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9 A prophecy:
The word of the Lord is against the land of Hadrak
and will come to rest on Damascus—
for the eyes of all people and all the tribes of Israel
are on the Lord—[a]
2 and on Hamath too, which borders on it,
and on Tyre and Sidon, though they are very skillful.
3 Tyre has built herself a stronghold;
she has heaped up silver like dust,
and gold like the dirt of the streets.
4 But the Lord will take away her possessions
and destroy her power on the sea,
and she will be consumed by fire.
5 Ashkelon will see it and fear;
Gaza will writhe in agony,
and Ekron too, for her hope will wither.
Gaza will lose her king
and Ashkelon will be deserted.
6 A mongrel people will occupy Ashdod,
and I will put an end to the pride of the Philistines.
7 I will take the blood from their mouths,
the forbidden food from between their teeth.
Those who are left will belong to our God
and become a clan in Judah,
and Ekron will be like the Jebusites.
8 But I will encamp at my temple
to guard it against marauding forces.
Never again will an oppressor overrun my people,
for now I am keeping watch.
9 Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
righteous and victorious,
lowly and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
10 I will take away the chariots from Ephraim
and the warhorses from Jerusalem,
and the battle bow will be broken.
He will proclaim peace to the nations.
His rule will extend from sea to sea
and from the River[b] to the ends of the earth.
11 As for you, because of the blood of my covenant with you,
I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit.
12 Return to your fortress, you prisoners of hope;
even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you.
13 I will bend Judah as I bend my bow
and fill it with Ephraim.
I will rouse your sons, Zion,
against your sons, Greece,
and make you like a warrior's sword.
14 Then the Lord will appear over them;
his arrow will flash like lightning.
The Sovereign Lord will sound the trumpet;
he will march in the storms of the south,
15 and the Lord Almighty will shield them.
They will destroy
and overcome with slingstones.
They will drink and roar as with wine;
they will be full like a bowl
used for sprinkling[c] the corners of the altar.
16 The Lord their God will save his people on that day
as a shepherd saves his flock.
They will sparkle in his land
like jewels in a crown.
17 How attractive and beautiful they will be!
Grain will make the young men thrive,
and new wine the young women.
10 Ask the Lord for rain in the springtime;
it is the Lord who sends the thunderstorms.
He gives showers of rain to all people,
and plants of the field to everyone.
2 The idols speak deceitfully,
diviners see visions that lie;
they tell dreams that are false,
they give comfort in vain.
Therefore the people wander like sheep
oppressed for lack of a shepherd.
3 "My anger burns against the shepherds,
and I will punish the leaders;
for the Lord Almighty will care
for his flock, the people of Judah,
and make them like a proud horse in battle.
4 From Judah will come the cornerstone,
from him the tent peg,
from him the battle bow,
from him every ruler.
5 Together they[d] will be like warriors in battle
trampling their enemy into the mud of the streets.
They will fight because the Lord is with them,
and they will put the enemy horsemen to shame.
6 "I will strengthen Judah
and save the tribes of Joseph.
I will restore them
because I have compassion on them.
They will be as though
I had not rejected them,
for I am the Lord their God
and I will answer them.
7 The Ephraimites will become like warriors,
and their hearts will be glad as with wine.
Their children will see it and be joyful;
their hearts will rejoice in the Lord.
8 I will signal for them
and gather them in.
Surely I will redeem them;
they will be as numerous as before.
9 Though I scatter them among the peoples,
yet in distant lands they will remember me.
They and their children will survive,
and they will return.
10 I will bring them back from Egypt
and gather them from Assyria.
I will bring them to Gilead and Lebanon,
and there will not be room enough for them.
11 They will pass through the sea of trouble;
the surging sea will be subdued
and all the depths of the Nile will dry up.
Assyria's pride will be brought down
and Egypt's scepter will pass away.
12 I will strengthen them in the Lord
and in his name they will live securely,"
declares the Lord.
11 Open your doors, Lebanon,
so that fire may devour your cedars!
2 Wail, you juniper, for the cedar has fallen;
the stately trees are ruined!
Wail, oaks of Bashan;
the dense forest has been cut down!
3 Listen to the wail of the shepherds;
their rich pastures are destroyed!
Listen to the roar of the lions;
the lush thicket of the Jordan is ruined!
4 This is what the Lord my God says: "Shepherd the flock marked for slaughter. 5 Their buyers slaughter them and go unpunished. Those who sell them say, 'Praise the Lord, I am rich!' Their own shepherds do not spare them. 6 For I will no longer have pity on the people of the land," declares the Lord. "I will give everyone into the hands of their neighbors and their king. They will devastate the land, and I will not rescue anyone from their hands."
7 So I shepherded the flock marked for slaughter, particularly the oppressed of the flock. Then I took two staffs and called one Favor and the other Union, and I shepherded the flock. 8 In one month I got rid of the three shepherds.
The flock detested me, and I grew weary of them 9 and said, "I will not be your shepherd. Let the dying die, and the perishing perish. Let those who are left eat one another's flesh."
10 Then I took my staff called Favor and broke it, revoking the covenant I had made with all the nations. 11 It was revoked on that day, and so the oppressed of the flock who were watching me knew it was the word of the Lord.
12 I told them, "If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it." So they paid me thirty pieces of silver.
13 And the Lord said to me, "Throw it to the potter"—the handsome price at which they valued me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter at the house of the Lord.
14 Then I broke my second staff called Union, breaking the family bond between Judah and Israel.
15 Then the Lord said to me, "Take again the equipment of a foolish shepherd. 16 For I am going to raise up a shepherd over the land who will not care for the lost, or seek the young, or heal the injured, or feed the healthy, but will eat the meat of the choice sheep, tearing off their hooves.
17 "Woe to the worthless shepherd,
who deserts the flock!
May the sword strike his arm and his right eye!
May his arm be completely withered,
his right eye totally blinded!"
12 A prophecy: The word of the Lord concerning Israel.
The Lord, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who forms the human spirit within a person, declares: 2 "I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling. Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem. 3 On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves. 4 On that day I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness," declares the Lord. "I will keep a watchful eye over Judah, but I will blind all the horses of the nations. 5 Then the clans of Judah will say in their hearts, 'The people of Jerusalem are strong, because the Lord Almighty is their God.'
6 "On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a firepot in a woodpile, like a flaming torch among sheaves. They will consume all the surrounding peoples right and left, but Jerusalem will remain intact in her place.
7 "The Lord will save the dwellings of Judah first, so that the honor of the house of David and of Jerusalem's inhabitants may not be greater than that of Judah. 8 On that day the Lord will shield those who live in Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the Lord going before them. 9 On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that attack Jerusalem.
10 "And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit[e] of grace and supplication. They will look on[f] me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son. 11 On that day the weeping in Jerusalem will be as great as the weeping of Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. 12 The land will mourn, each clan by itself, with their wives by themselves: the clan of the house of David and their wives, the clan of the house of Nathan and their wives, 13 the clan of the house of Levi and their wives, the clan of Shimei and their wives, 14 and all the rest of the clans and their wives.
20 And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. 2 He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. 3 He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.
4 I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They[a] had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5 (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.
7 When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—and to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. 9 They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God's people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. 10 And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 15 Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.


