text:
They keep others from it and avoid
it themselves. They are only destroying themselves but they are not
aware of it.
(Surat al-An'am: 26)
As soon as we are born, we have an appetite for learning.
Childhood is a time of exciting investigation and discovery about the
world. As we grow, this excitement dulls and gives way to habit-customs
and traditions based on the "received wisdom" of our elders. We tend to
accept this "received wisdom" unconditionally, and so lose the ability
to investigate and think critically. We accept that what our society says
is bad, is bad, and what it says is good, is good. We do not examine why
bad is bad or good is good.
Strikingly, it is in religion in which this process of relying
on the wisdom of elders is most pronounced. People tend to follow their
religion that is really a conglomeration of traditions, customs, false
information and misguided behaviour that have accumulated over time. What
they follow often has different rules, prohibitions and conceptions of
morality. One of the most troubling results of this process is that it
creates amongst people a prejudice against the true religion. Even in
Muslim countries, there are supposedly religious practices that are really
just customs having no basis in the Qur'an or the teachings of the Prophet
Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace.) All this causes some
people to distance themselves from the true religion. Even those who are
normally open-minded, when it comes to religion, lose their analytical
viewpoint, and revert to irrational, often, conservative, prejudices.
Let us now investigate the reasons people avoid the Qur'an
and the teachings of true religion.
Blind Attachment to the Religion of One's Ancestors
Throughout human history some people have resisted change,
progress and new ideas. Be it from science to education, the economy to
the judicial system, conservative people, seeking to uphold the status
quo, oppose change. But though opposing change, they are not necessarily
supporting the truth, rather, in general, old habits, traditions and customs.
The prophets entrusted with calling people to Allah all met with this
same mentality. The Prophets Muhammad, 'Isa, Shu'ayb, Musa, Nuh, and Hud
amongst others (peace be upon them all), were all opposed by people defending
and upholding their own religions.
Allah describes this mentality as an attachment to ancestral
religion (Surat al-Baqara, 170; Surat az-Zukhruf, 23), where people take
as their guide, the lifestyle and morality handed down by their ancestors.
People mistake remaining bound hand and foot to the legacy of their ancestors
for a major virtue. Many of them are so committed to their ancestors,
that they will not even listen with an open mind to the message of the
prophets. They hate to be shown errors in their ancestors' ways, fear
change, and become enemies to the truth.
The Qur'an discusses in detail what different peoples
said to their prophets. In Surat az-Zukhruf, Allah mentions one people
who rejected their prophet's message, saying: "
We found our fathers
following a religion and we are simply following in their footsteps."
(Surat az-Zuhkruf: 23)
The Pharaoh and his people rejected the Prophet
Musa and his brother Harun (peace be upon them), saying "Have you come
to us to turn us from what we found our fathers doing, and to gain greatness
in the land? We do not believe you." (Surah Yunus: 78)
Allah asks those who reject His message simply
because it does not conform to an ancestral religion to think again: "
What, even though their fathers did not understand a thing and were not
guided!." (Surat al-Bakara: 170)
The Qur'an invites people to think and compare
ideas, rather than blindly accepting or rejecting. "Say: 'What if I have
come with better guidance than what you found your fathers following?'..."
(Surat az-Zuhkruf: 24). However, people often prefer their own traditions,
and ignore anything that might unsettle it, even if they have no apparent
reasons: "They say, 'We reject what you have been sent with.'" (Surah
Az- Zukhruf: 24)
So, because of their blind attachment to their
ancestors' religion, people evade the truths of the Qur'an, overlook its
teachings and ignore the divine revelation of Allah. They forget that
life is short, and that one day they will die and be wrapped in a shroud
and buried in the ground, after which they will be accountable to Allah
for all they have done. Allah draws attention to this error of theirs
in Surat al-Anbiya', "No indeed! We have given these people enjoyment,
as We did their fathers, until life seemed long and good to them
" (Surat
al-Anbiya': 44)
One of the best examples in the Qur'an of this process of
irrational denial of prophethood is the story of the Prophet Ibrahim's
people, who were disbelievers who followed the religion of their forefathers
and worshipped idols. Their attachment to a superstitious religion led
them to reject the Prophet Ibrahim's call to the true faith, to belief
in One God. The Prophet Ibrahim asked his people and his father, who had
also rejected Ibrahim's call, "
What are these statues you are clinging
to?" (Surat al-Anbiya': 52).The following conversation ensued:
They said, "We found our fathers worshipping them."
He said, "You and your fathers are clearly misguided." They said, "Have
you brought us the truth or are you playing games?" He said, "Far from
it! Your Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth, He who brought
them into being. I am one of those who bear witness to that." (Surat al-Anbiya':
The Surah later describes how the tribe met every invitation
of the Prophet Ibrahim to believe in the One God, Allah, with refusal.
So the Prophet Ibrahim said he would set a trap for the idols. After the
people had gone, he broke all the idols "except for the biggest one."
When the people returned they asked:
They said, "Who has done this to our gods? He is
definitely one of the wrongdoers!" They said, "We heard a young man mentioning
them. They call him Ibrahim." They said, "Bring him before the people's
eyes so they can be witnesses." They said, "Did you do this to our gods,
Ibrahim?" He said, "No, this one, the biggest of them, did it. Ask them
if they are able to speak!" (Surat al-Anbiya': 59-63)
Faced with this invitation and clever stratagem of the Prophet
Ibrahim, the tribe hesitated at first and for a moment, examining their
consciences, they accepted that they had done him an injustice. But then
they turned on him once more, saying:
"... You know full well these idols cannot talk."
He said, "Do you then worship, instead of Allah, what cannot help or harm
you in any way? Shame on you and what you worship besides Allah! Will
you not use your intellect?" (Surat al-Anbiya': 65-67)
After this dialogue, they tried to kill the Prophet Ibrahim
and cast him into the fire. Allah thwarted them by protecting the Prophet
Ibrahim from the fire. This encounter, between the Prophet and his tribe,
is a good demonstration of the problem we have been discussing: a people's
illogical attachment to their ancestral religion, even in the face of
rational proofs and evidence to the contrary.
However, on the Day of Judgment people will face Allah completely
alone, and their ancestors, on whom they placed so much importance and
whose paths they followed, will not save them from Allah's reckoning.
The Qur'an describes their repentance and sorrow:
They will say on the Day their faces are rolled
over in the Fire, "If only we had obeyed Allah and obeyed the Messenger!"
And they will say, "Our Lord, we obeyed our masters and great men and
they misguided us from the Way. Our Lord, give them double the punishment
and curse them many times over!" (Surat al-Azhab: 66-68)
Excessive Attachment to the Life of This World
Many people make the mistake of thinking that this life will
never end; they become excessively attached to life and forget how short
it really is. This heedlessness leads people to avoid thinking about the
lessons taught in the Qur'an. It does not cross their minds that everybody
will meet the Angel of Death, perhaps unexpectedly, and that they will
be buried beneath the earth.
When the Angel of Death takes someone, that person will not
be able to take with them the worldly goods he or she struggled to acquire
throughout in life, nor the relatives and friends they held dear. On that
day, when people come before Allah entirely alone, they will be confronted
with everything they have done. Everybody without exception will realise
at that moment that life on earth was no more than a transient experience.
Yet it will be too late. This is also mentioned in a hadith where the
Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) says,
"He is a bad servant who is led by greed. He is a bad servant who is misled
by passion. He is a bad servant who is debased by worldly desire." (Al-Tirmidhi)
People who do not consider these facts look on religion and
earthly life differently from those who think about meeting their Lord.
For the former, life consists only of education, marriage and work. These
three things consume their minds, and are their benchmarks that guide
their decisions. Their life is prioritised around questions such as: how
to make money; how to succeed at work or in marriage; and what kind of
future they will have. No doubt these are important matters requiring
consideration, but the mistake is to forget life's most important reality:
death. The Qur'an teaches us that people avoid thinking about death and
turn back in their because "Satan fills them with false hopes." (Surat
an-Nisa': 120) False hopes are to make long term plans, not for the
sake of Allah, but for the sake of purely earthly pleasures, forgetting
the true hope: life in Paradise.
The Qur'an is replete with verses reminding people to remember
the hereafter. If only people would contemplate the Qur'an and its teachings
they would become aware of Allah's truths, and would comprehend the importance
and urgency of leading a life pleasing to Allah. They would thus benefit
themselves and those close to them; they could hope to preserve themselves
from the endless torment of hell. This understanding and hope are very
important for every human being because the real destination is the eternal
afterlife. In Surah Al 'Imran, Allah says :
To mankind the love of worldly appetites is painted
in glowing colours: women and children, and heaped-up mounds of gold and
silver, and horses with fine markings, and livestock and fertile farmland.
All that is merely the enjoyment of the life of this world. The best homecoming
is in the presence of Allah. Say, "Shall I tell you of something better
than that?" Those who guard against evil will have Gardens with their
Lord, with rivers flowing under them, remaining in them timelessly, for
ever, and purified wives, and the Pleasure of Allah. Allah sees His servants.
(Surah Al 'Imran: 14-15)
People generally have a "way of life" that they live by,
and that is formed by their environment and according to their understanding
of the world. They are usually very attached to their established way
of life, and reluctant to change, especially their view of the world,
their "philosophy of life," because changing a lifelong philosophy also
causes deep-seated changes in a person's lifestyle. This reluctance to
change a lifestyle has often been at the bottom of people's resistance
to the prophets' message. The story of the Prophet Shu'ayb (pbuh) is illustrative.
The greatest fear of Shu'ayb's tribe was that of abandoning their lifestyle
and goods.
They said, "Shu'ayb, do your prayers instruct you
that we should abandon what our fathers worshipped or stop doing whatever
we want to with our wealth? You are clearly the forbearing, the rightly-guided!"
(Surah Hud: 87)
The Prophet Shu'ayb replied:
He said, "My people! What do you think? If I do
possess a Clear Sign from my Lord and He has given me His good provision,
I would clearly not want to go behind your backs and do something I have
forbidden you to do. I only want to put things right as far as I can.
My success is with Allah alone. I have put my trust in Him and I turn
to Him." (Surah Hud: 88)
Up to that point, these people had been satisfied with their
superstitious lives. They certainly did not want to change their way of
life or the system they were used to. These people, described to us by
the Qur'an as "those who do not expect to meet Us and are content with
the life of this world and at rest in it, and those who are heedless of
Our Signs, their shelter will be the Fire because of what they earned."
(Surah Yunus: 7-8), thought they were on the right path.
However, the life of this world is only a fleeting benefit.
On the Day of Judgement they will regret it: "It may be that those
who disbelieve will wish that they had been Muslims. Leave them to eat
and enjoy themselves. Let false hope divert them. They will soon know"
(Surat al-Hijr: 2-3). As this verse maintains, by focusing only on
