text:
Monday, June 23, 2008
Stocks Worth Air, Drivers Ready to Explode
For Chinese, the Reality of Higher Gas Prices
GANSU — Returning the fueling nozzle to the pump, Zhang Li jumped into the driver's seat of his gas-guzzling Land Rover. "Such a long line," said the 45-year-old tour guide, shaking his head. "What's the world coming to? My stocks are worth air, and now I have to wait an hour for overpriced gas, too."
By JIMMY WANG
Published: June 21, 2008
—The New York Times
If you didn't read this article over the weekend, you really should. Go straight to The New York Times' web site and read it from start to finish.
"I invested 80 percent of my savings," said Wang Li, a 30-year-old manager in Shanghai. "And I've lost over half my money now. I'm angry — the government's measures to keep the stock market above 3,000 have failed."
Seems it's not just the United States that's been cultivating a society of entitlement with an unsustainably horrific energy policy:
As a matter of policy, the Chinese government sets gasoline and diesel prices well below international market prices in order to encourage economic growth. In 2007, China's subsidy of gasoline alone was $22 billion, close to 1 percent of its gross national product.
Somehow, of course, all this will be deemed bullish, although it may not come in time for a few of the local investors:
"When the market took a dive earlier this year, I was really depressed for a while," he said. "I didn't go to work several days; I just drank. Now I'm anxious everyday; I watch the stocks and I can't sleep. I'm just simmering inside with anger. Who knows? One day I might just explode."
Keith Bradsher contributed reporting from Hong Kong. Lucy Liang contributed research from Beijing.
The stocks are worth air, and the investors are ready to explode. Good thing everybody over here plowed into emerging economies last year.
Jeff Matthews
I Am Not Making This Up
© 2008 NotMakingThisUp, LLC
The content contained in this blog represents the opinions of Mr. Matthews.
Mr. Matthews also acts as an advisor and clients advised by Mr. Matthews may hold either long or short positions in securities of various companies discussed in the blog based upon Mr. Matthews' recommendations. This commentary in no way constitutes investment advice. It should never be relied on in making an investment decision, ever. Nor are these comments meant to be a solicitation of business in any way. Inquiries will not be responded to. This content is intended solely for the entertainment of the reader, and the author.
3 comments:
- Mark said...
I hate to sound crass, but okay, I will anyway:
Someone should keep track of this guy... When he finally throws in the towel and sells whatever he's got left, it'll be time to get long over there again.
- grub said...
Didn't Buffett sell his PetroChina stock? If I remember correctly, he made some money on the trade but (with perfect hindsight) one wonders how the possibility of the following occurring escaped him.
"But controls have also squeezed Sinopec and PetroChina, China's top oil refiner and producer, respectively. They still had to pay near-record oil prices on world markets even if they were not allowed to charge market prices to consumers. The companies lost money on every gallon of gas they sold in China."
- Jeff Matthews said...
Buffett sold the PetroChina stock lasat year for $4 billion. Cost him $488 million to build the position in 2002 and 2003.
And you are right that in hindsight the potential for destructive Chinese policies to hurt PetroChina seems obvious.
But at the time Buffett bought the stock, he clearly felt those risks were already discounted in the shares.


text:
Tonight at the 10th annual VGAs, in a flurry of trailers and news, Jessica Alba announced the existence of Dark Souls II, developed by FromSoftware in Tokyo.
The announcement came in the form of a CG trailer which featured an intriguing set of images. It began with a warrior in a thick wood, an armored hand covered in blood, a sunlit mountain cliff, and more. The trailer jumps from one scene to the next, following the warrior in his tireless, painful journey. At one point a cloaked woman interacts with the warrior, and can also be seen looking out upon a distant castle without name or purpose.
The warrior fights a variety of terrors during the video, including a group of masked figures, a dragon, and more. It ends with the warrior, covered in arrows, collapse to his knees as the sun sets before him.
