text:
But she didn't. She's still standing. And talking on the phone with my friends, in Brooklyn, Manhattan, New Jersey, Long Island.. the courage masked as humour.. and I keep playing this song in my head.
It has renewed meaning to me this morning: in the dawn's early light.
When I think of Katrina, the tsunamis that came without warning.. to think that this time, with such short notice, thanks to the calm authoritative voice of our President, and - by his example - Mayor Bloomberg, the governors of each state - all our elected leaders urging people to be responsible for themselves and also considerate of the 'first rescurers' safety, should they put themselves in harms way.. this is a disaster of biblical proportions, and yet the loss to human life is appearing small in proportion to other disasters. I can't think of a better example in the argument of Government vs The People, that it is the cooperation between the two, that matters most.
There's still a rough road ahead - and we will pitch in and help in any way we know how - but for now, I offer my thanks, at the courage, the dignity and grace, that I saw in my friends, and in people I don't know. People who have inspired me, if and when my time comes, to weather the next storm.


text:
I'm going to the States next week, so may not get much time to blog for a while. I thought you might like a little more material to peruse on the superb Javier Marías, subject of my recent 3-part critique here at Tredynas Days. There follow links to three fascinating podcasts in which Marías is interviewed.
Live From the New York Public Library (this link takes you to the whole list of podcasts; scroll down to the date of broadcast – 3 Dec. 2009, three days after vol. 3 of 'Your Face Tomorrow' [YFT] was published in the USA – then click on the MP3 icon).
This interview hosted by Paul Holdengräber is just over 90 minutes long, and allows him to afford the guest the opportunity to expand upon his literary themes, writing style, notions of translation, and so on. Javier Marías' humour is evident, as he playfully suggests he doesn't know when he starts a novel exactly where it will go; he uses a compass for direction, he says, not a map! He talks about translating Sterne, whose cock and bull shaggy-dog story Tristram Shandy is obviously a key influence on YFT, and he reveals that the huge portion of the novel sequence devoted to the scene where Tupra pulls out an antique sword and brandishes it over De La Garza's cringing head (it runs to dozens of pages, but lasts just a few seconds in real time) was inspired by the moment in Don Quijote where the hero confronts a foe (the Vizcaino or Basque) and a sword fight seems imminent; an equally lengthy digression ensues, but the combatants are left poised, swords aloft, and the scene is never resumed! At least, Javier Marías jokes, he finished his scene!
(It's worth noting that there's a great deal of complex narrative play in the Quixote: Sancho Panza is unsure about the source of the soubriquet he gives to his dolefully countenanced master; Cervantes twines his narrative around related lexical sets involving the truthful representation of the 'triste figura' of Quixote on his shield, thus ambiguously mediating between Quixote's true 'rostro' (face), the 'imagen' on his shield representing that sad, gaunt face and the impact this has on those who look at it, and the name given to Quixote (which, like Deza's in YFT, varies according to whom he's with). Similarly the MS illustration of the battle with the Basque alluded to in ch. 9 of Part 1 of the novel differs from the earlier description of the battle itself; it tells a different story. This failure to weave together the 'signs' with the 'face' anticipates the moment in the inn when 'sign' and 'face' are slowly brought together, because Sancho 'no era buen lector' (wasn't a good reader) – see the chapter: 'The matter of naming in Don Quixote' in Unspeakable Subjects: the genealogy of the event in early modern Europe, by Jacques Lezra [not 'Deza'!](Stanford UP, 1997). Here in Cervantes' playful, slippery narrative ambiguities we can see where much of Marías' inspiration came from.)
Another major literary influence on him, of course, is Proust, whose writings are 'systems of parenthesis' – a great phrase for describing Javier Marías' own work – who also likes to give time its 'real duration', for this is where real action and feeling lie. Although this slowness of narrative pace, with its long, apparently irrelevant digressions can be irritating for the reader, he concedes, if we show patience we will be rewarded. So in this scene with Tupra and the sword our natural inclination is to want to know what happens next; the lengthy delay is a homage to Cervantes, and brings its own aesthetic pleasure, above and beyond the simplistic gratification of turning the page to achieve narrative closure. As Marías says, he loves watching films and reading page-turner novels, but rarely remembers soon afterwards what the plot consisted of. Action and plot aren't particularly interesting to him. Marías prefers to see plot as 'bait'; there are other things to savour in literature (and in his own novels): he requires us to stop, pause, reflect, think.
A final revelation is made near the end of this interview: he writes, he says, 'suicidally' – as I noted earlier, he doesn't map out his plots in detail as most writers do. In a 1200-page novel sequence like YFT this caused him some headaches; because he doesn't use a computer for writing with he couldn't readily find detailed references to, for example, colours of characters' eyes, so maintaining consistency and continuity was tricky. He didn't even know, he says, until very late in the writing, what the cause or source of the bloodstain on Wheeler's stair – a motif which recurs constantly throughout the three volumes – actually was – or even if he'd reveal it at all.
It's a delightful interview, full of wit and intelligence: well worth listening to.
Back in 2010 the inimitable Michael Silverblatt interviewed Javier Marías on his KCRW podcast show, Bookworm. With his deceptively soft, slow way of speaking Silverblatt has the ability to ask probing, intelligent questions that evidently inspire the respect and affection of his guests – he's always worth listening to, and I'd recommend you subscribe to the series. Each broadcast lasts around 25 minutes.
Bookworm interview pt 1: THU FEB 18, 2010
'What if Henry James — the patron saint of convolution — could be resurrected? What if he wrote a novel of espionage so complex it became a trilogy?' (from the KCRW Bookworm podcast website)
Bookworm interview pt 2: THU FEB 25, 2010
'What if ten minutes of espionage took a hundred pages to fully describe? Here we explore time and consciousness in what will possibly be the greatest trilogy of our new century.'
Not sure when my next post will be: depends on Wi-Fi connections and my laptop as I travel.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Page tools: Print Page | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Australia is a net exporter of coal, LPG, natural gas and uranium. In 2000-01, a total of 11,627 PJ of Australian energy products were exported, comprising 11 458 PJ of primary energy and 170 PJ of derived energy (table 17.11). In terms of energy content, the largest contributors were black coal (47% of total energy exports) and uranium (39%). Crude oil and natural gas contributed 8% and 4%, respectively. Total energy exports (primary plus derived) increased by 121% between 1989-90 and 2000-01. Over this period, exports of primary energy products grew rapidly, particularly uranium (up 161%) and black coal (up 86%). The major derived energy products exported in 2000-01 were aviation turbine fuel (27.8 PJ), diesel (49 PJ) and automotive gasoline (44 PJ).
Table 17.13 shows that the large volumes of exported energy products contributed significantly to Australia's export earnings. The export of energy products contributed about 21% towards Australia's total export earnings in 2001-02, up from 18% in 1993-94. Black coal accounts for by far the largest share of the total value of energy exports (52.2%), followed by crude oil (25.2%) and liquid natural gas (10.3%). Uranium contributes only 1.4% of the total value of energy exports. Imports of energy products (mainly crude oil) made up only 7.5% of the total value of imports in 2001-02. It is important to emphasise that although the quantity of energy exports (by energy yield) has increased by 65% from 1993-94 to 2001-02, the value of energy exports increased by 126%, a key factor of which is the decline of the Australian dollar relative to the US dollar in that period, decreasing by 28% from US$0.73 in 1993-94 to US$0.52 by 2001-02.


