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Zimbali Country Club lies on the breathtaking Zimbali Coastal Resort situated on a pristine stretch of KwaZulu-Natal's Dolphin Coast. a place of expansive beauty, endowed with lush vegetation and an abundance of indigenous wildlife - appropriately it's Zulu name means 'valley of flowers'.
Former British and South African PGA champion, Tom Weiskopf, had to integrate a "cart only" course into a property with dramatic elevation changes, varying eco-systems and substantial residential sections. The end result is a prestigious course that is ecologically sound, yet it maximizes the natural landscape. Having been described as "an enthralling journey through 18 holes", the changing terrain stretches the skill yet captivates its participating golfers. Starting off with a coastal links feel, the course takes a dramatic turn through rough rolling wetlands and ends up in the Zimbali Coastal forest. With the Weiskopf philosophy of "presenting a fair challenge to any level of play" the essence of this course is that it will reward the good shot and punish the bad.
Most of the tees are high on the side of hills or sand dunes. The fairways cut through the valley and the greens, seemingly always at the bottom of the next hill. This makes judging distance a time consuming task, especially for those playing this golf course for the first time!
The Zimbali Country Club provides full amenities for golf, including golf carts (compulsory), a halfway house, putting greens, a driving range, tennis courts and a bar and lounge facility which is of the highest order. Impeccable service, superb catering, a well appointed Pro Shop and plush cloakrooms enhance the venue even further.
Take the M4 North from Durban. Travel approximately 40 minutes and turn off just before Ballito and proceed to the first set of traffic lights, turn right and after 2kms the entrance to the Estate will be on your left. Alternatively from the North Coast highway (N2) take exit 210, turn towards Ballito and continue as above.
Redsands Office Address
1st Floor, Merlot House
The Vineyards Office Estate
99 Jip de Jager Drive, Bellville
Cape Town, 7530
South Africa
Tel: +27 (0)21 913 9281
Email: email@example.com


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It's time for a recap regarding common misconceptions about travel to Iran. One top of the "myth list" is the belief among many Americans that American tourists are not allowed to travel to Iran. This is simply untrue, false, nonsense, you name it. The American government places no restrictions whatsoever on American tourists wanting to travel to Iran. In that regard, it is easier than traveling to Cuba, where some restrictions imposed by the American government still apply. All you need to do is get an Iranian visa, which we will help you with (it's not that hard), buy an airline ticket and depart.
Equally high, if not higher, on the "myth list" is that Iran is a dangerous place for American tourists. This could not be more untrue. Iran is one of the safest countries in the world for Americans to travel to. It is true that in 1979 Iran took hostages at the U.S. Embassy. That was an extremely unfortunate incident that colored American feelings toward Iran since 1979. (By the way, all the Americans were eventually freed). But in more recent times American and European tourists have toured Iran in great safety and there have been no incidents . In addition, Iran has virtually no street crime. You are much safer statistically walking around Iranian cities alone at night than you would be in most American or European cities.
Another misconception is that Iranians do not like Americans. Here the opposite is actually true. When my wife Pat and I were in Iran last year we were more popular among Iranians than anywhere I have ever been in my life, including the U.S. When Iranians we met heard we were American they wanted to talk to us, invite to join their picnics (Iranians are very big on picnics) or invite us to their homes . Iranians make a very clear distinction between Americans and the American Government, who they are unhappy with because of the sanctions. With the prospect of the sanctions being lessened are removed in the near future, relations should be even better. Iran is a great place for people-to-people diplomacy.
Beyond the above-mentioned myths is the idea that Iran is an undeveloped country and not well set up to receive foreign tourists. Again, this is quite untrue. Every city on the major tourist routes boasts 5-star luxury hotels. Our tours make every effort to book you into those top hotels.
Another misconception is that Iran lacks modern infrastructure for Western tourists. Not true. For example, Iranian inter-city highways are almost all 4-lane divided highways and large distances can be covered in a relatively short time. There are also plenty of domestic flights, included on some of our tour itineraries, which make covering some of the large distances easier. Iran is big – around 2 1/2 times the size of Texas.
Also, Wi-Fi and internet are available all over and free of charge in hotels. The only infrastructure criticism I would make is that there are sometimes traffic jams in the large cities due to a lack of traffic lights. It is even hard to cross a street on foot at times. Just be careful.
If you doubt any of this myth debunking then the best thing to do is call us, book a tour and go see Iran for yourself.
Yes! You Can...
- No US restrictions - Travel Any Time!
- Private Luxury Tours at Group Tour Prices.
- World Heritage Sites & Luxury Hotels.
If You Want to See the Beauty and History of Ancient Persia for Yourself
Call 1-984-202-5958 or Click Here for More Facts & Information on Travel to Iran...
Book a tour for five or more people and earn a free tour for yourself, including airfare. Call Steve today at 984-202-5958 to get more details.

subset: commoncrawl


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This month Misha Malyshev announced his new position with After-School All-Stars, as a member of the Board of Directors. Both Misha and Teza Technologies have been actively involved with the organization, and look forward to continuing their work with the staff and students. Recently, Misha Malyshev hosted the ASAS Program Director's Retreat in Washington D.C. The three-day program worked to create a common understanding of best practices throughout out the program's national network.
Founded in 1992, ASAS has continued its mission to keep children from families of poverty, safe and guide them to succeed in school and in life. The ASAS programs include academic support, development opportunities, as well as healthy activities. ASAS programs are present in 12 U.S. regions: Atlanta, Chicago, Columbus, Hawaii, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York, Orlando, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco Bay Area and South Florida.
Leading provider of year-round, comprehensive after-school programs, After-School All-Stars (ASAS), has partnered with the largest service event in the world, Global Youth Service Day (GYSD). ASAS has supported the work of GYSD through collaborative programming with Youth Changing the World. GYSD events were planned in more than 100 countries this year, involving more than one million youth. The types of events vary per location, but all are dedicated to a day of service for children and youth. Although the GYSD was officially scheduled for April 11-13, participating organizations host their events throughout the month of April.
Additional Information:
2014 Global Youth Service Day
After-School All-Stars
Connect with Misha Malyshev:
Misha Malyshev Google+ Profile
Follow Misha Malyshev on Twitter
Misha Malyshev's Professional Experience


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TOPMAN Trouser & Shoes
ROMWE Ring, Glasses & Pocket Watch Pendant
Hey Peeps! Howdy?
Sorry for the title, believe me I'm so harmless and gentle. Anyway, in my last blog-post, I have mentioned that my bff Chelsea Catingub passed the Nursing Licensure Board Exam (NLE) and so she hosted a little gathering exclusive for her family, relatives and friends. Though I am very close with her and her family, I only know very few of her other friends/classmates and relatives. So I awe big to Ate Rowanne who was with me in the photo above for she accompany me the whole night or just maybe when my two bffs needed to entertain their other colleagues.
Well, I was very happy with my outfit choice. It really speaks a lot of myself and I am so glad that people loved it. I heard people compliment my outfit during the night and the day after. Though I have sported this kind of look for many times already, I'm still of great joy that there are folks who like it and got inspired (an over-statement, I guess).
Personally, I really like all the romwe stuff that I bought. The ring is super unique in a very good way; the glasses are just so complementing when worn, it really emphasize your nose and makes you look cool; and lastly the pocket watch is super cute especially that it has an Eiffel tower on it and it gives me a vibe of being in ancient years, though this is a lil' expensive compare to the ring and glasses but believe me guys, romwe is worth every penny but their shipping really sucks, it took them about 30days. WTF! So if you need the items really soon, don't choose the free shipping babe ;)
Love & Peace


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Oh I'm sorry that's blurry, but it's the only photo I have of the table full of woven pieces. The three red scarves at the top art the more traditional scarf.
It sure was nice to be the student again! The last time I took a class was the Needle Lace workshop with Bridge City NeedleArts Guild / EAC. This workshop had a lot of folks from the Saskatoon Weavers' Guild.
My tension was a mess. My yarns were different weights. Mine curved. ? My goodness. Still, it was very cool to be in a room full of experts. While we wove, the instructor told historical stories to us about he Metis people. The room was full of art - beadwork, paintings, and huge portraits of important people. It was amazing! The huge sized art in our room was all by Christi Belcourt. The detail and skill was incredible. I asked to snap a pic and was told yes - if there's someone in the photo (so it's not reproducible of course). Check this out!
|not my weaving : )
OMG the detail! The Metis are known for their beadwork. This is a huge painting in the style of beadwork. Dot dot dot dot dot.... One painting was the size of an entire wall. You must go see. They also have a museum with the most Metis artifacts anyhwere.
This morning, I had to try the fingerweaving again. I didn't want to forget how to set it up. We picked any colour of yarn, and made a bookmark size from 24 strands. The traditional sash is 200 yarns wide, and long enough to wrap a man's waist twice, knot it, and have lengths hanging with fringes. AND MADE WITH NO LOOM. Imagine!
|this is how it's worked, one hand is the loom&shed, with the other hand weaving/shuttle
So here I am with 24 again - 3 colours. All my art yarns are lumpy, so I dug out some of my crochet cotton that I used to use for crocheting dishcloths. This is totally not traditional colours by any stretch of the imagination, but I really wanted to see if I could make a better weave.
I did it! : ) This took an hour and a half... maybe 2 hours. It's about a foot long, and it's so nice and even! : )
I have no idea if I'll ever use this technique in my art... but I'm sure glad I got the opportunity to take this workshop and see the Gabriel Dumont Institute / Museum.. : )
That was refreshing break. Now on to commissions. : )
WIP Wednesday @ TN&TN


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Product Description
Tutti and Co Plum and Grey Faded Edge Scarf
A gorgeous way to add colour to outfits, this scarf is crafted from a beautiful lightly woven fabric. Accented with a gradient of soft plum tones and contrasting dark pattern, this piece can be styled wrapped or draped.
Composition 100% Acrylic.
Dimension 210cm x 110cm.
Designed by the British Jewellery Designers Tutti and Co.
Arrives wrapped in our tissue paper inside a Tutti & Co dust bag, making a wonderful gift for loved ones.
Free UK delivery on orders.
Founded in 2004, the goal of Tutti & Co Kate Rose is to create a distinctive collection of desirable fashion accessories that are both feminine and stylish. When creating their jewellery the team at Tutti & Co strive to source the very best materials for their creations including the finest beads and findings. Taking numerous influences from around the world, their pieces feature what has developed into a strong European appearance. Each item features a very unique, individual feel and is exclusive to Tutti and Co.