A press release issued after the VGA announcement explains that Dark Souls II will feature a new character and a new storyline. It will also feature a "server-based multiplayer mode." Furthermore, the press release notes that "Dark Souls II will continue a legacy of goading its passionate fan base with unrelenting challenge and suffering that are considered a hallmark of the series; while presenting new devilishly devised obstacles for players to overcome."
Dark Souls II will be available for the PlayStation 3, PC, and the Xbox 360.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Language Schools Commencement Address by John Beyrle
Mead Memorial Chapel
August 17, 2012
President Liebowitz, members of the faculty, relatives and friends of the graduates, and to you, the graduates of the 2012 Middlebury Summer Language Schools:
Are we breaking The Language Pledge right now? I remember very clearly signing that pledge on my first day here in the summer of 1975. They really put the fear of God into us over that piece of paper, for good reason, as things turned out—and it hadn't even been trademarked in those days. I don't think I ever signed anything rescinding the pledge, so it's probably still in force—just another of those moral and ethical dilemmas that diplomats and academics seem to specialize in. I guess I can take some comfort in the knowledge that none of you broke the pledge over the past weeks. If you did, Reverend Geisler will be hearing confession and granting absolution after the ceremony tonight.
It's a great delight for Jocelyn and me to be invited back to Middlebury. And I am truly humbled—no other word quite captures the emotion—to be awarded an honorary degree from this College which, more than any other American educational institution, has elevated the teaching and learning of modern foreign languages to a level beyond science and arts. I think of it as something like the soul of this college. If you Google Middlebury College, Language Schools is the first option offered by predictive search. So to all of you here today who have completed the rigorous academic program that allows you to call yourself a graduate of the Middlebury College Summer Language School, I say: smart move. Congratulations. I salute your accomplishment. Give yourselves a round of applause.
And you can also congratulate yourselves for the contribution you have made to the national interest and national security of the United States, if you're an American. If you come from another country, you've certainly helped your own nation in a similar way—but not to the same degree as the American students. This is not an audience that requires a long lecture on the sad decline of foreign language proficiency in the United States. For me, a single number is sufficient: eighteen. That's the percentage of Americans who say they can speak a language other than English—and this in a country where, according to the Census Bureau in 2009, more than 12% of the population can be classified as immigrants. By contrast, 58% of Europeans can speak more than one language. In China, more than one-fifth of the population is studying English, leading to estimates that by 2030, English-speaking Chinese will outnumber native speakers.
This dominance of English—it's long been considered the global language of business, and now without doubt it is the lingua franca of the Internet, as well—consistently leads otherwise reasonable people to conclude that, for Americans, the study of foreign languages is a waste of time. Just a few months ago, a former President of a major Ivy League university wrote an op-ed in The New York Times in which he argued "English's emergence as the global language, along with the rapid progress in machine translation and the fragmentation of languages spoken around the world, make it less clear that the substantial investment necessary to speak a foreign tongue is universally worthwhile."
As my daughters would say, that is sowrong! And fortunately, Middlebury Vice President Michael Geisler wrote a brilliant essay lacerating that misguided assertion from all sides. I won't quote from it, since it's probably already been translated into all of the languages taught here and should be required reading for years to come. Instead, I'll quote from one of the hundreds of readers who blogged their own eloquent critiques:
"We need to spend more time learning languages, not less, and we need to start in grade school. The fact that people all over the world learn English makes Americans less competitive, not more. When you are hiring for a job and have a selection of people with BAs, MAs, and PhDs, would you pick the guy with just a high school diploma? Of course not. So, if an international company has the option of hiring people who are bilingual or trilingual, why would they pick the monolingual American? Globalization doesn't decrease the need for language study, it increases it. "
But you know all that—that's why you spent your summer at Middlebury. So what do you do now? Back in 1975, when I was sitting in one of those pews, I wondered the same thing: So what am I actually going to do with this? And based on my experience, my advice to you is—don't overworry it. Stay light on your feet. Recognize, accept and celebrate the reality that what you think you want to do or need to do with your certifiably exceptional interest in foreign languages might take you down a road with some unexpected twists and turns. When I left here 37 years ago, at the age of 21, I headed back home and enrolled in grad school at the University of Michigan. I fully intended to get an M.A., or maybe a Ph.D., in Slavic linguistics. I knew, as many of you know, that the next step toward mastery of the language (in my case, Russian) was to study abroad. There weren't a lot of programs to choose from in the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War, but thanks to the summer I spent here, I managed to get on one of them.
