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The Challenge of Otherness: Bridging the Chasms of a Complex World
by Robert Mayerovitch
Fellow Humans: Let me be more specific and categorical: Graduates & Students; Faculty, Staff, & Administration; Family & Friends; Curiosity-Seekers, Thrill-Seekers, & Those Who Accidentally-Stumbled Upon the Place While Looking for a Bathroom; Orange People & Purple People; Believers & Unbelievers; Fence Sitters, Fencers… and others,
Years ago my younger daughter (who actually does fence) was asked why her father didn't go to church. Her reply was simple: "He's a Canadian."
I've often delighted in that memory. Partly it's because the explanation seems like a slightly bizarre misinterpretation of one of the many labels that I, like you, bear through life. We change some on occasion, and wear others either hidden in an inside pocket or emblazoned on our foreheads throughout our days. But part of my delight in my daughter's statement is in realizing that although she didn't choose the relevant category, she was acutely aware that there were differences about me, descriptors that set me apart from other people's fathers. She recognized that my separateness was marked most obviously by those two distinctions, that I didn't go to church, and that I was an alien (something my family, colleagues, and students, have long attested to, especially when I lay claim to my Martian heritage). For Jessie, my otherness was a simple fact of life, without prejudice, without inherent value, just a fact.
Being a Canadian has long delighted me for that very reason: not because that's better than being American, or worse, but rather because in my slightly different upbringing in a non-world power with a self-deprecating national identity and a tendency to send comic actors south of the border, I've shared in a deeply philosophical perspective well represented by the immortal words and music of Gilbert & Sullivan: "Things are seldom what they seem. Skim milk masquerades as cream." Despite the current American concerns about terrorists and excessive immigration, my political minority status is seen as relatively non-threatening, and perhaps, as manifested in my different pronunciation of "house" and "about," even kind of cute.
It's that easy acceptance that makes a Martian like me feel at home here. But it's in my other significant minority status that my otherness is really put to the test. I must admit that my bearded jaw dropped rather below its normal limit when Mark Collier called me to indicate that John Gordon and he had agreed to invite me to speak today. My incredulity (not a bad word in talking about issues of faith) results from my being, as my daughter tried to represent, an unbeliever. This is not the usual credential for representing that aspect of your journey beyond Baldwin Wallace University that is rooted in the spiritual. But as Mark and I talked, I realized that in this invitation, Mark and John were acting out the very things that make me celebrate the spirituality of life even without a religion or a conscious god. It's what makes me regularly accept and even celebrate the inclusiveness that we at Baldwin Wallace try to make a part of the very life blood of our culture. And it's this challenge of finding shared sensibilities and values in others, even to the deepest core of our beliefs, that is an imperative in this often cold and confusing world. I'm both humbled and energized by this opportunity, and hope to be able to assuage most of your concerns about radical Canadianism.
I know few people, believers and unbelievers, Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, agnostics, secular humanists (that's another term for atheists who can carry a tune), and representatives of the various isms, who can't be moved by the intense beauty and overwhelming immensity of a starry night sky or a crimson sunset or the pores of a flower. Nor can most people remain untouched by the sheer amazingness of a newborn baby. Looking out from our world, or looking deep within it, we can't help but be awed by that which we can't comprehend. We can try mightily, and we do, all our lives, all of us, to understand the infinities and the eternities we confront in our imaginations and our awareness, but what we all find the most amazing is the sheer mystery of it all.
I was raised in a secular Jewish household, which is to say that we felt a deep cultural identification with our forebears, including some of their ritual celebrations, without having any sense of the godliness of creation. That meant learning to deal with important concepts like life and death and war and love and what came before and what comes after and why this and why that and it's not fair, all this without the inclusion of a god to help provide answers. But as I grew, I started to realize that although most people try to make some sense of the mysteries of life, it is the very continuity of that mystery that binds us together. And it is in our unwillingness to surrender to it that we stay apart in our otherness.
Of course we need the power and support of certain shared beliefs, but we must not let that need crowd out our curiosity. Where uncertainty challenges and can weaken our resolve and mitigate our joy in life, provided answers at least let us feel a togetherness in our separateness, just like an expatriate Canadian can find company in another, or in the self-help club for people like me who pun too much.
What I hope for – especially for those of you leaving the relative comfort of your college lives to confront the uncertainties of life out there, beyond even that curiously self-important intersection right outside these doors, at Front & Center – is that you will consider it important to find a way of encompassing, and perhaps even embracing the different-ness in others, even to the extent of seeing how similar that different-ness is to yours.
Here's part of life's process as I understand it, and I've been helped in that understanding by pondering life's challenges with my wife, Laura, who is a practicing Catholic, and my older daughter, Katie, who is a Baha'i. My wife has defined her faith as a gift, a sort of hard-wired way of accepting the mysteries of life through a relationship with God. My daughter indicates that Baha'is believe that various messengers have throughout time, delivered truths about God to various peoples in various, socially distinct ways, thus making it easier for the message to get through. But no one I know with faith in God has never had that faith challenged. It wouldn't be faith without those challenges. And perhaps it is reinforced when the result is the transcendence of doubt in favor of renewed faith. For one such as me, as for my secular siblings, the doubt is my reality, the need to accept the answerless questions of ultimate importance.
The only way I can do this is by celebrating the mystery itself as the consummate beauty of life. And the only way that I can do this in the company of others is to look to include everyone else in my embrace. There can be no real debate when it comes to the life of the spirit. What moves you and overwhelms you is a part of your very being, and it defines your values, your judgments, your yearnings every day. Yet I feel we must do better than feel empowered and focused and supported by those around us who are like us and believe exactly or approximately like us. The world is full of people who look and act differently from you. But it's also full of people who look and act just like you, but who each has a personal journey through life, one that may approximate in words and deeds how you live yours, but that may never be the same. People misrepresent themselves in communities of like values in order to fit in. And the flip side is just as interesting, since people with completely different superficial spiritual qualities can be very similar to you in their essential being.
Some religious scholars have pondered the weird reality that on the mystical fringes of many of the world's great religions, the expression of spiritual ardor is often more similar regardless of the label, than it is to the mainstream proponents of that religion. That should give us pause, a chance to hold our comfortable separateness at bay long enough to consider the possibility that in our heart of hearts, we are more similar than we are different.
My coping method is fairly simple. I know with absolute certainty that I am uncertain. I also know with reasonable certainty that so is everyone else. A vehement profession of my unfaith offers me neither intellectual satisfaction nor any clarity in dealing with mystery. On the other hand, a vehement profession of faith untempered by doubt seems suspect, the way we suspect the unwavering resolve of extremists who can never stop delivering their message and never seem to hear us. It is the doubt, our emotional vulnerability, that humanizes us, that allows us to share our frailty with all other persons on earth.
So I look for synonyms and metaphors and parallels and analogies. In others' faith I look for how all of us are deserving of love and respect, of curiosity about what makes us tick. All of us have the capability not just to teach others about our world and our way. More particularly, we have the capability of learning from others, without prejudice, without belittling them in our heads while we seem to be reaching out, and without assuming a superiority because of our strength in numbers, whether it be our religion or our race or our college degree.
To do this we need to identify shared values that transcend sectarian divisions. If we really find the ability to celebrate life's joys, we need to start off with some basic qualities. I've found two that particularly speak to me:
We need humility, that quality that allows us to strive for the best, to realize that we can strive to offer our best, without ever resorting to a false sense of self-importance. We have to try to be righteous without being self-righteous, and we have to try to keep our hearts and minds open, even as we share with others our deepest felt beliefs. One thing that has made our graduating President an effective leader has been his humility. He has always known he can't do it alone, and so he reaches out to others, empowering them as he goes.
We also need curiosity. If you have all the answers fresh out of college, you're doomed. The first day out of class, there will be a challenge that definitely wasn't solved and may never even have been noted. The variability of what confronts you need not overwhelm and depress you. Rather, it is a part of life's journey, and perhaps our prime energy source. At the same time, curiosity doesn't negate what you know and treasure; instead it offers the promise of even more: more richness, more depth and breadth, more opportunities to be amazed and troubled and challenged and stimulated and ultimately uplifted by what you find. So must your spiritual journey allow for continual expansion and refinement, even as a work of art can evolve, both in the act of creation and in the acts of interpretation and appreciation.
