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Key Chu Ally Named Interin Chief of LBNL
UC President Mark Yudof named a key ally of new U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu to fill the secretary's former post as head of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
Chemist Paul Alivisatos had been serving as deputy director of the lab and chief research officer. He will be interim director of the lab until a permanent director is found.
At Chu's direction, Alivisatos and fellow lab scientist Jay Keasling drew up the blueprint for what became the Helios Energy Research Facility, which has given birth to a $500 million research program funded by British petroleum giant BP and a plan for a controversial laboratory above Strawberry Canyon which is currently undergoing environmental review.
The BP-funded Energy Biosciences Institute is researching a variety of alternative energy programs, but most of the research is focused on turning non-food crops into fuels using patented microbes to break down cell walls into transportation fuels.
EBI research includes the use of engineered microscopic "nanomaterials" as catalysts in the fuel-making process, one of Alivisatos's research specialties and one of the reasons Chu named him to head LBNL's nanotech research facility, the Molecular Foundry, from 2001 to 2005.
Like fellow biofuel resesearchers Keasling and EBI head Chris Somerville, Alivisatos is an entrepreneur, and was a founder of at least two private-sector nanotech businesses, Quantum Dot Corp. and Nanosys Inc. He also serves on the board of a third company, Solextant, Inc., according to a UC press release.
Nanoparticles are themselves controversial, with some research indicating some of the resulting particles may have cancer-causing properties similar to those of asbestos.
While a UC Berkeley faculty member, Alivisatos will manage the lab on behalf of Chu's Department of Energy. LBNL is one of three Berkeley-run DOE laboratories, the others being Lawrence Livermore and Los Alamos.
UC announced that the formal search for Chu's replacement will commence "in the coming weeks" to advise Yudof on a permanent replacement.
UC is proposing to pay Alivisatos $406,980 a year as interim director, a 14 percent bump over his current salary of $357,000. He's also set to receive an $8,916 annual car allowance as well as the option to participate in UC's home mortgage program, according to the university.
"Like many others, I have been inspired by Steve Chu's vision of how the work at our lab could overcome some of the most difficult challenges of our time. I share that vision and welcome the opportunity to lead this great national laboratory at such an historic moment," Alivisatos said in a prepared statement released by the university.
Alivisatos "is a preeminent scientist with superb leadership and management experience," Yudof said in the same press release. "I am confident that he will provide excellent leadership for the Berkeley laboratory during this transitional period as it continues addressing some of the greatest scientific and energy challenges confronting our country."


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Dear Sam –
This is the end of another great day, nice and cool and the sun real warm. Mary and I went to the Thompson Squ. Theatre in the afternoon and after the show I could hardly drag Mary out. She is an awful movie fan. I suppose you are all waiting anxiously for the 21st to see what it will bring but perhaps as you say you better not raise your hopes too high.
Madge and John was up all day yesterday. Madge is getting along fine now. John had his violin with him and we had quite a concert. We are planning for another trip down to Nantasket although it is most too cold to go down. Madge thinks the trip will do her good because she has been feeling fine since our other trip.
Im glad you are feeling well but sorry to hear that some of the fellows have stomack trouble. Bert has it again but it must be tough in the Army where they cant get broths or any diet for it. We all received your cards with the poem on it Mary included. Every thing here is quiet, just as you say the same old thing every day nothing new.
I think after I get my wash in tomorrow Ill hang out your coat and suit. The air will do them good. Im starting some of my house cleaning but havent got very far yet for Im taking my time as I think it pays better in the end. I dont do much but after supper Im so tired I could fall right into bed. It's the same way every night. Last night Madge and I went down to Mollies and at 8 o'clock I thought sure it must be 10 I was so tired and sleepy. I suppose you dont feel any too rested yourself at night time.
I dont know what you are going to do for a place at the table when you get home. Mary has had yours ever since she moved over here. You can imagine how much to home she is. Since the day before she moved over the only meal she has had in her own house is her breakfasts and she has been up here for that more than once. When she goes home in the evening I get lonesome for her but as I said before Im tired and go to bed. Mack was telling pa last Sat. that he dont see her for three days at a time. I dont know what we would do here for life without her.
Well how are the Mexicans behaving on the border. There isn't much in the papers this week but I suppose you have enough to do just the same. I suppose just as you get ready to come home Villa will show up again. Of course you got my letter before now telling you I received the check and as I said in the letter I dont want you to be without money so when you are getting low in your funds let me know but you know it takes six days for your letters to come up now, it used to take three days and four at the most.
Now I know this is a dry letter but there is nothing new to tell about. There isn't a sound on the street only the cars and it so quiet in the house you could hear a pin drop. Quite lively here, isn't it? Now I guess Ill close and go to bed and I don't think Ill lay long before I get to sleep its just 9 o'clock. Pa turned in long ago I bet he's snoring now.
Dont work too hard and remember we are all waiting for the 21st as Mary says it (twenty oneth).
Love from all
© Copyright 2009 by Richard Landers, All Rights Reserved. No reproduction without permission.

subset: commoncrawl


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Odom eats candy. Lots of it. And that's why his play is inconsistent. At least that's the story according to Dr. Daniel Amen, who, according to the Los Angeles Times stated:
Odom freely confesses that he just can't help himself when it comes to the sweet stuff and always keeps a stash on hand of Gummi Bears, Honey Buns, Lifesavers, Hershey's white chocolate, Snickers bars, cookies and more. He eats the sugary snacks morning, noon and night, and even says he sometimes wakes up in the middle of the night, chows down on some treats, then falls back asleep.Now, remember that Odom's play is inconsistent, not consistently bad. And if he is eating sugar all the time, shouldn't his play be consistently poor? Oh, and is there any science at all to support the idea that eating sugar impairs athletic performance...? I'll admit to not being a top expert on this, but my brief search of PubMed did not bring up anything to support Dr. Amen's suggestions.
This is bad news for the Lakers. I've been telling my patients for years that sugar acts like a drug in the brain. It causes blood sugar levels to spike and then crash, leaving you feeling tired, irritable, foggy and stupid. Eating too much sugar impairs cognitive function, which may explain why Odom doesn't always make the smartest decisions on the court. . . .
As a fan and a physician, it concerns me that our professional sports organizations and players are not more concerned about brain health, which includes nutrition. My advice to Odom and to all sugar addicts is to get your sugar consumption under control. You'll feel so much better and your brain will function better too. And, maybe the Lakers can get their 15th championship and Odom can get his first.
So who is this Amen guy, anyway? He claims that Alzheimer's can be detected early through the use of SPECT brain imaging (single photon emission computed tomography). And he sells vitamins/nutraceuticals on his site which, of course allegedly help to prevent cognitive deterioration. There is sooooooooo much more to read about Amen, and I encourage y'all to head over to Salon to read an excellent debunking of Amen's many pseudoscientific claims.
I've rolled my eyes at this guy for years, but now that he's trying to shoot his witchcraft at the fine sport of basketball, I've hit my breaking point. But what do I know... I mean, Amen apparently wrote that
From the first month that I started to order these (SPECT) scans, I felt that they had a special place in science and that I was led by God to pursue this workAnd who am I to argue with a guy who was sent by God to practice medicine. But back to Lamar Odom; he insists that he ate candy for breakfast on the game days in which he played well against the Denver Nuggets. Well, maybe, but I bet a SPECT scan or two would figure out why his performance is inconsistent.
Dr. Amen also has some hot, hot science about the men, sex, and the brain. On The View, of all places. Get ready to cringe.
OK, fine. One more. Dr. Amen can target treatment for ADHD appropriately by... yes, using pricey and unproven brain scans! See below...


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The real cost of healthcare
Art Kellermann, a doctor and a vice president at Rand Health, a division of the Rand Corp., responds to Christopher J. Conover of Duke University's Center for Health Policy and Inequalities Research and the American Enterprise Institute, on the issue of how much is too much money for the nation to pay for healthcare. Conover's Op Ed, "Healthcare wasn't broken," was published March 15. If you would like to write a full-length response to a recent Times article, editorial or Op-Ed, here are our FAQs and submission policy.
Recently on these pages, Christopher J. Conover dismissed as misinformed those who are alarmed about America's high rate of healthcare spending. He declared that the U.S. spends only 1.5% more on healthcare than it should – and we can afford it. "[T]hroughout the world, as income rises," he wrote, "so does willingness to pay for healthcare."
The late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan famously observed, "You are entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts." Here are the facts he ignored:
The U.S. spends far more on healthcare — per capita and as a percentage of GDP — than any other nation on Earth, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. In 2010, that amounted to approximately $2.6 trillion. Each year, we Americans not only pay more for private health insurance than the citizens of other OECD countries; we also spend more on out-of-pocket healthcare expenses. And on top of that, we devote more tax dollars, per person, to healthcare than the Swedes, the French, the Germans, the Canadians or the British.
Can our country afford to spend this much? Of course not. Healthcare spending is siphoning federal and state money from other urgent priorities, including deficit reduction, defense, education and law enforcement. High healthcare costs hinder American businesses' ability to compete in the global marketplace. Many U.S. companies are deterred from offering coverage to their employees by the high costs of healthcare.
What's worse, healthcare costs are growing much faster than America's economy. Between 1999 and 2009, spending on healthcare in the U.S. rose from $1.3 trillion a year to $2.6 trillion based on federal data — a growth rate roughly twice that of inflation. As a result, the share of the nation's GDP devoted to healthcare reached 17.9%, up from 13.8% a decade earlier.
When the U.S. economy slid into recession, healthcare costs continued to grow. In 2009, as the economy bottomed out and millions lost their jobs, healthcare spending still grew by 3.8%. In other words, while nearly every other segment of the U.S. economy was losing ground, American businesses, families and the public sector had to spend nearly $100 billion more on healthcare than they spent year before.
To translate such gigantic sums into a number that people can understand, my colleague David Auerbach and I combined data from several sources to calculate what a decade of healthcare cost growth did to the take-home pay of a middle-class family. We based our analysis on a median-income married couple with two kids and employer-sponsored health insurance.
We found that although the family's income grew steadily through most of the decade, the increase in healthcare costs wiped out nearly all of the family's hard-won gains. At the end of the decade, they had only $95 more per month to spend than 10 years earlier.
Things would have turned out dramatically better if healthcare costs had risen at a more reasonable pace. If those costs had tracked the consumer price index, by the end of the decade our median-income family of four would have had $5,400 more per year to spend on other priorities. One can only wonder what that might have meant for the U.S. economy.
What do we have to show for all of this spending? Lots of testing and treatment, but not enough health. Recently, a Rand study compared 16 high-income countries to see how well they prevented deaths from medical conditions we know how to treat. The U.S. finished dead last.
In "Good to Great," a business classic, Jim Collins wrote that highly successful companies "confront the brutal facts (but never lose faith)." No nation on Earth can match the U.S. when we pull out the stops to help an individual patient. But the healthcare system fails too many, too often, and at too high of a price.
Only by confronting the brutal facts – but never losing faith – can we hope to improve America's costly and underperforming healthcare system into the high-value system Americans need and deserve.
Healthcare law at the high court: Readers' perspective
A cure for the common opinion
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Web Demo
Closed For The Season
Thank you for your interest in the Snowblast Tubing Park. See you next winter!
Located between the Mountain Gateway building and the bottom of Red Chair, experience the snow like never before! Snowblast Tubing Park, where the rubber meets the snow, is full of fun with an 800 foot ride full of rollers. Our surface lifts are built with the latest technology to pull you up the slope comfortably and quickly.
Tubing sessions typically SELL-OUT during busy weekend and holiday periods. make your change here


