text:
March 14, 2006--KNITRO, the industry-standard software for large-scale
nonlinear optimization, is now available from Wolfram Research as an
add-on to Mathematica. Merging its
state-of-the-art active-set and interior-point algorithms
with Mathematica's robust functionality, the new KNITRO for
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KNITRO for Mathematica is available for immediate download from
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requires Mathematica 5.1 or higher for Windows or Linux.
Those interested in a version for Sun Solaris or some Linux
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available on all purchases through June 30, 2006.


text:
Before we get started, can I ask you a quick question? What are you doing reading this comment? You are just a click away [ http://bitly.com/XfSn8I ] from a really rather good profile of Greg Coffey, the superstar hedge fund manager at GLG Partners and then Moore Capital, who retired last month at the ripe old age of 41.
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Most Read
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Banco Santander's scrip dividend diet is unhealthy
Spanish banks have been compensating for a lack of capital by feeding investors an unhealthy diet of sweet-tasting scrip dividends
From The Wall Street Journal

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Quick Links
Celebrate 100! Good Turns
A "good turn" is an intentional act of service.
Imagine all the good we can do for the world if every Girl Scout celebrates the 100th anniversary by performing 100 good turns!
The service aspect of Celebrate 100! reinforces the Girl Scout slogan to "do a good turn daily." Troops are encouraged to perform 100 good turns with their troop/group from January through December 2012.
Simple acts of kindness by individual girls or service projects completed by troops/groups can be recognized. Troops/groups can keep track of their progress using our special Good Turn Chain. Those who accomplish the goal of performing 100 good turns can receive a certificate to remind them of all the good they did during the Girl Scouts' 100th anniversary year.
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Good turns chart- binder version
Have questions regarding our 100th Anniversary celebrations? Email email@example.com or call 713-292-0369.


text:
SALISBURY, Md. - Police arrested a 22-year-old Salisbury man, after he allegedly fired a gun during an argument.
Salisbury Police say they were called to Cecil Street on Wednesday around 11:20 PM, where an investigation showed that several people were arguing, when one of them reportedly fired a gun. Police say, they found the handgun, which had the serial number removed, and the person who allegedly shot it, Parris Dashiell.
He was arrested, charged with possession of firearm by prohibited person, possession of handgun, obliterate serial number on firearm, reckless endangerment, discharge firearm in City limits. Police say that no one, or property was damaged during the incident. Dashiell was released to the custody of Central Booking.


text:
Johnson, Vorhees & Martucci
510 W. 6th St.
Joplin, MO 64801
Phone: 417.206.0100
Toll Free: 866-836-0100
Fax: 417.206.0110
Email: email@example.com
Website : http://johnsonvorhees.com
Patrick Martucci explains the what it means to be underinsuranced or uninsured in Missouri.
Copyright 2014 Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.


text:
Gamers mimic the real life football season
As you might expect, people who play sports video games tend to play with teams when those teams are winning in real life. Anyone who plays online via their Playstation or Xbox can tell you this. I play NBA 2K11 sometimes, and it can get pretty boring playing the Lakers over and over again. Kevin Quealy for the New York Times investigates the phenomenon with data from Madden NFL, the most popular football video game of all time, and small multiples. I sense R and ggplot.
A team loses, and there's a dip in gameplay. A team wins or gets a new star player, there's a spike.
2 Comments
Hahahah. This is SO COOL.
Fascinating display of a real life phenomenon. A visual study of human behaviour. !


text:
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Wednesday, February 20, 2013 - 8:49pm
EL PASO — Plans are in the works to possibly reopen Cappetto's Italian Restaurant.
After 56 years of service, the restaurant closed its doors in October, 2012. Ed Davis, the owner of Cappetto's, said a bad economy was the reason for the closing.
There are reports that Davis will be reopening a new restaurant and bar in Kern Place.
NewsChannel 9 contacted Davis and he confirmed that he is working on it, and will have more details soon.


text:
Top picks 2012: HMS Holdings Corp.
This cost-containment company helps keep fraud and overpayments down while healthcare spending goes up.
By Jim Oberweis, Jr., The Oberweis Report
For a play on healthcare reform in this country, HMS Holdings (HMSY) is a small cap to own. The company provides cost-containment services for state Medicaid programs and other third-party payors by ridding the system of fraud and errors.
Healthcare reform should expand the number of Medicaid-covered lives significantly, from 57 million to over 80 million by 2019, with estimated spending more than doubling over that same time period.
Another result of healthcare reform is the requirement that states establish Medicaid Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) programs to identify and recover overpayments.
With several RAC contracts under its belt, management expects the company to win at least 50% of these eligible engagements.
The majority of revenues are contingency-based, thus allowing HMS to charge little or no up-front costs (which is quite compelling in this economy), while being motivated to save customers as much money as possible.
Most contracts are multiyear commitments whereby HMS gets paid a percentage of the money saved. HMS grew earnings over 30% in the latest reported quarter, and we expect the company to grow revenues by more than 30% over the next 12 months.
HMS has an impressive track record of entering new and faster-growing markets, with two recent acquisitions positioning it in the lucrative yet nascent market for dependent eligibility services. Here, the company audits client data on a fee-for-service basis to ensure that dependents enrolling for employer-sponsored health care are indeed eligible to receive subsidies.
With many growth-story stocks disappointing investors, this diamond in the rough should be on your radar.
Steven Halpern's TheStockAdvisors.com offers a free daily review of the favorite stock ideas of the nation's top financial newsletter advisors.
Copyright © 2014 Microsoft. All rights reserved.
Fundamental company data and historical chart data provided by Morningstar Inc. Real-time index quotes and delayed quotes supplied by Morningstar Inc. Quotes delayed by up to 15 minutes, except where indicated otherwise. Fund summary, fund performance and dividend data provided by Morningstar Inc. Analyst recommendations provided by Zacks Investment Research. StockScouter data provided by Verus Analytics. IPO data provided by Hoover's Inc. Index membership data provided by Morningstar Inc.
New study finds members of this global elite are stashing an average $600 million each in cash -- 10 times more than a year ago.
Top Stocks provides analysis about the most noteworthy stocks in the market each day, combining some of the best content from around the MSN Money site and the rest of the Web.
Contributors include professional investors and journalists affiliated with MSN Money.
Follow us on Twitter @topstocksmsn.


text:
openSUSE Conference 2011: Call for Papers
The 2011 openSUSE Conference, which will be held in Nuremberg in September, announced its call for papers. Talk proposals will be accepted until July 11th.
Scheduled for September 11-14 in Germany, the 2011 openSUSE Conference will be co-located with the SUSE Labs event. With 500 expected attendees, this year's event will be held in the Zentrifuge exhibition and event hall. The 2011 event theme is Read, Write, Execute. Find out more about the event and suggested talk topics on the announcement page.
Issue 168/2014
Buy this issue as a PDF
Tag Cloud
Mozilla Labs Shuts Down
Mozilla's product think tank sinks silently into history.
Internet Giants Launch Collaboration to Improve Open Source
TODO group will focus on open source tools in large-scale environments.
Fedora Announces New Partition Manager App
New tool will look like GParted but support a wider range of storage technologies.
Mozilla Releases a New Firefox
New public key pinning feature will help prevent man-in-the-middle attacks.
Tool Predicts Which Websites Will be Compromised
Carnegie Mellon researchers say 3 million pages could fall down the phishing hole in the next year.
SSH Key Management Guidelines
The US government rolls new best-practice rules for protecting SSH.
Knoppix 7.4 Released
Klaus Knopper announces the latest version of his iconic Live Linux system.
PHP Attack Puts WordPress and Drupal at Risk
All websites that use these popular CMS tools could be vulnerable to denial of service attacks if users don't install the updates.
Heartbleed Bleeds On
According to a report, many potential victims of the Heartbleed attack have patched their systems, but few have cleaned up the crime scene to protect themselves from the effects of a previous intrusion.
Drone Brain Goes Open Source
DARPA and NICTA release the code for the ultra-secure microkernel system used in aerial drones.


text:
Articles tagged "Jim Cornelison"
Monsters of the Midway: We Need The Chicago Bears More Than Ever
The Chicago Bears have dominated on defense better, longer and more often than any team in NFL history, riding that defense to a legacy unmatched in pro football. We chronicle the defensive life and times of a team that still chooses to attend the NFL's Old School.
Forearm Shiver: the CHFF Blog
Quick Outs
- CHFF Flashback: Colin Kaepernick Has Worst QB Performance of 2013
- Patriots Turn It Around With Win Over Minnesota
- Andy Dalton Passes Aaron Rodgers In Record Books
- Quotes From Ravens Fans Who Support Ray Rice
- 2014 NFL Season Player Props
- Cardinals And Chargers: Charting Their Courses After Week 1
- Vegas Win Totals For Each NFL Team
- Best NFL Records Of The Past 10 Years
- Audio: The Cold Hard Football Facts Hosted By Pat Imig
- Groundhog Day: Seattle Dominates Green Bay
Must See Videos


text:
Before you travel, get trusted tips, ways to save, and advice on how to plan a safe, healthy, and stress-free family vacation.
A daughter writes an open letter asking her mother when they can see the world together. >>
Along the 2,291 mile highway that is Route 66, you'll find territorial-era mining towns, quiet… >>
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When a winter storm hits and you're on the road, there might be no time to think about survival… >>
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Traffic jams? Flight delays? You won't mind so much when you're listening to something terrific. >>
How to prevent an icy windshield, quickly thaw a frozen lock, and more. >>
Planning a trip abroad? Learn these seven rules to avoid offending the locals. >>
Don't believe everything you hear about the best way to travel safely, happily, and on a budget. >>


