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Three incumbent Democratic state House members in the Shelby County delegation to the Tennessee Legislature were effectively re-elected Thursday, April 5, at the noon deadline for candidates in the Aug. 2 state and federal primaries to file their qualifying petitions.
With less than a month to file for the August state and federal primary elections, there are still a few decisions to be made by would-be candidates working in the shadows of those running in the May 1 county primary elections.
The Hall-of-Fame coach was speaking on ESPN Radio's "Mike & Mike," his team sitting on the outside looking in on this year's NCAA Tournament because of his university's own imposed ban:
Jeremy Chism has joined Capital Advisors/Bellwether Enterprise as vice president to open the company's Memphis commercial real estate loan production office. The firm provides financing solutions through a vast network of insurance companies, CMBS lenders and commercial lenders for commercial real estate.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen held off Thursday, Aug. 7, the most serious electoral challenge he's faced since winning the Congressional seat in 2006, in the form of attorney Ricky E. Wilkins.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen has taken the early vote over challenger Ricky Wilkins in the hard fought Democratic Congressional primary on Thursday's Shelby County election ballot.
Memphis City Council member Lee Harris is challenging Democratic state Sen. Ophelia Ford in the August primary for District 29, the Senate seat held by a member of the Ford family since 1975.
Democratic State Sen. Ophelia Ford has pulled a qualifying petition for the August legislative primaries.
Ford pulled the petition in District 29 Friday, Feb. 7, according to the Shelby County Election Commission, making her the last of the Shelby County incumbents in the Tennessee House and Senate to take the first step toward a re-election effort.
In the first week to pick up petitions for the August judicial elections in Shelby County, judicial candidates have accounted for most of the activity at the Shelby County Election Commission.
Juvenile Court Chief Magistrate Dan Michael has pulled a petition to run for Juvenile Court judge in the nonpartisan race. Michael has been campaigning for several months in his bid to succeed outgoing Judge Curtis Person Jr.
Black Business Association of Memphis will meet Thursday, Jan. 17, at 8 a.m. at the Renaissance Business Center, 555 Beale St. Ricky Tucker of Rix International will speak, and a light breakfast will be served. Visit bbamemphis.com.
Center City Development Corp. board of directors will meet Wednesday, Jan. 16, at 9 a.m. in the Downtown Memphis Commission conference room, 114 N. Main St. Visit downtownmemphis.com.
The only thing Republican candidates in Shelby County were denied in the Aug. 5 elections was a majority on the Shelby County Commission. The local GOP slate swept every countywide partisan race on the ballot with Thursday's election results.
Voter turnout – early and Election Day – was almost 30 percent of Shelby County's 600,000 voters. All election returns will be audited and must be certified by the Shelby County Election Commission.
Republican Bill Oldham, the former chief deputy of the Sheriff's Department under outgoing Sheriff Mark Luttrell, beat Democrat Randy Wade in the race for sheriff.
The unofficial returns with all precincts reporting were:
Wade, who was the Democratic nominee for sheriff in 2002, linked his 2010 campaign to the re-election bid of Democratic U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen. Wade, a former sheriff's deputy, is Cohen's district director.
Oldham campaigned on continuing the policies of Luttrell. But his campaign faltered when Oldham was forced to resign his job as chief deputy – the No. 2 position in the department – following a complaint to the U.S. Justice Department that his candidacy violated the Federal Hatch Act.
The civil complaint investigated by the Justice Department's Office of Special Counsel left Oldham with the choice of either quitting the job or quitting the race. To keep both could have jeopardized federal funding the department receives.
The complaint was unique because deputies and high-ranking officers running for sheriff has been a regular feature of the sheriff's race for decades. It wasn't until 2002 that those in the department were required to take a leave of absence if they ran.
In other general election races, challenger Ken Hoover lost to Shelby County School Board Chairman David Pickler in the race for the District 5 seat on the seven-member board.
Pickler has been chairman for 11 of the 12 years the school board has been an elected body. Pickler ran on his record as chairman. Hoover also ran on Pickler's record, saying his leadership style was too autocratic and not transparent enough.
The unofficial results were:
In the two other contested school board races, former Bolton High School principal Snowden "Butch" Carruthers beat Millington parent Charlene White in District 1. And political newcomer David Reaves beat fellow newcomer Lara A. McIntyre, both of Bartlett, for the District 3 seat.
White and McIntyre both called for change in school board methods during their campaigns.
District 7 school board member Ernest Chism ran unopposed.
The even-numbered district school board seats are on the 2012 county ballot.
After running for Probate Court clerk three other times, Democratic nominee Sondra Becton could not claim the office on her fourth try – even with the incumbent she campaigned against the three other times out of the race. Republican contender Paul Boyd easily beat Becton in the race for the office Chris Thomas gave up to run for and win a seat on the Shelby County Commission.
Becton lost to Thomas by 604 votes four years ago and was among the four Democratic challengers who unsuccessfully challenged the results in Chancery Court. This time she lost by more than 6,500 votes.
The vote totals were:
Republican Tom Leatherwood easily defeated Democratic challenger Coleman Thompson to remain Shelby County register. The two faced each other in 2006, with Leatherwood winning.
The results Thursday were:
As early voting began, Thompson's Pyramid Recovery Center was evicted from its longtime South Memphis space that was also an early voting site and an election day polling place. The landlord agreed to leave the voting sites up and running. But the possibility of a change in polling places served to highlight Thompson's financial problems.
Late publicity about financial problems took a toll on another Democratic contender.
Newcomer Corey Maclin began campaigning early for Shelby County clerk, with incumbent Republican Debbie Stamson not seeking re-election. Maclin lost to Republican nominee Wayne Mashburn, the son of late county clerk Sonny Mashburn.
The unofficial returns were:
Stamson's husband, Steve Stamson, retired as Juvenile Court clerk, setting up the race that was won by Republican nominee Joy Touliatos, the chief administrative officer of the clerk's office. She beat Democratic nominee Shep Wilbun, who won appointment to the clerk's office in 2000 but lost to Stamson in the 2002 election and was beaten by Stamson again in 2006.
With all precincts reporting, the numbers were:
The remaining votes went to independent candidate Julia R. Wiseman.
Also seeking a return to countywide office was Minerva Johnican. Johnican, the Democratic nominee for Criminal Court clerk, lost to Republican nominee Kevin Key, the son of outgoing Criminal Court Clerk Bill Key and an administrator with the Circuit Court Clerk's office.
The results were:
Johnican, also a former Memphis City Council member and Shelby County Commissioner lost the clerk's job in 1994 when she was upset by the elder Key.
Incumbent Republican Circuit Court Clerk Jimmy Moore easily defeated Democratic challenger Ricky Dixon. Although Dixon was part of the effort by Democratic party leaders to get voters to vote the entire party slate, Moore continued to show up at Democratic functions and make his case for crossover votes.
Regina Morrison Newman, the third Shelby County tustee in four years, lost her bid for a full term in the office to Republican challenger David Lenoir. It was an impressive political debut for Lenoir, who had heavy backing from the local GOP.
Independent candidate Derrick Bennett: 6,353 (4%)
Newman was appointed to the office by the Shelby County Commission following the 2009 death of Trustee Paul Mattila. Mattila was appointed to the office and won a special election for the position following the 2008 death of Bob Patterson. Patterson was re-elected to a four-year term in 2006.
In the judicial races:
Attorney Bill Anderson Jr. emerged atop a field of 20 candidates for General Sessions Criminal Court Judge Div. 7 with 15 percent of the vote. Assistant County Attorney Janet Lansky Shipman was second and the only other contender to go into double digit percentages. The 20 candidates were the largest field in any race – primary or general – on the Shelby County ballot.
Prosecutor Bobby Carter, who had the backing of District Attorney General Bill Gibbons and former District Attorney General John Pierotti, was elected judge of Criminal Court Div. 3 in a close race with attorneys Glenn Wright and Latonya Sue Burrow.
Carter got 26 percent of the vote to Wright's 25 percent and Burrow's 24.7 percent.
The results in the three other special judicial races saw the three appointed judges rejected by voters.
Ridder and Hurd had been appointed to the Circuit Court vacancies by Gov. Phil Bredesen, who picked them each from a list of three finalists from the Judicial Nominating Commission. Bredesen even taped a robo-call on behalf of Hurd, his first robo-call for any candidate in the state.
Wilson was appointed to the General Sessions vacancy by the Shelby County Commission and adopted a domestic violence case docket for the court.
The first bar endorsements in the August judicial elections are out. A committee of the Ben F. Jones chapter of the National Bar Association has endorsed candidates in all five of the special judicial elections on the Aug. 5 ballot. The committee also endorsed candidates in three of the court clerk races on the ballot.
A committee of the Ben F. Jones chapter of the National Bar Association has endorsed candidates in all five of the special judicial elections on the Aug. 5 ballot.
The committee also endorsed in three of the court clerk races on the ballot.
Interim County Mayor Joe Ford became the Democratic nominee for mayor in the August county general elections Tuesday night.
And the August sheriff's race will be a contest between Democrat Randy Wade and Republican Randy Wade.
All three were among the winners in Tuesday's low turnout county primaries.
Approximately ten percent of Shelby County's nearly 600,000 voters cast ballots in early voting and election day polling.
Ford, who was appointed interim mayor in December, beat County Commissioner Deidre Malone and General Sessions Court Clerk Otis Jackson in the Democratic primary. He will face Republican Mark Luttrell who had only token opposition in the Republican primary from perennial contender Ernie Lunati.
