text:
A new study finds that watching and discussing movies about relationships is as effective in lowering divorce rates as other, more intensive early marriage counseling programs.
Discussing five movies about relationships over a month could cut the three-year divorce rate for newlyweds in half, researchers report. The study, involving 174 couples, is the first long-term investigation to compare different types of early marriage intervention programs.
The findings show that an inexpensive, fun, and relatively simple movie-and-talk approach can be just as effective as other more intensive therapist-led methods—reducing the divorce or separation rate from 24 to 11 percent after three years.
"We thought the movie treatment would help, but not nearly as much as the other programs in which we were teaching all of these state-of-the-art skills," says Ronald Rogge, associate professor of psychology at the University of Rochester and lead author of the study.
"The results suggest that husbands and wives have a pretty good sense of what they might be doing right and wrong in their relationships. Thus, you might not need to teach them a whole lot of skills to cut the divorce rate. You might just need to get them to think about how they are currently behaving. And for five movies to give us a benefit over three years—that is awesome."
Perhaps most exciting, adds Rogge, is that this self-help exercise could open new possibilities for nurturing nuptial ties on a broad scale. "It's incredibly portable. There are really great marriage intervention programs available now but most require trained therapists to administer them. If couples can do this on their own, it makes it so much easier to help them," he says.
Rogge and a team of researchers including co-author Thomas Bradbury, a professor of psychology and co-director of the Relationship Institute at University of California, Los Angeles, report the findings in the December issue of the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.
Religious groups have long-standing traditions of offering marriage preparation classes, but with roughly half of all marriages in the United State ending in divorce, secular institutions are now joining the effort. For example, Fairfax County, Virginia. offers free "compassion training" to newlyweds, the US military has an "oxygen for your relationships" program, and Oklahoma, home to the nation's highest divorce rate, has poured millions into its "marriage initiative."
An underpinning of many of these programs, backed by earlier research, is that couples will weather the friction of living together better if they can master certain relationship skills. "When we started this study, the prevailing wisdom was that the best way to keep relationships healthy and strong was to help couples manage difficult, potentially divisive conversations," explains Bradbury.
Three options for new marriages
To test this theory, the team randomly assigned newlyweds to one of three groups: conflict management, compassion and acceptance training, and relationship awareness through film. They chose to concentrate on the first three years of marriage, because "relationship dissolution is front-ended," says Bradbury—one in four ends in divorce.
The conflict management group learned a technique for discussing heated issues that slows down the pace of the exchange and helps individuals focus on what their partner is saying instead of rushing to respond.
Sometimes called active listening or the speaker-listener technique, the practice requires one spouse to listen and then paraphrase back to the partner what they have heard to ensure the message has been properly understood. Earlier studies on this technique have shown it to be effective at promoting happier and more satisfying relationships over three to five years.
The compassion and acceptance training cohort participated in an intervention designed by Rogge and his collaborators aimed at helping couples work together as a team and find common ground around their similarities. A series of lectures and exercises encouraged couples to approach their relationships with more compassion and empathy by doing things like listening as a friend, practicing random acts of kindness and affection, and using the language of acceptance.
Both programs involved weekly lectures, supervised practice sessions, and homework assignments over the course of a month, for a total investment of roughly 20 hours, all but two of which were with a therapist.
Are we like that?
By contrast, the movie-and-talk group devoted half as much time to their assignments and all but four hours took place in their own homes. Participants first attended a 10-minute lecture on the importance of relationship awareness and how watching couples in movies could help spouses pay attention to their own behavior, both constructive and destructive.
They then watched Two for the Road, a 1967 romantic comedy about the joys and strains of young love, infidelity, and professional pressures across 12 years of a marriage. Afterward, each couple met separately to discuss a list of 12 questions about the screen couple's interactions.
One question, for example, asked how the movie partners handled arguments: "Were they able to open up and tell each other how they really felt, or did they tend to just snap at each other with anger? Did they try using humor to keep things from getting nasty?" The couple was asked to consider in what way the movie relationship was "similar to or different from your own relationship in this area?"
Study participants were sent home with a list of 47 movies with intimate relationships as a major plot focus and asked to watch one a week for the next month, followed by the same guided discussion for about 45 minutes.
Movies measure up
Which approach proved most effective? To the surprise of the researchers, all worked equally well. All three methods halved the divorce-and-separation rate to 11 percent compared to the 24 percent rate among the couples in the control group. Partners in the control group received no training or instructions but were otherwise similar in age, education, ethnicity, relationship satisfaction, and other dimensions.
Discussing relationship movies, it turns outs, was just as effective as more intensive skills-building programs. The results suggest that many couples already possess relationship skills, they just need reminders to put these into practice, the authors conclude. "And that's an amazingly fertile idea. It's more sensible and it's cheaper," says Bradbury.
Since people watch movies all the time, what exactly makes this intervention so magic? "I think it's the couples reinvesting in their relationship and taking a cold hard look at their own behavior that makes the difference," explains Rogge.
"The sad truth is that when life knocks you down, you come home and the people you are most likely to lash out at in frustration are the ones you love the most. For these couples to stop and look and say, 'You know, I have yelled at you like that before. I have called you names before and that's not nice. That's not what I want to do to the person I love the most.' Just that insight alone, is likely what makes this intervention work."
Less stigma
For couples who are uncomfortable with relationship workshops and group interventions, the movie-and-talk approach can be an alternative. "You might not be able to get your husband into a couples group, especially when you are happy," says Rogge. "But watching a movie together and having a discussion, that's not so scary. It's less pathologizing, less stigmatizing."
Since some of the newlyweds in the study had been together for as many as seven years, Rogge speculates that the movie method would be helpful for long-term marriages as well.
"Taking time to sit down and take an objective look at your relationship with your partner is going to be helpful for any couple at any stage. They can make it a yearly thing they do around their anniversary—watch a movie together and talk about it. That would be a fantastic thing to do and a great present to give themselves each year."
For couples interested in trying the film discussions for themselves, Rogge's lab website offers interactive tools to help with the process, including lists of movies and the discussion questions used. Couples can also sign up to participate in a follow-up online study of the movie-and-talk intervention at the site.
Researchers from Simon Frasier University, the University of Iowa, and Binghamton University also contributed to this study. A grant from the John Templeton Foundation awarded to Bradbury supported the work.
Source: University of Rochester


