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Would anyone take exception to receiving a sleek new PowerBook, iBook, iMac, or Power Mac G5 this holiday season? Certainly not us, but our readers aimed for more humble and affordable ideas this year, focusing on hard drives, mice, and, the breakaway suggestion this year, laser printers. For a few more ideas, be sure to check out past hardware gift suggestions; everything on last year's list would still be welcome to most Mac users.
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tlkthrd=866+ 1240+1534+1804+2123>
And not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse -- It wouldn't be a TidBITS gift issue without someone suggesting one of Kensington's pointing devices, and this year Lorin Rivers sent in his pick, the Kensington Optical Elite mouse. It features five buttons, a scroll wheel, good drivers (the much-recommended MouseWorks software), and legendary telephone support (although Mark McKean later noted that Kensington's online support didn't match up to the quality of their phone support in his experience).
Hubba Hubba! TidBITS sponsor Dr. Bott has made some friends with their USB hubs. Michael Tardiff wrote, "Now that I look back on the year, I've managed to purchase quite a bit of stuff for my 12-inch PowerBook, but one item leaps to mind as the most useful and used: the Dr. Bott T3Hub Portable 3-port USB hub. It's little, comes in three colors to match any Mac, and is very portable indeed. What I like most, besides the size, is that it doesn't require power but still lets me run my USB LED keyboard light along with a USB wireless trackball, or any combination of devices I've thrown at it so far. I've gone through hell with other inexpensive hubs, but this one's been great. I gave one to a PC user who loves it as much as I do. For the obsessive-compulsive, it comes with little soft-plastic plugs for all three holes and the male plug. The plugs are easy to lose, but they show attention to detail.
<http://www.drbott.com/prod/db.lasso?code=3105- T3IB>
Mike Cohen agreed with the sentiment. "I really love Dr. Bott's T7Hub. It's the smallest and nicest looking 7-port hub I've seen, and it can work with or without an external power brick, depending on the devices you have attached. It works well with all of my devices, including a Canon N650U scanner. Interestingly, VueScan wouldn't recognize that scanner using my old Asante 8-port hub, but it does work with the T7Hub.
<http://www.drbott.com/prod/db.lasso?code=3122- T7UW>
The Hard Presents -- Joseph Jobes made the oh-so-practical (but still more romantic than a weedwhacker, guys!) suggestion of giving your sweetie an external hard drive, along with a good backup program. We recommend Retrospect, but there are others available that do a good job as well. The Maxtor OneTouch series of drives come with Retrospect Express and the clever OneTouch button to launch a backup, and the CMS ABSplus drives (which come in both portable and desktop versions) have their own backup software and launch backups as soon as they're connected. Of course, you could put one of these on your list, since as Joseph said, "Nothing makes me happier than recovering lost, damaged, or corrupted files!"
<http://www.maxtor.com/en/products/external/ onetouch/>
Christopher Schmidt was more specific with his choice of hard drives. "I love my SmartDisk FireWire drive because it is as quiet as my flat panel iMac, so I can use it in the living room. Mine is an older FireWire-only model, but it appears that the newer dual interface model uses the same heavy enclosure. At $230, it's not exactly a stocking stuffer, though."
Jim Foster went in a slightly different direction, recommending a Macally FireWire/USB 2.0 (PHR-100AC) External Hard Drive Enclosure for 3.5-inch drives. He noted, "It's terrific. My old Bondi Blue iMac had just died, and I needed to access files on the 60 GB internal hard drive I had installed in the iMac a few years back. It was a chore to get the drive out, but it took only a few minutes to pop it into the Macally enclosure. Then I walked it over to my wife's flat-panel iMac, hooked it up, and there were my two partitions sitting on her Desktop. I was even able to use it as the boot volume for her flat-panel iMac as well as the 500 MHz iBook I am using now. So the moral is, if you are lucky enough to have some spare Macs in your household, having a FireWire drive enclosure handy can get you back up and running quickly if one of your Macs takes a dive."
<http://www.macally.com/spec/firewire/storage/ phr250cc.html>
A Cheap Laser -- A surprising number of people suggested buying your loved one an inexpensive laser printer, since nothing says "Happy Holidays" like the smell of melting toner. Kevin van Haaren liked the fact that the laser printer he bought for $100 after rebate, a Samsung ml-1710, is faster than his inkjet, costs less per page, and supports all major operating systems. It's not a hit with his entire family though: "On the downside - my cat likes the inkjet better. He can watch the paper go in and come out, but the laser printer's paper tray hides the paper from him part of the time." Some cats prefer laser printers, though, since they're often warm places to sleep.
<http://www.samsungusa.com/cgi-bin/nabc/product/ b2c_product_detail.jsp?prod_id=ML- 1710%252fXAA>
Tomoharu Nishino seconded Kevin's idea, recommending the HP LaserJet 1012, which prints 15 pages per minute, starts up in 10 seconds with instant-on fuser, prints at 600 dpi (1200 dpi simulated), connects via USB 2.0, and works with Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X out of the box. He continued, "It's quite compact (about the same size as my Epson inkjet) and lightweight. 5,000 pages per month duty rating should suffice for most personal use, and because it's an HP the toner cartridges are widely available. The only downside is that it is a bit noisy when printing, and its use of USB makes it difficult to stuff in a closet, but for $200 you can't complain too much."
<http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/en/WF05a/ 18972-236251-236263-14638-236263- 377934.html>
Curtis Wilcox chimed in. "Last year my fiancee got the Brother HL-1440 (currently about $180). Physically it's a lot bigger and heavier than LaserJet 1012 but it has a regular paper drawer versus the 1012's inkjet-style paper tray (which Kevin's cat might like). It comes with only 2 MB of RAM but can be upgraded (34 MB max) with cheap 72-pin SIMMs, common to mid-90s computers. I heard the LaserJet 1012 yesterday and I'd say it's about as noisy as the Brother HL-1440 when printing. It works well with Mac OS X and the printouts look good. The Lexmark E220 might also be a good choice in this price range."
<http://www.brother.com/usa/printer/info/hl1440/ hl1440_ove.html>
<http://www.lexmark.com/US/products/overview/ 0,1224,MzU5M3wx,00.html>


text:
Mulberry Cream Cake
Mulberry Cream Cake
Without a doubt the best way to eat mulberries is straight from the tree (or from the ground, since mulberries fall down when they are perfectly ripe). If you'd like to make this delicious berry a part of your dessert dish, here's a simple cake you can whip up a jiffy, if you have soaked nuts and frozen bananas on hand (and a mulberry tree covered in berries somewhere in the neighborhood) ok well maybe it does take a little preparation.
Recipe Servings: 6
Recipe Total Time: 20
- 2 cups walnuts, soaked and dried in a dehydrator
- 1 cup dates, soaked for a couple of hours
- 3 bananas, peeled and frozen for 3-4 hours
- 1-1.5 cups mulberries (Morus Alba)
Blend walnuts and dates together in a food processor until the mixture is finely chopped and becomes sticky. Transfer the mixture into a 7" removable bottom cake pan and press with your fingers into the bottom and sides to make the crust. Blend frozen bananas in a food processor (or feed them through the Champion juicer with the solid plate installed) until they become smooth and resemble ice-cream in consistency. Place on top of the crust and level off with a spoon. Place mulberries on top of the cake. Remove the mold and serve at once.
Note: Preparation time is 20 minutes plus soaking, dehydrating and freezing time.

subset: commoncrawl


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Seniors scheduled for Wayland Baptist Field Trip
Published 11:55 am, Saturday, August 11, 2012
Excursion to Wayland Baptist University: All aboard! It's time to discuss a field trip to Wayland's Nunn Business Building for a computer course.
Otto B. Schacht, dean of business at WBU, will be our speaker at 11 a.m. Friday. We will meet at the center to discuss what each attendee wants to learn about computers, and then decide which afternoon we will go to the WBU campus.
I don't need to pack a bag and neither do you for this road trip to facts and fun.
As I mentioned last week, we are celebrating all teachers and school personnel with the AARP driver safety promotion. All current or retired educators, including pre-school teachers, guidance counselors, band directors, school nurses, cafeteria workers, janitors, school secretaries, aides, Sunday school teachers, pastors and parents who home-school their children are eligible to attend this course for just $5.
If you are not an educator, you may attend the course as well. AARP members with card pay $12 while non-members pay $14.
The course is scheduled from 10 a.m.-noon and 1-3 p.m. Thursday. Please call or come by the center to sign up.
Folks, I recommend you get over here pronto! You will have a blast. A day at the center is a very enjoyable and thrilling experience.
Monday: Grilled sausage, cabbage and potatoes, sweet peas, tossed salad, buttered biscuit, caramel cake.
Tuesday: Chicken spaghetti, spinach , tossed salad, garlic bread, peanut butter cake.
Wednesday: Cornflake chicken, carrots, tossed salad, buttered biscuit, lemon pudding.
Thursday: Hamburger steak with grilled onions, mashed potatoes, green beans, garlic herb biscuit, brownies.
Friday: Stuffed bell pepper, vegetable pasta salad, tossed salad, buttered biscuit, fruit cocktail cake
Norma Casanova is director of Hale County Senior Citizens Center.


