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What does "erase the memory of Amalek" (Deut. 25:19) mean? Does it not contradict the obligation (Deut. 25:17) to remember them every year?
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Maybe this is why Rashi (to 25:19) understands זכר in a more concrete sense: it doesn't mean eradicating "their memory" in the abstract, but "anything which is a remembrance of them" - i.e., as he says, any person from that nation or anything that ever belonged to them.
That we'll still remember them annually isn't a contradiction to that. (Incidentally, even if it wasn't an annual obligation, there'd still be the fact that their name is mentioned in the Torah, and anyone who studies it would come across them soon enough.) This is somewhat in the same vein as the halachah that you are allowed to say the name of any pagan deity mentioned in the Torah; the Lubavitcher Rebbe zt"l explained (Likkutei Sichos 23:168ff) that this is because Torah is the very antithesis of idolatry, so mentioning it in that context doesn't imply any respect for it, but on the contrary, ridicule of its worthlessness.
Same here, then: since Torah and Amalek are polar opposites, then if the only place left where there is a memory of Amalek is in the Torah, then any remembrance of its negativity is gone. (Whereas if there was something left over of theirs, it might not evoke positive associations, but it wouldn't stand in opposition to them either.)
Like all Torah commandments, "timche et zecher amalek" has a clear halachic definition. Rashi (Devarim 25:19) tells us what "zecher amalek" means:
Similarly, Rambam writes (Hilchot Milachim 1:1)
We see from here that "zecher Amalek", in this context, means the offspring of Amalek, and is not an all-inclusive term for memory of Amalek. We can wipe out their offspring and still remember what they did to us by reading the Torah portion involving the incident we are commanded to remember.
I don't remember the source, but one of the earlier understandings of "wipe out the memory of Amalek" is that it is a euphemism which means that you wipe out the descendants and people. Meaning, if they have no children, they have nobody to remember them. One could tie this to Yizkor as a concept.
I don't like that answer, because the Torah would not need to be so cryptic or use a euphemism here. And I do not believe it uses such a euphemism elsewhere.
On the surface of the text, we are meant to remember what Amalek DID but not necessarily who Amalek were, and so its possible to wipe out the memory of the nation. We know nothing of their culture or life style, and in that way they were forgotten. (Drashot assuming their most evil trait not withstanding) I am not even sure if we know for certain their borders.
The Sefer Zera Yitzchak answers this question beautifully (IMHO). He says since we don't really know who Amalek is nowadays, the only way we can erase their memory is by erasing their philosophy.
What is their philosophy? Rashi writes, on the word "Karecha" - "Lashon Mikreh" a language of "happenstance." According to Amalek everything is a happenstance, and therefore by always erasing from our mind the Yetzer Hara that says "everything is a coincidence" we are erasing the memory of Amalek.
EDIT: Also, Rav Meir Eliyahu Shelit"a says "Zachor WeAl Tishkah" remembering is up to you, but not forgetting is up to Hashem (meaning, you must pray that you don't forget).


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Growing Plants
- Seeds
- Shallow dish of water
- Planters
- Potting soil
- Your preschooler will be fascinated to see how plants grow from seeds or cuttings.
- Soak seeds from an orange, apple, grapefruit, lemon, or lime in water for a day or two.
- Fill several planters with potting soil and place three or four seeds in each one about half an inch deep.
- Water the seeds, place the pots in a sunny spot, and watch for the green shoots to grow.
- You can try plantings seeds in a pattern or shape: a letter, number, square, or circle.
More on: Activities for Preschoolers
Copyright © 1998 by Patricia Kuffner. Excerpted from The Preschooler's Busy Book with permission of its publisher, Meadowbrook Press.
To order this book visit Meadowbrook Press.

subset: commoncrawl


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Nate Diaz was a boy among men…literally. In a gym that housed not only Cesar Gracie, but UFC standouts David Terrell and Gil Castillo, Nate's brother Nick, and up and comers Jake Shields and Gilbert Melendez, every day was a fight for survival for the Stockton teenager.
"It was really intimidating going down there," said Diaz during an interview for the recent Countdown to UFC 141 show. "I went down to Cesar's and it was Dave Terrell, Gil Castillo, Cesar, Nick and Jake, and Nick and Jake were just the young guys there too. Nick would be like 'don't get tapped out today.' So I'd go in there with this competitive attitude and it was really hard to not get tapped out in that gym. Most likely it wasn't gonna happen."
Yet Diaz kept showing up, which in his neighborhood was more than half the battle. His mother Melissa did her part, working long hours as a waitress while putting her two sons and their sister in various sports to keep them from straying to the streets. But there was always an imminent sense of danger.
"Growing up here, there's a lot of tension, a lot of gang activity, a lot of tough guys," he said. "There's just a lot going on. Like any city, it's got good parts and bad parts, so you gotta watch out where you're at. I wasn't trying to be in no trouble, but it was definitely hard to stay out of trouble. But you just keep on the right path and stay going the way you need to go."
For Nate, that path was paved by his older brother, who had already started on his road into professional fighting, and one day Nick decided it was time for Nate to do the same.
"As soon as I finished school, I'd be sitting around the house and I wasn't doing much," remembered Nate. "Nick said 'What are you doing? Why don't you come train with me?' And he threw a pair of gi pants at me."
Right then and there, the die was cast, though as Nate recalls, "Back then fighting and training in jiu-jitsu wasn't a trendy thing."
So the early days weren't filled with interviews, photo shoots, and quick graduations to the UFC. Instead, it was a situation where a bunch of friends put that friendship aside for hours at a time in order to beat each other up and learn how to become fighters. Nate especially found a kindred spirit in future Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez.
"I remember having wars with him," said Diaz, who would shake off any idea of skipping practice when he knew "El Nino" was showing up that day.
"That was a rush just going down there. I'd tell Nick I'm gonna hang out a bit, and he'd say 'Gilbert's coming.' All right, let's go. (Laughs) It was really good because it was a competitive thing, and at the same time they were our friends."
Eventually, Nate would join his brother, Melendez, and Shields on the pro fighting circuit, mixing in MMA bouts with boxing smokers and Toughman contests. By 2006, he was a respected prospect, but after a WEC loss to Hermes Franca, he was at a crossroads at only 21 years old.
Enter The Ultimate Fighter, an avenue into the UFC that neither Diaz brother wanted any part of.
"We were sitting at home when they started The Ultimate Fighter, and we're like 'this s**t is ridiculous,'" said Nate. "We were just criticizing it horribly and we're laughing at it, saying 'hell no, I would never do that.' And then they called him for The Ultimate Fighter, but Nick was like 'I'm not doing that show.'"
Nick refused a spot on season four of TUF, but when the call came in for season five, it was for Nate. The younger Diaz refused, even though Cesar Gracie believed he should do it. Then Nick entered the picture.
"I think you should do it," Nick told his brother.
So he did, but as soon as taping began, he wanted out.
"I said I'm getting out of here," recalled Nate. "I don't even know why I'm here."
But then his first fight against Rob Emerson was set.
"At that point I couldn't leave, because if I left, it would be like I didn't want to fight somebody."
Diaz beat Emerson, and again, he would lie awake at night plotting for a way to leave. He didn't do it though, and after beating Corey Hill, Gray Maynard, and Manny Gamburyan, he won the season title and a UFC contract.
"It was a good thing I stayed because it was like a shortcut and it got me right into the UFC," he said. "It was the best thing that could have happened. I had no money, I was broke, I was a kid, and I had no direction, and at that point it kinda gave me a direction."
He's kept moving since then, racking up an 8-5 record in his post-Gamburyan UFC career, and on Friday, he moves up to a Pay-Per-View co-main event slot against streaking Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone. In the lead-up to the bout, the phrase "Fight of the Night" is almost always attached to the matchup, and the way Diaz sees it, that's with good reason.
"He's actually one of the guys who likes to fight in the UFC, compared to people who like to wrestle and jump around, point scoring and doing all that funny stuff," said Diaz, 26, whose September submission of former PRIDE champion Takanori Gomi was his most impressive win to date, which is saying something when you're talking about a fighter with seven post-fight awards in his 14 Octagon bouts.
But Diaz isn't about the awards or the acclaim; he's all about the fight, an attitude some competitors lose along the way. And no matter how you feel about Diaz, you have to respect that he is always consistent and always looking to put on a show for the fans. More than a decade after he stepped into Cesar Gracie's gym for the first time, that much will never change.
"When I fight, I'm mad," he said. "I'm starving, I had to make weight, I trained my ass off, and I'm there to entertain. I'm just trying to do what I gotta do. Some people are out there trying to be the nicest guy, but I feel like a lot of that is frontin'. I think the difference between me and other people is that they're playing the nice guy role and they're just really well-behaved on camera. I meet a lot of people and they're like 'you're not such a bad guy.' What does that mean? When you see me on camera I've got to fight another person, and I'm not gonna put on a front."
It's a fight. Nate Diaz won't let you forget it.
Nate Diaz - The Creation Of A Fighter
Saturday, July 30
Atlanta, GA


