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Alright, so I'm thinking up a stealth based mission that involves sneaking into a guarded manor and stealing an artifact. Needless to say, it would be best if this was a quiet affair. I have most of it worked out except for the guards. I'd like a stealthy player to be able to incapacitate them but I still want them to be tough enough to be a threat should the player fail to do so. I know the usual rules for knocking out a PC, but almost any challenging enemy would have more than enough health to withstand a sneak attack from a PC. So, how do I make KO-able guards that are still a threat if not taken care of properly?
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Use a skill challenge for the entire sneak-and-grab. Use skill checks to knock out guards, tie them up, put them to sleep, etc. Switch to combat if they fail the skill challenge.
Basically, the guards' hp doesn't matter unless they fail at their stealthing about. Once they screw up, a shout from any guard will bring the pain. They might be able to kill their way out, but unless they've planned this carefully, the manor's entire defenses are going to come down on them.
Minions who pull the alarm.
A minion has only 1 hp, so is disgustingly easy to take out. But a simple shout (or a loud whistle, pulling an alarm, whatever you like) to alert the building that something's going down is more than enough threat. Even if the guard in question goes down in the next round without doing any damage, the mission perameters have changed drastically.
This is an interesting question, because the scenario of sneaking into a dangerous place without being stopped, and disabling the odd sentry, is quite a common chapter in action stories. Yet D&D 4E doesn't have an immediate go-to game mechanic for this.
Running the guards as standard combat, even with surprise round, would be overblown, and probably not give satisfactory results. The 4E combat rules are very geared to skirmishing, and there is no balanced threat in a single Standard monster.
The best immediate fit in the 4E rules is to use a Skill Challenge, focussing on Stealth, Athletics, Acrobatics, Thievery, Perception, Insight etc, and any ideas the players have based on the scenario. In a pure skill challenge, PCs combat abilities are either ignored, or you could require a Basic Attack roll to represent the attack - a failure would immediately fail the attempt to neutralise the guard unless rescued with a hard DC "rescue" skill roll (plus quick thinking from a player as to how their PC could help recover the group from the botched attack)
However, I would personally prefer to have a little more use of combat powers and the combat rules in this scenario. So here is a suggestion based on a simple combination of Skill Challenge and Combat:
This works well in a lot of combinations (e.g. two guards), allows the PCs to use their (hopefully silent) combat powers to finish off opponents, and can be fleshed out with variations to make an extended adventure with several such encounters variable enough to remain interesting. It is not my idea originally, but one I really liked and stole!
If you do go for something like my suggestion, it is worth spending some time practicing how it will play out, since it needs to not be seen as an easy option to be rolled out in all scenarios. Also remember as DM, it is your perogative to decide when specific mechanics apply, such as combat rules, skill challenges, or stuff like this you have added in the name of fun.
Manors are small, so maybe there's only one guard on watch at a time.
I think you should let the players plan it, not you; but one possibility is that the PC's sneak in at night, head to the barracks and kill the off-duty guards in their sleep, then circle back to finish off the one on duty. If he sounds the alarm, who will come?
But you should be open to other ideas they come up with. Maybe they disable the alarm bell, so if the guard tries to sound the alarm no one will hear. Or perhaps they bribe a servant to give them a map, or disguise themselves as a noble to get past the guards. Or maybe they use a wheel barrow and a holocaust cloak to scare them off.
[Edited to remove references to D&D 3.5]


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Pentagon Recalls Civilian Workers As Shutdown Persists
WASHINGTON—The Pentagon on Saturday said it would call most of its 350,000 furloughed civilian workers back to their jobs, concluding that a recent law allows officials to consider them critical to protecting national security.
The Pentagon employs the largest share of the 800,000 federal workers sent home during the government shutdown. It has been forced to halt military training for many personnel, shutter commissaries, send intelligence analysts home and suspend a range of activities.
The Defense Department's announcement came as the House of Representatives voted unanimously to provide back pay to all furloughed federal workers once the shutdown ends.
The 407-0 vote reflected rare agreement between Republicans and Democrats, who said that the federal workers should not be pawns in a larger political fight over government spending priorities.
Still, there was no sign that either party was ready to abandon its terms for ending the shutdown, which reached its fifth day on Saturday.
Related Video
The White House supports retroactive pay for federal workers. The Senate won't take up the measure until at least next week.
While workers deemed essential to public safety and national security have remained on the job, hundreds of thousands of federal workers will remain on furlough until the political stalemate ends, and a large range of federal services and activities will remain suspended. A dispute between the parties has left federal agencies largely unfunded for the new fiscal year, which began Tuesday.
"'Hallelujah!'" Sen. Bill Nelson (D., Fla.), whose state is home to MacDill Air Force Base, said after learning that the furloughed military workers would be called back to work.
The Pentagon said it could recall workers under a law that President Barack Obama signed on Monday, just before the shutdown took effect. The law ensured that the 1.4 million active duty service members around the world, including troops in Afghanistan, would continue to get paid.
The law also allowed the Defense Department to recall civilians and contractors supporting the active-duty forces.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and the Pentagon adopted a broad interpretation of the law. While it doesn't give them leeway to bring everyone back, Mr. Hagel said on Saturday, the law allows the department to end furloughs for everyone who contributes to the "morale, well-being, capabilities and readiness of service members."
That, Pentagon lawyers determined, includes people performing a broad range of activities, such as offering medical care, working in base commissaries, analyzing intelligence and training staff.
Robert Hale, the Pentagon's comptroller, estimated that the department would bring back at least 90% of its furloughed workers. He said the number of department workers on furlough was about 350,000, refining earlier estimates that 400,000 would be sent home, or about half of all federal workers on furlough.
The Pentagon expects that inspectors working on defense contracts will return to work, which would alleviate some of the pressure on defense companies that have announced plans to lay off thousands of workers as a result of the showdown.
Effects of the shutdown had begun to weigh on defense contractors. Lockheed Martin Corp. on Friday announced plans to furlough 3,000 workers on Monday and said it could be forced to take additional steps if the government didn't get back to normal business soon.
On Saturday, the company said it was too early decide whether it could cancel or reduce the furloughs following the Pentagon's decision.
Mr. Hagel warned that if the shutdown persisted, he might be forced to renew the furloughs.
"If the lapse of appropriations continues, many of these workers will cease to be able to do their jobs," he warned. "Critical parts, or supplies, will run out, and there will be limited authority for the department to purchase more. If there comes a time that workers are unable to do their work, I will be forced to once again send them home."
On Capitol Hill, some Democrats worried the Pentagon's decision could ease pressure to reopen the entire government all at once, as Democrats have demanded. House Republicans have passed bills funding discrete parts of the government. But legislation they have offered to fund all federal agencies has included provisions delaying or curtailing the new federal health law, which Democrats have rejected.
Mr. Obama has refused to consider changes to the health law as a condition of reopening the government, and he says he won't negotiate over terms for raising the nation's debt ceiling, saying Congress cannot ask for "ransom'' in return for doing its duty.
"This shutdown has been brought about by the president's unwillingness to sit down and talk with members of Congress," House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R., Va.) said. "This administration has been almost absent when it comes to discussions and working out our differences, and we're going to stay focused on trying to ease the pain of this shutdown."
Democrats criticized House Republicans for advancing piecemeal bills rather than a single measure to bring all of the federal government back on the job.
"We are going to pay all the federal employees, as we should, but we're going to pay them to stay at home," said Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D., Md.), summarizing what he said was the Republican policy. "It's an absolutely absurd position."
Mr. Obama said in an interview released Saturday that he thinks Congress will vote to raise the U.S. borrowing limit so that the nation could pay all its obligations. He criticized House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) for failing to hold a vote on doing so sooner.
"I'm pretty willing to bet that there are enough votes in the House of Representatives right now to make sure that the United States doesn't end up being a deadbeat," Mr. Obama told the Associated Press. "The only thing that's preventing that from happening is Speaker Boehner calling the vote."
Mr. Boehner has said the nation's borrowing limit should not be raised unless paired with a deficit-reduction package or other GOP policy goals.
—Doug Cameron contributed to this article.