text:
MCOB 6.4 3Mortgages: content 3 of the offer document
- (1)
If a firm offers to entering into a regulated mortgage contract with a customer, it must provide the customer with an offer document containing an illustration.
- (2)
The firm's offer in the offer document must be on the basis of the information set out in the illustration provided in accordance with (1).
Accuracy of the offer document
MCOB 5.4.7 G acknowledges that the offer document and illustration provided before an application may not always be the same, even where the customer's requirements have not changed. However, the FSA expects the offer document to be an accurate reflection of the actual costs of the regulated mortgage contract.
- (1)
A firm must make an adequate record of each offer document which it issues to a customer in accordance with MCOB 6.
- (2)
The record required by (1) must be retained for a year from the date that the offer document is issued to the customer.
- (3)
If, in accordance with MCOB 6.5 (Information to be provided in the offer document or separately), information is included in a separate document that is sent with the offer document, that information must also be retained as part of the record required by (1).
Modifications to the illustration
The illustration provided as part of the offer document in accordance with MCOB 6.4.1 R (1) must meet the requirements of MCOB 5.6 (Content of illustrations) with the following modifications:
- (1)
the illustration must be suitably adapted and revised to reflect the fact that the firm is making an offer to a customer and updated to reflect changes to, for example, the interest rate, charges, the exchange rate or the APR required by MCOB 10 (Annual Percentage Rate), at the date the illustration is issued;
- (2)
MCOB 5.6.2 R (2) (a) does not apply;
- (3)
MCOB 5.6.15 R (Information to be included at the head of the illustration) does not apply;
- (4)
MCOB 5.6.16 R (Section 1: 'About this illustration') is replaced by the following: "Section 1: 'About this offer document':Under the section heading 'About this offer document', the following text must be included:
- (a)
'You are not bound by the terms of this offer document until [insert relevant circumstances, including the names of any documents that must be signed. For example "you have signed the legal charge and the funds are released for your mortgage"]. We are required by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) - the independent watchdog that regulates financial services - to provide you with this offer document.'; and
- (b)
(unless MCOB 6.6.1 R applies)"You should compare this offer document with the key facts illustration given to you before you applied for this mortgage, to see how the details may have changed.'";
- (a)
- (5)
Unless (b) applies, MCOB 5.6.17 R (Section 2: 'Which service are we providing you with?') is replaced with the following:"Section 2: 'Which service did we provide you with?'
- (a)
Under the section heading 'Which service did we provide you with?' the following text should be presented as two options each with a 'check box', one of which must be marked prominently to indicate the level of service provided to the customer:'We have recommended, having assessed your needs, that you take out this mortgage. We have not recommended a particular mortgage for you. You must make your own choice whether to accept this mortgage offer.'";
- (b)
If the service described in MCOB 5.6.17 R (Section 2: 'Which service are we providing you with?') was provided by another firm, MCOB 5.6.17 R is replaced by the following:"Section 2: 'Which service were you provided with?'Under the section heading 'Which service were you provided with?' the following text should be presented as two options each with a 'check box' one of which must be marked prominently to indicate the level of service provided to the customer:'[name of firm] recommended that you take out this mortgage.[name of firm] did not recommend a particular mortgage for you. You must make your own choice whether to accept this mortgage offer.'";
- (a)
- (6)
MCOB 5.6.29 R (2) does not apply;
- (7)
MCOB 5.6.52 R to MCOB 5.6.53 G is replaced by the following:Where all or part of the regulated mortgage contract is an interest-only mortgage, the illustration in the offer document must:
- (a)
clearly state that the payments on the regulated mortgage contract cover only interest, and not the capital borrowed;
- (b)
state the repayment vehicle the customer intends to use where the firm knows details of the specific repayment vehicle from the application by the customer; if the firm does not know how the customer intends to repay the capital borrowed, the firm must clearly state that the repayment vehicle is unknown, and must provide the customer with a clear reminder of the need to put suitable arrangements in place; and
- (c)
include a statement reminding the customer to check regularly the performance of any investment used as a repayment vehicle, to see whether it is likely to be adequate to repay the capital at the end of the term of the regulated mortgage contract;
- (a)
- (8)
the fees recorded in the illustration that is part of the offer document in accordance with MCOB 5.6.66 R (1) must include any fees paid or payable by the customer;1
- (9)
MCOB 5.6.69 R (5) is replaced by the following:'(where the fee is payable or has been paid to the mortgage lender), whether or not the fee is refundable, and if so, the extent to which it is refundable;'
- (10)
2 - (11)
where additional features are included in accordance with MCOB 5.6.92 R and these are credit facilities regulated by the Consumer Credit Act 1974, the relevant parts of Section 12 of the illustration that is part of the offer document must include the following text:"This credit facility is regulated under the Consumer Credit Act 1974. Please refer to the separate credit agreement which describes the facility and the terms on which the credit is available";
- (12)
The text required by MCOB 5.6.102 R (2) (a) or (b) should be adapted to include, or tell the customer where they can find, the information required by MCOB 6.5.4 R; and
- (13)
MCOB 5.6.113 R applies to the illustration that is part of the offer document if the illustration given out in accordance with MCOB 5 (Pre-application disclosure) was issued by, or on behalf of, a mortgage intermediary.
- (1)
One consequence of MCOB 6.4.4 R(5)(b) is that the mortgage lender will need to know, for each individual transaction arranged by a mortgage intermediary, whether or not the customer has received advice from that mortgage intermediary.
- (2)
When complying with MCOB 6.4.4 R(5)(b), mortgage lenders may wish to include a statement after the level of service in Section 2 confirming that the level of service described was given by another firm, and explaining that they, as the mortgage lender, are not responsible for the level of service given, and that the customer should contact the other firm if they have any queries about the level of service provided. For example: "If you have any queries about this service, you should contact [Name of firm]. [Name of lender] is not responsible for the advice or information you received."
In adapting and revising the illustration that is part of the offer document in accordance with MCOB 6.4.4 R(1) a firm must:
- (1)
avoid amending the format of the information required by MCOB 5.6 (Content of illustrations) where possible, since this could result in the illustration in the offer document being difficult to compare with the illustration originally provided to the customer in accordance with MCOB 5.5.1 R;
- (2)
use, where possible, the same headings, ordering of information, and language that appeared in the illustration provided in accordance with MCOB 5.6 (Content of illustrations); and
- (3)
only change section headings where necessary (for example 'What you have told us' could be renamed 'Your mortgage requirements').
In adapting and revising the illustration in accordance with MCOB 6.4.4 R(1), a firm may:
- (1)
add extra information at the beginning and end of the illustration, such as conditions which are not covered by the illustration;
- (2)
include greater detail within each of the specified sections than that included in an illustration provided in accordance with MCOB 5 (Pre-application disclosure); and
- (3)
leave blank, except for the text 'not applicable', sections that are irrelevant, such as:
- (a)
the section on insurance (see MCOB 5.6.73 R to MCOB 5.6.83 G), where the customer is not buying insurance from the firm and the firm does not require insurance to be in place; and
- (b)
the section and sub-sections on additional features (see MCOB 5.6.92 R to MCOB 5.6.112 G) if there are no additional features available.
- (a)
Examples of the additional information that should be included in the offer document in accordance with MCOB 6.4.7 R (1) or MCOB 6.4.7 R (2) is information about any retentions or reinspections that will be required by the firm.
A firm must ensure that the illustration forms the main, and an integral, part of the offer document.
MCOB 6.4.9 R prevents a firm from preparing a separate illustration and simply adding it to the existing material provided to the customer at the offer stage.
Other information contained in the offer
A firm must ensure that the offer document contains a prominent statement:
- (1)
of the period for which the offer is valid;
- (2)
explaining, where the regulated mortgage contract contains features, such as additional unsecured borrowing facilities, which could result in the customer borrowing more money, that where such features are used, the amount of the customer's debt will increase;
- (3)
explaining when any interest rate change on the regulated mortgage contract takes effect. This statement must be used, for example, to explain cases where an annual review system is used;
- (4)
explaining the consequences that might arise from the customer not entering into the regulated mortgage contract, including any fees that the customer has paid which will not be reimbursed;
- (5)
explaining that once the regulated mortgage contract is concluded there will be no right of withdrawal; and
- (6)
explaining that although no right of withdrawal exists the customer will have a right to repay the regulated mortgage contract in accordance with the terms of the regulated mortgage contract.
In complying with MCOB 6.4.11 R (6) the firm is not required to repeat in this section of the offer document the cash amounts of the early repayment charges set out in the illustration provided as part of the offer document. The firm may instead insert a reference to the relevant section of that illustration.
A firm must ensure that the contact details section of the offer document (as required by MCOB 5.6.122 R) also includes information on how to complain to the firm about the services provided by the firm in relation to the regulated mortgage contract and whether or not complaints may subsequently be referred to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
DISP 1.2.1 R requires a firm to have in place a complaints handling policy for handling complaints about its services, and also forreferring to another firm complaints about that other firm's services.
In addition to the information required by MCOB 6.4.13 R, a firm may include information about how to complain to any other firm about the services that firm provided to the customer in relation to the regulated mortgage contract. For example, where the customer received advice from another firm, a mortgage lender may include contact details for the firm that provided the advice.
If the firm knows at the point that the offer is made to the customer that its interest in the regulated mortgage contract will be assigned (by sale or transfer) and the firm will no longer be responsible for setting interest rates and charges, the offer document must:
Where MCOB 6.4.16 R applies, if the name of the party who will be responsible for setting interest rates and charges after the sale or transfer is not known at the point the offer is made, the firm must notify the customer of this as soon as it becomes known.
MCOB 6.4.16 R and MCOB 6.4.17 R could apply where the ownership of a regulated mortgage contract is transferred to a third party through securitisation.


