text:
Trucks carrying about 120,000 balsam wreaths from Maine arrived at Arlington National Cemetery Saturday, Dec. 14. The Columbia Falls-based nonprofit Wreaths Across America expects to ship 470,000 to 500,000 wreaths to adorn veterans' graves this holiday season. Next year, for Arlington's 150th anniversary, the organization wants to place a wreath on every headstone -- about 230,000 of them.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) -- A snow storm is blanketing the Northeast after doing the same to the Upper Midwest
The wintry late fall storm is expected to drop a foot of snow or more in the Northeast over the weekend.
Road crews are on high alert and airlines are canceling flights.
Utilities are bracing for power outages, airports are preparing for major delays and road crews are on high alert.
Local authorities are warning of slick roads as holiday shoppers head out to stores.
The National Weather Service says 6 to 12 inches of snow is expected in New England, with as much as 14 inches possible along the Maine coast. Areas north and west of New York City and central Pennsylvania could get 8 inches or more. About half a foot is forecast in parts of Ohio, where snow began falling overnight.
Multiple accidents have been reported on roadways throughout the Midwest and Northeast, while airports report hundreds of cancellations.
Airlines canceled nearly 1,200 flights because of the storm, including almost 375 flights into and out of Newark, N.J., and 189 at Chicago's O'Hare airport.
ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) -- Tens of thousands of wreaths made in Maine have been laid at graves at Arlington National Cemetery.
Trucks carrying about 120,000 balsam wreaths began rolling toward the Washington, D.C.-area cemetery Dec. 8. They arrived Saturday.
All told, the Columbia Falls-based nonprofit Wreaths Across America expects to ship 470,000 to 500,000 wreaths to adorn veterans' graves across the country and overseas this holiday season.
U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King of Maine say the Senate has passed a resolution designating Saturday as "Wreaths Across America Day."
The wreath-laying tradition began in 1992, when the owner of Worcester Wreath Co. ended up with extra wreaths and shipped them to Arlington.
Next year, for Arlington's 150th anniversary, the organization wants to place a wreath on every headstone -- about 230,000 of them.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The bipartisan budget measure that was easily approved by the House earlier this week appears to have the 60 votes necessary to clear the Senate. That's according to officials in both parties.
But unlike in the House, significantly more Senate Republicans are expected to oppose the measure than vote for it.
Overall, the legislation erases a total of $63 billion in across-the-board cuts in the next two budget years, and specifies $85 billion in savings over a decade. By raising spending levels, it's designed to eliminate the threat of another budget shutdown like the one this fall.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has announced a test vote for Tuesday on the measure.
Joining the ranks of the bill's opponents today was the Veterans of Foreign wars. The group cited a provision that would reduce cost of living increases for military retirees until they reach 62. It says that could mean a total loss of $80,000 for a sergeant first class who retires at the age of 40.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Rep. Paul Ryan says his 2-year budget agreement with Democrats is the equivalent of taking a few steps in the right direction.
For Republicans lacking a clear national leader, the deal also may be a way to span the GOP's divide.
And it could put the Wisconsin Republican -- his party's 2012 vice presidential nominee -- in the role of bridge-builder before next year's congressional elections.
The budget plan approved by the House capped a year in which Ryan pushed his fellow conservatives to recognize the realities of divided government.
Ryan could eventually try to succeed House Speaker John Boehner or jump into the 2016 White House race.
Some conservatives oppose the deal but it could help him make the case that Ryan can get things done in divided government.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. military officials say a Chinese warship nearly collided with an American Navy guided missile cruiser operating in international waters.
U.S. Pacific Fleet says it happened Dec. 5 in the South China Sea, and that the USS Cowpens maneuvered to avoid the collision.
The State Department has raised the matter at a high level with the Chinese government.
The incident comes amid heightened tension over China's growing assertiveness in the region.
Despite strenuous objections from Washington, Beijing recently declared a new air defense zone over parts of the East China Sea.
Pacific Fleet says it's not uncommon for navies to operate in close proximity and that's why it is paramount they all follow international standards for maritime "rules of the road."
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- While Americans are abuzz about Amazon's plans to use self-guided drones to deliver packages, most future unmanned aircraft may operate far from large population centers.
Experts point to agriculture as the most promising commercial market for drones because the technology is a perfect fit for large-scale farms and rural areas where privacy and safety issues are less of a concern.
Already, farmers, researchers and companies are developing unmanned aircraft equipped with cameras and sensors to survey crops, monitor for disease or precision-spray pesticides and fertilizers.
Farmers say the technology could revolutionize agriculture by boosting crop health, improving field management practices, reducing costs and increasing yields.
The Federal Aviation Administration does not allow drones' commercial use. But next year, the agency plans to propose a rule for small unmanned aircraft.
CENTENNIAL, Colo. (AP) -- Authorities say an 18-year-old who wounded a fellow student before killing himself at a suburban Denver school entered the building with a shotgun, a machete and three incendiary devices in his backpack, and had ammunition strapped to body.
Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson says Karl Pierson was motived by retaliation against a faculty member -- probably a librarian -- when he opened fire Friday at Arapahoe High School.
The sheriff says it appears the school librarian was the initial target but that Pierson planned to hurt multiple people.
Robinson says the librarian is leader of the speech team and Pierson was a member. He says the librarian disciplined Pierson in September but didn't kick him off the team.
Robinson also says Pierson bought the shotgun legally Dec. 6 at a local store.
The sheriff identified the wounded student as 17-year-old Claire Esther Davis. Robinson says Davis was seated with a friend near the door Pierson used to enter the school when Pierson shot her at point-blank range.
He says Davis wasn't a specific, intended target.
DENVER (AP) -- One day after an 18-year-old gunman critically wounded a student and killed himself at a Colorado high school, more than 200 people gathered in Denver to remember those killed in the Connecticut school shootings.
The crowd at Cheesman Park sang and offered prayers and rang a bell for the 20 children and six adults killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School one year ago today.
Twenty-six people rang a bell for the 20 students and six adults killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
The crowd joined together to sing "Amazing Grace."
Among those attending was Megan Sullivan, who lost her brother, Alex, in the 2012 Aurora movie theater shootings. Sullivan offered a message of hope for those touched by school violence.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) -- The arrest of a Kansas man accused of trying to bring a bomb into a Wichita airport marked the latest in a string of undercover operations that have become a successful, widely used domestic counterterrorism tactic.
Court documents detail six months of alleged conversation between Terry Lee Loewen and undercover FBI agents leading up to Loewen's Friday arrest.
The discussions began as vague sentiments about committing "violent jihad" against the U.S., then turned into a plot in which the agents recruited Loewen to use his access to a the airport for a martyrdom operation.
The FBI insists such stings are a vital, legal tool for averting potentially deadly attacks -- and juries have returned tough sentences.
But defense attorneys and others say the tactics involve entrapment and violate civil liberties.
NEW YORK (AP) -- A man who fell onto the tracks in front of a New York City subway train survived when police say he dove into the deep roadbed between the rails as the train passed over him.
Police say Ralph Mercado was hospitalized in stable condition with only a bruised hand after Saturday's hair-raising incident at Union Station in Manhattan.
Witnesses saw Mercado screaming for help as the train rolled toward him. Suzannah Troy told the New York Post there wasn't enough time for onlookers to act.
Police don't know exactly how Mercado, who's in his 50s, ended up in front of the northbound R train.
MAYVILLE, N.Y. (AP) -- Police say a pair of New York teenagers forced their 23-month-old child to smoke marijuana.
The Chautauqua County sheriff's office tells The Buffalo News that the toddler's parents and grandfather allegedly helped or watched the toddler smoke marijuana from a lighted bowl on Dec. 5 in an apartment in western New York.
Authorities say 17-year-old Jessica Kelsey, 18-year-old George Kelsey and Jessica's 54-year-old father, Don Baker, were arraigned Friday on charges of second-degree reckless endangerment and endangering the welfare of a child. They are being held in lieu of $10,000 cash or $20,000 bond.
The toddler and another sibling are in the care of Child Protective Services.
CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- Twinkling lights, decorated trees and bustling campgrounds. Those are signs of the Christmas season in Campbellsville, Ky., where the Amazon.com distribution center recruits an armada of RV owners as seasonal workers to help fill holiday orders.
They're dubbed the "CamperForce" by the world's largest online retailer. The hundreds of temporary workers are assigned packing, sorting and collection duties at Amazon facilities in Kentucky, Kansas and Nevada, roles meant to keep orders flowing during the yuletide rush.
Swarms of workers take up temporary residence in campgrounds. For many, it's another short-term stint on a nonstop journey. It's a lifestyle and mindset for the retirees, empty nesters and younger parents who shuck traditions of home and work to roam from campsite to campsite, job to job.
The stints last about three months.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Tire-maker Michelin says it is recalling about 1.2 million tires sold in the U.S. because an increasing number are experiencing tread loss or rapid air loss.
The tires are commonly used for pickup trucks, heavy-duty vans, small RVs and commercial light trucks. The Greenville, S.C-based company says no deaths or injuries have been reported because of the tires.
The tires, known as Michelin LTX M/S tires, were manufactured between January 2010 and June 2012. They were sold as original equipment on some vehicles and as new replacement tires.
The company says that fewer than 200 of the tires have been returned by customers. Owners can have them replaced at Michelin stores for no charge.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) -- A federal appeals court has cleared the way for companies in New Mexico, Missouri and Iowa to resume domestic horse slaughter.
In an order Friday, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver removed an emergency injunction that had blocked the plants from opening.
The Humane Society of the United States and other animal protection groups appealed after a federal judge in Albuquerque rejected their lawsuit alleging the Department of Agriculture failed to conduct proper environmental studies when it issued permits for the slaughterhouses.
An attorney for Valley Meat Co. of Roswell, N.M., and Rains Natural Meats of Gallatin, Mo., says by lifting the stay, the appellate court is saying it's unlikely the protection groups would win their appeal.
Still, attorney Blair Dunn says it could be months before the court makes a final ruling on the animal protection groups' appeal.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- An attorney for the woman found dead in a San Francisco General Hospital stairwell is disputing a coroner's report that her death was probably due to a chemical imbalance related to chronic alcohol abuse.
Haig Harris asserted to the San Francisco Chronicle (http://bit.ly/1dep8HS) Saturday that Lynne Spalding's death wasn't related to alcoholism and insisted that she died of starvation or dehydration.
He said the mention of alcoholism "demeans the memory of this woman, without telling us when she died, how long she was out there suffering."
Spalding's body was found in a locked stairwell Oct. 8, 17 days after she went missing from her hospital room.
David Perry, a family spokesman, also denied that Spalding had a drinking problem.
A call to the medical examiner's office was not immediately returned.