subset: commoncrawl


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I've been trying to find a good source for what the planets look like in the infrared, specifically if viewed as a point source. I've been working with a low resolution telescope that senses in the infrared. What will a planet look like?
A planet's IR appearance depends on several factors including
If you're observing with broadband filters and simply imaging, unless the planet has a complex cloud structure you should expect the planet to behave more or less like a black body at the mean surface temperature of the object.
Using narrowband filters or low resolution spectroscopy, you start to move more and more away from the ideal blackbody in appearance. Especially if there is a complex cloud system on the planet (like on the Jovian planets). In this situation, you have a couple of effects.
Finally, as your spectroscopy goes to higher and higher resolution, you will be able to resolve these effects more and more.
Here's a picuture of the Earth's spectrum (Taken from this page.): A wave number of 1000 cm-1 corresponds to a wavelength of 10 microns. As you can see it generally follows the shape of a blackbody but there are several absorption bands due to the presence of various elements in the atmosphere.
As the planets get bigger and more complex the spectrum differs even more from a black body to the point where what you have is peaks of emission in various bands that are coming from deep in the planet and huge absorptions features from the clouds higher up.
According to the Wikipedia article on black bodies, the "Earth in fact radiates not quite as a perfect black body in the infrared", but it appears to be close.
To recover this answer from the massive edit, this is how the Earth looks in near infrared:
Here's Jupiter, infrared on the left, visible on the right (source).
Here's Saturn (source).
And Uranus (source).
And Neptune (source).
(Sorry these aren't point sources.)


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6 Baffling Mistakes Criminals Apparently Make All the Time
#3. Choose Your Targets Wisely
On one end of the "Wrong Fucking Place to Rob" scale we have a Colombian robber who tried to hold up a karate school. It sounds like a scene from a Police Academy sequel but it actually happened and as you'd expect, the students karate'd the shit out of him. Same for the suicidal criminal from Pennsylvania who decided to help himself to the wallet of a retired police officer... during a 300-guest police convention. To his credit though, he almost made it into a taxi before a dozen burly cops relived their high school football days directly atop his spine.
Sadly, failure to properly evaluate the risk/gain ratio of your target can have less hilarious consequences, like with David Zaback who, in 1990, tried to rob a gun store near Seattle, with a uniformed police officer standing by the counter. Zaback's poor mathematics cost him 23 new breathing holes through the torso.
On the other, sadder end of that spectrum you have criminals who go for the low-risk, low-reward angle. You know, like the 45-year-old bank cashier from Germany who risked and lost her entire career by pilfering children's piggybank accounts. While the possibility of getting a spiked hammer to the genitals as retribution is significantly low if you steal from kids, the most you will get out of them is apparently $75. Hardly worth losing $3,000 in fines and any ability to find employment in the non-whoring sector of the job market.
Don't let this pig control your fate.
Then again, it might be a welcomed alternative to the years of unpaid sexual encounters that await the criminals who were arrested after robbing 1) a Burger King and 2) an Amish buggy--making off with 1) a BK cap/jacket combo plus some invisible tape, and 2) a tobacco stuffed pipe. It would seem the low security on those places wasn't just a clever ruse to protect their priceless hidden treasures.
Nonetheless, the Burger King demands you pay in blood.
#2. Be Wary of Strangers Offering you Money/Drugs
Nowadays, even the family dog has a cell phone, making the device common loot in many criminal endeavors. This subsequently gives your victims a chance to contact their robber, but such communication should only be used to taunt them with graphic description of all the prostitute-related activities you will engage in after pawning their stuff, and nothing else.
A typically observed error is trying to get more money out of the people you've already robbed. Joshua Taneal Curry from Florida made that mistake when in 2009, he stole someone's cell and demanded $240 for its return. Perhaps he was hoping to then steal it again and repeat the cycle, creating a never-ending loop of thievery that would earn him "infinity dollars." Unsurprisingly though, when Curry showed up at the designated place to collect the money he was immediately arrested/laughed at by the police.
"So, uh... when am I going to get paid?"
Not pushing your luck can save a responsible criminal a lot of grievance. It certainly would have helped the three Ohio carjackers who--obviously on an intense post-crime high after stealing a BMW--did not question a text message they got on their victim's phone. The message supposedly reminded the owner of the car about all the hot bitches and drugs waiting for him at a certain location, and since the carjackers now owned the guy's property, they felt entitled to a piece of that action. But how often does life really throw free drugs/chicks your way? Three to four times at most. But that time wasn't one of them, so the only thing that awaited the criminals in the stolen car was a squadron of pity-smiling police officers.
It might seem unfair, but civilians are allowed to play dirty even when you're the supposed bad guy, so it never hurts to always be skeptical. Like, when a stranger calls up your stolen cell offering to sell you illegal firearms, it's a good idea to be suspicious about his intentions, unlike James Smith, who must have thought it was just his lucky day. Smith's arrest was as fast as it was hilarious when he agreed to meet this new supplier, aka the phone owner's boyfriend.
#1. Cover Your Tracks
Our studies show that the leading cause of arrests in America is "getting caught" which in itself is most often the result of the authorities discovering where you live. A number of things can be done to prevent that.
There's a return address on the back of this stupid riddle.
As a career criminal not wanting to get caught, the first thing you may want to avoid is bringing cornflakes with you on a job. Amber McCarthy from East Sussex got into some cereal trouble (get it??) after lifting some money from a florist's till and accidentally breaking a bag of cornflakes she had on her. The trail of cereal led straight to her apartment and a three-year supervision sentence.
This time a fake cock was used to fight crime.
The second thing you should do is take the weather into consideration. If it's been snowing in the area, a smart criminal will employ snowshoes or a flock of trained eagles that will carry him above the ground to avoid leaving painfully obvious footsteps in the snow. Unlike Rashaun Preston, a not smart criminal who, in 2007, robbed his employers and left a deep, visible trail leading from the scene of the crime straight to his apartment--like some lovably inept cartoon badguy.
Then again, maybe it was Preston's first time and he got caught up in the heat of the moment that is crime, forgetting to clean up afterward? Maybe... but that definitely wasn't the case with a pair of Arkansas robbers who, in 2008, stole a liquor store soda vending machine using an industrial dolly. The dolly points to at least some level of premeditation and planning, but the criminals were discovered nonetheless after their exceptionally heavy machinery left deep tracks more than a mile long ending at their front yard. Based on the fact that they didn't go for the store's booze or the money, we are left to conclude that their slight miscalculation was already the result of alcohol or them being from Arkansas.
You can find more Cezary at Gunaxin.
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And check out what kinds of mistakes fictional criminals keep making, in 6 Baffling Mistakes Every Movie Criminal Makes. Or find out about some fearsome crooks with hearts of gold, in 5 Inspiring Acts of Kindness by Terrifying Crime Syndicates.
Stop by our Top Picks (Updated 3.19.2010) because it's not a nice day out. Seriously. Don't look out your window.
And check out just how hot March can get with some NCAA cheerleaders from our friends over at the Bleacher Report.
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I ordered the Rubicon Sandwich and it was so good. It was a vegetarian take on a Reuben with grilled zucchini, roasted red bell pepper, homemade sauerkraut, swiss cheese, and Thousand Island on swirled rye. Yum.
After lunch we moved on to a sledding park. To see more pictures from the trip, make sure to click "Read More".


