text:
8 Prehistoric Creatures Ripped Directly from Your Nightmares
Prehistory had no shortage of terrifying monsters, with everything from the more well-known Raptors and Rexes to super rats and three-eyed shrimp. As pants-ruining as all those things might be, however, science is always unearthing new veins of rich, ancient terror-beasts that would make H.P. Lovecraft terror-puke right in Stephen King's eye.
#8. A Carnivorous Bird Monster With a 40-Foot Wingspan
The concept of a flying, carnivorous lizard is plenty terrifying on its own. Even in movies, pterodactyls and such are pretty small, because you simply don't need to up the fear quotient by depicting the things as 40 feet across or like 400 pounds. But that didn't stop nature from being the unholy little achiever that it is and doing just that.
And then putting funny little berets on their heads.
The Azhdarchidae family were a group of gigantic pterosaurs that plied the skies of the late Cretaceous. Members of the group included Quetzalcoatlus (named after the Aztec sun god Quetzalcoatl, a giant feathered serpent), Azhdarcho (named after a type of Uzbek dragon) and Titanopteryx (whose name means "really big opteryx"). Now, let's not get carried away and start picturing leathery-winged reptilian bird-things hunting you down from the skies and carrying you off to feed their younglings. Evidence shows that they were simply too large to have effectively grabbed prey and flown off with it.
Oh, is that not comforting? That the bird monster's only problem was being too fucking gargantuan to fly away with your corpse after it killed you? Sorry. Does this scale diagram help?
"Psh. Yeah, whatever, Evil Giraffe Bird. This is one office worker who remains unimpressed."
The Azhdarchidae didn't fly away with its prey like modern-day hawks, but only because that's nowhere near terrifying enough. No, the Azhdarchidae would spot you from the air, slam down into the ground next to you and creepily hobble-wing-charge your ass, scooping you up into its huge, jagged beak. We're not exaggerating that disturbing, high-speed death-waddle -- scientists believe that Azhdarchidae had a "particularly efficient terrestrial locomotion," which they were able to discern from preserved tracks that showed it placing its feet in front of its wing-claws as it moved.
This is basically Cloverfield with wings.
Meaning the 12-foot-tall carnivorous bird-reptile could gallop.
As in, gallop like a horse.
Like a horse that hates sanity and life in equal measure.
#7. The T. Rex ... Dog?
Hang on, his name tag says "Aaargh please call animal control." That's weird.
No, that's not real, is it? That looks like the end boss of a Resident Evil game. It looks like one of the slags from Borderlands. It looks like the terrifying gritty reboot of Dino for the new Flintstones movie.
Sadly, that beast is not the fever dream of a horror game designer, but rather a real, once-living predator called a gorgonopsid, which was essentially a bear-sized saber-toothed dog-lizard with a 3-foot-long skull. Gorgonopsids of the genus Inostrancevia were even larger -- about the size of a rhino -- with canines roughly 4 inches long. Gorgonopsids were the dominant predator on land for the bulk of the Permian period, only being wiped out by the Permian-Triassic extinction event, which rebooted 90 percent of all life on Earth.
When it takes a global event to stop the bastard, what can your puny firearms, tiny fists and feeble prayers do?
#6. The Giant Alligator-Shark That Ate Sea Monsters
The Cretaceous period was basically the Earth's goth phase, when all it cared about was finding something evil and monstrous enough to freak out its conservative parents. And it finally found that in the Hainosaurus and Tylosaurus, two types of prehistoric sea lizard that mama sharks used to scare their little shark babies into finishing their mackerel. Oh, and hey: You don't need to imagine what those freaky shark nightmares looked like; National Geographic has done that for you.
National Geographic
But don't worry; it's not what it looks like. Tylosaurus didn't really use that row of vicious teeth, nor even the two additional rows behind it. They were just there to make sure anything it swallowed whole didn't wriggle free.
Oh, right: They swallowed sharks whole.
They mostly only used those three rows of giant razor-sharp fangs as a barb-wire fence to keep their prey from escaping being digested alive. It was like a sarlacc the size of a school bus, except this one could actually chase you down and force you into its belly.
Wikipedia / Getty
School, or being ripped apart by a prehistoric creature? It's a daily dilemma.
They ate literally anything they could catch, including plesiosaurs, which is basically the Loch Ness Monster. Isn't that comforting? Even monsters have monsters they're scared of.
#5. The Terrible Pigs
Funny. Who slipped concept art from the first Ghostbusters into our article research?
Wait, what? That's not Zuul? That's Daeodon, the granddaddy of modern pigs? That's what bacon used to look like?!
Daeodon was about the size of a rhino, and while modern boars are just angry pigs with fur, this thing was also equal parts Cape buffalo and leopard, not to mention it looked like somebody had illustrated the nastier parts of the Bible.
If they were still around today, we'd all have to eat cats instead.
The name literally means "hostile destructive teeth," but the creature was for a time known simply as Dinohyus, or "terrible pig." They were "massive opportunistic omnivores," meaning that they pretty much ate whatever they could get their considerable jaws around. Which, uh ... would be most things, by the look of it. Here, have a screenshot from the BBC's Walking With Beasts.
Walking With Beasts
Holy shit, now there are two! Quick, somebody call Bill Murray.


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Do You Know One of These Annoying Facebook Moms?by Lindsay Hutton
Social media can be a wonderful thing, especially when you have kids. Not only does it allow you share pictures and milestones of your kids with your friends, it also can be a great source of support when the going gets tough and you need a place to vent. But as we all know, it's also a place where people can be, well, kind of annoying. Is anyone on your friend list guilty of being one of these annoying Facebook moms? (Or, [gasp] are you one of them?)
1 of 10
The "MommyJacker"
"MommyJacking" refers to posting comments that work a child and/or being a parent into a Facebook status, no matter the topic. For example, if someone excitedly posts about earning their long-awaited, hard-earned Master's degree, a MommyJacker might comment with, "Oh, that's great! I remember earning my Master's, but it doesn't get any use anymore because being a parent takes up all my time! By the way, little Timmy is finally potty-trained! Woo hoo to no more diapers!"
Of course, we all know parenting is amazing, and hard, and priceless, and life-changing, and a whole slew of other things that can't adequately be put into words. But, parenting isn't the end-all and be-all of everything. Sometimes we all just need a kid-free zone!
Next: The "Super-Mom"


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User Comments for Week 10 RB Rankings
Tough choice. Need two. Matt Forte, Ryan Mathews, Reggie Bush,Fred Jackson. Tha
tmtaz 11/06/12 02:42 PM
Reggie for sure since its against an atrocious Titans D. I'd say just going off matchups either Ryan Matthews or Fred Jackson. Fred Jackson is more timeshare than Matthews and Patriots give up 3rd fewest points to RBs (granted if you're in PPR Jackson's value rises somewhat) but Bush and Matthews are probably safest starters.
goalee1486 11/06/12 06:43 PM
Jamaal charles or vick ballard week 10?
chrisarmstr0ng 11/07/12 04:39 AM
I like Forte and Matthews (should get a lot of pass work against Bucs D. See M. Reece last week)
jhstewart 11/07/12 08:19 AM
RB HELL- Lost Sproles and McFadden
PPR Start 2
Pierre Thomas
Vick Ballard
Marcell Reece
Daniel Thomas
jhstewart 11/07/12 08:21 AM
id go bush and mathews, spiller is gonna get more touches and forte has a rough matchup
ballard and reece
who would u guys start PPR pick 2:
Chris Johnson, Marcell Reece, Mikel Leshoure, or Isaac Redman
Diesel0332 11/07/12 08:36 AM
I don't like CJs matchup against Mia. Redman is playing well but Dwyer and Mend could be back.
Reece and Leshoure
jhstewart 11/07/12 10:26 AM
Running back dilemma. I got Frank Gore and going to start him. Do I go with Ahmad Bradshaw or Vick Ballard as my other RB?
erock92 11/07/12 12:46 PM
Leshoure or Mathews?
kylerc03 11/07/12 02:21 PM
Ive got a few RB's and need to pick three. Who do you think?
Ray Rice
Doug Martin
CJ Spiller
Reggie Bush
Stevan Ridley
mailman221 11/07/12 05:58 PM
How about Leshoure or Ridley? It looks like you guys have Leshoure ranked higher, but based on the previous head to head I'm not sure why.
caustinlee 11/07/12 06:26 PM
Rice Martin spiller if ppr. Bush instead of spiller standard
moonwalker31 11/08/12 12:35 PM
1/2 PPR league, gotta start 1 out of 3: Reece, Vereen, or Emmanuel Sanders. Thanks
goalee1486 11/08/12 02:05 PM
Ridley BIG TIME over LeShoure. FIrst of all, New England's backup tailback, Bolden, is out. So Ridley gets a ton of touches against a subpar Buffalo D. I'm a Lions fan, but Detroit will try to air it out against Minny -- assuming Calvin and Titus play, but even if they don't, Broyles will have a big game -- because Minny has a stout run defense. Ridley > LeShoure this week.
jpweber 11/08/12 06:33 PM
Vick Ballard messed me up ... Donald Brown got 2 more carries (14-12). I thought Ballard would bust out against that weak Jags run D. Guess not ... 7.9 pts. in a ppr league.
jpweber 11/09/12 01:09 AM
I have 2 Questions for U all!!
1} Which WR Should I start in Week10 (Titus Young[DET]),(Emmanuel Sanders[PIT]is starting this Week10 against KC since Atonio Brown is Injured),(Brian Hartline[MIA]),(Malcom Floyd[SD])or(Jerome Simpson[MIN])?
2} Which RB Should I Start in Week10 (M. Leshoure[DET]),(J. Charles[KC]),(I. Redman[PIT]),(J. Dwyer[PIT]),(M. Reece[OAK]),(T. Jones[OAK]),(A. Brown[NYG])or(D. Thomas[MIA])?
{For My NON PPR\10 Team\Standard Scoring League}
Six19R_OG-Mobsta 11/09/12 11:42 PM
J Charles or J Stewart in a PPR?
fierceweinerdogs 11/10/12 11:59 AM
Should I start Ryan Matthews over Jamaal Charles this week?
Steven.reyes 11/11/12 08:44 AM
Three Bums: Jaquizz Rodgers, Joique Bell, Taiwan Jones...
Pick Two...Standard Scoring...12 person league (I drafted Sproles,Murray,McFadden)
Moneymitch 11/11/12 10:42 AM


