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Teacher resources and professional development across the curriculum
Teacher professional development and classroom resources across the curriculum
5: Rooted in Culture
Check out these additional resources to explore the topic further.
American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. Standards for Foreign Language Learning in the 21st Century. National Standards in Foreign Language Education Collaborative Project. Yonkers, NY: American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, 1999. (To purchase the Standards document, go to www.actfl.org or call 1-800-627-0629.)
Damen, Louise. Culture Learning: The Fifth Dimension in the Language Classroom. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1987.
Dodd, Carley H. Dynamics of Intercultural Communication. 5th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 1998.
Fantini, Alvino E. "A Central Concern: Developing Intercultural Competence." In About Our Institution, edited by Alvino E. Fantini, 25-42. SIT Occasional Papers Series. Brattleboro, VT: The School for International Training, 2000.
Fantini, Alvino E. "Comparisons: Towards the Development of Intercultural Competence." In Foreign Language Standards: Linking Research, Theories, and Practices, edited by June K. Phillips, 165-218. Lincolnwood, IL: National Textbook Co., 1999.
Fantini, Alvino E. "Language: Its Cultural and Intercultural Dimensions." In New Ways in Teaching Culture, edited by Alvino E. Fantini, 3-15. Alexandria, VA: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc., 1995.
Fantini, Alvino E. "Teacher Assessment." In New Ways in Teacher Education, edited by Donald Freeman and Steve Cornwell, 43-55. Alexandria, VA: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc., 1993.
Fantini, Alvino E., and Beatriz C. Fantini. "Artifacts, Sociofacts, Mentifacts: A Sociocultural Framework." In New Ways in Teaching Culture, edited by Alvino E. Fantini and Beatriz C. Fantini, 57-59. Alexandria, VA: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc., 1995. (This text is available in the Before You Watch section.)
Fantini, Alvino E. Language Acquisition of a Bilingual Child. Avon, England: Multilingual Matters, 1985. Also La adquisición de lenguaje en un niño bilingüe. Barcelona, Spain: Editorial Herder, 1982.
Fantini, Alvino E., et al. Beyond the Language Classroom: A Guide for Teachers. Brattleboro, VT: The Experiment Press, 1984.
Galloway, Vicki. "Giving Dimension to Mappaemundi: The Matter of Perspective." In Teaching Cultures of the Hispanic World: Products and Practices in Perspective, edited by Vicki Galloway, 3-38. Mason, OH: Thomson Learning Custom Publishing, 2001. (This text is available in the Before You Watch section.)
Hall, Edward. Beyond Culture. New York: Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1977.
Kohls, L. Robert, and John M. Knight. Developing Intercultural Awareness. Yarmouth, ME: Intercultural Press, 1994.
Lange, Dale L. "Planning for and Using the New National Culture Standards." In Foreign Language Standards: Linking Research, Theories, and Practices, edited by June K. Phillips, 57-120. Lincolnwood, IL: National Textbook Co., 1999.
Lusting, Myron W., and Jolene Koester. Intercultural Competence. New York: Harper Collins, 1993.
Moran, Patrick R. Teaching Culture. Boston: Heinle and Heinle, 2001.
Samovar, Larry A., and Richard E. Porter. Communication Between Cultures. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1991.
Samovar, Larry A., and Richard E. Porter. Intercultural Communication: A Reader. 6th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1991.
Stempleski, Tomalin, and Susan Stempleski. Cultural Awareness. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.
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Sox take advantage of error for walk-off win over O's
BOSTON -- It was a frenetic situation that called for quick thinking and quick legs.
In short, it was the type of zany play that Dustin Pedroia was most equipped to react to, and he did just that. Pedroia roared in for a walk-off run in a 6-5 victory over the Orioles on a wild Easter Sunday night at Fenway.View Full Game Coverage
BOSTON -- It was a frenetic situation that called for quick thinking and quick legs.
In short, it was the type of zany play that Dustin Pedroia was most equipped to react to, and he did just that. Pedroia roared in for a walk-off run in a 6-5 victory over the Orioles on a wild Easter Sunday night at Fenway.View Full Game Coverage
Mike Carp's liner to left was hit too hard to fall in for a single. It was hit too shallow to be a sacrifice fly.
First, Pedroia tagged up, and took a few steps toward home. But then he retreated back toward the base when he realized it wouldn't be deep enough.
When left fielder David Lough made an errant throw to the plate that spun all the way to the backstop and caromed around, Pedroia reversed directions again and came racing home to complete the comeback in a game the Red Sox trailed, 5-0.
"Obviously they were in close," said Pedroia. "I broke real quick in case it fell. He had a chance to throw me out at home. It was great positioning on their part. It worked out for us. It was kind of a crazy deal."
And a crazy night, one that started with an emotional ceremony in recognition of those who were impacted by last year's bombings at the Boston Marathon. This year's marathon is on Monday.
"Another emotional roller coaster here at Fenway, tear jerker there for a minute," said Jonny Gomes, who had the biggest hit of the comeback, nailing a three-run homer in the bottom of the sixth to make it a 5-3 game.
It was the first walk-off win of 2014 for the Red Sox. The first of 11 walk-off wins last season came on Marathon Monday.
After generating just two hits over the first five innings against Ubaldo Jimenez, the Boston bats came to life in the bottom of the sixth.
David Ortiz started it by drilling a single to right-center. Mike Napoli drew a walk. Up stepped Gomes, and his three-run shot soared over the Monster.
"Man, I was just going coattails on the celebration before the game," said Gomes. "But yeah, we finally got some runners on and I was able to get an offspeed pitch that he might have left up. It was a little bit of a kickstart for us."
The big momentum swing continued into the seventh. Brock Holt started that rally with a single up the middle. And then came a pivotal play, one the Red Sox probably caught a break on.
Grady Sizemore hit one back to the box, and Orioles reliever Zach Britton fired to second for the force. The only problem was that shortstop Ryan Flaherty dropped the ball on the transfer, and Holt was ruled safe.
There has been a lot of controversy in recent days about the way the transfer rule is being interpreted, and even the Red Sox acknowledged they were probably fortunate on this one.
"The much-talked about transfer play comes into our favor tonight," said Red Sox manager John Farrell.
Pedroia loaded the bases with a lined single to right. Ortiz smashed an RBI single to right to make it a one-run game.
"And it goes back to our approach at the plate," said Farrell. "Seeing a lot of pitches, driving up pitch counts, getting into a bullpen. Trying to get some favorable matchups on our part. But I think, over the last two games in [Chicago] through this series, it's been a much more consistent approach."
Then, the Orioles got sloppy again. Napoli hit a grounder to third and Jonathan Schoop's throw home was wide, and dropped by Matt Wieters. The error was charged to Schoop, and the game was tied at 5.
The Red Sox had some more fortune on their side in the top of the ninth. Farrell thought Delmon Young had been announced as a pinch-hitter, so he removed lefty Andrew Miller in favor of righty Edward Mujica.
As it turns out, Young never was announced, and the left-handed hitting Lough faced Mujica with a chance to drive in the go-ahead run from second. But Mujica struck out Lough and wound up getting the win.
"Yeah, was probably a little bit premature in the move," Farrell said. "As it turns out, we keep a .135 hitter in the game vs. a guy in Young who is somewhere in the .350 range. Eddie makes a couple of big pitches with his splitfinger, and gets a key strikeout."
Pedroia nearly ended the game with a blast to deep left against Orioles lefty reliever Brian Matusz earlier in the ninth. But it missed being a home run by inches, and wound up as a double off the top of the Green Monster. The umpires reviewed it and ruled that the play would stand as called, meaning the video was inconclusive.
Pedroia then moved to third on a wild pitch. Behind in the count, 2-0, Matusz intentionally walked Ortiz.
The Orioles then went to right-hander Darren O'Day to face Napoli. O'Day wound up hitting Napoli in the left kneecap. After initially staying on the ground in agony, Napoli got up and took his base.
Carp's liner ended it in unlikely fashion, thanks to Pedroia's ability to think on his feet and then use them.
"Talk about baseball IQ," said Gomes. "Having the knowledge to go back and tag. Ball gets by the catcher, kicks to the pitcher, he throws it, boom, double play, we're out of the inning. But he's obviously a step ahead of the game, knowing what's going to happen. He's a heck of a ballplayer, and he does all the right things."
Jake Peavy put the Red Sox in a 5-0 hole, but he battled his way through 5 2/3 innings. And eventually, his teammates did the rest.
"I thought it was a great win," Peavy said. "I thought the boys fought hard. I mean, it was crazy. But at the end of the day, any time the boys win, it's always a good day."
Ian Browne is a reporter for MLB.com. Read his blog, Brownie Points, and follow him on Twitter @IanMBrowne.