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You may have seen airplanes with banners flying behind them when you go to beach. They are advertising places to shop or eat. The planes in this preschool number activity display the numbers from 1 to 10.
Your children will love matching the numbers on small clothes pins to the numbers on the banner.
Preschool Number Activity
Supplies for the Activity
- Airplane Number Lines
- Clothes Pins
- Permanent Marker
Putting the Activity Together
After printing out enough of the airplane number lines for your children, you will cut them out.
Next, you will need to write the numbers from 1-10 the ends of clothes pins. We used small clothes pin because that is what we had on hand at our house. You can use large clothes pins for this activity too. They may be easier for your children to open and close.
Preschool Number Activity Ideas
- You can have your children match the numbers on the banner to numbers on a clothes pin by placing the clip over the number on the banner.
- Your children can work on counting backward. They can start placing the number 10 clothes pin on the 10 and working their way to 1.
- They can count forwards. Children can place the number 1 clothes pin on the 1 and working their way to 10.
- You can hold up your fingers to represent a specific number. Your children will need to find the clip with that number and place it on that number on the banner.
This activity was designed to go along with the Virtual Book Club book of the week The Noisy Airplane Ride. Here are some more airplane themed activities for kids.
Here are some more wonderful math activities:


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Need to buy parts for this project?
Click here to order!
BMW uses a remote oil filter housing on their V8 engines. The external oil filter housing is mounted on the driver side of the engine compartment towards the front behind the headlight assembly. It also contains an oil pressure switch mounted at the base of the assembly. The housing is rubber mounted to the body of the car. Over time these rubber mounts can break and they are replaceable items. Oil lines bring high pressure oil to the housing to get filtered. This also dissipates some of the heat the oil absorbs from the engine. These lines and fittings can leak as O-rings age. In this tech article we will go over all the steps to replace your oil filter housing and lines.
Here we are under the hood on the left side behind the headlight looking at the oil filter housing. Remove the two 10mm fasteners (green arrows) that mount the oil filter housing to the rubber mounts.
If your mounts are broken and you are going to replace them use a 19mm wrench to remove the mounts (green arrows) from the body mounted bracket.
Use a flat head screwdriver to remove the hose clamp for the hose that mounts at the bottom of the housing.
At the bottom of the oil filter housing unplug the electrical connector (green arrow) for the oil switch by pushing the retaining clip in the direction of the blue arrow and lift the connector straight upwards.
Loosen the 13mm securing nut that holds the bracket which holds the oil lines in place in the oil filter housing.
Remove the bracket that holds the oil lines by lift it upwards in the direction of the blue arrow.
Grab the oil feed line and pull it in the direction of blue arrow to remove the line from the housing.
Grab the oil return line and pull it in the direction of the blue arrow to remove the line from the housing.
Use an angle head pick to remove the O-rings that seal the oil lines in the housing. Always install new O-rings. Installation is the reverse of removal.
Need to buy parts for this project?
Click here to order!


text:
K2K Radio is London's No1 participatory radio station
connect | gain skills | develop experience | build communities
K2K Radio was set up in 2012 by Max Graef and Caren Owen, broadcasting from The Albert in South Kilburn, to provide a platform for people to share their voices and passions with the world. Since then, the tribe has blossomed and now has a dedicated station manager, a super tech team of 16 studio managers, media consultants and 60 regular DJs presenting a mix of great tunes, random endeavours, local (we're in NW6, London) and global focus plus wonderful conversation with a sprinkle of convivial banter.
We offer free radio production workshops, throw fun parties, welcome new presenters and listeners daily. Be a creative! Join us!
have a show | help run the station | listen | get involved
The station run by you and for you
#K2KRadio @KilburntoKensal


text:
About Us
The weapons of Halo 4 make some beautiful noises
posted: 8/9/2012 11:25:00 PM
More On:
Halo 4
I have to admit that
Halo 4
is the first Halo game that I've really looked forward to since
Halo 2
. Why? Because the game is adding some new enemies and the game will hopefully be Flood free (I know they will probably show up a but a guy can dream can't I?). I didn't get a lot of time with the game at E3 but I did get a chance to play some of the new Spartan Ops mode with former Gaming Nexus writer Tina Amini.
Back to the point, 343 Industries has released this new trailer which gives you a sneak peak at the various death dealing devices you'll have at your disposal in the game and what they'll sound like. This will help you identify how screwed you are when you hear the pling of the Sticky Detonator. The video is also nice as it is completely free of dubstep which will allow you to focus on the boom of the shotgun rather than the wubwub of the soundtrack.
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text:
007 fans hail Adele's Bond theme
James Bond fans have welcomed Adele's "classic" theme for the latest 007 film after a short clip was leaked online.
The award-winning singer has teamed up with Paul Epworth, who co-wrote and produced her massive hit Rolling In The Deep, to write Skyfall for the new film of the same name.
Fans were given a taste of the track when a 90-second clip appeared on the Soundcloud website but it was removed within hours. The track, recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London with a 77-piece orchestra, was not due to be given its premiere until 0.07am on Friday on Adele's website.
Ajay Chowdhury, from the James Bond International Fan Club, said: "There are three types of Bond song - one is bold, brassy and sexy like Goldfinger, another is reflective and mournful like You Only Live Twice, and the third is anthemic and adventurous like Live And Let Die.
"Adele's song is very definitely reflective and mournful. Co-written by her and Paul Epworth, with an arrangement by Epworth and JAC Redford, this 50th anniversary theme is Bondian but very Adele too.
"It's a beautiful ballad that promises to become a Bondian classic. I can imagine it in the film, underlaid by Daniel Kleinman's titles - Bond fans are in for an aural treat."
Adele has said she was "hesitant" about recording the song. She said: "There's a lot of instant spotlight and pressure when it comes to a Bond song. But I fell in love with the script and Paul had some great ideas for the track and it ended up being a bit of a no-brainer to do it in the end.
"It was also a lot of fun writing to a brief, something I've never done, which made it exciting.
"When we recorded the strings it was one of the proudest moments of my life. I'll be backcombing my hair when I'm 60, telling people I was a Bond girl back in the day, I'm sure."
The film, again starring Daniel Craig as Bond, is to be given its premiere on October 26.
Press Association


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Online communities may help youth overcome suicidal behaviourJanuary 11th, 2008 - 3:26 pm ICT by admin
Washington , Jan 11 (ANI): A University of Alberta researcher has found that online community can prove to be helpful for youngsters having suicidal tendencies.
Elaine Greidanus, a grad student in Educational Psychology said that teens are difficult to reach and there havent been many services earlier that directly target adolescent suicidal behavior. She also said that teens prefer internet for the emotional support rather than phone or seeing a counselor.
Greidanus did a study to see the extent to which cyber support was helpful and observed an online help site, where teens would create an anonymous thread, and studied about a dozen participants.
She found that trained volunteers, who helped the adolescents, would write messages including: It sounds like you are experiencing a lot of pain right now, What are some things that give you strength in your life" and If you read some of the other threads, you may be surprised that several people have similar feelings.
The volunteers would frequently suggest specific resources including local telephone help lines or talking to a counsellor. In addition to that, even other adolescents were found to offer advice.
Greidanus noticed messages of empathy including Stop hurting yourself, I care for you! and You should go to the doctor.
It was discovered that these messages helped the participants to develop a relationship and a sense of community with their peers.
"Accessing adolescents and providing services in a way that they will actually seek help is a critical issue, said Psychologist, university professor and expert in adolescent suicidal behaviour Dr. Robin Everall.
According to Everall, the understanding of how adolescents interact and communicate with each other on the internet can open new channels for connecting with distressed youth.
He said that it was encouraging that well designed and monitored cyber communities are being used.
It was found that the teens emphasized the importance of expressing their thoughts and feelings to a community who understood.
Greidanus suggested that the online community created an opportunity to seek and receive social support they would not otherwise have.
It was also found that many participants, who themselves were seeking support initially, began writing to support others.
Greidanus believes that the online community is a meaningful peer-based support system. (ANI)
Tags: adolescent, adolescents, counsellor, critical issue, cyber communities, cyber support, distressed youth, dozen participants, educational psychology, emotional support, grad student, new channels, specific resources, suicidal behavior, suicidal behaviour, suicidal tendencies, target, university of alberta, university professor, youngsters


text:
Conveniently located in the heart of downtown Portland, Eliot Center accommodates 10-900 guests in a blend of traditional historic, and new contemporary venues. Eliot Center is committed to hosting events that support sustainability, social justice, the arts, community, and education. We look forward to making your next event a success!
Buchan Reception HallCapacity - 160 seated, 250 standing2600 sq ft of naturally well-lit space
10+ Buchan ClassroomsCapacity - up to 75 people
Executive Conference RoomCapacity 12 people
Historic Eliot ChapelCapacity 250 PeopleBuilt in 1924, National Registry of Historic Places
Main Street SanctuaryCapacity 700 peopleTheater style seating with balconyBeautiful historic 1880's pipe organ and grand piano
Channing RoomCapacity 30 peopleFormal Parlor type setting from 1924
Fuller HallCapacity - 180 seated, 250 standingInformal, comfortable seating Learn More
Find UsMap and Directions click here
First Unitarian Church of Portland | 503-228-6389 | Copyright © 2010