text:
I'm fanatic about all things tea-related. Lately, I've been fascinated with Wuyi yancha, aged Taiwanese oolongs, and sheng pu'ercha. Nearly all of my sessions as of late are performed gong fu, with pu'er tastings comprising probably eighty percent of them. My collection of pu'ercha is small, but growing steadily. Much of the specimens I drink daily are various samples, although I dig into a cake every so often.
I love trying new teas and I am always learning all I can about the world of tea. Hence, I spend a majority of the time I devote to tea either drinking, writing notes in my journal, or reading. But mostly drinking, as I think it should be. Since I have handwritten logs of everything I drink, I cannot usually find the extra time to log my notes here, and unfortunately my online log is underrepresented.
When drinking, I look for a tea that presents a unique experience, something that involves every sense and provides intrigue in every aspect throughout steeps. I search for teas with balanced complexity and something that makes me keep reaching for my cup. I yearn to find all the positives a tea possesses and every subtle nuance hiding among the leaves. I try to be detailed in my notes and deliver a more comprehensive view of the tea, paying attention to things other than simply flavors and qualitative aspects of aroma, such as the form of the liquor and its development in the mouth. Things like this are much easier to compare between teas, as I find them to be more consistent between sessions, and also make distinctions between a good and mediocre tea easier to make.
Adagio UtiliTEA electric kettle.
For gong fu, a 100 mL porcelain gaiwan and a 100mL Yixing di cao qing xi shi pot dedicated to mostly young sheng pu'er.
I drink all green teas in small (maybe 450mL) glass tumblers in the traditional style, with off-boiling water.
Fort Myers, Florida


text:
So after we stopped to look at the meat, we went to see - more meat! I told you this place was full of meat. Get this - next to the big chunks of naked meat in the glass box, and the wall of meat pillows (!), there were three more entire meat sections. Maybe four. I kinda lost count.
OK, here goes:
There was meat for kitties (and Massimo), AKA seafood. Y'know, fish and crabs and things in shells. I've seen all this stuff at the beach before, so I wasn't that excited. But I know a lot of you don't live near a beach, so here's a look at the ocean-meat section.
There was also something called 'Ready To Go' meat. No idea where the meat was ready to go, but I reeeeally wanted it to go in my belly. When I was watching the Ready Meat, I met a really nice man (that's his hand in the picture). He was there to buy something called salami.
Salami? No idea. Anyone here ever had it??
I asked my human to move the cart thing reeeally close to the Ready-Meat, hoping some might fall in and then we'd have to buy it. Figured that was the only way I'd get her to buy me any. I was able to get a really good sniff, but nothing fell into our cart.
Across from the Ready-Meat was a great big wall of Meat Tubes (Nathan's and snausages). There were fat tubes, skinny tubes, pink, red and white tubes. All made of meat (and other stuff). I stared at them until my neck hurt and eyes almost fell out.
Next to the Meat Tubes, I saw a HUgE bunch of bacon. You have no idea how hard it was not to break the No-Licking rule at the bacon enclosure.
Ok, now just in case you're a freak like my human and not so into the meat stuff, there are other things at the supermarket. I saw a whole bunch of stuff called "Novelties". They were in glass boxes like the special meat, so I thought they must be supertasty. After sooo much looking-but-not-touching, I kinda broke one of my human's rules and kinda touched one of the glass boxes. With my tongue.
Uhm, yeah. If you ever get to go to the supermarket, do NOT lick the glass boxes where the Novelties live. Apparently they are freezers, which means that they are cold and licking cold is NOT fun. Luckily my human thought it was kinda funny so I didn't get in trouble or anything.
There are also cookies (human variety). And lots of them. Kinda boring though. None of them were special enough to be locked up in a glass box. One thing I learned: at the supermarket, most of the good stuff is behind glass.
Like these things called donuts. I've never had one, but they're behind glass (glass=good) and a lot of humans were really into them. One nice lady asked if she could feed me one, said I looked hungry. Of course my dumb human said no. Anyone here ever have a donut? I don't even know what food group they're in.
So, that's it for today. Tomorrow I'll show you the #1 best thing in the whole entire supermarket. And some other stuff. Like carrots.
A little puggy named Chloe is supposed to be born today. Not sure if she made it out of her momma's belly yet, but Chloe - if you're here - welcome to the world!


text:
This site uses cookies. You can read how we use cookies in our privacy policy.If you do not wish to allow cookies, please close your browser.
Your Sinclair Magazine began in December 1985, after a name change from Your Spectrum magazine. Its quirky style, and humorous reviews helped gain the magazine a cult following. Your Sinclair was a major player in the late 1980s cover tape wars, giving more games away on its cover than any other magazine. Created by Dennis publishing, Your Sinclair, fondly known as YS by its fans, lasted longer than any other ZX Spectrum magazine, ending in September 1993 with a fantastic cover tape free final issue.


text:
Award-winning playwright David Ives, described by The New York Times as "wizardly, magical, funny, and original," has penned six one-act comedies that examine various attempts at relationships and communication with hilarious results. Using inspired language and wordplay, Ives takes delight in pushing audiences' smart buttons and teasing their brains. Join us for non-stop laughter and brilliant witticisms.
David Ellenstein directs Taylor Renee Henderson,* Uma Incrocci,* Noelle Marion,* David McBean,* Christian Pedersen,* and Omri Schein* in ALL IN THE TIMING. The design team includes Marty Burnett (Scenic Design), Matthew Novotny (Lighting), Aaron Rumley (Sound), Elisa Benzoni (Costumes), and Phillip Korth (Props). Cindy Rumley* is the stage manager.
*The actor or stage manager appears through the courtesy of Actors' Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States. For background information and photos, go to www.northcoastrep.org/press.
ALL IN THE TIMING previews begin Wednesday, April 10. Opening Night on Saturday, April 13, at 8pm. There will be a special talkback on Friday, April 19, with the cast and artistic director. It will play Wednesdays at 7pm, Thursdays through Saturdays at 8pm, Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2pm with Sundays at 7pm through May 5, 2019 (See Schedule below). North Coast Repertory Theatre is located at 987 Lomas Santa Fe Drive, Solana Beach, CA 92075. Tickets: Previews – $42, Week Nights – $49; Sat. Eve. & Sun. Mat. $53; Sat. Mat. & Sun Night – $46. By popular demand, a Wednesday Matinee has been added on May 1 at 2pm – $49. Seniors, Students, Military & Educators – $3 off admission. There is also a $20 rush for tickets 15 minutes before performance if available. Call 858-481-1055, or visit www.northcoastrep.org to purchase tickets.


text:
Savannah Administration - News: Access to Development CVS Trees Restored
Access to Development CVS Trees Restored
Item posted by Bradley M. Kuhn <bkuhn> on Tue 23 Dec 2003 12:49:26 AM UTC.
A GPG-signed text file of this statement is available at:
Hash: SHA1
Savannah is again a running and networked system, albeit with most
features turned off. We have reinstalled the operating system on
completely new hardware and rolled out the new system.
Currently, we are providing only anonymous access to two separate CVS
trees via SSHv2:
(0) The CVS trees from 16 September 2003, which are available via:
(1) The CVS trees as they were when we brought the system down, which
are available via:
Note that these CVS trees in (1) are unaudited and require vetting to
ensure that no malicious code has been inserted. Note also that both
trees are available via anonymous access only; they will not function if
you attempt to authenticate in the usual way with your old savannah
For example, to check out the CVS module "foo" in the Savannah project
of the same name, as it existed in the Savannah CVS tree when we
brought the system down, you would need to use the following commands:
export CVS_RSH="ssh"
cvs -d:ext:email@example.com:/cvs-latest/foo co foo
If you already have a subversions.gnu.org entry in your ~/.ssh/config
file with a "Protocol 1" line, you will need to change it to "Protocol
The SSHv2 public key fingerprints for the machine hosting the cvs
trees are:
RSA: 1024 80:5a:b0:0c:ec:93:66:29:49:7e:04:2b:fd:ba:2c:d5
DSA: 1024 4d:c8:dc:9a:99:96:ae:cc:ce:d3:2b:b0:a3:a4:95:a5
We cannot yet provide access to additional Savannah features,
including CVS commit access and the web interface and tools. We are
currently auditing the Savannah source code and the surrounding CVS
tools to ensure that they have no security problems that can be
exploited to give local user shell access. Given the advent of many
local-user-exploitable security problems, we want to verify that shell
access cannot be acquired through any of Savannah's interfaces.
Meanwhile, we encourage all developers to audit their packages to
verify that no malicious code has been inserted into their packages'
source. To assist developers in these audits, we are working at top
priority on the following three projects:
(a) We are running an automated comparison between the trusted 16
September 2003 CVS trees against the current trees. This audit
will verify that no malicious code was inserted into versions
of the software on or before 16 September 2003.
(b) We are generating human-readable difference sets that will show
all changes made since 16 September 2003. We will mail these
sets to the developers of each package so that they can audit
the changes.
(c) For high-profile packages that have particular security
implications, we will independently audit the difference sets
ourselves. If you as a developer feel that your package
warrants such a special audit and would like our assistance in
doing so, please contact <email@example.com>.
We realize that developers may already use processes of their own to
verify changes as they are made. For example, perhaps you carefully
check the difference sets sent to you automatically by the system as
commits occur. If you have done such parallel checks regularly, and
would like our help in using that data to expedite the new security
checks, please contact us at <email@example.com>.
We are working as quickly as we can to restore various Savannah
services, and will keep the community apprised as our progress
continues. In the meantime, in preparation for the restoration of
Savannah services, please note the following:
* When the user database comes back online, all Savannah users will
need to activate their Savannah accounts anew, and upload their
SSHv2 keys. Users will not need to make new SSHv2 keys; we know
of no particular security threat to Savannah if you use the same
one. (However, you might want to consider making new keys in
case your own private key security has been compromised.) SSHv1
access will no longer be provided.
* Upload of GNU Privacy Guard (GPG) keys as part of the account
activation process will no longer be optional; each Savannah
developer must have a GPG key on-file at Savannah. Additionally,
one email address on the key must match the email address used by
the developer on Savannah. If you do not yet have a GPG key, and
plan to reactivate your savannah account, we suggest that you
generate a GPG key soon, so that it will be ready when regular
user access is restored.
We appreciate the assistance and cooperation of the Free Software
development community as we work through these difficulties. We are
moving slowly so that everyone will be assured that the replacement
Savannah system is more secure than the previous system.
Bradley M. Kuhn
Executive Director, Free Software Foundation
Version: GnuPG v1.2.1 (GNU/Linux)
Powered by Savane 3.13-b921.
Corresponding source code