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I'm interested how programmers got started with learning .NET development. What books and blogs did you read, podcasts or videos did you watch/listened and what other resources did you use to self learn .NET development. I have to mention that while I am new to .NET I'm not new to programming in general. I've used PHP, Python for a while and Java for about 1-2 months.
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In 2002, my startup company's product had hit a dead end. It very clearly needed to have an integrated web server, and I wasn't able to find any options that really fit the bill. I couldn't use something that had a separate footprint, like Apache, and I couldn't use something that was incompatible with Windows 98/ME (like the app that eventually became Visual Studio's development server).
The idea of coding up a full web server in C++ made me reconsider my career choice, but on a whim, I called an old friend who was also a software engineer, and he recommended that I take a look at C# and .NET. He implied that it would give me levels of productivity that I would find truly surprising, and since he is one of the smartest people that I know, I gave it a try.
I downloaded the .NET 1.1 SDK and started coding. Just about exactly a week later, I had an HTTP 1.0 multi-threaded web server that I could integrate directly into my product. And I then immediately converted the entire code base from C and C++ to C#.
Never looked back.
Always try to learn by doing.
When I started with .NET it was during the beta for v1.0, so not much remains. What I would do if I was starting out now is to start with all the learning resources on MSDN. There are tons of How-to vidoes and sample apps. It would be a great place to start.
Book: Head First C#
That should explain the basics very clearly and get you on your way.
I had been doing C++ and COM for years and as .NET approached, I made my company send me to Guerrilla .NET for the week. Pluralsight rocks for video and in-person training as does Developmentor and Guerrilla .NET. Neither is free, but they are like 0-100 mph in one week.
I was in my career when .net came out. I was stuck in VB6 at the time, and people were moving to web (cold fusion mostly). ASP just didn' have it for desktop dev guy. Then cam .net i could use a C language (which i started in) and have all the bells and whistles. I remember seeing videos that showed where Microsoft wanted to go and the romantic developer in me fell in love.
I picked up a copy of Programming Visual Basic .NET. It's a pretty hefty book, but it has a pretty good overview of almost all .NET topics. I think you would still find it very useful even if you are partial to C# rather than VB.NET (as the two languages have only a few differences, and generally compile to the same bytecode.)
There are already a number of good places to get started, but here are some of the blogs I (try to) keep up with:
www.codinghorror.com/blog (more for entertainment, but you do learn how not to do things as well)
See this:
I learned the same way I started learning any language. I had a task I wanted to complete and I started doing it. My first work with .NET was taking this code used for managing wallpaper for multiple monitors, and modifying it so that while it was running it would check every minute to see if the current wallpaper was still set to the image it ultimately created. This way if my company had one of its jobs override my wallpaper with the corporate wallpaper, my modified program would change it back. After that I created a winforms app that would encrypt/decrypt strings for me provided I had an input string and the seed and could choose an encryption method.
The point I'm trying to make is that learning .NET is the same as learning any language: the best way to learn is to just start doing, while finding the appropriate resources needed along the way.


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The settings in print to file option in Ubuntu is limiting and dangerous. All the applications apart from Mozilla print to a file ~/output.pdf, this is dangerous as you can overwrite a previous print.
Edit: I have been informed you are asked whether you wish to overwrite, unlike in cups-pdf
Why can't applications use the title of the document, the filename or the page title of the web page?
What package and where are the settings of this print to file held. I would prefer it printing to the desktop if it cannot intuitively chose a filename, as when it arrives on the desktop it would be a visual reminder for me to change the filename.
Previously I did not use the print to file feature, as the cups-pdf didn't have these short comings. But the latest releases including 12.04 of cups-pdf has been botched and all text are converted to images before embedding them in the pdf. Making the PDFs useless as it prevents the selecting of text and the sharpness of the text is lost too. The bug has been reported for sometime now, https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/cups-pdf/+bug/820820 and as usual been labelled as a wish list feature.
So my question is where in the system is the ~/output.pdf set?
so one can change it to the desktop.