text: Hi All, First of all, i have at my second disk freebsd divided over two slices and i have one last slice on that disk for netbsd. Now... i made the slices for freebsd with the freebsd fisk. When i let linux look at those slices, then it says that those slices dont start at the beginning of a cylinder and not ending at one or soimething like it. ...So it reports errors to that slices. Now i made with the linux fdisk a slice for netbsd and changed it while installing netbsd. Then i made labels in the slice. When i sometimes boot freebsd, it said that the labels in the netbsd slice are not completly within the slice and freebsd truncates them. So i see, that linux, freebsd and netbsd handle the disks quite differently. Which one is the best in handling the disks. Cause all reports errors to one another etc etc.... Who is right? Secondly, imagine i have a disk of 150 gig. And i want to put netbsd on it. Is that possible without problems? What if i have a directory in a partition in a slice wich contains 1.000.000 files in it... I believe that the ufs cannot handle this, cause the inodes are not enough. The xfs can handle this without a problem cause it doenst work that way with inodes i believe. Also, because of the logging of the file system it can nearly always be recovered. Also when the partition are gone. Imagine of course that i have the loggin of the xfs on a different disk. Now i heared that the ufs works with the synchronisation of metadata. What does that mean exactly? Can ufs also always be recovered? Also when even the slices are gone? When you turn of the power.... the ufs needs a little time to recover itself. The xfs doenst need anytime to recover because of the logging. Well.... reading about the xfs i get the impression that the xfs is a little better then the ufs. Furthermore..... i cannot read information about the ufs anywhere about the recovering possibilities. About the synchronisation etc etc. I searched the net. Anybody knows where i can find things about this? Is there also a logging fs for netbsd? There is one but......... for large partitions the logging fs can become very slow i believe. But... another nice thing of an lfs is that when you overwritten a directory, you can recover it because of the logging. I want to learn much more of the possibilities of the ufs and impossiblities. What are the plans for ufs in the future etc. Is there something gonna be done about the inodes and the way ufs handles them. Cause how can the ufs ever handle dirs with many files and such and being still able to use the resty of the disk space? Right now, i tend to think that the xfs is a little bit better (what is better?????) the the ufs because of what i mentioned above. Plz forgive my ignorance if i am completly out of line here, but right now, i think so. Hope to hear something. Bye, Reinoud.


text:
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- The murder trial of a Philadelphia abortion provider has spawned courtroom debate over when life ends, as opposed to when it begins.
Dr. Kermit Gosnell is charged with killing four babies after they were born alive. Prosecutors say he cut the babies' spines after they were delivered and wouldn't have done so if they were dead.
In closing arguments Monday, Gosnell's defense lawyer called it "ridiculous" to say babies were still alive after in-utero injections of the heart-stopping drug Digoxen (di-JOCKS'-en).
But Gosnell's former staff members have quoted the doctor as saying it was tough to hit the fetal heart through the abdomen. And they have testified they saw babies move, breathe or cry.
Jury deliberations are expected to start Tuesday.
Gosnell is also charged in a patient's overdose death.
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text:
Researchers at Stanford University and Microsoft recently found that people were searching for serious side effects of combining two drugs even before doctors identified the link themselves.
It doesn't sound very reassuring, but researchers believe they could use search logs from millions of web users to pinpoint dangerous interactions between prescription drugs. Such interactions are notoriously difficult to predict and monitor in controlled conditions, reports New Scientist.
The researchers mined the US Food and Drug Administration's database of adverse drug events to find commonly used drugs which could pose a threat when combined with other drugs. The found that some antidepressants, such as paroxetine and pravastatin, could interact together to put patients at risk of developing diabetes.
Then they kindly asked Microsoft for help and Redmond obliged, providing an add-on to its Internet Explorer browser, allowing millions of consenting users to share their search histories anonymously.
The researchers then cross referenced searches for paroxetine and pravastatin with searches for typical symptoms of high blood sugar levels. It worked and they found a spike in searches mentioning the symptoms and drug names.
However, it should be noted that researchers used data collected from Internet Explorer users, and they tend to represent the mouth breathing sections of the human gene pool.