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According to the British Broadcasting Corporation, a large bomb blast has hit near government headquarters in the Norwegian capital Oslo, killing at least one person. The offices of Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg were damaged extensively, but he was described by a government spokeswoman as safe.
2.Police said a number of people were injured in the city centre explosion. Television footage from the scene showed rubble and glass from shattered windows in the streets - smoke was rising from some buildings. The wreckage of at least one car was on one street.
3.All roads into the city centre have been closed, said national broadcaster NRK, and security officials evacuated people from the area, fearing another blast. "Police can confirm there were deaths and injuries following the explosion in the government quarter this afternoon," the police said in a statement.
4.Oistein Mjarum, head of communications for the Norwegian Red Cross, said fires were burning in the 17-storey building housing the Prime Minister's office. An NRK journalist, Ingunn Andersen, said the headquarters of tabloid newspaper VG had also been damaged.
5.A message of Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's then No. 2, who has taken over as the head of Al Qaeda after OBL's death on May 2,2011, in a US Commando attack at Abbottabad in Pakistan, broadcast by Al Jazeera on May 21, 2003, had called for reprisal attacks against the US and some of its allies for occupying Iraq.
6. The message, inter alia, said: "O Muslims, take matters firmly against the embassies of America, England, Australia, and Norway and their interests, companies, and employees. Burn the ground under their feet, as they should not enjoy your protection, safety, or security. Expel those criminals out of your countries. Do not allow the Americans, the British, the Australians, the Norwegians, and the other crusaders who killed your brothers in Iraq to live in your countries. Wreak havoc on them."
7. While the calls for attacks on the US, the UK and Australia were not a surprise, the call for reprisals against Norway was, since Norway was not one of the allies of the US in Iraq. It was not clear why Zawahiri included Norway in the list.
8.The Norwegian police announced on July 8,2010, the arrest of three men suspected of having ties to Al Qaeda on charges of preparing terrorist attacks. One of them was a Norwegian citizen of Uighur origin. The other two were permanent residents in Norway of Uzbek and Iraqi-Kurdish origin. Two of them (the Uzbek and the Uighur) were reported to have been arrested in Norway and the third (Iraqi-Kurd with a permanent residence permit of Norway) in Germany. The Norwegian police had been keeping them under surveillance for investigation for about a year. The arrests appeared to have been made even though the investigation had not yet been completed because of the leakage of the news about the investigation against them to the media. They apparently decided to arrest them before the media came out with the news.
9. Media reports indicated that the arrested persons were suspected of involvement in plots for terrorist strikes in Norway and of having links with some terrorist suspects under investigation in the US and the UK. It was not clear whether the arrested belonged to Al Qaeda or its ally the Islamic Jihad Union , which has many Uzbek and Uighur members.
10.It is not clear whether the targeting of Norway has anything to do with its role in Afghanistan as a member of the NATO forces fighting against the Taliban.
(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Associate of the Chennai Centre For China Studies. E-mail: email@example.com . Twitter : @SORBONNE75)
Friday, July 22, 2011
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A Classic-Meets-Modern Wedding at a Private Residence in Tegucigalpa, Honduras
D\'Arcy Benincosa Photography
A vibrant Brazilian Carnival fused with traditional garden-inspired romance when Monique Kafie (28 and a business administrator) wed Gabriel de Lamare (30 and a business administrator). Their ceremony took place at Iglesia San Francisco, the oldest chapel in Tegucigalpa, Honduras—near Monique's childhood home. After the ceremony—the officiating cardinal spoke Portuguese to honor Gabriel's Brazilian heritage—the newlyweds and their 700 guests headed to Monique's family home. The outdoor classic-meets-modern reception called to mind a chic enchanted garden. The palette was centered on green with touches of muted pinks and blue grays, plus plenty of silvery metallic accents. Guests celebrated amid large hanging lanterns, a mirror-topped dining table with clear chairs, textured silver vase centerpieces and gray lounge furniture. Long after dinner and several international-themed desserts—including Brazilian bem-casados, pastries and a gelato cart—a troop of Carnival dancers revved up the party with drumming, dancing and neon regalia. —Carolyn Meers
D\'Arcy Benincosa Pho...


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How to Have a Rock and Mineral Treasure Hunt With Your Kids
Are your kids fascinated by rocks?
Want to get them outside and excited about nature?
Then take your kids sifting for gemstones.
First, you'll make a gem sifter. Then enjoy the thrill of discovering rocks in nature and exploring basic geology. It'll be a rock-solid experience you're sure to remember.
In this article I'll show you and the rockhounds in your family how to have an exciting mining adventure.
Why Go Rockhounding?
Rockhounding, also known as amateur geology, is an excellent way to get your kids excited to explore outside.
Go on a hike and collect rocks along the way. Or sift through the grit and sand of mines to discover treasures.
Identify the gems and minerals you find. Display your treasure or make a rock garden to remember the experience.
If you don't have gems that occur naturally in your neighborhood, don't worry. There's a workaround you can use to make it a successful adventure for all the rockhounds in your family.


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A lot of debate has taken place lately in regards to "unofficial" FTMs (modules produced using non-official forks of the main FamiTracker program), and opinions on what to do with them seemed to be divided among members of this forums.
My fellow staff members and I have been discussing this, and we have come to the conclusion that this place should not be the host of files which are not compatible with the main branch of the program (whether it be a beta or stable version of the official program). The Cover and Original sections are meant primarily as a gallery of what can be achieved using FamiTracker, and this principle fits right within the idea that this forum is, first and foremost, a support forum for FamiTracker. Moreover, FamiTracker is an active open source project, and everyone is welcome to bring their own additions to the program, whether it be bug fixes, new features, improvements on existing features, etc. It is not a dead project, and therefore forks should be kept separate from the main program as much as possible, starting with the music sharing forums.
So basically, the rule is this: Post modules of official (beta or stable build) modules only. If your track was composed using a different fork of the program, attach an NSF instead (and, optionally, a modified FTM which is compatible in some measure with the official version of FamiTracker). Attaching NSFs is not required when the corresponding FTM is an official module (but welcome regardless).
Existing threads that predate this announcement will be dealt with in the form of a simple written warning in the form of a reply to the thread, with reasonable time given to the OP to comply with this rule.
New threads created after this announcement which do not conform to this new rule will have the module deleted from the attachements (and an explanation will be posted as a reply to the thread). Repeat offenders wlil be formally warned.
As far as modules created using the latest beta version of the program (which, as it stands right now, is incompatible with previous versions of the program) should be labelled as such purely out of courtesy. The forum staff will deal with those on a case-by-case basis.
An updated thread with a complete set of rules will follow shortly. For the time being, please consider this an addendum to the existing ruleset which governed the previous forum.
Thank you for your attention.
~FamiTracker Forum Staff
IMPORTANT: Regarding "unofficial" modules in the Music section (Please Read)
Post your original music here and receive feedback.
Forum rules
This area is dedicated for original music, please do not post covers here.
This area is dedicated for original music, please do not post covers here.
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1 post • Page 1 of 1


