you hate.
Normally during a golf season I will go through 2-3 putters. Whenever I go through a period where I am not seeing the putt I tend to switch. Sometimes I want a different look. Sometimes I want a putter that works a little better with a forward press. Other times I want a putter that looks good if I open my stance up a little bit. Granted most of the puts I am trying to sink amount to a beer or a couple of bucks.
I don't know a lot of guys who hit three woods off the fairway. More like five woods and hybrids. From the tee box, my own highly unscientific observation is that most golfers use their drivers too much and should probably be using a three wood instead, and by "most golfers", I'm talking about the folks who are not playing from the tips (or shouldn't be).
The only club in my bag I will never leave is the putter, but I've played rounds with other people's irons and usually after about nine holes, I have a pretty good sense of what they do for me or against me. It seems odd to me that an elite player would struggle so much with a club change. A pro is so much more capable of replicating the arc of the golf swing every time that it seems they should get a sense very quickly for how a club changes the nature of their ball flight.
It's nice to know they are human.
Next Reds manager, second shooter. --Confirmed on Redszone.
Rory +3 through 13 so far today, so not looking like it's much better.
Grape works as a soda. Sort of as a gum. I wonder why it doesn't work as a pie. Grape pie? There's no grape pie. - Larry David
Rory birdied his 16 and 17 to get it to +1. Tiger in a five-way (onions and kidney beans) tie for the lead at 6-under. Tiger had nine birdies and three bogies. He is tied with Sergio Garcia and Bubba Watson among others. Phil had a bogey-free round and is one shot back.
Tiger cards a 4-under on the front nine and is in the lead at -10. Phil started slowly on the back nine - 1-over through four holes - but has since birdied 6 of the next 10 holes to join him atop the leaderboard. Rory? I doubt he can see the leaders from where he is sitting.
This is shaping up to be a pretty amazing leaderboard. I hope Tiger doesn't run away with like he did at Torrey Pines.
Nice to see Stricker in contention. Too bad he's only playing about 12 events this year.
Grape works as a soda. Sort of as a gum. I wonder why it doesn't work as a pie. Grape pie? There's no grape pie. - Larry David
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Honestly, I thought this was going to be a picture of an ancestor on a motorcycle or something until I opened the post. Vroom is really a name? HOW COOL IS THAT?? :-)
Thanks Elizabeth, glad you like the name, pretty easy to remember.
I also have Dutch ancestors...VanGilder. I have always suspected that the Van was not part of the name, but was added here in the states. I believe that Van translates to "from".....Jacob "from" Gilder = Jacob VanGilder. What do you think?
Yes Linda, you are right, it means From or Of the town. I don't have VanGilder, but a lot of others.
I love Dutch names. They sure do keep you on your toes as a genealogist. I have only one - HOOGERZEIL, which is almost as funny as VROOM but not as easy to spell. I hope VROOM was easier to research, too, in the indexes!


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In what could be its last financial earnings report as a public company, Dell Tuesday reported an 11 percent decline in fourth-quarter sales and an 8 percent drop in sales for all of fiscal 2013.
Dell is pursuing a proposed $24.4 billion leveraged buyout in a move that would take the Round Rock, Texas-based computer manufacturer private. The deal relies on funding from private equity firm Silver Lake Partners, other financing companies, a $2 billion loan from Microsoft and funding from Michael Dell who will remain CEO of the company once it goes private.
The buyout deal has come under increasing criticism for offering what some shareholders view as too low a price.
[Related: Dell Considered PC Business Spinout, Financial Services Disposal]
For the fourth quarter ended Feb. 1, Dell reported sales of $14.3 billion, down 11 percent from $16.0 billion from the same period one year ago. Net income for the quarter was $530 million, down 31 percent from $764 million one year earlier.
"We continue to execute on our long-term strategy," said Brian Gladden, Dell senior vice president and CFO, in a conference call with financial analysts. He emphasized the strength of the company's balance sheet and cash position.
For all of fiscal 2013 ended Feb. 1, Dell reported sales of $56.9 billion, down 8 percent from $62.1 billion in fiscal 2012. Net income for the year was nearly $2.4 billion, down 32 percent from $3.5 billion in fiscal 2012.
Sales of servers and networking gear grew 18 percent in the fourth quarter to more than $2.6 billion -- good news for the company as it repositions itself as a supplier of enterprise systems.
But, Dell reported declines across its other product lines in the quarter, illustrating the challenges the company faces in the quickly evolving computer industry. Sales of desktop PCs -- once the company's main business -- dropped 14 percent year-over-year to $3.2 billion. Even more worrisome for Dell was the 25 percent plunge in sales of mobility products, to $3.7 billion, at a time when industry-wide sales of tablet computers have been growing at the expense of traditional PCs.
"We expect the market competitiveness and margin pressure to continue," Gladden said of the company's end-user computing and software and peripherals business. He reiterated the importance of completing a company effort to cut costs by more than $1 billion in the end-user computing business.
Sales of storage products dropped 13 percent in the quarter to $434 million, and services-related revenue declined 3 percent to $2.1 billion.
NEXT: Sales Tumble Across All Of Dell's Customer Segments


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I'm a big fan of Ridley Scott — if you don't like "Blade Runner," "Alien" and "Gladiator," well, you and I aren't going to agree much when it comes to picking a DVD for Friday pizza night. That being said, the filmmaker does leave me scratching my head sometimes ("A Good Year" was unwatchable, "Black Rain" was embarrassing, and "Hannibal" was just nutty). Today during that big football game, there's a new TV spot for Sir Ridley's newest film (and his fifth with Russell Crowe), which arrives this summer.
Hmmmm. How does it look to you?
— Geoff Boucher
Ridley Scott is rolling the dice on "Monopoly" movie
Ridley Scott on "Robin Hood": "A very strong destiny story"
Ridley Scott on "Blade Runner": "I learned to stand my ground"
"Blade Runner" was born outside Disneyland
"Avatar" and "District 9" bring sci-fi to Oscars
"Percy" and "Clash" use same myths but with epic differences
"Alice" star Mia Wasikowska on Depp: "He's so brave and smart"
Ahoy matey: Johnny Depp stuns D23 fans
Bigger than Batman? Christopher Nolan on "Inception"
"Inception" hits the streets of downtown L.A.
Photo: Ridley Scott at the American Film Festival in Deauville, France, in 2003. Credit: Neviere/EPA