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What are you reading?
Posted 24 October 2008 - 12:24 AM
Posted 24 October 2008 - 07:49 AM
Posted 27 October 2008 - 01:14 PM
Currently reading: A People's History of the Civil War and Gettysburg by Noah Andre Trudeau.
Posted 27 October 2008 - 01:20 PM
Fritz Lang . . .may even have killed his first wife Lisa Rosenthal. His mistress Thea Von Harbou, who was also his brilliant writer and collaborator through the 20s, testified to his innocence in court, but that doesn't prove anything, of course.
I'm thinking of the line near the end of "Witness for the Prosecution" where Charles Laughton says to Marlene Dietrich "You testified [on behalf of Tyrone Power] because you knew he was innocent". And I won't go any further here, in case some of you haven't seen the film.
Posted 24 November 2008 - 05:40 PM
Posted 24 November 2008 - 06:06 PM
Posted 24 November 2008 - 06:21 PM
I recently read K. Robert Schwart's "Minimalists," Julia Hartwig's "In Praise of the Unfinished: Selected Poems," and Barrack Obama's "The Audacity of Hope."
Posted 24 November 2008 - 06:27 PM
...revisiting Marx's "Capital" after many years since I read some of it...(last time I did it was included as a mandatory textbook in one of my college classes: Marxism-Leninism Theory). Now it has a vintage feeling, at least to me. Oh boy...time has changed for sure...! Anybody with a similar experience with the book out there, by any chance...?
No, I read all of it in 1999 or 2000, and I'm glad I did, because I know what Marxists and Marxist theorists are talking about--use value, exchange value, fetishes, commodification. It's an analysis of capitalism, of course, and I wouldn't call it all that 'vintage' in some ways, given that things are so complicated in the economy that one doesn't know from free markets, socialized health care possibilities, etc., It's made it possible for me to recognize where some of the ideas have worked and where they have failed (in all the totalitarian versions. The better aspects of Marxism seem to have been appropriated by highly successful capitalistic nations in Western Europe, i.e., they are like a final luxury for rich, mature nations. The welfare states of Sweden and the others are where a successful socialism is found, much more than originating in proletarian revolutions, where they always had to hire the decadent leftovers to help them run the bureaucracies.) Marxist critiques of art, which I've mentioned elsewhere recently, are interesting although I'm no fan of most of them; some of the Frankfurt Marxists like Agnes Heller and Theodor Adorno are interesting on art, but they are always dead serious and rule out all frivolity--reading ideology into every work. There's nothing more revealing than Adorno's discussions of the 'light popular cinema' and jazz, but these people always conveniently ignore the fact the most famous Marxist state, the Soviet Union, could not do without Classical Ballet, and used it shamelessly (fortunately for us, of course), given that it's not very much like Franz Kafka...or Karl Marx...I mean, can you imagine a truly Marxist ballet? What they kept at the Kirov and Bolshoi had to do with their grip on totalitarian power, it didn't have a thing to do with, say, the workers owning the means of production or price ratios, etc. Lenin's silly talk about Beethoven's 'Appassionata Sonata' is pretty awful too. But here and there you can find things in 'Kapital' that do seem very valid, especially in the over-commodification of High Capitalism as reflected in current commercial products like mainstream film and television, which get flatter and more bloated by the week. This may change, but it has yet to.
Posted 24 November 2008 - 10:18 PM
One of the things i always found fascinating, and i still do, is the whole surplus value/surplus labor theory. Back in the days many tests questions were based on resolving this type of problems in a numeric format, in which specific data was given to us to calculate the amount of exploitation taking place to the worker by " the capitalist"...I had the tendency to found the concept pretty reasonable...(and still do)-although not being totally clarified and/or resolved.
I know what Marxists and Marxist theorists are talking about-
Posted 24 November 2008 - 11:17 PM
Patrick McGilligan's 'Nature of the Beast', an excellent bio of Fritz Lang, director of 'The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari', the 3 Dr. Mabuse films, 'Die Nibelungen', 'Metropolis', 'M', 'Scarlett Street', and many others....
I'll have to look for this -- I'm very fond of his films, but didn't know he was such a harsh individual.
I'm almost done with The Wisdom of Whores, by Elisabeth Pisani, about epidemiology and AIDS research. Full of information, and very engaging. Great writing about medical research for those of us who are not in the sciences.
Posted 25 November 2008 - 09:23 AM
Edited to add: There's esp. interesting stuff about Brecht, who wrote most of the screenplay but was only credited with the story, and the making of 'Hangmen Also Die'.
Posted 25 November 2008 - 09:37 AM
Posted 25 November 2008 - 10:07 AM
This past summer I re-read his Medici book and the book on Florence, enjoying both thoroughly. (My father's family came from Lucca, which was rather nearby. Unfortunately, Lucca and Florence were always at war with one another. My grandfather never entirely accepted the unification of Italy. We were, he said, Lucchese, though he was sometimes willing to admit to being a "Toscano.")
Which have been your favorites?
Posted 25 November 2008 - 02:58 PM
The emotional/personal unification of Italy is such a lost cause, and so much a part of their history. One of our Elderhostel guides (Italian) said that not only are the districts divided but also the cities, neighborhoods, streets, and houses! Such a shame, but it makes for great stories.
I buy most of my books second hand through Amazon; many times the price of the book is less than the shipping charges. There are treasures out there.
Posted 25 November 2008 - 04:38 PM
Indeed. But I've found that all those bargain books require periodic shelf-building, which adds considerably to the cost.
I buy most of my books second hand through Amazon; many times the price of the book is less than the shipping charges. There are treasures out there.
Have you read John Julius Norwich's history of Venice? Another Englishman. More detailed, but marvellous. He also has some fascinating volumes on the history of the Kingdom of Naples and Sicily plus a 3-volume work on the Byzantine Empire.
I'm interested in post-unification Italian history, and increasingly in the 20th century part of it.. I've never read Hibbert's bio of Mussolini. It's now on my list. Thanks for the suggestion.
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Every now and then I start doing something which helps my productivity: devise a better todo list, wake up earlier etc. However, I find that I only engage in this activity for a short period of time and then it sort of fades away and disappears.
Is there a way to insert these actions into my day to day routine; how can I make them persist?

subset: commoncrawl


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Communication and Media Studies
The Department of Communication and Media Studies at Fordham University (CMS) is dedicated to a pluralistic examination of human communication in an increasingly networked society. Just as digitalization and other forms of technological innovation yield a media environment that is constantly changing and evolving, sometimes in revolutionary ways, our diverse program keeps current to the most recent developments in theory and practice while staying true to its mission of emphasizing values and ethics.
Our faculty are leaders in the study of film, journalism, media ecology, media history, new media, policy and law, public media, and production. We pride ourselves on offering opportunities for undergraduate students to work directly with faculty members in scholarship and training for future careers in multiple communication and media-focused careers.
The Department of Communication and Media Studies offers opportunities to pursue:
- a BA in communication with specialties in film, journalism, new media/participatory media, television and radio, and media, culture, and society
- an undergraduate minor in communication studies
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We are also affiliated with the interdisciplinary major in new media and digital design at Lincoln Center. Courses are available at both the Rose Hill and Lincoln Center campuses.


