text:
perlcompile - Introduction to the Perl Compiler-Translator
Perl has always had a compiler: your source is compiled into an
internal form (a parse tree) which is then optimized before being
run. Since version 5.005, Perl has shipped with a module
capable of inspecting the optimized parse tree (B
), and this has
been used to write many useful utilities, including a module that lets
you turn your Perl into C source code that can be compiled into a
native executable.
The B
module provides access to the parse tree, and other modules
("back ends") do things with the tree. Some write it out as
semi-human-readable text. Another traverses the parse tree to build a
cross-reference of which subroutines, formats, and variables are used
where. Another checks your code for dubious constructs. Yet another back
end dumps the parse tree back out as Perl source, acting as a source code
beautifier or deobfuscator.
Because its original purpose was to be a way to produce C code
corresponding to a Perl program, and in turn a native executable, the
module and its associated back ends are known as "the
compiler", even though they don't really compile anything.
Different parts of the compiler are more accurately a "translator",
or an "inspector", but people want Perl to have a "compiler
option" not an "inspector gadget". What can you do?
This document covers the use of the Perl compiler: which modules it comprises, how to use the most important of the back end modules, what problems there are, and how to work around them.
The compiler back ends are in the B::
hierarchy, and the front-end
(the module that you, the user of the compiler, will sometimes
interact with) is the O module.
Here are the important back ends to know about, with their status expressed as a number from 0 (outline for later implementation) to 10 (if there's a bug in it, we're very surprised):
Complains if it finds dubious constructs in your source code. Status: 6 (it works adequately, but only has a very limited number of areas that it checks).
Recreates the Perl source, making an attempt to format it coherently. Status: 8 (it works nicely, but a few obscure things are missing).
Reports on the declaration and use of subroutines and variables. Status: 8 (it works nicely, but still has a few lingering bugs).
The following sections describe how to use the various compiler back ends. They're presented roughly in order of maturity, so that the most stable and proven back ends are described first, and the most experimental and incomplete back ends are described last.
The O module automatically enabled the -c flag to Perl, which prevents Perl from executing your code once it has been compiled. This is why all the back ends print:
- myperlprogram syntax OK
before producing any other output.
The cross referencing back end (B::Xref) produces a report on your program, breaking down declarations and uses of subroutines and variables (and formats) by file and subroutine. For instance, here's part of the report from the pod2man program that comes with Perl:
- Subroutine clear_noremap
- Package (lexical)
- $ready_to_print i1069, 1079
- Package main
- $& 1086
- $. 1086
- $0 1086
- $1 1087
- $2 1085, 1085
- $3 1085, 1085
- %HTML_Escapes 1085, 1085
This shows the variables used in the subroutine clear_noremap
. The
variable $ready_to_print
is a my() (lexical) variable,
introduced (first declared with my()) on line 1069, and used on
line 1079. The variable $&
from the main package is used on 1086,
and so on.
A line number may be prefixed by a single letter:
Lexical variable introduced (declared with my()) for the first time.
Subroutine or method call.
Subroutine defined.
Format defined.
The most useful option the cross referencer has is to save the report to a separate file. For instance, to save the report on myperlprogram to the file report:
- $ perl -MO=Xref,-oreport myperlprogram
The Deparse back end turns your Perl source back into Perl source. It can reformat along the way, making it useful as a deobfuscator. The most basic way to use it is:
- $ perl -MO=Deparse myperlprogram
You'll notice immediately that Perl has no idea of how to paragraph your code. You'll have to separate chunks of code from each other with newlines by hand. However, watch what it will do with one-liners:
- $ perl -MO=Deparse -e '$op=shift||die "usage: $0
- code [...]";chomp(@ARGV=<>)unless@ARGV; for(@ARGV){$was=$_;eval$op;
- die$@ if$@; rename$was,$_ unless$was eq $_}'
- -e syntax OK
- $op = shift @ARGV || die("usage: $0 code [...]");
- chomp(@ARGV = <ARGV>) unless @ARGV;
- foreach $_ (@ARGV) {
- $was = $_;
- eval $op;
- die $@ if $@;
- rename $was, $_ unless $was eq $_;
- }
The decompiler has several options for the code it generates. For instance, you can set the size of each indent from 4 (as above) to 2 with:
- $ perl -MO=Deparse,-si2 myperlprogram
The -p option adds parentheses where normally they are omitted:
See B::Deparse for more information on the formatting options.
The lint back end (B::Lint) inspects programs for poor style. One programmer's bad style is another programmer's useful tool, so options let you select what is complained about.
To run the style checker across your source code:
- $ perl -MO=Lint myperlprogram
To disable context checks and undefined subroutines:
- $ perl -MO=Lint,-context,-undefined-subs myperlprogram
See B::Lint for information on the options.
This module is the introspective ("reflective" in Java terms) module, which allows a Perl program to inspect its innards. The back end modules all use this module to gain access to the compiled parse tree. You, the user of a back end module, will not need to interact with B.
This module is the front-end to the compiler's back ends. Normally called something like this:
- $ perl -MO=Deparse myperlprogram
This is like saying use O 'Deparse'
in your Perl program.
This module prints a concise (but complete) version of the Perl parse tree. Its output is more customizable than the one of B::Terse or B::Debug (and it can emulate them). This module useful for people who are writing their own back end, or who are learning about the Perl internals. It's not useful to the average programmer.
This module dumps the Perl parse tree in verbose detail to STDOUT. It's useful for people who are writing their own back end, or who are learning about the Perl internals. It's not useful to the average programmer.
This module produces Perl source code from the compiled parse tree. It is useful in debugging and deconstructing other people's code, also as a pretty-printer for your own source. See The Decompiling Back End for details about usage.
This module inspects the compiled form of your source code for things
which, while some people frown on them, aren't necessarily bad enough
to justify a warning. For instance, use of an array in scalar context
without explicitly saying scalar(@array)
is something that Lint
can identify. See The Lint Back End for details about usage.
This module prints out the my() variables used in a function or a file. To get a list of the my() variables used in the subroutine mysub() defined in the file myperlprogram:
- $ perl -MO=Showlex,mysub myperlprogram
To get a list of the my() variables used in the file myperlprogram:
- $ perl -MO=Showlex myperlprogram
This module prints the contents of the parse tree, but without as much
information as B::Debug. For comparison, print "Hello, world."
produced 96 lines of output from B::Debug, but only 6 from B::Terse.
This module is useful for people who are writing their own back end, or who are learning about the Perl internals. It's not useful to the average programmer.
This module prints a report on where the variables, subroutines, and formats are defined and used within a program and the modules it loads. See The Cross Referencing Back End for details about usage.
BEGIN{} blocks are executed while compiling your code. Any external state that is initialized in BEGIN{}, such as opening files, initiating database connections etc., do not behave properly. To work around this, Perl has an INIT{} block that corresponds to code being executed before your program begins running but after your program has finished being compiled. Execution order: BEGIN{}, (possible save of state through compiler back-end), INIT{}, program runs, END{}.
This document was originally written by Nathan Torkington, and is now maintained by the perl5-porters mailing list firstname.lastname@example.com.


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EVO-SP 6700 | Natural Gas Conversion for Stationary Diesel Engines
The EVO-SP™ 6700 System allows operators of electric power generators to substantially reduce costs, extend emergency run-time and improve sustainability by substituting diesel fuel with lower cost, cleaner burning natural gas (NG). The EVO-SP System is comprised of proprietary and patent-pending technologies that allow the safe use of natural gas in place of diesel fuel, with substitution rates ranging from 50% to 70% of the generator's total fuel requirement. Generators converted with the System exhibit diesel-like performance in such critical areas as load acceptance, power output, stability and efficiency. See which EVO-SP System is right for your application. Download our EVO-SP System selection questionnaire to find out.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Jun '14 |
14 |
7:00 pm |
Mike "McBeardo" McPadden's new book Heavy Metal Movies: Guitar Barbarians, Mutant Bimbos & Cult Zombies Amok in the 666 Most Eye- and Ear-Ripping Big Screen Films Ever! (Bazillion Points) is a lavishly illustrated, epic reference tome devoted to cinema's most headbanging blowouts. Heavy Metal Movies covers cult classics (Heavy Metal; This Is Spinal Tap), documentaries (Heavy Metal Parking Lot; The Decline of Western Civilization Part II), concert films (Let There Be Rock; The Song Remains the Same), rock-and-roll horror (Black Roses, House of 1000 Corpses), and gore-core (Cannibal Holocaust; A Serbian Film), along with movies that simply exude pure metallic heaviosity (Conan the Barbarian, The Road Warrior).
McPadden will read from Heavy Metal Movies, accompanied by original pieces about movies and/or metal composed and read by Andy Ortmann (Nihilist Records), Katie Rife (Everything Is Terrible), Andy Slater (Velcro Lewis), Gregory Jacobsen (Lovely Little Girls), Rachel McPadden (xoJane), and Dan Gleason (Chicago zine legend).
"McPadden has struck gold with Heavy Metal Movies. A must read!" –Robin Bougie, Cinema Sewer
Mike McPadden published the legendary '90s zine Happyland and has been featured in Esquire, Playboy, Black Book, New York Press, Hate, and Rollerderby. Since 2003, he's served as Head Writer at online phenomenon Mr. Skin.
For more info: HeavyMetalMovies.com
Twitter: @McBeardo
Facebook post: https://www.facebook.com/events/631650036921274/


