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vandelizer needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 80 designs submitted by 26 freelance designers.
A symbolic, representative logo for our new app design and development firm.
We've changed the name to "Communist Panda"
The logo should be iconic using an adorable, cute, friendly panda.
Communist Panda
A logo and title for our design and development company. The logo should contain a Panda character and the name of the company, "Communist Panda" (using that exact casing and punctuation).
The company is a small, quirky, creative, advertising oriented design and development house that also involves itself with entertainment media production.
The company's name is an unique funny catchy memorable title.
Cool aspects of the name include:
- Ironic juxtaposition of for-profit enterprise labelled "Communist"
- Absurd notion of a Panda having a social ideologyAny communist symbolism in the design can be from any communist society (including Russia, China, South America, etc).
Some example panda designs we like include:
- Fantastic Drawing Style!
- Awesome Style
- Nice style
- Nicely drawn
- Cute adorable style
- A communist panda poster - nice poster, but not really a logo
- Cool Drawing style
- Cool drawing style, but panda is too crazy!
- Panda
- Words "Communist Panda"
- Vector (Preferably Adobe Illustrator format)
- Words separated from Panda character - no interaction between two
- Multiple poses of panda - to get a sense of the character for use in future animations/videosExample Concepts:
- Panda wearing communist clothing
- Adorable panda eating bamboo
- Cute panda getting ready for are revolution
- Anything you can think of!!!
- Rainbows
- Capitalist Panda
- Communist poster parody
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