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Frequent Links
Pascal's Wager
Pascal's Wager is an argument in apologetic philosophy devised by the seventeenth-century French philosopher, mathematician and physicist Blaise Pascal (1623–62).[1] It posits that humans all bet with their lives either that God exists or not. Given the possibility that God actually does exist and assuming an infinite gain or loss associated with belief or unbelief in said God (as represented by an eternity in heaven or hell), a rational person should live as though God exists and seek to believe in God. If God does not actually exist, such a person will have only a finite loss (some pleasures, luxury, etc.).[2]
Pascal formulated the wager within a Christian framework. The wager was set out in section 233 of Pascal's posthumously published Pensées ("Thoughts"). These previously unpublished notes were assembled to form an incomplete treatise on Christian apologetics.
Historically, Pascal's Wager was groundbreaking because it charted new territory in probability theory, marked the first formal use of decision theory and anticipated future philosophies such as existentialism, pragmatism and voluntarism.[3]
- 1 The wager
- 2 Explanation
- 3 Criticism
- 4 Variations
- 5 See also
- 6 Notes
- 7 References
- 8 Other external links
The wager
The wager uses the following logic (excerpts from Pensées, part III, §233):
- God is, or God is not. Reason cannot decide between the two alternatives.
- A Game is being played... where heads or tails will turn up.
- You must wager (it is not optional).
- Let us weigh the gain and the loss in wagering that God is. Let us estimate these two chances. If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing.
- Wager, then, without hesitation that He is. (...) There is here an infinity of an infinitely happy life to gain, a chance of gain against a finite number of chances of loss, and what you stake is finite. And so our proposition is of infinite force, when there is the finite to stake in a game where there are equal risks of gain and of loss, and the infinite to gain.
- But some cannot believe. They should then 'at least learn your inability to believe...' and 'Endeavour then to convince' themselves.
|Uncertainty in all
|This is what I see, and what troubles me. I look on all sides, and everywhere I see nothing but obscurity. Nature offers me nothing that is not a matter of doubt and disquiet.[4]
|Uncertainty in Man's purpose
|For after all what is man in nature? A nothing in relation to infinity, all in relation to nothing, a central point between nothing and all and infinitely far from understanding either.[5]
|Uncertainty in reason
|There is nothing so conformable to reason as this disavowal of reason.[6]
|Uncertainty in science
|There no doubt exist natural laws, but once this fine reason of ours was corrupted, it corrupted everything.[7]
|Uncertainty in religion
|If I saw no signs of a divinity, I would fix myself in denial. If I saw everywhere the marks of a Creator, I would repose peacefully in faith. But seeing too much to deny Him, and too little to assure me, I am in a pitiful state, and I would wish a hundred times that if a god sustains nature it would reveal Him without ambiguity.[4]
We understand nothing of the works of God unless we take it as a principle that He wishes to blind some and to enlighten others.[8]
|Uncertainty in skepticism
|It is not certain that everything is uncertain.[9]
Pascal asks the reader to analyze the position of mankind, this crisis of existence and lack of complete understanding. While Mankind can discern a great deal through reason, it is also hopelessly removed from knowing everything through it. He describes Mankind as a finite being trapped within an incomprehensible infinity, thrust into being from non-being for a brief life only to go out again, with no explanation whatsoever of "Why?" or "What?" or "How?" The finite nature of our being constrains reason with respect to every form of knowledge. Now, assuming that reason alone cannot determine whether or not God exists, the ontological question is reduced to a coin toss. However, making a choice to live as though God exists or does not exist is unavoidable even if the ontological question is inconclusive. In Pascal's assessment, participation in this Wager is not optional because Mankind is already thrust into existence. So even if God's existence cannot be independently confirmed or denied, nevertheless the Wager is necessary and the possible scenarios must be considered and decided upon pragmatically.
The wager is described in Pensées this way:
If there is a God, He is infinitely incomprehensible, since, having neither parts nor limits, He has no affinity to us. We are then incapable of knowing either what He is or if He is....
..."God is, or He is not." But to which side shall we incline? Reason can decide nothing here. There is an infinite chaos which separated us. A game is being played at the extremity of this infinite distance where heads or tails will turn up. What will you wager? According to reason, you can do neither the one thing nor the other; according to reason, you can defend neither of the propositions.
Do not, then, reprove for error those who have made a choice; for you know nothing about it. "No, but I blame them for having made, not this choice, but a choice; for again both he who chooses heads and he who chooses tails are equally at fault, they are both in the wrong. The true course is not to wager at all."
Yes; but you must wager. It is not optional. You are embarked. Which will you choose then? Let us see. Since you must choose, let us see which interests you least. You have two things to lose, the true and the good; and two things to stake, your reason and your will, your knowledge and your happiness; and your nature has two things to shun, error and misery. Your reason is no more shocked in choosing one rather than the other, since you must of necessity choose. This is one point settled. But your happiness? Let us weigh the gain and the loss in wagering that God is. Let us estimate these two chances. If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation that He is.
"That is very fine. Yes, I must wager; but I may perhaps wager too much." Let us see. Since there is an equal risk of gain and of loss, if you had only to gain two lives, instead of one, you might still wager. But if there were three lives to gain, you would have to play (since you are under the necessity of playing), and you would be imprudent, when you are forced to play, not to chance your life to gain three at a game where there is an equal risk of loss and gain. But there is an eternity of life and happiness. And this being so, if there were an infinity of chances, of which one only would be for you, you would still be right in wagering one to win two, and you would act stupidly, being obliged to play, by refusing to stake one life against three at a game in which out of an infinity of chances there is one for you, if there were an infinity of an infinitely happy life to gain. But there is here an infinity of an infinitely happy life to gain, a chance of gain against a finite number of chances of loss, and what you stake is finite.[6]
Pascal begins by painting a situation where both the existence and non-existence of God are impossible to prove by human reason. So, supposing that reason cannot determine the truth between the two options, one must "wager" by weighing the possible consequences. Pascal's assumption is that, when it comes to making the decision, no one can refuse to participate; withholding assent is impossible because we are already "embarked", effectively living out the choice.
We only have two things to stake, our "reason" and our "happiness". Pascal considers that if there is "equal risk of loss and gain" (i.e. a coin toss), then human reason is powerless to address the question of whether God exists. That being the case, then human reason can only decide the question according to possible resulting happiness of the decision, weighing the gain and loss in believing that God exists and likewise in believing that God does not exist.
He points out that if a wager was between the equal chance of gaining two lifetimes of happiness and gaining nothing, then a person would be a fool to bet on the latter. The same would go if it was three lifetimes of happiness versus nothing. He then argues that it is simply unconscionable by comparison to bet against an eternal life of happiness for the possibility of gaining nothing. The wise decision is to wager that God exists, since "If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing", meaning one can gain eternal life if God exists, but if not, one will be no worse off in death than if one had not believed. On the other hand, if you bet against God, win or lose, you either gain nothing or lose everything. You are either unavoidably annihilated (in which case, nothing matters one way or the other) or lose the opportunity of eternal happiness. In note 194, speaking about those who live apathetically betting against God, he sums up by remarking, "It is to the glory of religion to have for enemies men so unreasonable..."
Inability to believe
Pascal addressed the difficulty that 'reason' and 'rationality' pose to genuine belief by proposing that "acting as if [one] believed" could "cure [one] of unbelief":
But at least learn your inability to believe, since reason brings you to this, and yet you cannot believe. Endeavour then to convince yourself, not by increase of proofs of God, but by the abatement of your passions. You would like to attain faith, and do not know the way; you would like to cure yourself of unbelief, and ask the remedy for it. Learn of those who have been bound like you, and who now stake all their possessions. These are people who know the way which you would follow, and who are cured of an ill of which you would be cured. Follow the way by which they began; by acting as if they believed, taking the holy water, having masses said, etc. Even this will naturally make you believe, and deaden your acuteness.—Blaise Pascal, Pensées Section III note 233, Translation by W. F. Trotter
Analysis with decision theory
The possibilities defined by Pascal's Wager can be thought of as a decision under uncertainty with the values of the following decision matrix.
|God exists (G)
|God does not exist (¬G)
|Belief (B)
|+∞ (infinite gain)
|−1 (finite loss)
|Disbelief (¬B)
|−∞ (infinite loss)
|+1 (finite gain)
Given these values, the option of living as if God exists (B) dominates the option of living as if God does not exist (~B), as long as one assumes a positive probability that God exists. In other words, the expected value gained by choosing B is greater than or equal to that of choosing ~B.
In fact, according to decision theory, the only value that matters in the above matrix is the +∞ (infinitely positive). Any matrix of the following type (where f1, f2, and f3 are all finite positive or negative numbers) results in (B) as being the only rational decision.[10]
|God exists (G)
|God does not exist (¬G)
|Belief (B)
|Disbelief (¬B)
Criticism of Pascal's Wager began in his own day, and came from both atheists, who question the 'benefits' of a deity whose 'realm' is beyond reason, and the religiously orthodox, who primarily take issue with the wager's deistic and agnostic language. It is criticized for not proving God's existence, encouragement of false belief and the problem of which religion and which God should be worshipped.[11]
Nature as not a proof of the existence of God
Voltaire (another prominent French writer of the Enlightenment), a generation after Pascal, rejected the idea that the wager was "proof of God" as "indecent and childish", adding, "the interest I have to believe a thing is no proof that such a thing exists".[12] Pascal, however, did not advance the wager as a proof of God's existence but rather as a necessary pragmatic decision which is "impossible to avoid" for any living person.[13] He argued that abstaining from making a wager is not an option and that "reason is incapable of divining the truth"; thus, a decision of whether or not to believe in the existence of God must be made by "considering the consequences of each possibility".
Honestly judged, however, Voltaire's critique concerns not the nature of the Pascalian wager as proof of God's existence, but the contention that the very belief Pascal tried to promote is not convincing. Voltaire hints at the fact that Pascal, as a Catholic Jansenist, believed that only a small, and already predestined, portion of humanity would eventually be saved by God.
In this context Voltaire explained that no matter how far someone is tempted with rewards in order to believe in Christian salvation, the result will be at best a faint belief.[14] Pascal, in his Pensees, agrees with this, not stating that people can choose to believe (and therefore make a safe wager), but rather that some can not believe.
As Étienne Souriau explained, in order to accept Pascal's argument, the bettor needs to be certain that God seriously intends to honour the bet; he says that the wager assumes that God also accepts the bet, which is not proved; Pascal's bettor is here like the fool who seeing a leaf floating on a river's waters and quivering at some point, for few seconds, between the two sides of a stone, says: "I bet a million with Rothschild that it takes finally the left path." And, effectively, the leaf passed on the left side of the stone, but unfortunately for the fool Rothschild never said "I bet".[15]
Argument from inconsistent revelations
Since there have been many religions throughout history, and therefore many conceptions of God (or gods), some assert that all of them need to be factored into the wager, in an argument known as the argument from inconsistent revelations. This, its proponents argue, would lead to a high probability of believing in "the wrong god", which, they claim, eliminates the mathematical advantage Pascal claimed with his Wager. Denis Diderot, a contemporary of Voltaire, concisely expressed this opinion when asked about the wager, saying "an Imam could reason the same way".[16] J. L. Mackie notes that "the church within which alone salvation is to be found is not necessarily the Church of Rome, but perhaps that of the Anabaptists or members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or the Muslim Sunnis or the worshipers of Kali or of Odin."[17]
Another version of this objection argues that for every religion that promulgates rules, there exists another religion that has rules of the opposite kind. If a certain action leads one closer to salvation in the former religion, it leads one further away from it in the latter. Therefore, the expected value of following a certain religion could be negative. Or, one could also argue that there are an infinite number of mutually exclusive religions (which is a subset of the set of all possible religions), and that the probability of any one of them being true is zero; therefore, the expected value of following a certain religion is zero.
Pascal considers this type of objection briefly in the notes compiled into the Pensées, and dismisses it as obviously wrong and disingenuous:[18]
What say [the unbelievers] then? "Do we not see," say they, "that the brutes live and die like men, and Turks like Christians? They have their ceremonies, their prophets, their doctors, their saints, their monks, like us," etc. If you care but little to know the truth, that is enough to leave you in repose. But if you desire with all your heart to know it, it is not enough; look at it in detail. That would be sufficient for a question in philosophy; but not here, where everything is at stake. And yet, after a superficial reflection of this kind, we go to amuse ourselves, etc. Let us inquire of this same religion whether it does not give a reason for this obscurity; perhaps it will teach it to us.[19]
This short but densely packed passage, which alludes to numerous themes discussed elsewhere in the Pensées, has given rise to many pages of scholarly analysis.
Pascal says that unbelievers who rest content with the many-religions objection are people whose scepticism has seduced them into a fatal "repose". If they were really bent on knowing the truth, they would be persuaded to examine "in detail" whether Christianity is like any other religion, but they just cannot be bothered.[20] Their objection might be sufficient were the subject concerned merely some "question in philosophy", but not "here, where everything is at stake". In "a matter where they themselves, their eternity, their all are concerned",[19] they can manage no better than "a superficial reflection" ("une reflexion légère") and, thinking they have scored a point by asking a leading question, they go off to amuse themselves.[21]
As Pascal scholars observe, Pascal regarded the many-religions objection as a rhetorical ploy, a "trap"[22] that he had no intention of falling into. If, however, any who raised it were sincere, they would want to examine the matter "in detail". In that case, they could get some pointers by turning to his chapter on "other religions".
As David Wetsel notes, Pascal's treatment of the pagan religions is brisk: "As far as Pascal is concerned, the demise of the pagan religions of antiquity speaks for itself. Those pagan religions which still exist in the New World, in India, and in Africa are not even worth a second glance. They are obviously the work of superstition and ignorance and have nothing in them which might interest 'les gens habiles' ('clever men')[23]"[24] Islam warrants more attention, being distinguished from paganism (which for Pascal presumably includes all the other non-Christian religions) by its claim to be a revealed religion. Nevertheless, Pascal concludes that the religion founded by Mohammed can on several counts be shown to be devoid of divine authority, and that therefore, as a path to the knowledge of God, it is as much a dead end as paganism.[25] Judaism, in view of its close links to Christianity, he deals with elsewhere.[26]
The many-religions objection is taken more seriously by some later apologists of the wager, who argue that, of the rival options, only those awarding infinite happiness affect the wager's dominance. In the opinion of these apologists "finite, semi-blissful promises such as Kali's or Odin's" therefore drop out of consideration.[27] Also, the infinite bliss that the rival conception of God offers has to be mutually exclusive. If Christ's promise of bliss can be attained concurrently with Jehovah's and Allah's (all three being identified as the God of Abraham), there is no conflict in the decision matrix in the case where the cost of believing in the wrong conception of God is neutral (limbo/purgatory/spiritual death), although this would be countered with an infinite cost in the case where not believing in the correct conception of God results in punishment (hell).[27]
Furthermore, ecumenical interpretations of the Wager[28] argue that it could even be suggested that believing in a generic God, or a god by the wrong name, is acceptable so long as that conception of God has similar essential characteristics of the conception of God considered in Pascal's Wager (perhaps the God of Aristotle). Proponents of this line of reasoning suggest that either all of the conceptions of God or gods throughout history truly boil down to just a small set of "genuine options",[29] or that if Pascal's Wager can simply bring a person to believe in "generic theism" it has done its job.[30]
Argument from inauthentic belief
Some critics argue that Pascal's Wager, for those who cannot believe, suggests feigning belief to gain eternal reward. This would be dishonest and immoral. In addition, it is absurd to think that God, being just and omniscient, would not see through this deceptive strategy on the part of the "believer", thus nullifying the benefits of the wager.[11]
Since these criticisms are concerned not with the validity of the wager itself, but with its possible aftermath — namely that a person who has been convinced of the overwhelming odds in favor of belief might still find himself unable to sincerely believe — they are tangential to the thrust of the wager. What such critics are objecting to is Pascal's subsequent advice to an unbeliever who, having concluded that the only rational way to wager is in favor of God's existence, points out, reasonably enough, that this by no means makes him a believer. This hypothetical unbeliever complains, "I am so made that I cannot believe. What would you have me do?"[31] Pascal, far from suggesting that God can be deceived by outward show, says that God does not regard it at all: "God looks only at what is inward."[32] For a person who is already convinced of the odds of the wager but cannot seem to put his heart into the belief, he offers practical advice.
Explicitly addressing the question of inability to believe, Pascal argues that if the wager is valid, the inability to believe is irrational, and therefore must be caused by feelings: "your inability to believe, because reason compels you to [believe] and yet you cannot, [comes] from your passions." This inability, therefore, can be overcome by diminishing these irrational sentiments: "Learn from those who were bound like you. . . . Follow the way by which they began: that is by doing everything as if they believed, by taking holy water, by having Masses said, etc. Naturally, even this will make you believe and will dull you. —'But this is what I am afraid of.' —And why? What have you to lose?"[33]
Whether or not one can genuinely choose to believe a particular story based on the appeal to possible consequences, is trivialized. The urgency Pascal expressed that one must choose, and quickly, is not convincingly an argument to choose at all. The wager requires a correct choice (lose or win) among two scenarios that are part of the religious story itself. One must choose first to be convinced in the dichotomy of two initial propositions, of what "losing" or "winning" mean, as potential outcomes. While obedience and professing one's belief results in reward, skepticism or inability to believe result in punishment, both of these propositions are foregone conclusions. The wager is based on these two assumed-to-be established conditions and their outcomes. From there, the gambler's choice degrades into a coercion on the basis of self-interest, swayed by an appeal to fear. The god in the scenario is Pascal's personal conception of how the creator is or behaves and so the wager is congruent with the jealous and angry God of the New Testament. Pascal's idea of God would include what is predictable behavior. He describes God's feelings as your primary concern, when stated plainly. What might upset him or not, will determine (your) outcome.
Pascal's Wager is often compared to Anselm's Ontological Argument for the Existence of God, where a subtle insertion of a foregone conclusion, is presumed true and valid while the remaining propositions follow effortlessly. That which humans can capably conceive, is an a priori announcement that humans can't conceive of much. Worse, Pascal goes beyond Anselm to claim personal knowledge of his god, and what that god expects, while presenting the appearance of a hypothetical scenario.
Some other critics have objected to Pascal's Wager on the grounds that he wrongly assumes what type of epistemic character God would likely value in his rational creatures if he existed. More specifically, Richard Carrier has objected by positing an alternative conception of God that prefers his creatures to be honest inquirers and disapproves of thoughtless or feigned belief:
Suppose there is a god who is watching us and choosing which souls of the deceased to bring to heaven, and this god really does want only the morally good to populate heaven. He will probably select from only those who made a significant and responsible effort to discover the truth. . .Therefore, only such people can be sufficiently moral and trustworthy to deserve a place in heaven — unless God wishes to fill heaven with the morally lazy, irresponsible, or untrustworthy.
However, as noted above, nowhere in the establishment of the wager does Pascal appeal to feigned belief; God, being omniscient, would not succumb to such trickery and unwittingly reward the disingenuous. Rather, in the passage following the establishment of the wager, Pascal addresses a hypothetical person who has already weighed the rationality of believing in God through the wager and is convinced by it, but remains unable to sincerely believe. Again, as noted above, Pascal offers this person a way to escape the irrational sentiment that compels him to withhold belief in God after the validity of the wager has been rationally conceded. This way consists of applying oneself to spiritual discipline, study, and community.
In practical terms, therefore, this "alternative" scenario of God valuing rational belief and honest inquiry which is offered by Carrier and other critics is actually not very different from Pascal's own formulation of the scenario. Indeed, Pascal is unabashed in his criticism of people who are apathetic about considering the issue of whether God exists. In note 194, he retorts: "This carelessness in a matter which concerns themselves, their eternity, their all, moves me more to anger than pity; it astonishes and shocks me; it is to me monstrous." Far from glorifying blind irrationality, one of the chief aims of Pascal's arguments in the Pensées was to shake people out of what he saw as their ignorant complacency so that they could rationally approach this most crucial existential matter. Pascal says in note 225: "Atheism shows strength of mind, but only to a certain degree." Unbelievers who persistently endeavor in an honest, rational effort to search for the truth are commended by Pascal, to the exclusion of those who are merely dismissive.
A different angle on this concern is that it is a non-sequitur relationship between points 1 and 5. The truth of the "God is/God is not" binary exclusion seems unchallengeable. However, it cannot be drawn from this that there must of necessity be a consequence to that reality unless we make a presumption. Pascal postulates that there is infinite bliss or infinite loss attached to the gamble which we are compelled to make. But there is nothing given to support this as a natural sequitur, nor even that this "God-is" has the capacity to effect any future outcome at all, other than this "suppose there is a god who is watching us and choosing" presumption. And that is unproven.
- Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law, Ali, was narrated as having said[citation needed]: "The astrologers and the physicians both said the dead will never be resurrected. I said, 'Keep your counsel. If your idea is correct, I will come to no harm by my belief in the Day of Judgement, but if my belief is correct then you will be a sure loser by not believing in that day.'" (Narrated in Ihya of Al-Ghazali)
- Muhammad's descendant, renowned scholar and Shia Imam Jafar al-Sadiq, said[citation needed], "If the matter is according to what they (believers) believe, and it is according to their belief, then they will be saved, while you will be ruined. And if the matter is according to what you believe, and it is not according to your belief, then you and they are equal." (Al-Kaaafi, al-Tawhid)
- The Sophist Protagoras had an agnostic position regarding the gods, but he nevertheless continued to worship the gods. This could be considered as an early version of the wager.[35]
- In the famous tragedy of Euripides Bacchae, Kadmos states an early version of Pascal's wager. It is noteworthy that at the end of the tragedy Dionysos, the god to whom Kadmos referred, appears and punishes him for thinking in this way. Euripides, quite clearly, considered and dismissed the wager in this tragedy.[36]
- The Christian apologist Arnobius of Sicca (d. 330) stated an early version of the argument in his book Against the Pagans.[37]
- Pascal's wager is often concluded (not by Pascal) by stating that people should 'choose the safer wager'. Pascal stated that people could not simply choose to believe, but that they might develop a faith through their actions.
- An instantiation of this argument, within the Islamic kalam tradition, was discussed by Imam al-Haramayn al-Juwayni (d. 478/1085) in his Kitab al-irshad ila-qawati al-adilla fi usul al-i'tiqad, or A Guide to the Conclusive Proofs for the Principles of Belief.[38]
- In the Sanskrit classic Sārasamuccaya, Vararuci makes a similar argument to Pascal's wager.[39]
- Samlin makes a variant argument by suggesting that the concept of God has served the development of society sufficiently well that such influence on history justifies belief.
See also
- A Confession
- Appeal to consequences
- Atheist's Wager
- Christian existential apologetics
- Decision theory
- Ecclesiastes
- Existentialism
- Game theory
- Pascal's mugging
- Pensées
- Roko's Basilisk
- ^ Connor, James A. (2006). Pascal's wager : the man who played dice with God. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco. p. 180-1. ISBN 9780060766917.
- ^ "Blaise Pascal", Columbia History of Western Philosophy, page 353.
- ^ Alan Hájek, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- ^ a b Pensée #229
- ^ Pensée #72
- ^ a b Pensée #272
- ^ Pensée #294
- ^ Pensée #565
- ^ Pensée #387
- ^ Alan Hájek, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- ^ a b Dawkins, Richard (May 21, 2007). "Chapter 3: Arguments for God's existence". The God Delusion. Black Swan. pp. 130–132. ISBN 9780552773317.
- ^ Remarques sur les Pensees de Pascal XI
- ^ Durant, Will and Ariel (1965). The Age of Voltaire. p. 370.
- ^ Vous me promettez l'empire du monde si je crois que vous avez raison: je souhaite alors, de tout mon coeur, que vous ayez raison; mais jusqu'à ce que vous me l'ayez prouvé, je ne puis vous croire. […] J'ai intérêt, sans doute, qu'il y ait un Dieu; mais si dans votre système Dieu n'est venu que pour si peu de personnes; si le petit nombre des élus est si effrayant; si je ne puis rien du tout par moi-même, dites-moi, je vous prie, quel intérêt j'ai à vous croire? N'ai-je pas un intérêt visible à être persuadé du contraire? De quel front osez-vous me montrer un bonheur infini, auquel d'un million d'hommes un seul à peine a droit d'aspirer?
- ^ À vrai dire le célèbre pari de Pascal, ou plutôt le pari que Pascal propose au libertin n'est pas une option désintéressée mais un pari de joueur. Si le libertin joue «croix», parie que Dieu existe, il gagne (si Dieu existe) la vie éternelle et la béatitude infinie, et risque seulement de perdre les misérables plaisirs de sa vie actuelle. Cette mise ne compte pas au regard du gain possible qui est infini. Seulement, l'argument suppose que Dieu accepte le pari, que Dieu dit «je tiens». Sans quoi, nous dit Souriau, le libertin « est comme ce fou : il voit une feuille au fil de l'eau, hésiter entre deux côtés d'un caillou. Il dit : «je parie un million avec Rothschild qu'elle passera à droite». La feuille passe à droite et le fou dit : «j'ai gagné un million». Où est sa folie? Ce n'est pas que le million n'existe pas, c'est que Rothschild n'a pas dit : «je tiens». ». (Cf. l'admirable analyse du pari de Pascal in Souriau, L'ombre de Dieu, p. 47 sq.) - La Philosophie, Tome 2 (La Connaissance), Denis Huisman, André Vergez, Marabout 1994, pp.462-63
- ^ Diderot, Denis (1875–77) [1746]. J. Assézar, ed. Pensées philosophiques, LIX, Volume 1 (in French). p. 167.
- ^ Mackie, J. L. (1982). The Miracle of Theism, Oxford, pg. 203
- ^ Wetsel, David (1994). Pascal and Disbelief: Catechesis and Conversion in the Pensées. Washington, D. C.: The Catholic University of America Press, p. 117. ISBN 0-8132-1328-2
- ^ a b Pensée #226
- ^ Wetsel, Pascal and Disbelief, p. 370.
- ^ Wetsel, Pascal and Disbelief, p. 238.
- ^ Wetsel, Pascal and Disbelief, pp. 118 (quotation from Jean Mesnard), 236.
- ^ Pensée #251
- ^ Wetsel, Pascal and Disbelief, p. 181.
- ^ Wetsel, Pascal and Disbelief, p. 182.
- ^ Wetsel, Pascal and Disbelief, p. 180.
- ^ a b Alan Hájek, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- ^ For example: Jeff Jordan, Gambling on God: Essays on Pascal's Wager, 1994, Rowman & Littlefield.
- ^ Paul Saka, The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy - Pascal's Wager
- ^ Paul Saka, The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy - Pascal's Wager
- ^ Pensée #233
- ^ Pensée #904
- ^ Pensée #233. Gérard Ferreyrolles, ed. Paris: Librairie Générale Française, 2000.
- ^ The End of Pascal's Wager: Only Nontheists Go to Heaven
- ^ Boyarin, Daniel (2009). Socrates & the fat rabbis. University of Chicago Press. p. 48. ISBN 0-226-06916-8.
- ^ Weaver, John B. (2004). Plots of epiphany: prison-escape in Acts of the Apostles. Walter de Gruyter. p. 595. ISBN 978-3-11-018266-8.
- ^ Aleksandrovich Florenskiĭ, Pavel (1997). The pillar and ground of the truth. Princeton University Press. p. 37. ISBN 0-691-03243-2.
- ^ al-Juwayni A Guide to Conclusive Proofs for the Principles of Belief, 6
- ^ Nicholas Ostler (2005). Empires of the Word, HarperCollins.
- al-Juwayni, Imam al-Haramayn; Dr. Paul E. Walker (translator) (2000). A Guide to Conclusive Proofs for the Principles of Belief. Reading, UK: Garnet Publishing. pp. 6–7. ISBN 1-85964-157-1.
- Leslie Armour, Infini Rien: Pascal's Wager and the Human Paradox (The Journal of the History of Philosophy Monograph Series), Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1993.
- James Cargile, "Pascal's Wager," in Contemporary Perspectives on Religious Epistemology, eds. R. Douglas Geivett and Brendan Sweetman, Oxford University Press, 1992.
- Richard Dawkins, "Pascal's Wager", in The God Delusion, Black Swan, 2007 (ISBN 978-0-552-77429-1).
- Jeff Jordan, ed. Gambling on God, Lanham MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1994. (A collection of the most recent articles on the Wager with a full bibliography.)
- Jeff Jordan, Pascal's Wager: Pragmatic Arguments and Belief in God, Oxford University Press, 2007 (No doubt not the "final word", but certainly the most thorough and definitive discussion thus far.)
- William G. Lycan and George N. Schlesinger, "You Bet Your Life: Pascal's Wager Defended," in Contemporary Perspectives on Religious Epistemology, eds. R. Douglas Geivett and Brendan Sweetman, Oxford University Press, 1992.
- Michael Martin, Atheism, Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1990, (Pp. 229–238 presents the argument about a god who punishes believers.)
- Thomas V. Morris, "Pascalian Wagering," in Contemporary Perspectives on Religious Epistemology, eds. R. Douglas Geivett and Brendan Sweetman, Oxford University Press, 1992.
- Nicholas Rescher, Pascal's Wager: A Study of Practical Reasoning in Philosophical Theology, University of Notre Dame Press, 1985. (The first book-length treatment of the Wager in English.)
- Jamie Whyte, Crimes against Logic, McGraw-Hill, 2004, (Section with argument about Wager)
- Elizabeth Holowecky, "Taxes and God", KPMG Press, 2008, (Phone interview)
External links to primary text
- Pascal's Pensees Part III — "The Necessity of the Wager" The wager itself is found in #233 (Trotter translation).
- Section III of Blaise Pascal's Pensées, Translated by W. F. Trotter (with forward by T.S. Elliot), Project Guttenburg - The wager is found at note #233
Other external links
Standard references:
- Pascal's Wager in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Pascal's Wager in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Pascal's Wager: Pragmatic Arguments and Belief in God (2006) by Jordan, Jeff, University of Delaware, 2006
- Ambiguity, Pessimism, and Rational Religious Choice (2010) by Tigran Melkonyan and Mark Pingle Theory and Decision, 2010, Volume 69, Number 3, Pages 417-438
- The Empty Wager by Sam Harris
- The Rejection of Pascal's Wager by Paul Tobin
- Pascal's Mugging by Nick Bostrom
- Theistic Belief and Religious Uncertainty by Jeffrey Jordan