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The 6 Most Bizarre Safe For Work Fetishes
The Internet has been a miracle for sex fetishists, not just because of the availability of porn in their specific category, but because of how it has broadened everybody's horizons. No matter how weird your turn-ons are, there is always somebody out there into weirder shit.
And as we've pointed out before, there are some people who enjoy fetishes so far removed from the concept of sex that they don't bear to be mentioned together in the same sentence. These are fully clothed, non-sexual images and videos that still serve as wank material for vast audiences of otherwise normal people. So here's a tribute to those who get off on ...
#6. Girls Stuck in Quicksand
This is a perfect example of a nearly "safe for work" fetish -- it requires no nudity or sex, and it in fact involves a situation in which sex would be utterly impossible. It's people who get aroused at the sight of fully clothed women sinking in quicksand:
Via Yahoo Groups
Often conveyed with top-of-the-line Photoshops.
A cursory search online would reveal tons of sites dedicated to compiling clips from various sources of girls drowning in quicksand, and then there are the niche video sites dedicated to providing original content (there probably is a booming industry in quicksand pit installation these days). On those sites, elaborate storylines are created to justify how these lovely ladies came to be trapped in the unforgiving, bottomless pit of certain-yet-sexy death.
Via Deviantart.com
It starts with the cable guy showing up to fix her box and ends with him pulling her to safety with a length of co-ax.
So ... maybe the quicksand thing triggers some "damsel in distress" response in the brain's boner cortex? If there's anything lonely Internet tough guys love, it's sitting behind their keyboards visualizing all the many ways they would totally jump in and save the unfortunate lady fake drowning in a boggy marsh. But the fact that they're jerking off to the "trapped and terrified" part, rather than the sexy rescue, really puts a darker spin on the whole thing. We'd prefer not to think any more about it.
We prefer our mud with a lot more "wrestle."
Although we should note how many people on YouTube keep asking if the women in the quicksand actually drowned in the videos.
Sample YouTube Comment:
close your eyes and let your mind do the rest
#5. Girls Licking Doorknobs
Hemera Technologies/AbleStock.com
Japan's perversity is one of the longest running jokes on the Internet, but the explanation behind it is fairly straightforward: Japanese porn censorship laws are some of the most draconian out there, and they simply force people to be more creative about what they masturbate to. And, as anybody with a porn addiction can tell you, in order to keep things fresh, you have to get a bit weird. Japan, always on the cutting edge of innovation, simply took this idea and ran with it all the way to Planet Dick Tentacle, which brings us to these images of girls licking doorknobs.
Let my love open the door.
Now, let's be clear: Men (and presumably some women) get turned on by the sight of females licking anything. The curse of being a woman is knowing that you can't eat an ice cream cone or a banana in public without several nearby males achieving a state of semi-arousal. But ... doorknobs? You don't have to be a germaphobe to know that these are the filthiest surfaces in your entire house, the toilet included. Is that the turn-on here? That the women are made to lick something crawling with more bacteria than a Taco Bell? Is it just supposed to be degrading?
But again, absolutely no nudity of any kind is involved in the doorknob fetish, although they do mix it up from time to time: There are images of girls in glasses licking doorknobs, girls in school uniforms licking doorknobs surrounded by candy, and so on.
Oh, like you've never gotten funky fresh on a pile of tennis balls.
The trend is a fairly big deal in Japan, even getting featured on national television. The closest we can figure is that the audience is imagining the woman kneeling down to perform oral sex on a robot, who has shoved his metal dick through the door.
Robots have all the fun.
Here's a slideshow featuring a nice variety of doorknob lickers, although some of these women seem reluctant to fully commit (there seem to be a lot of closed mouths and tongues that are almost touching the knob, glancing off screen as if to say, "Really?").
Sample YouTube Comment:
WTF serously,,, Why am I HARD from that!
#4. Inflatable Rubber Suits
Via YouTube
Remember the scene in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory where Violet Beauregarde eats some forbidden candy and blows up like a balloon? And then they have to just roll her out of the room? Well, apparently some people can't watch that scene without becoming inexplicably aroused.
This fetish is pretty similar to balloon fetishes, or maybe it's the opposite, because instead of popping the balloon, you are the balloon.
You can't see the boner, but you know it's there.
Researchers have yet to determine what exactly it is about inflatable rubber suits getting filled with air that turns people on, but we have to admit that putting one of those on and just bouncing around would be fun as hell. It'd be kind of like the animals in this video:
The suits are often double-layered and designed in such a way that the outer layer gets filled with air and expands, while the second suit compresses and squeezes against the unfortunate (or fortunate, we guess) person enclosed within. So maybe that's it? It's like a full-body air massage? Either way, thanks to the Internet, we know there are a whole bunch of people who are into it:
We can't imagine why the Gimp never made it into the regular Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon lineup.
And since there is no fetish that can't be made more alarming with the addition of furries, sure enough there are inflatable suits made to look like cows, raccoons, and even dragons.
We literally can't figure out what all of those body parts are supposed to be.
Inflatable suits are quite expensive, but the guys on this forum are helpful enough to provide DIY tips on how to build your very own personal sex blimp. Now, if one of these springs a leak, do you go zipping around the room making that farting sound?
Sample YouTube Comment:
The tail doesn't inflate?


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Pa. officer losing his head over poster vandalism
Published: Monday, November 12, 2012 at 7:01 a.m.
Last Modified: Monday, November 12, 2012 at 7:01 a.m.
TITUSVILLE, Pa. (AP) — A northwestern Pennsylvania police officer who moonlights as a professional wrestler is losing his head in a case of poster vandalism.
No, Titusville Officer Aaron Madden isn't terribly upset — even though his head has been torn off a life-size poster of him posing as his rasslin' alter ego, Luscious Rocky Reynolds.
Madden posed for the picture as part of a local United Way campaign. His head has been torn off three times in the several weeks since it's been posted on the side of a building in Titusville, about 80 miles north of Pittsburgh.
The Titusville Herald (http://bit.ly/Tf48rf) says the last time it happened, a man seen on surveillance video was ticketed for criminal mischief.
Madden says he doesn't know — and has never arrested — the suspect, who tells police it was a "drunken prank."
Reader comments posted to this article may be published in our print edition. All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged.


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I'm fairly new to the GIS world, and have a quick question. I'm currently using 10.1. I do not know much about rasters, so does transforming a DEM from one projection to another automatically convert the units of the cell elevations?
If anyone could explain if it does or why it doesn't I'd appreciate it very much!
Thanks, Max


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Depot Days 2013 proudly presents The Fritzies on Friday night July 12 at the Depot in Grayville with an early start-up time of 6:30 p.m. The Fritzies are a couple of local Grayville boys gaining a lot of attention these days with their own personal brand of Indie rock with some classic rock, traditional country and blues thrown into the mix. In addition they also have composed a few original works.
The duo consists of Ryan Ginther and Clayton McFarland. They come to the Depot fresh from a weekend gig at Homestead Vineyards in West Salem where they played for an enthusiastic crowd. The Depot Days Committee is pleased to welcome these two young gentlemen to the stage on Grayville's riverfront and invite any and all to come listen and enjoy the music.
All concerts are free to the public, with donations accepted. Refreshments in the form of soft drinks and water are sold as well as Depot Days t-shirts and door prizes donated by area businesses.
Location, ST | website.com


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Hi all, I'm a new pano head user (bought myself an NN5 for Xmas). I've been trying it out a little, but I haven't been real successful calibrating it. I get the concept, but the execution is where I get stuck. I thought I had pretty good settings for my walking around zoom at "normal" focal length (i.e. 50mm @ 35mm equiv), so I tried making a 3-row pano in my living room. It came out quite well... way, way better than any indoor pano I've ever shot without a pano head... but still there are minor stitching errors that I'm having trouble eliminating by choice of control points.
My question today is, does anyone have a feel for how sensitive the settings of the NN5 are for a given zoom length? For instance, if I have A = 50 and B = 85 for 50mm focal length, but because of error in repeatability, the zoom lens is actually at 49mm or 48mm, will A and B settings on the pano head need to change significantly, will they generally still work, or is it totally dependent on lens design (e.g. some lenses can be super-sensitive to small changes while others seem to have a wide sweet spot)?
Is there any general feel for how far off the settings can be before you start getting stitching errors you can't fix? I ask that because I'm wondering whether I should be expecting to find my fix by changing my settings +/- 5mm, or more like +/- 0.5mm.


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REHOBOTH — The suspect in a Rehoboth stabbing has turned himself in.
Rehoboth police Sgt. Norman J. Todd announced Wednesday morning that Dennis Arruda turned himself in at Taunton District Court.
Arruda, 18, of Warren, R.I., accompanied by his attorney, appeared before the court and was arraigned, police said.
He was ordered held in lieu of $5,000 cash bail.
"The Rehoboth Police Department wishes to thank everyone who assisted us in our investigation of this case," Todd wrote in an email.
Around 8:41 p.m. on Sunday, Rehoboth police received a 911 call from a man who said he had been stabbed and that his attacker had fled the scene.
Rehoboth police were dispatched to an Agricultural Avenue address to assist the victim and investigate.
Upon arrival, police said they administered first aid to the 20-year-old victim, who had been stabbed once in the abdomen.
Rehoboth Ambulance later took the victim to a Rhode Island hospital.
Arruda was been charged with assault with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury.
Location, ST | website.com


