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Confessions of A New Agile Developer
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I have worked in Waterfall model for most of my career. Some time back I joined Xebia and started working in the Agile style. Specifically, we have been following Scrum and XP methodologies with TDD as an emphasized practice. The transition from Waterfall to Agile is like walking from one planet of the universe to some other planet. When you shift from one to the other there is a complete change in your world, everything from the way you think, work or collaborate, changes.
I joined a team of 8 professionals and contrary to my expectation 6 of us had no prior experience with the Agile approach. So we started under the guidance of our 2 experienced pros. Initially there were few ups and mostly downs. We found out Agile is not just about sprints and no documentation - there are more subtle aspects which you have to learn the hard way.
Here is an account of what went on:
Some Startup Hiccups:
- The Thinking Shift
Agile is all about thinking in the present, the current sprint, the current user story etc. We do not think about how things will work when some other story that we might encounter down the line comes to the board. In Waterfall we used to think about the whole system first, the HLDs and LLDs were the first steps and they had to be frozen before moving forward.
In contrast, Agile is all about current state and constant change, if our requirements change in the future, our design will evolve accordingly; but we do not concentrate much beyond the current sprint. It takes some time to absorb this fact.
- Changing Gears
Agile is a constantly changing environment. "Responding to Change" is one of its prime directives. In order to respond a developer must be in sync with market technologies else it will cost him a lot of pain.
We were using a search engine library in our project but only one of us had knowledge about it. Due to this handicap we had issues while estimating things, while pairing up, during stand-up meetings, and other day-to-day practices.
The other handicap that we faced was doing TDD appropriately. From a technology perspective, TDD has quite a few options. You can rely on various mocking and testing frameworks, which you do not use that often in Waterfall. A comprehensive knowledge of these is a must if you follow TDD else there will be a lot of hiccups.
The Sprint Slowdown
- Test driven development is all about writing tests first and then deriving business logic from the tests. This is one of the hardest things to adapt to, as it involves a complete change in your perspective.
In Waterfall there is code first and then some tests (usually, but not always); but TDD it is all about Red, Green and Re-factor. The approach asks us to think in abstract terms and then evolve concrete things from them. Since it is hard to adapt at first, we often resorted to the practice of writing the logic first and then making sure that there are tests to cover them. I would call this as Development Driven Tests (DDT) approach.
DDT does not add much sense. Why make a test if you know your code will work fine? Just to prove your point that the code works? There should be more to it than that. And there is. For example, writing tests does make your code better in terms of coupling and provides a huge safety net when making changes in the future.
- Thinking in abstract terms is a must for developers in Agile. In Agile we do not think of an upfront design, as in Waterfall, the design emerges in due time by creating abstractions and developing work flows. Developers in Agile must be well versed with at least the basics of deign patterns else they will litter the code a lot and only crap can emerge out of it.
TDD assists us a lot here. It asks us to think in abstract terms. Moreover as soon as we are done with fixing our tests we must think about and refactorings that can make the code better. DDT also helps identify right away, any quality issues so they can be addressed before it is too late. So we eventually learned that we must throw away the code first – test second approach, and then we re-started in the TDD manner.
- The code quality is team's responsibility and people in team will re-factor or possibly rewrite it time and time again, until it matches the standards prescribed. We must not attach any emotions to our code and should be prepared to toss or rewrite it again and again. Following advice from Venkat Subramaniam, on the practice of collective ownership: "we should strive to improve the code quality every time we performed a check-in."
- In Waterfall requirements are signed, sort of, in blood and then you move forward but in Agile, the requirements evolve simultaneously with the solution. This helps to make things more clear as we go ahead, but they also result in demands for redesigns of the system at times and this will happen quite often in the initial sprints (1-4). Moreover the backlog can also change in the middle of the sprint, so the team should be geared to take up those changes, as delivering working software at the end of each sprint is the Agile motto.
- Pairing initially seems to be a waste of time and effort. Two people working together on the same story looks like a waste of 50 percent of both, time and effort. Moreover multiple people working on different tasks of the same story seems to be a cause of slowdown in velocity.
But teams in Agile are meant to work like partnerships and not like individuals working on the same project or in the same room. When teams work together they push things to their best and consequently you have a greater likelihood of finishing things consistently rather eventually failing on multiple fronts.
- Pairing is best done while following TDD. The driver and the navigator co-ordinate their efforts to develop a better system. But pairing while coding if you are following DDT approach is not the best way to go forward. In such a case neither of the partners will have any idea how to go forward e.g. what the system design will look like, so you will have lot of noise and then what emerges is a bunch of source files that must be rewritten.
The best approach is to follow TDD but if you cannot adopt to it you can still pair using a glass (white) board to first chalk out some design flow and then either of the partners can write the code while the other one can work on test cases.
- Delivering working software in the demo is the litmus test of the sprint. But, do you consider a sprint successful just because the software is build-able workable if it is not releasable?
Is a sprint successful when there are few stories completely done with some left out, or a sprint with all of the stories mostly done but with niggling issues?
Teams should focus on getting a full story done with all the issues sorted out and meeting the definition of done rather rushing over the backlog for finishing things. A poorly implemented story is nothing but a rework that must be done going forward. Often time is a constraint, so depending on the relative importance of stories teams should look for a qualitative implementation of the solution they propose. Stories on the top of the backlog must be developed with the best solution possible and as we move down the backlog there can be some compromise over quality of the solution but not on the definition of done. However it is better to leave a story rather to implement it quite poorly.
- Stand ups are sacrosanct. They are meant to be a shared platform, and not just your solo opportunity to tell others what you did and what's next to follow. People should try to listen to what's happening around rather checking their checklist for accomplished activities.
Sanctity of stand ups must also be maintained in terms of time-lines. We often are unable to resist the temptation of starting a discussion given a point but that must be avoided.
- Agile teams are quite small and in such a situation people can often be judged on the basis of their stand-up updates. So should you say we were banging brains against each other or I did nothing yesterday or we re-factored the code and now we do not know what is what ? These would create an awkward situation with the new ranger.
- Planning meetings are bound to be brain-whacking and exhausting. Sitting in the chair for 4 long hrs and deciding on the story points feels like playing roulette. The numbers will decide what will go in the sprint and what will not but how to decide the number when you had no experience at all? You are bound to lose.
But these numbers are meant to be ballpark figures which can go wrong, that does not mean you start playing roulette for estimations . The numbers will give you some order in few sprints down the line, giving an idea about the total amount of work that can be picked up.
- Assigning story points is a complex task and should be done in phases. Teams internally should first analyze the stories and have discussions with the product owner to get a clear view of what is required. After having a clear view, a broad level technical discussion should be done considering the best possible solution that can be implemented. Failure to do so will result in ambiguity in terms of how the story should be implemented and thus a flawed estimation. Let us say that if a story touches a new unexplored domain then it should to be quite complex, even if it is simple task. Even in the known domain depending on the technical solution the story can be quite complex.
Stories can be estimated best when they are crisp i.e. a clear view of what is required with some details of how should be done. The product owner cannot supply crisp stories. They can only be made by having discussions with the team. So teams must spend some amount of time in order to gear-up for the next sprint.
- Retrospectives look like speeches given at the Poll time. We should have done this or that, and in the next sprint we can do this or that, but nothing happens if some tasks are not taken in the sprint. People can express their comfort or discomfort with different aspects but teams should focus on getting some concrete tasks out of the retro points else the situation will always remain the same.
Here are some of the preparations that one can do before plunging into Agile:
- Get in sync with market technologies especially testing tools like JUnit, Fitnesse, EasyMock etc. Moreover people should constantly strive for better solutions and so look out for new tools and new ways of improving processes, and look for new frameworks or new design ideas and patterns for recurring problems.
- "Practices of an Agile Developer" by Venkat Subramaniam and Andy Hunt is a must read for every developer plunging into Agile.
- Read "Craftsman series" on objectmentor.com and "Clean Code" by Robert C Martin. You will not give them much priority at first but after you get a handful of pain you will know your priorities.
- Be open in stand-ups/planning/discussions, people value your suggestions. Say your opinion or ask for help if required, you are a stakeholder in the project.
- Tests are not just for code coverage or quality measure. They also provide a sort of documentation, that is always up-to-date . People can look into the tests and see how to use this piece of code.
- Automate everything in the build at the start of the project. If anything as small as Checkstyle gets left out then it will have the same fate as in any other model, mostly talk and very little action. When you realize this it is often too late for any damage repair techniques to help.
You have learned to speak A-to-Z so first unlearning it and then learning Z-to-A will not be easy. It will take its share of pain but after you are done you will know it is worth the effort.
So, Go team!! :)
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Great post!
Martijn Verburg
Some concern I have
Sukant Hajra
First off, I'm not sold on TDD given the way you've described it relative to DDT. You ask, "why make a test if you know your code will work fine?" My recommendation is to not write such tests. Tests that "lock down a system" without any added learning/teaching are a huge waste. If a BDD-style specification of a unit is more verbose, more state-based (less declarative), and most importantly less comprehensible than the tight 20 lines or so that it's testing. . . the test is just needless double-booking. If that unit needs to change, the test is only telling us what the unit does, not why it does what it does. So we end up just changing the test and code atomically and blindly. We need to test at the right level of learning. Which gets something that is unstated in your exposition, but that feels implicit in the discussion; I believe you are engaging religiously in unit testing with test doubles to drive your TDD. I'm in violent opposition of this strategy. I do a share of unit testing, but only for units that are actually interesting to test. But there's nothing stopping you from doing TDD with an integration test to cover underlying units. This gets us past the dilemma of having unproductive tests. But it doesn't help us understand why TDD is any better than DDT.
When people ask me what "Agile" is, I tend to focus heavily on a small set of core concepts: working iteratively in small batches to provide opportunities of increased feedback, customer focus, and reduced waste. When I look at Red-Green-Refactor (RGR), I get a process that kind of forces this upon us. But does it come at a cost? I believe it does. First off, I believe RGR complemented with pairing can lead us down a behavioral trap and designs that I claim suffer from TDD-incrementalism. The problem I have with RGR+pairing is that it only promotes refactoring in the small-scale. If two people have invested time in constructing a design with RGR-style TDD, then we have two people working hard on both tests and production code -- that's four times the work, relative to one person, just writing some production code. Sometimes, we go down a design trap. My assertion is that programming needs play to suss out good and elegant designs. With RGR+pairing, people often suffer from play-guilt. In many ways, the first design sustains, especially when bolstered loosely by abstract terms like "evolutionary design" and "YAGNI." Now this problem is not an absolute derivative of RGR+pairing. But in my experience, it's a steep uphill climb culturally to get people to deviate strongly from the current design within the context of something as heavy-weight as rigorous RGR+pairing. It's a social problem that the process just doesn't address well. So I'm concerned when you say "pairing is best done while following TDD."
Finally, I can't understand why your story estimations and planning meetings are so tedious. Routine four hour meetings should be needless, certainly for something like planning and estimation. At my current job, 1-week sprints/iterations have addressed a lot of the problems we might face with overloaded planning and estimation exercises. But shorter iterations don't solve everything. People just need to learn to relax and not get yanked around by a prescribed process. Also, you claim "assigning story points is a complex task." However you follow that claim with a discussion that I think conveys a different message, one I agree with a lot. I believe we should rather be saying, "estimation should not be a complex task; focus on the quality of decomposing your work and estimation will be a much easier task (trivial/easy/harder)."
Okay, so it's easy to expound deeply on disagreements. I wanted to also mention that I'm in agreement with a lot of what you said. In particular, I like what you wrote about stand-ups, retrospectives, and learning/unlearning.
Re: Some concern I have
Arun Batchu
Re: Some concern I have
Sukant Hajra
So here we are, people that have "passed through the Agile gate." And we're in a position of great responsibility to help those that haven't. But do we merely run those newer practitioners through the same route gauntlet that we learned from? I don't think Shu Ha Ri is a useless analogy, and maybe I'm in a Ha phase of my own career (I don't want to commit to that assertion). But how long should Scrum+XP+RGR be the first-tier process that we ask everyone to "obey" (in the spirit of Shu). As educators, can we do better?
I also feel strongly about this line of reasoning because of my own learning trajectory. I moved from a Waterfall environment rather quickly to an environment that was doing far less process and overhead from what I hear from others. But was my learning impeded by not having seen long 4-hour planning meetings? Should I really have seen two-week or three-week Scrum iterations before doing something "progressive" like a one-week iteration? Furthermore, I was encouraged to study TDD, but not forced to practice it. Those that had more experience made themselves available, but ultimately, they wanted software that satisfied fundamental criteria, regardless of methodology. I'm not even saying that the process I learned from was the best, but I feel I got good exposure to Agile ideas without any obligatory pain.
This same argument applies to almost every variant of education. How many times do we rail at academia for things like an underemphasis on design and test (and that's just a small sample of typical complaints). As another example, just because we all started with procedural or even object-oriented code doesn't mean that the next generation should too. Maybe Scheme or Haskell is a more proper introduction, before young minds are corrupted with mutable-state paradigms and needless coupling of data with functions.
Even martial arts katas change shape and form through the decades as different masters tune the exercises (or create new ones). Anyone that's past Shu is obligated to help augment the strategies with which we teach, or at least promote discussion.
The Agile Developer
Mirko Novakovic
We have written our thoughts a while ago in two blog entries
The Agile Developer: blog.codecentric.de/en/2010/03/the-agile-develo...
The fairy tale of the agile developer: blog.codecentric.de/en/2010/03/the-fairy-tale-o...
How effective is Agile in a typical, maintenance/support project?
kode ninja
Most clients are simply abusing Agile as a means to get more work done for the same amount of dough within the same amount of time, coupled with air-tight monitoring about what time the offshore team is spending where.
I'm not even sure something like Agile makes sense in this kind of scenario.
Re: How effective is Agile in a typical, maintenance/support project?
Tiberiu Fustos
It's funny: as "agile" goes mainstream in enterprise IT projects, there is the tendency for each stakeholder to take only the parts they find more convenient for their cause.
For example, business stakeholders are really happy, since they believe they can now change the requirements on every iteration, especially where the organization of a project is still like in the waterfall times - often there is no "product owner", just a bunch of guys writing up requirements into a huge list and throwing it to the IT team...this is what usually is left after people attended some agile conferences or events or read some stories in magazines.
This was just one example. Another thing that comes to my mind are larger projects where system and organisational boundaries are being crossed. In big organisations one does not "develop" interfaces or service contracts between systems/domains in iterations, but rather a "negotiation" process takes place and all this requires quite some up-front analysis/design effort across multiple stakeholders before a single line of code is written.
On the positive side, some organizations reporting successful agile rollouts are radically changing the organization and project delivery itself, even working on alternative career paths for project and line managers (usually converting them in product owners or scrum masters for example). A long way is still ahead - not to forget the entire budgeting and financing processes in large organizations, which are also essentially waterfall.
Re: How effective is Agile in a typical, maintenance/support project?
Michael Egner
Why must we following a stated process exactly?
David Louis
Agile has fundamentally changed how I code. My first large project fully making use of Agile (CMMI Measurement Repository) ended up as an amazingly flexible solution to a project that already failed in the hands of our BI expert. The business users didn't really know what they wanted. The main reason it turned out so well were the 2-3 week sprints of continuous improvement. In the old days with waterfall I would have done an excellent job documenting everyone's shared delusion, I mean requirements, on how the application should work. Then I would work diligently on different parts of the application and database design. Usually starting with the easier tasks to built momentum. The end result is an application that usually misses the mark by some margin and since a lot of code was already written changes are more difficult.
I enjoy weekly refactoring my code and webpage design to best reflect what the users want based on demo's. When the users aren't available it is pretty easy to give myself a demo. After I enter potions of data I quickly notice what doesn't work well and add it to my list of changes. I fully test each iteration myself so the application is always in a workable state. The application turned out quite elegant. I allowed users to define all measurement fields themselves instead of tying them to the database design. Users can quickly modify all fields in the entire application themselves and then use those fields to store CMMI level 3 measurement that have been collected within a number of different categories.
I focus on understanding Agile instead of memorizing it and then I make use of it, when it makes sense. I make use of the idea behind Agile. I'm not concerned with Agile terminology and accurately following the ideal process. Generally accepting parts of Agile has already turned me into a better and faster programmer.
David C.
Pairing advantage
David Poole
Pairing is a means to enhance knowledge sharing amongst the team and implicit in that is that you rotate the pairs at regular intervals. An expert will always be an expert but over time pairing increases the likelihood that the team will gain a more rounded skillset and to a good average level of knowledge.
By the way, is anyone aware of any good agile DB books/articles apart from Scott Ambler's work?
Re: So many companies seem to be jumping the gun on Agile
Tien Do
Most clients are simply abusing Agile as a means to get more work done for the same amount of dough within the same amount of time, coupled with air-tight monitoring about what time the offshore team is spending where.
I totally agree, I was also a member of a Agile team last year, in fact I was the team lead and we was in oursourcing business. My customer is a crazy fan of Agile and they asked us use Scrum. Could we do it well? No, we didn't, and both our customer and us were very frustrated, deadlines were missed, and endless overtime. Why could we not do Scrum well? Yes, we couldn't just because none of us had worked with Scrub before, and except I, most of team members were junior and just recruited, I mean they were not working together before. Frankly, we tried our best and achieved a reasonable result, but we also spent about half of time to rewrited our code (but I named it refactoring in our timesheet :)).
Right before our project was started I had read the great book "Scrum and XP from the trenches" and I didn't wait too long to know that we started without any intrinsic requirement for a successful Scrum team. We were new to each other, we wrote buggy code, most of us never did unit testing before, didn't know what TDD is, even someone were new to source control.
Re: Pairing advantage
kode ninja
Pairing is a means to enhance knowledge sharing amongst the team and implicit in that is that you rotate the pairs at regular intervals. An expert will always be an expert but over time pairing increases the likelihood that the team will gain a more rounded skillset and to a good average level of knowledge.
I agree. Agile or no Agile, this approach has tremendous benefits. It acts as a cushion, a sort of Plan B. Like, when someone from the team suddenly has to take an unplanned leave, the process we've followed is that everyone in the team has another person assigned as a backup. Those 2 people, at least, make sure they know in detail what module/ticket/bug etc they're each working on and can more easily take up each other's work if and when required. It's not fool-proof but it generally works out quite well. This, coupled with a good design/code review process generally helps avoid last minute problems.
Another thing is that everyone in the team should know at a high level what everyone else's working on, because it's all too easy to slip into your own work silos. We've used quick 15-20 mins meetings on what each person is doing so that everyone's on the same page. It's generally not the technology, but the business that represents the most challenge and that's where the real dependency comes when some people who've been around longer in the team have more domain/business knowledge and you've the newer folks running up to them every now and again for clarifications. This I think is the bigger dependency and a more serious problem to tackle. And, that's where things get messy when your Specs are constantly changing, causing a lot of PITA, thanks to a half-baked Agile process!
Re: So many companies seem to be jumping the gun on Agile
Jeroen Kok
My customer is a crazy fan of Agile and they asked us use Scrum.
In my experience Scrum has never been successful when it was imposed on the team. On the other hand if it's the teams own initiative to adopt scrum, the changes of success become higher. But it still can fail, because a team is not an island. It still has to interact with its stakeholders or other teams. This is where the friction becomes appearent. Even if your customer is enthousiastic about Agile and Scrum they can have different expectations as kode ninja already mentioned.