text:
April 2012 was the month when heated debates took place over the redistricting of San Francisco's neighborhoods. Every ten years the city looks at the population of the city and redraws district lines to ensure fair representation for the supervisors who represent them. The Portola used to be split between district 9 and 10. Yet after much toing and froing, the whole neighborhood landed in D9, along with our hipster neighbors in Bernal Heights and the Mission.
With this change we now have one supervisor who represents all three neighborhoods and that man, right now, is David Campos. We will always attempt to steer clear of any political bias, but we felt that we wanted to know more about what a supervisor actually does. So we at the Portola Planet (all one of us) felt it our duty to drag a camera and notebook all the way down to city hall (4.2 miles) and ask Mr Campos some hard lined political questions.
What took place in reality was we bought him coffee and a muffin and spent a nice hour or so chatting about how much we love San Francisco. We also discussed some interesting things that we would like to share with everyone.
An Interview With A Supervisor
Portola Planet (PP): So first off, describe the role of a supervisor and what that means to the residents of district 9.
David Campos (DC): I think there are about two to three different overarching roles that we have. One is we are a member of the cities legislator, so we pass laws that govern not only your district but over the entire city. So that's a very important role. Second, and probably more important, is that you serve as a facilitator to the community. Ensure that the nuts and bolts that make a community function well are taken care of. Making sure the streets are clean, pot holes are filled, lights are working, etc.
PP: That sounds like a very mundane part of the job. I mean, you are not literally walking around looking for broken street lights that need repairing are you?
DC: It's an interesting challenge. Because under the city's charter we are not allowed to get involved in the day to day operations. Our role is to ensure that when someone in the neighborhood has a concern, the agency involved addresses it. So for example when there is a pot hole and someone calls the Department of Works and for whatever reason they don't respond, we usually get to know.
PP: Ahh, so you give the innocent citizen a greater voice to get things done. So give us a good example of this in action in your last four years in office.
DC: Err well, so one of the things we have been working on is the issue of the condition of our streets. You know, I have been very frustrated that the quality of the streets in San Francisco, in terms of pot holes and street paving. It's not where it needs to be.
PP: In comparison to?
DC: Well other cities. There is actually a standard that is followed with regards to the quality of our streets and it's not at the ideal level. So one of the things that I do is I make a point of going around the neighborhoods and identifying problems. But this leads to another frustration, DPW doesn't have a lot of money to fix all these streets.
PP: So it's not a case of negligence, but a problem of resources?
DC: Right. So one of the things we have been working on for a few years is how do we bring more money to DPW? We just recently had something on the ballot that brings more money to DPW to address this problem. So this is a good example of how our ability to pass law can directly help the quality of life for the people in our districts.
PP: So you mentioned there are three roles to a supervisor. The first being the ability to pass law, the second being your responsibility to the district, what's the next?
DC: Ahh, so besides addressing the specific needs of your district, you are also making sure the city as a whole, collectively addresses issues. The last role is one that I take very seriously, is that we are also here to provide oversight over city agencies. Making sure that, even though we don't have the ability to get involved in the day to day running of the agencies, we do have a responsibility to provide oversight on how those agencies are run. I am a big believer in best practices. So I have been one of the supervisors who has been calling for more audits and reviews on the management practices of agencies. I really believe we have to make the most of every penny of every dollar spent.
PP: So how effective is the supervisor's ability of agency oversight?
DC: Well the MTA, which runs Muni, is one of the largest agencies in the city. It has a budget of about 800 million dollars. You know that's a budget, by the way, that is larger than the budgets of many countries in the world. As we were looking into the management of the MTA, we realized they had not had a management audit in fifteen years. So we called for an audit because we believe that it is best practice, seeing if we are managing this money and the agency well. We were asking this without prejudging it, we just didn't have any visibility into it. So one of the things the management audit found was that there not sufficient oversight by the board of directors that led to poor management of overtime. Muni accounts for close to fifty percent of the cities total overtime. What we learned during this audit was that over the past two year period not once did the board of directors even discuss the issue of overtime. There was no plan to address overtime. My point is that if you are a business owner and you're consistently overspending in overtime, you are asking yourself, do I have proper staffing? Is this the best and most cost effective way to run my business? So that audit led to the creation of an overtime plan to curtail those costs.
We also looked into how Muni managed capital projects, such as building a rapid transit system on Van Ness. On average these projects were 526 days over schedule. A year and a half behind. That in turn showed on average they were ninety million dollars over budget.
PP: So an agency with a budget of 800 million dollars could easily miss the approval of a few million here and there. This can easily add up…
DC: Right. So our role as supervisor is not about pointing fingers and laying blame, but more understanding how we can do the best we can to spend the cities money.
Running for district 9
PP: Gotcha. So why did you run for supervisor of district 9?
DC: Running for office is such a personal thing, and for me, it is about giving back. I'm an immigrant. I came here as a kid from Guatemala and I have been blessed by this country. I have received opportunities I would never have had.
PP: So you were born in Guatemala? What age did you come to the United States?
DC: My parents brought me here when I was fourteen. I was able to get a great education because of this country. I went through the public school system, I was lucky enough to be accepted into Stanford University and then Harvard Law School. You know my parents came here with no money and that someone like me, can go through those educational institutions, get those degrees, I was very lucky. So me being on the board of supervisors is a way for me to give back to the country.
PP: When you first came to the country, was it straight to San Francisco?
DC: I first went to Los Angeles. Then I came up here for Stanford, then law school in Boston. But I knew I wanted to come back to San Francisco. After being exposed to the city when I was at Stanford, I knew I wanted to come back.
PP: What was your first residence in San Francisco?
DC: So in 1997 I moved here and my partner and I lived in Twin Peaks for a bit. I was working at a law firm at the time and after we finally paid off our loans we wanted to buy a property. I was very familiar with district 9 and I knew I wanted to be in that part of the city. We were lucky enough at the time to be able to afford a place to buy so we moved into Bernal Heights. I wouldn't be able to afford it today!
So I had a choice before I decided to run for office. I had a well-paying job. I was running the legal department for the San Francisco school district. It was a very fulfilling job and I had an accomplished career. But I wanted to be more involved in the policy making and that's when I decided to run for supervisor.
I thought that even though my role for the school district was very important, I wanted more of a say on the policies that were being created. It was a difficult decision because I knew how challenging elected life can be.
PP: What do you mean?
DC: Challenging as in you are in the public eye. There are also so many competing interests that it is hard to make everyone happy. You know explaining it to my parents was really interesting. They had a hard time understanding why I wanted to give up a well-paid, fulfilling job and if I was lucky, get elected into a job that pays a fraction of before and probably end up working harder.
PP: And answer not only to your boss, but to the 70,000 citizens of your district! So what was your parent's reaction?
DC: I think because of the immigrant experience, they found it hard to understand why I would take a position that wouldn't pay the same financial rewards. But they also know, because of the values they instilled in me, that money is not everything.
District 9 getting some attention
PP: So now you are the supervisor. With the recent change in district 9 to now include the whole of the Mission, Bernal Heights and the Portola. How are you going to assure that residents of the Portola are going to get some of your attention?
DC: I'm very mindful of the fact that the Portola is going into a district where you have very engaged and very active Bernal Heights and Mission communities. I actually see that as a positive, because one of the things a supervisor can do is make connections amongst the communities. We already have the Portola Neighborhood Association working with the Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center. I actually think that because the Bernal community and Mission community are very engaged, it is very positive for the Portola because they will be a part of that engagement. There is already evidence of this, seeing people like Robert Ramirez (Portola Neighborhood Association program manager) meeting with Eric Arguello of the Lower 24th Street Merchants Association. Or Robert meeting with the executive director of the Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center, Rachel Ebora.
PP: Previously for the past 10 years the Portola was divided into two districts, 9 and 10. With it now all in 9, you are saying that instead of looking at each neighborhood, the Portola, Bernal and the Mission, but that it is more about looking at district nine as a whole to work together as a community.
DC: That's what we are trying to do. I think that another challenge we had when the neighborhood was split was it was confusing for people to know which supervisor to go to. We saw that same confusion in the north Mission when it was split between district 6 and district 9.
PP: Ahh so it isn't just the Portola that has been united into one district now, but also the Mission?
DC: Exactly. That's a very positive thing. It allows people to know who the point person is. It brings a level of accountability that wasn't there before. The fact of the matter is, if you look at the geographical distance between neighborhoods, it's not that far.
PP: Just the freeway which separates…
DC: You have a freeway and I know that's a physical barrier and there is a psychological barrier that comes with that too. But I think that this is about breaking down those barriers and as a supervisor it's one of the roles I play to break down those barriers. Let me give you another example right, one of the things I heard from the folks in the Portola is that we want to raise the visibility of the neighborhood. We want more people in San Francisco to know about the Portola.
PP: [Laughs] Right!
DC: We want more people outside of San Francisco to know about the Portola, right? One of the things we can do to make that happen is to ensure that in these city wide efforts, that the Portola is part of them. One of these examples is Sunday Streets. It is something that kinda started in the Mission and that many people in the Portola are very interested in.
PP: What is Sunday Streets?
DC: So Sunday Streets happens a few times a year. We are trying to make it happen at least once a month. On a given day, a whole main street/corridor is blocked off. There are no cars, no traffic. People can walk, ride a bike, skateboard…
PP: So it's not necessarily a commercial thing, it's just a community saying let's block off a street, go hang out, have a BBQ…
DC: But it also can have a commercial component. What we are seeing with Sunday Streets in the Mission is, it isn't just those local to the neighborhood, but we also see a lot of people outside the neighborhood coming in. The merchants have actually benefitted tremendously from that. So I know that certain people in the Portola are considering having Sunday Streets come to the Portola. The fact that is has been happening in the Mission all this time, creates an opportunity for the Portola to work with them and learn what they did to make it happen, what mistakes were made and how they could do it better.
PP: Does this happen in Bernal as well?
DC: It happens in the Mission, China Town.. But Bernal hasn't done anything yet.
PP: Ah ha, so another chance for the Portola to "one up" the Bernal? Nothing like a bit of friendly inter-neighborhood competition.
DC: [Laughs] Exactly, absolutely…
A pocket park on San Bruno Avenue
PP: So the planned pocket park at Burrows and San Bruno, what has been your involvement with this?
DC: Well we were involved from the beginning when people started talking about this. Our role was to support the effort in different ways. We connected the neighborhood activists [and] with the city agencies that are responsible for making this happen. DPW, Rec and Park and also other outside agencies such as CalTrans. We helped them get a good understanding of what needed to happen within the bureaucracy to make something like that be finalized. There were applications for funding we supported.
PP: Do you know if the request for funding has been approved?
DC: I think that some of it was. When something like this happens, when there is an interest on the part of the residents of the neighborhood, what we do is make sure we work with them to connect them with the right city agencies and also ensure the agencies know we are supportive of this.
PP: Facilitation is what I am hearing here. Telling people "you need to speak to them" and they know that you are on this making sure something is going to do something about it.
DC: Yes, and then you know once a park is built. It is about making sure it is maintained and used.
PP: Cool, that is going to be exciting. Because that whole San Bruno Avenue corridor has a lot of potential and there is a lot of change already happening.
DC: Let me give you another example of where I think the cross collaboration between communities is going to be helpful. One of the things we did with the 24th street corridor is we engaged in a community planning process. We provided some funding for the community to work with the city planning department, the mayor's office, the residents and the merchants to see what they wanted that wanted that corridor to look like. We went through that process for about a year plus. I would like to see that happen with San Bruno Avenue, and again, the lessons we learned with the 24th street corridor are lessons we can learn when planning the future of the San Bruno Avenue corridor.
PP: Is this something that has started?
DC: Not yet, that is something we are working on that we would like to kick off.
PP: This leads nicely into the rumors about the Avenue Theatre that CVS has an interest in taking over.
DC: This planning would involve discussions about that. You know, what is the neighborhood interested in having that corridor look like? What are the specific things they would like to see? What are the concerns? The priorities? One of the things we found out with 24th street was concerns around lighting. So we spent a lot of time dealing with that. Cleanliness of the streets was another big concern. So I think having a forum or a process to have these discussions is very useful. It leads to understanding what the needs are. Do we need another CVS type establishment?
And finally… McLaren Park?
PP: So my final question, McLaren Park. It's a big part of the Portola. How does that play into the plans for district 9?
DC: Look, McLaren Park is now part of districts 9, 10 and 11 and in many respects that's a very good thing, because now you have three supervisors working on this. I really believe we have to make an investment in our parks and recreational spaces, because for me, these spaces are about more than just recreation. It's also a public safety issue. Giving young people opportunities to do something positive, after school, in the summer. It's a health issue as well right? Because of the ability to engage in recreational activities, simply going for a walk, keeps all of us, of any age, healthy. So I've been a big advocate for the city in providing more resources to McLaren Park. We have been fighting for a few months to get more money into a bond that is on the ballot in this November's election. We have close to ten million dollars being dedicated to McLaren Park.
PP: Wow, that's a big chunk.
DC: It is a big chunk of money. I don't think it goes far enough. But it does show the level of commitment the city has. We are going to continue to push really hard to ensure it gets this ten million but also more money comes in.
PP: So if that money does happen, where does it go? Right to Recs and Park?
DC: It goes to Rec and Park, but always in the process of developing a spending plan they take into account the concerns and input of the community.
Our interview ran right into another scheduled meeting with David, so we ended up saying our thanks as we packed our bags. He was very welcoming and open about everything we discussed and I hope the readers of the Planet have also found this an interesting read. You can contact David via the information on his city website. You can also sign up to David's newsletter, Campos Connect, and keep informed of things taking place in his office.


