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To simplify the discussion, I am going to limit myself to grayscale sensors, e.g., the Leica M-Monochrom, or a lab camera such as a Prosilica. With no Bayer filter, there is little reason to add an AA filter to a sensor ... or is there?
First up we have to consider how such a grayscale sensor works. The sensor consists of a grid of photosites. The distance between the centres of two neigbouring photosites (left-right or top-bottom neighbours) is called the pixel pitch. In the ideal case, the pixel can be thought of as a little square with side lengths equal to the pixel pitch. In the real world, there has to be some space between adjacent pixels, and some space for circuitry to facilitate the read-out of a photosite. The fraction of the pixel that is actually collecting photons is called the fill factor. In the old days, this meant that only about 50% or so of your total sensor area was actually collecting photons, but with advances such as back-side illumination and microlens arrays we are doing much better today at about 90% fill factor.
Real world notwithstanding, it is convenient to think of a photosite as a little square, and a sensor as a grid of tightly packed photosite with practically no gaps between them.
This abstraction yields a very specific point spread function shaped like this:
Enter the box filterA 1D box filter is a filter that looks like this:
Clearly, the point spread function of an ideal square photosite is just the 2D version of a box filter.
The box filter pops up many times in signal processing contexts. It also crops up implicitly in unexpected places, but more on that later.
At this point I have to assume that you are familiar with convolution (check out the Wikipedia entry for a refresher). The convolution of a box filter f with itself (f * f) yields a triangular function like the black curve in this plot:
I shall state without proof that repeated convolution of a box filter of width 1 pixel with itself does indeed converge on a Gaussian function with standard deviation of 1/√2 ≈ 0.7071.
The unexpected upshot (well, I certainly was not expecting it the first time) of this is that you can approximate a Gaussian blur by repeatedly blurring an image with a box filter. How do you blur an image with a box filter?
Well, convolution of an image with a 2D box filter that is 3x3 pixels in size is equivalent to replacing each pixel's value with the unweighted average of the group of 3x3 pixels centred at the pixel you are replacing. In this case, repeated convolution with a 3x3 2D box filter will approximate a Gaussian blur with a standard deviation of 3/√2 ≈ 2.12.
This observation, namely that repeated convolution with a box filter converges on a Gaussian, will be recycled in a later post, so do not page it out of your main memory just yet ...
Area-weighted Anti-Aliasing in computer graphics renderingRendering an image of a black square on a white background is relatively straightforward. You scan through each pixel, and test whether the current pixel is inside the square (pixel set to black) or outside (pixel set to white). This produces perfect images as long as the square is aligned with pixel boundaries, which is rather limiting.
If you rotate your black square relative to the pixel grid, a third possibility arises: a pixel might fall partially inside the square, and partially outside. The most intuitive solution to the problem is to simply set the intensity of the pixel proportional to the degree to which it is inside the square. In computer graphics terms, you clip the square to the boundaries of your pixel, and measure the area of the clipped polygon. Here is a picture:
This allows us to draw the black square with much smoother-appearing edges, since we are effectively using our radiometric resolution (different shades of gray) to compensate for our inadequate spatial resolution (large pixels) --- a practice commonly referred to as Anti-Aliasing in computer graphics.
We can also view this from a sampling perspective. First, we generate a number of (x,y) coordinates within each pixel, preferably well-spread throughout the current pixel. By counting how many of these coordinates are inside the square too, we have estimated the fraction of the current pixel that is covered by the square, which, in the limit, is identical to the fragment area that we obtained by clipping the square to the pixel boundaries above.
Lastly, we can consider the case where we sample at coordinates outside of the current pixel too, but that we apply a weight to each sample. If the weight is zero everywhere outside the current pixel, and exactly 1.0 inside the current pixel, then we can say that our weights represent the point spread function of the current pixel, which happens to be a 2D box function by construction.
This shows us that there are three equivalent methods of obtaining the correct intensity of a pixel that is only partially covered by the square:
- We can compute the area of intersection between the current pixel's boundaries and the square, or
- We can perform unweighted sampling at points spread uniformly throughout the current pixel, or
- We can perform weighted sampling at arbitrary points, and weight each point relative to the box filter centred at the current pixel (obviously we will improve our efficiency by only sampling close to the current pixel).
MTF of a box filterThe point spread function of a non-Bayer sensor without an AA filter is simply a box filter of width equal to the pixel pitch. The point spread function of a synthetic image generated with an area-weighted sampling algorithm is also a box of width equal to the pixel size, which means we can use the one to study the other. So what does the MTF of this box function look like?
- Recall that in this case, a frequency of 0.5 cycles per pixel implies that our image contains a pattern of alternating black-and-white stripes that are exactly one pixel wide; together, one black stripe and one adjacent white stripe makes one cycle. This is the highest spatial frequency that can be represented correctly in our image --- if you try to make the stripes less than one pixel wide, then clearly you will not be able to preserve details exactly any more.
- Note that the contrast drops to zero at twice the Nyquist frequency (1 cycle per pixel). When our stripes are exactly half a pixel wide, then the black and white pattern cancels exactly, leaving the entire image at 50% grey, hence zero contrast.
- Also note that the box filter MTF curve is nonzero between 0.5 cycles per pixel and 1 cycle per pixel, which is highly undesirable. Aliasing is when a high frequency component masquerades as a lower frequency component (more on this below). As mentioned above, if the width of each stripe in a black-and-white pair falls below 1 pixel, then we can no longer represent this accurately in our image.
- At each integer k cycles per pixel, we can fit k pairs of black-and-white stripes inside one pixel, again cancelling each other and producing a 50% grey image. This is exactly where the MTF curve drops to zero each time.
- The dashed grey curve is the MTF of a Gaussian PSF with a standard deviation 0.568 pixels (MTF50=0.33), included for comparison.
Aliasing in practiceI have alluded to the fact that bad things happen when your scene contains detail that occurs at a higher frequency that what the sensor can capture, i.e., when you have details smaller than the pixels of your sensor. The type of aliasing I would like to highlight here is folding, which is when the high frequency information wraps around and re-appears as lower frequency information. To understand what it looks like, consider the following image:
The right panel is a 2x magnification of the left panel Note that the third row in the stack is nice and crisp, containing only pure black and pure white. The other rows have some grey values at the transition between the black and white bars, because the image has been rendered with box-filtered anti-aliasing.
Here is the same image again, repeated to simplify comparisons further down:
|Box filtered, bars are 5 pixels wide
Note that the edges of the bars are exhibiting the classical box-filtered anti-aliasing patterns; depending on the exact position of the bars relative to the pixels (i.e., the differences between the four rows), we see different shades of grey at the transition, between the four rows. Contrast that with the same pattern, but rendered using a Gaussian filter (the one depicted in the dashed grey curve in the MTF plot above), rather than a box filter, to reduce aliasing:
|Gaussian filtered (standard dev. = 0.568 pixels), bars are 5 pixels wide
Here we can see that the edges of the bars are noticeably more blurry, but they do appear much smoother than the version with box filtering above. Also note that the four rows now look much more alike, which is an improvement on the box filtered version.
Now for the promised frequency folding. If we define a cycle as one black bar followed by one white bar, then the 5-pixel wide bars give us a cycle, or period, of 10 pixels. Frequency is simply 1 over period, or 1/10 cycles per pixel. Since the frequency is less than one cycle per pixel, we know that we can accurately represent the bars at this frequency. We know that 0.5 cycle per pixel corresponds to the Nyquist limit, i.e., the highest frequency that can be represented, which corresponds to a pattern of a 1-pixel wide black bar followed by a 1-pixel wide white bar. Frequency folding dictates that a pattern with a frequency of 1 - (1/10) = 0.9 cycles per pixel will be aliased with a frequency of 1/10 cycles per pixel. We know that 0.9 cycles per pixel corresponds to a cycle of 1.1111' pixels in length, which implies that the bars will have a width of 0.5555' pixels, which we also know cannot be represented accurately, since the bars are smaller than the pixels. If we render the same bar pattern with box filtering, but choosing a bar pattern in which the bars are 0.5555' pixels wide, we get this image:
|Box filtered, bars are 0.5555' pixels wide
Not what you were expecting? One would have expected that the bars disappear into a uniform grey patch, since we know that 50% of each row should be black, and 50% should be white. We also know the bars are only supposed to be 0.5555' pixels wide, so why are we seeing bars that are 5 pixels wide? Well, this is a textbook case of aliasing --- the frequency of 0.9 cycles per pixel is aliased, or folded, around 0.5, which gives us 0.1 (0.5 - (0.9 - 0.5) = 0.1) . We have seen above that 0.1 cycles per pixel gives us 10 pixels per cycle, or bars that are 5 pixels wide.
That explains the width of the bars. But why are they grey, and not black-and-white? The MTF plot of the box filter above provides the answer: at 0.9 cycles per pixel, contrast has dropped to roughly 10%, which manifests as both white and black moving closer to the intensity midpoint of 50% grey (remember, the image shown here are at a gamma value of 2.2). If we see an image such as the one above (box filtered, bar width=0.5555' pixels), how do we know whether we are looking at a pattern with bar width 5 at 10% contrast, or a pattern with bar width 0.5555' pixels at 100% contrast? There is no way of telling, which is why aliasing is a destructive process. By the time you have captured the image with your sensor (without AA filter), you have already lost the ability to tell these two cases apart.
Before concluding, we have to take a quick look at the same pattern, but filtered with a Gaussian point spread function:
|Gaussian filtered (standard dev. = 0.568 pixels), bars are 0.5555' pixels wide
Personally, I prefer the fade-to-grey approach. While the box-filtered image (with bars of width 0.5555' pixels) appears to have detail at 0.1 cycles per pixel (bars of width 5 pixels), this detail is false, and was never present in the scene we captured with our sensor.
ConclusionSo which is better: a sensor with an AA filter, or one without? This depends a great deal on what you plan to do with that sensor. A sensor without an AA filter will be more susceptible to aliasing than one with a filter, but this depends critically on the rest of the parameters of the entire optical system.
For example, if your pixel pitch is rather small, say around 1.5 microns, like the sensors found in camera phones, then diffraction will act as a natural AA filter. For a larger pixel pitch of around 5 microns or larger, diffraction will only start acting as an AA filter at small relative apertures (say, beyond f/8, depending on physical sensor size). For large pixels at large apertures, the difference between an AA filter sensor, and one without, boils down to exactly the differences illustrated above. (Update: new post on taking diffraction into account).
Bayer sensors are another matter entirely, but suffice it to say that you must give up some resolution in order to reconstruct colours accurately with this type of sensor.
For photography, I would much rather have a slightly softer image, which can be sharpened afterwards, than a sharper image filled with artifacts that cannot be removed automatically. Remember, blurring the image after capture will not remove the aliasing; the blur must be applied before the sensor samples the incoming scene.
Lastly, always remember that aliasing is only present if your scene contains frequencies above the Nyquist limit of your sensor. Not all images captured without an AA filter will contain aliasing.


