text:
The 6 Most Needlessly Overcomplicated Crimes Ever Planned
The difference between a comic book villain and a real-world criminal is that the former will rob a bank by staging a complex plan that involves dressing up in a ridiculous costume, leaving clues all over the city and killing at least two henchmen, while the latter just walks in with a gun and asks for the money. Or so we thought. It seems that real crooks have taken a page or two from the likes of the Riddler and Lex Luthor and started planning their crimes in the most elaborate, pointlessly complicated ways possible ... which, as the following people found out, tends to blow up in their faces.
#6. Gang Builds Massive Tunnel to Break into a Blockbuster Store
The Crime:
A gang in Manchester wanted to get their hands on the money in an ATM inside a local Blockbuster store, perhaps figuring that it should be stuffed with cash, since no one's rented there since 2002. As we've pointed out before, it really isn't that hard to hack into an ATM and make it spit money out, but these guys decided it would be simpler to just take the entire machine ...
The Needlessly Elaborate Plan:
... by building a 40-foot tunnel complete with lighting and scaffolding. They didn't just want their tunnel to take them under the ATM; they wanted it to be nice enough to live in.
Manchester Evening News
Who says criminals don't take pride in their work?
The tunnel was discovered when some workmen stumbled upon a disguised trapdoor in a field and opened it to find what they must have initially mistaken for a passageway to Narnia. Soon they realized that the tunnel, which was still unfinished, stopped about 20 feet short of a cash machine. Naturally, police filled it with cement, and the thieves (who were never found) presumably opened the trapdoor one day to find that they'd been seriously cockblocked.
So, were they discouraged to see months of work buried in cement? Fuck no. Four years later, they tried again -- except this time, they totally got away with it. By once again digging a tunnel underneath a local Blockbuster (the reports don't specify, but we'll just guess it's the same one, since it's probably the only one left in all of England), they dug through and ran into some concrete. Completely undeterred, they drilled right through a foot of it, got the cash machine, and made a getaway.
The Telegraph
They would later go on a spree of travel agency and Betamax robberies.
So how much did their years of tireless criminal labor net them? Around 6,000 pounds (just under $10,000), which is probably about as much as the tunnels cost in the first place. Hopefully they also grabbed a few dozen used copies of Big Momma's House 2 to make their trip worthwhile.
#5. Pervert Poses as Disabled Person to Trick Women into Looking at His Junk
The Crime:
Eric Carrier had a simple mission in life: showing his penis to unsuspecting women. But, rather than buying a trench coat and going to the park like most decent folk, he had a slightly more complicated approach ...
The Needlessly Elaborate Plan:
... namely, posing as a mentally challenged man on Craigslist to trick women into changing his diapers. Although how much faking was necessary, if any, is debatable.
Neighborhood News
"Hey, hey, I'm crazy, not mentally challenged."
After some consideration, Carrier decided that adult diaper changing was the only normal situation in which anyone would be forced to "accidentally" take a peek at his sack (fortunately, the man had never heard of ChatRoulette). Posing as his own no doubt very proud father, Carrier put up an ad on Craigslist looking for a caretaker for his brain-damaged son. Once women responded to his ad, Carrier would try to get them to change his soiled diaper, a ruse that worked on at least one occasion.
One of the women says that she pretty much immediately knew something was up when she noticed that the man who supposedly contacted her on the phone (that is, Carrier with a deeper voice) was nowhere to be found, and afterward she was never contacted again. Despite having been discovered trying to pull off the old Craigslist diaper dodge in 2011, Carrier tried it again a year later and was arrested.
Union Header
"Me? I'm in for ... let's go with child molestation."
Let's think this situation through, since this guy clearly didn't. Even if the adult diaper changing was a crucial part of his particular fetish, we're guessing there are people you can pay for that in this day and age. Hell, Craigslist probably has a whole section where diaper fetishists can hook up for free. Honestly, this guy just went about it in the worst possible way you could ever show your penis to someone else.
#4. Software Executive Pulls Off Thousand-Dollar LEGO Scam
The Crime:
Thomas Langenbach was the vice president of a highly successful Silicon Valley software firm, lived in a fancy $2 million home, and had almost everything he wished for. Except for massive, massive amounts of LEGO. Rather than just using some of his fortune to buy himself a literal brick block palace, Langenbach decided he would take a different route ...
The Needlessly Elaborate Plan:
... ripping off Target stores in an intricate, year-long LEGO-stealing scheme. Perhaps feeling inspired by the LEGO company's own thievery, Langenbach used his computer smarts to print up fake bar codes that he then slapped on the boxes of LEGO playsets inside the stores. He then simply walked up to the registers and paid a discount rate, trusting that the minimum-wage cashiers wouldn't think that it was weird that he was taking, for example, a $250 LEGO Millennium Falcon for only one-fifth of its price.
Mountain View Police
"On one hand, this man is clearly a thief. On the other hand, fuck it."
This wasn't a one-time thing, or even a ten-time thing: Langenbach pulled this stunt so often at different Target stores that they eventually noticed that something odd was going on and circulated a flyer with his face among security personnel. When he was finally caught red-handed, he still had some of the fake bar codes in his pocket and car, and upon searching his home, literally thousands of unopened LEGO boxes were found stacked inside.
Mountain View Police
Most shockingly, they also found a wife.
Turns out Langenbach had been re-selling the LEGO sets on eBay for a year under the name "TomsBrickyard," raking in an estimated $30,000 in profits for selling approximately 2,100 different playsets. That sounds pretty impressive until you remember that he was the VP of a freaking company and probably made as much money in a week. He could have just bought the things in bulk and still made a profit selling them online.
Keeping it small scale allowed him to focus on customer service.


text:
While installing Debian Wheezy, I decided to use my another HD as
/home/igor/Documents/, and the system installed correctlly nothing wrong happened, but later I decided to delete that partition so I did it, so now everytime I boot system, while it's loading, an error an error stop the loading process and then ask me to enter with the "maintainer password" (root) or to press Ctrl + D to continue the loading process. The error says that there is a problem with the "file system". And a log appears on
/var/log/fsck/checkfs and when you open it with
nano /var/log/fsck/checkfs this message is inside:
Log of fsck -C -R -A -a
Sun Sep 9 16:37:18 2012
fsck from util-linux 2.20.1
fsck.ext4: Unable to resolve 'UUID=0f0123f4-2870-42e0-ad18-de837a6d2aed'
fsck died with exit status 8
Sun Sep 9 16:37:18 2012
How can Ifix this problem?