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Vivlamore reporting (from vacation, shhhhh).
Here are five questions I asked of Josh Smith as part of the season preview that will appear in Sunday's print edition of the AJC.
Q. What are your expectations for the team this year and have they changed since the start of training camp?
A. My expectations are the same expectations I set for this ball club every year and that's to compete for a championship. I think that we have the talent. We have the cohesiveness. All we have to do is be able to figure out a way to play consistently together on the defensive end. I think when we get that down pat, the sky is the limit for this team.
Q. Would that be the biggest challenge with a revamped roster?
A. We were pretty good defensively the last couple of years. We've been pretty solid. We might just be a little undersized. We were undersized before but are very undersized now. But that shouldn't be an issue. I think that we have a lot of feisty and competitive people on this team that hate to lose. I think that will outweigh the so-called decreases that this team has.
Q. The Hawks will be a smaller team, especially at the small forward position this season. What are the issues defending the position?
A. The 3 is, night in and night out, you are playing a beast at that position. It's definitely going to be a challenging position for us but at the same time we are a team. The 3 is just one position. Last time I checked there are five positions. We have to be able to help everybody out collectively. One guy is not going to get it done.
Q. Are you comfortable playing small forward? Or would you rather play power forward?
A. I'm a versatile player and coach knows whatever position he puts me at I'm comfortable playing that position. I'm willing and always ready to step up to the challenge.
Q. What are the strengths and weaknesses of this team?
A. The strengths are, offensively, we have a lot of weapons. We have a lot of deep threats. We are very unselfish. For us to being together for a little time, we communicate very well.
The weaknesses are get a little tougher and be a little more competitive on the defensive end consistently.
- Chris Vivlamore
* Video: Hawks still implementing new offense
* Injury update, Petro frustrated
* Many options at small forward
* Offense steps up in win over Mavs
Follow me on Twitter at ajchawks
October 25th, 2012
5:07 pm
October 25th, 2012
5:08 pm
We win 45-50 games. Get 3-6 seed in the playoffs. Can Win a playoff series and that is about it. Go Hawks!
October 25th, 2012
5:10 pm
I am so happy to be a hawks fan. Will the season start already!!!!
October 25th, 2012
5:11 pm
October 25th, 2012
5:12 pm
The Hawks will make the playoffs, everything else is cake with this group. I think we will get to the second round also. Josh Smith and Al Horford will own the middle this year.
October 25th, 2012
5:19 pm
Andrew Wiggins re-classifies moving from #1 ranked 2014 to #1 ranked 2013.
October 25th, 2012
5:19 pm
The Viv rules.
October 25th, 2012
5:48 pm
Glad to see a happy smoove
October 25th, 2012
6:03 pm
Smoove 4 president!! Glad u ppl FINALLY hoped on his bandwagon
October 25th, 2012
6:10 pm
Word to the bird
October 25th, 2012
6:11 pm
Does he plan on staying?
October 25th, 2012
6:28 pm
Don't ask these questios again….kind of lazy when you could ask questions about stats & events they're doing around town…we get the undersized question but even the NBA acknowledges it since they are changing the NBA All-Stars ballot
October 25th, 2012
6:35 pm
It will be very important that with Teague, Harris and Williams, we'll be able to effectively run pick and rolls the entire gm. Last yr, we didn't have that luxury with Teague out of the gm. JJ and Hinrich weren't very effective at running the pick an roll because neither player was much of a threat to take anyone off the dribble and finish at the rim.
October 25th, 2012
6:37 pm
A lot of teams have announced who they are going to start. I wish we had some clarity. Also, I would not mind Eddie Curry instead of Petro. Actually, any body except that guy.
October 25th, 2012
6:51 pm
Hawks Get Positive Reviews From NBA GM Survey
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
By Micah Hart
NBA.com's annual GM survey gives some nice insight into how different front offices view their competition around the league. It's well worth a full read for their thoughts on everything from the best teams to the most underrated players, but here are a few nuggets from the piece that pertain to the Hawks:
NBA GMs peg Atlanta to be the second-best team in the Southeast Division. We joked about it on Twitter yesterday, but if something goes haywire in Miami, nice to know that we're next in line to reap the spoils.
The Hawks received votes for which team had the best offseason. The Lakers dominated this one thanks to their trade for Dwight Howard and signing of Steve Nash, but I think you could make a long-term case (and I'm sure some of you will) that the Hawks did better than the second-place finisher, the Nets.
Lou Williams checked in at a tie for 4th in the "Most underrated player acquisition" category. Denver's Andre Iguodala was the top choice, which is surprising to me considering his pedigree. Lou is going to surprise some people this year, I'm telling you. Deliciously, Lou Williams is underrated on a list of most underrated.
Rookie shooting guard John Jenkins received some votes in the "Rookie sleeper" category.
A little shout-out to the Hawks' bench, as new assistant Kenny Atkinson received votes for the NBA's best assistant coach.
No surprise here, Kyle Korver received some votes for the NBA's best pure shooter, and finished tied for 3rd in "Best at moving without the ball". Watching him work his way through screens is one of the things I'm most excited for this season.
Josh Smith received votes for the NBA's best finisher. If the category was "Most dunks off the opening tip," I bet he'd have finished at the top.
Finally, the NBA's toughest player question saw Zaza Pachulia draw some votes. If you saw him get up after spraining his ankle against the Hornets and dive for a loose ball on the very next possession, you know it's well deserved.
October 25th, 2012
6:51 pm
GO HAWKS! You tell em Josh! We going place this year and your' leading us there! Do you enjoy basketball? Do you worship Josh Smith? Wanna win your' own copy of 2k13? Then check out http://www.bballfan4life.com!
October 25th, 2012
7:44 pm
Smoove for All-Star. With that rule change, he's gonna have to have down year to miss the selection again (knock on wood)
October 25th, 2012
8:14 pm
I predict (and hope) this is the last trainincamp we go into with Josh Smith as our starting PF.
October 25th, 2012
8:20 pm
Smoove looks so much happier out there playing this year, its like hes a little kid again. I think he's really excited for this team and the future of the Hawks, and I hope he can stay here and enjoy it with us fans for years to come!
October 25th, 2012
8:28 pm
Today the starting backcourt for the Bucks of Ellis and Jennings combined to take 25 shots only to score a total of 11 pts. They also combined for 6 assists and 6 turnovers.
Meanwhile, Kemba Walker, while playing against them, scored 20 pts and dished out 7 assists with no turnovers.
What's your predictions for the Bucks this year?
October 25th, 2012
9:40 pm
Hahaha…love it how Josh says they are very unselfish. Hey Joe, that one was for you!
October 25th, 2012
10:23 pm
Jae Evolution, lottery picks in the 2014 draft are worth more than pure gold sir.
October 25th, 2012
10:24 pm
October 25th, 2012
10:35 pm
Runner — It's a contract year for Josh. That is probably the best explanation for what you've observed.
October 25th, 2012
11:29 pm
Sorry but if Zaza appears on any list other than most illegal screens or 3sec violation, the survey loses all of its credibility.
October 26th, 2012
2:34 am
Q: Stop taking so many jumpers?
A: No.
October 26th, 2012
6:42 am
The questions were good, and the answers were all intelligent. Is Smith finally in his right mind? Seems to be. Wow!
October 26th, 2012
8:32 am
Love Josh Smith. My favorite Hawk since 'Nique.
October 26th, 2012
8:53 am
We better be the second best team in our division when the other two teams are Orlando and Charlotte.
October 26th, 2012
8:57 am
These Hawks are mainly made up of "cast-offs" and are poorly coached. Don't know why anyone would expect them to make the play-offs. Smith says they are "unselfish". To me this means he wants everyone to pass him the ball so he can launch rainbow 3's from the corner. This year could get ugly.
October 26th, 2012
8:59 am
October 26th, 2012
9:06 am
Smith is extremely talented, but also extremely frustrating. Along with Paul Pierce and Dwight Howard, he is one of the biggest crybabies in the NBA. Ever notice how elite players get all the calls in their favor? If Josh would stop pouting and whining out on the floor, he could probably get some ticky-tack fouls to go the Hawks way. Stop shooting anything outside the free throw line extended and he'd dominate.
October 26th, 2012
9:07 am
Oh yea…stop trying to be a point guard too. Too many pointless turnovers!
October 26th, 2012
9:19 am
If Drew selects DJames or JSmith at SF rather than going with his stated SF by committee approach, this could develop into a very competitive team that will not only make the playoffs but make some playoff noise. With Korver, Morrow, Jenkins, Harris, Williams, Horford, and Teague, I don't know of any team that can match our overall combination of speed, quickness, athleticism, shooting and penetrating ability.
With no clearcut star or go to guy on our roster, it's going to take some serious and consistent coaching to get the most out of what this roster has to offer. Our coaching staff won't have to teach or devlop the shooting of Morrow, Korver, Jenkins, Scott, Tolliver or Horford, or the penetrating ability of Teague, Harris, and Williams. The key will be how effectively and consistently LDrew and his staff take advantage of the attributes of these players.
The combination of speed, quickness and athleticism in the open court, coupled with our shooting and penetrating ability in halfcourt, can be a deadly effective combination. Having no clearcut superstar or go to player, and incorporating so many talented players with so many simularities in certain areas, means it will take time to develop chemistry among players and coaching staff.
October 26th, 2012
9:49 am
So are you saying if Marvin averages 16 and 8 for Utah, you still wont have any remorse
October 26th, 2012
9:52 am
If Josh plays to his strengths consistently, his name will be mentioned again for all-star selection. When all is said and done however, I don't think he will make the team because of the amount of forwards in the East (and maybe some politics too).
October 26th, 2012
10:45 am
For a No. 2 overall pick, 16 and 8, not capable of demanding and making the last shot … no regrets at all. Bye, Marv.
October 26th, 2012
10:52 am
Josh wants a championship…and I want a PONY!!
October 26th, 2012
11:00 am
I love Smoove as a player. He is one of my favorite Hawks of all time. he plays with great effort and intensity every night. I pray that the hawks new GM keeps him long term. He may quite possibly be the most underated player in the league. he carried this team with AL out last season and can envision him doing the same this yr. I actually really like the make-up of this team, cahmp caliber they are not yet but they will be really fun to watch if nothing else. If they make the playoffs they have a chance to make a little noise because they ought to be able to out run the old teams in the east
October 26th, 2012
12:01 pm
i agree with josh smith but danny ferry need to find a no. 5 to play the center position especially on the defensive end blocking shots and rebounding.on offense who is a tremendous low post player to free up al horford to play the power forward position.they have everything else needed. za za pachulia is not the answer. he plays too soft and gets pushed around by smaller guards.he also takes plays off.he only played against kevin garnett by there"s more centers in the league than garnett
October 26th, 2012
6:52 pm
cdog – you're complaining about Pachulia taking plays off? At least he bothers to move down court. Smith on more than a few occasions has chosen not to get back on defense.
October 27th, 2012
7:37 am
I am just sooooooooo glad that Joe Johnson will now be displaying his double teamed fade away jump shot to the Nets.
That was a huge and smart trade for Danny Ferry. With the cap room he now has, I really look for this team to really get better starting next year. I think this will be a good year, but the best is yet to come.
October 27th, 2012
8:00 am
Getting rid of the Joe Johnson albatross contract ranks up there as one of the greatest moves we have seen in ATL. I didn't think it was possible.


