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22 Jun 2006
People who eat a Mediterranean diet, exercise, don't smoke, and drink moderately reduce their chance of dying by a whopping 65 per cent.
15 Jun 2006
Vitamin D is good for bones, but it may also help prevent falls in older people - possibly by strengthening muscles.
08 Jun 2006
Fathers too can get depressed after a child's birth and when it happens, it seems the odds of emotional and behavioural problems in the child are increased.
01 Jun 2006
A study of the risk of dying from lung cancer due to smoking has confirmed that low tar cigarettes don't offer any protection. It found smokers of low tar fags smoked more cigarettes per day.
25 May 2006
What can you do to reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease? Keep healthy in your early years, stay active, control your blood pressure, eat well, and make sure you have a good social network in your old age.
18 May 2006
Probably the commonest childhood operation is the insertion of grommets to relieve fluid in the middle ear: so-called 'glue ear'. But there's little or no good evidence that grommets make a difference.
11 May 2006
Can long-term environmental noise from, say, traffic or aircraft affect a child's development and learning? New research suggests it can.
04 May 2006
Many people snore, and some of them also have sleep apnoea, a problem known to increase the risk of heart disease. But is the apnoea the problem, or are snorers at higher risk of heart disease anyway?
27 Apr 2006
Once it was thought that the Type A personality was a culprit in the development of high blood pressure: the driven, aggressive, high paced, high achiever. Is it true?
20 Apr 2006
A study of both oestrogen-only and combination HRT has found that it makes urinary incontinence worse for women who have it, and can cause incontinence in women who don't.
13 Apr 2006
How do you know if you're at risk of sudden death from heart disease following exercise? French researchers have established some predictors.
06 Apr 2006
Research on selenium, beta carotene, and vitamins A, C and E found that apart from selenium there was no protection against gastrointestinal cancer.
30 Mar 2006
Do women, like many men, benefit from regular low-dose aspirin? The answer is yes and no.


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'LOST' Creator Hints the Show Could Return
It's been a solid two years since 'LOST' finally ended its historic run with the divisive, yet aptly-titled "The End," but the rumor mill hasn't stopped churning with ideas and possibilities for a way to continue the Island stories so richly chronicled on ABC. After all, with many of 'LOST's mysteries still unresolved, even by the supposed "epilogue" included on the DVD, isn't a return trip due?
Maybe, but don't expect 'LOST' co-creator and show-runner Damon Lindelof to have any involvement in it. Lindelof seems to have grown rather comfortable in his post-'LOST' niche, occasionally chatting about the show via his Twitter or in interviews, but never buckling down to officially re-open the island for business. With the property still strong in recent memory however, might others take a crack at it in the near future?
Speaking with reporters at Variety's recent Technology Summit, Lindelof said of a possible 'LOST' re-surgence:
"It's been two years (since the series wrapped) and we told the story we wanted to tell," Lindelof said. But he admits ABC might look for ways to bring back "Lost" in some form. "I do feel like the world has not seen the end of 'Lost,' but I'm not going to have any involvement," he said.
Of course, that doesn't preclude the idea of someone else picking up the mantle, which Lindelof confessed it would be "hypocritical" of him to criticize, given his current involvement with the 'Star Trek' reboot series. Lindelof also had a hand in writing the upcoming 'Prometheus,' loosely connected with the existed 'Alien' franchise.
What say you? Should 'LOST' keep off the radar for another few years before someone tries to resurrect the franchise, or was the series ruined by the final season? Who would you like to see take a crack at the legendary ABC series, and with what characters? Give us your theories and (abbreviated) fan-fiction in the comments below!