Luttrell has raised more money than all three of the Democratic primary contenders combined and began running television ads in the last week runup to election day.
The final unofficial totals in the Democratic mayoral primary are:
Ford 20,360 57%
Malone 12,916 37%
Jackson 2,168 6%
The pair of primaries for Sheriff featured eight candidates, seven of whom either currently work for the sheriff's department or are past employees. Only Reginald French, in the Democratic primary was not a former or current department official.
Wade was the 2002 Democratic nominee, losing to Luttrell who is leaving as Sheriff after serving two terms. French was the Democratic nominee in the 2006 elections.
Oldham is Luttrell's chief deputy, the number two position in the department. He is also a former director of the Memphis Police Department.
The final unofficials totals in the Republican primary are:
Bill Oldham 13,821 48%
Dale Lane 7,981 28%
Bobby Simmons 5,886 21%
James Coleman 943 3%
In the Democratic primary:
Randy Wade 22,643 67%
Reginald French 6,777 20%
Larry Hill 2,738 8%
Bennie Cobb 1,814 5%
Voters in the primary elections decided to return six Shelby County commissioners to new four year terms with Tuesday's results. They also elected six new commissioners. The winner of the thirteenth commission seat will be decided on the August general election ballot in a contest between district 5 Democratic incumbent Steve Mulroy and Republican challenger Dr. Rolando Toyos. The winner of the match up will determine whether the commission remains majority Democrat or goes majority Republican.
Mulroy easily defeated Jennings Bernard in Tuesday's Democratic primary.
Republican incumbent Mike Ritz ran unopposed as did new Democratic commissioner Walter Bailey.
In the remaining ten contests, the primaries decided who gets the seats since no one ran in the opposing party's primary.
The most hotly contested contest among the commission races was for District 4 Position 1. Outgoing Probate Court Clerk Chris Thomas beat John Pellicciotti, appointed to a commission seat last year but running for a different position in the same district. Jim Bomprezzi, the former mayor of Lakeland, was the third contender in the contest.
The final unofficial totals in the Republican primary:
Thomas 7,631 52%
Pellicciotti 4,871 33%
Bomprezzi 2,298 15%
In position 2 of the same district incumbent Republican Wyatt Bunker easily overcame two challengers with former Lakeland alderman John Wilkerson finishing second and Ron Fittes finishing third.
Millington businessman Terry Roland claimed the third position in the district that takes in all six of Shelby County's suburban towns and cities.
Roland beat George Chism to take the seat Pellicciotti was appointed to but opted not to run for in deference to Roland.
Heidi Shafer, an aide to outgoing County Commissioner George Flinn, claimed Flinn's District 1 Position 2 seat over Albert Maduska.in the GOP primary.
District 1 incumbent Republican Mike Carpenter easily beat businessman Joe Baier.
In the Democratic commission primaries, Melvin Burgess claimed Malone's District 2 Position 3 seat in a field of six contenders. His closest contender was Reginald Milton. Burgess, a city school system audit manager, had run for the seat before. He brought in 54 percent of the vote.
The other hard fought Democratic commission primary saw Justin Ford, son of the interim mayor, claim his father's District 3 Position 3 seat.
Ford beat Edith Moore, a retired IBM executive, whom the commission appointed to the seat after the elder Ford became mayor.
The final unofficial vote totals are:
Ford 7,342 66%
Moore 3,822 34%
Democratic incumbent commissioners Henri Brooks, Sidney Chism and James Harvey were all re-elected over primary challengers.
The county-wide primaries for seven clerk's positions saw the return of former Criminal Court Clerk Minerva Johnican 16 years after Republican challenger Bill Key took her job. Johnican decisively beat Ralph White and Vernon Johnson in her first bid for office since the 1994 defeat. She will face Republican Kevin Key, the son of Bill Key in the August general election.
Johnican 16,381 51%
White 10,170 31%
Johnson 5,954 18%
Former Juvenile Court Clerk Shep Wilbun easily won the Democratic primary with 76 percent of the vote to face Republican Joy Touliatos in August for the office being vacated by Republican Steve Stamson. Touliatos was unopposed in the primary.
Democrat Coleman Thompson is back for another go at incumbent Republican Register Tom Leatherwood.
Aside from Leatherwood, Jimmy Moore is the only other of the seven clerks seeking re-election. Moore ran unopposed in the GOP primary. He will face Democrat Ricky Dixon in August.
Trustee Regina Newman was appointed to her office following the death last year of Paul Mattila. Newman easily overcame M LaTroy Williams in Tuesday's Democratic primary. She will face David Lenoir, who beat former Shelby County Commissioner John Willingham in the Republican contest.
Lenoir 15,922 58%
Willingham 11,569 42%
The other six candidate field on the ballot was in the Democratic primary for Probate Court Clerk. Sondra Becton posted impressive vote totals over her rivals, bringing in 35 percent of the vote with Peggy Dobbins her closest rival. Becton, who is making her fourth bid for the office, will face Republican Paul Boyd, who ran unopposed in his primary.
Becton 10,929 36%
Dobbins 5,366 18%
Annita Hamilton 4,848 16%
Clay Perry 3,549 12%
Danny Kail 3,120 11%
Karen Tyler 2,782 9%
The closest contest of the evening was in the Democratic primary for County Clerk. Wrestling promoter and television personality Corey Maclin won his political debut by less than 1,400 votes over Charlotte Draper and LaKeith Miller. He will face Republican Wayne Mashburn who beat Steve Moore in the companion primary.
Early voting in advance of the Aug. 5 election day begins July 16. The August ballot will also feature state and federal primary elections including the statewide primaries for governor and the primaries for all nine of the state's Congressional districts.
Seven clerks' positions are on the May 4 primary ballot and incumbents are running for re-election in three of them.
None of the seven elections will be decided with the primaries because Democrats and Republicans are battling hard in the countywide races dominated just four years ago by the GOP.
Shelby County Sheriff Mark Luttrell appeared on his way to the Republican nomination for Shelby County mayor at Thursday's noon filing deadline for candidates on the May 4 primary ballot.
Luttrell faces only token opposition from perennial candidate Ernie Lunati.
Meanwhile, the Democratic primary for mayor grew to three contenders as General Sessions Court Clerk Otis Jackson filed his qualifying petition just before the deadline. He joins interim County Mayor Joe Ford and Shelby County Commissioner Deidre Malone.
Luttrell ruled out a bid for Shelby County mayor last year (2009). But when Harold Byrd decided not to run in the Democratic primary, some local GOP leaders asked Luttrell to reconsider.
The result touched off a scramble of candidates from both parties for the open sheriff's office. But before the noon deadline, the initial field of over a dozen possible contenders was narrowed to ten – six Democrats and four Republicans.
The other surprise at the filing deadline was the return of attorney Walter Bailey to the District 2 Position 1 seat he gave up in the 2006 elections. Bailey sought re-election then to another term despite a two term limit on commissioners. Bailey lost to J.W. Gibson who decided not to seek re-election. He also lost a court fight to overturn the term limits.
Bailey was the only candidate who had filed for the seat at the Thursday deadline.
Only one incumbent county commissioner – Republican Mike Ritz -- was effectively re-elected at the deadline because he had no opposition.
All but one of the eleven contested County Commission races will be decided with the May 4 primaries. The only general election battle for the August ballot is the district 5 contest between GOP challenger Dr. Rolando Toyos and whoever wins the May Democratic primary between incumbent Steve Mulroy and Jennings Bernard.
Former County Commissioner John Willingham also returned to the ballot among a field of Republican contenders in the primary for Shelby County Trustee.
And former Criminal Court Clerk Minerva Johnican joined the Democratic primary field for her old job. Incumbent Republican Bill Key pulled petition to seek re-election but did not file at the deadline.
Here is the list of races and contenders from The Shelby County Election Commission. All candidate have until noon Feb. 25 to withdraw from the ballot if they wish.
R- Republican
I- Independent
Shelby County Mayor:
Deidre Malone (D)
Joe Ford (D)
Otis Jackson (D)
Mark Luttrell (R)
Ernest Lunati (R)
Leo Awgowhat (I)
Shelby County Sheriff:
James Coleman (R)
Bobby Simmons (R)
Bill Oldham (R)
Dale Lane (R)
Larry Hill (D)
Bennie Cobb (D)
Randy Wade (D)
James Bolden (D)
Elton Hymon (D)
Reginald French (D)
County Commission Dist 1 Pos 1
Mike Ritz (R) (incumbent)
County Commission Dist 1 Pos 2
Albert Maduska (R)
Heidi Shafer (R)
County Commission Dist 1 Pos 3
Mike Carpenter (R) (incumbent)
Joe Baire (R)
County Commission Dist 2 Pos 1
Walter Bailey (D)
County Commission Dist 2 Pos 2
Henri Brooks (D) (incumbent)
David Vinciarelli (D)
County Commission Dist 2 Pos 3
Eric Dunn (D)
Norma Lester (D)
Tina Dickerson (D)
Melvin Burgess (D)
Reginald Milton (D)
Freddie Thomas (D)
County Commission Dist 3 Pos 1
James Harvey (D) (incumbent)
James Catchings (D)
County Commission Dist. 3 Pos 2
Sidney Chism (D) (incumbent)
Andrew "Rome" Withers (D)
County Commission Dist. 3 Pos 3
Edith Moore (D) (incumbent)
Justin Ford (D)
County Commission Dist 4 Pos 1
Chris Thomas (R)
John Pellicciotti (R)
Jim Bomprezzi (R)
County Commission Dist 4 Pos 2
Wyatt Bunker (R) (incumbent)
John Wilkerson (R)
Ron Fittes (R)
County Commission Dist 4 Pos 3
Terry Roland (R)
George Chism (R)
Edgar Babian (R)
County Commission Dist 5
Steve Mulroy (D) (incumbent)
Jennings Bernard (D)
Rolando Toyos (R)
Shelby County Clerk
Charlotte Draper (D)
Corey Maclin (D)
LaKeith Miller (D)
Wayne Mashburn (R)
Steve Moore (R)
Criminal Court Clerk
Vernon Johnson (D)
Minerva Johnican (D)
Ralph White (D)
Michael Porter (R)
Kevin Key (R)
Jerry Stamson (I)
Circuit Court Clerk
Jimmy Moore (R) (incumbent)
Steven Webster (D)
Carmichael Johnson (D)
Ricky W. Dixon (D)
Juvenile Court Clerk
Joy Touliatos (R)
Charles Marshall (D)
Sylvester Bradley (D)
Shep Wilbun (D)
Julia Roberson Wiseman (I)
Probate Court Clerk
Paul Boyd (R)
Sondra Becton (D)
Danny Kail (D)
Annita Sawyer Hamilton (D)
Peggy Dobbins (D)
Clay Perry (D)
Karen Tyler (D)
Shelby County Register
Tom Leatherwood (R) (incumbent)
Coleman Thompson (D)
Lady J. Swift (D)
Carlton Orange (D)
Shelby County Trustee
Regina Newman (D) (incumbent)
M. LaTroy Williams (D)
John Willingham (R)
Jeff Jacobs (R)
David Lenoir (R)
CCC Hosts Public Meeting on Streetscape Plan
Feb. 28
The Shelby County Commission meets at 1:30 p.m. at the Shelby County Administration Building, 160 N. Main St. Call 545-4301. Memphis City ...
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by The Daily News Publishing Co. Inc. - All Rights Reserved