text:
I want to calculate the escape velocity of a rocket, standing on the surface of Ganymede (moon of Jupiter) and trying to leave Ganymede.
My thinking was, the kinetic energy $E_{\text{KIN}}$ must be equal or bigger then the potential energy $E_{\text{POT}}$. So $E_{\text{KIN}}\geq E_{\text{POT}}$
Assuming $m$ is the mass of the rocket and $M_G$ is the mass of the moon Ganymede and $M_R$ is the radius of the moon and $v$ is the velocity of the rocket and $G$ is the Gravitational constant we can set
$$G \frac{mM_G}{R^2_G}=\frac{mv^2}{2R_G}$$ which results in
$$\sqrt{2G \frac{M_G}{R_G}}=v$$
The first question, that I have is: Is $G$ a constant only for earth or does it apply to all other planets, too? (If it does not apply, how do I calculate it?)
If you have a look at the following picture you can see, that the rocket does not only have to overcome Ganymede but Jupiter himself, too:
So I built the formula this way:
$$G \frac{M_J}{R^2} + G \frac{M_G}{R^2_G}=\frac{v^2}{2R_G}$$ where $M_J$ is the mass of Jupiter and $R$ is the distance from Jupiter's center to the starting point of the rocket.
Does this sound right?

subset: commoncrawl


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I'm constantly looking for new systems to either steal from or at least try out for a one-shot. What systems are currently available that feature GM-less mechanics? Further, do any of these systems provide advice for adopting their mechanics to other systems (or are just easy to adapt because of the nature of the mechanics)?
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Universalis gives everyone pennies to "pay" to make a thing true. The points replenish by doing things the system wants to encourage, such as getting involved in conflicts, win and lose. This basic dynamic can be adapted in a variety of ways.
Fiasco has a fixed number of dice available to roll. They serve as a pacing mechanic, with the story twist happening when they're half used, and when they're all used the game session ends.
Polaris splits GM authority among all the other players when a player's character is in the spotlight. The player opposite is responsible for presenting conflicts tailored to the spotlight player, while the rest are responsible for the impartial referee role, and for throwing in suggestions when the opposition and spotlight players need ideas.
Polaris also uses ritual phrases to negotiate conflicts, with certain phrases only being able to follow other certain phrases. The thematic effect is to give the game a stately, mythic quality. The mechanical effect is that each phrase presents the other player with a constrained set of choices for how to resolve the conflict, but importantly the constraints are built upon their prior choices, giving them high relevance to the player's goals and charging their choices with character-tailored drama.
Archipelago II (which is free to download) dispenses with dice and uses ritual phrases (similarly but differently to Polaris) to trigger twists or alterations in another player's narration. These phrases have "soft" effects that require a response from the narrating player, but don't force them to narrate something particular, so that they retain full authority over the story they're telling about their character. Ritual phrases are fixed words to speak and have defined effects: things like calling for more detail about something, asking for the player to narrate an unspecified obstacle and how they overcome it, or asking them to narrate in a different direction.
Although many of these shared-authority mechanics could be adapted to use in a GMed game, it occurred to me that the easiest way to use such mechanics would be to structure plot-specific sub-systems or minigames:
Fiasco's limited-dice mechanic could be used to structure a tournament, with one opposed roll for each match determining the specific outcome of the match, and the total sum of a player's rolls determining who wins the whole tourney. That would make match and overall tourney winning slightly decoupled: the effect would be that the player whose character rolled consistently well, even if they didn't win quite as many matches as another, could have the highest total and so "win the king's favour" and be declared the tournament winner; or there could be a by-the-matches winner and a "Best of Tourney" award to two different characters.
Similarly, using ritual phrases might be a way to structure, say, a minigame where two character have to make their case before a town's judge. The interconnections of the ritual phrases would make their arguments tactically-meaningful, and could either be the entire resolution mechanic or provide a way of vying for a bonus to the next roll to convince the judge that their side is right.
Mythic RPG is a stand-alone RPG powered by the Mythic GM Emulator, which is the generic GM "replacement" system. It works very well and a lot of good stuff can be found in the Mythic Yahoo Group or in the RPG.net threads.
Using the Mythic GM Emulator you can run just about anything you would want without needing a GM — some systems work better than others, of course, but with a little flexibility you should be good to go.
The same company also has World vs. Hero which is a two-player, non-GM game, but I don't have any experience with that game (though there is some discussion in the Yahoo Group).
A number of "indie" games are GMless:
Most of these just apportion the various GM responsibilities to different people at different times. In general, you're never going to get rid of the need for someone to do certain "GMish" things at the table, but you don't need to have a single player doing all of them all the time.
Various GMless techniques you can lift, with examples from some of the games listed above:
I'd take a hard look at Polaris, which has a track record of being adapted (Anna Kreider's game Thou Art But A Warrior uses the core Polaris mechanic but re-skins it in a cool way). Polaris has clearly defined roles that rotate with the players (protagonist, antagonist, and two supporting roles) and a system of conflict resolution that relies on specific phrases.
Funny, I've hacked Archipelago II several times and totally forgot to mention it. It is more extensible and flexible than Polaris and very easy to modify.
I'm currently running a 4E D&D campaign, and one experiment that's worked out very well for me as a DM is using Microscope to build out the history of the world. It is a completely GM-less game, and has worked incredibly well for building up a homebrew campaign settting. However, I think it can pretty painlessly be integrated not only into a DM's toolbox, but into the entire group's play of the game.
Since Microscope is about building out some chunk of world history, you could use it as a springboard for a D&D game. Build a history with a group, then drop them into the world and let them loose - in my experience, Microscope leaves those who play it with a fairly strong interest in the world that's been crafted. It could be integrated into the active play of a GM-based game I imagine, but it doesn't provide explicit suggestions on how to do so.
I would recommend you take a look at Dirty Secrets, a very interesting system dedicated to creating a modern noir. My group has had a couple of fun sessions with Dirty Secrets. Adapting to another genre would take some work, but I think it could be done. There's no GM but there is an "investigator," a role taken by a single person for the whole game. The rest of the players rotate through roles as support and / or opposition through the game. There's a lot to love about Dirty Secrets, including the fact that it knows when it is over.
I have also played, with less success, The Committee for the Exploration of Mysteries, another example of the "ritual phrases" mechanic which nobody in my group liked. They rejected the idea of being told how to play. But that doesn't mean the game wasn't interesting from a mechanical standpoint. I can't provide a link because of spam prevention.
Another game that has not been mentioned is Western City. We used it for a western city as well as our village in a Song of Ice and Fire RPG. I would use it again in such a situation: if you need to generate some NPC personalities and some events in a village to use as backdrop for the "real" game. A nice one or two session GM-less break from the regular game.
Try taking a look at Wizards' Castle Ravenloft board game. It has been a while since I played it, but each turn a player places a map tile, puts a monster in play or other action from their hand of cards, and moves some (or all, i forget) of the monsters on the board in the direction of an ally. It basically is a DM-less dungeon raid, and does a pretty good job of it. Definitely worth looking into. It is also perilous. Like with a real DM, there is a very real chance the quest will fail and you will all die.
Cosmic Patrol
Key Elements:
The rotational GMing works by, for each scene, one player takes the additional role of "Lead Narrator". To enable this to work effectively, the rules are kept very simple, limited modifiers exist, and with a large amount of randomness in the rolling. After being lead narrator for one scene, the Lead Narrator duty falls to the next player around the table.
For non-combat tasks, the lead narrator picks the relevant attribute (of 5 choices), and a modifier between +3 and –3. The Narrator also rolls 1d20 to set the target. The acting character's player rolls 1d12+1d(attribute)+ the modifier; roll higher than the d20 to succeed.
For combat tasks, it's the acting character's combat die + range modifier ±3 (Difficulty), versus the target's combat die.
The story is comprised of a group of 3 or more linked scenes, each with a narration setup to be read by the new Lead Narrator, and a list of things or beings to be dealt with in that scene. The core book and Into The Cosmos scenes are fairly linear; none have flow-chart style choices, but a new adventure book with flow based upon scene outcome is due out.
Pregenerated characters allow both faster starting in to play, and no need for Character Generation being overseen.
The very campy setting has about 20 pages of setting in a gazeteer section, designed for use on the fly, and it's pretty well vague about much of it. Just enough to really get a sense for how to build more scenarios. That the setting is campy also allows for more colorful play, and this is encouraged by use of "cues" on both scenes and PC sheets. The pregenerated characters (both Player and opponents) also have cues, most of which seem to be taken from the movies and TV shows by either borrowing a line exactly, or changing the enemy name to match the custom setting.
The focus on action scenes allows easier narration, but it is explicit that if the next scene doesn't fit, an additional, improvised scene can be added. Further, the genre, campy as it is, is overrun with short bits of cheesy dialogue to bridge one action scene to another.
"Yes And" as a game rule is both how the game really works, and its biggest drawback as a mechanic. The game works because you're not allowed, even when the lead narrator, to counter narration, except by the LN requiring a roll to succeed. Thus, the story moves on, and arguing about what's been added so far is explicitly not allowed. On the other hand, this also requires the players all agree that it's story time, not "Let's beat the GM's Thugs Time." Players out to "win" by success can narrate some pretty wild and unpleasant things; with no central authority to say "too far," players must exercise some restraint.
Plot points are used in the game. They allow players to add +1 to +3 to any roll (including the Lead Narrator's d20, if desired), add an alien, have an unseen alien attack, change the turn order for combat, recover health or armor, make additional effects besides the expected happen, or trigger plot twists.
Things that can be ported:
None is given.
The adventures need only relevant opponent stats to work with about any game system. They're simple, straightforward, and colorful.
The Plot Point mechanics are almost divorced from the others; only the modifier limit needs to change to use this with other games.
"Yes, And" is already in many games, and can easily be ported into other games that lack that explicit advice.
Rotational GMing can be ported because it's procedural, rather than explicitly mechanical
The general action mechanics can be ported as a whole, but being as simple as they are, may be unsatisfying.
The game as a whole can also readily morph into a GM-run game with no shared GMing; the setting is just enough to allow this with few difficulties.
I can suggest a look on Ars magica. The Storykeeper system favors: Each players creates and can play more than one char at same time; GM rotation for each history arch, GM also gets some PCs; Also players can swap GM position for different "assemblies" of PCs It can be used to allow parallel archs or/and different GMs working each week. Favor scenario over system;


