text:
Noodles & Company: Summertime Salads (First 50 in line) for $0
Today only Noodles & Company will give the first 50 people in line a Free Summer Salad. ALSO each FREE salad will come with THREE FREE coupons for friends to each try a Summer Salad for FREE by August 31, 2012.
Locations around me open at 11am.
Choices: Backyard BBQ Chicken,, Spinach and Fresh Fruit, Chili Lime and Ginger with Chicken
*One per family. Must be 13 years or older.
2 Comments add a comment
After seeing your post this morning, myself and two coworkers headed down to the closest Noodles at opening time and got ourselves some FREE salads. We also each received 3 MORE coupons for FREE salads. BOOM!. -THANK YOU OP (jsoko)!
@mduscavage: You're welcome. I'm glad to see the deal get used!

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Announcing pregnancy dilemma
So wife is pregnant with baby number two and her cousin just announced she's pregnant today (baby two as well) and due a week after we are. My wife feels a bit of thunder has been stolen but she doesn't want to take away from her cousin's moment. Wife was going to announce tomorrow but now wants to wait. I told her not to worry about her cousin and just do what she wants to do. What do you all think?
24 Answers answer
I think you are very wise, but it sounds like there may be a bunch of hard feelings involved. Always side with your wife. :)
EDIT: Pardon my manners...congratulations!
Me I do not get 'it', the whole 'moment thing'. But I agree with @jsimsace: wives are show more empathy, better safe than sorry.
Won't hurt anything to wait a few days or a week. Let everyone have their own "moment." Emotions run high at these times. Better to agree with her on the little things!
Congrats, and I would give it a week.
I'd wait and announce it at Christmas. You can say it's a wonderful gift you and your wife are sharing with each other this Christmas.
@lavikinga is wise as well as beautiful, a Christmas announcement would be perfect. Congratulations!!!!
As for a more practical answer, I would suggest waiting until the 8 week mark (after your first doctor visit) to announce it.
There are so many complications that can arise simply from having a second child, it's what I would do.
Good luck and congratulations.
@curtisuxor: I fully agree. Best to wait until after the first trimester to make sure nothing bad arises. Congrats!
while i don't get the whole pregnancy competition thing, but i DO get that women get it... lol. (my sister and sister-in-law struggled with ruining the moment for the other... but it was less benevolent than your wife's decision.. they were arguing over who gets to tell first, ha!)
A christmas announcement would be great... and as a bonus, it would totally show up the cousin's announcement (if that's a consideration at all LOL)
I also vote for a holiday announcement. Then everyone gets their moment. If you haven't told your oldest child yet, you could wrap up a "baby sibling" for them to open in front of the family as your announcement. Or, just excitedly share you news. =)
Don't jinx it. Wait until the little wooter is delivered, then tell people you had it.
We'll see how tomorrow unfolds. I'd like to wait until 6 months in or so but I don't think she would buy that? It would be great to just say oh by the way having a child in a few months!
Yep, as said, wait a week and announce your great news. But, I would make sure to announce it with a "joint" excitement. Kind of a "we too" thing. It will go a long way to say something like "we are lucky to be announcing that we too ..."
It may also be a good idea for your wife to tell her cousin first, before she announces it to the rest of the family. Give her a heads-up so she doesn't feel like you wife is "ruining" her moment, or anything like that. Instead, it could make them closer, and they can share the pregnancy experience. Not to mention your kids could be great play-friends.
It seems a bit negative to go into it thinking you should delay it to show up the cousin. I think it's best to announce your child, but also give recognition to the cousin's pregnancy and celebrate them together! Everyone gets some spotlight, and no one is hurt or overshadowed. Everyone is important in this situation, and so are everyone's feelings. If you two can be people who celebrate the whole family, everyone will benefit. Cousin can feel good, and people will recognize that you're two outstanding and caring people as well. :) I think it will increase the positive feelings amongst the whole family if it is a group celebration.
Perhaps talk about what a wonderful gift it is that there are two children on their way into your lives this next year!
Let her do what she wants.
I think it's kind of petty to feel that way just because someone else got pregnant same time as you, but that's just me. Especially a family member.
I think they should both get together and do baby stuff together. It's a blessing for both groups and should be treated that way. Not a contest.
@curtisuxor: As someone who's wife had 3 miscarriages for baby #2 in the first trimester (and who is now 6 months into a healthy #2) do what is best for your family. We announced each one almost as soon as we knew she was pregnant. This gave us a support structure when the worse did happen. I can't imagine waiting the 8 weeks and having something happen then either having to hide the depression and going on like nothing was wrong, or worse while you're grieving having to explain first that you were pregnant and that you lost it over and over whenever anyone asks what is wrong.
@cybercowboy: and since I put that bummer of a post up Congrats to the OP. Let your wife choose the moment that feels right for her, and try to find a special way to make the announcement.
Congrats! As long as the cousin didn't know that an announcement and intentionally preempt you and your wife, I'd say let it be for a couple of weeks.
At least your cousin didn't decide he was going to get married the weekend before you, knowing full well when your wedding is going to be, forcing all the travelling family to either hang out for a week, travel twice, or make a choice! (Yeah, I'm still angry about that. Gr.)
I'm seeing lots of baby announcements lately. It seems a popular time of year for it! Go with whatever your wife is most comfortable with. You're celebrating your own joy, not stealing it from others, and anyone who can't understand that needs a big box of maturity for Christmas.
My favorite announcement so far (also a second baby) was a friend's Christmas hearth picture, with stockings. Below it said: four stockings are hung by the chimney with care this June we will have a new baby to share!
Congratulations to you!
Thanks everyone, my wife and I enjoyed all the kind words and suggestions.
@dpn0121: Don't leave us hanging, what did you decide?
@cybercowboy: I photoshopped an image for my wife to do the really public announcement she wants to do for all her friends. It's an oven with a bun in it and the date on the timer.
She told her close family today and I let my dad know as well. Her cousin and her are planning a joint party to celebrate. Her cousin and us (we, both of us, um whats the right word?) both live in VA and our families all live on the North coast. It will be good to get together.
Congrats on the coming new baby.
I must say I just don't understand why people feel like they need the spotlight or are afraid of sharing someone else' spotlight with good news like a pregnancy, engagement, etc. So what if someone else is having a baby at the same time or got engaged or married at the same time. It doesn't make your news any less special.
Are people so insecure and petty that they can't share the spotlight and celebrate life's joys without jealousy or spite?
Good news is good news. Period. Spread your good news when you want to.
If your wife's cousin gets bent over it, your wife's cousin needs to grow up.


text:
Published February 06, 2013
People reach out to take fruits and vegetables freely distributed by farmers during a protest against high production costs, outside the Agriculture Ministry in Athens, Greece.
Seating plan is seen at the Royal Opera House, in Covent Garden, London, ahead of the British Academy Film and Television Arts Awards (BAFTA) in London.
The body of Shokri Belaid, a prominent Tunisian opposition politician, is carried into an ambulance after he was shot, in Tunis.
Heavy traffic is pictured on a snow covered motorway in Bochum, Germany. Significant snowfalls over the past hours caused over 600-kilometer traffic jams in North-Rhine Westphalia.
Indian Air Force helicopters cross paths while performing an aerobatic flight on the opening of the Aero India 2013 at Yelahanka air base in Bangalore.
A bolt thrown by an Arcelor Mittal employee breaks the glass at a bus stop during a protest in Strasbourg, France. Arcelor Mittal, the world's largest steel producer, plans to shut a coke plant and six finishing lines at its site in Liege, Belgium, affecting 1,300 employees.
Storks are seen on an old sugar factory near Jerez de la Frontera, southern Spain.
Newly recruited female marines take their lunch with fellow soldiers inside the marine headquarters in the town of Ternate, Cavite city, south of Manila, Philippines, February 5, 2013.
A student activist puts black scarves on the eyes of Shoparjito Shadhinota, a sculpture that represented all sections of people in Bangladesh's liberation War in 1971, on the campus of University of Dhaka, to demand capital punishment for Jamaat-e-Islami senior leader Abdul Quade after a war crimes tribunal sentenced him to life imprisonment.
Members of Honorable Artillery Company and the City of London's Territorial Army Regiment fire a 62-gun salute in honor of the 61st anniversary of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II's accession to the throne, at the Tower of London.
Protesters hold Bahraini flags and banners with signs reading 'No U Turn' - meaning 'No Returning Back' - in a rally organized by the main opposition society Al Wefaq, in Budaiya, west of Manama, Bahrain.
Herring worth billions of dollars in exports are seen floating dead for the second time in two months, in Kolgrafafjordur, a small fjord on the northern part of Snaefellsnes peninsula, west Iceland, February 5, 2013.


text:
Scottsville police have charged three minors in connection with burning down a piece of Allen County history last week.
Third degree arson charges were filed Monday against a 17 year old male, a 15 year old male, and a 13 year old female.
They are accused of burning a log cabin on the Dumont Hill Historic Site, a Civil War battleground.
The cabin was built two years ago from 200 year old timber.
Police say the cabin was valued at $10,000 dollars.


text:
I've had many questions on Stackoverflow on how to minimize the output of a cipher - during encryption of course - to the same size as the input. Obviously this is possible for a single block of plaintext, but it gets harder when the plaintext size is larger than one block. Using a stream cipher is possible, but you would need some kind of IV, and some place to store or derive the input data for the IV.
For now I am just looking for answers regarding confidentiality (authentication/integrity may be disregarded). Furthermore, I would like to focus on input that is bit or byte aligned and cannot be compressed. Obviously it would be nice to have obviously distinct results when using a different plaintext, even if it starts or ends with blocks of identical data. The key size should be manageable, say a maximum of 64 bytes.
Currently I presume that the best result can be achieved using a stream cipher and a nonce encoded to the minimum of required bytes. So then the encoded nonce would be the only overhead.
Note that I am very much aware that the solution space may be empty. In that case I very much would like to have this confirmed.


