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In this blog entry, we introduce meshing considerations for linear static finite element problems. This is the first in a series of postings on meshing techniques that is meant to provide guidance on how to approach the meshing of your finite element model with confidence.
About Finite Element Meshing
The finite element mesh serves two purposes. It first subdivides the CAD geometry being modeled into smaller pieces, or elements, over which it is possible to write a set of equations describing the solution to the governing equation. The mesh is also used to represent the solution field to the physics being solved. There is error associated with both the discretization of the geometry as well as discretization of the solution, so let's examine these separately.
Geometric Discretization
Consider two very simple geometries, a block and a cylindrical shell:
There are four different types of elements that can be used to mesh these geometries — tetrahedra (tets), hexahedra (bricks), triangular prismatics (prisms), and pyramid elements:
The grey circles represent the corners, or nodes, of the elements. Any combination of the above four elements can be used. (For 2D modeling, triangular and quadrilateral elements are available.) You can see by examination that both of these geometries could be meshed with as few as one brick element, two prisms, three pyramids, or five tets. As we learned in the previous blog post about solving linear static finite element problems, you will always arrive at a solution in one Newton-Raphson iteration. This is true for linear finite element problems regardless of the mesh. So let's take a look at the simplest mesh we could put on these structures. Here's a plot of a single brick element discretizing these geometries:
The mesh of the block is obviously a perfect representation of the true geometry, while the mesh of the cylindrical shell appears quite poor. In fact, it only appears that way when plotted. Elements are always plotted on the screen as having straight edges (this is done for graphics performance purposes) but COMSOL usually uses a second-order Lagrangian element to discretize the geometry (and the solution). So although the element edges always appear straight, they are internally represented as:
The white circles represent the midpoint nodes of these second-order element edges. That is, the lines defining the edges of the elements are represented by three points, and the edges approximated via a polynomial fit. There are also additional nodes at the center of each of these quadrilateral faces and in the center of the volume for these second-order Lagrangian hexahedral elements (omitted for clarity). Clearly, these elements do a better job of representing the curved boundaries of the elements. By default, COMSOL uses second-order elements for most physics, the two exceptions are problems involving chemical species transport and when solving for a fluid flow field. (Since those types of problems are convection dominated, the governing equations are better solved with first-order elements.) Higher order elements are also available, but the default second-order elements usually represent a good compromise between accuracy and computational requirements.
The figure below shows the geometric discretization error when meshing a 90° arc in terms of the number of first- and second-order elements:
The conclusion that can be made from this is that at least two second-order elements, or at least eight first-order elements, are needed to reduce the geometric discretization error below 1%. In fact, two second-order elements introduce a geometric discretization error of less that 0.1%. Finer meshes will more accurately represent the geometry, but will take more computational resources. This gives us a couple of good practical guidelines:
- When using first-order elements, adjust the mesh such that there are at least eight elements per 90° arc
- When using second-order elements, use two elements per 90° arc
With these rules of thumb, we can now estimate the error we've introduced by meshing the geometry, and we can do so with some confidence before even having to solve the model. Now let's turn our attention to how the mesh discretizes the solution.
Solution Discretization
The finite element mesh is also used to represent the solution field. The solution is computed at the node points, and a polynomial basis is used to interpolate this solution throughout the element to recover the total solution field. When solving linear finite elements problems, we are always able to compute a solution, no matter how coarse the mesh, but it may not be very accurate. To understand how mesh density affects solution accuracy, let's look at a simple heat transfer problem on our previous geometries:
A temperature difference is applied to opposing faces of the block and the cylindrical shell. The thermal conductivity is constant, and all other surfaces are thermally insulated.
The solution for the case of the square block is that the temperature field varies linearly throughout the block. So for this model, a single, first-order, hexahedral element would actually be sufficient to compute the true solution. Of course, you will rarely be that lucky!
Therefore, let's look at the slightly more challenging case. We've already seen that the cylindrical shell model will have geometric discretization error due to the curved edges, so we would start this model with at least two second-order (or eight first-order) elements along the curved edges. If you look closely at the above plot, you can see that the element edges on the boundaries are curved, while the interior elements have straight edges.
Along the axis of the cylinder, we can use a single element, since the temperature field will not vary in this direction. However, in the radial direction, from the inside to outside surface, we also need to have enough elements to discretize the solution. The analytic solution for this case goes as \ln(r) and can be compared against our finite element solution. Since the polynomial basis functions cannot perfectly describe the function, let's plot the error in the finite element solution for both the linear and quadratic elements:
What you can see from this plot is that, as you increase the number of elements in the model, the error goes down. This is a fundamental property of the finite element method: the more elements, the more accurate your solution. Of course, there is also a cost associated with this. More computational resources, both time and hardware, are required to solve larger models. Now, you'll notice that there are no units to the x-axis of this graph, and that is on purpose. The rate at which error decreases with respect to mesh refinement will be different for every model, and depends on many factors. The only important point is that it will always go down, monotonically, for well-posed problems.
You'll also notice that, after a point, the error starts to go back up. This will happen once the individual mesh elements start to get very small, and we run into the limits of numerical precision. That is, the numbers in our model are smaller than can be accurately represented on a computer. This is an inherent problem with all computational methods, not just the finite element method; computers cannot represent all real numbers accurately. The point at which the error starts to go back up will be around \sqrt{2^{-52}} \approx 1.5 \times 10^{-8} and to be on the safe and practical side, we often say that the minimal achievable error is 10-6. Thus, if we integrate the scaled difference between the true and computed solution over the entire model:
We say that the error, \epsilon, can typically be made as small as 10-6 in the limits of mesh refinement. In practice, the inputs to our models will anyways usually have much greater uncertainty than this. Also keep in mind that in general we don't know the true solution, we will instead have to compare the computed solutions between different sized meshes and observe what values the solution converges toward.
Adaptive Mesh Refinement
I would like to close this blog post by introducing a better way to refine the mesh. The plots above show that error decreases as all of the elements in the model are made smaller. However, ideally you would only make the elements smaller in regions where the error is high. COMSOL addresses this via Adaptive Mesh Refinement, which first solves on an initial mesh and iteratively inserts elements into regions where the error is estimated to be high, and then re-solves the model. This can be continued for as many iterations as desired. This functionality works with triangular elements in 2D and tetrahedrals in 3D. Let's examine this problem in the context of a simple structural mechanics problem — a plate under uniaxial tension with a hole, as shown in the figure below. Using symmetry, only one quarter of the model needs to be solved.
The computed displacement fields, and the resultant stresses, are quite uniform some distance away from the hole, but vary strongly nearby. The figure below shows an initial mesh, as well as the results of several adaptive mesh refinement iterations, along with the computed stress field.
Note how COMSOL preferentially inserts smaller elements around the hole. This should not be a surprise, since we already know there will be higher stresses around the hole. In practice, it is recommended to use a combination of adaptive mesh refinement, engineering judgment, and experience to find an acceptable mesh.
Summary of Main Points
- You will always want to perform a mesh refinement study and compare results on different sized meshes
- Use your knowledge of geometric discretization error to choose as coarse a starting mesh as possible, and refine from there
- You can use adaptive mesh refinement, or your own engineering judgment, to refine the mesh
Comments (5)
Ivar Kjelberg
October 24, 2013Hei Walter
Thanks for detailed and clear explanations, looking forward for your next blog, will you talk more about:
– Dependent Variable and the estimation of their 1st, 2nd … derivatives (within 1 mesh element) and their relations to the mesh discretization order ?
– Rules of thumbs for minimum mesh densities for different physics: such as structural-modal, RF & optics waves, thermal – and diffusion – time models (and links to the diffusivity constants) …?
– Inverted elements, what can be considered as a warning, and what becomes critical
Another interesting topic is the post processing refinements done in COMSOL, when to use the wireframe, what can we learn by increasing, or turning off the mesh refinement …
These items often explains "surprising" (but explanable) negative absolute temperatures (in Kelvin) for HT time simulations, or the often encountered "negative concentrations" error messages
Evgeni Sergeev
September 21, 2016I think it's a little misleading to be saying "The error can typically be made as small as 10^-6 in the limits of mesh refinement" when we're dealing with 64-bit floating-point (i.e. double) numbers, as Comsol is. In the plot above, as "Problem Size" increases, the error will keep growing beyond 10^-6, in fact becoming arbitrarily large, and that's because the condition number of the matrix, that is the basis of the FEM solution, grows with mesh refinement at least linearly (or faster, depending on the problem). This comes up in practical simulations all the time, not just with very large DOF counts, because things like impedance mismatch can drive the condition number very high already with just a handful of elements.
So it's important for users to be aware of this rapidly growing accumulated round-off error as they refine meshes. Especially with very large models.