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Is it possible to partition $\mathbb R^3$ into unit circles?
The construction is based on a well ordering of $R^3$ into the least ordinal of cardinality continuum. Let $\phi$ be that ordinal and let $R^3=\{p_\alpha:\alpha<\phi\}$ be an enumeration of the points of space. We define a unit circle $C_\alpha$ containing $p_\alpha$ by transfinite recursion on $\alpha$, for some $\alpha$ we do nothing. Here is the recursion step. Assume we have reached step $\alpha$ and some circles $\{C_\beta:\beta<\alpha\}$ have been determined. If some of them contains (=covers) $p_\alpha$, we do nothing. Otherwise, we choose a unit circle containing $p_\alpha$ that misses all the earlier circles. For that, we first choose a plane throu $p_\alpha$ that is distinct from the planes of the earlier circles. This is possible, as there are continuum many planes throu $p_\alpha$ and less than continuum many planes which are the planes of those earlier circles. Let $K$ be the plane chosen. The earlier circles intersect $K$ in less than continuum many points, so it suffices to find, in $K$, a unit circle going throu $p_\alpha$ which misses certain less than continuum many points. That is easy: there are continuum many unit circles in $K$ taht pass throu $p_\alpha$ and each of the bad points disqualifies only 2 of them.
Even though this question is old, I'd like to give what I regard as a very beautiful solution. It is different from the others in that the circles used are not round (but they are unlinked). First observe that the circles $x^2 + y^2 = r^2$, $z = c$, for $r \geq 1$ and $c$ any real number, decompose all of $\Bbb{R}^3$ except an open cylinder into circles. At first glance, this seems to have accomplished nothing, since the open cylinder is homeomorphic to $\Bbb{R}^3$, so we have reduced the original problem to an equivalent problem. However, look at the left-hand figure of the included image, which shows an open cylinder embedded as a U shape, with the ends going to infinity in the same direction. Since this is just a deformation of the original embedding, we can decompose the complement into circles. To handle the interior, embed an open cylinder into it, as shown in the right-hand figure. We can decompose the complement of the smaller U-shaped cylinder into circles. We continue in this way, making sure that the embedded cylinders go off to infinity, so that every point of $\Bbb{R}^3$ is included at some finite stage.
It seems like we have never really solved the problem, but instead have just pushed it away so much that it vanishes into thin air!
Péter's proof is very clever and, while there is no real need to resurrect this thread, the following is quite straightforward in case one is not inclined to hunt for it in the literature on this subject:
Observe that you can cover a two-punctured sphere with circles. Now consider a family of circles lying in the $xy$ plane, radii 1, centred at the points $(4k+1,0,0)$ for $k \in \mathbb{Z}$. Each sphere about the origin intersects this family in exactly two places.
In this article, the authors prove that not only can you partition $R^3$ into congruent circles, but you can do so into unlinked congruent circles. They also prove a variety of other similar results: $R^3$ can be partitioned into isometric copies of any family of continuum many real analytic curves. And they consider the question in higher dimensions, and also the role of AC in the proofs: for example, in $R^3$ no AC is needed for circles, if different sizes are allowed.
Evelyn Sander says here, "Geometric circles of unit radius are called hoops. Using the Axiom of Choice, J.H. Conway and H.T. Croft showed that it is nevertheless possible to discontinuously fill three-space using disjoint hoops." The "nevertheless" was to contrast with filling continuously. This was a report on a talk by Daniel Asimov in 1994, who showed that it is not possible to fill continuously with hoops.
A very nice, explicit, elementary partition (without the Axiom of Choice) of $\mathbb{R}^3$ into geometric circles of variable radii is given in: [MR0719756] Szulkin, Andrzej. $\mathbb{R}^3$ is the union of disjoint circles. Amer. Math. Monthly 90 (1983), no. 9, 640–641.


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Harley Quinn's Greatest Moments from "Batman: The Animated Series"
TV, Comic Books
Publishing| Marvel Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso talks about bringing more Latino characters — and more diversity in general — to the Marvel lineup: "People out there reading our comic books are of all sizes, creeds and colors and it's our responsibility to make them feel included. This isn't some PC initiative, this is capitalism. This is about supply and demand." [Fox News Latino]
Passings | Webcomics and minicomics creator Luisa Felix (Candy Blondell) has died at the age of 60. [The Comics Reporter]
Creators | Grant Morrison discusses winding up his run on Action Comics: "Symbolically I'm not a big fan of dealing with politics in superhero comics because I think it diminishes both sides of the argument, but I do have my own take on things. I've got my own politics and so they do tend to find their way in. And really for me, its more symbolic, the way story winds up to tackle all those issues and looks at them through the perspective of Superman and Red Kryptonite and weirdness. So it's gone underground. I think the early Superman was very much more aligned with the anti-establishment, anti-authoritarian current, because I think when Superman started out that he was what entered into." [Comics Alliance]


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For your first Names and Faces story of the 2010, we meet a man who has proven that nice guys really can finish first. He's Somerville's own Don Strickland and he's truly a southern gentleman who has gained the respect of all who meet him.
Don Strickland has prospered in his community and he'll tell you that living in a small town has many benefits. As for those who live in the town he loves, they all say that it's been a blessing to have Mr. Strickland in their midst's and it's easy to see why his good heart and helping nature have made him one of the nicest people you will ever meet.
Strickland says, "I've always wanted to be a friend to everyone and if I have any qualities is the fact that I know everybody and if don't know them, I try to meet them and I always try to think positive and not negative about that and so I don't pass many people as I speak to them whether I know them or not and I think that's very very important in what I do and how I do it."
It's a simple formula, but it's one that's worked for Don Strickland all his life. For him, being a nice guy is an understatement because nice is what has earned this special man the respect and admiration of all who meet him. By being in the funeral business, he's shared some difficult times with his friends and neighbors, but he's also been there to share the good times too. Add to that his eagerness to serve and you have a dedicated public servant.
Longtime friend, Ben Flencher says, "When you think of a small town person that's gone on and made some head-ways in the world, he's not only taken Somerville as a mayor and councilman he's been affiliated with the Brazos Valley COG, he's been affiliated with the Methodist Church, a youth organization in New Waverly, he's on the boards of Methodist organizations nationally as well as he's an international rotary director so everybody that has that dream of being from a small town and living in a small community isn't wondering if they have the make up to do more, he's proven it."
With his work to help disadvantage children, he's also proven that he's committed to the areas youth.
"Our children, that's our future and we need to spend everything that we can, our energy, our monies or everything that we do for the youth," says Strickland.
With Jo, his wife and best friend of 60 years by his side, together they work to positively touch and impact the lives of children they reach out to and all the while, Don has never forgotten one not so little fact, "any success that I've had has been due to her, I can tell you that for sure."
As for why he volunteers, Don Strickland says it's something to do, "I don't have any hobbies; I guess people happen to be my hobby I would say. I do have a lot of fun in doing all of that."
On the subject of retirement, Strickland says that's one subject his not contemplating, "No, no, no, no I can't. I've tried it a month or two, but it didn't work, so I don't think that I'd ever retire."
And you can bet that warms the hearts of those who work with him because after all, it's nice just having him around, but when he thinks about the future, Don doesn't want to be remembered for his good deeds, he wants people to remember his big heart.
Strickland says he would rather have people say, "he's a fellow that cared about people and that wanted to help them anyway that he could in particularly in the times that they needed help I would like for them to say, well he was a fellow that really cared about people and tried to help them."
What Strickland doesn't know is that Flencher and the his friends already consider him, "a man of vision by who his own commitment has inspired others."
Lately Don Strickland has been a bit under the weather, but once he's made a full recovery, you can bet he'll be out and about doing his good deeds and helping the people Somerville and the Brazos Valley who he loves and who love him.


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TchaikovskyfestTue, February 25, 2014 - 8:00 PMWalt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, CA
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The facility will process 20,000 bpd of Bakken crude oil. Construction could begin this spring, and is expected to take up to 20 months. The plant will be located on a 318-acre site located west of Dickinson in Stark County, North Dakota. It will employ approximately 100 people, according to the companies.
MDU Resources Group and Calumet Specialty Products have
formed a new joint venture to develop, build and operate a
diesel refinery in southwestern North
Dakota, the companies announced on Friday.
The joint venture will be called Dakota Prairie Refining.
This joint venture allows us to continue our plan of
diversifying into geographies with favorable feedstock options and niche product
markets, said Jennifer G. Straumins, president and chief
operating officer of Calumets general partner.
MDU Resources Groups participation in the joint venture
will be through its wholly-owned subsidiary, WBI Energy.
The facility will process 20,000 bpd of Bakken crude
oil. Construction could begin this
spring, and is expected to take up to 20 months.
The plant will be located on a 318-acre site located west of
Dickinson in Stark County, N.D. It will employ approximately
100 people. Hiring and training of operating personnel is
expected to begin in 2013.
The plant will employ its own plant manager and management
team, who will report to a governing board composed of
representatives of WBI Energy and Calumet.
Through this joint venture we are continuing to expand
both our midstream energy business and our vertically
integrated investment in the Bakken oil play, said David
L. Goodin, CEO of MDU Resources.
There is a strong existing market for the plants
production," he added.
The facilitys engineering and plant design are in the
final stages, according to the companies.
Westcon has been selected as the general contractor, and
Ventech Engineering will be the primary equipment and technology provider.
MDU Resources construction businesses, Knife River
Corp. and MDU Construction Services Group, are
among potential subcontractors.
Other MDU Resources companies involved in the project include Fidelity Exploration
and Production Co., which will supply some of the
facilitys crude oil; WBI Energy, which will supply
natural gas service to operate the facility; and Montana-Dakota
Utilities, which will supply the facilitys electricity
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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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I enjoy fighting with some elemental effects on my side but they're not always the most powerful weapon I have on hand. Sometimes I like to start with some potentially weaker but elemental gun then switching to a higher DPS variant to finish the bad guys off... particularly with slag weapons (for obvious reasons).
Maybe it's just the fireaxe Pyro in me, but I feel like my weapon switch speed is way slow and not suited to this type of play. Is there any item or skill that I use to bump the weapon switch speed a bit?


