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The knowledge of neuroscience has doubled in the last twenty years. It will probably double again in the next twenty years. I think that neuropsychology is, broadly, about where biology was a hundred years after the invention of the microscope: around 1725.
In contrast, Buddhism is a twenty-five-hundred-year-old tradition. You don't need an EEG or MRI to sit and observe your own mind, to open your heart and practice with sincerity. I don't think of neuropsychology as a replacement for traditional methods, but simply as a very useful way to understand why traditional methods work. This is helpful in our culture, since arguably the secular religion of the West is science. If you understand why something works in your own mind, that promotes conviction (saddhā, trust in the Buddha's teachings). Understanding a little neuropsychology also helps you to emphasize or individualize those particular aspects of traditional practices that best suit your own brain; natural differences in the brain are a fundamental kind of diversity, and if teachers and meditation centers want to respond to the needs of their existing members and to reach out to new ones, they will have to take into account normal variations in the brain.
Breakthroughs in brain science create opportunities to develop new or refined methods of practice. As Buddhism spread through Tibet, China, and Japan, it learned from the cultures in those lands and developed new methods. Similarly, as Buddhism has come to the West and encountered what is arguably its dominant cultural force—science—it is beginning to draw on science for ways it, too, might be of use on the path of awakening. Not in any way to change the aims of practice—as the Buddha said, I teach one thing: suffering and its end— but to increase the skillful means to that end.
Immaterial experience leaves material, enduring traces behind. In the saying from the work of the psychologist, Donald Hebb: "Neurons that fire together, wire together." This is a neurologically informed way to appreciate why your experience really matters, and how important it is to have a kind of mental hygiene, to really appreciate what we allow in our minds.
Perhaps your mind is running themes of threat, grievance, and loss. Or alternately, perhaps it is running heartfeltness, generosity, kindness to self and others, awakening. Whichever movie we're running, those neurons are firing and wiring together. So learning how to use your mind to shape the wiring of your brain is a profound way to support yourself on the path of awakening.
The mind & brain co-arise co-dependently
There's been a lot of research and clarification over the last several decades about how the brain makes the mind, and how the mind makes the brain, in a codependent, circular kind of way.
Let's begin with some clarifications:
• By "mind" I mean the flow of information through the nervous system, most of which is forever unconscious. We privilege what's in the field of awareness because that's what we're conscious of. But cultivating beneficial factors down in the basement of the brain, outside of conscious awareness, is actually more influential in the long run.
• Further, the brain is embedded in larger systems, including the nervous system as a whole, other bodily systems, and then biology, culture, and evolution. It is shaped by those systems, and also shaped by the mind itself. For simplicity I'll just refer to the brain, but really we are talking about a vast network of interdependent causes. Much as the Buddha taught.
• There may well be transcendental factors required for the mind to exist, to operate: call those factors God, Buddhanature, the Ground, or by no name at all. Since by definition, we cannot prove the existence or non-existence of such transcendental factors either way, it is consistent with the tenets of science to acknowledge transcendental factors as a possibility. That said, and with a deep bow in their direction, we will stay within the frame of Western science.
• Within that framework, the brain is the necessary and proximally sufficient condition for the mind. (It's only proximally sufficient because the brain is nested in a great network of causes, without which the brain could not exist.) This view, generally shared within Western science, is that every mental state is correlated with a necessary and proximally sufficient brain state.
This integration of mind and brain has three important implications. First, as your brain changes, your mind changes. Second, as your mind changes, your brain changes. Many of those changes are fleeting, as your brain changes moment to moment to support the movement of information. But many are lasting, as neurons wire together: structure builds in the brain. Mental activity is like a spring shower, leaving little traces of neural structure behind. Over time, the little tracks in the hillside draw in more water down, deepening their course. A kind of circular self-organizing dynamic gradually develops, and then the mind tends to move more and more down that channel, and soon enough you've got a gully.
For example, if you are using neural circuits a lot, they actually become more sensitive to stimulation, for better or worse. Over time if a region is increasingly active, it gets more blood flow, more glucose, more oxygen and so forth. Existing synapses get stronger and new synapses form. Cortical layers actually get thicker as neural structures build; for example, the thickening in the part of the brain called the insula—which senses the internal state of your body—that is due to meditation, is on the order of a two-hundredth of an inch, which may not sound like much, but that's lots and lots of new synapses.
Remarkably, synapses began forming in your brain before you were born, and your brain will keep changing up to the point of your last breath. Since neural activity continues in an increasingly disorganized way for a few minutes after the last breath, synapses may still be forming as the lights in the great mansion of the mind slowly go out.
The third implication is the practical one, and that's where we'll focus: you can use your mind to change your brain to benefit your whole being— and every other being whose life you touch.
Your complex, dynamic, interdependent brain
Your brain has about a hundred billion neurons in it (see the 'Amazing Brain Facts" insert for more basic facts about your brain). In principle, the number of possible states of the brain is the number of possible combinations of a hundred billion neurons either firing or not ("on or off"). That number is really big: ten to the millionth power, which is one followed by a million zeros. To put this in perspective, the number of particles in the known universe is about ten to the eightieth power—one followed by eighty zeros versus a million zeros. The brain—your brain, right now—is the most complex object known to science. It's more complex than an exploding star, or climate change.
The brain functions through a mixture of specialization and lots and lots of teamwork. Parts of the brain do specialized things, like the speech centers in the left temporal and frontal lobes. On the other hand, if you map the communications pathways among the regions and specialized tissues of the brain, you see that it's highly interconnected. It's a little bit like tracking roadways from space or information on the Internet: a very dense network. So when people talk about specialization and function in just one place, like "The amygdala is the fear part of the brain," or "The left hemisphere is bad and the right hemisphere is good," it's an inaccurate simplification.
Understanding the chaotic and sometimes wacky flux of neaural activity can allow you to take it less seriously
Within the networks of the brain, there are lots of circular loops. To simplify, there is the "A" neuron connected to the "B" neuron, connected to the "C" neuron, connected to the "D" neuron, and then back to the "A" neuron. These possibilities of recursion, as a computer programmer would call it, give you the capacity—among other things—to become aware of awareness.
Neurons also share each other. To simplify again, let's say you activate the "C" neuron in our A-B-C-D-A loop, and the "C" neuron is shared with another loop. So there you are, irritated because the faucet's dripping in the middle of the night, and suddenly you think about the smell of your grandmother's cookies. Why? For some reason, there was shared circuitry in the coalitions of synapses that momentarily formed. The discursive stream of consciousness is so complex that as a system it exhibits some chaotic qualities. Understanding the chaotic and some – times frankly wacky flux of all that neural activity can allow you to take it less seriously.
Amazing brain facts
Your brain weighs about three pounds, with the consistency of soft tofu. It is made of about 1.1 trillion cells. About a hundred billion of these cells are neurons; the others are the support structure of the brain, the white matter, the glial cells, predominantly, that help build myelination around the long axonal fibers of the neurons, which accelerate neurotransmission.
Each of those neurons on average has about five thousand connections with other neurons. That creates about five hundred trillion connections, called synapses. These are tiny little junctions between neuron "A" and neuron "B" where they communicate. In most neurons, each time a neuron fires, neurochemicals move across the synapse (a small fraction of your neurons make direct, electrical connections).
Each neuron is always either firing, or not. Each firing is a signal, like "green light/red light;" it tells the downstream neuron to fire or not. So each neuronal firing is like a bit of information in a computer, a zero or a one. Most of the neurons in your brain are firing five to fifty times a second. They are very, very busy.
As a result, this little organ, two percent of body weight, uses twenty to twenty-five percent of the body's metabolic supplies. Even in the deepest sleep, even in a coma, the brain is busy. It's like a refrigerator; it's always on. The brain keeps going so that if you're suddenly attacked in the wild or you've got to deal with something in your cave, kaboom, you're ready to go.
We can recognize maybe four thoughts per second, if we're pretty aware. If we get really quiet, we might be able to see eight to ten, at the most. Working memory circuits, which are a key neural substrate of conscious awareness, seem to update about six times a second. So that's roughly how tight the granularity is of discrete thoughts. That is really slow, as far as the brain's concerned. So what we think of as thought—this slow, congealed, turgid stuff—is just the tip of the iceberg of mental activity.[/alert_yellow]
Neurons often fire in harmony with each other, five to fifty times a second —maybe even eighty or a hundred times in some parts of the brain. They're synchronizing with each other, and that's what produces the rhythmic waves of electrical activity—"brainwaves"—that are picked up with EEGs. Types of brainwaves are grouped together based on how fast they are; for example, brainwaves that happen 30—80 times a second are called gamma waves. In one study, when experienced Tibetan practitioners meditated, there was a spreading and strengthening pattern of gamma wave activity in the brain: billions of neurons firing in harmony with each other, 30-80 times a second. Synchronizing microscopic neurons spread across broad regions of your brain is like everybody between Barre and Boston clapping in unison let's say thirty times a second. Wow! And these effects of synchronization and integration are seen outside of formal meditation: in the same study, those Tibetan monks—who have done 30,000 to 50,000 hours of meditation in their lifetimes—have resting state gamma activity that's greater than people who don't have so much practice. This suggests that, as we practice more and more, there's more integration and coherence in the brain—which corresponds to a growing stability and spaciousness, equanimity in other words, in the mind.
Brain and body benefits of meditation
The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is a brain region that is ground zero for a lot of very important functions. For one, it's the part of the brain that manages what's called "effortful attention," which is basically paying attention in a deliberate way. That sounds like meditation. The ACC is the part of the brain we use for mindfulness in all four postures, not just seated, but walking, lying, and standing. It's also the main source of the focused attention we use for talking, and doing other activities that call for deliberate focus. Your cingulate cortex tends to get thicker to the degree you meditate.
For many people, it's easy to feel when they feel, or think when they think, but to bring mental clarity into being upset, or to warm up cold cognition with heartfelt emotion, is hard. The capacity to do that is centered in the anterior cingulate cortex. So, for example, doing things like compassion meditation, particularly mingling thoughts and feelings of compassion together, stimulates the ACC and therefore strengthens it; you're firing those neurons and therefore you're wiring those neurons.
Another region that gets thicker with meditation is called the insula. If you strengthen a part of the brain through meditation, you get to reap those rewards for other uses. For example, the insula is crucial for one the three main aspects of empathy: visceral resonance with the feelings of another person (the other two aspects are simulating inside yourself the actions ["mirror systems"] and the thoughts/wishes/psychodynamics ["theory of mind"] of others). To the extent that we're in touch with own inner being, including our gut feelings—and this degree of in-touchness correlates with the activity of the insula—we become more able to be empathic with others.
As we practice more and more, there's more integration and coherence in the brain, growing stability and spaciousness—equanimity, in other words.
True compassion, true loving kindness, requires empathy. I've known people who are sort of generically compassionate, and generically kind, but aren't actually moved by the inner state of the other person. That's not the real deal. So it's foundational to strengthen your empathy. I can tell you from twenty-seven years of marriage, empathy's a good thing! (And there are of course lots of important places for empathy outside of marriage.) Also, if you understand how to be empathic yourself, you understand better how to ask for it from others.
Meditation is probably the most researched mental activity in terms of neural impact. We know, for example, that meditators have less cortical thinning with aging. As I see more gray hairs on my head every year I appreciate the fact that one of the great ways to promote mental faculties well into old age is through contemplative practice. One exploratory study has shown a correlation of about a fifteen per cent reduction in Alzheimer's symptoms if a person has a religious background (there was only one Buddhist in the sample, and any kind of religious activity counted, but the study is still suggestive). That reduction of fifteen percent is about as much as the best current medication can do for Alzheimer's.
In another example, Richard Davidson did a very interesting study with people in a high tech company. He had some of them do daily meditation. After just six weeks, the people who meditated had stronger immune systems. They fought off a flu virus more effectively than people who hadn't meditated.
So meditation benefits us through multiple pathways. Parasympathetic activation ("rest- and-digest")—relaxation, in other words—is very supportive of immune system functioning, whereas sympathetic activation ("fight-or-flight") suppresses immune function. Chronic stress exposes us to illness to a marked degree. Sleepy meditating is better than no meditation in terms of parasympathetic activation, or dampening sympathetic arousal (wakeful meditation is usually best of all). We can get attached to and even righteous about one specific method, whereas actually meditation has a lot of important general effects not specific to any particular method.
Equanimity can break the chain right between feeling tone and craving, like a jumbo scissors.
Another major Richard Davidson finding is that people become increasingly happy as they meditate—positive emotions become more prevalent, broadly defined. There's a greater asymmetry of activation, left front to right frontal. To illustrate this with stroke patients, people with a stroke in the right frontal region tend to become kind of mellow. Maybe they can't walk well, but they're often relatively serene about it. But if they have a stroke in the left frontal region, they're a lot more likely to be grouchy and grumpy.
Why is that? Because the left frontal region is involved in dampening, inhibiting negative emotional activity, whereas the right frontal region tends to promote negative emotional activity. In the wild, there's a lot of survival value to negative emotional activity; right hemisphere activation—which tracks the spatial environment from which most threats originate in the wild—primes you for dealing with threats: in other words, primes you for aversion, for what are called avoidance behaviors, namely fight, flight, freeze, appease. Maybe sometimes those behaviors are useful; in our evolutionary history, they certainly promoted survival and passing on genes. But today, in different settings and with different aims (like spiritual practice), it's great to have relatively strong left frontal activation.
Dependent Origination, brain, & equanimity
The feeling tone is a good example of where the Dharma maps well to neuropsychology. In the Dharma, there's this notion of the chain of Dependent Origination. One part of that chain that contains great opportunities to reduce or eliminate suffering is the sequence of contact > feeling tone > craving > clinging > suffering.
Contact is the meeting of three things: an object, the sense organ that apprehends that particular kind of object, and the consciousness that goes with that particular sense organ. Following contact, the brain produces a feeling tone that is pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral to help you know what to do: approach the pleasant, avoid the unpleasant, and move on from the neutral. This mechanism is a very effective way to promote survival in the wild and the passing on of genes. Feeling tones are important in evolution and they are a central theme in the Dharma: for example, they are one of the Five Aggregates, and also one of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness.
Say the phone rings. Depending on whether you're waiting for a call from a dear friend, or doing something really important and don't want interruptions, you'll get a different feeling tone: pleasant, unpleasant or neutral. In the brain, the amygdala and hippocampus register pleasant/unpleasant and then broadcast a signal widely.
In Dependent Origination, what follows feeling tone is craving. We crave the pleasant, and the ending of the unpleasant. Either way, it's a kind of craving. After craving comes clinging, a sort of a more congealed, substantiated, enacted, "you're in it" form of craving. And then, what follows clinging? Suffering.
Equanimity can break the chain right between feeling tone and craving, like a big, jumbo scissors. You let the feeling tone be. It gets into the "mud room" of your mind—that outer room where the muddy boots and wet jackets get left— but it doesn't enter the central "living room" of your mind. Equanimity increasingly allows us to just be present with the pleasant, the unpleasant and the neutral, alike, without getting reactivated around them.
Equanimity is a very deep matter in Buddhism. It is one of the Seven Factors Of Awakening, and one of the hallmark characteristics of the jhānas (states of concentration). Notice, for example, the difference between calm and equanimity. Calm is when you don't have reactions. You're chilled out. But with equanimity, you're not reacting to your reactions; they stay in the mud room. It's as if the reactions are surrounded with a lot of spaciousness. You prefer the pleasant to continue and the unpleasant to end—that's OK. But you don't even react to not getting that preference. You just surround it with space, and that's where freedom is. I think that's how people like the Dalai Lama can be sorrowful about what's happening in Tibet, and yet simultaneously have enormous equanimity around it.
Calm is based on conditions, and thus not that reliable. But equanimity is based on insight, wisdom, and is thus much more dependable. For example, disenchantment is a key factor of equanimity. We start to realize, "Won't get fooled again." Ice cream tastes like ice cream, orgasms are orgasms, being angry is being angry. Winning an argument, being right and showing them the error of their ways is just that. After a while you go, "so what?" Wisdom allows you to let go of the lesser pleasure, chasing the pleasant or resisting the unpleasant, for the greater pleasure of equanimity.
What happens in the brain when people become equanimous? In a sense, equanimity is unnatural, since we evolved to get really good a reacting to the feeling tone. Our ancestors that were all blissed out, and not driven to find food and mates, and not driven to avoid predators and other hazards… CHOMP, did not pass on their genes. The ancestors who lived were extremely easy to activate into states of "greed" and "hatred;"realizing this helps bring self- compassion to a path of practice that involves, in part, moving upstream against evolutionary currents. And it is important to remember that when we are not activated, our natural resting state is characterized by the Five C"s: Conscious, Calm, Contented, Caring, and Creative. It's just that we are very vulnerable to signals of opportunity and threat—and especially to signals of threat, since in evolution it is more important to dodge sticks than to get carrots: if you miss out on a carrot today you'll probably get another chance at them tomorrow, but if you fail to duck the stick today—POW—you won't have any chance for carrots tomorrow. I think this is the evolutionary reason for the Buddha's emphasis on dealing with aversion, since aversion to threats is so central to human existence.
In your brain, equanimity entails insights and intentions centered in the prefrontal cortex as well as prefrontal buffering of the feeling tone signals pulsed by the amygdala. It also entails the stable spaciousness of mind characterized by increased gamma wave activity of the brain. These neural developments are the fruits of sustained practice.
Seeing the origins of mental activity
One of the possibilities of meditation, or practice broadly, is to get us closer to the bare processing of "this moment, this moment, this moment." The brain takes the noisy, fertile chaos of billions of neurons networked together in intricate and transient circuits, and then it forms assemblies which may last a few tenths of a second, or a few seconds at most. When you observe your mind you can see the outer signs of this neural activity by watching your thoughts merge into solidity and then crumble and disperse.
Just before a new neural assembly forms, there's a space of fertile emptiness, where structure hasn't yet congealed. Once a representation becomes fully established—an image, an emotion, a view, a thought—it is no longer free. You can have freedom around it, but whatever it is, that representation is set until it disperses.
So abiding increasingly in that fertile, generative space, in which neural assemblies take form, is a central process along the path of awakening. I think the people who are really far along in the practice are increasingly abiding in that territory. Thought is occurring, but they're living more in that space of fertile freedom.
Self is like a unicorn
Components and functions of the apparent self— "Me! My Precious! I want! How'm I doin"? —are widely distributed in the brain. Take just three kinds of self-related activities. One is recognizing yourself, distinct from other people, or noticing an "x" on your forehead someone put there without you realizing it. Only a few animals can do that, including humans, other "great apes" such as monkeys and gorillas, whales and dolphins, and elephants. Another aspect is personal history, your memories. The third aspect is making decisions; I want chocolate, not vanilla, for example. Studies have shown that those self-related activities are spread out throughout your brain. There's no homunculus looking out from your eyes. Self in the brain is just like the Buddha says in the Dharma: compounded (made of many parts), variable and transient, and interdependently arising. It has no inherent, underlying self-arising on its own; therefore it's empty of absolute existence.
Much of the time there's not much selfing present; there is presence and mental activity without much activation of "I" or "mine" shift your body in your seat because it's gotten tight somewhere: probably there's not a lot of self present. But suddenly someone says something to you, or you notice, hum, their chair is crowding into mine: Hey, don't you respect my space?! Then the self really activates. There is a process of varying self-related activities; self is not a noun but a verb: there is selfing. Selfing developed in evolution to help us survive, and so it shows up particularly under three conditions: pursuing opportunities (often associated with "greed"), avoiding threats (often associated with "hatred"), and interactions with others (since we evolved to be the most social animal of all).
Aspects of self arise as impermanent but existent patterns of mental and therefore neural activity. These patterns exist in the sense that the patterns which correspond to a thought of a butterfly or the knowledge that 2+2=4 exist. Patterns exist, but they're impermanent and dependently arisen: they're empty. Mental/neural patterns related to self are just more patterns in the mind and brain, not categorically different from other mental/neural patterns. The problem is that we privilege those particular patterns above all others. They are the ones we most identify with, and the trickiest ones to disidentify with as we proceed along the path of practice. The mental/neural activity of selfing is designed by evolution to continually claim ownership of experiences, claim agency of actions, and claim identification with both internal states and external objects (like political groups or sports teams we like): it's very powerful! Watch your mind: a strong reaction will arise, let's say, and for the first second or two there is not much self entwined with it, but quickly self jumps on the bandwagon and then claims the reaction as its own. Self does give rise to desire, but much of the time, it is desire that gives rise to self.
But actually, much of the time self is truly superfluous to functioning well in the world, and feeling good inside. Without much if any selfing present, there can be executive functions at work, such as organizing and planning or the will. There can be wholesome desire, chanda, present—which is distinct from tanhā, thirst or craving, which the Buddha said caused suffering. Walk across the room: does there need to be self present? Lift the cup to your lips: is self needed?
The patterns of selfing in the mind and brain are real; they exist in the way that memory or an emotion exists. Their existence is transient and empty, to be sure, and thus not worth clinging to. But even more to the point: does what they point to, what they represent, actually exist? In other words, is there actually a coherent, unified, stable, enduring being somewhere, somehow, in the brain? Actually, no such being exists. Whatever of self there is in the brain, it is compounded and distributed, not coherent and unified; it is variable and transient, not stable and enduring. In other words, the conventional notion of self is a mythical creature. Representations of a horse in the mind/brain are real representations of a real thing. But representations of the self in the brain are like representations of a unicorn: real representations of an unreal thing.
In sum, when you appreciate that the representations of self in the brain are empty, that what they represent does not exist, you start taking your own "self" much less seriously.
The reality is that the more we study how the mind and brain intertwine, the more we find how well it maps with Dharma. The Buddha clearly understood this cycle of using the mind to change the brain, which then changes the future mind. If this is done well, it reduces suffering. He showed us ways to examine our experience, see how this works, and use that intuitive, direct understanding to free ourselves from suffering—completely free ourselves, in this very life, potentially. Just about everything we have found in neuropsychology supports the idea that he was right. This should give us a lot more conviction in our practice, along with a continuing source of practical tools to make it a reality.