text: Controlling the home appliances and electronics gadgets through an Infrared remote control is now in general. But the same controlling tasks can be done more easily. Primary motive of proposing the new system of hand gesture remote control is to remove the need to look in to the hand held remote and to search for a specific key for specific function. This paper presents a novel system to control home appliances through hand gesture as a remote control device . The results show that this interface is able to allow physically impaired people to make use of modern appliances by gesture. Gestures are also used for communication for blind deaf and people. It has some inbuilt voice system which is used for communication .It translates hand gestures to speech through an adaptive interface. The accelerations of a hand in motion in three perpendicular directions are detected by three accelerometers respectively and transmitted. A basic feature based on sign sequence of gesture acceleration is extracted Finally, the gesture is recognized by comparing the gesture code with the stored templates.

subset: commoncrawl


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--- "Sean B. Palmer" <email@example.com> wrote: > Hi, > So, in short, there is no way that you can provide > an opacity level for an > element or its background in CSS? Shouldn't there > be? I am presuming there > must have been some debates about this in the past. > Using SVG is all well and good, but how does that > relate to style? SVG is part of style... it is a module of CSS Level 3. Since a revision of the SVG spec. was released just yesterday, it is listed as a headline on http://www.w3.org . Also, here is a listing of the current css3 modules: http://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/current-work If you really need to specify an opacity for a site in browsers on the market today rather than waiting for the spec to be finalized and implemented, you can use -moz-opacity in Mozilla/Netscape6 , and filters in IE4+. -Dylan Schiemann __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? From homework help to love advice, Yahoo! Experts has your answer. http://experts.yahoo.com/Received on Friday, 3 November 2000 11:27:20 UTC
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.3.1 : Monday, 2 May 2016 14:26:55 UTC


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I have been away on holidays for most of January this year - aren't I lucky.
A few days in Sydney catching up with family and 2 weeks at Port Macquarie relaxing on the beach.
I made this cushion for a couple who I work with who had their first bub in January - a little boy named Gus.
Back to work tomorrow!!! That will be a huge shock to my system.
The scrap basket rose quilt has nearly had its first border done and only 2 to go to be ready for quilting. I hope to do the remaining borders next weekend.
Bye for now.
Monday, February 4, 2008
4 comments:
- Gypsy Quilter said...
What a lucky lil' guy. Too cute!
- February 4, 2008 at 2:27 PM
- Chookyblue said...
so nice to hear from you.........
- February 4, 2008 at 8:09 PM
- keslyn said...
Sounds like you have had a very nice January, school tomorrow will bring you back down to earth, glad to see you are still around.
- February 4, 2008 at 9:43 PM
Welcome back to blogland Gillian.
We have missed your beautiful sewing. Cushion looks great and I'm sure they will love it.
I don't want to think about the relaxing you did. Glad you back to school/work like the rest of us.
- February 5, 2008 at 7:37 AM
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I did a series of photographs depicting the anguish and self-hatered I experienced as a young adult this past fall. I decided to name this photo anguish as well. Although it is not officially a part of the older project, it is in a way related to it.
I didn't plan to create this specific image. I went down to my studio tonight to do a double exposure shot on film of something I had had in mind for a while. I made two attempts to create what I wanted and I think I pretty much messed up both. I was planning on developing the film tonight, but to avoid a big disappointment, I decided to pull one of my digital lighting tests for the first of the two exposures into Photoshop and create something with it. The result is below. It attempts to show shame and dislike of one's body. Your mind is a funny thing. While there may be nothing wrong with one's body, objectively seen, when you suffer from really low self-esteem, your mind will make you feel disgusted by it. You will notice every single blemish that nobody but you will ever be able to see, until you no longer want to look in the mirror, because what you see makes you ashamed.
(90mm, ISO 800, f/10, 1/125 sec + strobe with softbox on camera right)


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|Phone Number: 1 (334) 687-8011
Other Booking Options
Phone: 1 (800) 252-7275
Welcome to Online Reservations
Lakepoint State Park
Lakepoint Resort Lodge and Convention Center accommodations include 101 hotel rooms. Each room is beautifully furnished and includes a 32-inch flat screen television, a small refrigerator, coffee pot, iron and ironing board and a hair dryer. Lakepoint offers 29 cabins and 10 lakeside cottages. Handicap-accessible and dog-friendly units are available.
Lakepoint campground features 192 improved campsites. Deer Court has pull through sites including water, electricity and sewage. Barbour and Clark Loop sites include water and electricity. Tent camping is welcome and pets are allowed on a leash.
BOOK ONLINE LODGE ROOMS, COTTAGES, or CABIN Reservations - Use the search box to the left to reserve your stay with the best rental rate, based on your arrival and departure dates.
If you are a Group, or using a Special Discount Code, or have a Corporate Id, use the Special Rates area to narrow down your selections.
Reservations can be made in person at Park Headquarters, online, or by phone at (334) 687-8011 or (800) 252-7275.
The first night stay will be charged to your credit card to confirm your reservations.
|Property Amenities


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Easy Pressure Cooker Cornbread
Time needed
Serving Size / Yield
- 1 1/3 C. cornmeal
- 2/3 C. flour
- 2/3 C. sugar
- 3 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1/2 stick butter, melted
- 1 C. buttermilk
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/2 C. corn kernels
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Sift the dry ingredients into a bowl and gently mix to combine. In a separate bowl, mix the wet ingredients together.
Slowly pour the wet mixture into the dry, stirring constantly. The batter should be slightly lumpy, this is okay.
Grease a baking pan that will fit inside of your pressure cooker and pour the batter into it. Top the baking pan with a tight-fitting lid. Place the covered container inside of the baking dish.
Place the dish inside the pressure cooker so that it's slightly elevated off of the bottom (the basket that came with my pressure cooker works well).
Add 2/3 C. of water to the bottom of the pressure cooker. Lock the lid, bring to high pressure (15 PSI), and reduce the temperature to the lowest setting needed to maintain the temperature. Cook for 22 minutes.
Carefully release the pressure by removing the unit from the heat and allowing it to cool for about an hour, or until the pressure equalizes. Carefully release any residual pressure and remove the lid.
Remove the disk of cornbread and allow to cool inside the pot on a wire rack.
Serve warm, with honey butter and a bowl of chili.


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The U.S. Senate spent Thursday afternoon voting on some 30 amendments to the Transportation Bill. One amendment focused on authorization of the XL Pipeline. The project would create 20,000 American jobs, generate $20.9 billion in new private sector spending, reinforce America's energy security, and benefit 1,400 American job creators all without costing taxpayers a dime. That amendment, which was introduced in January by Senator John Hoeven, R-N.D., failed.
An amendment that would establish a dedicated revenue stream through the Off-System Bridge Program for bridges that are not on federal-aid or the National Highway System was introduced by Senators Roy Blunt, R-Mo., and Bob Casey, D-Pa.
"We must work together in Washington to make smart investments to develop a long-term federal plan for our infrastructure systems nationwide in order to provide communities and job creators greater certainty to prepare for the future," Blunt said.
Other amendments that the Senate is dealing with include extension of the Cellulosic Biofuels Producer Tax Credit; the Accelerated Depreciation Allowance for Cellulosic Biofuel Plant Property; incentivizing installation of flex pumps, and providing consumers relief from rising oil costs.
Earlier in the day several organizations came out in support of the tax related amendments. Advanced Ethanol Council; the National Biodiesel Board; and the National Farmers Union all voiced their support. NFU President Roger Johnson said the amendment written by Senate Ag Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., would help farmers and ranchers be part of the energy solution by creating home-grown biofuels.
The Advanced Ethanol Council and National Biodiesel Board support amendments to the transportation bill dealing with extension of energy related tax credits. Anne Steckel, vice president of federal affairs at the National Biodiesel Board, said this is about creating good-paying jobs and building up a U.S. energy industry that will help end our dangerous vulnerability to the kinds of oil price spikes we're seeing now.