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Swarovski 1088 PP14 XIRIUS Chaton Indicolite (2mm)
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Nike Cortez Basic Leather TPU Swoosh Men's Casual Shoes
Buy Online & Pick Up In-Store
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- The Cortez one of Nike's timeless sneaker styles with leather upper, EVA midsole and rubber herringbone tread outsole.


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I'm looking for a way to sync music to my Android Phone without having to load something like banshee. I know there are plenty of ways to sync files, but I'm interested in syncing playlists and having the playlists dictate which files are synced.
Assuming an m3u exported from banshee and you have your Android mounted you can do something like:
For example:
You can also add --delete
I tested with a simple m3u and worked, but it may need some tweaks for a complex one.
Without more information, I can only assume you mean that you want certain files (playlists) to contain rules to move certain other files (music) to another location (your android).
Seeing as you don't want to start any applications, I would suggest using a simple text file that contains the names of songs in the playlist. Write as many of these as you want.
Then you could write a short script called


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I know there are points for each chess piece, but is there a way to - imprecisely, for sure - measure/point chess moves?
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But computers use a slightly more complicated way to count points.
Pawns, depending how many there are on the board (close or open position), depending on which file they are positioned, if they are passed pawns, if they are connected and on which rank they are, in endgame or opening, can have a relative value of 0,90 points to 3,5 points!
Bishops can have a better value than knights if the position is open and / or both bishops are on the board.
Queen and Rooks can have a slightly lower value if the position is closed while knights are worth more.
That's why some exchanges (knight for a bishop for example) are better for one or the other player.
Points (decimal points) will vary more or less depending on the chess engine.
Sure, that's how computer engines work.
For instance, if you start up ChessMaster and hit ctrl+m ("mentor"), it will give you a list of all the moves, and how the chess engine rates each of them.
How it works is that the engine looks as far as it can for every move, assuming best play for both sides, and rates the final position. That final position's rating is the value of the move.
To rate the position, the computer looks at material, space, pawn-structure, king-safety, known patterns and endgames, etc. etc. - basically, all the same things a human looks at, but the computer's not as good at it, because this is pattern matching, something computers are notoriously bad at. The only reason computers can beat humans is that the computer can see so far ahead so fast, and never makes mistakes.
Thus, looking a computer's rating of different moves might help settle an argument, or help point out mistakes in your games after-the-fact, but learning how computers rate positions is not going to help you get better.
I add points for movements of PIECES:
For instance, a rook is normally worth five points. But if has been moved to the "seventh" rank, (next to the opponents' pawns), I consider it a SIX point rook.
A "bishop pair," in an OPEN position against two knights or a bishop and a knight is worth more like SEVEN points, rather than six.
A knight is usually worth three points. But if it has found an outpost at say, e4, e5, or e6, maybe f5 or f6, in a "hole" from which it cannot be dislodged, it is a FOUR point knight.
A pawn is usually worth one point. But if has moved to a square past opponents' pawns so that it is a "passed" pawn, it is worth TWO points.
These are all significant advantages, enough to win a game BY THEMSELVES, even if everything ELSE is equal. Basically, you're an extra "point" ahead.


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When i enter omething to table A is it possible somehow that some values will be calculated from the values in table A and the will be a new entry in table B relating those values?
and all of this done in the database and not from the client that updating the database .
I work with MSSQL and MySql , can you give me directions how i can do those things in those databases ?


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Why is the following not working?
// Login or logout url will be needed depending on current user state.
if ($user) {
$logoutUrl = $facebook->getLogoutUrl();
} else {
$loginUrl = $facebook->getLoginUrl();
header("Location: ".$login_url);
Using xdebug, I can see that it is going through the
else section, but when it gets to the end of the file, it stays on the current page, instead of opening the new
login_url page which should show the facebook login screen.
Anyone know why it's not going to the facebook page?


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I'm playing around with jbox2d and can't really make a body "fly away" as if from an explosion.
From what I have found on the net, making the body fly away from the world center (0,0), should have been something like that:
b.applyLinearImpulse( new Vec2(0,0) , b.getPosition() );
But really it just doesn't do anything, any idea why? Also how do I change the strength of the impulse, like if it want to make it fly skyhigh or just move a bit?


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An auxiliary motor kit is the ideal way to provide remote control steering for kicker motors up to 25HP.
Zinc plate steel for freshwater Has a "C" clamp that fits over the hydraulic steering rod and a ball stud and a quick disconnect that attaches to your kicker motor. Rod is 24" long (threaded to 16")so you can customize your your installation. Rod size: 3/8"- 24" fine thread.
115hpmercury to 9.9 suzkski both have power tilt can both tilt without disconnect?
The 2400/2600 steering bars are not designed to be left in place when not being used.
Are these parts stainless or zinc?
It is zinc.
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MORGAN CITY, Ala. (AP) -- A 3-year-old girl who was among six people injured in a wreck has died.
WAAY reports that Kaitlyn Reid died from her injuries early Thursday morning.
She was hurt in a collision between an SUV and a minivan Wednesday around 12:37 p.m.
State troopers say the minivan had major front-end damage and overturned in a ditch.
The television station reports the girl's mother Jordyn Elizabeth Neilsen and 2-month-old sister Brylie were also seriously injured.
State troopers say the driver of the other vehicle, 46-year-old Leah Suzanne Osborne Keith, and two passengers, 76-year-old Wiley Osborne and 22-year-old Lyndsey Keith, were also injured. All were taken to Huntsville Hospital.
State troopers were still investigating the wreck.
------ Information from: WAAY-TV, http://www.waaytv.com/


