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Notice: This Wiki is now read only and edits are no longer possible. Please see: https://gitlab.eclipse.org/eclipsefdn/helpdesk/-/wikis/Wiki-shutdown-plan for the plan.
Welcome STEM Developers
This article is intended to be the starting point for developers working on the Spatio-Temporal Epidemiological Modeler Project (STEM) code base. It contains a detailed description of how the project is organized, how to find all of the resources associated with the project, and how to install, configure and use the necessary development environment.
One of the advantages of this document is that it gets newcomers "up and running" faster and it allows them to contribute to the project immediately by correcting any inaccuracies or omissions the document contains or by clarifying any descriptions. As a newcomer to the project you have a totally unique and extremely valuable perspective. If you can't find something or it doesn't make sense to you then you're probably not alone. When you find out the answer to your quandary, please record it here so those that come after you can "stand on your shoulders." Welcome aboard!
The STEM code base is written in Java™ Version 6 and is organized as a set of well defined components using the eclipse (www.eclipse.org) plug-in tool framework. The components are integrated through a well defined "extension point" mechanism that makes the entire code base highly extensible. The use of the Eclipse framework also provides for multi-platform portability.
Interestingly, Eclipse is also the STEM project's Java™ development environment. If this seems a bit strange at first, don't worry. As you understand more about eclipse and the project this will make more sense. The project is organized and managed as an open source project. Much of the inspiration, philosophy and techniques for its management are taken directly from the book producing open source software by Karl Fogel (see the references later in this document).
Step-by-step for STEM developers
- Read this article.
- When you find missing, confusing, erroneous information, please contribute by fixing the problem. This Wiki allows any Bugzilla registered user to update content. Please do!
- Visit the STEM project page and bookmark it.
- Obtain an Eclipse.org account to access bugzilla, the newsgroup, etc.
- Subscribe to the stem-dev mailing list. The mailing list is used for all internal developer communication.
- Visit the Newsgroup
- Install Java 8.0 and Eclipse 4.x [1]
- Obtain the source code for the STEM project from the code repository. [2]
You can also review the article on Eclipse Development Resources http://wiki.eclipse.org/index.php/Development_Resources
Software Engineering
Coding Conventions and Guidelines
As with any product being built by a team, there are various areas where standards, conventions, and other guidelines can play a role in helping to ensure that the resulting product presents to developers and customers as a unified whole rather than as a loose collection of parts worked on by a variety of individuals each with their own styles and ways of working.
The STEM project will use the conventions and guidelines used by the Eclipse project. See the Eclipse Development Conventions and Guidelines.
The most important guidelines for STEM code are to have good JavaDoc documentation and not generate compiler warnings.
The Eclipse compiler verifies the code against a preference list and will generate warning messages for code that does not follow rules specified in the compiler preferences. For example, it will check for "unchecked Generic type operations" and give a warning. We ask you remove all of the Eclipse compiler warnings before submitting the code. Also preferences for the following JavaDoc options should be changed to generate warnings and the warnings removed by fixing the code and/or creating accurate and informative Javadoc comments,
window->preferences->java->compiler->javadoc: Process Javadoc comments Malformed Javadoc Comments: warning Missing Javadoc tags(public) warning Missing Javadoc comments(Public) warning
If you are the owner or creator of a STEM subproject, you can create more restrictive standards by checking in a set of project preferences. However, please do not remove warnings by checking in project preferences that ignore bad coding practices.
Copyright Statement
A copyright should be on any human created text document including HTML,Java, properties, XML, XSD. Auto generated/machine made text files does not need to have a copyright. Such files are compiled from a human created file and it is not practical to add copyright to them (as we wouldn't add copyright to class files). To be specific, we are referring to auto generated JavaDocs (HTML) and EMF models (JAVA). For .java files the copyright statement should follow the package statement and proceed the import statements. The Copyright statement is further described here
package org.eclipse.stem; /************************************************************************* * Copyright (c) 2006,2007 IBM Corporation and others. * All rights reserved. This program and the accompanying materials * are made available under the terms of the Eclipse Public License v1.0 * which accompanies this distribution, and is available at * http://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-v10.html * * Contributors: * IBM Corporation - initial API and implementation *************************************************************************/ import ... ;
To have the above automatically inserted in new code, do the following:
- Select the above comment (from /* to */)
- Select Window->preferences
- Select Java->Code Style->CodeTemplates->Types
- Select edit
- Paste the copyright statement in place of the existing "Author" statement.
- Select OK
National Language Support
- See page on STEM National Language Support
Bug Reporting
Eclipse uses the Bugzilla system for reporting and processing Bug reports and enhancement request for the STEM project. Once a problem or enhancement has been submitted to Bugzilla, the Bugzilla entry should be used for subsequent discussion of the issue.
- The following page is used for creation of a Bugzilla account. [3]
- The following page is used to set the user email preferences. [4]
- The bug reporting page is: [5] Specify STEM as the component
- The following page can be used to find bugs in STEM https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/query.cgi
- Enter Technology as the Classification
- Enter STEM as the Product
The following article shows the life cycle of a bug from entering the system to being closed. http://www.eclipse.org/projects/dev_process/bugzilla-use.php
Before reporting a bug, please read the Eclipse bug writing guidelines and please search to see if the bug has already been reported.
There are some important considerations when you submit a Bugzilla report. If it is a problem that you are reporting, then the promptness of a resolution is very much dependent on the completeness of the report. In most cases, a problem needs to be reproduced in order to fix it. Before you press submit read your report over and think about whether if you were the STEM developer that gets the problem, would you have the information you need to reproduce the problem.
An important help in problem determination is the Error Log view on the STEM window. If any exceptions or serious errors occurred they will show up there. These entries can be exported to a file and attached to the bugzilla entry.
Most of the development of STEM was done on Windows with Eclipse 3.8 or above. If you are using a different platform, be sure to mention this just in case this is a platform problem.
If you are submitting a suggestion for a new feature or enhancement, include some justification and enough details that it can be evaluated. Since others may want to contribute to a discussion of the issue, it would be a good idea to post a pointer to the Bugzilla entry on the STEM newsgroup.
STEM Mailing List
Send stem-dev mailing list submissions to <email@example.com>
To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
or, via email, send a message with subject of body 'help' to
You can reach the person managing the list at
When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more more specific than "Re: Contents of stem-dev digest..."
The developer's mailing list should be used to communicate with other STEM developers. It is preferred over private emails.
STEM Newsgroup
The Newsgroup for STEM is news://news.eclipse.org/eclipse.technology
To access the newsgroup you will need to go to the following page and request a userid and password.
A special Newreader userid and password will be emailed to you. This userid and password is used to subscribe to the Newsgroup using whatever news reader you choose.
The newsgroup is for all of the components of Eclipse, not just STEM. We suggest that when you post to the newsgroup, you include STEM in the title to ensure it being read by the STEM community.
More information about access to the newsgroup is here: http://www.eclipse.org/newsgroup.php
For those who use FireFox and Thunderbird as their web browser and email client, the following may help in setting up Thunderbird to read the STEM newsgroup.
- From menubar, select Tools->Account Setting
- Select Add Account
- Select Newsgroup Account then Next
- Enter your name and email address then Next .
- Enter news.eclipse.org for Newsgroup Server then Next
- Enter the userid and password that were sent to you when you signed up.
- Enter the account name. The default of News.Eclipse.org is OK.
- You should now have "News.Eclipse.Org" listed in your "Folders"
- Select the News.Eclipse.org folder and then select Manage NewsGroup Subscriptions
- Expand the list of newsgroups until you find Eclipse.technology and select it.
- You should now have the list of previous postings to the newsgroup and it will be updated every time you get your mail from the server.
Submitting code to the STEM project
If you are not a project member with full committer access to SVN, the best way to contribute source code changes is to follow these steps:
- Obtain the source code with anonymous access to SVN.
- Make your changes using Eclipse.
- Test the changes using the most recent version of STEM.
- Prepare a patch as described below.
- If there is a Bugzilla item that describes the need for the change that you are making. then post a description of the patch to the Bugzilla entry and attach the patch.
- If there is no Bugzilla entry, please create one and attach your patch to it. It is much preferred that all patches be related to an appropriate bugzilla entry.