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Our SP-site is used as a part of another non-SP site. The layout should look the same on both the SP-site and the non-SP site.
In the past, we have copy/pasted the html from the header and footer of the external site into the SharePoint master page. A preferred solution would be to include static html pages that SP can render as header and footer. That way, header and footer only need to be updated in one place. Is this possible?


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BREAKING: Senate voting to kill Kyl amendment (update: killed)
posted at 9:01 pm on May 18, 2006 by Allahpundit
It would prohibit guest-worker visas from becoming permanent. I.e., it would ensure that guests remain, you know, guests.
Naturally, they're voting on whether to kill it. Standby for results.
Update: Killed. 58-35. I'll have the roll as soon as it's up. Remember, here's what Bush said on Monday:
I support a temporary worker program that would create a legal path for foreign workers to enter our country in an orderly way, for a limited period of time. This program would match willing foreign workers with willing American employers for jobs Americans are not doing. Every worker who applies for the program would be required to pass criminal background checks. And temporary workers must return to their home country at the conclusion of their stay.
Update: Here's the roll. Eighteen Republicans voted to kill, and that doesn't include Lindsey Graham or Mel Martinez, who were absent.
Update: Reuters has the post-mortem:
The Senate killed an amendment that would have denied a chance for permanent status and eventual citizenship to illegal immigrants who have been in the country less than five years and to any future immigrants who enter the country under the guest-worker program.
Opponents said the amendment, offered by Sen. Jon Kyl, an Arizona Republican, would have gutted the bipartisan bill that allows guest workers an opportunity to seek permanent residence.
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text:
Ongaro SS Mini Compact Single Horn - 12V
Stainless Steel Mini Compact Single
12 Volt
Dimensions: 3L, 3-1/4W, 1-3/4H (7.5 x 8 x 4.5 cm)
Max Amp Draw: 3 Amps
Rating: 105 db@ 1 Meter
Stainless Steel Horns
12 Volt
Dimensions: 3L, 3-1/4W, 1-3/4H (7.5 x 8 x 4.5 cm)
Max Amp Draw: 3 Amps
Rating: 105 db@ 1 Meter
Stainless Steel Horns
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text:
Why would any nation sign treaty with Palestinians?
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text:
That's it. If so, which do you recommend?
I play on Poker Stars. Their software runs on wine just fine.
NoIQ Poker offers both 32-bit and 64-bit Linux versions of their poker client, alongside the more common Windows and Mac versions. They are not available to US players.
There are several. In addition to NoIQ that Jeffrey Blake mentioned, any poker site developed using a closs-platform technology shall work both on Windows, OS X and Linux.
For example Winamax (ex-OnGame skin, now available in France and for every European player that is not restricted to its own country) is now using the Adobe AIR platform.
So Winamax works everywhere the Adobe AIR platform is available, including on Linux.
Then there are also several rooms allowing to play directly from your browser: using either Flash or Java applets. The user experience might not be that great but at least it's "something available". (edit: I just now read your comment that you're after installed software, so playing from your browser is obviously not what you're after... But Adobe AIR mentioned above definitely counts as installed software)
I think nowadays you can run any poker software using wine. They usually don't need big frameworks like .NET or usually they download the required libraries for themselves, so I suggest you to try the desired poker software using WINE.
i used to play pokerstars using WINE, prior to blackfriday and it worked pretty well, so if you live outside the USA that should work. Right now i use a virtual machine with a windows 7 guest and play lock poker... i know thats not exactly running on linux... but its an option.


text:
30 Oct 2012 1:24 PM #1
Ext JS embedded styling is god-awful
What happened to SoC?
This is a fantastic framework in every respect bar one.
Feature request: Abstract.Component: senchaStyling: on/off
Stuff like this:
Hard-coded width's in components (textboxes, labels, everything) makes it an absolute nightmare to create self-styled forms. I even found a width=18px, not even a style attribute (textbox error icon).
SASS, whilst great for building the framework is not an end-user tool IMO. Trying to fathom dependencies is nigh on impossible. I thought I would start with nothing css-wise and add the bits I needed - Lordy, what you have to bring to get a simple alert window on screen (core, window, qtip, frame, header, form, focus, messagebox etc). How many divs can a window need!? Oh, look, now form is in there and boom, there goes my styling.This is absolutely typical of a framework that has so many options, the html output is a nasty splat.
I'm having to override labelable templates, yank styles out of ext.css using deleteRule and fiddle fiddle fiddle to get my styles right because of x-this and x-that flippin well eveywhere.
I have wasted man-weeks on this single issue and it is near as damn it the thing that will make me down tools and jump to a-nother JS-lib.
Someone invented CSS and MVC to separate style from code and markup, but here I am battling against this very problem those things were meant to solve.
Rant over.
30 Oct 2012 4:41 PM #2
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- 1258
Thank you for your honest comments, we take every comment/suggestion/etc we can get into account. My reply is for discussions.
First thing is about SASS. In my apps (Ext JS 4 and ST 2) and even other things I have done outside of the frameworks I have enjoyed using SASS. The ability to do math, nest classes, use mixins and all the stuff SASS brings to the table is great for me, just my personal opinion that using SASS has made changing colors and icons and such maks a lot of sense to me. Changing a couple variables and the theme can change drastically. I do agree that the classic blue theme is a little dated these days and something that we will be doing better in the future.
Hard coded sizing. What needs to be taken into account is where the sizes are coming from. Does a component have the width config set to something or did the style come from a layout? If you are inspecting the DOM and see it in the style attributes it doesn't necessarily mean that the width config is set somewhere but it may be the calculated width from a layout. If it comes from a layout then everything is fine and working as it needs to be but if a width config is set then it should really be evaluated if there is something else we can do I would agree with that. Apart from sizing, I would agree that anything style should go in CSS but sizing (includes some things like border, margin and padding) needs to be defined in JS to allow the layouts to properly calculate sizing for components or else you would end up with multiple browser reflows. You would have to inject the DOM elements, get sizes for everything and calculate sizes and then size everything so you have 2 writes and a read for all the components and can drastically affect performance especially in older IEs.
The HTML markup created is a hard one. If you want something to be configurable it often will mean that extra markup is going to be created to support everything you can do and it's hard to find that middle ground especially since the configurability is at a state where it's at. I think it's something that could be improved but out of scope for 4.1 and 4.2 is already scoped out so it may be a while to be able to do anything about this and may not even make it into 4.x at all at this point. I would like to say that performance is something we take very seriously and something we fight to improve on a daily basis and will always keep fighting. HTML markup is part of that performance fight.
I would actually be very interested in what you needed to do that you had to spend a large amount of time on. But working on client code I understand if you cannot share anything.Mitchell Simoens @LikelyMitch
Sencha Inc, Senior Software Engineer
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6 Nov 2012 3:02 PM #3
1. self-styled forms have always been a problem in ExtJs (maybe due to our ignorance), but becomes easier and easier each time a release comes.
2. Too many divs ? I do agree. Also SPANs. Just today, I almost posted something like : "why buttons have 2 SPANs when I do not need any icon before label ? Maybe developers have good reasons... Would I need a noIconAtAll:true. I would need something like that for every f..king really good stuff ExtJs offers. Performances could be better...
3. widths (them again...) seem fixed in DOM, but according to Mitchell they depend on layouts. So let them (layouts) doing their job. You can even align with them. Very useful.
4. You can (unfortunately) consider you'll need the whole ext.js library if you want to build complex apps
5. Too many options ? I (really) do agree.
And bugs rely on this options confusion. But end-users and developers are responsible of that.
You (and I) need something but not always. And a border not as dark as that, please. A bit sharper and padded 1px right... oups, I need a toolbar on my window ? docked bottom, dockable and hideable, but just with visbility:hidden. This is really a nightmare. And particularly for extjs dev team. But this should be enhanced. Some things like 'icon,iconcls,iconalign' could become icon:{url:'',cls:'',align,''}. What about regrouping Css for buttons : 'iconCls,arrowCls,baseCls,cls,componentCls,disabledCls,focusCls,menuActiveCls,overCls,pressedCls', but this may become a worth nightmare.
6 Nov 2012 3:32 PM #4
All good points and I understand why we are where we are.
Layouts alone I find tough enough. When you do put enuf grey matter into them and finally work out their intricacies, they work really nice, but sometimes I just don't want to use them - for forms there seems no way out, even 'auto' ends up putting 100% widths in (based on it guessing or using a default of 150px for the TD and then telling the input to span 100% aarrghhg no please!). Did u try this on a label, when you are brilliantly given before and after class and style inject options, but the label spans 100% to a fixed width of say 200px for its surrounding TD, the widths of these extras are not taken into account if they live in css.). Troubleshooting that and trying to force changes is awful.
In the end I've created my own control extensions that are all wrapped inside a formContainer so that I can better size them, even then the default is 'hbox' and you end up with these horrendous absolute containers with width 20k px! aargh, go away!
I was so far down the line and I wasn't throwing in the towel, because I'm loving models and mvc and form binding, and great validation...but tbh the amount I wasted in styling was twice as much than if id just simply stuck to what I knew with jQuery and jQuery.validator and hard-coded forms and a bit of ajax/json.
I'd like a "no layout" form layout, that lets me specify a template and in that template I'll use lableEl, a bodyEl and an errorEl, which simply gets set with the labelText, just the html for the input control and the errorMsg. No extra containers, no wrappers, no hard styles, no classes and certainly no tables.
As for SASS, I like it as a tech, I built my website with it and HAML to give them a go. Both good fun to use, but I personally think the reusability it offers up is overrated I don't actually think it saved me any time nor gave me that much maintability - not enough to warrant the extra training required for team members, the majority of which have never heard of it. Its a lot to ask on top of what is a very steep nuancy learning curve in Ext JS itself.