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An employer can find information about an industry, current wages for occupations and training providers that offer programs in the skills they need for their employees.
You can also find information about workplace safety statistics and more.
A job seeker will be able to explore an occupation to find out about future
opportunities through occupational projections. They can explore and compare current
average wages in specific areas. Additionally, a job seeker can find out what
occupations have the most vacancies and in what area they are.
If you are a researcher or policymaker, you can find industry and occupation statistics such as covered employment and occupational projections for a specific area.
In brief, Labor Market Information is data that statistically describes the
economic conditions in a certain area. That area can be as small as a city, or
as large as the whole country. Information about population, labor force,
employment and unemployment numbers and rates, employment in different
industries and occupations can all be included under the heading of
"Labor Market Information."
You can find answers to these questions and more on this website.
Regional Information is a collection of economic information for a selected geographic area.
In the Regional Information section you can explore employment, wages, occupational outlook, population and other economic indicators in your specific area.
You can also find out about other resources which provide area specific data.
You can find all kinds of labor market information from fastest growing occupations to the top three industries. All of this information helps paint a picture of the employment
situation in a specific area. This information can help you find answers to some of the following questions:
Labor Market Information Services collects data under several federal/state cooperative statistical programs.
Quarterly Census of Employment & Wages (QCEW) - summarizes industry employment and wage data for all
employers covered by state Unemployment Insurance (UI) laws and federal workers covered by the Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees (UCFE) program.
Current Employment Statistics (CES) - produces estimates of nonagricultural employment by industry.
Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) - produces estimates of civilian labor force, employment, unemployment and unemployment rates.
Mass Layoff Statistics (MLS) - collects reports on mass layoffs that result in workers being separated from their jobs.
Occupational Employment Estimates (OES) - produces employment and wage estimates by occupation.
Occupational Outlook - forecasts future employment levels by industry and occupation.
With this site, you can get the information you need about different occupations to make informed choices for career changes, comparing occupations and more.
When you use the Kansas Wage Survey, you can learn how much occupations pay in your area. You can use the annual job vacancy data and publications to learn what occupations have the most vacancies
in Kansas.
You can use the Occupational Outlook to learn about the future demands in the occupation and region of your interest.
Employers are interested in trends for their industry and whether they are paying competitive wages. Job seekers want to know how stable employment is in the industry of a prospective
employer. Analysts need to assess the health of specific industry sectors in making a variety of economic decisions. Use our QCEW and CES data to address these and other topics.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Many job seekers walk into an interview ill-prepared, expecting the employer to ask all the questions. Contrary to popular belief, the most important questions of the interview might be those that you, the applicant, ask.
Ford R. Myers, career coach, speaker and author of "Get The Job You Want, Even When No One's Hiring," (John Wiley & Sons, 2009, www.GetTheJobBook.com), says, "Asking smart questions will help the job seeker sound articulate, well-prepared and genuinely interested in working for the organization."
To find out as much as possible about the prospective employer, Myers suggests job seekers include the following 10 questions in the interview process.
Internet Explorer 9: Eight Reasons to Upgrade Paul Mah identifies eight reasons you should consider upgrading to Internet Explorer 9.
15 Top Android Security Apps Ensure your Android device and personal data are protected.
Common Project Management Challenges Challenging project management trends.
Related Topics : Topics
Biometrics are changing the way we think about security. Here are some of the more innovative ways biometrics are being used and what we can expect in the future. ... More >>
When heading out for a business trip, there are a variety of apps travelers can use to ease the traditional pain-points of being on the road. ... More >>
The SDN market is still a relatively young one, and 2014 is likely to be a year of growth as technologies mature and vendors aim to deliver on their promises. ... More >>


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Plenty left to digest in the ACC after a weekend of national poll carnage. FSU's obviously the king of the hill after massacring Clemson, but every other spot appears up for grabs. With the season more than halfway over, the conference appears to be angling for two BCS bids (hopefully), adding some extra intrigue to the top four or so spots as well. As always, the poll includes all 14 current ACC members, plus future member Louisville. Feel like I'm totally right or completely off-base? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.
ACC Football Power Rankings 2013 (Week 9)
1. Florida State Seminoles (6-0) (4-0) (Last: 2): So much terror. The Seminoles undressed Clemson in a way I'm unsure any of us ACC fans saw coming, and as a result, they sit atop this subjective pile of teams for the foreseeable future. Jameis Winston has asserted himself as the ACC's best quarterback, leader and player, and is now the nationally-relevant personality the conference has needed for some time. So is FSU "back" for all intents and purposes? We've been here before, but it feels very different this time. I'd take this FSU squad over just about any other team in the country right now.
2. Clemson Tigers (6-1) (4-1) (Last: 1): Bear with me here. Yes, the Tigers were demolished. Yes, they proved their doubters correct, derailed their national title hopes and murdered Tajh Boyd's chances at winning a Heisman, too. But one surprising blowout can't just eliminate all the good that's come from this season, can it? Clemson's defense is much-improved (especially in the pass-rush) and the offense is still top-notch. When comparing them to Miami, I'd take the Tigers despite last week, and that on its own elevates them over the 'Canes for the time being.
3. Miami (FL) Hurricanes (6-0) (2-0) (Last: 3): That Thursday night game was horrendous, and yet Miami still managed to pull it out. Stephen Morris was about as flawed as you'll find him (threw four INTs) and Duke Johnson was injured early. And yet, this team was able to pull out a very late win on the shoulders of their defense and backup running back Dallas Crawford. Again, not pretty, but the fact that the 'Canes showed some resiliency against a UNC team looking to save their season is a big step in the right direction.
4. Virginia Tech Hokies (6-1) (3-0) (Last: 5): The bye week gave the Hokies some much-needed rest and the additional reward of moving up further in the national polls. Inside the top 15, Tech is now a legitimate threat to be in the BCS picture, and with just one challenging game remaining (Miami), The key, of course, will be the offense's consistency. If they can limit turnovers and score around 24 points per game, that should be enough to win with this D.


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Take Back the Night march to raise awareness of sexual violence
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Loyola press release - October 27, 2008
Loyola University New Orleans joins its neighbor Tulane University to call for an end to sexual violence in the 17th annual Take Back the Night, Wednesday, Nov. 5.
Marchers will gather in the horseshoe outside of Marquette Hall on Loyola's main campus at 5:30 p.m. to hear powerful stories from survivors of sexual violence and abuse and then proceed by a candlelight march to the Rogers Memorial Chapel on Tulane's campus for closing ceremonies and an open microphone.
Organizers say the event is designed primarily to heighten awareness of sexual violence against women and to empower survivors, but it is also a powerful healing ritual for the men and women who care about them.
Loyola and Tulane will sell raffle tickets for a chance to win gift baskets and also accept donations to benefit the Metropolitan Center for Women and Children, the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner program at University Hospital and Crescent House/The Family Justice Center. Tickets can be purchased beginning Oct. 29, at designated tables in the Danna Student Center and at the Lavin-Bernick Center on Tulane's campus. The tickets will be sold through the day of the event and at the event itself.
For the first time, organizers will offer free T-shirts to those who sign a "bystander pledge," in which they promise to not contribute to behavior that condones sexual violence.
Ilyse Goldberg of the University Counseling Center said the pledge is integral to the mission of the march.
"The task of ending sexual violence is the responsibility of the community as a whole," Goldberg said.
"This is an issue that needs a paradigm shift in the way that it is perceived. Focusing on bystander behavior is an attempt to begin that shift."
Take Back the Night is open to the entire community, including women, men, survivors and supporters. For more information, please contact Ilyse Goldberg at (504) 865-3835 or by e-mail firstname.lastname@example.com.
For the latest updates about Loyola University New Orleans, follow us on Twitter @LoyolaNOLANews or become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/loyno.
LoyNews is an e-newswire produced by the Loyola University New Orleans Office of Public Affairs. LoyNews is distributed weekly to local, regional and national news media outlets, communicating the latest news and accomplishments of the university and its community.


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All News Releases By Date
Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force Opens State Information Call Lines
Release Date: 03/28/2011
Contact Information: firstname.lastname@example.com
WASHINGTON – The Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force, which has been charged by President Obama with developing a restoration strategy for the gulf, recently announced the availability of a toll-free number for individuals who have questions or suggestions related to the mission of the task force.
Under its charge, the task force must propose a gulf coast ecosystem restoration agenda by October 5, 2011. A series of listening sessions are being held throughout the gulf coast states for community members to provide individual input that will inform the development of the restoration strategy. The goal of the listening sessions is to obtain individual input on priority issues, existing impediments and key outcomes or actions for the restoration of the gulf coast ecosystem.
Citizens from the five gulf coast states, which include Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, can call the state information call line at 1-855-427-9263 to receive additional information on task force meetings and other activities within their state.
The touch tone automated menu provides general information about task force activities and allows callers to be transferred to a task force staff member located in each state. Hours of operation are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (CST) Monday through Friday. The state information call line staff includes representatives from the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Interior, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force was established by President Obama through an executive order on October 5, 2010. It is an advisory body made up of lead officials from state representatives appointed by the president upon recommendation of the governors of the five gulf states and 11 federal agencies and White House offices
Citizens can receive automatic updates by emailing the task force at email@example.com.
More information on the task force: http://www.restorethegulf.gov/task-force
Search this collection of releases | or search all news releases
View selected historical press releases from 1970 to 1998 in the EPA History website.


