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Kindle & Nook Ebook: Saving for Retirement without Living Like a Pauper or Winning the Lottery for $0
link for B&N Nook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/saving-for-retirement-without-living-like-a-pauper-or-winning-the-lottery-gail-marksjarvis/1029381134?ean=9780132703598&itm=2&usri=free
Link for Kindle is the yellow "I want one"
link for Nook is in the body of the post.
A cover-to-cover must-read for everyone 16 to 60 who wants to live the American Dream. The earlier we choosetosave®, the sooner we can stop saving, and the later we start saving the more we need to know in order to catch up. What you need to know; where you can find the answers; how you can take action. It is all here.
"Bookstores are full of tomes advising people how to save for retirement, yet millions of people are still hopelessly confused about what they should do. Gail MarksJarvis breaks it down into simple steps that anyone can do to ensure a more comfortable retirement. Read this book and prosper
6 Comments add a comment
Let's see, if I'm retiring in June, can I start now?
@belyndag: You missed it by THAT much.
Help! I am not sure how to get this on my Nook.
Free is good, so thanks! But check the comments before you dive in if you don't normally (although if you don't normally do that, you probably won't read this, will you?), the top commenter mentions that key calculations are based on a pre-recession economy, generating some pretty rosy projections.
Haven't read it yet myself but worth a skim to see if there are any new tips, and the price is right.
@pflamion: Check here:
It was the first google hit for the book title + nook - always check google :).
@danoumas: I agree with you on the pre-recession economy projections (e.g. my investments are not making 10% per year), but a lot of the information in invaluable to help people put in to context how and what they are saving for. For example, it made me recognize that I expect to travel and dine out more in reitrement than I do now because I'm too busy saving for retirement, so budgeting for a lifestyle at less than what I spend today may not be practical. It's the little things you forget about while working so hard to figuring out the big investment stuff that this book helps put in perspective.


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Our Amazon Gift Card Giveaway was such a Great hit for August, we thought we would do another one for September. Everyone likes to have their own money to spend they way they want....;)
So here we go with Rafflecopter again.
Congrats to Lindsay Sera winner of our August Giveaway!

subset: commoncrawl


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Indictment handed down in rape case; school employee being held without bond
October 7, 2013
STEUBENVILLE - William Rhinamin, the director of technology for Steubenville City Schools was arrested Monday afternoon after he was named in a four count indictment announced Monday evening by Ohio......
Anyone who enabled and covered up this crime will hopefully be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. It only makes these sex crimes continue if others help to protect the perpetrators and their images.
The brave young victim and her family are to be commended to taking action by contacting law enforcement. No child ever deserves to be dealt this life sentence. Let's hope that anyone who has knowledge about this case will come forward and help the police get the criminals in jail. Silence is not an options anymore, it only hurts, and by speaking up there is a chance for healing, exposing the truth, and therefore protecting others.
Judy Jones, SNAP Midwest Associate Director, USA, 636-433-2511. snapjudy@gmail****, "SNAP (The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) We also have members of abuse by nuns, rabbis, bishops, teachers, ministers, in orphanages, summer camps, athletic programs, Boy Scouts, etc
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I've an Engineering background I like to read technical literature (college level onwards) quite omnivorously - especially mathematics, computer science, engineering, and medicine. This is part of my larger goal to understand the world around us in more fundamental terms.
For the past few years I've read through some of the above mentioned stuff in my free time. The goal is not to memorize something for coursework, etc. but to reflect upon it and understand how they fit into the "real" world. I also like to fit each newly encountered fact into my existing store of knowledge and see whether I can create a coherent picture. Here are some productivity problems I've encountered for which I'd like your suggestions:
- I've always had knowledgeable friends and colleagues who feel that people are born with a natural talent for one task (say programming) and this means that you can't or shouldn't master something else. This affects my perception of the world very profoundly despite knowing that it's specious reasoning, and has been a pervasive problem.
- Many people with whom I try to discuss these things often tolerate only one viewpoint, to the exclusion of several, compatible ones gathered from across disciplines. This means that I can't jump around the way I'd like to and gives me a very big incentive to be a "one-trick pony". (I've partly addressed this problem by becoming an active member at 10+ SE sites!)
- I've come to realize that it takes a huge amount of time to distill several pieces of data in your mind, and see the big picture in a very occasional flash. It's quite discouraging that I can't do this consistently, every day - expertise seems to be built incrementally and not in leaps. I keep wondering whether I should be "working smart" in some way.


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Now that the election is over and we breathe a collective sigh of relief, I would like to thank my supporters for their vote, those who, win or lose, ran for public office and to each and every one of you who turned out to vote.
Without the lease agreement with Sutter Health System in the mid-1980s, Del Norte could very well have found itself without an acute care hospital. With changes to state law, the district then became the Del Norte Healthcare District. District assets included the property that is now the Hampton Inn and the Del Norte Community Clinic on A Street. After an extensive public process the properties were declared surplus and sold. Those proceeds were applied to the new Del Norte Community Wellness Center at Washington and Northcrest Drive.
As insurance premiums, co-pays, deductibles and general health care costs rose without accompanying earnings increases, employers, the primary payer of health-care costs, found themselves unable to continue to cover the costs involved. This shifted costs to employees and their families. With the cost of insurance premiums in Del Norte, the highest in the state, many found coverage unaffordable and were forced to apply for coverage through state-funded programs (Medi-Cal).
Since use of the health-care system is unavoidable, when those without adequate coverage access the system it is often only in the later stages of the disease process. This can easily translate to the highest cost. This scenario will only intensify with the recent cutbacks in the Medi-Cal program. Those private providers who were still able to accept Medi-Cal will now find it impossible to do so.
So now what? With 50 percent of the medical dollar in Del Norte coming from Medicare and 25 percent from Medi-Cal and other federal, state and local government sources (not an uncommon figure nationwide), maximizing reimbursement from those sources is imperative. Providing medical/dental/mental "homes" for children and families at an affordable cost is absolutely necessary.
We can do this! Physician recruitment and retention, loan re-payment programs, creation of the Del Norte Community Wellness Center, the Children's Health Initiative, the children's dental program, the Family Resource Center, Action Del Norte and the Community Health Alliance are some examples of community problem solving. We have again proven to ourselves that we can work together effectively. Please join with us in providing quality, essential health-care services for the people of Del Norte; it will take each and every one of us!
Clark Moore is a member of the Del Norte County Healthcare District Board of Directors.


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My model selects a feature class within a user specified file geodatabase, based on the output of an IF statement which checks the user specified string value e.g. If the user specifies a file gdb
InputGDB and a string
A, the if statement checks the string and returns true if the string is A. it then chooses the appropriate feature class
FC_A within
InputGDB and continues processing. The same thing happens if the user enters B, i.e. feature class
FC_B would be chosen.
The same processes happen on the feature class, regardless of whether A or B is chosen. My problem is there is a third feature class, also sourced from the same gdb (let's call it
FC_Common), whose processes always run regardless of what is happening with A/B. After some initial processing,
FC_common must interact with A/B via a series of Intersect, Joins, selections etc. How do I set the model up so that I don't have to duplicate the entire branch of processes for each option?
I've read a bit about the Merge Branch tool, and I think it's what I want, but I'm not entirely sure how to use it. I've attached an image of the model to show where I am having a problem.


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Buy 1, Get 1 50% OFF on ALL Video Games & Accessories
"Next week they will have Buy One Get One 50% all video games. Worth waiting a week if that's what you're looking for."
Well @piratejones, you were absolutely right! Thanks for the comment/tip, it snookered me into checking toyrus out again. Sure enough, another great deal!
This time, the 50% sale includes all of their video games and accessories. Time to make those Christmas purchases you were missing on this years Black Failday!
9 Comments add a comment
I was looking at this, but I can't actually think of two Wii games at the $50 price point that I want and don't already have. I haven't bought the new Zelda title, but I don't need two copies of it. I suppose I could buy two copies and sell one on ebay or something, but I'm not sure I'd get enough back through that to make it worth my while. The next best $50 game that I don't own is the new Mario & Sonic at the Olympics, but that will drop rapidly in price once the olympics begin...
^^^ That's what I did with Skyrim. Since I knew it wouldn't get cheap anytime soon, I bought two copies of it at KMart for their Buy on get one 50% deal, kept one then sold the extra for nearly the original price. It worked out to getting it for about $32, which isn't bad. It takes a little extra work but it's worth it.
When does the deal start?
Just in case others are interested, Amazon has also matched this deal. TRU's is still a better deal if you're visiting a store though.
For our family this would be WAY better if you could mix and match the 50% off. Then I could get each kid what they wanted!
@frazelle: The ad says "Mix and Match".
Toys R Us actually had a buy 1, get 1 60% off on some of their video games about a week ago. I didn't get it on it when I had the chance, though. Damn me and my procrastination habits.
My wife just bought me Skyrim and LittleBigPlanet Special Edition for Christmas (She sucks at wrapping so I have to wrap my own gifts). What do I buy?!
I drove to the nearest TRU and picked up two copies of Mario Kart 7 from this deal yesterday, so just wanted to say thanks @dmaz


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I want to convert an integral from $(t_0, \infty)$ (or $(-\infty, t_0)$) range to $(-\infty, \infty)$ range by change of variable. What is the best transform function to do this - one that is simple, monotonic with $f(-\infty)=t_0$ and $f(\infty)=\infty$ (or $f(-\infty)=-\infty)$ and $f(\infty)=t_0$)?
I need this for an application of numerical quadrature with Gaussian weights.


