text:
The first time Harmony Korine appeared on The Late Show With David Letterman it was 1995 and he was there, ostensibly, to talk about his screenplay for Kids, a movie that was just starting to give parental watchdog groups heart palpitations. He was barely 22, and looked it: shy, clean-shaven, and wearing an ill-fitting suit, he came off like a real-life Max Fischer. He told Letterman that Kids came about when he was trying to write a sequel to Caddyshack; he also shared anecdotes about a childhood friend named Barfunk he'd once almost accidentally drowned, and a guy he knew in Delaware who had "shish kebab skewers stuck through both his asscheeks."
Letterman, thoroughly amused by this odd, fidgety kid, brought Korine back regularly over the next few years. In 1997, when Korine showed up to plug his directorial debut, the arthouse shitshow Gummo, he was still dressed like a sweet nerd. But he'd grown his hair out, and was more self-assured. "I wanted to make a different kind of movie," Korine said, defending Gummo. "I don't see cinema in the same — on the same kind of terms or the same way that narrative movies have been made for the past hundred years. I wanted to see moving images coming from all directions." He also told Letterman, "I wanna do a minstrel with Tom Cruise. And I want him to play it on his knees."
One year later, at Korine's next appearance, he was sporting a scruffy beard, and he'd ditched the sweater vests for hoodies and a pair of crumbling Vans. By then, Letterman was making overt references to Korine's drugged-out aura. "This, by the way, is why they invented childproof caps," Letterman cracked during an impromptu Korine giggle fest, while miming a kid struggling to twist open a prescription pill vial. Korine was booked on the show once more, in 1999, but didn't appear, and hasn't been back since. It has never been confirmed why, but, at the time, a Toronto gossip columnist reported that "after being bumped for the second time in two weeks, this time in favour of the world's largest pumpkin, [Harmony] threw a tantrum in the Green Room and" — oh no — "shoved Meryl Streep."
Shortly after he drifted out of mainstream consciousness, his drug habit — including dalliances with crack and heroin — intensified. Roughly a decade ago, he got sober; four years ago he had a daughter, Lefty, with his wife, Rachel. Not that that necessarily augured a return to the main stage. His last film, 2009's Trash Humpers, was shot on fuzzed-out VHS tape and followed a crew of Nashville burnouts in unnerving old-man masks as they cackled, screeched, murdered, and, you know, humped trash.
But now Spring Breakers is here. By far Korine's most commercial project to date, the movie synthesizes a slew of unlikely pop culture strands — the wholesomeness of Disney starlets Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens; the artsy mania of latter-day James Franco; the squibbly robot-voice-of-a-generation of Skrillex; the timeless hood shit of Gucci Mane. Taken together, Korine has crafted some sort of epic. Like Kids, Spring Breakers is destined to become a sacred testament to a legion of restless American children — they'll memorize the lines and act out the scenes, all while abandoning any hint of morality. Purposefully fragmented and surreal (Korine calls it a "pop poem"), it's not the best movie of the year. But there likely isn't another that will lodge itself inside your brain quite so thoroughly. Spring break. Spring break. Spring break foreeeeeeveeer.
Korine covertly tapped another pop culture inspiration for Spring Breakers: the irrepressible rapper — rapper?1 — Riff Raff. Franco's character, Alien, is a hustling "cosmic gangster," and the actor joyfully commits to the role; it's a knockout performance. Cloaked in mismatched tattoos, grills, beaded braids, and a perma-shirtless state, he also happens to look exactly like Riff Raff.
After on-set photos surfaced, Korine and Franco played down the association, saying Alien was based on an amalgamation of people that included Riff Raff but, more specifically centered on an obscure Florida rapper named Dangeruss. Riff Raff wasn't having it. He Instagrammed a convincing side-by-side, dubbed himself Rap Game James Franco, and crowed that he'd have been in the movie if he'd responded to Korine's overtures in time.2 And ultimately, despite the lack of recognition, he seemed excited about the selection of Franco: "That's like if Denzel Washington was playing the role of O.J. Simpson," he said. "Even though it's not O.J. Simpson, O.J. Simpson still gotta be like, 'Denzel Washington is playing me.'"
And why wouldn't he be psyched? Riff Raff first appeared, as fully formed Internet bait, in 2010.3His look was aggressively preposterous. His rhymes were absurdist: You could click a YouTube link at random and you'll land on something like "Seven on my wrist, my ice Toucan Sammy / left with the whammy, came back with the Grammy / streets sweeper legal, avocado bandanna / Lysol walk to candy banana." And he dropped songs incessantly, through an endless string of mixtapes and one-offs, with titles like "Deion Sandals" and "Orion's Belt" and "Obtuse Angle." He solidified his brand on YouTube, showing off his women and his jewelry and his coffee pots in delightful little bursts of mania.
If you stumbled upon Riff Raff, you either lapped him up, dismissed him, or drove yourself crazy trying to identify the line between sincerity and put-on. In 2013, having James Franco pay homage in a Harmony Korine movie is as close as an Internet butterfly like Riff Raff is going to get to platinum.
Last week I tracked down Riff Raff in Austin in the middle of the South by Southwest Music Festival. I'd been texting with him and his manager all day, but the plans kept changing: Meet us at the hotel, no, we'll come to you, wait actually who are you and what do you need again? I monitored him online: At one point he Instagrammed a photo with Trinidad James that highlighted that the two rappers were the same height.
When we finally met at the Scoot Inn, a kitschy, dumpy, hunting lodge–themed venue, Riff Raff arrives wearing swim trunks and a T-shirt of his own face. With him were his hype man, a slim white man in a beanie; his security guard, a massive black man in a Nirvana Bleach T-shirt; two hangers-on; and his manager, a portly Hispanic man with a neatly trimmed goatee, a large glitzy cross, and a work shirt open over a Portishead tee.
Riff Raff and his manager discussed relocating to the Escalade for the interview, before realizing I didn't have a cameraman or a camera with me. "This isn't for TV?" Riff asked. "Oh, that sucks." We settled in the back office of the venue, a tiny, cramped room furnished with a computer chair, a string of tangled Christmas lights, and one well-kept Huey Lewis and the News poster.
Before we talked, Riff Raff seemed chipper about Spring Breakers. He'd recently changed his Twitter background photo to his re-creation of the promo art from the movie — Franco, mean-mugging alongside a gaggle of bikinied girls — and tweeted his support for the flick. Did he like the movie? He burped loudly, then answered lazily. "I mean, I'm in the movie? So, yeah, anything that's about me I'm gonna promote."
One minute later his iPhone was out, and he was showing me the original e-mail exchange he had with Korine. He began to read the exchange.
"'Yo Riff Raff what's up I wanna put you in a movie you down?' I didn't answer this."
Next: "This is Chelsea Sullivan I am Riff Raff's assistant how much would he be paid?'"
Then, from Korine: "'Not sure yet I need to put you into contact with the producers about that.'"
After a few more: "'Don't worry about it, I guess you're not familiar with my films.' He's feeling disrespected now, you know what I mean? But it's not me, it's my assistant! I get hundreds of millions [of e-mails] a day! OK, this is me finally cutting through the bullshit: 'What's up man, you trying to do a movie?'"
Korine, again: "'Shit, man, I had to get someone else cause I thought you weren't interested. I'm a fan of yours we should figure this out somehow, to do something in the future.' This is me: 'How you gonna get someone else to play Riff Raff, that's like telling Bill Clinton to sub in for Michael Jordan in the NBA playoffs fourth quarter down two points five seconds left.'"4
It turns out Riff Raff's sad about how this played out. "It even came to a point where I was like, 'I don't need to get paid. I'll fly out there and do the movie.' But [Korine] also didn't put me on the soundtrack, so now I'm looking at it like maybe he's not my friend? And the fact that I have to fight this quote unquote James Franco situation — I don't know, man. Just watch the movie."
Once he's finished brandishing his phone, he was on to brandishing his accoutrements. "If you see somebody with braids and colored beads and a zigzag beard, a white dude with pieces of chains, who you think about?" he asked excitedly. "And the thing about me is, I'm not a joke. I make a lot of money. I wear a lot of jewelry. And the reason I buy so much jewelry is to show you that it's not a joke. You walk around with $20,000 on, you not to be played with." He clutched his chain for proof, which happens to be an excellent white-gold and yellow-diamond rendering of Alice in Wonderland's grinning Cheshire Cat. Then he asked me if I had a charger for an iPhone 5.
Before their relationship fizzled, Korine and Riff posed together for the cover of Sneeze Magazine. The corresponding interview says "RiFFmony" has recently been "spotted trying to dunk on West Hollywood's public courts." In the piece, Korine refers to Riff Raff as "rap game autistic" and explains why he likes him so much: "RiFF is the first rapper seriously to [go] post rhyming. He can make words sound like they're rhyming that don't really rhyme. I don't mean like an occasional rhyme, I mean like none of it rhymes."
It's not hard to see what else drew Korine to Riff Raff. There's Korine's well-documented obsession with fringe characters: the cat-killing, glue-huffing survivors of Gummo; the tender schizophrenic in Julien Donkey-Boy; the cracked celebrity-impersonator community of Mister Lonely. Korine himself has long been a smartass pop culture enigma. He's exactly the kind of person about whom you'd argue, Bullshit or genius?
I meet Korine at a boutique L.A. hotel. In the lobby, there's a standing lamp fashioned to look like an AK-47 and another like a giant horse. Korine is at the tail end of months of Spring Breakers promotion and his voice is ground down to a rasp. He's put on what looks like 30 pounds since his Letterman days. His beard has gone salt-and-pepper, his hair artfully greasy. The gear is still pretty much the same, though: He's in jeans, a flannel open over a T-shirt, and unlaced blue Vans.
Korine grew up in Tennessee and lived on a commune for a time. His father made documentaries; his mother ran a children's clothing store. "They would encourage me, but I think for a while they were trying to get me to get kidnapped," he says. "I have all of these memories of my dad dropping me off on the side of a highway, and then just saying, 'See you later,' and driving home, and me having to walk back 15 miles. I was only like 8 years old. He said he did it because I was driving him crazy. But if you think about it, that's an insane thing for a dad to do."
When he was 19, while skating New York's Washington Square Park with his friends, Korine met the photographer Larry Clark. Clark was doing research for a movie about young skateboarders. Korine sat down next to him and started chewing his ear off, about Leica cameras, Robert Frank, and the Paul Schrader movie Light Sleeper. "I didn't know he was making [the stories] up," Clark recalls, "but the first thing he says to me is, 'You know the sex scenes between Willem Dafoe and so-and-so? I said 'Yeah.' And he said 'To get ready for the sex scene what they did was she, like, blew him for about 20 minutes, you know, and they got all hot, and then they shot.'" Clark thought the kid was brilliant, and they stayed in touch. A year later, when Clark had an idea for the skateboarders movie — he wanted it to revolve around a kid famous for deflowering virgins — he hired Korine to write it. Three weeks later, Korine had the script for Kids.
Kids made Korine a downtown star. Along with his girlfriend Chloe Sevigny,5 he was a scene staple, running through clubs with David Blaine, Lukas Haas, and the rest of Leonardo DiCaprio's notorious "pussy posse." In 1999, Korine released his second movie, Julien Donkey-Boy, a logical companion to Gummo. Centered on a peculiar family — Ewen Bremner played the tortured Julien, Sevigny his pregnant sister, Werner Herzog their iron-willed father, fond of doling out discomfiting garden hose showers and drinking cough syrup out of slippers — it was as uncompromised as it was difficult to swallow.
By the time he and Sevigny broke up, Korine was a mess. A brief laundry list of misdeeds: two houses burned to a crisp; a sojourn into the Panamanian jungle; relocations to London, then Paris, where the drugs started making his teeth fall out. After Julien he worked on a project called Fight Harm. The premise: He'd get high, then pick fights with strangers that Blaine filmed. That one he never finished.
Ashley Benson — who plays Spring Breakers' Brit — told me Korine would share tales from the wild days in New York and Paris with the cast. "Some of the things we did in the movie, he did when he was younger," she said. "He actually used to rob people with squirt guns." He used the practice for the movie's initiating event, as the girls hold up a chicken shack to fund their spring break.
Eventually Korine's friend agnès b., the fashion designer (and a Julien Donkey-Boy booster), pushed him to enter rehab. Somehow, after years of unmoored overconsumption, Korine cleaned up and found himself back in Nashville. "Of course it's surprising," Korine says. "Like, I was burning the candle at every fucking end. So the fact that I have a daughter now, and a wife … I mean, I didn't think I was gonna live as long as I have. It goes without saying that it's crazy. And the friends, the ones that are still alive — well, probably, most of them have been messed up, too. But we're all just like, 'Holy shit.' The people that really knew me back then know it's a miracle."
So how did he do it?
"I just didn't die. I just kept going," he says. "Man, I don't remember anything. Like, most of my life. Like, [age] 9 to 30. But I can't take any of the really fucked-up parts of my life back. Because it wouldn't get me to where I am now. That's why you really can't have regrets. Not even one thing."
He pauses here for a moment.
"If you wanna be great, I would encourage all that. I would encourage experiencing living life like a criminal."
"When Harmony decided he wanted to get sober," says his wife, Rachel, who plays Cotty in the movie, "one of the hardest things was, 'Will I be able to keep on doing what I'm doing? I've been in this state for so long — is that gonna take something away from me?' Luckily, he was strong enough to make that decision."
Now, Korine says, whatever mania comes will have to come in the work. Not that he's particularly interested in figuring out how, where, or why it's being channeled. "I never wanted to know why I did anything," Korine says. "I have no desire for any type of introspection at all. I don't ever ask myself any questions. I don't want answers."
With Riff Raff, a verifiable personal biography is scant. That's part of the game.6 When Gawker profiled him in 2012, they managed to pin down some of the details. He's from Katy, Texas, near Houston. His birth name is Simco, but he legally changed it to Jody. He dropped out of high school in 11th grade.7 And then there's stuff like this: "He says that he is 6-foot-4, but he is actually 6-foot-2 … according to his MTV bio, he was 26 in 2009, but when I asked him his age last week, he said 26." His SXSW artist bio reads "RiFF RaFF aka JODY HiGHROLLER, the 25 year old phenomenal Phenom born in Sweden, then raised in the USA in Texas, Arizona, and now Hollywood, is a lucrative luxury outlandish non-comparable Neon Icon.8 "When we spoke, he offhandedly mentioned he was 19 in 2003 — well, more specifically, "19 and famous in Houston with five candy-painted cars" — which would make him 29 today.
Riff Raff got his rap name from playing street ball. When he was in high school the AND1 mixtapes were big, and he and his friends would attempt to imitate the elaborate moves they'd see on the tapes. "We'd be dribbling crossovers and all that," Riff says, "and we'd be playing with people's dads and kids from college that didn't go to the pros yet. And the older folks would be like, 'Man, don't come over here with all that dribbling, don't come over here with all that riff raff. And since ninth grade, it stuck."
After high school Riff played basketball at a college in Louisiana, but quit when he didn't jell with the traditionalist coach. He insists he could have, at one point, played professional basketball. "I used to have 40-point, 50-point games, 13 3s in a game," he says. "It's like that! If I decided to get back into basketball I wouldn't be drinking this beer, I wouldn't be doing no drugs. I'd only be drinking water, eating fruits and vegetables, tuna fish, and grilled chicken breast."
After basketball, he "started doing the freestyling, doing whatever I had to do. That was a time where I didn't have too much money. But I was happy. Then I got bored. Now, luckily, I'm in a position where I can make a lot of money and have friends around me. I feel like I'm back in high school again."
He's currently recording his debut album, Neon Icon, with Diplo at the space formerly known as G-Son Studios in L.A.'s Atwater Village, where the Beastie Boys recorded Check Your Head and Ill Communication.
"I have country songs, I have rock songs, I have songs that don't even sound like songs." He's promising a classic. But he's not working too hard. "I'm not one of those rapper guys that spend nights in the studio. I hate being in the studio. I go in there two hours and I'm sick of it — get me the fuck out of there, I'm done."
His goals for Neon Icon are not small.
"I've had the same mentality since I was 5 years old," he says. "I remember being 5 wanting these Jordans, wanting these swim trunks, wanting these colors. I just never had the money to do this shit. As time progresses, you're able to make small goals at a time — bing, bing, bing. But you can't do it fast enough, and shit slides in there like Spring Breakers with James Franco. 'Cause I'm not the top level — I'm not Denzel Washington where I can be like, 'Hey, motherfucker!' and throw my lawyers."
In recent months, Riff Raff says, the groundswell has risen, and he's only gotten stronger.
"Now I'm able to go up against four, five, 10 people, a whole cast of a movie, whatever. No one can touch me. Because I can hit people with key points. I didn't finish high school but I feel like if I was in college I could debate with anybody. [The things I say] no one would have said that. Ever. In life. It's a piece of history."
Whatever is happening here, it's full immersion. These are the moments you have to choose with Riff Raff. Is he serious? And do you care if he is or not? A quick scan of his Twitter page reveals this gem:
"DiD U EVER THiNK ABOUT EYELASHES ?LiKE WTF ?!OH LiKE 10,000 YEARS AGO WHEN THERE WAS SANDSTORMS iN EGYPT i GUESS THESE CAME iN SEMi HANDY"
When I ask him about his own spring break exploits, he says, "At school, there's a seldom group of things you can fuck with: lunch, recess, spring break, buying new clothes. I always loved spring break." Later that night, when he's onstage, I'm pretty sure he asks Shwayze, one of the opening acts, if he's ever seen Sleepless in Seattle.
"I dreamt this picture in my mind of girls in bikinis robbin' fat tourists with guns," Korine says when explaining the movie's inspiration. He started collecting spring break imagery, stuff like YouTube videos of girls getting into fights at gas stations in the middle of the night. Korine and Franco developed Alien by trading these clips and links on and off for a year. "We talked about him being a sociopath, a mystic, a gangster," Korine says. "Something almost like a poet, where his charisma is just insane."
Korine headed to Panama City, Florida, to write the screenplay, in the heart of spring break mania. "People fucking in the hallways, puking on your doorstep, blasting Taylor Swift, and snorting doughnuts," he told Opening Ceremony. "It was like a beach apocalypse!" Too distracted to write, he drove to a golf course hotel populated with dwarves, in town shooting a Hulk Hogan reality show. He banged out the script in 10 days.
Shooting was complicated by the star wattage. "There was paparazzi constantly," his wife Rachel says. "Sometimes we would be acting and there would be crowds surrounding us, almost like it was a play. And a lot of the film was being photographed in real time. The robbery scene, we did the first take, and then we looked on our cell phones, and there were already images of that scene online."
They shot in Florida, again during real spring break, shepherding real revelers into old broken-down hotels to shoot the unhinged party scenes. Of Selena Gomez, Korine says, "I remember a lot of dudes wanting to hump her."
For the cast, Korine wanted girls "representative of a pop mythology." He says he was amazed by how game the actresses were. "They were all pretty much fearless. None of them needed convincing." That seems maybe not that shocking: What would Gomez and Hudgens, born and bred in the Disney entertainment machine, be if not good soldiers?9 Meanwhile, there was Franco, leading by example: On set, Alien stayed Alien. "Vanessa and I met him one night around midnight," says Benson. "He was in his trailer getting his braids in and we peeked in, and he was like" — and here she switches to a fairly convincing approximation of Franco's Alien via Riff Raff drawl — 'Heeeey, I'm Jaaaames — naaaaice to meeet you.'"
At home, in the evenings, the Korines would watch dailies. "Our daughter saw so much of the movie just by default," Rachel says. "She'd walk in and she was always very aware: 'Oh, you're watching Spring Breakers again? Can't I watch cartoons?'"
S pring Breakers kicks off audaciously, with the sharp shards of Skrillex's "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites" soundtracking a sweaty, grimy, slo-mo avalanche of funnels, middle fingers, butts, boobs, Natty Light, and leering dudes pouring can-humped crotch-beers. A few minutes later, Hudgens pretends to lick a drawing of a penis. Thirty seconds after that, Benson fellates a squirt gun full of whiskey.
"Kids was about kids that were trying to disappear — oblivion seekers," Korine says. "Spring Breakers is about a culture on display. It's more performative, more socialized, more hyper, more violent — you know, drugs, video games." To that end, the movie sometimes seems like a series of stand-alone set pieces: Feast your eyes on James Franco, at a white piano, tinkling out Britney Spears's "Everytime" as the girls — in sweatpants and sea-punk one-pieces and pink unicorn ski masks — twirl their automatic weapons. Korine insists he wants you to get lost in the characters, but then he goes and builds a major turning point around Gucci Mane peeling out in a Ferrari while dropping his trademark "Burrrr!"
A giant Lil Wayne poster, Kimbo Slice videos on YouTube, the girls rolling around their dorm hallways singing "Hot in Herre" — Korine nails the mundane little details of college life. Things get trippy fast, though, with the chicken shack hold-up. The act is filmed from the getaway car as it circles the perimeter, and the girls repeat phrases like a mantra: "Pretend like it's a video game. Get this fucking money." Back at the dorms, Hudgens rolls around the dollar bills, cooing, "This money makes my pussy wet. It makes my tits look bigger."
In Florida, the girls bomb around town on scooters, wreaking havoc. At one point, Gomez calls her grandmother as the rest of the girls squat together to urinate. With the camera trained on them, we hear Gomez say, "This is the most spiritual place I've ever been." Then later: "It feels like the world is perfect. Like it's never gonna end." This is where Spring Breakers might lose you. Korine's fucking with us, right?
Halfway through the movie, the girls are lured into Alien's lair, and he begins enumerating his many impressive possessions. "Look at my shee-it!" he squeals, bouncing on his bed. "I got … I got shorts! Every fuckin' color. I got designer T-shirts! I got gold bullets. Motherfuckin' vam-pires." It's the best scene in the movie, and it's the one you'll walk out of the theater running back: "Look at all my shee-it!"
There's a classic Riff Raff YouTube video called "iN BRaZiL BaD BiTCH STRiPPER" that finds our hero at home in what he calls East Brazilia, conducting a similar inventory. "You see the ice — this ain't no middle-of-the-mall shit," he says, flashing his chain and watch. "Hold up — you know I stay with some seasoning salt," shaking up a green can of Tony Chachere's. "Been have this," tapping a multicolored light fixture with a sieve. "Bought this from Mike Tyson before he sold his house to Michael Jackson and 'dem. Stupid flat-screens … what you want, you want coffee? I can pour you a fresh pot." Then, picking up a seemingly ordinary can opener, he says: "I been opening my shit up with Gucci can trap openers."
Maybe it's for the best that Riff Raff hasn't been acknowledged as the inspiration for Alien: Harmony Korine's characters are meant to live on the fringes. One day, though — years from now, when all this has faded — maybe Riff and Korine will sit down together again. By that point they'll have a lot to talk about. After all, it's Korine, not Riff Raff, who best explains the notion of self-mythology. "My greatest skill is just being me," he says. "My greatest talent is inventing myself."


