text:
mack- Webb looks class.
Didn't think this was running again - just posted on the old link to start it myself until Forest pointed out its running here so got a bit of catching up to do (I'm a red too by the way!).
Had started as Lewes but as someone else has started as them ill load up again and pick another team. Had a crack at this a couple of seasons ago with Ilkeston and was enjoying it but my game crashed - enjoyed it while it lasted though so ready for another crack!
Welcome on board and good luck PFG!
I know we are really only doing end of season updates but I wanted to post this.
Undefeated leaders 9 from 9. They hadn't yet been to the dripping pan though..
Lewes FC v Weston-super-Mare
FC United of Manchester
Season 3 (2014/15)
Blue Square North
Time to kick on, i felt. We started well and were there or there abouts throught the first half of the season, flirting around the playoffs. Avoided the dreaded Dec/Jan slump (our league position fell off as we had 3 matches posponed, meaning others took us over but we kept games in hand). As we started to head towards the business end of the season we found our form and with 4 games to go actually had a chance of taking the league title and automatic promotion. A beating by Northwich put paid to that, but we ended strong to go into the playoffs as top seed.
Playoffs were always going to be nervy. Semi had us against Southport, away from home first. We went out to play our normal game and got completely played off the park. By half time it was 13 shots to 1. Somehow, Matty Wolfenden managed to get us ahead with a rare break away but we were soon pegged back to one all. We held on for the draw but had been very lucky. Second leg at home, and knowing that curiously away goals dont count in the playoffs, we needed to improve and sharpish. We did, but in a topsy turvy game the 90mins ended in 2 v 2. This time around we were well worthy of the draw. Into extra time we went, the nerves being shredded. 29mins came and went without much incident, then in the last minute of extra time a cross from deep from our right back williams, Andy Flanagan attacked it from deep, the Southport defence and goalie froze and it feel for Flanagan to stoop and head in a winner. The final whistle went right after to put us into the play off final!
Final we faced FC Halifax. It was a nervy afair and with 20mins to go it was goaless and looking like we might hit extra time again. However then YP1 Michael Rigby ran onto a through ball from YP1 James O'Brien and cooly slotted home. We then withstood some inevitable pressure from Halifax, and with 2 mins remaining we hit on the counter and Andy Flanagin slotted home to send our fans wild and ensure we would be playing in the BSP next season!
A good season, and one outstanding performer
League positions graph
Transfers - Proving i am clean!
Top performers
Michael Rigby (YP2) - Unbelievable! Breaking all kinds of scoring records and we definately rode him all the way to the BSP! Hoping for more of the same
James O'brien (YP1) - Became an assist machien this season, linking very well with Rigby and popping up with a few goals. Also an expert set piece taker which helps
Other honourable mentions to Matty Wolfenden, a 28yr who flirted around the team for the first 2 seasons but managed to play a lot more this season, and a couple of other youths - Ray Mitten a DLC who played well at centre back, but will be moved to DL for next season, and Jay Bishop, a DMC who had a solid season.
Youth Intake
A number of good players, with good potential, nothing outstanding, but a DMC who looks like he could be good enough to start and develop into a usefull piece.
Chris Spinks (YP3)
Rated as potential to be a good league 2 player (same as O'Brien). He will go right into the team as a starting striker next season.
Youth Progress
***covered in above screenshots already as YP1 and YP2 were players of the year!***
I also won manager of the year!
Aims from last season
1) Push for playoffs - Yes!
2) learn how to defend, especially set pieces! - Kinda, although still an issue
3) Develop YP1 - Success
Aims for NEXT season
1) Survive!!
Last edited by Jambo98; 06-05-2012 at 15:37. Reason: wrong season number listed
In other news, my new stadium which had already been put back a year and was still "planning", has just been blocked because the local council refused planning permission
Still to write my update for my first season in BSP, shall try and do so this evening.
Got a couple of updates to do to
Right I am going for this! Will holiday today and post updates tomorrow. Well done to everyone who has reached league football as that is really my only goal.
mack4life- Good start there!
FC United of Manchester
Season 4 (2015/16)
Blue Square Premier
As mentioned in a mini update previously, life in the BSP started in amazing fashion, smashing 8 past York. It didnt continue in that vain........we were terrible most of the season, plumeeting, couldnt win or buy a clean sheet, as we entered the final stretch we were in the relegation zone but in with a chance of staying up. A desperation change of tactics brought about some success and sneaked a couple of wins and the odd draw, in the end it came down to the last game. Wierdly on the last day fixtures were split, and my game against already relegated forest green was the only game on the Sunday. That meant going into the home game we already knew a win of any kind would keep us up on goal difference. We duly sneaked a one nil to survive, somehow!
Terrible season, but survival was all we had targeted. A major clear out and re-organising of squads betwen 1st/res/u19 requried at seasons end.
League positions graph
Transfers - Proving i am clean!
Top performers
Aye, right............
Youth Intake
mixed bag this time round, but a promising wide player/striker, a couple of decent midfielders. Best player was this left wingback
Youth Progress
Aims from last season
1) Survival - YES
Aims for next season
1) Top half
2) Better defensive record
3) Try and upgrade youth recruitment network
2033-34 Carshalton Atheltic : Pushing for CL Qualification
League Table
Gained a position in the table but just missed out on that 4th spot will be aiming for that next season my rest my 1st team for the cup games just so i push on in the league
League Cup - This trophy has permanent home at my Stadium
FA Cup - Arsenal 5th Round
Europa League - Stuttgart 2nd Round
Youth Intake
Youth Intake
Noone good enough this season and my chairman wont let me upgrade my youth recruitment argghhh
Next years objective : Get into the Champions League!!!!!
Toon- Your doing brilliantly mate! do you think it is still possible to improve your team, or is it at it's peak?
2013-2014 Lewes FC
Season Aim: Consolidation and survival Achieved
A really tough season. Things just didn't seem to click for the most of the season. We really struggled for goals this is a prime example.
Not sure where they are going to come from next season, I do have one young kid who might be the option, he doesn't look ready to me but I might not have alot of choice.
Final Table
Proof I am Clean
Aim For Next Season: Not be in a relegation scrap!!
Last edited by La Furia Roja; 07-05-2012 at 10:27.
Last edited by toonbalmy87; 07-05-2012 at 11:02.
2035-36 Carshalton Atheltic : Champions League Calling The Robins
League Table
Yesss Finally manager to get into the champions league and break into the top four
Key Players
Malama - my best player he is awesome plenty of teams sniffing around him
League - Semi Final Southampton (Penalty's)
FA Cup - Man City 4th Round
Europa League - Benfica 2nd Round
Youth Intake
U18s - Walked it again
Player Stats
Next years objective : Get into the knockout stages of the Champions league and Qualify for it again
Last edited by toonbalmy87; 08-05-2012 at 16:16.
Nooooo!!!!!!!! :Mad: Damn Release Clause
My worst Nightmare
Last edited by toonbalmy87; 07-05-2012 at 11:37. Reason: he left for a Bigger offer £185,000 no matter how good he is i aint forking that much then everyone wll want a new contract
if he doesn't agree a contract I would be sorting that out ASAP!!
Toon- Champions league football! but without Malama it looks
this is the kid that replaced him
Seriously struggling to get anywhere in the BSP Cant seem to get a decent tactical set up.
Also have 2 other annoying things -
1) I cant seem to upgrade my youth recruitment network ever. I have my junior coaching at "excellent" but never get the option to even ask to upgrade youth recruiment! Anyone else have this?
2) One of my players (3rd choice ST) comes to me demanding a new contract, i say i will give him a new contract, but when i go to offer he isnt interested in discussing terms. He then requests a transfer, reason being that i have failed to offer a satisfactory contract! WTF????? Poor programming that one i think.
Jambo i have had the same Tactics since day one and look where i am
Tooting & Mitcham United - 13th March 2013
Sorry i didnt post my starting profile but im at the first youth intake so i hope its okay with you guys if i carry on...
Current Profile
League Table
Current Squad
Transfers Proof
Youth Intake
Key Youth Player
Not a bad start to my first season, had good spells and bad spells but just not getting relegated is a big achievement in my eyes. Very impressed with Jake Downing who i think will be a star for years to come. Finances have taken a huge dip but i will look to sort that out in pre-season with friendlies etc. A late run for the playoffs looks out of the question vbut you never know!
Ill have an end of the season update on the way soon.
Last edited by mshort22; 07-05-2012 at 17:00.
Tooting & Mitcham United - End Of Season Report 2012/2013
A very good season in my opinion, thought i was defiantly going to struggle at the start of the season by the team proved me wrong and i guess i underestimated them. A fairly good youth intake has put us in a good position next season which was evident as results picked up towards the end of the season. Finances are a bit of a worry but id rather not dwell on the negatives
League Table
Fixtures 1
Fixtures 2
Fixtures 3
Targets for next season:
- Top half finish, maybe playoffs
- Halt the financial landslide
- Give YP adequate game time
- Get some more gems!
Last edited by mshort22; 07-05-2012 at 19:22.
mshort- Good first season there! Hopefully you dont suffer from second season syndrome.
it think its how people post it. You need to go to settings and choose to show the direct HTML link, thats what I do and mine are full size.
ha, dont get too carried away. In my first year I was top of the league after 9 games with 8 wins. Think I avoided relegation by 2 points! It can go very wrong very quickly!
Good start though!
Weymouth FC Summary - Season 12 (2023-24)
Straight to the point, we didn't win it, but we were promoted to the Premier League! So, so happy, although we tried to throw it away at the end!!!
West Brom ran away with the league and with 5 games to go I was 8 points clear of Wolves for the 2nd automatic spot. A bad run of form left me just 3 points clear with 2 games to go, but with Wolves losing both their last games and me beating Notts Co at their place on the last day of the season knocking them out of play-off contention, it was champagne popping time!
Outside of the league we had a mini League Cup run until West Brom knocked us out in the 4th round.
We were drawn at home to Liverpool in the 3rd round of the FA Cup and we held our own nicely until conceding 2 in the last 10 mins to go down 1-3.
The youth intake was an interesting one.
Two quality looking DCs to nurture and an FC.
The wonderfully named Shayne Badman is one of the DCs and he is my first ever intake kid who the coaches immediately pegged as a leading Premier League prospect (Bryant and Holland both grew into that, but initially were both 'good Premier League' potential).
Shayne Badman Profile
Shayne Badman Report
And yes, one of the weaknesses of the Badman is his competitive streak getting him into trouble....
Shayne will get some 1st team bench time in the coming year, the other two are longer term prospects who may see some loan action as well as u18s.
Ray Holland failed to save Wolves from Premier League relegation the previous year, so League Cup winners Huddersfield activated his 8m relegation clause (and therefore nullifying my 50% profit clause) and snapped him up. Nice to see this news come through and have Ray doing well.
My 4m youth facility upgrade got canceled at the end of the season due to my funds running dry, need to get this kick started again soon.
Goals for season 13 (2024-25)
* Survival, plain and simple - scrap for every point available
It would also be nice to get some upgrades started again with the Premier League TV money, but due to the staggered payments that might have to wait until next summer.
Braumuller Congratulations on making it to the promise land for the biggest test staying in the division good luck
This looks like a lot of fun, i'm gonna put my skills to the test and sign up. Ill post my screens when i get home from university later.
Last edited by pjohnson87; 08-05-2012 at 11:01.
Thanks toon, this is going to be a tough season for sure. I got to play a little of it last night and wow, every point is a battle!Braumuller Congratulations on making it to the promise land for the biggest test staying in the division good luck
Going in I figured that I would have to have the decisions and luck go my way to get points in each game and the first two games both proved that and how precious points iwill be.
Opened up the season away at Everton (finished 6th-9th last 5 seasons) and I went up 2-0 early on due to an OG and a goal against the run of play. Everton were dominant and scored just before HT. Second half was more of the same and they eventually scored an 82nd min winner!
Second game, first home game, was against a rampant Chelsea. Ten straight top 6 finishes, won Champions League 3 years ago and were on an 8 game Premier League winning streak dating back to last year. 23rd min we win a penalty and they have their offender red carded! 1-0 and a man advantage. They were still relentless though, with 58% of possession and outshooting me 18-10. Eventually in the 76th minute they themselves win a penalty, convert it and win 2-1.
I got the breaks in both games and fell just short against two quality teams. If I am to survive I need to win these kind of games against the bottom half teams, so in a way this was encouraging, but I cannot rely on OGs, penalties and red cards to scrape points.
yeah its tough the first season really you rely on beaten the teams around the bottom and sometimes scraping couple points of the top 14 .
Unlucky on the first two games though i hate that happens you think your in look then your team gives penalty away
Fortunately Wolves have had a dire start, so I am hoping that that continues and they fill one of the three relegation places by default.
The Premier League money is nuts to a small club!
Just started into November and already up 9.4m in profit for the year. I had just hit 0 in the bank balance during the close season, so my current balance also stands at 9.4m. Took advantage of this and the board have agreed training upgrades (5.5m) and youth upgrades (4m) which will not begin (and the money taken out of my account) until next June. I also got a very rare success on youth recruitment and this is now 'average'.