Typically, the LinErr indicator reported by the Comsol's solver does a good job of capturing this phenomenon, but often enough in my experience it underestimates it, sometimes by a few orders of magnitude. (Which must be because it's based on a heuristic, as referenced in Comsol's documentation.)
Walter Frei
September 21, 2016Hello Evgeni,
I do not think that the blog says that "The error can typically be made as small as 10^-6 in the limits of mesh refinement".
It does, however, say that "…to be on the safe and practical side, we often say that the minimal achievable error is 10^-6" which is a much different statement than the former.
You are correct in that users should be aware of accumulating round-off errors as you refine the mesh, that is, after all the entire point of the plot of error vs. problem size.
In practice, however, the inflection point (the point where the error starts to rise due to round-off error) requires an EXCEPTIONALLY refined mesh, far beyond what is ever practically useful (since you will usually run out of memory before getting to this point!) In any case, by taking a systematic approach to your mesh refinement, as you should anyways always do, you will be able to clearly observe this point.
Best Regards,
Dominik Allgaier
June 6, 2018Hello Walter,
thx a lot for this very helpful and plain blog post.
I have a question.
When you have a look on the last picture (Mesh refinement iterations).
The left mesh has an geometrical error > 0,1 % referred to the (quarter) circle using second order elements.
But when I simulate the left mesh and the right mesh and compare the results, the difference in stress and displacement is < 10 %, also when using prism layers for the coarse mesh.
Do you have an explanation for this deviation?
Intuitively I´d choose the right, finer mesh to expect more accurate results. But unfortunately you can´t always resolve more complex geometries that fine …
Best regards
Walter Frei
August 7, 2018Hello Dominik,
It would be correct to say that one often needs a quite fine mesh to achieve accurate stress results, yes. If one is constrained by computational resources (you don't have enough RAM in your computer) consider using a submodeling (also called breakout modeling) strategy, as described here:


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Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Tuesday 09/18 A.M. Quickie:
Campbell, McNabb, Big Hurt, NFL Cheating, More!
Is McNabb's race a factor in the booing? Given Philly fans' long history with jeers, I think they are equal-opportunity booers. But, at the same time, I agree with McNabb from his HBO interview tonight that race is still a factor when it comes to NFL QBs.
(That said: Between Vince Young's spot on the cover of Madden '08 and JaMarcus Russell's spot at the top of the draft – and rookie-contract history – it's not as much of an issue as when McNabb was drafted into the league. Across the field last night, Jason Campbell – who looked terrific -- seems to have a lot of support from fans in DC. Meanwhile, Rex Grossman is just about as white as they come, and he's getting booed to holy hell right now. However, I'm sympathetic to McNabb's larger point.)
Redskins beat Eagles in Philly: I have no idea why I picked the Eagles to win the NFC East. It's coming dangerously close to a "rebuilding" season – and Donovan McNabb's swan song in the city…
More NFL Cheating?! Hardly. The tiresome Brian Billick claims the Jets illegally simulated snap counts that triggered offensive penalties on the Ravens.
First of all, the Ravens won, so Billick should really STFU. Second, this type of offense is much more like the old blissful low-tech gamesmanship than high-tech chicanery. Absolutely, it's against the rules. The question is: Where were the refs, if this happened as repeatedly as Billick claims?
The larger issue: Are we about to enter a phase in the NFL where every week there's a new claim about some form of cheating? That could get old in a hurry.
MLB Stud: Frank Thomas, who hit 3 HR on Monday. By the time the Big Hurt enters the Hall of Fame, there will be a way greater appreciation for his talent, which I think everyone agrees seems to be taint-free (a rarity for his generation).
Stud Team: Indians, who beat the Tigers in 11 innings to move their magic number to 7. (The Angels' magic number is low enough that clinching is within reach in the next week, too.)
MLB Dud: The Mets, who lost their fourth straight last night and have a very tenuous 2.5 game lead in the NL East. It's really not a big deal if they blow the division as long as they win the Wild Card; that said, if they blow the division, winning the Wild Card is no gimme either.
(Of course, if I'm going to say the Mets are in trouble being only 2.5 games ahead in their division, do I have to say the same thing about the Red Sox, who are now only 3.5 games ahead of the Yankees in the AL East?)
Bonds 756 Ball: Darren Rovell revealed that the guy who bought 755 will do a similar deal to Marc Ecko: Let fans vote whether the ball goes to the Hall of Fame or into outer space. But the 755 guy will make the online voting public and real-time, which is much cooler than Ecko, who seemingly won't. Rovell has all the details. (By the way, while I think the idea of launching it into space is funny, I'm voting for the ball to go to the Hall of Fame.)
Andre Johnson will sit out on Sunday: Having a fantastic season with new QB Matt Schaub, Johnson hurt his knee and will miss the next game, and we have no idea how it will affect the rest of his season.
Are the Falcons about to sign Byron Leftwich? (Uh: Will they let him wear his usual No. 7? Um: Will he even want to? And: Will any fans want to wear it, if the reaction from a distance will be "Are you wearing a Michael Vick jersey?!")
Did you like what you saw from Kellen Clemens in the 4th quarter on Sunday? Tuck that away: Looks like Chad Pennington will be returning as Jets starting QB... for now.
Steven Jackson explains his sideline rage at Rams coach Scott Linehan: Just a misunderstanding. But Jackson's fantasy owners have had similar reactions.
Rahula Strohl of the Chicago Tribune's excellent lead sports blog correctly disses me for not giving a nod to Devin Hester's performance on Sunday.
(By the way, as the Gainesville hangover wears off, let me say that the Gators have their own version of Hester – Brandon James, who is arguably the best kick and punt returner in college football. He might be even more of a game-changer than Tebow or Harvin. At any rate, they are the team's Big Three. How did I turn a mea culpa about my NFL coverage into a laudatory item about Florida football? And yet: There it is.)
NBA ref Joey Crawford has been reinstated, just in time to take a season of abuse from fans on, like, half-a-dozen topics.
CFB: Does it matter if Michigan QB Chad Henne is "day-to-day?" If Ryan Mallett beats Penn State and turns around the Wolverines' season, Henne won't/shouldn't get his job back; if Mallett and UM lose, the rest of the season should be about getting him game experience anyway. (Why am I giving so much space to an unranked team?)
Steve Spurrier gets it: He gave LSU his vote for No. 1 in the coaches' Top 25. By the way, a substantial amount of chatter in Gainesville this past week was about Les Miles leaving LSU for Michigan... and Spurrier replacing him at LSU, which I think he would in a heartbeat.
More CFB: Here's a link to my latest Deadspin weekly CFB guest-post.
Revision: I oversimplified the "quarterfinal" scenario in the Pac-10: USC could just as easily lose at Oregon as they can at Cal. (In fact, part of my reason for not picking the Trojans in my preseason Top 2 is because I thought they would lose to BOTH teams.) I didn't mean to dis the Ducks: Revise that to a three-way race, although – much like how I suspect the Big Ten will unfold with its own Big Three (Penn St, Wisconsin, Ohio St), there's a high likelihood that the three Pac-10 teams could knock each other off, round-robin style, effectively eliminating any of them from the national-title picture.
Must-Read: Clay Travis on his Saturday in Gainesville. We had a chance to run into each other. He's a really good guy with a great book out about the SEC, if you like college football.
Here's his lead: "I had the best seats of my life for the worst beating in my life as a Tennessee football fan. Which was sort of like getting the password to a free porn site and then finding out your daughter is an employee. Only worse." Read on.
The Women's World Cup is for pimps: Huge hat-tip to Awful Announcing for plucking what could be the best video clip of the month. Here's a link. Because nothing dovetails with the "female empowerment" theme of the Women's World Cup like a scene that puts former female soccer players in the role of hookers snuggling up to their "daddy."
Dane Cook vs. Bill Simmons: Apparently, this is a feud. I could take it or leave it. I'm simply laughing that Cook apparently enjoyed sloppy-seconds in my old top-of-the-morning chat hour slot on ESPN.com.
Varsity Dad: New post up about when autograph sessions go wrong.
50 comments:
- Matt said...
Hey Tigers fans...
How did it fell when casey blake and johnny peralta ripped your hearts right out of your chests last night?
go tribe - 9/18/2007 09:02:00 AM
- Stephe said...
I get it now Dan, you're a Jets fan! Jets cheat, cool. Cheat against the Jets, you rail about it for days. Now that I undestand your bias it's easier to wrap my head around your opinions. It's sort of like watching Fox News, easier to get once you understand the bias.
- David Kippe said...