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Risk Malaise Alert in Option Market: Sirius XM Holdings Inc Implied Price Swing Hits A Lowered Level
Sirius XM Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:SIRI) Risk Hits A Lowered LevelDate Published: 2018-04-10
Risk Malaise Alert -- Not How You Might Think:
Before we dive into any analysis we simply note that Sirius XM Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:SIRI) risk is actually priced pretty low by the option market as of right now. We'll detail it below -- but that's the lede -- the option market is reflecting a sort of risk malaise, for now, an IV30 of 31.9% versus the IV30 of the S&P 500 at 18.74%. The annual high for Sirius XM Holdings Inc IV30 is 47.2% -- and we're below that level. The alert here is low vol.
One thing to note beyond the risk malaise alert, which we cover in the article, is that while implied volatility may be low, the real question that needs to be answered for option sellers is not if the implied vol is low, but rather if the realized volatility that is coming in the next 30 days will be lower than the option market is pricing.
To skip ahead of this risk alert and see if buying or selling options has been a winner in Sirius XM Holdings Inc, you can go here: Getting serious about option trading.
This is a proprietary risk rating and risk alert system that looks forward for the next month -- or really 30 days to be exact -- and that includes weekends. The system is based on multiple interactions of data points, many of which come directly from the option market for Sirius XM Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:SIRI) . The creator of this model is Capital Market Laboratories (CMLviz.com).
In the "Why This Matters" section at the end of this article on Sirius XM Holdings Inc we're going to take a step back and show in great specificity that there is actually a lot less "luck" in successful option trading than many people know. The whole concept of an "option trading expert" is vastly over complicated and we'll talk about how superior returns are earned.
But first, let's turn back to SIRI and the company's risk rating:
We also take a peek at the implied vol for the Consumer Discretionary ETF (XLY), our broad based proxy for SIRI.
|Nasdaq 100 IV30
|SIRI Current IV30
|52 Week Low IV30
|52 Week High IV30
The risk as reflected by the option market has hit a lowered level relative to the company's past. The option market reflects a 95% confidence interval stock price range of ($5.80, $6.70) within the next 30 calendar days.
While the option market risk rating is on the low side, we note that companies in this situation are still susceptible to sudden stock move risk, it's simply the probability of that large stock move is depressed. Buyers of options and volatility may find these prices more attractive than at other times.
The IV30® is the risk reflected by the option market in the stock price for the next 30 calendar days -- it's forward looking. Sirius XM Holdings Inc shows an IV30 of 31.9%, which is a lowered level for the company relative to its past.
The option market for SIRI has shown an IV30 annual low of 20.4% and an annual high of 47.2%, meaning that SIRI is at the 43% percentile right now. Here's a table of the data before we dig into the risk rating further.
Current IV30
Low IV30
High IV30
The implied stock swing risk from the option market has created a range which is tighter in the next 30 calendar days for Sirius XM Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:SIRI) than it has been on average for the last year on average.
We have an unusual situation now where the IV30 is depressed relative to the past, but even with that risk pricing, the option market reflects the likelihood of a greater stock movement in the next 30-days than the stock has realized in the last 30-days. Let's turn to a chart to see what's going on.
Sirius XM Holdings Inc Risk Rating
The SIRI risk rating is at 2.5, where the rating goes from one (the lowest risk) to five (the highest risk). The driving factors for the 2.5 rating are:
↪ The IV30 is below the annual average.
↪ The HV30 is below the annual average.
↪ The HV30 is below 30%.
↪ The IV30 is above the HV30.
↪ The stock has moved +17.9% over the last 3-months which does indicate some elevated risk.


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A large sailboat that was discovered beached at Grayton last weekend has the community abuzz.
Seagrove resident Harvey Jackson saw what he believes is the same boat trying to outrun the storm that came up last weekend. When he heard there was a sailboat found beached at Grayton, he wondered if it was the same.
"I watched a sailboat, a sloop, running ahead of the storm and I was impressed with the way the sailor(s) were handling it. They had the jib down and the mainsail reefed so they could catch enough wind to stay in front of the squall but not so much sail that a gust would capsize them. I lost sight of it when the rain came ashore and wondered if they made it," he said. "When I heard of the boat washed up at Grayton I suspected it was the same boat."
Many others were also curious and the 32-foot boat became a hot topic when it was not moved as the week wore on.
Charter-boat owner Mark Thompson said he chatted with the sailboat's owner on Tuesday as he was leaving Grayton after a chartered fishing trip.
"He stopped me while I was leaving and wanted me to take him out just off shore of the boat past the sandbar so he could drop an anchor to attach a winch to and try and winch it off the beach on the fourth when the seas are forecast to be big and put some more water underneath it. It should make for some good entertainment watching him try. He said that SeaTow wanted $9,000 to pull it off the beach and he does not want to pay that," said Thompson.
"But the day it washed up there were storms with lightning and he tried to get close to shore to avoid being the only thing around for lightning to strike and his engine quit and before he could get an anchor out the waves got hold of it. He'd been better off staying at sea and taking his chances with the lightning."
Thompson did not get the owner's name. He said the boat did not appear to be damaged, but is waterlogged, though it can be pumped out.
"Even if he is able to move it, there will be huge breakers and if the tanks are breached and there are spills, he could face steep fines as it is on State Park land," he said. "Should be interesting to watch him try to move it."


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Thanks, Puddin. We're getting ready to watch it on the west coast and I always like to know what to look for. Gina
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Assessing the Case for Cable Franchise Reform
Advances in technology now make it possible for both cable firms and telecommunications companies to provide voice, data and video services to most homes and businesses. This constitutes a dramatic change from the days of cable dominance in the video market, and that of the "Baby Bells" in telephone service. What hasn't changed, however, is the franchise regime that has long limited access to the local market and thus inhibited competition. In this paper, Diane S. Katz examines the effects of this obsolete regulation on consumers and the economy, as well as the myriad benefits of reform.


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"Twinkle Twinkle Starshine" is an imaginative, bright electronica piece made up of shiny bells, happy sliding synth lead, laid back electric piano, plucked synth bass, soft ambient synth pad, windy noise sweeps and effected electronic drums. The music combines a jazzy, electronica rhythm section with the sweet playfulness of the bells and synth lead.
The piece has a soft, dry intro with an initial buildup that leads into a chorus. It would be ideal for any project looking for positive, catchy and futuristic electronic music assets that don't have a pounding dance edge but that don't quite qualify as downtempo.
Thanks for listening.


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Her supporters regard her as a whistle-blower who was willing to challenge the hardball tactics of her bosses at the Justice Department. Government officials suspect she is a turncoat who leaked documents on one of their most important investigations, the John Walker Lindh case.
Either way, Jesselyn Radack now finds herself jobless, under investigation and at the center of a debate over prosecutorial ethics. And her case has complicated the judicial nomination of a leading Justice Department official, Michael Chertoff, as Senate Democrats have pressed him for more answers about Ms. Radack.
''I'm very concerned about this Radack situation,'' Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, said today after meeting with Mr. Chertoff. ''It appears she was effectively fired for providing legal advice that the department didn't agree with.''
Justice Department officials dispute that characterization and say the debate over Ms. Radack's case is misguided.
Mr. Chertoff's nomination to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, in Philadelphia, was scheduled for a vote last week, but Mr. Kennedy forced a one-week delay because he said he was unsatisfied with Mr. Chertoff's initial answers about Ms. Radack's situation and several other Justice Department issues.Continue reading the main story
As head of the Justice Department's criminal division, Mr. Chertoff is a widely respected prosecutor whose nomination to the federal bench was expected to sail through the Senate without complications.
Mr. Chertoff is still considered likely to win overwhelming confirmation, with Mr. Kennedy saying that he would support him at a Judiciary Committee vote on his nomination on Thursday. Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah and chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said today that he supported Mr. Chertoff and ''extended the vote as a courtesy to his colleagues, who asked for more time.''
Delays on judicial nominees are not unusual. But in forcing a delay on a high-profile candidate who has largely avoided the political fray, Democrats appear willing to lay down a political marker about their broader concerns over civil rights issues and law enforcement tactics at the Justice Department well beyond Mr. Chertoff's own duties.
Ms. Radack said in an interview that she felt some vindication because Democrats had rallied to her cause. But she added: ''This whole episode has been devastating for me, both personally and professionally. It's like living a bad dream and not being able to wake up from it.''
Ms. Radack's troubles with the Justice Department began in December 2001, after Mr. Lindh, an American, was captured in Afghanistan after he had joined with the Taliban.
Ms. Radack, a Yale Law School graduate, worked in a Justice Department office, known as the Professional Responsibility Advisory Office, that advises department lawyers on ethical issues. She said she was the duty officer one day that December when a counterterrorism prosecutor contacted her for legal guidance on the possible interrogation of Mr. Lindh, and she wrote a series of memorandums over the next several days advising that she and a supervisor believed the Federal Bureau of Investigation could not legally interrogate Mr. Lindh without a defense lawyer present.
''I consulted with a senior legal adviser here at P.R.A.O. and we don't think you can have the F.B.I. agent question Walker,'' Ms. Radack wrote in a Dec. 7, 2001, e-mail message that was first published by Newsweek last year and reprinted last week by Mr. Kennedy in written questions to Mr. Chertoff. Such a pre-indictment interview of someone in custody ''is not authorized by law,'' she told John De Pue, a Justice Department prosecutor in the criminal division.
Three days later, after Ms. Radack was advised that the F.B.I. had gone ahead with the interview, Mr. De Pue wrote to her: ''Ugh. We are trying to figure out what actually transpired and what, if anything, Walker said. It may well be that the questioning was for intelligence purposes and that he was questioned as any other prisoner of war would be.''
In fact, the F.B.I. interview produced incriminating admissions from Mr. Lindh about his involvement with the Taliban, which prosecutors used to help secure a guilty plea against him in a criminal prosecution last year. The Justice Department said Mr. Lindh waived his right to talk to a lawyer, a position validated in court.
A federal judge in Virginia sentenced Mr. Lindh last October to 20 years in prison for aiding the Taliban. As part of the court proceedings, the Justice Department said that Ms. Radack's e-mail messages were among 33 given to the court under seal during the legal discovery process.
But Ms. Radack maintained in a letter to the Justice Department inspector general and in an interview that Justice Department officials had sought to ''conceal material'' from the court by failing to divulge some of her e-mail messages and had retaliated against her for writing them.
When excerpts from her internal e-mail appeared in Newsweek last year, Justice Department officials opened an investigation to determine whether she had leaked the documents. Ms. Radack maintains that she was pressured to leave the Justice Department. She further asserts that Hawkins, Delafield & Wood, the New York-based law firm that hired her, put her on leave last October because she had refused to cooperate with the Justice Department investigation. She said she would not tell the firm whether she had leaked the e-mail messages, invoking her status under the Whistle-blower Protection Act of 1989.
The Government Accountability Project, a nonprofit group that defends whistle-blowers, has given Ms. Radack assistance. Doug Harnett, a lawyer with the group, said: ''She more than reasonably believed that what she witnessed was an attempt to suppress legitimate debate about the legal issues involved in the John Walker Lindh case. She had a duty to do something about it.''
But some of Ms. Radack's detractors say they believe her first duty was to the Justice Department. Whistle-blower protection laws ''do not authorize lawyers to throw the attorney-client privilege in the trash can and go have something published,'' a lawyer involved in the case said.
In addition to the investigation into the leaked e-mail, a second review is under way. A senior Justice Department official said today that Ms. Radack's accusations regarding the possible concealment of documents and retaliation against her were recently referred to the department's Office of Professional Responsibility for an investigation.
At his confirmation hearing, Mr. Chertoff defended the Justice Department's right to interrogate Mr. Lindh without a lawyer, even though his family in California had retained one to represent him. Mr. Chertoff said Supreme Court case law showed that prosecutors were not bound by what family members did in such a situation if the target of an investigation waived his Miranda rights.
If prosecutors had let the family's lawyer meet with the prisoner, Mr. Chertoff added, ''in practical terms, it would have meant there could be no questioning of Lindh since it was obviously not the case that a lawyer was going to be flown into the battlefield in Afghanistan.''
Mr. Chertoff said he had no knowledge at the time of the e-mail dialogue between Ms. Radack and the prosecutor in his division.
But Mr. Kennedy said he was bothered by Mr. Chertoff's lack of active involvement on the Radack case as well as in two other cases involving Justice Department policy.Continue reading the main story


