text:
Matt Barber
January 16, 2013
A pretty, young, auburn-haired woman – mid-20s – drove down a lonely country road somewhere in Oklahoma. Appearing in her rear-view mirror, at the back windshield, were two menacing orbs of light floating amid ashen dusk. The guttural roar of a souped-up big block shook the tiny Volkswagen Rabbit as a van-load of inbred thugs lurched left and drew alongside her. A pony-tailed passenger taunted inaudibly and blew foul kisses between crude hand gestures. He pointed for her to pull over as the van repeatedly swerved dangerously close.
Inside the car a man, asleep in the reclining passenger seat, was startled awake by the commotion. He rose and darted his head about, calmly assessing the situation. This only spurred the evil-bent goons. As they ramped-up efforts to run the car off the road, the man reached in the glove box, withdrew a military-grade, semi-automatic handgun – an "assault weapon," if you will – and, with intentionality and great theatre, leaned across his young bride, pointing the gun out the open bay and directly between dirt bag's booze-flushed eyes.
Van vanished amid a plume of gray smoke as wheels locked, tires screeched and "assault vehicle" fishtailed – jerking to a halt with taillights aglow skyward from the ditch.
Not a shot was fired.
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Visitors expecting to enjoy the beaches will find pleasant conditions through the summer, though July and August are hot (high 80s F/30 C to above 90 F/32 C) and humid. Humidity at 60%-80% in high heat can take a lot out of you, so pace your sightseeing. Drink plenty of water and dress lightly. Be aware that the season for hurricanes and tropical storms is June-November.
The fall sees less humidity, and temperatures range 55-84 F/12-28 C. Indian summer lasts through November, with dry days and temperatures from the low 40s F/5 C to the upper 60s F/18 C.
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subset: commoncrawl


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by Jeff Joiner
You might call Shirley Townsend
an archaeology groupie. Shes volunteered at several digs around
Missouri and now finds herself splattered with mud working in the summer
heat along the Sac River near Stockton. Townsend managed to sign on this
summer with what could be one of the most significant archaeological digs
in North America the Big Eddy site.
"There have been people living
here for 10,000 years. Thats fascinating!" she says.
The site was discovered in
1983 when a group of archaeologists surveying the Sac River valley spotted
Indian artifacts washing out of a steep embankment undercut by the river.
In 1997 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which manages the Sac River,
hired archaeologists from Southwest Missouri State University to excavate
the site. The scientists were aware of the areas popularity with
local arrowhead collectors and the findings of the 1983 survey, but they
never dreamed of what they would find when they began digging.
In scientific terms, the universitys
team of archaeologists unearthed good stratigraphy, or layers of sediment,
which offers a glimpse at more than 10,000 years of nearly constant occupation
by American Indians. And thats rare.
"This is like a layer cake.
You cut it and you see the layers," says Jamie Trussell, with the Center
for Archaeological Research at SMSBecause the Big Eddy site sits along
the Sac River, the trash of 10,000 years of people living there was continually
covered by sediment as the river gently flooded and receded. The floods
encased artifacts, including thousands of projectile points, in layer
upon layer of soil. The farther down you dig, the older the period in
courtesy the Center for Archaeological Research
aerial view shows the Big Eddy site situated in an elbow of the
Sac River in Cedar County. The river washes away nearly 4 feet of
the site each year and archaeologists from Southwest Missouri State
University are working quickly to save as many artifacts as possible
before the site is obliterated.
"You can dig down a thousand
years and youve got Scallron points and you dig down 3,000 years
and you find Williams points all the way down to 10,000 years ago,
Clovis Era, the earliest era we have in Missouri and, arguably, anywhere,"
says Trussell.
That alone would be exciting
to come across, says Jack Ray, an archaeologist and the manager of this
summers dig. But the truly exciting, and controversial, find came
below the Clovis Era. And that suggestion sparks a hot debate among those
familiar with the prehistory of North American man. The archaeology and
anthropology community is sharply divided between those who believe the
Clovis Era is truly the earliest period that man appeared in North and
South America and those who believe man arrived much earlier.
"We came back in 99 to
dig below the Clovis level and came up with tantalizing clues that, yes,
we might indeed have some evidence that Indians were here earlier," says
Ray. "We had radiocarbon dates associated with levels of about 14 feet
below the surface that dated 12,200 to 12,600 years old. Thats about
1,000 years earlier than Clovis."
To put that into perspective,
only a few years ago it was pretty much accepted there was no one in North
America before about 11,400 years ago. Then archaeologists began finding
evidence of man in South America much earlier than that even as
early as 33,000 years ago at one controversial site in Chile. Scientists
generally accept the theory that man came to North America from Asia by
boat and by a land bridge connecting present day Russia with Alaska, eventually
migrating south through all the Americas.
courtesy the Center for Archaeological Research
controversial anvilstone was photographed where it was unearthed.
The placement of the broken stone and its depth in the ground gave
clues about its use as a tool and how long ago it was used.
"Reading through South American
literature made us think that there had to be people here in North America
probably earlier than in South America," says Neal Lopinot, director of
the Center for Archaeological Research at SMSU. "Most people thought these
Clovis points were the earliest and they would stop excavating. We decided
to dig a little deeper."
Now the Big Eddy site is attracting attention and the SMSU team is under
pressure from not only the world scientific community to prove their theory,
theyre also racing against the forces of nature to find as much
material as possible before the Sac River destroys the site.
The Big Eddy dig sits on the
outside of a meander in the Sac River which washes away, on average, 4
feet of the site each year.
"Eventually the site will be
gone," Ray says. "The emergency is to get in here and find out what these
people were all about and how they lived before all the evidence is lost."
The Center for Archaeological
Research has 10 staff members working the site, but a large number of
volunteers are needed also. As the archaeologists slowly and meticulously
remove soil in pits, looking for any artifacts, volunteers haul buckets
of dirt away. The dirt is forced through fine screens in hopes of finding
even the tiniest pieces of evidence. Its dirty work and volunteer
Shirley Townsend loves it.
"My husband cant imagine
doing something this slow standing at a screen all day long and
pushing dirt through it, but thats my specialty. Im a slow,
methodical person so this fits my personality."
Because the soil in Missouri
is so acidic, virtually all bone, both human and animal, are destroyed
except for tiny pieces of charred bone from fire pits. Instead the team
is finding an abundance of stone tools including spear points, scrapers
and knives, and evidence of food like hickory nut shells and the burned
bones of turtles.
The controversial evidence
of pre-Clovis Indians found in 1999 is a large broken stone believed to
be an anvilstone, or a rock Indians used to break things on.
"Now its controversial
whether thats actually a man-made object," says Ray, "but we think
the context suggests to us that it could not have been broken and placed
there by natural conditions like the river."
"There were percussion scars
on the stone which occur when you strike something against something else.
That doesnt occur in nature," Trussell explains. "Something was
banging on this rock. And it was the only boulder of its size in this
area. Were very certain that someone brought it here and began breaking,
maybe, mastodon bones on it."
The Center for Archaeological
Study has received funding for three years from the Corps of Engineers
to continue studying the site. Ray says his team will dig this summer
and next and then spend a year analyzing their findings.
Funding has also come from
National Geographic Magazine and the A.P. Green Foundation.
"You really get put under a
microscope when you try to find something early like this," says Lopinot.
"There have been plenty of hoaxes in the past and archaeologists tend
to be skeptical about things. And if you want to be scientifically sound
youd better make sure something is what you really think it is."
Lopinot stresses the research
at Big Eddy is important not only in the debate over when man arrived
in North America, its just as important because its uncovering
the way people lived here for more than 10,000 years.
"Its not just the archaeology
that were interested in," says Lopinot. "Were more interested
in the kinds of plants they ate, the animals they hunted, the basic lifeways
of these people. We can look at change over a long period of time in one
For more information or
to volunteer to work at the Big Eddy site write to the Center for Archaeological
Research, Southwestern Missouri State University, 901 S. National, Springfield,
MO 65804-0089, call them at (417) 836-5363 or visit the centers
Web site at www.smsu.edu/contrib/car.