text:
The question is, find the integral to the function:
$\sin^3\theta / (\sin^3\theta - \cos^3\theta)$
The only thing I could think of was to factor the denominator. But then I couldn't make any further progress.
The question is, find the integral to the function:
$\sin^3\theta / (\sin^3\theta - \cos^3\theta)$
The only thing I could think of was to factor the denominator. But then I couldn't make any further progress.
$\displaystyle I = \int \frac{\sin^{3}(x)}{\sin^{3}(x) - \cos^{3}(x)}dx = \int \frac{\tan^{3}(x)}{\tan^{3}(x) - 1}dx $
Let $t = \tan(x)$. Then $dt = \sec^2(x) dx$. Since $\tan(x) = t$, we have $\sec^2(x) = 1 + \tan^2(x) = 1 + t^2$ and hence $dx = \frac{dt}{\sec^2(x)} = \frac{dt}{1+t^2}$.
Now the integral becomes $$ \displaystyle I = \int \frac{t^3}{(t^3-1)(1+t^2)}dt$$
Now resort to the good old partial fractions to get the integral.
We take advantage of the symmetry, indeed expand on it. Let
$$I=\int \frac{\sin^3\theta\,d\theta}{\sin^3\theta-\cos^3\theta} \qquad\text{and}\qquad J=\int \frac{\cos^3\theta\,d\theta}{\sin^3\theta-\cos^3\theta}.$$
Note that
$$\frac{\sin^3\theta}{\sin^3\theta-\cos^3\theta}=1+ \frac{\cos^3\theta}{\sin^3\theta-\cos^3\theta},$$
and therefore
If we can find $I+J$ we will be finished.
So we want to find
\int\frac{(\sin\theta+\cos\theta)(\sin^2\theta+\cos^2\theta-\sin\theta\cos\theta)}{(\sin\theta-\cos\theta)(\sin^2\theta+\cos^2\theta+\sin\theta\cos\theta) }\,d\theta.$$
Let $u=\sin\theta-\cos\theta$. Then $du=(\cos\theta+\sin\theta)\,d\theta$. Also,
$u^2=1-2\sin\theta\cos\theta$. From this we find that $\sin^2\theta+\cos^2\theta-\sin\theta\cos\theta=\frac{1+u^2}{2}$ and $\sin^2\theta+\cos^2\theta+\sin\theta\cos\theta=\frac{3-u^2}{2}$. Thus
We do a partial partial fraction decomposition:
If all else fails, the Weierstrass substitution should do things like this, but only if you can tolerate messy algebraic equations requiring numerical solutions. Let's try it: $$ \begin{align} & {} \qquad \int \frac{\Big(2t/(1+t^2)\Big)^3}{\Big(2t/(1+t^2)\Big)^3 - \Big((1-t^2)/(1+t^2)\Big)^3} \; \frac{2\;dt}{1+t^2} \\ \\ \\ & = \int \frac{(2t)^3}{(2t)^3 - (1-t^2)^3} \; \frac{2\;dt}{1+t^2} \\ \\ \\ & = \int\frac{8t^3}{t^6 - 3t^4 + 8t^3 + 3t^2 -1} \; \frac{2\;dt}{1+t^2}. \end{align} $$ At this point I think you'd have to result to numerical methods to factor the thing, but it looks as if the sixth-degree polynomial would be the product of two distinct first-degree factors and two irreducible quadratic factors. When you then find the partial fraction decomposition, there'd be the question of where you get $\text{constant}/\text{irreducible quadratic}$ (so you'd get an arctangent) and where you get $t/\text{irreducible quadratic}$ (so you'd get a logarithm).


text:
It is known that given any closed and bounded $X \subseteq \mathbb{R}^n$ and a bounded continuous function $f : X \to \mathbb{R}$, $f(X)$ has a minimum value and maximum value. This can be proved by noting that $X$ is compact and so its continuous image $f(X)$ is also compact.
However, if $f$ is continuous at all points in $X$ except for a finite number of singularities, does $f(X)$ still necessarily have a minimum value and maximum value?


text:
Back To Vietnam
Daniel S. Perrin
Last Modified: November 1, 2001
Copyright © 2000, Daniel S. Perrin
He held very little respect for officers or authority in general -- any authority. He was kind of a Rodney Dangerfield, in reverse, not giving anyone "no respect."
We called him Korn, short for Kornachek. He hated to be called "Corny," as much as the name fit him. I served with him in Vietnam back in the late 1960s. He had a face like a caricature, and it was as unforgettable as he was.
What I remember most about him was his standard reply should anyone express concern that their actions might bring retribution from the authorities whom he held in contempt: He would ask rhetorically, somewhat contemptuously, "What are they going to do, send us to Vietnam?" There was never an answer for that question. We were already in Vietnam, had already received the worst punishment they could bestow.
He was a good influence on all of us over there, though the officers would not have agreed. He was from Hoboken, New Jersey, which is not far from New York City. When I had a few occasions to take public transportation up that way some years ago, I rehearsed my greeting in case I would happen to run into him during one of my commutes: I would extend an outstretched arm and finger right at him, then in a loudenough voice for all in the subway car or train to hear, exclaim: "We're going to send you BACK TO VIETNAM!"
I'm sure he would have liked that. I could imagine his high-pitched, squealing laughter as if he was with me right then and there. Those days are long since gone, but he still has influence over me now, thirty years later.
I recently had a run-in with the devil, cancer and I was obliged to face its triumvirate cure: radiation, chemotherapy, and surgery. Some cure. The alternative is death, so I had to suffer the cures. You don't undergo cancer treatment; you suffer it. There is no other way to describe it. I won't bore you with its numerous and terrible side effects.
Somehow, I have survived all of that, despite the best efforts of the managed care system to kill me without kindness. I have only the hospital caregivers to thank. They can and do overcome most of the obstacles thrown at them by government and managed care.Especially the nurses.
Now, they don't care much about the system. In that way the nurses are like him, like Korn. They have very little respect for authority. Did you ever notice how many of them smoke? This is their way of thumbing their noses at the system, the administrators, the HMOs, and anyone who gets in the way of their caring for their patients, even some of the doctors. Korn made a science of thumbing his nose at authority. The thing was that authority nearly always deserved it.
Managed care did not realize that I would meet with open arms their efforts to throw me out of the hospital less than a week after major surgery. Those who talked to me about going home seemed to expect some argument, some disagreement. It was not forthcoming. I had barely enough strength to walk to the bathroom. The simple act of shaving required a monumental physical and mental effort. Of course, anyone who has spent any length of time in a hospital under circumstances similar to mine can tell you: They can't release you soonenough.
I want to make it clear, though, that my desire to be released is in no way a reflection on the caregivers, but rather on the system. The health care system is broken; the government broke it, but can't fix it, nor can managed care itself. The hospital administrators will have to ask the nurses, doctors, patients, managed care, how they would go about fixing it. Only if their suggestions are implemented, will we(not government and not managed care) be able to take a stab at fixing it.
I have been too weak to do much work the last several months because of that nasty triumvirate I mentioned earlier. I was fortunate to have medical coverage, though I can't collect long term disability because I was able to work, a few short hours here and there, over the course of my treatments. Meanwhile, my business has been going in the exact reverse direction of the booming economy. I am self-employed and have fallen behind in my paperwork (required by the government) and in paying a few bills.
I just got a letter the other day from the phone company telling me my business phone would be disconnected if I didn't pay $200 by the very next day. Thanks for the more-than-adequate notice. The state of Pennsylvania wants $630 for some business tax and threatened to put a lien on my company (which has a negative net worth) should I not be able to come up with the money. These developments would normally rile and upset me, but I think back to my friend, Korn, and the pain and discomfort disappear. Korn left me quite a heritage. He taught me how to handle such setbacks.
In any case, the direction of my income versus expenses shows me drifting toward bankruptcy. I now need to build my business back upnearly from scratch, to make up for the time I spent away from it, and it will be quite a few months before I am fully up to it. I'm still very weak,but I'm getting stronger every day. I used to be able to jump on my bike and pedal fifteen miles, hardly breaking a sweat. It will be a longtime before I can do that. In other words, it will be a long time before I am fully recovered.
One of the main reasons for the unfortunate drift of my business toward insolvency is the eternal tax bills thrown at it --thrown at all Individuals--, sole-proprietors, corporations, partnerships etc.--by the federal, state, and local governments. Every year at tax time, I need to take money out of my ever-shrinking IRA, which I had built up as an employee at the last few places I worked, to meet those many taxobligations.
Imagine, you finally cash in on the free enterprise system and pull in about $14,000 (gross). After you subtract your expenses, you are left with a "profit" of say $10,000. The IRS wants $1500 (about 15%) for your Social Security. Like some wise American once said, I work for the IRS on a commission basis.
Believe me, for someone making $14,000, $1,500 is a ton of money. So I feel quite despondent when I realize I must take the $1500 out of my IRA. There is no other place to get it, unless I had somehow been able to free up, or procure more available credit on my credit cards and go further into debt. There is more to it. They assess me a 10% penalty on the $1500 for early withdrawal. The reason for the penalty is that I was supposed to have foreseen what was going to happen to me, and the taxes I would owe, so I should not have contributed any money into my IRA 10 or so years ago. So the 10% penalty on top of the $1500 makes it $1650. Can I take a tax deduction for the crystal ball I need to predict these kinds of things?
In short, I must take $1650 from my IRA at a financially solvent institution and hand it over to the Social Security system, which is not only on its way to insolvency, but run by politicians. Talk about a worst-case scenario. They are not going to invest my money in a bank, or anything constructive, but rather they are going to spend it, most assuredly on themselves, reasoning that they are the most deserving.
I can take comfort in the fact that should the government decide to audit me, they will be just as confused as I am about which figures andamounts go on which forms, and even which forms should be filled out, even how much I owe.
I have been audited before. I already know the outcome. What it comes down to is that they are going to collect money from me one way or another. There is nothing I can do to avoid it. They will find some law that will support their position. There is no reason to appeal the decision. The judicial system is virtually certain to support them, as the judges would be jeopardizing their own paychecks if they withheld their legal support.
They are not through with me yet. I may still have to pay regular Federal income tax on the $10,000, if I am not able to drum up enough personal deductions. Of course, I will also need to pay state and local wage taxes and fill out those various tax returns and forms. My federal, state, and local tax forms count up to about thirty pages. I just wish I could afford to pay someone to fill them out for me. I'd settle for having enough energy to do it myself. Then there is the state sales tax, which I am required to collect from my customers and turn over to the government without receiving compensation for the added work. When you are forced to work for someone else's benefit, it is known as slavery, which was outlawed by the 13th amendment almost 150 years ago:
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States...
Says it all doesn't it? Not only that, if I don't collect it, I am responsible for paying it! Simply put, if you do not produce enough cotton for the overseer, you have to pay him for your lack of productivity.
Now I continue to make payments of $500 per month to reduce my debt which has grown to $20,000 because of various loans and credit card debt I took on, at least half of it to pay taxes. We hear how the stock market increases wealth exponentially if you can count on a return of just 10%. The tax authorities are on to this game. That is why they charge usurious interest rates of up to 22% for overdue taxes and unpaid balances. If you invest your money at 22%, you are sure to be a trillionaire in a few short years.
But at some point I may not be able to make the credit card payments, the tax payments, or both. Even now, I am technically in a state of both business and personal bankruptcy since my liabilities exceed my assets by several thousand dollars.
Even now, an IRS agent or state tax agent reading this essay is sure to jot down my name and recommend an audit as punishment for my criticism. That is okay. I have a new attitude. Now you'll understand why I told you about Korn. He gave me the idea. Let's suppose that I can no longer continue to make those monthly payments. I will have the last laugh. What are they going to do if I can't pay? Give me cancer? Or maybe send me BACK TO VIETNAM?
Post Script
My energy has returned since the first few drafts of this short article, and my business is back to the level it was before the surgery.
The various federal, state, and local governments have been busy as beavers mailing me more tax forms so I can subsidize their do-good projects this year.
One of my life-long goals has become to die penniless-owing the government hundreds of thousands of dollars. The amount I would owe them under the ideal situation would be all the taxes they have collected from me, plus 22% interest, compounded daily.