subset: commoncrawl


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Mary Pride
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By Mary Pride
Printed in Practical Homeschooling #41, 2001.
Are you one of the few . . . the proud . . . the wired? Do your kids yawn at workbooks but thrill to computer games? Do you have oodles of kids . . . but not oodles of time to grade dozens of workbooks? Is your schedule overloaded, or are there subjects you'd like the kids to learn that you don't feel confident enough to teach?
Then welcome to Laptop Homeschool.
As I've said before, and will probably say again, you don't need a computer to give your children a great education. If you have the time, hands-on learning and print curriculum can do a great job. In fact, if you're looking to calm down and return to the simple virtues, I recommend sitting side by side on the couch with your student with no louder sound effect than pencil on paper.
However, you can obtain some of the same family closeness by moving from Desktop Education to Laptop Education. More on this later!
Advantages of Using a Computer in Your Homeschool
We'll be dealing with some of the disadvantages of homeschool computing later in this article (and how to get around them), so let's first consider why we want to bother with educational computing at all. Ponder these major advantages of educational software:
So far, we're just talking CD-ROMS, DVDs, and disks. When it comes to online education, here are some additional benefits:
Now, all of this information and interactivity can have a dark side. And here it comes . . .
Laptops v. Desktops
Wondering why we're calling this article "Laptop Homeschool" instead of "Desktop Homeschool"? The fact is, you probably already know quite a bit about desktop education. You've used some educational software and read some articles about online academies. But we're not just talking about a little bit of computer biz you can add to your homeschool day. We're taking computerized education to the max, to show you the current state of the art.
But first, here's the problem with desktop computers.
Why is this a problem? Because . . .
Most of the above can be avoided by putting the children's educational software on a laptop, to which you (the parent) retain the phone wire. If you or a child need to go online, then you plug into the phone outlet. Meanwhile, it's easy for different children to use the same laptop in different locations, and for Mom to keep the computer user together with his or her siblings, instead of off alone at a desk by himself.
If you own a desktop computer, don't stress too much over this. But if you still have the choice - laptop or desktop? - we'd say, "Go with the laptop," even though the desktop computer will be less expensive. Let me put it this way: After years of reviewing every educational software product known to man, we had no luck getting our children to actually use most of the software we wanted them to until we discovered the joys of laptops. It has made all the difference in the world to our homeschool management. And, if worst comes to worst and computer use is unproductive for a time until your child gains more strength of character, you can always pack your laptop in its case and stick it in storage, or loan it to a friend - and your child will know this is no idle threat. This is much harder to manage with a bulky, heavy desktop computer and monitor.
Now, I know your kids would never go online to download unauthorized games, or visit nasty web sites, or play during homeschool hours. But for the sake of all the less-blessed out there who still see many advantages to computers in the homeschool, and who may have been struggling with some of the disadvantages, we'd like to share some tips we've learned over the years.
The Elementary Child: Software Only
Homework tutoring sites and online courses for young children are beginning to sprout up. Should your preteen child go online to use these sites and make friends?
At this point, we would say, "No." Totally apart from the problem of online stalkers and inappropriate language in chat rooms, this is not when you want your child disappearing into a virtual world. Constant parental supervision is wearying, but necessary, because online porn sites are just an accidental mouse-click away. And why bother? A combination of educational software and traditional tools can easily supply all the educational needs of a child in this age group.
One good software collection (e.g., the Elementary Edge programs reviewed in this issue) can provide plenty of educational power at an affordable price. This might be a good place to start if you're counting the pennies.
TIP: We have found CD-ROM wallets very helpful. If you have enough software to warrant it, you can organize the software by age level, child, or subject. List the contents on it with a gel pen (regular pens and markers don't work, and stickers and labels don't stick to these wallets!). Teach each child how to put away a disc after use. This will prevent the common problem of scratched and lost software, especially if you purchased a laptop case (also recommended) where wallets can be stored between uses.
The Middle Years: Software and Learning the Rules of the Internet
Young teens can learn the rules of online safety, but there's more going on here than just following rules. If your child has a tendency to slack, remember that the Internet is the original black hole of time. Offsetting this, some excellent online academies offer courses for this age group, and with more complex schoolwork, homework help sites might start making some sense for the first time.
TIP: I wouldn't turn over the keys to the online kingdom indiscriminately, however. Hang on to that phone wire so you have some control over how much time your student is spending online. Even if this means you're spending a lot of time under a desk plugging in the wire, it's worth it. And do not, under any circumstances, let a single Nintendo-style computer game in the house! If you wish to allow your children to play this type of game, have them play it on a console, not on the computer. Boys of this age are especially prone to becoming game addicts in the blink of an eye, and you do not want the computer becoming another portal to this time-wasting (and in many cases, morally offensive) universe.
The High School Years: Online and Loving It
Unless you're using a computerized curriculum such as Switched-On Schoolhouse, educational software fills less of your educational basket at this age. Kids need to be doing a lot of real-world projects and writing assignments to prepare them for college. SAT-prep software is great, though, and far less expensive than attending SAT-prep classes in person.
This is the age where online academies are most helpful - and needed. We would never have had the time to put our children through Advanced Placement courses ourselves, or teach them Latin. If you want to provide your children with a homeschool education to rival that found in elite prep schools, and you have a lot of children or relatively little time, some online classes are the way to go. Plus, they help meet the intense social needs of this age group, in which finding friends who share your interests is more important than simply having people of your age to hang around with.
TIP: Life is much more bearable if at the same time you enroll your student in his online courses you obtain a separate phone line for his modem. Unless you enjoy having your friends get busy signals day and night when they try to call you.
To put you fully in the picture about what's available today in online academies, we asked our two Class of 2001 high-school-graduate consultants, Joseph and Sarah Pride, to share their experiences with four such academies. They have been taking online classes for eight years now; Joseph in particular served as a beta tester for one of these academies! Both Joseph and Sarah, like a good number of their online classmates, are National Merit Finalists, and have been accepted with full-tuition scholarships at top colleges. Incidentally, they both chose to use laptops rather than desktop computers with their online courses, which is what originally inspired the title of this article!
Real-Time, Text-Only with Institute for Study of the Liberal Arts and Sciences
ISLAS (www.islas.org) was one of the very first online academies. It offers a full high-school curriculum, and some middle-school courses as well. Its sister school, Regina Coeli Academy, has a specifically Catholic emphasis, while ISLAS is more generically Christian. Both Sarah and Joe took Latin and some other courses from ISLAS.
Sarah says, "I always loved ISLAS because I made really good friends with all my classmates. Although it was text-only, I had the feeling of being in a 'real' class. We'd all chat together before - and sometimes during - the weekly classes. We could send private messages through a separate window while attending class in the main window, although of course the teacher didn't encourage this! When the teacher figured out one or more of the students were having a long lag in answering, she'd 'ping' us to see if we were still online. This way she could catch us while we were 'passing notes.' When the teacher asked a question, everyone would type an exclamation point when they had the answer. The first person to type the exclamation point would get first shot at answering the question; if they were wrong, the next person in line would do it. The downside was that not every student was a fast typist, so we didn't always get through as much in a class as we wished. It got less formal in Latin 3, where everyone took turns typing in portions of the translations for others to critique.
"All the ISLAS teachers created their own courses, so they really knew what they were talking and emailing about. I would say they all are good teachers, and the instruction is of high quality.
"Another good thing about ISLAS was their graduation ceremony, held in real time and real space. I got to attend the 2000 ceremony here in St. Louis and actually meet the people I'd been chatting with online for years. It was great!
"My favorite online class was my first: 'Molding Your Prose,' taught by Dr. Bruce McMenomy, and taken when I was 12 years old. At the beginning of the year, we each chose one well-known story, and then rewrote it in many different forms: news story, humorous story, short-short story of less than 100 words, and so on. It was like a big writing club online. [See Sue Richman's article on that topic in this issue! - Editor] Some of the other students are still my friends."
Joseph echoes Sarah's comments about the friends he made and the quality of ISLAS instruction and adds, "There is no computer so ancient it can't run ISLAS. Everything is set up through email and online chat, so if your computer can connect to the Internet and accept keystrokes, you can take an online course here."
Real Time with Whiteboard and Internet Audio: Escondido Tutorial Service
Fritz Hinrichs' Escondido Tutorial Service (www.gbt.org) started years ago with classes for local students, added distance learning via speakerphone, and then discovered the Internet. Best known for Fritz's "Great Books Tutorial," which covers the Great Books of the Western World over a period of six years, ETS now offers a variety of other courses as well. Joe took two years of Great Books Tutorial; Sarah took one.
Sarah says, "Escondido Tutorial Service's 'Great Books' online courses were the most interactive courses I had. Although annoyingly my Macintosh software did not allow me to literally talk to the other students (I had to input text), I did get to hear what they and Mr. Hinrichs were saying. Attending just one class in real time seemed normal at the time, as I had only attended ISLAS courses before, which also used real-time chat.
"Real-time audio discussions - as opposed to lectures - are a good instructional medium. We'd read the book, and then discuss it, which I felt led to much better understanding than just reading it alone would have."
Joseph says, "ETS is still pretty chummy, but you're only likely to find any chat happening during class time, unlike ISLAS, which runs its own Internet Relay Chat (IRC) server. You'd better love ancient books if you're going to be in any of Mr. Hinrichs' classes. Don't forget, he graduated from St. John's!"
24-Hour Message Board Plus Email: PA Homeschoolers
A lifesaver when we found them, Pennsylvania Homeschoolers (www.
pahomeschoolers.com) was the first online academy we know of that offered Advanced Placement courses to homeschoolers. Today, they offer a wider selection than ever. Our children have taken many courses from a variety of teachers through PA Homeschoolers.
Sarah says, "PA Homeschoolers Advanced Placement courses, of which I have taken five over four years, are always of top quality. These courses are 'asynchronous,' meaning you don't attend at a specific time of the day. Rather, you get posted or emailed assignments due by a specific date. Expect lot of written assignments, because they are the best way to prepare for AP exams. Each course also requires lots of time-consuming discussion, either through their website or email.
"The AP Economics course [taught by PHS columnist Howard Richman - Ed.], did an especially good job of preparing us by going over and over and over the exact topics which we needed to be prepared to write about. Each course had a detailed syllabus also, which let parents and students know what was due when."
Joseph says, "There always seems to be a spirited discussion going on at PA Homeschoolers courses. One major component of these courses is commenting on your fellow student's essays and comments. These courses are especially good for the non-science and math AP subjects, the ones that require a lot of discussion between teacher and students."
All the Bells & Whistles: APEX
APEX Learning (www.apexlearning.com), founded two years ago by Bill Gates buddy and Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen, also offers Advanced Placement courses. It features:
As a parent, I love the APEX interface. It makes it super easy to see exactly what the kids have done and what they need to do. From a management standpoint, my only gripe is the weird scheduling of units according to their topics and not according to the calendar. A unit can be anywhere from three to eight days long, and weekends and holidays are included just like other days. Weekly unit assignments would make much more sense from a scheduling standpoint.
Sarah doesn't share my love affair with APEX. She says, "I found APEX far too automated. When you got the assignment, if a question was confusing or had mistakes in its input, then you had to try to email the teacher and maybe - or maybe not - get a response back in time to make sense of your assignment. All the other online courses I've attended had assignments written by the actual online teachers. Typically, those other courses emailed assignments or gave them out during chats, so if you had any questions or confusion you could sort it out right then.
"Exception: Mr. Robinson, my APEX AP Physics teacher, was very good about getting back quickly with answers. I think this was partly because he had been one of the people who developed the course. My AP Calculus teacher, on the other hand, was horrible about getting back to me. Several times, assignments weren't graded for two weeks, which made it hard to learn anything from my mistakes and really killed my motivation to get the assignments in. Her email answers to my questions weren't very helpful, and she didn't comment on my assignments at all.
"APEX is not the place to make online friends. The online student lounge was usually deserted, and the required discussions seem to end up fulfilling only the minimal requirement of posting a comment and commenting on one other post. There is no real-time chat, and no school spirit. Most of the kids taking courses are public schoolers. The two classes I took both consisted mostly of a group of kids from one public school, plus a few strays from public schools around the country, plus my brother Joseph and me, the lone homeschoolers."
Joseph agrees with all the above. His comment: "It's like taking a course via educational software, except that you do have teacher input and grading added throughout the course. The systematic, automated approach is great for science and math. You just grind through it day or night, whenever you have the time. Run the lectures from the CD-ROM, if you can, is my advice, as otherwise you will end up wasting lots of time reestablishing broken connections in the middle of the lecture. As a side note, the physics course has web animations rather than video lectures, and those always ran right. I'd recommend a Pentium or an iMac to make your APEX experience as smooth as it can be."
Sarah's final tip: "Don't get overexcited about all the neat courses out there and overenroll your student. I talk to homeschooled kids online all the time whose parents have signed them up for too many online courses, so they're spending all their time struggling with academics." Good point, Sarah! Whether it's educational software or online courses, start off small. Where you go from there is up to you!
Classical Education
Teach Your Children to Work
Columbus and the Flat Earth...
A Reason for Reading
Joyce Swann's Homeschool Tips
Character Matters for Kids
The Gift of a Mentor
Advanced Math: Trig, PreCalc, and more!
Getting Organized Part 1 - Tips & Tricks
Getting Started in Homeschooling: The First Ten Steps
Saxon Math: Facts vs. Rumors
Top Tips for Teaching Toddlers
The Equal Sign - Symbol, Name, Meaning
I Was an Accelerated Child
AP Courses At Home
What Does My Preschooler Need to Know?
Don't Give Up on Your Late Bloomers
University Model Schools
Critical Thinking and Logic
Start a Nature Notebook
Phonics the Montessori Way
What We Can Learn from the Homeschooled 2002 National Geography Bee Winners
Getting Organized Part 3
The Benefits of Debate
Give Yourself a "CLEP Scholarship"
Whole-Language Boondoggle
Bears in the House
Shakespeare Camp
Can Homeschoolers Participate In Public School Programs?
Art Appreciation the Charlotte Mason Way
How to Win the Geography Bee
How to "Bee" a Spelling Success
Discover Your Child's Learning Style
Combining Work and Homeschool
Laptop Homeschool
Myth of the Teenager
Narration Beats Tests
Patriarchy, Meet Matriarchy
Montessori Math
A Homeschooler Wins the Heisman
The Charlotte Mason Approach to Poetry
Montessori Language Arts at Home, Part 1
The Charlotte Mason Method
The History of Public Education
Top Jobs for the College Graduate
The Benefits of Cursive Writing
Why the Internet will Never Replace Books
Teaching Blends
Interview with John Taylor Gatto
Who Needs the Prom?