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Tag Archives: the ultimate fighter brazil
TUF Brazil Fighters Celebrate By Hoisting Brittney Palmer (GIF)
During the Coaches' Challenge for the 15th season of The Ultimate Fighter, a.k.a. The Ultimate Fighter: Live, Urijah Faber and Dominick Cruz battled it out for a whopping $20,000. It was quite the cash reward for whoever could make it through the military obstacle course first (that would be Faber in this instance), but it […]


text: Hi Alan,On Wed, Jul 10, 2002 at 07:38:23PM +0100, Alan Cox wrote:> > While I understand the possible value, are printk translations> > really important enough to justify?> > Is it worth chsnging the kernel just for translations - probably not. If> it comes out as a convenient side effect - yes.I'd still say no. Kernel messages are meant not meant for end users but forkernel developers. The latter all speak english, but chances are that mostof them won't understand japanese kernel messages. So they would need tobe translated back before posted here.If you want translated kernel messages, use message IDs, that can be parsedand translated in userspace, if somebody really needs it.Regards,-- Kurt Garloff <email@example.com> Eindhoven, NLGPG key: See mail header, key servers Linux kernel developmentSuSE Linux AG, Nuernberg, DE SCSI, Security[unhandled content-type:application/pgp-signature]


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SyFy Show Attacked by Gay Group
January 23, 2013 | Filed Under Cable, Democrats/Leftists, Entertainment, Gays, Hollywood, Liberals, Progressives, TV, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off on
SyFy Show Attacked by Gay Group
-By Warner Todd Huston
If you've watched SyFy, the science fiction cable channel, you may be aware of a show called Lost Girl. The show is well known as being quite "inclusive" commonly portraying gay, lesbian and cross dressing characters. Despite this fealty to the cause, a national gay group is still attacking the show over a recent episode.
Lost Girl follows the exploits of a heroine named Bo who investigates crimes involving supernatural or mythic beings such as vampires and the like. The show is in its third season on SyFy.
After the debut of its third season opener, the show, a Canadian import, has apparently made an enemy of GLAAD, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, over the way a particular "transgender" character was treated.
Even though the "transgender" character happened to be the villain in the episode, the gay advocacy group was angered by the violent and humiliating end the character experienced.
The villain was a warden in a woman's prison run by fabled Amazons and portrayed as female through most of the show but the reveal at the end proved the character to actually be a man. The evil warden ended the episode dragged brutally out of the scene after being viciously grabbed in the crotch.
Later other characters insist on referring to the warden as a "he" instead of a "she" despite that he chooses to appear as a woman. This particularly upset GLAAD because other characters denied the "choice" of gender chosen by the warden.
In a statement GLAAD disparaged the show for its attack on the transgender character.
"The Warden being 'discovered' and then viciously attacked is a scenario tragically based in reality, but here is played out for the enjoyment of the audience," Kane said. "It's also evocative of the offensive claim that transgender women are 'tricking' their way into female-only spaces for perverted or criminal purposes."
The show's producers initially scoffed at GLAAD's attack saying that it doesn't deal with human characters but mythical creatures and the warden wasn't just a man, he was a shapeshifter.
Regardless, producers have sitill apologized for upsetting GLAAD, saying, "Lost Girl prides itself on being open and accepting to everyone, and are enthusiastic supporters of the GLBT community."
Mark this one in the "can't win for losing" category.
"The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it."
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Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart's BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, RightPundits.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, AmericanDaily.com, among many, many others. Mr. Huston is also endlessly amused that one of his articles formed the basis of an article in Germany's Der Spiegel Magazine in 2008.
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Home > Travel Guide > Nature Tour 1 > Nature Tour 2 > Florida Nature Tour 3Express Deals, Hotels up to 60% off with NO bidding!
Orlando Nature Tour, Day 3
Exploring Canaveral Florida National Seashore, Kennedy Space Center and Cocoa Beach
Here, at the end of your nature drive, you enjoy the Canaveral National Seashore, see the best of the NASA John F. Kennedy Space Center, and end up on the Cocoa Beach, Fla "strip," with an optional stop at the famous Ron Jon's Surf Shop.
The NASA John F. Kennedy Space CenterFrom the Ormond Beach and Daytona Beach areas, drive south on Interstate 95.
At exit 79, take the well-signed road eastbound into the Kennedy Space Center.
After crossing the Intercoastal Waterway, the visitor complex comes up on your right, including its outdoor rocket displays.
A surprise for you: Admission is free.
In fact, nothing at the Cape Canaveral Space Center, including its guided tour, costs very much. American taxpayers have paid dearly for all that is around you.
The National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA), the civilian agency charged with running most of the U.S. space program, depends on public support to promote its funding. Consequently, a "red carpet" is rolled out for visitors.
Always, NASA must defend its programs against those who say the money should go instead to fix America's problems: the national debt, cancer, failing schools, substandard housing, etc. Opponents ignore the potential benefits of exploring space.
NASA works hard to impress us here.
An IMAX theatre projects the exhilaration of outer space, indoors and outdoor displays of space artifacts dazzle, and a gift shop of far more than usual interest beckons.
However, the big deals here are the Kennedy Space Center organized tours.
One highlights the former command center. "Failure is not an option."
Another lets you see the launch sites along the Atlantic shore.
Often, you pass rockets being prepared for takeoff. Some launches continue, especially for military and intelligence purposes, in spite of funding cutbacks.
The space center becomes more and more crowded as the day goes on, especially during school holidays, so try to arrive as early as possible to avoid booked up tours.
Before visiting, you may wish to read Tom Wolfe's fine book "The Right Stuff" about the early space program, or view the great movie of the same name. In addition, you may wish to watch the film "Apollo 13" before your trip, as this will deepen your experience of this place.
While here, you can't help but think of the brave pioneers, including some who gave their lives, who have been here before you, as well as all the dedicated support staff who helped make the dream come true.
»» Next: Canaveral National Seashore
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Ken Fisher – Grateful Deaf "Zythos" Black IPA tapping @ Saraveza
May 3, 2013 @ 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm
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Fri, May 3rd 6:00PM Saraveza hosts Grateful Deaf brewer, Ken Fisher for a Portland Deaf Night Out and special tapping of his Grateful Deaf "Zythos" Black IPA brewed at Fort George Brewery in Astoria, OR. This is Ken's nationally acclaimed Black IPA brewed last year at the Jopen Brewery in Haarlem, the Netherlands. Ken is planning another brewery trip to Europe in August and Fort George is helping him cover the cost of traveling with his interpreter, Aurora Parks-Riggs. So come on down for a pint of this delightfully dark brew and a chance to meet the legendary gypsy brewer himself! The Grateful Deaf Zythos Black IPA is exactly what the name implies… It's a Black IPA that has been hopped to the high heavens with heaps of delicious zythos hops that were graciously donated by Hopunion. Though a dark beer it remains crisp and not overly roasty.


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Technological advances. New media. Dynamic change. For nearly 20 years, the advertising world has been warned of a turbulent future, one that required the industry to either embrace it or find the industry left in the dust. "The advertising business may be heading for trouble – or it may be heading for a new age of glory. Believe it or not, the direction – up or down – is in our hands." These words were uttered in 1994 by Ed Artzt, the CEO of Procter and Gamble, as he foreshadowed a time of tremendous change.
With social media, digital media, and an explosion of communication channels, the promise of turbulence has arrived. And with the turbulence, significant change in the advertising industry arrived. What follows is an interview with an advertising agency "hybrid", Dan Roglin. Dan has worked in the advertising industry for over 20 years, developing campaigns for leading brands such as Porsche, Sea-Doo, PetSmart, California Pizza Kitchen (Kraft frozen), AirTran Airways and others. He grew up on the database marketing side of the business and was eventually promoted to senior strategic management positions in account planning.
Question: How is the advertising world changing?
The environment is changing and there is increasing pressure to be more accountable, operate more efficiently and to think long-term. We are in a transition from a very traditional way of doing things that we have grown comfortable with over many decades to assimilating 'new' technologies that, in some cases, have actually been around as long. There is a greater degree of instability as ad agencies try and figure out the path to success. Some firms are attempting to integrate everything in one house, such as Draft FCB while others are attempting to specialize such as Digitas.
Question: Given the turbulence, what skills are especially important in the ad man / woman of today?
What is true with automobiles is also true with advertising agencies -- there needs to be greater synergy using new and existing technologies. A hybrid automobile combines two technologies, the internal combustion engine and the electric motor, to maximize efficiency and performance. Brand Planning and Database Planning are similar to the hybrid automobile engine as the processes have historically operated somewhat independently. They shared the same space but never seemed to fully meld together.
In the world of advertising, the hybrid is the person who brings together two disciplines. Planners, in particular, need to combine the skill of marketing research experts, who understand the drivers of customer behavior, with the skill of database analysts, who can identify specific individuals likely to possess those behavior-changing attributes. In the new world, Planners need to have both the Brand Planning and Database Planning skills to be able to effectively lead their brands' development.
Question: Can you explain how Brand Planning and Database Planning are different?
They are actually similar in that they both create "business intelligence" but are different in how they go about their work. The Brand Planner, or Account Planner, is relatively new to U.S. advertising having originated in the U.K. The Database Planner is not a position you see in the organizational charts at an agency, or anywhere close to the top of an agency's hierarchy. The real difference between the two positions is the Data Planner works with personally identifiable information (PII) – names, addresses, phone numbers, e-mail addresses etc. They work with vast amounts of demographic, lifestyle, behavioral and, in some cases, attitudinal data at the individual level. They create statistical profiles and predict the behavior of the individual (using predictive models). The Account Planner works with samples in the form of survey data, focus groups, interviews, intercepts, etc. They create 'personas' rich in qualitative characteristics that can be extrapolated to a larger audience. The two haven't historically always collaborated.
Question: Can you give us an example of how combining the Brand Planning and Database Planning skills can yield a more effective Hybrid Ad Man / Woman?
As an example, a luxury sports car company launches a new breed of vehicle with a well-integrated campaign that the agency develops. All the elements of an integrated campaign are deployed: mass advertising (TV, radio, print, etc.), PR, social, digital, POS, event marketing and, of course, direct response marketing to competitive set owners. Part of the success of the campaign is a result of the flow of information from the Brand Planner to the Database Planner which made it possible to target consumers that fit a specific persona – consumers that looked like, acted like and thought like the persona.
The results showed that nearly 2/3rds of the new owners had never owned the brand before. Who were they? Why did they buy? What cars have they had in the past and gotten rid of? How many other vehicles within the brand will they buy over time?


