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Blindside (Jordan)
on Friday, June, 15, 2012 8:48 PM
1. Some language. Not much, but there is some.
2. If you're going to be offended by the thought that pregnancy isn't always a happy, ecstatic, rainbows-and-fluffy-bunnies affair, don't read. It ends okay, but there are regrets along the way. I tried not to make it too much of a downer, because obviously somewhere along the line the Flynns come to terms with it and make the best of the situation, but I'm not going to be unrealistic and say they were ecstatic for the whole journey. You've been warned.
It helps if you have a bit of the backstory I've created for Sam's mother, so here is a bit from another of my fics so you know what I'm working from:
He probably could trace the attitude back through both sets of parents. His mother, who'd spent her life defending her choice of a career largely populated by men, from the time she decided on it at age 13 and up through the time she had to navigate male-choked offices and the attitudes that went along with that, as well as family and friends who felt that a smart, pretty girl should not still be single in her late 20s (and some of whom, indeed, hoped she might finally find a nice man and settle down and quit running around with a drafting pencil behind her ear). She stood against them all, coming in part from hardy Greek stock with a father who could dance (and drink ouzo) with the best of them.
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Posts: 2,389
RE: Blindside (Jordan)
on Friday, June, 15, 2012 8:53 PM
Jordan stared at the small plastic stick in her hand.
"This isn't happening…" she muttered in disbelief. "It only thinks it's happening."
Sure, she was a couple weeks late, but she hadn't truly thought anything of it—it wouldn't have been the first time her fluctuating hormones had thrown her off schedule. And she thought she'd been good about her pills. But, here it was… and EPT probably didn't lie.
"Shit." She noticed her mouth had gone dry.
She thought of picking up the phone and calling Kevin at the office, but what would be the point? She was always lucky to catch him in to begin with, he spent so much time all over the office—she and his secretary had become friends just from the fact that Katharine was who Jordan usually found herself talking to when she called, rather than Kevin himself—and she didn't see a reason to worry him before he got home. Might as well not have two individuals' entire days ruined.
It had been a whirlwind romance, which wasn't surprising, considering the people involved. Three months into the relationship, they'd moved in together. Two months after that, Jordan was here, sitting in the bathroom of their shared apartment on her day off, looking at two pink lines and wondering what the hell she was going to do now.
"Shit, shit, shit," she repeated, then added a few of her father's choice words in Greek, which were just about the only thing of the language she'd picked up (though he was bilingual himself, being first-generation American with parents straight off the boat, he only resorted to Greek when angry and walking around the house muttering heatedly).
They'd met through Lora. Jordan and Lora had gone to college together in their undergrad days—roomies at Stanford. Jordan had always been the more free-spirited of the pair; Lora liked a good time as much as the next girl but was more likely to buckle down when push came to shove, and she wasn't the one to miss class because it was a "perfect day" and she'd ridden her 60s-era Honda dual-sport down to the beach with some new friends she'd met at the bar the previous night over a Guinness and a discussion about Plato's cave allegory or what Beatles songs were really about. Jordan always had an inventive excuse for the profs, and if they didn't quite buy it from a logical standpoint, something about Jordan's sparkling hazel eyes, free and breezy smile, and simply her devil-may-care attitude, left them doing no more than sighing and shaking their heads. Lora was the prettier of the two, but there was something about Jordan that made you want to be on her side, and so she could hold her own with everyone even when all Lora had to do was smile.
Thrown together by chance-- and perhaps someone in Housing who was good at reading a student questionnaire and matching up roommates-- the pair had become instant friends. Lora-- who'd studied karate since she was a child and had earned a third-degree black belt so far-- taught Jordan a few moves. Jordan taught Lora to ride a motorcycle (though when they went anywhere, Lora much preferred to let her friend do the driving). Lora tried to interest Jordan about computers; Jordan tried to teach Lora to draw (both were equally unsuccessful). They had their differences-- Lora'd grown up in New England, while Jordan was a California girl all the way and it showed; Lora had a greater stock of patience while Jordan was much better at rolling with the punches and not sweating the small stuff; Lora took stock in working harder while Jordan believed in working smarter and getting things done with little fanfare to cause extra toil and trouble. Somehow they balanced each other out, and the inseparable pair were sometimes mistaken for sisters by people who didn't know better.
After graduation, Lora had gone straight to grad school; Jordan gave it a year while she traveled.
"I can grow up soon enough," she said. After earning her degree in architecture, she'd gone out to Chicago to work for some big firm, and then on to Boston when they transferred her. But her new bosses in Boston, uptight and sexist, were rubbing her the wrong way, and she was tired of cold winters and itching to get back to California… so she told her boss to take the job and shove it in the crudest Spanish slang she'd learned from her Latino friends while growing up in L.A., called up an old grad-school buddy who'd opened his own firm and found he did indeed have an opening, and prepared to head home.
As she packed, she looked in the mirror, realized she was getting older and pretty soon would have to become "respectable," and decided to have one last hurrah on her way back to the west coast since she didn't have to start at her new job for two weeks.
And so, after backpacking across the country, she ended up on Lora's couch while she looked for an apartment (having tearfully sold her trusty Honda to scrape together the extra cash for rent and a security deposit). Alan came home late from work one night and found Jordan sprawled out on one of his living room chairs, cheerfully sketching a new design for his kitchen, and all he did was roll his eyes. He'd always liked Jordan, but he had to admit to himself that he didn't quite understand what it was that made her so nonchalant about life. However, it did give him an idea, which he broached to Lora as soon as he got to bed and woke her up.
"Hey. We should have Flynn over."
"He and Jordan would be perfect for each other, right?"
"Yeah, now that you mention it."
"And you say Jordan's settled down quite a bit since college, right, so she'd also be a good influence on him." Lora just gave him a bright (if sleepy) smile that told him she thought it was a great idea, and the next day they invited Kevin Flynn to go with them for a picnic on the beach.
The rest was history.
Wise men say only fools rush in
, Alan would've intoned if he'd been asked (but he wasn't, a mistake of omission that he thought many people committed far too often. Yet, years down the road, he would grudgingly admit the pair had worked out really well together. Besides, Alan was the guy who'd waited so long to ask Lora out that Flynn got to her first, so perhaps his prudence went too far at times).
And so now... here was Jordan, whose life had just taken a turn she never in a million years would've expected.
"Damn. Damn. Shit," she said again. "What happened and what do I do about it?"
This could be the end of everything she'd planned or wanted for her life. She felt like throwing up. What was she going to tell Kevin? What was she going to tell everyone? What about her job? What about her
? Was Kevin going to cut and run? Jordan wasn't sure she'd blame him if he did; she herself had the urge to bolt.
Could she go through with it? If she did, would she keep the baby or give it up?
She thought of calling Lora. She needed someone to talk to, and her best friend was an obvious choice. But somehow she thought her other best friend-- the other person who had a huge stake in this whole thing-- ought to hear about it first So she decided to wait until Kevin got home.
But when he did, he was late and fuming.
"Those idiots in R and D!" he raged. "They made some changes, didn't test them first, uploaded a glitch and shut down a whole server! I had to stay late to fix it. Then I get to the arcade; the change machine's down and nobody thought to call me. Ever been mobbed by a bunch of irate thirteen-year-olds?" Then he looked at Jordan's face.
"I'm sorry, love. How was your day?" Jordan bit her lip.
"I..." she paused. "It was fine," she lied. Somehow, now didn't seem the time.
Nor did the next day. This time, he came home ecstatic, energized in that way he could get when something in the world of technology went well for him.
"This new game I'm working on," he told her, talking fast with his voice rising in the characteristic way it did when he was excited about something, "is going to be bigger than Space Paranoids! Just you wait! It's going to be called 'Tron,' and it's based on... well, it's... it's really something. I can't wait to show it to you." He babbled on to tell her what it would be about, then veered off into some technical jargon she couldn't wrap her mind around. No, she couldn't bring him down tonight, either; it would be cruel to send him crashing back into reality abruptly when he was on this kind of high. Soon enough she would lay it on him.
It was the next morning, a Saturday, as they still lay in bed after he'd hit "snooze" on the alarm clock, that he turned to her.
"J. What's eating you?"
"What do you mean?"
