text:
What: Veterans Services Office
Where: Osage Beach City Hall, 1000 City Parkway, Osage Beach
Hours: Open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m Monday through Friday
What: Veterans Services Office
Where: Osage Beach City Hall, 1000 City Parkway, Osage Beach
Hours: Open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m Monday through Friday
Contact: Call 573-348-2641 for more details.
Veterans in the lake area no longer have to drive very far to learn about their benefits or to meet with a Veterans Service Officer. A Veterans Service office opened in Osage Beach on July 1.
According to officials from the headquarters in Jefferson City, the new office is centrally located between Camdenton and Eldon and is perfect to cover the entire lake region. Veterans Service does have an office in Lebanon but did not allow for coverage of the whole lake area.
Camden County leads the tri-county area with about 4,800 veterans while Miller County has 2,139 and Morgan county has 2,315.
The office is meant for veterans to walk in and be served on a first come, first serve basis.
"We are basically the liason between the veteran and the VA and we basically help the veterans and their widows with need veterans benefits," officer Gerry Hodge said. "Come on down and ask questions."
All services are free. Veterans are encouraged to stop by Osage Beach City Hall and ask for Veterans Services.
A full map of State Service Officers can be found at
The Missouri Veterans Commission, a state agency, operates seven State Veterans Homes, five State Veterans Cemeteries, and the Veterans Services Program. The Commission is committed to honoring and serving Missouri's Veterans whose dedication and sacrifices have preserved our nation and its freedoms. For more information about the Missouri Veterans Commission programs, call 573-751-3779, online at www.mvc.dps.mo.gov, or facebook.com/MissouriVeteransCommission.
Location, ST | website.com


text:
A Boost Of Energy For The Busy Bees Among Us
Science, progress, moving forward. These things are constantly discussed but are we truly moving forward. Fact is we each have more and more on our plates every day. Getting all of the things we need to get done to meet our basic needs, then getting everything we need to get done to advance ourselves in a way that feels appropriate and fulfilling then after all that having to still make time for the people we love. Being a modern person with obligations and responsibilities can sometimes seem like a real hassle. That said the alternatives sound pretty dismal as well.
Luckily science is trying to share some of that progress with the over worked among us. There has recently been an explosion of energy supplements made to help us all more effectively get through the long hours of our days. They work like a charm and offer a boost of energy where coffee might just offer a bitter aftertaste and uncomfortable jitters. We have a lot to do and what worked for our parents may just not work for us anymore. More and more the need for energy supplements is apparent. If we want to have our lives and live them too, we have to be more efficient and effective with our time. Energy supplements help!

subset: commoncrawl


text:
This should be a basic question but I have not been able to find a satisfying explanation. In the simplest binomial model, the risk neutral probability is computed using the up/down magnitude and the risk-free rate. But why is the risk neutral probability simply "assumed" to be 0.5 in the context of short rate models?
I'll take a stab.
In short rate modelling we start by postulating dynamics under pricing measure $Q$ and then calibrating our model to market prices. General short rate dynamics under $Q$ can be described as
, where $W$ is $Q$ Brownian motion. Note that the short rate process itself is not a $Q$-martingale (short rate is not a traded asset). However, all contingent claims can be priced by taking $Q$-expectations of their discounted payoffs with respect to the short rate.
When we approximate this model with binomial tree, we don't need to find probabilities as we have already specified the $Q$-dynamics. We discretize Brownian motion increment $dW(t)$ which is symmetrically distributed around 0. Therefore, we use 0.5 as a probability in the binomial tree. Then all we need is to set nodes values that we match the drift $b$ and volatility $\sigma$ of $r(t)$. This approach is illustrated in the book "Term-Structure Models Using Binomial Trees" by Gerald W. Buetow Jr and James Sochacki.
But this there is another approach when you assign probabilities in your binomial model to match continuous prices process. See a book "Interest Rate Models: An Introduction" by Andrew J. G. Cairns, Chapter 10.2.3, page 163. There he fixes the increment and varies the probabilities.


text:
Hiya everyone. I'm having some trouble with the following problem. Please help.
I've tried to tackle the problem in several ways, but no algorythm of mine has managed to extract allthe required information.
Please help as soon as you can, I'll be really, very grateful. Thanks for taking the time to read this.
Genealogy is the study of ancestry and family history. For many people genealogy has become a
serious hobby whereby they trace the history of their families going back for many years. The
information required comes from many sources including official birth, marriage and death records,
church records and inscriptions on grave headstones. There are many groups that dedicate much
time to the recording and cataloguing of this information. Some of these groups copy the
inscriptions on grave headstones. These headstones are found in graveyards which are areas of land
set aside for the burial of the dead.
This assignment is based on the problems that are currently being faced by groups that wish to
summarise the data on headstones in order to create a computer-based catalogue of information
about the people who are buried in particular locations.
Groups have transcribed hundreds of headstone inscriptions. Each inscription has been recorded as
the contents line in a text file by using Notepad. There is a separate text file for each graveyard; the
first line of the text file would define the location of that particular graveyard. The name of each
file also defines the location of the graveyard.
There is little or no uniformity of style with regard to such inscriptions. We can expect to see dates
but each stonemason (person who engraves the stone) would have had a preferred way of
representing them.
For example:
12th April 1867
April 12th 1867
April the 12th 1867
12th of April 1867
1845 1867
Some dates refer to deaths and some to births.
Of course there are names but, there may be more than one person buried in each grave. There may
be names of relatives or friends that are not buried there, but such information may still be useful.
Design, implement and test a Java class that will extract the required information from a headstone
From a programming viewpoint this involves complex string manipulation with a little file
handling to get the inscription from the Text file. For each inscription it is required to display on the
computer screen, in tabular form, the Name, Death Date and Birth Date of each person buried under
the stone.
Here's some of the sample data we're required to work with:
In / memory of / WENDY-SARAH / SMITH 6th of March 1599/ and HENRY TODOR 28th of
January 1547/ Forever in our thoughts / love LIZ and HARRY /
In loving memory / of / JACK McDONALD /aged 3 days / 1799 / Jesus said suffer little /
children to come unto Me /
In / loving / memory of / BARRY H / BEAX-SMITH / 1798 1882 / PAT C / BEAX-SMITH /
1800 1896 /
/ In loving memory / of / SAUL SAM NOCKLEY / late of Shire hall / died Dec 19th 1801,
aged 71 years / also GERT NOCKLEY / wife of the above / died Oct 22nd 1811, aged 79
years / peace perfect peace /
I've tried to tackle the problem in several ways, but no algorythm of mine has managed to extract allthe required information.
Please help as soon as you can, I'll be really, very grateful. Thanks for taking the time to read this.


text:
Members of the media who wish to reach students, faculty, staff, or a spokesperson of the College, please email Media Relations or call 802-440-4399.
Bennington College
Office of Communications
One College Drive
Bennington, VT 05201-6003
Before her junior Field Work Term Mariam Shah '14 mostly concentrated her work in painting and drawing. For this visual arts student, "approaching
3D format in ceramics and sculpture was daunting." She explains, "Last
term I found myself disappointed in how little I felt I had
achieved as someone working with clay for two years. I had good ideas
but poor execution. I was still unfamiliar with the medium. But Field
Work Term
changed everything. At The Potter's Shop & School in Needham, MA, I
was fortunate enough to be given access to clay and time to make as much
work as I wanted."
It was in that time and space that she sculpted Richard the
Octopus— fine tuning details with dental tools, hand placing each
element, and ultimately finding a way to work with clay that rendered
exactly what she was after from the start, like drawing. "I understand
clay now," she says.
Field Work Term can be as much about making work as it is about
getting work. For many students, especially those studying in the
sciences, visual arts, and social sciences, their Junior Field Work Term
is about taking advantage of the time and space Field Work Term affords
to create their own work or conduct their own studies or pursue original research. For more Field Work Term stories, click here.


