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Welcome to the Noisebridge Zine-In-Progress
ZiP (Zine-in-Progress) is a zine arising from and devoted to Noisebridge, started by fervent Bridge acolyte Tony Longshanks (aka The Wonderful Wizard of ZiP, or WonWiz) in December, 2011. The inaugural issue, ZiP No. 1, will be finished and available - barring an unforeseen calamity - at 5 Minutes of Fame on Thursday, Jan. 19. It's going to be fun night, so sign up to give a 5MoF talk now and we'll see you there for the unveiling.
The full text of each issue will also be available online (CMS site currently under construction). Limited print runs of each completed issue will be available on a monthly or quarterly (4 x per year) basis, with more copies always available to print on demand. Cost may be a factor but we'll cross that bridge later.
If you wish to submit material for the inaugural issue, please do so by early January 15th - sooner if possible! Email submissions to firstname.lastname@example.com; other modes of submission are detailed below.
We want to secure a newspaper box to install at Noisebridge as a distribution center for this and other publishing projects.
This Wiki page will remain up as a fertile testing ground and massive, ever-shifting ball of clay from which to sculpt the finished ZiP product. As such, we hope the Wiki, together with the online and print versions of the zine, will provide an interesting bird's-eye view of the writing, revising and editing process and the steps by which a hopelessly tangled ball of many-colored yarn can be woven into a polished – dare we say it? - form. Tony is considering the possibility of facilitating a class or learning circle at Noisebridge in the near future on zine-making, graphic design and layout using programs such as PhotoShop and InDesign (both of which he learned by trial and error, without the benefit of classes, simply by making zines).
ZiP Issue One: January 2012
The inaugural issue of the ZiP is coming together, and there's a new Wiki page where the material making up the first issue will be posted as it is completed (even before it's completed, in some cases). Click here to see how it looks so far!
At present, ZiP is edited by Tony and largely consists of his material, but submissions by other Noisebridgers are encouraged, and have been and will continue to be included. Be sure to include your name – or a name, at any rate – if you wish to be credited! The original ZiP concept was not a solo zine but a collaborative effort by all interested users of this unique creative incubator that would represent an official or semi-official Noisebridge publication. That ambition may have been a bit lofty at the outset, but we're not ditching it yet. It may have to simmer for a while but we're confident it will come to a beautiful rolling boil in time, and all sorts of great things are bound to bubble up in its wake.
One such side project is an anthology of peoples' recollections of the first time they came to Noisebridge. Read more about the anthology here.
NOISELOG, Friday. Dec. 30, 2011
We were just working on a sizable entry with an update on the first issue of the ZiP when Chrome crashed & we lost it all.
We don't have the energy to re-type the whole thing right now.
Damn, that sucks.
NOISELOG, Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2011
But a few days remain in 2011. Come to Noisebridge tomorrow night, Thursday, Dec. 29, at 9pm for an informal Planning Session & Brainstorming Party for the ZiP! We've been a bit lackluster for the past few days - post-Christmas doldrums, no doubt - so we need your enthusiasm to help bring ours back! If we're feeling ambitious enough, we want to laser-cut a couple test pages of the first issue & see how they look.
NOISELOG, Monday, Dec. 26, 2011
The Christmas Feastivities yesterday met all expectations. We ate, then ate some more. Consequently, we are now fat and had difficulty even getting out of bed today.
Tony made this spiffy digital blueprint today as a Christmas present for Noisebridge. (What's the name of that disorder where you project human attributes onto inanimate objects and abstract entities? Tony has that, we think.}
NOISELOG, Saturday, Dec. 24, 2011
We stopped by the kitchen tonight & found trays of delicious Christmas treats prepped & waiting for tomorrow's Feastivities. Unfortunately the beast known as Interpersonal Drama has reared its ugly head in the Noisebridge social scene of late. Here's hoping we can forget that & move forward like the mature adults we are & have a good time on Sunday.
Where is everybody, anyway? Oh, I know....everyone is in Berlin attending 28c3, right?
Or home for the holidays. Some people do have family.
NOISELOG, Friday, Dec. 23, 2011
Christmas at Noisebridge in just two days! Tony is hard at work on the rapidly evolving ZiP, hoping to have its new online home up and running by Christmas. He has also unlocked the secret of the Jargon file thanks to a tip from Carl late last night in the library, and is assimilating a lifetime's worth of hacker terminology as rapidly as possible - not quite like the robot in "Short Circuit," though. (Remind us to tell you about the insight we had re: the "Infinite Monkey Theorem" last night.) It sounds like Katherine will be treating us to a Chinese feast supplemented with a more-or-less traditional Christmas dinner cobbled together by various volunteers and assistants. Cook if you can, contribute cash if you can't, come celebrate and stuff yourself regardless! No one should be alone, or hungry, on the holidays. Word on the street is that Joergen has signed on as Poultry Chef, and a veritable caravan of tender chickens, juicy turkeys and glazed, pineapple-spangled hams will flow forth to the hungry hordes. Let there be no lack! Leave no utensil unused! Desserts are in order. Make cookies, pies, and puddings, the more the merrier, and bring them for all to share: this is a day of glorious gluttony! Prepare a tray of deviled eggs and let it chill overnight, guarding the refrigerator with force if necessary to prevent any greedy miscreants from pillaging before the appointed time! Bring a Costco-sized jar of olives and a fifth of top-shelf gin, keep it icy cold in the freezer, and make Tony a little martini, won't you? Dirty, please, with 2 or 3 olives, there's a love. Smashing, darling! You know, we've never cared what other people said about you. Can you believe some people actually get depressed on Christmas‽ Don't you love the holidays like we do?
(Editor's note: it's hard to tell on the Wiki, but the penultimate sentence above ends with an interrobang (‽) – incidentally, the official logo of the State Library of South Wales, Australia - for dramatic effect.)
NOISELOG Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2011
Tony is hosting an informal (i.e. highly unorganized) Zine Planning & Brainstorming Session this evening, 8 to 10pm-ish, at NoiseBridge. Maybe in the Hackitorium. Have ideas. Come talk. Think big. Vote on the name. Offer to edit a section. Get excited.
ZINE PLANNING SESSION WEDNESDAY DEC. 21, 9PMish
Tony will be @ 2169Mish Wednesday night in the temporal vicinity of 8 to 10pm for an informal Zine Planning & Brainstorm Session. It may take place in the Hackitorium, the Cafe, the Turing Classroom - we make it up as we go along.
By the way, the zine-in-progress received its first report card today and scored an overall grade of C++. We're just getting started, you know.
I have brainstormed a whole list of possible names for the currently nameless publication. Here are some of the best. Which ones do you like? Do you like all of them? Do you like any of them? Do you have other suggestions?
WordBridge Cyberballast Scatterplot NoiseRag Unbearable Complexity Polymath Pissing Rainbows Quarterly (PRQ) Common Unicorn Fish and Microchips (FAM) +1 from Z Words Take Forever (WTF) Silicon Travesty +2 from Z Noise in Print (NIP) White Noise Weekly (WNW) +1 from Z (Black noise also exists (BNW)) PaperBridge Orion's Bracelet Non-Consensual Hallucination (NCH) Macrozinetic Obverse Polarity Digital Calamity Twenty-one Sixty-nine (2169) +1 from Z, but theres no special meaning in the number besides the location, its not prime, emotive, or recursively generatable 10101 1000101 Binary Profusion Vegetarian Geometry Metagogy Proxy Music Express (PME) Unabridged Rainbow League (URL) Hypertext Reader Queer Encryption Inkjet Jaguar* Crash Report Autoscroll The Family Circuit Byte-Sized Peace (BSP) Warp Factor Zero (WFZ) Android Army Atlas (AAA) Tertiary Kiosk Pop Up Blocker (PUB) Console Jelly MP? News of Tomorrow (NOT)
*Japanese monster movie reference
[Mathematics (Set Theory)] The Axiom of Choice - This is a very controversial (but accepted!) axiom in mathematics that leads to many different strange phenomenon that we can prove to exist, such as the Banach-Tarski paradox, loosely stated is, if I give you a ball in 3-dimensional space, there exists a decomposition of the ball into a finite number of non-overlapping pieces, which can then be put back together in a different way to yield two identical copies of the original ball. Stated even looser - It means that its possible to deconstruct any object such that when you're done putting it back together, there are now two objects.
[Nonlinear Dynamics & Chaos Theory] The Strange Attractor - Strange Attractors are mathematical models in Nonlinear Dynamics which are helpful in modeling some fundamentally unpredictable systems which behave chaotically everywhere, however, as Kolmogorov proved, all chaotic systems eventually converge upon some order which make the strange attractor. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/TwoLorenzOrbits.jpg is an example of the Lorentz Attractor which is a form of strange attractor.
[Quantum Physics] The Bell Inequality - The Bell inequalities are a fundamental result of research into Quantum dynamics, basically, all the research we've observed so far undermines either the Locality principle (Meaning that objects can only be influenced by things that are next to them) or Counterfactual Definiteness (The idea that if you do an experiment enough times, you can safely use the results of that experiment in making assumptions about other experiments, for example, we've observed gravity enough times in enough different cases to be reasonably sure that gravity will act upon experiments we do in the future)
Danny suggested we have two different zines, one online and one in print. I thought the print version would be a digest or compilation of the best cuts from the online zine. (But Why? - Z)
Right now the zine-in-progress is bloggish and disorderly. I would like to impose some organization upon it. I brainstormed the following list of departments or sections. Additions? Anyone want to cover one of these? Some are already covered, some loosely so, some not at all.
The Imagination Box (Flights of fantasy, unclassifiable, trampolinear thinking)
But Seriously (a safe space for sincerity & honesty, iron-free zone, geeks and depression, etc)
Politics (Occupy Wall Street, Arab Spring, shrill humorless rants, etc)
Technology (Software, Hardware, circuit hacking, lasers, etc etc - the meat & potatoes of hacking)
News (micro, macro, local, global)
Calendar (for NoiseBridge, hacker events, related community events)
TasteBridge (Recipes, mushroom info, microbrewing, dinners, etc)
Academia (classes being taught, Corvid College, SF Free School, etc)
Fake Advertising (I picture a Fake Advertising Department desk in Hacker Alley where the staff Photoshops fake ads for the zine, makes prank phone calls to businesses, & otherwise parodies & subverts the duties of a typical newspaper advertising department)
Culture / Literary Conceits (Creative Writing, number poems, haikus about hacking, book & film reviews, etc)
Games (board games, RPGs, Xbox, Sega, Halo, Go, DND, w/e)
Discuss / Debate / Disparage
Letters / Mail
Satire / Humor / Fun (No politics, not PC)
Crafts / Home Improvement (sewing, wood shop, upcycling, etc)
Photography / Film / Audio
Diversity / Anti-Oppression / Inclusiveness
Community / Society Gossip / Bulletin Board
04:31, 23 December 2011 (UTC)04:31, 23 December 2011 (UTC)04:31, 23 December 2011 (UTC)~ START OF NAO
The Tao of Noisebridge - A Collection of Koans for Coders, Crackers and Kooks
There exists something in this world, of such interesting features that our modern antiquarians may ponder over it an indefinite time. It waits alones and it will not move, it is at once still, but also moving constantly. It is the source of all hackers. I do not know its name, so I will call it the Tao of Noisebridgse.
If the Tao is excellent, then the systems of consensus are excellent, if those are excellent, the hacks that we hold in great veneration will too be excellent, and so the great number of works constructed in the Tao's feminine visage will be excellent. The hackers are pleased and there exists harmony in this world.