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Pamir Mountains, Ishkashim to Khorog - Tajikistan
The end of our journey through Tajikistan's Pamir Mountains. Includes the segment along the Afghan border from Ishkashim to Khorog. Read more about our adventures in the Pamirs and watch our video from this beautiful and terrifying Tajik Air flight. © UncorneredMarket.comRead More


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SAN JOSE, Calif., Nov. 24 (UPI) -- Antti Niemi stopped 18-of-19 shots Saturday and the San Jose Sharks rode a pair of first-period goals to a 2-1 victory over New Jersey.
Niemi made nine saves in the third period to help the Sharks hang on for their fifth win in six games.
Scott Hannan and Tyler Kennedy each scored in the early going to provide San Jose's offense.
Patrick Elias got the Devils' only goal on a third-period power play.
Martin Brodeur made 28 saves for New Jersey, which wrapped up a three-game California road trip with a 2-1-0 mark.


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President III
Centre Prague
8 persons
This modern and luxury apartment is situated in the centre of Prague. Located in a beautiful characteristic building from 1900. In the centre of Prague and a quiet location. At just a few steps from the Wenceslas Square, the heart of the city. The famous Charles Bridge, Old Town Square with Astronomical Clock, all within walking distance! Opposite the apartment is a branch of Tesco supermarkets where you can buy everything fresh daily (open from Monday to Sunday from 8:00 to 11:00 p.m. hour).
This spacious renovated apartment features a spacious living room with dining area, sitting area, LCD TV with DVD player, a fully equipped modern kitchen with appliances including dishwasher, fridge, microwave etc. There are also coffee and tea making facilities. Three large separate bedrooms with a double bed. Extra beds can be added on request. Two bathroom with a shower and bath-tub, large sink and extra toilet. All rooms have parquet floors. Linen and towels available for the entire rental period. These apartments are located on the top floor of the building. The building is also equipped with a lift.


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Book Description
Meet the Masters contains the biographies of the eight strongest players in the world at that time. It includes their histories, photographs, games and an analysis and critique of their playing styles. Each of these eight players had been invited to the historic tournament at AVRO 1938, regarded as the strongest chess tournament ever held prior to modern times. The eight players generally regarded as the strongest in the world were: World Champion Alexander Alekhine, former champions José Raúl Capablanca and Max Euwe, future champion Mikhail Botvinnik and challengers Paul Keres, Reuben Fine, Samuel Reshevsky and Salo Flohr.
About the Author(s)
Dr. Max Euwe was world chess champion from 1935 to 1937. He played all of the great players from Lasker to Fischer in tournaments and studied all of their games in great detail. He knew more about them and their games than anybody else. Max Euwe was born on May 20, 1901 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. He has long been regarded as almost an accidental world champion due to the probably not true rumor that Alekhine was drunk when he lost the world title to Euwe in a 30-game match in 1935. This has resulted in a controversy that is still being debated today: Was Euwe really the strongest player in the world when he won the world championship in 1935? Regardless of that issue, Euwe was certainly the most active and prolific writer about the game. He was never a professional player. He had a real job. He was a math professor.
After retirement he became a chess official. He was president of FIDE, the World Chess Federation, from 1970 to 1978. This was during the Cold War and Euwe had to make difficult decisions for the good of chess. It was absolutely, definitely because of Euwe that Bobby Fischer got to sit down at the board to play a match for the World Chess Championship. Fischer had been disqualified many times along the way, the first time being when he refused to play in the US Championship that was a necessary preliminary to the World Chess Championship competition. Max Euwe, himself a past world champion, acted as both referee and official at the famous Iceland matches in 1972. Max Euwe died on November 26, 1981 in his native Amsterdam at age 80.


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Reconstruction of the cargo terminal will give the ability to handle up to 45 pallets at the same time (a pallet is an aluminum plate with cargo weighting up to 2,6 tons; it is used to transfer goods from one plane to another without reassembly) in compliance with all necessary conditions of paperwork support. As a result cargo turnover of the terminal will reach 60-80 thousand tons annually. In case of increase of traffic flow, for example because of implementation of the "Open sky for cargo" project, additional modernization will allow to handle up to 200 transfer pallets at the same time.More Topics Interport
Military transport aircraft An-124 «Ruslan», owned by Volga-Dnepr air carrier, has landed in the height of the holiday as it was a part of the celebration. Flight was carried out from Vladivostok with intermediate stop in Khabarovsk for refueling. Delivery of the equipment - a compressor priced at more than 8 million dollars - for Achinsk oil refinery is a part of modernization program of the refinery.More Topics Interport
Interros Sets Up A Management Company Interport To Develop The Network Of Transportation and Logistics Complexes In Russias Largest Airports
Holding company Interros establishes a LLC Managing Company Interport to consolidate and manage its transportation and logistics assets as well as to develop a new freight airport infrastructure.More Topics Interport


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Google has open-sourced its protocol buffers, the company's lingua franca for encoding various types of data, in order to set the stage for a wave of new releases, according to official company blog posts and documents.
"Practically everyone inside Google" uses protocol buffers, states a FAQ page. "We have many other projects we would like to release as open source that use protocol buffers, so to do this, we needed to release protocol buffers first."
Google uses "thousands of different data formats to represent networked messages between servers, index records in repositories, geospatial datasets, and more," wrote Kenton Varda, a member of Google's software engineering team, in a blog post. "Most of these formats are structured, not flat. This raises an important question: How do we encode it all?"
The ubiquitous XML (extensible markup language) is not efficient enough for Google's data-sharing needs, according to Varda: "When all of your machines and network links are running at capacity, XML is an extremely expensive proposition."
With protocol buffers, "you define how you want your data to be structured once, then you can use special generated source code to easily write and read your structured data to and from a variety of data streams and using a variety of languages," according to a documentation page. "You can even update your data structure without breaking deployed programs that are compiled against the 'old' format."
Protocol buffers are three to 10 times smaller and 20 to 100 times faster than XML, according to Google.
But XML has some advantages for certain tasks, according to the documentation: "Protocol buffers would not be a good way to model a text-based document with markup (e.g. HTML), since you cannot easily interleave structure with text. In addition, XML is human-readable and human-editable; protocol buffers, at least in their native format, are not."
Google has prepared a download pagethat contains protocol buffer compilers for Java, C++ and Python.


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Biff and Baff – Rolling
GAME INFOTake Biff and Baff on a tour through 6 worlds with 5 levels each. Roll through all the levels. Collecting stars, keys, opening doors and finally rolling to the finish. Can you master it without falling down?
Arrows move Biff and Baff. Space to change players.