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Please enter a maximum of 5 recipients. Use ; to separate more than one email address.
| Cypriano, D. L. N. , Petrobras, Rio de Janeiro-RJ, Brazil; Ponciano, J. A. C. , Petrobras, Duque de Caxias, Brazil; Vilas Boas, A. T. , Petrobras, Duque de Caxias, Brazil; Murray, P. D. , Petrobras, Duque de Caxias, Brazil; Nasser, M. R. , Petrobras, Duque de Caxias, Brazil
Equipment and pipe failures can be avoided through better desalting practices and inhibitor injections
For crude-unit overhead systems, pH is the main process
parameter that impacts corrosion rates. To control corrosion
conditions, many operators use various neutralizers at optimum
ranges determined by site-specific conditions. A four-year
study (20052008) was conducted at a Petrobras refinery using amine-blend
solutions to control pH. Over this period, corrosion rates were
measured through ultrasonic inspections and weight-loss
coupons. Important process parameters monitored included:
pH, chloride and iron concentrations at the
bottom of the overhead drum
Neutralizer and inhibitor flowrates.
A qualitative comparison was done with two refineries, using
two other neutralizers: sour water from fluid catalytic
cracking (FCC) unit and an ammonium aqueous solution. This
investigation proved that maintaining a low chloride level and
stable pH levels were the most effective ways to control equipment damage from corrosion.
Also, the study found that several inspection techniques were
particularly useful in estimating service life for pipes and
other crude-unit equipment. Applying better pH control and
improved monitoring and inspection programs can reduce
equipment damage from corrosion.
Hydrocarbon-processing companies follow different methods in
controlling crude distillation unit (CDU) overhead
corrosion. Common approaches include inhibitors to neutralize
acid solutions. Even with a good control on crude oil in
storage tanks and the desalting process, hydrochloric acid
(HCl) will still be present at the atmospheric tower overhead
and it demands proper chemical treatment. Merrick and Auerbach
performed a study on 129 different distillation units. From these
studies, it was observed that the average chloride
concentration was 10 ppm to 30 ppm in accumulator overhead
drums.1 Chlorides are generated from some salts
contained in the crude oil that is processed in the CDU; thus
HCl is formed.
There are three main ways to neutralize acidic aqueous
solutions at the CDU overhead; they include injecting:
Gaseous ammonia (NH3)
Ammoniac water (NH4OH solution)
Neutralizing amine solutions.
Regardless of the neutralization technique applied, the pH
is lower than the dew point of water. This adds more challenges
in measuring pH when condensation occurs; this is the preferred
region for the corrosion process to begin. Neutralization
equations are:
HCl (aq) + NH3 (aq) => NH4Cl
HCl (aq) + RNH2 (aq) => RNH3Cl
One concern for neutralization is the difficulty of
controlling the ammonia or amine flowrates, which depend on the
varying HCl levels in the CDU. The neutralizer injection levels
can be too low and the pH in the overhead can drop. Excess
neutralizer levels, especially in the presence of hydrogen
sulfide (H2S), contribute to precipitation of salts,
such as ammonia or amine disulfides or chlorides. Once formed,
these salts (molten or solid) deposit on pipe surfaces,
likewise, they can cause localized corrosion with a high rate
of thickness loss. If salt formation occurs after condensation,
then its dissolution into water represents minimal corrosion
In this article, some field results are presented, including
chemical analysis, pH and corrosion rate for a CDU tower
overhead. A qualitative comparison was conducted investigating
the different ways to control corrosion, as listed in Table
At Refinery A, the observed corrosion rates in pipes, heat
exchangers and accumulator drum, were obtained from thickness
measuring via ultrasonic testing. Corrosion rates reached
values of 0.15 mm/yr. The heat exchanger tubes presented an
average service life of only seven years, and corrosion
deposits were found in baffle-plate regions. Some thickness
loss and stress-corrosion cracking were also reported on the
shells of the equipment, which can be attributed to high
H2S levels (2,553 ppm) in the neutralizing solution
At Refinery B, high chloride levels, caused by
inefficiencies in the crude preparation and desalting
processes, generated high corrosion rates. The average
corrosion rate observed by the coupon weight loss over two
years was 0.29 mm/yr. The pipes connecting the top of the
atmospheric tower and condensers have flaws from previous
campaigns. Localized under-deposit corrosion in the lower blank
of the condenser shell was observed.
At Refinery C, monitoring results for coupons installed in
the overhead condenser (air cooler), had average corrosion
losses of 0.16 mm/yr. This reflects a uniform thickness loss
expected in equipment and pipes. But there were failures in
pipes caused by localized under-deposit corrosion. In the air
cooler, the average tube service life was five years, and
failures were reported immediately after the flow entrance,
where condensation begins.
For this study, two regions of the overhead pipe were
selected at Refinery B to conduct thickness measurement via
ultrasonic testing. Initially, the testing was separated into
two areas:
Overhead atmospheric tower and condenser
Between the condenser and accumulator drum.
Different behaviors are expected from the pipes carrying the
fluid before the condenser in the vapor phase (by design), then
after, where the water is already in liquid phase. Thus, the
observed corrosion rates were different, as shown in Fig.
The locations for thickness measurement are always chosen
based on the experience of the inspection team supervising the
unit and the measurements usually apply these aspects:
In the curves, the corrosion rates may be higher
due to an increased propensity for the occurrence of corrosion
associated with erosion.
Regions of encounter between two pipes, in the
form of T, are also preferred regions for
In the straight sections, fewer points are
selected, which are expected to be representative of the
In 2004, measurements were made on about 70 points before
the condensers. Another 70 points were inspected with the same
technique in pipes after the condensers. The same 140 points
were inspected again in 2005. The results allowed defining
several average corrosion rates:
Before the condensers: 0.14 mm/yr
After the condensers: 0.16 mm/yr.
Also, there were high standard deviations in both cases,
0.16 mm/yr before and 0.15 mm/yr after the condensers. The
highest rate observed in the first case was 0.63 mm/yr, and the
lowest 0.02 mm/yr. After the condensers, the highest rate was
equal to 0.61 mm/yr and the lowest 0.02 mm/yr.
Before the condenser, 25 points were measured again in 2008;
the average corrosion rate (20052008) was equal to 0.17
mm/yr. The data from the corrosion coupons indicated an average
rate of 0.19 mm/yr in the same period.
In December 2008 and June 2009, five points were measured in
random areas of the pipes before the condensers, resulting in
an average corrosion rate equal to 0.21 mm/yr. In the same
period, some corrosion coupons were analyzed monthly,
positioned on the inlet connections of overhead condensers;
these coupons had an average corrosion rate equal to 0.28
For Refinery B, the study was expanded to include how
operating conditions had contributed to equipment
deterioration. For example, in 2007, some studies researched
the impact from the chloride content variations in the feed at
the pre-flash tower overhead, while the corrosion rates were
measured by coupons. Due to the ineffectiveness of desalting,
there was a direct influence on the corrosive process in the
overhead system, as is illustrated in Table 2. During these
periods, electrical problems caused transformer problems that
affected the inner electrodes to the desalting drums. Poor
desalting of the crude led to chloride levels above 1,000 ppm
in the overhead accumulator drum. Also, pH was affected,
reaching values approximately 4. Weight-loss coupons were
installed in the inlet connections of the atmospheric overhead
To improve desalter efficiency at full operating conditions,
more tests were made by adjusting the differential pressure of
the mixer valve. Usually covered with ∆P = 1
kgf/cm², this value was increased by 0.2 kg/cm².
Result: Without any other changes in operating
parameters, a reduction of 44% in the chloride content in the
accumulator drum was obtained.
In the overhead atmospheric system, pH, chloride, iron and
corrosion rates were monitored by weight-loss coupons. Fig. 2
shows the historic data of pH values measured in the
accumulator drum since 2008. The figure shows the mean values
and standard deviations for measurements over each month,
except May and September, when there were no analysis
Fig. 3 shows the measured chlorine values in the same drum.
The target is 40 ppm as the maximum, which can only be
guaranteed with efficient control in crude preparation at the
storage tanks and desalter.
The mass balance at the tower overhead is shown in Fig. 7.
It is known that the chloride content measured in the top
accumulator is directly linked to the presence of HC1 formed
from the hydrolysis of salts present in the feed. Thus, it is
possible to set base values for neutralizing agent flowrates.
From the condensate analysis in the overhead drum, several
periods were selected in which the chloride content was close
to 100 ppm, or 50% of this, 50 ppm. On the same dates, the
average flowrates of the neutralizing solution and pH were
recorded, as listed in Table 3.
N2Cl j N2+ + Cl- (1)
From the salt concentration, it is possible to determine the
expected pH:
As Ka is very low, the salt concentration
Cs = [N2+]:
There are many other contaminants in the overhead system,
such as H2S, ammonia (NH4), sulfur oxides
(SOx) and others that can alter conditions and force
changes on the predicted pH values. We cannot establish a
direct relationship between the chloride (Cl-),
flowrate and pH neutralizer from field results.
However, we can determine the salt concentration (N2Cl) from
the N2 solutions, as described in Table 4, and compare it with
the expected resulting pH. Table 4 lists the results; observing
that, in a few cases the values coincide, as in D1, D3, D4 and
D5, and the neutralizing added on top is extremely diluted into
the total water solution (264,000 l).
Fig. 8 shows the historic data of the weight-loss coupons,
installed on the inlet connection of the overhead condenser.
There were many lack periods, in which the corrosion rate is at
greater than the established limit (0.125 mm), such as in
November 2004 (0.60 mm/yr), January 2008 (0.53 mm/yr) and
November 2008 (0.55 mm/yr).
At the three refineries presented in this study, various
problems caused by corrosion are sourced to low operating
efficiencies in the crude desalting unit, which is initiated at
the storage tanks. Checking field data and literature to find
benchmark values for evaluating the effectiveness of existing
desalters can help maximize salt-removal efforts.4
Also, leakages observed in pipelines in Refineries B and C were
mainly caused by deficiencies in pH control. This is the main
control parameter in the tower overhead, and it must be kept
within the range with the minimum possible deviation. We could
not associate a neutralizer type to observed failures.
The results of Refinery B showed that even with at stable pH
behavior over the study period, corrosion increased. The
standard deviation observed during 2008 was 0.54, with daily
routine measurements. This value is consistent with observed
deviation cited in the literature, equal to 0.78, when gaseous
ammonia was used as a neutralizer in the same
The literature shows that low pH values lead to high
corrosion rates on mild steel, even though the presence of
inhibitors may be insufficient to alleviate this
problem.6 Conversely, a pH too high can also bring
negative consequences:
Using excess neutralizing solutions, based on
amine or ammonia, favors the occurrence of deposits, leading to
localized corrosion with extremely fast kinetics.
In stream containing H2S, such as the
CDU, stability of the protective iron-sulfide film is
compromised while increasing its solubility, thus accelerating
We can analyze a phase diagram for H2O-HCl and
correlate it to the overhead corrosion process.8 It
is possible to observe a temperature range of approximately
100°C to 102°C, in which an average concentration
observed in the field (0.7% HCl), and in which two phases are
present in equilibrium conditions: vapor (rich in water) and
liquid (rich in HC1). At the temperature where condensation
begins, the HCl concentration in the liquid is 10 times higher
than vapor phase. Only below 100°C, in equilibrium
condition, the steam is fully condensed, and the final
concentration of the liquid is reached. In Refinery C, this
behavior was well marked, as leakages occurred in the starting
point of condensation on the overhead air cooler, while the
rest of the pipes were found in good conditions.
To increase the process data analysis, the measured
consumption of neutralizing amine in the overhead during 2008
were compared with values originally estimated by the
supplierdata presented in Table 5. The comparison was
done in a period in which the main process variables, such as
pH and chloride content in the overhead drum, did not suffer
interference from typical discontinuities, such as high levels
of base sediment and water in oil. The selected period was the
months of June 2008 to August 2008, in which the corrosion rate
was below the recommended target of 0.125 mm/yr, as shown in
Table 6.
Application of neutralizing amine can be varied for many
reasons, such as incorrect pH measurement, which interferes
directly in injection flowrate. If the quality of the crude is
kept almost constant, the product amount injected into the
overhead stabilizes. This is the condition studied in the
chosen periodoptimum injection to compare the predicted
with the far field. From Table 5, the relationship between the
measured and predicted consumption of neutralizer is
For a maximum chloride content of 50 ppm at the overhead
using data of steam injection background and specific
consumption provided by the manufacturer, the amount of amine
provided at the top would be 60 l/d, while in practice, keeping
variables under control, the measured consumption was 120 l/d.
We can conclude that the predicted flowrate for the
neutralizing solution can be a guide for the process, but only
constant pH monitoring (preferably online) can promote adequate
control for amine injection.
Corrosion rates are directly proportional to
pH. Accordingly, field monitoring uses weight-loss
coupons to validate the quality of process parameters control.
At Refinery B, measurements were made from 2004 until early
2009, when only 45% of cases were below the limit0.125
mm/yr. Throughout 2008, the weight loss was framed in only 30%
of the months monitored. Comparing these results with
inspections by thickness measurement, we realized that the
difference between the rates obtained with both techniques was
short only at the second decimal number, as shown in Table
This study listed a number of results available in many
CDUs. But the relationship between them can generate even more
support for inspection teams that manage equipment integrity.
From the temperature (T) and pressure (P) in
the overhead pipe, it is possible to estimate if water vapor
and its components reach the dew point before the condenser.
The pH measured in the accumulator drum indicates how the
developed corrosive process will progress throughout the
system. The chloride content, which is directly related to the
flowrate of the neutralizer, also increases corrosion at high
values, even if the pH is controlled. Injecting inhibitors can
reduce corrosion rates but not with the same intensity as pH
adjustments. Thus, we must work to meet the primary objective
of the refinery integrity program: to reduce unplanned
shutdowns, identify root causes for corrosion degradation of
equipment and ultimately develop a good corrosion monitoring
Conclusions. Among the available neutralizing solutions,
refiners should use the one that provides the best efficiency,
coupled with the cost benefit for each unit, while considering
environmental aspects from waste
generation and final treatment. There are pros and cons
associated with each neutralizer.10 The results
showed that the type of neutralizer used on the CDU atmospheric
tower overhead was not the determining factor in
minimizing corrosion. Only a good control of process
parameters, especially the desalting efficiency (low chloride
level at the overhead accumulator drum), can increase equipment
service life. We can also establish a direct relationship
between the historic data of the process parameters (chloride
level, pH, temperature and pressure) and the expected thickness
loss of the equipment and pipes.
Monitoring weight-loss coupons is essential to validate the
quality of the process parameters control. At Refinery B,
the rates obtained with the coupons were compared to results
from inspections by ultrasonic thickness measurement, where
only a small difference in the second decimal number (0.02 mm
to 0.07 mm) was observed. With these low rates and constant
monitoring, the likelihood of failure is minimized, and it
becomes possible to predict damage to equipment and avoid
unplanned shutdowns due to equipment failures by corrosion.
Plant results and literature data indicate that there is an
optimal pH control range for the CDU overhead system. The main
process parameter, defined in terms of two main corrosion
mechanisms are:
At low pH (pH below 5.5) the HCl causes severe
corrosion in the mild steel
At high pH (pH above 6.5), due to the presence
of H2S, there is an increase in the uniform
corrosion rate due to the breakdown of the iron sulfide layer,
and localized corrosion under deposit is also more likely to
occur because of the salts formed.
For each system, an optimal range should be specified. It
will depend on the chemical composition of the final solution
obtained in the accumulator drum. It is important to note that
pH stability is dependent on system automation. More reliable
online information enables low deviations if there is an
instrumented injection control fed by online pH measurement.
1 Merrick, R. D. and T. Auerbach, Crude
unit overhead corrosion control, Materials
Performance, September 1983, p. 15.
2 Couper, A. S. Bothered by corrosion of
your crude-unit condensers?, Oil & Gas
Journal, July 1964, p. 79.
3 Harris, D. C., Quantitative Chemical
Analysis, 7th ed., California, 2006.
4 Gutzeit, J. Controlling crude unit
overhead corrosion by improved desalting, Hydrocarbon Processing, February
2008, p. 119.
5 Jambo, H. C. M., D. S. Freitas and J. A. C.
Ponciano, Ammonium hydroxide injection for overhead
corrosion control in a crude distillation unit,
International Corrosion Congress, Granada, Spain, September
6 Gutzeit, J. Effect of organic chloride
contamination of crude oil on refinery corrosion, Nace,
Orlando, Florida, March 2000.
7 Sardisco, J. B. and R. E. Pitts,
Corrosion of Iron in an
H2S-CO2-H2O System:
Composition and Protectiveness of the Sulfide Film as a
Function of pH, Corrosion, November 1965.
8 Potolokov, V. N., V. A. Efremosv, S. V.
Nikolashin, T. K. Menshchikova, E. G. Zhukov and V. A. Fedorov,
Liquid-Vapor Equilibrium in the AsCl3-HCl-H2O
System, Inorganic Materials, September 2006, p.
9 Ropital, F. Current and future corrosion
challenges for a reliable and sustainable development of the
chemical, refinery, and petrochemical industries,
Materials and Corrosion, July 2009, p. 495.
10 Jahromi, S. A. J. and A. Janghorban,
Assessment of corrosion in low carbon steel tubes of Shiraz refinery air coolers,
Engineering Failure Analysis, November 2004, p.
All comments are subject to editorial review.
All fields are compulsory.
azad aljebbary
How to control chloride content of overhead accumulator water, when it is too high.and the salt content in crude is about 60ptb
HImanshu Sharma
Dear Sir,If you can increase the wash water flow into the condensor that surely decrease the concentration of chloride content in the accumulator and then you get the good result.RegardsHimanshu Sharma
Dr. Khawaja Manzoor Ahmed
Dear Sir,How to control chloride content of overhead acuumulator water, when it is too high. Caustic injection (In limited conc.) is not showing good results. Please I am requesting your guideline.Reply will be appreciatedBest regardsDr. Khawaja
Muhammad Faisal
good effort sir..
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Engineers and designers are highly skilled individuals. Forcing them to enter design changes using tables, forms and spreadsheets is unproductive and uneconomical, and it increases the likelihood of human error—this is the way that most instrumentation software systems currently work. For too long, software vendors have denied engineers and designers the simple practicality of a graphical visual engineering interface with "drag and drop" capability and inbuilt intelligence, ensuring changes are automatically replicated into all the associated data and databases.
Is 2016 the peak for US gasoline demand?
Too soon to tell
July 2016