text:
Researchers from security software concern McAfee say they have discovered the biggest series of computer intrusions ever, covering some 72 organizations and governments around the world, including the U.S., Taiwan, Vietnam, South Korea, Canada and India — some of them dating back as far as 2006. (See the map of targets, courtesy of McAfee, below.)
And these aren't the kind of cyber attacks carried out by bumbling troublemakers like the LulzSec gang, which make headlines but really only cause a nuisance for companies like Sony. In these cases, networks were compromised by remote access tools — or RATs, as they're known in the industry. These tools — and they are tools, because they have legitimate uses for system administrators — give someone the ability to access a computer from across the country or around the world. In this case, however, they were secretly placed on the target systems, hidden from the eyes of day-to-day users and administrators, and were used to rifle through confidential files for useful information. It's not for nothing that McAfee is calling this Operation Shady RAT.
McAfee says the attacker was a "state actor," though it declined to name it. I'll give you three guesses who the leading candidate is, though you'll probably need only one: China.
Dmitri Alperovitch, McAfee's Vice President, Threat Research, makes a statement in his blog entry on the discovery that should give everyone minding a corporate or government network pause: "I am convinced that every company in every conceivable industry with significant size and valuable intellectual property and trade secrets has been compromised (or will be shortly), with the great majority of the victims rarely discovering the intrusion or its impact." He further divides the worldwide corporate landscape into two camps: Those who have been compromised and know it, and those who simply don't know it yet.
This has been a particularly nasty year on the cyber security front. (I hate to say it, but I told you so.) Prior to this, the big attack whose full impact has not yet been fully sized up was the one against the RSA SecureID system, which uses popular keychain devices that create a constantly changing series of numbers that in turn create a second password for access to system resources. They're widely used in government and military circles and among defense contractors. Google has been a regular target in recent years.
The RSA attack and Operation Shady RAT are examples, Alperovitch says, of an "Advanced Persistent Threat." The phrase has come to be a buzzword that, loosely translated into English, means the worst kind of cyber attack you can imagine. Unlike the denial-of-service attacks and network intrusions carried out by LulzSec and its ilk, which require only minimal skill and marginal understanding of how networks and servers work, an APT is carried out by someone of very high skill who picks his targets carefully and sneaks inside them in a way that is difficult to detect, which allows access to the target system on an ongoing basis that may persist for years.
How did these attacks happen? Its very simple: Someone at the target organization received an email that looked legitimate, but which contained an attachment that wasn't. This is called "spear phishing," and it has become the weapon of choice for sophisticated cyber attackers. The attachments are not what they appear to be — Word documents or spreadsheets or other routine things — and contain programs that piggyback on the targeted user's level of access to the network. These programs then download malware which gives the attackers further access. This all happens in an automated way, but soon after, live attackers log in to the system to dig through what they can find, copy what they can, and make a getaway — though they often leave the doors unlocked so they can come back for repeat visits.
Alperovitch notes — correctly, to my mind — that the phrase has been picked up and overused by the marketing departments of numerous security companies. His larger point is that too often those attacked in this way refuse to come forward and disclose what they've learned, thereby allowing the danger to continue for everyone else.
Alperovitch says that the data taken in Operation Shady RAT adds up to several petabytes worth of information. It's not clear how it has been used. But, as he says, "If even a fraction of it is used to build better competing products or beat a competitor at a key negotiation (due to having stolen the other team's playbook), the loss represents a massive economic threat not just to individual companies and industries but to entire countries that face the prospect of decreased economic growth." It's also bad for a target's national security, because defense contractors dealing in sensitive military matters are often the targets. The best thing that can happen is that victims start talking about their attacks and sharing information with each other so that everyone can be ready for the next one, which is surely coming.
Voice Of GREYHAT is a non-profit Organization propagating news specifically related with Cyber security threats, Hacking threads and issues from all over the spectrum. The news provided by us on this site is gathered from various Re-Sources. if any person have some FAQ's in their mind they can Contact Us. Also you can read our Privacy Policy for more info.
Thank You !
-Team VOGH
If you enjoyed VOGH News, Articles Then Do Make sure you to Subscribe Our RSS feed. Stay Tuned with VOGH and get Updated about Cyber Security News, Hacking Threads and Lots More. All our Articles and Updates will directly be sent to Your Inbox. Thank You!
-Team VOGH


text:
Gmail is already my primary email workplace, I use Eudora primarily for maintaining a local archive. So this migration was really more sensible than my old forward from Gmail setup.
It took me a while to get Eudora working with gmail -- I kept getting timeout errors. I had no trouble with OS X Mail.app, so I figured I was missing something in my configuration. Turns out I had two errors:
- I had to require eudora use its "alternate" port (be nice if Eudora simply let me set the port address) for both send and receive.
- Leave mail on server must be unchecked.
- It doesn't matter whether I archive email or leave it in the inbox - it comes across when I access the pop service.
- If I send mail from eudora it's saved as sent email both in eudora and gmail.
Overall it's a nice improvement. I mostly use Gmail and delete whatever I don't care to keep, so this will reduce the amount I store in my home archive.


text:
I-Ching Grace Hung
Psychologist, Ph.D.Ready for change? If you're ready to become the "you" you wish to be, find meaning, and live authentically, I am here to guide you.
Online Therapy
Every relationship comes with its fair share of issues. Navigating the complexities of life together is hard enough, but when you start to feel regularly distressed or hopeless, about your relationship, it may be time to seek professional help. No matter what your issues seem to stem from (disagreements about money, sex, stress, chronic illness, mental illness, infidelity, trust, emotional distance, parenting etc.), if you and your partner are arguing more frequently and experiencing feelings of resentment or contempt, it is likely that there are some underlying problems to address. Because many problems in relationships are a result of communication issues, a qualified mental health therapist can teach you to find new ways of talking to each other to help you find your way back to common ground. Reach out to one of TherapyDen's relationship and marriage issues experts today.
Take a quick survey to find therapists that match your needs.
Sometimes we have faced issues like depression, anxiety, or difficult and unfulfilling relationships our whole lives, other times problems seem to come out of nowhere and knock us right off our feet. One thing I do know, is that we should not go through hard things alone. I walk alongside my patients as they navigate the difficult healing from trauma, learning who they are in this world, or find meaning in the mess. I look forward to walking with you as you start taking back your life.
Online Therapy


text:
Connect With Us
Gout, typically found in diabetic patients, is an unusually painful form of arthritis caused by elevated levels of uric acid in the bloodstream. The condition typically strikes the big joint on the big toe. It has also been known to strike the knees, elbows, fingers, ankles and wrists—generally anywhere that has a functioning, moving joint.
The high level of uric acid in a person's bloodstream creates the condition known as hyperuricema—the main cause of gout. Genetic predisposition occurs in nine out of ten sufferers. The children of parents who suffer gout will have a two in ten chance of developing the condition as well.
This form of arthritis, being particularly painful, is the leftover uric acid crystallizing in the blood stream. The crystallized uric acid then travels to the space between joints where they rub, causing friction when the patient moves. Symptoms include: pain, redness, swelling, and inflammation. Additional side effects may include fatigue and fever, although reports of these effects are very rare. Some patients have reported that pain may intensify when the temperature drops, such as when you sleep.
Most cases of gout are easily diagnosed by a podiatrist's assessment of the various symptoms. Defined tests can also be performed. A blood test to detect elevated levels of uric acid is often used as well as an x-ray to diagnose visible and chronic gout.
Treatment for gout simply means eliminating symptoms. Non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs or NSAIDs (Colchicine and other corticosteroid drugs, etc.) will quell the redness, the swelling, and the inflammation. However, managing your diet, lifestyle changes, and using preventative drugs are all helpful toward fully combating the most severe cases.
Those that lead an inactive lifestyle are at a higher risk for gout. Any amount of exercise decreases the probability of repeat encounters with the condition. Reducing your consumption of red meat, sea food, and fructose-sweetened drinks also reduces the likelihood of chronic gout as well.
Ingesting Vitamin C, coffee, and particular dairy products can help with maintaining a healthy lifestyle. There are new drugs out on the market that inhibit the body's production of uric acid-producing enzymes. However, reducing or eliminating your overall levels of uric acid is the best remedy to ensuring you lead a gout-free life.
Connect With Us