"let me say that the Gators have their own version of Hester – Brandon James, who is arguably the best kick and punt returner in college football"
AYFKM? Hands down the best returner in the college game for the past couple years, including this year is DeSean Jackson. but hey, thats the patented Shanoff Homer Slurp - 9/18/2007 09:11:00 AM
- David Kippe said...
hey Red Sox fans...any sense of panic yet in boston? or does that happen tonight when the yanks get it under 3.
- Anonymous said...
re: mcnabb...race is only a (convienient) factor when you suck, especially in philly, where the fans ARE ruthless.
re: red sox, panic is a constant, not something that comes and goes with the standings. I do have to say, as exciting as this time of year is, I hate that I love baseball because I dont get any sleep watching every game, I'm grumpy as hell in the morning if/when the sox lose, and my family can't stand me. I really should get an apartment from sept-oct. - 9/18/2007 09:18:00 AM
- Trey (formerly TF) said...
"let me say that the Gators have their own version of Hester – Brandon James, who is arguably the best kick and punt returner in college football"
AYFKM? Hands down the best returner in the college game for the past couple years, including this year is DeSean Jackson. but hey, thats the patented Shanoff Homer Slurp
DeSean Jackson is a WR, Brandon James is a undersized return man similar to Hester. I think that is what Dan is getting at.
Brandon James gives you almost 30 yards on a kickoff and 20 on a punt return.
Hands down it's the best number in college right now. - 9/18/2007 09:20:00 AM
- David Kippe said...
give me a better body of work. jackson has been doing it since day 1 at Cal. and i hate the pac-10, but dude is unreal.
- Matt T said...
Anyone else wonder if the OBC wishes he had never left Florida?
I'd love to see him go to LSU, just so Georgia wouldn't see him every year. He said earlier in the year he wouldn't leave SC, but I'd imagine the money and the big time recruits at LSU could change his mind. - 9/18/2007 09:27:00 AM
- Kurt said...
Link inside your Varsity Dad post is broken. Figured I'd mention it here since you probably rarely check the comment section over there. - 9/18/2007 09:29:00 AM
- Unknown said...
you guys, dan included, are wrong about spurrier, he wants to stay in the sec east and build the dominate program he did with florida at south carolina, hes set out to do what everyone told him was impossible, its the only challenge left for him at this point in his life/career, with the way things are going at sc hes not going anywhere, lsu should stop worrying about miles leaving and worry about that sc defense
- Jen said...
matt~ You misspelled Jhonny's name correctly! ha The kid behind me last night was freakin' hilarious: He was screaming "J-honey, hit a j-homer! Get a j-hit!"
What a great ending to a snoozer. The Tribe had great hits right at guys. - 9/18/2007 09:33:00 AM
- Trey (formerly TF) said...
vinny said...
you guys, dan included, are wrong about spurrier, he wants to stay in the sec east and build the dominate program he did with florida at south carolina, hes set out to do what everyone told him was impossible, its the only challenge left for him at this point in his life/career, with the way things are going at sc hes not going anywhere, lsu should stop worrying about miles leaving and worry about that sc defense
Highly doubtful. Spurrier will go 2-3 more years at South Carolina. Get them to a solid national standing and retire.
He'll then come home to Gainesville, get the field named after him, get his statue (which is already designed) put outside the Swamp and be remembered as the person who made Florida football the juggarnaut it is today.
And South Carolina will be a thing of the past... - 9/18/2007 09:40:00 AM
- Matt said...
how was the attendance there last night? the ysaid on 26k tix were sold but it looked packed on tv...must have been a big walk up crowd? - 9/18/2007 09:49:00 AM
- Unknown said...
spurrier is never going back to florida as long as they require that he interview for the position, this after all is what kept him from coaching there right now, plus the gators have a good thing going with meyer, im sure spurrier will still get the field, statue, holiday, etc..but hes staying at south car, the man will be remembered for first and foremost always for what he did at florida, but before its all said and done he will win multiple sec titles and a NC isnt out of reach
- CMFost said...
Sparty - Only the pink hat wearing fake Red Sox fans are panicking. The real true Red Sox fans have already resigned our fate that we will be the Wild Card Entry in the American League.
- Unknown said...
the last part was in regards to at south carolina
- Josh said...
the Sex Cannon's as white as they cum alright.
- Liz said...
Ok, I'm going to explain Philadelphia fandom to everyone, considering no one really gets it unless you live here, and everyone enjoys trashing us as much as possible. Look, nobody in Philly actually wants Kevin Kolb to start. I think most people realize that McNabb isn't the same, most likely due to his injury, but he didn't play well last night, and so he got booed. The reason Philly never took to McNabb isn't because he is black, it's because he was never deemed a "Philly guy" who wears his heart and emotions on his sleeve. (I don't buy into this btw, but I grew up in the suburbs, so that aspect doesn't bother me).
I can't speak for everyone, but I know my annoyance with the team lies more with management and Andy Reid, who are so arrogant they think they can plug in any old receiver and make it work in their system, rather than with McNabb himself. If his receivers aren't getting open, McNabb has no one to throw to. That was the bigger issue last night. - 9/18/2007 10:07:00 AM
- Boomhauertjs said...
Dane Cook sucks. The Sports Guy better be careful. Cook and Isiah might jump him on the street, though Gus Johnson's got Bill's back.
- Jim Carlson said...
McNabb plays in Philly, where fans are vocally critical of all their sports franchises and stars. He plays in a tough city, and needs to deal with it. (Anyone hear Barkley saying the same thing last night during the game?). Eli Manning and Jeremy Shockey are constantly being scrutinized, also part of the market they play in. If anything, the critics are treating him with the very equality he desires.
- todd said...
McNabb's problem is less about his skin color and more about the fact that he has to realize that he is not, and never really was, an elite QB. He has always been somewhere between slightly and highly overrated, although as someone pointed out his WRs are always garbage. In any case, if you suck you will be booed no matter where or who you are.
- Unknown said...
I was quite proud of the Skins last night. Coming through on MNF in Philly with Campbell behind center was great.
The interesting play of the night was...
When Randle El ran the ball down to the 2 yard line and the Redskins spiked because they had no timeouts left with 14 seconds left to go in the first half.
Here is where the classic "Joe Gibbs Geniusness" comes in to play. After all the penalties the Skins have 2nd and Goal on the 17 yard line. The real problem was that with 14 secs you have plenty of time to take 1 or 2 shots to the endzone and kick on 4th or run and spike and kick on 4th.
But Gibbs wanted to set up a play. So he sent out the kicking team. Some fans at home were probably thinking: "What is he doing? They have time and downs! Take a shot!" But what they didn't know was that Gibbs WAS GOING TO TAKE THAT SHOT.
He knew that Reid had 2 timeouts left and would try to ice the kicker. Reid did call timeout. Gibbs put Campbell and the guys out there and they ran that perfect play to Cooley for the score.
There are times when it pays to have a HOFer at the wheel. That was one of them. - 9/18/2007 10:53:00 AM
- jhawkjjm said...
McNabb is going to talk about how race is still a factor when it comes to NFL QBs? What?!?! I'm curious to see what he has to say since I think he's actually benefited from being black in terms of his popularity and his perception. Yes there's idiots who probably don't like him cause he's black, but that's not what I'm talking about.
Rush Limbaugh years ago got fired by ESPN for his comments that McNabb was a mediocre QB and it was the media that hyped him because he was black. (I think its more because he seems like a nice intelligent person) But to a point he was right, the media does continue to make a big deal about race. Whenever there's a story that can have some sort of race angle they (media) tend to emphasize it. Example: anyone know that Tony Dungy is the first black coach to win a Super Bowl? That was the major storyline heading into the SB last year and one of the first questions asked afterwards. That became the story the same way that Jerome Bettis being from Detriot was the story. And to me that's sad.
Race will only continue to be an issue as long as people make it an issue. And it doesn't help when athletes and the media covering them continue to bring it up. - 9/18/2007 11:00:00 AM
- Unknown said...
jhawkjim, I agree. The media and especially ESPN make everything into a race issue if they can.
Sad how McNabb will get booed in Philly despite being one of the better QBs in Philly history. I guess if he won that one superbowl, he would never be booed again. When healthy, he is not a Brady or Manning but he is one of the 2nd tier QBs which is the same category as most of the NFL QBs. There are really only a small handful in that elite category. - 9/18/2007 11:10:00 AM
- Precourt said...
"let me say that the Gators have their own version of Hester – Brandon James, who is arguably the best kick and punt returner in college football"
Absolutely not. I am in Gainesvill and even I know it is DeSean Jackson like Sparty said. 6 TDS in 32 punt returns. 18.75 percent. No question there. That is like when Dan said Reggie Nelson was the best defensive player he has ever seen. Mike Peterson, Kearse, and Sheppard at UF alone were better. Not to mention any other school.
tf, Hester is 5-11 186 Jackson is 6-0 172 James is 5-7 173, so I doubt that is where Dan was going.
