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If you look at Google Maps, know that Google Maps will also look at you, too.
Two Google Maps designers told an audience at San Francisco's Roadmap 2013 conference on Tuesday that eventually "every map will be customized for a specific person and location," according to GigaOm. Basically, the more Google Maps knows about you, the better the map.
For those of you groaning at yet another assault on your privacy, it's the price you pay for wanting all that information at your fingertips. Jonah Jones, a user experience designer at Google, said that customizing maps is the future of map technology, including creating new maps for every possibility.
U.S. & World
For instance, Google Maps would usually map features or businesses, but now armed with user information and prior experience, it can map locations that the user may have previously visited or found on Google's search engine. Product manager Bernhard Seefeld told the audience that Google Maps can actually think for users, including showing flight times when users are at airports. Your actual location becomes a query, according to Seefeld.
But is one's location really a query? Not usually, because mostly it's simply a location. Anticipating user needs seems to be jargon for selling users more ads and taking in more of their information to sell to third parties. Perhaps we're wrong, but relying on a machine to do your thinking for you probably isn't the best way to go through life.


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Some San Francisco 49ers fans are unhappy with BART's selection of seat colors for its new cars, saying it reminds them a little too much of their bitter rival Seattle Seahawks.
A petition on Change.org is entitled "Please refrain from outfitting the seats in BART cars in neon green and blue, the colors of the NFL's Seattle Seahawks."
The petition goes on to state: "The Seattle Seahawks are the chief rivals of the San Francisco 49ers. To outfit BART car seats in the team colors of the Seattle Seahawks (i.e. neon green and blue) is an outrage and a slap in the face of every San Francisco 49ers fan who rides BART. I call upon BART General Manager Grace Crunican (who oddly enough worked as Director of the Seattle Department of Transportation prior to joining BART) to scrap plans to adorn BART car seats in neon green and blue and instead choose other colors."
So far the petition has gathered 100 signatures.

subset: commoncrawl


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the only way to travel ... limo with a glass of bubbles!!
well have to see if I get a copy of the matching one of this... the one anna is taking a photo of!
rosy drunken grins...
have absolutely no idea what this was - some fruit slushy cocktail thing which was very delish!


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March may be on the way, but winter isn't ready to go away just yet.
Snow is headed our way tonight and will cause a mess on the roads. Some of the Poconos will get ice and snow; higher elevations could get upwards of four inches.
The Pocono Mountain girls district basketball game has already been postponed.
Search crews are frantically looking for a man with a medical condition whose been missing since Monday.
A prison guard was killed last night in a prison in Waymart. Authorities say the corrections officer was working in a housing unit when an inmate attacked him with a homemade weapon.Here's what we know so far.
Community school vs consolidation for cost savings. That's the issue at Pocono Mountain where officials have proposed closing two elementary centers — Barrett and Pocono — and residents of Barrett Township showed up by the dozens Monday to protest any possible closing. Parents spoke out Monday at a special meeting on the issue.
What do you think? Take our poll.
Two Hemlock Farms volunteer firefighters went to the hospital Saturday morning after the rescue truck they were riding in flipped on its side on an ice-covered road. Everyone is OK, but an insurance adjuster will have to access the damage to the truck.
This firefighter fulfilled his dream of going to Daytona before he died.
Lots of news in our police briefs today:
A man who drank too much fell on top of his 2-month-old baby girl early Sunday, then put her in her baby swing to sleep, where she later died.
Authorities say the mother of the Luzerne County district attorney. assaulted and threatened a bar manager at Mohegan Sun casino.
Police were tipped off about burglary suspects when a neighbor spotted saw them carrying a safe along the railroad tracks.
On the Features front:
We know it doesn't make sense, but you need to trim a tree to make it grow. We have some tips on how to do that.
And look who's stepping their way into Dancing With the Stars.
Pocono Tuesday: Snow, sleet and search for missing man
March may be on the way, but winter isn't ready to go away just yet.


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cfc wrote:I've never been to the Hollywood version of Horror Nights, but I'm intrigued by the horror "tram takeovers."
It's a great concept but the execution always left a lot to be desired, imho. There's simply way too much dead space, no pun intended. You'll go through a scene then walk along an unthemed pathway for 500 yards, then walk through another scene, then another unthemed path, rinse, repeat, until you end up back in the park.


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A flexible sigmoidoscopy is a visual exam of the rectum and lower portion of the colon (large intestine). The exam is done with a tool called a flexible sigmoidoscope. The sigmoidoscope is a flexible tube with a tiny camera on the end. This instrument allows the doctor to see inside your rectum and colon.
Copyright © Nucleus Medical Media, Inc.
Flexible sigmoidoscopy is used to examine and diagnose problems inside your rectum and lower colon. The procedure is most often done to:
Complications are rare. But no procedure is completely free of risk. If you are planning to have a sigmoidoscopy, your doctor will review a list of possible complications, which may include:
Factors that may increase the risk of complications include:
Before the procedure, your doctor will:
Your lower intestine must be completely cleaned out before the procedure. Any stool left in the intestine will block the view. This preparation may start several days before the procedure. Follow your doctor's instructions, which may include:
Your doctor may also instruct you to follow a clear-liquid diet.
Your doctor may sedate you to decrease discomfort.
You will be positioned either on your left side with your knees bent and drawn up toward your chest, on your back with your feet in stirrups, or on a special table. The doctor will do a rectal exam with their finger. Then, the lubricated sigmoidoscope will be slowly inserted into your rectum. The scope is about the same thickness as a human finger. The scope will be passed through the rectum and into the colon. It will inject air into the colon to widen the passage and make it easier to see the walls. As the scope moves along, it will provide a video of the colon lining. The doctor will watch the video images to look for any abnormalities. A tissue sample and/or polyps may be removed.
The procedure typically lasts about 20-30 minutes.
You may feel some discomfort when the instrument is inserted. You may feel cramping, muscle spasms, or lower abdominal pain during the procedure. You may also feel the urge to move your bowels.
After the procedure, gas pains and cramping are common. These pains should go away with the passing of gas.
If any tissue was removed, it will be sent to a lab to be examined. It may take 1-2 weeks for results. A small amount of bleeding may occur during the first few days after the procedure.
The doctor will usually give an initial report after the scope is removed. Other tests may be advised.
It is important to monitor your recovery. Alert your doctor to any problems. If any of the following occur, call your doctor:
If you think you have an emergency, call for emergency medical services right away.
American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
Canadian Association of Gastroenterology
Canadian Digestive Health Foundation
Flexible sigmoidoscopy. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases website. Available at: https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/diagnostic-tests/flexible-sigmoidoscopy. Updated July 2016. Accessed October 3, 2017.
Understanding flexible sigmoidoscopy. American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy website. Available at: https://www.asge.org/list-pages/patient-informations/understanding-flexible-sigmoidoscopy. Accessed September 25, 2014.
Last reviewed September 2018 by EBSCO Medical Review Board Daus Mahnke, MD Last Updated: 9/25/2014


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A high quality PVC elastic UV and frost-resistant pond liner with a 10 year Warranty. We suggest that this liner be used in conjunction with our Geotex Security Underlay to prevent damage from sharp objects. If required, please add in the options below.
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This post is part of the "Think Global" series, exploring the next big investment frontiers for investors and financial advisors. "Think Global" is sponsored by OppenheimerFunds®. Read more in the series »
China's economy is slowing.
Meanwhile, rising local government debt and the ballooning shadow banking sector has experts worried that a sincere effort to deleverage could trigger a hard economic landing.
People that are bullish on China often say that Beijing is in control of the slowdown. This argument has been applied to policymakers' handling China's so-called "ghost cities," property price bubble, and mini-credit crunches in December and in June of last year.
However, it is unclear just how much control policymakers actually have over the problems popping up across the Chinese economy.
"I'm worried that Chinese leaders actually believe it when they say everything is under control," said Patrick Chovanec, chief strategist at Silvercrest Asset Management. "The clock is fast running out on China's tactic of using runaway credit to fuel investment-led growth."
"At best China faces a growth squeeze from a mounting burden of bad debt, at worse that bad debt will blow up in its face. Either way, China faces a wrenching economic adjustment. If China's leaders recognize not just the direction but also the urgency of change, they have some hope of getting to the other side. If they kid themselves into complacency, they are courting disaster."
China's upcoming National People's Congress will give us more details on what policymakers are most focused on.
See Also:China's Currency Just Saw Its Biggest Weekly Drop Since 2011Local Government Debt And Environmental Issues Will Top Agenda During China's Upcoming National People's CongressExpect China To Face Plenty Of Setbacks On Its Way To The Top � Just Like The US
SEE ALSO: 7 Experts Told Us What Worries Them The Most About China


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So I'm planning on getting 2k16 on PC. Played it on PS4, pretty good.
For the courts, the pre '97-98 NBA courts don't have that restricted area arc at the end of the basket. 2k had them in most if not all pre 1997 courts in the game. Is there any way to get rid of them to make them more accurate to what they used to look like?