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All who did nothing to block violence must get busy
Jack Gorman, Waterbury The senseless Dec. 14 tragedy in Newtown evoked heartbreak, anger, helplessness and disgust. No small part of this disgust is with myself — for doing nothing to consider the effect of the insane proliferation of guns and ammunition in our society. Let's be clear, we as citizens must make our voices heard to bring about legislation. The gun lobby has perfected the art of special-interest influence and as a result, has shaped legislation that has made the availability of guns and ammunition frightfully easy and widespread.


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AMARILLO (November 13, 2012)--A Saudi man apologized in court Tuesday in Amarillo, as he was sentenced to life in prison for trying to make a bomb for use in a religious attack.
Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari, a former college student in Texas, was convicted in June of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction.
Prosecutors said he researched possible targets, including the Dallas home of former President George W. Bush.
Aldawsari, 22, apologized for what he called "these bad actions," but added that he hadn't caused any harm.
But the judge said he's convinced that Aldawsari would have carried out the attacks and that "but by the grace of God there would be dead Americans."
He conceded that the would-be bomber had been led astray by bad influences, but told him, "In every step, it was you all alone."
Aldawsari came to the U.S. legally in 2008 to study chemical engineering.
He was arrested in February of last year after federal agents searched his apartment and found bomb-making materials.


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What's it like to work at the happiest place on earth? For Mike Morrison (MechEngr '96), it has sometimes been dark, wet and claustrophobic, but always magical.
Since 2004, Morrison has worked at Disneyland where he ensures the rides and attractions are safe while providing the exhilarating experience expected by the 50,000 daily visitors to the amusement park in Anaheim, California.
Little did Morrison know when he was studying to be a mechanical engineer that he would get to work in the exciting -- and rarely seen -- underbelly of the amusement park.
"I wanted to be a part of putting on the magic using my engineering knowledge and my lighting and sound production skills. I always felt like I belonged here."
In 2007, when Disney was designing World of Color, a nighttime extravaganza of water fountains, lights and laser projections, Morrison volunteered to lead a special team of engineers and electricians to work on the structure - rather, underneath it and underwater. World of Color was mounted on a platform the size of a football field that was submerged in a lagoon during the day, to rise into the air after dark. Morrison and his team had to learn how to scuba dive in order to work on the structure's electrical and mechanical components.
Working below the huge structure in 15 feet of water with extremely poor visibility is equivalent to diving inside a shipwreck. So not only did he have to learn to scuba dive, Morrison also had to earn special diving certifications. The dive team actually practiced diving into shipwrecks off the California coast to prepare for working on World of Color.
"Aside from skydiving," says Morrison, "it was one of the most enjoyable experiences I've ever had."
Morrison has the principal role in long-range maintenance and sustainment proposals for the attractions and infrastructure. He recently compiled a list of 200 job proposals for multimillion dollar capital expense funding for FY2015.
"Disneyland is coming up on its 60th anniversary in 2015," he says. "Safety of course is our number one concern, but we also ensure that everything is refreshed and refurbished and rehabilitated when it needs to be."
Read the full story at http://www.colorado.edu/engineering/alumni-news/engineering-magic-keeping-rides-running.


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Is there someone can tell me some papers or books about the basic material of Spectral flow? I want to know, what is spectral flow and how to use it to geometry.
A good start could be to read this paper by Philips which was recommended to me, when I was looking for an overview:
A discussion of the spectral flow not only in the context of pure supersymmetric conformal field theory, but also in the context of their associated geometries, can be found in a recent book by Ralph Blumenhagen and Erik Plauschinn, "Introduction to conformal field theory, with applications to string theory", Lecture Notes in Physics 779, Springer Verlag, 2009. In this reference the spectral flow is also discussed in the context of Gepner models, exactly solvable conformal field theories that describe the underlying field theory of certain types of Calabi-Yau varieties. This provides a link between CFTs and CYs.


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Construction of the new 40,000 square meter facility – BASF's largest in Europe – will begin before the end of 2012. The plant will start production in the first quarter of 2014. Additional expansion will follow, raising the total investment volume for the project to approximately €150 million.
BASF plans to build a mobile emissions catalysts production
facility in Środa Śląska, a Special Economic
Zone near Wrocław, Poland, the company said on
Construction of the new 40,000
square meter facility BASFs largest in Europe will begin before the
end of 2012, company officials said. The plant will start
production in the first quarter of 2014.
Additional expansion will follow, raising the
total investment volume for the project to
approximately 150 million.
Once all 10 planned light duty and heavy duty production lines
are operating at full capacity by 2016, BASF expects to employ
more than 400 people at the new site.
The planned implementation of Euro 6 light duty and Euro
VI heavy duty emissions regulations in Europe will
drive an increased demand for advanced emissions control
systems," said Rui Goerck, senior vice president
for mobile emissions catalysts at BASF.
"BASF is more than doubling its production capacity in Europe to keep pace with this demand
and to continue to meet our customers needs."
Among the advanced technologies that will be produced in Poland
are selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems and
cutting-edge SCR on filter solutions, according to BASF
In addition, the plant will house a regional sample laboratory
and a production line for BASFs Premair-branded
ozone destruction catalysts for automotive applications.
Due to its central position in Europe and its positive
economic development, Poland is an attractive location for BASF
to invest," said Dr. Joachim Meyer, head of BASF's central
Europe business center.
"The new facility strengthens our position in the Polish market
as a supplier of innovative solutions, he added.
In parallel with the new plant, BASF said it is also
modernizing and expanding its emissions catalyst production
operation in Nienburg, Germany.
The new plant in Poland will provide geographic diversity
for our manufacturing operations and a strong complement to our
existing production hub in Nienburg," said Xavier
Susterac, vice president for the company's European mobile emissions catalysts business.
"The combination of the two facilities in Europe will allow us to effectively
manage our growth, optimize our production model, and meet the
needs of the market in the most efficient way possible."
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A searchable database of project activity in the global hydrocarbon processing industry
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?
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July 2016