Also here is a list of people with a better Kick Return average than James.
Dorien Bryant - Purdue 46.5
Jay Thomas - Minnesota 37.8
Jerome Murphy - USF 37.0
Weldon Brown - La Tech 36.4
Marcus Herford - Kansas 34.8
Felix Jones - Arkansas 33.3
Lavelle Hawkins - Cal 33.17
So not by far the best number there. Now, I am not saying those guys are better than James just counter-pointing your argument.
Maybe he was saying the best returner who returns both kicks and punts....possibly. Just sick of this instant history greatest ever bullsh*t. - 9/18/2007 11:18:00 AM
- Jen said...
- This comment has been removed by the author.
- Jen said...
matt~ the announced attendance was 28,850+...it sure looked like a lot more. The only empty seats were those two upper deck ends and the last rows in the upper deck. The Tigers had their share of fans there. HAHAHAHA to them
- Trey (formerly TF) said...
vinny said...
spurrier is never going back to florida as long as they require that he interview for the position, this after all is what kept him from coaching there right now, plus the gators have a good thing going with meyer, im sure spurrier will still get the field, statue, holiday, etc..but hes staying at south car, the man will be remembered for first and foremost always for what he did at florida, but before its all said and done he will win multiple sec titles and a NC isnt out of reach
Vinny, I'm not saying as a coach, but as a status figure. South carolina can lay 100 claims to Spurrier, but he'll NEVER be remembered as a Gamecock. Just like Lou Holtz, he'll finish his tenure and be remember for the school where his success was the brightest.
Spurrier bleeds Orange and Blue and while he might be at South carolina now. 5-6 years there is not going to replace the fact that he's the most celebrated person in the history of our school.
You cannot replace the fact that he was a Heisman trophy winning QB at UF, you cannot replace the fact that he got his start in coaching (late 70s, early 80s) at UF, that does not replace the fact that he took a program that was at a very low point because of multiple NCAA violations by multiple coaches and turned it into one of the best programs in the country.
South Carolina is renting Spurrier, like they did Holtz...enjoy it, because when it is all over he'll be welcomed home to the Swamp...just like he was last year (TWICE) for his Ring of Honor induction and to celebrate the 1996 National Championship - 9/18/2007 11:33:00 AM
- David Kippe said...
"Only the pink hat wearing fake Red Sox fans are panicking. The real true Red Sox fans have already resigned our fate that we will be the Wild Card Entry in the American League."
now thats funny. - 9/18/2007 11:39:00 AM
- The heroin sheik said...
The funny thing with James is that it seems half the time he breaks a big return the special teams commits some lame ass penalty negating his return. I can think of at least two td's he has had called back because of this. Still I think he is equally as good as Desean Jackson. Dan does have a problem with hyperbole. The eraser was great but the saying he was the best ever is pretty far fetched. I would take a guy like Monty Grow or Will White. The INT for a td that White had against UT at the swamp in like 95 was the catalyst for the loudest noise I have ever heard in my life. That might be the the single greatest play in Gator history. Ranks up there with the Button Hook and juke that Quez had in the 97 UF/FSU game or the hit Monty Grow put on the qb at WVU during the Sugar Bowl in 92.
- The heroin sheik said...
I forgot that the Ole Ball coach was a qb coach at UF and GT in the late 70's. My dad makes the strongest point for why people have to consider Spurrier to be the greatest college coach ever. He won the ACC with DUKE! He might be an arrogant prick, he definitely is not someone I would want to hang out with for very long, but I definitely would want him to coach my team.
- Brian in Oxford said...
Yeah, didn't he make Dave Brown an NFL draft pick at Duke?
- Erik Huntoon said...
I think there should be a 3rd option in the voting for the 756 ball.. blow the damn thing up LMAO!
Who wouldn't vote just to see if someone would actually do it after spending the money on it. - 9/18/2007 12:25:00 PM
- Failgoat said...
Be afraid, AFC East. Kellen Clemens is coming. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow. But soon.
- TBender said...
Re: Spurrier
I'm still surprised that Coach K didn't have him killed for attempting to make football relevant at the school. - 9/18/2007 12:43:00 PM
- The heroin sheik said...
Actually Spurrier was at Duke before Coach K. Spurrier was hired as an asst coach about three months before Coach K. However after two years Spurrier left to coach the Tampa Bay Bandits who were owned by the Bandit himself before returning in 86 or 86 as Dukes head coach. I think that is the only reason Captain K spared his life.
- PAC-10 poon said...
secpoon may have died but Pac-10 poon will live on forever.
Visit the Pac-10 poon and submit your best sfw pictures.
This site is completely safe for work, and relies on the men and women of the world who love college football and poon - 9/18/2007 12:53:00 PM
- David Kippe said...
did you have to bring up Dave Brown. ugh, killed the Giants for years
- Raoul Duke said...
"The larger issue: Are we about to enter a phase in the NFL where every week there's a new claim about some form of cheating? That could get old in a hurry."
Hmm, it seems a lot of blogs, possibly this one, and the national media have been pretty shrill about the Pats cheating. Ron Jaworski categorically stated last night that a majority of teams each week are trying to steal signals (e.g. cheat) and even told a funny story about how his team cheated during a 75 game. I appreciate the moral relativism on which cheating it's okay to be sanctimonious about and which cheating is good ol'fashioned gamesmanship. - 9/18/2007 01:12:00 PM
- David Kippe said...
- This comment has been removed by the author.
- BLT said...
Dane Cook vs. Bill Simmons? Somebody please explain the "feud".
And this is my only beef with Dan. Now I have to visit the WWL or another blog to get the whole story... - 9/18/2007 01:44:00 PM
- Unknown said...
Simmons has said numerous times that he doesn't understand why people think Dane Cook is funny.
Yesterday Dane Cook was hosting a chat on espn.com and pretended not to know who Simmons was until he kept getting questions and asked people to "ask Bill Simmons what is funny cause he is the authority on that" or something.
I'm siding with Sports Guy because I also find it annoying that people thin kthat Dane Cook is funny. - 9/18/2007 02:11:00 PM
- pv845 said...
Dane Cook is like the guy you knew in High School that made one funny joke and 20 years later still thinks he is funny.
- Unknown said...
i knew heather mitts in high school (she went to an all-girls school, and i went to an all-boys school, so we all hung out). she has always been really hot, even when she was like 14. i remember when she first got to high school (she was a year younger than us), all of us guys wanted her. but she was not the kind of girl to get around at all, and none of us had any luck. she was really cool and down-to-earth for being so beautiful and such a great soccer player. i don't know if that's changed with the fame, but i wish her the best. looks like she's doing pretty damn well for herself.
am i the only one who thinks bill simmons need to shut the hell up? he's the worst kind of obnoxious fanboy, and his obsessive pop-culture references are so tired at this point. i hate dane cook too, so i can only hope that this feud (which i know nothing about) ends in both of them disappearing from the public eye forever.... - 9/18/2007 02:22:00 PM
- Unknown said...
Bill Simmons is orders of magnitude more funny than Dane Cook.
Anyone heard Dane's new song? I'm still waiting for the punchline... but apparently it's a serious attempt. It's really lame.
Dane Cook is a joke right now anyway. Yeah maybe he had some stand-up cred, but he jumped the shark at Blade 3. - 9/18/2007 02:29:00 PM
- Brian in Oxford said...
If Belichick's got the balls, I think he should have Tom Brady, instead of using signals....just yell out stuff like, Moss, you go deep. Welker, 10 yard slant. On two. And then run it just like they say it.
- Unknown said...
- This comment has been removed by the author.
- Unknown said...
What's funny is that this is a possibility in the 2nd half of the 2nd Jets game when the Pats are up by like 40. But here's what I would do.
3rd and 2 after a touchback
Brady: Wes! Just jab step the cornerback and I'll hit you on a one step drop!
Welker: Gotcha Tom!
They run the play and the cornerback doesn't buy it for a second. Welker goes for 10 where it might have been 5 if not for the fact that the defense thought it was a hoax.
Brady: Randy! Slant over the middle to the 1st down marker!
Moss: No problem, these guys suck!
Moss starts the slant and everyone bites. He then turns up field and goes 60 yards as Brady throws it over his shoulder.
Then they all high 5 in the endzone and Bellichik is seen pointing and laughing at Mangini from across the field. - 9/18/2007 02:46:00 PM
- Failgoat said...
carlivar said...
Dane Cook is a joke right now anyway. Yeah maybe he had some stand-up cred, but he jumped the shark at Blade 3.
I can't decide if you're serious or joking, but either way it made me laugh. - 9/18/2007 05:14:00 PM
- Kevin said...