text:
TENC Air - The most advanced composite slim bumper clear case with air cushions for the iPhone XS Max/XS/X
Shipping calculated at checkout
Pickup available at ecoSky, Kuala Lumpur (Appointments Required)
Usually ready in 24 hours
TENC Air - The most advanced composite slim bumper clear case with air cushions for the iPhone XS Max/XS/X
iPhone XS Max / Crystal Black
ecoSky, Kuala Lumpur (Appointments Required)
The iPhone is the emperor of smartphones - and this super-slim case is The Emperor's New Clothes, giving you regal protection while revealing the iPhone in all its naked glory. Combining a crystal-clear hardshell back with shockproof thermoplastic sides, TENC™ is specifically designed to protect glass-backed iPhones - offering all-around protection from bumps, scrapes and dust.
Shockproof thermoplastic frame
Lasting clarity and anti-yellowing over time
Corner air cushions for shock absorption
Raised corners for back and lens protection
Covered buttons and precision sensor cut-outs
Wireless charging compatible
iPhone X/XS
14.7 x 7.6 x 1 cm (5.7 x 2.9 x 0.4 inch)
26 g (0.88 oz)
iPhone XS Max
16.6 x 8.1 x 1 cm (5.8 x 3.0 x 0.4 inch)
30 g (0.88 oz)
Frequently asked questions
Is the TENC Air case soft or hard?
TENC Air case is made of two composite materials. The polycarbonate hardback provides strong structural protection while the soft TPU frames provide a soft gentle grip and make it easy to take off and put on the iPhone.
Will the flashlight function be affected after installing the case?
TENC Air case is precisely measured and cut, so that no buttons or sensors are blocked. You can feel confident using every function just like there is no case on your iPhone.
Does TENC Air case protect my iPhone screen from touching the desktop surface?
TENC Air case has a raised bevel edge around the iPhone screen that prevents any desktop surface from scraping the screen.
Can I still apply screen protector after installing the TENC Air case?
Yes, TENC Air case is compatible with most screen protectors in the market. TENC Air case grips the screen edge minimally so it doesn't encroach on the space covered by full-coverage screen protectors.
Will my iPhone lens be scratched when in the TENC Air case?
TENC Air case has a raised bevel edge around the camera lens cutout that prevents the desktop surface from scraping the camera lens.
Does TENC Air turn yellow after a few months?
TENC Air material is specially formulated so it does not yellow out.


text:
Welcome to Venue Management Systems
VMS is a software and hardware solution to cater for the complete management of any venue that sells tickets, takes bookings, sells merchandise, provides hospitality or manages area access.
We have been working closely with a number of venues and football clubs for over 15 years, all starting with a bespoke turnstile development for Barnet FC.
As a modular based solution you can pick the functionality your business needs now and add other modules as you grow - with no minimum term contracts.
VMS is easy to use and provides the functionality needed to run any size venue in a single application, at a fraction of the cost of combining separate packages such as Microsoft Dynamics, SAP or Sage.
As you grow VMS will grow with you, there is no need to worry about the system keeping up. With VMS you already have all the tools you need. With your customers' data held securely in a single place, managing your GDPR data protection requirements also becomes easy, more efficient and less costly.
Click below to find out more about the many modules we can offer.


text:
This site is the accumulation of years of my projects, most of which are small medical informatics programs. If you are looking to hire me as a pediatrician, please see the locum tenens page for my resumé and current schedule.
Please feel free to browse the site:
- Bilirubin
- An interactive graph for plotting bilirubin levels in newborns
- Web Services
- Resources for mashups; machine-readable growth charts and other information sources
- Weight, Height and Head Circumference Charts
- Patient-specific growth charts
- Blood Pressure
- Height-specific and height-independent blood pressure charts, for hypertension screening
- Peak Expiratory Flow
- Calculating the Red/Yellow/Green zones for asthma management
- Tenua
- A chemical kinetics simulation program, for classroom or research use
- Pediatric Medications
- Weight-and-age-specific spreadsheet for common pediatric hospital medications
- Firstnet
- Guide to using Cerner's emergency room EMR
- Programming Projects
- A collection of small javascript and PHP projects that I have found useful.
And last and likely least, Hacking at 0300, my blog. Mostly programming thoughts and snippets.


text:
Rechercher une page de manuel
Langue: en
Version: 2008-07-21 (fedora - 06/07/09)
Section: 5 (Format de fichier)
Razor-Agents - Collection of files for checking, reporting, and revoking spamDESCRIPTION
Vipul's Razor is a distributed, collaborative, spam detection, reporting, and filtering network. The primary focus of the system is to identify and remove all email spam from the internet. Visit the website at http://razor.sourceforge.net/.USAGE
First a razorhome directory should be created where log, conf, and cached server information will live. This is done via "-create" option to razor-admin(1). See man page for details.You can immediately check spam using razor-check(1). See man page for details.
To report spam, an identity must be registered. This is done via "-register" option to razor-admin(1). After that, razor-report(1) and razor-revoke(1) will work flawlessly.
All Razor-Agents share a configuration file. The contents of the configuration file are detailed in the razor-agent.conf(5) manpage.Config file is computed before razorhome, in the following order:
-conf=/path/file.conf used if readable, else <home>/.razor/razor-agent.conf used if readable, else /etc/razor/razor-agent.conf used if readable, else all defaults are used.
To see configuration defaults, do
razor-admin -create -conf=/tmp/razor2-defaults.conf
All Razor-Agents also share a razorhome directory, where identity, logging, and cached information about servers is stored. Razorhome is computed after configuration file, in the following order.-home=/tmp/razor/ used if readable, else 'razorhome' from configuration file used if readable, else <home>/.razor/ used if readable, else <home>/.razor/ is created. if that fails, no razorhome. NOTE: If there is no razorhome, razor-report and razor-revoke will not work unless you specify -ident=/path/identity razor-check will still work.
Besides those listed at the end with their own manpages, Razor Agents also has the following files.- razorhome/identity
- Usually a symlink to identity file containing user+pass. Used by razor-report(1) and razor-revoke(1).
- razorhome/razor-agent.log
- Default log file. To change, edit razor-agent.conf(5).
- razorhome/servers.*.lst
- Cached list of Razor Servers. If more than one, they are ordered by closest ping time.
- razorhome/server.<name>.lst
- Cached info for <name> server. The "srl" key in this file is compared against the server greeting, and if server's is greater, new cache info is retrieved from the server.
- razor-check -d -debuglevel=9 mbox
- Checks spam in mbox. prints numbers for those found to be spam. -d logs to stdout, -debuglevel=9 is verbose logging
- razor-admin -create -home=/home/chad/.razor -d -s
- Creates razorhome in /home/chad/.razor, log to stdout, does not connect to server (-s simulate).
- razor-report spam -debuglevel=0
- sends spam to server, with no log msgs.
Vipul Ved Prakash, <firstname.lastname@example.com> and Chad Norwood <email@example.com>SEE ALSO
razor-agent.conf(5), razor-check(1), razor-admin(1), razor-report(1), razor-revoke(1), razor-whitelist(5)Contenus ©2006-2024 Benjamin Poulain
Design ©2006-2024 Maxime Vantorre


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Clarksbury is the virtual and somewhat fictional home of my various web pages. I've designed these pages on behalf of friends and family, for free and for pay, as well as sites that others have designed, which I house with my webhost.
Clarksbury, Ontario doesn't really exist (at least, not so far as I know). If it did, it would be a small town the size of Wiarton located on the shores of Georgian Bay, roughly where Lion's Head resides. As you can see from the websites linked on the left, Clarksbury's residents are an ecclectic bunch, very interested in railroads and transit, and boasting a substantial artistic community.
Why not look around and see what you can see?


text:
Viewing entries from category: Tissue
AQA GCSE Eng Lit Paper 2: Power and Conflict Anthology Scheme »
Categories: KS4, AQA GCSE, AQA GCSE English Literature 2015, Paper 2: Modern Texts and Poetry , Paper 2: Modern Texts and Poetry Schemes, Hot Entries, Poetry, Agard, Checking Out Me History, Anthologies, AQA Anthology, AQA Power and Conflict Cluster, Armitage, Remains, Blake, London, Browning, My Last Duchess, Dharker, Tissue, Duffy, War Photographer, Garland, Kamikaze, Heaney, Storm on the Island, Hughes, Bayonet Charge, Owen, Exposure, Rumens, The Emigree, Tennyson, The Charge of the Light Brigade, Shelley, Ozymandias, Weir, Poppies, Wordsworth, The Prelude, Writing, Poetry Analysis
This guide contains ideas and resources for teaching the poems in the 'Power and Conflict' cluster of the AQA Poems Past and Present anthology. The anthology is examined in AQA GCSE English Literature (8702) for teaching from September 2015. The anthology is assessed in Paper 2 (Modern Texts and Poetry) of the Literature examination. The duration of the paper is 2 hrs 15mins and it is a closed book examination. The paper as a whole is worth 60% of the GCSE. There are four questions on the…
[ read full article ] »