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The Dow of Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods reclaimed the top spot in the World Golf Rankings this week with his win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose nearly 112 points to 14559.65, an all-time high close.
Go ahead. Dismiss this as a coincidence, as two completely unrelated events. Then have a look at the two charts which illustrate the arcs of Woods's performance in the World Golf Rankings and the DJIA the past 10 years.
Pay particular attention to the period between 2004-2009 and from late 2011 to the present. The trend lines are eerily similar. As the U.S. economy fattened on the strength of an illusory real-estate boom, Woods was ascendant on the golf course and seemingly off of it too—a fourth Masters in 2005, wins at the PGA Championship and the British Open in 2006, a fourth PGA Championship in 2007 and a third U.S. Open in 2008, plus a beautiful wife and a baby girl.
But the second half of 2008 brought the subprime mortgage and banking crises that sent the markets reeling. Woods broke his leg and had to call it quits for the season. Then came 2009, a DJIA dipping below 7000 and revelations of a series of extramarital affairs that doomed Woods's marriage.
Indeed, after this down period, Tiger zigged and the DJIA zagged, beginning a slow climb that Woods didn't get fully on board with until he returned from a series of injuries and got used to a new swing. It's worth noting that the depths of Woods's descent during the second half of 2011 coincided with a major hiccup in the average's four-year rise.
Since then, Woods hasn't won every tournament and the DJIA hasn't risen every trading session, or even every month. But in the big picture there has been little for market bulls or the Tiger faithful to complain about.
A spokesman for Woods declined to comment on his impact on the DJIA. Woods said Monday getting back to No. 1 was a "byproduct of hard work, patience, and getting back to winning golf tournaments," something he's done three times this year ahead of next month's Masters, where he is about a 3.5-1 favorite, according to oddschecker.com.
Meanwhile unemployment is dropping. Housing prices are rebounding. Any guess on which way the DJIA might go, too?
Write to Matthew Futterman at email@example.com


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Subject: Re: [OMPI devel] RFC: Add static initializer for opal_mutex_t
From: Ralph Castain (rhc_at_[hidden])
Date: 2013-06-11 12:25:14
On Jun 11, 2013, at 9:16 AM, Nathan Hjelm <hjelmn_at_[hidden]> wrote:
> On Tue, Jun 11, 2013 at 09:13:01AM -0700, Ralph Castain wrote:
>> On Jun 11, 2013, at 9:09 AM, Nathan Hjelm <hjelmn_at_[hidden]> wrote:
>>> On Mon, Jun 10, 2013 at 06:53:36PM +0200, George Bosilca wrote:
>>>> On Jun 10, 2013, at 17:18 , Nathan Hjelm <hjelmn_at_[hidden]> wrote:
>>>>> On Sat, Jun 08, 2013 at 12:28:02PM +0200, George Bosilca wrote:
>>>>>> All Windows objects that are managed as HANDLES can easily be modified to have static initializer. A clean solution is attached to the question at stackoverflow:
>>>>>> http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3555859/is-it-possible-to-do-static-initialization-of-mutexes-in-windows
>>>>> Not the cleanest solution (and I don't know how handles work) so I held off on proposing adding a static initializer until the windows code was gone.
>>>> Nothing really fancy, a HANDLE is basically an untyped location storage (a void*).
>>>>>> That being said I think having a static initializer for a synchronization object is a dangerous thing. It has many subtleties and too many hidden limitations. As an example they can only be used on the declaration of the object, and can't be safely used for locally static object (they must be global).
>>>>> I have never seen any indication that a statically initialized mutex is not safe for static objecs. The man page for thread_mutex_init uses the static initializer on a static mutex: http://linux.die.net/man/3/pthread_mutex_init
>>>> It is thread safe for global static objects, but might not be thread safe for local static objects.
>>>>>> What are the instances in the Open MPI code where such a statically defined mutex need to be used before it has a chance of being correctly initialized?
>>>>> MPI_T_thread_init may be called from any thread (or multiple threads at the same time). The current code uses atomics to protect the initialization of the mutex. I would prefer to declare the mpit lock like:
>>>>> opal_mutex_t mpit_big_lock = OPAL_MUTEX_STATIC_INIT;
>>>>> and remove the atomics. It would be much cleaner and should work fine on all currently supported platforms.
>>>> OK, almost a corner-case.
>>>>> how does mutex static initializer works
>>>> A more detailed explanation in the "Static Initializers for Mutexes and Condition Variables" part of the http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009695399/functions/pthread_mutex_init.html
>>> Interesting. We could add a caveat to the definition describing where static initialization might not be optimal. Either that or we could implement a opal_once to do the initialization in this case. I would have to look into the solaris thread case to see if a once function is possible there.
>> We don't support solaris threads any more - haven't for quite some time.
> If that is the case would there be any objection to the removal of the solaris thread code from opal_mutex?
Don't see why - even when Sun was still active, they agreed to standardize on pthreads as their compilers progressed to that point
> -Nathan
> _______________________________________________
> devel mailing list
> devel_at_[hidden]
> http://www.open-mpi.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/devel


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Master of Music in Percussion or Marimba Performance
You are hereHome/ Percussion/Marimba/ Master of Music in Percussion or Marimba Performance
Key Policies
- Full-time students must be enrolled in at least 7 credits per semester and may take up to 10 credits per semester without incurring any additional tuition charges.
- No more than 6 credits earned at other institutions may be accepted toward the degree. Acceptance of transfer credit is by approval of the Dean following an appropriate recommendation by the Department Chair.
- Students must earn at least a B- in all courses taken for graduate credit.
- Upon matriculation Masters Degree candidates sit for proficiency examinations in Music Theory and Music History. These exams are designed to identify minimum competencies in both areas reflecting a normal undergraduate preparation in music. Any deficiencies revealed by these exams must be corrected within the first year in residence through successful completion of prescribed remedial courses in Ear Training, Harmony, or Music History. There are specific tuition charges associated with each of these courses if these enrollments take a student beyond his or her credit limit.
- Non-native English speakers are evaluated upon matriculation and may be required to take specific English as a second language course work as part of their program. Students taking ESL are permitted to take certain courses in performance, but are not permitted to enroll in Introduction to Graduate Studies or Music History seminars until they have achieved sufficient written and speaking competencies in English. Master's students assigned to ESL courses are required to complete the second semester of advanced ESL with a B- or better.
- Prior to or after completion of the graduate recital, students sit for a comprehensive, oral examination administered by a committee of faculty. The examination is designed to assess a student's ability to integrate his or her performance training with the research and analytical skills developed in Music History curriculum, as well as with an appropriate level of theory and analysis skills. Some departments link the exam to the normal, prerecital hearing; others administer the exam following the recital. Each department publishes written guidelines defining the nature of the examination and what is expected of students preparing for it.
- Percussion/Marimba
- Brass
- Choral Conducting
- Collaborative Piano
- Composition
- Contemporary Music Performance
- Harp
- Music Education
- Orchestral Conducting
- Piano
- Strings
- Vocal Pedagogy
- Voice and Opera
- Woodwinds
- Chamber Music
- Ensemble Programs
- Artist Diploma Program
- Professional Studies Certificate
- Faculty
- ProArts Consortium


text:
She has prior experience at several schools including the University of Colorado (Marketing and Promotions Coordinator), University of Oregon (Athletics Marketing Assistant), Florida Atlantic University (Athletics Marketing and Ticket Sales Assistant), and Northwestern University (Marketing Intern).
Schmidt earned her undergraduate degree from Central College in 2007 where she played basketball for 4 years earning Academic All Conference honors from 2005-2007. Originally from Urbandale, Iowa, she currently resides in Charlotte.
|Assistant Director of Marketing
|Urbandale, Iowa
|Alma Mater:
|Central College
|Graduating Year:


text:
Pair of super-strong steel tire levers. Made of spring-steel, you can't bend them. Tapered ends of the tire irons let you wiggle the levers out when it's tight. Small lip stays close to the rim, reducing the chance of pinching the tube. There is a REASON that MICHELIN style has been the best design!
[*]with 8/10/12/13/14/17mm hex
[*]9 inches long, 1 inch wide
[*]can't bend
[*]tire iron includes hex wrench ends
[*]superior shape, tapered hook ends
No instructions are currently available for this product.