Looking at the screenshot below it is not hard to see where my profits are coming from......
i am 17th in the league for spending on Salary Spending 22 Million a year will have an update today
Chester hire Johnson as Manager
Local coach Paul Johnson will take the helm at newely promoted Chester FC.
Johnson was quoted as saying "I'm looking forward to returning to the city I was born in, and my goal is to take Chester back to the football league as soon as possible.
Everyone in the city was gutted when Chester City FC was wound up due to the severe financial situation, and the supports trust who own the new club have expressed their desire to develop their own players and not be led down the same path as before."
Last seasons fan's player of the year George Darby backed the appointment and said "The club is definitely moving in the right direction and with Johnson in charge, i'm sure there will be many more trophies to come."
The initial squad is pretty threadbare as you would expect, i have adopted a 4-4-2 Diamond purely because its the only system I can fit 11 players into.
The media have predicited an 8th place finish, although I am aiming for a promotion place.
Last edited by pjohnson87; 08-05-2012 at 17:32.
2036-37 Carshalton Atheltic : Do the Double!!!
League Table
Wahooo Won the League somehow!!!! on the very last day of the season i was Playing Man Utd and if i beat them i win the league i went onto hammer them 3-0. I really cant believe it i was expecting to win but not for another 4-8 years but to win it now is really awesome now i just need to defend it to prove that it wasn't a fluke and also win the Champions League
Player Stats
Key Players
League Cup - Its back where it belongs
FA Cup - Swindon 5th Round
Champions League Semi Final - Arsenal Away Goals
Youth Intake
2036-37 Youth Intake
U18s - Walked it again
Player Stats
U18 History - to show how many times my youth has won it in a row
Next years objective : Defend Title & Win Champions League
Last edited by toonbalmy87; 19-05-2012 at 22:25.
Year Division FA
Fa Trophy League cup Johnstones
Paint Trophy
Champions League 1 17th Blue Square South 4thQ 2nd Rnd na 2 9th Blue Square South 2nd Q 3rd Q na 3 2nd Blue Square South 1st round 3rd round na 4 9th Blue Square Prem 1st round 1st round na 5 1st Blue Square Prem 4th round Winners na 6 10th League 2 5th round na 1st round 2nd
7 1st League 2 3rd round 2nd round 1st
8 2nd League 1 4th round 3rd
9 13th Championship 3rd round 4th
10 5th Championship 5th round 3rd
11 6th Championship (Play Off Winner) 3rd round Semi Final 12 15th EPL 6th round 3rd
13 14th EPL 5th round 4th
14 15th EPL 3rd round 3rd
15 17th EPL 3rd round Final 16 11th EPL 4th round Semi Final 17 13th EPL 6th round Final 18 11th EPL 6th round Quarter Final 19 9th EPL 4th round 4th
20 11th EPL Winners 3rd
21 5th EPL 6th round Winners Final 22 5th EPL 5th round Winners 2nd KO round 23 4th EPL Semi Final 4th
2nd KO round 24 1st EPL 5th round Winners Semi Final
[QUOTE=pjohnson87;7802470]Don't go for the promotion straight away you mean? As in just try and build a squad and consolidate first?[/QUOTE
Yeah basically because if you go up straight away with hardly any players you will find it hard but its your game so do what you want and Good Luck
Toon- Wahooooooooooooooooo!!! yes mate! Part one of the challenge complete, now you just need to win the champions league.
Braumiller- Could you link a screenshot of your son, want to get it onto the HoF
Last edited by ri916; 08-05-2012 at 19:26.
erm Ri916 iv won the FA Cup
here you go!
If there are other shots of him you want, just let me know.
Also, items for other records can be found in this post
Although toon's 30m sale has blitzed Ray Holland's 8m sale, Ray still has his 6 goals in a game claim to fame standing I think
Just played the Christmas period and this is going to be interesting!
The bottom is very close and the last day of fixtures has me away at Man City and the current bottom two playing each other....
My penultimate game is Arsenal at my place, so I better not need points with 2 games to go.
The three games before those are all against bottom 8 teams though. HUGE games I imagine......
Toon, congrats on a fantastic accomplishment! That is unbelievable, superb fella
Good luck champ!
fell through, but clubs up for sale now so fingers crossed!
Ray Holland on the other hand is still playing nicely. He just scored 2 against me on live TV to make it 4 goals in 2 games against us in the league this year. 11 goals in 20 games so far this year, He made his England debut in the summer (2 caps now) and is rated at 9m. The 21 year old has a bright future ahead of him and if his goals keep Huddersfield safe then it might only be a matter of time until the big boys come knocking.
Just had a round of internationals and Weymouth had their best ever selection.
6 * ENG u21s
1 * SCO u21s
1 * ENG u19s
1 * Zimbabwe full international (reserve player who has never played for me)
Hoping to see my first ENG international for Weymouth within the next 2 years.
I'm on a mini cup run to the second round of the FA cup, but I have just drawn Notts County, so I doubt I'll be making it to round 3
Havent started the match well either, already a goal down after 4 mins
edit: 18 mins gone, score is 4-0
edit 2: At least we kept it respectable, finished notts 5 St Albans 1
Last edited by ri916; 09-05-2012 at 14:49.
Hope I'm not jinxing things but I have had a great start at Bradford Park Avenue as we currently sit top of the BSN with 3 wins from 3!
Edit: Am I the first to attempt this with Bradford PA?
Can I join this if I have a NextGen series and a custom Lithuanian league in watch-only on top of default 12.2 database?
Still ploughing along in second season in BSP, on the park turned things round and from a shocking start, now mid table approaching xmas. Off the park 2 things happening.
3 of my players now demand new contracts, but when i go into offer they are not interested in discussing terms
I have just had the board agree to increase junior coaching yet again, meaning i now have "exceptional" junior coaching! seems a bit over the top for the BSP! Sadly still no option to ask for more youth recruitment.
Can someone remind what these impact? Im sure i saw it either in this thread or another, explaining that Juniour coaching gives you players with better starting level of ability, but youth recruitment gives you players with better potential?
think of it like this:
junior coaching- ability
Youth recruitment- potential
youth facilities- Progression
but the quality of youths is also affected by your clubs reputation.
Last edited by ri916; 09-05-2012 at 20:04.
ah ok thanks, well hopefully that means more of my youths are first team ready in the next intake, i could do with it.........just had a 4 game winning streak snapped by 2 straight heavy losses mid table BSP is best we are gonna get this season
Nothing really changed this season. We showed moments of brilliance, scoring goals that would not look out of place in League football but then also showed moments that looked out of place in the Blue Square South. Unfortunately more of the latter. We compete a lot, we never really get played off the park apart from when we play the big boys, but seem to lose the really tight games.
I really wanted to install a Defensive Mid that could break up a lot of the attacking moves and act as a 5th defender when needed but just did not have the player for it. Luckily in my intake I got a player that looks like he can fit the bill
Final Table
Proof I am Clean
Aim For Next Season: Really want to start climbing the league now, I don't like being fodder!
Last edited by La Furia Roja; 10-05-2012 at 08:38.
quick question .. on which date do the youths come through?
13th of March
ok mate cheers
I've started this rather monstrous challenge as Carshalton over the last few days, and even though I accidentally created a manager with an already decent reputation in the game I'm hoping I can still update my progress. I didn't even expect to complete a season so I didn't bother taking a manager screenshot until the end of the first season. Anyhow, here I am: Francis York Morgan
League Table: As you can see our first season in the BSS was very much a successful one. We spent most of the season at the top of the table (helped by a 9-2 victory in our very first game) and despite a wobble in the middle when my players were all burned out from our various cup excursions we finished strongly and were crowned Champions with two games to spare!
Star man: Paul Vines was runaway player of the season in the BSS, with 50 goals in the league. Without him we'd probably have just been another mid table team, I fear if he doesn't score goals next season we'll go straight back down.
Cup Run: We somehow made it all the way to the FA Cup 3rd round after wins at home to Morcambe and Stockport in the 1st and 2nd rounds. A glamour tie against Blackburn was our eventual end, but hopefully we gained some extra finances and extra fans along the way. Halifax ended our interest in the FA Trophy, but not before we'd played a total of 4 replays in our glorious run to the 4th round.
Final Squad: A few of the youths from the first intake were immediately promoted to the first team to make up some numbers, with Richard Broomfield being the stand out candidate of the lot. Despite having high recommendations I'd be surprised if any of the rest have a long term future at the club.
And at least I can follow this rule in the thread, no transfers.
its ri916's challenge so it is his call, but really you should only be posting the updates if you are following all the rules in my book. If you have only done one season and want to do the challenge I would start again with the right rep.
Ah damn it I hadn't seen that and then when I checked my manager I discovered I was an ex pro! A shame considering the start we had, but I guess it must have helped me a lot. I was wondering Ri916, as I only came across this by the above conversation if you could make this rule a bit clearer in the OP. I know it is my fault for not reading it properly but it would help others to not make the same mistake. Cheers.
Today in a shocking piece of news newly promoted Hednesford Town have decided to hire unknown sunday footballer George Elokobi as their new manager! Several of the club's faithful have spoken out about this on social media!
@HT_4_life "This is disgusting, after all the hard work the squad put in to get to the BSN/S they hire this fool as a manager!"
@Hednesford_Unofficial "Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo."
Club: Hednesford Town
Nickname: The Pitmen
Icons: None
Fierce Rivals: Stafford
Other Rivals: None
Estimated Value: £350k
Season Ticket Holders: 96
Bank Balance: £30k
Stadium: Keys Park
Stadium Capacity: 6500 (1025 seated)
Corporate Facilities: Fairly basic corporate facilities
Training Facilities: Fairly basic Training facilities
Youth Facilities: Minimal youth facilities (Rented)
Junior Coaching: Minimal junior coaching
Youth Recruitment: Limited youth recruitment
Kingstonian unveil Martyn James as new manager
Kingstonian chairman Robert Doherty held a press conference this morning to officially announce Martyn James as the new manager of Kingstonian FC. This is James' first venture into management and supporters are eagerly anticipating the new approach he claims the club is taking.
James said "In the future it will be club policy to look in-house for new talent for the first team. I see no reason why, with the right appproach, our youth system can not drive this club to the football league in the coming years." These are bold claims made by James with Kingstonian two divisions from league football and favorites for relegation.
When questioned about relegation though, James seemed confident of his sides chances, saying "The current set of players gained promotion to this league and, with the right application, can progress the club further. There is no money for new players but the squad is good enough to hold its own and intends to prove that once the season begins."
When asked again if the clubs new youth policy was really the way forward or just a way to appease fans dissapointed at the lack of signings, James remained calm and responded enthusiastically "Over the next few years the money we save on player transfers is going to be spent on improving the infrastructure at the club. If we can build an academy and a reputation for bringing youngsters through this in turn will attract better youngsters to the club. The vision is clear and I am really looking forward to the future."
__________________________________________________ ___________
After looking through this thread and seeing how well you guys have done I have decided to start my own save. Will have lots of spare time over the next few months and want a long save until FM13. This is my first challenge save and I look forward to it. Here is a squad overview and that is every player at the club. No youth players at all yet. Here are my facilities. My highest rated player is Bobby Traynor.
Media prediction of 22nd. I also have only one natural striker at the club so goals may be hard to come by. Going to go for a 4-4-1-1 to start off.
Season objective = survival
Last edited by marty78; 10-05-2012 at 17:08.
marty- good luck with Kingstonian mate
Getting stuck in league 1! 3 seasons in League 1 now, Playoffs 1st season and slowly slipping! No good players coming in and board wont allow improvements!
I submitted the tactic I have used for the past 3-5 seasons in my Weymouth games (I forget when I started using it) to this great challenge thread and it did horrendously :confused: (post #77)
Makes me wonder if it (well, if I) am holding back our progress at all with using it......
starting to get quite annoyed with contracts now about 4 or my players are out of contract at the end of the season (more than 4 are, but 4 i defo want to keep). From the start of the season if i try to offer a contract they wont discuss. Yet every few weeks same players are either saying they are unhappy as they want an improved contract, or coming to me for a private chat for a new contract! So i tell tehm one will be offered, and yet still no interst
Gonna lose 4 of my decent players to this However on the plus side had my best youth come through ever...........
I tell a lie, I'm stuck in league 2!
March Update:
Its amazing how long your season can feel when you constantly don't have enough players to make a decent XI.
Finally some much needed depth is going to be added to the squad with my first youth intake
I have been doing ok ish in the league started off really well and was in the top 3 for a while, the squad soon became fatigued and morale has dropped with results going the same way of late. Currently 12th i'm hoping the new youth intake will revitalise the squad and we can get back into the top 6.
I'v been lucky enough to get a youngster with 5 stars CA, here he is..
Stelios Giannitopoulos YP1
Let me know what you think of him, and how you think i should develop him.
Can you tell whos the force behind england
Just got my first full England international cap, very proud
How many caps have some of your guys amassed now?
I would imagine that when some of your guys who hit their stride early on are in their late 20s / early 30s they are going to be knocking on the door of some England international records.
International caps for 1st team
my overall squad appearances
Last edited by toonbalmy87; 11-05-2012 at 10:25.