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Our Communication Needs
Cynthia Compton-Conley, Ph.D. - Gallaudet University, Washington, DC
Our Communication Needs
All of us share the following four communication needs:
- Face-to-face communication with other people
- Enjoyment of electronic media (radio, stereo system, television, the sound track at the movies, etc.)
- Telephone communication
- Awareness of environmental sounds and situations (doorbell, fire alarm, pager, etc.)
When a hearing problem cannot be corrected medically or surgically, hearing aids are usually recommended to meet these communication needs. For those with profound or severe hearing loss, a cochlear implant may be the treatment of choice. Due to technological advancements in recent years, today's hearing aids do an excellent job of helping people meet these needs. However, sometimes there are situations where additional technologies may be needed. For example, some hearing aid users may continue to experience difficulty understanding speech in noisy environments, from a distance, as when watching TV or attending a movie or play, or while listening on the telephone. At bedtime, a person with even a mild to moderate hearing loss may not hear the smoke alarm located down the hall and behind a closed door if he or she is in a deep sleep and the hearing aids have been removed. This same person might miss a doorbell chime while listening to the TV a room away. Further, a child with normal hearing, who suffers from recurrent middle ear infections or who has a central auditory processing disorder, is at a definite educational disadvantage when seated in a typical classroom with poor room acoustics and excessive noise. In many of these circumstances, assistive hearing devices can be crucial to safety and success of the person with hearing impairment.
How Assistive Listening Devices Can Help
Many auditory and non-auditory devices — collectively known as Assistive Technology, Assistive Listening Devices (ALDs), or Hearing Assistance Technology (HAT) — are available to help people with all degrees of hearing loss to meet these important communication needs. These devices can be classified according to the need they address. Devices to facilitate:
- Face-to-face communication
- Reception of electronic media
- Telephone reception
- Reception of important warning sounds and situations
Devices to Facilitate Face-to-Face Communication and the Reception of Electronic Media
The first two types of assistive technology listed above will be discussed together since both are used to achieve the same goal: improvement of speech understanding through the use of either an enhanced auditory signal or visual signal.
Auditory Technology
Speech is a complex, fast-moving target. It changes in level, depending on vocal effort and distance. It also changes in pitch depending upon gender and the various sounds uttered. It can be spoken in quiet as well as in noise and in reverberation (room echo). How well you hear and understand speech depends on all of these factors, as well as the exact nature of your own hearing difficulty. Today's hearing aids are designed and fitted to provide sufficient audibility so that speech can be heard and understood as clearly as possible, both in quiet and amidst a noisy background. However, they are designed to do this for sounds within a relatively close distance. Beyond this distance, room reverberation makes listening very difficult, even with the best hearing aids. Thus, while hearing aids may form the "heart" of a person's listening system, there are times when additional auditory technology may be needed for effective communication. Auditory devices can be thought of (roughly) as "binoculars for the ears." By placing a remote microphone next to the talker (or loudspeaker) or by connecting directly into the sound source (TV, VCR, MP3 player, etc.), these devices bring the desired sound closer to one's ear(s) before it has a chance of being mixed with noise and reverberation. The "captured" sound is then sent to the listener via a "hardwired" or "wireless" link.
Hardwired Devices
Use an actual electrical wire or cord to transmit sound, thereby tethering the listener to the sound source with the freedom of movement determined by the length of the cord. An example of a hardwired device is shown in the (Figure 1). Without this technology, a person with a significant hearing loss would not be able to successfully use stereo headphones with the CD player because the sound would not be sufficiently audible. However, thanks to a special Direct Audio Input (DAI) connection between the behind-the-ear (BTE) hearing aids and the CD player, this same individual can now enjoy a stereo signal because the hearing aids are individually programmed to make the music audible. This same device can be used with a PC or laptop computer, home stereo, or other sound source. Since smaller hearing aids do not have a DAI connection, other hardwired options exist. For example, (Figure 2) shows a neckloop and a silhouette inductor. The neckloop (left) is worn around the neck, while the silhouette inductor (right) is worn behind the ear. Both the neckloop and the silhouette inductor can be plugged into a sound source like the CD player shown in Figure 1. The only other requirement is that the hearing aid (or aids) must have a telecoil circuit. The neckloop or inductor picks up the electronic signal from the CD player or other sound source and changes it to electromagnetic energy. When the hearing aid is set to the telecoil mode, the electromagnetic energy from the neckloop or inductor is picked up by the telecoil, changed to an electrical signal, and eventually delivered into the listener's ear as sound. BTE hearing aids usually come equipped with telecoils — but not always. This option also is available, upon request, for in-the-ear (ITE) hearing aids and even smaller in-the-canal (ITC) hearing aids, provided the listener's ear is large enough. However, telecoils are normally not available in the smallest completely-in-the-canal (CIC) hearing aids.
Wireless Systems
Wireless systems consist of a transmitter and a receiver. As shown in (Figure 3), a transmitter picks up the sound via a microphone placed next to a talker's mouth (or loudspeaker). The transmitter also can be plugged directly into the jack of a home entertainment system, computer, telephone, or other device. The desired signal is sent from the transmitter to the receiver via radio waves. In this example, a tiny FM receiver, tuned to the same frequency as the FM transmitter, plugs into the listener's behind-the-ear (BTE) hearing aid using a DAI connection. The tiny "BTE FM" receiver picks up the transmitted FM signal and delivers it to the hearing aid. Thus, the transmitter and receiver form a wireless link from the sound source to the listener. Body worn styles of FM receivers are also available for use with all hearing aid styles. (Figure 4) illustrates the various coupling methods. With a mild hearing loss, the hearing aids can be removed and the FM receiver can be used with earphones.
If the listener uses CIC style hearing aids, it may also be possible to place earphones over the ears and hearing aids. Inductivecoupling also may be used (neckloop or silhouette) with ITC, ITE or BTE hearing aids set to telecoil mode. Finally, BTE hearing aids may be coupled to a body worn FM receiver using inductive coupling or a DAI. (Figure 5) shows a close-up of the newer BTE FM receiver. This type of receiver has become very popular due to its cosmetically appealing design. The receiver plugs into the bottom of any brand of BTE hearing aid having DAI capability. Hearing aids with integrated or built-in FM reception are also available. An additional option is to wear a newly developed FM receiver that sends sound directly into the ear canal and into the microphone of a CIC hearing aid. This type of FM receiver is popular with people who have normal hearing but experience difficulty in noise (e.g. children or adults with central auditory processing problems). As shown in Figure 4, the traditional style of FM transmitter is body worn. Recently, sleek hand-held transmitters have been introduced by the hearing health industry (Figure 6).
These transmitters can be pointed at the talker, placed on a table top, plugged into a TV, telephone, or other sound source - as well as worn by the talker. They are equipped with built-in microphones that can pick up sound from all directions or from one direction. Transmitters that serve as a hearing aid remote control and that also provide a two-way link to cellular telephones equipped with Bluetooth technology (Figure 7) are now available. FM systems are the most versatile of all listening technologies because they can be used indoors or outdoors and are very portable. In addition to FM technology, two other types of wireless systems are also in common use at home, in the workplace, and during recreation: (1) infrared (IR) and (2) audio loop (or induction) systems. IR systems transmit using infrared energy or invisible light waves. Infrared systems can be used at home for TV viewing and are also very popular in movie theaters, at live theater and concert performances where privacy and/or security are a concern.
This is because, unlike FM energy, infrared energy stays confined behind the walls of a room. Only body style IR receivers are available. (Figure 8) shows an IR system for home use with an entertainment system. The transmitter can be plugged into the back of a TV set or other sound source. The receiver can be coupled to hearing aids using a neckloop (shown) or silhouette inductor, with DAI cords to BTE hearing aids, or with headphones (no hearing aids or CIC hearing aids). The receiver can be set to mono or stereo mode. The third type of wireless systems is the audio loop system. The transmitter is a loop of wire connected to the output jack of an amplifier, strung around a room and connected to the input jack of the same amplifier (Figure 9).
It can be thought of as a room-sized version of the neckloop shown in Figure 2. The receiver is the listener's hearing aid telecoil inside of a BTE, ITE, or ITC style hearing aid. A loop system works like this: First, the speaker talks into a microphone that is connected to the amplifier. The amplifier can also be plugged into a TV or other sound source. The acoustic energy of the speaker's voice is changed to an electrical signal by the microphone and is sent to the amplifier. The amplified electrical signal is then sent through a loop of wire placed around the room. Like a neckloop, this room-sized coil of wire converts the electrical energy to electromagnetic energy, which is then picked up by the telecoil circuit located inside of the hearing instrument. The audio loop system is very cost-effective if the hearing aid user has hearing aids equipped with telecoils because additional receivers do not need to be purchased or maintained. While loop systems are often installed in large rooms in public areas, smaller versions can be purchased for use in a home.
Mandated by the Americans with Disabilities Act and other legislation, large area versions of these three systems are required to be installed in movie theaters, government buildings, schools, and in other public areas. In order for you to be able to enjoy music and understand speech in these environments, you need to be sure that your hearing aid is compatible with the varioussystems available. For example, if you want to go to a movie theater that happens to have a room loop, you will need hearing aids equipped with telecoils. If not, then you can ask the theater if you can borrow a device called an induction receiver. This battery-powered body worn device contains a telecoil to pick up the loop's signal and earphones to deliver the signal to your ears. It can be worn without hearing aids, with CIC hearing aids, and sometimes with larger hearing aids if the hearing aids are turned down and the volume control of the receiver is turned up. If you then want to go to another theater that happens to have an IR or FM system, you must then borrow an IR or FM receiver and couple it to your hearing aids using a telecoil and neckloop (or you can try using headphones as above).
If you use a BTE FM receiver and you go to a theater that has FM, you may or may not be able to use your own receiver. It depends on what frequency the system is broadcasting on and whether or not your receiver is on the same channel or can be changed to that channel. Hopefully, in a few years, standards and/or technology will be in place that will make it easier for people to use their own receivers in any public place. For the time being, you might have to borrow the body style receiver from the public area and couple it to your hearing aids using a neckloop (most theaters and other public facilities will not have DAI cords to match the myriad models of BTE hearing aids available. For more info on how to use large area ALDs, visit the following website:http://www.hearingresearch.org/BulletinConsumers.htm
Visual Technology
Two types of visual systems are available to help people understand speech at a meeting or other live event: (1) Computer-Assisted Note taking (CAN) and (2) Communication Access Real Time Translation (CART), also known as Real Time Captioning. With CAN, a typist types meeting proceedings in outline, not word-for-word, format onto a computer connected to an LCD projector that displays the type-written words onto a screen or wall for the audience to see. A typist who can accurately type at least 60 words per minute and who has note-taking skills is desired; no other special training is required. CAN is much less expensive than real time captioning and is helpful for meeting and lectures where people need just enough information to keep track of the topic.
With CART, a specially trained court stenographer or "caption writer" listens to the talker and types what is being said onto a stenotype machine. The stenotype code is then translated into verbatim captions, which are then sent to an LCD projector and projected to the audience as for CAN. For very large groups, the captions are displayed simultaneously with a live video picture. Accuracy of real time captioning depends on how well the caption writer enters the code and how complete and accurate the dictionary is in the software program. For information on real time captioning and for referrals, call the National Court Reporters Association in Vienna, VA at 855-826-8399 or visit their website at http://www.ncraonline.org. Verbatim captioning is also available on your TV and can be accessed by programming your remote control. You can choose to have the captions appear with or without sound. TV captioning can be pre-recorded on a magnetic disk (with mistakes corrected) for broadcast at a later time (as with sitcoms) or can be live (as with the news or other live event).
Devices to Facilitate Telephone Reception
For many people, listening on the telephone can be a frustrating experience as the signal produced by most telephones is not 100% intelligible. Even people with normal hearing often need to ask for certain names and other information to be spelled out. People with hearing loss experience even more difficulty for two reasons: (1) due to the hearing loss, the telephone signal is softer and therefore less intelligible and (2) unlike with face-to-face communication, there are no visual cues to help with understanding.
Auditory Technology
Special telephone amplifiers are available (Figure 10) that replace the telephone handset, attach to the phone between the handset the phone itself (in-line amplifiers), and attach to the handset and are powered by a battery (portable amplifiers). Each of these amplifiers can be used with or without a hearing aid. These standard telephone amplifiers can be coupled to a hearing aid in two ways: (1) acoustically and (2)inductively. With acoustic coupling, the amplifier is held up to the hearing aid's microphone. While this tends to work well with a CIC hearing aid, it usually results in an annoying whistling sound (feedback) with the larger hearing aid models. However, if the larger models are equipped with a telecoil circuit, then the hearing aid can be set to "T" and held next to the amplifier, with no feedback. Some newer models of hearing aids have an automatic or "touchless" telecoil that turns itself on whenever the hearing aid is held next to the telephone. In order to receive a signal from the phone, the telephone must be "hearing aid compatible (HAC)."
For people who always use a hearing aid with a telecoil, aportable, battery-powered acoustic-to-magnetic adaptor (Figure 11) can be attached to the earpiece of the telephone handset. The device picks up the acoustic energy (sound)from the telephone and changes it to electromagnetic energy, which is picked up by the hearing aid's telecoil. A silhouette inductor can be plugged into the device to allow for listening on the phone with two hearing aid telecoils. This option may be helpful if you are one of those individuals whose speech understanding improvessignificantly when listening with both ears.
Special telephones with built-in amplification are also available in both standard and wireless handset models. Some models allow the connection of a cochlear implant, a DAI cord, or a neckloop and some are powerful enough to be used without a hearing aid - a big convenience when the telephone rings in the middle of the night. Also available are devices that enable you to use your hearing aid(s) with a digital cell phone for distortion- and noise-free reception. These devices include the BTE FM system shown in Figure 8 as well as hardwired systems that connect from the cell phone to a neckloop or DAI connection.
Visual Technology
For those who cannot understand over the voice telephone, even with amplification, there are other options such as the Voice Carry Over (VCO) or "read and talk" Telephone. Used with the telephone relay service, VCO allows you to talk directly to the other party while an operator translates what the other party says to you into print that is displayed on a small LCD screen (Figure 12). Other telecommunications options for people who experience difficulty understanding speech over the telephone include email, instant messaging, TTYs, and two-way pagers. Pagers by Wyndtel, T-Mobile, and Blackberry (Figure 13) can be used not only to house your daily schedule and address book, but also to surf the web as well as to chat back and forth, in real time, with friends, family, and colleagues. Some models also provide two-way paging with voice telephone communication.
Alerting Devices
Alerting devices allow hard of hearing and deaf people to be aware of many environmental sounds and situations in the home, in school or in the workplace, as well as for travel and recreation. Such systems use either microphones or electrical connections to pick up the desired signal and hardwired or wireless transmission to send the signal to you in a form to which you can respond. For example, when someone presses the doorbell button, when the phone rings or the fire alarm is activated, these events can trigger a flashing incandescent or fluorescent light, a loud horn, a vibrational device (pager, bed shaker), or a fan. Some systems use a combination of signals. For example, (Figure 14) shows the photograph of an alarm clock that will beep, flash a lamp, and shake the bed - simultaneously (a nifty idea for heavy sleepers).
Alerting devices can be purchased individually to warn a person of a specific event or as complete systems that warn a person of a variety of events. For example, someone living in a one-room studio apartment might need just a simple device that flashes a single light when someone presses the doorbell, whereas another individual living in a large house with many rooms may need a system that triggers flashing lamps in every room of the house when the doorbell is pressed, the telephone rings, or the fire alarm is activated. Some systems use coded flashing lights (e.g. 5 flashes for the doorbell vs. one flash for every time the phone rings) whereas others use a vibrating body-worn pager that vibrates and displays a number corresponding to the event (e.g. number 1 = fire; number 2 = doorbell). (Figure 15) shows an example of the latter type of system.
A broad assortment of auditory and non-auditory technology is available to assist in removing the communication barriers of everyday life. Each system has its pros and cons and some individuals may use more than one type of system. Your audiologist should be able to help you select the best system, or combination of systems, based on your own unique receptive communication needs and lifestyle.
The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) (Public Law 101-336) is landmark civil rights legislation. The ADA went into effect in January 1992 and it provides a comprehensive national mandate for the elimination and prevention of discrimination against individuals with disabilities. Because of the ADA, businesses and employers must take steps to ensure that disabled people, including those with communication disabilities, have access to all goods, services and facilities available to non-disabled people. Additionally, the ADA prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability by private entities and ensures that individuals with disabilities have access to public accommodations, employment opportunities, transportation and telecommunications (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 1992). All individuals with hearing-impairment, regardless of their age, are affected by the ADA. It is the responsibility of public access facilities, employers, and telecommunication providers to comply with the ADA, but it is the responsibility of the consumer (you!) to demand compliance.
Learn more about your legal rights.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
James Lee Quatermain is one hell of a name
Painkiller: Hell & Damnation developer The Farm 51 has announced Deadfall Adventures, an Xbox 360 and PC game which YouTube has dubbed "Painkiller Jones." This is a first-person shooter with puzzle and exploration elements in which an adventurer is after The Heart of Atlantis before -- who else? -- the Nazis can get their hands on it.
Conceptually, it seems like there's some potential, though this specific trailer doesn't show too much. If Deadfall goes for more fast-paced, no-nonsense shooting gameplay, I'd be down for some of that. The game is already set for release on July 30, 2013.
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text: Hello, I am using Gentoo now. For servers, it maybe not a good idea to run Gentoo. Sometime it needs to build too many packages for updating. Gentoo is a good way to learn and get familiar with package dependency. And you can install Genoa on clusters and keep it for a long time. It is easy to maintain a Genoa machine and the only problem is building cost. For FC system, it is also a good system. not fast as Genoa, but it is OK. Regards, Li, Bo ----- Original Message ----- From: "Juan Camilo Hernandez" <camilo.hernandez at gmail.com> To: <Beowulf at beowulf.org> Sent: Friday, August 24, 2007 11:10 PM Subject: [Beowulf] [AMD64] Gentoo or Fedora > Hello, > > > I want to ask what kind of experiencies do you has in the > implementation of a beowulf cluster (using Gentoo or Fedora in AMD64 > architectures) for metheorological applications and wich one of the > distros do you recommend me. > > Thank you very much! > _______________________________________________ > Beowulf mailing list, Beowulf at beowulf.org > To change your subscription (digest mode or unsubscribe) visit http://www.beowulf.org/mailman/listinfo/beowulf