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It's now time for TRIVIA.
Last month's tester: Released in the same year in the 2000s, these two movies set in opposite s...
It's now time for TRIVIA.
Last month's tester: Released in the same year in the 2000s, these two movies set in opposite sides of the world used the same song written by a Canadian. Name the two films and the song.
Answer: "Love Actually" and "City of Ghosts." The song is "Both Sides Now" written by Joni Mitchell. My colleague who devises many of these questions noted that "Both Sides Now" is sung in Khmer in "City of Ghosts." I noticed that some sites have "City of Ghosts" released in 2002 and others in 2003. I should have added the foreign language component to the question to separate it from other films featuring music by other Canadian songwriters, specifically Avril Lavigne and Leonard Cohen. Hey, I've looked at facts from both sides now, from right and wrong and still somehow it's facts' illusions I recall. I really don't know facts at all.
No one answered the question correctly. Well, not the way the question should have been worded.
This month's tester: This New Jersey-born actor, who was a dancer in the 1930s, would later embark on a film career, playing bit parts in several films. He became more famous for his work on a 1960s TV show. Clue: One of the movies he appeared in during the 1960s won 4 Oscars. Name the actor and the TV show.
The first reader to answer the question correctly will receive a prize from Neiman Marcus.
Trivia enthusiasts can call me at 508-626-4409 or email me at email@example.com. Make sure you leave your name, address and phone number on my message machine or email so I can contact you if you answered the question correctly. The address is needed so winners can be mailed their prize. Callers should spell out their names slowly and clearly so their names will be spelled correctly in the column.
Answers will be accepted until 5 p.m. on April 15. Good luck!
What do Bette Davis, Uma Thurman, Jack Lemmon and Walter Brennan have in common?
Apart from being accomplished silver screen thespians, they were all born in Massachusetts. And they are not alone. In fact, after scanning the Web and talking to colleagues, yours truly has compiled a lengthy list of Bay State-born actors and actresses who made their mark in movies. So lengthy in fact that I decided to narrow the list by including only those thespians who made an indelible mark. For inclusion, thespians have to have quality and quantity on their resumes. And since this is a film column, thespians who made a bigger impression in other fields such as TV or stage will not be included. Using this criteria, I have whittled the list down to 25.
Will I have missed anybody? I'd be amazed if I didn't. Will I have wronged some thespians by not including them? I expect readers will let me know who they think I dissed. It does get tricky when a thespian excels in all fields. Let the kvetching begin.
The thespians are listed in alphabetical order. For space reasons, the column will be divided into two parts. The second part will run May 11.
JACK ALBERTSON – Born in Malden in 1907. This former song-and-dance man appeared in more than 30 films, most notably "The Subject Was Roses," for which he received an Oscar for best supporting actor in 1968. He was also in "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory" (1971) and "The Poseidon Adventure" (1972). He's probably best known for his TV work on "Chico and the Man" (1974-78). He played the Man and garnered an Emmy for the role. He also won a Tony, becoming one of the few actors to achieve this thespian triple crown. He died in 1981.
JANE ALEXANDER – Born in Boston in 1939. Like Albertson, she's a triple threat, excelling on stage where she's won a Tony, TV where she's won two Emmys, and film, where she's been nominated for an Oscar four times: for best actress in "The Great White Hope (1970) and "Testament" (1983) and best supporting actress for "All the President's Men" (1976) and "Kramer vs. Kramer" (1979). She was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1994 and served as chairwoman of the National Endowment for the Arts in the 1990s. Not exactly a plain Jane.
CHARLES BICKFORD – Born in Cambridge in 1891. Gordon Gekko said greed was good. For Bickford, gruff was good. He was nominated three times for an Oscar for best supporting actor: "The Song of Bernadette" (1943), "The Farmer's Daughter" (1947) and "Johnny Belinda" (1948). He was also in "A Star is Born" (1954) and "The Big Country" (1954). He died in 1967.
WALTER BRENNAN – Born in Lynn in 1894. When I was growing up, I only knew Brennan for his work on the TV show "The Real McCoys" (1957-1963). He got an Emmy nomination for his role as Grandpa. I would later learn that his film career was the real McCoy. He is one of only three men to win three acting Oscars, taking home the statuette for "Come and Get It" (1936), "Kentucky" (1938) and "The Westerner" (1940). The other two gentlemen are Jack Nicholson and Daniel Day-Lewis. Brennan was also nominated for best supporting actor for "Sergeant York" (1941). No other actor has won the best supporting Oscar three times. He died in 1974.
Page 2 of 3 - JOHN CAZALE - Born in Revere in 1935. Like Bickford and Brennan, he was one of the greatest character actors in the biz. He appeared in five films and all five were nominated for an Oscar as best picture: "The Godfather" (1972), "The Conversation" (1974), "The Godfather Part II" (1974), "Dog Day Afternoon" (1975) and "The Deer Hunter" (1978). No other actor has achieved this multi-film distinction. Incredibly, he himself was never nominated for an Oscar. He's best known for playing Fredo Corleone in "The Godfather" films. He died in 1978.
MATT DAMON - Born in Cambridge in 1970. Not too many actors have won Oscars for best screenplay, but Damon turned that trick with fellow thespian Ben Affleck with "Good Will Hunting" in 1997. Damon was also nominated for an Oscar as best actor for the film. He has since starred in "Saving Private Ryan" (1998), "The Talented Mr. Ripley" (1999), the first three "Bourne" films, "Syriana" (2005), "The Departed" (2006) and "Invictus," (2009). The latter film earned him an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor. He's also one of the top-40 highest-grossing actors of all time. In case you're wondering why Affleck isn't on this list, he was born in Berkeley, Calif.
BETTE DAVIS - Born in Lowell in 1908. No-brainer here. She's definitely the greatest actress to hail from Massachusetts. She won the Oscar for best actress twice: "Dangerous" (1935) and "Jezebel" (1938). She was also the first thespian receive 10 Academy Award nominations for acting, the first female president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the first woman to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Film Institute. We don't have to ask for the moon when we have the stars, like Bette Davis. And what about those eyes? She died in 1989.
GEENA DAVIS - Born in Wareham in 1956. Boston University grad and a member of Mensa so her IQ is in the top 2 percent of the population. Her roles include "The Fly" (1986), "Beetlejuice" (1988) and "Thelma & Louise" (1991), for which she was nominated for an Oscar as best actress, "The Accidental Tourist" (1988), for which she won the Oscar for best supporting actress, and "A League of Their Own" (1992). She also has received four Golden Globe nominations, winning for her TV work on "Commander in Chief" in 2005. Off screen, she's an excellent archer, having tried out for the U.S. Olympic archery team in 2000. Eat your heart out, Katniss.
OLYMPIA DUKAKIS - Born in Lowell in 1931. Cousin of Michael, former Mass. governor and presidential candidate. Like Geena, Olympia is a BU grad. Her roles includes "Steel Magnolias" (1989), "Mr. Holland's Opus" (1995) and "Mighty Aphrodite" (1995.) She's best known for playing Cher's mom in "Moonstruck" (1987), for which she won an Oscar as best supporting actress. For her TV work, she's been nominated for three Emmys and one Golden Globe.
RUTH GORDON - Born in Quincy in 1896. A talented actress and writer. With her husband Garson Kanin, she was nominated for an Oscar for best screenplay three times: "A Double Life" (1947), "Adam's Rib" (1949) and "Pat and Mike" (1952). She was also nominated for an Oscar as best supporting actress twice: "Inside Daisy Clover" (1965) and "Rosemary's Baby (1968). She won the statuette for the latter performance. The devil made her do it. She's best known, though, for her performance in the cult classic "Harold and Maude" (1971). She also won an Emmy for "Taxi" in 1978 and two Golden Globes. She died in 1985.
Page 3 of 3 - MADELINE KAHN - Born in Boston in 1942. One of the greatest comic actresses evah. Her Marlene Dietrich-inspired rendition of "I'm Tired" in "Blazing Saddles" (1974) ranks as one of the funniest solos in filmdom. She was equally brilliant in "Paper Moon" (1973) and "Young Frankenstein" (1974). She was nominated for an Oscar as best supporting actress for "Paper Moon" and "Blazing Saddles." Mel Brooks, the director of "Blazing Saddles" and "Young Frankenstein," also cast her in "High Anxiety" and "The History of the World: Part I" (1981). She was nominated for four Golden Globes and won a Tony for her performance in "The Sisters Rosensweig" in 1998. She died in 1999.
ARTHUR KENNEDY - Born in Worcester in 1914. Yet another superb character actor, this versatile thespian was nominated four times for an Oscar as best supporting actor: "Champion" (1949), "Trial" (1955), "Peyton Place" (1957) and "Some Came Running" (1958). He was also nominated for an Oscar as best actor in "Bright Victory" (1951). Theatergoers of a certain vintage will know him best for playing Biff in "Death of a Salesman," for which he won a Tony Award in 1949. He died in 1990.
Part II will start with the letter "L."
Honorable mentions in alphabetical order: Casey Affleck, Shawn Andrews, Elizabeth Banks, Ray Bolger, Connie Britton, Steve Carell, Michael Chiklis, Jennifer Coolidge, Wendell Corey, Marcia Cross, Jane Curtin, Illeana Douglas, Chris Evans, Ben Foster, Sprague Grayden, Clark Gregg, Jack Haley, Anthony Michael Hall, Kara Hayward, Mindy Kaling, John Krasinski, Denis Leary, Matt LeBlanc, Neal McDonough, David Morse, Jack Nance, Julianne Nicholson, Leonard Nimoy, B.J. Novak, Edna May Oliver, Matthew Perry, Rebecca Pidgeon, Amy Poehler, Ellen Pompeo, Alex Rocco, Ruth Roman, Taylor Schilling, John Slattery, James Spader, Paige Turco, Dave Walton and Alicia Witt.
Location, ST | website.com