text:
Music for bass?
This music really has everything and nothing to do with bass. On one hand every single sound here has been produced on electric bass. On the other hand it's a collection of tunes, moods and soundscapes to keep you company while you're working, relaxing, travelling or just generally going about your business. It's as deep, calm and comforting as it is present, spontaneous and groovy. Listen to it intensively or let it discretely lift and soothe you.
1. Taking Ages
2. Olympic Rings
3. A Walk Across The Sand
4. Landscape Portrait (for Rick)
5. Sixty-five Precisely
6. Faux Monty
7. Don't Fret
8. Goldie
9. First Things Last
10. One Black Ray
11. Real Meat Cheap Kraut
Composed & performed by Mikkel Riber @ TigerFox
Co-mixed & mastered by Boe Larsen @ MillFactory Studios
Cover painting: "Lytteren" (The listener) by Nils Brakchi
Release: 2017

subset: commoncrawl


text:
San Francisco Notebooks
$5.00 $10.00
Product details
Colourful pack of notebooks with plain paper pages for those creative types that want to sketch and note. The covers feature the familiar Famille Summerbelle hand cut design and are a perfect size for notes on the go.
Pack of 2 Notebooks
A5 Portrait (Plain Paper)
White recycled paper


text: 4 Did you sell any goods or services using the internet?Warning: This information may not apply to the current year. Check the content carefully to ensure it is applicable to your circumstances. End of attention Print X in the Yes box at Q if in deriving income you used the internet to: receive orders for goods or services – for example, you received orders by email or a web page form, rather than by conventional post, phone or facsimile receive payment for goods or services – for example, you received credit card or charge card details by email or web page form, rather than by conventional post, phone or facsimile digital cash deliver goods or services – for example, you used email, the world wide web (www) or file transfer protocol (FTP) to deliver digitised music, news articles or software, rather than conventional post to deliver software on a disc used email, in conjunction with a website, to give advice and received a payment in connection with this advice advertised goods or services of other businesses for a fee on the internet hosted websites, or provided access to the internet. Print X in the No box at Q, if you used the internet only to: advertise your goods or services give support to your customers buy your stock do your banking online. Last modified: 12 Feb 2019QC 35433


text:
Cell Division
Georgia debates stem cell research
James Trussell was 37 in 2003, when he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, but he'd been experiencing the symptoms for several years – the rigidity in his body, the tremors in his hands. Because he was young, and it's an affliction that typically attacks people over 50, Trussell's doctors took some time to rule everything else out. Then the neurologist prescribed medicine to treat the symptoms of Parkinson's.
"He told me, 'If it works, you have Parkinson's,'" Trussell says. "The only real way to find out for sure is to have an autopsy, and I'm not quite ready for that."
He's quite ready for a cure, though. Trussell and more than a million other Americans are living with Parkinson's, a progressive, chronic neurological disorder caused by the death of dopamine-producing brain cells, which control movement. Currently there is no cure, and no way to prevent it or detect its onset.
There is hope, Trussell and many others say, in embryonic stem cell research. But even as scientists make breakthroughs in the lab that could lead to cures for devastating diseases, and clinical trials for treatments derived from stem cells move forward, it remains the subject of a national dialogue over ethics – sincere questions of when human life begins – and is shrouded in political gamesmanship, especially in Georgia, where some state leaders want to limit new research.
"That's something I just don't understand. It's mind boggling to me," says Trussell, the Georgia state coordinator for the Parkinson's Action Network and co-founder of the Northwest Georgia Parkinson's Disease Association. "Embryonic stem cell research offers the best chance to find a cure – not just for Parkinson's but for many illnesses."
It's a debate fraught with irony. Georgia has some of the nation's leading researchers in the area of embryonic stem cells, scientists recruited and paid for by the state as eminent scholars; and state leadership has identified the life sciences as a strategic industry of interest.
And yet, many of Georgia's elected officials, including Gov. Sonny Perdue, have made it clear that they do not want new research in embryonic stem cells happening in Georgia, even as federal restrictions were lifted by President Barack Obama.
"We want Georgia to be a leader in scientific research, but we do not believe embryos should be destroyed in the process," says State Sen. Don Thomas, a doctor who runs a family practice in Dalton, and who helped sponsor SB 169, which restricts stem cell research on grounds that it protects an embryo's right to life. "We can get as much value out of adult stem cells as we can out of embryonic stem cells."
More value, says Dan Becker, president of Georgia Right to Life. Patients counting on treatments and cures derived from embryonic stem cells are "placing their hope in a false hope. Destructive embryonic stem cell research hasn't produced significant improvement in the treatment of disease, but there have been significant advances with adult stem cells."
SB 169 (which does not limit research on adult stem cells, or the existing embryonic stem cell lines approved during the Bush administration) passed in the Senate and will be considered by the House in the next session (following hearings by the House Science and Technology Committee this fall).
Some opponents of the bill claim it was a political knee-jerk reaction to President Obama's lifting of restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. Others say the bill criminalizes embryonic stem cell research and sends a clear message.
"This tells the rest of the nation and the world that Georgia is anti-science," says Charlie Craig, president of Georgia BIO, which lobbied on behalf of the biotech industry, which it represents, against the bill, along with university scientists and a number of patients' rights groups.
"If Georgia restricts science that is considered legal and ethical by the federal government and the rest of the world, it creates the perception that we're not friendly toward life sciences research, and it ignores patients and their families and it kind of dismisses their pain and suffering.
"We believe the general assembly and the governor should not outlaw research, over politics, that can benefit millions of people."
For David Hess, who chairs the Medical College of Georgia's neurology department and is advancing research in the area of adult stem cells, it isn't a political question – he isn't trying to curry favor with a religious conservative voting block (though he has addressed the legislature on behalf of representatives who oppose embryonic stem cell research).
"I have personally and ethically always had qualms about embryonic stem cell research, and have avoided working with them," says Hess, co-investigator in a study supported by $6 million in National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants to explore long-term benefits of stem-cell therapy (using adult stem cells), including new therapies for adult stroke and cerebral palsy in children. Clinical trials of treatments are about two years away, Hess says.
Induced Potential
Stem cells are cells that have the potential to develop into different cell types – how many depends on whether they are pluripotent (which can morph into virtually any cell type in the body) or multipotent (which give rise to a small number of different cell types). Scientists are studying the potential of these cellular "repair kits" with the hopes of developing treatments and cures for diseases and conditions, such as Parkinson's, diabetes, Alzheimer's and spinal injuries.
Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) are pluripotent, and therefore considered to have greater developmental potential. These ESCs can be obtained from fertilized eggs that are left over from in vitro fertilization (IVF), or prepared cloned early-stage embryos (therapeutic cloning), called blastocysts.
The religious opposition to ESC research centers on the question of when human life begins, because these days-old embryos are ultimately destroyed; and some people believe these several hundred cells that form a blastocyst have a soul.
This particular area within the field of regenerative medicine is fairly young – the first ESC lines were derived in 1998. No miracle cures have emerged yet, a fact that opponents of ESC research frequently use as ammunition.
"There have never been any successful treatments of any human disease with embryonic stem cells, whereas there have been many with adult stem cells," notes James E. Carroll, chief of the MCG Section of Pediatric Neurology and a co-investigator in the stem cell study, whose research focuses on cerebral palsy.
"We don't do embryonic stem cells. It's an ethical choice. And I think it's becoming a moot point."
It's moot, he says, because of the recent discoveries involving induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells), which are pluripotent cells drived from non-pluripotent cells, mainly adult cells. The first iPS cells from humans were produced in 2007. Since then, there have been advances leading to discoveries that counter, somewhat, the iPS cells' tendency to trigger cancer-causing genes.
"This is a major breakthrough," says MCG's Dr. Hess. "Induced pluripotent cells make embryonic stem cells almost irrelevant."
University of Georgia professor and entrepreneur Steve Stice, a pioneer in stem cell research, works with embryonic stem cells, iPS cells and adult stem cells in his Athens lab.
"You're looking for the best cell type that will help somebody in the end," Stice says. "We need to be aware of the moral and ethical issues, but the jury is still very much out on iPS cells. They look very much like embryonic stem cells, but we're not sure they can do all the things that the embryonic stem cells can do. A lot of very smart people are working on that.
"But there isn't a one-size-fits-all situation."
The iPS cells versus embryonic stem cells issue is sort of a chicken and egg situation – without initial research on the existing embrynoic stem cell lines, there wouldn't have been research that produced iPS cells.
"Induced pluripotent cells are a great success story, but it's owed wholly to the fact that we had a starting basis in embryonic stem cells," says Todd McDevitt, a Georgia Tech scientist who directs stem cell technology research in his lab and focuses most of his attention on ES cells. "Comparative studies are a strong reason why embryonic stem cells have already been important and why they will continue to be important."
Soon, the argument that ES cells haven't produced a successful treatment in humans could be moot. Geron Corporation (California) received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) earlier this year to begin the world's first clinical trials of hESC-based therapy in humans, in this case to treat patients with acute spinal cord injury.
For Georgia Tech professor Bob Nerem, research needs to move forward in all areas.
"At some point we will know about what makes the most sense from a patient point of view," says Nerem, director of both the Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience at Tech, and the Georgia Tech-Emory Collabora-tion for Regenerative Medicine (GTEC).
Nerem also is a leader in a movement to support additional research in Georgia, an effort that gave rise to the Georgia Stem Cell Initiative (GSCI) in 2007. With more than 175 members across the state, the GSCI is a partnership of university researchers, industry, public officials and other community leaders who want to advance stem cell research.
"We should be working to provide patients in Georgia access to the most advanced therapies and treatments, including those that are derived from embryonic stem cells," Nerem says. "Unfortunately, our elected leadership doesn't seem to get that. And they're sending signals to the rest of the country, and internationally, that you'd better be careful about making a bio-investment in Georgia."
Political Alchemy
The 2009 legislative session produced several victories for right-to-life advocates, potential setbacks for ES cell research, and a few raised eyebrows. For example, HB 388 – the nation's first embryo adoption bill – was passed and went into law in July. It allows for the adoption of even a single zygote. Proponents, such as Becker, claim it offers an alternative to the destruction of unused embryos at IVF clinics.
Meanwhile, SB 169 cleared the Senate floor and awaits House consideration. The bill's author, David Shafer, a Republican from Duluth (who is gearing up to run for lieutenant governor) did not respond to repeated efforts to contact him, but State Rep. Amos Amerson (R-Dahlonega), who chairs the House Science & Technology Committee, says he will conduct hearings about SB 169 later this month, or in early October.
Amerson wants to learn more about the divisive issues surrounding embryonic stem cell research.
"I want to know everyone's reasons for why they support or why they oppose this kind of research," Amerson says. "To me, the right-to-life doesn't stop at birth. My personal feeling is that we should be doing the research necessary to treat and cure the children who have been born, and give them a chance to grow up.
"If these stem cells are coming from frozen embryos that will be thrown out, I don't understand the problem."
Dan Becker leads an organization that has a huge problem with that. Georgia Right to Life stood solidly behind the legislators who pushed through HB 388, and Becker is optimistic that SB 169 will eventually work its way into the law books.
"We have high hopes that the House leadership will be receptive and open to a bill that would restrict some of the more heinous aspects of medical science and technology," Becker says. "The destruction of human life for research purposes is not something the American people view as acceptable."
But in July, the NIH released its new guidelines for funding em-bryonic stem cell research, which follows President Obama's executive order lifting a ban on research. The Bush Administration limited federal funding to the 21 stem cell lines that were in existence as of August 2001. The recently adopted rules allow the use of new stem cell lines derived from IVF procedures, as well as the existing stem cell lines.
"Among scientists, there is a lot of hope that things will improve, that they can once again push out the research frontier," says Aaron Levine, assistant professor in the School of Public Policy at Georgia Tech, and author of Cloning: A Beginner's Guide. Levine's research focuses on the impact of ethical controversy on scientific research.
The past eight years, he says, national policy on stem cell research was defined by President Bush's personal beliefs.
"Clearly, President Bush's ethics translated into policy," Levine says. "One of the results of this was, a number of states began to support stem cell research. Their thinking was, 'This is important research, we may really improve human health and benefit patients struggling with incurable disease.'"
California, Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey and Illinois were among the states contributing large sums of taxpayer dollars to fund research, particularly research that was not being funded by the federal government.
"Georgia is an interesting place, because we have some topnotch scientists, Stice and others, who really are at the forefront of the field. But Georgia is a state where the legislature has had some furious questions about this research, and has attempted to place restrictions on it," Levine says. "It's an environment where, if you're a scientist, you might feel a bit nervous."
In May, Atlanta hosted the annual BIO International Convention. The world's largest gathering of biotech professionals came to town, and state boosters hoped to show them that Georgia should be taken seriously as a nurturing environment for the life sciences.
"We hoped that the convention would wake people up to the fact that the rest of the world is moving forward in biotech, and Georgia needs to be a leader," says Georgia BIO's Charlie Craig.
One of the guest speakers at BIO International was former North Carolina Governor Jim Hunt, who is credited with fostering the growth of the biotech industry in his state. North Carolina, bolstered by its universities and Research Triangle, now is one of the national leaders in the biotech industry and research.
"Obviously, I have strong feelings, and I think we ought to be fully engaged in stem cell research," Hunt says. "It has the potential to save lives and improve the quality of life for so many people, and we should make every effort to use embryonic stem cells that otherwise would be thrown away.
"At the same time, this is a complex issue and we should be talking about it in a way that respects differing opinions."
But for a young scientist like Todd McDevitt, whose lab at Georgia Tech has attracted some $2 million in federal funds and employs 10 other researchers, a differing opinion that has the potential to criminalize his work forces him to consider other options.
McDevitt, 34, is a member of the GSCI steering committee (along with Nerem and Stice, among others) and is a rising star in his field. In July he was considering an offer from another institution in another state.
"One of the attractive things is, they have an environment that is extremely supportive of stem cell research, and I can't predict what will happen with the political landscape here in Georgia," says McDevitt, who regrets that his scientific research could be affected by outside factors like the whims of political ambition.
"Today it's one way, tomorrow it could be another way. It could get worse, and Georgia [would] not be a fruitful place to do research and build the career I want. It's taken me five years to get this lab up and running. I'm still at the start of my career, but I have to consider my long-term options."