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Part 2 of a two-part commentary on the Campus Technology 2009 Executive Summit
As the Executive Summit moved into its afternoon sessions, discussion about IT innovation in teaching and learning seemed to run into brick walls each way it went to the point where one person in the audience asked "Will higher education just be replaced?" Or, as another panelist asked, "Can the traditional institutions compete with the commercial institutions?"
For a couple of decades, technologists within higher education have assumed that if the technology could be made available, and was supported, that that was the first step toward educational revolution. Innovation was equated with use of technology. Now that we see for how small a fraction of faculty this was true, the general sense was that all of higher education is taking a deep breath and reconsidering all premises. [Photo above shows the afternoon plenary session on leadership, with panelists Wayne Brown, Excelsior College; Anne Moore, Virginia Tech; Chris Copolla, rSmart; and Joan Getman, Cornell University moderating. Photos below show the afternoon discussion session, led by Chris Dede, Harvard University.]
Have the Good Times Just Ended?
Will we always have CIOs or VPs of IT? Or were these titles just an anomaly while technology seemed new and confusing? Is there really a danger to the enterprise if learning innovation does not occur on a broad scale? Is it safest to just keep the machines running and the wires humming? Do we have any idea of the change we would like to see? One panelist reported results from a study of CIOs that indicated that CIOs are perceived as doing the best job if they just keep everything running, as a utility is supposed to do. They were perceived as least successful in planning. Therefore, the question becomes: Why should a CIO be on a president's cabinet? The answer, according to the survey, is they are no more effective on the cabinet than off.
Perhaps our questions were too macro for a one-day meeting. Or maybe they were just right and the resulting conversation is just what higher education should recognize and then consider: Has all the expenditure on IT resulted in innovation at the core? Should we look to innovate? And, if so, where do we find the innovation and who should build on it and lead toward ongoing innovation? Why Not Look Even Beyond the Edges?
The answer about where to find innovation, unexpectedly, may be, as one panelist suggested, that parents are leading innovation by setting the example at home and providing the means for their children to strike out and experiment. She suggested that we may start to see more "free agent students" who create their own ala carte learning path, learning more and more from peers and from experiences.
In this confusing situation where the CIO, who took the job because she or he liked technology, ends up doing all kinds of work that's not related to technology, one bright energy center can be adoption of open source software, another edge. According to one panelist, some open source communities generate broad-based local campus communities where people across campus boundaries talk to each other on a regular basis. This is particularly true on campuses that actively contribute code to the reference instance.
On another edge, we find offices on campus that have been organizing alternate forms of learning for decades. Staff in these offices started with alternate--experiential--learning opportunities years ago so technology does not now tilt their playing field. Instead, offices supporting service learning, internships, the year abroad, the gap year, co-op learning, and so on, easily welcome Web 2.0 technologies as management tools for their approach to learning. Indeed, it would not be surprising to see the alternate learning approaches become the dominant ones not too far in the future. For those wondering where the innovation is on campus, it's been there all along in offices that have been undervalued and perhaps perceived as offering students only "icing on the cake."
The Key Role of ePortfolios
And the tool for these "alternate" forms? ePortfolios, as another panelist contended. If students are "free agents," involved in experiential learning experiences, working in teams, working in authentic situations that present evaluation challenges to faculty, perhaps an ePortfolio that contains evidence of the learning for later review is necessary.
We are too much stuck by our current arrangements: test-based evaluation and class scheduling (seat time). Learning is least effective as an assembly line experience, which calls into question the assembly line means by which higher education institutions have monetized learning. Freeing us from the assembly line grid would allow us to innovate. Electronic portfolios are another way to organize learning experience and therefore allow learning to be more mobile and varied. Using ePortfolios in this way is what the panelist called not "teacher-centered," nor "learner-centered," but "learning-centered."
One participant described how her university had an annual Tech Day Conference where substantial awards are given to faculty who use technology in imaginative ways: a salary increase for one year. This is rewarding the messiness of innovation instead of penalizing it as is usually the case.
As the moderator pointed out, higher education has realized that after all the technology initiatives and implementations we are now face-to-face with the real challenge: people. We can sort of predict technology changes, but predictions about what people will do with technology almost always are off the mark. We have brought in the machines and wires and software but the human element will adapt in its own way.
We've Done the Machines; Now to Start the Real Work
The afternoon discussion session leader called traditional classroom practice "schooling," and said it is structurally wrong and cannot be made to work. "There is no single one best way to learn. Better to present an ecology of learning and let the students select from the ecology." [Discussion sessions pictured in the five images above, with Chris Dede shown leading in the first of five.]
View More Webcasts
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Quantification of cerebral blood flow during bladder filling in healthy subjects
Urine storage is a complex physiologic process that is under central nervous system control. It is unclear how brain activity changes as bladder volume and bladder sensations change. In this study, we quantify cerebral perfusion and the change in brain activity in healthy subjects during bladder filling.
We performed a prospective study of 8 women without bladder pathology. Participants were asked to undergo an fMRI exam while their bladders were filled via a catheter at a rate of 50ml/minute. Images were obtained at bladder volumes of 0, 50, 100, 200, 350, and 500mL. Subjects were instructed to indicate when they experienced the first sensation of bladder filling, first desire to void, and strong desire to void. For this exam, we used arterial spin labeling fMRI, which quantifies cerebral blood flow (CBF), which serves as a proxy for brain activity.
On average, participants experienced first and strong desire to void after 112 and 284mL filling, respectively. During bladder filling, there was a steady increase in CBF followed by a steep decrease in CBF (Table 1). The insula exhibited significantly increased perfusion at first desire to void compared to baseline (Figure 1,2), while the sensorimotor cortex exhibited decreased perfusion for the same comparison.
Our study results suggest that suppression of the desire to void results in deactivation of the regions that are initially activated by initial desire to void.
Funding: SUFU Neuromodulation grant


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This is Miss Annie, our wonderful family pet.
We adopted her from DFW Lab Rescue four years ago.
She's sweet, well trained, loving and such an important part of our family.
Everyone needs a pet in their life, because the joy they create is exponential.
If you don't have a pet, here are 5 reasons why you should:
Seriously. Pets will improve your life...but don't buy impulsively! Do your research! Figure out which pet will work best in your life...and even which breed will fit your lifestyle. But, adopting Annie was one of the best decisions I've ever made. And my boys agree!!


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Our skin, the sea, rivers and mountains are natural boundaries. They are just there.
The sexes, borders, the social classes, age, color of the skin and educational levels are Imaginary Boundaries.
They move in Space and Time.
They exist because Humans believe they exist. Boundaries are often created to Protect a Territory from an Outside Enemy.
When you want to create a Territory you have to Split a Whole and Surround the Piece of the Whole you want to Protect. When you are Self-Sufficient you don't need the Outside. The Fence becomes a complete Closure.
When you have to cooperate with the Outsiders you need a Hole, a Gate, in the Boundary. The Gate is the most vulnerable part of the protective Wall. To avoid big trouble you have to Protect the Gate.
The Center of Power, the Palace, was always surrounded with a Wall and a Gate. The palace was protected by a Capital with a Wall and a Gate that was finally protected by natural or human made Boundaries (Walls, Fences, Stories, and Myths).
The Romans Emperors went even further to create and support "in-dependent" States that surrounded the Empire outside of its Frontier. The most impressive example of a protective system of Walls within Walls is the Chinese Wall.
When you are Outside the protective boundary you to have take care of yourself. To do this you need a Portable Personal Boundary (an Armour).
Of course the best way to solve your problem is to find help, create a new distinction (The Outsiders) and organize your own territory.
You can even do this when you are part of the territory of the Others by creating an Imaginary Boundary, a Culture. If you keep quiet "they" will accept you until you become a Threat. At that time comes you are caught within the Walls. A Protective Wall can suddenly turn into an Offensive Wall when you want to get out.
A Boundary is named a Set in Mathematics and a Container in Linguistics. When we cut a Set in two pieces (Sub-sets), the Boundary is shared. The boundary belongs to both sub-sets and therefore shares the properties of both Sets. When you split a Whole (1) in two parts four parts are created: the distinction, two parts and the Whole.
The Tao produced One; One produced Two; Two produced Three; Three produced All things (Lao Tsu, Tao Te Ching, 42).
The Boundary is not a part of the parts but it is a part of the Whole. When you investigate a Boundary you are able to find out what both sides of the equation shared before they were cut in to pieces. When we investigate the Reason behind a Boundary we are able to understand what happened a long time ago. When you combine all the Imaginary Boundaries you are able to detect the history of the spitting of the Whole of the Whole.
Two Bodies don't share a boundary. Even when the Bodies are in close contact there is something in-between, the Skin. When the two bodies are in love, they are trying to find the closest contact that is possible.
Solid entities are unable to share a boundary. The best they can do is to create a close contact. Solid entities are their boundary. Your Body is what You are. Fluids and Gasses adjust to their Boundary. In a fluid and a gas we are still able to detect distinct entities (molecules).
In a fluid they are loosely connected. In a gas they are freely floating around. When you experience your Boundary as a solid, you are stuck. When you experience your Boundary as a Gas you have complete freedom to move.
It all depends on the Temperature of your Boundary. When you Interact with many People the Temperature will Rise. When you Isolate yourself the Temperature will Drop Down and your Boundary will turn into a Prison.
If we look at the history of the splitting process it looks like the wholes were splitted without any reason. It just happened. When we analyze the process a pattern emerges. This pattern is cyclic, leveled and self-referential. The process is almost invisible because every word (or name) we utter directs attention and carves out a portion of the world, a Boundary.
When we stop talking and erase the many imaginary named boundaries things become very clear. The world becomes just what it is.
When we use mathematics (no words, only symbols), things become much simpler (or more difficult for You).
Spencer Brown (About the Law of Forms) created a new Fundamental Mathematical Theory called Boundary Mathematics. In this theory he uses two concepts Empty Space, the Void, Non-Existence, and Boundaries or Distinctions. Boundaries are the result of a merger of boundaries or are created by splitting a higher level boundary.
When we split a boundary into two boundaries or merge two boundaries new forms are created. A splitted circle becomes two lines. A splitted Klein Bottle becomes two complementary Moebius Strips.
When we split the dimensions decrease. When we merge the dimensions increase. Merging and Splitting are fundamental forces of nature. When we split our possibilities decrease. When we merge our possibilities increase.
Two forms merge when they get into close contact (Communion, Love). A form splits when it is hit by another form (a Collision). When you cooperate the amount of opportunities will increase. When you compete the amount of opportunities will decrease.
When You create a Boundary there is always an Inside and an Outside. The Inside is the Indentity, You. The Outside are the Others. When we consider the Inside as the Protective Part, the Outside becomes its complement, a fearfull place. When we move Up and reflect we can see that there is no reason to fear the Outside. When we move Up we are always able to see the Whole. There is no need to create an Inside because of fear of the Outside.
A boundary is a closed surface. There are four basic closed surfaces, the Torus (a rotating circle), the Moebius Strip (a twisted circle), The Real Projective Plane (a merger of two Moebius Strips) and the Klein Bottle (a different merger of two Moebius Strips).
When you want to leave the rotating Cycle (Torus) of everyday Life and move into a higher dimension (more possibilities, more perspectives), you have to Twist Yourself and Merge with Yourself. You Twist when you Cross the Cycle of Life and Enter the Cycle of Death. You Merge with Yourself when you integrate the Inside and the Outside, the Up and the Down, the Male and the Female.
"If we then become children, would we thus enter the kingdom?" Jesus said unto them, "When ye make the two one, and when you make the inside like unto the outside and the outside like unto the inside, and that which is above like unto that which is below, and when ye make the male and the female one and the same, so that the male no longer be male nor the female female; and when ye fashion eyes in place of an eye, and a hand in place of a hand, and a foot in place of a foot, and a likeness in place of a likeness; then will ye enter into the kingdom." (Gospel of Thomas, Logion 22).
In the beginning was the Void. If was full of Potential, Closed in itself, Totally Aware, Nameless, just a Boundary. The first split was the creation of the split. The Split immediately created its complement, The Merge because the Void is the Union of Complements. The next split created the Inside and the Outside.
The Void retreated in the Outside, the Darkness of Darkness, and gave the Inside, the Protected Boundary, permission to split again and again and again knowing that it would finally return to the Outside. The Splitting and Merging (Communion) of a Boundary and the movement of the Protected Inside (Agency) to the Dark Outside are all part of one movement, the final return to the Void.
The Tao that can be told
is not the eternal Tao
The name that can be named
is not the eternal Name.
The unnamable is the eternally real.
Naming is the origin
of all particular things.
Free from desire, you realize the mystery.
Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations.
Yet mystery and manifestations
arise from the same source.
This source is called darkness.
Darkness within darkness.
The gateway to all understanding.
First Line of the Tao Te Ching
You are protected by a personal boundary, Your Personality. The personality behaves in the same way as other Boundaries. You, Your Consciousness, is able to Commune (Split and Merge), move to the Inside (You) and the Outside (the Other).
When you Protect the Inside with an Armour you will always be Alone. To communicate you have to create a Hole, A Gate. You often look through this tiny Hole into the Dark Outside World hoping someone is there to help You.
What You don't realize is that The One is always waiting in the Darkness of the Darkness to open the Gate to the Void that contains the Infinite Potential, that is You.