text:
The Governor's Water Sustainability Commission was established by Executive Order 2011-2 on April 22, 2011. The charge of the Commission was to identify strategies and management measures for ensuring that the quality and quantity of New Hampshire's water resources in 25 years are as good as or better than they are today. The Commission's work culminated in a report to the Governor John Lynch on December 17, 2012.
Governor John Lynch - Final Report Press Release
New Hampshire Must Address Long Term Water Issues, Commission Advises
December 17, 2012 - The New Hampshire Water Sustainability Commission today presented its report, urging that New Hampshire undertake a long-term approach to addressing its water issues.
Adobe Acrobat Reader format. You can download a free reader from Adobe.
Water Sustainability Commission
4 Bicentennial Square, Suite 4 | Concord, NH 03301 | (603) 219-6538

subset: commoncrawl


text:
From the ALSA wiki
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Envy24control is a graphical utility for controlling cards based on the envy24 or ice1712 chipset, e.g., the Midiman Delta series and the Terratec EWS and EWX series. It is supplied as part of the alsa-tools package. The utility allows control of the digital mixer, channel gains and other hardware settings, as well as displaying a level meter for each input and output channel.
The following options are available when invoking
-c card-numberUse the card specified by card-number rather than the first card. This is equivalent with
-Dhw:noption where n is the card number.
-D control-nameUse the card specified by control-name rather than the first card, normally this will be of the form
hw:nwhere n is the sound card number (zero-based). This is only needed if you have more than one Envy24-based card or if your Envy24 card is not configured as the first card in your ALSA driver setup.
-o outputsLimit number of outputs to display. Default is 8.
-i inputsLimit number of inputs to display. Default is 10.
-s outputsLimit number of SPDIF outputs to display. Default is 2.
The controls may be a little daunting at first, not to mention the potential confusion created with varying number schemes within the same app (DAC0-7 vs CM1-8, etc). DAC analog vol controls are a direct gain control of the analog signal at the analog line pre-amp. Take envy24control in its default state. PCM Out 1/2 are directly routed to H/W Out 1/2. This means that any PCM data that jack sends to alsa_pcm:playback_1/2 (which is PCM Out 1/2 in envy24control) goes directly to H/W Out 1/2, which is the analog rca line outs 1 and 2. Any adjustments you make on the monitor mixer page will have no effect. The analog adjustments DAC0 and DAC1 are your only control.
If you route H/W Out1/2 to Digital Mix L/R, respectively, now you are going to hear whatever audio is on the 'Monitor Mixer'. DAC0 and 1 still need to be up, they are at the analog preamp level so always have to be up no matter what you assign to your H/W Outs. Now that you are monitoring the Digital Mix, you need to 'send' audio to the Mix to be able to hear anything. On the 'Monitor Mixer' tab, what you will hear is what can be seen in the left-most, large Digital Mixer meter. To 'send' audio there, simply unmute and raise the levels for whatever channels you want to monitor.
For example, to duplicate the earlier configuration (PCM1/2 directly routed to H/W1/2), unmute and raise the level completely for the *Left* side only on PCM Out1. Ditto for PCM Out 2, except just the *right* side. Using a typical stereo wav file being played back should show you how audio appears on the Digital Mixer as you made the adjustments. Does it make sense why left on 1 and right on 2? PCM1 is the left channel of a typical stereo audio signal, PCM2 is the right. If you were to up both left and right on PCM1, you are sending the left half of a signal to both sides, creating a mono signal. Do it on both PCM Out 1 and 2, and you have a mono signal at twice the amplitude. I used PCM Out 1/2 here as examples, using a typical stereo wav file as an audio source, but this applies to all the ins/outs, etc.
Now, to monitor some live inputs, head down to any of the HW In channels, and unmute/up level on an In channel that you have an input on (mic, guitar, etc). Make sure to up the level at the analog pre-amp as well, making sure to account for the numbering difference (H/W In 3 is controlled by ADC2, etc). At this point I sometimes run 2 instances of envy24control (yup you can do that) so I can watch the level meter while adjusting the proper ADC. Once that is adjusted, unmute and raise level on the monitor mixer tab and the audio will be sent to the Digital Mixer and you should hear it. That's that...
The IPGA0-7 adjustments on the analog page is an additional gain boost for line inputs. If you turn up an ADC all the way on a given channel, and the signal is still not hot enough, this amplifies it internally, thus adding distortion. In my opinion, anytime you use these you are band-aiding a problem somewhere else.
Retrieved from "http://alsa.opensrc.org/Envy24control"


text:
Product Description
The Nitro Euro Style Rollator by Drive Medical offers the best in comfort and convenience. The frame is made of a lightweight aluminum material making the rollator very mobile and easy to use, but still durable and designed to be used in any occasion. The large front wheels allow the Nitro Rollator to be used on any terrain, indoors or out. The item also conforms to a number of people who need to use it. The flexible height adjustable removable back and the height adjustable ergonomic handles allow for many customization options for convenience. The Nitro Rollator is also easy for transport due to its frame which can be folded up with one hand and a durable fold-up handle built in to the seat. The Nitro Euro Style Rollator is perfect for anyone who wants a convenient four wheel rollator that operates virtually anywhere.
Features and Benefits
Product Specification
Model # rtl10266bk
|27.5 lbs
|11.75 × 29.5 × 35 in
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U.S. still making payments to relatives of Civil War veterans
Ten years after the launch of the Iraq War, a number of critics and analysts have been pointing to war's extravagant financial cost—to say nothing of its toll on human lives. But a surprising report shows that nearly 150 years after the Civil War's conclusion, the U.S. government is still paying relatives of veterans.
An analysis from the Associated Press found that more than $40 billion annually is being spent on veterans and survivors of wars dating from the Spanish-American War of 1898 up through the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
There are only two recipients of Civil War benefits, both children of veterans and receiving $876 per year.
Although their names are being kept private, the AP estimates that they were both born between 1920 and 1930, meaning their parents were themselves upward of 80 when their children were born.
Juanita Tudor Lowrey, 86, received Civil War benefits tied to her late father from the age of 2 until her 18th birthday.
Military veteran and former Republican Sen. Alan Simpson said the government should consider means testing veterans as the burden on the federal debt continues to grow.
"Without question, I would affluence-test all of those people," Simpson told the AP.
Simpson co-chaired President Barack Obama's deficit reduction committee in 2010, which offered a number of recommendations for reducing the federal budget defecit.
And while it would be natural to assume the Iraq and Afghanistan wars are the most costly, the payments to Vietnam War veterans nearly double the cost of our two current wars, $22 billion and $12 billion, respectively.
Simpson said a number of new ailments added to veterans coverage, including heart disease, has been driving up costs.
"That has been terribly abused," he said.
Meanwhile, World War II still costs the federal government about $5 billion a year. And the Korean War still costs taxpayers about $2.8 billion annually.
Amazingly, $20 million is still being paid each year to 2,289 family members of veterans from World War I, many of whom are over 100. But perhaps even stranger, 47 benefit recipients were not even born until after the war ended.


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At least six groups are believed to have submitted bids to buy The Boston Globe, according to several people involved in or briefed on the offers.
The bidders, whose offers were due Thursday at 5 p.m., include several of the names previously reported to have been exploring bids, as well as Red Sox owner John Henry and his Fenway Sports Group.
Among them is former Time Inc. chief executive Jack Griffin and two members of the Taylor family, which used to own the Globe. A bid also was submitted by former Globe president Rick Daniels and partner Heb Ryan, a Boston private equity executive.
Other bidders, said people with knowledge of the offers, include Robert Loring, founder of Revolution Capital Group in Los Angeles and owner of the Tampa Tribune, and John J. Gormally Jr. of Gormally Broadcasting in Springfield, the owner of TV stations and BusinessWest Magazine.
Also on the list is Boston lawyer Shannon Liss-Riordan, who submitted a bid that she has been working on with Thomas W. Janes of Kerry Capital Advisors, a Boston private equity firm, said those familiar with the bid.
Henry made his bid along with his New England Sports Network co-owner, Delaware North Cos. Delaware is owned by Boston Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs.
The New York Times Co., which is selling the Globe, previously owned a stake in the Red Sox.
People who do business with him say Henry mulled acquiring the Globe in recent years, after the Times Co. put it up for sale in 2009 and threatened to shut down the newspaper. But Henry did not submit a bid at that time, and the Times Co. ultimately took New England's largest newspaper off the market.
In February, the Times Co. announced that it again planned to sell the Globe and its websites — BostonGlobe.com and Boston.com — along with the rest of the New England Media Group. That entity also includes the Worcester Telegram & Gazette and its website, as well as the Globe's direct mail marketing business and a 49 percent interest in the Metro Boston newspaper.
The Times Co. declined to comment for this story and would not say how many bids had been received.
There could be bidders in addition to those named here, whose identity could not be confirmed.
The Kraft group withdrew from the bidding, as previously reported.
The dollar amounts of the bids could not immediately be learned.
Prior estimates have ranged from $70 million to $120 million. That includes the value of the Globe's building and property on Morrissey Boulevard, which has been estimated at $30 million to $70 million.
Two people involved in bids said they believed the Times Co. was looking for at least $100 million, but that terms of the offers would probably factor in the decision.
While the Times Co. could select a winning bid at any time, many participants are anticipating that the field will be narrowed to two or three before the process concludes.
Liss-Riordan's bid would involve taking on the Globe's pension liabilities, said two people with direct knowledge of the plan.
The Times Co. has said it would keep the pension liabilities and asked for bids not to include them.
Beth Healy can be reached at email@example.com.


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August 21, 2013
Davis County Clipper
By Rebecca Palmer
FARMINGTON — The Farmington City Council decided after a closed session Tuesday evening to go up against the Utah Department of Transportation over the West Davis Corridor.
The council had considered filing a lawsuit over their disagreements with UDOT's draft environmental impact statement (EIS), but decided instead to make their claims known in a public comment.
""We think we're on strong legal grounds to challenge UDOT on some of the EIS points," said City Manager Dave Millheim. "Rather than do it formally, we're going to do a detailed and public comment."
The Farmington council's disagreements are in regard to four large conservation easements through which the proposed freeway would run, if UDOT gets its way.
In its draft statement, UDOT recommends that the new road be built near Glover Lane and into Bluff Road in Syracuse rather than through parts of Kaysville.
Farmington officials believe that UDOT did not adequately consider the four conservation agreements, which total hundreds of acres, according to Millheim. The city believes that land should fall under Section 4(f) of the Department of Transportation Act, which requires extra care and scrutiny. The section doesn't prohibit federal road projects on such land, but requires several safeguards.
UDOT's position, according to Millheim, is that the land in question isn't being used as a park or other specific public use so it shouldn't be classified under 4(f).
"We believe that they've basically discounted the conservation easements," Millheim said. "We just disagree very strongly with their interpretation of that."
The city has other disagreements as well, and will release a robust statement for the public to examine within about a week.
UDOT did not immediately return calls about Farmington's position.
At a separate meeting on Tuesday, the Kaysville City Council voted for a resolution in favor of UDOT's plan.
Read more: The Davis Clipper – Farmington to challenge UDOT over West Davis Corridor


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I have two posts in the making, but must finish this one first as the end of the month is looming and I want to get my "seasonal foods for August" piece published before September shoves its way into my life. What's the deal with these pushy months, anyway? How could September and Labor Day be upon us already? I'll follow this post in a few days with one wrapping up my wilderness journey along the Colorado Trail.
But first, I'm still in a tizzy over Denver being showcased during the Democratic National Convention.
Don't believe half of what you read about protesters taking over the city. Things were mellow. Recreate '68 fizzled out and never left the ground. Much like the protesters' attempts at levitating the Denver Mint. Armed with magic mojo (their words, not mine), a small group of protesters joined mental forces, held hands, and collectively tried to levitate the mint, shake that money-maker, and liberate the $50 million dollars it held hostage. Wizard-attired spokesman, Yippie Pie Man, who came in from out of town (whew, glad he's not a local), lead the mint-raising rally and encouraged bystanders to contribute their personal energies in redistributing the loose change garnered from the shake down.
Needless to say, their mass brain power was tenuous at best, the mojo wasn't magic, and the Mint never budged.
Enough of that — on to what's in season. Fruits and veggies, not politics, however entertaining the political scene may be right now. In my next blog life, I'm going to be a political wonkette. Middle of the road and unbiased, of course. Just the facts.
For now I'll stick to food.
I've focused on tomatoes before, so rather than repeat myself, please go here for relevant nutritional information. Aside from being versatile, luscious, juicy, and colorful, tomatoes promote healthy immune function and have anti-inflammatory properties — both of which are important if you have celiac disease. Or, any other health issues for that matter. Or, if you're perfectly healthy and you simply want to stay that way.
tomato tip — Carotenoids are the source of vitamin A activity in tomatoes and are also responsible for the red-hot color. Beta-carotene and lycopene are the most talked-about carotenoids in tomatoes. They are also fat-soluble plant chemicals, so you'll get more bang for your carotenoid buck if you add a touch of olive oil to the mix.
Oh my gosh, Colorado peaches are the best! Hopefully no one from Georgia is reading this blog. I imagine they would beg to differ, but if you've ever tasted a Palisade Peach, you'll understand what I mean. As some of you know, I belong to a local, organic CSA and have been reaping the veggie benefits all summer long. Last week the farm started shipping out the fruit shares as well. Nine plump, ripe and absolutely gorgeous peaches were included in my box. I made fresh peach cobbler, which was so good I ate what was leftover the next morning for breakfast. Here's my recipe for gluten-free strawberry/rhubarb crumble tart (or something like that). All I did was substitute the nine peaches for the strawberries and rhubarb, baked it, put a big glob of warm cobbler on my plate, and topped it off with some vanilla ice cream. Well, you'll just have to experience this bit of food heaven for yourself. It's too good to describe, so give the recipe a try — this time with peaches. Yum!
Swiss chard
This nutrient-dense plant should probably be called Greek chard as it was Aristotle who in the 4th century BC wrote about its health-promoting benefits. How did he know all that stuff back then? The guy had a very diverse resume. Although there are several different varieties of chard, all are basically tall, green, leafy plants with crunchy stems. All versions are low in calories, high in nutritional value, and full of hearty taste. Some people find this full-bodied flavor a bit much, but I like the taste and the texture. Similar to spinach, kale, and collard greens, chard is rich in vitamins A, C, E, and K and an excellent source of magnesium, potassium, iron and fiber. It is also a good source of osteocalin, which promotes bone health. And yes, we all want strong bones!
summer squash
Related to both the melon and the cucumber, summer squash has a tender center, lots of seeds, and edible flowers called squash blossoms. Like chard, there are several different varieties, but most have similar cooking qualities and all are fairly mellow in flavor. Squash is an excellent source of vitamin C and A, manganese, magnesium, potassium, and fiber. Plus, you can do anything with squash — from basic steaming to bread making. Those great big, overly mature squashes (the kind people try to pawn off on you) have stringy centers and aren't nearly as tasty as the smaller versions. I like using chunks of squash in garden enchiladas with blue corn tortillas.
Although corn, cantaloupe, and eggplants are in season right now as well, I'll spare you more nutritional talk. For now, anyway.
In good health,


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The Laxdaela Saga/Chapter XVI
About this time Asgaut came home. Vigdis greeted him, and asked him what sort of reception they had had at Sheepfell. He gave a good account of it, and told her the words wherewith Thorolf had spoken out his mind. She was very pleased at that. "And you, Asgaut," she said, "have done your part well and faithfully, and you shall now know speedily what wages you have worked for. I give you your freedom, so that from this day forth you shall bear the title of a freeman. Therewith you shall take the money that Thord took as the price for the head of Thorolf, my kinsman, and now that money will be better bestowed."
Asgaut thanked her for her gift with fair words. The next summer Asgaut took a berth in Day-Meal-Ness' and the ship put to sea, and they came in for heavy gales, but not a long sea-voyage, and made Norway. After that Asgaut went to Denmark and settled there, and was thought a valiant and true man. And herewith comes to an end the tale of him. But after the plot Thord Goddi had made up with Ingjald, the Sheepisles priest, when they made up their minds to compass the death of Thorolf, Vigdis' kinsman, she returned that deed with hatred, and divorced herself from Thord Goddi, and went to her kinsfolk and told them the tale. Thord Yeller was not pleased at this; yet matters went off quietly. Vigdis did not take away with her from Goddistead any more goods than her own heirlooms. The men of Hvamm let it out that they meant to have for themselves one-half of the wealth that Thord was possessed of. And on hearing this he becomes exceeding fainthearted, and rides forthwith to see Hoskuld to tell him of his troubles.
Hoskuld said, "Times have been that you have been terror-struck, though not having with such overwhelming odds to deal."
Then Thord offered Hoskuld money for his help, and said he would not look at the matter with a niggard's eye. Hoskuld said, "This is clear, that you will not by peaceful consent allow any man to have the enjoyment of your wealth."
Answers Thord, "No, not quite that though; for I fain would that you should take over all my goods. That being settled, I will ask to foster your son Olaf, and leave him all my wealth after my days are done; for I have no heir here in this land, and I think my means would be better bestowed then, than that the kinsmen of Vigdis should grab it."
To this Hoskuld agreed, and had it bound by witnesses. This Melkorka took heavily, deeming the fostering too low. Hoskuld said she ought not to think that, "for Thord is an old man, and childless, and I wish Olaf to have all his money after his day, but you can always go to see him at any time you like."
Thereupon Thord took Olaf to him, seven years old, and loved him very dearly. Hearing this, the men who had on hand the case against Thord Goddi thought that now it would be even more difficult than before to lay claim to the money. Hoskuld sent some handsome presents to Thord Yeller, and bade him not be angry over this, seeing that in law they had no claim on Thord's money, inasmuch as Vigdis had brought no true charges against Thord, or any such as justified desertion by her. "Moreover, Thord was no worse a man for casting about for counsel to rid himself of a man that had been thrust upon his means, and was as beset with guilt as a juniper bush is with prickles."
But when these words came to Thord from Hoskuld, and with them large gifts of money, then Thord allowed himself to be pacified, and said he thought the money was well placed that Hoskuld looked after, and took the gifts; and all was quiet after that, but their friendship was rather less warm than formerly. Olaf grew up with Thord, and became a great man and strong. He was so handsome that his equal was not to be found, and when he was twelve years old he rode to the Thing meeting, and men in other country-sides looked upon it as a great errand to go, and to wonder at the splendid way he was made. In keeping here-with was the manner of Olaf's war-gear and raiment, and therefore he was easily distinguished from all other men. Thord got on much better after Olaf came to live with him. Hoskuld gave Olaf a nickname, and called him Peacock, and the name stuck to him.


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Posted by Editor on 03/24/07
Alberta Provincial Cycling Coaches' Conference
Courtesy Andy Holmwood
The Alberta Bicycle Association, in association with the Coaching Association of Canada and The Investor's Group, is pleased to present the 2nd Alberta Provincial Cycling Coaches' Conference, Sunday, April 1st in Edmonton.
Sessions at the conference include "Understanding Competitive Cycling through Power Output Analysis", "Keys to Performance in the Individual Time Trial", and "Sport Psychology for Cycling: Enhancing Motivation and Team Dynamics".
The conference is free of charge for NCCP-certified cycling coaches; other ABA members and members of the public may attend at a cost of $40. For more details on the conference, view the advertisement posted at www.albertabicycle.ab.ca.
|Return to Canadian Cyclist homepage | Back to Top


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How to Blow $3.5 Billion
Yahoo finally shuttered Geocities today. Acquired in 1999, Geocities was one of the costliest dot-com duds of of all time: $3.5 billion for an ugly, cash-bleeding homepage hosting service. And to think Google's founders were simultaneously begging server funds.
Yahoo had a shot at acquiring or investing in Google before purchasing Geocities; according to John Batelle's The Search, Google's co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin approached Yahoo in 1997 or 1998, but Yahoo passed. Page and Brin were becoming desperate for resources — they had scrounged far more than their fair share of excess servers, hard drives and bandwidth belonging to Stanford University — so on the advice of a professor they turned to Sun co-founder Andy Bechtolsheim:
Brin sent Bechtolsheim an e-mail late one night requesting a sit-down, and Bechtolsheim answered immediately. He suggested meeting the next morning at eight o'clock... They agreed to meet, on the porch of [a mutual friend's] Palo Alto home...
[Page:] "We did a demo, and Andy asked a lot of questions. [Then] he said: 'Well, I don't want to waste time. I'm sure it'll help you guys if I just write a check.'"
...When Bechtolsheim went out to his car to get his checkbook, they pondered how much to ask for and at what valuation... "We told him our valuation and he said, 'Oh, I don't think that's enough, I think it should be twice that much...'"
Minutes later, Page and Brin had a check for $100,000.
This happened in late 1998, right around the time Yahoo would have been negotiating its Geocities boondoggle, which was consummated in January 1999. To think the company could have had Google for a song. Google users should be glad Yahoo didn't — Yahoo's bumbling managers probably would have run Google.com into the ground. Twitter investor Fred Wilson should be glad, too: the Geocities deal earned his venture capital firm a hundredfold return.


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Friday, August 5
Recipe Ideas: Wondering What To Do with Purple Basil?
23 comments:
I have never grown the purple basil, it sure is pretty! I will have to give it a try next year! :)ReplyDelete
I grew purple basil a couple years ago and I didn't really like it. The leaves seemed a lot tougher and less succulent than green basil. I never did use it to make pesto...I was curious what it would look like.ReplyDelete
I bought purple basil this year and am hoping it reseeds like the lady said it would!ReplyDelete
- Anonymous8/05/2011 2:34 PM
I like to make basil vinegar with it. I use white wine or rice vinegar, and it turns a beautiful ruby red color that doesn't fade. I prefer green basil for cooking with, but sometimes use both green and red basil together, such as scattering on top of fresh tomatoes.ReplyDelete
I never used purple basil for pesto, but will have to try it sometime.
I saw someone beat me to it, but I would suggest basil vinegar also.ReplyDelete
I bet it would look very beautiful in a simple butter-basil pasta type dish!ReplyDelete
- Catherine8/06/2011 4:43 AM
I like to put it in a tossed salad; it adds a lovely fragrance and taste. Or add to tomato salads.ReplyDelete
wonderful ideas: I will try the pesto and vinegar for sure. I use my purple basil with burrata and heirloom tomatoes, same way as with the green basil. Garnished with some blossoms,it looks really nice and tastes heavenly.ReplyDelete
Greetings from the Amish community of Lebanon,Pa. Richard from Amish Stories.ReplyDelete
- Anonymous8/06/2011 11:34 AM
I love the color but purple somehow strikes me as an odd 'color' in pesto. I'm going to take a look at your recipes and maybe next year grow some, too. I love, love, love pesto!!ReplyDelete
Thanks for sharing some great ideas!
- Anonymous8/06/2011 6:51 PM
No, I haven't tried purple... but my green basil finally took off... we've had such a slow starting summer here in Seattle.ReplyDelete
We make a beautiful purple basil jelly. It is a glowing, jewel color, with a sweet, toast/friendly flavor.ReplyDelete
- Anonymous8/07/2011 2:42 PM
Well I did learn one thing when I grew purple basil a couple of years ago - don't use green and purple basil together in pesto. I should have remembered from kindergarten that mixing purple and green isn't a pretty color lol.ReplyDelete
- Anonymous8/08/2011 8:18 AM
I've used it in stir-fries. Looks really pretty when whole leaves or large stips are mixed with different colored veggies. (I'm in a city and w/o a garden, so I've never had to deal with a huge bounty of it. For me, small expensive bunches are an occasional exotic purchase.)ReplyDelete
I've never used it, but I imagine it would be a wonderful choice to use in a parmesan, basil and sour cream dip. I imagine all of the flecks and shreds of purple being so pretty.ReplyDelete
I think I would grow it just because it is so pretty!!!!!ReplyDelete
- Anonymous8/09/2011 5:13 PM
I just grew the purple stuff for the first time this year. Add some unsweetened yogurt to your favorite pesto recipe and cut the amount of olive oil and cheese you need. Not only is is yummy and creamy, but it also changes the color to a more pleasant one. I like to add yogurt anyway to keep even my green basil from being so oily. Sure I love olive oil... but sometimes enough is enough.ReplyDelete
You could make basil jelly with it. I steep basil in apple juice and follow any apple jelly recipe. You could make tomato basil jelly. You could make basil butter. Just mix softened butter, chopped basil, and a little salt and garlc. I imagine it would look stunning in a basil-garlic bread.ReplyDelete
- Anonymous6/05/2013 6:55 PM
used red rubin basil to finish off this recipe, in my cast iron dutch oven, outdoors: fingerling potatoes, onions, garlic and olive oil. basil can burn, so use it only at the end.ReplyDelete
- Anonymous6/17/2013 11:11 AM
I love purple basil in potatoe salad. Purple basil has a peppery zing to it that green basil does not in my opinion. I don't like yellow mustard so I use whole mustard with the purple basil and fresh dill. YUM!ReplyDelete
Purple basil is beautiful mixed in an arrangement of flowers, as a filler.ReplyDelete
I take a beef roast, rub sea salt on it the day before, then the day of cooking mince fresh garlic, fresh spicy oregano and the dark or purple basil, minced very tiny adding a bit of virgin oil to all the herbs, rubbing them to the roast. Best roast I have ever cooked!!! All from my herb garden..ReplyDelete
We've been growing purple basil for years. When it goes to seed, you'll be surprised as to where it will come up next year. It's everywhere!ReplyDelete
December 2015 update: Hi! For some reason I can't figure out, Blogger hasn't been letting me leave comments on my own blog (!) for the last several months, so I've been unable to respond to your comments and questions. My apologies for any inconvenience! You're always welcome to email me: farmgirlfare AT gmail DOT com.
Hi! Thanks for visiting Farmgirl Fare and taking the time to write. While I'm not always able to reply to every comment, I receive and enjoy reading them all.
Your feedback is greatly appreciated, and I especially love hearing about your experiences with my recipes. Comments on older posts are always welcome!
Please note that I moderate comments, so if I'm away from the computer it may be a while before yours appears.
I try my best to answer all questions, though sometimes it takes me a few days. And sometimes, I'm sorry to say, they fall through the cracks, and for that I sincerely apologize.
I look forward to hearing from you and hope you enjoy your e-visits to our farm!


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5 fun, easy listening pieces in a Bossa Nova/Cha-cha-cha style. These pieces are perfect for animations, light-hearted videos or any other productions where a playful Latin style might add an extra dimension.
1) Bossanova Elevator (1:23) (alterative version not included in pack)
2) Bossanova Supermarket (2:12)
3) Bossanova Escalator (1:40)
4) Bossa Nuova (1:34)
5) Spanish Holiday (1:32)
Complete Length 8:23
P.S. This pack contains the standard versions only (as heard in the Bossa Nova pack preview above) and does not include the EQ versions included in the original single track previews.


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OSWEGO – Hinsdale Central could not keep pace with a bruising Oswego offense on Saturday.
Oswego never trailed during the first round game of the 8A playoffs, opening a 21-7 halftime lead before pulling away in the second half en route to a 42-14 victory.
Trailing 14-0, running back Juwan Edmond got Central on the board in the second quarter, slashing through the defense and sprinting 89 yards for a touchdown. Ben Stefani added a 3-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, but Hinsdale Central could not complete to comeback.
Senior Chase Hamilton made his second consecutive start after missing over a month of action due to a fractured leg. The Red Devils' quarterback was able to connect with receiver Ian Bunting on several occasions – the longest, a 50-yard completion in the third quarter.
Oswego moves on to face Waubonsie Valley in the second round of the playoffs.


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Play all videos (4)
Aired September 21, 2010 on BBC Four
As the Pope ends his visit to Britain, historian Dr Thomas Dixon delves into the BBC's archive to explore the troubled relationship between religion and science. From the creationists of America to the physicists of the Large Hadron Collider, he traces the expansion of scientific knowledge and asks whether there is still room for God in the modern world.(Thanks to TreVelocita)
The relationship between science and religion has been long and troubled: from the condemnation of Galileo by the Catholic Church in 17th century Italy, through the clashes between creationism and evolution in 20th century America, right up to recent claims that the universe does not need God.
Delving through the rich archive of programmes from Horizon and BBC Science, Thomas Dixon looks at what lies behind this difficult relationship. Using original footage from 1925, he tells the story of John Scopes, a Tennessee teacher who was tried for teaching evolution. He sees the connections between religion and American politics in the story of a more recent court case -- the trial of Intelligent Design. He looks at what happens when new scientific discoveries start to explain events that were once seen as the workings of God, and explains how some of our most famous scientists have seen God in the grandest laws of the universe. Finally, he finds intriguing evidence from brain science which hints that belief in God is here to stay.


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This blog...
...was initially for pieces done on a computer, but has since become a free-for-all. Here you'll find process work (digital and otherwise), sketch pages and studies, sometimes with commentary.
You can see the rest of my work here.
Remember kids : if you can't make pretty designs, at least make pretty lines!
You can see the rest of my work here.
Remember kids : if you can't make pretty designs, at least make pretty lines!
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
B-day Bragging Rights Pt. 5
B-day Bragging Rights Pt. 4
B-day Bragging Rights Pt. 3
B-day Bragging Rights Pt. 2
B-day Bragging Rights Pt. 1
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Fellini's Faces pt. 7
In honor of my impending birthday, Nick Southam gifted me with a *pocket knife* and, rather than stabbing me repeatedly like I thought he would, proceeded to show me how to sharpen pencils like a Man (TM). I'll never use a conventional pencil sharpener again. The irregular, chisel tip you get from whittling (or sanding) is unbeatable. Super thin and super thick in one instrument, like the calligraphy pens I like. Compare with the conventional, pointed-tip stroke, as represented by the woman with the round hair.
Portrait Rip
Monday, November 26, 2012
Saturday, November 24, 2012
This is my friend Josh.
Fellini's Faces pt. 6
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Touch 01
Painting Practice - 11.21.12
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
AJ lighting demo
Anthony Jones did this rad lighting demo using one of my Halo 4 concepts as a base. Respek!
Monday, November 19, 2012
Fellini's Faces pt. 4
More struggles in painting...mucking about with approach/technique...I WILL catch up to you fuckers.
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Fellini's Faces pt. 1
So last week, Peter König throws this book down on my desk that I'd never seen called "Fellini's Faces." The thing is full of distinct, memorable characters, cover to cover. Ten seconds later, I purchase a used copy for a song on Amazon. HIGHLY WORTH IT.
Sunday, November 11, 2012
lifedrawing log 11.11.12
If you take a moment before drawing something to analyze which side of it contains less info (the rhythm/pure/stretch side -- represented by a mostly uninterrupted straight or curve) and which contains more info (the form/impure/squash side -- represented by protrusions, lumps, etc.), and play these attributes up, you stand a better chance of fairly representing the thing. This "simple on one side / complex on the other" phenomenon is seen all over nature, in grand and miniature scales, from nearly every angle. Of course, by trying to figure out which is which (normally it's pretty obvious), you run the risk of accidentally getting the sides swapped 'round. But even that doesn't seem as unforgivable a gaffe as making both equally info-packed or info-less.
Animal example : Notice the "pure" top of this red panda is more info-light and the "impure" bottom is more info-laden.
Animal example : Notice the "pure" top of this red panda is more info-light and the "impure" bottom is more info-laden.
Sunday Painting Practice cntd.
An experiment brought about by a discussion with Theo Prins -- Rather than painting over/under a drawing and constantly comparing the painted version to the line version, USE THE LINE VERSION AS A SEPARATE PLAN FOR THE PAINTING. Don't even include it as part of the actual painting; just keep it off to the side as a reference. You get away from the nagging feeling that you're not being true to your sketch, and make a new, different thing that you're aware is going to be new and different from the getgo. There's something to it.
...And an especially warm thanks goes out to Slide for waking me up to the notion that warm/cool regions of a painting occur in constantly alternating patterns, like stripes on a zerbra.
...And an especially warm thanks goes out to Slide for waking me up to the notion that warm/cool regions of a painting occur in constantly alternating patterns, like stripes on a zerbra.
Saturday, November 10, 2012
Friday, November 9, 2012
New Rule :
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Paintin' them rocks!
Slide teaches me how to paint a rock. Upper left is where I began. Rest is her.
That's a bubble in the middle.
Ancient Prometheans
Infected Armor (Orthos)
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This section describes how to enable and validate device management features required to prepare devices for managed profiles. It also covers device owner user cases that are essential in a corporate environment.
In addition to AOSP code, a device requires the following components to function with managed profiles.
General requirements
Devices intending to support device management must meet the following general requirements.
Thermal HAL values
Android 7.0 and later includes support for HardwarePropertiesManager API, a device
monitoring and health reporting API that enables applications to query the state
of device hardware. This API is exposed via
android.os.HardwarePropertiesManager and makes calls through
HardwarePropertiesManagerService to the hardware thermal HAL
hardware/libhardware/include/hardware/thermal.h). It is a
protected API, meaning only device/profile owner Device Policy Controller (DPC)
applications and the current
VrListenerService can call it.
To support the HardwarePropertiesManager API, the device thermal HAL implementation must be able to report the following values:
|Reporting Scale
|Temperature of [CPU|GPU|Battery|Device Skin]
|Temperature of component in degrees Celsius
|Apps can check device temperatures and component throttling/shutdown temperatures
|CPU active/total enabled times
|Time in milliseconds
|Apps can check CPU usage per core
|Fan speed
|Apps can check fan speed
Implementations should correctly handle reporting values situations when a core (or GPU, battery, fan) goes offline or is plugged/unplugged.
Enabling device management
To enable device management, ensure the following
are declared:
android.software.managed_users(feature is declared if and only if the device has at least 2 GB of memory.)
To confirm these
uses-feature values have been declared on a
device, run:
adb shell pm list features.
Essential apps only
By default, only applications essential for correct operation of the profile
are enabled as part of provisioning a managed device. Keep in mind, all example
instances of
_managed_profile.xml files below are only relevant if
android.software.managed_users is declared. OEMs must ensure the
managed profile or device has all required applications by modifying:
vendor_required_apps_managed_profile.xml vendor_required_apps_managed_device.xml vendor_disallowed_apps_managed_profile.xml vendor_disallowed_apps_managed_device.xml /* * The following are for Android 9 and higher only */ vendor_required_apps_managed_user.xml vendor_disallowed_apps_managed_user.xml
Required and disallowed apps for managed users are applied to secondary users
created via
Examples from a Nexus device
Android 8.x and earlier
Android 9 and higher
<resources> <!-- A list of apps to be retained on the managed device --> <string-array name="vendor_required_apps_managed_device"> <item>com.android.vending</item> <!--Google Play --> <item>com.google.android.gms</item> <!--Required by Play --> <item>com.google.android.contacts</item> <!--Google or OEM Contacts--> <item>com.google.android.googlequicksearchbox</item> <!--Google Launcher --> <item>com.google.android.launcher</item> <!--Google Launcher or OEM Launcher --> <item>com.google.android.dialer</item> <!--Google or OEM dialer to enable making phone calls --> </string-array> </resources>
Android 8.x and earlier
Android 9 and higher
<resources> <!-- A list of apps to be retained in the managed profile. This includes any Google experience apps required. --> <string-array name="vendor_required_apps_managed_profile"> <item>com.android.vending</item> <!-- Google Play --> <item>com.google.android.gms</item> <!-- Required by Play --> <item>com.google.android.contacts</item> <!-- Google or OEM Contacts --> </string-array> </resources>
Launcher requirements
You must update the Launcher to support badging applications with the icon badge (provided in AOSP to represent the managed applications) and other badge user interface elements such as recents and notifications. If you use launcher3 in AOSP without modifications, then you likely already support this badging feature.
NFC requirements
Devices with NFC must enable NFC during the out-of-the-box experience (i.e., setup wizard) and be configured to accept managed provisioning intents:
<bool name="enable_nfc_provisioning">true</bool> <item>application/com.android.managedprovisioning</item>
Setup requirements
Devices that include an out-of-box experience (i.e., setup wizard) should implement device owner provisioning. When the out-of-box experience opens, it should check if another process (such as device owner provisioning) has already finished the user setup and, if so, it should fire a home intent and finish the setup. This intent is caught by the provisioning application, which then hands control to the newly-set device owner.
To meet setup requirements, add the following code to the device setup's main activity:
@Override protected void onStart() { super.onStart(); // When returning to a setup wizard activity, check to see if another setup process // has intervened and, if so, complete an orderly exit boolean completed = Settings.Secure.getInt(getContentResolver(), Settings.Secure.USER_SETUP_COMPLETE, 0) != 0; if (completed) { startActivity(new Intent(Intent.ACTION_MAIN, null) .addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_HOME) .addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK | Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TASK | Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_RESET_TASK_IF_NEEDED)); finish(); } ... }


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TechRadar Verdict
The GT70 is the fastest gaming laptop we've ever seen but, despite its speed, it's no pricier than the competition.
- +
Market-leading graphics power
- +
excellent processor
- +
good keyboard
- +
1080p screen
- +
powerful speakers
- -
Poor battery life
- -
inconsistent SSD
- -
trackpad could be larger
- -
very heavy
- -
average colour accuracy
Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you're buying the best. Find out more about how we test.
The emergence of efficient components, tiny SSDs and Intel's Ultrabook brand has seen the laptop market shift towards lithe, light machines, but they're still no good if you're a keen gamer. If you want to play new titles at high settings, you still need a chunkier gaming machine – and the MSI GT70 could be one of the most powerful we've ever seen.
That's down to one component: the GeForce GTX 870M. It's the first mobile GPU to emerge from Nvidia's new range, and it supercharges the firm's high-end hardware to return some of the best results we have ever seen from a laptop.
The GTX 870M has 1,344 stream processors, which is one of the largest amounts ever included in an Nvidia mobile GPU, and they're clocked to 941MHz – higher than every enthusiast GPU in the firm's last mobile range. There's GPU Boost, too, so this chip hits a peak of 967MHz.
Nvidia's new Maxwell architecture is currently reserved for the mid-range, so the GTX 870M has Kepler silicon instead. Nvidia specifies this GPU with 3GB of GDDR5 memory, but that's not enough for MSI – it's soldered 6GB of 1,250MHz silicon to this GPU, which is the most we've seen on any gaming notebook.
The Core i7-4800MQ is one of Intel's best mobile parts. It's got four Hyper-Threaded cores clocked to 2.7GHz, and it uses Turbo Boost to tweak all four to 3.5GHz – and one can hit 3.7GHz. In this machine it's paired with 8GB of RAM. Storage is handled by a 128GB Toshiba SSD and a 1GB hard disk.
Dual-band 802.11n wireless is provided by a Killer Wireless-N 1202 chip designed to improve speed and reduce interference, and Gigabit Ethernet comes from the same game-friendly brand. There's Bluetooth 4.0, and a DVD writer – but no Blu-ray.
On the outside, the MSI GT70 is a throwback – and proud of it. It's a huge system that harks back to older gaming laptops, and it's got the sort of loud touches that just aren't found on Ultrabooks these days: a light-up logo on the lid, big metallic speakers, a colourful backlit keyboard and plenty of flashing lights, glossy plastic and brushed metal.
The high-end components mean that the MSI isn't exactly a lightweight. It's 59mm thick when its rubber feet are included, and 428mm wide – and its 3.9kg weight rises by several hundred grams with its power brick. It's a significant piece of hardware.
Thankfully, the heavyweight design is matched with good build quality. The moderate price means this machine is made from a mix of plastic and aluminium, but it's robust, with barely any give in the wrist-rest, base and screen. It's a machine that'll survive life on the road. It's also got plenty of ports: three USB 3 connectors, a pair of USB 2 ports, and three display outputs.
Scandinavian keyboard specialists SteelSeries supply this MSI's Scrabble-tile unit – the same arrangement as on MSI's own slimmer MS70 – and it's a high-quality bit of kit: little give in the base, with light keys, and a consistent action. There's a numberpad, too, and the whole unit is up to the task of strenuous gameplay.
The trackpad's two buttons are large and snappy, so easy to hit during gameplay, and the pad itself is smooth, but we wish it was larger – it's irritating to suddenly hit its edges during intense moments. As usual, with gaming laptops, we'd be using a separate mouse whenever possible.
Only one gaming laptop is larger than the MSI, and it's the 4.6kg Asus G750JX – a monster gaming machine with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 770M GPU.
The Asus isn't the only gaming machine that squares up to the MSI. Gigabyte's best effort is the stunning Aorus X7: a mighty gaming laptop that crams two high-end GPUs inside a surprisingly slim chassis.
The MSI GS70 Stealth is a home-grown machine that tries to offer gaming power inside an Ultrabook-style exterior, and the Toshiba Qosmio X70 is a traditional gaming system – which means it's one of the most extravagant-looking laptops we've ever laid eyes on.
Ice Storm: 63,839
Cloud Gate: 17,151
Fire Strike: 4,286
Cinebench 11.5:
GPU: 57.78fps
Cinebench R15:
CPU: 660cd
GPU: 84.82fps
PCMark 8:
Home battery test, high performance: 1hr 56mins
Home battery test, balanced: 2hr 38mins
Home battery test, power saver, 40% screen: 3hrs 42mins
Unigine Heaving:
Looping, Extreme, 1080p, simulated gaming battery life: 1hr 7mins
Bioshock Infinite:
Ultra, 1,920 x 1,080: 86fps
Battlefield 4:
Ultra, 1,920 x 1,080: 34fps
Batman: Arkham Origins
Very High, 1,920 x 1,080: 52fps
AS SSD sequential read: 497MB/s
AS SSD sequential write: 271MB/s
The GT70 backs up its impressive specification with stupendous performance. The MSI scored 4,286 in 3Dmark's toughest Fire Strike test. The MSI's closest rival, the Gigabyte Aorus, scored 4,220, but every other laptop here was around 1,000 points behind – or worse.
This system's theoretical prowess transferred to real-world tests. We ran BioShock Infinite at its highest settings and Full HD, and the MSI averaged 86fps, more than 30 frames faster than the dual-GPU Gigabyte. The MSI went on to average 34fps in Battlefield 4's top settings, and then 52fps in Batman: Arkham Origins. This machine has the power to run today's top games without breaking a sweat – and, suffice to say, no other laptop got close.
The processor was no less impressive. The MSI's Cinebench score of 7.51 points is similarly dominant; the GT70's nearest challenger is the Asus, which scored exactly 7 – and few other machines could get beyond 6 points.
Gaming laptops aren't known for their longevity, and the MSI lived up to this stereotype. It lasted for just 1hr 56mins in PC Mark's Home battery test, with this figure improving to just north of three and a half hours with Power Saver mode activated, and with the screen dimmed. We looped the Unigine Heaven benchmark to simulated gameplay, and the MSI ran out of juice after barely an hour – a deeply mediocre result.
The Toshiba SSD rattled through the AS SSD sequential read test at 497MB/s, which is an excellent result – only the best drives hit 500MB/s. The drive's sequential write pace of 271MB/s was less impressive though: three times as quick as many hard disks, but average for an SSD. The 1TB hard disk in this laptop is generous, but we still wish the SSD was larger – after a couple of game installs it began to feel cramped.
The MSI's major components are chilled by chunky heatsinks and a sizeable fan, but that cooling is clearly required: both CPU and GPU almost hit 90°C in stress-tests, which is around ten degrees short of the level where chips will start to throttle – or worse. The heat is ejected from two vents at the back-left corner, so they don't interfere with a user's lap or his hand if they're using an external mouse – and the keyboard doesn't heat up, either.
The high temperatures were accompanied by high noise. When demanding games were played, the single fan inside the GT70 churned out an obvious low rumble – it'll be drowned out by games played with the MSI's speakers, but we'd still deploy headphones.
Gaming laptops need good audio, so we're pleased that MSI's collaboration with Danish specialists Dynaudio didn't disappoint. The volume level is higher than most other gaming notebooks, and the balance is right: a snappy high-end, a chunky, powerful mid-range, and decent bass underpinning the lot. The bass doesn't overpower the rest of the audio – if anything, we wish there was a little more.
The 17in TN screen has the right resolution for gaming – 1,920x1,080 – and its test results look good. The brightness level of 343 nits is excellent, level with the Toshiba Qosmio and better than the other MSI, and the black level of 0.29 nits is equally impressive – anything below 0.3 nits is good, and it results in deep, inky black levels.
The contrast ratio of 1,191:1 is better than MSI's own GS70 and almost twice as good as the Toshiba, and the MSI's screen has rich colours throughout. There's nothing to worry about when it comes to colour coverage – an 83.3% sRGB level is fine, especially for a machine not designed for work.
It's not a clean bill of health. The deepest black levels are crushed, so it's difficult to distinguish between different shades – potentially problematic in atmospheric games. The Delta E of 7.2 is average, too, and the MSI's panel isn't a touchscreen. It's matte, but the low-reflectivity layer adds a little grain. Nevertheless, the high contrast, punchy colours and deep blacks still mean the GT70 has one of the best screens for gaming on any laptop.
Most of the underside is made of one removable panel, and underneath there's a wealth of space: two full-size mini-PCI Express sockets – a third is used for the SSD – and two empty DIMM slots that can accept an extra 24GB of memory. The hard disk is in a removable caddy, and the two large heatsinks and single fan can be easily removed for cleaning.
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Current page: Introduction and performanceNext Page Verdict
Mike has worked as a technology journalist for more than a decade and has written for most of the UK's big technology titles alongside numerous global outlets. He loves PCs, laptops and any new hardware, and covers everything from the latest business trends to high-end gaming gear.


text:
I pay for everything with a credit card. Doesn't matter how small the purchase is it goes on the card. The rewards rack up and it is like a year long 1-5% sale on everything you buy. Within ten minutes of research on the web you can find the best rewards programs. I use one card strictly for gas. It pays 5% back but only on gas purchases but that is all I use it for.
Another tip for all of you. Business credit card programs offer superior rewards and they really don't require you to use them for a business. I've simply put my name in as the business name and my social security number in as the tax id. Never been declined and the cash back rewards are better than the standard 1% cash back everyone else is use to getting.


text:
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Comic book teenagers Archie, Veronica, Betty and Jughead are coming to the big screen for the first time in a new live-action feature film based on the long-running "Archie" comic series, its publisher said on Thursday.
The comedy will be produced by Warner Bros. Pictures and will feature the lead "Archie" characters in a high school in present-day Riverdale, the fictional backdrop of the series, Archie Comics said in a statement on its website.
"Archie" began in 1941 and became a comic book empire for Archie Comics, which has produced numerous series featuring the main characters.
The comics have been adapted for television in animated and live-action series in the past, as well as a television movie featuring an adult Archie, but this is the first time in the comic book's 72-year history that a feature film will be made.
Red-haired Archie Andrews is well-known in American pop culture, along with his long-running love triangle with the brunette Veronica Lodge and blonde-haired Betty Cooper and antics with best friend Jughead Jones, the publisher said.
"We are thrilled to be working with Warner Bros. on this project and have complete faith in their ability to bring Archie to the big screen in a way the fans will love," Jon Goldwater, publisher and co-CEO of Archie Comics, said in the statement.
The new film will be directed by Jason Moore, the filmmaker behind 2012's musical comedy "Pitch Perfect," the publisher said. Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa will write the screenplay.
No additional details were provided.
Superheros from Marvel and DC Comics have been dominating the global box office as new films featuring Batman, Spider-Man, Iron Man, Captain America and superhero collective The Avengers have grossed billions of dollars worldwide.
Warner Bros., a unit of Time Warner Inc, is releasing Superman reboot "Man of Steel" in theaters on June 14 as a darker spin on Clark Kent and his heroic counterpart.
Reel potential for Chinese films abroad
Get first look at latest Chinese cinema


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If Clinton Had Been Elected, She Would Have Strengthened Gay Marriage – Reno
On Election Day 2016, I urged all my friends to go out and vote for Donald Trump with the following message:
"Get out and vote for the unborn fetus, get out and vote for God ordained marriage between a man and a woman, get out and vote against transgender bathrooms, get out and vote against Roe V Wade, get out and vote for Donald J. Trump! He might not be perfect, but he will promote those conservative values that have kept a check on the moral fabric of society and nominate conservative Supreme Court Justices,"' I had called.
So many African Americans and Black Africans were appalled by my support for Donald Trump ever since my interview on the BBC on November 1st, 2016 when I called for Africans and others eligible to vote in the US elections to vote Donald Trump.
And why were my people so appalled? Because we are an emotional people who take decisions based on what we want right now rather than what we want eventually.
Most African Americans voted for Hillary because they bought into the lie peddled by the mainstream media that Trump is a racist. Most Black Africans supported Hillary because they did not want Trump to clamp down on immigration into the US.
But my people failed to take into account the big picture!
What are our cultural values as a Race? Do we as Black people, whether African American or Black African, really support gay rights and gay marriage? Trust our copy cat culture, if Hillary had been elected she would have strengthened the gay marriage lobby and her Supreme Court nominees would have made it a reality and the next thing you know we would want to copy it hook line and sinker.
As a race, we suffer disproportionately from abortions more than any other race in America. African Americans and Black Africans make up 13% of the US populations yet 37% of all abortions in the US are done by Black women. It has gotten to the point where the most dangerous place for a Black child to be is in its own mother's womb!
Can we afford to continue with such a shameful record? We need somebody that is committed to ending Roe V Wade and outlawing the practice of on demand abortion. I believe in a woman's right to choose but that right is asserted by any woman the minute she chooses to have unprotected sex.
But let me get technical. What did Hillary Clinton do for Nigeria or Africa when she was Secretary of State?
My people are just too sentimental and forget how she dithered and resisted naming Boko Haram as a terrorist group. We have forgotten how she led the effort to use the Leahy Law to frustrate Nigeria's efforts to buy weapons from the US and when we could not buy from them she and her contemporaries also frustrated our efforts to buy from Israel.
The annoying thing is that it was her disastrous intervention in Libya that led to the escalation of the Boko Haram insurgency because the overthrow of Gaddafi destabilized much of North and West Africa by putting sophisticated light weapons in the hands of non state actors like Boko Haram.
And yet when we as a nation were faced with the consequences of her actions she would not help us. Nigeria was reduced to buying weapons for cash on the Black Market.
The thing is that Gaddafi may have been a nasty piece of work but at least he made Libya stable. Today, ISIS has a foothold in Libya and from there supports insurgents like Boko Haram and Al Shabbab who are causing instability in Nigeria and Kenya.
My big question to Nigerians especially is this-Who Hillary Clinton Epp? Our follow follow is too much. In real economic terms what did we stand to gain from Hillary Clinton?
Though I have been a lifelong Republican since first coming to America as a nine year old, I suspend that status in 2008 to support a fellow Black man, President Obama out of purely primordial reasons (he is Black as I am) but to be honest, what has Africa and Nigeria gained from eight years of Obama in the White House?
He never visited Nigeria. He never packaged any special economic package for Nigeria or Africa. Say whatever you want to say about former President George W Bush but no other US President has been as radical in his support to Africa as Bush number 43!
For giving more than $5 billion in humanitarian aid to Africa annually, President Bush goes on record as having given more assistance to Sub Saharan Africa than any other president including President Obama!
AIDS and Malaria are some of our biggest challenges in Africa and Bush met us at the point of our need.
Before President George W Bush intervened in the fight against HOV/AIDS, only 100,000 Africans were on antiretrovirals but in 2003 he set up the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and by the time he left office in 2009 that number had grown to 2 million.
When Congress resisted his efforts for funding to the time of $1.2 billion to fight malaria in Africa in 2007 Bush persuaded them by saying "There's no reason for little babies to be dying of mosquito bites around the world."
Now I ask you, what similar effort have President Obama and Hillary put forward while they had power? Yes Obama has held summits like the first US/Africa Leaders Summit and the US Africa Business Summit but do we eat summits? What came of it other than talk and mostly Obama talking down at African leaders in a way he would never do with Asian leaders.
At least with Trump we know that he will take on ISIS and other radical Islamic groups and that includes Boko Haram!
Moreover, Trump has pledged to curb China's global dominance and to do that he would have to match China dollar for dollar in Africa and when China and the US compete Africa gains.
But be that as it may I am very proud to have publicly supported Donald Trump from the beginning to the end.
Where are all those people who insulted me for my support for Donald Trump? They all seem to have gone missing in the 'other room'!
Omokri is the founder of the Mind of Christ Christian Center in California, author of Shunpiking: No Shortcuts to God and Why Jesus Wept and the host of Transformation with Reno OmokriFollow us on social media:
Passengers escape unhurt as bus goes up in flames on Lagos-Ibadan expressway
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Boy who was first seen with Mohbad's corpse in car finally speaks on incident, chats leak
"I just spoke to Mohbads dad he has given me the go-ahead to bury mohbad in a befitting place" – Iyabo Ojo reveals
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Maintainers of the PostgreSQL open-source database have patched a vulnerability that allowed attackers to corrupt files and in some cases, execute malicious code on underlying servers.
The bug, categorized as CVE-2013-1899, opened users to "persistent denial-of-service" attacks, in which unauthenticated hackers could corrupt files in a way that caused the database server to crash and refuse to reboot. Affected servers could only be restarted by removing garbage text from the files or by restoring them from a backup. Versions 9.0, 9.1, and 9.2 are all vulnerable.
The bug also allowed limited users of a PostgreSQL database to escalate their privileges when it was configured in a way that assigned the same name to the user and the database. When those conditions are met "then this vulnerability may be used to temporarily set one configuration variable with the privileges of the superuser," PostgreSQL maintainers wrote. Such users who also had the ability to save files to the system could also execute malicious code, except in cases where the database is running on the SELinux operating system.
The vulnerability was reported to maintainers on March 12. More details are available in this advisory.


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Even the best meal needs a sidekick! The large stainless steel tiffin is perfect for packing your condiments, dressings or snacks no matter how far you venture off the beaten path. BPA and Phthalate free which means you can keep your body pollution free, while our sustainable production methods makes sure the earth stays that way. You can even look good doing it, as these containers are stylish, stackable and have a shiny stainless steel finish. The large sidekick is perfect accompaniment for your family camping trip or even lunch at the office. Dimensions: 2 H x 3 1/2 D, Liquid Measurements: 1 Cup
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text:
seems Artless
|Chinatown EGR Horus mural 3 :: June 9, 2010
|A tiger in the mural by EGR and Horus near Dundas and Spadina.
|Processed with Map this photo location
Filed under: Art
Today's Historic Toronto photos:
I've geotagged and dated a bunch of historic photos from around Toronto. Click here to see photos from today's date in history.
Or you can also see the set of historic photos by Toronto neighbourhoods here.
|blog comments powered by Disqus
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License by David Sk, 2004-2016.
(This photo Chinatown EGR Horus mural 3 was taken at Kensington Market in Toronto, Ontario on 2010-05-30 )
( Photo taken at 43.6532873872304, -79.39732432365417)
Toronto map | wallpaper | photography guides


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A valuable data resource: Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging
The Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging, or BLSA, is one of the world's longest running studies of aging. Started in 1958, the BLSA enrolls healthy volunteers ages 20 years and older and follows them longitudinally—for life—even performing an autopsy in those who consented.
How can I get BLSA data for my research?
I want to encourage researchers who study issues related to aging and have questions that require the unique design and depth of information available in the BLSA to submit an analysis proposal to use the data. More information about the BLSA study design and the process for submitting analysis proposals for review is available on the BLSA website. Here are some of the reasons you might be interested in taking a look—or perhaps another look—at the rich BLSA data resource.
What can the BLSA data tell us?
BLSA data are most suited for addressing:
- outstanding mechanistic questions about the interaction of diseases and aging affecting functional status and quality of life in older people
- understanding the natural history of the transition from health to diseases in aging individuals
- identifying at an early, still asymptomatic stage, biomarkers that predict the development of certain diseases or a condition, such as diabetes or dementia
It is also important to note some limitations of the BLSA data. Because the BLSA was designed around mechanistic questions focused on longitudinal stability and change, it is not a traditionally representative epidemiological study. Therefore, the data are not suited for investigations of prevalence and incidence.
What does the BLSA measure?
During a 3-day visit, BLSA participants receive a battery of tests assessing many biomarkers and physiological parameters. These measures include, but are not limited to:
- mobility
- cognition
- brain and nerve structure and function
- body composition
- muscle strength
- bone and joints
- multiple sensory functions
- glucose metabolism
A complete list of measurements is available online, along with the participant eligibility criteria.
Follow-up visits occur every 4 years for participants age 60 and younger, every 2 years for participants between ages 60 and 79 years, and yearly when they are age 80 and older. Some measures have been collected in the same participants for more than 40 years and often mark the transition between their health and disease development.
What makes the BLSA so unique?
Using a longitudinal approach, BLSA explores trajectories of changes of multiple physiological, medical, psychological, and behavioral parameters over the lifespan in the same individuals.
Before the BLSA, research on aging was only cross-sectional, conducted by comparing characteristics of people of different ages. NIA's founding scientific director Nathan Shock and a few others realized that this method was intrinsically flawed: the life of a 20-year-old woman in 1934, who is now in her 80s, was very different than that of a 20-year-old woman today. Therefore, it would be extremely difficult to distinguish between differences due to age and those due to divergent life experiences.
Learn more about BLSA's history.
Welcome BLSA's new director!
On January 24, 2014, we welcomed Stephanie Studenski as Chief of the Longitudinal Studies Section in the Translational Gerontology Branch of NIA's Intramural Research Program. In this role, she directs the BLSA.
Stephanie has extraordinary experience in this area and is well-suited to take over the reins of the BLSA. Over her 30-year career, she has conducted observational and clinical trial studies focusing on human aging and age-related disease, mainly using biomechanical and neuroimaging techniques to evaluate risk factors and mechanisms of late-life disability. Her work to translate her findings into clinical practice, where she led efforts to develop physical performance measures for clinical use and designing and testing novel interventions to improve mobility and reduce falls, are particularly valuable as BLSA looks to increase activities with a translational focus.
The possibilities for examining the existing BLSA data are most simply limited by our ability to formulate new hypotheses and analytical tools. I welcome your comments below.