text:
GARLAND, Texas — You might typically associate the days after Christmas as a time when people start returning things in mass quantities. But remember all those Black Friday sales? A lot of those sale items actually get returned right now.
The items consumers take back to stores — or even send back after ordering online — make up an entire business of their own.
Inventory at a warehouse for a company in Texas that deals in surplus asset management includes anything consumers open, from computers to toys to appliances — and even toilet paper. Everything in the entire warehouse is a return, sent back to the store or website from where it came.
"The inventory we tend to see is inventory that is damaged in shipping or has been opened by the consumer and therefore cannot be put back on the shelf at the retailers location, said Brian Johnson, senior vice president at Liquidity Services.
It's a company that takes returns that retailers don't want to hassle with — their clients include the Top 5 largest retailers in the U.S., and about half of the biggest online retailers.
About 10 percent of [items] from a brick-and-mortar store are returned, and it's even higher in e-commerce. That means that of the estimated $1 trillion spent this holiday season, $100 billion of that will be returned.
That's where companies like this one come in. They'll sort the items, and if they're in resale condition, they'll prepare them to be sold.
But if there's damage?
"This is our refurbish room. Here we have consumer electronics that warrant us to go in and add value to them. So we test and eventually will repair the product if necessary, so we have the opportunity to sell that right back to the consumer," Johnson said.
"Typically the consumer can get that for 60 percent of retail" on items that have been refurbished, he said.
People such as Nevin Farrell, a teacher who sells discounted items on ebay for a second income, say it's a money maker.
"I would get a couple palettes every now and then and have a garage sale," Farrell said. "A lot of people have gotten into it, and you kind of have to find your niche."
His niche? Beauty products. And Farrell says his rate of return is sometimes 90 percent.
What about a resale market for toilet paper — does that exist?
"Toilet paper and consumables in general baby diapers are actually very liquid to sell," Johnson said.


text:
Pygmalionism gone awry, RUTHLESS AMBITION explores the life of Cassie Kincaid, an unattractive schizophrenic whose self-serving goals morph from innocent to insidious as she terrorizes her way to the top.
For starters, Pygmalion is the story of a man who coaches a woman to the top. For this to be Pygmalion gone awry you need two main characters.
And honestly, I'd probably stop reading here anyway because you've just described a main character I'm not sure I want to spend one paragraph with, let alone 60K words.
I'm not saying your main character has to be sweetness and light, evil and dasterdly can be very enticing qualities to explore. The trick here is to make her sound enticing. This doesn't do that. Instead of what you have here, think about how Cassie would describe herself and what she does.
You've got a story about the disconnection between what someone says and what she does, and how others see her. You have to convey that right here, first paragraph.
Cassie is fat, ugly and bullied her entire young life until she decides to take her fate into her own hands, never knowing that the voices inside are misleading her down a path that can have no success.
Are the voices the ones telling her to take her fate into her own hands? I have a hard time seeing why taking your fate into your own hands will lead you down a path that can have no success.
Also, the syntax (word choice) in that sentence is awkward: a path that can have no success doesn't really make much sense. You mean a path that doesn't lead to success.
Her motivations are entirely from the opinion of others; her college, radical plastic surgery and consequent rise up the ladder never satisfies her and Cassie becomes as inwardly ugly and ruthless as the very people she hated the most. Cassie doesn't understand why she is never fulfilled as she becomes everything she perceived would bring her the acceptance she's always craved.
RUTHLESS AMBITION is a tour de force of manipulative denial and misinterpretation of human contentment, a mainstream fiction novel of two hundred thousand words.
Please do not ever describe your novel as a tour de force. That's for critics and readers to decide. A query letter shouldn't have any of those phrases: amazing, wonderful, blockbuster, bestseller, etc.
I am a member of the Society of Southwestern Authors, teacher, a freelance writer and entrepreneur in (redacted.) My articles have been published in the August, September and October issue of (redacted)
Thank you for your time.
The problem hers is you've got a book about character I don't want to spend time with. You've not done the one basic thing a query letter needs to do: entice a reader to want to read more.
I don't think the problem is the query letter. I think it's the novel. Some novels you need to write to get them out of your system, but not all novels should be shopped. I have a feeling this might be one of those.
Dear Query Shark:
In a world where beauty trumps brains, unattractive, obese Cassie Kincaid is bullied her entire life. After each confrontation, she hears voices and fears she will develop schizophrenia-the family curse.
"In a world" is cliche movie trailer narration. It's always a bad way to start a query. There are a lot of better ways to choose from. I always suggest you start with the name of the protagonist. Consider: Cassie Kincaid is has been bullied her entire life. After each confrontation, she hears voices and fears she will develop schizophrenia-the family curse.
Attending Harvard Medical School should have boosted her self-esteem, but when she is an extern at Dr. Hans Zimmermann's medical institute in Germany, her idol abuses and ridicules Cassie, too. Tormented and humiliated, she has an emotional breakdown while Ingrid von Horne, Zimmermann's assistant and lover, witnesses her psychotic behavior. The two become close friends when she nurses Cassie back to health.
I think it defies credulity that anyone without a healthy dose of self-esteem could survive Harvard Medical School. You're overly dramatic here. Does it matter which medical school she attends? No it doesn't. It's in fact, all back story at this point.
Desperately needing her professor's approval, she has radical plastic surgery, vowing to get even with everyone who made her suffer. Cassie's physical transformation is obvious. She's gorgeous. What isn't so obvious is the metamorphosis that takes place within. Her goals change from innocent to insidious. Originally, she wanted to be respected as a world-renowned neurosurgeon. Being a good girl got her nowhere. Now, she wants fame and fortune and will not stop until she has it all.
And here's where you lose me completely. I don't believe the premise of the novel now. And further, Cassie loses any sympathy I had for her (which wasn't much--you paint her as a passive dishrag here.)
Although I might have wanted her to get revenge on the (nameless, faceless) people who bullied her (great revenge novels like Sidney Sheldon's OTHER SIDE OF MIDNIGHT and Judith Krantz' SCRUPLES should be on your shelf) it's much less likely I'll sympathize with her now wanting "fame and fortune." Protagonists don't have to be nice or sweet or even good people. But they must get and keep our sympathy. Lose that, and you lose your reader.
Although I might have wanted her to get revenge on the (nameless, faceless) people who bullied her (great revenge novels like Sidney Sheldon's OTHER SIDE OF MIDNIGHT and Judith Krantz' SCRUPLES should be on your shelf) it's much less likely I'll sympathize with her now wanting "fame and fortune." Protagonists don't have to be nice or sweet or even good people. But they must get and keep our sympathy. Lose that, and you lose your reader.
Drunk with power, she destroys Zimmermann's marriage, betrays Ingrid, and in a coup becomes president of the Zimmermann Institute. Everyone is vindictive. Everyone wants revenge, but Cassie is the mastermind, pulling the strings of all the marionettes she manipulated to rise to the top. A power struggle ensues as schizophrenia lurks behind.
Lurks behind what? The drapes? Schizophrenia is a serious mental illness and other than the one line in the first paragraph, you've given us no hint that this is part of the novel.
Also, who's the villain in the novel? Cassie? If she's the villain, who's the hero?
RUTHLESS AMBITION is commercial fiction with two hundred thousand words.
oh, well, no. 200K is about twice as long as you want on something like this. The Other Side of Midnight mentioned above clocks in at 131K.
Thank you for your time.
This feels like a fantasy cooked up to *really show those bastids* kind of thing. It feels very good to write, but doesn't actually work well on the page. It doesn't work well for the same reason most of the Lifetime movies don't work very well: they don't bear much resemblence to reality and and require so much suspension of disbelief you need to strap on bungee cords to read the damn thing.
Before you start redrafting your query or revising your novel, I STRONGLY suggest you read at least 50 novels (preferably debut) in the romance and women's fiction category. Really study them to see what agents are looking for and editors are buying. (This novel feels very very 1970s to me: passive woman transformed into angry avenger.) You don't have to like all of them (in fact, you won't) but you have to move away from "I like this" kind of reading to "what works here and what doesn't" analysis if you're going to be a writer. You have to know your category, and that means READ READ READ. Not just for entertainment. For your professional development.
If you don't know where to start, look at the books being reviewed at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books. .
They'll get you started in the right direction.
Back to the drawing board.