text: On Super Bowl weekend, HBGary CTO Greg Hoglund found himself locked out of his own email account. The fallout of the leaked messages from his account and that of HBGary Federal's CEO Aaron Barr has been widely reported. Yet, not from the point of view of the victims. In Part 1 of this interview with CSO correspondent Robert Lemos, Hoglund talked about how the hack happened and the lessons for chief security officers. In Part 2, he describes his research on Anonymous and why the group is making the insider threat problem more dire.You said initially that Anonymous was not even on your radar. Why is that?Hoglund: We at HBGary were focused almost entirely on some APTs (advanced persistent threats), mostly focused on China. And that has been the bulk of our research for quite a while because most of our customers have suffered attacks from, what appears to be, state sponsored Chinese intelligence. It's espionage stuff, so we were heads down on that.We were blindsided by the Anonymous attack. I did not expect to be attacked by what I thought was a bunch of kids who DDOS websites offline. Granted, DDOS is illegal. I believe that here in the United States its a 10-year prison sentence, so its no small crime, either. Most people don't think of it as a crime, they think of it as a virtual sit in. So people don't take it seriously, me included. So after the attack, you started focusing on Anonymous and researching their organization?I took all our resources and just turned them directly onto Anonymous, and we found all this information about the group. And what I learned is that they are not at all what people think they are. There aren't very many, first of all. There are not thousands, they are not a legion. That is all just stuff they say to make people fearful or intimidate. They have a whole propaganda wing. So lets get this straight: A lot of the people in Anonymous are pseudo-journalists, they write the news. They completely use the media as a tool.So what did your research find? What is Anonymous doing?There are a dozen people at the center of Anonymous. Most of those people are criminal hackers. And they are not just attacking HBGary, they are attacking numerous defense contractors who are in the defense industrial base and system integrators for the government. They are attacking numerous companies in the pharmaceutical space and the chemical space. They are attacking U.S. corporations.They are singling out individuals within the defense establishment. We are talking about stuff where they are targeting people who are part of the Department of Defense or the intelligence community. Literally, they are putting all their personal information into planning documents -- they are targeting these people. They are going after people's family and children. They actually have all the family members listed. And they call them up on the phone. They harass them. There have been cases where death threats have been left. It's just ridiculous, and it's completely unacceptable. I had no idea about any of this before I was attacked.For companies, you see the danger of Anonymous not in hactivism but in corporate espionage? As an insider threat?The biggest threat to your intellectual property is your front door. Anonymous is one platform for leaking information. Anonymous is one group. There is Anonleaks. There is Wikileaks. There is CrowdLeaks.There is a trend to recruit insider threats. And that is something that CISOs need to be aware of. There is a platform by which someone can be an insider threat, and supply information supposedly in an anonymous fashion. Even though insider threats are always there as a potential problem, they are actually exacerbating the problem. There may be more insider threats now because of this.While Wikileaks isn't journalism, it does do a function of journalism well -- keeping sources anonymous. Is that not valuable?There is a difference between someone willing giving information to Wikileaks, and a cyber thuggery group criminally hacking into computers and stealing that data. That's two totally separate things.Let's be clear here, Anonymous is not protecting Wikileaks. Anonymous is a group that hacks criminally into systems, and we are talking about probably over five corporations that I know of right now in the United States that are being actively targeted by them. When they get access, they are going to steal the data off those system, e-mail, files off the file system, they are going to do everything they can, and then they are going to leak it and manipulate it and create stories about it. Basically, that is their platform.That is something every single CISO should be scared of. They should definitely be aware of it and mitigating it.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
In the Islamic world, great importance was placed upon the study of natural sciences and technology. This article brings out some of the important works of Turkish Muslim scholars in the fields of automatic machines, clocks and rocket technology.
|Figure 1. An automatic clock design from al-Jazarî's book, al-Jamiu bayn al-ilm wa'l-amal al-Nafi fî sinaat al-hiyal (Ahmet III Library, Topkapi Palace Nr 3472).
This short article is taken from the full article (by Professor Arslan Terzioglu) which is available here as a 15 page PDF file.
In the Islamic world, great importance was placed upon the study of natural sciences and technology. It is known that as early as during the reign of Harun al-Rashid, a water clock was built in the Islamic world. As told by Einhard who wrote the life of Charlemagne, Harun al-Rashid sent a water clock to the Emperor Charles as a gift.
In the Abbasid period, Muslim scholars of Turkish, Persian and Arab origins created quite interesting works in the fields of mathematics and astronomy. It is accepted even by the Europeans that al-Bîrûnî, the Muslim scholar, (973-1051) had argued that the world revolved around its axis 500 years before Copernicus. It is certain that Islamic scholars influenced Europeans in the fields of mathematics, astronomy, and philosophy.
During the era of the Artuqids, one of the small Turkic states that appeared after the Great Seljuk Empire collapsed, technical works were built. Upon the encouragement of Malik us-Salih Nasruddin Abu al-Fath Mahmud b. Kara Arslan b. Davud b. Sokman b. Artuq (1200-1222), the Artuq emperor who reigned in Diyarbakir, Bedi' al-Zaman Ebu'1-Izz Ibn Ismail Ibn al-Razzaz al-Jazarî wrote a book with the title Kitâb al-Jâmi' bayn al-ilm wa'l-amal al-nafî' fî sinaat al-hiyal which mentioned several automatic machines, water clocks, water pumps, water levels, and musical instruments, with construction drawings.
Al-Jazarî worked for 32 years in the Artuqlu palace as the head engineer (Reis'ul-Amal) between 570 (1174) and 602 (1206). Al-Jazarî states that he had studied the books and works of scholars preceding him, but finally he had freed himself from their influences and solved the problems through his own point of view. He underlined the importance of the work, saying: "This book contains some tears that have been patched, some methods that have been classified and some sketches that have been discovered. I do not believe there exists another similar work". In his work, which consists of six chapters, al-Jazarî discloses his discoveries concerning important technical issues such as water clocks, water clocks with oil lamps, the constructions of pots and pans for wine making, the construction of ewers and bowls for use as cups, the sketches of pools and fountains and music automata, and the sketches of devices able to elevate water from shallow wells or flowing rivers.
|Figure 2. A rocket plan from Ibn Aranbugha's book Kitabül anik fil manajik kitabül hiyal fil hurub ve fath, Kitabul esliha (Armoury Manual), Ahmet III Library, Topkapi Palace Nr, 3469.
It is seen that the technical and natural sciences were encouraged and flourished not only during the Artuqids, but also in the other Seljuk beyliks, and in Syria and Egypt later on during the Mamluk sultans. Especially during the first Crusades, there was an obligation for Islamic scholars to work on the discovery of gunpowder and explosive weapons as early as the twelfth century, in order for the Turkic-Islamic world to succeed against the Christian armies.
Syria (and particularly Damascus) was a major centre of the sciences in the thirteenth century with the madrasas and hospitals built by Turkic Atabegs. It was very natural for Muslim scholars to manufacture gunpowder and build explosive weapons in Syria as it witnessed many gory battles during the Crusades. Islamic scholars in the thirteenth century had sufficient technical information to use gunpowder for rockets.
In the books "Kitap al-furusiya val-muhasab al-harbiya" and "Niyahat al-su'ul val-ummiya fi ta'allum a'mal al-furusiya" written by the Islamic scholar Hasan ar-Rammah Najm al-Din al-Ahdab in the thirteenth century, explosive materials, firearms, and, for the first time, torpedoes driven by a rocket system were mentioned. In this work on battle techniques written around 1275 by Hasan ar-Rammah, the illustrations of a torpedo running with a rocket system filled with explosive materials and having three firing points can also be found.
Another book on arms and military in the Topkapi Palace is a very valuable document copied in the fourteenth century that consists of three different works. The first section is called Kitab anîq fi'1-manajniq and written in 775 for Ibn Aranbugha Al-Zardkâsh, the Ayyubid commander or for Mingili Boga al-Shimmin. According to more recent research, the author is not known. The second section is the book called Kitab al-hiyal fi'l-hurub ve fath almada'in hifz al-durub, on rockets, bombs and burning arrows, written by the Turkish commander Alaaddin Tayboga al-Omari al-Saki al-Meliki al-Nasir.
Figure 3. Another rocket plan from Ibn Aranbugha's book Kitabül anik fil manajik kitabül hiyal fil hurub ve fath, Kitabul esliha (Armoury Manual), Ahmet III Library, Topkapi Palace Nr, 3469.
Leonardo da Vinci is often mentioned as the first inventor of the dark box (a primitive version of a camera [Camera obscura]), water pump, flywheel, and flying machines. However, it is known that Leonardo da Vinci was influenced by Islamic scholars, and he was particularly inspired by the work of al-Hazen. We have to remember that a hand-written copy of the technical work of Ahmed b. Musa, the Islamic engineer, is still in the Vatican Library.
Furthermore, in the Turkic-Islamic cultural world, the first attempts at flight are seen long before the European Christian world. A Turkish scholar of Sayram (Ispidjap) had researched the relationship between the wing surfaces of birds and their weights, to find the physical causes for flight. This work set new horizons in the field of aerodynamics.
The most interesting of the attempts at flight in the Turkish-Islam cultural circles were those of Hazarfan Ahmed Celebi and Lagarî Hasan Celebi in 1630-1632 during the reign of Sultan Murad IV. Evliya Celebi, who personally witnessed these flight attempts, gave the following information in his travel book, hand-written copies of which can be found in the Libraries of Istanbul:
"Hazarfan Ahmed Celebi: First he practiced by flying over the pulpit of Okmeydani eight or nine times with eagle winds, using the force of the wind. Then, as Sultan Murad Han was watching from the Sinan Pasha mansion at Sarayburnu, he flew from the very top of the Galata Tower and landed in the Dogancilar Square in Uskudar, with the help of the south-west wind. Then Murad Khan granted him a sack of golden coins, and said:
Hezarfen Ahmed Celebi, who opened a new era in the history of aviation, being sent to Algeria in exile, and Lagarî Hasan Celebi not receiving enough attention, and his departure to the Crimea later on, do answer the question of why the development in this field did not continue.
The Turkish engineer Lagarî Hasan Celebi, flying with a seven-winged rocket of his own invention and then landing safely on the sea with eagle-like wings, is very similar to the sea-landing methods of Americans, with parachutes after their voyages into space. Therefore, Lagarî Hasan Celebi deserves a special place in the history of aviation, with his flight attempt, which opened new horizons in rocketry techniques. When Lagarî Hasan Celebi made his flight attempt with a rocket-like vehicle; the Ottoman Empire was going through its last bright era under Sultan Murad IV.
In the work called Ummul-Gaza, written by Ali Aga, the second caliph of the Bombardiers class in the reign of Sultan Ahmed III (1703-1730), which is currently in the Topkapi Palace; the rockets called tulumbas invented by himself and used for castle sieges in the seventeenth century were described. These are described as being 11-12 arsin (7-8 m) long and the diameter was difficult for one person to encircle. In this work, Ali Aga relates the failures of the battles to the decline in inventing and developing armaments and recommends to the sultan that new arms be developed. Thus, it is seen that the developments and new discoveries in the Turkic-Islamic world in this field came to an end.
The Islamic renaissance, which began in the ninth and tenth centuries, brought about major advances in the technical field and as early as the ninth century the first attempts at flight had begun in Turkistan and Andalusia. It is understood from the works of Hasan ar-Rammah and Aladdin Tayboga al-Umari as-Saki and other works, the copies of which are in our libraries that during the Seljuk and Mamluk era rocket driven torpedoes and rockets were developed. At the beginning of the seventeenth century, the Turkish engineer Lagarî Hasan Celebi's flight in Istanbul is very similar to the sea-landing methods of Americans, with parachutes, after their space flights. Evliya Celebi mentioned that Lagarî Hasan Celebi went to the Crimea after this trial, to Selamet Giray Khan, and the first Russian rocket technology studies in Ukraine coincided with the period just after Lagarî Hasan Celebi's residence in Crimea and his death., This supports the opinion that studies in the field of Russian rocket technology could have been influenced by the Turkish engineer Lagarî Hasan Celebi and his students.
Famous traveller EvliyaCelebi recorded that Lagari Hasan Celebi made a successful rocket-powered flight in 17th-century Turkey. (Source)


text:
This wedding just screams NYC to me and I love the location at The Bowery Hotel. A bit different from the normal weddings I share, but thought it would be fun to mix it up a bit today. The gorgeous photography is by Susan Stripling.
Nothing like photos on the rooftop in NYC – what a backdrop! And then look at the reception room!! So romantic…
All the gorgeous calligraphy is by Love*Jenna. Just love the table numbers and the lace doily menu.
Congrats to Corinne + Norberto. Your day looked amazing!
Photographer: Susan Stripling
Calligrapher: Love*Jenna
Shoes: Manolo Blahnik
Dress Designer: Ines di Santo
Reception Venue: The Bowery Hotel
Event Designer: Daughter of Design
Floral Designer: Antheia
Makeup Artist: Jason T Beers


text:
This is the time of year you want to head to the farmers market to buy your tomatoes. Vine ripened, organic, juicy and delicious is what you will find. With more than a thousand varieties I hope you find one you like. There are deep red, vivid orange to even dark purple. I'd like to find some of the purple ones. I'm really hooked on the orange ones right now. Super sweet. If you have not figured it out yet, tomatoes are this week's Friday Foodie Fix Secret Ingredient.
Here is your quiz for the day. See how many you get right. Answers at the bottom. If I could figure out how to turn them upside down I would but I'm not that talented.
- Are tomatoes fruits or vegetables? fruit or vegetable
- How do you get your vitamin E from tomatoes? Eat them cooked or raw?
- Tomatoes are full of lycopene, a naturally occurring antioxidant? Yes or No
- Tomatoes are part of the night shade family? Yes or No
- Store your tomatoes in the refrigerator? Yes or No
- If bruised or dropped, tomatoes lose significant amounts of nutrients? Yes or No
So how did you do? If you got 4 or more right you are a tomato expert. Way to go! If you got 3 or less you better go buy some tomatoes.
Here are a few of my recipes with tomatoes. How about yours? Add in your recipes with Mr Linky or leave them in the comments section.
Gluten Free BLGT Sandwich, Chili Piquin Vegetarian Tortilla Soup, and Turkey-Roni.
Next week's Secret Ingredient is …………………Corn!
Answers to quiz:
1. fruit
2. raw
3. yes
4. yes
5. no, they will lose their taste
6. yes


