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From now until the season starts I will be previewing the prospects from Big-12, ACC and Big East teams for the upcoming season. My colleague at NFL Draft Monsters Justin Higdon (follow him on Twitter @afc2nfc) will be covering the SEC, Pac-12 and Big-10 and you will be able to read those posts on NFL Draft Monsters. Check them all out to get ready for the 2013 NFL Draft by identifying the prospects you need to learn about!
Today I am previewing the Kansas Jayhawks. It might seem like there is a dearth of talent on the Jayhawks, and one might assume that given their abysmal 2-10 record last year and statistically awful defense. However, I was quite pleasantly surprised at the talent level of the Jayhawks roster. There isn't a lot of depth, but just having talent at all was a bit of a surprise for me honestly. Weis was able to recruit some 5th year seniors eligible for immediate playing time, most notably Dayne Crist, and has a chance to make a run at 6 wins and a bowl game in his inaugural year as Head Coach. I'm not sure they'll get there, but I think they have a real shot at 4-5 wins. They won't beat teams like Oklahoma, West Virginia or Texas, but games against San Diego State and Rice are winnable and they won't be as overmatched against TCU and Illinois as some might assume. I'm not going to guarantee a bowl game for Kansas, but I will guarantee 4 wins. They're good enough to accomplish that even given the enormous amount of coaching turnover in the last 4 years. So keep an eye on Kansas, they might be good for a shocking upset this season, and if they get a couple breaks against better teams they could find themselves in a bowl game. Here are the prospects to look out for on the Jayhawks:
Dayne Crist, QB- Weis' first priority was trying to find a quarterback to run his offense at Kansas, and who better than someone he was already familiar with. That undoubtably was the deciding factor in Crist choosing to transfer to Kansas over other schools, and as a result he will have one last shot to show NFL teams what he can do. I don't anticipate him ever being a NFL starter, and he might not even stick in the NFL despite his obvious arm talent and NFL size. But for Kansas, having a 6'4", 235 pound quarterback with a rocket arm is something very new and different, and if he performs well it could really help Weis with recruiting. "I picked Dayne Crist off of Notre Dame's scrap heap and made him productive, imagine what I could do with you!" Regardless, Crist has a chance to show off one last time for evaluators this year, and I hope he makes the most of it. I've never been impressed with his poise in the pocket, he doesn't seem to be "the guy" in big games or moments, and he looks nervous when he is pressured. The key for Kansas will be keeping him clean and giving him functional space, and if they can do that while helping him get the ball out of his hands quickly as they did regularly in the Spring Game then he could be successful this season. I really have no idea what to expect from Crist this year, and I don't think he's going to get drafted, but it will be fun to see what he and Weis can do together in his last hurrah as a college quarterback. Crist has been through a lot, and I may not love him as a quarterback prospect, but you want to root for him after his injury issues to both knees at Notre Dame before being benched by Brian Kelly in favor of Tommy Rees. Here's hoping he has a good season and avoids any further injuries.
James Sims, RB*- Sims was Kansas' leading rusher last year with 727 yards and 9 touchdowns (4.0 ypc) and the 6'0" 202 pound back with surprising speed had a firm grip on the starting position until he was arrested for a DUI in April leading Charlie Weiss to suspend him for the first three games of the 2012 season. That may not seem like a huge blow, particularly for something as serious as a DUI, but as far as I can tell that is Sims' first run-in and Weiss has shown that he will not tolerate that kind of behavior as he dismissed 10 players from the team shortly after being named Head Coach. The Jayhawks have a surprising amount of talent and depth at running back, so Sims will have to fight and produce when he comes back from his suspension to earn his job back. He's got some potential, but I want to see how he does in the final 9 games (or 10 if they can somehow get to a bowl game), but I'm glad Weis is taking a firm stance on these kinds of issues. That's a quick and easy way to show your players that you aren't joking around when it comes to keeping yourself out of trouble- suspend your leading rusher and a sure-fire starter when he slips up off the field. Good for Weis.
Tony Pierson, RB**- Pierson is a true sophomore but I really like his upside. He's a speedster listed at 5'11", 170 pounds so he could really stand to add some weight to help him hold up as a potential feature back, but on only 71 carries he managed 396 yards and 3 touchdowns as a freshman (5.6 ypc). Brandon Bourbon will be his main competition for the starting job for the first three games, and Bourbon is more of a power back like Sims thanks to his 6'2", 220 pound size and running style. Look for Pierson and Bourbon to both be mixed in a lot for those first three games, with Bourbon handling short yardage and the Jayhawks trying to get Pierson in space as much as possible. He showed impressive shiftiness as a runner last year and ripped off an 88 yard touchdown run in the Jayhawks' Spring Game, so look for him to make plays even though he is still young.
Daymond Patterson, WR- Patterson was injured for most of the season last year and chose to take a redshirt so he could come back healthy for one last go-round as a Jayhawks receiver. I'm glad he did, because he is going to be a part of a very intriguing offense this year. They have three returning seniors at receiver in him, Kale Pick and DJ Beshears who have all shown they can produce, they have an intriguing 6'4" target Andrew Turzilli who is just a sophomore, and they have three productive running backs at their disposal. If the offensive line holds up and Crist gets comfortable this could actually be a productive offense. Patterson would play a big role in that, as he had 60 receptions for 487 yards and 2 touchdowns as a junior, his first as a receiver after being converted from corner. He doesn't have a NFL future at corner, but his unique experience playing corner and his familiarity with tackling will make it easier to play special teams as he fights for a NFL roster spot next year. He's got pretty reliable hands and the 5'8", 178 pound receiver has some speed and shiftiness to him. He should be Kansas' top receiver this year, but he won't be alone by any means.
Kale Pick, WR- I like Pick a lot, and like many players on Kansas he started his career playing a different position. Pick used to be a quarterback, but last year was his first as a receiver and all the 6'2", 205 pounder did was catch 34 passes for 344 yards and 2 touchdowns. Not bad for your first season at a totally new position, especially in only 7 starts. Pick figures to be Kansas' #2 target this year behind only Patterson, and his emergence should allow Beshears and Patterson to play in the slot more. I didn't see much of Pick last year, but he showed me reliable hands, solid route running and some shiftiness with the ball in his hands. He's not polished yet, but I think he has a chance to stick as a NFL receiver. I am looking forward to watching him this year.
DJ Beshears, WR- When I saw Beshears catching a pass in the slot I thought he was a running back split out, I didn't realize he was a slot receiver. He is listed at 5'9", 185 but may only be 5'8" and his lower body looks more like Maurice Jones-Drew than any receiver I have ever seen. He's got some burst and solid hands, and while I don't think he's draftable at this point it should be interesting to see what he can do in Weis' offense. He led the team with 40 receptions for 437 yards and 3 touchdowns last season but with Patterson and Pick emerging I think he will be more of a complementary target this year.
Andrew Turzilli, WR**- Turzilli is a sophomore this year and obviously won't be declaring for the draft, but he presents some very intriguing size and athleticism for Kansas that they haven't really had in a while. He is listed at 6'4", 185 pounds and has the size and speed to threaten defenses vertically unlike any other receiver on Kansas' football team right now. He is behind three senior receivers this year, but that should give him a chance to sneak up on people and create some big plays down the field without getting much attention from defenses. I would be surprised if Weis elected not to use him since he is an intriguing weapon, and a four WR set with Pick and Turzilli on the outside with Patterson and Beshears in the slot sure would be intriguing, and not many defenses in the Big-12 could take that away easily. He's unproven right now, but I like Turzilli's upside.
Mike Ragone, TE- Ragone is yet another transfer from Notre Dame that Weis used his former coaching job to pull. Ragone is a senior and has plenty of size at 6'4", 250 pounds. Like Crist, he has struggled with injuries and Notre Dame just keeps churning out top NFL talent at tight end, most recently Kyle Rudolph and now Tyler Eifert has a shot at the 1st round. That all contributed to Ragone following Weis to Kansas, and he figures to be the starter for the Jayhawks this year. He only has 11 career receptions for 109 yards, so he is far from a proven commodity, but part of that is due to his struggles with injuries and the two NFL players he has been stuck behind. He's an undrafted free agent at this point for obvious reasons, from a lack of production to injury issues, but it will be interesting to see if Ragone can stay healthy and get some targets in this offense. There's a very real possibility that if he earns the starting job that he could double his career production in just one season, and it would be really cool to see him score his first collegiate touchdown with his last chance at Kansas.
Tanner Hawkinson, OT- Tanner Hawkinson is likely Kansas' top NFL Draft prospect at this point, and he has been a mainstay on the offensive line for the Jayhawks, entering his senior season with a remarkable 36 career starts. He started his first 24 at left tackle before moving to the right side last year, but now he is back at left tackle for his senior season. He's listed at 6'6", 295 pounds and he moves well for a man his size, and you can tell that he is a former tight end. I'm not sure he will be able to stick at left tackle, but there is some potential for him to do so. He is athletic and his biggest problem is his lack of lower body strength and ability to anchor in my opinion. If he can get even stronger (to be fair, he has added 70 pounds of weight since arriving at Kansas) in his lower half it would help him anchor better versus bull rushes and generate more push in the run game. Right now he's a late round prospect, but NFL teams might look at his athleticism and see an unfinished product despite the possibility he will leave Kansas with 48 career starts.
Duane Zlatnik, OG- Zlatnik is probably the second best offensive lineman after Hawkinson, but while I am hoping Hawkinson can get stronger that isn't a problem with Zlatnik. He is listed at 6'4", 311 pounds and is considered to be the strongest player on the team. I'm not that familiar with him from a technique standpoint, but now that I have uncovered all of this talent on Kansas' football team I will likely be watching much more of them this season. He enters the year with 21 career starts, 20 of them coming at right guard, but he will be at left guard next to Hawkinson this season.
Toben Opurum, DE- Opurum is a captain and I listened to an interview he did during the spring and I was impressed with what he had to say. He's a hard worker, a leader, a team captain and seems like a nice kid. Like so many Jayhawks, he started at another position and for Opurum it was running back. He moved to defensive end, bulked up and after transitioning to DE as a sophomore he produced 45 tackles, 6.5 TFL, 4 sacks, one forced fumble, and a pass break-up as a junior. He's Kansas' top returning pass rusher, and was also credited with 7 QB hurries (I don't like to list those because they are so subjective and usually poorly recorded). Opurum is listed at 6'2", 245 pounds and likely won't be a 4-3 DE at that size. It's tough to make it as a 4-3 DE when you're 6'2" or under, and few are productive if they get the chance. Opurum's best bet is probably as a 3-4 OLB where his size wouldn't be as problematic and his athleticism may be better utilized. Opurum has impressive burst and speed, and while he is new to the position I think he has a shot to double his TFL and sack production from last season. I think he has 10+ TFL and 8 sacks in him, I really do. I like Opurum and I'm really rooting for him to have a great season and get drafted, and I hope to see him at the East-West Shrine Game this year.
Darius Willis, MLB*- Willis is a junior middle linebacker who has NFL size at 6'2", 243 pounds and is the team's 2nd leading tackler who is returning this year. He had 81 tackles, 7 TFL and 1 sack last season, his first with the Jayhawks after transferring from Buffalo and sitting out the 2010 season. He has 14 career starts including his two starts as a freshman at Buffalo, and still has two years of eligibility remaining. The Jayhawks are amassing some talent along the defensive line, so it will be interesting to see how Willis builds on his impressive sophomore season. I particularly want to see how he does in coverage.
Tunde Bakare, OLB/SS- Bakare is a hybrid player that I'm not super familiar with, but I do know that in 7 starts last year the 5'10", 205 pounder amassed 51 tackles, 1 TFL and 1 pass break-up. The most impressive thing about Bakare is that, according to Phil Steele's College Football Preview, he has 4.35 speed. That's blistering, and while he's not much of a NFL prospect at this point that sure would get the attention of NFL teams and it could help him get a roster spot as an undrafted free agent if he shows up on special teams.
Tyler Patmon, CB*- Patmon is Kansas' top corner in my opinion, and the junior is listed at 5'11", 180 pounds. As a freshman he started 9 games and had 45 tackles, 4.5 TFL, 1 sack, 10 pass deflections, 2 interceptions, and a fumble recovery returned for a touchdown. He followed that up with 7 starts as a sophomore, producing 43 tackles, 2 TFL, four pass deflections and another interception. I haven't seen him play much so I am interested to see if he can continue his playmaking ways as a junior.
Greg Brown, CB- Brown is another solid corner standing at 5'11", 185 pounds. He had 6 passes defended as a sophomore and had 43 tackles, 1.5 TFL, 3 pass deflections and 2 interceptions as a junior. I haven't seen him play much either, so I want to see if he's draftable. At this point I don't have him graded as much more than an undrafted free agent, but a good season this year could help change that.
Bradley McDougald, FS- McDougald is the Jayhawks' leading returning tackler, producing 89 tackles (68 solo), 4 TFL, 1 sack, 5 pass break-ups, 2 interceptions and a forced fumble as a junior last season. He is another position convert, previously playing wide receiver before transitioning to strong safety during the season as a sophomore and starting 2 games. He started all 12 games last year and even returned 2 punts for an average of 11 per return. The 6'2", 214 pounder has a unique skill set thanks to his ability to contribute as a receiver early on in his career (he has 52 career receptions for 558 yards and 1 touchdown, so he can catch) and he is a reliable tackler and has shown the ability to make plays in coverage. He's underrated, and I really think he has a chance to get drafted. If Kansas' front 7 can improve their back end could make some plays this year, headlined by McDougald.