subset: commoncrawl


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Tests show workers at New Mexico nuclear waste site exposed to radiation
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Thirteen workers were exposed to radiation during a recent leak at the nation's underground nuclear waste dump in southeastern New Mexico, according to the results of preliminary tests announced Wednesday.
The U.S. Department of Energy and the contractor that runs the Waste Isolation Pilot Project said in a joint news release that they have notified the workers of the positive results and will do further testing. They declined to comment further until a news conference Thursday afternoon.
"It is important to note that these are initial sample results," the statement said. "These employees, both federal and contractor, will be asked to provide additional samples in order to fully determine the extent of any exposure."
All employees who were working when the leak occurred late Feb. 14 were checked for external contamination before being allowed to leave, the news release said. But biological samples were also taken to check for possible exposure from inhaling radioactive particles.
Elevated radiation levels have been detected in the air around the plant, but officials have said the readings are too low to constitute a public health threat.
The accident is the first-known release of radiation since the dump near Carlsbad began taking plutonium-contaminated waste from the nation's nuclear bomb building sites 15 years ago. It came just nine days after a truck hauling salt in the plant's deep mines caught fire, but officials say they are confident the incidents are unrelated.
Officials said they can tell from their analyses of air samples in and around the plant that a container of waste leaked, but it could be weeks before they can get underground to find out what caused it. Possible scenarios include a ceiling collapse or a forklift puncturing a canister, Farok Sharif, president of the Nuclear Waste Partnership that runs the plant, said Monday before a community meeting in Carlsbad.
More than 250 people attended that forum, where Sharif and Joe Franco, the DOE site office manager, told sometimes skeptical residents that the elevated amounts of radiation that have been detected offer no more risk than a dental X-ray or an airline flight.
Still, Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., said he will send the Environmental Protection Agency a letter Thursday requesting that they bring portable air monitors to the area.
"The health and safety of the Carlsbad community and WIPP personnel are my top priority," Udall said.
New Mexico State University runs a monitoring center in Carlsbad that offers free radiation-detecting body scans. The director of the center said there has been a rise in appointments being scheduled since the leak.
WIPP is the nation's first deep underground nuclear repository and the only facility in the country that can store plutonium-contaminated clothing and tools from Los Alamos National Laboratory and other federal nuclear sites.


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LAW7743 - Clinic: Child Advocacy, Fldwrk
Course Number:
This course will offer students both formal instruction and on-the job training on legal advocacy for low income children and adolescents. Students will assist the legal staff at the Center for Children's Advocacy in representing individual children in cases involving abuse/neglect, families with service needs, special education, and medical/mental health care. In addition, students will represent adolescents at Hartford Public High School, where the Center operates a school-based legal advocacy clinic. On many of the cases, students will participate in an innovative disciplinary project, teaming law, medical and social work students and faculty. Students will also assist on the Center's ongoing impact litigation, KidsCounsel training program for lawyers, and engage in state-level legislative advocacy. Legal research and writing will be assigned as needed for the cases and projects the center is working on. Readings and class discussion will cover substantive law issues, as well as the trial skills necessary to advocate effectively for young people.


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To save these graphics
place your cursor over the graphic
right click on it.
When the window opens up
click on "SAVE PICTURE AS"
save it somewhere on you computer,
where you can find it!
Please link to me if you use these graphics!
You can get a personal graphic FULL set made with your dogs photo for $20.


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Opinion Columns & Blogs
Governor going to extremes on bullet train
Desperate times, it's been said, call for desperate measures.
The oft-quoted phrase originated with ancient Greek physician Hippocrates, who declared, "For extreme diseases, extreme methods of cure, as to restriction, are most suitable …"
Gov. Jerry Brown, without uttering the words, has adopted it as his guiding credo to keep alive his bullet train project that otherwise would die a natural death.
Faced with a Sacramento judge's insistence that the restrictive language of a 2008 ballot measure authorizing the project meant what it said, Brown has become increasingly desperate to begin constructing a small portion.
The state has not been able to sell voter-authorized bonds because of Judge Michael P. Kenny's ruling. And it faces deadlines for using federal funds, as well as putting up the state's share.
At first, the Brown-controlled High-Speed Rail Authority pooh-poohed the ruling and said it could easily comply.
However, it couldn't, because it couldn't say how it would finance a "usable segment" of the project, and Kenny evidently wasn't buying its efforts to redefine the term as being just the short, unelectrified stretch in the San Joaquin Valley.
Then Brown said he wanted to use $250 million of "cap-and-trade" fees on business, meant to reduce carbon emissions, apparently to meet the deadline for putting up the state's share of the project costs this spring without bond money. But that tactic has run into opposition in the Legislature and from its budget analyst, Mac Taylor, who says that it may be illegal.
Brown's latest act of desperation occurred late Friday, when his administration asked the state Supreme Court to, in effect, seize the case from Kenny and accept the tortured logic on the project's legality that Kenny has been unwilling to swallow.
It continues the assertion that Kenny rejected – that since the Legislature had acted to appropriate the money, the "funding plan" that Kenny found inadequate "was moot," no matter what the plain language of the bond issue said.
The simple fact is that there's no way the project as presently constituted can meet the restrictions of the voter-approved bonds – limits that were designed to protect taxpayers' interests.
Voters were told that state financial exposure would be limited and that the federal government and private investors would put up most of the money. However, the feds have committed only a few billion dollars and there is absolutely nothing else on the horizon.
Meanwhile, the tiny approval margin of the bond issue has morphed into strong opposition in statewide polls as costs have escalated and project management has proven erratic.
It's become Brown's ego trip, rather than something that Californians want and need, and is more likely to make him a laughingstock in history books than to become a noteworthy legacy.


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Yelp Takes a Page from Twitter for iPhone App
iPhone-owning Yelpers know how invaluable the app can be when you're in a strange neighborhood and craving pad thai. The app makes it easy to find nearby restaurants and stores, and lets you surf user reviews to get a pretty good sense of whether the establishment is any good.
But while the Yelp app makes it easy for Yelpers to access reviews, Yelp reviews tend to be, shall we say, wordy? Not the best iPhone format, and more than once I've found myself reading an epic restaurant review explaining just why a particular pizza parlor was awarded 3 stars instead of 4. And after eating said 3-star pizza, the app wouldn't let me write my own review, so I'd have to wait until I got home.
A new update to the iPhone app solves both of those problems. iPhone users can now post reviews in the form of 140-character "Quick Tips"—perfect for when you're in the moment and pissed off at your dry cleaner. If you want to write a longer review, you can now write the draft on your iPhone and post it when you get home to your PC.
I dig the 140-character idea, as restaurant and business reviews are much more useful to read and write when you're out of the house and away from your computer. Besides, our brains are already being trained to think and digest information in 140 characters, and how much more could there possibly be to write about pad thai? Look for the update to hit the App Store "within the next few days."


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|Director of Athletics Operations/SWA
|Previous College:
Long time the Dean of Coaches at McDaniel, Easterday retired after 33 seasons of coaching swimming after the 2009-10 season but remained on staff as a lecturer in the Exercise Science and Physical Education Department and Aquatics Director. In 2012-13, her duties shifted once again, and she moved out of the pool into the a role as the Director of Athletics Operations, primarily overseeing the department's transportation and contracts.
Easterday's experience restored her squad's presence at the NCAA Championship meet in 2002 after a seven-year absence.
Under her leadership as swim coach, eight different Green Terror swimmers attained All-America status, including Denise Frech, who earned the honor 15 times between 1980 and 1983. Easterday guided Centennial Conference (CC) champions with regularity throughout her career.
Easterday serves as the aquatics coordinator and is a lecturer in the Exercise Science and Physical Education Department. Her understanding of the importance of academics is one of the many reasons she annually produced swimmers for the CC Academic Honor Roll as well as Academic and Scholar All-American teams.
A graduate of Denison University, Easterday has worked alongside Maryland's top swimmers for more than a quarter-century. She was also the Green Terror women's lacrosse coach for two decades before stepping down to focus solely on swimming in 1999.
Extending the McDaniel family with her own, Kim's husband Steve is a 1972 graduate of the College and is a former soccer and golf coach on the Hill. Steve and Kim are the proud parents of Matt, Mary and Catie. Matt and Mary both swam for the Green Terror.