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Anybody feel like answering some tech connectivity questions?
My media system currently consists of a very new blu-ray home theater system, a several year old 65" DLP TV, a Wii, and a very minimal Gateway older model desktop PC with an upgraded video card. I use the computer almost exclusively for viewing videos. I am thinking about getting a new PC and relegating that Gateway to other tasks, but I am worried about connectivity. I currently have the computer connected to the sound system via audio cable and the computer hooked to the TV via S video cable. If I get a new computer with HDMI out, does the HDMI have to go into the sound system in order to have the sound come from there, or can I hook the HDMI to the TV and still use the audio cable to the sound system? I have always used this "S" video approach to connecting the computer to the TV and I am not sure how to work around HDMI.
16 Answers answer
Currently you have:
PC video going to TV via S-Video cable.
PC sound going to surround system via audio cable (3.5mm headphone type?)
1) Does the surround sound have HDMI inputs? If so, can you use that as a pass through so audio AND video go from the new PC through the sound system then to TV?
2) If sound system has no HDMI inputs, you should still be able to connect a separate audio cable directly from the new PC. So even if HDMI is carrying video (and possibly sound) to TV), you should be able to tell the PC to send sound through audio cable to sound system. (not ideal)
3) If your TV has an audio out (like optical cable) you should be able to connect HDMI from PC to TV and have that send video and sound to TV. Then it would be up to the TV to send the audio to the sound system. This might be best for you because using the sound system would be optional and it should support surround sound.
You'll be able to send it separately to the stereo via analog or digital audio ports instead of HDMI.
@bsmith1: That all sounds correct. I am not familiar with telling the TV to send the sound someplace, but it may be an option. Both the TV and the new blu-ray have a lot of unexplored features. I am from the age of walking over the the TV and turning the knob to select one of only three networks, so programming the TV is very alien. I am famously a sort of idiot savant, able to hook all these systems together with no understanding of how it all works. But HDMI is still too foreign for me to work it into my gestalt.
I will examine the suggestions you made this evening and get back to ya'll. Thanks!
@bsmith1: Be aware that for your option 3 (HDMI to TV, TV audio out to sound system), some TVs won't pass through Dolby digital from an HDMI input to the TV's audio output. My Panasonic Viera for example. :-(
My TV will pass Dolby surround to the sound system for OTA broadcasts, but will only output stereo when passing through sound from an HDMI input. Apparently this is by design though I can't think of a reasonable justification. Probably some HDCP-related paranoia.
FYI for original question, in my setup I run HDMI from PC to TV and a separate digital optical cable from PC to sound system to get Dolby surround for movies, etc. Makes for extra button pushes on the remote(s) to setup, but provides the option to listen via the TV speakers when I don't care about full surround through the stereo.
@turbinator42: That's a good point. It seems like I've heard that before, but I don't know why either.
My system has everything going through the surround sound via HDMI then to the TV through 1 HDMI cable. I change the input source on the surround sound to change what is displayed on the TV. I do have a digital optic cable going from TV to surround sound, but I only use that for things that originate from the TV like apps (youtube, netflix) or Over the Air broadcasts.
@moondrake: Some TVs will have a setting in the menus to change internal speakers vs audio out (or both). I'm able to specify the format of my audio out (stereo, DTS, etc), but my TV is "smart" enough to know to use the audio out when the surround sound is turned on. It switches automatically between internal speakers and audio out. It helps that both my TV and surround sound are Samsung products.
See turbinator42's response about going from HDMI input to the TV then optical out. There could be some limitations depending on your model of TV.
To clarify: best answer is to get a computer that passes audio through HDMI, then connect compter via HDMI to AVR, then AVR to display. Anything else will be a bit of a kludge, but can be done.
I will reiterate that HDMI to TV, then optical to AVR is a bad solution. At the insistence of the content owners the optical out from TVs cannot pass anything more advanced than stereo.
I think you will be pleased by moving away from s-video. It really must look pretty bad on a 65" DLP.
I have a similar setup to what you are describing.
In a word the answer to your question is no, you do not have to run the HDMI cable to the sound system.
You have a couple alternatives, but you might find that you WANT to run the HDMI through your sound system.
I personally would because that is how most home theatre systems are intended to be used, but you dont have to. You can use essentially the same setup you have right now. The only caveat is you might have to change some settings on the PC to tell it to send the sound through the audio jack instead of the HDMI (or send through both and just mute your TV). Even then, it will probably work by default.
There is another question here that some people have touched on which is the question of what kind of "audio cable" you are using. I am assuming a 3.5mm audio "headphone" jack. Continued....
These work well for stereo sound, but if you have a brand new home theatre system, you probably want to take advantage of "surround sound" which uses more than the 2 channels that stereo uses. If you want to do this you have to ditch the 3.5mm stereo cable. But you still have a few options.
First, you could run the HDMI cable through your stereo which would carry with it the digital multi-channel signal for surround sound. Assuming you do not want to do this (which you dont, judging from the fact that you posted this question) you can just use a separate optical audio cable (or fibre optic audio cable). Optical audio cables carry multi-channel digital audio.
Most PCs these days come with an optical audio output, it is what I use on my PC. My PC does not have an HDMI output, but I use a DVI to HDMI cable which does not transmit audio, so this means I HAVE to use a separate audio cable (hence I described my setup as similar to yours). If, however, your HDMI cable is carrying the audio to your TV you can also plug the optical cable into the optical output on your TV which will essentially pass the signal through your TV to your receiver (EDIT: see commenter above, but apparently this downgrades the audio to stereo, so maybe stick to running the cable direct from PC).
Hope that wasn't completely useless and confusing, feel free to ask for clarification.
@wilfbrim: I don't think it's at the insistence of the content providers.
Simply, it's a matter of economics. The TV will output digital audio it decodes from the internal tuner, but adding circuitry to split the HDMI video/audio and send it back out (as Dolby Digital) is not very logical considering that's the A/V receiver's job.
I had my friend take a look behind the "curtain" when he went home to feed my dog at lunch. This is the scoop. As I thought, the new sound system, for whatever goofy reason, has no HDMI in. It just has the single HDMI out. The sound system does have a couple of USB ports-- would it be possible to connect the computer to it via USB? I have plugged in a flash drive and an external HD to the USB ports and played media from there so maybe it can talk to the computer that way.
My TV has just about every kind of port, including 3x HDMI, 2x RCA, 2x Component, and S Video.
The computer is currently connected to the sound system through its green audio out port via an RCA cable, and the video is directly connected to the TV via S-Video. I could just leave the old computer where it is in the entertainment chain. I just wanted to put the new one in there for faster use, wireless internet access, and smaller footprint. But it is doing a fine job.
@moondrake: A lot of those all-in-one Blu-ray + Surround sound sets don't give you any HDMI inputs because they figure Blu-ray is built in so why would you need to connect anything? That doesn't give you many options for Xbox 360, Satellite receiver, etc...(or in your case a PC)
If the only inputs your sound system has is the RCA (red and white) then you'll probably do the same setup with the new PC. The only difference would be using the HDMI to send video to the TV. Double check to make sure the sound system doesn't have an optical audio input as you could use that for better quality and surround sound from the PC.
Edit: the USB ports probably won't work. They're usually for new firmware updates or play MP3s or showing JPGs from a USB flash drive.
Thanks everybody. This was all a big help. I will be trying for a new computer in Friday and if I don;t get one then I'll grab one on cyber Monday. This will be a big help in getting it all set up.
@moondrake: You need a real receiver also.
That Pioneer that floats up all the time around here would be a good choice.
@j5: The blu-ray is basically a receiver. It's one of those Samsung "Smarthub" devices. In addition to providing surround sound, it connects wirelessly to the internet for web surfing, Netflix and YouTube streaming. It plays MP3s and regular CDs as well as DVD and Blu Ray. It has USB ports through which I have been able to play XVID and MKV files off flash drives. It plays the radio with amazingly clear reception as none of my other radios get anything. I live at the foot of the mountain which is topped by all the radio and TV towers, I am in the broadcast shadow for everything.
In fact, the capabilities of the device are sharply hampered by a lack of needed input ports, resulting in me having to bypass it with the Wii, and to bypass the video on the computer. It's annoying that such a sophisticated device that styles itself a "Smarthub" is not able to act as an actual hub. But I have been very happy with the Netflix and being able to easily play MP3s and listen to the radio.


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Monday, April 8, 2013
Sonia Kashuk Moroccan Dunes Eyeshadow Palette (Limited Edition)
So, let's dive in. Here is the palette, in its hideously wasteful packaging:
And disrobed:
I do like the simple, sleek packaging. If you have to use cheap-looking plastic, at least make it a smooth and elegant design, right? They did that. The only problem is, it's too minimalistic: it has no name! See the backside? Naked!
With a collection like mine, that means six months from now I'd be picking it up, wondering what it's called, and going back through my own blog posts to find this one and figure it out. Ridiculous.
But look at the pretty!!! Outdoors in natural light, then with the flash:
The pale golden taupe shade has a unique, super-reflective finish I absolutely adore. I've only seen a few other eyeshadows that shine in the way this does (Rimmel Backstage single eyeshadow is another great example, and one of my favorite drugstore eyeshadows). It's not the most silky or finely-milled texture you'll ever feel, but it's beautiful on the eyes. The burgundy-brown shade has a fine, subtle shimmer to it; it's not highly reflective like the golden taupe, but elegant and refined. It makes a lovely liner or outer V color.
The other two shades, the darker taupe and the peach, would be deliciously wonderful if they weren't infused with so much silver glitter. Not, like, a bit of extra sparkle to glam things up - nope. It's of the "OMG IT'S ALL OVER MY FACE AND I CAN'T GET IT OFFFFFFFF" variety. The one-size-below-craft-store-glitter type. Yup. It was bad enough when my cheeks were covered in silver glitter, but you really wouldn't have wanted to see me rage when I got pieces of glitter actually in my eyes. This palette would earn an "A" grade in my mind if it weren't for that.
Anyway, just for kicks, here it is next to a few other palettes I have with some similar colors in them. No real dupes here, but it might be helpful in seeing textural variation. To the left is Moroccan Dunes; to the right is Chanel Topkapi on top, Chanel Harmonie du Soir in the middle, and Tom Ford Enchanted on bottom (better swatches soon to come of this one). First outdoor lighting, then flash:
So, readers: if you don't mind glitter, Moroccan Dunes is an all-around great palette to pick up. If, like me, you hate wearing glitter particles on your face that are large enough for you to name each one (think "I shall call him Squishy, and he shall be mine, and he shall be my Squishy!")... you should probably pass.
6 comments:
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. Thanks bunches! I am loving the shine but am still unsure as to whether I need more glitter pets. I shall have to gaze at your yummy swatches and deliberate.ReplyDeleteReplies
Hahaha! You're welcome, dear. :)Delete
WOW! Great review. Are these patchy? Did you use a base or do you use one when applied to your eyes? I saw this in Target and it looked pretty, but I am all about reviews and I hadn't seen any yet. This looks like a nice set in my book. I will be picking it up. The wavy look reminds me of the Extra dimension collection mac has or the sephora eyeshadows from last year. :)ReplyDeleteReplies
Thanks! No, not patchy at all. I use the NARS eyeshadow base. I might have had better luck getting the glitter to stay on my eyes if I'd used my Too Faced Glitter Glue instead, but I do find it more difficult to apply colors evenly and blend them together over that.Delete
Haha! Thanks for the great review. No one else mentioned the glitterbombing.ReplyDeleteReplies
Thanks! I noticed that too. Someone on Makeup Alley did mention it (before I got the palette - guess I should have listened!) but I haven't seen it mentioned on any other blogs either...Delete
All comments are welcome, but if you are here to spam your link, your comment will be deleted. Please be respectful. Thanks!