text:
A noise complaint by neighbors resulted in a meth bust early Monday morning.
Residents near Emerson School called Central Dispatch around 3 a.m. to report hearing loud music coming from the school's parking lot.
Officers from the Ionia Department of Public Safety responded and found four people in a car by the basketball court, officials said.
One of the individuals, Karalee Danae Moore, 22, of Honor, had a substance officers believed to be meth. She was arrested and lodged in the Ionia County Jail.
Moore was arraigned Monday afternoon and charged with possession of methamphetamine/ecstasy. Her bond was set at $5,000 cash/surety.
Another person was ticketed for operating while license suspended/revoked.
Location, ST | website.com

subset: commoncrawl


text:
There are two major views for the destination of Paul's letter to the Galatians: the Northern and Southern views. I understand that these views impact the possible timing of the letter, but what impact do they have on the interpretation of Paul's letter? Do commentaries following one view or the other differ greatly?
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At issue is the ambiguity of the phrase:
Galatia could refer to a Roman province (left) or to a region settled by migrating Celts, which was designated a client kingdom of Rome (right).
The text of the letter shows that Paul had been with them recently:
Naturally, interpreters have tried to identify which region Paul had visited. Luke records:
At the time, Phrygia was an ethnographic region and not a province or other political designation. Paul and his companions had recently left the prominent cities (Lystra, Derbe, and Iconium) of the southern portion of the province of Galatia, so in this context Luke is talking about northern Galatia. This visit to Galatia occurred during Paul's second missionary trip.
Northern Galatian Theory
Luke makes clear that Paul's trip to the ethnographic (Northern) Galatia occurred after the Jerusalem Council. That practically forces us to identify the meeting of Galatians 2 with the meeting in Acts 15. More than that, the recipients of the letter would have heard the decision handed down by the apostles in Jerusalem freeing Gentiles from observing Jewish customs and likely have seen a copy of the letter explaining the decision. Then some other group (often called Judaizers) would have taught "a different gospel". When Paul heard about it (probably during his third mission), he responded with this letter.
Southern Galatian Theory
On the other hand, if Paul was referring to Roman province, he could have been writing to the churches he and Barnabas established in Iconium, Lystra, and Darbe. This first trip was described in Acts 14 and therefore predates the Jerusalem Council. The visit to Jerusalem in Galatians 2:1-10 would correspond to Acts 11:27-30, so the issue of whether gentile converts would need to be circumcised was still undecided when Paul first visited the Galatians. This would allow Paul's letter to have been written in response to the events described in Acts 15:1-5 that precipitated the Jerusalem Council. Paul may even have written the letter from Syrian Antioch before leaving to attend the Council. Or the letter might have been sent by Paul to accompany the letter circulated as a result of the Council.
In some ways, which theory you pick results in only minor differences in interpretation of the letter: Paul clearly opposes forced circumcision. But when it comes to reconstructing a biography of Paul, the two theories suggests two radically different people. Galatians and Acts are our best sources for information about the life of perhaps the most important Christian author, missionary, and thinker of all time, so it's critical to reconcile the accounts if we can.
The Northern Galatia Theory paints Paul as somewhat of a maverick. He knows that the first generation Christians support his position and yet he does not lean on their decision. He's even a little dismissive of their influence:
In contrast, the Paul of the Southern Galatia Theory is less self-assured, while still being convinced that God does not require gentiles to follow Jewish customs. In this case, the resolution of the controversy is still fresh or, perhaps, has not even occurred. We get the feeling that Paul is still working out the issue as he writes the letter:
I tend to agree with Daniel B. Wallace's argument for the Southern Galatia Theory. As a result, I think Paul is somewhat more sensitive to cultural issues (such as head-coverings) than he appears. This version of Paul is a touch more humble and less dogmatic than is popularly understood. There is not as much difference between Pauline Christianity and the faith of Jesus' followers during His life as some people assert.