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Song List
Show Review
Artist Bio
The last time I saw Asobi Seksu was upstairs at Cafe Du Nord in San Francisco for an enchanting all acoustic set....
Gotta love unexpected covers! Asobi Seksu just released a dreamy cover of The Walkmen's "Little House of Savages....
Asobi Seksus fourth full length album release lives up to the strikingly vivid meaning behind its given name: Fluorescence....
About this Video
© 2019 Baeble Media. All rights reserved.


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Well, there is basically only one more day left in this year (give or take an hour or so) and I thought I would take the time to just write a little bit.
When I first started this blog, it was to be about my hobby "Sweepstaking" However, it ended up being more about my pain and trying to get off of certain medications and the withdrawal. Bummer Blog Big Time! So I took it all down and now I am starting over.
So since New Year's is a perfect time for New Beginnings, I thought I would reflect about this past year. The last couple of days have been sucky for me, as I am totally worn out and feel drained. My Mom was in the ER/Hospital the day after Christmas and with my parents car out of commission, I've been going backwards and forwards, trying to help them. Yet, I have also spread myself too thin and I'm paying for it now, by sleeping all the time and trying to "shut down'
Mom is doing better, praise God. I am worried about the new year, and I want to shed my doubts and negative thoughts that continually go through my head, but it's so hard. I want to try harder in my hobby, and get better results from it than I got this year. Nothing bad, I'm in the black..but it just wasn't WOW, ya know?
So since the new year is upon us, I am thinking of a new mantra that I will say to myself, to keep me going. This last year's was "We'll be fine, in 2009"..yeah..nothing great, but it was true. We are all together and moderately healthy. Money is tight and for the next four months, unless I win something amazing, it will be the hardest starting financial year for us, since we've moved into this house. You would think ten years into it, we would be better off, but no.
So this year's mantra is "We're going to win, in 2010!" However, to do this, I do also have to do my part and enter sweepstakes. So I am trying to clean off my desk of all this old rubbish I have everywhere, as well as try and reclaim my desk back from my child. Since the Christmas holiday break from school, I have not had my desk as my own. My child seriously needs their own desk/space.
I am also trying to get more organized in my sweeping information. I subscribe to various places to get my information for entering sweepstakes. The first one I ever subscribed to, is called "Sweepsheet." I also subscribe to a smaller one called "Sweeping America" Even though I could find all the information that these two newsletter's provide for free on the internet, it is nice having it all brought to me, to my in box of my email.
I also belong to a local sweeps club, but have been giving it a lot of thought, as to change to another group. I love each and every person in the group that I belong to, however it's becoming more work, than an enjoyable hobby. I am spending more and more money, when I don't have it to spend, just to participate in this group. If I don't, I feel guilty and not worthy of being a member. The part that is hardest for me, is that the rule made by the founding person, I guess you would call it, insist that if you are a member at her club, you can not be a member anywhere else locally. It just really frustrates me.
I also have a membership on a group, called OLS which is short for Online-Sweepstakes.com. I love this group. I feel that I used to win so much more, when I focused more time on that particular website. I used to wake up and take my child to school and then come home and spend two to three hours everyday, entering sweepstakes from their website. This would result in putting my name in about 200-300 sweepstakes everyday. I usually didn't take a break either, unless I, or someone else in my family was sick...or we were on vacation. The only problem with all of this is, I got burn out! Even though I still visit this place many times, daily I don't enter like I used to. I've gotten sucked into their forums and get fascinated by all the flame wars and whatnot that are posted. Total time waster, if ever there was one. Yet I'm hooked.
So I am going to hopefully change my bad habits and get back into entering and enjoying my hobby. I want it to be fun again. I want that thrill of excitement back in my heart, when the mailman comes to my door, or when I see Fed Ex or UPS drive down my street.
I know I can win again, if I set my mind to it. Plus if I did start winning again, it could help us financially..especially if I won either $$$ or a trip, so we didn't have to spend our own $$$ on a trip, ya know? I would also really love to win another trip to NYC. I got to go for the first time back in November, and I love it.
Well, I guess that's it for now. I am hoping to add more to this blog as time goes by and not just let it sit gathering dust. So goodbye 2009....hello 2010!
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A study by a group of students at MIT tells us that if you think you are doing your part to reduce global warming, think again.
| photo credit: World
Economic Forum
The students interviewed people from many walks of life and concluded that there is a threshold energy use that no one in the US can avoid, whether they are a homeless person or Bill Gates. They found that there are many aspects of the infrastructure of our American life – other than transportation and electricity usage that we may not be examining when trying to conserve energy, such as the products and services we use and how they are created and transported, the food we eat and how it is processed, government services such as road construction and maintenance, what products we import, how our clothes are made, how hospitals and other services are run.
Individual households use about 1/5 of US energy consumption. The other 4/5 is used by industry, and government.
The implication of the article is that there is nothing we can do about this threshold. I think this assumption must be examined, as it denigrates the power of democracy. We do have impact on what our government does and how it regulates business and our lives, but most people don't know how or have enough interest to care, because our lives are so comfortable.
|photo credit: PBoGS
The first step in participating in the decision making in our country is education. Back to Civics 101.
Where do we learn about energy? If you are a beginner, the easiest information is on children's energy education Web sites.
In the news media we learn that all levels of our US government are carrying out initiatives to reduce our carbon footprint. An example is the recent Houston City Council passage of green building codes for commercial buildings.
The US Green Building Council is a non-government, non-profit group of organizations in the building industry who have established principles for building which are environmentally and socially responsible. "LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a voluntary, consensus-based national rating system for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings."
The Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy sponsor an energy efficiency program called Energy Star.
|photo credit: Ryan McD
The goal is to find ways to contribute to bettering our carbon footprint. You can come to the Wiess Energy Hall and learn all about petroleum and alternative energies so that you have the knowledge you need when you participate in conservation, efficiency, safety and pollution programs.
So yes, the US uses a huge amount of energy, but we can do more than just produce hot air criticizing. We can learn and then take action – not just in our daily lives, but in the efforts of the entire nation.
Watch for more about energy efficiency and conservation in future posts to our energy blog.


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API Documentation: Always Living With It, Can't Live Without ItSendGrid Team
Have you ever heard the one about the API with the perfect documentation? Yeah, me neither, and I wouldn't believe it if I did. API documentation–all technical documentation, really–is notoriously difficult to produce, but just as essential to a developer's life. If you're reading this, the chances are you already know this to be true. And I'd place a bet that you've looked at some pretty bad documentation in an effort to make anything work.
This post shares four lessons to everyone who creates documentation. And, as one of these lessons shares, anyone who codes (and some who don't) should play a role in some sort of documentation.
Start at the Beginning, If You Can
Chances are, at some point, you'll be starting something that will need documentation. It may not be an entire product, but it may be a portion. If you can start at the beginning, do. If you're way, way at the beginning of an API project, then you can prototype the API design. Like other prototypes (say, of an app or tool), an API prototype helps you see potential issues before they are baked into the API.
- Quickly Prototype APIs with Apiary
Elmer shares "API-driven development" through a sample to-do list API. Then he moves from a prototype, to a live API using Python and Flask.
One reason documentation can be bad is that sometimes it's working extra hard to explain something that could have been solved by better API design in the first place.
Give It a Chance to Be Good
To create good documentation, you first have to understand what makes it good. As a developer, you know much of this internally, but it helps to spell it out.
- Cheat Codes for Good Documentation
Brandon outlines the importance of good documentation, which begins with understanding the goals of the docs. If you understand why you're creating them, you can then make them better–Brandon writes about that in this post, as well.
If there were such a thing as perfect documentation, the above tips help identify how to get there. They can also help you get closer.
Welcome All Contributions
In the tech world, we give virtual high fives to companies that dogfood their own products. Really, this process should be expected, because that's how you really feel like a user. Similarly, documentation is an excellent opportunity for dogfooding. Imagine if anyone consuming the docs could also contribute back?
- Why We Open Sourced Our Documentation
In September, SendGrid open sourced our documentation. If good documentation encourages feedback, then a GitHub repo is about as open a method for feedback as it gets for developers.
The 85+ contributors so far to SendGrid's documentation have made it better, and they've come from all around the world, both inside and outside of the company.
Remember It's Always Changing
I started this post by saying documentation is never perfect. One reason, perhaps the biggest reason, is that documentation is always changing. Or, rather, documentation should always be changing, to match the world changing around it. To create good documentation, you need to lower the barrier to managing this change.
- Create Sustainable Documentation with Jekyll
Brandon chronicles the documentation platforms SendGrid used through the years and how he landed on Jekyll as a lightweight way to make documentation sustainable.
While Jekyll may not be the answer for everybody, the biggest takeaway should be finding a workflow that works.
As you consider your API documentation, start at the beginning if you can. If you can't, don't toss aside your hope. Since documentation is never perfect, all you can do is make it better. Look to others to contribute and make sure you have a way to get those contributions out easily.
Something more can always be done to improve documentation, so I'm sure I left something important out of this post. Let me know in the comments and then visit the SendGrid documentation and let us know how we're doing.