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Wyoming Articles
Wyoming Quick Data
Energy Efficiency:
Source: ACEEE
Score 0.00 / 8
Score 0.00 / 8
Score 1.00 / 20
Score 1.00 / 20
Score 1.50 / 10
Score 1.50 / 10
Source: DSIRE
Energy Efficiency Programs:
33 Incentives and Policies
33 Incentives and Policies
Recommended Visualizations
Use these datasets to understand and analyze the pace and scale of how clean energy is transforming the United States marketplace. These respected organizations have researched and visualized components of the clean energy market. Explore each resource to learn more.
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Recommended News, Research, Programs and Events
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Hello everyone,
Well this is probably more of a math question than programming, but still I can't get it right and I don't think math forums would be the best place either.
I'm programming a simple 2D tank game for my entertainment.
You can basically consider tanks and bullets to be located at points on an X,Y axis.
I am trying to make an enemy tank shoot my bullets out of the sky. Let's just say that both our bullets travel at the same speed.
So math wise, I am looking for a direction the enemy tank can shoot, that will intersect my bullet's path and collide with my bullet.
My understanding is that if the bullets travel the same speed, the distance between my bullet and the intersection point, and the enemy's bullet and same intersection point, must be the same for the bullets to hit each other, rather than just cross paths.
What I have been trying to do is convert my bullet's path to the format y = mx + b, then find another linear equation that meets the criteria to hit my bullet.
I'm not sure how to do this. I've tried a couple different ways, and neither have worked. One at least shot somewhat close, but my more recent attempt produced weird, fail results.
I've attached a picture that hopefully makes this a lot more clear to understand what I'm trying to find.
Ideally finding the x,y point of intersection to shoot at would be best, but any help finding the line or angle to shoot in would be great.
Thanks for your time!


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Group Booking Terms and Conditions
Because you are making a Group Booking, there are additional Terms and Conditions that apply. Please read them and click 'I Accept' below to continue with your booking
General Group Booking Terms
By making a group reservation through Hostelworld.com you agree to the following terms and conditions as set by Hostelworld.com and as set by the hostel in question.
- In order to make a group reservation on Hostelworld.com it is necessary to pay a deposit. The balance is due directly to the hostel according to their payment conditions.
- The booking deposit is non-refundable.
- Please note that any cancellations must be notified directly to the hostel at least 24 hours in advance of your scheduled arrival date, unless otherwise stated in the hostel's conditions.
- Hostelworld.com are not responsible for changes or amendments to your reservation once it has been processed. All correspondence with regard to changes to your booking need to be dealt with directly with the hostel.
- Cancellations for reservations must be made directly with the hostel and must conform with the individual hostels cancellation policy (see below)
- It is your responsibility to pay the balance of your accommodation cost to the hostel in accordance with their payment conditions (see below). Failure to do so may result in your reservation being cancelled by the hostel.
- Individual hostels may have special booking conditions relating to group stays, please read the hostel booking conditions carefully before making your reservation.
Hostel Specific Terms & Conditions
The remainder of the amount due will be charged to your credit card ???? Should numbers or room selection change, the per person deposit times the number of people who actually travelled will be deducted from the total accommodation charge levvied by the hostel.
The following group types are not accepted by this hostel: Holiday with Friends, Junior / Primary School, High / Secondary School, College / University, Business Trip, Stag/Hen/Bachelor Party, Sports Group, Cultural Group If you have misrepresented the type of group you are booking for, your booking may be cancelled by the hostel."
Any cancellations resulting from agreement to these terms and conditions under false pretences will result in loss of deposit.
Du skal acceptere vilkår og betingelser, for at vi kan bekræfte din booking.
Beskrivelse af Overnatningssted
Dreaming Navona Rooms is located in the heart of the historical center of Rome, in the neighborhood of the Parione district which included also the Campo de' Fiori. We are less than 10 minutes walk from Castel Sant'Angelo, and 15 minutes walk from the Vatican Museums and the St. Peter's Basilica. We also are a few steps from the Piazza Navona, 5 minutes to the Pantheon and the Fontana di Trevi, 10 minutes to the Spanish Steps. Our accommodation is less than 20 minutes to the Colosseo, Fori Imperiali and the Palatine Hill.
The rooms are elegantly furnished in shades of antique pink, white and beige, all have flat screen TV, air conditioning/heating system and parquet floors.
Dreaming Navona Rooms Policies and Conditions:
Check in from 13:00 to 18:00.
Check out from 03:00 to 10:00.
Cancellation policy: 7 days before arrival. Payment upon arrival by cash, credit cards, debit cards. This property might pre-authorize your credit card.
Taxes not included - occupancy tax 3.50 EUR per person per night
Breakfast not included.
Reception: open from:10:00 to 18:00.
It is compulsory to communicate in advance the time of arrival. An extra charge of 20 euros applies for arrivals after check-in hours up to 21:00, and 35 euros thereafter. All requests for late arrival are subject to confirmation by the accommodation. The latest possible check-in, even if paying the surcharge, is 00:00.
No curfew.
Non smoking.
The maximum period of stay is of 14 days. Se ordensreglement
Se de ledige
- Gratis bykort
- Gratis internetadgang
- Gratis WiFi
- Håndklæder inkluderet
- Sengetøj inkluderet
- Aircondition
- Hårtørrere
- Morgenmad ikke inkluderet
- Strygejern/strygebræt
- Internetadgang
- Opbevaring af baggage
- Reception (begrænset tidsrum)
- Rengøring
- Mulighed for at lave te og kaffe
- Wi-Fi
Sessionen er udløbet
Sessionen er udløbet
Indtast adgangskoden til kontoen <% email %>


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Holy frigging scoop Uncle Ed!
If you've noticed on Dish Network the show is now labeled as Connor Chronicles. And for a while I've been wondering why this is so well today I got a huge breaking bit of news that will rock Terminator fandom to the core.
What is this earthshaking news?
- Total Show Shakeup!
In a discussion that a sources, brothers, cousins, friends source overheard this is what is planned for Season 3.
Brace yourself and click through!
"We've decided to clean house and move boldly forward," Josh F. was over heard saying. "By the end of Season Two John will be ALONE Sarah and Derek will both be killed in action by the end of Born to Run. This gives us an immense amount of freedom to totally turn the Terminator universe on its ear."
"That's right," replied one of the key writers whose name rhymes with Plaque Sence "With Sarah and Derek out of the way we can build up the much more interesting relationship."
"Jameron, Jameron…and MORE Jameron.," Josh said with a smile. "Not to mention further developing the story of Skynet, John Henry, the Machine Faction and the Grey's."
"But most importanly J-A-M-E-R-O-N!!!" called out an exstatic Nattery Shydez.
I'm about as shocked as you are.
So watch in May when Fox announces Season 3.
Jameron: Future Chronicles
Oh and…April fools!


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Missing Office Equipment Prank
Here is Part 2 of my series where I reminisce about the good times I had at Williams. As I stated previously, I came across these printed off emails in our attic while moving to our new home. I'm so glad I printed them off. #goodtimes
Anyway, this was a prank Keith Stanek, Josh Guthman (Guthy), and myself pulled on Michael Brotherman (Are you Miking Me?). Before showing you the email though I need to set the stage. The year was 2003, and our company had just gone through 3 rounds of layoffs. Morale was pretty low. We worked on the 32nd floor of the 52 story BOK building in downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma. During fire drills we had to take the stairs down a floor. During one of the fire drills we noticed the entire 31st floor was void of humans, but a lot of very nice unused office furniture and white boards were still present. We joked around about repurposing some of the nicer equipment, but nothing ever come of it. Until one morning, we noticed Mike had a new chair. A very nice new chair. We gave him junk about it all day, but decided a prank would be better. So we had Josh Guthman (Guthy) write us up a believable email that Keith and I would spoof using the Facilities email address. Here it is:
From: Facilities Services-Tulsa
Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2003 7:39AM
Subject: Missing Office Equipment
During a recent audit for unused office equipment we discovered black reclining office chairs were missing from several of the floors in the BOK tower. Upon further investigation we discovered those chairs had been procured by current employees looking to upgrade from their existing chairs. While facilities appreciates your desire to utilize existing assets instead of requisitioning new ones, please remember that Williams is undergoing a cost savings campaign at this time and that all unused equipment needs to remain on its respective floor for proper accounting and redistribution either to the lessee or to an employee in need. If we have not already reacquired your chair, please return it to the floor from which it came by the end of business Friday, March 14.
Mike smelled it out, but noone ever confessed, and I'm pretty sure deep down, even though his gut was telling him it was a prank, he still didn't want to take the chance in the possibility that it might have been true. The best part about it was the morning we sent the email, Mike and I had a group breakfast meeting with one of the Senior Executives. As we were going down the elevator, he mentioned to me that he was going to bring it up during the meeting, and with a complete straight face I called his bluff and told him that I think he should, knowing that he wouldn't anyway; and if he did it would only make the prank that much better.
Mike returned the chair.