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Please enter a maximum of 5 recipients. Use ; to separate more than one email address.
| Delaney, M. C., ProSys, Inc., Baton Rouge, Louisiana
A blend of art and science with a history worth recounting
[process control]
[instrumentation technology]
[Phillips Petroleum]
[science ]
APC, like most (if not all) engineering exercises, has been,
and will always be, a blend of art and science. As a specific
engineering discipline, APC can be considered a subset of the
general topic of process automation. As illustrated in Fig. 1,
the art and science of process automation can be defined in
terms of four paired concepts: function vs. form, technique vs.
technology, solutions vs. tools, and
people vs. machines. The logical union of the art and science
shown in Fig. 1 represents the active universe of
the practice of process automation.
Fig. 1. The art and
science of process automation.
The art and science of process automation are about function
in contrast to form, with function being what is to be done vs.
the form of where it will be done. For process automation, the
form is the computing device. Technique, as opposed to
technology, draws the distinction between methods used vs. how
those methods are implemented. In this case, technology is the
basic software within the computing device. Solutions imply
problems solved using the tools on hand. Consider tools as a
collection of pre-programmed software functions. And, finally,
it is about people as opposed to machines. Machines, in this
context, are illustrative of the processes within the scope of
the automation task vs. those individuals, the people, who are
the users.
The general concept of process automation can be extended to
the specific concept of APC with the use of the traditional
hierarchy of the control pyramid shown in Fig. 2. A few words
of clarification for this version of the pyramid: It shows a
clear distinction between Level 1 and all those above it. Level
1 regulatory control is that portion of the control system
required for the safe and stable operation of the process under
normal operating conditions. In practice, this includes all of
the single-loop controllers, as well as the safety-instrumented
systems essential for safe and stable process operation.
Level 2 differs from Level 3 only in the number of variables
included within the scope of the higher-level regulatory
controllers. Level 4 differs from all those below it in terms
of optimization being done in steady-state vs. the dynamics of
Levels 1, 2 and 3 control. While the distinction may be
somewhat a matter of semantics, it remains a useful one for
purposes of discussion.
Finally, the arrows in Fig. 2 are meant to reflect the flow
of information between the process and the APC system while
Levels 2, 3 and 4 together comprise the concept of APC as
presented in this discussion.
Fig. 2. Process control
For the Silver Jubilee issue (January 1970) of
Instrumentation Technology, the readers
overwhelmingly selected the digital computer as the most
significant development during the previous quarter-century.
Furthermore, virtually all the experts saw the role of the
digital computer expanding in all aspects of process
In the preface to his book, Automation: Its Purpose and
Future, published in 1955, Dr. Magnus Pyke observed
scientists do not, as a rule, distinguish themselves as
commentators on general affairs. Indeed, the more distinguished
they become as scientists the more they tend to restrict their
thinking to their own concentrated field. This modern attitude
of scientists arises in part from the fact that science has
become so technical that its practitioners spend all their
intellectual efforts in mastering the facts and techniques of
their particular branch.2
In describing the new style of industrial work,
Dr. Pyke goes on to point out that, early on, machines were
developed to do away with the necessity of mechanical
work. Electronic computers, however, do away with the necessity
for mental effort. In recognizing some potential
limitations on that score, he points out that computers
are only machine tools and their usefulness depends on
the skill and accuracy of the people using them.
With the arrival of the digital computer, the new
style of process control became known as direct digital
control, or DDC. In DDC, the computer calculates the values of
the manipulated variables (like valve positions) directly from
the values of the set points, controlled variables and other
measurements on the process. The decisions of the computer are
applied directly to the process. The early efforts to implement
DDC reflected a time when the basic control system was analog,
be it electronic or pneumatic. Thus, there was a clear
distinction between the analog and digital parts of the
The first DDC systems were installed on a commercial basis
in the mid-1960s. One of the earliest systems to be publicized
was installed and used in the startup of a 500 million pound
per year ethylene plant at the Phillips Petroleum refinery in Sweeny,
Texas.3 Since this was a first-time installation of
a DDC system, Phillips decided to retain conventional
electronic analog control on critical loops and use DDC on all
others. Critical loops were defined as those loops that would
be difficult to control manually if the DDC system should fail.
Of the 180 total control loops, two-thirds (120) were put on
The initial investment in DDC systems was justified on the
basis of providing a lower cost alternative to conventional
analog controllers. As the Phillips experience showed,
this justification proved to be a myth. The lower cost of the
analog controllers was offset by the higher cost for backup
capability in case of DDC system failure. While intangible
benefits were recognized, other more tangible sources of
benefits were needed to justify the investment. Phillips found
that the most promising area for additional benefits lies in
the implementation of supervisory computer control, or SCC.
While not included in the original project scope, SCC was implemented
after the unit startup was completed.
The DDC system at the Phillips refinery was judged to have been a
technical success from the beginning. It was available for
plant start-up and was, in fact, essential to plant startup
since initially the system was provided without analog backup.
It failed, however, on the economics used for the initial
justification of the system. The DDC system was made an
economic success after the fact with the addition of SCC
functions using the DDC system as a base.
SCC was born out of the need to provide tangible benefits
for the use of the digital computer within the process control
hierarchy. As demonstrated by Philips success, the
efficacy of SCC was established early on for not only new
plants but also as an add-in technology for existing plants.
The success of SCC through the 1970s and into the early 1980s
is well documented. Both the art and science developed rapidly
as computers became more powerful and interfaces to a variety
of instrument systems were developed. The introduction of
real-time database software, along with support of higher-level
programming languages, became powerful tools in the hands of
the practitioner. The creativity of the engineer was put to
good use implementing solutions for a variety of control
problems that could not be addressed in the analog control
While SCC progressed rapidly, the Phillips project team gave
a word of caution. This is a direct quote from the project
team: Implementation of supervisory and optimizing
control has not progressed as rapidly as technology would
permit; and, as a result benefits have been delayed. This is
due, in part, to the time required to build up operations
confidence in the system. Is this perhaps a lesson we are
still learning today?
The next big thing in SCC came along with the commercial
introduction of the multivariable predictive controller (MPC).
IDCOM and DMC are two of the more notable that achieved early
commercial and technical success. It was during this time,
through the marketing campaigns of the MPC suppliers, that the
moniker of APC came into general use. And again, many
successful applications of MPC have been noted in the
While MPC achieved demonstrated success as an integral part
of the APC system, the experience with optimization was less
than stellar. Mr. Latour gave an early optimistic view of
online optimization in this magazine in 1979, along with a
number of applications that showed promise.4,5 With
a few exceptions, the concept has never quite lived up to its
Things have come a long way in terms of the new style of
process control. The overall efficacy of APC is well
established and has been thoroughly documented. At the same
time, cases where expectations were not met and systems failed
to deliver a sustained rate of return are also well known. An
assessment of the state of APC was given by Mr. Wang in the
July 2011 issue of this magazine.6 It is
disheartening to note that he estimated that more than 50% of
APC applications are in off mode or do not work at
all. He goes on to say that only about 10% are fully working.
There is a plethora of opinions as to the reasons for this; two
of the more impassioned are cited here.7,8 What I
find particularly interesting about these gentlemens
views is that they are as much about the business of APC as
about the technology of APC.
I think everyone would agree that much has changed in the
evolution from DDC to APC. We now work within a totally digital
world with ever more powerful machines with limitless
capability to, as Mr. Pyke pointed out, do away with the
necessity for mental effort.
Keen observers of the stock market say the trend is
your friend. To me that suggests that it is important to
not only understand where you are at but to also appreciate how
you got there. I submit that a better appreciation of the blend
of art and science, and more importantly how it has changed
over time, will give us insight into where we might be going.
To that end, an informal and unscientific survey was conducted
asking a number of veteran APC practitioners to complete an
exercise comprised of a series of questions. The questions
1. What is the relative contribution of the art vs. the
science of APC?
2. At what level in the control hierarchy has the efficacy
of APC been demonstrated?
3. How has this blend changed over time?
In terms of Fig. 1, consider the answer to the first
question being described by the relative sizes of the two
circles. The second question would define the degree of overlap
of the two circles, with the higher up on the control hierarchy
as defined in Fig. 2, the greater would be the extent of the
As might be expected, the opinions expressed in the survey
were as varied as the number of people who participated.
However, there was some degree of consensus concerning a trend
and the reasons behind that trend.
The results of the survey suggest that, in the beginning, it
was all about the science (maybe a 10/90 split between art and
science). Since DDC had never been done before, the engineers
were making it up as they went along. As the Phillips project showed, they did a pretty
good job. By 1985, the split had shifted to about 50/50 and the
overlap was growing as MPC began achieving its early success.
Today, the split is estimated at 90/10, a complete reversal
from the beginning, with the overlap about the same as it was
in 1985.
For me, the contemporary view gleaned from the survey
seemed, at first, counterintuitive. The science has certainly
improved with the evolution of more powerful commercial
toolkits for implementing the MPC and optimization components
of the APC system. But, paradoxically, as more of what used to
be the art is now captured in the science, the problems that
can be solved and the techniques required to define the
solution have become ever more complicated, requiring ever more
creativity to be successful. The majority of the reasons for
this current view are related to the people (in terms of the
skills of the APC practitioner), the motivations of operations
personnel and the support of management. These are all issues
that have been in play since the beginning but have now become
the determinate factor in the success or failure of APC.
As a group, the survey participants remain optimistic about
the future. While much has been accomplished and much remains
to be done, the journey continues to be an interesting one. In
contemplating the future, a quote by Charles Lyell from 1863
seems to be apropos. He wrote: The rate of progress in
the arts and science proceeds in a geometrical ratio as
knowledge increases, and so, when we carry our retrospect into
the past, we must be prepared to find the signs of retardation
augmenting in a like geometrical ratio.
The optimist believes that the overlap of the circles will
continue to grow. The realist may view the future as Mr. Lyell
sees it, with the overlap staying about the same. There will
always be the pessimists among us who view the whole thing
falling apart. Personally, I choose to remain an optimist.
1 Smith, C.L., Digital Computer Process
Control, Intext Publishers, New York, 1972.
2 Pyke, M., Automation: Its Purpose &
Future, The Scientific Book, London, 1955.
3 Parsons, J.R., M.W. Oglesby, and D.L. Smith,
Performance of a direct digital control system, ISA
Conference, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, October 1970.
4 Latour, P.R., Online computer optimization
1: What it is and where to do it, Hydrocarbon Processing, June
5 Latour, P.R., Online computer optimization
2: Benefits and implementation, Hydrocarbon
Processing, July 1979.
6 Wang, J., What is the outlook for advanced
control engineering? Hydrocarbon Processing, July
7 Latour, P.R., Demise and keys to the rise of
process control, Hydrocarbon Processing, March
8 Friedman, Y.Z., Has the advanced process
control industry completely collapsed? Hydrocarbon Processing, January
All comments are subject to editorial review.
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A searchable database of project activity in the global hydrocarbon processing industry
Engineers and designers are highly skilled individuals. Forcing them to enter design changes using tables, forms and spreadsheets is unproductive and uneconomical, and it increases the likelihood of human error—this is the way that most instrumentation software systems currently work. For too long, software vendors have denied engineers and designers the simple practicality of a graphical visual engineering interface with "drag and drop" capability and inbuilt intelligence, ensuring changes are automatically replicated into all the associated data and databases.
Is 2016 the peak for US gasoline demand?
Too soon to tell
July 2016


text:
Silverlight 4 - A Guided Tour of the Managed Extensibility Framework (MEF)
- Posted: Apr 15, 2010 at 1:42PM
- 15,343 views
- 7 comments
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Extensibility is a key design point for many applications such as the Microsoft Office applications with their plug-in model for extensibility. Silverlight 4 ships with a new framework, the Managed Extensibility Framework (MEF), which provides a flexible
way of building extensibility into your applications with capabilities for discovering and composing extensions at run-time in a dynamic and loosely-coupled way. In this demo-based session we'll take a tour around MEF and look at its capabilities for building
extensibility into your applications and also how it can be used in implementing the Model->View->ViewModel (MVVM) pattern in Silverlight applications.
This session is presented by Mike Taulty during Microsoft DevDays 2010 in The Hague in The Netherlands.
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Fantastic presentation. So much information compressed in 66 Minutes. I *love* the speed of your presentations. Can´t wait for the next one
Awesome presentation. Fantastic. Looks like almost all the concepts of MEF are covered. If possible, can you please post the working source code of this presentation? Thanks
Thanks for the feedback - I don't have the source code I'm afraid as I tend to put these things together for the session at the time and not keep them afterwards.
Glad that you found it useful though
As always like your videos, just like WCF fast and furious. While going through SMF didn't make any sense on the programming model and landed here, and just in one hour, exactly figured out what all SMF is about. Thank you for the wonderful presentation.
A really really great presentation. First time i saw MEF and it gave me a good start. Clear and fast. Just perfect.
This was one of the best presentations I've ever seen. Can't wait to see more!
Comments have been closed since this content was published more than 30 days ago, but if you'd like to continue the conversation, please create a new thread in our Forums, or Contact Us and let us know.