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Column as I see 'em:
• There's been talk of late about the Sabres' search for a new identity. An hour into Sunday's NHL draft, it was clear how this foundering franchise saw itself: as a team that desperately needed to get younger, bigger and tougher on defense.
They took big defensemen with their first two picks. At No. 8 overall, they grabbed Rasmus Ristolainen, a 6-foot-3, 201-pounder who spent the last two years playing with men in Finland. At 16, they added to a deep blue line by taking Nikita Zadorov, a 6-5, 225-pound hulk with a reputation as a physical two-way defender.
Darcy Regier conceded that he needed more toughness. It's refreshing to know, after about 40 years or more, that the Sabres are finally committed to being tough to play against in their own end. After watching teams knock his guys around and dominate puck possession, even Terry Pegula knew something was wrong.
But two D in the first 16 picks? No one expected that. The crop of forwards in this draft was the deepest and most talented in a decade. Fans were hoping for at least one elite forward, even if it meant trading up in the first round to get him.
Now, at least, they have a direction. Wearing teams down and preventing goals is more important than scoring them. What do you suppose this means for Tyler Myers? He was seen as their franchise cornerstone. This comes off as a direct challenge to the underachieving Myers, or a sign he might be traded.
Defensemen generally take longer to develop, of course. That's what they keep telling us about Myers. Now they have even more excuse to counsel patience with their fans. Just wait. In three or four years, we'll have the toughest D in the NHL.
The next time someone does a Lucic on our goalie, there'll be hell to pay!
Oh, Ryan Miller and Thomas Vanek didn't get traded. Regier told us it would be almost impossible to move up. He'll wait to see how things shake out in the months ahead. Regier believes his bargaining position will improve, but we know what happens when Darcy digs in and feels teams are asking for the moon.
Some fans were miffed when the Devils traded for Vancouver goalie Cory Schneider. If Schneider could move, what about Miller? But Schneider is 27. Miller turns 33 next month.
• So much for the NCAA's promise to crack down on scurrilous recruiting practices. The enforcement tough guys spent 27 months looking into Oregon's football program and gave the Ducks a mild tap on the wrist: Three years' probation and the loss of three (count 'em, three!) scholarships.
The NCAA also issued a showcase ruling against former coach Chip Kelly, who arranged a $25,000 payment to the infamous Will Lyles for a "scouting service."
Evidently, it was one of those dubious scouting services that serve as conduits for coaches to funnel cash to street agents in return for recruits.
A cynic might wonder if Oregon's light punishment had anything to do with Nike's cozy relationship with the program. Nike President Phil Knight is an Oregon graduate. He donated $100 million to Oregon a few years back. Nike has lucrative shoe deals with countless Division I schools. Hmmm.
• Two huge NBA deals went down over the past week, and they appear to have a common objective: Keeping the superstar point guard happy.
The Clippers sent a first-round pick to the Celtics for the coach Doc Rivers. That's a hefty price. But Chris Paul, soon to be a free agent, was unhappy with management.
He wanted to play for a top coach. The Clips got Rivers and Paul decided to stay. So think of it this way: The Clippers traded a first-rounder for Paul and a coach.
Meanwhile, the Nets made a multi-player deal with the Celts that brought Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce to Brooklyn. Early last season, the Nets fired coach Avery Johnson after Deron Williams complained about the offense. This deal smells like a gesture by management to show Williams they're serious about making a title run.
• Serena Williams is making a case as the greatest women's tennis player of all time. But Williams is no fool. She knows she wouldn't have a chance against Andy Murray, who tweeted recently that he would welcome a challenge match against Williams. Serena said it would be fun, but she doubted she'd win a point.
You know what would make more sense? John McEnroe challenging Williams to a match.
McEnroe turns 55 next February. Bobby Riggs was 55 when he challenged the top women in 1973. Riggs beat Margaret Court, then lost the famous "Battle of the Sexes" match to Billie Jean King in the Astrodome in September.
Could Serena beat McEnroe? I'd like her chances. And who wouldn't tune in to see how McEnroe behaved?
• Orioles third baseman Manny Machado had 37 doubles in 82 games before Sunday night's game at the Yankees. That put him on pace for 73 two-baggers, which would break the big-league record of 67 set by Earl Webb in 1931. No one has hit 60 doubles in a season since 1936. Machado turns 21 next Saturday.
There's a lot to like about the O's, who got little respect despite making the playoffs last season. They play great defense, which doesn't make many highlights.
As of Sunday, they had 26 errors, the fewest in baseball and 20 below the MLB average.
• I'm sure the Spurs won't be the favorite to get back to the NBA Finals next season. People have been writing them off for years. But don't count them out yet.
Kawhi Leonard is a rising star and will be even better. They'll be hungry after blowing it this year. If Tim Duncan is healthy and motivated, watch out.
• On Sunday, Inbee Park won the U.S. Open and became the second women's golfer to win the first three majors in a season. The first was Babe Didrikson Zaharias in 1950. Park, who won the LPGA Championship at Locust Hill last month, is the best golfer in the world right now, man or woman.
email: firstname.lastname@example.com


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Come on Over and Take a Seat!
Adorable Kid's Sectional Set includes one short bench seat; one long bench seat with side; one ottoman with two plastic cupholders and four 11.5" sq. pillows. Features mixed hardwood frame construction, padded with densified fibers for comfort and to avoid any sharp edges. This adorable set may be used as a "corner" group or may also be placed along a wall as a "bench" group with the ottoman in front.
Shipping: FREE


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LastPass Wallet also got an update, with improvements to make the attachment and sync functionality more robust.
LastPass for Premium Customers
Overall you'll notice the LastPass for Premium Customers app has a new look that's similar to Wallet. Navigation is easier and icons are bigger and more beautiful. What do you think?
As with our other updates for LastPass 2.0 and the Android app, you can also now add documents, PDF files, images, and voice recordings as attachments to your secure notes.
To add an attachment to an existing note in the app, tap the "Notes" tab in the app, and tap a note to open it. Select "Edit" and select an attachment type to then upload an attachment from the device's camera, previously saved photos, or the microphone.
Premium users have up to 1GB.
The app now also supports saving new sites in the browser, so when you're logging into a new site you'll be able to store it by hitting the "+" button after filling in the login fields.
LastPass WalletLastPass Wallet for iOS has also received an update, with improved support for offline changes and general fixes to make accessing and managing your stored data even better.
Both apps are now available for download on the App Store on iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad at www.itunes.com/appstore or on your device. While LastPass Wallet is free, LastPass for Premium Customers is still part of our Premium offering.
More awesomeness is on the way!
- The LastPass Team