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Transmedia Design for the 3 Screens (Make That 5)
Summary: Mobile use will rise, but desktop computers will remain important, forcing companies to design for multiple platforms, requiring continuity in visual design, features, user data, and tone of voice.
Many people predict that mobile devices will be the only important user interface platform in the so-called "post-PC" future. Some even recommend designing websites for mobile first, and then modifying the design for the desktop PC as an afterthought.
I disagree.
Although it makes for a good story to claim that something new will kill the old, things rarely work out that way. As Peter Zollman once said, "with the possible exception of the town crier, a new medium has never put an old medium out of business." Despite TV, we still have radio — and, for that matter, live theater. In the computer industry, we still have mainframes, and IBM harvests billions each year accordingly.
Computers are now so cheap that most people in rich countries own several devices: one for each major need. Of course, under "computer" I include not just PCs, but also tablets, phones, mainframes, and servers. Sure, most homes won't have a mainframe in the basement, but many have a family file server to host their photo and video libraries.
(Under "desktop PCs," I obviously include Windows, Macintosh, and Linux — if it ever becomes easy to use — as well as potentially new platforms, such as Chromebooks. Similarly, I include laptops as well as mini-towers and the like because the physical size is less important than the user experience. Although laptops are movable, they're not mobile devices, so I count them as a subspecies of PC.)
PCs Will Remain Important
Desktop PCs have 2 inherent advantages over mobile:
- Much larger screens, letting users see more information at a glance. This enhances content comprehension, facilitates navigation and interleaved browsing, and supports compare-and-contrast tasks, which are often the most critical high-value tasks.
- Better input devices, with a big keyboard and a real mouse.
Big screens and big input devices are both inherent advantages of the desktop PCs; mobile devices must be small so users can carry them around. Desktop PCs also have 4 additional advantages that will hold for at least the next decade:
- Faster bandwidth, supporting the required response times, such as sub-second download for simple Web pages. In contrast, mobile users suffer as if it were 1998, and frequently complain about slow downloads when we test mobile sites.
- Hardware oomph such as faster processors, more memory, and larger hard drives. Although computers are already quite powerful, the next 20 years will make your current PC seem as feeble as an abacus. Most applications won't need that much power, but some will.
- Software maturity. This is a mixed blessing; software accumulates crud as it ages. Still, you can do several things much more easily on a desktop PC than on a phone, such as manipulating multiple windows and copying/pasting between them.
- Printing. The paperless office is a myth; people often want hardcopy. Most desktop PCs will thus continue to have a printer attached or be networked with one, while most mobiles can't print. This ought to change: a print command in mobile operating systems should produce pages on a user-specified remote printer, with the actual printing deferred until the device is within WiFi range of the printer's network.
Bandwidth and hardware–software prowess are only temporary advantages for desktop PCs. Because mobile moves at a faster pace, it will eventually reach a level sufficient to support most user needs in these areas.
However, better input and better output are durable advantages for the desktop user experience.
I am a screen-size bigot: bigger screens deliver hugely higher user productivity. Anyone who's experienced a 30-inch monitor cringes at the idea of doing a major project on anything smaller. I'm astounded that PC makers don't offer even bigger screens. (I'd be first in line for a 40-inch screen with 300 dpi crispness.)
Sadly, Apple aside, PC vendors are universally incompetent at marketing and product differentiation. No one ever says: "Buy this machine at $500 more for a 10% productivity gain," which would indicate a great investment for companies who bought one for every employee who makes more than $50,000 a year and spends at least an hour per day on the computer. (Last week, I told one of my own employees to spend that extra $500 for a higher-end laptop to increase her productivity during business trips — but I had to make that argument myself, as it was nowhere to be found on Sony's site.)
Usage Shifting to Smaller Devices; Much Value Remaining on the Desktop
IDC estimates that PC sales this year will increase by only 4% over last year — which is actually not a shabby growth rate for a mature product in a recession. Still, it's certainly true that desktop PC dominance will decrease in the future, as a large percentage of usage shifts to phones and tablets.
Photographers have a saying: "The best camera is the one you have with you when something worth photographing happens." This will often be a pocket camera or a phone camera; people typically carry professional-grade cameras only when they plan to shoot photos.
Similarly, the best computer is the one you have with you when you want something done. This will often be your phone or tablet. I move my iPad around the house so it's close at hand when I want to look up something on the Web. For example, I often make dinner reservations using the OpenTable app on my iPad. Although that app is clunkier than the OpenTable website on my desktop PC, I'd rather suffer 20 seconds of extra interaction overhead with a bad app than spend a minute walking upstairs to the PC.
Much use will thus shift from desktops to phones and tablets, but a big percentage of use will remain on the desktop. It's hard to estimate the exact percentage for each device class, but it's fairly certain that the highest-value use will stay predominantly on desktop. Thus, the percentage split of value between devices will be more favorable to the PC, even if the percentage split of time increasingly turns more toward tablets and phones.
Of course, it's value (i.e., money in our pockets) and not time that matters when we allocate our investments across user experience projects.
We've known since our early mobile user research in 2000 that killing time is the killer app for mobile devices. This again means that much small-device use is fairly low value: playing casual games, checking social network updates, reading celebrity gossip and other generic news, and using intermittent-use apps.
Yes, a few providers of highly successful time-killers can score good coin: Angry Birds has sold more than $300 million in downloads. But this equates to about 3 cents per hour of user time spent slinging those addictive birds. Similarly, celebrity gossip is probably worth 0.02 cents per page view. (Clueless marketing managers might currently pay more for banners nobody looks at, but eventually CPM for generic content and generic traffic will drop far below a dollar to match their real value. Advertising budgets won't be misspent forever.)
Other mobile use is worth more: the minute I spent making a dinner reservation on the OpenTable app translated into $115 revenue for that restaurant and about a dollar for OpenTable itself. Let's say $60/hour = 2,000 × the value of playing Angry Birds .
Conversely, much desktop use is of little commercial value — such as when people email their friends and family. Still, much other desktop use is of substantial business value:
- Most enterprise tasks are done with desktop PCs. Our recent study of enterprise portals found incredibly slow uptake of specialized mobile design. Corporate IT departments are notoriously conservative — partly with good reason because it costs too much to chase every fad. I do believe they're too sluggish in adding mobile intranet features, however, which offer benefits in better supporting the sales force and other nomadic workers. Still, there's no doubt that most work should be done on a desktop PC when employees are in the office.
- Most e-commerce purchases are made on desktop PCs. The Department of Commerce estimates that 2% of U.S. e-commerce revenues currently come from mobile devices. M-commerce will grow as the mobile user experience improves and people become more comfortable with entering their credit card info on mobile sites; a common growth estimate is 15% mobile sales by 2015. This rapid growth rate definitely indicates that investment in mobile sites or apps is wise, but neglecting your full site — and its 85% of sales — would be disastrous. Also, because total e-commerce sales will double over the next decade, absolute sales through desktop sites will grow even as their relative share declines.
- Most complex tasks have vastly better user experience on the desktop and thus will be performed there. I'm talking anything from researching your next car purchase to learning about a new medical condition (and its associated pharmaceuticals) to managing your investment portfolio. Yes, you might enter a stock trade with your broker's mobile app, but you'll research new mutual funds on the desktop.
- Most B2B tasks will be done on the desktop. It's a complicated and longwinded job to, say, comparatively evaluate law firms, write up a shortlist of recommendations, and create a presentation outlining them for your boss. Won't happen on a phone or even a tablet.
In summary: use of mobile devices will dramatically increase, but much high-value use will remain on desktop PCs. Most companies must support both device classes, and our usability research shows that this must be done with separate UI designs that target the different characteristics of the two types of user experience. One size UI does not fit all screen sizes.
The 3rd Screen: TV
After mobile devices and desktop PCs, the 3rd main category of screen-based user experience is television. It's quite valuable, at anywhere from 20 cents to $2 per hour of user time. (In my household, we pay the cable company about $2/viewer-hour, but we watch much less TV than most families. Amazon.com charges $1.99 to stream any Star Trek episode, which also seems on the high end.)
I focus on mobile and desktop usability because so few companies engage in TV-based interaction design. Usability is typically horrible, as exemplified by my article on remote controls. However, there's some hope for the future, as exemplified by the Kinect gestural UI.
Currently, designing for TV is relevant primarily for companies in the entertainment or consumer electronics industries. If interactive TV usability improves substantially, more companies will need to pay attention to this platform. At that point, one thing is certain: TV will need a 3rd UI that's distinct from both your mobile and desktop designs.
Screens 4 & 5: Tiny, Huge
As if it weren't enough to design 2 or 3 different UIs for mobile, desktop, and possibly TV, there are 2 even more extreme screen sizes to consider: really, really small and really, really large. Again, each will need its own UI.
Tiny screens include smartwatches and smaller screens down to the postage-sized displays on lots of consumer electronics — even my toothbrush has its own display these days. If we stretch the definition a bit, we can also include the user experiences driven by items with embedded RFID chips and QR codes.
Huge screens go from meeting-room-sized displays to smart buildings, and even smart campuses such as hospitals that guide visitors and patients to the right buildings and rooms.
As yet, there hasn't been much usability work done on these two extremes, but they definitely have their own challenges. And for sure, any decent UI will have to be very different from those on phones and desktop PCs.
Transmedia User Experience
Most companies will probably deploy only 2 UI designs: mobile and desktop. Others might need 3, 4, or even all 5, depending on their industry. Whatever the number, there are two key points to remember:
- Create separate and distinct UI designs for device categories that are sufficiently different. It's okay to have a similar design for, say, iOS and Android, with only a few modifications to suit each platform vendor's human interface guidelines. But your mobile sites and full desktop sites must be different, just as your mobile and desktop applications should be different.
- Retain the feel of a product family across devices, despite the different UIs and different feature sets. This requires a transmedia design strategy.
Our experience with transmedia usability is not yet sufficient to provide an exhaustive list of guidelines for achieving a cohesive user experience across platforms. But we do know that it's essential to get the following 4 issues right:
- Visual continuity. Obviously, UIs will look different on different screen sizes but they should look similar enough to feel like they were cut from the same cloth. No, it's not enough to have the same logo or the same color scheme. The interactive elements also must have a similar look. Layouts will clearly differ, but users should still feel confident where to locate stuff as they move between platforms.
- Feature continuity. The smaller the device, the smaller the feature set you can comfortably provide. However, users should still feel that the same main features are available in all locations. Even more important, they should feel that the features work consistently, even if they've been simplified. Let's say, for example, that your e-commerce site offers product ratings. Both your mobile and full sites should use the same rating scale, but maybe your mobile site doesn't let users enter new reviews or doesn't show the full text of existing reviews by default. Designed correctly, however, users will still feel that they get the benefit of the full site's reviews while using the mobile site.
- Data continuity. The user's data should be the same in all locations. Because of different feature sets, some data might not be available everywhere, but anything accessible in multiple places should be the same. Users shouldn't have to "synch" as a separate action.
- Content continuity . We know that you must write much more concisely for mobile than for desktop use. But the basic content strategy should be the same; in particular, you should use a similar tone of voice for all platforms, so that you "sound" the same everywhere. For example, children love characters in Web design. If you use them, your mobile site might not have room for all the creatures, but should include the lead characters from the full site. (This will also promote visual continuity: the characters should look basically the same, even when drawn with fewer pixels. For that matter, character reuse also promotes feature continuity to the extent that navigation is based around the characters.)
To conclude: cross-platform UIs should be different but similar.
Learn more: full-day course on Cross-Channel User Experience.
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After Lincoln was elected president 11 states seceded from the Union to form the Confederate States of America. What circumstances surrounding this secession led to the first battle of the war, and where did the first battle take place?
After President Lincoln's election on the 6th of November 1860, the eleven Confederate states did not secede immediately. South Carolina, and then the remaining six states of the lower south (Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas) seceded from the Union between the 20th of November and 1st of February 1861, leaving Arkansas, Tennessee, Virginia and North Carolina still loyal to the Union.
Unionists from those northern slave states made it clear that they would remain loyal so long as the incoming Lincoln administration guaranteed the safety of slavery in states where it already existed, but more ominously employed no 'coercion' against the seceded states.
Fort Sumter, a strategically important military installation in Charleston harbour, became the focal point for that question of 'coercion'.
During his inaugural address Lincoln, cognisant of the fragile loyalty of northern slave states, hoped to place responsibility for the start of hostilities on the newly elected Confederate president Jefferson Davis. He stated that the United States intended to:
This statement was deliberately vague about what 'occupy and possess' meant, since the Confederate states had long since seized almost all federal buildings in the south. Lincoln hoped that Unionist sentiment would reassert itself in the south before this question was tested with force.
Time ran out in April 1861 as supplies for the federal garrison at Fort Sumter began to dwindle. In March, having been informed by Major Anderson (the fort's commander) that supplies were running low, decided to send an unarmed transport to resupply the fort. Lincoln hoped that if Confederates around Charleston harbour fired on the ship, then the north would appear as the injured party.
Jefferson Davis decided to the pre-empt the arrival of the ship and ordered a request for the fort's surrender be sent before it arrived. Anderson refused to capitulate and at 4:30 am on the 12th of April southern guns opened fire.
Thirty six hours later, Anderson and his garrison surrendered and the following day Lincoln declared a state of insurrection and called out 75,000 militia from the northern states.
This call galvanised sentiment in the south and between the 17th of April and the 20th of May, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina and Tennessee all seceded. The addition of these states provided nearly 40% of the troops to Confederate armies and guaranteed a long and bloody conflict.
Quotes and references from:
Gary W. Gallagher, Stephen Douglas Engle, Robert K. Krick. The American Civil War: this mighty scourge of war. Osprey Publishing, 2003
The first battle occurred at Fort Sumter, South Carolina on April 12, 1861.
After its seccession, South Carolina demanded that the US withdraw its military presence from Charleston, but instead the Army commander relocated his forces to the island fortress at the mouth of Charleston Harbor. This led to a standoff, and when the fort's supplies grew thin President Lincoln sent in supply ships. At this point the Confederates demanded surrender of the fort, which was refused, and so they began artillery bombardment from the shores surrounding the harbor.
A much more detailed account of the events leading up to the battle can be found at CivilWar.org


