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WASHINGTON — Before President Obama left the White House on Tuesday morning to fly to an event in Albany, several aides intercepted him in the Oval Office. Within minutes it was decided: the president would endorse same-sex marriage on Wednesday, completing a wrenching personal transformation on the issue.
As described by several aides, that quick decision and his subsequent announcement in a hastily scheduled network television interview were thrust on the White House by 48 hours of frenzied will-he-or-won't-he speculation after Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. all but forced the president's hand by embracing the idea of same-sex unions in a Sunday talk show interview.
Advisers say now that Mr. Obama had intended since early this year to define his position sometime before Democrats nominate him for re-election in September. Yet many of the president's allies believed he would not do so, trusting instead in his strong support from gay voters for having ended a ban on openly gay people in the military and disavowing a federal law defining marriage as between a man and a woman.
Such caution was understandable, the allies said, given the unpredictable fallout the president would face by taking a clear stand on one of the most contentious and politically charged social issues of the day, before what is likely to be a close election. Mr. Obama's closest advisers say only the timing was in question. Mr. Biden's unexpected remarks undoubtedly accelerated the timetable.
Initially Mr. Obama and his aides expected that the moment would be Monday, when the president was scheduled to be on "The View," the ABC daytime talk show, which is popular with women. Certainly, they thought, he would be asked his position on same-sex marriage by one of the show's hosts, who include Barbara Walters and Whoopi Goldberg.
Yet the pressure had become too great to wait until then, his aides told him; on Monday, the White House press secretary, Jay Carney, was pummeled with questions from skeptical reporters about Mr. Obama's stance. After the Tuesday morning meeting, Dan Pfeiffer, the president's communications director, contacted ABC and offered a wide-ranging interview with the president for the following day.
And so it was that Mr. Obama on Wednesday afternoon sat down in the White House with ABC's Robin Roberts and made news, after nearly two years of saying that his views on same-sex marriage were "evolving."
"At a certain point, I've just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married," Mr. Obama said.
Long a proponent of civil unions, Mr. Obama said his views had changed in part because of prodding by friends who are gay and by conversations with his wife and daughters.
"I had hesitated on gay marriage in part because I thought that civil unions would be sufficient," Mr. Obama said. "I was sensitive to the fact that for a lot of people, the word marriage was something that invokes very powerful traditions and religious beliefs."
Mr. Obama also invoked his Christian faith in explaining his decision.
"The thing at root that we think about is, not only Christ sacrificing himself on our behalf, but it's also the golden rule — you know, treat others the way you would want to be treated," he said. "And I think that's what we try to impart to our kids, and that's what motivates me as president."
Reaction to Mr. Obama's announcement was largely predictable — including immediate opposition from his presumptive Republican rival, Mitt Romney — yet people on both sides of the issue pointed to the historical significance of a president endorsing marriage between people of the same sex. It was a Democrat, Bill Clinton, who signed the Defense of Marriage Act, defining marriage as between a man and a woman, which the Obama administration last year decided not to enforce in the courts.
While Mr. Obama's announcement was significant from a symbolic standpoint, more important as a practical matter were Mr. Obama's decision not to enforce the marriage act and his successful push in 2010 to repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" law that prohibited openly gay men and lesbians from serving in the military. For that reason, gay rights groups had been largely enthusiastic about his re-election campaign while being pragmatically resigned to his not publicly supporting same-sex marriage before the election.
Mr. Obama's announcement has little substantive impact — as an aide said, "It's not like we're trying to pass legislation."
But the political impact is a wild card, even Obama advisers acknowledged, and it came one day after voters in North Carolina — the site of the Democratic Party's nominating convention — supported a ban on same-sex marriage. But while the president has now injected a volatile social issue into the campaign debate, both sides say the election still is all but certain to turn on the economy.
Public support for same-sex marriage is growing at a pace that surprises even pollsters as older generations of voters who tend to be strongly opposed are supplanted by younger ones who are just as strongly in favor. Same-sex couples are featured in some of the most popular shows on television.
Yet opponents include white working-class voters, among whom Mr. Obama has long had weak support, and many African-Americans, led by influential ministers in their churches, whose support is critical to Mr. Obama in swing states like Virginia and North Carolina. Representative Barney Frank, Democrat of Massachusetts, one of the first openly gay members of Congress, said he told the White House months ago that it should not worry about the politics.
"This country is moving, and what's interesting is every time somebody does something that's supportive of our rights, it turns out to be (a) popular and (b) not very controversial," he said in a telephone interview.
Many Americans already assumed Mr. Obama supported same-sex marriage, Mr. Frank said, adding, "Politically, it's kind of a nonevent."
Obama strategists had rejected the idea of announcing the president's support during a fund-raiser or at a speech to a gay rights group, because, as one Democrat close to the White House put it, that would "look like pandering."
Then last Friday, Mr. Biden taped his interview for NBC's "Meet the Press," shown on Sunday morning. Afterward, Mr. Biden's aides circulated a transcript around the West Wing, with the gay marriage remarks highlighted in yellow. A flurry of e-mails ensued about how Mr. Biden's office should explain it once the interview was broadcast.
The news media attention escalated on Monday when Mr. Obama's education secretary, Arne Duncan, acknowledged in a television interview that he also supported same-sex marriage. Editorialists, columnists and bloggers criticized Mr. Obama as appearing calculating by his continued ambivalence.
An administration official, who like others did not want to be named discussing internal White House deliberations, said that until this week, the one certainty was for Mr. Obama to take his stand before September to avoid a convention fight. "It's not helpful to go down there and have a big conflagration about including this in the platform," the official said.
But several events loomed that would also force attention on the issue, leaving Mr. Obama vulnerable to continued criticism.
On Thursday, Mr. Obama is to visit the Los Angeles home of the actor George Clooney for a campaign fund-raiser expected to raise about $12 million, much of it from Hollywood people active in the gay rights cause.
Mr. Obama is scheduled to give the commencement address next week at Barnard College in New York City, where he will receive a medal along with Evan Wolfson, the founder and president of Freedom to Marry, a leading advocate for same-sex unions. Mr. Wolfson, who had written that he would "whisper in the president's ear" to support same-sex marriage, said in an interview on Wednesday, "I'm going to shout, 'Thank you!' "
Also on Monday, Mr. Obama is to speak at a campaign fund-raiser for gay rights supporters. And on June 6, he is to return to Los Angeles to speak at a gala benefiting the gay, bisexual and transgender community.