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Take Part as a Healthy Volunteer
There are many kinds of studies looking for a variety of volunteers, including healthy volunteers. Some studies are observational and are looking for a large number of participants who represent the general population who may or may not be affected by a specific condition or disease. Other studies test a new treatment or prevention approach. Still others might be done through a review of medical records, an interview, or filling out a survey. So, as a completely healthy person, you can make as significant a contribution to research as any person with a specific condition.
You can get involved with the research studies that matter most to you and your loved ones. To find a research study that is a good fit, see the information below.
Finding a Study
Whether you're looking for studies on ClinicalTrials.gov or helping researcher find you on ResearchMatch, always keep the following in mind:
1. Your health status – both healthy volunteers and those with medical conditions are needed in the research effort.
2. Your location – finding studies close to home is often a requirement to be able to take part.
3. More information about you – studies are done using groups based on their gender, ethnic group, and age, among other things. What makes you unique is what's needed the most.
Helping Researchers Find you on ResearchMatch
Why ResearchMatch? Fact: Recent surveys show that few Americans (less than 5%) know where to find out about research studies that are a good fit for them. Fact: Research volunteers are medical heroes. Why? Because behind every medical breakthrough and new treatment are thousands of people who take part in research studies.
ResearchMatch is one way to help match medical heroes with research studies. How? Think of posting your resume on line. Like a resume helps employers look for people to fill a role in their company; ResearchMatch is your research resume with details about you. This allows researchers to look for volunteers who may be good fit for their study.
The NetWellness feature ResearchMatch and You – Making a Difference One Discovery at a Time gives a step-by-step guide about how ResearchMatch works and what you can do to take part in research. Once you put the details of your profile in ResearchMatch, it is kept secure. These details will only be shared when you agree to take part in a study.
Finding Studies on ClinicalTrials.gov
Many people want to take part in research studies. Finding a study that is the right fit for you or your loved one can be a challenge. ClinicalTrials.gov helps speed up the search by having a list of studies offered in the United States.
The search tool on ClinicalTrials.gov allows you to look for research studies that are as unique as you. This lets you search by your gender, race, ethnicity, age, and condition. In any search that you do on ClinicalTrials.gov, it is important that you include your city and state in your search so that you can find trials that are happening close to home. The NetWellness feature How to Find a Clinical Research Study/Clinical Trial helps guide you to get the best results for your search.
For more information:
Go to the Research Center health topic.


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A: Although the multiple different triggers for CFS/ FMS did initially cause confusion, they now offer clues that help determine the best treatments. A good way to begin is by asking the following questions:
Q: What if my illness had a sudden onset?
A: About half of you had a sudden onset and this was also the way that my CFS/FMS began in 1975. When a sudden onset is present, it gives us clues in how to proceed in our detective work. The most common thing to look for if the illness started suddenly is an infection. If so, was it:
Dr. Teitelbaum is a board certified internist and director of the Annapolis Research Center for Effective CFS/Fibromyalgia Therapies, where he sees CFS/Fibromyalgia/Chronic pain patients from all over the world (410-266-6958). Having suffered with and overcome these illnesses in 1975, he spent the next 28 years creating, researching, and teaching about effective therapies. He is the author of the best-selling From Fatigued to Fantastic!" and the newly released "Three Steps to Happiness! Healing through Joy". His web site can be found at: www.vitality101.com


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September 8, 2012
By: Meghan Mohr, sports information assistant
ADRIAN, Mich. - The Beavers of Bluffton University started off the day with a 3-1 victory over Adrian College (25-16, 25-19, 16-25, 25-21). Freshman outsides Kendra Parmenter (Grove City) and Brooke Ruffer (Stryker) led the Beaver offense once again with 10 and nine kills respectively. Mackenzie Lauber (Mansfield/Madison) and Jenny Brown (St Marys/Memorial) both added seven hammers. Senior Brooke Distel (Carey) added a respectable five kills with an impressive .556 hitting percentage. Lauber set up the offense with 31 assists.
Defensively, senior libero Heather Schierer (Crescent Springs, Ky./St. Henry) had 14 shovels, followed by seven from junior Lindsay Krohn (Marysville, Ind./New Washington). Distel rounded out the defensive effort with three block assists.
The second match of the day did not go as well for the Beavers. After taking the first set from Trine University 25-18, the Beavers of Bluffton dropped the next three, the first two by a combined four points.
Lauber spread out the sets, getting 24 assists with help from Kyleigh Whitsel (Sheffield Lake/Brookside) who handed out eight. The Beaver attack was once again led by Ruffer with nine kills. Parmenter and Distel both slammed six. Brown added five kills of her own.
The defense was on fire with three Beavers posting double-digit digs. Schierer tallied an impressive 22 digs, followed by Hailey Phillips (Malinta/Patrick Henry) with 16 and Whitsel at 12. Lauber, Ruffer and Krohn all added eight digs, respectively.
The Beavers ended the day with a record of 4-3. Bluffton returns to action at Thomas More on Wednesday, Sept. 12.


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The Briard is an ancient French breed, also known as the Chien Berger de Brie.
They are depicted in artwork going back to the eighth century, and described in records from the fourteenth century.
The Briard is a herding dog, bred to work. In times past, they may have been used to live with the sheep and protect them. The Briard is a boundary herder, and their primary function is to keep a flock in an unfenced area, allowing only selected portions of fields to be grazed. The type of herding they do demands a certain independence and use of judgment, which they can also display in family life.
The most important thing you can do for your Briard is to properly socialize him, and continue to do so.
Socialization is extremely important for Briards. They must be exposed to new situations as puppies, or their natural reserve can become fear. Exposure to as much as possible during the first year, including training classes, pays off for many more years.
Getting together to meet and greet is always a favorite activity. Socialization means exposing your dog to as many different situations as possible, until they are willing and able to cope with new things easily. It does not mean having a friend come over every day to pet the dog. It is not enough to be sure your Briard is comfortable in his own home. They must also be comfortable visiting, going out to parks and stores, riding in a vehicle, attending classes, etc.
It is impossible to over stress this point. The Briard should attend early puppy classes, but don't stop there. Take them again at 6 months, and then again before they are a year old. This is because they can go through several fear periods, and can need the additional socialization to overcome the effects of these. Socialization also plays a large part in controlling dominant behavior in the Briard, as they learn to look to the owner for instructions in strange places, and to respect the owner's judgment at all times.
Socialization is also fun, for you, the owner. Your Briard is guaranteed to start conversations and make new friends. They are irresistible to most people you meet, and who doesn't enjoy being the center of attention ?
Briards are people dogs, never happy when ignored or forced to spend long hours alone. They believe they are lap dogs. They fully develop their character when allowed to live with their people.
The Briard always believes it is a lap dog. Human contact is essential, and they will follow you from room to room. You never have to worry about where your Briard is. You just have to be sure you don't step on him, or push a chair back into him when you get up.
Briards left in a backyard with only occasional attention can become nervous, shy, or aggressive. Briards that are members of the family will shine! Most do well with children, although some are too high energy and exuberant for young kids. Their protective nature can take odd twists, they have been known to herd boisterous kids into a bedroom, and keep them there.
The Briard is an athlete. They are quick, agile, and can be very high energy. This is a dog that was bred to herd sheep all day. While they will lay at your feet happily for hours, they are always up and ready to go at the least sign of encouragement.
Most Briards need daily exercise, and if kept in a small house must be walked often, and a safe place to run and romp will make for a happier dog. In a perfect world, every Briard would have the chance to herd sheep. Most never see them, and are still perfectly happy.
They can be kept in small apartments, or in houses without fenced yards, but it takes a commitment of time and energy. Neither owner or dog will be happy if a Briard is not given adequate exercise.


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New GraphicConverter for Mac OS X
This is great news for everyone who knows about Graphic Converter -- one of the longest-running, best-loved painting and image editing software packages in the world -- long before Photoshop. I cannot even begin to suggest how many times I've used this versitile software ... slide shows, converting formats to formats, opening impossible-to-open image files, reoutching, rescaling, and all manner of what to do with images . . . well, there's an all new version . . . December 26, 2012


text: In the self-applied massage of the hands the system is far from esoteric. Massage your hands all over with firm pressure. Notice areas of tenderness. Return to the tender areas and administer firm pressure for a few minutes. These tender areas are associated with organs and functions that are not operating at their most healthy levels. In a series of workshops on self-massage I have asked people to find the most tender area on their hand. Each person, in turn, described the area. I would, at this point, make an educated guess as to what body area or function they had their primary health problem with. In nearly 100% of the cases the tender area that the individual described led to an accurate "educated" guess of their primary health problem This has surprised even me!


text: I just read that the Gimp team has released their Development Schedule, and with thats come the estimated release date for 2.8! http://www.chromecode.com/ "There now is a schedule for GIMP 2.8 development and thus also an estimated release date, which right now is 2010-12-27. Creating a schedule was not completely uncontroversial. People pointed out that if we have an estimated release date it will surely be misinterpreted as a definite release date, and if we don't meet it, people will be annoyed. People will probably misinterpret, but that is less worse than the current situation where people speculate about dates that are way too optimistic, giving the impression that we are constantly delayed. Besides, without a schedule it is very hard for us to take decisions on what features to include and what features to not include in each release. I think that in the end having a schedule will only have a positive impact on development." Is this for real? If it is, it's too bad it's expected for late 2010 (practically as late as you can get.) xD