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The Office of Athletics Compliance coordinates and functions within the scope of the University's compliance efforts and acts as a resource center to coordinate, monitor and verify compliance with all NCAA requirements and to educate various constituencies of the University and the athletics community regarding NCAA regulations. In addition, the Office of Athletics Compliance provides educational programming and support to ensure that all individuals involved with the athletics program fully understand the University's compliance expectations. It is the responsibility of the Office of Athletics Compliance to ensure that the demands of the NCAA and the University's compliance efforts are properly supported.
Missouri State University is committed to the principle of institutional control in operating its athletics program in a manner that is consistent with the letter and the spirit of the NCAA, Conference and University rules and regulations. The University's commitment is to maintain control of its athletics programs through responsible administrators, faculty, and outside constituents to educate coaches, staff, student-athletes and other individuals involved with the athletics program in their institutional responsibilities under the rules; as well as to develop operating systems within the athletics department and the University which provide guidance in how to work within the rules and to discover and report any violations which may occur.


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Batman: Arkham City PC Video Game Download for $7.49 + free shipping
This is a "Games For Windows" game so you can earn achievements for it.
Batman: Arkham City is third-person Action-Adventure game that delivers an authentic Dark Knight experience rooted in an original and engrossing story as well as a combination of melee combat, stealth, investigative and speed-based challenge gameplay. A sequel to 2009's Batman: Arkham Asylum, Arkham City features the full range of classic enemies seen in the previous game, in addition to Catwoman, who is a playable character and has her own storyline in the new release. Additional features include: a range of new gadgets, an increased number of possible melee opponents and a range of movement options for Batman that include leaping, sliding, gliding and the grapple hook.
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Anyone know when this ends?
Heh, if you own a Gamefly account you get an extra 5%-10% off as long as you have been a member for 6-12 months. Lowering the price $6.74 with 10% off.
Any idea if this ends up being a Steam housed game? never used Gamefly for PC games before.
Its key won't activate with steam. This was in the "answers" section:
But you will need to register it with a windows live account (which is a total bundle of joy). Awesome game though!
sweet deal! i'm in!
also, it ends 6/20/12
If you didn't go looking, (which really, why didn't you?) there are some other good games at insane prices for d/l including Arkham Asylum for $5 - http://deals.woot.com/deals/details/d070a29e-b635-4bed-8bb3-556c8ec409ba/batman-arkham-asylum-game-of-the-year-edition-pc-video-game#0
As I've wanted both and have neither, these deals are particularly awesome.
For steam, HERE is the definitive link, not some crummy gamefly one.
NO it will not activate on steam.
@xbox360kid2: Thanks for stating the end date. Im getting this for sure. Ive been wanting to play it so there is no reason not to buy it now.
I would be all over this if I could get it through steam for this price, I trust it to be in business longer than gamefly. also how would you get the dlc through Gamefly?
@caesur4: does that mean that you can download it from GFWL in the future or only through gamefly?
@beezn: I imagine it's like steam, where you can only download it through the client (in this case gamefly's client--pretty sure they have one), but you need to have a GFWL account to link the game to in order to play it. I'm pretty sure you aren't allowed to download it from GFWL.
The only reason I have an account for them is because I needed to make one to create a save file in Arkham.
Well the end of sale date was wrong. The game is at full price now. It sucks cause my wallet was stolen and I had to get all my cards replaced. Im suppose to get a new bank card on monday and I thought I had time, but I didnt. Too bad, I really wanted to play this.
Sorry guys, looks like June 20th is the end of the summer sale, they have different games every 48 hours. There are new ones today. My bad!


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Diabetes is a chronic disease in which the body has trouble regulating blood sugar. The two most common types of diabetes are type 1 and type 2. Both forms result from the body's inability to either produce or use insulin. A third type, gestational diabetes, occurs only during pregnancy and may lead to type 2 diabetes.
Insulin is the hormone that controls the movement of glucose from the blood into cells. The pancrease produces insulin. Glucose--also called blood sugar--constantly moves through the bloodstream to supply the body with the energy needed for muscle contractions and metabolism.
The job of insulin is to make sure the glucose actually moves into the body's cells. Without insulin, the glucose builds up in the bloodstream. Over time, elevated glucose levels can damage the linings of blood vessels, leading to damage to the eyes, kidneys, and other sensitive tissues. This vascular damage can cause blindness (diabetic retinopathy), impotence, kidney failure (diabetic nephropathy and end-stage renal disease), increased risk for heart attack, and the deterioration of nerves or blood vessels. It also can cause poor blood flow to the arms and legs, resulting in poor wound healing and possible amputation. Diabetes is the leading cause of new blindness in adults. It is also the most common condition leading to dialysis and kidney transplants, and the most common reason for below-the-knee amputations.
Type 1 diabetes is caused when the cells in the pancreas (called beta islet cells) that produce insulin are destroyed. Although type 1 diabetes can occur at any age, it is usually diagnosed in children and young adults. Genetic, autoimmune, and environmental factors are considered risk factors for type 1 diabetes. Currently, there is no known way to prevent type 1 diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes affects about nine out of 10 people with diabetes. In type 2 diabetes, the pancreas either does not produce enough insulin, or the body becomes less and less efficient at getting insulin to move glucose into the cells (insulin resistance). You can inherit the potential for type 2 diabetes, but whether you actually develop it may depend on a number of environmental factors, such as poor eating habits and lack of exercise. Other risk factors include older age and history of gestational diabetes. Race and ethnicity can also influence the occurrence of type 2 diabetes. African-Americans, Hispanic Americans, American Indians, and Native Hawaiians are at a particularly high risk of developing type 2 diabetes and its complications.


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There's nothing more American than comparing a vice-presidential candidate's physical appearance to a children's cartoon character. And Paul Ryan's just got one of those faces that makes everyone wonder "who does he remind me of?" Sometimes the similarities are obvious and sometimes they require picturing a former child actor copulating with a small, carnivorous rodent, but they're all right, every last one of them.
A Youth Pastor
A McDonald's Manager
Student Body President
An Honor Student
An Altar Boy
Robert from the board game "Guess Who"
A Ballsack with Eyes
Will Schuester from Glee
A Drawing of Will Schuester from Glee
A Muppet
Joffrey from Game of Thrones
A White Boy From Pinecrest Who Sells Mollies
A Fetus
Eddie Munster
A Weasel
Eddie Munster and A Weasel
A Creepy Version of The Little Mermaid's Prince Eric
A Nervous Substitute Teacher
Taran Killiam
Nothing Like Taran Killiam
Erica Perry's Boyfriend
What do you think Paul Ryan looks like? Please add your photos in the comments, especially if you know who Erica Perry's boyfriend is.
[photos via AP, Getty, Shutterstock, Wikipedia]


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I read somewhere that Ubuntu One only runs on Ubuntu, which was a surprise (and I suppose it's just an official stance). What will it take for me to run it on Debian?
closed as off-topic by Eric Carvalho, Pilot6, 2707974, hg8, A.B. Nov 5 '15 at 10:52
This question appears to be off-topic. The users who voted to close gave this specific reason:
Just for the record, you can run Ubuntu One anywhere you want, but we don't have the resources to test it and get it running smoothly everywhere.
Having said that, Ubuntu One is made up of several parts; the most problematic to get running in Debian is the syncdaemon, and I presume that is what you mean; tomboy, desktopcouch and funambol plugins shouldn't be an issue at all (at least, no issue specific to Debian :-) ).
@ajmitch is working on getting packages of syncdaemon ("ubuntuone-client") into Debian.
Meanwhile, you can get it running. The versions of some of the libraries are slightly off for squeeze, so some patching is needed for now. Here's what you can do for the most rudimentary version of "running", in squeeze (starting from a base install with the 'desktop' task installed):
while the above gets the syncdaemon online and syncing (assuming you're using Network Manager), it doesn't include dbus activation and nautilus integration, which help. If you want those, you could try
this should make the whole stack work. If you get import errors, check
that things got installed in
See? One-click install.
You'd need
But you can start tracking down the dependencies here: http://packages.ubuntu.com/maverick/ubuntuone-client
Q. Why not give instructions to add Ubuntu repositories to Debian for this?
A. Unless you found a PPA that just had the required stuff, you could end up with it replacing (read: upgrading) a whole load of packages to a point where things became very unstable. It's much safer to only pull in what you need.
Something like
The problem of automatically upgrading unwanted packages could be reduced or possibly avoided by using apt pinning, but that's beyond the scope of my answer.
It is certainly possible, but there are no packages in Debian yet. There is an ITP bug though, which means the person filing that bug is working on or going to work on packaging it (ITP = Intent To Package).
Well, it is Ubuntu One, and not Debian One. :)
You should of course, be able to rebuild the packages from the latest Ubuntu for the pieces of Ubuntu One you need, on a Debian-based distribution which has the required dependencies available for doing so. If the dependencies aren't available, you may also need to port them over.
Those distributions are not supported, though if you run into any issues getting the packages rebuilt on them, you can ask for some help in #ubuntuone IRC on the Freenode network.
There's a much easier way: get the DEBs from the package site (for Debian Wheezy get DEBs from UBuntu 12.04), install one by one using gdebi (or similar). Trial and error to get the right order. After isntalling all the DEBs, run ubuntuone-install from comand line and follow the instructions.
In this site I list the packages needed:
It's in spanish but the names of the packages are the same :-D
I recently migrated from Ubuntu to Debian and had the same problem. I have it running now and have written a detailed blog entry on how to run Ubuntu One on debian.
The link is here: http://blog.pinguinplanet.de/2012/05/ubuntu-one-on-debian-wheezy.html
I was able to get the syncing to work using the information from the link above and some trial and error. The references are this thread, https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuOne/Headless and http://blog.pinguinplanet.de/2012/05/ubuntu-one-on-debian-wheezy.html.
These are the steps needed:
It seems OK to ignore the error. I don't have Unity installed.