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Dunne's memorable resistance in Moscow a measure of the man
At 34, the distinguished centre back has called a halt to his international career with an absence of melodrama. As usual, his timing was perfect.
Richard Dunne: In the beginning, he must have looked an outside bet to become what he eventually did: a crowd favourite, brave to a fault and a player who carried the best of the qualities of the old era with him into the new. Photo: Mike Egerton/PA
It is one of the great football images: Richard Dunne and Thierry Henry sitting together on the grass in Paris minutes after France and Ireland finished their enthralling and infamous World Cup play-off match.
The French man has played an instrumental role in ensuring Les Bleus will go to the World Cup in South Africa. Yes, he has cheated to do so, executing the most blatant and audacious use of the hand in any international football match since Diego Maradona punched the ball past Peter Shilton in 1986.
Replays shown around the globe prove that Henry doesn't so much handle the ball as caress it onto his foot and then into the path of William Gallas, who heads the goal from point blank range. Dunne has played yet another magnificent match for Ireland and is shattered: socks rolled down, face deeply flushed and his ambition of playing in the greatest football tournament on earth finished now.
But anyone who didn't know the backdrop to the story couldn't possibly tell who has won and who has lost by looking at the faces of both men.
By that night in November 2009, Henry was one of the most recognisable and iconic strikers in the game, an absurdly gifted and easily the French-iest of French players who made the English league their home over the previous decade. And he sits down beside the big man from Tallaght and appears to be looking for some kind of absolution as they speak. Dunne leans over and pats him on the forearm but doesn't say much.
He will explain afterwards that Henry told him that Ireland should have won and that, yes, he used his hand. "But I am not the referee," he pointed out and Dunne understood that because his bread and butter as a defender was to try and snuff out artful geniuses like Henry who will use wit and speed and anything, anything they can do shake off defenders like Dunne.
Best everThere is a chance that if Henry had been asked to put names on all of the Irish players in Paris that night, he would have struggled to do so. But he knew Richard Dunne all right.
Almost two years after that Parisian fiasco, Dunne went on to have his best ever night in an Irish shirt in Moscow.
Even now, you can't look at the footage of his clattering tackle on Yuri Zhirkov and at how hard he thumps his head of the running track without wincing. He finished the game with a replacement shirt and a No5 drawn in rough marker and for everyone watching, the performance of Dunne was like a game within the game. The result was of enormous consequence: the 0-0 draw was the crucial score in securing the play-off for Euro 2012 but within the 90ninety minutes, we watched Dunne play as if in a kind of trance, blocking shot after Russian shot and, it seemed, single-handedly repelling an entire team. It instantly ranked alongside the immortal Irish performances- Paul McGrath in Giants stadium, Roy Keane against Holland in Lansdowne Road – and made Dunne more difficult to categorise than ever.
Dunne was a reserve when he travelled with the Republic of Ireland on their pre-World Cup trip to Saipan. He was there for the sozzled media night and lived up to his reputation as a pro' footballer who could burn the candle at both ends. He hadn't changed much a year later when Kevin Keegan, out of patience with Dunne's attitude to discipline and fitness, sent him home from Manchester City training at the beginning of the 2003 season when the Irishman turned up the worse for wear.
Dunne was an apprentice in the mid- 1990s, making his Everton debut in 1997 and his Irish debut in 2000; he learned his trade during an era when the notion that it was possible to play elite football while partying hard was okay. Dunne was a bon viveur and must have heard umpteen stories from the survivors of the Charlton era of how much fun could be had from Ireland and the football life in general. In his early twenties and hugely wealthy, he was determined to test the theory
That was why the second half of his career, when he transformed his body shape and became a model of consistency and shook off the fond if derogatory Honey Monster nickname and became a leader of men, was so fascinating to watch.
Dunne looked around and saw how quickly the demands and expectations were changing and responded in a way that few would have gambled on.
English virtuesAt first glance, he was emblematic of the traditional English virtues of a centre-back: dominant in the air, fearless, honest, bossy and perilously slow. Dunne made so many last-gasp tackles for club and country that it was always hard to decipher if his timing was out of this world or if he always managed to just get there in the nick of time. It was only when he began to perform so consistently for City and, during the Trapattoni era, for Ireland, that the more subtle qualities of his game became apparent: the excellent foot work and a lightning ability to read a game which made it appear as if he had some sort of magical habit of appearing in the right place at the right time.
Even it if he played for Manchester City just before Sheikh Mansour reimagined them as a mega club, there were occasions when Dunne was so good that it wasn't too hard to imagine him a leader at a club with genuine title ambitions.
It was a shame that the Euro 2012 finals, which should have been his crowning glory as an international, turned into such a procession of defeat. The collapse against Croatia and Spain was a distant remove from the defiance and poise which Dunne and the Irish team had exhibited two years earlier in Paris.
Dunne's life in an Irish shirt coincided with a bittersweet period, with campaigns which were more about what almost happened than what did. In the beginning, he must have looked an outside bet to become what he eventually did: a crowd favourite, brave to a fault and a player who carried the best of the qualities of the old era with him into the new. This week's news that he has decided to call it quits just weeks before a new campaign begins is a low-key exit. An ovation at Lansdowne Road would have been fitting: he would have deserved that. But it wouldn't have been Dunne: he never milked it.
It was typical that his best hour came not in front of the home crowd in Dublin but the faraway hostility of Moscow, when most people saw it on television. But that was three years ago. Dunne is 34 and figured that 14 years is long enough. So he has bowed out with a true centre-back's absence of melodrama.
As usual, his timing was perfect.


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Hi anyone has any good recomendations? Been to BKK many times, work travel, rather tired of the shopping there.
Unless there's other good place beside Platinum and Chatuchak and the usual shopping centres.
I heard that the Grand Palace is worth going and also some of the museums. Anyone been to any of these?


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Pathfinder MMO - So, I've been listening to the Fear the Boot Podcast the past couple of days, and there was recently a 2 parter in which Mark Kalmes of Goblin Works is interviewed about the Pathfinder MMO. Interesting stuff and a decent thing to listen to during your commute. One thing really stuck out in my head though - Goblin Works expects players to pay to play in the Beta.
Think about that for a second. Pay a monthly fee for the privilege to play in an unfinished product.
Now, the spin is a decent attempt but still falls flat - the "Alpha" will be the bug stomping phase, the "Beta" will be the content adding phase. In iter words, the claim is "The Beta" is not "A Beta". The bug stomping is going to be done by bots and in house playtesting, which means there will still be a shit load of "bugs" in "Beta.
I know Goblin Works is a small company, but if you need to charge you playtesters for the right to test your game for however many months the Beta lasts, maybe your finances aren't where they need to be to make this game a success. Just a thought.
Side note - The idea that one should not call game developers / writers / publishers / whatever to task for running late with their Kickstarter Projects because "if you rush them they may just release a rushed product" is a crock of shit.
The fear that criticism might damage their fragile mental health? If you are going to ask for money in return for your own creative product, expect some criticism when you fail to deliver on the promises.
If you were the type of student that did every term paper and project in college on the last weekend / last night / handed the shit in late, you are going to be late with your Kickstarter Project unless you do some major changes in how you apply yourself to these types of events.
Excuses are only good the first time they are used. After that, we don't want to hear it. Falling on the sword and admitting you "fucked up" works a lot better then us reading about yet another head cold that has sidelined a creative type. As the vast majority do this work on the side, if you are sick enough to stay home from work, you probably can sneak some time in at home on the computer catching up on your project.
Shit, there were supposed to be actual updates, weren't there?
Far West - Weekly updates from here on out. Slowly the folks running these Kickstarters are learning communication is key, especially when you are really late (Powerchords is years late and it's constantly being updated)
Metamorphosis Alpha - Weekly updates from here on out. Am I detecting a trend here?
Tremulous - no updates since mid October. The physical product is due this month. No updates on the forum side either. Reality Blurs needs should consider joining others in weekly updates ;)
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Friday, January 4, 2013
Butt Kicking For Goodness! When is a Beta Not a Beta?
2 comments:
I think paid open-or-quasi-open beta phases are becoming broadly accepted, mostly because there is a strong demand for access.ReplyDelete
When it's done transparently, it works pretty well - see Minecraft, and Blizzard's bundled subscriber access, for instance - but people clearly rebel when publishers falsely advertize a "beta" game as finished (see the recent fiasco on Steam).
A paid beta is the least of PFO's problems....ReplyDelete
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It shipped! (and Orphans Court info)
Wednesday, October 1, 2008 at 02:45AM
My new 500 gig HD has been shipped! I filled up my main 150 that I'd been using for a few years to store my digital genealogy. I have a 500 and a 200 for backups (Yes, I back up the backup). Since I photograph entire books, this is a necessity.
I copied Volume A of the Cumberland County Orphans Court minutes at the NJ State Archives in Trenton today. I already found the name of the son of Henry Westcott and Jane Harris who was lost at sea - Henry! Henry Sr. died in 1797 and she applied for guardianship of her three children, Henry, Charlotte, and Matilda.
I also ran across 4 pages of the division of land of my 5th great grandfather. This is pretty nice since he did not leave a will.
in Probate