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Why the Easter bunny is a retail beast
Easter sales aren't as widespread as those of the winter holidays, but they give shoppers the sugar high they need to snap out of their cold spell.
By Jason Notte, TheStreet
The Easter bunny may look fluffy and cute, but retailers know there's a lot of consumer-toned muscle beneath that fuzzy exterior.
Easter may not have the profile of other holidays, but the bunny is a retail beast. Easter brought in more than $14 billion last year, accounting for 6.1% of all holiday spending, according to IBISWorld. That makes it fifth among its holiday cohorts, falling behind the winter holidays (59.2%), Thanksgiving (13.4%), Valentine's Day (7.5%) and Mother's Day (6.5%).
Last year, the 79.6% of Americans who celebrated Easter spent an average of $118.60. Most of that spending went into Easter baskets as food ($37.45), gifts ($18.16) and candy ($17.29). For such companies as Tootsie Roll (TR), Hershey's (HSY) and Kraft (KFT) -- which is on its second year of making Cadbury Creme Eggs -- Easter is a $1.9 billion basket of goodies, with candy sales second only to Halloween's $2 billion, according to the National Confectioners Association.
"Easter is obviously a religious holiday, but many retailers have discovered that Americans consider Easter the official kickoff to spring," says Kathy Grannis, a spokeswoman for the National Retail Federation. "We've found that millions of Americans head out every spring to buy not only Easter-related products but . . . new spring apparel."
While roughly 65% of Americans got their chocolate, jelly beans and decorations at discount stores such as Wal-Mart (WMT), Target (TGT), Kmart (SHLD), Kohls (KSS) and Fred Meyer (KRO) last year, they were putting a lot more into the cart than just holiday treats. The NRF says roughly 39.2% of Americans spent an average of $19 on Easter apparel last year, fueling sales when there is seemingly little incentive to do so.
"It's more about promoting new lines through small discounts or events than big blowout sales like a post-holiday clearance," says IBISWorld analyst Nikoleta Panteva. "Because the prices are higher than during post-holiday sales, they kind of bring in revenue that way."
Stores such as Gap (GPS) and TJX (TJX) may get nostalgic for winter around this time of year, as only 7% of NRF consumers shop at specialty clothing stores for the holiday. But other retail niches find the holiday as sweet as a truckload of marshmallow Peeps.
Since the basket is big enough to hold, say, a copy of Dragon Age 2, Easter has been a huge video game holiday. Last year alone, the NPD Group credited Easter sales with an $80 million spike in game sales that fueled big returns for Sony's (SNE) "God of War III" and Electronic Arts' (ERTS) "Battlefield: Bad Company 2." Conversely, they also blamed the movable feast for a more than $100 million decline in April sales when the holiday fell on April 4 last year after falling on April 12 a year earlier.
Normally retailers will just compensate by combining their March and April sales as they would with November and December holiday sales numbers. That's not going to be so easy this year, as Easter doesn't come until April 24, the latest it's been since landing on its latest possible date of April 25 in 1943.
Retailers who were spoiled in 2008 when Easter came on March 23 -- one day off its earliest possible date of March 22, where it hasn't fallen since 1818 and won't again until 2285 -- will have to stretch to make up for a fairly moribund March. But they'll have billions in added revenue waiting for them on Easter morning.
"The shift in the Easter holiday often results in the dislocation of sales, but Easter falls in line with Valentine's Day and Mother's Day as a gift-giving holiday," Grannis says. "You're looking at $440 billion that the winter holidays bring in versus the $16 million on average that Easter, Valentine's Day and Mother's Day bring in, but Easter's still always in the top 4."
Related Articles
If I'm reading this correctly, people spend more on Easter stuff than Halloween? As far as candy sales goes, Halloween still rules, but when you add up money spent on other merchandise, Easter comes out ahead.
Mother's Day and Valentine's Day are probably ahead of Easter and Halloween because those holidays involve buying more expensive things such as flower arrangements and other gifts.
That is simply not correct. You have been ill informed. Crack a real history book (not the bible) and you will learn that the Bunny is a simple joyful Pagan symbol. For thousands of years before christianity, the simple joy of Spring was celebrated. The "We made it through another winter and the world is blossoming again" was celebrated. The "Nature is regenerating! Gosh, look at all the woodland babies!" was acknowledged and people rejoiced. In my heart I do too! I'm in Minnesota and spring's arrival is worth a HIP-HIP- HURRAY!
The Christian Church tried to stomp out this joy by dropping their ghastly crucifixian myth on the day of the Pagan Spring pageant.
Just as they dropped Jesus's birth on the winter solstice. (most Biblical scholars agree Jesus was actually born (if at all) in October.
Your continuing a long Christian tradition of spreading ugly lies about innocent beliefs in order to further your Christ Myth Agenda. THE SEX INDUSTRY!!!! PLEASE! Give it up!
The Truth (I know you will hate this but that doesn't mean it's false) is the "Bunny" is the reason for the season...... just good clean fun the real God would approve of.
It is CHRISTMAS, not winter holidays, especially when they are talking about making money for the economy and store owners. Christmas brings in the money, not the other "winter holidays", religious or not.....And Easter is also another Christian holiday, which makes it hard to understand by many Christians why there are "kosher" signifying symbols on products for Easter candy, cakes, cookies, wraps, etc......
Many Christians wonder why there are "kosher" signifying symbols on Easter and Christmas products - and why, if any, blessings are not being by Ministers, with the normal fees paid to a non-Christian religion instead go to the respective churches, instead of another non-Christian faith.
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The company debuts an adorably tiny video gadget and targets the lifestyle consumer.
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Competition: XML for Mini-Browser in VoIP Phones
Snom is calling for developers to submit inventive XML applications for the mini-browser in its Linux-based VoIP phones. Contributions will be published under the BSD license.
All XML programmers above the age of 18 are invited to submit code for XML applications for Snom's Business or Lifestyle divisions by 6 pm, October 22. Entrants are allowed to submit more than one program. The XML applications must be designed for the mini browser that runs on all Snom phones with firmware version 7.1.17 or newer.
The conditions for entry are that the entries must be submitted under the FreeBSD license. Contributions that use a scripting language must include a link to an online demonstration. The winner can look forward to trade fair presentations and telco devices, and the top five in the Business and Lifestyle categories will receive telco devices from various sponsors.
Examples of business applications include calculators, currency converters or dictionaries. Lifestyle applications include, for example, a short message system, a phone charge display, and home automation technology implemented in XML for opening house or garage doors. The organizers are looking for originality, or as the contest Wiki puts it: "we say it's time to stop these booring (sic) attempts to use a great tool."
According to the documentation, all the phones currently offer is an XML-controlled phonebook, and XML libraries for PHP. The mini browser is designed for accessing server-side http/https services, such as weather services, to-do-lists and share prices via the phone's keypad. The browser handles specific XML objects, such as defined quantities of letter or number fields, whose content it passes in to a URL as a server process parameter.
Besides binary files of its firmware, Snom also offers the GPL source code in the form of a construction kit that includes a patched Linux kernel, drivers and tools for generating ROM images.
Issue 168/2014
Tag Cloud
Fedora Developer Announces New Partition Manager
New tool will look like GParted but support a wider range of storage technologies.
Mozilla Releases a New Firefox
New public key pinning feature will help prevent man-in-the-middle attacks.
Tool Predicts Which Websites Will be Compromised
Carnegie Mellon researchers say 3 million pages could fall down the phishing hole in the next year.
SSH Key Management Guidelines
The US government rolls new best-practice rules for protecting SSH.
Knoppix 7.4 Released
Klaus Knopper announces the latest version of his iconic Live Linux system.
PHP Attack Puts WordPress and Drupal at Risk
All websites that use these popular CMS tools could be vulnerable to denial of service attacks if users don't install the updates.
Heartbleed Bleeds On
According to a report, many potential victims of the Heartbleed attack have patched their systems, but few have cleaned up the crime scene to protect themselves from the effects of a previous intrusion.
Drone Brain Goes Open Source
DARPA and NICTA release the code for the ultra-secure microkernel system used in aerial drones.
Password Management Services Vulnerable to Attack
Should you trust an online service to store your online passwords?
New Raspberry Pi Adds Two USB Ports
New B+ board lets you build cool things without the complication of a powered USB hub.