text: Here is another chibi lesson on a Pokemon figure. This is going to be a quick description so get your drawing tools ready. Here is a cool tutorial on "how to draw chibi Snivy", step by step. Snivy is an odd, but cute Pokemon figure that has been requested to be drawn in this chibi form. Just by looking at the main image you can already pretty much tell that you will have little to no problem when tackling this feat. I guess that's all I can really say about another chibi Pokemon, now it's your turn to try drawing chibi Snivy too. I shall return so keep your pencils at hand, and a clean sheet of paper waiting for the next drawing task.


text:
Waterbury chamber's YPOWR group to meet next week
The Waterbury Regional Chamber will host a "Lunched In" workshop for its Young Professionals of the Waterbury Region, or YPOWR, group next week. The event will be held Friday, Feb. 15, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the chamber office at 83 Bank St.
YPOWR is open to businesspeople of all ages. It seeks to assist and energize young professionals in the Waterbury area by engaging them in professional development, educational, social, and community service activities.
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text:
I have a column named
parcel_number of
varchar type. It contains values like
ab-cd-ef and
uvwxyz. A search for
abcdef or
uv-wx-yz does not return those records.
How should I write the query to meet this requirement?
I have a column named
How should I write the query to meet this requirement?
This situation seems to be the result of a bad design decision.
As this column is not storing human readable content, but is to be used as an identifier, the content of this column should have a uniform structure, either with or without the dashes, but not mixing them! You'd also have a hard time having a UNIQUE constraint on this column...
I'd recommend stripping the dashes from the table:
Then you only have to strip the dashes from the the search string too. I assume


text:
HEWITT (January 29, 2013)--A group of students in a robotic club at Midway Middle School are preparing for a lego competition in Austin February 2nd.
The Gears of Republic qualified for the FIRST Lego Invitation Tournament competition back in December.
"Being that this is our second year, we weren't sure what to expect and that's kind of how they went in," Tracy Felder, Midway Middle School Teacher said.
Students use legos to build robots and then program them to move and compete in competitions.
"You see things everyday as a kid and think I can't build that, but when you get to build with these you think, It's just legos," Rachel Cotner, 8th grade student, said.
The team is one of ten teams that qualified for the tournament.
The club stems from a class called Gateway To Technology (GTT) which is offered at the middle school.
The class challenges students to design and test their ideas using the same software used by companies like Intel and Sprint.
"I never had an engineer class when I was young and if I had this opportunity I might have been an engineer," Felder said. "I think just exposing them to this at an early age, 8th and 9th grade, might spark interest in those careers."
Felder says classes like GTT are essential for the jobs of the future.
"It would be cool to help people through technology and I thought that if I could do that, that would be a cool dream to have," Cotner said.
With a growing need for employees with these skills, it's an achievable dream.


text:
WINTERSVILLE - The village's Christmas parade is right around the corner.
Sponsored by the Wintersville Special Events Committee, the parade will begin at 3 p.m. Nov. 25 and travel along Main Street from Riesbeck's to Kroger.
According to Marci Zangrando, event chairman, the lineup will begin at 1 p.m.
"We will welcome a variety of parade participants this year, including floats, cars, motorcycles groups and horses, etc," she explained. "Groups choosing to walk or dance down Main Street are also welcome."
Santa Claus will again serve as grand marshal, Zangrando said.
"This is the best parade in the valley," Mayor Bob Gale said. "It costs nothing to participate or attend. We are hoping to see another great turnout this year."
Those interested in participating can contact Zangrando at (740) 424-5419; Phyllis Foreman, council president, at (740) 266-9492; or e-mail wintersvillespecialevents@yahoo,com.


text:
Play4Kay - Support Breast Cancer AwarenessFebruary 15, 2014
Fans Encouraged to Pink-Out the Abney Center
ANDERSON, S.C. – The Anderson University women's basketball team is partnering with several hundred other schools around the country to participate in the WBCA's 2014 Play 4Kay initiative this Saturday when the Trojans host Catawba at 2 p.m. at the Abney Athletic Center.
Pink-Out the Abney Center by wearing your pink!
The Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) promotes Breast Cancer Awareness with the Play 4Kay initiative which honors the recent Coach Kay Yow, from North Carolina State, who lost her life to breast cancer. In addition to asking everyone to wear pink, AU Athletics will circulate literature and hand out pink ribbons and pink ribbon tattoos to fans. In addition, members of the Trojan women's basketball team will wear pink uniforms to commemorate the occasion.
Members of the Trojan Student-Athlete Advisory Committee will be doing their part by accepting donations from fans throughout the doubleheader.
The signature activity, however, will be a Survivor's Walk at approximately 1:45 p.m. and a ceremonial jump ball just prior to the women's game. The pink basketball will be autographed by players from both the men's and women's team and auctioned off during the day's games, with the proceeds going toward breast cancer research. Skins' Hot Dogs will also donate the proceeds from all hot dog sales to the fund and the silent auction will also include a gift certificate from the Bleckley Inn and a football autographed by Clemson head football coach Dabo Swinney.
If breast cancer has touched your life in any way, as someone who has been diagnosed, or as someone who is undergoing treatment, or as someone who has survived, or if you have a family member that you would like to represent, please join others for the walk and at center court for this show of support and honor. There will be a brief presentation, a picture of the group, and the ceremonial jump ball.
Every South Atlantic Conference women's basketball program has joined together in the fight against breast cancer by taking part in the initiative. The mission of the initiative, which began in 2007 and has raised more than $2 million, is to develop a nation of coaches raising breast cancer awareness on the court, across campuses, in communities and beyond.
Each SAC women's basketball team has designated a game to support the Play 4Kay initiative. Fans are encouraged to attend these games and contribute to the fund, which furthers cancer research.
Anderson was honored to lead the conference last year, raising nearly $3,000 for the effort.
Anderson Federal Credit Union, whose "mission is to serve the people and the community," is the lead corporate sponsor, while support for the AU Play 4Kay initiative will also be provided by Isom Electric, Skins' Hot Dogs, Phil Jewelers, BuyHartwelllake.com, Volcano Vapor, Monick Construction, Over the Rainbow boutique, The Bleckley Inn and Scott and Deb Taylor.
Play 4Kay is named after legendary coach Kay Yow, who fought a courageous and very public battle against breast cancer to build a platform dedicated to improving and extending the lives of cancer patients. After three recurrences of the disease, Coach Yow passed away on January 24, 2009.


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I realized that this is not a less popular concern (and more popular one being the reverse) so I want to post it here. I have a Kinect for Windows but I don't have an Xbox 360 to test this, so can it work on an Xbox 360?
migrated from superuser.com Jun 13 '12 at 6:47
This question came from our site for computer enthusiasts and power users.
I own an Xbox 360 Slim bundled with Kinect for Xbox, and a Kinect for Windows. I tried plugging in the Kinect for Windows into the Xbox, and the console did NOT recognise it. So I can confirm that the Kinect for Windows will not work on the Xbox. On the other hand, the Kinext for Xbox -using the power adapter- does work on the PC.
According to Microsoft...
There doesn't seem to be a lot of information on this, but a news article on Softpedia suggests that it won't:
Article: Special Kinect for Windows Sensor Out on February 1, Costs $250 (€195)


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Hybrid View
17 Jan 2013 2:36 AM #1
Unanswered: Custom CSS (.x-boundlist-item) override in ExtJS combobox
I am trying to implement multiSelect combobx with checkbox selection. PFB the snapshot :
Attachment 41332
I have usedCode:
listConfig : { baseCls: 'z-myboundlist' },Code:
.z-myboundlist-selected { }
However, what I need is an unchecked checkbox image in the remaining list items within the combo box. I addedCode:
.z-myboundlist-item {}
When I do an inspect element in the combo box list items, I get this :

South Korea

I cannot add the unchecked chekbox image in x-boundlist-item class, since it will be added in all the combo box instances in the page. I want it to be specific to a single specific combo box.
Please help.Thanks,
18 Jan 2013 2:16 PM #2
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First, you shouldn't edit any CSS or JS file that comes with the framework. You should only use your application files.
To specify what class is on each list item then you should use the itemCls config instead of the baseCls config.Mitchell Simoens @LikelyMitch
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19 Jan 2013 7:06 AM #3
Ok. Thanks for the information.
I did not find itemCls config for combobox. How shall I implement the same. Any demo/code ?Thanks,
19 Jan 2013 11:48 AM #4
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Combobox's drop down is an instance of an Ext.view.BoundList. You can set configs for a combobox's drop down using its listConfig.
The itemCls can be be configured there.
listConfig: { itemCls: 'my-item-cls' // ... any other boundList configs }