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The News
We have now been painted as cheats. According to the Telegraph and a study from the University of Edinburgh (http://www.plos.org/press/pone-04-05-fanelli.pdf), falsification of results is common in science. The Telegraph, in something less than the finest journalistic traditions, picks up the most spectacular bits and exaggerates them: according to the Telegraph article "The results paint a picture of a profession in which dishonesty and misrepresentation are widespread."
(See http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/science/sciencenews/5438844/Scientists-faking-results-and-omitting-unwanted-findings-in-research.html )
Shit. It's really not true. In science and scientists, confusion is common enough. Exaggeration is not rare. Publicity seeking happens. Self-delusion is an occasional state of mind. Especially when people's jobs are on the line, I've seen unwillingness to follow up troublesome clues that might overturn a cherished result. But I've been in various fields of science for about 30 years now, and I've never been convinced that someone I was talking to was intentionally dishonest* about their science.**
[* In the strong sense of making things up. I've met plenty who were more-or-less intentionally exaggerating the importance of their work. That is a rather weaker kind of dishonesty. Exaggeration is, I think, to some degree unavoidable: people need to feel they are accomplishing something important. It's also driven by the modern science culture, where blowing your horn is a requirement for getting a job.]
[** I was at Bell Labs during the Henrik Schön fraud, but it was a big place and he didn't travel in my circles. So, I've met one, but I don't think we spoke enough for him to count.]
The Source
Now, I am not too impressed by the source article behind the Telegraph story, either. It is a meta-analysis of other investigations on scientific fraud. I have little respect for meta-analyses, because they tend to assume there are no common errors across the studies they use. And that's clearly dumb, because people tend to use the same techniques and ideas over and over again. If one study gets it wrong somehow, the odds are quite good that everyone else does, and in the same direction for the same reason. So, I don't think that meta-analyses are (usually) any better than the underlying research. If there is disagreement (which there is, among the meta-analyzed papers), there is no reason to think that the meta-analysis will resolve it correctly.
And, more than that, the paper makes much of the fact that more scientists see fraud in others than in themselves. The paper interprets that as a reporting bias, suggesting that we don't acknowledge our own fraud. What they seem not to realize is that there is only one of "me" and many others.
In my career so far, I've collaborated with at least a couple of dozen people. I have carefully read the papers of hundreds more. So, of course, I have lots of chances to see or guess at fraud elsewhere. That's because elsewhere is a big place. This year, I see the work of five other scientists on a daily basis, and so I have five chances to see fraud in "others" vs. one in me. Of course I'm more likely to see fraud in others, even neglecting papers I read or people I talk to at conferences.
If you think about it, you'll see that I'm also more likely to see blue eyes in others, too, for the very same reason. There is only one of me (who happens to be brown-eyed) and I know dozens of people other than me. Some of them are blue eyed. Probably 90% of scientists know someone who is blue-eyed, but only 10% or so would admit to being blue-eyed themselves. Sheesh!
The Sources behind the Source
Beyond that, the original studies are based on surveys and I don't have a lot of respect for most surveys either. In my experience, the questions that are asked are almost always the wrong ones, simply because the real world is more complex than the imaginations of the authors of the surveys. [The only surveys I really trust are about elections, and that's because one can test the surveys against a reality: the eventual secret ballot in the voting booth.]
For instance, I remember filling out a survey asking about working conditions for research staff at Oxford. (Or, maybe I gave up because the questions were silly. I do that a lot.) There were questions about how much support I was getting from my project leader. I found those a bit hard to answer, because I was my own project leader. I suppose they hadn't imagined me when they made up the questions, and it was pretty clear that because of that, nothing I could say on the survey would be interpreted correctly.
Or, I remember filling out a survey on bicycle use and accidents (for someone at the University of Bristol, perhaps?). It wasn't a bad survey, but it asked about bicycle accidents and the number of times you'd fallen off your bicycle. To me, it seemed that the survey was written with road users in mind, with a focus on traffic, cars, and streets.
Well, I had fallen off my bicycle, but it was one of those weird accidents. It was on one of those little English paved walkways between houses. I'd swerved to avoid the biggest pile of dog excrement I'd ever seen, brushed my handlebar against a fence, and thud. (Fortunately, perhaps, it wasn't splut.) So, I reported it on the survey, but couldn't help wondering if my answer would be used to support traffic calming measures rather than canine intestinal control.
What to do?
But, dubious though the analysis might be, it points out that there is a certain amount of fraud in the world and a larger amount of sloppy research. I see a risk that this kind of thing will turn into a fuss that will undermine research freedom and flexibility and lead to a lot of useless and unproductive paperwork.
The best plan I can think of is to do our research as openly as possible so that people can see what we have done and check it or reproduce it. We are already committed to doing much of that: we release our data and we are already committed to releasing our software in one of our projects. That's undoubtedly in the interests of science as a whole. Open science is like open source software. If you share data and tools, then everyone can progress faster.
The only thing is, I worry about shooting ourselves in the foot. Many researchers have no job security; it is tempting to keep tools and data secret so that we maintain our advantages. If we make it easy for everyone else to do our research, then what's to say that they won't get the next research grant, instead of me, and I'll be filling bags at a supermarket? [Well, realistically, it's actually fairly hard to get people to adopt one's tools. That's the saving grace from the economic point of view. Unfortunately, it means that most of the benefits of open science may be more theoretical than actual.]
There is a good argument to be made that it is the extreme level of competition in science that drives a lot of fraud and bad behaviour. And it drives a lot of the self-delusion, too. It's much easier to, somehow, never get around to making those potentially embarassing checks of your results if you are in a hurry and under pressure.
Decisions, decisions…


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Stanford women again top Cal
Updated 10:29 pm, Sunday, February 2, 2014
Score it 2-0 in the Battle of the Bay, advantage Stanford.
The Cal women could not accomplish on Sunday afternoon what its men's counterpart did the night before in staging a significant upset over a highly ranked opponent.
It was a routine victory for the Cardinal over the Bears before 5,715 fans at Haas Pavilion, a 79-64 final fueled by 29 points, eight rebounds and four assists from All-America forward Chiney Ogwumike. With its second victory over the Bears in four days, No. 4 Stanford (21-1, 10-0 Pac-12) extended its winning streak to 20 games.
No. 21 Cal (14-7, 6-4) lost for the fourth time in its past six conference games. Point guard Brittany Boyd had 20 points, six rebounds and six assists for the Bears.
Cal's defensive game plan was to double-team Ogwumike inside, a ploy that proved ineffective and opened up scoring opportunities for players such as forward Karlie Samuelson, who finished with 16 points. Guard Amber Orrange added 13 points.
"You can't really guard her," teammate Mikaela Ruef said of Ogwumike. "If she gets the ball inside, unless you triple- or quadruple-team her, she's going to make it and probably be fouled."
The good news for Cal is that this is the last time it will have to contend with Ogwumike, now a senior, in the regular season.
"She's certainly one, two or three" among the best players in the country, Cal head coach Lindsay Gottlieb said. "You can't guard her one-on-one. She has an incredibly high motor. That level of athleticism doesn't come along very often."
Stanford's lead in the second half reached a zenith of 60-41 on Samuelson's three-point shot with 7:48 to go and Cal had to scramble the rest of the way.
Aside from Ogwumike's offensive production, Stanford lived well off 11 turnovers by Cal that it turned into 14 points.
"Our No. 1 goal was to be aggressive," Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer said. "They're a very aggressive team. We had a challenge to dive on the floor and get loose balls. We wanted to get the hustle plays and have fun."
The Bears managed to cut the Cardinal's lead to seven points on two occasions early in the second half - 39-32 and 41-34 - but with 11:34 remaining, Stanford had built its advantage to 52-38 after a three-point play by Samuelson. She scored on a layup off a nifty bounce pass from Ogwumike in the high post, was fouled on the play and converted the free throw.
From a deficit of 12-9 early in the game, Stanford went on a prolonged run of 24-7 that put it in front 33-19 at 1:39 after two free throws by Ogwumike, who had 17 points in the half.
"It was just Stanford on a run," Boyd said. "Basketball is a game of runs. We weren't attacking. We weren't getting shots. We have to attack and not just settle for jumpers."
John Crumpacker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com Twitter: @crumpackeroncal