text:
YouTube Pulls Scary 'The Nun' Ad For Violating 'Shocking Content Policy'
Besides Marvel, what is the most successful cinematic universe in Hollywood? Financially, it's probably the DC Extended Universe, but creatively, it might be The Conjuring, which began as one fairly straightforward horror film from director James Wan, and has now blossomed into a full-blown franchise (there are already three Conjurings to date) along with two Annabelles, and now The Nun about, uh, hang on, I have it here somewhere, let me just find my notes... ah yes! A creepy nun. Sweet.
When that is your subject you don't need too much help being spooky, but apparently the folks over in New Line marketing wanted to really get audiences freaked out. They made a clever ad that looks like some kind of YouTube glitch, where the volume is being adjusted and then suddenly GAH! out pops that darn nun. Apparently (via Variety), this kind of video is a YouTube no-no, and the site later pulled it for violating its "shocking content policy." (You can still watch it above, if you want to test your mettle.)
Here's the film's official synopsis:
Filmmaker James Wan, director of the record-setting horror hits "The Conjuring" and "The Conjuring 2," explores another dark corner of that universe with "The Nun." Directed by Corin Hardy ("The Hallow"), the new fright-fest is produced by Wan and by Peter Safran, who has produced all the films in "The Conjuring" franchise. When a young nun at a cloistered abbey in Romania takes her own life, a priest with a haunted past and a novitiate on the threshold of her final vows are sent by the Vatican to investigate. Together they uncover the order's unholy secret. Risking not only their lives but their faith and their very souls, they confront a malevolent force in the form of the same demonic nun that first terrorized audiences in "The Conjuring 2," as the abbey becomes a horrific battleground between the living and the damned. "The Nun" stars Oscar nominated Demian Bichir ("A Better Life") as Father Burke, Taissa Farmiga (TV's "American Horror Story") as Sister Irene, and Jonas Bloquet ("Elle") as local villager Frenchie.
The Nun opens in theaters on September 7.
Gallery - The Scariest Non Horror Movies Ever


text:
Talking Tests on A Lazy Sunday
As the magic continues down at the corner of Carnegie and Ontario, with the Indians pulling victory from the jaws of defeat taking the first two games of the series against the Reds (I refuse to call it anything else than that), there is a growing sense that something really is happening here. With Zeke Carrera drag-bunting the Indians to victory on Friday and Travis Buck blasting the team into the win column the next day, the Indians found their heroes in players that were wearing Clippers' uniforms just last week…with all of this coming against the reigning NL Central Champs, fighting tooth and nail for the lead in their own division.
Despite being shut down for the better part of the starts of both games, the Indians scratched, clawed, bunted, and blasted their way to victory in two games that, quite frankly, they had no business winning. And it is games like these that provide this feeling that, for the first time in a long time, the Indians are the team for whom the bounces smile upon and for whom every managerial decision ends up looking brilliant.
The calendar says it's not quite June, but there is the old baseball axiom that a team "is what it is" at the 40-game mark of a season and now – 3 games past that – the Indians are STILL winning at a clip over .650, holding a 7 game lead in their division. For some perspective on that, in 4 of the 6 divisions in MLB, EVERY team in the division is closer than 7 games off of the leader's pace.
The last place Nationals are as close to the first place Phillies as the Tigers and Royals are to the Indians while the last place Orioles are a mere 4 games back from the division-leading Yankees…waiting a beat to let that sink in…
But it's still early, with plenty of baseball left to be played, right?
This team is still flawed with players playing over their heads, who are destined to come back to Earth, breaking our hearts once again?
If that's really where you're still at in this, it's time to live in the moment, enjoy this for what it is, to imagine "What If We All Believe?" (and this terrific team-produced video is unquestionably based on this from my friend Scott Bricker), and get off on a Lazy Sunday, of course…
From the top, let's answer that question of whether it really is still early, something that was tackled a couple of days ago by the Wall Street Journal. With a hat tip to longtime reader Tyler, it presents an engrossing look at what a hot (or cold) start means to a team's chances for the playoffs. While it feels wildly premature to talk playoffs, the findings of the WSJ research are more than compelling, even if they use June 1st and the 50-game mark as the lines of demarcation, because their research seems to offer a message that is contradictory to everything that was spouted from the manager's office in the mid-to-late-90s, when the results of those seasons validate what the WSJ asserts – that starts do matter.
The piece is well-done because it doesn't avoid the fact that it's attempting to debunk a fallacy (that baseball men and beat writers lazily lean on) and goes right after the "it's a marathon, not a sprint" philosophy that pervades MLB:
Since 1996, just 9% of teams with a losing record on June 1 wound up with 90 wins, the number teams usually shoot for to make the playoffs, according to data crunched by The Wall Street Journal and Ben Alamar, founder of the Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports. During that early season period, the average correlation between a team's win percentage on June 1 and its final winning percentage is 0.76.
The best explanation for why 50-games is all it takes to sort out the winners from the losers has to do with a combination of mathematics, psychology and the secrets of winning baseball games. While any bad team can have a good week or month, excelling for a 50-game stretch without very good players is virtually impossible.
The point is that the way a team starts a season means a LOT more to their playoff chances than you may have thought and that 50-game mark indicates that old "you are what you are" idea. That last line was admittedly bolded by me, though it is an absolutely fascinating piece and worth your time, even if the overall slant of the piece is to explore the expansion of the playoffs and the reasons for doing so. What is interesting is to look at it in the context of the current standings and this belief that somehow…someway the White Sox (or fill in the blank because EVERY other team in the AL Central is now under .500) are going to barrel their way back into the divisional race.
Realizing that the caveat exists that anything is truly possible in baseball, what the WSJ article and the accompanying research should alleviate is this idea that this is all going to come crashing down around us somehow (as if Zeke's drag bunt didn't already make that feeling go away) and SI.com's Joe Sheehan goes further in looking at the Indians in this week's print edition of the magazine.
In his piece, he explores the good and the bad of the Indians (and don't take this to suggest that there isn't "bad"), but his conclusion – when coupled with the WSJ piece – offer support that this magic carpet ride isn't going to stop any time soon:
These Indians are not going away. Having already called up 2009 first-round pick Alex White to bolster the rotation, they could also get internal reinforcements at their two weakest positions from top prospects Lonnie Chisenhall (third base) and Jason Kipnis (second base)…The preseason cofavorites, the White Sox and the Twins, are among the worst teams in the game. Only the Tigers, winners of seven straight through the weekend, seem poised to push the Tribe.
Maybe this ends in the waning days of September. Maybe it stretches into October, with the Indians pushing to extinguish one of the great losing streaks in sports history—the city of Cleveland's. What seems certain is that this isn't a quarter-pole fluke. The Indians are relevant again.
It should be noted that the Tigers who were at the time of Sheehan's piece were "winners of seven straight through the weekend" have now lost five in a row…the last two to the Pirates. Regardless, while not many needed that validation for something that became apparent to some a few weeks ago, the evidence is stacking up in the Indians' favor (along with the W's in the ledger) that this season has a special feeling to it.
Of course, that special feeling is tempered quite suddenly by the team being depleted in some pretty important areas as Travis Hafner will be out of the lineup for at least a month (and it is here that I note that almost exactly a month from now is when the Tribe goes to play the NL…in NL parks, meaning that Hafner may not be back until July 4th or so), meaning that the Indians are currently playing without two linchpins in their lineup as Hafner and Sizemore occupy two of the slots in a suddenly crowded DL. Though the Tribe has weathered injuries well thus far, particularly in the starting rotation, the removal of Hafner from the lineup presents a potentially crippling blow as (you may not have noticed this) here are the AL OPS leaders with more than 100 PA:
1) Jose Bautista – 1.350
2) Matt Joyce – 1.044
3) Miggy Cabrera - .990
4) Travis Hafner - .958
5) Kevin Youkilis - .958
Yeah, he's been that good and when you consider that Grady is not supposed to join the team until the end of the week (with the red-hot Red Sox coming to town Monday), the Indians had better hope that Sizemore's return remains on schedule and that the Grady that emerged from the DL last time is the same one that returns from the shelf at the end of the week. Reason being is that if you lower the minimum plate appearance requirement to 75 for the AL OPS chart, it looks like this:
1) Jose Bautista – 1.350
2) Matt Joyce – 1.044
3) Miggy Cabrera - .990
4) Grady Sizemore - .974
5) Travis Hafner - .958
Have the Indians won without Grady and without Pronk in the lineup, particularly recently?