I know that there are some non-students here today (including me) who have never been to one of these baccalaureate services. You may have read President Collier's announcement and decided that the combination of me and a religious service must be some kind of really aberrant experiment. But as a teacher to my core, I believe that this is just another opportunity to build bridges, to span the great divide that normally separates the God-fearing righteous from the pitiable infidels, or the realists from the superstitious, or better yet, to help us notice how much we share. As Shakespeare so wisely put it, in the mouth of the much put upon Jew, Shylock, in The Merchant of Venice, "If you prick me, do I not bleed? If you tickle me, do I not laugh?"
I think it unfortunate, tragically unfortunate, that the world's great beliefs and philosophies have as yet done such a poor job of empathizing with other faiths and beliefs in order to recognize identities and similarities rather than reinforcing schisms and elitism. It is in the hope of better things for you and yours that I challenge us all to look both within our hearts and outside our comfortable groups to the dangerous but ultimately much richer world that surrounds us.
I hope that regardless of your chosen profession, you will all think of yourselves as teachers, teachers to yourselves and others, teachers who can find in the daily challenges of your lives some opportunity for learning, for questioning, for wondering. It is one of my great joys that I've managed to find within my professional life, daily ways of adding to my own spiritual growth and sharing in the growth of my students and colleagues. I'm pretty conscious of the fact that I would find my job much less rewarding if I didn't strive to address aspects of physical, mental, and spiritual health on a continual basis.
Here are two examples from the world of piano teaching. I've found that some of my experience can be catalogued and shared as a series of maxims. I call them "Rules of Pianists' Thumbs" because the pun sticks in the mind and because "Robert's Rules" was already used and I didn't want to plagiarize.
The first saying could be considered a theme for this whole talk: "Understanding begins where two truths collide." That's a principle I use in playing and teaching the piano, because a piece will often confront the musician with choices that seem mutually exclusive, and yet that can each be fully justified. That's what we regularly have to do in life, no matter what our religious tradition. We lie to protect our loved ones. We learn things like "Thou shalt not kill" and then have to add the disclaimer that self-defense is a mitigating factor. We learn that context helps determine truth and that different expressions of truth can be misleading if we aren't willing to explore the infinite nuances of language and meaning and thought and therefore belief.
Here's another: "Hope is a four-letter word." In English terms, that's of course literally correct. In spiritual terms it may seem like the denial of the possibility of good results, whether graduating on time (something parents fervently hope for), landing a cushy job, or the potentially biggest payoff, life eternal. But when hope is used as a substitute for personal responsibility, as when you hope your final exam will go well even though you never opened the book, then it is indeed a dirty word.
These guiding principles work for me, in my own playing, in my teaching, and in my thinking about life's other challenges, because they remind me both that we must define honestly and clearly what we should be responsible for and then know when to accept that we are not in control, not even in control of fully knowing who or what might be in control. Our imaginations, our creativity, our deepest emotional needs may try to answer those questions, but ultimately the best we can do is embrace the sweetness of the mystery.
Empathy requires that you have a creative ability to translate how others are feeling, acting, and speaking, so that the initial foreignness of their perspective can be transformed into something that you can not only understand, but accept as a valid possibility. When I was about 18, I had a friend with whom I engaged in many lively discussions about religion and spirituality and belief. She informed me that I was a good Christian, I just didn't know it. I laughed, because the sentiment was both far-fetched and believable at the same time. No, my beliefs wouldn't pass muster in the court of orthodoxy, Christian or otherwise, but we were able to feel a synonymous nature about our values that seemed to transcend the distinct differences of our stated beliefs. God or no God, we somehow recognized that our respective otherness was insufficient grounds to consider each other as anything but worthy people.
For similar reasons, I regularly read the religion pages in The Plain Dealer, something that amuses my wife greatly. I'm not looking for help, I'm looking for richness, the richness of the varied ways humans cope with our condition. Last week, totally by accident, two columns included perspectives that fit right into the essence of this talk. A column by Jean Dubail, Plain Dealer Metro Editor, reviewed a book called "The Great Transformation" by Karen Armstrong. She's an ex-nun and a religious historian, and according to Dubail, the title refers to the years between 900 and 200 BC or BCE, when monotheism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and philosophical rationalism were all developing. One shared characteristic of all these developing ethical and belief systems was the so-called "Abandonment of selfishness" and "the spirituality of compassion" both of which led to various forms of the Golden Rule. Days before reading this review, I had asked John Gordon to include some reference to the Golden Rule as an example of deeply shared spiritual values. I was delighted to hear that he already has in the Chapel a poster with many versions showing the universality of that rule.
In the same paper was an article by Terry Mattingly of the Scripps Howard News Service all about Salman Rushdie, the Booker Prize winner for his novel, "The Satanic Verses," and the resultant target of a death edict or fatwah from the Ayotollah of Iran. From this article come several Rushdie quotes. He's a self-described "dreadful old atheist," one who celebrated and tested his loss of Islamic faith by eating a ham sandwich. But his musing that "skeptics must remain open to the possibility that the believers may, in some mysterious way, be right" spoke directly to my theme today. We are all uncertain and equals in that uncertainty, though we may profess a certainty more insistently than another.
To conclude (and I know it's a part of the speech listening experience that even the unbelievers get to say "Thank God!" when this signal comes along) I have two life-affirming experiences to share with you that celebrate the mutuality of spirituality both religious and non-religious:
Years ago I was a graduate student at the Indiana University School of Music. In spite of my usual classical music bias, I was attracted to an ad for a group called "The Music Masters," which consisted of perhaps five or six gospel music ministers. I went out of curiosity and because I love good gospel music, not for its deistic nature, but rather for its celebratory and heartfelt expression. The evening's stated message was that God is Real, and the group proclaimed it with an earnestness and an involvement that would have made me believe the moon is made of Roquefort Cheese. That message did not convert me. Rather it reminded me of the achingly beautiful and different ways we can celebrate both the joys of life and our yearnings to transcend its apparent limitations. That experience left me both exuberant and changed.
And burned into my memory is one of the most powerful emotional and spiritual experiences I've ever had. My heart fills when I recall a horrible and beautiful event in my past, twenty-five years ago. My wife at the time and I had just had a son, our firstborn. He was born in shock, without crying or moving, though alive and fighting for life. He lived for about thirty-six hours, and afterwards, with counsel from family and friends, we decided that we needed to hold a funeral service. With help from the BW Chaplain, Hank Knight, we crafted a service from favorite poems of friends, from a greeting that I wrote but had the Chaplain read, from reminiscences of my brother and from a poem written by my father. In the aching moments of that service, we all shared our bleeding hearts, none more openly and courageously than my father, who died two years ago. The poem he read through trembling voice went as follows:
(Harry Mayerovitch:)
To Our Grandson David
Born September 29, 1981
Died September 30, 1981
Did he die
Before he'd lived?
No - in his day
His single day
He lived a lifetime
Was cradled in a
Lifetime's love
Swaddled in a
Lifetime's warmth
Tossed up by a
Lifetime's storms
Assaulted by a
Lifetime's pain
But dreamed perhaps a
Lifetime's dreams
And passed on
To each of us
A silent legacy
His lifetime's wisdom
That all of us
In all our days
Might also learn
To live a lifetime
In each day.
A few of the people here today were in attendance at that service 25 years ago. And perhaps they shared with me the feeling I had at the time that in our shared love and sorrow we were the same. The terrible beauty of that moment will never leave me, nor the lessons of love in all its splendor and ache. We were all mourning and loving people that day, and I'm sure that the believers in the chapel felt the presence of God. And the unbelievers in the room, including myself, felt still that this is the way life must be lived, fully and unabashedly, even when pain seems immense. In the collective bearing of that pain and in the acceptance of mutual worth, we all transcended our differences, and I'm not sure we even noticed them.
It is in such challenging and pivotal moments in our lives that we discover the stuff of which we are made. We discover whether we insist on being life's victims, or carry within us a nurturing and mutually affirming kind of energy, and even love. We discover whether we accept challenges as opportunities for growth or for retreat, and we determine whether we will let ourselves courageously explore the unknown or continue to retrench in favor of a safely and narrowly defined reality. Regardless of your choices, I hope that you will find full room in your hearts not merely for the bemused toleration of otherness, but rather for an encompassing empathy and celebration of that otherness. I hope, I fervently hope that you, the graduates, and we the not yet graduates can continue to find in our beliefs, all of them, a spirited and curiosity-filled exploration of life, an exploration that embraces the mystery of it all as a deeply abiding joy.