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I'm afraid my first question isn't a math puzzle per se, but rather question of math "presentation" . Basically I've been out of school for a year or two - so I'm a bit out of practice in writing up math papers. Recently I've found myself back at school for grad work and having to write equations again. Now I've already re-learned a good hatred for most equation editors that exist in word processors - but my "LaTex fu" is a bit weak to be writing up everything in notepad and then compiling it using LaTex. So I was wondering if anyone had found a good program to use a "friendly" interface while still being able to write LaTex style equations?
I suppose you are on Windows, if you are on *nix you can try it with wine.
There's a whole subforum of www.latex-community.org dedicated to deciding which editor to use given what you're going to be doing.
Most LaTeX editors provide the basic functionality you're looking for:
When I was running Windows, I used WinEdt, but I know a lot of people who use TeXnicCenter. Now I use Kile on Ubuntu.
I like AUCTeX, it has syntax highlighting and preview and advanced editing commands and you also get the editing power of Emacs. Works like a charm both on Windows and on Linux.
The usual Mac software for this is TeXShop, which is ok but not great. Ben swears by emacs.
An often-overlooked one is LaTeX Editor, which is available for both Unix and Windows. You do have to muck about a little bit with plumbing between MikTeX and GhostScript on Windows to make it work, but once you get it kicking it's got a nice set of features, and gives you side-by-side code-and-DVI preview with reverse-linking (click on the DVI and it takes you to the relevant code fragment in the LaTeX file). It handles large projects extremely well; a lot of people in my department use it for their dissertation.
I've found that http://zyba.com/components/equationeditor/equationeditor.php, which is a hybrid text and graphical editor has helped to rapidly generate equations without needing to resort to something like LyX,
Since it sounds like you're using Windows, I think TeXnicCenter is probably your best free option. (Anton and Montecristo seem to have covered the non-free options like WinEdt and BaKoMa TeX pretty well.)
TeXmacs is a WYSIWYG editor based on latex. In particular it can read in and output latex files, and it has about the same power as TeX for writing equations.
I use WinShell on my home computer (Windows) and kile at the office (KDE). Both are fine. I also used TeXnicCenter for a while.
As for LyX, which some people have mentioned, I experimented with it once. The problem I had is that sometimes I wanted to go in and edit the code which it was generating by hand. And the code that it was generating was difficult to read. (If you have any experience with hand-editing the HTML that some WYSIWYG editors generate, you'll know what I mean.) If you already know some LaTeX then LyX may be more trouble than it's worth.
I use LyX and I have to say that it is plain awesome both for beginners and non-beginners.
On the Mac, I used TexShop for a long time, occasionally trying iTeXMac, before switching to AquaMacs emacs. I like AquaMacs because it works with AucTex and does everything that emacs does but it also has a nice aqua interface and accepts the familiar Mac OS X keyboard shortcuts.
(Moderators, feel free to move this to a comment on a post about emacs if you see fit. I don't have enough reputation to comment.)
I would suggest Kile for Linux, TeXShop for Mac, LatexEditor (LEd) for Windows.
Kile is kind of perfect in my opinion, but it does not have clean ports to other operation systems. LEd is not open-source and it seems that developers have stopped working on it, but still it is the one I use in windows most of the time. Texmaker is also good for windows, it supports utf-8 while LEd does not.
Other popular solutions (none of these are GUIs, but all offer various levels of help writing LaTeX source code) are emacs (most platforms), WinEdt (Windows, not free) and kile (KDE).
You might also try LyX, a GUI interface to LaTeX, although I have no direct experience with that.
The TeX Users Group has sponsored the production of a best-practices TeX-aware editor that is simple but not too simple, called TeXworks. Here are some highlights.
I see folks recommending some GUI programs. Of course, different things work for different people, but I have a lot of experience talking with people trying to get up to speed on TeX and LaTeX and honestly, it just gives a person an additional dragon to slay on the way to getting the document out the door. Instead, get a good tutorial and work through it using a good TeX-aware editor. Also see the CTAN starter page or the TUG introduction.
Of course, in future this question might be even better answered on "TeX, LaTeX and friends", a question&answer site like MathOverflow but for LaTeX-related stuff.
(don't forget to show your commitment if you want to participate!)
I like Scientific Workplace, but I've never compared it to LyX. It definitely saves time over coding LaTeX by hand. Note: Until you set up the automatic substitutions you'll think it is slow to use. (The auto-substitutes keep you from having to use mouse menus to get symbols. For example, you can set it up so that in math mode pressing a twice gives you an alpha.)
TeXnicCenter is easy to use, and it will spell check for you. It also has some predefined parts, so you don't have to go searching for how to code a certain symbol in LaTeX. Note: Windows only.
On linux, I usually use gummi. You type your code on the left and the document is compiled using pdflatex in real time and shown on the right. It's handy if you're not doing anything too long since you can see where you've gone wrong as soon as you type it.
For longer documents that might take a while to compile (ie longer than a second or two, since you will notice this in gummi), I'd use Kile. The only time I've ever really noticed this though is if I have a good few graphics written with xy-pic to compile in the document, but in that case, you can use \OnlyOutlines to remove that delay while you're working on the text.
On that note though, if you're writing a large document, you can set up a bare-bones environment that will be used throughout your document, write each chapter individually and then just \input{} them into a master document in order as each one is finished, meaning your compile for each section you're working with should be fast enough to use gummi.
It's still in early development, so it doesn't have any frills like project support, or any way of editing more than one document at once without running another instance of it, but I still love it.
If you are on Linux you may want to try Gedit with the LaTeX plugin.
I use TeXmaker running on Debian. It had speeded up me greatly, without introducing bulky inconvenient features.