text: Bearing resemblance to traditional hardware and industrial themes, this chunky ring from All Blues boasts a distinct masculine aesthetic. The sharp, pyramid edges and inner side of the silver have a brushed finish which sits in stark constract to the polished outer surface. An ideal ring for eternal wear, it makes a perfect gift for the jewellery-shy gentlemen. Engraved all_blues logo. Stockholm hallmark and standard of fineness mark ensuring origin and material. Comes in giftbox. Silver. Fits true to ring size - width: 4mm. An original – but unmistakably Scandi – jewellery brand, All Blues makes distinctly contemporary pieces with a sleek, rock-and-roll edge to them. The brand is committed to quality, and each piece of jewellery is handcrafted from 925 sterling silver and 18ct gold in a third generation foundry in Stockholm. As well as the core Hungry & Satisfied Snakes collection, All Blues creates quietly imaginative collections that play heavily on texture. Color: metallic


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Sweet FiFi
Fiona is past the rough morning sickness phase and is feeling great! We're keeping up with her daily exercise, and she's had an increased appetite. She's getting daily fish oil (wild Alaskan salmon oil) for DHA and amino acids, folic acid, and Solid Gold Seameal vitamin supplement. At day 40, she will start getting an extra meal with fresh fish and Panacur (see our website for info on our Panacur Protocol).
We keep our puppies with their mothers until ten weeks old, so this litter will be ready to go home in late September. We do not ship puppies, but new families are welcome to fly to Virginia (we're convenient to the Richmond airport) and fly their puppies home with them in the cabin. We insist on meeting all of our new families, and we're very selective about placing our puppies. A Timbreblue puppy comes with the lifetime support of the Timbreblue extended family. Most litters are all promised before they are born.
If you're interested in this litter, please visit our website and fill out our questionnaire under "Contact Us" to start a conversation. If you have trouble with the form, email us at firstname.lastname@example.com -- some people have trouble with the form on mobile devices.
Fiona's Thirteen -- May 23, 2016
Fiona's Thirteen at age one week
Fiona's Thirteen at age 9 weeks -- 7/22/2016


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(Here is the pillow top on the recipient's quilt, much better than anything I managed to take!)
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
My First Pillow Cover! (And the lessons I learned)
I love getting mail, and swaps are the best mail to get! I joined a swap on a quilting group for mug rugs and pillow covers. I prefer my pillows naked, so I asked for a mug rug, but my swap match up asked for a pillow cover. It seem that to get mail, you have to send something in return, and I always worry that my stuff isn't as good as what everyone else is making. In an attempt to make something "AWESOME", I went overboard and tried to make a 61"x61" quilt pattern downsized to an 18" pillow. Given enough time and quilting experience, I'm sure it could be done, but I like to wait for the last minute panic to set in, so I gave up on that idea after I had already cut 80+ tiny triangles and sewn a third of them together. It would be an awesome pillow, but I think I'll try it as a quilt first. When I have some free time. ;)
Monday, July 14, 2014
More Fun with the Embroidery Machine - Bows Galore and More!
Sometimes when I do a craft, after the first run I'm finished. It was a new skill I learned, and it was fun to do (usually), but not something I see myself doing regularly, if ever again. Not so with these bows. I can't get enough of them, and they are so fun to make! I also started using sheets of glitter vinyl (found mine at Hobby Lobby, next to the felt) and that opens up a whole new world of materials! And then I found out that I could do them in fabric (Duh!) which means I may soon have bows of every fabric I own...at least the ones with cute little patterns.
(Inspired by an ice queen - Pre gluing, excuse the pin)
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Elefant- Panzerjäger Tiger (P) Sd – German Heavy Tank Destroyer The Elefant (German for "elephant") was a Schwerer Panzerjäger ("heavy tank destroyer") of the German Wehrmacht used in small numbers in World War II. It was built in 1943 under the name Ferdinand, after its designer Ferdinand Porsche. In 1944, after modification of the existing vehicles, they were renamed Elefant. The official German designation was Panzerjäger Tiger (P) and the ordnance inventory designation was Sd. Kfz. 184.
Just Click on Any Picture Below to Make it Large for Viewing!!