text:
Optimizing Your Multiplayer and Campaign Mode
Experiences in Halo 4
At a minimum, you'll need at least an 8GB USB Flash Drive or an Xbox 360 Hard Drive to play Multiplayer mode in Halo 4. For an optimal experience playing with an Xbox 360 Hard Drive is highly recommended. For Xbox 360 4GB, Arcade and Core consoles, the Xbox 360 Hard Drive is sold separately. See below for more details on the storage device options available for Xbox 360 and Halo 4.
Xbox 360 8GB and 16GB USB Flash Drives by SanDisk®
The pre-configured Xbox 360 USB Flash Drives by SanDisk include Xbox 360 update software (which includes system software) and room for your profile, gamesaves, and digital media.
Note: You can use other USB flash drives. They must be configured as Xbox 360 memory units.
Learn how to format a USB flash drive for an Xbox console.
Xbox 360 320GB Media Hard Drive
With a whopping 320GB, you'll get more space for games, HD movies, TV shows, music and demos. You can even install game discs to your hard drive. The hard drive includes the full downloadable Xbox 360 game LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars (as a downloadable game from Xbox LIVE).
- Works with Xbox 360 S consoles
- Plenty of space for the content you want
- Includes Xbox 360 game LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars
Find out more about Xbox 360 storage devices here.
Halo 4 Limited Collectors Edition Bonus Content
System Requirements
Forward Unto Dawn
Download code valid for one-time use only. To view this content on Xbox 360, Xbox LIVE (Free) membership, Halo Waypoint app (free download; ISP fees apply), and 500 MB available storage space required. To view this content at www.halowaypoint.com, a PC (Windows Vista or later) with Internet Explorer 9+ or Intel based Macintosh (MAC OS 10.5.7+) with Safari 4+, Microsoft Silverlight 5.0 (free download; ISP fees apply) and broadband internet access is also required; ISP fees apply. HD display recommended.
Halo Infinity Multiplayer
4 GB available storage space required. Minimum 8GB USB Flash Drive or Xbox 360 Hard Drive required. (For Xbox 360 4GB, Arcade and Core consoles, Xbox 360 Hard Drive sold separately.)


text:
So in Dungeon World, everything breaks down to 'moves'. What about situations where a move is not available, but a check of some sort is called for, such as in the case of a non-fighter who wants to kick down the door? What mechanism do you use to resolve that situation? Is there the equivalent of a skill check?
Sign up
- Anybody can ask a question
- Anybody can answer
- The best answers are voted up and rise to the top
No, there is no equivalent to a "skill check" in Dungeon World. Dungeon World operates on a different set of principles that don't require or really permit task-based resolution rolls. If you're playing DW, you have to give up the idea that everything requires a roll.
The most important principle for this question is that dice are only rolled when a move says to, and moves only happen when they are triggered. To trigger a move, a player has to describe their character taking a fictional action or set of actions that matches the move's trigger. Further, a character can't trigger a move that they don't have access to.
So what does it mean to try to break down a door? Forget about breaking down a door with the right move available—I mean, what does it mean to break down a door at all in DW?
This part right there is critical for DW to work. The players must describe not what they intend to accomplish, nor what move they want to trigger, but actually describe fictional actions that would trigger the move. Players don't ever get to say when a move triggers—that's the DM's job.
The way the system functions, how their actions are described that lead up to the move trigger is an integral part of what's happening in the game. A key part of how DW works is that the consequences of a miss can depend (possibly, depending on the move the DM chooses to respond with) directly on the fiction that the player created in order to trigger the move. If you skip that, you very quickly get lost both as players and DM and misses – and moves in general – get really confusing. If the player in the example above had instead described chopping at the door with their axe, bruising their shoulder would be a nonsensical miss result, right?
So, if you decide on a "right" move before you establish the triggering fiction, you can get into a situation like what you're running into with your question. So let's look at when you don't have the "right" move.
Or maybe instead:
Similarly, even moves that you might intuitively think should be exclusive don't need to prevent other classes from attempting the fictional activities they represent. The best example is the Wizard's Cast a Spell—only the Wizard can do that right?
Well, no. As a move it's limited, but actually, there's no reason that a non-wizard can't cast a spell, except lack of a gimme move that just says they can with easy-to-access fiction. If a Fighter wants to gather the Shards of Nemesil from the Nine Lost Vaults and consume a vial containing the whispered regrets of an orphan while chanting the Unmaking Dirge in order to summon the Apocalypse Dreadnought? They can totally try to do that, but they have to do it the hard way, building up the ritual within the actual game world without a nice, singular move to lean on. But if they don't get in too much trouble from the moves that the getting-ready-to-do-this-ritual fiction triggers along the way, even a Fighter can cast a spell. (Is it a good idea though? Heh, probably not. But that's the player's choice to make.)
So that's how you handle "not having a move" for what the player wants to do. Really, there is always a move, and you can find out the right move but simply asking the player to describe what they're doing to pursue their goal until they describe something that triggers a move they have access to. It might not be the move anyone would expect if you just picked the move first and then tried to figure out how to make it happen, but it will always be the right move, because the fiction has continuity and internal integrity.
Here's a slightly different perspective:
The Bend Bars/Lift Gates move allows for you to avoid some of the effects attached to going through the door:
Reading the move, we see it could have one or more of the following effects: take a long time, damage valuables, make a lot of noise and/or completely destroy the door or bars or whatever.
So, if you start banging/hacking/chiseling at the door with your ax, hammer or mace, etc., perhaps using up some adventuring gear along the way, all of those could happen without ever triggering a move. From this perspective, the Move allows you to avoid some consequences, and going without the move doesn't. Then, with all that time + effort, the fiction will allow you to open the door, albeit with a bucketload of consequences.
In the case of a character wanting to take a move that is not available to his class, he can't take the move. Kicking down a door (Bend Bars/Lift Gates) is a simplistic example that it might at first glance seem should be available to everyone. But, take the move Cast A Spell. If a fighter decided that he wanted to cast a spell, it would be outside of the capabilities of the class. It's the same for kicking down a door. Dungeon World is made so that each character has his use, which lends itself towards the character having his chance in the limelight.
There are basic moves that cover a lot of things, and if what the character is attempting to do doesn't specifically fall in the purview of another class, those can be examined to see if something fits. But to give a character access to the same abilities that another class has is to water down the usefulness of the characters.
There are no skills, only moves.
If you need to get past a door and you don't have bend bars, lift gates, then you need to think about the situation differently. Say the room is filling with water and you need to escape. Your options could include defying danger to power through or discerning realities with What here is useful to me? to find a way out.
Everything boils down to narrative control
It all goes to narrative control.
But, class moves are made to JUMP narrative control (relatively). You want to throw a door down? Ok, explain me how. But in the end you are the fighter. So you can easily trigger 'bend bars lift gates' and the consequences of that move are pretty clear on the move itself. You can tell your warrior "the door is too hard for you to break" but it should be really strange.
So if you don't have the move you have to stick to the narrative.
You are a thief and want to throw down a door?
I kick it down
And stating narrative statements mean narrative consequences!
Your GM can say it's impossible. You are too weak to break it down.
When there are consequences there's a roll! Failure means you will break your leg, succes means you will take down the door, partial succes means both or something else.
The interesting thing is there can be more narrative description!
I don't want to break my leg, I will use that bench over there!
Narrative consequences!
You can't move that statue, sorry
Repeat this until the player decides to face the consequences. HE MUST UNDERSTAND the consequences of failure and succes. That's what allows him to take the decission to make the movement. Which is (in my opinion) a custom move!
Moves in DW
In my opinion, written moves in DW aren't actually necessary and you could play without reading them (although they are really helpful and cut down a lot of work). The fighter's 'bend bars lift gates' makes it clear he can perform that kind of feat and states clear consequences. But we all know the fighter is strong! If it had never been written as such and you found yourself with a fighter wanting to break down a door you wouldn't have many problems. You would only have to state some possible consequences. Having the move written just means your fighter has clear information about what he can do and what might cost him, giving him more tools. The fighter's moves gives an idea of what he can do, but the same could be accomplished with tags (strong, forceful, etc...). Moves also make the GM work easier, not having to think on the spot consequences and presenting them in an appealing way (it's easy to come up with some consequence, it's harder to come up with a bunch and then make the fighter decide).
Annex: Custom moves vs. Defying Danger
Now I'm gonna get a little picky and repelent. I will make some corrections about defying danger, but it's not really relevant and absolutely of no consequence. But it's somehow important for my way to understand the game.
Throwing down a door, if you roll for it, is a custom move. You might use modifiers or stats like strenght but it's a custom move, definetely not defying danger. Defying danger is for when there is a danger comming at you, it's a reaction move.
What does that imply? When defying danger the players are reacting to a softmove that is an inminent danger. When throwing down a door they should know the consequences and decide to take the risk or not. One is reactive and the other is proactive. So consequences from throwing down a door should be more clear to the players. The consequences might still follow the guide of defy danger, but there's a subtile difference that helps (at least me) to understand the game.
Because at the end, all written moves are unnecessary. You can work only with custom moves. Just stick to the narrative, let you and your players know what everyone and everything can do (could your fighter throw down any door?), state the consequences, let the players decide what they do once they have the info, resolve the roll and which consequences will apply (all, some, none?) and that's all.