And so, with great haste, the Tao of Noisebridge flows to a far away land and returns on the winds of many great hacks.
The Tao of Noisebridge has shown it necessary to have commenced research where the modern political conjecture has closed its faithless wings. With us we have brought the common elements of science, to which the demagogues disdain for it's unfathomable mystery, but also the elements of autonomy and human dignity, which hitherto have been disregarded for their fruitless economic potential.
This Tao of Noisebridge (Henceforth, The Nao)
The wise hacker is told about the Nao and follows it. The average hacker is told about the Nao and searches for it. The foolish hacker is told about the Nao and laughs at it.
But if it were not for laughter, there would be no Nao!
The Great Master of the Nao, The painter Hokusai, said once that he did not achieve his great works until he was 70. The nao takes from this that great talent shows itself late in life, after deriving itself from the student's endless quest for truth through the many disciplines of human knowledge(s). Truth lies in Noisebridge at all hours.
Going forward with too much recklessness is itself a method of retreat. The great master of the Nao, Sun Yat-Sen tells us that many wars were lost to evil powers because the lesser forces fought by another man's rules.
The venerable master of the Nao, Albert Einstein tells us that even the best methods have their flaws. Life is changing and flaws may always exist that arise from a mental discrepancy between what is and what should be.
There once was a hacker who met a man of much prestige at a very large company, who came back to the hacker to say "What sort of people are these hackers! They behave badly and are not concerned with appearances. Their hair unkempt, they do not try to impress anyone with their possessions."
The Hacker smiled for a moment and replied, "Those who think like hackers live beyond the world. They consider the systems of control, both political and social, absurd; an accidental coincidence. They come and go without knowing limitation. Without care, they live only for their brothers and sisters of the bridge, but foremost, the next great hack. They are alive within the Nao"
A novice wandered down the road, and came upon the monastery of Enlightenment - Noisebridge. He walked to the master, and asked "What is this hack? Surely you cannot glorify the compromise of innocent people's computer systems!". The Master smiled and said "To hack is simply make with the tools that you have". And suddenly, the novice was enlightened.
Thus spake the master hacker:
"When you have learned to snatch the error code from the stack frame, it will be time for you to leave this place of enlightenment"
04:31, 23 December 2011 (UTC)04:31, 23 December 2011 (UTC)04:31, 23 December 2011 (UTC)~~ END OF NAO
By the way, I was thinking we need a fabulous secretary like Karen from Will & Grace to sit in the entrance area & welcome visitors - except our secretary would be looking through tech mags instead of fashion ones, & maybe she'd be part cyborg or something. Always with a martini glass.
I hope to talk to some people tonight. I'm excited about the potentialities, but I can't (and won't) do this alone.
NoiseBridge was inspected on Monday, Dec. 19 at 5:30pm by an impartial third party, who reported, "I've seen marked improvements in Noisebridge's cleanliness since my last visit." Good job, everyone! It's not like we have cockroaches or anything. Just those cute little mice you see late at night sometimes. Read more about NoisebridgeCleanStatus
NOISELOG Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2011
Local: We didn't leave our house, so nothing happened today. National: The economy remains mired in recession. Global: Chinese hackers did something to some major American institution. Google it. As an American I disapprove, but as a hacker I have to side with the Chinese. Fuck nationalism, anyway. There are no countries.
There are 10 kinds of people in the world: those who understand binary code, and those who don't.
[Editor's note: This was a young gentleman named Chris, Tuesday morning in the NoiseBridge kitchen. He had to explain it to us. It's really funny.]
The following is a mostly un-edited journal entry of Tony's from shortly after he discovered NoiseBridge for the first time. (Hard to believe it's been less than two months.) Still to come: the story of Tony's very first visit to the space.
Wednesday Nov. 16, 2011
I am at NoiseBridge & two young dudes are taking turns racing across the hardwood floors in a wheelchair. Nearby in the kitchen a girl sits in front of her computer w/ headphones, holding an acoustic guitar, learning to play the chords of a song. Two seemingly nonverbal (softspoken), socially withdrawn tech geeks – one of them with superabundant facial hair – are communing with cords & laptops & scanners. From the woodshop comes the jagged slicing sound of the wood-saw biting down. Lorn (Lauren/t?), the laconic bald Belgian chap who literally lives here, comes out to cook something, then retreats quickly into his space – the back office type area where I never hang, with the room that reminds you of the conference room of one of those cookie-cutter company suites in a high-rise in the Financial District (like RentJuice, where I worked for one week, or that place I interviewed that hosts focus groups & has a lot of one-way glass where humans study other humans as if role-playing an alien-abduction scenario.) Mike, who I call the Zen Master of Hacking (his way of conversing is oblique, often speaking in riddles, or statements that don't make sense at first, yet are funny, so you go away pondering them) is telling another young aspiring hackerling that NB is not just a space to hang out & be a deadbeat.
He's right – everyone is working on something. Or eating something. Or planning to do something. Or talking with a like-minded hacker or hackerette about something they'd like to do, or are in the process of doing, or did within the 12 hours since they were last at NB. It can be almost anything. Someone is cleaning the bathroom – it seems to be taking a very long time, but the light's on in there and every couple hours when you go to use it (if you're continuously drinking tea, coffee, or another liquid as I am) some progress has been made in the cleaning. Robert, the universally liked & ubiquitous kid who gives tours to newbies, is being his social butterfly self among the hackers busily hacking & comparing notes in the big open space to the right when you walk in. The Hackitorium, I call it: the main work area that occupies fully half the entire space, and is furnished with tables & chairs & shelves full of wire-stripping equipment, solder & soldering irons, bins full of power adapters & hard drives & AV cords & every other kind of electronic device or computer part imaginable – a vast junk-yard-and-treasure-trove of dead & dying & defective & damaged & old & obsolete & castoff machines & circuitry (The Island of Misfit Devices, reminiscent of that scene in Star Wars where Luke finds C3P0 & R2D2 in the droid scrap-yard), with innumerable dusty relics, random oddities, unexpected treasures & seemingly incongruous modern-day marvels.
The other day a couple guys from one of the food groups (there are food hackers, too – they're called TasteBridge) were distilling vodka from potatoes in the kitchen, while another guy prepared to brew beer, & another group stopped in to check on the mushroom oysters they'd begun cultivating a couple days before. Someone is chatting on the red payphone near the entrance – a hacked payphone, so you don't have to pay. (Who covers the long distance?) As the night wears on & the space becomes darker & less populated, itsby bitsy mice skitter & scamper across the floor in search of mouse-snacks. I love this space. It has been my most frequent hangout in the past 2 or 3 weeks since I discovered it, introduced by people who already know & love it, which is the only way you get introduced to it. (All the best places are like that.) Everyone has their space(s) where they feel most comfortable & sort of unconsciously wear grooves into the couches & tables & counters & feel at home. "It changes over time, too," says Miah ("Derpette, Slayer of Daemons" reads her mini business-card) when I express a little bit of this to her as we both sit typing our little fingers off in the living room.
The LR & kitchen are my two home spaces @ NB. I refer to it in code as "el Puente" – Spanish for "bridge" – when I don't want to reveal too much of this well-kept secret to people who aren't quite the right sort to belong here - as all the regulars guard its peaceful uniqueness from parasites & vacuum-souls who if allowed in unchecked would drain its resources & give nothing back: similar to the belligerent, antisocial, drunk-and-stoned, apolitical, uninvolved "dead weight" group @ OSF camp who never come to G.A. & actually blare loud music & shout offensive slogans from the sidelines as the lovers & makers of the community gather to plan a response to the latest media fabrication or mayoral threat or Department-of-Nitpicking pretext for police invasion. Yes, this is my second home, or home-away-from-my-squat, my social milieu & base of operations in this dark, diverse, dangerous, beautiful, fertile, vibrant, ever-moving, never-quiet barrio in the heart of the City.
The NoiseRag ran into Katherine in the kitchen early on the morning of Tuesday, Dec. 20 and learned that her plans for the aforementioned Christmas feast are most unorthodox: she plans to cook a Chinese dinner.
"It's the only thing I know how to cook," Katherine explained.
When pressed for suggestions of what dish to contribute to the feast, she told the NoiseRag, "White people food."
Meaning, she explained, any of the traditional American Christmas dishes. This left us nonplussed, as the only food eaten on Christmas day in our family was Christmas cookies, made by our Aunt April back in Minnesota. Candy cane cookies, kaleidoscope cookies, sticky wreaths made with cornflakes drenched in green sugary goo, Spritz cookies, Berlinerkranzer.....that means something in German.
"Do you ever feel like your life is a sitcom and there's a laugh track that follows you around?" we asked.
"Sometimes," Katherine replied, "but then I realize I'm just insane and it goes away."
We were delighted this evening to see that Katherine has offered to cook and host a Christmas dinner at the Bridge for those with nowhere else to spend the holiday. She has placed sign-up sheets at various spots around the hackerspace for people who plan to attend, so that she can keep a head count. "You can bring a dish potluck style or just contribute cash or ingredients" reads the notice.
What a marvelous idea. Our tastebuds tingle merely thinking about it. We will contribute a dish. Fruitcake, perhaps? Figgy pudding? (WTF is that?) Thanksgiving was a lot of fun: a communal feast of Epicurean proportions. (Perhaps we had a bit too much egg nog.) This can only be more fantastic still.
Have a Holly Jolly Christmas....it's the Best(iality) Time of Year!
Another place-marker. This will make sense when I write & post it.
I think it'd be really funny to print/include fake ads in the zine, gently (or viciously) mocking the corporate capitalist machine or whatever it's called these days.
For reasons yet unknown, The Mormons have been making a comeback all over the stylishly faux-ghetto of the Mission.
This is strange, not in the least due to the large Black (Baptist / Protestant), Latino (Catholic), Russian (Orthodox / Jewish) and Asian (Variety Bag) populations. The streets are like a Dykes to Watch Out for strip come to life.
The mission isn't what I'd call 'user-friendly' to the Mormons, but yet I see a few of them from time to time roll up in their VIP buses as they go off on their missionary jaunts before a life-sized blender mixing graffiti and small diy crack cocaine smelts. The worlds too big for such a little religion, I thought.
Poor little thing doesn't stand a chance, 200 years from now Manichaeism will be making a comeback and nobody will even know where Kolob is anymore.
Yet, there I was. One little man on a flimsy little bus out of billions of people living on a floating blue rock. How can I knock Mormonism?
Then I see the way they work, They're like the Scientologists trolling for academic life crisis suckers in Cambridge.
It had been a terrible day. I had just served my tour of duty in the Noisebridge queue, invariably answering questions from nameless wannabes who wished to enjoy the elite status of being a Noisebridge member, but without the obligation of paying money or doing work around Noisebridge.