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See the results of a new swine flu study and take a look at our list of must-reads that will have you chatting at the lunch counter, over IM or wherever it is that people actually talk these days.
- One in 10 New Yorkers have swine flu, according to a new study. Swine flu is estimated to have infected about 10% of people in New York City this spring, a health official said. A study due out this week suggests the virus was spread around the city and infected about 800,000 New Yorkers.
- The richest woman in Israel claims she can see the future. Carnival Cruise Lines heiress Shari Arison said she had premonitions about the Indonesian tsunami two months before it happened and predicted Hurricane Katrina. Now, she's ready to go public with her visions in her new book and said she wants to use her wealth and her accumulated past lives to help save the human race.
- A breath test can detect lung cancer with an accuracy of 87%, according to a study. The device can be used to detect cancer in its early stages before tumors emerge and become visible on X-rays. This early detection increases patients' odds of survival since only about 15% of current cases are detected before the disease has begun spreading.
- Liberty University, the conservative and controversial evangelical college, has built a year-round snowless ski mountain. The $4 million ski hill features a synthetic surface that simulates snow but allows for softer landings and can be used year-round. The slope is an addition to the Virginia-based university that officials hope will prove its a world class school with academics, sports and extracurricular activities. It's the first of its kind in North America.
- Most humans can't digest milk. About 60% of adults in the world cannot digest lactose after childhood and lactose intolerance is so common that the ability to drink milk is more odd than not, experts say. By comparisons, food allergies in general -- to eggs, peanuts, fish, etc -- affect an estimated 4% of adults.