text:
Packers haven't called about Canty despite previous interest
NEW Commenting Policy
PLEASE NOTE: A Journal Sentinel subscription is now required to comment. You can read more about that transition in our FAQ. As always, our discussion guidelines and terms of use still apply to all comments and commenters. If you have any issues logging in to or using our commenting system, please let us know.
Welcome to our commenting system. Before you dive in, please note the following:
- You can log in to this system either through Facebook or using your JSOnline public profile. JSOnline public profile. Please note that your public profile login will be different than your JS Everywhere login.
- You can personalize your public profile with a photo. You can also use that profile to sign up for email newsletters and alerts.
- While we strive for a lively and vigorous debate of the issues, we do not tolerate name calling, foul language or other inappropriate behavior. Please see our discussion guidelines and terms of use for more information.
- While we do our best to moderate comments, we do not screen comments before they are posted. If you see a comment that violates our guidelines, please use the "Report Abuse" link to notify us of the issue.
- We reserve the right to close commenting on specific stories.
Sort by
If Ted ain't callin',,,,there's a reason!Hide replies
This comment has been deleted.
It's called overvaluing your own players and being content losing in the divisional round.
Yup. I have no doubt that the Packers win vs. the Niners if only Canty had been on the field.
Don't agree nor disagree...but I think, as was proven twice against the 9'ers this year, the Packers comparatively are vastly deficient on both lines of scrimmage to compete with SF. Barring a change in scheme, which I doubt is coming, for us to compete favorably, we need a drastic change in talent and players. That is NOT debatable.
Not fumbling punts with all of the momentum would be helpful, too.
Eddie, you are right on. That muffed punt was a huge play. Maybe the game ends with SF winning anyway, but it was a huge points and momentum turner.
Ok Poppie...
I would rather not have to rely on perfection to beat a physically superior opponent...but, oh well, if you want to rely on not having to play SF, Giants, or teams of that physical nature...be my guest. But at least in my opinion, what matters is SB's, not losing in divisional rounds to physically superior opponents.
I said the game was totally changed after that muffed punt. I didn't want to be right, but I was. Awful play, really depressing thinking about it.
I don't disagree, but don't think that impacted the fact we were absolutely dominated by their rushing attack. We could not hold the point of attack, Clay Matthews admitted as much during his SB appearance. We were destroyed on both lines.
In Ted I do not trust. We need to grab a couple of young d lineman and this guy is one of the better ones out there. Cut your buddy Hawk and save about 10 million right there.Hide replies
This comment has been deleted.
And replace Hawk with whom? People wanted him cut last year which would have been disaster once Bishop went down. We have a couple of young D-linemen on the roster developing. Maybe "this guy" isn't any better but will cost us more. Then you'll be crying for TT to "just cut him". Since just cutting guys obviously makes a team better in your world.
Worthy will be 2013 Quarless and Sherrod....expecting anything is a huge risk at best. I like Neal, and if he stays healthy can be a player. But they need physicality and beef on both sides of the ball. Period. I also think we either need to scrap the ZBS or find someone who can teach it adequately. It hasn't been effective since Jags left. I say we let the o-line boys eat and establish a power running scheme. Heck, most of our OL were bigger coming out of college. I would love a Fluker or Jones pick in round 1 if either falls.
Beard - disagree. I'd love Hawk @ $1 million. At $7 million, he sucks. He's a terrible value at this point. TT got a little hung up on the SB win and "his boy" Hawk.
Part of it is fan perception. If he was picked 25-30 in the first round, I think that the impression would be much different.
Our problem is.Aaron Rodgers will hit the 20M mark.Clay Mathews and BJ Raji will cost as well.
We are 7M or so under,so cutting or trading Woodson,Hawk,Finley would help tremendously in freeing up another 20-22M or so on top of the 7M we are under already.
( didnt hear this anywhere,but,) how about we trade or cut Tramon Williams?
Sam Shields,Casey Hayward and Devon House are fine corners and that would free up 6M or so as well.Hide replies
Finley is a playmaker, he wouldn't be going anywhere.....my options for pink slips would be Woody, T-Will (4th CB IMHO), Hawk, Saturday (obviously), Jennings (obviously), and potentially Kuhn, although his salary isn't prohibitive.
Agreed, but Rodgers still has 2 years on his existing contract. I expect him to sign an extension in December, but it won't escalate his salary until 2015, which is when the new TV contracts kick in (yes, if TT planned that far ahead he deserves a lot of credit) and the cap rises.
Rushing to sign a 30 year old free agent, one year removed from knee surgery, isn't really TT's thing (nor should it be). Not sure why Mr. Silverstein is surprised by this...
someone needs to get to Ted Thompson. Do the sports guys have no clout in this town? In Chicago they got Lovie fired.Hide replies
Except for McGinn, our sportswriters all toady to TT.
And McGinn is the only reporter to give an objective analysis of the 2012-13 GBPackers. The rest lay at the feet licking the boot straps of TT in GB.
Thanks goodness we're not as stupid as they are in Chicago.
I must admit, I tend to toady up to TT and lick at his bootstraps, too.
Dang. My bootstrap licking is sloppy seconds?
The Bible says, "the first shall be last and the last shall be first".
I hope TT can get us two quality players on D to supplant 2 of last seasons starters, and one O lineman who can beat out one of our current starting 5.Hide replies
We may already have them players on the roster who may take a step up this year.
I think that quote came from Bob Dylan.
He said, 'there is no success like failure, and that failure is no success at all'.
The article said, "The Packers wanted Canty to make a visit before making an offer, but his agent, Brad Blank, didn't want to make it a pleasure cruise and wanted an offer first." There's your reason right there! Ted wants guys who WANT to be here. Not coming because his agent wanted an offer first is TOTALLY against what the Packers (and ESPECIALLY Ted) stand for.
The Packers need to go after Ricky Jean-Francois, not Chris Canty. He's what the Packers wanted in Canty four years ago. 26 years old and good against the run. Read what Pro Football Focus has to say about him.
6'3" 295 lbs. Not as big as Canty but a better run stuffer who can play every interior position. Throw in Brandon Albert at LT and the Packers quickly upgrade two of the four spots they need to solidify. I'm sure the draft and young player development can fill the other needs.Hide replies
So how do we get them?
I'm not Ted Thompson but I think we do share the same philosophy (if I were in pro personnel) and I think he realizes that he needs to add a couple of free agents this off-season.
He isn't going to break the bank, and I wouldn't either, but I think he'll scoop up two or three mid-level free agents. Brandon Albert will get good money, however, unless his back is messed up.
Go on pro football focus and look at the Packers 2013 Team Needs. They hit it right on the head except for running back. Try to get Brandon Albert at LT, Antwan Barnes to split time with Nick Perry at OLB, Ricky Jean-Francois as a run stuffer, and IMO Chris Ivory at RB to be thunder to DuJuan Harris' lightning.
And if we sign Albert, Barnes, Francois and Ivory, plan on losing Raji and think about choosing between CMIII and Rodgers. Albert is not meaningfully better than Newhouse. Barnes has never been a full time player. Ivory is not measurably better than Benson. Francois would probably improve over Neal or Wilson, but there's a reason he's never been a starter.
Are you serious, Kareem? Albert is not meaningfully better than Newhouse? Your entire analysis is flawed. Go read some sites that breakdown every play of the season by every player and then grade them.
Albert is head and shoulders above Newhouse. Newhouse is the worst LT in the league and Albert's in the top third. Ivory is statistically harder to bring down than any RB in the league including AP after contact. Go look at the facts.
Francois is head and shoulders above Raji in the run stopping department. Go look at the stats. Your opinion is getting in the way of the statistical facts.
When I say go look at the facts and stats, I'm not trying to be a punk. I'm being serious. Go to a place like pro football focus and read their analysis. Raji is super overrated and all the players you said aren't meaningfully better, really are meaningfully better.
I like your stuff Crigs...but you're being a bit harsh on Mr. Skyhook.
I enjoy sites like profootballfocus...but the analysis isn't etched in stone. I don't know if Newhouse is the worst tackle in the league, but Jarmarcus Webb might enter the discussion. I thought Newhouse improved this past season, actually. It seemed C, and RT were the problematic areas on the oline.
When did Ricky-Jean become such a great run stuffer? Until Smith got hurt, he seemed to be a situational back up? He played in 8 games plus the playoffs last yr. I saw the game he got one of his two sacks in...high effort player, but not a bonified stud, by any means.
Raji starts and plays in every game, much higher snap count than Francios. Ricky Jean isn't much bigger than Mike Daniels.
Not a fair comparison, Raji vs. career backup, IMHO.
Crigs - I see the statistics. I'm not saying that statistics aren't a good metric for a lot of things. But, I think that OL and DL play is harder to assess with statistics. My point about Newhouse is that if he's the greatest deficiency on your team, you win the Super Bowl. He might always need chips on elite rushers. But, the Packers offense puts him in a lot of tough situations that other T don't have to handle. As much as the run game helps the QB, it helps the LT because the best pass rushers don't get to pin their ears back. I like Francois. But he will be overpaid and he's not the ideal 5-technique - should be 2" taller - and it makes a huge difference. I'm saying that if TT would delve into FA, which is very unlikely, the places where the marginal improvement would be greatest are C, DT, maybe ILB and maybe S.
I hear ya, Kareem but Newhouse is the worst run blocker on the team though as well. If the Packers ever want to run effectively to the left side of the line, they need someone other than Newhouse. Newhouse just is not the answer. I know I keep saying statistically; but statistically Newhouse is the least effective Packer OT since Tony Mandarich for goodness sake.
I'd rather have Bulaga move over and Barclay stay at RT. I'd also like to see Sherrod and Datko get a real shot.
Anonymous, you can't here tone over internet typing so some of my thoughts sound much harsher than I'm actually intending. My apologies.
Comparing Ricky Jean-Francois to Mike Daniels is a little crazy. He's 6'3" and 300 lbs. Daniels played this season at 6' and 285 lbs. Francois is in the mold of Jay Ratliff. A light but stout run defender. Daniels is more a pass rusher.
I agree that Raji is better than Francois when he wants to be but I'd take Francois probably 10-12 games per season over Raji. He just doesn't give effort. Francois is hands down a better run defender than Raji and that's the Packers biggest weakness. The four games that Raji decides to play hard per year; I'd take him over all but about 5-7 other DT's.
I was comparing their overall size. Daniels, as a rook, is going to grow/bulk up like most NFLers. He's listed at 6'0, 291...Francios is in his 4th season and weighs a few more pounds than Daniels. At this point, Daniels is a try hard situational pass rusher and Francios is a situational run stopper. Neither would hold up on a regular basis, inside, in a 3-4, IMO.
Situationally, Francios probably holds up better against the run than Raji. On an every down basis? He would probably get eaten alive over a 16 game season on the nose. He weighs 295-300. We probably will never know, as Francios may never be a starter.
I thought Raji had a very good end to the regular season. Like the entire D, he didn't play well against SF.
I would disagree that Raji has no heart or doesn't play hard for an entire season. If I remember correctly, early on last season, he was hampered by a fairly serious ankle injury. He missed two games mid season. When he healed up, he played very well.
I think Rodgers, Matthews and Raji are the cornerstones of the future. Can Raji become a Vince Wilfork/Casey Hampton type player with more help on the dline? Possibly.
I would agree that Raji hasn't been as good as he was during the Super Bowl run...but you could say that about almost every Packer defender the last two seasons.
Again, the sample size for Francios is 8 games...he doesn't draw double teams often. In his 14 games, BJ played most of the snaps and still draws doubles most of the time.
NC, I would love for you to be right because I think the Packers will give Raji a big contract but your thoughts on Raji don't really match the tape so-to-speak. The guys been graded the worst DT in the league against the run the last two seasons. The worst. That's pretty telling. He's 340 lbs and he can't stop the run.
He played almost every snap during the 2011 season and wore down as the season progressed. Statistically, a poor season. Many of the defenders had a difficult slide in 2011.
Last yr, he seemed fine when he came back in game 8, after missing two games due to injury. NT statistics can be quite misleading, IMO. As dominant as Casey Hampton has been over the course of his career, his best seasons ended with 25 tackles/17 assists, and less than a handful of sacks.
I check some of the sites you mention but honestly, lineplay in the NFL is hard to judge, IMO. I do enjoy those sites but the guy playing next to Justin Smith might look pretty good...until Justin Smith ain't in the lineup.
EX: Aldon Smith was BLOWING people up and getting single coverage in many cases until Justin Smith tore his triceps. While he was hurt/missing games, teams schemed against Aldon Smith. They doubled Aldon, and singled the one armed man. Aldon wasn't the same player after Justin Smith's injury...and his stats suffered accordingly. In the playoffs, I had a hard time finding tackle information for Aldon Smith because he barely had any.
If you put a healthy Mike Neal next to BJ, or get a prototypical 5 tech (like an Aaron Smith in his heyday) he can be dominant (like 2010) again.
sorry, crigs.
totally disagree.
bj raji is better than you think. calling him the "worst DT in the league" is extremely ridiculous. he wouldn't last 1 day on the open market.
This comment has been deleted.
back to the film room!
NC, time to dust off that betamax machine. we got work to do.
Just because TT was interested in him at 26 doesn't mean he's still interested in him at 30. If he's looking for similar money to his current cap #, I can't see it happening. They had Cullen looking for that kind of money 2 years ago and at the same age and we all know how that turned out.
We need one big impact player on both lines, expecting to get both in the draft at the end of each round is difficult, although this draft is deep with D-linemen. I am getting tired of expecting UDFA's to compete with superior talent. Everyone likes the underdog stories, but there is a reason they went undrafted, and there is a reason someone is drafted in the first round. In 2012, we did not get anything from our last three #1's. That is troubling. I also believe McGinn's article hit it right on the head.Hide replies
I agree. The Packers are 3 or 4 players away from being absolutely dominant for the next 5 years and spoiling us even more. One nasty offensive lineman, one nasty defensive lineman, one good athletic ILB next to Bishop, and one good hard nosed safety next to Burnett.
I think they could add some meat to TE and FB as well but they're not a must. If some of the young players fill a couple of those needs (Manning at ILB/ Richardson or McMillian at SS/ Sherrod at LT) and Thompson can scoop up a couple of impact free agents; I will be a happy camper.
You are 100% correct.
I think that the Packers probably need at least 3 DL in the next year. I like Worthy and hope they keep Raji. Other than that, Pickett can't play at the level he has forever. He's an anamoly for his age. In the next 2 years, they need 2 5-technique DE's (6'5" or taller) and another space eater.
I agree with you on the OL. I'd expect that guy to be a C as Lang and Sitton are solid and locked up and they have a lot of guys to develop at T.
Latest Packers Blog Posts
- Packers heighten emphasis on punt return after 2015 struggle
- Packers WRs learning Getsy's way of doing things
- Thompson: 'We're starting a new year and we're playing for a championship'
- Video: Breaking down Packers' first padded practice
- Spriggs earns valuable lesson from Peppers
- Linsley still fighting through hamstring injury
- T.J. Lang eager to return for contract year
- Video: Dougherty and Wood on Facebook Live
- Rookie Martinez enjoying reps with starters in the dime
- Paul Ryan visits Packers training camp
Video Highlights
Latest Packers Photo Galleries