We're always expecting to find the next person to walk through the door to be a great hacker - computer hacker, phone hacker, sewing hacker, religion hacker, zine hacker, etc.
Invariably, in an organization of Noisebridge's renown, we get twisted company
"Please fuck up this guys AOL account for me, He dissed me hard at work yesterday." Sure, I'll get right on it, right after Megan Fox finishes giving me my daily blowjob.
Maybe you can relate to why I was in a bad mood and not paying attention, when I was suddenly sandbagged by a double-pounder DVDA smackdown style 'elder' street-conversion.
I tried to be polite, I tried to tell them nicely that I wasn't interested in inheriting a space planet or any golden tablets. I didn't even want their underwear or neat tokens.
But they kept at me, I finally had to break out the Noisebridge t-shirt.
"Look, do you see this symbol? This great mark of untold origin? Don't they teach you anything in Missionary School?"
The first 'elder' was taken aback, quietly contemplating the possibility that he had just turned over the thin facade of mission-style crazy.
"You see this Noisebridge logo anywhere on a person and just RUN. Thanking Eris that you were not noticed by the MASTER HACKER SPORTING A NOISEBRIDGE LOGO"
"The last time I dealt with you yahoos, they were covered in the blood of an aging PDP-11, had '666 rw-rw-rw' tattoed on their forehead, kick me signs on thier back, mainlining yerba mate just to keep their buzz up! They immediately renounced their pithy faith and burned their temple garb right there! Last I heard, they were selling TV-B-Gones to the Taliban and Muslim babies to the elders of Zion, and peddling smut of the Franciscan Saints. They started making paper airplanes from the Talmud I heard"
Satan isn't coming to earth while we're around and Cthulhu is still dreaming because of us! We are the Wal-Mart of the Proletariat and we're coming for small-town Utah! We're the manufactorers of Flavor Aid and we run a lighter shop out of Waco, TX. Aum Shinrikyo heard we were starting up a hackerspace in Tokyo (success btw) and launched a pre-emptive strike, Mikhail Bakunin reads our zines for things to write about!
And I'm just a measley new member to the Bridge. You better not even be in the same STATE with Aestetix or Ray-C or there will be damnation rained upon the souls of the unjust.
After I got on the bus, I wrote down as much of that extemporaneous rant as I could remember. As I recall, those two 'elders' were looking mighty shell-shocked as the bus pulled away. I hope they passed along my kind advice to their fellow missionaries; at any rate they seemed to have been taking notes.
[The editor suggests This article for further reading on the subject of Morons. I mean Mormons. Sorry, the backspace key on my keyboard stops working sometimes.
Also, the editor would like to argue that it doesn't matter if no one knows what Kolob is, because we have Wikipedia to tell us!
Yes, that statement is logically flawed.]
Every so often in the online Zinething (and once in each issue of the print version) we should include a profile of a person or entity at NoiseBridge. Tony and Miloh already came up with a couple great ideas. Anyone else is welcome to contribute more. They will be funny, in that intellectually stimulating, tongue-in-cheek way, like The Far Side comics mixed with....some other complementary pop culture reference that's eluding me right now.
In the spirit of NoiseBridge's famous "5 Minutes of Fame" and "speed chess" (a chess game with a limited amount of time to make each move), Tony would like to introduce The 3-Paragraph Essay. This is an essay on any topic imaginable in which you argue your point or state your observations in no more (and no less) than three paragraphs. Whether you choose to go the obvious route of 1. Introduce argument, 2. Body of evidence, 3. Conclusion, or mix it up and get more experimental - well, that's up to you, cowboy. (Cowperson?) Note also that no further limitations are imposed regarding the length of the paragraphs etc., so you could theoretically stretch one paragraph to Joycean/Ulysses proportions and squeeze in as much verbiage as your heart could possibly desire while still remaining within the stated parameters.
Tony will post a 3-Paragraph Essay shortly on the subject of "Hackers and Politics: Allies or Enemies?"
In other news, Tony enjoys referring to himself in the 3rd person. Also, thanks to Miloh, we now know that a blueprint of the hackerspace already exists in the hackerspace, hanging in the entry area near the hackerphone. Also, the hackerphone only needs an ethernet cable and it'll be purring like a kitten in no time. Though some superstitious folk still cling to the old explanation - that a "pixie" has inhabited the phone. So quaint!
NOISELOG Monday, Dec. 19, 2011
The sanded drywalls look smashing, darling! Really lovely.
There is an interesting new project in the works as I type these words (11:34pm Monday 12/19/11) involving a captured parking meter. But we're not going to talk about that any more publicly. In fact, I've already forgotten what I just typed. On NPR earlier a WIRED Magazine contributor was talking about an Android app he calls "uniquely addictive" called Sleep as Android that monitors your sleep and wakes you up at the best point in your sleep cycle.
Speaking of sleep - Tony slept through both the JavaScript class he was supposed to attend tonight and a meeting at the Homes Not Jails office. This has got to stop.
For all who are unemployed/employed only part-time/militantly opposed to working and currently receiving Unemployment Insurance: the deadline to file for a federal Extension on your UI claim is Dec. 25 - Christmas Day, 2011. (You have to exhaust your regular claim before you can file for an extension. And EDD is supposed to file the extension for you automatically.)
I see it (as I see so many things) as a vignette in a warped play.
(Junior opens a present beneath the Christmas tree)
[EXUBERANTLY] Oh, it's just what I wanted.....a Federal Unemployment Insurance Claim Extension! Thanks Santa & Mr. Prez, you're the best!
(Screen shows image of Santa Claus & President O-Bomb smiling & shaking hands in the Oval Office. Santa's 'Ho-ho-ho' and the sound of jingle bells plays on the audio track.)
(Cut to shot of a homeless man puking in a garbage can.)
Why does the red hackerphone no longer work?
It is a mystery.
A few weeks ago Tony used the hackerphone to conduct a phone interview for a San Francisco newspaper for which he was writing at the time (before being reprimanded by said paper for involvement with Occupy San Francisco which in the editor's view compromised his journalistic neutrality. As if!) As the conversation continued, the volume grew lower and lower until Tony could no longer hear his interview subject.
Now there is no dial tone, and every time you call in to the hacker line - according to the number listed on the wiki, which is 415-494-2858 - you get a busy signal.
Surely this is the work of a pixie.
Alex Peake, self-styled Editor of Games, offered the following as a potential cover or other image for the NoiseRag.
Can someone give me the context for this next time you see me? I want to piss rainbows, too.
UPDATE: I get it now. Thanks to Miloh.
This is a place-marker for a write-up or summary of Corvid College, which I understand just had its opening meeting at NB on Saturday Dec. 17. I missed it (since I didn't make it in until 2am that day), can anyone else report?
Here is a little sketch I made of our hackerspace. It needs to be made more professional and tech-y looking. Did I forget anything? Some names are my own, like Hackitorium, and the Café, which is what I call the area between the kitchen and living room.
NOISELOG Sunday, Dec. 18, 2011
This weekend under the direction of Robert – whom one hacker recently referred to as "the Quasimodo of NoiseBridge," which I'm sure he didn't mean to sound as catty as it does – a new construction project began: sanding down the recently installed drywalls. As with the drywall construction, it primarily affects the kitchen, cafe, classroom and church portions of the space, with those ensconced in the Hackitorium at the other end blissfully ignorant of all disruption. I, Tony Longshanks - initiator of this new NoiseBridge Zine conceit that I really hope will turn into something many-splendored and substantial – was present late on the night of Saturday, Dec. 17 when the project began. I was making butternut squash soup in the kitchen: a hearty winter treat which I originally intended to make for dinner on Monday the 12th – you see how "life gets in the way." I aimed for a late dinner on Saturday, but in the event didn't arrive at the Bridge until the unthinkable hour of 2 a.m.
For the next three hours, with the assistance of several much-needed and greatly appreciated sous chefs - including Troy, visiting from Berkeley; Zephyr, whose first attempt at pureeing the soup in a food processor ended in horrifying failure; and most of all Justin, whom I like to call Justine, and whom I will most likely move in with if and when I'm kicked out of my squat, as I hear he has an ample and commodious walk-in closet that would suit me and my vast wardrobe of vintage clothes perfectly. (Really, you should come by Wheatgrass – my current squat – some time, I'm the most ridiculous squatter ever. When the Sheriff comes I'll be out on the street with my rack of ties, scarves, bandanas in every color, blazers, blouses, smoking jackets, etc.)
Justin(e) did an awful lot of chopping, mincing, dicing, and slicing of an awful lot of vegetables and other nutritious but labor-intensive produce items. The soup, finally finished and served around 5 a.m., thrilled and delighted all who tasted it, unless they were just saying so to spare my feelings. Passersby were heard shouting comments along the lines of "TasteBridge scores again!" and "Yet another stunning victory for our palates."
Sadly, I'll probably never be able to duplicate this culinary triumph, as I just kinda blended four different recipes together along with whatever I found in the TasteBridge spice rack. As far as my rapidly disintegrating memory serves, the ingredients list included two medium-sized butternut squashes, one and a half tart green Grannysmith apples (Justin's teeth marks were found in one of them), three carrots, fresh ginger & garlic (lots), a plethora of onion (both red & yellow), butter, sour cream, several chicken bouillon cubes, veggie broth, plus ground cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, pumpkin pie spice, curry powder, & a judicious amount of cayenne pepper. I'm sure there were other things....
Shit. Chicken bouillon cubes. And I told someone it was vegetarian.
I am a monster.
Robert and his three-man construction crew patiently waited to begin sanding the walls until cooking operations were complete. (Among the crew was Gene, who visited the Bridge for the first time only a few days ago, and likes it so much he hasn't left since.) The sanders donned white lab coats, clear plastic face shields, and other ridiculous paraphernalia that made them look something like a cross between "Sister Act: Part 3" and the music video for Thomas Dolby's "She Blinded Me With Science" (which I am old enough to remember watching on MTV when MTV was GOOD, yo.)
A follow-up visit to the kitchen at approximately 10:30 p.m. on Sunday night revealed that little had changed in the interim. Robert, having taken only an hour-long cat nap in a quiet corner, was still sanding along with different helpers. He looked hilarious in his white lab coat, hair sprinkled with silver and white powder and a streak of white dust beneath his nose, giving him the aspect of an aging coke fiend. Paparazzi was on hand to snap a photo which hopefully will be posted in short order. Overall the mood on Sunday evening was quiet, mellow, low-key: in a word, dull.
Gene was still in the kitchen, almost in precisely the same spot he had been in when I left early that morning. "Do you need a place to stay? We can fit another person at my squat," I told him. I do believe he's going to take me up on the offer. Martin has spent the last couple nights at Wheatgrass as well. Others in need of shelter are encouraged to seek me out so we can go squat-scouting together, and/or to attend the Tuesday 8 p.m. meeting of Homes Not Jails at the Housing Rights Committee office, 417 South Van Ness (near 15th Street). Don't focus on the illegality of squatting. Focus on the nice-ness of having a place to sleep that isn't a couch you're not supposed to be sleeping on in the middle of a hacker space that is almost always bright, dusty, busy and full of noise.