subset: commoncrawl


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As physicians we go our patients two things-- only two things-- our timing and our skill. We do not owe our patients our lives. Doctors must take some time off from their daily work to get some rest, to travel, to participate in their family affairs, be an active member of their community, etc. To excessively devote our lives to the practice of medicine while we neglect other aspects of living may be tantamount to never having lived at all. - Joseph D. Wassersug, M.D.
Copyright - Doctors Realm


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RBC.com | Français | | Contact Us
About RBC > Media Newsroom > News Releases > RBC sets the record straight on small business myths
TORONTO, September 19, 2013 - While an RBC Poll shows that 88 per cent of Canadians believe small businesses are vital job creators, many still fall prey to misconceptions, including the idea that owning a small business provides less stability and that lending is nonexistent for people who want to start a small business.
"Because every small business is unique, there is no one-size-fits all solution to starting and running a small business," says Kim Ulmer, vice-president, Small Business, RBC. "Owning a small business can be incredibly rewarding, but the path isn't always clear."
With Small Business Month around the corner, RBC is setting the record straight about some of the most prevalent myths about small business, including:
Myth: For small businesses, growth is always a good
Fact: Growth is almost always a good thing - as long as it is controlled. Being able to scale up for a big order or ensure the right cash flow should be paramount in your growth strategy. Also, some business owners are content with their size and growth is not a goal - this is okay.
Myth: Small businesses offer little job stability.
Fact: While this might have been true once upon a time, Industry Canada notes that 75 per cent of Canadians are now working in companies with less than 10 employees. Often these small businesses offer a more engaged environment where the employee has a stake in ensuring happy customers and long-term success. In fact, an RBC survey shows that Canadians are very willing to support small businesses, with 61 per cent of Canadians saying they would pay more for a product or service to support a small business and 83 per cent saying they support small businesses in their community by doing business with them or helping to promote them.
Myth: Small businesses can't provide the perks and
benefits that larger organizations can.
Fact: Many small businesses are able to offer their employees more meaningful perks because they don't have to scale them to hundreds of employees and they can be tailored to individual personalities. Group benefit plans can be tailored to meet the unique needs of small businesses For example, with RBC Group Advantage, small businesses can customize their group savings plans, including RRSPs and mortgage relocation programs.
Myth: Small business owners don't have the resources
for professional support, including accountants, bookkeeper,
lawyers and assistants.
Fact: The adage holds true - sometimes you have to spend money to make money. Small business owners often wait too long before seeking advice. Professional support can often help make small businesses more profitable and more sustainable long term. With a support team, small business owners can spend more time focusing on their business.
Myth: Small business owners get the freedom to focus
most of their time on their core business.
Fact: While this is the goal, it can be difficult for small business owners to take time away from working 'in' the business to working 'on' the business. Being smart about planning and using resources can allow small business owners to spend more time on core activities.
Myth: Lending is not readily available for small businesses
- especially for new
Fact: While it is true that many prospective small business owners run into challenges when securing funding, it's often because they haven't been able to make the right business case or are under-prepared or under-capitalized - not because the funds are not available. An advisor can provide the tools and expert guidance to create a compelling business case and help to determine appropriate sources of financing.
Myth: Small business owners can write off all expenses
(including those in their home).
Fact: There are government rules about what can and can not be written off at tax time. While there are many expenses that small business owners can claim; it's important to understand exactly what they are entitled to. For a full list of business expenses, visit Canada Revenue Agency business expenses.
About RBC Small Business Banking
Small businesses in Canada want flexible banking choices, convenient payment options and simple ways to manage their cash flow. Whether they are starting a business, managing growth, or succession planning, the RBC Advice Centre can help answer their questions. Free interactive tools and calculators provide customized information covering many facets of business finance and online advice videos are updated regularly to answer questions that are top of mind with small business owners. RBC Group Advantage is a comprehensive program providing employees with advice from qualified investment specialists and financial advisors and also offers flexible plans -- including group RRSPs, group savings and group bank -- as well as a mortgage relocation program, to help small business owners attract, retain and motivate productive, long-term employees. With the guidance of RBC business advisors, small business owners have access to free, no obligation professional advice about RBC products and services. For more assistance, please visit www.rbcadvicecentre.com.
- 30 -
For more information, please contact:
Suzanne Willers, RBC Communications, 416 974-2727
Angela Harkey, RBC Communications, 416 313-5001
Kate Yurincich, RBC Communications, 416 974-1031


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Farmers participating in the Conservation Security Program are being asked to contact their local Natural Resources Conservation Service offices to let NRCS personnel know if they wish to receive CSP payments in 2007 or 2008.
The request comes as USDA officials announced they are preparing to make a total of $257 million in Conservation Security Program payments for all 19,393 CSP contracts with eligible landowners and producers.
"USDA is pleased to recognize good stewardship practices and offer incentives to increase conserving uses through the Conservation Security Program, and we have proposed to do more, if Congress agrees," said Acting Agriculture Secretary Chuck Conner.
The payments Conner announced Monday (Oct. 29) are for current contracts in all 280 CSP watersheds. CSP contract holders will receive payment in full for the current fiscal year 2008 contract obligations and will be given the option of receiving their payment in calendar year 2007 or 2008.
That's why CSP program participants are being asked to contact their local NRCS office.
Currently, the Conservation Security Program is offered on a rotating watershed basis, as funds are available. Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, the program's author, had intended it to be a national program available to all farmers who perform conservation practices on their land.
Harkin, the chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, included funding in the farm bill just passed by the committee that would bring the total enrollment in the Conservation Stewardship Program, as it would be renamed, to 80 million acres over the next five years.
USDA submitted a proposal that calls for substantial reform and improvement of the Conservation Security Program with a goal of conducting nationwide signups.
"Our farm bill proposal has offered Congress a means to expand CSP enrollment to more than 96 million acres over the next 10 years, rather than its current limit to selected watersheds."
"This announcement shows that little by little we are breathing new life into the CSP," said Harkin. "I applaud Acting Secretary Conner's announcement, and I look forward to his support in of the farm bill that passed the Senate Agriculture Committee last week, which includes significant new funding for CSP."
The Natural Resources Conservation Service anticipates the next CSP signup to take place in early 2008 in the 51 eligible watersheds announced in September 2006. These watersheds include more than 64,500 potentially eligible farms and ranches in nearly 24 million acres of cropland and grazing land throughout the United States, the Pacific Islands and the Caribbean Area.
CSP is a voluntary program established as part of the 2002 farm bill to support ongoing conservation stewardship on private agricultural working lands and enhance the condition of the nation's natural resources.
For more information about CSP, including payment information for existing contracts, eligible 2007 watersheds, and program eligibility requirements, go to http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/csp or visit the nearest USDA Service Center.
email: [email protected]


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10 Eco-Friendly Substitutions For Glue, Caulk, and DIY Tools
As anyone who's ever tried doing some DIY projects at home, you'll know that a lot of the products that you use improving your home—glues, paints, varnishes—can be somewhat toxic. Are there better alternatives? In some cases, definitely. Read on for more after the jump.
From staining your wooden floors to painting your interior walls, here are some better, healthier alternatives to your standard DIY supplies:
1 Osmo Wood Finishes ($80-$150 per gallon): All of Osmo's wood finish products are made from natural oils and waxes which, when purified and refined, are completely safe for humans, animals and plants. Whether you want to finish your cork floors or stain your deck, you can rest easy knowing that their products are solvent-free, low VOC, LEED compliant, and very durable.
2 Recycled Paint Supplies: the paint tray, roller tray, drip catcher, paint trim cup, and paint trim tray are all made from 100% recyclable R-PET, which is lightweight, durable, and derived primarily from recycled beverage bottles.
3 EcoGlue Green Wood Glue ($9.67): a PVA water-based, solvent-free formula that contains less than 1% VOCs and is free of phenol and/or urea formaldehyde resins and isocyanate.
4 Coccoina Glue Sticks ($6-$9 a tube): non-toxic, non-solvent, and acid free. Plus, they smell of almonds!
5 Eco-Bond Sealants and Caulks ($6 to $9 a tube): Contains zero VOCs, non-petroleum based, and non-toxic with no/low odor.
6 Henkel's Green Series Indoor/Outdoor Sealant ($5 per tube): extremely low VOC and Greenguard certified, which means that it's safe to use indoors and will maintain indoor air quality.
7 Heirloom Quality screwdriver sets from Elementary ($68 for set): This expertly crafted set has a wooden handle finished in pure linseed oil.
8 Enviro5 Multipurpose Oil ($12.99 per can): The eco-friendly alternative to WD-40! A fully biodegradable multipurpose oil that works as a penetrating rust solvent, degreaser, lubricant, and for superior corrosion protection. Contains no petroleum or synthetics. Made in the USA from renewable resources. Also see Chester Lube.
9 Auro Stains and Finishes ($110 to $130 per gallon): a European company offering wood non-toxic and solvent-free stains and finishes made primarily with ingredients like linseed oil and mineral pigments. They have worldwide distributors, but are currently not based in the US. (We've heard that's coming soon.)
10 BioShield Clay Paints, Stains, and Finishes ($40-$55 per gallon): all of Bioshield's products are no-odor, non-toxic, and no-VOC. Their collection of paints, stains, thinners and waxes are made primarily from naturally-derived raw materials including citrus peel extracts, essential oils, seed oils, tree resins, inert mineral fillers, tree and bee waxes, lead-free dryers and natural pigments.
Want more? Check out these previous posts:
• Learnign to Caulk: 5 Eco-Friendly Alternatives
• 12 Great No-VOC and Non-Toxic Paints
• 6 Eco-Friendly Stains


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The Goo Goo Dolls have announced a new show on September 6th as part of the James J. Hill Days at Wayzata Beach in Wayzata, MN!
Are you a member of the Inner Machine fan club? Presales will begin on Friday, August 8 at 9am local time and end at 10pm. Ticket presales will take place on the Warner Music Group Ticketing Platform. Access the special presale link in the fanclub section here.
Not a member of the Inner Machine? Join here.
General public on sales begin Saturday, August 9th at 10am.