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When it comes to treating psoriasis, sometimes the old becomes new. For the better part of five years I have treated my psoriasis with the newest, latest, and most technologically advanced biological drugs available. My basic treatment menu has included Amevive, Enbrel, and Humira. Each one's effectiveness varies and lasts for a limited time. Now that I am at yet another decision point I am rethinking using methotrexate (MTX).
According to the National Psoriasis Foundation, MTX was first used to treat cancer in the 1950's but they also found it could be used to treat psoriasis. It works to slow down the hyper proliferation of skin cells characteristic of psoriasis. Despite all the fancy new drugs out there, dermatologists still use MTX to control severe cases of psoriasis. My dermatologist asked me to consider using it again a couple weeks ago.
The main concern with MTX use is liver scarring. I'm not sure exactly what current practice is but in the past had two liver biopsies to check my liver. I started taking MTX in my early 20's while in college. MTX represented my first foray into systemic medications to control my psoriasis. My dermatologist in Sacramento (I went to school at UC Davis) wanted me to first get a baseline liver biopsy (depicted below). She explained to me that the biopsy is an outpatient minor surgical procedure where they grab a piece of my liver by placing a needle between my ribs. Okay, that's not the most technical way to say it but what I can say is that it hurt a lot more than I thought it would! Thankfully my liver was fine. The dermatologist told me that we would need to revisit the liver biopsy every 1.5-2 grams of MTX use.
I started with a few 2.5mg pills per week. My maximum dose was seven pills, or 17.5mg/week. I usually took it in split doses over a 24 hour period to minimize side effects such as nausea or fatigue. When those side effects increased I also took folic acid to mitigate those unwanted effects. I remember sharing about taking MTX with a colleague. She used a Chinese term to describe what she thought of the medicine: "du yao" or poison medicine. After a while the thought of taking it and the smell of the "poison medicine" made me want to gag but I continued on.
Back then it was a miracle drug for me as I cleared completely for some months. But once it lost effectiveness I broke out horribly. I stopped just before needing to take my third liver biopsy. Since I had good response the first time I went back to it about five years ago. Unfortunately, my body couldn't tolerate it. I endured nausea and fatigue for up to 72 hours or more after taking MTX. I tried taking MTX as an injection in my hip, prescription antacids to counter the acid in my stomach, and resting for long stretches. The second time around MTX neither cleared my skin nor allowed me to function much at all the days after taking it.
I never did have that third liver biopsy as I stopped just before crossing the 2 gram threshold. I was told that even if I had some minor damage the liver could recover from it after stopping. I don't drink alcohol but I was told to absolutely avoid alcoholic drinks while on MTX. Monthly blood tests also checked for liver function, blood counts, and any other potential abnormalities.
Of course, if you're thinking about taking MTX do some research for yourself and really talk it over with your doctors. I'm not sure if it's right for me this time around, especially given the way I reacted a few years ago. But I feel with psoriasis treatments I can't afford to completely eliminate potential options. I'm thinking of trying a smaller dose with Enbrel so I can stop taking Neoral for a while.
Important: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and not Everyday Health.


text:
What Is Hybrid Cloud
Cloud computing has been the
latest rage for several years,
becoming more and more popular as
distributed systems and easier
access to services becomes the
norm. Demand for cloud service...
Top 10 Productivity Apps
For Android
Smartphones are the way of the
future- or so we're told.
Smartphones should make our lives
better, easier, and more
productive- but finding the right
combination of apps and workfl...
Top 10 Chrome Extensions
That Should Have Been In...
Sometimes… well, sometimes
browsers seem to be lacking that
special something. While Chrome
in particular is a great browser,
there are some extensions that
just make so much sense that...
Getting Started with
Android Programming
Android is the most-common
operating system on mobile
devices around the world. Phones,
tablets, etc. that utilize it are
outselling Apple iOS-based
devices by nearly two to one...
- Classroom - Online | - Confirmed! Full Schedule »
All Articles »


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Choose up to three gift plans that interest you to compare them and to learn more about how the plans can help you and Carroll University.
The material presented on this Planned Giving website is not offered as legal or tax advice.
Read full disclaimer|Sitemap|Planned Giving Content © 2020 PlannedGiving.com


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What Android Ice Cream Sandwich Does That iOS Doesn't
More and more hot new phones are starting to show up on all of the major carriers running the latest version of Android, 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, with some tasty tablets being released, too. While the new iPad is undoubtedly a great piece of technology, Google offers some features that can be hard to pass up. The Apple design is nice and simple but rigid — there's not much you can change. Google, on the other hand, gives you the power to really make your Android phone or tablet your own.
Let us show you just how personalized your super-slim phone can be and just how easy one of that galaxy of tablets is to use.
1. Take Tour Internet With You
If you use Chrome or Firefox, you'll be thrilled to know that both of those browsers are available on Ice Cream Sandwich.
Signing in on either browser on your phone or tablet will sync up your bookmarks, search history and even your usernames and passwords. You'll feel right at home with everything you just had on your desktop. The mobile browsers even let you view the tabs you have open on your computer. If you start reading an article and have to step away from your machine, you can pick up right where you left off, without having to add it to any special reading list.
2. Just Plug and Play
It's easy to get files on and off an Android device. You don't need any special software; just plug in to a computer, and you're good to go. You can easily grab all of your pictures and videos or even back up your apps. Add videos easily without converting them to a special format — just copy them on and play.
3. Skip the Security Passwords
Why remember another password or special gesture when you can have your phone remember and recognize you instead? With Face Unlock, your Android Ice Cream Sandwich device's front-facing camera will recognize you and unlock itself. Machines are supposed to make our lives easier, so shouldn't we let them do the work for us?
4. Customize to Your Heart's Content
With Android, you can add widgets to your home screen allowing you to control your music and check your email, calendar or the weather at a glance. Using Ice Cream Sandwich, as with Android 3.0 Honeycomb, you can resize those widgets, so you can decide whether you want to see more information or to save space.
Your home screen is easy to customize — no need to keep each and every app you've downloaded on it. Keep them nice and tidy in the app drawer, or arrange them in folders. If you want to, you can replace the entire home screen by using a new launcher. Even your lock screen gives you options — you can check all of your notifications without unlocking your device.
5. Say What You Want With Just a Swipe
Typing on the go can be much easier with customized keyboards. When you're standing in line and holding your phone in one hand, SwiftKey X Keyboard (download Swiftkey X Keyboard) guesses what you're trying to type and suggests the next word for you. With Swype, you don't even have to type — just slide from one letter to the next. There are plenty of other keyboards, so you can find the one that's just right for you. And it's not all fancy keyboard tricks, either. If you prefer arrow keys or easier access to punctuation, you can find a keyboard that does that.
6. Navigate the Streets With Ease
The Google Maps app for Android includes Navigation — voice-guided, real-time, turn-by-turn directions based on your current location. With the Google Maps app on your Android device, you no longer need a separate GPS unit for your car — a potential savings of up to hundreds of dollars. A few taps, and your phone will lead you right where you need to go.
7. Tap to Share Information With NFC
With NFC, a chip that lets you send information with a tap, you can share contacts, videos, or web pages between phones via a feature called Android Beam. If you sign up for Google Wallet, you can even leave your credit cards behind and pay for groceries with a swipe of your phone. While it's not available everywhere yet, NFC is primed to be one of the next big things.
From the way your phone looks to the way your phone looks at you, Android offers a wealth of options. What's your favorite Android feature?
This article originally published at Tecca here


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Art Deco
Art Deco style is a decorative take on modernist style from the early twentieth century. Interior architectural elements include smooth walls with rounded corners, parquet wood floors, glass block windows, and porthole windows. Furniture is modern, often with mirrored facades, and is heavily lacquered or with inlaid geometric designs. Common materials also include veneer, stainless steel, or chrome. As with modernist style, spaces are uncluttered with minimal furniture or display.
Elements of design:
- Smooth walls with rounded corners
- Parquet or tile floors with geometric designs
- Mirrored wall panels, glass block windows, and room dividers
- Modern furniture including mirrored or veneer façade
- Color palette is bold; often black and white with bright accents
- Geometric patterns, including chevrons and sunbursts, are often incorporated into the design


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Inaburra School
People in contemporary society are easily swayed by photographs in the media. These moments in time in individuals' alleged 'picture perfect' lives don't often portray all the truth; such images may not illustrate the bigger picture – the pain, sorrow and hardship unseen behind the two-dimensional surface of the photograph. My artwork emphasises the need to explore the deeper story.
Consider the influence of media in our society. Are we, as an audience and as consumers of the media, well-informed? Do we only see a subjective or objective point of view? How do Ashleigh Scott and Mathew Jones respond to the media's definition of 'truth'?