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Why tech disruption is driving CEOs mad
Asset Benchmark Research announces the Best CEOs for 2017
THE late Andy Grove, the former chairman and CEO of Intel Corporation, famously attributed management success to being paranoid. He even wrote a book about it – Only the paranoid survive. It is one trait that Asset Benchmark Research's (ABR) Best CEOs of 2017 have in common, leading their companies through a constantly evolving landscape.
Just as it was when the book was published in 1999, change is a constant and companies today are confronted with a myriad of them including those that could disrupt business as usual. CEOs have to face up to these changes but the best ones also seize the moment as an opportunity to leapfrog the competition.
ABR, which conducted the review of The Asset Corporate Awards for the Best CEOs, shares the experience of Noriaki Goto, who says in his submission that it is not just about embracing change but also initiating change. The president and CEO of Krungsri Bank, the fifth-largest bank in Thailand in terms of assets, says that what concerns him is the bank's ability to execute quickly in the face of ongoing digital disruption. But just as important, is also being able to capture emerging opportunities.
As Goto led the integration of Krungsri Bank into the Japan's MUFG group beginning 2014, he has at the same time not lost sight of addressing the digital challenge. The bank has launched Krungsri Uni Startup and Krungsri RISE projects to support fintech startups by providing funding and management know-how.
Over 2,700 kilometres away, Liu Xiaochun is likewise uneasy. The president and CEO of Hangzhou-based CZ Bank believes China is undergoing tremendous change that will transform its economy to be very different from what it was in the previous three decades. He thinks about how to be able to adjust the bank in a timely manner and to innovate to keep up with the development of the times.
Liu also says that technological change has had an impact on the bank. In the past two years under his stewardship, Liu has grown CZ Bank's personal banking business from almost nothing to become one of the fastest-growing divisions. His other goal is to build the bank's international business. "We need to continue to innovate or the success of the past two years will stop," he says. "Our biggest challenge is changing with the times rather than being satisfied with past success."
E.SUN Financial Holding Company's president and CEO, Joseph Huang, who is a repeat awardee, explains how he has "long been seeking fintech innovation to develop another revenue stream". He worries that regulation can become an obstacle for digital innovation in Taiwan. Regulators will need to be fully informed and have to establish reasonable policies to apply new technology to financial services.
Huang plans to embed fintech as part of E.SUN Bank's businesses, including SME lending, wealth management and the credit card business. His vision is also for E.SUN to be the bank with soul in the eyes of the public. To that end, he says the most important metrics for performance are social and environmental responsibility.
In oil and gas, a newcomer this year is the president and CEO of Bangchak Corporation, Chaiwat Kovavisarach. He has exemplified strong leadership traits. Like Krungsri's Goto, he embraces innovation as part of a new paradigm shift. He set up the Bangchak Initiative and Innovation Centre (BiiC) to build upon existing green energy and bio-based businesses.
Last year Bangchak also launched a service station model called "Greenovative Experience" that utilizes green energy and recycled water at its service stations, helping attract new customers. Chaiwat has spun off the company's solar business to list on the Thailand stock exchange. "I believe in doing the best I can today because I don't know what tomorrow will bring," he tells ABR. Chaiwat brings more than 25 years of engineering and investment banking experience to Bangchak. His background has prepared him well for tasks ahead.
Serving the second year of his term, president and CEO of PTT, Tevin Vongvanich, once again impresses with his leadership acumen and grit. Under his stewardship, Thailand's largest energy firm has returned to profitability in the quarter to December of 2016 following an earnings loss in the preceding quarter.
PTT's financial performance is now on track for growth even as oil prices haven't fully recovered yet. The company's healthy balance sheet inspired gains in the company's shares. Tevin is also the proponent of PTT's sustainable development principle that seeks to promote balanced growth in profit, people and the planet. He ensures that senior management leads in PTT's volunteering programmes.
Staying relevant in a world of flux is one of the thoughts that keeps George Hongchoy up at night. As CEO of Asia's largest Reits, he needs to constantly think about the impact of disruption to the business. This has led him to plot aggressive strategies to stay ahead in the game. He has taken strategic steps to strengthen the resiliency of the company's portfolio by refurbishing assets, expanding its footprint to first-tier cities in China, and buying quality assets.
The process of building company strength hasn't been easy for Hongchoy. As the only Hong Kong Reit involved in the total privatization of public assets, Link faced controversies and public concerns that necessitated a shift in mindset and stakeholder management. Along with active stakeholder communication, Link has moved to address those issues and achieved a more resilient business for Link Reit.
The chairman and CEO of China's second-largest telecom operator, China Telecom, Yang Jie also believes innovation will ensure the long-term development of his company. Facing barriers including intensifying market competition and government regulation on "upgrading speed and reducing tariffs", in 2016 their company grasped the AI trend. They have since devoted themselves to becoming a leading service operator with integrated intelligent information.
Wang Xiaochu, chairman of China Unicom, another major telecom operator in the country, is giving China Telecom a run for their money. They have achieved success by maintaining the rapid development of their 4G business and have also co-operated with internet companies on big data packages. They turned around unfavourable conditions in 2015 to enable a 2.4% year-on-year growth in service revenue and a net addition of 60 million 4G mobile subscribers.
In transportation and logistics, Enrique K. Razon Jr, chairman and president of the Philippine-based port operator ICTSI, says he has learned from the Asian financial crisis. While he is financially conservative, he has not lost sight of the big picture in terms of digital innovation. He introduced the first vehicle booking system for trucks going into and out of their terminals in the country, to stop congestion. He took over as chairman of the company in 1995 and is involved in managing and operating twenty-eight ports and terminals in eighteen countries. Razon has also transformed the company by focusing on the kind of people he hires.
He oversees implementing ICTSI Group's corporate social responsibility advocacy through his foundation and sees to it that the philanthropic and CSR activities they conduct address the concerns of his host communities and the country in general. The foundation's projects center on education, community assistance and sports.
Like Andy Grove's book, Only the paranoid survive, mega-competition, changing regulations and a change in technology are altering the industries these CEOs work in. By taking advantage of a strategic inflection point, these nine have transformed their companies beyond enhancing their earnings per share by capturing new opportunities. In the words of the Razon Jr, "CEO's shouldn't get awards". However, if they should, these are the CEOs that deserve the recognition.
To view the awardees of The Asset Corporate Awards 2017 - Best CEO, please click here.
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14 Nov 2017


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Our clients include international, national and regional businesses, trade associations, community organizations, institutions, and not-for-profits. Our representations run the gamut from global Fortune 100 companies to local neighborhood businesses and groups. Our client base spans a full array of market sectors: real estate, energy, community development, economic development, healthcare, education, consumer, lifestyle, financial services, media, publishing, and professional services.
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You won't find an agency anywhere that offers our brand of strategic convergence of expertise. It is an asset unique to Marino. Unlike other strategic communications agencies, Marino's core capabilities reach deeply into four critical areas: the media, the corporate world, the public sector, and the community.
It's easy to find a public relations firm with skills in one or two — or sometimes even three of these four areas. But we're unique. Our expertise is rooted in all four of these spheres. Sometimes, our work on behalf of our clients focuses exclusively on one or two of these areas and we have extensive experience and capability in each area independently. Where we stand apart, however, is in our understanding of how frequently these areas intersect and interact. It allows us to deliver extraordinary results for our clients and to provide them with more comprehensive counsel.
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We provide our clients with customized communications plans developed through a finely honed process that establishes key goals, messages, target audiences, tactics, timetables and accountability. Throughout implementation of the plan, we interact with our clients on a daily basis and place great value on their feedback. We stay accountable, closely monitoring and measuring results in order to make adjustments when needed. We forge high functioning partnerships with our clients, ensuring that every element of the communications campaign works in direct support of clients' business or organizational objectives.Continue Reading


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Rubbish, waste and recycling related questions
- Why can't I recycle juice cartons ('Tetrapaks') in my red box/bag?
- Why can't I recycle black plastic or other types of plastic?
- Why can't I have a wheeled bin for my recycling?
- Why can't I recycle wrapping paper?
- Why recycle food waste?
- What happens to the food waste I recycle?
- Will my kitchen caddy smell?
- How can I waste less food?
- Do I need to remove labels and clean cans, bottles and foil trays before recycling?
- What metals should I be recycling at home?
- Is it just food and drink packaging I should be recycling?
- Do I need to clean cans or take the labels off?
- Do I need to wash foil trays before recycling?
- What if I live in a flat or don't have the red box collection?
- How can I recycle other non-packaging metal items?
- What difference does recycling metals make?
- Why use metal packaging?
- How should I safely store waste batteries?
Do you have a question?
If there is anything you would like to ask us, about our services, our work or how we can help you, then please do.Ask us a question


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The P.R.I.M.E. Finance Mediation Rules are based on the commonly used UNCITRAL Conciliation Rules of 1980. Considering the developments in mediation techniques and trends, we have made some refinements to the UNCITRAL Conciliation Rules in order to both build in the P.R.I.M.E. Finance Secretariat and to introduce some more updated features.
For more information about the P.R.I.M.E. Finance Mediation Rules, click here.