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I didn't use the original World War II recipe (potato peels + 1 T. milk to form a crust; 1 potato + 1 beet boiled in salt water and mashed for filling). I found a few ideas online and then made my own version. They were really tasty!
3 c. fleshy potato peels, grated
1 small onion, chopped
1 T. egg replacer + 1/4 c. water
2 T. baby food prunes
1/4 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 t. salt
- Cut peels off of 8 small to medium potatoes. (I basically squared off the long sides of the potatoes and peeled the short sides, so you have some potato flesh with the peels.)
- Grate peels using a food processor.
- Chop onion and combine with potato peels.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together egg replacer and water until frothy.
- Whisk in prunes, flour, and salt.
- Add potato peels and onions and mix until well combined.
- Press a heaping tablespoon of peel mixture into each of 24 cupcake holders (lightly oiled).
- Bake at 400 for 15 minutes.
I basically used my twice baked potato recipe for the filling and then sprinkled tiny diced (boiled) beets on top.
flesh of 8 small to medium potatoes, steamed
1 1/2 c. butternut squash, steamed
1/2 c. roasted garlic sauce
3/4 c. non-dairy milk
1/3 c. nutritional yeast
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
1/4 t. paprika
1 beet, boiled and diced small
1/2 c. roasted garlic sauce
3/4 c. non-dairy milk
1/3 c. nutritional yeast
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
1/4 t. paprika
1 beet, boiled and diced small
- While crust is cooking, chop and steam potatoes and squash, then mash with potato masher.
- Add remaining ingredients and mix until well combined.
- When crust is ready, spoon potato mixture on top and sprinkle with beets.
- Bake at 400 for 15 minutes.