And a funny thing happened during those four months that I spent in Leningrad. I discovered something that fascinated me—even more than the Glagolitic alphabet: the political puzzle of the USSR, a country that put the first satellite and the first man in space but couldn't provide enough toilet paper or fresh fruit for its citizens. Something very puzzling was going on. And trying to solve that puzzle pulled me away from linguistics and literature and re-focused me on political science and international relations.
Along the way I met my wife Jocelyn, who had traveled a similar path from Middlebury's Summer Russian School to Leningrad a year or so earlier. We actually met on a US government sponsored exhibition in the Soviet Union, where we worked as Russian-speaking guides demonstrating Polaroid cameras and holograms to Soviet citizens. We got married and joined the State Department as junior diplomats in 1983.
But weren't finished with languages. For our postings to Sofia and Prague, we spent a year learning Bulgarian, and another year learning Czech. So in the end I did sort of get that graduate degree in applied Slavic Linguistics. And I was fortunate to be chosen as the American ambassador to two countries, Russia and Bulgaria, where I could speak the native language at a level where I felt comfortable enough to give live broadcast interviews, and to conduct my meetings with government officials without interpreters. So I know that Nelson Mandela's insight is absolutely true: "If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart."
But a bit of practical advice also seems warranted at commencement time. I've spent almost 3,000 classroom hours over the past 45 years studying five different languages (and, as Jocelyn will tell you, trying with mixed success to fake my way through several more), so in closing I offer you five rules as a guide to success—or at least less pain—in learning a language.
#1. Stay focused. My high school German teacher Mr. Anderson taught me that learning a language is not a hobby—it's a discipline. Too often when Americans study languages they take two years of Spanish, and then maybe another couple of years of French, and end up with no real facility at all. Don't dabble in languages. Hone in on the one or two that you're drawn to, and make its mastery a lifelong obsession.
#2. Go away! When I was a student in Ann Arbor, there was a travel agency with a wonderful sign hanging outside its door. The sign said "Please Go Away." That's rule number two. When you are looking at options for study abroad, try to go far, far away, until you are immersed in the language and the culture and you spend days without speaking or hopefully even hearing or seeing English. That means that if you can, you should choose smaller towns and cities to study in and visit. Avoid Paris—discover Nantes. Spend less time in Moscow, and more in Yaroslavl, or Irkutsk.
Rule #3. Rediscover the radio. Everyone learns languages in a different way, but if you want to be able to communicate, the most important input to learning is what you hear. It is now a simple matter to stream the Russian or Farsi or Mandarin equivalent of NPR or the BBC on your smartphone, and your earbuds insulate you from outside distraction. The more you listen, the more you learn, and of course what you are hearing is the best educated native diction you can find.
#4. Watch your language! As all instructors know, after a certain level of proficiency is reached (or sometimes even before), the student's temptation to try out a few colorful off-color phrases can be irresistible. Resist. As Genevra Gerhart wrote in her classic work The Russian's World, swearing in a foreign language is like shooting a gun without knowing where the bullets come out.
#5. Find a practical outlet. Learning a language is a great joy in and of itself, and it broadens the mind and opens many new doors, but few of us can live off of that for the rest of our lives. The value knowing a language—not to mention your job prospects—are enhanced greatly when you pair the language with another discipline. Diplomacy, business, economics, education—the choice is yours, but you need to focus on that choice now. And remember—if you choose diplomacy, the State Department gives you points for knowing a language—and extra credit for a hard language—in the competition for entry-level positions.