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Other common names
prickly heath lily of the valley tree
Pernettya mucronata
Gaultheria are evergreen, often dioecious, shrubs with simple, leathery leaves and small, bell-shaped white or pink flowers, followed by long lasting fleshy fruits in various colours
G. mucronata is a bushy evergreen shrub with small, sharply pointed dark green leaves and tiny nodding, bell-shaped white flowers followed, on pollinated female plants, by showy red, white, or pink berries
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Series: Airwolf: Season Two followed in the footsteps of action adventure outings like Knight Rider, Street Hawk, and numerous others that had an advanced machine as the focal point of the show. Airwolf was a helicopter that could reach mach one and take on just about anything in the air, including jet fighters and missiles, and threatened to destabilize the balance of power in terms of air superiority. Initially designed and built by a secret government organization patterned after the CIA, the first two episodes detailed how the machine was stolen by a mad scientist for his Libyan allies' intent on taking over the Middle East. The show having taken place so shortly after the second wave of the Arab oil embargo in the early 80's and in light of various terrorist activities of the day, it was easy to focus on them as the bad guys and rally support among fans.
The main hero of the story was a fellow by the name of Stringfellow Hawke (Jan Michael Vincent), a former operative that has retired to a secluded mountain cabin after losing his confidence in a government gone bad. Having seen far too many episodes where his organization sold people out, betrayed their mandate and otherwise acted in dishonorable ways, Hawke initially refuses to participate in regaining Airwolf from the "other" bad guys but soon finds himself in an ethical dilemma where only he can save the day. He does, aided by his best friend in the world, Dominic Santini (Ernest Borgnine), a friend of his fathers and the only person he feels he can trust in a world gone bad. He makes a deal that "The Firm" (again, a thinly disguised version of the CIA) will help him find his MIA brother long lost in Vietnam in exchange for his cooperation. Led by Michael "Archangel" Coldsmith-Briggs III (Alex Cord), the Firm plays hardball to the point where it steals Hawke's prized art collection (seemingly acquired while he was still an active operative, likely by the same methods he now despises) as leverage in regaining their aircraft. Needless to say, as skilled an operative as Hawke was trained far too well to give in so easily and he eventually cuts a deal with Archangel that keeps Airwolf in his hands while the Firm searches for Hawke's brother.
Fans of action shows know how they are set up since they tend to follow a formula set in motion decades earlier and Airwolf: Season Two was no different. The opening prologue sets up a situation that is seemingly impossible, the next act sets the players in motion, and the following two acts show how the superiority not only of the machine but of the man flying it will overcome any obstacle to achieve the goal at hand. The most common theme in the first season's episodes was someone trying to steal Airwolf, including the government, and the uneasy truce between Hawke and Archangel was often tested as the loyalty of each became clear (neither was a saint but each seemed to follow a set path of duty to what they believed in). As the 80's progressed, a lot more shows focused on the disenchantment of government operatives, like Wiseguy for example, as various events in our country's history showed that our standing as the pure keeper of the faith was somewhat less accurate than many of us believed. In that sense, Airwolf was truer to the original Blue Thunder movie than the generic series baring it's name ever could've hoped to be (that series lasted about a dozen episodes and but for Jan Michael Vincent's various problems with substance abuse, Airwolf would've last more than three years too). A lot of people, myself included, found the thematic issues of Airwolf to be a couple of steps above the pack since it didn't rely solely on the mulligan of the helicopter (a highly modified Bell 222B if I recall correctly) so much as the "doing the right thing" principles of Stringfellow Hawke and how he turned the tables on so many of the shadowy figures of the world.
Airwolf: Season Two took the action a bit further with Archangel more formally entering into a series of off the record agreements with Hawke, likely altering some of the details to suit test audience tastes. First, the mentions of Hawke's fabulous art collection seemed to largely disappear. This was probably an effort to make it look like he was a regular guy, not a spoiled art collector with a hot war machine under his belt. Second, the introduction of a female member of the team (to enhance the appeal to ladies or men depends on your take of the dynamic) in the form of Caitlin O'Shaughnessy by Jean Bruce Scott. She was a feisty redhead working as a helicopter pilot cop for the state of Texas, introduced in the first season's opener Sweet Britches as one of the good guys trying to protect the rights of a prisoner from an abusive sheriff and then gave all that up to eventually join the team. As a capable pilot and someone to keep the men civil to one another, she was okay but much of the time, her role seemed to be tacked on as an afterthought by most of the writers for the season.
More interesting to me was the slightly darker nature of the action in this season. In most shows, people rarely die and the good guys always try to work things out, especially back in the mid-1980's when this came out. Well, in the aforementioned opener, String was gunning down people left and right, even blowing up the police station before it was over. This dynamic was repeated time and again by the team, though usually justified under the "it was to save lives" (yet not always). Then you had episodes that mirrored Vincent's life in the form of drunks in positions of power (perhaps the writers making not too subtle pokes at the lead's drinking binges), starting with Firestorm (the second season episode). The most common plot thread was either the team saving (or retaliating for) a family member or saving Hawke when he gets captured by the bad guys in numerous episodes, which was akin to the transporters not working on Star Trek; an effort to keep the protagonist in an immediate danger outside of the protective helicopter we all watched the show for in the first place. Still, in many ways, this was the best season of the show, even if the standard four part acts were written in a very similar manner.
Season Two Episodes:
Episode 1: Sweet Britches: (September 22, 1984):
Episode 2: Firestorm: (September 29, 1984):
Episode 3: Moffett's Ghost: (October 6, 1984):
Episode 4: The Truth About Holly: (October 13, 1984):
Episode 5: The Hunted: (October 20, 1984):
Episode 6: Sins of the Past: (October 27, 1984):
Episode 7: Fallen Angel: (November 3, 1984):
Episode 8: HX-1: (November 10, 1984):
Episode 9: Flight #093 Is Missing: (November 17, 1984):
Episode 10: Once A Hero: (November 24, 1984):
Episode 11: Random Target: (December 8, 1984):
Episode 12: Condemned: (January 5, 1985):
Episode 13: The American Dream: (January 12, 1985):
Episode 14: Inn at the End of the Road: (January 26, 1985):
Episode 15: Santini's Millions: (February 2, 1985):
Episode 16: Prisoner of Yesterday: (February 9, 1985):
Episode 17: Natural Born: (February 23, 1985):
Episode 18: Out of the Sky: (March 2, 1985):
Episode 19: Dambreakers: (March 16, 1985):
Episode 20: Severance Pay: (March 23, 1985):
Episode 21: Eruption: (April 6, 1985):
Episode 22: Short Walk to Freedom: (April 13, 1985):
Airwolf: Season Two was the best the series had to offer as it came down to a three man buddy show of sorts. I think it tried to set the pace in the first season though and that allowed it to see the light of day in order to address more varied themes later on. As a fan of the series, I worried that it wouldn't hold up to modern scrutiny but it actually surpassed my expectations better than its contemporaries of the mid 80's did so I rated it as Recommended. Had there been some better extras or a better picture, I might've boosted it up a notch but considering the low price of this one and the fondness I originally had for the show, I think this was pretty fair. I look forward to seeing season three of the show although I still have my concerns about the material holding up.
The back cover put it this way for those still wondering: "Get ready to take off for action and adventure as all 22 one-hour episodes of Airwolf-Season Two soar onto a spectacular five-disc DVD set for the first time ever. Cruise the skies once again with Airwolf, the cutting-edge, high-tech surveillance and defense helicopter of the future, and Stringfellow Hawke (Jan-Michael Vincent), its reclusive renegade pilot, as they touch down on dangerous secret missions from Afghanistan to the jungles of Central America. From drug runners to dambreakers to demented businessmen, there's no one who can hide from the Airwolf team's high-tech gadgetry and fighting power. Co-starring Ernest Borgnine and Alex Cord, this suspenseful and daring Emmy-nominated series from TV producer Donald P. Bellisario (Magnum P.I., Quantum Leap) is sure to be a thrill-ride fans won't want to end."
Picture: Airwolf: Season Two was presented in the usual 1.33:1 ratio full frame color as it was originally shot in for broadcast television. The quality of the picture varied a lot here, especially during the parts using the stock footage (that never looked good) or during less than optimal conditions. The levels of grain were often very high, the amount of video noise sometimes problematic, and the colors often appeared slightly muted as though time took its toll on the remaining prints in the vaults of Universal. On a positive note, the DVD looked better than the replays that used to populate cable television and the episodes did not appear to be edited as some other series have been so while it wasn't the best looking show I've seen (it's over twenty years old folks), it sufficed for this long time fan of the series. I can only imagine what the fourth season will look like given how the production values tanked when the show went from CBS to USA (and moved to Canada) but like many loyal fans of the show, I don't consider that to be part of the actual show so I probably won't ever find out.
Sound: The audio was presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 Monaural English with the option for English Closed Captions (as a SDH version). The vocals were pretty straightforward, sounding as they did years ago as did the special effects and music; none of which appears to have been replaced for the DVD release. Universal didn't go all out and improve the audio to provide a better mix, add in any separation between the channels, or improve the dynamic range but you don't get twenty+ year old television series to showcase your stereo system, yes? The score replayed the familiar theme time and again, with minute variations but this was to be expected.
Extras: The double sided, five disc set of 22 episodes had no real extras outside of a brief synopsis of the episodes on DVD. Some commentaries might've been nice, some of the interviews the cast gave back in the show's heyday, or any number of other extras would've added value but the important thing for fans will be the inclusion of the episodes in uncut form and the low cost of the set.
Final Thoughts: Airwolf: Season Two was one of the best seasons for an action show that I can recall in many ways back when this aired. The levels of campy acting were just right to keep things from getting too serious and the production values of the show were as good as I expected from a prime time show by CBS. Yes, the basic plot of most of the episodes varied little but I remember how much fun it was leading up to the inevitable moment at the end of the episodes when Airwolf would blow away the strawman enemies with the kind of vengeance many of us would love to know existed in this day and age when thugs routinely walk away on technicalities. In a sense, the vigilante nature of the show was an extension on the Dirty Harry theme where Hawke would act as judge, jury, and executioner based on his own moral code that didn't allow for those technicalities to get in the way of true justice taking place. Simple answers appeal to many of us fed up with a system that is at least perceived as giving away the store to the accused; making Airwolf even more appealing today. Check it out if you like high tech action shows, knowing that the episodes varied very little when viewed in larger terms.


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A man named Parker Reed has uploaded an hour-long video of a coin rolling on a treadmill. You're skeptical. It's okay. I was too. But then I started watching, and I haven't yet been able to stop. You won't be either.
What's so special about a coin rolling on a treadmill for an hour? It's hypnotic, for one. Calming. And the journey is spiced with just enough surprise—Parker shows up a couple of times to inspect his handiwork, as does a rubber ball and, get this, a second coin—to keep you invested. At 28 minutes in or so, Reed triumphantly shouts out how far the coin has traveled. It is not a round number. At some point, a cat walks by.
This is the very spirit of the internet, friends. Enjoy it. [Reddit via OHYST]


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On the day last week that Bank of America announced sweeping cost-cuts, including the elimination of 30,000 jobs, executives at BlueRidge Bank celebrated a milestone for the three-year-old financial company.
The Frederick-based community bank opened a retail branch in Towson, doubling its staff and adding to its existing commercial lending business in the Baltimore region.
"We're expanding in contrast to other banks that are downsizing," said J. Brian Gaeng, chief executive of BlueRidge Bank.
Bank of America's move to slash $5 billion a year comes as many financial institutions look for ways to boost profits in the face of a sluggish economy and new regulations that are expected to drive up costs. Although Bank of America — the largest financial institution in Maryland — did not provide a breakdown of job reductions by region, the Baltimore area is expected to get hit with layoffs and other cuts, analysts say.
But the upheaval also offers a potential upside here: Opportunities for smaller banks like BlueRidge to snatch up new clients and expand their business, and potential benefits for consumers.
"The smart bankers are saying … 'Could we get some of their loan clients, deposit relationships? Could we buy some of the branches?'" said Brian Casey, a Towson banking consultant.
For consumers, the continuing shake-up in the local banking market could mean better service and products, as competitors and community banks seek to attract new clients, analysts said. Some customers are looking for a more personal touch after seeing their banks change hands many times, banking consultants said.
"They've been disgruntled with their current banks," said Anita Newcomb, who runs a banking consulting firm in Columbia. "That has created opportunities for community banks."
Added Clifford Rossi, a former bank executive and regulator who teaches at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business, "You might see some slight benefit for the community banks, but don't count Bank of America out."
Financial institutions nationwide, still recovering from the financial crisis, are shoring up capital levels and dealing with problem loans.
Baltimore's banking market, too, has undergone changes in the wake of the mortgage crisis. Six banks in the state have failed, while a dozen others remain under federal supervision to raise more capital.
Two longtime Maryland institutions, Mercantile Bankshares Corp. and Provident Bankshares Corp., have been sold to out-of-state banks.
Over the years, Bank of America has established a significant footprint in Maryland. It holds $22.5 billion in deposits, or nearly 20 percent of the market, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
In the Baltimore region, the bank has an even larger share, with 26 percent of the market and more than 100 branches.
The company employs about 4,000 workers in Maryland, including about 1,100 at a credit card operations center in Hunt Valley.
Nancy Bush, a banking analyst and a contributing editor at SNL Financial, said Baltimore will be less affected than other markets by the job cuts because "it's still a growth market.
"Northern Virginia, Maryland and D.C. That whole market is very desirable in the banking industry," she said. "Because of the federal government and job growth, Baltimore will be one of the markets where they don't want to disturb too much of their retail footprint."
Still, Bank of America has been shedding jobs in Maryland. The bank laid off 39 people at its Hunt Valley card services center and an additional 18 people at an office in Columbia this year, according to state labor officials.
The bank said its latest restructuring, announced Sept. 12, will address consumer banking, credit card and home loan businesses, along with technology and support operations. Attrition and elimination of unfilled positions will make up a "significant" portion of the job cuts, the bank said.
Bank of America also plans to close about 10 percent of its branches in the coming years.
Casey, the banking consultant, said he expected the Baltimore region to lose some Bank of America offices because the area is "over-branched."
But shuttering branches in the region doesn't necessarily mean "Baltimore is not an attractive community," said Newcomb, the Columbia banking consultant. The move, she said, reflects how more and more consumers are banking these days: on the computer or mobile devices.
Scott Cottrell, a managing director at FJ Capital Management in McLean, Va., said small to mid-size local banks in markets such as Baltimore might acquire some of the branches shed by Bank of America. "If you're used to going to a certain branch and that branch changes hands, you might switch banks," he said.
SECU, Maryland's largest credit union, sees an opening to pick up new customers, as well as new employees who are seeking an alternative to traditional banking.
"With the economic downturn and frustration with banks, people are looking to come to credit unions with better service," said Teshia Williams, the union's senior manager of human resources.
Since the beginning of the year, the credit union has hired 60 new workers and is looking to fill 30 positions, mostly at its 19 branches in the state.
Williams hopes to pick up experienced Bank of America employees who may be affected by the job cuts. In the past, SECU has hired former employees of local banks affected by acquisitions, such as Provident Bankshares, which was bought by M&T Bank in 2008.
"It's sad to see people losing their jobs, she said. "If we have opportunities, we would like to assume some of that talent."
As the restructurings by Bank of America and other financial institutions shake out over the next few years, Gaeng of BlueRidge Bank said, the company will take advantage of the upheaval to expand its business. The bank, which opened in April 2008, now has $140 million in assets.
Banking is a "people-oriented business and so the relationships that are formed between bankers and their customers become very special and continuity is very important and experience is important," Gaeng said. "That's why we have great upside potential, particularly in a market like Baltimore where you've had a lot of consolidation over the last few years and you have fewer and fewer independents."