life in this world these people are only increasing their losses. Allah
tells us that those who are deceived by worldly life and forget the values
of religion will regret it on the Day of Judgment:
Those who took their religion as a diversion and
a game, and were deluded by the life of this world. Today We will forget
them just as they forgot the encounter of this Day and denied Our Signs.
(Surat al-A'raf: 51)
A Feeling of Overwhelming Pride
Another reason some people steer clear of the Qur'an is that
they have a superiority complex. They believe so strongly in the truth
and flawlessness of their own beliefs and lifestyle that they scorn the
idea that better beliefs may exist. As Allah says in the Qur'an "When
he is told to have fear of Allah, he is seized by pride which drives him
to wrongdoing. Hell will be enough for him! What an evil resting-place!"
(Surat al-Baqara: 206) what pushes people into denial of the truth
is "pride."
When invited to read the Qur'an, people like this refuse
because that means submitting to the true faith and accepting that up
to that point their religion has been nothing but a superstitious belief.
It means they comprehend that they have been deceived, and have followed
the wrong road, have chosen their leaders or role models incorrectly,
and have written, read and valued erroneous knowledge. For them this is
a catastrophe. In order to avoid suffering this catastrophe they do not
want to accept that their beliefs are wrong, no matter what proofs are
presented to them, because their pride does not permit this. So, as the
verse says, their pride "drives them to wrongdoing."
If they could just understand that the Qur'an is the only
truth, accept that they have been on the wrong path, listen to the voice
of their consciences and start a brand new life in repentance, they would
please Allah. The alternative is a troubled existence, both in this world
and the hereafter. Allah tells us of the spirit of darkness that lies
within those who reject Him: "And they repudiated them wrongly and
haughtily, in spite of their own certainty about them. See the final fate
of the corrupters." (Surat an-Naml: 14)Their
pride cuts these people off from the true path and causes them great harm.
This is also what the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)
has warned people about in his time with the words, "Shall I inform you
about the people of the Fire? They comprise every cruel, violent, proud
and conceited person." (Al-Bukhari)
Another result of their superiority complex is an attempt
to draw people away from the path of Allah, as described in Surat al-Hajj:
Among people there is one who argues about Allah
without knowledge or guidance or any light-giving Book, turning away arrogantly,
to misguide people from the Way of Allah. He will be disgraced in this
world and on the Day of Rising. We will make him taste the punishment
of the Burning [while it is said], "That is for what you did before. Allah
does not wrong His servants." (Surat al-Hajj: 8-10)
As is pointed out in these verses, because of their
arrogance the deniers want to divert others from the path of Allah, as
they have diverted themselves. They engage in arguments without any knowledge.
In spite of not reading the Qur'an, and of not heeding its arguments and
morality they argue about Allah and try, in their pride, to present themselves
as superior. But on Judgment Day, when people are called to account for
everything they have done, this will do them no good at all. On the contrary,
they will be sorry and will say, "
Oh! If only we could be sent back
again, we would not deny the Signs of our Lord and we would be among the
believers." (Surat al-An'am: 27)
The Holding of Fixed Ideas
Those who possess extremely rigid ideas also avoid learning
about the Qur'an. As we said earlier, people are greatly affected by what
they learned from their ancestors, incorrect traditions and customs passed
down by their elders, as well as the lifestyles and modes of thought they
observe around them. This leads to fixity in thinking, and often aggression
against new ideas. In turn, this can lead to threatening behaviour towards
people bringing innovations, changes and the simple truth.
Holding fixed ideas acts like a curtain, screening people
off from listening to, and observing, one another. In Surah Fussilat,
Allah tells us how people stuck in the status quo respond when called
to the faith:
A Book whose verses have been demarcated for people
who know as an Arabic Qur'an, bringing good news and giving warning; but
most of them have turned away and do not hear. They say, "Our hearts are
covered up against what you call us to and there is a heaviness in our
ears. There is a screen between us and you. So act-we are certainly acting."
(Surah Fussilat: 3-5)
To have an incorrect idea about a worldly matter may not
cause them serious damage, but a fixed idea that causes people to ignore
the teachings of Allah is a very serious danger that can take them to
the flames of hell. Everybody needs to strive to avoid falling into such
a position. In fact the call to the Qur'an is an opportunity for people
to cleanse themselves of their superstitious, mistaken and incorrect ideas.
In such circumstances the intelligent way to behave is to listen to the
person making the call, to read the book of truth which is offered and
to evaluate it with commonsense. An open-minded person with a conscience
who sees that the Qur'an is bringing more truthful ideas than the ones
he currently holds will abandon his own ideas without any hesitation.
Indeed, constant searching for something better is built
into the human constitution. People are drawn to better ideas, opinions,
and points of view. But godlessness makes close-mindedness (which is contrary
to human nature) seem reasonable and causes the person to be attached
to outworn ideas; they are prevented from examining events as they need
to, making significant steps forward and deep-seated changes.
We can compare this mentality to the insistence of a person
on travelling with a horse and cart, when there are more efficient and
modern means of transport available, such as cars, trains, aircraft and
ships. This person's conservative behaviour leaves him/her deprived of
these blessings of technology. The same is true for those suffering from
rigid thinking; they are deprived of Allah's blessings.
The fixed ideas that people hold to are not limited to their
religious viewpoints. It can be seen in all aspects of their lives: their
failure to change the style of their interior decoration; their prejudiced
approach to new technological products and refusal to take advantage of
them; their dressing in the same way year after year; and their laughing
at the same jokes, are just a few examples of these fixations. Because
of this for years they cling on to the same ideas, even though they are
incorrect, and they retain the same black and white ideas of right and
wrong. Because of this straitjacket, they cannot think freely and easily,
they do not read books that put forward new ideas or learn about these,
take no pleasure from innovations, and do not make even the slightest
improvement to their standards of living.
The clearest examples of this come from materialist and communist
circles. It is possible to recognise these people right away. Their style
of dress, hairstyles, ways of speaking and the arguments they put forward
have not changed for years. They support outdated arguments, present these
ideas as ultimate truths and give their own personal experiences as examples.
For decades they have taken Karl Marx's Das Kapital,
Charles Darwin's Origin of Species and Mao's Little Red Book
as their bibles and read these books again and again, underlining passages.
It is as if they learn them by heart. These books present ideas that have
been outdated by scientific progress and the events of the twentieth-century,
but these loyalists cannot accept that they contain any deficiency, mistake
or incorrect information. They still believe that the teaching of these
books is "correct" and "scientific" because they do not follow what is
happening in the world and do not monitor scientific developments closely,
or perhaps because they do not want to observe these and understand them.
With great patience they await Marx's predictions and utopias, drawn up
in the dark pages of the 19th century, coming true. They still believe
that the ideas of Darwin, which were destroyed by scientific developments
at the start of the 20th century, are valid. They only debate with people
who hold the same views, and for year after year they read the same newspapers
and watch the same films. The expression they most frequently use is,
"I have not changed for years. The ideas I upheld 40 hears ago I still
uphold." But it should not be forgotten that such a statement is only
reasonable when it comes from someone who is putting forward absolute
These people feel proud of showing resistance to change,
opposing innovation and rejecting other ideas without listening to them.
They believe so blindly in the anti-religious words of those like Marx,
Darwin and Mao that they scorn reading the Qur'an, or books explaining
the Qur'an, simply to avoid having to go back on their prior convictions.
They are convinced, or more correctly, have been convinced, that reading
or learning from the Qur'an will do them great harm.
An invitation to the moral code of the Qur'an, however, is
an opportunity for these people to learn from their previous experience,
improve themselves by profiting from their mistakes, investigate finer
and more truthful things and rescue themselves from their fixed ideas.
But people with these fixed ideas reject the invitations made to them
and the sincere criticisms and kind-hearted recommendations of those who
make them because they regard them as inferior and they never abandon
the beliefs to which they are so blindly attached.
But why do people approach new information, ideas, concepts
or even scientific facts with prejudice, and not abandon the fixed ideas
which are of not the slightest use to them?
This is due to the influence of Satan: Satan misleads those
who reject the truth into thinking that what they have done is pleasant,
acceptable and on the right track. Those who do not listen to the voice
of their consciences and turn their backs on the Qur'an are persuaded
by Satan's deceits. Allah tells us about this deception:
Satan made their actions seem good to them and
so debarred them from the Way, even though they were intelligent people.
(Surat al-'Ankabut: 38)
In time, Satan influences these people, who were capable
of seeing the truth and aware of their own failings, into becoming people
who cannot see or detect the truth, and who block their ears against it.
Pride in their opinions and way of life makes them intolerant to the views
of anyone else, and conversation with them on these matters is next to
As Allah says in the verse,"They debar them from the path,
yet they still think they are guided." (Surat az-Zukhruf: 37),these
people think they follow the correct road. But the truth is not what they
think. When the Day of Judgment comes, their thoughts, remembrance and
regrets will be of no use at all.
And that Day Hell is produced, that Day man will
remember; but how will the remembrance help him? (Surat al-Fajr: 23)
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
Authorities in the US, Colombia, Canada and the UK said they had broken a "massive" crime ring and seized millions of dollars.
Operation White Dollar focused for two years on an alleged conspiracy based in the Colombian capital Bogota.
If convicted, the suspects face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
The alleged conspiracy involved the transfer of money earned from the sale of cocaine outside Colombia to people and companies inside the country.
Proceeds forfeited
It allowed Colombian firms and individuals to obtain US dollars without paying the taxes or transfer fees for which they would have been liable if they had bought the money legally.
The 34 people arrested are mostly the "brokers" who arrange for the drug proceeds to be wired to Colombians in return for Colombian pesos, the police forces said.
A US attorney in New York, David Kelley, said a prominent Colombian industrialist, Jose Douer-Ambar, had agreed to forfeit $20m acquired in such a way to the US, in return for a deferred prosecution.
The industrialist had purchased the $20m from the indicted peso brokers, the attorney said.
In addition, more than $1m has been frozen and seized from more than 20 separate bank accounts, including some in high street banks in Britain.
The British National Crime Squad said the laundering method, known as the "black market peso exchange", was very difficult to trace because most of the deals were done by word of mouth and there was no paper trail.
Because of these advantages, it said, it "has become one of the primary methods by which Colombian narcotics traffickers launder their illicit funds".