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The 5 Craziest Ways Famous Actors Got Into Character (Pt. 2)
Method actors be crazy. Everybody knows that Christopher Walken devours six live doves before each take, and that Daniel Day-Lewis owns and makes liberal use of a time machine to research all of his roles. But there's nothing that says method acting always pays off: Sometimes you fall in love with a role, take a big gamble and sacrifice huge parts of your time, life, and career to living in that role, and then end up starring in Hope Floats.
Here are a few actors who went all out for the part when, in all honesty, they probably could have showed up in their pajamas to read straight from the teleprompter and achieved the same results. (We call that the Sean Connery School of Acting.)
#5. Jamie Foxx Has Cosmetic Surgery for a Movie Nobody Saw
Universal Pictures
If you were suddenly ripped from your old life in the 1990s and dropped into the present day, you would probably pine for the more innocent time of colorful pants and Roller Blades. You would also go completely mad and surely be institutionalized. While staring at the screen of the communal room's television in a drugged haze, you might also be very surprised to learn that Jamie Foxx, the guy who played cross-eyed, buck-toothed Wanda from In Living Color, turned out to be a hardcore method actor.
20th Century Fox Television
And the reason Eddie Murphy keeps the company he does.
For instance, in his performance as blind musician Ray Charles in Ray, Foxx wore prosthetics over his eyes to blind himself for real and had to employ assistants to guide him around the set. Foxx won an Oscar for the role, then leaped into his next project with equal vigor: This time he was playing schizophrenic cellist Nathaniel Ayers in The Soloist. The problem was that Foxx was a fine hunk of suave man-meat, gently cured and grilled to perfection by decades of Hollywood trainers, while Ayers was a mentally unstable homeless dude. To more fully embody his part, Foxx visited a dentist in order to have his teeth chiseled down and made crooked, which probably violated every single tenet of the Dentist's Code.
Universal Pictures
Foxx reportedly earned three Strawberry Shortcake toothbrushes for being such a good patient.
Unfortunately, the extreme levels of dedication didn't work out as well for The Soloist as it did for Ray. The film was a financial bomb, getting back only half of its $60 million budget. If only he'd pursed his lips and crossed his eyes like Wanda, maybe he could've saved himself some needless torment.
#4. Adrien Brody Nearly Drives Himself Insane for a Low-Budget Thriller
Warner Independent Pictures
We've already talked about the insane level of commitment that Adrien Brody displayed in preparing for his role in The Pianist. What we haven't mentioned is the insane commitment that he put into one of his lesser-known roles, the lead in The Jacket, a movie about a ... time-traveling straitjacket.
Warner Independent Pictures
What happened to the good old days of realistic phone booth-based time travel?
No, really. This isn't like when we say that Die Hard was the true story of how Bruce Willis invented freedom -- "time-traveling straitjacket" is a fair and accurate synopsis of the film. In it, Brody plays an amnesiac committed to a mental institution -- probably one of those crappy "free" ones, seeing as how their method of treatment was to put him in a straitjacket and shove him into a sensory deprivation chamber. (Because the crippling claustrophobia and isolation will obviously make him less insane.) Inside the chamber, Brody physically teleports to the future and has some Back to the Future-style adventures where he presumably narrowly avoids banging his own mom.
Warner Independent Pictures
The adorable toddler from the past, though? Fair game.
This might sound like the kind of role that an acclaimed actor picks up because he's bored and needs a new swimming pool, but Brody went crazy for it. Literally. He spent excessive amounts of time locked inside an actual sensory deprivation chamber: a soundproof, lightproof box that can trigger hallucinations, paranoia, and depression within 15 minutes. And Brody spent up to two hours at a time in these insanity tanks, all in the name of research.
Being masturbated by tiny interdimensional pirate gremlins works best in the dark.
Between takes, when his colleagues were off grabbing coffee and a croissant, you could find Brody spending more time in the chamber. When he wasn't locked in the self-imposed SHU, he was voluntarily being tied up in a straitjacket and left lying on a gurney, where we're assuming he was relentlessly tormented by bored interns (hey, it's what we'd do). Unfortunately, it didn't really matter how dedicated he was to the craft, because the finished film received mixed reviews and failed to recover its budget, thwarting his opportunity to make out with Halle Berry at the Academy Awards again.
#3. Parker Posey Mangles a Face-Hole for a Faux Dogumentary
Warner Brothers
Best in Show is an improvisational comedy from the creators of This Is Spinal Tap about neurotic contestants at a dog show. It's a fantastic flick, but at its heart it's just a bunch of comedians bouncing off of each other, making silly jokes around a loose premise. It isn't exactly the kind of role you'd expect an actor to intentionally fuck up their own mouth for in the pursuit of authenticity.
AFP PHOTO/Stan HONDA/Getty Images
The dogs, on the other hand, are used to it.
But then there's Parker Posey, who played one of the pretentious dog owners. Director Christopher Guest thought it would be funny if she and her husband had braces, so they fitted the actors with prop braces supported by retainers. This gave them a slight lisp when they talked, which everyone thought was pretty funny, so they immediately moved on -- but not Posey. It just wasn't realistic enough, dammit! How is the audience expected to believe these dog jokes if the corrective dental tools aren't even real?
Warner Brothers
"Catherine O'Hara made herself look like a poodle -- this is the least I could do."
So Posey went ahead and had actual braces installed. It's worth mentioning that this was right after she had undergone a bad root canal. Getting the braces required her to have a cap put on the exposed nerve, which involved some pretty extreme pain. All so that she could more convincingly portray corrective dentistry in a movie about Eugene Levy riffing on the names of dog breeds.
Warner Brothers
"He is NOT a Labrador reliever, I don't care how many trailers he's shit in!"


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I want to use an excerpt of an OS X text-to-speech voice in a song that I am recording. Is there any kind of copyright restriction for recordings of the computer voice I should know about, or are they totally free for anyone to use for any purpose?
You are not free to use them for any purpose, only for personal, non-commercial use while running Apple software. Read Mac OS X Lion Software License Agreement for full details (section G, it is rather short and clear):