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A mysterious young violinist who found fame by way of Ashton Kutcher's Twitter feed has been identified.
"I'm famous?" Justus Rivera, 13, said with shy surprise Thursday.
Kutcher, the actor and producer who is the most followed user on Twitter, was intrigued when he saw Justus playing at the entrance of Rittenhouse Square on the corner of 18th and Walnut streets last Saturday night.
U.S. & World
Kutcher made a brief video of Justus' sidewalk performance and posted a link to it on his Twitter account, saying, "I came across this young man sawing on a fiddle and playing it hot."
Since then, footage of Rivera playing has been watched more than 30,000 times on the Internet.
Soon after the video of Rivera went up, a director of a popular daytime talk show saw Kutcher's tweet and launched a search for the mystery fiddler. NBC Philadelphia found him.
A North Philly native, Justus is a self-taught musician who's been playing the violin for less than two years. His explanation for how he picked it up so fast?
"I guess my fingers are just used to it because I play a lot of Guitar Hero," said Justus.
In addition to Guitar Hero and the violin, Justus is a skilled player of the trumpet, bongos, piano, guitar, drums, and the xylophone. Justus is an eighth grader at Girard Academic Music Program (GAMP) -- a magnet secondary school at 22nd and Ritner Streets in South Philly.
According to Justus' mother, Angelica Nieves, the prodigy plays in the Rittenhouse area on weekends once or twice a month.
"I get this adrenaline rush when people and crowds are standing by," Justus said about playing in public. "I like the people; I like the money too."
Justus makes $200 to $500 every time he busks in Center City. He said the money goes to his college fund or to help around the house.


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Hello everyone!
I'm new at using Lapack and I need some hints .
I read that CLapack was built from fortran so, does it need matrix to be passed to functions in column major order (fortran order) or the C row major order?
If I must use the column major order, do I need to "manually" transpose matrices?


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In June of 2011 I was notified by a physician friend of mine, Dr. Jen in Port-au-Prince, that she had a young patient named Luckner with a serious heart problem. She wanted to know if I would examine him and evaluate him as a candidate for heart surgery through Haitian Hearts.
I agreed to do this but I was located in central Haiti about three hours north of Port-au-Prince working in a Cholera Treatment Center at Albert Schweitzer Hospital. I asked Dr. Jen if Luckner could come up to Schweitzer and I would examine him. She said he would make the trip.
At the Cholera Treatment Center we had a tiny admit room. Hundreds of sick patients were coming every day with cholera. We put IV's in the sickest cholera patients in this room and sometimes we would have six or seven very ill patients in shock slumped in their chairs or lying unconscious on cots. Sometimes the patients were even slumped against each other in these close quarters.
One day a young man showed up. Even though I had never seen him I thought he had to be Luckner. He looked too strong and healthy to be a sick with cholera.
The young man was Luckner and he looked scared. He was scared to be around so many deathly ill appearing cholera patients. I could tell he wanted to leave the Cholera Treatment Center as fast as possible.
I examined him quickly and could hear the loud murmur coming from his leaky aortic valve.
I assured Luckner that we would help him as much as we could and that he could head back to Port-au-Prince. He seemed to be a perfect candidate for repair or replacement of his aortic valve.
So I e mailed Dr. Jen and explained to her that Haitian Hearts would do what we could to get Luckner admitted into a US medical center for heart surgery.
I sent Luckner's history and physical and his echocardiogram to Dr. Bryan Foy a heart surgeon in Illinois who has operated many Haitian Hearts patients in the past. Dr. Foy reviewed the echo and agreed that Luckner needed surgery.
Dr. Foy operates out of a number of medical centers in northern Illinois. Edward Hospital in Naperville is one of them and they accepted Luckner for surgery.
During the past year Dr. Jen and her group of friends in Port-au-Prince were able to obtain a medical visa for Luckner. And they brought him to Naperville about one month ago. He is with a wonderful host family there.
And guess what? Dr. Foy operated on Luckner several hours ago and replaced his leaky aortic valve. (As I post this Luckner is in stable condition in ICU.)
This fortunate 25 year old man just received a new lease on life. My thanks to EVERYONE for all their help with Luckner during the last year.
John A. Carroll, MD


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From Proud Dereks: Readers lumbered with unfashionable names:
My great, great aunt was called Golingabeth. I can't seem to convince my wife who is expecting to even consider this name. Graeme Fryer, Bray, Ireland
And another:
Our daughter's name skipped more than a few generations. She's named after the Babylonian goddess of war and sex, Ishtar. My son's name is even more unusual, he's called Till, a German boy's name. German names seem much more unfashionable here than mere ancient gods and goddesses. Liz Jones, Wells, Somerset
And one more:
I bet my name has not featured in the lists at all for a good number of years. It is perhaps softer sounding than Jasper or Rupert but eminently searchable. It sometimes produces a titter in meetings where someone unknowingly uses the word bland rather something more anodyne. I have grown used to the name and it is rather distinctive so I do tend to be remembered. Though my real name is Charles Bland Tomkinson, I have always been called Bland. Bland Tomkinson
From a US News article about the death of former Mouseketeer Bonita Lynn Fields Elder:
Elder always went by the name Lynn, but she adopted the stage name "Bonnie" — a shortened version of her real first name — at the suggestion of the show's producers because there was already a cast member, a boy, with the first name Lynn, her cousin said.
From the X-Factor's "Meet Panda Ross" video [1:54 to 2:14]:
Simon Powell: So what's your name?
Panda Ross: Panda.
Simon: What?
Panda: Panda. Like the bear.
Simon: That's your real name?
Panda: That's my real name.
Simon: Why were you called Panda?
Panda: My mom, well, she was kinda, you know, in jail when she had me, and her cellmate was a white lady, she was black, and so, they just kinda came up with the name.
From a Daily Mail article about Robbie Williams:
The Candy singer also spoke about celebrity baby names and how he and wife Ayda Fields chose their daughter's moniker.
Robbie quipped: 'We wanted to call her Teddy but that's bordering on celebrity nonsense and we thought what if she doesn't go into showbiz and needs a professional name, so Theodora is her professional name and Teddy is the name she goes by at home.'
And another:
The hit-maker revealed how he had once mixed up the name of Gwyneth Paltrow's daughter, when the actress paid a visit to his house.
He remembered: 'We were at my house in Los Angeles and the Coldplay boys had been over for a game of football and Gwyneth turned up. I was like, "Gwyneth Paltrow is in my house", and as she walked towards me I kept saying in my head, "say something to Gwyneth Paltrow, say something to Gwyneth Paltrow" and I said, "Does Melon want some Apple?"'
From Josh & Julie Korn: Digging for a CURE:
Hassane and Hussein are popular names for twins here in Niger. If you meet a Hassane or a Hussein, chances are they have a twin brother.
From a People article about Drew Barrymore's recent appearance on Ellen:
Asked why she and her husband Will Kopelman chose Olive, the actress says it came from a book–though not one of baby-names.
"I was reading a book with my husband. I was three months pregnant, and they said, 'Your baby is the size of an olive.' And that was it. We never looked back."
From an MTV article about the moms of Teen Mom 2:
And Kailyn? Well, turns out she was a huge Hanson fan (okay, who wasn't?), and named Isaac after the eldest brother. "Do you remember, 'Mmm Bop?'" she pleads to the other, seemingly clueless girls. They may not, but…oh, we remember.
That's the first time I've ever seen/heard someone admit they named their kid after a member of Hanson.