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The abundance at our dining table might never have come together, if not for guidance from the knowing hands of Mrs. Elizabeth Raffald. The Experienced English Housekeeper, written in 1769 by Mrs. Raffald, was used as a model for the dining table in Rienzi's exhibition. I am delighted that we are able to honor this fascinating woman, by laying out one more dinner course to her precise specifications. What the housekeeper-turned-author would have thought, if she knew that her skills would be employed in Houston, Texas, almost 250 years after her the publication of her book – I don't know. Texas did not exist at the time Mrs. Raffald used her experience as an innkeeper and confectioner to publish a successful cookbook.
Those who admire her can be thankful that Mrs. Raffald's long and industrious career in the service industry left behind a trail of paperwork that has allowed us to piece together a colorful and impressive biography. An edition of her book re-printed in 1997, by Southover Press, includes a well-researched and provocative introduction by Roy Shipperbottom. I would like to share a bit from that story, on the life of this remarkably entrepreneurial woman, our Mrs. Elizabeth Raffald:
Elizabeth Whitaker was born outside of Yorkshire in the early 1730s. She was one of at least five sisters, all of whom were privileged in that they were taught to read and write. Elizabeth went into service at an early age, writing that she spent 15 years with "great and worthy families." She followed the example of an older sister, by training to make "confectionery," which at the time referred to all things dessert. By 1760, Elizabeth earned a position as housekeeper at an great estate called Arley Hall, in Cheshire outside of Manchester.
At an estate the size of Arley Hall, a housekeeper would have been in charge of all the female servants, as well as responsible for purchasing everyday items such as foodstuffs: fish, lobsters, oysters, chickens and lemons. Her daily kitchen duties would have included "preserving and pickling food and making country wines, table decorations, and the necessary cakes and tidbits suitable for tea."
It was at Arley Hall where Elizabeth developed two important connections in her life. The first was her employer, Lady Elizabeth Warburton, with whom she maintained a relationship throughout her career, and to whom she eventually dedicated her book. The second would become her husband, John Raffald, the head gardener at Arley. John had also learned his trade in Yorkshire, and as Shipperbottom notes, it is entirely possible that the two had known one another previous to working there. After one year of working at Arley, Elizabeth married John Raffald and moved with him to Manchester where his family owned several market gardens. (It was customary at the time that once a servant was married he or she did not stay on working at the estate.)
Manchester was a burgeoning industrial town, thanks to the development of coal-fueled textile machines. Among other social and economic developments, new industry meant wealth in the city of Manchester. Mrs. Raffald capitalized on a rising merchant class market, by establishing a shop dedicated to providing for the needs of the newly landed gentry (new money, if you will). Her shop sold hot dishes, cakes and table decorations. Within her business, she also established a Register Office through which employers could find reliable servants, and compiled a Manchester Directory to that same end. Several years later, Elizabeth opened a second shop, this one dedicated to confectionary, advertising among other things, "Creams, Possetts, Jellies, Flummery, Lemon Cheese Cakes." In a 1770 advertisement in the local newspaper, she addressed her clients personally:
"Mrs. Raffald returns thanks for the great encouragement she meets with in making Bride and Christening Cakes and those who are pleased to favour her with their commands, may depend on being served with such cakes as shall not be exceeded."
It was during this period that Elizabeth set to work on her cookbook. Although copyright laws were in place by 1714 in England, texts were frequently pirated by printers. This was particularly common with instructional cookbooks, many of which recycled recipes from other publications. Ever resourceful, Mrs. Raffald offered her book of original recipes by advanced subscription so as to avoid illegal copying. She notes in the title page, that her publication offers, "over 800 Original Recipes most of which never appeared in print."
The book was a great success, and was printed in several editions before Elizabeth eventually sold the copyright. Unfortunately, the various businesses she and her husband owned along the way did not fare as well. John Raffald was a notorious alcoholic, and the couple was often in debt as result of his vices. Although Mrs. Raffald was the founder of her family's businesses, women of this period had no legal rights, and each new venture was carried out solely in her husband's name. It must have been well known that she was the industry behind them; however, because when she passed away, creditors immediately reclaimed the coffeeshop that she and John occupied. We are lucky to have this book so thoughtfully compiled by Elizabeth Raffald, a testament to the shrewd and inventive mind of an eighteenth-century businesswoman.


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話題の提供: Winter wonderland
« previous entry | next entry »
Dec. 19th, 2009 | 10:57 am
Do you long for snow during the winter holidays? Would you prefer to spend your holidays in the tropics or in a winter wonderland?
Nothing wonderful about Winter. Currently, I just want to be off my teenie, tiny island for Christmas.... that's all.


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Tipping the Scales in Housing Court
by Matthew Desmond, The New York Times
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Millions of Americans face eviction every year. But legal aid to the poor, steadily starved since the Reagan years, has been decimated during the recession. The result? In many housing courts around the country, 90 percent of landlords are represented by attorneys and 90 percent of tenants are not. This imbalance of power is as unfair as the solution is clear.


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A lot of pressure is on the bride to look beautiful even after going through the toil of following all traditional and religious customs for hours together. In-spite of this, brides in Chennai manage to look splendid throughout the wedding, thanks to the Make-up artists who wields the brushes brilliantly to make the brides look perfect.
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Image source – AshokArsh,Focus Studios,Rp photogaphy,eye3


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Queen's speech – Edelman analysis
My colleagues in the PA department have written a wonderful analysis of the Queens's speech. This is available for download here.
This year's Speech outlines the Government's final programme of planned laws ahead of the General Election and has focused on a range of priority political issues. Included are measures to tackle the nation's finances through putting into law a pledge to halve the budget deficit within four years, a Bill to prevent a repeat of the recession by stopping "reckless" bankers from getting bonuses and plans to improve welfare services, for instance by providing free social care for the most needy.
Headline points include:
- Financial Services Bill
- Fiscal Responsibility Bill
- Energy Bill
- Digital Economy Bill
The Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties outlined their respective opposition to the Speech this year before it was even made, with both stating that most of the Bills within the Speech will not become law, with a General Election due by June 2010,
and that consequently the Speech is little more than a Labour Party manifesto, considered by the Conservative leader David Cameron to be a "waste of time".
The Government and Conservative Party continued their debate today about the practical reality of introducing so many Bills with so little time left before the General Election to bring them on to the Statute Book (there are 10 new bills and three Bills carried over from the last parliamentary year in this year's Speech, with around only 70 days left when Parliament will sit before the General Election must be called). The Government continues to argue that "most" of the proposed Bills will be passed before the next election, whereas the Conservative Party has stated that its peers are prepared to obstruct many of the proposals in order to prevent this.
Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal Democrats, went even further than the Conservative Party in his criticism, stating that it should not even have taken place this year as the Government instead should have focused on the more pressing priority of reforming parliamentary expenses and spending in order to win back the trust of the general public.
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By Sean Reifschneider Date 2011-09-25 16:32 Tags linux, monitoring, python, sean reifschneider
Last month I had wanted to try to get some real monitoring of a bunch of my personal systems. I spent weeks dabbling with setting up a serious monitoring system (tried Zabbix, Zenoss, nagios, and Opsview), but I was making little if any progress with those. Largely that was related to running a RHEL 6 derivative and running into compatibility problems…
After spending around a day of effort on them, I decided to roll my own. My needs were modest, I wanted to be able to run some nagios check scripts and get an e-mail if checks failed continually for 15 minutes. But not get e-mails every 15 minutes if they were down, and only alert if they failed several times.
Read after the fold if you're interested in my solution…
I was very reluctant to invent something new, but on the other hand it wasn't looking like the path I was going down, using existing tools, was making any progress. nagios was the closest to being functional, but the config files make my eyes bleed and my head hurt.
So I bit the bullet and put together a bit under 200 lines of Python which did what I was looking for. I call it "nanomon", and it involves a single Python program, and a config file. The scheduler is "cron", to keep it simple, and it runs every minute.
It's available on the wonderful github under linsomniac/nanomon.
The checks are external scripts, in my case everything I wanted to check was already available as nagios scripts. Scripts can either be checked for success or failure by their exit code, looking for a string or any Python function which takes a string and returns non-False on success – such as regular expression matching.
For example:
command('/usr/lib/nagios/plugins/check_mdstat.sh', success = 'OK:')
command('/path/to/customescript', success = 0)
command('/usr/lib/nagios/plugins/check_zfs.sh -p data',
success = re.compile(r'^OK:').match)
command('/usr/lib/nagios/plugins/check_disk -c 10% -p /',
success = re.compile(r'^DISK OK ').match)
The first runs a nagios plugin and looks for the string "OK:" in it. The next runs a custom script and checks that the exit code is 0. The last two use a regex to match the output of other nagios checks.
The above would alert if any of those checks produce failures 15 times in succession.
It's been running for almost a month now, and performed spectacularly when I recently had a big power outage at my house – I manually need to bring up ZFS on one machine so it alerted as down and then back up. I'm extremely pleased with the results.
Let me know if you take a look at it.comments powered by Disqus