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Videos | October 19, 2010
Weird Warm Spot on Exoplanet
This animation illustrates an unexpected warm spot on the surface of a gaseous exoplanet.
This animation shows an unexpected warm spot on the surface of the gaseous explained known as Epsilon Andromedae b.
Taking only 4 and a half days to complete an orbit, the planet is tidally locked to its star with the same side always facing the heat.
Astronomers using NASA' s Spitzer Space Telescope measured how the infrared light of the system changes as the planet circles its star.
When it's brightest we're seeing the hottest part of the planet.
Remarkably that hot spot is not on the side facing the star but is rotated about 80 degrees towards the boundary between day and night.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology


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Thank you for the well-organized, self-paced learning environment. I've taken many online courses, including my education masters, and this is the best class and learning experience. I'm trying to decide between Accounting Fundamentals II or QuickBooks. I'm leaving education and did accounting 30 years ago and am looking for future employment. Thanks again, Charlene.
I really enjoyed this class as well. Thank you for your encouragement, instruction and advice throughout the six weeks. I will also be taking the Accounting Fundamentals II course in August. I completed the final exam and received 100%. :-) I am elated.
Thank you for a well-designed course. At times it was a challenge, but you set up an incredible learning experience. I loved the practice entries you had at the beginning of a number of the lessons. They added to the learning experience. This was a great course. Thank you very much!! And yes, final done and passed at 100%.
Although I have taken Accounting I and II in person, your presentation of the material made it much easier to understand. I am currently enrolled in your Accounting Fundamentals II course and look forward to it, as well. Thank you very much for a great learning experience.
Thank you very much! This was such a great class. I've taken this at a college before and did not walk away with nearly as much knowledge as what I have with this class. It all makes sense now, and it simply didn't before. So thank you again so very much!
Just this morning I took a test required by a local accounting recruiting agency, to
determine competency for a future bookkeeping position. I scored 97% correct (no use of notes or materials allowed), and the recruiter noted that the national average is 83%. He was very impressed on all that was learned and had high, high praise for the instructor and the course - as do I!
I have been bookkeeping for the past 14 months, part-time for a small business. I was very frustrated because the accountant there stopped working and the training has been very minimal and not adequate. I felt like I was required to do the accounting and I was only hired as an entry level bookkeeper...The owner was asking for quarterly reports and I was in way over my head. It was so stressful! I had no double-entry accounting experience and was very confused about credits and debits and the types of accounts were a mystery to me. This course has my stress level way, way down. I feel so much better about my job and I am not stressed out to the max every day. I have some confidence now. I don't feel so helpless or dependent on the CPA who is mostly not available.
I have been somewhat casually trying to understand accounting fundamentals off and on since, literally, the mid 80's when I lived in Chicago and the PBS television station there offered it as a weekly class. Never could get past the initial debit/credit presentations without my head exploding...now I get it! Everything after that in this course was, with some effort, smooth sailing. Thank you for your offering.
This is one of the best online courses I have taken. Most concise information explained in easily understandable terms. I am truly thankful to Ms. Charlene Messier for the efforts which she has taken to make such a complex and theoretical subject, so easy to comprehend for a novice like me.
Accounting is a world of its own and often difficult to enter. This teacher shows she has experience with beginners and is good at explaining the difficult and most essential concept of debits and credits. I appreciated her style because accounting is not easy for me and she makes it understandable! The lessons have explanations and practice, so we learn what to do. I like the no pressure lesson exams. This was a great accounting course. The content was great!
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Well I read post at openrce posted by blabberer in X-Code thread here at woodmann (http://www.woodmann.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10635) and saw interesting discussion between Rolf Rolles (waz up man ) and Kris Kaspersky debating which way of generic fixing is better. Kris votes for adding loader, but Rolf likes clean import to have good disasm in IDA. Infact I had this same problem a few months ago, it was easy to locate all APIs and add loader, who cares, app works, well it works and you don't have to analyse it as long as registration scheme is located in the wraper, but what if registration is located in program itself and you have to analyse it? It would be mess and boring task in IDA not seeing real APIs Basically that small discussion was inspiration to write this blog post
Look at this messy fixed import. It looks like, for example, armadillo shuffled IAT or maybe ActiveMARK v6.xx fixed IAT. But take a closer
look where are APIs located:
You might wonder how did I get this to work? Using API loader? No!!!Code:00BBC368 >7C80A447 kernel32.QueryPerformanceCounter 00BBC36C >7E450702 USER32.MessageBoxA kernel32.QueryPerformanceCounter = BBC364 user32.MessageBoxA = BBC368
What I have used here is 1API = 1 image import descriptor concept which I use to fix imports always. Basically this is how it works:
According to PE specification OriginalFirstThunk points to API names, but if it is 0 then FirstThunk is pointing to API names, also FirstThunk is used to know where to store API addresses.Code:typedef struct _IMAGE_IMPORT_DESCRIPTOR { union { DWORD Characteristics; DWORD OriginalFirstThunk; }; DWORD TimeDateStamp; DWORD ForwarderChain; DWORD Name; DWORD FirstThunk; } IMAGE_IMPORT_DESCRIPTOR; typedef IMAGE_IMPORT_DESCRIPTOR UNALIGNED *PIMAGE_IMPORT_DESCRIPTOR;
So what we shall do to make this concept work?
1. Build OriginalFirstThunk such that it only points to one API name
2. place RVA in FirstThunk where we want API loaded
3. When import table is built simply walk firstthunk and set it to
specific value != 0 as windows loader will deny loading image if
address to which FirstThunk is pointing is 0. Weird?! I didn't find
anything in PE specification about this behaviour
Lets see some code snipets from this library which you may find in src of my GenericUnpacker and import engine at http://deroko.phearless.org
First we define some struct which will hold our imports:
Now it's very simply to fix IAT:Code:import_struct struct is_address dd ? <--- RVA where we want API address to be writen by windows loader is_dlllen dd ? <--- len of dll name including terminating 0 is_apilen dd ? <--- len of API string including terminating 0 or 4 if API is imported by ordinal is_dllname db 256 dup(0) <--- dllname (ASCII) is_apiname db 256 dup(0) <--- API name or ordinal | 0x80000000 import_struct ends
By number of this structs we know how many IMAGE_IMPORT_DESCRIPTORs we will have, but
also tnhx to lengths stored in structs we can estimate size of newly built IAT including
APIs aswell.
OriginalFirstThunk will always point to API name or ordinal and also will take one more
DWORD for 0 to tell windows loader that there are no more APIs to be loaded.
EBX = memory used for IMAGE_IMPORT_DESCRIPTOR
EDI = pointer where we write dll, api names or ordinals and is calculated
as EBX + (number_of_import_structs + 1) * sizeof (IMAGE_IMPORT_DESCRIPTOR)
When this small loop is done, all we have to do is to walk all first_thunks and set themCode:sub edx, size import_struct __cycle_main_loop: add edx, size import_struct cmp [edx.is_address], 0 je __done_building ;copy dll name mov esi, edi sub esi, new_iat_mem add esi, iat_sec_rva mov [ebx.id_name], esi lea esi, [edx.is_dllname] mov ecx, [edx.is_dlllen] rep movsb ;write original first thunk mov esi, eax sub esi, new_iat_mem add esi, iat_sec_rva mov [ebx.id_originalfirstthunk], esi mov esi, dword ptr[edx.is_apiname] test esi, 80000000h jz __api_has_name mov [eax], esi jmp __firstthunk __api_has_name: mov esi, edi sub esi, new_iat_mem add esi, iat_sec_rva mov [eax], esi lea esi, [edx.is_apiname] add edi, 2 mov ecx, [edx.is_apilen] rep movsb __firstthunk: mov esi, [edx.is_address] mov [ebx.id_firstthunk], esi add ebx, size import_directory add eax, 8 jmp __cycle_main_loop
to != 0 so win loader can actually load this import table.
With this concept you don't have to write sorting algos to get nice and clean IAT, who
cares where are APIs located. In my, aspr2.3 dumper for example, I scan original code
for APIs that are not stolen, then I go for stolen APIs and write them into array
and I don't care if I have something like this:
After this is done, then I go for APIs located in poly oep, or other stolen procedures
which are located in markers. At this point IAT looks like nightmare and importrec nor
any other public known engine can fix this IAT... But 1API = 1IDD concept fixes this
without a problem!!!
Think about it when writing unpacker and protection developers think too when
you try to make "hard" IAT to stop importrec, you will lose one way or another
Remember that not many people are using it lately