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Medical Brigades in Honduras: International Health Service of MN
For over 30 years, volunteers for non-profit International Health Service of Minnesota have traveled to Honduras to bring medical and dental care to people in remote villages there. Each February, over 100 volunteers from several countries travel throughout Honduras in brigadas médicas, or medical brigades, bringing health care to people who do not have access to health care. Smaller teams also go in Ocotber.
On today's Wave Project, IHS volunteers talk about how trips to Honduras are organized and financed, and logistics of traveling, delivering supplies and working in a third-world country. Hear stories of compassion and service in extremely poor areas of Central America.
For more information about International Health Service, go to Facebook:
or send e-mail to email@example.com
Thank you to KFAI volunteer Libby Donahue for her production assistance on the show.
Privacy Statement
© KFAI, 1808 Riverside Avenue, Minneapolis, MN 55454 Tel: 612-341-3144


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TMZ obtained, Christopher Wallace aka the Notorious B.I.G's never-before-seen autopsy report.
Check out Christopher Wallace autopsy report below.
According to the report, 3 of the shots were NOT fatal.
— Gunshot #1 struck Wallace in the left forearm and traveled down to his wrist.
— Gunshot #2 struck Wallace in the back, missed all vital organs, and exited through his left shoulder.
— Gunshot #3 struck Wallace on his outer left thigh and exited through his inner left thigh.
The reports says … after Gunshot #3 exited the thigh, "the projectile strikes the left side of the scrotum, causing a very shallow, 3/8 inch linear laceration."
The fatal bullet was Gunshot #4 … which entered Wallace's body through his right hip and ripped its way through several vital organs … before coming to rest in his left shoulder area.


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NEW! Vintage Releases V100 Peter Green-inspired Lemon Drop - Left-Hand version!
Good news, lefties! You don't need to feel left-out! Vintage finally released the left-hand version of the coolest and most popular Les paul-style guitar we sell!
The reverse-fitted neck humbucker and out of phase centre position wiring created one of the most recognisable guitar sounds of the genre – real "Black Magic".
Differential bell type control knobs, battle scars and sealed gear replacement tuners all add to the mojo.... Trev's V100 "Lemon Drop" is a real tribute.
"When I was young and in a band, we supported the original Fleetwood Mac to play at a gig we'd organised. Fleetwood Mac let us use their PA, and Peter Green even let me use his amp! He wouldn't let me use his guitar but he was always my favourite guitarist...."


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Standard used by a trial judge to make a preliminary assessment of whether an expert's scientific testimony is based on reasoning or methodology that is scientifically valid and can properly be applied to the facts at issue. Under this standard, the factors that may be considered in determining whether the methodology is valid are: (1) whether the theory or technique in question can be and has been tested; (2) whether it has been subjected to peer review and publication; (3) its known or potential error rate; (4) the existence and maintenance of standards controlling its operation; and (5) whether it has attracted widespread acceptance within a relevant scientific community. See Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579 (1993). The Daubert standard is the test currently used in the federal courts and some state courts. In the federal courts, it replaced the Frye standard.
Daubert Standard
Taxonomy upgrade extras:


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null - 1993 BMW 325 i 4dr Sedan | Price It With Options»1 of 5
We have information you must know before you buy the 325.
We want to send it to you, along with other pricing insights.
We will not spam you, and will never sell your email. You may unsubscribe at any time.