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Vegetables That Boost Your Immune System
Cruciferous vegetables are the gold standard in immune-boosting vegetables.
Although all vegetables have nutrients and some protective powers, for these vegetables, it's off the charts. Cruciferous vegetables have a special chemical composition: They have sulfur-containing compounds that are responsible for their pungent flavors. When they're broken down by biting, blending, or chopping, a chemical reaction occurs that converts these sulfur-containing compounds into isothiocyanates (ITCs). ITCs prevent and knock out cancer and have infinite proven immune-boosting capabilities.
They contain antiviral and antibacterial agents that keep you disease free. Adding the following cruciferous vegetables to your daily plate is like taking an anticancer pill: arugula, beet greens, bok choy, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, collards, horseradish, kale, kohlrabi, mustard greens, radishes, red cabbage, turnip greens, or watercress.


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News Release (Back to Menu)
Ruling Issued in Constitutional Litigation Clinic Challenge to New Jersey's Electronic Voting Machines
Judge Orders Re-evaluation of 11,000 Machines by Panel of Computer Experts Within 120 Days
A ruling was issued today in a lawsuit challenging computerized voting machines that do not produce a paper record. Mercer County Superior Court Judge Linda Feinberg held that New Jersey's 11,000 voting machines have to be re-evaluated by a qualified panel of experts within 120 days to determine whether they comply with NJ law requiring that they be accurate and reliable. Unlike the panel that currently evaluates voting machines, the new panel must have requisite knowledge of computers and computer security.
Judge Feinberg also ordered that all voting machines and vote tally transmitting systems be disconnected from the Internet immediately. Judge Feinberg also required that criminal background checks be performed on personnel who work with voting machines and all third-party vendors who examine or transport the machines. Currently, no such checks are in place. Judge Feinberg further required that a protocol be put in place for inspecting the voting machines to ensure that they have not been tampered with. Judge Feinberg found that the State of New Jersey should no longer leave voting machines unattended in polling places, to prevent tampering. Currently they are left unattended at polling places for up to two weeks before and up to two weeks after each election.
The lawsuit was started in 2004 by Rutgers Clinical Professor Penny Venetis, co-director of the Constitutional Litigation Clinic, who filed suit on behalf of a group of voting rights advocates led by the Princeton-based Coalition for Peace Action. Evidence was presented during the 15-week trial, held between January and June 2009, showing that the voting machines were not properly examined and that they were insecure. Although the Court did not de-commission the machines, as Plaintiffs requested, the panel of qualified experts Judge Feinberg ordered to re-evaluate the voting machines can recommend that they be de-commissioned. Plaintiffs' expert witness, Princeton Computer Science Department Chair Professor Andrew Appel, who evaluated the machines, created a fraudulent chip that stole votes and installed that chip in less than 10 seconds. The voting machines could not detect the fraudulent chip. The Plaintiffs fully expect that the panel of experts convened to evaluate the voting machines will study Professor Appel's report and consult with him.
The trial was the culmination of a 5 ½-year effort by the principal plaintiffs, represented by Professor Venetis and the law firm of Patton Boggs LLP, to improve election security in New Jersey. Venetis is pleased with the ruling, but disappointed that the Court did not go far enough. "We proved at trial that the voting machines we use cannot be trusted, and must be evaluated by knowledgeable computer security experts. It is unfortunate that the Court did not believe it was her place to order the State to immediately enforce the 2005 state statute requiring that all voting machines produce a voter-verified paper ballot. A voter-verified paper ballot system would detect tampering, and would obviate the very extensive security measures that the Court ordered."
Although happy with the new security requirements, Plaintiff Stephanie Harris believes that "until a voter-verified paper ballot system is in place, I cannot fully trust that NJ's Sequoia voting machines are counting my vote properly."
The Plaintiffs in the case are: The Coalition for Peace Action; Stephanie Harris, who attempted to vote on a Sequoia Advantage voting machine in 2004, but received no indication that her vote was recorded after multiple attempts; Assemblyman Reed Gusciora; and New Jersey Peace Action.
For more information, contact Professor Penny Venetis at 973-353-5687 (office) or 917-617-3524 (cell); Irene Goldman, chair of the Coalition for Peace Action, at 609-505-7554 (cell); or Stephanie Harris at 802-598-8039 (cell).


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A 5kg stone kicked by a student undergoes a velocity change from 6m/s to 10m/s in 4 seconds;
---- What is the momentum change of the stone within the time interval?
---- What impulse was impacted on the body during this time interval?
For the first question : $$p_2-p_1= M V_1 - MV_2 = M(V_1-V_2)= 5\textrm{ kg}(10-6)\textrm{m s}^{-1} = 20 \textrm{ kg m s}^{-1}$$
Is that correct for the first question?
As for the second : I'm stuck. Help.
$$\textrm{impulse}=I = F\cdot t$$ $$F = (mv-mu)/t$$ $$F = m(v-u)/t$$ $$F\cdot t = m(v-u)$$ $$\Rightarrow I = 5\textrm{ kg}(10-6)\textrm{ m s}^{-1} = 20 \textrm{ kg m s}^{-1}$$
is that correct? Because there has been no need to use time (4 seconds)......
or : $$F = ma = 5 \textrm{ kg} \frac{(10-6)\textrm{ m s}^{-1}}{4\textrm{s}}= 5\textrm{ N}$$
$$\textrm{impulse}= I = F\cdot T= 5\textrm{ N}\cdot 4 \textrm{ s} = 20\textrm{ N s},$$
still the same 20.