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I am going to start Ph.D (software security research) very soon. How can I prepare for that. Please recommend any tools or softwares that I need to familiarize with before stating the Ph.D. Any advices other than softwares?
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closed as off-topic by MichaelT, Dan Pichelman, GlenH7, Kilian Foth, gnat Nov 3 '14 at 10:45
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I went back to obtain a PhD after years of working in industry and based on that, it would have helped up front for me to familiarize myself with the following things:
Do you know who your supervisor will be? If not and if you might have a say in it, get familiar with the staff in the department, the work they've done and ideally talk to some of their current students. Having a supervisor that just uses you for slave labour versus having one that mentors you well can make a massive difference.
The short answer is that the tools that you'll need for paper publication and homework submission will be made clear to you over time. You're smart, you'll pick them up.
My suggestions are a bit more pointed towards life preparation:
Be aware that that the schedule that graduate school requires will become progressively more annoying over time. It's hard to relate to normal people after a while....
That doesn't make any sense. Your ability to succeed in a Ph.D. program does not rely on knowing X or Y piece of software. It relies on your analytical skills. That's what you should be worrying about.
I once worked my way towards a Ph.D with a focus on computer security and distributed systems architecture, but I ended up dropping in the middle of my M.S. thesis to work full-time (big mistake.) 11 years later I'm back in grad school, and I've had a lot of time to think about what I did right and what I did wrong. So, from my personal experience, this is what I would suggest to you
The only software I would worry about learning are those for keeping bibliographical references (such as BibTex or EndNote... though publishing houses like Springer-Verlag provide free accounts for keeping references.)
Actual Skills Needed
You should be worrying about technical writing (possibly with LaTeX, but MS Word has gotten quite good for technical writing), research skills, analytical skills, mathematical and logical skills (in particular Mathematics as pertaining to Computer Science as well as Mathematical Logic in general.)
You will be writing and researching a lot. A lot. Expect (and pursue) to write technical reports for publishing internal to your university. Use those as preps for preparing papers that you'd like to submit to conferences and symposiums.
With that said...
Be Cohesive
Avoid writing about many divergent topics. Obviously this might not be within your control as your graduate advisor might ask you to switch topics. Furthermore, at the start, you need to explore different topics for your eventual dissertation. But as you work on, you should (read must) begin to narrow the focus until you pick one broad topic from which to work your dissertation.
So every paper that you write and every experiment that you conduct should help you execute your research towards a dissertation. You should have a dissertation idea by the 2nd year (and you should be actively working on a definite dissertation topic before the end of your 2rd year or around the time you take your qualifiers exam.)
Be Precise
When you write, be precise and unambiguous. Let me make an example out of thin are, just for illustration purposes.
Imagine you write a sentence like this:
"The behavior of XYZ system depends on its communication semantics"
What the heck could that possibly mean? That would be very obvious for the writer, but not for a potential reader. You will find yourself writing such things at a time. To avoid confusion, and to increase the chances of your paper being accepted in a conference, you must remove ambiguity by declaring what terms and phrases mean in your paper:
"The behavior of XYZ system depends on its communication semantics. By 'behavior' we mean how the system responds to an attack under abnormal circumstances such as rapid changes in user traffic. By 'communication semantics' we mean the architectural paradigm and technologies used for enabling communication between components (such as RPC vs message-oriented middleware)".
Don't worry if any of that sounds like noise. It is. I simply pulled that out of my ass. My point is that, when you write a paper, you are going to define things according to how they make sense in your paper, with respect to the topic you are presenting. Make sure that everything you refer to (or introduce) in your paper is actually defined somewhere. In other words, if your paper says "X" somewhere, somewhere else (and in one single place only) you should also say "by 'X' we mean this and that".
CS Math
Do not underestimate the need for understanding complexity theory, algorithms, software engineering and architecture, modeling, the complexity of building experiments, and, most importantly, discrete mathematics (in particular about relations, axiomatic set theory, mathematical logic (both propositional and first-order) and the mathematics behind security models.
Work on your Argumentation Skills
One thing my RA supervisor did was to put all of us RAs into a weekly round table (he would participate himself). He'd pick a random topic, and (yep, also at random) would partition the group into two sets - one assigned to defend the paper, and another one to attack it. Notice that we were assigned to defend or attack the paper before even getting a chance to study it. We had only one week to read and prepare our arguments.
One thing that taught us was to 1) really and deeply read a paper, and 2) exercise our ability to build arguments.
Background Knowledge
Since you are going into a Ph.D with a focus in software security, I will assume you know about the works of people like Ravi Sandhu (in particular on access control models), or Edward Amoroso. If you don't (and if your research group hasn't given you background material to read), you should start with that (and I'd strongly suggest you look into Amoroso's book.)
Also, you should look at certifications like CISSP, GSSP and ECSP, not necessarily to work your way towards getting those certs, but to understand the topics they attempt to cover. You should be aware (if just by a bit) about things like HIPAA and SOX compliance (and what they mean with respect to software security.)
If you are not familiar with web security, you should take a look at the OWASP page (and study the top application risks and their implications to security). You should also take a look at the security models of enterprise systems built with Java and .NET as well as common vulnerabilities in Unix and Windows systems. A cursory overview of SE-Linux (a "secure" linux sponsored by the NSA) as well as the security model of the Windows NT kernel architecture should also prove valuable.
In Short...
In short, prepare yourself to do a lot of reading in addition to your course load (and probably your first research assignment as an RA) in preparation to do your research work and Ph.D. thesis. You should not be surprised if it takes you about a year to go over all the basic material that I've just mentioned.
Good luck... btw, feel free to ask me any questions should you think I can help with something.
I recommend the course documentation from your chosen university. Should list names and telephone numbers for getting information about the course (which you should probably have done before signing up for it).
I did a PhD in software engineering, and before that a research masters, so here is my two cents.
The single most important decision you will make is picking your advisor. This is not just a matter of research interests, it is a matter of personality and work style and there can be clashes. In my school, they called it a "marriage process" for a reason. And divorce is costly.
Get acquainted BEFORE you start. Read their webpages (which are often outdated). Read their recent publications. See what conferences they are involved in. Talk to pat students about pros and cons, etc. Figure out their expectations. Meet them if possible. Do this before you start. This is different than meetings you had in open house - now they're not selling you the place. Get the current grants they are under - that is where your funding will come from, and it will limit your research topic to a degree. If you have an advisor in mind, ask them what to read in advance and what courses to take.
Second most important - narrow down the topic. Again, read the literature. Understand what the evaluation criteria is and whether it fits your style and time frame. Going on the wrong tangent is the single biggest mistakes grad students make. I did it twice. Spent three years writing software and then did a user study. In my Ph.D., repeated the same mistake.
Next, work on your academic writing skills now. There are many schools that post course materials online on writing for academic journals. How to be terse. How to summarize, etc. This is a thing that you learn gradually, but come paper time it's better to focus on research, not on writing.
As for software: You probably understand LaTeX. Make sure you understand the main OS you will be using. Make sure to read VERY CAREFULLY what your university allows you to do in terms of research and network access, etc. You don't want to spring the lawyers.


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Yes I know I said that I didn't know what to do with all my honor.
Yes I know I said I might as well pour it down the sink
Yes I know I said I wasn't interested in PvPing for gems
Yes I know I said I wasn't interested in the BG mounts, that I have all I want
Yes I know, but…
A long long time ago…
…in a place close, close to where Gnomeaggedon still calls home.. yes Aman'Thul, but back in the days of Vanilla WoW.
I didn't have an epic land mount.
In fact, I think I got my epic land mount about the same time I got my basic flier. Purely, you understand, because if I had to spend the gold on the skill for Epic land riding, just so I could learn basic flying, then, well, I'd look like a silly Gnome if I didn't.
But, before I sank that gold into an epic land mount, I weighed up my options.
- Gold – not much
- Marks of honor – not much
So they seemed pretty balanced at 1st glance.
I was also very envious of a mate's battle tiger… I wanted one of them too… and you didn't need any sissy Night Elf reputation to get them, you just had to win 10 battlegrounds… well, win 30 battlegrounds… or lose 90 battlegrounds.
Anyway, if I was going to buy anything it was going to be the Black Battlestrider.
So I looked into it, multiplied 90 by 30 minutes (what I guessed would be the average time it took to lose every battle). Then I thought about how quickly I could get the gold…
Gold was easier.
Back then Alliance did pretty well in the Alterac Valley, we won more than we lost. However they took at least an hour to complete (as opposed to 9 minute, 2,000 honor hauls these days)… Not efficient!
There were the other battlegrounds… the ones that I had joined once, maybe twice, watched my corpse get carted all around the battleground to be deposited back at the feel of the Warmaster.
Screw it, I'll farm the gold!
So I did, I farmed the gold, I got my epic land mount (The Green Mechanostrider) and I got my Snowy Gryphon.
When it came time for the epic flyer, I wasn't going to be strayed.. I hung in there until I got my Cenarion War Hippogryph.
It wasn't until Northrend that my wish of owning a Black Battlestrider faded… Northrend brought lots of distractions
Oh Shinies!
Then Squidly rose up, packed Gnomeaggedon in a wet cardboard box and laughed at his futile attempts to get out.
Soon, way to soon, Squidly was back, prancing around on his Black Battlestrider in front of Gnomeaggedon.
When Gnomeaggedon finally worked his way out of the box (thank you to those rats that chewed through the cardboard) and collected his 1st set of 90 emblems, Gnomeaggedon rushed off to the mount vendor and bought…
Yer.. it isn't a Black Battlestrider. I did really want a big black pussy cat…
I was on my way to see a man about some gems
So when I logged on tonight and realized I had too much honor to safely hit the Battlegrounds with any force, I flicked my fingers, zoned into Stormwind, rode around and around the canals (I hate them so much), rushed past the Battleground mount vendor, headed towards the gem vendor and…
You know when you watch those silly cartoons, and the character comes to a screaming halt, the sort where they slide until they are teetering on the edge of a cliff…
Yeah, anyway, that as me… Well, actually I think it was the big black kitty cat. It knew.
It backed me right outside and stopped next to the mount vendor, grabbed my sleeve with one of it's long saber teeth and made me buy a Black Battlestrider.
There… done.. are you happy?
Sheesh… a Gnome buys a battleground mount and everyone shakes their heads.
So yeah, I didn't lie… the Black War Tiger made me to it and when you are the size of a Gnome you don't argue with a big black cat!
Was it as good for you as it was for me?
No I'm not asking you Cynwise… I know how good it was for you.. yes, yes, it's awesome… no seriously I don't want to take that away from you…
and Yes, Yes, I know your Arathi Basin Guide is awesome… Holy Dog Poo BatGnome… your AB Guide is AWESOME!
…but I'm just wondering how everyone else went with the new daily random and daily BG Emblem of Triumph… err sorry Honor-fest.
It makes me a little sad that I have bought all the gear I can with honor… Just like school… no playground until the year after I left… yes all 3 schools.. ohhh and 1 University.
Now I have to go and do some T10 raiding to buy last season's PvP gear while I wait for our Arena team to step into the Arena and Arena…
Go on.. enjoy it!
I love it, I hope you do too!
Alt in the Family
Ohh, hey… do you remember Road to Blizzcon?
No, oh well, if you do, or if you don't is irrelevant.
When Road to Blizzcon 1st appeared it had everyone cackling away… then it stopped and the world stopped cackling.
The authors went underground, well Eustashius was still about with Fauxpaws, and Petal was hanging around as The New Hotness, but Petal has turned over a new leaf (yes, I am groaning too) with Alt in the Family (A spin on All in the Family maybe?) and the 1st post I read made me just drag this post back from it's scheduled position and add this back in.
""Is that a mouse?""
Lordy, Lordy, Lordy… and just before you shake you head in dismay at Petal's… errr, Michael's mother… read a couple of the other posts to discover what his young parents do with their spare time these days.
Speaking of familes…
Looks like she has traded her gun for a, no, the baby
Bre, former Gun Loving Dwarf Chick and original co-presenter of TNB (this news I think makes it Twisted Nether Boobcast) as brought new life to the world.
Grats Bre… you have done an awesome job. I know it hasn't been easy, but the results speak for themselves.
Gnomer and Out!
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.