- If for some reason a bugzilla entry is not appropriate, email your patch to a member of the STEM team who has committer authority, along with a note describing the patch.
Preparing a patch (Eclipse users)
Eclipse can create and apply patches in the unified diff format. Assuming you are working out of an Eclipse SVN project created from the STEM SVN repository, you can create a (possibly, multi-file) patch by selecting the desired resource scope in the package explorer and doing "Team/Create Patch...". Because the patch must be applied to the same Eclipse resource it was generated from it is probably safest to select the project itself.
Creating a new standalone STEM application
At some point you may want to create a new version of the standalone Stem application. Or more likely, you may need to verify that changes you have made will work in the standalone version. To create a new temporary version of the STEM application for testing do the following.
- Select the org.eclipse.stem.ui project
- Select feature.product
- From the Overview tab
- Select Export
It should request the name of the zip file to be generated and build it. It will run for many minutes. The resulting zip file can be expanded in a new directory like "c:\teststem" and invoked from a command window.
Software Engineering Documentation To Do's
- Describe the basic development philosophy of the project and the basic ideas behind "agile" software development.
- Explain how to test the system.
- Explain how to submit a bug report.
- Explain how to use JUnit.
Building The System
STEM developers can use the headless build mechanism (build plug-ins automatically outside the Eclipse IDE) for building distributions for various OS platforms.
The instructions below are for running the build on a Linux machine.
Before using the headless build, make sure you have the following software prerequisites:
- Eclipse Platform 4.0 or higher, make sure that the following Eclipse features are also installed:
- BIRT (and all its prerequisite plugins)
- (Alternatively, you can download the latest version of BIRT Report Designer All-in-one)
- Eclipse DeltaPack that matches the version of the above Eclipse
- JDK 8.0 or higher
- SVN for Ant (from here)
To build STEM using this mechanism you will need to follow these steps:
- Check-out from STEM SVN the plugin org.eclipse.stem.releng
- Copy the local.sh-template to local.sh, edit it and change the values within it to fit your local platform:
- MAJOR_VERSION - The version number of the STEM product you are building (e.g., 3.0.0)
- JAVA_HOME - Path to the JDK to be used
- ECLIPSE_HOME - The Eclipse SDK to be used for building
- Put the lib directory from the SVN for Ant Zip file under a directory named '.ant' in your home dir
- From a command line, change the directory into the above plugin directory and execute the build.sh script
The build script will first fetch the latest plugins code from the SVN and then build those plugins. The last step would be to pack those plugins into an executable product package.
If the build finishes successfully, you should see a "BUILD SUCCESSFUL" message at the end of logging messages.
The output of the build process is a set of Zip files, one for each different OS platform. Those are located under folder: build\I.WeeklyBuild.
STEM subprojects
STEM consist of a basic core system and (in the future) many projects that either use the basic system or enhance it. The following section describe the subprojects that use STEM or enhance it.
- GoogleEarth
- Interface to the GoogleEarth application.
- Reports
- Interface to the Eclipse BIRT product.
- DataLog
- Simple support for logging STEM data.
STEM - GoogleEarth Interface
STEM is a computer software system for defining and visualizing simulations of the geographical spread of contagious diseases. One way to visualize this geographical information is to overlay it on the GoogleEarth 3D world model.
The STEM-GoogleEarth project (STEM-GE) enables the logging of the spatial data with disease statistics included as it runs. Either simultaneously or after the fact, the logged data(in the form of KML files) is read by GoogleEarth and displayed by mapping disease state to color intensity.
To run the STEM-GoogleEarth Interface you need to do the following:
You must have installed the GoogleEarth application which is available for personal use from the GoogleEarth download site. You should verify that GoogleEarth works correctly on your machine by starting it and verifying that you can browse the 3D image because some older computers do not have the 3D graphics capabilities required by GoogleEarth. It is a fun application to play with and when you are done you can leave it running or not. If it is not active, STEM will start it.
Running STEM and GoogleEarth
- If you are running from the STEM source distribution:
- Update STEM to the latest code level and ensure it is refreshed and rebuilt.
- From project org.eclipse.stem.ui.ge select servlet.xml
- Select RunAs->AntBuild
- From Eclipse, Run Stem using stem.product in org.eclipse.stem.ui (Described earlier here.
- If you are running the STEM standalone executable, the above steps were already done for you and you just need to start STEM.exe.
- In the STEM workspace window
- Windows->GoogleEarth->View
- A window will be displayed that contains a Display button and
- Windows->GoogleEarth->View
a set of Radio buttons that select the disease aspect to be displayed.
- At this point the GoogleEarth application should start if it was not already started.
- Optionally, select Windows->Preferences->STEM->visualization->GoogleEarth
- Specify any preferences that you want to use. The defaults are probably OK.
- Using the Scenarios view: select your desired scenario.
- For example: STEM->Geography->Continent->NorthAmerica
- Doubleclick on Spanish Flu to start the simulation.
- After the simulation has run for 7 or 8 cycles
- Pause the simulation
- Click the display button in the GoogleEarth View.
- You should see the GoogleEarth map showing some red area in the Northeast areas of the USA.
- Start the simulation again
- Pause and Click the GoogleEarth Display button every few cycles. These red areas should grow as the infections spread both across county borders and across the airline connections.
- You can use the GoogleEarth view to change the aspect displayed to any of:
- Infections - Red
- Exposed - Yellow
- Recovered - Green
- Susceptible - Blue
As distributed, the GoogleEarth interface runs in manual mode. Because of memory usage of both STEM and GoogleEarth they do not run well together unless your workstation has more than 1 Gigabyte of memory. If you do have lots of memory, you can use the GoogleEarth preferences to change so that as the simulation runs the results are shown simultaneously on the GoogleEarth display.
There are numerous ways that you can use GoogleEarth with your simulations. We will not describe them all. The STEM-GE Preference Page is described below. That is where you specify many options that control what the STEM-GE interface does. The most common use of STEM-GE is to run a simulation and have it write KML files to a folder. Simultaneously GoogleEarth is reading these KML files via a webServer and displaying the results of the simulation on the GoogleEarth screen.
STEM-GoogleEarth Preferences
The STEM-GoogleEarth interface has a set of preference that control how the application works. This preference page is accessed by going to windows->preferences->visualization and selecting the GoogleEarth entry.
You will get the following window: File:GEPreferences.jpg
- Preferences
- Choose the Method used to display STEM Results
- LogOnly
With this option, the KML files are written but not displayed by GoogleEarth. This would be used when you are either going to display the GoogleEarth visualization at a later time or if you are going to run GoogleEarth from another system with the KML files on a shared disk. - "Log+Servlet"
With this option, the KML files are written and then displayed by GoogleEarth. GoogleEarth actually requests the file from a webserver Servlet which reads the file and sends it to GoogleEarth. - "AsyncServlet"
The KML is written on every cycle, overlaying the file written for the previous cycle. GoogleEarth asks for new data on a predetermined interval and is sent the current KML. The advantage over the previous method is that it helps keep GoogleEarth from falling to far behind the STEM processing. - "DirectLaunch"
With this option, the KML files are directly sent to GoogleEarth without using an intermediate web server. This can cause problems because GoogleEarth may get files faster than it can process them but it is more efficient. - "ManualDisplay"
The map is generated by user clicking the Display button. This is the default option. - "Folder for KML logging:"This is the folder where STEM will write the KML files that GoogleEarth will read. If it already contains KML files, the user will be given the oportunity to delete them, keep them or choose a new folder.
- "User internal webserver"
This is used to cause the webserver built into Eclipse to be used. - "Hostname:port for external webserver"
This is the required hostname and port for an external webserver. Normally the internal webserver would be used so this is not needed but there are cases where one might want to use an existing web server. - "Automatically startup GoogleEarth"
If specified then when the STEM-GoogleEarth view is started, then the GoogleEarth application is also launched. - "Automatically process every simulation"
if specified, then when you start any simulation running, it will automatically have its processing be mapped to GoogleEarth. Only the first one will be displayed by GE since it would be counterproductive to show 2 different views at the same time. - "Write KML files only every N th cycle"
If the simulation does not change rapidly from cycle to cycle, significant overhead can be saved by only sending data to GoogleEarth every Nth cycle.
STEM Reports SubProject
The Reports subproject provides an interface to the Eclipse BIRT component. BIRT is an open source Eclipse-based reporting system that integrates with STEM to produce custom reports.