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The CWC volleyball team opened the regional in Fairfield with a match with Eldorado. The Lady Bulldogs fell to Eldorado in two sets, 25-22, 25-22, and bringing their season to a close.
Scoring for CWC were Emma Bachman with five points, three digs and four kills, Briley Attebury with four points and a dig, Kelsey Rogers with two points, 14 digs, a kill and two blocks, Cammie Francis with five points, eight assists and five digs, Bailey Bratcher with nine digs, Sydney Clark with two digs, seven kills and four blocks, Briley Tolley with eight digs and Jobeth Blake with a dig and four kills.
Location, ST | website.com

subset: commoncrawl


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I am a Computer Engineer and working at a Software House as Software Engineer for the last 2 years.
I usually observe things a lot and try to get an idea from everything to do something entrepreneurial.
I start the project on my own and implement the stuff. Now, here is the problem. when most of the difficult task is done i leave the project. I have done the same with 4 projects. Solving all the major problems and not completing it. I am very annoyed with it.
I personally believe that i lose motivation in the middle. How to handle this ?


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For words like パーティー (party), I know ー is doubling the ア and イ. But for a word like センセイ (and let's assume for the sake of argument that it is regularly spelled in katakana), would it be センセイ or センセー ?
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The fact is, 先生 is not regularly written in katakana in the first place, so there is no authentic guideline that tells you which is correct. If you are going to write it in katakana, there must be an unusual purpose for doing it. If that purpose is to indicate that you just don't/can't use kanji, then センセイ would be appropriate. If the purpose is that you wanted to make it look like it is pronounced by a foreigner or a robot, then センセー might be more appropriate.


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After adding priming sugar and bottling a lager, does the temperature need to be raised (if so, for how long) to ensure carbonation?
Carbonate the bottles at 60-70F like ales is fine. There is so little fermentation going on you have very little "non-lager" character contributions from the yeast carbonating at that temp.
When worrying about the temperature remember that many brewers routinely ramp up the temp for a couple days to perform a diacetyl rest and that temp bump doesn't harm the beer. So carbing in the bottle at 60-70F is better than waiting 3X longer for them to carb up at 40F in your lagering space.
In my limited experience, raising the temperature of a lager when it is in the bottle is not necessary for carbonation. If the bottles are kept cold, they should still carbonate but it will happen at a much slower rate than if the temperature is raised. Depending on a number of factors, leaving the bottles in a warm environment may actually induce off flavors in your beer. I typically keep my bottles at ~60 degrees farenheit for short term storage (~3-6 months).


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TIMELESS: Celebrating the Lasting Impact of Scholarships
UIS Scholarship Luncheon, November 2, 2011
This year, we welcomed our new Chancellor Susan J. Koch to the podium. She welcomed over 300 guests–generous donors, student recipients, faculty, and staff–to the luncheon.
After a delicious lunch, Carol and Clark Esarey spoke. The Esareys are donors with their son Gary Bach of an endowed scholarship that honors Carol's and Clark's mothers:
Carrie Gibson Esarey, raised by a single mother, taught in a one-room schoolhouse. Dorothy, also passionate about education, quietly championed women's independence. Her recipe for achieving this was education, education, education. Her two daughters were the first women in the family to earn college degrees.
After their warm remarks, scholarship recipient Fredrick Jackson spoke about how much his scholarships have helped him achieve his long-held dreams of a college education. He received the Eugene R. and Elaine A. Wilkinson Scholarship and the Albert and Mozelle Narcisse Scholarship.
Vicki Megginson closed the event.


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Main Content
Imagine running through your checklist before hopping into the cockpit of your cargo plane. One of the last things you do is adjust your Oakley hat before putting the headphones on and taxiing down the runway. So you ask your co-pilot, "What's the cargo today?" You're amazed when he tells you it's a shipment of small toy factories. What an incredible coincidence! You're wearing your Small Factory Pilot hat for the first time! What are the odds? The stretch fit and the Oakley name embroidered on the left side of the crown look great with your sunglasses and helps keep sweat out of your eyes while you guide the plane up to the cruising altitude. Ok, you can still grab this hat even if you're not a pilot - at least you'll look as cool as one! SM/MD fits 6" - 7 1/8"; LG/XL fits 7 1/8" – 8". Sizes are approximate.
- 84% Nylon/14% Cotton/2% Spandex
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Customized items can be personalized with options such as your name, your favorite number, and/or designs. Some options may be limited by league rules.


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Prompted by a recent exchange with Gerry Myerson, I was wondering if anyone has a favorite example of a relatively simple problem with a rather elementary (though perhaps complicated) answer for which there's another answer that relies on an elegant use of a powerful result that's almost certainly beyond the background of the poser of the question.
If $2^{1/n}$ were a rational $a/b$, with $n>2$, then $a^n=b^n+b^n$, which would contradict Wiles proof of Fermats Last Theorem.
OK, here's my proof that $49 < 50$.
There's one point in the first quadrant where the circle $x^2+y^2=1$ intersects the line $x=y$, and the tangent line to the circle at that point has slope $-1$ and $x$-intercept $\sqrt{2}$. Every line with the same slope and a slightly smaller $x$-intercept intersects the circle twice, and those with a larger intercept do not intersect the circle.
Now suppose we use $7/5$ as an approximation to $\sqrt{2}$, and draw the line with slope $-1$ and that $x$-intercept. Lo and behold, it passes through the points $(4/5,3/5)$ and $(3/5,4/5)$, which are on the circle. So it's a secant line, not a tangent line. Therefore we conclude that $$ \frac75<\sqrt{2}. $$ Therefore $$ 49 = 7^2 < 5^2\cdot2=50. $$
Last semester our grad Analysis II class proved the Isoperimetric Inequality using Fourier analysis.