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In California, there is no doubt that immigrant entrepreneurs and innovators play an important role. Immigrant entrepreneurs bring in additional revenue, create jobs, and contribute significantly to the state's economy. Highly skilled immigrants are vital to the state's innovation economy, and to the metropolitan areas within the state, helping to boost local economies. Furthermore, local government, business, and non-profit leaders recognize the importance of immigrants in their communities and support immigration through local "welcoming" and integration initiatives.
Immigrant entrepreneurs contribute significantly to California's economy.
- From 2006 to 2010, there were 676,537 new immigrant business owners [1] in California, and in 2010, 33.4 percent [2] of all business owners in California were foreign-born. Furthermore, from 2007 to 2011, immigrants in California founded around 45 percent of all new businesses in the state, while 36.6 percent [3] of business owners in California in 2011 were immigrants.
- In 2010, new immigrant business owners had total net business income [1] of $34.3 billion, which is 28.1 percent of all net business income in the state.
- California is home to many successful immigrant-founded companies, including [3] Fortune 500 companies such as Yahoo!, eBay, Google, and Qualcomm. Such companies employ hundreds of thousands of people and bring in billions of dollars in revenue each year.
- California is a hotbed for startups, and high-skilled immigrant entrepreneurs and foreign-born workers contribute significantly to the success of these companies. From 1995 to 2005, over 52 percent [3] of startup companies in Silicon Valley had at least one immigrant founder.
- Several California metro areas have relatively high levels of immigrant business ownership relative to the foreign-born share of their populations.
- In 2010, of the California metro areas that are among the 25 largest U.S. metropolitan areas by total population, the foreign-born share of business owners was 44 percent [2] in Los Angeles (second only to Miami), 35 percent in San Francisco, 31 percent in Riverside, 32 percent in San Diego, and 18 percent in Sacramento. In each case, the immigrant business ownership rate was higher than the particular metro area's foreign-born share of total population.
Highly skilled immigrants are vital to California's innovation economy, which in turn helps lead American innovation and creates jobs.
- Immigrants contribute to California's economic growth and competitiveness by earning patents on new research, products, and ideas. Over 76 percent of patents from the University of California system in 2011 had at least one foreign-born inventor. These patents from 2011 amount to $104.4 million in University of California system licensing and royalty revenues [3].
- In 2011, the U.S. Department of Labor certified 57,033 H-1B labor certification applications [4] in California, with an average annual wage of $79,093, which is higher than California's median household income [5] of $61,632 or per capita income of $29,634.
- An expansion [6] of the high-skilled visa program would create an estimated 64,000 new jobs in California by 2020. By 2045, this expansion would add [6] around $23 billion to Gross State Product and increase personal income by more than $20.3 billion. The following are examples [7] of metropolitan area demand for high-skilled foreign-born workers.
- The Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana metropolitan area had 18,048 H-1B high-skilled visa requests [8] in 2010-2011, with 52 percent of H-1B visa-holders working in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) occupations. Major employers with a need for H-1B high-skilled workers include the University of California at Los Angeles, Larsen & Toubro Infotech, and the University of Southern California.
- The Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario metropolitan area had 1,172 H-1B high-skilled visa requests [8] in 2010-2011, with 47.6 percent of H-1B visa-holders working in STEM occupations. Major employers with a need for H-1B high-skilled workers include Environmental Systems Research Institute Inc. (ESRI), the University of California at Riverside, and Loma Linda University.
- The Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Roseville metropolitan area had 1,759 H-1B high-skilled visa requests [8] in 2010-2011, with 83.5 percent of H-1B visa-holders working in STEM occupations. Major employers with a need for H-1B high-skilled workers include Intel Corporation and the University of California at Davis.
- The San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos metropolitan area had 4,529 H-1B high-skilled visa requests [8] in 2010-2011, with 79.6 percent of H-1B visa-holders working in STEM occupations. Major employers with a need for H-1B high-skilled workers include Qualcomm Incorporated and the University of California at San Diego.
- The San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont metropolitan area had 16,333 H-1B high-skilled visa requests [8] in 2010-2011, with 75.5 percent of H-1B visa-holders working in STEM occupations. Major employers with a need for H-1B high-skilled workers include Google Inc., Oracle America Inc., Microsoft Corporation, Symantec Corporation, and the University of California at San Francisco.
- The San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara metropolitan area had 14,926 H-1B high-skilled visa requests [8] in 2010-2011, with 86.9 percent of H-1B visa-holders working in STEM occupations. Major employers with a need for H-1B high-skilled workers include Apple Inc., Yahoo! Inc., Ebay Inc., Intel Corporation, and VMware Inc.
While the numbers are compelling, they don't tell the whole story.
- Immigrant entrepreneurs not only contribute to large innovative companies, but to small business formation in local communities. In towns across California, such as Santa Maria and Oakley, immigrant family-owned small businesses contribute to the economy and vitality of their local communities. Although initially aimed at other immigrant customers, many businesses quickly see an expansion of their clientele to include a diverse array of immigrant and native-born customers alike.
- In the Williams Brothers shopping center on Santa Maria's main street [9], Abad Barrera's Carniceria El Amigo offers a wide variety of beef, pork, and poultry products, and also includes a grocery and restaurant.
- In Oakley, a collection of immigrant-owned grocery stores, restaurants, salons, bakeries, and craft stores make up a thriving Latino business community along Main Street. These businesses not only help maintain the vitality of the town, but also serve as a novelty to draw other consumers from further afield and from neighboring towns.
Some localities have begun recognizing and supporting immigration through local "welcoming" and integration initiatives.
- Oakley, California: The You, Me, We = Oakley program [10], situated in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta north east of the Bay Area, seeks to "enhance understanding, trust, relationships, integration, participation and cooperation among all residents of Oakley in order to build a more vibrant and cohesive community that lives up to the commitment for Oakley to truly be 'a place for families in the heart of the Delta'." The program seeks to "increase a spirit of mutual respect among all Oakley residents, increase civic participation, and create a more welcoming community here in Oakley."
- You, Me, We = Oakley was created [11] through collaborations among the City of Oakley, Oakley schools, businesses, congregations, community-based organizations, and is an affiliate of the Welcoming Cities and Counties [12] initiative of Welcoming America [13], an organization that promotes cooperation and communication between immigrants and citizens to help build a nation of neighbors.
- Specifically, the program [10] seeks to encourage integration of immigrants and newcomers in the community. The program seeks to avoid tensions that may arise due to the changing demographics of the town, which is why it encourages the participation and learning of all community members.
- Redwood City, California: The Redwood City Together program [14], also an affiliate of Welcoming America, states that its goal is to "establish a culture of inclusion and mutual support in our community." In particular, the program aims to "Use the many existing community building events and activities in Redwood City to promote positive interaction between residents from all backgrounds, ages and parts of the community."
- Redwood City Together describes its focus as one in which it "seeks to bring diverse community members together to get to know each other and work together to build an integrated, cohesive community that reflects our shared values and offers opportunities for everyone who works, lives, studies and plays here."
- Santa Clara County and San Jose, California: The Immigrant Relations and Integration Services program [15] in the San Jose region of the Bay Area is a division of the Office of Human Relations of Santa Clara County. It promotes the "full inclusion of immigrants in Santa Clara County and works on projects that promote positive immigrant relations and integration services."
- In particular, the office seeks to [15] "improve the lives of immigrants and all residents by recognizing and appreciating the contributions of immigrants, educating all county residents about the backgrounds of and challenges affecting immigrants and fostering a multicultural community."
- Los Angeles, California: The Immigrant Integration Partnership is a program [15] to "promote citizenship and strengthen immigrant integration efforts in Los Angeles, one of the most diverse cities in the country."
- The program [15] began as a partnership between the City of Los Angeles and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa described his hope that the program would "make the city more competitive, improve the city's economy and workforce and give all the city's inhabitants a voice."
Published On: Wed, Jul 24, 2013 | Download File [17]


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Disney On Ice: Worlds of FantasySat, January 26, 2013 - 11:30 AMBankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, IN
We are sorry, the date for this event has already passed. This event took place on 1/26/2013. Click here to view upcoming events for Disney On Ice.
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Chad and Jamie Crum of Augusta, announce the birth of their son, Bronson David.
He was born on Nov. 1, 2013, in Wichita. He weighed 7 pounds, 13 ounces and measured 21 inches long.
Proud grandparents are Dr. and Mrs. David Crum and Mr. and Mrs. Robert Hubbard. Great-grandparents are Edwin and Barbara Little, all of Augusta.
Location, ST | website.com


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abercombie and fitch is a pricy store that uses porn in their catologs and all the rich kids where there clothes cause it's oh so cool.
I shop at abercombie and fitch because my parents give me money and i'm rich and your not.
by Jolene February 13, 2005
Trending Now
Top Definition
a misspelling of "Abercrombie and Fitch" that about 20 people have not realised yet.
AbercRombie and Fitch
by =^..^= February 21, 2005
way retarded people spell abercrombie and fitch
i was attempting to say somthing really rude by supposing that stupid preppy people wear abercombie and fitch when i noticed that i cant even spell the damn store's name. next time befor i hate on someone for being stupid and buying over priced clothes, i'll make sure im spelling the name of the store right.
by uglybiotch February 21, 2005
the clothing company that sends their soft-core porn mags through the mail
by Anonymous October 02, 2003
Racist company that only hires attractive white people. They won't go out of business because most people don't care.
Let's go to Abercrombie and Fitch, that way we won't have to see minorities and we can support a racist company.
by Jawn April 02, 2005
An overpriced label of clothing worn mostly by teens with either rich or overcompensating parents, preppies of any age, and people who just like to waste their money. American Eagle (also an overpriced, boring line of clothing) plus a 15% price increase.
Omigod! I just got, like, the cuuuutest tshirt at A&F! Only $45, and it looks like I got it at Value Village! Like, what a deal!
by blomee October 22, 2003
where guys that arent gay start becomming gay. The state of unknown fag-tivity.
boy: like omg im so not gay lets go to abercrombie and fitch
by Newgin April 04, 2005
A clothing line that is mostly worn by preppies, cheerleaders, and anyone else who's not punk.
by Anonymous June 23, 2003


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Kids' Nike KD Crest Basketball Tee Shirt
The Nike KD FTLK Crest Boys' Basketball Tee Shirt honors a hardwood hero. The durable fabric is soft to the touch and pulls perspiration away from the skin for comfort during competition. With a bold graphic, this basketball tee demands attention on the court, just like you.


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Suppose I have a vector bundle (or local system, or something else given by transition functions) on a Riemann surface (or generally a (complex) manifold), and I want to compute its cohomology. The trouble is, I only know the transition functions, not anything about the sections.
All I can think of is Cech cohomology, i.e. giving a cover and doing lots of calculation. To make things work, it seems to me that the cover needs to have very many opens (effectively a triangulation), which complicates calculation.
Does anyone know if there is a better way? Alternately, if anyone knows of ways to make the above approach more efficient, I'd be glad to know.
(Perhaps this is a stupid (trivial) question, but I can't find any references about this.)