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This photoelectric colorimeter was designed by W. H. Summerson of Cornell University and introduced around 1939. The instrument includes an internal galvanometer and potentiometer; this specific model is designed for general colorimetric determinations.
Colorimeters are used to match and measure colors. They rely on psychophysical characteristics like hue or tint, color saturation or purity, and brightness. Photoelectric colorimeters use photocells, color filters, and amplifiers in order to provide precise determinations of color.
Listen to the latest episodes of CHF's award-winning podcast.
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Silicon wafer
©2010–2016 Chemical Heritage Foundation


text: I took this panorama this morning, having cycled 5 miles to the location with the M1+5DII+Sigma 20mm+Feisol tripod all in a backpack. No problems with the hardware - just a procession of clouds passing over my field to hide the sun for a considerable time. A gap appeared at long last so I was able to get some decent shots:


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I wanted to implement real time push notification to one of the apps written in RoR. I don't have any experience with nodejs, nowjs, express or socketio.
What would be the easiest way to implement the realtime push notification system?
I wanted to implement real time push notification to one of the apps written in RoR. I don't have any experience with nodejs, nowjs, express or socketio.
What would be the easiest way to implement the realtime push notification system?
Taken from this question: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5616614/how-would-you-create-a-notification-system-like-on-so-or-facebook-in-ror
My personal opinion is that while architecturally one of the most widespread solution is long-poll or comet, from a development perspective, I don't agree that it's the easiest in the sense that it's a part of the way to do things: simply there's much more in a queue/pubsub system because of the load its backend has to bear.
Personally, I'd even consider plugging in an ActiveMQ server or some other message queue solution, as long as it has a notion of per-user queue, which can be drained by a client, and it has a JS API to drain, and perhaps a Ruby / REST API to push, it works.
But again, this is my personal opinion, that while yes, long-polling can be an option (or socket.IO can be), it's only a part of the equation, even if a major part.
The easiest way would be to use a long-poll. However, this is not push. A long-poll is a normal request, with some long timeout. If there is a message, the request will be answered. Your client receives the answer and starts the next request. This way you almost always have an open request, waiting for an answer.
Take a look at Bridge made by the creators of nowjs. It helps you push messages down to your clients very easily, whether you're building a Rails app or a Node.js app or even python apps. It supports a lot of languages and platforms. It's a very robust system that can handle billions of messages a day.
The good folks at pubsubhubbub have a great solution using RSS feeds. 'PubSubHubBub' is a new protocol for real-time notifications.
In short, how you can enable your app to push real-time notifications:
Please refer to this youtube video for a comprehensive presentation on the subject.
I've seen a port of Socket.IO on github (link). I guess you can use it.
Socket.IO is the easiest way to do a realtime push app, for that it abstracts you from the transport mechanism being used for the push.(for more information see the link).
The Advantages of using Socket.IO is that you don't need to be bothered about the underlying transport being used. The documentation is very simple to follow and yet, is very detailed.


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What are metaclasses? What do you use them for?
We started with Q&A. Technical documentation is next, and we need your help.
Whether you're a beginner or an experienced developer, you can contribute.
A metaclass is the class of a class. Like a class defines how an instance of the class behaves, a metaclass defines how a class behaves. A class is an instance of a metaclass.
While in Python you can use arbitrary callables for metaclasses (like Jerub shows), the more useful approach is actually to make it an actual class itself.
A metaclass is most commonly used as a class-factory. Like you create an instance of the class by calling the class, Python creates a new class (when it executes the 'class' statement) by calling the metaclass. Combined with the normal
When the
However, metaclasses actually define the type of a class, not just a factory for it, so you can do much more with them. You can, for instance, define normal methods on the metaclass. These metaclass-methods are like classmethods, in that they can be called on the class without an instance, but they are also not like classmethods in that they cannot be called on an instance of the class.
Here's an aggregated example of the bits and pieces:
Classes as objects
Before understanding metaclasses, you need to master classes in Python. And Python has a very peculiar idea of what classes are, borrowed from the Smalltalk language.
In most languages, classes are just pieces of code that describe how to produce an object. That's kinda true in Python too:
But classes are more than that in Python. Classes are objects too.
Yes, objects.
As soon as you use the keyword
creates in memory an object with the name "ObjectCreator".
This object (the class) is itself capable of creating objects (the instances), and this is why it's a class.
But still, it's an object, and therefore:
Creating classes dynamically
Since classes are objects, you can create them on the fly, like any object.
First, you can create a class in a function using
But it's not so dynamic, since you still have to write the whole class yourself.
Since classes are objects, they must be generated by something.
When you use the
Remember the function
(I know, it's silly that the same function can have two completely different uses according to the parameters you pass to it. It's an issue due to backwards compatibility in Python)
can be created manually this way:
You'll notice that we use "MyShinyClass" as the name of the class and as the variable to hold the class reference. They can be different, but there is no reason to complicate things.
Can be translated to:
And used as a normal class:
And of course, you can inherit from it, so:
would be:
Eventually you'll want to add methods to your class. Just define a function with the proper signature and assign it as an attribute.
And you can add even more methods after you dynamically create the class, just like adding methods to a normally created class object.
You see where we are going: in Python, classes are objects, and you can create a class on the fly, dynamically.
This is what Python does when you use the keyword
What are metaclasses (finally)
Metaclasses are the 'stuff' that creates classes.
You define classes in order to create objects, right?
But we learned that Python classes are objects.
Well, metaclasses are what create these objects. They are the classes' classes, you can picture them this way:
You've seen that
It's because the function
Now you wonder why the heck is it written in lowercase, and not
Well, I guess it's a matter of consistency with
You see that by checking the
Everything, and I mean everything, is an object in Python. That includes ints, strings, functions and classes. All of them are objects. And all of them have been created from a class:
Now, what is the
So, a metaclass is just the stuff that creates class objects.
You can call it a 'class factory' if you wish.
@eddy147: sorry for being pedantic but Javascript has prototypes not classes. – Erik Allik Aug 2 '11 at 9:53
Class Bar(object) inherits from
object. Python introduced new classes features and found this way to make it backward compatible. Unless you are dealing with a very old Python version, you always want to inherit from
object because you'll get the new class behavior with it. In Python 3, all classes are going to be new classes and you won't need to do this anymore.
– e-satis
Aug 8 '11 at 19:20
I read this and think of the famous "There are lies, damned lies, and then there is statistics", but instead think of it as "there are hacks, tricks, voodoo magic, dark arts, and then there are Python metaclasses". Amazing write-up of an extremely complicated topic. – Adam Parkin Feb 29 '12 at 20:08
Your answer is translated to Russian and posted on Habrahabr: habrahabr.ru/post/145835 – aruseni Jun 15 '12 at 10:35
All other articles on the net are TL;DR. And this is why nobody understood them. And this is why this article is such a success. I'm not sure putting any kind of short explanation would help anybody. – e-satis Aug 26 '13 at 14:58
Metaclasses are the secret sauce that make 'class' work. The default metaclass for a new style object is called 'type'.
Metaclasses take 3 args. 'name', 'bases' and 'dict'
Here is where the secret starts. Look for where name, bases and the dict come from in this example class definition.
Lets define a metaclass that will demonstrate how 'class:' calls it.
And now, an example that actually means something, this will automatically make the variables in the list "attributes" set on the class, and set to None.
Note that the magic behaviour that 'Initalised' gains by having the metaclass
Here is an even more concrete example, showing how you can subclass 'type' to make a metaclass that performs an action when the class is created. This is quite tricky:
One use for metaclasses is adding new properties and methods to an instance automatically.
For example, if you look at Django models, their definition looks a bit confusing. It looks as if you are only defining class properties:
However, at runtime the Person objects are filled with all sorts of useful methods. See the source for some amazing metaclassery.
Others have explained how metaclasses work and how they fit into the Python type system. Here's an example of what they can be used for. In a testing framework I wrote, I wanted to keep track of the order in which classes were defined, so that I could later instantiate them in this order. I found it easiest to do this using a metaclass.
Anything that's a subclass of
I think the ONLamp introduction to metaclass programming is well written and gives a really good introduction to the topic despite being several years old already.
In short: A class is a blueprint for the creation of an instance, a metaclass is a blueprint for the creation of a class. It can be easily seen that in Python classes need to be first-class objects too to enable this behavior.
I've never written one myself, but I think one of the nicest uses of metaclasses can be seen in the Django framework. The model classes use a metaclass approach to enable a declarative style of writing new models or form classes. While the metaclass is creating the class, all members get the possibility to customize the class itself.
The thing that's left to say is: If you don't know what metaclasses are, the probability that you will not need them is 99%.
A class is to an instance as a metaclass is to a class.
Put another way, a class is an instance of a metaclass.
Put a third way, a metaclass is a class's class.
Still hopelessly confused? So was I, until I learned the following and demonstrated how one can actually use metaclasses:
You use a metaclass every time you create a class:
When you create a class definition, for example, like this,
it's the same as functionally calling
Note, some things automatically get added to the
The metaclass of the object we created, in both cases, is
We can extend
A metaclass is a class that tells how (some) other class should be created.
This is a case where I saw metaclass as a solution to my problem: I had a really complicated problem, that probably could have been solved differently, but I chose to solve it using a metaclass. Because of the complexity, it is one of the few modules I have written where the comments in the module surpass the amount of code that has been written. Here it is...
Python 3 update
There are (at this point) two key methods in a metaclass:
A bare-bones, do-nothing-extra metaclass would like:
A simple example:
Say you want some simple validation code to run on your attributes -- like it must always be an
As you can see, you have to repeat the name of the attribute twice. This makes typos possible along with irritating bugs.
A simple metaclass can address that problem:
This is what the metaclass would look like (not using
A sample run of:
Note: This example is simple enough it could have also been accomplished with a class decorator, but presumably an actual metaclass would be doing much more.
The 'ValidateType' class for reference:
protected by missingfaktor Oct 18 '12 at 18:42
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text:
This section documents the known issues in Novell Open Enterprise Server 11 (OES 11) SP2.
In addition to the issues documented in this section, ensure that you review Caveats for Implementing OES 11 SP2 Services in the OES 11 SP2: Planning and Implementation Guide. Additional tips are found in the troubleshooting sections of the OES service administration guides.