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PPalliative Treatment--Therapy that relieves symptoms, such as pain, but does not alter the course of disease. Its primary purpose is to improve the quality of life.
Palpation--A procedure using the hands to examine organs such as the breast or prostate. A palpable mass is one that can be felt.
Pap Test--Developed by the late Dr. George Papanicolaou, it is a simple microscopic examination of cells. This test can detect cancer of the cervix at an early, highly curable stage. (See Cytology)
Pathology--Study of disease through the microscopic examination of body tissues and organs. Any tumor suspected of being cancerous must be diagnosed by pathologic examination.
Pelvic Examination--A manual internal examination of the female reproductive organs, through the vagina and rectum.
Placebo--An inert substance, such as a sugar pill. A placebo may be used in clinical trials to compare the effects of a given treatment against no treatment.
Platelet--A substance found in the blood that is necessary for blood clotting. Platelet transfusions are used in cancer patients to prevent or control bleeding when the number of platelets has decreased.
Polyps--A nodular growth of tissue developing in the lining of a cavity, such as the colon, the nose or the vocal cords. Polyps may be benign or malignant.
Precancerous--Abnormal cellular changes that are potentially capable of becoming cancer. These early lesions are very amenable to treatment and cure. Also called premalignant.
Prevalence--The number of patients with a disease in the population at a specific time. For example, the prevalence of esophageal cancer is higher in blacks than whites.
Prevention--The reduction of cancer by eliminating or reducing contact with carcinogenic agents. A change in life-style such as not smoking, for example, can help prevent lung and many other cancers.
Procto--An abbreviation for sigmoidoscopy. An examination of the rectum and lower colon with a hollow lighted tube called a sigmoidoscope. A procto is used to detect colorectal polyps and cancer.
Prognosis--A prediction of the course of disease; the future prospects for the patient. For example, breast cancer patients who receive treatment early have a good prognosis.
Prostate--A gland located at the base of the bladder in males.
Prosthesis--An artificial replacement for a missing part of the body, such as a breast or limb.
Nurses Week 2016by Karen Arnold-Korzeniowski, BSN, RN
May 10, 2016
3 Great Reasons To Have Gratitude On Your Cancer Teamby Marlys Johnson
July 25, 2016


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Milne Library Director Cyril Oberlander welcomes a grant from RRLC for the Library Publishing Toolkit as libraries continue to morph from keepers of content into content creators and curators.
GENESEO, N.Y. - SUNY Geneseo's Milne Library will share a $10,000 research and development grant with the Monroe County Library System for the development of the Library Publishing Toolkit.
The Rochester Regional Library Council (RRLC) awarded the grant for production of the toolkit, an essential guide to help libraries identify publishing opportunities and distribute online content produced by academic and public communities. The resource accommodates collaboration with authors, faculty members, genealogists, local history researchers, students and others to produce books, digital media, journals, open educational resources and more.
"We are grateful for the support of the RRLC board and membership," said Cyril Oberlander, Milne Library director. "This award funds an important project that benefits many libraries and creators, allowing us to share critical strategies, tools and best practices in an area of tremendous growth for libraries."
Oberlander said libraries are morphing from keepers of content into content creators and curators, and are seeking efficient workflows with emerging publishing platforms and services. Given the variety of emerging publishing platforms and print-on-demand services, librarians are being asked for guidance regarding best practices for content creation and publishing.
"Milne Library sees publishing and related digital scholarship initiatives as vital to transforming both scholarly communications and enriching the learning environment," said Oberlander. "In addition to producing reprints of local history books, Milne is hosting open access journals and open textbooks and is developing a new way to engage in reading Henry David Thoreau's "Walden" with Professor Walter Harding's annotations."
Oberlander anticipates that working with the Rochester Public Library (RPL) will be a "wonderful collaboration."
"Library director Patty Uttaro is supportive of high quality research and digitization and this project helps us understand publishing activities from both an academic and public library perspective," said Oberlander. "It will provide libraries a broad set of useful strategies and tools."
Rochester area libraries have a long history of sharing and cooperation, said Kathy Miller, executive director of RRLC.
"This collaboration between two outstanding libraries -- Milne at Geneseo and RPL as the area's largest public library -- is a perfect example of that cooperation and sets the stage for future academic/public library community enrichment projects," said Miller. "I commend both Cyril and Patty for their vision and community spirit."
Partial funding for this grant comes from the New York State Education Department's Division of Library Development.
Media Contact:
David Irwin
Media Relations Manager
(585) 245-5516


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8 Jun 2012 5:42 AM #1
Choppy sometimes in iPad
I am doing animations involving going from screenshot to screenshot in individual scenes. This is so we can "simulate" a software task for a learning environment. It involves mostly, besides the screenshots of the software at various points, textboxes with instructions for the student and hotspots to move to next scene, etc. Mostly really really simple.
We are making these into widgets to run on iPads in iBooks. Once in a while, one of these animations seems to get sort of jumpy or choppy - between scenes (and screenshot images). The browser (well, ibooks widget thingie) goes blank before you see the next screenshot. What could be causing this? Is there a preloading that happens with Sencha outputs, and if not would a preloading of the images help? Am I missing something in the timeline (a keyframe, etc) that I should make sure is there? Just trying to troubleshoot this.
8 Jun 2012 8:03 AM #2
So when an animation loads, it typically loads all images (although some of them are hidden from the user). When switching scenes old images are hidden and new images are displayed, so what you see as a glitch might the iPad moving around images in the memory and or the GPU.
To see if you can pinpoint a particular issue, you could try to reduce the image dimensions or the number of images in a project, and perhaps try to force close all other apps.


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Bonnieville, population 185, isn't big. But they have a big problem with Bacon Creek.
Hilary Lambert is with the Kentucky Watershed Alliance. She says, "There's some problems from human waste and animal waste. And then there's a real problem - silt, runoff from farmland. And then there's a little bit of a problem with spring application of fertilizer. That kind of thing."
Now the mayor and the Bacon Creek Watershed Council are working to change all that.
Rose Bostic is mayor of Bonnieville. She says, "We're trying to clean up Bonnieville. We're cleaning up the creek. We've been cleaning up and down the roads. And just wherever we find trash, we're putting it in bags."
Some of the stuff they're finding is too big to go in trash bags.
Bostic says, "Well, there was a big water heater. And there are all kinds of things, tires and wheels. And there was a mattress and a box spring."
In the summertime, Bacon Creek is a popular place for kids to play, wade, and swim in the water. And with the spring cleanup in full swing, now they'll have a safe place to do that.
Lambert says, "The message we're trying to send to folks is to make Bacon Creek cleaner for the future."
Bostic says, "I would like for them to see what we're getting out of the creek and off the sides of the road. And please try to tell everyone they can see not to throw things like this. Not to throw it in the creek. It not only looks bad, but it harms the environment."
Mayor Bostic hopes with the community's help, Bacon Creek will be restored to its natural beauty.
Bostic says, "So, we'd just like to bring the creek back to life again."


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A new map of human cortex combines data from multiple imaging modalities and comprises 180 distinct regions.
Speaking of Science
May 1, 2013|
May 2013's selection of notable quotes
May 1, 2013|
May 2013's selection of notable quotes
May 1, 2013|
Viral infections of the central nervous system may trigger cytokines that induce seizures.
April 22, 2013|
A new study of brain activity patterns suggests that babies as young as 5 months old have the neural mechanisms to register that they've seen a face.
April 17, 2013|
Researchers are identifying distinctive brain activity patterns that can be used to monitor patients under anesthesia and assess consciousness in "vegetative" patients.
April 16, 2013|
A new study blames the unreliable nature of some research in the field on underpowered statistical analyses.
April 15, 2013|
Just the flavor of beer is enough to boost dopamine in brain areas related to reward—especially in men with alcoholic relatives.
April 11, 2013|
Mutations tied to autism in mice lead to deficits in the signaling pathway activated by marijuana.
April 3, 2013|
Starting in 2014, the federally funded initiative will seek to develop new technologies capable of mapping the activity in the human brain.
April 1, 2013|
Pigeons may use ultra-low-frequency sounds to navigate—a strategy that could steer them off course in the face of infrasonic disturbances, such as sonic booms.
April 1, 2013|
Satellites of the Golgi apparatus generate the microtubules used to grow outer dendrite branches in Drosophila neurons.


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Is there such a thing as a countable set with an uncountable subset?
Actually I know the answer. Well, I believe I know the answer, which is NO. Unfortunately, the professor in a Theory of Computation class said that yes, there is such a subset.
This is to settle a discussion with fellow students. A discussion that is going nowhere so we go to the internets for a verdict.
Thanks in advance for weighing in on this question.