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Conflict: Desert Storm 2 Guide
Welcome to the Conflict: Desert Storm II: Back to Baghdad wiki guide.
In recent memory, the United States and its allies have only been actively involved (publically) in one region of the planet for the past twenty years or so - the Middle East. Other than more minor scuffles in the ex-Soviet Union Russian Satellite countries, the Middle East has been the hotbed of volatility, as reinforced by the United States' recent re-occupation of Iraq. Anti-American sentiment has never been higher in the region, and the reasons for some people are obvious. Yet, what happens there for those behind enemy lines is often sketchy at best. Conflict: Desert Storm II (Back to Baghdad) puts you in the place of four American or British Special Forces units (depending on who you choose) and puts you at the helm for ten huge missions throughout Iraq and Kuwait, reenacting what it must have been like for Allied troops to fight in the Middle East during Operation: Desert Storm back in the early 1990s. You take command of Bradley, the leader of the Special Forces unit, highly skilled in all kinds of weaponry. You get to use Foley, the expert sniper of the group, who once killed a man two miles away with a single bullet. You are given the chance to act as Connors, the heavy weapons specialist, who feels at his most comfortable with a heavy machine gun in his hands. And how about Jones, the explosives expert, who can blow up anything... with anything else. Sound complex? Well it is. The game is difficult, the missions are long, and the journey is arduous. That's where IGN Guides comes in. Within this guide, you will find a basics section that outlines everything you need to know about the physics and mechanics of the game. You will also find a complete appendix of all of the weapons and items in the game. But most importantly, you'll find within this guide a massive walkthrough accompanied by over 200 screen shots. You're stuck in the game already, soldier!? Well you've come to the right place. Grab your pack and load your weapon - IGN Guides is here to guide you through the war.
This wiki was automatically converted from the Conflict: Desert Storm II Guide (PS2) guide at https://guides.ign.com/guides/566921/ and may require cleanup. Please help improve this wiki if you can, and remove this notice if appropriate.


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I have owned the Breville BJE200XL Juice Fountain Compact for about 15 months and it is awesome!! I use it about 3-4 times a week and it is still going strong!
There are plenty of good reasons for someone to invest in a juicer. First of all, making your own juice at home is cheaper in the long term than buying juice from a grocery store or Jamba Juice. Juicing the fruit that you consume is also healthier because the process of separating the pulp concentrates the nutrients and allows the body to absorb the nutrition more easily. It also allows for people to consume more raw produce. (See also: Shopping Calendar: The Best Time to Buy Anything)
A juicer is an appliance that separates the juice from the pulp of fruits and vegetables. When looking to buy a new juicer, it is important to know what type of juicer you want to get. The two main types of juicers we will focus on are citrus juicers and juice extractors. Naturally, a citrus juicer would be most appropriate if all you want is citrus juice. They are typically easier to clean and operate. Juice extractors are more appropriate if you plan on juicing a variety of fruits and vegetables.
Considered the "Best Overall" Juicer by Good Housekeeping, the Breville Juice Fountain Elite is for those who are serious about in-home juicing. Made entirely of stainless steel, this juicer comes with two speeds and a wide feeding tube. Each removable part is dishwasher-safe and it dispenses juice into a detachable pitcher, making clean-up a breeze. Currently $299.95 on Amazon.
Good Housekeeping's vote for the best budget purchase, the Breville Juice Fountain Compact offers dependable performance for under $100. Users also agree that the juicer offers power, durability, and design ingenuity that belies its budget price. The Juice Fountain Compact also comes with a wide, 3-inch feeding tube and a 700-watt motor that operates at 14,000 RPM. Currently $99.95 on Amazon.
Recommended by Consumer Reports, the Hamilton Beach Big Mouth Juice Extractor is another high-performing budget juicer. Capable of extracting juice from whole fruits and vegetables, the Hamilton Beach comes with an 800-watt, 1.1 horsepower motor that slices produce for easy juice extraction. With a stainless-steel blade and a wide feeding tube, it juices without the need for pre-cutting. Currently $59.00 on Amazon.
Many users agree that the Breville Motorized Citrus Press is the best citrus juicer available on the market. The combination of an electric reamer and a manual presser helps to maximize convenience and efficiency. The stainless steel design adds to the durability of the product and it is easy to use and clean. Currently $199.95 on Amazon.
Considered a well-functioning juice extractor by users, the Black & Decker Juice Extractor performs admirably for a relatively low-cost juicer. With a less powerful motor that clocks in at 400-watts, this juicer does not provide the power levels of some of the other models; however, folks who are more casual about their in-home juicing will appreciate the lower price tag. Currently $34.92 on Amazon.
Disclaimer: The links and mentions on this site may be affiliate links. But they do not affect the actual opinions and recommendations of the authors.
Wise Bread is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
I have owned the Breville BJE200XL Juice Fountain Compact for about 15 months and it is awesome!! I use it about 3-4 times a week and it is still going strong!
You have missed the REAL best juicers. Omega VRT350 would yield much quality juice compared to those you listed. It's a slow juicer 80rpm but doesn't mean its that much slower. Plus VERY easy to clean since you don't have to worry about sharp blades.
I use the Breville Juice Fountain Elite and am very happy with it! The orange and other fruit juices are just amazing. I wrote a blog review on it at http://www.brevillejuicefountainelite.net
Breville Juice Fountain Elite is a great centrifugal juicer. It's fast and durable for daily home use for the whole family. However, if you're really serious about juicing I would suggest you take a masticating juicer like the Omega 8006.
This is a horrible list. The Breville's are efficient at juicing hard fruits and vegetables but the auger type juicers are much better. You can even get a hand crank auger juicer for 100 bucks if you google "Z-Star Manual Juicer "
Agreeing with DIGII here, cold press juicers are the way to go not all these centrifugal ones. You can get an Omega masticating juicer for $200-300, and the extra money is so worth it! The juice it makes is way less separated and thin and foamy, and you get so much more juice OUT of the juicer. This is the one I got and I love it: http://www.coldpressjuicers.net/products/omega-j8004-series