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I should have mentioned this a while back but I have been side tracked, however it's now something I'd like to bring up.
Some of you may remember me blogging about the pig traps that my father-in-law built to trap pigs in that were stomping around the farm. The intention was to trap the pigs to keep them from damaging the area and raise them to give the pigs away or eat later on.
Later I posted that we were successful in capturing pigs and were holding them in a pen.
Well I forgot to mention that a while back… my FIL went to the farm and it appeared that someone had stole the pigs that were in the holding kennel.
They apparently had cut through a fence to attempt to take the pigs… as it was very apparent that they cut through the fence to take the pigs.
So he called the police and reported the swine thefts, however, the weird thing happened and after the police report was made… the pigs all came back to where he was herding them!
So what this tells me… is that it was obviously hunter's that were trying to free the pigs so that they could capture and kill them later.
Come on Hunters… I know it's all fair in the wildlife… but these pigs came onto our property and we were/are raising them and feeding them for our consumption later.
Coming onto our property to free these pigs was not right… nor was it right damaging our pig pen.
So to whomever was going up on are farm and trying to take our pigs… just wanted to let you know they have all been moved off the farm except for "Gimpy" the one pig that were keeping around cause she/he just wasn't healthy enough to give away.
She/he get's to roam our farm… and doesn't seem to miss being penned up…
We now have a new pig pen… and we just let gimpy roam free.
Gimp comes and goes when he hears us coming to the farm… but I think Gimp is smart enough to hide late at night when the hunters come around.
Filed under: Agriculture, Community, Idiots, Legal, Puna Tagged: | Agriculture Theft, Pigs, Swine Theft


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Wanted, leader of troubled global institution. Must have brilliant communication skills, be theologically sound and armed with the courage to tackle a chaotic and possibly corrupt central administration. Jesus with an MBA, one wag suggested. It is how the challenges facing the Roman Catholic church are ranked that will decide who's chosen. Everywhere except Africa congregations are static or in decline. But it is mainly in Europe and the US that this existential threat is linked to the Vatican's blind squandering of its moral authority.
There have been too few priests since long before there were too many scandals. But a reluctance to address the terrible legacy of clerical abuse is matched by a reluctance to address the question of celibacy, the ordination of women and the role of the laity. Small surprise that no clear favourite has emerged from the days of preliminary conversation that end in the Sistine chapel on Tuesday as the 115 cardinals go into lockdown. It could take a long time for the white smoke to emerge.
The immediate priority is to make a reality of Pope Benedict XVI's commitment to a zero tolerance policy towards any abuse of children. But Vatican thinking is still struggling to shake off the theology of the individual relationship between priest and God that has allowed it to ignore so disastrously the terrible damage inflicted and the obligation to protect the injured first. Only last month, Scottish priests were so devastated at the lack of official reaction to their allegations of inappropriate behaviour against Cardinal Keith O'Brien that they felt obliged to go public. The past weeks of debate in Rome have been clouded by the reluctance of all cardinals alleged to have a record of covering up abuse to withdraw from the process of electing the new pope. With Italian newspapers hinting that Pope Benedict might have been forced from office by fear of scandal, cleaning out the Curia must go in tandem with the transparency that's needed to complete the clean-up of the clergy.
Unlike the church it represents, the largest group on the 115-strong college of cardinals is old and Italian. But few want another old pope like Pope Benedict, 77 when he was elected eight years ago, and another short papacy. Rather, they want the right man in to see reforms through. But there's no point in sorting out the back office if the chief executive can't sell the product. Enter the charismatic 55-year-old polyglot bishop of Manila, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle (128,000 likes on Facebook); those who fear at his age he might be pope for just too long prefer the 68-year-old archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn (not on Facebook). The choice the cardinals make may not change much for today's faithful. But it needs to change almost everything for the future.


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How Do You Turn Your Struggles Into Strengths?
On January 26 and 27, best-selling author and beloved Bible teacher Sheila Walsh hosted an exclusive livestream event. In four life-changing sessions, she taught women how the daily spiritual practices of confession, meditation on God's Word, and prayer result in fresh freedom in Christ.
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Who is Sheila Walsh?
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Her favorite way to spend a day is to support missions work through the Life Today ministry, working worldwide to feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, provide medical help to the sick, and rescue boys and girls from sex slavery. She most recently traveled to Africa, the Dominican Republic, and Southeast Asia.
Calling Texas home, Sheila lives in Dallas with her husband, Barry; her son, Christian; and three little dogs—Belle, Tink, and Maggie.Purchase A Replay License


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And here's Part 2 of my MACE review. If you missed it, start with Part 1…
Charity Auction (Saturday Evening)
The centerpiece of the convention festivities on Saturday is always the charity auction. This year, the available items looked a little scant to start with, but then a ton more stuff was donated by the dealers at the last minute. There was a huge line to register credit card numbers and set up an account, and then the auction went pretty late with all the stuff.
Personally, I ended up getting into a bit of a bidding war with Jeff Smith (the convention's organizer) over an intro-level Carrom board that Billy Stevens had donated. The board wasn't nearly as nice as the tournament-level ones we were playing with out in the hall, but it was a third of the price and I took it home right after the weekend. If I had held out for a more expensive one, there's probably a good chance that I would never have ended up getting it. As it is, I hope to really give Carrom a lot of play with several different groups, and maybe one day I can still upgrade if I find that I continue to love it as much as I think I do right now.
Unfortunately, I had to step out of the auction to set up for my next game well before it wrapped up. I even delayed my Dread game for 10 or 15 minutes just to make sure that we didn't start until after the auction finally wrapped up.
Saturday 8p-Midnight Session: Dread
Dread is a game that I've been intrigued about since I heard some actual play from the Game Master Show a year or two ago. While it's still way different than most traditional RPG's that I've played before, it still has a strong GM role and required a good bit of preparation before the convention. In addition to the actual story/plot and some notes about possible scenes, the core of preparation is in writing questionaires specific to each of the characters. In fact, filling out the questionaires is all that players do to make their character, since there are no stats or skills or anything else apart from what they write as their answers.
Once you get to actual gameplay, the most notable thing about Dread is that the only action-resolution mechanic used is to make pulls from a Jenga tower. If you make the pull, you are successful, but if you refuse, you fail. Why would you refuse? Well, if you happen to cause the tower to fall, you are removed from the game (through in-story death, going nuts, running away, or some other appropriate means). If the knocking over the tower was unintentional, then you also fail at the task, but one interesting mechanic is that you can intentionally knock down the tower to make some dramatic sacrifice and basically die while achieving something really important to the story.
So anyway, I actually had a full table of 5 players join me for my scenario that I titled "Unauthorized Human Trials". In addition to Nicholas Marshall (from my Penny game), I also hosted Rachel, Charles, Alok, and James. Only James had ever played before, but rules are obviously easy to explain. It took about 15 or 20 minutes for them to read and complete their questionaires, and I only had a few minor issues that I needed to clarify or correct with them afterwards.
The beginning of the story saw their 5 characters all being gathered together at a biotechnology firm named PrimaGen to participate in an unspecified research trial. Then things pretty much went to hell in a handbasket, but I'm not going to give away too much here about the specific details. I'm actually going to write a separate report about this game later on, but I will say that the whole shebang went off better than I could have imagined.
All the players certainly seemed to have a great time, and the story unfolded perfectly. Four of the five met untimely ends, but three of them did so as sacrifices, including the one at the very end to secure the survival of the last remaining participant. It was very dramatic, and to me at least, very satisfying. The Jenga tower worked brilliantly to being a real sense of anxiety and escalation to the action, and even the process of rebuilding it after it fell helped to pace the tension of the story.
I think that the "questionaire as character sheet" is brilliant as well. I know I had a really terrific group of players, but what impressed me most was how they all (as in, every single player at the table) so completely knew who they were and brought out important details from their character into play. The focus on history and personality over statistics in character creation had to have something to do with that, and I was blown away at the results.
Overall, I have to say that this session of Dread was certainly the best "one-shot" RPG session that I've ever had, and it's one of the top few role-playing experiences of my whole life. I can't say enough good things about it, and I will find more opportunities to play it in the future. In fact, I hope to replay this scenario again soon at home or my FLGS.
Rachel, James, and Nicholas stress over the tower!
Saturday Late Night
After the Dread session was over, Nicholas and I talked for a while about our gaming backgrounds, how we found independent/"story" RPG's and how freaking cool they are. I then dumped my stuff off in my room (including my Jenga tower and my new Carrom board) and came back down to see what else was going on. I ended up listening to and talking with a bunch of the story game dudes for a while, including Jason Morningstar, Remi Treuer, Tom Gurganus, Andy Kitkowski, Nicholas, and others. I think that I headed up to my room a little after 1am and tried to find out if UNC beat Duke earlier in the day at Homecoming (thankfully, they did… unlike poor NC State).
Sunday 9a-1p Session: Le Havre
Again, I was a little up in the air about what to do on Sunday morning. I considered playing in another Savage Worlds game, but Sunday is usually all about boardgames for me. So in the end, I signed up for a session of Le Havre. Three of us showed to play, including Troy and Allen (who owned the copy we played). I've only played a couple of times before (one of which was solo), so I was very rusty. In fact, I felt like I just couldn't put much of anything together until well into the second half of the game. But I thought that things were starting to come together as we went into the last round, and then it all fell apart when Troy took the shipping action just before my turn. I was going to ship first, then use the money to get some steel, and build the Luxury liner as my last action. Without the shipping action, I didn't have the cash to get the steel, and everything about my plan fell apart. Not that it would have made a huge difference in how I finished as far as winning or losing, but at least my score would have been a bit more respectable. Allen smashed us with 207 points, Troy still beat me soundly with 161, and I stunk up the place with just 128 points.
Sunday Afternoon
I then hooked up with Jim Clark (an occasional Hypermind BoardGamer) and Mike Wyant (a regular MACE friend) to play more pickup boardgames for the rest of the day.
Neither of them had ever played Race for the Galaxy before, so I and another dude (named Shea) gave them the lowdown on it and played a game. I needed one more turn for another big consume phase, but Shea edged me out first with a military-heavy strategy.
Mike, JIm, and I then gave Castle Panic its first "real" try for all of us. Things got ugly from the very start, however, and I don't think we ever really had a shot. Mike had a commanding lead in points, but it was all for naught when the Orc Warlord destroyed out last tower and ate our livers with a nice chianti.
We then pulled out Small World, which we were all familiar with, and gave it a play. It was pretty obvious that I had the most experience with the game, and I was able to keep them focused on each other long enough to get a significant lead. I racked up the required 10 point or so a turn to score 102 and win by 19 over Jim. There's just so many good things about Small World, and I really hope that the new mini-expansions will help it get to the table a few more times in the near future.
And finally, I was able to introduce them, again for the first time, to Pandemic. We played a standard (5-epidemic) game, but I did include the expansion roles and the expansion rules for handling special event cards (2 per player). I was the Troubleshooter, Jim was the Dispatcher, and Mike was the Epidemiologist. And the cool thing is that we actually won!
It was a great way to end the convention, so I took the hint and started to wrap things up.
Final Thoughts
Let me start this wrap-up with a few observations:
- It was very strange to me that there were almost no non-RPGA games of D&D 4e. Just a few years ago, Tony and I commented that if you absolutely wanted an RPG to make (especially on Sunday), you'd better be running D&D. But it had almost no presence in the general gaming rooms for the whole weekend. Instead, there were a lot of indie RPG's/story games, a smattering of several other systems (including Pathfinder/D&D 3.X), and one clear new "big dog" on the block, Savage Worlds. Of course, Clint Black has been a huge MACE presence forever, but having Ron Blessing come this year and organizing the whole "Savage Saturday Night" event really gave it an extra-heavy push this time around. While my personal experience with it wasn't the most exciting thing I did, I have to admit that all the buzz alone was enough to prompt me to read both the Explorer's Edition rulebook and my Necessary Evil setting book over the last two weeks. And it will definitely be on my radar for future MACE's.
- There was absolutely no gamer funk polluting the air this year. Mainly, it's because the A/C had it colder than a witch's tit in the gaming rooms all weekend. Personally, I was quite comfortable, but many others were not.
- I really need to get hooked up more with the Independent Story Game group. I feel like such a grown-up gamer when I hang out with them.
- Jeff and Ron probably need to allow more time for the auction or find some way for people to register for an account beforehand. For the last two or three years, it has definitely run over and interfered with the next gaming session.
- Having the Carrom boards out in the hallway was a really cool thing. I hope that Billy is back in the future, but it might also be a great idea to have some other dexterity/quick pick-up games out there in the future as well. It was nice to be able to sit down and play a board with people when you had a spare 10 or 15 minutes, and I think that it added a lot to the convention experience.
But as I said in Part 1, this year's MACE was probably the best one I've ever been to. And that's really saying something, because I generally consider it to be the highlight of my gaming year already. Clearly, I played some really great games, a few of which I've been wanting to try out for a very long time. But the thing that was the biggest difference to me this time was how I really connected with people and made some new friends. Specifically, I felt really blessed to meet or reconnect with Nicholas Marshall, Tom Gurganus, Ron Blessing, the whole ISG gang, Jeff Smith, Ron McClung, Mike Wyant, Jim Clark, and all of the other great people that I played games with.
I can't wait until next year, and I'll definitely be trying to find time to attend any and all mini-mace's in the meantime!