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Reviewer: Jack Wei, MD
The Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania
Last Modified: June 14, 2005
Authors: Donna L Berry, Diana J Wilkie, Charles R. Thomas, and Paige Fortner
Source: Cancer Investigation 21(3):374-381, 2003
This study attempts to identify patterns of communication that may affect physicians' ability to assess cancer patient pain. From this study, as well as previously reported studies, it is clear that physicians frequently use CEQs during patient assessment and are more likely to be the ones speaking during clinic visits. While there is clearly a danger in missing pertinent information if too many questions are close-ended, it should be kept in mind that OEQs do not necessarily guarantee that patients will provide all the critical information needed during a clinic visit. In addition, from a time perspective, it may not be realistic to frame a majority of questions in an open-ended manner during short clinic visits. It is more important to emphasize that physicians should listen acutely to the answers that patients give and address all concerns that a patient raises. This study did not answer whether the methods of communication utilized by the physicians resulted in missed opportunities to address significant patient concerns, including pain. Ultimately, the method in which physicians communicate with their patients should ensure that physicians become aware of all of their patients' concerns, and allow them to do so in a timely and efficient manner.


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Long Island vineyard tours and tastings
Sit back and enjoy this all-inclusive day of relaxation!
Join the Community College of Rhode Island Alumni Association as we cross Long Island Sound to taste the wines of Duck Walk Vineyards and Palmer Vineyards on Sunday, Aug. 12. Our day begins on a deluxe motor coach with classical music and freshly baked danish. We will enjoy a ferry ride and meet our local guide at Orient Point. After we visit the vineyards, we will have a lunch at South Hampton Publick House, tour Mansion Row and shop in South Hampton. We will make several mystery stops as time permits. Wines, domestic and imported cheeses with fresh grapes will be served on the return trip.*
Lunch menu
Choice of:
- French cut chicken with lemon thyme reduction, garlic mashed potatoes and seasonal vegetables
- Orange ginger glazed Atlantic salmon with rice and vegetables
- Fusilli primavera with roasted garlic oil.
All entrees are served with salad and triple-layer chocolate cake for dessert.
$179 (tips not included)
Travel schedule
The coach will depart from:
- CCRI Flanagan Campus in Lincoln, 5:45 a.m.
- CCRI Knight Campus in Warwick, 6:15 a.m.
- Westerly (location TBA), 6:45 a.m.
The coach will return to Rhode Island at 10 p.m.
Call Gail Lacroix, Travel Advisors, at 401-725-1234.
*Itinerary subject to change.
This page developed and maintained by Office of Alumni Affairs. Send comments and suggestions to email@example.com.


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Family: Ericaceae
Common Names: Indian Pipe, Ghost Pipe, Fairy Smoke, Ice Plant, Corpse Plant, Birds' Nest, Fit Plant, Convulsion Root7
Energetics: Cold, Relaxing
Herbal Actions: Nervine, Antispasmodic/Anticonvulsive, Diaphoretic
Flower Essence Indications: "Expanding awareness of the presence of universal love; [ . . .] seeing and feeling the love in every moment." -- David Dalton
I felt myself beginning to get sucked into the existential whirlpool of panic that has a way of pulling me down into debilitating depression. So I went into the woods.
A short way up the trail, I stopped and sat down in the cradle of the roots of a very old White Pine. Leaning back against the trunk, I began to feel grief and fear and its companion, doubt well up, overwhelming me. Where did I belong in this world? What was my work? What if my life amounts to nothing?
At the edge of panic, I opened my eyes, and about fifteen feet away from me saw the othreworldly white stalk and bell-shaped flower of Ghost Pipe. Just two days earlier, I had scoured the forest and Ghost Pipe was nowhere to be found. I felt a cool euphoria spread from the center of my chest throughout my body.
I walked over to the plant and knelt down and offered Tobacco. and soon saw that there were clusters of Ghost Pipe spread out all around me throughout the forest. The plant sang to me:
Pray for the medicine and it will come,Grateful to the point of tears, I began gathering the stems and flowers of the plant. Walking deeper and deeper into the forest, I felt my panic subside, my grief dissipate, and my doubt disappear.
pray for the medicine you must become.
And it struck me that that's the essence of Ghost Pipe's medicine: its the medicine that pulls you back from the edge.
(Of course, in the process I got incredibly lost in woods I thought I knew well, and found my way home after three hours that felt like 45 minutes -- the price of the kind of clarity a medicine like this brings often involves the loss of bearings in space and time. That truth is as old as the oldest stories of Faery.)
Exaggerated claims of toxicity
Before going further I want to address the sudden panic some of my readers might have had when they read that I was gathering the stems and flowers of Ghost Pipe.
Going back to the late nineteenth century, herbals and field guides have routinely warned that the stems and flowers of the plant are toxic and that only the roots can be safely used.
But the only recorded case I have been able to find of a significant adverse reaction attributed to the plant is one from the late nineteenth century involving a woman who had handled but not ingested the plant and then developed a rash. The author of the account, A. H. Young, had consulted a physician after seeing the woman and hearing her story, and the physician had concluded based on his description of the symptoms that she had probably come into contact with Poison Ivy (Rhus toxicodendron). Young insisted this was impossible based solely on the fact that the woman claimed "that she was not susceptible to Rhus poison."
Despite the fact that there is no clinical evidence of Ghost Pipe ever having caused any more serious poisonings, many insist that it is potentially deadly because the plant contains a glycoside called andromedotoxin, and people have become seriously ill from consuming honey made by bees that have pollinated other plants containing the same compound.
Yet the aerial parts of the plant were traditionally used internally by the Cree and the Mohegan.
And a number of contemporary herbalists have worked with the aerial parts as well. Ryan Drum reports eating an "ounce or more of the young flowers and stalks" and feeling only "slightly nauseous." And I know several herbalists who have been working with the whole plant tincture for years.
As any herbalist knows, a plant is more than the sum of its chemical parts, and the mere presence of a potentially toxic constituent does not a poison make.
The first time I harvested the plant, I gathered and tinctured only the aerial parts. After reading and learning more, I set that batch aside and made a new one, using the entire plant. When I ran out of the whole plant tincture, I decided to experiment with the tincture made from the aerial parts only, and I found its actions identical to those of the whole plant tincture. I gave some to another clinical herbalist to experiment with and she found the same thing.
So now I spare the roots, taking a few stems and flowers from any given cluster of Ghost Pipe in hopes of leaving a viable cluster behind.
So, having dealt with the issue of toxicity, lets move on first to the ecology and then to the medicine of the plant.
Physical and Spritual Ecology
Ghost Pipe is a plant without chlorophyll that obtains water, nutrients, and carbon dioxide by tapping into the symbiotic mycorrhizal networks of the plants and fungi of the forest.
From a strictly materialistic standpoint this appears to be a purely parasitic relationship.
My own belief is that there is no such thing as pure parasitism.
Ghost Pipe to me is the distillation of the consciousness of the forest -- of the deep peace that comes from complete integration in the cycles of birth and death to the point where the distinction ceases to have meaning. Simultaneously, it is a watcher at the edge, taking in all it perceives without judgment and feeding information back into the mycelial networks that form the nervous system of the forest.
As such, it also seems to have an affinity for other liminal spaces as well -- especially the borders between life and death and embodiment and disembodiment.
My first encounter with Ghost Pipe two summers ago along a dirt road in Sumner, ME illustrates this.
Finding the ghostly plant by the side of the road, I got down on my knees to inspect it more closely. The flowers smelled of pickling vinegar. The stem seemed a tunnel to the world beneath the forest floor.
I felt my breath slow and deepen and a cool, mild euphoria come in through my chest and move up and down along my spine, radiating throughout my body. I smelled and felt rich, moist forest soils.
The plant told me to put one of his flowers in my mouth. I chewed on it for several minutes, and felt a tingling in my mouth. I spit it out and stood up slowly.
I was very clearly in another state of consciousness. I was acutely aware of the forest around me -- especially of the vast interwoven network of roots beneath the surface, and the communication across them.
I began walking down the road, deeply grateful for the worlds Monotropa was opening to me.
About fifteen minutes later I became very hot and began sweating profusely.
It occurred to me that I knew next to nothing about the flowers of this plant and that I might have poisoned myself.
And I began to imagine my death I knew that I had a four or five mile walk home down roads that don't see much traffic. I imagined collapsing and rolling down the bank and then rotting into the forest floor, becoming food for the life around me. And I felt completely at peace with that possibility.
And at the same time, I was acutely aware of work I wanted to do in the world, of experiences I wanted to have. So I began negotiating with Monotropa, saying that I wanted to go back into the world to be a voice for the forest.
The whole experience felt like a kind of initiation -- and I was left with the understanding that anyone doing healing work needs to become comfortable in the space between life and death.
Several people I've shared Ghost Pipe with have had similar experiences, suggesting that this is one aspect of the plant's medicine that presents itself in the right time and place.
Putting the pain beside you
It comes as no surprise, then that Ghost Pipe is a medicine most known for its action on the nervous system -- and particularly the ways our bodies deal with sensory information.
In its physical form, Ghost Pipe resembles a spinal column and a brain stem.
And one of the gifts Ghost Pipe offers is its ability to keep us from being overwhelmed by pain.
In the 1898 edition of King's American Dispensatory, Eclectic physicians, Harvey Wickes Felter and John Uri Lloyd noted that the powdered root could be used "as a substitute for opium, without any deleterious influences."
Tommy Priester, the herbalist who introduced me to Ghost Pipe, told me that he uses the tincture to help people in excruciating physical pain put the pain "beside them" -- they remain intellectually aware that the pain is there, but don't feel its overwhelming sensation. He works with the tincture of the whole plant, and told me that with the first dose you give someone 3 drops and see if that works. If 3 drops don't help, 5 or 10 won't, so you jump right up to a 30 drop dose. I have found similar effects with the same dosages of the tincture of the aerial parts.
My current theory is that the medicine works with the sensory gating channels -- limiting the amount of information processed as sensation, but allowing the information the brain needs to assess the situation to pass through.
I see the medicine as having potential in helping people come off addictive opiate pain-killers.
Putting your problems outside you where you can see and work on them
Of course, our bodies use the same mechanisms to process both emotional and physical pain and fear.
Last summer, when I first began working with Ghost Pipe, I told a lot of my friends about the amazing ways this plant could help people deal with pain. So my friend S. made a batch of her own tincture.
Our mutual friend, C. was visiting S. when he received some emotionally devastating news. He began having a panic attack. When S. walked in and saw him doubled over, she asked him what was wrong, and the only words that he could utter were "The pain! The pain!" She assumed he was in physical pain and gave him a dropperful of Ghost Pipe tincture.
C. said that the medicine helped him put his worries and problems outside of himself where he could look at them and work with them without feeling their full emotional impact.
C. came to visit the next day and told me the story. I told him about what Ghost Pipe does for physical pain, and said that his experience told me that it does the same for emotional pain. I gave him a formula of nourishing nervines and adaptogens to help him deal with chronic anxiety, but suggested that since Ghost Pipe was working so well for him, he should continue using it for acute panic attacks.
A month or two later, I ran into C. and asked him how the herbs were working for him. He told me that he had continued using Ghost Pipe whenever he felt anxiety coming on for several weeks after that first incident. Then one day he went to reach for the tincture, and he heard the plant telling him he didn't need the tincture anymore. He managed to call up the memory of the frame of mind the medicine put him in and put his worries outside him by himself. The plant had taught him a new means of dealing with pain and terror.
Since then, I have given the plant to a number of people dealing with acute anxiety attacks. All have had great results with it, though none have gone through quite the transformation that C. did. Sometimes the right plant is just the right teacher for a particular person at a particular time.
I have also begun experimenting with using the plant in combination with Holy Basil for trauma survivors in situations where their memories of trauma are being triggered. Early results are promising.
"Bad Trips" and Vitus Dance
In addition to helping people put their physical and emotional pain outside their bodies, Ghost Pipe can help bring people back into their bodies.
Part of my practice involves doing first aid work at festivals where a lot of people are under the influence of a lot of different mind-altering chemicals.
I always end up dealing with men in their late teens or early twenties who are having their first experiences with LSD, find old traumas triggered, and become agitated and disruptive.
When I first began researching Ghost Pipe, I came across Ryan Drum's account of using the medicine to help sedate a man who was having a psychotic episode.
Based on that account, and based on my own theory that psychedelics work in part by opening the sensory gating channels to a degree we don't normally experience, I decided to start using Ghost Pipe in these cases.
In every such case where I have used it, a 30 drop dose of Ghost Pipe has rapidly worked to slow the onslaught of sensory information coming into the subject's brain. Pupil dilation and response to external stimuli change in matter of minutes.
In most cases, the men in question either become calm and coherent, or fall asleep quickly and wake up hours later, calm and coherent.
In a few cases I've witnessed though, the LSD had brought underlying issues to a head, and the men found themselves experiencing what a shamanic practitioner would call spirit possession and a psychiatrist would call a dissociative episode. In these cases, physical cues told us that the drug was no longer acting on the brain, but disturbing behaviors continued -- in one case "speaking in tongues," in others, physical violence and endless shouting of threats and profanities.
In the cases where these men were physically violent, the phrases they kept repeating suggested they were remembering childhood sexual abuse -- an experience with up-regulates norepinephrine. We also later learned that all of these men were on Adderall. My working hypothesis is that their Post Traumatic Stress Disorder caused them to act in ways that led them to be misdiagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperacticity Disorder. LSD made them more susceptible to having their repressed memories triggered, and the stimulation of Adderall coupled with the sensory overload of the LSD experience pushed them into a fearful and violent state.
In cases like these, further measures are necessary, and those fall outside the scope of the article.
An interesting side note -- Ghost Pipe was used widely in New England in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to treat a condition called "Vitus Dance" -- that involved spasms and convulsions often attributed to divine or demonic possession. Most of these cases were likely rheumatic fever, and here Ghost Pipe's traditional uses as an anticovulsive/antispasmodic and as a diaphoretic likely came into play. But in some cases Vitus Dance was likely an effect of Ergot poisoning -- Ergot is a fungus that grows on Rye that can causes hallucinations and convulsions when ingested. Ergot is also the source of Ergotamine, the chemical from which Albert Hoffman derived and synthesized LSD.
Its also worth noting that St. Vitus is the patron saint of mushrooms.
Perhaps early New England root doctors were using Ghost Pipe for the same indications for which I now administer it at the festivals?
Various and sundry other medicinal uses
David Winston notes that Ghost Pipe is a diaphoretic and was traditionally used by the Cherokee for fevers accompanied by pain and for febrile seizures. I've not used the plant this way before, but after eating the flowers I have certainly felt its profound diaphoretic effect.
The juice of the fresh plant has traditionally been used as a remedy for inflamed eyes, sometimes combined with Rose water. Earlier today I crushed a flower onto my closed, inflamed eye and rubbed in the juice and felt rapid relief. Jean Auel made this use famous in her novel, The Clan of the Cave Bear.
Lloyd and Felter note that the juice combined with Rosewater can be used to treat "inflammation and ulceration of the bladder." I've not explored this possible use yet, but may soon, as it explained why I got an intuitive hit on Ghost Pipe when I was wondering what plant to use for the people I've been seeing at the festivals who are having bladder problems from Ketamine use. Prolonged recreational use of this horse tranquilizer can lead to inflammation and scarification of the bladder -- and eventual bladder failure. (Of course another important part of the therapy may involve pointing out that it is difficult to dance with a urinary catheter.)
Magical correspondences
I associate the medicine of Ghost Pipe strongly with Obatala -- an Orisha of the Ifa, Santeria, Voudun, and Hoodoo traditions who is cloaked in white and helps to "cool the head," bringing calmness and clear judgment to those who work with him.
Ghost Pipe also clearly has a strong association with the Fey, given its association with the boundary between worlds. Fairy Smoke is one common name for the plant, a name likely given by Scotch-Irish people in Appalachia who would have afforded such a name to a plant with great care, noting its connection to otherworldly states of consciousness.
Photo by Darcey Blue French