text: Feature Stories - Graphene: the wonder material for electronics, computers and beyond… You might think that such a new 'wonder material' would lie outside your everyday experience, but graphene is the exception. When you write or draw with a pencil, the graphite (the 'lead' of the pencil) slides off in thin layers to leave a trail - the line on the paper. Carbon's ability to form a thin layer of molecules is what makes graphene special - and scientists are starting to explore the possibilities for electronics and computing of carbon grids that are just one molecule thick. Digital Economy © GRAPHENE Flagship project The semiconductor industry is the basis of today's high-tech economy, directly supporting over 100,000 jobs in Europe, and indirectly even more. This has been achieved through continued miniaturisation in 'Complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor' (CMOS) technology, based on silicon. But this model will only last for 10 or 15 more years. The major challenge for the ICT industry is to find alternatives for information processing and storage beyond the limits of existing CMOS. There are good indications that graphene is a prime candidate for "Beyond CMOS" components, and is, despite its revolutionary nature, complementary to conventional CMOS technologies. Graphene has been the subject of a scientific explosion since the ground-breaking experiments on this novel material less than 10 years ago, recognised by the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010 awarded to Professor Andre Geim and Professor Kostya Novoselov, at the University of Manchester. The remarkable electrical properties of graphene may overcome the physical limits silicon faces as transistors shrink to ever-smaller sizes - providing solutions for the "Beyond CMOS" era, needed to meet the challenges of global competition. Bringing together multiple disciplines and addressing research across a whole range of issues, from the fundamental understanding of material properties to graphene production, the GRAPHENE (1) Flagship was launched in October 2013. The proposed research includes electronics, spintronics, photonics, plasmonics and mechanics - all based on graphene. Led by Professor Jari Kinaret, from Sweden's Chalmers University, the Flagship involves over 126 academic and industrial research groups in 17 European countries, with 136 principal investigators, including four Nobel laureates. With an initial 30-month budget of EUR 54 million, the GRAPHENE consortium will grow to include another 20-30 groups through an open call for project proposals in November , worth up to a total of EUR 9 million. 'Graphene production is obviously central to our project,' said Prof. Kinaret at the launch, but key applications to be looked at include fast electronic and optical devices, flexible electronics, functional lightweight components and advanced batteries. Examples of new products enabled by graphene technologies include fast, flexible and strong consumer electronics, such as electronic paper and bendable personal communication devices, as well as lighter and more energy-efficient aeroplanes. In the longer term, graphene is expected to give rise to new computational paradigms and revolutionary medical applications, such as artificial retinas. Setting sail: Graphene as FET flagship Described by European Commission Vice-President Neelie Kroes as a 'daring venture', the 'Future and emerging technologies' (FET) flagships are visionary, large-scale, science-driven research initiatives which tackle scientific and technological challenges across scientific disciplines. These new instruments in EU research funding foster coordinated efforts between the EU and its Member States' national and regional programmes, are highly ambitious, and rely on cooperation among a range of disciplines, communities and programmes - requiring support for up to 10 years. Following the start-up phase, running until March 2016 under the EU's current 'Seventh Framework Programme' for research (FP7), the work will continue under the next programme, 'Horizon 2020', with an expected EUR 50 million per year for the Flagship project. Graphene was chosen as a flagship following a competition between six pilot projects to investigate the areas with the greatest potential for sustained investment. As Mrs Kroes has said: 'Europe's position as a knowledge superpower depends on thinking the unthinkable and exploiting the best ideas. This multi-billion competition rewards home-grown scientific breakthroughs and shows that when we are ambitious we can develop the best research in Europe.' The Flagship pilot for graphene, the GRAPHENE-CA (2) project, looked at how developments in this carbon-based material could revolutionise ICT and industry. The pilot project established a comprehensive scientific and technological roadmap to serve as the basis for the research agenda of the GRAPHENE Flagship - covering electronics, spintronics, photonics, plasmonics and mechanics, and supporting areas such as graphene production and chemistry. And this was the basis on which it was selected. Now the Flagship is up and running, it already comprises a research team of dizzying scope . There are universities from Louvain in Belgium, Aalto in Finland, Lille and Strasbourg in France, Bremen, Chemnitz, Dresden and Hamburg in Germany, Ioannina in Greece, Dublin in Ireland, Trieste in Italy, Minho in Portugal, Barcelona and Castilla-La Mancha in Spain, Basel, Geneva and Zurich in Switzerland, Delft and Groningen in the Netherlands, and Cambridge, Manchester and Oxford in the United Kingdom. These are complemented by polytechnics and institutes of technology from Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. In addition, there are industrial partners such as Nokia, Thales, Alcatel Lucent, Philips Technology, Airbus and ST Microelectronics. And this list accounts for only part of the participating organisations. Their mission is to take graphene, and related layered materials, from the academic laboratories to society - revolutionising multiple industries and creating economic growth and new jobs in Europe. 'The Commission, and all the academic and industrial partners of the Graphene Flagship, are all in this together. It is an unusually long-term commitment, and there will be challenges, let's be clear about that,' said Carl-Christian Buhr, member of the Cabinet of Mrs Kroes. 'We need to bring in industry in such a way that ideas are taken up and lead to new products and markets. That's the whole idea of the Flagship.' Indeed, it includes a comprehensive set of complementary activities to achieve this, such as: - An ERA-NET type of project, FLAG-ERA (3), to support the Flagship in the coordination of national research initiatives on graphene. - A range of initiatives focused on spreading knowledge about graphene to the wider world. The Graphene Week , for example, is an annual forum bringing together hundreds of researchers to share their latest developments across disciplines - the next will be held in Gothenburg, Sweden, in June 2014. It aims to be a 'gathering of the graphene tribe', where discussions of fundamental science can meet exciting new applications. - Graphene Connect is an interaction platform for academia and businesses promoting scientists to think outside the box and industries to develop end-user products based on graphene - this will include a number of industrial workshops, and sessions for business angels, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists to discuss potential graphene investment opportunities. - Graphene Study is a European winter school on graphene that will help build a new generation of graphene researchers, as well as new direct communication channels between young researchers and academia-industry players. The first will be held in the Austrian Alps, on 2-7 February 2014. Early results Some of the EU's previously funded graphene research is already delivering. The GRAND (4) project, which ended in December 2010, looked at whether graphene would still work its wonders when integrated with the silicon CMOS process. Led by AMO in Germany, the project team set out to assess whether graphene really could bring conventional semiconductor technology into the "Beyond CMOS" era. The GRAND consortium developed ways of fabricating 2-dimensional graphene nanostructures (with widths of only 5 nm across) for use in electronics components. It was important to show that not only could such components function, but that they could be fabricated in a way that could be scaled up to industrial quantities. As a result, the team designed a new type of transistor - with the concept published in the renowned journal 'Applied Physics Letters' - that could open new routes for graphene-based high-speed electronic and optoelectronic devices. As part of the GRAND project, graphene has also been integrated into a non-volatile memory device that could be reduced to molecular sizes - a graphene memory measuring just 1x1 nm that retains the information stored in it even when power is turned off. The team fabricated more than 10 such devices - indicating their scalability. Led by the Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, the CONCEPTGRAPHENE (5) project set out to unlock the potential of depositing a thin layer of graphene on to a silicon carbide (SiC) base - aiming to develop scalable electronics with potential applications in 'spintronics' and ultra-accurate measuring devices. The team worked on fabricating large-scale graphene wafers that would allow for high-density electronic devices to be manufactured on a single silicon wafer. This type of technology will be needed for full-scale industrial manufacture of graphene-based components and devices in a way that is compatible with current industry techniques. Having ended in September 2013, the project launched a start-up company that will produce graphene wafers. Graphensic AB is located in Linköping, Sweden. The company is a spin-off from Linköping University and produces high-quality, highly uniform, graphene on silicon carbide (SiC) using a patented 'High-temperature graphene process' - a growth method which produces a thin layer of graphene, even a single layer of atoms, on SiC. More where that came from But graphene is not the only innovative material that could transform electronics - the 2D-NANOLATTICES (6) project, ending in May 2014, is working on other graphite-like molecular-lattice structures based on different elements. These 'nanolattices' also have great potential to pave the way to ever-smaller, and more powerful, nano-electronic devices. In particular, 'silicene' (or 'germanene'), the silicon or germanium equivalent of graphene, if they exist, may offer better compatibility with silicon processing. Led by the National Center for Scientific Research 'Demokritos', in Greece, the project team aims to find ways to induce and stabilise the silicon and germanium and prove for the first time that silicene has a physical existence. By producing alternating layers weakly bonded between one another, each consisting of a single layer of atoms, this new material could serve as the elements of gates and other components in new, miniaturised 2D semiconductors. Perhaps we are still in the early stages, but these look to be the first steps in a transformation of the way electronics devices are made - and in their abilities - with the potential to similarly transform the European high-tech industry and economy. The projects featured in this article have been supported by the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) for research. (1) 'Graphene-based revolutions in ICT and beyond' (2) 'Graphene-based nanoelectronic devices' (3) 'A flagship-supporting ERA-NET' (4) 'New electronics concept: wafer-scale epitaxial graphene' (5) 'Coordination Action for graphene-driven revolutions in ICT and beyond' (6) 'Strongly anisotropic Graphite-like semiconductor/dielectric 2D nanolattices'. Links to project on CORDIS: - FP7 on CORDIS - GRAPHENE Flagship project factsheet on CORDIS - GRAPHENE-CA project factsheet on CORDIS - GRAND project factsheet on CORDIS - CONCEPTGRAPHENE project factsheet on CORDIS - 2D-NANOLATTICES project factsheet on CORDIS Links to projects' websites: - 'Graphene-based revolutions in ICT and beyond' project website - 'Coordination Action for graphene-driven revolutions in ICT and beyond' website - 'Graphene-based nanoelectronic devices' website - 'New electronics concept: wafer-scale epitaxial graphene' website - 'Strongly anisotropic Graphite-like semiconductor/dielectric 2D nanolattices' website Links to related news and articles: - 'Feature Stories - Meet the pioneers of future and emerging technology' - EC press release: Graphene and Human Brain Project win largest research excellence award in history - GRAPHENE Flagship launch press release Other links: - European Commission's Digital Agenda website