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AN uncompromising former Conservative MP who shook up the Labour stronghold of Barrow by winning the 'safe' Labour seat has died at the age of 79.
Cecil Franks served as Barrow and Furness MP from 1983 until 1992 - eventually losing to New Labour candidate John Hutton who went on to hold the Furness constituency for 18 years.
Mr Franks died at his home near Altrincham on Sunday February 2 and a funeral service took place on Tuesday.
During his time in office, he devised an enduring political slogan for Barrow.
He would ask of those determined to elect a Labour candidate for the shipyard town: "What will the lads do on Monday?"
It was directed at the Labour Party, which in the 1980s, had links with the Campaign For Nuclear Disarmament (CND) which wanted nuclear missiles scrapping - despite the implications for Barrow shipyard.
Rarely far from controversy or the front pages, the Manchester-born solicitor was renowned for being confrontational and highly litigious.
He was involved in a long-running row with the Conservative-run South Lakeland District Council and the Labour-dominated Lake District Planning Board, now the development control committee of the Lake District National Park Authority.
During a 45 minute speech to Parliament in 1986 where he used parliamentary privilege to make a number of allegations, he was warned several times by the Tory committee chairman to sit down and stop making remarks "too wide of the mark".
But friends and associates spoke highly of Mr Franks and his political service to Furness.
His father was a Labour councillor in Salford and Mr Franks himself a Labour Party agent in the Knutsford Constituency for the 1959 general election.
He also represented the Labour Party on Salford City Council between 1960-63, then joined the Tories in 1964.
In the 1983 General Election, he unseated the long-standing Labour MP Albert Booth who had been MP for 17 years, and won by 4,577 votes.
During his time in office, he campaigned for the future of Barrow Shipyard, Trident submarines and for a Dalton Bypass - as well as against plans to nationalise Glaxo in UIverston.
Privately, he also regularly raised money for charity and was a keen fan of chess - representing Lancashire - as well as being fond of skiing and bridge.
In a nod to his love of the theatre, he was appointed as a director of Opera 80 - a touring theatre company threatened with being dissolved.
Long-serving Coun Jack Richardson, the leader of the Conservatives on Barrow Borough Council, said today: "You either liked or loathed Cecil. There was no half measures with him, but what always came across was his interest in serving the interests of Barrow and its constituents."
"As an MP for Barrow and Furness, he was extremely good and projected the area very well."
"When he spoke in parliament you knew where he came from and everyone knew Barrow-in-Furness was the place they built nuclear submarines."
Of losing the 1992 election by 3578 votes to a young John Hutton, Coun Richardson said: "Cecil took it very badly because he did an awful lot for Barrow."
During the last 20 years of his life, he also supported numerous causes but never returned to politics.
Said Mr Richardson: "Cecil became Barrow's MP in 1983 at a time when the Labour Party was then very anti-nuclear. Parts of the Labour Party in Barrow wanted the town made a nuclear free zone - can you imagine that?
"He highlighted this ridiculous anomaly and played on it quite openly by asking: 'What will the lads do on Monday?"
Pauline Halfpenny, chairwoman of the Barrow and Furness Conservative Association, maintained a friendship with Mr Franks long after he lost the Barrow seat.
Mrs Halfpenny, from Ulverston, said: "I first met him in 1983 when Ulverston and Low Furness became part of the Barrow and Furness constituency and he became our candidate.
"We had about four weeks to get Cecil elected and get a Conservative in Barrow which hadn't been done for quite some time!
"But Cecil was not like what a few people thought of him. I always found him to be very caring and considerate and he was a good MP for Barrow.
"He was a very forthright speaker and told people the truth when people don't always like to hear it, do they?"
"He worked very hard for the constituency. Barrow was seen as a bit far away but he brought to the area Margaret Thatcher, Michael Heseltine, Michael Portillo and Jeffrey Archer."
In an interview with the Gazette in 1987, Franks gave some typically uncompromising views on issues like the health service, the welfare state and law and order.
Of education, he said of teachers: "I would like to see teachers wearing jackets and ties instead of the dirty, tatty jeans which seem to be the uniform for trendy teachers."
And of the benefits culture, he added: "Money which should go to the disadvantaged is going to those who are well able to make their own way."
On local authorities and the rates system, he said: "I have nothing but contempt for the utter waste of resources by officers who are nothing but the professional rejects of the private sector."
Mr Franks, separated from his wife, but had a long-standing partner. She was away in Dubai at the time of his death. His adopted son died a couple of years ago.
Mr Franks lived at Bowdon near Altrincham.


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Comments and suggestions.(p3)
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Registration of vehicles.(p3)
If you have questions on Form 2290, see its separate instructions, or you can call the Form 2290 call site at 1-866-699-4096 (toll free) from the United States, and 1-859-669-5733 (not toll free) from Canada and Mexico. The hours of service are 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Eastern time.
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Has the Death of the SUV Arrived?
At car dealerships everywhere, Americans look for more fuel-efficient vehicles.
June 4, 2008 -- It looks like the time has come for the SUV to be towed off to that great junkyard in the sky.
Rising gas prices -- and a greater understanding that fuel will probably never be cheap again -- appears to be killing off the gas-guzzling SUV.
Sales of the vehicles are plummeting, and those drivers who already have them are finding it increasingly difficult to sell or trade-in their old SUVs.
How Are You Dealing With Gas Prices? Tell ABC News
Jack Nerad, executive market analyst for Kelley Blue Book and kbb.com, has been asked for years about the future of the SUV.
"Up until now, we've said it's not dead," Nerad said. "But right now, it's probably on life support."
Just a few years back, SUVs, pickup trucks and other heavy vehicles were flying off lots and heralded for breathing new life into struggling U.S. automakers.
But $4 gas has changed that.
All cars start to lose value the second you drive them off the lot. But recently, the prices of used SUVs have dropped faster than all other types of vehicles, according to several industry watchers.
For instance, take a 2005 Ford Expedition. In September, it sold for $16,350, according to kbb.com. Today, it sells for $12,400, a drop of 24 percent in just nine months.
Compare that to small used cars, which have actually seen an average 2 percent increase in value in the last year, according to the National Automobile Dealers Association.
Even the Geo Metro -- never really a popular car -- is seeing a resurrection in sales, despite the fact that the tiny car was discontinued in 2001.
The value of a 1990 Metro -- which can get 40 miles a gallon or more -- was just $1,175 a few months back. It now sells for $3,000.
"When you're so far down, you only have up to go," Nerad said of the Metro, which he described as "a car that got no respect from anybody at any time.
"This climate of high and volatile fuel prices has put a scare into people," Nerad added.
And it doesn't look like a temporary change in buying habits.
General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner announced Tuesday that his company would close four truck and SUV plants in North America, and might even discontinue its Hummer brand.
To meet customers' shifting desires, thanks to rising gas prices, GM is moving forward with production of the Chevrolet Volt, a car that runs on an electric motor and could be in showrooms by the end of 2010.
"We at GM don't think this is a spike or a temporary shift," Wagoner said.
Ford's CEO Alan Mulally also believes that fuel prices are going to remain high.
"That shift to small and medium-size cars and utilities … is going to be permanent," he told USA Today in a story this week.
Nerad said that GM's move to close plants is very telling.
"That really indicates that this isn't really a blip, but a shift in demand that they are going to see over time," he said. "I am a little surprised, because we have seen similar things in the past and we have seen the full-sized truck and SUV market come back."
But this time, he said, there is a greater concern about gas prices, and there are more fuel-efficient alternatives available, such as eight-passenger crossover vehicles.
Christina Hay lives in Fenton, Mich., and like many Americans, has been struggling with high gas prices. Last year she leased a Honda Ridgeline pick-up. Now, she is looking to get out of her lease to get "a small car like a Honda Civic or Fit to save on gas.
"This is killing me," she said. "Seventeen miles to the gallon isn't cutting it."
Most Americans apparently feel like Hay and are looking for those more-efficient cars.
In March and April of this year, new large SUVs sat on dealer lots an average of 69 days, according to J.D. Power and Associates. The typical compact took 54 days to sell.
"We're seeing a pretty radical shift from trucks to cars," said Michael E. Maroone, president and chief operating officer of AutoNation, the largest auto retailer in the country. "We're seeing the same radical movement from low fuel economy to high fuel economy. It's a structural change in the business."
Maroone places the blame squarely on high gas prices and the squeeze they put on people's disposable incomes.
AutoNation has seen "an absolute surge" in trade-ins of large SUVs, Maroone said. American drivers are not just trying to save on their weekly gas bills, but also driving cheaper cars with lower monthly lease or loan payments.
AutoNation, which sells 550,000 cars a year, includes 21 Toyota dealerships. Maroone said that everyone has a waiting list -- of several months -- to purchase Toyota's popular hybrid Prius.
Some potential buyers also find that they can't afford a new car because they actually owe more on their existing vehicle than it is worth. Maroone said the reason is two-fold. First, the trade-in value of SUVs has fallen so much. Second, drivers look to sell near the start of their loan period when they have yet to pay off much of the principal on their loans.
For them, and many other motorists, it might not be fiscally prudent to trade-in their gas guzzlers. But, next time around, they will probably go with a more efficient car.
"I think the smart money says that fuel prices are not going down over the long term," Maroone said. "If anything, there is a pressure that they may go up."