- instructions to be provided later **
STEM Data
In Process documentation This section is in the very early stages of documentation. Please help complete it.
An important component of STEM is the large collection of data that it contains.
This section will attempt to describe the different data that is available, where it is
and how it is used.
Administration Level The administration level for geographic data refers to the "political resolution" of the data sets. The United Nations defines political divisions called "Administration Levels".
The highest level is "UN Administration Level 0" which corresponds to "countries". We have 244 such "countries", we get our definition of a country from the ISO-3166-1 codes, of which there are 244. There is a ISO-3166-1 code for the United States (a country), and one for Puerto Rico (not a country, but a slightly separate political division). For the United States the ISO-3166-1 2 character code is US and the ISO-3166-1 3 character code is USA.
The next level down is "UN Administration Level 1", which for the United States are the states and for Canada are the provinces and territories. Below that is "UN Administration Level 2" The definition of these areas varies from country to country which is why we use the "level" instead. Level 2 is the limit on our current data sets. In the future we could add higher resolutions. For instance, for a small country like Israel we might go to level 3 and use something like a census track as the location.
Latitude: Latitude gives the location of a place on Earth north or south of the Equator. Latitude is an angular measurement in degrees (marked with °) ranging from 0° at the Equator to 90° at the poles (90° N for the North Pole or 90° S for the South Pole). In Stem, latitudes north of the Equator are positive values and south of the equator are negative.
Longitude: Longitude describes the location of a place on Earth east or west of a north-south line called the Prime Meridian. Longitude is given as an angular measurement ranging from 0° at the Prime Meridian to +180° eastward and −180° westward. The Greenwich meridian is the universal prime meridian or zero point of longitude.
ISO3166 code ISO 3166 is a three-part geographic coding standard for coding the names of countries and dependent areas, and the principal subdivisions thereof. The official name is Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions.
- ISO 3166-1 codes for country and dependent area names.
- ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 two-letter country codes
- ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 three-letter country codes
- ISO 3166-1 numeric three-digit country codes
- ISO 3166-2 Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions -- Part 2: Country subdivision code - defines codes for the principal subdivisions of a country or dependent area.
A list of all the county (Administration 0) codes is here: http://www.davros.org/misc/iso3166.html
An Introduction to STEM's Properties Files
In STEM II, we store data about a country and its administrative divisions in properties files. Properties files are used to define identifiers and to set population and area data at all levels (i.e. country, state, or county level). There are four main types of properties files: area, population, nodes, and names. The purpose of each property file will be explained later.
In STEM II, most of the data is standardized ISO 3166 or FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standards) data. According to Wikipedia, "ISO 3166 is a three-part geographic coding standard for coding the names of countries and dependent areas, and the principal subdivisions thereof." ISO 3166 specifies standard alpha-2 codes, alpha-3 codes, and three-digit country codes as well. For example, for the USA, the alpha-2 code would be US, the alpha-3 code is USA, and the three-digit country code is 840. In addittion, we use FIPS codes whenever possible to create identifiers that represent a political administration. For instance, the FIPS for New York County (i.e., Manhattan) is 36061 while Kings County (i.e., Brooklyn) is 36047. The first two digits of the FIPS identify the state.
Administrative Levels and Properties Files
Administrative levels correspond to political divisions of a country. A level 0 administration identifies an entire country (e.g. USA or Mexico). A level 1 administration corresponds to a subdivision of a country which can be a state, territory, parish, or a province. As an example we have that California, Colorado, and New York are all level 1 administrations of the USA. Similarly, level 2 administrations are subdivisions of a level 1 administration. Orange County, Monterey County, and Napa County are all level 2 administrations that belong to California.
A property file is a plain-text file that contains either area data, population data, or other relevant data related to the political divisions of a country at different administration levels. Properties files are located under org.eclipse.ohf.stem.internal.data\resources\data\country. There are four types of properties files :
- Names property file : This file defines the identifiers for every administrative division in a country at each level. For example, for the USA, at level 0 we would have "USA = United States". At level 1, we would have "US-CA = California" , "US-CO = Colorado", and "US-NY = New York".
At level 2, for Orange, Monterey, and Napa counties within California we have "US-CA-06059 = Orange County", "US-CA-06053 = Monterey County", and "US-CA-06055 = Napa County". There is a single names property file for every country. The corresponding names property file for the USA is USA_names.properties. For level 2 administrations, the five digits found on the identifiers (i.e. "06053" for identifier "US-CA-06053" are defined as follows : the leftmost two digits identify the level 1 administration ( "06" -> California ) while the remaining digits, which can be up to four, identify the level 2 administration ("053" -> Monterey County).
- Nodes property file : This file provides additional information about identifiers of administrative divisions. There is a nodes property file for each administration level. There is a fixed format that is used in these files and it is as follows:
# Format: Code = Name, ISO-3166-2 numeric code, Two letter code For example, at level 0 for the USA we have "USA = United States, 840, US". At level 1, for California, Colorado, and New York we have : "US-CA = California, 06, CA" , "US-CO = Colorado, 08, CO", and "US-NY = New York, 36, NY".
The nodes property files corresponding to the USA are USA_0_node.properties, USA_1_node.properties, and USA_2_node.properties.
- Area property file : This file contains area data (in square kilometers) for administrative divisions. There is an area property file for each administration level.
In the case of the USA at level 0, we have "USA = 9161923". At level 1, we have "US-CA = 163695.57", "US-CO = 104093.57", and "US-NY = 54556.00" for California, Colorado and New York respectively. At level 2, for Orange, Monterey, and Napa counties within California we have "US-CA-06059 = 2043.5006", "US-CA-06053 = 8603.9405", and "US-CA-06055 = 1952.8510". The area property files corresponding to the USA are USA_0_area.properties, USA_1_area.properties, and USA_2_area.properties.
- Population property file : This file contains population data for administrative divisions. There is a population property file for each administration level. In the case of the USA at level 0, we have "USA = 298444215".
At level 1, we have "US-CA = 33871648 ", "US-CO = 4301261", and "US-NY = 18976457" for California, Colorado and New York respectively. At level 2, for Orange, Monterey, and Napa counties within California we have "US-CA-06059 = 2846289", "US-CA-06053 = 401762", and "US-CA-06055 = 124279". The population property files corresponding to the USA are USA_0_human.properties, USA_1_human.properties, and USA_2_human.properties.
Updating values in a property file
To update a value in a property file you should follow a few simple steps. First, given that you know the name of the country and/or administrative division to be updated, look under org.eclipse.stem.internal.data\resources\data\country\<three letter identifier for the country> for the folder that belongs to a given country. In the case of the USA, we would go to org.eclipse.stem.internal.data\resources\data\country\USA where all the property files are located. Second, search in the names property file to find the identifier of the administration we want to update. Third, open the corresponding file (area, population, or node file) where the update will take place. Finally, search for the identifier and once found, update its value. As an example, let's say we want to update by increasing 100 square kilometers the area of Orange County which belongs to California, USA. Then, we would open org.eclipse.stem.internal.data\resources\data\country\USA\USA_names.properties and do a search for the identifier of "Orange County" which is "US-CA-06059". Then, since we learn from the names property file that Orange County is a level 2 administration, we would open "org.eclipse.stem.internal.data\resources\data\country\USA\USA_2_area.properties" and do a new search for identifier "US-CA-06059". Our search will find ""US-CA-06059 = 2043.5006" Finally, we do the update by adding 100 square kilometers to the current value "US-CA-06059 = 2143.5006".
Once we've updated the correct file(s), we need to run org.eclipse.stem.internal.data\resources\src\Main.java. By running Main.java we create a new serialized file that will take the changes into account. The new serialized file can be found under org.eclipse.stem.internal.data\temp\data\scenario\disease. Next time STEM II executes a scenario, it will load the new serialized file.