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300x400mm Metal Wall Sign – Oh Crepe Mix
Red Hot Lemon are extremely proud to say all of our designs of Metal Wall plaques and signs are EXCLUSIVE to us, they are designed in-house by an inspired and passionate team – our aim…to give you and your customers something to be excited about! We use the freshest techniques, great eye for detail, and a love for each design, we believe it makes us the wall sign supplier of choice for those who are just as passionate about giftware as we are! With many ranges there is something to suit you all.
A bit of info about this design:
Design & appeal: Quirky humour to inject that bit of fun into your day. Naughty sayings to make any one smile! 1 of a range of 11 which all come in a quad design with hessian backprint and black sketch drawings. All designs have stunning text styles to make each signjust that little bit more uniqe! Add a bit of your personailty into your home with this wonderful wall art bringing joy to those who love something a little bit more fun than the general lovey dovey! Great gift idea for those who can think outside the box and love to make their friends and loved ones chuckle.
Size: 400x300mm
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subset: commoncrawl


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Credits Expertise, Ease and Efficiency of Programming All Types of CNCs, Plus Customer Service and SupportMOORPARK, California, December 3, 2012 — (PRNewswire) —
Cimatron Limited (NASDAQ and TASE: CIMT), a leading provider of integrated CAD/CAM software solutions for the toolmaking and manufacturing industries, announced today that its subsidiary, Gibbs and Associates, has been selected for membership in Okuma America's Partners in THINC.
THINC is a collaborative network of over 40 companies that service the metal-cutting and manufacturing industry with specialized software, equipment, expertise and a commitment to solve problems and increase productivity for end users. With Okuma's open architecture, PC-based THINC®-OSP control as its nucleus, Partners in THINC strive to provide the best possible integrated solutions to end users.
"We are pleased to be recognized for our expertise in providing a highly efficient, productive, and easy-to-use CAM system to industry, and for the service and support we provide our customers," said Bill Gibbs, founder and president of Gibbs and Associates. "We have been supporting Okuma machinery for over thirty years, and the THINC-OSP controls since their introduction in 2004. We look forward to participating in the delivery of integrated solutions that help manufacturers increase efficiency and profitability with the latest and most sophisticated machine tools from Okuma."
GibbsCAM is well known in the industry for its easy-to-use graphic interface, and its extensive capabilities, providing a modular solution for programming all Okuma machine tools, from their 3-axis mills and 2-axis lathes, to their multi-axis and multi-task machines (MTMs). GibbsCAM is especially renowned for its support of Okuma MTMs, because it programs turning and milling operations from a single interface, and provides error-free postprocessing that results in machine-ready programs that require no editing. These capabilities extend to all of Okuma's machine tools. With a library of over 11,000 postprocessors, including over 1,000 for MTM machines, Gibbs has many postprocessors for Okuma CNCs, including the MU, Millac, Multus and Macturn series.
Mr. Gibbs was recently the speaker at the Okuma "Go Beyond Productivity to Profitability" open house, in Houston, Texas, on November 15, where machine-tool distributor Hartwig used GibbsCAM to program all of the Okuma machine tools on display and in operation, including four 4-axis, double-turret vertical and horizontal lathes, three 4-axis vertical and horizontal mills, plus the Okuma LB3000 EX, a double spindle, single turret, Y-axis lathe, and the MULTUS B400, a multi-function horizontal lathe with B-axis head.
About Gibbs and Associates and GibbsCAM
For thirty years, Gibbs and Associates has been a leader in providing cutting edge CAD/CAM technology, while maintaining its signature ease-of-use and productivity. Powerfully Simple, Simply Powerful is the guiding philosophy at Gibbs. Gibbs believes in empowering the NC programmer, machinist, and manufacturing engineer, not eliminating them. Gibbs' goal is to introduce manufacturers to new technologies and new ways of working that makes their machining easier and their businesses more profitable. To achieve this goal, Gibbs creates tools that are naturally intuitive, graphically interactive, extremely visual, associative, and just plain enjoyable to use. Gibbs provides a total quality solution with the service and support that successful customers require.
The current GibbsCAM product line supports 2- through 5-axis milling, turning, mill/turning, multi-task simultaneous machining and wire-EDM. GibbsCAM also provides fully integrated manufacturing modeling capabilities that include 2D, 2.5D, 3D wireframe, surface, and solid modeling. GibbsCAM is Compatible with Windows 7 and Certified for Windows Vista. GibbsCAM's data exchange capabilities are able to access the broadest range of native and industry standard CAD data formats. GibbsCAM is certified under the Autodesk Inventor Certified Program, is a Siemens Solution Partner Program-PLM for Solid Edge product, and is a SolidWorks Certified CAM Product. GibbsCAM is either offered or endorsed by a number of leading worldwide control and machine tool manufacturers, including GE Fanuc, Infimatic, Siemens, Doosan Infracore, Haas, Index, MAG Fadal, Mazak, Mitsubishi, DMG/Mori Seiki, Okuma, and Tornos. Gibbs and Associates distributes its products worldwide through a network of international Resellers.
In January 2008, Gibbs and Associates merged with Cimatron Ltd., and is now operating as a wholly owned subsidiary. For more information about Gibbs and Associates and its CAM software packages, visit its web site ( http://www.GibbsCAM.com) or call 1-800-654-9399 (outside of North America, call +1-805-523-0004).
About Cimatron
With 30 years of experience and more than 40,000 installations worldwide, Cimatron Ltd., or Cimatron, is a leading provider of integrated, CAD/CAM software solutions for mold, tool and die makers as well as manufacturers of discrete parts. Cimatron is committed to providing comprehensive, cost-effective solutions that streamline manufacturing cycles, enable collaboration with outside vendors, and ultimately shorten product delivery time.
The Cimatron product line includes the CimatronE and GibbsCAM brands with solutions for mold design, die design, electrodes design, 2.5 to 5 axes milling, wire EDM, turn, mill-turn, rotary milling, multi-task machining, and tombstone machining. Cimatron's subsidiaries and extensive distribution network serve and support customers in the automotive, aerospace, medical, consumer plastics, electronics, and other industries in over 40 countries worldwide.
Cimatron's shares are publicly traded on the NASDAQ exchange and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange under the symbol CIMT. For more information, please visit Cimatron's web site at: http://www.cimatron.com.
The Gibbs logo, GibbsCAM, GibbsCAM logo, Virtual Gibbs, and "Powerfully Simple. Simply Powerful." are either trademark(s) or registered trademark(s) of Gibbs and Associates in the United States and/or other countries. Microsoft, Windows and the Windows logo are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. Autodesk, Autodesk Inventor, and Inventor are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand or product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release includes forward looking statements, within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which are subject to risk and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. Such statements may relate to Cimatron's plans, objectives and expected financial and operating results. The words "may," "could," "would," "will," "believe," "anticipate," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "plan," and similar expressions or variations thereof are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the company's ability to control. The risks and uncertainties that may affect forward looking statements include, but are not limited to: currency fluctuations, global economic and political conditions, marketing demand for Gibbs and Associates or Cimatron products and services, long sales cycles, new product development, assimilating future acquisitions, maintaining relationships with customers and partners, and increased competition. For more details about the risks and uncertainties related to Cimatron's business, refer to its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company cannot assess the impact of or the extent to which any single factor or risk, or combination of them, may cause. Gibbs and Associates and Cimatron undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Yvonne Anderson
Gibbs and Associates
+1(805)523-0006 (Fax)
Email Contact
SOURCE Cimatron Ltd
|Cimatron Ltd