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Tailingua: Introducing the Taiwanese Language
Hoan-gêng lâi Tailingua!
Tailingua provides information on a number of sources useful to students of Taiwanese, from computer tools to books.
Moving to TaiwanMichael A. Cannings
Moving to Taiwan is a clear and understandable guide for people thinking about relocating to the island. With the experience gathered from ten years of living in Taiwan, Michael A. Cannings outlines the basics you will need to get your new life started, including sections on getting a visa, finding a job, what to bring with you, paying taxes, dating, and much more.
Not-for-profit information on the Taiwanese language.
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This site was built by Michael Cannings, an Taiwanese enthusiast resident in Tiong-hô, Tâi-ôan.
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subset: commoncrawl


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After learning the place they booked to hold their weddings, the Inspirador in Chandler, suddenly went out of business, several valley brides were left scrambling to find a new place to hold their receptions.
Fortunately other businesses saw the story on FOX 10 and stepped in to help.
About 60 couples were left scrambling to make their wedding happen.
Many couples have just months to look for an alternative venue, but one couple had just weeks and were hoping to make their special day a reality.
It was just moments before Jessica Turner walked down the aisle.
"I'm so excited, I just want to see my fiancé," said Turner.
But just a few weeks ago, she wasn't sure this day would even happen.
She planned to have her wedding at the Inspirador in Chandler, then the venue went into foreclosure and canceled. Turner and her fiancé's money was gone and their wedding plans ruined--just 10 days from the big day.
"I was devastated, I feel like truly the luckiest bride in the world right now," said Turner.
She's lucky because Kim Gleason, owner of Tre Bella wedding venue, heard Turner's story and stepped in.
"She just sounded so distraught, I felt compelled to help her," said Gleason.
The couple lost their $4,000 deposit to the Inspirador and hoped Gleason could give them a deal. She gave them much more; the venue, D.J. and even catering were all for free.
"I know how special it is for the bride and groom, her day, it was totally lost, they would not have had a wedding and so it was easy to do," said Gleason.
"I need to pinch myself, it feels like a dream," said Turner.
With the venue nightmare behind them, the couple can focus on their journey ahead.
The Inspirador has not offered the newlyweds a refund. The couple said they will try to get their $4,000 deposit back from their bank.
Related stories:
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The Captain's House B&B is a quirky Grade II Listed Town House, full of character and warmth, ideally located in the heart of Dartmouth just a minutes walk to the beautiful river Dart, exciting shops, fantastic restaurants, sailing and the many delights that make Dartmouth so special for our guests.
We offer four star Bed and Breakfast; our concern is your comfort.
for details please follow the special offers link above


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TRUCKEE, Calif. - The Sierra Senior Services annual Spaghetti Bingo Dinner fundraiser was the most successful yet, with 520 attendees Jan. 26 at the Community Recreation Center in Truckee. Jeff Schaff of Donner Park Auto Repair and Exhaust donated 5 percent of his gross sales for December to Sierra Senior Services, presenting a $2,154 check to Sierra Senior Service Executive Director Sarah Deardorff. Visit www.sierraseniors.org for information how to volunteer or donate.
February 7, 2013 | Back to: News
Sierra Senior Services spaghetti and bingo bash best ever
Trending in: News
- King Fire up to 76,376 acres; 'no immediate danger' to Tahoe-Truckee
- Smoke could return after clear weekend
- Athletes prepare for Sunday's challenging Ironman Lake Tahoe
- Ironman Tahoe officials eye smoke patterns; Sunday's race still a go
- Man, 37, suspected of starting King Fire; bail set at $10 million


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Formula One is under pressure again to call off its race in Bahrain where anti-government protesters continue to press for political reforms. Unlike last year, however, F1 is determined to hold the race—despite the potential backlash.
By: Justin Bergman17 April 2012
The eighty-one-year-old Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone is normally just thought of as eccentric, but at the Chinese Grand Prix last week, he sounded completely out of touch with reality. Asked by a reporter if he thought Bahrain was politically stable enough to hold the F1 Bahrain Grand Prix on April 22, he was unequivocal in his response. "There's nothing happening (in Bahrain)," he said. "I know people that live there and it's all very quiet and peaceful." Hours later, clashes broke out between protestors and security forces after the funeral for Ahmed Ismail, who was shot during a demonstration in March. Some of those in attendance threw firebombs at police and the authorities responded by firing tear gas and birdshot to clear the crowds. "No F1, no F1," Ismail's mother, Makyia Ahmed, told The Associated Press. "They killed my son in cold blood."
17 April 2012
The Bahraini government's response to the findings of an international commission of inquiry has proved inadequate as human rights violations continue, Amnesty International said in a new report on Tuesday.
The 58-page Flawed Reforms: Bahrain fails to achieve justice for protesters reveals that piecemeal reforms have failed to provide justice for victims of human rights violations, despite the government's insistence that it will learn from the events of February and March 2011.
Amnesty International says government did little to bring justice to protesters after inquiry proved rights violations.
17 April 2012
Rights violations continue in Bahrain and the government's response to the findings of an international commission of inquiry have proved inadequate, Amnesty International has said.
In a report released on Tuesday, the rights group found that Bahrain had failed to achieve justice for protesters with the piecemeal reforms implemented following the November 2011 report of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI).
Financial Times, Abu Dhabi
By Camilla Hall, 16 April 2012
Bahraini police briefly detained two international human rights officials and scores of Bahrainis on Sunday, as the country struggles to depict a picture of calm ahead of the controversial hosting of the Formula 1 Grand Prix this weekend.
Police detained Tom Malinowski, Washington director of Human Rights Watch, and Nadim Houry, the organisation's deputy director for the Middle East and north Africa, as they observed protests in the village of Duraz. They were not targeted specifically and were released after a few hours, after showing their permission to be in the country, Human Rights Watch said.
Bahrain Freedom Movement, April 12, 2012
One of the two Bahraini nationals on hunger strike has been taken to hospital this afternoon after being found unconscious on the street pavements outside the U.S Embassy in Grosvenor Square.
Ali Mushaima and Musa Abd Ali have now spent two nights outside the U.S Embassy and have been on indefinite hunger strike for the past eight days.
Bahrain's foreign minister has asked the British Government to get Denis MacShane to shut up about its human rights record. Here he explains why he will not be silent
I am used to endless lies and criticism from the British National Party and its favourite blogger, as well as the Islamist ideologues who hate my work on anti-Semitism, and the offshore-owned press obsessed about Europe. But this is the first time that a government, Bahrain, has written to the British Government asking the Foreign Secretary to shut me up.
By William Fisher
The Public Record
Dec 19th, 2011
Some mainstream media are suggesting that the Bahraini version of The Arab Spring is over. Crushed was the word used by one of the mainstream US newspapers.
But the Sunni King of the tiny oil-rich country, Hamad-Bin-Isa-Al-Khalifa, says the independent report he commissioned is being implemented. The report concluded that peaceful demonstrators were being attacked by soldiers, arbitrarily arrested, taken to prison and tortured. The King has, unexplainably, accepted the report's findings and promised to work with the people on long-overdue reforms. He is seeking patience from his majority Shia subjects.
20 Dec 2011
MANAMA, BAHRAIN — Women in Bahrain are known to play more of a role in public life than in most neighboring countries. They drive, vote, and some are active in politics.
So it was no surprise to find on arriving here that Bahraini women were also prominent in protests. During a recent demonstration outside the U.N. office in Manama, women, most of them wearing black abayas, stood apart from male peers, carrying pictures of men who they say had been tortured and signs asking for global support.
A new report by the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry has revealed that five Bahraini prisoners have died due to torture by the Persian Gulf regime.
20 Dec 2011
The inquiry panel says three of the deaths took place while the prisoners were in custody of Bahraini security forces.
The commission has reportedly called for further investigation into the issue.
The five prisoners were among the protesters who were arrested during anti-regime demonstrations Bahrain.
18 Dec 2011
Bahraini protesters have been continuing with their daily protests despite a government crackdown, from a government that tells the world that it is implementing reforms and not involved in the killing of innocent people. This none forceful confrontation with protesters has resulted in two deaths and countless injuries since Thursday.
Bahraini regime forces have attacked thousands of mourners attending the funeral ceremony of an elderly man in a village near the capital Manama, Press TV reports.
18 Dec 2011
Saudi-backed regime forces attacked the gathering on Sunday.
The mourners chanted slogans against the Bahraini regime and called for "the downfall of the ruling Al Khalifa family."
Earlier in the day, 73-year-old Ali Ali-Ahmad was killed after he was targeted by tear gas in an attack by regime forces on a demonstration in the village.
18 Dec 2011
Immediately after the huge waves of public demonstrations started in Bahrain in February 2011, the government resorted to violence to stop the unrest. However, the protests continued to spread and people never hesitated to express their legitimate demands openly.