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Talk:ACPI Wakeup
Quick feedback on the new /usr/bin/setwakeup.sh script in the Mythwelcome section of the page. I have tested it once on an ASUS K8N motherboard with BIOS in local time and it worked perfectly. Thank you to whoever wrote this script, you are awesome. I have been trying for days to get auto wakeup to work on a local time BIOS and this did it for me. I did have to use settings of time_t, sudo shutdown -h now and , sudo sh -c "/usr/bin/setwakeup.sh $time" in the backend settings though to make it work (and yes, I did check that mythshutdown is in the sudoers list)
Does this only work on x86_64?
Works fine on X86_32 for me --Benjsc 12:56, 3 October 2006 (UTC)
It works on 32 bit as well. If you miss /proc/acpi/alarm then it seems that this dissapears if you run smp.
Does anyone have experience with the Via EPIA boards? I'm not able to get it working and thus still use nvram-wakeup...
How do I use ACPI wakeups with MythWelcome? The instructions for it are all for using it with nvram-wakeup. --Turpie 11:09, 29 December 2006 (UTC)
http://svn.mythtv.org/trac/ticket/2838 Looks like capability for ACPI with MythWelcome is coming. Hopefully we'll see an update to the WIKI once 0.21 comes out or sooner if someone with svn version gets ambitious.
For me (Mythbuntu 12.04), using "echo <timestamp> > /sys/class/rtc/rtc0/wakealarm" did not work, instead, the command unconditionally set the alarm timer to 5 minutes in the future, but a subsequent wakeup never happened. However, further searching uncovered a tool called "rtcwake", which basically offers the same functionality as implemented in "setwakeup.sh". In addition, it allows you to conveniently specify whether the hardware clock is UTC (-u flag) or localtime (-l flag). Plus, it worked for me :-)
To emulate the functionality of setwakeup.sh, I used the following command: "rtcwake [-l|-u] -d rtc0 -t <timestamp> -m no" --Tobi-wan 10:25, 15 August 2012 (UTC)
- 1 Different strategies in distro-specific hwclock settings
- 2 2.6.22 Kernels
- 3 strage stript for the wakealarm feature in new kernels
- 4 I got this to work in 2.6.24
- 5 Disable or Enable in BIOS?
- 6 Wake on USB?
- 7 Location of wakeup file changed (Kernel2.6.35-22)
- 8 Suspend to RAM working in Mythdora 12.24 64-bit
- 9 MythTV not shutting down due to "Someone is still logged in, don't shut down!"
- 10 Avoid MythTV shutting down when MythWeb is being used
- 11 Correction
Different strategies in distro-specific hwclock settings
Looking through the distro-specific settings examples, it seems different strategies are adopted, not all of which are right. On Debian and Ubuntu the hwclock updating is simply disabled, but this is not going to work well once the hardware clock has drifted a bit, as the time for waking up will then be out by the degree of drift (which for a typical motherboard clock, can become quite significant as the months pass).
On the other hand, the Fedora scripts do update the hardware clock, and then re-initialize the alarm, which is correct. If the MythTV maintainers agree, I'd be happy to update the recent Ubuntu scripts to reflect this (this is what I use). For Debian and older Ubuntu a different strategy is needed. (By the way, it would be nice if someone would confirm that Debian still works as it used to in the new 6.0 release, or if not, updated its details.)
2.6.22 Kernels
I just updated my fedora 7 kernel and apparently the 2.6.22 linux kernel removes the /proc/acpi/alarm feature, see http://lkml.org/lkml/2007/6/22/320 does anyone know the new method for these new kernels? --Vossman 06:18, 23 July 2007 (UTC)
There is no documentation, only some hidden description in the git commit that introduced this feature. So I wrote some short documentation, but it isn't included in the source tree yet, AFAIK.
It can be found here:
There is also a message in the mythtv mailing list here:
I found a note here that says: "Also it seems, that /sys/class/rtc/rtc0/wakealarm only accepts times more than 2h in the future." If you are having problems this might be it.
--Vossman 07:25, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
I am having the same issue as this guy here [1] I have no trouble getting the value into the /sys/class/rtc/rtc0/wakealarm that is all fine and dandy. But my machine does not wake up when I set this value. I use Fedora 7 and /proc/acpi/alarm worked great before. I am thinking of reporting this to bugzilla.kernel.org and bugzilla.redhat.com if other people are experiencing this post a comment. --Vossman 16:01, 8 September 2007 (UTC)
I finally got wakeup working with the 2.6.26 kernel after applying the patch found here. Steps to test:
# echo "+300" > /sys/class/rtc/rtc0/wakealarm # cat /proc/driver/rtc
The output should look like this:
rtc_time : 18:14:34 rtc_date : 2009-02-22 alrm_time : 18:19:32 alrm_date : 2009-02-22 alarm_IRQ : yes alrm_pending : no 24hr : yes periodic_IRQ : no update_IRQ : no HPET_emulated : no DST_enable : no periodic_freq : 1024 batt_status : okay
Make sure that alrm_IRQ is set to yes. After that, turn off your computer. It should come back on in about 5 mins (300 seconds).
I'm using an Intel D865PERL motherboard.
--Kroylar 02:16, 23 February 2009 (UTC)
- I just added this important information to the page itself, since people probably do not check the discussion page.
- --Bullestock 21:40, 18 January 2010 (UTC)
Fedora Core 6 kernel 22.214.171.124 vs kernel 220.127.116.11
I have a backend running FC6 (kernel 188.8.131.52-49.fc6) that shuts down and wakes up just fine using the script mentioned in the article. However, after upgrading to kernel 22.214.171.124-61.fc6, it no longer works. I figured out (thanks to the comment in the article) that a new wakeup mechanism is in place for the new kernel, namely /sys/class/misc/rtc/power/wakeup. I tried using that, but all I get when I try to echo anything into it (as root) is "invalid argument". Even resetting fails (echo 0 > /sys/class/misc/rtc/power/wakeup). As of writing, this article is the *only* place that mentions this path in google's index. I've reverted to the 126.96.36.199 kernel which still works great, using mythtv-0.20.2-167.fc6. Judaz 19:16, 6 November 2007 (UTC)
This is in response to Judaz's post above. /sys/class/rtc/rtc0/wakealarm has NOT been moved to /sys/class/misc/rtc/power/wakeup. The documentation provided with the kernel source explains that the wakeup file is a way to query/set whether a device in the system can wakeup. Here's an excerpt from the 22.214.171.124 kernel source documentation that describes the power/wakeup files in sysfs (found in Documentation/power/devices.txt):
/sys/devices/.../power/wakeup files ----------------------------------- All devices in the driver model have two flags to control handling of wakeup events, which are hardware signals that can force the device and/or system out of a low power state. These are initialized by bus or device driver code using device_init_wakeup(dev,can_wakeup). The "can_wakeup" flag just records whether the device (and its driver) can physically support wakeup events. When that flag is clear, the sysfs "wakeup" file is empty, and device_may_wakeup() returns false. For devices that can issue wakeup events, a separate flag controls whether that device should try to use its wakeup mechanism. The initial value of device_may_wakeup() will be true, so that the device's "wakeup" file holds the value "enabled". Userspace can change that to "disabled" so that device_may_wakeup() returns false; or change it back to "enabled" (so that it returns true again).
The wakealarm file should still reside in /sys/class/rtc/rtcN. If that directory does not exist on your system, it means the kernel was compiled without support for /sys/class/rtc/rtcN. If you're building your own kernel, you can enable it in "make menuconfig" via the following:
Device Drivers -> Real Time Clock -> /sys/class/rtc/rtcN (sysfs)
If you're using prebuilt kernel packages and /sys/class/rtc doesn't exist, complain to your distro maintainer. Hope this saves someone else the headache it's put me through! --Ebenblues 22:19, 9 January 2008 (UTC)
strage stript for the wakealarm feature in new kernels
The script is somewhat strange in some parts.
#!/bin/sh # $1 is the --settime switch that nvram-wakeup normally expects # $2 is the date/time in seconds since 1970 DATE=`date -d "1970-01-01 $2 sec" "+%F %H:%M:%S" -u` SECS=`date -d "1970-01-01 $2 sec" "+%s" -u`
Why is the argument $2, which is seconds since epoch, converted into seconds since epoch? I think that part can be scratched. Just echo $2 > /sys/class/rtc/rtc0/wakealarm should do fine (at least it does for me)
# Save the wakeup time echo "$*" > /myth.wakeup.args echo $DATE > /myth.wakeup.time echo $SECS > /myth.wakeup.secs
Why are files written into the root directory? Just scratching the "> /myth.wakeup.args" should be fine, as the echo output can be seen in the backend log then.
I got this to work in 2.6.24
I'm running Fedora 8, kernel 18.104.22.168-92, and this works. Note that I had to first use the FC6 fix located on this page.
If I run these commands, my pc will wake up in 5 minutes.
su chmod ugo+rwx /proc/acpi/alarm echo "+00-00-00 00:05:00" > /proc/acpi/alarm halt -p
Note that if I use shutdown -h now, or /etc/init.d/halt start, or something else, it DOES NOT work. Only halt -p!
Also, I did not have a /sys/class/rtc folder, but I did have a /proc/rtc file. No /proc/rtc0 either.
Rlbond86 23:14, 22 May 2008 (UTC)
Disable or Enable in BIOS?
The page says wake from RTC alarm (or the like) should be disabled. This seems wrong, and on my motherboard at least I had to enable the setting.
Shane kerr 19:52, 26 May 2008 (UTC)
- On most motherboards, you need to disable it in BIOS, because you want to program the RTC from the OS. There used to be notes about almost all motherboards needing to disable it. But if your motherboard is an exception, you should probably add a note to the wiki about some motherboards needing it enabled. BTW, have you tried disabling it to make sure you need it enabled? --Per Olofsson 20:01, 26 May 2008 (UTC)
Wake on USB?
--- I don't understand why Wake on USB isn't mentioned in this Wiki page at all?! --The Daver 07:48 04 Aug 2009 (CDT)
Location of wakeup file changed (Kernel2.6.35-22)
For me, I find it under /sys/class/rtc/rtc0/subsystem/rtc0/power/wakeup
May I changes this on the wiki page?
(Or alternatively
/sys/class/rtc/rtc0/device/power/wakeup, which if I've disentangled the symlinks correctly, is the same thing, and is a shorter and less repetitive name. -Reuben Thomas)
Suspend to RAM working in Mythdora 12.24 64-bit
Suspend to RAM and resume works for me without rebooting. Hardware:
PC Chips A13G+ w/ AMD Sempron LE-1150 processor GT Force 9400 GT PCI-X video card 2 GB RAM
I added the following file to enable pm to reset mythbackend on resume. This was required to eliminate flaky behavior:
#!/bin/bash #. /usr/lib/pm-utils/functions suspend_mythbackend() { # shut down back end /etc/init.d/mythbackend stop } resume_mythbackend() { # restart back end /etc/init.d/mythbackend start } case "$1" in hibernate|suspend) suspend_mythbackend ;; thaw|resume) resume_mythbackend ;; *) ;; esac exit $?
A similar file was required for inputattach, which lets me use an Airboard wireless keyboard.
Mythbackend settings (under general, sshutdown/wakeup options page):
block shutdown before client connected: unchecked idle shutdown timeout (secs): 300 maximum wait for recording (mins): 15 startup before recording (secs): 120 wakeup time format: yyyy-MM-ddThh:mm:ss command to set wakeup time: mythshutdown --setwakeup $time server halt command: mythshutdown --shutdown pre-shutdown-check command: mythshutdown --check
Mythwelcome settings:
command to set wakeup time: /usr/local/bin/setwakeup.sh $time wakeuptime format: time_t nvram-wakeup restart command: /sbin/grub-set-default 1 command to reboot: /usr/bin/reboot command to shutdown: /usr/bin/pm-suspend
It's been working fine now for many weeks, with only minor annoyances. It only takes about ten seconds for a full recovery from suspend, which saves considerable time over the recommended rebooting after each resume. I measured power consumption in various states, and it looks like for my setup, there is almost no difference in power between a complete shutoff and the suspend state. The system is easily awakened by wake-on-lan. I am running a Misterhouse system (www.misterhouse.net) and have a remote control button programmed to wake the mythtv PC.
Power consumption measurements:
off: 4 W suspend: 4 W on, idle: 75 W on, playback: 80 W
Wgadsby 20:14, 25 June 2011 (UTC)
MythTV not shutting down due to "Someone is still logged in, don't shut down!"
The problem is with checklogin.sh or more specifically the w command which checklogin.sh uses.
I think the issue is related to the following paragraph that is stated in the main article:-
"If you ever log into an alternate terminal (ctl-alt-2 and then log in for example) the number of users logged in will increment by one, but not decrement when you log out of that terminal. The system will not automatically shut down again until it has been rebooted."
But I experience this issue without switching to alternate terminals. I have no idea what is causing the w command to return the incorrect user count. But I have noticed that the who command does not make this mistake.
Example using the w command (the only login is an ssh connection to test the command):-
$ w 19:57:38 up 1:08, 2 users, load average: 0.51, 0.46, 0.50 USER TTY FROM LOGIN@ IDLE JCPU PCPU WHAT daniel pts/1 maggie.local 19:13 0.00s 0.96s 0.00s w
Then testing with the who command:-
$ who -q daniel # users=1
Does anyone know why the user count is wrong? Can it be fixed or is it by design? I am now going to update my checklogin script to use the who command and see how that works over the next week. (Update 2011-07-26 This has been working fine for a month. If no one minds I'll update the script in the article.)
Danellisuk 19:03, 27 June 2011 (UTC)
Avoid MythTV shutting down when MythWeb is being used
I want to avoid that my Myth-Box shuts down when I am using MythWeb from another box. I did not find any solution anywhere so here goes my hack (I'm no web-master, nor linux-guru). I#m using Ubuntu 10.04, solution may vary with other OS.
The basic idea: Use http://localhost/server-status to check if MythWeb is active.
--Pclausen 22:18, 26 August 2011 (UTC) Update: I found a better way without using http://localhost/server-status
The basic idea: Check if mythweb page has been accessed within the last 20 min using /var/log/apache2/access.log. Probably aint foolproof, but works for me.
#!/bin/bash # Check to see if anyone is currently logged in. Return zero if not and 1 if so. # Echoed text appears in log file. It can be removed and --quiet added to the # grep command once you are satisfied that mythTV is working properly # Get a date/time stamp to add to log output DATE=`date +%F\ %T\.%N` DATE=${DATE:0:23} # When these processes run, I dont want MythTv shutting down to_check="synaptic apt-get aptitude firefox chromium-browse nxssh vlc mplayer audacious2 VirtualBox rsync" for c in $to_check ; do my_check=`ps -e | grep $c` if [ -n "$my_check" ]; then echo $DATE Someone is still using $c, don\'t shut down! exit 1 fi done # checking /var/log/apache2/access.log # check if file is not older than 20 min if [ `find /var/log/apache2/access.log -mmin -20` ] ; then # check if mythweb (or other pages) were accessed mythweb_active=`tail -n10 /var/log/apache2/access.log | grep -i mythweb` relaxx_active=`tail -n10 /var/log/apache2/access.log | grep -i relaxx` if [ -n "$mythweb_active" ]; then echo $DATE Someone is still using mythweb, don\'t shut down! exit 1 fi if [ -n "$relaxx_active" ]; then echo $DATE Someone is still using relaxx, don\'t shut down! exit 1 fi fi # Everythin OK, allow shuwdown echo $DATE Noone is logged in, ok to shut down. exit 0
--Pclausen 02:16, 5 July 2011 (UTC)
--Pclausen 22:18, 26 August 2011 (UTC) New revision of script
For a combined FE/BE Mythwelcome F11 screen 'command to set wakeup time' seems to needs setting just like a dedicated BE:
sudo sh -c "/usr/bin/setwakeup.sh $time"


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If you had $1 million, what would you invest in? Would you make smart choices?
Students in our Capital Markets Trading Competition are finding out.
The competition, hosted by Sawyer Business School's Center for Business Complexity and Global Leadership and TD Ameritrade, has drawn more than 60 undergraduate and graduate students. For the last two weeks, the 20 teams have been using TD Ameritrade's thinkorswim trading platform, which simulates the real-world market.
"I feel like I'm in a real trading floor at Wall Street," said Ulrich Dossou, a senior Finance major who's competing on a three-person team of undergraduates.
This isn't Dossou's first trading experience. He's taking an investment course this semester in Sawyer Business School's trading room, where he's using various trading software, including StockTrak, and has access to resources, such as StockPicker, Seeking Alpha, and Bloomberg.
He's been learning a lot more from the competition. "It's a great experience, even if it's not your career goal. It's a fun way to learn how to build your personal portfolio, which is a financial literacy everyone should have," he said.
Marlio Campos, a freshman majoring in Finance and Economics, agrees. "This will be great to put on my resume—it will help me land an internship in the future," said Campos, who's competing with two other undergraduates.
Winners will be announced at the award ceremony on May 2. Students will receive feedback from TD Ameritrade's Chief Derivatives Strategist JJ Kinahan. Kinahan is a member of the Board of Directors at NYSE ARCA and a member of the Arbitration Committee at the CBOE. He's also a frequent contributor on CNBC "Fast Money."