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My son is an avid reader and loves to recommend books for me. I have a love of young adult novels, so I'm usually happy to hear his recommendations and give them a try. Several months ago he insisted I read Life As We Knew It. When I picked it up, though, I felt like the writing was a bit clunky and I had trouble getting into it. I was ready to put the book down and move on to something else, but my son begged me to keep reading, at least until "the incident." Boy, am I glad he encouraged me to continue.
Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer is an apocalyptic tale that's got just the right amount of fearfulness for a YA book, without getting too gruesome. In this modern day survivalist story we meet Miranda Evans and her family just as the world is anticipating a show in the night sky. An asteroid on a collision course with the moon has everyone all abuzz – until the asteroid makes impact and sends the moon off its axis and much closer to the earth. Sensing imminent danger, Miranda's mother makes common sense preparations to keep her family warm and fed as their small Pennsylvania town faces power outages, food shortages, outbreaks of disease, and death.
The astronomical event causes severe changes in the earth's atmosphere and in Miranda's previously normal life. Instead of dreaming of her upcoming prom and following her favorite professional ice skater's antics, she finds herself faced with the day to day struggle of staying alive. Together with her divorced mother and two brothers, Miranda is in turn resentful, angry, and afraid as all hope seemingly disappears.
I was fascinated with the foresight shown by Miranda's mom; as the tragedy unfolds she stocks up on food and batteries, thinks ahead to a cold winter without electricity, and insists that her boys chop copious amounts of firewood. I like to think that in a similar situation I'd be able to be so level headed, but I have to admit, the idea of spending a winter snowed in and stuck in one room of the house with my entire family gives me pause.
A companion book, The Dead and The Gone, gives readers an entirely different view of the event, this story is set in New York City where Alex Morales struggles to keep his two sisters alive in the mysterious absence of his parents. As the city decays around them, Alex must barter for food and make tough decisions about what's best for his sisters. The Morales family are devout Catholics, and the church is central to the story as Alex grapples with right and wrong in his quest for survival, though the author refrains from proselytizing.
The third book, This World We Live In, brings the Evans and Morales families together a year after the asteroid hit the moon. With food supplies dangerously dwindling and more mouths to feed, the families turn to scavenging what they can from abandoned homes. This installment has a sense of desperation to it as the families realize that nobody is going to get them out of this mess, but it also features a romance (albeit, kind of a clumsy one) between Miranda and Alex.
The three book series – known collectively as The Last Survivors – introduces some tough questions about surviving in a harsh environment without the comforts we're used to. Without electricity, heat, and running water, the characters are forced to learn once-common skills. It's a story that will appeal to kids who like the idea of testing their mettle in tough situations. And it didn't escape my notice that the third book leaves a wide open opportunity for the author to continue the saga. I hope she does.
Note: I checked Life As We Knew It out at the library, but the publisher was kind enough to provide review copies of The Dead and The Gone and This World We Live In.


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An exploration of pizza in and around Rochester, NY, one pizzeria at a time
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Checker Flag, revisited
The same reader suggested that perhaps I went too early in the day (it was around noon), before the ovens were properly heated. If so, of course, the blame for that would lie with Checker Flag, which should ensure that its ovens are up to the proper temperature before they start making pizza, but this time I did go a little later in the day, around 2:30 p.m. on a weekday.
For whatever reason, it was better this time. That alone is not much of a surprise - it could hardly have been worse - but it was significantly better.
As before, this slice was extremely thin, but this time around it actually had an interior, at least on the outer half, nearer the edge of the pie from which it was cut. I could see that the dough had risen somewhat, despite its thinness.
The underside of my slice was crisp and browned in some areas. It was lightly dusted with cornmeal and bore no screen marks. The slice was very foldable - no surprise there, given its thinness - but also had a crackly exterior.
All of that was, thankfully, in contrast to the slice I had in June, which was pale and undercooked. This was much better, as far as the crust was concerned.
It was, however, still very light on the toppings, even for a slice this thin. That was not a total shocker either; you can only expect so much for a dollar. (And it was a dollar, by the way; last time I got charged a dollar and change. But their slices are supposed to cost a dollar apiece.)
What little sauce there was seemed a bit sweet. There was, though, so little sauce or cheese that the slice overall seemed a bit dry and bland. In its favor, the paucity of toppings allowed the slightly sweet, bready flavor of the crust to come through.
At any price, this was an OK slice. At a dollar, it was a decidedly good slice. Personally I'd gladly pay more for more in the way of toppings; with a little more sauce and cheese, this could be a very good slice.
But I doubt that's going to happen, and that's OK. There's a niche for cheap, decent pizza, and based on this visit, Checker Flag seems to be filling that niche in this neighborhood. I'm not sure what the deal was with that horrendous slice I had last June, but I'm hoping it was an anomaly, and that this latest one was more representative of their pizza. I'll give it a B-.
Checker Flag Pizza is at 1481 Dewey Ave. It's takeout and delivery only. They also serve subs and various fried sides. 458-0070
3 comments:
Quite an improvement in grade; I must say, I'm surprised.ReplyDelete
You'll have to go a third time and average the scores!
- AnonymousDecember 29, 2011 at 5:09 PM
I still dream of having a lovely slice from this odd little stand only place. 5 years later and I still haven't found a slice as good as their's. :(ReplyDelete
I usd to eat herer religiously 12 years ago when I was pregnant but went back yesterday because I remembered the pizza was good and when I called them they had the best party deals in the city. I got two sheetts one topping each and 100 wings for $70!! The sheet pizza is not a thin crust and they had plenty of cheese and sauce the wings were huge and well seasoned and not too saucy. Overall not the best pizza but better than alot of other places and great prices!!!definitely a BReplyDelete


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Laugh It Off
For stress, for low energy, and even for an out-of-shape body.
Yes, laughing can be a good workout.
Turns out, laughter is the best medicine.
For stress, for low energy, and even for an out-of-shape body.
Yes, laughing can be a good workout.
It's no joke. It's called laughter yoga, and classes mix deep breathing and yoga poses with laughter. After some warm-up stretching, instructors get the giggling going by having the class picture themselves in funny situations. One person starts and the laughing spreads like a contagious yawn through the class.
Laughing till your belly hurts works all the breathing muscles in your core, releases endorphins, and works your diaphragm from all the forceful exhaling – just like a good cardio session. Midway through, the 60-minute class slows down to focus on laughter meditation and then deep relaxation.
Instructor Yordana Mir is the only teacher on O'ahu, and she trained with the program's founder, Dr. Madan Kataria, a Mumbai physician who developed laughing yoga as an exercise form. She teaches a Wednesday evening class at Kapi'olani Community College, but is offering a free class tonight at the lululemon athletica store at Ala Moana Center.
That not-so-tight tummy of yours?
It is a laughing matter after all.
A free laughter yoga class is tonight at 6:30 at the lululemon athletica store at Ala Moana Center. Call 808.946.7220 for more info. Yordana Mir also teaches a Wednesday evening class at KCC. Call 808.734.9315 for more info or to sign up for the new session beginning in March.