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Kennedy is just one example of the many brave kids whose lives have been changed thanks to a surgery performed at Children's Hospital. Kennedy was born with cytomegalovirus (CMV), a common virus that can cause birth defects in unborn babies, including hearing loss, as it did in Kennedy's left ear. Her health and hearing were monitored regularly, and when she was a year old, an intensive hearing test revealed she was beginning to lose hearing in her right ear as well.
Kennedy successfully underwent two surgeries with Dr. Keiko Hirose, pediatric otolaryngologist, to receive cochlear implants in both of her ears, which consisted of having the internal device placed under her skin behind each ear with electrodes implanted in her inner ear.
Kennedy, now four years old, has learned to interpret sounds through the implants, which has also enabled her to talk, and even whisper. She loves to quote Scooby Doo. Kennedy enjoys going to school at the Central Institute for the Deaf and making many new friends. She also loves playing at the All-Inclusive Playground at Tilles Park that St. Louis Children's Hospital built in 2006, because the slides were built not to conduct static electricity, which can erase the mapping on Kennedy's implants.


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by Tom Utescher
The Mount St. Joseph Academy crew is used to bringing home multiple medals from the annual Philadelphia City Championships, but most of the three golds and two silvers won by the Magic last Sunday didn't come from the usual sources.
Seven of the 11 vessels entered by the Mount made it to the final round in the afternoon after qualifying in head races (single-lane racing with crews ranked by time) in the morning. The JV eight went on to finish sixth in its final race and the varsity eight was fifth, while silver medals went to the second varsity eight and the lightweight eight.
Where Mount St. Joe struck gold was in a large and talented ninth-grade class under the command of Jen Fasy, a longtime assistant who became to head freshman and novice coach just this year. The Magic's freshman eight, novice eight, and freshman four all won gold medals, and the novice "B" eight missed qualifying for the finals by a single place.
In all of the categories where crews needed to race in the qualifying round, the boats with the six fastest times moved on into the finals.
In addition to the novice eight "B" boat, three other MSJ entries ended their day in the qualifiers, the JV four, the lightweight four, and the varsity four.
The novice eight "A" boat was a model of consistency, placing first in the morning by just under 10 seconds, and winning the gold medal later by a hair over 10 ticks. Timed in 5:14.56 in the final, the Mounties easily topped runner-up Philadelphia City Rowing (5:24.66), while Germantown Academy (5:28.59) won the bronze medal.
There were 19 boats in the novice eight class at the outset, but only eight in the specific freshman eight category. Here, the Mount qualified first by seven second seconds, then got a little more of a push from Catholic Academies rival Merion Mercy in the final race. MSJ took gold in 5:06.65, and the other medals went to Merion (5:10.86) and Radnor High School (5:14.28).
Mount St. Joe boats were enrolled in two events where the scarcity of competitors made a qualifying round unnecessary, and only a final race was held. The Magic took advantage of this boon by medaling in each contest.
The freshman four smoked the field, winning in 6:04.77 while Moorestown (N.J.) High claimed the silver medal in 6:14.23, outlasting some fellow Jerseyites from Montclair (6:15.71).
The lightweight eight category has been ruled by Absecon, New Jersey's Holy Spirit High School for two years, but at least the Magic made a good run in the finals at Cities. While Spirit was the clear leader, the Mount was actually back in fourth place a few hundred meters from the finish.
On the inside in lane two, the Magic put on an impressive sprint, quickly going by Montclair and then getting ahead of Merion Mercy near the finish line to snag the silver medal. Spirit still won comfortably, 5:03.19 to 5:08.59, but early in the season the Mount had been timed up to 15 seconds behind the Jersey crew. Merion won the bronze medal in 5:08.82, and Montclair fell to fourth in 5:14.20.
Through much of the season, there has been a fair amount of personnel swapping (even with coxswains) between the light eight and the Mount varsity eight (and the second eight to a lesser extent), and there were actually two lightweight rowers in the varsity boat last weekend. Lacking the pure horsepower pushing many rival boats, the Mount V-8 must row a near-perfect race to succeed in a strong field, and last weekend it just didn't happen.
Qualifying in the fourth position in the morning, the Magic were assigned to one of the outside lanes, number five, for the finals late in the afternoon. As the boats passed alongside Peter's Island with a few hundred meters to go, top qualifier Holy Spirit appeared to have the race in hand, and they took the gold in 5:02.83.
On either side of them, the other boats were knotted up in what looked like the crew equivalent of a rugby scrum. In fact, less than a second-and-a-half separated the second and fifth-place finishers. Unfortunately for MSJ fans, their favorites wound up at the back of this bunch, coming in fifth in 5:08.90, ahead of Archbishop Carroll, which was timed in 5:10.83 out in lane six.
Merion Mercy (5:07.52) won the silver medal, the bronze went to suburban Camden's Bishop Eustace (5:07.56), and in fourth place was Radnor High School (5:08.59). In the bow seat for the Red Raiders was Radnor junior Rachel Hochberger, daughter of the LOCAL's own Associate Publisher, Larry Hochberger.
Earlier, Holy Spirit had also set the gold standard in the second eight final, fending off a strong challenge from Mount St. Joe as the two crews were timed in 5:14.81 and 5:16.05. This pretty much reflected the results of the qualifying, where Spirit was exactly two seconds faster than number two MSJ. In the final, the bronze medal went to another Jersey crew, Absegami High School, in 5:19.65.
The other MSJ finalist last Sunday was the JV eight, which qualified sixth with under two seconds to spare. This netted the Mounties placement in lane six for the final, closest to the current disruptions caused by Peter's Island. This aside, they just seemed to lack the "pop" of some of the other crews, coming in sixth in 5:27.09, while Holy Spirit added to its gold medal haul with a time of 5:11.99.
In some ways, Sunday's results were almost like a flashback to a decade ago, when a three-year old Mount St. Joseph crew program was aspiring to the level of success then enjoyed by a wildly successful Holy Spirit franchise. The MSJ upperclassmen still have a number of big races this year in which they might get back their mojo, and obviously the performance of the current freshman class bodes well beyond 2013.
Mount St. Joseph Boatings
Freshman Four – Olivia Kylander (cox), Grace Little (stroke), Mia Fitzpatrick, Liz DeGroat, Audrey Ezzo
Novice Eight "A" – Emily Woodrow (cox), Dana Mischler (stroke), Rachel Sandquist, Brooke McMahon, Shannon Hughes, Cait Hagan, Lauren Scheffey, Alex Uzzo, Erin McGreevey
Novice Eight "B" – Kathleen Brooks (cox), Ella Perry (stroke), Katie Zimmerman, Taylor Czerpak, Maddy Mulligan, Brianna McBride, Anna Gallagher, Julia Bushold, Vicki Matsinger
Freshman Eight – Lindsey Maiale(cox), Demi Simms (stroke), Christina Knox, Olivia Tice-Carroll, Maddie Lauinger, Julianna Hunt, Maddie Carlton, Katelin Cordero, Zoe Ramos
JV Four – Mimi O'Malley (cox), Katie Gresko (stroke), Nina Lawlor, Bernadette McGirr, Victoria Summerville
JV Eight – Megan Mirabella (cox), Caroline Carbone (stroke), Jenny DiPietro, Jocelyn Ziemniak, Quinn Devore, Christina Vosbikian, Alaina Hunt, Brynn McGillin, Ariene Merkle
Lightweight Four – Madi Kist (cox), Sophia Cocozza (stroke), Lauren Woodrow, Emma Tenzinger, Ellie McGlynn
Lightweight Eight – Annie Tenzinger (cox), Emily McHugh, Liz McKernan, Maura O'Donnell, Bridget Fitzpatrick, Kate Mirabella, Josie Marrocco, Lexi Meister, Abby Shreero
Second Eight – Alyssa Pagliaro (cox), Emily Ruddy, Maddie Wescott, Gwyn Kieffer, Fiona Kelly, Danielle Kosman, Jacqueline James, Marissa Mulligan, Rachel Heller
Varsity Four – Beth Weinrich (cox), Kate Stromberg (stroke), Hanna Leonard, Natalie Keane, Alana Cianciulli
Varsity Eight – Mary Raggazino (cox), Maddie Lawn (stroke), Natalie Simms, Steph Eble, Kierra McCloy, Lauren Matchett, Kait Loftus, Michela Karrash, Leah Ramos