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Background of API dispatch in Mesa
The operation of nearly every function in the OpenGL API depends on the state of the currently bound context. Even if all state in two context's is identical, the operation can be different between the two contexts. Consider a couple common examples:
- One context is created for direct rendering (requiring that function calls be directed into the local driver) and the other context is created for indirect rendering (requiring that function calls be convertex to GLX protocol and sent to the server).
- Both contexts are created for direct rendering, but one context is created on screen 0 of the display, which happens to be on a card by manufacturer Foo, and the other context is created on screen 1, which happens to be on a card by manufacturer Bar. In this function calls are directed to a different local driver for each context.
To implement this, Mesa uses something similar to the virtual function table for a C++ class. Each context has an associated dispatch table. This table contains a function pointer for every function in the API. When a context is bound with
glXMakeCurrent(or similar function), a pointer to its dispatch table is stored in a global variable. When an application calls an API function, such as
glVertex3f, it is actually calling a generic dispatch stub in Mesa (dispatch stubs that are directly called are also referred to as static dispatch stubs). This dispatch stub fetches a pointer to the currently context's dispatch table, looks up a pointer to the desired function in that table, and, finally, calls the function.
It is also important to note that, since the current context is set per-thread in a multithreaded application, the dispatch pointer is also stored per-thread.
The Linux OpenGL ABI requires that certain functions be statically exported by the system libGL. However, nearly any useful implementation will want to expose more functionality. Since applications cannot depend on these functions being statically available, another method is needed to access them. Initially implemented as an extension and later incorporated into GLX 1.4,
glXGetProcAddressARB (or
glXGetProcAddress) is used to get a pointer to a named API function. GLX requires that pointers returned by
glXGetProcAddressARB be context independent. This means that calling
glXGetProcAddressARB((const GLubyte *) "glVertex3f") will return the same value no matter what context is bound .
In addition,
glXGetProcAddressARB can be called when no context is bound. Since Mesa is capable of loading drivers with unknown functionality, Mesa has no way to know a priori that a requested function, such as
glWillNeverExist, doesn't exist. For this reason Mesa's implementation of
glXGetProcAddressARB will never return
NULL for a well formed API function name. Other libGL implementations that only operate with a limited set of known drivers (e.g., Nvidia's closed-source libGL) can know which functions will never exist and may return
Mesa's implementation of
glXGetProcAddressARB does two important steps when called with a function name that is currently unknown. It first assigns an offset in the dispatch table to the new function. Once the location of the function pointer in the dispatch table is known, Mesa generates a dynamic dispatch stub for the function. A pointer to this function is returned by
glXGetProcAddressARB. The name of the function, the assigned offset, and the dispatch stub pointer are all stored in a table used internally by Mesa.
Threading models supported by Mesa
In terms of API dispatch, Mesa currently supports four different threading models. The compile-time choice of threading model dictates the implementation of the dispatch stubs. The core difference lies in how the global dispatch pointer is stored and retrieved. The threading mode is selected by defining one of
USE_XTHREADS, or
BEOS_THREADS. When
PTHREADS is selected,
GLX_USE_TLS can also be used. If none of these values are defined, Mesa uses a single-threaded mode of operation.
In single threaded mode as single, global variable is used to store the dispatch table pointer. This results in the simplest possible dispatch stubs as well.
void glVertex3fv( const GLfloat * v )
(*_glapi_Dispatch->Vertex3fv)( v );
Non-TLS threading models
Mesa implements a generic wrapper function, called
_glapi_get_dispatch, that is used to get the per-thread dispatch pointer. The naive implementation of a dispatch stub is shown below.
void glVertex3fv( const GLfloat * v )
const struct _glapi_table * d = _glapi_get_dispatch();
(*d->Vertex3fv)( v );
This implementation is very simple, but it results in poor performance in the single-threaded case. Single-threaded applications are by far more common that multi-threaded, so it make sense to do some optimization for that case. The old variable
_glapi_Dispatch continues to exist, but its semantic is slightly modified. When the implementation of
glXMakeCurrent detects that a new thread is setting a current context,
_glapi_Dispatch is set to
NULL and the true dispatch table pointer is stored in some piece of thread local storage. This allows the dispatch function to use the state of
_glapi_Dispatch to determine whether or not the application is single- or multi-threaded.
void glVertex3fv( const GLfloat * v )
const struct _glapi_table * d = (_glapi_Dispatch != NULL)
? _glapi_Dispatch : _glapi_get_dispatch();
(*d->Vertex3fv)( v );
The result is vastly improved single-threaded performance with a small penalty to multi-threaded performance.
Pthreads optimization
Pthreads is by far the most common threading model used by Mesa. Some of the overhead of
_glapi_get_dispatch can be avoided by directly calling
pthread_getspecific from the dispatch stub. This helps the multi-threaded case slightly but has no impact on the single-threaded case.
void glVertex3fv( const GLfloat * v )
const struct _glapi_table * d = (_glapi_Dispatch != NULL)
? _glapi_Dispatch : pthread_getspecific( & _gl_DispatchTSD );
(*d->Vertex3fv)( v );
Thread-local storage on Linux provides compiler supported, per-thread variables. Once a variable is defined as being per-thread, it can be accessed with in C code like any global variable. However, the compiler (and linker) will perform some magic behind the scenes to ensure that each thread has its own data. On x86 this requires the use of a slightly more expensive addressing mode to access the TLS variables. The performance penalty of this addressing mode in the single-threaded case has been measure to be comparable to the penalty of the
_glapi_Dispatch test in the non-TLS case. The performance advantage of the TLS access versus the call to either
_glapi_get_dispatch or
pthreads_getspecific is quite large.
The name of the dispatch table pointer is changed in the TLS case to prevent conflicts between a TLS libGL and a non-TLS DRI driver.
void glVertex3fv( const GLfloat * v )
(*_glapi_tls_Dispatch->Vertex3fv)( v );
Implementation of static dispatch functions in Mesa
In the Mesa source tree, the file gl_API.xml describes all of the known API functions. In addition to describing the parameters to the function, each entry in gl_API.xml also declares a static offset in the dispatch table for that function.
Python generator scripts
A series of Python scripts are used to generate both platform independent API files and platform dependent API files. For the API dispatch code, the most significant scripts that generate platform independent files are summarized in the following table.
|Script Name
|Generated File
|C-code dispatch function templates
|List of defines of dispatch offsets
|Tables used by
|C structure definition of the dispatch table
There are also several scripts that generate platform dependent files. In all cases the generated files are assembly language versions of the dispatch stubs for a particular platform.
|Script Name
|Generated File
|PowerPC dispatch stubs
|SPARC (32-bit and 64-bit) dispatch stubs
|x86 (32-bit) dispatch stubs
|x86-64 dispatch stubs
Platform specifics
SPARC (32-bit and 64-bit)
Implementation of dynamic dispatch functions in Mesa
This may not be the same as the address of the static dispatch stub.


text:
Let's start with introductions and what you're doing on Hacktivist...
Ian Herring, I'm the colorist.
Collin Kelly, I'm one of the co-writers.
And I'm Jackson Landzing the other co-writer.
And can you tell us a little about Hacktivist?
JL - Hacktivist is a story that was inspired and created by Alyssa Milano, then came to us as a creative team to build it up. What we are looking at doing with Hacktivist is to tell a relevant story that isn't distracted by superpowers or science fiction tropes. Something that feels cyberpunk and heightened, but is 'right now' and with characters just like you and me. With Archaia and Alyssa Milano behind it, it can actually get out there for the widest effect.
Did you have to do a lot of research on it?
CK - Yes. First we sat down with Alyssa and she knew the stuff inside and out.
JL - It turns out she is a super-smart genius.
CK - Then, we get home and we all get these leather binders with three hundred pages of hand made notes from Alyssa of stuff she had already put together.
JL - We call each other and ask, did you get this package too? Then it felt like we were back in school, pulling out our highlighters and learning everything we could about hacking, social media, anonymous and more.
CK - We've also been in contact with several hackers, Alyssa helped us reaching out to people that way. We want to make this as accurate as possible. The last thing we want is for someone to get into the book and start seeing a bunch of hacker BS.
JL - We've considered possibly doing an AMA on reddit or heading to 4chan to see if we can reach out for more advice from people that know this stuff. Hopefully if we go to them, they will be willing to talk to us about it.
What was your approach to the art?
IH - I had worked with Marcus To (artist) before on a couple of other books at DC, but this is a very grounded story. Marcus, even though he had worked in superhero books, he has a real talent for bringing out the character in someone's face and making even a coffee shop scene look interesting. He tries to push me to do that as well.
The book has a lot of location changes too, switching the color schemes for different locales. Similar to the movie Traffic, playing with the color pallet for different scenes.
JL - You have sections of the book taking place in completely different locations around the world, which took even more research trying to get an authentic feel for the various chapters. Even though Marcus has worked on Superhero books, that's not what I see him as, even when he's doing a more animated style, you are still seeing an attention to detail.
Tale of Sand that Ian colored was one of my favorite books and I was flipping out when I heard that Ian was going to be our colorist. We had a 3-4 page sequence where our character was flipping out in the book and we just told Ian it was up to him and he'd have to sell it with his coloring because we knew he could.
How has it been working with Archaia?
JL - I don't think any other publisher would publish this book. I don't think that has anything to do with the quality of the work or team, but I genuinely think you wouldn't see this anywhere else because it's not a book directed solely at the comic book market. We hope comic fans will love it, and we are fanboys and love superheroes and science fiction as well and hope all that comes through, but this is comics for everybody. It's that "Warren Ellis, if we don't do this the industry will stagnate," we gotta do this stuff. The fact that Archaia is pushing it, that we didn't have to convince them, they came to us wanting to tell a real world information age story is a great thing.
IH - This is my third time working with them and they are fantastic. They support everything they put out.


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text:
The Central Connecticut women's basketball team fell to Mount St. Mary's by a score of 64-62 on Monday night at Detrick Gym. The Blue Devils (9-9, 3-5 NEC) connected for a season-high 58.6% from the floor in the first half, but the Mountaineers (10-10, 5-3 NEC) limited CCSU to 19 points in the second half.
Sophomore TeJahne Malone led the Blue Devils with 15 points and eight rebounds. She was six-of-nine from the field and three-of-four at the free throw line in the game.
Junior Kaley Watras also finished with 15 points, but she was held scoreless in the second half.
The game featured 15 lead changes with 12 coming in the first half. Both teams opened the game shooting well from the field. The Blue Devils connected on 17-of-29 (58.6%) attempts in the first hanf and were two-of-three on three-pointers. Mount shot 43.3% (13-of-30) from the floor, but was 5-of-13 (38.5%) from behind the arc.
The Blue Devils carried their nine-point lead deep into the second half with the Mount tying the game at 51-51 with 6:17 left to play. Following Sydney Henderson's tying jumper the score was tied or the lead changed on seven occasions during the final 6:17.
A layup by sophomore Kayla Miller gave CCSU a 62-59 lead with 49 seconds remaining, but a three by Henderson tied the game for the Mount with 18 seconds on the clock.
A costly turnover by CCSU on the ensuing possession gave the Mountaineers the ball back with 10 seconds to play and, following a foul by CCSU senior Lauren Arbogast, Jacqueline Brewer connected on a pair of free throws to give the Mountaineers the victory.
The Blue Devils shot just 29.2% (7-of-24) and hit on just five-of-10 free throw attempts. The Blue Devils also missed all five three-point attempts in the half.
The Mountaineers scored 30 second half points on eight field goals, two of them three-pointers and a 12-of-20 performance at the free throw line.
Senior Jessica Babe grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds and also scored eight points.
The Blue Devils return to action on Saturday at St. Francis Brooklyn and then visit Mount St. Mary's next Monday night. The game between the Blue Devils and Mountaineers will be broadcast live on ESPN3.com.