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This article is more than 1 year old
Mozilla 'cloud' code editor breaks with Lando Calrissian
Skywriter goes Javascript
Mozilla's Bespin project – an open source effort to build a web-based code editor – has been rechristened Skywriter, and its official repository has been moved to GitHub so that developers can more easily fork the project.
As the project approaches its 1.0 release, Mozilla is also working to move its entire architecture to Javascript.
Bespin began life in February 2009 as a so-called "coding in the cloud" experiment where users did all their editing on distant servers run by Mozilla (bespin.mozillalabs.com). The idea was to provide more of shared environment where developers could easily collaborate – no matter where they were located. The name was meant to evoke this web-based set-tup. Bespin is that gaseous planet where Lando Calrissian's Cloud City hovers in The Empire Strikes Back.
With the project's name change, the cloud reference remains. But the nod to Star Wars does not. "As we approach a 1.0 release, it was clear that it was time to shed Bespin's code name and give it a real, lasting project name," reads a blog post from Mozilla man Kevin Dangoor. "I think that Mozilla Skywriter fits the 'coding in the cloud' theme very well indeed."
Over the past year and a half, the project evolved to offer code editing not only on Mozilla's servers but also on your own website. Bespin Embedded – now known as Skywriter Embedded – has become the center of the project, and according to Dangoor, one of Mozilla's developer tools managers, the project is set to evolve again, so that users can embed Skywriter in their applications, use Skywriter to edit files on their desktop machines, and set up their own Skywriter servers so that users "code in the cloud" via domain's other than Mozilla's.
Meanwhile, Mozilla has moved the project's code repository to GitHub at the request of users. The project was previously hosted using Mercurial. "Many people who have worked on Skywriter have expressed a desire to fork it on GitHub," Dangoor said in his blog post. "There have been unofficial mirrors and plenty of people installing Mercurial just to use Bespin. In order to make things easier for our community, we're moving the official repository for Skywriter over to GitHub." You can find the new repository at github.com/mozilla/skywriter.
The GitHub repository houses the new all-Javascript version of Skywriter. The old Mercurial repository will remain here. It amounts to a branch of the project prior to the switch to Javascript. "For the most part, we should be able to migrate changes made to that repository over to the new Skywriter repository pretty easily," Dangor said. "We're just changing the tooling to JavaScript, we're not really changing Bespin's core plugins at all."
Bespin is the basis for Mozilla's new Add-on Builder. Or , rather, Skywriter is the basis for Mozilla's new Add-on Builder. We're sad to see the old name go. Apparently, some people didn't like it. "We've had many compliments and complaints about the 'Bespin' codename ever since we first introduced the project," Dangoor writes. "You can't please everyone, especially when it comes to naming." ®


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Free wheel pulley + protection cover for car
Valeo enlarges its Electrical Systems offer with the Freewheel Pulley range.
Valeo enlarges its Electrical Systems offer with the Freewheel Pulley range. A Freewheel pulley is the mechanical link between the alternator and the engine output crankshaft pulley. The pulley drives the alternator which allows the battery to be recharged. The Overrunning Alternator Pulley (OAP), also called the freewheel pulley, is a spare part of the complete alternator. It is composed of a pulley with an outside diameter suitable for fitting a "poly-V" belt (drive belt), a one-way clutch unit with bearing supports, an inner ring, two seals and an end cover in plastic.
The Freewheel Pulley is used to:
- Protect belt drive system by filtering engine torsional vibrations to improve the belt drive longevity
- Ensure belt drive N.V.H. (Noise-Vibration-Harshness) for optimum driving comfort
- Stop friction losses caused by belt slippage
- Allow the alternator rotor to turn in freewheel mode when the engine is slowing down or stopping for maximum system efficiency, fuel savings and CO2 emissions reduction
As one of the leading world experts in Electrical Systems, Valeo presents a complementary range to its alternator portfolio to provide full packaged services for customers.
The Valeo freewheel pulley offer: 107 parts numbers dedicated to 14,000 vehicle applications worldwide. Made of the finest possible materials and bearing, the products have been tested according to Valeo high-quality standards to ensure the strong robustness of each part. With its strong leadership in Original Equipment and more than 30 years of remanufacturing experience, Valeo provides the aftermarket with one of the best offer in Electrical Systems, from the latest innovations to O.E. quality spare parts, and confirms its multispecialist positioning in Electrical Systems for the aftermarket.


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International Law Behind the Headlines
The Society's podcast International Law Behind the Headlines, hosted by Catherine Amirfar and Kal Raustiala, enlists today's top legal experts in tackling the international legal issues dominating today's headlines. All episodes are available via iTunes, SoundCloud, and this page. The Society welcomes comments and suggestions at email@example.com.
Catherine Amirfar is a litigation partner at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, Co-Chair of the firm's Public International Law Group and a member of the Management Committee. Her practice focuses on international commercial and treaty arbitration, international and complex commercial litigation, and public international law. Prior to rejoining Debevoise in 2016, Ms. Amirfar spent two years as the Counselor on International Law to the Legal Adviser at the U.S. Department of State and received the State Department's Superior Honor Award in recognition of her contributions to the Department. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the American Law Institute, and the U.S. State Department Advisory Council on International Law (ACIL). In 2020 Ms. Amirfar was elected President of the Society, having previously served as Vice President from 2016 to 2018.
Kal Raustiala is professor at UCLA School of Law and the UCLA International Institute. Since 2007 he has served as director of the UCLA Ronald W. Burkle Center for International Relations, and from 2012-2015 as UCLA's Associate Vice Provost for International Studies. A graduate of Duke University, Professor Raustiala holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School and Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, San Diego. He has been a visiting professor at Harvard, Chicago, Columbia, Hebrew University in Jerusalem, National University of Singapore, and Princeton. A life member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a former member of the editorial board of the American Journal of International Law, from 2016-2018 he served as Vice President of the American Society of International Law.
Episode 46 - featuring Steven Solomon and Kenneth Piercy - Details