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I have come across some tagger size kits in the past, and just now, that's why I thought I'd come here and ask: Why? What are they used for? They seem to be way too small to print, even if you'd want to do paper layouts with them. I seem to be missing something here. Can anyone clarify this for me?
You are hereForums › Digital Scrapbooking › Digital Scrapbooking Discussion › What are tagger size kits used for?
What are tagger size kits used for?
That's a good question. I have wondered myself as well.
For tags! Like these here. Now don't ask me what they are used for, 'cause that I am not sure of. E-mail decoration perhaps?
I've wondered that too!
Ok, so what people do with tags? And why so many of them look so weird?
@Lorien, lol!! You made me laugh, I wondered that same thing:)
Tagger kits are for designers that intend to use them only for graphics displayed on the web, which is why they are usually only at 72 dpi and are smaller-sized images. The "tags" are often used as signatures for blogs and forums... they would be great for blog graphics, too. They are rather useless for digital scrapbooking that is intended to be printed.
Here's a page that explains them pretty well, IMHO: http://www.simplescrapper.com/2009/04/you-asked-about-tagger-kits/
The thing is, if you're going to go to all of that work, why not make them full size and then resize them down to 72dpi?
@ Janet. I agree. It seems like it would be a better use of time to make them print sizes/dpi and reduce them later.
However, I can see a certain appeal to the tagger kits - the seemingly massive dimensions of print-ready scrapbooking items can be overwhelming and intimidating for some people. When I started working with graphics on the computer, I would size things so that they looked and felt comfortable on the screen - not for print. Print requires much larger sizes and can seem much more detailed. It freaked me out at first and has taken me a while to adjust to the concept.
Also, a LOT of resources on the internet (specifically ones not geared towards print-ready scrapbooking) are made for tagger work and web graphics. Before I "discovered" digital scrapbooking, I had a difficult time finding things at 300 dpi or brushes that could scale up high enough for what I was wanting to do with print-ready pages.
That being said, now that I am used to the size, I don't understand why people don't just make things big and scale them down when they want to. It makes for much more versatile work and isn't more complicated once you get used to it... /shrugs
When I was first starting out in digiscrapping I joined a site that had a bunch of free kits you could download as a member. My husband had just gotten me PSP & I needed something to play with & this seemed like a good thing. What I didn't know at the time is all the stuff I downloaded was tagger size! I was so bummed when I found out, because I wanted to use the stuff for digiscrapping, but it was too small. I especially loved the papers and remember emailing the site about it (asking if they could offer the papers full-size), but I never heard back from them. I thought that maybe I could try to make them into bigger papers so I could use them (like one would do with a pattern), but that wasn't possible - most of them had some sort of edge treatment (grungy or glittery border or what not). Like a lot of you, I wondered why anyone would make tagger kits... It seems like it would take the same amount of energy & time to make those as it would full-size kits, only the tagger kits have fewer uses...
I can see the appeal if you only ever intend to keep your layouts in digital format to display on screen. They would save a lot of hard drive space thats for sure. I found a blog once that had some really cute kits, but after downloading about 4 or 5 kits, she mentioned in one post that they are all tagger size. I was bummed. I've been debating whether I should offer some of my stuff as tagger size. I'm not sure how much demand there is for it.
I am pretty new to scrapbooking but have been doing digital graphics for many years. I have belonged to several different graphics groups and they have posting size limits. In these groups you make an image then email it to the group. So the tagger size kits are perfect for doing this kind of stuff. Surprisingly a lot of people are still on dial up so the size of graphics is crucial.
Also I use Paint Shop Pro 9 and the larger size stuff causes the program to hang up. That is why I use the smaller sizes.
@Sharron: I used to have that problem with PSP XI, too, but discovered it wasn't the software it was my computer (needed more memory & I'd put the maximum I could in it). When I got a new computer I didn't have that problem anymore. I'm on a newer version now (X4) and it's going fine thankfully... PSP is a memory hog.
@Sharon, how much ram do you have on your computer? I started designing with PSP 7 and only 512MB ram with a 4gig hard drive (I know I'm old!). It was sure slow! I then upgraded to 1gig ram, 400gig hard drive and PSP9. Boy, was I stylin' then. I did find that as I tried to do more that I was having problems with PSP freezing. I did some research and what I can remember was something to do with the virtual memory. You can increase that and it shouldn't freeze up on you anymore. That second computer is still going strong. I gave it to my mother and it still working great.
I am a tagger. I started out on Delphi forums years ago, and a friend from there taught me how to make my own tags in PSP 5. Very basic graphics at the time. Standard size of most tags now is about 600x600 pixels. (Edit) There is a site called "Insatiable Dreams" (end edit) by a lady who uses the name Cat. Her tutorials are some of the best I've ever done. A lot of the taggers that I know tend to lean toward more "adult" tags, using art from Keith Garvey, Barb Jensen, etc. I have tons of those tags, and I own a lot of the "tubes" from the artists, but really don't have anywhere to use them any more. One of the things that I always enjoyed about tagging was doing animated tags. They're a nice challenge. If you do check out Cat's Insatiable Dreams site, please be aware that there are adult tags and steer clear of them if they offend you.
I still use my tagger kits, though, when I do new covers for Facebook. I also make tags for friends to use as profile pictures and covers.
Edited to add: I thought that link would take you directly to the page for the tutorial, but I'm guessing that it takes you to the home page for Insatiable Dreams. It is a tricky site to navigate, so I'll make a separate post on how to get to that tutorial. Sorry for the confusion!
Edited again: I'm removing the link to insatiabledreams.net. I hadn't read the post about it being "sketchy" before I edited this before.
I should add that the majority of tagger kits are meant solely to be used on forums, boards, blogs, etc. They have never been intended to be printed the way that digi-scrap kits are.
where do people use that adult tags Penny? they are so ugly IMO. Not offensive, but so ugly, with a very non-realistic 3d....
Lorien, a lot of adult tags were used on Yahoo 360 before it was closed down. There are tagger groups on Facebook that still use them. I'm sure there are other forums and blog spaces that use them as well, but I really don't know. Some of the individual artists, like Barb Jensen, have their own Yahoo groups where these tags are shared. I don't have anything to do with them, other than if a friend asks me to create a tag for them.
That's also why I warned not to look at the things on Cat's site that are marked as adult content, I don't want anyone to be offended. She has so many other cute things, like the one with the fall colors that I linked. Her site, for me, is more about learning new techniques than about the artwork that she uses in the tags.
You might think of the art that is used more as "cartoon" art... some of these artists got their start doing Marvel Comics, etc. They aren't meant to be realistic, but some of them are on the ridiculous side of non-realistic.
I just tried to go to the link you showed, but her site blocked me because I use Opera as my web browser. I would be interested to see some of the stuff. I'm not offended by adult content. I am, however, offended by the screen she has posted about blocking people using the browsers she blocks. It insinuates that I'm there to steal her graphics. I'm really offended now that this person goes by the same name as me.
Sorry, nothing against you. I just find it insulting to be accused of something that I'm not guilty of.
Sorry, Cat, I've never seen that message, but I understand how you feel. To be honest, when I used to belong to her tagger group, she did deal with a lot of people stealing her graphics and her animation actions and claiming them for their own. I would guess that she's had more of that happening, but I'm no longer in contact with her or in her group, so I couldn't say for sure. I'm sorry you had a bad experience!
Fran, I removed the link myself. Sorry.
Fran, I removed the link myself. Sorry.
I don't think you needed to remove the link, myself, but I was a little taken aback by the "greeting" I got went I tried to view the page. I didn't mean to come off as sounding PO'd at you. I just wanted you to know what kind of reception some people were getting when you send people there. I understand wanting to protect your work, but perhaps she should put something about visitors welcome to visit using another browser instead of being accusatory and driving away visitors IMHO...
@Penny: No one of us are trying to offend you or the sites you like; we are just, as more "traditional" digiscrappers, expressing our "cultural shock", lol.
I have nothing against adult content too - just can´t understand why they don´t do it in a way it´s beautiful and pleases the eye, as, if they have talent to do what they do, they could do pretty things really easy. But the explanations on this topic were really helpful
Oh, I'm not offended at all. As I said, I really don't do much tagging anymore, I was just trying to be helpful. The warning about the adult content was just that, a warning. When I found myself apologizing for a link that I posted, though, I decided I probably wasn't being very helpful. I don't want to post anything on your site that is sketchy or that people worry is offensive to them because of the terms of the site. This way, if people really want to look at Insatiable Dreams, they can either google it or type it into their browsers, and nothing will be associated with PixelScrappers.
My point really was that they use tagger size kits to make beautiful things. This is the example that I was trying to let people see.
What you can't see by this screen shot is that the little rain cloud is animated. The tutorial teaches you how to make the frame boxes and paste your papers into the boxes, then how to make it all look like a shadow box. I think the technique would make a very cute digiscrap page, if used with full-size papers instead of tagger size.
@Penny Animated digiscrap! I didnt even think of that. (mindblown)
@Cat I have 1.24 gig of ram. Old computer. However I was not complaining, just answering the question hahaha.
wow, really beautiful. I´d love to do a "paper sculpture" that looked like that tag....
Ha, animation, yes, I can understand why you would want to use tagger size for animated graphics. Thanks so much for explaining!
I started out as a tagger but quickly got out of it once I realized how rampant the copyright violations are in that community, and how many of the tags featured freakishly large-chested women! I did learn a lot about my graphics programs through it, though.
I've noticed that the tagger community blogs tend to be the ones that bother me the most with "cutesy" frivolous effects stuff that was super popular in the late 90's, but now annoys me (floating snowflakes across the site, auto-playing music, tons of animate GIFs, and cursor trails, etc).
A LOT also seem to have pretty risque tags. It's not so much the large breasts that bother me (at 34G, I am pretty damn used to those lol) but the fact that the women are usually in skimpy clothes or lingerie and are in extremely provocative and sexual poses. It's not something I approve of out of the privacy of one's own home and certainly not something I want my daughter to see over my shoulder.
I'm not saying it's bad, per-say, just not an environment that I would enjoy. They do have some really neat designs, though... unfortunately in tagger sizes, though, which are pretty useless for the things I want to do. lol
hi ladies i tag for 3 groups and i love to make tags i also make papers,frames,and elements working on a mini kit right now and orther things been doing tags about 4 years u can use the tag kits for items u make like elements etc they are smaller therefore better on downloading size etc and storage i use psp9 running windows 7and catshoes tuts are great took her lessons i think i have all of them.