text:
The two-day competition starts on Friday afternoon as two levels of drifting professionals take to the track. The Formula DRIFT Racing Series is comprised of professional drifters from throughout the world to compete in seven rounds. Once an underground event, now a national phenomenon – Drifting has become extremely popular attracting fans with its freestyle nature compared to skateboarding and motor cross.
Drifting is a high powered, high skilled motorsport where professional drivers intentionally maneuver their cars into executed controlled sideways sliding at high speeds through a marked course challenging the drivers' ability and control. In this racing series, engine and body modification become second to driving skill. Drivers are judged on execution and style, rather than who finishes the course in the fastest time.
Ticket Pricing:
Full Event Admission is $30
Saturday Event Admission is $27.
*Please note that there will be no "Reserved Seating" this year, seating will be based on a first come, first serve basis.
For more information on the Formula DRIFT series, please go to www.FormulaD.com


text:
I am trying to do object recognition using algorithms such as SURF, FERN, FREAK in opencv 2.4.2.
I am using the programs from opencv samples without modifications -
find_obj.cpp, find_obj_ferns.cpp, freak_demo.cpp
I tried changing the parameters for the algorithms which didn't help.
I have my training images, test images and the result of FREAK recognition here
As you can see the result is pretty bad.
- No feature descriptors is detected for one of the training image - image here
- Feature descriptors are detected outside the object boundary for the other - image here
I have a few questions:
Why does these algorithms work with grayscale images ? It is apparent that for my above training images, the object can be detected easily if RGB is included. Is there any technique that takes this into account.
Is there any other way to improve performance. I tried fiddling with feature parameters which didn't work well.


text: Do you folks remember this old fella with the white mustache and cane? I know I do which is why I was glad that he was requested because I forgot all about him. Here is "how to draw Toadsworth", step by step from the Mario franchise. As you know Toadsworth is an elderly Toad that worries almost all the time about the Princess and the rest of the Toads. He was first introduced in Super Mario Sunshine and since then he has always made an appearance with Princess Peach. Some of the words he uses are Tally-ho and Pip-pip. Anyways, hope you have fun drawing Toadsworth. I shall return with other tuts for you guys to enjoy today.


text:
CSB/SJU Experience
Photo GalleryA quick look at our campuses.
Virtual TourA guided tour of our campuses.
Raft UFour sides. Four years.
TraditionsIt's our shared values and traditions that
unite Bennies and Johnnies today.
CSB Aerial TourA bird's-eye video of the College of Saint Benedict.
SJU Aerial TourA bird's-eye video of Saint John's University.
Great Results.
Our graduates have them.
Affordable Investment
Think you can't afford CSB/SJU? TH!NK AGA!N.
CSB/SJU named 'Best Buy School' by Fiske Guide
The College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University have been named a "Best Buy School" by the Fiske Guide to Colleges 2015. There are no other Minnesota colleges or universities on the 2015 list. Fiske's ranking is based on quality of the academic offerings in relation to the cost of attendance. Read more bragging rights.
Exceptional Academics
- 100% of classes taught by professors
- 19 students, on average, per class
- 85% of professors are fulltime
- 100% of students participate in experiential learning before graduation
Meet our Students
Golf Team Captain
Cultural Affairs Board
Honors Thesis Fellow
Entrepreneur Scholars Program
Graduate Success
Barry is an attorney at Graham Thompson, the largest commercial law firm in the Bahamas. Equipped with a strong liberal arts education, our graduates are prepared to succeed in a wide variety of career paths.Really Cool Careers
of CSB/SJU graduates are employed, continuing their education or engaged in a full-time volunteer program within one year of graduation.Graduate Database
companies visit CSB/SJU each year to interview our students for internships and permanent positions.Career Services
Dr. Pat McKenzie is the Medical Director for the Green Bay Packers. He and countless other alums credit CSB/SJU for their success in a variety of fields.CSB/SJU Outcomes
Rachel was one of 32 Americans who received a 2016 Rhodes Scholarship. The Rhodes Scholarship is widely considered to be the world's most prestigious academic award.Meet Rachel
of CSB/SJU students complete an internship, undergraduate research, practicum or other career-related experience. Experience leads to successful results.Graduate Plans


text:
Healthy Dessert Recipes for the Super Bowl (Slide 16)
(Slide 16 of 25) Start at the beginning | View recipes as list
Recipe: Grilled Dark Chocolate Sandwich
View as: Thumbnails List
Rocky Road Brownies
These super-rich brownies made chocolaty with plenty of cocoa powder have less fat than other browni…View slide
Double Peanut Butter-Chocol…
These soft chocolate cookies have a big peanut flavor since they use peanut butter and peanut butter…View slide
Nana's Creole Pecan Cake …
These decadent pecan date bars are a bite-size alternative to holiday pecan pie.…View slide
Chocolate Pretzel & Cherry …
These popcorn balls are made with agave nectar and peanut butter and are spiked with chocolate-cover…View slide
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
These oatmeal chocolate chip cookies have the familiar flavors of brown sugar and chocolate, but get…View slide
Apple-Cinnamon Fruit Bars
These easy apple-cinnamon fruit bars make a big batch—perfect for fall potlucks and parties.…View slide
Peanut Butter & Pretzel Tru…
These peanut butter-pretzel truffles satisfy your craving for something sweet and salty.…View slide
Chocolate-Banana Grahams
A graham cracker smeared with Nutella and topped with banana and coconut is a light way to satisfy y…View slide
Vanilla Cupcakes with Choco…
These vanilla-infused cupcakes are made with applesauce as a fat-replacer for butter that's tradit…View slide
Raspberry-Swirl Cupcakes
These raspberry-lemon cupcakes are topped with an easy cream cheese frosting tinted pink with a litt…View slide
Frozen Chocolate-Covered Ba…
Kids will love dipping bananas in melted chocolate and rolling them in coconut to make this tasty fr…View slide
Chile-Cocoa Graham Crackers
These crunchy and crispy chocolate graham crackers have a tiny bit of spicy ancho chile on top. Oat …View slide
Mom's Apple Squares
Traditional recipes for apple squares often use plenty of trans fat-laden shortening in the crust. W…View slide
Dried-Fruit Bars
Make a batch of these easy homemade dried-fruit bars to tuck into your kid's lunchbox all week.…View slide
Apple Cupcakes with Cinnamo…
Shredded apple replaces some of the oil and keeps the cake moist in these cinnamon-spiked cupcakes. …View slide
Grilled Dark Chocolate Sand…
Both simpler and more decadent than a chocolate croissant, a grilled chocolate sandwich is a marriag…View slide
Quick Mini Chocolate Cheese…
Here we stir a little melted chocolate into ricotta cheese for a cheesecake-like topping for chocola…View slide
Swirled Cheesecake Brownies
Made with whole-wheat flour, these decadent-tasting brownies have a beautiful marbled cheesecake top…View slide
EatingWell Chocolate Chip C…
This awesome lacy chocolate chip cookie is given a healthful makeover with oats and whole-wheat flou…View slide
Almond Butter-Quinoa Blondies
People likely won't even notice that these delicately nutty, just a little chocolaty, blondies are…View slide
"Chocomole" Pudding
Creamy avocados make this dairy-free and vegan chocolate dessert recipe super-rich. Serve as a not-s…View slide
Frozen Peanut Butter-Pretze…
If you like chocolate and peanut butter together, try this frozen peanut-butter-and-pretzel pie reci…View slide
Raspberry Squares
Inspired by our love of lemon squares, we developed this healthy raspberry squares recipe using the …View slide
Chocolate-Dipped Pretzels
Satisfy your sweet tooth (and your salty tooth!) simultaneously with this chocolate-dipped pretzel r…View slide