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Generally speaking, it's the males of a species that take the active role in finding mates. And that's true of Norway's goby fish...at least in the beginning. Every year, males and females gradually swap their roles in the mating process.
Gobies are incredibly common throughout the waters of northern Europe, and they fit a lot of life into their one-year existence. Crucially, it's the males that focus on looking after their young, and the male population in general tends to drop precipitously over the course of the year. Those two factors combine to repeatedly shift the ways in which the two goby genders view reproduction, as researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology recently discovered. Researcher Lise Cats Myhre explains:
Their need to breed is obvious. They only have the one season to give birth. We saw up close how goby girls grew progressively more desperate, and less shy, as summer approached and the number of possible mates dropped. [The males] may have a hard time defending their territory and at the same time caring for the eggs. Doing so may both exhaust them and make them more exposed to predators than the females which live a much more relaxed social life in flocks. By mid-summer the mating game just changed completely. Males were often surrounded by harems of willing females showing off their bellies nearly bursting of eggs. I never saw that early in the season."
Because so many males are no longer available for breeding towards the end of the mating season - either because they were busy raising children or because they were, well, dead - the sudden scarcity reverses which gender can afford to be picky in choosing a mate. Research leader Professor Trond Amundsen points out this is a good example of how the sexual dynamics in other species can be just as fluid and complex as those among humans, and that reproductive behaviors are hardly fixed. For more, check out the NTNU website.
Via The American Naturalist. Image by scot6eus.