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Sharp Retires Early Retirement Plan Early
Sharp's early retirement plan was supposed to run from November 1 to November 14. But the struggling Japanese company was forced to cut it short when it was overwhelmed by volunteers. Sharp said Tuesday it curtailed its early retirement program a week into its two-week run after receiving nearly 3,000 applications — 1,000 more than it had expected. The company will book a $311 million one-time charge this quarter to eliminate those jobs.


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Theme Beds
We have cool kids beds in a variety of styles for both girls and boys bedrooms. Kids theme beds offer fun play fort areas during the day and safe sleeping spots at night. These fun kids beds are available as loft beds, bunk beds, and twin or full size beds. Princess bunk beds for girls with slides and tents.


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"Glee" star Cory Monteith died from a toxic mixture of heroin and alcohol on July 13, 2013, at the age of 31. The actor, who spoke bluntly about struggling with substance abuse since he was a teenager, sought treatment in rehab in April 2013.
Credit: Jonathan Leibson/Getty Images
Heath Ledger died in January 2008 at age 28, and the cause of his death has been linked to various prescription medications, including sleeping pills. In a 2007 interview with The New York Times, Ledger said he sometimes slept for only two hours a night when work was stressing him out, and on one occasion he took multiple Ambiens to fall asleep, only to wake up soon after.
Credit: Carlo Allegri/Getty Images
British singer Amy Winehouse poses for photographs after being interviewed by The Associated Press at a studio in north London, Feb. 16, 2007. Winehouse was found dead of alcohol poisoning at her home in London on July 23, 2011. The singer was 27 years old.
Credit: AP Photo/Matt Dunham
Gitarist Jimi Hendrix, seen here at Woodstock in August of 1969, was 27 when he died in a London hotel room in 1970. He choked on his own vomit after taking sleeping pills and red wine.
Credit: AP Photo
Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain was just 27 when he killed himself with a shotgun in his Seattle home in April 1994. Just weeks before, he was treated for a drug overdoes in Italy.
Credit: AP
"Rebel Without a Cause" actor James Dean was 24 years old.when he died Sept. 30, 1955, in a head-on collision.
Janis Joplin was found dead in her room at the Landmark Hotel in Hollywood, Calif., on Oct. 4, 1970. She was 27. The official cause was an accidental heroin overdose.
Actor and "Saturday Night Live" comedian John Belushi was 33 when he was found dead in his bungalow at Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles on March 5, 1982. Cause of death was a combined injection of cocaine an d heroin.
"Diff'rent Strokes" actress Dana Plato was 34 when she died of a drug overdose in an RV at her mother's Oklahoma home in 1999. Her death was later ruled a suicide.
Credit: AP Photo/Las Vegas, Jim Laurie
Doors frontman Jim Morrison was 27 when he was found dead in the bathtub of his Paris apartment in 1971. He death was believed to be caused by a heart attack brought on by alcoholism and drug abuse.
Actress Marilyn Monroe, seen posing in a 1953 photo, was 36 when she died of barbiturate overdose in 1962.
Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones, whose problems with drugs and alcohol were widely known, drowned in the swimming pool of his English estate in 1969. He was 27.
Martial arts actor Bruce Lee was 33 when he died of possible allergic reaction in 1973.
Credit: Getty Images
Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious was just 21 when he was found dead Feb.2, 1979, in his girlfriend's New York apartment. The death was ruled an accidental overdose, though his mother later claimed he committed suicide.
Credit: AP Photo/File
"Mama Cass" Elliot, left, of the Mamas and the Papas was 32 when she died of a heart attack brought on by obesity in 1974.
The Who drummer Keith Moon, right, was 32 when he died in 1978 of an overdose of medication.
Singer Aaliyah was just 22 years old when she died in a plane crash on Aug. 25, 2001, in the Bahamas.
Credit: Frank Micelotta/ImageDirect via Getty Images
Chris Farley was found dead on Dec. 18, 1997, at the age of 33. An autopsy later revealed that he had died of an overdose of cocaine and morphine. A significant contributing factor, the medical examiner said, was a narrowing of the arteries supplying the heart muscle.
Actress Jayne Mansfield, a sex symbol of the 1960s, is seen here in Paris. The mother of actress Mariska Hargitay, Mansfield was 34 when she was killed in a 1967 car accident.
Credit: AFP?Getty
Rock pioneer Buddy Holly. was 22 when he was killed in a plane crash in 1959. Also on board that fatal flight were were singers Ritchie Valens, 17, and the Big Bopper, 28.
Credit: CBS
Actor River Phoenix died on Oct. 31, 1993, after collapsing outside the Viper Room nightclub in Hollywood. He was 23. An autopsy reportedly showed lethal levels of cocaine, morphine, Valium, marijuana and ephedrine in his body. The official cause of death was drug-induced heart failure.
Actor Freddie Prinze was 22 when he shot himself in 1977. His death was originally ruled a suicide, but in a civil case, a jury later decided the death was accidental since Prinze had a history of playing with guns. He is the father of actor Freddie Prinze Jr.
Country singer Patsy Cline was 30 when she died in a plane crash in March 1963, near Camden, Tenn.
Bee Gees singer Andy Gibb died in March of 1988, just five days after his 30th birthday. The cause was heart failure which has alternately been attributed to drug abuse or a viral infection.
Country singer Hank Williams as 29 when he died of a heart attack in 1953. He was found dead in his Cadillac convertible outside a West Virgina gas station.