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This is a version of lo mein that is rather tasty, but I make no guarantees about its authenticity. I used what I had in the fridge and was pleased with the end result. I would have liked some green onions, so I have added them to the recipe.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Tofu Lo Mein
This is a version of lo mein that is rather tasty, but I make no guarantees about its authenticity. I used what I had in the fridge and was pleased with the end result. I would have liked some green onions, so I have added them to the recipe.
- 8 oz angel hair pasta
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 inch piece ginger, minced
- 8 oz sliced cremini mushrooms
- 3-4 baby bok choy, sliced (or half a bunch of swiss chard)
- 2 green onions, sliced
For the Tofu
- 1 pkg firm tofu, diced
- 1 tbsp cooking sherry
- 1 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- few drops of sesame oil
For the Sauce
- 2 tbsp cooking sherry
- 1/4 cup hoisin sauce
- 4 tsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 3/4 to 1 cup water
1. Cook pasta. When done, rinse with cold water and drain. Set aside.
2. While pasta is cooking, make the tofu. Heat a quality non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Add tofu to pan and cook for 10-15 mins, flipping regularly, until tofu is golden. Mix together sherry, sauces, and oil and add to pan. Cook until liquid has absorbed.
3. Heat a wok over med-hi heat. Put a small amount of oil in the wok and fry the garlic and ginger for 30 seconds. Add in mushrooms and cook for 5 mins, until mushrooms soften enough to your liking. Add some water to the wok if necessary to keep the mushrooms from sticking. Add in bok choy and cook until wilted.
4. Add sauce ingredients and tofu to the wok. Bring to bubbling then remove from heat. Add in pasta and green onions and mix well. Add more water if you want more sauce. Serve.
6 comments:
- VeggieGirl said...
authentic or not, that dish looks INCREDIBLE!! you've done it again with your admirable cooking skills, Vegan Dad! :0)
- April 10, 2008 at 9:20 PM
- Celine said...
I need to whip my husband into making some awesome food like yours!
- April 11, 2008 at 6:26 AM
- Alexis said...
This looks just like a lo mein I used to have at Fu's Garden in Houston. Yum!
- April 11, 2008 at 10:29 AM
- monkeybaker said...
that looks yummy!
- April 11, 2008 at 2:05 PM
- Alice (in Veganland) said...
I looks great as usual and I really don't care if it's authentic or not...
- April 12, 2008 at 5:34 AM
- Jeremy said...
Made this tonight and it was delicious! Thanks for posting all of your recipes.
- April 13, 2008 at 8:30 PM
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


text: What is our promise? The Etihad Airways Best Price Promise is our way of guaranteeing that in the countries where we make this promise, you won't find a lower price on any third-party website for the same Etihad Airways flight you have purchased on etihad.com. And if you do, we'll refund you the difference.* A claim can be made in the event the price on a third-party website – inclusive of all taxes, fees and surcharges – is lower than what you paid on etihad.com by more than 30 USD. The third-party website from where a fare is being compared must allow you to pay for the booking in the same currency. All the below elements should be exactly the same between both websites: Origin and departure cities Flight number Date of travel Class and sub-class of travel Number of passengers Fare Rules So whenever you see our Best Price Promise symbol, you can rest assured that you're paying the lowest available price online for that flight. *See Terms and Conditions below.