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A Chinese bus tour to Jiuzhaigou - or a lifetime of cultural experiences in three days
In response to a friend who told me that I would give an excuse about not writing this post due to too much current chaos in my life, thank you for giving me an extra motivation for getting this written, titivations and all!
I wanted to write a post about the trip I made last week to northern Sichuan where I had without a doubt the most interesting cultural experience of my time in China - spending three days on a Chinese tour-bus as the only foreigner.
I return to Europe now after two months in East Asia, six weeks in China and two in South Korea, tired, but very happy with how the program at the KITPC went. I'd been getting this ready for two years, on and off, and the last few months have involved a lot of work getting everything prepared for the start. Once the program began I had the dual responsibilities of keeping things going with talks and discussion sessions, as well as showing friends, colleagues and collaborators who had come out to the program, the Beijing that, thanks to my short time there I seem to know better than many locals. This was a hugely enjoyable task, though after six weeks I was about ready to drop and a two week trip to Korea, working at the APCTP in Pohang and CQUEST in Seoul was a welcome break.
On return from Korea I attended the last two days of the program, said a few goodbyes, and then took off again from Beijing Capital into central China, to Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province where I was going to treat myself to a photography based trip for a long weekend. My destination was the northern Sichuan mountains, and in particular the valley of Jiuzhaigou, where I went three years ago and learnt a huge amount about photography in the process. Last time I had done everything pretty ad hoc, without booking hotels or arranging my stay during the days in the mountains at all, and it had worked out well. I had arrived from Chengdu, found a bus going the six hours in the right direction, got into the town late at night, found myself somewhere to sleep and then went into the park just before daybreak the next morning.
After asking a friend to help book a flight this time from Chengdu to Jiuzhaigou airport I was told that there was also the option of a deal with a bus trip into the mountains all the way from Chengdu, including accommodation, food and entry to the park for a four day trip for just 45 quid. This sounded like an excellent deal, and having flown in before, i thought the bus ride seemed like a good alternative.
My alarm went off at 4am and I dragged myself to the reception in the hotel in Chengdu, ready for a lift to the main bus pick-up point. By five thirty I was standing with 70 others being bullied by enthusiastic sellers of travel pillows and exotic breakfasts, waiting for buses to various destinations around Sichuan and by 5.45 I was on the bus, crammed in at the back with 35 Chinese men and women from all over the country. Two things were unsurprising at this point, 1) I was the only non-Chinese in the group and 2) I attracted a lot of confused attention. As normally happens in these situations I was spoken about for some time until they realised that I understood Chinese (to a greater or lesser extent) at which point a barrage of questions came my way. These questions came most of the time not in Putonghua, the normal Chinese dialect, but a range of dialects stretching from Shaanxi, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Jiangxi and Sichuan. I struggled a lot of the time to grasp what was being asked, and this continued through most of the trip, though there were a few on the bus who could speak the normal dialect, including the tour guide - I'm still not sure if this was a good thing or not. The guy I sat next to throughout spoke with a very strong Shaanxi accent and I understood perhaps a sentence or two a day of what he said to me.
At 6am we left, set for an eight hour drive ahead of us, and I sat back, ready to get some shut-eye. At this point the tour guide (导李 - 导游 is tour guide and his name was 小李)got up at the front, and with a perky 大家好! started to tell us all about the trip ahead, and about Jiuzhaigou, and the regions of the Northern Sichuan, and the history of the area, and the number of kilometers of road constructed in the last decade, and the stories of previous tour groups, and the local dialects and....well, you get the picture. Three hours later he stopped his stories, admitted that he should let us rest for a bit and finally I drifted off, ready to doze until lunch.
Indeed, I managed to sleep deeply until lunch, but somehow lunch arrived very very early and at 10.30 in the morning we found ourselves in an unheated restaurant, with plates of simple food in front of us, mostly vegetables, the only meat on offer being processed sausage meat which was occasionally thrown in with the veg.
One thing that needs to be mentioned at this point is about heating, something that became an over-riding theme for me for the trip. In Beijing, although the temperatures in winter may dip below minus 20 on occasion, the buildings are heated with central heating - government controlled, and switched on some time around the beginning of November when the authorities deem it cold enough to give the people some warmth, the reverse process taking place some time around March. In the South of the country, roughly from the line of the Yangtzi river down, although temperatures may not get that cold through the winter months, they have no such luxury as central heating and spend the winter much much colder than their northern brothers and sisters. Indeed in Chengdu, where the temperatures may hover around the 5-10 degree mark this isn't much fun, but at 2500m in the mountains of Northern Sichuan, where temperatures spend most of the time below zero, this is not a joke.
I'm not good in the cold and I sat the first day in the unheated restaurant at 10.30 in the morning, shivering in my coat, scarf and hat, digging into 馒头 and simple plates of vegetables while a barrage of questions came my way. Cold, tired and a little confused, it wasn't perfect, but I was at this time aware of the fact that this was an interesting experience to be going through.
Interestingly, through the three days of the trip (it was cut short in the end by a day) I wasn't once asked my name and no name from anyone else was offered to me. This wasn't just because I was foreign, as I never heard anybody else introducing themselves, even though many strangers had come together for the first time to spend an intense few days together. I should also note that had I been introduced to everyone I would have had a very hard time remembering their names. Five years after arriving in China for the first time, remembering Chinese names is still something that I struggle with.
After a ten minute lunch (the first day was quite a leisurely lunch and by the end of the trip, restaurant lunches had been reduced to five minutes of quick slurping and scoffing, frequently taken standing up) we were back in the coach and continuing our winding route up into the mountains.
An hour or so later we hit our first problem as traffic was held up by a landslide on the mountain path. We, sat, patiently as people craned their necks and got out of their cars, but I didn't hear a single complaint about the fact that nothing was happening. Nor did people complain about the fact that smaller cars were overtaking the line of stationary vehicles, thereby blocking both lanes of the narrow road and, when finally the bulldozer arrived, making it virtually impossible for it to get through to the scene of the blockage. When the landslide was cleared we were then left with another conundrum. There were now two lanes of vehicles facing each other, as on both sides of the landslide people had vied to be first in line, and we sat there cars honking and people waving as nobody moved.
It was another half an hour until the congestion was cleared, but again, there was no pointing of fingers and blaming of the people who had blocked the lane of oncoming traffic, and on we went. Each time this happened in the future and I saw the inevitable log-jam build up I would curse the senseless drivers who, through their selfishness wanted to be first in line, thus holding up the whole flow. Of course I kept this to myself as everyone else sat back and either didn't think through the consequences of the overtakers, or just didn't care. This is one of my over-riding annoyances in China, that the selfishness of the individual on the road, although possibly helping them for a few seconds, will add to the burden of traffic and in the end, holds everyone up. The idea of a communist society where the group is more important than the individual seems to be left behind when the car keys are in hand. This is true also of pedestrians and cyclists however who will cross the road without looking where they are going, cars swerving and breaking to avoid them in a bizarre ballet that seems always to be on the edge of disaster and puts me on the verge of a heart-attack several times a day.
An hour later we hit another landslide, this time at the entrance to a tunnel, and again, the same story. This time however the problem of oncoming traffic was faced inside the tunnel which had recently been built and only allowed for a single vehicle to go through some sections, which were still bumpy and wet from recent rains (the tunnel was open on one side). The driver revved the engine to get over a bump and out of the way of an oncoming motor-bike with an enormous loading platform attached to the back. All of a sudden the bus juddered and there was a huge shearing sound followed by a bang. The driver ran to the back of the bus, opened a panel in the floor and got to work on the transmission which had just snapped. Stuck in a tunnel, in the mud, with oncoming traffic facing us, their horns echoing through the small space and a driver running back and forth taking everything from bunches of wire to silk scarves to the back to reattach the transmission, I wondered why I hadn't taken the plane. It truly felt like we were in an impossible situation, but incredibly, after a couple of hours of sweat and concerned looks from the driver, a fragile transmission was reconstructed and, after much toing and frowing, we made our way around the oncoming vehicles.
Not only was the ad-hoc piece of DIY impressive, but the patience of everybody was truly inhuman, or at least un-occidental. There wasn't a single complaint, a raising of voices or eyebrows (except from me as my eyebrows have a life of their own when it comes to expressing opinion), or even a questioning of progress. Everybody sat back and waited, chatting happily in the cold and the semi-darkness. This is in great contrast to taking a plane in China in which the businessmen get very nasty very quickly if the plane is delayed even a few minutes. The difference between those with and without money, and working in the business world in China appears marked in their expectations of others. Many of those on the trip had taken buses or trains to Chengdu, the budget option but often taking a couple of days. These were not rich Chinese off for a jolly between meetings, but nor where they at the economic level of the migrant workers who come into the cities to find work.
Anyway, we made it out, and on our way, changing gear carefully until eventually we stopped off a few hours later outside a small house where the driver found the right contraption to give the transmission a more stable constitution. It took some time, and a few failed attempts and as we sat there and the time ticked by I was getting ready to take my passport from the tour guide, my bag from the bus and hitch hike the next few hundred kilometers to Jiuzhaigou, where I would have been quite happy to find my own accommodation and sort out the next few days independently. However, just before my patience ran out (though I seemed to be the only person getting restless - internally I should note) the bus started up again and we were on our way. The next few hours went by peacefully and without event and at 8 in the evening we arrived into Jiuzhaigou, where I was ready to have a bite to eat, shower off the day's stresses, and collapse into bed.
It became clear pretty quickly that things were not going to be so easy. We checked in and sat down to dinner (the same, simple but perfectly edible food we had had for lunch, and the same that we would have throughout the trip), shivering in the cold as the doors to the freezing mountain air outside stood wide open (the idea of shutting doors when there's no heating inside seems anathema in China - the fresh air seeming to be a positive thing). After five minutes the power suddenly cut out and we were left, not even able to see our breath condense in front of us as we sat in an amused semi-silence.
Candles were distributed and I made my way into my room where I sat on the bed and wondered what the hell I was doing. It was too cold to get undressed, so I got under the covers, coat and all with an extra layer of socks and tried to drift off to sleep, the impotent electric blanket lying uselessly under me. An hour later I got up to check the situation and found that the power was back on and the electric blanket saw that in the end I had a reasonable night's sleep. This was me, in my room, by candlelight wondering what the hell I was doing:
6 am we were up the next day and although the driver had asked us to all be on the bus by 7, all seats were filled 15 minutes early and so we headed off to the gates of the park. This would be unheard of with a Western tour group, and the only such trips I've been on, there would always be the odd few stragglers who would hold up the morning starts. Here however there wasn't a single moment that we had to wait for anyone, and every time we left before our agreed upon time.
We drove the few minutes to the park, the tour guide adding a few additional embellishments to the hours and hours of information he had regaled us with the day before and by 7.15 we were in the park, making our way to the highest reachable point in the West of the valleys.
My biggest fear was that we would have to go around the park in a group, following a flag and all wearing identical red caps, but thankfully once in we were free to do our own thing, so I set off, camera kit in hand and started taking photos of some of the most beautiful scenery on Earth.
Jiuzhaigou is so spectacular that it's almost unreal. The valley is around 20 km long , rising 1500 or so meters to its summit (at around 4000m) and the river that runs through its basin flows into crystal clear lakes where the copper compounds give some of the most vibrant colours I've seen in any natural setting. Between the lakes are stunning waterfalls you find hidden behind moss covered forest floors.
I had planned, like last time I went, to walk the length of the valley, thereby escaping the crowds who take buses between the scenic spots, but sadly, because it was winter, the paths were closed and the buses were the only option, so I took the buses and made my way down the first valley, experimenting with my camera along the way. Though the winter means that the footpaths are closed, it also means that the skies are clear and this was one of the main reasons I'd chosen to come back. I was hoping for snow on the ground and blue skies, and while the former hadn't yet arrived, the latter was spectacular and I got the bright colours which had been lacking last time with the white blanket of fog reflecting off the blue waters.
In terms of photography I had a few new tricks up my sleeve, and a few more years of experience. For landscape shots I had a 10-20mm sigma lens, I had two neutral density filters (ND8) for long exposure shots of the water and I had a 70-300mm lens for zoom. This along with the Canon 7D I'd brought not long before meant that the new bag of tricks should have given me quite an advantage over the last trip.
I'll detail the rest of the trip soon, but in terms of the results I'm still not that happy. I still have a great deal to learn about composition and technique, but every time I go somewhere like this I find there's a huge learning curve. I'd like to spend a week or so in this sort of situation, going through my photos in the evening and reassessing what went right and what didn't. There are some major compositional changes I'd make to my photographs the next time and some technical alterations, especially in that I would use liveview for every shot and mirror lock-up for added stability, even on wide angle landscape shots. Anyway, although I am only happy with a handful of the couple of hundred shots I came away with this has taught me a lot and I look forward to coming back for a third attempt in the future.
So, I made my way down the valley, finding as many photogenic spots as I could, and attempting to battle with the brights of the sky and the snow on the higher peaks together with the shadows of the trees and mountains.
As I stopped off in each place I would frequently be called upon to be in a shot with a Chinese man or woman, who wanted their photo taken with the only foreigner in town, and an incredibly tall one at that. At one point I was stopped by a group of four women from Guangzhou and asked to pose with each of them individually and then in an ensemble of dissonant heights. They didn't know at first that I could understand them (they were speaking Mandarin as one of the women was not Cantonese) but I chipped in after one of them made a particularly amusing comment and we all started chatting. I haven't seen a lot of TV in China, but from what I have seen a large proportion of it is taken up with game shows and chat shows with young women gasping excitedly in what seems to be mock amazement at the answers and actions of guests. I'd always presumed this was somehow put on for TV but for the first time I was the centre of this as my answers brought on ever higher shrieks of excitement: British, from Oxford, scientist, post-doctoral researcher, worked for the Chinese Academy of sciences (this is the most prestigious science institution in the country and has an amazing reputation, apparently known to every Chinese man, woman and child), currently working for a Spanish University, etc. etc. It was fun to be the centre of attention for a little while and as we spent the next couple of hours going through the valleys together I basked in my few minutes of stardom, posing whenever they begged for a photo. At the end of the tour through the valley we parted ways, as their tour guide looked on disdainfully at the pouting women.
One of the deals with the tour was that I would have to pay to see a cultural show, put on in Jiuzhaigou town. In fact there were two of these, but having attended such performances before I agreed only to see one of them - most other people on the bus seemingly going for both. After resting in my room for a bit (still without a shower as the water was off during the early evening and cold the rest of the time) I went along to the theatre and after again having a huge amount of attention from the performers who greeted us at the entrance I sat down for two of the coldest hours of my life. The enormous theatre, again with doors open to the outside world was sub-zero and I sat, wearing five layers on top, shivering uncontrollably for the duration of the show. The show itself was a mix of ethnic songs from the local minority groups, dances, outlandish costumes and the recreation of various ceremonies from the traditional cultures of the area. All of these would be extremely interesting if all Chinese performances weren't infused with an enormous dose of what has been perfectly described as the Spring Festival Craptacular, a garish over-performance of kitsch nauseating flamboyance. Melodramatic pop songs sung with heart-rending passion and stomach-churning over-production together with pseudo-grinning dancers pretending to play traditional drums as the recording blasts at 120 decibels over the top of their prancing around tells me little of local culture and a great deal about the clash of Communism and 20th century Western entertainment. Anyway, after two hours of frozen feet and painful muscles, having spent the whole time in convulsions, I was free to leave the theatre and go home to collapse. I had dreamt throughout the performance of running off to find a foot massage place but in the end I was so tired that all I could do was to crawl on top of the electric heater on my bed and fall immediately asleep.
The third day was another 6 am start and although the plan had been to head to Huanglong, we were told that because of the lack of rain and the very cold temperatures up at 5000m it wasn't going to be worth visiting and so we would head back to Chengdu a day early. Our way back was paved with stops at local jewelry factories, traditional Chinese medicine centres and a yak-meat retailer. These presumably are the real way that the tour is able to function, as although the people in the bus had paid little for the trip, a few of them spent fairly enormous amounts on outlandish pieces of jewelry, gems and bunches of winter worm, summer mushroom. Nobody could resist buying a few bags of yak meat, having about 50 spicing options available and I bought a few bags for thank you and goodbye presents for friends in Beijing.
After another 10.30 lunch we started the final 8 hours back home and along the way the tour-guide started telling us about the various rock-falls on the opposite side of the river to the road that we were taking. He spoke of collapsed tunnels, and death-tolls, of cars trapped under enormous boulders and of falling mountain-sides, as the rocks above us teetered precipitously. There were a few key-words that I couldn't understand from his explanation and I asked a girl behind me, who I had just discovered spoke excellent English, what this one particular word meant. It then clicked, that the whole discussion was about the Earthquake back in 2008 which had completely devastated the precise area we were driving through. The road we were on was new, not because the previous one had been old, but because in most places it simply didn't exist anymore, having been torn to pieces in May two and a half years ago.
The stories were terrifying and I realised that the place we were headed for, as an alternative destination to Huanglong was Wenchuan the epicentre of the Earthquake and the village which had been devastated by the tremors and the landslides, the side of the mountain which overlooks the valley having fallen into the village and killed thousands upon thousands of residents. We arrived in the early evening and looked around what is an incredible testament to the energy and effort of the Chinese in times of trouble. The village has been all but rebuilt with houses vastly superior to anything they would have had before and a spectacular modern school to replace the one that was buried in the landslide. This of course cannot replace what has been lost, but the effort that has been put into this is place which lost everything is truly remarkable. A good friend of mine went to the village a year after the Earthquake and looked after the children, all of whom had lost family members and friends and many of whom were still in intense trauma, neither smiling nor speaking. She described to me her experiences there where she had volunteered for a week, and the stories were a combination of the amazing strengths of humans and the terrible effects of the disaster.
Throughout the village there were people selling locally made handicrafts, not of the finest quality and whereas I would not normally buy much from these stalls I went a bit all out and filled my bag with a fair number of trinkets and fabrics. I found the whole thing a bit strange as the others in the group bargained as furiously as ever with the sellers, I felt completely unjustified in doing so, however much it was expected and however much the prices were inflated to take into account the bargaining process, telling someone that a bag they are selling is far too expensive may be a fun game in Beijing, but not standing next to the ruins of a school!
And on we went, eventually arriving into Chengdu a little after dusk. I had expected to arrive into Chengdu the next evening and then leave early in the morning, but unexpectedly I'd found myself with an extra day. Although I know Chengdu reasonably well, I'd never been to see the star attraction of Sichuan and so early the next morning I made my way north of the city to the panda reserve, which has just celebrated the birth of the 300th panda, a landmark which they had been aiming for for some time. A few photos follow and not much commentary is needed. Pandas, both giant and red: very cute, very playful, very photogenic.
I went in the afternoon to one of the areas I'd explored before in the West of the city which is a group of streets filled with some of the best food in China, tea houses galore and a recreation of what the city would have been like 100 years ago.
Unfortunately in the last three years a lot of the tea houses that I visited before have been taken over by fashionable cafes and a lot of the places are exorbitantly expensive and full of tourists, but I did manage to find myself in one of the nicest remaining tea houses where I sat down with Landau and Lifshitz and sipped chrysanthemum tea for a couple of hours.
In the evening I indulged in some of the great local cuisine before an early night and a trip back the next morning to Beijing. The last 24 hours in Beijing was packed with seeing friends, some last minute shopping and the conundrum of how to pack two months worth of purchases in some relatively small bags. The answer in the end was to send all the books I'd brought in the post to Germany where they should arrive in three month's time.
The trip back to England was a long and tiring one: nine hours Beijing to Doha, four hours wait in Doha then seven hours Doha to Heathrow. The final leg was made a lot more interesting as I was sat next to Graham Brown-Martin, the founder of Learning without Frontiers who spends his time going between the worlds of technology, education and entertainment, trying to bring the education system screaming and kicking out of its industrial revolution era mold and into the era of interactivity rather than passive learning which is being made ever more exciting by the technological advancements going on right now. I spoke to him of Clay Shirky, Sir Ken Robinson and many others that I know from TED and other such sites and it turns out that he spends a good load of his time with these people when he's not discussing in Westminster, trying to persuade the monoliths of government that perhaps a teacher standing at the front of the class and regurgitating lines is not the best way for kids to gain understanding and creativity. Anyway, we spoke a great deal and if time allows I will go to see an event he's organising with Sir Ken Robinson in London in March.
So, 24 hours in London seeing friends and now I find myself waiting in A Coruna for the train back to Santiago where I have ten full days to finish a bunch of reports, hopefully a paper, give a public colloquium on atmospheric optics, and many last minute odds and ends before I leave officially on the 20th for Christmas. 2010 has been an incredible year and I've had so many wonderful opportunities. I'll do my best to wrap up some of these in the next two weeks as well!