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A California company that first sued Apple in 2008 over patents related to the iPhone, iPod touch and other products, said last week that it will add the iPad to the list of infringing products.
"EMG will take steps to add Apple's newly released iPad to the range of Apple products already accused of patent infringement in the case, including the iTunes Store, iPhone, iPod Touch and Apple TV," Shawn Hansen of the law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, said in a statement. Hansen is representing EMG Technology in the case.
EMG sued Apple in November 2008, claiming that the Cupertino, Calf., maker of the iPhone infringed an EMG patent that provides "apparatus and method of manipulating a region on a wireless device screen for viewing, zooming and scrolling Internet content." Apple has countersued.
Patent 7,441,196 was awarded to Elliot Gottfurcht and two other inventors in October 2008. EMG filed the lawsuit in a Texas federal court four weeks later.
"The irony is that recently Apple filed an International Trade Commission action against HTC, a major manufacturer of Google and Microsoft smart phones for allegedly infringing Apple's patents," said Gottfurcht, a managing member of EMG, in a statement. "[Apple CEO] Steve Jobs released a personal statement putting HTC on notice…[that] '…competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours.' EMG intends to hold Apple to the same standard by fighting Apple's reckless disregard for EMG's patent rights."
Early last month, Apple asked the US-ITC (International Trade Commission) to ban the importation of smartphones made by Taiwanese handset manufacturer HTC, including a dozen that use Google's Android operating system. Among them: the Google-branded Nexus One.
Apple also sued Nokia last year, accusing the Finnish cell phone maker of violating its patents.
Other companies have added the iPad to their ongoing patent actions. In late March, Taiwan-based Elan Microelectronics charged Apple with "knowingly and willingly" using Elan's technology in its touchpads and touchscreens, including that used by the iPad, and demanded that the ITC block Apple from importing the tablet.
Apple launched the iPad two weeks ago. Last week, Jobs said that his company had sold 450,000 of the devices through April 7.
The EMG-Apple lawsuit is currently slated to go to trial in September 2011.
Attorneys for Apple and EMG's did not reply to a request seeking additional comment on the case.
iPad (2010)
Read our full iPad (2010) review
iPad with Wi-Fi 64GB
iPad with Wi-Fi 16GB


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I was walking through the lobby of the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose one day last week just before 6 pm, feeling a bit bleary after three consecutive weeks flying back and forth across the country to visit five different cities.
The question at hand was whether or not to attend a cocktail party being thrown by my corporate hosts. Then I spotted the spa. Impulsively, I walked in and asked if I might be able to book a massage. Minutes later, I was lying on a table, unbelievably happy to be there. When I walked out an hour later, I felt incredibly relaxed and rejuvenated.
It was a powerful reminder of a core principle we teach our clients: The greater the performance demand, the greater the need for intermittent renewal. It's just common sense. If you're spending down more energy than usual, you need to refuel yourself more than usual.
Of course, most of us do just the opposite. When we're facing a tough deadline, or a difficult set of demands, the default behavior is to hunker down, push the envelope, stay the course, burn the midnight oil. The clichés abound because the practice is so common.
If you spend any time traveling for business, the overwhelming likelihood is you struggle with delays, get to sleep late in your new city, wake up early, and pack your days with as many meetings as possible. If you take any time at all to relax, it's usually over dinner, and you're likely to eat too much and drink too much (especially if someone else is pouring).
My massage last week reminded me how vastly much better I feel — and subsequently perform — when I take time on the road to truly renew. Here are my six key strategies:
1. Do whatever it takes to get enough sleep. There is no more critical form of renewal, period. Only one out of every 40 people requires less than seven hours of sleep to feel fully rested, so the odds are that person isn't you.
When I travel, I calculate how many hours I'm going to be able to sleep when I arrive, and if it's less than eight, I try to make up the difference on the plane. I always bring a mask and earplugs. If you struggle to fall asleep, try a non-narcotic sleeping aid, such as Melatonin. Even a prescription sleeping pill is fine occasionally.
2. Get at least 20 to 30 minutes of physical exercise in the morning, because if you don't do it then, you won't do it. (But don't do it at the expense of sleep.)
You already know how healthy it is to exercise. It's also an incredibly reliable mood-enhancer. Choose a hotel with a good fitness facility, unless you're happy to exercise outside.
A walk is a reasonable option, but you'll get more bang for your buck, and likely feel better if you do some sort of aerobic exercise. At the simplest level, that means raising your heart rate enough that you're truly exerting yourself.
As a stopgap, bring a Dyna-Band, which you can learn to use in a few minutes and allows you to get a full-body workout in your room.
3. Never, ever take the key for the minibar. There's nothing good in it, trust me. If the minibar doesn't have a key, consider asking that it be removed from your room before you check in. So long as you have one available, you're more likely to eat or drink something you don't need.
4. Breathe between meetings. Obviously, you're always breathing, but I'm talking about something more deliberate. Take at least one full minute to breathe in through your nose to a count of three, expanding your abdomen, and then out through your mouth to a count of six.
By extending your out breath, you get more renewal. It's possible to clear your bloodstream of cortisol — the most insidious of the stress hormones — in less than a minute by breathing this way. It's also a great way to clear your mind.
5. Call home. It's incredibly important to stay connected with the people you love – for you, and for them. It's also best to call when you're feeling reasonably relaxed and unrushed, because it will go better, and that will make you feel better.
6. Don't let airport delays get you down. They're unpredictable and inevitable. Always leave the day before your meetings, and be sure you have at least one backup flight. Travel with plenty of stuff to keep you happily and productively occupied on the plane, and if you're delayed.
I bring two or three books, so I have choices about what to read, depending on my mood. I also carry a journal, because I've found there is no better place to think reflectively, without interruption, than on a plane, or in a quiet corner in an airport. Quiet time alone is precious, so savor whatever you happen to get.


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Effective Negotiating® January 9-12, 2024
4 mornings
8:30am – 12:30pm Pacific
Presented in English
Availability: In stock
Effective Negotiating® January 9-12, 2024
EFFECTIVE NEGOTIATING® LIVESTREAM is a fully- interactive instructor-led version of our tried and tested program. With maximum participant engagement in mind, we have built a digital Virtual Studio and created an experience that allows you to participate in negotiations one-on-one and in groups, interact with the seminar leader and other participants, and follow along with the workbook and other handouts sent to you in advance.
Over the course of 4 days/4 modules/4 hours each, you will be fully engaged in negotiating, discussing, asking, answering, and learning. The seminar leader and moderator will be in the KARRASS virtual studio guiding you through every step. The course can be done in morning or afternoon sessions based on your time zone, which allows for you and your team to focus on work the remainder of the day using your new skills and strategies in real time.
Upon receipt of your registration, we will provide you with the necessary instructions and information you will need.
Seminar Schedule:
Times are Pacific Standard Time – (GMT-8) please adjust to your time zone accordingly.
Module 1: Tuesday, January 9, 2024 – 8:30am – 12:30pm
Module 2: Wednesday, January 10, 2024 – 8:30am – 12:30pm
Module 3: Thursday, January 11, 2024 – 8:30am – 12:30pm
Module 4: Friday, January 12, 2024 – 8:30am – 12:30pm
Cancellation Policy: If you are registered but cannot attend, you must notify KARRASS at least 5 calendar days before the seminar in order to receive a refund (less $50 administrative fee). To transfer to another seminar, you must notify KARRASS 48 hours before the seminar and attend within 12 months of your original seminar date. Substitutions may be sent in your place with 48 hours notice. Without prior notice of any change, we will be unable to offer any refund.
January 9-12, 2024
4 mornings
8:30am – 12:30pm Pacific
8:30am – 12:30pm Pacific


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He remains a symbol of defiance and revolution in a world that's (supposedly) moved on from his type of gung-ho, guerilla tactics. He's a hero to some, a demagogue to others, and a thorn in the side of every US administration since Eisenhower. For filmmaker Saul Landau, however, Fidel Castro is a man of many nuances. He's a powerbroker connected to the people, a liberator looking beyond the basics of Communism to a larger, utopian ideal. After dropping out of graduate school to experience the Cuban revolution first hand, Landau was let back into the country to chronicle the event's 15 year anniversary. With unprecedented access to his subject and sources, he's managed to make one of the most intriguing films ever about a would-be world leader.
Part portrait, part propaganda, Fidel! is filled with memorable images: Castro relaxing with pick-up game of baseball; the leader eating in a communal tent with his many military-styled advisers; a group of star struck villagers demanding the man come in for a cup of coffee; a group of school teachers swarming their beloved Fidel, proclaiming his vision for their underdeveloped nation. With newsreel footage of the factual basis for Castro's rise to power, and the opportunity to witness the country in all its growing pains glory, Landau's film is a remarkable achievement. It will also definitely chafe those who feel that Castro is a cancer in Latin America, a man who's mangled Marxism has led an entire people to poverty and almost virtual international isolation.
But this is Landau's story and he's sticking with it. As part of the delightful DVD package presented by Provocateur Pictures and Microcinema International, the director is on hand to give a thorough and quite rousing commentary track, and in it, he more or less sets up Castro as one of the key figures of the 20th Century. He points out that, as an idealist, he is one of the few revolutionaries who completely and totally fulfilled the promise of his take-over. Castro wanted Cuba to be its own sovereign nation, unfettered by influence from America (and its corporate clout) and the historical harness of Spain. Landau makes it abundantly clear that Castro did indeed achieve his goals. And since the film finds the country prospering after the entire Bay of Pigs/Missile Crisis debacles of the earlier part of the decade, it appears that victory is sweet indeed.
Taken as a simple statement of Castro circa 1969, Fidel! is a fine effort. It applies a cinema verite approach to the narrative, listening in on the leader and his inner circle as they discuss administrative philosophy, the order of power, and the current goals for the Cuba people. Education (and some would say, indoctrination) are the mandates of the day, with Landau visiting schools to show how the new regime guarantees the ability to learn for all. A great deal of Fidel! focuses on the citizenry and its reaction to their enigmatic chief. Castro never panders. Instead, there is a genuineness about his promises that seem sincere, especially in light of today's "say anything" political ploys.
But one can't help feel that a really rosy set of lens were used to manufacture this movie. Political prisoners are shown in a kind of photo-op phoniness that, while possibly true, seems unusually lenient for actual enemies of the state. They even sound sorry for being opposed to Castro. Then we see some dissidents waiting to leave the country. They too seem less angry and more apologetic than we expect. Perhaps times have indeed changed. Maybe the rising tensions in South Florida over US policy toward Cuba and sour memories of the Mariel Boatlift of 1980 taint our opinion of the man and his manner. Whatever it is, there are indeed times when Fidel! feels forced, like jingoism instead of honest social sentiment.
Still, Landau deserves more than credit for compiling such an intimate look. Castro comes off as smart, savvy, creative, undaunted, and very, very passionate. His speeches combine the best kind of conversational persuasion, and his advisors stands as a loyal group of actual thinkers. Some time is spent on absent Friend of the Revolution Ché Guevara and it is clear that Castro still has uncomfortable feelings over the radical's death (he died a year before this movie was made). Large landscape portraits of Ché are seen all around Cuba, and his name brings the kind of hushed reverence reserved for saints. Yet this section feels incomplete, as if Landau didn't want to stray too far from the subject at hand (besides, Guevara is a massive subject to undertake).
As part of this exceptional DVD package, we do get the aforementioned director's commentary, and it may be hard for some Conservative, anti-Communist Republican types to hear. Landau is virtually in love with Fidel Castro, both as a man and as a symbol of American hubris. He points out the sordid CIA attempts to assassinate the leader, and mocks the presumption that Cuba wanted warmer relations with the Soviets. He sets the record straight about some of the scenes, and even offers us a chance to see a short film he made in 1974 – Fidel + Cuba. It's an eye opener as well. Along with an old interview that repeats some of the concepts from his commentary, and a look at his production diary, Landau is just as important a part of Fidel! as the iconic ideologue himself.
In 2008, it seems almost silly that the US maintains a staunch and sometimes confusing embargo on an island a mere 90 miles from its shores. Certainly there are reasons both politically and morally for such a stand (at least in the eyes of those harboring hatred for the man who dismantled the Batista regime) and history is never helped by only knowing one side of the story. In Fidel! , Saul Landau does us the honorable service of seeing things from the everyday Cuban's point of view. This is not the story of the upper class or the rich. This is not the tale of the empowered or the embittered. It's just a look at one man, his sense of national duty, and the foundation for holding onto his newfound power. Five decades later, it remains a remarkable achievement – albeit a controversial and incomplete one.


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$ 32.00
7" x 6"
This special sketchbook has been made with a previously loved book.
Pages of the book are kept inside to make this journal full of discovery and new possibilities for the artist in your life.
Because of the size and art theme, this journal is made with Canson Mixed Media Art Paper. Great for acrylic, watercolor, charcoal, pastel, marker, pen or pencil, this pad features heavyweight paper for both wet and dry media. The fine texture surface erases well and blends easily, and the wire-o binding allows easy access to micro-perforated true size sheets.


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We love to celebrate the big games, developers and characters who dominate the games industry – but what about those moments, however fleeting, that transform an experience into something unforgettable? We need your help to choose the Best Gaming Moment at the world's biggest public-voted gaming awards, the Golden Joystick Awards 2016 – and you've only got a few days left to vote, so act quick or forever hold your peace.
Last year, millions of gamers voted to award The Bloody Baron quest in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt as 2015's finest gaming moment. In 2016, we've strapped into the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon in Star Wars Battlefront, moved the payload in Overwatch to score a Play of the Game, and barrelled through the streets of Madagascar in a wild Uncharted 4 car chase, to name just a few of our most treasured moments.
The nine nominees below all stand out as some of the best experiences in gaming this year, but only one can walk away with the Golden Joystick for Best Gaming Moment of 2016.
Be warned, though. There are spoilers galore that follow. Proceed at your own risk.
The world's biggest gamer-voted awards show is upon us, with the Golden Joystick Awards taking place on November 18th at the Indigo at The 02 in London. Act fast before voting closes on October 31st.
How do I vote for my favorite gaming moment?
- You can see the full shortlist for Best Gaming Moment below, and cast your vote here at the . Tune in on Friday, November 18, to find out who takes home the honors.
OK, here we go. Spoilers begin... NOW.
Climbing the tallest building in Mirror's Edge Catalyst
The City of Glass is a pristine playground built for risky climbs and daredevil jumps. But the best way to take it all in is from the top of the world.
The skyscrapers peak out above the clouds below. The air, likely thin, isn't going to keep Faith from prying loose Gabriel Kruger's stranglehold on the city. From up here, you can see the City of Glass for the bright beacon it should be and not the corrupted facade masking the Conglomerate's control.
Click to vote for Mirror's Edge Catalyst at the Golden Joystick Awards 2016.
Flying the Falcon in Star Wars Battlefront
She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts. In this case, what she's got is immense firepower. Sure, X-Wings are more maneuverable, but if you want to quickly swat annoying TIE fighters like gnats, the Millennium Falcon is where it's at.
You can't fly Han Solo's modified YT-1300 Corellian Light Freighter in most modes, so if you're itching to strap into that famous cockpit head on over to Fighter Squadron mode. Don't fret if you land on the Imperial side of the fight. Boba Fett's Slave-1 is yours to command… if you get to the Hero pickup before your teammates.
Click to vote for Star Wars Battlefront at the Golden Joystick Awards 2016.
Play of the Game in Overwatch
Overwatch isn't the first game to reward players with post-match highlights, but Blizzard has ramped up presentation to make it a gleeful experience. Mercy players know that scoring a Play of the Game is a rare treat. Torbjorn mains expect their turrets to get all the glory. And as for Bastion scoring Play of the Game? What's the emoji for "please stop"?
Click to vote for Overwatch at the Golden Joystick Awards 2016.
Returning to Anor Londo in Dark Souls 3
Dark Souls 3 isn't sentimental. Things you love about the first game are frozen and decayed, buried beneath layers of frost. But you can't help but feel some distant sense of melancholy when you stumble back across Anor Londo. It's like reading a lost diary or walking around your old school - a swirl of memories, coupled with the knowledge that the moments that made them are lost forever. For a game about looking forward and surviving your next encounter, it's a brilliant, introspective pause for breath. Nothing in Dark Souls 3 makes you stop and wonder about where you came from and where you're going quite like the return to Anor Londo.
The Brotherhood Of Steel arriving in Fallout 4
The Commonwealth isn't a terribly hospitable place (where in Fallout's wasteland is, really?). And while Bethesda's latest epic RPG is full of memorable moments, few stand out like The Brotherhood of Steel arriving on the scene. An enormous dirigible pierces the night sky, as a booming voice heralds the arrival of the series' most iconic faction. These post-nuclear knights mean business, which is why you've been crafting that power armor all game, right? Time to meet the fam.
Click to vote for Fallout 4 at the Golden Joystick Awards 2016.
The Car Chase in Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
Wherever Nathan Drake goes, mayhem is sure to follow. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End dials that up with a lengthy car chase that starts high atop a Madagascar hill, barrels through the city, and ends up dragging our hero through the mud. Naughty Dog not only nails this enormous set-piece moment, but reminds us why we've been tagging along with Nate all these years. Why does it have to end? Sniff.
Click to vote for Uncharted 4: A Thief's End at the Golden Joystick Awards 2016.
The ending of Inside
Inside keeps you maddeningly in the dark about its nightmare world from the very start. As you guide the red shirted child through their flight to freedom, the question pops up again and again: where is this all going? Nothing prepares you for the unfathomable answer when you infiltrate a bizarre experimental facility and merge with an impossible creature straight out of H.R. Giger's sketchbook of drawings rejected for being too unsettling. What starts as a gleeful rampage against your oppressors culminates in an image of despondent peace as disconcerting as it is beautiful. Playdead made a masterpiece.
Click to vote for Inside at the
Unleashing the BFG 9000 in Doom
Most of the time, we'd be the first to tell you that size doesn't matter. This is the Big F****** Gun, though, and it is everything its name promises. Grabbing it during Doom's campaign is a perilous process filled with laser traps and explosions. It's worth it though. Let that puppy rip and you'll tear down a demon horde in a heartbeat. Yours, not theirs. They don't have heartbeats anymore, because giblets aren't alive.
Click to vote for Doom at the Golden Joystick Awards 2016.
Unlocking the secret of Psalm 46 in The Witness
The Witness is full of secrets, but there's none more challenging or rewarding than unlocking The Secret of Psalm 46. To do so, you have to solve one of the most difficult gauntlets in the entire game: a randomly generated series of puzzles testing every single skill you've learned thus far. Oh, and you have to finish it all in under seven or so minutes, all while the quickening tempo of In the Hall of the Mountain King tries to harsh on your Zen.
You try, and you fail, but you continue, stubbornly, over and over, assuring yourself that this time will be the one, until suddenly - it's over. You've solved it. The door unlocks, the Trophy pops, and hours of effort culminate with the code for a fascinating hour-long lecture about the nature of secrets and Easter eggs, not only in video games, but throughout human history. Well, that's it, you've found the final secret of The Wit-wait, is that another line there?
Click to vote for The Witness at the Golden Joystick Awards 2016.
Be sure to vote in the Golden Joystick Awards 2016 by October 31. Find out which of these great PlayStation games comes away with the coveted award on Friday, November 18.


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Top Gear Powersports
This is not an offer for credit and should be used for estimation purposes only based on the information you provided. You should not base your decision on this estimate alone. Title, registration, tax and other fees, and personal circumstances such as employment status and personal credit history, were not considered in the calculations.
The sporty nature, evidenced by its "Sport" badge on the rear part of the tail, is further emphasised by the matt black of the exhaust protector and passenger handgrips whilst the carbon look hydrographics on the central tunnel and button panel of the rear shield also speak to its no-nonsense character.
Unique and absolutely distinctive, right down to its rear gas shock absorbers and set of waveform front brake discs, the MP3 Sport 500 cuts a swathe through traffic with grit and determination.
Last but not least its three color variations leave no doubt that this bike is not for the faint-hearted with its choice of glossy gray, black and matte green options.
Front - Two 258 mm discs with hydraulic control
Rear - Single 240 mm disk with hydraulic control
Braking System - Combined braking with ABS / ASR
Front - Tubeless 110/70, 13 in.
Rear - Tubeless 140/70, 14 in.
Front - Articulated quadrilateral
Rear - Dual hydraulic shock absorbers adjustable in preload
Glossy Gray
Matt Green
Price, if shown and unless otherwise noted, represents the Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) or dealer unit price and does not include government fees, taxes, dealer vehicle freight/preparation, dealer document preparation charges, labor, installation, or any finance charges (if applicable). MSRP and/or final sales price will vary depending on options or accessories selected; contact dealer for more details.
Images, where available, are presented as reasonable facsimiles of the offered unit and/or manufacturer stock images. Non-standard options or features may be represented. No guarantee of availability or inclusion of displayed options should be inferred; contact dealer for more details.


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Hand-puppets… they are fun, functional, and CUTE. Capital "c" cute. Cute! They are easy to make, and you can combine your imagination with whatever materials that are available to make something pretty cool.
To start, find some fabric that is big enough to fit your hand with fingers spread widely, twice. When I made my puppets, I used hand-made felt. You can use any type of fabric if you have access to a sewing machine… otherwise (for hand-sewing) I recommend a non-fray fabric such as felt.
The first thing to make is a template. The template is your pattern. If you are happy with your puppet, you can re-use your template for future puppets. If you are unhappy with an aspect of your puppet, the template can be adjusted.
Extend your hand so that your thumb is sticking out, then trace on paper. Fold the paper so that the "thumb-side" is mirrored. Add a seam allowance onto this, about an inch all around. It's a good idea to give a little extra room, too. Check that the top is rounded, not weirdly shaped (unless you want to make a weird puppet, which is always a fun option!)
When you have a general shape for the template, cut it out. You can then use this to cut out two pieces of your fabric. Simply sew them together and decorate. Puppet. Keep in mind before you sew the pieces together, however, that this is a good time to add things such as ears! Some would prefer, also, to add a face or other features before sewing it together. I prefer to see what my final shape is before doing that. Have fun with your new pal!
Natasha Henderson, Montreal


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At last night's Much Music Awards, Lady Gaga took her wig fetish to its logical next step with neon turquoise pit and pube wigs. The carpet matches the drapes matches the—hmm—valances? Tapestries? Terry cloth toilet cover?
Gaga revealed her big, blue bush halfway through a performance of "Born This Way." (2:50 in the video at left.) The Much Music Awards are like Canada's version of the MTV VMAs, but from now on we'll think of them as the Dayglo Merkin Awards. [via Vulture, images via Getty]


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Argument recap: Compromise on DUI blood tests?
on Jan 9, 2013 at 2:00 pm
Even allowing for the reality that what is said at a Supreme Court hearing does not necessarily dictate the outcome, now and then a case comes along where the Justices join so obviously in a common pursuit of a compromise that little suspense remains. That happened on Wednesday, in the case of Missouri v. McNeely (docket 11-1425), when it seemed quite predictable that the Court is not going to let police across the nation order — on their own authority — the taking of blood samples from those suspected of drunk driving. Police, it would appear, are at least going to have to try to get a search warrant, even though they sometimes will be allowed to do without one.
Most of the hour-long argument was spent in imagining the details of such a compromise outcome: start with the premise that getting a warrant is the preferred approach, but then define a set of "exigent circumstances" that will excuse the inability to get one within a fairly brief time — perhaps no more than a half-hour. There would be no authorization, it appeared, for warrantless blood samples, across the board, on the premise that alcohol is always going to be disappearing fairly rapidly from the human bloodstream.
Two impressions were dominant throughout the argument: the Justices generally do regard the use of a needle to take a blood sample as quite an intrusive gesture by the government, and the Fourth Amendment warrant requirement should not be cast aside for all cases of drunk driving when officers decide to order a blood draw. With those as starting points, the state of Missouri — and its partner here, the federal government — were immediately on notice that their plea to set aside any requirement of a warrant was in trouble.
Endlessly repeating the claim that there would never be enough time to get a warrant before alcohol content would dissipate, as the lawyers for the state and for the federal government did, seemed to impress not one member of the Court. Even a Justice broadly sympathetic to law enforcement, like Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., used his questions to explore when officers in rural communities would be given a pass on a warrant requirement, without suspending that requirement altogether.
A few minutes into Missouri's argument , by John N. Koester, Jr., an assistant prosecuting attorney in Jackson, Mo., Justice Antonin Scalia set the tone that would prevail. "Why not force the suspect to take a breathalyzer test rather than having a needle forced into his arm?" That question immediately demolished the notion that a blood test is not an invasive procedure and, being a form of force, was something that should not be left within complete police discretion. And, of course, the only way to keep the procedure from being simply a matter of police choice was to require them to ask someone neutral for permission — in other words, seek a warrant.
Koester always learned quickly that Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, always a potential "swing" voter, was deeply skeptical of the never-enough-time argument. Kennedy noted that half of the states do not allow the taking of DUI blood samples without a warrant, and they have streamlined procedures for issuing warrants that deal with the alcohol dissipation phenomenon. "Does that bear on the question of reasonableness?" Kennedy asked, rhetorically.
Soon after that, Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan began exploring alternative ways to maintain a basic warrant requirement, but to find ways to make exceptions after police made a reasonable attempt to get a warrant, but failed. Justice Stephen G. Breyer then wondered why it would take more than a few minutes to apply for a warrant. And Justice Sonia Sotomayor suggested that the Court should not write a decision that rewarded police in the least efficient jurisdictions, warrant-wise, by writing a national decision that ended any warrant requirement.
Those, of course, are the more liberal members of the Court, so their comments were hardly surprising. But Justices Scalia and Kennedy took up some of the same refrains, when the federal government lawyer, Nicole A. Saharsky, began her argument by emphasizing that "every moment counts" when police want to get evidence to support a drunk-driving prosecution. "Once we say police don't need a warrant," Scalia commented, "the game's over," even if it is possible to get a warrant by improved police and judicial procedures. And both he and Kennedy reacted positively to the idea, suggested by Justice Ginsburg, that if police try to get a warrant but that turns out to take too long — say, more than a half-hour — then no warrant would be needed.
Justice Alito then suggested that the constitutional outcome should depend upon "the practicality in each jurisdiction," so that where the process of issuing warrants moves quite rapidly, officers should not be allowed to proceed to order blood samples without a judge's approval. When Saharsky commented again that blood alcohol evidence is always in the process of being destroyed, and added that the Court had never made Fourth Amendment rules depend upon the practices in a given jurisdiction, Kennedy bluntly retorted that courts "make that judgment all the time; it is quite incorrect to say that we don't look at the time factor."
When Steven R. Shapiro, American Civil Liberties Union legal director acting as the lawyer for Missourian Tyler G. McNeely, took to the lectern to argue for a warrant requirement, his main task was not to give up the advantage that had developed on his side of the case. He mainly avoided the potential pitfalls, such as seeming to argue that a warrant was always required. He put his continuing stress on challenging what he called Missouri's categorical approach against ever requiring a warrant. He had a solid answer when Justice Scalia suggested that the only thing that a drunk-driving suspect would actually get out of a need for a warrant was delay, allowing the alcohol to dissipate. Shapiro reminded Scalia of the constitutional virtue of having a neutral stand between the police and the public.
He almost made a continuing effort to suggest that getting a warrant was not a complex task, given that officers now can apply for one with a laptop computer and a cellphone. But he was willing to concede that there could be circumstances where getting a warrant was not a practical alternative and, in those situations — such as an emergency — there might be "exigent circumstances" that would overcome the need for a warrant.
Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., had given Missouri's lawyer some added time for a rebuttal, but Koester did not use more than a few seconds of the time, to repeat again the argument that alcohol dissipates from the bloodstream rapidly — the core of an argument that had not worked well at all.