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Just wanted to give praise to Peter Blum and his ASP.NET server controls over at PeterBlum.com (some free, some for sale). I have used Peter's Date Package on a small personal project about a year ago, which was quite useful. Lately, however, I've been working with a client on a project who has a ton of data entry pages. (For example, one data entry "wizard" spans six Web pages, with each Web page having about 25 form fields for data entry.) In any event, a number of the pages require date entries, so I recommended that my client pick up a copy of Peter's Date Package.
He followed my advice, and we've been using the DateTextBox and MonthYearPicker controls (along with the more advanced validation for date field entries) quite a bit. In fact, I've gone back to several of this client's existing applications and replaced the old TextBox Web controls with the DateTextBox. A big improvement.
Anywho, shortly after buying Peter's Date Package, my client found Peter's Validation and More controls. These controls include a number of professional validation controls missing from ASP.NET 1.x. The true gems from this set of controls are the masked TextBox controls, like the DecimalTextBox, IntegerTextBox, and CurrencyTextBox. These use client-side JavaScript to ensure that the user can't enter offending characters, and can also utilize "spinners" (little up and down arrows) to let the user toggle through the legal values rather than having to type them in directly. I'm using these controls like there's no tomorrow, and the users are really liking the new UI, too, which improves their data entry speed, making them more productive.
I've mentioned before how verbose I tend to be, but my verbosity is nothing compared to Peter's documentation. For the Date Package there's a PDF document with nearly 200 pages of documentation (installation instructions, setup, documentation, examples, etc.). Insane. (Admittedly, I've read about four pages in total - it's pretty easy to figure out how to get the controls to do the simple stuff. There is a lot of added features, though, that I've yet to have time to explore.)
My only complaint (and this is really nit-picking) with Peter's tools is the hassle of setting up the license files. Peter requires that a license file be placed in an appropriate directory and the serial number provided (either in each page that uses the control, or once in Global.asax). My first time through took me five to ten minutes to get everything correct, and the same headache happened again when deploying from the test server to the production server. The ease of use of the controls had me spoiled where having to tinker around with a license file seemed less than ideal. This, of course, is the pea in the princess's bed - these controls really are worth checking out, especially if you have to create a number of data entry forms. Not only will it save your end users much time, but it will save you gads of time as well, and provide a better-looking, easier-to-work-with user interface.
Recently Scott McCulloch found that when using URL rewriting technique in ASP.NET 1.x I discussed in URL Rewriting in ASP.NET, Image Web controls with the ~ in the ImageUrl property don't resolve correctly. Specifically, if you have an example of an actual page of, say, /RewriterTester/ListProductsByCategory.aspx?CategoryID=1 that has a "friendly URL" of /RewriterTester/Products/Beverages.aspx, and that page includes an Image Web control with an ImageUrl like ~/images/Logo.gif (meaning there's a file /RewriterTester/images/Logo.gif), then when visiting /RewriterTester/ListProductsByCategory.aspx?CategoryID=1 the image is displayed correctly, but visiting the "friendly URL" results in a broken image. (Whew, what a mouthful!) To further complicate things, if you use the ResolveUrl() method, it just works. That is, if on the page you display the output of ResolveUrl("~/images/Logo.gif"), the correct URL is displayed, regardless if you visit the actual URL or the friendly URL.
After some serious head scratching and digging through the Base Class Library code with Reflector, I found the problem. When the Image Web control is rendered, its src attribute is formulated by calling the Control class's ResolveClientUrl() method. ResolveClientUrl() method is similar to the standard ResolveUrl() method (which works, remember), except for one important fact: it creates relative paths rather than absolute paths. So, ResolveUrl() gives us something like /RewriterTester/images/Logo.gif, but what ResolveClientUrl() gives us is images/Logo.gif. Since the path rewriting has occurred long before the Image Web control is rendered, the Image Web control - regardless of whether or not the person is visiting the friendly URL or not - thinks its path is /RewriterTester/ListProductsByCategory.aspx. So, when it resolves ~/images/Logo.gif, it says, "Ok, well ~/images/Logo.gif is really /RewriterTester/images/Logo.gif, but the relative path for that is just images/Logo.gif," so it returns just this. This works great when visiting the actual URL, but when visiting the friendly URL, the browser gets the <img> tag with the src of images/Logo.gif. Since the browser has visited /RewriterTester/Products/Beverages.aspx, it requests the image at /RewriterTester/Products/images/Logo.gif. And that, in a nutshell, is the problem.
So what's the solution? Well, I can think of one simple solution: don't specify the ImageUrl for the Image tag in the declarative syntax. Rather, specify it in the Page_Load event handler like so:
if (!Page.IsPostBack) ImageID.ImageUrl = Page.ResolveUrl("~/images/Logo.gif")
This will work since ResolveUrl() gets the absolute path to the file, not the relative path like ResolveClientUrl(). This answer, for me, lead into another question: why does ASP.NET need two methods for resolving URLs? That is, why have ResolveClientUrl() at all (which is internal, by the way, meaning you can't call it directly - only classes in same assembly can). Looking at the Callee Graph in Reflector, the following methods call ResolveClientUrl():
I guess I'm missing why a relative path is ever needed. Won't an absolute path always do the trick? And if relative paths might be needed, why make ResolveClientUrl() internal? Why not make it public like ResolveUrl()?
When .NET broke onto the scene, Microsoft created GotDotNet.com, which promised to be the end-all stop for .NET developers. Since its inception, it has served a lot of purposes: as a list of links to the latest .NET articles around the Web, a list of the CodeWise Community sites, blogs from Microsoftees (which was eventually moved to weblogs.asp.net, and then to blogs.msdn.com), user samples, the GotDotNet Workspaces, and more.
The GotDotNet site describes its workspaces as follows: "Workspaces is an online collaborative development environment where .NET developers can create, host and manage projects throughout the project lifecycle." It contains bug tracking, message boards, source control, alerts, releases, and so on. My experience with the Workspaces is somewhat limited - I use them for skmMenu's messageboard and for RssFeed messageboards and release files.
GotDotNet Workspaces, in my experiences, leave a lot to be desired. The site is very often laggy, and a number of times is either down and out altogether, or results in assorted errors when I attempt to do various administrative tasks (such as approving members for the workspaces, deleting messages from the messageboard, working with the bug tracking module, etc.). What prompted this blog entry was the recent news that Microsoft has released FlexWiki as an open-source project. But here's the kicker: it's being released on SourceForge, just like Microsoft's other two open-source projects (WiX and WTL). Even though Microsoft is a company that dogfoods its own products, I can understand why these open source projects are not being hosted on GotDotNet Workspaces.
What I am wondering is what does the future hold for GotDotnet Workspaces? Clearly Microsoft knows that the Workspaces are not scalable and not user-friendly. People inside Microsoft have actively moved their projects from the Workspaces to other means (i.e., RssBandit). So what will Microsoft do? As I see it they have three options:
All I know is that I need to move RssFeed and skmMenu from the Workspaces to some other medium eventually. (It's low on the priority list, but it's on the list...) Hopefully Microsoft will step up and greatly enhance the Workspaces so that I can leave the projects there, or will dismantle them, so I am sort of incentivized to hurry up and move the projects over to some other option.
Late September is a special time for me personally, because it marks the anniversary of 4GuysFromRolla.com, the Web site I started with a couple of college buddies to serve as an outlet for my interest in ASP. This September, 4Guys turns six years old. (If you are interested, you can read a bit about the history of 4Guys.)
Time sure does evaporate right before your eyes, eh? I wonder where I'd be right now if it wasn't for 4Guys. Where I live, my wife, my dog, my career, my home, many people I know... all of it can be traced back to that decision to start a Web site. And that can be traced back to my internship at Empower (a now-defunct consulting/training company in Kansas City) in 1998 where I learned about ASP in the first place. It's amazing how many of life's very significant results can be mapped back to some very trivial action or decision.
Ok, ok, enough waxing on about pseudo-philosophical matters like an angst-ridden teen. Back to your regularly scheduled programming in the next post, promise. :-)
I've been working for myself for over four years now, which has primarily entailed: writing, training, and software development. What I am a bit embarrassed to admit is that, through all those years of solo software development, I not once used a version control system. My technique for source code control was a rather crude one: I'd periodically backup the entire project to some separate directory on the harddrive, and periodically move those to CDs. That was my process.
While this approach worked well enough and helped guard against total loss of data, it did not provide even close to the amount of features and power a decent version control system would, which include a complete history of changes between code check-ins/check-outs, branches, tools to diff current versions with older versions, the ability to roll back the code to particular checkpoints with the click of a mouse (rather than digging through old CDs).
The four years of no version control ended a few weeks ago, when I finally downloaded and installed SourceGear's Vault. If you work on projects as a solo developer, there's absolutely no reason why you shouldn't go get Vault today - it's 100% free for a single-user license, easy to setup, configure, and get using, and uses Microsoft SQL Server (or MSDE) as its backend.
To get started with Vault, first you'll need to head over to the SourceGear Vault Downloads page and download the Server version. (At the time of this writing, Vault is at version 2.0.6, and the Server download is 15.2 MB.) There's a link there to download a Demo Serial Number, but if you are going to be using this as a single user, you don't need to bother with that - Vault works out of the box for single users with no need to license or demo keys.
Once you have downloaded Vault, begin the installation process. In the setup you'll be prompted to choose what features to install - go ahead and install everything: the Server, the Client, and the Admin Tool. Once you have everything installed, getting Vault to integrate with Visual Studio .NET is a breeze. Simply start the Vault Client, go to the Tools menu, select Options, and then check the "Make Vault your default SCC provider" checkbox. Once you do that, open up a Visual Studio .NET Solution. From VS.NET, go to the Tools menu and choose Options, and select the Source Control folder. Since you are a solo developer, go ahead and choose the Independent Developer option. The final step is to right-click on your VS.NET Solution and choose the "Add Solution to Source Control" option. Here you will be prompted to select what repository to add the project to. (You can add new repositories through the Vault Client).
Once you have Vault setup and have checked out, modified, and checked in some files, you can start to see the utility of a version control system. For example, through the Vault Client you can inspect the changes made to the file over different check-ins/check-outs, and roll back the file to an older version, if needed.
Eric Sink, the founder of SourceGear, has some good blog entries on the core logical entities of any version control system: Files, Folders, Repositories, Working Folders, and so on. A great place to learn more about the concepts is at Eric's Source Control HOWTO articles. So, in short, if you work on solo software projects, you owe it to yourself to get Vault today. It's free, takes only a few minutes to download / install / setup, and can potentially save you hours of work.
On a tangent, does anyone want to wager how long it will be before tools like Vault are just a built-in part of the operating system's file system? That is, anytime any file is changed, an old version is saved to some database, thereby giving a user the ability to easily say, "Restore file X as it was on December 14, 2003, 11:35 am." With hard drive capacities showing no end in sight, it seems like this would be feasible in the near future, if not today.
For a potential implementation, refer to Santry, Feeley, and Hutchinson's paper titled: Elephant: The File System That Never Forgets (PDF) (written in 1999). I read this paper back in my graduate studies, and, IIRC, the Elephant file system allows a user to indicate how to save files, the options being: keep one (only saves the latest copy); keep all (saves every copy); keep landmark. Keep landmark was interesting, it assumed that the longer a file had gone without being accessed, the less likely the user cared about differences between two close versions of the file. So, if there was a flurry of modifications to a file marked as keep landmarks, and then the file wasn't modified for weeks, the file system would assume it was safe to delete some of those saved versions of the modifications of that file.
Over the past month I've had two blog entries asking you, my six readers, what programs and Web sites you can't live without. (See Programs You Can't Live Without and Web Sites You Can't Live Without.) Jeff Coon and others have suggested that I add a third entry: RSS feeds you can't live without.
So, what RSS feeds do you find required reading each morning? If you could share just one blog with someone who doesn't know about it, what blog would that be? How many RSS feeds are you subscribed to, and what RSS aggreagator do you use to consume those feeds?
My favorite RSS feeds for light reading are Dilbert (http://dwlt.net/tapestry/dilbert.rdf) and TheDailyWTF (http://thedailywtf.com/Rss.aspx). For sports, I am addicted to Bill Simmons's articles (http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/rss/columnist?name=simmons_bill), the NBA news on ESPN.com (http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/rss/nba/news), the latest posts on NBAWebLog.com (http://nbaweblog.com/nba/MainFeed.aspx), and Mark Cuban's insights (http://blogmaverick.com/rss.xml). For technical information, I find no blog more interesting than Raymond Chen's (http://weblogs.asp.net/oldnewthing/Rss.aspx). I also tend to subscribe to the blogs of prolific authors, as they usually have good things to say (Dino Esposito, Fritz Onion, etc.). I also have a feed to the articles on www.ASP.NET (http://asp.net/modules/articleRss.aspx?count=7&mid=64), the latest articles on ASPAlliance.com (http://aspalliance.com/rss.aspx), and (of course) the latest articles on 4GuysFromRolla.com (http://aspnet.4guysfromrolla.com/rss/rss.aspx).
If I could share just one blog with someone (assuming they're not a technical person), I'd share Matthew Haughey's Ten Years Of My Life (http://tenyearsofmylife.com/index.rdf). It's basically a photo journal of this guy's life. His plan is to take a picture each day for ten years, posting the picture on his blog. (And that's all it is - no side tracked text entries, just one picture each day.)
I am subscribed to ~40 blogs, and I use RssBandit as my aggregator. (In a previous entry I stated my preference for BlogLines over RssBandit, but since upgrading to a much better computer, I have preferred having my blog reader as a desktop application rather than through a Web site interface.)
Last week's 4Guys article looked at creating a collapsible details region using a Repeater and some nifty client-side DHTML. This technique allows for a page with potentially gobs of information to be presented in a more readable format, as can be seen in this live demo. (The astute reader might have noticed that this technique is identical to a collapsible RssFeed demo I provided a while back...)
Anywho, I was playing with the client-side code a bit and thought that it would be cool to take this concept a bit further and have collapsible-like regions for displaying parent/child data. After a lot of tweaking, I was able to create a demo that had the look and feel I wanted. Now, I have to warn you I am pretty limited when it comes to my client-side / CSS skills, so any suggestions on improving the code would be most appreciative. Also, note that it works best on IE - in FireFox it "works," but doesn't look good.
In any event, here's a live demo: http://aspnet.4guysfromrolla.com/demos/TabInterface.aspx. To view the client-side code, you'll have to do a view/source. The output was generated with some hardcoded HTML markup and a Repeater (for getting the parent/child database data). Eventually I'd like to make this into a custom server control, but one thing at a time... So, if you want to take a look at the demo, feel free, and leave a comment if you have ideas on improving the CSS. The plan is to write up an article on this for 4Guys sometime this week.
I'll be speaking at the San Diego ASP.NET SIG this coming Tuesday, September 21st (6:30-8:00 pm). My talk is titled, "Adding Client-Side Script to ASP.NET Web Pages," and is a presentation based off of my MSDN Online article, Working With Client-Side Script.
The meetings to the ASP.NET SIG are free, and occassionally include free pizza as well. You can learn more about the SIG at their Web site, which includes location and directions. For those who can't make it to the talk (perhaps you live in, say, Vermont), you can download my presentation slides and source code here.
Hope to see you there!
ASP.NET has been around in beta form for over four years now, long enough that I have been taking the power and productivity gains ASP.NET made possible for granted. Couple that with the fact that I only did classic ASP development for two years, and have been doing ASP.NET for four, and it is understandable how I could stop spending hours each day thanking the ASP.NET team for making my life easier.
You'll be happy to know I no longer take ASP.NET for granted, thanks to teaching a three-day course on classic ASP.
The differences between these two technologies is very stark. It's interesting (in a theoretical sort of way, not really in practice) to return to classic ASP after spending years with ASP.NET. Even though the two technologies are fundamentally the same, the approach one takes when reading classic ASP code, or preparing to create a solution in classic ASP, differs radically when compared to ASP.NET. Furthermore, it was neat to see how these students were using classic ASP to accomplish tasks that their companies had come to rely on. These tasks would not floor anyone, but they were useful and thanks to the straightforward, cut-and-pastability of classic ASP, these were tasks that my students were able to accomplish, and likely would have had considerably more trouble trying to do the same in ASP.NET.
I don't plan on making a habit out of teaching classic ASP courses - it's 2004, after all. But it was still and interesting experience, and a nice trip back down memory lane. It makes me wonder if four years from now I'll be looking back at ASP.NET 1.x and having similar sentiments.
According to this article, a recent study at the University of New South Wales has shown that 1.57% of emails sent never reach their intended recipients. These emails, the study notes, are not lost due to spam filters, but due to non-perfect routers and servers sitting between the sender and ultimate receiver. Hardly the five 9's uptime the phone company can promise for voice communications...
James Avery - who recently made the switch from working full time to working for himself - has started a Yahoo! Group for those who are independents or are thinking about going independent. The Group is called Going Independent, and already has over 65 members.
Right now the Group is serving as mostly a coffee house-type list, with people introducing themselves. The real power of this Group, in my opinion, will come once the Group has gotten large enough and people start utilizing it as a resource for advice and answers to common questions.
Alert reader Gustavo Garcia emailed me recently with a small bug he found in my URL Rewriting in ASP.NET article:
I think the code:
if (HttpContext.Current.Cache["RewriterConfig"] == null) HttpContext.Current.Cache.Insert("RewriterConfig",ConfigurationSettings.GetConfig("RewriterConfig")); return (RewriterConfiguration)HttpContext.Current.Cache["RewriterConfig"]; //Could return NULL?!?!?!?
could produce race conditions, because the Cache could be freed between ifand return. RewriterConfiguration config =(RewriterConfiguration)HttpContext.Current.Cache["RewriterConfig"]; if (config == null) { config = ConfigurationSettings.GetConfig("RewriterConfig"); HttpContext.Current.Cache.Insert("RewriterConfig", config); } return config;
Best regards, and thank you for your article.
I think the code:
if (HttpContext.Current.Cache["RewriterConfig"] == null) HttpContext.Current.Cache.Insert("RewriterConfig",ConfigurationSettings.GetConfig("RewriterConfig")); return (RewriterConfiguration)HttpContext.Current.Cache["RewriterConfig"]; //Could return NULL?!?!?!?
could produce race conditions, because the Cache could be freed between ifand return. RewriterConfiguration config =(RewriterConfiguration)HttpContext.Current.Cache["RewriterConfig"]; if (config == null) { config = ConfigurationSettings.GetConfig("RewriterConfig"); HttpContext.Current.Cache.Insert("RewriterConfig", config); } return config;
Best regards, and thank you for your article.
Good catch, Gustavo. This problem is discussed with a good explanation in Scott Cate's blog entry: Steve Smith's Awesome Caching Pattern.
Speaking of URL rewriting in ASP.NET, the #1 question I get is with regards to mapping all requests to the aspnet_isapi.dll ISAPI Extension. The blog engine software that I use to run this blog - .Text (or Community Server :: Blogs, as it will be called) - heavily utilizes URL rewriting and provides an option where all incoming requests can be mapped to the ASP.NET engine. So why not turn to Scott Watermasysk - creator of .Text - for some explanation on this? Scott recently posted an entry on some issues with mapping all requests to the ASP.NET process, including tasks you'll have to do once this mapping is made.
About a week and a half ago I posted a blog entry asking for programs you can't live without. I got a lot of great responses, and - thanks for the comments - have learned about a few new, cool tools (replacing WS_FTP with FileZilla, trying out Skype). Among the comments was this one, from Arif Khan:
Now that we have received so many suggestions regarding the programs that are a necessity, how about a post regarding 'websites' that are an intrinsic part of one's daily life?
Now that we have received so many suggestions regarding the programs that are a necessity, how about a post regarding 'websites' that are an intrinsic part of one's daily life?
So that is the purpose of this blog entry. I figured since I learned about a lot of neat tools from the last post, this would present an opportunity to learn about new sites that I'll likely come to find invaluable. So let me know what Web sites do you find yourself visiting every day, those sites that you couldn't live without. Here is my short list:
So what sites are on your must-visit list each and every day?