text:
Paris in the Clouds: A CloudCamp Paris report
By user13366078 on Jun 16, 2009
Last week, Eric Bezille invited me to Paris for a couple of Cloud Computing related meetings and to help out with CloudCamp Paris. Paris in the clouds, what a nice experience!
This was also a great opportunity to try out the audio recording features of my LiveScribe Pulse pen. This pen not only can record what you write (on special dot paper), it can also record what has been said while you write, creating links between the words you write and the points in time of the audio recording. Very cool. You can then tap on the words in your notebook and the pen will play back the associated audio. Great for conferences, and I wish I had had this pen during my university times :). You can also export your notes including the audio as a flash movie and share them on the net, which is what I'm going to do below.
Intro Session and Lightning Talks
The CloudCamp was kicked off by a representative of Institut Telecom, the location sponsor of CloudCamp Paris. Sam Johnston gave a short and sweet introduction to Clouds, providing some definitions, examples and also some contrarian views, finishing with a short video on how easy it is to set up your account in the cloud.
A series of lightning talks by the sponsors gave us some interesting news, insights and context for the conference:
- Eric Bezille from Sun showed us what's behind Sun's cloud activities.
- Arvid Fossen from Aserver.com talked about how they provide datacenters as a service to their clients. Wanna have your own cloud? Go buy it as a turnkey solution!
- Matthew Hugo (Not sure if I got that name right...) from Runmyprocess.com showed some nice examples of integration between different cloud services.
- Josh Fraser, VP of Business Development at Rightscale showed some impressive examples of how the cloud can neatly adjust to your business demand curve.
- Peter Martin from Orange Business Services showed us some pictures of his kids who use clouds based services today (Facebook anyone?), pointing out that when they'll grow up to be CEOs, CIOs and decision makers, they're most likely not going to operate their own datacenters. Food for thought for the sceptics who think Cloud Computing is just a temporary hype or not ready (yet) for prime time: Just wait 'til your kids grow up. It may happen sooner than that, though, given the enthusiasm of the more than 100 people in the room...
- Finally, Owen Garrett from Zeus provided a really good reason for using a software load balancer: Take back control of your application!
Here are two pencasts with audio and notes taken during the above lightning talks. The first one covers the intro until and including the Rightscale talk, the second one starts with the Orange talk and finishes with the Zeus talk.
CloudCamp Paris June 2009 Intro Session
brought to you by Livescribe
CloudCamp Paris June 2009, Intro Session Part 2
brought to you by Livescribe
The Unpanel
I've been to a couple of unconferences before, but this was my first unpanel. Dave Nielsen asked the attendees about who thought they were an expert on Cloud Computing. A couple of hands went up and whoosh - there you have seven experts for a panel :). Then he asked the group to provide seven questions for the panel to answer, after which each of the panelists got to answer one. For each question, the group was asked whether there was potential for some more discussion on that topic, so we also had a good basis for creating some spontaneous sessions during the conference part. Listen to the whole unpanel session on the right.
CloudCamp Paris June 2009 Unpanel session
brought to you by Livescribe
Cloud Architecture Session
After the introductory sessions and the unpanel, it was time for the breakouts. There were four of them: Cloud Security (moderated by Luc Wijns from Sun), Cloud Architecture, Open Clouds and Cloud Business Opportunities. Sébastien Pahl from DotCloud and I moderated the Cloud Architecture session. After some introductory slides, Sébastien explained his work on creting portable cloud-based services (including leverating Solaris Containers). (Sébastien, let me know when you have your slides online...). We then let the group share their questions, answeres, thoughts and discussion points. We talked about scaling MySQL in the cloud, or perhaps it would be better to leave the traditional relational model and use a simple key/value alternatives such as CouchDB. Developers asked whether they'll be able to use their IDEs with the cloud (hint: Check out NetBeans...) or whether they need to throw it all away and learn everything from scratch. How much should developers care about scalability? Isn't that something the cloud should provide? What about different APIs? Does it make sense to write your own abstraction layer? Message queues were also a popular topic and we noticed that RESTful interfaces are everywhere. I liked the final statement of one attendee most: Maybe clouds are forcing us to rethink a lot of our developer concepts so we can actually sit down and start writing clean code for a change!
Here's the audio recording from the architecture session. I tried to write down some notes after they have been discussed so you can try and skip to the pieces you're most interested in. The audio is a bit low volume, but still quite intelligible.
CloudCamp Paris June 2009 Session on Cloud Architecture
brought to you by Livescribe
Wrapping It All Up
After the breakouts, a surprisingly large number of attendees were still there despite being late into the evening to gather and listen to the summaries of the different sessions. Here's the recording, including some notes to help you navigate.
brought to you by Livescribe
All in all, this was a great event. A big thank you to Eric and his team in Paris and the sponsors for setting this up! More than ever, it became clear to me how significant the trend towards cloud computing is and how many talented people are part of this community, driving the future of IT into the sky.
Update: Eric now published his own summary with a lot of background information. It's a great read, so check it out!


text:
~~~~~~~~~~ Car mods, bikes and such ~~~~~~~~~~
First off I thought the trailer was dope. Graphics look 3x better than last generation.
My hope for the game is that car modding will be bigger and more common. SA had car modding, but it didn't satisfy my modding cravings. I am not in any way expecting NEED FOR SPEED customization, but, I would like to see rim and tire shops that only let you upgrade your wheels so when you want to get your 22"s on your truck it will only be at theses tire shops. And Pro performance shops where you get your turbos, superchargers, exhaust, ect... installed. Likewise, there should be a shop that does low-rider customization, so you can get hydraulics.
As for bikes. We should be able to mod these too! Even if all we can do is custom color and NOS, that would be enough for me. I hope there are at least 10 different bikes.
I ponder when I fire the game up for the first time if I hop in a car and start driving around will I say to myself, "This is GTA" or "This does not feel like GTA" because if there is one thing that keeps me playing these GTA games still to this day, its the driving physics. Saints row driving was so piss poor it made me sick. I just hope the game feels the same.
Last thing I wanted to share.... I hope there are NO key gameplay/weapon/car/bike options that we have already seen MISSING from the game. For example, working out, and eating. Some of you might hate it that you have to eat and work out, other may love it. The point is we will all notice it gone from the game if its no where to be found.
I have no worries that GTA4 will be nothing shy of greatness.
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text:
I often see text like "... has been a premier service provider for many years" in advertisements. Sometimes I'll see "Your premier SUCH AND SUCH" These strike me as nonsense phrases unless they were the first, or one of a few early, service providers.
Am I correct in my understanding of this phrase?


text:
Shamrock 39.5" - Old Modern Handicrafts
This item is found in the following Product Families
Assembly of the sails only is required. Due to the fact that these models are made by hand some of the deck pieces will vary All of our models are …
39.5" L x 7" W x 48.5" H
This product ships in 1 business day.
Add to Cart and enter your Postal Code to determine the shipping charges and estimated delivery date.
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text:
More iPad Apps (Idea Sketch, Mindmash, Sundry Notes, Dragon Dictation)
By Carlo Daniels, Instructional Development Services Graduate Assistant
Idea Sketch
This free app allows one to create different types of diagrams such as concept maps, flow charts, mind maps, etc. and enables one to convert it to a text outline and vice versa. Such diagrams can be used as brainstorming devices, concept illustrations, lists and outlines, organizational [...]


text:
7 Bizarre Easter Eggs Hidden in Great Works of Art
We tend to think of classic art as being all dignified and serious, if perhaps a little stuffy. But that's only because we're not looking closely enough. As we've pointed out before, a lot of classical art is like a "Where's Waldo?" picture, but with more bare breasts and less mockery from your peers if they catch you puzzling over it.
#7. The Ambassadors
The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein the Younger is an enigmatic masterpiece loaded with enough strategic placements and hidden meanings to frustrate Stanley Kubrick. The portrait is a masterwork of perspective study, delving so deeply into the subject that it seemingly contains the 16th century equivalent of a Photoshop error.
Shoulder poofiness = 300%
The Easter Egg:
But that's actually a nifty trick called anamorphosis. Why, all you have to do is turn the picture sideways ...
And boom! Holo-skull.
See? This 3-D bullshit has been going on for centuries.
The whole thing was Holbein's elaborate way of illustrating that no matter what, everybody dies. But considering that this crazy pseudo-hologram was painted by hand all the way back in 1533, we're assuming that maxim didn't apply to Holbein himself, who just hopped onto his hover-farthing and warped back to his home dimension when his time was up.
#6. Raphael's The School of Athens
The School of Athens by Raffaello is perhaps the single most iconic image of the High Renaissance that is also the cover of Use Your Illusion I and II.
Coincidentally, the Renaissance was also when Chinese Democracy was first announced.
The Easter Egg:
While we could spend all day talking about the cameos Raphael slipped into the fresco ...
That's Socrates, all four of the ninja turtles and many, many others. It's like the Ocean's 11 of paintings.
... they're nothing compared to the Easter Egg Renaissance master Donato Bramante contributed to the project. According to Giorgio Vasari's Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, Raphael had Bramante design "the architecture" for the fresco and, sure enough, Bramante's contribution was a carbon copy of the floor plans for the new St. Peter's Basilica he was working on just down the street. The School of Athens wound up offering a ground-level glimpse at the completed work more than a century before it would be finished.
It's a nice enough church, but the glare will literally melt your corneas.
Bramante already had the enormous cathedral completed in his head, and thanks to Raphael he was able to slip a sneak peak of the structure within the fresco, just like a Renaissance Pixar film. Well, if Pixar was slipping in references to movies that wouldn't be released until 2126, that is. We just feel bad for all the hardcore church fans out there who caught the teaser and got super stoked for this new blockbuster cathedral, only to see the release date and realize they'd be passing on those pre-ordered tickets to their grandkids.
Let us pray!
It was basically Duke Nukem Forever: The Church.
#5. All of Al Hirschfeld's Drawings from 1945 Onward
Al Hirschfeld was an American illustrator and caricaturist best known for his black-and-white portraits of celebrities and political figures all throughout the 20th century. Think of those '80s posters in Asian hair salons, but, y'know, classy:
And without flecks of blood on the frames.
The Easter Egg:
Hirschfeld also managed to hide his daughter Nina's name in damn near every single one of his thousands of artworks.
"This will always be a good idea."
Hirschfeld decided to push this concept to a level he later described as "harmless insanity." And while we agree with the "insanity," we don't know about that "harmless" part: Presumably his other daughter, Xernophystoles Mernozence Hirschfeld, felt a little hurt and neglected when her name turned up conspicuously absent ...
"I worked her name into a caterpillar once, but doing so gave me carpal tunnel syndrome."
The man became so adept and prolific that the Pentagon eventually approved a $60,000 grant to train the eyes of bomber pilots by having them spot the "hidden Ninas" in Hirschfeld's drawings.
#4. Pieter Bruegel the Elder's Continuing Fetish
Pieter Bruegel the Elder warranted a previous appearance in recognition for his fantastically exhaustive catalog of asses. But it wasn't all butts and brews for old Bruegel -- he also created some pretty cool, surreal stuff like this:
... is that bored satyr getting a blowjob?
But betwixt all the booty and David Lynch fan art, Pieter was still a classically trained artist. The Magpie on the Gallows, for example, is a spectacular example of one of his landscapes. Look at it: Serene. Pastoral. Beautiful.
"The hangin's at noon."
The Easter Egg:
All that lush foliage and subtle color work make it so easy to overlook the man in the bottom-left corner shitting his guts out in the bushes.
Note his use of shadow to tastefully hide the sphincter.
Yeah ... Bruegel didn't really know how to stop painting asses and the things that come out of asses. Take The Fair at Hoboken for example:
Let's go poopin' now...
Everybody's learning how ...
Come on a poop safari with meeee!
He had his own artistic reasons for this obsession, of course: In many of his works, defecation was used to showcase "the worst excesses of human folly."
All the best parties begin and end with public pooping.
But somewhere around the time you find yourself spending days painstakingly rendering a diarrhea waterfall, you have to stop and consider that this whole "human folly" thing might just be the spin you're putting on the fact that you're "really into poop these days."
"It's good to finally be out of my 'Phlegm Phase,' though."


text:
Access to Libraries for People who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing
Birmingham Libraries are striving to make library services, events and resources accessible to all.
Many libraries have induction loops and minicoms.
Signers may be requested for any library event. Please contact the library concerned or if it is an event for children or young people, you could also contact the Children's Office direct on: 0121 303 2175. Or email:firstname.lastname@example.com
More information can be found on the following pages:
Resources for adults and children in Community Libraries
Resources in Central Library
Resources in Centre for the Child
Books and Resources for children and young people: Resources in libraries including signed videos and picture books. Plus non-fiction books, useful websites and story books for all ages with positive images.
Contact Details for Community Libraries


text:
Home > Food > Recipe Slideshows > Top 10 Breakfast Ideas
Top 10 Breakfast Ideas
Whole-Wheat Pancakes
Homemade pancake mix is cheaper per pancake than the store-bought stuff, plus you can use whole-grain flour to boost the nutrition factor. Make your own mix in advance, and then it's a breeze to serve your kids a hot breakfast off the griddle in the morning. All-natural maple syrup is a delicious, low-calorie sweetener. (And don't confuse it with factory-made "pancake syrup!")
Get the recipe for Whole-Wheat Pancakes
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text:
Pace's holdout pattern has matched that of the Seahawks Walter Jones, who would have made it four straight tagged years in 2005 were it not for him agreeing to a seven year, $50 million dollar deal early this week. Jones plays the same position as Pace, has been a similar success, and like Pace was selected at the very top of the 1997 draft after a stellar college career with a national powerhouse program.
You couldn't get any NFL scout to say there is much difference in the two stud offensive tackles, either for their present play, or future potential to stay at the top of their peer group. Both men are similarly solid people off the field as well, with only the business side of the game feeding any negative press, and are liked and respected by their teammates. The way they have been accepted by their buddies despite skipping the off-season programs and training camp is proof positive of that.
One cannot imagine that Jones would take less than what he is worth after three years holding out as the franchise player, and this year, with three top stars set to become unrestricted free agents on March 2nd, Jones had far more leverage to hold his team hostage or be allowed to hit the open market. The Seahawks organization was shook by the events of 2004, predicted to be a breakout season for Seattle, so it can be accepted that the Jones deal should be the gold standard for what the top left tackles are paid.
The Jones deal, which includes a $15 million signing bonus, and up to another $5 million in later bonuses, was negotiated by an agent, who will get a couple percent of what his client is paid, but Pace probably could go to Rams President Jay Zygmunt tomorrow and agree to an exact copy of Jones deal, and save himself a much as $1 million dollars in agent fees over the life of such a deal. If Pace does hire anyone but a guy named Poston, the first thing they will do is look at what Jones just got. Sure, they may restructure some things just to justify getting paid, but in the end, the numbers would no doubt be almost the same.
Hopefully, Pace who didn't pay Poston a dime of his franchise number paycheck in 2004, will see this opportunity to make up for a few extra million he may think he deserves by representing himself, and use whatever Jones agent hammered out for free. Zygmunt offered Pace $16 million up front before, and was even supposedly prepared to go to $19 million last March. Pace could get a million dollars more up front than Jones, and still only equal what the Rams paid their other core players when they came up for new deals.
I can't imagine anyone not seeing how unparalleled the comparison between Jones and Pace is in almost every way, and surely Pace knows that getting his cap number to a manageable level is the Rams top priority before March. Pace could get it done painlessly now, without any whispers of him taking a cut-rate deal from the players union.
If "Big O" doesn't step up now, or as soon as he unpacks his suitcase from his trip to Hawaii for the Pro-Bowl, then it's a signal that maybe he just doesn't like training camp or pre-season. My guess is that the Jones deal will make for a quick deal just like his holdout was one reason Poston didn't want to sign his guy first and see the other guy squeeze a better deal out of wealthy Seahawks owner Paul Allen.
All that should remain is Orlando Pace deciding to risk again putting his future and his team in the hands of an agent, or take the easy money and get the Rams 2005 season off to a start with less distraction than the last two years. Hopefully if Pace does name an agent, it will be Roosevelt Barnes, who just happens to represent Walter Jones. Barnes wouldn't need long to put together a deal, just long enough to fax a copy of Jones' contract to the Rams.
Will Jones Deal Spur Pace To Sign?
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text:
Possible Duplicate:
What security policies exist in place for packages and scripts?