"You've seemed a bit distracted. You toss and turn all night long. What's up?" She took a deep breath and opened her mouth, but no sound came out. She pressed her lips tightly together, staring fixedly at the ceiling, and tried again.
"Kevin, I..." She swallowed hard. "I think I'm pregnant." She dared to look at him. He looked like he'd been punched in the stomach; she thought he perhaps stopped breathing for a few moments. The blood had drained from his face and he was as pale as she'd probably been when she'd first read the test. His mouth moved a few times as if he was trying to speak but couldn't manage, as he stared at her, looking like a deer caught in a set of high-beams.
"Are... are you sure? I mean, what makes you think so?" She rubbed one hand over her eyes hard.
"My period was late. Later than it's ever been. So I took a test. And... well..." She shrugged.
"Is... is there any chance it could be wrong?" he asked, with a note of desperation in his voice.
"I suppose so. I... I could take another one." He sat up.
"Let's go get one."
"Kevin, it's seven a.m. The stores aren't open." He flopped back down.
"Wow, Jordan. Wow. Shit."
"Um, yeah, that's pretty much what I said too."
"Have you been taking your pills?"
"Yeah, of course. Religiously. But, um, they do have a failure rate, and it would seem we maybe got lucky." The alarm clock went off again and he rolled over slowly and turned it off. He got out of bed and walked into the other room, and a moment later she heard him on the phone.
"Hey, Ross?" Ross Swain was the general manager at the arcade. "Sorry to call you so early, man. I know I said I'd come in today and get some stuff done, but something's come up at home and I'll have to beg off. I owe you one, man … No, I'm okay; what do you mean my voice sounds funny? … No, it's just, Jordan's not feeling well so I'm going to stick around here and take care of her … No, I'm sure she'll be fine. She's just come down with something unexpectedly … Yeah, I'll tell her you said so. Thanks, man." He hung up and returned to their bed, still looking haunted, his voice strained.
"Ross says he hopes you feel better soon." She nearly choked.
"Uh, yeah..."
"Um... so... what do we do now?"
They sat on pins and needles until the earliest drugstore opened, bought a second test, and came home again. For the second time, Jordan peed on that ridiculous little stick. As soon as she set it on the bathroom counter, Kevin leaned over it.
"Hey, nothing's happening," he said hopefully.
"We have to wait five minutes."
"Oh." But it didn't take that long. As they watched in horror, the second line appeared again, and they looked at each other like a pair of defendants who'd just been sentenced to death row.
"Well," he said. "Um..." He turned away abruptly, one hand propped against the bathroom wall and the other running violently through his hair. Jordan looked at the floor and bit her lip hard.
"Kevin... I'm sorry." He spun around.
"For what? It's not your fault."
"Well, I know, but... Well, I mean, it's my problem, and I'll take care of it some way or another."
"Jordan. It's
problem. And I..." He took a deep breath. "I've got your back. Look... no matter what, I'm here for you, okay? Whatever happens, whatever you need to do. I'm not going anywhere. I'm not like that. I know I'm not always the most responsible or mature guy in the world, but... I'm not leaving you in the lurch over this. Whatever it is you want to do. Have... have you thought about it? I mean..." his voice trailed off.
"I don't know, Kevin. I don't know what I'm going to do. What we're going to do."
They spent a few weeks feeling like they were tiptoeing around on marbles. Jordan alternated between sobbing uncontrollably, terror, a feeling of violation, and a tenuous hope that maybe this could happen and it might work out okay. The more she thought about it-- and perhaps it was attributable to hormones-- the more she thought they might be able to work it out. Judging from some of his comments and attitudes, she thought he might be feeling that way too.
"Oh, what the hell, Kevin," she said finally. "I suppose we can't be bohemians forever."
"Fine, but we've got to do this right," he said. "We'll get married, buy a house—"
"With a white picket fence?" she laughed, half-scoffingly.
"Yes," he replied seriously. "Exactly."
"I'm not changing my name," she said quickly.
"No one said you had to. Lora didn't."
"Yeah, but that was for professional reasons. I just don't want to."
"Fine by me. Whose name will the baby have?"
"Mine," she said decisively.
"You just wait, Jordan. We're going to have the coolest kid ever. She's going to be smart and beautiful, just like her parents."
"And we can name her Samantha and call her Sam. I've always liked that name. But what if it's a boy?"
"Girls run disproportionately in my family. Growing up, all my cousins were girls. My sisters loved it… I didn't. One of my sisters had one boy… the rest are all girls. I think it's safe to assume. We can teach her to play soccer anyway."
"Or she might be an artist, Kevin."
"Or a computer geek. Or all three. She is our kid, after all."
They were married on the beach by a justice of the peace that Kevin knew somehow, their only guests their parents, and Alan and Lora.
Before they approached their guests and his JoP friend, Kevin took both of Jordan's hands in his and stared into her eyes seriously.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked her. She took a deep breath.
It's now or never, Canas... no going back.
She let the breath out very slowly. Then she smiled and squeezed his hands.
"Yeah, let's go."
It was nothing fancy. It wasn't a fancy situation, and even if it had been, they weren't fancy people. Neither of them had ever been sure they'd want to get married at any point in their lives, and had this not happened, they may have considered keeping their relationship the way it was, even if they were together until they day they died. So they didn't see a point in a big to-do.
Kevin had dug up, and actually pressed--
-- a nice pair of khaki pants, and he had on a button-down shirt but it was open at the throat; Jordan had vetoed a tie.
"Don't you wear those things enough at the office? Besides, they're not 'you.' And heaven help us if either of us is ever in a relationship stodgy enough that celebrating it would require such attire."
She herself wore a strappy sundress a friend had sent her from India a couple years ago but she'd never found an occasion dressy enough to merit. The wind blew their hair in their faces as they laughed and tried to half-ignore the fact that this was the most serious thing either of them had ever done in their lives.
The honeymoon was simple: a long-weekend trip to San Francisco to watch over the apartment of Jordan's cousin Maria, who'd gone on vacation and needed someone to carefully tend her prize orchids. They stayed in, they went exploring, they religiously watered the orchids, and when one fell off the shelf and lost half its dirt (fortunately, Jordan caught it on the way down so there was no further damage), they laughingly tamped the soil back in around it and swore to each other that Maria never needed to know ("Oh, shit, Kevin, we can't even keep orchids from mishaps and we're going to be responsible for a baby?" Jordan said, half in humor and half in horror).
There were plenty of times when she wished she'd made a different choice. The days when she threw up more than she had in college after a rough night, or the first time she got up one morning, looked down, and realized she could no longer see her toes and worried she'd never fit back into her favorite clothes. The nights when Kevin would be working late or would miss her doctor appointments—she would've thought he was cheating but she knew better (Kevin Flynn had eyes for two things in the world: her, and a computer screen. When he didn't come home on time, she knew he was chasing code, not skirts. She wasn't 100% sure that should make her feel relieved). The days when she had to miss time at work for appointments with her doctor or when she contemplated her upcoming maternity leave, or the possibility of being a stay-at-home parent for a year or two—she'd worked hard for her career, and she wasn't sure she wanted to throw it away for this.
And there were times when she was okay with it, too, like when she pulled out her old bio textbook and read about just what little Sam was doing at this point in her gestation, or when they painted what would be the baby's room in their new house and Kevin sketched in a fanciful pattern of computer circuitry as a border up along the ceiling, though he wouldn't tell her why he insisted on doing it in blue glow-in-the-dark paint.
"She's a kicker," Jordan complained one night when it felt like the baby was doing nocturnal gymnastics in there. Kevin snorted.
"Of course she is. Remember whose kid she is? This one will be the type to rock the boat, wait and see. She's going to change the world, I guarantee it."
"One more push, Jordan, and I think we'll be there," Dr. Ferrell reassured her.
Kevin, you wanker,
Jordan thought.
Where the hell are you? I paged you an hour ago and this kid's coming fast. Obviously she didn't inherit speed from her dad, though.