subset: commoncrawl


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LL Cool J vs. Sarah Palin: Rapper Takes on Fox News
Rapper takes on Fox News' use of an old interview in Sarah Palin's new show.
April 1, 2010— -- Rapper-actor LL Cool J and politician Sarah Palin may not have a lot in common, but they seem to agree on one thing -- mothers are tough.
LL Cool J's hit 1991 song "Mama Said Knock You Out" jibes with Palin's own view of mothers.
"What's the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? Lipstick," the former Alaska governor famously declared in her GOP convention speech in 2008.
But that's about where their similarities end. LL Cool J -- known to his mother as James Todd Smith III -- knocks Palin and Fox News for including an old interview of his in an advertisement promoting Palin's new show.
"Fox lifted an old interview I gave in 2008 to someone else & are misrepresenting to the public in order to promote Sarah Palins Show. WOW," LL Cool J tweeted Tuesday.
That's not cool with the rap star, who said he never did an interview with Palin for her new show, "Real American Stories." LL Cool J's spokesperson said Fox News neither sought his permission nor contacted anyone on his team in advance to alert them they're using footage from an old 2008 interview.
"Contrary to what was reported, LL Cool J was never scheduled to be a guest on 'Real American Stories' with Sarah Palin this week," his spokesperson said in a statement. "The show had planned to use an interview from 2008 that had been repurposed without LL's permission. This statement is not a reflection of any feelings LL has toward Fox News or Ms. Palin, whom he has never met, rather a clarification of what we have seen published in the media."
Fox was quick to hit back, saying it owns the footage, so it didn't need his permission to use the interview in Palin's program.
Still, the network did say it would remove the segment but not before it sent out a stinging statement: "It appears that [he] does not want to be associated with a program that could serve as an inspiration to others. We are cutting his interview from the special and wish him the best with his fledgling acting career."
Whether LL Cool J's career is fledgling depends on who one talks to. The Grammy Award-winner currently stars in the hit show "NCIS Los Angeles."