Originally I want(ed) to know how ubuntu update process is being secured against tampering ofpackages by a man in the middle. This has been this question here: Are Virus/rootkits via ubuntu updates possible? [closed]
It has been closed for being assumed to be a duplicate. Still the assumed duplicates cover some quite different topics (like how cd/flashdrive autorun etc effects safety etc.). So I post the question again. I seek an answer to how the updated process is secured against a man in the middle attack.
Pardon me for the potential annoyance, but the topic deeply interested me since there are quite many updates in ubuntu (at least one security update each week) and knowing what way this updates can be a path for malware is important to me.
Maybe somebody will be a nice fellow and able to bring some light to this question. I would also dearly appreciate that with some less ignorance the question will remain opened this time, for indeed it is not totally the covered by the questions:
- How is the system kept secure? (covers more the aspect of gaining root access)
and still not well enough in
- What security policies exist in place for packages and scripts? (covers the aspect of deb safety files being autorun)
neither of the "duplicates" covers the aspect how the update process is secured.


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Liberals and Takers
Published: Sunday, December 2, 2012 at 12:39 a.m.
Last Modified: Sunday, December 2, 2012 at 12:39 a.m.
It's a strange world the liberals of this society have wrought upon us. We are now expected to pay for young women's birth control pills. However, if she gets pregnant because the pill didn't work or she forgot to take them, we are expected to pay for her abortion. And now a Florida court says a 17-year-old girl can have an abortion without telling her parents.
So, is it any wonder nobody takes responsibility because the state has usurped almost all parental authority and we've allowed it to happen?
I'm 72 and my Polish grandmother once told me in broken English: "Johnny, you no want to live too long cause you no understand the new ways." My, oh my, was she right. I am so very sorry for what the young people will face in the future.
The famous Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky said: "Where God is not supreme, everything is allowed." In the end you either have what you want or the reasons you don't.
There have always been more takers than givers. Today more than ever, the louder voices of the weaker takers welcome the idea of their lives being controlled by an omnipotent government because they cannot or will not do for themselves.
Haines City
Reader comments posted to this article may be published in our print edition. All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged.


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WINTERSVILLE - Nicole Marie Brown and Devin James Lowry announce their engagement.
The bride-to-be is the daughter of Joann and Robert Brown of New Castle, Pa. She is a 2007 graduate of Shenango High School. She received her bachelor's degree in human resources management from Youngstown State University. She is employed as human resource manager at Sears in Monaca, Pa.
Her fiance is the son of Tammy and Jim Lowry of Wintersville. He is a 2004 graduate of Indian Creek High School and received a bachelor of arts degree from YSU. He is employed in law enforcement in West Virginia.
Article Photos
A wedding is planned in May 2013 at St. Vincent DePaul Parrish in New Castle.


text:
Western Digital My Book Essential 3TB Desktop External Hard Drive w/ coupon code for $129.99 + free shipping
$199.99 - $50 instant savings - $20 w/ coupon code EMCJNNA22 = $129.99
6.5" x 5.3" x 1.9"
Automatic, continuous backup
Password protection and hardware encryption
18 Comments add a comment
Bummer! I bought the comparable Casio on Friday for $137.
Using 'comparable' and 'Casio' in the same sentence seems like an oxymoron.
$139 with free prime shipping on Amazon. Decent reviews for a HDD (they all seem to get lower ratings that other types of electronic items). ~3.5 out of 5 stars.
http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Expansion-Desktop-External-STBV3000100/dp/B00834SJU8/ref=pd_cp_e_0 Seagate Expansion 3 TB USB 3.0 Desktop External Hard Drive Price: $129.99 & this item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping.
@pleepleus: Sorry, I meant "Canvio" not "Casio", Canvio is by Toshiba.
Comparable? I didn't know Western Digital made musical keyboards and cheap watches? ;-)
Why, oh why, doesn't this have an ethernet port?!?! Wanting a NAS drive.
2-year limited warranty...
Running two 2TB WD externals and a 6TB WD external "Cloud" drive right now, never had so much as a single glitch from any of them. 2TBs have run non-stop for over a year, 6TB for the last 7 months, all have survived multiple "power blips" so common in my area - could not recommend these any more highly.
I bought this last time it came up here (a month ago?) and it's fine so far though I do hear some clicking from it. Should I be worried?
This also makes the cheapest price for an internal hard drive. So buy one, take it out of the enclosure, and you have a brand new internal hard drive.
And then you can put your old hard drive into the enclosure and still have an external hard drive out of the deal.
USB 3, right. ~ 200 MB/sec throughput? No? WHY NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!
friend and I had these and they stopped working with windows7 computers. I sent it in, they sent me another, again didn't work right. The enclosure has some hardware 'security' module for the encryption/password.
So removed it, bought a cheapo usb/esata enclosure, and it's worked fine since, even in extreme Afghani dust for a year.
@pleepleus: I did not understand! Why oxymoron! Casio with same/similar specs!
@omnichad: Question is, how good is the drive? I can't speak for this but 2.5" externals routinely have capacities larger than any internal drive currently on the market which would suggest that someone's cutting corners.
@bogus: It's because the biggest 2.5 externals use the thicker 12.5-13.5mm drives that allow room for an additional platter. But, these don't fit in the 9.5mm slots in most laptops.
@bogus: Where did you see 2.5"? This drive is 3.5" just like a regular desktop HDD.
@tayl428: http://deals.woot.com/deals/details/26c59f52-1056-4c4e-9a16-d84b6b1021af/iomega-34763-1tb-home-media-network-hard-drive-cloud-edition#0
@birniei: Nice, but sold out, and the 2TB version is still $170+.


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WEIRTON - The Weir High Red Riders finally ended one of the longest football losing streaks in school history Friday night coming from behind to defeat Grafton 22-21 in a thriller.
The victory is the first for the Red Riders in the new Jimmy Carey Stadium, which was inaugurated in August of 2012, and the win snaps a 13-game losing streaking dating back to the final game of the 2011 season (Nov. 4).
The win also is the first for Red Rider coach, Tony Filberto, who is in the second year of his second stint as head coach. It makes the Weir High record 1-3 and dropped the Bearcats to 0-4.
Article Photos
FINALLY — Weir High celebrates its 22-21 victory over Grafton Friday night at Jimmy Carey Stadium. It was the Red Riders' first win since Nov. 4, 2011, an 18-13 win over Tyler Consolidated. -- Mike Mathison
"This is the first win in the new Jimmy Carey Stadium and it means so much to our team, to the student body and the community," said a jubilant Filberto after the game. "You saw a lot of kids with a lot integrity and a lot heart. We were down pretty good at halftime, but we said we're going to win this football game.
"They proved it here in the fourth quarter, but especially in the whole second half. The kids did a great, great job.
"Our coaches did a great job controlling the players and our kids did a great job."
Fact Box
Weir 22, Grafton 21
Grafton 7 7 7 0 - 21
Weir 0 6 0 16 - 22
G: Moore 38 run (Rowand kick)
L: Larch 1 run (pass failed)
G: Collins 5 run (Rowand kick)
G: Collins 1 run (Rowand kick)
W: Hartman 21 pass from Larch (Larch run)
W: Hartman 3 run (Larch pass from Hartman)
RUSHING: Grafton 43-180-3 (Moses 12-85, C. Moore 12-62-1, Withers 6-16, Collins 13-22-2). Weir 33-167-2 (Larch 16-112-1, Hartman 14-52-1, Rice 1-3).
PASSING: Grafton 5-10-39-0-0 (Collins 5-9-39-0-0, Moses 0-1); Weir 5-16-85-1-2x (all by Larch)
RECEIVING: Grafton: Moats 3-34, Moore 1-10, Moses 1-(-5); Weir: Davis 2-31, Bennett 1-39, Enrietti 1-13, Hartman 1-21-1.
FIRST DOWNS: Grafton 11, Weir 13
PENALTIES: Grafton 3-20; Weir 6-35
FUMBLES: Grafton 2-2; Weir 3-0
The Red Riders were led by junior quarterback, William Larch, who ran the ball 16 times for 112 yards and passed it 16 times for 85 stripes. He had a 1-yard touchdown run and a 21-yard scoring pass, but it was a trick play for the two-point conversion after the final Weir High touchdown that was the game-winner.
Junior running back, Matt Hartman, scored from three yards out with 7:42 left in the game to pull the Red Riders within one at 21-20. Following a time out, Larch got the snap and lateralled to Hartman, who tossed the ball back in the left flat to a wide open Larch for the two-pointer that put the Red Riders in the lead for the first time this season.
Larch scored two 2-point conversions in the game. The first one came when the Red Riders capitalized on a Clarence Bennett punt return of 35 yards from his own 44 to the Grafton 21.
On the first play from scrimmage and the second play of the fourth quarter, Larch found a wide open Hartman on a swing pass to the left for a touchdown. It was the third touchdown pass of the season for Larch.
Larch got the call for the conversion run and found the going rough as he tried to maneuver over the right side, so he cut back hard toward the goal line where he was met by three Bearcats. Larch's determination and momentum got the ball into the end zone to cut Grafton's lead to 21-14.
"He was going to get in, wasn't he?" Filberto said. "William Larch is a great football player surrounded by a lot of great football players. He runs hard."
On Grafton's third play with the next possession, freshman quarterback, Cole Collins, gained five yards on a keeper, but fumbled the ball forward where an alert Matt Thompson, pounced on the loose pigskin at the Bearcat 46-yard line to set up the winning Weir High score.
The Riders kept the ball on the ground for six straight plays getting to the Grafton 41. Faced with a third-and-9 from there, Larch fired a strike to a streaking Bennett down the left sideline for 38 yards to the three. On the next play, Hartman blasted up the middle for the go ahead touchdown.
"Hartman had a good night and so did a lot of other players," Filberto continued.
After that score, the Bearcats controlled the football for 7:20, but the Red Rider defense stiffened making several key tackles for losses as the clock began to run down. Grafton finally gave up the football when a fourth down pass from the Weir High 35 was well defended and fell to the ground incomplete.
Junior defensive end, Mark Parr, broke through to stop Collins twice and running back, Nate Moses once for losses.
"How about the Parr kid making three straight tackles in the backfield right there at the end of the game?" Filberto exclaimed. "We subbed him there at the end. He hadn't played a play the whole game till right at the end. He did a great job."
It appeared that the Red Riders may be going to take a lead for the first time in four games early as they got the opening kickoff and began a long march of 13 plays that ended with four straight incomplete passes from the Grafton 27 yard line, a couple of them drops to wide open receivers (Weir High at four such drops in the game).
"We could have caught some balls early and it would have been great, but this is great just the way it is," Filberto said.
However, it was Grafton that got the early lead when senior Corey Moore swept left end and weaved through the Red Rider secondary on a 38-yard scoring run. Zachary Rowand's kick made it 7-0 at the 1:49 mark of the second quarter. The touchdown was set up when Jacob Morgan picked off a Larch pass at the Bearcat 10 and returned the football to the Grafton 38.
On Weir High's ensuing possession, Larch ended a 85-yard drive with a one-yard quarterback sneak into the end zone. The Riders set up with Alyssa Shingle ready to kick the extra point, but the holder, Jake Wypasek, Weir High's sophomore backup quarterback, took the ball to his right and tossed it to a wide open receiver in the end zone. It was one of the Red Rider drops.
Grafton took a 14-6 lead to the locker room at halftime when Collins scored on a 5-yard keeper with 58.7 left in the second period. That touchdown and Roward's extra point boot, capped a long 16 play, 65-yard drive that consumed 8:23 of the second quarter.
The Bearcats made their lead 21-6 with 5:04 left in the third quarter when Collins finished off a five-play drive with a one-yard keeper. The drive had started at the Grafton 26 following a Larch punt. A highlight of the march was a 57-yard sprint by Moses.
"In our last two games, we've had the lead going into the fourth quarter, but we've been unable to finish the ballgame," said Bearcat coach, Drew Toth. "Not taking anything away from Weir. Coach Filberto and his kids did a heck of a job today. They just came out in the second half and won the football game. It will be a long two-hour ride home."
Filberto said his Red Riders are hungry for more wins.
"We got the first win," said Filberto. "We're not satisfied, we're going to get the next one next week."
The Red Riders travel to play Liberty Harrison next Friday.


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I need to find $f(f(x)) = 4 - 3x$
In other examples, such as $f(2)$, I can see that the result equates to $-2$ or $f(x^2)$ becomes $-3x^2 + 4$.
Do I really just substitute $f(x)$ for $x$ and simplify?
I need to find $f(f(x)) = 4 - 3x$
In other examples, such as $f(2)$, I can see that the result equates to $-2$ or $f(x^2)$ becomes $-3x^2 + 4$.
Do I really just substitute $f(x)$ for $x$ and simplify?
1) There are many solutions to $f(f(x))=4-3x$, if that is your question. Note $f(f(1))=1$.