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Do You Forgive Me? Well, I Forgive You Too.
I really meant to post this piece about The Rose some time ago, and I'm sorry for being so late. Do you forgive me? Well, I forgive you too.
The Rose is the acclaimed 1979 dramatic musical film that tells the story of a self-destructive 1960s rock star, who struggles to cope with the constant pressures of her career and the ruthless demands of her business manager. The film is a fictionalized documentary based on the tragic life of singer Janis Joplin; it was nominated for four Academy Awards including Best Actress in a Leading Role (Bette Midler).
The following two music videos from the film comprise the beginning and end segments of The Rose. If you never get the chance to watch the whole movie, these videos will show all that you really might need to know.
Bette Midler: Midnight in Memphis (The Rose, 1979)
Bette Midler: Stay With Me Baby (The Rose, 1979)
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Hi! My name is Sairy Z. Colón, I'm 16 years old and I live in Vieques, Puerto Rico. My greatest passion is judo, since I was 9 years old. My goal is to become one of the best female athletes in my country, represent the colors of my flag with courage and get to fulfill my dreams. I am currently number 2 in the World Ranking.Help me to reach my goals. I trust you to achieve my goals and you trust that I will overcome every blow and obstacle because I am sure that I will never give up. I need your help to turn the impossible into a reality. 2018, was one full of great challenges; but of achieved achievements. Some of them were:
Gold- Panamerican Cadets Cup- Lima, Perú
Gold-Copa Panamerican Juniors Cup-Lima, Perú
Gold- Montreal Cadets Cup- Montreal, Canadá
Silver- Panamerican Cadets Cup- Panamá
Silver-Panamerican Juniors Cup- Panamá
Bronce- Panamerican Cadets Championships- Córdoba, Argentina
5th place-Youth Olympic Games Buenos Aires 2018
To excel, I need to be constantly pushing my limits. I am ready to work hard, but at the same time, I know that the road to success will be costly. By supporting me today, you are investing into something bigger than just a fundraiser. You're changing my life.Help me to make my Cadets and Juniors Circuit 2019, starting on May. Thank you for your support! PLEASE SHARE!!!


text: The Lunch Box ,offers patrons a mouth-watering plate lunch menu complimented by tasty poboys and hamburgers, salads, grilled items, gumbo and seafood. We also have added low-carb and low-fat items to our menu. Owner Cline LeBlanc, along with his wife Dolores and children Chad and Stacy grandchildren Molli and Morgan, operate the family-owned eatery. Our customers feel like our restaurant is a meeting place where they can come, have lunch or dinner, and visit with many of their friends.