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|Blotched Blue-tongued Skink
|Physical description
|Sclerophyll Forests
|Average Size
|35 to 50 cm
|Scientific classification
|T. nigrolutea
|Distribution of species
|southeastern Australia
The Blotched Blue-tongued Lizard (Tiliqua nigrolutea) is a skink with a fleshy blue tongue which is used to taste the air and scare off potential predators. They are a robust and relatively large member of the skink family (Scincidae) that tend to rely on camouflage and bluff as their primary means of defence. However, if cornered or molested they put on an impressive and effective defensive display. If further molested they will bite, but mainly as a last resort and although their bite is painful due to their powerful jaws, their teeth are blunt and generally don't break the skin. They are of course harmless like all skinks and are inoffensive by nature, often being kept as pets due to their appealing, inquisitive natures and readiness to become tame.
The lizard is about 35 to 50 cm long and is found in wet and dry sclerophyll forests, montane woodland and coastal heathlands. It is an omnivore with a diet consisting of leaves, flowers, fruit, slow-moving invertebrates, and small vertebrates. The tail can also be dropped (autotomy) when grasped by a predator (like most skinks) but these large skinks are much less likely to do so.
They are found in south-eastern parts of Australia including Tasmania and the islands of Bass Strait. In the northern parts of their range like the central tablelands of N.S.W, they are restricted to highland areas, whereas in southern Victoria and Tasmania they can be found right down to the coast. Some herpetologists believe that there are two distinct forms of this species - a highland or alpine form and a lowland or southern form. Specimens from the northern parts of the species range (alpine form) are generally larger, blacker and tend to have more colourful blotches on their back, which are sometimes pale pink, salmon-pink or orange in colour.
Blotched Blue-tongued lizards emerge from brumation in early spring, which is the mating season. The young are usually born in autumn, after a relatively long gestation period. These large skinks are viviparous (give birth to live young) and long-lived (anecdotally 20 years or more). They have adapted well to some rural and urban areas where they can be found living on farms and in gardens, where they are an asset, as they love to eat pests like snails, slugs and occasionally rodents.
The blotched blue-tongued lizard is among the animals identified from the Pleistocene fossil sites of the Naracoorte Caves.
- Cogger H, (2000) Reptiles & Amphibians of Australia.
- Edwards A, Jones S.M. and Davies N.W. (2005). Patterns of peripheral steroid metabolism vary with sex, season and tissue type in blotched blue-tongued lizards (Tiliqua nigrolutea). Gen. Comp. Endocrinol. 140 14-24.
- Edwards A, and Jones S.M. (2004). Parturition in the blotched blue-tongued lizard, Tiliqua nigrolutea, in captivity. Herpetofauna. 34 113-118.
- Edwards A. and Jones S.M. (2003). Mating behaviour in the blotched blue-tongued lizard, Tiliqua nigrolutea, in captivity. Herpetofauna 33 60-64.
- Edwards A., Jones S.M. and Davies N.W. (2003). Sex and season influence gonadal steroid biosynthetic pathways, end-product production and steroid conjugation in blotched blue-tongued lizards (Tiliqua nigrolutea). Gen. Comp. Endocrinol. 134 131-138.
- Edwards A., Jones S.M. and Davies N.W. (2002). A possible alternative to 17β-estradiol in a viviparous lizard, Tiliqua nigrolutea. Gen. Comp. Endocrinol. 129 114-121.
- Edwards A., Jones S.M., and Wapstra, E. (2002). Multiennial reproduction in females of a viviparous skink, Tiliqua nigrolutea. Herpetologica 58 407-414.
- Gartrell B.D., Girling, J.E., Edwards A., and Jones S.M. (2002). Comparison of noninvasive methods for the evaluation of female reproductive condition in a large viviparous lizard, Tiliqua nigrolutea. Zoo Biol. 21 253-268.
- Atkins, A., Jones S.M. and Edwards A. (2002). Fecal testosterone concentrations may not be useful for monitoring reproductive status in male blue-tongued lizards (Tiliqua nigrolutea: Scincidae). J. Herpetol. 36 106-109.
- Edwards A. and Jones S.M. (2001). Changes in plasma progesterone, estrogen and testosterone concentrations throughout the annual reproductive cycle in female viviparous blue-tongued skinks, Tiliqua nigrolutea, (Scincidae), in Tasmania. Gen. Comp. Endocrinol. 122 260-269.
- Edwards A. and Jones S.M. (2001). Changes in plasma testosterone, estrogen and progesterone concentrations throughout the annual reproductive cycle in male viviparous blue-tongued skinks, Tiliqua nigrolutea, (Scincidae), in Tasmania. J.Herpetol. 35 293-299.


text:
When The Sea and Cake hit the Chicago music scene in the mid-'90s, the group helped redefine the Chicago sound. Until then, Chicago's rock scene had been known for clangorous din and hard-edged, macho aggression. And then, suddenly, there was Sam Prekop singing and sighing, just above a whisper over this band that was closer to bossa nova than seemed reasonable for a bunch of former School of the Art Institute punks.
Their albums jangled and floated and helped usher in the genre known as post-rock. That was 18 years ago. Against the odds and ebbing tides of the music industry, The Sea and Cake has sustained and subsisted on the support of a dedicated fan base. The group's 10th full-length album, "Runner," released last month on local label Thrill Jockey, is the closest the foursome has gotten to making a rock record, even if it is still awfully ornate and exceptionally pretty.
The band's figurehead, artist Sam Prekop, lives in Pilsen with his partner, Thrill Jockey owner Bettina Richards and their 4-year-old twins. The walls that aren't shelved from floor to ceiling with records or books are heavily decorated by children's artwork, clearly hung by their own hands. Prekop balances his work as an artist and a musician with parenthood, working and rehearsing while the twins are at preschool. Last week, Prekop took time out from dad duty to discuss his creative evolution, The Sea and Cake's musical language and what it means to stick around. Here is an edited transcript.
Q: You've been doing Sea and Cake for 18 years. What is it like to be a musician now in Chicago as opposed to when you first started making music?
A: I participate less in Chicago as a music scene. That's more based on having little kids. In the old days, we used to play all the time. I don't know if there are any bands that still play more than once a month in Chicago. It's not what you're supposed to do anymore (laughs). It's interesting we're so associated with the city, especially (to) people outside of Chicago. Then they'll ask me what's happening in Chicago, and I don't know (laughs). But I'm proud of my association with this town and being part of it. And I feel how it would be different, but without knowing how it would be different, but I think our music reflects the city. It's definitely urban music. I don't feel we're just dabbling in what we do. I sort of long for those days where instead of writing songs for a record, we'd write because we're a band and we're going to play next week. Now we act like a band, but it's very regimented and scheduled. I'm happy we're able to continue making records and go on tour. I'm not complaining at all, but when people used to buy CDs, it was very helpful to us (laughs). And now that's no longer the case, it's more difficult to make it because we don't tour enough to do it. We toured a lot last year. What happens now is that we have to go farther away. We're playing South America. As soon as someone from China calls us, we'll be there.
Q: Do you get the sense that you weren't supposed to stick around for 18 years?
A: Yeah, but luckily our sort of fan base is very hard-core, and they are quite happy that we have. In terms of (an) insane Pitchfork-style renaissance for the band, I don't see it quite happening. Who knows? Perhaps if I break both my legs and lose an eye, it might happen (laughs).
Q: Where do you think your band would be if you didn't have Thrill Jockey?
A: No idea. It's quite certain the band would not exist without the label. It's been one thing about having been around so long — well, it's a Catch-22. There's a lot of name recognition. I hear a lot from other musicians, certain name checks and stuff. I feel we're this weird legacy act that no one actually has personal experience with (laughs). But it's flattering we made an impact.
Q: How did becoming a dad affect your creative process?
A: I haven't figured out exactly how yet. There's a song on this latest record that I felt was like my first kid song, kind of, which I never would have had any of those songs before.
Q: Which song?
A: "Harbor Bridges." Not that it sounds like kids music, but I was thinking about what they might be entertained by. Francis, my son, is much more into the harder, heavier music.
Q: What makes it a "kid song"?
A: In my mind, the song is about discovering new things, and the sort of instrumentation is very intimate. I didn't go to work on it with the sentiment: "I need to write a song that kids would like." It went in that direction.
Q: Are you satisfied with "Runner?"
A: I think "Runner" is a great record. I think it's a really good Sea and Cake record.
Q: Why?
A: I felt like I was really reaching more than I have before. I sensed I was really going at it harder, pushing harder than I'd previously done.
Q: In many ways, it's the most aggressive Sea and Cake record to date. It's your rock record.
A: The first song, "On and On," I was definitely trying to write a rock song. The original taping, the demo of it, was really, really abrasive and not pretty at all. That was one goal for the record. Wanted it to be, for lack of a better term, more rock. In the past, we've recorded songs, and we end up playing them live, like, twice as fast (laughs). So I thought, "OK, let's try to figure out what the right tempo is before we record it" (laughs). I think it's one of the drawbacks of not actually playing the set before you record it. You don't know what a song is yet actually. In some ways, that's a great time to record it, when it's still in flux.
Q: The band is in flux now too.
A: Eric (Claridge) is not doing this tour, due to his carpal tunnel. So we're really freaking about that. But we had a rehearsal today with Doug (McCombs, bassist for Tortoise), and it feels like he's been in the band even though he's never played with us. It's so great that he's able to do it. It's going to be wild. I'm nervous about it, but kind of not. I should maybe be more nervous about it. That's going to be really different, but we don't know what it's going to be like to do it without Eric. Like, what we do together is this, only. Exclusively. We don't hang out, really, too much. It's a little different with Archer (Prewitt, guitarist) and I, since I'll make him play on all my solo records. I'll make him do all this other stuff. We have a lot of play dates with the kids. So, that's a little different. But we enter into the band-zone mode, and it's all what you might expect with our terribly long history of speaking in code; dude code or something (laughs).
Q: You have a rapport.
A: There's definitely a rapport. I feel like we're a much better live band than we used to be. I think it's — a part of it is it's taken us 18 years just to learn how to play. Except for John (McEntire), who's actually really a great drummer. Nobody would say to me, "You're a great guitar player." I've had to invent how to play the guitar and how I can sing. I'm not really a singer. So, it's taken a lot longer than natural musicians would take. But I think that's been to our benefit. That sort of slow evolution. Being able to play all these songs with five days' notice, like Doug is doing, is something that I could never, ever do in my life for somebody else.
Q: Do you have a kind of psychic musical connection among you four?
A: I think there is, but it's not something we would ever discuss. As we all start playing, it almost instantly falls together. Four people playing together for almost 18 years? Bound to happen. I think that's another thing with the longevity of the band. If you can make music, it really makes sense to just keep doing it, because it's such a rare situation. And I feel like the music we make could only occur in these circumstances. So we'll keep going until the music's no good. We haven't hit that point yet.
Twitter @chitribent
The Sea and Cake
When: 8 p.m. Monday
Where: City Winery, 1200 W. Randolph St.
Tickets: $20-$25; 312-733-9463 or citywinery.com/chicago/