text:
2018-11-16 (All day) - 2018-11-17 (All day) America/New_York
The 5th Annual New England Drupal Camp, sponsored by Oomph, will be on November 16 & 17 at Rhode Island College in Providence, RI.
NEDCamp is an opportunity to learn, share, and network within the Drupal community. For the past two years, we have identified a focus for the camp, which is an opportunity to give extra attention to a topic that is important to the community. The camp focus in 2018 is (drum roll...) DevOps, anchored with a keynote presentation from Jeff Geerling, the maintainer of DrupalVM and author of Ansible for DevOps. Along with a variety of Drupal topics, we have full-day training and sessions dedicated to learning more DevOps.
Learn More from our Camp Announcement


text:
Werner Fiberglass 16 ft. H Extension Ladder 225 lb. Type II(D5916-2)
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text:
Get a new Car at a pre-negotiated discount at New Car Deals. View offers and enquire now
Used, 10,602 km, brilliant silver met (9744)
Find thousands of used and demo cars in South Africa on Used Car Deals. Buy with confidence: We only display used and demo vehicles from reputable franchise dealers.


text:
Parsley spruces up this side salad of protein-rich quinoa and crunchy green beans.
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and a pinch of pepper. Cook, stirring, until translucent, about 3 minutes. Stir in quinoa and cook for 1 minute. Add water. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook, covered, until water is absorbed, about 16 minutes. Remove from heat. Let stand 10 minutes; fluff with fork. Cool completely, about 25 minutes.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add 1 tablespoon salt and beans, cooking until bright green, about 4 minutes. Drain and rinse in cold water.
Combine quinoa, green beans, and parsley. Dress with 1/4 cup olive oil, vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and pepper.


text:
Mark Zuckerberg Hates His New Facebook Privacy Policy, Too
Facebook's CEO has urged his users to carefully review the new "privacy" settings pushed on them by his social network. He should have taken his own advice: He's apparently locked down his photos since we rifled through them last night.
Under Facebook's highly suspicious new "privacy" system, users are typically encouraged to share their photos widely, a move that helps Facebook become more like its fast-growing frenemy Twitter. In what seemed like a savvy PR move, CEO Mark Zuckerberg opened his own photos to the public last night. But after we ran some of the more interesting shots, he appears to have partially yanked them back.
Friends of friends can still see the photos. But one tipster and one Gawker staffer who share no friends in common with the Facebook CEO were able to see his photo cache last night and are no longer able to as of this afternoon; the pictures are definitely now shielded from such strangers. You can check for yourself by clicking here.
It's a dumb move, PR-wise: On the one hand, Facebook' own chief executive is illustrating that his privacy settings are so baffling that even he himself doesn't grasp their full implications. And, on the other, we already published the most embarrassing stuff! Sigh.
We can't think of what else Zuckerberg is trying to shield from public view; maybe it's one of these pictures we haven't run yet, but we doubt it. Oh, and the last two aren't of Zuckerberg, but of two different flacks for the social network, Brandee Barker ("you have a choice") and Barry Schnitt ("Facebook is changing, and so is the world changing and we are going to innovate to meet user requests"). We figure, if they didn't want these candid personal shots published to the world, they would have configured their oh-so-simple privacy settings accordingly.
UPDATE: Zuckerberg has updated his wall with the following message about an hour ago:
For those wondering, I set most of my content to be open so people could see it. I set some of my content to be more private, but I didn't see a need to limit visibility of pics with my friends, family or my teddy bear :)
This is baffling, since most of the strangers who can read this wall messageabout how the CEO "didn't see a need to limit visibility of pics with my... teddy bear" now cannot see said pics, with his teddy bear.
UPDATE 2: Spokesman Schnitt tells True/Slant, "[Zuckerberg] went through the transition tool like other users, evaluated the recommendations, and ended up accepting them."
"Now girls, only the most special ladies at Facebook get this t-shirt with my face on it... remember that it is a sacred honor and if I see so much as a single wine stain on there, you're out of Zuck's Angels for good..."
"Priscilla, I swear to God, I agreed to pose for a picture and a split-second later she was somehow under my arm..."
You might call this "the Twitter shirt," accompanied by the "Twitter money" cheer.
There are thousands and thousands of reasons Brandee Barker loves being Facebook's spokeswoman.
Barry Schnitt, meanwhile, can't even afford a proper t-shirt. On the bright side, he was the only one at his brother's bachelor party in Austin, Texas with a proper cowboy hat (that's Schnitt on the far left). Maybe it was the money he saved by using those company-issued shorts.


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The greatest Lanterns in black and white: Hal Jordan and Sinestro.
For a great selection of superhero action figures and collectibles, check out fine sponsors BigBadToyStore.com, SuperHeroToys.com, BriansToys.com, ToyWiz.com, PastGenerationToys.com, SmallJoes.com, HobbyLinkJapan.com, and Sekaido.com.
For a great selection of pop culture t-shirts and apparel, check out TShirtGurus.com and 80sTees.com.
Last year's launch of DC Comics' Blackest Night saga brought with it lots of products from t-shirts to rings, miniatures, and figures. Of course, the most sought after (and hard to get) items were the DC Direct Hal Jordan figures offered exclusively at the Graphitti Designs booth at last year's San Diego Comic-Con. Those figures featured the same character in five different versions representing most of the known Lantern Corps. With the Blackest Night storyline now wrapping up, it came as no surprise that DC Direct would be adding to that series. Unexpected were the choices of venue and character selection. At this month's WonderCon only were available exclusive Black Lantern Hal Jordan and White Lantern Sinestro figures!


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romping room
Can these guys slow down for a picture maybe?! That little blur is my son, the bigger
blur, his daddy. Israel just loves our bed, but isn't that the case with all kids? I
remember thinking my parents' bed was much more comfortable than mine.
Other Stories
8 comments:
These pictures are so sweet, I couldn't stop smiling at them. I remember loving to play in my parents bed, there was just something so special about it.ReplyDelete
I LOVE this post Jenn!ReplyDelete
my every day seems so similar to this! they really never do slow down to be photographed! :)ReplyDelete
i LOVE this jenn!!! the fourth image down from the top is my fave...what a cute and happy little babe you have! have a good weekend!ReplyDelete
I love your blog!!ReplyDelete
Lovely and the Rand books look great!ReplyDelete
DARLING! My favorite photo of my big 18 year old son is of him just in diapers at that age. Have fun.ReplyDelete
Mary Ann
What a nice moment!ReplyDelete
Thank you for your comments, I love hearing from you!
Questions, comments or sponsorship inquires, please contact me via the 'contact' link.


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Plain Dealer reporter Stan Donaldson updates you on what happened during the afternoon session of the county corruption trial of former Cuyahoga County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora in Akron.
Dimora is accused of running a criminal enterprise while serving as a commissioner and chairman of the county Democratic Party. He faces more than 30 counts, including racketeering, under an indictment originally filed in September 2010.
He is being tried along with friend and former county auditor's employee Michael Gabor, who is accused of bribery and conspiracy.
To reach this Plain Dealer videographer:
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Good things come to those who wait.
Real Madrid had to assiduously subscribe to that phrase to buy itself a new toy in 1952. That toy was a Saeta Rubia (Blond Arrow), made in Argentina and matured in Colombia. It was also known as Alfredo Di Stefano, who was, towards the end of that year, described by Merengue president Santiago Bernabeu as "a toy Real Madrid must have for Christmas."
The capital colossuses didn't get the Buenos Aires native, who was of Italian, French and Irish descent, for their festive celebrations in '52. Nor did they get him before the year was out, by the time the 1952/53 season ended or the following one began. But, eventually, Real won the race to sign the man who had won two league titles with River Plate and three with Millonarios.
That race – or marathon, to be more precise – began on a chilly night in Madrid in March 1952. Millonarios had been wowing and winning on a global tour, but a stop at the Nuevo Estadio Chamartin – now known as the Bernabeu – was supposed to bring them crashing back down to earth.
By contrast, Di Stefano "dribbled around us like we were flags on a training pitch", according to an astonished Miguel Munoz, set up the opener and scored twice in a shock 4-2 victory. The Spain midfielder, who lined up alongside Jose Maria Zarraga, Luis Molowny and Pahino in a formidable Real XI that evening, later recalled of Di Stefano's performance: "He was extraordinary. He appeared in defence, in midfield, in attack. He did the running of three players! And when he had the ball, you couldn't get if off him. You just had to hope he passed it."
The Real bosses were smitten. So, too, was Barcelona's chief scout Pepe Samitier, who was also in attendance.
Real and Barça immediately began an enmity-intensifying tug-of-war to sign Di Stefano. Complicating proceedings was uncertainty over whether Millonarios, to whom Di Stefano had supposedly been on loan, or parent club River Plate held his transfer rights.
While one club was negotiating with the Colombians, the other was doing the same with the Argentinians. Insults flowed. Rumours abounded. Then, later that same year, a knockout punch in the slugfest to snare Di Stefano apparently landed. The Catalonian press declared that Barcelona had sealed the deal, printing a photo of smiling Saeta Rubia in their blaugrana jersey. Real nevertheless staggered to their feet on the nine count. The fight continued.
Eventually, in September 1953, 18 months after Real and Barcelona first engaged in their Di Stefano duel, the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) interceded. It ruled that former Argentina and Colombia international would, over a four-year period, play for the two clubs in alternate seasons. Irked, Barça withdrew their bid. Ecstatic, Real immediately purchased Di Stefano and family train tickets from Barcelona, where they had spent the past three months, to the Spanish capital.
At just after 10.30am on 23 September, 60 years ago to this Monday, Alfredo and Sara Di Stefano, along with daughters Nanette and Silvana, arrived at Madrid Atocha railway station. They were taken to the club's headquarters, where the mercurial attacker put pen to paper on a contract and ended what remains one of the most protracted transfer sagas in world football history.
His wife and kids were then escorted to a local hotel. Di Stefano, to his surprise, was escorted out on to the training pitch, where he was thrown some boots and put through some fitness drills and ball exercises under the gaze of his new coach, Enrique Fernandez. As the exhausted 26-year-old was enjoying a post-practise meal, relishing the prospect of getting some sleep, his plans were scuppered.
"I was told I was playing in a match later that afternoon against the French team Nancy," Di Stefano later recalled. "I wasn't keen at all. I was exhausted and, in the three months I'd been sitting around in Barcelona, I'd only played three friendlies. I scored but we lost 4-2."
The 1947 Copa America winner scoring in the camiseta blanca became a ritual. Real losing with him in their No10 shirt became a rarity.
A month later Barcelona witnessed first-hand what they had missed out on. Di Stefano employed his preposterous stamina, unfathomable dribbling, defence-unravelling passes and cool finishing to inspire Real to a 5-0 thumping of their arch-rivals.
It remains one of Los Merengues' all-time biggest victories in El Clásico. Real's biggest-ever victory over Barcelona nevertheless transpired away from the pitch.
La Saeta Rubia was definitive proof that las cosas buenas vienen a aquellos que esperan.
Legendary former Real Madrid players
Click this Classic Players link to read about the superb careers of former Merengue players Paul Breitner, Didi, Alfredo Di Stefano, Gheorghe Hagi, Raymond Kopa, Michael Laudrup, Ferenc Puskas, Ronaldo, Hugo Sanchez, Ricardo Zamora & Zinedine Zidane.