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University of Texas head coach Charlie Strong said his team is working on putting the 'T' back into Texas. He answered questions from the media regarding the current state of his team and whether or not they have a shot at a national championship.
DALLAS — The meetings lasted less than 10 minutes. When a player entered the head coach's office, Charlie Strong had two questions:
"Is this the best you can play? And is this the best I should expect every game?"
FOOTBALL FOUR: Rating, debating college football
Then he pressed play. A brief lowlight reel unfolded: Ten plays, or maybe 15, culled from last season and tailored to each player's performance. When the action on the screen ended, so did the meeting.
"I'd just say, 'If this is you, let me know,' " Strong says. "They'd walk out of the room with their head down."
A new era is unfolding at Texas. A new coach has brought a new philosophy, and the approach is anything but touchy-feely. At the risk of oversimplifying, it can be distilled to:
Toughness – do you have it?
If there's an overarching immediate priority for Strong, that's it. As the 2014 college football season approaches, it's difficult to figure out what we should expect from Texas. The easy preseason picks in the Big 12 are Oklahoma or Baylor, and then everybody else. Where Texas fits isn't certain. But if Strong has his way, the program will no longer be called soft.
Since taking the job last January, Strong has been careful to say all the right things about former coach Mack Brown. Tuesday, he called Brown an icon, alluded to the Longhorns' 2005 run to the BCS national championship and said, "the foundation has been laid. It's up to us to continue to build on it."
But since Texas played in the BCS title game after the 2009 season, the program had slipped several notches. The trend was downward. And it's pretty clear Strong is laying a brand new foundation. On Tuesday, he reiterated something he's said often during offseason speaking engagements:
"It's all about putting a 'T' back into Texas," Strong says. "You talk about toughness, you talk about trust, you talk about togetherness and you talk about just becoming a team."
Strong, whose roots are as a no-nonsense defensive coordinator, arrived in Austin after rebuilding Louisville into a BCS-level contender. When he immediately made wholesale changes to the Texas strength and conditioning staff, it was only the start. The power of positive thinking has not been a point of emphasis.
During spring practices, the Longhorns walked a half-mile every day from the locker room to the practice fields, and then walked back afterward. Under Brown, they'd routinely bused to and from the workouts.
It's mental toughness, too. For a time, Strong prohibited the Longhorns from flashing the familiar "Hook 'Em" hand signal, saying they had to earn the right. He also required them to be early for classes, and to sit in the front row, with correct posture – and then he regularly checked their attendance himself. He has temporarily banned some players from the locker room when he determined they weren't living up to the standards.
"When people talk about toughness, it's not physically where you're always trying to beat them down," he says. "It's a toughness to just go do the right thing. ... Just go do the little things."
Asked what's tougher now than before, senior cornerback Quandre Diggs says: "Everything."
"You work for what you get," Diggs says. "That's the way life is. In life, you're never gonna be given something. You're always gonna have to work for it. I think that's something that we took for granted – we're given a lot at Texas."
After spring practice had ended, while his assistants were out recruiting in May, Strong reviewed the film from the 2013 season, then called in the players one by one for some quick film review of their substandard performances.
"It wasn't a real complicated meeting, at all," senior running back Malcolm Brown says. "It was real simple. It was real fast."
It was, as senior center Dominic Espinosa put it, yet another "reality check" in an ongoing series. But he says Strong's approach is working.
"We might have thought the idea of 'tough' was different than what we think now," Espinosa says. "We know (now) we can push further and further and get to a different type of 'tough."
Will the approach translate into wins? It would probably be wise not to expect too much from 2014. Texas returns 13 starters (six offense, seven defense) from a team that finished 8-5. And although the Longhorns were mathematically in the race for the Big 12 championship deep into November, the undeniable truth was they only faintly resembled the Top 10 teams Brown had built only a few years earlier.
The 2014 nonconference schedule includes BYU and UCLA. Texas was picked to finish fourth in the Big 12 by league media, behind Oklahoma, Baylor and Kansas State. The Longhorns begin preseason practices next month with significant questions to answer at quarterback, along the offensive line and at linebacker.
Last April, Strong made waves, while kicking off the "Comin' on Strong" offseason speaking tour at an event in Fort Worth, when he answered a fan's question about expectations for the 2014 season.
"We have everything available, and I don't know why we can't be successful," Strong said, as recounted by the Austin American Statesman. "There's no reason for us not to be. Now, I can't tell you how soon it's going to be. Don't hold me to that. Don't say, 'Oh, coach said next year we'll be in the national…' We will not be in the national championship game."
Strong says now he was referring to what he'd seen from the Longhorns at that point, after they had completed spring practice. Whatever he meant, the comment raised eyebrows, even as it shouldn't have – Texas is not a national contender.
"You've seen us play," he says a reporter. "You think we're gonna win one this year?" And a moment later, he adds: "Just look at the tape."
For now at least, it's all he needs to say.
"Players are smart," he says. "You think about it. Kids figure out. They see the big picture, and they know how they have to improve. That's why I wanted them to see those plays, and why I broke it down.
"I think they understand where they are. I think they understand what the expectation level is at the University of Texas."
It's not all tough love. Strong says the Longhorns have bought into his approach, that he's pleased with their progress, and ready to see how it translates."Just from their attitude right now," he says, "I think we're going to find us a different football team." But for now, this passes for praise:
"We're not as bad as we used to be," Strong says. "I'll tell you this: We still have a lot of work to do."


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With more than a hundred participants staring him down and a shiny Maserati prize parked on the tee, Craig Dado beat the odds with one swing on Monday at Voices for Children's 21st annual golf tournament.
The tournament was a fundraiser for the charity, which provides Court Appointed Special Advocates to foster care children. Maserati of San Diego donated a GranTurismo Sport 13 valued at nearly $134,000 as a prize to anyone able to make the seemingly impossible hole in one.
The Elfin Forest resident who won the tournament said he has played the Del Mar Country Club course several times over the past ten years. He describes it as one of the toughest courses San Diego has to offer.
"It never even crossed my mind when I teed the ball up and swung the club that I would get a hole in one – I mean, these things never happen," he said.
He was asked to join a business associate's group, excited to socialize and participate in one of his favorite hobbies. With the odds estimated at 24,000-to-1, he said no one was expected to actually make the shot.
When the ball dropped into the hole everyone on the green went crazy. Instead of running towards the Maserati, he describes his reaction as calmly shocked.
"I knew it was a good shot, I knew it was close," he said. "You can hit hundreds and hundreds of shots and it'll never go in."
While a hole in one is once in a lifetime for most people, this was the second time Dado has had the experience. The first instance was with friends in Vegas, where he learned the old golf tradition that the person who makes the hole in one has to buy drinks for everyone playing. Luckily, he said he was off the hook this time – because there was an open bar after the tournament.
Dado has not yet claimed his four-wheel prize and plans to stay behind the wheel of his Toyota Sequoia. He said a Maserati is impractical for an active dad driving three kids between baseball and soccer practices.
He's currently negotiating a cash settlement with Maserati of San Diego and intends to make a donation to Voices for Children.


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» Tires » BFGoodrich » G-FORCE SPORT COMP-2
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- BRAKE SHORTER. Stops up to 16 feet shorter in the wet and even up to 9 feet shorter in the dry for more control entering the corners.