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In L.A., a new tabloid from its ex-mayor
Richard Riordan's L.A. Examiner will have local focus, 'unbiased' news, and even pieces by Billy Crystal.
Presses hum while men in blue jumpsuits scurry to and fro, jabbing computer buttons to adjust color and contrast at the Los Angeles Examiner, a new weekly tabloid.
The prototype newspaper copies are the brainchild of former Republican Mayor Richard Riordan, who wants to add color and contrast to the nation's second-largest media market, which has close to 70 radio stations but only one major newspaper, the Los Angeles Times.
"What I'd like to do is get a paper that is L.A.-centered, unlike the Los Angeles Times, which has been drifting more and more away from what the city is about," says Mr. Riordan, the two-term mayor and millionaire businessman who is reportedly financing much of the paper's $5 million start-up costs. "Second, I'd like to have a paper that is prohonesty, which doesn't let reporters espouse their [own] ideology unless they can prove what they are saying is right."
Besides Riordan's longtime and well-known beefs with the Times - he claims 98 percent of writers are liberal Democrats - he says the city he loves is hungry for a publication that reflects its uniqueness within the American landscape - from the entertainment world of Hollywood, to the affluent Bel Air/Beverly Hills, to the immigrant neighborhoods of Koreatown and South Central.
Although some newspaper industry analysts have said the venture will be expensive and take a long time to establish, the idea received a much needed boost with the recent closing of another alternative weekly, "New Times Los Angeles."
Holding a copy of their 52-page prototype - which editors hope to circulate to prospective advertisers and investors for a June 5 launch - managing editor Ken Layne explains further: "I read the Los Angeles Times and think, this is a bunch of East Coasters who are trying to imitate The New York Times," he says.
The family-owned Los Angeles Times was purchased in March 2000, by the Chicago Tribune Co., ending 100 years of local ownership.
"We want something that reads like it actually comes from the city," says Mr. Layne.
With that said, the self-described "centrist" and "non-politically correct" Los Angeles Examiner is aiming to spice up its news/politics/sports/arts/business formula with sassy writing, unvarnished opinion, gossip, and wit.
A handful of paid editorial and business staff (perhaps 40) will be supplemented by regular and guest columnists. Those will be drawn from a wide and deep pool stretching from local and state journalists to Hollywood to the state capital in Sacramento to academe.
Actor/comedian Billy Crystal has a column in the first edition ("Love your movies, Can I see a picture ID?") as does 'Sleepless in Seattle" movie producer Lynda Obst on Hollywood personality disorders ("Pathologically Happy"). Susan Estrich, a professor at the University of Southern California, who ran Michael Dukakis's 1988 presidential campaign, writes on why Hillary Clinton should not run for president, ("she has all of [Bill's] faults and none of his charms"). And well-known state political reporter Jill Stewart writes about the recent demise of Republicans in California.
The aimed-for readership, says publisher Jane Kahn, a veteran of New Times, Condé Nast, and Hearst Magazines, is "sophisticated, smart, funny, intelligent, affluent, politically connected people who care about the community and the issues affecting it."
Besides standard newspaper fare, editors say they will include "quality gossip," Internet guides, film history, short movie reviews "that people can understand," and book reviews about "books people really read."
"Los Angeles desperately needs an alternative voice," says Catherine Seipp, a longtime media critic for Media Week and Buzz Magazine, who will review media for the new publication. "The problem with L.A. media is that it has been extremely provincial. The thinking behind this is extremely nonprovincial."
James Naughton, president of the Poynter Institute, a journalism think tank in St. Petersburg, Fla., welcomes the addition of more journalistic voices to the West Coast's largest city, but cautions that the L.A. Examiner's concentration on local issues could become too narrow in its focus.
"If they are saying they want to be very local in their coverage, that could complement what the LA Times is doing, but if they are being critical of the Times for having a world view and a national view in their coverage, that is foolish," says Mr. Naughton. "To their credit, the L.A. Times is doing a good job of trying tell people what is going on in the wider world and there aren't enough of those resources being used in journalism."
Analysts say that whatever the need or desire by readers for such a paper, owners will first need to attract them in sufficient numbers to build a loyal advertising base to support the paper longterm. Far from just being a soapbox for alternative views, editors admit the venture hopes to make money.
And beyond the romantic ideas of printing great copy comes the nitty gritty and costly task of getting the paper to readers. Meeting such goals is an uphill battle, say many analysts, one that has foiled more than a dozen metro daily newspapers launched in recent decades.
"The romance of starting a paper is in the editorial decisions, but the hard work is in the distribution," says Michael Parks, former editor of the Los Angeles Times, now director of the Annenberg Journalism School at USC.
Despite many years of dueling with the former, Mr. Parks lauds Riordan's motives.
"The problem we as a nation face is also true in Los Angeles, which is that we've fallen into a period of great civic disengagement," says Parks. "I applaud Riordan's willingness to spend his own time and money promoting civic reengagement. I don't think he will put the Times out of business or even steal a lot of readers, but he is putting needed ideas in the public forum and that is a good thing."