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Sporty's Unveils Wireless Wx Receiver for iPad
Sporty's Pilot Shop introduced a wire-free weather receiver for the iPad. Called Stratus, it combines an ADS-B and GPS receiver into a single unit that wirelessly streams Nexrad radar, text weather, TFRs and aircraft position to the ForeFlight Mobile app for iOS devices. The Wi-Fi connection allows multiple iPads to connect to Stratus, making it possible for two-pilot crews to view weather on separate iPads. There are no monthly subscription fees for the weather information, according to Sporty's. Stratus costs $799.
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Leaving Kolkata in 24 hours, I am ready to come home. But it's so crazy to me that this is where I've spent five months of my life, five formative months, a place where I've changed and learned and grown, yet most of the people who matter most in my life will never get to see it. They will never get to go to the places that I feel such a strong connection to. They will never get to meet my family here, the girls at Loreto. India is a part of me that I don't think I will ever really be able to explain to someone who hasn't been here.
I want to bring Emily and Emily and Sara to College Street, to take a look at the books books books. I want Courtney to see the flowers here and tell me what the names of the various trees are. I want Julia to come to Loreto and meet little Paramitra – who poses and dances and performs more than you did when you were a little girl. And I want you to come here and get used to living in a big city – the U will feel like Smalltown, USA next year. Emma, you could start some major green initiatives here, if you could get past the bureaucracies of the place, which I have no doubt you would do. Dad, you would love the sweets and I'd be interested to see if even you could eat enough to satisfy Indians. ("Eat more eat more. Such small eaters.") Mom, I want you to see me being assertive, to know that I do not get walked on over here and can elbow harassing men in the stomach pretty easily. And you'd love the prices and random assortment of everything – garage-saling every day! Terry and Lori, I want you to eat the food here! I want to search the city for M&Ms with the Albrechts. Taylor, I want you to see all the bikes here and the things they carry on them. "A whole new workout for cyclists: Today we're going to transport 25 live chickens on our bikes!" And you and Joanna and Lacy and emily, I want you to taste the Bengali sweets and find out that compared to them, cookie dough really doesn't have all that much sugar and when we eat a batch or two, it's really not that bad for us at all. Britt, I want you to try the masala chai here, and see if it is up to your liking. Taylor, I want you to see the largest octagonal church in India and their Easter Vigil mass. I also want to see you and Katie ride in an auto-rickshaw. I want everyone to see how cute and stoic Indian babies are. All my res life women, Steph and Sarah and Sara, Anika, I want you to see them change the bulletin boards at Loreto weekly and with such fine detail. Granted, there are 300 of them… I want to go to the planetarium with Ali and Kate and Emily. Laura, you need to taste Little Reena's cheese omelets - I think you'd approve, even if they are only cheese. And I want to see CoCo running late through the Indian crowds. Sarah, I want you to try the seafood here, and see how it compares to the East Coast (prawn curry, perchance?).
Most of all, I want everyone to experience feeling grateful for the heat, because at least you have a home to back to after the day is over, to feel the joy of recklessly giving away an ice cream cone, yet still feeling guilty because you know that you can always always do more. A student from St. Xavier's said as we left the rural village (so long ago!), "We live a life of luxury in Kolkata." But then, compared to the US, it's not a life of luxury. And Minnesota is a good place to live in the US – lots of welfare programs, less poverty, good education. And then here we all are from the middle, upper-middle class. And on top of that we have families that support us and have instilled good values in us, who skype us and care for us. And I just realized that we are at the top of the top of the top of the apex of the pyramid. "We are the 99%?" No, we are the 99% of the 98th percentile. But how do you ever get that across to someone? You can't just say, "Hey, you're so lucky, you know that?" It doesn't sink in. How will I be able to teach my kids just how lucky they are? How do you teach that? That even if I have the worst day possible, I am so lucky?
I've always been a homebody, but I guess the best way to teach that is for people to travel. To meet new people. To see the world and learn just how lucky you really are. Maybe even go to India, where the contrasts are extreme, allowing you to truly see and be thankful. Where the old and new, the traditional and modern, meet and mix in the most confusing ways, confusing you more every day. Where the metros and jeeps and buses are packed to the brim, but the friends you're with make every moment a memory. (This is actually a quote from a little known show of Garrison Keillor's, set in India, which went off the air before Lake Woebegon came to life.)
As I'm packing up and preparing to leave this country tomorrow, possibly forever, I am so very thankful for every experience I've had, every person I've met, and all those back home who have loved me, prepared me for this journey, skyped and emailed me, and even sent me birthday cards. I hope that I never forget how lucky I am.
Love, simply,
Leaving Kolkata in 24 hours, I am ready to come home. But it's so crazy to me that this is where I've spent five months of my life, five formative months, a place where I've changed and learned and grown, yet most of the people who matter most in my life will never get to see it. They will never get to go to the places that I feel such a strong connection to. They will never get to meet my family here, the girls at Loreto. India is a part of me that I don't think I will ever really be able to explain to someone who hasn't been here.
Where I left my heart in Kolkata. Loreto Sealdah Day School and our Sanlaap girls. Walking away from here was the hardest thing I had to do in India yet.
(More pictures, in which some I believe you can see the sweat dripping down my face, in front of the camera lens.
Despite that, I'm going to miss this place.)
Overdue pictures from long ago. Click on the link to see them!
Things I'll miss about India:
Being able to go outside and just buy a bag of chips for 20 cents
The price of food!
Great Indian and Chinese and Lebanese and Burmese food
The colors and the prints and patterns
The brashness, say-it-like-it-is attitude, in which people say what is true, not in a mean way, but not in a let's-tiptoe-here demeanor
Bourbon cookies
Gariahat market
Rocking those early buses to Loreto
o The Rainbow girls: Rijiya, Priyanka, Durgi, Arpita
o Our Sanlaap girls: Ria and her constant chorus of pagol (which means crazy/mad - she's always calling us that) Banty, Mantu, Khaleda, China and her work ethic and perseverence
o The changing bulletin boards as we walk up to the 4th floor – always done in impeccable cursive
o The way they love Baby's Day Out
o Being called pagol multiple times a day (it's not just Ria)
The fact that every single day I am forced to think about poverty, forced to realize how lucky I am
The Indian ocean in Puri
The songs and music at church (sample lyrics: "All the stars that twinkle in the sky/All the waves in the ocean/All the worms that wiggle by/We praise you Lord…end with some keyboard drums")
The way everything is asked to be done "kindly"
Love from India,
April 28
Today I went to a cricket match at Eden Gardens Stadium! It was so much fun! I loved the atmosphere, the game itself (which I think I'm finally starting to understand) and the people who we went with. It reminded me so much of a Twins' Game back in the United States. They did "the wave" and had much more stamina than US crowds – "the wave" went on for a very long time. It was very much like something in the United States. Except, since this is India, everyone was extreme. They were all waving flags and wearing jerseys. The advertisements were also extreme. They were everywhere, on everything. People wore little Vodaphone visors that must have been given out. They held out "4" and "6" cards (the number of runs scored when the ball hits the outer edge or goes into the crowd) that had advertisements about the Kolkata Police. The guards were extreme as well. Courtney couldn't even take her camera in. We finally found a nice police officer to hold on to her battery during the game so she wouldn't have to give it to some young kids who were collecting items to "keep safe" (seemed very sketchy). It was crazy, but also crazy fun.
Love from a new Kolkata Knight Riders fan,
P.S. We won.
Being in India makes me realize how much US culture is built on this, on convenience, on what is easiest for each person at each moment. It's not something I realized until I started to live here, where things are decidedly different.
Some examples: The large refrigerators, the way we have cupboards full of food for the days to come so we don't have to go to the grocery store each day. That is not how it's done in India. Everything is smaller and made that day. If there are leftovers, they are eaten for breakfast the next morning – but usually there aren't any, because the right proportion was made to begin with. Large open spaces – why are our houses so big? Don't we only need a bedroom and a bathroom and one living space? Why do we have multiple floors filled with things? Unnecessary things. Here, they unplug everything when done using it and even turn off their power outlets. It takes just a few extra seconds to do this before you are able to use your microwave. The washer we use is a small washer, much much smaller. And it takes longer. There's no dryer, just a spinner. Here in Kolkata, drying really isn't necessary. But it sure would be more convenient. And bucket showers are perfectly acceptable. I'm able to take a shower using less than two buckets of water, which is a lot less than I ever used showering in the US. (And if it can clean you of the India dirt and dust, trust me, it can clean you in the US.)
The whole culture of America is built on convenience. Are we that hurried that everything needs to be done as quick as possible in the most efficient way possible? Is that the goal of life? Or is this the price of progress? Would people argue this is why the United States has been able to grow and prosper, because we're able to expend our energy on other things? We don't have to hang out our clothes to dry. We don't have to make a trip to the store every day. We have more time to do other things.
But it's definitely a trade-off. This past semester, I lived in an apartment for the first time, having my own kitchen and making my own food. For the most part of the semester, I just snacked. Honestly, I hardly used any of my small meal plan nor did I cook anything substantial (unless you count Mac & Cheese). But then I came to the conclusion that if I couldn't make time to cook my own food – something which has been basic to survival since the dawn of woman and man– what kind of life am I living? How am I going so fast as to not have time to stop and prepare food, to give my body sustenance? Do I really have that much to do?
So I'm not really sure where exactly I stand on the whole convenience issue. Because I do really like dryers. And cupboards full of food so that I can snack late at night as I do my homework. But at the same time, I really appreciate the more simple way of doing things here in India. (Simple as in less-appliances, more human work. Because nothing is truly simple as there are bureaucratic inefficiencies, long explanations, and multiple sides to every story here). I appreciate how much I've learned I don't need in life.
But I wonder how long that will last back in the US, when I'm surrounded again by things and conveniences?
Love from an inconvenient post,
Things I never thought I'd do in India:
Fit 14 people in a jeep. and enjoy it.
Sit in a small air-conditioned shop called Just Baked, sneaking peanuts, and praying that the workers don't see us eating "outside food" so we don't have to go back out into the heat
Struggle to find someone to break a one dollar bill (50 rupees note)
Coo and caw and wave at every baby I see – why are they all so adorable?! (except the one with the enormous head that gets walked by our house, staring creepily out of his stroller)
Become a wildlife warrior
Learn to be a decent barterer
Have multiple dreams (the count is now at 4) about coming home unexpectedly early from India and not having gotten gifts for everyone I love
Take one look at Kelsey's dress – with one inch straps and fitting like a pillowcase, with leggings underneath – and say, "yep, too scandalous"
Hear over and over how good of a move Baby's Day Out is – from children ages 6 to 62 – and be proud to have seen it (but, yes, it is a good movie)
Hear the song "My Heart Will Go On" more than I ever have before in my life – at the metro, at Café Coffee Day, by Kate at a Saraswati Puja, by Becca at our talent show
Become a regular customer at the eye clinic across the street, where they sell soda and chips
In this city of 15 million, just so happen to get on the same metro, in the same car, as not one, but two other groups of CSB/SJU students - all three groups of us getting on at different metro stations. Woah.
Love from unexpected happenings in India,
April 14
Shubo nobo borsho! Happy Bengali New Year! For me, Bengali New Year was a day of good food and saris.
P.S. I'm up and at 'em and doing great now!
April 11
Sick sick sick. So this is what it feels like.
Gross. Tired. Turns out I haven't been missing out on anything.
So what was it? I think it was a combination of things. 1. The heat. It's so hot, and I've never been good with the heat. I am the first person to run inside to the air conditioning. I've been good here – India comes with a strict "no complaining" guideline – but it's just been so hot. I've been crabby too, probably a little because of the heat. 2. Also probably a little because of stress – we're almost done! Only a month left! There are still things I want to do, gifts I need to buy, people to see and spend time with. This is where I'll have spent 5 months of my life and very soon I will be leaving it, possibly forever. 3. Also, I'm guessing I ate something, because there is no reason that heat and stress would make that much food go right through my body. Ten times a day, at least, on the toilet for the past four days is too much. (Sorry if that was too much information. Here in India, we hang with the same 15 people all the time and I no longer have any sense of what is appropriate to talk about. Digestion is a regular topic of conversation.) I don't know what bug I got, but it must have been a good one if it was able to break through my iron stomach. However, the doctor came tonight and just gave my Kelsey - who is worse than me - and me some probiotics to take. Hopefully I'll be better in no time!
Love from a no longer iron stomach,
Pictures from Hyderabad!
Please note that the sweat that formed the second you stepped outside is not visible in these pictures.
April 4 - 9
We got up early and flew to Hyderabad on the morning of the 4th. So early. 4:30am early. No nap. Lovin' on my coffee. Hyderabad is located in mid-Southern India. A summary of Hyderabad:
Looked all over for palace ruins (it used to be one of the richest areas, a princely state independent from the British in the world before it became a part of India in 1948), but spotted only graveyards that I falsely thought were ruins at first. Interesting thing about the graveyards: they are Hindu graveyards, which I found unusual since Hindus are cremated.
Verrrry hot down there.
I want to live in a castle.
- Large proportion of Muslims (around 30% of the population.
- So many advertisements - everywhere, every surface possible.
- The largest number of Western brand stores I've seen in India – the usuals, plus Papa John's, Hanes', Hard Rock Café, Steve Madden, and an unusually large number of McDonald's
- High tech city = VERY high tech - all skyscrapers and shine and gloss, no roadside vendors or chip stands.
- It's HOT.
- Combination of heat + something I ate = Rachel is India-sick sick for the first time. But we were in a very nice hotel, so I was able to relax and recover.
- Did I mention the heat?
- Made a trip to Easter Vigil mass at the largest octagonal church in Asia. We also think it may have been theonlyoctagonal church in Asia. Complete with neon crosses and lights across the whole front ofthe church that lit up and blinked when Jesus rose. Alleluia!
Love from the heat of Hyderabad,
Figure 1, top: The "hand spider" in all its hairy glory, perched in the corner of the wall of Stephanie and Kelsey's bedroom.
Figure 2, bottom: A close-up of the hand spider. I will spare you the fun of the super close-up in which you can see all the hair and eyes. If you would like to see this picture, please email firstname.lastname@example.com, along with a doctor's note saying your heart is in good health, and a waiver form stating you asked to see it and will deal with the consequences.
April 1
This is no April Fool's Day joke. What follows is 100% true. I don't think you will believe me, so I have also posted pictures to convince you that this tale I am spinning is accurate.
This story takes place on the night of Sunday, April 1. As with most good stories, it starts when our family left the house. They had a birthday party. We were home alone. Kate and I were doing homework when we heard Steph and Kelsey call our names. "You have to come in here and see this. You have to!!" Neither Kate nor I had any intention of going in, especially after the snake scare the night before (see summary in paragraph below), but were finally finagled into it. What we saw is in Figure 1, above.
There was a spider as big as my hand in Kelsey and Stephanie's room. Apparently last year, the group called it the "hand spider." Why they did not kill it though, remains unanswered.
Soon after seeing it I realized we needed to launch an attack. If we all left, fled to the other room, the spider could be gone upon returning to the room. Stephanie and Kelsey would never be able to sleep again. I know I wouldn't. I chose my weapon: a squeegee. Before hitting it, I was told to practice my accuracy and strength on the opposite wall. I hit the wall a couple of times before the screaming started. I turned around to see the spider scurrying along the wall, scared by the vibrations I had made. It was fleeing. As it scuttled across the top of the wall toward the side I was on, I gave a battle cry and aimed my squeegee at it. I missed the first time, but managed to knock it on the second hit. However, this just made it fall onto Kelsey's bed and scuttle to the mess underneath. (This appears to be a wildlife hotspot, as the snake also slithered here. Did I forget to tell you about the snake? A summary: small snake, not that scary, family freaks out, situation suddenly becomes very scary, "is it poisonous?" gets no answer, neighbor's groundskeeper called over, snake is finally removed, we are requested to sleep upstairs that night, the next day the house is sprayed with carbonic acid supposedly killing all living things, said carbonic acid actually just brings animals out of the walls and into the house as they flee, rat and hand spider sightings ensue.)
Anyways, what followed was 30 minutes of constant vigilance, constant goose-bumps, almost-constant screaming, and the occasional full-body shiver. Kate and Kelsey stayed in the main room, Steph hovered near the door on a chair, while I stayed perched in the room on a chair. Steph and I managed to get the spider to come out a couple of times by poking under the bed and shaking the frame. But it scampered back down each time. Finally we got out the toxic all-insect killer. Once I sprayed the drain with this and the next morning there were four dead cockroaches on the bathroom floor – this was serious stuff. We sprayed it liberally. But the spider didn't move again. It was either dead upon breathing in the fumes or one smart spidey. Suddenly though, Steph poked the right spot and it scurried out. It ran behind the dresser. I jumped down from my chair to hand Steph the spray. She sprayed and we watched. Nothing. She hit the dresser. Nothing. Once more. Suddenly it raced out. It was on the floor, I was on the floor. I brought the squeegee down and with a stroke of luck, landed right on the spider. I didn't want to move, afraid it was not really dead, but just caught. Slowly, Steph and I peeled the squeegee off the floor. Figure 2, above, shows what we saw.
So the spider was dead. The hunt was over. When our family came home, they uttered an "Oh my gud!" upon seeing the wreck of the main area of our level – clothes from Kelsey's bed, as well as the sheets and blankets were piled all over as we had extracted them earlier, thinking that the spider had maybe been hiding inside. They listened to our story and thanks to the physical evidence, didn't take it for an April Fool's Day joke. You too, I hope are convinced. While I am proud I killed the spider, you must not think I am some sort of brave animal-hunter. I merely did what had to be done and screamed pretty much the entire time. I still get goose bumps and the occasional shiver when thinking about it. I could handle the lizards (so cute now!), cockroaches (I killed three with my shoe before we sprayed the drain), rat, and snake, but this "garden spider" as Arundhati calls it, put me over the edge. I think I am now wild-lifed-out.
Love from your squeegee wielding, spider killing,
March 28-29, Chandannagar
We ventured to the house of one of my friends here, Asmita Chandra, who stayed with me over fall break last semester. when she was visiting the States. She lives in her ancestral home in Chandannagar. It is an old French colony that only recently became part of India in 1950, three years after independence. (However, I'd like to note that the French-est thing we encountered was an Indian man yelling, "Bon-joo-er!" at us as we rode past.) It was a great trip. After a two hour journey consisting of a bus ride, a ferry ride(that was just for fun), and a train ride, we were in Chandannagar. We then were to take a "rickshaw" to her house. I was picturing an auto rickshaw. But, no. In Chandannagar they use actual cycle rickshaws. "You ride these everyday home?" I asked her in awe. "Yes…" she replied. "Well, no, I have my own rickshaw." She has her own rickshaw and rickshaw man! He lives in the old "servant quarters" of the house with his family. Yes, there were servant quarters. Her house was huge! Bedroom opened into bedroom into bedroom. There were 16 bedrooms! The house is so big there are two staircases to get upstairs – a front one and a back one. She has a backyard and two kitchens and a rooftop terrace and a terrace off of her bedroom. I want to grow up there, running around, playing the most epic games of hide and seek ever. This is a place where hiding under the bed would actually be a valid tactic, as there would be so many beds to check you might never get found. Sadly, we did not get a chance to play while we were there. Next time I visit an ancestral home.
Love from Chandannagar,