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GOLF: Kaymer stays in front at U.S. Open
PINEHURST, N.C. — Martin Kaymer finally made some bogeys.
He had plenty of company.
After two days of lower-than-expected scores, Pinehurst No. 2 showed its bite at the U.S. Open on Saturday.
Kaymer, who made only one bogey the first two days, had four of them through 13 holes in the third round. But the brutal course was tough on everyone, keeping the 29-year-old German comfortably ahead — a five-shot gap on a group that included Rickie Fowler and Erik Compton, both of whom shot 3-under 67 for the best rounds of the day.
Kaymer made a brilliant bogey at the fourth, after he took an unplayable lie, and an eagle at the par-5 fifth helped offset the mistakes.
Compton, a two-time heart transplant recipient, ripped off four birdies and an eagle in a seven-hole stretch to surge into contention.
"The conditions are extremely difficult," he said. "But when it gets really hard, that's when I seem to get really focused."
Fowler is one of the most popular players at Pinehurst, but he has only one career victory on the PGA Tour.
This would be quite a place to get another win.
"I just hung in there," Fowler said. "I hit a lot of great shots into the greens, and got up and down when I needed to."
Also at 3 under were Henrik Stenson and Dustin Johnson. Kevin Na was making a run at Kaymer until a double bogey at No. 14 knocked the American back to 2 under.
With no rain to soften the perilous turtleback greens and devious pin placements making it tough to get anywhere close to the flags, the storied course produced the sort of portly numbers that had been expected from the beginning of the tournament.
"That was 18 of the toughest pins I've ever seen," Kenny Perry said. "That's probably the hardest setup I've ever experienced in a major championship. There's no room for error."
The 53-year-old Perry actually hit the shot of the day, a 220-yard hybrid out of the sand at No. 14 that bounced onto the green and rolled in for eagle. That helped him shoot a 4-over 74 — not bad in these conditions.
Japan's Toru Taniguchi shot 88. Russell Henley soared to an 82. Boo Weekley struggled to an 80.
Kaymer went into moving day with a six-shot lead after posting consecutive 5-under 65s. That gave him the lowest 36-hole score in Open history and a tie for the lowest at any major championship
No way he was going that low again in these conditions, considering the greens were firming up even more on a warm, sunny afternoon.
Kaymer needed three shots to get down from just off the green at No. 2, taking his first bogey of the round. He missed a good birdie chance at the third before taking another bogey at the fourth.
It could've been a lot worse.
Kaymer drove into the pine trees left of the fairway, the ball settling in a washed-out patch of sand. He took a one-shot penalty, dropped the ball a couple of club lengths away, and punched out into the fairway. From 160 yards, he struck a brilliant shot that settled 15 feet from the flag, then rolled in the putt. Even though it was a bogey, he gave a fist pump when the ball slipped into the cup.
Kaymer missed the fairway off the tee at No. 5, but his second shot — 202 yards from a waste area — was as close to the flag as anyone got all day. He made the 5-footer for an eagle that pushed his score right back to 10 under. Even though he dropped another shot at the sixth, a sloppy putt leading to his third bogey, some testy par saves over the next few holes sent him to the back side at 1-over 36 on the day. He made another bogey at the 13th.
Kaymer appeared to be playing an entirely different course over the first two days, making 11 birdies and only one bogey.
Brendon Todd was the closest challenger heading into the third round, but he plummeted out of contention by playing the first nine holes at 5 over. As the last group made the turn, just 11 players were in single-digits off the lead.
It remained Kaymer's tournament to lose.
The six-shot lead at the midway point tied the U.S. Open record first set by Tiger Woods at Pebble Beach in 2000 and matched by Rory McIlroy at Congressional three years ago. Woods wound up winning by 15 shots. McIlroy won by eight.
Phil Mickelson steadied his putting stroke a bit but still shot 72, not the sort of score he needed to get in contention for his first U.S. Open title.
Lefty has been the runner-up in this championship a record six times, denying him the only title he needs to complete a career Grand Slam.
Defending champion Justin Rose, who held off Mickelson a year ago at Merion, shot 70 but was still 10 shots back as he headed to the clubhouse.


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Capacitive Touch Basics with MSP430 MCUs featuring CapTIvate Technology
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MSP430 Capacitive Touch MCUs featuring CapTIvate™ Technology Training Series
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High Dynamic Range (HDR) Display Architecture


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RV Forum logo wear - click HERE
One thing to keep in mind is that recent (last 2-3 years) so called 1/2 ton pickups are being rated to carry more and more weight, they are also getting physically bigger. All one needs to do is look at a current new 1/2 ton pickup sitting side by side with one from 15-20 years ago to see how much more a beast the latest 1/2 ton trucks really are. A 2017 Ford F150 with the heavy duty option has a max payload capacity of 3270, and the base F150 has a capacity of 2,210 pounds see http://www.ford.com/services/assets/Brochure?bodystyle=Truck&make=Ford&model=F-150&year=2017 . Which mean a current F150 with the HD option has more payload capacity than my old 2000 model SuperDuty F250, which itself had more capacity than the proceeding non SuperDuty models (1999.5 was the introduction of the beefed up SuperDuty body style)
I would highly suggest you visit this website and read this article about how to choose the right truck camper. It is very eye-opening, especially for newbies. My hubby and I are very interested in a TC, but have been hesitant because all the models we like require a one ton dually truck. The ones that will work with a 3/4 ton truck aren't much to our liking. It really helps to know what EVERYTHING will weigh, not just the camper. And it is difficult to get sales people to give you the true payload of the truck. Do your homework and don't jump in to anything quickly. We've discovered it would be better to get a gently used heavy-duty truck that has already taken the depreciation hit than buy brand new.http://www.truckcampermagazine.com/newbie-articles/picking-the-perfect-truck-camper/
payload should be on a sticker on the drivers side door...unless its older. Also called cargo carrying capacity or ccc.
I'm beginning to conclude it would be easier to find the truck camper we love and then buy the truck that suits it,
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Thomas Meaney, recently reviewed David Graeber's DEBT: The First 5,000 Years for the NYT Book Review. [Graeber helped inspire the Occupy Wallstreet movement.]
Meaney writes:
In 1925 the French anthropologist Marcel Mauss published his classic essay "The Gift," which argued that contrary to the textbook account of primitive man merrily trading beaver pelts for wampum, no society was ever based on barter. The dominant practice for thousands of years was instead voluntary gift-giving, which created a binding sense of obligation between potentially hostile groups. To give a gift was not an act based on calculation, but on the refusal to calculate. In the societies Mauss studied most closely — the Maori of New Zealand, the Haida of the Pacific Northwest — people rejected the principles of economic self-interest in favor of arrangements where everyone was perpetually indebted to someone else.
Picking up where Mauss left off, Graeber argues that once-prevalent relationships based on an incalculable sense of duty deteriorated as buying and selling became the basis of society and as money, previously a marker of favors owed, became valuable in its own right….
So what, then, is to be done? Graeber finds reasons for hope in some unexpected places: corporations where elite management teams often operate more communistically than communes; in the possibility of a Babylonian-style Jubilee for Third World nations and students saddled with government loans; and from his own study of the Malagasy people of Madagascar, who he claims were adept at evading the snares of consumer debt encouraged by the state. But there is a sizable gulf between Graeber's anthropological insights and his utopian political prescriptions. "Debt" ends with a paean to the "non-industrious poor." "Insofar as the time they are taking off from work is being spent . . . enjoying and caring for those they love," Graeber writes, they are the "pioneers of a new economic order that would not share our current one's penchant for self-destruction."
It's an old dream among anthropologists — one that goes back to Rousseau. In 1968, Graeber's own teacher, Marshall Sahlins, wrote an essay, "The Original Affluent Society," which maintained that the hunters and gatherers of the Paleolithic period rejected the "Neolithic Great Leap Forward" because they correctly saw that the advancements it promised in tool-making and agriculture would reduce their leisure time. Graeber approves. He thinks it's a mistake when unions ask for higher wages when they should go back to picketing for fewer working hours.
Michael from the Front Porch Forum (FPF) in Burlington, VT writes in response to Meaney's quote that he loves that others in his FPF community in Burlington have undertaken a voluntary life of 'favor debt' (owing someone a favor) in place of monetary debt:
"Perpetually indebted to someone else"… this sums up so much of what I love about my community life in Burlington, VT right now….
I was raised to value making my contribution to others while taking great pains to avoid accepting the same from others. So were lots of folks here. But that's a recipe for setting yourself apart, for isolation. As my family has learned to accept favors from those around us, it's made our contributions to others that much more meaningful and personal.
Now, through Front Porch Forum, MealTrain, our church, school, neighborhood and other means, we ask and offer favors daily from hundreds of friends, neighbors and acquaintances. Each request works against isolation and lays down another thread in the web of community that supports our life. This is a crucial asset… as much as our house, my job, the kids' college savings.
My brother and his family are planning a holiday visit to see us in Vermont this month. We could all jam into our house, but I know they would sleep better if we had more space for the two families. Hotels are expensive and distant… B&Bs too. So, I put the word out to neighbors and got several offers of empty houses that we could use on our block. These neighbors are traveling out of state and are glad to share their home while they're away. We've done this a dozen times over the past few years… offering or asking for empty-house guest lodging. Make that hundreds of times if we include other favors… meals, rides, tools, advice, kids stuff, labor, baby/pet sitting, on and on.
This is incredibly generous and trusting of all involved… but it's also keeping each of us "perpetually indebted to our neighbors" in a way that makes our community stronger with each exchange.
It's a wonderful description of generalized reciprocity of the sort that undergirds social capital as discussed in Bowling Alone.
See somewhat related earlier post "Economists ignore a critical third of economy: the social economy"
Hat tip to Lew Feldstein for spotting the FPF post.


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March 31, 2008 is one of the most important dates in Tampa Bay Rays history.
That was opening day for the 2008 season. That was the day that the Rays took their first steps towards being a true major league baseball team. It was the first day of a season in which the Rays would go from one of the laughing stocks of professional sports to American League champions.
The franchise may have been playing games since 1998, but a great franchise was born on March 31, 2008.
And on that day, we declared that the Tampa Bay Rays and their loyal Rayshead Army would no longer go quietly in the night. We would no longer vanish without a fight. We declared that day Tampa Bay Rays Independence Day.
So to my fellow Raysheads, Happy Tampa Bay Rays Indpendence Day!