Steve Spurrier gets it: He gave LSU his vote for No. 1 in the coaches' Top 25.
Imagine that - an SEC coach voting for an SEC team in a tight vote! What a shocker! Why is it "obvious" to you that LSU is better, btw? - 9/18/2007 06:11:00 PM

subset: commoncrawl


text:
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Princeton University has appointed as dean for research Pablo Debenedetti, a longtime Princeton engineering professor and vice dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science.
Debenedetti, the Class of 1950 Professor in Engineering and Applied Science and professor of chemical and biological engineering, will begin his new role on July 1. He succeeds A.J. Stewart Smith, who will become the University's vice president for the U.S. Department of Energy's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory.
The position of dean for research was created in 2006 with Smith as its first incumbent. The dean is responsible for encouraging innovation and collaboration across campus, promoting Princeton research to potential donors and supporters, ensuring that all research meets the highest ethical standards, and encouraging an entrepreneurial spirit that aims to bring what's developed in the lab to market and the public.
The dean for research works directly with the provost and with other senior leaders to develop and support a dynamic intellectual community. Debenedetti will oversee the offices of Corporate and Foundation Relations, Research Integrity and Assurance, Research and Project Administration, Research Resources, and Technology Licensing.
In announcing the appointment, President Shirley M. Tilghman said, "As a distinguished scientist and a seasoned academic leader, Pablo Debenedetti is unusually well suited to support and strengthen Princeton's capacity to conduct research of the highest possible quality and in accordance with the highest possible standards."
Provost Christopher Eisgruber said that Debenedetti has the experience and respect of faculty members and administrators that he will need to promote Princeton research in times characterized by stiff competition and limited funds.
"I am thrilled that Pablo Debenedetti has agreed to serve as Princeton's next dean for research. Pablo is a brilliant scholar, a dedicated University citizen and a proven administrator," Eisgruber said. "During his five years as vice dean for the School of Engineering and Applied Science, Pablo earned the admiration of faculty members and administrative staff throughout the University. In a time when research funding is under pressure from many directions, he has the experience, acumen and leadership skills needed to help our faculty members compete effectively for grants and diversify their sources of support.
"Stew Smith, Princeton's first dean for research, did a marvelous job building an outstanding staff and defining the mission of his office," Eisgruber continued. "The platform that Stew established will enable his successor to focus on a new and timely range of issues, including how to facilitate applications for large center grants and how to enrich Princeton's connections to the corporate and foundation worlds."
"It's a real honor to serve Princeton as dean for research because Princeton is one of the world's great research universities," said Debenedetti. "Stew Smith did an excellent job as founding dean for research. He has rationalized the University's research infrastructure, so he provides a very solid basis on which to start."
Debenedetti said he brings to the position his years as a researcher in the field of thermodynamics and statistical mechanics of liquids and glasses, as well as experience as an administrator with an eye for supporting cutting-edge and collaborative research. Combined, these roles endow him with a firsthand perspective of the support and guidance faculty members need with an administrator's sense of how to generate support for research and technology transfer.
Debenedetti joined the Princeton faculty in 1985 after receiving his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has received numerous honors, including election to the National Academy of Sciences in 2012, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2008, and the National Academy of Engineering in 2000, being named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2011, and being credited among the "100 Chemical Engineers of the Modern Era" by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers in 2008.
From 1996 to 2004, Debenedetti served as chair of the chemical engineering department. In 2008, he was named vice dean of engineering. In that role, Debenedetti said, he strove to use innovation funds to identify and promote "very new ideas," which he described as work that has great potential and explores unfamiliar frontiers. He hopes to expand that vision University-wide.


text:
Justin Bieber was booed during his halftime performance at Canada's Grey Cup football game.
Justin Bieber faced a hostile homecoming during his halftime performance at Canada's football Grey Cup, facing boos and jeers.
The Toronto crowd booed Sunday when the 18-year-old pop star's face popped up on the JumboTron screen. They booed when a host spoke his name. And they booed as he took the stage and throughout his medley of the chart-topper "Boyfriend" and the disco-inflected "Beauty and a Beat."
If Bieber was bothered, it didn't show.
"Thank you so much Canada," Bieber said. "I love you."
Earlier in the week, Bieber was presented with a Diamond Jubilee Medal by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and caused a scene by wearing overalls, unbuttoned on one shoulder, over a white T-shirt, with a backwards baseball cap.
There was sufficient uproar that Harper even weighed in on Twitter.
"In fairness to (Bieber)," Harper tweeted Sunday, "I told him I would be wearing my overalls too."
The Canadian Football League may have been hoping to court Bieber's army of tween followers on Sunday. But recent Grey Cup halftime performers have skewed toward the comparatively heavy likes of Nickelback and Lenny Kravitz.
"J-Biebs doesn't scream football, you know? Neither does Carly Rae Jepsen," said Calgary's Ryan Prisque, 22.
The 27-year-old Jepsen also received a mixed reaction at first Sunday but won the crowd over during an enthusiastic medley of her latest single, "This Kiss," and her infectious hit "Call Me Maybe."


text:
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Through the rise in SEO services in Cheshire CH1 5 and digital marketing, companies and organisations need to spend more time on improving their websites to get themselves found. We can offer school SEO services which include optimising school websites and managing social media accounts to increase online presence and visibility. Having a well optimised website is vital if you want to get found on major search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo. Making sure you use plenty of keywords and a variety of media for your site will help to strengthen your website and get you to page one.
SEO services for schools near me is to improve the facilities rankings in search engine results pages. Being higher in the rankings means that they have a potential to have more students interested in their servcies and wanting to find out more about what they have available to offer.
The school SEO services we specialise in can include promotional video production which showcases your school's best features. We create professional videos with interviews, timelapse footage and aerial shots of outdoor facilities such as sports pitches and recreational areas. These videos can then be optimised for use on social media sites such as YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook and Twitter as well as the school's own website. Having high quality videos on your website is a great way of attracting visitors to find out more about what you have to offer. Promotional videos could be made to showcase your business and create company recognition. This also helps to increase the time users spend on the site as people are more likely to watch a short film than read a lot of written content.
Social media plays a huge role in our school SEO services as it is a great way to share news and articles about the school. Creating posts on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest etc can also help to strengthen the website and give more authority. Search engine optimisation should be a priority for all schools near me in order to increase awareness of their facilities and surrounding areas to parents, students and potential visitors.
We carry out website SEO for schools in Cheshire CH1 5 which combines both on page and off page techniques to rank your pages in higher positions on search engines like Google. On page tactics focus on optimising your written content and visual media with keywords through descriptions, alt tags and the main body content itself. Off page involves building links to your website as well as sharing updates on social media which promotes your facilities and services to a wider audience.
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text:
How to Organize Your Home Office
Whether you work from home full-time or need a functional space in your home to perform some work-related tasks, a home office is a very important area in the household. Unfortunately, home offices have a tendency to turn into disaster areas, a common problem for frequently-used rooms. As you generate paper, reference books, random bits of technology, and pieces of projects, your home office can start to look like a bombsite -- and that's not a great environment to work in.
So how to organize a home office and keep it under control without spending tons of money on a home office remodel? Here are tips and tools you can use for sleek, hip organization that blends with your aesthetic, works for the space, and, critically, doesn't involve taking out a second mortgage just to make a place for you to store your prototype collection.
Declutter first
If you haven't thought about how to organize your office in a while, do yourself a favor before you start on a home office makeover: declutter. Go through the office to see if there's anything that can be recycled, thrown away, or shredded and removed. If you have material that needs to be saved but not frequently used, start an archive. Take note of any legal issues you may need to consider; for example, old tax records must be kept for a set period of time before you destroy them.
Create a functional storage system
Once you've reduced the overall amount of stuff in your office, one of the best things to do is to create a functional storage system, and that means cabinets, shelves, and drawers, preferably built-in across an entire wall of your office, and preferably adjustable to meet changing needs. If you're cringing at the thought of how expensive built-ins can be, don't: there are a lot of ways around this problem.
DIY built-ins
For one thing, you can totally make your own built-ins and you don't need to do it from scratch. You can do it with a combination of thrifted cabinets and other shelving material as well as furniture like bookshelves from retailers; IKEA Hackers, for example, demonstrate the considerable flexibility prefabricated shelving has to offer.
Configure your built-ins intelligently, and think about storage within storage. Cabinets and drawers can become bottomless pits of debris and clutter, but not if you add baskets, adjustable dividers, and other tools to create divisions inside them for different kinds of supplies and materials. Crafters in particular may find it helpful to make these spaces easy to change as their needs shift over time.