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A Biological Masterpiece, But Subject to many Ills
The human foot is a biological masterpiece. Its strong, flexible, and functional design enables it to do its job well and without complaint—if you take care of it and don't take it for granted.The foot can be compared to a finely tuned race car, or a space shuttle, vehicles whose function dictates their design and structure. And like them, the human foot is complex, containing within its relatively small size 28 bones (the two feet contain a quarter of all the bones in the body), 33 joints, and a network of more than 100 tendons, muscles, and ligaments, to say nothing of blood vessels and nerves.
Tons of Pressure
The components of your feet work together, sharing the tremendous pressures of daily living. An average day of walking, for example, brings a force equal to several hundred tons to bear on the feet. This helps explain why your feet are more subject to injury than any other part of your body.
Foot ailments are among the most common of our health problems. Although some can be traced to heredity, many stem from the cumulative impact of a lifetime of abuse and neglect. Studies show that most Americans experience foot problems of a greater or lesser degree of seriousness at some time in their lives; nowhere near that many seek medical treatment, apparently because they mistakenly believe that discomfort and pain are normal and expectable.
There are a number of systemic diseases that are sometimes first detected in the feet, such as diabetes, circulatory disorders, anemia, and kidney problems. Arthritis, including gout, often attacks foot joints first.
Specialized Care
Your feet, like other specialized structures, require specialized care. A doctor of podiatric medicine can make an important contribution to your total health, whether it is regular preventive care or surgery to correct a deformity. In order to keep your feet healthy, you should be familiar with the most common ills that affect them. Remember, though, that self-treatment can often turn a minor problem into a major one and is generally not advisable. You should see a podiatric physician when any of the following conditions occur or persist.
Athlete's foot is a skin disease, usually starting between the toes or on the bottom of the feet, which can spread to other parts of the body. It is caused by a fungus that commonly attacks the feet, because the wearing of shoes and hosiery fosters fungus growth. The signs of athlete's foot are dry scaly skin, itching, inflammation, and blisters. You can help prevent infection by washing your feet daily with soap and warm water; drying carefully, especially between the toes; and changing shoes and hose regularly to decrease moisture. Athlete's foot is not the only infection, fungal or otherwise, which afflicts the foot, and other dry skin/dermatitis conditions can be good reasons to see a doctor of podiatric medicine if a suspicious condition persists.
Blisters are caused by skin friction. Don't pop them. Apply moleskin or an adhesive bandage over a blister, and leave it on until it falls off naturally in the bath or shower. Keep your feet dry and always wear socks as a cushion between your feet and shoes. If a blister breaks on its own, wash the area, apply an antiseptic, and cover with a sterile bandage.
Bunions are misaligned big toe joints which can become swollen and tender. The deformity causes the first joint of the big toe to slant outward, and the big toe to angle toward the other toes. Bunions tend to run in families, but the tendency can be aggravated by shoes that are too narrow in the forefoot and toe. There are conservative and preventive steps that can minimize the discomfort of a bunion, but surgery is frequently recommended to correct the problem.
Corns and calluses are protective layers of compacted, dead skin cells. They are caused by repeated friction and pressure from skin rubbing against bony areas or against an irregularity in a shoe. Corns ordinarily form on the toes and calluses on the soles of the feet.The friction and pressure can burn or otherwise be painful and may be relieved by moleskin or padding on the affected areas.Never cut corns or calluses with any instrument, and never apply home remedies, except under a podiatrist's instructions.
Foot odor results from excessive perspiration from the more than 250,000 sweat glands in the foot. Daily hygiene is essential. Change your shoes daily to let each pair air out, and change your socks, perhaps even more frequently than daily. Foot powders and antiperspirants, and soaking your feet in vinegar and water, can help lessen odor.
Hammertoe is a condition in which any of the toes are bent in a claw-like position. It occurs most frequently with the second toe, often when a bunion slants the big toe toward and under it, but any of the other three smaller toes can be affected. Although the condition usually stems from muscle imbalance, it is often aggravated by ill-fitting shoes or socks that cramp the toes. Avoid pressure on the toes as much as possible. Surgery may be necessary to realign the toes to their proper position.
Heel pain can generally be traced to faulty biomechanics which place too much stress on the heel bone, ligaments, or nerves in the area. Stress could result while walking or jumping on hard surfaces, or from poorly made footwear. Overweight is also a major contributing factor. Some general health conditions—arthritis, gout, and circulatory problems, for example—also cause heel pain.
Heel spurs are growths of bone on the underside or backside of the heel bone. They can occur without pain; pain may result when inflammation develops at the point where the spur forms. Both heel pain and heel spurs are often associated with plantar fasciitis, an inflammation of the long band of connective tissue running from the heel to the ball of the foot, or Achilles tendonitis. Treatments may range from exercise and custom-made orthotics to anti-inflammatory medication or cortisone injections.
Ingrown nails are nails whose corners or sides dig painfully into the skin, often causing infection. They are frequently caused by improper nail trimming but also by shoe pressure, injury, fungus infection, heredity, and poor foot structure. Toenails should be trimmed straight across, slightly longer than the end of the toe, with toenail clippers. If the ingrown portion of the nail is painful or infected, your podiatric physician may remove the affected portion; if the condition reoccurs frequently, your podiatrist may permanently remove the offended nail borders.
Neuromas are enlarged, benign growths of nerves, most commonly between the third and fourth toes. They are caused by bones and other tissue rubbing against and irritating the nerves. Abnormal bone structure or pressure from ill-fitting shoes also can create the condition, which can result in pain, burning, tingling, or numbness between the toes and in the ball of the foot. Conservative treatment can include padding, taping, orthotic devices, and cortisone injections, but surgical removal of the growth is sometimes necessary.
Warts are caused by a virus, which enters the skin through small cuts and infects the skin. Children, especially teenagers, tend to be more susceptible to warts than adults. Most warts are harmless and benign, even though painful and unsightly. Warts often come from walking barefooted on dirty surfaces or littered ground. There are several simple procedures which your podiatric physician might use to remove warts.
Top Ten Foot Health Tips
Diseases, disorders and disabilities of the foot or ankle affect the quality of life and mobility of millions of Americans. However, the general public and even many physicians are unaware of the important relationship between foot health and overall health and well-being. With this in mind, the American Podiatric Medical Association (APMA) would like to share a few tips to help keep feet healthy.
- Don't ignore foot pain—it's not normal. If the pain persists, see a podiatric physician.
- Inspect your feet regularly. Pay attention to changes in color and temperature of your feet. Look for thick or discolored nails (a sign of developing fungus), and check for cracks or cuts in the skin. Peeling or scaling on the soles of feet could indicate athlete's foot. Any growth on the foot is not considered normal.
- Wash your feet regularly, especially between the toes, and be sure to dry them completely.
- Trim toenails straight across, but not too short. Be careful not to cut nails in corners or on the sides; it can lead to ingrown toenails. Persons with diabetes, poor circulation, or heart problems should not treat their own feet because they are more prone to infection.
- Make sure that your shoes fit properly. Purchase new shoes later in the day when feet tend to be at their largest and replace worn out shoes as soon as possible.
- Select and wear the right shoe for the activity that you are engaged in (i.e., running shoes for running).
- Alternate shoes—don't wear the same pair of shoes every day.
- Avoid walking barefooted—your feet will be more prone to injury and infection. At the beach or when wearing sandals, always use sunblock on your feet just as on the rest of your body.
- Be cautious when using home remedies for foot ailments; self-treatment can often turn a minor problem into a major one.
- If you are a person with diabetes, it is vital that you see a podiatric physician at least once a year for a check-up.
Your podiatric physician/surgeon has been trained specifically and extensively in the diagnosis and treatment of all manner of foot conditions. This training encompasses all of the intricately related systems and structures of the foot and lower leg including neurological, circulatory, skin, and the musculoskeletal system, which includes bones, joints, ligaments, tendons, muscles, and nerves.
Text Source:APMA.org


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Hey guys, it's Kevin.
I'm afraid real life gets in the way sometimes. Rog and I love doing this, but it can be a lot of work, and we don't get much from the advertising.
I don't want to get too personal, but for the time being, we've needed to take some time.
If the comic returns for 2018, we will let people know on Twitter and Facebook, follow humblerise.com.
Thank you for reading and being a part of this Lunatic Fringe. We will both be here as fans, in the crowd, on tv, and contributing to the amazing culture of Giants fans in our own way.
Until then, Live Life like it's a 3-1 count.


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'Lord of the Rings' Actor Shares Personal Impact of KJV Bible
He rode with Indiana Jones and battled next to Frodo, now award-winning actor John Rhys-Davies rides along the corridors of history teaching us what the King James Version Bible battled before reaching the homes of millions of people today.
Rhys-Davies, who plays the dwarf Gimli in "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, explained to The Christian Post his personal appreciation and relationship with the KJV Bible after working on the docudrama, "KJB: The Book that Changed the World."
While working as the host for the film, now available on DVD, Rhys-Davies became aware of many unanswered questions in his life, such as "What do I really believe? What are my real core values and understanding?"
He confessed "for me, it has been a very personal journey, which I have to tell you is not yet completed spiritually."
The "Lord of the Rings" actor said a fact from the history of the King James Bible that particularly stood out to him was how much determination King James had in spreading the truth, and not for the sake of controlling people. During King James' reign, there were many polarizing factors that were threatening to pull the country apart. King James had to impose himself in the middle of it all by appeasing as well as intimidating the most powerful men, said Rhys-Davies.
The docudrama notes that the new Bible translation was the "one master stroke James had done. The two opposing sides now had to work together on a single, joint and unifying project. A project based on scholarship, clarity, and the all-powerful Word of God."
King James took on the enormous undertaking of not only bringing two influential denominations together – Church of England and Puritans – but also holding the kingdom together.
King James' faith in God allowed his project to gain momentum during the seven years and more than 50 scholars – two of who died during the process – it took to translate the Bible from Hebrew and Greek texts.
Rhys-Davies, who said he would not call himself a Christian, respects how the docudrama continues to pass on the legacy of King James, even after 400 years.
"Faith is not a rational thing and yet to understand the universe, rationality alone will not give it to us. Our understanding of the universe must transcend the rational," acknowledged Rhys-Davies. "That sounds absorbed and unscientific, but I believe it to be true. The great religious translations, they have in them a power and magic of weaving of words that reinforces in the mind the power and the meaning of the world."