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1. Build bike, cut/face/etc.
2. Hot soapy/dawn detergent wash (get the cutting fluid, etc0
3. Clean towel dry
4. Bake at 400 until it stops smoking to burn off anything on the inside that the wash didn't get
5. Light sandblast (I think the ideal is a 'light' 180 grit profile)
6. Wire hang from the headtube and at this point I try not to touch the frame with bare hands
7. Blow it off with clean/filtered air
8. I wipe on this EW Fast Etch 1 Gallon - Rust Remover Spray - Rust Remover Products - Eastwood with a rag, essentially washing down the frame with it and leaving it damp. Per the phosphoric Acid tech specs, you need to make sure the room is warm. Sometimes I'll let it sit in a lightly warm oven if the shop is cold. I reapply to keep it 'wet' with the etch for about a 30 minutes.
9. Wipe clean with rags and Pre Painting Prep Quart until the rags wipe 'clean'
10. Tape off any areas not to get powder with high temp tape
11. Multiple wipes with acetone using latex gloves. My crazy theory is Nitrile will disintegrate and possibly contaminate the surface
12. Lightly 'torch' the metal with the A/O torch to burn off any little fuzzies from the rag
13. Powdercoat it ( I do not preheat )
14. Bake and hope you didn't screw it up
Results 26 to 46 of 46


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Pentaho is used by many casual business users including physicians, real estate agents, store managers, resort managers, insurance agents and airport staff. Today, Pentaho is proud to add dairy farmers to the list of casual business users with the publication of a customer success story about 3A Latte Arborea, the leading dairy and milk producer in Sardinia, Italy.
Read the full case study to learn how Pentaho along with jAPS Entando and J-service have provided power to the dairy farmers to help them moo-ve ahead (we just had too). 3A Latte Arborea is an interesting story about how Pentaho BI has helped the farmers to make more profitable decisions about production costs, optimize operational efficiency, identify strengths and weaknesses in the supply chain and improve overall short and long-term planning.
Check it out in English and Italian.
If you have an interesting story about how working with Pentaho is improving your business, we want to help you highlight your great work. There are many opportunities both public and private that are available. If you are interested, please contact us here.
photo credit: iStock Photo


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Shawn Thornton was hoping to find a two-year deal to close out his playing career when the Bruins announced they would not be re-signing him last month.
It didn't take long for the 36-year-old enforcer to find that on the open market. On the first day of free agency, Thornton signed a two-year deal worth a reported $2.4 million with the Panthers.
The deal is actually a raise for Thornton from the two-year, $2.2 million deal he most recently played on in Boston.
It's part of a busy day for Florida general manager Dale Tallon, who is living up to his reputation for July 1 fireworks. The Panthers have also signed forwards Dave Bolland and Jussi Jokinen and goalie Al Montoya.
Florida was near the top of the list for Thornton's preferred destinations. Tallon and Thornton have a previous working relationship from their time together in Chicago.
Thornton will become Florida's enforcer, replacing old friend and former pugilistic pupil Krys Barch. Thornton will almost certainly be asked to play a leadership role for the young Panthers, including 2013 Calder Trophy winner Jonathan Huberdeau and defenseman Aaron Ekblad, the No. 1 pick in last week's draft.
Follow @DanCagen