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The 6 Most Obnoxious (And Unavoidable) Facebook Groups
#3. For Every 1,000 People That Join, I Will Donate
Why You Invited Us:
From our point of view, it's similar to the group above: a form of charity that doesn't actually cost us anything. Only this time actual money is involved. Maybe.
Simply by clicking accept, and maybe bringing a few friends along for the ride, we have the chance to be a part of somebody else's money going to a good cause. So that's an improvement, right?
Why We Unfriended You:
Wait a second! Why can't you just quietly donate, as millions of people do every day? Why do you have to hold your donation for ransom until the world pays you enough attention?
Can't you perform an act of generosity without dragging the attention-hungry asshole side of your personality into it? Who are you, Bono?
For the sake of optimism, we'll assume the group's creator will follow through on their promise to some degree, which is in itself a big leap of faith. Take a gander at some of these groups when they actually catch on. Smart money says you'll find backpedaling not seen since you bet the neighborhood dumbass he could bike up Dead Man's Hill.
But even for the ones who follow through, when you feel the need to announce your good deed to thousands of strangers so that they can marvel at what a great person you are, it's no longer charity. It's PR. You're paying a fee to buy a slice of positive public opinion.
Yes, at heart it winds up being the same attention grab as our Jackass stuntman up there. Sure, the end results are far, far better than a shaved ass or a singed eyebrow or two. But whittled down to pure motivation for creating the group, what do you find? Another dude hoping to impress the people he barely knows, and maybe get laid as a result.
#2. Let's Create the Biggest Facebook Group Ever
Why You Invited Us:
Because we're looking at a once in the lifetime opportunity here. After all, there are millions and millions of profiles on Facebook, and the number's growing every day. It's easy for somebody to get lost among the masses, but how many people can claim to be a part of the biggest Facebook group ever created?
Well, if the group were to actually succeed, several million, but that's beside the point because the guy who started this one talked to Guinness and they're totally going to put us in their book you guys!
Why We Unfriended You:
First of all, your plan sucks. There's a reason neither presidential candidate chose the slogan, "If enough people vote for me I'll totally be President you guys!" These groups skip the part where they give the millions of people needed a reason to join. Well, beyond the prestige of appearing in the pages of Guinness alongside the world's oldest stripper.
More importantly, we've been studying up on the dictionary, and it turns out there can only be one largest group on Facebook. And since there are already an annoying number groups using this strategy, odds are, your group will fizzle out and die long before it reaches its lofty mark. Such as this one:
Which is desperately climbing the group size ladder, currently nestled between a group dedicated to a non-speaking film character and one for racist Eagle fans.
#1. Groups Against Groups
Why You Invited Us:
You share our disdain for pointless Facebook groups, but have difficulty grasping the difference between irony and simply being part of the problem.
Why We Unfriended You:
Because these are the worst groups on this list. By making fun of people that make the previous groups via yet another group, the people responsible are getting the same little "Look at me!" high the creators of the others do while still clogging up the Facebook world with needless group invites.
By sending us the invite you are asking us to reward their creators for being just as attention-hungry as the people they pretend to be better than. Hell, at least the Jackass-impersonators are creative in their goals.
That's the first five results that came up when we searched for "1,000 nothing." When the guy that took the time to incorporate a smiley is at the forefront of the group's creativity, you're doing something horribly, horribly wrong.
And if your intent behind spreading the word of the do-nothing groups is genuinely to show the folly of trying to change the world through Facebook groups, we have to ask you to take a step back and examine what the group you're inviting us to is trying to say. Go ahead and take a minute, we'll just be over here looking at those humorous pictures of people ironing their clothes in daring situations.
When not writing for Cracked or drawing penises on his friends' graffiti walls, Bobby writes for his blog.
If you liked that, read up on the 10 People From Your Past Who Will Haunt You On Facebook. Or find out why none of this would be a problem if they'd just follow The 10 Commandments of Facebook.


text:
PT524NM 24V 3-Wire Power Tilt & Trim Motor for Mercruiser - API Marine
This item is found in the following Product Families
This is a 24V motor, High volume pump same as used on Mercruiser applications.
This product ships in 1 business day.
Add to Cart and enter your Postal Code to determine the shipping charges and estimated delivery date.
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text:
Farmers' Market sets Souper Bowl
September 18, 2013
On Saturday, the Ohio Valley Farmers' Market will host its third annual Souper Bowl Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon in Bellaire. The proceeds from the event will benefit local food pantries....
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The Ascend propane hydrogenation (PDH) project will be located at a site near Houston, according to regulatory filings. This marks the 14th Oleflex project that UOP has announced since the beginning of 2011, and the company's seventh Oleflex project in North America since the technology was developed.
Honeywell's UOP has been selected to provide technology for
the world's largest on-purpose propylene production facility,
located on the US Gulf Coast, the company announced on
Ascend Performance Materials will use UOP's C3
Oleflex process technology to convert propane to
propylene, a key ingredient in the production of materials such
as nylon, films and packaging.
The Ascend propane hydrogenation (PDH) project will be located
at a site near Houston, according to US regulatory filings.
Petrochemical makers are installing
additional propylene capacity to meet growing demand and to
make up for the shortage of propylene production from
traditional refining and petrochemical sources, according to
UOP officials.
The Ascend project is the 14th Oleflex
project that UOP has announced since the beginning of
2011, and the company's seventh Oleflex project in North America since the
technology was developed.
The combined Oleflex projects announced since 2011
will help increase propylene production by nearly 7 million tpy
globally in the next three years.
"Global propylene demand is growing at about 4 to 5 percent
per year," said Pete Piotrowski, senior vice president and
general manager of Honeywell's UOP process technology and
equipment business.
"The US is seeing an increase in on-purpose propylene
production because of the abundance of low-cost propane from
shale gas," he added. "Compared with competing propane
dehydrogenation processes, UOP Oleflex technology
provides the lowest cash cost of production, the highest return
on investment and the smallest environmental footprint.'
Ascend will install the Oleflex technology
at its facility to produce more than 1
million tpy of propylene beginning in 2015. In addition to
technology licensing, UOP will supply engineering design,
catalysts, adsorbents and selected equipment for the project.
"As Ascend continues to take the steps necessary for the
development of a propane dehydrogenation plant, one of our most
important decisions is the choice of technology," said Tim
Strehl, president of Ascend Performance Materials
"We believe Honeywell's UOP process technology will provide us with the
best production advantage, and we look forward to our
partnership with them," he added.
Ascend describes itself as a global leader in
proprietary technologies that are essential to the production
of nylon, plastics and synthetic fibers found in commercial and
industrial products. Ascend has offices throughout the world
and five manufacturing facilities in the US.
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keith wright
Who is the contractor for this project..I have worked at all plants on Choc.bayou . I am a Crane operator plus civil dirt operator. need to work closer to home!.Alvin Texas.
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Engineers and designers are highly skilled individuals. Forcing them to enter design changes using tables, forms and spreadsheets is unproductive and uneconomical, and it increases the likelihood of human error—this is the way that most instrumentation software systems currently work. For too long, software vendors have denied engineers and designers the simple practicality of a graphical visual engineering interface with "drag and drop" capability and inbuilt intelligence, ensuring changes are automatically replicated into all the associated data and databases.
Is 2016 the peak for US gasoline demand?
Too soon to tell
July 2016


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FIFA World Cup Qualifying: Finland 0 Spain 2
Goals from Jordi Alba and Alvaro Negredo edged Spain closer to qualifying for the 2014 FIFA World Cup with a 2-0 win over Finland.
Alba opened the scoring with a cool first-half finish and substitute Negredo made sure of a valuable win for the reigning world champions five minutes from time.
Vicente del Bosque's men took full advantage of France's goalless draw with Georgia to go three points clear at the top of Group I on Friday with two games left to play.
Victory also means that Spain are unbeaten in European World Cup qualifying action since slipping to a 1-0 defeat against Denmark in March 1993.
Spain were much changed from their 2-0 friendly win over Ecuador last month as Del Bosque drafted David Villa, Koke, Mario Suarez, Pedro and Cesc Fabregas into his starting XI.
Iker Casillas also got the nod ahead of Victor Valdes despite starting the season on the bench for Real Madrid, granting him his 150th appearance for Spain.
Joona Toivio and Markus Halsti started for Finland, having both been named among the substitutes in the 2-0 win over Slovenia last time out.
Much had been made in the build-up to the game of the battle between Casillas and Valdes to start, but the Madrid man quickly repaid the faith shown in him by Del Bosque with a smart save with his legs to deny Finland a shock lead with just over 11 minutes gone.
Alexander Ring cut the ball back after good work down the Finland left and a Sergio Ramos defensive lunge sent it goalwards, but his club team-mate was down quickly to deal with it from close range.
Teemu Tainio's lofted ball sent Teemu Pukki clear of the Spanish defence and he crashed a volley over before the visitors went down the other end and broke the deadlock thanks to a composed Alba finish.
Fabregas picked up possession on the edge of the centre circle in the Finland half and his chipped pass found Barcelona team-mate Alba. The defender cut in from the left wing, held off a challenge from a defender and tucked it low past the onrushing Niki Maenpaa.
Villa came close to doubling Spain's lead three minutes before the half-hour mark, easily slipping his marker on the left wing before firing a rasping shot across the face of goal that flashed inches wide.
Spain dominated the remainder of the first half and showed their attacked intent within a minute of the restart as Pedro shot over after controlling Andres Iniesta's pass.
Del Bosque introduced Jesus Navas at the expense of Villa after 55 minutes as he looked to inject some pace into the side.
Finland then created and spurned two chances in as many minutes. Tainio first rippled the side-netting with a downward header after surging to meet Roman Eremenko's corner at the far post, but neither the man on the line or Casillas looked troubled.
Ring also failed to call Casillas into action as he screwed an effort high.
Negredo replaced Fabregas after 71 minutes and made an immediate impact, firing one effort narrowly wide before tapping in the visitors' second goal late on following Nevas' centre.