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Sunday, June 28, 2009
SuperPoke! Pets - An Emerging Market
These messages come with little pictures of pets, sheep, pigs, penguins, kittens. Everybody please: Oh, how cute. This application also exists for other social networking sites.
Since last year you can "adopt" a SuperPoke pet. It's somewhat like a Tamagotchi and it's for free. You get a website with a flash application showing your pet in some background, called a "habitat." You can feed, tickle, wash and play with your pet. If you don't do that regularly, it will look dirty, hungry and unhappy, the poor thing. If you play with your pet, you get "coins." You also get coins if you play with friend's pets or if these play with your pet.
With the coins you go to the "Pet Shop" and buy things to decorate your habitat with. That might be pictures of flowers, or clouds, or toys. You can also buy a new habitat, e.g. different rooms, a playground, a beach, a fitness room, and stuff for these.
Let me then introduce you to my pet, Fury, the sheep, on a picnic:
Cute, eh? Some of the gifs are animated, thus the butterflies are fluttering. Here is Fury's website (you'll have to get a pet yourself to play with it).
There is also a member-forum where pet owners can ask questions like if their pet will die if they go on a trip and can't feed it (it won't), where you can suggest items for the Pet Shop, enter habitat contests, and so on. Further you can get all kinds of rewards for being a good pet owner and community member, there's "Pet Levels" and "Pet Fame" and all kinds of badges you can earn for being a good friend, having trendy accessories and so on. I haven't really figured it all out. After some weeks I started finding the flash animations somewhat annoying and repetitive.
Besides buying stuff with the coins you get from playing with the pets, you can buy "Gold" and go shopping in the "Gold Shop". The gold you buy 10:1 for US$ and charge it on your credit card. Needless to say, the "Gold Items" are fancier than the other ones. They are larger, they are animated, they are the Want-have-stuff. Every Monday, there's new items, and they are sold out really fast. That's right. I find this quite amazing. People buy little cartoon pictures of furniture to combine with a picture of a pet in a flash application. With real money.
The stuff doesn't look remotely realistic btw, the items are all 2-dimensional and you can't even scale them, meaning perspectives often don't fit together. Neither can you move your pet or get it to sit on a chair or play with a toy.
But here is the interesting part.
You can give "gifts" to other pet owners. Since many items in the Pet Shop are meanwhile sold out, it didn't take long for the forum to develop a trading post where people were arranging exchange of items, while others made "garage sales" on their habitats using the possibility to make mutual gifts. Since this was quite clumsy, you can now set up a "Have list" and a "Want list" on your profile. Together with the possibility to exchange messages this works quite well. Since one can't make a simultaneous exchange though there is some trust involved. For all I can tell though, cheating is virtually absent. If a trade has been successful, you can give a "reliable trader" compliment.
You can however only give items as gift, you can not transfer coins. So we have a barter economy! One that is cleanly separated from all other world markets. It is a quite centralized market though since pet owners can't produce any items themselves. Nevertheless, you'll notice some distinct features.
For example rare items are under high demand, because even if you don't want them, you can trade them on. (Since the community has been growing, older items are generally becoming rare.) Once items are sold out, their value becomes basically totally decoupled from the original price. One could argue they tend towards their "true value."
Other items are fairly frequently stocked up, like some food and furniture items. Their prices never change though. This strikes me as a great opportunity to find out how demand depends on the price and, if there was a way to provide supply, if prices reach equilibrium and under which circumstances. I also wonder whether the barter economy will eventually discover some suitable item that can take the place of money.
All together we seem to be witnessing the birth of a new market economy. It's itching in my fingers to see some data about consumer's behavior...
And finally, here is Stefan's pet: Struppi the puppy
19 comments:
Fury the Sheep! Nice. Much better than "Furry." Do they have Myxine glutinosa? That is almost as good as it gets (top banana being Eptatretus goliath).
ReplyDelete- Anonymous1:20 AM, July 11, 2009
The only thing you are wrong about is the remark about "virtually no cheating" on the trade forums. Cheating, AKA "scamming", is RAMPANT and the scammer's list is as long as your arm, literally and growing by the day. Yes, people make a career out of stealing pixelated objects--often from young kids. Now that is sad.
ReplyDelete LOL!!! So funny actually!! I've played SPP (as it has come to be called...I'd like to think I "coined" the phrase when I started the "SPP-ers who totally rock list" on the forum where people can "recommend" trusted & fair traders). It's one of two things actually, you either add the app, play & get bored fast...or become an SPP-Addict! (I am among the addicts, maybe we all need rehab!)
As far as people spending "real" money on pixels, it's been going on forever (Gaia, for example...NeoPets for another)..it's not like SPP has the market cornered here!! Yes, as anonymous said, scamming is big problem, hence the "SPP-ers who totally rock list". Not everyone uses it, unfortunately. It's like telling a little kid not to poke his hand in a bee hive. They don't listen they have to find out for themselves. I, for one, have traded frequently & (knock on wood) have NEVER been scammed. Of course, I follow my own advice. I only trade with people I know & trust...if I don't know them already, guess what..if they dont' send their share of the trade first, they ain't getting anything I have! Yes, the gold items are much nicer...for example, the habitats are mostly one "room". There's been a few 2-room habitats but not many...the gold ones are usually 4 rooms...there's one "room" ones but they're still nicer than the one room "coin" habitats. A word to Stefan, if you're still actively involved in SPP and want to trade, PLEASE do check out above thread on the forum before you do any trading!! If you want some "assistance", advice, general "point me in the right direction" kind of stuff, my pet Ulysess can be found here: dragonawesomeness.superpokepets.com I practically live there! LOL Send me a friend request (I'll take note of your pet's name just in case!) thru the forum and ask away! (My settings are set so I can only get messages from friends...you'd be amazed at the number of people that BEG for your stuff!!! It's disgusting actually! Usually for the gold stuff. Come on now, at .10 cents per gold bar, that comes out pretty low for most things until you get to the habitats & masterpieces..oh, yeah, SPP has them too! They are pet versions of REAL masterpieces like there's "Dragon Rockwell" & "Pets Playing Poker"...a Nativity Statue, Queen Neferkitty statue-Nefertity, etc)
They release 10-20 of those & they are gone in seconds!! At $50 a shot!!)
I'm off to collect my log in bonus (spin the wheel & get a chance at 50,000 coins!)and stuff. :)- Anonymous1:22 PM, July 26, 2009
All I wanna know is HOW DO YOU GET MORE COINS WITHOUT ALL THE WORK!? People know tricks but I sure don't. ANYONE?
ReplyDelete - Anonymous8:11 PM, August 02, 2009
how do i buy things on my want list??
im so frustrated on that! please help! Anonymous: You can't buy them. That's why they are on your Want List. The list says you're looking for somebody who is willing to trade them for something on your Have List. Btw, there is a forum on the SPP site where you can post all your questions. This is not the right place to do it. Best,
B.Why do you have to use real money to buy gold on superpoke pets!!! why cant u just buy gold with pet points. i think that its really stupid to make us use our real money to buy gold idems!!! there not even real things so why do you have to use real money!!! Thats just plain stupid i think.
ReplyDelete- Anonymous8:21 AM, September 04, 2009
What consumer data would you be interested in seeing in regards to this marketplace?
ReplyDelete - Anonymous3:23 AM, January 10, 2010
Highly entertaining Sadly dramatic! Nowaday the only thing in Superpoke Pets is drama drama drama! I've had it with the game! For those ready to try it, have your tylenol ready or prozac!
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Cannabis BBQ Sauce: One To Buy and Three to Make Yourself
Cannabis BBQ Sauce: One To Buy and Three to Make Yourself
After a long winter, warmer weather is finally upon us. And along with the milder temperatures comes BBQ season. So get your grill and spatula ready to fire up some delicious dishes you can enjoy outdoors with friends and family!
From burgers to hot dogs to grilled veggies and beyond, there's something about barbequing that symbolizes summer. This season, try adding a little something extra to the traditional sauces that you like to lather on your meats and veggies — like cannabis.
Adding cannabis edibles to your grilled delights can provide both you and your guests with an enhanced dining experience. The secret is to add marijuana it to your sauce. Cannabis-infused BBQ sauce allows you to tamper with all sorts of different meals while delivering serious flavor.
The question is, how can you infuse your BBQ sauce with marijuana? Here are a few recipes to try out, as well as one ready-made sauce you can buy that already comes infused with cannabis.
Ganja Juice Cannabis-Infused BBQ Sauce
If you're looking for something that's ready to go without having to figure out recipes and ingredients, Ganja Juice BBQ sauce is available for purchase. Infused with THC, this sauce will entertain both your palate and your mind.
This sauce includes a unique blend of spices and seasonings along with cannabis-infused oil that provides the perfect dose of THC. Use it for meals at home or take it with you while on the go to enjoy THC with any meal no matter where you happen to be.
You can use it as-is or incorporate it into your own recipe to concoct something truly unique.
Cannabis-Infused BBQ Sauce Recipes
If you're the type to tinker with different recipes and create something homemade right from your kitchen, then try out any one of these cannabis-infused BBQ sauce recipes to season your next grilled meal.
Mary Jane's Marijuana BBQ Sauce
Creating something in your own kitchen can be fun, but what you don't necessarily want is anything overly complicated. Luckily, this particular sauce recipe from Cannabis Cheri is both delicious and easy to make. Requiring only a handful of ingredients, you can whip it up in no time.
Blending both sweet and spicy flavors, this marijuana barbecue sauce will drive the flavor factor way up on just about any type of grilled food, including beef, pork, ribs, chicken, and even veggies and tofu.
This recipe includes 20 mg THC per 1/4 cup serving, though you may want to mess around with the dosing to suit your particular needs. Like any other marijuana recipe, the key is to start on the low end of the spectrum with your dosing and slowly work your way up to achieve the desired effect.
1 onion, chopped
1 tbsp garlic, minced
1/4 cup cannabis-infused vegetable oil
2 tbsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
24 oz ketchup
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup yellow or brown mustard
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp liquid smoke
Salt to taste
In a medium saucepan, heat the oil over medium-low heat.
Add onion and cook for about 3 minutes, stirring regularly.
Add garlic, stir for another minute, then add the chili powder, cumin, black pepper, and cayenne pepper.
Add all remaining ingredients.
Simmer uncovered for 20 minutes, stirring often.
Allow to cool before using.
Sweet Honey BBQ Sauce
Eat Your Cannabis' version of cannabis-infused BBQ sauce is a little more on the sweet side, given the main ingredients: honey and brown sugar. A classic type of BBQ sauce, honey-based sauces add just the right amount of sweetness to your meats, and this particular recipe takes things a step further by blending marijuana into the mix.
Any item you grill will match perfectly with this honey BBQ sauce. You may even want to use it as a sauce base for your sandwiches!
1/3 oz finely ground cannabis flower
3 tbsp green onion, chopped
1 lime, juiced
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 cup apricot nectar
1/4 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
3/4 can tomato paste
1 tbsp fresh garlic, minced
1/2 tbsp chili powder
Dash of cayenne pepper
In a crock pot, combine the vegetable oil, ground cannabis flower, green onion, lime juice and water, and cook on low for 2 hours.
Add all other ingredients, mix well, and cook on low for another hour, stirring occasionally.
Store in an airtight container in fridge before serving.
Texas-Style BBQ Sauce
You won't get a more authentic BBQ sauce than a Texas-style version, and this recipe delivers in serious taste. And with a dab of cannabis included in the recipe, you can enjoy a nice buzz along with your dancing taste buds.
Try Bloom Farm's cannabis-infused Texas-style BBQ recipe for your next barbeque'd meal.
1 small onion, minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 stalks celery, chopped
1/4 cup cannabutter
1 cup ketchup
1 cup tomato sauce
1/4 cup molasses
3 tbsp brown sugar
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tbsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
In a saucepan over low heat, combine the water, ketchup, tomato sauce, brown sugar, and molasses and heat until the mixture starts to simmer.
Add the onion, garlic, and celery and continue to simmer for about 8 minutes.
Transfer the mixture to a blender, add all remaining ingredients, and puree until smooth.
Cool in the fridge.
Final Thoughts
There are so many creative ways to enjoy cannabis, especially when it comes to edibles. While you can still enjoy the traditional cannabis cookie or other baked goods, adding marijuana to other food products like BBQ sauces is a unique way to enjoy the benefits of cannabis while tempting your taste buds at the same time.
Take your backyard barbeques to new heights with any one of these delicious cannabis-infused BBQ sauces!
This article originally appeared on myfoli.com
1 comment
Posted on by liEmChilt