text:
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP) The Miami Heat said Friday the franchise didn't agree with the one-game suspension given to Dwyane Wade for making contact with Charlotte's Ramon Sessions earlier this week.
``While we accept the decision of the NBA regarding Dwyane Wade, we do not agree with it,'' the team said. ``In his 10 years in the league, Dwyane has never been suspended, and has been an exemplary player and positive influence to his teammates and fans and we have been honored to have him as part of the Miami Heat family. Unfortunately, he is the type of player, along with other players on our roster, that defenses take privileges with. We stand with Dwyane and support him in this situation and have made our feelings known to the league office.
Wade was suspended for Friday night's game at Detroit for flailing his leg and making contact with Sessions' groin during the Heat's 105-92 victory over the Bobcats on Wednesday. Wade tweeted Thursday that he's not a dirty player and was just reacting to contact with Sessions during the game.
``You'd kind of have to be there,'' Wade said at Friday's shootaround. ``With the whole video, it could be taken any kind of way. Like I said, I've made my statement and I'm looking forward to moving on and getting ready for tomorrow night'' against Milwaukee.
He said he would try to look at Friday as a ``rest day'' and hoped to watch Friday's game against the Pistons on TV. He quipped that he needs to get the NBA League Pass on his mobile phone but ``it was expensive the last time I checked.''
Bobcats coach Mike Dunlap said a penalty was necessary.
``I thought they were going to do something and when we looked at the film it was obvious that they had to do something,'' Dunlap said before playing the Brooklyn Nets. ``Competitive juices got the better of Dwyane. I think he's a class human being, I think he represents the league at the highest level. He's an Olympian, got us a gold medal, but there's no place for that.''
Coach Erik Spoelstra said Mike Miller would start at guard, and Ray Allen - who missed the Charlotte game because of a sore right shoulder - was ready to play.
``We're a no-excuse team, and we've prided ourself on that,'' Spoelstra said. ``These are the circumstances we've been given, and we feel that we have enough depth to overcome it.''