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Macro Photography: Using Depth Of Field & Flash
Macro photography is all about details. That's why we photograph small subjects. But I have seen hundreds of macro pictures and the lack of sufficient depth of field is the biggest problem. If much of the picture is blurred, that defeats the purpose of the photograph. For example, why would you want to render any part of this orchid (#1) out of focus, even slightly? Backgrounds can be completely blurred to direct all of the attention to the subject. The foliage behind this poison dart frog (#2) is just a haze of color with no definition at all. That's fine, but notice that the frog and the flower are both tack sharp.
Macro is not as easy as photographing people, architecture or landscapes. Macro is much more technical. You can't just pick up your camera, take some close-ups and expect them to be excellent. I am specifically referring to the need for depth of field and critical focus, and that means you have to use a tripod.
As you make the lens aperture smaller for increased depth of field, you lose light. That means the shutter speed has to be longer to compensate for the loss. Longer shutter speeds mean you will not be able to hand hold the camera to get sharp pictures. Small apertures like the ones you use for extreme close-ups, like f/22 or f/32, will force your shutter speed to be much slower than you could hold steady—unless you raise the ISO to a higher number, which I don't recommend for macro work. As long as your subject isn't moving, it doesn't matter how long the shutter is as long as you are using a tripod.
Keep It Parallel
The seashells (#3) and the macaw feathers (#4) are both flat subjects and it was very easy to angle the camera so the planes of the subjects were parallel with the back of the camera. Had I not been this careful in my work and the camera was oblique to the subjects, even with f/32 the depth of field might not have been as complete as it is in these 2 photos.
Often it's impossible to make this happen. Most of the time your macro subjects are not 2-dimensional or on the ground and you may not be able to angle the camera in the way I'm suggesting. Whenever it's possible to use this parallel advantage your depth of field will be guaranteed.
One way to block the wind is to set up a white tent that completely covers the subject. You can use white parachute material that hangs over 4 stakes in the ground, and that not only prevents a delicate subject from moving in the wind, it also diffuses the light beautifully. Even on a bright day with an overhead sun, you can take stunning macro shots in diffused light. I photographed a captive luna moth (#5) using this tent. In my opinion, this kind of ultra soft lighting is the best-case scenario in macro photography.
Ring Flash
When using a ring flash, I suggest shooting very close to the subject. That's why it's best to use a 50mm or 100mm macro lens. The working distance with these lenses is close—within 5-20". If you use the 180mm or 200mm macro lens, the working distance is much further. The problem with doing that is the light from the ring flash almost becomes a point source of light (like from a regular flash) and that means the light itself becomes harsh. The closer the light source is to the subject, the more diffuse its effect will be. You don't want a harsh light source on your macro subjects.
Focus Bracket Your Way To Deep Depth Of Field
There are 2 software programs that enable you to have complete depth of field at any lens aperture and with any amount of magnification. One of them is called Helicon Focus from Helicon Soft (www.heliconsoft.com) and the other is Zerene Stacker from Zerene Systems (www.zerenesystems.com). Zerene Stacker is better for extreme magnification. You can think of them as the HDR for focus and depth of field.
The way they work is that you take many pictures of a subject—anything not moving—from a tripod. Each time you take a picture, re-focus the lens from the furthest point in the composition to the closest point near the camera in very small increments. It doesn't matter how many shots you take. My average number of exposures is 10 to 12. The software then assembles all of the pictures and uses only the sharpest plane of focus from each photo so the resulting composite is perfectly focused throughout. Since f/8 is typically the sharpest lens aperture on any lens, you can do this at f/8 and still have complete depth of field from the immediate foreground to the background.
This can be used for macro photography as well as when using a telephoto. What is amazing is that if you use a long lens, you still get the telephoto compression but everything is tack sharp from front to back. Here is a link for a demo of Helicon Focus: www.heliconsoft.com/heliconfocus.html and a link for a free trial of Zerene Stacker: www.zerenesystems.com/cms/stacker/softwaredownloads.
You have a choice with respect to how much of the subject you want to be sharp. In the shot of a rhinoceros beetle (#9) I wanted the entire insect to be sharp but I felt it was important to leave the background completely blurred. For the first exposure I focused on a point on the insect furthest from the camera. For the last exposure, I focused on the bark at the bottom edge of the frame. In this way, I chose the specific areas of the picture that I wanted to be sharp. I used f/8, and took 10 separate pictures that were stacked together in the Helicon Focus software to produce exactly what I wanted.
I used Helicon Focus with the photo a wasp nest with eggs in the various chambers (#10) and again I selected a specific area of the image that should be sharp. I focused the first picture at the outer edge of the nest, and then 12 shots later I ended with focusing on the nearest point on the nest. The background tree remained a blur of color. I felt that if it were sharp, it would be distracting.