text:
|» Summary
|» License
|Build (create) and fetch vCard 2.1 and 3.0 text blocks.
|PHP License
|» Current Release
|» Bug Summary
1.1.2 (stable) was released on 2009-07-01 by till (Changelog)
Easy Install
Not sure? Get more info.
pear install Contact_Vcard_Build
Pyrus Install
Try PEAR2's installer, Pyrus.
php pyrus.phar install pear/Contact_Vcard_Build
Development Roadmap
No open bugs
Report a new bug to Contact_Vcard_Build
|» Description
|Allows you to programmatically create a vCard, version 2.1 or 3.0, and fetch the vCard text.
Users of Contact_Vcard_Build are encouraged to check out File_IMC.
|» Maintainers
|» More Information


text:
I want to root for companies like Technorati, who have introduced new features and functionality for today's interactive, social Web. Technorati, when the site is up, is one of the best for tracking the popularity of topics and conversations, or to see which bloggers are among the most frequently linked to. But for months, the site has been riddled with slowness, server timeouts during searches or peak load, and most recently, has seen outage after outage. (The above image was posted on their site tonight, during some updates.)
In the past, Technorati CEO David Sifry has been open about the scalability problems. Just this last July, he commented on a previous note I made about the slowness, saying:
- You make a great point, we've been working very hard on building out the scalability and reliability of the Technorati service... Making sure that regular users like you are getting what you need, every time, quickly, is intensly important, and I want to know if you or anyone you know is having problems, so we can address the issues immediately...
His openness and speaking directly to the blogging community is commendable. I love the personal touch. But the truth is that Technorati still isn't scaling, and as Robert Scoble has pointed out time and again, Google's Blog Search tool is getting increasingly better, closing the gap between it and the blog search pioneers, including Technorati.
Meanwhile, Steve Rubel of Micropersuasion found one likely reason Technorati isn't that focused on keeping their core search tool on top of its game. He discovered on Tuesday that Technorati is planning a Digg-like competitor called Technorati WTF, short for "Where's the Fire"? Yet, that site still isn't live, though it could be coming shortly, causing some of the recent downtime.
Just like I mentioned with YouTube recently, downtime is not an acceptable part of today's Web-driven world. If you can't deliver your core services, then why are you adding new features? Fix what is broken, and learn how to make updates without impacting the users. I haven't seen Google go down for maintenance, maybe ever. If they're up and you're down, where are the users going to go?
Previous Stories:
Silly YouTube - Where's The Redundancy?
Web 2.0 Companies Play With Error Messages


text:
Closing Time: Postal Service May Cut 35,000 Jobs
Facing a financial crisis, the United States Postal Service announced that 223 processing facilities have been "found feasible for consolidation, all or in part." Of the 264 processing facilities studied, only 35 are set to remain open.
The closings could result in the loss of 35,000 jobs. USPS has posted a full list of the facilities — which process and sort mail on its way to being delivered — on its website.
The postal service said the changes could help it reduce its operating costs by $20 billion by 2015, making the service profitable once more.
In a statement, the USPS explained the financial picture:
"The Postal Service is in the midst of a financial crisis due to the combined effects of the economic recession, increased use of electronic communications, and an obligation to prefund retiree health benefits. First-Class Mail volume has deteriorated, leading to significant revenue declines, and the obligation to prefund these retiree health benefits on an accelerated basis remains unresolved. To date, legislative proposals to address the financial crisis remain pending, leaving the Postal Service and the mailing industry it supports in an increasingly precarious position."
Update at 3:47 p.m. ET. 35,000 Jobs:
The AP and Reuters are reporting that the closings and consolidations could mean the loss of 35,000 jobs. Reuters adds:
"That includes eliminating as many as 30,000 full-time jobs and 5,000 non-career positions, USPS spokesman Sue Brennan said. The agency has gotten rid of about 140,000 jobs in the last five years, mainly through attrition, but still had about 650,000 workers at the end of 2011, according to its first-quarter financial statement.
"None of the facilities would close before mid-May due to a temporary moratorium announced in December that is intended to give Congress time to pass legislation to help overhaul the mail agency."
"The Postal Service, which does not receive taxpayer funds, wants Congress to eliminate an annual payment to prefund retiree health benefits and let it end Saturday mail delivery."
Update at 3:41 p.m. ET. Six Facilities On Hold:
Last week, Patrick Danahoe, the postmaster general, told Congress that his service also needed to raise the price of first-class stamps by 5 cents in order to reach that $20 billion in savings.
USPS says six facilities "are on hold for further internal study."
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


text:
Note: This excerpt does not include the lesson files. The lesson files are available with purchase of the book.
Use Flash Professional to change almost any aspect of an object—position, color, transparency, size, rotation, and more—over time. Motion tweening is the basic technique of creating animation with symbol instances.
Getting Started
Start by viewing the finished movie file to see the animated title page that you'll create in this lesson.
Double-click the 04End.html file in the Lesson04/04End folder to play the animation in a browser.
The project is an animated splash page for an imaginary soon-to-be-released motion picture. In this lesson, you'll use motion tweens to animate several components on the page: the cityscape, the main actors, several old-fashioned cars, and the main title.
- Close the 04End.html file.
- Double-click the 04Start.fla file in the Lesson04/04Start folder to open the initial project file in Flash. This file is an ActionScript 3.0 document that is partially completed and already contains many of the graphic elements imported into the Library for you to use.
- From the view options above the Stage, choose Fit in Window, or View > Magnification > Fit in Window, so that you can see the entire Stage on your computer screen.
Choose File > Save As. Name the file 04_workingcopy.fla, and save it in the 04Start folder.
Saving a working copy ensures that the original start file will be available if you want to start over.