An Introduction to STEM Map Files
STEM Maps
Maps for STEM are XML files that follow a GML format. These files are located under: org.eclipse.stem.geography\resources\data\geo\country\XXX where XXX is the three letter identifier for the country. There is also a second set of files at org.eclipse.stem.geography\resources\data\geo\country_reduced Which set is used is determined by a preference at Windows->Preferences->STEM->Visualization->MapDataManagement
There can be multiple map files for a country, one for each administration level. As an example, for the USA we have the following two maps: USA_1_MAP.xml and USA_2_MAP.xml. According to Wikipedia, GML is an XML grammar defined by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) to express geographical features. As an example, the set of GML elements that define Orange county are:
//Sample taken from org.eclipse.stem.geography\resources\ data\geo\country\USA\USA_2_MAP.xml ... <gml:Polygon gml:id="US-CA-06053"> <gml:outerBoundaryIs> <gml:LinearRing> <gml:posList> 36.9186 -121.7019 36.9197 -121.6999 ... 36.9186 -121.7019 </gml:posList> </gml:LinearRing></gml:outerBoundaryIs> </gml:Polygon> ...
Updating a Map
To update a map, that is, to provide more accurate latitude and longitude data for a given location we follow a few steps. We find the identifier for the location we are trying to update. This step is similar to the step described for updating values in a property file. Once we have found it, we replace the latitute and longitude values contained within the <gml:postList> </gml:postList> tags. We need to make sure that the starting and ending latitute and longitude values are the same, otherwise it wont be accepted as a closed polygon. In the example above, note that for Monterey County ("US-CA-06053") the starting latitude and longitude values "36.9186 -121.7019" are the same as the ending ones "36.9186 -121.7019".
The country_reduced files have had the border data smoothed to reduce the number of lat/long points used to describe a border. It can take sometimes thousands of lat/long points to describe a border accurately. By smoothing the border data so that the border is described by many fewer points, we can save both CPU and memory usage.
Data Location and Usage
STEM Projects that contain data The following STEM projects contain data files that are used in STEM. In most cases these projects also contains code that processes the data.
- Eclipse Project names
- org.eclipse.stem.geography
Contains the Latitude/Longitude data for the Administration areas. - org.eclipse.stem.internal.data
Contains the properties files that describe all of the data in STEM. - org.eclipse.stem.data
No longer actively used and should be ignored. - org.eclipse.stem.utility
Code and data used to prepare the properties files.
- org.eclipse.stem.geography
Property files in org.eclipse.stem.internal.data The following property files are found in the following directory. NNN is the 3 character Country code and N is the administration level.
- resource/data/country/XXX/ There is a separate subdirectory for each country.
- XXX_N_area.properties This property file contains the area of the administration level in square kilometers. The Key is the key for the administration level ( level 0 = USA; Level 1 = US-CA; Level 2 = US-CA-06075
- XXX_N_human_2006_population.properties This property file contains the population of the administration level.
- XXX_N_node.properties This property file contains the full name of the administration area. >> we need an example of how to access it <<
- XXX_names.properties This property file contains a xref of both Level 1 and level 2 names.
- resource/data/relationship This contains the following subdirectories.
- airtransport
- commonborder See below.
- airtransport
- airtransport
- resource/data/decorator/disease This contains property files that describe existing diseases.
Spacial Data (Geographic Coordinates) that provides the latitude and longitude coordinates for the borders of the Administration areas.
Project: org.eclipse.stem.geography
Path: resource/data/geo/country/XXX/
Example URI: platform:/plugin/org.eclipse.stem.geography/
Key Format:
For level 1 data, the key is the ISO3166-2 code.
An ISO3166-2 code is composed as follows:
Two letter country code followed by up to three
alphanumeric characters for the level 1 administration.
For level 2 data, the key is the ISO3166-2 code followed by
up to six digits.
The leftmost two digits indicate the level 1 container of a
level 2 administration (i.e. California is a level 1
container for Orange County; a level 2 administration).
The two digits were taken from a lexicographic sorting of
all the level 1 administrations within a country.
Similarly, the four leftmost digits indicate the level 2
Again, these four digits are an index into the lexicographic
sorting of all level 2 administrations within a level 1
Common Border Data that describes which Administration areas have common borders.
Project: org.eclipse.stem.internal.data
Path: resource/data/relationship/commonborder/
Common Borders between admin areas within country XXX
Common Borders between admin areas of country XXX to
the admin areas of Country YYY where XXX and YYY have
a common border.
The property files will list the bordering admin level 2 areas.
Example URI: platform:/plugin/org.eclipse.stem.internal.data/
Generated by: NeighborUtility.java Located in: org.eclipse.stem.internal.data
Other Information
The following is a list of software that is useful to have while working on the STEM project.
Tool |
Version |
OpenOffice |
IBM's Java™ 6 JDK |
6 |
Eclipse IDE |
Jdraw |
Optional Eclipse Features and Plug-ins
Plug-in | Description | URL |
Subclipse | Subversion client | Subversion client |
UMLet | UML class diagram drawing tool | http://www.umlet.com/ |
Metrics | Java™ code metrics computations | http://metrics.sourceforge.net |
Merline Generator | GEF generator from EMF | http://sourceforge.net/projects/merlingenerator |
Reference Sources
<P>[6]Java in a Nutshell, Fifth Edition Flanagan, D., O'Reilly, 2005, ISBN 0-596-00773-6. This is a great reference for Java™.
Indispensable.[7]Eclipse Modeling Framework Budinsky, F., et al, Addison-Wesley. 2003. ISBN 0131425420. This is THE book on the eclipse modeling framework (EMF). Note- a second edition is due out very soon, and is available for pre-order
[8]Official Eclipse 3.0 FAQs Arthorne, J., Laffra, C., Addison-Wesley, 2004, ISBN 0321268385. This is an excellent source of quick answers to great questions.
[9]Eclipse:Building Commercial-Quality Plug-Ins Clayberg, E., Rubel, D., Addison-Wesley, 2004. ISBN: 0321228472. Good reference, but starts out a bit too simply.
[10]Eclipse Distilled Carlson, D., Addison-Wesley, 2005. ISBN 0321288157. A concise guide with advanced explanations of how to exploit the features of eclipse. Very useful for people who are already familiar with eclipse because it adds an extra layer of sophistication to the reader's bag-of-tricks.
[11]Eclipse Rich Client Platform: Designing, Coding, and Packaging Java™ Applications McAffer, J., et al., Addison-Wesley, 2005, ISBN 0321334612.
[12]Eclipse Cookbook Holzner, S., O'Reilly, 2004, ISBN 0-596-00710-8. Good "how to" guide to use eclipse, less for eclipse plug-in development itself.</P> [13] Eclipse Holzner, S., O'Reilly, 2004, ISBN 0-596-00641-1. Good starter for new eclipse users/developers.</P> "The Definitive Guide to SWT and JFace Harris, R., Warner, R., Apress, 2004, ISBN 1-509059-325-1.</P>
[14]UML for Java™ Programmers Martin, R., Prentice Hall, 2003, ISBN 0131428489. Good "what you need to know" introduction to UML.
[15]Producing Open Source Software Fogel, K., O'Reilly, 2005, ISBN 0-596-00759-0. This is a great book on how to manage software development in general not just open source. We're using it as a guide for this project.</I>


text:
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Chat Home
Welcome to Baseball Prospectus' Wednesday September 26, 2012 1:00 PM ET chat session with Ian Miller.
Ask Ian questions about baseball, or ask Ian questions about the exciting life of a baseball writer/rock star.
Ian Miller: Screw it, I'm bored, so let's get this party started. And yes, I'm aware that it's still Wednesday in most of the United States, but it's really never too early to party, BP style.
Roger (Washington DC): I'm still waiting to do a Bowie BaySox/ Rock and Roll Hotel DH with you Ian! What's taking you so long to get out here? On the serious side, my general impression was that pitching prospects were noticeably absent from the Cal league this year, especially after Ciangrini left. Was that how you saw it as well?
Ian Miller: All attempts to travel East were foiled this year, Roger! We'll make it happen in 2013. I was pretty disappointed with the overall lack of talent in the Cal League this year -- it wasn't pitching-specific, IMO. The Billy Hamilton show was fantastic while it lasted, of course, but I think I'd been spoiled by a few consecutive years of excellent prospects (esp w/r/t the Giants, whose A+ teams had been loaded). Never got a chance to see Cingrani in person, which was kind of a bummer. Looking forward to the AFL, though.
Alex (Anaheim): Will MLB institute more replay in the future?