text:
In Malaysia, it is very common to find banana fritter (fried banana) but not apple fritter (炸苹果). From my understanding, apple fritter is more common in western countries where apple is abundant. Cooked it once or twice when we were in Australia but response was not that good. After little sumo came along, this fritter becoming more popular.
The making of this fritter is similar to making banana fritter, an important ingredient added is ground cinnamon. Apple and cinnamon are two best friends, they go along really well with each other. This fritter can be served as snack with tea or as dessert together with ice-cream.
- 1 large apple, peeled and diced/chopped
- 1 cup self rising flour
- 1 tbsp rice flour
- 1 tbsp corn starch
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 1 no. large egg
- ¾ cup milk
- 2 tbsp melted butter
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- Oil for deep-frying
- Icing sugar for coating (optional)
- Sift flours, corn starch, sugar and cinnamon together. Add in milk, melted butter and eggs. Stir with a spatula till just combined.
- Stir in apple. You may wish to coat apple with some all purpose flour before coating it with batter.
- To cook, drop a heap tablespoonful of batter into hot oil and fry till golden brown on both sides.
- Remove from hot oil and drain on paper towel. Coat with icing sugar if desired.
This recipe is featured in Y3K Issue No. 62 along with 3 other apple recipes, apple puff, apple ice blocks and apple pancake.