text:
Choosing An Optimal Stats Gathering Strategy
Recently the Oracle Optimizer Development Team put out a White Paper entitled Upgrading from Oracle Database 9i to 10g: What to expect from the Optimizer. This paper discusses the main differences between 9i and 10g in the subject area of the Optimizer and Statistics. As G.I. Joe said, "Now we know! And knowing is half the battle." The other half of the battle is successfully applying that knowledge to the databases that you manage. Statistics are input to the Oracle Optimizer and the foundation of good plans. If the statistics supplied to the Oracle Optimizer are non-representative we can probably expect GIGO (Garbage In, Garbage Out). On the other hand, if the statistics are representative, chances quite good that the Oracle Optimizer will choose the optimal plan. In this post I'd like to discuss my thoughts on how to choose an optimal stats gathering strategy.
Suggested Readings
If you haven't done so already, I would first suggest reading the following:
- 10g Release 2: Managing Optimizer Statistics
- Oracle OpenWorld 2005: A Practical Approach to Optimizer Statistics in Oracle Database 10g
- Upgrading from Oracle Database 9i to 10g: What to expect from the Optimizer
- Upgrading from Oracle Database 10g to 11g: What to expect from the Optimizer
Start With A Clean Slate
My first recommendation is to unset any Optimizer related parameters that exist in your init.ora, unless you have specific recommendations from the application vendor. This includes (but is not limited to):
In almost every case, the defaults for these parameters are more than acceptable.
The same goes for any events and undocumented/hidden/underscore parameters that are set. Hidden parameters and events should only be used to temporarily work around bugs under the guidance and direction of Oracle Support and Development. Contrary to what you may find on the Internet via your favorite search engine, hidden parameters are not meant to be tuning mechanisms and are not a source of magic performance gains. They are mechanisms that developers have instrumented into their code to debug problems and only those developers know and understand the full impact of changing hidden parameters.
High Level Strategy
- Start With the Defaults: In most cases, the defaults for Optimizer parameters and
DBMS_STATSare adequate. If you are upgrading from 9i to 10g, do your homework and note the differences in the defaults. Test them to see if they work well for your data and your execution plans.
- Dealing With Suboptimal Execution Plans: There may be cases of query plan regression. It is very important to be diligent about finding root cause. Often times many plan regressions surface from the same root cause. This means if you can correctly diagnose and resolve the root cause, you have the potential to resolve many plan regressions.
- Adjust Strategy to Cope with the Exceptions: Once it is understood why the suboptimal plan was chosen, a resolution can be tested and implemented.
Start With The Defaults
I can not stress enough how important it is to start with the defaults for Optimizer and
DBMS_STATS parameters. The Real-World Performance Group has dealt with numerous cases where customers are not using the default values for Optimizer parameters and by simply setting them back to the default values performance increases . If you are planning to regression test your system because you are upgrading your database, there is no better time to do a reset of these parameters. It will also put you in a much better place to troubleshoot if you run into issues. Give the software the best chance to do what it can for you. Don't try and be too clever for your own good.
One of the most common problems I've seen is that customers have chosen a magic fixed percentage for
ESTIMATE_PERCENT in
DBMS_STATS. Why do I call it magic? Because the customers had no systematic reasoning for the value they chose.
In the Real-World Performance Group Roundtable session at Oracle OpenWorld 2007 the topic of
DBMS_STATS came up and I asked "How many people are using
ESTIMATE_PERCENT => DBMS_STATS.AUTO_SAMPLE_SIZE?" A handful of people raised their hands. I then asked, "For those of you who are using a fixed value for
ESTIMATE_PERCENT, who can explain how they chose their number, other than just picking it out of the air." Not one person raised their hand. Scary! The moral of the story: You should have a documented reason (and test case) to deviate from the defaults.
Dealing With Suboptimal Execution Plans
Probably the most common root cause (I'd say >90%) for suboptimal execution plans is poor cardinality estimates by the Optimizer. Poor cardinality estimates are generally the result of non-representative statistics. This means that the root cause of most Optimizer related issues are actually stats related, reaffirming how important it is to have representative stats. For more details on troubleshooting poor cardinality estimates, I would suggest reading my post on Troubleshooting Bad Execution Plans.
In 10g, Automatic SQL Tuning was introduced via Enterprise Manager (which uses the package
DBMS_SQLTUNE). I would highly recommend that you evaluate this tool (if you have it licensed). I've found that it can often come up with quite good suggestions and fixes.
Another option that is available to help get more accurate cardinality estimates is dynamic sampling. This is probably an underused option which can help with getting more accurate cardinality estimates when there is data correlation, etc. Dynamic sampling is most appropriate for DSS and data warehouse databases, where queries run for minutes, not seconds. See my post There Is No Time Like '%NOW%' To Use Dynamic Sampling for a real-world example.
Adjust Strategy To Cope With The Exceptions
There are three scenarios that seem to be rather common:
- Non-representative NDV with skewed data
- Out-of-range predicates and partitioned tables
- Bind peeking when histograms exist
Non-Representative NDV With Skewed Data
There are cases where the defaults for
ESTIMATE_PERCENT => DBMS_STATS.AUTO_SAMPLE_SIZE) may not yield representative NDV in 9i and 10g. One specific case that I've seen repeatedly is when there is a large number of values and significant data skew. In this case a fixed sample size that yields representative NDV should be chosen. For a more in-depth review of this see my post on the new 11g DBMS_STATS.AUTO_SAMPLE_SIZE, it goes through an example of the 10g
AUTO_SAMPLE_SIZE NDV/skew issue.
While having accurate NDV statistics is desirable, do not be come obsessed with having perfect NDV statistics. The goal is to have the Optimizer choose the desired plan, not have perfect NDV. Having more accurate NDV may not change the plan. This is a case when less than perfect may be good enough. Don't lose focus of the goal.
Out-of-range Predicates And Partitioned Tables
Another case that frequently comes up is usually related to out-of-range predicates with partitioned tables that do not have representative stats. Don Seiler's write-up of his real-world case is a poster child for this exception. If you are bulk loading data into a partitioned table, it is necessary that if statistics exist, they are representative. This problem generally surfaces when statistics have been collected on an empty partition (so all stats are zeros) and now the partition has been bulk loaded. There are a few options here:
- Stats are gathered immediately after the loading directly into the target table.
- Data is loaded into a staging table, stats are gathered, and the staging table is partition exchanged into the target table.
- Stats are cloned or copied (see
DBMS_STATS.COPY_TABLE_STATSfrom a similar partition.
- There are no statistics and dynamic sampling will kick in (assuming it is set to the default of 2 or higher).
From what I have seen, this case generally shows up if the query plan has partition elimination to a single partition. This is because when only one partitioned is accessed only partition stats are used, but when more than one partition is accessed, both the global/table stats and partition stats are used.
Bind Peeking When Histograms Exist
The combination of these two seem to be a frequent cause of issue in 10g with OLTP systems. In my opinion, these two features should not be used together (or used with complete understanding and extreme caution). My reasoning for this is when histograms exist, execution plans can vary based on the filter predicates. Well designed OLTP systems use bind variables for execution plan reuse. On one hand plans can change, and on the other hand plans will be reused. This seems like a complete conflict of interest, hence my position of one or the other. Oh, and lets not overlook the fact that if you have a RAC database it's possible to have a different plan on each instance depending on what the first value peeked is. Talk about a troubleshooting nightmare.
Unlike many, I think that disabling bind peeking is not the right answer. This does not address the root cause, it attempts to curb the symptom. If you are running an OLTP system, and you are using the nightly
GATHER_STATS_JOB be mindful that it uses it's own set of parameters: it overrides most of the parameters. The doc says:
GATHER AUTOis specified, the only additional valid parameters are stattab, statid, objlist and statown; all other parameter settings are ignored.
It may be best to change the default value of the
METHOD_OPT via
DBMS_STATS.SET_PARAM to
'FOR ALL COLUMNS SIZE REPEAT' and gather stats with your own job. Why
REPEAT and not
SIZE 1? You may find that a histogram is needed somewhere and using
SIZE 1 will remove it the next time stats are gathered. Of course, the other option is to specify the value for
METHOD_OPT in your gather stats script.
Common Pitfalls And Problems
- Disabling The 10g
GATHER_STATS_JOB: As many of you know in 10g the
GATHER_STATS_JOBwas introduced. Since many customers have custom stats gathering scripts in place, many have chosen to disable this job. Disabling the
GATHER_STATS_JOBentirely is not recommended because it also gathers dictionary stats (SYS/SYSTEM schemas). If you wish to collect your statistics manually, then you should change the value of
ORACLEinstead of
DBMS_STATS.SET_PARAM('AUTOSTATS_TARGET','ORACLE')). This will keep the dictionary stats up to date and allow you to manually gather stats on your schemas as you have done so in 9i.
- Representative Statistics: When troubleshooting bad execution plans it is important to evaluate if the statistics are representative. Many times customers respond with "I just gathered statsitics" or "The statistics are recent". Recently gathered statistics does not equate to representative statistics. Albert Einstein once said "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results". It applies here as well.
- Too Much Time Spent On Stats Gathering: Often when customers say their stats gathering is taking too long I ask to see their
DBMS_STATSscript. Generally there are three reasons that stats gathering is taking too long:
- Stats are gathered with too fine of setting for
GRANULARITY: It is usually unnecessary to gather subpartition stats for composite partitioned tables. Don't spend time collecting stats that are not needed. Don't override the default for
GRANULARITYunless you have a reason: the default probably is sufficient.
- Stats are gathered with unnecessarily large
ESTIMATE_PERCENT: Use
DBMS_STATS.AUTO_SAMPLE_SIZEto start with and adjust if necessary. No need to sample 10% when 1% or less yields representative statistics. Give
DBMS_STATS.AUTO_SAMPLE_SIZEthe chance to choose the best sample size.
- Stats are gathered more frequently than required or on data that hasn't changed: The
OPTIONS => 'GATHER AUTO'so it only gathers statistics on objects with more than a 10% change with a predefined set of options. If you are gathering statistics on tables/partitions that haven't changed, or haven't changed significantly, you may be spending time gathering unnecessary statistics. For example, there is no need to gather partition stats on last months (or older) if the data in the partition is no longer volatile.
- Stats are gathered with too fine of setting for
- Not Understanding The Data: The answers are almost always in the data…skew, correlation, etc. Many operational DBAs don't have an in-depth understanding of the data they are managing. If this is the case, grab an engineer or analyst that is familiar with the data and work together. Two smart people working on a problem is almost always better than one!
- Do Not Mess With Optimizer Parameters: If an execution plan is not choosing an index, understand why. Use the tools available. The
GATHER_PLAN_STATISTICShint is a prefect place to start. Fiddling with Optimizer parameters is not the solution.


text:
Great ways to show your support
Got some free time and want to help improve the lives of young people? Volunteering is a rewarding experience with a whole host of benefits:
- Meet new people and have fun
- Make a big difference to your community
- Gain valuable experience and learn new skills
- Choose when to help with flexible commitment
You can sponsor our school in a number of ways. It's a fantastic opportunity to support your community while generating business and brand awareness.
- Give back to your community
- Increase your company's profile
- Raise brand awareness
- Get involved with rewarding experiences and events
Spending time to help children at school is a fantastic way to meet new people and really make a difference to the children in your community.


text:
Copyright© Bill Graham Archives and affiliates
There seem to be some things that Chapel Club lead singer Lewis Bowman most wants. They seem to be easy to obtain and yet they're elusive - making them extremely difficult to obtain, as reasoning would then have to go. They are out of grasp and somewhat mysteriously composed. One could walk through them, never touching them, not feeling a thing, but a little cooler air. The ambitions that are formed throughout the London-based group's debut full-length, "Palace," are put forth like some quiet and pensive scene from a Sophia Coppola or David Lynch film - something that moves to its own heartbeat, something that happens before you with an illustriously somber mood. The natural sounds of people moving against the surface are more pronounced - the sole of a shoe striking the crushed rocks of the ground, punctuating the night like a shotgun blast, the exhaling of breath as harsh as the ripping of a piece of paper in a sleeping house. These are sharpened nights and blinding days, the kinds that sound most appetizing, though the ones bemoaned are those that are occupied with all of the intrusions of daily life, the clutter and the bullshit. Bowman seems to want the chance to just run off, under the cover of a night, cut all ties and find a way to just live off the land, with a little help from the tobacco companies, if he wanted to be perfectly honest. He sings on "Fine Light," "Hooray for late nights and cigarettes/Let's stay awake and carry on the fight and act as if there were no darkness to surround us, no questions to confound us/No fear tonight, my friends, and no regrets/All I want to make out/All I want to see/Are lights across the hilltops/Lights above the sea/Fine the light that wakes you from that other sleep/Fine the light that lights your dive into the deep/Makes you feel right, don't it?/To lie here and know that you own this moment." The scenes that Chapel Club erect are those of people awash with the atrocities of what they've been forced to make of their lives, what they've been prodded into living with despite all reluctance to do so. There's some unquestionable pull toward the outer reaches, perhaps where we're always secretly pulled, even if we're not able to commit. Bowman gives us a sense of clearer thoughts, when he sings about night breezes and "bodies swinging in the sycamore trees." He dreams of vast, open skies which, upon looking at them you can feel smaller and mortal and still more in control of the little things, more calm. Pine trees are thought about on "After The Flood," as Bowman sings, "I remember coming out of that tunnel mouth, seeing high land and low water spring and sink before us/The pines hung like reconsidered suicides from the red palms of mountainsides - preserved, as Orion was preserved in stars." He's a gazer and a man with sweeping thoughts about getting his legs out of the steel traps he's got them in. Maybe the fights would cease, or slow down if he changed his setting. There's a hope for it. For now, he's got the cigarettes and the fights, going through them in a place that smells more like skin and garbage, not dirt and silence.
©2023 Bill Graham Archives LLC