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A new look - update
Regular readers of dotCommonweal have probably noticed something different. We've re-launched commonwealmagazine.org, with a redesign and some refinements and improvements we've long been envisioning. You can get the full story on our efforts here, but the basic highlights are these:
- A cleaner and lighter look, optimized for mobile devices and tablets (more and more of you are reading us that way) but also pretty nice looking on your PC
- An expanded dotCommonweal blog, now incorporating the cultural commentary we used to post at Verdicts, so now you can read posts on religion and politics and movies and books all in one place
- Topical pages that include articles from the print magazine along with relevant and related content from the blog
And there's more on the way. But since we're only on Day One, you might encounter some unexpected issues, which you can let us know about here. Or send us an email, complimentary or otherwise, letting us know what you think.
UPDATE: comments are now open, so feel free to tell us what you like (or don't). But please don't use the comments to ask about technical issues--we can address those only if you use the web form or email address linked to above.
About the Author
Dominic Preziosi is Commonweal's digital editor.
64 comments
- All
- Editor Featured
It looks great—much more modern and less cluttered. I like the new formatting tools, too. Now we don't have to worry about forgetting an ending tag and having half the message wind up in bold or italics.
Very nice!
Oh, and we can edit a message after it's posted. Great feature!
I second the clean, crisp look. Appears easy to navigate and the main stories are listed as the reader scrolls down. I like the formatting too and was playing around as David was.
Now we don't have to worry about forgetting an ending tag and having half the message wind up in bold or italics.
And it appears that if you want to respond to a specific person, you can do that in the thread. Might make navigating cross-talk easier.
This is good.
Let me add that it is good that you're merging the Verdicts posts with the regular blog.
If comments are now editable, that's huge.
If you have control over pagination, you might consider permitting more posts to be on each page.
A bit on the san seriffy side, don't you think?
I like it, but if you can add the ability to edit other people's comments, that would be even better.
I wonder if the arrangement of the reply to comments will work ot. They had that feature at Pray Tell but it made it hard to find the latest comments and they ended up changing it to straight chronological.
The site looks good.
I am facing one problem and one usage issue. I have already put this in the technical comments section, but I am putting it here in case anybody else has similar issues.
On my iPad, when I click on "dotCommonweal" (link is http://www.commonwealmagazine.org/blog) it gives me an error message "Safari cannot open the page because there are too many redirects"
Earlier, there were links at the top of individual posts for the previous post, Main page and the next post. This is gone now. So each time you have to go back to the main page and click on the individual post heading.
Or, am I missing something?
- I am happy that comments can be edited. That was my number 1 complaint with the previous format. I was unable to post three lines without a typo. I cannot correct my old posts from before-the-new-format, but I can correct new comments for at least 10 hours after commenting. If editing time was limited to just 30 minutes after posting a comment, that would be ample time to correct my typos. But if they're editable forever, then it enables us to rewrite history: we can post an offensive comment, let others get angry over it, then reword it in a milder tone, and thus what stays on the page shows to the world how unreasonable those people are. - oh, but I see now that the time of the post is really the time of the last modification to the post, so people will be able to tell because the time of the post will be posterior to the time of the comments.
- One thing I liked in the old presentation was the long list of posts on the first page. Now we only get to see about a quarter as many posts. That will make discussions shorter, since people are unlikely to continue discussion on a thread that has moved out of page 1. Is that by design? Did the designers choose the number of posts on the first page from their experience of how long threads remain active? (For example, I've been following a thread on catechesis, that was active until recently, and it is now on page 4.) Or is it so that the content is shorter and can be uploaded more easily on the phones?
- Another detail is an ambiguity, namely, that the "save" button below a comment really means "post publicly", not "save to continue editing later".
- I see that my email is not longer accessible to the whole world. That's an improvement. When you click on "contact", you can write a message to one of the other commenters, the message gets to them and your email is revealed to them, then, if they wish to, they can reply and they then know each other's email.
- We used to refer to comments by the date and time at which they had been posted. This is no longer unambiguous now that editing comments changes the date and time. Isn't that a problem?
- (2 days later...) I am unhappy that comments can be edited forever.
This is an attempt to write in italics, or boldface, or just plain. Pretty good.
I wish the rules were written somewhere instead of having to figure them out by trial and error.
For how long are comments editable after posting, I wonder? If they're editable forever, then it enables us to rewrite history: we can post an offensive comment, let others get angry over it, then reword it in a milder tone, and thus what stays on the page shows to the world how unreasonable those people are.
This was always one of the funnest parts of forum-posting, and when I was an admin on the forum I used to live on, no time stamp would show up. Now all we need is support for posting GIFs and the planets would align.
Now all we need is support for posting GIFs and the planets would align.
There have been SO many times when the ability to post a diagram - if I knew how to draw them on the computer - would have saved about seven paragraphs of explanatory comment text that nobody reads anyway.
Sorry, gang, I'm not seeing how to edit a comment that's already been posted. Browser issue on my part?
Very nice. Easier to read. Congratulations.
I mentioned a few glitches I've noticed in a message sent to "here" in the opening post. I received an e-mail in response giving me a link at which "The results of this submission may be viewed," but when I clicked the link it said, "Access denied."
There seems to be a problem with apostrophes in possessive nouns. This is especially true in block quotes, but in some cases in the blogger's words as well. See, e.g., the Kateri thread and the Paul Baumann's honorary degree thread. Umlauts seem to be a problem, too.
In the list of contributors, some names are repeated, and one has an apostrophe problem.
All paragraphing has disappeared from old comments. (Perhaps these should be deleted, if the paragraphing cannot be restored.)
(Sorry, I meant the Baumann on Weigel thread, not the honorary degree thread.) (I don't see how to edit, either.)
Does anyone think the lines are too long (i.e., the lines of type). Having been involved in many magazine redesigns over the [that first line has 120 characters, including punctuation and spaces between words]
years, including Commonweal, I am conscious of how high-wire a task this is especially keeping material readable in the face of "high design" concepts. Design is important, but readibility!!! is half the battle. Getting people to read a magazine, newspaper, etc. is what it's all about.
I have my doubts about the ability to revise or edit one's earlier comments. It's a bit like altering history, isn't it? I could imagine scenarios in which a whole discussion could be rendered unintelligible because its starting-point or spark was later altered.
I agree with Peggy Steinfels that the lines of print are too long.
Post-closing editing is great! It will mitigate bad grammar, poor spelling and bad manners. Maybe.
Claire's #2 is good. #4 is just another step, but I guess it prevents off-line bashing except for the first time.
I have found things a bit awkward to navigate. I don't like to have to scroll down the page to get to the blogsite.
I preferred the old typestyle.
I realize that you are trying to cater to new-fangled toys, but I think there is toooooooooooooo much white-space.
But I guess, like the loss of the 10 cent cup of coffee, I'll get used to these as well.
What does "body p" mean at the end of a new comment box?
This is a second try at sending this. (The first time a special form appeared.)
I agree with Fr. Komonchak that revising posts is rewriting history. Besides, if I know I can revise a nasty post, that will just tempt me even more to be nasty.
Where does it tell you how to use bold and italic? (I'm writing this on Mac laptop.)
And what is this about a "contact" function? I don't think I got that message anywhere.
If I click on your name, I have a choice between "view", where I see the information you have chosen to share about yourself, and "contact", that permits you to make contact with the other person even though you might not know their email.
For bold, you select the part of the text you just wrote that you'd like to appear in bold, then you click on the "B" on the top row of your comment box. Try it!
If the lines are too long or there's too much white space on the right, you can adjust the right margin to the width you prefer. But then, when you go to another website, you may have to adjust it again.
Mobile devices and "desk" tops of whatever variety have different formatting needs. I get CWL on both: the computer and the mobile have different design requirement. Check out the NYTimes on your "desktop" of whatever sort and your mobile devices, ditto many other sites that have both... More work needed.
Thanks, Claire. It's all nice and simple :-)
I'm not seeing how you get back to the main blog stream after you've been on the comments thread. Is there a "home" or "main" link to click somewhere?
The feature of having comments nesting in relation to other comments is a nightmare, I've got to tell you. We had it at Pray Tell and it drove everybody crazy. Consider how you read these things. If a discussion is going strong, there can be 70 - 80 -150 - 200 comments. Now, try coming in after the second day to see if anyone has said something new. You have to read through pages and pages in order to find out! The new comments could be on page 1 or page 7.
I am also not happy with how the comment threads appear on my phone. Each time I go to another page of comments, the entire article appears at the head of the page. I don't need to reread the article. I am trying to read the comments. But I have to scroll through a long text atop each new page of comments. That's especially tedious on a hand-held device.
Maybe editing is a perk reserved to subscribers!
Thanks for your work, but the ordinary typeface is too thin and light.
I agree that nested comments are frequently a huge nightmare, but:
- It was pretty much inevitable because all commenting systems are tending in that direction (even Facebook is supposed to switch over soon)
- It does make it a bit easier to sidestep stupid branches of convos.
- Compared to a lot of sites, most posts here don't get that many responses.
Still... I was kind of bummed, but I figured it would be happening sooner than later.
I suspect as much, but as M. DeFarge would say: Long live the Devil!
Why should it be the editor who chooses the look of the blog? Why couldn't it be the user? This way each person could change the number of characters per line, whether replies to comments appear nested or in sequence, the color of people's names, and other features, as most pleasing to them.
Thanks, Abe.
The inevitability of things getting more confusing is indeed a sad prospect.
Here's another example of why nesting is a nightmare: Up to now, we've been able to refer to other comments by the date/time stamp and you could look up the comment on the thread because comments were kept in their chronological order. With nesting, it's a complete hash. The comments may be in any order. If, say, I respond to David Nichol's first post, my comment will appear at the head of the line. But suppose in that comment I want to say, "I disagree with David, yet, I agree with Abe @ 5/26 11:59"? We're up the creek then. Where is Abe's comment? They are not in order of appearance, so it may be anywhere.
Maybe you are right, though, about there not being so many comments that it will matter most of the time. I tend to write about liturgy and those threads get a lot of comments.
I tried to access the contents of the immediate past issue (May 17). I clicked on the picture of the front page, but all I got was a larger version of said front page.
How can I access the actual content of the prior issue(s)?
Click "Past Issues."
I did that. It opens to a series of covers with the issue date below them. Clicking on the date got me nothing.
Clicking on the front page just got me a larger version of the front page.
How can I access the content therefrom?
I'm old, but not stupid......
Clicking on the front page works for me, and I like the simplicity and readability of the result very much.
For the blog, I would prefer if fewer lines of each post appeared, but more posts appeared on page 1.
Please take this as a comment, not a kvetch. I realize you are trying to accommodate a variety of platforms that I devoutly pray I will never need. But on the home page, I don't get the difference between the narrow teases ("Grave Ambiguities") and the wide teases ("Nagel"s untimely ideas").
And I don't find many of them to be of much help. "Confidence vs.Certainty" is not about the Wizard of Oz, and it is more important to me that it's by Michael Garvey than that he leads with the Wizard. Generally, the regular columnists' names are to small because we read them, not their headlines, as a rule. I also think we are getting tooooooooooo (to quote Jim McCrea) much white space, but that may be good for the other platforms, for all I know.
It works for me too. Try refreshing your browser. Hold Ctrl and click reload. You might be picking up an old version of the page.
OK, I guess I am stupid.
Click "reload" where? Not on toolbars nor Explorer bar.
Ok, skip. (I'm learning to rewrite history. Fun! What power!)
I got it to work. Thanks.
However, it appears that the letters show up in the current issue not the past issues. I was specifically looking at the May 17th issue.
Grant: will that change in the future?
Agree Claire. Posters should write an enticing paragraph or two, and short, and put the rest of their thoughtful and provacative discussion after the break, which on this site is the little red dot thing with two bars above and below. Of course, if you are announcing the end of the world, you might want to go the whole ten yards!!
Maybe editing is a perk reserved to subscribers!
Maybe. As it happens, I am a subscriber, but I subscribed with an email address that no longer exists, and when I'm logged in with my real/current address, the website doesn't recognize that I'm a subscriber. (Nor have I figured out yet on this new site how to log out and log back in with my old email address).
Click on "My account" (top right), modify the entry with your email address, click "update" (bottom). You can also insert a bio if you want the whole world to know something about you when they click on your name.
Yes, for the love of God, this!
In IE, it's the button with the arrow curving back on itself.
Looks like you found a bug. I'll add it to the list, thanks.
In the version I have it is a button with 2 arrows, one pointing up and one down. It also links to F5.
After all these years I learned yet something new about IE .... and I'm about to become a Mac user. Better late than never, I guess.
After a couple of days of experimenting with the new format, I can say that
- I have already gone back to a past comment to correct typos and spelling errors. It's a real relief. The world is now more orderly thanks to that! In addition, I'm already making a liberal use of the post-posting edits, the kind of edits which I would not like others to do, but for myself I love it.
- I'm already pulling my hair out over the comments appearing out of order because of nesting. I'm trying to follow the conversation on the humanities thread, and it's a nightmare. Why did you have to make that change? It's driving me crazy and I may read less, and therefore post less, as a result. Maybe that will be an improvement for the rest of the world...
no problem. Send me your password and I will edit your comments!
The size of the fonts of the comments boxes has been reduced so much that I literally need to use a magnifying glass to read the writing on my iPhone. It's tiny!! Please go back to the original size.
A realization just dawned on me: even though nesting is allowed, we don't have to use it! We are free not to use it! That would be a simple solution to the problem of nested comments. Maybe replying to comments by clicking on "reply" is just a temptation to be resisted, a test to see if commenters can reach an agreement not to use nesting and stick to it, even though they have free choice!
Test: can we still self-edit?
I can't edit my comments any more?
Not even for 15 minutes -just long enough for proof-reading?
Opinion: I note that the thread on pope Francis' catechesis on the Church is now on page 2 of dotCommonweal but is still active: it seems to me that threads do not stay on page 1 quite long enough.