text:
A former hacker who went to prison as a teenager over a stock-trading scam is back in trouble with the law.
Van T. Dinh, 25, was charged with two counts of computer hacking last Friday over accusations he hacked into an online currency exchange service before allegedly attempted to transfer $110,000 to an account under his control. The alleged transfers were made in two batches days apart in December 2008, after Dinh had allegedly broken into the firm's admin systems. He's further accused of using this privileged access in attempting currency trades involving two other third-party customer accounts, and of trying to transfer $140,000 into one of these accounts.
FBI investigators traced the fraudulent transaction attempts back to the Pennsylvanian home Dinh shares with his mother. Although the attempted scam cost its unnamed victim $5,000 in restoration and recovery costs the fraud was detected before any money was actually transferred.
Dinh's previous brush with the law also involved online trading accounts.
He was jailed for 13 months in 2004 after he was convicted of hacking into an account run by a fellow stock trader to buy a variety of worthless stock derivatives he had got stuck with the year before, while working as a 19 year-old stock trader. The tactic made Dinh the first person to be charged with both computer hacking and identity theft offences, Wired reports. The junior trader created a Trojan horse program that posed as a stock-tracking tool.
When his victim used the tool he handed over access to a trading account. Dinh used this access to sell on Cisco "put" options that were about to expire, shaving his potential losses of $90,000 by $37,000 in the process.
Dinh has been held on remand pending further hearings, partly over fears he might hack into other systems if released. ®


text:
I am a seat license holder in section CHR 132 Row J- there are less rows in this section, so it's actually similar to row F as it's the 6th row.
I paid $12,000 + for the seat licenses this year, and am trying to recoup some of the money I spent, as well as I'm not able to attend the game. Here are the details of my listing:
Section: CHR 132 (has my name on it)
Row: J
Price per ticket: $450
I listed the seats on Stubhub for $550 but would not like to sell them on there as I don't want a 49ers fan sitting on my seats. The cheapest equivalent ticket for my seat is $717 on stub hub.
I have reduced my listing from $550 to $450 to sell to a Seahawks fan which is a combined $300 discount for all three tickets.
Please PM me if interested, but I won't negotiate on the price as they will sell for this price. First person who commits and pays will receive the tickets. The transaction can be done as secured as desired for buyer's protection (even though we are a family here). I can list on Ebay if preferred for buyer protection.


text:
Live wallpaper with a waterfall flowing from the peaks of the Rocky Mountains and yellow-hot rays of the sun are breaking through the horizon to illuminate and warm all life on earth. In the settings is possible to adjust the speed of the animation, double-click on the desktop go to the wallpaper settings and supports developer. FEATURES * adjustment animation speed. * speed-up animation when touched the screen. * run settings when double tap. * optimized for all android devices. * multilingualism. * support the developer.
Downloads: 163+ (for Android)Report app for spam or abuse!


text:
This petition will be delivered to: Missouri, Gov. Jeremiah Nixon
Petition by Chris Mizanskey Sedalia, MO
My father Jeff Mizanskey has been in prison for 20 years and has no possibility of parole. For non-violent, marijuana-only offenses, my father has been sentenced to die in prison because of a "three strikes" mandatory sentencing policy in the State of Missouri.
Dad's first offense was in 1984 when he sold an ounce to an undercover informant, and then was found to possess a half pound of marijuana when police raided his house the next day. His next offense occurred in 1991, when he was caught in possession of a couple of ounces. But for my father's final strike in 1993, he became an easy fall guy in a conspiracy to distribute marijuana. My dad was driving a friend to a deal that turned out to be a sting operation. All of the other convicted men involved were set free years ago, but my dad was given a virtual death sentence.
My dad is, and always has been, a good man. He taught my brother and I all about construction and a good work ethic. He has never been violent and he is a model prisoner. And over the 20 years he has been in that little cell, he has watched as violent criminals, rapists, and murderers have "paid their debts" and left – sometimes just to return a few months later.
My father is 61 years old, and has been in prison since he was 41. His parents – my grandparents – have since passed. While my dad has been trapped behind bars, generations of kids and grandkids have been born into our family who have never even met the man. The State of Missouri spends roughly $22,000/year to keep him locked up. Meanwhile all my dad wants to do is be a productive part of society, work and pay taxes, be with his family. And I want my dad back.
Governor Jay Nixon is the only person who has the power to bring my dad home by granting clemency to Jeff and calling 20 years punishment enough. Please help us reach a just and reasonable end to his prison sentence by signing and sharing this petition.
Gov. Jeremiah Nixon, Missouri
Jeff Mizanskey is a non-violent, marijuana-only offender who has spent the last 20 years in a Missouri prison. He has been sentenced to be there for the rest of his life, and he has no opportunity for parole. The only hope he has to ever to become a working member of society or to hold his grandchildren in his hands is for you to grant him clemency.
His sentence was imposed because of the Prior and Persistent Drug Offender sentencing structure which requires life in prison without parole for his three felony marijuana-only offenses.
Jeff Mizanskey has never committed violence and is most certainly a model prisoner. For 20 years he has sat behind bars, only to watch as rapists and murders come and go and sometimes come back again. Meanwhile the State of Missouri spends roughly $22,000 annually to house him – over $400,000 has been spent so far.
On February 3, 2011, Missouri Supreme Court Chief Justice William Ray Price, Jr., delivered his final State of the Judiciary address to the Missouri General Assembly. In that speech, Chief Justice Price lambasted Missouri's "three strikes" drug-sentencing laws as enormously costly and ineffective. "Punishment," Price said, "is a necessary part of our criminal justice system. But our real goal for nonviolent offenders is to teach them their lesson so they can become productive law-abiding members of our society. The goal is not to lock them into a life of crime, to make them permanent wards of the state."
Jeff Mizanskey has been punished for 20 years. He has learned his lesson and wants to become a productive, law-abiding member of our society. The goal Price mentions has been more than reached, and it is time to give Jeff back his life.
On July 6, 2012, you signed the Justice Reinvestment Act, which was intended to reduce our prison population, save the state money, and ensure that punishments are proportional to violations for non-violent offenders. While this has done a great deal of good for so many Missourians, Jeff's status has remained unchanged.
In October 2013, Gallup released a poll showing 58% of Americans support marijuana legalization. 58% of Americans recognize the principle that imprisoning Jeff Mizanskey for the rest of his life has no net positive social benefit.
In the spirit of the Justice Reinvestment Act and in the spirit of justice itself, please grant clemency to Jeff Mizanskey today. Please pardon Jeff Mizanskey so that he does not die in prison just for marijuana.