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Showing 11 through 20 of 91 reviews
I got this in a Famous sampler and unfortunately it's probably the worst cigar experience I ever had. I chose to smoke this stick first out of the 80+ cigars I ordered because it had a beautiful look, feel, and aroma. On cut/light up I first used a punch, checked the draw and it was like I didn't even do anything to it at all. I went ahead and did a straight cut, checked again and it barely improved. I went ahead and lit it up to see if it could open up a little after a few puffs. It's DIDN'T. The aroma and taste (the little bit of smoke I did get) was nice. After I ended it, I cut it open and this thing was basically twigs wrapped in binder. I'm going to assume I just got a bad stick, but I'm not willing to order more in order to find out. I was shocked considering how well reviewed this stick is, and also because of how nice it appeared to be constructed.Joe in Pittsburgh July 6, 2013
"I Loved the thing!"
I got it in the #35 Buyers Guide sampler. Wow, it was good. It burned smooth and for a long time.David in Atlanta May 27, 2013
"Good but not worth hunting down"
This cigar is pleasant and pretty. For something considered full, I didn't get that as much till near the end. Up till then a mild-medium experience. Every once and awhile would get some spice which was nice but not overpowering and I wanted more of it. Never bitter or harsh except when correcting minor burn issues. Also kept picturing pine trees when smoking, weird huh? A good cigar if it can be had at a decent price, but not sure I'm going to purposefully hunt these down again.Jason in Dixon, IL May 23, 2013
"dissatisfied......no tast at all"
Have let these stogies sit in the humor for two months. These cigars had no taste whatsoever. Not sweet not bitter not spice not anything at all just smoke out of my mouth.steveo in Illinois February 24, 2013
"Fully enjoyed this smoke"
I may be a neophyte with cigars, but this was an awesome smoke. All the way to the end, it was smooth, velvety and a true pleasure to enjoy. I will definately be putting some of these into the box.Tom in Milford, CT August 19, 2012
"Good, but won't go out of my way to get it"
I enjoy many of the CAO brand, and while this one was okay, I think CAO has some that are much better -- and comparably priced. I smoked two. The second spent about six weeks in the humidor and was much less peppery than the first one. The flavors were pretty good, although I don't tend to taste the subtlties that some others seem to recognize in cigars. The construction was a minor issue, as the wrapper cracked and opened on one cigar, affecting the draw a fair amount. Overall, an enjoyable smoke, but unless it comes as part of a package deal where I have to take it to get another cigar I want, I don't think I'll buy anymore.Mike in Pgh June 7, 2012
"One of the BEST!!!!"
So damn good I burnt my fingers on the nub...... Keep Brazillia's in the humidor at all times. This is a must have.Scott in Mesa AZ May 25, 2012
"Among my favorites"
Got this in a sampler and have been adding them to the humidor ever since. I would not be disappointed if they were all I had to smoke. Great cigar!!James in Manhattan,KS May 19, 2012
So many reviews on this stick so I picked one up from the local and overpriced smoke shop. Appearance is amazing dark and the band is gorgeous. The draw is ridiculously easy so much smoke. Flavor is rather one dimensional. Earthiness and the classic maduro taste mainly. Will be buying more in the future!Anthony in San Diego May 7, 2012
"Great Smoke"
Nice creamy earthy taste, smoked at least a dozen since last summer; the draw was perfect on every one. Not a bad one yet. Looking to buy a box now.Joe in Freehold, New Jersey April 23, 2012


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John Mayer aka jhnmyr talks about Twitter in his recent blog entry, "Twitter Isn't "Over", I'm Over It." In it he brings up a few interesting points:
By no means do I think it's over as a medium altogether, but I do think that the days of "Twitter: The Breakthrough" have passed, as has been and will continue to be the case for every online social network. It's reached it's cruising altitude, so to speak. Patterns and templates are emerging. The Twitter-bred syntax isn't really doing it for me anymore.
I cannot help but agree that the growing season for Twitter is nearing an end. Rules have been established, a style guide now exists. The teenager that was trying to find it's voice is now comfortable in it's own skin and is now comfortable just being themselves. (how's that for a terrible metaphor?). But I don't see this as a bad thing. Sure, we all like growth, but at some point it's important to say enough's enough (something Facebook has yet understand).
However it's in Mayer's next paragraph where our opinions begin to differ.
And call me crazy, but I don't think it's the healthiest thing in the world to read scads of mentions/@replies and effectively open the floodgate of other people's approval/disapproval. Finding out in 140 characters what a stranger has to say about you is like a mathematical equation without an established value of 'x'. Who are you, stranger? What do you stand for? What do you like, and if it's not me, then what does move you? What DO you look up to? Once I find that out, I'll know how disappointed I should be.
Now, granted. I'm not one of the biggest celebrities on the planet (which, like it or not, Mr. Mayer is, and rightfully so), so I don't have this issue. Many of my real followers (that is to say, those who actually chose to follow me, as opposed to bots who auto follow me) are people I know and care about. These are the people I hold conversations with on Twitter. They may be friends from school, or in some cases people I rarely see. In even rarer cases they may be people I've never actually met in person, but whom I still consider friends (yes Samantha, I'm looking in your direction).
It's that last category that is key to Twitter. Because along with those people are the people whom I've never met, ever, who live around the world, that stumbled across a tweet of mine and decided to reply. Perhaps it's to tell me off. Perhaps it's to agree. Perhaps it'll be a fleeting moment. But perhaps, as in those rare cases, it begins a conversation, and in a weird way a friendship.
I think this is what is at the heart of Twitter. Not just simple blasts of 140 characters about what you're currently eating at the moment. It can be that if you want it to be, but if you take that approach you'll soon get bored. If you use Twitter the way it was intended you'll find yourself, like me, sticking around for many years and meeting some really cool people along the way.
That said, the system breaks down when you're a celebrity, or at least a huge A-List Celebrity, which is perhaps where Mr. Mayer is troubled. It's hard to hold a conversation when you're constantly inondated with garbage tweets from some ass-hat telling you that he can play that Clapton lick 10x better than you, or some teenaged tart explaining all the beautiful and illegal things she wants to do to you (though, I'll be honest, I probably wouldn't complain about the later). In this respect I understand Mr. Mayer's conundrum: if you can't hold a conversation you're left tweeting about the awesome new tones you're discovering. And after a while you get bored.
Minor celebrities may still have this problem, but certainly not to the same degree. Maybe I was lucky that I caught Josh Malina on a slow day which meant he could take the time to personally Direct Message me his thanks about my kind words about the show he was on. But, the fact is, you've probably never even heard of the guy, which may account for why Twitter works for him. But I would find it very hard to believe that anyone reading this has never heard of John Mayer (and if you haven't, where the hell have you been the last 5 years?).
So, I guess what I'm saying is I'll stick with Twitter. But I'll stick with Tumblr too. They're two different mediums, and I welcome Mr. Mayer with open arms to the world of Tumblr. But I hope he realizes that he'll always have to deal with dick head strangers telling him why he's an idiot. But so long as he knows that they're just dick-head strangers, he'll be fine.
And so long as he keeps bringing us music like this I won't complain.
Oh, and PS. John: if you ever read this (which I'm sure you wont) and you ever are looking for a young red-headed Canadian to make some silly videos with not only would I totally be up for it, I'd do it for free… just sayin.
it's cool, i would totally do scarlett johannson too.
Funny, I was just talking about this… Good lord I love that woman. Even if she can't act her way out of a paper-bag.
Kesha's styling comprises of messy hair, smudged makeup and a wardrobe she describes as "garbage-chic". The look developed from her being poor and trying to brand herself as best she could on a budget.[45]She has named Keith Richards as her fashion inspiration.[7]
- via Wikipedia
"Garbage-chic"? Seriously, class act. Seriously.