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Matt Savage
You are hereHome/ Matt Savage
Matt Savage, diagnoised with Autism at the age of three, has taken the music world by storm and established himself as a promising jazz pianist, composer and perfromer. Now 19, Savage has been connected with some of the biggest names in jazz from the time he was first labeled a "jazz prodigy" at age 8. He has performed (on stage and in jam sessions) with the Ellington All Stars, Chaka Khan, Wynton Marsalis, Joshua Redman, The Bad Plus, Arturo O'Farrill, John Pizzarelli, Clark Terry and Chick Corea, just to name a few. At the age of 11, Savage debuted at the famed Blue Note (and was signed as an artist for Bösendorfer pianos). The following year, he debuted at Birdland with the legendary Clark Terry on trumpet, Jimmy Heath on sax, Jon Faddis on trumpet, Marcus McLaurine on bass and Kenny Washington on drums. In 2007, Savage made his first appearance at the prestigious Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola at Jazz at Lincoln Center.
Presently a junior at Berklee College of Music, Savage has made Boston his "home away from home," with performances at such local venues as the renowned Regattabar. Savage manages to balance classes, studies and concert gigs while maintaining a GPA of 4.0 and achieving Dean's List status. The Boston Globe caught up with Savage in 2010, describing just how well he is navigating college and career. In the article, the author refers to Savage's song Picturesque, which appears on his new album. The journalist writes, "Later, on the soundstage at Berklee's Cafe 939 on Boylston Street, Savage demonstrates the power and fluidity of his maturing playing style as he launches into 'Picturesque,' one of his original compositions. Studious-looking but never stiff, he plays the piece in a lilting, expressive manner that lends its softer edges a big, impressive sound. After finishing, Savage says what he loves most about jazz is its spontaneity, a quality embedded in every note he's just played."
Savage's full biography and information on upcoming performances can be found on his website:
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Home > LEAGUE SERVICES > Indepth > November 2012 > Educational Opportunities
When a communication crisis hits, the counsel you get could be the difference between riding out the storm or a full-blown disaster. Mark Grimm is a former television news anchor with 30 years of communication experience. As a seasoned professional, he will explain the best ways to deal with a crisis and share seven steps for damage control that are invaluable at the Top Seven Secrets for Media Damage Control webinar on November 13 (Session Code: 665).
Even though the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) hasn't substantively changed since 2003 (although there have been a few minor amendments), SCRA and the entire subject of how you treat your military members and their families is an extremely hot topic these days. All you need to do is go to the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) Web site and read many articles and blog postings about the new regulator's efforts in protecting servicemembers. Plus, the mainstream press has had stories of banks foreclosing on military members overseas, a definite no-no. What should you know about the SCRA, and what is coming? Listen to the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act Quickbites on November 15 (Session Code: 667) to find out. Among the topics we'll discuss:
We know that the member is NOT always right. But we have to take steps to make them happy regardless of what their situation is! The Member Is Always Right - NOT! QuickBites on November 20 (Session Code: 668) will offer helpful hints on how to diffuse a tense situation before it gets completely out of hand. Learn how to change a member's tone of voice, calm an angry member down, and offer sensible solutions to common problems experienced by your members. Electronic communication has become an essential and effective means for organizations to conduct business. However, along with the ease of transacting business and the global reach it provides, comes the risk of data leakage. In addition, paper documents still require protection. The protection of PII and corporate information is a critical issue and is mandated by not one, but numerous complex and sometimes confusing regulations. The Data Leaks Happen: Are you Prepared? webinar on November 27 (Session Code: 665) will clarify compliance issues and provide times for participants to ask questions. Is your credit union's website compliant with all the latest rules & regs to protect the credit union and the member? The Website Compliance QuickBites on November 28 (Session Code: 670) will cover some key website compliance issues to be aware of regarding these areas. Bank Secrecy Act training is available on demand! The Bank Secrecy Act requires that all frontline personnel be trained on money laundering and the responsibilities of the financial institutions on currency reporting and suspicious activity every year. See the ICUL education calendar for the schedule of BSA on demand training and all QuickBites and Telecourses. Also available on demand for 2012: Financial Exploitation of the Elderly. Elder abuse training – regarding financial exploitation of the elderly -- is now required for employees and officers with direct customer contact. Examiners will be collecting information about your credit union's training on this subject, as IDFPR is required to report training data on a bi-annual basis. This QuickBite will meet the training requirements and will cover:
All credit unions face situations where only they have an opportunity to witness suspected exploitation. Participate in this QuickBite to learn the common indicators and the actions you can take.
Play it again! The audio archive of all QuickBites and telecourses for 2012 has been increased to 60 days with paid registrations for most sessions. Whether you were unavailable for the scheduled date and time of a particular call or just want to hear the session again, you will have 24/7 access for the entire 60 days after the scheduled session. This feature enhances the value of audio training and is included for no additional charge. The audio archive link will be activated within 48 hours of the live event.
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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.
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Bennington, VT 05201-6003
Fans of the best-selling Twilight book series are sinking their teeth into Melissa Rosenberg '86's highly anticipated film adaptation, which hit 5,500 screens starting with a midnight viewing on November 21.
Described as a Romeo and Juliet story set in a world of vampires, the film grossed more than $70 million on opening weekend alone, according to Box Office Mojo, bringing in more than Summit Entertainment's five previous releases combined.
"Not since Harry Potter has a book-to-film journey inspired so much enthusiasm," said Entertainment Weekly, which featured the movie's stars on three collectible covers.
Rosenberg, who scripted the movie Step Up, as well as famed TV shows Dexter and The O.C., has already been tapped to adapt Twilight sequels, New Moon and Eclipse, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Read an interview with Melissa Rosenberg at Premiere.com.
Read more about Rosenberg's life—before, during, and after the Bennington years.