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Stand Up Paddle Board Yoga
Who wants to give SUP YOGA a try? Join Shanna and Angela on FRIDAY, JULY 5th, 6-7:30 PM. The cost is $27/PP. Depending on the river, the location will most likely be at Hominy Park in West Asheville. We have room for 8 people so Please email Angela @ email@example.com to reserve your spot! Check out the Girls at Play website.


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Stats on Teen Pregnancy
A fetus is an unborn child. This term is usually used 12 weeks after conception.
If you're a teen dad who wants to be involved in your partner's pregnancy—speak up! Too often young fathers are left out in the cold because it's assumed that's what they want. Don't let everybody else tell you what you think.
If you're a teenager and expecting a baby, let me congratulate you. Whether you planned this pregnancy or not, you're doing the right thing by reading books to find out what to expect and how to take care of yourself. You are not like other women. Your own body is still growing while your baby is growing inside of you. You have special needs that have to be considered during this time.
Statistics tell us that teenage girls are at risk for delivering a baby who weighs less than babies born to older women. These low-birthweight babies are at risk for medical complications and even death. The reason for this difference in birthweights is not known exactly, but we have a good idea. Many teens risk the health of their babies in these ways:
As a pregnant teenager you have a special responsibility to make sure your baby grows strong and healthy during your pregnancy. Take the following steps to help keep your baby safe:
Excerpted from The Complete Idiot's Guide to Pregnancy and Childbirth © 2004 by Michele Isaac Gliksman, M.D. and Theresa Foy DiGeronimo. All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. Used by arrangement with Alpha Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
To order this book visit Amazon's website or call 1-800-253-6476.
© 2000-2016 Sandbox Networks, Inc. All Rights Reserved.


text:
The character 輸 was originally pronounced yu (indicated by the right side phonetic) and meant to transport. How did it come to be pronounced shu (Mandarin) and take on the meaning of to lose?
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You are correct in thinking that is 俞 the phonetic for 輸, but even "originally", they had distinct pronunciations:
In Baxter's Middle Chinese reconstructions:
In Baxter-Sagart Old Chinese reconstructions:
That is, "originally", one of them had a devoiced initial, and the other didn't. This is, of course, a reconstruction, but you can read about the evidence Baxter offers for the l/l̥ reconstructions and decide for yourself. In any event, devoiced l -> s (or some silibant) is quite plausible.
Pronunciation of 輸
Stumpy's answer is correct, 輸 hasn't been pronounced as 俞 before. I add some Chinese materials to state this:
Meaning of "to lose"
Ming Dynasty 《正韻》:
And Qing Dynasty, 段玉裁's 《說文解字注》
So, 輸 just extended its meaning from 傾瀉(pour, flow out) to 不足(lack) and then to 負(to lose).


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The 25 Most Popular Cracked.com Articles of 2011
#12. 17 Images That Will Ruin Your Childhood
Nostalgia is a sucker's game. We imagine all the toys and TV shows from childhood as perfect and awesome purely because our immature brains hadn't developed the ability to joylessly pick things apart for their flaws. The songs we liked at age 10 weren't any better than the Justin Bieber stuff the 10-year-old girls love now.
So it's good to go back and look at our childhood icons through adult eyes. OK, maybe "good" isn't the word for it ...
Full Article
#11. 7 Creepy Urban Legends That Happen to be True (Part 4)
Once again, it's that time of year when Cracked goes out our way to fact check the outlandish stories that allegedly happened to your friend's former roommate's cousin's girlfriend. As we've shown three times before, sometimes the stories that get told and retold around a flashlight at slumber parties aren't as full of shit as we might've hoped.
Full Article
#10. 6 Movie Plot Holes You Never Noticed Thanks to Editing
The magic of movie-making is that directors have the luxury of leaving the boring shit out. One minute Kate Winslet is whistling her heart out in the middle of a corpse-filled ocean; the next, she's a decade too old for a part on The Golden Girls. That's what they call editing, kids!
The thing is, that casual jump from A to B is also used as a writer's crutch to gloss over the stuff they didn't have the time to think through -- little things like "continuity," "logic" and "whether or not our protagonist just did some accidental murder."
For example ...
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#9. The 5 Most Depraved Sex Scenes Implied by 'Harry Potter'
The Harry Potter series has sold billions of dollars worth of books, movie tickets and DVDs because it's one of those rare series that children can enjoy but won't make adults want to gouge out their eyes.
Author J.K. Rowling had a way of throwing a bone to the grown-ups here and there by slipping in sly little adult references along the way. It's usually done in subtext (like the elderly wizard Dumbledore's homosexual relationship with the male wizard Grindelwald), but sometimes it's right there in the open for anyone perceptive enough to get it.
And sometimes, that shit gets nasty.
Full Article
#8. 7 Insane Easter Eggs Hidden in Movies and TV Shows
We've already told you about some of the most mind-blowing Easter eggs hidden in music albums, classic works of art and video games, so it was just a matter of time before we explored our favorite Easter Eggs from the world of television and film.
Captain, unleash the list.
Full Article
#7. 6 Laws You've Broken Without Even Realizing It
None of us can claim with a straight face that we've never done anything illegal, be it speeding, drunkenly stealing a shrink-wrapped pickle from a bowling alley or hunting the homeless for sport. But on the whole, we're upstanding citizens. After all, it's not like we're out there breaking the law on a daily basis.
Wanna bet? Because all of the stuff below is illegal in most of, if not all of, the United States. If you live outside the U.S., you need to double check to see if you can get jail time for ...
Full Article
#6. 8 Movie Special Effects You Won't Believe Aren't CGI
We mean no disrespect to the digital effects artists working in Hollywood, but sometimes it feels like computer-generated (CG) effects haven't improved in 10 years. Every blockbuster seems to have at least one big effects scene that looks like it was lifted from a PS3.
So maybe we need to stop and appreciate the mind-blowing scenes that were done the old-fashioned way -- with stunts, models and borderline insanity.
Full Article
#5. The 6 Most Horrifying Lies The Food Industry is Feeding You
If there's one thing in the world the food industry is dead set against, it's allowing you to actually maintain some level of control over what you eat. See, they have this whole warehouse full of whatever they bought last week when they were drunk that they need to get rid of -- and they will do so by feeding it all to you. And it doesn't matter how many pesky "lists of ingredients" and consumer protections stand between you and them.
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#4. The 7 Biggest Dick Moves in the History of Online Gaming
Tens of millions of adults spend all their free time in fictional worlds that are full of more tedious work and assholes than most real-life jobs. Combining Internet anonymity with people who have absurd amounts of free time, massive multiplayer online role-playing Gamers (MMORPG)are a better guarantee of asshole-ry than a digestive system, and yield uglier results. But there are some spectacular douche bags who have put more work into screwing with strangers than should be humanly possible.
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#3. 6 Classic Songs That Were Supposed to Be Jokes
We tend to think of successful songs as the carefully crafted result of great artistic vision and hours of grueling, dedicated work. This isn't always the case, though. Every so often a song explodes into the mainstream completely by accident, tearing up the charts to the surprise (and sometimes chagrin) of the musicians responsible. Like ...
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#2. 7 Basic Things You Won't Believe You're All Doing Wrong
If you're like us, you might sometimes have a problem with complex tasks, like trying to drive an ambulance and send a text message at the same time. But hey, at least most of us have figured out the simplest things that get us through the day, right?
Except, you know, some of the simple things we've done every day of our lives, like ...
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#1. The Top 8 Everything of 2011 (For Better and Worse)
Influential people can grace all the Time Magazine covers they want. Great actors and directors can keep their Teen Choice Awards. When we look back on 2011, we'll remember stuff that was appropriately weird, great, awful, (or all three at the same time) enough to represent the glorious mess we just lived through.
Full Article


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10 Old Toys That Made Sense In Their Era (And Nowhere Else)
Remember that toy that you just had to have because it was based on something wildly popular? And then it turned out to really, really suck? (We're looking at you, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Pizza Power Game.) It turns out that's been happening as long as companies have been mass-producing toys.
#10. Swing Wing
The Era:
Once called "The Decade of Bad Ideas," by this website, just now, the period between 1960 and 1969 is one of the only periods in American history that can be successfully used as an excuse for seemingly inexcusable behavior. Someone can talk about all of the drugs they abused, all of the dangerous, anonymous sex they had, all of the crimes they committed, all of the time they wasted protesting about how they'd rather be higher, and just as you're about to condemn them, they say, "Well, ya know ... it was the '60s," and suddenly the situation is defused. Being alive during the '60s is your "Get Out of Dumb Shit Free" card.
"Don't blame us. We didn't even know we were there."
Unless you design toys.
The Ridiculous Toy:
In 1965, a toy designer at Transogram Games looked at the success of Hula Hoops, with their elegantly simple design and relative safety, and thought, "Hey, yeah, that. But for your head!"
"Or your tits! We aren't judging."
The Swing Wing was a blue plastic beanie with red, white and blue plastic streamers coming out of the top, and a chinstrap. The idea was that the wearer moved his head and neck in rapid circles to make the streamers fly around, and ... well, that was pretty much it.
All the fun of propeller hats with 10 times the effort!
Even a TV commercial with a catchy jingle and a clapping chimpanzee couldn't make the Swing Wing look like fun. Check out the :14 mark, where a boy attempts to walk while Swing Winging, making him look like he's suffering from some kind of neurological disorder:
It's not mentioned in the commercial, but this toy is also really good at making sure no one wants to sit with you at lunch, or ever again for the rest of your life. Loneliness has never been this fun!
#9. Earthquake Tower Playset
The Era:
Going to the movies in the 1970s left you afraid to leave your house. Cruise ships flipped upside down (The Poseidon Adventure, 1972), small planes hit bigger ones (Airport 1975, 1974), the Goodyear blimp crashed into a Super Bowl stadium (Black Sunday, 1977) and skyscrapers exploded into flames (The Towering Inferno, 1974). No one was safe.
Not even Charlton Heston.
The Ridiculous Toy:
In 1976, Remco realized that kids don't want to play with toys that help them escape reality; they want toys that remind them how terrible reality is. Featuring over 5 feet of cardboard skyscraper goodness, the Earthquake Tower Playset also came with three cars, a fire truck, a rescue vehicle and a helicopter, along with 24 firemen, policemen, assorted rescue personnel and innocent civilians about to meet an untimely death.
"Your home could collapse at any minute! Enjoy your play time."
To play, the unsuspecting apartment dwellers were placed on either side of the tower, and then the kid got to play God: With the push of a button, the tower rocked back and forth, flinging helpless men and women to their doom. If he were feeling benevolent, the kid could use the moveable elevators to rescue some of them. The print ad instructs, "Save as many people as you can," not "Save all the people," because it's important to remind children that you can't save everyone, and people die all the time, because life is arbitrary and ultimately meaningless.
"Hahaha! Man, look at those poor bastards die!"
As a special bonus, the set came with a record of dramatic music and explosions, sirens and helicopter sound effects, just to make it all seem that much more real (listen here). As the catalog description says, "Turn a real disaster into hours of imaginative, exciting play!" "You won't be able to process how disturbing this is for years and years," it neglected to add.
#8. Disco Playset/Live Action Ken on Stage
The Era:
In 1975, people with no rhythm flocked to 10,000 clubs across the U.S. to do what passed for dancing in those days, get laid and do a variety of drugs.
They called it disco.
It was mostly pointing at things with your lips puckered.
The Ridiculous Toy:
Cocaine not included. But there is a dealer's number written on the box.
With the Disco Playset, Barbie could hang out with a guy who positively embodied "male '70s pornography enthusiast" and then hit the dance floor (featuring colored, blinking lights!). The set also came with a built-in AM radio so Barbie could groove to whatever was at the top of the charts. Which, in 1976, was, according to our research, "Some Shrieking Piece of Shit," by ABBA probably.
But that's not all! If a girl had kept a certain Ken doll from 1970, she could have live entertainment at the disco play set!
Notice Ken turning his head in shame.
Live Action Ken on Stage featured Ken in his disco finery. The stage was motorized, so Ken could "dance" as he sang, and it came with a record. One side was an instrumental, and the other featured Ken singing "A Little Bit of That Sky" (listen here!), which would've made Barbie throw her panties at him, had she been wearing any, the tramp.
"This one goes out to all you whores in the audience."
#7. Sunshine Family/Hippie Dolls
The Era:
Of course, the 1970s weren't all about satin hot pants. If you weren't at the disco, you might've been wearing flowers in your long, unwashed hair and protesting the Vietnam War. What toys were you supposed to play with?
The Ridiculous Toy:
How about nightmares!
Stephie, Steve and Baby Sweets. We're not making that up.
AAAAHHHH! Look at that guy! Look at his turtleneck, look at his fucking eyes! See the way that his baby hovers freely, powered by your thoughts. Do not look away.
If you're the kind of person who isn't already terrified by these dolls, you'll be happy to know that there are a lot of different play sets and accessories available, you lunatic. Check out this super fun craft store play set that came with a pottery wheel. A pottery wheel!
The spinning wheel really spins! And the parents really smoke weed in the back room!
And forget the Barbie convertible -- the Sunshine Family cruised around in a pickup truck with a piggyback shack. Because, you know, little girls are all about playing with a doll in a peasant dress selling hand-thrown pots by the side of the road.
"If no one buys our pots, how will we feed our psychic night-baby?"
Another hippie-inspired doll was Lil' Winking Herby Hippy. According to the box, Herby is real cool, and if you squeeze his tummy, he winks, so we guess the coolness checks out.
"Fully jointed"? He is a hippie!
Finally, there were the Happy Hippie Dolls. These 2 1/2-inch dolls had freakishly large heads and tiny, tiny bodies, just like real hippies. If you were lucky, you'd get one that was made with Charles Manson's actual pubic hair, like, we imagine, this one.
"Touch me on my face, please. I SAID FUCKING TOUCH IT!"
#6. CB McHaul
The Era:
To complete the 1970s insanity, long-distance trucking became a thing. "Convoy," a song about a devil-may-care trucker, became a hit. Smokey and the Bandit and BJ and the Bear, two TV shows about truckers, roared into popularity, and all of America was buying CB radios and learning trucker slang.
"Mommy, what does 'lot lizard' mean?"
The Ridiculous Toy:
In 1977, toymaker Mego produced a line of trucking toys called CB McHaul. The line came with two big rigs (the CB McHaul Big Rig and the Bear Masher), a police car, policemen figures and "good" or "bad" truckers. There was also a truck stop play set.
The inventory is an even split between pep pills and crack pipes.
Let's take a closer look at some of these truckers: Here are "Good trucker" Jim Oakes, aka "The Texas Truck Puncher," which implies a back story we would absolutely KILL to hear, and CB McHaul, aka "The Daringest Dude on the Highway," which he demonstrated by going shirtless under a leather vest.
You don't want to know what he wears when he's behind the wheel.
On the "bad truckers" side, we have Joe Marconi and Bad Leroy, two bald, post-apocalyptic mutants, apparently, and Professor Braine, the "Mad Mastermind," although if he were a professor, you'd think he'd be teaching, or working in a lab, or just not trucking. And if he's such a "Mastermind," shouldn't he be able to find a hat that fits his head?
"I'm Bad Leroy!" "And I'M constantly masturbating."
Oh, right. All the figures were packaged to look like they were masturbating:
If you look closely at the print, you'll see that Bad Leroy's nickname is "The One Eyed Wonder."


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Regaliz 20x16mm Antique Brass-Plated Heart Slider Bead
Give your looks classic beauty in a unique way with the Regaliz 20x16mm antique brass-plated heart slider bead. This heart slider features a square-shaped cut-out in the center with a bar running through it so you can slide on your leather stringing material. This slider fits
Regaliz 5mm flat leather
. It's a great bead for adding sweet touches to designs while still showing off your trendy leather stringing material. This heart displays a dark golden shine that would look great with rich, earthy colors.
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