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An eastern Missouri man is charged with armed criminal action and unlawful possession of a weapon after shooting at a fellow barber shop patron during a discussion about last week's mass shooting in Newtown, Conn.
The tale is confusing and bizarre, but serves as a sad commentary about this country's gun culture. According to the Associated Press, a patron at the All Cuts Barber Shop in Wentzville, Mo. remarked Tuesday that he wanted to kill the suspect, Adam Lanza — who is already dead. Somehow, inexplicably, 57-year-old Lester Davis was offended and took the comment as a threat, asking, "You want to murder me?"
Police say Davis then went to his car, got a pistol and fired three shots at the unnamed customer. Fortunately no one was injured.
Davis turned himself in to police. He remains in jail on $400,000 bond.
[Image via CBS St. Louis]


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Setting the Table for a Good Cause
Fall weather can be unpredictable, depending on where you live, but Tara Wilson said hosting an outdoor party in fall is unexpected—and your last chance before the chilly winter months. However, always have an indoor back-up plan in case of sudden bad weather.
Developing a theme is a fun part of event planning. "Use it as your guide for all decisions from invitations to party favors. A theme can be as simple as selecting a color palette that is used in all the details," Wilson says.
Our Favorite Punch Recipes


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6 Beneficial Things They Made You Stop Doing in School
It's easy to think of a classroom as a battle of wills between kids who want to dick around all day and teachers who actually want to make them learn. But it's not that simple.
A lot of the things that will get you yelled at in a classroom are, in fact, beneficial to learning. They're just really annoying to other people (and the teacher). Consider this the next time you hear ...
#6. "Stop Wasting Your Time Texting Your Friends!"
Teachers must look at the cell phone as the modern plague on their profession. If you are in school now, or went to school during the era when text-capable phones became common, chances are you've been scolded for texting in class at least once. If you're really unlucky, you might even have been on the receiving end of the dreaded "Why don't you come up here and read us what you've been writing there" treatment.
"You can have it back at the end of the semester, if it doesn't sell on eBay."
But teachers have a reason to hate texting above even other high-tech time-wasters like portable games. After all, texting is also ruining our ability to spell, what with all the L8Rs and rampant use of the letter Z. It is seen as the scourge of new generation -- and even the death of English language as we know it.
Everybody should stop and take a deep breath, because texting actually improves both your language skills and your ability to pay attention in class.
"Holly balls, I understand calculus!"
Wait, What?
Yes, you read that right. Research says texting actually improves language skills. And the earlier you start, the better it works. The data shows the correlation is direct: The better you are at texting, the better your reading and writing skills, even if you use that horrible textese shorthand.
Mark van Laere
It's not Hemingway, but it is a form of literacy.
Sounds counter-intuitive? Really think about it. The kids aren't texting instead of writing flowery essays about the state of modern democracy. They're texting instead of not writing at all. How many kids would ever willingly write a sentence if texting and email didn't exist? Hell, how many would write poetry? Thanks to texting, we have a whole new generation of writers, getting massive amounts of practice at forming thoughts into words -- and concise words, at that, thanks to character length restrictions.
And as for texting in class: It has its place too, provided it is used in moderation. Texting, being a quiet and fairly nondisruptive type of communication, has been found to improve the ability to concentrate. This is only in relation to other, more disruptive forms of communication such as the telephone, email and face-to-face conversations, though. Still, in the hectic environment of a crowded classroom, sometimes "They could be doing worse" is as good as it gets.
"Well at least they aren't selling drugs. Openly."
#5. "Spit Out That Gum!"
Gum-chewing students are to many teachers what chaps are to exotic dancers -- a chafing yet often unavoidable occupational annoyance. Unsurprisingly, the teachers' forums are teeming with instructions on how to cut that nasty habit at root.
From the student's point of view, that seems like an arbitrary rule. Who cares, as long as you chew quietly and don't stick it in some other kid's hair? Well, maybe they're worried that chewing gum will make you too smart.
This kid is planning mayhem. We can see it in his eyes.
Wait, What?
Chewing gum can and does help you focus and concentrate, not to mention relieve your boredom and tension. Hell, the military uses it to keep the soldiers sharp. It can also improve your memory for as much as 35 percent.
Oh, and it can help you with weight issues, being an appetite suppressant.
"I'd recommend at least three hundred gumballs a day. Or cigarettes.
Literally anything that isn't more fried chicken-and-gravy."
Now, what kind of demographic could find use for a memory enhancer that helps them concentrate and perform tedious tasks, like, say, all-nighters before exams with minimum stress?
Some teachers are slowly getting the hang of this, but many schools still tend to view chewing gum as if it had slept with their mom. Or, more accurately, like it had forced someone to spend hours scraping petrified wads from the bottom of desks with a chisel. If they could just invent a gum-proof desk, we'd be set.
If that's a public high school desk, a good half of that is nicotine gum.
#4. "Put That iPod Away and Concentrate On Your Reading!"
Kids tend to like their music, and they tend to like it wherever they are. This has been a source of annoyance for teachers since the days of the transistor radio (prior to that, children were forced to hire a group of minstrels to follow them around, which were much easier to spot). This source of conflict has only gotten worse with the advent of MP3 players, prompting many schools to try to ban them completely.
"We've banned cell phones, MP3 players, gum, drugs and good food. How could attendance possibly be down?"
After all, what could be worse than a kid listening to noisy, thumping beats when he or she is supposed to be studying? How could anyone possibly concentrate with that racket banging around their ears?
Actually, not only is it possible to concentrate despite the loud music, the music actually helps.
These guys have Amon Amarth playing in the lab 24/7.
Wait, What?
Music can absolutely be used to improve your studying. You have to use it correctly, granted, but isn't that the case with all learning tools? A ruler can take someone's eye out if used improperly.
Now, we're not talking about the "classical music = big brains" theory known as the Mozart Effect -- that theory, as least as it's popularly known, is largely horseshit. But there are still a lot of benefits with music for somebody trying to focus on a task. First, the obvious: It blocks out annoying distractions. This improves performance and helps you concentrate and relax. The only real limitations for listening to music in the classroom are that it should be moderately paced, nonpercussive and preferably instrumental. That last part makes sense -- if you're trying to read words, having a guy screech other words into your ear could divide your attention. You're trying to memorize Shakespeare, but all you retain is the lyrics to "My Humps."
"I'ma get, get, get, get, you drunk, Get you love drunk off my hump. My hump, my hump, my hump, my hump ..."
But what if you enjoy harder music, and enjoy it good and loud? Surely rock, metal, trance and other musical styles with a beat that induces spastic fist pumping can't be good for classroom?
In the classroom, probably not. But when studying? That's another matter completely. Evolution is your friend here, as it turns out that "music with a prominent beat stimulates an increased arousal in students which overrides the effect of environmental distracters." Also, it was found to improve the students' short-term memory and decrease hyperactivity.
These kids are all studying for their dissertation.
See, it turns out our body is pre-wired to derive pleasure from loud musical beats. So when suitable music (your body prefers rock and sports chants) hits it loud enough, it stimulates said pleasure centers to create a kind of high. This acts as an aural drug that helps you become calmer, happier and more responsive -- all traits affecting positively on your learning and studying ability. Just keep it on a non-deafening level and use good enough headphones that won't leak noise -- people nearby will feed your iPod to you otherwise.
"Is that Matchbox 20? And you're out in public?"


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One-size-fits-all approach won't stop gun violence
The Dec. 14 Newtown tragedy is a clear example of why more gun laws won't work. The guns were used in Connecticut, with some of the strictest gun-control laws in the United States, and they met Connecticut's legal requirements for gun ownership.
While feel-good legislation is a politician's (distinct from a statesman's) knee-jerk reaction to a tragedy like this, the larger issues are ignored:
Read more of this story and more!
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Brian wrote on Jan 11, 2013 7:54 AM:
conservative1 wrote on Jan 11, 2013 9:30 AM:
concerned citizen wrote on Jan 11, 2013 9:40 AM:
Brian wrote on Jan 11, 2013 10:20 AM:
Citizen 4 Fairness wrote on Jan 11, 2013 10:49 PM:
al.cap wrote on Jan 12, 2013 6:52 AM:
time and again, these things cease when armed resistance, in whatever form, arrives on scene. the writer is correct, putting the security in place is the best way to protect kids, if that is truly the goal. "
John Kanca wrote on Jan 12, 2013 8:28 AM:
John Kanca wrote on Jan 12, 2013 8:29 AM:
" Get rid of all guns now! "
So we should just ignore the Constitution when we feel like it? "
KITTY wrote on Jan 12, 2013 12:47 PM:
@JOHN......absolutely .......how do you really propose to keep guns out of the mentally ill people's hands when the people they live with can have an arsenal.......case in point the lanza's......it is impossible......which is exactly why they are discussing controlling the ability to aquire mass fire power.......no one needs it to hunt and no one needs it to protect their family in their homes......and it is not ignoring the second amendment........ "
KITTY wrote on Jan 12, 2013 1:11 PM:
KITTY wrote on Jan 12, 2013 1:13 PM:
Seamus wrote on Jan 12, 2013 1:13 PM:
al.cap wrote on Jan 12, 2013 2:33 PM:
al.cap wrote on Jan 12, 2013 2:57 PM:
and with something like 12 dead, and 70 wounded, he hit over 90 targets. the only thing that kept the body count down was the fact that he was a bad shot.
contrast with oregon, where a civilian intervened, and kept casualties to two plus the shooter, and it's obvious what keeps the body count down.
but this discussion isn't, and never has been, about safety. "
roy wrote on Jan 12, 2013 8:07 PM:
The problem is there are not enough "good guys" with guns available. This includes but not limited to police, security guards, concealed carry citizens,etc.
The good side is that the concealed carry citizen isn't obvious like the uniformed guy, so the element of surprise is on the good guys side. "
KITTY wrote on Jan 12, 2013 10:53 PM:
KITTY wrote on Jan 12, 2013 11:01 PM:
Seamus wrote on Jan 13, 2013 1:40 AM:
blue star wrote on Jan 13, 2013 9:32 AM:
I'm nervous and a light sleeper, if you're found in my house at night, you'll be found there in the morning. "
KITTY wrote on Jan 13, 2013 2:03 PM:
KITTY wrote on Jan 13, 2013 2:15 PM:
Seamus wrote on Jan 13, 2013 4:24 PM:
blue star wrote on Jan 13, 2013 6:39 PM:
KITTY wrote on Jan 14, 2013 12:03 AM:
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- Regulatory plan for wind power is bad for towns
- Victims of Sandy have been horribly served by insurers
- Corruption runs rampant in Congress; time for term limits
- Health insurers keep getting richer while public suffers
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- Modest increase in tax rates on the rich won't hurt economy
- First selectman not following town charter
- Time for Diaz, Esdaile to leave ranks of NAACP