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Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 1 and I go way, way back to the year — wait for it — 2003.
I was a car-less and clueless college freshman in Long Beach looking for the beach in a city that really doesn't have much of one. In my travels to find said shoreline through the joys of riding Long Beach Transit, I instead ended up in a music store.
Rather than catching waves that day, I bought a CD of Mahler's First with Leonard Bernstein conducting the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Within the first minute of the first movement, I was hooked.
I feel even the most un-classically trained among us can be, too.
Not only is the opus nicknamed the "Titan" a great one for Mahler "beginners" — with its wonderful melodies, brilliant use of instrumental color and engaging finale — it also stands in Western music history as one of the most well-regarded first symphonies by any composer.
That said, our own Pacific Symphony is taking on this demanding piece of music — which requires nearly 100 musicians — and two others for its classical series March 31 through April 2 in the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall of Costa Mesa.
Keeping with the Costa Mesa-based orchestra's piano-filled year, the program also includes Liszt's "Piano Concerto No. 1," with French solo pianist Lise de la Salle, and Berlioz' "Le Corsaire" overture.
Guest conducting for the 8 p.m. concerts is Justin Brown. The British musician is the music director/principal conductor of the Birmingham-based Alabama Symphony Orchestra and general music director of the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, a theater and opera house in Germany.
De la Salle, 22, already has a critically acclaimed music background that started at age 4, had her performing live on French radio at 9, and giving a recital at the Louvre at 13. The Paris resident's recordings have won awards and a Recording of the Month distinction by Gramophone magazine, a leading British publication on the world's classical scene.
But back to Mahler.
For those who have never heard Mahler's First, allow me to preview it a bit with words: A deep rumbling from within quietly starts. Then colorful flourishes seem to quickly radiate from it — serene horns, offstage trumpets, lightly dancing woodwinds — like branches reaching outward from a tree's trunk. The result is a beautiful sum that only gets better as the score progresses.
Such nature references are apt when describing the first movement of Mahler's Symphony No. 1, as they are for many composers who were righteously influenced by the birds and the seas, flowers and trees.
Or, as San Francisco Symphony conductor Michael Tilson Thomas so wonderfully put it in his 2001 recording of the masterpiece, Mahler through this work "makes an enormous symphony out of the sonic stuff we all know from our lives. He uses bird calls, the sounds of military bands, folk, salon and cabaret music. He evokes the sound of voices singing, whispering, humming and shrieking — all things we recognize as part of the range of human experience."
The Pacific Symphony Youth Orchestra (PSYO) is having a fundraiser concert in Fountain Valley on April 2 for its upcoming tour to Bulgaria this June. Tickets are $50.
The 4 p.m. performance at Dr. Import, 10900 Kalama River Ave., will help the Irvine-based group's 78 musicians be American musical ambassadors in the European home country of PSYO conductor Maxim Eshkenazy. The tickets also include $50 credit to the host car repair shop for services.
Attendees are encouraged to RSVP to Poita Cernius at (949) 294-4101.
BRADLEY ZINT is a copy editor for the Daily Pilot and a classically trained musician. E-mail him story ideas at firstname.lastname@example.com.
If You Go
What: The Pacific Symphony performs Mahler's Symphony No. 1 and other works
Where: Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, Costa Mesa
When: 8 p.m., April 31, March 1 and 2
Cost: Tickets start at $25
Information: Visit http://www.pacificsymphony.org or call (714) 755-5799


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In the backward 80′s accessible busline was the way I got about town. Though I occasionally had to accord with situations such as overcrowdededness and buses active late, benumbed the bus all-embracing was okay. I was agreeable and wasn't cerebration too abundant about the next akin of owning my own car. Then a set of abnormal affairs developed:
The bus abettor had an blow and he alleged his supervisor. He told the cartage it would be a while afore the bearings was bound and appropriate we get off and delay for the next bus. We did. We waited for about an hour (this band commonly ran every 15 minutes). This was in the asleep of winter. Thank God I was cutting a covering but I still acquainted cold. The next bus assuredly accustomed and we awash assimilate it like sardines. It was arranged from that point until I got off. That was the a lot of afflictive bus ride I'd anytime experienced.
While cat-and-mouse for the bus, I noticed a woman walking against the bus stop. She had barf on her blouse and I could acquaint she wasn't activity well. When the bus arrived, we boarded and this woman sat next to me. While the bus was in motion, she vomited several times. We were on the freeway and there wasn't annihilation anyone could do for her.
I got bent in a abundant cloudburst one night.Guess I absent the acclimate address for that day. I was decrepit by the time I got home.
I boarded a bus one afternoon accustomed a woman who had just appear from ancestors court. The adjudicator had taken her accouchement from her and she was in a rage. She went on like that for some time vowing added than already that anyone was traveling to die that night. The Abettor assuredly stopped, pulled over and alleged the police.
A bus bang was alleged which lasted an absolute week. The alone affair accessible were academy buses and some curve were running. The aboriginal day I larboard home added aboriginal to ride a academy bus which accustomed an hour afterwards it was appointed to arrive. At the next stop I waited two hours for the next connection. Finally, anyone collection by and asked if anyone was traveling downtown. A few of us jumped in the car. I was backward two hours. One black I had to yield a cab home which bulk me over $30.
On the endure day of the strike, there wasn't abundant allowance for all the humans who bare to yield the bus that had just accustomed so anybody started blame and shoving. I was pushed assimilate the bus. Whew!
When I got home that night, there was a car accommodation appliance that had appear in the mail. You never saw anyone ample a anatomy out as bound as I did. The next anniversary I got the accommodation approval and aural the next few weeks I was driving.
What will it yield to get you to the next level? For me it was traveling through a set of afflictive circumstances. I assuredly accomplished God was prodding me to the next akin in my transportation.
I hadn't anticipation abundant about the next akin because I capital things to be perfect, such as absent a assertive bulk of money for a down payment.
Also, I affected my acclaim was not acceptable abundant but I apparent that wasn't accurate afterwards I activated for the loan.
Are you cat-and-mouse for things to be perfect? If so, you're traveling to delay always because there is NEVER traveling to be a absolute time for affective to the next level. There is no such thing.
Are you benumbed on assumptions? Stop appropriate now and do your homework. Perform the all-important analysis to acquisition out what you wish and charge to know.
Are you traveling through an abnormal circumstance? It could be that God is speaking to you through it. Perhaps He is aggravating to get you to yield action. He wants to move you to the next level!
Don't be captivated aback from demography the all-important accomplish you charge to yield against your goals. By this time in 2013 your activity can be absolutely altered in abounding ways– financially, socially, on an educational level, etc.
Don't let this moment canyon you by. Reach for the next akin now.


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Energy Journal: Investors Demand Benefits of Oil's Boom Market
When your company is in the middle of an unprecedented boom, you'd better be making the most of it, or someone is going to think that someone else could make a better fist of your job.
Investors in many U.S. refiners can have no complaints. Marathon Petroleum Corp., Valero and Phillips 66 all posted earnings much higher than forecast, and any refiner with access to cheap domestic crude oil is swimming in cash for share buybacks. Marathon also said it will pay for its $1.6 billion acquisition of the giant Texas City refinery in cash.
At some underperforming companies, shareholders are revolting as patience is frayed over languishing stocks and excessive pay, as The Wall Street Journal's Daniel Gilbert reports.