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Parrot is a language-neutral virtual machine for dynamic languages such as Ruby, Python, PHP, and Perl. It hosts a powerful suite of compiler tools tailored to dynamic languages and a next generation regular expression engine. Its architecture is fundamentally different than existing virtual machines such as the JVM or CLR, with optimizations for dynamic languages included, a register-based system rather than stack-based, and the use of continuations as the core means of flow control.
The name "Parrot" was inspired by Monty Python's Parrot sketch. As an April Fools' Day joke in 2001, Simon Cozens published "Programming Parrot", a fictional interview between Guido van Rossum and Larry Wall detailing their plans to merge Python and Perl into a new language called Parrot (http://www.perl.com/pub/a/2001/04/01/parrot.htm).
Parrot Resources
The starting point for all things related to Parrot is the main website http://www.parrot.org/. The site lists additional resources, well as recent news and information about the project and the Parrot Foundation, which holds the copyright over Parrot and helps guide development and the community.
Parrot includes extensive documentation in the distribution. The full documentation for the latest release is available online at http://docs.parrot.org/.
Mailing Lists
The primary mailing list for Parrot is firstname.lastname@example.com. If you're interested in getting involved in development, you may also want to follow the parrot-commits and parrot-tickets lists. Information on all the Parrot mailing lists and subscription forms for each is available at http://lists.parrot.org/mailman/listinfo.
The archives for parrot-dev are also available on Google Groups at http://groups.google.com/group/parrot-dev and via NNTP at nntp://news.gmane.org/gmane.comp.compilers.parrot.devel.
Parrot developers and users congregate on IRC at
#parrot on the irc://irc.parrot.org server.
It's a good place to get real-time answers to questions or see how things are progressing.
Issue Tracking & Wiki
Parrot developers track issues using the Github issues system at https://github.com/parrot/parrot/issues/ Users can submit new tickets and track the status of existing tickets. Github also provides a wiki used in project development and a source code browser.
Parrot Development
Parrot's first release occurred in September 2001. It reached 1.0 in March 2009. The Parrot project makes releases on the third Tuesday of each month. Two releases a year — occurring every January and July — are "supported" releases intended for production use. The other ten releases are development releases for language implementers and testers.
Development proceeds in cycles around releases. Activity just before a release focuses on closing tickets, fixing bugs, reviewing documentation, and preparing for the release. Immediately after the release, larger changes occur, such as merging branches, adding large features, or removing deprecated features. This allows developers to ensure that changes have sufficient testing time before the next release. Releases also encourage feedback as casual users and testers explore the newest versions.
The Parrot Team
Parrot developers fulfill several rules according to their skills and interests.
- Architect The architect has primary responsibility for setting the overall direction of the project, facilitating team communication, and explaining and evaluating architectural issues. The architect makes design decisions and documents them in Parrot Design Documents, and oversees design and documentation work delegated to other members of the team to provide a coherent vision across the project. The architect also works with the release managers to develop and maintain the release schedule. Allison Randal currently leads the Parrot project as architect.
- Release Managers Release managers manage and produce monthly releases according to the release schedule. Parrot has multiple release managers who rotate the responsibility for each monthly release. The release managers develop and maintain the release schedule jointly with the project architect.
- Metacommitter Metacommitters manage commit access to the Parrot repository. Once a contributor is selected for commit access, a metacommitter gives the new committer access to the repository and the bugtracker. The architect is a metacommitter, but other team members also hold this role.
- Committer Contributors who submit numerous, high-quality patches may be considered to become a committer. Committers have commit access to the full Parrot repository, though they often specialize on particular parts of the project. Contributors may be considered for commit access either by being nominated by another committer, or by requesting it.
- Core Developer Core developers develop and maintain core subsystems such as the I/O subsystem, the exceptions system, or the concurrency scheduler.
- Compiler Developer Compiler developers develop and maintain one or more Parrot front-end compilers such as IMCC, PGE and TGE.
- High-Level Language Developer Developers who work on any of the high-level languages that target Parrot—such as Lua, Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby, or Tcl—are high-level language developers. The Parrot repository includes a few example languages. A full list of languages is available at https://github.com/parrot/parrot/wiki/Languages
- Build Manager Build managers maintain and extend configuration and build subsystems. They review smoke reports and attempt to extend platform support.
- Tester Testers develop, maintain, and extend the core test suite coverage and testing tools. Testers are also responsible for testing goals, including complete coverage of core components on targeted platforms.
- Patch Monsters Hackers and developers submit patches to Parrot every day, and it takes a keen eye and a steady hand to review and apply them all. Patch monsters check patches for conformance with coding standards and desirability of features, rework them as necessary, verify that the patches work as desired, and apply them.
- Cage Cleaners The cage cleaners ensure that development follows the project's coding standards, documentation is complete and accurate, all tests function properly, and new users have accurate and comprehensive coding examples. A special class of Trac tickets is available for these tasks. Cage cleaning tasks run the gamut from entry-level to advanced; this is a good entry point for new users to work on Parrot.
- General Contributor Contributors write code or documentation, report bugs, take part in email or online conversations, or contribute to the project in other ways. All volunteer contributions are appreciated.
The Parrot foundation supports the Parrot development community and holds trademarks and copyrights to Parrot. The project is available under the Artistic License 2.0, allowing free use in commercial and open source/free software contexts.


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Well, it's that time of year again! Break out the snowboards and skis because winter is back in full force. In order to make your season of snow a little better, consider picking up one of these great items. There are a few items that stand out from the rest:
- JayBird JF3MB
If you like listening to headphones on the slopes, then you might want to consider investing in a pair specially made for the harsh conditions. Jaybird has always had a reputation for making high quality, durable headphones that are jammed packed with the latest technology. The JF3MB Freedom Bluetooth headphones are no exception. These suckers will stay in your ears whether you're doing a back-flip or carving through some fresh powder. The sound quality is brilliant as well as the 6 hour listening time. Being Bluetooth means you won't have to worry about the pesky cord constantly being pulled by the unforgiving environment. If you want the most bang for your buck, then these are what you should be looking to get.
- LG Tone+
If you're looking for a cheaper option, you can always pick up the LG Tone+. These have a really unique design seeing that they rest on your neck and have attached in-ear headphones. This allows all the controls to be conveniently on the neck piece for easy placement of the headphones into your ears. You can even use voice activated dialing for phone calls so you can let people know how much more fun you're having than them on the slopes.
- Kicker Powersports Series
Come on, guys. You know that snowmobile of yours isn't any good without a good audio system. Lucky for you, Kicker has some extremely small amplifiers and speakers with their PS and PX lines. They are specially made to withstand the harsh winter environment and provide excellent sound quality. Not only can you attach them to snow mobiles, but the likes of Snow plows and ATVs as well. In Particular, the Kicker PXi50.2 is an amplifier with a controller for your iPod/iPhone. This allows you to use your iOS device as your headunit making easy to install on the smallest vehicles.
- Remote Start Systems
How many times have you started your car in the morning only to wait for a few minutes as the glacier that is your vehicle defrosts? Make it easy on yourself and put a remote start system on your vehicle to have it warm up before you start your cold, winter day. We have a wide variety of systems that will be able to meet the needs of any vehicle. They can even make your car turn on at timed intervals so your car does not freeze overnight! Don't live your winter with the fear of getting into your car in the morning!
All of these items will make your winter jolly and full of cheer. How can you pass that up?


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Why LEGO? It is a medium that offers instant gratification. No matter how large a project is, at the end of the day, I can look at the section I've built in its finished state. LEGO is a one-step process; there's no gluey mess, sanding, or painting to worry about. I just build. This gives me the opportunity, after each session, to assess visually how the piece is working as a whole.
LEGO offers a vast palette to work with. There are thousands of different LEGO elements, each available in an array of colors. With all the variety, I can create innumerable types of textures, which give each of my pieces a unique look. I can use elements to mimic bark, rotting wood, grass, weeds, roots, snow, mud, building ornamentation, endless varieties of rocks and boulders, and on and on. All this can be done using only black, white, and two grays.
While the bank of elements to choose from is vast, LEGO is still a finite system with its own set of rules engineered into each piece. Additionally, the rigid plastic generally does not bend. This stiff, prefab, one-step system comes at the cost of the precise detailing that an artist expects from wood, metal, or clay. However, what I enjoy about that constraint is the puzzle-like thinking that is needed to work out new solutions for detailing. It is enjoyable to coax and manipulate pieces together by using clever combinations. Other people are shocked to see well-combined elements come together in ways that do not seem possible, given the system's boundaries.
For me, this means transforming hard, plastic, mechanical forms into objects that seem impossibly organic and natural. I seek out the relatively few pieces that bend and use them to round out and give a flow to the elements with hard forms. In this way, my works tend to reach new realms of expression. For example, in Victorian on Mud Heap, I connected long, bendable hoses to the base and let them curve up toward the house, connecting at the porch. These hoses then served as the skeleton that I built "mud" on top of. While the mud looked like it was made with a large pile of LEGO elements haphazardly spilled on each other, in reality, it was a thin layer of connecting LEGO elements propped up on hose scaffolding.
I enjoy turning this simple, familiar toy into expressive works of art. There is a shock of seeing this toy, so familiar to most, executed on such a serious level. The puzzle-like challenge of overcoming a strict, rule-based system to create works of beauty and meaning is especially attractive to me and always keeps me coming back for more.
While Doyle's subjects tend to be fictional, Smolny Cathedral (2012) © by Heath Flor is based on the actual Smolny Cathedral in St Petersburg, Russia.
Two Story with Basement (2010) © Mike Doyle
Contact 1: The Millennial Celebration of the Eternal Choir at Ka'al Yne, Odan (2013) © Mike Doyle
Reproduced from Beautiful LEGO, with the permission of No Starch Press. © 2013 by Mike Doyle. Beautiful LEGO is available from Amazon.