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It takes millions of dollars to create top quality, mobile, family friendly games.
Once you have a game it takes time, effort and money to make sure those games are placed into the best markets like the Apple App Store and the GooglePlay Store.
This is a barrier to entry for most people to participate in the games business. However YOBSN games has a solution. We have found that there is a simple formula that the most successful games business follow.
- Invite people to play free games
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Now, for the first time, a top games developer, YOBSN Games, is offering you a product that will allow you to share 25% of the net revenues of the in-game purchases from the people you invite to play.


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I am just curious about what inference we can draw when we calculate something like $$\text{base}^\text{exponent}$$ where base = rational or irrational number and exponent = irrational number
$2^2$ is rational while $2^{1/2}$ is irrational. Similarly, $\sqrt 2^2$ is rational while $\sqrt 2^{\sqrt 2}$ is irrational (though it is not so easily proved), so that pretty much settles all cases. Much more can be said when the base is $e$. The Lindemann-Weierstrass Theorem asserts that $e^a$ where $a$ is a non-zero algebraic number is a transcendental number.
An example I have always liked of $$\textbf{irrational}^{\textbf{irrational}} = \textbf{rational}$$ is the following: \begin{equation} 2 = \sqrt{2}^2= (\sqrt{2}^{\sqrt{2}})^{\sqrt{2}}. \end{equation} So either $\alpha = \sqrt{2}^{\sqrt{2}}$ is rational, or $\alpha$ is irrational, and then $\alpha^{\sqrt{2}}$ is rational.
PS @IttayWeiss in his post has a much more precise statement. This has the advantage of being elementary.


text:
Shining Elegance is a paper piecing applique design that is pictured on a rectangle background of fabric measuring 21.5" x 17.5" to accommodate the fabric design. The face that is shown off-center is another beauty from Africa wearing traditional neck jewelry & face ornaments. It is easy to enlarge this design, so borders are not shown or given as you will need to measure your finished piece to determine the correct fabric amounts. Designed by Toni Smith
Item : TT074


text:
Love your HUG® Supreme Turnout? Give your horse added coverage with this HUG Supreme Medium Weight Neck Cover by Rider's International. It attaches easily and offers the warm comfort of 200 grams of insulation.
This HUG® Supreme Neck Cover by Rider's International adds waterproof coverage to your HUG Supreme Turnout. This lightweight neck cover features a 1200 denier outer and smooth nylon lining.
The Rider's International NorthWind® Neck Cover provides complete protection. Featuring a waterproof/breathable 1680 denier outer shell and 180 grams of poly fill, this neck cover ensures your horse is warm and dry. Attach to your horse's NorthWind turnout for extreme winter weather protection.
The Rider's International Supreme Neck Cover gives your horse full coverage. Waterproof and breathable, this neck cover has a tough, Teflon®-coated ripstop polyester outer, a nylon lining and no fill.


text:
Snack Attack! 15 Perfect After-School Snacks for Your Hungry Kid
11 of 17
Apple Nachos
Picture this — a bed of apples, topped with a drizzle of peanut butter, nuts, pieces of pretzel, and a handful of chocolate chips. These will get gobbled up in seconds, guaranteed.
Get the recipe for Apple Nachos
Next: Veggies and Hummus


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Top Definition
Try to be kind to unkind people, they might need it the most.
That has nothing to do with the situation at hand, Dezzi. Stop freaking out and get over it.
von MaiaStryder 3. März 2011
Trending Now
A huge looser, as social as a rat's ass.
Often used to clean out toilets.
Often used to clean out toilets.
Get dezzi overhere to clean my toilet.
You're such a big dezzi.
You're such a big dezzi.
von Andres Barhtaaa 7. April 2003


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Can anybody explain, in simple terms, how Feistal Block Ciphers work. I am not a math student so I do not understand the math behind it, just would like the principles.
Cryptography is at least half-mathematics so you have to use a bit of mathematics at some point, if you want to understand cryptography. However, for the specific case of Feistel schemes, mathematics are not hard.
A block cipher should transform a data block (a sequence of n bits) into another block of the same size, such that:
Hans Feistel designed a generic way of building block ciphers. Namely, the cipher will consist of the application of several rounds, each round looking like this:
In simple words, a Feistel round consists in xoring the left half of the data with a value derived from the combination of the right half and the key, and then swapping the left and right halves. The Wikipedia article on Feistel ciphers has some nice diagrams.
The whole point of the structure is that computing the inverse transform (which means "decryption") is easy if you know the key. This is where there are some mathematics:
(Write it down with the bit values, there are only eight combinations, so it is easy to see that it works). Thus, if you have L' and R', and the key K, then you have R (L' is equal to R); from R and K you can do the mangling again, and obtain S. Since R' = L xor S, you can rewrite it as: L = R' xor S. In other words, given the output of a round (L' and R') and the key K, you can run the mangling part again, and, with a simple xor, recompute the round input (L and R).
At that point you have the Feistel scheme. Things become complex (cryptographically speaking) when you want to know how to do the mangling, and how many rounds you will use. DES is a well-known standard which uses a Feistel scheme with 64-bit blocks, a 64-bit key, and 16 rounds (on the 64 key bits, only 56 are actually used, so the key is often said to have length 56, not 64). "Triple DES", which consists of three successive DES encryptions (with distinct keys !) can be viewed as a Feistel scheme with 48 rounds.
Luby and Rackoff have shown in 1988 that if you use wide enough blocks (say 256 bits or more) and the mangling steps consist in random-oracle like functions (think "ideal hash functions" here), then 4 rounds are enough to achieve ultimate security; however, building a "random-oracle like function" is hard (quite harder, actually, than building a secure enough mangling), and if you build a block cipher out of existing hash functions, performance will very likely be poor (hash functions are fast for processing long runs of data, but here we are talking about four hash function invocations on small data elements per encrypted block).
Most notably, the currently recommended standard block cipher, the AES, is not a Feistel block cipher.


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We need to copy 500 GB database from our PRODUCTION server to a DEV server. We only have a window of 5 hours.
What would be the quickest way to achieve this?
We need to copy 500 GB database from our PRODUCTION server to a DEV server. We only have a window of 5 hours.
What would be the quickest way to achieve this?
migrated from stackoverflow.com Nov 23 '11 at 17:29
This question came from our site for professional and enthusiast programmers.
There are two options you can do that will not cause any downtime to your production environment:
1) If you only want to grab the database structure itself (you don't need the data) you can simply script out the production database. Then simply run that on your dev server to create the database.
2) If you need the database and the data simply grab the latest backup of that database and restore it to your dev server. You will find that this is the most common method used to keep the development servers matched up to production data.
If you have
...then just copy it over, restore. This can be scripted in powershell, perl, cmd.exe etc.
When you say "window" I assume you mean 5 hours window on production. It can't be that critical to load development.
Copy to locally attached hard disc.
Why only a limited window? Dont copy - load the backup to dev.
Maybe my answer won't fit with your use case but, did you ever consider to setup, on your dev server, a stand-by database by using a technic like log shipping .... so you could restore your prod over your dev prior and keep this copy in sync with your prod ...
Hope this help
Create a backup sequence file. Lets say your entire backup size is 500 GB; you can divided it up by your need, create a 10 sequence backup that consists of 10 backup files, each 50 GB in size, and then try to restore or move the backup files one by one. It will reduce the network traffic and restore time.


text:
Columbia County's very first "Walk a Mile in Her Shoes" event, which takes place in many cityies across the country each year, will give residents a chance to raise awareness about sexual assault and gender violence by donning pairs of high heels and strutting for one mile from the IGA market to Columbia View Park in St. Helens. There will be music, prizes and a presentation. The walk begins at noon on April 16. A $13 registration fee includes a T-shirt.
© 2016 National Sexual Violence Resource Center – Founded by the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape
This site is supported by Grant/ Cooperative Agreement No. 1UF2CE002359-03 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.