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Sundance GOOP
Gwyneth Paltrow was at Sundance this weekend supporting her brother Jake who has a film in the festival called Young Ones starring Michael Shannon and Elle Fanning. Their godfather Steven Spielberg (not pictured) was there too. The last time G was in Park City was 2007. Also for Jake, because she was in his movie The Good Night. Her hair was a lot longer and a lot thicker then. People keep telling me that women lose their hair after their babies but they don't lose much hair after their pregnancies. This is what we are currently talking about backstage at The Social and G had given birth to Moses 8 months before so now I'm wondering if she'd added some pieces. Of course. Caleigh, my Hair: Real or Fake specialist, would say YES.
Craig Barritt/ George Pimentel/ Evan Agostini/ Getty


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This has been going viral, under the title "The exact moment when a musician realizes he's made it." Look at that smile. Work until that happens to you. Find a job where it's possible.
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A moment of pure joy
December 24, 2013
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Monday, October 23, 2006
6 Comments:
- SkeptiC said...
I just recently saw Rob Zombies 'The Devils Rejects'. Very good show, very twisted.
- OnMyWatch said...
Wasn't Alice also in The Prince of Darkness? I kind of like that Trick or Treat movie, at least the music from Fastway.
- Metal Mark said...
skeptic-Have not seen this yet.
Onmywatch-I have not seen Prince of darkness yet, but I know Alice is in it. I bought a copy last week for $4.88 at Wal-mart and it is in the to be watched pile. I love the music and the whole film of Trick of treat. Some people just call it cheese, but I think they fail to see the dark humor in it.
- David Amulet said...
"Dr. James" Martin of Faith No More did a cameo in Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey. That almost qualifies as a horror movie given that scene in Hell where Bill's grandma tries to kiss him ...
-- david
- :P fuzzbox said...
Zombie should stick with music. His horror movies are just cheap retreads of older original ideas.
- Ray Van Horn, Jr. said...
Devil's Rejects is creepy good.
Alice was def. in Prince of Darkness as a cameo, aside from writing the title track.
Trick or Treat...many problems, but God, I love that film.
Zombie is directing the next Halloween film, but I suppose everyone knows that already.
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|Jepson Flora Project: Jepson Interchange
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Jepson Interchange (more information)
©Copyright 1993 by the Regents of the University of California
Annual to tree
Leaves basal or cauline, alternate to whorled, simple to compound
Inflorescence: 1° inflorescence a head, each resembling a flower, 1many, generally arrayed in cymes, generally subtended by ± calyx-like involucre; flowers 1many per head
Flowers bisexual, unisexual, or sterile, ± small, of several types; calyx 0 or modified into pappus of bristles, scales, or awns, which is generally persistent in fruit; corolla radial or bilateral (rarely 0), lobes generally (0)45; stamens 45, anthers generally fused into cylinder around style, often appendaged at tips, bases, or both, filaments generally free, generally attached to corolla near throat; pistil 1, ovary inferior, 1-chambered, 1-seeded, style 1, branches 2, generally hair-tufted at tip, stigmas 2, generally on inside of style branches
Fruit: achene, cylindric to ovoid, generally deciduous with pappus attached
Genera in family: ± 1300 genera, 21,000 species (largest family of dicots): worldwide. Largest family in CA. Also see tribal key to CA genera: Strother 1997 Madroño 44(1):128. See glossary p. 25 for illustrations of general family characteristics.
Annual from slender taproot, ± hairy (but appearing glabrous)
Stems generally simple or branching in lower half of plant, erect, generally flexible, glabrous to hairy, green to reddish
Leaves generally narrowly linear, ciliate, green
Inflorescence: heads radiate, disciform or discoid, nodding in bud, solitary, terminal; peduncles slender; involucres 37 mm, generally bell-shaped; phyllaries in 23 generally equal series, lanceolate to (ob)ovate, green, margins widely scarious; receptacle naked
Ray flowers present or 0, or corolla reduced to tube; corollas white, yellow, or reddish
Disk flowers fewmany; corollas yellow to reddish or maroon; style tips linear, acute
Fruit 1.53 mm, oblong-fusiform, generally compressed, generally hairy; pappus of 020 fragile, slender bristles
Species in genus: 6 species: CA
Etymology: (Greek: five bristles, from pappus)
Reference: [Van Horn 1973 Univ Calif Publ Bot 65:141]
Stems 26 cm, hairy at base and below heads
Leaves < 3.2 cm, 1 mm wide; upper surface sparsely hairy; lower surface glabrous
Inflorescence: heads < or = 23 per plant; peduncles soft-shaggy-hairy; involucre ± bell-shaped; phyllaries elliptic to obovate, glabrous
Ray flowers 03; ligules 02 mm, white or corolla reduced to a yellow tube tinged with red
Disk flowers 634; corollas 5-lobed, yellow or reddish
Fruit: pappus bristles 0, 3, or 5, not expanded at base
Chromosomes: 2n=18
Ecology: Grasslands, woodlands
Elevation: < 900 m.
Bioregional distribution: North Coast Ranges, Sierra Nevada Foothills, Great Central Valley, San Francisco Bay Area, South Coast Ranges
Synonyms: Chaetopappa e. (A. Gray) D.D. Keck


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Friday, December 2, 2011
An Ornament a Day - Day 2
... birds. All kinds and colors of birds, birds on the wing, perching berds. After all, what's a tree without birds?
Last year's Advent Calendar post:
Advent Calendar Day 2: Holiday Foods
5 comments:
Loved your bird! I used to have lots of birds on my trees, but for some reason not so much anymore --- perhaps they are now an endangered species and hate my fake tree -- tho I no longer sneeze and sniffle my way thru the holidays.Thanks for your ornaments and memories.ReplyDelete
I love this idea. Jasia apparently did something like this a few years ago (I need to go look at her archives). You've inspired me to try something similar next year.ReplyDelete
I am so very pleased to see a Cardinal among your birds - even without the bat across his chest.
What a lovely idea! When we cleaned out the Family Home, We didn't go through the christmas ornaments. We set them aside to tackle later. Your approach would make it a fun project.ReplyDelete
Your bird ornaments are lovely! I have three white Dove ornaments from Germany . . . bird ornaments are so different and make our Christmas trees unique.ReplyDelete
Joan - My cats are all too interested in the bird ornaments, so I now put them higher up.ReplyDelete
Susan - Oh, it wouldn't be a proper Christmas tree without a cardinal - we love the "real" ones that come to our feeders. As to the "capital C" cardinals, well, we'd probably have a Red Sox-themed ornament....
Michelle - I would give anything if my Mom had kept her old ornaments. It's amazing how many of the ornaments are associated with memories.
Gini - Those white dove ornaments are so special. While I try to be restrained in my ornament purchases these days, I do like to get one or two new ones each year, and that's exactly the type I am going to be looking for.


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Clark's Mill
Other Names: Vera Cruz
Location: Douglas County
Campaign: Operations North of Boston Mountains (1862)
Date(s): November 7, 1862
Principal Commanders: Capt. Hiram E. Barstow [US]; Col. John Q. Burbridge and Col. Colton Greene [CS]
Forces Engaged: Detachments of 10th Illinois Cavalry and State Militia (approx. 100 men) [US]; cavalry brigade (approx. 1,000 men) [CS]
Estimated Casualties: Total unknown (US 113; CS unknown)
Description: Having received reports that Confederate troops were in the area, Capt. Hiram E. Barstow, Union commander at Clark's Mill, sent a detachment toward Gainesville and he led another southeastward. Barstow's men ran into a Confederate force, skirmished with them and drove them back. His column then fell back to Clark's Mill where he learned that another Confederate force was coming from the northeast. Unlimbering artillery to command both approach roads, Barstow was soon engaged in a five-hour fight with the enemy. Under a white flag, the Confederates demanded a surrender, and the Union, given their numerical inferiority, accepted. The Confederates paroled the Union troops and departed after burning the blockhouse at Clark's Mill. Clark's Mill helped the Confederates to maintain a toehold in southwest Missouri.
Result(s): Confederate victory
CWSAC Reference #: MO017
Preservation Priority: IV.1 (Class D)
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SACRAMENTO, CALIF., Oct. 26, 2012 -- The Sacramento Kings today requested waivers on forwards Tony Mitchell, Willie Reed and center Hamady Ndiaye, according to Kings President of Basketball Operations Geoff Petrie.
Mitchell, a 6-6, 210-pound forward from the University of Alabama, averaged 1.7 points (2-2 FG, 1-1 3pt), 0.3 rebounds, 0.7 assists, and 5.3 minutes per game in three preseason contests for the Kings. Mitchell played for the Kings during the 2012 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.
Reed, a 6-9, 220-pound forward from Saint Louis University, averaged 0.8 points (1-3 FG, 1-2 FT), 1.0 rebounds, and 2.8 minutes per game in four preseason games.
Ndiaye, a 7-0, 235-pound center from Rutgers, averaged 0.7 points (1-4 FG, 2-4 FT), 1.2 rebounds, and 4.8 minutes per game in six preseason contests. Ndiaye had played two NBA seasons with the Washington Wizards.
The Kings' roster now stands at 14 players. The deadline for teams to turn in their rosters to the NBA is Monday, October 29, by 2 p.m. PDT. Sacramento opens its season on the road on October 31 at Chicago at 5:00 p.m. PDT. The Kings host Golden State on Monday, November 5 at 7 p.m. PDT in their first home game of the 2012-13 season.
About the Sacramento Kings:
Maloof Sports & Entertainment includes the Sacramento Kings and Sleep Train Arena. Owned by the Maloof family with long-term partners, the organization is committed to being a contributing member of the community. Teaming up with local leaders and nonprofit organizations to give back to those in need throughout the region, MS&E has donated more than $20 million in cash and in-kind donations to more than 200 charitable entities over 13 years of Maloof family ownership. For more information, please visit Kings.com or call 916-928-0000.