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What: "Ancient Southwest: Peoples, Pottery and Place," featuring more than 100 rarely exhibited ceramics covering more than 1,000 years of Southwestern history starting in 500 A.D.
When: Through Feb. 14, 2014
Where: University of Colorado Museum of Natural History, Henderson Building, 15th and Broadway, Boulder
Tickets: $3 suggested donation
Info: 303-492-6892 or
Steve Lekson is out to change your mind about cultures that have lived throughout the Southwest during the course of more than a thousand years. His ambition is captured in the very title of a book he wrote on the subject, "A History of the Ancient Southwest."
Having written about the ancient Southwest, Lekson now is exploring the subject through a gallery exhibition.
He is the curator of "Ancient Southwest: Peoples, Pottery and Place," an exhibition that opened this week at the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History.
The show, on display until next February, features more than a hundred ceramic works and is organized in seven sections, each representing one of the main cultural groups that inhabited the Southwest between 500 and 1600 A.D.: the Hohokam, Early Pueblo, Chaco, Mesa Verde, Mimbres, Casas Grandes and Pueblo.
The subject is big, and Lekson's rethinking of it is sweeping. He says many people view the ancient Southwest as a place that was "serene, spiritual, communal," a stereotype sold in tourist destinations and "accompanied by endless, noodling flute music" and which was invented by "Santa Fe civic leaders and culture-brokers around the time of World War I."
Then he adds this corrective: "The ancient Southwest was not like that. It had rises and falls, triumphs and tragedies, kings and commoners, war and peace -- in short, the ancient Southwest had history."
Lekson is getting help silencing the flutes from Niwot resident William Moats, an exhibits graphic designer at the museum who helped create the gallery environment for "Ancient Southwest." Fine art exhibits often seek to present art in a way that directs maximum attention to the art itself. But a natural history exhibit can include elements of presentation that contribute to the message, Moats said.
"We try to create an environment that not only highlights the content but tells a narrative story," he said.
Moats, along with colleague Charles Counter, developed a design scheme based on the colors and other aesthetic elements presented by the displayed pottery, which gave him a wealth of inspiration.
"There's a lot of information in this particular exhibit that we were able to utilize," he said. "We didn't have to invent something new."
A main feature of the presentation is the display of ancient Southwestern ruins by aerial photographer Adriel Heisey. The photographs help transport viewers to "another world in a way," Moats said.
The bird's-eye view provided by the photos gives a glimpse of how elaborate and large some of the cities in the ancient Southwest could be. If your conception of the region's ancient peoples involves peaceful communities residing in charming adobe villages, the photos might
surprise you. Some of the
cultures depicted here were
capable of complex, hierarchical living environments with specialized facilities for dwelling, recreation and utilities.
Pottery that was excavated from these sites forms the focus of the exhibit. At a glance, the pottery seemingly has a common appearance. Shapes and
textures were roughly the same across the cultures, and the colors are generally earthen. But a moment or two of inspection reveals them to contain important differences.
The Chaco, for example, restricted their colors to black and white, based on the examples on display. Surface designs are typically limited to geometric patterns, but in rare instances, a human or animal figure will show up. Some of the vessels look surprisingly modern, as with a pair of coffee mug-like cups that would not be out of place in Starbucks.
One helpful feature of the exhibit is a looped video that shows a time line map of the Southwest. Colored bubbles, each representing a culture discussed in the exhibit, appear, grow and disappear according to the chronology of their presence in the
region. The video gives a summary visual view of when and where each culture existed.
The exhibit has a scholastic component. James Hakala, the museum's senior educator, said schools may rent "discovery kits" assembled by the museum. The kits include various items -- arrowheads, a sandal, fire-starting tools and a grinding stone, for example -- that help students learn about the culture of the ancestral Pueblo culture.
The museum is said to have a venerable collection of items from the history of the Southwest, and the pottery specimens on display are rarely seen ceramics from the collection. Much of the pottery is drawn from the Earl Morris collection, named for a famed archaeologist who helped found the museum.
Quentin Young can be reached at 303-684-5319 or email@example.com.


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Panasonic's SZ line, announced just this year, is their latest budget offering that combines versatile lenses with compact and lightweight builds. All three pocketable cameras in the line look nearly identical and feature 10x zoom 25-250mm lenses. The SZ5 is the priciest of the trio at $149, almost entirely due to the inclusion of WiFi. In other respects the SZ7 is the better camera, offering much faster burst rates and 1080p video due to its CMOS sensor.
The question, then, is whether the SZ5's wireless functionality is worth the sacrifice in other areas. If image quality is good enough, then you aren't paying much more (twenty bucks?) for what is generally a high-end feature. That 14 megapixel CCD sensor has, on the other hand, meant trouble in the past and we're leery of its use in the SZ5, especially when the cheaper SZ1 uses a 16 megapixel version. Read on to see exactly how this somewhat confusing mix of features all comes together.
Body and Design - Panasonic SZ5
There's little doubt upon handling the SZ5 that it's a budget model, but this doesn't mean it isn't sturdy. Although made almost entirely of plastic, it holds together quite well and is a mere 136 grams. Panasonic borrows the SZ5's styling cues from a deck of cards; the edges and corners are nicely rounded, yes, but the SZ5 won't be winning any design awards. You can find the SZ5 in either a matte black or glossy white finish.
The lens housing sits nearly flush with the front plate of the camera, impressive for a 10x zoom lens. With a 25mm wide-angle and 250mm telephoto, chances are the SZ5 will cover most of your shooting needs. There's a small flash near the center of the camera and the wireless transmitter sits along the right side. There's no finger grip to speak of, but on a camera this light one really isn't necessary.
Along the top of the camera sit the mono microphone, a small speaker, the On/Off button, the shutter button ringed by zoom toggle, and a red record button that falls under your shutter finger. It's too bad Panasonic didn't include stereo microphones here, but this isn't surprising given the price.
The 2.5" screen on the back of the camera is 230,000 dots, fairly low for 2012 although usable. Next to the screen sits the Wi-Fi button at the top right, followed by Mode and Playback buttons and then the 4-way controller around a Menu/Set button. Beneath the controller lie the Display button as well as the Quick Menu/Trash button. The battery and memory card are inserted into the camera bottom next to the plastic tripod mount directly beneath the lens.
User Experience and Performance - Panasonic SZ5
The SZ5 is a very straightforward point and shoot camera with the added benefit of WiFi. There are only four modes to choose from: iAuto, Normal Picture, Miniature and Scene Modes. The iAuto, or Intelligent Auto, makes all the decisions for you and automatically detects the best scene setting for your subject, while Normal Picture allows a few more adjustments to things like ISO, exposure compensation, and white balance. The four-way controller accesses exposure compensation, timer, macro and flash settings and everything else is housed within the Quick Menu. There are only 15 scene modes to choose from, two of which are devoted to babies, but the important ones like Sports and Night Portrait are included. Compared to most cameras this is an extremely pared down selection, but it's easy and gets you back to shooting quickly.
The most frustrating aspect of the camera, and it may be that we just are missing some vital step, is that the WiFi is too difficult to set up. The instructions are filled with jargon and tend to gloss over important steps. You need to sign up for a Lumix Club login to send images to your computer automatically when charging, but the sharing instructions following that step are too vague for mac users. Likewise, using your smart phone as a remote control should have been straightforward, but the Lumix Link software wasn't able to find the camera and kept saying "Switch to Local Mode", a warning that the manual doesn't mention. We do know that the wireless works well as we've seen it in action before, but you might need to be very technically inclined to get it to do what you'd like.
Besides this hiccup, overall operation is very easy and the camera is fast enough to get out of your way. It starts up quickly, autofocuses quickly, and scrolls through menu options and the review mode quickly. Controls are exactly where you expect them to be and we think anyone could learn to use the SZ5 in under five minutes.
Image Quality - Panasonic SZ5
Although we had high hopes that the SZ5 would surprise in the image quality department, the sample photos aren't very impressive. Colors are really quite good, but images throughout the ISO exhibit obvious signs of noise and noise reduction. Blue skies at ISO 100 look grainy and by ISO 400 things are looking pretty ugly. If you only view your photos on Facebook you may be happy, but at sizes any larger than that these noise problems become obvious.
Issues also extend to the lens itself, which has trouble resolving all 14 megapixels as you move toward the telephoto end of the zoom. While wide-angle looks great despite the soft corners, subjects get increasingly hazy as you zoom toward 250mm. Thankfully vignetting and chromatic aberrations are well controlled, but these are small victories in an otherwise lackluster performance. What's the point of having a long zoom range if it does so poorly?
The 720p HD video quality is adequate though not outstanding. The camera does a great job of keeping focus and smoothly zooming, but footage is excessively grainy even in bright sunlight. The mono microphone doesn't help sound quality much, either.
Conclusion - Panasonic SZ5
The main reason to buy the SZ5 over the cheaper yet undoubtedly better SZ7 is for the WiFi, but after hours of frustration we weren't much closer to getting it working correctly. If the main purpose of having the camera automatically sync pictures to your PC is to make life easier, then why over complicate the setup? We aren't docking the SZ5 too much for our inadequacies, but there's little else here to recommend the camera. It's very easy to use but the noise performance is unimpressive. The long zoom range is great for travel but often yields hazy, washed-out pictures. If you can live without the WiFi, the SZ7 or Nikon's S6300 should both yield better images and fuller functionality for about the same cost.