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In the middle of the 1500s several European explorers came to the area that is now Arkansas. One of them was an explorer named Hernando de Soto from Spain. However, the first permanent settlement in the area, called Arkansas Post, was not established until 1686. It was founded by Henri de Tonti of France. The United States gained control of the area as part of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.From 1812 until 1819 Arkansas was part of Missouri Territory. Then it became its own territory, largely as a result as a large group of settlers coming to the area. Soon, the cotton industry spread across the region. In 1861 Arkansas joined the Confederate side of the Civil War. However, Union troops took over the northern portion of the state in 1863.
Arkansas Counties
The Arkansas Territory was organized on March 2, 1819. The State of Arkansas was created as the 25th state on June 15, 1836. It has 75 Counties. The capital is Little Rock and the official state website is http://portal.arkansas.gov/. Select a Arkansas county to view information & records pertaining to each County
An Introduction to Resources for Arkansas Genealogy
The 25th state is Arkansas, and though it is not one of the oldest states in the country it does have an incredibly diverse history and background. Long before it was a part of America, it was inhabited by natives who still play a role in modern Arkansas, there is a huge amount of history connected to the Civil War, and to western expansion as well. This means that anyone looking for Arkansas genealogy will have a huge amount of data to use in their work – apart from the traditional census and vital records.
Some Useful Information for Arkansas Genealogy – Wherever you might live, and no matter how easily you can travel, you can still do a huge amount of research for Arkansas genealogy. This is due to the fact that there are resources available in both the online and "offline" formats. In the modern era we know that many things, once only archived in private locations, have been digitized and put on the Internet, but some still have yet to be handled in this way. This means that a mandatory first step in research for Arkansas genealogy is to find out which records you can obtain. Some Useful Research tips are:
- February of 1914 is when deaths and births started to be recorded on a statewide level.
- 1917 is when statewide recording of marriages took place, but most counties recorded marriages from when the counties were formed.
- There is an extant collection of documents relating to early Europeans settling in Arkansas.
- In 1823, 1825, and 1827 Arkansas Territory sheriffs took censuses of citizens, but only the Arkansas County schedule from 1823 still exists.
- In 1803 Arkansas District land transactions began. However, researchers should note that that area was part of Louisiana Territory until 1812 and then became part of Missouri Territory. More land was distributed in 1819, when it finally became Arkansas Territory.
- A lottery system was used to distribute War of 1812 bounty land.
- The county clerk generally maintains Arkansas probate records, which are mainly created by the chancery court.
- The chancery, county, and circuit courts have countywide jurisdiction, along with the justice of the peace.
- Each county courthouse holds tax records, and many tax books are also available at the Arkansas History Commission.
- The Arkansas History Commission holds some Arkansas church records.
- Many Arkansas cemetery records have been cataloged by historical and genealogical societies all over the state.
- The Arkansas History Commission is home to the best collection on military records for servicemen from Arkansas.
- The Arkansas Gazette and Arkansas Advocate were two of the area's earliest and most important newspapers.
- Most African Americans came to Arkansas after it gained its statehood. They traveled with white families from Mississippi, Tennessee, and a few other areas.
To do so, it is required that you become familiar with the tactics that all researchers for Arkansas genealogy will use. They include accessing online and offline:
- State Records – these offer probate information including birth certificates, deeds, death records, estate information, marriage details, military or veterans information, land records, state census information, surname lists, genealogical folders, maps, private manuscripts, newspapers, cemetery information, and more. These are available as online and offline resources for Arkansas genealogy.
- Local Records – you will start with the county clerk's office or website, and then use local genealogical societies, historical societies, small local libraries, and school or college libraries to provide you with important information for Arkansas genealogy. These are things that are usually offline and viewable by appointment or special arrangement.
- Vital Records – birth, marriage, divorce and death records are available from county, state, and national archives. These are locations in which you will find cemetery or obituary information, census records, newspaper items, military records, immigration and naturalization details, passenger lists and records, and more. These are available as online and offline resources for Arkansas genealogy. See Also How to Order Arkansas Birth , Marriage, Divorce and Death Records
Your Tools for Arkansas Genealogy – The best resources available for Arkansas genealogy projects are also the largest. For example, the following records for Arkansas genealogy can be found in person or online at:
- Vital Records H-44, 4815 West Markham, Little Rock, AR 72205; Website: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/w2w/arkansas.htm.
This is the location through which you can order birth, death, marriage and divorce records via a written request.
Additional state and local records can be found at the following:
- Arkansas History Commission, One Capitol Mall, Little Rock, Arkansas 72201; 501.682.6900; Website: http://www.ark-ives.com/
The state government does not underwrite a genealogical group, but there is the:
- Arkansas Genealogical Society, P.O. Box 26374, Little Rock, AR 72221-6374; Website: http://www.agsgenealogy.org/
The three websites below will also freely provide targeted details that give a huge amount of valuable information to those in search of facts for Arkansas genealogy projects.
- Arkansas Genealogy Network (facebook.com)
- Encyclopedia of Arkansas (encyclopediaofarkansas.net) – free, online resource on Arkansas history, culture, geography, and natural environment.
- Arkansas Research, Inc (arkansasresearch.com)
- The Arkansas Family Group Sheet Project (fgs-project.com)
- Arkansas Indexed Historical Records (familysearch.org)
- USGenweb – Arkansas Genealogy (argenweb.net)
- Free GenForum Message Boards – Arkansas (genforum.genealogy.com)
- Free Rootsweb Message Boards – Arkansas (boards.ancestry.com)
- Cyndis List Arkansas Links (cyndislist.com)
- Arkansas Mailing List (rootsweb.ancestry.com)
- Arkansas American History and Genealogy Project (usgennet.org)
- Arkansas Migrations Project (freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com)
- Arkansas (wikipedia.org)
- Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness (RAOGK) – Arkansas (raogk.org)
- Arkansas Genealogy Look Ups (geneasearch.com)
- USGenWeb Archives Project for Arkansas (usgwarchives.net)
- Background Sources for Arkansas (ancestry.com) from Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources.
Arkansas Ethnic Groups
There is a large collection of Native American records for Arkansas on file at the Arkansas History Commission. Those records include: Agency Records, Correspondence, Census of Creek Indians, 1832, Census of Cherokees East of the Mississippi, 1835 and Index, Cherokee Census, 1890, Old Settler Cherokee Census Roll, 1895, Index to Payment Roll, Old Settler Cherokees, 1896, Compilation of Choctaw Nation Records, 1896, Choctaw Nation Census Index for 1896, Final Rolls of Citizens and Freedmen of the Cherokee, Choctaw, and Chickasaw Tribes, and the Creek and Seminole tribes in Indian Territory, 1906, Enrollment Cards for the Five Civilized Tribes (in Oklahoma), 1896-1914, U.S. Census Indian Territory, 1900
The Arkansas History Commission has also placed some of that information on its website.
Prior tot he Louisiana Purchase there were a few African American slaves in Arkansas. However, most came to the area with families from Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi after Arkansas became a state. They mainly worked on plantations in the southeastern part of Arkansas, known as the "Delta Region." The Arkansas History Commission holds copies of slave enumerations that were part of federal census records. The National Archives also has Freedman's Bureau records on file.
A "Selected Arkansas Black Bibliography" is available online, along with other information, through the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies. A list of African American newspapers from 1869 to present is also available, along with a list of Arkansas African American schools. The website of the Arkansas History Commission also lists African American newspapers.
Other information on African Americans in Arkansas can be found online. That information includes the marriage records from the Arkansas Freedman's Bureau.
The state of Arkansas also has an Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society chapter. The Arkansas Department of Education and the Arkansas Black History Advisory Committee to supply the Arkansas History Commission with records relating to African Americans in Arkansas. They also create historical educational material for use in schools across the state. The committee collects materials that may include: Letters, Diaries, Journals, Business Records, Photographs, Church and Lodge Records, Personal Memoirs
- Negro Slavery in Arkansas (amazon.com) with an introduction by Carl Moneyhan, is based on previously unpublished sources such as diaries, plantation records, letters, family papers, church, city, and county records.
- Arkansas Native American Books (amazon.com)


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To Your Health!
A trio of events benefited St. Luke's Hospital, beginning with the Friends of Nursing event at the home of Jana and Scotty Arnoldy. ... The Leaders in Healthcare dinner included a presentation on the hospital's latest technology and initiatives. ... And St. Luke's 10th annual gala, An Evening to Remember, raised nearly a quarter of a million dollars for the hospital's Interfaith Community Clinics. Photography by Priscilla Dickson; Wilson Parish


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About the Archives
Salisbury University Archives supports the missions of the SU Libraries and Salisbury University by preserving, maintaining and making available for research the historical and administrative records of the University.
The Salisbury University Archives (SUA) Manuscripts Collection is open to the public during normal operating hours of Blackwell Library. Material in SUA circulates for a two-hour period and items may not be taken from the library. SUA materials can be found on the 2nd floor of Blackwell Library with keys to the material maintained at the Circulation Desk.
The Salisbury University Historical Archives (SUAH) Collection at this time is unavailable to researchers due to the reorganization of the materials.
Please call 410-677-0027 for more information.