text:
7 Classic Star Wars Characters Who Totally Dropped the Ball
Here at Cracked we don't hesitate to hold our leaders accountable for bad decisions. Even if those leaders are childhood heroes. And are entirely fictional.
For instance, such decisions abound in the original Star Wars trilogy, to the point that the entire plot is basically driven by people using the worst judgment possible. How else can you explain...
#7. Admiral Motti Insults Darth Vader
In Episode IV, Admiral Motti, riding high on the whole "Death Star" thing, finally decides he's going to tell Vader off just like he practiced over the phone with his mother. After bragging that he's not scared of Vader, he tells him that his "sad devotion to that ancient religion has not helped you conjure up the stolen data tapes, or given you clairvoyance enough to find the rebels' hidden fortress...[Choking sounds]." Clearly Motti doesn't realize that he was only named for the sake of the action figure packaging and will not be returning for any of the sequels.
Why It Was a Bad Call:
Relative Anonymity: Ages 4 & up.
Even though Darth Vader is a seven-foot-tall bionic killing machine with a sword that can cut through anything, making a personal attack against the man's religion is totally uncalled for. Any manager, be it of the Galactic Empire or Dunkin Donuts, is probably going to fire you if you interrupt a board meeting to call him the equivalent of "a fucking Jew." Even if you were partially responsible for an incredible new product with limitless planet-destroying potential.
What did you think we were talking about?
Of course Darth Vader, being that seven-foot-tall bionic killing machine, has a definition of "fire" that is more in line with the common definition of "strangle to death". If Grand Moff Tarkin hadn't told Vader to stop, he probably would've thrown Motti out the goddamn window like Patrick Swayze in Road House. As it stands, we're pretty sure the Admiral had been promoted to cleaning toilets on the detention level by the time Luke blows the place up at the end.
The point of the scene seems to be that somehow Motti didn't know Vader had magic telekinetic strangling abilities. But even so, and even if an Imperial officer like Motti somehow also missed the memo on what not to say to a Dark Lord of the Sith, that still means that he thought Vader only had about 37 different ways to instantly kill him instead of 38 (most involving a lightsaber neatly carving through his groin).
What we're saying is that Motti was hired not for his tactical acumen but purely for his ability to sneer.
#6. Everything Jabba the Hutt Does
For an intergalactic gangster, Jabba the Hutt seems to be about as much of a criminal mastermind as Robin Williams in Jack. He holds a Rebel officer prisoner, enslaves the Rebel princess and laughs in the face of a Jedi Knight. This would be a sterling approach if Jabba were trying to go to war with the Rebellion, but seeing as how he's just a sleazy racketeer whose entire operation amounts to little more than a hotel/casino on Tatooine, he probably could've used a few more advisors.
Why It Was a Bad Call:
Preferably one that doesn't look like a vampire penis.
First of all, Jabba holds two high-profile prisoners but never demands a ransom of any kind, and in fact refuses money when it is offered to him. Unless he funds his operation with bounced checks and jellybeans, this is counterproductive. Keeping the prisoners brings the Jedi heat to his palace, which in turn leads to the worst decision Jabba makes in the film: refusing Luke's offer.
Surprisingly poor strategist.
Luke tells Jabba up front that if the prisoners aren't released, he will kill everything that moves and take them anyway. A Rancor and a porcine guard later, this offer is generously repeated, at a point where it is now clear that Luke is not just some dumbass in a stolen Jedi robe. But again, Jabba opts for the prideful route, which makes us wonder how he ever managed to succeed in organized crime in the first place.
About seven minutes later, every member of Jabba's operation has either been exploded, stabbed, shot, strangled or tossed into a giant sand vagina. Clearly he was never meant to manage a Domino's Pizza let alone hold the reigns of an underworld empire.
#5. Lando Uncuffs a Seven-Foot Wookiee Who Wants to Kill Him
After Vader reveals he is turning Han over to Boba Fett and will be taking Leia and Chewie with him, Lando sets about freeing them to try and intercept the bounty hunter before he loads Han onto Slave 1.
However, he neglects to explain his rescue plan before removing Chewie's handcuffs, and as far as the wookiee and Leia know, Lando is still just the guy that dimed them all out to the Empire.
Why It Was a Bad Call:
Snitches get stitches. Also, we strangle them.
See above. Chewie is an alien monster roughly the size of a doorframe with murderous rage tap-dancing around in his brain. We're surprised he didn't just start bludgeoning Lando to death with his manacles as soon as the Imperial guards were dispatched.
Leia is about a remark away from telling Chewie to snap Lando's head off like a Pez dispenser when he finally manages to gurgle out his plan to save Han. Had Lando simply gone over this before unchaining Chewbacca's giant meathooks, the "throttling" faux pas could've been avoided.
And that's a crucial point, because while Chewie chose the slow strangling method, perhaps because he wanted to see Lando's eyes pop out of his skull like one of those rubber squeeze toys, we know that he could just as easily have knocked Lando's head off his shoulders like a toddler smacking a baseball off a tee.
Lando's trilogy-saving explanation would have been left gurgling from a ragged neck stump.
#4. Leia Leads the Empire to the Rebel Base
Leia rightfully thinks that her bold rescue and subsequent escape from the Death Star at the hands of Han and Luke were too easy. She's suspicious that Vader and Tarkin let them get away in order to track them to the rebel base on Yavin IV, so in a stunning display of leadership, she has Han go there anyway, because fuck it. The Empire was going to find it eventually.
And really what's the use of a secret base when you're trying to subvert a powerful regime?Why It Was a Bad Call:
Leia has seen the Death Star blow up her home planet like Bruce Vilanch in a microwave, so she knows the thing is no joke.
Somewhere down there, Jimmy Smits is burning to death.
And we know she's got some serious steel because with her entire planet under threat, she lies with a straight face about where the Rebellion is. So why in the Dooku does she leave the Empire a trail of space breadcrumbs to the only home she has left in the galaxy?
Or couldn't she have called ahead to let them know the Imperial fleet was on its way with their giant murder ball? At the very least, Leia could've had her underlings turn off all the lights in the base and pretend like no one was home. As it stands, the Rebels emerge victorious, but we have to believe that if Leia hadn't led the enemy directly to them, more than two pilots might have survived the assault.
His fat, sweaty blood is on your hands, Princess.