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Music In Advent
It's the first Sunday of Advent. In our house that means the Christmas music has started. From now through Epiphany, for hours each day, via cassette tapes, compact discs and mp3 files, Christmas music will resound.A New England Christmas and Feliz Navidad in Santa Fe. Handel's Messiah in both its traditional and soulful interpretations. Gregorian chant and rap. Blues and bluegrass. Jazz and country. Rock and gospel. Celtic and soul. Calypso and New Age. Acoustic, electric and electronic. Sacred and secular. Vocal, instrumental and a capella. Devotional, sensual and materialistic.Yo-Yo Ma and Bootsy Collins. Doris Day and the Ramones (on the same CD!). The McGarrigles and the Nevilles. Gene Autry and Mahalia Jackson. Ella Fitzgerald and James Taylor. The London Symphony Orchestra and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Angelique Kidjo and Papa Wemba. Sting and Enya. The St. Louis Jesuits and the Blind Boys of Alabama. Run-DMC and Rascal Flatts. Bing Crosby and Ray Charles. The Pussycat Dolls and the Indigo Girls. Dolly Parton and Stevie Wonder. Cee-Lo Green and the Muppets. And more. So much more.
Over the years I've had friends with stricter liturgical sensibilities who disapproved (and continue to disapprove). They have a point. It's hard to make any kind of argument---let alone a good one---that "Santa Baby" or "Back Door Santa" or The Singing Dogs' version of "Jingle Bells" helps one enter more deeply into the season of Advent or the mystery of the Incarnation.I'm even somewhat sympathetic to the argument that all this Christmas music (even the religious music) has the effect of preempting the beauty and importance of the waiting season of Advent.In the end however, I come down on the side of a former pastor who had a genius for searching out and finding ways in which God was hidden within---and active in---popular culture and daily life. This priest once opened a homily by talking about his love for the great German hymn, "Silent Night". He went on to say that there's not much we can be sure of regarding the first Christmas Eve, but we can say with great certainty that it was not a silent night. In fact, the stories we have from Matthew and Luke's gospels indicate it was a noisy, disjointed, bewildering and overwhelming night.Not unlike many of our own days and nights as we prepare to celebrate Christmas. Not unlike the weeks and days leading up to the births of those we know and love.It's with that perspective---that God is here, somewhere, in the midst of the noise and clutter and busyness of Advent in the city (and in our house), waiting to be born, waiting "in the midst of our circumstance" to be discovered and revealed in a new way---that I'll try to hear the music this Advent, listening over and over to the old, familiar songs in the hopes of discovering something new.What Advent traditions do you have?
About the Author
Luke Hill is a writer and community organizer in Boston. He blogs at dotCommonweal and MassCommons.
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The Puritans didn't celebrate Christmas at all, if I recall correctly. Cutting it off on Dec. 25, when it is just getting started, is as "Puritanical" as not celebrating until it gets here.And yeah, yeah, yeah about the Purification. It takes us at least until then to get the decorations down. Meanwhile, our neighbors are celebrating Valentine's Day, which pretty soon (just watch) will be the unofficial start of the Christmas shopping season.
Luke, Advent is when anything is possible.The Messiah could come and prove that our God is an awesome God who aint just putting on the ritz. He can do awesome things to islamofascistliberalrightwingillegal agendaists, who bug us.Or maybe He will pour oodles of gold into our eagerly upturned hands, and well all have a McMansion on an island for the times when we owe it to ourselves to get away.Or maybe He will simply take away the aches and pains, distractions and vexations of ordinary living.We would like to have him do that sort of thing. And so we turn our eyes to Hollywood or Omaha or Washington (certainly not some foreign city) to wait for the Messiah.Maybe He will deliver something even better than we can imagine.Maybe He will surprise us. (In fact, we know he will.)We live in an era of carts before horses pay before performance, sex before marriage and victory celebrations before the final gun, which is what you get when you O.D. on The Little Drummer Boy during Advent. Wait. Prepare. Bring something Christmas.Anything is possible when He comes. But He hasnt come this time. Yet.
I listen to "December" by George Winston on the 1st Sunday of Advent (and many more times throughout the month). There is something .... perfect .... about the recording for me -- not a false note, I guess. We save the Messiah for Christmas Day, which usually involves a long drive from NJ to western PA or OH.
What Advent traditions do you have?Yesterday I got out the Christmas albums. My faves: Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, the Vienna Boys Choir.I got down the Christmas music and put it on the piano. My faves: O Holy Night, White Christmas, Chestnuts Roasting on an Open FIre, Huron Carol, Stille Nacht, Ihr Kinderlein Kommet, etc.I got out the tapes of Cuddles and Tuckie. I'll listen while I make cookies.
Off topic, with apologies:In today's online version of National Catholic Reporter John Allen reports on Pope Benedict's "De Caritate ministranda." "Whispers in the Loggia" gives the full text of this document.I fear that this document will have a regrettable impact on the work of Catholic Relief Services. Can some knowledgeable person take a look at this document and say whether tere is reason to be disturbed by it?
Bernard --It looks to me as if there are two movements operating here. First, the recent reorganization of the financial activities within the Vatican, especially "the Vatican Bank" which has received so much negative press recently because of the dirty deallings it became involved in (even including some Mafia money-laundering!). This probably inspired the Pope to make it clear that there must be transparency in charitable institutions, that donations must go to what the donor says they are for, and that the bishops must oversee these organizations in some detail and make their information available to the Vatican -- even down to employees "profiles". Sounds ominous, but such a big job I don't see how the Church can afford the man-power. Second, it seems as though the Vatican, in discovering the digital world, now realizes that it is possible to organize the Church in even more exquisite detail than before. See the new spying system at the Vatican itself -- from January on the powers that be will be able to tell just who is literally where in Vatican City. Even bishops will have to check in electronically! See LaStampa's recent "Big Brother Comes to the Vatican".http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/the-vatican/detail/articolo/vatican... I don't think all this is what the Good Lord had in mind. (Itneeds its own thread.)
Anne, you just gave me an idea! Imagine that, as part of confirmation (or of baptism), people have an implant placed under their skin that would measure their physical characteristics and report to their pastor or bishop. For example, it could check compliance with the rule "no orgasm outside marriage". The state of the implant could be verified before giving people communion; and it could be reset at confession. It might also detect pregnancies and perhaps, some day, abortions. Such a device may be too expensive to be practical quite yet, but it could become inexpensive soon! Then, just think of the possibilities! Finally the Catholic church would be able to weed out the chaff and reserve sacraments to the worthy or the repentant!
Bernard - do you have specific concerns about how Catholic Relief Services would be affected by this new law? At first reading, I don't see that it will have much of an impact, but perhaps it would. Could the Catholic Campaign for Human Development also be a target here? I think/hope not, but perhaps this motu proprio could be used to further regulate its activities.Luke, sorry for the digression. Regarding your topic: I'm generally in favor of Christmas music in all its splendid variety, including at this time of year, but I do think we also need to consciously work to "carve out" some specifically Advent awareness and spirituality during this time of year. It's not particularly easy for most of us to make a connection between "Santa Baby" or "I'm gettin' nuttin' for Christmas" with the end-times Gospel that was read in church yesterday.
I do think we also need to consciously work to carve out some specifically Advent awareness and spirituality during this time of year. ------Something a bit pecksniffian about that, imho. Why not let people enjoy the season instead of trying to turn it into something frightening? Don't sing amusing songs! Concentrate instead on the "end-times."
Gerelyn, Speaking for myself, I will enjoy the Christmas season. Which runs from Dec. 24 through Jan. 6. Forever. When English kings enjoyed their stag hunts and scrumptious feasts, they were said to be "keeping Christmas," and they did it in the run-up to Twelfth Night, a/k/a Epiphany. The season we are now in, Advent, is a time of preparation for Christmas. I know Americans love to cut to the chase, but it's weird to pitch out the Christmas tree on Dec. 25 and being glad "that's over." Which is what happens to so many of the unprepared.
Its the first Sunday of Advent. In our house that means the Christmas music has started. In our house everything, including music, will happen at the latest time possible such that everything is ready for Christmas Eve. Right now it's pretty much business as usual. A little more than usual thinking about charitable giving; some vague awareness that we should try to remember to read the church bulletin to find the information about some reconciliation service that is presumably announced in there; and some early shopping for those who will need to have their gifts shipped overseas. Otherwise, nada. Music and music sheets will come out around the 23rd, and we'll have a domestic rehearsal sometime on the 23rd or morning of the 24th.In the meantime, there are already plenty of Christmas music and decorations on the streets and in the subway. We don't need more of that at home, or we risk getting sick of it before Christmas.