Ian Miller: I think it's inevitable, and it can only be a good thing, as long as MLB implements it properly, which I assume they'll do. If calls are appealed to an off-field official, for instance, that shouldn't take more than a few seconds, which is far quicker than the current home-run-review practice.
Will (Rochester): I witnessed Alanis Morissette doing a Carly Simon-esque cover of Green Day's Basketcase on Kimmel last night. Please advise. I am so confused right now. And what is the worst cover song rendition in your opinion?
Ian Miller: Wow, that sounds unbelievably awful. I hope you'll talk to someone before you consider hurting yourself or somebody else. The worst covers I've ever witnessed are Fugazi songs. That's a band that's essentially uncoverable. Unless you're Fugazi, you shouldn't play Fugazi songs. Of course, there's also EVERY SINGLE SONG on this record: http://beta.musicradar.com/news/guitars/carlos-santana-covers-acdc-the-beatles-zeppelin-on-upcoming-album-256919
jlarsen (chicago): Outside of Orel and Larkin, most sports analysts on baseball related programs are desk jockeys or mediocre players(who may have all-star nods to careers, but barely much above that) or failures as former GMs. Why should fans believe the likes of hacks like John Kruk or Harold Reynolds, both ramble on without much proof or research to back up their claims/points? That's like listening to Jim Bowden, John Hart and Steve Phillips when it comes to the inner workings of a front office. If I wanted a "How to" on what not to do, I'd listen to them.
Ian Miller: Kruk is as painful to listen to as he is to watch, but I've kinda come around on Reynolds. There's a lot of bluster and bullshit, of course, but he'll occasionally say something interesting. Ultimately, they don't make these shows for you or for me; they make them for the "average baseball fan"/ESPN viewer. That person probably uses counting stats like AVG and RBI to gauge player value and probably does get something out of what those guys say. The solution isn't to try and fix Baseball Tonight; it's to find venues for people who discuss the sport in ways that resonate with you, like the various BP podcasts.
Grant (Frisco, baby): If you had to compare a baseball player to Feist, who would it be? And a followup question: Which GM is most like Michael Bay?
Ian Miller: FRISCO, REPRAZENT The Bay one is easy: Obviously that's Jeff Luhnow, because of the way he blew up the Astros this year. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM. The baseball version of Feist would have to be someone incredibly annoying, like a Scott Hairston. Alternately it could be a player who's wildly overvalued by stat nerds because he put up some kind of stupid SABR-y numbers in an outlier year. So maybe Feist is Ben Zobrist. Benzo Brist.
Mike (Miami): How do you think that playing later stages of the WBC at more pitching favorable stadiums like AT&T Park and Marlins Park will influence the competition?
Ian Miller: Eggsellent question. I think it will have an impact, and may give fundamentally sound, slap-hitting teams (read: Asian) a distinct advantage, especially in the finals. SF in March isn't exactly pleasant, and there's no roof to close, so i think AT&T will play very large. The American (North and South) teams will have to absolutely crush balls to get 'em out. /amateur meteorologist/physicist mode off
Kyle (Seattle, WA): When are we getting new material from Kowloon Walled City?
Ian Miller: No firm date yet, but definitely before the end of the year! It's being mixed right now, and we've got a mastering appointment scheduled. We're even posting a recording journal on decibel.com soon, either this week or next. Thanks for being interested!
Mike (Miami): What auteur director do you think would be the best pitcher? I think Michael Haneke would have a helluva cutter.
Ian Miller: As discussed on twitter, obviously Walter Murch would be film' version of Mariano Rivera. That said, I think Takeshi Kitano would be hard to beat. Power pitcher who would just mow guys down. Antonioni might've been great, maybe a Koufax type. Dark horse candidate (no pun intended, honestly) would be Charles Burnett. "Killer of Sheep" was just so honest and brutal and immediate -- like vintage Bob Gibson. And you didn't ask, but Lav Diaz would be the director most likely to be a horrible umpire.
Brian_K (Missouri): I have adopted the Diamondblacks as my rooting interest. What are Team New Zealand's prospects in the WBC?
Ian Miller: I guess they've got a shot, but not a great one. Chinese Taipei has to be the odds-on favorite to come out of that pool. I literally have no idea how the Philippines and Thailand are, but I can't imagine they'll be very good.
Malcolm (Schenectady, NY): What's the album of the year?
Ian Miller: If I had to vote right now, off the top of my head, I'd say "Cancer for Cure" by El-P. It's absolutely incredible, and I can't stop listening to it. The only other recent hip-hop album that even comes close is "R.A.P. Music" by Killer Mike which was, of course, produced by El-P. Everything else I've been listening to lately is from pre-1975.
Roger (Washington DC): When are you getting out to the AFL? And will you be able to get to Instrux as well, like Prof. Parks?
Ian Miller: No instrux for me, sadly. schedule is just too tight. We're out there for the last weekend of the regular schedule -- Nov 10th-ish, I think? Probably catch 5-6 games over 3 days.
Gavin (NYC): Do you think it would be possible/probable for a team to acquire both Justin Upton and Chris Young in the same trade? Seems like the Snakes are selling low on both.
Ian Miller: Honestly I haven't been keeping up to date on all the various Dbacks OF trade rumors, so I have no special intel. That said, I don't think they'd necessarily be selling low on either guy. Yes, they're both coming off mediocre years, but everyone knows what Justin Upton is. He's a LEGIT elite-power guy who might benefit greatly from a change of scenery. The tools are there, and he's still very young -- seems like he's been around forever, but he's only 25! Still 2 years away from his mythical age-27 season. On the other hand, Chris Young just turned 29 and is clearly on the downside of his career. You've got Adam Eaton ready to slot in in CF, so I think you have to move Young before his value drops further.
George C. (New York): When do you think the NFL Ref lockout will end? How different would baseball be if the MLB locked out the umps?
Ian Miller: YES! First handegg question of the day. Thanks, George. I honestly know nothing about this situation, but I did hear a really interesting thing yesterday on Talk of the Nation, wherein the NPR sports correspondent said he thought Goodell was taking a hard line on negotiations in preparation for upcoming contract negotiations with *players.* Because if they wanted the ref deal done, they'd have done it yesterday. They want something like $30M over 7 years, which is probably a rounding error for NFL owners. This is clearly about something other than the refs.
kevin (pdx): It's not like Joe Morgan is any good at his job.
Ian Miller: That's not a question per se, but yes.
Jake (California): Zack Greinke: Major league pitcher or serial killer?
Ian Miller: Absolutely.
Tom Verducci (Verducci-land): Why am I so good-looking? What is my #want and #wet factor? And I am a better-looking than Jose Mota?
Ian Miller: Tom, first off, thanks for the question. I'm a huge fan! I think you're so damn handsome because you are the Golden Boy. The Chosen One. The Head Cheese. The Big, Swingin' ... well, you get the point. You are far, FAR more handsome than Jose Mota, although Mr. Mota is far more #wet. You need look no further than his yoga photos to understand that. Your #want, on the other hand, is unmatched.
jlarsen (chicago): Is the debate of Mike Trout Vs. Miguel Cabrera for MVP basically an argument between "Old Baseball Stats" Vs. "New Baseball Stats"?
Ian Miller: I'm honestly not sure it is. I mean, people are certainly *using* "old stats" to make their case for Cabrera and "new stats" to make the case for Trout, but I think it's mostly people looking to justify their choice post facto. i.e., I like Cabrera more than I like Trout, and look, he may win the Triple Crown, hence I'll cite that as my evidence. You even see this with Tigers fans who'll use "old" counting stats to justify the case for Cabrera as MVP and then turn around and use WAR to justify Verlander as their Cy Young choice. It's post facto reasoning in nearly every case. And since I don't care who wins the MVP, I find it very interesting. Also, it should be Mike Trout.
Roger (Washington, DC): Point of order, jlarsen! John Hart should in no way be lumped in with a group of Jim Bowdens and Steve Phillipses. He won 6 division titles in 7 years with 2 World Series appearances! AND he hired Jon Daniels. Pretty nice resume to my eyes.
Ian Miller: Point taken. Bowden and Phillips both play parodies of GMs on TV, and I'm not sure you can say the same for Hart.
Will ((Rochester)): Is Hunter Pence more old-timey than someone like Ty Cobb?