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Google Mobile Chief Says Can't Afford a DudBy Reuters - Print
Google has already taken on Microsoft for productivity and Web browsing software. Google's Android software is taking aim at Microsoft's Windows Mobile; Symbian, in which Nokia is an investor; and Apple's iPhone, which dominate the smart phone market. Google's director of mobile platforms, told Reuters that Android's success hinges on the reception of the first phone, due out later this month.
NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc (GOOG.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) is betting it can revolutionize wireless Internet service on mobile phones the way that it transformed the search business on PCs.
The search behemoth has already taken on Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) in the market for productivity and Web browsing software. Google's Android software is taking aim at Microsoft's Windows Mobile; Symbian, in which Nokia is an investor; and Apple Inc's (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) iPhone, which dominate the smart phone market.
Andy Rubin, Google's director of mobile platforms, told Reuters that Android's success hinges on the reception of the first phone, due out later this month.
"We're in the final stages and having lots of sleepless nights," he said in an interview. "We're very happy with the results," said Rubin, who worked previously at Apple and a number of Silicon Valley start-ups.
T-Mobile USA TMOG.UL is expected to introduce the first Android phone in New York on September 23, sources familiar with the plan told Reuters this week.
After two years of speculation, Google is under pressure to deliver a product sufficiently different from Apple Inc's (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) iPhone and the myriad copycats that have appeared since it was introduced last year.
Rather than launch the new operating system with a range of devices from several handset makers and phone carriers, Rubin said Google chose to "put our blinders on" and make sure the first phones impress consumers.
"If we come out with a dud, people will go, 'Well, that was a waste of time," said Rubin, co-founder and former CEO of Danger Inc, which built the T-Mobile Sidekick, a pioneering Web phone shaped like a bar of soap with an flip-out keyboard.
Google has worked almost exclusively with Taiwan's High Tech Computer Corp (HTC) (2498.TW: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and T-Mobile for the first Android phone, he said.
"Google wanted to make sure that we had enough control over the hardware to make sure the software worked," he said.
Apple tightly controlled both the hardware and the software of the iPhone, which is seen by many mobile industry watchers as the future of device development.
Prior to working with Google, HTC relied on Microsoft Corp's (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Windows Mobile for its smart phones. HTC hopes Google's brand and popular services such as search, Gmail or YouTube can attract consumers beyond the business crowd that it expects to continue buying its Windows phones, said Jason Mackenzie, HTC's North American vice president of operations.
The first Android phone, code-named Dream, is depending on independent software developers to build hundreds or even thousands of programs, such as photo sharing, to run on Google software. Rubin said a contest to lure early developers drew 1,759 application submissions.
"Once they leave the store with the device the thing that keeps them happy will be the software," he said.
Apple's second-generation iPhone applied the same strategy, and offers more than 3,000 applications through its App Store.
Google plans its own software store, called Android Market. "It's not necessarily the operating system software that is the unifying factor, it is the marketplace," Rubin said.
Unlike Apple, Google does not expect to generate revenue by selling applications or to share revenue with partners. "We made a strategic decision not to revenue share with the developers. We will basically pass through any revenue to the carrier or the developer," said Rubin.
One of Google's challenges will be for Web page access to work on a mobile device as well as it does on a PC. The Android browser is built on the same technology as the new Google Chrome browser but designed for smaller screens.
"What you get will be Chrome Lite or Chrome To Go or Chrome Mobile," Rubin said.
(Editing by Derek Caney)
© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved
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Discussion in 'Centerfire Pistols & Revolvers' started by Jboy, Nov 17, 2012.
just considering a 9 and this is looking interesting. comments or suggestions most welcome.
very good ! You won't be disappointed. Josh will be along shortly and he's very happy with his. (I'm very happy to shoot it)
You looking at a gunshop or private sale?
I love mine. Hogue wraparound grips make it fit my hand like a glove.
Well balanced, great accuracy, and darn good looking.
Private sale, either this or a High Power.
You wouldn't be disapointed in any of the CZ line- up. They are amazing firearms for the price.
I own a CZ75B,,,,all I can say is it fires everytime I pull the trigger,,,,and they all go into small groups,,,and never a Jam
Dude a CZ75 is a BHP.. On steroids, and half the price. You wont be disappointed in them. Buy it, if you decide you dont like it ill buy it off you for what you paid for it. then you can get the BHP or whatever else. I bet cha money youll love it tho.
whizzer here, I have a CZ75 compact 9mm. I don,t think you will find a better pistol for the money. Shoots and handled very good. A lot of [pistols copied the CZ , Wife has a CZ 83.Son a CZ full size. I like the shape and design of the older CZ.s I don,t think You would go wrong with a CZ.They also make very fine rifles and shotguns.
I was looking for a 75 BD for home defense and for the range, but haven't found one yet
Is the Hi Power a Browning, or one of the clones? I love Hi Powers for the crisp single action trigger. I also love CZ's for their accuracy and rugged reliability.
If the Hi Power is a Browning, it will hold it's value better, if it's a clone, it won't.
You will have a great, dependable firearm either way you go. Handle both and buy the one that feels best in your hands and send us a pic when you have it.
Hi Power is a Browning.
Here's some more info, and it talks about the different variants.
There is also an FEG clone from what I understand.
I see your dilemma. Both are beutiful semiautos. Even though they are both great pistols you still have to make a choice. I'd probably would go for the High Power.
I'd buy both...OH, I already did!
I wouldnt mind having another BHP. I had a clone early on. KBI FEG pistol. Identical twin of the BHP. I miss it.
I have 5 of them. 2 being 75's and 3 being some sort of variation of the 75 action


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•Detection of life-threatening situations: The detection of life-threatening situations was the original purpose of monitor alarms. False negative alarms are not acceptable in such situations because of the danger of severe patient harm or death.• Detection of imminent danger: The early detection of gradual change that might indicate imminent danger.• Diagnostic alarms: These alarms indicate a pathophysiological condition (e. g., shock) rather than warning of 'out-of-range' variables.• Detection of life-threatening device malfunction: This ability is essential for all life-support devices, which must recognize malfunctions, such as disconnection from the patient, occlusion of the connection to the patient, disconnection from power, gas, or water supply, and internal malfunction.• Detection of imminent device malfunction: The early detection of device-related problems that could result in malfunction is an integral part of many therapeutic devices. These warning mechanisms range from simple aspects (e. g., low-battery warnings) to complex algorithms and sensors that track the wear of respiratory valves.
|系统:Android 1.6以上


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HP Photosmart R607
With a sleek exterior and intuitive easy-to-use features, the 3.2-megapixel HP Photosmart M307 digital camera is small and light enough to take with you anywhere. The Photosmart M307 digital camera has an aluminum front and rubberized back and offers HPs Instant Share feature, which lets you preset the destination of individual images to either email or print directly as soon as the camera is connected to a PC or printer. It also features a 3x optical zoom, large 1.8-inch LCD, 16 MB of internal memory, and compatibility with Secure Digital memory cards.
Optics and Resolution
The Photosmart M307 has a 3.2-megapixel resolution for images up to 2048 x 1536 for print enlargements up to 11 x 17 inches. It also offers a 1280 x 960 (1MP) and 640 x 480 (VGA) pixel options. The autofocus 3x optical zoom lens (6-18mm; 40-111mm equivalent in 35mm photography) features a 5x digital zoom, for 15x total.
Movie and Audio Modes
In addition to capturing still images, the Photosmart M307 can also record video with sound that's limited only by the available memory (either internal or external memory card). Videos are captured at 320 x 240 pixels (QVGA) at 30 frames per second (fps). You can also make voice recordings of up to 60 seconds.
More Features
With a metallic finish, asymmetric body styling, signature curves and "wave-style" fingergrip, as well as clear and natural controls, this digital camera provides convenience and comfort. Its large 1.8-inch color LCD screen has a high 130-pixel resolution and can be easily viewed even in outdoor conditions. The fast-shot mode ensures that no photo opportunities go to waste, with a rapid shutter lag for capturing all the action.
Storage and Transfer
The internal 16 MB memory can store eight images at the Best 3-megapixel setting (with each image approximately 1.6 MB). The camera also has a memory card slot that accepts Secure Digital (SD) and MultiMedia (MMC) cards.
HP Instant Share
HP Instant Share makes sharing, printing, and saving digital photos easy. With 34 programmable e-mail destinations, the user is able to share digital images with individuals or address lists straight from the camera. When the digital camera is later connected to a computer, either directly or via the optional camera dock, thumbnails of the selected photos are automatically sent to the pre-selected destination without burdening the recipient with large file attachments. E-mail recipients see thumbnails of the images in the body of the e-mail message, as well as a link to the web page where they can easily view, print, save, and upload the photos to online albums.
Power and Size
The camera is powered by two AA batteries; two photo lithium AA batteries are included, but NiMH rechargeable batteries are recommended for their longer life while shooting. The Photosmart M307 measures 1.4 x 4.3 x 2.1 inches and weighs 4.8 ounces.
What's in the Box
This package contains the HP Photosmart M307 digital camera, 2 AA photo lithium batteries, USB cables (for connecting to PC and to printer), wrist strap, CD-ROM with HP Image Zone software for Microsoft Windows and Macintosh and American Greetings Create and Print Greeting Cards software.