My Advent musical choice -- very ordinary, but not ordinarily surpassable: J.S. Bach BWV 140, the cantata Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme. Here's Nikolaus Harnoncourt's version:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sj-NKqR0twI'd like to have posted John Eliot Gardiner's version but it's not in the public domain.And when you get on to real Christmas music (that is, Christmas to Epiphany (which falls on January 6, though Rome doesn't quite get it), try JSB's Christmas Oratorio, actually 6 cantatas for the season.
Nicholas - I also love Wachet auf.Regarding the church calendar and Christmas: Epiphany still falls on January 6. And it is classified, iirc, as a holy day of obligation. Thus, if you happen to live in a place that celebrates Epiphany every year on January 6 (see the sentence immediately following this one for more clarification on this), you would be expected to go to church that day, per the rules and regs for holy days of obligation. However, the church calendar also extends permission for Epiphany to be moved to whatever Sunday falls between January 2nd and 8th, and that is what we do in the US. (Many dioceses in the US do the same for Ascension). Whether there are countries or dioceses that celebrate Epiphany every year on the 6th, regardless of the day of the week on which it falls, I don't know. The church actually provides a set of readings and liturgical texts for the 2nd Sunday of Christmas Season for such places (the Gospel is the opening passage from John, "In the beginning was the Word ..."), but we never get to use them in the US. As it happens, in 2013, the Sunday between January 2nd and 8th falls on January 6th, so it all kind of works out this year :-)I also want to note that, according to the church calendar, Christmas season ends, not on Epiphany, but on the Baptism of the Lord, which most years is celebrated the Sunday after Epiphany (except when Epiphany is celebrated on January 8th, in which case Baptism of the Lord is the Monday immediately following). Christmas season, to be technical, begins on Evening Prayer I of Christmas Day, which would be prayed on the evening of December 24th but is considered properly part of Christmas Day, until Evening Prayer II of Baptism of the Lord. Of course, y'all can start and stop celebrating whenever you want :-)
In days of yore, we were told Christmas ended with the feast of the Purification (aka Candlemas, aka Presentation of the Lord), February 2nd. Has the Church now shortened the season? http://usccb.org/bible/readings/020213.cfmWe were told to leave our Christmas decorations up until then. (And to watch Bishop Sheen instead of Milton Berle.) (And not to add the Magi to the crib scene until Epiphany.)The Puritanical urge to dampen and truncate the celebration is powerful.
Glad you've found a way to celebrate the season that is to your taste, Tom. And I liked your reference to the Stag. (Sometimes I think the Puritans' hatred of Christmas had to do with all the uncomfortable reminders of the Old Ones, including Cernunnos the Stag, Lord of the Hunt. All the mythic/pagan memories come to the fore when we sing and dance carols, deck the halls, hang the mistletoe, eat the feast, drink the spirits, light the candles, etc., etc.)The Song of AmerginI am a stag of seven tines,I am a wide flood on a plain,I am a wind on the deep waters,I am a shining tear of the sun,I am a hawk on a cliff,I am fair among flowers,I am a god who sets the head afire with smoke.I am a battle waging spear,I am a salmon in the pool,I am a hill of poetry,I am a ruthless boar,I am a threatening noise of the sea,I am a wave of the sea,Who but I knows the secrets of the unhewn dolmen ?-- http://www.lugodoc.demon.co.uk/CERNUNOS.HTM
Jim Pauwels:Perhaps I have misunderstood you. The Solemnity of the Epiphany was never a holy day in the United States (unlike the Ascension), no matter on what day of the week it fell. Moving it to the Sunday between 2 and 8 January, however awkward, at least ensures a fitting observance of this principal feast that was denied to it previously in the US.Yes, 6 January is still a holy day in many countries no matter the day of the week on which it falls (including Vatican City State.) I put out my Nativity figures late on Christmas Eve, leaving a place for the Christ Child until after returning from Midnight Mass. I keep them in place till 13 January, which was the Octave Day of Epiphany before the Calendar reform.I once heard Cardinal AUGUSTIN Mayer, OSB, then Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship (mid-1980s), express his complete disagreement with the post-conciliar reform of the Calendar. With one exception! He was happy that St. Monica had been transferred from 4 May to 27 August, the day before the feast of St. Augustine.
Interesting item from the venerable Catholic Encyclopedia on the observance of Epiphany in the good old days. (A shame the traditionalists don't demand a return to this custom.)http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03724b.htm"Abraham Ecchelensis (Labbe, II, 402) quotes the Constitutions of the Alexandrian Church for a dies Nativitatis et Epiphani in Nican times; Epiphanius (Hr., li, ed. Dindorf, 1860, II, 483) quotes an extraordinary semi-Gnostic ceremony at Alexandria in which, on the night of 5-6 January, a cross-stamped Kor was carried in procession round a crypt, to the chant, "Today at this hour Kor gave birth to the Eternal"; John Cassian records in his "Collations" (X, 2 in P.L., XLIX, 820), written 418-427, that the Egyptian monasteries still observe the "ancient custom".(The article on Christmas is full of delicious tidbits: see, e.g., kindsfuss in The Yule Log section.)
"Perhaps I have misunderstood you. The Solemnity of the Epiphany was never a holy day in the United States (unlike the Ascension), no matter on what day of the week it fell. "Hi, John Page, I probably didn't say it quite right. Here is what the Universal Norms on the Liturgical Year and the Calendar says:"7. Where the Solemnities of the Epiphany, the Ascension and the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ are not observed as Holydays of Obligation, they should be assigned to a Sunday as their proper day in this manner:"a) The Epiphany is assigned to the Sunday that falls between January 2 and January 8"I'm (ahem) not (quite) old enough to have personally experienced the pre-post-Conciliar calendar - well, not old enough for it to have made an impression on me. I have no doubt Gerelyn is right about when Christmas season used to end. I've also heard that Advent was six weeks, there was an octave after Pentecost - all sorts of things were different. I just Googled "Septuagesima" to bone up on what that was all about. I find the existing calendar confusing enough; I expect the old one was not for the timid-hearted!
Bernard Dauenhauer, Catholic Relief Services is a member of Caritas Internationalis. You may recall that there was some uproar when the Vatican refused to give its nihil obstat for the re-election of Lesley-Anne Knight to a second term as head of Caritas Internationlis. "Romes reasons for failing to allow the re-appointment of Dr Knight as secretary general of the Rome-based Caritas Internationalis (CI) are given in a letter sent by the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone SDB, to all the worlds episcopal conferences and seen this week by The Tablet.During the next four years particular attention will have to be given to harmonising the theological dimension of Caritas Internationalis with its role as an organisation operating on the international stage, says the three-page letter, dated 15 February. It adds that the next CI secretary general will also need to improve communication with other ecclesial bodies and with the dicasteries of the Roman Curia that have an interest in CI activities. The letter, which was also sent to bishops responsible for the 165 member charities that make up the Caritas confederation, further indicates that the advocacy work that Caritas carries out must be better coordinated in strict cooperation with the Holy See, which is specifically competent in this regard http://www.thetablet.co.uk/article/15956The new Motu Proprio may be part of this program which seems to be directed at strengthening the "Catholic identity" of charities and exercising greater control over them
I look for online advent calendars ... http://povcrystal.blogspot.com/2012/12/online-advent-calendars.htmlListen to Christmas-ish music ... http://povcrystal.blogspot.com/search?q=Make+we+joy+now+in+this+fest+
John H. and Bernard --I read somewhere that the Vatican is even concerned that Caritas has some common projects with groups like the Gates Foundation, but the Vatican disapproves of some of the Gates projects. Hmm. (If I'm not mistaken Melinda Gates is/was Catholic.) Wonder what this portends. Surely it must be OK to join in projects with people with whom we disagree in some ways. Or does the Vatican think it should boss them too?
I like the way Dennis Morgan sings "O Little Town of Bethlehem" in Christmas in Connecticut.(And the way Bing Crosby sings "White Christmas" in Holiday Inn.)(And the way the boys choir sings in The Bishop's Wife.)
Gerelyn - I agree on all three points - especially Dennis Morgan. I never particularly cared for that song until I heard that rendition. It's an underrated film in general.
That much Christmas music for that much time would give my diabetes a severe sugar overload.
I have a ton of Christmas CDs and digital downloads; I enjoy them all- from Johnny Cash to Lady Gaga. But, honestly, my favorite songs are a couple of anti-Christmas songs: The Pogues' Fairytale of New York and The Kinks' Father Christmas. It's not that I'm a Grinch, I just really like the music.
I've downloaded some really nice Advent instrumentals for getting into the season, but I listen to Trans Siberian Orchestra any chance I get. When we get to Christmas Eve, it's time for Boney M, discovered by my wife's family in Massachusetts. I introduced Hanukkah Blessings by Barenaked Ladies to a Jewish co-worker, who has used it to open his family's holy days at home.