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Yale Materials Handling introduces Certified Remanufactured Program at ProMat 2013
January 28, 2013 - MMH Editorial
Yale Materials Handling Corporation introduced a factory-backed Certified Remanufactured Program at last week's ProMat 2013 show. Select Yale dealers will be authorized to offer certified remanufactured Yale lift trucks that will be available with a one-year, 2,000-hour warranty.
"With Yale Certified Remanufactured trucks, our customers get more than just a truck they get the complete Yale experience," said Bill Pfleger, president of Yale Distribution. "This program demonstrates the promise Yale makes to go beyond our products to our commitment to support customers with the best service in the industry. Customers no longer need to sacrifice service or productivity for a lower price since a Yale Certified Remanufactured truck will give greater access to a quality Yale lift truck at another price point."
To qualify as a certified product, pre-owned lift trucks must pass a pre-selection quality checklist to enter the remanufacturing process. Trained technicians are required to perform a 200-point inspection and replace key parts. Other parts will be inspected and replaced as needed. Yale dealers use genuine Yale parts for the remanufacturing process as these parts are designed specifically for Yale lift trucks and meet stringent standards for performance, fit and durability.


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12 Apr 2012 12:08 PM #1
[RC3] Flex -vs- width
I was thinking that if I set a flex property and a width property that the width property would override the flex in 4.0.x. Does that sound right? Maybe it's not.
I did see, though, that in the documentation that in order to cancel flex you can use 0 or undefined. Seems in RC3 undefined isn't working to cancel flex, but 0 and null will.
Ext.widget('viewport', { layout: { type: 'hbox' , align: 'stretch' } , defaults: { flex: 1 } , items: [{ title: 'Panel 1' , width: 100 , flex: undefined //, flex: null }, { title: 'Panel 2' }, { title: 'Panel 3' }] });
12 Apr 2012 12:16 PM #2
Flex overrides.. It does this in 4.0 also. I'm using it as a feature, I guess this would be a breaking change and sencha may want to wait to 5.x before doing a change like this.Sven Tore Iversen
12 Apr 2012 12:19 PM #3
Oh, ok. Couldn't remember which overrode which.
The flex: undefined not cancelling in RC3 is different, though, right? Documentation still says use 0 or undefined so I wonder if that is a bug in RC3?
12 Apr 2012 11:37 PM #4
Initially 4.1 worked the other way round but it was switched to maintain compatibility. It should now behave the same as 4.0. I believes it's been this way for all the RCs.
I don't think there's a bug here. The docs for flex appear to be correct about the use of an undefined value. However, in your example the flex is not undefined because it is overridden by the defaults. I don't believe anything has changed from 4.0 in that regard.
13 Apr 2012 5:17 AM #5
I tried overriding the flex property with 0, null, and undefined in RC2 and each option resulted in the flex property overriding the config passed in by defaults. I did the same in RC3 and see that 0 and null override the defaults config, but undefined does not.
As soon as I loaded up RC3 when it was released I my flex layouts with flex undefined were all failing so I checked out the docs to see if undefined was no longer valid as a way to dismiss it in the flex layout, but RC3 docs still say 0 and undefined are the way to go. I changed each failing instance with flex: null and it works to dismiss the container from the flex layout, but wondered if it was a bug since the docs still say undefined or 0.
15 Apr 2012 5:15 PM #6
I've just tried this myself. It seems the priority switch occurred between RC1 and RC2, not before the RCs as I claimed previously.
Using either RC2 or RC3 I get the same behaviour as 4.0.7.
Perhaps we're reading different sections in the docs but I don't see a mistake. I'm looking at the docs for the config option flex, which appear to be correct to me. Using undefined as a flex value will cause it not to be flexed, however in your example the flex value is not undefined due to the use of defaults. I don't believe the way defaults are applied has changed at any point.
15 Apr 2012 5:32 PM #7
Ok. I was thinking that any configs on the items would override whatever was in the defaults config.
"Defaults are applied to both config objects and instantiated components conditionallyso as not to override existing properties in the item (see Ext.applyIf)."
If I use flex: null it does override the flex, but not if I used flex: undefined. Was just thinking that undefined would override it based on what I was reading here:
"This configuration option is to be applied to child items of the container managed by this layout. Each childitem with a flex property will be flexed (horizontally in hbox, vertically in vbox) according to each item'srelative flex value compared to the sum of all items with a flex value specified. Any child items that haveeither a flex = 0 or flex = undefined will not be 'flexed' (the initial size will not be changed)."
Though, I'm starting to suspect I'm must misreading the docs and shouldn't have been using flex: undefined in my app up to this point. Just brought it up because as I updated from RC2 to 3 it was something I had to go and update to fix my layout.
Ext.widget('viewport', { layout: { type: 'hbox' , align: 'stretch' } , defaults: { flex: 1 } , items: [{ title: 'Panel 1' , width: 100 , flex: null }, { title: 'Panel 2' }, { title: 'Panel 3' }] });
15 Apr 2012 5:47 PM #8
Whether or not applyIf overrides undefined values is left a little vague in the docs but a quick look at the source suggests it hasn't changed in a while.
16 Apr 2012 6:21 AM #9
For what it's worth I just re-tested to make sure I'm giving a more accurate report. Below is the test script and the results in IE8 from 4.0.7, 4.1 RC2, and 4.1 RC3. Looks like a change between 4.0.7 and RC2/3. Maybe 4.0.7 was the buggy version and 4.1 fixed it? The documentation still throws me a little if this is the intended behavior, but I can certainly live with it.
Ext.widget('viewport', { layout: { type: 'hbox' , align: 'stretch' } , defaults: { flex: 1 } , items: [{ title: 'Panel 1' , width: 100 , flex: undefined }, { title: 'Panel 2' }, { title: 'Panel 3' }] });
Last edited by slemmon; 16 Apr 2012 at 6:22 AM. Reason: ordered images


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This in reference to this fascinating lecture by Nicolai Reshetikhin-
- Given what is said on page 13 in section 4.1 its not clear to me why the ``partition function" should be a vector in the same space of states which is being assigned to the boundary of the space-time manifold.
I am confused to see the claim that $Z(M) \in H(\partial M)$.I would have thought that the partition function is a linear function on the space of states which takes in a boundary configuration and gives back a number.
I would like to know what is meant by saying (on the same page) that "..(this vector space of states) may depend on the extra structure at the boundary (it can be a vector bundle over the moduli space of such structures).."
How does the above relate to the claim on page 47 that for Chern-Simons theory the "..space of states assigned to the boundary is the space of holomorphic sections of the geometric quantization line bundle over the moduli space of flat connections in a trivial principal G-bundle over the boundary (provided we made a choice of complex structure)..."
I would like to know what the above means and I would be happy to get back some further references about this...especially what is a "geometric quantization bundle"?
- Is the above somehow purely an effect of quantization? Thinking classically intuitively i would have thought that the space of states assigned to the boundary is the space of gauge equivalence classes of flat connections on the manifold which can be extended to a flat connection on the whole space-time. Is the above wrong?
I can't see where the structures of a vector bundle and may be even its sections over the above moduli space seem to be getting involved.
- Is there a general argument to see that the space of states attached to the boundary is always a symplectic manifold and that the subspace of that will ever be picked up by solving the Euler-lagrangian equations in the interior will be some Lagrangian submanifold of it?
In these lectures some comment seems to be made about how the gauge invariance may complicate the above scenario.I would like to know more about that.
- At the start of the lecture the author seems to demand that the space-times belong to a category of manifolds where the morphism is that of cobordism. I would like to know what was the intuition behind making this choice. Why not some other simpler morphism?
Does working in this category of cobordisms somehow help in justifying the functoriality demand on the partition function with respect to gluing of manifolds?


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Cited: Madhe Aggerwal, 216 Bantam Ridge Road, Wintersville, speeding; Catherine Lesky, 217 Miller Ave., Weirton, speeding; Carol Mills, 52, 2849 county Road 26, Wintersville, speeding; Robert Sechel, 52, Woodridge, Ill., open container; and Theresa Black, 52, McKinney, Texas, open container.
Arrested: Jacob Blackburn, 18, 140 McDowell Ave., domestic violence, Thursday.
Jefferson County
Arrested: Gregory Bensie Jr., 18, 842 Bantam Ridge Road, Wintersville, domestic violence, Thursday.
Theft and vandalism - copper piping stolen from residence in 240 block of Morningside Drive, Wintersville, Thursday.