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Cyrus Gallery
With John (John C Reilly)'s social life at a standstill and his ex-wife about to get remarried, a down on his luck divorcee finally meets the woman of his dreams (Marisa Tomei), only to discover she has another man in her life – her son (Jonah Hill). Written and directed by Jay and Mark Duplass, the iconoclastic filmmaking team behind Sundance Film Festival favorite The Puffy Chair, Cyrus takes an insightful, funny and sometimes heartbreaking look at love and family in contemporary Los Angeles. View photos from the film…
Roll your mouse over the left and right-hand sides of the image and then click to view more pictures.
Read our review of Cyrus or our interviews with John C Reilly and Jay Duplass
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If you've ever had a stubborn child refuse to do his or her chores, this Tech Minute is for you. CNET's Kara Tsuboi reports on two websites that can help motivate children to complete their tasks by offering various rewards as incentive.
Security firms and Google reported DOS attacks on Web sites of Vietnamese activists.
The $199 Basis Band offers a powerful mix of sensors and motivational tools, but pass if you'd rather spend less on a fitness tracker or aren't partial to big, watch-style designs.
Available for Android, iOS, and the Web, this amazing app helps you reach the finish line with fun, high-energy music streamed free of charge.
A new study finds that a group of obese people chose to exercise regularly rather than pay 20 percent more for health insurance, even if they found the program "coercive."
People around the world can now share their goals for 2013 in an interactive map, whether it's to make more money, spend time with their families, or travel to new places.
The agency wants tougher wiretap laws, and in its "Going Dark" campaign it's enlisted Homeland Security for examples of how companies like Comcast, Cricket, and T-Mobile are standing in the way.
If you use music to help motivate you toward the finish line of your daily tasks, you're truly missing out if you haven't checked out this Web site.
Getting motivated is a huge challenge for most of us. With new iPhone app Leap, you can challenge friends to complete random tasks with you, hopefully providing some motivation in the end.
Electric scooter vendor e-motive has a new bike scrappage scheme that gives bikers a cheap means of swapping their petrol-slurping two-wheelers for spangly new electric ones.