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Landscape Gardeners in Brittany : includes Landscape Gardeners in Cote d'Armor (22), Landscape Gardeners in Finistere (29), Landscape Gardeners in Ille et Vilaine (35), Landscape Gardeners in Morbihan (56)
- jardinmiranda-garden-design-and-gardening click on link
Click here for a list of Landscape Gardeners in Brittany
Why not visit our Art Wiki? You can read or write about art and artists. And even add a page about yourself…
".. Renoir, Picasso, Cubism, Renaissance art, Georges Seurat, Michael Asher, da Vinci, lautrec, leger, Joan Miro, Impressionism, Edvard Munch, Hans Holbein, Matisse, realism, rococo, baroque, Hieronymous Bosch art, Mark Rothko, orkin, poynter, pollock, Geoff Bunn art, Turner, Sol LeWitt, hirst, emin, Max Ernst, still-life, Richard Serra, landscapes, Primitivism, John Sargent, Madge Gill, pre-raphaelites, Conceptualism, Claude Monet, art brut, art povera, Mel Bochner, bridget riley, LS Lowry, Expressionism, modigliani, Marcel Duchamp, Victor Burgin, dada, surrealism and much more besides…"


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Is there anyone who doesn't like Bollywood at least a little bit? We don't think so :p Everyone likes it and some of us even loves it! That's the reason why two new amazing restaurants popped up in the city:
Lights Camera Action
One of them is located in Rajouri Garden and the other one in the heart of the Hauz Khas Village.
(Not only for the Bollywood fanatics! :P)
As soon as you walk up the stairs and enter the restaurant you are welcomed by the happy and bright interior design. The special Bollywood atmosphere is made by a great variation of cheerful colors. Accompanied by funny posters hanging up on every wall, presenting jokes which refer to different Bollywood movies and actors complete the stunnig Bollywood concept. 2 separate floors and a small terrace are giving you enough space to dine, chill and party in a unique Bollywood wonderland 🙂
While taking a small tour through the restaurant one of the waiters brought us some mocktails and a beer and explained the meaning of the posters (as most of them are in Hindi). Thanks again for that buddy 🙂
If the interior design hasn't brought you enough Bollywood vibes, the menu card surely will. All dishes are connected to various movies' titles and famous quotes. So choosing a dish in this place will be also fun 🙂
The menu includes different types of dishes but all of them are prepared in an own Indian style. You might be bored of momos as you can get it at every street corner and in many other restaurants but trust us, you cannot miss it once you visit Lights Camera Action. The Momos here are spot on!
Another unique thing about this place is the pizza because its' thin crust is based on a traditional Indian naan dough. Definitely a must try!
Laila O Laila Salad (thai style raw papaya salad in sweet and spicy dressing)
Sunny Leone Papri chaat (whole meal papri with vanilla yoghurt and tamarind jelly)
Silk Smitha Rolls (transparent rice paper rolls stuffed with chicken and oriental vegetables)
Sadak Chaap Momos (Chicken and Pork)
Hera Pheri Naanzaa (sauteed onions, red kidney beans, sultans, pineapple and spicy sause)
Loin Burger (juicy beef tenderloin patty, caramelized onion, tomato, cheese)
After eating all these delicious dishes we were completely full and actually about to leave but the waiter told us that we shouldn't leave without trying any of the desserts. How can anybody refuse this kind of offer? :p
Katchche Raaste (rocky road) & Khudkushi (mars bombs)
Thank you very much Lights Camera Action Team for hosting us! Looking forward for the next Bollywood experience! 🙂
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Public Web Sites with Free Referrals - No Registration Required
www.optometrists.org - www.children-special-needs.org - www.visiontherapy.org
Definition of Optometric Vision Therapy
Optometric Vision Therapy is an individualized treatment regimen prescribed for a patient in order to:
Provide medically necessary treatment for diagnosed visual dysfunctions;
Prevent the development of visual problems; or
Enhance visual performance to meet defined needs of the patient.
Optometric Vision Therapy is appropriate treatment for visual conditions which include, but are not limited to:
Strabismic and non-strabismic binocular dysfunctions;
Accommodative dysfunctions;
Ocular motor dysfunctions;
Visual motor disorders; and
Visual perceptual (visual information processing) disorders.
The systematic use of lenses, prisms, filters, occlusion and other appropriate materials, modalities, equipment and procedures is integral to optometric Vision Therapy. The goals of the prescribed treatment regimen are to alleviate the signs and symptoms, achieve desired visual outcomes, meet the patient's needs and improve the patient's quality of life.
Approved by the American Optometric Association
Board of Trustees
November 1996
What is Vision Therapy
Position Statement on Optometric Vision Therapy
By American Optometric Association
The American Optometric Association affirms its long-standing position that optometric Vision Therapy is effective in the treatment of physiological neuromuscular and perceptual dysfunctions of the vision system.
The ability to learn in school, achieve on the job, and enjoy sports and recreation depends upon efficient vision. Optometric Vision Therapy assists individuals in developing visual abilities and efficiency most suited to their needs and enables those individuals to achieve maximal levels of visual performance. Optometric Vision Therapy can help individuals achieve and maintain good vision throughout life.
What is Vision?
Vision is more than the limited concept of sight measured in terms of visual acuity. Vision is the process of deriving meaning from what is seen. It involves fixation and eye movement abilities, accommodation (eye focusing), convergence (eye aiming), eye-hand coordination, visual perception and visual-motor integration.
What is Vision Therapy (Visual Training, Vision Training or Orthoptics)?
Optometric Vision Therapy, also referred to as visual training, vision training, or orthoptics, is a treatment regimen to correct or improve specific dysfunctions of the vision system identified by standardized diagnostic criteria. It includes, but is not limited to, the treatment of strabismus and other binocular vision or convergence dysfunctions, amblyopia, accommodation, ocular motor function and visual-perceptual-motor abilities.
The medical necessity for optometric Vision Therapy is determined from a comprehensive analysis and diagnosis of the functioning of the vision system. Treatment plans are directed at specific diagnosed dysfunctions of the vision system and encompass the use of lenses, prisms, occlusion and other appropriate materials, modalities and equipment. Because the therapy is individualized, the procedures used and the duration of therapy are dependent upon the nature and severity of the problem being treated and the specific needs of the patient.
Who Can Benefit?
Optometric Vision Therapy is effective for patients of any age although the objectives and outcomes will vary depending on the diagnosis and circumstances. Optometric Vision Therapy is effective for the treatment of many developmental or acquired and some congenital vision dysfunctions.
Of the entire U.S. population, approximately one half of those three years or age or over require treatment for a vision problem.1 Among school-age children, vision disorders affect one in every four.2 While many of these patients have refractive errors (myopia, hyperopia and/or astigmatism) commonly treated by compensatory lenses, some have additional problems in the functioning of the vision system that are most appropriately treated with optometric Vision Therapy.
Vision and Learning
Many children who experience academic difficulty may have a treatable visual dysfunction in addition to their primary reading or learning dysfunction.
Vision problems can interfere with the ability to perform in the classroom or can impair the ability to read with comfort and efficiency. These treatable conditions include focusing deficiencies, eye muscle imbalances, motor fusion deficiencies and refractive errors.
Although optometrists do not teach reading, optometric Vision Therapy programs are used to treat contributory vision problems thus enabling the individual to take better advantage of his/her educational opportunities.