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Washington Post food-politics columnist Ezra Klein has taken a stand: people should eat less meat, because of its vast greenhouse gas footprint. To make his case, Ezra cited the FAO's landmark "Livestock's Long Shadow" report, which found that global meat production is responsible for 18 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions.
To be honest, when I read Ezra's column, I thought, "yeah, and?" Of course we should eat less meat. But how far will individual choice take us? Shouldn't we focus on forcing the meat industry to pay up for its massive externalities, including its contribution to climate change? Yet this eat-less-meat plea ended up generating more controversy than I thought possible.
In a letter to the editor published Monday, J. Patrick Boyle, president of the American Meat institute, fired back, declaring Klein's take on meat "inaccurate and not scientifically based." How so? According to Boyle:
The Environmental Protection Agency concluded that in 2007, only 2.8 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions came from animal agriculture.
He concludes: "The animal protein sector in the United States is environmentally and socially responsible, and we strive to provide the safest, most abundant and most wholesome product to consumers domestically and worldwide."
Oh, really?
Boyle is a veteran fighter for the big-meat cause. The AMI lobbies on behalf of meat packers like Tyson, Cargill, and Smithfield. According to his bio, Boyle has led AMI since 1990. He had prepped himself for a career as a top lobbyist the traditional way–by working for the agency he would later lobby. His bio declares:
From 1986-89, Boyle was administrator of the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). At AMS, he oversaw such programs as federal meat grading and the national beef and pork checkoff programs. He was responsible for administering 37 federal statutes affecting food quality, safety, research and marketing of meat, poultry, milk, fruits, vegetables, cotton and tobacco.
Indeed, the AMI is a popular stop for those who swing through the revolving door between government jobs and plumb lobbying positions. Click around its staff page and you'll find plenty of former USDA and Congressional-staff apparatchiks.
So what of Boyle's claim that Klein way overstated the GHG footprint of U.S. meat–that meat, in fact, contributes just 2.8 percent of total U.S. GHG emissions as compared to the FAO's global estimate of 18 percent?
First, it should be noted that Klein and Boyle are talking about different things: Klein used global numbers, while Boyle pointed to strictly U.S. numbers.
And as Ralph Loglisci of The Center for a Livable Future at Johns Hopkins University points out in a recent blog post, the U.S. number will certainly be lower than the global one, for the simple reason that the U.S. spews out so much more greenhouse gases from all sources than the rest of the world.
We're the globe's largest per-capita emitter of greenhouse gas (and a close second to China in overall emissions). Here, the meat industry exists alongside a 211 million-strong fleet of generally low-mileage cars (propped up by a low-functioning mass-transit system), a network of coal-fired power plants that supply half of our electricity, and a built environment characterized by low-density sprawl.
In short, comparing meat's share of greenhouse gas emissions domestically and globally, the denominator–total emissions–is relatively much higher domestically. To use that truism to excuse the carbon footprint of the U.S. meat industry is ridiculous–a form of vulgar relativism. Just because they're surrounded by an abundance of SUVs and coal-fired power plants doesn't make our meat factories any more benign.
Next, it must be acknowledged that the FAO study Klein cites and Boyle's EPA source were measuring different things. As Loglisci points out, the FAO sought to calculate meat's total GHG footprint–not only methane from cows and nitrous oxide from manure, but also emissions related to growing and hauling feed grains and moving processed meat to market. The EPA numbers cited by Boyle, by contrast, measure only methane from livestock and nitrous oxide from manure. Emissions related to feed are accounted for elsewhere, as is carbon released in the process of ventilating massive confinement houses, and moving meat from production centers like North Carolina and Iowa to far-flung markets.
Perhaps most egregiously of all, Boyle's cherry-picked stat thus wrongly absolves the meat industry from nitrous oxide emissions associated with growing corn–a massive source of greenhouse gas.
How massive? According to the National Corn Growers Association (PDF), 44 percent of U.S. corn becomes domestic animal feed, and another 10 percent ends up in feed rations as the ethanol byproduct distillers grains. That means more than half of U.S. corn–our nation's largest farm crop–ends up on feedlots.
And farmers use more nitrogen fertilizer on corn than any other crop by a wide margin. Using data from the charts on this USDA page, I estimate corn sucks in about 44 percent of nitrogen fertilizer applied in U.S. agriculture. So based on its reliance on corn, U.S. feedlot agriculture is responsible for nearly a quarter of total U.S. nitrous oxide emissions. And Boyle's number conveniently omits that.
The omission is not trivial. In the agriculture section (PDF) of its "Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions, 1990-2007," the EPA credits "agriculture soil management"–i.e., nitrous oxide from fertilizer application–with about half of ag-related GHG emissions. And guess what? The EPA may be seriously underestimating here. A 2007 study by the Dutch Nobel laureate Paul Crutzen, an atmospheric chemist, concluded (PDF) that the accepted estimates for how much nitrogen fertilizer ends up in the air as NO2 could be off by a factor of as much as five.
So if Boyle's 2.8 percent figure is off the mark, what percentage of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions does actually stem from meat production? Loglisci of The Center for a Livable Future says it's hard to pinpoint. "As far as I know, no one has crunched the numbers to determine a comparable GHG emissions number for U.S. livestock," he writes.
Working with a Johns Hopkins researcher, Loglisci compiled some rough numbers and came out with an estimate of about 9 percent–half of the global FAO number cited by Klein, but three times the figure pushed by Boyle. "And in real numbers, not percentages, U.S. livestock production's GHG contribution could still be the largest in the world," Loglisci writes.
So, yes, Ezra Klein was right–there's a strong case for eating less meat.


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Mark 6:45-56
Mark 6:45-56
45 Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 46 And after he had taken leave of them, he went up on the mountain to pray. 47 And when evening came, the boat was out on the sea, and he was alone on the land. 48 And he saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them. And about the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them, 49 but when they saw him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost, and cried out, 50 for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, "Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid." 51 And he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, 52 for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.
53 When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored to the shore. 54 And when they got out of the boat, the people immediately recognized him 55 and ran about the whole region and began to bring the sick people on their beds to wherever they heard he was. 56 And wherever he came, in villages, cities, or countryside, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and implored him that they might touch even the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well.


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New to SCHED?
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Click here for the Video Intro as well as the MySCHED Features and Help Guide
You can create your own schedule for panels and events you want to attend at Comic-Con by using MySchedule (powered by SCHED). The Comic-Con 2024 Schedule is now available. This page will list all events as they are added to our website, including the individual day-by-day schedules for Programming, Anime, Autographs, the Children's Film Festival, Films, Games, IFF, and Portfolio Review. You can add them all to your MySCHED list!
Once you create an account, you can mark which panels and events you'd like to attend, and MySchedule will give you a complete listing of them. Use the print option provided to print the list in any manner you choose. Share your schedule with your friends. See your favorites on your mobile devices and sync across platforms and devices as well. Send your schedule to your calendaring software. Filter and search the list by types, titles, company names, artists, writers, celebrities . . . you name it. You can also sync your favorites with the Official Comic-Con App, available for both iOS and Android devices.
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Happy Birthday, Susan B. Anthony
Born this day in 1820, Susan B. Anthony devoted her life to social reform. While she backed a number of causes—from antislavery and labor reform to the temperance movement—she is perhaps best remembered for her role in organizing and advancing the women's rights movement, with an express goal of fighting for the right to vote.
An 1878 1898 photograph of Anthony held in the collections of the National Portrait Gallery seems to resonate with her strength of conviction. "It is evident that this is an image that Anthony must have favored," says Ann Shumard, the museum's curator of photographs, "because the print in NPG's collection carries an inscription by Anthony which reads, '18301820—February 15—1898,' followed by her autograph. A further inscription in Anthony's hand notes that it is the '50th anniversary of the 1st Woman's Rights Convention—July 19–20, 1848!!' The exclamation points are hers. I think the image shows Anthony 'standing tall' and still looking both dignified and formidable at the age of 78."
Although Anthony initially worked as a school teacher, a fortuitous meeting with Elizabeth Cady Stanton in 1851 brought her into the world of activism. Unmarried and unbound by familial duties, Anthony was able to invest her energies into propelling the women's movement, managing The Revolution, a feminist newspaper and going on public speaking tours. One of her most famous indictments of gender discrimination came when she illegally cast a ballot in the 1872 presidential election. She was arrested for voting and fined $100. "May it please your honor," she said in response to the ruling, "I shall never pay a dollar of your unjust penalty. All the stock in trade I possess is a $10,000 debt, incurred by publishing my paper—The Revolution—four years ago, the sole object of which was to educate all women to do precisely as I have done, rebel against your man-made, unjust, unconstitutional forms of law, that tax, fine, imprison, and hang women, while they deny them the right of representation in the government; and I shall work on with might and main to pay every dollar of that honest debt, but not a penny shall go to this unjust claim. And I shall earnestly and persistently continue to urge all women to the practical recognition of the old revolutionary maxim that 'Resistance to tyranny is obedience to God.'"
Anthony died in 1906 and never saw the realization of her life's work: the passage of the 19th Amendment, which ended gender discrimination at the polls.
"Anthony remains significant because, as she fervently believed, progress was not possible until women obtained the vote," says Sid Hart, senior historian at the National Portrait Gallery. "In a democracy, the right to vote necessarily precedes all other reforms. Once having obtained the vote, everything else—all progress up to the present moment—became possible. This would be similar to the civil rights struggle in the 1950s and 60s, in which voting rights was critical, although in that case, an amendment had been passed almost 100 years before and it was a matter of obtaining federal enforcement. Anthony's heroic and successful struggle led to a change in our Constitution that guaranteed the vote for women for all time, which makes her a pivotal figure in American history."