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The Auburn Montgomery Wellness Center has been named a 2013 Facility of Merit by Athletic Business magazine and is one of 10 facilities featured in the November issue of the national publication.
The awards were selected by a panel of sports and recreation facility architects during two days of judging in Madison, Wis., and were presented at the Athletic Business Conference and Expo in San Diego on Nov. 22. Athletic Business is a 35-year-old magazine with more than 40,000 subscribers in the sports industry.
Judges commented that the Wellness Center was an "open, inviting campus gateway building," with "pleasing interior material and spaces," an "intriguing plan concept" and a "tremendous value for its construction budget."
The Wellness Center opened in August 2012. It is dedicated to student wellness and recreation and houses the Department of Physical Education and Exercise Science, AUM Intramurals Program, and Human Performance Lab. The center's features include a weight room, cardio/aerobics room, pool and aquatic center with lap and vortexpools, a 22-foot rock climbing wall, indoor track, recreational courts, and beach volleyball.
Membership is included in the cost of tuition and fees for all students enrolled at AUM. Faculty, staff, alumni and friends may join for a monthly fee. Learn more at www.aum.edu/wellness-center.
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Ground elder is a terrible weed with delicious leaves. But is the root edible too?
Aegopodium podagraria, commonly called ground elder, herb gerard, bishop's weed, goutweed, and snow-in-the-mountain, is a perennial plant in the carrot family (Apiaceae) that grows in shady places.
The tender leaves have been used in antiquity and throughout the Middle Ages as a spring leaf vegetable, much as spinach was used.


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More than three months after the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, not a single person has been charged in connection with the assault.
Most, if not all, of those questioned in Libya since the attack have been released.
A Libyan source with knowledge of the investigation, who did not want to be identified because of the sensitivities involved in the probe, told CNN there are indications that the perpetrators of the attack came from beyond the Benghazi area and slipped away immediately afterward. The source says it is possible the attackers came from the city of Derna or surrounding areas, about 120 miles (200 km) to the east, which remains a stronghold of militant Islamist and jihadist groups.
The September 11 attack killed four Americans, including Chris Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya. The State Department's independent report on security lapses in Benghazi did not focus on who was responsible as part of its mandate, review leader Ambassador Thomas Pickering said Wednesday, but the FBI continues to investigate.
Militant Islamist and jihadist groups are now flourishing in eastern Libya, the source says, and are too strong for the government to "put back in the box." Independent militias like Libyan Shield - which includes militant Islamists among its members - continue to dominate in Benghazi, and the government's security forces and judiciary are toothless.
Sources monitoring the security situation in eastern Libya say that if anything, it has worsened since the attack on the consulate, with a series of assassinations and attempted assassinations of security officials. Islamist militants are blamed for many of these attacks.
One of the officials killed was Faraj Mohammed el-Drissi. He was gunned down in Benghazi in late November. Drissi had been in charge of the city's security for just one month. Of his three alleged assailants, one was subsequently arrested, the Libyan source said.
On Sunday, there was a major attack on the security headquarters in Benghazi - apparently in an effort to try to free the arrested man. The attack included the use of at least one rocket-propelled grenade, and a lengthy sun battle followed. The source told CNN four police officers were killed, but the attackers eventually fled without being able to free the man. The source says that according to local officials, the attack was launched because the detainee had begun to talk about who was behind the assassination - and had implicated a former Guantanamo Bay detainee.
That man is Sufian bin Qumu, who earlier this year was believed to be operating a camp in a remote area outside Derna. His detainee assessment at the prison camp described him as having a "long-term association with Islamist extremist Jihad and members of al Qaeda and other extremist groups."
While no evidence has emerged that bin Qumu had any direct role in the Benghazi attack, Libyan intelligence officials say he is still active in the Derna area, where militants are passing through his training camps - including some former members of the Libyan Islamist Fighting Group.
"The main question is, to what extent is he part of al Qaeda?" asked the Libyan source.
In an interview with a local media outlet earlier this year, bin Qumu made clear that the time he spent in U.S. custody had left him embittered toward the United States, but he denied he was a supporter of violence.
Bin Qumu is thought to be setting himself up as the "emir" of a new jihadist group in eastern Libya, promoting his background as a Guantanamo detainee and former driver for Osama bin Laden's organization in Sudan in the 1990s. Now in his early 50s, he is said to be promoting his long experience in jihad to recruit followers.
That has involved some embellishment of his record, according to sources familiar with his background. Bin Qumu was never among the leadership of the LIFG. He was known as a "tough guy," says one source, but never assessed by his peers as having the skill set necessary to take on a military command position. The source also points out that bin Qumu was a driver for one of bin Laden's companies - not his terrorist group. He had a long criminal record before embracing jihad and being a relatively late arrival to LIFG ranks in Afghanistan around 1993.
One man who had allegedly been running a militant training camp in eastern Libya last year is under arrest, but not in Libya. Muhammed Jamal Abu Ahmad - a former member of Egyptian Islamic Jihad - was detained in Cairo earlier this month. Analysts believe he had ambitions to create a new terrorist network in Egypt and across North Africa. He remains in custody but has not been charged.
According to Libyan intelligence officials, Jamal was suspected of setting up a camp south of Derna, where foreign jihadists as well as Libyans were being trained.
A former Egyptian jihadist told CNN Jamal was a mid-level operative in Ayman al Zawahiri's Egyptian Islamic Jihad in the 1990s. He spent time in Afghanistan and Sudan before being imprisoned in Egypt in the early 2000s. After being released in the wake of President Hosni Mubarak's downfall, Jamal likely sought to reconnect with his former boss, according to another former jihadist.
The city of Derna and surrounding area has for years been a recruiting ground for al Qaeda and its affiliates. In a 2008 diplomatic cable, Chris Stevens described his visit to the area when he was a diplomat posted at the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli. He outlined how high youth unemployment, discrimination by the Gadhafi regime and the influence of veteran Libyan jihadists from Afghanistan all played a role in radicalizing a new generation.
He said the area was "a wellspring of Libyan foreign fighters" for al Qaeda in Iraq - fighters who may have had a role in his death four years later.


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Are the two used completely interchangeably or are there specific situations where one might be used more than the other? For example I've never heard 日本語 said にっぽんご.
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[EDIT] I only 'heard' that にっぽん was overused during WWII to encourage patriotic feelings. After Jesse Good comment I tried findind document backing up this but as I didn't found anything it's probably better not to remember this point !
Also I remembered that Japan was officialy read as にっぽん according to the Government, I haven't had time to check it yet but this link linsting words who are mainly read as にほん or にっぽん tends to say the two form are reckognize by the government.
Finally, I find Tim answer better than my original answer, so I adwise you to scroll down if it still appear after mine.
From what I heared, 日本 was read にっぽん but was 'overused' during WWII to suggest patriotism toward the country. In order to take distance with this meaning, people switch to a softer reading which is にほん.
Still, 日本 is still 'officially' read as にっぽん, but from what I observed people will mostly prefer the softer version except if you want to explicitly affirm your attachment toward the country, some simple example could be a footbal match, some really 'official' context (I'm mostly thinking of politicians, such as the right orientied parties you can find on saturday in Shibuya).
So I think you will mostly never be wrong using にほん in normal cases. And if you find yourself wanting to cheer for Japan (as a team) feel free to use にっぽん if you feel like it.
There is probably other situation to use にっぽん but I prefer to base me reply on situation I actually saw happen.
I think it helps to understand why we have two ways to say 日本、Nihon and Nippon. Nippon comes from the south of Japan and was used by the Choshu-Satsuma alliance (薩長同盟(さっちょうどうめい))that overthrew the Tokugawa shogunate (aka the 幕府 (ばくふ)) in the mid-19 century. We can still see this influence on the institutions that came out the the Meiji Restoration such as the Bank of Japan which uses Nippon Ginko on its bank notes. The alliance led the modernisation of Japan in the Meiji period ultimately acquiring an empire through military expansion and establishing the country as one of the so-called "Great Powers" that dominated the world politics of 100 years ago.
Hence, Nippon tends to be used in nationalistic/patriotic situations such as charging in to battle and firing up the crowd at a political rally. It is a only small (harmless) extention to hear it being used at a football match or any other situation where the intention is to encourage patriotism.


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Earlier this week, the city of Edgar Springs became the eighth city in the state of Missouri to be named a Purple Heart City.
Four members of the Department of Missouri Military Order of the Purple Heart visited Edgar Springs City Hall May 13 during the board of aldermen meeting to present the city with a Purple Heart flag and plaque.
Local veterans turned out for the presentation and shown here with Department of Missouri Military Order of the Purple Heart members.
City Administrator Paula James said she heard about the Purple Heart City program through the Meramec Regional Planning Commission and aldermen passed a proclamation declaring that the city appreciates the veterans for protecting our rights, liberties and freedom.
"We thought it would be a good idea, since we have so many veterans," James said.
Edgar Springs is the second city in Phelps County to receive this honor.
St. James was the first in the county. According to St. James Mayor Dennis Wilson, the St. James City Council approved the Purple Hearth proclamation at its April 1 meeting and the signing of the proclamation and plaque/flag presentation took place on April 4.
Earlier this year, the cities of St. Robert and Waynesville each individually received the Purple Heart City recognition.
Also neighboring Pulaski County officially became recognized as the first Purple Heart County in the state of Missouri by Purple Heart recipients for its dedication and support.
Location, ST | website.com


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I think pocket money is a great method of educating your children in financing, but at what age should you start and under which condition?
I always tell my kids that I will do my best to take care of them, including using my money to that purpose. They don't need to worry about that.
We started giving an allowance to my oldest at age 7, and we increase it every year on his birthday. This money is really for him to learn with, not because he needs to buy things.
At first, he didn't know how to spend it. It piled up in his room for a while.
Then he started buying gourmet cake at $5 / slice. His money disappeared in a hurry. Now he is having a valuable lesson about the built-in scarcity of money.
I also tell him he has to share whatever he buys with the family that's with him. If I buy a sandwich for myself and my kids are hungry, of course I will share it, so I require the same of him.
I still place some restrictions on what he can buy, even though it's his own money. He may not buy a 6-pack of soda and drink the whole thing in a day, for example.
I am very careful to pay allowance without linking it to behavior. Regardless of whether he does his chores, or whether he behaves himself, he always gets his allowance. That's because I believe that paying for behavior is a really bad idea.
I've heard of an idea where a kid must put a portion of their allowance in savings, a portion goes to charity, and a portion they can spend. I haven't explored this; I'm just throwing it out there.
We are starting by using poker chips with our 4 year old. We reward him for doing well at preschool or finishing some homework. To watch TV, he has to pay 1 chip/half hour. He can also cash them on on a toy at the rate of $2/chip. 5 white chips get traded in for a red chip so this helps with learning addition.
He is learning about currency, how it accumulates, and how it depletes quickly. At the same time, we can encourage things we want him to do and discouraging things we don't, all the while leaving it up to him.
Update: as a slight improvement on this, we use bedtime as a time to go over the day, talk about how he did, and decide how many chips he gets for that day. It also helps my wife and I to not forget about it!
As soon as they can count, and understand the idea of trading one thing for another.
With my son, we started when he was about three and he got the idea very quickly.
Proper money handling is a very important lesson in life, and the earlier you teach your child about that the better. As long as the child is old enough to understand the concept of money and the importance of saving then go for it. I bought my 4 year old son a money jar that counts the money as you put it in and he enjoys putting the money in, even though he doesn't understand what money is for yet.
Dave Ramsey suggests paying children for chores as young as preschool (3-4), but no later than 7 or 8 years.
It is also important to find age appropriate work for your children, as you will quickly run out of "room cleaning".
Give? Never. However, they can earn it as soon as they are able to do even the smallest of chores. My four year old earns money folding washrags and unloading the silverware.
a) As soon as he can count, add and subtract;
In our case we started giving pocket money when our son went to the first grade.
I would agree with "as soon as they can count, add, subtract".
The one thing I would add: Include this money in savings, checking and credit lessons at an early age.
This is a checking account (less common these days, but still important).
Teach them young and early that a portion of money should be saved. Maybe put it towards car, college, etc. Learn early that a chunk of your money goes poof. Bye bye. Learn early how utterly important savings is.
Maybe even teach them credit shortly after they start getting money.
You want that truck? You have $5 and need 10... You can use this credit card (me) to "loan" you the $5 but you owe the bank $1 a week for the next 7 weeks. If you forget to pay me, there is a $1 late fee (You owe $2 next week) and another week owed $1 (more interest accrued).
Let them forget to pay and get late fee's (Deposited into savings, for future use). Let them learn not just to save... but how evil credit is and how important it is to stay on top of it.
This is how you make money, save money and lose money. I wish someone had done those things when I was younger. Would have saved me thousands in dumb choices.
As an educational tool, Monopoly is an excellent way to teach basic math and money-management skills.
Personally, I started receiving an allowance when I was 7, though I had been given money before that as gifts for various things.
My parents also made sure 10% was set aside for church, 10% for the piggy bank, and then the rest was mine to spend.
I believe as early as 5. But i feel you'll know that they're old enough the first time that they ask you for money to buy something. This is a certain indicator that they're beginning to understand this concept. You'll give them money, and they'll spend it all on something that they want... This shows they need money to buy things.
It is important to give children a simple allowance to help them become comfortable with the notion of money...they will get money from relatives for their birthdays and other occasions and I think it is important to let them know what that means to have their own money...our children learn to swim and read at this age so why shouldn't we be teaching them about understanding money as well...
As for conditions... The key in our family is tracking the money we give our kids. Without tracking, i'm just the bank of mom and dad throwing money to the wind. We tried using dry erase boards but that was too hard to manage. A free tool we've been using that works well for our family is called www.allowancemanager.com . It really helps us remember how much we've given to the kids - something I always seem to forget! Hope this helps! If anyone else has suggestions, I'd love to hear them.