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UPDATE: Now that the temps are dropping, it's high time to get outside and get moving. We've got a handy primer on the best ways to elevate your heart rate, whether you're dig zip-lining or horseback riding. This story was originally published on September 13, 2012.
Mother Nature finally listened to our collective "simmer down, now" plea, and we're starting to detect that ever-so-subtle crispness in the air. And, with this newfound balmy weather comes plenty of inspiration to get outside and find a little adventure. Naturally, since we love to help you out, we've created a list of super-cool activities and locales to get your frolic on — no matter if "danger" is your middle name, or you prefer to get your thrills on the safer side.
Don't know what to do for a first date? Take a hike — literally. Tired of the treadmill? Try your hand at rock climbing. Whatever you're into — from the high-octane thrill of kayaking or whitewater rafting, to the relaxing rhythm of canoeing or horseback riding — the District, Maryland, and Virginia offer up a vast range of indoor and outdoor activities that are guaranteed to get you revved up. So, pull your hair into a ponytail, grab your sneaks, and get out there. You go, girl.
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Money Still Can't Buy Happiness
Are Americans happier than citizens in other countries?
Well, it depends on how you measure happiness.
New research from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) shows that we're ahead of the game when it comes to wealth, behind the curve when it comes to life expectancy—and wait till you hear how we stack up on work-life balance.
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This data comes from the Better Life Index, a ranking system from the newly established OECD which measures happiness levels in 34 countries, based on how their citizens feel about things like earnings, housing, their community—and even how many good and bad things happen to them per day.
And the Better Life Index actually isn't the first of its kind.
Read the story on LearnVest here
We'll show you how the first "Happiness Index" came about–and how your life in the United States stacks up.
What Is a Happiness Index, Anyway?
The Gross National Happiness (GNH) index was developed in the 1970s by the tiny Himalayan country of Bhutan (it's half the size of Indiana) to inspire government initiatives that would improve its citizens' lives.
The country's index evaluates 33 indicators within nine larger categories like psychological wellbeing, living standards, education, health, ecological and cultural diversity and community vitality. It's administered to all of Bhutan's residents, even those living in the most remote areas.
Why a happiness index? Because GDP or gross domestic product—which typically measures a country's rate of economic growth—doesn't really tell you how that impacts the life of its citizens.
And once word got out that Bhutan had created a way to quantify happiness, other countries jumped on the GNH train.
In 2008, former French President Sarkozy instituted the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress. In 2008, Victoria, British Columbia created the Greater Victoria Happiness Index Partnership. And most notably for us, last year the Paris-based OECD, developed the Better Life Index to measure well-being in 34 countries.
So, Which Countries Are the Happiest, Wealthiest … and Busiest?
Don't be too shocked: The United States isn't the world's happiest country. But it also isn't the least. The OECD report found that:
- The U.S ranks first in average household wealth (which measures not just income, but total worth of the household and its assets), at $102,000 a year, with only Switzerland, at $95,000, coming close. But the OECD reports that our gap between rich and poor also ranks relatively high, with the top 20% of the American population earning about eight times as much as the bottom 20%. (Interestingly, we hear that an income of $50,000 is the amount to make us happy.)
- Americans are more satisfied with their lives than the OECD average, with 76% of people–compared with an average of 72%–saying they have more positive experiences in an average day (including feelings of rest, pride in accomplishment, enjoyment) than negative ones (including pain, worry, sadness, boredom). But we're not the happiest: Denmark, Norway and Switzerland all outscored us on that front.
- And we don't live the longest: The OECD findings show we lag about a year behind the report's average, with Americans living to 79 instead of 80.
- Maybe it's all that work we do? It may not come as a surprise that people in most countries report a better balance between their career and their personal lives than we do. On that front, Denmark, Belgium and Spain are the places to be. But if you just want to pack it in and enjoy a life of leisure, don't head to Mexico, Turkey or Japan, who proved to be home to bigger workaholics than even us.
Read More for LearnVest:
Why the Money Taboo Is Stupid and Needs to Change
The Trick to Dividing Household Financial Tasks


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Children's risk of developing attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) later in life may be tied to how much fish their mothers ate while pregnant, according to a U.S. study
Researchers writing in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine found that eating at least two servings of fish per week was linked to about a 60 percent lower risk of kids developing certain ADHD-like symptoms.
But elevated mercury levels, which can also come from eating more fish - depending on the fish - were tied to a higher risk of developing the symptoms, such as hyperactivity, impulsiveness and inattentiveness.
Though the study did not prove cause and effect, and did not use a formal diagnosis of ADHD, it may offer insights into a condition that's estimated to have an impact on one in 10 children in the United States, researchers say.
"The really important message is to eat fish," said Sharon Sagiv, the study's lead author from the Boston University School of Public Health.
"Just stay away from mercury-containing fish, because these protective effects are pretty important."
Sagiv said it's best to stay away from "big fishes," such as tuna and swordfish, which typically contain the most mercury. Instead, stick to fishes such as haddock and salmon.
Past studies looking at the link between mercury and ADHD have produced conflicting results.
For the new study, the researchers followed 788 children who were born near New Bedford, Massachusetts, between 1993 and 1998. They used hair samples taken from the mothers right after delivery to test their mercury levels, and food diaries to see how much fish they ate.
Then, once the children were about 8 years old, the researchers asked their teachers to evaluate the kids' behaviors to see how many exhibited ADHD-like symptoms.
After taking all of the information into account, the researchers found 1 microgram of mercury per gram of a mother's hair - about eight times the average levels found in similar women's hair in another analysis - was tied to about a 60 percent increase in the risk of their child exhibiting ADHD-like behaviors.
But there was no link below 1 microgram of mercury per gram of a mother's hair.
Sagiv added that the negative effects from lower levels of mercury may be canceled out by the benefits from eating fish. The children appeared to be 60 percent less likely to exhibit impulsive or hyperactive behaviors if their mothers ate two or more servings of fish per week.
That finding conflicts with the U.S. government's recommendation that says pregnant women should eat no more than two six-ounce servings of fish per week to limit their exposure to mercury.
"I think it does call into question those guidelines, but this is only one study and the results should be confirmed," Sagiv told Reuters health.
In an editorial that appeared with the study, Bruce Lanphear at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, echoed Sagiv's advice on avoiding "big fishes."


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Why Did an Angel Roll Away the Stone? - Easter Devotional - March 20
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- 2023 Mar 20
Quote of the Day
"'Dear Uticus, Our preacher said that Jesus swooned on the cross and then His disciples nursed Him to health. What do you think? Signed, Bewildered.'
'Dear Bewildered, Beat your preacher with a cat-o'-nine-tails thirty-nine times. Nail him to a cross. Hang him in the sun for six hours. Run a spear through his side, embalm him, and put him in an airless tomb for thirty-six hours and see what happens. Sincerely, Uticus.'"
~Greg Laurie (from "Could Jesus Have Survived the Crucifixion?")
Today's Answer
Why Did an Angel Roll Away the Stone?
Matthew Henry
The angels frequently attended our Lord Jesus: at His birth, in His temptation, in His agony. But upon the cross we find no angel attending him. When His Father forsook Him, the angels withdrew from Him, but now that He is resuming the glory he had before the foundation of the world, the angels of God worship him.
The angel came, rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. Our Lord Jesus could have rolled back the stone Himself by His own power, but He chose to have it done by an angel to signify that having undertaken to make satisfaction for our sin, He did not break prison, but had a fair and legal discharge, obtained from heaven. He did not break prison, but an officer was sent on purpose to roll away the stone and open the prison door, which would never have been done if He had not made a full satisfaction.
But being delivered for our offences, He was raised again for our justification. He died to pay our debt, and rose again to gain our acquittal. The stone of our sins was rolled to the door of the grave of our Lord Jesus (and we find the rolling of a great stone to signify the contracting of guilt - 1 Samuel 14:33), but to demonstrate that divine justice was satisfied, an angel was commissioned to roll back the stone. The angel did not raise Him from the dead, any more than those that took away the stone from Lazarus's grave raised him, but by this he intimated the consent of Heaven to Christ's release, and the joy of Heaven in it.
The enemies of Christ had sealed the stone, since this was their hour, but all the powers of death and darkness are under the control of the God of light and life. An angel from heaven has power to break the seal and roll away the stone, though ever so great. Thus, the captives of the mighty are taken away.
The angel's sitting upon the stone, after he had rolled it away, is very observable and shows a secure triumph over all the obstructions of Christ's resurrection. There he sat, defying all the powers of hell to roll the stone to the grave again. The angel sat as a guard to the grave, having frightened away the enemies' guard; he sat, expecting the women, and ready to give them an account of Jesus's resurrection.
Adapted from Matthew 1:1 Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (Luke 28).
Check out fantastic resources on Faith, Family, and Fun at Crosswalk.com!


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Angels to skip starting rotation members until March
Williams, Mills will start Saturday's split-squad Cactus openers
TEMPE, Ariz. -- Jerome Williams (at home against the Cubs) and Brad Mills (in Scottsdale against the Giants) will start each of the split-squad games that will open the Angels' Cactus League schedule on Saturday.
Don't expect to see any of the five rotation members until March 1.
Jered Weaver won't start until next Friday's game against the Dodgers' split squad at Tempe Diablo Stadium. He'll be followed respectively by C.J. Wilson (in Maryvale against the Brewers), Joe Blanton (at home against the Cubs' split squad), Jason Vargas (in Phoenix against the A's) and Tommy Hanson (at home against the Reds).
Before that, it'll be Barry Enright starting on Sunday versus the A's, Garret Richards on Monday in Peoria against the Mariners, A.J. Schugel on Tuesday versus the D-backs' split squad and Nick Maronde on Wednesday vs. the Giants. Williams and Mills will then both pitch Thursday's game against the Dodgers in Glendale, before the normal rotation gets in the mix.
Starters figure to be at about two innings apiece the first time through. The extra week of camp, in response to the World Baseball Classic, has prompted manager Mike Scioscia to wait before getting in his starters and opt against playing any intrasquad games.
Asked if Weaver-Wilson-Blanton-Vargas-Hanson is how the rotation will line up during the regular season, Scioscia said: "I don't think we're looking quite to the season yet. I think we're looking to get through Spring Training and then see where people are at the end. We have some flexibility with the way [pitching coach Mike Butcher] has lined them up."
The Angels open the regular season with off days on Tuesday, April 2, and Monday, April 8, but Scioscia doesn't anticipate skipping a fifth starter the first turn through, like he did last season.
Williams figures to be the Angels' long reliever in 2013, while Enright and Mills -- if the latter clears waivers -- will be in the Triple-A rotation. Maronde, ranked second in the Angels' farm system by MLB.com, and Schugel, who is ranked 16th, could join them. Richards is a candidate for a bullpen spot.
Peter Bourjos and Mark Trumbo are expected to join Erick Aybar in games this first weekend.