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There are lot of people who are still working in the same company for more than 10 years. What is the motivation that makes you to stick with current job ?
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closed as off topic by Walter, Yannis♦ Mar 7 '12 at 14:08
Questions on Programmers Stack Exchange are expected to relate to software development within the scope defined by the community. Consider editing the question or leaving comments for improvement if you believe the question can be reworded to fit within the scope. Read more about reopening questions here.If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.
I've been with the same company for eight of the past ten years. My reasons for staying are (in no particular order)
Competency and complacency.
I work for a mid-size company. We also acquire companies, so I've seen this pattern a few times.
The senior developers are there through a form of selection. If they aren't competent, they leave in a layoff (always ups and downs in an industry, especially when looking at a 10, 15 or 20 time frame).
Complacency is probably more along the lines of what you're asking. And, there are lots of reasons. Here's a few. Usually I see many of these in the same person (including myself)
Quick edit/addition: Don't assume that these people don't periodically look for other jobs. Either the individuals or the jobs just aren't sufficient to change the status quo.
I've been at my current job for 4 years, and I was at my last job for 12.
What I like best about my current job is my co-workers. They have very positive attitudes and are oriented toward problem-solving as opposed to complaining.
Another factor is that management is supportive of best practices, including change management and project planning. There's a conscious effort where I work to get away from "cowboy coding" and putting out fires.
I can't speak for everyone of course, but as someone who has held his current job for 15 years here are some of the core reasons I have stayed so long.
Tenure Perks: I am fully vested in my 401K and based on my tenure I am now eligible for almost 40 days/year of vacation. Every time I look at other jobs, I think about giving up all that extra time off and it is a very compelling reason not to go.
Salary Perks I have a ton of experience within the company and am very aware that a large part of my compensation is based on knowing the company inside-out and having valuable well-established working relationships with almost everyone. I feel like at a new organization I wouldn't be able to command the premium price. Granted, I could go to a competitor, but our industry is fairly niche and a lot of the other companies are very unstable and prone to big layoffs.
Relationships Over all these years I have developed dozens of very close multi-year work-friendships and intrinsically know that no matter how much you try, those friendships tend to fade after you are working somewhere else. I like hanging out with dozens of my friends all day at work.
Comfort: Not the main factor, but it is a factor. I still keep in touch with lots of people who have left the company and the grass really isn't greener. Also, as the second most veteran employee in my company with tons of industry/company experience and a solid relationship with upper management there is a lot of job security that is hard to give up.
I'm sure complacency has some role in it, but not as major as people are making it out to be. Working at the same company != working at the same job. If you are stuck in the same job the whole time I might agree with the complacency thing more. Even then, most companies undergo massive change over time. So the same job isn't necessarily the same job. With regard to technology, that changes every 2-3 years regardless of your business address. So it isn't like you are finding a career cave and hiding there to avoid keeping up with the world.
As Jim Rush mentioned, I've investigated other opportunities dozens of times in my career all the way up to interviewing with other companies. Once I accepted a counter-offer to stay, another time management addressed my concerns and talked me out of leaving.
Comfort. When you're comfortable enough, then you are likely to stay where you are. At my last job, there were several developers who had been there over 15 years. If things aren't changing frequently enough, I start to get bored and when my boredom affects my performance enough that I notice it, then I start looking for a new job.
Here is an interactive way to answer your question.
That interactive analysis application is based on real employee's comments.
I can't share my experience about that since I never lasted more than 1 year at the same company. As a freelance consultant, I was like a mercenary.
Final salary pension scheme in a solvent country in the private sector...
But otherwise
More positives than negatives
I somehow feel that category of people would never subscribe to Programmers.SE. Or ever hear of it.
Age, fear of change and failure, unwillingness to take risk, decreased employability, other priorities like family life or the need to page mortgage.
Or they are the CEO of a successful company and there is no reason to give up.
I've not been in the software industry for long and I've had 3-4 companies worth of experience. One of my largest concerns is the opportunity to make a difference and have the kind of people who are willing to learn and better situations. The most exciting experience was when a company that didn't have much focus in unit testing, allowed me to spend a couple of months presenting my findings of SOLID and TDD to the team. A few members of the team were then so inspired and become highly motivated at how we can move forward and better our development.
That kind of attitude, in management and employees, is something I am now always looking out for.
Fear. If I don't keep my job, my GF will kill me.
That... and I love what I do (Data analyst. Some programming. Some Web building.)


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History says that the Taj Mahal was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal. However, I've also read many stories claiming that it was a Lord Shiva temple earlier.
What's the truth?
There are no scholarly literature (like publications in reputed academic peer-reviewed papers etc) supporting the theory that it was a temple earlier. Till such materials are available, it would be wise to consider such stories as myths.


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- Binding: Hardcover
- Era: 19th Century – 20th Century
- Number of Pages: 368
- Subject: British Naval History
- Date Available: January 2012
Clear The Decks Price*
Your tax-deductible gift to the Naval Institute Press underwrites worthy books that might not otherwise be published.
Brian Lavery returns with the second volume of his engaging social history of the Royal Navy's 'lower deck.' Able Seamen addresses a range of issues central to the evolution of the seaman through 89 years of change. Readable, engaging and authoritative, it chronicles an important stage in the history of the Royal Navy and illuminates the inherent adaptability of the lower deck, as new technologies demanded increased professionalism, specialization, and training. The book also examines the changing social structure of the Navy, and the great demands made on the Service throughout the British Empire.
Brian Lavery, a curator emeritus at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England, is the award-winning author of Empire of the Seas, among many other books.
Praise for Able Seamen~
"This book and the triology of which it is a part will be required reading for all students of the subject—a handsomely illustrated introduction to a quintessentially British hero."
– The Historian
"This is both an important contributor to maritime history and an entertaining and informative look into a fascinating period in naval history — highly recommended."
— Starshell Magazine
"Photographs and an appendix are added to enhance the story Lavery tells so well and which includes many other comprehensive aspects of this huge topic. This is a book for all interested in the military to enjoy, an accurate, fascinating book that would serve as an excellent, reliable source for researchers."
"Brian Lavery's Able Seamen adds luster to the author's sparkling reputation as a scholar and writer."
— Naval History Book Reviews, November 7, 2012


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Rough draft
"Anyone who attempts to put himself
above the law and invite Government
employees to turn over classified
information relating to our national
security, in violation of statute
and presidential order, is tragically
mistaken if he believes he is helping
to protect our Nation's safety."....
"Nothing pleases the Communists more
than to create division among the
people on matters of national security;
im pair constitutional government; and
encourage disobedience to the law."…..
"The cardinal precept upon which the
Constitution safeguards personal
liberty is that this shall be a government
of laws."
I think there is no doubt that if a member
of the Executive branch called on the members of the
Senate, or upon the employees of the Senate, to
violate their oaths of office we
would all agree that the member of the Executive
branch responsible should be disciplined, punished
or perhaps even dismissed. Our Constitution is based
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text:
IT WAS a brilliant idea of Gabriel Stein, himself a part of the clever Lombard Street Research team, to compute that statistical mirage - the day when the average Brit starts to work for him or herself. That day is today.
The average Scottish taxpayer spends the first 155 days of the year - from Hogmanay through to 2 June - solely to pay off the demands of the tax authorities.
It is only from today we are really working for ourselves and our families. Until now, we have all been serfs to Gordon Brownâs grand illusion that he will deliver us "free" services if only we will work for him almost half the year.
What I fail to understand from Steinâs grim computations, in collaboration with the Adam Smith Institute, is why we lack any hint of a popular tax revolt. Our docility and law abiding habits are virtues but there comes a point when they look too servile and obedient.
We saw this phenomenon most clearly when there was a huge outrage against the price of petrol four years ago.
Simple souls that we are, we all believed this was a conspiracy by the oil corporations. We could not quite grasp that the bulk of what we pay at the forecourt goes to the Treasury; the retailer and the energy companies take only pennies - and make only farthings.
I admit I make the same mistake. If I go to my off licence, Iâm always stung by the price of alcohol. It feels it goes to the brewers or the vintners. Of course it goes to the insatiable Mr Brown.
There are many other taxes we do not see. National Insurance sounds virtuous, but it is simply a levy on employing people. The politicians like to pretend this is them taxing the capitalists to give us benefits they would never offer. Of course it is merely taken from our pockets.
Yet still the political opposition seems mute. Taxes are so oppressive and widespread there is a fine open goal for those who promise sharp and dramatic cuts. The Conservatives seem reluctant to talk of more than a penny off here or there. That will never excite the voters.
In Scotland, the parliament has the powers to cut income tax by 3p in the pound. It is modest, but what a signal that would send. All politicians seem to have entered into a compact not to mention this.
The uncritical response is that we accept our taxes because we appreciate what we get in return - our roads, schools, pensions and Holy of Holies, the health service.
This is a specious explanation. The State spends only a small part of its billions on giving us back services. The bulk is spent nourishing the monsters of the departments of state and their myriad employees and index-linked pensions - no "black holes" for them.
One of my heroes is the French libertarian writer Frederic Bastiat. He has a wise maxim: "The State is that fiction by which we all try to live at other peopleâs expense". That says it all. We all begrudge much of our taxes, levies and dues but then all try to get out benefits.
My ideal is the biblical notion of the tithe. Let us adhere to a rule of no tax above the 10 per cent rule. Many taxes should disappear altogether. Those that survive should not deviate from one-tenth. Can you imagine the liberation to the economy?
Everyone would be re-animated. All of commerce would surge. And the most splendid paradox of all: the Treasury would garner far more in taxation. 10 per cent of a dynamic economy would be better than 44 per cent of a sluggish one.
The State would not have to provide many services that are only needed in a sleeping economy. Who would need any unemployment benefits when working was suddenly rewarding again?
An alarming aspect of the Tax Freedom Day computations is the steadily creeping effect of taxation. In 1993, we worked for the taxman only until 23 May - now it has crawled a further ten days up the year. Gabriel Stein says next year weâll work for the Chancellor until 7 June and in 2005 it will have advanced a full week to 9 June.
If my 10 per cent rule were observed, we would work for the government only until noon on 8 February.
It causes some anguish to realise Income Tax was only introduced as an emergency "temporary" measure in 1799 to pay for the defeat of Napoleon.
Young Mr Pitt, who imposed it, would have regarded my 10 per cent as radically socialist. He only levied 2.5 per cent.
When Gordon Brown trumpeted his Budgetâs £505 million "giveaway" (better a "give back", Iâd suggest), such is his stealth, only a few pedants noticed he was collecting a further £4.2 billion.
This is the advantage of our rascally political class. They get away with it because taxes are subtle. We see our wages or salaries clock on to our accounts and forget the skimming to which they are subjected.
VAT is an EU tax. As a fiscal mechanism it is elegant but the commission wants it harmonised upwards to 20 per cent. Is it possible this might spark a popular tax revolt? In the rest of the EU, Tax Freedom Day is already well ahead of us at 13 June.
I wonder if British business could be less compliant without breaking any laws? The supermarkets could adapt their till receipts to say how much less we would have paid but for the taxes. Every petrol station could declare most of what weâve just handed over goes to the Revenue.
Every pub and restaurant could signal clearly their prices would be a fraction were it not for the clandestine taxes. This is commonplace in the US.
Still, Tuesday is a happier day - the Nativity of Adam Smith. It surely ought to be a Scottish National holiday.
John Blundell is general director of the Institute of Economic Affairs.