text:
Indian Wells, CA (SportsNetwork.com) - Two-time champion Lleyton Hewitt and Czech Radek Stepanek were among the Day 1 winners at the $4.72 million BNP Paribas Open tennis event.
Hewitt battled past fellow Australian Matthew Ebden 7-6 (7-2), 3-6, 6-3. The former world No. 1 titled here back-to-back in 2002 and 2003 and was the runner-up in 2005.
Stepanek held off Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 and will face world No. 1 superstar and reigning champion Rafael Nadal in the second round this weekend at the beautiful Indian Wells Tennis Garden.
The three-time titlist Nadal beat Juan Martin del Potro in last year's marquee Indian Wells finale.
Meanwhile, a trio of all-American affairs saw Sam Querrey defeat qualifier Alex Kuznetsov 6-3, 6-3, 35-year-old journeyman Michael Russell take out left-hander Donald Young 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 and Tim Smyczek tackle wild card Jack Sock 6-4, 1-6, 6-4.
Also advancing were American wild card Ryan Harrison, Argentine Juan Monaco, Croat Ivo Karlovic, Frenchman Jeremy Chardy, Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky, Czech Lukas Rosol, France's Edouard Roger-Vasselin, Colombian Santiago Giraldo, Czech Jiri Vesely, French qualifier Paul-Henri Mathieu and Colombian Alejandro Falla, who doused last week's surprise Sao Paulo champion Federico Delbonis of Argentina 6-3, 6-4.
This week's top seeds are Nadal, two-time winner Novak Djokovic and Australian Open champ Stan Wawrinka. Four-time Indian Wells champion Roger Federer, fresh off his title in Dubai, is the seventh seed here.


text:
The minute I saw this recipe I knew I had to make it for João – he loves beef, he loves onions.
It was taken from a book I have – it's a compilation of recipes from a Brazilian food magazine. I made few changes, nothing big.
João really liked the dish and asked me to make it again, with one condition: to use striploin instead of tail of round – he told me it has much more flavor.
Since I don't eat beef I'll have to take his word on that. ;)
Tail of round with shallots
40g butter
400g tail of round – one piece
200g shallots
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large rosemary sprig
salt and cracked black pepper
In a pressure cooker, melt the butter and add the beef. Cook it, turning it around to get all the sides nicely browned. Season it with salt and pepper.
When it's browned, add water until the beef is covered by it. Close the pressure cooker and when it starts whistling, turn down the heat and cook for 30-35 minutes.
Remove from heat and let it stand until all the pressure is released – be careful.
If you're using a regular pan, proceed the same way and cook the beef for longer- just until it's cooked through and tender.
Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC for 10 minutes.
Place the shallots in a baking dish, season them with a little salt and pepper, drizzle with the olive oil and bake them for 20 minutes – they will be soft.
Heat the beef in the same pan it was cooked – if there's too much broth remove the excess – add the rosemary and cook for 10 minutes.
Serve it with the shallots.
Serves 2.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Tail of round with shallots
The minute I saw this recipe I knew I had to make it for João – he loves beef, he loves onions.
12 comments:
Tenho fome agora depois de ver essas fotographia. Desculpa para as falto d orthographia
- February 21, 2007
- Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) said...
Beef and onions -- one of my favorite combinations, too! Thanks for this recipe -- looks amazing. Might be a reason to get a pressure cooker....
- February 21, 2007
Patricia, this sounds fabulous! Thanks to Joao for suggesting substituting striploin; I was all over epicurious.com and google and elsewhere looking for tail of round, with zero success. Must be a Brazilian cut of meat.
A question about timing on adding the rosemary: If you added it when you first added water to the pressure cooker [after the beef was browned] do you think it would deepen the taste or perhaps overpower it?
- February 21, 2007
- Freya said...
Hi Patricia! We don't have tail of round here either but it looks like it might be topside or silverside. Yours looks completely delicious! I love the little onions with it! Was it very pink inside?
- February 21, 2007
roasted beef and onions, drooooool!
- February 21, 2007
Who wouldn't love that? It looks fantastic!
- February 21, 2007
How delicious looking! And may I say that I think your photography just continues to get better and better :)
- February 22, 2007
- Susan from Food Blogga said...
Well Patricia, we just keep finding more things we share in common. Looks like I'll be making this beef and onion dish for my husband too. He will love it! Thanks!
- February 22, 2007
- wheresmymind said...
mmm...what guy doesn't love beef and onions? well...I guess vegetarians *laugh*
- February 22, 2007
- Patricia Scarpin said...
Candy, seu Português é ótimo! Obrigada!
Lydia, pressure cookers are very popular here! Thank you for your lovely words.
Terry, thank you! You are always so kind.
I used some info I got from the internet to translate it into English, and now I found this:
Let me know what you think, please?
About the rosemary - I think your idea is really good! I might try it next time - I don't think it would be overpowering.
Hi, Freya! It was not pink because it was a small piece of meat - it was so tender my husband could almost cut it using only a fork.
The little onions were a hit at home, too. ;)
Aria, tks, dear!
Kristen, thank you! You're so sweet.
Ellie, it's great to have you back! Thank you, it means a lot to me.
Susan, you and I do share a lot of things, and I think it's great! I hope he likes it! I thank you, dear!
Jeff, you are funny, my friend. :)
- February 22, 2007
- Gattina Cheung said...
My husband loves beef, however I'm not good at it. will keep your recipe and Joao's advice in my mind!
- February 23, 2007
- Patricia Scarpin said...
Gattina, my dear, I hope he enjoys it - my husband loves onions and he was surprised with these baby onions. :)
- February 23, 2007


text:
Frequently Asked Questions
How many years of teaching experience can I bring to Park Hill?
Up to 30 years of experience is accepted on the Teacher Salary Schedule.
How do I apply for an administrator position?
When administrator positions are posted, interested applicants can find the application online in our job listings. You can contact Dan Heckelbeck in the Human Resources Department at (816) 359-6740 with questions.
How long is my application kept on file?
One year. You must reactivate your application online each year to be considered for a position. If you question whether your application is still active, contact the Human Resources Department at (816) 359-4040.
What are the office hours for the Human Resources Department?
7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
When does Park Hill do its hiring?
The majority of interviews for teaching positions are scheduled from February 15 through June 15. Hiring for most support staff jobs takes place throughout the year as positions open up.
How will I find out when the position I have applied for has been filled?
If you have applied for a specific open position, you will receive notice via an email when that position has been filled. Also, your profile status will reflect the status of any positions you have applied for. The status of an application for an open position will remain "pending" until that position has been filled.
Will I still be considered for a teaching position if I do not have certification?
Every application is personally reviewed by a Human Resources administrator and given consideration. Some of the factors involved in evaluating each application are the needs of the position, the experience and training of the candidate, and the pool of candidates available. Each person hired for a teaching position must be eligible for some type of certification through the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), but there are a variety of options available. For more information on certification, please consult the DESE website.
Apply Online
Apply to be a Park Hill employee using our online system.
Contact our Human Resources team with your questions about joining our Park Hill team.


text:
Why labeling of GMOs is actually bad for people and the environment
On November 6th, California voters will be asked to vote on a proposition about labeling of genetically modified (GM) products. On the surface this seems quite reasonable: people should have information about what they consume. In my view, labeling requirements are appropriate when there is undisputed scientific evidence that a food component is damaging, which, for example, is the reason for warning labels on cigarettes. But with GMOs this is not the case. For example, a recent NRC report states that GMOs are as safe if not more safe than conventional food which is also consistent with most of the published research.
Many of the fruits and vegetables we eat are already modified as they have been generated through techniques such as selective breeding and hybridization of crops among others. The discovery of DNA and advances in modern molecular biology allow us to develop more refined and precise crop breeding techniques where we slightly modify existing varieties by adding a specific trait. Obviously, genetic engineering is in its infancy, and has already led to major developments in medicine. Even though it has been underutilized in agriculture, existing GMOs have had significant impact. The most popular traits address pest control (Bt varieties) and tolerance to herbicides (Round-up ready varieties). These traits have been adopted with corn and soybeans in the US, Brazil, and Argentina among others and also in cotton in India, China, and some developing countries. Studies show that GM varieties of cotton and corn in developing countries increased in per acre yield by more than 50%, and GMOs contributed significantly to the more than doubling of the production of soybeans.
The importance of GMOs has to be viewed within a global context. Population and income growth have led to increased demand for food and especially meat. Meat production is feed intensive. This and the introduction of biofuel has resulted in increased prices of agricultural commodities. When food becomes scarce (and expensive), it is the global poor that suffers most. Our calculations suggest that the magnitude of the impact of GMOs on reducing food commodity prices was the same or even bigger than biofuels had on increases of these prices (15-30% reduction in the price of corn and soybeans overall). Furthermore, the prices of cotton did not rise with the prices of other commodities in 2008 due to increased supply from the adoption of GMOs. If African nations and Europe would have adopted GMOs, current prices of food would have decreased significantly, and much of the suffering associated with the food shortages could have been avoided. Thus even in its early stages GMOs have made significant contributions to reducing food shortages and saving lives.
Adoption of GMOs is not only good for food commodity prices and the well being of the poor, it is also good for the environment. Adoption of herbicide tolerant varieties enabled transition to minimal tillage techniques, which reduced the GHG effect of agriculture equivalent to hundreds of thousands of cars annually. GMOs make it possible to produce food on less land, reducing the incentive of converting wild land into agricultural land. There is evidence that by replacing toxic chemicals in India and China, adoption of GMOs directly saved many lives. Reduction of exposure to pesticides and the resulting health effects has been a major cause for adoption in the US.
But what about Monsanto? This company has a monopoly on crucial patents and has made a lot of money from GMOs. This is undisputed. However, studies show that the economic gain from GMOs was divided between consumers, farmers, and seed manufacturers without anyone gaining the lion's share. Apple also makes a lot of money and no one complains. Of course there is room for increasing access to intellectual property, especially products that are of value to the poor, but labeling GMOs is not the optimal way to achieve this goal.
Now, what about emergence of resistance to GMOs? This is an unavoidable consequence because of evolution. This means that we need to have continuous research in the life sciences to find solutions for potential problems. I believe sustainability is different than Nirvana; we cannot find final solutions that do not give rise to new problems. GMO is a technology that allows us to better adapt to new diseases and climate change. Genetic tools will improve our adaptive capacities to climate change.
The public is divided among individuals who believe that GMOs are bad, others who think they are valuable, and many who are basically indifferent. The last group may not see the damage of requiring labeling of GMOs since they do not see the big loss. However, labels make a difference. A labeling requirement creates a stigma effect that will reduce the demand for GM products and may reduce investment in new GM traits. The net effect will be to slow the development of agricultural biotechnology, and this in turn may negatively affect health, the economy, and the environment. It is actually counter-productive to the many environmental and social goals that we cherish. Therefore, labeling of GMOs will be a step in the wrong direction.