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Click the title of any of the items below to learn more.
Iconfactory Foreman, Gedeon Maheux, releases the fourth installment of his Futurama series, the robots.
Iconfactory Foreman, Gedeon Maheux, releases the third volume in his set of freeware icons based on Futurama.
Iconfactory Foreman releases the second in his series of freeware icon collections based on the TV series Futurama.
Artist Gedeon Maheux releases the first set in his series of Futurama icons based on the Fox television show.
Robot characters from the Futurama TV series.
Alien characters from the Futurama TV show.
Human characters from the Futurama TV show.
Futurama's Planet Express Crew in icon form.
The Iconfactory search engine is a great tool to help you find whatever you are looking for. We have associated keywords with all of the content available on the site. These keywords span icon sets, desktop pictures, iPulse Jackets, software products, support items, design services projects and even news page postings.
In order to make it easy for you to find what you are looking for, we have built some features into our search engine that allow you to customize your search:


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What is the worst/best razor you've ever used?
Holy crap, I just had the worst shave ever. I bought the "king of shaves" kit from woot, and I discovered I would have been better off rubbing low grit sandpaper all over my face. Not worth the $2.99 I actually paid for it.
My best shave has come from the Gillette proglide, but the blades are so fricking expensive. Ladies and gents, I'm open to suggestions and various sundry stories. Also, anyone tried the dollar shave club? I was curious, and their ads were great.
25 Answers answer
They haven't made a good razor since the Mach 4. Nobody has. I have quit shaving since then.
I'm personally a fan of electric razors. I have two, one is a tri-head that works awesome and the others a flat top with guides. I typically keep a full beard and the combination works perfectly for places that I completely shave (such as my neck) and keeping the hair groomed.
Back before I could grow a good looking beard, I just used the tri-head and some preshave gel that lifted the hair a little allowing me to get good coverage. I cleaned them once every month or so and have only had to replace the heads once in the six or seven years I've owned the razor.
For real, though, facial hair's where it's at. Let that beard grow!
EDIT: If you're interested, the tri-head I have is some lower end Norelco (reflex plus?) and the grooming razor is some random Wahl razor I found at a TJ Maxx or a Marshall's or something. It gets the job done, but I clean and oil it regularly
Schick Xtreme3 disposables rock, good for three days each @ $9.99 for 8 at wal-mart. Sometimes I find a $6 off two packs coupon which helps the price or a 24 pack at Sam's.
I use an electric (Norelco). The worst razor I've ever had was a Remington rotary head. Slow, dull, shaved poorly, and took much longer to shave.
I got a Norelco (3 head) when I was 16. Terrible. If I wanted 5 o'clock shadow immediately after shaving, I'd use it instead of the Mach 3 I bought to replace it. Now that's a razor. Well, it's 3 razors, but you know what I mean.
I prefer just about any disposable double or triple edge razors with lube strip and shave gel. The worse was a no brand name electric, which sounded like a 747 powering up to takeoff.
Best: Edwin Jagger DE89LBL in conjunction with a badger brush and proper shaving soap or cream.
Much better than any cartridge razor and goop "shaving system," and you don't have to pay $2-3+ per cartridge, as DE razor blades are 8-50c per piece if you buy in bulk.
Worst: It would have to be any of the face grinders people like to call "electric shavers." Holy cow I never had a worse shave or worse facial skin/hair condition as when I used one of those.
I've had the best shaves with a vintage DE, and also a new Feather straight razor with professional blades. Prep is everything, make sure you have the right gear in your kit.
One of the worst shaves was after first starting to hone my own vintage straight razor...it was still better than a disposable bic type razor though!
I saw those on sale numerous places lately. Was thinking about trying it because of the price, and to keep for travel emergencies...thanks @okham for saving my face!
@107bear: I live to serve. And save face(sj :)
I currently use the Gillette Fusion Razor. While its not the best razor out there I bet, it is certainly not the worst.
@stryker4526: I have the De89bl, love it also!
Fusion power. Expensive, but the blades last a week, and with Amazon Subscribe and Save they aren't too bad.
I'm a bit surprised you weren't warned off the Woot deal. I thought about it, then read the comments. Universally awful.
BEST: I agree with @darkinc about the Fusion comment....not bad, but the blades are horribly expensive.
WORST: Had to be a rechargeable electric from a few years back. I don't remember the brand, but it took special pre-shave lotion packs that were inserted into the handle.
@wilfbrim: I have no excuse. I fell victim to a buyer beware by not reading up on it...and I had a jumbo coupon.
Has anyone said Occam's Razor yet? Occam's Razor.
@jrpigman: I don't get it.
The Mach 3 Turbo works great for me. As long as I take my time shaving it gives me a good shave and doesn't give me any razor burn.
If I'm in a rush I usually use an electric flat headed razor I have, it gives me a lot of razor burn but its quick. I think its a Remmington of some sort, not sure if the razor burn from it is my fault for rushing or if the razor just stinks.
I like a good dovo straight razor but if I'm just trying to shave quickly i use a Gillette. Here's a good trick, works extremely well, that makes my blades last extra long: http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-extend-the-life-of-your-Razor-Blade-keeping/
@fmp031000: thanks! I'll give that a try.
@okham: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam's_razor
Basically, it's the idea that the simplest idea is the right one. This is both the best (Keep it simple, stupid) and the worst (Not everything is simple, stupid.)
@jrpigman: sorry, sometimes I forget that humor doesn't come through on the interwebs. :)
@fmp031000: I can't wait to try this! Thanks for the find.
@okham asked about the Dollar Shave Club, and nobody seems to have answered that yet. I discovered through some curiosity-fueled Googling that the Dollar Shave blades are apparently available for even cheaper through a company called Dorco - http://dorcousa.com . Dollar Shave will ship once a month, while (in order to get the good price) you need to order in bulk from Dorco--but we're talking razor blades, not paper towels, so "bulk" really means carving out about a tissue box's worth of storage space for six months' worth of blades.
I've been using the Dorco SXA5040 (6 blade) cartridges for a little while now. I won't say they're the most bestest shave evar, but they work as well as the Mach 3's I was using before and are a great deal cheaper.
I'm a bit surprised nobody's jumped on the wet-shave-with-a-safety-razor bandwagon here yet too. Those guys seem almost like a cult; folks who can manage it say it really is the most bestest shave evar.
Worst was hands down the first electric shaver I received. It didn't really cut the hair, but rather it would rip it from my face. I don't remember the brand. It went in the trash though.
Best shave so far would be a Fusion Power. Specifically the first shave on a fresh cart. After 5-6 shaves, starts to get a little more tug and pull. I want to try a safety razor. Fresh blade every shave sounds wonderful, but I'm somewhat scared to try since I don't want to accidentally have the nickname "Scarface" from now on....


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#3. Histiostoma Murchiei Males Only Live Long Enough for Quick Incest
If any of you men feel as though you're constantly treated as mere sex objects for hordes of sexy, superficial women, then spare a thought for Histiostoma murchiei, a tiny parasitic mite, the males of which exist just long enough to be exploited for their man seed.
Initially, the female mite will lay an egg that hatches into a male, ready to go forth and live a long and fruitful dude life. Except that never happens, because as soon as he tumbles out of the egg, his mother grabs him and starts using him as a sex slave. His mother.
And as Oedipus Rex can tell you, that ain't no good.
What the male doesn't know is that she only created him for the express purpose of reimpregnating herself so she can give birth to her "real" children -- 500 baby daughters.
To make matters worse, before he gets to meet his 500 children/sisters, he dies, having used up his brand new life energy in a burst of incest before he knew what was happening. The 500 female babies, on the other hand, go on to lead completely full and long lives in which they eventually bang their own infant sons.
"It's a living. Well ... actually, no. I suppose it isn't."
But at least they get a merciful end, unlike this next one ...
#2. Green Spoon Worm Males Spend Life as Imprisoned Parasite Slaves
When a green spoon worm is born, it doesn't have any gender. It just floats around in the ocean, showing no preference to either fire trucks or Bratz dolls. Its gender will be determined by what happens in its first three weeks of life, and it probably hopes to be female. Otherwise, it's going to spend the rest of its life vomiting sperm onto its wife's ovaries, begging to be allowed to die.
Wikimedia Commons
There's a Courtney Love joke in all of this, but we're just not sure where.
What happens is the larvae that make it safely to the ocean floor without incident grow up to be females about eight to 15 centimeters long. The larvae that instead get attached to one of the adult females becomes a male.
This male worm is only 1 or 2 millimeters long, and it is immediately inhaled by the female. But it doesn't die. No, nature is not that kind. Instead, it lives the rest of its life trapped inside the female's ovary, in a chamber called the androecium, which literally means "the small man room."
This image was taken by undercover aid workers, who left in disgust.
Once there, it has no purpose but to continually spew sperm onto her eggs to inseminate them. Obviously it can't eat, because its mouth is busy 24 hours a day, so it has to absorb its nutrients from the female while she belittles him for being a parasite.
#1. The Redback Spider Gets Eaten While He's Boning
Nobody expects spiders to have great bedroom manners. But the redback spider, a species of black widow native to Australia (where else?), is the only species where the male will deliberately offer himself as food to the female.
Being a dude spider is already kind of a rough deal, since male spiders tend to be much smaller than their female counterparts, and spider females have a notoriously difficult time distinguishing between their partners and their dinner. If you can imagine trying to have sex with an angry grizzly bear, that's what male spiders have to deal with every time they get laid.
Wikimedia Commons
"SWF: Likes it rough."
The actual act of sex between spiders is a little more complicated than our "roll on, gyrate, roll off" version. Male spiders have to wrangle females like rodeo cowboys long enough to insert their pedipalps into two slots in the female's abdomen. This process takes some time, and when your mate is 10 times bigger than you and actively trying to murder you through the entire act, it's in your benefit to have some kind of distraction.
Wikimedia Commons
"I forgot the safe word! WHAT IS THE SAFE WORD?!"
The redback spider alone is willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for poontang. He just goes right ahead and impales himself on her ravenous fangs, keeping her busy for just long enough, hopefully, to complete the deed before he dies in screaming agony. You may be thinking this is all pretty counterintuitive for reproduction's sake, but most female spiders have the ability to store sperm without it going bad, so they only have to mate once to keep making babies for the rest of their lives. It's like they have their own private IVF clinic, but with more murder.
For more horror from the animal kingdom, check out 6 Terrifying Ways Crows Are Way Smarter Than You Think. Or learn about The 6 Biggest Badasses Who Lived As The Opposite Sex.