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The discussion will focus on the ways one might prepare for a career in clinical teaching and how this is similar to and different from other types of teaching careers. We will also talk about the various types of clinical teaching positions that are available.
Brett Dignam, Clinical Professor of Law
Philip Genty, Everett B. Birch Innovative Teaching; Clinical Professor in Professional Responsibility
Barbara Schatz, Clinical Professor of Law
**Pizza and refreshments will be served**
All workshops are audio recorded and posted on the CILTP webpagehttp://www.law.columbia.edu/careers/law_teaching
For more information, contact: firstname.lastname@example.com
© Copyright 2016, The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York.
For questions or comments, please contact the web administrators.
435 West 116 Street, New York, NY 10027 — 212-854-2640


text:
1975 DB Signature East West Collins
$235.00 $176.25
Select Color
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Style# 5S790
- Description
Print This classic collection celebrates Dooney & Bourke's founding year with a gold logo print on coated fabric. This hobo is one of the original Dooney & Bourke handbags. Inspired by our New England roots, it's simple and sporty, perfect for when you're out and about the town.
- Details
Print H 8" x W 6" x L 13.5" One outside zip pocket. One outside pocket with magnetic snap. One inside zip pocket. Two inside pockets. Cell phone pocket. Inside key hook. Zipper closure. Strap drop length 9.50". Coated cotton fabric.Measurement Guide


text:
BATON ROUGE – The Head Coach and architect of LSU's 1958 football National Championship who later served as athletic director at LSU, Paul Dietzel, passed away early Tuesday morning after a brief illness at the age of 89.
Click here for the original story.
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Legendary Coach, AD Paul Dietzel Dies, 89
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Posted 24 September 2013 - 08:18 AM
Posted 24 September 2013 - 09:09 AM
Coach Dietzel led SC to their one and only conference Championship in football. RIP Coach.
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Posted 24 September 2013 - 10:57 AM
RIP Coach Dietzel
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text:
Mouse Mask
Print out, color, and cut out this mouse to wear as a fun Halloween mask. Cut out the eye holes. Cut holes on the sides, and pull a string through the holes. This Halloween printable craft can be enjoyed throughout the month of October and during other school-year festivities.
Grade Levels: Pre-K - 5
To view this printable you need Adobe Acrobat Reader. Click to download Acrobat Reader - it's free!
Random Costume


text:
Saranda (SR) Backpackers
Welcome to Saranda! Mireserdhet ne Sarande!
Tomi, he is Albanian and local from Saranda and Meike, the German half of the hostel, welcome you for a visit. Both we are fluent in English and Tomi knows Italian and Greek as well!
Our now 4 years running hostel is located on the second floor of a secure contemporary apartment building just opposite to Saranda's ferry port. All of the rooms have big balconies overlooking the picturesque Ionian Sea.
After a day out on the town, Saranda Backpackers Hostel offers many amenities that will help you to relax. Some of the hostel's benefits include hot showers, free wifi, washing machine, and balconies with stunning views of the bay. You will have access to a full kitchen, where you can make your own lunch/dinner. The hostel is located right around the corner from the farmer's market and the town's super big air conditioned supermarket (Alfa). Don't worry about breakfast, it's included!
Mornings begin with a continental breakfast with fresh tasty bread, homemade jam, organic coffee or tea, fresh boiled eggs, tasty tomatoes and watermelons from the farmers market. Or will you try out the typical Albanian breakfast with byrek? Tell us!
We are at your disposal 24/7 and can give you an insider's view of Saranda and the history of Tomis homeland. We can recommend cheap traditional restaurants as well as arrange tours, help navigate your next destination, and point out all of the nearby hot spots including: The Blue Eye, The Castle of Lekursi, the antic excavation of Butrint or the amazing beaches of Ksamil or Paskyra Beach south to Saranda!
Walk around the corner and catch the city bus, it leaves every hour (from 7am to 6pm) and the bus stop is only 50 meters from the hostel.
Visit Butrint and stop in Ksamil on the way back and take a swim or paddle boat ride to the islands.
Located just 50 meters from the port (ferry service to/from Corfu) and a quick walk from the central bus station, Saranda Backpackers Hostel is not only close to all the major transportation hubs, it's also a short walk to the promenade which is lined with bars, discos, and restaurants (be sure to try the famous mussels). As you stroll along the promenade, stop to have a coffee or a shot of raki, enjoy the sea view and live in the moment as the locals do. Last but not least, the main beach is in front of the hostel. Grab some homemade byrek (spinach pie) or a tasty treat from the corner bakery on your way. Soak up the sun, rent a paddle boat, or float the day away in the clear refreshing sea.
We are here open for all your questions and try to help you with all your travel needs - day trips around Saranda and travelling around Albania too!
You want to rent a bike or a car, just ask us!
Our Hostel Events 2013
Albanian Culture night:
Learn how to cook delicious local cuisine, afterward watch an Albanian film, learn some useful phrases and Albania's Communist past.
Dinner in Town:
Take a xhiro along the promenade, and see what Saranda has to offer. Many activities and beautiful people line the promenade in the evenings. Eat at one of several local pizza places for dinner and have time for drinks and ice cream.
Beach BBQ Night:
On nights when we have 8 or more guest, we can arrange a BBQ on the beach, with local food and local drinks. There is no better way to get to know your fellow guests and enjoy a beautiful Saranda night.
Kebabs, Grilled Veggies, and even Mashed Potatoes cooked on the grill right on the beach in front of the hostel! After dinner you may even desire a moonlight swim!
Saranda Walking Tours:
Walk to Lekursi Castle and the Monastery of the Forty Saints, the namesake of our town Saranda. Don't forget to bring some leke for a coffee and ice cream. You can sit and watch the sunset over the bay of Saranda.
Blockbuster Night (mostly in winter time)
It starts with a homemade Albanian dinner. Then you may choose a movie from our collection to watch.
Seafood Night:
Take a trip to one of the best local seafood restaurants overlooking the Bay!
*if you would like to request a particular event during your stay, we will do our best to accommodate you.
Greetings from Saranda
summer 2013!
Tomi & Meike
Verfügbarkeit & PreiseWähle bitte die Termine aus und klicke auf "Daten aktualisieren", um die Verfügbarkeit zu sehen
Hostels Ausstattungen & Richtlinien
- 24 Stunden Sicherheitsdienst
- Fahrradkeller
- Büchertausch
- Frühstück inbegriffen
- Deckenventilator
- Gemeinschaftsraum
- Zahlung per Kreditkarte möglich
- Geldwechsel
- Aufzug
- Kostenlose Stadtpläne
- Kostenloses Parken
- Kostenloses WLAN
- Spielzimmer
- Warmwasser-Duschen
- Internet-Zugang
- Küche
- Waschmöglichkeiten
- Schließfächer
- Besprechungszimmer
- Mini Supermarkt
- Kein Rezeptionsschluss
- Parken
- Steuern enthalten
- Möglichkeit der Tee- und Kaffeezubereitung
- Ausflugsschalter
- Waschmaschine
ReiserücktrittsversicherungDiese Unterkunft hat eine 1 Tage Stornierungsfrist. Ergeht innerhalb dieser Zeit keine Stornierung, wird eine Stornogebühr in Höhe der ersten Nacht des Aufenthalts in Rechnung gestellt.
AnfahrtKarte anzeigenKarte verbergen
By Ferry: Once you clear customs at the Port of Saranda, exit the customs house and follow the ramp up to the street. Turn right towards the town center and 50 meters on your left is our hostel, you will see
a gray and yellow building (# 10) look for an internet caf. At the dark brown door ring the bell for Tomi and we will be at your service.
It is less than a minute walk from the port. Check out the Saranda Map in the photos to get a better visual of the directions.
BY BUS: When you get off the bus, walk down the hill towards the sea. Turn
right on Rruga (the street) Abedin Dino.
(You will see ruins on your right.) Pass the first intersection and
continue on the road until it ends.
You will see a Raiffaisen Bank on your left and a big eucaliptus tree
in the middle of
the road. You will bear to the right of the tree and follow Mitat
Hoxha street towards the Port.
50 meters in front of you will be yellow and grey building with number
10 on it. Pass
the Krepi Star crepe shop and at the next door (dark brown door) ring
the bell and we will be
at your service!
It is about a 6 minute walk!
If you have questions, call Tomi at 00 355 69 434 5426 or email us at
It is a 6 minute walk. Check out the Saranda Map in the photos to get a better visual of the directions.
By Car, Bike or Motor Bike: When you enter Saranda make your way to the port, (the word Port is the same in Albanian, if you need to ask for directions). We are located on the same street as the port, yellow
and gray building (#10), just look for the Crepe restaurant or internet caf There is street parking right in front of our building. At the dark brown door ring the bell for Tomi and we will be at your service.