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State Management in ASP.NET
- Types of State
- Application State
- Session State
- Cookie State
- View State
- Summary
Before we begin discussing state management in ASP.NET, let's get one thing straight: Attempting to manage state in Web applications goes against the fundamental design principles of the Web. One of the primary goals of the Web and its underlying protocol, HTTP, is to provide a scalable medium for sharing information. Adding user state inherently reduces scalability because the pages shown to a particular user will be different from those shown to another user and thus cannot be reused or cached.
In spite of this fact, many applications deployed on the Web require user-specific state to function properly. Applications ranging from e-commerce shopping sites to local company intranet sites depend on the ability to track individual requests from distinct users and store state on behalf of each client, whether it's items in a shopping cart or which days were selected on a calendar as requested vacation days. Although maintaining client-specific state is not officially part of the HTTP protocol, there is a proposal in place for adding state management to HTTP. RFC 210914 defines a proposed standard for state management for HTTP also known as cookies. Although it is only a proposed standard and not yet an official part of the HTTP specification, cookies are in widespread use today in almost all browsers, and many Web sites rely on cookies for their functionality.
As a consequence, Web programmers must be very conscious about state management. Unlike traditional applications, Web applications must be very explicit about any state that is maintained on behalf of a client, and there is no one standard way to maintain that state.
10.1 Types of State
One of the most important decisions you face when designing a Web application is where to store your state. ASP.NET provides four types of state: application state, session state, cookie state, and view state. In this chapter, we explore each type of state, when it is most applicable, and any disadvantages you should be aware of if you decide to make use of it.
ASP.NET, like its predecessor, ASP, provides a pair of objects for managing application-level state and session-level state. Application state is where information that is global to the application may be stored. For efficiency, this state is typically stored once and then read from many times. Session state is maintained on a per-client basis. When a client first accesses any page in an application, an ASP.NET generated session ID is created. That session ID is then transmitted between the server and the client via HTTP either using client-side cookies or encoded in a mangled version of the URL (URL mangling is discussed in detail later in this chapter). On subsequent accesses by the same client, state associated with that session ID may be viewed and modified. Cookies provide the ability to store small amounts of data on a client's machine. Once a cookie is set, all subsequent pages accessed by the same client will transmit the cookie and its value.
Finally, view state is a yet another way of storing state on behalf of a client by saving and restoring values from a hidden field when a form is posted. Although this technique for retaining state has been used by Web developers in the past, ASP.NET provides a simplified mechanism for taking advantage of it. As we have seen in Chapter 8, it is possible to place items into the ViewState property bag available in every Page-derived class. When that page issues a POST request to itself, the values placed in the ViewState property bag can then be retrieved, the key restriction being that view state works only when a page posts to itself. Table 10-1 summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of each of the four types of state available in ASP.NET.
Table 10-1: State Type Comparison in ASP.NET
Type of State |
Scope of State |
Advantages |
Disadvantages |
Application |
Global to the application |
Session |
Per client |
Cookie |
Per client |
View |
Across POST request to the same page |


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Well, they're back. But they don't have the kind of cojones you remember. That sweet streak has grown, like a cancer, and gradually killed off any of the edge their humor may have once had. The early symptoms were there in Shallow Hal, a film that briefly made fun of the overweight and the ugly before turning the tables and making you feel bad for laughing. Now, with Stuck on You, they've made a paean to brotherhood that's almost all sentiment, a PG-13 film whose edgiest jokes have been given away in the trailer.
Here's a perfect example: Stuck on You features a significant retarded character, played by a similarly challenged actor named Ray "Rocket" Valliere. Not only are there no jokes made at this character's expense (by contrast, think of the way the retarded brother in Mary was portrayed, or the albino in Me, Myself & Irene), but the end credits feature a clip of Valliere tearfully thanking the Farrellys and his costars for the opportunity. It's a good thing for cinematic diversity that the Farrellys are willing to hire nontraditional actors, and yet this footage of what should be a private moment feels like self-congratulation, like they want to prove to us that they've grown past mocking the less fortunate. Good for them as human beings, but it ain't exactly funny, and we're paying to see a comedy.
Still, reducing the success of the Farrellys to a bunch of retard jokes isn't exactly fair. Part of what made both Dumb and Dumber and There's Something About Mary work was the way they would take a traditional premise, like the buddy movie or the romantic comedy, and introduce weird narrative detours one wouldn't normally expect. Here, the narrative is as conventional as can be. It's the old Hollywood fantasy. Lovable small-town guy moves to L.A. to make it big, gets set up to fail, accidentally becomes a huge star, then learns that fame isn't all it's cracked up to be, meets the girl and realizes What's Really Important.
The sole twist in Stuck on You is that our protagonist is two people sharing one body, conjoined twins Bo (Matt Damon) and Walt (Greg Kinnear). The age difference is explained by the notion that Bo got most of the twins' shared liver, and therefore Walt ages faster, but that's about as believable as the many scenes depicting Walt lighting up cigarettes in Los Angeles bars. An early notion of having Woody Allen play Walt would have pushed the premise into true absurdity, but it isn't clear the Farrellys have that in them anymore. Likewise, they could have had Ben Affleck joined to Damon at the hip, but that might have played too much like a documentary.
Stuck on You is agreeably affable, but not much more. It's laugh-out-loud funny maybe once, possibly more than that if you haven't seen the trailer. The Farrellys can't seem to bring themselves to be nasty to anyone anymore -- even Cher, playing herself as the film's ostensible villain, is revealed to have considerably more to her than a heart of stone. Eva Mendes's caricature of a brainless up-and-coming starlet is initially hilarious -- and the actress's best role this year -- but of course she turns out to be kind-hearted through and through as well. The lack of meanness may have been what persuaded so many other celebs to cameo -- in addition to Cher, we get Jesse Ventura, Frankie Muniz, Luke Wilson, Griffin Dunne, Jay Leno and Meryl Streep as themselves -- but it all seems rather pointless (Dunne is the only one willing to gleefully torpedo his own image). Additionally, it must be pointed out that, judging by the evidence of this footage, "Meryl Streep" is the one role Meryl Streep cannot convincingly pull off.
You want plot details? Sure, why not. The twins begin the film as fry cooks at a burger joint in Martha's Vineyard, rolling out the burgers and fries in double time. Walt, however, feels driven to be an actor: His one-man show ("one-man" being somewhat relative when dragging around a conjoined brother with stage fright) about Truman Capote, titled Tru, is a local hit, and he wants to try to go Hollywood before he's too old. Bo, who likes the simple life, agrees only because he doesn't want to hold his brother back, though it turns out he's also been corresponding online with an Angeleno girl named May (relative newcomer Wen Yann Shih), whom he loves but hasn't told about his condition.
Walt gets his big Hollywood break when Cher, contractually forced to do a silly legal TV drama called Honey and the Beaze, spots the brothers, and, utilizing a clause that allows her to pick any costar she wants, chooses Walt on the assumption that his presence will cause the show to fail. Not surprisingly, she's wrong about that, and the show becomes a huge hit. If you've seen The Producers, you've seen this sort of thing done way better.
I mean, really: What can one say about a comedy that has to resort to the ancient gag of having a crying person borrow a silk handkerchief only to blow his nose into it loudly? Or ends in a musical number that's neither funny nor relevant? One can say that the film's creators have lost it, and one would probably be correct.


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"Jubel" - mix of French Duo Klingande is a song, that in 2013 has achieved international success and was highly ranked on the world charts. In our study can be found two versions of the musical scores and sheet music and guitar tablature for individual instruments. For saxophonists we have sheet music in the transposition on alto and tenor saxophone.
Download sheet music for "Jubel" (from album "Jubel") by Klingande. Arrangement: Score with alto saxophone.