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- This event has passed.
SIGGRAPH 2013 Electronic Theater Screening
November 29, 2013 @ 2:30 am
An Evening of Animation
The Toronto ACM SIGGRAPH Chapter welcomes you to join them for an evening of electric animation entertainment at the Royal Theater in Little Italy. A composite of work from top animators all over the world will be shown, followed by an after party at the Monarch Tavern (a short walk away).
The SIGGRAPH Electronic Theater selections are chosen by an internationally-recognized jury from among hundreds of submissions. If you didn't make it to SIGGRAPH 2013, this is your chance to see it! Selections include outstanding achievements in time-based art, scientific visualization, visual effects, real-time graphics, and narrative shorts.
Come for a high definition movie night, sit back, and enjoy! Concessions and alcoholic beverages will be available for purchase before and during the show.
Read more about the Toronto ACM SIGGRAPH Chapter Electronic Theater Screening or buy tickets now.


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How to Enter A Climbing Competition
Oct 09, 2014
We're hosting our first-ever climbing competition at Brooklyn Boulders this upcoming Saturday, October 25th! All levels, ages and climbers are invited to compete.
Never been in a climbing competition before? We give you the lowdown on the BROOKLYN BEATDOWN.
The Youth ABS (American Bouldering Series) is an official governing body of climbing competitions. To compete in this Youth ABS portion, kids up to age 18 must be registered with ABS ($5 fee payable upon registration, if not already). If they wish, they can also compete in the open climbing competition – but they'll have to register for both competitions separately.
Brooklyn Beatdown will be a red point competition – which means that climbers can attempt problems as many times as they want. Each problem is valued at a certain number of points, though falls deduct points from the value of the climb. If a climber completes the climb on the first try, it's called a "flash" and bonus points are received.
- Recreational (V0-V3)
- Intermediate (V4-6)
- Advanced (V7-V9)
- Open (V9+)
- Masters (All levels, Age 40+)
If you're somewhere in between and not sure, just pick a category that's closest to your climbing ability.
Yes! Some of Brooklyn's best will be competing and the problems we're setting will be hard. Come throw down.Will women & men be competing against each other?
No, our competition is separated by men and women. There will be Women's and Men's winners for each category.
What can I win?
For our Open Category – climbers competing in V9 levels and up – the first place winners for the men's and women's category will win $500 in cash each. For all other categories, first, second and third place winners will receive sweet prizes from our sponsors. All attendees are invited to participate in our raffle, where you can also win some swag.
What's the after party all about?
It starts at 7pm at Three's Brewing, at 333 Douglass St. They'll be serving beers & spirits, and we'll be celebrating our first climbing competition!
Jul 15, 2020


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If you thought Merlin Mann was only good at making up ways to file all your emails into one of 43 correct folders, think again. He's also good at comedy. And masturbating. And steampunk. What do you get when you combine the three? This pretty damn great video. If you're lost, watch it after the jump as Merlin explains his hobby in intricate detail. It's not NSFW, but we didn't want to piss off the lady that works at Martha Stewart who wrote to us one time. On the other hand, she's probably long gone.
Steampunk DIY from Merlin Mann on Vimeo.


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Shaun of the Dead on DVD
Shaun of the dead / Universal Pictures, Studio Canal and Working Title Films present a WT2 production in association with Big Talk Productions produced in association with Inside Track 2, LLP ; produced by Nira Park ; written by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright ; directed by Edgar Wright.
Call Number: DVD-001127
Shaun of the Dead is an apropos watch during the Halloween season. This comedy is a homage to the zombie movie subgenre. In the midst of a zombie outbreak in London, Shaun fights zombies while simultaneously fighting for the heart of his ex-girlfriend. A whiney salesman, Shaun is an unlikely hero. Before proceeding with this review, there is one caveat: I hate horror movies. I am quite squeamish and I have never understood the popular fixation with zombies. Several of my friends recommended this movie to me over the years, but I could not compel myself to watch even a mock horror movie. Two factors contributed to me finally viewing this movie. First, I recently watched the superbly silly British television series Spaced. Created by overlapping visionaries, this show also features several of the actors who later starred in Shaun of the Dead. The Spaced characters are so loveable and quirky that I softened to the idea of a comedic zombie movie starring their actors. Second, I spotted Shaun of the Dead the first time that I perused the Monroe Library DVD collection. In addition to the blood, gore, and the undead munching on corpses, Shaun of the Dead has all of the dysfunctional relationships, moral indifference, and general cluelessness that was so entertaining on Spaced. Shaun of the Dead is worth viewing even if you do not like zombies.
- Malia Willey, Information Literacy/Learning Commons Librarian


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28th of August we had our first Brisbane Girl Geek Dinner. We had 25 people attend our first dinner with about 10 people pulling out at the last minute due to illness. We had some great feedback and will start planning the next event very soon so watch this space.
Photos are courtesy of Tim: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alborath/sets/72157606993717214/
Technorati Tags: Girl Geek Dinners,WIT


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About this blog
FLEFF Intern Voices
The Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival from the interns' point of view
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Blog posting written by Andrew Ronald, Film, Photography & Visual Arts '15, FLEFF Intern, Mahopac, NY
It is evident that Karin Ash has consistently demonstrated a fusion between dedication and a hard-working personality to get where she is today as president of the Cinemapolis Board of Directors. Cinemapolis itself is an independent theater "...dedicated to providing a sophisticated community with the best in new international and independent cinema." I recently had the opportunity to interview Karin Ash and receive some insightful information about her and her interaction with FLEFF 2012.
Karin Ash worked for thirty-eight years as a professional in university higher education administration including state universities in Florida and California and even Ivy League schools. Although these locations were very dynamic, one thing remained consistent: "I always focused on helping students gain experiences that would assist them in deciding upon a career direction, gaining relevant internship experiences and finding post-graduate employment." And in a way, this emphasis on helping students was actually symbiotic. Not only were college students being shaped into future denizens of the "real" world, but Ash claims that she "...gained a better understanding of the...challenges that are of concern to students [and] developed a fairly good overview of the career opportunities where students could make a difference. And, for many students making a difference in the environment, as defined by FLEFF, is paramount. Many students want to work in a field where they will have a positive impact on water, energy, health, international development, the food industry and education."
Advice For Students
In order for students to gain entry into the art and media world, Ash commented on the significance behind students expressing their interest in the art and media world as opposed to just verbalizing it. In order to become engaged and demonstrate this expressivity, students must construct a vast canon of experience during college, volunteer their time if they cannot find paid internships, especially during nights and weekends, and hold perspicacious dialogues with professionals.
"I'm most excited about FLEFF's theme this year of microtopias. The theme is very much in line with the Board of Directors vision for Cinemapolis, 'a premier art cinema, where people of all ages broaden their horizons through artistically significant films, cultural camaraderie, and educational programs.'" Not only are the movies shown during FLEFF week inspiring and intergenerational, but they are accessible and invite patrons to learn about different environments - the whole principle of FLEFF in the first place.
Closing Words
"The Cinemapolis Board of Directors is extremely grateful to Ithaca College, and especially to Patty Zimmerman and Tom Shevory, who work so hard all year long to host this fabulous multimedia event."