text:
Saint John's University Mission and Vision
Mission of Saint John's University
Saint John's University fosters the vitality of community through learning and the pursuit of wisdom. Striving for excellence, we unite the wisdom of Catholic social teaching and intellectual tradition with the practicality of the common life envisioned by Saint Benedict.
Vision for the College of Arts and Sciences
Saint John's University seeks to be one of the nation's great Catholic liberal arts colleges by providing the best holistic learning experience for men in the country. We will inspire undergraduate men to new heights of intellectual, spiritual, physical and social development that is informed by ethical reflection and grounded in our Catholic and Benedictine tradition.
Mission of the School of Theology•Seminary
Saint John's School of Theology•Seminary rooted in the Catholic and Benedictine tradition, educates men and women for ordained and lay ministry in the church.
Vision for the School of Theology•Seminary
Saint John's School of Theology•Seminary, cultivating its Catholic, Benedictine tradition, excels as an influential community of theological learning where study, prayer, and hospital dialogue expand understanding and deepen vocation fot he sake of building up vibrant Christian communities.
Dedicated to the pursuit of understanding, wisdom, and the common good, Saint John's University is committed to the following values:
- Community built upon relationships of hospitality, respect, cooperation, and challenge.
- Openness to learning, inquiry, beauty, truth, and difference.
- Respect for persons, tradition, creativity, experience, faith, reason, and religious practice.
- Depth in understanding, relationships, faith, and spirituality.
- Sacredness of God, being, truth, place, nature, and knowledge.
- Passion for excellence, truth, learning, beauty, love, and personal growth.


text:
Preparing for the journey back
Pedro Duque woke up at about 07:00 CEST (05:00 UT), as usual, and after breakfast at 08:30 (06:30 UT), he devoted most of the morning to the NEUROCOG experiment and an interview with Spanish public television channel TVE.
After lunch from 13.00 to 14.00 (11:00 to 12:00 UT), Pedro and the ISS Expedition Seven crew - US astronaut Ed Lu and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko — had several hours of training to prepare for the trip back to Earth in the Soyuz TMA-2 capsule.
Afterwards Pedro Duque worked on some more experiments. Dinner will be from 20:30 to 21:00 (18:30 a 19:00 UT).
23 October 2003 - A day for communication
Many communication activities planned for today. Wake-up time is as 07:00 CEST (05:00 UT), and breakfast with the rest of the crew one hour later.
The first job of the day is an interview with Spanish TV channel Antena 3. Then Pedro works in the experiment Crew Restraint (aimed at testing new crew-restraint equipment), before anther TV interview with Tele-5.
Before lunch, which is at 13:00, there's time to take pictures and videos, among other activities. A detail: all five crewmembers eat the same.
In the afternoon the schedule includes some work on ROOT (plant molecular biology) and AGEING (the experiment about ageing in fruit flies). At about 16:20 Pedro began working on the educational experiment VIDEO-2, which aims to explain Newton Laws to schoolchildren.
Dinner will be at 20:30. At about 22:30, time to go to bed.
22 October 2003 - Settling into a daily routine
Pedro slept very well last night. He was awake at 07:00 CEST (05:00 UT) and after using the bathroom, he had breakfast together with the rest of the crew until about 08:40 (06:40 UT). After downlinking some video material, the daily planning conference was held with the Control Centre.
The rest of the morning Pedro worked on Neurocog, a neuroscience experiment that investigates human spatial perception. He also took some photos and shot some more video material.
After lunch, which was from 13:15 to 14:15 CEST (11:15 to 12:15 UT), Pedro began using the 3D camera, which is an experiment in itself. The 3D images will provide illustrative aids and help, for example, to improve ISS simulators.
From about 19:30 CEST (17:30 UT) Pedro will devote time to PROMISS, an experiment on protein crystallisation. After that, dinner with the rest of the crew, and then more work, in this case NANOSLAB which studies the formation of zeolites.
At 22:30 CEST (20:30 UT) it will be bedtime again.
22 October 2003 - "We are very proud that you are up there"
Yesterday, at 10:30 CEST (08:30 GMT), Pedro Duque had a 15 minute conversation with Spanish Prime Minister José Maria Aznar.
Aznar was at the Moncloa Palace, in Madrid, with the Spanish minister of Science and Technology, Juan Costa. Eight students from the School of Aeronautical Engineering of Madrid Polytechnic University were also present. Aznar said to Duque: "We are very proud of you being up there", and he committed himself to continued support of the ISS programme.
Aznar conveyed to Duque the support of the people of Spain for his work. He went on to praise Pedro for how he inspires young people and for what he represents in this mission. Duque emphasized the importance of the scientific research, "that is what makes it possible for humanity to have a good standard of life".
The students asked Pedro Duque about daily life in orbit. The students themselves have experience of carrying out experiments in weightlessness – they recently participated in one of ESA's annual student parabolic flight campaigns.
21 October 2003 - A busy first day on board the Station
Pedro Duque has a full schedule today. He woke up this morning at about 07:10 CEST (05:10 UT), feeling well. Pedro is in very good shape, no headaches and no space sickness.
During the rest of the morning Pedro participated in the experiments Sympatho, BMI and Cardiocog. Pedro also downlinked video material that was shot when the Soyuz TMA-3 was approaching ISS for docking and another clip of himself while one of his crewmates took a sample of blood from him.
This afternoon Pedro will keep working on Cardiocog for about 2 hours; then he will devote some time to Nanoslab and to BMI. Activities for this afternoon include filming the behaviour of fruit flies for AGEING, a Spanish experiment.
Pedro's day is scheduled to end at about 22:30 CEST (10:30 UT) when he will go to sleep.


text:
Vacuum metallization is a process for coating objects, most often engineering plastics, with an extremely thin (~0.1 μm) metallic coating. It's done, essentially, by condensing vaporized metal fumes on the surface to be treated inside a vacuum chamber, and is a common means of "chrome plating" plastic parts used, for example, in toys.
I have been hacking on some cheap R/C cars, lately, and wanted to etch these metal films off of a few of the bits, A) to prevent it from shorting across exposed electrical connections and B) for aesthetic purposes. It looks gaudy, IMHO, and does not take paint very well. I knew that the usual strong acid and base suspects would remove it, and at first I was etching parts in disposable plastic cups containing about 12 oz of tapwater and 1/8 tsp Red Devil lye, which of course is sodium hydroxide. Hydrochloric (aka muriatic) acid will also do the trick.
I am not especially intimidated by these substances, but many people don't keep them around, for whatever reasons. And unless you're in a hurry, there's no reason to use them if something milder will serve. I got curious, and did a simple test with some household chemicals. I broke a metalized "roll cage" from an R/C truck into five pieces and soaked each in a different solution overnight. I used vinegar, an arbitrary mixture of vinegar and hydrogen peroxide (the strong hair-bleaching kind), straight hydrogen peroxide, diet coke, and an arbitrary mixture of diet coke and hydrogen peroxide.
It was not a very scientific process, but vinegar seems to work well. Specifically, I used "extra strength" distilled white vinegar labelled as "9% acidity." Hydrogen peroxide seems to have no useful effect. Diet coke works pretty well, but the carbonation causes bubbles that displace etchant and leave shiny spots on the surface. Your mileage may vary, depending on just how your parts were metalized (and with what metal), but if you have need of this process, vinegar may be a good place to start experimenting. Also, though I wanted to completely remove the metal films from my parts, it should be fairly straightforward to apply masking agents and etch decorative and/or functional patterns in them, if you should need or want to.