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What this would solve:
• Text is loaded before the images. This causes a rejigging of the text as the image loads. That's annoying and means the user needs to refocus their attention.
• It makes quick scanning of the article more difficult as the text is pushed down the page and out of the viewport.
• It would load articles much faster.
• Most images are not important to the text and are just eye-candy. If one feels the image is important, a 'load images' contextual menu would suffice.
Feature Request: Disable Auto-Image Loading
An RSS/Atom newsreader with features comparable to commercial newsreaders.
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As we quickly approach a new year, it seems like a good time to talk about what independent advisors might do differently, so that they can reasonably expect a different, more rewarding result for their labors in 2012.
Following my cover story in November's Investment Advisor (titled Let Go to Grow), about my P4 Creating Great Employees Program, I've received a number of emails from advisors asking: "What can I do right now?" With the caveat that an advisory firm and its owner(s) need to make a long-term commitment to support their employees for true long-term success, here are four resolutions that owner/advisors can make for the upcoming year that will increase employee motivation and create an "owner's mentality" that will lead to greater contributions to the success of your firm:
Step No 1: Set goals for 2012, and communicate them to your employees at the beginning of the year.
This is a two-part resolution, with both parts equally important. In my experience, not many firm actually set annual goals, and of the few that do, not many make the effort to tell their employees about them. These are two big mistakes. I understand that many advisors feel locked in by setting goals, especially when circumstances can change, or better opportunities can come alone. But, hello! You are financial planners, right?
Rather than thinking of goals as a commitment to be attained, come hell or high water, consider them a road map that helps you decide what to do today. If things change, then alter your goals for tomorrow, just as you would do for your clients. And don't forget to tell your employees what your goals are—even if they aren't directly related to their jobs. You'll be pleasantly surprised with the effort employees will make, and the ideas they come up with, to reach your goals, once they know where you want to take your firm.
Step No. 2: Align your compensation strategy to support your goals.
Generally, advisors have one of three goals: grow their firm (increased revenue), increase their income, spend less time in the office, or some combination of those. (These days, we occasionally see advisors who want to increase the value of their firm, but that's usually a function of revenues or profits, anyway). Each of these goals suggests distinct strategies: typically attracting new clients, cutting expenses, or leveraging the owner/advisor, respectively.
Once employees are aware of what the goal is, the next step is financially rewarding them for helping you to get there. Most employees will be helpful once they know what the goal is, but their motivation will move to a whole new level when they actually get paid to help make it happen. I'm a big fan of revenue-based bonuses, but whether it's revenues, profit-sharing, or a performance bonus, if it's tied to reaching your goal, you'll get there a whole lot sooner.
Step No. 3: Develop an employee volunteer program.
Employees are happiest when they feel that they are part of something bigger than themselves. That goes for both when they are at work and what they do on their own time. A program that supports employees when they give back to their community is a very low cost way to increase their ties and perception of their firm—and it's just a good thing to do. Either allowing flex time to support their volunteer work, or actually giving them paid time off to do it, will send a powerful message about you and your firm—even if they don't ever use it, which most of them won't.
Step No. 4: Reduce conflicts between your employees' work and home life by offering the flexibility to meet their needs.
Nothing creates unhappiness in an employee like feeling pulled between work and home. Your goal should be to make coming to work as painless as possible. Your program should start with offering flex time; coming in early, working late, taking long lunches, working from home, working four, ten-hour days instead of five 8-hour days, etc. and include anything that can be reasonably accommodated and works better for the employee. You're not running IBM here, so stop acting like it. If you can shift someone's schedule so they can meet their kids when they come home from school, or coach their soccer team, or work out with their husband—do it. It costs you nothing, and your employees will never forget it.
Implementing just one of these steps in the coming year will greatly increase you employees' bonds with you firm, focus them on your goals and highly motivate them. Adding all of them will put you on the path to creating great employees who will, in turn, help you build a great firm.


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Learners Permit Practice Test in New Jersey
Getting your New Jersey learners permit is the first step to a lifetime of driving. So you want to be sure that you only have to take the New Jersey Learners Permit Test once! With our online Learners Permit Practice Tests, you won't have to worry about preparing for the real thing.
The Online and Flexible NJ Practice Permit Test
There's no easier way to prepare for the New Jersey learners permit test. Everything for the New Jersey permit practice test can be done online; it's accessible from any computer (and most mobile devices) with a basic Internet connection. You'll be able to work around your schedule and do all of your studying from the comfort of your own home.
A Myriad of Learners Permit Practice Test Study Options
We offer two versions of our online New Jersey learners permit practice test – one with 50 questions, the other with 100. Answer the questions in the order you want to study, or have the computer generate random tests for you (similar to how the test at your DMV will look). And if you want even more help, you can take our New Jersey Driver Prep course – it only takes an hour, and will thoroughly cover everything you'll need to know to pass your test.
Dedicated Customer Service
We guarantee that you'll be satisfied with our service. Our customer support team is available 7 days a week to answer any of your questions – you can call or email us and we'll get back to you quickly.


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Billy Strayhorn, Pacheco, Blythe Benefit, Tolliver Sistas
David Goodson | 11/21/2013, 4:34 p.m.
The legendary Duke Ellington and songwriter, composer, arranger and pianist Billy Strayhorn remain one of the most significant collaborative teams in jazz history. "Billy Strayhorn was my right arm, my left arm, all the eyes in the back of my head, my brain waves in his head, and his in mine," stated Ellington during an interview some years ago.
On Nov. 21, Columbia University's Center for Jazz Studies will present the Billy Strayhorn Orchestra under the direction of Michael Hashim at the Miller Theatre (2690 Broadway at 116th Street) at 7:30 p.m. There will be an introduction by author David Hajdu.
The event, "Strayhorn in the Foreground," will feature his swinging compositions for jazz orchestra that only seem to get more popular over the years. The Strayhorn Orchestra will focus on works Ellington never recorded, including "Cashmere Cutie" and "Pentonsilic," as well as expanded versions of hits Strayhorn composed for Ellington, like "Take the A Train" and "Chelsea Bridge."
By the time Strayhorn (Nov. 29, 1915 – May 31, 1967) met Ellington in 1938, beginning their three decades of collaboration and friendship, the young composer had already written "Something to Live For," "My Little Brown Book," and "Lush Life" while he was still attending Westinghouse High School in Pittsburgh. It is the same high school that Erroll Garner and Ahmad Jamal later attended.
This event is free and open to the public. Reservations are required and can be made at email@example.com or by calling 212-851-9270.
The Johnny Pacheco Latin Music and Jazz Festival at Lehman College is in its last two days on Nov. 21-22. The daytime performances are 10 a.m.-4 p.m., and the evening performances are 7:30-9:30 p.m. All performances are on the college's Bronx campus in the Lovinger Theater. Featured performers will include jazz ensembles and Latin bands from middle school, secondary school and college music programs in the greater New York area. Professional performing artists and ensembles are also featured during the festival.
The festival was named after the Dominican musician, arranger, producer and multi-instrumentalist Johnny Pacheco. He created the noted salsa group the Fania All Stars, as well as the Fania Records, along with Jerry Masucci. These concerts and workshops are free and open to the public. For a complete schedule, visit lehman.edu/jazzfest.
Arthur Blythe is rooted in a deep jazz tradition; as he progressed, his branches extended into the free jazz realm. At 73, he is one of the most influential alto players, with a distinctive sound that warrants attention. Take a listen to one of his most popular albums, "Lenox Avenue Breakdown" (Columbia Records, 1978). Currently, Blythe is not playing music due to his continued battle against Parkinson's disease. On Nov. 22 at 8 p.m. at the ShapeShifter Lab (18 Whitwell Place, Brooklyn) there will be a benefit tribute performance in his honor.
The benefit was organized by his longtime friends saxophonist and composer Oliver Lake and writer-producer T. Brooks Shepard. Those scheduled to perform include Lake, poets Amiri and Amina Baraka, longtime bandmate Bob Stewart on tuba, guitarists Vernon Reid and Kelvyn Bell, trombonist Craig Harris and pianists Michele Rosewoman and Rodney Kendrick, among others.


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Paradis models a series of womenswear apparel and accessories in the campaign - pieces due to land in-store from March. The entire range is made from sustainable materials such as organic cotton, Tencel and recycled polyester. A men's and childrenswear collection is also available.
"I like being part of something like the Conscious collection at H&M," said Paradis. "I try my best to shop consciously, and vintage is very much part of my wardrobe. I love the style and it works in an eco-friendly way because I like to use and reuse old clothes."
To coincide with the new campaign announcement, H&M is launching a Conscious garment collection initiative, enabling customers to bring unwanted clothing - from any brand - into any H&M store in the UK and Ireland for recycling. Shoppers will receive an H&M voucher in exchange for each bag - with a maximum of two bags per customer, per day. The move marks the first time that any high street store has promoted and rewarded recycling to such a scale, with the aim of preventing unwanted clothing from ending up in landfill sites.


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As Developer.com mentions in a new article, there's a new video tutorial posted over on Internet.com about using PHP and JSON to pass around data in your applications.
Got seven minutes to learn how you can harness the power of PHP, JavaScript and JSON in a powerful AJAX-driven web application? This Internet.com Video tutorial shows you all you need to know to pass data between the client and server using JSON data format.
The video explains a bit about JSON+PHP and shows you how to send a simple message (book-related data) to the server and how to handle the response with a little help from jQuery's Ajax functions.