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Directory Listing
adding in the new perl client/server into trunk.
moving the old python scire server/client into a branch and out of trunk.
trying to get this a bit more workable.
removing some comments. small other touchups.
let's actually run the jobs we get...untested
use proper form for send_command()
test script for Scire::Job
basic support for sending both stdout and stderr
attempt to add the recurring job rescheduling into the server. not tested.
handle a non-zero exitcode from the communicator
write out script_data to file determine UID/GID of run_as user beforehand so we can change the owner of the script we just wrote exec the script we wrote out instead of dummy commands add set_script_file() function
exit with -2 if run_as user can't be found always try to get exitstatus
check proper variable after forking add code to setuid() before job execution
add in exec() call
remove unneeded module
move Scire.pm to Scire/Job.pm and fix scireclient.pm to use the new paths
break out the Communicator code.
fill out run() a bit more
add stub for run()
condense check_job_dir() with a loop
move code that talks to server into talk_to_server(), which forks before doing its thing in order to drop privileges
change set_filename() to load_jobfile()
only import open2 from IPC::Open2
whole bunch of updates here. first, created run_query and put the process of debug/prepare/execute into it. much simpler and cleaner! added RETURN_JOBFILE cmd and stub for JOBFILE_SENT. add a check to set_job_status to see if we're marking a job as finished. if so, it needs to do some more work. that part isn't coded yet.
move SERVER_STDIN and SERVER_STDOUT inside the class hash
don't need SERVER_STDIN and SERVER_STDOUT here
move bits of the server communication into Scire.pm
set Data::Dumper::Purity to 1 for nested data
switch back to Data::Dumper for job output
don't stick 'script' in the hash
initial commit of Scire.pm
fixed up the expansion w/ one last query.
adding job expansion code.
remove the jobfile once it's been successfully sent to the client.
fix parse_response() regex to ignore trailing whitespace
updating this. minor fixes. adding job_fetched code.
fixin up get_jobs a bit.
return job filename and print it
fixed get_jobs. coded get_job. but there seems to be a problem with it. commented out most of it for now, still doesn't work.
add debug to response line added other paths to check_job_dir fixed up get_job a bit.
add status_id param to get_jobs()
fully implement get_jobs
modify get_jobs query to make sure to get the latest job_history entry for the job
chomp the line read from client_key
switch config location to /etc/scire/ add config defaults to scireclient
switching on the database lines. major fixes to register and identify code. uses a md5sum of the time+mac+ip+hostname
fixing up registering and identifying code.
remove dead code add a few extra options to the ssh invocation
add Id tag properly
add Id tag
add the debug line to the config.
cleaned up the debugging. took out existing jobs lines.
drop tab in heredoc terminator
add get_interface_info() to get MAC/IP for register_client()
add interface config option
add jobdir for server.
added global for clientid, added to identify query. toss existing jobs concept for get_jobs. fleshed out get_jobs and get_job a bit. fixed some rough DBI.
adding a check for existence of logfile in the config if not present, falls back to STDERR. helps for the time being.
debug statement
log server debug output to a file
add parse_command() and modify existing code to use it
adding query for get_jobs from old server.
adding in the DBI commands, commented out, to actually do stuff instead of faking it. will continue faking it for now to ease development.
adding debug() function. makes things so much cleaner.
adding debug.
removing hte getresponse stuff.
remove END block as it seems unnecessary, since it looks like ssh dies by itself when the STDIN and STDOUT are closed
add END block and clean up errors
relative config file location
remove run_test() stuff
modify all code using send_command() to pass output through parse_response()
implement debug() and modify all current code to use it
implement parse_response()
move get_response() code into send_command() since nothing else uses it
config updates.
big changes. adding a whole bunch of code to flesh this out.
adding a whole bunch of code here. lots taken from the original server code in python.
adding fake server config.
if to unless b/c of possible undef.
copied config reading from the client added DBI. added connection code. tested, works.
move connection string building into its own function move most of global stuff inside run_main react properly to responses from IDENTIFY command move the job_dir check into its own function
implement IDENTIFY command with random response in server
musta been too drunk to not remember mkpath.
rename verbose to debug split identify and register
config touchups. added a register function. it needs a fingerprint or digest to verify the client.
toss in a comment...just because
use a match and capture instead of split for parsing config file lines
ok, where to begin.... SCIRE_CONFIG_FILE is no longer a constant so it can be overriden via commandline basic commandline parsing helper function for sending/receiving and creating the connection move my test code into run_test() function temporary connection_command override for development fix a few syntax errors random other changes that I can't be bothered to think of
change var name from USERNAME to USER to match existing code
adding config-related stuff.
add servercmd comment
initial perl-based client and server with shiny IPC
add new-fu server/client directories
add new-fu directory
add branches and tags directories
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Document Type
- Preprint (3)
- Doctoral Thesis (1)
- English (4) (remove)
- multiplicative noise (2)
- Image restoration (1)
- Poisson noise (1)
- Similarity measures (1)
- additive Gaussian noise (1)
- denoising (1)
- diffusion models (1)
- higher-order moments (1)
- image denoising (1)
- image restoration (1)
- maximum a posteriori estimation (1)
- maximum likelihood estimation (1)
- non-local filtering (1)
- nonlocal filtering (1)
- similarity measures (1)
- variational methods (1)
Image restoration and enhancement methods that respect important features such as edges play a fundamental role in digital image processing. In the last decades a large variety of methods have been proposed. Nevertheless, the correct restoration and preservation of, e.g., sharp corners, crossings or texture in images is still a challenge, in particular in the presence of severe distortions. Moreover, in the context of image denoising many methods are designed for the removal of additive Gaussian noise and their adaptation for other types of noise occurring in practice requires usually additional efforts. The aim of this thesis is to contribute to these topics and to develop and analyze new methods for restoring images corrupted by different types of noise: First, we present variational models and diffusion methods which are particularly well suited for the restoration of sharp corners and X junctions in images corrupted by strong additive Gaussian noise. For their deduction we present and analyze different tensor based methods for locally estimating orientations in images and show how to successfully incorporate the obtained information in the denoising process. The advantageous properties of the obtained methods are shown theoretically as well as by numerical experiments. Moreover, the potential of the proposed methods is demonstrated for applications beyond image denoising. Afterwards, we focus on variational methods for the restoration of images corrupted by Poisson and multiplicative Gamma noise. Here, different methods from the literature are compared and the surprising equivalence between a standard model for the removal of Poisson noise and a recently introduced approach for multiplicative Gamma noise is proven. Since this Poisson model has not been considered for multiplicative Gamma noise before, we investigate its properties further for more general regularizers including also nonlocal ones. Moreover, an efficient algorithm for solving the involved minimization problems is proposed, which can also handle an additional linear transformation of the data. The good performance of this algorithm is demonstrated experimentally and different examples with images corrupted by Poisson and multiplicative Gamma noise are presented. In the final part of this thesis new nonlocal filters for images corrupted by multiplicative noise are presented. These filters are deduced in a weighted maximum likelihood estimation framework and for the definition of the involved weights a new similarity measure for the comparison of data corrupted by multiplicative noise is applied. The advantageous properties of the new measure are demonstrated theoretically and by numerical examples. Besides, denoising results for images corrupted by multiplicative Gamma and Rayleigh noise show the very good performance of the new filters.
Minimization and Parameter Estimation for Seminorm Regularization Models with I-Divergence Constraints (2012)
This papers deals with the minimization of seminorms \(\|L\cdot\|\) on \(\mathbb R^n\) under the constraint of a bounded I-divergence \(D(b,H\cdot)\). The I-divergence is also known as Kullback-Leibler divergence and appears in many models in imaging science, in particular when dealing with Poisson data. Typically, \(H\) represents here, e.g., a linear blur operator and \(L\) is some discrete derivative operator. Our preference for the constrained approach over the corresponding penalized version is based on the fact that the I-divergence of data corrupted, e.g., by Poisson noise or multiplicative Gamma noise can be estimated by statistical methods. Our minimization technique rests upon relations between constrained and penalized convex problems and resembles the idea of Morozov's discrepancy principle. More precisely, we propose first-order primal-dual algorithms which reduce the problem to the solution of certain proximal minimization problems in each iteration step. The most interesting of these proximal minimization problems is an I-divergence constrained least squares problem. We solve this problem by connecting it to the corresponding I-divergence penalized least squares problem with an appropriately chosen regularization parameter. Therefore, our algorithm produces not only a sequence of vectors which converges to a minimizer of the constrained problem but also a sequence of parameters which convergences to a regularization parameter so that the penalized problem has the same solution as our constrained one. In other words, the solution of this penalized problem fulfills the I-divergence constraint. We provide the proofs which are necessary to understand our approach and demonstrate the performance of our algorithms for different image restoration examples.
A standard approach for deducing a variational denoising method is the maximum a posteriori strategy. Here, the denoising result is chosen in such a way that it maximizes the conditional density function of the reconstruction given its observed noisy version. Unfortunately, this approach does not imply that the empirical distribution of the reconstructed noise components follows the statistics of the assumed noise model. In this paper, we propose to overcome this drawback by applying an additional transformation to the random vector modeling the noise. This transformation is then incorporated into the standard denoising approach and leads to a more sophisticated data fidelity term, which forces the removed noise components to have the desired statistical properties. The good properties of our new approach are demonstrated for additive Gaussian noise by numerical examples. Our method shows to be especially well suited for data containing high frequency structures, where other denoising methods which assume a certain smoothness of the signal cannot restore the small structures.
This paper presents a new similarity measure and nonlocal filters for images corrupted by multiplicative noise. The considered filters are generalizations of the nonlocal means filter of Buades et al., which is known to be well suited for removing additive Gaussian noise. To adapt to different noise models, the patch comparison involved in this filter has first of all to be performed by a suitable noise dependent similarity measure. To this purpose, we start by studying a probabilistic measure recently proposed for general noise models by Deledalle et al. We analyze this measure in the context of conditional density functions and examine its properties for images corrupted by additive and multiplicative noise. Since it turns out to have unfavorable properties for multiplicative noise we deduce a new similarity measure consisting of a probability density function specially chosen for this type of noise. The properties of our new measure are studied theoretically as well as by numerical experiments. To obtain the final nonlocal filters we apply a weighted maximum likelihood estimation framework, which also incorporates the noise statistics. Moreover, we define the weights occurring in these filters using our new similarity measure and propose different adaptations to further improve the results. Finally, restoration results for images corrupted by multiplicative Gamma and Rayleigh noise are presented to demonstrate the very good performance of our nonlocal filters.