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[Swapping Rocks][News] [Carl Sagan's speculations] [ Jay Melosh's 1998 Papers] ["5th Miracle" by Paul Davies][Venus] [Nanobes] [Panspermia] [Rocks between stars] [Research in the1960s] [More links] [Updates] [Genesis radio show] [Transpermia paper] [Extremophiles][Hot springs from impacts]
This mechanism was recently given the name "lithopanspermia" (rock-across-seeding?) , which I find rather unimaginative. Oliver Morton came up with the term "Transpermia".
26 Aug 08 TPS: Support The Planetary Society Phobos LIFE Project - urgent request for donations to send microbes on a round trip to the Martian moon to test the transpermia hypothesis.
29 Jul 10 AMEC2010: Potential for microbe colonisation of Mars by rocks launched into space by the Chicxulub impact - paper by Michael Paine. Youtube video of the presentation (no audio) + Updates:
- 14 Apr 15 BBC: Evidence of liquid water found on Mars (strengthens my speculation) +
- 29 Sep 15: NASA Confirms Evidence That Liquid Water Flows on Today's Mars
- 3 Mar 17 Uni Arkansas: Is Anything Tough Enough to Survive on Mars? + NASA: Microbes Could Survive Thin Air of Mars.
- 13 Jan 18 Science ($): Exposed subsurface ice sheets in the Martian mid-latitudes + Gizmodo: Water Might Be Easier To Find On Mars Than We Thought [maybe there is near-surface ice covering 30% of Mars instead of the 1% assummed in my calculations in 2010]
- 26 Jul 18 ABC: Mars has a vast liquid water lake beneath its southern pole, scientists believe + The Conversation: Discovered: a huge liquid water lake beneath the southern pole of Mars + Science: Liquid water spied deep below polar ice cap on Mars (strengthens the case for Earth-life reaching liquid water on Mars but see the Science article about the challenge of cold , salty water)
- 25 Oct 18 SciAm: Oxygen-Rich Liquid Water May Exist on Mars - Brines suffused with the life-giving gas could offer hope for past and even present microbes on the Red Planet, according to a new study [further strengthens the case for Earth-microbes reaching habitable conditions on Mars]
Translations of the following are available: Belorussian, Ukrainian, Boongoo, Swedish etc (you will have to search for them - I don't link to pages that I don't understand!)
Extract from the July 1994 issue of Planetary
The returning Apollo 11 astronauts' triumphal reception in July 1969 was somewhat delayed by a strict and lengthy biological quarantine. In those days, no one was certain that the Moon was entirely sterile. No one knew whether the lunar rocks might harbor deadly microorganisms. One wonders whether the level of concern would have been as high if scientists had known that dozens of lunar rocks had been lying in the Antarctic ice for thousands of years, or that about 10 small fragments of the Moon must fall onto Earth's surface every year. Unfortunately for the astronauts, the first lunar meteorite was not recognized until 1982. Before that time, no one seriously believed that nearly unaltered rocks could be blasted off the surface of one planet and later fall onto the surface of another.
Now, however, not only do we know that lunar rocks occasionally
fall to Earth, but we are also reasonably certain that a group of nine
meteorites, the so-called SNCs (for Shergony, Nakhla and Chassigny,
named after
the sites where they landed), originated on the planet Mars. Although
all of the lunar meteorites were collected long after they fell, four
the SNCs were observed dropping from the sky. In 1911, a piece of
which fell near Alexandria, Egypt, killed a dog, scoring the only known
fatality (of a mammal) caused by a meteorite. [update: more recent work suggests
The total flux of martian material falling onto Earth has been estimated at about half a ton per year. Under these circumstances, it may seem silly to worry about hypothetical martian organisms contaminating Earth, since martian material has evidently rained down on our planet throughout its history. Although a good case can be made for limiting modern biological contamination of Mars by terrestrial spacecraft, the discovery of Mars rocks on Earth brings up the immediate question of whether Earth rocks have been ejected into space, eventually to fall onto Mars, thus closing the circle of potential contamination.
Older work on the maximum velocities achieved by impact ejecta focused on the relationship between the pressure in the shock wave generated by the impact and the velocity of material just behind the shock. Measured directly in laboratory experiments, the shock pressure needed to accelerate material to planetary escape velocities--2.4 kilometers per second (about 5,000 miles per hour) for the Moon, and 5.0 kilometers per second (about 11,000 miles per hour) for Mars, implying pressures of 0.44 and 1.5 megabars (a megabar equals 1 million times Earth's atmospheric pressure at sea level) for lunar and martian basalts, respectively-would have been high enough to melt or even vaporize the ejected rock. Yet study of the lunar meteorites indicates that their ejection was accompanied by no more than about 0.2 megabar of shock, and the most highly shocked martian meteorites (which contain pockets of once-melted glass) still indicate only about 0.4 megabar.
The problem with the pressure-velocity relationship is that it applies only to material completely engulfed by the shock wave. Very close to the target surface, however, the ambient pressure is zero. No matter how strong the impinging shock wave, the free surface can never be raised to a pressure higher than zero. This effectively shields surface rocks from strong compression. However, the pressure increases very rapidly with depth below the surface, which translates into a powerful acceleration that throws lightly shocked surface rocks our at speeds comparable to the original impactor's speed.
An experiment performed several years ago by Andy Gratz and colleagues at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory has verified the general correctness of this model. An aluminum projectile about the size of a penny was fired at a granite block at about 4 kilometers per second (9,000 miles per hour). Material from the face of the block was ejected at about 1 kilometer per second (2,000 miles per hour). This material was caught in a foam cylinder and, upon analysis. proved to be composed of millimeter-size, lightly shocked fragments of granite.
Furthermore, blocks up to a meter in diameter from the uppermost limestone layer surrounding the 24-kilometer diameter (l5-mile) Ries impact crater in southern Germany have been found nearly 200 kilometers away in Switzerland. Although they were not actually ejected from Earth, these blocks again show a combination of low shock damage (less than 10 kilobars. 10,000 times Earth's atmospheric pressure at sea level) and high ejection velocity (1.4 kilometers per second or about 3,000 miles per hour). Thus, current theory, experiment and observation all agree in indicating that a small quantity of material near the surface surrounding the site of an impact is ejected at high speed while suffering little shock damage.
Impacts such as the one that created the 180-kilometer diameter (110-mile) Chicxulub crater in Yucatan 65 million years ago (and incidentally caused a profound extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs, among others) may have launched millions of rock fragments 10 meters (30 feet) or more in diameter into interplanetary space. Of these fragments, a small fraction, perhaps 1 in 500, would have been so lightly shocked that internal temperatures remained below 100 degrees Celsius (212 degrees Fahrenheit). Higher temperatures would presumably kill any microorganisms present in the rock, but a few thousand of the ejected rocks, those originating nearest the free surface, could have carried viable organisms into interplanetary space. Although such impacts are fortunately rare at the present time (the only comparable craters known are the 1.85-billion-year-old Sudbury crater in Ontario and the 1.97-billion-year-old Vredefon crater in South Africa), the much higher cratering rate early in solar system history during the period of late heavy bombardment that lasted up to about 3.8 billion years ago would have made ejection of microorganisms a much more common occurrence at that time.
The most lightly shocked rocks ejected at high speed are necessarily those closest to the free surface. The surface is also the place where biological activity is highest, so that a large impact on Earth, or on an earlier life-harboring Mars, would be very likely to throw rocks that might contain microorganisms into interplanetary space. Larger organisms, even if present, would be unlikely to survive the 10,000 g accelerations accompanying the launch process.
Current cratering calculations indicate that large lmpacts even on Venus, despite its dense atmosphere, could eject surface rocks into interplanetary space. Meteorites from Venus have not yet been discovered, but there appears to be no reason why they might not someday be found on Earth. Large impacts on all of the terrestrial planets are thus capable of ejecting lightly shocked surface rocks into interplanetary space. If there should be microorganisms on the surfaces of these planets, then they too have a chance of journeying to another planet.
After a long series of such encounters. a few fragments' orbits get "pumped up" sufficiently to cross Earth's orbit. Then the more massive Earth takes over this cosmic volleyball game. changing the orbit still more, until the fragment may become Venus crossing. Sometimes the fragment is deflected all the way out to Jupiter or Saturn, which themselves may eject it from the solar system entirely. At any stage of this random walk through the solar system, the fragment may actually hit one of the planets, ending its journey.
Natural orbital perturbations thus supply the means for rocks ejected from one planer to spread throughout the solar system and eventually fall onto another planet (or leave the solar system entirely). This is presumably how the SNC meteorites reached Earth. Any microorganism contained in these rocks would thus have an opportunity to colonize the new planet, if it was able to survive both the journey and the fall to its destination.
Many microorganisms stand up surprisingly well to the space environment. Subjected to high vacuum, some bacteria quickly dehydrate and enter a state of suspended animation from which they are readily revived by contact with water and nutrients. Medical laboratories routinely use high vacuums for preservation of bacteria. Viable microorganisms were recovered from pans of the Surveyor 3 camera system after three years exposure to the lunar environment. However, these instances of preservation have only been tested over times approaching decades, not over the tens to hundreds of millions of years necessary for interplanetary travel.
Nature, however, has been kind enough to give us several instances of really long-term preservation of viable microorganisms. Chris McKay of NASA Ames Research Center has extracted microorganisms preserved for perhaps as long as 3 million years from deep cores in the Siberian permafrost. Even more impressive is the discovery of bacteria that were preserved for some 255 million years in salt beds of Permian age discovered at a site in New Mexico. Dehydrated by contact with salt and protected from radiation by the salt's low content of radioactive elements, these ancient bacteria demonstrated their viability by causing the decay of fish that had been packed with the salt.
Living bacteria can tolerate extremely high radiation doses, far higher than any multicellular organism can withstand. They can resist the effects of radiation largely because of active DNA repair systems. It is less clear that a dormant bacterium could tolerate large amounts of radiation. However, if the microorganisms happened to be living in cracks or pores of rocks that were ejected as large blocks, the rock itself might provide adequate shielding against both cosmic rays and ultraviolet light. Since it requires about 3 meters (about 10 feet) of rock to shield against high-energy galactic cosmic rays, if the impact event were to throw out rock fragments of about 10 meters (30 feet) diameter or larger, a significant interior volume would be protected against this radiation. Ultraviolet light can be screened by only a few microns of silicate dust, so the interiors of large ejecta blocks might be excellent havens for spacefaring bacteria.
The fate of a meteorite entering a planetary atmosphere depends largely upon its initial size and speed. Small meteorites, smaller than a few centimeters, burn up in Earth's atmosphere. Very large ones, a kilometer or more in diameter, traverse it without slowing and make craters. Meteorites of intermediate sizes, a few meters to tens of meters, however, are significantly slowed by the atmosphere. Buffeted by kilobars of aerodynamic pressure, they break up in the atmosphere (as did the famous Peekskill meteorite that disintegrated over the eastern United States on October 9, 1992) and may eventually fall to the ground in a shower of small fragments. Even on the modem Mars, with its tenuous atmosphere, meter-size meteorites are greatly slowed before striking the surface.
This scenario of slowing and breakup of intermediate-size meteorites is nearly ideal for the dispersion of microorganisms onto the new planet. Whether or not these organisms can survive and multiply depends, of course, on conditions at their new home. It seems unlikely that terrestrial organisms arriving on the modern Mars or Venus would survive. However, in the past conditions may have been much more hospitable on Mars at least, and perhaps at that time microorganisms from Earth found a home on Mars, or vice versa.
The current impact-exchange rates among the terrestrial planets are relatively low. However, during the era of heavy bombardment, when most of the visible craters on the Moon and Mars formed, cratering rates were thousands of times higher than current rates. Blue-green algae were apparently present on Earth as early as 3.5 billion years ago. and life may have been present even earlier, overlapping the period of heavy bombardment. Given the possibility of exchange of life among the planets by large impacts, we may have to regard the terrestrial planets not as biologically isolated, but rather as a single ecological system with components, like islands in the sea, that occasionally communicate with one another.
Although this scenario is highly speculative, it may be testable: If sample returns from former lake deposits on Mars should contain evidence of the existence of a microbiota, it may be possible to extract organic molecules from the samples. If familiar terrestrial molecules such as DNA, RNA and proteins are discovered, and especially if a genetic code similar to that of terrestrial organisms is found, then it would provide very strong verification of the idea that Earth and Mars have exchanged microorganisms in the past. Naturally, any such test requires that we be very careful not to contaminate the samples beforehand with terrestrial organic molecules.
H. Jay Melosh is a professor of planetary science at the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona. His latest book, Impact Cratering: A Geologic Process, has been published by Oxford University Press.
In an article titled "Some mysteries of Planetary Science" in the May/June 1988 issue of Planetary Report, Carl Sagan wrote:
A very recent and interesting analysis by H.J. Melosh at the University of Arizona shows that in the course of generating a l00-kilometer impact crater, debris can be transferred from Mars to Earth or vlce versa; the chunks being transported are big enough that anything inside them does not suffer significant radiation damage from the solar wind or solar ultraviolet light or cosmic rays during the roughly million-year time scale it takes to be ejected from the one world and swept up by the other. This has a serious biological implication. It suggests that on time scales of tens to hundreds of millions of years microorganisms from Earth arrive at Mars.
Is this true? If they survive the journey, would they survive the martian environment? And if we go to Mars looking for microbes and find one, is it indigenous, or is it some contaminant from Earth? How do we find out? And then there's even the remote possibility that a long time ago terrestial microbes got transported to Mars, sat around and maybe proliferated a while, and then another big impact on Mars ejected their remote descendants back to Earth. How much did they change in the meantime?
Jay Melosh is also participating in a gigantic collaboration to do
a careful analysis of the transfer of viable microorganisms from one
planet to another that will be published soon in Icarus:
Mileikowsky, C., Cucinotta, F., Wilson, J. W., Horneck, G., Lindgrin, L., Melosh, H. J., Rickman, H. and Valtonen, M. (1998) Natural transfer of viable microbes in space, Part 1: From Mars to Earth and Earth to Mars, submitted to Icarus. (not published as at May 1999) - Paul Davies: "It turns out to be even easier than we thought to cross-contaminate the planets."
ATLANTA (AP) - A primordial soup of complex organic
that could be the
precursors of life is cooked up very quickly after the birth of stars, new research suggests.
``Life could have had an easier time starting than we
before,'' astronomer Sun Kwok
said Wednesday at a national meeting of the American Astronomical Society.
Kwok, of the University of Calgary, Canada, said a study by
the Infrared Space Observatory
showed that large organic molecules evolve within only a few thousand years from chemicals
in the cloud-like envelope surrounding some stars.
The conclusion is based on the infrared spectra readings of
short-lived, carbon-rich stars that
are engulfed in clouds of gas and dust. Kwok said the clouds are rich in some of the most
advanced organic molecules ever detected in outer space.
``There is no doubt now that such complex molecules exist
the stars are able to make them
with no difficulty,'' said Kwok.
Such chemicals would eventually be ejected into interstellar
space, he said, which makes it
possible that they could end up on planets such as Earth where, under the right conditions, life
could have evolved.
Among the chemicals detected was acetylene, a building block
for benzene and other aromatic
molecules that, in turn, can form complex hydrocarbons, the chemical stuff of life.
Kwok said it is possible that amino acids could be
manufactured around stars, but this
molecule, essential to life, cannot be detected by the current generation of space telescopes.
The Infrared Space Observatory is operated by the European Space Agency.
Another international team has made calculations that
that life could have arisen on
Mars and then been transferred to Earth by meteorites jolted away from the surface of Mars
by asteroid impacts.
A team of astronomers from nine institutions and five
countries made a serious study of the
possibility and found that, if life ever existed on Mars, then there could have been up to five
trillion life-bearing rocks from Mars that landed on Earth over the last four billion years.
``The question is, are we really Martians?'' said Mauri
Valtonen of the Turku Observatory in
Turku, Finland.
The international team also studied the possibility of
life-carrying asteroids from solar systems
beyond the sun landing on the Earth and found the probability of this to be very low.
``The ancestral cell for life on Earth must have originated
somewhere in our own solar
system,'' said Curt Mileikowsky, an astronomer of the Royal Institute of Technology in
Stockholm, Sweden, and a leader of the research team.
In their calculations, the astronomers considered how
frequently Mars would have been hit by
asteroids that blasted rock away from the Red Planet and sent it flying toward Earth. Although
only a few asteroids from Mars have been found on Earth, the team calculated that tons of
Martian rock is here.
The team also calculated the pressure, temperature,
acceleration and radiation a microbe
would have to endure to survive such a journey from Mars to Earth.
At least two well-known microbes, Deinococcus radiodorans
Bacillus subtilis, said
Mileikowsky, would be capable of surviving the trip. He said the microbes have been tested in
laboratories and found to be highly resistant to heat, radiation and acceleration forces.
Mileikowsky said the microbe would have to be near the core
of a Mars rock to be protected
enough to survive the journey through the vacuum of space and endure the searing fall to
``If the size (of the rock) is more than a football,'' he
said, ``heat would not have time to get
The astronomers estimated that up to one and one-half
of the microbes inside such a
rock would survive.
The existence of life on Mars is now unlikely, but
astronomers say that early in solar system
history the planet had water, an atmosphere and mild temperatures. For this reason, it is
believed that life could have once existed there. Scientists at the Johnson Space Center in
Houston say they have found evidence that life once existed inside a Martian asteroid, but the
conclusions are controversial.
Early in solar system history, it is also calculated that up
a trillion Earth rocks were blasted into
space and traveled to Mars. This means that life from Earth could have once seeded Mars.
``Because of the heavy traffic between Earth and Mars, we
couldn't decide which came first,''
Martian life on Earth, or the reverse, said Mileikowsky.
There is however a mechanism that might increase the chances of
exhange of rocks between planetary system - THE STARS MIGHT COME TO
US.In 1981 Jack Hills published a paper 'Comet showers and the
steady-state infall of comets from the Oort cloud'. He was looking at a
possible cause of comet bombardments. As part of this work he derived
estimates of the mean time between stars passing within a given
distance of our Sun. I don't know
if there have been updates to these estimates but here is a summary of
his work:
Minimum distance between Mean interval
star and Sun (au) (years)
500au 5 billion
1,000au 1 billion
5,000au 40 million
10,000au 10 million
This suggests that over the lifetime of the Earth about 4 star systems may have come within 1,000au of the Sun. It would be interesting to work out the odds of a microbe-bearing Earth rock finding its way into this region of the solar system (perhaps through encounters with Mars and/or Jupiter - the estimate is that several hundred kilograms of Earth rocks reach the surface of Mars each years so a reasonable number must just miss Mars and receive a slingshot to the outer solar system). Then the odds of it being "picked up" by a passing star and landing on a suitable planet - all within, say, 1 million years. No doubt they are extremely poor odds - but it would just take one successful exchange for panspermia to succeed.
One positive factor in this speculation is that it would take several years for the star to pass "through" the solar system. During this time there may be a major bombardment of the Earth by comets disturbed from the Oort cloud. The number of launches of rocks bearing microbes would therefore increase during this period (the delay in comets reaching the inner solar system may defeat this idea).
Michael Paine 5 Dec 2000
P.S. Jay Melosh advises that he is looking at this possibility for a forthcoming article in Icarus.
News (latest at bottom)
Many more extremophile links at NAI
This web page prepared by Michael Paine
(home page) : email.
Created in October 1996.
Australian Spaceguard Survey
Please support The Planetary Society in its efforts to promote space science
This page prepared in association with the TPS Australian Volunteers.