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|To apply for Funding you must register by:
|November 04, 2013 over 5 years ago
|Parent Program:
|UC Berkeley
Show List of Speakers
- Linan Chen (McGill University)
- Jonathan Korman (University of Toronto)
- Rafe Mazzeo (Stanford University)
- Peter Michor (Universität Wien)
- Maryam Mirzakhani (Stanford University)
- Gerard Misiolek (University of Notre Dame)
- Giuseppe Savare (Università di Pavia)
- Eric Schippers (University of Manitoba)
- Lior Silberman (University of British Columbia)
- Christina Sormani (CUNY, Graduate Center)
- Vladimir Sverak (University of Minnesota Twin Cities)
- Feride Tiglay (Ohio State University)
- Guoliang YU (Texas A & M University)
The purpose of this workshop is to gather researchers working in various areas of geometry in infinite dimensions in order to facilitate collaborations and sharing of ideas. Topics represented include optimal transport and geometries on densities, metrics on shape spaces, Euler-Arnold equations on diffeomorphism groups, the universal Teichmuller space, geometry of random Riemann surfaces, metrics on spaces of metrics, and related areas. The workshop will be held on the campus of University of California Berkeley (60 Evans Hall) the weekend of December 7-8, 2013. It is funded by an NSF grant.
58-XX - Global analysis, analysis on manifolds [See also 32Cxx, 32Fxx, 32Wxx, 46-XX, 47Hxx, 53Cxx] {For geometric integration theory, see 49Q15}
Show Funding
To apply for funding, you must register by the funding application deadline displayed above.
Students, recent Ph.D.'s, women, and members of underrepresented minorities are particularly encouraged to apply. Funding awards are typically made 6 weeks before the workshop begins. Requests received after the funding deadline are considered only if additional funds become available.
Show Lodging
MSRI has preferred rates at the Hotel Durant. Reservations may be made by calling 1-800-238-7268. When making reservations, guests must request the MSRI preferred rate. If you are making your reservations on line, please go to this link and enter the promo/corporate code MSRI123. Our preferred rate is $129 per night for a Deluxe Queen/King, based on availability.
MSRI has preferred rates of $149 - $189 plus tax at the Hotel Shattuck Plaza, depending on room availability. Guests can either call the hotel's main line at 510-845-7300 and ask for the MSRI- Mathematical Science Research Inst. discount; or go to www.hotelshattuckplaza.com and click Book Now. Once on the reservation page, click "Promo/Corporate Code" and input the code: msri.
MSRI has preferred rates of $110 - $140 at the Berkeley Lab Guest House, depending on room availability. Reservations may be made by calling 510-495-8000 or directly on their website. Select "I am an individual traveler affiliated with MSRI".
Additional lodging options may be found on our short term housing page.
Show Directions to Venue
Show Visa/Immigration
Dec 07, 2013
Dec 08, 2013


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ABC next season will bring back the Muppets and Don Johnson and add another series from "Scandal" executive producer Shonda Rhimes.
The Disney-owned network on Tuesday unveiled a lineup that adds five series in the fall - two comedies and three dramas.
The new comedies are:
"The Muppets," which offers a look at the characters' personal and work lives in a documentary-style series. Think "Keeping Up With the Muppets."
"Dr. Ken," which casts Ken Jeong ("Community") as a super-intelligent physician who lacks empathy.
The new dramas are:
"Quantico" about recruits at the FBI training base after...


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Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) on Monday hailed the bipartisan support of a bill that would award grants to states that start programs to collect DNA samples of people arrested on suspicion of violent felonies.
The legislation, which is headed to President Obama's desk after passing the Senate on Monday, bears the name of Katie Sepich, a college student who was raped and murdered in 2003 in New Mexico. Her attacker was arrested several times over the next few years but was never linked to Sepich's murder because his DNA was not collected until 2006.
"[This measure] is an important step that will save lives," Schiff said in a statement. "Every improvement we make to our DNA system means that more violent crimes solved and more violent felons taken of the street."
The Katie Sepich Enhanced DNA Collection Act of 2012, also known as Katie's Law, establishes a program to provide grants to states that implement DNA collection programs for people arrested on suspicion of murder, sexual assault, kidnapping, burglary or aggravated assault.
States are authorized to collect DNA for a larger subset of crimes, but must do so for those felony crimes, according to the legislation.
Schiff said the measure, which was first introduced in 2010, is a "smart approach" that will save taxpayer dollars.
"Just as we fingerprint arrestees, it makes sense to collect a DNA profile when someone is arrested for a violent felony," Schiff said. "This bill will encourage states around the nation to join California and other states that have adopted arrestee testing."
While the bill does not authorize new funding for the DNA program, it uses funds created from an existing law to reduce a DNA backlog and specifies that up to $10 million in each fiscal year from 2013 to 2015 may be used as grants for states under Katie's Law.
-- Mark Kellam, Times Community News
Follow Mark Kellam on Twitter: @LAMarkKellam


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Difference between revisions of "GEF3D Sample Applications"
m (GEF3D SampleApps moved to GEF3D Sample Applications: better to read)
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The following applications are all implemented with [http://www.eclipse.org/ge3d/ GEF3D], demonstrating what you can do with this framework.
The following applications are all implemented with [http://www.eclipse.org/ge3d/ GEF3D], demonstrating what you can do with this framework.
Revision as of 02:29, 29 January 2010
The following applications are all implemented with GEF3D, demonstrating what you can do with this framework.
Note: Some of these applications are made with elder versions of GEF3D, display quality of newer versions may be much better!
|3D-fied Ecore and UML Tools
| GEF3D includes some example editors, such as 3D-fied versions of the Ecore Tools (ecore diagrams, see screenshot) and UML2 Tools (class, use case, and activity diagrams). Multiple diagrams can be visualized (and edited!) in a single 3D view. These editors can be used for you own 3D applications and demonstrate how to 3D-fy GMF based editors.
|3D Graphical Editor for the GMF Mapping Model
| Editing the GMF mapping model using the tree based editor can be really annoying. The 3D editor for the GMF mapping model is a prototype demonstrating how to simply create mappings using drag and drop. The domain (ecore) model, the graphical notation model and the mapping model are all visualized graphically. Mappings are simply created by dragging elements from the domain or graphical notation model onto the mapping model. References (from the mapping model to the other models) are visualized as inter-model-connections.
|Screenshot coming soon.
| The Eclipse Agent Modeling Platform provides tools for agent meta-modeling called AMF, agent execution called AXF and visualization called AGF, and has used GEF3D for AGF3D.
|Visualization of Transformation Chains
| A 3D visualizer of a transformation chain, each model is displayed on a plane, the transformation traces are shown as inter-model-connections. The models are displayed using a 3D-fied version of TOPCASED UML, an ER-diagram-editor is a simple GEF based editor.


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Boulder County's famed "Jane Doe" -- the homicide victim whose identity has been a mystery for more than five decades -- was identified Wednesday by the sheriff as a woman who went missing from Arizona.
Sheriff Joe Pelle announced that the woman's identity has been confirmed as Dorothy Gay Howard, who was reported missing from Phoenix, Ariz., in March 1954. She was 18 at the time of her disappearance.
The Sheriff's Office received lab results that showed a match between Howard's DNA and samples provided by a long-lost sister, confirming the family's suspicion that their relative, known as "Dot," was Boulder's "Jane Doe." Detectives think the identification will help them finish piecing together the murder case.
Howard's naked and battered body was discovered along the banks of Boulder Creek -- near Boulder Falls, eight miles west of Boulder -- on April 8, 1954.
Investigators, along with local historian and Camera columnist Silvia Pettem, have, for years, doggedly tried to identify the woman -- exhuming her body from her grave and publicizing an artist's re-creation of "Jane Doe's" face. Her reconstructed skull provided a DNA profile.
The case was featured in an episode of "America's Most Wanted."
Meanwhile, Howard's great-niece had been following Pettem's Web site, boulderjanedoe.com, but put her suspicions aside that "Jane Doe" could be her great-aunt because investigators had initially believed the woman was Katharine Farrand Dyer.
Last month, Dyer was discovered alive, living in an assisted living center in Australia. That discovery prompted Howard's great-niece to come forward with information about Howard and her disappearance. The younger sister of Howard provided a DNA sample that was then compared against "Jane Doe's" profile, establishing a match.
"I'm looking forward to learning more about her," Pettem said. "After all of these years, I feel like I know her. But to the family, I'm a stranger."
Pettem is the author of the book "Someone's Daughter: In Search of Justice for Jane Doe," which chronicles her journey to identify the young woman.
Sheriff Pelle commended Pettem's skills as a researcher and her persistence in pushing the investigation forward, while complimenting Detective Steve Ainsworth, who has pursued and documented every lead in the case.
Together, they built a compelling circumstantial case for naming serial killer Harvey Glatman -- who was executed in California in 1959 for the murder of three other women -- as Howard's murderer.
"With her identification, a major piece of the puzzle has been added," Ainsworth said in a news release. "I'm confident now that we will be able to find the missing links that will tie this all together."
The Sheriff's Office is not releasing information about Howard's family because they've requested privacy.
Pettem said that when she started on the quest to discover the identity of "Jane Doe," her goal was to be able to return the remains to her family and put her name on the gravestone.
Howard's surviving family members have expressed their preference that she remain buried in Boulder's Columbia Cemetery. Pettem said she feels sadness for Howard's tragic death but relief that her family has closure.
Pettem, with Pelle's cooperation, has announced a fund drive to purchase a new headstone for Howard. Donations can be made to the "Jane Doe Fund," c/o the Boulder History Museum, 1206 Euclid Ave., Boulder, CO 80302.
Contact Camera Staff Writer Brittany Anas at 303-473-1132 or email@example.com.