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Wiley X Airborne Outdoor Climate Control Sunglasses, Metallic Black/Polarized Smoke Green
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Product DescriptionThe Wiley X Climate Control Series provides the ultimate in eye protection while maintaining comfortable, all-day wear. Soft, removable Facial Cavity Seal is constructed of breathable open-cell foam to keep the glasses secure, help reduce eye fatigue, and seal out wind, dust, debris, and peripheral light. Top-down ventilation keeps your eyes cool and lenses fog-free. Fat temple design for additional peripheral protection. Includes: small black zippered case, leash cord, and cleaning cloth. Fits head sizes: M-L.
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New NBA Commissioner Adam Silver will be forced to deal with something that former Commish David Stern and the NBA owners have known for sometime. LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling is a virulent racist and an embarrasment to the league. This isnt something that just reared its ugly head with the public release of the audio tape of Sterling's racist rant. Sterling has not only been one of the worst owners in the history of the league...his actions in his other businesses have given a myriad of clues over the years about his racial views. He's been accused of housing discrimination in his real estate business. He's been charged with workplace sexual harassment and other legal issues involving not only the Clippers but his other businesses as well. And it hasnt been a secret. It just has never been as public as the TMZ tape release. And now the NBA has to act...but what can they do? SI.com has an excellent piece on the legal recourse for Silver and the ramifications of each possible action. They talk about fines...but that wont get it done here. Even a fine in the millions would not even make Sterling blink although he has been tighter with a dollar that any owner in recent memory. A suspension would be better and has some precedent in other sports...although not in the NBA. I'm sure that Silver and many of the league owners would like him to just sell the team and go away...but can the league force a sale without facing lawsuits of their own from Sterling? I've heard Silver is a good guy and a smart basketball man. It will be interesting to see how he handles the first major crisis of his tenure. And whether the other owners will support him if he wants to set a precedent and send a clear message that views like Donald Sterling's are not welcome in the NBA or anywhere else.
The Brewers will face some adversity this week as they head into a road trip at St. Louis and Cincy without Ryan Braun. Braun will miss 3-5 days according to Ron Roenicke with a abdominal muscle strain. Jean Segura was also hurt over the weekend when he was accidently hit in the head by Braun with a bat near the dugout during Saturday's game. Segura didnt suffer a concussion but he did miss Sunday's game and maybe will miss a few this week. The injuries and Martin Maldonado's suspension left the Brewers with only two bench players in Sunday's loss.
I had a great time Saturday at the Rock & Roll Revival at the Rothschild Pavilion. The event, which reportedly is the last one, raised alot of money for the Honor Flight and allowed alot of great musicians to get back on stage together for their friends and families. Grandchildren got to see their Grandpa's act like teenagers again as they blasted through enough Elvis, Beatles and Chuck Berry to keep the everyone happy. There was also a solid slice of 70's stuff including Andy Zynda channeling John Fogarty in a CCR fueled set. There was a big crowd for the event and hopefully thay can bring it back at some point. It seems that the planners would like some young blood to take over the event and I'm hoping that can happen.
Songs Of The Day (from my I-Pod)
My Head Hurts, My Feet Stink & I Don't Love Jesus-Jimmy Buffet (1975) a typical Buffet tune about another party night...he can write these in his sleep. From the Havana Daydreamin album.
My Hometown-Bruce Springsteen (1984) one of the many hits from "Born In The USA" . There is just something in the Boss's voice that adds gravitas to song like this. That plus the understated greatness of the E-Street band makes something simple like this into great music


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Apple TV News
ICYMI: This week on iSource [3/28/2014]
It's almost April in the year 2014 and you can finally edit Microsoft Word docs on your iPad. That and Twitter's curious desire to be more like Facebook in this week's ICYMI.
Apple and Comcast working on Apple TV deal
The nation's biggest cable provider and the maker of Apple TV are in talks to create a service that would run on the set-top box with streaming independent of Comcast's regular broadband internet services.
Jobs' vision never included an Apple-made TV
The iTV — as far as we know, Apple has no plans to release such a device in the near future. According to newly released quotes from Steve Jobs, they never did
FYI: Apple TV also got an update today
While the release of iOS 7.1 has taken the majority of the attention this afternoon, an update for Apple TV has also arrived. The update takes Apple TV to version 6.1 and brings the ability to more easily arrange what channels are displayed on the main menu.
WWE Network drops an elbow on Apple TV
Ladies and gentleman, let's get ready to rumble. Today marks the launch of a tag-team partnership between Apple TV and the WWE Network. Together they bring the promise of 24/7 access to your favorite wrestling shows, superstars, and other content.
New Apple TV will be a major upgrade, but perhaps not as ambitiou...
Multiple reports are confirming Apple's plans to launch a revamped Apple TV product later this year. While we can expect changes to the set-top hardware, the major focus will be on providing a new content experience aided by the likes of Time Warner, Comcast, and DirecTV.
Next-gen Apple TV referenced in iOS 7 software builds
Has a reference to Apple's next-gen edition of their Apple TV been hiding right under our noses? Uncovered in iOS 7 software builds that date back to the operating system's initial September launch are calls to an Apple TV device with an unfamiliar revision number.
The Beatles' American debut remembered with 50th anniversary Ap...
As Beatlemaniacs celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Fab Four's American debut, Apple has launched a new Apple TV channel in honor of the event.
Red Bull TV now streaming for Apple TV owners
Apple TV has quietly gained another content source, adding Red Bull TV as part of a minor over-the-air update to the streaming media platform. The addition brings a variety of content fit for the adrenaline junky, from extreme sports and music to lifestyle and culture.
Apple TV adds ABC, Bloomberg, and more to channel lineup
Apple continues to bolster Apple TV's channel lineup, adding Crackle, Bloomberg, Watch ABC, and KORTV to an ever expanding selection of content streams. Now, can we get some new hardware?
Apple TV gains PBS and Yahoo
Apple continues to make the rollout of new Apple TV content a priority despite word that hardware updates are not. PBS brings its stable of shows and web content while Yahoo provides direct access to its Yahoo Screen service.