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Google is getting its Terminal G at the Mineta San Jose International Airport, according to reports.
The San Jose City Council voted earlier this week to "grant delegated authority" to airport staff to finalize a 50-year lease for Signature Flight Support, which also serves as Google's executive aircraft service, according to the city. The $82-million private development on 29 acres will be built on the west side of the airport with construction starting this fall.
The development is a partnership with Blue City Holdings, San Jose, a corporation representing the personal aircraft of Google's principals.
U.S. & World
"Signature is extraordinarily proud to expand our business to Mineta San Jose International Airport and create a positive economic impact in the Silicon Valley region," Maria Sastre, President and Chief Operating Officer, Signature Flight Support said in a statement. "We've planned an accelerated timetable and are eager to get construction underway as quickly as possible."
There will be 270,000 square feet of certified LEED Gold facilities when the project is complete. The facility will also bring 36 airport jobs and Signature will be relocating to San Jose.
Google currently parks its jets at Moffett Federal Airfield. The new executive terminal, hangers and ramps will bring in $2.6 million a year in annual rent for the San Jose airport.


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This is actually pretty funny. When confronted about her previous statements, first by Edwards' wife Elizabeth, then by Chris Matthews of Hardball, Coulter plays dumb, pretending like she doesn't remember saying, just the day before this interview, that she wishes John Edwards would be killed in a terrorist attack, and pretending like she doesn't know what Matthews is talking about when he quotes some very personal insults about Hillary Clinton from her book. I have a pretty good hunch that, in a debate where Coulter isn't allowed to talk over others and actually has to defend her abhorrent behavior, she'd lose in record time, and quite embarrassingly so.
I knew she had called Edwards a "faggot", but I had no idea that she had made cracks about the death of one of John Edwards' children. In fact, I didn't even know the Edwards had lost a child. So, I decided to look it up, since it apparently happened about three years ago, and I have never followed Republicans, much less Republican loudmouths in mini-skirts.
Lo, and behold, I found the exact quote, wherein she made a crack about the death of Edwards' 16-year-old son, Wade, in a car accident. How horrific for them, to lose a beloved child so unexpectedly. So I can only imagine the hurt they felt when they read the following trash from Coulter:
Edwards has talked about his son's death in a 1996 car accident on "Good Morning America," in dozens of profiles and in his new book. ("It was and is the most important fact of my life.") His 1998 Senate campaign ads featured film footage of Edwards at a learning lab he founded in honor of his son, titled "The Wade Edwards Learning Lab." He wears his son's Outward Bound pin on his suit lapel. He was going to wear it on his sleeve, until someone suggested that might be a little too "on the nose."
If you want points for not using your son's death politically, don't you have to take down all those "Ask me about my son's death in a horrific car accident" bumper stickers? Edwards is like a politician who keeps announcing that he will not use his opponent's criminal record for partisan political advantage. I absolutely refuse to mention the name of my dearly beloved and recently departed son killed horribly in a car accident, which affected me deeply, to score cheap political points.
My God. There are no words to describe anybody who would sink that low to insult political rivals. Well, there are a few, but those are words I would never use. Has this coldhearted bitch any idea what it's like to lose a child? Apparently not. That's Darwin's fault, though, since he correctly predicted that scum-sucking bottom feeders like her could never breed.
I have to say, I loved seeing that loudmouth Coulter on the hot seat for once, since she usually mouths off about people who aren't there to defend themselves against her vicious personal attacks. Note the brainwashing of an innocent child going on over her right shoulder. This entire sick scene reminds me why I have never supported a Republican candidate.
Incidentally, Coulter once wanted to run for Congress as a Libertarian, and the Connecticut LP turned her down flat. Smart thinking on their part, because she's just another wackjob who wants to pretend to be a libertarian.


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Friday, April 08, 2011
Quick Note on NIGHTMARE MOVIES
I received the new revised edition of Kim Newman's NIGHTMARE MOVIES in today's mail and have been spending a marvelous time with it. I rarely get excited about review books arriving in the mail; I hope they will excite me in due course. But this book stands out almost immediately for the quality of its writing, more particularly the quality of its insight, and as the most challenging thing for any creative mind to achieve: a masterpiece of organization. He also knows exactly what needs to be said in a short space and how each film dovetails to another by the same director or a different director working with similar themes, and delivers one knock-out punch after another. I've only pecked through it at random, but it has already shone light into some dim corners for me, showing me that I hadn't been thinking about some titles with the depth they deserved. I would be surprised if a more important book about horror movies was published this year.
Posted by Tim Lucas at Friday, April 08, 2011
Labels: Kim Newman, Nightmare Movies
Friday, April 01, 2011
First Look: VIDEO WATCHDOG #162
Here's your first peek at the cover of the next issue of VIDEO WATCHDOG, now at the printer! For additional details and a free four-page preview, visit the Coming Soon page on our website.
Posted by Tim Lucas at Friday, April 01, 2011
Labels: I A Woman, The Green Slime, Video Watchdog # 162
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Racing inet_ntoa
April 24, 2008
Just because I am feeling lazy wrt any real task, I decided to post about the sillyness that is inet_ntoa. Yes, this is ancient/known stuff to rehash, but you can hit the browser back button at any time.
As most of you probably know, the function inet_ntoa converts an IPv4 address to ascii, storing the result in a static buffer. It is this last part that periodically causes people fun when they forget. This mutable memory issue is revealed easily enough in goofed up 'C' statements such as:
struct in_addr a,b; inet_aton("188.8.131.52", &a); inet_aton("126.96.36.199", &b); printf("addr a: %s\taddr b: %s\n", inet_ntoa(a), inet_ntoa(b));
which returns "addr a: 220.127.116.11 addr b: 184.108.40.206". Sometimes more complex systems have a race condition (ex: exception handlers calling inet_ntoa), but it isn't a larger issue in multi-threaded C programs thanks to thread local storage…
unless you cram many logical threads into a single OS thread like in Haskell. Zao in #haskell asked why inet_ntoa was of type IO (meaning, it isn't a pure / deterministic function) and I correctly guessed it was a wrapper for the 'C' call.
Not to rip at any of the libraries folk, who made a faithful foreign function interface for the sockets/networking functions, but – this was a bad idea. Foremost, the use of IO means this can't be called from any deterministic function even though the desired operation of converting an address to a string IS deterministic. Secondly, some Haskell programmers (myself included) use Haskells threads liberally (perhaps another, positive, blog post on that). So if someone is being brain-dead then they are going to have a bug – likely non-fatal and obvious due to how string representation of addresses are used.
And if you desire to see the race, I have some code… hope it runs… yep:
import Network.Socket (inet_ntoa) import Control.Concurrent (forkIO, threadDelay) import Control.Monad (when, forever) main = do let zero = (0,"0.0.0.0") one = (1,"22.214.171.124") two = (2,"126.96.36.199") assert = confirm "assert" race = \x -> forever (confirm "FAILURE: " x) assert zero assert one assert two forkIO $ race zero forkIO $ race one forkIO $ race two threadDelay maxBound test n s = forever $ confirm "" (n,s) confirm prefix (n,str) = do s <- inet_ntoa n when (s /= str) (error (prefix ++ s ++ " does not equal " ++ str))
Yes, I know this non-deterministic behavior is being screamed by that 'IO' type.
Yes, I know I should write a Haskellized network library.
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May 25, 2008 at 2:54 pm
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Saturday, December 26, 2009
Funeral Record: Thomas Groenendyke
This funeral record of Thomas GROENENDYKE was located at the Alexandria-Monroe Historical Society museum. Thomas was my maternal 3rd-great granduncle, the brother of my Catherine GROENENDYKE.
Thomas was born October 2, 1852 near Frankton, Madison County, Indiana. He married first to Emily SMITH in February 1876, and after her death married Hettie (BALLARD) THOMAS on December 20, 1899 in Madison County, Indiana. His obituary stated that he was a large landowner in Lafayette Township, and that he operated a grain elevator in Linwood.
This funeral record gives the name of his father (Elias); the time of death (5:55 PM) and the person who ordered the funeral (Mrs. Jasper Miller). Thomas' daughter, Cora, was married to Jasper J. MILLER.
at Saturday, December 26, 2009 Posted by Travis LeMaster
Labels: Ballard, Groenendyke, Miller, Thomas
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This locket dates from the late 18th c. The miniature painting, appropiately for that period of naval warfare, shows a figure representing Hope, anchored ashore, waving farewell to a departing warship seen in the background. At the back of the locket, an empty compartment would have held a lock of hair or other personal memento. (National Maritime Museum, London)
Such a trinket would have been beyond the reach of the average sailor like James Caithness.


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New York Red Bulls 1, Chivas USA 1 | MLS Match Recap
HARRISON, N.J. – It wasn't a victory, but the New York Red Bulls will take this point happily.
Chivas USA were on the brink of taking a road win home with them on Sunday afternoon, but Péguy Luyindula came to the rescue with a headed goal on the final play of the game deep into stoppage time to earn the Red Bulls a 1-1 draw at Red Bull Arena.
The visitors were mere seconds from a hard-fought win after Erick "Cubo" Torres' first-half penalty kick and a handful of late, highlight-reel saves from goalkeeper Dan Kennedy before Luyindula's heroics.
Although the result may have saved the Red Bulls from a loss, they are still winless on the season at 0-1-3. Chivas USA, meanwhile, move to 1-1-2.
In a sloppy first half for both teams, it was Chivas USA who struck first. In the 24th minute, Red Bulls right back Richard Eckersley was whistled for a penalty for contact in the box with Chivas rookie Tommy McNamara following a Torres cross from the right side. "Cubo" stepped up and sent his spot kick down the middle a minute later for a 1-0 lead.
The Red Bulls came out of halftime a much-improved side, beginning to use Lloyd Sam to exploit Chivas left back Tony Lochhead. Sam was quickly involved in a pair of near misses in the early stages of the second half, first feeding Bradley Wright-Phillips for a golden shot in front of goal that the substitute forward scuffed wide in the 52nd minute and then firing one agonizingly wide himself.
Wright-Phillips also missed two chances just seconds apart in 73rd minute. The veteran forward shot a foot wide of the far post on chance just outside of the penalty area and then saw Kennedy stone him on a clean breakaway.
New York continued to knock on the door as the minutes ticked away. Thierry Henry headed wide in the 77th before flicking another shot that bounced wide a minute later, and Kennedy also came up big to paw away a venomous Dax McCarty half-volley in the 82nd minute.
But Kennedy couldn't do anything on the game's final play. Five minutes into stoppage time, Substitute midfielder Eric Alexander whipped in a corner from the left that Luyindula tracked well before snapping it home for an equalizing goal that send New York fans into a frenzy and saved the club from its second defeat of the season.
New York lost both Tim Cahill and Eckersley to injuries as both players were forced off in the first half.
The Red Bulls will continue the search for their first win of their season with a visit to Montreal on April 5 while Chivas USA face the LA Galaxy a day later in the first SuperClasico meeting of the season at StubHub Center.
MLSsoccer.com Men of the Match
|What We Saw
|Dan Kennedy
|Literally did everything he could to preserve a victory – but was left powerless on Luyindula's equalizer.
|Lloyd Sam
|At many points in the game, was the only thing New York had going for them. Tremendous play on wing.
|Péguy Luyindula
|Wasn't spectacular in first start in three games, but you're gonna make an impact, do it this way.


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All right, kicking things off today, our own Russell Hammond has once again updated the Release Dates & Artwork section with all the latest Blu-ray, DVD and Video Game cover artwork and Amazon.com pre-order links. As always, a portion of absolutely anything at all that you order from Amazon in the same session after clicking through to them from our links goes to help support our work here at The Bits and we really do appreciate it!
The big release news today is that Criterion has announced their March Blu-ray and DVD slate, including Terrence Malick's Badlands (Cat #651 - BD and DVD - due 3/19), Charlie Chaplin's Monsieur Verdoux (#652 - BD and DVD - due 3/26), Robert Bresson's A Man Escaped (#650 - BD and DVD - due 3/26), Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (#173 - BD and DVD - due 3/19), Fritz Lang's Ministry of Fear (#649 - BD and DVD - due 3/12) and Irvin S. Yeaworth Jr's cult classic The Blob (#91 - BD only - due 3/12)! Check out some of the cover art below.
Also, Paramount has set Paranormal Activity 4 for release on Blu-ray/DVD Combo and DVD on 1/29. It will include both the theatrical cut and an unrated cut of the film, along with The Recovered Files which is described as "nearly 30 minutes of found footage" (SRP $39.99 and $29.99).
Lionsgate and Summit will release The Cold Light of Day on Blu-ray and DVD on 1/29 as well.
And 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment has just made Taken 2 available in digital HD streaming on Amazon Instant Video, CinemaNow, Google Play, iTunes, NOOK Video, PlayStation, VUDU, Xbox Video and YouTube. Note that the Blu-ray and DVD versions street on 1/15.
Here's a look at the Blu-ray cover art for some of Criterion's March BD slate as well as Disney's Brother Bear: 2 Movie Collection (due 3/12)...
Stay tuned!
- Bill Hunt


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Water Authority not ready for pipeline talk
Despite several recent calls to fully estimate all costs in its now-struggling Community Water Supply Project and despite a tantalizing hint from the chair last month, the board of the Rivanna Water & Sewer Authority chose at its Monday, October 27 meeting to skip any discussion of the proposed 9.5-mile pipeline, which appears essential to making the Project work.
"You have new information now," longtime Authority critic Betty Mooney told the board. "This is a turning point."
She read names and quotations from several elected officials, including Albemarle County Supervisor Dennis Rooker and Charlottesville mayor Dave Norris, along with Norris' fellow City Councilors Satyendra Huja and Julian Taliaferro–- all of whom have in recent weeks begun ramping up the volume of their concerns with the Project.
Already under fire for requiring a 180-acre clear-cut of mature forest in a sensitive natural area, the Project nearly imploded in August after officials discovered that its dam would cost, not $37 million as long predicted, but a sum that could approach or even exceed $100 million. The dam was only supposed to account for 26 percent of the overall cost.
"Things have changed," said Councilor Huja at a recent meeting. "We need to have further review of the plan."
On Monday, the board heard from Authority director Tom Frederick who said that his staff were in the final stages of preparing a Request for Proposals to create an engineering review board to advise on ways of shrinking the dam's cost.
Supporters of an alternate plan were buoyed a month ago when even Authority board chair Mike Gaffney suggested that Monday's meeting might be the one to start exploring the costs of the pipeline, which Authority-hired experts contend is essential for filling the planned reservoir.
"I would rather discuss that at the next meeting," said Gaffney on September 22. Monday, however, there was no such discussion.
Asked afterwards why not, Gaffney replied, "There wasn't anything on the agenda, so I guess there wasn't anything to discuss."
–last updated 9:34am, October 28
14 comments
The look on all board members' faces is "very telling".
Mayor Norris and Chairman Boyd----calling all Rivanna Board Members---hello hello hello anyone home---
time to wake up we've changed the channel---your bank accounts are on hold ---no more blank checks---GET TO WORK1
At the last Council meeting on Oct 6th Mayor Norris gave the following statement.
Mr. Norris: ââ?¬Å?What's become clear is that we need better information and better numbers on all the components of the water supply both the adopted plan and the alternative plan and my belief and hope is that this process to bring outside neutral third party experts to review the dam can be broadened to be a comprehensive assessment of all components of the proposed and alternative water supply scenarios and help us determine what the best plan, best strategy for meeting our goals and most cost effective and in an environmentally friendly manner would be."
Now it appears that Mr. Boyd agrees, but the true test of leadership will be if they can actually get their employees to follow through. This is critical and will tell us a great deal about what kind of leaders these two men are. They are to be commended for stepping forward last night at the task force meeting, but now we'll see if their words are are just that, or if they will finally bring some business sense and responsibility to the rate payers into what has become a nonsensical water plan with no firm costs or designs, and a complete unwillingness to get the necessary information about dredging.
Wishful thinking, Betty Mooney.
Asked afterwards why not, Gaffney replied, ââ?¬Å?There wasn't anything on the agenda, so I guess there wasn't anything to discuss."
Obviously, who sets the agenda, determines the discourse.
CvilleEye, I may be naieve but this time I think given the financial reality we're facing and the dam trippling in price, the pipeline with no route, cost or design, and the fact that dredging is both feasible and affordable, our politicans will look very foolish not to get detailed costs of both the dam pipeline and dredging. The City Councilors sent a clear signal at the last meeting that they want to see this done. I believe Mayor Norris is very sincere in his comments which were echoed by the other Councilors. Now that Mr. Boyd who is a businessman has joined Mayor Norris in calling for all costs to be looked at by a neutral independent third party I'll bet you'll see the other Supervisors join in. It's difficult to argue with huge deficits in both the City and the County and advocate throwing away what you have to spend over $200 million on new infrastructure and get re-elected by the rate payers. I believe that sometimes common sense does win out in the end.
Sally Thomas, as chair of the Task Force, controls the agenda and the discourse allowed by its members (to date). Mike Gaffney, as chair of RWSA, by his quote, does not.
Make no mistake about it, if it weren't for the energetic and persistent actions of your organization the frequent articles in the Hook revealing what information is known and obviously even more importantly what information is not known, despite any current economic hardtimes, that proposal would be moving further along without a second thought. If these actions had not been taken, nobody would have known how foolish this proposal is until they ask the State to donation that $47M track of land and find out that VDOT wants the money for other road projects. Of course, that would occur AFTER the Ragged Mountain bathtub would have been built. This community owes your organization a standing ovation.
All is needed is for one other supervisor to join Slutzsky and Thomas to vote against a re-evaluation to keep the county representatives from supporting another look and it may not happen. At least, this time around, the city gets to appoint the citizen represemtative (what an inane procedure) and they can appoint someone who agrees to support the majority of council's opinion.
Betty, I fear the other sups and O'Connell can't be counted upon to go pro dredging unless they also garner a dam. I'm very convinced, those who have been "embarrassed" will move to choose consultants and advisors who will declare dredging an incomplete fix. For example, I can't see Thomas moving to your side. I believe she wants the dam to happen.
Dredge First ----Dam Later
Watch it, Betty Mooney.
Cville Eye what should I be watching. This seems like a perfectly logical slogan. RWSA has the money in the bank to dredge the entire Reservoir without borrowing right now, and that would give us decades of water for the entire community. The permit to build the dam does not require the dam to be built now or anytime soon. The permit is good for at least 15 years and can be renewed. By then we would have a much more accurate number for the population and the amount of water needed. We also know that DEQ has said that dredging the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir could be permitted. And don't forget the airport is looking for $40 million dollars of fill and it is right down the road from the Reservoir.
I was making a joke about your use of "dam."
Sorry in blogs I sometimes miss the humor, but we certainly need it! Thank you for all the important information and insight you provide into so many issues.
Quite frankly, I see no change in the positions held by Ambassador Norris and Ken Boyd. "October 28, 2008: Reservoir task force receives public input" (http://cvilletomorrow.typepad.com/charlottesville_tomorrow_/2008/10/task...)
Betty, I believe now is the time you should stand firm and really put your foot down. You are certainly correct, but remember, the city and county officials are not your friends "YET".


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A wedding reception for Mr. and Mrs. Paul Edward (Jennifer Dawn Overstreet) Grieco will be held from 4:00-6:00 p.m. Saturday, August 25, at the First Baptist Church Fellowship Hall located at 670 East Main Street, in Blackshear. The couple was married in a private ceremony Friday, June 22, on Driftwood Beach, Jekyll Island.
Grieco wedding reception to be held
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Butterflies - Free Learning Resources
- The Children's Butterfly Site (Grades K-2, 3-5)
Photo galleries, coloring pages (Monarch life cycle), life cycle of butterflies and moths, FAQs, and links to teaching and learning tools.
- Butterflies and Moths of North America (Grades 6-8, 9-12)
Includes an image gallery that can be filtered by stage (egg, caterpillar, pupa, adult), view (dorsal or ventral), species, or family. Users can search by common name or scientific name. Links to ID tools butterflies, moths, and caterpillars.
- Butterflies at The Field Museum (Grades K-2, 3-5)
This site has butterfly and moth basics and habitat information. Features many images.
- The Incredible Journey of the Butterflies
(Video: 53:47 min) (K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12)
(Arabic subtitles but the only full version available online)
- Interview with Filmmaker (Grades 3-5, 6-8)
In this interview with photographs, filmmaker Nick de Pencier explains how he became interested in filming the Monarch migration.
- Journey North's Monarch Butterfly Migration Tracking Project (Grades K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12)
Students and teachers can help track the monarch butterfly migration each fall and spring by reporting observations of migrating butterflies to real-time migration maps.
- Journey North for Kids (Grades K-2, 3-5)
Photo galleries, slideshows, teacher guide, and print and read booklets and slideshows.


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Thrills and chills await you at every turn with Halloween-themed parties, lively entertainment and elaborate décor — including an evolving Halloween Tree that eerily transforms throughout your Halloween on the High Seas cruise. Voyages run from two to seven nights long and depart various days of the week, which is perfect for either a fun getaway or a longer holiday vacation. Plus, we'll help you plan a seamless journey, from finding a family-friendly hotel to stay in before your cruise departs, to reserving port adventures that everyone will love. Your Disney cruise vacation will be filled with magical moments from start to finish!
Disney Magic — voyages depart between September 20 and October 29, 2017
Disney Wonder — voyages depart between September 14 and October 19, 2017
Disney Dream — voyages depart between September 4 and October 30, 2017
Disney Fantasy — voyages depart between September 2 and October 28, 2017
Chart your course for more magic during the holiday season. With so much to see and do, you won't want to miss a Halloween celebration at sea. Be sure to pack your favorite costumes and get ready for happy haunts!
Holiday activities and offerings are subject to change and may vary by ship and itinerary.
As to Disney artwork/properties: ©Disney; Ships' Registry: The Bahamas


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THE Gardening WEBSITE
British Gardens to Visit in Dumfies & Galloway Kirkcudbright
07:18 09-Aug-2020
The place to find inspiration for your own garden and learn more about plants and design is in other people's gardens.
Thousands of gardens are open to the public throughout the country. Some are owned by public bodies like the National Trust or English Heritage, many are privately owned and their creators welcome visitors. Often you can talk to the owner and discuss their garden and some of them have great plants for sale – real bargains, possibly unusual gems.
Garden visiting is immensely popular The National Trust alone has 50 million visits a year to its open air properties. It is said that more people visit gardens than football matches and Sunday afternoon is the favourite time to walk round someone else's garden and then have some delicious cake for tea before taking your new ideas back to your own garden. The National Trust alone has 50 million visits a year to its open air properties.
The Gardening Website would not be complete without a category devoted to the fabulous gardens throughout the UK. These are listed by county and by County and the nearest town or City. Each Garden will have a link map to easily locate it as well as an aerial map - where available and a link through to the Gardens own website for more detailed information. This section is expanding with demand and we now have pleasure in lining to other European countries as well as internationally to highlight some of the most fabulous gardens to visit and not just in the UK.
So for British Gardens to Visit by County or British Gardens to Visit by County and Town you can quickly find the one(s) you want to visit through THE Gardening Website


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Meet new wholesalers on your schedule with no waiting. Like a tradeshow online, FGmarket is available to you 24/7 - 365 days. With access to thousands of wholesalers like these, your possibilities are unlimited.
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Find wholesome Vegan products from selected wholesalers.


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Beat the Streak Report: Tuesday, July 28
Today's recommended picks
Chipper Jones, 3B, Braves
.563 AVG (9-for-16) lifetime vs. Marlins starter Ricky Nolasco
Yunel Escobar, SS, Braves
.500 AVG (5-for-10) lifetime vs. Marlins starter Ricky Nolasco
Jorge Posada, C, Yankees
.455 AVG (10-for-22) since '04 vs. Rays starter Scott Kazmir
BTS all-time leader: Michael Karatzia, 49
MLB all-time leader: Joe DiMaggio, 56
Yesterday's results
One day after becoming just the 10th contestant of the season to reach 35 games, momfannie saw her BTS run come to an end when Cincinnati's Joey Votto was ejected for arguing with the home-plate umpire after striking out in his first at-bat.
While momfannie no doubt also has a few choice words for that umpire, new leader rbgoulet1 is likely thinking only pleasant thoughts after Ichiro's 3-for-5 performance pushed his streak to 35 games.
matt1448, who entered the day in third place at 32 games, joined momfannie back at square one when his selection of Scott Podsednik resulted in a 0-for-4 performance. That enabled Roscoe1333, who tabbed Albert Pujols (1-for-4), to slide into a tie for third place with bigshowmarko, who held steady at 29 games with Todd Helton given the day off.
Yesterday's Top 5 most selected players
1. Ichiro Suzuki (SEA): 8.1%, 3-for-5
2. Chone Figgins (LAA): 5.6%, 1-for-5
3. Albert Pujols (STL): 5.5%, 1-for-4
4. Robinson Cano (NYY): 5.3%, 2-for-3
5. Dustin Pedroia (BOS): 5.3%, 2-for-4
4 Comments
Is there anywhere I can report my streak not being updated? Juan Rivera got 2 hits last night including a home run, but my streak doesn't reflect that.
Yeah you can email them. Look under the "Contact us" tab and they will check it out. Also from past experience the site isnt fully updated until 11 Am EST. So check it again to see if it's been updated.
Hey real quick I dont know if anyone looks here but who should I pick today between these 2
Brad Hawpe
Todd Helton
MY HR guy from Monday was Reynolds of AZ. This was not updated promptly. Wait unit 6am of the next day before being concerned. I can't even imagine the amount of info this site crunches and updates each day.
Thought – If a baseball hitting streak can extend from one season to another, this should be a consideration for longer streaks (say 20 plus games) to extend to the next season. I noticed that a few years ago a guys streak was at 37 or so and the season ended and so did his streak.
Does not seem fair.


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Sculpting a monster for my new game. Like most 3D games these days I am baking a hi-poly (100,000+ tri) model into a texture for use on a lo-poly (500-2000 tri) model in game. Curvy works well turning the lo-poly model into a hi-poly sculpt ready for baking.
LoPoly Sculpt = Blender
HiPoly Sculpt = Curvy3D
Baking = xNormal


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Want to know more about this week's guest and topics?
Try clicking on some of these links:
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), Majority Whip | Web site | Bio
Fmr. Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-GA), Speaker of the House 1995-1999 | Web site | Bio
Rich Lowry, Editor, National Review | Bio | Article archive
Michele Norris, Host, NPR's "All Things Considered" | Bio
Eugene Robinson, Columnist, Washington Post | Bio | Article archive
Chuck Todd, Political Director, NBC News | Bio
MSNBC: Politics
MSNBC: Terrorism
David Gregory
Follow David Gregory on Twitter
David Gregory on Facebook


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FoFA in het Journal of Film Preservation nr. 94/April 2016
The EYE Study is slowly but steadily taking shape in the new Collection Centre. An important part of its rich collection are the film journals and periodicals. One of these, both in print and digitally available at EYE, is FIAF's Journal of Film Preservation. FIAF stands for the International Federation of Film Archives and was established in 1938 in Paris. Its founding institutions are the British Film Institute in London, the Cinémathèque Française in Paris, the MOMA in New York City, and the Reichsfilmarchiv in Berlin. All were relatively new institutions at the time, with different ideas and goals about film preservation. (The Dutch Filmmuseum was only to be established in 1943, and joined FIAF in 1947). Of the four founders, the Reichsarchiv was the oldest, inaugurated by Hitler in 1933. Not coincidentally, Joseph Goebbels was known to be a film enthusiast with an understanding for its cultural and political and is therefore believed to be one of the motivators behind the Reichsarchiv's founding.
In the following years, the war had far-fetching consequences for the cooperation between the FIAF members. Fortunately, after the war, the FIAF members (excluding the Reichsfilmarchiv) re-established their contacts and welcomed new archives as members. These new archives were often set up in the hausse of the post-war years in which national heritage became an important political issue. In the decades that followed, FIAF expanded both in activities and recognition. In 1973 the first FIAF Summer School was held. Ever since, these regular events have helped train archival personnel. In 2015, the number of 155 affiliates was reached, in 74 countries worldwide.
In 1972 the first issue of the FIAF Information Bulletin was published, which would in 1993 be renamed the Journal of Film Preservation. With issues published twice a year, it provides an international forum for current-day film preservation discussions that range from theoretical to technical and historical aspects of moving image archival activities (source). In the latest issue, EYE and the EYE collection play a prominent role. Ulrich Ruedel, Professor for Conservation and Restoration in Berlin, wrote a review on Jean Desmet's Dream Factory: The Adventurous Years of Film (1907-1916). This book was published by EYE in 2014 and coincided with EYE's exhibition by the same name. Ruedel takes readers through the different sections and contributions of the book while at the same time hinting to the importance of the Desmet collection for EYE. Not only did the Desmet films for a great part lay the foundation of EYE's collection in the fifties, it moreover was of great importance for films such as Peter Delpeut's Lyrical Nitrate (1991), which was reissued on DVD at the time of the exhibition and book launch.
EYE's head of Film Conservation and Digital Access Anne Gant has written a case study for a more elaborate article on the FofA group. This group first came together in 2012 and was formed by nine film preservation experts from the field, amongst them Giovanna Fossati, but also preservationists from Cinématheque Française and Library of Congress. Within an informal setting, the group gathers on a yearly basis, and have been discussing the many challenges that film-archiving community is faced with since the move to digital film production. Examples of this are the availability of raw stock, continuation of laboratory services (for example film lab Haghefilm Digitaal next to the former EYE Collection building at Overamstel) and the manufacturing of film digitization equipment. Other important issues are the imperatives of long-term preservation and staff training. By keeping to its original 2012 agenda (Raw stock; Laboratories; Scanning; Storage; Training and Succession; Formats and Materials), revision and continuous discussion makes for all kinds of impact and results. For more information on FoFA and its agenda, goals and debates, do read the main FoFA article in the latest Journal of Film Preservation issue, written by FoFA's chair and BFI's Head of Conservation Charles Fairall.
Interesting for people curious as to what EYE does regarding these preservation challenges, is Anne Gant's case study that is one of three to follow Fairall's text in this issue. Together with Jon Wengström from the Swedish Film Institute, PhD researcher Guy Edmonds from Australia and German conservation & restoration professor Ulrich Ruedel , she shows what digital film production and other facets of the fast-changing field of film preservation can mean for an organization such as EYE. Specifically, she speaks of the shifts in workflows that have come about both in digital and analogue activities. This is directly connected to the project "Images for the Future", she explains, which had an enormous impact on how the department functions on a daily basis. The other case studies involve early cinema and cognitive creativity (Edmonds), moving image preservation studies at HTW Berlin (Ruedel) and sustaining photochemical laboratory processes in Sweden (Wengström).
When the EYE Study is up and running in October, feel free to reserve a desk and indulge yourself in this Journal of Film Preservation as well as the rest of EYE's periodicals collection.
[For more about the history of FIAF, click here and here.]
Carpet in EYE Study (still from Man with a Movie Camera, Dziga Vertov, 1929)Tag:FIAF, EYE Study, Collection Centre, collection, collectie, Dziga Vertov, restoration, technology, collectie-informatie, digitalisering, digitization, Tweede Wereldoorlog


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Infographic: A Week Of Chuck Hayes' ValueDecember 29, 2011 | Fantasy Basketball Daily Notes | 9 Comments
by: Adam
id like a cool million raise
What do you think of MarShon Brooks?
Would you go with Kemba or JRich tomorrow? Potential upside versus consistent meh
@Adam: time to cut losses with Toney Douglas, Arron Afflalo, Jared Dudley and Devin Harris? These guys are just terrible. Also what is goign on with Elton Brand?
adam – love your work. appreciate your efforts. but get the graphic right. the bottom chuck hayes should reflect 12/22, right?
happy new year all
I hope Hayes didn't have to ask for the raise, and the Kings gave it to him freely. What's up with all the heart issues this year? Is there a new heart problem test in the NBA? I'm sure there have been at least 3 (Jeff Green being the worst) who have had concerns over their hearts.