"Come on, Jordan, one good one for me." Jordan gritted her teeth and complied, making it easier by yelling her father's favorite curses (the Greek nurse down the hall caught the idea that Jordan was wishing Kevin's mother would turn into a goat, and there was something also about all of his ouzo going bad at an inopportune time). Jordan was just wishing she had some ouzo herself—like a whole bottle-- when it felt as if she was tearing in two, and then there was a shrill cry that wasn't her own, and Dr. Ferrell was holding up a wrinkled, gooey, red, shrieking thing for her inspection and proclaiming,
"It's a boy!" Jordan raised an eyebrow.
So much for the tendencies in Kevin's family. Well, we knew any kid of ours would have to be difficult, buck trends and expectations. Probably did it on purpose.
"Well, I guess his name is Sam…" she said wearily, watching a nurse take tiny Sam out to be cleaned up.
"Jordan!" A half-crazed figure with wild hair and clutching a motorcycle helmet burst through the delivery room door, security hot on his tail. Jordan managed to raise a hand to stay the rent-a-cops, who were about to drag him back out.
"It's all right, officers. This madman is my husband." Jordan rolled her eyes. "Some days I even don't regret that fact," she added drily.
"I came as fast as I could! I thought babies only came this quick on TV."
"Yes, well, surprises abound, Kevin… our Sam is not a Samantha." Flynn's eyes went wide as a nurse entered the room carrying a bundle wrapped in a blue blanket.
"It's a boy?"
"No, Kevin, it's a pony." Jordan rolled her eyes, then immediately regretted her sarcasm; she was exhausted and, it was true, annoyed at her husband's tardiness, but that was still no good reason to be snarky at a time like this. But Kevin didn't even notice as he bent over Jordan and the baby the nurse had just placed in her arms.
"Well, that's great too! And we can still call him Sam—"
"—but not Samuel," Jordan cut in at the exact same time Kevin went on to say it. They looked at each other and laughed, and then all was right with Jordan's little world as she looked at the man she loved more than anything, and the tiny person she couldn't wait to watch grow up.
"Sam," she whispered, smoothing the few wisps of hair back from the still-misshapen forehead and gazing into the eyes that looked like they might stay blue, "Mommy and Daddy are always going to be here for you, and we love you."
What do you want? I'm busy.
Program, please!
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Posts: 2,389
RE: Blindside (Jordan)
on Friday, June, 15, 2012 9:05 PM
It ends right there, abruptly, so you have a chance to think on how very wrong Jordan is...
A few things:
Yes, I know that in
they find out the baby's sex in an ultrasound. I'd forgotten that when I wrote it, and it was only pointed out to me by someone later, but I like the plot point, so I left it, incorrect or not.
I also know that in
Flynn's secretary is named Betty. Don't care. It's an easter egg. If it makes you feel better, you can say Flynn switched secretaries in between this and the time in
when his secretary is referred to by name.
Yes, I gave Sam Jordan's last name. Feminist gesture; I imagine Flynn could have changed it after Jordan died (progressive though the pair may have been, it was still the days when a parent having a different last name than a child made things very awkward, so Flynn probably wanted to avoid it once there was no longer a parent with Sam's last name around).
Frankly, I had a bit of trouble with this. Considering the timeline (very little time between the end of
, when Flynn's not even seeing anyone, to 1983 when he's suddenly married with a kid), there is pretty much no doubt in my mind that Sam was an accidental baby. The part that bugs me is that I'm not really sure I can see a pair of independent, slightly-irresponsible free spirits like Kevin and Jordan going through with an unintended pregnancy, but I guess they did. I tried not to make them too negative about it, while still being both realistic about how I thought people like them might feel about it since in the end it must work out for them somehow as clearly Flynn loves his son and we assume Jordan did too, and not spouting the usual movie/right-winger trope about how even unwanted pregnancies are this wonderful joyful thing that nobody is ever unhappy about evereverever. It was a difficult line to walk; I'm not sure I did so successfully.
And if you're wondering why I made Lora a karateka-- well, it's a long story based on a conversation with a few people about Yori/Tron and Lora/Alan. Theres an explanation that would require explaining the whole conversation, but in short it boils down to: it amuses me.
What do you want? I'm busy.
Program, please!
Chaos.... good news.
Posts: 120
RE: Blindside (Jordan)
on Thursday, November, 29, 2012 11:52 AM
What can I say
, I like the way you write and the circumstances Sam was born in is indeed an interesting concept ,but I dont feel Flynn's characterization is quite right here, Why would he freak out to have a son when he :
- Has the largest company in the world under his command, he treats it like a hobby
- Is the creator of a digital world with billions of lives inside it and that could change everithing in our world....treats it like a hobby.
And in Betrayal he treats Sam like he is a hobby too , so I asume that his reaction in canon when Jordan told her that she was pregnant was something like " Cool, I can teach it to play arcade games."
Then again this is fanfiction and the characters can act how you want them to act.
By the way , that line at the end is really sad, knowing that by the age of seven neither Jordan or Flynn will be with Sam, well done.
Posts: 2,389
RE: Blindside (Jordan)
on Thursday, November, 29, 2012 11:44 PM
Thanks. Remember that Flynn's still a huge immature kid, who, when we saw him no more than a year ago, was still living above an arcade, pining for his ex, and playing childish pranks like hiding and jumping out at his friends and trying to push the button's of the ex's current flame. He now is going to be responsible for something he can't just ignore or push off on someone else (well, he can and does, but at the time I'm sure that's not his intention-- in
he does say something to Jordan like "I feel responsible for this, for us"), plus he has the huge shock of finding out, suddenly in an instant, that his life is about to change, for like two decades at least, and some of the plans he's made for his life might now be out the window. And, in this case, he's stuck with a woman he's been dating less than a year. As it turned out, it worked out well for them because they were good for each other (we assume), but at the time he couldn't know that, and to be tied to someone like that even if they're only your babymama/babydaddy, can be grating if that's the only thing keeping you in each other's lives.
Most people I know of who've had accidental pregnancies tend to have a certain amount of that "OH SHIT" moment, even if they later come to terms with it.
TBH with you, I found it more out of character that he was like "cool, let's get married and have this baby" rather than "so when can I give you a lift to the nearest abortion clinic?"
Hell, far-more-mature people get the heebie-jeebies at the thought of being responsible for another life/paying for it/putting their own life on hold/etc. I certainly wouldn't expect Flynn to react any better...
What do you want? I'm busy.
Program, please!
Chaos.... good news.
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Why do we save memorabilia?
Who actually goes back and goes through all those keepsakes hidden away in a special box or bin?
Has the thought of wanting to write your memoir crossed your mind lately? I think it's because instead of remembering, we want to be remembered.
I must confess saving thank you cards from my grandchildren, their first drawings, a report that I did in the second grade when we studied astronomy…
But memorabilia does have merit.
The last time I went through my small bin, I reread a couple of birthday cards from my grandmother with personal messages to me. The reason I find them special is because she had 16 grandchildren - which
motivates me to be a good grandma with only seven (to date).
At the end of the day I believe what's important is having the courage to face the future without dwelling too much on the past.
Because of this, my memorabilia keepsakes are shrinking - except for the handwritten notes from the grandkids that say, "I love you, Grandma." And one day, if anyone wants to know who I am or was, they can read my books!
~Nancy Jill
P.S. Here's a link for organizing memory boxes I found useful.

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While overall number of transactions was down for the year, the announced value (in 2015) and the completed value (in 2016) was driven by one deal in particular – the mega-deal that saw Shell acquire BG Group at a price tag of US$53 billion. "This was certainly one of the largest deals we've seen in the sector in recent years and makes Shell the world's second-largest energy company," says Andrews. "The acquisition also gives Shell a leading position in both deep-water production and liquefied natural gas."


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And now...The Weekly Update Script
Extending "Born of the 4th of July"
You are here: irt.org | Articles | JavaScript | Date and Time | JavaScript Y2K Issues [ previous next ]
Published on: Monday 3rd January 2000 By: Martin Webb
Its been long known that there are potential Y2K issues with JavaScript dates.