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A large serving of dignity
L'Arche home a place where everyone is equal
|The L'Arche principle is that people, no matter their handicap, should be treated with dignity in an environment that stresses the spiritual aspects of life. L'Arche home family members (clockwise from left) Lara Swenson (core member), Jessica Bridges (assistant), Terry Hochschild (core member), Sara Ellet (assistant), John Hudson (core member) and Tim Moore (assistant) hold hands to pray before their dinner at the L'Arche Atlanta home in Decatur on November 6, 2012. L'Arche operates in 35 countries, with 18 chapters across the United States. L'Arche Atlanta is the only location in Georgia. (Hyosub Shin/Atlanta Journal-Constitution/MCT)
John Hudson, bouncing on his feet with impatience, stood at her side. Is anything better than white Texas chili on a cold afternoon? For Ellet and Hudson, 28 and 30, respectively, their shared moment at the stove was another small declaration of mutual respect: One encourages the other.
They're residents of L'Arche Atlanta, where people with developmental disabilities live full time with folks who have none. The house, which opened in October in Decatur's Oakhurst community and is the only L'Arche home in Georgia, has six occupants. That sum is equally comprised by "core residents" — those needing help in their daily lives — and "assistants" who've signed up to spend at least a year living with them.
A rambling old farmhouse that once temporarily sheltered homeless people, the L'Arche house is home to Ellet, Hudson, Jessica Bridges, Tim Moore, Terry Hochschild and Lara Swenson.
Bridges and Moore, like Ellet, are assistants, paid small annual salaries to live inside the thick-plaster walls of the L'Arche home. Bridges is the home's coordinator, making sure schedules are kept, budgets followed. They're all drivers, appointment-makers, confidants, friends.
Hudson, Hochschild and Swenson are core residents. Each has mental or physical disabilities and needs help in daily life.
So far, said Bridges, the arrangement is living up to the L'Arche principle that people, no matter their handicap, should be treated with dignity in an environment that stresses the spiritual aspects of life.
"This is a way to live in the world that's hopefully a little more gentle," said Bridges, 28, who has a master's degree in divinity and is a deacon in the United Methodist Church.
Hudson was more succinct. "I live here," he said, "and I like it." L'Arche is French for "the ark," a reference to the floating refuge Noah created at God's command. L'Arche began in 1964 when Frenchman Jean Vanier opened his home to two developmentally disabled adults. He had no grand plan. Vanier simply believed people of differing physical and mental abilities could live together, respecting the capabilities of one another.
"To work for community," he later wrote, "is to work for humanity." His philosophy struck a chord. Today L'Arche operates in 35 countries, with 18 chapters across the United States.
The L'Arche Atlanta home is funded by federal, state and private sources. About 40 percent of its costs are paid by core members' state and federal disability payments; the balance comes from donations. The home, which L'Arche leases for $1 annually, opened after a multiyear fundraising campaign to make the structure wheelchair-accessible and adhere to other state and federal guidelines.
"L'Arche is about quality of life," said Laura Wells, co-president of the nonprofit's board of directors. "We're about being a sign of what the whole world — society — could be like if we accepted people's disabilities.
"All of us have disabilities," said Wells, who spent a year at a L'Arche home in Scotland after graduating from Duke University. "Some are just more apparent than others." That doesn't mean core residents are helpless.
As the chili bubbled, Moore flopped down in an overstuffed chair in the home's living room. He grinned at Hudson, who'd challenged him to a game of pool. Moore, 27, is a regular at Twain's, a downtown Decatur emporium of brews and billiards. He knows his way around a table. Hudson is legally blind.
"OK," Moore said. "Bring it on." Hudson snorted. "We'll have a showdown!" Showdowns of a different sort — squabbling, bickering, the sort of finger-pointing that occurs when people live together — so far haven't happened. But when they do, said Ellet, the six will work out their differences.
"There are always going to be growing pains," said Ellet, leaving her chili for a few moments.
"John and Terry and Lara are not clients," she continued, using a popular word used to describe group-home residents. "They're friends. They're family." A family that expands every fourth Saturday of the month for social gatherings. People with disabilities and others meet with L'Arche residents at area churches to spend time together, affirming their shared humanity.
Swenson, 36, who has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair, considers her housemates friends, in spite of pointed political differences. (She backed Republican Mitt Romney in the presidential election.) Swenson, who came to L'Arche from a larger facility, appreciates the serenity she's found at her new home.
"It's not so loud here," she said.
Hochschild is the quiet guy of the bunch. He's 52, originally from Cleveland, and likes to play catch with anyone who has a baseball glove. Hochschild, who has limited mental capacities, was living with family members before coming to L'Arche.
Does he like L'Arche? Hochschild smiled, looked at his feet and nodded.
The kitchen was steamy, the chili ready. Ellet and Hudson reached for bowls and silverware while others cleared a round oak table in the dining room. They laid out the chili, then placed bowls of salad in front of each chair. Ellet put various bottles of salad dressing on the table's Lazy Susan. The room's picture window framed a gray day, ringed by golden leaves and getting darker by the moment.
They all sat.
"This is a perfect meal!" Moore said.
They all held hands.
"For food and fellowship, God, we give you praise," Ellet prayed.
They all answered: "Amen!"
To learn more about L'Arche Atlanta, visit www.larcheatlanta.org/index.html.
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- Deeply flavored comfort
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- A large serving of dignity
- Mailed gifts substitute for the real gift of presence
- Good deeds all around
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- Churches seek to reclaim the unaffiliated


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I have some albums in my iPhoto 11, that contain personal photos. I want to password protect particular albums or the iPhoto application itself.
Is there any way to password protect iPhoto 11?
I have some albums in my iPhoto 11, that contain personal photos. I want to password protect particular albums or the iPhoto application itself.
Is there any way to password protect iPhoto 11?
I solved this by creating a separate iPhoto Library and storing that Library within a password-protected encrypted sparse image. (You create sparse images using Disk Utility.) I've appended a step-by-step tutorial to the end of this answer.
I then created an alias to the private library and stored that alias in my Pictures folder alongside my regular libraries.
To open the private Library, double click on the alias icon. You will be prompted for a password so that the encrypted image can mount on the desktop. When you're done, be sure to "eject" the disk image.
iPhoto defaults to opening the last Library opened so if you want the program to open the "regular" file next time, go ahead and open that Library. (You can either double click it's Library icon or open iPhoto while holding down the Option key.) I've just developed the habit of opening iPhoto using the appropriate Library icon from my Pictures folder.
The disadvantage of this method is that you can't mix "private" images into your iPhone sync and it's possible that leaving iPhoto with the wrong "default" library could interfere with an iOS sync. (I use Aperture for my main photo collection/iOS sync anyway, so I haven't fully explored this.)
Creating an encrypted, Password-Protected iPhoto Library —Step-by-Step
The reality is that many of us have pictures we want to keep but don't necessarily want to share with partners, children or grandparents. What happens at Burning Man stays at Burning Man. Right? To keep those pictures from prying eyes—and inadvertant display on your big screen TV via AppleTV—I advocate using a separate iPhoto library for your private pictures and protecting that library by storing it inside an encyrpted container.
I'm keying this tutorial to Mac OS X 10.7 Lion and iPhoto '11 (current at time of writing) but this system will work for previous versions of the software. (To a point—the encrypted disk image was added to the OS in 10.3.) You can use this method to safeguard Aperture libraries as well.
Open your existing iPhoto Library and select the images you want to put into the encrypted library. One way of doing this is to assign a unique keyword to those pictures. I used fmeo (short for for my eyes only). Next create a smart album that includes the images you tagged.
Export or copy the tagged images into a folder on your desktop. Leave the images in your original iPhoto Library until you're sure you've sucessfully completed this entire process—but don't forget to go back and delete the images once you're satisfied with the results.
Next you need to create a new iPhoto library for your private images. Quit iPhoto if it's open. Open iPhoto while holding the Option key down. Create a new library from the dialog box displayed. I named mine FMEO. I strongly suggest you not give it a name like Pictures I Don't Want My Spouse To See because the filename will be visible in the Finder if follow my complete plan.
Import the images you want to protect into iPhoto (making sure you're using the FMEO library) and organize them as you see fit. When you're happy with the results, quit iPhoto. You can safely delete the Finder folder containing these images. Use Secure Empty Trash if you're concerned that someone will try to recover the deleted files.
So far, all you've done is created a separate library for your private photos. It isn't protected in any way. In fact, assuming the FMEO library was the last library used, iPhoto will display your private images the next time it's opened. The secret to keeping those images from prying eyes is to store the library inside an encrypted container. Fortunately, Apple provides everything you need to create this container free of charge in OS X (10.3+).
Open Disk Utility. (It's in your Utilities folder.) Create an encrypted sparse image:
A brief interlude about organization. I've created a folder inside my ~/Pictures folder called iPhoto Libraries. Inside that folder I've placed my non-sensitive iPhoto libraries and the encyrpted image files containing my eyes only libraries. I have a shortcut to the the iPhoto Libraries folder on my dock. This allows me to quickly open iPhoto by clicking on the library I want to use.
Once your encrypted sparse disk image is created and mounted on the desktop, copy your private iPhoto library into it. Leave the original copy of the library in place until you've tested the encrypted version to your satisfaction--you might want to rename the original at this point to avoid confusion.
Create an alias of the library file contained within the encrypted sparse image. Place that alias in a convenient place, I put it in ~/Pictures/iPhoto Libraries alongside my non-secure libraries.
Unmount (eject) the sparse disk image. Then open the private image library by double-clicking on the alias to the file. You should be prompted for the password to the encrypted sparse disk image. Once you've entered that password (again, do not save it in the keychain) iPhoto should open and display your private photos. Once you're done working with those photos, close iPhoto and unmount (eject) the sparse disk image. It is critical that you unmount the encrypted image, otherwise anyone can come along and open your private library.
Once the sparse image is unmounted, if you try to open iPhoto you will again be prompted for the password. You can prevent this by opening your default iPhoto library after you've closed the private library. I do this by clicking on the appropriate library file from the shortcut in my dock.
Now that you've successfully created and tested your Eyes Only library, be sure to delete the version of that library that isn't inside the sparse image (again, using Secure Empty Trash if it makes you more comfortable) and open your original iPhoto Library and delete the private images still contained within.
That's how I do it. It's not as complicated as it seems. In fact, it took me more time to write this up than it did for me to create-do-test the first time (excluding selecting the pictures).
For light weight hiding, the only official iPhoto solution is to individually select and hide or flag and then hide all flagged photos.
This hiding is documented online as well as in the built in help.
Password-protecting the iPhoto app would not prevent access to your iPhoto album.Your iPhoto Library is stored in files under your home folder and is therefore accessible (using other programs) to anyone who has access to your user account.
see How to password protect iPhoto for more details