text:
5 Famous Movies That Shamelessly Ripped Off Obscure Ones
So, Hollywood likes remakes, apparently. As much as we, the citizens of the Internet, like to complain about that, there's nothing wrong with the idea of a remake by itself. Some remakes are so good that they seem to completely erase all evidence of the original from our collective memories, as we've pointed out before.
Nope, sometimes the only problem with a remake is that they don't actually credit the obscure movie they are remaking (or, you know, pay them for the rights). Like ...
#5. Toy Story Is Suspiciously Similar to a 1980s TV Christmas Special
In 1995, Toy Story changed the world of animation by introducing kids to a little thing called CGI and launching Pixar's illustrious career. But on top of the technical achievement, it's also a great story. It's hard to believe that no one ever thought of doing a movie about toys coming to life before ...
The Original: The Christmas Toy (1986)
Nine years before Toy Story, ABC aired a one-hour TV special called The Christmas Toy. Like Toy Story, it stars a group of toys that come to life when no one is around, but the similarities go way beyond that. In The Christmas Toy, the main character is also a toy who grows insecure when he hears that his owner is receiving a present that could replace him as the favorite. Instead of Woody the cowboy doll, it's a stuffed tiger named Rugby.
Replace "Rugb" with "Wood" and prepare to have your mind blown.
But that could easily be a coincidence, right? Well, explain this: In The Christmas Toy, the new arrival and competitor for the owner's affection also turns out to be an egocentric character from outer space who has trouble differentiating between fantasy and reality and doesn't understand that it's just a toy -- her name is Meteora, Queen of the Asteroids.
Or Post-Op Buzz Lightyear.
Another character is a Barbie doll who at one point wears a Little Bo Peep outfit. By the way, Pixar actually wanted to include a Barbie doll in the first Toy Story, but Mattel turned down the proposal. So which toy did they use to replace her? Bo Peep, of course.
But that's just because lots of 7-year-old boys play with Bo Peep toys.
Then there's the worn-out stuffed bear with a cane who functions as the playground's wise old leader and is in charge of welcoming new toys, but there's nothing like that in the first Toy Story. Nope, the exact same character shows up Toy Story 3.
Apparently someone put him in the washer with some reds, though.
So if you've ever wondered why Disney hasn't done a Toy Story TV show (beyond the Buzz Lightyear animated series), it's probably because they already did that: Only a year before the first Toy Story movie came out, the Disney Channel aired a spin-off TV series about The Christmas Toy characters called Secret Life of Toys, but it was cancelled after 13 episodes.
How They Improved It:
"First" doesn't always mean "better." The Christmas Toy has a weird subplot where, if a toy is caught by a human, it becomes frozen forever ... which is kind of disturbing when you think about it, because it means that every time you found a G.I. Joe outside your toy box, you were actually killing it. Most of the movie is about Rugby's friend trying to save him from this horrifying fate.
Your Legos are silently screaming in eternal agony.
#4. Raiders of the Lost Ark Was Intentionally Based on an Old Charlton Heston Movie
George Lucas and Steven Spielberg have always been open about the fact that the Indiana Jones franchise was inspired by the serials of the 1930s and 1940s. That's OK, though, because Indy himself is an original creation. It's not like they'd just lift a character from another movie and turn him into one of the most iconic action heroes ever, right?
The Original: Secret of the Incas (1954)
Here's a young Charlton Heston as cocky adventurer Harry Steele in the little-known 1954 film Secret of the Incas:
Not to be confused with Harry Steele the cocky porn actor.
Why, that looks remarkably like Indiana Jones, right down to the stubble. Coincidence? Not according to the woman who designed Indy's look in his first movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark. In an interview, she admitted that the crew watched Secret of the Incas several times, and said she's surprised that Lucas and Spielberg didn't credit the movie at all.
We're sure they won't mind when we introduce our new character, action-archeologist Kentucky Smith.
The similarities don't stop there. Remember the map room in Raiders where Indy does the reflected light trick to show the location of the hidden ark? Yep, they've got one of those here, too:
It was the "leaving the key under a fake rock" of the ancient world.
In the same scene in Incas, Steele is betrayed by his partner, who tries to steal the valuable artifact he's just retrieved at gunpoint, but he's saved by his Peruvian sidekick. Raiders simply merged both characters into the same one for the film's classic opening scene, which, like Incas, takes place in a temple deep in the Peruvian jungle.
Poor Alfred Molina might have survived if only he'd had a better poncho.
Then there's the river trip in a yellow inflatable raft, like in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, followed by a campfire scene, also like in Temple of Doom.
Yeah, but does that one double as a parachute?
So wait, this movie stars one of the best-known lead actors ever in what's basically an Indiana Jones premake -- why isn't it better known? That might be because both movies are produced by Paramount, who has never bothered to release Incas on home video. Many fans, including Indy's costume designer, believe Paramount is just trying to hide the blatant ripoff.
How They Improved It:
Of course, there could be another reason why they haven't released Incas: The main character is a huge douchebag. Indy isn't the most cheerful guy in the world, but at least he didn't con women out of their money, then brag about it in front of them.
"Your tears arouse me more than you ever could." -- actually pretty close to real dialogue.
There's also the fact that the movie barely has any action, which Raiders compensated for by including all of the action.
#3. Alien Is a Mashup of Two Old B-Movies
In 1979, Ridley Scott's Alien reinvented the horror sci-fi genre by actually making a horror sci-fi flick that was scary (a novel idea in those days). Alien also added a refreshing dose of realism to the standard futuristic setting -- showing the space crew just sitting around a table, shooting the shit, was considered a huge deal.
And then Kane's chest boner had to go and ruin everyone's meal.
The Originals: It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958) and Planet of the Vampires (1965)
This is from the 1958 sci-fi B-movie It! The Terror from Beyond Space:
The only difference is that back then space ladies knew their place, dammit.
But we're getting ahead of ourselves: The first half of Alien actually resembles a different B-movie, Planet of the Vampires, from 1965, which also stars the crew of a spaceship who are forced to land on a desolate planet, who also go off to explore the place and come across the remains of a crashed spacecraft ... and also find the corpse of some sort of mysterious giant alien inside.
"Hey, guys, I think I just tripped over some foreboding."
The planet itself is dark and foggy, just like the one in Alien, but what really gives it away is that the crew's stranded spaceship in Vampires is actually pretty similar to the abandoned one they find in Alien:
Ridley Scott's original idea to just use the Millennium Falcon was shot down.
In Vampires, the crew is stuck on the planet for most of the movie. In Alien, they lift off, unaware that they have accidentally picked up an alien stowaway who will start killing them off one by one -- which, incidentally, is the exact premise of It! In both movies, the creature hides in the ship's cylindrical ventilation shafts, killing the poor sap who goes after it.
"Take a lantern, that oughta take care of it."
Both crews try to kill their respective monsters by locking them in the airlock room to suffocate them. In It! the plan works, but in Alien the monster can actually breathe in space, so it takes Ripley kicking its ass out the door to get rid of the pesky thing.
"You coming into the shower, babe?"
How They Improved It:
As you can already guess, what sets Alien apart is the alien. True to old-timey B-movies, the monster in It! is just a guy in a cheap rubber suit. Meanwhile, in Vampires, we don't really see any living aliens: The crew has to fight their own reanimated dead friends who are possessed by evil space spirits. They look exactly like zombies trying to fight their way out of plastic bags.
"'Paper or plastic,' they said! 'Are totally reusable,' they said."
So, yeah, Ridley Scott revolutionized the genre by adding more psychological terror, but also by making it look like he spent more than $25 on the film.