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William & Kate's Future Home: Anmer Hall?
Britain is abuzz that the couple could move to Anmer Hall in Norfolk
It's a house fit for a (future) king.
That's the speculation in Britain, where the magnificent Anmer Hall on the Sandringham estate, Queen Elizabeth's retreat in Norfolk, has been mentioned as a possible family home for William and Kate when they leave Wales.
A report in the Sunday Telegraph suggested the house, in the tiny village of Anmer, 120 miles north of London, is being earmarked for the couple. But it is believed the current tenants may stay for a few more years.
Still, royal preparations could already be in the works. The estate reportedly applied in December for a series of planning measures for the home. Details are not being made public, for security reasons, but PEOPLE has confirmed they include rerouting the driveway into the property, extending a garage block and converting woods stores for accommodation.
Building a new "garden room" is also in the plans.
William knows the house well, as his close friends the van Cutsem family rented it for many years. Emilie van Cutsem, the mother of four sons who are close to Princes William and Harry, was seen by some as a surrogate mother to the princes in their teen years, after they lost their mother Diana, Princess of Wales.
Buckingham Palace had no comment, saying the house is a private home on a private estate.


text:
Few months back, the announcement for Dante's Inferno had its cover blown by an accompanying movie deal. Oops. Today, we learn of another game courtesy not of a proper reveal, but of its licensing deal.
That game is called "Blacklight", and is being developed by Zombie, the team behind America's Army. Oh, and the Saw game. It's come to light because a company called Union, which specialises in brokering multimedia deals, saw potential in the game and sold the rights to Fox Atomic, who will now be overseeing not only the Blacklight game, but a comic book and movie as well.
Blacklight is, as you'd expect from Zombie, a first-person shooter. Specifically, a "tactical FPS" set 25 years in the future, which sees you sand your team of army types tracking down your former commander in the make-believe city of Balik, Kajikistan.
Blacklight set up as a movie at Fox Atomic while the game's still in the works [The Cut Scene]


text:
Hey TedQuarters readers! I'm alive. And I'm trying out this reblogging function now that it's an option to me. Here's something I wrote about which cloned baseball player would make for the best 25-man roster — a topic occasionally discussed here in the past. Also, I ate a bunch of awesome sandwiches recently and I hope to write one up soon. Sorry it's been so long, and if I continue failing miserably in my plan to post here more often, have a happy New Year.
A recent Reddit thread posed an interesting topic for debate. If you could clone one active MLB player to make an entire team comprised of only that guy, which guy would be best?
For the purposes of this discussion, let's assume whatever cloning mechanism we have access to churns out identical copies of the player as currently constituted (but ignoring late-season injuries). The "teams" have spring training to learn all the new positions, but since we're cloning them as they are now and not as babies, strong-armed position players don't benefit from years of training to pitch — just a couple of months.
Also, just for kicks, we're going to assume the manager's a clone, too. Each team plays its home games in the cloned player's home park, where the sold-out crowd is also comprised entirely of cloned versions of that player. So when Team Mike Trout takes the field…
View original post 1,171 more words


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Available versions :
ISIS Improvised Directional Mine -
Inert Replica Training Aid
- An inert improvised directional IED with added rebar frag that is commonly used by ISIS and has been encountered in Iraq and Syria
Basic Replica :
This device is visually correct only. There is no associated penalty monitor to indicate the IED has been triggered.
Part Number : OTA-61002-BR
X-Ray :
This version of the replica IED is designed for use with X-Ray systems. Devices are constructed using explosives and components that will replicate the real device configuration.
Part Number : OTA-61002-XR
Call For Pricing
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text:
Stress incontinence occurs when a man unintentionally
releases a small amount of urine when he coughs, laughs, strains, lifts, or
changes posture. It is most common after a man has had his prostate gland
removed and there was damage to the nerves or to the external bladder outlet
valve (sphincter). After a man's prostate gland is removed, the bladder neck no
longer has adequate support from the prostate. The sphincter must then do all
the work of maintaining continence, and the extra pressure of sneezing,
coughing, or straining forces urine past the outlet.
incontinence is often treated with behavioral therapies but may require surgery
if the problem is severe and persistent.
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text:
Good weekend! I couldn't wait for today to be able to do some blogging. I got a
few treasures from Around the world event and I wanted to show them to
you. Here, I am showing you the new skin from Essences. Her name is Xihe. She
has an asiatic look and she's a doll. There is one skin tone and it comes with
dark, medium and light eyebrows. With or without freckles. I am wearing it with
the shape that comes with it.
You will find Xihe, in the Asia Minor part
of Around the world event. Here's your flight.
Skin : {.essences.} Xihe_dark eyebrows
Shape : {essences} Xihe Shape
Hair : /Wasabi Pills/ Kylee Mesh Hair – Black coffee
Eyes : FASHISM 'Sunrise' Eyes – Dark Brown (M) (previous name of IKON)
Dress : La Penderie de Nicole::My poofy sleeves Dress


text:
Wetlands, such as mangroves, peat forests and freshwater swamp forests, are home to a wealth of biodiversity. To mark this year's World Wetlands Day on Wednesday 2 February, IUCN is highlighting the role and importance of forests in wetlands, of particular poignancy as 2011 is the International Year of Forests.
This year's World Wetlands Day also marks the 40th Anniversary of the Ramsar Convention. Ramsar protected wetland sites cover an area of 186 million hectares, about the size of Mexico, the largest protected area network in the world.
Wetlands provide many services, such as food, fresh water and fuel, and fulfill vital roles in carbon storage, pollution control and protection from natural hazards, such as floods and storms. Water supplies are dependent on healthy wetlands; healthy forests help to support and protect wetlands.
Yet, there are worrying signs that wetlands are being lost at a higher rate than any other ecosystem. According to The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, 50% of our wetlands globally have been lost over the last century. Widespread degradation and loss is triggered by the development of infrastructure, land conversion, deforestation and the introduction of invasive species.
Investing in forests within wetlands goes a long way. For example, New York City found that it could avoid spending US$ 4-6 billion on water treatment plants (plus annual maintenance costs) by investing just US$ 1 billion on protecting forests in water catchment areas. Switzerland saves around US$ 64 million a year by using untreated groundwater, naturally filtered through forested watersheds. Forests function as a filter, storage and purifier in water catchments.
Key issues:
• "Water is the irreplaceable source of life and wetlands are the source of water for the vast majority of the world's people," says Julia Marton-Lefèvre, IUCN Director General. "Wetlands are not only natural infrastructure that store and clean water, regulate flows and protect coasts. They are also food bowls for millions of people around the world and their major source of livelihood – farming, fisheries and food security all depend on healthy wetlands."
• "Investment needs to be made to secure the water resources we currently have and, as part of this, decision makers need to recognize the vital services that a healthy natural environment provides, particularly as communities adapt to the effects of climate change," says Mark Smith, Head IUCN Water Programme. "Demand for energy and food is growing as populations expand, driving up the demand for water. Now, more than ever, we must invest in natural infrastructure, such as forests and wetlands, that will safeguard water resources for people and nature."
Notes to editors:
World Wetlands Day marks the date of the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands on 2 February 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar on the shores of the Caspian Sea. Each year since 1997, government agencies, non-governmental organizations and groups of citizens at all levels of the community have taken advantage of the opportunity to undertake actions aimed at raising public awareness of wetland values and benefits in general and the Ramsar Convention in particular.
For more information contact:
Nicki Chadwick, Media Relations Officer, t +41 22 999 0229, m +41 79 528 3486, e email@example.com
Claire Warmenbol, Water Programme Communications Officer, t +41 22 999 0188, e email@example.com