text:
|Urbana, Ill.
|High School:
|Urbana High School
|Breaststroke, Fly
High School: Athena attended Urbana High School. She swam from 2005-07, lettering all three years, and ran track and field in 2008, where she also lettered. She was captain of her swimming team. Her 200-meter freestyle relay team was sectional champions in 2007. In 2005, Liao competed in the 200-meter breaststroke at senior and junior nationals, where she finished 36th and 11th, respectively. In 2006, she placed 4th at State in the 100-meter fly and the in the 100-meter breast. Her senior year she was Senior State Champion in the 200-meter breast. She was also Area Swimmer of the Year (2006-07), Scholastic All-American (2005-07), MVP (2006, 2007) and 2nd Team All-State in the 100-meter fly (2006) and 100-meter breaststroke (2005-06). Academically, she won the IHSA scholastic achievement award (2006-08), the Urbana High Monogram Award (2004-07), the Big 12 scholar-athlete award (2006-08) and the Urbana Scholar award (2004). Personal: Athena is in Jonathon Edwards College. She is undecided on a major. In her free time, she enjoys photography, creative writing, making videos and discussing the future of our society. Her father Tim attended Beijing Language and Culture University, while her mother Keiko attended Senshu University. Why I Choose Yale: "I came on the recruit trip injured (I had a torn ACL, got surgery) and it did not seem to bother the coaches. They said I would recover quickly, and I would be okay. The other colleges I was looking at weren't interested in me anymore once they found out. But Yale stuck with me to the end."


text:
Kitchen Pantry Shelving Suggestions?
Q: In my kitchen, I have an ugly wooden shelf from IKEA. It's unfinished wood (which I hate), and it's crooked. I need some ideas for a new shelf. I don't need a lot of storage. As you can see, the majority of my kitchen is white (aside from my grey countertops, and my black bar table). I was thinking of buying the Expedit bookcase from IKEA and outfitting it with some baskets.
Sent by Tony
Editor: Please share your thoughts and suggestions with Tony in the comments below - thanks!
• Got a question? Email yours with pic attachments here (those with pics get answered first)


text:
OFM™ 42" Square Gray Nebula Laminate Multi-Purpose Table With 4 Chairs, Lavender
Item #: 901-1147802OFM
Model #: 845123045565
Brand: OFM
Not yet rated.Be the first to Write a Review!
$593.99 Each
Delivery Date:
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protection plans and more.
Plus, you've got choices! You'll find options for those DIYers on a budget, those that want us to do all the work and everyone in-between. Want all the details? Get them right here.
OFM™ 42" Square gray nebula laminate multi-purpose table with four chairs in lavender color is suitable for home/office/school use. OFM™ Square table comes in lavender color and features classic gray nebula lamination for durability. Multi-purpose table has a dimension of 42" x 42" and comes with four convenient space-saving stackable chairs.
- Lavender chair and gray nebula laminate table
- Dimensions: 42"W x 42"D
- Seats up to 4
- Shape: Square
- Type: Multi-purpose
- With four 325-2202 chairs
|Depth in Inches : 42
|Width in Inches : 42
|Furnishing Color : Gray
|Seat Capacity : 4
|Table Shape : Square
|Table Type : Table Sets
|True Color : Gray
|Brand : OFM
|Customizable : No
|Weight : 56.00 lbs. per Each


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A slight rebound in the number of new home listings last month did little to alleviate pressure in the national property market, according to figures out today.
The latest NZ Property Report, released by Realestate.co.nz, shows there were 8849 new house listings in January, 4 per cent higher than both the previous month and January last year.
Low levels of listings were to be expected at this time of year but buyer demand had also never been higher, said marketing manager Paul McKenzie.
"In the last three months, we've seen around 30,000 new listings come onto the market, which is equivalent to the same period a year ago," he said.
"However, sales have been up 30 per cent during the same period, which has kept the market very tight."
Confidence from those selling houses saw the national average asking price soar to $440,507 on a seasonally adjusted basis.
"Auckland also saw its average asking price top $600,000 for the second time on record, while Canterbury's average asking price tipped the $400,000 mark for the third time in the past 12 months," McKenzie said.
ASB economist Jane Turner urged caution in interpreting the data because housing market activity was often disrupted over the Christmas and New Year break and due to a relatively small history of the data set.
The low levels of new house listings reflected low levels of construction, she said.
"The recent pick-up in building consents, particularly in Auckland, is an encouraging sign.
"We expect an increase in housing construction to help alleviate some of the pressures in the market, particularly in the areas where supply constraints are most acute such as Auckland and Christchurch."
But the supply shortage will continue to keep upward pressure on house prices, Turner said.
"We expect house prices will continue to lift over 2013, with gains continuing to be led by Auckland and Christchurch."
Turner said that although the steady rise in house prices would cause more discomfort for the Reserve Bank, she thought the OCR would remain unchanged until March 2014.
"However, we see a small but growing chance the Reserve Bank may use macro prudential tools in order to ease housing market and credit demand pressures."


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Beyond Two Souls (2)
Because it fits so well to the joke (wich a lot might not get), here's a little bonus:
Here're some great examples of the full emontional scope of Ellen Page in Beyond Two Souls,
wich puts her on a par with acting overlords like Keanu Reeves and Steven Seagal.
How could you leave Sylvester Stallone of that list of great expressive actors? His seminal performance in Death Race 2000 as reprised in every move that followed was a veritable steam calliope of nuance.
Ps. loved this :D


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This year has seen the release of some incredible downloadable games that rival the production values of more expensive retail releases (Battlefield 1943 and Shatter come to mind). But on the other hand, we're still getting releases like Diner Dash, a six-year old casual PC game with plain Jane visuals and simple time management challenges. Diner Dash can be fun -- it's sold millions of copies since its release and you don't usually do that unless you've got something special. But PlayStation Network might not be the ideal place to play these sorts of folksy PC games. They seem to make more sense in short bursts as you kill time at work rather than something you settle into your couch in your living room to play.
Is "multitasking" one of the skills on your resume? If not, than it should be after you've spent some time with Diner Dash. Flo has left her corporate gig to open a diner and you'll need to help her get customers seated, get them fed, then get them out the door quickly before the people waiting in line get too upset and leave. Customers will leave you tips and each level has a monetary goal that needs to be reached or else you'll have to try it again. It's the same design you've probably played on PC but some precision of control has been lost in the translation. Now that you're controlling Flo with a gamepad instead of a mouse it can be a little tricky getting her to select the right people or items. There are hot keys for most of the diner areas, though, which helps a bit.
Whereas many videogames indulge our fantasies by giving us supernatural powers or allowing us to explore other dimensions, Diner Dash is planted right in the middle of our reality. What could be more ordinary than waiting tables? But there is a part of the design that doesn't make a bit of sense. Customers are color coordinated and you'll earn more tips if you continually seat people of the same color in the same seats. So, basically, Diner Dash is an exercise in segregation. Why else would the player be concerned what color people are sitting where?
There are six types of customers, each with their own behaviors: senior citizens aren't impatient but they're not great tippers, for instance. I could definitely use more variety in the patrons' appearances. There is only one old person, one business woman, and one college student, so your restaurant is filled with clones. The same problem appears in the multiplayer game, where Flo's twin sister shows up to help out. All of these doppelgangers, along with the drab restaurant interiors, make for a bland visual experience. Diner Dash actually looks better in the 2D original on PC and iPhone.
As you reach your monetary goals Flo will purchase upgrades to her restaurants that give you more options for keeping customers happy. For example, once you have a coffee pot customers will be willing to wait longer for their food if they've got a cup of Joe to sip on. But these upgrades are all automatic and it would have been more compelling to let the player customize their restaurant and decide which improvements they want to purchase. You can do so in the multiplayer games, but not the single-player career.
Even though Diner Dash is the epitome of what we consider to be casual games, it does become wickedly challenging. The most impatient people on the planet tend to visit your restaurant and scarcely five seconds will have gone by before they're wondering where their food is. There are a variety of strategies you can try: should you focus your attention on the demanding business women? Should you linger at the hostess station and chat up guests that are waiting in line? Is it worth it to run coffee to that table that is about to leave? Chaining one particular task gets you a higher score, so should you wait for the next table to be done or just go ahead and take a few more orders? It's a lot for one person to handle, which is why I particularly like the two-player co-op mode. Here, you have to communicate and divvy up tasks with your co-worker – just like, I don't know, a real restaurant. This mode is particularly satisfying and it's a shame two people can't play through the regular story together.
Trophy hunters take note: you get a shiny trophy just for buying Diner Dash.
The Verdict
There is a reason Diner Dash is so popular -- the simple time management exercise is addictive and it can be very satisfying when you get an efficient restaurant up and running. But what makes for a perfect casual PC game doesn't necessarily translate well to the living room. This is a six-year old game that millions of people have already played, so it's not the most exciting PSN release. The visuals are also pretty bland and the controls can be finicky. There is fun to be had, though, particularly with the cooperative multiplayer mode (which is available online). Diner Dash on PSN will best be enjoyed by people who haven't played the PC original or its many sequels and are in the mood for something light.