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By Lauren Keith - bio | email
MARBLE HILL, MO (KFVS) - There are so many lotions and potions that promise to get rid of tattoos, but can you really rub off something that's inked into your skin? Here's what I found after testing one product with April Lutes of Marble Hill.
"I got my tattoos ten years ago, and now I want them gone," says April.
She regrets getting tattoos on her chest and ankle. When she saw the Wrecking Balm Tattoo Removal commercial enough times, she bought the $170 product, hoping it would help.
Just three minutes, three days per week, and supposedly Wrecking Balm removes that tattoo. It consists of a gel, cream and a buffer.
"It's really easy. You just put the cream on and buff away," says April.
No need to make an appointment with a doctor to remove your tattoo, and no somewhat painful laser treatment. That's great for this busy mom, but it too good to be true? Here's April's ankle tattoo now.
Initially, she noticed the Wrecking Balm buffer seemed to blur the edges of the tattoo a bit. In our opinion, this device looks like a microdermobrasion kit, really.
"Just a vibration feeling. It does feel gritty because substance is gritty. Like sandpaper on your skin and doesn't really hurt or anything," says April.
She hopes the tattoos will clear up in time for a ceremony where she and her husband will renew their wedding vows. She's noticed the included Wrecking Balm waterproof concealer seems to help in the meantime.
Take a look at how well the concealer covers her ankle tattoo. April hopes in time, she won't even have anything to cover up at all.
"It shows it fading almost completely gone. If you continue to use it, they said, it will completely fade it," says April.
The timeline the company puts out is two months, but we even gave it an extra month. So, three months later, here's what she found. "It looks like it might have faded on one little strip. I can't tell any difference at all," says April.
In fact, the only difference we can see is redness from the irritation this caused after April used it the required amount of time these last three months! The tattoos are still completely there.
"I've used it three times a week. I've done it every other day but it gives me irritation," she says.
Now, she's considering the more expensive laser treatments, prompting me to ask Dr. Troy Major of ENT Consultants in Cape Girardeau his thoughts on this product.
"Most tattoos are a bit deeper into skin itself," says Dr. Major.
The ENT says this rotating head may take away the top layer of a tattoo, but professional-grade tattoos usually go much further than that, making it harder to remove.
Lasers help by breaking down the dyes, sending them out through your immune system, where your white blood cells push it all out.
"Lasers have to recognize over 100 dyes and colors and those can be mixed," he explains.
He says green dye is the hardest to remove. Black is the easiest. As you see here though, the treatments can hurt, they're expensive and it may take several sessions before you see results. Even then, some tattoos might not fully go away, but he most certainly says lasers work much, much better than a product like this, among other options.
"The laser works best," says Dr. Major.
Back to April who's wishing she would have started at the doctor's office first. "Does this make you sick to your stomach? Are you mad?" I ask April.
She says, "For the money I paid, I would have rather done laser treatments but the concealer is the plus out of this," she admits.
The positive response from the concealer keeps her from completely failing this product, despite the bad customer service she says she also received from the company.
"I think it's a gimmick. The concealer is the only thing out of it, at least a D minus if not a grade 'F,'" she says.
If you could order the concealer separately, I might consider a slightly higher grade. But another look at these results, or lack thereof, and I know the high dollar Wrecking Balm crashes and burns, failing this Does it Work test.
©2009 KFVS. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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October 8, 2012- Chuck McIntosh
Published: October 5,2012
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America's Wackiest Attractions
From the travelers and editors of TripAdvisor. The list proves "the U.S. boasts some truly bizarre attractions, and in a state where they do everything big, Texas even does weird big," said a spokeswoman for the travel Web site.
Image 6 of 10
6. Well Always Have Paris Texas: The Paris Texas Eiffel Tower, Paris, Texas( Baltimore Sun, courtesy of TripAdvisor / October 15, 2009 )
It is only fitting that Paris, Texas, would have an iconic tower of its own. While this version only measures around 65 feet tall, compared to Frances 1,063-foot tower, it certainly has that je ne sais quoia cowboy hat on top. But it's not for everyone; as one TripAdvisor traveler said, "I've honestly seen oil rigs that are more impressive."
|Reporters and editors involved in creating and writing these cruise articles are in no way affiliated with any links that are placed on the pages. Read our full editorial policy.


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Ariz. Baptists seek church renewal
Posted on Nov 19, 2012 | by Elizabeth Young
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PHOENIX (BP) -- Messengers to the 84th annual meeting of the Arizona Southern Baptist Convention heard a call to church renewal and unanimously conducted business in a single hour-and-a-half session.
During the meeting at North Phoenix Baptist Church in Phoenix, the 252 messengers elected three new officers by acclamation, adopted a 2013 Cooperative Program budget of $3,180,000 and heard a report from the search team charged with recommending a new state missionary (executive director).
Prior to the business session and worship rally Nov. 9, Arizona Southern Baptists strolled through 30 booths in a mission fair presenting the ministries of the convention, along with other opportunities to be on mission.
"It is my view that God would be honored if in 2013 we turn our hearts toward thoughts of church renewal," said Byron Banta, interim state missionary.
Quoting the convention's motto of "Healthy Leaders Influence Healthy Churches to Evangelize and Plant Churches," Banta challenged messengers to "think about ways that we can be healthier churches for the glory of God."
He presented two assumptions about church health. First, he said, "A church is responsible for its own health." Second, "Church health -- church renewal -- is like digging a posthole: it's not that complicated, but it is hard," he said.
Church renewal, Banta said, entails turning to God, seeking His face and honoring Him with acts of obedience. "God wants what we say to Him and how we behave to be in concert," he said.
Emphasizing the need for renewal, he said, "I believe there are hundreds of thousands of church members in the West who have unwittingly embraced American cultural religion that cuts the heart out of biblical Christianity."
Banta quoted John Guillott, director of evangelism and missions for the Catalina Baptist Association in Tucson, who said in a meeting in another association, "If you want to be healthy, you need to do healthy things."
One healthy thing for churches to do is to emphasize stewardship, Banta said.
"If I were a pastor and I suspected that members of my church had been infected with a secular worldview," he said, "I might spend the better part of a year helping them figure out what God says about money."
When secular people hear what God's Word says about money and resources, they are confronted with the lordship of Christ, he said, noting, "Once you learn to trust God with your money, it is easier to trust Him with all other areas of your life."
Another healthy thing a church could do, Banta said, would be to develop a written evangelism and discipleship strategy. "It would challenge secular-minded people to understand and adopt God's purposes," he said.
However, he cautioned, the goal is not to have a program to make your church grow. The point is "doing healthy things as a part of repentance and seeking God for His glory."
Chad Garrison, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Lake Havasu City, was elected president by acclamation.
In Garrison's 20 years as pastor of Calvary, the church has grown from an average attendance of under 100 to more than 1,000, said Bret Burnett, pastor of Mountain View Baptist Church in Tucson, in nominating Garrison. Calvary, which gives 19 percent to missions and gave almost $100,000 through the Cooperative Program last year, "is known in their city for being a church that loves the Lord and stands for the Lord and cares for their community," Burnett said.
Also elected by acclamation were Randy Mullinax, pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Tucson, as first vice president and Paul Smith, pastor of First Baptist Church in Chandler and associate professor at the Arizona Campus of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary, as second vice president.
The churches of all three officers rank in the top 20 churches in Cooperative Program giving in the Arizona Southern Baptist Convention.
Messengers adopted a $3,180,000 Cooperative Program budget and a $4,605,562 state convention operating budget for 2013. The Cooperative Program budget remains unchanged from 2012.
The budget calls for 26.05 percent of Cooperative Program gifts to be forwarded to SBC causes, also unchanged from 2012.
The Cooperative Program budget will be distributed as follows: SBC Cooperative Program, $828,390; Arizona Southern Baptist Convention, $1,913,911; Arizona Campus of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary, $236,550; Arizona Baptist Children's Services, $125,456; and Baptist Senior Life Ministries, $75,693.
Income sources in the ASBC operating budget beyond Cooperative Program giving by Arizona churches include $999,970 from the North American Mission Board, $118,800 in church gifts designated for Arizona ministries only, $54,996 from LifeWay Christian Resources, $20,000 in trust income designated for the Cooperative Program and $69,550 in other revenue.
ASBC First Vice President Shaun Whitey, pastor of First Indian Baptist Church in Phoenix, presided during the meeting in the absence of President James Harms, pastor of First Baptist Church in Sierra Vista, who had back surgery recently.
Joe Chan, pastor of Tucson Chinese Baptist Church in Tucson, and a member of the state missionary/executive director search team, presented Harms' written report from the search team.
The search team met Oct. 19 and reviewed the presentation of a candidate who did not receive the required two-thirds affirmative vote of the Convention Council in September, Harms wrote. According to the ASBC constitution, a candidate must receive a two-thirds affirmative vote of both the Convention Council and ASBC messengers in annual or special session.
The team also "evaluated the other candidates that had been previously interviewed by the team" and then "voted to begin the search again," he wrote. Recommendations and resumes are being received by email at firstname.lastname@example.com, and the team also will consider some recommendations received earlier, Harms wrote.
The search team was appointed by Harms in May 2011 when Steve Bass resigned as ASBC state missionary to become the West Region vice president of the North American Mission Board. Members of the original eight-member search team will continue to serve, with the exception of Harms, who was on the team and served as chairman by virtue of his office. Newly elected ASBC President Chad Garrison now will serve as team chairman.
Next year's annual meeting of the Arizona Southern Baptist Convention will be Nov. 15 at Emmanuel Baptist Church in Tucson.
Elizabeth Young is director of communications for the Arizona Southern Baptist Convention.
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Phil Kinnane | February 14, 2012
As a Premier Elite Partner with Intel, COMSOL is able to test its ability utilizing multi-core systems using Intel's Concurrency Checker. This was run on COMSOL Multiphysics Version 4.2a and I've just uploaded the report on Intel's website.Read more ⇢
Phil Kinnane | February 13, 2012
One of the things I have noticed from the FEM vs FVM debate is that when you want to couple other physics to fluid flow, then FEM is the best method to do this with. It's fitting then that my colleague in our Palo Alto office, John Dunec, ran a webinar this week on Multiphysics Flow Simulations with COMSOL.Read more ⇢
Valerio Marra | February 10, 2012
I was reading Fanny's blog post about the call for papers and it reminded me of my duties as program chair of the COMSOL Conference 2012 that will be held in Milan, Italy. I had gotten distracted. At the time I was working on a two-phase non-isothermal flow simulation and I was lost in my train of thought… "How to correctly represent volume forces? Is it ok to use the Boussinesq approximation? Is this mesh fine enough? Am I using […]Read more ⇢
Phil Kinnane | February 9, 2012
I have just been working with getting an ad together for Medical Design Briefs. I wanted to show the readers of this magazine how a new feature in V. 4.2a works. It's called "Image to Material", and I wanted to also share it here.Read more ⇢
Bernt Nilsson | February 8, 2012
I bet you share that great feeling most COMSOL users get – the excitement when presenting your latest simulation results to your colleagues! Or is it envy? In either case multiphysics modeling work tends to inspire.Read more ⇢
Fanny Littmarck | February 7, 2012
We have now officially opened our doors to receive abstracts for paper and poster submissions for this year's COMSOL Conference. This means that if you are interested in presenting your work in either Boston, Milan, or Bangalore now is the time to submit your abstract.Read more ⇢
Fanny Littmarck | February 6, 2012
As many of you may already know, a vast number of multiphysics simulations are based on or have something to do with fluid flow. Oftentimes, convective processes can actually play a bigger part than diffusion processes, for example in chemical reactions or heat flux. A fluid can for instance be set in motion by changing its temperature. We have a pretty neat example of a glass filled with cold water that is placed on a heat source (as seen below). […]Read more ⇢
Phil Kinnane | February 3, 2012
I noticed a lot of activity when I posted the question concerning "FEM vs FVM" in a previous blog post, so I started looking into it a bit. A lot of people went to the COMSOL Discussion Forum thread on the matter, from the blog, which got me thinking that this must be a hot topic out there. How disappointed I was when I typed 'FEM vs FVM' into Google and saw that there wasn't much to sink your teeth […]Read more ⇢
Phil Kinnane | February 2, 2012
I've just been working with Roger Pryor, as he gathers material for his new book. Roger wrote a book called "Multiphysics Modeling using COMSOL" a couple of years ago that turned into a good seller. Now he has released "Multiphysics Modeling using COMSOL Multiphysics v.4". This is the first book I am aware of that showcases Version 4.Read more ⇢
Fanny Littmarck | February 1, 2012
Recently we certified AMD FirePro graphics cards and acknowledged AMD as a COMSOL partner. We are especially excited about this, as we know the importance of excellent graphics cards when simulating models.Read more ⇢
Phil Kinnane | January 31, 2012
An interesting discussion has been going on in the COMSOL Discussion Forum. What is the difference between the Finite Element Method (FEM) and the Finite Volume Method (FVM)?Read more ⇢
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Am watching the episode now but Gary Vaynerchuk's Wine Library TV has a tasting of the wines imported by forum member Richard Shaffer's Israeli Wine Direct on his latest episode. The URL is: http://tv.winelibrary.com/2008/08/04/israeli-wines-wines-from-israel-that-are-not-kosher-episode-513/.
My favorite line - Israeli wine: it's better than Ohio. Overall, Israeli wines are scored well with some comments about being overpriced.