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I've been wondering about this issue for a while. How to find the bottleneck of the graphical pipeline. Recently I've been using a program to draw massive amount of polygons in a simple scene with alpha blending (AKA grass scene). I've used two programs, one uses static coordinates and another uses rotation and translation. Both run at 60 FPS with no other heavy processes running. But when I use them together (Two windows each having same amount of grasses and grass positions) the one that uses translation and rotation runs at 10 FPS but the other one is about 55 FPS. My question is why are both running @ 60 FPS and when such thing happens why does the second one(Rotation and translation of each grass) drop about 50 FPS but the second is still 55? Sounds like a bottle-neck to me. Please let me know if you have any idea, or in a more general answer if you have an idea or paper about finding bottleneck of GPU(or GPGPU), or optimizing the graphical code for running on GPU?
The general answer is to do a frame capture and profile. Use something like NV PerfHUD or other GPU performance counters to see what the GPU is doing, and which draw calls takes time. You can then get information about what the bottle neck that draw call had.
Your case seems to be something like two programs interacting and context switching the GPU?
You can find some information in these materials:
Randima Fernando. GPU Gems: Programming Techniques, Tips and Tricks for Real-Time Graphics. Addison-Wesley Professional, 2004. Chapter 28
David Blythe, Brad Grantham, Tom Mcreynolds, and Scott R. Nelson. Advanced Graphics Programming Techniques Using OpenGL. Course Notes for SIGGRAPH '99. ACM, 1999.
both running at 60FPS doesn't neccesorily mean they can both run with the same speed, there is usually a fps limiter in game engines that doesn't let fps go higher than 60fps (and that's somthing you can spot that and remove easily), so in your case maybe without this limiter the static fps wuold be around 120 and the dynamic one would be around 70, with them both running gpu can't handle both processes, assuming that your test shows even half of gpu's power is almost enough for static scene, but isn't near enough for dynamic one. and if you want to find bottleneck in your pipeline ,assuming that you have access to all your shaders source codes, you can use "nvidia fx composer". in that program you can draw your pipeline, give it all your shaders and it'll show how much time is consumed in each stage for each shader.


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2009-10 Course DescriptionsBMIS - Missions
College of Biblical Studies (CBS)
BMIS 101 Missionary Life and Work (3-0-3), fall. God's work through missions and the missionary, the lostness of the world, the tasks and qualities of missionaries, the role of the local church in missions, God's work in opening doors, and the temptations that missionaries face. Designed for entering or transfer majors. May not be used to satisfy a University Core requirement.
BMIS 102 Missionary Biographies (3-0-3), spring. This course will survey the history of missions from the establishment of the church to the present. Special emphasis will be given to how God motivated, prepared and used people to do His work and advance His kingdom. May not be used to satisfy a University Core requirement.
BMIS 245 Missionary Anthropology (3-0-3), fall. Human culture designed to equip missionaries to minister in cross-cultural contexts. Guides future missionaries to develop a theology of culture, to critique anthropological models used to interpret the world, to learn a cultural context through participant observation, and to understand a culture by studying its life cycle and cultural subsystems. May not be used to complete a Bible requirement in the University Core.
BMIS 346 Introduction to World Evangelism (3-0-3), fall, spring, summer. Considers the biblical basis of missions, the nature of interpersonal identification, the concept of culture, models of communication, methods of church planting and maturation, and criteria of field selection. Prerequisite: sophomore standing.
BMIS 371 World Religions (3-0-3), spring. The various aspects of religion - conceptual, ritual, personal and social - from the perspective of the living world religions in order to gain a greater skillfulness in approaching the non-Christian. Prerequisite: sophomore standing.
BMIS 420 Teaching Good News (2-4-3), fall, spring. An introduction to evangelism that guides the student to present the Gospel effectively on a person-to-person basis by devising and implementing evangelistic strategies appropriate to specific people in particular social contexts. A significant portion of the semester will be spent "on the street" doing evangelism. Prerequisite: sophomore standing.
BMIS 421 Fundamentals of Spiritual Nurture (3-0-3), on demand. The vital Christian task of spiritual guidance beginning with early faith and leading to mature, active discipleship.
BMIS 422 Campus Ministry (3-0-3), on demand. Designed to nurture and equip campus ministers to witness to and mentor reliable men and women who will be qualified to share their faith with others in the contemporary college culture. Prerequisites: BIBL 101 or 104; 102 or 105; 211 and 212.
BMIS 458 Focused Training in Missions (3-0-3), on demand. A variety of specialized studies that provide essential training for missionaries such as: indigenity, team missions, appropriate technology, house churches, missionary medical training, ham radio, Marxism, medical anthropology, ethnopsychology, communicating with non-literates, Bible translations, hymnology, kinship systems, visual anthropology. May be repeated. Prerequisite: sophomore standing.
BMIS 481 Inner City Missions (3-0-3), on demand. Examines the biblical teaching about cities and the practical difficulties encountered in urban settings. Particular attention (both theoretical and practical) is given to issues of race, justice and poverty. Prerequisites: BIBL 101 or 104; 102 or 105; 211 and 212.
BMIS 610 Evangelism in North America (3-0-3), on demand. Lays foundations for effective outreach by North American churches. Culture and the gospel are examined with a view to discerning specific contemporary approaches that may be used to communicate Christian truth clearly in the North American context.
BMIS 619 Missionary Research (3-0-3), fall. Cross-cultural techniques in survey, experimental, observation, and documentary research, analysis and report writing with considerable emphasis on practical experience.
BMIS 620 Teaching the Gospel (2-1-3), on demand. Guides the student to effectively present the Gospel on a person-to-person basis by devising and implementing evangelistic strategies appropriate to specific people in particular social contexts. A significant portion of the semester will be spent "on the street" doing evangelism.
BMIS 621 Fundamentals of Spiritual Nurture (3-0-3), on demand. Vital Christian task of spiritual guidance beginning with early faith and leading to mature, active discipleship.
BMIS 633 Leadership Training (3-0-3), summer. The study of leadership training methods. The student will write and test an extension module of study material.
BMIS 645 Missionary Anthropology (3-0-3), on demand. Similarities and diversities of human cultures designed to equip missionaries to communicate cross-culturally.
BMIS 646 Foundations of Missiology (3-0-3), on demand. The biblical basis of missions, the nature of interpersonal identification, the concept of culture, models of communication, methods of church planting and maturation, linguistics, and field selection.
BMIS 647 Ethnotheology (3-0-3), spring. Probing the reciprocal effects of culture and Christianity so that the missionary will refrain from absolutizing for all people everything that seems hermeneutically valid within his own society.
BMIS 648 Planting and Developing Churches (3-0-3), fall. A survey of the important administrative, anthropological, methodological, and theological issues for establishing responsible, reproducing churches in another culture.
BMIS 652 Developing New Churches in North America (3-0-3), on demand. Equips students to develop a biblically-informed, comprehensive, and effective plan for planting new churches in selected areas of North America.
BMIS 653 Growth Strategies for Established Churches (3-0-3), on demand. Gives students conceptual models and practical tools to facilitate leadership in church growth among established congregations.
BMIS 669 Introduction to Linguistics (2-1-3), summer. The science of language with the emphasis varying with the needs and aims of the class.
BMIS 670 Cross-Cultural Communication (3-0-3), summer. Various communication topics of vital interest to prospective missionaries such as perceptions and stereotypes, culture and personality, language and culture, as well as mass media and intercultural communication.
BMIS 671 Supervised Research in Missions (0-0-3), on demand. A faculty-supervised research project tailored to the specific needs of the student.
BMIS 672 World Religions (3-0-3), fall. Aspects of religion - conceptual, ritual, personal and social - from the perspective of the living world religions in order to gain a greater skillfulness in approaching the non-Christian.
BMIS 673 History of Missions (3-0-3), summer. The expansion of Christianity from Pentecost to the present with special attention given to the positive and negative influences in the spread of the Good News.
BMIS 675 Theology of Mission (3-0-3), fall. The development of a biblically accurate and missiologically sound foundation for missions to ensure that the messengers of God will return with an abundant harvest from the ripe fields among the tribes and cities of the world.
BMIS 680 Urban Missions (3-0-3), summer. Explores the theology, anthropology, and missiology of urban evangelism and community development with particular emphasis on the poor and the lifestyle required to reach them.
BMIS 689 Folk Religions and New Spiritualities (3-0-3), on demand. A study of personal spiritual beings (whether spirits, ancestors, or demons) as well as non-personal spiritual forces (magic and witchcraft) and their power to control human affairs.
BMIS 697 Worldview and Worldview Change (3-0-3), on demand. How worldview presuppositions explicitly and implicitly shape culture. Equips the Christian minister to clearly and critically analyze this or her own worldview and that of his or her audience in light of a biblical theology in order to avoid syncretism and to effect God-desired worldview transformations.
BMIS 699 Master's Thesis (0-0-6).*
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Citizens' Dialogues
President Juncker asked all College Members "to be politically active in the Member States and in dialogues with citizens, by presenting and communicating the common agenda, listening to ideas and engaging with stakeholders"
Do you want to have your say about what is happening in the European Union, how it is tackling key challenges and how you benefit?
The European Commissioners are listening!
Citizens' Dialogues, in the style of town-hall debates, are taking place across the EU. Feel free to come along – it's "first come, first served"!
Upcoming events
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Find an event near you
Choose a country
- Choose a country
- Austria
- Belgium
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Cyprus
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- Ireland
- Italy
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Malta
- Netherlands
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- United Kingdom
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5 Despicable Things People Do for Good Online Reviews
As a savvy consumer, you're too smart and cynical to be taken in by cheap hype and ad campaigns. You ignore the buzzwords and slogans and TV spots full of CGI and dubstep and go right to the reviews. That's where you find out whether or not something is worth your ad dollars: hearing from the unbiased people who've actually tried the product.
Only, well, there's a few things you should know about that ...
#5. Companies Fill "Customer Review" Sections With Fakes
If you've ever bought or rented something online, you've probably spent some time reading user reviews on sites like Yelp before making a decision -- after all, 72 percent of consumers trust online reviews as personal recommendations. To most people, a five-star Amazon rating is the same thing as their best friend telling them to buy that book.
Also, 72 percent of consumers named the Internet as their best friend.
Sure, the cynical among us know that some of those reviews are planted by the sellers -- they're the ones that are a little too transparent in quoting the manufacturer's ad campaign ("I found that this vacuum cleaner provided a revolutionary cleaning experience thanks to its cutting edge Vortex(TM) technology"), but if you had to guess, what percentage of reviews are fakes? Five percent? Ten percent?
More like up to 30 percent -- almost one in every three reviews you read could be plants, depending on the product. So where do companies get so many fake reviews? The answer is that, like anything else in the world, you can buy them online.
"Reputation Warehouse, this is Linda speaking, how may I up your street cred?"
Yes, there are sites exclusively devoted to this. In 2010, Todd Rutherford started the (now defunct) website GettingBookReviews.com, which would write a positive review of a client's book on Amazon for $99. For those looking for even more praise, $499 got you 20 reviews and $999 got you 50. Rutherford ended up making $28,000 a month selling bullshit reviews, mostly to freelance writers who wanted publicity for their self-published books. And it worked: Author John Locke commissioned a shitload of fake reviews from Rutherford and, within five months, he became the first-ever person to sell a million e-books.
"Short answer: Put legs on the cover. Also, by cheating."
Rutherford's site ended up closing after Google frowned on his business, but as long as there are desperate writers who will buy them and even more desperate ones who will write them, fake reviews will continue to thrive. And they don't even have to be credible to work: As one Texas businessman tells it, for only $100 you can get someone on another continent to write you 200 positive reviews for whatever you want. In this case, the clearly fake reviews were filtered by Yelp, but other sites kept them up, and now the Texan's business is one of the top results in his category on Google. We're just gonna assume it has something to do with butt plugs.
Everyone wins, right? Well, except the consumers who ended up going to that guy's store or buying those shitty books, obviously. But, believe it or not, it gets worse ...
#4. Companies Stifle Negative Reviews by Threatening Customers Who Write Them
If you're looking to rent a place and the landlords don't have any glaringly bad reviews out there, you know you're safe, right? If they were running a scam, past tenants would surely have said something. Since when do people hesitate to bitch on the Internet?
Since humanity decided that the world would be a better place if ... pffffft, sorry, we couldn't finish that with a straight face.
Since they started getting fined for it.
Say you want to go on a nice vacation in another state with your spouse, so you rent a house to stay there for five days. Unfortunately, the house has multiple problems, so after being denied a refund by the owners, you do the only thing you can do: You leave a bad review on the Internet. You then find that they have charged you an extra $500 on your credit card, just for posting that review. Yes, this can (and has) happened.
"We're trying to figure out how to send electric shocks through Yelp, but until then, this will do."
Renters Tom and Terri Dorow were contacted by their rental agency, Progressive Management Concepts, and told to delete the "unauthorized review" they'd posted on VRBO.com. It turns out that the agreement they signed when they rented the house (which you'd assume would include just the usual "You broke it, you bought it" and "Don't shit in the pool" clauses) contained fine print that prevented them from saying anything about the house without the owners' authorization. Technically, they couldn't even say good things about it.
"Well, we definitely stayed in a solid, three-dimensional construct."
But this is their fault for not reading the full contract, right? And it could never happen to you because you always do that, right? Well, the couple claims that they only received the papers weeks after paying for the rental, and at that point it would have been too late to back out anyway. In the end, they only got their money back after they agreed to delete the offending comment, plus an extra $200, presumably just to make them feel dirty.
Apparently this is part of a whole trend in the rental business, and the possible fines for leaving "unsolicited reviews" go up to $10,000. Oh, and you'll be blacklisted from renting any property managed by that company, too. And that's all legal.
"Also, we get one of your children. And no gingers, either; one of the good kids."
Meanwhile, the owners claim that they're just protecting themselves from customers who threaten to leave negative reviews on sites like TripAdvisor.com if they don't get free stuff. If you're not a douchebag and honestly didn't like the place, then tough shit. The only real way to deal with the fine is by contacting your credit card company and trying to deduct the charge. Also, you know, do read the contracts before you sign them, guys.
So if user reviews are so unreliable, you should just rely on the word of professional critics, right?
#3. Publications Get Paid for Positive Reviews, and Critics Get Fired for Not Going Along
Notice how video game websites tend to run ads for the very games they're covering? What do you suppose happens when the game reviewers want to give a bad score to the same game that's paying their salary that week? You could ask Jeff Gerstmann, a former editorial director at GameSpot.com who got fired in 2007 after two mildly negative reviews caused Eidos Interactive and Sony to threaten to pull ad revenue from the site. You see, those companies spent money advertising the games, and it was implied that with that ad money would come positive reviews, regardless of the quality of the actual games.
Meanwhile, in 2010, Variety magazine was sued for publishing a negative review of a movie, which, again, is what they're supposed to be there for. Calibra Pictures argued that they bought a promotional package from Variety that promised to build their movie Iron Cross Oscar hype in its advertisements, but apparently they forgot to include a "Keep quiet if you think the movie sucks" clause in their contract. When a freelancer panned the film in a review, Calibra sued Variety and even got them to pull the review for a while, before a judge dismissed the lawsuit.
On the basis that "No one's ever heard of this movie, ever."
And if the site won't pull the review, there are other ways to smite them from the face of the Earth. Thanks to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), it's extremely easy for copyright holders to fire off takedown notices that get websites automatically delisted from Google, so why not just file one against whoever said something mean about you? In August 2012, both Universal Music Group and Microsoft incorrectly served takedown notices to innocent blogs that just happened to host negative reviews of their latest turds (Drake's album Take Care and Windows 8, respectively). None of those sites hosted or linked to illegal content, but Google practically erased them from the Internet right away. That's how the DMCA works -- you're presumed guilty until you prove your innocence, so an accusation from a huge company is all it takes.
Maybe that's the sort of thing you'd expect from the music industry and a software monopoly, but you know who you wouldn't expect it from? Doctors. Yet there is a group called Medical Justice that consists of nearly 2,500 doctors who, when not going on Yelp and posing as satisfied patients, use copyright to remove negative reviews written by patients. They do this by having the patient sign a contract that gives the company ownership rights to any online reviews. That way, if someone writes a review that the doctor doesn't like, a DMCA takedown is used and the review is forcibly removed.
"And that isn't the only thing we'll forcibly remove if you don't leave that keyboard."