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text:
From Wikipedia entry on Kinetic Theory
The temperature of an ideal monatomic gas is a measure of the average kinetic energy of its atoms.
Now if I remove all the particles from the box shown below will the temperature be zero?
From Wikipedia entry on Kinetic Theory
Now if I remove all the particles from the box shown below will the temperature be zero?
There's no temperature.
If we use the following definition "temperature is the average kinetic energy of the particles". Then no particles - no temperature. As the first sight this answer doesn't seem to be good enough, but if you want to calculate "average spin" or "average charge" those parameters will have no sense if there's no particles to calculate data on.
Even if you remove the particles, there will be a thermal radiation coming from the borders. This way a thermometer placed inside will eventually show the temperature of borders.
According to the above definiton the answer is not defined mathematically, the average kinetic energy is
$\displaystyle 1/N \sum_{i=1}^N m_i*v_i^2/2$
If we plug in N=0 we see that it blows up
Now if we had some other definiton or the gas was not quantized maybe we could take the limit as N->0
Edit: This answers your question if you define a thermometer as something that measures temperature, and you have defined temperature as above.
The notion of temperature doesn't make any sense in complete vacuum (meaning the absence of all objects). It only makes sense as a description of how much some objects wiggle around.
To discuss the thermometer problem, one first needs to know what it means to measure temperature. "You just insert thermometer wait a little and you're done", I can hear people say. Well, not quite. What happens microscopically?
In the simplest case, if you want to measure temperature of a sample you need to attach thermometer to it. Molecules of these objects will interact and eventually will come into thermal equilibrium. Thermometer then has some calibration that tells you that so-and-so temperature corresponds to so-and-so much wiggling of its molecules. Well, it should be obvious that for this to work, concept of thermal equilibrium is essential. But you won't get thermal equilibrium if there are very few molecules of the sample. In particular zero.
Also note that the contact of surfaces is not the only way to attain thermal equilibrium. Any heat transfer process will do and that means any interaction. So you can try to measure the temperature e.g. by electromagnetic radiation. Well, if you insert such a thermometer into completely empty box then depending on the box's properties the electromagnetic radiation will either leave completely and thermometer will show zero or the box would trap radiation and the box would no longer be empty (it would contain photons). In any case, what you are measuring now is not temperature of the vacuum but rather the EM transmission properties of the box.
To summarize: problem of measurement is not a trivial one and it has actually lead physicists to great many discoveries. Noting that you can't simultaneously measure position and momentum gave rise to quantum mechanics. Noting that couplings of our elementary particle theories depend on the energy you input into measurement gave rise to renormalization and better understanding of quantum field theories as a whole. So it's always important to think about what are you actually measuring microscopically.
Now, let me talk about some related things for a bit.
Consider that box full of gas again. As you'd lower temperature of the walls the molecules would transfer their energy to the walls and become slower. Now, you can imagine that by doing this for a long time you'll eventually reach zero temperature and all the movement will stop.
In reality, this is not possible because you'd need infinite time to reach that temperature. And even if you had that time, you have to take uncertainty principle (you can't know the position of an object absolutely precisely) into account. Actually, cooling is a big field of physics in itself and entails various extremely sophisticated techniques that are very close to 0K.
Also note that in reality there is no such thing as vacuum (again in the above sense) because of quantum fluctuations.
You cannot remove all the particles from the box. Even if you remove all atoms, still there vill be photons inside, which carry their own kinetic energy. The photons are generated by the box walls and reach with time thermostatic equilibrium with the walls, so the temperature inside the box will be the same as the temperature of the box walls.
Any body placed in such box will be gradually reaching the same themperature as that of the box, through radiation, even if there are no atoms inside.
Only if the box walls are at absolute zero there will be no photons inside.


text:
In Ticket to Ride: The Heart of Africa, are stations allowed? The rulebook explicitly mentions that the plastic carriage pieces and scoring markers from the main game are to be used, but doesn't appear to mention stations. We played without stations, and completing routes was much more stressful than a standard game.
Sign up
- Anybody can ask a question
- Anybody can answer
- The best answers are voted up and rise to the top
No, the rules explicitly state what pieces are required from an earlier set:
Anything not mentioned in the above list should be considered surplus to official requirements. Though you could always try playing with stations as an interesting variant!
EDIT: yes, without stations Heart of Africa is a very claustrophobic Ticket to Ride game. But this does seem to have been the intention of the designers, as they've admitted as much in a footnote in the rules booklet:
The rules only have stations for the europe map. None of the maps are broken by playing with stations, however. I have played the following maps with and without stations:
Europe, USA, Africa, Switzerland, India, Asia, and Legendary Asia.
The effect of adding stations is to reduce the stress (and uncompleted tickets).
The USA map is much less cutthroat with stations, but the others only somewhat less.


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9 Superhero Powers That Would Be More Trouble Than They're Worth
#7. Wearing a Mech Suit
First, it's mechanical, so it's going to break down eventually. You'd better be handy with tools, because a call to the American Automobile Association ain't gonna do much good when your ion field rocket boots won't ignite and you're stranded at some supervillain's island volcano base.
Second, yes, it looks cool, but it weighs a ton and you've got to keep it somewhere. No matter how much room you make in your garage, it's not going to accommodate a Voltron-size robot suit. You're going to need an empty field and a large tarp, or maybe an abandoned airplane hanger. Ever notice how anyone who dresses up like a robot in comics is a billionaire?
Third, having a power that essentially requires strapping on or climbing into 10,000 pounds of nuclear ordinance doesn't exactly lend itself to leaping into immediate action. "What's this?! Doctor Deadly is attacking the orphanage! This looks like a case for the Incredible Metal Warrior! I'll be be back in a flash!" [pause] "...or, actually... with traffic on the expressway... let's say 40 minutes..." [pause] "I'll be back in an hour and a half to stop him!"
#6. Super-breath
As cool as it'd be to have any super-power"� well, nobody's getting laid with super-breath. We don't care how many orphanages you save using it, it just sounds stupid.
"What's your power?"
"I blow things!"
" Pfff! No, seriously, what's your power?"
If wasn't bad enough, it also makes you look like a dumbass while you're using it. Even Superman doesn't look cool all hunched over, cheeks puffed out, pushing air through pursed lips to knock out an arch-nemesis or blow out a raging fire. We're not denying that it's useful. It's just not terribly dignified. Plus, if you plan on using this power on a regular basis, you'd best have some breath mints on your person.
#5. Splitting
There was a 1960s comic book character by the name of Captain Marvel (one of the half-dozen or so who've used the same name). This is the version you've never heard of: a short-lived character who, upon shouting his magic word "SPLIT!" could make his body divide up into pieces that operated independently:
Yeah. Like that. It's as appalling as it looks, and thus would have the potentially useful effect of making your enemies violently wretch as they see you use your power. On the other hand, it'll most likely sicken the people you're trying to protect as well.
#4. Shrinking
Like "super-breath," this just looks damned silly. Let's take the Atom, probably the most famous of all the shrinking superfellas. He can shrink to subatomic size, shoot along transmissions over phone lines, ride on top of birds... all pretty neat things to do, right? But at the end of the day, you're still a wee little man running around the ankles of friends and foes alike, and let's face it, you're just not going to look cool and get the ladies by being six inches tall. Well, unless you're willing to "go spelunking," but even then, we don't want to hear about it, pervert.


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mvcConf 2 - Vaidy Gopalakrishnan: IIS Express
- Posted: Feb 12, 2011 at 10:33AM
- 33,123 views
- 3 comments
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IIS Express is a simpler and self-contained version of IIS that is optimized for developers. This session will describe the product architecture, relationship to IIS and the advantages over Cassini.
Recorded live via Live Meeting as part of mvcConf 2
Oops, something didn't work.
Nice presentation, it's interesting to see how closely the app server is integrated with the IDE..
Great Presentation. To the point and very useful!
can anyone feel that seek in video to backward or forward are too small. it's very hard even in a big screen.
the quality of video of all mvcconf is very down then currently posted video on this channel9.
Comments have been closed since this content was published more than 30 days ago, but if you'd like to continue the conversation, please create a new thread in our Forums, or Contact Us and let us know.


text:
I'm watching a documentary on the Boer War and apparently, during the Victorian era, the British Army commonly employed their infantry in "quarter column". I've tried to look it up, but can't find any additional info. What is it? What is "quarter column"?
According to British Army regulation, a column is a formation of soldiers in which each company of a battalion forms a line, and each line follows behind another line.
(I know that this is the 1870 manual and not the most recent version that would have been in use in the Boer Wars, but the text was unchanged and I can't find any later editions online).
In fact, there is a photo of a British Army battalion in South Africa in quarter column on page 58 of British Infantryman in South Africa 1877-81 by Ian Castle (Osprey 2003). As you can see, it is a close formation which would have left them vulnerable against an entrenched enemy, as at Magersfontein.