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Wall Mounted Wooden Desk
Maxwell's Daily Find 10.16.13
Wall Mounted Wooden Desk
• £360
• Bodie & Fou
Attractive wall mounted desks are very few and far between. This one, spotted in a UK based shop that ships internationally, is a beauty. With simple, sliding drawers and a spacious top, this creates an instant workspace in any small room.
4 Comments
I love it but $574. is a bit pricey for me.
I remember back in the late 60's and into the 70's having a wall mounted desk that used standards and brackets. Not as nice as this one, but lasted me until high school. This one reminds me of Ikea brackets and boxes.
I would also recommend the MASH LAX wall mounted desk if you're looking for a great wall mounted desk: http://www.mashstudios.com/laxseries.html


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Gordon Mese is a 45-year-old owner of a plant nursery on Government St. in the heart of East Baton Rouge Parish. His motivation for running for Mayor/President stems from a frustration of what he terms "The System."
"I'm just sick and tired of being sick and tired, says Mese. "I've been…my family has been here 100 years. 83 years on this property [on Government St]. My education tells me what's wrong. I'm an urban and regional planner by education and there's so much potential here and the problem is we have a bad unified development code that does not allow the city to grow properly."
Mese has funded his entire campaign to date. It's not a lot of money but he says he owes no-one.
"I can go into office without owing anybody anything because this [campaign] has been completely self funded. The most amazing thing is I haven't spent $2,000 and I have already made a tremendous effect on this race," said Mese.
Instead of ordering thousands of yard signs Mese has an unconventional way of taking his message to the people. His Facebook page is driving his campaign and he's urging people to make their own yard signs with his name on them. So far there are two.
"If people made their own signs then that would be worth 1,000 printed signs and so I put that out there and people started doing it," says Mese.
Mese is an optimist but also a realist. He says if he wins he will throw a keg party in town square at no charge. He also believes somewhere deep down he has a glimmer of hope for himself.
"I see an opportunity right now because of the recession, because Kip has made himself vulnerable, I can get in and make an enormous difference," says Mese.
He's running a grass roots campaign that he hopes will lead to victory on November 6th.
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This conversation is closed.
Is the American Democratic civilization dying? Why are our electors no longer listening to their constituents? Is plutocracy ruling the US?
Question: Is the American civilization dying? Are we, in reality, being ruled by a plutocracy? Is mankind doomed as a species because we, ignorantly, believe we are the superior species on this planet and have the capacity to control everything? Yes or no to these heavy questions from a 76 year old codger.
Topics: politics
Showing single comment thread. View the full conversation.
Aug 3 2013: No, it's not dying. Elected officials have to listen to their electors because most of them want to be reelected. No it's not ruled by a plutocracy, although I would say almost by definition part of being a successful person is that you're more influential than less successful people, but this comes from hard work.
I think a big part of the problem is some people have problems in their life and they want government to magically fix them all for them. Fixing problems takes a lot of work and it's not government's job to do alone, we all have to work on the problems and help fix them.
Why did you start this conversation, M-L? What are you unhappy about? Is it a problem you expect government to fix for you? Is it fair to put it all on government?
Aug 3 2013: greg dahlen 30+
I wonder if the elected officials do more than merely
read press releases created by their staffs.
Our US Government cannot fix life or health problems.
They've instead created a vast welfare system as pressured by minority's needs,
and a sympathetic majority.
Otherwise ineligible, the minority's corrupted by laze, alcohol, drugs, kleptomania,
and poor regulation, allowed welfare employees, using sub-contracted medical doctors
to blindly endorse applications.
..These blind endorsements, never before brought to light has changed this US
government into a welfare failure.
I've railed against 73+ years of US government's "Warfare" policies.
But the "Welfare" policies are just as bad.
I think it is "more than just fair" to put it all on government.
Elected Officials spend 20 and 30 years in High Office.
One would wonder what they do there?
Aug 4 2013: If one truly knows the facts surrounding the work schedules of most electors, it becomes adamantly clear that very few of them work very hard. First, Congress is "out of session" several times a year. these "vacations are meant to be spent speaking with their constituents when in fact, they are usually spent in various junkets, parties and re-election campaign fund-raising. Maybe we need campaign finance reform or some such but not very realistic. Even most aides admit that Congressmen rarely have the time to read proposed bills before they vote on them. Is this not what we are paying them to do? Yet, they seem to be doing nothing but fighting amongst themselves. Why?
Aug 4 2013: How often is Congress out of session? How do you know what Congresspeople do when they're out of session, I would think they do a mix that includes some of the things you mention but also other things, like talking to their constituents. I don't fault Congresspeople for not reading all the bills they vote on, I would imagine they have a massive amount of paperwork to deal with. M-L, you cannot say they do nothing but fight among themselves, they do that, but, sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly, they do the business of the government.
Showing single comment thread. View the full conversation.


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By the Sea
Posted on October 31st, 2011
Prada sunglasses, Zara top and skirt (diy'd from a scarf), Jil Sander clutch and Tony Bianco heels.
Photography: Rachel Yabsley
Shoot was in conjunction with Tony Bianco styling competition where if you 'like' and leave a comment on why you love summer you go into the draw to win a $500 Tony Bianco shopping spree. Going to be so jealous of the winner!
Go into the competition HERE


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The Nogales drug tunnel is with a length of 481 feet the largest drug tunnel ever found in the city which spans through two countries. The tunnel, which ran from one house in Nogales in Arizona to another house in Nogales in Sonora, Mexico, stretched 411 feet from the United States to the international border and continued 70 feet into Mexico. According to a Feb. 14, 2014, USA Today report, "the drug tunnel found Monday is the third uncovered in Nogales since December."
Nogales is popular among drug smugglers because the two cities in both countries have large neighborhoods in close proximity. The underground drainage system connecting both border cities makes underground access between the two cities easy.
"Last fiscal year, six of the seven tunnels found along the U.S.-Mexico border were found in Nogales. In 2012, seven of the 16 tunnels found on the border were in Nogales, and 12 of the 18 the year before that, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection."
During Monday's multiagency operation, federal authorities seized more than 640 pounds of marijuana and a half pound of heroin.
Three men, 22-year-old Jesus Alberto Ramirez-Valencia, 41-year-old Jose Solorzano-Flores, and 41-year-old Jose Mario Armenta-Valdez, were arrested. Valencia was from Nogales in Arizona, while Flores and Valdez were from Nogales in Mexico. All three men were charged with drug conspiracy charges.
The passageway of the Nogales drug tunnel was about 2 feet wide and 3 feet tall. It featured wood shoring, electric lighting and fans to circulate air.