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AXIS Camera Application Platform(ACAP)
Q: We would like to develop ACAP applications – where do we start?
A: All components such as SDK, compilers, sample code, copy protection tool, etc. are available on Axis Partner Pages. So start with signing up for the Axis ADP (Application Development Partner) Program. All companies and organizations are welcome to the ADP Program.
Q: What is included in ACAP SDK?
A: The following components are included:
- A compiler system
- APIs to access on-board device functionality
- Documentation
- Example code
Further information is available for Axis ADP partners on Axis Partner Pages.
Q: What kind of programming are we talking about?
A: The applications should be developed in C or C++. C is recommended.
Q: What development environment is supported?
A: The ACAP SDK requires GNU/Linux operating system.
Q: Is it possible to use other programming languages than C and C++?
A: No, the libraries necessary to integrate with the open platform are available for C and C++.
Q: Can Cygwin be used as the development environment?
A: No, the ACAP SDK requires a complete GNU/Linux installation to work.
Q: Is it possible to make modifications to an uncompressed image and then feed it back to the on-board encoder?
A: No, it is not possible to feed an image back from the application to the encoder of the chip.
Q: Can Axis support ADPs in developing ACAP applications?
A: No, Axis only supports the SDK and other tools included in the concept.
Q: What is the copy protection service?
A: This is a service/tool, free of charge for Axis ADP Partners, to ensure that an application cannot be copied and run in more video products than the license is valid for.
Q: Where do I get support if I have problems with the applications that I have downloaded into my Axis products?
A: The ACAP application vendor (the company that has provided the application) is responsible for all support related to the application.


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Check out the lastest from Subversion to try out the WIP code folding in RSyntaxTextArea. Simply call:
The fold indicator will be added to the gutter, and fold markers will appear where appropriate. Currently supported languages include:
- Java
- Groovy
- Perl
For other languages, there is no fold parser, so the editor won't behave any differently than it used to (or shouldn't!). For the languages above, code blocks and multi-line comments are fold-able. For Java, all import statements are also grouped together into a fold-able region. Folding only currently works when line wrap is disabled – you won't get any fold indicators if you enable word wrap.
Check it out and give it a go, but please keep in mind that this is an alpha feature! There are likely lots of bugs. Please report 'em either by replying to this post or, even better, by posting them in the forums.
Also, I'm still playing around with the appearance of folded lines. The little icon-ish thing at the end of folded lines (a la NetBeans) is temporary and probably won't exist in the final version. I'm trying to decide whether coloring the background of folded lines looks better than simply drawing a line across the editor.


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The RPM Difference
Why Choose RPM?
Because we are the best! We are a family owned and operated Auto Collision, Refinishing and Service Center located in Laurel Maryland. We proudly serve the Baltimore - Washington Metro Areas.
R.P.M. Collision & Service - Find our Auto Body Shop on carwise.com
We invite you to take the RPM Challenge. Unlike our competitors, our helpful staff is trained to know the personal difficulties and hassles which accompany an accident or unforeseen mechanical issue with your vehicle.
Allow us to provide you with an excellent experience to the Auto Collision and Auto Service process. Our goal is to serve the community and each client with the outstanding customer service and one-on-one experience that made our business what it is today.
RPM Auto Body & Service uses modern, computerized equipment to repair and paint domestic and imported vehicles.
Our Services Include:
RPM Collision & Service Provides Complete Collision Repair Services using Conventional and Paintless Dent Removal Methods
- Free walk-in estimates. No appointment necessary
- State-of-the-art auto body, frame, and paint facilities
- Computerized paint matching to original factory specifications
- Lifetime Guarantee on all services provided
- Paintless Dent Repair
- Online Vehicle Status
- Windshield and Glass Replacement
- Custom Paint
- Auto Accessories Installation
- Auto Body Work
- Paint Jobs
- Frame Straightening
- Express Repair
- Detailing
- Repair Aligments and Suspension
- Wheel Repairs
- Headlamp Restoration


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I no longer fear the future. Despite all the hand wringing and teeth gnashing over the source of advisors to come, a dinner at a Vietnamese fusion joint in San Francisco (it's a Gen Y thing) went a long way in reassuring me we'll be just fine.
The dinner (a roundtable—literally—of the young Turks of the advisor business) featured Michael Kitces, Bill Winterberg, FPA Executive Director and CEO Lauren Schadle, FPA 2013 FPA President Michael Branham and past FPA NexGen President Sabrina Lowell. If we could somehow bottle the passion and enthusiasm of those at the table that night and use it to recruit, we'd have something.
What struck me most, and a big part of my relief, was that none originally set out to be the independent, fee-based advisors they are today. Rarely do young people set out in the same profession in which they end up—I was going to run ski areas until I realized I loved the sport and hated the business—but it's different when you end up in a career you didn't even know existed.
Boston Philharmonic conductor Benjamin Zander was the keynote speaker at the FPA NorCal conference, the reason we convened in the city by the bay. If you haven't seen him, he makes a great point about the low number of classical music enthusiasts (3% of the population, currently). It's not that the other 97% don't like classical music, "it's just they don't know they like it yet," Zander said. Introducing and explaining the genre is all that's needed.
And that's really the rub. It's not a shortage of qualified advisors to fill the pipeline; it's getting the word out that it exists at all. Mention "financial advisor" and wirehouses still come to mind. A young mother on a recent consumer panel wasn't sure if her money man was a broker or an investment advisor. Far from the materialistic yuppies of the '80s or the depressed narcissists of the '90s, today's young people want to make a difference, and the independent, conflict-free model is exactly what they're looking for.


text:
2013 BMW 5 Series review
* Updated BMW 5 Series driven in UK * New engines, lower CO2 emissions, more tech * On sale now, priced from £29,830...
The BMW 5 Series has been one of our favourite full-size executive cars since its launch in 2010.
The daunting news for rivals – including the Audi A6 and Mercedes E-Class – is that it's just got even better, after a subtle face-lift has given it lower CO2 emissions, revised suspension and some new technology.
There are also two new engines. A 141bhp 518d version joins the line-up, bringing the starting price down to £29,830. This new entry-level model emits just 119g/km of CO2, although the revised 520d (manual or auto) matches this output despite having an extra 41bhp, so is likely to remain the big seller.
What's the 2013 BMW 5 Series like to drive?
The mechanical changes are mild, so the 2013 BMW 5 Series drives much the same as the previous model.
We tried the 520d and 530d. The latter has a 254bhp six-cylinder diesel engine that's as strong and flexible as ever. This version is now more attractive to company car drivers, though, thanks to its lower CO2 output of 134g/km (down from 149g/km).
This efficiency improvement is partly down to a new coasting function (fitted to all automatic versions), which can disconnect the gearbox from the drivetrain to prevent unwanted engine braking. Aerodynamics have also been improved.
The 181bhp, four-cylinder engine in the 520d is relatively smooth, too, and offers strong mid-range acceleration. The standard manual gearbox is best avoided (it's rather notchy), but the optional eight-speed automatic gearbox is brilliant, shifting smoothly and intelligently.
BMW says it's tweaked the 5 Series' suspension to improve ride quality. However, the differences are negligible – at least on our test cars, which were all fitted with optional adaptive dampers.
In Sport mode, the 5 Series still handles sharply enough, while choosing Comfort softens the suspension just enough to improve high-speed comfort. You'll notice the odd sharp thump over bigger bumps – even on the smallest wheels on the 520d – but the 5 Series is the more comfortable than rivals, such as the Audi A6 and Mercedes E-Class.
It remains to be seen whether versions without adaptive suspension are any better than before. Previously, cars with standard suspension suffered from an unsettled ride and sloppier handling.
As ever, the 5 Series is a very refined exec. There's very little road noise at speed and wind noise is well-suppressed, too.
What's the 2013 BMW 5 Series like inside?
Not much has changed inside, but then it didn't need to because the only rival that can claim to have a classier cabin is the Audi A6 – and even then the difference is marginal.
The driving position is slightly offset (particularly in manual versions), with the pedals positioned too far to the right. However, the seats are comfortable and supportive, and there's lots of adjustment to help the driver get comfortable.
Rear space is also impressive. There's easily enough space for two six-footers, and three will fit – although whoever draws the short straw will have to straddle a fairly chunky transmission tunnel.
A 520-litre boot means luggage space is roughly on a par with that of rivals, such as the Audi A6 and Jaguar XF.
All versions come with BMW's class-leading iDrive infotainment system, which is controlled via a rotary dial (and surrounding buttons) on the centre console.
Pay a bit more and you'll now get a touch-pad on top of the rotary dial. This can be used to input letters and numbers without having to scroll through various on-screen menus. There's also an updated voice control function that you can use to dictate text messages and emails.
Prices have risen by around £1100, but you now get more standard equipment, with sat-nav and xenon headlights fitted even to entry-level SE versions.
With that in mind, the more expensive trims – Modern, Luxury and M sport – aren't worth considering unless you really love your luxuries.
Should I buy one?
The 5 Series is still the best of its ilk if you're in the market for a full-size exec.
That's especially true if you're a company car driver, because the four-cylinder diesel models are so much cheaper to run than rivals, thanks to their exceptionally low CO2 emissions.
However, if you don't need something quite this big, BMW's own 3 Series (particularly the 320d ED) is cheaper still and even better to drive, albeit not quite as classy inside.
What Car? says...
Read the full BMW 5 Series review >>
BMW 518d
Engine size 2.0-litre diesel
Price from £29,830
Power 141bhp
Torque 266lb ft
0-62mph 9.7 seconds
Top speed 132mph
Fuel economy 62.8mpg
CO2 119g/km
BMW 520d
Engine size 2.0-litre diesel
Price from £31,530
Power 181bhp
Torque 280lb ft
0-62mph 8.1 seconds
Top speed 145mph
Fuel economy 62.8mpg
CO2 119g/km
BMW 530d
Engine size 3.0-litre diesel
Price from £40,615
Power 254bhp
Torque 413lb ft
0-62mph 5.8 seconds
Top speed 155mph
Fuel economy 47.1mpg
CO2 134g/km