text:
(An extreme view of tree plantation & a small example of practice)
Its that time of the year when civic and nature organisations in India wake up from their slumber and begin to consider tree-planting yet again. Though this is an annual affair, strangely India's forest cover and biomass doesn't seem to improve even where these activities are being carried out.
Typically, tree plantation begins with the collection of whatever dismal fare in saplings the forest department is willing to provide, followed by the desultory digging of holes and careless planting of trees. This activity, concluded in a couple of days in the early monsoon, will be followed by a relapse into torpor. The final act is, of course, the appearance of a plague of self-publicised reports in the papers.
Over the next few months though, the thousands of saplings, thoughtlessly planted, are exposed to the harsh Indian environment accompanied by the complete neglect by the tree-planters. The subsequent perishing of the year's plantation by the end of the next summer (except for the miniscule few which by God's grace actually manage to survive) should come as no surprise. And in the hallowed traditions of Hindu religious ideology, the kaal-chakra turns to bring us back to tree-planting season again. Paradoxically, all of us feel good having participated in a worthwhile activity even though it is conducted so abominably.
Not all tree-planting is conducted this way. People plant carefully selected saplings to enhance their gardens and backyards. Some corporates do succeed in giving strikingly good tree-scapes and gardens to their campuses. Children all over carry out this activity with the single-minded intensity of play. To them it is something well worth doing. A few civic organisations do exceptionally fine jobs of restoring plant cover and biodiversity to their favourite haunts. But these are a drop in the ocean when compared to the morass of carelessly contrived tree-plantation schemes in our country. Not convinced by my assertion? Please see the text box below :
Unhealthy trends in tree plantation
- This tender gives no guidance whatsoever on the type of flora to be planted.
- Countries compete and are ranked.
- Pakistan feels good because it has "beaten" India. Heights of patriotism, won't you agree?
I am sure you would have your own "war stories" to tell.
Its not that we are cultural "philistines" as far as trees and plants are concerned.
Hindu culture gives trees (or plants) an importance of their own. Planting a tree is said to be more fruitful than having a hundred sons. A number of trees figure in our pantheon of objects worthy of worship – the Peepul Tree (Ficus religiosa) and Banyan (Ficus benghalensis) come immediately to mind. The Kalpavrisksh which fulfils the wishes of all, the Bo tree under which the Buddha gained enlightenment, the Aak (Calotropis spp) tree under which Emperor Akbar was born are some examples of trees in our culture. Fragrant flowers are offered to our Gods in obeisance. Certain plants are associated with our deities – the "krishna" and "laxmi" varieties of Tulasi (Ocimum sanctum) and the Lord Dattatreya's fondness for the Umbar or Audumbar (Ficus racemosa) spring to mind.
Above image by Gunkarta. Source : Wikipedia.
Yet, we tend to approach tree-plantation with less finesse than a three year old child.
Perhaps it is semantics. The term "tree plantation" implies that our job is just to plant – it's nature's business to do the rest. The truth is, if we want to really make a difference, the business we should be in is "growing trees" not "planting trees". That implies a whole lot more than partial burial of an juvenile plant in unprepared ground. The successful planting and growing of trees is not a rapid paced activity but takes an enormous amount of time and effort. Accordingly, there is a need for thinking deliberately, planning and careful preparation before we get down to the plantation which is just one event in the long process of growing trees.
Maybe the reason is selfishness. In this materialistic world, there is nothing to be gained by labouring for unborn generations. In such a view point, tree plantation would be meritorious only as a means for acclaim (for publicity and public adulation), getting rich (through corruption or by marketing one's products) or as an indicator of performance (X planted more trees in his tenure than Y).
Another malaise in tree-plantation is mono-culture. It could be that most people do not realise that the planting trees of a single species, termed as mono-culture, is harmful. But the gaurdians of Indian forests should know. Invasive trees take away more from our environment than their successful propagation. Yet it is the bureaucratic forces which have championed the cause of ecologically harmful exotic trees which grow quickly – such as Australian Acacia (Acacia auriculiformis), Kubabul (Leucaena leucocephala) or the various forms of Eucalyptus – or even worse, the highly poisonous Jatropha curcas, purportedly for "bio-diesel".
It is the banal attitude towards tree plantation which reduces such a worthy activity to a pedestrian one that irks me greatly.
A great scientist of the nineteenth century, Alexander von Humboldt stated that the highest form of nature worship was engaging in one or all of the following :
- Writing Nature poetry.
- Painting landscapes.
- The rearing and planting of exotic trees.
I find that I agree broadly with Humboldt. This blog showcases some of the finest nature poetry. You can read about Frederic Edwin Church and his "Heart of the Andes" over here. I agree that growing of plants is a really worthy activity but I would replace the word "exotic" with the adjective "right".
As far as growing trees is concerned, my own humble opinion can be summed up as :
Tree-planting is a craft. We should be "tree-smiths" – carefully crafting the environment in the manner that we make a Japanese garden, with each tree carefully chosen for effect, harmony, utility, importance, i.e. for a purpose. Growing trees is not meant to be hedonistic or banal. It must be done spiritually – a kind of zen activity. It must be done to completeness. And the result must be healthy trees that give us the benefits we hoped for and more.
For that, we really need to know and love our trees. I love to recall the feel of the bark and leaves of the Banyan, the smell of flowers of the Neem (Azadiractha indica) or the crushed leaves of the Kadi Patta (Murraya koenigii) , the visual extravaganza that the Laburnum (Cassia fistula) provides in summer. Once we get a feeling of love and appreciation of trees, then and then alone can we make quality choices about the best or most appropriate shrub or tree to be chosen for a spot.
If you want to attract birds, the Umber or wild fig (Ficus racemosa) is your best bet. If you want a red avenue in summer, it's the exotic Gulmohar (Delonix regia) you need to choose. For lots of shade with few trees, opt for the Rain tree (Albizia saman). You can never go wrong by planting Babul (Acacia nilotica) for the welfare of the poorest of the poor – it's firewood has the highest calorific value.
On the other hand, if you don't do the learning yourself and rely on the "experts", expect to find that you have created yet another tree-covered barren landscapes by using Kubabul provided by the Forest Department or orchards of stunted Jatropha if you believe the agro-industrialists.
The real challenge in growing trees is not planting trees but keeping them alive. We can tackle this is many ways.
One is commitment. Choose carefully based on what level of care you can commit. In other words,
"Bite off only what you can chew"
"Cut your coat to suit your cloth".
Our children of the Painted Storks Nature Club wanted to plant trees in the Sarvatra Bird Sanctuary. But it is not possible (or realistic to expect) for the children to come and water the plants since the sanctuary extends over many acres, has lonely corners, and very little access to water. So we decided to plant in close vicinity of the Middle Lake Garden which is frequented by the children, where water is nearby and where the gardeners can help water these plants.
The Lake Garden provided little scope for useful addition, so we decided to plant some trees and bushes around the CME Lake Mandir where except for a Tulsi plant (Ocimum sanctum var krishna) in front and a Tamarind tree (Tamarindus indica) above the temple, no other plants were present. It is just 30 meters from the garden and on the lakeshore itself.
We chose our plants carefully. Since we were planting around the mandir (temple), the emphasis was given to shrubs with bright flowers or having perfumed flowers. We tried to choose those which are commonly used for worship in Maharashtra. We also decided to plant three small-statured trees which would highlight the mandir's background. We chose well-developed saplings for plantation which were sturdy enough to survive (unintentional) neglect and which already had some flowers so as to enthuse the children and give them a foretaste of how the garden would look. It was more expensive but worth it.
The Painted Storks planted the following shrubs on the side of the temple :
* "Juhi" (Jasminum auriculatum)
* "Mogra" or "Madanbaan" (Jasminum sambac)
* "Tagar" or Crepe Jasmine (Tabernaemontana coronaria)
* "Anant" (Gardenia jasminoides)
* Red Hibiscus (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis)
* "Raj Chameli" (Jasminum nitidum)
* "Chameli" (Jasminum flexile)
* "Zai" (Jasminum officinalis)
* "Sarpagandha" (Rauwolfia serpentina), a medicinal plant.
Behind the temple we planted three saplings of small trees having beautiful flowers :
* "Parijaat" (Nyctanthes arbor-tristis).
* "Savni" or Crepe Myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica).
* "Sonchafa" or "Champak" (Michelia champaca).
That is it – exactly twelve plants, but well chosen, well planted and well-located. What do you think are the odds of survival of these twelve than the desultory planting of many more? And when they do survive which will give the better effect?
One could of course say, don't confuse gardening with tree-plantation, but the principles are the same.
Problems and dilemmas will arise in this activity, as it does in all of mankind's ventures. The most important one would that as to how to water the plants regularly. In my opinion, this would be the most difficult of all tasks associated with nurturing trees. When we know that we cannot come often to water the plants, should we not plant?
We could choose to plant drought resistant native species such as Neem and Babul. We could jury-rig drip irrigation with plastic bottles and tubes which would need less water and give a longer effect. We could mulch the saplings – the mulch helps retain the water, reduces erosion, suppresses weed growth and seed germination and adds to the fertility over time. We could water in the evening where our water loss due to evaporation will reduce. We could choose to come at a fixed intervals as per our convenience – say once a fortnight or month, to water the plants accepting the triage due to the environment. We could plant hardy two-three year old saplings rather than very small saplings.
By applying our mind, and by matching our effort to our thought, we can increase the chances of survival of the trees.
If I were to plant a few hectares of arid area in Maharashtra, for example, I would choose native species such as Babul and Ber (Zizyphus jujuba) for the general backdrop, add a few Ficus to form the focal points and plant many interesting but scarce trees. A few Agaves would help prevent soil erosion in the monsoon run off along with some simple landscaping, a few legumes would help improve the soil condition. There would also be a few creepers, many shrubs (both perennial and annual) and definitely useful grasses and bamboo. Maybe a few exotic Gliricidia trees to provide ready-made green manure for the caretakers. Amidst these, a few trees or shrubs carefully selected to provide all kinds of resources (nectar, food, shelter, nesting etc) to the typical biodiversity of that place.
That's all I can come up with off the cuff. But in reality, the tree plantation scheme for this otherwise hypothetical scheme would be worked out carefully in much greater detail and perhaps even plotted graphically on a map. The location, aim, species available would all be considered. A planting schedule over two-three years would be considered. The civil engineering works would be restricted to a bare minimum. Nothing more than a fence, water tank or supply. A shed for the forest guard and perhaps minimal amenities in a place under a shade tree where the nature-lovers can sit, rest, enjoy nature, have their meal etc.
However, I would expect the record-keeping and science to be top class. None of the careless generalities thrown in by so-called experts. The practice of science in even such a routine activity as tree-plantation should be second to none.
That then is my view of tree-planting…
Let's not just plant trees, let's craft Nature.
My sincere thanks to Mr Nandan Kalbag of www.gardentia.net who dotes on his son-in-law (yours truly) and fielded telephone calls on asking what plants to choose at all times of the day and night.
Members of Indian Tree Pix/EFlora India such as Mr JM Garg & Mr Dinesh Valke (and others) who made images available on the internet with Creative Commons licenses.
Century Post & World Biodiversity Day tomorrow
This post is the 100th on this blog. Tomorrow is World Biodiversity Day. I hope that I have done justice to these landmarks with this post/


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Google has issued a rare statement around its decision to allow a controversial video on YouTube that contributed to violent clashes in Northern Africa and the Middle East to continue to be viewable -- except in Libya and Egypt.
The video shows clips from "The Innocence of Muslims," a feature-length, low-budget film that outraged conservative Muslim groups. The film portrays the prophet Mohammed as a philanderer who also condoned of child sex abuse.
Muslims consider any portrayal -- let alone an insult -- of Mohammed as extremely offensive.
The consulate in Benghazi, Libya, was burned Tuesday during a violent protest against the film, resulting in the death of the U.S. ambassador and Bay Area native Chris Stevens and three other diplomats.
The clips also incited signficant violence in Cairo, as well, with clashes continuing into Thursday.
Google acknowledges that what is culturally controversial in some areas of the world are more tolerated in others:
"We work hard to create a community everyone can enjoy and which also enables people to express different opinions. This can be a challenge because what's OK in one country can be offensive elsewhere. This video -- which is widely available on the web -- is clearly within our guidelines and so will stay on YouTube.
"However, given the very difficult situation in Libya and Egypt we have temporarily restricted access in both countries. Our hearts are with the families of the people murdered in yesterday's attack in Libya."
The video, credited to Sam Bacile, uploaded the film on July 2, 2012. It was translated into Arabic and aired on Egyptian television recently.
The attacks and violent protests in the Middle East have garnered stern responses from President Obama, Sec. of State Hillary Clinton and GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney.


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No! No! Mark Reynolds is not a good fielder! You idiots!
Are they actually saying that?
SF is probably at his bachelor party. If it turned out to be like the Hangover, who would SF be?
Am I the only one watching this game?
Bryce's potential is basically hamilton with plate discipline
The final Senators game was forfeited because of debris and fans on the field.
He probably would go to a Transformers movie then to Applebees
Who are the commentators? One sounds like Johnny!
Ernie Johnson, Cal, and somebody.
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June 7, 2007
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View more from this Screen Printing issue


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Department of Human Evolution
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Deutscher Platz 6
04103 Leipzig
phone: +49 (341) 3550 - 350
fax: +49 (0341) 3550 - 399
e-mail: streiber@[>>> Please remove the brackets! <<<]eva.mpg.de
Veronica Silva Pinto
Doctoral Student
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Department of Human Evolution
Deutscher Platz 6
04103 Leipzig
phone: 0049 (0) 341 3550 764
fax: 0049 (0) 341 3550 399
e-mail: veronica_silva@[>>> Please remove the brackets! <<<]eva.mpg.de
Research Interests
I'm a physical anthropologist and Ph.D. student at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, affiliated with the Anthropology program from the Universidad de Tarapacá- Universidad Católica del Norte in Chile. My research involves the analysis of nutritional status and diet with stable isotopes in prehistoric populations.
My main areas of interest are growth and development, nutrition, diet, mobility and paleopathology of ancient human populations. I have focused my research on the bioarchaeology of ancient groups from northern Chile, where I currently work in several bioarchaeological research projects. I am also member of the Colegio de Arqueólogos de Chile and Associate Director of the Sociedad Chilena de Antropología Biológica (SOCHIAB).