text:
5 Clues Hidden in Computer Files That Can Get You Busted
#2. A Politician's Wife Sends Libelous Emails Created on Her Home Computer
The great thing about email, as every terrible person knows, is that you can sign up for an address and spew out hatred to anyone you want, with no repercussions. What, afraid they'll track your ip address? Why, it's as simple as going to some public place and posting from there. Total anonymity.
Unless you, say, attach a Word document to your post.
"Oh, crap, I think I just sent a picture of my boobs. Where's the 'delete sent mail' button?"
Back in 2000, Mike Ciresi was one of four Democratic candidates jockeying to run against incumbent Republican Rod Grams for the Minnesota Senate. As the primary election got closer, Minnesota Democratic party officials began receiving scathing emails about Ciresi and his law firm from a woman named Katie Stevens, describing him as representing "a rogues' gallery of polluters, price fixers, tortfeasors, predators, civil-rights violators and frauds" -- basically, calling him a world-class shithead. Ciresi denied all of these allegations, presumably after doing a quick search for "tortfeasors" on dictionary.com.
The emails were strange enough on their own, but as the Ciresi team tried to track down "Katie Stevens" to find out what her beef was, it became clear that no such person existed. The mysterious bomb-thrower had even sent the emails from a Kinko's, making it impossible to link the IP address to anyone. And the emails kept coming for four months.
"Huh. Apparently, Mike committed 'double Holocaust-rape' ..."
However, the emails contained Word document attachments, and if you've been paying attention to this article, you know exactly where this is going. One of Ciresi's aides checked the document properties of one of the attachments and found that the document had been at least partially written by a "Christine Gunhus", the wife of senator Grams. Authorities later found that "Katie Stevens" had also logged into her email account several times from Christine Gunhus's home, which not only proved that Christine was Katie but was also the first reported instance of a make-believe woman on the Internet not turning out in real life to be a bearded man draped in an Insane Clown Posse T-shirt and loose Pringles.
Sending anonymous emails is usually no big deal, but since Gunhus was not only Grams' wife but also his political director and chief of staff, the emails were considered a form of political advertising, which must carry a disclaimer identifying the source. Ciresi had her arrested and Gunhus wound up with a $300 fine and a suspended sentence, which we hope she spent taking computer classes and watching videos about why you shouldn't send libelous emails directly to a lawyer.
"I just got four guilty gang members off on a murder charge. What's up, let's do this."
But in each of these cases, at least finding the hidden data took some work by someone who knew a thing or two about computers. Sometimes "hidden" data is so easy to spot, you can do it completely by accident ...
#1. World Governments Don't Understand How to Use a Computer to Redact Documents
Redacting is basically when the government (or whoever) declassifies a document but blacks out all the sensitive information. One would think that modern technology would make the redacting of documents easier and more secure than ever, since the documents in question don't even exist in a tangible form. In reality, the exact opposite of this is true, and governments around the world catastrophically fail at redaction all the goddamned time, even when it comes to serious life-threatening secrets.
For example, the CIA released a redacted report called "Overthrow of Premier Mossadeq of Iran" in June of 2000. The original report contained the names of several CIA agents operating in foreign countries, but was released to the public with the names of those agents and their informants redacted, as there was an obvious risk that either they or their families could face retribution. However, the redaction was evidently headed up by Brigadier General Harcourt T. Failureburg, because rather than remove the agents' names, a separate image of a black bar was simply placed on top of each sensitive line but never combined into a single image.
"More to the left ... more ... more ... there we go."
So what's the problem? Well, your computer loads the text and the bars separately. The text first. On a fast computer this wouldn't matter, because the images would appear simultaneously, but if the document were opened on a slow computer, the sensitive lines would appear for all the world to see. Therefore, if you stopped the page before it finished loading, you could see the entire non-redacted report, stumbling ass-backwards into a master hack of top-level government secrets purely because you own an old, shitty computer.
The only saving grace was that the report was already 50 years old, so the risks to the individuals named were fairly minimal (and if the motion picture Red is to be believed, assassination attempts on elderly secret agents are both breezy and hilarious). But then there was the time in 2005 when U.S. troops in Iraq accidentally fired upon several Italian citizens, presumably because they had standing orders to shoot anything with facial hair. The Italian government demanded a response, so the U.S. released a redacted report on the altercation to appease them. Unfortunately, it was an electronic PDF with the redacted portions covered by a digital black highlighter, instead of just using an actual marker on the physical document and running the damn thing through a scanner.
Though, to be fair, sometimes the copy machine is in use, so you have to find other means.
Sure enough, an Italian blogger quickly found a way to remove the electronic redactions (harnessing all of his cunning to simply right-click the censored portions), and then posted the entire report online with names, operational details and unit positions now visible for the entire world to see, which is likely the most hateful thing done by an Italian since World War II.
The U.S. isn't the only government clumsily spilling things like a dude with a hangover trying to cook breakfast. In April 2011 the Ministry of Defence in Britain released several documents online under the Freedom of Information Act. The reports were all heavily redacted, but once again the redactions were done electronically and in a frighteningly unsecure manner -- the U.K. military had literally just Photoshopped black strips over the redacted areas.
"Yeah, that's should work. Just hit enter and call it a day."
All anyone had to do was highlight the text, then copy and paste it into a new document and the redactions disappeared completely. This goof wound up revealing several juicy tidbits such as expert opinions on how well the U.K. fleet could cope with a catastrophic accident, measures used by the U.S. Navy to protect its nuclear submarines, and a report that said the existing U.K. submarine reactors were "potentially vulnerable" to fatal accidents, helpfully letting enemies of the Crown know that to defeat the Royal Navy in an underwater battle, all they have to do is wait.
For more laughs from D. McCallum, check out Texts from Superheroes on Tumblr, Facebook or Twitter.
For more more ways you can screw yourself, check out 5 Wacky Internet Pranks That Can Get You Jail Time and 6 Romantic Movie Gestures That Can Get You Prison Time.