text:
Dog food reviews
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Eagle Pack Pet Foods, Inc. Eagle Pack Holistic Select Lamb Meal & Rice Formula
Date of last review
Thu December 27, 2007
Recommended By
Average Price
Average Rating
100% of reviewers
None indicated
None indicated
Metabolisable Energy
403 kcal/cup
Lamb Meal, Ground Brown Rice, Ground White Rice, Chicken Fat (Preserved With Natural Mixed Tocopherols), Oatmeal, Dried Beet Pulp, Flaxseed, Dried Egg Product, Carrots, Sun-Cured Alfalfa, Peas, Salt, Potassium Chloride, Quinoa (Organic), Apples, Blueberries, Inulin, Taurine, Beta-Carotene, Cranberries, Dehydrated Kelp, Glucosamine Hydrochloride, Yucca Schidigera Extract, DL-Methionine, Vitamin A Acetate, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin E Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, d-Pantothenic Acid, Niacin Supplement, Choline Chloride, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Thiamine Mononitrate, Folic Acid, Ascorbic Acid, Biotin, Lecithin, Rosemary Extract, Inositol, Polysaccharide Complexes of Zinc, Iron, Manganese, Copper and Cobalt, Potassium Iodate, Sodium Selenite, Lactobacillus acidophilus Lactobacillus casei, Enterococcus faecium, B. subtillus, Bacillus licheniformis, Bacillus coagulins, Aspergillus oryzae, and Aspergillus niger.
Guaranteed Analysis:
Crude Protein min 22%
Crude Fat min 15%
Crude Fiber max 4%
Moisture max 10%
Calcium min 1.3%
Phosphorus min 0.85%
Vitamin A min 22,000 IU/kg.
Vitamin E min 165 IU/kg
**Ascorbic Acid min 30 mg/kg
**Omega 6 Fatty Acids min 2.3%
**Omega 3 Fatty Acids min 0.5%
**Beta-Carotene min 5.0 mg/kg
**Taurine min 0.11%
**Glucosamine Hydrochloride min 41 mg/cup
Post a Reply
Registered: October 2005
Posts: 3953
Review Date:
Thu December 27, 2007
Would you recommend the product?
| Price you paid?:
Not Indicated
| Rating:
First ingredient is a named meat products
Insufficient meat content, some controversial filler
The first ingredients in this food is a named meat product, in meal form. It is the sole meat product in the food.
The second and third ingredients are both forms of rice. If these were not 'split' it is likely that rice would, in fact, be revealed as the primary ingredient in the food. Rice ais a decent quality grain and good carbohydrate source, however canines should be fed diets based on meat rather than grains. Oatmeal is a further grain, 5th on the ingredient list.
We note chicken fat is the fourth ingredient in the food. Research at Purdue University has revealed fat in the top four ingredients of a dry food as a factor increasing the risk of bloat in large breed dogs. Smaller breeds are untested.
Beet pulp is filler and a controversial ingredient it is a by-product, being dried residue from sugar beets which has been cleaned and extracted in the process of manufacturing sugar. It is a controversial ingredient in dog food, claimed by some manufacturers to be a good source of fibre, and derided by others as an ingredient added to slow down the transition of rancid animal fats and causing stress to kidney and liver in the process. We note that beet pulp is an ingredient that commonly causes problems for dogs, including allergies and ear infections, and prefer not to see it used in dog food. There are less controversial products around if additional fibre is required. We would prefer to see the use of whole eggs rather than dried egg product in the food.
The food does contain a range of fruits/vegetables and a good range of probiotics.
Overall, we are reasonably satisfied with the quality of this product, but would prefer to see more meat in the food. Supplementing the diet with additional meat should be considered by those using the food.
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Some 800 years in the past, in 1206, a brilliant Muslim scholar died : Badi' al-Zaman Abu al-'Izz ibn Ismail ibn al-Razzaz al-Jazari. He was one of the most important inventors and mechanical engineers in the history of technology. His magnum opus book of mechanics, the famous Al-Jami' bayn al-'ilm wa 'l-'amal al-nafi' fi sina'at al-hiyal (A Compendium on the Theory and Useful Practice of the Mechanical Arts) was the most significant treatise of the Islamic tradition of mechanical engineering and a ground breaking work in the history of mechanics.
|Al-Jazari's Third Water-Raising Device: Analysis of its Mathematical and Mechanical Principles
Five pumps or water-raising machines are described by al-Jazari in his monumental treatise of mechanics Al-Jami' bayn al-'ilm wa 'l-'amal al-nafi' fi sina'at al-hiyal. The following long article is a detailed study of the third of these water-raising devices.
|Al-Jazari's Castle Water Clock: Analysis of its Components and Functioning
The first machine described by al-Jazari in his famous treatise of mechanics Al-Jami' bayn al-'ilm wa 'l-'amal al-nafi' fi sina'at al-hiyal is a monumental water clock known as the castle clock. This article presents a careful and precise analysis of its components and mechanical functioning, with the help of several design methods.
|Al-Jazari – the Mechanical Genius
1000 years ago the most famous mechanical engineer of his time was Al-Jazari. Read about his water clocks, washing machines and pumps.
|Overview on al-Jazari and his Mechanical Devices
In this article, Professor Yavuz Unat, a known historian of science from Ankara University, draws a general survey on al-Jazari and his treatise. He describes some of his machines and points out the numerous technological innovations brought about by al-Jazari in their design and physical principles.
|A 800 Years Old Ancestor: Today's Science of Robotics and al-Jazari
Introducing al-Jazari's ancestry to modern cybernetics and robotics science, Prof. Toygar Akman narrates in this testimony article his own discovery of the work of the great 13th century Muslim scholar. He shows further how al-Jazari's mechanical achievements laid the ground to a proto science of robotics avant la lettre.
|The Machines of Al-Jazari and Taqi Al-Din
Through applying modern engineering technology and graphic modelling with computers, we can see the these machines designed and described many centuries ago come to life.
|Automation and Robotics in Muslim Heritage: The Cultural Roots of al-Jazari's Mechanical Systems
This short paper introduces a longer essay by Prof. Gunalan Nadarajan, Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Studies in the College of Arts and Architecture at Penn State University. The essay draws on the work of al-Jazari, the famous 13th century Islamic scholar, engineer and scientist.
|Attempts of Flight, Automatic Machines, Submarines and Rocket Technology in Turkish History
In the Islamic world, great importance was placed upon the study of natural sciences and technology. This article brings out some of the important works of Turkish Muslim scholars in the fields of automatic machines, clocks and rocket technology.
|A Review of Early Muslim Control Engineering
There are recorded contributions of Early Muslims to the area of Automatic Control mainly in the development of water clocks using float valve regulators, different level controls using float valves or syphons and the development of On-Off controls.
|Pioneers of Automatic Control Systems
The article covers the avenues which led to the transfer of the Islamic knowledge, from Al Andalus, Sicily and Byzantium to the Wars (crusades on the Islamic World), as well as commercial relations and also the translation of Arabic works.


text:
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Banks Chevrolet GMC Buick is New England's highest-volume GM Dealer. Conveniently located in Concord, NH we are a quick drive from Manchester, New Hampshire. Through the years, we've built an impeccable reputation by operating an honest business and treating every customer with the highest degrees of professionalism and respect.
New vehicle pricing includes all offers and incentives. Tax, Title and Tags not included in vehicle prices shown and must be paid by the purchaser. While great effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information on this site, errors do occur so please verify information with a customer service rep. This is easily done by calling us at 866-275-8431 or by visiting us at the dealership.
**With approved credit. Terms may vary. Monthly payments are only estimates derived from the vehicle price with a 84 month term, 7.99% interest and 20% downpayment.
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Parts: Closed


text:
Geek Bling: Periodic Rings Are Elemental
These Periodic Rings from ITSNONAME (wtf?) are available in silver, gold, and platinum. Each features the corresponding metal's atomic number and weight and come in sizes 7, 8 and 9. Silver will set you back a paltry $205, gold (14K yellow) a staggering $2,200, and the platinum a holy shitting $6,500. Now I can think of a lot better ways to blow $6,500, and none of them include periodic table themed jewelry. Although one does include a drive across country with a one-legged hooker and a trunk full of drugs. Wait, that was a movie idea. No, no it wasn't. That is how I'd spend $6,500.
Two more pictures after the jump, including one of what it'd look like to get punched.
Periodic Rings from ITSNONAME [notcot]


text:
Question: I'm going to read you the names of several individuals, groups, and items. Please tell me whether you have a generally favorable or unfavorable opinion of each one. If you've never heard of one please just say so. [If favorable/ unfavorable] Is that strongly (favorable/ unfavorable) or only somewhat? The 2010 health care law, also known as Obamacare.
Source: Fox Broadcasting Company
Date: Jun. 14, 2018
Universe: Country: United States
Method: telephone: landline and cell phone
Sample Size: 1001
View Question