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- Public Notices
In Thursday's B section, we published a picture of a few 4-H Shamrock members spending the morning cleaning the Windy Creek Perry County Greenway on the north side of Tell City. Youth from Deer Creek Baptist Church recently cleaned Sunset Park in Tell City, helping prepare that area for last Monday's groundbreaking for a new riverwalk project.
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Hello all. I am working with Grid and grouping view. I added possibility of row drag and drop through groups and every time I move some row it is always places on the bottom of that group.
Here is my code for that:
Does any one have advice how to fix that? Thanks in advance.Code:new GridDragSource (grid); GridDropTarget target = new GridDropTarget (grid); target.setAllowSelfAsSource (true); target.setFeedback (Feedback.INSERT);


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Howard County, Maryland Genealogy
United States Maryland Howard County
- 1 County Courthouse
- 2 History
- 3 Places/Localities
- 4 Resources
- 5 Societies and Libraries
- 6 Web Sites
- 7 References
County Courthouse
Howard County Courthouse
3430 Courthouse Drive
Ellicott City, MD 21043
Phone: 410-992-2025/
Phone: 410-313-3000
Clerk Circuit Court has marriage, divorce, court and land records; Register of Wills has probate records[1]
- Named for John Edger Howard, a Colonel in the American Revolutionary War, later the 5th Governor of Maryland.
Parent County
- Made a separate county in 1838 from Anne Arundel County with a part from Baltimore County, but it was not formally recognized until 13 May 1851 by the state Constitutional Convention.
Boundary Changes
Record Loss
Populated Places
Census Districts
Neighboring Counties
Anne Arundel | Baltimore | Carroll | Frederick | Montgomery | Prince George's
- On-line headstone trandscriptions
- Findagrave.com (120 cemeteries)
- Interment.net (19 cemeteries)
- http://www.usgwtombstones.org/maryland/howard.html (21+ cemeteries)
- see also files.usgwarchives.net/md/howard/cemeteries/multiple.txt (Howard County)
- (for partial transcriptions of St. John's, Good Shepherd and Meadowridge Cemeteries)
Blackwell, Boston, Fuller & Howard Gravestones (see Pine Orchard Methodist Episcopal Cemetery)
Brown Family Cemetery at Good Fellowship, Woodstock
Bushy Park Community Cemetery
Davis-Wagon Gravesite, Woodstock
Dorsey Family Cemetery, Village of Harpers Choice, Columbia
Dorsey Graveyard at Arcadia, Ellicott City
Doughoregan Manor Chapel, Ellicott City
Elkridge Community Christian Church
Ellicott Family Graveyard, Ellicott Mills (Now Ellicott City)
Ellicott Family Graveyard, Hollifield
Fox Graves, Ellicott City
France Gravestones
Gary Memorial Methodist Church Cemetery, Ellicott city
Good Shepherd Cemetery, Ellicott City
Grace Episcopal Church Cemetery, Elkridge
Hammond Graveyard at Burleigh Manor, Ellicott City
Holy Trinity Orthodox Cemetery, Elkridge
McKendree Church Cemetery, West Friendship
McKenzie (MacKenzie) Gravestones, Ellicott City
Meadowridge Memorial Park, Elkridge
Melville Chapel UMC Cemetery, Elkridge
Mountain View Cemetery, West Friendship
Pine Orchard Methodist Episcopal Cemetery, Ellicott City
Rhine Stone at Pine Orchard, Ellicott City
Rosa Bonheur Memorial Park, Elkridge
Saint Augustine Roman Catholic Cemetery, Elkridge
Saint Johns Lutheran Cemetery, Columbia
Saint John's Howard County Cemetery, Ellicott City
Saint Marys Cemetery, Ellicott City
Saint Paul's Roman Catholic Cemetery, Ellicott City
Saint Stephens Cemetery, Elkridge
Smith Family Cemetery, Ellicott City
Stackhouse Cemetery, Poplar Springs
Trinity Cemetery, Pfeiffer Corners
Trinity Waterloo Cemetery, Columbia (Trinity Chapel Cemetery)
Tucker Cemetery, Ellicott City
Whipp's Garden Cemetery, Ellicott City
Federal Census reports available 1860-1930. For tips on accessing Howard County, Maryland Genealogy census records online, see: Maryland Census.
Maryland State Archives' Guide to Maryland Religious Institutions identifies all churches known to have existed in Howard County, Maryland. It covers all denominations and includes record descriptions. The following records, taken from its collection, have been digitized and made available to view for free online:
- Protestant Episcopal (Church of England), Christ Church, Queen Caroline Parish 1712-1939 (includes parish register 1712-1937 and vestry minutes 1728-1776, 1809-1939)
- 1708-1985 - Pennsylvania, Church and Town Records, 1708-1985 at Historical Society of Pennsylvania – $, free to members of the society; Also available at Ancestry.com – $; 7,542,774 entries. This database is incomplete for all counties.
- Contains the church records of:
- Elkridge: Elkridge Methodist Church
- Contains the church records of:
Church of England
See also Queen Caroline Parish
Through a Joint eGovernment Service of the Maryland Judiciary and the Maryland State Archives, free images and indexes of the complete series of Howard County Deed Books (1840-present) have been uploaded to their website: MDLandRec.Net: A Digital Image Retrieval System for Land Records in Maryland. (Requires free registration.)
Local Histories
War of 1812
- List of Pensioners on the Roll, January 1, 1883; Giving the Name of Each Pensioner, the Cause for Why Pensioned, the Post-Office Address, the Rate of Pension Per Month, and the Date of Original Allowance... Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1883. FHL Collection 973 M2Lp v. 5; digital versions at Google Books and Internet Archive. [See Vol. 5, Maryland, Howard County, p. 151. Identifies War of 1812 veterans living in this county in 1883.]
Civil War
Regiments. Service men in Howard County, Maryland Genealogy served in various regiments. Men often joined a company (within a regiment) that originated in their county. Listed below are companies that were specifically formed in Howard County, Maryland Genealogy:
- - Howard County, Maryland, Company C
- - 3rd Regiment, Maryland Infantry, Potomac Home Brigade Company I
- - 7th Regiment, Virginia Cavalry (Ashby's) (Confederate). Company B (1st) (Howard Dragoons).[2]
- Howard County newspapers are identified in "Guide to Maryland Newspapers," available online, courtesy: Special Collections, Maryland State Archives.
Vital Records
- Howard County Circuit Court Marriage Records 1886-1900
- Partial Listing of Howard County Marriages 1858
- Howard County Marriage Licenses 1860-1939 from the Howard County Historical Society site.
- Death
- Maryland Death Certificate Index 1898-1944, available online, courtesy: Vital Records Indexing Project, Maryland State Archives.
Societies and Libraries
Family History Centers
Web Sites
- The Howard County MDGenWeb Project, a member of The MDGenWeb Project, an affiliate of The USGenWeb Project.
- "Howard Co.," in Genealogical Sources in Periodicals at The Maryland State Archives.
- The USGenWeb Archives Project for Howard County.
- The USGenWeb Archives Project for Howard County. (Backup site)
- FamilySearch.org History Library Catalog for Howard County
- ↑ Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed. (Draper, Utah: Everton Pub., 2002), Howard, Maryland page 318, {WorldCat|50140092|disp=At various libraries (WorldCat)}}; FHL Book 973 D27e 2002.
- ↑ Richard L. Armstrong, 7th Virginia Cavalry (Lynchburg, Va.: H.E. Howard, 1992). FHL Book 975.5 M2vr v. 88.


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Cuddyer carries Colorado in win over Padres
Denver, CO – Michael Cuddyer hit a two-run home run and had four RBI, as the Colorado Rockies defeated the San Diego Padres, 6-3, in a National League West matchup on Saturday.
Carlos Gonzalez and Troy Tulowitzki had an RBI apiece for the Rockies, who saw starter Jon Garland (1-0) allow two runs on five hits over six innings. Rafael Betancourt pitched a scoreless ninth to earn his third save of the season.
"It was another great start from one of our starting pitchers. That is a lot to be proud of for Jon right there after being away from pitching for that long and to go out there and pitch like that," Rockies manager Walt Weiss said.
Jedd Gyorko drove in two runs and Alexi Amarista had an RBI for the Padres. Starter Tyson Ross (0-1) needed 96 pitches to get through four-plus innings and gave up three runs -- two earned -- on three hits and four walks.
"The first inning put him behind the eight ball in pitch count. The third and fourth were pretty clean, but in the fifth I noticed the velocity was coming down a bit and knew it was time to make a move," Padres manager Bud Black said.
In the first, Cuddyer hit a two-out single into right, scoring Josh Rutledge.
The Padres got their first score in the fourth. After a leadoff double by Carlos Quentin, Yonder Alonso singled into left-center field. Gyorko walked, loading the bases. Amarista grounded towards the shortstop, but was able to bring Quentin home, tying the game at 1-1. Cameron Maybin was up next, but he grounded into a double play, ending the inning.
The Rockies started to pull away in the fifth. Dexter Fowler drew a leadoff walk and Rutledge reached first after Everth Cabrera committed an error. Gonzalez singled to right and brought Fowler home. Tulowitzki followed that with a single of his own, scoring Rutledge, but was thrown out at second while attempting to advance on the play. Cuddyer was next to the plate, and he also singled to right, as Gonzalez reached home.
Gyorko got his first RBI of the night in the sixth on a grounder, plating Quentin, who hit a leadoff double.
After Tulowitzki was walked with one out in the seventh, Cuddyer homered to right, giving the Rockies a 6-2 lead.
Gyorko hit a two-out RBI double in the eighth, bringing Chris Denorfia home.
Betancourt pitched for the Rockies in the ninth. He allowed a two-out single by Mark Kotsay, who reached second due to a defensive interference, but got Cabrera to ground out to shortstop to end the game.
Game Notes
The Padres were 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position, while the Rockies were 4-for-9 ... Rutledge had a stolen base ... Jon Garland had not pitched in the majors since June 1, 2011 ... Colorado has won the first two games of this three-game series.


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Rocky Long Wants Boise State to Get Rid of 'Unfair' Blue Turf
Rocky Long is the new head coach at San Diego State and he's wasted no time asserting himself as a powerful voice. The former Aztecs defensive coordinator took a shot at Boise State in an interview with the Idaho Statesman, complaining about the Broncos' home field.
"I think they ought to get rid of that blue turf. I think it's unfair," said Long. "It takes the visiting team a quarter or two to get used to that different field."
Long said players "track the ball differently" on the blue turf, particularly since Boise State traditionally wears all-blue uniforms on the blue turf, according to the Statesman.
Boise State's upcoming move to the Mountain West is what inspired the statement, and my guess is the Broncos will remember his remark and pour 60 on them in the fall. Even though many of us would love to see the blue turf banned, it distinguishes Boise State and adds to their mystique. In other words, it's not going away.
In fact, the trend seems to be moving in the opposite direction. Like our friends at New Era Radio say, maybe San Diego State needs to consider changing the color of their turf for an advantage of their own. I know Oregon State would agree.
Thanks to Marcas G for the story, and check him out on twitter.


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Hulk Hogan joined Richard Bacon on BBC Radio 5 today, and a weary nation eagerly awaited the comforting words of the Hulkster. If the 24-inch pythons can't get those looters to settle down and shape up, nothing can.
Here, highlights of a speech sure to go down in English history alongside anything Churchill ever said. We will bodyslam them on the beaches, indeed.