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Getting Here
TransportationTocumen International Airport (PTY)
Distance 18 KM / 11.18 MI SOUTH EAST to Hotel
Taxi Charge (one way): $35.00 (USD)
Conveniently located only 25 minutes from the Royal Sonesta Hotel & Casino Panama.
Driving Directions from Tocumen International Airport
- From the airport, take the exit around the principal Via Tocumen.
- Then take a right turn at CORREDOR SUR green sign; you´ll take this route until its end: Plaza Balboa.
- Take a right onto Avenida José de la Cruz Herrera and pass Calle 50.
- Just after take a left onto Avenida 3a Sur.
- Turn right on Calle Ricardo Arias and at the end of the street you´ll find the Royal Sonesta Hotel and Casino on the left, between Ricardo Arias Avenue and Via España.
For taxis service, reservations are recommended: call +507 366 7700. Fare is $35 USD (one way).
Royal Sonesta Hotel & Casino Panama
Calle Ricardo Arias – Bellavista Vía España
Panama City, Panama
+ 507.3668800


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Money and communications:
Airport facilities
Money and communications:
Banks with bureau de change facilities and ATMs are located at the airport. There is also a 24-hour post office in Terminal 1. Internet access is available.
Eating and drinking:
Restaurants selling refreshments are available in both terminals.
There are shops in both terminals, including duty-free.
Trolleys are available. There is a left-luggage office, operated by Malex do Brasil and open 24 hours a day, in Arrivals.
Other facilities:
First aid facilities and pharmacies are located in both terminals.


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I have just bought the EOS 60D and I am thinking to buy some new lenses.
What are the next best lenses to buy to get more detail in my pictures and do they have to be EF-S lenses (like the kit lens that I have)?
closed as not constructive by mattdm, Itai, jrista♦ Sep 25 '12 at 16:05
As it currently stands, this question is not a good fit for our Q&A format. We expect answers to be supported by facts, references, or expertise, but this question will likely solicit debate, arguments, polling, or extended discussion. If you feel that this question can be improved and possibly reopened, visit the help center for guidance.If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.
You can use all EF and EF-S lenses. for the lens choice I suggest you to see suggestions by cameralabs.com, but it all depends on your needs and your budget.
What do you mean by "Bigger"? in camera land we talk about "length" (Focal length, in mm) and "speed" (how wide of an aperture it has then wide open, 2.8f, 1.4f etc etc)
Your question has no definite answer.
It depends entirely on budget, and subject.
buy the 50mm 1.4 or the 85mm 1.8... they're both really good and worth the money


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STEUBENVILLE - St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Greenfield, Wis., was the setting for the ceremony that united Therese Wichgers and Jonathan Homol in marriage on Oct. 7. The Rev. Jim Dunfee officiated the 2 p.m. nuptials.
The bride, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Dirk Wichgers of Muskego, Wis., was given in marriage by her father.
The groom is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Michael Homol of Steubenville.
Article Photos
Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Homol
Mary Arredondo, sister of the bride, served at matron of honor. Bridesmaids were Catherine Bane, sister of the bride; Christina Homol, sister of the groom; Mary Pitcher, niece of the bride; Ana Hahn, sister of the groom; Natalie Pitcher, sister of the bride; Clare Pitcher and Maggie Wichgers, nieces of the bride. Flower girls were Faith Bane and Therese Pitcher, nieces of the bride, and Chiara Homol, niece of the groom.
Michael Homol, brother of the groom, served as best man. Groomsmen were Andrew Rudmann; Zach Hawrot; Sean Crofford; Bob Klatt; John Wichgers, brother of the bride; and Jack and Michael Rook, nephews of the groom. Ring bearers were Christian Arredondo, nephew of the bride and Benjamin Rook, nephew of the groom.
A reception at Panos Banquet Hall in Brookfield, Wis., was held following the ceremony.
They are making their home in Milwaukee.
The bride is a 2008 graduate of Muskego High School and is attending University of Wisconsin where she is majoring in education. She is employed with GE Healthcare Institute in Waukesha, Wis.
The groom is a 2006 graduate of Catholic Central High School and a 2010 graduate of Franciscan University of Steubenville, where he received his bachelor of science degree in business and his master's degree in business administration.
He is employed with Linc Logistics in Racine, Wis.


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I am trying to show that in an at most countable metric space $ X $, there exists some distance $ \delta \gt 0$, such that for all $ x, y \in X $, $d(x, y) \neq \delta$.
I am trying to show this by contradiction: I suppose that for every $ \delta \gt 0$, there exists some $ x, y \in X $, such that $d(x, y)=\delta $, and then show there is an injection from the positive reals to $ X $, implying that $ X $ is uncountable and giving me my contradiction.
I was just wondering if someone could help me define that injection. I am having trouble making it well defined.


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How do you properly implement defenses against brute forcing? Is it best to store how many times someone tried to log in and block them after X attempts? And how would "someone" be identified? With the session? An IP?
Account lockout is one option, where the account is locked either permanently or for a period of time after x unsuccessful logins. The problems here are Denial of Service risks if an attacker attempts to guess passwords and also the administrative overhead of resetting accounts (assuming an automated reset isn't available)
Another option is to introduce CAPTCHAs into the login process. This is intended to limit automated attacks, and stop the denial of service from account lockouts. The problems with it can be accessibility requirements and automated CAPTCHA cracking. From what I've seen some CAPTCHAs are easier for software to crack than others.
A third option is to introduce a progressive delay into the login process, so for each wrong log in you cause the process to become ever slower. This has a limited effect on real users but makes automated brute forcing much harder.
In terms of the second part of your question about identifying the "someone" doing the attack, it depends on what they're doing. If they're just attacking a single user, then the username is the identifier and actions are tied to that account. If they're brute forcing across a wide range of users then source IP (perhaps combined with browser agent) is an option. It's not perfect (eg, use of botnets, agent spoofing) but is probably the only information you'd have to go on.
The answer to denying brute force is to deny a large number of attempts, where large is defined by your key space and risk acceptance.
Each situation is going to have different solutions.
Meat Space
All of the solutions also have trade-offs like everything else in life.
As I suggest, you mean bruteforcing login/password in web-application.
No one bruteforces manually. So, if there are doubts that this is human who tries to authenticate, show Captcha, say, from the 3-d failed login attempt. Further you can put timeout between login attempts - but this will not work for distributed attacks from different IP's. Next, there are two types of bruteforcing - blind, just trying random login/password, and attack against some user. For the last attack it is effective to implement such feature like blocking account for some time and notifying user by e-mail. For the blind bruteforce mitigation can be harder to implement, especially, if the site is popular. In this case you can track such user information like IP/Country/Browser/etc, and figuring out combination of this, you can make assumptions of whether this is valid user. As and addendum to this, you can play with long-living cookies - once the user successfully logged in, save cookie, and later check for it.
Without web-application type solution it is possible to implement server-level solutions like Apache's mod_evasive. Or even write own web-server module, specifically for such purposes.
Sure, there are many other ways how to harden bruteforce attack mitigation, but often they comes out to be noisy, rather useless and nasty. Try to keep with KISS.
The important thing is how do you identify the 'someone'?
You can't do it by IP address - many users may appear to have same client address (this is going to become even more frequent with the continuing problem of IPV4 address starvation).
One user may appear to connect from multiple client addresses - e.g. using AOL's load-balanced proxies, or less legitimately, via tor.
Anything else is data supplied by the client - so they can potentially modify any cookies you set, the user-agent string etc.
The only practical approach is apply heuristic scoring to the request to try to match it against previous attempts - but its still going to be impossible to differentiate between sophisticated attacks and legitimate users.
Set a score threshold at which you consider the client to be trying to brute-force your site, say -20.
Requiring a current valid session referenced by a session cookie (which is not set in the page prompting for a username/password) is a start - if the cookie is not presented with authentication details then redirect to a seperate page which drops the cookie and initializes the session with a score of -10, and a score of (say) -2 to the client IP address. You could use a dynamic scoring mechanism when you start seeing multiple valid users from the same address. Similarly you could maintain dynamic scoring by user-agent and by the username.
When cookie+auth are presented for a non-existent user, add a score of -5 to the session, -1 to the client address, -5 to the username.
When cookie+auth are presented with an invalid password, add a score of -3 to the session, -1 to the client address, -4 to the username.
When cookie+auth+valid password add +4 from the score for the client address, +3 to the username, +2 to the user-agent.
NB you also need to set a decay to allow any score held against client address/user-agent/username to recover, say +2/hour
You need to think about what happens when the score exceeds the threshold. Have you provided a mechansim for anyone to block access to your site?
If you've blocked access with a high score for a prticular username, send out an email with a reset url to the registered user for that account so they can reset the score held for their username and reduce the score held for their user-agent/address.
Store the long ips of previous logins and login attempts.
After N failed attempts put them against captcha.
Block quickly addresses that have no successful logins in their history but a number of attempts.
Block quickly addresses that have simultaneous source address or inhuman speed / staminarapid attempts.
Also none of these answers take into account the method of brute forcing where an attacker uses one password and tries it against all accounts, a reversal of the usual process, and one which isn't generally protected against.
The control would of course be to have a process monitoring for multiple attempts against different accounts with the same password, but again very tricky to block even if they come from a single address, as do you block that IP? It could be used by valid users as well, or do you just drop logins with that password - with the risk of locking out a valid user with that password?
And of course if an attacker runs this sort of thing from a distributed network, or over a long timeframe, how do you correlate the incidents into an attack profile?
General industry mechanisms include lockout
First, it makes sense to understand which scenarios/attacks you're intending to handle:
(See? Not so simple is it...) And there are different solutions for each part of these...
If it is a business website use certificate plus password authentication. Without a valid certificate they never get to the point of trying to guess the password. You could also use something like RSA SecurID in place of the certificate.