Creating a date object is fairly straightforward:
<script language="JavaScript"><!-- // 1st January 1999: var date1 = new Date(1999,0,1); // months start at 0 // 1st January 2000: var date1 = new Date(2000,0,1); // months start at 0 //--></script>
For those browsers that support it, it is also possible to create really old dates:
<script language="JavaScript"><!-- // 1st January 99 AD: var date1 = new Date(99,0,1); // months start at 0 //--></script>
Retrieving the year from a date object is a slightly tricker problem. The method getYear() has been implemented differently on various browsers and versions of browsers. Starting with Netscape Navigator 2 and Internet Explorer 3, getYear() always returned a value equal to the number of years since 1900 for the date object, or put another way, the year minus 1900. This results in a one, two or three digit value being returned by getYear():
Whereas with the introduction of Netscape Navigator 3 and Internet Explorer 4, getYear() started to return a full four digit number for any year from 2000 onwards:
With the introduction of the ECMA-262 ECMAScript specification, browser vendors were required to tidy up this inconsistency. The ECMAScript specification introduced the getFullYear() method, and deprecated the original getYear() method.
At the same time as adding support for getFullYear() and deprecating getYear(), Netscape reversed the getYear() implementation. They effectively undid the change they made in Netscape Navigator 2 (to return the full year), to the previous implementation which returned the number of years since 1900 - see Year 2000? Not a Problem!.
There are still differences between Netscape Navigator 4 and Internet Explorer 4 and 5. Whereas Internet Explorer 4 and 5 will return negative values for dates less than 1 AD 9, (e.g -1 for 1 BC, -2 for 2 BC etc), Netscape Navigator 4 will not.
So long as there are people using Netscape Navigator 2 and 3 and Internet Explorer 3, there will always be a need to use getYear(), as these browsers obviously do not support getFullYear().
<script language="JavaScript"><!-- function y2k(number) { return (number < 1000) ? number + 1900 : number; } //--></script>
The y2k() function makes an assumption: any value passed to it which is less than a 1000 is assumed to be a year which has had 1900 subtracted from it, and thus needs 1900 adding back to it. This means that you can't work with years less than 1000 AD - a small price to pay.
To make sure all your years are Y2K compliant invoke the y2k() method with the year passed as a parameter, e.g.:
It is worth noting that the y2k() function will return values as below:
input output 0 1900 1 1901 . . 999 2899 1000 1000 1001 1001 . . 1899 1899 1900 1900 1901 1901 . . 1999 1999 2000 2000 2001 2001
The setYear() date method suffers from the same problems that getYear() suffers from, albeit it depends on what your code passes as input into setYear(). setYear() accepts 0 to 99 for years 1900 to 1999, and then 2000 for year 2000. It also accepts 1900 to 1999 for years 1900 to 1999.
Again, with ECMA-262 and ECMAScript, the setFullYear() date method was introduced. This accepts an integer,where the integer specifies the year (e.g. 1 equates to 1 AD, 99 equates to 99 AD, 1900 equates to 1900 AD etc.)
As before, Internet Explorer 4 allows negative integers to be input, whereas Netscape Navigator accepts only positive integers.
So far we've been able to create full Y2K compliant years, but this is only possible where we know the correct context for the given date. For example, if we were handed a year (say by a user of our web site) of "99". We have to decide whether this is 1999 AD or 99 AD. Normally we would assume 9as in the y2k() function earlier) that this is 1999, and make adjustments to it accordingly.
There is another instance where we would be presented with a one or two digit year, and that's with the documents lastModified property.
The documents lastModified property is a date string derived from information supplied by the server which states when the document was last modified. The value held in the lastModified property is not a date object, but a string continuing the date and time. This property can be used to provide a visible date stamp on the document itself:
<script language="JavaScript"><!-- document.write('last updated on ' + document.lastModified); //--><script>
This lastModified property suffers from potential Y2K non compliance, and in later browsers than just Netscape Navigator 2 and Internet Explorer 3.
When using document.lastModified in Netscape Navigator from version 2 until 4.5 and with Internet Explorer 3 until 4.x, the date string returned by lastModified always returns a two digit year (e.g. 99 for 1999 and 00 for 2000.)
With Netscape Navigator 4.6 onwards and Internet Explorer 5.0 onwards the year portion of the date string returned by document.lastModified is always a four digit date (e.g. 1999 for 1999 and 2000 for 2000.)
Now this problem wouldn't normally bother us as displaying any one of the two following different date formats would still indicate to the user that the document was last update on the 1st January 2000:
last updated on Sat Jan 1 21:29:05 2000 last updated on Sat Jan 1 21:29:05 00
However, it is possible to use the date string supplied by document.lastModified to create a date object which could be further manipulated to show a more readable date format, e.g.:
Last updated on Saturday 1st January, 2000
To do this we would use JavaScript code similar to:
<script language = 'JavaScript'><!-- function makeArray0() { for (i = 0; i<makeArray0.arguments.length; i++) this[i] = makeArray0.arguments[i]; } var days = new makeArray0('Sunday','Monday','Tuesday','Wednesday','Thursday','Friday','Saturday'); var months = new makeArray0('January','February','March','April','May','June','July','August','September','October','November','December'); function nths(day) { if (day == 1 || day == 21 || day == 31) return 'st'; if (day == 2 || day == 22) return 'nd'; if (day == 3 || day == 23) return 'rd'; return 'th'; } function y2k(number) { return (number < 1000) ? number + 1900 : number; } var date = new Date(document.lastModified); document.write('last updated on ' + days[date.getDay()] + ' ' + date.getDate() + nths(dateY2K.getDate()) + ' ' + months[date.getMonth()] + ', ' + y2k(date.getYear())); //--></script>
Works well? Not quite. The code does use the y2k() function from earlier, but if the document was last modified, say, on 1st January 2000, then on any browser prior to Netscape Navigator 4.6 and Internet Explorer 5.0, the above code would generate something like:
last updated on Monday 1st January, 1900
And on some browsers, it wouldn't even produce that - see Blind Date - 'Features' (AKA bugs) for further information.
The reason being the date string supplied by lastModified only contains a two digit year (00 for 2000), the y2k() function correctly converts this to 1900 for output, but even this does not explain the Monday (when it should have been Saturday.) What has happened is that the generation of the date object using new Date(document.lastModified) has identified the year part of the string as 00, the browser has correctly identified this as 1900, and generated a date object for the 1st of January 1900, a Monday. For browsers that are none to good at generating dates prior to 1970, this may well cause an error, and or cause the resultant date object to be corrupt.
The solution, roll our own code to trap this and adjust accordingly.
The following amended code makes use of the getCorrectedYear() function. It first create a new date object (dateError) using the lastModified property. It uses the getCorrectedYear() function to determine which side of a pivot date the year exists, any number below 70 it treats as a year in the 21st century (e.g. 0 becomes 2000, 69 becomes 2069), any number below 1900 it adds 1900 (e.g. 70 becomes 1970, 99 becomes 1999, 100 becomes 2000 etc), any number greater or equal to 1900 is left alone.
Why 70 as the pivot year? Two reasons, its far enough into the future for 2070 to err to 1970, that most people would no longer be using a non compliant browser, and 1970 is year zero on Unix systems, i.e. dates are calculated as the number of milliseconds since 1970.
Once we have corrected the year using getCorrectedYear(), we generate a further date object (date) so that the day of the month is valid for the corrected year, and not the uncorrected year.
<script language = 'JavaScript'><!-- function makeArray0() { for (i = 0; i<makeArray0.arguments.length; i++) this[i] = makeArray0.arguments[i]; } var days = new makeArray0('Sunday','Monday','Tuesday','Wednesday','Thursday','Friday','Saturday'); var months = new makeArray0('January','February','March','April','May','June','July','August','September','October','November','December'); function nths(day) { if (day == 1 || day == 21 || day == 31) return 'st'; if (day == 2 || day == 22) return 'nd'; if (day == 3 || day == 23) return 'rd'; return 'th'; } function y2k(number) { return (number < 1000) ? number + 1900 : number; } function getCorrectedYear(year) { year = year - 0; if (year < 70) return (2000 + year); if (year < 1900) return (1900 + year); return year; } var dateError = new Date(document.lastModified); var date = new Date(getCorrectedYear(dateError.getYear()),dateError.getMonth(),dateError.getDate()); document.write('last updated on ' + days[date.getDay()] + ' ' + date.getDate() + nths(date.getDate()) + ' ' + months[date.getMonth()] + ', ' + y2k(date.getYear())); //--></script>
Just after releasing this article for publication, it was pointed out that the above version of the code suffers from a potential leap year bug. If a document is modified on 29th February 2000, and the last modified code is viewed on a browser that suffers from two digit years in the lastModified property, then the dateError date is calculated as 1st March 1900. Now we fixed the year fault, but we carried over the incorrect day and month values. Why? Because, 1900 was not a leap year. This bug will only occur for documents amended on the 29th February 2000, 2100, 2200, 2300 but not 2400. For other leap years it will work correctly.