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Missing out of the box in Silverlight 3 is the ability to auto select the text in a textbox when it receives focus. Thankfully Attached Properties make it very easy to add the functionality. In this post I will create a AutoSelectText attached property, which when set to true will select all the text as when the textbox receives focus. And because of routed events, it is not required to add the property to every textbox on a page. Instead it can be added to the parent content control and all child textboxes will have to auto select behavior.
- <Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot"
- attachedProperties:AttachedProperties.AutoSelectText="true">
- <StackPanel Orientation="Vertical"
- HorizontalAlignment="Left">
- <TextBox Text="Will not auto select"
- MaxWidth="300"
- Margin="4"
- attachedProperties:AttachedProperties.PreventAutoSelectText="true" />
- <TextBox Text="Will auto select 1"
- MaxWidth="300"
- Margin="4"/>
- <TextBox Text="Will auto select 2"
- MaxWidth="300"
- Margin="4" />
- </StackPanel>
- </Grid>
Line 2: The AutoSelectText is set to true on the root level content control (Grid). That's it. All text boxes within the Grid will participate in the auto select text functionality.
Line 8: A control can opt out by setting the PreventAutoSelectText property to false.
Listed below are some of the key code blocks. The link to the entire source code can be found at the end of the post.
Declaring the attached property
- public static readonly DependencyProperty AutoSelectTextProperty = DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached("AutoSelectText",
- typeof(Boolean),
- typeof(AttachedProperties),
- new PropertyMetadata(OnAutoSelectTextChanged));
- public static readonly DependencyProperty PreventAutoSelectTextProperty = DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached("PreventAutoSelectText",
- typeof(Boolean),
- typeof(AttachedProperties),
- null);
Line 1-2: A new boolean attached property called AutoSelectText is declared.
Line 4: The OnAutoSelectTextChanged event handler is registered, which is be invoked when the value of the property is set in the xaml.
Line 6: A new boolean attached property called PreventAutoSelectText is declared. Controls can use this property to opt out of the auto select functionality.
The dependency property changed event handler
- private static void OnAutoSelectTextChanged(DependencyObject d, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
- {
- //This works because of event bubbling.
- FrameworkElement frameworkElement = d as FrameworkElement;
- if (frameworkElement != null)
- {
- if ((bool)e.NewValue)
- frameworkElement.GotFocus += OnGotFocus;
- else
- frameworkElement.GotFocus -= OnGotFocus;
- }
- }
Line 8: If the value of the AutoSelectText (accessed using e.NewValue) is true, we add the OnGotFocus event handler to the GotFocus event of the control on which the AutoSelectText property is being set (from the xaml).
Line 9: Similarly if the control does not wish to participate in auto selecting of text, we remove our event handler.
The GotFocus event handler
- private static void OnGotFocus(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
- {
- TextBox textBox = FocusManager.GetFocusedElement() as TextBox;
- if (textBox != null && !(bool)textBox.GetValue(PreventAutoSelectTextProperty))
- textBox.Select(0, textBox.Text.Length);
- }
Line 3: Since we are using routed events, the sender parameter will not be the textbox that currently has focus. It will the root level content control (Grid) which has the AutoSelectText attached property. The FocusManager class is used to get a reference to that control that has the focus.
Why two attached properties?
Silverlight does not provide a way to check if a control has a attached property defined in the xaml. Due to this if I replace
- if (textBox != null && !(bool)textBox.GetValue(PreventAutoSelectTextProperty))
in the OnGotFocus method with
- if (textBox != null && !(bool)textBox.GetValue(AutoSelectTextProperty))
I will always get false for the textBox.GetValue call, even if the AutoSelectText has not been defined for the textbox in xaml.


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Repairing the bodywork of a Porsche is a job that requires an exceptional level of understanding, care and skill.
To that end we have a network of Porsche Recommended Repairers in the UK whose facilities meet strict Operating Standards. These standards are updated as technical developments are made within the vehicle range and are based on the qualitative processes and workmanship expected by Porsche.
Porsche Recommended Body Repairers:
Porsche Dynamic Repair by our service team offers repair methods to keep your vehicle in perfect showroom condition for aesthetic and minor concerns.
Whether you have a stone chip on the screen, a dent in a panel, a scratch in the paint or a split in the leather, our Porsche Centre can offer a range of repair solutions, only replacing parts when absolutely neccessary. This saves on time, costs and resources.Contact us
First impressions count. We are as proud of your vehicle as you are. Our service team can detail your vehicle as if it were going on display in our showroom. Using experience, expertise and premium quality products our Porsche Centre can transform the appearance of your Porsche to the highest standard.
The detailing process includes a full interior and exterior treatment including engine bay, wheels, wheel arches and door shuts. Specialist techniques including a multistage machine polishing process will give your vehicle a fantastic finish.Contact us
© 2018 All rights reserved to Porsche Service Centre Brooklands and its licensors.


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"Opportunities like this just don't come along very often and they are a valuable marketing tool." - Chris Witting, Syndication Networks Corp.
Dallas, TX (PRWEB) May 13, 2014
Listeners from around the globe tune into The Staying Young Show, which is in its fourth year of production and second year of syndication. The format of the show has evolved to include many features that listeners anticipate each week, but the latest feature, a listener medical trivia contest, comes with an opportunity for a national sponsor to name the contest and offer their products as prizes. "It's important that we find the perfect fit because we will also be endorsing their product. Endorsement is not something we take lightly. Our listeners respect our opinion and our reputation is at stake here," explains co-host Judy Gaman.
The sponsorship, which comes with a reasonable $30,000 price tag, offers naming rights for two years, two commercials per show, social media exposure, and the right to showcase products as the give-away. The questions are fairly easy with a few harder questions worth more points. Doctors and nurses are not allowed to participate since the contest is geared toward listeners with everyday knowledge on health and wellness topics. "Listener participation is a big part of successful radio. Since the Staying Young show is heard in so many markets, the sponsor should also be looking to reach the same health minded audience." Chris Witting of Syndication Networks, Corp. continues, "I can't think of a better show to advertise on when it comes to health, wellness, and longevity. Opportunities like this just don't come along very often and they are a valuable marketing tool."
The Staying Young Show is co-hosted by two medical doctors- Mark Anderson and Walter Gaman, along with health and wellness expert Judy Gaman. Together they are part of the much sought after team of medical professionals at Executive Medicine of Texas. The three have also co-authored a number of health books together, including their most recent: Age to Perfection: How to Thrive to 100, Happy, Health, and Wise, which has gained a large amount of media attention over the past few months. "Keeping people healthy is what we do best. It's about being proactive and preventing disease before it starts. Our books and radio show help us teach people what they need to know, but in an entertaining way that keeps them engaged," says Dr. Mark Anderson.
The Staying Young Show attracts exceptional guests, everyone from best-selling authors and leading researchers, to top name celebrities. Charles Mefferd of Salem Radio Network agrees, "Every week, The Staying Young radio show covers important health related topics in a fun and entertaining way. The new medical trivia contest is just the latest example of how The Staying Young Show creatively interacts with its rapidly growing audience and is a perfect sponsorship opportunity for any advertiser."
Corporations interested in this sponsorship opportunity need to provide a brief description of why their company and product are a good fit for the Staying Young Show. They must also submit their proposed name for the trivia contest along with the product which they wish to give away. Additional products will be used for contest prizes, but should not be sent until the sponsor has been accepted. Only one sponsor will be accepted and will receive the naming rights for a period of two years. All correspondence regarding sponsorship should be directed to the Stay Young Media Group, LLC. The accepted sponsorship will be announced June 9, 2014. All interested parties must submit the information above no later than June 2, 2014 by 5:00 pm ET in order to be considered.
The Staying Young Show is distributed through Salem Radio Network (SRN) (AMC-3, SR1 and AMC-8, XDS, and FTP) allowing stations to pick up the show, regardless of their affiliation. National syndication is arranged through Syndication Networks Corp and stations interested in affiliation should contact Chris Witting.


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A new study indicates that teenager's comprehension of emergency contraception (EC) labeling is comparable to that of adults. EC, also known as Plan B, is effective up to five days (120 hours) after unprotected sex, birth control failure, or rape, but it is most effective (95 percent) if taken within 24 hours.
The EC label comprehension study surveyed 1,085 girls ages 12 to 17 in New York City. Results were then compared to a similar 2002 study that surveyed adult women. According to Reuters, 92 percent of teenage girls in the new study and 93 percent of adult women in the 2002 study understood that EC is "a method of preventing pregnancy after unprotected sex." Similarly 83 percent of teenage girls surveyed (compared with 85 percent of women surveyed in 2002) understood that Plan B must be taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex. A number of other measures also showed high understanding of those surveyed of EC's purpose and proper use.
Lead researcher Dr. Miriam Cremer, of New York University's School of Medicine, told Reuters that "I believe the potential implications of our study are to help the FDA decide to make Plan B available over-the-counter without an age restriction." Cremers study concludes that teenagers "demonstrate comprehension equal to adults of the key points necessary for safe and effective use of emergency contraception."
A New York District Court Judge ruled last week that the FDA must reconsider its 2006 ruling that allowed emergency contraception to be sold without a prescription to women 18 and older. The ruling (see Media Resources: Reuters 4/1/09; Feminist Daily Newswire 3/24/09; United States District Court Eastern District of New York 3/23/09
© Feminist Majority Foundation, publisher of Ms. magazine
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text:
Superstar K (Feat. Bars Murre & Fire Flame) - Floss Too [Unsigned Hype]
"SUPERSTAR K ft. B.A.R.S. MURRE "FLOSS TOO" FLOSSALINI SEASON DIR. DIY FILMS" [m]
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text:
This week we have a great list of shows to tell you about. Starting the week with 3 great shows at Neptune Theatre with Sparks on Monday night, James Blake on Tuesday night, and Purity Ring on Wednesday night. Marnie Stern, SISU, and Heavy Petting are also at Barboza. On Thursday, The Thermals, Wimps, and La Luz are at Neumos,Read more…
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KEXP AND THE UWKEXP is an
affiliate of the
University of Washington
iTunes and KEXPYou can now find KEXP under "Eclectic" in iTunes after the demise of the "Public" category, to better represent the diversity of our daytime variety shows and numerous specialty programs.
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