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I've contributed to several Link Value Factors type articles, including SEOmoz's and Wiep's, and was glad to be included by Rae Hoffman in her awesome Link Development Experts Group Interview. I always have a tough time providing the kinds of answers that would be useful without being so long as to put people to sleep. I can't sum up my own best practices for something like link anchor text in a few words. But I can try to do so here. If it bores you then think of my words as a cure for insomnia.
Here are several anchor text BPs that I hope do a better job of explaining the challenge and nuance of link text.
1). The most trustworthy pages will NEVER let you control your own anchor text, and it is obnoxious to ask. Case in point. See the below site.
Here's how they link out…
The Queen of Trees
Website for a program that looks at the relationship between a Kenyan fig tree and the wasps that pollinate its flowers. Includes background about fig trees in general and about sycomore figs trees in Kenya, a photo essay on sycomore figs and fig wasps, video clips, and related essays and links. From the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) show Nature.
URL: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/queenoftrees/
Added to LII: 2006-06-08
If you were the link builder for the site being linked to above, of course you'd be thrilled if the above link instead had words like Kenyan fig tree or wasps or pollinate flowers. But that's not going to happen, because every content editor has their own fairly evident method for how they link to other sites.
Asking someone who has put a lot of time and effort into finding great sites to change the protocol they use for outlinks, just for you and your site, is not very polite nor effective. Be happy you got a link at all. This doesn't mean you cannot ever get the exact anchor text you want, but let's be real. Anyone willing to grant you that kind of control over what's essentially part of their content must not have too stringent a requirement for what they call "content". As Groucho Marx once said, "I would not join any club that would have someone like me for a member." If Groucho were a link builder today, he'd say "Any site willing to give me a link plus whatever anchor text I ask for is not a site I'd want a link from in the first place".
2). As much as you might want to include HTML code in the email you send to the target site editor, don't. Why? Same as above. And don't you love it when you get email from someone you don't know telling you what to do?
"Dear webmaster, please add the below code to your website…"
Any site that will do that for another site based on receiving that type of instruction is nuts.
3). The fastest way to create a suspicious looking inbound anchor text profile is to pay too much attention to it. There are some sites that rotate the anchor text using random generation tools in hopes of approximating a natural looking anchor profile. Yes, and Burt Reynold's plastic surgeon is approximating the way Burt looked when he was thirty. See for yourself.
4). Start with your own on-site anchor text first. By that I mean the anchor text YOU use to link to YOUR OWN PAGES from your own pages. This is especially true for sites that are already ranking fairly well. Here's an example that illustrates the power of on site anchor text.
Do this Google allinanchor search: allinanchor: link bait strategy
Of Google's 27,300 results, the first page listed is mine. See below.
Results 1 – 10 of about 27,300 for allinanchor: link bait strategy.
Expert Link Bait Consulting and Link Bait Content Strategy Plan…
Eric Ward . com – My approach to link bait is based on nearly 15 years of successful link building and publicity generation for timely or new content. I use my experience to perform a link bait analysis/audit of any existing linkbait in your niche, to determine what role link baiting can play in your online marketing strategy. I then work with you by phone to concept the types of linkbait/content you can create for the best strategic effect. www.ericward.com/linkbait-services.html- 21k –Cached – Similar pages
Here's the kicker. That page from my site ranks first out of 27,300 pages, but there is only one (that's 1) page linking to that page, and it's from my own site's homepage. Let that sink in. No other sites or pages are linking to my page using that anchor text, except my own, and Google has plenty of other pages they could rank ahead of me, but they don't. The primary conclusion I draw from this is Google has a great deal of trust for the anchor text I use to point to my own pages. It's true that the trust I speak of comes from the overall collection of inbound links I've earned over the years in the first place, but the point lost in this is once you have such trust, don't ignore it as a driver of rankings for…yourself.
Over a year ago I wrote a related piece for Danny Sullivan at Search Engine Land called Are You In The Circle Of Link Trust? The point of that column?
"In the course of seeking new links and publicity for new content on an existing site, don't ignore your already trustworthy content as a driver of reputation for the new content. If you are in the enviable position of already having high rankings, if you're in the circle of link trust, leverage it"
5). There is no perfect percentage for keyword anchored vs. non-keyword anchored backlinks. People want to hear me say something definitive like you should try to keep your off site inbound keyword anchored backlink profile to no more than 20% of your overall IBLP. If that makes you happy, go for it.
I wonder what percentage of Adobe Acrobat's backlinks say "click here" in the anchor text? Looks like more than 20%
NOTE: To ask a link building related question, click the Comments link below, or the Post a Comment form at the bottom of any individual post.
To request a private Link Building Strategy Session, Analytics, and Blueprint read more here.


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I came across the following question at a chat room:
If I were an admin responsible for the security of an organization's network who were using X products in their network, how would I know for sure whether there were backdoors in them?
Is the above question grammatically correct?
And for the part in bold, is it a real question (as in asking for an answer) or is it rhetorical?


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'''Arduino class at Noisebridge!'''
'''Arduino class at Noisebridge!'''
'''When''': Thursday,
'''When''': Thursday, at
Revision as of 10:10, 4 August 2010
Arduino class at Noisebridge!
When: Thursday, August 5 at 6:30PM
IF YOU WANT THIS WORKSHOP TO HAPPEN PLEASE CONSIDER PLEDGING A COUPLE OF BUCKS. AS SOON AS WE HIT $25 THE WORKSHOP WILL BE CONFIRMED. I will pledge the first $5 since it's short notice and I want it to happen: Michael Shiloh - $5
General: First hour, aimed at beginners, is a crash course in basic electronics, basic programming, and basic install of Arduino IDE on your laptop.
Second hour presumes everyone knows the basics, and explores a more advanced topic, such as I2C communication between two Arduinos, interfacing to Processing and/or The Internet, or multitasking. Thus, people who already know the basics can simply show up for the second hour.
What should you bring?
To get the most out of the workshop, you want to participate in the activity. This requires a laptop and an Arduino. You might use one of the public computers at Noisebridge.
Arduino: Either bring your own or I'll have the standard Duemilanove for sale at $30 each.
Any sensors or actuators that you wish to experiment with. I'll have some loaners for anyone who has none yet.
Want to save time?
Download, and, if you can, try to install the Arduino IDE from http://arduino.cc/en/Main/Software
Questions? Comments? michael AT teachmetomake DOT com


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Aug. 3, 2012 -- Getting sunburned or red skin is common among college-aged women who visit tanning salons during the winter months, a new study shows.
Researchers found that nearly 1 out of every 5 sessions of indoor tanning led to a skin redness or burn in freshman and sophomore females who wanted bronzer skin tones.
"Our results show that sunburn is a common occurrence related to tanning bed use," researcher Jerod Stapleton, PhD, says in a news release. He is a behavioral scientist at The Cancer Institute of New Jersey in New Brunswick.
"This is particularly worrisome, given data that suggest sunburns increase future skin cancer risk," Stapleton says.
For the study, researchers asked 198 female college students to keep an online diary of their indoor tanning sessions. The diaries were filed six times over a 12-week period from mid-January to late March, which are typically the most popular months for tanning bed use.
Other studies of indoor tanning have relied on people's long-term memories of the experience, but these results were based on data from recently completed diaries describing their tanning sessions in 14-day intervals.
The women attended college either in the Northeast or Southeast, and all had previously reported getting an indoor tan at least once in the last year prior to the study.
The study was published online in the journal Translational Behavioral Medicine.
Getting Burned by Tanning
During the 12-week study period, the women reported 1,429 indoor tanning sessions. Each tanning visit lasted about 14 minutes.
Three-quarters of the women did not wear any clothing during the tanning session, and nearly 39% did not wear goggles to protect their eyes.
The women reported that 1 in 5 tanning sessions resulted in red skin or sunburn.
About two-thirds of the women had at least one episode of sunburn or skin redness from an indoor tanning visit; about half reported two or more episodes, and slightly more than one-third of them reported red skin or sunburn three or more times.
Researchers also wanted to determine whether indoor tanning frequency or a woman's skin type influenced her chances of getting burned.


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Is there a comprehensive explanation of Avos 2:6?
- Why is it in aramaic?
- why is this lesson included in Avos (seems out of place)
- Who is this skull and how does Hillel know it was drowned due to drowning others? (I have seen many citations that say it was the skull of Pharoah and source the Arizal, which I have been unable to locate)
- Why was only a skull found (is there some symbolism specific to the skull)?
- why add the word "v'sof"?


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I've been having some trouble with the final boss battle, so I wanted some clarification on attacking the monolith.
When the heart of the monolith is exposed, is there any benefit to using a lot of ammo to attack it, or is it set up so you just need to get a shot in each time it opens up for x times?
If the number of shots don't matter against the heart I'd rather just save the ammo for the beasties around it, but I wanted to see if anyone knew the dynamics of what it takes to finish the level before wasting time on that strategy.


text:
COPPERAS COVE (December 7, 2012)—After Copperas Cove High School was evacuated Friday afternoon for the second time this week because of a bomb threat and two bomb threats at Copperas Cove Junior High School, district officials say they've scheduled a public meeting at 7 p.m. on Dec. 10 at the Copperas Cove Civic Center to discuss safety, security and emergency procedures and answer parents' questions.
"CCISD is committed to providing a safe learning environment for students and staff. We take that responsibility very seriously, as we do any threat seeking to disrupt that security," Superintendent Dr. Joe Burns said.
Those who have questions may e-mail them to firstname.lastname@example.com.
Forms for questions and suggestions will also be available at the meeting.
Officials won't address specific details on the investigation of the threats, the district said.
The first threat was found Tuesday written on a wall in a restroom at Copperas Cove Junior High.
A student found the threat on the restroom wall in the 200 wing of the building following dismissal of classes Tuesday.
The district didn't disclose the full content of the message, but said it indicated there would be a bomb in the school Wednesday.
Officers and a police K-9 unit searched the school until around 11:15 p.m. Tuesday, found no evidence of any threatening device and cleared the building for classes Wednesday, although security was tightened.
On Wednesday Copperas Cove High School students were released at 11:30 a.m. after the discovery of a bomb threat written on a bathroom wall that led to the evacuation of the building.
Officials described the threat as non-specific.
A police K-9 unit was brought in to help search the school.
Copperas Cove Junior High School was evacuated Thursday morning after a written bomb threat was discovered on the wall of a girl's restroom.
Students were taken to Bulldawg Stadium while five bomb-sniffing dogs from Fort Hood swept the building
Classes resumed at around 11:30 a.m. Thursday.
No explosives were found in any of the four incidents.
Investigators are asking anyone with information about the incidents to call Copperas Cove Crime Stoppers at (254) 547-1111.
Tips may also be submitted online.


text:
I have a headless Ubuntu 10.10 RC box running a few service applications on my home network. I have a Windows 2008 Server hosting all my network shares and hard drives. I am currently mounting the network drives at boot-up using FSTAB with the following options set:
What option do I need to set to get SYMLINKS to properly register using CIFS?
I have to admit the info in
man mount.cifs doesn't seem to provide a clear enough definition of which options I should be using for proper support.
When running RSYNC from the Ubuntu machine to back up selected folders to the Windows shares, it fails trying to recreate the SYMLINKS. I am concerned that this will create a problem when later trying to restore these files back should I ever need to.