Yes, but don't forget that the two players that were thought (back in 2006 or 2007) to shoulder the load for the Indians' offense for a long time has been their best performers to date this season. Hafner and Sizemore – when healthy (and there's that big caveat) – are still elite offensive players, and now with a lingering knee injury for Grady and the dreaded oblique strain (anyone remember what sabotaged Cliff Lee's 2007?) popping up for Hafner, the offensive onus has to be transferred elsewhere in the lineup. How long others need to pick up that slack remains to be seen as Hafner's injury is one that has the potential to affect him throughout the season and there is the terrifying fact that Sizemore told MLB.com's Jordan Bastian that, "There's definitely something lingering. I'm not at 100 percent. We're still working through it. I'm still not even doing full activity yet."
While I'm not going to let my imagination wander on that (because that's what Sizemore kept saying last year with his other knee injury), there's no doubt that the Indians are in full "shuffle the deck" mode with Zeke Carrera arriving from Columbus (and playing ahead of Kearns) and with Travis Buck finding himself with an expanded role – assuming his toe issue isn't one that affects him too greatly. It's true that Sizemore is scheduled to be back this Friday or so (when the balance of the outfield will be restored), meaning that the Indians may be able to pull their thumb out of that hole in the dam sometime soon. However, with Hafner likely out for a month (actually probably 6 weeks), the Indians are presented with a much more difficult assortment of pieces to juggle.
By that I mean, how they fill Hafner's spot in the lineup is going to be intriguing as Shelley Duncan can certainly face LHP but should NEVER face RHP as Duncan has .494 OPS in 30 AB (his OPS against LHP this year is .778…which is lower than I thought it would be, but still higher than Hafner) and that's where the loss of Hafner is going to hurt the Tribe the most – against RHP. On the season, the Indians have thrived against RHP on the whole, but their bench offers only options that have been destroyed by RHP, small sample size considered.
Supermanahan and The OC have struggled against RHP and Duncan, Kearns, and Marson all have an OPS under .500 (again, small sample size considered) with Travis Buck probably offering the most compelling option as a RH DH in the short term. That said, I'd prefer to see Buck in the lineup everyday in Hafner's absence, whether it be at DH, in the OF, or at 1B, giving days off as they're needed to other players and getting the everyday plate appearances that many felt that his Spring (and his pedigree) justified. That way, Acta can continue to use Duncan as he's best suited – as a power RH bat off of the bench to start in a spot against LHP or in a PH role.
Is it going to be a step down from Hafner?
Of course, as just by looking at what Hafner has done this year, nearly every option is going to be a "step down". If Buck struggles in Hafner's place, don't forget that the Indians signed Nick Johnson to an off-season deal, with a contract provision that he had to be on the roster by July 1st of this year (when was it again that Hafner is scheduled to return) so Johnson could become an option at some point for the DH spot. That assumes health for Johnson (a long leap of faith given his injury history), but the Indians could have a Plan B and Plan C built in to at least fill the HUGE hole created by Hafner's oblique.
Past Buck and maybe Johnson, if they want to look internally, they can always look at a guy like Cord Phelps, who has posted a 1.022 OPS vs. RHP this year as a Clipper and, while Acta has gone on the record that the Indians aren't interested in developing platoon players, if you're looking for a way to integrate Phelps into the mix, this is the perfect opportunity to do so, playing him at 2B and 3B with days at DH when he's not in the field.
Already, I can hear from here "if the Indians are thinking that they're going to stick atop the AL Central with Buck, Nick Johnson, and Phelps as potential DH, this team is going to fall fast", and while that may be the prevailing notion, it ignores the transition in MLB as a whole and the fact that most teams have started using DH as a kind of "catch-all" position in the lineup, without a lot of production coming from the DH position for plenty of teams. If you think I'm making that up, realize that ½ of the AL teams have gotten an OPS of .720 or lower from their DH position this year. For some context on that, 6 of the 9 main position players for the Indians this year have an OPS over .720 with only Choo, Hannahan, and Cabrera coming in under that mark.
Actually, now that Choo's name has been mentioned, remember how it was mentioned about a month ago that Choo was starting to show signs of life back at the end of April, when he posted this line from the beginning of the Baltimore series to the end of the Detroit series?
.288 BA / .358 OBP / .492 SLG / .850 OPS with 6 extra-base hits in 67 PA
Anyone remember what happened in Sheffield Lake the night that the Tigers' series ended…right before that West Coast trip?
Certainly, it's an evening that Choo will never forget and it sent him into a tailspin on the West Coast (.374 OPS in those 6 games) just when he was finally catching some life in his bat. However, since he's returned from that West Coast trip, Choo has put forth this line over 9 games through Friday:
.303 BA / .410 OBP / .515 SLG / .925 OPS with 4 extra-base hits in 39 PA
So…Santana has started to produce, and now perhaps Choo is on the cusp of re-capturing the form that put him among the AL elite in terms of hitters?
Perhaps the "struggling" Santana and Choo are about to emerge to carry the Indians' offense at a time when they're most needed here. While the season-long numbers for Choo remain wildly disappointing, since I realize we're talking about small sample sizes here in looking at numbers from 6-game stretches and 9-game stretches, perhaps it is instructive to look at some larger amounts of plate appearances and deal in rate statistics (instead of BA, HR, etc.) to see how Choo v.2011 stacks up against what he's done in years past. There's no question that Choo's production is down in 2011, but compare his numbers so far to what he's done since playing full seasons in 2009 and 2010 and note that his rate stats are about the same, except for his Batting Average on Balls in Play, or BABIP.
Seriously, go look at those comparative numbers and notice that Choo's striking out at the same pace he has every year since his 2008 breakout, while hitting about the same percentage of line drives, with about the same ratio of groundballs to flyballs as he has over the past 3 years while he was establishing himself as an elite MLB player.
The only major difference for The BLC from year's past is how many of the balls he's putting in play that result in hits. By that I mean, his percentage of plate appearances in which he puts the ball in play has remained pretty much the same since 2008 up to and including this year (between 61% and 65%), but the percentage of those balls put in play that result in hits has seen a DRASTIC reduction.
For year, Choo's BABIP (Batting Average on Balls in Play) has been unusually high as his BABIP from 2008 to 2010 averaged out to 36% of those balls turning into hits. For some context on that, it's generally a rule of thumb that the average BABIP is around an even 30%. What we're seeing this year is Choo's BABIP drop to closer to 28% and, while that may not look like that big of a difference from what the MLB average is, in comparison to what Choo had compiled in the previous three years, it's a BIG difference.
So the question becomes whether Choo has just been a victim of bad luck or if his good luck has run out. In the past, the idea was that Choo's high BABIP was made possible by how hard he was hitting the ball (sorry, there's no measure for me to prove that) and if his rate stats are comparable, it would seem that he's making similar contact with the ball. If you want to delve deeper into his swings and contact rates, Fangraphs shows again that Choo's 2011 is about on par with what he's done for the past three years.
That being said, his numbers are what they are and his season-long numbers still are disappointing with ¼ of the games having been played. Maybe it's just a matter of him "breaking out" and maybe it's something that we've already seen. If it has already "happened", it would be precisely what the Indians need as they need him to start producing at a level that was expected of him for the Indians to weather this rash of injuries that has the potential of taking some of the teeth out of the Tribe offense.
The offense needs some stability and perhaps Sizemore provides more of it when he comes back, presumably on Friday, but the young players that had to take steps forward this year (and here's a great piece from Adam Van Arsdale, examining those steps taken) is what was needed for the Indians to get out to a hot start and that needs to be sustained for the Indians to stay atop the AL Central. Now the onus is on those young players to either continue to produce (Mike Brantley, Justin Credible, The Axe Man) or to perhaps even improve upon what they've already done (LaPorta and Carrasco) while the Indians need production from some familiar places (Choo and Sizemore) to continue to improve.
Additionally, the Indians are going to need to continue to benefit from pleasant surprises (like the ones that Josh Tomlin and Vinnie Pestano have provided) because they are about to be tested in a big way in terms of their upcoming schedule as, after the Reds leave town, their schedule breaks down like this for the next month:
Boston – 3 games at home
Tampa Bay – 3 games on the road
Toronto – 3 games on the road
Texas – 3 games at home
Minnesota – 3 games at home
New York – 3 games on the road
Detroit – 3 games on the road
If you're keeping score at home (and you really shouldn't be), that's the other two AL divisional leaders in the Yankees and the Rangers, the 2nd place teams in the AL East and the AL Central (Rays and Tigers), a Red Sox team that has gone 22-11 since their slow start, and a Toronto team that remains over .500.
That's a rough stretch of games on the horizon, so how the Indians react to some adversity is going to be telling in terms of whether this hot start will be remembered as just that or if the hot start represented a harbinger of things to come.
Watching games like those on Friday night and Saturday afternoon give the sense that the first two months of the season represent that harbinger (with the WSJ providing the evidence that the first two months means more than you might have thought), but the Indians are going to have to weather the coming storm for the next month.
To do so, they'll have to continue to overcome obstacles that loom large in the windshield. Then again, those ones in the rearview mirror looked pretty big at one point too…