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Puppies: Savannah , Savannah, Savannah, Penny
Website: Www.youtube.com/yorkieluver13
Profile: Hello! My dog's name is Savannah, she is a Yorkie pup, she is brown and balck, and VERY playful! ~The daily biscuit~ Savannah Chanel is back and better than ever! She's four years old! And now we have EIGHT little paws running around the house! That's right! We've gotten a recent addition to our family! We are so excited to introduce Penny, short for Penelope. She's a whole two years old!! She is also a Yorkshire Terrier just like her big sista ;)
Friends: 13
Member Since: April 13, 2010Add to Friends
Hello! I am Savannah! Now, I have many avatars... My owners made a mistake... But who cares? Well this is me Savannah! I am a Yorkshire Terrier. My owner's name is Olivia! She is so nice and caring,And you know what? She and her dad took these pics of me! Let me exlplain, At first, I thought, "Ugh! Another dress!" But now! I am going to be famouse! YAY!!! Well let's just say I wasn't being to cooparative.. but, It all worked out!View Profile
Hey! It's me Savannah! Again! Anyway, In this photo, I HAD TO PUT ON SUN GLASSES!!! IT WAS SO FUN! I ACTED LIKE A MOVIE STAR AND PRETENDED THAT I WAS IN A LIMO GOING TO SEE BRADD PAISLY! I WAS IN A DAY-DREAM! AH!!! AND THEN... AFTER ALL THAT FUN... I GOT A TREAT!!! HOW FANTASTIC? Oh... I forgot... TO MENTION HOW ADORIBLE I AM IN THIS PIC!!View Profile
Hey hey hey! What am I hearing? HAHA! Guess what?! Olivia took a pic of me dooing my head like i was confused! and she just HAD to post it on here! But... hopefully it will be a big hit! I wanna make my Peeps Proud! (That's My puppy moto) What? Dogs can't have motos? Haha!View Profile
Our newest addition to the family! She is also a Yorkie but she is a long-haired. She is cute and lovable and currently TWO years old!!View Profile


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Hello from Florida
I've been a single woman for the past three months after a 6 year relationship ended with one man.
A long time ago I had a poly MMW relationship with two bi men, one of them I was married to. I would like to find another MMW poly relationship again.
After the marriage ended I continued seeing the the second man, tho we no longer lived together, it was not monogamous at that time and we both dated others. He wasn't just my lover, he was my best friend. He died 14 years ago suddenly.
I have explored my own bi side in the past also but only in a one on one situation which I enjoyed very much. I think if I found the right woman I would want to be in a MMWW poly.
I know I have the capacity to love more than one person at a time as I have already done it. When I sit and think now on what I want and how I want my life to progress I end up wishing for two guys. I don't have a guarantee I will find it, and I would be happy with one and we together could wish and hope for the second to find us.
I'm glad I found the forums and look forward to talking to everyone.
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Can Surgery on Cats and Dogs Save Human Lives?
I have always loved cats, but now there's even more reason to appreciate our feline friends.
Veterinarians at the Royal Veterinary College's Queen Mother hospital for animals (QMHA) in England believe that the time has come for animal and human medicine to start learning from each other.
They are not alone. In 2007, the American Veterinary Medicine Association announced that they wanted to "unite human and veterinary medicine to improve animal and public health." That's because many diseases are shared by humans and animals.
Stijn Niessen, lecturer in internal medicine at QMHA, explains how the two groups can profit from each other's experiences.
From The Guardian:
"Around 80% of diabetic cats have Type 2 diabetes – the condition that's costing the NHS £1m an hour," he says. "There are similarities between inflammatory bowel diseases in dogs and Crohn's disease, and between Cushing's disease and hyperthyroidism in cats. Cancers: lymphoma, leukemia. I could name you 100 diseases humans and animals share and the list would not be complete."
Human medicine, Niessen continues, puts "a lot of money and effort into trying to replicate these diseases, in mice for example. That can certainly help. But at best they're basically models – not the naturally occurring disease. And yet in cats and dogs we have those very diseases, occurring naturally."
The idea that human and animal medicine are vitally connected and should work together is not a new one: Sir William Osler, for example, a founding professor at John Hopkins hospital, promoted it eloquently in the 1800s. But it is only recently that it has begun to gain popularity.
Here's one example of how humans might benefit from animal surgery.
Again, from The Guardian:
A neurosurgeon called Patrick Kenny is about to insert two stainless steel pins into Harry's skull. To these he will fit a clamp, immobilising Harry's head. His jaws will be wedged open. Then Kenny will cut a tiny hole through the back of the roof of Harry's mouth and, in an operation that will last more than four hours, set about removing a pea-sized tumour from a vital gland at the base of his brain.
Harry is a cat. A 12-year-old maine coon, in fact. He's a big old fella, as maine coons generally are, but Harry is considerably bigger than he should be, because the tumour on his pituitary gland is causing it to produce far more growth hormone than it should, a condition known as acromegaly. This has led to one of the disease's most common complications: uncontrolled diabetes, as the excess hormone counters the effects of insulin.
Henry's need for a large number of insulin injections has made his life miserable, and his tumor has continued to grow despite the injections. Radiation therapy and a drug program bring their own complications, which is why it was decided to try this operation, a brand-new approach.
After the operation, the tumor cells are to be scrutinized in an attempt to understand why this tumor has grown. And the hope is that the knowledge gained from this will shed new light on how to deal with this disease in humans.
On a happier note, Henry's operation has been a success: he is recovering well, and almost back to his old pre-illness self.
What do you think? Does it make sense that human and animal doctors pool their resources, and start working more closely together? Or do you see veterinarians and human doctors as two different species?
Care2 Related Coverage
Volunteers Celebrate Saving 500 Cats From Meat Trade
Washington University Under Fire For Torturing Cats
"Skydiving" Cats Cause Outrage (Videos)
Photo Credit: thinkstock


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'Siren Song' Worked Once — Let's Riff on It One More Time
(The other siren song veto message.)
To the Members of the California State Senate:
I am returning Senate Bill 14 without my signature.
This bill is another siren song of budget reform. It inflicts a "one size fits all" budget planning process on every state agency and function – even functions that aren't actually managed by the state so long as they receive any "benefit" from it.
The politically expedient course would be to sign this bill and bask in the pretense that it is some panacea for our budget woes. But the hard truth is that this bill will mandate thousands of hours of work – at the cost of tens of millions of dollars – with little chance of actual improvement.
What California needs is a common sense approach to its budgeting, something we have been doing for the last year and will continue to do. Instead of requiring each and every department, no matter how big or small or important or not, to develop and track "performance metrics," "target performance levels and "desired outcomes," shouldn't we first examine whether some of these programs or departments should exist at all? And while some programs will clearly benefit from the performance-based budgeting approach outlined in this bill, for others it will be a costly waste of time. The ideas we offered to take an approach based on common sense and flexibility were unfortunately rejected.
I will issue an Executive Order in the upcoming weeks that combines the good ideas contained in this bill with the practical, tailored approach that I believe will make an actual difference in the way we budget and run our government.
Edmund G. Brown, Jr.
(Editor's Note: For those who did not benefit from the classical education enjoyed by the 34th and 39th governor of the Great State of California — degrees in Latin and Greek from UC Berkeley in 1961 — the sirens of Greek mythology are bird-bodied seductresses whose beguiling song lures sailors to their death. Once handmaidens to Perspehone, they were given the bodies of birds by Persephone's mother, Demeter, to join the search for her daughter after she was kidnapped by Hades, the Underworld kingpin. Failing to find Persephone, the sirens settled on the island of Anthemoessa and got down to the business of sailor luring. Jason and the Argonauts escaped their clutches thanks to Orpheus whose strong and dulcet song drowned out that of the sirens. Later, Odysseus and his crew also escaped. Odysseus bound himself to the mast so as not to submit to the sirens' entrancing strains and dulcet words which promised knowledge, wisdom and a quickening of the spirit to all who joined them. On the advice of Circe, who previously had turned them into pigs, the crew of Odysseus used wax earplugs to block the mesmerizing beckonings. Supposedly, the Sirens were so distraught at a man hearing but not succumbing to their wiles that they hurled themselves into the sea and drowned. In the governor's usage, siren song is "an alluring utterance or appeal — especially one that is seductive or deceptive," says Merriam-Webster. )
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