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Game 7: Do the Bulls Have Anything Left?
The most important moment of the first season of professional basketball in Brooklyn takes place Saturday when the Nets host the Bulls in Game 7 of their first-round playoff series. Down three games to one when the week began, the Nets are seeking their third straight win. At stake is the daunting privilege of a second-round series against the Miami Heat, the defending champs who swept Milwaukee in the first round.
Home court isn't the Nets' only advantage. Bulls guard Kirk Hinrich, a defensive pillar of a team that wins on defense, remains questionable after missing the last two games to a calf injury. Also doubtful for Game 7 is Bulls starter Luol Deng, who sat out Game 6 with flulike symptoms that have also afflicted teammates Nate Robinson (pictured above, with the ball) and Taj Gibson.
But winning despite health setbacks has been a theme for Chicago, which has played all season without its superstar Derrick Rose, who is recovering from knee surgery. Bulls bench stars have included Marco Belinelli, who scored 22 points in Game 6, and Robinson, who scored 34 in Game 4.
The Nets' new home offers no impenetrable advantage: The Bulls won Game 2 in the Barclays Center.
—Kevin Helliker


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12 Sep 2012 1:57 AM #1
Unanswered: TreePanel with an specific TreeStore
Hi all,
I've got the flollowing issue in a project with C#and ExtJs 4.1:
I'm building a TreePanel with data of people but I don't know how to define the model of it without defineing : leaf, cls and text attributes. I wan't that "Name" would be the node text of each node .
My model is defined as following:
Ext.define('People', { extend: 'Ext.data.Model', fields: [ {name: 'Name', type: 'string'}, {name: 'Surname', type: 'string'}, {name: 'Email', type: 'string'} {name: 'BirthDate', type: 'string'} ] });
Ext.create('Ext.data.TreeStore', { root: { expanded: true, children: [ {"Name":"Juan", "Surname":"Hoz", "Email": "email@example.com", "BirthDate":"19801205"}, {"Name":"Marta", "Surname":"Hoz", "Email": "firstname.lastname@example.com", "BirthDate":"19831210"} } });
Ext.create('Ext.tree.Panel', { id: 'treePersonId', store: mystore, hideHeaders: true, rootVisible: false, title: 'Persons', collapsible: true, resizable:true });
Thank you very much,
12 Sep 2012 5:05 AM #2
Try this:
Ext.create('Ext.tree.Panel', { id: 'treePersonId', store: mystore, hideHeaders: true, rootVisible: false, title: 'Persons', collapsible: true, resizable:true, columns: [{ xtype: 'treecolumn', header: 'Name', dataIndex: 'Name' }] });
12 Sep 2012 5:21 AM #3
Thank you very much.
We are in the correct way but I still have a problem. All nodes are not consider leaves and in this TreePanel all nodes would be leaves ("leaf":true). How can I set all of them to leaf and how can I set the same icon for all nodes?
The only way I know is to do it manually usign a listener (add or datachange), but when de Tree is loaded ther first time?
Thank you very much.
12 Sep 2012 5:36 AM #4
You can listen for 'load' event on store and then scan through all of its records (starting from root) and set 'icon', 'leaf',... But why don't you define fields such as 'leaf', 'icon' and set these in your data?


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Hello everyone a few days ago I was discussing about how to get updated with new social bookmarking site and someone told me that I should use social bookmarking footprints. I never heard about this one. I even Google it and got the definition that with this you can stay updated with new social bookmarking sites. But I do not know how to use them exactly? So I want to know that what exactly are Social Bookmarking Footprints and how to use them.
Social Bookmarking Footprints ?
And how does it related to SEO?
Respected admin ! I run a seo team and I need social bookmarking sites on daily basis because old social bookmarking sites have been submitted and now we are running out of social bookmarking sites. That is why it is important for me.
How will I get best social bookmark site?
Mate if you found new list of social bookmarking, please share here too. I appreciate your post if you share with us. Thanks


text:
ACLU files complaint against Border Patrol in Ariz
Published: Wednesday, October 9, 2013 at 3:38 p.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, October 9, 2013 at 3:38 p.m.
PHOENIX (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union is seeking a federal government probe into allegations of constitutional rights violations by U.S. Border Patrol agents in Arizona.
In a letter sent Thursday to the Department of Homeland Security, the ACLU cites five cases in which the group says U.S. citizens were subject to illegal searches, detentions and excessive force.
The group is asking for an investigation into the individual complaints as well as a comprehensive review of Border Patrol policies.
The complaint comes two weeks after the federal government settled an ACLU lawsuit filed over similar allegations in Washington state.
While admitting no wrongdoing in that case, Border Patrol agreed to retrain agents, among other things.
Border Patrol officials were not available for comment due to the partial federal government shutdown.
Reader comments posted to this article may be published in our print edition. All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged.


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Thanks for the files Liao
I'll be back to once I have had a good look, Hugh.
Thanks for the files, which I have looked at, and I think that the problem is to do with Control Points because of the message in the "Control Point Assistant".
If you open PTGui with "Liao.pts" there are some 182 Control Points, which are mainly around the centre of the images with very few in the Zenith and Nadir parts, which I think is "pulling" the images too much.
If you open PTGui with "Hugh.pts" you will see only 52 Control points much more evenly distributed.
To investigate this I opened PTGui with "Liao.pts" then used "Delete All Control Points"
then "Generate Control Points"
then I ran the "Optimizer"
then used "3. Create panorama..."
which gave me a much better Equirectangular and SWF, but still with a small displacement at the Zenith.
So, the question is "How are you generating all the Control Points?"
The physical set up of your kit is, in my opinion, good, so PTGui can use "2. Align images..." to generate the required Control Points without any manual intervention.
My installation is set up as:
Generate at most 15 control points per image pair
Generate at most 2500 control points per project
and this works fine with you images.
I noticed that in the "Liao.pts" file the "Optimizer" is set at "Heavy".
I would recommend using it at "Heavy + lens shift".
You can see that in the "Lens Settings" the values in "Image shift:" are 0 with "Liao.pts" and in "Hugh.pts" they have values, which make the a. b and c values much smaller.
When I set up the R1 I found it difficult to get a perfect orientation for the camera and find that using "Heavy + lens shift". compensates for any slight rotation off the the perfect and any minor errors in leveling when taking the images.
Personally I would recommend 6 shots round with your kit as this gives more overlap between images giving a better spread of Control Points, but four does work OK as in this example.
If you are still getting problems it may be worth you asking for help on the PTGui forum:
If you do post on this forum please attach your PTS file as it is probably what Joost will ask for.
I don't wish to dissemble my R1 to investigate as my set up is working just fine as it is, but suggest that is is possible that the differences are down to where exactly you have the lens in the clamp when you tighten it.
Maybe Bill or Nick can clarify this, but the important thing is to find the NNP (Nodal Ninja Point) about which the unit rotates to minimise parallax and although there is a theoretical correct setting the general opinion that appears to be expressed on this forum is to find your own setting that suits you rather than rely on numbers as there are a few factors which can influence the final position.
One example, is where exactly is the Entrance Pupil (No Parallax Point) for your lens.
Some lenses do actually have a single point but fisheye lenses do not and choosing the right setting is what works best for your set up.
In theory you should use the point where the rays at the "join" between your images meet the principal ray and this will depend on the number of images round.
e.g. With a Sigma 8mm lens and 4 shots around the "join" ray is 45° either side of the principle ray which meets it approximately 4mm in front of the gold ring, but for 6 shots round the "join" ray is 30° either side of the principle ray which meets it approximately the gold ring.


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I'm hosting a poker tournament with 10 people and want it to go on for 3-4 hours. I'm bringing a 500 piece poker set for the event (5 colors). What blind structure should I use for this? In general, is there a formula or software to calculate a good blind structure given a set of chips, number of players and approximate playing time?
A quick Google search gave me this article called How to Set Up a Poker Blinds Schedule which is a good start for helping you decide your blind structure. The most important factors in how long your tournament will last are what your starting blinds are as percentage of starting chips, how many levels you will have, and how long each level lasts.
When I first started hosting my own tournaments I tried rolling my own (they didn't work). I tried a few from Home Poker Tourney, that were closer, but still didn't feel right. In the end I've stuck with Foxwoods' blind structure. This setup has let us have games from 5-10 players that last 3-5 hours using 20 minutes per level. It's long enough you don't feel too pressured, but fast enough that we're not playing too long.