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Kansas legislators are close to passing legislation reducing state regulation of telecommunications while beginning to phase out state subsidies for telecom firms.
The Wichita Eagle reports (http://bit.ly/ZfjTWJ ) the Senate voted 37-3 on Thursday for a compromise version of the bill reconciling differences with the House.
Passage by the House would send the measure to Gov. Sam Brownback.
Under the bill, some telecommunications firms could avoid minimum service quality standards or having to provide land-line service to all customers.
But the bill also reduces the subsidies for universal land-line service financed through a charge on customers' bills.
Affected companies include AT&T Inc. The state's largest phone service provider pushed for the measure.
Critics say the bill will hurt consumers. Backers say competition will protect customers.
Location, ST | website.com


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Several of our executives at Pentaho have shared reasons why they joined Pentaho – you can read their blogs here, here and here. We surveyed employees at Pentaho and narrowed down the top 5 reasons to join the Pentaho team:
- The fridge is stocked with beer. Corona, Amstel, Sierra Nevada, we have it all! Changing the face of business intelligence is no easy feat. To help us out, the Pentaho offices have dedicated full-sized beer refrigerators, so we can enjoy our favorite cold ones at the end of the day.
- Be a part of revolutionizing the business intelligence industry. Pentaho was founded in 2004 with the mission to "To achieve positive, disruptive change in the BI space by building an innovative, class-leading BI platform and making it available to everyone by releasing it into Open Source". We are working towards this mission everyday and succeeding!
- Smart, motivated, and fun co-workers. We may work hard, but we know how to have a good time! From sales meeting to Halloween, we're always in the company of innovative, intelligent, and friendly people.
- International opportunities. Being part of an international team means we get to work with customer, partners, and coworkers from around the world.
- We're growing! With +120% growth year-over-year in 2010, the opportunities for growth at Pentaho are tremendous.
If you think you would be a good fit with our smart, talented and fun group, and are interested in working at a fast-paced, international, game-changing company, check out our current job openings. We're growing fast and currently openings worldwide in everything from sales and marketing to services and information systems.
Bonus reason: Last year Pentaho CTO/Chief Geek, James Dixon was picked by CNN as having one of the Best Jobs in America.


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Cookies and Crackers
|This catalog has no sub-catalogs.
Ingredients: Raw, organic (OG) buckwheat, OG summer squash (zucchini), OG apples, OG onions, OG flaxseed, OG olive oil, OG avocados, sea salt and OG parsley.
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The Raw Bakery produces a full line of organically delicious low-temperature dehydrated sweet and savory superfood treats.
Each of our delicious recipes at The Raw Bakery are made from raw, organic seeds, nuts and grains that have been soaked and sprouted. These ingredients are then dried using a low temperature dehydration process. This maintains the many active enzymes and nutrients that would normally be lost in a traditional baking process.
The Raw Bakery is excited to offer a purely satisfying alternative to baked goods. Try some of our delicious raw treats. We are confident that you will enjoy them as much as we do!
Taste and feel the difference that raw,
Savory Cranberry Crackers - TRB (3 oz)
$6.40Ingredients: Premium, organic (OG) Onions, OG Summer Squash (Zucchini), OG Raw Sunflower Seeds, OG Cranberries, OG Flaxseed, OG Honey, Sea Salt, and Water.
Nutrition Info
Note serving size:


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As the topics, is there any mathematical blog support latex? I think people commonly use wordpress but i am not sure whether it supports latex as it doesn't show the latex format. Is there any supports latex?
migrated from math.stackexchange.com Oct 13 '12 at 1:18
This question came from our site for people studying math at any level and professionals in related fields.
By 'supporting LaTeX', many people mean 'supporting the use of TeX-like input for mathematical symbols'. That's not the same thing: support LaTeX proper requires a TeX system, supporting just a small subset does not.
Taking WordPress as an example, both TeX-like input and proper LaTeX support are available. By far the most straight-forward way here is to use a plugin to load the appropriate code from elsewhere. MathJax is the technology that is used for example on other StackExchange sites for TeX-like input, and it's available for WordPress using the JetPack plugin. This plugin makes use of the WordPress.com MathJax support. Real LaTeX requires a TeX system installed somewhere, and for most people that is best left to a specialist server. The QuickLaTeX plugin for WordPress renders LaTeX code as
For math input one can use MathJax.
Quick instructions
For me it works to add:
to the header (which can be modified at a lot of blogging websites) of the html document.
After that you can use
This is how it looks and works also with different colors.


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5 Superpowers From the Bible That Put Marvel and DC to Shame
#2. Jesus, Like a Non-Useless Aquaman
Jesus. Maybe you've heard of him. But of all the healing and feeding and returning from the dead he did, this has got to be the most awesome superpower he had, from Mark 4:35-41:
So they're out in the middle of a hurricane, tossed around like the guys on Deadliest Catch and Jesus, because he was just hardcore like that, didn't mind the drenching rain and the loud thunder and continued sleeping. His disciples woke him up and started griping with stupid complaints like "The boat is halfway under water!" and "We are going to die!"
Jesus told them they were faithless wusses and the disciples shut up. If that wasn't cool enough, he chewed out the storm, and it shut up, too. That has to be our favorite part, how he's just annoyed by the whole thing, as if being bothered to stop an entire weather systems was equivalent to getting woken up by your girlfriend to go kill a spider in the bathroom.
If we could do that ...
Between communicating with storms, walking on water and turning water into wine, the man pretty much had the whole water thing under his thumb. In some sense, we'd be like a non-useless aquaman, if that is even possible.
The Downside:
We're not completely sure what street crime we could stop with this ability, since the city would probably rather deal with the Joker than the eight-foot wall of water we'd use to kill him.
But man, if you're trying to commit a crime on the high seas, watch out. We're telling you right now that, with the simple addition of Jesus' water-command, ours would be a world entirely without pirates. Well, without the shitty boring kind at least.
#1. Elisha and Elijah's Abilty To Summon Bears, Split Rivers with Dirty Laundry
Elijah and Elisha were an epic miracle-producing tag team in their time (sort of like if Superman had a younger protege named "Duperman"). Elijah, after a life spent raising the dead and calling down fire to smite heathen prophets, goes out like this:
That's 2 Kings 2: 11-14 where God, deciding that waiting thousands of years for someone so incredibly badass as Elijah to die would be too long, just plucked him from the ground and up through the pearly gates while he was still alive. And since God likes to make those rare public appearances count for something, he stages the whole thing in a cool-ass flaming chariot.
Elisha, now that his name would no longer be confused with anyone else, found that he could reach his full potential. Not to be outdone by the whole "whirlwind" thing, he uses Elijah's coat to casually split a river in half. That's right, something that was a huge deal for Charleton Heston's Moses was accomplished using only the powers that had rubbed off on a piece of Elijah's dirty laundry. How could Elisha, who was to be Elijah's successor, possibly top that?
When confronted by a gang of smartass kids, he summoned two bears to attack them. Yep, that'll do it.
If we could do that ...
We'd pretty much rule the world. Unlike Moses and Aaron, Elijah and Elisha didn't have those ridiculous "staff" things holding them back. These guys were basically plugged into The Matrix here, and could do anything they wanted whether the laws of physics were cool with it or not.
The thing is, we'd settle for any one of their powers by itself; the flaming, flying chariot for instance. Or just the ability to summon bears at will. Holy crap, there's like five situations a day where we'd like to do that.
But throw it all in, including calling down fire from the sky and controlling water? We wouldn't just be stopping criminals, we'd be stopping crime. You want to rob a bank? Well you'd better have a suit that's fireproof, waterproof and freaking bear proof. Multiple bear proof, in fact.
The Downside:
Well, for Elijah, the answer is quite obviously "none," considering that if he hadn't gotten a flaming ride up to heaven, he'd presumably still be alive today. We're not seeing a downside.
The Bible doesn't describe exactly how Elisha died, only that his last recorded act was telling the king that he was a moron. We wonder if that might not be why it was his last recorded act.
If you want to find out about some less awesome super powers made up by people other than God, check out 9 Superpowers That Would be More Trouble Than They're Worth or Gladstone's countdown of a clip in which Fox News Conjures a News Story ... Out of Thin Air. Or, watch this video to find out The REAL Reason Guns are Dangerous.


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Tips and tricks for natural body care
by Kim Wallace
natural lip balm, organic lip balm, addicted to lip balm, bath by bettijo, coconut oil, lip butter, lip balm, organic lip butter, natural lip butter, beeswax, natural beauty products
I've tried lots of natural lip balm flavors, but the most exotic flavor to date has to be mango. Bath By Bettijo Ripened Mango Organic Lip Balm combines organic jojoba oil, organic coconut oil, organic palm kernel oil, organic beeswax and mango butter in a 100 percent recycled plastic tube for a satisfying, moisturizing lip balm. It also has hints of organic olive oil and vitamin E for extra nourishment to dry, chapped lips.
Bath By Bettijo Ripened Mango Organic Lip Balm comes in a 0.15-ounce, 100 percent recycled plastic tube. Photo Courtesy Bath By Bettijo.
Mango butter comes from the seed kernels of the fruit of the mango tree, which is native to India and the tropics. Mango butter is perfect for natural lip balm because of its vast hydrating and healing properties. Mango butter's soft, delicate scent is an added bonus for any mango fruit lovers.
Bath By Bettijo Ripened Mango Organic Lip Balm has a silky, slippery consistency, similar to Yes To Carrots C Me Smile Lip Butter and Shea Terra Organics Lip Butter. It's hydrating and slick and makes a great base for your natural lipstick or lip gloss.
Bath By Bettijo proudly lists all ingredients on its products and website. Bath By Bettijo stays away from the bad stuff—dyes, fragrances, TEA, DEA, sulfates, parabens, petroleum, mineral oil, silicone, formaldehyde and carbomer—that finds its way into many conventional beauty products.
Bath By Bettijo Lip Balms are a little more expensive than some other natural and organic brands, but if you're a lip balm junkie itching to try new, exciting products from eco-minded small businesses, the $8 price tag won't bother you too much.
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Special Interest Websites : Community Chickens • Good Things to Eat • Keeping Backyard Bees


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Police say there have been multiple instances of a man exposing himself in the Kroger parking lot on Scottsville Road.
Complainants say a black male with multiple tattoos on his face came up to them and exposed himself.
One complainant said he asked for directions to the mall because he had a package he needed to take there.
That's when he exposed himself.
Another complainant said a man came up to her saying he was a porn, and exposed himself.
There have been four instances where customers complained about a black male in a black SUV exposing himself.
Three of those instances were in the Kroger parking lot.
The last instance happened at Greenwood Mall.
All of these instances happened within a month from July 28- August 31.