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Introduced 1926-1929
Number built - 851
There are many stories relating to the formative years of MG with many writers and historians each hoping that they have the definitive account of how MG came about. A known fact is that Cecil Kimber was appointed to the position of General Manager of Morris Garages Limited in 1922 having previously been the sales Manager for just over a year. They were the Oxford based distributors for Morris Motors and were owned by William Morris who also owned the production plant in Cowley. Kimber found himself in charge of the day to day administration of a very busy company and it was a tremendous opportunity that he jumped at, particularly as his previous appointments in the motor industry had frustrated him. Within a very short space of time he turned his attentions to developing special bodies for the standard Morris Cowley chassis. There was a call for non-standard cars from customers who did not want the 'run of the mill' item and it was quite usual for some of the larger garages to offer this kind of service with assistance from outside coachbuilders. Kimber was certainly not inspired by the existing range of Morris models and he was well aware that there was a ready market, albeit a small one, for cars with a more sporting appeal.
Morris already offered a fairly wide range of body styles on their standard chassis but Kimber decided that these cars would lend themselves to modification without major expense and he set about designing and drawing new bodies that could be fitted easily to the existing chassis. His first offerings were produced in 1922 utilising the chassis and running gear from the cheaper of the bullnosed Morris cars, called the Cowley. With modified lower suspension and a raked steering column, the cars sold for about the same price as the more fully equipped Morris Oxford. These cars were more fondly known as "The Chummy" and sported the standard 12 horsepower engine. At the end of the day these cars were still Cow-leys in disguise and despite their improved looks did not sell very quickly at first. This was mainly due to the price of £350 which was considered expensive when put alongside the newly introduced Morris "Occasional Four" which was available in 1924 priced at £215.
Kimber started MG's exploits in motor sport when he entered one of his specially tuned Chummys in the 1923 Land's End Trial, winning a gold medal. This achievement did boost sales marginally of the special bodied Morrises whilst Kimber turned his attentions to producing a tuned version of the Chummy on the 14 horsepower Morris Oxford chassis in order to compete with the Occasional Four. Raworth, the Oxford based coachbuilding company were engaged to build a neat two seater sports body that could be fitted to a slightly modified Cowley chassis. With their elegantly curved wings and their raked windscreen, supported on either side by triangular glass frames, this new model was true sporting machine. To enhance the sporting feel, a pair of boat type ventilators were mounted on top of the scuttle and these were to be a hallmark of subsequent models until 1929. Some consider that the Raworth Sports Model was the first true MG, however the radiator was adorned with a Morris badge and the accompanying advertising literature carried for the first time the stylised MG lettering in the octagon and described the car as "The MG Super Sports Morris". The modifications included flatter road springs, a mildly tuned Hotchkiss engine, bead edge tyres and four wheel braking with servo assistance.
By 1926 attentions were turned to the modified Morris Oxford 14/28 chassis that were being fitted up with MG bodies. They still carried bullnose radiators at this time and were considered a very attractive car which stimulated a healthy demand from the sports-minded car buying public. Morris Garages cars were now becoming more widely recognised as MGs and it was simply the bull nosed radiators that betrayed the Morris parentage. Towards the end of 1926 in readiness for the 1927 model year, Morris decided to adopt some new production techniques imported from the American car industry. As a result the traditional bull nose radiator was replaced with a flat front type and a wider heavier chassis was adopted to give more room for passengers inside the cockpit. Kimber had no option but to follow suit with the MG versions and the extra weight of the chassis was a potential threat to the performance. However various modifications were made by the Kimber workforce with the end result of an MG that was equally as fast as its predecessor. Each engine was finely tuned and during 1927 was considerably uprated to 35 horsepower and with modifications to the suspension incorporating flattened springs and Hartford shock absorbers, the ride and handling was much improved. Braking efficiency was also enhanced and the rubber mounted steering system was replaced with a Maries Weller arrangement. The bead edged tyres gave way to the baloon variety and a quieter exhaust system completed the mechanical package. On the styling front , engine turned aluminium side panels replaced plain polished aluminium and an attractive two tone paint scheme finished off the car nicely.
The flat radiator MGs were designated 14/40 as opposed to the earlier title 14/28. The '40' came from an optimistic view of the engine power output and was in common with many of the major car producers of the era. There is some confusion over the exact configuration of the model sequence but it is generally understood that the first three mark numbers were 14/28's built between 1924 and 1927 and that they were more commonly referred to as simply "The MG Super Sports" models. The 14/40's were designated Mark IV although to add to the confusion there were some Mark III model 14/28's that appeared with the new flat radiators. The model that superceded the Mark IV at the latter end of 1928 did not have a Mark number allocated. With sales increasing dramatically an enforced move was made in 1927 to a new factory in Edmund Road, Oxford and it was at this time that MG became far more independent of Morris even to the extent of adopting their own chassis number range and the undertaking of all warranty work on MG cars previously built at the Morris factory. This move to give MG its independence was brought to a logical conclusion when the MG Car Company was formed in 1928.
Brief technical specifications…
Bore & Stroke: 75mm x 102mm
Capacity: 1802 cc
No of cylinders: 4 in line
Valve operation: Side valve with mushroom tappets
Power output: Approx 35 bhp at 4,000 rpm
Clutch: Twin plate cork in oil
Gearbox: 3 forward speed crash box
Brakes: Mechanical with servo assistance. 12" drums
Suspension: Half elliptic springs front & rear
Wheels: Bolt on 19" wire spoke
Wheelbase: 8'10.5" Track 4 0" front and rear
Number produced: approx 851
We can help you with everything you need to enjoy, maintain and run your MG at reasonable cost: Spares, Insurance, Technical Assistance, Servicing, Restoration, Club runs, Travel opportunities, Local Club activities, Magazine and other quality informative publications, Recommended suppliers, Racing Championship and much more.