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Congressional Favorability Ratings
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Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Voters like the top Congressional leaders a little more this month—or rather, they dislike them a little less.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi remains the least-liked congressional leader, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Thirty-three percent (33%) of Likely U.S. Voters hold at least a somewhat favorable view of the former House speaker. Fifty-six percent (56%) see her at least somewhat unfavorably, but that's down from 63% last month. These findings include 13% with a Very Favorable opinion and 44% with a Very Unfavorable one. Eleven percent (11%) do not know enough about Pelosi to offer an opinion. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters nationwide was conducted on June 7-8, 2012 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
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When it comes to confronting economic slowdowns, the Chinese government has not been shy about making bold moves. Faced with the contagion of global recession four years ago, policy makers created a $585 billion stimulus package that helped inoculate the nation against the economic malaise still sapping the United States and Europe.
But today, even as China's vaunted export manufacturing juggernaut loses force and the Shanghai stock market remains in a slump, the Communist Party appears so distracted by its politically tangled leadership transition that it is unwilling or unable to pursue the more ambitious agenda that many economists say is necessary to head off a far more serious crisis in the future.
Although the departing government has tried in recent months to address decelerating growth by easing bank loan restrictions, increasing pensions and offering tax breaks to small businesses, a lack of consensus among the top stewards of the economy has stymied a more muscular response, insiders say. Similarly, many analysts question whether the incoming leadership has the political will to overcome the resistance of the so-called princelings and other well-connected families that have prospered under the current system.
China's standard economic formula, they say, is losing its potency: overzealous government investment and lagging consumer spending are creating serious imbalances that are expected to lead to a much more painful reckoning, perhaps not long after the new raft of younger leaders assumes power in early 2013.
"There are tough choices to make, but the central government appears to be so paralyzed they are just sitting on their hands," said Ho-Fung Hung, a political economist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. "The situation is looking increasingly dire."
The economic data is indeed glum. Direct foreign investmenthas fallen for 9 months out of the past 10, and industrial output is rising at the slowest rate in three years. Last week, Frederick W. Smith, the chief executive of FedEx, the global airfreight titan, warned of more trouble to come, saying that China's faltering exports pointed to a weakening global economy in the coming year.
Since the death of Deng Xiaoping, the wily leader who steamrollered his conservative opponents to introduce market reforms in the 1980s and '90s, China's political system has increasingly operated through consensus. The horse-trading, involving a dozen or so men who negotiate in secrecy, has dimmed the prospect of significant political or economic change.
"The slogans are loud and the plans are grand, but when it comes to implementation, the constraints are many," said Zhao Xijun, an economics professor at Renmin University in Beijing.
Prime Minister Wen Jiabao is a vocal advocate of what many experts see as the kind of change China needs: breaking up state-owned monopolies, encouraging more consumer spending and reducing reliance on investment in real estate and heavy industry. But he has already been rendered something of a lame duck because of his planned retirement in March. He lacks the political capital to undertake a more ambitious overhaul of the economy, particularly anything that would undercut the favored position of state monopolies, analysts say.
"Wen is a spent force," said a person with close contacts in the upper levels of the Chinese government.
To be sure, China's developing economy enjoys many advantages over those of most other major industrial nations, with growth still robust enough to prevent unemployment from rising significantly. But unrest is increasing, as riots at a big electronics factory on Sunday demonstrated, and there is so much uncertainty surrounding economic policy and the leadership hand-over that few are willing to hazard a prediction about the future.
"The system is so opaque and the new guys are such unknown entities that no one really knows what to expect," said Alistair Thornton, senior China economist at IHS Global Insight.
Supporters of Xi Jinping, the man expected to be China's next president, and Li Keqiang, who is all but certain to replace Mr. Wen as prime minister, have been quietly putting out the word that the new team plans to introduce a more far-reaching agenda once the incoming leaders are secure in their new posts. Some even argue that the worse things get, the better chance the new leaders will have to deal with China's biggest challenges.
"When the bubble bursts, there will be an initial period of pain," Li Zuojun, a prominent government economist, said in a recent speech, "but it would be good news for the new leadership because it would be clear who is to blame — their predecessors. The new leadership can start over on solid ground."
But so far, Mr. Xi has offered almost no clues as to where he stands on overhauling the economy, while Mr. Li's track record during his time as a provincial governor and party secretary suggests he is more of a risk-averse technocrat than a reformer.
For the moment, the world's second-largest economy is drifting, as exports to Europe and the United States wane. Some economists even suspect that the official figure of an annual rate of growth of 7.6 percent in the second quarter is overstated; indicators like electricity generation are rising much more slowly. Moreover, part of the growth led only to producing stocks of unsold appliances, toys and coal that are piling up at warehouses and ports.
Still, Beijing has largely held back from the kind of prodigious investment in housing and public works that propped up the flagging Chinese economy during the global downturn. In an editorial published this month, People's Daily, the party's influential mouthpiece, conveyed the official view, saying the central government should resist the temptation to spend its way out of the slowdown.
In a speech this month at a World Economic Forum session in Tianjin, Mr. Wen agreed that the government was holding its fire, but said that it would step in forcefully if necessary. Beijing has a budget surplus of $158 billion, with $16 billion more in a reserve fund, he noted.
"We will use that money at a right moment for pre-emptive policy and fine-tuning to propel stable economic growth," Mr. Wen said.
Local governments, alarmed by a slowdown they fear could lead to mass unemployment and the kind of sluggish growth that can dent political careers, have decided to take matters into their own hands. In recent months, a number of cities have proposed extravagant infrastructure projects they hope will be financed in part by newly liberalized bank loan policies.
Tianjin claims $236 billion will be spent in the petrochemical, aerospace and other industries. Xi'an, home of the famed terra cotta warriors, plans to invest tens of billions of dollars on nine new subway lines. In Guizhou, one of China's poorest provinces, officials said they hoped to funnel a whopping $472 billion into tourism-related development.
In Changsha, the provincial capital of Hunan, officials brag of 12.9 percent growth as they spend billions of dollars on a new subway system, a ring road, an intercity rail line and a pair of bridges to knit together its transportation system.
"We haven't felt any impact from the crisis in Europe," said Liu Maosong, chairman of the Hunan Economics Association and an adviser to the Changsha government. "Our guiding philosophy is 'investment, investment, investment.' "
Even if many such projects turn out to be wishful thinking, economists have expressed alarm that municipalities are still chasing debt-financed growth. "It almost scares me to death," said Mao Yushi, a prominent economist. "Local governments are using the people's money for investment, but when they can't repay the banks, the financial system will snap."
And Liao Jinzhong, an economist at Hunan University, worries that much of the spending is misplaced. "What we really could use is a functioning sewage system," he said, speaking from his sixth-floor apartment in a crumbling faculty building that has no elevator.
Mr. Liao said he gave frequent lectures at the local party school about the dangerous fixation on propping up growth figures at all costs. He said officials often congratulated him on his frank views.
"But then they admit they can't change the way they do things," he said. "Given that the whole system is oriented toward bolstering the careers of officialdom, I just don't see things changing any time soon."
Keith Bradsher contributed reporting from Beijing and Hong Kong. Patrick Zuo contributed research from Beijing