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All comments welcome, both complimentary and constructive.
All comments welcome, both complimentary and constructive.
Zooming only pixelates the picture and does not add anything. 4 around with a Sigma 8mm lens does not provide any additional information when zoomed in. Call it artistic license. Too many people allow zooming just for the sake of zooming.
I am playing around with iDevices. I may enable zooming out for better framing. The panos look zoomed in too close when I look at them on my iPod Touch.
Thanks for posting Dennis, I do enjoy visiting Yosemite through the medium of your panos.
They work great on my iPad, which is something I need to get round to sorting out myself soon.
I do not use any type of remote. Both hands are on the camera for each photo.
I am playing around with the zoom settings. I optimize all of my panoramas for viewing full screen on my Dell 24" monitor. When I view them on my iPod touch, the view is zoomed in just a bit too much.
I have opened up the zooming parameters in the first panorama (Arches entrance, top left panorama). As time permits, I will make my way through the rest of the panoramas. Feedback always appreciated.
Zooming is now set for all panos in this series. Should work for PC's as will as iDevices.
Make sure to check out the gyroscopic effect on newer iDevices.
Hi Dennis,
Nice panos! My favorites are: Cascade Creek and the first Swining Brigde panos.
What software do you use to make the panos with gyroscopic effect. I use Pano2VR for it.
My website: www.360p.nl
8,67 Gigapixels Panorama: http://www.360p.nl/portfolio/gigapixel/123-bataviahaven-lelystad-8-67-gigapixels
Thanks for the compliment. One of these days I need to create a map of Yosemite with hot spots to all the panoramas I have. The collection just keeps growing.
You would think that after doing monopod panos for several years now there would be nothing more to learn. I learned a couple new things this time plus I tried out some new hardware. The laser pointer really helps with the hand held Nadir patch shot. Monopod panoramas are getting easier to create with each trip.
I use Pano2VR for all publishing. Once you get a template all set up, it is brain dead easy to create a pano that works with flash and html5. Just spend time working through all the on line tutorials.
Dennis, I enjoyed your panos. I was just out in Yosemite from Florida the week before you. I don't have such a wide angle but got a couple of nice panos using my 24-105. I did a pano from the tunnel end of tunnel view with about 8 or 10 images stitched together. Just learning, so mine is pretty boring compared to some I have seen here, but thanks for sharing and helping educate some of us "newbies". The more I learn the more I realize I don't know.
beautiful images; what software did you use to create pano?
Photoshop for the RAW->TIF conversion
PTGui for the stitching
Back to Photoshop for the final color corrections and such
Pano2VR for the flash/html5 publishing


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Oracle Fusion Update
By Michaela Seika-Oracle on Apr 17, 2013
Oracle Fusion Update: Win Cloud SFA with Fusion CRM: Channel Sales Enablement
Come learn how Fusion CRM enables Companies to manage Channel Sales more effectively.
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May 16, 2013
Oracle Fusion Update: Win SFA with Fusion CRM: What's coming in Sales Cloud
Come learn about what's new in Oracle Sales Cloud, aimed at today's collaborative, mobile sales force. See how the right sales tools can help your customers achieve better results by transforming the way their Sales teams perform.
Click here.


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Dueling on their Knees
About the Author
Rev. Robert P. Imbelli, a priest of the Archdiocese of New York, is Associate Professor of Theology Emeritus at Boston College.
17 comments
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- Editor Featured
Before the conclave John Allen did a number of profiles of the papabili, and he included Bergoglio as a long shot. Then there was the lady who walked into an Irish pub and told everyone to bet on Bergoglio. Those who took her advice cleaned up. She said she had an email about it, but didn't say who it was from. Hmmm.http://www.irishexaminer.com/archives/2013/0321/world/mystery-lady-sees-...
Neither Allen nor the Pubster among the luminaries quoted in the "Times" piece. Hmmm.
The NY Times article is a good one, so I see no reason to complain of lucubrations. The use of the term "cohabitation" arises from politics in France and a few other nations, when president and prime minister are from different political parties. In this article, it might suggest some sort of Benedictine influence on the Pope's decisions, but Benedict has said he will avoid that role.----Many of us born around December, 1936, cannot kneel as the two Popes are kneeling in the photo. All the more good health to them!
Here's Allen's Mar. 3 profile of Bergoglio:http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/papabile-day-men-who-could-be-pope-... I see it, The New York Times just doesn't live in exactly the same world that religious people live in. The NYT also doesn't seem to read Time Magazine. Here's Time's article about Allen's pre-conclave profile of Bergoglio. I really don't think that the NYT is prejudiced, it just isn't much interested in religious affairs -- doesn't see the relevance, no doubt (unlike food and health, which get an enormous amount of attention there). http://world.time.com/2013/03/14/john-allen-jr-the-man-who-picked-the-pope/
Perhaps the Times's reporter are here infected by the spirit of their Italian colleagues who seem to be the main source for their "facts." And yes, pope and pope emeritus apparently have knees that bend!
In a couple of photos which I saw Benedict looked extremely bent over. I wonder if his health is worse than we've been told :-( I hope his encyclical on faith or whatever it would be called now is published before he dies.
A funny thing seems to have happened to the headline for the article since I posted the above. It now reads: "Behind Image of Seamless Transition, Vatican Navigates Uncharted Waters."When I first wrote the post the headline played with "dual Popes" and raised the specter of dueling spheres of authority. Hence the title of my post. Can anyone retrieve the original headline? And any thoughts on what prompted the change?
In the video, Pope Francis presents an icon which is entitled "Our Lady of Humility" to Benedict and says that when he saw it he thought of Benedict and his pontificate. Benedict was clearly moved by his successor's gracious words and gesture.
The current on-line headline (3/23/ 9:30 PM) is "Two Popes Are Side by Side as Brothers".Guess that's what multiple platforms produce.
Having a current officeholder and a retired predecessor in the same jurisdiction is very common, in the church and in the wider world. It happens in parish rectories where a pastor emeritus resides with the current pastor. It happens in many dioceses where a retired bishop continues to reside. All depends on the retiree. If he determines not to create any mischief, then there is no mischief. I'll be surprised if the bishop emeritus of Rome creates any mischief.
jP: I have seen the phenomenon you describe and it is often quite productive of both pastor and pastor emeritus. The problem may turn out to be the hangers-on from the pastor emeritus who don't accept the new pastor. What is your experience?
I am less worried now that I see the apparent ease with which Pope Francis goes his own way.When I remember that Benedict, when he was pope, was not "allowed" to keep his cat, and how he submitted to the rules, I can't help but think that Pope Francis would have made it work.The idea of their being in regular communication is a lot less threatening now than two weeks ago.
Regarding the "softening" of the headlines from "dueling" to "uncharted waters" to "side by side as brothers" -- I wonder whether watching the video, which shows (at least to my eyes) the progressive enfeeblement of Benedict, influenced the movable "platforms?"
If you Google "dual popes" it links to the NY Times article above with "Spotlight on Benedict Raises Questions on Dual, or Potentially Dueling, Popes" but when you follow the link, you get the softer headline you mention.And I think it raises more than a spectre of competing authority, when it manages to bring up the Western Schism. Fortunately, the Times was able to set all of our minds at rest when they cite a Church historian who "dismissed the possibility of a new schism like the one that occurred with the death of Pope Gregory XI in 1378." Well. That's a relief, a new schism would have been a real downer. I had to look up "lucubrations" to find out what it meant (I thought maybe they were tearful).
Irene,thanks for following the headline trail. The "Times'" lucubrations are indeed lachrymose!
Irene - I looked it up, too. Speaking as one who did his graduate work and then deacon formation (academically speaking, more graduate work) at night while working during the day, not to speak of the husband and father stuff, I wish I had found the word years earlier, as it is particularly resonant for me :-).
"What is your experience?"Margaret - in my parish, it worked wonderfully well. In fact, for a number of years, our rectory had a pastor and two retired pastors, one the pastor emeritus, the other his bosom pal, the pastor emeritus of a nearby parish. It was enriching for everyone, including and especially the rest of us. I've seen some priests who, as they age, become kind of cantankerous and sour - well, it isn't just priests that it can happen to - but in the case of these guys, they just became more translucent with joy and holiness as they got older. We were all blessed by the arrangement.I've also seen one situation in which a retired pastor did elect to be difficult. In those situations, it boils down to a question of authority and its uses. In the end, the current pastor has all the authority. In the situation I'm thinking of, the pastor emeritus was thrown out on his ear, and rightly so - he's no longer the boss of the place, and lives there by the sufferance of the current master. I'd think the very worst situation for a faith community would be when there is a combination of mischievous pastor emeritus and weak/insecure/less-than-competent pastor. Hopefully, there won't be an issue in Rome (and the story in the NY Times strikes me as a tissue of speculation - journalistic wishful thinking? - with no actual evidence or indications of any problems). I find LA more interesting :-)


text:
I was requested by a friend to find out what this stamp is. Do you know what it says on the stamp?
I was requested by a friend to find out what this stamp is. Do you know what it says on the stamp?
After discussing it with my friends, the best result I can come up with now is
The characters beside the stamp characters are the corresponding ones that may be the candidates. Seal script samples are also given. Unfortunately, I cannot find a 100% convincing answer, because they can hardly form a meaningful phrase.
What I should clarify is that I don't mean the candidate characters are just what I am listing. There may be some more acceptable ones. This Chinese Etymology website may be a helpful tool for you.
I agree with Xu's arguments partly:
But the case of the zigzag reading order 1-2-4-3-5-6 is really seldom. I personally believe it's in this order: 1-2-3-4-5-6, or less possible, 1-3-5-2-4-6.
Jens's answer, 鳳 凰 祥 雲, are not so similar to the character shapes in the stamp (notice that there's no 凰 in seal scripts; in ancient Chinese, it will use an "interchangeable" character 皇 instead).
Character 5 may be also 北.
I don't have a complete answer but this is as far as I got, it was a lot of fun and hopefully this may help others. I feel that some real expertise will be needed to solve this puzzle!
There's some very fun tools which generate Chinese stamps in various scripts, which I used to make this image, which is as close as I got:
What's more important is that the characters make no sense! Perhaps they are encoding a person's name or date/time of birth using the Four pillars of destiny (生辰八字).
Some other information:
Some extra information would definitely help a lot, such as:
Here's my guess:
The middle pair doesn't seem to be characters at all.