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I have an Asus u30jc laptop, which comes with the Optimus prime graphics card switching technology that is now supported under 2.6.35, so I decided to give it a try. First I made sure the discrete graphics card was activated and then I installed the drivers proposed by the ubuntu software repository (nvidia-current).
However, after rebooting all I got was a command prompt.
My graphics card is a nvidia 310M. This is on Ubuntu 10.10 64 bits.
What can I do to diagnose/identify the source of this problem?
UPDATE: The messsages in my syslog tell me to check the xorg log:
Oct 11 12:42:59 u30jc-test gdm-binary[1095]: WARNING: GdmDisplay: display lasted 0.053144 seconds
Oct 11 12:42:59 u30jc-test gdm-simple-slave[1450]: WARNING: Unable to load file '/etc/gdm/custom.conf': No such file or directory
Oct 11 12:42:59 u30jc-test gdm-binary[1095]: WARNING: GdmDisplay: display lasted 0.038176 seconds
Oct 11 12:42:59 u30jc-test gdm-binary[1095]: WARNING: GdmLocalDisplayFactory: maximum number of X display failures reached: check X server log for errors
Which I did. I found this message in my /var/log/Xorg.0.log :
Fatal server error:
[ 113.540] no screens found
[ 113.540]
What does that mean?


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Mooping's AS Cannes
End of Season Update 2012/13 (1st Season)
League Table
League Graph
Season Summary:
The season started poorly with 3 straight losses and we toiled around the relegation places for the first half of the season or so. The defense was ok, but our big inability was scoring goals. Two January signings of Sékou Guessan for 60K from Africa Sports and Adebayo Opara also for 60K from Heartland changed our fortunes and their combined 13 league goals helped to propel us up into a very credible final position of 6th. In the cups we reached the 3rd round of the Couple de la League, and the 7th round of the Coupe de France.
Other news and notes:
Fortunately we have an owner with fairly deep pockets who was able to pump nearly £6m into the team to pay off some debts. The youth intake was a duff one. Highest potential was 2 stars. I didn't offer any of them contracts.
Next Season Targets:
Promotion, and a couple of new defenders, perhaps.
Code:Season | League | Position | Cup |Coupe de la Ligue| Achievements | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2012/13 | National | 6th | 7th Round | 2nd Round | |


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I was talking with a friend who told me that Afghani is an offensive term for someone from Afghanistan, and I should use Afghan instead. Is this term offensive?
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The correct term is Afghan although Afghani is often used as well.
The wiktionary entry1 for Afghani reads:
Purists will advocate the use of the former (Afghan) while well meaning ethnically minded people will often prefer the latter (Afghani) with no offensive connotation at all. Here is a randomly picked example.
I can see at least two reasons why Afghani could be perceived as offensive.
Note 1:
Wiktionary is actually missing a third meaning: Afghani being also a lesser used synonym for the Pashtu language.
Note 2:
To be understood as "The Pakistanis and the international aid agencies coined this word to speak of Pakistanis [Afghans] versus the Afghans [who stayed in Afghanistan]".
Note 3:
Because of the succession of governments in Afghanistan, Afghanis banknotes are often redesigned and are both affordable and appreciated by banknotes collectors. My preferred one.
I would be surprised if your friend were Afghan.
Afghani is simply a Persian/Dari genitive and so in itself is not offensive, though Afghan is better English, while al-Afghani turns up in several people's names. The only real issue is who has previously used it for what purpose. Paki for example is offensive in Britain, solely because of its racist use in the the past, and for obvious reasons is more offensive when aimed at Indians than at Pakistanis.
I lived in Afghanistan for a couple of years and here's the lowdown - you call the inhabitants of Afghanistan (whether they are of Pashtun, Tajik, Uzbek, Hazara, Nuristani etc. ethnic origin)- AFGHANS. The money they use is called an Afghani. It's not offensive per se. Maybe if used in the context where you use these terms for someone who's not an Afghan - it could be offensive.
I am Afghan, and when people say Afghani, we instantly think of the currency. We use Afghan to represent that someone is from Afghanistan.
It's not offensive per se, but it's not correct. It's not that big deal, though. Just try to use the right word, but if you don't, it's not going to be the end of the world.
To refer to Afghans as Afghanis is not offensive at all. In Dari/Persian when we talk about people we say for instance, "Is he Afghani or Pakistani?". Of course we ask this in Dari which goes like this, "Afghani ast ya Pakistani?" Is this offensive? Hell NO!
In Dari Grammar to make an adjective from a noun you put the suffix -i at the end. Example: America is noun to refer to the people of America we say, "Amerikai" or American. Iran is a country and people from Iran are Irani. Of course this is all in Dari. That is how the grammar works.
Finally, the word Afghani which is used for the Afghan currency is a Pashto word which is pronounced differently from Afghani. It is even written differently in Pashto. But because that Pashto sound does not exist in Dari, people say Afghani when they refer to people and when they talk about money they use Afghani. So, it is the context that matters. If you talk about currency you say Afghani and people know you talk about money. When you talk about people you say Afghani and people know you refer to Afghans or Afghanis.
Next time someone corrects you that it is incorrect or offensive to refer to an Afghan as Afghani, refer them to this post!
The terms Afghan and Afghani both come from the Pashto word afghānī.
Pashto: The Iranian language of the Pashtuns, also spoken in northern areas of Pakistan, that is an official language of Afghanistan.
Pashto and Dari Persian are the two official languages of Afghanistan. The Pashto language is also known as Afghani.
Origin: 1925–30; < Persian Afghān + -ī suffix of appurtenance.
Dictionary.com and the World English Dictionary accept both Afghan and Afghani.
My NOAD says that Afghani is the "the basic monetary unit of Afghanistan, equal to 100 puls", while Afghan (you can see it also here) is the term that indicates a person from Afghanistan. Maybe that explains why the term is perceived as offensive by people from Afghanistan.
In Persian(Dari or etc) it look different.
The OED has the following to say:
afghan A native or inhabitant of Afghanistan.
afghani The principal monetary unit of Afghanistan, divided into 100 units.
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I have two point layers, which visually have spatial correlation. I'd like to test it but wonder if there is such a method or index?
Since your point pattern is serial in nature, I would recommend a Kulldorff Spatial Scan Statistic using a Bernoulli model. This is a type of point pattern statistic that does not assume an homogenious point process and is inherently multiscale.
Sorry to say that this is not available in ArcGIS. Fortunately, the software SatScan has Binomial and Poisson likelihood scan statistics available (and is even GUI driven).
If you would like to go the R route take a look at the "kulldorff" function in the "SpatialEpi" package.
If the points from two layers are coincident and you are interested in the correlation of two (or more) different variables for this set of points you could try
This will give you LISA indicators (here is a reference for the method) and their significance for high-high, low-low, high-low and low-high patterns among your observations. Use
Here is an example from manual:
You could buffer out within a distance range, using different ranges and then factor the results for changes in buffer distance to establish the degree of correlation factor, for addressing points you could try the same as well as join table for matching addresses and find factors for address accuracy matches at changes over distance range factors.


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Sterling Cheatham has served as the City Manager for the City of Wilmington, North Carolina since 2003. He is responsible to the City Council for the day-to-day administration of all city departments, including preparing and administering annual city budgets. He is also responsible for proposing policies for consideration of the City Council and overseeing the administration and implementation of those policies and ordinances.
Prior to working for the City of Wilmington, Cheatham served as the Assistant City Manager for the City of Norfolk, Virginia where he was responsible for policy development in areas of finance, infrastructure, economic development, environmental management, legislative and strategic planning and oversaw daily operations for clusters of departments, including public safety and administrative support departments. Previous to this position, he was the Director of Finance in the City of Norfolk where he managed the financial affairs of the city, including the operating and capital budgets, debt and investment administration, procurement, financial analysis and reporting and risk management.
Cheatham has also worked as the Director of Management and Finance in Aiken County, South Carolina; the Director of Administration and Finance in College Park, Maryland; and the Assistant to City Manager and Budget Officer for the City of Greenville, South Carolina.
Cheatham is a member of the International City Management Association, the North Carolina City/County Managers Association, Public Technology Incorporated, American Society for Public Administration and the Conference of Minority Public Administrators.
Cheatham holds a Masters of Public Administration from The American University in Washington, DC with an emphasis in Intergovernmental Financing. He also graduated Magna Cum Laude from North Carolina Central University in Durham, NC with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Public Administration.
Wilmington, located in New Hanover County, is a coastal town situated in southeastern North Carolina. The city is bordered by the Cape Fear River to the west and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Following is some general information about our city.
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Is there a smooth function on an interval in $\mathbb R$, not analytic on any subinterval, whose Taylor series at every point has positive radius of convergence? The Fabius function might be an example, but this is questionable since the n'th derivative has maximum $2^{\sigma(n)}$, where $\sigma(n)=\frac{n(n+1)}{2}$, which is not quite good enough using a crude estimate for radius of convergence if there are points where many derivatives are close to the maximum.
We define $$\Psi(x)= \sum_{k\ge 0} 2^{-k}\psi_{\sigma_k}(x-x_k),\quad \psi_{\sigma}(y)=\exp{-{\vert x\vert}^{-\frac{1}{s-1}}}, $$ where $(x_k)_{k\ge 0}$ is dense in $\mathbb R^d$ and $(\sigma_k)_{k\ge 0}$ is decreasing and valued in $[s_1,s_0]\subset(1,+\infty)$.
That function is good explicit substitute to Fabius function since it is smooth and nowhere analytic: even better, it is multidimensional and its analytic wave-front-set is all the cotangent space (minus the zero section). To prove this use Gevrey classes.
It seems likely that the radius of convergence of the Taylor series is positive on a dense subset of $\mathbb R^d$. Anyhow it is a good candidate.