text:
Post coitus, a man ejaculates into their partner's mouth and then proceeds to tickle their partner to cause them to laugh forcing the ejaculate through their nasal cavities and shoot out of their nose, thus creating white whiskers resembling that of a dragon's.
"I gave my girlfriend a White Dragon and she said it burned her nostrils for a week..."
by .:special k:. July 07, 2003
A method of guessing on a multiple choice test that involves looking at the position of the second hand. If the hand is between 12 and 3 the guess is A. If the hand is between 3 and 6 the guess is B. Between 6 and 9 guess C. Between 9 and 12 guess D.
by ET4444 November 12, 2007
white dragon
when recieving a blowjob at the moment of orgasim plunge your penis as far as it will go to make her gag and for you to orgasim at the same time making her shoot her sperm threw her nose
by jimmy May 03, 2004
When you're giving head and a man is so far to the back of your throat that, when you swallow, some goes up your nose like milk and out your nostrils. Could look like a chinese dragon's white mustache, or breathing ice, fire, steam from out of your nose, like a dragon.
He came so hard it went up my nose and I sported the White Dragon!
I had him so far down my throat that the White Dragon was unaviodable.
I had him so far down my throat that the White Dragon was unaviodable.
by xKittensInFlames June 23, 2011
when a male ajaculates into a female's mouth during oral sex. he hits her back hard and the sperm comes back out of the mouth.
skeet skeet! bitch dont spit a whitedragon at me hoe!!!!
by Brandyn McCartney October 20, 2007
When a woman is going down on a man, right before he ejaculates he pushes down on the back of her head (or punches her in the back of the head) causing he to choke and cough thus shooting the semen out her nose. Like a dragon shooting flames or ice of it's nose.
See, sticky dragon or Ice dragon
See, sticky dragon or Ice dragon
"ohh, ohhh! almost . . . " Shove squirt Gag "BooYa! White Dragon!"
by Esquigo August 19, 2006
When you're receiving head and right as you climax you shove her head towards you causing a "milk shooting out of your nose" effect with your jizz
Dude I just went White Dragon on her.She going to be sneezing jesus juice outta her nose for the next week!
by octdude2011 July 24, 2009
Aug 8 trending
- 1. Celebrity Free Pass
- 2. watermelon sugar
- 3. CP Time
- 5. Gn
- 6. Get Mad
- 7. Wap off
- 9. h5af
- 10. Zydrate
- 11. wab
- 13. Turtle Time
- 14. ratfucking
- 15. was
- 17. blacking
- 18. Boomer APM
- 19. Go Blue
- 20. FeiLo
- 21. Homosensual
- 22. agreed
- 23. Geppetto
- 24. Gambiarra
- 26. yaad
- 27. Bapper
- 28. FriYAY
- 30. zooaphile


text:
ankh vs cross
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text:
It's that wonderful day of the week where we open the floor to questions, comments, tips, and sometimes hilarious photos.
This thread is the open house for Hackerspace, Lifehacker's community-run sister blog. If you want to play with us (as in getting to write your own Hackerspace posts, like the one you are reading right now), read this first. Participate for a while, whether here or elsewhere in the Kinjaverse to get a sense of this place. Then, ask for your posting privileges.
Image source: socialpaws.com


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học illustrator cs5 cơ bản
học illustrator cs5 online
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Merry Christmas and Happy New Years.
Like some of the guys already said, you have a high marks overall except for your English (which is mandatory). But if you had a high English mark in gr.11, you'll probably get it. Even if you don't get accepted, you'll probably get a conditional offer like some of them said.
Don't worry, a university will accept you soon enough.
20,000 Post PAARRRTTYYYY!!! JOIN!!!
Its the 28th guy, where's the mix at?
I hope that JV dunk is going in your mix.
How's that mix going? Probably better to wait till preseason is over so you have more footage.
You're invited.
Yea, it is. Cuz 1 of my sig pics has the bar while the other doesn't.
AKA FaTaLVeLi
R.I.P eaglesbaby4lyfe
Let me tell you something
Hall of Famer
Don't call me baby...
PSD's Joe Webb


text:
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Neues Blog zur funktionalen Programmierung
Wir haben ein neues Blog!
Zusammen mit der active group GmbH zeigen wir im neuen Blog jede Woche an Beispielen Vorteile und Einsatzgebiete der funktionalen Programmierung auf. Wir möchte über diese neue Platform das Wissen teilen, das wir im langjährigen, kommerziellen Einsatz dieser Techniken erworben haben. Wir hoffen, dass unsere Erfolge und guten Erfahrungen helfen können auch andere deutsche Softwareentwickler und Firmen zu ermutigen funktionale Programmierung einzusetzen.
Trotz des neuen Blogs werden wir weiterhin auf dem Firmenblog hier interessante technische Aspekte und Firmenneuigkeiten mit unseren Lesern teilen. Artikel über funktionale Programmierung werden aber schwerpunktmäßig im neuen Blog zu finden sein. Es lohnt sich also in Zukunft beide Blogs zu abbonieren.
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Templated PDF Printing for Appcelerator based iOS Apps
- Motivation
- Idea of a solution
- Detailed explanation
- IOS Module
- HTML-Template
- Inline-Images
- HTML Page-Formatting
MotivationWith Javascript being the language of choice within the appcelerator framework,
a huge variety of libraries and techniques for common problems, the catch being,
that many of these depend on the context of a web browser to funtion properly.
When it comes to creating PDF data within Appcelerator apps, so far the approach
had therefore been to small pure JS libs, such as jsPDF (http://jspdf.com/).
Yet, because of it's lowlevel approach (of drawing rectangles and lines) and
rendering text, it can be cumbersome to create a fully layouted document.
Idea of a solutionAs an alternative, I propose to make use of Appcelerators module framework, i.e.,
making use of native code, to pass an html string to an IOS module that will
render the content in a UIWebview object and subsequently to a PDF file, that
is returned to the application layer.
IOS ModuleThe module used for this solution has a method "setHTMLString", that can be
called from the application layer with the HTML string to be rendered in
a UIWebview object. Upon loading, the method "webViewDidFinishLoad" is called,
where the page then is rendered to a PDF file, subsequently firing an event
"pdfready", including a path to the file. This is necessary, as events in
Appcelerator can only carry JSON serializable data. Because the UIWebkit library
is not thread safe, all the calls in "setHTMLString" and "webViewDidFinishLoad"
have to be queued on the main thread by using "dispatch_async". For details check
the source code from github, referenced below. For general information about
developing iOS modules, check https://wiki.appcelerator.org/display/guides/iOS+Module+Development+Guide
HTML TemplateSince we are passing an HTML string from the application layer and basically
render it in a browser window, all known HTML traits apply and the document
can be layouted, as applicable. But, since there usually will be no webserver
running to pull resources from, you have to inline any CSS or JS code into the
HTML string, you pass to the IOS module. Based on such a template you might
create your final HTML string by replacing certain placeholders, such as
 with content data. Or you choose to just construct your
HTML string, as needed. Consider the following Appcelerator code:
var html2pdf = require('com.factisresearch.html2pdf');
Ti.API.info("module is => " + html2pdf);
html2pdf.addEventListener('pdfready', function(e) {
var emailDialog = Ti.UI.createEmailDialog();
var html = '
Hello World!
';
Inline ImagesOf course it should be possible to add images to the document. Because generally
it will not be possible to pull resources, the images also have to be embedded
into the HTML string. How this can be done is explained here:
and in countless other places. Consider the following code:
var html2pdf = require('com.factisresearch.html2pdf');
Ti.API.info("module is => " + html2pdf);
html2pdf.addEventListener('pdfready', function(e) {
var emailDialog = Ti.UI.createEmailDialog();
var html = '';
var imageData = Titanium.Filesystem.getFile(Ti.Filesystem.getResourcesDirectory(), 'Default.png').read();
var iv = Ti.UI.createImageView({
image: imageData
var image = iv.toImage();
var imageB64 = Ti.Utils.base64encode(image);
html += '

';
HTML Page-FormattingThe IOS module described above uses static page sizes and bounds for the printable
area. You may however want to customize this for different pages. On this account
CSS offers a range of customization options, such as the "@page" attribute, where
margins can be defined or the "page-break-before" style, that can set on an html
element to enforce the subsequent content to be displayed on a new page in the
resulting pdf.
var html2pdf = require('com.factisresearch.html2pdf');
Ti.API.info("module is => " + html2pdf);
html2pdf.addEventListener('pdfready', function(e) {
var emailDialog = Ti.UI.createEmailDialog();
var html = '';
var works = queryDBForWorks();
for (var i in works) {
var entry = {};
var rs = db.getWorkInfo(works[i]);
html += ('
' : 'style="page-break-before:always;">')+''+rs.fieldByName('TITLE')+' - '+rs.fieldByName('ARTIST')+'
');
html += ('<img src="data:image/jpg;base64,'
html += ('
'+''+rs.fieldByName('TEXT')+'