Management of the learning disabled and/or dyslexic child or adult should be multidisciplinary. Since it is important to deal with any defect or problem that may be causal or contributory, evaluation of a learning disabled individual should include a thorough optometric analysis of the vision system. Interdisciplinary communication and involvement are essential in helping an individual overcome a learning problem.
Optometric Education
Doctors of optometry (optometrists) are uniquely qualified to diagnose and treat vision problems as a result of their seven or more years of college level education and clinical training. Their undergraduate education provides a foundation in the basic sciences, while the four year graduate professional optometric degree program emphasizes the biological, behavioral and visual sciences, and their clinical application. New developments and research within the optometric profession, residency programs and postgraduate education enhance today's optometrist's ability to provide quality vision care for their patients.
Extensive research related to strabismus and amblyopia, accommodative and non-strabismic binocular dysfunction, vision development and learning-related vision problems is conducted at the schools and colleges of optometry and other clinical and research settings. These scientific studies support the effectiveness and value of optometric Vision Therapy in the treatment of vision dysfunctions.
Vision is a complex process.
An individual with good visual acuity and healthy eyes can still have a vision problem.
Optometric Vision Therapy is an effective treatment of many vision problems.
Evaluation of individuals with learning difficulties (i.e., attention deficit disorder, ad/hd, dyslexia, etc.) should include a thorough optometric analysis as part of a multidisciplinary approach.
The American Association continues to support quality optometric care, education and research in the area of Vision Therapy.
Resources available from the American Optometric Association.
Greenstein T. Identification of children with vision problems that interfere with learning. In T. Greenstein, Vision and learning disability. American Optometric Association, St. Louis, 1976, p. 95-114.
American Academy of Pediatrics, American Association for Pediatric Opthalmology and Strabismus, American Academy of Opthalmology. Position statement on learning disabilities, dyslexia and vision. Pediatrics, 90(1):124-125, 1992.
Solan HA. Learning disabilities, Chapter 21. In AA Rosenbloom and MW Morgan, Principles and Practice of Pediatric Optometry. JB Lippincott, Philadelphia, 1990; p. 486.
Ciuffreda KJ, Kenyon RV, Stark L. Different rates of functional recovery of eye movements during orthopedic treatment in adult amblyope. Invest Opthal & Vis Sci 18(2):213-219, 1979.
Cooper J. Orthoptic treatment of vertical deviations. J Am Optom Assoc 59(6):463-468, 1988.
Cooper J, Selenow A, Ciuffreda KJ, Feldman J, Faverty J, Hokoda S, Silver J. Reduction of aesthenopia in patients with convergence insufficiency after-fusional vergence training. Am J Optom & Physiol Opt 60(12):982-989, 1983.
Daum K. Accommodative insufficiency. Am J Optom & Physiol Opt 60(5):352-359, 1983.
Daum K. The course and effect of visual training on the vergence system. Am J Optom & Physiol Opt 59(3):223-227, 1982.
Flax N, Duckman R. Orthoptic treatment of strabismus. J Am Optom Assoc 49(12):1353-1360, 1978.
Garzia RP. The efficacy of visual training in amblyopia: A literature review. Am J Optom & Physiol Opt 64:393-404, 1987.
Kran B, Duckman R. Divergence excess exotropia. J Am Optom Assoc 58(11):921-930, 1987.
Liu JS, Lee M, Jang J, Ciuffreda KJ, Wong JH, Grisham D, Stark L. Objective assessment of accommodation orthoptics: 1. Dynamic, insufficiency. Am J Optom & Physiol Opt 56(5):285-291, 1979.
Rouse M. Management of binocular anomalies: efficacy of Vision Therapy in the treatment of accommodative deficiencies. . Am J Optom & Physiol Opt 64(6):415-420, 1987.
Selenow A, Ciuffreda K. Vision function recovery during orthoptic therapy in an exotropic amblyope with high unilateral myopia. . Am J Optom & Physiol Opt 60(8):659-666, 1983.
Simons H, Grisham J. Binocular anomalies and reading problems. J Am Optom Assoc 58(7):578-587, 1987.
Suchoff I, Petito GT. The efficacy of visual therapy: Accommodative disorders and non-strabismic anomalies of binocular vision. J Am Optom Assoc 57(2):119-125, 1986.
Weisz CL. Clinical therapy for accommodative responses: transfer effects on performance. J Am Optom Assoc 50(2):209-214, 1979.
Wick B. Accommodative esotropia: efficacy of therapy. J Am Optom Assoc 58(7):562-566, 1987.
Wick B, Wingard M, Cotler S, Schieman M. Anisometropic amblyopia: Is the patient ever too old to treat? Optom and Vis Science 69(11):866-878, 1992.
Wick B, Cook D. Management of anomalous correspondence: efficacy of therapy. Am J Optom & Physiol Opt 64(6):405-410, 1987.
To locate an eye doctor who provides comprehensive pediatric vision examinations and treatment, including
Vision Therapy
, request a referral through our
Referral Directory: Find a Pediatric Eye Doctor
All other images and text: copyright © 1996-


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Richard Bagnall
Richard Bagnall
Richard Bagnall has been in the public relations industry for more than 20, and is an expert in measurement and media analysis.
He is actively involved with the International Association for the Measurement and Evaluation of Communication (AMEC), chairing a group the world's foremost minds on the development of global standards for social media measurement.
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Jupiter Oxygen NEWS
04/19/06 :: Berkeley, California
Jupiter presents its 'Oxy-Fuel Combustion Technology' at the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate (AP6) meeting
Jupiter's Oxy-Fuel Combustion Technology: The Pathway for Immediate Clean Development Action In The Asia-Pacific Aluminum Recycling Industry…
Transfer of existing technologies to developing countries could considerably save energy and reduce emissions from their business-as-usual trends in the short term. The Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate, in particular, will focus on voluntary practical measures and best-practice technologies. The AP6 will create new investment opportunities, build local capacity, and remove barriers to the introduction of clean, more efficient technologies.
Jupiter Aluminum Corp. together with Jupiter Oxygen Corp. are presenting an advanced combustion technology for re-melting aluminum with significant results in energy savings and emission reduction. Jupiter's oxy-fuel combustion technology is a patented process for combustion of fossil fuels with oxygen while excluding air.
Data for the U.S. shows a projected "energy efficiency savings opportunity" of 58% of energy used considering year 2004 average energy use per pound re-melted [SECAT, 2004]. In fact, Jupiter's oxy-fuel combustion technology today is achieving this projection for continuous runs! When future increasing aluminum recycling energy needs in the Asia-Pacific Partnership are viewed the retrofit of aluminum recycling facilities with this oxy-fuel technology offers a tremendous potential of energy savings and emission reductions at favorable costs. The presentation shows the technical, economic and environmental aspects of oxy-fuel technology implementation and the chances for developing local markets in the Asia-Pacific-Partnership.


text: > > do you have the hostname in your /etc/hosts file ? I'm not familiar > with Zimbra, but this is sufficient for many other programs which need > to find the hostname from an IP. /etc/hosts ile has only local host ip and bogus ip . pls see below. [root at mailgw etc]# cat /etc/hosts # Do not remove the following line, or various programs # that require network functionality will fail. 127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost 192.168.100.3 mailgw.la-marge.com la-marge.com should I write the internet ip to that file? _______________________________________________ > CentOS mailing list > CentOS at centos.org > http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos > -- Thank you Indunil Jayasooriya -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos/attachments/20071005/b8ed1133/attachment.html>