text:
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Friends, Seals, and The Shed
We took a trip together to our lovely beach, and found an unexpected small person there, namely, a young fur seal that seemed in a rather groggy and hungry state. We were concerned because people were exercising horses and dogs on the beach, and I also worry about recreational fishermen as sadly, some have been known to illegally and callously slaughter seals, because seals catch fish....
Someone told us that a large dead seal had been buried on the beach just the day before, and we hoped that it was not the young pup's mother. I did let the Department of Conservation know, but..... I suspect that the likelihood of them sending someone 45 km to rescue a baby seal was rather slim. We did keep a watchful eye on it for some time, and it finally wobbled back into the sea and paddled around. I was happier to leave it in the water, than in a heap on the beach vulnerable to dogs, people, and black backed gulls, and I hope that the wee thing survives.
The Shed....
I had a somewhat frustrating week before our friends arrived, where I had interruptions and things to do on the few days that it did not rain, and when the rain came, it turned the clay to unmanageable sticky mess that resembled the sort of school dinners that one learned to fear when cook was having one of her really bad days! I did try scooping off the slimy top layer and digging holes for foundations, but the holes filled with water, and my boots got stuck.
Little Nigella Stopit, took a keen interest in my eccentric activities. She is used to primly digging little holes herself in a secretive and modest manner. She may have attributed my deeper efforts to my enormous size, and was no doubt very relieved when I put wooden posts in the holes and filled them in again!
Finally, the sun came out a bit, and I had a few hours free. I managed to put in the three remaining posts and do the bearers and joists for the floor on one day, then I got the deck down and nailed the following morning, putting in the last 10 nails after lunch.
We rather enjoyed sitting out on the deck, and I was very tempted to abandon the shed at that stage. What could be nicer than a beer or two of an evening, whilst sitting out with a view of the trees! Several alternative schemes were proposed, including building a shed on two opposite sides of the deck..., but today I elected to continue building as in... plan "A".
I managed to frame up all four sides of the shed today. Things took longer than they might have as I made significant changes to the plan, and added extra timbers. I am sure that the kitset shed does work if built according to the plans, but it looked rather flimsy to me. So I have "beefed things up" adding bottom plates to the three walls that didn't have them, adding extra timbers elsewhere and have also added provision for a window in one wall, and have increased the height of the doorway so that I do not slam my head into the door frame every time I go in and out of the shed. It is still a very light structure, but much of its strength will come with the wall claddings, which I hope to add tomorrow, weather permitting!
Ginger was supposed to write this episode of the blog, but he is having an argument with Nigella at the moment and is growling at her from an elevated position on top of the electric heater. He has had an exhausting day hunting rats I think!
9 comments:
- cookingwithgas said...
What sweet possibilities I see there for your building!
I hope the pup makes it! Poor baby.
- April 24, 2011 at 5:04 AM
- Christine said...
What good company a cat makes outside. Looking forward to seeing the finished shed result. Nigella Stopit will no doubt keep you right.
- April 24, 2011 at 8:28 AM
- Peter said...
Good Morning Meredith and Christine, lovely to hear from you both. Happy Easter to you. I was actually thinking of both of you this morning, as a matter of fact. I have been reading your blogs and thinking how nice it would be to come and visit one day. Cats are great building companions... although we do usually lock them inside when we are chopping down trees! I hope that the seal makes it too, it was quite something to see one so close. Marvellous animals, a bit like floating cats ... wish we had a large salt water swimming pool!!!
- April 24, 2011 at 10:33 AM
- rwhendrix said...
A fine job on shed construction Peter. Keep at it and soon you will have one more thing you can be proud of that you have built with your own hands. I hope to soon be back to building things myself.
- April 25, 2011 at 1:32 AM
- Arkansas Patti said...
Aw, that baby seal broke my heart. He looks too young to make it on his own. That is so sad.
Your shed is coming right along though I can see the attraction if you had left it as a deck.
- April 25, 2011 at 11:35 AM
- Peter said...
Hi Richard,
Nice to hear from you, and thank you for the encouragement! Shed building is not without its frustrations..., and it was good to be cheered on by your comments after a struggle with roof structures! It is good to be doing something the size of a small building for a change, and it might prove addictive... I am already thinking of other huts!
Hi Patti,
Mmmmm, I would have been all for taking the young thing home and bottle feeding it (I just don't know any suitable lactating mother seals to supply milk! I don't know how they would do on cows milk long term?? There is probably some special infant formula that can be used??). I probably got the identity of junior seal wrong too, a friend called in (who knows far more about these things than I do) and says that it is most likely to be a sealion. This would be much more appropriate for our cat based household!
- April 26, 2011 at 8:05 AM
- ang said...
awesome progress peter...look forward to it's completion...you makin a sauna???
- April 27, 2011 at 1:42 PM
- Peter said...
Hi Ang,
A sauna..., what a good idea! We've just started frosts at night, so they will be ideal for sauna Scandinavian style... Massive heat in sauna, followed by a plunge into a snow drift or an icy pool!
- April 28, 2011 at 6:24 PM
- Grand Cosquet Céramique said...
- This comment has been removed by the author.
- April 29, 2011 at 9:28 AM