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The new Tavor® X95 is the next generation bullpup from IWI US, Inc. Upgrades and enhancements from the original TAVOR® SAR include a new fire control pack with a 5-6 lb. trigger pull, re-positioning of the ambidextrous mag release to an AR-15 location, a forearm with Picatinny rails at the 3, 6, and 9 o'clock positions with removable rail covers, relocation of the charging handle closer to your center mass, a modular Tavor style pistol grip that can be swapped out to a standard pistol grip with traditional trigger guard and a smaller, lower profile bolt release button.
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Mike Adams
Natural News
May 7, 2013
Adam vs. the Man activist Adam Kokesh, a Marine Corps Reserve veteran, has announced an armed march on Washington D.C. for July 4th. The event calls for protesters to carry loaded rifles slung across their backs as they march on Washington. It has been announced on Kokesh's Facebook page.
Appearing briefly on the Alex Jones Show today, Adam Kokesh explained, "This is an armed revolt against the American government. Make no mistake about it."
Is Adam Kokesh crazy, or courageous?
The mainstream media is already calling Kokesh "radicalized," although such accusations carry no credibility whatsoever from a leftist media that believes anyone who even owns a gun is a possible terrorist. So I don't pay any attention to what they call people. Most media heads are freedom-hating morons to begin with. Their voices don't even count.
So let's examine this from the perspective of the informed, liberty-minded kind of people who read Natural News:
On one hand, there's no denying Adam Kokesh has a monstrous set of cajones. Announcing such an event takes a level of courage bordering on sheer insanity (for reasons I'll outline below). But at one level, you gotta hand it to Kokesh for being willing to stand his ground on issues he believes in. If more people followed their passions and refused to be silenced bygovernment, we wouldn't be living under a tyrannical government regime in the first place.
On the issue of gun rights, Kokesh and I agree on the principles: Americans have a sacred right to "keep and bear arms," and yes, that even means walking down the street with an AR-15 slung over your shoulder if that's your choice.
Doing so in Washington D.C., however, is currently a crime (because of DC's unconstitutional gun laws), and that means Kokesh and those who join him in the march are willing to be arrested or possibly even shot for standing their ground on their beliefs.
Again, that stance is actually commendable at a philosophical level. If you're not willing to die for liberty, you don't really understand what liberty is. But what concerns me about this march is not the principle upon which it is being conducted… it's the ease in which the whole thing could be turned into a government false flag event.
Is Adam Kokesh handing the government a perfect false flag event?
An armed activist march is all too easy to be hijacked by the government — which is always looking for more false flag opportunities to paint gun owners as crazy nut jobs.
All you have to do is have a dozen undercover FBI provocateurs join the march, then organize a few cops to start hassling some of those conducting the march. On queue, the undercover FBI guys — who specialize at staging false flag operations in the USA — open fire on the cops.
Get it all on video and you've got news footage of apparent "patriots" gunning down police in D.C.
Anderson "CIA" Cooper then uses this footage on CNN to explain why Obama has suddenly declared martial law and ordered all Americans to turn in their guns to government agents who are go door to door for "public safety" reasons, just like we saw in Boston recently. "Shelter in place!"
Voila! The perfect government false flag operation to destroy the Second Amendment. And Adam Kokesh is practically handing it to them on a silver platter, through no fault of his own. There's no way to really have security for participating in this event… anyone can join up by just showing up with a rifle. How hard will it be for the government to place a few Adam Lanzas orJames Holmes in the marching crowd, complete with brainwashing instructions to open fire when a particular trigger event is set off?
This is exactly why Alex Jones has never led such a march. It's far too easy for government provocateurs to hijack the march and use it to make gun owners look like crazy whack jobs (even when they aren't).
For this reason, I have to question Adam Kokesh's tactical thinking on this one. It's ballsy, yes, but also far too easy to have it all blow up in your face. And to pre-announce on live national radio that your march is, "an armed revolt against the American government" is just begging to have your march targeted with an Obama-approved drone strike.
All that being said, armchair quarterbacking is a whole lot easier than hitting the street and marching for what you believe in. So despite the fact that I question the sanity of this event — and I think it might easily be turned into a government-run false flag event to make gun owners look like psychos — I still have to hand it to Kokesh for having the balls to even attempt such a show of civil disobedience.
Truth be said, if more people had the courage to do what Adams Kokesh is doing (but in different ways), we wouldn't be occupied by this criminal government in the first place. My only concern is that this is giving the government an event that can be easily turned into a bloodbath that's used to blame gun owners.
Needless to say, I won't be marching on the U.S. Capitol with an AR-15. I will, however, be marching against Monsanto this May 25th, carrying a loaded protest sign.
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( Paper prepared for delivery at the third Asian Relations Conference being organised by the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA) at Sapru House, New Delhi, on March 9 and 10,2012)
There has been a steady expansion of the list of non-traditional threats to human security ever since this subject started receiving serious attention in 2001.From about 10 threats identified in the past, it has expanded to over 50 since then---including new additions such as threats to information security, threats to economic development due to corruption etc. I notice that some Chinese scholars have included threats to economic stability arising from financial turmoil also as a non-traditional threat to human security.
2. If we have to deal with non-traditional threats effectively through national and multilateral action, we have to be careful in identifying such threats, prioritising them for attention and action and promoting multilateral co-operation where necessary and possible and avoid politicising the concept for exterior purposes.
3.We have to make a clear distinction between issues of core concern relating to human security and clearly identified and universally perceived non-traditional threats to human security. Everything which is of concern need not necessarily be a threat. A clear example is corruption which has been figuring since 2003 in the expanded agenda of Western scholars as a non-traditional threat to human security because it stands in the way of economic development and effective governance. Corruption has been sought to be included in the list ostensibly for benign reasons, but its inclusion also provides the Western countries with a malign stick with which to beat States whose economic and other policies are not in consonance with the desires of these States.
4. I would divide the constantly expanding list of non- traditional threats to human security into three categories:
( a ).Firstly, threats that are universally accepted as such and in meeting which there can be regional and international co-operation. I would place in this category threats arising from natural and man-made disasters, industrial accidents with catastrophic and/or trans-national consequences, nuclear accidents, epidemics, environmental damage on land as well as in the sea and piracy. There is already considerable multilateral co-operation in dealing with such threats in the form of advance information sharing, joint action, crisis management and mutual assistance in capacity building. This co-operation needs to be further encouraged and enhanced by setting up regional consultancy and brain-storming mechanisms so that we constantly improve our state of preparedness for dealing with such threats when they materialise.
( b ).Secondly, non-traditional threats over which there was some inter-State consensus till some years ago, but it has been steadily weakening due to the tendency of some States to use non-traditional means of creating problems for their adversaries and weakening them internally. Two such threats that can be clearly identified are trans-national terrorism and trans-national crime. The use by certain States of trans-national terrorists and criminals as a strategic weapon against their adversaries has created a new category of para-military threats to security---- that is, threats that are neither traditional or conventional in the sense of being military in origin nor non-traditional in the sense of being not military in origin. Whereas there is growing acceptance of the need for regional and international co-operation in dealing with trans-national terrorism, efforts towards co-operation have been stymied by the use of such non-traditional means by certain States against their adversaries. The UN Security Council Resolutions adopted after 9/11 had clearly called upon member-states to act against this evil. But very few States that sponsor terrorism have done so.
( c ).Thirdly, new areas of concern such as threats to computer networks of critical infrastructure, corruption, and lack of transparency in the policies of foreign companies setting up industrial projects of a potentially hazardous nature in other countries. While threats to computer networks of critical infrastructure from non-State hackers are increasingly recognised as a new non-traditional threat to human security with potentially catastrophic implications, the debates over the scope for multilateral co-operation in meeting this threat have been desultory. This needs serious attention and calls for a meaningful debate. The dangers of the lack of transparency in the policies of foreign companies setting up potentially hazardous industrial projects in foreign countries were dramatically illustrated by the accident in the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal in 1984, which led to the death of thousands of innocent persons. Neither the local Government nor the local population had been kept informed by the company of the threats that could arise from an accident and the precautions to be taken in the event of an accident. While transparency in the policies of the private sector has certainly improved, it is not yet totally satisfactory. Companies whose manufacturing involves hazardous products and/or processes still avoid total sharing of knowledge of the dangers. This affects the effectiveness of the state of preparedness. Improving transparency in the policies and practices of the private sector needs priority attention.
5. I am still not convinced about the wisdom of including corruption as a non-traditional threat to human security calling for multilateral action to combat it. Corruption has been a major evil in India retarding our economic development. Since last year, there has been a groundswell of public opinion in India against corruption. But it is an evil that has to be countered nationally. Action against corruption should not be allowed to be used as a political weapon against inconvenient States.
6.Finally, there is an unfortunate and disquieting tendency on the part of some non-governmental organisations and experts to create a paranoia about non-traditional threats to human security. They do not understand that this tendency to create paranoia is itself affecting human security. A typical example is the campaign unleashed by some motivated NGOs and individual activists against a nuclear power station constructed at Koodankulam in Tamil Nadu. Even though the people of the State have been suffering from acute power shortages, these NGOs and activists have prevented the commissioning of the power station on the ground that it could pose serious threats to human security and the environment. The Government has taken all the precautions mandated by various national and international protocols on nuclear safety. It had appointed experts' committees to certify that all necessary precautions had been taken. Despite this, the agitators have till now prevented the commissioning of the power station. This is a clear attempt to misuse the idea of non-traditional threats to human security to create irrational fears in the minds of the people for non-professional reasons and prevent the development of nuclear power. Such ill-motivated attempts need to be decried. ( 8-3-12)
( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Associate of the Chennai Centre For China Studies. E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com Twitter : @SORBONNE75 )
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
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Views: 457
I think if you would ask your friend or one of the members if you can give a little talk to the home church and explain your position and how their words hurt you. Turn it into a learning opportunity and tell them what Atheism actually is and encourage discussion on why they feel the way they do about atheists in general. Explain that you are a good person and not trying to change anyone else's beliefs but try not to be defensive or attacking as it will not go down well but I think if you can keep it neutral, you or someone else may get something from it.
After all you came there to learn more about them and I presume have been good to them- I can't see why there would be any opposition to this as long as everyone gets to speak?
Print this post and read it to them. If you don't feel comfortable doing so, at least inform them of the terms they use to describe atheist and remind them that there is one in the room.
100% Agree
I'm with Becca... I 100% agree with BryanPaul's post
I agree with Sophie, you don't want to sound defensive. I think that the majority of the Christians out there feel that its their job to "spread the word". If you don't believe in God, then they need to convert you. In my experience, most atheists feel that everyone is entitled to their own belief (or disbelief). But most Christians don't seem to feel the same way. I would let them know that rather than feeling welcome in their church, you feel hurt and uncomfortable. I would guess that most of them don't think of their actions as hurtful. They think they are helping you (by converting you).
I'm also from Columbus, and I haven't found a lot of acceptance except from other atheists.
Try speaking to them about Horus, Attis, Mithra. Ask them if they've ever bother to study anything other than their bible. Better yet, read these stories that came about a thousand years and more before their New Testament, point out the similarities, then take a look at your watch and see how long it takes them to kick your ass out of the house.
It's been my experience that believers (some not all) don't mind sharing their views but don't you dare rock their world or their faith.
Good evening Branden, I hope this find you well; I understand you may have an emotional attachment to your friend and the group; A sense of belonging may consume you; with much respect and consideration of how much time you've put into practicing Atheism, now it demand that you Study Logically, and Actually; A Friend of mine said in all cases resort to true Knowledge and Logic; Raise Above your Emotion into the thinking of the Universe; I will leave you with this Renee Descarte " Before you introduce truth into your intellect disprove it first In all cases Spiritual And Physical; than you make your decision, this is the foundation of Atheism Independent Thinkers! Whatever Choice You make will be to your benefit Know this!
Respectfully, I don't think you should continue to put yourself in an uncomfortable position. I can understand attending a few times to try to understand where they are coming from. Well, now you know. You don't need negativity in your life and should consider making a change.
Is it possible that your desire to be friends with Brian causes you to continue to attend the home church? It doesn't sound like any members of that group are willing to make any changes in their thoughts about atheism.
In ten months you have had ample opportunity to understand the Xtian belief system. I would have to ask myself why I linger on? Do you have doubts as to your own atheism? If not, I cannot see any further involvement is necessary. If you want to be around Xtians who won't pressure/criticize you try out a Unitarian Church. They are very open-minded and wouldn't be so critical.
Perhaps it is time to visit a synagogue and then a mosque. This will round out your understanding of monotheism. Just a thought.
Hi Branden
Some very good responses here. I agree most with Bryan and Ron. Let them know how u feel about being continuously insulted, and leave their group. Bob also has a valid point. Why not check out some other religions for what it's worth. After all, you are on a journey to learn more.
Good luck!!
What I am curious about is - Do they all know you are an atheist. I see that you told Brian but does everyone know? If they do and they keep referring to Atheists in a degrading way, knowing that you are in fact an atheist. Then I wouldn't be inclined to call these people friends. This includes Brian. The reason I say this is, as a friend, Brian should have enough respect and knowledge of you to correct his roommates when they refer to all atheists in a poor manner. Reminding his roommates that you are in fact atheist and not like that. However, if he says nothing or agrees with them. Then he is disregarding you and your ideals. That is not friendship.
My biggest concern for you also falls into the fact that if you continue seeing these people and allow them to make you feel weak or inferior to them. Then over time this could harm you in a big way. People that allow themselves to be verbally abused, over time, develop a low self esteem and self hatred. I have seen people who literally believe that the bad things said about them are true. In short these friends are not healthy for your self worth.
My only solution would be to confront them. Stand your ground as an intelligent human being. Confirm the fact that you are an atheist and if these people are your friends and respect you then they should understand that when they refer to atheists in general as stupid and close minded then they are more or less referring to you.
I would also like to point out that you can gain as much knowledge by going to other churches in your neighborhood, reading the Bible and watching TV then you can from one individualized group. Mainly because not every Christian follows the Bible in the same way. It's all in their preacher/pastor/ministers interpretations of the Bible that they follow.
Stay strong and true to yourself and you'll be fine.
- Tammy
Hey guys, thanks for all the advice & encouragement.
@Patricia, glad to know there's more Atheists in Columbus. Good points, too.
Everyone at the home church is aware that I'm an Atheist. I saw some of you ask about that, so I thought is was worth noting.
I'm still giving it some thought but I'm leaning towards leaving the home church. I think me doing that would really put my friendships with everyone there to the test. I'd still like to keep connections with them though. I'll give it some more thought & keep you guys posted with any thoughts or ideas I have.
If you guys have any more questions or anything like that, feel free to keep the thread going or message me.
Thanks again to everyone for the support & advice. I'm sincerely grateful for it. =]
- Branden


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Christina Hendricks drives everyone mad.
In the new issue of Harper's Bazaar, the "Mad Men" star reveals that her hubby Geoffrey Arend finds it "odd that so many women hit on me."
Hendricks also says that she's flattered to have become a sex symbol to gay men since bringing her signature Joan walk to AMC's hit show.
U.S. & World
"They say to me, 'Well, I'm not straight, but if I was…,'" she says.
Hendricks says she's come to appreciate all the positive attention she's received over her figure, but was surprised "because it wasn't something I was focused on."
In the interview, she recounts dining with Arend during "Mad Men's" first season when a woman approached her table.
"'Excuse me, I just want to tell you that I watch your show, and you make me feel better about myself," she recalls the woman saying. "I am a curvy woman, and you've made me feel sexy and beautiful.' I got teary eyed."
While growing up, Hendricks' "voluptuous and curvy" mother never made diets a "big deal" or told her to watch her weight, she says.
Despite having a healthy body image, Hendricks still said going through puberty was "depressing."
"I was a dancer, but my body was changing," she tells Harper's Bazaar. "Then all of a sudden I started getting boobs and my body wasn't playing along with my game plan. It got depressing for a bit, because I desperately wanted to be a ballerina."
Selected Reading: Harper's Bazaar, US, USA Today