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10 Archers, 10 Spearman, 1 Captain |
Prompted by Whisky Priest's "How to Oldhammer" to put together a small warband of cheap and easily available miniatures, just to prove to naysayers that Oldhammer isn't some kind of weird exclusive collectors club... I thought what a great opportunity to not only do that but explore some fantasy wargaming history, kind of celebrate 40 Years of D&D and pay hommage to one of gamings greats, and prove that Oldhammer is actually some kind of weird, tweedy, pipe-smoking, beard stroking rambling cult who sit around whittering on about fairytales and the history of wargaming...
But wait, what is he on about? "Gygaxian Airfix Hobbits" what's them when they're at home? To answer that, dear reader, let us roll back the Fomorian mists of time... back... back...
Back to 1970 where the fantasy gaming industry didn't exist. Just imagine. There were no fantasy miniatures being produced, no rules-sets, no role-playing games, no Warhammer, no D&D, only earth beneath us, and above us only sky. There were, however, small groups of gentlemen gamers and vagabond street urchins pushing little models around, inspired by the Fantasy authors of the day, the likes of Vance, Tolkien, Moorcock, Howard. Into this heady, smoke filled arena, enter Gary Gygax, wargamer and soon to be inventor of Dungeons & Dragons publisher and co-author of Chainmail - rules for medieval miniatures including the "Fantasy Supplement" - wherein all manner of Nazgul, Ents, Balrogs, Orcs and Hobbits were detailed for your wargaming pleasure.
Chainmail represents the very first commercially available fantasy wargames rules - WRGs "Suggested Adaptions of Swords and Sorcery Fantatics" wouldn't appear until 1973, and sadly (or perhaps wisely) avoided the wrath of Tolkien Enterprises Legal Dept. and neglected the Tolkienesque in favour of some kind of weird Crusader mythos with religious overtones. Chainmail might not quite represent year zero for Fantasy Wargaming, as luminaries such as Tony Bath demonstrate using ancients rules in their own fantasy setting, but returning to the matter in hand...
It all started here. Or hereabouts. |
In the Chainmail "Fantasy Supplement" Gary describes Hobbits thusly:
"These little chaps have small place in the wargame, but you may want them for recreation of certain battles. Remember that they are able to blend into the background so make exellent scouts. They can fire a stone as far as an archer shoots, and because of their well known accuracy, for every two Halflings firing count as three on the Missile Fire table."
Nice enough - but no accompanying illustration tells us what this Hobbity "little chap" might look like, or how we might represent such a thing on our tabletops, which is a shame, but very much par for the course on early games - the gamer was supposed to work out for themselves and choose whatever they liked. The idea that there was a peculiar relationship between a specific ruleset and a specific miniatures range had yet to enslave the minds of gamers. Setting the chronometer forward a little to 1971, in an article in Wargamers Newsletter, Gary states...
"...converted Airfix 'Robin Hood' men serve as Hobbits..."
And there we have it, Gary was using Airfix Robin Hood figures as Hobbits, and thus the Gygaxian Airfix Hobbit was born. You can read the full text of Garys article in Wargamer's Newsletter #127 via James Maliszewski's post on Grognardia here where none other than Jervis Johnson issued forth a copy of an extract of a 1972 Wargames Newsletter (edited by Donald Featherstone), and there's a picture below, which you can click, make big, print out on actual paper and pretend like it's the 1970s, maaaan.
Wargamer's Newsletter #127, from October 1972. via Vintage Wargaming |
Wargamer's Newsletter #127, from October 1972. via Vintage Wargaming |
But what are the aforementioned Robin Hood Airfix figures like? Well here's a shot of the original packaging, of the type Gary might very well have purchased back in the day...
Box without hinges, key or lid, yet little green Hobbitses inside are hid |
Airfix don't currently list the Robin Hood set on their website any more - but they seem to be listed in various online retailers, and were widely available in HobbyCraft until a short while ago, with a big red £2.99 sticker on them - passed up by me because I'm somewhat lackadaisical when it comes to shopping. Having "Airfix Robin Hood" on my watchlist on eBay for over a year - determined to pick up a set for under £5 but alas kept missing out, and the ever increasing postage making the likelihood of a total bargain. Found a seller on Play.com selling a box for £4.60 - including postage, for 40 figures. Perfect, I thought, and bought them. Returning to the store they now cost around £7 - still inexpensive in comparison to 40 28mm figures, but the price does seem to fluctuate.
Gygaxian Airfix Hobbits on Amazon
Gygaxian Airfix Hobbits on play.com
And it must be said that Squarehex (purvayors of fine gaming stationary) also have a limited number in stock at a very reasonable price. Squarehex
Airfix - a British company making model kits and toy soldiers - and probably familiar to most readers of this blog from their airplane, dinosaur and military kits, has a venerable place in our Wargaming history. The name continually crops up in the reminisces of the early fantasy wargames scene, be it Joe Dever, Bryan Ansell, Andy Chambers, everyone around that era talks of playing with Airfix models, whether it's giving Romans ray-guns to recreate the comic-book world of the Trigan Empire or just battling out WWII on the linoleum of youth, Airfix provided the entry-drug into miniatures skirmish gaming, perhaps much like how Fighting Fantasy would feed the UK RPG scene a decade later.
But what of the figures themselves?
Here's some superbly based and painted up versions by Paul of Paul Bods.
via 1:72 depot.com |
The set contains
- 17 archers (inc. "Robin")
- 10 Spearmen
- 10 Hand weapons (inc. 1 Little John "Axeman")
- 1 Maid Marion (mounted)
- 1 Cleric / Wizard / Friar Tuck
From Robin Hood to Old Took
Unfortunately Gary doesn't go into much detail as to how he converted his Airfix Robin Hood figures into Hobbits, nor what his Hobbits looked like. So far my research has not turned up any pictorial documentation of these figures or Garys early Chainmail fantasy games in action - any help would be most welcome on that front.We do know that Gary was eclectic in his use of cheap plastic toys - remember that there were no fantasy miniatures to buy at this time, and improvisation, creativity and affordability were the order of the day. And we know that many of the AD&D Monster Manual illustrations and creatures were based directly on the models being used in Gygax games (an excellent post by fantasy artist Tony Di'Terlizzi here illustrates quite well). While correlation does not prove causation, it is entirely possible the drawings for the Halfling by Dave Sutherland from the 1977 Monster Manual are based on Gary's personal figures from the Airfix Robin Hood set.
And the weapon-types covered in the Monster Manual under the Halfling entry run like so:
- small sword and short bow
- small sword and spear
- short bow
- sling
- small sword
- spear
- hand axe
For now I will let Dave Sutherlands piece dicate the formation of the Fourth Farthing Irregulars warband, 10 bowmen and 10 spearmen, no armour. I'll definitely convert some of the models in the set with cloaks, backpacks and pole-arms and might add some shields to the hand weapons...
I have to admit that my reconstruction of the Gygaxian Airfix Hobbit is not going to be 100% authentic. My first intentional deviation - the issue of basing.
Gary may well have based his Hobbits on bits of cardboard, or washers, or nothing at all. However, he definitely didn't use the common slotta-bases that appeared in the mid-80s and I'm not either, and it's highly unlikely Gary used British currency, but that is exactly what I'm going to do.
Old bronze coins are still in circulation, and I've been collecting them for a while (and swapping new coins for old with friends and colleagues, much to their amusement) for intended use aforementioned Wildwood Campaign project, so that's why I have an abundance of them. I'd decided to go with pennies for infantry, UK 1p coins, specifically UK 1p coins minted before 1992, not only does this just fall over the threshold of the end of Oldhammer (1991 being the year Bryan Ansell sold the business to it's current management team, and so marks the end of the "Oldhammer period") but also marks the change from a solid bronze coin to a copper-plated steel (and if one were allowed to melt them down, the solid bronze ones would be more valuable). Add to that, I based my first ever Citadel Miniatures on pennies, so there's personal nostalgia there too.
I'm going to be a hard-core numismatist nerd and only used coins dated 1971 - 1972, to fit the creation window before the article was published - I wouldn't have bothered, but going through the penny-jar discovered I have enough, so job done.
These are quick and easy to identify as they are non-magnetic and the pre 1981 coins have NEW PENNY on them and the date on the Queens side, for final verification. The more practically minded of you might see a magentisable base of modern coins as an advantage in storage and transport, but hey I'm going for historical reconstructionist modelling here, not common sense!
However all of this means the basing for this project is going to cost me a grand total of 21 pence. An inordinate sum of money, I think you'll agree. Their low profile and naturally patined brown edge, and slight weight will make them look and feel really nice.
Currently 20 x 20mm bases would cost £6 from GW, so that's a 'saving' of £5.79 over modern Warhammer.
Conversion Materials
OK. So I need to convert some of the quarterstaff's into more obvious spears, should be simple enough to add a spearhead on the end, or perhaps replace the fragile plastic with a sturdier metal rod / pin. None of the Airfix models have quivers, which strikes me as odd, and Dave Sutherlands Hobbit archer in the Monster Manual is carrying one, so I'll definitely need to add those. Also I'll want to add cloaks and shields to my dual-classed fighter-thief types, and yes, I'm gonna try giving them slightly bigger furry feet. So some modelling material is called for...Keeping things authentic, Garys Wargaming Newsletter article was published 1972 - two years before Tom Meier accidentally discovered Green Stuff, so GS is out. Gary mentions "auto body putty" in his article, but I have no idea that that may be. Miliput has been around since 1968, so is in-period for this project, and according to the manufacturer, got into widespread use in the modelling field in 1970 so seems totally appropriate. Over to Amazon to pick up some Milliput Standard Yellow-Grey for £2.80
20g of Green Stuff from GW = £6.20 (31p per gram)
113g of Miliput from amazon = £2.80 (2p per gram)
So that's 15 times cheaper per gram.
Oldhammer on a Budget?
So as part of the aim is to demonstrate how accessible Oldhammer can be, a breakdown of costs for The Hobbits of the Fourth Farthing Irregulars.Models
40 Airfix "Robin Hood" / Gygaxian Airfix Halfling figures: £4.60
21 pre New Pence 1p coins: £0.21
Modelling supplies
1 Swann Morton scalpel #3 Handle : £2.60
Loctite Super Glue : £1.95
1 pack Milliput : £2.80
That's £12.60 so far, with some things left over to go into the general supplies tin. Note that all of these items are commonly available, without trawling through eBay, entering a Games Workshop, or getting out of ones bed.
I might be using 1:72 models for Hobbits (scale shots will come) but there's no reason not to just play the entire game in 1:72 either by converting random historical armies - following in the footsteps of Gary and Joe Dever, or just buying some of the newer Fantasy ranges that have come on the market in recent years (Dark Alliance come in at around 14p each), but much coverage is out of scope of this post, and I've rambled on enough.
They're behind you! |


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Thursday 5 January 2012
Uncertain times in Hungary
2 comments:
I had lunch with Uncle George on Freedom Square (Szabadsag Ter) in the shadow of Hungary's National Bank back in 2005. Even at that time, George floated versions of oversight which would ultimately culminate in the Fiscal Council.
I was pessimistic about this sort of oversight as it does nothing of itself to align incentives of politicians with those of economists. In the absence of incentives, a body like the Council would come to be viewed as the opposition if it proved inconvenient to party might be in power. The construct George proposed provided no reason for politicians to value the Council's work (other than the thin reed of "duty" or "responsibility"). Better, I thought, to provide a financial incentive for politicians to provide sustainable economic performance. That's what root cause analysis would prescribe.
Notwithstanding, the Fiscal Council was subsequently established, irritated the FIDESZ government, and was duly de-funded and disbanded.
Looking back, I believe my analysis was correct. Hungary could easily be brought back into the civilized fold were some relatively simple incentive plan enacted.
Unfortunately because of spam with embedded links (which then flag up warnings about the whole site on some browsers), I have to personally moderate all comments. As a result, your comment may not appear for some time. In addition, I cannot publish comments with links to websites because it takes too much time to check whether these sites are legitimate.


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Test Microsoft Dynamics SOAP Web Services
To test a Microsoft Dynamics SOAP Web Service, you can use this test codeunit and test program. This may be used to identify Microsoft Dynamics set-up issues like in a delegation scenario in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009R2.
How-To Run This Test
- Import fob file (codeunit 50099) in your database.
If this number is not included in your license or this number is already used by another codeunit, please move it to another number. - Register this codeunit in "Web Service" table
- Start WebServiceTest.exe and enter the following values:
URL is your Web Service URL including company name and codeunit "Web_Service_Test" like name in step 2.
- Now enter your credentials username, password and domain.
- Press "Send"
The result is shown in text message below.
Test is successful, if you get NAV: WS Call Successful. Input:test
In case of an error, you will get the error message like for example:HTTP-Status 401: Unauthorized.
Username and password are wrong, or NTLM is not activated.
Please download the test program here.


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Biblical Diversity
Reaching people of all colors, cultures and classes with the gospel of Jesus Christ and making him known throughout the world.
Unity through diversity
Converge is a movement of churches working to help people meet, know and follow Jesus. We do this by starting and strengthening churches together worldwide.
This includes reaching people of all colors, cultures and classes with the gospel of Jesus Christ and making him known throughout the world. As we celebrate our human differences, we unite around God's Word — the final authority on all matters, including cultural and social issues. We take seriously God's expectations for diversity in his churches emphasized in Acts 17:26-27, Galatians 3:28, Colossians 3:11 and Revelation 7:9-10.
Why is biblical diversity important?
God's people are multiethnic, multiracial and multicultural. To reach the entire world for Jesus, biblical diversity is required. The gospel sets the foundation for racial and cultural reconciliation.
The body of believers in Christ should be most equipped to take part in a dialogue about diversity. We should set the pace for racial and cultural harmony and demonstrate to the rest of the world how we treat others based on the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Gospel movements affect entire communities and bridge across social, economic, language, ethnic and cultural barriers. As part of that vision, an in response to the great challenges of the church modeling the power of reconciliation and collaboration that the gospel provides, Converge established an Office of Biblical Diversity. This office works alongside its U.S. regions to encourage, empower and equip your church to champion biblical diversity in your community.
Biblical Diversity Position Paper
In establishing our biblical foundation, part of our diversity task force, led by Dr. David Clark of Bethel University, created a Biblical Diversity position paper.
Diversity Self-Assessment
This self-assessment and cultural awareness assessment is a generic tool designed to explore an individual's cultural competence. Its primary purpose is to help the individual consider their skills,
knowledge and awareness of themselves as it relates to their interactions with others. The goal of this assessment is to assist the individual in recognizing what they can do to become more effective in working and relating to in a diverse culture.
A Call To Fast & Pray
The Office of Biblical Diversity has provided this guide for individuals and churches moved to fast and pray for biblical diversity.
A call to fast and pray purpose log >
A call to fast and pray guide >
Bible Verses About Diversity
Old Testament >
New Testament >
5 biblical ways to take action >
Video Training
Introduction to Biblical Diversity >
Why Biblical Diversity >
Biblical diversity vs. secular diversity >
Biblical diversity guidelines >
4 ways to embrace biblical diversity >
4 strategies for honoring biblical diversity in the church >
Biblical diversity matrix & metrics >
7 biblical prescriptions for biblical diversity >
ABCs of biblical diversity >
The stroke economy in biblical diversity >
6 ways pastors can teach biblical diversity >
Conscious vs. unconscious bias >


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Watch David Lee Roth Present Trance Remix of 'Jump'
Van Halen singer David Lee Roth appeared alongside trance DJ Armin van Buuren to present a remix of the band's classic hit "Jump" at the Ultra Music Fest in Miami over the weekend.
While still being recognizable as Van Halen's late-1983 single, van Buuren's version emphasizes the beat to a greater extent, which is slightly sped up to his requirements.
You can watch the performance below.
"It's the reason Eddie Van Halen and I have had so much friction over these decades," Roth told Rolling Stone. "It's the only music I listen to."
He said "Jump" is "so visceral. It's sort of like when your dog knows you're drunk. In your gut, you know exactly what it's about, and the [song's] deeper meaning is being able to do something when you're a little bit unsure. You know you wanna do it, but that's the reason we teach our kids ballet lessons, music lessons. We have them get into doing dog shows and 4-H Clubs, so you can do pretty good even though you're kind of scared."
Van Buuren explained that the song "was an easy one to pick because I ask my crowd to jump, and the song has a deeper meaning, and I hope the kids get it when they hear the song, when they start to invest some time in the history of the song.
"This song has the tempo, which is very tempting. Actually, I don't do many remixes, to be honest. Especially touching a song like this is very delicate. And that's why I first sent it to the band before anything else, because I didn't want to step on any toes. I know the legacy of the songs. Touching a song like this is kind of scary, because you know how many fans love the original."
You can watch Van Halen's video for the original "Jump" below.
Van Halen are the subject of continuing speculation that a large-scale tour is soon to be announced soon, even though original bassist Michael Anthony shot down the suggestion that he'd be part of it last week.


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Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.— Romans 12:12
As a young man, film director Robert Flaherty spent many months in the far north looking for iron ore and cod. He found neither, but he did shoot 70,000 feet of film in his travels. Someone encouraged him to edit the film and make a documentary, which Flaherty spent weeks doing.
But just as he finished, a match from his cigarette dropped among the celluloid, consuming the entire film and burning Flaherty badly. His response to the disaster was a determination to return to the far north and make a film of Eskimo life "that people will never forget." He did just that, and the result was the classic 1922 documentary Nanook of the North.
What Robert's story can teach us today is that setbacks are going to take place in life. We're going to experience health problems. Finances won't always be as abundant as we'd like. And, relationships will be strained at times. Yet it's not those trials that define us, but how we persevere through them with hopeful, prayerful patience that God is going to do something great.
When others look at your life, they won't define you by your struggles, but how you faithfully persevered through them. So whatever you might be facing today, know that in Christ, you have everything you need to keep going forward with your eyes firmly fixed on Jesus!
Prayer Challenge
Pray that God would help you stay true and faithful when struggles come your way.
Questions for thought
In what areas of your life today are you experiencing trials? Are you struggling to persevere?
What does it look like for you to joyfully, prayerfully persevere through those trials?


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The more than 30-year tradition of the FLYERS Afterschool program offers children attending elementary schools in the Fort Mill School District (FMSD) with the safest and highest quality afterschool care possible. FLYERS Afterschool takes place in the 11 FMSD elementary schools, and each site provides children with ample opportunity for free play, physical activity, creativity, science and nature activities, as well as character development among peers. The program also provides time for each child to complete their homework, within reason, and encourages good time management and accountability. We strive to employ staff that are excited about being with the program's children each day and look forward to being a positive role model in their lives.
The FLYERS program is operated by Leroy Springs & Company, Inc., a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization that provides affordable, quality recreation, education and community activities and facilities in York, Lancaster and Chester counties. Leroy Springs & Co. (LSC) owns and operates the Anne Springs Close Greenway, FLYERS Afterschool, Springmaid Mountain and Springs Golf. LSC has a more than 80-year commitment to the communities we serve, providing affordable recreation and education opportunities to all ages.
By utilizing LSC facilities including the Anne Springs Close Greenway, the FLYERS Program offers children a unique opportunity to spend more time outside in nature and discover the importance that the natural world has on our wellbeing. Our Fit Kids program focuses on getting children up and active and making healthy choices and encouraging the development and practice of large motor skills. Our planned site activities, facilitated by our FLYERS Afterschool teachers, focus on monthly and seasonal themes. While we are not primarily an education-focused program, we do utilize any opportunity to introduce learning concepts while having fun. Fostering a child's sense of discovery and inquiry increases their sense of confidence and their ability to adapt to and master new challenges.
Site Contacts
Area Coordinator
Susan Minkel
Program Coordinator
Anna Kate Nelson
Asst. Program Coordinator
Tracy Green
Phone Number