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1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers with POTG Basketball
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Player of the Game Basketball
Jeff Nicholson
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May 26, 2018 - 01:01 PM
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Game 31
Philadelphia 76ers @ Baltimore Bullets
Baltimore Civic Center
December 12, 1972
The Sixers travel to Maryland and are handed their 3rd straight defeat by 20+ as they lose to the Bullets by 25 points, 123-98.
Philadelphia had 5 players score in double figures but as has become the norm this season the team effort wasn't enough to overcome the opposition. Fred Carter led the scoring with 27 points, followed by Kevin Loughery with 17, Freddie Boyd with 16, Leroy Ellis with 11, and Manny Leaks with 10 to round out the top half of the scoring column. The bottom half showed Dave Sorenson totaling 8 points, John Block 6, John Trapp 2, and, in familiar territory, Dale Schlueter notching just 1 and Hal Greer collecting another goose egg.
Baltimore was paced by Phil Chenier who hit for 28 points. Flynn Robinson was a close second as he almost quadrupled his 6.9 PPG real life average by putting up 26. The "Big E" Elvin Hayes was next with 17, followed in order by, Mike Riordan with 14, John Tresvant 9, Tom Patterson and Wes Unseld who both tossed in 7, Stan Love with 6, Kevin Porter 5, and Dave Stallworth who claimed 4.
Next Game:
12/13/72 vs Los Angeles at The Spectrum. The Sixers are 0-1 against the Lakers this season, losing 111-101 on November 19 in Tinseltown.
actual result:
Philadelphia - 102
Baltimore - 123
Philadelphia record:
actual (3-28)
replay (4-27)
Jeff Nicholson
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May 28, 2018 - 05:08 PM
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Game 32
Los Angeles Lakers @ Philadelphia 76ers
The Spectrum
December 13, 1972
Philadelphia is on a roll, but it's not the good kind. For the fourth game in a row the Sixers lose by 20+ as the Lakers clobber them at The Spectrum by 28 points, 132-104.
The Lakers exhibited the kind of balanced scoring attack that Sixers fans can only dream about. Los Angeles had 8 players in double figures, led by Jim McMillian who hit for 31. The Logo, Jerry West, was second in scoring with 16, followed by Bill Bridges and Wilt Chamberlain who each added 14, Gail Goodrich with 13, Pat Riley and Travis Grant who both put up 11, and former Sixer Mel Counts with 10 to finish out the double digit scorers. Keith Erickson collected 8 and Jim Price 4 to complete the scoring.
The Sixers had 5 in double figures, with a couple of near misses, but the horsepower just wasn't there. John Block topped Philadelphia as he tossed in 22, with Fred Carter next as he claimed 18. Leroy Ellis with 17, John Trapp with 14, and Freddie Boyd with 10 were the other double digit scorers. Dave Sorenson with 9 and Manny Leaks with 8 both just missed the 10 point mark. The last two in the scoring column were Hal Greer who totaled 4 and Kevin Loughery who added 2. Dale Schlueter grabbed yet another goose's egg and now has one-third of a dozen for the season.
Next Game:
12/16/72 vs Buffalo at The Spectrum. The Sixers have 1 win against the Braves this season in 4 games.
actual result:
Los Angeles - 128
Philadelphia - 90
Philadelphia record:
actual (3-29)
replay (4-28)
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May 29, 2018 - 11:14 AM
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Well, they've got a shot against Buffalo. Time to break that -20 point streak!
Jeff Nicholson
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Jun 01, 2018 - 12:18 PM
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BillS wrote:
Well, they've got a shot against Buffalo. Time to break that -20 point streak!
They woulda, coulda, shoulda had a shot against the Braves, but, being the Sixers, they wound up shooting themselves in every single foot on the team.
Game 33
Buffalo Braves @ Philadelphia 76ers
The Spectrum
December 16, 1972
The Sixers broke their 20 point losing streak, sort of. The Buffalo Braves, holders of the second worst record in the '72-73 NBA season at 21-61 along with the Portland Trail Blazers, visited The Spectrum and absolutely waxed the Sixers, winning by 32 points, 119-87. Even when you're the worst team in the league, losing, at home, to the second worst team is bad enough. Losing by 32 makes it even more difficult to accept. But the extra salt in the wound is only managing to score 87 points.
Buffalo had 5 players in double digits, with 2 others a free throw away. Bob Kauffman and Bob McAdoo led the Braves in scoring and were just a bucket away from 30 as they each netted 28. Elmore Smith with 17, Dave Wohl with 14, and Howard Komives with 10 were the other double digit scorers. Dick Garrett and Randy Smith each had 9 points, with John Hummer putting up 4 to complete the scoring. Bill Hewitt somehow finished the game with 0 points.
Philadelphia used 10 players in the game, with all 10 getting into the scoring column, but their efforts were woefully short of what was needed. John Block topped the Sixers in scoring with 15 points. If your leading scorer for the game in the NBA of the early 70's only had 15 points, you were most likely in for a very long night. There were 3 other Sixers who hit for 10 or more, Fred Carter with 13, as well as Freddie Boyd and Hal Greer who both finished on the number. Kevin Loughery and Manny Leaks each put up 9, followed by John Trapp with 7, Dale Schlueter and Dave Sorenson who both had 6, and Leroy Ellis at the bottom of the scoring list with 2.
Next Game:
12/20/72 at Detroit. This will be the first meeting of the season between the Sixers and Pistons.
actual result:
Buffalo - 126
Philadelphia - 103
Philadelphia record:
actual (3-30)
replay (4-29)
Jeff Nicholson
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Jun 22, 2018 - 12:11 PM
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Game 34
Philadelphia 76ers @ Detroit Pistons
Cobo Arena
December 20, 1972
It wasn't a loss by 30, or 20, but it was still a loss. The Sixers hit the road and pulled into the Motor City where they lost by 13 to the team that used to call Ft. Wayne, Indiana home, 117-104.
Philadelphia had 6 players in double figures, including 2 with 20 or more, but, like a broken record whose lyrics repeat throughout the season, the effort just wasn't enough. Fred Carter was at the top of the scoring column as he netted 21, with Kevin Loughery close behind as he tossed in 20. The double digit scoring was rounded out by Freddie Boyd and Leroy Ellis who each totaled 13, Manny Leaks who claimed 11, and John Trapp with 10. Mike Price had 8, Dave Sorenson 6, and Dale Schlueter 2 to complete the scoring.
The Pistons also had 6 players reach double digits, with 3 of those collecting 20 or more. Curtis Rowe and Dave Bing led the scoring as they each hit for 24, with Bob Lanier a couple of buckets behind as he claimed 20. Don Adams with 15, Willie Norwood 11, Stu Lantz 10, John Mengelt 8, Chris Ford 4, and Jim Davis with 1 finished out the 117 total. Bob Nash failed to break into the scoring column, ending the game with 0 points.
Next Game:
12/22/72 @ Houston. The Sixers are 0-2 vs the Rockets this season.
actual result:
Philadelphia - 113
Detroit - 141
Philadelphia record:
actual (3-31)
replay (4-30)
Jeff Nicholson
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Jul 08, 2018 - 11:43 AM
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Game 35
Philadelphia 76ers @ Houston Rockets
Hofheinz Pavilion
December 22, 1972
Make that 1-2. The Sixers surprise the Rockets in the Magnolia City, leaving town with a 15 point victory, 111-96.
It's amazing what can happen when everyone who takes the floor makes a worthwhile contribution. All 10 players for the Sixers made it into the scoring column, 6 of those notching double digits. Fred Carter led the scoring with 23 points, followed by a trio who each hit for 14, John Trapp, Kevin Loughery, and Leroy Ellis. Freddie Boyd with 12 and Mike Price with 10 completed the 6. Dave Sorenson and Manny Leaks were a bucket short of double digits as they each put up 8 points. The bottom of the scoring column saw some familiar names but the numbers were different as Dale Schlueter totaled 5 points and Hal Greer claimed 3.
Houston also had 6 players in double figures, but they were hurt by a lack of production from their leading scorer. Jack Marin shows 18 in the scorebook, with Mike Newlin going for 16, Calvin Murphy 15, Don Smith 14, and Jimmy Walker 12. Real life leading scorer Rudy Tomjanovich was well short of his 19.3 PPG as he could only net 11 points. Cliff Meely hit for 6, Stan McKenzie 3, and Otto Moore 1 to round out the scoring for the Rockets.
Next Game:
12/23/72 @ Atlanta, the first of 2 straight against the Hawks. The Sixers are 0-1 vs the team from Georgia this season.
actual result:
Philadelphia - 103
Houston - 116
Philadelphia record:
actual (3-32)
replay (5-30)
Jeff Nicholson
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Jul 16, 2018 - 02:11 PM
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Jeff Nicholson
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Jul 25, 2018 - 01:18 PM
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Game 36
Philadelphia 76ers @ Atlanta Hawks
Omni Coliseum
December 23, 1972
Normalcy returns as the Sixers travel to the Peach State and lose to the hometown Hawks by 15 points, 126-111.
Philadelphia had 6 players score in double digits but they just didn't have the firepower to overcome the twosome of Maravich and Hudson. Leroy Ellis led the Sixers in scoring with 20, followed by John Trapp and Kevin Loughery who each put up 17. Fred Carter totaled 16, Freddie Boyd 13, and Hal Greer 10 to round out the double digit scorers. Dave Sorenson had 8, Manny Leaks 5, Mike Price 4, and Dale Schlueter 1 to complete the scoring for the Sixers.
The Hawks also had 6 players notch 10 or more, led by the duo of "Pistol Pete" Maravich who hit for 31 and "Sweet Lou" Hudson who claimed 24. Eddie Mast had 18, Bob Christian and Jim Washington 16 apiece, and Herm Gilliam 11 to finish out the double figure scoring. The bottom of the scoring column showed Steve Bracey with 7 and Don May with 3.
Next Game:
12/27/72 vs Atlanta, the second of 2 in a row against the Hawks. This one will be played in the Steel City.
actual result:
Philadelphia - 112
Atlanta - 124
Philadelphia record:
actual (3-33)
replay (5-31)
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Jul 26, 2018 - 01:05 PM
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Looks like the Sixers missed John Block for that Hawks game. Also, it seems it was an off-night for Fred Carter. If Carter plays more like usual and Block is in, Sixers win that game.
Jeff Nicholson
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Jul 27, 2018 - 12:58 PM
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BillS wrote:
Looks like the Sixers missed John Block for that Hawks game. Also, it seems it was an off-night for Fred Carter. If Carter plays more like usual and Block is in, Sixers win that game.
You're being very kind to the Sixers
Carter did have a bit of an off night, but, they were able to defeat the Rockets recently, helped by Rudy T having an off night, so, I guess what goes around really does come around !
They're just a terrible team, which is reflected in both their DEF and HCA ratings.
Basketball Reference gives them 15 expected wins so I think they'll wind up somewhere around that number. The season isn't quite half over and they've got 5 W's so they'll need to pick it up just a bit.
I'm dating myself with this terminology, but I'm having a blast with this replay. POTG is the basketball game that I had been looking for, I just wish that I had discovered it sooner than I did.
Thanks for following along !
Jeff Nicholson
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Aug 16, 2018 - 11:45 AM
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Game 37
Philadelphia 76ers vs Atlanta Hawks
Pittsburgh, PA
December 27, 1972
The previous game in Atlanta was just a warmup as for the second time in two straight games the Hawks emerge victorious against the Sixers, nearly doubling their prior winning margin by claiming a 29 point victory in the Steel City, 131-102.
Philadelphia was overmatched and outgunned, but that's been the story of the season, as 5 players in double figures and 2 others coming close just wasn't enough. Fred Carter led in scoring as he totaled 22, followed by John Block with 18, Leroy Ellis 15, Kevin Loughery 13, and Manny Leaks 10 to round out the double digit scorers. John Trapp with 9 and Mike Price with 8 just missed claiming double figures. The bottom of the scoring column showed Freddie Boyd tossing in 4 points and Dale Schlueter notching 3.
Atlanta was paced by the duo of Pete Maravich and Lou Hudson who were once again too much for Philadelphia to handle, way too much. Maravich put up 41, Hudson hit for 35, and their combined 76 points accounted for almost 60% of Atlanta's total. In the supporting cast, Herm Gilliam had 14, George Trapp 12, giving him family bragging rights over his brother John who only had 9 for the Sixers, and Jim Washington 10 to complete the double figure scoring list. Don May just missed double figures as he totaled 9 points, with Bob Christian adding 5, Steve Bracey 4, and Eddie Mast 1.
Next Game:
12/30/72 vs Boston in Providence, RI. The Sixers are 0-3 against the Celtics this season with the closest game being decided by 30 points.
actual result:
Philadelphia - 120
Atlanta - 121
Philadelphia record:
actual (3-34)
replay (5-32)
Jeff Nicholson
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Sep 11, 2018 - 03:38 PM
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Game 38
Philadelphia 76ers vs Boston Celtics
Providence, RI
December 30, 1972
The scoring difference wasn't 30 or more but the game was still another checkmark in the Loss column for the Sixers, as for the fourth time in four games against the Celtics this season they come up short, this time in Providence, RI by 11 points, 124-113.
Everyone who took the floor for Philadelphia made a contribution, but it wasn't enough against a team that won 68 games in the real life '72-73 season. Fred Carter topped the scoring column with 21, followed by Leroy Ellis who had 20. Kevin Loughery notched 18 points, John Block 16, and John Trapp 13, to round out the double digit scorers. Dale Schlueter added 8, Freddie Boyd and Manny Leaks 7 each, and Mike Price 3 to complete the scoring.
The defense of the Sixers did a comendable job in containing the top 3 scorers for the Celtics, John Havlicek, Dave Cowens, and Jo Jo White. However, that same defense failed miserably in trying to contain Don Chaney, who led the Celtics in scoring with 28 points, more than double his real life average of 13.1 PPG. White was next on the scoring list with 23, followed by "Hondo" who put up 21, Cowens who netted 15, and Art Williams with 11 to finish the double figure scoring. Paul Silas just missed double figures as he totaled 9 points, with Steve Kuberski claiming 7, Hank Finkel and Paul Westphal 4 each, and Tom Sanders 2.
Next Game:
1/2/73 @ Buffalo. The Sixers are 1-4 vs the Braves this season.
actual result:
Philadelphia - 107
Boston - 117
Philadelphia record:
actual (3-35)
replay (5-33)
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Sep 11, 2018 - 03:45 PM
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A much more competitive game than many have been! That's a funny scorers' table for the Celtics, with Chaney leading all scorers. I'm sure it happened a couple of times during that season, but probably not many. It's nice that POTG allows stuff like that to happen.
Jeff Nicholson
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Sep 13, 2018 - 12:49 PM
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Posts: 443
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BillS wrote:
A much more competitive game than many have been! That's a funny scorers' table for the Celtics, with Chaney leading all scorers. I'm sure it happened a couple of times during that season, but probably not many. It's nice that POTG allows stuff like that to happen.
Yes, the Celtics were no doubt expecting another easy win like the first three had been.
Chaney had to max out his scoring rolls, and get help from Philadelphia's horrible Defensive rating to get those 28 points. I really like it that these things can happen without them being forced. Is Chaney going to score 28 very often, not by a longshot. But, these type of things do happen and, like you, I'm glad that the POTG engine accounts for them. Something similar also happened in Game 26 when Art Williams, also of the Celtics, scored 19 points when he had just a 3.2 PPG real life average.
The flip side of the above is also true. In all of the POTG Basketball that I have played, I've had a very small number of times where someone with 3 Scoring Rolls came up with goose eggs all 3 times. On one occasion, just one, a player with 4 Scoring Rolls ended up 0-0-0-1. That's a killer for any team's chances. In Game 1 of the 1968 ABA finals that I posted a couple of years ago, Connie Hawkins scored just 12 points from 5 Scoring Rolls in the #1 spot. Not surprisingly, the Pipers went down to defeat. I pointed those things out just to illustrate that in POTG a part-timer can come up with a super game, and good, or even great players can fall flat.
Thanks for following the replay.
Jeff Nicholson
Post subject:
Sep 18, 2018 - 12:12 PM
Joined: Aug 21, 2014
Posts: 443
Status: Offline
Game 39
Philadelphia 76ers @ Buffalo Braves
Buffalo Memorial Auditorium
January 2, 1973
As they used to say at carnivals, "Close, but no cigar." The Sixers travel to Buffalo and lose to one of the two second worst teams in the league by the narrowest of margins, 109-108. The Sixers are now 1-5 against the Braves this season.
Philadelphia had 5 players in double figures, with a 6th just missing, but still came up short of what was needed. Fred Carter led the Sixers in scoring with 22, with Leroy Ellis next as he put up 17. Kevin Loughery hit for 16, Freddie Boyd 14, and John Block 13 to round out those with 10+. Dave Sorenson just missed joining that group as he finished with 9 points, followed by John Trapp with 7, Mike Price 5, Dale Schlueter 3, and Manny Leaks 2.
The Braves came within 6 points of having everyone who took the floor finish with double digits. As it was they had 6 players score 10 or more, topped by Bob Kauffman who ended the game with 20 points. Bob McAdoo and Randy Smith each netted 15, followed by Fred Hilton who totaled 13, Elmore Smith 12, and Dave Wohl 10 to complete the 6. Dick Garrett tossed in 9, Howard Komives 8, and Bill Hewitt 7 to round out the scorecard.
Next Game:
1/5/73 @ Portland. The Sixers are 0-1 vs the Trail Blazers this season, scoring only 74 points, at home, in the game on November 25th.
actual result:
Philadelphia - 110
Buffalo - 114
Philadelphia record:
actual (3-36)
replay (5-34)
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Our Celeb Crush Deborah Ann Woll Wants to Suck On You
Deborah Ann Woll would want to suck on you if she was a vampire like Jessica Hamby, her character in the popular television series 'True Blood' -- but she's probably not a vampire in real life.
Despite being know for her sexy red hair, Deborah is actually a natural blonde, but decided to dye it red when she was 14 years old in order to "stand out more." Oh, those crazy red heads.
The hot television actress is beginning to get some notice in Hollywood, and is set to star in two feature films in 2013.
Make sure to follow Deborah on both Twitter and Facebook.