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Threading differences in Java Runtime for Symbian (Known Issue)
S60 5th Edition
S60 3rd Edition FP2
There are differences in Java threading in S60 Editions and in Symbian^3: more specifically, in S60 3rd Edition, Feature Pack 2 and S60 5th Edition (which use either Java Runtime 1.3 for S60 or Java Runtime 1.4 for S60) some of the system threads run in a higher priority than any application thread which allows the system threads to make call backs and run the application code.
This can lead to potential problems if the system threads are involved in resource-consuming tasks like continuous looping. In Symbian^3 (which uses Java Runtime 2.1 for Symbian), the threading priorities have been changed so that most of the threads running in the Java process share the same native priority EPriorityNormal which resolves the threading issues.
For the affected Editions, the Java application myst be redesigned and implemented accordingly. For example, the resource-consuming tasks like continuous looping or changing Displayables in different threads during runtime are potential areas of interest which would need to be addressed. In addition, threading variation in the application code for the different Editions can be done by using the related system information which can be acquired by using the system property microedition.platform as described in the Java Developer's Library.


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The Murray Bridge Visitor Information has a wide variety of information on Murray Bridge. Come in and ask the friendly volunteers and staff for information on river cruises, Monarto Zoological Park, Captain's Cottage Museum, Old Tailem Town and events, activities and directions to Murray Bridge and the wider Murraylands region.We also have information on all areas of South Australia especially covering the regions that are close to us like the Barossa, Fleurieu Peninsula, Riverland, Adelaide Hills and the Limestone Coast.Please call in and see us next time you are passing through Murray Bridge.2008 South Australian Tourism Awards - Visitor Information and Services - Bronze.
Murray Bridge Visitor Information Centre
3 South Terrace
Murray Bridge
South Australia 5253
Toll Free Number
+61 1800 442 784
+61 (08) 8539 1142
+61 (08) 8532 5288
Not available


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The threat of severe weather hung around on Monday even as residents were busy cleaning up from weekend storms.
Heavy rain triggered street flooding in the small Arizona town of Eloy. Roads were completely covered by water. The CBS 5 News helicopter showed cars stuck in the mud.
Plenty of homes and even some schools dealt with flood waters, too.
A flash flood warning was issued and later canceled for a section of Pinal County Monday afternoon, according to CBS 5 meteorologists in the Valley Pinpoint Forecast Center.
A blowing dust advisory was in effect until 3 p.m. for parts of Pinal County as well.
In Apache County, a local storm spotter reported 2 inches of rain in less than one hour. The spotter said between 2 to 3 inches of water was flooding the Highway 180 and Highway 191 intersection.
There was a report of 0.84 inches of rain in 32 minutes about three miles northwest of Arizola.
The latest round of potentially severe weather followed a day that saw numerous swift water rescues from New River to Apache Junction.
A storm that rolled through central Arizona Sunday brought heavy rain, sent water rushing through washes and flooded homes.
Fire rescue crews pulled several stranded motorists to safety after rising flood waters trapped them in their vehicles.
No injuries were reported.
The weekend brought 1 to 2 inches of rain to parts of the Valley with the official gauge at Phoenix Sky Harbor getting .95 inches.
"The moisture will continue to come out of the south but there should be less widespread thunderstorm activity on Monday and Tuesday, said CBS 5 meteorologist Katie Baker.
Slightly drier air will work its way into the area and the low pressure off the coast of Baja California will begin to move to the north, Baker said.
Stay with cbs5az.com and CBS 5 News for updates on this developing story.
[Text BREAKING to 23765 to get news alerts on your mobile phone]
Copyright 2013 CBS 5 (KPHO Broadcasting Corporation). All rights reserved.