text:
Download ebooks in pdf file Normal People: A Novel
Normal People: A Novel by Sally Rooney
- Normal People: A Novel
- Sally Rooney
- Page: 272
- Format: pdf, ePub, mobi, fb2
- Publisher: Crown/Archetype
Download Normal People: A Novel
Download ebooks in pdf file Normal People: A Novel
Normal People by Sally Rooney LONGLISTED FOR THE 2018 MAN BOOKER PRIZE A wondrous and wise coming-of-age love story from the celebrated author of Conversations with Friends At school Connell and Marianne pretend not to know each other. He's popular and well-adjusted, star of the school football team, while she is lonely, proud and intensely private. But when Connell comes to pick his mother up from her job at Marianne's house, a strange and indelible connection grows between the two teenagers—one they are determined to conceal. A year later, they're both studying at Trinity College in Dublin. Marianne has found her feet in a new social world while Connell hangs at the sidelines, shy and uncertain. Throughout their years at university, Marianne and Connell circle one another, straying toward other people and possibilities but always magnetically, irresistibly drawn back together. And as she veers into self-destruction and he begins to search for meaning elsewhere, each must confront how far they are willing to go to save the other. Sally Rooney brings her brilliant psychological acuity and perfectly spare prose to a story that explores the subtleties of class, the electricity of first love, and the complex entanglements of family and friendship.


text:
'The Haunting' -- and the haunted -- at the Alex Theatre this Saturday
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
You know what's scary than watching a screening of the 'The Haunting,' director Robert Wise's classic about paranormal activity? Viewing it while seated next to the darkened aisles in a haunted theater.
This Saturday, the grand old Alex Theatre in Glendale will present two showings (one at 2 p.m. and, for you braver souls, an 8 p.m. screening) of the spooky 1963 film that starred Russ Tamblyn, Julie Harris, Claire Bloom and Richard Johnson. (You can see the trailer below) But there's more: Michael J. Kouri, an author and self-described psychic-medium and parapsychological investigator, will be on hand for to describe his repoire with ghosts and also show footage of a seance staged in the 84-year-old Glendale movie palace.
Kouri, has a number of books and the latest is "True Hauntings of Glendale & Beyond," had a, um, spirited conversation with Hero Complex contributor Susan King regarding the five dozen ghosts or so that inhabit the Alex.
SK: So the Alex Theatre is haunted?
Michael J. Kouri: It's very haunted. I grew up in Burbank and I used to go there to watch movies. I would often see a woman in the men's room dressed as an usherette. And this is a weird thing to say, but I was at the urinal and somebody pinched me on my butt. I didn't notice a ghost or anything. But while I was washing my hands I could see her reflection -- in the mirror behind me -- holding towels. Because I can see ghosts I could talk with her mentally, telepathically. I ask her her name and she didn't say anything. Then I asked, 'Why are you here?' And she said, 'Because I like my job. Wouldn't you stay where you liked your job?'
I told my girlfriend the story. We went back to our seats. We were seated in the balcony and saw a strange light like a ball of lightning come down the middle aisle like an usher was helping somebody to their seat. Denise, my girlfriend, noticed it. There was no one humanly attached with it, but she thought she saw a hand on the flashlight. I could see it, too. I could see the same woman holding the flashlight, but I could also see a man and a woman both beautifully dressed. The usher was helping the woman to her seat, which was a couple of rows back and across from us. There are so many spirits there, they are doing the things they were doing when they were alive.
SK: Wait, so ghosts don't just haunt the place they died?
Kouri: It's a misnomer that they only haunt the places that they die. The thing is, they go back to places they enjoyed themselves. That was a place where the usherette had a regular routine. Her clothing looked like the period of the 1930s. I am a historian and an antiques dealer so I know the styles really well. She's not always there. She's only there at night.
SK: Can you enlighten us about some of the spectral presences at the Alex?
Kouri: There is a couple that used to go to the theater every Tuesday. They always sat in the 13th row, in the center. They are often been heard talking during movies and programs. People will shush them and the man will turn around and say ''I can talk as loud as I want!' and then he dematerializes from view. Many, many people have told me that story.
The last time I heard that story was when the Russian Ballet was in town. I think it was Christmastime a year ago and some people were sitting in that area and they kept hearing this couple talking. They couldn't make out what they were saying but they could hear this bickering [about dinner]. The woman [I talked to] said she could only see the backs of heads because it was dark. She leaned over and said, 'Could you talk about your dinner some other time?' The man turned around and looked at her. She said the man's eyes were glowing yellow like a cat. She was so scared she left her husband there [and went into the lobby for help]. But they were gone...
SK: Truly creepy.
Kouri: I have interviewed people from the Gay Men's Chorus that use that facility and they say they have seen a haggard woman in the dressing room and she's always wearing a wedding gown.
I know that there was a woman who was an actress who came to Glendale in 1927. She and her fiancee performed at the Alex Theatre in a play. They rented an apartment in Glendale. She was stood up at the alter at a church right up the street on Brand Avenue and later she found out he had died in a car accident. She never moved on from that. She finished the play and went on to another city. Since her death, she haunts the basement of the theater. She's seen wearing an old, torn-up wedding gown and her face is kind of gaunt and gray and her eyes are dark. She looks like a ghoul. I have seen her, too. I try to help spirits understand they are no longer in the living and they don't have to stay there. So I try to help them make peace with their existence.
'The Haunting' at the Alex Theatre, 216 North Brand Boulevard, Glendale. Tickets are $13.50; $9.50 seniors (65+) and $8 for full-time students with I.D. For more details on this event or the venue, go to the website of the Alex Film Society.
-- Susan King
'Phantasm,' the 30-year reunion interview
VIDEO: 13 Wes Craven films reconsidered
A decade later: What is the legacy of 'Blair Witch'?
'Exorcist' director Friedkin: The 13 movies that scare me
VIDEO: Looking back: The legacy of Lon Chaney Jr.
'Nightmare on Elm Street' claws its way back to screen
Maggot vomit? Sam Raimi dragged his star through hell
'Black Lagoon' and 'Frankenstein' among 13 planned remakes