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and found 6 items
984cc, 84bhp, 120mph, Insurance group
The Buell XB9SX is an oddity. What you get is an old-school v-twin in a high-tech chassis, all wrapped up in a mad-max style urban scrambler. On paper it makes very little sense – a modern naked middleweight out-performs it in every practical way. But it looks great, sounds mean and the handling is sublime. It would be a hard ...
1203cc, 100bhp, 133mph, Insurance group 14
The Buell XB12STT is a new, horny looking, supermoto-inspired derivative of the Buell XB12S Lightning and Buell XB12R Firebolt series is probably the most fun Buell motorcycle yet. Great looks, a stumpy and sharp chassis plus the familiarly grunty 1203cc Harley-Davidson derived engine add up to motorcycle that's great to hoon about out. The Buell XB12STT suffers from limited practicality and ...
1203cc, 95bhp, 135mph, Insurance group 15
The Buell X1 Lightning evolved from the M2 Cyclone and features the same short wheelbase chassis, with Showa suspension on the early run base models, then WP kit on the later X1 Lightning, and souped up White Lightning variant. With more grunt than the M2 the X1 feels like more fun and the build quality improved somewhat as time went ...
1203cc, 86bhp, 125mph, Insurance group 15
Quirky doesn't adequately describe the Buell S1 Lightning and this mid-90s take on the Buell dream has its plus points, as well as a few serious flaws in its roadster concept. The engine and gearbox felt outdated even when new, the handling was OK, with the braking perhaps slightly less so. The 93bhp White Lightning has more oomph and is ...
1203cc, 93bhp, 135mph, Insurance group 15
Buell twins are oddball machines and have struggled to win over traditional Harley and Japanese retro bike owners alike. The basic problem is the old hat pushrod V-twin, with its frankly clunky gearbox and diesel-esque power delivery. The Buell M2 Cyclone is one of the more funky versions of the Buell concept from the late 90s, but lacks the easygoing ...
1203cc, 100bhp, 150mph, Insurance group 16
The Buell XB12S Lightning is weird but it works. An antique, character-rich engine in a stubby street-fighter motorcycle chassis dripping technical innovation. Buell motorcycles is a subsidiary of Harley-Davidson set up by employee/ motorcycle racer/visionary Eric Buell. The Buell XB12S Lightning is a very individual motorcycle and hugely enjoyable to ride. Easy to love if hard to justify.
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9 ways to trim your supply costs
Stress the importance of saving money wherever possible and your staff will be part of the solution
Pinched by declining reimbursements and the high cost of doing business, you may be looking for ways to economize in your practice. Although medical and office supplies are only a modest portion of a practice's expenses, they nonetheless represent an opportunity to trim spending.
Medical and surgical supply costs for a practice represent less than 1% of their medical revenue, based on Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) data for single specialties; compared with that figure, support staff is 25%, according to Kenneth T. Hertz, FACMPE, principal, MGMA Health Care Consulting Group.
To get an idea of the value of reductions in supply costs based on financial realties, not habits, consider the situation in the framework of the Medicare reimbursement for a level 3 (99213) office visit. A savings of $1,000 could be the equivalent of 40 patients, without the collection risk and overhead, suggests Karen Zupko, president of KarenZupko & Associates, Chicago, Illinois. "The money flows directly to the bottom line," she adds.
Some tips to help you trim your supply costs:
■ Take leadership.
Practice finances are not going to take care of themselves, and you will need to take leadership in overseeing the purchase of office supplies, medical supplies, pharmaceuticals, and injectables. Leadership in this situation mandates that you communicate with your staff members.
"It starts at the top," Hertz says. "You have to have physician buy-in, and you have to get staff buy-in. The staff has to understand that this is an important issue and that they make a difference."
Docs need time to see patients
Medical Economics readers discuss the seeming impossibility of seeing 10 patients in an hour while still providing quality medical care.
Build a strategy to boost productivity
Do you know a fellow doctor with a similar practice who seems to be busier than you? See how you can create business for your practice.
Document and code in an EHR with care
This month's question asks how to document and code in an EHR. Find out the answer to this pressing coding question.
How to prevent employee embezzlement
Take steps to help prevent employee embezzlement. Find out the warning signs on how to detect fraud.
Why real estate investing has become a good investment again
After the collapse of the housing bubble, you might think that real estate is still a risky investment. Learn why you might want to reconsider that assessment.


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By: Tasha Alexander
Harper: New York
2006 (pb)
By: Tasha Alexander
Harper: New York
2006 (pb)
Lady Emily Ashton (nee Bromley) finds herself a very
young widow, barely acquainted with her very wealthy, big game-hunting
husband before he dies of fever in darkest Africa. So begins Tasha
Alexander's first Lady Emily mystery and it is a fascinating debut.
Well-crafted from a literary standpoint, And Only to Deceive portrays
the latter days of late Victorian English gentry in historically accurate
detail, while at the same time spinning a mystery yarn involving the shady
world of antiquities forgers and black marketers.
The novel is also a biographical study of Lady Emily as
she finds herself in a constant state of becoming. She is at first a
widow who barely cares about her recently deceased husband, Philip Ashton,
but who, with the help of his best friend, Colin Hargreave, and through his
journals, learns to love him and his memory with deep and abiding passion.
She is at first a rather conventional Victorian daughter of the aristocracy
who becomes an independent, free-thinking and very strong-willed young woman
who foreshadows the coming of the 20th Century and all of its
social upheavals. At the same time, author Alexander portrays the very
restrictive and circumspect world of Victorian manners and mores in a most
enjoyable and non-pedantic fashion.
The story of Emily's "liberation" is in truth the
reflection of her growing knowledge and understanding of the husband she
never knew. He was witty and intellectual and more romantic than she had
ever, or could ever, have imagined-- he commissioned an impressionist
portrait of her by Pierre-Auguste Renoir as a gift of which she was unaware
until after his death! His love of all things Classical, particularly the
art and antiquities of ancient Greece, informed his intellectual life—and
plunged Emily into unforeseen danger. She finds warnings of "grave danger"
among her husband's private papers; this danger seems to be transferred to
her person as a mysterious scar-faced man shadows her in both London and
Paris and then her Paris suite is burgled and left in total disarray. Her
investigations take her to the British Museum, the Louvre, and Philip's
estate, Ashton Hall, in Derbyshire. Circumstantial evidence begins to build
up and it soon becomes not only possible, but quite likely that Philip and
his friend Colin have been involved in the elicit forging of antiquities and
subsequent thefts of the real artifacts from some of the world's great
collections. Compounding Emily's agony is the discovery of evidence that
Philip might not have died but is still alive in Africa!
Tasha Alexander's novel of Victorian manners and
mystery is a delight to read and savor; if she can maintain this quality of
writing and plot, the subsequent adventures of Lady Emily (there are two
more that have been published thus far), I look forward to years of very
entertaining reading. Three trowels for this initial entry in a new mystery
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Xiao-Li Meng asked this question in his latest XL column, to which Andrew replied faster than I. And in the same mood as mine. I had taken part to a recent discussion on this topic within the IMS Council, namely whether or not the IMS should associate with other organisations like ASA towards funding and supporting this potential prize. My initial reaction was one of surprise that we could consider mimicking/hijacking the Nobel for our field. First, I dislike the whole spirit of most prizes, from the personalisation to the media frenzy and distortion, to the notion that we could rank discoveries and research careers within a whole field. And separate what is clearly due to a single individual from what is due to a team of researchers.
Being clueless about those fields, I will not get into a discussion of who should have gotten a Nobel Prize in medicine, physics, or chemistry. And who should not have. But there are certainly many worthy competitors to the actual winners. And this is not the point: I do not see how any of this fights the downfall of scientific students in most of the Western World. That is, how a teenager can get more enticed to undertake maths or physics studies because she saw a couple old guys wearing weird clothes getting a medal and a check in Sweden. I have no actual data, but could Xiao-Li give me a quantitative assessment of the fact that Nobel Prizes "attract future talent"? Chemistry departments keep closing for lack of a sufficient number of students, (pure) maths and physics departments threatened with the same fate… Even the Fields Medal, which has at least the appeal of being delivered to younger researchers, does not seem to fit Xiao-Li's argument. (To take a specific example: The recent Fields medallist Cédric Villani is a great communicator and took advantage of his medal to promote maths throughout France, in conferences, the medias, and by launching all kinds of initiative. I still remain sceptical about the overall impact on recruiting young blood in maths programs [again with no data to back up my feeling).) I will even less mention Nobel prizes for literature and peace, as there clearly is a political agenda in the nomination. (And selecting Sartre for the Nobel prize for literature definitely discredited it. At least for me.)
"…the media and public have given much more attention to the Fields Medal than to the COPSS Award, even though the former has hardly been about direct or even indirect impact on everyday life." XL
Well, I do not see this other point of Xiao-Li's. Nobel prizes are not prestigious for their impact on society, as most people do not understand at all what the rewarded research (career) is about. The most extreme example is the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel: On the one hand, Xiao-Li is right in pointing out that this is a very successful post-Alfred creation of a "Nobel Prize". On the other hand, the fact that some years see two competing theories simultaneously win leads me to consider that this prize gives priority to theoretical construct above any impact on the World's economy. Obviously, this statement is a bit of shooting our field in the foot since the only statisticians who got a Nobel Prize are econometricians and game-theorists! Nonetheless, it also shows that the happy few statisticians who entered the Nobel Olympus did not bring a bonus to the field… I am thus remaining my usual pessimistic self on the impact of a whatever-company Prize in Statistical Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.
Another remark is the opposition between the COPSS Award, which remains completely ignored by the media (despite a wealth of great nominees with various domains of achievements) and the Fields Medal (which is not ignored). This has been a curse of Statistics that has been discussed at large, namely the difficulty to separate what is math and what is outside math within the field. The Fields Medal is clearly very unlikely to nominate a statistician, even a highly theoretical statistician, as there will always be "sexier" maths results, i.e. corpora of work that will be seen as higher maths than, say, the invention of the Lasso or the creation of generalized linear models. So there is no hope to reach for an alternative Fields Medal with the same shine. Just like the Nobel Prize.
Other issues I could have mentioned, but for the length of the current rant, are the creation of rewards for solving a specific problem (as some found in Machine Learning), for involving multidisciplinary and multicountry research teams, and for reaching new orders of magnitude in processing large data problems.


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Patrick is a pretty damn good song writer, but even he has to humble himself before the greatest of all time, Stan Totten. The reason Patrick is so good at most things is because he learns from the best. This may be the best song yet written, followed closely by I Love Cats, by Lizzie Adams.
Rorty Women and Rorty Men