Use filing cabinets
Filing cabinets, a staple of most home offices, can be incredibly useful if you use them right, and they don't have to be hideous. For crafters, flat files are a must for paper sorting and flat storage of projects. For others, vertical or horizontal hanging files can hold not just paperwork but also all sorts of flat projects including embroidery, pressed flowers, and more. Consider using file cabinets as the base for a desk or work table to efficiently use your available space, and don't be afraid to add molding or trim to make them less boring.
How to organize electronic components
If you have an office with a great deal of electronics, storing cords and other components can be a nightmare, especially if you have worries about small children or pets getting into trouble. One way to resolve the issue is to create a false back for your desk which will allow you to hide all your dangling cords and connectors, keeping them tucked out of sight. You can also hide supplies like printers inside your desk to create a clean, uncluttered look for your office.
Consider a carpenter
When a full-scale remodel isn't quite right for you but you want something more advanced that you think you can do on your own, consider approaching an area carpenter to discussion options. Carpenters can help you create built-in shelves and desks that meet your needs, and will offer an estimate to give you an idea of how much to expect to spend on the project. Costs vary by scope, region, and other specifics, so it's always a good idea to get several estimates before selecting a contractor to do the work -- fortunately, Los Angeles area carpenters and other building professionals usually provide bids for free to interested clients.
Katie Marks writes for Networx.com.
Updated October 25, 2018.
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text:
Norman gives his second talk on Mindfulness to the Metta Institute on the Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness to the Metta Institute April 2014.
Excerpt from:
Zoketsu Norman Fischer
Abridged and edited by Barbara Byrum and Cynthia Schrager
It is amazing that through this practice of mindfulness, just by being aware, we can fundamentally heal the wounds of a human lifetime. What an incredible idea!
The Buddha saw that any ordinary, human life is, of necessity, full of wounds and confusion that will lead to destructive actions that will cause suffering. There are extreme cases of this and less extreme cases of this, but it is universal. This is completely usual. For the Buddha, full awakening is simply being a normal human being. To disentangle the knot of suffering and to be able to live an ordinary human life with full enjoyment and appreciation, with a clear vision, is awakening.
The Buddha did not see any difference between psychology and religion. For him, the only possible way that we could be completely whole, in the body, in the mind, in the heart, is to confront the deepest truths and tragedies of our being human. There is no halfway measure. The more you are willing to do this, he taught, the more happiness you are going to have, and the more you can be a blessing to others in your life.
There are many repeated, formulaic phrases in the sutra about the practice of mindfulness. One of the phrases, which most commentators don't spend much time talking about, is "The practitioner practices mindfulness inside and outside." Interesting, isn't it? Practices mindfulness "inside and outside."
What could this mean? I think this is a really crucial point. Mindfulness might appear to be a very inward focused practice: Go inside and sit, and don't talk to anybody. Meditate on your breath and go inside. If you go to a meditation retreat, where everybody is in silence, not looking at each other, sitting meditating, you sure get the idea that this mindfulness practice is about going inside.
A few decades ago, I was at a meeting with Christian and Buddhist monastics. We were talking about meditation, because a lot of Christian monastics do meditation. Everybody was talking about an encyclical that the Pope issued, in which he was complaining bitterly about meditation. Everybody was mad about this, especially the Christian meditators. The Pope was saying that the trouble with meditation is that you go inside, and when you go inside, you end up thinking too much about yourself, becoming obsessed with yourself, and forgetting about compassion and other people.
I didn't disagree with the Pope. I thought he was right about that, because meditation can have that effect. But it is clear to me that the Mindfulness Sutra is not telling us to go inside and to be thinking all the time about our inner workings. Meditation practice is not ultimately about going inside, about figuring yourself out, and about being enormously interested in yourself. It isn't about that. That's why the Buddha says, "Practice mindfulness inside and outside." Inside and outside.
The essence of mindfulness is that you stop taking your life so personally. That's the essence of what we are discovering here. My life is not really my personal possession. That is exactly my problem, that I take my life so personally. That's why I am getting into so much trouble. The more I get close to this breath, the more I realize that this is the same breath that the person next to me is breathing. The whole planet is breathing. When I really watch my breath, and merge with my breath, I realize that it is not so personal. It is the universal breath that we are all breathing.
I need to pay attention and realize that everything I am thinking and feeling is couched in the details of my personal history. But it's not really personal. Everybody else is also feeling these things in just the way that I am feeling them. The details are slightly different, but when you get down to it – and mindfulness gets you down to it – it's not personal. I have to let go of my being stuck on my own story. When I can do it, I am able to love myself and love my life. I have to let go of taking others in my life so personally, so that I can love them.
One of the biggest problems is that we think "self and others" makes sense as a concept. As soon as we have "me" and "them," we have suffering. That is the cause of suffering, isn't it? I am I, and you are you; therefore, I want you to give me what I need, and please stay out of my way. [Laughter] That is basically the whole idea of self and others. Notice that these two things, which are such imperatives, self and others, are themselves contradictory. Give me what I want. Stay out of my way. Those two things don't go together. They are the opposite of each other! So already I am in a problem just with my fixation on me and you. Already, when I have the concept that I thoroughly believe in, of me and you, I am already in pain. Even though things can be fairly peaceful, and I've got things worked out in a certain way, at bottom, I am still in pain. So we fight with one another, even as we are clinging to one another. And we are fighting with ourselves, and we are clinging to ourselves.
So when we practice mindfulness inside and outside, it shows us that there is no way we could love ourselves unless we love others. There is no way that we could actually love somebody else, if we don't love ourselves. If we sacrifice ourselves in order to love others, we are actually not loving others very successfully. Inevitably, the self-sacrifice is revealed to be what it actually is, a form of control and neediness. To take care of ourselves is to take care of others, and to take care of others, is to take care of ourselves.
Self and other is not an actual fact of life. It is a concept that is only apparent, but not basically real. It only appears that I am over here, and you are over there. The truth is, when you really get down to what you are, you see that the whole of the earth and the sky, and all the others, and you yourself are one body and one reality and one breath.
This is how you practice every single day, over time. You will see this, and you will know it. Not as a good idea that you heard in an inspiring speech, but as your everyday experience. As you know, in Buddhism, there is a formula in religious ceremonies of taking refuge in buddha, dharma, and sangha, which we call The Triple Refuge. In Zen, when we say this formula, we understand that buddha means the awakened nature, that is inherent in every human heart – the awakened nature in you, that is the same in every human heart, in every human being, and in every consciousness. That's what "buddha" means. When you say that you take refuge in buddha, it means that you never forget this awakened nature, in you and everybody else. That's what you have confidence in. You are returning to your own best nature that you share with everyone.
When we take refuge in the dharma, we take refuge in the peaceful, kind way of life that we live, when we take refuge in buddha, when we take refuge in awakening.
In other words, when you really know who you are, the only way that makes any sense to live is with kindness and caring. Not that you don't take care of yourself, because you are one of the others. But you don't exclusively take care of yourself. You don't favor yourself, as if you were the only one. Taking care of self and taking care of others is not a contradiction. It is not a problem.
Sangha, the third member of this trio, is community, the community of all of us together. In other words, it means the community of everything that exists. That means everybody that we know: all of our family, our friends, our associates. It also means, in a more narrow sense, the community of those we do this practice with, the people who share this commitment for this particular kind of deep self-exploration, the people who are devoted to that, as we are, who are actively cultivating that. We recognize the paramount importance of our association with those people. We realize that without that association, without that support, none of this work is possible.
Buddha, dharma, sangha are awakening, a way of life of kindness and compassion, and a community. These three things are understood in classical Buddhism to be one and the same, and each depends on the others. A community that doesn't have a commitment to awakening will not give us what we need in the same way that a community that does depend on awakening. These three things are really one thing. To completely take refuge in the community is to return to our sense of belonging with and to others, to realize that we are not alone, that we cannot be alone. The whole world is right here in the body and the breath. It's not my body. It's not my breath. If you practice awareness of breathing with enough focus and enough heart over a long enough time, you actually feel this in every breath.
We cannot do this work without each other. We have a cultural bias which we never question, that since we are a culture, a nation, in which there is no state religion, spirituality is a private, personal matter. It is something that each of us has on our own and that we don't share with each other. It might look like meditation is like that: a private, self-cultivation practice, that you do on your own at home and that has nothing to do with anybody else. But this is not at all the case. The truth of the matter is that there is no way that you can meditate alone. However much you think you are meditating alone, you're not. You are always meditating with others.


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About The Fit
How To Get The Perfect Fit!
Sizing can be inconsistence due to different fabrics & cuts. So we came up with a way to make your online purchase a bit more easy! We measure our items with a fabric tape measurer then we list those measurements on our item description for easier shopping.
Measuring Tips!