Ian Miller: My Productive Outs comrade Riley Breckenridge broke down Pence perfectly in a recent episode of our PRODcast. Riley said that Pence was kept locked up in a basement for the first 15 or so years of his life and shown nothing but those 1920s-ish baseball films that are all sped-up and funny-lookin', and Pence's entire familiarity with baseball stems from those films. Which is as good an explanation as I've heard for his completely bizarre ... well, everything.
Roger (Washington DC): So 2012 has seen the debut of Harper, Machado, Profar, and Bundy. At least two and quite possibly three of them are up for good. Is this the greatest group of teenagers collectively in the majors at the same time? More importantly, what the heck is happening to the standard development curve?
Ian Miller: I can't say for certain that they're the best group of teens ever, but OTOH, I can't think of any other group, so maybe, yeah! The second part of your question is far more interesting to me, though. Is this just a fluke, or is it something more profound? Are diets or training regimens or something else entirely causing players (kids) to develop faster than ever? I think that's a very real possibility, but it's not a question a liberal arts guy like me can answer. Intriguing, though.
jlarsen (chicago): I'm going to rehash a question that I asked another BP writer this week. What player currently relegated to a bench role would perform at a star level if given a full time job or was traded and utilized correctly? So far, we've only gotten Brandon Belt and Peter Bourjos between the 2 of us.
Ian Miller: Belt's been starting regularly for months now, so I think we can cross him off the list. Not really sure about Bourjos either. He's clearly an above-average defender, but I'm not sure he's a "real" .270 hitter. If he is, then yeah, with his speed, he might crack star-level. It's a good question, but no one else is really springing to mind for me. Let's crowdsource: you guys have any votes for guys who are currently playing in a bench role who deserve a starting spot?
Futurecloser (NYC): En Vogue, Halle Berry, Your Auntie Clarise... Who has better power potential?
Ian Miller: I'd bet my entire $30 Slausen Swap Meet gift certificate on Clarice. That lady can flat-out rake.
Brian_K (Missouri): Does Yadier Molina have a legit shot at NL MVP over Posey/Braun? Who's the NL Cy Young?
Ian Miller: I kinda don't think so, which is a shame, because Yadi has had a ridiculous year. I'm sure he's getting a ton of press in STL, but you don't hear much about him in the national MSM. I think it's Posey's to lose right now. He's got everything going for him: the comeback from injury, a division win, and (obviously) he's been playing like a house a'fire since the ASB. NL Cy Young? Hell, I don't know. I thought Kershaw would run away with it, but this injury has been terrible for his chances. Totally up in the air now, I reckon.
Tom Verducci (Verducci-land): Thanks for the kind words, Ian. I appreciate your sincerity and insight. Where would you rank on the Verducci scale? Who is the sexiest person in MLB? And at BP?
Ian Miller: I'm probably a 35-40 on the Verducci scale. I don't have much natural ability (below-avg hair, bone structure), but I have solid-average fashion sense and lots of want, so my looks play up a little. Sexiest person in the MLB? Tough call. I find I'm attracted to people who aren't classically beautiful and have ridiculous raw power, so I'd go with, in no particular order: Paul Goldshmidt, Chris Carter, and Mike Morse. Sexiest person at BP is obviously Joe Hamrahi.
Will ((Rochester)): Which baseball player do you think would make the best frontman in a music-playing group (otherwise known as a band)? What would be the name of said group and what kind of music would they make?
Ian Miller: To answer this question, we must first define its opposite. Obviously Bronson Arroyo is the absolute WORST frontman for a music-playing group, so who is the most unlike Bronson Arroyo? He's a white pitcher who can hit a little, so let's find a non-white catcher who can't hit at all. Is that Kurt Suzuki? Kurt Suzuki it is. He would play that weird amalgam of Hawaiian reggae that people over there seem to like, and they would be called The Children of Kamehameha.
jlarsen (chicago): Speaking of explosive GMs, Ben Cherington did quite a number on the Boston Red Sox. Watching them in the 2nd half, it seems to me that they're likely going to dumbly dump a large amount of the salary that they just removed from their payroll into pitching. With the strong perception that Valentine is going to be gone and the FA market always unpredictable, how do they predict to become strong contender with no guarantee that big FA signings for the rotation and bullpen(which is as junk-filled as the rotation) will "click" and perform well in Fenway and against division rivals? Seems to me that the Red Sox are attempting refurbishing a house that needs to be demolished from foundation up.
Ian Miller: I have no issue with the job Cherington did in cleaning house, but yeah, the question is now what to do with the cost savings. I mean, any predictions we make now are pure speculation, but your scenario makes as much sense as any. But Cherington is no dummy, and they've got Bill James in there somewhere still, don't they? These aren't dummies. Maybe they see that they can't really be competitive next year and can rebuild for the slightly longer term. Or maybe they'll be pressured to go all-in no matter what. OR, maybe they CAN be competitive next year. The Yankees aren't getting any younger, the O's won't be as lucky, and the Rays, well, who know about the Rays. Dunno, man. It's gonna be interesting no matter what!
dianagramr (VORGville): Do you believe in reincarnation? If so, who/what do you believe Kevin, Jason and yourself will come back as?
Ian Miller: I decidedly do NOT believe in reincarnation, but, if it does happen to be real, I hope whatever supreme being there is shows pity on my ignorant ass and lets me come back as something cool. I'm vegan, so hopefully I'm reducing my karmic burden, so maybe a sacred cow? Is that arrogant? KG has rescued Otto and other animals, and is an all-around good dude, so he'll come back as one of those little Tibetan lama dudes. Parks, unfortunately, is doomed to return as Juan of Juan Deli for the rest of eternity.
jlarsen (chicago): Will a small-market/midsize-market team score this offseason with a reduced value Melky Cabrera on a 1-3 year due to the fact that he is now going to be attached with the stigma of being a PED user and he's gotta re-establish himself/his credibility he lost when the suspension occurred?
Ian Miller: I would certainly think so. Not sure what the $ figure is gonna be, but clearly his price has come down, and he's going to be a solid pickup even if he doesn't replicate his 2012 numbers (which he almost certainly won't). Do the Rays need a corner OF? He seems like a perfect Joe Maddon reclamation project.
Will (Rochester): How would you deal with the referee lock-out and the odious replacement refs in the NFL?
Ian Miller: I would give the refs the piddling $30M they're owed, because I am not an asshole.
Brian (MA): We've seen what PEDs and the backlash against them has done to baseball, what do you think about the current state of cycling? and can the sport ever be "clean" to the point that we can trust (or believe?) the riders? And what do you think about Lance Armstrong?
Ian Miller: Oooh, awesome question! Cycling is an absolutely batshit sport. I don't think non-cycling enthusiasts realize what these guys do. In the big stage races like the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia, these guys ride 100-150 miles EVERY DAY for like 3 weeks, with just 1 or 2 off days. The toll this takes on the body is absurd. So OF COURSE these guys are blood doping and doing everything they can to stay in the race. Hell, a guy will break his collarbone 40 miles into a stage and stay in the race for the next 2 weeks! They're not even human. They're freaky mutants. And obviously I don't care about the integrity of the sport or anything, I just want to watch guys ride 40 MPH, because that's as entertaining as all hell. I'm not a Lance Armstrong fan per se, but I think the entire USADA thing of stripping him of his wins was completely absurd. They have no jurisdiction over that, and it's a goddamn sham of a mockery.
Ace (Upstate): Nancy Grace just tweeted: "Why would 2 teen boys allegedly kill grandma? Was it #MurderForPizza?" Follow-up, what is a Nancy Grace? And how can it be vanquished?
Ian Miller: Everything I know about Nancy Grace comes from watching The Soup with Joel Mchale. From what I gather, she is a zaftig white women with a blond hair helmet who yells about legal matters on TV. I'm not really share how -- or if -- she can be killed, so it's best to be safe: shoot her with a silver bullet, drive a stake though her heart, AND cut off her head. And now I want pizza. #MurderForPizza
Will (Rochester): Serious baseball question time... I am a Pirates fan, and I have become really disheartened and disenchanted watching Pittsburgh over the last two months. What would you do to solve this? Amidst all the crazy chatter about prospects and training with the Navy SEALs, do you think Huntington and company deserve to keep their jobs? Or is all of this much ado about nada?