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Patrik Berger was a made man even before he stepped off the plane at Liverpool John Lennon Airport. The Czech was a teen star in his homeland and had featured prominently in the side that reached the Euro '96 final.
The youngster's star rose and he left Sparta Prague for rivals Slavia. Sparta continued to dominate the League but Berger's mercurial talents were being monitored closely, and in 1995 he joined Ottmar Hitzfeld's Borussia Dortmund.
The veteran head coach designated his new charge with a less fancied holding midfield role and, despite his unhappiness, Berger finished his only season in Germany with the Bundesliga and Super Cup, scoring four goals in 25 appearances.
Playing alongside Pavel Nedved and Karol Poborsky it was Berger's attacking instincts that came to the fore at Euro '96 and with Premier League teams scouting for top European talent Roy Evans quickly stepped in. Southport was the next port of call and the dashing Berger was whisked off to Anfield, joining the illustrious Patrick Vieira, Robert Di Matteo, Gianluca Vialli and Fabrizio Ravenelli in England.
Flowing hair and the Alice band added a touch of glamour and rock and roll. Opposition fans didn't quite see it that way and many away fans gleefully taunted the fashion sense of the Czech star.
Despite the glitz and glamour, here was a gifted footballer with a lethal left peg, who barring injury, would have won far more than 44 international caps.
Berger had a blistering start to his Liverpool career with his second appearance resulting in two goals against Leicester City. Foxes Goalkeeper Kasey Keller raved: "I've never seen a ball move so fast in my life. It's a good job I didn't get in the way of either shot or I'd have been back in the net with it." His first start led to another brace against Chelsea and the player of the month award.
Roy Evans pushed the Czech star further upfield to compensate for the lack of goals from the Stan Collymore and Robbie Fowler partnership. Berger finished the campaign with nine goals.
The highlight of the 1997/98 season was a hattrick against Chelsea. Controversy followed in 1998 after he incurred the wrath of Evans for refusing to accept a place on subs bench. The feeling was mutual and Berger likened Liverpool to "a Third or Second Division club - not like the Liverpool I expected."
It seemed that Berger's career was on a downward slope but, with AS Roma showing interest, Gerard Houllier came to the rescue. The Frenchman deployed Berger behind the front two and the central positioning led to immediate dividends with four goals in the next five games. Iconic strikes against Leeds United, Tottenham, Manchester United and Wimbledon have made Berger a firm favourite amongst Liverpool fans.
After a disappointing Euro 2000 Berger played a role in Liverpool's treble trophy assault in 2001/01, with the undoubted highlights being the pass that set up Michael Owen's FA Cup Final winner against Arsenal at Cardiff's Millenium Stadium and the magical 5-4 Uefa Cup final victory over Alaves.
Injuries took their toll and from 2003 onwards Berger transferred to Portsmouth, Aston Villa, Stoke City before returning home with Slavia Prague and Prague sixth Division outfit Dolni Chabry. At Villa his stint was cut bluntly short after 29 games after it emerged that he had encouraged skipper Gareth Barry to join Liverpool.
An quote from an interview with the Sunday Times in 2004 cements Berger's hero status: "You know, the greatest day in my football life was the day I signed for Liverpool. I couldn't believe it.
"When I was young in Czechoslovakia, we didn't see much European football, but my father's friend went to England and he watched Liverpool. When he came back, he gave me the programme, the ticket and a scarf. I still have them all.
"When I moved to Southport to live, my neighbour was Kenny Dalglish. Alan Hansen lived around the corner. I met them, they were normal guys, but they were my heroes. To me, it's the best club in the world and when I am finished playing and I'm telling my children about it I will be proud to say that for seven years I was a Liverpool player."
A dodgy knee forced the boots to be hung up in May 2008. Sparta coach Jozef Chovanec said: "Patrik told me yesterday, 'It's over. My knee doesn't support the burden any more'. We have to deal with it. Thank you, Patrik, for everything you have done for Sparta and the entire Czech football."
"Paddy" was simply a class act. Injury prevented him from greater achievements at Liverpool but the silky runs, playmaking skills, the flowing locks and the blistering left foot piledrivers reserve this outstanding footballer a special place in the hearts of all Reds.


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text: Seller: prophila (95,984) 99.9%, Location: Giessen, Ships to: AU, Item: 332527912984 Stamps, coins, paper money, scripophily, promotional semi-trucks, catalogues, accessories and much more... Welcome to one of the world's largest online shops for the world of collectors! Our offer: Anguilla Stamps 100 different stamps Branded product: Prophila Prophila Description: Stamps Anguilla Stamps 100 different stamps Product: Stamps This image is a representative sample image. The original item supplied may differ slightly from this. Quality: Collector's items from our range satisfy even the most stringent quality requirements. We want to save ourselves and our customers any trouble with dubious products. Every complaint costs us effort, money and ultimately our customers. So you can absolutely rely on our quality assurances!!! Weight: 0 grammes 131/001P101944 Over 140,000 different items in our ebay-shop!!! You will find an enormous selection of collector supplies, stamps, coins, paper money, scripophily, promotional semi-trucks and much more in our ebay-shop. More unusual collection categories, lowest-value items and oddities etc. are also our speciality. We also stock accessories and catalogues from several large manufacturers. Pricing and Contract Conditions The price includes VAT at the given rate and this is shown on the invoice that you receive together with your order. Any potential additional objects used for display in the item photograph are not a component part of the offer unless they are included in the item description. By placing an order you expressly accept our Terms and Conditions. These can be found along with other legal information at the end of this page. Shipping and Shipping Costs Shipping within Australia: small amounts of stamps, coins, paper money and telephone cards we also send by letter mail for AUD 2,99 (no insurance) anything else... AUD 59,99 flat fee, regardless of quantity, value and weight (orders for more than AUD 349,99 are deliverd for free) Included in this flat fee are packaging materials, shipping insurance, bank charges, staff costs and other expenses. Shipping to other countries abroad: Usually priced according to the postage table below. Shipping insurance: Standard Shipping is by insured parcel with UPS. Purchase procedure and payment information Within a few hours you will receive an email with a link to our purchase procedure. There you will find our account information and you can choose your payment method and check your details. We will respond to any other queries at the latest on the next working day, but not at weekends or on bank holidays. In the case of orders from abroad or if for other reasons the total is not yet fixed, please get in contact with us before making payment. Of course there are no further charges for payments via PayPal domestically or internationally (also not for credit card payments)! We despatch immediately on receipt of payment. Customer Support For questions about this or other items, our purchase procedure or shipping costs: Contact us via eBay-Message! Dispute resolution: The European Commission soon provides a platform for online dispute resolution: https://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr/. About PROPHILA Prophila has been Germany's leading product and systems provider for collectables in department stores since 1985. The focus of our selection has quickly shifted from a specialist range of goods for the German market to an international range of collectables with a comprehensive selection available around the world. powered by plentymarkets


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Downbelow Marine
Disclaimer: The views, actions and activities posted by participants on My Ocean are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Project AWARE Foundation.
- Name
- Downbelow Marine
- Location
Sabah, Malaysia6.012618, 116.020517 View on map
- Member Type
- My Website
- My Summary
Downbelow Marine & Wildlife Adventures is a PADI 5 Star IDC Diver Training Centre in Sabah, Borneo with a dive shop, classroom & travel centre in Kota Kinabalu and a beach-side dive centre on the nearby Gaya Island, just 10 minutes away by boat.
The dive centre, surrounded by tropical jungle and vibrant reefs, is where you can learn to dive in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. Downbelow uses the latest training methods and regularly serviced, quality diving equipment to conduct all levels of diver training, from Discover SCUBA through to IDC Staff Instructor.
For the aspiring professional SCUBA diver, diving internships are on offer and ranges in length from 1 to 6 months, enabling even non-divers to quickly progress from zero to fully qualified open water diving instructors, ready for employment anywhere in the world.
Under the leadership of resident PADI Course Director Richard Swann, Downbelow's Go Pro Instructor Development team team-teaches, giving candidates the full advantage of their collective decades worth of experience.
For a one-stop shop that provides the best PADI SCUBA diving facilities and the widest range of PADI courses in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah; when you dive Sabah, DiveDownbelow.
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My Ocean Community
My Dive Against Debris Surveys


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Planting the seed isn't enough to ensure it grows.
Plants need attention. Water. Sunlight. Pruning. Fertilizer. Insecticide.
Planting is tough. But the work doesn't end there.
Maintenance and upkeep is a never-ending process.
Which brings us to one of my Achilles heels. And perhaps one of yours as well.
I'm great at planting. Maintaining, not so much.
For those who haven't caught the obvious analogy to marketing yet, let me drive the point home.
If you want to sell books by using the Internet, maintenance is essential.
When was the last time you updated your website?
When was the last time you blogged?
Traded links?
Friended people on MySpace, Facebook, Shelfari, or Goodreads?
Participated in a forum?
Having an online presence doesn't mean building it and the forgetting it. It means constant upkeep, diligent attention to what visitors want, and an ongoing addition of quality content.
You can't ever rest on your laurels.
I've been buried in writing for the past few weeks. Which is great--I'm lucky to have contracts and deadlines. But this isn't an excuse for lapsing on my net maintenance.
A good website or blog will keep attracting new visitors.
But new content is what keeps visitors coming back.
Don't forget your site maintenance. You worked too hard planting the seed to let it die.
Now stop screwing around on my blog and go tend to your garden.
Monday, August 24, 2009
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Indicative Rate * AU$120 to AU$300
Airlie Beach Motor Lodge is located in a quiet and central location of the beautiful Whitsundays, offering self-contained accommodation only 200 metres from the Airlie Beach Lagoon, beach, shops and restaurants.
Airlie Beach Motor Lodge offers all the features of a resort with private balconies or patios (most with ocean or mountain views), sauna, pool, gazebo and an outdoor entertainment area for guests to relax with a barbecue or a game of pool.
Accommodation options include Motel Garden Rooms, Self Contained Deluxe Studio Apartments and Two Bedroom Townhouses. Most units are self-contained and have their own DVD players, and all units have microwaves, tea and toast making facilities. Linen and bath towels are provided and there are two laundries with washing machines and dryers. Airlie Beach Motor Lodge offers covered parking, wireless internet access, is pet friendly and has certified Disabled Access Facilities.
Airlie Beach is the gateway to the Whitsunday Islands - 74 islands set inside the heart of Australia's Great Barrier Reef. The staff at Airlie Beach Motor Lodge are long time 'locals' with a great knowledge of the area who can assist in booking all Whitsunday tour options.
Airlie Beach Motor Lodge's spacious Self Contained Studios are ideal for long stay holidays and feature balconies with bay and mountain views. The rooms have ample built in cupboards with a queen bed, single bed and sofa bed, as well as a kitchenette with basic cooking facilities including a microwave, compact disc/DVD players, clock radio, air conditioner, ceiling fan and hairdryer.
Airlie Beach Motor Lodge's self contained Two Bedroom Townhouses are ideal for two couples or families. Upstairs, the bedrooms are separated by a bathroom and toilet. There is a queen size bed in one bedroom and a queen and single bed in the other room. There is a small balcony with some bay and mountain views.
Downstairs is another toilet and large open planned living area with sofa bed and television with DVD player in the lounge area. The spacious well equipped kitchen with combined microwave, grill and oven, as well as a ceramic cooktop and large fridge/freezer, makes it perfect to for in-house catering. You can entertain around the dining table or outside on the outdoor setting if you prefer to enjoy the great outdoors.
The Garden Motel Suites are motel style rooms with a balcony overlooking the garden and/or pool. The rooms offer tea and toast making facilities, microwave, television, in-house movies, clock radio, hair dryer, linen and bath towels, air-conditioning, ceiling fan, undercover parking and are serviced daily.
Note: Information on listed products and services are provided by the operator and were correct at the time of publishing. Rates are indicative based on the minimum and maximum available prices of products and services. Please visit the operator's website for further information. All prices quoted are in Australian dollars (AUD).