text:
Fathers of the Church
Letter Xl
by Augustine of Hippo in 397 | translated by J. G. Cunningham
CHAP. I. — I. I thank you that, instead of a mere formal salutation, you wrote me a letter, though it was much shorter than I would desire to have from you; since nothing that comes from you is tedious, however much time it may demand. Wherefore, although I am beset with great anxieties about the affairs of others, and that, too, in regard to secular matters, I would find it difficult to pardon the brevity of your letter, were it not that I consider that it was written in reply to a yet shorter letter of my own. Address yourself, therefore, I entreat you, to that exchange of letters by which we may have fellowship, and may not permit the distance which separates us to keep us wholly apart from each other; though we are in the Lord bound together by the unity of the Spirit, even when our pens rest and we are silent. The books in which you have laboured to bring treasures from the Lord's storehouse give me almost a complete knowledge of you. For if I may not say, "I know you," because I have not seen your face, it may with equal truth be said that you do not know yourself, for you cannot see our own face. If, however, it is this alone which constitutes your acquaintance with yourself, that you know your own mind, we also have no small knowledge of it through your writings, in studying which we bless God that to yourself, to us, to all who read your works, He has given you as you are.
CHAP. II. — 2. It is not long since, among other things, a certain book of yours came into my hands, the name of which I do not yet know, for the manuscript itself had not the title written, as is customary, on the first page. The brother with whom it was found said that its title is Epitaphium,—a name which we might believe you to have approved, if we found in the work a notice of the lives or writings of those only who are deceased. Inasmuch, however, as mention is there made of the works of some who were at the time when it was written, or are even now, alive, we wonder why you either gave this title to it, or permitted others to believe that you had done so. The book itself has our complete approval as a useful work.
CHAP. III. — 3. In your exposition of the Epistle of Paul to the Galatians I have found one thing which causes me much concern. For if it be the case that statements untrue in themselves, but made, as it were, out of a sense of duty in the interest of religion, have been admitted into the Holy Scriptures, what authority will be left to them? If this be conceded, what sentence can be produced from these Scriptures, by the weight of which the wicked obstinacy of error can be broken down? For as soon as you have produced it, if it be disliked by him who contends with you, he will reply that, in the passage alleged, the writer was uttering a falsehood under the pressure of some honourable sense of duty. And where will any one find this way of escape impossible, if it be possible for men to say and believe that, after introducing his narrative with these words, "The things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not," the apostle lied when he said of Peter and Barnabas, "I saw that they walked not uprightly, according to the truth of the gospel"? For if they did walk uprightly, Paul wrote what was false; and if he wrote what was false here, when did he say what was true? Shall he be supposed to say what is true when his teaching corresponds with the predilection, of his reader, and shall everything which runs' counter to the impressions of the reader be! reckoned a falsehood uttered by him under a sense of duty? It will be impossible to prevent ,men from finding reasons for thinking that he not only might have uttered a falsehood, but was bound to do so, if we admit this canon of interpretation. There is no need for many words in pursuing this argument, especially in writing to you, for whose wisdom and prudence enough has already been said. I would by no means be so arrogant as to attempt to enrich by my small coppers your mind, which by the divine gift is golden; and none is more able than yourself to revise and correct that work to which I have referred.
CHAP. IV. — 4. You do not require me to teach you in what sense the apostle says, "To the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews," and other such things in the same passage, which are to be ascribed to the compassion of pitying love, not the artifices of intentional deceit. For he that ministers to the sick becomes as if he were sick himself; not, indeed, falsely pretending to be under the fever, but considering, with the mind of one truly sympathizing, what he would wish done for himself if he were in the sick man's place. Paul was indeed a Jew; and when he had become a Christian, he had not abandoned those Jewish sacraments which that people had received in the right way, and for a certain appointed time. Therefore, even although he was an apostle of Christ, he took observing these; but with this view, that he might show that they were in no wise hurtful to those who, even after they had believed in Christ, desired to retain the ceremonies which by the law they had learned from their fathers; provided only that they did riot build on these their hope of salvation, since the salvation which was foreshadowed in these has now been brought in by the Lord Jesus. For the same reason, he judged that these ceremonies should by no means be made binding on the Gentile converts, because, by imposing a heavy and superfluous burden, they might turn aside from the faith those who were unaccustomed to them.
5. The thing, therefore, which he rebuked in Peter was not his observing the customs handed down from his fathers—which Peter, if he wished, might do without being chargeable with deceit or inconsistency, for, though now superfluous, these customs were not hurtful to one who bad been accustomed to them—but his compelling the Gentiles to observe Jewish ceremonies? which he could not do otherwise than by so acting in regard to them as if their observance was, even after the Lord's coming, still necessary to salvation, against which truth protested through the apostolic office of Paul. Nor was the Apostle Peter ignorant of this, but he did it through fear of those who were of the circumcision. Manifestly, therefore, Peter was truly corrected, and Paul has given a true narrative of the event, unless, by the admission of a falsehood here, the authority of the Holy Scriptures given for the faith of all coming generations is to be made wholly uncertain and wavering. For it is neither possible nor suitable to state within the compass of a letter how great and how unutterably evil must be the consequences of such a concession. It might, however, be shown seasonably, and with less hazard, if we were conversing together.
6. Paul had forsaken everything peculiar to the Jews that was evil, especially this: "That, being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, they had not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God." In this, moreover, he differed from them: that after the passion and resurrection of Christ, in whom had been given and made manifest the mystery of grace, according to the order of Melchizedek, they still considered it binding on them to celebrate, not out of mere reverence for old customs, but as necessary to salvation, the sacraments of the old economy, which were indeed at one time necessary, else had it been unprofitable and vain for the Maccabees to suffer martyrdom, as they did, for their adherence to them. Lastly, in this also Paul differed from the Jews: that they persecuted the Christian preachers of grace as enemies of the law. These and all similar errors and sins he declares that he "counted but loss and dung that he might win Christ;" but he does not, in so saying, disparage the ceremonies of the Jewish law, if only they were observed after the custom of their fathers, in the way in which he himself observed them, without regarding them as necessary to salvation, and not in the way in which the Jews affirmed that they must be observed, nor in the exercise of deceptive dissimulation such as he had rebuked in Peter. For if Paul observed these sacraments in order, by pretending to be a Jew, to gain the Jews, why did he not also take part with the Gentiles in heathen sacrifices, when to them that were without law he became as without law, that he might gain them also? The explanation is found in this, that he took part in the Jewish sacrifices, as being himself by birth a Jew; and that when he said all this which I have quoted, he meant, not that he pretended to be what he was not, but that he felt with true compassion that he must bring such help to them as would be needful for himself if he were involved in their error. Herein he exercised not the subtlety of a deceiver, but the sympathy of a compassionate deliverer. In the same passage the apostle has stated the principle more generally: "To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak; I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some,"—the latter clause of which guides us to understand the former as meaning that he showed himself one who pitied the weakness of another as much as if it had been his own. For when he said, "Who is weak, and I am not weak?" he did not wish it to be supposed that he pretended to suffer the infirmity of another, but rather that he showed it by sympathy.
7. Wherefore I beseech you, apply to the correction and emendation of that book a frank and truly Christian severity, and chant what the Greeks call palinôdia. For incomparably more lovely than the Grecian Helen is Christian truth: In her defence, our martyrs have fought against Sodom with more courage than the heroes of Greece displayed against Troy for Helen's sake. I do not say this in order that you may recover the faculty of spiritual sight,—far be it from me to say that you have lost it!— but that, having eyes both clear and quick in discernment, you may turn them towards that from which, in unaccountable dissimulation, you have turned them away, refusing to see the calamitous consequences which would follow on our once admitting that a writer of the divine books could in any part of his work honourably and piously utter a falsehood.
CHAP. V. — 8. I had written some time ago a letter to you on this subject, which was not delivered to you, because the bearer to whom it was entrusted did not finish his journey to you. From it I may quote a thought which occurred to me while I was dictating it, and which I ought not to omit in this letter, in order that, if your opinion is still different from mine, and is better, you may readily forgive the anxiety which has moved me to write. It is this: If your opinion is different, and is according to truth (for only in that case can it be better than mine), you will grant that "a mistake of mine, which is in the interest of truth, cannot deserve great blame, if indeed it deserves blame at all, when it is possible for you to use truth in the interest of falsehood without doing wrong."
9. As to the reply which you were pleased to give me concerning Origen, I did not need to be told that we should, not only in ecclesiastical writers, but in all others, approve and commend what we find right and true, but reject and condemn what we find false and mischievous. What I craved from your wisdom and learning (and I still crave it), was that you should acquaint us definitely with the points in which that remarkable man is proved to have departed from the belief of the truth. Moreover, in that book in which you have mentioned all the ecclesiastical writers whom you could remember, and their works, it would, I think, be a more convenient arrangement if, after naming those whom you know to be heretics (since you have chosen not to pass them without notice), you would add in what respect their doctrine is to be avoided. Some of these heretics also you have omitted, and I would fain know on what grounds. If, however, perchance it has been from a desire not to enlarge that volume unduly that you refrained from adding to a notice of heretics, the statement of the things in which the Catholic Church has authoritatively condemned them, I beg you not to grudge bestowing on this subject, to which with humility and brotherly love I direct your attention, a portion of that literary labour by which already, by the grace of the Lord our God, you have in no small measure stimulated and assisted the saints in the study of the Latin tongue, and publish in one small book (if your other occupations permit you) a digest of the perverse dogmas of all the heretics who up to this time have, through arrogance, or ignorance, or self-will, attempted to subvert the simplicity of the Christian faith; a work most necessary for the information of those who are prevented, either by lack of leisure or by their not knowing the Greek language, from reading and understanding so many things. I would urge my request at greater length, were it not that this is commonly a sign of misgivings as to the benevolence of the party from whom a favour is sought. Meanwhile I cordially recommend to your goodwill in Christ our brother Paulus, to whose high standing in these regions I bear before God willing testimony.
Taken from "The Early Church Fathers and Other Works" originally published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co. in English in Edinburgh, Scotland, beginning in 1867. (NPNF I/I, Schaff). The digital version is by The Electronic Bible Society, P.O. Box 701356, Dallas, TX 75370, 214-407-WORD.


text:
By BRUCE EDWARD WALKER
Coincidentally, I was born the same year that Berry Gordy established the Motown empire in Detroit.
Wherever my travels have taken me, it seems that the common cultural denominator has always been Motown. At the White Horse Tavern in Greenwich Village, I was accosted by a group of R&B-savvy Welsh rowdies, while in Stuttgart, Germany, I won a trivia contest in a bar by knowing that Barrett Strong recorded Motown's first hit single, "Money (That's What I Want)."
I was able to win over the Welsh rowdies, incidentally, when I told them I came from Detroit, prompting the near-reverent interrogatory: "Detroit? Do you know Smokey?" By the end of the night, we were standing together, arms thrown over each others' shoulders, singing songs like "Papa Was a Rolling Stone," "Cloud Nine," "Ball of Confusion" and "Psychedelic Shack." And that was just the Temptations!
But don't take my word for it. The Beatles loved Motown and covered the Marvelettes' "Please, Mr. Postman." Bruce Springsteen loved Motown and recorded a blistering cover of Edwin Starr's "War." The Rolling Stones loved Motown and covered "Just My Imagination," among other songs. The Who covered "Baby, Don't You Do It" and "Dancing in the Street." Rod Stewart recorded "(I Know) I'm Losing You." Bob Dylan loved Motown, too, and called Smokey Robinson his favorite poet — not a bad compliment from someone who took his stage name from one of the 20th century's most famous poets.
But most importantly, kids loved Motown. Black and white, rich and poor, educated and uneducated.
The Motown message goes beyond the entrepreneurial spirit exhibited by Gordy. It extends to the warp and woof of the music itself.
The Motown sound was more than just awesomely talented singers, dancers and musicians. The mere existence of Motown was a sociopolitical phenomenon. The work ethic was strong, and the resulting music reflected that. The performers personified that strength in smoothly calculated dancing to accompany the crooning, spooning and moon'n'Juning vocal performances.
Motown songwriters knew how to pack an emotional punch. Motown's legendary composers ranged from Robinson and Norman Whitfield to Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder and the triumvirate of Holland-Dozier-Holland. Remember, too, that Gordy started his career as a songwriter for the great Jackie Wilson, a legacy that alone should reserve him a place in the pop culture firmament.
At first, these songwriters wrote tremendous tunes that rivaled the best of Tin Pan Alley or the Brill Building. But they branched out to deal with social and political issues at a time when casualties mounted in Vietnam, war protests turned violent, great leaders were gunned down and the false promises of the Great Society evaporated into thin air.
They also helped ease racial tensions and promote individual liberty while creating the urge to either slow dance or shake a tail feather. Think of Stevie Wonder's "You Haven't Done Nothing," which takes to task those politicians who will say anything to get elected and stay in office. Wonder also handles this theme in the song "Big Brother." In The Temptations' song "Ball of Confusion," they assert: "Vote for me and I'll set you free," and "Politicians say more taxes will solve everything. And the band played on."
Similarly, Marvin Gaye's song suite "What's Going On" deftly handles the devastation wrought by war, with the album's songs reflecting the impressions of Gaye's brother upon his return from the Vietnam conflict. Elsewhere, the album features "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy Me (The Ecology)," an anthem to environmental concerns.
Personal responsibility played a large part in the Motown catalog as well. The Supremes' "Love Child" and the Temptations' "Papa Was a Rolling Stone" both handle the topic in a frank manner.
Bereft of the music of Motown, the world would have lost a powerful shared aesthetic experience, one that conveys the importance of personal responsibility, the foolhardiness of relying on politicians to solve social problems, the real human costs of war and the importance of our environment. What an honor to be born in the same year.
(Bruce Edward Walker is communications manager for the Property Rights Network at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a research and educational institute based in Midland.)