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EUCALYPTUS : Open Source Cloud Infrastructure, The Skies are Opening!
By alkagupta on Nov 09, 2008
Last week I attended a fantastic talk on EUCALYPTUS at a cloud computing meetup. The presentor Rich Wolski, is a a professor in the Computer Science Department at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He created EUCALYPTUS, an open source cloud computing implementation, that is interface compatible with Amazon EC2. It was a great educational talk, very relevant to the budding cloud computing industry. Rich Wolski put in perspective the popularity of Cloud Computing when he mentioned that the term "Cloud Computing" was only coined about a year ago, by Google on Oct. 8 2007 in a press release. Today after 1 year and 1 month, a google search on "cloud computing" gives ~9 million results! This explosive growth in cloud computing got Prof. Rich Wolski interested in the subject for research and gave birth to the project EUCALYPTUS.
EUCALYPTUS is an acronym and expands to: Elastic Utility Computing Architecture Linking Your Programs To Useful Systems. The infrastructure is designed to support multiple client-side interfaces besides EC2. It is implemented using commonly-available Linux tools and basic Web-service technologies making it easy to install and maintain.
The fig. below illustrates the EUCALYPTUS architecture.
The Cloud Controller implements all the gory details of the Cloud backend provisioning, whereas the Client side API Translator emulates a Cloud interface like EC2. This design makes EUCALYPTUS modular and extensible to emulate clouds other than EC2. Eg., EUCALYPTUS plans to emulate the Google Apps Engine in the near future by adding yet another API Translation layer. In its current version available today, EUCALYPTUS translator is built to EC2 WSDL published by Amazon and is 100% interface compatible with EC2. When RightScale management and monitoring tools connected with EUCALYPTUS, they were not able to identify any difference between EC2 and EUCALYPTUS.
Security and authentication mechanism is very similar to EC2 except for its without a credit card. User signup is web based and ssh key generation and installation is implemented just like EC2. Since there are no published administration and accounting tools published by EC2, EUCALYPTUS defines its own tools for user management and cloud management.
When EUCALYPTUS project was launched, the objective was to keep it simple, extensible, easy to install and maintain, and build it on widely available and popular open source technologies. Another objective was to ensure that it is a cloud indeed, given there has been a lot of confusion about what a Cloud really is or not is. To ensure that, the team decided to emulate an existing cloud and made the following design decisions:
- EUCALYPTUS would be interface compatible with Amazon EC2 and S3
- It would work with command line tools directly from Amazon without any modifications
- It would leverage exisitng EC2 value added services like RightScale
Given EUCALYPTUS was an open source project and would need to run on any hardware without prior knowledge of the underlying infrastructure, it was also designed to function as a software overlay such that existing installation is not violated too much and no assumptions are made about the hardware.
Some of the Goals of EUCALYPTUS were:
- Foster research in elastic/cloud/utility computing
- Experimental vehicle prior to buying commercial services from EC2 and other clouds
- Providing a debugging and development platform for EC2 and other clouds
- Provide a basic cloud platform for the open source community. Might evolve into a Linux experience..
- Not designed as a replacement technology for EC2 or other commercial cloud services. In its current form, it can scale upto 1000 nodes.
Some of the biggest challenges addressed by Rich Wolski and his team of 5 research students around building EUCALYPTUS were:
- Extensibility
- Client side interface (modular design so that its compatible with EC2 and other clouds)
- Networking
- Security
- Packaging and Installation (One click install)
EUCALYPTUS is hosted as a public cloud and its free for use. However, only installed images can be run and usage is limited to 6 hours. EPC (EUCALYPTUS Public Cloud) configuration consists of:
- 8 Pentium Xeon processors (3.2 GHz)
- 2.5 GB of memory per image
- 3.6GB disk space
- 1GB ethernet interconnect
- Linux 2.6.18-xen-3.1
- Xen 3.2
Yes, its as big as an electron in the EC2 cloud. So clearly, even though its not a replacement for a commercial cloud, cloud vendors could learn a lot from its implementation if they wish to build their own cloud. Developers and end users could use it for testing and debugging purposes before deploying it on a real cloud. Given the popularity of cloud Computing, it could be the next Linux experience! Who knows.
IMHO, its a fabulous piece of work done by a team of 7 engineers at UCSB, using open source technologies, working with a limited budget in a duration of about 6-8 months. Check it out!!


text:
Main Content
Order as many items as you like with our $4.99 flat rate shipping.
This item ships within one business day.
Order as many items as you like with our $4.99 flat rate shipping.
Need it faster?
Celebrate your Philadelphia Phillies with this Pranzo picnic cooler! This durable Philadelphia Phillies lunch box features a durable polyester Ripstop construction and double-zippered pockets to resist day-to-day wear. A crisp Philadelphia Phillies logo rests just below the top carry handle to fill every lunch with some team spirit!
- Material: 100% Polyester
- Measures approximately 7'' x 11.5'' x 12''
- 1 Cotton napkin measures 14" x 14"
- 1 Set of salt and pepper shakers
- 1 Stainless steel fork, knife, and spoon
- 2 Zippered mesh side pockets
- Lifetime warranty from Picnic Time
- Designated spots for all included items (silverware, napkin, shakers)
- Double zippers on pockets
- Polyester Ripstop Construction
- Removable adjustable shoulder strap
- Soft grip top handle
- ThermoGuard for keeping food cool
- Two separate cooler sections
- Officially licensed
- Imported
- Brand: Picnic Time
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Manufacturer direct items are shipped directly from the manufacturer. These items are not available for international or expedited shipping.
Customized items can be personalized with options such as your name, your favorite number, and/or designs. Some options may be limited by league rules.


text:
Barneys New York
Fur Hood Parka
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Padded cotton button front parka with four button flap pockets. Removable fur trim at hood. Draw cord adjustment at inner waist. Available in Khaki. Made in Italy. Cotton/fur. Professional clean.Style # 502115379
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text:
About the Show
From Emmy Award-nominated producers Peter Berg (NBC's "Friday Night Lights") and Alexandra Cunningham ("Desperate Housewives") comes the crime drama "Prime Suspect" that takes a look inside a New York City homicide department. The series stars Maria Bello ("A History of Violence") as tough-as-nails NYPD homicide Detective Jane Timoney, an outsider who has just transferred to a new squad where her new colleagues already dislike her. Jane is confident and focused - and also rude, abrupt and occasionally reckless. She has her vices, and rumors of a questionable past follow her everywhere - but at the end of the day, she's an instinctively brilliant cop who can't be distracted from the only important thing: the prime suspect.
Also starring are Aidan Quinn ("Unknown") as Lt. Kevin Sweeney, Brían F. O'Byrne ("Flash Forward") as Det. Reg Duffy, Tim Griffin ("Star Trek") as Det. Augie Blando, Kirk Acevedo ("Fringe") as Det. Luisito Calderon, Damon Gupton ("The Last Airbender") as Det. Evrard Velerio and Peter Gerety ("Blue Bloods") as Jane's father, Desmond Timoney.
Based on the critically acclaimed British television series of the same name, "Prime Suspect" has been redeveloped for American audiences by Cunningham and Berg. "Prime Suspect" is produced by Universal Media Studios, ITV Studios America and Film 44. Cunningham is the executive producer/writer along with executive producer/director Berg and executive producers Sarah Aubrey, Julie Meldal-Johnson, Paul Buccieri, Lynda La Plante and John McNamara.
Cast Bios
Maria Bello
Aidan Quinn
Kirk Acevedo
Peter Gerety
Tim Griffin
Damon Gupton
Brian F. O'Byrne
Kenny Johnson
Executive Producer
Sarah Aubrey, Alexandra Cunningham, Julie Meldal-Johnson, Paul Buccieri, Lynda La Plante, John McNamara
Lynda La Plante
Peter Berg
Co-Executive Producer
Ron Fitzgerald, Tyler Bensinger, Jonas Pate
Nan Bernstein Freed
Supervising Producer
Randy Huggins
Nichole Beattie
Consulting Producer
Liz Heldens
Mike Sheehan, Kevin Hynes, Roberto Patino
Casting Director
Linda Lowy, John Brace
Production Designer
Tim Galvin
Director of Photography
Todd McMullen
Dody Dorn, Robb Sullivan
Music Supervisor
Liza Richardson
New York, NY
Produced By
Universal Television, ITV Studios America, Film 44


text:
Houston Landmarks
2 of 10
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
With a collection that exceeds 40,000 works and spans more than 6,000 years, the Houston Fine Arts Museum is sure to impress any art lover. Aside from the works housed within the museum's buildings, the museum maintains the Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens, a collection of decorative art and furniture. The museum is also home to the Glassell School of Art and the Cullen Sculpture Garden.
Fun Fact: The Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens is located five miles away from the rest of the museum campus. It was donated to the museum in 1957.
Photo source: Carol M. Highsmith
Next: Williams Water Wall
Provided by Infoplease—an authoritative, comprehensive reference website that offers an encyclopedia, a dictionary, an atlas, and several almanacs. Visit Infoplease.com to find more resources endorsed by teachers and librarians.