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26 Oct 2011 10:56 AM #1
Unanswered: Microsoft Visual Studio
Do you have any plugins that work with Microsoft Visual Studio 2010?
I searched on the NuGet website (within Visual Studio) and did not see any.
26 Oct 2011 6:07 PM #2
Nope. I use R# for a better JavaScript experience in VS, but intellisense is lacking for Ext JS.
26 Oct 2011 6:27 PM #3
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Broadcast Technology: Where Does It Go Next?
Broadcasting remains the lifeblood of the satellite industry, but as we enter a more fragmented broadcast landscape, the impact of the new environment on satellite and broadcasters themselves remains uncertain.
To stay relevant in a landscape dominated by multiple devices with access to video content, broadcasters will need to be very savvy with their strategies and technology investments. In this exclusive broadcast roundtable, key technology executives from four major broadcasters discuss changing landscape plans, where they will be investing in technology, as well as their future demands for satellite. Taking part are Dany Harrison, chair of Technology Strategy Board, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC); Cécile Leveaux, CTO, Euronews; Francois Schmitt, deputy managing director, Broadcast & New Media, Eurosport; and Mike Donovan, senior vice president of Engineering and Satellite Distribution, Scripps Networks Interactive.
VIA SATELLITE: What are the major technology/infrastructure challenges facing your organization this year?
Harrison: We just completed the deployment of a new architecture for our network, what we call our 'NGCN' (Next Generation Converged Network). We are connecting all of our production centers across Canada on a high-speed, fiber-based, bi-directional network. This new network allows us to search and browse and drag and drop from any site to any other site. The next big step for us will be our media asset management strategy to fully transfer to a file-based environment. It is like connecting the dots. All of our centers are pretty much file-based, but now we have to connect them together, and that is our next big challenge. In a world of different technologies, everyone is trying to push for their technology to become the standard. This is not a new debate. In a Media Asset Management (MAM) environment, when you have to connect systems and content, it is one thing to create content, but it is another matter to know it has been created at a remote site, that you can have access to, that all the rights are cleared and that you can drag and drop and repurpose it for your own usage. That is a big challenge for any broadcaster or content provider right now. We are designing an overall MAM strategy fit for us. We will then work with the technology providers on a timeframe of 12 to 18 months.
Leveaux: We have two big projects this year. The first one could be described as a moving project, as we are moving into a new building in two years. We use this new building as an opportunity to modify our organization. So, we will have more journalists in contact with the end-users. Today, our journalists' jobs are to produce content and deliver it for broadcast. Now, these journalists need to have a direct connection with the customer so they can see the quality of their work. We will use this building project to carry out these changes.
The other major project is looking to implement a new product management system, similar to what goes on in traditional industries other than broadcasting. We are managing this new system, which is not just about media asset management, but also about managing the production side of things. For example, we can automatically assign different content to customers. With this kind of system, we can publish automatically to different platforms. We currently have 500 videos that we send to customers each day, so we need to rationalize that and have a new system. It will help us reduce costs.
Schmitt: The first major challenge is to move Eurosport to HD and even though we have been in HD since 2008, we have to change the infrastructure throughout Europe in order to do this. The current challenge is to have a complete HD platform. The next challenge is to continue to develop our four-screen strategy. We are working on our ability to broadcast our TV channel anywhere on any screen. We have developed our player on the iPad and the iPhone. The plan now is to bring that to the connected TV.
Donovan: We are focusing on disaster recovery this year, particularly in terms of the linear broadcast services. We are finding that we want to harden what we are already doing, and we also want to take advantage of some of the file-based workflow opportunities that are available. When a lot of these disaster recovery systems were put in place, it was not quite as easy to move content around. There was still a huge amount of tape-based content, and even though it was being archived as digital files, it was more and more difficult to move the files around. Now, with much larger broadband connections available and much more ubiquitous file formats between servers, it is possible to create a disaster recovery scenario that is purely file-based content. In theory, it could happen anywhere. If you were to have all of your content in some cloud-based storage, now your disaster recovery can be available at any number of different locations, rather than having just one dedicated facility that provides your disaster recovery. That is a major thing that we are looking at in 2012.
VIA SATELLITE: How do you see satellite technology fitting into the broadcast landscape? How will it work alongside fiber?
Leveaux: I think we need to have a global approach. We can't have a country-by-country approach when dealing with this. In Western Europe and North America, we are moving more towards Internet networks. I think in two to three years, we will move towards that. But, I think satellite will still be relevant. We still need both systems. In France, for example, only around 10 million people can see television from Internet systems. It is a question of time. In the next five to 10 years, we will need both in Western Europe, North America and in Asia, but in Africa we will need much more satellite. When I see that we have a big audience in countries like Russia and Ukraine, the need for satellite is strong. In 10 years, we might be able to say that we don't need Hot Bird anymore, but certainly not for a while.
Harrison: Canada is a very large country. So, despite the decision with Canada's NGCN project to move more towards fiber, satellite is still very important to us, particularly when connecting to distant remote sites or for international distribution/contribution of our content. Being in a file-based environment, doing live production and using the drag and drop functionality among our production sites requires bi-directional connectivity and low latency within our operations. Our backbone now relies more on fiber because of that.
Schmitt: It is becoming a mix between satellite and fiber optic delivery. We are using the combination more since Eurosport is based in several different countries and we are using more than 20 different satellite transponders. If we want to broadcast everywhere across several territories, then clearly satellite is the best solution in order to reach the different cable head-ends and ingest Eurosport everywhere. It is true that we are using the fiber optic link for contribution, as the costs are lower. It may be more efficient in terms of quality of service also.
Donovan: I think satellite still has a really important place in broadcast distribution. It is hard to imagine a more efficient point-to-multipoint distribution system. For example, my signals for HGTV, Food Network and Travel Channel (HD) go to several thousand cable-receiving head-ends. The thought of having to deliver to all of those receiving points over terrestrial fiber would be very difficult. A lot of the cable operators are inter-connecting. Comcast and Cox have big inter-connections, so that brings down the numbers of individual sites that I need to broadcast to. But, there are still going to be a lot of smaller operators that have to take it from satellite. If they are not able to receive it over satellite, they are not going to be able to receive at all. So, certainly fiber is important to my distribution plan, but I see it as being more incremental than something that is going to replace satellite entirely.
VIA SATELLITE: Considering the migration to fiber in your environment, do you see your demands for satellite capacity increasing or decreasing?
Harrison: Our demands for satellite capacity were going down, but they have now stabilized. With the presence of fiber, we now have a lot of satellite usage that has been replaced with fiber. However, we will always need satellite distribution — it will co-exist with fiber. HD has not changed much the demands for satellite capacity, although when we design the new architecture, we will have to take that into consideration. But with compression technologies evolving, it has not had much impact in terms of the design of the new infrastructure.
Leveaux: We are on 33 different satellites. We also broadcast in the HD format and have about 3.5 Mbps of capacity and 11 languages for one video feed.
Schmitt: Our demands for satellite capacity have been pretty stable. Even though we have strong needs for capacity, the use of newer compression technologies means the actual demands for capacity have not increased. With this optimization of the contribution, things have not really changed.
Donovan: In terms of domestic satellite in the United States, we have two transponders that handle our SD and HD. I think that is going to be adequate for the foreseeable future. We made a change two years ago. We moved very quickly into MPEG4 and high order modulation on our HD feeds. That effectively expanded the number of channels we could fit on a transponder from three to five. I think we could go as high as having 10 HD channels on that transponder. Advances like that in compression and modulation have made a big difference. With as much HD as we see in the market today, I think that took the pressure from a capacity standpoint. With MPEG2 and standard modulation, I think we would have seen some capacity problems with the amount of HD that is in the market right now.
VIA SATELLITE: What are your current plans to provide content in different formats and have the ability to push this content out in a more flexible way?
Harrison: The approach is to store at the highest quality possible. We will then repurpose, reformat and adapt quality for a specific platform, in order to have the required quality for the desired platform. We now live in a world where we push our content on TV broadcast, radio broadcast, apps, webcasts, smartphones, connected TV and so on. We have to bring the right quality and the right format to the right platform.
Leveaux: Each customer defines their own format, so this can create real technical challenges. We are on 95 percent of connected TVs, for example, and each platform has its own format. It is important for a broadcaster to define the distribution model. We had DVB 10 years ago, but we need something similar to happen now with these new platforms. If we don't act now, we won't survive. We have less distribution revenues and higher distribution costs — it can't work like that. Each customer has its own platform and formats, so the situation requires a great effort on the broadcasters' side. This may be an investment for the future, but it is urgent to harmonize platforms and systems.
Schmitt: We are using two different technologies to broadcast our content — streaming (Silverlight) and iOS. So, we use two different formats to broadcast Eurosport in MPEG4 on different devices.
Donovan: From the disaster recovery market's standpoint, moving broadcast-quality files through networks is really important and becoming easier and easier to do. I think adaptive bit-rate streaming is the game changer in sending content to an end-user. Adaptive bit-rate streaming means that content can be encoded and delivered in many different resolutions and bit-rates depending on the technology that is being consumed. For example, you may have a very high bit-rate version of that content for connected TVs delivered across wired broadband Internet to the home. At the same time, you may have a lower resolution version of that content at a lower bit-rate that is being delivered over a 3G network to iPhones or Android phones. To some degree, this situation presents the same content and viewer experience, but by using adaptive bit-rate streaming, the user's video player can intelligently decide the connection speed, processing speed, battery life and the various things that are important to that player. That information is then passed to the server, which delivers the appropriate content stream.
VIA SATELLITE: Have you been satisfied with the development of compression technologies? What other technology changes are you looking for?
Harrison: We have migrated most of our network to MPEG4. Compression technology has been a game changer, along with display technology and storage capacity. The three combined have allowed broadcasters to move forward very rapidly. These technical developments play an important role in both the consumer market and the professional market. IT technology is now widely spread in the production environment.
Leveaux: There are two responses to this question. Today, it is very expensive for Euronews to go to HD. For us to have double the amount of capacity on satellites is not a good value equation. For Internet and connected TV, it is another world for us. Today, the technology is good and we are able to distribute effectively in HD format. We have the quality to stream in HD, but for broadcast I think we need to work on compression technologies to reduce costs. I don't understand the economic model for broadcasters moving to HD. What is the revenue model in return? For us, it is a big problem.
Schmitt: We launched the HD version of Eurosport in 2008. It is true that there were extra costs in terms of contribution. With the opportunity of MPEG4 and the new efficiencies regarding compression, it is clearly a big advantage. We now have roughly the same costs in HD that we used to have in SD in terms of contribution. It has been very useful for us to optimize these costs.
Donovan: I have been very satisfied with the development of compression technologies. I am consistently amazed that you can take a 1.5 GB HD television signal and compress it down to 6 Mbps to 8 Mbps and have high-quality pictures that come out the other end. I think that is a real credit to the people that are writing these algorithms. Can it get better? Absolutely. But, I know the manufacturers that are working in that space, are continually tweaking the algorithms to try and get higher quality with fewer bits. Year-over-year, I see continued incremental improvement in that area.


text:
A yard sale raises $727.27 to benefit Lane Goodwin and Austin Pellet.
Austin Pellet is 12-year-old from Bowling Green. When he was just two months old, doctors discovered Austin was born with Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency, a genetic disease that can lead to liver failure at any time.
According to the organizers of the event, Austin's family received $200 to make a trip to Cincinnati so he can get the treatment he needs.
The rest of the money will go to Lane Goodwin who's fighting cancer.
The yard sale was held at the Elite Auto Repair Center on Louisville Rd.
Katelyn Arnold helped organize the event.
She says she wanted to help because her sister is handicapped, and she knows what it's like to be in and out of hospitals.
"We know how expensive all the medical bills are. We know how they feel, with all the situations. So, we are just trying to help them get what they need," she says.
80 percent of the proceeds went to the Goodwin family and 20 percent of the proceeds went to the Pellet family.
The organizers for the yard sale say they want to do more events to help Austin Pellet.