Here is one using complex numbers: $$f(x)=1+i(x-1)\sqrt{3}$$ where $i$ is $\sqrt{-1}$.
Here is another in real numbers: $$f(x)=1+(-1)^{\lfloor 2\log_3(|x-1|) \rfloor}(x-1)\sqrt{3}$$ and with the special case of $f(1)=1$.
2) Perhaps your question is simpler than this and you are starting with $f(x)=4-3x$ and you want to know what $f(f(x))$ is. Then yes, you do the substitution and get $$f(f(x))=4-3f(x) = 4-3(4-3x)=4-12+9x = 9x-8$$ as Unreasonable Sin said before deleting that answer.
Here is @Henry's solution, slightly rephrased, to find a square root of every affine function.
First the trivial case: for every $a\geqslant0$, a square root of $x\mapsto ax+b$ is $x\mapsto\sqrt{a}x+b/(1+\sqrt{a})$. Obviously this trick fails for $x\mapsto -ax+b$ with $a$ positive, which has no affine function as a square root. A solution is to partition the real line into a countable number of intervals and to consider a function $f$ cleverly subordinated to this partition and affine on each of these intervals. Hence $f$ will be far from being affine globally (and not even continuous) but $f\circ f$ will be, miraculously.
Consider a point $x_0$ and two doubly infinite strictly increasing sequences $(a_n)_{n\in\mathbb Z}$ and $(b_n)_{n\in\mathbb Z}$ such that $a_n\to+\infty$ and $b_n\to+\infty$ when $n\to+\infty$, and $a_n\to x_0$ and $b_n\to x_0$ when $n\to-\infty$. Define some intervals $A_n$ and $B_n$ by $A_n=[a_n,a_{n+1}[$ and $B_n=]-b_{n+1},-b_n]$. Hence every $A_n$ is on the right of $x_0$ and every $B_i$ is on the left of $x_0$, the intervals $A_n$ partition $(x_0,+\infty)$ and the intervals $B_i$ partition $(-\infty,x_0)$. Furthermore, every continuous bijection between $A_n$ and $B_i$ is a decreasing function which sends $a_n$ on $-b_i$ and has limit $-b_{i+1}$ at $a_{n+1}$.
Consider an integer $k$ and a function $f$ such that $f(x_0)=x_0$. Assume that:
Then $f\circ f$ is such that $f\circ f(x_0)=x_0$ and $f\circ f$ sends, for every integer $n$, $A_n$ on $B_{n+2k}$ and $B_n$ on $A_{n+2k}$. If the restrictions of $f$ to each $A_n$ and $B_n$ are affine, the function $f\circ f$ is affine on each $A_n$ and $B_n$ as well.
Choose finally $c>1$ and define $a_n=b_n=x_0+c^n$ for every $n$. Then $f\circ f$ sends each $x_0\pm c^n$ on $x_0\mp c^{2k}c^n$ hence $f\circ f(x_0+x)=x_0-c^{2k}x$ for every real number $x$. In other words, $f\circ f$ is the function $x\mapsto-c^{2k}x+(1+c^{2k})x_0$.
This yields a square root of $x\mapsto-ax+b$ for every positive $a\ne1$ (choose $x_0=b/(1+a)$, any $k\ne0$ and solve $c^{2k}=a$) and for $a=1$ (choose any $c>1$, $k=0$ and $x_0=b/2$).
Assume a rowvector $\small V(x) = [1,x] $ which you understand as symbolical or as containing a concrete value in x.
Then consider a matrix G, which contains the coefficients of $\small g(x)= f(f(x)) = 4 - 3x $ as $\small G= \left[ \begin{smallmatrix} 1 & 4 \\ 0 & -3 \end{smallmatrix} \right] $ . With this we have $\small V(x) \cdot G = V(g(x)) $ and $\small V(x) \cdot G^h = V(g^{\circ h}(x)) $ where the $\small \circ h $ means h'fold iteration.
Now $\small g(x) = f^{\circ 2} (x) $ so $\small f(x) = g^{\circ 1/2} (x) $ and you need the squareroot of G:
$\qquad \small V(x) \cdot G^{1/2} = V(g^{\circ 1/2}(x)) = V(f(x)) $
Since $\small G (= F ^2) $ is a 2 x 2 matrix only and the first column of F is again [1,0] the solution of $\small F\cdot F = G $ or explicitely
$\qquad \small \left[ \begin{smallmatrix} 1 & a \\ 0 & b \end{smallmatrix} \right] \cdot \left[ \begin{smallmatrix} 1 & a \\ 0 & b \end{smallmatrix} \right] = \left[ \begin{smallmatrix} 1 & 4 \\ 0 & -3 \end{smallmatrix} \right]$
is simply the solution of two equations where one has a quadratic expression (with a complex solution here).
(For the generalization of that concept see for instance Carlemanmatrix in wikipedia)


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Are there good tools that can track what actions a certain subset of visitors (i.e. from a particular source) do once they're on your site? As far as I know (which could be wrong), Google Analytics can't do this beyond telling you how long they stayed, bounce rate, and average number of pages. I'm looking for something that can tell me which links they clicked on, and if possible break it down per-visitor. Free solutions would be great, but I'm anticipating that this would require a paid solution.
migrated from superuser.com Feb 25 '11 at 17:21
This question came from our site for computer enthusiasts and power users.
While you can't do it per visitor, you can at least get the daily results per referring domain, and you can also track outbound links for these visitors as well as internal links:
Create an Advanced Segment for each referring domain: Use "Source" "Contains" and in "Value" put in the domain of the referring source. You can share this Advanced Segment across profiles.
To track outbound links: Create a filter that tracks outbound links: https://www.google.com/support/googleanalytics/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=72712
Omniture does it all, most likely way beyond what you were thinking of spending, I'm sure. It is also hard (read expensive) to implement. Lyris should get that done for you and is much more affordable, and easier to implement. They are both good. I found Lyris to be a good value for the money, if you don't have a lot of users reviewing the reports.
Of course, once you are paying, you will want to think more broadly about what features you want overall to make the right investment. There are plenty of for-pay companies in this space.
Omniture's SiteCatalyst offers good segmentation features and their Discover product extends this functionality to your desktop to allow users to segmentation a breeze with instant response.
For $54 per year you can check out extremetracking.com/?pro but I have never used this service.
I also wrote an overview of GA, SiteCatalyst comparison that may be helpful: http://topcweb.com/article/analytics-solutions-omniture-vs-google
ClickTale provides mouse move, click, scroll heatmaps & analytics. Free plan provides limited functionality.


text:
I want to get some good loot, and I know clue scrolls are a good way to get good items. I know how to get Lv 1 clue scrolls, but I do not know what monster drop Lv 2 ones. Also, could you tell me the item requirements for Lv 2 scrolls(Shovels, sextants, ect. ect.).
Thank you.


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There are several written stenography systems (like Gregg shorthand) that allow for quickly and efficiently condensing text into a series of symbols. Those systems would take hours and hours of studying and practice to learn. Are there any simplified shorthand systems (for example, just abbreviating or replacing certain words) that could be used in jotting down notes, reminders, etc. to improve productivity?
After searching some more, I found there are several shorthand systems resembling standard writing, such as: * EasyScript Speed Writing * Forkner Shorthand * Keyscript Shorthand * Personal Shorthand * Speedwriting * Stenoscript * SuperWrite
If anyone has experience with any of these I'd be curious to hear your comments on them.
There is Simplified Gregg shorthand, which reduces the amount of brief forms that needed to be memorized to only 181. Another one, Diamond Jubilee Gregg shorthand takes this down to 129 brief forms.
Ford Shorthand http://www.fordshorthand.com (devised by Michael Ford 2012) is a simplified alphabet that allows you to replace your existing longhand letters with ones that are very much shorter and quicker to write. It is similar to Teeline but, as it just replaces the existing written letters, it has no rules. Learning time is minimal, and, as there is no reliance on technology, the cost is zero apart from maybe printing off the website page for reference. This is a good alternative if you do not wish to learn one of the more established and faster systems, but just want to speed up your longhand. I am a Pitman writer but recognise Ford Shorthand as filling a need for a method of quick writing that is easy to learn and read back, and would certainly have found it very useful for taking fuller notes at school, if it had been around at that time.
You can leave out the vowels and just write the consonants. This method does take some getting used to, but it does not depend on learning anything new. When you read it back you will be surprised how readable it is.
An example: Y cn lv t th vwls nd jst wrt th cnsnnts. Ths mthd ds tk sm gttng sd t, bt t ds nt dpnd n lrnng nthng nw. Whn y rd t bck y wll b srprsd hw rdbl t s.
Off course, this does not yield fantastic results, but it does mean less letters to write!
SWYPE is a revolutionary typing system engineered by the same inventor of T9 - Cliff Kushler. It's required to have a touchscreen device compatible with the app.
It reads: quick
How does it work?
Touch the letters of any word and allow the app to guess it. You don't have to precisely touch the letters but merely make a move close enough. If the app is presented to more than one probable guess you're gonna see a small window displaying the options. You can imagine how awesome it works with long words and technical terms.
Comparison chart.
I strongly recommend SWYPE for taking notes and sending messages but it's not handy to type anything longer than a paragraph as it doesn't replace the good old keyboard. The app adapts to the words you use the most and it only requires you to type a new word manually once. Try swyping the name of a contact - it already stored their names!
The app is supported by a growing number of mobile and tablet operational systems. Refer to this wikipedia article for more information but it's easier to search for swype in your app store.
Teeline is a professional shorthand system (used by journalists in UK) that is still very easy to learn. You can quickly pick up what you need for personal use from this tiny book http://books.google.com/books?id=83MUTEo1NUgC
Another method is Handywrite Shorthand, I haven't learned or used it, but it seems promising. I think some of the main advantages are exactly the drawbacks you describe in the other short hand systems in that it takes a lot of effort to start being able to write fast in them.
If you do end up using this method, please leave a comment about your evaluation of the system. I would definitely want to know what others think about it, and if you find that it's worth the effort to learn.


text:
COPPERAS COVE (February 8, 2013)—A Jacksboro man was being held Friday in the Coryell County Jail charged with sexual assault of a child in Copperas Cove.
David Lee Dean, 32, was ordered held on a $100,000 bond in connection with an incident that happened in Copperas Cove last November.
Coryell County Justice of the Peace Bill Price signed an arrest complaint that said a 10-year-old girl said in a forensic interview that she had been sexually assaulted by a man who was visiting her residence over the Thanksgiving holiday.
The victim reported the man had her lie down with him one evening after which she fell asleep.
The girl reported she was awakened when the man began touching her inappropriately.


text:
TROY, Ala. -- Kawaun Jakes threw three touchdown passes and Western Kentucky had a key fourth-quarter defensive stand to preserve a 31-26 victory over Troy on Thursday night.
Antonio Andrews rushed for 113 yards and the Hilltoppers (5-1, 2-0 Sun Belt Conference) won their fourth consecutive game since losing at No. 1 Alabama. They have won two straight over the Trojans (3-3, 2-2) after starting 0-8-1 in the series.
Playing the second half without injured starting quarterback Corey Robinson, Troy coach Larry Blakeney had a gamble backfire in the fourth quarter.
The Trojans' Shawn Southward was stopped well short on fourth and 2 from their own 42 with more than 6 minutes to play. Andrews, who has four straight 100-yard efforts, helped Western Kentucky burn the clock down and set up Garrett Schwettman's 26-yard field goal with 1:12 left.
Deon Anthony led Troy across midfield before the final drive stalled.
Robinson sustained what Troy described as "an injury above the shoulders" on the final play of the first half, with the Trojans leading 17-14 after twice going ahead by 10 points. He was taken off the field sitting up in a cart after getting sacked by Bar'ee Boyd.
Jakes, meanwhile, completed 21 of 31 passes for 255 yards in a battle of the Sun Belt's top two defenses. Kadeem Jones ran for a 1-yard touchdown and scored on an 18-yard catch, both in the third quarter.
Andrews was the workhorse with 26 rushes, especially at the end.
He ran 10 times in the fourth quarter and converted a fourth-and-inches play to help the Hilltoppers play keep-away.
Anthony fired a 22-yarder to Jaquon Robinson to take Troy into Western Kentucky territory on the last drive, then had to run out of bounds and overthrew Chip Reeves on a deep ball before the personal foul call.
His final pass fell incomplete in a crowd of defenders.
The Trojans gained 374 yards, the Hilltoppers 367.
Anthony, who had mostly been used as a runner in the wildcat role, was 9-of-16 passing for 147 yards with a touchdown.
Reeves had three catches for 110 yards, including a 38-yard touchdown from Robinson.
Western Kentucky grabbed its first lead on Jones' short run to cap the opening drive of the second half. Jakes hooked up twice with Willie McNeal for 39 yards to set up the score.
The teams combined for three scores in the final 4:16 of the third.
The Trojans ran it on all but one of the first eight plays with Anthony. Then he lofted a perfect over-the-shoulder pass to Chip Reeves for 45 yards to set up a field goal that cut Western Kentucky's lead to 22-21. Then Jakes and Jones struck again with the 18-yarder.
Eric Thomas bobbled and then caught a 47-yard touchdown from Anthony with 4 seconds left in the quarter. The two-point pass for the tie failed.
Troy scored on an 18-play drive in the second quarter with holder Robinson hitting D.J. Taylor with a 1-yard shovel pass on the Trojans' first fake field goal since 1991.
Western Kentucky answered with a 17-play TD drive.