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Just Telecommute
How would the BART strike affect you? If you haven't heard, people who work in the San Francisco Bay Area will possibly be dealing with nightmarish commutes come Monday morning. One of the largest pieces of our public transit system, BART, is set to go on strike, shutting down much of the rail access to San Francisco and surrounding areas.Are one of the tens of thousands of people who take BART to work every day? Or are you a business owner or manager in the Bay Area? Are you someone who works outside the Bay Area and counts on colleagues, suppliers, etc. in the area to be at there desks? If so, you are probably figuring out your alternate plans. Here's my suggestion: Don't make alternate plans. Don't sit in your car for 2-3 hours. Just telecommute. At least until the strike settles. Maybe you'll like it enough to continue! You might be thinking that setting yourself up to telecommute is hard, but Cisco's WebEx technology can help make it really easy. The single biggest barrier most people face to telecommuting is the ability to meet with and collaborate with peers, managers, employees, suppliers, and customers. You have an internet connection, so try meeting online. Millions of people do every day. Personally, I telecommute for most of every week and hold nearly all my meetings online. You can bring together anyone you need to work with, wherever they are, immediately, and keep working on those critical projects, proposals and plans as though nothing ever happened. (Bonus: you gain back your commuting time, and will be home in time for dinner.) Share your documents, share your thoughts, and share your ideas. Get your team together to co-edit that important presentation. Even take a few minutes around lunch time and get an informal meeting of your more friendly colleagues around a virtual water cooler. How? Cisco's WebEx technology is offering you a Free Ride. You can use WebEx meetings free for up to 14 days. But don't forget your fuzzy slippers!by Jeff Weinberger, green guru, Cisco.
In an effort to keep conversations fresh, Cisco Blogs closes comments after 60 days. Please visit the Cisco Blogs hub page for the latest content.
3 Comments
When the life without bart for a few hours or more, the example from this post is very useful to make business go on.
biotech worker
I asked my boss last week if I could telecommute 2 days a week from home. He said no because if he offers it to me he has to offer it to everyone. Meanwhile, the CFO and the VP and 2 of their consultants fly back home to the east coast twice a month to work from there (we do not have an office on the east coast).Does anyone have any ideas on good solid arguments for convincing him to let me telecommute twice a week?
Great example of a time when it is helpful to have practiced telecommuting so a BART strike or other event does not get in the way of doing business


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Burma or Myanmar: That's not the question
Blog @ MoreWhat.com
In late August of this year the Myanmar (Burma) military government released a list of names of activists they wanted to apprehend. About the same time the US and UN voiced objections to the treatment of detained activists and the Myanmar government's treatment of protesters in general. The UN had asked for the activists to be released based on reports of torture and a hunger strike. During the same week the government closed the gathering that was intended to produce the country's constitution to be voted on by the public. The 40 year rule by the military government appears to be flexing their muscle by quieting public dissent and abandoning any attempts at reforms even if they are only symbolic in nature. The country has toyed with the idea of a constitution for 14 years.
The US State Department expressed the requisite displeasure with Myanmar's constitutional efforts characterizing them as a sham. The same day a rights group was demanding aid for a jailed activist whose was described as suffering a broken leg during arrest. The following day President Bush criticized Myanmar for their treatment of 'peaceful' protesters calling it 'inexcusable.' At this point in this narrative you may have the impression the protesters or activists plight was serious and international efforts to resolve the problems were not. You would be correct. And it continues.
During the first week of September 2007 monks in Myanmar continued their protest. This was met with a continued crackdown by the Myanmar government which was naturally followed by more verbal protests from various sources around the globe. Near the end of the week the Myanmar government released a wounded protester, sentenced six others to prison terms up to 28 years while the protests continued. The impressive response from the international community was for the US and Indonesia to urge China and India to pressure Myanmar to straighten things out.
The following week, mid-September, the United Nations issues a declaration on Indigenous Rights while the UN Human Rights chief, imagine this, expresses concern over human rights violations in the Congo, Iran and Burma. This former UN war crimes prosecutor is characterized as 'expressing dismay' of the Myanmar reactions to protesters as well as problems in other countries. The 47 member panel is going to review records of violations. Do any practical, timely and effective solutions ever come out of the United Nations? On their own, UN member countries display a disturbing habit of inaction, including the US. Perhaps an obligation of membership in the UN should require all countries to act in concert to halt outrageous events like those in Myanmar. Even with understandable obstacles to such action, if all member countries acted as one, a single member country would likely concede to adequate international pressure and at least cease further escalation until satisfactory solutions could be arranged. It is certainly worth a try and would be an improvement over lame expressions of disappointment.
Of course after the lame expressions of disappointment were delivered by the UN in mid-September, the Myanmar government was reported to urge the protesters to cease their activities against the 'junta' while the protesters asked for international intervention for their plight. By this time six weeks had expired since the Myanmar government had released the names of activists they wanted to collect.
By the third week of September the monks in Myanmar had stepped up protests and encouraged the public to join them in opposing the military. One report indicated 10,000 monks were involved in the marches in Rangoon. The government warned of retaliation and initiated curfews as the US increased sanctions against Myanmar.
By now most people are aware of the violence that followed in Myanmar in the past week. The exiled citizens providing reports and assistance with the flow of information in and out of Myanmar may have been temporarily inconvenienced by the government shutdown of internet access. Wireless communications may have allowed information to continue unimpeded. The most dramatic tragedy of the week was the slain reporter which was caught on video and freely displayed. In light of the escalation of violence more needed attention is drawn to the conflict. Not necessarily by coincidence, a UN representative has traveled to Myanmar to speak with both sides. How encouraging.
Whether you acknowledge the name Burma or Myanmar, that's not the question. How the international community handles their mission though the United Nations is. The source for this post was numerous reports from Voice of America who toether with the BBC was criticized by the Burma/Myanmar 'junta' government as propagandists. Reason enough to use them as a source.


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McGinley a captain in waiting
King-maker Paul McGinley is emerging as a serious candidate for the 2014 Ryder Cup captaincy.
The Dubliner, 42, is believed to have played a vital role in convincing Colin Montgomerie to take the skipper's armband at Celtic Manor next year.
And with Jose Maria Olazabal apparently set to take over at Medinah near Chicago in 2012, McGinley is being looked upon as a serious candidate for the captain's job at Gleneagles in five years' time.
McGinley said: "Of course, I would love to be involved as a Ryder Cup captain. It is a tremendous honour and we have never had an Irish captain. But it is not my time yet.
"My time is down the road and I will certainly be stepping aside in the next number of years. I will be playing my golf and letting Ollie and Monty be the next two captains."
McGinley didn't say that yesterday or even last week but during the 2007 BMW Championship at Wentworth, when he was announced as one of Nick Faldo's vice-captains for the 2008 matches at Valhalla.
In fact, McGinley predicted that Montgomerie would take over the reins as Ryder Cup captain as early as September 2004, just a week after Europe hammered the United States by nine points in Detroit.
At the time he said: "Monty, Faldo and Woosie are going to the next three captains. What order will they come in, I don't know.
"I'd love to be captain some day. I think everyone who has played in the Ryder Cup would love to be captain. It's a wonderful honour.
"Who knows, down the road? But I'm a long way from that yet...you never know, some day."
Of course, Woosnam led the team to victory at the K Club in 2006 with Faldo coming out on the wrong end of a 16.5 - 11.5 scoreline in Kentucky just five months ago.
And McGinley's decision to jump ship as vice-captain "to concentrate on making the side" now looks like one of the most inspired decisions of his career so far.
Though he claims he is not a political animal, the Dubliner has been an outspoken and highly active member of the Tournament Players' Committee since 2004.
His misgivings about Faldo's captaincy came home to roost last September, when the Englishman changed a winning formula and lost heavily.
McGinley says that respect is the most important thing a captain can have and Faldo walked all over almost a decade of Ryder Cup success between 1997 and 2006, when European won four out of five matches, by reinventing the wheel.
The match winning hero at the Belfry in 2002, McGinley has his own ideas about what went wrong in America and would be respected by his peers if he were to get the job in 2014.
He said: "That 10-year window in history was our most successful period ever and the template for that success was pushed aside. By Nick doing it his own way, a lot of players probably didn't realise what was going on. There's an art to doing the solid, consistent, obvious things."
Respect from your peers is vital in a Ryder Cup captain and there now appears to be a push for a skipper on the right side of 50.
Sam Torrance was 49 in 2002, Bernhard Langer just 47 in 2004 and Ian Woosnam was 48 in 2006.
Montgomerie will be 47 in September 2010, still a familiar face to young players pushing for a place on the side, such as Rory McIlroy and Oliver Fisher.
Olazabal will be just 46 when the matches are played in Chicago in 2012 while McGinley would be in his prime at 47 in 2014.
Padraig Harrington hinted at the end of last year that McGinley's time as Ryder Cup captain has yet to come but added that his fellow Dubliner still has unfinished business as a player.
Harrington said: "As a player he is too young and he should be concentrating on making the team. Paul has had a very successful year that has been overshadowed by a really tremendous year for Irish golf and he will continue to build on that.
"I can't see him being captain in Wales. There might be an opportunity there but he is going to be concentrating on making the team."
With just four European Tour wins so far, his last at the 2005 Volvo Masters, McGinley will be keen to pick up a few more trophies before 2014 - starting in this week's Qatar Masters.