Ian Miller: Second-half Pirates has been as bad a story as first-half Pirates was a good one. Not sure about Huntington. I mean, he put together that team that won all those games in the 1st half and was in 1st place -- but he also put together the team that lost all those games in the 2nd half. Injuries played a role, of course, and you've got to wonder about conditioning and whether or not Hurdle and his staff had these guys ready to play every day. I'm not that close to the team, so I can't answer any of this. I don't really care about that leaked email or whatever. That stuff is a non-factor and, if the Pirates were still winning, wouldn't have gotten any press at all. Or if it did, people would be pointing to it and saying Hey, look! This worked! Better luck next year, dudes.
rileybreck (Orange County): Kris Medlen's second half has been absolutely ridiculous. In 18 games (11 starts), he's 8-0 with two holds, 1.01 ERA, and opposing hitters have a .492 OPS (.192 BA) against him. Could he get some NL Cy Young votes? Should he? And how in the hell has he turned into (arguably) the most dominant starting pitcher in baseball over the past ~2.5 months?
Ian Miller: I don't think it's even arguable -- he HAS been the most dominant pitcher in the game. Those numbers are absolutely preposterous. He might garner a few votes, sure. With Kershaw hurt and ineffective, there might be some votes up for grabs. I wouldn't bet my house on it, though.
Will (Rochester): Which MLB locker room most closely resembles a frathouse? And why? Also, which clubhouse do you imagine is most like a joy-free high school study hall run by that one teacher's aide who is able to suck the life and fun out of everything?
Ian Miller: Ol' Tracer has to be the least fun skipper in baseball, don't you think? All prayer circles and good works and introspection all the time? That's why the Rockies are so terrible, y'know. You can look it up. Red Sox clubhouse might be the most out of control right now, since Bobby V is basically a substitute teacher right now. Everyone knows they don't have to do anything he says. Marlins might be the most fun, though. Look how they closed ranks behind Ozzie around this whole Heath Bell thing.
Ace (Upstate): As a "vegan," how much do you miss bacon? #want
Ian Miller: I miss bacon less than I love piglets.
Will (Rochester): To what baseball player would you compare Paul Thomas Anderson? And what season or story most closely resembles the arc of "The Master"?
Ian Miller: Good question. I'm not sure "The Master" had much narrative arc though, y'know? It was more a character study, or more accurately a study of the struggle between two men who are strong in very different ways. With that in mind, I'd comp PTA to Paul Konerko. Every plate appearance is an epic struggle of the pitcher trying to inflict his will and Konerko resisting.
Ace (Upstate): I have a younger sister and she listens to terrible music. I am obviously not referring to myself here. She keeps singing about that Adele woman setting fire to the rain?! First, wtf?! How does one set fire to the rain? And follow-up, how do I get her to listen to better music?
Ian Miller: If they can light a river on fire on Cleveland, then Adele might be able to light the rain on fire, right? With younger siblings all you can do is continue to set a good example. Expose her to good music and don't try and inflict it on her, cuz that'll just turn her off to it for life.
jlarsen (chicago): The Royals stated that their goal for the offseason is making a strong push at improving their rotation. With that being quite obvious, why does Dayton Moore remain employed?
Ian Miller: I guess because his deal runs through the end of 2014? Dunno man. He did put together this core of good young talent, though, so give him some credit for that. Then again, he traded for Jonathan Sanchez and signed Jeff Francoeur. I'm as puzzled as you. Being a baseball GM is really, really difficult.
jlarsen (chicago): What is with closers and insane post-save celebrations? Right now, it seems as if the Top 3 are Fernando Rodney's Arrow-launching, Jose Valverde's wiggle-and-stomp and Brian Wilson's "rage"-filled X. Which is your favorite?
Ian Miller: Favorite? Can I pick (D) none of the above? I also wish guys would stop untucking their shirts as soon as the last out is recorded. That's dumb.
Jose Mota (Anaheim): In situations such as with the Angels coming down to right now looking inside themselves from game to game knowing that what lies in front can be always to go pitch-by-pitch, game-by-game, so that when it's time to wind down the season and the last game is played you can talk to the mirror and say whether the A's come back to reality or you're in the wild cards, outloud, "I ... KNOW ... I ... LEFT IT IN THE FIELD." What do you think?
Ian Miller: I think you should speak with manager Mike Scioscia!
Roger (Washington DC): I'm not sure if this qualifies as a cover or not, but avert your eyes, folk music lovers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ng2Ls4OA2k4
Ian Miller: Fantastic. That seems like a perfect place to end this here chat. Thank you for all the thoughtful questions, and the thoughtless ones as well. You guys always make this so much fun. -ian
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
Shipping / Return Process
Shipping and Return
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€60 - DHL Express - Including duties and custom fees.
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Les Benjamins ships worldwide using DHL Express delivery.
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Change / Return Conditions
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We can only accept returns. If you prefer to change size or different product, you can return your order for a refund and create a new order.
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text:
9 red or green Bartlett pears, sliced
1 cup pear cider
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon cardamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon mace
Place all ingredients in a slow cooker.
Cook on low for 10-12 hours. Uncover and cook on low for an additional 10-12 hours or until is roughly your desired thickness and most of the liquid has evaporated. Allow to cool completely then pour into the food processor and puree. Pour into clean glass jars. Refrigerate.
Yield: approximately 4 cups pear butter
My thoughts:
Apple butter might be more common but I think this perfectly spiced pear butter is even tastier. It is rich and creamy but dairy free and a great alternative to jam or jelly. I like it on toast, yogurt, English muffins, biscuits, pancakes, oatmeal, rolls, waffles, muffins and I hear it is tasty swirled into cottage cheese. I have some other ideas on how to use it so I should have a new recipe or two that uses pear butter coming soon.
While you can make this on the stove top using using these instructions, the slow cooker is the way to go. No splatter, no stirring, no monitoring, no having to leave the stove on all night. Once made, the pear butter should keep about 2 months in the refrigerator.


text:
Blue Jays - 000 010 200 - 3 6 0See that red square on the left? That was the pitch that home plate umpire Dale Scott called David Ortiz out on in the bottom of the ninth inning. It should have been Ball 4.
Red Sox - 000 000 002 - 2 6 0
Here is Gameday (pitch 7):
The blown call changed the dynamics of the inning tremendously. With one out and the Red Sox down by three runs, facing Kevin Gregg, Kevin Youkilis singled and J.D. Drew doubled Yook in to make it 3-1. Ortiz was the potential tying run, but instead of having men at first and second and one out, Boston had the one runner at second and two outs.
[Also, a called Strike 2 to Drew on the pitch before his double was almost as bad. That also should have been Ball 4. As SoSHer radsoxfan put it, "This ump is approaching NBA level referee incompetence out there." (Read)
It makes you wonder, especially when you can see how much Scott favoured the Toronto pitchers all afternoon, on both sides of the plate, in this graphic. Jays pitchers got 18 calls on pitches outside the strike zone to Boston's 2. Is Scott BFF with Joe West?]
How much did the obviously wrong call hurt? In nearly 30 years of data found here, home teams down by 2 in the bottom of the 9th, with 1st/2nd and 1 out -- the situation Boston should have had if Scott had made the right call -- came back and won 17.1% of the games (101 of 509). In the situation the Red Sox were put in -- down by 2, man on 2nd, 2 outs -- only 4.2% of teams rallied to win (34 of 810).
Over at FanGraphs, Drew's double increased Boston's chances of winning from 5.5% to 13.7%. The strikeout of Ortiz dropped the odds back down to 5.5%.
Adrian Beltre followed Flo to the plate and checked his swing on a 1-1 pitch. Scott said Beltre swung and refused Beltre's request to check with the first base umpire. It seemed obvious to me that Scott was ignoring Beltre because of Ortiz's complaints about the farcical called strike 3. If so, Scott was punishing one team for being angry at his own mistake, which seriously hurt their chances in the game. He seemingly decided to put his own emotions ahead of doing his job.
Terry Francona, who had come out to guide Tiz back to the dugout, was out again -- the second time in four pitches -- and this time, after he was ejected, he gave Scott an earful. Beltre lined Gregg's next pitch into center for a single and Drew scored to make it 3-2. But Darnell McDonald popped up to the second baseman down the right field line to end the game.
Did Ortiz see a replay of the pitch/call?
I don't have to. Thank God I wasn't hitting righthanded because that would have hit me in the ribs.Wakefield (7-5-3-1-5, 102) allowed a run in the fifth on doubles by Lyle Overbay and Travis Snider. Snider hit a two-run homer in the seventh.
Boston could do very little with Marcum (7-2-0-1-6, 103). The Sox had 1st/3rd with one out in the second, but Beltre and Jeremy Hermida could not deliver. That was their only scoring threat until the ninth.Shaun Marcum / Tim Wakefield
Wakefield makes his 5th start of the year and his first since April 25. He has made three recent relief appearances: 6 runs and 7 hits (including 3 HR) in 6.1 innings. He last pitched on Sunday night, throwing 10 pitches in an inning against the Yankees.Scutaro, SS
Pedroia, 2B
Martinez, C
Youkilis, 1B
Drew, RF
Ortiz, DH
Beltre, 3B
Hermida, LF
Van Every, CF
Other than an April 27 start against the Red Sox at Skydome, Marcum (7-4-1-3-5, 103) has not faced Boston since August 2008.
The Rays play the Angels at 7 PM and the Yankees have a day-night doubleheader (1 & 7 PM) in Detroit.


text:
Special Cases for Purification Offerings.* 1If a person, either having seen or come to know something, does wrong by refusing as a witness under oath to give information,a that individual shall bear the penalty; 2or if someone, without being aware of it, touches any unclean thing, such as the carcass of an unclean wild animal, or an unclean domestic animal, or an unclean swarming creature,* and thus is unclean and guilty;b 3or if someone, without being aware of it, touches some human uncleanness,c whatever kind of uncleanness this may be, and then subsequently becomes aware of guilt; 4or if someone, without being aware of it, rashly utters an oath with bad or good intent,d whatever kind of oath this may be, and then subsequently becomes aware of guilt in regard to any of these matters— 5when someone is guilty in regard to any of these matters, that person shall confess the wrong committed, 6and make reparation to the LORD for the wrong committed: a female animal from the flock, a ewe lamb or a she-goat, as a purification offering. Thus the priest shall make atonement on the individual's behalf for the wrong.
7If, however, the person cannot afford an animal of the flock,e that person shall bring to the LORD as reparation for the wrong committed two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for a purification offering and the other for a burnt offering. 8The guilty party shall bring them to the priest, who shall offer the one for the purification offering first.f Wringing its head at the neck, yet without breaking it off, 9he shall sprinkle some of the blood of the purification offering against the side of the altar. The rest of the blood shall be drained out against the base of the altar. It is a purification offering. 10The other bird he shall offer as a burnt offering according to procedure. Thus the priest shall make atonement on the person's behalf for the wrong committed, so that the individual may be forgiven.
11If the person is unable to afford even two turtledoves or two pigeons, that person shall bring as an offering for the wrong committed one tenth of an ephah* of bran flour for a purification offering. The guilty party shall not put oil or place frankincense on it, because it is a purification offering.g 12The individual shall bring it to the priest, who shall take a handful as a token of the offering and burn it on the altar with the other oblations for the LORD. It is a purification offering. 13Thus the priest shall make atonement on the person's behalf for the wrong committed in any of the above cases, so that the individual may be forgiven. The rest of the offering, like the grain offering, shall belong to the priest.
Reparation Offerings.* 14The LORD said to Moses: 15h When a person commits sacrilege by inadvertently misusing any of the LORD's sacred objects,i the wrongdoer shall bring to the LORD as reparation an unblemished ram from the flock, at the established value* in silver shekels according to the sanctuary shekel, as a reparation offering. 16The wrongdoer shall also restore what has been misused of the sacred objects, adding a fifth of its value,j and give this to the priest. Thus the priest shall make atonement for the person with the ram of the reparation offering, so that the individual may be forgiven.
17If someone does wrong and violates one of the LORD's prohibitions without realizing it, that person is guiltyk and shall bear the penalty. 18The individual shall bring to the priest an unblemished ram of the flock, at the established value, for a reparation offering. The priest shall then make atonement on the offerer's behalf for the error inadvertently and unknowingly committed so that the individual may be forgiven. 19It is a reparation offering. The individual must make reparation to the LORD.
20The LORD said to Moses: 21When someone does wrong and commits sacrilege against the LORD by deceivingl a neighbor about a deposit or a pledge or a stolen article, or by otherwise retaining a neighbor's goods unjustly;m 22or if, having found a lost article, the person lies about it, swearing falsely about any of the things that a person may do wrong— 23when someone has thus done wrong and is guilty, that person shall restore the thing that was stolen, the item unjustly retained, the item left as deposit, or the lost article that was found 24or whatever else the individual swore falsely about. That person shall make full restitution of the thing itself, and add one fifth of its value to it, giving it to its owner at the time of reparation. 25Then that person shall bring to the priest as reparation to the LORD an unblemished ram of the flock, at the established value, as a reparation offering. 26The priest shall make atonement on the person's behalf before the LORD, so that the individual may be forgiven for whatever was done to incur guilt.
* [5:1–13] This differs from the prescriptions for purification offerings in chap. 4 by listing four specific wrongs for which a purification offering is brought and allowing the substitution of birds and grain offerings in the case of poverty.
* [5:2] Swarming creature: a rather imprecise categorization that includes various small creatures in the seas, such as fish that go about in large groups or swarms (Gn 1:20; Lv 11:10); or, similarly, various winged insects that mass in the skies (Lv 11:20; Dt 14:19); and, finally, various small creatures that move in swarms on land, whether crawlers, quadrupeds, or of the multilegged variety (Lv 11:41–42). According to 11:29–30, even various rodents and lizards can be included in this category.
* [5:11] Ephah: see note on Is 5:10.
* [5:14–26] This last half of the chapter deals with a distinct sacrifice, the reparation offering (Heb. 'asham). The Hebrew root for this term has a basic meaning of "be guilty." The noun can have a consequential sense of "that which is due from guilt," i.e., "compensation, indemnification, reparation"; hence the translation "reparation offering," rather than the alternatives "guilt offering" or "trespass offering." This offering is brought most often in cases of sacrilege.
* [5:15] At the established value: the Hebrew term 'erkĕkā, which in context means "(established) value," may indicate that a person could bring the monetary equivalent of a ram instead of an actual animal. See vv. 18, 25.
a. [5:1] Jgs 17:2–3; Prv 29:24.
b. [5:2] Lv 11:1–45; 15:31; 17:15–16.
c. [5:3] Lv 12:4; 13:35–36; 15:2–12, 19–27; Nm 19:14–22.
d. [5:4] Nm 30:3; Jgs 11:30–36; 1 Sm 14:24–30; Mk 6:23–26; Acts 23:12.
e. [5:7] Cf. Lv 5:11; 12:8; 14:21.
j. [5:16] Lv 22:14; 27:13, 15, 19, 27.
B. Instructions for the Priests
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text:
Which States Charge the Most to Insure a New Car?
The cost of new cars doesn't vary much from state-to-state, but the cost of insuring one absolutely does. In fact, auto insurance can cost as much as three times the national average in some states.
A new survey finds various state laws, weather, theft rates, and the overall percentage of uninsured drivers are just some of the factors leading to such drastic price disparities. So where will your wallet take the biggest hit?
At about $2,500 annually, Michigan has the highest auto insurance rates in the country, partially because almost one out of every five drivers in the state is uninsured. This means if you have an accident with one of them, your own car insurance company will have to pick up the tab for repairs -- even if the wreck wasn't your fault.
Meanwhile, in Louisiana, elected judges hear cases for accident claims under $50,000 -- and a judge's chances of being re-elected could depend on his or her reputation for generosity. Because car insurance companies are accustomed to paying out hefty awards in the state, everyone suffers with an annual average insurance rate of $2,453.
And in Oklahoma, weather events like hailstorms occur often enough -- and damage enough cars -- to push insurance rates up to an average of $2,197, the third highest in the country.
Here are the top 10 most expensive states in which to insure a new car, along with the average annual rate:
- Michigan - $2,541
- Louisiana - $2,453
- Oklahoma - $2,197
- Montana - $2,190
- Washington. D.C. - $2,146
- California - $1,991
- Mississippi - $1,896
- New Mexico - $1,837
- Arkansas - $1,836
- Maryland - $1,807