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Has Donald Trump turned over a new leaf?
Why his macho approach won't work anymore
The smoke of personal attacks, absurd confidence, and swagger is clearing, and we've been left with an almost unrecognizable Donald Trump. In the past few weeks, the mogul has embraced decidedly more presidential behavior. It's completely boring, but there's a reason it's happening.
It first showed up in last week's debate as the country settled in for the latest segment in "Donald Trump Takes America." Would we get details about how he's going to convince Mexico to pay for the Great Wall of Trump? Would he finally make Rand Paul cry? Was he going to downgrade Heidi Klum's hotness even further?
Imagine the disappointment when the star of the show was notably absent from the debate.
Rather than the usual scorched earth tirade against Democrats, other Republicans, and the "losers" who have apparently tampered America's greatness, Trump was measured, demure, even civil.
He was, in short, a snore.
All of this, mind you, comes with a big fat asterisk of Trump still being Trump. He couldn't resist baring his teeth at Ohio Gov. John Kasich over his involvement with the Loser Lehman Brothers. He also bragged that he has a license to carry a firearm in New York, so you can never be quite sure when he's packing a weapon. How terrifying!
Trump continued the yawn-worthy makeover at a rally in Nevada over the weekend. At the Nugget Casino, the National Post observed:
"Gone were the withering attacks on his Republican rivals, the obsessive discussion of his poll numbers and another spate of bombshell remarks. Trump instead focused on more fully introducing himself to voters at an hour-long rally here, underscoring a subtle maturation for a presidential candidate trying to move the spotlight away from his booming reality-TV personality."
It seems that Trump is trying to reverse the rhetoric on his playground bully shtick, and I don't think it's because he's worried about hurting other people's feelings.
Trump has catapulted his way to the top by using other candidates as a springboard. He called people losers. He insulted Rand Paul's looks. He sent Marco Rubio gag gifts to capitalize on his perceived insecurities. He's made himself appear like the most powerful candidate via castigation.
Trump's bravado posturing was what people took away from the candidate's debate performance, rather than his paper-thin policy points. Trumpeting his machismo worked for him, so it seemed that the public (and Trump) would cling to the remnants.
Until the past few weeks, the thought process appears to have been: If he can out-man the rest of the candidates, why can't Trump out-man the rest of the world?
This isn't uncommon in campaign politics, according to Jackson Katz. In his 2012 book, "Leading Men: Presidential Campaigns and the Politics of Manhood," Katz chronicled how candidates have used the alpha-male stereotype to get them to the White House.
"Presidential campaigns are a referendum on the state of national masculinity in the U.S.," he told the BBC.
Katz cites the 1988 election as an example of how effective masculinity can be in getting votes. George H.W. Bush hinged his campaign against Michael Dukakis on chipping away at his masculinity. It worked. H.W. flipped his trailing poll numbers and ended up winning 40 states.
Similarly, Trump has used his masculinity to turn from a reality TV joke into a viable option for next leader of the free world. As Kent G. Bailey, a professor emeritus of clinical psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University, put it:
"Donald Trump is the prototypical, archetypal and testosterone-driven alpha male who rules by the sheer force of his personality, imposing physique, quick wit, mastery of repartee and almost hypnotic control over his gathering masses of adoring followers."
So why would a candidate who's wormed his way to being one of the top contenders for the GOP nomination abandon what was seemingly a highly successful tactic?
Trump has had little success battling against women so far in his campaign. When he tried to back-pedal on a comment he made about Carly Fiorina's looks during the second debate, she quickly shut him down. "I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said," she fired back to wild applause.
It was, perhaps, the only time that someone landed the last punch against the mogul.
Then there was Megyn Kelly. When Trump waged a Twitter war against the Fox News host by insinuating that she might have been mad with menstrual rage while moderating the first GOP debate, the candidate faced massive backlash from both conservatives and liberals.
Here's the problem: Trump's machismo approach doesn't work when his opponent's a woman. It's the reason he ended up with egg on his face when he took on Fiorina and Kelly, and it is the exact same problem that he would face if he squared off with Hillary Clinton in the general election.
If last week's debate was any preview, Trump is less than inspiring when he reins in his antics. When he isn't preoccupied with flexing his man-cred, it's easier to see that Trump is in way over his head on, you know, any substantive policy platforms.
Meanwhile, Clinton is a polished debater, policy wonk, and, worst of all for Trump, a woman. Not to mention one who has embraced femininity with newfound vigor in this election cycle.
Trump picking on junior senators still facing their own campaign growing pains is funny. Trump picking on a seasoned vet and enthusiastic new grandma? Not so much.
The macho entertainer may not have retired from this election just yet, though. If he continues to cede his number one spot in GOP polls, we could see glimpses of the old Trump trying to regain his dominance. But the Donald isn't running for America's Alpha Male, he's running for president.