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Football: Raiders topple Hearts; Naugatuck, Derby roll
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18 Jan 2013 2:45 AM #1
Problem, don't found an event with several segmentedbutton.
Hi everyboy,
i hope you'll can help me.
i have a problem with my application, i will try to explain you this
In my panel, i have three segmentedbutton and i would like to know if there is a way to detect if two button from two segmentedbutton different are pressed ?
Or if there is an event for that, different from the event toggle onSegmentedbuttonToggle because we can only select on segmentedbutton with this event.
Thank a lot


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Public Announcement: general public, choirs, mimes, poets, pastors...etc.
We are having our 2nd Annual "Praise – 4- A- Cure" Gospel Extravaganza!!!! We are inviting you all personally to come out and take part in this event to help uplift the name of Jesus. This gospel event is all about giving God the praise and at the same time raising money to help families that may be going through treatment due to cancer related illness. This fundraising event is to raise money to create Cancer Care Packages and raise awareness of Breast Cancer & other cancers. Therefore, we ask that everyone who comes to this event and taking part in the show to still pay the donation fee to get into this event. The price is $5 in advance and $7 at the door (kids 12 and are under free). In the event that you cannot attend this event we still want to give you the opportunity to send a donation by using Gofundme.com link(http://www.gofundme.com/45ltrg) . This is a secure online site to help raise money.
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I'm producing a documentary film with several interviews in Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5 and Adobe Audition CS5.5. In several situations I had to cut before the sentence was completed. Is there any way to make a sentence completion synthetically?
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.
Your simplest option may just be to find the same words spoken by the same individual in an earlier part of the interview and splice them in. It will sound much closer to the correct speech than an artificially generated sample.
This issue is the main reason why you don't cut until well after the end of the interview or scene.


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The zone: "A place were you do focused work without the existence of time."
You have been in 'the zone' when a couple hours have passed without you noticing it. When you're into the zone: you work at maximum efficiency and you produce the highest quality of work. Since you are fully concentrated when into 'the zone'.
But how do you get into 'the zone' quickly? For instance: How to get into 'the zone' in 5 minutes or less?