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text: One of the reasons I'm not a huge fan of litigation is because of something we call discovery. Both sides get the opportunity to drill into each other's private correspondence and look for things neither remembers writing. Given that in litigation reality tends to get blown away by motives and creativity, this can be pretty dangerous. \nThis was highlighted last week when HP released some of the things that were said inside of Oracle. Most damning is one series of text messages that indicate that Oracle executives who were pitching Sun products thought they were crap and didn't want to pitch them. \n\nWhen someone says a product blows\u2014wait, that isn't accurate, because they actually wrote "baaaallllloooooooows"\u2014it isn't a compliment (but it will go down in history). They also said it was like putting lipstick on a pig and that it was clear that, in buying Sun, Oracle bought a dog. And they didn't mean a cute fluffy companion, they meant ugly mutt who peed on everything it touched. \n\nYou really need to see some of this stuff. It is clear that Oracle has made IT buyers the butt of a joke and I don't think any of us should be laughing. You can find the Oracle documents in order here and, if you are someone who fell for this scam, I'll bet it will make you a little mad because Oracle clearly appears to think we (and I do include myself) are idiots. \n\nSo what does this mean, other than your trust was misplaced I mean?Oracle Knew Itanium Wasn't Dead\n\nWhether you are talking Sparc, Power or Itanium, the reality is that each part is tied to the efforts of one vendor. The correspondence shows that HP, while Mark Hurd was still there, was not only fully behind Itanium it was actually surprised by how much Intel supported it. This is directly contrary to Oracle's allegations that Intel and HP were concealing a secret agenda to pull the plug. Not only weren't they pulling the plug, HP was still treating the technology as strategic and Intel apparently was as well.\n\nNow I personally thought Intel had moved on from Itanium and was just continuing to support it because of the HP agreement, but the discovered documents clearly show that isn't the case. \n I had also given Oracle the benefit of the doubt because it had sent me a Xeon roadmap and argued that since Itanium wasn't on it that it clearly showed Intel was pulling the plug. \nI thought this was an honest mistake and that Oracle hadn't realized that the Xeon team wouldn't put Itanium on one of their charts any more than they would Core, Atom or Pentium because they don't own those lines either. However, the documents also showcase that they appeared to be moving against Itanium for competitive reasons and that chart doesn't seem to have any influence on that decision.Sun Hardware Sucks, er, Baaaallllloooooooows \n\nI guess it is the same thing but this reminds me of when Steve Jobs, who arguably was Larry Ellison's closest friend, came back to Apple. Larry was on Apple's board around this time and would have seen Steve painfully hype products he clearly thought were crap. We knew he thought they were crap because, prior to taking the job, he was outspoken on just how crappy they were. But he knew he had to convince people to buy them otherwise Apple would have failed so he pushed them until he could fix Apple and its product lines. \n\n Ellison, apparently taking a page from Steve's book, is (based on this correspondence) doing pretty much the same thing and I don't think opening this particular curtain is going to make buyers feel all that warm and fuzzy about Oracle. I mean if it isn't honest about this what will it be honest about? Oracle employs some of the most highly compensated and skilled sales reps in the business, these folks likely could sell refrigerators to Eskimos. \n\nIn any case, listening to HP or IBM say Sun hardware sucks isn't nearly as powerful as hearing Oracle say it baaaallllloooooooows. And the joke really isn't as funny when it is on you.Wrapping Up\n\nI found this largely by accident, but it showcases that we all likely should be watching what is coming out of discovery because it is a rare look at the truth behind the related vendors. And it is also a reason to think twice about litigation because this same kind of thing could happen to you. \n In any case, it is likely wise not to pick up any pigs wearing lipstick or Sun hardware in the near term future. For some unknown reason this reminded me of the rather famous spoof Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer did a decade ago. Suddenly, that video makes more sense. Rob is president and principal analyst of the Enderle Group. Previously, he was the Senior Research Fellow for Forrester Research and the Giga Information Group. Prior to that he worked for IBM and held positions in Internal Audit, Competitive Analysis, Marketing, Finance, and Security. Currently, Rob writes on emerging technology, security, and Linux for a wide variety of publications and appears on national news TV shows that include CNBC, FOX, Bloomberg and NPR. \n\nFollow everything from CIO.com on Twitter @CIOonline, on Facebook, and on Google +.


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FUDCon Pune: My talk on 'Linux Virtualization'12 Nov 2011
My second talk at FUDCon Pune was on Virtualization (slides) on day 2. While I had registered the talk well in advance, I wasn't quite sure what really to talk about: should I talk about the basics of virtualization? Should I talk about what's latest (coming up in Fedora 16)? Should I talk about how KVM works in detail? My first talk on git had gone well, and as expected for this FUDCon, majority of the participants were students. Expecting a similar student-heavy audience for the 2nd talk as well, I decided on discussing the basics of the Linux Virt Stack. Kashyap had a session lined up after me on libvirt, so I thought I could give an overview of virt-manager, libvirt, QEMU and Linux (KVM).
And since my registered talk title was 'Latest in Linux Virtualization', I did leave a few slides on upcoming enhancements in Fedora 16 (mostly concentrating on the QEMU side of things) at the end of the slide deck, to cover those things if I had time left.
As with the previous git talk, I didn't get around to making the slides and deciding on the flow of the talk till the night before the day of the talk, and that left me with much less sleep than normal. The video for the talk is available online; I haven't seen it myself, but if you do, you'll find I was almost sleep-talking through the session.
To make it interactive as well as keep me awake, I asked the audience to stop me and ask questions any time during the talk. What was funny about that was the talk was also being live streamed, and the audio signal for the live streaming was carried via one mic and the audio stream for the audience as well as the recorded talk was on a different mic. So even though the audience questions were taken on the audience mic, I had to repeat the questions for the people who were catching the talk live.
I got some feedback later from a few people -- I missed to introduce myself, and I should have put some performance graphs in the slides, as almost all users would be interested in KVM performance vs other hypervisors. Both good points. The performance slides I hadn't thought about earlier, I'll try to incorporate some such graphs in future presentations. Interestingly, I hadn't also thought of introducing myself. Previously, I was used to someone else introducing me and then me picking up from there. At the FUDCon, we (the organisers) missed on getting speaker bios, and didn't have volunteers introduce each speaker before their sessions. So no matter which way I look at it, I take the blame as speaker and organiser for not having done this.
There was some time before my session to start and there were a few people in the auditorium (the room where the talk was to be held), so Kashyap thought of playing some Fedora / FOSS / Red Hat videos. (People generally like the Truth Happens video, and that one was played as well.) These, and many more are available on the Red Hat Videos channel on YouTube. There was also some time between my session and Kashyap's (to allow for people to move around, take a break, etc.), so we played the F16 release video that Jared gave us.
Overall, I think the talk went quite well (though I may have just dreamed that). I tried to stay awake for Kashyap's session on libvirt to answer any questions directed my way; I know I did answer a couple of them, so I must have managed to stay up.


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Do Everything to Please Allah
By Imam Abdullah El-Amin, TMO
When you do kind actions for other people, do you do it so they will be pleased and appreciative? If you think a person would like a gift from you, do you rush to buy it in hopes you will see them happy and they will be grateful? If you do you are a good and generous person and I pray ALLAH will reward you immensely.
But on the other hand, you may be setting yourself up to be hurt and disappointed by the response you may get. If the person is not as responsive as you think they should be, does that make you feel unappreciated? This is not unusual because we as human beings naturally want to have our good actions to others recognized with acknowledgement and gratitude.
But there is a way to be certain of feeling wanted, needed, and appreciated by everyone. And that is to do everything with the thought in mind of pleasing ALLAH. You see, when you think and act fi sabillilah, the admiration of mankind is secondary. When you consciously strive to please ALLAH first, then the human recipient of your goodness should be happy too. If not, it is no matter because they are simply the fringe benefit of your desire to please ALLAH.
This is also true, and especially important if you are being wronged by someone. It might be your husband or wife who belittles you or abuses you. If you go about trying to do things to please them so they will learn to love you or treat you better, you're going about it in the wrong way. It will probably be worse and have an adverse effect because they will feel they have all the power over you, and will continue being mean.
But if you treat them as a human being, FOR THE SAKE OF ALLAH, it doesn't matter if they appreciate it or not. I have seen people, women especially, try extra hard to win a man's affection only to have it backfire. After a time they end up in my office frustrated because their offers are rejected.
Men, as well, will attempt to throw lavish gifts on women in an attempt to win their affections. Sometimes it works…and sometimes it doesn't. You might be giving too much, whereas if you did it with the intention to please ALLAH, it will be just right.
ALLAH made us all equal human beings, both men and women. And the only superiority of one person over another is directly related to the amount of God-consciousness he or she possesses in their heart. So if you approach everybody and everything with the expressed intention of pleasing ALLAH, you are instantly elevated above those who do not. And if they don't appreciate your benevolence, it won't matter. It wasn't for them anyway…it was for ALLAH.
So the next time you think of doing something good to anybody, for any reason, think of ALLAH first. Ask yourself if this action would be pleasing to ALLAH, and if the answer is yes, then go to it. You will be happier and give yourself less chance to be hurt. Isn't ALLAH wonderful?
As Salaam alaikum
(Al Hajj) Imam Abdullah El-Amin