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CLARK — Dogs of all ages, colors, shapes and sizes are invited to bring their owners and meet other dogs at the American Cancer Society's inaugural Bark for Life of Metro NJ on Sunday, Nov. 11 in Oak Ridge Park. Take a stroll around Oak Ridge Park's West Loop and enjoy the celebration of our four-legged loved ones. Celebrate canine caregivers (companion, guide, diagnostic, rescue, police, therapy, and service dogs among others) because they help people through their darkest hours showing unconditional love and security without judgment.
Bark for Life is a non-competitive walk-a-thon and festival for dogs and their families. The money raised by the participants at "Bark" helps the American Cancer Society save lives and create a world with more birthdays by helping people stay well, get well, find cures and fight back.
Rain or Shine, the walk begins at 11 a.m., registration opens at 10 a.m. Various paw-friendly activities and contests are scheduled until 2 p.m., including Hillside Police department's K9 unit tracking and sniffing demonstrations and vendors will be on site. Dogs who get tired or thirsty from all the exciting and fun activities can visit the Canine Café for a light refreshment. Participants are welcome to remain after the event to enjoy the beauty of Oak Ridge Park.
Online registration is open to those who are interested. Cost is $20 pre-event and includes a doggie gift. The first 100 dog owners at the walk receive a free Relay For Life T-shirt. Register on-line at www.RelayForLife.org/BarkMetroNJ. Day-of registration is $30 and will take place on-site at the Registration tent.
Connect with NJTODAY.NET
Join NJTODAY.NET's free Email List to receive occasional updates delivered right to your email address!


text:
Security Central is a malicious software that masquerades as a genuine security software to cheat gullible users. This scareware has a professional looking interface and uses multiple visual and aural fake system alerts that are designed to convince the victims to pay for a fraudulent subscription.
Rogue security software like Security Central are commonly installed when users are redirected to fake online scanner pages or fake 'video codec required' pages distributed through out the Web by cyber criminals using blackhat SEO techniques, Spam and Malicious flash advertisements.
A rogue security software such as Security Central belongs to a family of software products that call themselves as antivirus, antispyware or registry cleaners and often use deceptive or high pressure sales tactics and deliberate false positives to convince users into buying a license/subscription. They are often repackaged and renamed. They do not actually remove malware instead many of them add more malware of their own. They need to be removed immediately from your system.
Users should not fall for the false alerts of system infection and buy the scareware to 'clean' the system. If you purchased one by entering your credit card number at a rogue software website, it would be prudent to:
- Immediately contact the bank that issued the card and dispute the charges.
- Request them to not allow any further transaction and cancel the card. You may also request them to issue a new card with a different number.
Security Central Trojan
Once allowed to install in the system, this scareware terminates running programs and blocks execution of most programs.
- It blocks the execution of Firefox and Chrome browsers.
- It does not block Internet Explorer.
- It blocks common programs like Windows Media Player, MSPaint etc.
- It also blocks execution of administrative tasks like Task Manager, Command Prompt, Registry Editor and MS Configuration Editor, presumably to protect itself.
Security Central Aliases
The trojan dropper was named internet99.exe (933,888 bytes) in this instance. It was detected by 27/40 (67.5%) of antivirus engines available with VirusTotal.
This scareware is known by the following aliases:
- Trojan.Win32.FraudPack.apxz
- VirTool:Win32/VBInject.gen!DG
- Virus.Win32.VBInject!IK
- Win32.TRFakealert.Uz
- Trojan.Win32.S.VBInject.933888
- Trojan.Win32.Generic.pak!cobra
- W32/FakeAlert.BZTL
- Troj/FakeAV-BDE
Typical Security Central Scare Messages
Malicious program has been detected. Click here to protect your computer.
Firewall Warning Hidden file transfer to remote host has been detected. Security Central has detected a leak of your files through the Internet.
File taskmgr.exe is infected by W32/Blaster worm Please activate Security Central to protect your computer.
Security Central has found 18 suspicious and unwanted files on your computer!
Security Central Associated Files and Folders
- C:\Documents and Settings\malwarehelp.org\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\Security Central.lnk
- C:\Documents and Settings\malwarehelp.org\Desktop\Security Central.lnk
- C:\Documents and Settings\malwarehelp.org\Local Settings\Temp\~DF9627.tmp
- C:\Documents and Settings\malwarehelp.org\Start Menu\Security Central\Security Central.lnk
- C:\Documents and Settings\malwarehelp.org\UserData\Z8WV3QOK\pmocntr[1].xml
- C:\Program Files\Security Central\Security Central.exe
- C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch\INTERNET99.EXE-0BA720B7.pf
- C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch\SECURITY CENTRAL.EXE-1A692E7C.pf
- C:\Program Files\Security Central
- C:\Documents and Settings\malwarehelp.org\Start Menu\Security Central
Some of the file names may be randomly generated. The term malwarehelp.org or malwarehelp in the above entries denotes the name of the Windows user account in the test machine.
Security Central Associated Registry Values and Keys
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\Security Central=C:\Program Files\Security Central\Security Central.exe
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\BDC4128EE806452F6F72D2390F7B4934
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\BDC4128EE806452F6F72D2390F7B4934\FRun=0
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\BDC4128EE806452F6F72D2390F7B4934\O`ld=Rdbtshux!Bdous`m
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\BDC4128EE806452F6F72D2390F7B4934\Q`ui=B;]Qsnfs`l!Ghmdr]Rdbtshux!Bdous`m]Rdbtshux!Bdous`m/dyd
The term malwarehelp.org or malwarehelp in the above entries denotes the name of the Windows user account in the test machine.
Security Central Removal (How to remove Security Central)
MalwareBytes's Anti-Malware (mbam-setup.exe) was able to remove this infection.
- Boot in to Windows Safe Mode with networking
- Download MalwareBytes's Anti-Malware (mbam-setup.exe) or from a clean computer download and copy to a USB flash drive.
- Double-click mbam-setup.exe to start the installation. Proceed with installation following the prompts. Make sure that the following options are checked when you finish the installation:
- Update Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
- Launch Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
- Once the update is completed, select Perform full scan in the Scanner tab. When the scan is completed, click "Show results", confirm that all instances of the rogue security software are check-marked and then click "Remove Selected" to delete them. If prompted restart immediately to complete the removal process.
- Turn System Restore off and on.
You should now be clean of this rogue.
The full version of Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware performs brilliantly against scareware such as Security Central. The real-time component of the paid version would have cautioned you before the rogue software could install itself. Please consider purchasing the Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware Full version for additional protection.
If you are unable to get rid of this scareware, please visit one of the recommended forums for malware help and post about your problem.
Security Central Scareware — Screenshots
Security Central Scareware — Video
Note: The Security Central installation and removal was tested on a default installation of Windows XP SP3. The content provided in this article is not warranted or guaranteed by Malware Help. Org. The content provided is intended for entertainment and/or educational purposes. I am not liable for any negative consequences that may result from implementing any information covered in this article. The above information is correct at the time of my testing, it might change with time and or under different testing conditions.