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Express. Home of the Daily and Sunday Express.
Capello defends captaincy situation
England manager Fabio Capello says he can understand why Rio Ferdinand may be upset at losing the captaincy to John Terry, but insists that it was a decision he needed to make.
Terry's return as skipper following a 13-month exile after allegations about his private life has dominated the headlines in the build-up to Saturday's game with Wales, while it has been reported that Capello did not tell Ferdinand that he was being replaced as captain before reports emerged in the media.
Ferdinand's current absence through injury, plus that of vice-captain Steven Gerrard, meant that Capello had a captaincy decision to make, and he believes he has made the right choice. "Something happened in my mind when I saw the armband being passed around during our game in Copenhagen (against Denmark)," he said.
"We changed it in the second half and it was unfair for John Terry to see this. I thought that it was time for John Terry, after punishment, to return and be captain.
"I know that Rio Ferdinand and Steven Gerrard are not fit. I knew it was the moment, with one game which is so important, to have one captain like John Terry. I tried to meet him (Ferdinand) when Manchester United played against Marseille but he told me no.
"I can understand everything, but I need to make decisions. I think I will be happy and will meet him (Ferdinand) in the future."
Pushed further on why the meeting with Ferdinand did not take place, Capello added: "It didn't happen, he didn't come. It's a question for him, not for me. I was in the directors' box. You have to ask him, okay?"
Capello added: "I spoke with the players and personally with some players, and I spoke with the squad before I decided that John Terry will be the captain, and all the players were happy because John Terry was always a very important leader on the pitch and to the team."
Capello also praised the improvement shown by Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere, who is set to make his first competitive start for England on Saturday, saying he was surprised at the strides made by the 19-year-old. Capello said: "He is a young player who has improved a lot in a short time. He was an interesting player, when he played his first game with us he was good, but young.
"Now he is playing like a player who has played a lot of games, like a 28 or 29-year-old. He plays the game fantastically with personality and without fear. It's not easy to find players like him who play without fear in places like the Nou Camp. I spoke with Arsene (Wenger) and he told him he was also surprised by how he had improved so much in so short a time."


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Yesterday, as Scott notes, Iranian president Hassan Rouhani placed an op-ed in the Washington Post wherein he explains "why Iran seeks constructive engagement." Rouhani's punditry follows on the heels of Vladimir Putin's, which appeared in the New York Times.
I'll take Putin's effort (or that of his PR firm) over Rouhani's any day. Snark always makes for better reading than saccharine.
But Iran's interests — buying time so it can finish developing nuclear weapons — call for saccharine. Once Iran has nukes, there will be time enough for a return to snark — the least of the indignities it will heap upon us.
In the meantime, let me add to Scott's commentary by noting two passages from Rouhani that caught my eye.
The Iranian president opens by advising Americans that "the world has changed." Rouhani thus echoes a statement made recently by his boss, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, but he omits the key qualifier.
Last week, according to AEI Iran Tracker, Khamenei told a meeting of the Army of the Guardians of the Iranian Revolution (IRGC): "Though the world has changed, that cannot be a justification for the change of ideals, goals, or the correct path."
Precisely. Iran has not changed its ideals, goals, or path. Its ideals are jihadist; its goals encompass (but are not limited to) regional domination, and its path includes the development of nuclear weapons.
Rouhani assures us, however, that "gone is the age of blood feuds." Yet last week, while his PR folks were crafting his "let bygones be bygones" message for consumption in American, Rouhani ordered the establishment of a commission to investigate "the legal-political role and the interventions of America and England in the 1953 coup" and to provide recommendations to Parliament on strategies "to pursue spiritual and material compensation" to Iran.
The age of "blood feuds" may be gone, but that doesn't mean you can't hold a grudge.
As Michael Rubin points out, however, Rouhani's Islamist teachers and predecessors supported the 1953 coup. So the regime's grudge is artificial. The grudge we should be holding over the 1979 hostage taking is not.
Rouhani's message of "constructive engagement" is as meaningless as Putin's professed willingness to help us rid Syria of chemical weapons. Unfortunately, President Obama pretended that Putin's offer is serious and may very well pretend the same with respect to Rouhani's message.
The incentive for Obama to do so is the same in both cases — to avoid the use of force (even if only bombing or only by another nation) where force is needed.


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Thomas Lauth needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 20 designs submitted by 3 freelance designers.
Center to Abolish Human Trafficking in Women and Children Inc
The Center to Abolish Trafficking in Women and Children Inc. will operate globally and act as a leader in the intervention and prevention of human trafficking, working towards creating a broad network of grassroots supporters and advocates, all working collaboratively to meet the same goal- ENDING Human Trafficking.
The Center to Abolish Human Trafficking focuses aims to recruit, educate, and mobilize an international grassroots social movement. Effectively and efficiently our grassroots activists of all languages, careers, and socioeconomic class will aim to combat human trafficking and slavery.
As the late great Howard Zinn commented:
"We don't have to engage in grand, heroic actions to participate in the process of change. Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people,
can transform the world."
We have joined 99 design to engage the minds of the creative. Please do that for us. What we want is creativity and not to limit the minds of ant artist.
Only I can say that the victims of human trafficking need the chains of slavery broken. Once the chains are broken victims see the elements of life differently. As many of us have experienced the feeling of traveling freely and say seeing the vast landscapes of mountains or parks, unlike trafficking victims who never see anything of beauty.
Many victims are physically and mentally coerced and abused for years. Held in virtual captivity most of their young life that many of them for years only see the brothels they work inside, or the strip clubs and hotels of where their pimps place them that life itself ceases to exist.
My organization, CAHT, wants to see that once victims are free that they receive holistic healing process and that life turns into light and eventually leaving the darkness behind.
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


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A Lancaster County company that lost its civil case against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's contraception clause plans to appeal, its attorney said today.
"When you run a business, it isn't something disconnected from you as an individual, but an extension of your beliefs, your aspirations, your will," said Randall Wenger, chief counsel of the Harrisburg-based Independence Law Center, which is representing Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp.
"If the government can tell people to violate their conscience, the government can tell people to do almost anything. … For your readers who may not agree with what's on the abortion issue or the contraception issue, the deeper issue of liberty is something we should all agree about."
On Friday, Judge Mitchell S. Goldberg of the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District issued a ruling against Conestoga, finding that what the PPACA requires of the secular corporation does not constitute a substantial burden on the owners' religious freedom.
The Hahn family, which owns Conestoga, cited its Mennonite faith in opposing the requirement to provide contraceptives, which includes what they consider abortifacients. PPACA includes an exception for religious employers, which Conestoga Wood Specialties Corporation does not qualify as.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a brief in the case arguing that the right to religious liberty is not absolute and "does not give businesses or individual's carte blanche to discriminate against others, deny others their rights, ignore important laws, or foist their religious beliefs on their employees."
"Congress required coverage of Women's Preventive Healthcare in order to address inequities in the current healthcare system, which leads 'women of childbearing age [to] spend 68 percent more in out-of-pocket health care costs than men,'" the brief said.
"Whatever burden the Hahns may feel from being involved with a for-profit corporation that provides health insurance that could possibly be used to pay for contraceptives, that burden is simply too indirect to be considered substantial under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act," Goldberg wrote.
Goldberg's 34-page opinion noted that rulings in similar cases across the country, including those filed by Hobby Lobby and Tyndale House Publishers, have been varied, and that neither the Supreme Court nor the Third Circuit has had occasion to decide whether for-profit, secular corporations possess the religious rights held by individuals.
The penalty for not complying with the requirement is $100 per employee per day, or approximately $95,000 per day for Conestoga. Goldberg had previously granted Conestoga a temporary reprieve from the fine, which would have begun on Jan. 14, pending his decision on the case.
Wenger noted that Hobby Lobby, which is appealing a similar and much-publicized case, has found a way to delay the start of its new insurance year and the official start of fines, but Conestoga has an insurance carrier and that option does not appear to be open. What will happen with the imposition of fines remains to be seen as Conestoga pursues the case, he said.
Click here to read the full ruling.