We measure each side from side seam to side seam, on a flat surface. Please put into consideration the material and fabric of each item.
Measure the fullest part of your bust and make sure the measuring tape fits comfortably.
Place the measuring tape on the top inseam of shoulder to the bottom of length of garment.
Make sure the measuring tape fits comfortably around the narrowest part of your waist.
Place the measuring tape below your waist above your thigh. Make sure that the tape fits comfortably.
This measurement is used for bottoms. Keep in mind for an accurate inseam measurement to be aware of the shoes you are wearing, that may affect your measurements. We suggest you take two measurements for inseams to get an accurate representation of both wearing flats and or heals. Place the measuring tape on the crotch area and measure to the cuff on the inside of the inseam of leg.
Follow the chart to get your perfect fit!


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On Tuesday, it is likely the presidential campaign's focus will shift to Mitt Romney's tax returns, which show him making $42.5 million in 2010 and 2011. That number may be bigger than he can finesse by saying in essence: Don't hate me because I'm successful.
Even if nothing more problematic looms in the 500 pages of supporting documents released early Tuesday, the magnitude of Romney's wealth — and the rather modest rate at which it is taxed — may explain his reluctance to release the returns up to now. Romney will pay a tax rate of 15.4 percent for 2011. The top marginal rate for wage earners is 35 percent.
Romney's camp released the returns several hours before they had promised to do so, perhaps encouraged by the candidate's improved performance in Monday night's debate in Tampa.
On stage in Tampa, Romney was a changed man. Gone was the defensive crouch from last week's debates in South Carolina. Gone too was the testiness that flared during earlier confrontations with rival candidates for the GOP nomination.
It would be too much to say Romney had turned his ship around. But at least he righted it again after the knockdown it suffered in South Carolina on Saturday, when former House Speaker Newt Gingrich bested the former Massachusetts governor by 14 percentage points.
Romney came to Tampa primed to tackle Gingrich and went on the offensive early, saying the former Speaker had been "a failed leader," fined for ethics violations and forced to "resign in disgrace." Worse yet, Romney said, Gingrich had stuck around Washington after his fall, making money for the next 13 years through "influence peddling."
Most of us braced ourselves for a stem-winding Gingrichian blast in retort, but instead the often volatile Gingrich said he wasn't going to try to rebut Romney's charges. He said it was all tactics and it had all been disproved and we could see how on his website.
But there was none of last week's fiery denunciation of the media, or the kind of charge-for-charge dueling with Romney we have come to expect in previous debates. Gingrich seemed either weary or, more likely, too resolved to alter his style.
In South Carolina, Gingrich had been gloriously combative, flexing his debate muscles and spoiling for a fight. In Tampa, he was not only more measured but downright subdued.
The contrast might not have been so distinct had there not been such a marked difference in the audience's behavior. Last week, in Myrtle Beach and Charleston, the crowds responded as though in a Roman coliseum. When Gingrich went after the media moderators, the audience rose to its feet and seemed ready to rush the stage.
In Tampa, by comparison, the audience reaction was nearly non-existent. NBC and moderator Brian Williams, along with the other sponsors of the event, had somehow prevailed on the attendees to stifle themselves. And with the exception of a few audible noises here and there — including some polite applause for Texas Congressman Ron Paul — the audience remained silent.
From the earliest exchanges between Williams and the candidates, the absence of whistling, cheering and stomping lowered the temperature on stage and raised the caliber of the discourse. It was obvious that in this cooler environment, Romney found his own comfort zone.
Romney bore in early on the House leadership question. When Gingrich said he had stepped aside due to the disappointment of the GOP's seat loss in the 1998 midterms, Paul (who was a member of the House at the time) corrected the record. Gingrich quit because he didn't have the votes to remain as Speaker, Paul said, voicing a judgment widely shared at the time.
Gingrich was also on the defensive over his years on retainer with Freddie Mac, the mortgage giant now deemed to have been part of the problem in the housing meltdown that began in 2007. He said his contract forbade lobbying, but that document had been released earlier in the day and showed him reporting to Freddie Mac's chief lobbyist. Lobbying was not explicit in the contract, but neither was it ruled out.
Rick Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator, was also on hand for a barrage of challenges from NBC's Williams and others. Why had he lost so badly in his last race in 2006? Did he really think Congress should have intervened in the case of Terri Schiavo, a Florida woman who died after being taken off life support in 2005.
Santorum made a game effort to get into the debate by portraying both Romney and Gingrich as friends of the "individual mandate" feature in the Obama health care law.
But neither Santorum nor Paul managed to hold the cameras for long. The media generally prefer a two-person race to a multi-candidate field, and Monday night was another example of how that sorts out.
For the moment, at least, Romney may be glad to have the field simplified so he can stay on the attack against Gingrich. But the nature of the race to date has been that no story line holds for more than a week, and many do not endure even that long.
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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There is no question that the blogosphere is growing. According to webdesignerdepot "WordPress has statistics for both WordPress.com (15.1 million blogs and counting) and self-hosted WordPress installations (17.4 million active installations), which gives part of the picture. There are more than 10 million tumblogs on Tumblr. Blogger doesn't offer any public statistics on how many blogs they host. Technorati is currently tracking more than 1.2 million blogs. And there are likely millions of other blogs out there hosted on other services like Movable Type, TypePad, Expression Engine, and other CMSs."
There is no shortage of blog search engines to find blogs that contain information of interest. There are also lots of articles by sites like Forbes and others who occasionally list their idea of top blogging sites. Google and Google News features can be incorporated into an iGoogle page, and can be another way to keep up with topics to follow.
With all of this information out there, who has time to read it all? Bloggers know it can be good form to make comments on others' blogs. However, finding the time to not only read these blogs but formulate insightful comments may be difficult. Even if people find a good blog to follow and subscribe to their RSS feed, as sites continue to be added to the feed, the feed reader may have more information than people have time to visit.
There has been speculation about when blogging popularity will die down. The latest discussion is whether Facebook will replace blogging and company websites. Cnet reported, "Even if Facebook doesn't somehow supplant lots of Web sites, though, there's no denying the social network is becoming more important to marketing, and it's adapting to the idea.


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The Productive Macs bundle puts together nine apps for OS X, originally worth $239, for the low price of $30—and it's got a few of our favorites inside.
Productive Macs is still one of the best bundles around. While many offer discounts on "pretty good" apps and make you susceptible to an impulse buy, Productive Macs includes some of our favorite productivity tools for a seriously discounted price. This time around, the bundle includes:
TextExpander, one of our favorite text expansion apps (usually $35)
Path Finder, the insanely powerful alternative file browser (Usually $40)
TaskPaper, a great program for creating an easy-to-use plain text to-do list (usually $25)
Concealer, a handy program for hiding and encrypting sensitive files (Usually $20)
Trickster, an easy way to see your recently used files (Usually $10)
DesktopShelves, which organizes your desktop clutter like a set of 3D shelves (usually $15)
Optimal Layout, a shortcut-laden window manager (Usually $14)
DiskAid, which lets you transfer files to and from your iPhone and iPad (Usually $30)
iDocument, an almost Evernote-like manager for all your documents that looks quite feature-filled (Usually $50)
Really, the bundle is worth it just for Path Finder, which you'll get for $10 less than the usual price, and the ability to remove the nags from TextExpander. We really like the look of TaskPaper, Optimal Layout, DiskAid, and iDocument though, so they're nice bonuses to an already great discount on a few of our favorite apps. The deal runs until the end of November.


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Project Members
- Betty Litamahuputty
Documentation of Ternate Malay
Ternate Malay is the indigenous Malay dialect of the Island Ternate.
Ternate is a small island of about 105 km2 in the province of Maluku Utara in Eastern Indonesia. The only town on the island is also called Ternate. In former times Ternate Town was an important port in the clove trade. Arab, Chinese, Indian, Javanese, Portuguese, English, and Dutch traders as well as those from many other places came to Ternate to participate in this profitable trade. Malay served as the lingua franca along the trade route where in the various ports a local variety developed.
The Malay variety of Ternate is called Ternate Malay. Ternate Malay is now the first language for the majority of the residents of Ternate Town. In the rest of the island, which is mainly inhabited by ethnic Ternate people, Ternate Malay serves as a second language and it is mainly used for interethnic communication. For the majority of people here the first language is one that is called Ternate (as opposed to Ternate Malay). The Ternate language belongs to the a non-Austronesian language family and is closely related to languages in the Bird's Head of Papua.


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A Video Collection of When Trust Falls Go Wrong — Daily Distraction
[onescreen item="5017505"]
Ah, the old trust fall. What a great way to build bonds! Or not.
We don't know anyone in these clips personally, but we truly hope they were able to rebuild those shattered friendships. But for now, we're just grateful they had a video camera at the time.