');
You may pull an implementation, along with an example from
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Developing Medical Software in Scala and Haskell
By the way, CUFP hosted a whole bunch of very interesting talks. They are all available on youtube, just search for "CUFP 2012".
Thursday, August 9, 2012
RedmineR - Redmine iOS App
Die Verwendung der App ist denkbar einfach: Zuerst muss "Redminer" kostenlos aus dem App Store geladen werden. Danach wird der API-Zugriffschlüssel benötigt - dieser wird in der normalen Redmine-Oberfläche unter "Mein Konto > API-Zugriffsschlüssel" angezeigt. Der Zugriffschlüssel wird dann auf dem iOS-Gerät unter "Einstellungen > Redminer" bei "API-Key" eingetragen. Außerdem muss hier noch die Tracker-URL eingetragen werden.
Download und weitere Informationen: Redminer für iPhone
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Android-App: Anrufweiterleitung
Sunday, June 3, 2012
UIs for Hierachical iPad Apps
If you're in a hurry: tl;dr version
Full-blown post
How does it work?
|after revealing more information in the level-2 view controller (the "Teams" view controller) by swiping to the right
Can I use FRLayeredViewController, too?
What is the API like?
Say, you have a UIViewController and you're using UINavigationController from Apple. To show a new layer to the user, you would do:
[self.navigationController pushViewController:test animated:YES];
[self.layeredNavigationController pushViewController:test inFrontOf:self maximumWidth:NO animated:YES];
The maximumWidth parameter is how you tell FRLayeredNavigationController whether the new view controller is content (give it the maximal width still available) or not.
Just as UINavigationController, it also supports UIBarItems and a configurable title view. For example, a UIViewController which has been pushed onto a FRLayeredNavigationController could have the following viewWillAppear method to add a back button on the upper left corner:
- (void)viewWillAppear:(BOOL)animated { self.layeredNavigationItem.leftBarButtonItem = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"back-button.png"] style:UIBarButtonItemStylePlain target:self action:@selector(backButtonClicked)]; self.layeredNavigationItem.leftBarButtonItem.style = UIBarButtonItemStyleBordered; }
How can I embed FRLayeredViewController in my project?
Thursday, December 1, 2011
A rant about Scala vs. Haskell
Scala's type system is powerful but also complex right from the start. With Haskell you can use most basic libraries without enabling GADTs, RankNTypes, OverlappingInstances and TypeFamilies or having to learn about them. And you can take your time to learn all these concepts. The containers API is really simple compared to Scala's collections API. On the other hand in Haskell you have to learn about monads quite early. (Oh, I miss this warm fuzzy feeling in Scala!)
We're using Scala for integration with existing Java code and libraries and that's working really well. As a "stand alone" language I still prefer Haskell and I doubt that's going to change with more Scala experience. For me as a functional programmer subtyping doesn't add much more than Java compatibilty. Maybe I have to change but IMHO it makes API design and the type system too complex. I'm still overwhelmed by the "default" design possibilities: type parameters or abstract member types? Sealed case classes or open subtyping? Implicit parameters and conversions (aka type classes) offer even more design choices! Maybe I'm just more experienced with Haskell but mostly I just decide between "data" and "class" and with higher-order functions that's enough 95% of the time. For the missing 5% we have extensions (and FlexibleX + Rank2Types + TypeFamilies + ExistentialQuantification is enough for me).
Often people complain about GHC's error messages but they're really great compared to scalac's. I also miss STM. Actors are nice, but using react doesn't feel natural and we can't just use "receive" with thousands of threads "without thinking" just like in Haskell. (We're now using react with the CPS transform plugin to hide the fact that internally everything is implemented using continuations.)
I don't miss lazyness, yet. I've used call-by-name and lazy vals on some occasions and I think I prefer strict by default with optional lazyness annotations. I just can't think "the lazy way" - even after 18 months of full-time Haskell coding.
I do miss control over side effects. When writing a higher order function I always get scared when I realize that I can only expect the caller to provide a pure function but the function could be doing all sorts of things behind my back!
One thing I'd like as a GHC extensions is explicit dictionary passing. It's nice that implicit parameters can be used implicitly but also explicitly. Of course it's risky, too, because nobody can stop you from using a different Ord instance every time you're inserting into a Set. "unsafeCoerce" seemed so evil - until erasure forced me to use foo.asInstanceOf[...] (Of course an exception is not as bad as a segfault.) Sometimes I know what I want and I'm willing to take the risk. As long as all those features are not enabled by default I think hard enough before enabling {-# LANGUAGE IncoherentInstances #-}.
Scala might be the best way to live between worlds. But you have to understand both worlds and you're still in between. It's not twice as good. If I have to live in OO world I prefer having a functional world in addition so I'd chose Scala over Java at any time. But if I can choose freely I still prefer the pure Haskell world.


text:
If you've tried this recipe please rate it!
Eat and Enjoy!
Traditional Greek food as cooked by Greek mothers!! Delicious and easy recipes!!
You are making me hungry! That sounds pretty easy.
Mmmmm, this looks fantastic! So delicious!
Yes, I particularly love this bread. It's great with olives and dipping it into olive oil. As you say, Sharkbytes, it is relatively easy to prepare.
Could you please send me some in New York ? :-)
Tis the season to be TIRED. I am sorry to have been away for awhile, but the holiday season tends to take all your free time and blogging time away from you. With that being said, I wish you a Very Merry Holiday and hope you get to enjoy many warm smiles with your whole family, kindest regards Glenn and all your friends at MOB :-)
It looks so yummy! In fairness huh just so easy to prepare.
I wanna try it sometime.
Merry Xmas!
My Yiayia use to make this for me as a child. I am definitely going to make it. I know it is delicious!
Looks delicious


text:
I'm not pro windows user, nevertheless it is a good news. Some time I got to deal with Microsoft desktop products and vista is the worst operating system out there. Also, Microsoft may have little choice but to support XP for an extended period since most of its business customers have not upgraded to Windows Vista.
This is the best thing Microsoft could have ever done, IMPO. This will help both IT stuff, admins and users. Also Microsoft don't want to promote Linux here:
Without continued access XP, manufacturers of such systems would be forced to offer them with the rival Linux OS on board — a situation Microsoft is hoping to preempt.
=> Microsoft Pledges Windows XP Support Through 2014


text: Book directly with Lark for the best rates. Guaranteed. always a free room upgrade when one is available at the time of check-in earn points toward free stays a welcome indulgence upon arrival exclusive subscriber-only offers "after the fact" deals: if you have a stay booked and we later offer a special deal for that time period, simply call us and we'll honor the deal for Club members for your upcoming stay — even when the fine print says "new reservations only" No hidden fees


text:
Saturday, April 13, 2013
A Long Anticipated Visit to the Utah Valley Technology and Genealogy Group
Thanks to all those who participated today. I understand there were about 130 people at today's session and our discussions lasted almost an hour past the ending time of the meeting. I was a great opportunity and a pleasure to meet and speak to the group. Thanks again for the invitation.
5 comments:
James, thanks for coming and giving a very interesting and enlightening presentation. I was able to use a couple of things that you presented today in the "Personal Help" area. I always enjoy reading your blogs and hearing and seeing your presentations. Thanks and come again.ReplyDelete
Hi, you suggested a topic for a blog post. I should have written it down. Could you suggest it again? Thanks.Delete
- AnonymousApril 13, 2013 at 7:22 PM
Maybe some day you'll be able to also visit the Silicon Valley Computer Genealogy Group (formerly Silicon Valley PAF Users Group). The Utah Valley group was a "subsidary" of the Silicon Valley group for a few years before they became independent. Great people in both groups!ReplyDelete
James, The subject that I talked to you about was the "other" cemetery records. I would be interested in what types of records there are and how we would use them. FinnReplyDeleteReplies
Thanks, I remembered in the middle of the night. See my most recent post.Delete


text:
If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed.
All registrations are subject to review to prevent board spammers.
Hi Pavel
I've just been informed of the following Facebook page, of which I thought you might be interested: -
Ahoj Pavle!
Vím,e jste hodně zaneprázdněný. Přesto bych Vás chtěl poádat o laskavost. Nemohl by jste časem se mnou propátrat knihu Diver! Diver! Diver! by Brian Cull ? Respektuji Vae rozhodnutí a pochopím kdy odmítnete. Předem Vám děkuji za ochotu.
Zdravím Pavel
A very kind person has put some Czech grave pictures on www.ww2talk.com on a thread I set up. Please feel free to have a look and see if there are any that of use to you. There are New Zealand/Caribbean ones on there as well. They could do with someone of your calibre on there to advise on Czech matters. Perhaps you could register and then post a list of ones you need so you dont just get thousands....
Pavel I found some Czech graves at Cambridge City Cemetary. Will get them to you as soon as I get my computer brought into work...
Have offered myself as a volunteer to The War Graves Photographic Project www.twgpp.org but will do Czech graves for you anyway...
Junior Member
Senior Member


text:
Matt Cassel
Matt Cassel is a National Football League (NFL) quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs. He is 6-4 and weighs 225 pounds. Matt has two brothers (Jack and Justin Cassel) in baseball's minor league system. Matt also played baseball for the USC Trojans in 2004 but was not drafted by any major league team. While attending the University of Southern California he majored in communications
High School
Matt Cassel attended High School in Chatsworth, California. Starting at quarterback in his junior and senior seasons, Matt had a total of 336 completions on 621 attempts for 4950 yards, 40 touchdowns and 12 interceptions in those two years.
College Football Career
From 2000 to 2004 Matt Cassel attended the University of Southern California and played college football for the USC Trojans. From 2001 through 2004 he backed up Heisman Trophy winning quarterbacks and NFL top ten first round draft picks Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart. In his total playing time with USC (he played in 25 games), Cassel completed 20 of 33 pass attempts for 192 yards and one interception. He also played backup tight end for the Trojans but only caught one pass for 12 yards in his playing time.
NFL career
In 2005 the New England Patriots drafted Matt Cassel in the 7th round of the 2005 NFL draft. After a great preseason performance he made the team as the third quarterback on the Patriots roster.[1] In his rookie regular season with the Patriots he played in two games and attempted 24 passes and completed 13 of those passes for 183 yards and 2 touchdowns and 1 interception. Most of the action that he saw in 2005 came in the last game of the season vs Miami. In that game[2] he led the Patriots from behind to come within a two-point conversion of tying the game and sending it into overtime. Both of Cassel's touchdown passes came in the last six minutes of the game.... In 2006 Matt became the number two quarterback and the primary backup to Tom Brady on the Patriots roster. In 2006, he didn't see any real action but he did attempt 8 passes for 5 completions and 32 yards in forth quarter blowout situations.
In 2007, he backed up Brady again but did not see much playing time. However, in 2008, Brady suffered a season-ending injury in the first game, forcing Cassel to start for the rest of the season. In 16 games (including the one in relief of Brady), he threw for 3,693 yards and 21 touchdowns. He led the Patriots to an 11-5 record and they narrowly missed the playoffs.
Since Brady was recovered by the 2009 season, Cassel joined the Kansas City Chiefs and became their starter. In 15 games, he had 2,924 yards passing and 16 touchdowns. In 2010, Cassel was named to the Pro Bowl after leading the Chiefs to a 10-6 record and an AFC West title. They lost to the Baltimore Ravens in the first round of the playoffs. In 2011, Cassel was hampered by injuries and only played 9 games. In 2012, he was named the Opening Day starter but was ultimately benched due to injury and poor play.
- ↑ http://www.patriots.com/search/index.cfm?ac=searchdetail&pid=12047&pcid=47
- ↑ http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/live/NFL_20060101_MIA@NE