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So, I just went hiking, testing out a pretty new pair of shoes. The test trail was about 6 miles round trip. I started to notice on the way back that the back of my heel was a bit uncomfortable, like it had been rubbing for a while. Is there anything I can do short of getting a new pair of shoes to help with this problem?
What you describe sounds like the early symptoms of blisters, a few things you could try are:
As well as the other answers, I notice you said they were new shoes you were hiking in - it isn't uncommon for these to be more likely to rub and potentially cause blisters until they're properly broken in. Follow the other advice (especially about socks) with blisters because that can hugely help - but in addition to this you may also want to try wearing them for shorter hikes / walks, little and often, until they're broken in a bit more. You might be surprised at how much this can help!
Depending on the type of pain, this may be plantar fasciitis. If it's more of a burning, that developed slowly and started to get worse while hiking, it may be a hot spot which you should take care of as it can cause blisters.


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- International Scholars and Employees
International Scholars and Employees
Who is an international scholar?
International scholars may be faculty members, postdoctoral research fellows, visiting scholars or medical residents. International scholars hold temporary, non-immigrant visas.
Types of Non-immigrant Visas
The Office of International Services (OIS) can help an international scholar or employee with:
J-1 Visa
H-1B Visa
B-1 or B-2 Visa
O Visa
TN Visa
How can my department bring international scholars or employees to SLU?
1. The department must make the appropriate arrangements for the scholar or employee's University appointment. If the appointment is a non-salaried one, the department should confirm that sufficient funding is available for the scholar.
2. The department should consult the Office of International Services (OIS) to begin the paperwork for processing a visa document or a visa petition. Four months is not too early to begin any type of visa application.
Please note: OIS is the only Saint Louis University resource knowledgeable in current U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration (formerly known as Immigration and Naturalization (INS)) regulations, so it is important that prospective international visiting scholars, researchers or medical residents and their departments consult only with OIS on immigration issues.
OIS also processes visa information for the scholar's dependent family members, if they will be coming to the United States with the scholar.
What if our international scholar is new to the U.S. and needs a Social Security number?
Information on Social Security numbers for International Scholars is linked here.
Does OIS help international scholars once they are at SLU?
OIS assists scholars and any accompanying family members with the settling-in process, employment permission and other concerns.