text:
Cities Are Rewriting Their Wireless Stories
There's a certain amount of "retconning" going on these days in municipal wireless circles.
The term retcon, meaning "retroactive continuity," describes the after-the-fact addition of new information to account for purposeful changes or inadvertent errors in a serial narrative. The term was first coined by comic book authors, who often have had to contrive sudden revelations to explain an inconsistency in plot or character history.
Such rewriting of history is happening in numerous cities whose governments have fallen for the hype about municipal wireless and now find themselves millions of dollars in debt with underused systems.
Anxious to justify these escalating costs to weary taxpayers and newly skeptical media, cities are rewriting the narrative. Municipal wireless, goes the new version, is all about improving emergency response and public safety. As reports come in from Philadelphia, where EarthLink has had to place twice as many wireless access points as originally planned, to Lompoc, Calif., which signed up a scant 281 customers on its system, cities are reassessing the concept.
Cincinnati avoided that kind of scenario this past week when City Manager Milton Dohoney decided to pull the plug on municipal wireless - for now.
That EarthLink and MetroFi now say they will not offer low-cost or free tiers of wireless service unless a city commits to being an "anchor tenant" has not helped the outlook. Faced with this choice, Anchorage, Alaska, and Corona, Calif., pulled the plug on their own muni plans.
Many, however, many are past the point of opting out. Minneapolis is among the estimated 300 to 400 U.S. cities, ranging from Los Angeles to Peoria, Ill., that have such projects in the works. Having been caught up in the hype, they are fast learning there's no such thing as free wireless.
Those cities face a problem. Having originally told residents that these "private-public partnerships" would cost taxpayers nothing, they now have to justify the appropriation of thousands of dollars for the purchase of wireless services.
While the city may indeed benefit from improved communications, it's important to remember that the original muni wireless deal was based on promising cheap Internet for citizens, not on the city's communications priorities. It's reasonable to ask if the city and, by extension, taxpayers, are getting a good deal.
The process suggests otherwise. In most cases, cities did their best to squeeze top dollar from their wireless partner for exclusive use of city right-of-way. Now they're forced to buy service exclusively from the franchised monopoly they created. Hence, the attempt to paste over past promises about cheap or free Internet with a smiley face about how great muni wireless can be in a crisis.
After last week's bridge disaster in Minneapolis, the city's information technology department wasted no time in trumpeting the role the city's muni wireless system had in handling emergency communications. Lost in all of this was the telling fact, reported almost offhandedly by ComputerWorld, that just 1,000 users were on the municipal system the day the bridge collapsed. This was on a warm summer Friday in a city of 383,000 and thousands more commuters and visitors.
While there's no doubt that Minneapolis municipal wireless network was crucial in emergency response, we shouldn't get caught up in a false dichotomy that it's either muni or nothing. By granting exclusive right-of-way to one company, MetroFi, the city drove away potential competitors that could have just as easily set up service for the city at less cost. Openness, not exclusivity, fuels investment, and it leads to true competition, not simply the addition of a city-government broadband anointee.
To date, only a handful of cities, such as Corpus Christi, Texas, and Providence, R.I., have approached a muni wireless project by assessing their own needs first, and treating wireless network procurement like any other competitive bid. These have a better chance at success, because they went into the process with much more realistic business cases.
Don't be fooled. With too much political capital at stake, no one's going to admit failure. The politicians just do what clever comic book writers do when confronted with a disjointed narrative - rewrite history.
Steven Titch (email@example.com) is senior fellow for IT and telecom policy at the Heartland Institute.