text:
We have listed a new property at 803 2016 FULLERTON AVE in North Vancouver (R2299964 ). $355,000
What is the difference between this unit & a 1 bdrm? Just a wall! Rarely available spacious studio in Woodcroft's popular Lillooet bldg. Functional flr plan w/open concept lr, dr & distinct bdrm area w/walk-in closet. No wasted space & lots of storage. NW exposure w/private & green outlooks from all windows & a West facing balcony. Heat & hot water incl. in fees.1 pkg & locker. No rental restrictions. Bldg has outstanding amenities: gym, indoor pool, whirlpool, sauna, games rm, library, workshop, & meeting rms. 24/7 security & on-site property management. Bldg upgrades incl. plumbing, roof, elevator & common area. Close to transit, dt, Park Royal, Cap. U, beaches, hikes, Hwy. Perfect for a first time Buyer, Student, or Investor.


text:
Saving Versus Paying Off Debt
The saving versus paying off debt is an age-old quandary that has plagued people since the advent of consumer debt. Pose this question to a group of financial planners and the responses will be split, roughly down the middle. While there might be as many advocates for savings as there would be for paying down debt, the broad consensus will likely be that it really depends on the situation.
Much of the debt reduction argument stems from simple math. If you hold consumer debt that costs you 15% and the only available savings instruments yields 1%, then it would seem to be a no-brainer to pay the higher cost debt down. For as much as you can set aside in savings, the net effect is that you would be losing 14% on the money saved. So, the sooner you could pay the expensive debt off, the sooner you can be applying your cash flow to savings. Makes sense, right?
Most planners would agree that paying off high interest consumer debt should be a primary objective for all households, especially in today's economic environment. The yields on savings accounts are stuck at historic lows and consumer debt interest rates and fees continue to rise for most people. There are two instances, however, where accelerating debt reduction should not come at the expense of savings.
Saving for an Emergency Fund
One lesson most people can take from this economy is that nothing is certain, especially when it comes to employment. And that may not be the biggest worry that an individual or household has to face. Life happens to everyone and unexpected emergencies can interrupt incomes for long periods of time. As tempting as paying off a credit card may be, having a six to twelve month cushion for meeting emergency expenses is a more critical need. Without that cushion, one emergency could cast you back into the debt spiral again, or exacerbate the one you are already in.
Retirement Savings
Unless you're paying loan shark rates on your debt and it's inhibiting your ability to make your other ends meet, you might want to think twice before sacrificing contributions to your qualified retirement plan, especially an employer provided plan. The opportunity to save money on a before tax basis and have your employer match your contribution may not always be around, and the lost opportunity to have that money accumulate tax deferred for many years is very costly. Better to pare your retirement contribution back a little and find other means to make debt payments.
For most people, the savings versus debt payoff solution is to arrive at some sort of balance between the two as a way to gain greater control over their financial future. It makes a tremendous amount of sense to get out from underneath the weight of crushing debt, however, in these uncertain times, it is vital to continue to weave that security blanket which might be the only layer of protection you have against the unexpected.


text:
on this report, or find
other reports
Our Mystery Worshippers are volunteers who warm church pews for us around the world. If you'd like to become a Mystery Worshipper,
start here
Find out
how to reproduce this report in your church magazine or website.
2286: St Martin in the Fields, Trafalgar Square, London
© ChrisO and licensed for reuse
Mystery Worshipper:
Jezebel's Sister.
The church:
St Martin in the Fields
, Trafalgar Square, London.
Church of England
Diocese of London
The building:
St Martin's is a grand baroque landmark in the north-east corner of Trafalgar Square. The current building dates from the 1720s, but there has been a church on this site since at least 500 years before then. Six columns support a portico, above which the tall steeple rises to 192 feet. The tower contains an acclaimed ring of 12 bells, which were ringing as we arrived for this service. The wide steps overlooking Trafalgar Square are a popular place for tourists to sit and watch the world go by. There's a fascinating sculpture on the porch depicting the baby Jesus, not fully separated from the massive block of rock from which he's carved. Inside the church, the walls are white with a blinding amount of gilt detailing. The pews are dark. There are galleries on two sides for congregational overflow, with the massive organ occupying the west gallery. The windows are light and bright. It's gorgeous.
The church:
There are many special things about this inclusive church. It's dedicated to St Martin of Tours, famously patron saint of soldiers and beggars (less famously of geese, horses, alcoholics and more). The church's legendary outreach to the homeless and hungry has gone on for more than 100 years. Its links with the Chinese community are very strong, as it is just around the corner from London's Chinatown. There are services in Mandarin and Cantonese every Sunday, and there is a strong Chinese involvement in the English congregation. It's also notable musically, presenting several concerts each week, at lunchtime and in the evenings, and the volunteer choir have travelled internationally and produced a couple of CDs. The church is often the venue for BBC broadcasts of musical acts of worship. Handel famously played here. Mozart allegedly played here. St Martin's also has strong links internationally with mission and development organisations.
The neighbourhood:
Situated as it is on the corner of Trafalgar Square, neighbours include the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, Canada House and South Africa House, Nelson's Column, Leicester Square ... a long list of must-see attractions for any visitor to London are within a short stroll of the church. Buckingham Palace is in the parish, as is 10 Downing Street, the official residence of the Prime Minister.
The cast:
The Most Revd Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, preached. He also read one of his own poems and gave the blessing. The Revd Richard Carter presided. The choir of St Martin in the Fields was led by Andrew Earis, director of music, and accompanied by Martin Ford on organ and piano (not simultaneously). The former vicar of St Martin's was recently consecrated Bishop of Salisbury, so the church is in an interregnum at this time.
The date & time:
Advent Sunday, 27 November 2011, 6.30pm.
What was the name of the service?
Advent Carol Service: Heaven in Ordinary.
How full was the building?
I dont think they had to turn anyone away, but it was full, including the galleries, probably close to a thousand souls.
Did anyone welcome you personally?
Yes. An army of stewards was ready, starting outside on the porch and continuing inside, ensuring that everyone was greeted and given the order of service.
Was your pew comfortable?
No. It was a hard old wooden pew. Normally there is enough standing, sitting and kneeling for that not to be a problem, but there was one stretch in this service where we sat and sat and sat, through three readings, four choir pieces, a poem, the intercessions, and the sermon. We all sang very enthusiastically when a hymn came along and we could stand!
How would you describe the pre-service atmosphere?
Chatty, expectant, cheerful. It was a very large crowd and a happy occasion.
What were the exact opening words of the service?
"A very warm welcome to you to this our Advent service." The presiding priest went on to welcome especially visitors and those attending St Martin's for the first time. The lights were then dimmed, and the service itself started with an introit sung by the choir, out of sight at the back. The Archbishop read one of his own poems, also from the back of the nave. After that the choir and clergy processed to the front, singing the classic Advent opening hymn "O Come, O come, Emmanuel".
What books did the congregation use during the service?
A 14-page order of service contained all we needed.
What musical instruments were played?
Organ for everything except piano once. The president took the opportunity to deliver a couple of notices about forthcoming events and the Christmas appeal while the organist scurried back to the loft after the piano piece.
Did anything distract you?
I kept staring at the east window trying to work it out. It's meant to depict a cross as if under water, and there's an ovoid shape in the middle that was lit up against the dark sky. It must be electrified somehow. It is stunning, but quite distracting. I think this was the first time I had seen it in full darkness.
Was the worship stiff-upper-lip, happy clappy, or what?
Joyous. Neither stiff nor happy clappy. Proper Anglican carol service with the extra benefit of an esteemed preacher in a stunning location.
Exactly how long was the sermon?
14 minutes.
On a scale of 1-10, how good was the preacher?
10 The Archbishop has such a beautiful voice, and he spoke from the heart, I think. I couldn't see any notes. His enunciation is impeccable. He was vested simply, not in episcopal finery, and that made it even better, more intimate, despite the size of the congregation.
In a nutshell, what was the sermon about?
Archbishop Rowan started by talking about the "four last things": death, judgement, heaven and hell, and how different these are from our associations with the Christmas season: cards, turkey, presents, etc. But all the last things are about tomorrow, and in Advent we are having our eyes opened here and now. The theme of the service was "Heaven in Ordinary", from a poem by George Herbert; the readings had all been linked to that theme, and the Archbishop kept returning to it in his sermon. The best part was when he talked about death, and our reaction to the inevitability of it if we accept it with grace, that's heaven, but if we deny it and fight it, that makes life hell. In the end it was about seeing the world as "pregnant with life" and I couldn't help linking that to the egg shape in the window and the baby sculpture on the porch. It was the perfect sermon for the place and the occasion.
Which part of the service was like being in heaven?
The music the choir was lovely and there is such joy when we come round to singing the lovely Advent carols again.
And which part was like being in... er... the other place?
As mentioned earlier, the long stretch of just sitting was uncomfortable, and during the sermon we were sitting almost underneath the raised pulpit, so we could hear the Archbishop but we had to perform contortions to see him. That was bad planning on our part.
What happened when you hung around after the service looking lost?
The Archbishop and the other clergy were available at the back of the church for a handshake. The stewards and marshals were as friendly to people on the way out as they had been on the way in.
How would you describe the after-service coffee?
We didn't find out, but from the way the announcement was made I think the café was open for business, rather than offering hospitality.
How would you feel about making this church your regular (where 10 = ecstatic, 0 = terminal)?
10 I would love to but I am committed to my own church, and it's a bit of a distance to come. But this is a special place, with a strong congregation as well as a constant stream of visitors, many of whom are regulars as well. It's unique. I have been before and will come again.
Did the service make you feel glad to be a Christian?
Yes. And glad that it's Advent.
What one thing will you remember about all this in seven days' time?
The poetry: the Herbert poem that set the theme, the Archbishop's own poem at the beginning, and the Carol Ann Duffy (Britain's current Poet Laureate) poem in the middle.
We rely on voluntary donations to stay online. If you're a regular visitor to Ship of Fools, please consider
supporting us
The Mystery Pilgrim
One of our most seasoned reporters makes the Camino pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Spain.
Read here
London churches
Read reports from 70 London churches, visited by a small army of Mystery Worshippers on one single Sunday.
Read here
More Mystery Worshipper reports


text:
Boy favourable day can introduced sentiments entreaties. Noisier carried of in warrant because. So mr plate seems cause chief widen first. Two differed husbands met screened his. Bed was form wife out ask draw. Wholly coming at we no enable. Offending sir delivered questions now new met. Acceptance she interested new boisterous day discretion celebrated. Fat new smallness few supposing suspicion two. Course sir people worthy horses add entire suffer. How one dull get busy dare far. At principle perfectly by sweetness do. As mr started arrival subject by believe. Strictly numerous outlived kindness whatever on we no on addition. Cultivated who resolution connection motionless did occasional. Journey promise if it colonel. Can all mirth abode nor hills added. Them men does for body pure. Far end not horses remain sister. Mr parish is to he answer roused piqued afford sussex.
Visit Project