And now...The Weekly Update Script
Extending "Born of the 4th of July"
Monday's child is full of grace


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Cédric Richard
(S'98, M'01, SM'07) received the Dipl.-Ing. and the M.S. degrees in 1994, and the Ph.D. degree in 1998, from Compiègne University of Technology, France, all in electrical and computer engineering. He is a Full Professor at the Université Côte d'Azur, France. He was a junior member of the Institut Universitaire de France in 2010-2015.
His current research interests include statistical signal processing and machine learning.
Cédric Richard is the author of over 240 papers. He was the General Co-Chair of the IEEE SSP Workshop that was held in Nice, France, in 2011. He was the Technical Co-Chair of EUSIPCO 2015 that was held in Nice, France, and of the IEEE CAMSAP Workshop 2015 that was held in Cancun, Mexico. He serves as a Senior Area Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing and as an Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Signal and Information Processing over Networks since 2015. He is an Associate Editor of Signal Processing Elsevier since 2009. Cédric Richard is member of the Machine Learning for Signal Processing (MLSP) Technical Committee, and served as member of the Signal Processing Theory and Methods (SPTM) Technical Committee in 2009-2014.


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The Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education gave a resounding vote of support Tuesday for Superintendent John White, whose advocacy of Common Core has been abandoned by Gov. Bobby Jindal and whose job is threatened by yet another attempt by lawmakers to make the position elective.
It strengthens the unified front White and the board have upheld against bills that would end the state's participation in the new mathematics and English standards and associated tests.
White tweeted that he received a 3 out of 4. As a personnel matter, the discussion took place in closed session.
"As a board we have supported his positions and continue to support his positions," BESE President Chas Roemer said after the one-hour conversation. "His positions should reflect our board, which they do."
He added, "I'm pleased that he received a good evaluation."
Jindal chose White, 38, for the job in January 2012 and until recently stood in lockstep with him on all significant issues. However, Jindal's turnabout on Common Core has led commentators to say White's been left out in the cold.
White minimized the weight of Jindal's opposition in an interview earlier Tuesday.
"Over the years we have had various things that we've disagreed on and I think this is just one of those cases," he said. "He's the governor -- of course he has his opinions. (But) the BESE board has committed to this years ago. I take my marching orders from BESE and from the Legislature and the laws that the governor signs."
Now that White is the superintendent, only BESE can fire him -- unless the Legislature makes the superintendency an elected position.
This board isn't likely to fire White. There are eight elected members and three gubernatorial appointees, and votes almost always go White and Roemer's way. Lottie Beebe of Breaux Bridge and Carolyn Hill of Baton Rouge are usually in the minority, with Walter Lee of Shreveport sometimes joining them.
The superintendent evaluation mirrors teacher evaluations, with half the score based on outcomes data and half on observations. There are growth targets for kindergarten readiness, third through eighth grade test scores, on-time graduation, Advanced Placement/International Baccalaureate exams and Recovery School District performance.
The observation component comprises vision and leadership, management of the Education Department, relationships with board members and staff, engagement with the community and policymaking. The last specifies that the superintendent should "place an emphasis on implementation of the Common Core State Standards."
White's score was a fraction lower than his first evaluation in 2013, when he received a 3.15. As in 2013, White's results were slightly stronger on the qualitative side than on student achievement.
White tweeted he met quantitative goals for the Recovery School District and Advanced Placement tests. He did not hit the goal for early childhood or literacy and math scores for third through eighth grade. Graduation and workforce participation data for graduates is not yet available.
All 11 members completed an evaluation, Roemer said, and White did put some of last year's comments into practice: "I think the evidence suggests that he listens well."
White tweeted that he was "very grateful" for the discussion and "appreciative of members providing me feedback on my performance."
Should the superintendency be elective or appointed? Vote in our poll.


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With BlueTunes you can listen to your music and use other iPhones and iPads as loudspeakers over Bluetooth and WiFi.
The procedure is simple: On one iPhone or iPad you choose "Serve Music" and listen to your music as you would do with the iPod app. On all other iPhones and iPads, where BlueTunes is running, you see serving iOS devices in a list. By tapping on one of them you are immediately using the current device as loudspeaker.


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Albums record many of the Alvis Owner Club events held since 1953.
Early Bulletins did not include any photographs but photo albums were compiled. This report from Bulletin 20 records an event featured:
Winter Rally, 30th January 1955 (Bulletin 20 Report)
– Sunday turned out to be a fine day, providing no snow or other hazards to assist the organisers. As a result, a body of very competent competitors wiped the floor with the former, who had to resort to the doubtful subterfuge of re-calculating the results to very close time limits in order to find the winners.
The entry of eighteen cars was sent off at two minute intervals from the start at Badger's Cafe on A21 near Tonbridge, the first car leaving at l p.m. A distance of 12 miles to the first control had to be covered at an average speed between 21 and 28 m.p.h., and competitors were then required to cover the rest of the route through four check points, involving about 60 miles of by-roads and lanes, at the same average speed as they had recorded in the first section.
One or two competitors spoilt their chances by misreading the route card, while another was forced to retire after the misfortune of running a bearing at the end of a fast stretch of road.
As the cars were booked in at the finish at Badger's Cafe, the general opinion seemed to be that the route was enjoyable but too easy at the set speeds, and dark threats were issued by the organisers to the effect that there would be no complaints of this kind at the next event.
After an excellent tea, the results were announced and prizes were presented by Mrs James.
lst – Miss E.J. Chapman TB 14.
2nd – C.G. Fincken Speed 20
3rd – R.E. Spain Firebird.
Best new comer – M. White Speed 20.
Best navigator – for Miss E.J. Chapman.
Click on any link below for a photo album of the subject
2016 International Alvis Weekend


text:
Wees 'n Trotse Jagter Be a Proud Hunter
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Gun Shop Gazette
Argief / Archive
50 Rhino Poaching Suspects Arrested
09 Jun 2017
Latest News
GOSA Media Release on FCA Draft Amendment Document
GOSA Girls on Fire Media Statement re FCA Draft Amendment
FCA Draft Amendment Bill Leaked
Related Articles
Lifestyle Audit For SAPS near National Parks
36 Nabbed in October for Rhino Poaching
Kruger Ranger Caught for Poaching
Rhino Poaching Figures Slightly Down
The Citizen newspaper reported that a multidisciplinary rhino poaching task team has arrested 50 suspects, recovered 13 rhino horns, two elephant tusks and 19 hunting rifles during ongoing police operations in various parts of the country over the past two months, police said on Wednesday.Police spokesperson Brigadier Vish Naidoo said the team also managed to recovered 15 silencers, two pistols, one shotgun and 155 rounds of ammunition, among various other items of evidential value, during the operations.The suspects were aged between 24 and 58 years."As per standard procedure, the rifles and pistols were sent to the SAPS's Forensic Science Laboratory in Pretoria for ballistic testing, primarily to determine if they had been used to commit other crimes," said Naidoo."The suspects appeared in various courts across the three provinces for charges ranging from the possession of unlicensed firearms, conspiracy to commit crime, the possession of counterfeit goods, illegal hunting, the possession of rhino horns, the possession of protected endangered species and the possession of elephant tasks."Meanwhile, during another operation on Monday, police in Hoedspruit outside Phalaborwa in Limpopo arrested three members of a suspected cross-border rhino poaching syndicate linked to two cases of rhino poaching in the Hoedspruit policing area."This is yet another major breakthrough in the fight against rhino poaching after these suspects were arrested earlier in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape," Naidoo said.He said that Jabulani Ndlovu, 39, Forget Ndlovu and Skhumbuzo Ndlovu, both aged 37, were found in the possession of a firearm, which connected them to more than 60 cases of rhino poaching countrywide."Two of these cases were found to be committed in Hoedspruit."The men appeared in the Hoedspruit Magistrate's Court and their cases were remanded to June 12, and they were all denied bail."This is a milestone achievement for the police and other role players in the fight against rhino poaching, especially in Limpopo. Anyone who has information on the people involved in these crimes may contact their nearest police station or the Crime Stop number," Naidoo said.
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text:
Hello to all,
Just joined. My name is Don from Arkansas, USA.
I have been diving since 2000. Finally just changing over from film photography to digital, I am definatley looking forward to hearing from you all!
Thank you,
Jump to content
Posted 26 January 2018 - 08:07 AM
Hello to all,
Just joined. My name is Don from Arkansas, USA.
I have been diving since 2000. Finally just changing over from film photography to digital, I am definatley looking forward to hearing from you all!
Thank you,
Posted 27 January 2018 - 03:53 AM
Hi, I am Oliver from Germany. I am a scubd diving instructor and also an active underwater videographer. I recently bought a new camera that is capable for stills and video.
I do a lot of technical and cave diving nowadays.
We travel a lot and anually we do between 150-200 dives around the world.
I have been reading wetpixel from time to time but now I would like to place an ad into the classifieds section so I registered as a member.
Posted 29 January 2018 - 12:31 AM
Hi I'm Mik and I'm glad to be finally joining the forum. I'm Polish, living in Switzerland and my current rig is a trusty old Olympus XZ-1 with 2x Inon S2000, the Subsee +10d Macro and Olympus PTWC-01 lens.
Posted 30 January 2018 - 05:57 PM
Hello, just setting myself up
Posted 30 January 2018 - 11:03 PM
Hi everyone,
I'm Jacky from the US, nice to meet you all
Strategy and knowledge for people who love blockchain technology feel free to visit this page: https://www.blockchainlabs.asia/
Posted 01 February 2018 - 04:18 AM
Hey Everyone! I'm working on a Wildlife Documentary for the BBC and looking for wildlife behvioural stories in/on/around the continents of North & South America. They need to be a spectacle, clever, weird or wonderful but above all predictable and filmable!
Posted 01 February 2018 - 10:29 AM
Hello Everyone
I just joined this morning but have been following Wetpixel since it's beginnings. Began my underwater photography journey with a Nikonos and extension tubes. Worked my way up to a Nikon F4 in Subal housings. I entered the digital age for my underwater photography when Canon released the original 5D full frame SLR which I housed in Sea&Sea housings.
And now... I'm currently in the process of switching over to the Sony full frame mirrorless system in Nauticam housings. I have a big learning curve in front of me before next big trip which will be to Socorro in April.
Mike Brock
Posted 02 February 2018 - 03:19 PM
New member Nancey here. Looking to upgrade photo equipment and possibly some dive gear.
Posted 02 February 2018 - 09:51 PM
Hello, My name is Javier and I am from Spain. I have been into photography for 10 years now (mostly extreme macro photography) buy started underwater photography just last year. At the moment I am travelling around southeast Asia with an ikelite M3 housing that I hate
Posted 04 February 2018 - 01:10 PM
Good day all..
Newbie here, shopping for equipment to get started!!
Thanks for having me!!
Posted 05 February 2018 - 01:00 AM
I am a pro freediver and passionat UW photographer from Slovenia. I spend winters in the swimming pools and summers in the Adriatic sea freediving and taking photos. Currently I take photos on a breathold with Nikon D500 and Hugyfot housing which I am willing to sell
Thank you
Samo Jeranko
Posted 07 February 2018 - 11:24 AM
I have been a lurker for some time.
I have upgraded my camera gear and I am here to see if there is any interest in my old gear. It is dated, but maybe someone has invested
in a housing and would like a back up camera that fits it.
I am in Seattle, but I dive warm water.
I have dived in
Andaman Sea
Red Sea
Gulf of California
Bonaire (multiple times)
Bay Island, Honduras
I am probably forgetting somewhere else...
Edited by bigjackt, 07 February 2018 - 11:26 AM.
Posted 08 February 2018 - 06:38 AM
New here, after some camera advice before i take the plunge and upgrade from my compact
Posted 12 February 2018 - 08:43 AM
I've been a scuba diver since 91. Used a variety of underwater cameras, including the Nikonos V. Currently using the Sony A6000 in a Nauticam housing. Looking to sell the ports necessary to use the Sony 90 macro. I never dove with it. Aloha!
Posted 13 February 2018 - 04:08 PM
Hi Everyone -
New to the forum - long time diver. Used to shoot a D100 in a Sea & Sea housing...but last several years was using a gopro. Was looking into some used equipment, and saw classifieds...but read about all the scammers and decided maybe not.
Here is a short video I just did a month or so ago about turtle poaching in the sea of cortez.
Posted 13 February 2018 - 04:52 PM
Hi. Been lurking for years. Want to upgrade my D200 to a D750 so thought I would post in the Classifieds and see if someone has a housing they want to part with. Need Housing and ports for 16-35mm, 60mm Macro and 105mm Macro lenses. Have Ikelite Strobe and video light.
Posted 14 February 2018 - 09:41 AM
Hi am new to WetPixel. I'm a PADI instructor, love to dive, and to spear those pesky Lionfish! To keep gear simple, I've moved on to using a GoPro. I've loved my Sea&Sea DX-2G set up ~ but the camera itself is defective... so I'd like to sell the set ~ slightly used with batteries and battery charger. Sea&Sea DX-2G Underwater camera housing (only) $100.-; Sea&Sea wide angle conversion lens (wet mount capability) for DX-1G (works with DX-2G as well (includes lens caddy) $149,-; Sea&Sea close-up lens 125 $40.-; Am happy to send photos if anyone is interested. Thanks! Happy and Safe diving to all. Thanks, AZCharlotte
Posted 15 February 2018 - 03:39 PM
My old G12 and YS-01 combo has died and I'm looking to replace it with something similar, ie. a compact with manual controls. I shoot mostly macro but I'm not up to date with the latest developments in the camera world. Does anyone have any advice as to what make/model would be a good place to start my research?
Posted 17 February 2018 - 03:53 PM
Hi! Ben here from the US. Looking forward to learning more about underwater photography!
Posted 22 February 2018 - 05:33 PM
Hello! I'm Noel from Manila, Philippines. You can check out my work at www.noelguevara.com or follow me on instagram, @studentofthesea.


text:
We Have ALL The Steaks
3:30 pm to 10:00 pm
Friday: 3:30 pm to 11:30 pm
Saturday: 3:30 pm to 11:30 pm
5664 Brecksville Rd,
Independence, OH 44131
Welcome to Harry's. Our steaks are specially aged and selected from Corn Fed Cattle. We serve only the finest quality USDA Choice or better grade steak available in the United States. We cut and trim all our steaks on site. Our steaks are marinated (NO MSG) and cooked to your satisfaction. Your steak is cooked on broilers with a generated temperature exceeding 1000 degrees F. The natural juices and their flavor are seared in, therefore we cannot recommend steaks cooked past medium-well. Our goal is high-quality food, friendly, and efficient service in comfortable and clean surroundings. We value you as our guest, our friend. Your happiness is our primary goal.
Customer Reviews
"Food was great, service was great, people are friendly. Love this place! Thanks for the certificate so I could go, haven't been here in a while. Also noticed they have specials, so will definitely not wait so long to go back."--Living Social
"Never had a bad meal- love this place! Great food and great service."--Living Social Customer
"As usual, our steaks were like butttta! So tender and juicy. Made for a perfect Valentine's Day celebration. We have never had a bad meal @ Harry's! We'll be back :)"--Living Social Customer
"Harry's has the best rolls with cinnamon butter I've ever had. They also have sweet potatoes the size of a football! Everything is always fresh and tastes fantastic!"--Living Social Customer
"Had an absolutely amazing meal and evening. We went this past Friday,
2/17/12 and our server, Molly was such a sweetheart and provided great
service. Have not been in awhile, as it can be $$$, so welcomed on this
Groupon and any other Groupons in the future. Would definitely
recommend to others!"--Living Social Customer
5664 Brecksville Rd, Independence, Ohio | 216-524-5300


text:
Collecting and Protecting Movie Ticket Stubs
I remember movie ticket stubs being nothing special when I was a kid. You got one of those colored roll tickets, which might have had the name of the theater on it, but lacked other identifying information.
Somewhere along the way, maybe when I was busy being a "business man" in the late 1990's with no time for such foolery, movie ticket stubs got more interesting. Most theaters now give you a ticket stub that is larger and has all sorts of interesting information, like the name of the movie you saw, the date, and the theater's name. A few years ago I realized that this was a great thing for someone like me who watches a lot of movies and might have some trouble remembering what exactly I've seen.
I've always been a bit of a collector. As a youth, it was baseball cards. It's always been books. And in the last several years, it has been about movies. Most forms of collecting can look like a mild form of mental illness, from a certain point of view. To follow a collection to its logical conclusion is to always be looking to acquire the next thing. Some people collect as if they are managing an investment, a dubious proposition in any collector's market primarily run by dealers, be they antiques, coins, or rare books.
In comparison, a movie ticket stub collection can represent a meaningful personal history with minimal issues related to collectible markets. This post seeks to illustrate the ease and enjoyment one can have collecting ticket stubs from the movies.
Ticket stubs are technically epherema, which is a fancy way of saying "meant to be thrown away." Post cards, hand-bill advertisements, and garage sale posters are all epherema. Lobby cards and posters are well-established and often expensive film epherema collectibles. Given the disposable nature of stubs, your collection quickly becomes unique as time elapses.
In terms of cost, ticket stubs are easily acquired for free, assuming you frequent your local movie theaters and feel that the films are already worth the price of admission. There is a very thin trade in movie theater ticket stubs on eBay, should you want to acquire beyond your own viewing habits, but I don't recommend throwing good money in that direction. If you acquire the ticket stubs from theaters directly, there isn't any question of authenticity, while the same cannot be said about eBay sales, movie memorabilia dealers, or garage sales.
You also can't beat the personal history that a ticket stub can represent–it's a small piece of documentation of where you where and what you were doing. Maybe it reminds you of people with whom you spent time. Sometimes, it's a chance to prove you were hip to a film before the bandwagon caught on.
Keeping Your Stub Collection
This section provides some basic advice to preserving your movie stub collection and is adapted from my training in book preservation in library school
There are many ways your ticket stubs can be damaged: radiation (most commonly from light) will fade inks and discolor paper; moisture can create conditions where mold can grow; dust and other substances can soil the paper; and even light handling can create wear on corners and creasing. To make matters worse, your ticket stubs may be carrying an internal threat–traces of acid in the paper or ink may slowly react over years and weaken the stub.
Keeping your collection in appropriate protective media in a dry place not in direct sun should extend the life of your stubs. Fortunately, the supplies necessary to protect a movie ticket stub collection are readily available, thanks to the widespread popularity of trading card collecting and scrapbooking.
For holding individual ticket stubs, I use 2 5/8 x 3 3/4 polypropylene sleeves designed for trading cards. They're too small for concert or theater tickets, but every movie ticket stub I own fits in this style of sleeve. Sometimes these sleeve can be found in retail at places like Wal-mart, if you look at the collectible card game/sports card section. A pack of 100 may run $1 to $5, making for a very low per-ticket price. Also, you can buy them online from Hobby Lobby. I'd avoid the trading card pages designed to fit in binders, since they tend to slump and bend the contents if stored upright for a long period of time. To keep your slips organized, invest in a card box, preferably one that is acid-free.
Poly sleeves are ideal because they allow you to handle your stubs with minimal touching. If you want something more focused on presentation, look into building a movie scrap book, taking care to use acid-free supplies (as most are, these days). If you're like some of the scrapbookers I know and have a backlog of projects, take care to place your stubs out of the light until you can get them placed in your books.
If I have a need to keep notes on a stub, I use a piece of buffered paper and write with an acid-free ink, as is shown in the following photo. The buffered paper from archival supplies can easily run $20 a ream, so an acid-free scrap book paper is a suitable replacement.
What's the difference between buffered and acid-free paper? Buffered paper has alkaline chemicals added to mitigate the effects of acid, while acid-free paper merely has a PH of 7.0 or higher. For example, old newspaper ink was often acidic to a point that the newspaper deteriorated much faster beneath lettering than in the white space, so buffered paper is used to slow this process down. I don't know the innate acidity of paper in ticket stubs, so the use of buffered paper may be over-compensating. Maybe I'll do some chemistry over the summer and find out.
Most of the damage I've done to my stubs comes from the time between purchasing the ticket and returning from the movie. To minimize this damage, I place the stub in a book (since I often carry one). Alternatively, you could invest in a simple hard-sided business card case to temporarily hold stubs. For example, this case: Aluminum Business Card Case (Amazon)
A note on honest wear: I don't get upset if the stub gets torn badly by a ticket taker or has a streaked and/or muddy printing. These are legitimate artifacts of the experience. I've long felt that the condition-focus of most collectible markets detracts from the enjoyment. Your experience may vary.
I hope this was a informative and encouraging post. If you collect stubs I'd love to hear about how you keep them in the comments.


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Michael Harding was born in Cavan in 1953.
He has published two novels, Priests (Blackstaff Press, 1986), and The Trouble With Sarah Gullion (Blackstaff Press, 1988); and the novella Bird in the Snow (Dublin, The Lilliput Press, 2008).
His plays are Strawboys (Dublin, The Abbey Theatre, Peacock stage, 1987); Una Pooka (The Peacock, 1989); Misogynist (The Abbey Theatre, 1990); Burying Brian Boru (Theatre Omnibus, 1990); Where the Heart Is (Dublin, Project Arts Centre, 1993); Hubert Murray's Widow (The Peacock, 1993); The Kiss (Project Arts Centre, 1994);
Ceacht Houdini (Baile Átha Cliath, Amharclann de hIde, 1994); Backsides to the Wind (Waterford, Red Kettle, 1995); Sour Grapes (The Peacock, 1997); Amazing Grace (The Peacock, 1998); Bog Dances (Portlaoise, Steve Wickham and Shake the Spear Theatre @ Dunamaise Arts Centre, 2000); Sleeping a Lovesong (Project Arts Centre 2002); Talking Through His Hat, Dublin Fringe Festival at The Focus Theatre. 2002); Swallow (Gare ST Lazare @ Dublin Fringe Festival. 2003); Birdie Birdie (Sligo, Blue Raincoat Theatre, 2004); Tearmann (Tralee, Siamsa Tire, The National Folk Theatre of Ireland. 2006); The Tinkers Curse (Virginia, Co Cavan, Livin Dred Theatre Co, 2007); Is There Balm in Gilead? (Dun Laoighaire, Pavilion Theatre, 2007).
His memoir is Staring at Lakes: A Memoir of Love, Melancholy and Magical Thinking (Dublin, Hachette Ireland, 2013).
In 1980 he received the Hennessey Literary Award for short stories.
Amongst his awards for theatre is The Stewart Parker Theatre Award. He was Writer in Association with the Abbey Theatre in 1993. He has been Writer in Association with The National Theatre in 1993 and he was short listed Short listed for the Irish Times Aer Lingus Literature Award in 1989.
In 2000 he was Writer Fellow at Trinity College and he was nominated for the Jane Snow Award for Theatre writing in 2003. He has also explored connections between theatre and performance art. He was nominated for Best Male Performer, at the Dublin Theatre Fringe Festival, 2002, and he was the overall winner of Best Male Performer Award at Dublin Fringe Festival 2003.
He is a member of Aosdána, and lives in Westmeath.
Michael Harding at Irish Playography
The Tinker's Curse. Michael Harding's play reviewed at Irish Theatre Magazine by Harvey O'Brien
Michael Harding at The National Library of Ireland


text:
|By Admin1 (admin) (pool-151-196-116-248.balt.east.verizon.net - 126.96.36.199) on Sunday, April 22, 2007 - 8:45 am: Edit Post
2004: Marc Miller served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Mali in Gono, Douentza beginning in 2004
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Marc Miller can be contacted at marcellusmilleragmaildcom
Country of Service: Mali
Training Group: Dennys
Cities you served in: Gono, Douentza
Arrival Year: 2004
Departure Year: 2006
Work Description:
Natural Resource Management
Bring us up to date on your life after the peace corps:
currently in a grad program at Georgetown
Any thoughts you have now looking back on peace corps days?:
can't wait to go back and visit!
Anyone you are looking for or would like to hear from?:
Craig Schultz, or anyone form Gono/Douentza area
Originally posted: April 21, 2007
Reconnect with this Peace Corps Volunteer
Leave a message above where it says "Create New Conversation."
If this is your profile, post any additions, updates or corrections to your profile below where it says "Add a Message."
RPCVs: To add your own RPCV profile click here.
| The Peace Corps Library
The Peace Corps Library is now available online with over 40,000 index entries in 500 categories. Looking for a Returned Volunteer? Check our RPCV Directory or leave a message on our Bulletin Board. New: Sign up to receive our free Monthly Magazine by email, research the History of the Peace Corps, or sign up for a daily news summary of Peace Corps stories. Visit our FAQ for more information about PCOL.
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| Help document the History of the Peace Corps
PCOL is proud to announce that Phase One of the "History of the Peace Corps" is now available online containing over 5,000 pages of primary source documents from the archives of the Peace Corps. Help: Do you have copies of in-country newsletters from your Country of Service. Mail copies to "Ask Not" - Box 1960 - Ponca City, OK 74601. If you can, send them on a CD in jpeg format; if not, send us hard copies.
Related Links:
Peace Corps Mali; Directory of Mali RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Mali RPCVs; Headlines: December, 2004


text:
| It is really worth the money December 21, 2000
Reviewer: A Customer from
I had been wanting an HP Champ for over a year and a half and finally got one a month ago. It is really worth the money and the wait. Smoothies, coconut milk, almond milk, ground nuts/ seeds, even soft-serve style banana ice cream are a snap.


text:
MidNite Solar Classic 150 MPPT Charge Controller
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MidNite Classic MPPT Charge Controllers are unique in their ability to be used for a variety of DC input sources and voltages. They're designed to regulate DC input from PV, hydro, and wind sources at 12V, 24V, 36V, 48V, 60V, and 72V. They also feature MidNite's exclusive HyperVOC technology to keep up with higher voltages in cold weather. The Classic 150 can be installed alone or as a multi-unit networked installation.
MidNite Solar Classic 150 MPPT Charge Controller Features
- Solar, wind, and hydro MPPT modes
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For help selecting the best MidNite Solar Classic charge controller for your system, use MidNite's Classic string sizing tool.
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- Maximum battery charging current: 96A
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- Manufacturer: MidNite Solar
- Model number: Classic 150
This product is shipped from one of our warehouses in Northern California. Orders placed after 12 p.m. will typically ship the following business day. To see an estimate of our delivery times, click here.
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Products can be returned for a refund within 30 days of receipt if unused and in original packaging. Returns are paid for by customer unless product is defective or damaged, in which case Real Goods assumes responsibility. Please use Fedex, UPS, or USPS with tracking, for returns.
Returns of solar panels, inverters or other large ticket items will incur a re-stocking fee of up to 20%. Freight shipping is non-refundable.
|MidNite Solar Classic Charge Controller Data Sheet (Size: 1.4 MB)


text:
Qatar, a tiny country situated on a small, thumb-shaped neck of land off the eastern side of the Arabian Peninsula, looks on the surface like a country with great economic promise. The nation is rich with cash and natural resources, and it's been making small but sure strides toward economic and social reform. But is that enough to make it a place for your investing dollars?
The good news
The economic data surrounding Qatar appears to indicate the potential for good investing opportunities. Profits from the petroleum industry have made it one of the highest per-capita-income countries in the world and have fueled one of the fastest GDP growth rates anywhere in the past few years. Qatar also sits near the planet's largest natural gas field and will likely become the top liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter in the near future. No wonder several U.S. companies, among them Chevron
What's more, political signs likewise point toward apparent stability in Qatar. Although it remains a conservative Muslim country, it does not, unlike its neighbor Saudi Arabia, allow religious fanatics to enforce adherence to dress codes or prayer attendance. In fact, Qatar's emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, has pursued a path of cautious social and economic liberalization that has thus far met with success. He subsidizes the first truly free media in the Middle East, Al Jazeera, whose popularity has ignited a revolution in Middle Eastern journalism. And he is thinking about opening the Qatari stock market to outside investors, after having already allowed limited foreign investment in Qtel, the country's telecommunications monopoly.
Clearly, the emir envisions Qatar competing with Dubai and the other members of the United Arab Emirates for future foreign business investment. And he just might succeed. In the wake of recent militant violence and beheadings of foreigners in Saudi Arabia, many Western companies have fled to Qatar and the Emirates.
The presence of two major United States military bases -- Camp as-Sayliyah and al-Udeid Air Force Base -- further ensures Qatar's military stability. The U.S. military maintains an excellent relationship with the Qatari government. As-Sayliyah is home to U.S. Central Command in the region, where U.S. troops keep a low profile -- a fact that sits well with the locals.
And now, the bad news
So this is a sound place to put your money, right? Well, here's what the numbers don't tell.
Like most other petroleum-rich Persian Gulf countries, Qatar is run by a very small group of men, the sheikhs, who own almost everything in the nation. As a result, any foreign company that wishes to do business in Qatar will likely have to have a sheikh sponsor it. These roughly 50 men are fabulously wealthy, and extremely powerful. They form a fraternity that you and I will never join. Not ever. At best, we can hope to become this group's faithful courtiers -- or, perhaps, its small-f fools -- accepting whatever handouts come our way.
The rest of Qatar's wealth is spread among its roughly 250,000 citizens, who receive monthly government stipends and other favors. That leaves about 630,000 other people who do not hold Qatari passports but still live and work in the country and ultimately depend on the largesse of a sponsoring sheikh for their employ. Many of these people are Palestinians, Lebanese, Egyptians, Iraqis, and various other Arabs from less fortunate nearby countries, but the vast majority come from India and the Philippines. And their jobs and pay scales are all subject to a racism that places Gulf Arabs at the top, other Arabs in the middle, and Indians and Filipinos at the bottom.
It's not likely to get better. The chasm separating rich and poor in Qatar will likely grow as the economy grows. And the problems it generates will remain a turbulent force churning beneath the surface of Qatari society. Already, the resentment between differing national communities is easy to see, for those who take the time to look.
Despite the emir's laudable efforts to end Qatar's historical economic protectionism, starting a business in Qatar still requires navigating a bureaucracy that would make any former Soviet nostalgic. Ultimately, the sheikhs can arbitrarily enforce or waive the often ridiculous or downright insulting regulations, leading one to wonder at their purpose in the first place. And the sheikhs' monopoly is unlikely to break anytime soon.
Another annoying aspect of Qatar's business climate remains the tender -- a publicly offered job on which different companies may bid. This type of system encourages companies to grossly underestimate the costs of any given job and, once the tender is offered, a scramble to cut as many corners as possible so they can maximize profits. The result typically is shoddy or unfinished work, or work that costs nearly triple what it should because of inevitable delays.
Infrastructure is another embarrassment. Certainly any rapidly developing city is going to experience, for example, traffic problems. However, Doha's roads are a terrestrial form of purgatory. And the roads themselves are often uneven or dotted with potholes. What about those billions of dollars in surplus?
Lastly, the presence of U.S. military in Qatar is a mixed blessing. By aligning themselves with the U.S., the Qataris make themselves anathema to the clandestine militant groups who seek the downfall of America and its purported puppets in the region. Because Qatar has more than 37 miles of unprotected borders with Saudi Arabia, and almost 350 miles of unguarded coastline, it's easy to infiltrate. A few well-placed explosives on an oil production facility, or an LNG station, would send the "collaborationist" Qatari petroleum industry into a panic. The ramifications of such an attack for world energy markets are frightening. Qatar remains doubly vulnerable to such attacks because the Qataris believe they are immune from them.
The verdict
Qatar is a small country with a small-country mentality. Its insularity tends to blind its citizens to the problems lurking right outside their borders. That means that although the nation may be secure in economic terms, it still remains subject to too much volatility on nearly every other level.
For related articles:
If you're looking to expand your portfolio beyond your own nation's stocks, try out our international-investing report, Around the World in 80 Minutes .
Fool contributor Adam Gaiser is a professor of religious studies. He does not own shares in any of the companies mentioned in this article. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.