The Daily Distraction is your Internet break from reality. Whether you're eating lunch at your desk or avoiding high school exes on Facebook, you might just laugh, say "aaahhh" or not believe what you just watched.


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I hate rants.
I can't stand it when people spew and spit and spout off. I hate when folks fume and fulminate. I hate when people go on and on about what they hate, especially superficial problems
* Like when you have to wash all the food off your plate before putting it in a dishwasher – a machine allegedly designed to keep you from having to wash all the food off your plate.
* Like when the self-checkout monitor at the grocery store tells you to get help from an attendant, an attendant you wanted to avoid which is why you went to the self-checkout line in the first place.
* Like when you put your car in reverse and the little you-are-now-backing-up beeper begins to beep inside your car and you don't know why it's beeping inside the car – and not outside – because you already know you are backing up...you don't need a beeper to tell you that...you need a beeper to warn other people ...people outside the car...that you are backing up.
I just hate ...
Where was I?
Thank You For Not Ranting
Maybe we should treat ranting like smoking, restricting it to certain remote areas – the Arctic Circle, for instance. Or the caves of Kentucky. Perhaps we should rank ranting right up there with obesity; do away with fatty foods and fatuous arguments. Ranting in the 21st century is like a hybrid of bullying and streaking.
Ranters come in all stripes these days. They rant on the radio and TV and YouTube and variegated websites. They rant on Fox and MSNBC and everywhere else. Alec Baldwin raves. Rachel Maddow rips. Ann Coulter roils. Rush Limbaugh and Spike Lee rant and rant.
You can like the ranter, but hate the rant.
Time was, ranting was pretty much the province of politicians, preachers and the occasional pub patron.
That has changed. Today, comedians rant: Comic Dennis Miller wrote a book: I Rant, Therefore I Am. Athletes rant: When Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman ranted recently about his performance in a football game, CNN put together a list of renowned ranters, including college basketball coach Bobby Knight and boxer Mike Tyson. Whoopi Goldberg, Charlie Sheen, Penn Jillette, Justin Bieber and countless others have gone on tirades.
"Computers and the Internet have made it really easy to rant," musician Scott Weiland told Spin. "It's made everyone overly opinionated."
People commandeer comments sections. They mess up message boards. They overshare — and overbear — on bait-and-bitch sites such as Rant Rampage and D-rant.
Here are D-Rant's 3 Laws of a Good Rant:
1) Don't be afraid to let it out.
2) Keep things PG — would you want your children to read this?
3) Have fun. A good rant should always make you feel better afterwards.
But does it?
"When some people rant, it opens up a Pandora's box," John Suler, a psychology professor at Rider University, tells PBS NewsHour. "It leads to feelings of shame and guilt about being so angry and out of control. For many people, ranting is a dead end. It goes nowhere."
The PBS story also points to a study published in 2013 in the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking. The research reveals that ranting online may not necessarily lead to a more peaceful mood.
Slanging Matches
In America, rants are usually solo affairs. We wail at the TV. We rail at the radio. We rage against the machines.
In England and other places people rant at each other — in what are called slanging matches.
Tamra Mercieca, a relationship therapist and advice columnist in Australia, sees worth in being angry. She tells people it's ok to go on a rant every now and then. "Expressing anger is necessary," Tamra says, "because what negative emotions don't get expressed end up getting stored in the body ... making us either physically or mentally unwell."
However, she says, "when you express a negative emotion such as anger you need to express is in a healthy way — scream into a basin or water, punch a boxing bag or some pillows. Taking your anger out on another person is not healthy, especially given this: If a person's actions, words or behaviors trigger you into an emotion, then you're the one who has internal issues that need resolving."
When it comes to ranting, she adds, "we would be more productive educating people on the issue at hand, then actually coming up with a solution to fix it - this would be much more productive than starting a slanging match."
I hate slanging matches.
The Protojournalist is an experiment in reporting. Abstract. Concrete. @NPRtpj
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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Little Mariam was still sleeping, although the roosters had already crowed several times. Laid on her mat, she was huddled under her covers; it had rained the previous day, and the weather was a bit cold in the first hours of the morning.
Though she was registered in grade two, Mariam was lounging on her mat even after 7 a.m., because she was already on holiday. Moreover, even if she was not on holiday, she could have slept until sunrise because it was Thursday morning and she would not have had a course.
During the rainy season, Mariam, like her brothers and sisters, does not have the privilege to see her father because he moves to a village located a few kilometers away from the city to cultivate there in order to nourish the family.
The mother who stays alone with the five children sells fritters to provide for the needs of the family to the best of her ability.
Abruptly, Mariam who had been sleeping quietly jumps up and rushes outside, as if something important has just occurred.
Every Thursday, Assanata and Zourata leave the house around 7:30 a.m. and come back only after 2 p.m., humming songs that are completely unknown to the other members of their Moslem family.
Mariam always awaits their return so she can taste the food that her sisters bring home, and she does not fail to learn the songs that they sing as they return.
Any letter that Assanata and Zourata receives is an occasion of rejoicing for Mariam too, who is always given part of the gifts that are sent by the sponsor of her twin sisters.
When her sisters go to the child development center Mariam stays at home with her mother and her little brother Madi. She gives a hand to her mother by bringing the millet, which is used to make fritters sold by her mother, to the mill to be made into flour.
Once back from the mill, Mariam sweeps the house, the kitchen and makes the washing up while having her eyes riveted on the way – waiting for her sisters to come home.
Sitting under the only tree of the household, Mariam is lost in dreams deeply moved by the situation of poverty in which she lives with all her family.
She imagines herself in possession of four hundred thousand CFA Francs. Then she sees herself in a large shop of the capital city where she buys clothes, shoes and above all food provisions for her family.
She also sees herself building a new house for her family to replace the small one that was built with earth in which she and all her family live cramped.
Moreover, in Burkina Faso solidarity is still an enduring value, she would find it good to give part of her "fortune" to the needy people who would come her way.
Mariam also wants to be registered at the child development center because she says to herself, "If I were sponsored, all my dreams would be carried out."
It sometimes happens that she sits down and wonders why she isn't registered.
Mariam's mother does not raise questions any more, she is filled with joy to have two of her children registered to a child development center and to have a sponsor who writes and sends presents. Without this sponsorship, her children would not be able to go to school and big health issues could also arise.
Far from sowing discord and competition between the sponsored children and those who are not sponsored, as one might expect to see, this sponsorship on the contrary reinforces the African values of solidarity and sharing between Assanata, Zourata and Mariam.
At Christmas, one does not know who of the three girls is sponsored and who is not. Thanks to their spirit of sharing that, with time was sharpened by the biblical lessons received at the child development center, Assanata and Zourata joyfully share part of their biscuits and lollipops with their beloved sister Mariam and their brother.
Mariam is certainly happy to have her twin sisters registered at the child development center, and her desire to find herself there is undoubtedly related to the difference that the sponsorship made in the lives of her sisters and all the family.


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If you have neglected the idea of roof restoration in the past, and still are not sure if it's really worth it, then these 3 benefits will be sure to change your mind:
Increase the value of your home
If you are thinking of selling or hope to one day make a profit on your property, it is wise to keep on top of your roof's restoration needs. The aesthetics of your home plays a large role in its overall value. If your roof is looking beat-up and a bit worse for wear, it is very hard to conceal.
Common imperfections such as cracks from expansion and contraction, raised tiles, erosion from heavy weather exposure and deterioration from built up debris, all take away from your home's physical beauty and cause it to appear aged as well as neglected.
There is no need for your property to depreciate in value when these unsightly conditions can all be restored going back to completely new with a roof restoration specialist.
Extend the life of your roof
Unless precaution is taken through roof restoration, damages within your roof are inevitable, particularly when living in areas prone to rough rain and wind. You want to ensure that replacing your roof doesn't become your only option. Taking preventative roof restoration measures will increase its durability.
Leaving your current roof to deteriorate from causes such as moisture logging and also absorption, dirty water run offs and a disregard for re-pointing, will needlessly cut many years off its actual life duration.
Save money!
The fact of the matter is, that if damages are left unattended to, they will worsen in severity, and become either unmanageable or too expensive for you to justify. The longer you leave it, the worse the damage gets (to both your roof as well as your wallet). Seeking roof restoration will prevent excessive water damage, leaks, loose tiles, damage from moss and structural harm, and therefore prevent pricey repairs later down the track.
Furthermore, you will not only be saving money on your roof repair bills, but on your energy bills as well. The cost of running heaters and air conditioners becomes unreasonably expensive when air is escaping due to your roof not being properly sealed against the weather.
What is the moral of the story? You will save a lot of money, time as well as trouble from regular restoration along with repairs.