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BACK & FORTH: Many pingpong athletes born in China
BEIJING (AP) AP reporter Anita Chang is covering table tennis during the Beijing games and blogging about the rapid-fire action at Peking University Gymnasium.
WEDNESDAY, Aug. 20, 2008
Everyone knows the Chinese are really good at pingpong.
How good? Let's look at some numbers.
At the Beijing Olympics, there are 78 women competing in the table tennis event. Thirty-five were born in China, although only three actually play for China.
That means 45 percent - nearly half - of the female competitors in table tennis are from China.
The Chinese dominance is not so overwhelming on the men's side, but it would be notable if it were any other country and any other sport. There are 77 male athletes playing pingpong in Beijing. Of these, 20 athletes - or 26 percent - were born in China. Again, only three of the 20 play for China.
Why is China so good? Well, it's the national sport of 1.3 billion people, which creates a talent pool that no other country can match. Only a few players can ever make the national team, so the others who don't make the cut often move overseas for more opportunities to compete.
This afternoon was round two of the women's singles competition, during which four games are played at once. Of the eight athletes on the floor, six were Chinese-born: Gao Jun (U.S.), Lau Sui Fei (Hong Kong), Xian Yi Fang (France), Wu Xue (Dominican Republic), Stephanie Xu Sang (Australia) and Ni Xia Lian (Luxembourg).
"I have not played her before, but I know her because she is Chinese and one of the former Chinese national team members," Lau said about her French opponent, Xian. "Because of that, I took this match seriously."
TUESDAY, Aug. 19, 2008
The grueling table tennis team event at the Olympics is finally over. Both the Chinese men's and women's teams won gold after the six-day competition, without too much of a struggle. No surprise there.
Now the singles event has started, beginning with matches between the lowest-ranked players at the Olympics.
I've been spoiled watching the world's best athletes in the team tournament - the ones who hit the ball at speeds of 60 mph. Even though the competitors now are the best pingpong athletes in their countries, there's really no comparison.
I'm not the only one who feels a bit uninspired by the first-round play. Today, a man in the front row took a long nap during the early session, dozing sideways in his chair. Two little boys in the first tier were playing cards.
It's interesting to think, though, that this single-elimination tournament is the only chance many of these athletes will get to compete in the Olympics. Some of them get really worked up while they play, jumping and shouting and pumping their fists after points.
One of them was Sharath Achanta of India, who wore a bandanna in his hair like he was Rafael Nadal. It turns out he knows his Spanish opponent, Alfredo Carneros, quite well.
"We train with each other everyday and we live in the same apartment. So it's hard for both of us to have to fight against each other," Achanta said. "I feel sad about his loss and similarly, he would feel sad if I lost."
MONDAY, Aug. 18, 2008
On one side of the Olympic table tennis venue is a temporary structure built out of white plastic sheeting. The sign near the opening says "gluing room."
We have all played pingpong before using paddles where the rubber is peeling off or even missing. But that rubber covering is extremely important for competitive table tennis players, who use it to help them dish out tricky shots.
So most players glue rubber on the paddle before every match. Hence the "gluing room." (I took a peek inside. It has a row of narrow tables and hair dryers at every station.)
The athletes call the adhesive "speed glue." Like the glue used to fix bicycle tires, it produces a rubberized effect and allows the player to give the ball more spin or more speed.
These Olympics are the last time players will be allowed to use speed glue, however. The International Table Tennis Federation has banned it after Sept. 1. The reason? A player once passed out from the fumes.
SATURDAY, Aug. 16, 2008
Part of the reason table tennis isn't very popular in places like the U.S., I think, is because it's not considered a sexy sport. How are ordinary-looking dudes in shiny white sneakers supposed to compete with flashy NBA stars or the tough guys in the NFL?
But there are, in fact, pingpong heartthrobs. The females in the Peking University Gymnasium were going crazy today for Germany's Timo Boll.
In a sport dominated by Asian players, Boll (ranked No. 6 in the world) definitely stands out with his clean-cut European looks. He was the hero this afternoon, winning the decisive game in Germany's matchup against Japan. After he scored the winning point, dozens of fans flocked courtside to get autographs, including one woman who got him to sign his name with a tube of bright pink lipstick.
"Ooohh, Timo Boll, I love him," cooed one of the college-aged Chinese volunteers in the mixed zone where reporters interview athletes after the matches.
They did not know that Boll has a personal Web site with lots of photos. There's Timo dressed in a suit and tie, preparing to serve the ball. Timo in scuba gear. Timo wearing only tight black shorts, his leg wrapped seductively around an upright pingpong table.
Check it out! http://www.timo-boll.de/
Teammate Christian Suss also has a Web site: http://www.christian-suess.de/front-content.php
THURSDAY, Aug. 14, 2008
Some of the most exciting pingpong here has been played when the gymnasium is nearly empty.
During the early round of team competition, which is a best-of-five format, the top-ranked Chinese can beat their opponents in 45 minutes. After the team leaves the floor, so do many of the fans. But some of the best games are those bitterly fought contests that stretch past the two-hour mark.
Today, Spain and Japan's women's teams battled for nearly three hours in a crucial contest that would help decide who could advance to the next round.
The matchup for the fifth and deciding match was one of the most thrilling to watch so far in this competition. Ai Fukuhara and Galia Dvorak are both quick-attacking players, and they sped along the ends of the tables stabbing at the ball with vicious forehands and backhands.
Hopefully those two will face off again in the singles event.
Even though China and Japan have decades of bad relations between them, 19-year-old Fukuhara is one of the most popular players in China, mostly for her adorable looks that have earned her the nickname "Porcelain Doll." She carried the Japanese flag during the opening ceremony.
Her popularity also stems from the fact that she trained in northeast China for many years and learned to speak fluent Mandarin - with the region's distinctive accent. It would be similar to a French girl moving to the U.S. and speaking English as though she had lived in Boston all her life.
During matches, the 5-foot-1 Fukuhara is all business, clenching her fist in front of her chin after every point. But she's also known to be emotional, earning her the No. 2 spot on a list of "Top Ten Sports Hotties Who Love to Cry" on the popular Chinese online forum mop.com. Maria Sharapova was voted No. 1.
WEDNESDAY, Aug. 13, 2008
Imagine watching a pingpong game in your basement, following the tiny ball as it bounces back and forth, back and forth. Now, multiply that by eight. Then add 16 of the world's best athletes, who are capable of slapping the ball to speeds of 60 mph or more.
That's Olympic table tennis. It's exhausting to watch!
Today is Day 1 of the competition. Table tennis is the national sport of China, so this will be one of the most fun and most Chinese events of the Beijing Games.
The Chinese fans at the Peking University Gymnasium are really into it. Of course they cheer for the home team with shouts of "Go China!" but they'll cheer like crazy for any exciting back and forth.
"Waah! Waah!"
The tricky part is figuring out which of the eight tables they're directing the cheers at.
The stands have been pretty full, though I was surprised at the many clumps of empty seats. When I went out for lunch, I saw about a half-dozen scalpers under a pedestrian bridge leading to the spectator's entrance. One guy had six tickets and was selling them for 5,000 yuan (about US$730) each! "Some people are thinking about it," he told me.
Something I noticed not directly related to table tennis: The official song, "Beijing Welcomes You," which is being played over and over in the city. I felt like I had truly arrived at the Beijing games when they began blasting it over the loudspeakers before the matches began.
It's one of those horribly catchy songs that stays in your head all day. It was sung by many famous singers from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. If you watch the music video, you will see how organizers of the Beijing Olympics want the world to see the city.
Check it out: http://v.youku.com/v-show/id-XMzg4MDA5MDg.html.


text:
Federal Trade Commission
Federal Trade Commission (FTC), independent agency of the U.S. government established in 1915 and charged with keeping American business competition free and fair. The FTC has no jurisdiction over banks and common carriers, which are under the supervision of other governmental agencies. It has five members, not more than three of whom may be members of the same political party, appointed by the President, with the consent of the Senate, for seven-year terms. The act was part of the program of President Wilson to check the growth of monopoly and preserve competition as an effective regulator of business.
Sections in this article:
- Introduction
- Enforcement
- Duties of the FTC
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
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