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In just a few days, one of the most highly-anticipated exhibitions to travel the world will open its doors to the public once again, this time from inside Louisville's own Frazier History Museum. "Diana: A Celebration," an award-winning collection of clothing, jewelry, home videos and countless other personal pieces that help to tell the life story of the beloved Princess of Wales, Diana Spencer, is expected to draw about 100,000 visitors during its nearly four month-long stay in Louisville, beginning Sept. 15. To set the stage for the spectacular display, which will include Diana's world-famous wedding gown and stunning diamond tiara, the Frazier will host two incredible fetes, fit for a princess, on the evenings just prior to and following the exhibit's opening.
"A Royal Evening Honoring Diana," an elegant black tie affair beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the museum on Friday, Sept. 14, will offer exclusive access to the exhibition before it is opened to the public. Posh, contemporary decor, designed by Douglas Riddle of Bittners, will complement a trio of live musical performances as guests celebrate the life and works of the "People's Princess." Guests at this intimate event will be able to personally interact with Nick Grossmark and Graeme Murton, who have spent more than a decade with the "Diana: A Celebration" exhibition as art handlers, caring for and installing all of Diana's clothing that's on view, including 28 dresses from Diana's public life. Grossmark and Murton are the only people in the world who are permitted to handle Diana's iconic wedding gown, one of the centerpieces of the exhibition.
The evening of mingling and entertainment will feature an open bar and delicious hors d'oeuvres such as baby Hot Browns; smoked turkey on mini cranberry orange muffins; asparagus and asiago wrapped in phyllo; and apricots stuffed with honey goat cheese and garnished with crushed pistachios. There will be an elaborate three-course dinner featuring Levain, cereal, pugliese and rosemary and olive oil breads by Blue Dog Breads; a salad of mixed field greens with goat cheese, roasted garlic, sun dried tomatoes, carrots and cucumbers, served with two small, savory scones, English garden salad dressing and balsamic vinaigrette dressing; beef tenderloin with a charred oak marinade; chicken breast Wellington with herb wine sauce; a vegetarian entree of colorful stuffed pepper with couscous and fresh vegetables; potatoes baked with leeks and cream; and roasted carrots and parsnips, followed by an incredibly decadent dessert. Guests will enjoy their own personal "royal wedding cake," a miniature, tiered wedding cake with almond-orange cake and butter cream and white chocolate icing. "Catering is by Bristol Catering, which is really starting to develop a reputation as a high-end caterer," explained Krista Snider, Director of PR and Marketing at The Frazier History Museum. "They really impressed our event committee with the presentation and quality of their food, which we wanted to be top notch for this event."
The following evening, Sept. 15, a party in royal fashion, 'KNight for a Princess,' will close the memorable first day of viewing "Diana: A Celebration." A cheeky British-themed costume contest will have guests looking fabulous, whether they choose to dress like a modern day royal, a favorite Beatle or a lord or lady from the 18th century. Celebrity judges will determine the best English look, which will earn its owner a cash prize! Meanwhile, historical interpreters from the Frazier will be doing what they do best, with live sword fights in the tournament ring throughout the night. And to get the party moving, there will be music from not one, but two amazing deejays, DJ Prism and The Diva Extreme Syimone, as seen at the Connection. Each guest will receive a free signature drink, "Princess Punch," which includes Finlandia vodka, Chambord and pineapple juice. What better way to celebrate such a well-loved figure than with one of the most memorable parties of the year?
So if you have plans to take in the world-renowned exhibition, "Diana: A Celebration," don't miss these two exclusive opportunities to meet the people behind the scenes and celebrate Diana's life in true royal fashion.
Both events will be held at The Frazier Museum, 829 W. Main St. The cost to attend 'A Royal Evening Honoring Diana' is $300. To purchase tickets, call 502.753.5670 or visit www.fraziermuseum.org. Tickets for 'KNight for a Princess' are $50 for members; $60 for non-members, and it is a 21 and older event. A portion of proceeds will benefit House of Ruth. Purchase tickets at www.fraziermuseum.org or call 502.753.5663. Both events will include access to the "Diana: A Celebration" exhibit. For more information on "Diana: A Celebration," visit www.dianaexhibition.com.


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Freshly squeezed and ready for your consumption. Play along at home!
Dave: swap out Chewbacca with any other big/small screen alien
Mac: Foot injuries
Erich: Movies you watched as a kid that you are ashamed of
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I was asked to do it "Configure SSL Mutual (Two-way) Authentication" and I don't know where to start or how to test it .
server and many clients . they can access code on server only if they have a signed certificate from server . and server can generate those certificates and disable them here a tutorial but I'm so scared of losing connection with server I'm working on because it's the main server if I re-generate new keys .
do I have to be a root user ?
is there's any bash for this ?
any information would be appreciated .
I was asked to do it "Configure SSL Mutual (Two-way) Authentication" and I don't know where to start or how to test it .
Standard/Usual HTTPS enables you to establish the identity of the server from a common trusted root CA, importing a client's SSL certificate in the browser (that is marked as enabled for authentication) is how you use SSL certs to perform client authentication. The end result is the client browser authenticates the server via HTTPS and the server authenticates the client via the client's authentication certs.
This tutorial describes the process of configuring apache for client ssl authentication/verification, which is the only non-usual part of the process. It's just a set of 3 or 4 directives to add to the virtual host configuration.


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Welp, here we are: the inaugural Viral Video of the Week blog! Now I'm going to be honest, I really have no idea how I want to tackle this important task as "YouTube Sherpa" to the CW8 fan-base, so the first few installments of this blog are probably going to consist of a lot of me trying new things out to see what works best. That being said, if you have any comments/concerns/suggestions/generalized-defamations directed towards me on how I could potentially improve the quality of the blog, I'm more than open to them. And yes, I will read every comment; heck, it's not like I have anything else better to do with my time anyways. Alrighty, let's get started, shall we?
I spent a lot of time contemplating which video I would choose as the first ever for the blog and, after spending way too much time overthinking everything (heck, I've gotta make a good first impression, right?), I finally decided that I couldn't go wrong with a good 'ol fashioned cute-animal video – after all, cute-animal clips are the backbone of YouTube. Well, those and crotch-shots. And don't worry; there'll be plenty of videos of dudes getting hit in the "sensitive area" to come. You have my word on that.
Well wasn't that just precious? I could really go for one of those right now; I'm getting tired of having to rub my bare body against my neighbor's oak tree every time I get a back itch (example: ). Plus, I'm not sure if my new neighbors are as "cool" with me doing it in the buff as my last ones were… Maybe I should to bake them a batch of cookies or something.
Speaking of cookies and being naked, here's a public address from Metta World Peace:
…I don't… even… but the… eh, whatever. Here's a video of a Finnish dude eating licorice:
Now, I'm no expert in Finnish – even though I lived there from 2002 -2004 – but I'd take a wild guess and say that this dude really likes black licorice (or, as we call it in America: "crap") and pipes (or at least candies that are shaped like pipes). Also, I'd be lying if I said that there weren't a lot of people like this in Finland—just take the top-rated YouTube comment for example: "WTF: Welcome to Finland" (Allow me to take this time to point out that the vast majority of Finnish people are actually quite humble and sane… I'd probably get in a bunch of trouble with some old friends if I didn't throw that disclaimer in). But scales of sanity aside, these guys sure do know how to throw a party:
After seeing this you'd probably guess they were celebrating an NBA title 1980's Los Angeles style. But nope, it was just for winning a hockey tournament. Hockey. I don't even think you could find an average American who knows who won the Stanley Cup last year! Then again, we are the same country that basically forgot that hockey was still a "thing" when they got locked out in the 2004 season (Or was it 2005? Oh well, it doesn't matter enough to look up). But if for some strange reason you actually do enjoy watching the Phoenix Cactuses play the Pensacola Snap Dragons (those are both real teams, right? Again, not important enough for me to justify researching it) then more power to you. Hey, at least it's not soccer, right?
Ok, that about does it for this week. I'll see you guys again next Friday! Yes, I know a whole week is a long time to wait… But then again, there are other options... Just ask Jeff Goldblum:
-John Obenauf


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Congratulations Olivero Rosas!
Mr. Rosas arrived at Hacienda Oaks Nursing & Rehab December 12, 2012 weak and unable ambulate without assistance from our staff. Mr. Rosas worked hard with our Rehab Team and was able to return home walking independantly on January 17, 2013! Great Job Mr. Rosas! Thank you for choosing our Fast Track Rehabilitation Program to get you back home to your family.
Hacienda Oaks Nursing & Rehab would also like to say Thank You to Dr Chin and Terri Trevino,PAC for allowing us to care for your patient.
Visit us at www.nursingrehabbeeville.com


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Good News for Washington: Joe Buck Is in Town
The Washington Redskins are three-point underdogs against the Seattle Seahawks in Sunday's NFC wild-card game (Fox, 4:30 p.m. ET), according to sports books in Las Vegas. Clearly, the oddsmakers haven't taken into account the Redskins' secret weapon: the smooth, silky voice of Joe Buck.
The Redskins have gone just 25-39 (.391) over the past four seasons. But when Buck, the lead NFL announcer for Fox Sports, is in the building, they've gone 5-2.
Buck's crooning pipes inspired the Redskins to a 2010 upset over the Green Bay Packers, who went on to win the Super Bowl that season. Last year, Buck was in the booth for both of Washington's upset wins against the eventual Super Bowl champion New York Giants. So far this year, Buck has only called one Redskins game: a win over the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving.
Buck will likely be calling more Redskins games next season now that the team features electrifying quarterback Robert Griffin III. But in recent seasons, Buck was usually only calling a Washington game because they were playing a marquee opponent. This makes the team's success with Buck even more surprising. Consider how the Redskins have fared in games announced by Fox's other play-by-play guys since 2009: They're 3-4 with both Thom Brennaman and Chris Myers, 3-7 with Sam Rosen and a ghastly 1-8 with Kenny Albert.
Every playoff team has a preferred broadcaster. The Indianapolis Colts, for instance, haven't fared all that well with Jim Nantz of CBS, who will call their game Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens. They're 3-5 with Nantz, but 7-4 with Greg Gumbel. The Ravens, meanwhile, are 6-8 with Gumbel, but 6-0 with Ian Eagle.
As for the Seahawks, having Buck at their game means they've made the big time. Seattle is just 0-1 with Buck since '09.
It could be worse: The Atlanta Falcons, the NFC's No. 1 NFC seed, are 0-4 with Buck on the microphone.
—Jared Diamond


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WEST (November 2, 2012)--On Monday, the I-35S frontage road from County Line Road to FM 2114 will be converted to southbound traffic only.
The southbound traffic will be moved onto the new pavement.
The northbound side of the highway will remain two-way for now, a TxDOT spokesperson said.
For more information, call TxDOT at (254) 867-2890.