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(click on the banner to get to the podcast page)
~*There's Tupperware in thum thar hills!*~
Way cool! I'll keep an ear out for it.
Oscilating between remarkable brillance and sheer stupidity with amazing regularity.
Yeah, so glad your back. I just couldn't figure out how to do it on my own and the only classes were way down in Auburn.
Kathy, that is wonderful news. I will have to blow the dust off my ipod now and get it charged. When can we expect the first installment?
Happy Trails!
how awesome ... excited about some new podcasts!
Just listened to the promo and it sounds awesome. So glad you're back!
Expect it on the 21st, but it may take itunes a little longer to pick it up, so you can listen directly by clicking on the banner, or subscribe by pasting foundit.libsyn.com/rss into your podcast app.
~*There's Tupperware in thum thar hills!*~


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On August 21, national and city dignitaries as well as religious leaders joined Scientologists from Israel and 27 nations to celebrate the opening of the new Center of Scientology in Tel Aviv. The Center is the first Ideal Scientology Organization (Ideal Org) in the Middle East and designed to both serve the growing membership and provide Scientology-sponsored humanitarian programs throughout the region.
Located on Jerusalem Boulevard in Tel Aviv's ancient port city of Jaffa, the Center's new home is the historic Alhambra Theater. Originally constructed in 1937, the landmark is remembered by generations as the premier venue for the greatest names in Arab and Israeli music and theater. In the 1980s, the building was converted into a commercial center and by the first decade of the 21st century, its glory had faded.
The Center of Scientology acquired the Alhambra and meticulously restored the landmark, to both preserve a site of cultural significance for Israel and provide a center for the entire community. In addition to presenting all Scientology services, it serves as a meeting place for members of all faiths to unite on humanitarian initiatives. To that end, the famed Alhambra auditorium once again stands as a centerpiece for this city.
The watershed grand opening was distinguished by the presence of Mr. David Miscavige, Chairman of the Board Religious Technology Center and ecclesiastical leader of the Scientology religion, who personally dedicated the new Center. Addressing the Scientologists in attendance, Mr. Miscavige said: "This center is a gift from the International Association of Scientologists to Israel. As such, it represents our recognition that all religions hold central truths in common and thus may work together to achieve the common dream of universal brotherhood. So from this day hence, it becomes your mission and destiny to extend our help across this legendary land. Let it be done in the spirit of Scientology so that your help is freely given, because it is all about freedom. And let it be done with supreme dedication, because only in that way we will realize the Aims of Scientology and thus a world without insanity, without criminality, without war—a world where the able can prosper, where honest beings have rights and all are free to rise to greater heights."
Welcoming Scientologists to their new home were civic and religious leaders from across Tel Aviv-Jaffa, including Tel Aviv City Council Member Meital Lehavi; Office of the Prime Minister Director for the Bedouin Sector Mohammad Kaabia; Office of The Prime Minister Senior Coordinator on the Status of Minority Women Rania Pharyra; Biblical scholar and author Dr. Rimon Kasher; Jaffa Arab Christian Community Chairman Peter Habash; and historical preservation architect Eyal Ziv.
In her salutatory address, Tel Aviv City Council Member Meital Lehavi welcomed the Scientology Center to Jaffa: "The story of this house of yours suits the story of Jaffa. It is a house for everyone, accepting everyone. And it is my great hope this house connects, integrates, welcomes and advances the hopes that exist in Jaffa. I am confident that by sitting together, thinking together and working together we keep Jaffa the home for everyone. Your new Center will have an important part in leading the way."
Office of the Prime Minister Director for the Bedouin Sector Mohammad Kaabia spoke of Scientology's many humanitarian programs: "When it comes to all we strive for—for freedom, to be included and embraced by one's fellow man—there is no group that better bears these marks than Scientology. You teach man his rights, you prevent drugs in schools, you take care to build up the individual and you inspire kindness toward one another. I believe we must introduce these programs into all Arab and Bedouin sectors across Israel."
Rania Pharyra, Senior Coordinator on the Status of Minority Women, Office of The Prime Minister, spoke of the need for the Center's outreach with The Way to Happiness, a non-religious guide to living: "The Way to Happiness is a new way to understand the purpose of humanity—my purpose, your purpose. We have this tool to spread to the minds and hearts of people not politics, but something that touches the heart of children, youth, adults, all genders, all religions, all races. We can defeat racism, hatred and fear. We can bring a change. We will build the bridge to our greatest dreams."
Biblical scholar and author Dr. Rimon Kasher spoke of the Center's vital importance to the region: "I believe Scientology is the only religion that can create a connection or even affinity between the different faiths and the only one that can relieve the tension between religions. It is my hope that with your Ideal Org, you will accomplish your aims. In so doing you will mark a turning point for not just the entire Israeli society, but for all of the Middle East."
Peter Habash, chairman of the Arab Christian Community of Jaffa, welcomed the volunteer work of the Center: "You have built this amazing Scientology Center to help the Arab Community and all communities of Jaffa. And we believe your Center serves the same goals as we do. When I see your active volunteers, youth and adults, their work makes me feel that you can make a difference here. I see that you are a part of us and a part of Jaffa."
Historic preservation architect for Jaffa, Eyal Ziv, who directed the restoration of the Alhambra Theater, proclaimed: "Your respect and care for this building is astounding. You created a perfect example of preserving the past for all of Tel Aviv-Jaffa. And so I want to thank you and all associated with the Center of Scientology for bringing new life to this Jaffa jewel."
The 60,000-square-foot Center of Scientology Tel Aviv is open to all wishing an introduction to Dianetics and Scientology. Visitors are invited to take a self-guided tour of the expansive Public Information Center, presenting informational and documentary films on the beliefs and practices of Dianetics and Scientology, as well as the life and legacy of Founder L. Ron Hubbard. The Information Center also provides an overview of the many Scientology-sponsored humanitarian programs, including a worldwide human rights initiative; an equally far-ranging drug education, prevention and rehabilitation program; a global network of literacy and learning centers; and the Scientology Volunteer Minister program now comprising the world's largest independent relief force. In full, the Center's multimedia displays present more than 500 films, available at the touch of a button. The Center is open morning to night and visitors are welcome to return as often as they wish.
In addition to services conducted in the restored Alhambra auditorium, the new Center of Scientology further includes seminar rooms and classrooms for study, along with dozens of rooms for Scientology auditing (spiritual counseling).
To commemorate the Alhambra's rich heritage, the second floor mezzanine houses a permanent exhibition open to the public, so the building's history may be treasured for generations to come.
Among the many distinctive features magnificently restored throughout the landmark are the mezzanine's glass-faced clock overlooking Jerusalem Boulevard and the Auditorium's intricately molded oval ceiling. The International Style and Art Deco façade has also been returned to its original splendor, from the color block windows and ornamental grilles to the prominent "Alhambra" sign that graces the iconic tower.
The Center further includes a rooftop terrace and café. Framed by an oval colonnade, it provides expansive views of the historic hub of Jaffa.
The opening of the Center of Scientology Tel Aviv follows a series of new Scientology Ideal Organizations opened so far in 2012, including Los Gatos, California on July 28; Buffalo, New York, on June 30; Phoenix, Arizona, on June 23; Denver, Colorado, on June 16; Stevens Creek of San Jose, California, on June 9; and Orange County, California, on June 2. Further opened this year are Greater Cincinnati, Ohio, on February 25; Sacramento, California, on January 28; and Hamburg, Germany, on January 21.
Ideal Orgs reflect the fulfillment of Founder L. Ron Hubbard's vision for the religion. They not only provide the ideal facilities to service Scientologists on their ascent to greater states of spiritual awareness and freedom, they are also designed to serve as a home for the entire community and a meeting ground of cooperative effort to uplift citizens of all denominations.
Other new Ideal Orgs opened in recent years include London, Brussels, Berlin, Madrid and Rome in Europe; Melbourne, Australia; Johannesburg, South Africa; New York, New York; Washington, D.C.; Los Angeles, Inglewood, Pasadena and San Francisco, California; Tampa, Florida; Nashville, Tennessee; Seattle, Washington; Dallas, Texas; Quebec City, Canada; and Mexico City, Mexico.
Five more Ideal Orgs are further scheduled to open in 2012.
The Scientology religion was founded by author and philosopher L. Ron Hubbard. The first Scientology organization was formed in the United States in 1952 and the religion has expanded to more than 10,000 Organizations, Missions and affiliated groups, with millions of members in 167 countries.


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In case you didn't hear earlier, longtime ESPN baseball analyst Peter Gammons will be leaving the network following the Winter Meetings (more on this later). As such, ESPN is already holding auditions for Gammons' replacement. First up is current ESPN NFL analyst Mark Schlereth. Fack Youk has received an exclusive transcript:
"Look. This is a BAD TRADE for the Arizona Diamondbacks. You DO NOT succeed in MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL without a bona fide left handed reliever in your bullpen. If I'm Josh Byrnes, I have to go out and GET MYSELF another LEFT HANDED relief specialist to replace MY SON Daniel Schlereth and his EIGHTEEN innings of relief work this year.
This kid is a BASEBALL PLAYER. And he throws STRAIGHT GAS. This kid goes out and BLOWS BATTERS AWAY. Look, the Diamondbacks finished LAST in the NATIONAL LEAGUE WEST last year, and they're not going to get any better by going out and trading young FIREBALLING FLAME THROWERS!
Schlereth is a hard hat, lunch pail kind of guy who is gonna go out and PUNCH BATTERS IN THE MOUTH when THE GAME IS ON THE LINE!"
Thanks Mark; we appreciate your insight. Don't quit your day job.
Speaking of day jobs I've been absolutely inundated at the office today. And it's hard to get any work done when Google Reader is handing 15 new "rumors" every five minutes. I'll be back later tonight with more thoughts on the Granderson deal.
(Photo courtesy of The Sports Hernia)