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Zen in Zobha
What does "Mad Men" star January Jones wear when she's not on the red carpet or rocking Mod-style fashions on her hit television show? The new mom - undoubtedly in need of comfortable clothing - has flocked to Zobha, an activewear line founded in 2008 that is sold at Neiman Marcus. She's not alone. Baltimore-native Stacy Keibler has also been spotted in the brand. Find this Zobha tunic for $98 at Neiman Marcus and at zobha.com.
The Baltimore Sun
Copyright © 2018, Chicago Tribune


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Home > Academics > Academic Units > Departments > Civil Engineering
The Civil Engineering department is one of the oldest Departments in the Institute with its beginning in 1951. The department has been involved in areas of Soil Mechanics, Transportation Engineering, Hydraulics and Structures and Environmental engineering. Sponsored and consultancy projects undertaken by the department include Disaster Mitigation & Management, Analysis, Evaluation and Design of Highway and Airport pavements, Non-destructive Evaluation and Restoration of various structures such as building and bridges, Process Modifications for pollution mitigation, Ground Improvement and Sediment Transport and Scour studies.??
Prof. Kusam Sudhakar Reddy
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Ours is a country of animal lovers. It's not just Fido curled up at our feet we feel for, but as a society, we believe that all animals — including those raised for food — deserve humane treatment. Statistics prove the point — a poll by the American Farm Bureau found that 95 percent of Americans believe farm animals should be well cared for.
Those of us in Connecticut are no different in this regard. The Provision State has strong animal cruelty laws such as our anti-dog-fighting law. And now, we have the chance to pass legislation that would further align our animal welfare laws with our values.
The Connecticut General Assembly is considering a bill that would ban the use of small crates that are used in the pork industry to cage breeding pigs during their pregnancies.
Pigs in gestation crates suffer among the worst conditions in all of industrial agribusiness because of the duration and severity of their confinement. They spend their lives virtually immobilized in crates barely larger than their bodies, enduring a cycle of repeated impregnation. The crates are about two feet wide — so small the animals can't even turn around or take more than a step forward or backward.
This immobilization causes them to suffer muscle and bone weakness that often leads to lameness. The harm goes beyond physical ailments and injuries. The American Veterinary Medical Association recommends that housing should be designed to "allow sows to express normal patterns of behavior," while noting that "stall systems restrict normal behavioral expression." Since these intelligent, inquisitive animals are denied any mental stimulation, many become neurotic when confined in gestation crates. They engage in repetitive coping behaviors, such as constantly biting the bars in front of them.
Gestation crates are so inhumane that nine U.S. states, including Maine and Rhode Island, have passed laws to ban them. New Jersey could soon become the 10th state, while Massachusetts, New York and Vermont are considering similar laws. The European Union has also passed legislation to outlaw gestation crates.
A statewide survey conducted recently by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research finds that an overwhelming majority of Connecticut voters favor legislation to require that breeding pigs have enough space to stand up, lie down, turn around and fully extend their limbs. Large majorities in all demographic groups and party affiliations support such legislation — 91 percent of voters overall.
Smithfield Foods, the nation's largest pork producer, and Hormel Foods, maker of SPAM, have already announced that they will end the confinement of sows in gestation crates in their company-owned facilities. Additionally, major corporations such as McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's and more than 40 others have recently announced that they will end gestation crate use in their supply chains.
These welcome developments signal a reversal in a three-decade-old trend in the pork industry to use extreme confinement as a shortcut for old-fashioned animal husbandry. Meanwhile, many traditional family farmers have avoided using gestation crates all along.
The measure before the legislature would ensure that pigs can turn around, lie down, stand up and fully extend their limbs. Free range or group housing systems allow this degree of motion, and it makes a big difference for the animals.
This bill would be a win for both animals and Connecticut's farmers as it promotes best practices and prevents large-scale factory farms from coming to Connecticut and putting our local farmers out of business as has happened elsewhere.
Our values and common sense tell us that farm animals should be able to at least have enough space to turn around, and by codifying this into law, Connecticut will demonstrate its strength in leadership by outlawing gestation crates.
Annie Hornish is the Connecticut state director for The Humane Society of the United States.


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[Welcome to a new regular FD feature called "Pardon Me", wherein I...well...you'll see.]
Cibulkova d. Wozniacki, 63 63, Sydney Rd 1.
Q. What did you think of today?
CW: Well, it's always -- at the start of the new season you always need to get into the match play. I didn't feel that I was playing great tennis out there. So definitely now I just need to get some sets going and some training matches, head to Melbourne and get ready for Melbourne. You know, last year I had the same start, so hopefully slow start, good finish.
[But...if you wanted match play, why the exos? Oh, yeah, money. Right. Well I hope it was worth it. "Slow start, good finish." Did you read that on a wine bottle?]
Q. Does it knock your confidence around at all, a loss like this?
CW: No, I mean it happens. Sometimes you win; sometimes you lose. You need to learn from the losses. Again, it's the first tournament of the year. I just want to get the match playing going. You know, there were a few positive things in there that I can take out of it, and then I just need to work on the rest. But I'm confident that for Melbourne I'll be okay.
[Ah, the "shit happens" explanation. Insightful. But again, if you knew you wanted match play before the Open (and all signs point to you being a player that plays better with matches under her belt) why the exos? Why not play Brisbane and have Sydney on back-up? Oh yeah, money. Ok.]
Q. What were the positives?
CW: Well there were different things, like in some situations where I pulled it off pretty good. But, you know, there are a lot of things I need to talk to my dad and my coach about, and also I just need to get some points going and get to play some matches against some of the other girls. That's what I'm going to do now.
[VAGUE MUCH??? "There were positives!" "What were the positives?" "You know, the things I did well!" "Which were?" "The positives!" "RIGHT-O!"]
Q. You said the other day you were comfortable with the new racquet. Is there anything that you're struggling with to make that adjustment?
CW: No, I mean, it's a very good racquet. There is nothing with the racquet, so...
[You're goddamned right there's nothing with the racquet. You sure they didn't just paint Ana's old blue one and hand you a stack? Cuz that piece of shit was a piece of shit.]
You know, last year I had the same start. You know, I'm going into Melbourne and having my head high. I'm playing good; I'm playing well. Just need to get that going in the matches.
[Oh, you're playing good? You're playing well? ZOK. And what is this metric based on? The "practice match" that you lost in Hong Kong 0 and 1? The real match yesterday, which you lost 3 and 3 and didn't play well? Oh, and by the way, you lost first round here last year, were seeded fourth at the Open, and lost in the round of 16 in straight sets to Nails. I don't think looking to last year's result as proof that you have nothing to worry about is really the way to go here, Crazy.
Also, I saw three of your practice sessions. You're a fucking liar. You weren't hitting the ball well at all.]
Q. The way she was able to attack your second serve, was that worrying at all?
CW. No, I mean, you know -- no.
Prove me wrong, Caro. Dare you to prove me wrong. But there is absolutely no one out there that has confidence in what you're bringing to the Open next week. Your dad was screaming his head off at you during your post-match hit. Everyone is FREAKING THE SHIT OUT.
Well, everyone except the other 127 ladies in the draw. And a chick boredly painting her nails in Los Angeles. She's got that Cheshire Cat grin goin', I'm sure.
(Transcript: ASAP Sports)


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I was wrong. I wanted it to be fairly comprehensive, and quickly realized there was far too much material for that. So instead of a comprehensive run-down of every Linux game I hope only to give Linux gamers a few more options to feed their addiction.
Linux may still be the red-headed step child when it comes to major game developers, but the thriving indie game climate, along with new ways to get non-native games, has made 2011 a great year to be a Linux gamer.
The Three Doors of Linux Gaming
As a Linux gamer you're essentially faced with three different ways of playing games on your OS of choice. Door number one holds native games: those that were built to run on Linux initially or ported to Linux by the developer. Door number two has compatibility layers: things like WINE that allow you to run non-native games on Linux, sometimes with a little bit of tweaking. Door number three is the online door, which includes browser based games as well as "streaming" game services like Onlive.
Door Number One: Native Games
One of the biggest developments in native games for Linux in the last couple of years isn't actually a game, but a way to market them: The Humble Bundle.
Ryan C. Gordon, of icculus.org, pointed out that "These guys are making massive waves, pulling in big money and demanding Linux support...and the Linux users are responding by throwing money at it. In their short time, they've done more to support Linux gaming than all of the other Linux game companies, ever, combined. They're also showing, time after time, that there is a definite market for Linux games."
Saying they've done more than any other company is a big claim, but one that is backed up by the numbers. In most of the bundles the Linux gamers have provided about a quarter of the total money collected, even though they were outnumbered by Windows and Mac gamers. This is because they have consistently given more than their counterparts in terms of donations, in some cases almost twice as much as Windows gamers. Take the current promotion, the Voxatron Debut, which will run through the 12th of November. As of the 9th Linux gamers are donating, on average. $8.08. Compare that with Mac ($6.38) and Windows ($4.62) and it's clear that Linux Gamers have no qualms about opening their wallets in support of games, when the conditions are right.
The conditions are important, though. I spoke with Jonathan Blow, the developer behind Braid. Braid is available on a plethora of platforms, including Xbox 360, PS3, Mac, Windows and Linux (Linux being the last platform to receive the game, as part of the second Humble Bundle). During the sale of Humble Indie Bundle 2 Linux and Mac users made up about 50% of all sales, and assuming Linux users made up about half of that (which has been the trend) that means that almost 60 000 Linux gamers purchased the bundle. That's a fair number, but since then Blow said that Linux sales have made up "very close to 0%" of direct downloads.
There are multiple explanation for that, of course. It's very possible that most people who might have purchased Braid on Linux got it on a different platform, and then the remainder bought it with the bundle when it came out, leaving very few to purchase it after the bundle. Still, as with any endeavor, marketing appears to be a key ingredient in a successful Linux game launch. Luckily developers have more ways to market their games now.
Liam Dawe (of gamingonlinux.com) pointed out that gamers who are new to Linux should check out "services like Desura, Gameolith and Indievania ... That and keep an eye on the various news sites." Not only do these sites provide a great way for linux gamers to keep tabs on what's available, but they're invaluable for an indie developer who is trying to market their game.
I decided to give the Desura Client a try and was impressed. After installing it on a fairly vanilla Ubuntu set-up (using a supplied script as the installer, not a repository) I set up an account and started browsing. Downloading new games to try was a cinch and the community looked quite active. This is especially useful when you run into problems (several comments on games included information for user's of 64 bit version of Linux, detailing how to get the games working correctly).
Most game markets like Desura are fairly similar to the biggest name: Valve's Steam. Though Steam on Linux rumors have swirled since time immemorial, it has yet to make an appearance. In fact, the only official word from Valve is that they're currently not developing a Steam client for Linux. Steam might come to Linux at some point, but it doesn't look like 2011 will be that year. As someone who has used Steam as well as the options listed above, though, I highly recommend giving them a try. You will be pleasantly surprised.
Steam notwithstanding, the various markets currently available are fairly easy to deal with, and a great resource for gamers and developers alike. While writing this article I also found that people who run Linux gaming blogs (like Dawe) are generally pretty easy to get a hold of, and very passionate about gaming. Throwing a few Linux blogs in your RSS reader is a great way to keep up on the latest in Linux gaming, and contacting the owner's of the blogs is a great way for developers to get the word out about their games.
In short: indie games are thriving on Linux. The Humble Bundles have not only helped publicize the games, but have also helped prove that there is an untapped market for games on Linux, and that Linux users have no problem paying to support the developers who support them. But there is still one area where gaming on Linux lacks. As Dawe pointed out: "The biggest obstacle for Linux gamers is still a lack of so called AAA games, not being able to just pick up big name games and play them." In the next two sections we'll talk about different ways to play a AAA title on Linux.
Door Number Two: Compatibility Layers
For many end users, the Operating System is less important than the applications you want to run. Macs became popular with the media crowd not because they looked fancy and were expensive (and let's be honest, they haven't always looked fancy) but because the software media people wanted could be found on the Mac.
But some people DO care about which OS they're using, and, because applications aren't always available on the platform you want, an industry has sprung up allowing people to run applications on platforms other than the originally intended one. On Linux the main program to do this is Wine.
The problem is that it's not perfect. Although many games run perfectly with little or no configuration (you can find a list at the AppDB), many games don't run at and it usually takes some time for a new game to work correctly with Wine.
Several companies have sprung up due to the success of Wine, such as Play On Linux and Codeweavers Crossover Games. These are built on Wine, but further optimized specifically for gaming (including the tweaks you may have to do by hand to get certain games running) and with paid support options available. There are even some very specific communities built around compatibility layers such as Steam Games on Linux, built around the goal of getting steam and steam supplied games up and running. But these still are based off of Wine and suffer similar problems: delays for some games, other games will never work, and there's a chance you'll take a performance hit.
Any engineer worth his salt know that the simpler the system the better. As Gordon said: "the best game experience will always be the native game." The problem is that many games will never be ported because "you need skilled developers, and you need at least enough cooperation from the original developer to hand off the source code." Since few major publishers would be willing to do so (a notable exception being id Software, where games are often ported by developers inside the company), Wine and other compatibility layers or emulators are necessary.
But there is one last option that may help get more AAA titles to Linux, albeit an option with a number of significant hurdles.
Door Number Three: Online and Streaming Options
For those, the recent emergence of game streaming services may hold promise. The biggest example of this is Onlive. If you haven't heard of Onlive, think of it as VNC for gaming. Instead of running games on your computer, they are run on Onlive's server farm, and the video and audio is streamed to your computer, with your input being sent back. There are several hurdles, though.
First, there's the small fact that no official client exists yet, though one is rumored to be in development. It's just that, though, a rumor--Onlive hasn't said yay or nay to Linux support officially. If you're feeling particularly adventurous you can combine doors number two and three and run Onlive through Wine, but it's still very much experimental.
The elephant in the room, though, is network speed. Or as Dawe put it: "Streaming services could be extremely useful and popular but they have a massive drawback - net connections. I know plenty of people in the UK who can't even get 1MB Internet..."
If you have a high-speed connection Onlive could be just the tool you need to bring AAA titles to your Linux machine. But until high speed Internet is ubiquitous Onlive faces an uphill battle.
The Picture for Gamers
If you're new to Linux or gaming (or both) now is a great time to get into it. Indie studios are making Linux support a priority, and are producing some amazing games. Not only that, but Wine allows you to run a number of Windows-only games with little or no configuration. If you're looking for AAA titles the day they're released, though, you're still pretty much out of luck.
Not only is the software doing well, but graphics chip makers are paying more attention to Linux. When I asked Gordon a trend he found heartening in Linux Gaming he specifically mentioned driver support as both a positive AND a negative, pointing out that:
It used to be: get an Nvidia card and install the closed-source drivers for it, and everything works pretty well. Now there are several open source options (including for some Nvidia GPUs) making modern hardware work with modern games.
This is an awesome step forward.
But, as this is all work in progress (and, as new hardware ships, a moving target), it can certainly feel like a terrible step back."
Gordon also had a few tips for someone who is just now getting in to gaming on Linux:
If you don't have moral objections to closed-source drivers: get an Nvidia GPU. The drivers are very mature, so it's one less thing to worry about. That being said, I can't believe how far the open source Intel and ATI drivers have come in the past year or so.
On the software side I can't help but echo Dawe's advice that users find a market they like, as well as a few blogs to follow. After using Desura to research for this article I know I'll be coming back to it, along with some of the blogs I've found.
The Picture for Developers
When I asked Blow if he had advice for developers he gave me a definite answer:
Seeing as how his game wound up on a multitude of platforms I can't help but agree. When the game is created just focus on making the best game you can. That said, you definitely don't want to make any moves that would make it harder to port your game. As Gordon let me know when asked the same question:
Don't use middleware that doesn't come with source code, even if it works on all the platforms you care about today.
Use good open source libraries when you can: SDL, OpenAL, OpenGL, PhysicsFS, sqlite, ManyMouse, etc. You'd be surprised how far this goes to make your game Just Work on completely new platforms.
Don't sign up with a publisher at all. They'll only make your life miserable and eat your profits. You can handle your own marketing better than they will, and Steam/Apple/Google/whatever will handle distribution and updates. It'll make your life easier, and it'll save you a ton of money.
Most importantly, don't forget about Linux. Though the number of gamers may be less than other platforms, the humble bundle has made it clear that, if they think your project is worthy of support, they will give back more than any other community.
Thanks to Jonathan Blow, Liam Dawe and Ryan C. Gordon for their generous donations of time and knowledge.


text:
MediaWiki talk:Talkpagetext
Quite a few newbies are missing the reminder at the top of the talk pages. My suggestion:
|This is a talk page, so please add four tildes
~~~~ to the end of your comments to include your signature. (Or use the signature button at the top of the page.) Thanks!
Shall we pass this? Davidy22(talk) 02:51, 13 November 2012 (UTC)
- I think it's a losing battle. It happens all the time on Wikipedia. I don't think if they can't get it under control, that we could do much better. But that's the defeatist in me. lcarsos (talk) 03:18, 13 November 2012 (UTC)
- What about if we did something like
|Sign your posts! ~~~~
- A little rewording:
|Sign your posts with ~~~~
- I'm all for the notice, but partial to politeness in a volunteer setting.
|Please sign your posts with ~~~~
- SineBot of Wikipedia doesn't have available source, but there's a mediawiki extension called abusefilter that I see other wikis using to warn people when they make an unsigned talk post. Also, IronyChef's version of the talk page message looks good enough to me. Vote. Davidy22(talk) 08:42, 14 November 2012 (UTC)
Update: I just set this up so it doesn't show for admins. It can happen that a admin will occasionally forget to sign, but that shouldn't happen as frequently as to require the reminder. --Waldir (talk) 03:38, 22 November 2012 (UTC)


text:
- Inside Athletics
- Tickets
- Fan Zone
- Media Zone
- Social
- Shop
- Donate Now
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Nov. 10, 2005) - With senior guard Tim Smith (Newport News, Va.) sitting out a one-game suspension for violation of team rules, five ETSU players picked up the slack by scoring in double figures and leading the Buccaneers to a 99-71 win over Mars Hill Thursday night in exhibition basketball action at Memorial Center.
Freshman guard Courtney Pigram (
"I think we've got some good offensive firepower and that showed out there tonight," said ETSU head coach Murry Bartow. "We still have some work to do defensively, but overall I saw a lot of encouraging things."
With freshman guard Tayloe Taylor (
In the second half, ETSU stayed hot on the offensive end of the floor, outscoring Mars Hill 53-37 for the final 99-71 advantage.
Along with Pigram, Thomas and Sneed, senior guard Ben Rhoda (
The Lions were led offensively by Walt Baxley with 14 points, while Mark Hamilton collected a double-double with 15 rebounds and 10 points.
ETSU will return to action in their regular season opener Friday evening, Nov. 18 at


text:
stops a StopWatch
subroutine stop_watch (watch, clock, err)
Stops the specified clocks of the specified watches.
One or more watches must be specified. The argument watch can be a single variable of type watchtype (see stopwatch(3)) to stop one watch, an array of type watchtype to stop several watches, or a variable of type watchgroup (see stopwatch(3)) to stop the watches in a group.
The optional argument clock specifies which clocks to stop on the specified watch(es). If omitted, the current default clocks (see option_stopwatch(3)) are stopped. If present, clock must be a character string containing 'cpu', 'user', 'sys', or 'wall', or an array of such character strings.
If present, the optional intent OUT integer argument err returns a status code. The code is the sum of the values listed below.
An error message will be printed to a specified I/O unit (unit 6 by default) if print_errors is TRUE (default is TRUE). The error message contains more detail about the cause of the error than can be obtained from just the status code, so you should set print_errors to TRUE if you have trouble determining the cause of the error.
If abort_errors is TRUE (default is FALSE), the program will terminate on an error condition. Otherwise, the program will continue execution but the watch(es) will not be stopped.
See option_stopwatch(3) for further information on print_errors, abort_errors and I/O units.
The relevant status codes and messages are:
In addition to the run time diagnostics generated by StopWatch
, the following
problem may arise:
type (watchtype) w1, w2(3)
type (watchgroup) g1
integer errcode
call stop_watch(w1)
call stop_watch(w2, err=errcode)
call stop_watch(g1, (/'cpu ', 'wall'/), errcode)
The first call stops the default clocks on a single watch. The second call stops the default clocks on three watches given as an array and returns a status code. The third call stops the cpu and wall clocks on the watches in the group g1, and returns a status code.
It cannot be determined whether or not a watch variable or watch group has been created (passed as an argument to create_watch or create_watchgroup). If a watch or watch group that has never been created is passed into stop_watch, it might generate a Fortran error due to passing a pointer with undefined association status to the Fortran intrinsic function associated. Some compilers will allow this as an extension to the Fortran 90 standard and recognize that the pointer is not associated, in which case the ``Watch needs to be created'' error message is generated.


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Top Reasons to Stay at Avanti Resort
- Recently renovated in full, Avanti Resort is contemporary, family-friendly, and only minutes from Orlando's theme parks.
- The hotel's complimentary shuttle offers drop-off and pickup service for top attractions including Universal Studios and SeaWorld Orlando. Reservations are required 24 hours in advance.
- At the heart of the resort is a sprawling outdoor pool complex surrounded by golden-sand complete with lounge chairs and a beach volleyball area.
- Right near the pool is an arcade with video games, air hockey, and more.
- Each superior guest room features a flat-screen TV equipped with cable and an SD slot so you can browse your vacation photos on a big screen. Premium executive king suites feature separate living areas.
- Fuel up with Starbucks coffee in the lobby.
Orlando, Florida: World-Famous Theme Parks and Cultural Surprises
Located in the center of Florida, Orlando may be forever associated with the Walt Disney World® Theme Parks, which now are part of the world's most-visited entertainment resort. It spans roughly 30,000 acres, encompassing four theme parks, two water parks, five golf courses, and the Downtown Disney® Marketplace. There's no shortage of things to do here: begin your day by boarding a rocket-shaped three-seater that climbs to 180 feet before entering a deep black tunnel and racing past stars, satellites, and constellations. Walk across the park to sample Moroccan cuisine for lunch, or ride a dune buggy through a haunted 18th-century mansion. Before heading back to the hotel, take in the nightly fireworks, laser, and water show. As one of the most popular family destinations in the world, sunny Orlando is home to other theme parks including Universal Studios, SeaWorld, and Gatorland.
Those hoping to shake up the typical theme-park-dominated itinerary can head into downtown Orlando's vibrant arts district. The neighborhood boasts venues such as CityArts Factory, a multifaceted patchwork of gallery spaces, and SAK Comedy Lab, which hosts family-friendly improv shows five nights a week.
About a 10-minute drive north, you'll find eight cultural institutions at Loch Haven Park, including the Orlando Museum of Art, which houses pieces by Georgia O'Keeffe, Robert Rauschenberg, Ansel Adams, and Andy Warhol. The park is also home to the Orlando Shakespeare Theater, the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Orlando Science Center. Visit the science center to take a rover across a simulation of Mars's red surface, or race on a 70-foot pinewood derby track.


text:
Volume 17 Issue 14 | August 27 - September 02, 2004
A Downtown Express special supplement
The New Year really begins in September
By Wickham Boyle
The real New Year is September. Just ask anyone who has attended school for the first 20 odd years of their life. January is a weak sister. There is nothing but that damn ball and a hang over as you get older. Especially here in New York, where even non-Jewish citizens celebrate a school holiday on Rosh Hashana, the real deal for the New Year is September.
Look at the facts: The weather changes dramatically as if a switch was pulled, the light adjusts, and we do a radical down shift into work and school mode. It is indefensible to not return phone calls after Labor Day, the lackadaisical work habits and excuses of summer vanish; it is knuckle down, back to real work.
My son says that even the commercials conspire to make kids know their leisure time is drawing to a precipitous end. Ads feature overjoyed parents trundling children to shop for mundane items like paper, staplers or print cartridges; the parents are gleeful, the kids miserable. Even the little tikes, who still adore school, as it gives them a sense of being a big kid, still miss summer. Everyone loves the warm air, the tee shirt and shorts, bare feet, summer food and laissez faire attitudes.
But summer ends, it always does, and we skip, trudge or soldier back to our regular routines. School is the thing most of us have done longest and most consistently. September comes and we get up at a prescribed time five mornings a week. As well, we usually have a regular bedtime. Our kids eat lunch in the cafeteria everyday at the same time, even if that is 10:30 because the school is too too crowded. But they do it; we did it; and as a result we learned to be creatures of habit. Kids cannot change this stuff, they can argue and gripe, but in the end it is up and out, rain, snow sleet or sniffles. And so we learn to march to the beat of the fall drum.
Crisp air and shorter days mean back to school and that means more of a routine for all people but most especially families. No more supper at nine because, after all, it just got dark; it is back to dinnertime, homework, maybe music practice, a little TV, then bath and bed. WHEW!! I am exhausted just pondering all of that.
And yet somehow, when it is all upon us, there is a sweetness to the early dark, the cool nights, the sweaters that layer into coats and the meals that morph from cold pasta to hearty sauces, from salads to roasts and it seems to happen as effortlessly as the extra fur our animals grow even though they only brave the windowsills or sidewalks. We adjust to all that is thrown our way.
So when you watch the kids march back to school Downtown, whether you have one or two in tow or observe from the sidelines, take a moment to reflect on your own ability to change, to adapt, to change colors like the foliage. Sometimes we need seasons to make us see how infinitely flexible we are, even if we are creatures of habit.
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Written permission of the publisher must be obtainedbefore any of the contents of this newspaper, in whole or in part, can be reproduced or redistributed.


text:
A Gathering of Eagles: Ask the Experts Special Edition
Valve Questions: Why Do the Two Valves Not Open and Close at the Same Rate? Why Does the Heating Valve Close Too Soon as Compared to the Cooling Valve?
Béla Lipták, Greg McMillan, Greg Shinskey and Harold Wade bring two centuries of process control experience to the knotty question of tuning cascade loops. They had too much good information to fit in just two pages, so we gave them more space. To participate in Ask the Experts, email email@example.com.
Q: I am working on the temperature control of a batch reactor. In this cascade control system, we have a cold and a hot supply control valve, both of which are manipulated by one master PID temperature controller.
The control system used is DeltaV. Initially, I was using a control configuration where the PD portion of the PID function block was acting on the temperature error, but it did not work well when the loads were high. It worked fine only for smaller heating or cooling cycles.
I was using the following tuning values: Proportional gain: 70; Derivative time: 300.
I tried playing with the above values, but that did not help.
Why do the two valves not open and close at the same rate? Why does the heating valve close too soon as compared to the cooling valve?
Also, is there a way that I can remove the offset, if I let the "PD action act on the error" and not use integral action at all? I guess this can be done with the bias term. How do I calculate the appropriate bias term to remove the offset?
Pallavi Luktuke
A: From your description, it appears that you do not have a cascade loop to start with. In addition, the gain of the controller could not have been 70, but probably 0.7 (70% proportional band), and the unit of your derivative setting of 300 is probably in seconds. A gain of 70 on a chemical reactor is next to impossible, but a derivative setting, which makes the controller project into the future by 5 minutes, is reasonable.
You should remember that the proportional (P) correction is a response to the present value of the error; integral (I) corrects for the accumulated error of the past; and the derivative (D) mode anticipates and attempts to eliminate future errors. Therefore, the cascade master must have all three modes (PID). The job of the cascade slave controller is to serve the master, in this case to keep the jacket outlet temperature at the value dictated by the master.
If your process is self-regulating in the steady state, you can tune it to overcome upsets caused by load changes by obtaining a "process reaction curve" (a curve which shows the reactor temperature response to a step change in the jacket temperature). This is done by first placing the master in manual and changing the setpoint of the slave controller. The response curve to such a step change in heat transfer will be unchanged for a while (dead time) and after the dead time, it will start changing at an increasing rate until it reaches a maximum rate at the inflection point of the curve (reaction rate). Find the PID settings by following Chapter 2.35 in my Instrument Engineer's Handbook.
You did not describe the type of reactor you have. Most continuous reactors are self-regulating (stable), while some exothermic batch reactors can be unstable in the steady state. If your reactor is a continuous exothermic one, you are dealing with a variable-gain process, because the process gain (Gp) drops as the load increases, due to the drop in the heat-transfer efficiency, as a larger amount of heat has to be transferred across the constant heat-transfer area of the reactor jacket. This non-linearity is easy to compensate for. Simply tune the cascade master controller for a gain (Gc) that equals a constant time (0.5 x Gp x Gv), where Gp is the process gain, and Gv is the control valve gain. If the goal of damping is quarter-amplitude damping, use 0.5 as the constant. If you use an equal-percentage control valve (gain rises with load), and if the load rises and therefore the process gain (Gp) drops, then the gain of the control valve (Gv) rises, and, therefore, the gain product (Gp)(Gv) remains relatively constant. Hence, the reactor control will be stable.
If your reactor is an exothermic batch reactor, it can be unstable in the steady state because a second non-linearity is superimposed on the variable gain (which was compensated by the = % valve). This second nonlinearity is a function of time, because at the beginning of the batch, the process gain is low, but with time, as more and more reactants start combining into products, it rises and than drops again as the concentration of the reactants drops and product concentration rises. Therefore, the time function of Gp resembles a bell curve, and this non-linearity requires more sophisticated compensation (c) to maintain stability [Gc = (0.5GpGv)c].
If your reactor is unstable and dead time is dominant (dead time exceeds the lag time of the reactor)—because there are times when, in response to a temperature change, its rate of heat generation can change faster than the rate at which the heat transfer system can change the rate of heat removal—it is uncontrollable. Therefore, such a badly designed (uncontrollable process) has to be redesigned. Some of the redesign options include the reduction in production or increasing the rate of coolant heat transfer by, for example, replacing the liquid coolant with a boiling liquid.
When configuring the cascade loop, keep in mind that it consists of three control loops inside each other. The outer, (or master) loop controls the reactor temperature by generating a temperature setpoint for the inner (or slave) loop that controls the temperature of the heat-transfer fluid leaving the reactor jacket. The slave loop does this by sending a setpoint to the control valve positioner, which moves the valve plug to the desired position.
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text:
Wolverine is the best and safest field for groups of all types
Membership is $180.00 per year. Members do not pay a field fee or Air Fills on regular walk on days.
We are very picky about the Products, equipment and even the staff we put on our field. That is why we use the highest quality paintballs and rental gear. We are the only paintball park in Western North Carolina that uses 100% biodegradable ( no oil) paintballs exclusively. And we are one of only two fields in all of NC that is recognized by Tippmann, "a world leader in paintball" for using only Tippmann markers in our standard rental fleet. This has earned Wolverine a field sponsorship from Tippmann Sports. We are one of only a few paintball parks in the region that offer 50 caliber paintball thus allowing players as young as 8 to play. Wolverine is the only paintball park in the area with an experienced professional (not working for paintballs) Ref staff. Some staff members are CPR and emergency first aid certified and we are insured (certificate available upon request) . We are the only local paintball facility to offer our customers an easy access parking area. We work very hard to keep customer satisfaction at the highest levels and when you compare our prices and everything we have to offer with any other field, Wolverine is the obvious choice.


text: With her uncommonly gentle, understated slice-of-life drama Kissed by Winter (AKA Vinterkyss), director and co-writer Sara Johnsen observes the intersection of several troubled lives in a Norwegian small town. As physician Anika Hallin recovers from the culture shock of a transplant from the big city of Oslo to this new rural community, she must also grapple with the memories of the calamity that her estranged husband forced her to endure; meanwhile, snow-plow driver Kaj (Kristoffer Joner) contends with his wife's abandonment of him - after he just recently finished construction of an expensive house entirely for her sake. In a third substory, two married Iranian immigrants (Mina Azarian and Michalis Koutsogiannakis) learn that their missing son, Darjosh (Jade Francis Haj) has turned up dead on the side of the road with strange punctures on the bottoms of his feet. As the mystery of this death lingers, each character suffers through his or her own deeply personal, emotional crisis and grapples with the need to take responsibility for the young man's tragic end.


text:
National Arts Policy Archive and Library
The National Arts Policy Archive and Library is a collaborative project initiated by SCUA, the UMass Amherst Arts Extension Service, and several partners in arts agencies intended to document the history of arts administration in America. Collecting the records of state-level and national arts agencies, NAPAAL will provide a foundation for research into the evolution of arts policy, strategies for supporting the arts, and the economic and cultural impact of the arts on our communities.
Constituent collections include:
- Subjects
- Art and state
- Arts--Management
- Government aid to the arts
- Contributors
- Americans for the Arts
- National Asssembly of State Arts Agencies
- National Endowment for the Arts