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w scan
w_scan is a small command line utility used to perform frequency scans for DVB and ATSC transmissions. It is not included in LinuxTV dvb-apps, but complements the two frequency scanning utilities available through LinuxTV dvb-apps, dvbscan and scan.
w_scan is capable of directly creating channels.conf files as well as initial tuning data for scan.
- 1 Obtaining w_scan
- 2 Documentation
- 3 Examples
- 3.1 Scanning ATSC VSB (United States, Over-the-Air)
- 3.2 Scanning ATSC QAM annex B (United States, digital cable TV)
- 3.3 Scanning DVB-T/T2 (Germany, Over-the-Air, VDR output)
- 3.4 Scanning DVB-C (Germany, digital cable TV, Kaffeine channels.dvb)
- 3.5 Scanning DVB-S/S2 (Astra 19.2east, vdr-1.7.x)
- 3.6 Scanning DVB-S (Thor 0.8west, vdr-1.3.x .. vdr-1.6.x)
- 3.7 Scanning DVB-S (Hotbird, vdr-1.7, 4-port DiSeqC switch, hotbird at port 3)
- 3.8 Generating dvbscan tuning data
- 3.9 Generating c/s/tzap tuning data
- 3.10 Defining output charset
- 4 Also See
- 5 External Links
Obtaining w_scan
w_scan can be obtained here.
Detailed information can be found in the w_scan man page (i.e. from a console, run
man w_scan). Additionally, running w_scan with the -h parameter will produce an output that provides a summary of it's main command line options.
w_scan [options...] >> channels.conf
In general, when using w_scan you should at least specify three parameters: frontend type, country/satellite and output format. The following table summarizes the basic command line essentials for using w_scan.
|Description & Options
|Frontend Type
a = ATSC (North America, cable and terrestrial)
|ATSC Type
(ignored for DVB-C and DVB-T)
|Country ID
(mandatory for ATSC, DVB-C, DVB-T)
|Satellite ID
(mandatory for DVB-S/S2)
|Output Format
X = czap/tzap/xine channels.conf
|VDR version
6 = vdr-1.6.x
|Help Level
h = basic help
Some working examples, cobbled together from the basics given in the above table, are provided below. Note: Experts or experienced users may use some of the other w_scan options available, but this is not recommended. (For example, w_scan searches /dev/dvb/adapterX/frontendY for DVB/ATSC cards matching to option "-f", therefore specifying the adapter "-a XX" is not recommended.)
- ATSC support requires a w_scan version >= 20080815
- ATSC support was integrated in vdr-1.7.14, VDR output needs '-o 7'
- DVB-S/S2 support requires a w_scan version >= 20090504
Scanning ATSC VSB (United States, Over-the-Air)
$ w_scan -fa -A1 -c US -X
Scanning ATSC QAM annex B (United States, digital cable TV)
$ w_scan -fa -A2 -c US -X
Scanning DVB-T/T2 (Germany, Over-the-Air, VDR output)
$ w_scan -ft -c DE
Scanning DVB-C (Germany, digital cable TV, Kaffeine channels.dvb)
$ w_scan -fc -c DE -k
Scanning DVB-S/S2 (Astra 19.2east, vdr-1.7.x)
$ w_scan -fs -s S19E2 -o 7
Scanning DVB-S (Thor 0.8west, vdr-1.3.x .. vdr-1.6.x)
$ w_scan -fs -s S0W8
Scanning DVB-S (Hotbird, vdr-1.7, 4-port DiSeqC switch, hotbird at port 3)
$ w_scan -o 7 -fs -s S13E0 -D2c
Note: ports are counting from '0'.
Generating dvbscan tuning data
Exactly as above, just specify output format dvbscan with "-x":
$ w_scan -f <FRONTEND_TYPE> {-c <COUNTRY>,-s <SATELLITE>} -x >cc-Ttttt
If you choose to create an initial scan file (and you know the name of your local transmitter or cable provider), you can send the resulting file to the dvb mailing list after checking that it hasn't already been posted or added to the scan directory in the dvb-apps repository.
Generating c/s/tzap tuning data
Exactly as above, just specify output format zap/czap/xine with "-X" (uppercase X):
$ w_scan -f <FRONTEND_TYPE> {-c <COUNTRY>,-s <SATELLITE>} -X >cc-Ttttt
Defining output charset
$ w_scan -f <FRONTEND_TYPE> -C <CHARSET> ...
Use 'iconv --list' for a list of possible output charsets, usually something like 'utf-8', 'iso8859-15'. Needs 20110410 or higher.
Also See
- Comparison of the scanning utilities.
- man w_scan
- scan
- dvbscan


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Mr. Speaker, I too am quite concerned that we are not hearing from speakers on the opposite side. Members opposite drafted the bill and should be here to defend it. Their non-participation and indeed their ambivalence to this whole thing perhaps could be interpreted in a couple of ways.
Maybe they think the legislation is so great that there is absolutely no way it could be improved upon, although I do not know how they could get that idea, because every one in the House who has spoken on it so far today has suggested improvements to the bill. Perhaps they are so ashamed of it that they just want it to slip through the House like a dose of salts, with nobody noticing it. Otherwise why is someone from that side not responding from time to time?
The other question my colleague raises is the one about wilful intent. I spoke to that at some length during my remarks but I would not mind actually expanding on that just a little. He talks about the ritual slaughter of animals by certain religious groups, which absolutely does date back to the time when history began to be recorded.
We have customs whereby the native people are still allowed to carry out their whale hunt. The Inuit are allowed to kill a certain amount of whales by harpooning them. I wonder if that has been considered in the bill.
I keep going back to two points. We have to consider what has been accepted practice for literally hundreds of years. We also have to be very cognizant that whatever we put into the statutes has to be tempered with copious amounts of common sense.
Perhaps common sense is not something that is very easily divined. We can argue that what is common sense to my knowledge is not necessarily common sense to others and vice versa, but the generally accepted term of common sense should be applied in liberal doses to this particular act.


text:
Another Interview: Megan McDowell and Arturo Fontaine
This month, Yale University Press is publishing La Vida Doble by Chilean author Arturo Fontaine, translated by Megan McDowell.
Set in the darkest years of the Pinochet dictatorship, La Vida Doble is the story of Lorena, a leftist militant who arrives at a merciless turning point when every choice she confronts is impossible. Captured by agents of the Chilean repression, withstanding brutal torture to save her comrades, she must now either forsake the allegiances of motherhood or betray the political ideals to which she is deeply committed.
Arturo Fontaine's Lorena is a study in contradictions—mother and combatant, intellectual and lover, idealist and traitor—and he places her within a historical context that confounds her dilemmas. Though she has few viable options, she is no mere victim, and Fontaine disallows any comfortable high moral ground. His novel is among the most subtle explorations of human violence ever written.
To mark this publication, YUP's blog just published this interview Megan McDowell did with the author.
Megan McDowell: What does it mean to be translated for an English-speaking audience who won't have the intimate experience and knowledge of Chile's history that your Chilean readers have had?
Arturo Fontaine: It's true that the Chileans, Argentines, or Spanish who have read the novel are closer to what I'm narrating. Even so, the story itself is enough. A novel is like a laboratory where an experiment is taking place, but the experiment can be repeated in other places and in other ways because what it shows is of general significance. Hopefully the readers of La Vida Doble: A Novel will be submerged in the strange and idiosyncratic world in which Lorena must live, where they'll find not "Chileans" or "Latin Americans" but rather simply humans of flesh and bone who cross over by means of the story. Hopefully. Lorena herself says: "Listen well: don't let the historical anecdote I'm telling constrain you; Chile's narrow geography, either.
MMcD: A related question—in the U.S., words like "Socialism," "Communism," and "Revolution" have a different resonance than they do in Chile. Even for people on the left, "communism" is associated with experiences of dictatorship and repression, and doesn't have romantic or idealistic associations that it does for Lorena, or that people in Chile are more aware of, even if they don't share them; there is little history of socialist ideas or movements in the U.S. Is there anything in particular you think your North American readers should be aware of about Chile's history as they read your book?
AF: Not much, really. Lorena makes things understood as they need to be understood; for example, what it means to her to belong to a radical revolutionary movement that tries to win a utopia through armed struggle, one that demands from her the complete sacrifice of her life. There have been so many movements like that, and there always will be. Whether the inspiration comes from Che Guevara, or the movement's name is this or that, or whatever the specific content of the project for a new society, these are not essential matters. The willingness to sacrifice oneself for something that feels huge, almost impossible, is always a human possibility. The Islamic fundamentalists are painful reminders of this. Furthermore, the immediate enemy is brutal dictatorship. But the use of torture to get information out of terrorist groups is something that has happened in many countries, even in some democratic ones and not too long ago . . . I would like for the novel to show, in contrast to the film Zero Dark Thirty, the victim's perspective, the way his or her identity as a person is gradually torn to shreds. Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty—in spite of its merits, such as its momentum—takes on torture in a superficial way. It only shows us the perpetrator's gaze, and the victim is thus dehumanized. This kind of treatment "un-realizes" cruelty. Henry James, comparing some Dutch painters with Guardi, at some point uses the expression "artistic conscience". "The Italian," writes James, ". . . dispenses with effort and insight, and trusts to mere artifice and manner—and a very light manner at that. . . . The Dutchman . . . feels that, unless he is faithful, he is doing nothing." I believe in that concept. I believe that an artist must be faithful to the world he is trying to show, to the world he wants us to imagine. Kafka, for example, was a master in this. For an artist to do this superficially is an ethical failure in his work as such.
MMcD: As I worked on the book, you were very helpful and generous in answering my questions, and you also kept a bit of distance, stressing that I had to find the voice, the way to convey the book in English, which was something that I appreciated a lot—a translator couldn't ask for a better balance. I wonder if you have spent time considering your stance on the translator's role, or if you've ever been a translator yourself?
AF: I'm happy you felt that way. The novel in English is your work. La Vida Doble: A Novel should read as if it had been thought and written in English. I think your translation achieves that. It's been your responsibility, as translator, to find an equivalent to what one reads in Spanish, but also flows in English. Translating is a creative task, an artistic and difficult one. But not impossible. Proust's A la recherché . . . flows with a rhythm characteristic of French, of English in Scott Moncrieff's translation, and of Spanish by Pedro Salinas, José María Quiroga Plá and Consuelo Berges. A priori, it seems like it shouldn't be possible. I don't think El Quijote ever had an English translation that did it justice until Edith Grossman's. If Nabokov had read Cervantes in that translation he wouldn't have written what he did in his Lectures on Literature. He didn't get the humor or the humanity of Quijote. Gregory Rabassa did an extraordinary translation of One Hundred Years of Solitude. When I was studying at Columbia University, Rabassa came to a translation workshop directed by Frank MacShane, who was then the director of the Writing Division. I asked Rabassa what his secret was in translating One Hundred Years of Solitude. He answered: "Before starting to work, I would spend twenty minutes reading a novel by Faulkner".
And yes, I have published some versions—I don't dare called them translations—of some classic poems in Spanish. Many times, I must admit, I've failed. For example, I've struggled and struggled for years trying to translate two very famous poems by Dylan Thomas, "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night," and "And Death Shall Have No Dominion." They stood by me like two faithful dogs during my father's long and painful illness before he died. I have never managed to translate them. I go back and try again every once in a while. The problem, of course, is their music, so interlaced with the metaphors and the meaning. These are cases when it seems like the music shapes the meaning.
Read the entire piece here. And hopefully we'll have a review of this up shortly.