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Of all of the wants and needs of NYU's highly variable graduate student body, the most common might be just to meet each other!
Each individual college hosts a number of social opportunities, for their students and for the general public, and you might have a look through the schools' student life pages for more information:
The first office for general extracurricular issues should be the Graduate Student Life office within the Student Resource Center. There are also a number of intramural demographic networks, such as the Center for Multicultural Education and the Office of LGBT Student Services to facilitate communication with your peers.
You might expect that the incredible range of graduate studies at New York University can pose obstacles in interacting with students of other disciplines in a professional setting, but there are in fact many opportunities for interdisciplinary activities. Many graduate research forums are held overlapping schools and areas of study, such as MaRGIN, which can introduce fascinating approaches to current research projects. With the spirit of interdepartmental research, NYU is pleased to outline some of its cross-University initiatives to keep students questioning beyond their schools.
The balance between your educational and professional lives is what makes the graduate student's position at New York University so important. As such, the participation in graduate representation is especially important for career-minded students. While there are graduate student organizations within each school, students are also invited to take part in the Student Senators Council, the highest student organization in the University.
Of course, grad students need to have lives outside school as well, and the Student Resource Center is an invaluable center for finding extracurricular clubs and organizations—from cultural and spiritual organizations to weekend hiking groups. Don't forget to take advantage of Ticket Central, a box office that offers discounts to the best theatre and performances in the City, open only to NYU students and affiliates.


text:
Here is the problem:
Suppose there is a group of 12 people. In how many different ways can the 12 people be split into six pairs?
The answer is supposed to be $\frac{12!}{2^{6} 6!}$, but what I get is $\binom{12}{2} \binom{10}{2} \binom{8}{2} \binom{6}{2} \binom{4}{2} \binom{2}{2} = \frac{12!}{2^{6}}$.
Could anybody explain why is the factorial part necessary? I think it is related to the 6! possible permutations of the pairs but why is this relevant?


text:
Anyone know why when I search images in Google Image Search, in this example, the input is "Google", it says there are about 872.000.000 results. Then some images are thumnailed display together with a "Show More Results" button. But even when I click on that button, the results turn out only a thousand of images only.
Anyway for me to get the full results?


text:
In conjunction with Pratt Community College's 75th Anniversary Celebration the men and women's track & field team will be hosting a spring 5K road race and 1K walk/kids run.
This event begins at 7:30am on April 13th near the south entrance to PCC's campus; registration form with information and course map can be found at the following link.
Copy and paste the link if you don't feel like typing all that in.
If you have any questions please refer them to Head Coach Ryan Turner at firstname.lastname@example.com.
Location, ST | website.com


text:
I want to travel abroad cheap, and I would prefer to find some place to stay through a person or website, rather than book a hotel or hostel. There is couchsurfing.com, which I know about. Can you recommend other resources where I can find free accomodation?
Honestly, I would stick with couchsurfing. I hate to sound like the news and say craig's list can be dangerous, but I know some people that have had bad experiences... really bad experiences. I would say stick with a site that validates users.
If you don't mind working, you can always go with somethign like WWOOF. Also, working in a hostel is usually a pretty good gig. Free place to live and some cash. Typically you can easily find work at one by just walking in and asking.
Couchsurfing and Hospitality Club are the most common, for sure. However you can also consider bar work - in some countries (eg England) it often includes accommodation. Similarly, working in a hostel often scores you a free bed as well. And sometimes just chatting to friendly locals may work in your favour.
CouchSurfing is the best choice. Also there is http://hospitalityclub.org, but it is going to stagnation from year to year, and http://bewelcome.org. Try it all, and you'll get the variant to stay.
You can try http://www.airbnb.com/. I have used the site to figure out accommodation for some of my travels and have found it pretty useful.
The downside, you cannot book an accommodation right away. You need to communicate with the owners and see what works for you. This would mean you start your search pretty early.
You can try the subreddits of individual cities, and ask to crash over. I've had far better experiences off of Reddit than off of Couchsurfing, perhaps because people often "stalk" my Reddit posts before offering me their couch, which means that they're often more interested in me.
Sometimes you could be interested in sleep in your arrival airport so you can save the money for the first night in a new place. There is a page that will help you to decide if one or other airport is more convenient to sleep there: Sleep in Airports.
NOTE: It could sound crazy, but I've sleept a lot of times in different airports and if you have no problems to sleep with some noise, that's a good option if your flight departs too early or you arrive too late to your destination.
Also you can exchange your home, like Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet in the film "The holidays". That's an option ideal for families due you will save a lot of money and you have not to work. The problem is you have to be very confident with your guest. Use ExchangeMouse to find homes to exchange among 60+ home exchange clubs. Results vary heavily depending of your location and destination as interest needs to be mutual, tough there are sites offering points based exchanges to get beyond this requirement too.
Couch Surfing sounds good, but if you like luxury, there is a luxury version of couch surfing: house sitting. I know two websites that offer house sitting: Houses it world and Care Taker. The idea is the owners offer free accommodations in luxury or holiday houses and you clean and guard their homes.
The only problem is that for subscribe to these sites you have to pay a small fee.
As a host for both Helpx and WWOOF, I ask that anyone using those services do not treat them as free. It can cost dearly to host someone, especially in a remote area where they have to be fetched and then returned to some mode of transportation.
There are lots of opportunity for fantastic experiences, for both the host and the volunteer. There is nothing worse than having someone waste my time and energy by taking advantage of the situation, and behaving as though it is a vacation. Only use those services if you have the intention and integrity to be productive and self responsible. It is NOT a babysitting service...it is a job and has basic commitment levels to fulfill.
House-sitting is an option for longer-term stays, and a really good way to experience a place more as a "local" than a tourist. I found MindMyHouse a good place to start to find opportunities.


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Scott Swanson - What about translating help to other languages?
- Posted: Apr 27, 2004 at 12:04PM
- 7,391 views
- 10 comments
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I don't care much for translated technical documents. And I dislike the way the knowledgebase bugs me with Swedish articles just because I run Swedish IE. I hope VS won't start doing the same.
My distrust comes from experience. Quite often the translators don't understand the text they are translating. And the result is unreadable.
Joe Average wrote:I'm not a developer, I 'just use Windows', and I don't like i18n all that much. Not so much because I distrust the local version, but when I spend time online for example, my mind is set to English. I'm Dutch by the way. If I bump into something Dutch when I don't expect it it actually confuses me for a moment.
Here's one great example I Just stumbled in an hour ago. I was reading Scobleizer's blog and he mentioned MSN Messenger 6.2 shipped today. When I clicked the link [to the MSN Messenger page] the whole site was in Ducth. My first reaction was: "what's this? Oh, it's Dutch." To me it was even a bit frustrating not finding a way to change the language to my preferred website reading language English so I could set my mind back to English.
Just my 2 cents...
Jtb wrote:Hi,
I also prefer not using the local version (German) of VS.Net.. There are several translation errors which leads to buggy-programs and/or long(er) bug-search..
btw: you can specify the language for sites in IE (see options-language)..
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