text:
Remember yesterday's April Fools' Day post? The one where I mocked marble and farm tables and food blogging in general? Yea…. well, here I am living in the the very world I lovingly mocked. In penance I present you with tiny baby scones. I set the marble aside for today because that would just be too much. The farm table I can't help. Thank you for letting me mock us and myself.
I'm excited to tell you about these scones!
Sure… I'm always excited to tell you about scones. That's a constant.
But these scones are special! They're definitely more scone than biscuit. In my world I'm generally trying to pass of biscuits as scones, but this isn't that.
These Cream Scones are just that: cream! There's no cold butter, no eggs, and no buttermilk. Just cream, flour, and a few fixins!
There's a really great reason why these cream scones are absolutely delightful without the butter and buttermilk.
See… cream is what we use to make butter!
By using cream we're adding our liquid and our fat all in one fell swoop! Cream is our multi-tasker… and totally delicious (obviously).
Chopped strawberries will also help moisten the batter.
I love that strawberries are coming back into season! This feels like really good news!
I also added a good handful of chopped white chocolate. I just had to.
The strawberry dough is pretty shaggy. Moist, but shaggy. Moist, but not sticky. How many more times can I say moist?
No rolling pin required. Just press and suggest the dough into a disk and press it out to 3/4″ thickness.
I love the strawberry studs.
I used a 1 1/4″round biscuit cutter to make these tiny scone bites. If you don't have round cutters of various sizes you can trim the edges and make these scones 1-inch squares. Cool?
Brushed with heavy cream and sprinkled generously with turbinado sugar.
As you can see from the recipe below, these scones don't actually have very many ingredients.
There's a rule in baking… the fewer the ingredients, the more cautious you must be with measuring and technique. It's weird, but true. Because this scone dough is basically a mixture of flour, baking powder, and cream we have to honor these ingredients and make sure we measure intentionally. Measure your flour carefully. I wrote about flour measuring here: Baking 101: Weighing and Measuring Flour.
I also stirred the dry ingredients as I poured in the cream. The mixture may feel a bit dry even with the 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream. If you measured correctly, don't be alarmed. The dough will be shaggy but will come together with a few kneads and gentle presses.
This recipe is from King Arthur Flour. The proportions are spot on and the strawberries are a Spring dream. Yep… I said Spring dream.
Tiny Strawberry Cream Scones
makes about 20 to 24 small scones
adapted from King Arthur Flour
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/3 to 1 1/2 cups heavy cream plus more for brushing the top
3/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh strawberries
1/3 cup chopped white chocolate (optional)
turbinado sugar for topping
Place a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with a Silpat or parchment paper and set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Set aside.
In a liquid measuring cup mix together vanilla extract and 1 1/3 cups cream. Drizzle the cream mixture into the dry ingredients tossing and stirring as you pour in the cream. Add the strawberry chunks and white chocolate chunks (if using). Toss together. Add 2 more tablespoons of cream if necessary to create a moist, cohesive, but not sticky dough.
Dump the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Gently gather and knead the dough into a dish and press the disk out into a 3/4″ thickness.
Use a small biscuit cutter to cut small 1 1/4″ circles from the dough disk. Brush each circle with heavy cream and sprinkle generously with turbinado sugar.
Place 1-inch apart on the prepared baking sheet and bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through.
Remove from the oven and serve warm.


text:
Billionaire casino tycoon Sheldon Adelson seems to be signaling his intention to plow millions more into conservative groups to influence this year's elections, in addition to $10 million he and his wife gave a super PAC backing Newt Gingrich. For the first time, Adelson, who is worth an estimated $21.5 billion, and his Israeli born physician wife Miriam attended a mega donor conference sponsored by the billionaire brothers, Charles and David Koch.
The recent gathering, a twice-a-year event that began about eight years ago, was held in late January at a resort in Palm Springs. It typically draws deep pocketed givers, a few members of Congress and conservative leaders eagerly seeking big checks for their pet projects. Fundraisers say that this year's winter event included an appearance by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor who has been a guest at other Koch events. Neither Cantor's office nor Adelson's press shop, responded to requests for comment.
Fundraisers familiar with Koch spending plans for this year say that the brothers and their large network of allied donors could pump as much as $200 million into electoral drives run by outside groups to help Republicans win the Senate and the White House and keep control of the House.
The Adelsons are weighing financial help to some groups that had a presence at the Koch conference but it's unclear which ones are at the top of his prospect list, say fundraisers. Probably the most influential group that's been at recent conferences has been Americans for Prosperity, a grassroots lobbying and political advocacy powerhouse that was started by the Koch Brothers in 2004.
Adelson has recently indicated strong interest in backing other GOP allied groups, say fundraisers familiar with his giving. In 2010, Adelson wrote a seven figure check to Crossroads GPS, a non-profit advocacy group that doesn't have to disclose its donors publicly which was co-founded by GOP super consultants Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie.
The GPS group and an affiliated super PAC American Crossroads together raised $71 million in 2010 and were instrumental in the Republicans taking back the House that year. This election year, the two groups are aiming to raise as much as $300 million and are slated to spend about half of their funds to help the GOP nominee take the White House and the rest to boost GOP Congressional candidates.
Fundraisers familiar with Adelson and the two Crossroads groups say he's likely to pump a few million dollars more into one of them this year to help whoever wins the GOP nomination take the White House.
Further, fundraisers say that Adelson is also considering writing a check to the American Action Network, another non-profit that doesn't have to disclose its donors that's chaired by former Sen. Norm Coleman of Minnesota. Coleman has said that his group will focus heavily on keeping the House Republican.
Prior to the Gingrich super PAC largess, Adelson also gave $7.7 million to a Gingrich political group, American Solutions for Winning the Future, over a five year period. Those funds were helpful in keeping Gingrich's political fortunes alive before his campaign this year.
With Gingrich's double digit loss Tuesday in the Florida primaries, it's unclear whether the Adelsons will pump more funds into the pro-Gingrich super PAC Winning Our Future to help their friend and political ally stay competitive. Adelson and Gingrich, going back to the mid 1990's, have forged close ties over their shared commitment to Israeli security and their opposition to a two state solution to settle the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
Gingrich flew into Nevada today to campaign before that state holds a caucus vote this weekend. The Gingrich super PAC will be advertising in Nevada, according to Rick Tyler a senior advisor to the group and a former spokesman for Gingrich's campaign.
After it received $5 million from Sheldon Adelson last month the super PAC ran close to $3 million in negative ads against former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney in South Carolina and was a key factor in Gingrich's come from behind double digit win in that state.
But in Florida, despite a second $5 million infusion from Miriam Adelson, the pro Gingrich super PAC was vastly outspent by a pro Romney super PAC, Restore Our Future, and the Romney campaign.
The Adelsons' $10 million donation to Winning Our Future is the largest single donation known since court rulings in 2010 gave the go ahead to corporations, individuals and unions giving unlimited sums to groups that are advocating directly for the election or defeat of candidates.
Help support this work
Public Integrity doesn't have paywalls and doesn't accept advertising so that our investigative reporting can have the widest possible impact on addressing inequality in the U.S. Our work is possible thanks to support from people like you.


text:
Rocky Atkinson
|24 of 27 overall winning years! 122-81 NBA run! 909-781 premium pick all sports run! Passing for Thursday! 170-120 59% last 290 TOP MLB!
My Handicapping and Betting Philosophy: I use my own unique power ratings for each sport along with trend analysis, stats and line value. I take a different approach for every sport I handicap. Keep in mind that you should think long-term profit. You're not going to win every day, every week or even every month. If you follow my selections exactly as I release them, you will make a good long term profit in all sports and that has been proven with my results over the years. Also, don't forget how important money management and discipline is in making serious money in this business.
My Special Achievements in Handicapping: I was the No. 1 documented "Overall Handicapper" in 2004 at Professional Handicappers League. I was part of a team of experts that finished No. 2 in the famous Las Vegas Hilton NFL Superbook Contest in 2003 winning $83,300 - finishing a point out of first place. I have also had several No. 1 finishes in various sports and numerous Top 5 and Top 10 finishes at several monitors. My Most Memorable Moment: I won 17-straight NBA games a few years ago.
Biggest Win of my Career: I feel like every win is a big one. Back in 1998, Denver started the season off 13-0. Denver then had to play at the NY Giants whose record was 5-8 at the time. Denver was installed as 12 1/2 point road favorite. I told my clients that the NY Giants would beat Denver outright and they won the game straight up 20-16. After I released, I don't think I had ever had so many clients call the office asking me if I had lost my mind but we cashed once again.
Toughest Loss of my Career: I had a huge play on Tampa Bay on Monday Night Football a few years back and I think they were playing Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts. Tampa Bay had a huge lead of around 17 points or so and blew it and the cover with less than four minutes left in the game.
Favorite Team(s) to Play or Fade: I really don't have a favorite team to play or fade. During the season you will find teams to play on or to fade until the oddsmakers catch up with you. Everyday gives you a unique opportunity and I never know if I will play 10 games or pass until the card is handicapped thoroughly.
What You Can Expect From Me: I am very selective with my premium plays. I research the entire card finding the plays that make me a winner year after year. I am one of the few honest services in the business filled with scammers. My ability to pick winners consistently is second to none and with my money management system you will maximize your profits week in week out.
Here are a few more of the NCAA basketball handicappers on our site: