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Nov 24, 2009 (CIDRAP News) – The era of cell-based influenza vaccine production in the United States seemed to move closer today as Novartis unveiled its new, nearly billion-dollar manufacturing plant in Holly Springs, N.C., but onshore production and marketing of cell-based vaccines remains a few years away.
As the Swiss-based company held a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the plant today, it said the facility will be ready to start making the firm's vaccine adjuvant, MF59, as soon as next month, but the earliest it could start churning out flu vaccine is 2011, with full commercial production expected in 2013.
The plant, funded in part by the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), "is the first of its kind in the Untied States and highlights an important milestone in efforts to improve influenza vaccine manufacturing technology in the US and enhance domestic pandemic preparedness," the company said in a news release.
Novartis is one of five companies that were awarded large HHS contracts in 2006 to develop cell-culture technology for making flu vaccines. One of the other four contracts was terminated earlier this year, and a second company has put its efforts on hold.
Also, Sanofi Pasteur, which makes the largest share of seasonal flu vaccine in the United States and which received an HHS contract for cell-based vaccine development in 2005, says it is sticking with the traditional egg-based production.
Cell culture technology—growing vaccine viruses in mammalian cells, such as canine kidney cells—is said to be more flexible and somewhat faster than the decades-old method of growing flu vaccines in chicken eggs. Cell-culture technology is used to make certain other vaccines, such as polio and rabies.
Experts such as Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, have said the technology will be an improvement but will not solve all the vexing problems of flu vaccine production, illustrated this year by the low initial yields of egg-based pandemic H1N1 vaccines.
In the Novartis announcement today, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman Daniel Vasella said, "We are proud to be one of the first companies to bring influenza cell culture as well as adjuvant technology to the United States. We have seen a great need to invest into new technologies for flu vaccines that will allow for quicker and more reliable production capacity."
The company statement said cell-based production operations "are cleaner, can be scaled up more quickly to respond to a pandemic, and do not rely on eggs for rapid response to a pandemic." No cell-based flu vaccine has yet been approved in the United States, but part of the firm's HHS funding will support the development of a vaccine for licensing, the company said.
"If licensed in an emergency, the facility will be ready to respond to a pandemic as early as 2011," the statement said. "The plant is planned to be running at full scale commercial production in 2013."
The facility is designed to produce 150 million doses of a pandemic flu vaccine within 6 months after declaration of a pandemic, officials said. The plant is slated to be capable of producing 50 million doses of trivalent seasonal flu vaccine per year.
Novartis has a plant in Marburg, Germany, that currently produces Celtura, a cell-based H1N1 vaccine that is licensed in Germany and Switzerland. The facility also makes a cell-based seasonal flu vaccine, Optaflu, which is approved in all 27 members of the European Union.
The Holly Springs facility can start making MF59 as early as December, Novartis officials said. No adjuvanted flu vaccines have been approved in the United States, but adjuvanted H1N1 vaccines are currently undergoing clinical trials. The most recent trials of an MF59-adjuvanted, cell-based H1N1 vaccine show that it elicits a protective immune response with a low dose, the company said.
A Novartis fact sheet says construction of the new vaccine plant "will continue into 2010." It also faces a long testing process before it can start producing, including more than 85 "factory acceptance tests," 400 commissioning protocols, and 650 qualification protocols. The facility currently employs 191 people full-time and will provide 350 skilled jobs when it is fully operational.
HHS awarded Novartis a $220 million contract in May 2006 to develop cell-based flu vaccines. Then in January of this year the agency announced a $487 million contract to help build the Holly Springs plant. Officials said HHS was bearing 40% of its cost. Today the company said the total investment in the plant is nearly $1 billion, including validation and licensing costs.
When the second contract was awarded, HHS officials said the North Carolina facility was expected to increase the US capacity to make pandemic flu vaccines by 25%.
Under the contract, Novartis will provide two flu vaccines for seasonal flu or for pre-pandemic use, according to HHS. The contract also will fund clinical studies to compare existing Novartis vaccines with new ones, including those developed in the new facility, to show that the new ones are also safe and effective, the agency said.
Other companies' efforts
Along with Novartis, four other companies received HHS contracts for cell-based vaccine development in May 2006: Solvay Pharmaceuticals, MedImmune, GlaxoSmithKline, and a partnership of DynPort Vaccine Co. and Baxter. The contracts totaled well over $1 billion. In addition, Sanofi Pasteur received a $97 million HHS contract for similar work in 2005. Some of the companies are continuing work under those contracts, while others have suspended the work or dropped it.
Sarah Alspach, a GlaxoSmithKline spokeswoman, said today the company is continuing its work under the $275 million contract, but she gave no details. "That work, which is still in early stages, is ongoing, and further details of the work and the contract are proprietary," she said. The work is being done at the company's facility in Marietta, Pa., she said.
Solvay Pharmaceuticals decided in 2008 not to pursue construction of a US cell-based vaccine facility, for several reasons, including the recession. That decision was followed by HHS's termination of the company's $298 million contract in June of this year, company spokesman Neil Hirsch told CIDRAP News today.
"While disappointed by HHS's action, the company remains committed to the development of cell-based influenza vaccine technology globally," he said.
The DynPort-Baxter partnership has completed several clinical trials of cell-based seasonal flu vaccines and a cell-based H5N1 vaccine, DynPort spokeswoman April L. Finnen said today, but she mentioned no plans for a US manufacturing facility. DynPort manages the overall project and the clinical trials, while Baxter makes the vaccines, according to previous company statements.
MedImmune, which makes nasal-spray seasonal and pandemic H1N1 flu vaccines, has put its cell-based development efforts on hold, Dr. George Kemble, the company's vice president for research and development, said today.
Kemble said the company has a disagreement with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) over the direction of clinical trials for its cell-based flu vaccine. MedImmune officials were aiming to conduct trials to determine if cell-based and egg-based versions of the same vaccine were equally immunogenic, he said.
But the FDA said it wanted the company to proceed with an efficacy trial to determine if the cell-based vaccine actually protects people from seasonal flu. "That added years and hundreds of millions of dollars to the program," he said.
In view of the FDA's position, Kemble said MedImmune decided to "take a step back," reevaluate the program, and discuss it with HHS officials before deciding what to do next.
"We still see this as a very important development for flu vaccines . . . but to commercialize it is really challenging at this point," he said.
Meanwhile, Sanofi Pasteur has experimented with cell-based flu vaccines and concluded they offer little advantage, company spokeswoman Donna Cary said today.
Under its HHS contract, the company made a cell-based flu vaccine on a pilot scale and conducted several clinical studies, she said. "Our evaluation of phase 2 results indicated that while it worked and could be manufactured at a commercial scale, there was really no advantage in clinical performance," she added. "There might be a modest reduction in production time, but it would be expensive to produce."
Cary said Sanofi also studied the feasibility of building a cell-based vaccine plant. After that study, Sanofi and HHS agreed earlier this year that it made no sense to pursue the project, and they terminated the contract, she reported.
She said the company uses cell culture technology to make other vaccines and will continue to evaluate it for flu vaccines. However, she said, "We've seen only nominal advantages of cell culture over egg-based technology, which is proven and well tested."
In the current pandemic response, egg-based and cell-based facilities produced clinical lots of vaccine and achieved regular production in about the same amounts of time, Cary added.
At a congressional hearing earlier this month, Fauci of the NIAID said cell culture technology will be an improvement but will not be the final answer to flu vaccine production problems. He said the "end game" is to get away from vaccines that involve growing the virus and instead to produce particular viral proteins.
See also:
CIDRAP News story "Novartis gets US contract for cell-based flu vaccine plant"
July 18, 2006, CIDRAP News story "Novartis to build US cell-based flu vaccine plant"
May 4, 2006, CIDRAP News story "US awards $1 billion for cell-based flu vaccines"


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Back in September I wrote about why I was switching from PC to Mac. I got my new MacBook (the newer silver one) in October about a week after they new ones came out. This is a quick and dirty post about the switch, mostly for those who might consider the switch.
Type of user I am: I am just a plain old computer user – I listen to some music on itunes, I email with Thunderbird, use Firefox web browser, download pdfs, watch some streaming video, and type on Microsoft Word. Simple stuff. No gaming. Nothing too fancy. Competent enough, but just enough to get done what I need to get done.
Main point: SO HAPPY WITH THE SWITCH from Windows based PC to Mac. I've since convinced my mom to do it and my sister did it on her own after a bad experience with Vista. My partner made the switch three months before me (also due to the hell that is Vista). Everyone is happier. My poor dad didn't want to switch (understandably, as he is not exactly Mr. Technology), ordered a new computer, and is now stuck with an old clunky Dell computer with Vista. He doesn't think it is that bad, but the rest of us dread using his computer for anything. It is like going back to the stone age.
Here is why I love the switch.
Computer boots up in about 10 or 20 seconds. Something fast. This is versus minutes (and then more and more minutes as it got older) with my Windows based PCs of which I had five before this Mac. It seems like a small thing but it is so nice for the computer to turn on and work. And, if you close the screen, it goes to sleep and then when you open it, it wakes up. My two previous PCs would never do this or stop doing it soon after I got them. They got confused and would not turn back on, or something would go wrong. I could never shut the cover/screen without turning the whole thing off. It was a hassle.
The computer always works. You turn it on. You do your thing. You turn it off. It just works. Things don't have to "think" for a long time. They don't lock up. My screen doesn't go blank. And it doesn't seem to me like invisible files are somehow accumulating somewhere that I will have to "clean up" and that slow my computer down. This makes me glad.
I love the integrated camera. Makes skyping so easy and fun.
I had five Windows based PCs before this Mac. Starting in 1997. Two desktops, three laptops. That is a lot of computers and I only replaced when everything got too slow and impossible and unstable that I had to switch. Granted, I use them a lot and lug them around with me everywhere, but if this baby lasts even five years, it is an improvement over my PCs which lasted three years if I was lucky. And they always got so hot. This computer does not get hot when I use it. That is nice.
What can I say. It is just cool. It looks cooler. It feels cooler. I like it.
These don't seem like huge points, but they really are. You know, especially that the computer consistently works. That is a big one for me.
Slight Things I Don't Love.
I don't love the filing system. Maybe it is because I am not very computer literate or there is something I don't know, but I don't like how I can't organize my files like I want and when I put a file in a folder and there is already a file of the same name, it doesn't tell me the "last modified" date of both files so I know which one I want to keep and which one I want to delete. I just can't figure out a good way to manage all my files like the explorer thing in Windows did – like where I can put them in order by date modified or date created or alphabetically. There is only the finder thing on my Mac which doesn't work nearly as well. But this is a small price to pay. (Quick edit: Is there anyone out there who knows what to do about this? Can't I download some sort of better filing system?)
I don't love the mousepad that is both the pad where you move your finger around AND you also click on the whole pad to click. Buttons were better. For one thing, it makes it hard for my dad and mother in law to use the computer because they absolutely cannot figure it out. But, again, small point. (Quick edit, of course you can use a peripheral mouse which might be a good idea anyway if you work at a desk).
I don't like iphoto. This really refers to point one of what I don't like because on my old computer I organized my pictures in my file folder system. I liked how that worked – files and folders along the left side, contents of folder on the right side. I could make them thumbnails or bigger pictures so I could see details.
And slight thing which really isn't the fault of my Mac, but my family tree software doesn't work on Mac. So I need to buy new family tree software and figure out how to use it on Mac. And import the old stuff from my other software. Which I doubt will be a smooth import. (Quick edit: Any family tree people out there who have good suggestions about family tree software?)
But, don't let the minor points detract from the main point which is that I love the switch, love my Mac and will never go back to Windows.
And that is the summary.

subset: commoncrawl


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LAST UPDATED: May 8th, 2015
If you drive through farm country these days, you'll often see bulldozers pushing old farmsteads, fencerows and windbreaks into monstrous burn piles to expand high-priced cornfields for feeding cattle and brewing ethanol.
All those miles of former brush, oaks, box elder, tall grass, dark granite and crumbling limestone once served as valuable shelterbelts. Besides protecting farm fields from wind and water erosion, they also provided habitat for deer, rabbits, songbirds, pheasants and other wildlife.
Bulldozers pushed several hundred yards of shelterbelts into numerous burn-piles on this southern Wisconsin farm.
Since the Dust Bowl, agricultural agencies and conservationists encouraged and applauded farmers who built and maintained shelterbelts, viewing them as long-term investments in the land. But conservation apparently can't compete with corn that's worth nearly $6 per bushel today and consistently more than $4 per bushel the past five years after averaging $2.50 from 1973 through 2005.
This widespread conversion of year-round habitat to seasonal one-crop monocultures is happening from Ohio and Indiana to eastern Washington. And it's not just shelterbelts and abandoned farmsteads. In the Dakotas, folks are burning off cattail marshes, and tiling the black muck below to expand corn and soybean fields. How many miles of shelterbelts have been lost? Well, no government agency tracks acreage kept as fencerows, windbreaks or vacant farmsteads. But the federal government's Conservation Reserve Program provides an indicator. Wisconsin alone will lose 45,170 acres of CRP land this year, presumably to beans and corn.
Fencerows and other shelterbelts that provide year-round habitat for ringneck pheasants and other wildlife are being lost as farmers expand fields to grow more profitable corn and soybeans.
But the Badger State is only 15th in lost CRP acres. North Dakota will lose nearly 650,000 acres of CRP lands this year, worst in the nation. Montana is second with 435,000 lost acres, and then it's Minnesota, 190,000 and South Dakota with 170,000.
In fact, Pheasants Forever estimates the Northern Plains will lose more than 1 million CRP acres in the program's 2012 re-enrollment process. CRP is perhaps the most powerful conservation tool in U.S. history. Under CRP the past 25-plus years, the government paid farmers and ranchers to plant trees and grasses instead of crops along waterways and highly erodible areas to protect the land and prevent soils and nutrients from washing into rivers and streams.
Diane Peterson photo, Pheasants Forever: A hunter takes aim at a ringneck pheasant flushed from a brushy ditch.
Although payments for CRP lands were competitive with crop prices from the late 1980s through the mid-2000s, they've lagged with recent leaps in grain prices. What's behind high grain prices? Some blame federal subsidies for ethanol production, while others cite rising global demands for cattle feed, including China, India and South America.
Scott Walter, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources' upland game ecologist, tracks the state's CRP acreage for the DNR. He said 51 percent of the country's 2011 corn crop went to ethanol production, the first time in history that more corn went for fuel than food.
"That demand drives up not only corn prices, but food prices," Walter said. "That puts more pressure on the land, it destroys more wildlife habitat, and it gives people fewer places to hunt. If your goal is to create more hunting opportunities, the challenge worsens for each acre lost to crop production."
Dave Nomsen, vice president of governmental affairs for Pheasants Forever, said lost ditches, shelterbelts and old farmsteads have huge impacts on small game, upland birds and other wildlife.
"I've lived in Northern Plains states my entire life, and I've never seen pressure on the landscape like we have now," Nomsen said. "It's one thing to convert old grass into corn, but when you're pulling out rocks, trees, wetlands and old farmyard foundations, and testing and capping wells on abandoned farmsteads, you're investing significant time, effort and money into something that might not pay off for very long."
Roger Hill photo, Pheasants Forever: The more shelterbelts lost to grain production, the fewer places for deer, pheasants, rabbits and other wildlife to live and hide.
Even so, Nomsen said it's difficult to fault individuals who cash in on today's high crop prices. "It's a complex question and decision," he said. "High land values are part of it, too. It's tough for a landowner to stand pat with a $75 to $100 break on CRP acres when he can get two to three times that much by renting his fields to someone planting beans and corn."
Nomsen and Walter also wonder what will happen if grain prices fall to where CRP rates are again competitive.
"Who's going to put back those long strips of old trees, big rocks and old fencerows?" Walter asked.
For that matter, who's going to replace the fertile topsoil that blows or drains away the next few years in the absence of shelterbelts?


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Unless something starts going seriously wrong, I expect this will be my last update on our Spanish galleon designing project, before we plunge into the process of tooling it for production.
After all, as you can see by the image above, we have designed the model with two alternative bows and sterns, to reflect the design changes suffered by the ship over the centuries. Thanks to this artifice, we shall be able to launch not just one but two different galleons (sharing a central hull, but with interchangeable bow and stern pieces, in order to facilitate the construction of hybrid models).
In the end, this is the shape our upcoming 03NAV001 Early Galleon is going to take:
And this is what the 03NAV006 Late Galleon following afterward is going to look like:
That's not all though, because we have also designed each mast in two different configurations: with either fully unfolded and partially furled sails. As both kits' masts will be interchangeable too, this will allow for even more customization and variations.
Worth to confirm that ultimate model kits will be waterline (despite drawings above are showing hulls complete to keel).
As already announced, we shall start releasing soon a collection of naval flags suitable for this upcoming ships range. Our first releases are to comprise ensigns, jacks and pennants for Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, French and Ottoman ships (either men-of-war and merchants/privateers); but we've also set recently a poll to help determine real priorities in this matter among users. Please help us decide by answering it!


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I suspect that most fantasy readers who are familiar with the work of George R. R. Martin know him because of the superb A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy series. It is less well known that Martin was already an accomplished author with several books to his credit. One of his early novels, Fevre Dream, is a 1800's vampire story set in the steamboat days of the Mississippi River. Martin tells a very different story than one might expect from the "vampire fiction" genre. Captain Abner Marsh is a steamboat captain who has seen better days. He was once a great success but misfortune has destroyed his fleet and left him with one run down steamboat and a tarnished reputation. When Marsh accepts a meeting with a man named Joshua York, he has no idea that it will change his fortunes and the rest of his life. York wishes to become Marsh's partner in a business venture and is willing to front Captain Marsh a rather large sum of money with the caveat that Marsh must not ask questions of York's business and that any of York's commands must be obeyed without question no matter how odd they may seem. York's proposal is so much larger than the value of the Fevre River Packet Company that Marsh, being honest, tries to discourage York and express the reality of the worth of his company. In the end Marsh accepts on the condition that the money will go to building of his dream steamboat and his fate is sealed.
There is a second part of the story that will eventually become intertwined with that of Marsh and York. That story is of Damon Julian, a powerful and old vampire on a New Orleans plantation. Damon is the Bloodmaster of a cadre of vampires. He provides them with the human victims they desire and in turn they serve him. Damon seems content to be where he is, though his cadre and one human servant warn Damon that it is time to move to a new city because the danger of rumors and speculation is too strong and that will eventually bring the townspeople down upon them. Damon begins to send away some of his cadre and bring new vampires into his fold, and it is with this action that the opportunity for the stories to mix begins.
The common image of the vampire today is one of three possibilities: 1: The vampires from Buffy the Vampire Slayer where the vamp walks by night and can act otherwise human until he or she puts on his or her vamp face and kills the victim. Certainly evil. 2: The classic Dracula image of the lone vamp. 3: Interview with the Vampire where there are long lived vampires who are evil and very involved in society and some form relationships. In a sense Fevre Dream is closer to the Anne Rice sense of the vampire, but not nearly so romanticized and there are aspects of the nature of vampires that are quite a bit different than we've come to expect. Many concepts of the vampire are shown here to be untrue or misunderstood: in particular, death by sunlight, garlic, stakes, crosses, and making new vampires. It is as if George Martin is re-inventing the concept of the vampire. Of course, Fevre Dream was never and will never be as popular as either Buffy or the pre-Christ Anne Rice and I do not see George Martin writing a series of vampire novels, so what we are left with is a great vampire story told in a completely different yet authentic way.
George Martin is a heck of a writer. He gets the period details of the slave holding south and life on a river but doesn't let the authentic feeling detail get in the way of telling the story. He gives the reader a strong sense of place and setting and sets some of the dialogue in period dress, but not in such a way that the flow of reading is interrupted. That Martin takes the reader to a different place and time and does not do what one might expect with the story is all the more reason that this early George Martin novel should not be missed.


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Plain Black and Polished Brass Dolly Switch
An authentic 2 1/4in diameter by 1 3/4in high brass domed ceramic light switch with modern electrical switch gear inside. This style of switch was current from the end of the First World War until the Second. This switch is suitable for 1- or 2- way applications.
Early Electric Switches.
When Edison and Swan first tried to popularise their new electrical lighting systems for domestic use their main competitors were the gas lighting companies. Heavy marketing was required to help potential customers understand the advantages of the new invisible power source and, Edison particularly, endeavoured to develop all the accessories necessary to make installation easy. Electricity was far less dangerous than gas, it was cleaner, did not smell, was instant in its operation and gave a brighter light.
To help his customers make the transition from gas to electricity, the earliest electrical switches were of a rotary type - one that emulated the gas tap that the public had been used to. Up until the first world war (in Britain at least - in US for longer) these switches were available. But, at least from the 1890s, numerous companies began to develop the toggle, tumbler, rocker or dolly switch that we know today.
All examples, until the advent of plastics (in this case Bakelite), were mounted on a ceramic insulating base. This was coloured black, brown or white and the switch mechanism was enclosed by a brass cover (or rarely a ceramic cover that could be ordered decorated in gold leaf and colours). The earliest were ribbed or fluted, popular until the 1920s, thereafter the cover was usually smooth.
These brass covers could be ordered in special finishes - the General Electric Company offered Oxidised Silver, Antique Bronze and Copper coatings. From the late 20s and early 30s the new material, Bakelite, found a use in electrical fittings. In the UK at least, these were available in mottled brown, marketed as Walnut, or white. Catalogues from the late 1960s were still carrying dolly switches made in Bakelite, but brass covered switches had disappeared in the wake of the second world war when metals were scarce.


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joe is sleeping on all 4 feeds and we cant see anything else! Howie if you are going to hang around.. i'll sit back till you cut out hope you can handle the excitement! Quote from: HurricaneHowieWood on August 29, 2012, 08:09:29 PMUgot & KK if either of you need a break let me know.
Ugot & KK if either of you need a break let me know.
I could be cleaning my kitchen while you watch Joe sleep Howie be back in about 15 minutes
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11-Year-Old Boy Snitches On His Mother For Smoking Weed Because He Was Fed Up With The Smell!
Boy, 11, Reports Pot Use; Couple Defends Drug Use:
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Advance praise for The Paradise Guest House
"Two survivors of Bali's terrorist bombing find love and spiritual rebirth on an island whose inhabitants believe in reincarnation in Sussman's touching panorama of paradise. . . . Throughout, Sussman celebrates lovers, quiet healing, and the sweetness of the island and its people."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"A story of healing and redemption, of finding love in the most unexpected places, and of the importance of moving forward . . . Sussman has drawn a vivid, well-balanced portrait of a woman and a country working to recover from an unimaginable event and a very personal look at a global tragedy."—Booklist
"Echoing Bali's difficult recovery from [the 2002 terrorist bombing], the characters tread the difficult terrain of post-traumatic attachment. . . . A respectful and earnest . . . treatment of devastation's aftermath."—Kirkus Reviews
"[A] moving story about making sense of life after a tragedy . . . This touching tale will cause contemplation about what closure truly means."—RT Book Reviews


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For the week ending 29 December 2007 / 20 Tevet 5768
Honesty Pays
On trial for his life as an accused rebel against the Czarist regime in Russia, Rabbi David Luria, famous for his commentary on the Midrash, found himself in a peculiar situation.
The judges trying him conversed with one another in French so that the Russian defendants would not be privy to their secret discussions regarding the case before them. Unknown to them, Rabbi Luria spoke French fluently and would therefore be in a position to arrange his arguments according to the thinking of the judges. But he felt that this would not be honest and so he put his hands to his ears.
When the judges asked for an explanation of this strange act, the rabbi replied in French that he did not wish to dishonestly overhear their secret discussions. They were so impressed by this extraordinary display of honesty that they decided he was innocent.


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In mid-September, a report surfaced that DeLoss Dodds would be stepping down from his long-time Texas post in the coming months, a report that the athletic director vehemently denied.
Following up on speculation that surfaced Monday, that's exactly what Dodds has done.
At a press conference Tuesday, Dodds announced that he will officially retire as UT's athletic director in late August of next year, although he could very well step aside well before then. After that, it's likely he will take on some type of advisory role within the athletic department.
The 76-year-old Dodds stated that he began seriously contemplating retirement back in June, and that he'd actually been thinking about it on some level for a year or two, suggesting his very vociferous denial two weeks ago was leaning toward the hollow end. By announcing his plans to step down 11 months from now, Dodds said it will allow the university plenty of time to find new leadership.
"I love The University of Texas, and I love the people. We've had a great run," Dodds said in statements provided by the school. "I have been contemplating this decision for a while. (University of Texas President) Bill Powers and I have talked it over, and this is something I am ready to do at this time. …
"I promised to let people know well in advance. I want the university to have the appropriate amount of time to find a successor, and I want to ensure that the athletics department can prepare and execute a succession plan for new leadership."
Dodds has been the head of UT athletics since 1981 and, while he's come under fire in recent years, is widely viewed as one of the most powerful men in college athletics and helped guide Longhorn men's sports programs — UT has a female AD for women's sports — to a stunning run of success over the past three decades.
…DeLoss Dodds has guided The University of Texas to national acclaim and championship success. Under his guidance, the Texas Longhorns have won 14 National Championships and 108 conference (Southwest Conference and Big 12) titles in nine different men's sports.
Football's run to the BCS National Championship during the 2005-06 season underscores, arguably, the most successful period in UT Athletics history.
Football's fourth national title at the 2006 Rose Bowl highlights a decade of excellence that featured at least 10 victories in nine consecutive seasons, five-straight bowl victories and appearances in the national title game in 2006 and 2010.
Additionally, Men's Basketball advanced to a school-record 14 consecutive NCAA Tournaments, including a Final Four appearance in 2003, Sweet 16 appearances in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, and 2008 and three Elite Eight appearances in 2003, 2006 and 2008. Baseball has advanced to the NCAA Men's College World Series seven times since 2000, winning national championships in 2002 and 2005.
As for those who claim that he made this decision now because of the state of the football program, Dodds stated that he would be doing this if the Longhorns were 4-0 or 0-4.
And, as for just who will replace a man Powers described as "one of the giants of college athletics," that decision will be made by the president, who said he will lean heavily on Dodds for guidance in finding his successor. The two say they hope to have a new AD in place in a couple of months.
If/when the new AD is hired before Dodds' contract runs out Aug. 31, he will step aside and into whatever his new role will be.
One of the names most prominently mentioned as Dodds' replacement is West Virginia's Oliver Luck. The father of Andrew Luck told WVMetroNews.com today that he would not reciprocate interest if Texas called.


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From NWChem
(→Molecular Dynamics Allows Protons to Hop)
(→Molecular Dynamics Allows Protons to Hop)
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=Molecular Dynamics Allows Protons to Hop=
=Molecular Dynamics Allows Protons to Hop=
[[File:Molecular_Dynamics.gif|right|200px|MD simulations provide insight into why mutations in the active site of wild-type enzyme organophosphorous hydrolase result in a 4 orders-of-magnitude increase of catalytic activity.
[[File:Molecular_Dynamics.gif|right|200px|MD simulations provide insight into why mutations in the active site of wild-type enzyme organophosphorous hydrolase result in a 4 orders-of-magnitude increase of catalytic activity.
The Molecular Dynamics (MD) module of NWChem now includes the capability for dynamic proton hopping using the new, efficient Q-HOP methodology developed by the Volkhard group at the University of Saarland, Germany. This technique relies on classical MD simulations in which stochastic instantaneous transfer between neighboring proton accepting groups is determined by an easily computable probability. This probability is based on a modified version of Transition State Theory incorporating tunneling at a semi-classical level.
=Ecce Graphical User Interface Provides End-to-End MD Support=
=Ecce Graphical User Interface Provides End-to-End MD Support=
Revision as of 09:56, 1 September 2010
NWChem enables researchers to run highly scalable, parallel computations on large, challenging scientific problems. Initially, the problems of interest were focused on environmental issues, but NWChem has recently been used to solve large scientific problems in many different areas, including the examination of metal clusters, biological systems, nanostructures, and materials.
With NWChem, researchers can tackle molecular systems including biomolecules, nanostructures,actinide complexes, and materials.
NWChem offers an extensive array of computational chemistry methods needed to address scientific questions that are relevant to reactive chemical processes occurring in our everyday environment—photosynthesis, protein functions, and combustion, to name a few. They include a multitude of highly correlated methods, density functional theory (DFT) with many exchange-correlation functionals, plane-wave DFT with exact exchange and Car-Parrinello, molecular dynamics with AMBER and CHARMM force fields, and combinations of them.
The NWChem computational chemistry software package runs large chemistry problems efficiently and is used by thousands of people worldwide to investigate questions about chemical processes by applying theoretical techniques to predict the structure, properties, and reactivity of chemical and biological species ranging in size from tens to millions of atoms.
High Accuracy Is Scalable to Large Problem Sizes
A comprehensive understanding of excited-state processes is crucial in many areas of chemistry, and NWChem has the methodologies capable of providing reliable characterization of excitation energies and excited-state potential energies. Several recent implementations based on the Equation-of-Motion Coupled Cluster (EOMCC) formalism offer a unique chance to address these problems. The largest up-to-date EOMCC calculations demonstrated that taking advantage of ever growing computer power the calculations with the EOMCC methodologies are possible for systems composed of 200-300 correlated electrons.
NWChem offers several variants of the EOMCC formalism – from rudimentary EOMCC model with singles and doubles (EOMCCSD) to more sophisticated methods accounting for the effect of triple excitations such as the non-iterative CR-EOMCCSD(T) method and the iterative EOMCCSDT approach and its active-space variant. These accurate formalisms can be used not only for calculations of vertical excitation energies but also to characterize excited-state potential energy surfaces. Various EOMCC approaches can be fully integrated with the multiscale approaches enabling the simulations of the excited-state processes in realistic settings. The correlated methodologies are utilized in this case as high-accuracy drivers for quantum part of the QM/MM and Embedded Clusters formalisms. This functionality provides a unique opportunity of excited-state studies of molecular systems in solution and localized excited states for materials. Another advantage of using TCE generated CC codes is a possibility of utilizing various types of reference functions for closed- and open-shell systems including RHF, ROHF, UHF, and DFT references. Recently developed solvers for the EOMCC theory enable one to deal with excited states of highly diversified configurational structure.
Extensive QM/MM Capabilities Are Seamlessly Integrated
The new QM/MM module provides a seamless integration between molecular mechanics and most quantum-mechanical theories in NWChem. It boasts an extensive array of capabilities geared toward comprehensive description of ground and excited state, and dynamical properties of large molecular systems for chemistry and biology. For example, QM/MM was used to model the catalytic properties in proteins.
Applying QM/MM: Modeling catalytic properties of protein kinases (left), and simulating reactions in aqueous solutions (right).
High Accuracy Is Achievable for Molecular Properties and Excited States
With the recently developed linear-response coupled-cluster module, high-precision calculations for static and dynamic molecular properties are possible. Several levels of theory have been implemented including models based on singles and doubles (LR-CCSD) as well as more sophisticated theories based on the singles, doubles, and triples (LR-CCSDT). The recent studies of static/dynamic polarizabilities for polyacenes and C60 molecule clearly demonstrate a great potential of the LR-CC theory in retaining the essential part of the correlation effects (J. Chem. Phys., 127, 144105 (2007); 129, 226101 (2008)). The LR-CCSD approach enables also highly-accurate estimates of the static hyperpolarizabilities for systems where low-rank methods fail (J. Chem. Phys. , 130, 194108 (2009)).
Scalable Plane Wave Has Exact Exchange
The NWChem highly scalable Plane-Wave module now enables users to use exact exchange and the Self-Interaction Correction (SIC) within its framework for complex molecular, liquid, and solid-state systems. In addition, great improvements in parallel performance allow users to study larger systems at longer time scales with a faster time-to-solution. Scaling to 24,000 processors has been demonstrated for a 160 atom hematite cluster using density functional theory with exact exchange.
NWChem's Car-Parrinello simulation capability, incorporating relativistic effects, was used to model the behavior of uranium in complex solution environments (J. Chem. Phys. 128, 124507, 2008) and on iron-oxide surfaces as well as clay layers.
Molecular Dynamics Allows Protons to Hop
The Molecular Dynamics (MD) module of NWChem now includes the capability for dynamic proton hopping using the new, efficient Q-HOP methodology developed by the Volkhard group at the University of Saarland, Germany. This technique relies on classical MD simulations in which stochastic instantaneous transfer between neighboring proton accepting groups is determined by an easily computable probability. This probability is based on a modified version of Transition State Theory incorporating tunneling at a semi-classical level.
Ecce Graphical User Interface Provides End-to-End MD Support
The newest release of Ecce (Extensible Computational Chemistry Environment; version 4.0) provides full end-to-end support for the molecular dynamics module in NWChem. Through the graphical interface, users can set up their calculations, submit them to their computer platforms, and visualize the results on-the-fly.
Ecce provides an easy to use graphical user interface that enables novice users to set up quantum chemistry calculations, submit them on large supercomputers, and analyze and visualize the calculated data. Currently, the team is expanding its solid state capabilities.
Ecce's end-to-end support for molecular dynamics calculations in NWChem greatly increases the ease of use.


text:
- 1 SVN Structure
- 2 Build
- 3 Testing
- 4 Projects and Dependencies
- 5 PDE Conversion
- 6 Port TODO List
- 7 How To
SVN Structure
At the moment, all code can be found in the org.eclipse.persistence/trunk directory on the technology SVN server.
The below is a description of the content of the directories. Note: All projects are Eclipse PDE projects and therefore classpath dependencies are defined in the manifest rather than the project metadata.
The plugins directory contains all the common dependencies needed by all the projects. You can make use of them by either importing the Eclipse projects for all the depenencies or by copying the bundle jars (all the jars) in this directory in your Eclipse installation's plugin's directory. Note: The org.eclipse.persistence.asm and org.eclipse.persistence.antlr jars are not checked in and must be either be built by running the EclipseLink build or imported as projects.
The following dependencies can also be obtained from Orbit.
- commonj.sdo 2.1.1
- javax.activation 1.1.0
- javax.mail 1.4.0
- javax.persistence 1.0.0
- javax.servlet 2.4.0
- javax.wsdl 1.6.2
- javax.xml.bind 2.0.0
- javax.xml.rpc 1.1.0
- javax.xml.stream 1.0.1
- javax.xml.ws 2.1.0
- org.apache.ant 1.7.0
Instructions about getting bundles from Orbit
- org.eclipse.persistence.core - All other EclipseLink components depend on this bundle. You will need to import this project to work on other EclipseLink components. All other components can be imported separately.
- org.eclipse.persistence.oracle - extensions that require Oracle-specific libraries for compilation. If you do not have the required oracle libraries, you can get the compiled classes since they are checked in. This bundle is only used for advanced Oracle-specific functionality and not required unless you are using that functionality.
- The oracle bundle requires that you configure the oracle target within your Eclipse. To do that, you will need to do the following:
- Find the target.oracle directory in foundation/targets
- Import the oracle.libs directory and its contents into Eclipse (In Ganymede, that means copying oracle.libs and its contents into your Eclipse dropins directory)
- Obtain the Oracle dependency jars. There is a list of them in the manifest found in oracle.libs. Note: These are not currently available in open-source format and you will have to obtain them from Oracle
- Put those jars in the oracle.libs directory you have copied to Eclipses
- Restart Eclipse
- The oracle bundle requires that you configure the oracle target within your Eclipse. To do that, you will need to do the following:
- org.eclipse.persistence.jpa - EclipseLink's JPA support
- plugins - The additional dependencies for JPA support
- org.eclipse.persistence.equinox - fragment for OSGi weaving on Equinox that plugs into org.eclispe.persistence.jpa. Only required for people doing weaving on Equinox
- org.eclipse.persistence.equinox.weaving - fragment for OSGi weaving on Equinox that plugs into Equinox itself. Only required for people doing weaving on Equinox
- org.eclipse.persistence.moxy - EclipseLink's Object-XML support
- plugins - The additional dependencies for Object-XML support
- org.eclipse.persistence.sdo - EclipseLink's SDO support
- plugins - The additional dependencies for SDO support
- org.eclipse.persistence.dbws - EclipseLink's Database Webservice support
- plugins - The additional dependencies for DBWS support
Importing the projects into Eclipse will build the class files for the PDE projects. Most functionality will be accessible after those builds. Ant files are also provided both for use in a non-Eclipse IDE, and for commandline use. If you want to do a complete build of the EclipseLink artifacts, the steps are outlined In the "building with Ant" section below.
Ant is used to drive all builds for the EclipseLink Project. Furthermore, it is assumed that EclipseLink will be built (ant tested) in environments other than the Eclipse IDE (PDE build). Therefore, the Ant buildfiles are designed to be used from many entry points with varying configurations. However, starting with 2.4, we have moved to a manifest-first approach to build our OSGi bundles. Therefore, rather than using BND to generate the OSGi manifest post build we are using Tycho (a maven plugin) to generate our OSGi bundles.
Building with Ant
Below are the steps to setup for and then run a basic build of EclipseLink using the Ant buildfiles from the trunk.
Environment Setup
Most of the required dependencies are already existent in one of the previously discussed plugin folders. However, there are some third-party files that are not supplied. Specifically:
- Ant 1.7.x. If not already installed, you will need to download and install it.
- Junit
- Any library licensed under an agreement that is not EPL or Eclipse approved. (This includes Oracle libraries needed to compile oracle specific extensions)
- Maven 3. Tycho requires Maven 3 functionality. So to build EclipseLink 2.4 and beyond you will need to download and install it if it is not already installed. Make sure you set an "M2_HOME" env variable that points to the installation.
- BND tool - we use bnd to generate our OSGi plugins in EclipseLink 2.3.x and earlier. Version .366 or later should work fine if placed in the extension.depend.dir or the buildsystem dir. In addition, if bnd is not available the build will attempt to generate meaningful OSGi manifests, but there are known shortcomings and issues with this approach.
- Add the following entry to your user-dir/build.properties as of 20100513
- bndtool.jar=bnd-0.0.384.jar
- Add the following entry to your user-dir/build.properties as of 20100513
The build provides mechanisms to incorporate these dependencies outside of SVN. build defaults: The build assumes certain defaults for dependencies. These can be overridden, but are provided to allow minimal configuration setup.
- external dependency location: The build assumes that all dependant libraries external to SVN are store in one of two default locations.
- extensions.depend.dir: This property defines where external dependencies can be found. (default: .\trunk\..\extension.lib.external)
- oracle.extensions.depend.dir: This is a legacy property for compatability with Oracle testing scripts. It is used to define the location of Oracle specific jars. (default: .\trunk\..\extension.oracle.lib.external)
- library properties: Most dependant libraries are defined using a property definition that can be overridden
Overriding Defaults
Basic Setup
- It may be necessary to create a user specific properties file to override the default values in <trunk>/build.properties. To do so, create a build.properties file in your user home directory (usually C:\Documents and Settings\<username> on windows). Variables commonly needing redefinition in it are:
- For build:
- junit.lib=<full path of the JUnit 4.5 (latest version) jar>
- For Test
- tools.lib=<full path of tools jar in your JDK installation - usually in JAVA_HOME/lib>
- jdbc.driver.jar=<full path to your JDBC driver>
- db.driver=<classname of your JDBC driver>
- db.url=<JDBC url of your DB>
- db.user=<db username>
- db.pwd=<db password>
- (optional) db.platform=<EclipseLink Database Platform to use> - this is only necessary if EclipseLink does not properly dectect you DB with its database detection
- For build:
- Ensure you have ant 1.7 set up to run
- Open a command prompt in your checked out trunk directory
- Run "ant" for a full build of all core and test code
- or
- Run "ant build-eclipselink-jar" for a full build of only core code
These commands will build the Runtime and/or the tests. Tests can also be run by adding a test execution target (like test-srg).
Note: Several DBWS component's build files are dependant upon JDK 1.6 (JDK 5 can be used but these components won't build)
Tests can be run through Ant or in Eclipse
From Ant
Make sure you are using the latest (at least v20090423) version of JUnit 4.5 In the trunk directory, you can use the following targets to run tests:
- test-srg - Basic "smoke tests"
- test-lrg - Full test model - must be run sucessfully on either MySQL or Oracle before checking in any changes to core classes
- test-core - subset of tests just for the core
- test-core-srg - smoke tess for the core
- test-jpa - runs JPA tests - required prior to check-in for any changes to JPA included in "test-lrg"
- JPA tests require some artifacts from the build in order to be able to run. There are two ways to get them.
- Run the full build as indicated above
- From the org.eclipse.persistence.jpa directory, run "ant"
- This will create a directory required by the tests and the jars that contain the models. You only need to rebuild if you are adding or subtracting from the models (Package org.eclipse.persistence.testing.models.jpa and its subpackages).
- JPA tests require some artifacts from the build in order to be able to run. There are two ways to get them.
- test-wdf - runs the "WDF" JPA test suite (JPA tests contributed by SAP (Walldorf, Germany)).
- test-moxy - runs MOXY tests - required prior to check-in for any changes to MOXY included in "test-lrg"
- test-jaxb - required prior to check-in for any changes to JAXB included in "test-moxy"
- test-oxm - required prior to check-in for any changes to OXM included in "test-moxy"
- test-sdo - required prior to check-in for any changes to SDO included in "test-lrg"
From Eclipse
The following directories contain projects with tests
- foundation/eclipselink.core.test - the core testing for EclipseLink
- Testing Browser.launch - runs legacy test browser. Requires definition of JDBC_LIB and TOOLS_LIB classpath variables.
- SRGTestModel.launch - runs the SRG. Requires definition of JDBC_LIB classpath variable
- LRGTestModel.launch - runs the LRG. Requires definition of JDBC_LIB and TOOLS_LIB classpath variables.
- foundation/eclipselink.extension.oracle.test - the testing for EclipseLink's Oracle-specific functionality.
- Contains Testing Browser (Oracle).launch - Launches Legacy test browser in a manner that can run Legacy Oracle tests
- jpa/eclipselink.jpa.test - the JPA tests for EclipseLink
- See the description of the test-jpa target above for a prerequisite.
- FullRegressionTestSuite.launch - runs JPA tests
- Needs DB properties to run. either of the following can be done to give the DB properties:
- Add a JVM argument: -Dtest.properties=<full path to build.properties in your user home>
- update the test.properties file in jpa/eclipselink.jpa.test directory to point at correct DB
- Needs DB properties to run. either of the following can be done to give the DB properties:
- Testing Browser (JPA).launch - Launches Legacy test browser in a manner that can run JPA tests through that browser
- Note: Recompilation of eclipselink.jpa.test test jars are required only if new classes were added/deleted since the last build.
- jpa/eclipselink.spring.test - Spring specific JPA testing
- moxy/eclipselink.moxy.test - MOXY testing
- sdo/eclipselink.sdo.test - SDO testing
- dbws/eclipselink.dbws.test - DBWS Testing
Minimum SVN Trunk projects for JPA or Core Eclipse Development and Testing
- The following import screen capture from Eclipse 3.5 for the SVN trunk details the minimum projects you will need on top of the 10 Orbit projects in order to do JPA or Core development in Eclipse.
- Note: Also add the
- org.eclipse.persistence.moxy project (a requirement of eclipselink.jpa.test)
- org.eclipse.persistence.moxy.dynamic (a requirement of moxy.test)
Projects and Dependencies
When using the Eclipse IDE - a Europa or later EE version is required. If you are using OSGi, a Ganymede EE version is required. See the Eclipse download site for information http://www.eclipse.org/downloads
All current dependencies can be found in the manifests for the PDE projects or in the bundles.
PDE Conversion
The following is inforation about our work to convert to PDE projects and is still here for people that had EclipseLink projects before our conversion. All other developers should be able to ignore it.
There is a new PDE structure being finalized that will require a rebuild of all existing EclipseLink projects in Eclipse. See [EclipseLink/Development/EclipseLinkPDEConversionPlan http://wiki.eclipse.org/EclipseLink/Development/EclipseLinkPDEConversionPlan]
These notes will be incorporated into the main doc and formalized when this process is complete.
- Migrating Eclipse Projects to PDE #2 as of 20080508 - currently editing
- This section is for developers that did the initial PDE refresh after 20080430.
- Remove existing lib projects and reimport as plugin projects (delete project but not workspace contents)
- All javax.*, org.apache.*, org.*antlr, org.*.asm
- Perform actions below
- Remove existing lib projects and reimport as plugin projects (delete project but not workspace contents)
Note: If you are getting compilation errors that are due to a missing plugin like javax.resource or javax.jms - and you have these projects in your workspace. The fix seems to be to delete these projects (not the filesystem) and reimport the project with the problem as well as the plugin that it is complaining it cannot find - together in a single import (from the <root>).
- Prerequisites
- Eclipse 3.3+ EE version required - you will need the EE version of eclipse
- Internal: eclipse-jee-europa-winter-win32, eclipse-jee-europa-fall2-win32 or eclipse-jee-ganymede-M6-win32
- Remove any existing eclipselink.* projects (delete project but not workspace contents)
- Note: eclipselink.*.test projects are not migrated yet, these can be retained
- Keep existing classpath variables
- Eclipse 3.3+ EE version required - you will need the EE version of eclipse
- Update SVN at the <trunk> root
- Importing Projects
- Import | General | Existing projects into Workspace
- root directory = <trunk>/plugins
- Leave "Copy projects into workspace" unselected
- select all of javax.* and org.*
- Import jpa/plugins/javax.persistence
- Import foundation projects in the same way
- Import jpa projects in the same way
- Import moxy/plugins projects so jpa test project compiles
- Import sdo/plugins
- Refresh/Rebuild
- If automatic build is not checked - check it and clean all projects
- core dependency on jpa lib project
- see javax.persistence;bundle-version="1.99.0";visibility:=reexport in the core project
- If you get a compile error on javax.persistence it is because we are referencing the 1.99 version instead of 1.0 in the manifest of org.eclipse.persistence.core - make sure the jpa project javax.persistence.1.99 is loaded in your workspace.
- Import | General | Existing projects into Workspace
- Building
- Run ant at the <trunk> root so that all the test project jars are updated and built
- BUILD SUCCESSFUL Total time: 8 minutes 4 seconds
- Or run ant build-eclipselink-jar at the <trunk> root so that all the non-test projects are compiled and eclipselink.jar is built in under 60 seconds.
- BUILD SUCCESSFUL Total time: 8 minutes 4 seconds
- Running
- Test the build by running test.jpa
- <trunk>/ant test-jpa
- Note: if db.platform is not set in your <user-home>/test.properties then you may get a "ClassNotFoundException: ${db.platform}" - set this variable as follows (using your own platform)
- db.platform=org.eclipse.persistence.platform.database.oracle.Oracle11Platform
- Normally we do not set a dependecy on the platform though - this will be fixed shortly in our script.
- [junit] Tests run: 911, Failures: 0, Errors: 0, Time elapsed: 583.35 sec Total time: 10 minutes 4 Seconds
- Refresh eclipse workspace to optionally run the testing browser targets
- Pending:
- Launch Targets
Port TODO List
List of task, items, issues, refactorig left to due from the initial port.
- Get all tests passing. - JPA JUnit tests and legacy LRG model currently pass
- Move left-over internal classes to internal packages.
- Internationalization.
- Server tests.
- Sun Corba and RMI-IIOP - are these elements still required in EclipseLink. If so, make sure tests work. Else, remove.
- Make all server platforms work. i.e. address the fact that they all need to be reflective to compile


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Check out the latest RPG news | Podcasts | Twitch Streams
Didn't they say they'd announce 4 things?
Does FFF use the Neptunia 2/Mugen Souls battle system?I can't stand that one. This coming from someone who actually enjoyed the Agarest 2/CE, the Neptunia 1/Trinity Universe, and their older SRPG systems.I might pass on it, too, if so.
It was also made under that Galapagos label, which is why I'm surprised its leaving Japan.
Though I'm not surprised that Danganronpa 2 is making it out since its the other half of that bundle pack the first game was from.
The only thing I know about Battle Princess is that there's only one Battle Princess and a bunch of Battle Princes.
And Disgaea 4 is Disgaea 4. 'Nuff said.
I really enjoyed Disgaea 4 (WAY better than 3 or D2) and I wouldn't mind buying it again to play on a handheld and have the console DLC included. I'll definitely get it digitally... once I get a Vita. Maybe later this year.


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On Saturday, October 22, 2005 GuluWalk Day will hit the streets in 42 cities worldwide in the first-ever global show of solidarity for the 'night commuters' of northern Uganda. In Toronto, home of the original GuluWalk, walking shoes will replace cars on the city's main strip, Yonge Street, with The hush on stage at Joe's Pub was circumvented with the squeal of brass. It's piercing shrill evolved into a cacophony of instruments screaming, wailing, writhing, throbbing, breaching the silence with a language and tonality that took on a musical expression all its own.
It had an intelligence that created and recreated itself while giving order to chaos. The Wallace Roney Band was playing pure jazz. They were playing the songs within their new CD Mystikal. And indeed, an aura of the mystical was apparent as the music struck upon the essence of form without form in search of the enigma that is true jazz. The blissful faces of the musicians were enraptured by some musical high that elevated their souls beyond time. Harmonies emerged touching levels of vibrations too high to be discerned by mind, understood only at the heart level. As the melodies, harmonies and vibrations crescendo and converged without restraint, it was reborn and sought to be free. Once released, it merely stopped, leaving behind the power of its expression with all in the room. This was the music of Wallace Roney.
There is no doubt that Miles Davis influenced Wallace Roney. In fact, Miles was Roney's mentor. While some may say that Mr. Roney is an imitator, I would say, not so. While there is certainly an essence of Miles in Roney's music, the trumpeter has managed to carve out his own nitch keeping Miles alive through his trumpet while remaining true to his own considerable talents.
Wallace set off on his musical odyssey at the age of 4. He grew up in Philadelphia but attended high school in Washington, D.C. "My father, who was a boxer and United States Marshall, used to mess around with the trumpet. I used to sneak and play my father's trumpet until my grandmother bought me my own,� claimed Roney who later attended Howard University for a year and then Berklee College of Music for another year.
Roney likes to experiment with his music and thus includes turntablist, DJ Val Jeanty, among those who play with his band. He collaborated with her on his record "No Room For Argument� and continues to add a little turntable spice to the mix. His band consists of his brother Antoine Roney on sax; Eric Allen on the drums; Ugonna Okegwo on bass; and Adam Holtzman on piano.
"I hear a lot of music in my head but I listen to other musicians to inspire me. If there is something that is happening that I can incorporate and take further, I am very open to that. I think at this point it's not about trying to copy anyone but seeing if I can take something and express it in my own way while adding to it. I try not to lose the greatness of what jazz is but rather make it relevant to what's going on with me as well� explained Roney.
There are occasions when jazz musicians comment that individuals who haven't explored jazz often pass on jazz because they have formed a preconceived idea about jazz. However, jazz is comprised of many forms.
"I think these misconceptions are two-fold� commented the talented artist. "I think in many ways the record companies don't get behind jazz music. If they took one-third of the PR budget that they use for rock, pop and hip hop music, jazz would definitely flourish. Hip hop I have respect for because these artists did the music even when they had no support. Once it garnered support the record companies jumped in and put money behind it. I think R&B and hip hop are relevant because its black music and it speaks to our people. However, I think to the overall intellectual music community, that type of music is non-threatening. Jazz is more than threatening. Jazz has the ability to be the superior music. Unfortunately, this is still a racist world. Thus, those in power would hate to say that Charlie Parker, Dizzy or John Coltrane is greater than classical Paganni. Thus, the support is not there,� remarked the astute trumpeter who is married to pianist Gerri Allen.
"I see my music as an extension of what is great about jazz music� said the occasional pugilist. "I hope to extend and broaden the music of the people whom I had the privilege of learning from, such as Miles Davis. I think Miles picked me because out of all the people he trusted, he felt that maybe, I would do something with what he gave me. That is what I like to believe I am doing. I am very influenced by the music of Miles, John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman. I believe when an artist contributes something it should be continued. I see myself as taking the best of it all and utilizing and regurgitating it via how it sounds within me� explained Roney who also released the album Prototype on High Note Records.
Roney's band has recently toured Minneapolis, Chicago and Dayton. He will be playing the upcoming Duke Ellington Jazz Festival in Washington, D.C. He toured Europe. "The Europeans are a receptive audience. If it wasn't for Europe we probably wouldn't have many jazz forums in which to perform� remarked the attractive musician. Roney is proud of his new CD Mystikal. "Mystikal is an extension of the last record I made. It's my favorite recording so far. I feel that everything I wanted to say or do was fulfilled in this CD. This CD has mystical, spiritual forces as I see it,� explained Wallace. "I took this CD much further than all the others. My wife, Gerri Allen, one of the great piano players of today, also performed on this album.�
"I like to feel I live by truth,� stated Roney of his music and life. "I try to find truth in every way possible and be honest to it. I don't wake up in the morning and say I am great. I wake up in the morning and ask how can I be better? And if I become better than I ask how can I go further? I reflect on what's my purpose in being better? What's my goal? I ask myself whether the goal is to be part of a whole. I ponder this and just keep going forward knowing I am acknowledging something greater. Far greater than I can ever imagine and I let it drive me. I then allow my music to honor that goal.�
For more reports please or call (212) 481-7745 to order the newsstand edition of The Black Star News the world's favorite Pan African news weekly. Also ask for Vernon Verdree in the advertisement department.
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text:
Victoria woman creates aquaponic garden on downtown rooftopStella Sanchez shows off a bottle of her "sassy salsa" in front of the Center for Peace. The roof of the building will be the home of an aquaponics garden, built to grow the tomatoes for her recipe. All of Sanchez's ingredients will be grown in a garden organically, she said.
Bianca Montes, Originally published January 19, 2014 at 10:57 p.m., updated January 20, 2014 at 10:03 a.m.
the new Center for Peace and smiled at her future. It was less than a year ago that Sanchez was homeless and once again lost into an addiction that had haunted her for 20 years.
She eagerly watched youth from First Baptist Church of Yoakum as they drilled holes into long pieces of tubing and cleared brush from atop the roof. To show them what they were working for, she filled small white cups up with her homemade salsa and offered them a taste.
It was good.
It was pleasantly spicy.
And the secret recipe she'd been perfecting for five years was going to change her life.
On Sunday, the youth group helped Sanchez build a water-based garden that would solely use the ecosystem of a fish farm to grow tomatoes.
Aquaponics works by blending a fish farm and a water garden. The wastewater pulled from the fish farm is filtered into the water garden. The plants then purify the water and recirculate it back into the fish farm.
Sanchez learned about aquaponics at a Christian Community conference. Some of her peers had integrated the system into low-income communities. Sanchez said she thought that she could do the same thing to feed her business.
But there was one problem: She didn't know how to make the garden.
Courtney Welch, director of the youth group, offered to help after learning about the project.
"I've just been waiting for God to put an opportunity in front of me," she said Sunday as she watched her husband repurpose two intermediate bulk containers into the base and top of the garden. Welch learned about aquaponics at a retreat in Virginia and jumped at the chance to help Sanchez. The public can view the water garden at the Breaking Ground Conference in February.
Sanchez completed courses at the Center for Peace, a program run by graduates of Perpetual Help Home to teach women entrepreneurship skills to empower them on their way out of poverty. She was taught how to successfully run a business and market her products.
Perpetual Help Home is a Christian-based program that helps woman break the cycle of incarceration, addiction and homelessness.
Executive Director Cheryl Miller said the program was energized by women in the home who, despite overcoming their vices, were unable to make a living.
"Next thing you know, they would be homeless again," she said.
"We knew they could build their lives back, but economically, they couldn't make it."
Sanchez took classes that prepared her to successfully run her own business, and after presenting a solid business plan to a venture capital program run by the center, she was offered a loan to fund her business.
Their confidence in her, Sanchez said, gave her the encouragement to stop looking back at her 20-year drug addiction and the near decade she lost going in and out of jail.
"I have something going for me," Sanchez said. "I don't have time to look back."


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What a ride! While many of us found good news in presidential, federal and local races — including things like funding for California schools — the loss of Prop 37 was especially disappointing. No doubt the next few days will be filled with reflection about what we have done and where we are headed.
Here are a few thoughts to put in the mix:
The good news
Over 4.2 million Californians stood strong against the barrage of misleading paid advertisements from industry, and were bolstered by 2,000 farmers, dozens of Hollywood celebrities, 1,300 chefs and thousands of volunteers — especially mothers. We staged numerous educational events, called hundreds of thousands of Californians and canvassed scores of public places — all in efforts to shine a light on our right to know what's in our food and how it's grown.
And we succeeded in raising the profile of the issue, who's behind it, and what's at stake in our food system. We all deserve congratulations for that! As we move forward, we know that — along with our partners at Californians for Pesticide Reform, Communities for a New California and Green Corps — a majority of Californians and Americans stand with us.
Money still runs California's initiative process
From fees on tobacco, to labeling genetically engineered food, it's clear that big corporations and their money still run the initiative process. We knew that the "Big 6" GE seed and pesticide companies would spend tens of millions of dollars to beat back Prop 37, and that they would do everything in their power to mislead us. They were successful in confusing a majority of the electorate, despite majority support for the labeling concept.
After we take a few days to lick our wounds, let's redirect our energy to the many fights at hand. After all, this was just a battle in the long-standing fight against Monsanto and Co. As Tom Philpott of Mother Jones says, "Prop 37 is only part of the food movement."
Because we are a movement of people, we will surely consider different approaches as we move forward:
- Some will choose to take labeling to the California legislature, with hopes that elected officials will be less swayed by pesticide industry influence.
- Some will choose to draw attention to the new wave of pesticide-resistant genetically engineered crops awaiting USDA approval in the coming weeks.
- Others will take on new food fights. For example, Californians for Pesticide Reform is gearing up for the next battle to keep the California's strawberry fields safe.
- And still others will choose to take the labeling fight to the federal level with hopes that FDA will listen to millions of Americans who continue to demand labeling.
Whatever path you choose, we look forward to working together. That's what a movement is all about!
I'd like PANNA to address criticisms of Prop 37 which ?may be valid.. The Contra Costa Times: "Proposition 37 purports to be a simple law that requires proper labeling to identify so-called genetically modified food. If that was all it did, we would be for it. Unfortunately, it does much more, and we think voters should send it back to its creators for some modification."[22]
The Los Angeles Times: "Unfortunately, the initiative to require labeling of those ingredients is sloppily written. It contains language that, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office, could be construed by the courts to imply that processed foods could not be labeled as 'natural' even if they weren't genetically engineered. Most of the burden for ensuring that foods are properly labeled would fall not on producers but on retailers, which would have to get written statements from their suppliers verifying that there were no bioengineered ingredients — a paperwork mandate that could make it hard for mom-and-pop groceries to stay in business. Enforcement would largely occur through lawsuits brought by members of the public who suspect grocers of selling unlabeled food, a messy and potentially expensive way to bring about compliance."[27]
The Orange County Register: "Voters should be concerned that Prop. 37 would likely spawn waves of lawsuits, with the litigation and enforcement costs passed on to grocers and the consumers. The initiative's language invites abuse."[30]
The Redding Record Searchlight: "But as written, Proposition 37 would create a fertile new field of litigation. Retailers would be mainly responsible for ensuring the proper labeling of the products they sell, overseen by the state Department of Public Health, but private lawyers and activists would have the power to sue over alleged violations and collect their costs and fees — even if nobody's suffered any damages. More work for creative plaintiff's lawyers and more hassles for businesses? That is not what California needs."[32]
The San Bernardino Sun: "The most concerning aspect of Prop. 37 is its method of 'enforcement.' It allows every member of the public to become an enforcer, dropping lawsuits if they only suspect noncompliance but have no evidence...What a nightmare scenario for grocers small and large who, under the terms of the initiative, would have to keep reams of paperwork certifying that all the food they sell is properly labeled as to which might contain genetically modified organisms or not."[34]
The Santa Cruz Sentinel: "Citizens would be empowered to sue grocers they believe to be selling unlabeled GE foods, without needing to prove any damages. Clearly, this provision would create even more lawsuits. And who would this benefit? Lawyers."[38]
Should the bill have been written differently?
Thank you for all informed responses.


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The drumbeat continues...
The circulation of racist emails by elected officials was the topic of conversation at last night's Greater Danbury NAACP Freedom Fund Dinner.
The event's keynote speaker was no other than Rev. Dr. Raphael G. Warnock, pastor of the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta GA and lets just say that he had a thing or two to say about the current state of affairs in Danbury.
As pastor of the same church that civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. preached his ministry of nonviolence during 60's civil rights movement, Rev. Warnock captivated the packed audience as he chastised the elected officials involved in the racist email scandal, and join the chorus of residents, religious groups, politicians, and organizations who demand that those involved issue a public apology.
The reaction from the audience (and the sense of unease and prompt exit by Mayor Boughton after the speech) to Rev. Warnock critical words should erase any thought in people's minds that this issue is simply going to vanish any time soon.


text:
See here for the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TW_UFAZwc2M.
And: https://www.bitchute.com/video/fyuCIW7pLl6A/.
And: https://www.bitchute.com/video/fyuCIW7pLl6A/.
The eleventh in a series of HPANWO TV videos where I reply to viewers' comments live in the film. This is because I have difficulty finding the time to reply to comments with written comments of my own.
See here for my previous Reply to Comments video: http://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/reply-to-comments-10-17617.html.


text:
Here is what happened, I first collected my data into one folder,
tar'd it, encrypted it with
gpg, put it in truecrypt container, and after that started to copy the container to another place, but before copying got to the halfway mark:
Input/output error
so I opened the container and started to copy gpg files out again, but there was one file that didn't finish coping, so I started to decrypt it, but there was a problem down there.
rezx@rezx-desktop:/media/truecrypt8$ gpg Backup4
gpg: CAMELLIA256 encrypted data
gpg: gpg-agent is not available in this session
gpg: encrypted with 1 passphrase
gpg: Backup4: unknown suffix
Enter new filename [Backup4]: Backup4.tar
gpg: Backup4: read error: Input/output error
gpg: Problem reading source (257056845 bytes remaining)
gpg: handle plaintext failed: file read error
gpg: mdc_packet with invalid encoding
gpg: decryption failed: invalid packet
I don't want to get back what has been lost up there, as I still hve unencrypt copy, but such a problem gets me back to my first question "what is the safest & most secure way to back up my data?" and some other questions.
If the .gpg file was corrupted shouldn't it be encrypted by truecrypt. If yes, how come I can't copy the container.
How safe is a
tararchive and a
gpgencrypted file for long term archives and big files because if something bad happened, it may be with
tararchive or with
gpgas it's not with truecrypt, the rest of file is ok.
What is the safest and most secure way to archive a backup for my private data. I can't handle losing it because there would be some movies/pictures that can't be taken again, since funny/embarrassing/happy/sad moments don't happen twice. I don't have a time machine to go back and film baby first step/word, so it has to be safe and secure. There is some poetry/thoughts/films/pictures/???/ that I didn't want any stranger to see, but I like to watch it with who i want family/friends.


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The best resources to get information on Net Gain:Corporate Espionage.
- Net Gain:Corporate Espionage Kickstarter! Main page, updates, comments... lots of information.
- LZG Facebook! Easiest way to get seen by me (John the Developer), faster responses.
- LZG Twitter! Live-blog of game development.
- /r/NetGain subreddit! Links to stories about us around the net, hopefully soon to have a blooming community of people sharing stories and ideas and artwork and links.
- This forum, and This thread over at Bay 12
The Build
Download the latest build from Desura
Bug Tracker and Feature Requests
Build Reminder
"Please keep in mind: this is an extremely early closed test. Unlike an alpha or beta, there are still entire features being built and no artwork. Instead of spending the next two years sending all of you the occasional screenshot of the game in development, I wanted to include you in the process of building the game up from the start! On that note, none of these packages have any sort of DRM. Please don't spread them around, if only because the public at large will think "That's it", and doesn't know we're just starting out!"
"If you're just looking to play the game, you may want to wait a few more months for more of the core game to be finished, with more artwork and balancing and content.
However, if you're looking to join the conversation about the game's direction and growth from the start and want to see the game develop over time, then have at it! Rather than code in a cave, I want to hear your feedback and ideas. I loved watching games like Dwarf Fortress grow over the years, and want to provide the same experience."
Development Log
Upcoming Development
- Economy: right now it's all on a flat level, but this sprint develops the fuller economic "tree", with corps acquiring and losing companies, and powerful conglomerates collecting other corporations under their powerful reach. this power scale will keep you fighting in your "weight class", but with room to grow (or shrivel). Also, giving assets some much-needed love, with their generated names, some art, etc. Economic model also iterating to the "fiefdom" system, where companies are more autonomous and pay a tariff to their overlords.
- Operatives: their art is going to be a whole 'nother beast, though I'm trying to figure out a nice preliminary pass solution so I can get something up there to at least give you an idea what's planned. But mainly this pass involves making their traits have an effect on the world around them, operatives training/idling/doing interesting things, and the special events, also to be used in missions.
- Missions: Conflicts will get upgraded from it's current 'draft' implementation to something more complete, with orders for fighting strategies, and smarter operatives employing all of their wide range of skills in conflict. Also using more of the nested objectives stuff, enabling more of the safehouse/resupply/dynamic mission things. Also events using the same system for operative events.
- War Room: very basic war room features, such as having a number of analysts you can assign to break down your intel into something usable, and some basic "position" stuff for your broker within the corp.
Change Log
- 0.5.2
Version Number to title screen
alert when corporation sells off asset
new sigma(Σ) symbol
ActiveObjectiveDetailMenu to track executors on start/if selecting an objective in progress.
Asset SellPrice to (current rank * 2).
CorpDetailMenu to open operative/intel/mission list in new base window
Skill Names: Code(Utilities) -> Code(Programs), Code(Systems) -> Code(Admin)
- 0.5.1
squad/cell/executor destroyed state
fixes, tweaks
- 0.5.0
"target" logs: records history for missions/objectives/operatives/assets/etc. still need proper/thorough implementation.
Branding: Corporations and Companies now have logos! These are on the corp buttons and new company buttons, have logos and colors. Operatives also have color branding (currently only used on their loyalty bar)
Circles: Circles are collections of operatives, sorted by any criteria that makesup an operative. The first draft of this system only shows professional circles until the interface catches up and makes browsing the variety of circles easier.
New Intel System: Use intel to uncover 'associations' with the target, burning Intel Points until you create a path of intel to a new target of interest. you can convert intel (at a loss) between associations, discover new associations, or hold intel. Keep in mind all intel (except corporate) slowly degrades over time.
New Mission Framework: changing basic prototype frameworks to the new systems, enables many features such as asynchronous non-linear missions, simultaneous plots, cell adaptability, mission structure/content variety, lone operatives, automatic "operations" that aren't generated like missions ("living world" stuff), and so on. Objectives are now nested in addition to being in linked order, having prerequisites (such as moving to or accessing security) that must be completed first.
Property: Operatives will spend their salaries on improving their lifestyle. The first pass limits this to operative's renting a residence, getting fancier places with higher pay.
Authority(Negotiate) to Authority(Debate). Charm(Negotiate) still exists.
placeholder "$" to "Σ"(sigma), the 'currency' of brokers. Explained in "help".
Cells: An improved button(Now the bars correspond to the team's strength in that area (orange=social skills, blue=net skills, green=stealth skills, red=combat skills)), Custom codenames for the team, and renamed from Team (Sounds cooler, doesn't it? It's also more accurate to how the cell will work in the field as the game progresses).
Corporations: Broke out classes for the Department (the base class for the broker's entire department, first steps in making independent from the corporations. Super-secretive-sounding name generator in next build), and the Corporate Board (The "brains" of the corporation, composed of the executives and deciding what the corp does). Department budget handling improved; it changes based on a % of the current profit/loss, % determined by how much Sigma the corporation has. Plus, tons of Corp AI changes.
Infrastructure: Now on a "point based" system, it shows how many assets that company can work on at once. When developing a new asset, the amount of available infrastructure determines how powerful the asset may be, and how many resources are spent developing it. All unused infrastructure helps with developing assets, in addition to that asset's dedicated infrastructure. Infrastructure also takes time to build up after purchasing.
Loyalty: Operatives have coloured bars to show their loyalties, which will grow and change as they work with other operatives, get paid well, and so on.
Missions: Along with the new intel system, investigating more targets and assassination(Operative) missions have been enabled. Conflicts can now be "leader" type where the most skilled operative takes the test in a conflict (e.g. your soldier always goes for your team until incapacitated, at which point the next best fighter goes). this is the best operative for the specific skill available to be used, not just set per conflict.
Operative Detail Menu: Colored stat/skill listings, tooltip explaining skill test forumla.
fixes, tweaks, improvements... too innumerable to write 'em all down.
- 0.4.1
active mission menu: only cancel plans, aborts active missions (if needed)
teams: long list of fixes preventing "ghost" teams, running ops on 2 simultaneous missions, disbanding active teams, removing active operatives, adding ops to active teams, etc, etc.
Team button: lists active/total operatives
- 0.4.0
Ages and Birthdays! Operatives now have ages and birthdays, and get older with time. age/birthday listed in details menu. Happy birthday, LZG!
Alerts: alerts for dead operatives, birthdays, collected assets/intel...
Asset Button! in company detail menu, shows rank, state, % developed/used up.
Mission Team Handling! Add existing teams to a mission or create one from scratch.
Operative Teams! in the operatives menu, you can create/manage/disband teams, assigning or removing operatives. These teams can be used in missions and stay together afterwards for easy reassignment (and more to come!).
Specialists! You can temporarily assign operatives to a team during mission planning. these operatives will leave the team when the mission is finished.
Fonts! Now with legibility! New font style, dynamic fonts added for better rendering and scaling, also many rendering tweaks: slide/dragged panels resolve to whole pixels, menus line up on whole pixels, etc.
PlanTargetMenu: added exposed targets to top of list, clarified "Intel" on Buttons
fixes, tweaks, improvements
ActiveMissionMenu: no longer cancel finished missions
operative button: now shows "dead" when dead
- 0.3.0(309)
mission plan/run tweaks: empty planned missions get cancelled, you can see proposal details while trying different operatives on the team, team assignment now shows the operative's profile, etc.
operative biography tweak: location reference added back! there's only 8 regions so it's very broad (sorry north europeans!), but I'll be adding more specific regions soon!
team tweaks: ops will stay in teams outside of missions. foundation for more team-centric planning and group handling
codenames: you can add them now! It also tracks their "original" name use, and you can revert their name by entering an empty codename
ticker: wasn't generating enough ticker headlines to fill wider screens
conflict plot challenges
- 0.3.0(304c)
Alerts: Get notices for urgent events. Red Alerts will return time to 1:1. Click the red X to clear the list.
Blip sound effect!
Challenge/Plot/Objective/Mission Failure: teams can fail at skill challenges or in conflicts, causing interruption plots. First the team will try to escape, then they will have to fight if caught, eventually leading to bloody combat! Ops have a chance to recover a failed skill challenge. Whether through recovery or by resolving an escape and coming back to the challenge, and the previous attempt will reduce the challenge.
Conflicts: Operatives fight with other teams using a set of skills; attacking, soaking, taking damage, and recovering. Some conflicts are with words or minds, but continued failure will always lead to a lethal fight!
Department Budget: Paid out of the corp's income, use this to pay salaries, hiring fees, and scouting costs
Mission Planning Colours: Colour codes on proposals, challenges, and assigning operatives help see what are the best options. Green: Guaranteed success (if not injured), Yellow: could pass or fail, Red: Guaranteed fail (excluding use of gear)
Names: 329 backer names! Plus a few more filler names, and improvements to the name generator
Profiles: Two new (Mask and Forger), and fleshed out skills for existing ones
Special Buttons: Corporation buttons show profits and balances, Objective buttons indicate state with color and show time as a label and % fill, Challenge buttons do the same, Operative buttons show current operative status, stat health, and gear levels, etc.
Title Screen!
codenames: Assign your operatives codenames! Complete with codename history log.
traits: More "adjective" traits. Still no mechanical effect.
$ to [sigma]: The number represents an abstract sum of wealth, power, influence, etc. collected by assets and used for a wide assortment of purposes
Industries: Systems (Firewalls, Detectors, Analysis, Training) & Personnel (CorpSec, Admins, Trainer)
Tests: minimum = rank, +stat if rank+stat>school. maximum = rank+(school or stat, whichever's higher)
Corp AI: Corps will develop, use, and sell off assets. They will expand comp infrastructure, keep a warchest of funds, split off income for the department budget, plan missions against each other, hire operatives for those mission challenges, adapt teams to learn from failures, etc.
various bugs
Headlines: Now with priorities, generated reports for game events, color coding and sorting in ticker based on priority, sized on ticker without shrinking text, the correct scroll speed, tons of new headlines, etc.
Help: now actually somewhat helpful. (still placeholder and in need of proper tutorial/guide/etc)
Plots: 43 new plots, and they fill out challenges with related skills for some more diversity. Plots have tags that determine what sort of objective they're used for, what sort of escape or conflict will come up if failed, and more.
Added, improved, tweaked, changed, moved stuff: tons of other things too numerous to recount
- 0.3.0(226)
Prototype Release Build


text:
Minn. judge: Law allowing off-duty carry at games supercedes NFL ban
Last season, the NFL implemented a new policy forbidding handguns for all but officers and private security working at games
By Rochelle Olson
Star Tribune
HENNEPIN COUNTY, Minn. — Minnesota law requires the National Football League to allow off-duty police officers to carry handguns into games despite the league's year-old gun ban, a Hennepin County judge ruled Thursday.
Although Judge Ivy Bernhardson determined that the law trumps the NFL rule, she left undecided how and when the law will be enforced.
For now, that means off-duty officers should leave their guns at home, because only on-duty police and private security working at games will be allowed to bring in handguns.
Earlier this year, the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association, as well as the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis, sued the Vikings, the NFL and the University of Minnesota over a conflict between a 2003 state law and the new NFL policy. The law enforcement organizations represent about 10,000 officers statewide.
State law allows off-duty licensed peace officers to carry weapons into private establishments even if the businesses or organizations ban guns. Last season, the NFL implemented a new policy forbidding handguns for all but officers and private security working at games.
In the coming weeks, the university is expected to argue that it has autonomy under the state Constitution to ban guns for Vikings games in the Golden Gophers' stadium. The Vikings are playing at the university until the 2016 season, when the team's new stadium will be completed.
Despite Thursday's ruling, licensed off-duty officers can't carry guns into NFL games until further court action. In a statement, the university announced plans to "maintain the status quo with respect to the restriction of weapons in TCF Bank Stadium." The NFL issued a similar statement saying the policy will "remain in place" pending further court action.
Cort Holten, an attorney for the police organizations, said he was pleased with Bernhardson's finding that the officers' right to carry handguns supersedes the NFL ban. "It was a four-square interpretation of the law and our arguments," Holten said.
For example, he said, the judge rejected the NFL's argument that a ticket to enter a game is revocable because print on the back states that "admission may be refused or withdrawn or the ticket holder ejected" at the sole discretion of the club or stadium.
The judge has yet to set dates for further action on the case.
In the meantime, she declined to demand that off-duty officers be allowed to carry handguns into Vikings games.
Bernhardson said the officers have alternative options for following games by watching TV and the Internet or listening to the radio. "In addition, active licensed peace officers could choose to attend Vikings games without their weapons until the judgment in this matter is final," she wrote in the 15-page order.
Copyright 2014 the Star Tribune