text:
I'm wondering if I was to run minecraft in a 32bit or 64bit ubuntu server; would there be a benefit (speed improvements) or something else, or just the same? Downsides?
Minecraft is written in Java, so it should "adapt" itself to both 32-bit and 64-bit systems (depending if you have a 32-bit or 64-bit Java runtime).
While Minecraft itself is not optimized for 64-bit, it will take advantage of JVM optimizations for 64-bit processors. Basically, this means more general-purpose registers available (16 in 64-bit against 8 in 32-bit, which means better machine code and less RAM access, improving performance) and larger addressable memory. On the other hand, since now pointers take up twice as much space, there is a little extra overhead for using 64-bit.
But you should also think about the operating system, as it will also take advantage of 64-bit improvements. If you have more than 2GB or 3GB of RAM, your operating system should be 64-bit, else it won't access all RAM (or will have a considerable overhead doing so). And if you have a 64-bit operating system, you should also go with a 64-bit Java Runtime for better performance (as other users already commented).
By the way, in my opinion, you should always go to 64-bit unless you have a very good reason to avoid it, like compatibility reasons (which is not this case).
Related question on StackOverflow: Does Java 64bit perform better than the 32bit version?
Wait a minute! I talked code written in Java, but how about native libraries? Like OpenGL support and OpenAL? They are available on both 32-bit and 64-bit versions, and the correct version will be loaded. And I can confirm that on my Linux 64-bit system, it loads the 64-bit version of those native Java libraries. (as an experiment, I've deleted the 32-bit versions and Minecraft still runs fine)
Minecraft is not designed as a 64-bit application, and thus, while usable on a 64-bit OS, won't see any sorts of improvements from a technical standpoint.
However, if you also install the 64-bit java runtime environment, you may notice some slight performance optimization, but a 64-bit OS on its own will not have much of an effect.
I'm running my server on a 64 CentOs server and it doesn't seem to have improved anything. Minecraft only records the movements X,Y,Z of the players with items and block placed in the world. So running it on a 32 or 64 bit OS won't change anything.
For better performance of the game you need lots of RAM and fast HDD maybe a 10k RPM or 15 RPM on the server. That way you ensure faster loading and higher efficiency.
I have 8GB RAM on a Quad core system with 2 HDD 10k RPM, and I haven't noticed any lag with 20+ players online.
For me, I have got a weird solutions I have a 64-bit Processor and OS, but the game was unplayable, I then decided to try out the x86 version (32-bit). I know this normally doesn't improve anything, but when I did I have a decent framerate of 60fps WHEN RECORDING! The performance dramatically improved with 32-bit for me. However, if your machine is 64-bit, I would recommend using the 64-bit version first, then use the 32-bit. After that you can decide which to use.
My system info ATI Radeon X1200 Graphics AMD Turion 64X2 Dolby Sound Room Atheros Wireless Windows 7 Professional x64 SP1/Ubuntu 13.10 x64


text:
I am sometimes having difficulty differentiating friends level when explaining it to a Japanese. For example, when I am telling a story about a friend, I want to specify the level of friendship we have based to the context of the story.
So there are commonly known 4 levels of friendships ( click here for those who are not familiar)
- Acquaintance friend
- Casual friend
- Close friend
- Intimate friend
- Best friend (a little bit different from intimate friend)
There are several term I do hear when they refer to friends like 友達,友人, 親友, 仲間{なかま} (translate as comrade but commonly used to mean friend in anime). How do I differentiate them in Japanese? Or do Japanese don't differentiate between them.


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I know that parasitic wasp larvae could live for a long time inside their alive host (eg. caterpillar), but I always thought that they kill the host when they eventually get out of it. But once I've seen this film, where it's shown that not only a caterpillar can survive emerging of wasp larvae, but also the parasites infect the host with some kind of virus that changes the behaviour of the caterpillar to protect wasps' pupae. Is it possible and common among parasitic wasps? What species of wasps and viruses cause such effect?
The species of wasp you're referring to is Glyptapanteles. I'm not sure which virus it is.
Is it possible? Of course, you have an example! Though, there is a small caveat. Some of the offspring sacrifice themselves to induce the behavioral change after the rest of the brood has emerged.
Is it common among parasitic wasps? No. While injecting offspring into host species is a common theme for parasitic wasps, and while there are a handful which somehow induce behavioral changes in the host animals - continuing the manipulation after leaving the host animal is extremely rare among parasites in general.
In the study by Whitfield 1990 (1) I found the information that the parasitic wasp from family Ichneumonidae have interesting symbiotic viruses called polydnaviruses. This virus stay as provirus in the wasps genome and is transmitted vertically between subsequent generations of parasitoid. It does not harm the wasp and it is transmitted to the wasps hosts (usually caterpillar). The virus does not replicate in the caterpillar, but alter it's physiology: supress immune response and metamorphosis and increases the amount of nutrients in caterpillars hemolymph.
Still, I have not found any references about this kind of virus altering the behaviour of the caterpillar after the emergence of wasps larvae.
[1] Whitfield, J. B. (1990). Parasitoids, Polydnaviruses and Endosymbiosis. Parasitology Today, 6(12), 381-384. (free PDF)


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Hollywood's 5 Saddest Attempts at Feminism
Hollywood has a dilemma. Its blockbusters are all written by men, but to make the real money, they have to sell some tickets to females, too. What to do? Let a woman write a blockbuster? Ha! Of course not. Just insert a feisty woman into the story who won't take any crap from men in a really formulaic way! That should please the feminists, right?
Well, when you look at the results, you see they probably shouldn't have bothered.
#5. Eowyn (The Lord of the Rings)
Eowyn is introduced in the second film as some sort of princess. Actually, we're really not sure; we sort of drifted off when there weren't stabbings going on. But we're reasonably sure she is related to that crazy dude that was the King, and that makes her a princess in our books.
Supposed to be a Role Model Because:
In the movies we see that she's an able ruler, and a trained warrior. Eowyn is told to stay behind and help protect the women and children of Rohan while all the men go off to ride horses and stab things.
As girls are wont to do in stories like this, she instead decides to abandon her responsibilities and run off to play with the boys. She disguises herself as a dude, which we noticed is sort of the opposite of how Legolas operates.
The "You Go Girl!" Moment:
While in battle, she manages to catch the fearsome Witch King off guard and stabs him right in the fucking head. The exchange plays out something like this:
Witch King: No man can slay me! Mine is an evil laugh!
Eowyn: Behold my vagina!
Witch King: * dies *
Take that, patriarchy!
The Problem:
Aside from the fact that she ran off with the army because of her hots for Aragorn (who sadly only had eyes for the hobbits) thereby making her central motivation to get the approval of some filthy male, she rather quickly gives up her warrior woman ways and pretty much marries the first guy she sets eyes on after Aragorn gives her the "It's not you, it's me" speech.
Luckily for her, it turns out to be a poor man's Sean Bean, but it could've been the burned out husk of Denethor. We're just saying.
The lesson here, impressionable young girls, is that playing soldier is all well and good in emergencies, but you're not really complete until you land a husband. Any husband.
#4. Padme Amidala (Star Wars Prequels)
Natalie Portman's Padme shows up in the Star Wars prequels as the Queen of some intergalactic backwater. Not only is Padme the youngest elected Queen in history (eh, we'll have to do another article on George Lucas's poor grasp of what a monarchy is) but she's a certified kicker of asses.
After three movies, we know she is stern yet beautiful, driven equally by her duty and her love for a whiney Jedi wannabe who's totally half her age.
"It's fine, we can just keep having picnics until you're old enough to drink."
Supposed to be a Role Model Because:
In The Phantom Menace we see her equally at ease arguing the finer points of Robert's Rules of Order on the Senate floor and personally leading a raid to bring down the brutal Gungun occupation of her homeland. In the second movie, we see her flying a jet and fighting off a brutal monster in some sort of alien gladiator contest. Plus, she's Princess Leia's mom, and we all know badassery is carried on the X chromosome.
The "You Go Girl!" Moment:
Anakin: You call this diplomacy?
Padme: No, aggressive negotiations!
*stuff blows up*
The Problem:
Padme does just fine as an ass kicker until she starts using her uterus. As everyone in Hollywood knows, a uterus makes women do crazy things. In movies, pregnancy makes a heroine into a useless, whining, fragile creature (ok, other than Juno).
The pregnant Padme spends most of the movie crying and wondering when Anakin will come home. After confronting her baby daddy about his experimentation with the Dark Side, she's injured and goes into labor. While giving birth to future ass kickers Leia and Luke, Padme decides to die.
Seriously, the movie makes it pretty clear: she just gives up. No serious injury, no difficult birth, no blood spurting onto the table.
What about the two children she has to live for? Nope. She'll have none of that. The uterus will not allow it.
#3. River Tam (Firefly/Serenity)
In the Firefly universe, River is the genius kid sister of Serenity's ship's doctor, Simon. Lured away from her family at a young age with the promise of advanced schooling, River has been tortured and programmed as an assassin and possible psychic. Her abilities include mind reading, precognition, advanced weapons training and ballet.
Supposed to be a Role Model Because:
Since Firefly was created by Joss "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" Whedon, it's pretty much assumed that all the female characters will be ground breaking paragons of feminist virtue. Maybe this is because Whedon genuinely respects strong female characters, or maybe he's intimidated by a cult fanbase that demands every show of his have another Buffy in it.
River, with her acrobatic fighting moves and penchant for exsanguinations, would seem to be a perfect fit.
The "You Go Girl!" Moment:
After her brother is gunned down by bad guys, River proclaims "My turn", then proceeds to gleefully and gracefully mow down every last one of them with a mother fucking sickle.
The Problem:
Despite River's inherent ass-kicking abilities, she rarely uses them to the benefit of the crew. The character has been driven insane by her experiences, and therefore she spends most of her time saying crazy things and throwing up in her brother's bed.
In fact, protecting River forms the backbone of no less than five out of thirteen episodes, plus the theatrical movie. That's an awful lot of rescuing for a feminist hero.
Many fans noticed this, too, and expressed their outrage on their Livejournals:
"... I'm not sure that I will recover from the shock of watching the malicious way in which Joss stripped his female characters of their integrity, the pleasure he seemed to take from showing potentially powerful women bashed, the way he gleefully demonized female power and selfhood and smashed women into little bits, male fists in women's faces, male voices drowning out our words."
Holy crap! They make it sound like the movie includes a 20-minute montage of Whedon pimp-slapping every female on the set.