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Here's what we knew ahead of time about tonight's Breaking Bad: it's titled "To'hajiilee," which happens to be the New Mexico location of a couple pivotal moments from previous episodes. The synopsis was "Things heat up for Walt in unexpected ways." Last week we were left with the impression that things were going to escalate between Jesse and Walt. And the promo video included Walt saying to an unknown person, "Remember … no fear."
In other words: DUDE, SO MUCH TO LOOK FORWARD TO. Let's skip the preamble and get straight to the business of recapping tonight's holy-crap-no-WAY episode, okay? Here's your surely-getting-tiresome reminder that there are SPOILERS AHEAD, so stop reading if you didn't watch tonight's Breaking Bad.
I'm not going to do an exact play-by-play this time, because I'm so eager to get to the last twenty or so mind-blowing minutes in tonight's show. Real quick-like: we see Lydia complaining about the sub-par color of Todd's meth, there's a creepily desirous scene where Todd rubs his finger over the lipstick print she left on a mug before taking a swig from her exact mouth-location, we learn Todd's ringtone for Walt is "She Blinded Me With Science" (snerk), and we get confirmation that Walt is asking Todd's uncle to kill Jesse.
As for that line: "Remember … no fear": it turns out that came from his instructions to make Jesse's murder painless and unexpected, with no suffering or terror.
Hank gets an idea for duping Saul's bodyguard, the weirdly-noggin'd Huell, by photographing Jesse next to a disgusting pile of bloody cow brains. Terrified of being next on the skull-splattering hit list, Huell confesses what he knows about Walt's money, and even though they can't track a GPS from the rental van used to transport Walt's cash to the desert, Hank cooks up another genius idea. Meanwhile, Walt pays a visit to Andrea and Brock (Brock, by the way, unlike Walt Jr., has a very clear idea that Walt isn't what he seems), but Hank intercepts Andrea's voicemail which was intended to lure out Jesse. (Nice Hello Kitty cellphone, BTW.)
Also, there's a hilariously awkward scene of Walt Jr. (who suddenly looks, like, WAY too old to be in high school) attempting to wish people an A-1 day before becoming star-struck by poor face-bludgeoned Saul.
Anyway, back to the action leading to the HOLY SHIT stuff. Jesse texts Walt a photo of what appears to be one of his barrels full o'money, and he really lays it on with the bitch talk, to the relief of every viewer who's been worried about Jesse's increasingly catatonic state this season. In a dead panic, Walt drives like hell to To'hajiilee, where his money is buried, fully believing Jesse's entire story of how he discovered the cash and was planning to destroy it, $10K at a time, until Walt showed up. Faced with the all-consuming fear of losing his precious meth earnings, he confesses -- via cell phone -- to, like, EVERYTHING. He blabs about poisoning Brock, committing murder, burying Jimmy Hoffa, hiding the remains of Amelia Earheart. It's like one of those Bond movies where the villain reveals his entire evil plan without considering the repercussions of doing so.
Remember last week's episode, when Jesse said, "Next time I'm going to get you where you really live." So: Walt's money. Remember how To' Hajiilee is interpreted as "Bringing up water from a natural well"? Walt's damning words burble forth without prompting, such is his distraction by losing what he's amassed as Heisenberg.
When Walt arrives at the reservation, he sees he's alone. It finally dawns on him that he's been deceived, and he calls Todd's uncle to bring in reinforcements to take out Jesse as a vehicle pulls near. Once he sees Hank emerge, though, Walt is filled with horror. "Do not come," he hisses to Jack, calling off the murder mission.
Ha, did I say I'd go over these events "real quick-like"? As Hank would say, Nice try, asshole. ANYWAY, we're finally at the moment where I scooted to the edge of the couch and let my lower jaw just sort of dangle towards the floor, because jesus CHRIST the tension was off the CHARTS. Hank calls Walt out. Walt's face is an Emmy-worthy study of … god, there's just a lot of emotion going on there, I don't even know where to get started. Exhaustion. Despair. Resignation. Walt emerges, puts his hands on his head, gets handcuffed. Hank and Gomez bro it out over having finally bagged Heisenberg. Walt calls Jesse a coward and Jesse hawks an impressive loogie in Walt's face. Hank calls Marie and says he finally got his man, Marie is teary with relief, Hank says he loves her.
Tellingly, he adds, "It may be awhile before I make it home."
And all the while, I am waiting for a sniper bullet to shriek out of nowhere and blow someone's face all to FUCK. I mean, weren't you? It was unbearable, waiting for what we knew was going to happen: Todd, his uncle, and the swastika gang are going to show up -- not out of loyalty to Walt, but to protect their blue-meth investment.
Sure enough, they finally do, and Walt screams "NO!" from the backseat of Hank's car. There's a lot of yelling back and forth, and Jesse's eyes turn into dinner plates as he slowly fumbles for the car door handle. Then the firefight breaks out. Walt hits the deck in the backseat of the car. Gomez and Hank shoot like crazy. Todd's face is devoid of all emotion as he calmly pumps out bullets. Chaos reigns -- and then we fade to black.
I don't know about you, but I'm still recovering from those final scenes. What a nailbiter, and what a CLIFFHANGER. My sad feeling is that Hank and Gomez are goners. I suspect Jesse lives, although for the life of me I can't figure out how (he'll run and hide behind … a rock?). Walt will of course be spared because he's the cook Todd and company need. But what next? How do we get from here to the part of the story where Walt's buying a machine gun and reclaiming his ricin? Is he on the run (and his house boarded up) because his confessions via that phone call were discovered by the DEA? Is he about to wage war against Lydia, Madrigal, and/or Todd? Or against Todd and his uncle for 1) forcing him back into cooking, or 2) stealing his buried cash? And who's that ricin for, dammit? We've learned that it's a slow-acting (3-5 days) poison that leaves little or no trace, so it wouldn't be used for an instantaneous kill, and it seems like its purpose would be to hide the true cause of death. Does Walt maybe want to hurry his own inevitable cancer passing, after he does whatever the hell he's going to do with that M-60?
Here's all we can truly know for sure: there are only three more episodes to go.
What did you think of tonight's Breaking Bad? Who do you think survived the gunfight at the end?
Image via AMC


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Get Your Home Earthquake ReadyHome Tool Kit
"Did you feel that?"
If you live in an earthquake-prone area, it's probably a question you've heard before…and one that might give you a panic attack. There are ways, though, to prepare for the next temblor, better protect you and your family, and calm your nerves a bit.
Creating an earthquake action plan in case disaster strikes is your first line of defense. It's also crucial to strengthen your home ahead of time, so it's less vulnerable when a quake hits.
Also known as "seismic retrofitting," reinforcing your home's structure ensures that the foundation, floor, and walls are fastened together and bolted down, from below the ground up, better protecting it from earthquakes. Work with a licensed contractor or an engineer to reinforce your home's structure, rather than trying to do it yourself.
Here are three common types of retrofits you can ask your contractor about:
1. Repairing and Bolting the foundation
Ask yourself: If an earthquake struck today, is my home's foundation solid enough to withstand a heavy beating? Keep in mind older homes are especially in danger of frail or cracked foundations.
Seismic retrofitting starts with repairing a weak foundation so it's more stable, secure, and resistant to damage from earthquakes.
It's also important to ask your contractor if your home is properly bolted to its foundation. Foundation bolting attaches your home's wood frame to the foundation with anchor bolts and metal plates.
2. Bracing the cripple walls
Another smart upgrade involves adding plywood sheathing to shore up the cripple wall or the short wood wall, which extends from the foundation to beneath the floor of the house. If the cripple wall is not stiff enough, it can literally cripple your main floor, which can buckle under the pressure of an earthquake.
3. Bracing unreinforced chimneys and walls
Some older homes have walls or chimneys made of brick or other masonry, which aren't braced securely. During an earthquake, they can crumble or crash into your home. A licensed contractor or engineer can inspect your chimney and recommend any repairs.
An earthquake can hit your home with force enough to simply rattle your glass wear, or strike with devastating results, completely destroying your home. Without proper preparation or earthquake insurance (if available in your area), a powerful quake can leave you with a massive repair bill or even worse, without a roof over your head. Contractor and retrofitting costs can add up, but if you live in an earthquake zone, it pays to be prepared, as your home is more likely to ride out an earthquake with less damage.
You can also take some smart precautions around the house to make it more earthquake-resistant. Lock down or anchor anything that's likely to fall and crash when a quake hits, such as bookcases, drawers, appliances, electronics, and valuables. And remember, most homeowner's policies do not cover earthquake damage. Speak to a Farmers agent for more information on earthquake insurance.


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As the U.S indexes mounted one of their strongest Octobers ever, the S&P 500's 11.5% return paled in comparison to the 21% surge in the iShares MSCI Brazil Index. Impressive to be sure, but that's only part of the picture.
If you go back through all of 2011, the S&P 500 SPX, +0.28% is slightly in positive territory through the first 10 months while the iShares MSCI Brazil Index EWZ, +0.29% was down almost 19%.
It's been a tough year for Brazilian stocks thanks to concerns about the global economy. Brazil is rich in natural resources, so commodity exports are a big driver of growth there. Fears over slower growth around the world — and some think a recession looming — have hit commodity and natural resource-related stocks especially hard.
By many measures, Latin American stocks haven't been this cheap since the U.S. financial crisis three years ago. And while red-hot growth in emerging markets may have cooled for the time being, it isn't going away. The good news is that the dip this year minimizes further downside risk, and many of these stocks are poised for a nice move when there are signs the global economy is strengthening.
Here are three beaten-down Brazil buys that could be viewed as value plays, growth plays — or both. Heck, they could even be considered income plays, because all three have very nice dividend yields.
Read about the top stocks for November on InvestorPlace.com
1. Vale VALE, -0.32% is the second-largest mining company in the world and the largest producer of iron ore. Iron ore is the most produced and consumer mineral in the world, and prices have held up much better than other commodities like copper and nickel in recent weakness. This relative strength should continue going forward when you factor in supply and demand, especially in emerging markets.
In the third quarter, Vale's profits fell 18% from 2010, but most of that was because of weakness in Brazilian currency. Revenues actually increased 16%, and the company produced a record amount of iron ore in the quarter. Iron ore sales volumes did fall slightly, but prices were 18% higher than the third quarter of 2010 and near record levels.
The stock is down 25% in 2011, and management said in its third-quarter earnings statement that a deep global recession is already priced into our shares. I would largely agree with that. I like VALE as a long-term play on emerging-markets growth, which we know will continue to be strong. A temporary slowdown or even recession would delay an upside move, but it wouldn't derail it. Plus, you collect a nice 7% dividend yield.
2. Itau Unibanco ITUB, +0.40% is the largest private-sector bank in Brazil. (Banco do Brasil has the most assets, but it is controlled by the government.) As with many other financials this year, the stock has struggled, losing 20%.
For the rest of this year and into 2012, a weak global economy could keep a lid on growth as interest rates are lower than they used to be and fewer loans are being made. Longer term, however, banks in Brazil will benefit from the acceleration of growth and additional wealth created in a rising middle class.
ITUB is strengthening itself in a weak environment by cutting costs and increasing efficiency, which increases the upside potential as the economy strengthens. The stock is a value at just 8.1X expected 2012 earnings and kicks out a 3.4% yield.
3. Embraer ERJ, -0.03% : Not surprisingly, orders for jet airplanes have not exactly been robust in the slow economy. And while a surge in orders isn't imminent, the longer the drought continues the more pent-up the demand for when the orders do start to flow again.
Brazil's Embraer is an exciting growth story in both regional jets used by airlines as well as private business jets. The regional jet is a growing area of commercial aviation because these smaller, fast and sleek single-aisle planes are used for shorter distances and often are waiting in hubs to be the first or last leg of a journey for anyone traveling to and from places such as Daytona, Santa Fe, Cedar Rapids, White Sulphur Springs and Vail. The reason: It is more economical to run these smaller planes than fly large aircraft at low passenger capacity. This technique is being used in Asia and Latin America, too. Airports are springing up and regional jets are a great way to service them.
In business jets, the company is ready to unveil new business jets (the Legacy 450 and 500), which are expected to be very successful. China is also an important market for Embraer in the executive jet area. It can't sell regional jets there for competitive reasons, but air travel is growing fast in China, and Embraer has made that country enough of a priority that it now does final assembly of planes in China.
Through the first three quarters of 2011, Embraer delivered 122 planes. What's interesting, however, is that the company is sticking by its target of 220 planes for the year. That will mean a busy fourth quarter of 100 deliveries if it is to meet that goal. Part of the reason for the year-end frenzy is the June earthquake in Japan slowed down production of some motors, pushing delivery back. I think 2012 should see at least that many planes delivered and possibly more if the global economy gains traction.
ERJ is down about 3.5% for the year, which is better than many of its Brazilian counterparts, and it yields a nice 5.6%. It's still pretty cheap at 11X next year's earnings, and I expect the stock to move in anticipation of a stronger economy.
As of this writing, Hilary Kramer does not own a position in any of the aforementioned stocks.