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Ledyard — Police are investigating the burglary of a home that is being renovated on Crocker Hill Road.
Police said they received the burglary report on Monday. During the course of the burglary, copper piping was removed from the home, police said.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Ledyard Police Department at (860) 464-6400.
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When there's an accident on I-95, traffic can be backed up for hours. Are the police doing enough to get things moving?
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text: / PHOTOS: Houston Rodeo shopping 2012 | abc13.com GO Personalize your weather by entering a location. Sorry, but the location you entered was not found. Please try again. Sections Traffic Video HoustonSouthwestSoutheastNorthwestNortheast Home Accuweather Traffic Video Photos Mobile Apps Local News HoustonSouthwestSoutheastNorthwestNortheast Map My News Shows Live Well Network Follow Us Houston Rodeo shopping 2012 March 1, 2012 9:16:13 AM PST


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Cheese, shrimp—what more can you ask for?
Servings: 48 rounds
Prep Time: 10 min
Cook Time: 1 hour 10 min
Difficulty: Easy
3 (14 oz.) cans chicken stock
1 1/3 cups quick-cooking grits
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened
1 tablespoon half-and-half
1/2 cup Italian cheese blend
1 teaspoon parsley
1/2 lb. shrimp, peeled, deveined, fully cooked and chopped
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
Bring broth to a boil in a large saucepan. Stir in grits, and return to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes, or until grits are thickened, stirring occasionally. Stir in Parmesan cheese and salt. Remove from heat. Spoon grits into a greased 9x13-inch baking pan. Cover, and chill at least 2 hours, or until firm.
Preheat Oven to 400ºF.
Un-mold grits onto a large cutting board. Cut out 48 (1 1/2-inch) circles using a round or fluted cookie cutter. Brush a large jellyroll pan with melted butter. Place grits rounds on pan. Bake for 15 minutes. Turn grits, and bake 15 minutes more. Set aside. (Up to this point, the recipe can be prepared ahead. If preparing early, cover and refrigerate grit rounds until you are ready to top with shrimp mixture.)
In a large bowl, combine cream cheese and half-and-half, stirring until combined. Stir in Italian cheese blend, parsley and shrimp. Top each grits round evenly with shrimp mixture. Top mixture with grated cheddar cheese. Broil 5 minutes, or until lightly browned and heated through.
By a_felts on November 04, 2012
THESE ARE THE BEST!!!!! I served them at a party and EVERYONE LOVED THEM!!!
By monica Bankhead on May 29, 2012
Can you please give me the calories an nutrients for this dish?
By Steven Gaetano on April 01, 2012
Have you tried this with imitation crab meat? I'm allergic to shellfish, but this sounds delicious.
By Sherrie on December 28, 2011
By Kamryn on November 04, 2011
Had these at a party and they were so good. Even people who don't like grits will like this appetizer. Can't wait to have them again.
By Anonymous on October 01, 2011
A friend brought these over the other night and thry were fantastic! I'm making them this weekend for a get-together!
By Natalie on April 04, 2011
Made them for Christmas today! WONDERFUL! =)
By BNH on December 25, 2010
Made them for a housewarming party...delicious and easy to make.
By Anonymous on December 08, 2010
everyone loves this!
By Anonymous on April 12, 2010
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Join Paula at DuBois Furniture in Waco, TX for a book signing and meet and greet from 10:30 am to 1:30 pm.
Come see Paula's live show at the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center in Charlotte, NC and get a heaping helping of Paula's recipes, and some good old-fashioned fun and laughter!
Tickets available from Blumenthal Performing Arts Center here!
Starts at 5:30 PM. Light hors d'oeuvres and beer & wine will be served, including a meet and greet with Paula Deen!
Sponsored by Springer Mountain Farms.
Join the Deen Family for a Book Signing at The Lady & Sons from 10 am to 12 pm.
The event is free; 350 wristbands to be distributed starting at 9 am.


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Recall: 3,235 Toyotas for airbag sensors
Sensors on models sold in 5 Southeastern states may not have been calibrated properly.
Southeast Toyota Distributors of Deerfield Beach, Fla., one of several regional distributors that import and prep Toyotas, may not have calibrated the airbag weight sensors in the front passenger seats of certain 2009-2013 Toyota models. Only models sold in Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida and Georgia are affected, and only those equipped with seat covers, seat heaters or headrest-mounted LCD screens. No Lexus or Scion models are affected.
In an accident, the passenger-side airbag may deploy improperly. The weight sensors determine whether to deploy the airbag if it detects the seat is empty or if a small child is sitting up front. Toyota itself is not issuing the recall; the distributor is responsible for installing factory accessories, such as rear DVD entertainment systems, on these vehicles. The distributor said the problem was limited to two employees who were not using the required calibration tools.
The vehicles are as follows:
- 2009-2012 Tacoma, 4Runner, Camry, Camry Hybrid, Prius and RAV4
- 2009-2010 Avalon, FJ Cruiser and Highlander Hybrid
- 2010-2013 Corolla, Sienna and Tundra
- 2009-2013 Highlander and Venza
- 2012 Prius V
- 2010-2012 Sequoia
Dealers will inspect and recalibrate the airbag sensor beginning this month. Southeast Toyota Distributors can be reached at 1-954-429-2000, or Toyota can be reached at 1-800-331-4331.
[Source: NHTSA]
The "Jap Junk" that Toyota makes has more vehicles on the IIHS's list of top safety pic than any other manufacturer in the world.
JD Powers has awarded the Tundra "most dependable truck" seven years in a row. Toyota tops the list for relaibilty year after year after year so yea, if being the most reliable automaker, with the most dependable vehicles and top safety pics means that you are driving "junk", then, yup, I'm driving junk, and that "junk" has allowed me to not spend one single dime on towing or repairs for many years now. I can't say that about any Ford or GM that I have owned and I have owned twice as many of them as I have Japanese vehicles.
You guys could be much happier if you just get over your bitterness when it comes to the Japanese. The facts are, that if it has a motor in it, the Japanese make it better than the US does. That applies to cars, motorcycles, ATV's, boats, personal watercraft, power tools, lawn mowers, snow blowers. Anyone that knows anything about motors knows this to be the truth, it's a fact that you may not like, but it still is a fact.
Now, lash out at me all you want but it won't change the truth or hurt my feelings, but it will just make you even angrier than you already are and drive you deeper into denial.
King of reliability ......lol
The U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced that Toyota Motor Corporation has AGREED to pay $17.35 million, the maximum fine allowable under the law, in response to the automaker failing to report SAFETY defects to the federal government in a timely manner. This action represents the single highest civil penalty amount ever paid to NHTSA for violations stemming from recalls, not including the 3.1 MILLION in other fines Toyota is going to pay......and the hits just keep on coming
Why all the sour grapes Toyota fans and friends??? You see we find it ironic that you all defend your love affair with Toyota with politically driven comments, child like talk of (yea but what about GM,
Ford etc.), true American car companys or, how good Toyota`s are on the very same site that is reporting yet ANOTHER TOYOTA RECALL
A look at 20 one-of-a-kind automobiles meant only for the 1 percent.
Cars are cool, and here at MSN Autos we love everything about them, but we also know they're more than simply speed and style: a car is an essential tool, a much-needed accessory to help you get through your day-to-day life. What you drive is also one of the most important investments you can make, so we'll help you navigate your way through the car buying and ownership experiences. We strive to be your daily destination for news, notes, tips and tricks from across the automotive world. So whether it's through original content from our world-class journalists or the latest buzz from the far corners of the Web, Exhaust Notes helps you make sense of your automotive world.
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Be careful this spring!!!
I'm sure most of you already know this....but for those of you that don't, read on!!!!
When setting up your turkey decoys, make sure you place them is such a way that no one can sneak into your setup from the opposite side and send a bunch of lead flying into your direction.
In other words.....make sure there is no cover behind your decoys as you set up waiting for that long beard.
As a full-time firefighter, I've seen first hand what a hot turkey load will do to the human body. This particular guy survived....but I'm sure it will be a long time before he forgets taking a full shot of hot lead into his groin and surrounding area.
QUESTIONS....how many holes is too many when it comes to one's plumbing??? This guy had a total of 26 holes in the twig and berries...not to mention his legs and waste line.
Just remember......NO COVER BEHIND YOUR DECOYS!!!!!
I know of a least three instances where someone in my area has had a trespasser sneak in on their decoy set and fire a shot.
Also, just because you are the only person with permission to hunt a particular piece of property....don't think that means you are the only one there. It only takes one stupid trespasser to change your life forever.
Stay safe and provide lots of hero shots of those big gobblers!!!!!!!!
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