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Full TA transcriptions of the parishes of Cooliney, Kilnamanagh, Kilsillagh, and Kinneigh are now completed.
I have not been able to find the Kilsillagh and Kinneigh images online, so I was especially pleased to complete those parishes.
Reference materials cite 1827 as the year of the Kilnamanagh TA book, but there were rather two enumerations, one in 1825 and one in 1829.
Cooliney is up by the Limerick border and is my first transcription venturing outside West Cork.
Like the other corkgen.org transcriptions, these are Google map linked and annotated with references.
Cork Genealogy Tithe Transcriptions


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Friday, January 1, 2010
Family Newsletter Friday 1 Jan 2010
Almost all my genealogy activity (and there has been some!) over the past couple of weeks has been devoted to inputting information on the Norman family. I am still working on the children of Joseph Madison Carroll Norman and Rebecca Monk, specifically J. J. Norman. Not exactly sure what "J. J." stands for, as I have found varying expansions. Inez Cline has James J. "Jobe" Norman. I have seen "Josephus," "Jode," and "Joe" as well. He and Martha King had a large family (12 children, I think), so this will take a while. Right now I'm working on his son Joel T. Norman's family, also a large family. Joel T. Norman would have been my Grandma Sallie Frances Norman Brinlee's first cousin.
When I'm in the family room, I work on my laptop, which does not have my Reunion genealogy program loaded on it, so I tended to do all my Lizzie Smith brick wall research there. I have started a Bonner candidate database based on the 1870 and 1880 censuses (Lizzie Smith's first husband was reputed to be a Bonner).
If you have not already, you absolutely must visit Carol at Reflections from the Fence and see the picture story of a fantastic gift given by her.
Between Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve I took a break from the somewhat intensive posting of December and went "visiting" to various blogs to have more leisure in reading them and commenting on them. While I want to keep up a good blog writing pace this year, it's quite nice just to be able to read blogs and exchange comments with fellow bloggers for a while. Perhaps around mid-year I'll try a break like this again.
Follow Friday
Look for a post updating the list of Texas-linked bloggers on the "Texas Team"; there are several new and newly discovered blogs. I hope to resume Follow Friday next Friday, but for this Friday I would like to mention some blogs that I have greatly enjoyed reading but have not had new posts for a while. Since I am well aware that there are many family and work circumstances that can sideline blogging, this is not a whine (I hope) but just a tribute and expression of appreciation:
They That Go Down to the Sea [This just just in: She's baaack! Someone must be listening up there.... But wait a minute. I realized that TTGDTTS was back because it was in my Blogger reader, which uses the follower function... but TTGDTTS is in Wordpress. Well, my daughters and I have been watching Twilight Zone all day. Now I'm in it.]
The Desktop Genealogist Unplugged
Wibbling Jo's Genealogy Blog
We have also had fellow GeneaBloggers who have lost dear ones this year and have gone through other trials and challenges. To them I offer my prayers, hopes, and best wishes for a New Year full of good health, encouragement, inspiration, and beauty.
Below are some pictures of my cats taken during the holidays. No connection to anything here; I posted them "just because."
4 comments:
Sorry to but in on your family newsletter, but thank you for the reminder about Carol. What a lovely post she had. I love your attention to making a family newsletter. Keep up the good work. "you go girl"ReplyDelete
Oh, my, Frances, you are not butting in at all! I call these articles "Family Newsletters," but they're actually for anyone; I figure some of the research items are only of interest to cousins, but I also try to put various items of general blogging interest from the week. So I think I'll start calling this "Family and Friends Newsletter Friday"! And thanks for dropping in.ReplyDelete
I love your kitty photos. Looking forward to the ever-increasing list of Texas bloggers, too.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousJanuary 5, 2010 at 6:48 AM
Thanks a million for the shout out, Greta! I guess we were both tuned in to the great genealogy hive-mind at the same time!ReplyDelete


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I've mentioned before that I'm not a fan of the word "Cloud". It's too marketing-oriented, gimmicky and non-specific. A better definition (in many cases) is "Distributed Computing". That means that some or all of the computing functions are handled somewhere other than under your specific control.
But there is a current use of the word "Cloud" that does not necessarily mean that the computing is done somewhere else. In fact, it's a vector of Cloud Computing that can better be termed "Utility Computing". This has to do with the provisioning of a computing resource. That means the setup, configuration, management, balancing and so on that is needed so that a user – which might actually be a developer – can do some computing work. To that person, the resource is just "there" and works like they expect, like the phone system or any other utility.
The interesting thing is, you can do this yourself. In fact, you probably already have been, or are now. It's got a cool new trendy term – "Private Cloud", but the fact is, if you have your setup automated, the HA and DR handled, balancing and performance tuning done, and a process wrapped around it all, you can call yourself a "Cloud Provider".
A good example here is your E-Mail system. your users – pretty much your whole company – just logs into e-mail and expects it to work. To them, you are the "Cloud" provider. On your side, the more you automate and provision the system, the more you act like a Cloud Provider. Another example is a database server. In this case, the "end user" is usually the development team, or perhaps your SharePoint group and so on. The data professionals configure, monitor, tune and balance the system all the time. The more this is automated, the more you're acting like a Cloud Provider.
Lots of companies help you do this in your own data centers, from VMWare to IBM and many others. Microsoft's offering in this is based around System Center – they have a "cloud in a box" provisioning system that's actually pretty slick.
The most difficult part of operating a Private Cloud is probably the scale factor. In the case of Windows and SQL Azure, we handle this in multiple ways – and we're happy to share how we do it. It's not magic, and the algorithms for balancing (like the one we started with called Paxos) are well known. The key is the knowledge, infrastructure and people. Sure, you can do this yourself, and in many cases such as top-secret or private systems, you probably should. But there are times where you should evaluate using Azure or other vendors, or even multiple vendors to spread your risk. All of this should be based on client need, not on what you know how to do already.
So congrats on your new role as a "Cloud Provider". If you have an E-mail system or a database platform, you can just put that right on your resume.


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BAKER � Residents and their dogs can support cancer awareness next month at Bark for Life, an American Cancer Society fundraiser.
BAKER � Residents and their dogs can support cancer awareness next month at Bark for Life, an American Cancer Society fundraiser.
This will be the second year that Southside Animal Hospital has organized the Relay for Life event, which is 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 2 at the Baker Recreation Center.
Last year's event took place at Old Spanish Trail Park in Crestview. Event organizers decided to move the event to a slightly larger venue in hopes of expanding attendance.
"We did really good last year," Kim Hathcock, of Southside, said. "We had about 100 people attend.�
Still, �we are trying to get more communities involved in this event, including Baker and Holt,� she said.
In the new location, children can play in the facilities� playground area.
They also can play in a bounce house and have their faces painted, among other kid-friendly activities.
Food and refreshments will be available, and gift baskets with gift certificates, event T-shirts and dog treats, will be raffled off at the event.
Several dogs from Eglin Air Force Base�s Pet Welfare adoption center will be available for adoption.
In addition, the event will feature games for dogs, including "weenie races" for Dotsons.
This year�s donations reportedly have surpassed last year�s; the clinic has raised more than $3,000 for the cause. Last year, it raised $2,200, $1,300 of which came from Bark for Life.
"We are just doing our part to help," Hathcock said, adding that the clinic also contributed some proceeds from rabies immunization clinics.
Participants can pre-register at the clinic on south Pearl Street during regular business hours.
Participants also can register at the event; cost is $10 per family.
Proof of rabies vaccinations must be provided to register.
Last year was successful for the clinic�s feline-themed team. The "Purr-fect Pacers," who have nearly 20 members, were named Crestview�s rookie team of the year.
The clinic�s staffers became involved with Relay for Life after noticing the impact that cancer had on several pet owners who have visited their facility, Hathcock said, referring to clients who died from cancer or survived the disease.
Those encounters raised awareness when the idea struck close to home for the dog groomer.
"I guess you could say that I proposed the idea of the event after I had a breast cancer scare two years ago,� she said, noting she has remained cancer free.