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I have a Raspberry Pi and while its plugged into the network via ethernet, my setup works and I can connect to the static IP.
Today I bought a wlan adapter and after install it works great too... but only one thing. It will not start up by it self?
To get the wlan running I actually have to plug the LAN cable in for a few sec, then I can connect by its static IP. After the LAN cable is plugged in I can unplug it and connect to it wirelessly. How wierd is that?
I'm guessing something aint starting up? Before it notices the LAN cable and starts up the service?
My setup is:
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.1.50
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.1.1
auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet static
wpa-ssid <ssid>
wpa-psk <key>
address 192.168.1.51
netmask 255.255.255.0
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The fell influence of Balanchine, by Sarah Kaufman
Posted 12 May 2009 - 07:44 AM
So Cowboys (Western Symphony), athletic contests (Agon), Majorettes (Stars and Stripes), and commercial theater (Who Cares?) are not "human scale" or down home enough?
I love how Balanchine would look at these "American" topics with affectionate humor and create a ballet that endures.
"Most of his works evoke a cool, purified, distant universe. And always, refinement:"
Is this a bad thing?
If the creative side of ballet is stagnant because of too many Balanchine imitators then it seems ridiculous to blame the original. Balanchine's vision was a reaction to AND a compliment to the ballet aesthetic that came before him, just as the next ballet creative genius will move it forward.
And miliosr, lucky for you my flamethrower is out of gas .
Posted 12 May 2009 - 08:08 AM
"Ballet has to get its humanity back"--
Yes, glad you repeated that, the one truly loathsome sentence in the piece, truly a howler. She's almost contradicting everything else she calls for in her 'asking-please-for' post-Balanchine rant.
I don't think SK's aesthetic arguments are compelling at all--abstraction can be deeply moving for many, whether rendered on canvas, in music, or bodies on stage,
Yes, but important to point out that it's moving in a different way. Fact is, some abstract work can seem 'romantic' to some. But nobody responds to Xennakis and Stockhausen the way they do to Tchaikovsky or Chopin. It's not even possible. Being moved to tears is something we've been discussing as the thread has progressed, but I doubt that anyone was ever overcome with emotions of the heart from Boulez's 'Repons'. I've heard it performed twice in concert, and conducted by Boulez, but while totally dazzled, certainly it's not about any of the 'human themes'. A modernist film like 'Last Year at Marienbad', is clearly all sex, even when 'x' says 'I loved you' to 'a', he is not talking about getting married and starting a family. In other words, you can definitely be moved by this film, for example, because it's HOT, but not because the relationship of the two knockouts is 'touching and tender'. A less extreme example, then, is Balanchine as opposed to the old Petipa classics. I know lots of people who would still much rather see a shabby Burger King 'Sleeping Beauty', than have to 'endure' Apollo or 'Davidsbundlertanze. There's already a coolness in Balanchine that is not in the work from which he evolved. And there all sorts of minutiae to this: You get a great partnership between Farrell and Martins, breathtaking yes; but it is in no way that fully realized duo that Fonteyn/Nureyev had, who were dancing together, not together and apart, which is what Farrell and Martins were doing (I liked it, and it expresses different kinds of things, but it's not the same kind of warmth. I saw Nureyev and Fonteyn only separately in person, Martins and Farrell numerous times, but even on video, Rudi/Margot partnership is more intertwined. You can feel their real personal affection, and smoe could say that is irrelevant, but it is there for all the world to see, and you can't miss it, it is adorable.) Things like that. But there was still, even with the Balanchine coolness, a lot of Romanticism in many of the ballets--maybe even most of them. They are not as plangent as some modern dance works, but then they're not supposed to be. This happened less in music that was in the vanguard, and only the most kinowledgeable connoisseurs are going to call Boulez's Second Sonata 'romantic'. Atlhough it is, it is never going to be popularly hears as such--until there is a lot more robotic and singularity-type evolution, so that all that difficult High Modernism seems to be 'quaint' at some point. But with things like 'Jewels' and anything done to Tchaikovsky, you have instant Romanticism no matter what, so that the works in the vanguard of the Arts at a given time do not nearly always parallel each other.
Posted 12 May 2009 - 08:17 AM
Maybe not, but they've done what Artistic Directors have done over time: create rep to feed their company at no cost above their salary. I don't know Weiss' at all, and I think Martins' is limited in keeping the dancers' chops up to speed for a large range of styles.
What does it say about the classical ballet as a major art form if it cannot generate diverse choreographers of stature (or even talented craftsmen) on a more regular basis?
The former New York City Ballet dancers. Is anyone going to make a serious case that the existence of Balanchine resulted in lasting work from Peter Martins, Helgi Tomasson, Kent Stowell or Robert Weiss?
Tomasson and Stowell, at least, are talented craftsmen -- Ib Andersen is more than that, especially with his story ballets, since he hasn't seen to jettison his Danish roots in story-telling and creating a community onstage -- and they feed/fed their companies a range of rep that was needed at any give time and which keeps the dancers' skills honed.
I think there might be a few works of each that were in the standard rep if AD's would put on each others' work, already. It never ceases to amaze me that the promising things in the low-cost/abstract genre I see aren't shared/traded.
Balanchine's other genius was as a producer. Sure he was inspired and had a series of piano reductions in his back pocket, but he fed the company with what it needed -- populist hits, star vehicles, cameos, openers, closers -- all to a wide range of music and ranging the gamut from abstract to "Nutcracker". The best of the craftsmen do the same and stretch their dancers.
I don't think it's a coincidence that Martins was charged with "The Magic Flute" for SAB when he started to choreograph. That wasn't his interest, and he let it slide until "The Sleeping Beauty", and not again that I can remember until the next full-length classic beckoned.
I tend to agree with Sarah Kaufmann, in that making mediocre Balanchine ballets is easier than making mediocre Ashton or Tudor short story ballets, because stringing together an unrelated series of steps is easier than putting together a coherent story, so probably it would be better training if young choreographers tried to tell a story--though I would never ever want to sit through that San Francisco Ibsen ballet again!
There are some opportunities for young choreographers: every major company has a school, and those kids give performances. (Whether there is a full-time job in it is another story.) At PNB, the Choregraphers' Workshop is the last performance of the year, for the last few years using students from the school in the works of company members and staff. Ballet Master Paul Gibson -- sadly nothing from him this season or next, at least for the main company -- and corps member Kiyon Gaines have had their works produced in recent seasons.
Posted 12 May 2009 - 09:05 AM
How can you go back to narrative ballet when you really dont have a narrative culture anymore? There is, rather, an atomizing one -- of tweets -- bits of knowledge about the world but not a sustaining narrative, not even a shaggy-dog ones anymore (except for Roberto Bolanos novels). Yes, Wheeldons ballets of snippets speak to this.
Where do you find the actors to bring off even abstract ballets (as pointed out in a previous post)? We have to draw on countries who havent moved so head-strong into the future to find dancers who know how to possess the stage and project character.
Mark Morris seems to be the last of the interesting actors or characters to give birth to some unique work--out of the tradition of Merce Cunningham and Viola Farber and Tudor. And what is said about Balanchine eclipsing other choreographers can be said of Cunningham downtown. The life of art just happens like that.
And per Cargill I couldn't bear to sit through another SF Ibsen ballet either!
Posted 12 May 2009 - 09:47 AM
It's stunning to think how wrong Mister Duell was, but at the same time it's relatively easy to imagine that at the time his statement seemed reasonable. Predicting the future is tricky business.
In 1899, then Patent Commissioner, Charles H. Duell reportedly announced that "everything that can be invented has been invented."
Posted 12 May 2009 - 10:03 AM
Ashton was very varied in his work, and did abstract as well as story ballets. Assuming this means narrative ballets, Artistic Directors are chomping at the bit for new story ballets...
The Ashton work that may well be his greatest is an abstract ballet but I dont think thats what people mean when they suggest looking to Ashton as an example of a different kind of approach to the art form. ADs love new full evening story ballets but smaller-scale ones somewhat less so.
A few other things about the article. Rubies is a complete ballet, not an excerpt. Balanchine was immersed in Russian avant garde influences in Russia, as well as 19th century ballet forms, well before he went to France--SK skips over this. The Bauhaus was not a unilateral school, and indeed had deep humanist traditions. Paul Klee and Johannes Itten both taught there alongside Mies. (Moholy Nagy was the bad guy who telephoned in his paintings to be fabricated offsite and scared everyone by this cold way of making art.)
Thank you for pointing these things out, Quiggin. (Kaufmans article reminded me of that little book Tom Wolfe produced some years ago about the Bauhaus where he also had some blinkered things to say about Balanchine.)
Would you rather see Valse Fantaisie or Dracula?
Good point.
I'm glad so many BTers are putting in their two cents. There are still a few precincts to be heard from, however, and you know who you are.
Posted 12 May 2009 - 11:51 AM
Posted 12 May 2009 - 12:26 PM
One of Balanchine's greatest insights was to create dance that required uniformity of energy and impetus rather than uniformity of style, because he wasn't going to get uniformity of style at the Ballet Russe or in his many attempts to create his own company in America. How many companies actually hire dancers they've trained since they were eight years old like in the royal/imperial academies?
Almost all of the major company schools in North America split the school in early teenage years, some continuing with a parallel track of kids who don't make the Professional Division. SAB, the most prestigious company academy in the US, trains the majority of its dancers professionally for at most five years, and they add top level students each year. That's not molding dancers in a company style from the beginning of their training, although with the retirement and death of many of the Russian and European teachers who've been replaced by former company dancers, training is probably more homogeneous now than not that long ago.
The current rep provides jobs for the most diversely trained group of dancers without relying upon style.
Posted 13 May 2009 - 04:30 AM
In a 1987 essay on Twyla Tharp titled Post-Modern Ballets, Arlene Croce digressed from her main subject to address a then-current Lincoln Kirstein essay titled "The Curse of Isadora," in which Kirstein launched yet another of his tiresome broadsides against the modern dance. Croce responded as follows:
Might it not be time for another essay, called "The Curse of Balanchine," in which it would be shown how the great choreographer created twentieth-century ballet and put it off-limits at the same time? He incorporated into the mainstream everything there was to incorporate -- jazz, Bauhaus, twelve-tone music, American pop; yes, even the modern dance -- and left the academy at a peak of virtuosity, with nothing further to express. Balanchine's progeny rework his accomplishments; they can honor his precedents, but they can add nothing to what he has said.
If Croce wrote that in 1987, I can just imagine what she would write now given the ever-decreasing marginal utility of the Balanchine-style abstract/plotless ballet.
Ah well, I suppose I am a Cassandra on this matter. But then, look what happened when no one listened to her.
Posted 13 May 2009 - 05:02 AM
On the whole, I side with volcanohunter and those who continue to be moved, deeply, by Balanchine's work and are delighted to see it preserved and even developed by regional companies around the world. I don't think that Balanchine can be blamed for, or tarnished by, the ballets of less-talented choregraphers who have entered the scene in his wake. "Plotless" does not mean, in the hands of someone like Balanchine, that there is no "story" or no ability to provide a deeply human fascination.
Re: the eye-caching and emotionally charged slogan, "Curse of Balanchine." I was struck by the fact that Kaufman's editors at the post chose NOT to flaunt this in the headline. Instead, they lead off with: "Ballet Must Make Room Onstage for More than One Genius." This is not a controversial point, but it's a good one. If only Kaufman had stuck with it.
Kaufman has clearly thought a great deal about this matter. Good for her. In arguing for more variety in ballet programming -- a more adventurous spirit and a willingness to engage in different styles and formats -- she is performing a service. By returning several times to her "Curse of Balanchine" theme, she does her cause no good.
I'm sorry, she loses me on this. I see Balanchine as one of the greatest artist-humanists of the modern age.
How do we break the Curse of Balanchine? ... What's needed is the antidote to all curses: Ballet has to get its humanity back.
Posted 13 May 2009 - 08:10 AM
I'm sorry, she loses me on this. I see Balanchine as one of the greatest artist-humanists of the modern age.
How do we break the Curse of Balanchine? ... What's needed is the antidote to all curses: Ballet has to get its humanity back.
Yes, her remark reveals a profound inability/unwillingness to see B's work in a larger cultural context.
Posted 13 May 2009 - 08:17 AM
Posted 13 May 2009 - 09:02 AM
I really don't think Kaufman is referring to Balanchine with that remark but rather to current ballet performance and choreography trends begun by people who misguidedly think ballet is primarily about steps.
I agree, because she praises Balanchine's work a lot in the article. That's why her title was ill-chosen. But I think that remark is pretty clunky on its own merits--DO it, don't SAY it, as they say; in this case, if you say it, it just comes across as cornball and cheap nostalgia about the 'getting its humanity back' --or the lack thereof. It also rather rhymes with that 90s cliche, pronounced by Monica Lewinsky among others, about how 'I just want to get my life back'. Gross. I'm so glad I haven't heard that for awhile.
But when she says 'Of the more than 400 ballets Balanchine created in his 79 years, roughly 75 are still actively performed. And they are, for the most part, so exquisite it's hard to complain about seeing them over and over. Who can tire of the radiant stasis in "Serenade," the spacious, deconstructed architecture of "The Four Temperaments," the mass precision of "Symphony in C"?' this proves that she does have something to say, since she's clearly not a Balanchine-basher if she can say that. She should have called the article 'The Oppressive Cult of Balanchine and Its Refusal of All Critique', instead of 'The Curse of Balanchine'. Because I don't think Balanchine himself would care for this cult.
Perhaps it's because I grew up with Balanchine's style--I generally find his 'surprises' predictable..
Agree there too, although only because I did see a lot of Balanchine before any other ballet, which is the reverse of what most do, I think. It doesn't mean that I ever tire of the ballets of his I most love, of course, and there are a good lot of them. But there is definitely too much hype, and I basically thing the article is important.
Posted 13 May 2009 - 09:11 AM
I really don't think Kaufman is referring to Balanchine with that remark but rather to current ballet performance and choreography trends begun by people who misguidedly think ballet is primarily about steps.
She may not have intended that, Hans, but in the context of her article and references to .....the sinewy style he favored, his preference for plotless works on a naked stage, his taste for fast, skinny, emotionally guarded dancers and all those wholesome American types he kicked off the stage to make way for Bach and Stravinsky, it sure sounds like it.
Posted 13 May 2009 - 09:25 AM
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Date published: 2015-09-17
Rated 5 out of 5 by yourguy from Great shoes I love the comfort of these shoes. they go well with dress and casual attire.
Date published: 2015-07-09


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Backpack / Rucksack 3D Sterling Silver Charms
Product Code 4461
Backpack / Rucksack - 3D Sterling Silver Charm
These beautiful charms make welcome additions to any silver charm bracelet or collection.
This charm can be converted to fit any type of charm bracelet. Our various attachment options include the conversion to a Clip On Charm or to a Pandora Style Dangle Charm (Carrier Bead). We also other attachment options to convert the charm to a Handbag / Mobile Phone Charm, a Sterling Silver Bookmark or the use of two charms to create a unique pair of silver earrings. For full details see our Attachment Options page.
Your charm can be soldered onto a bracelet or attachment option of your choice, just select the Soldered Connection Method. For details see Soldering Service.
Charm Dimensions: 9mm x 9mm x 8mm
Charm Weight: 3.3 gms
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