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Lavender Sachet (Medium)
This collection of lavender squares is made using traditional hand embroidery crafts from Turkey. Over the centuries and dating back to the Ottomans, embroidery has always been part of the Turkish way of life from the Sultan's court to remote villages. Various regions in Turkey have developed their own methods and styles of embroidery. Here, we have selected the very refined, delicate and colorful Sile-style needle embroidery and flamboyant, very technical, labour intensive, metal thread cutting (Tel Kirma).
The Sile technique is conventional, wide-spread and easy to master. It allows great variety of patterns and colors. Tel Kirma, on the other hand, requires the making of special needles and great skill when manipulating the metal while threading it. The overall result is very eye-catching and rich looking since threads can be gold, silver or copper.
Our beautiful hand made and embroidered lavender filled bags come in various sizes and are available in gift boxes and they make the perfect home or celebration gift. The small sizes can be used as keyring fobs or for your coat hangers, the medium size for your linen or closet drawers and the large size for your pillows, the fragrance is long lasting and will help you drift off to sleep. Placing the sachet in the closet for clothes not only brings fragrance, but also helps in pest control. The lavender also soothes the nerves and aids sleep.
- Sachet Size: 18*22 cm, Weight: 250g Box Size: 25*20*6 cm
- Please note that the lavender sachet comes in many colors and shades, not necessarily the exact same as the image


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Intralogistics systems play an important role in the automated in-plant transport of materials in factories, distribution centers, parcel services, warehouses, airports, hospitals, and others. These systems increase efficiency, quality, sustainability, and traceability of material flow processes, while reducing waste and inventory buffers. Without them, modern high performance facilities could not function. Electrification components are needed for intralogistic equipment as Automated Guided Vehicles ( AGV), Electric Monorail Systems ( EMS), electric pallet conveyors, rail guided vehicles (RGV), transfer cars, and baggage handling systems, as well as sorters, automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS, stacker cranes) and shuttle systems.
Intralogistic systems must be available on demand. If part of the system goes down, processes before and after will stop and the entire facility could shut down. Also, any required maintenance must be done quickly and easily. Energy and data transmission components must adapt to high performance systems, often with complex layouts and operating at high speeds and acceleration. At the same time, they must provide maximum energy efficiency at an acceptable cost. Some systems must meet special technical challenges, such as "clean room" and food processing environments, refrigerated storage, or impure production lines.
Conductix-Wampfler has extensive experience working with intralogistics system OEMs worldwide. From our large product portfolio, we can recommend the optimum solution for individual applications across many different industries without bias towards single technology. With our global presence and local support, we partner closely with OEMs and end-user customers for both small and large scale projects, striving for technical optimization with minimum complexity. Our continuous research & development efforts are geared towards new solutions and continuous improvements of products for this industry.
Inductive Power Transfer (IPT) – powers systems such as AGVs and baggage handling systems. New generations of IPT with state-of-the-art features keep pace with our customers needs.
Conductor Rails – power Electrified Monorail Systems ( EMS), Rail Guided Vehicles (RGV), and baggage handling systems. The SinglePowerLine 0812 and MultiLine 0831, combined with ProShell are ideal for AS/RS stacker cranes. MultiLine 0835 and MultiLine 0365 are the perfect match to power shuttle systems. PEplus for conductor rails works well for electric conveyors of all types, providing safety and simplicity.
Spring-Driven and Motor-Driven Reels – manage cables used to power transfer cars and other moving equipment.
Rubber and Cellular Buffers – are well suited to absorbing energy from machine element impacts.
Jay Radio Remote Controls – offer a safe way of operating or monitoring machines from a distance. The comprehensive range of industrial and safety radio remote controls offers countless solutions to adapt to an extensive number of intralogistic applications.
Reference Report
Overhead Monorail System with hydropneumatic swivel and lifting station in a paint shop and the assembly area of a car cabin manufacturer
Representative office
Conductix-Wampfler [F]
Technical requirement[s]
Transport of car cabins [up to 1.000 kg] through the painting line and the assembly area
System course
Twisting | Area: 1.200 m2
Additional information
Hydropneumatic swivel
For transport within a facility, Conductix-Wampfler's modular handling systems can provide customized transport solutions that ensure an optimum material flow. Various additional components, such as switching systems and curves, allow for the creation of complex tracks. The modular nature of the system and its simple assembly make it possible to plan and install a manual suspension track for many different applications.
Manual suspension tracks offer the following benefits:
Manual suspension track components


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A console table is a table that, most of the time, has only two legs and that is designed to fit against a wall. Bring a part of American heritage and convivial touch in your home with a custom reclaimed wood console table. You can use your barn wood console table in multiple ways : as an entryway table, to create a first impression when entering a room, as a little home office, where you can setup a computer and a chair, as a tv stand, which will take less floor space, and finally, as a bedroom vanity, where you can tuck a stylish stool. Reclaimed wood console tables will fit with many design settings : contemporary, rustic, country, and even industrial. Each barn board and plank has been harvested in New England's historical buildings, such as barns and stables, that date back as far as the 1700's.
You will rarely find building materials that will offer you the same texture, aspect, and solidity as the barn wood's. Antique barn wood is known to have an incomparable tight grain, with all-natural weathered colors and shades that can only be made by time and elements. Whether you need a reclaimed wood console table to welcome your guests in an hotel, to put your brand new flat-screen TV on, or to create a working space to work from home, no project is too little or too ambitious for our team. If you have a specific project in mind, we invite you to contact us with the details. We will provide you with a detailed quote, as well as our suggestions to bring your project to reality.
We ship to Baltimore, Maryland, and everywhere in the United States. Come meet us in our showroom in Lake George, New York and we will be happy to create a unique reclaimed wood console table that will surpass all your expectations.


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Tteokbokki or Dduk Bbok Kie as our Korean interpreter Kim spells it is a popular street food in Korea. I only knew that after I had it though. Three of us were walking around the streets sans interpreter and stopped to grab a quick bite to eat before heading back to the main event.
I caught sight of a group of locals congregating around this stall which sells some kind of spicy looking pottage. I don't know what it is but it looks starchy and comes in a rather promising shade of red. The smell coming from the bubbling pot was decidedly pleasant and I concluded this was just the thing to have on a chilly autumn night.
We were in huge market somewhere in Busan and attempts to ask what it was failed miserably. I wanted to know what it contains so I can write about it but finally gave up and did The Sign Language Thing (TM).
The Sign Language Thing (TM) involves using your index finger to point at the simmering pot, turn that finger 90 degrees to indicate one serving, and rotate it another 90 degrees to point towards yourself, demonstrating your intent.
The Tteokbokki is served with a whole boiled egg, fish cakes, sliced meat, and tteok (a long rice cake with a texture like chewy dough) doused with a hot paste. It was surprisingly good. I love the hot sauce made with peppers – you can still see the chillis in the dish. It's savory and spicy and costs 3000 Won (RM 8).
I was also given a pork sausage made with pork and starch as a "service", which means free in their version of English.
Anyway, I was standing there eating the hot Tteokbokki (though I didn't know what it was at the time) when up came this hot Korean girl (or so I thought at that time) and explained in PERFECT QUEEN'S ENGLISH what the dish contains. I was flabbergasted and my jaw probably dropped in mid-chew, exposing the half eaten contents inside my mouth.
I'm sure she was very impressed. T_T
She translated what I said to the stall owner and vice versa and thanks to her, this post comes complete with the ingredients in Tteokbokki.
Oh, and I found out she's a Malaysian studying in Seoul after talking to her. Heh! She was here with her friends for PIFF 2009.


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Thank you, Google Alerts, for letting me know that on Monday, February 6th in San Diego, CA, Write Out Loud will be reading my short story "Paris, at Night" as part of their story concert series. You can read more about it on BroadwayWorld San Diego. Here's the excerpt:
Paris at Night by Sung J. Woo – read by Walter Ritter
This futuristic story presents a couple about to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary. She dreams of seeing Paris at night; he ponders, "What can I do to make this happen?" A surprising examination of the power of love, and the importance of memories…
And here's a bit about the company that's putting it on.
Write Out Loud – an organization founded in 2007 with a commitment to inspire, challenge and entertain by reading short stories aloud for a live audience – announces THE THINGS WE DO FOR LOVE, the fourth production in their 10th Anniversary Season. Write Out Loud Story Concerts bring literature to life – aloud – with rehearsed readings by professional actors. Each program explores specific themes by weaving a variety of stories, poems and music together into a literary tapestry. David Fenner, Jeffrey Howard Ingman, Veronica Murphy and Walter Ritter will perform. A pre-show reception starts at 6:15pm with a 7:00pm curtain.
One of the other stories that they chose is by P.G. Wodehouse, so this is quite an honor. I only wish I could be there to hear it performed.
[additional link – San Diego Reader]


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