text:
I have purchased custom subliminal cd's and I have using them for over 3 months now and I am not sure if the message I wanted on it is even on there or what message is on there and or even if there is a message period. How can I find the message in the background. I just want to make sure I'm not being ripped off.
want to find a program or other sources that can help me find subliminal recordings in my custom cd's
migrated from avp.stackexchange.com Jan 24 '14 at 12:01
This question came from our site for engineers, producers, editors, and enthusiasts spanning the fields of video, and media creation.
Subliminal CDs are pretty much a rip-off. The science is weak, but even if you did want to uncover the "subliminal" message, it'd take a ton of work (think of isolating vocals from a mixed down song). Since some of the methods for encoding the message involve reversing it or placing it outside the human hearing threshold (plausible deniability :D), this complicates things greatly. Get your money back as soon as possible.
Find the exact same recording (sans subliminal) and match up the first zero-crossing. Invert one of them. Anything left over is the difference between the two signals. If you have nothing, then there's nothing there. If you have more, then hopefully there's not too much left that makes it impossible for you to distinguish them.


text:
ADRIAN — Crime Stoppers of Lenawee County is reminding the community that tips to help solve crimes can be sent by text messaging, in addition to phone and the use of an online form.
Tips relating to crimes committed in Lenawee County can be sent by text message to 274637 starting with the word "Lenawee." Any tips that lead to the arrest of the responsible person or persons will earn the caller a cash reward.
Tips may also be made anonymously by calling 266-6161 or, toll-free, 877-276-8477 or online at tinyurl.com/LenMostWant.
Location, ST | website.com


text:
The Kansas Wrestling Coaches Association announced Thursday that Leavenworth had been tabbed as the 2013 5A Academic Awards State Champions.
The Pioneers had four seniors finish with GPAs higher than 3.0 — Josh Ammel, Kenneth Sculley, Jesse Colver and Nathan Butler.
Butler, Sculley and Colver all had 3.5 or better marks.
On Tuesday, Butler also competed in the Annual KC Metro Classic, where he defeated Missouri undefeated state champion Melieke Collins of Center 11-1.
I figured I would throw in my two cents here. This is just another example of the great job LV coach Jay Johnston and his staff are doing at Leavenworth High.
For a few years now, the Pioneer program has been climbing and I really believe that will only continue as long as Johnston is at the helm. Plus, having talent like Nathan Butlers, Danny Wilson, etc. helps a lot too.
Anyhow, I think this recognition is as much a honor to the coaches as it is to the kids. Kudos to both.


text:
Dead Doctors Dont Lie 14 Jan 2015
Pharmacist Ben Fuchs fills in for Dr. Joel Wallach beginning the show discussing a story that the FDA has approved beta blocker drugs for rosacea a skin condition. Then outlining the many terrible side effects caused by beta blockers. Also contending there are natural ways to deal with rosacea.Pearls of Wisdom
Doug Winfrey and Ben Fuchs discuss a news article concerning "natural flavors". Explaining the differences between natural and artificial flavors. Also stating why the artificial and natural flavors are added to foods. Doug and Ben assert that people shoould avoid the processed foods that contain these flavorings.Callers
Carmen's mother has been diagnosed with a tumor she also has hypertension and type 2 diabetes.
Bellamy has questions concerning a friend diagnosed with viral encephalitis.
Reed has had hiccups for over a year.
Kat has a friend who has high blood calcium levels and her doctors told her to stay away from calcium rich foods and supplements.
Call Dr. Wallach's live radio program weekdays from noon until 1pm pacific time at 831-685-1080 or toll free at 888-379-2552.


text:
Combining an Allogeneic Graft-Vs-Myeloma Effect with High-Dose Autologous Stem Cell Rescue in the Treatment of Multiple Myeloma
Reviewer: Mary Kara Bucci, MD
University of Pennsylvania Cancer Center
Last Modified: December 9, 2001
Presenter: David G. Maloney
Presenter's Affiliation: Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seatle, WA
Type of Session: Plenary
Myeloablative allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) for Multiple Myeloma has been associated with high transplant-related mortality (TRM), limiting its clinical usefulness despite its potential for cure. Autologous HSC rescue has a lower rated of TRM but does not have the curative potention of the graft-vs-tumor effect of the allograft. In order to combine the curative potential of allogeneic HSCT with the safety of autologous HSC rescue, this study followed a myeloablative autolgous HSCT with immunosuppression and an allogeneic HSC rescue, separating the high-dose conditioning regimen from the graft-vs-tumor inducing allograft by 40-120 days.
Materials and Methods
42 patients with relapsed or refractory Stage II/III myeloma received 200mg/m2 of melphalan and autologous SCR, followed 40-120 days later with a single fraction of 200 cGy total body irradiation, immunosuppression with mycophenylate mofetil x 28 days and cyclosporine at least 56 days and unmodified allogeneic stem cell transplant with peripheral blood stem cells from an HLA-identical sibling. The initial 4 patients received allografts of CD 34+ cells only; after the death of 1 patient from cytomegalovirus pneumonia, allografts were modified to CD34+ cells(8.6 x 106) and CD3+ cells (4.2 x 108).
Author's Conclusions
Clinical/Scientific Implications
This novel combined approach to stem cell transplant may offer a safer, potentially curative treatment option for multiple myeloma patients. Older patients, who traditionally have not been offered allogeneic transplant for multiple myeloma due to their increased risk of treatment-related morbidity and mortality may be suitable candidates for this regimen.
Oncolink's ASH Coverage made possible by an unrestricted Educational Grant from Amgen.