I want to offer one final word of appreciation and admiration for the teachers who are here tonight. I think I've had close to 20 different foreign language instructors over my many years as a student, and I know the exceptional level of passion and commitment that their craft requires. I want to pay tribute to all of them through special recognition of one of them, probably the best and certainly the most inspirational language teacher I was fortunate to encounter, a woman well known to many of you here today: Aleksandra Grigor'evna Baker.
Mrs. Baker was my teacher for Intermediate Russian 201 and 202 back in that summer of 1975. As I said, I was 21, with a natural knack for learning languages that had turned me, frankly, into something of a lazy student. When I got here, I wasn't ready for the rigor of the program. I wasn't working hard at it, and I started to feel myself slipping. I really wondered, in fact, if I had even made the right choice to come to Middlebury in the first place. We had a test one day on Russian verbs of motion (just about the worst thing to have test on if you're having a crisis of confidence) —and I absolutely bombed it. I don't remember taking the test, but I recall vividly when I got it back from Mrs. Baker. I can see the blue mimeographed sheet, I can see her perfect Russian penmanship in red ink, and I remember precisely what she wrote at the top of the page: «Неужели Вы не можете выучить эти слова?» "Do you really mean to tell me you can't learn these words?" Because she knew that I could. It wasn't so much that she taught me Russian that summer, although she did that, too. More importantly, she convinced me that I could learn it, and she inspired me to try harder.
That was a pivotal moment in my life, as things turned out. And for me it embodies the spirit—and the soul—of this wonderful and very special place. I thank you again for inviting Jocelyn and me to come back to Middlebury and recapture just a bit of it today, through all of you


text:
We noted this week that the Packers' receiving corps is as healthy this week as it's been since the very start of the season. That has them feeling pretty good about themselves.
"It makes us very dangerous," Greg Jennings told the Associated Press. "It's pretty obvious when we have all four guys healthy, the amount of big plays that we can accumulate goes up. Aaron has a lot more options."
Jennings missed Week 2 and Weeks 5-12 of the regular season, Jordy Nelson missed Week 8 and Weeks 14-16 and Randall Cobb missed Week 17. Only James Jones played all 16 games of the 2012 season. (Veteran Donald Driver missed Weeks 13, 15 and 17, but when Jennings mentions "all four guys," he's subtly acknowledging that the 37-year-old Driver doesn't have a lot left to contribute.)
Nelson said he doesn't believe there's another team in the NFL that can spread the ball around among as many different wide receivers as the Packers can when everyone is healthy.
"I don't think so," Nelson said. "I don't think you can go four and five deep like we can."
Aaron Rodgers will be happy to have all those weapons at his disposal against the Vikings on Saturday night.


text:
Who Says Men Arn't Sensitive
Date of Joke: Saturday, 27th November, 2010
A woman meets a gorgeous man in a bar. They talk, they connect, they end up
leaving together. They go back to his place, and as he shows her around his
apartment, she notices that his bedroom is completely packed with sweet
cuddly teddy bears. Hundreds of cute small bears on a shelf all the way
along the floor. Cuddly medium-sized ones on a shelf a little higher. Huge
enormous bears on the top shelf along the wall.


text:
Hamas targets Jerusalem as Egypt backs Gaza
Date created : Latest update :
Israel and Hamas continued to trade fire on Friday, with the Gaza militants targeting Jerusalem with a rocket for the first time in history. Egypt's President Mohamed Morsi, meanwhile, has pledged support for Gaza.
- Hamas fired a rocket at Jerusalem for the first time ever, hitting an uninhabited area outside of the city.
- At least 27 Palestinians and three Israelis have so far been killed since the fighting erupted last week.
- Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi promised to support Gaza as the country's Prime Minister Hisham Kandil visited the Palestinian territory.
- Israel continued to amass tanks and armoured personnel carriers near the Palestinian territory's border, suggesting Israel was readying for a ground attack.
- Israeli ministers approve call-up of as many as 75,000 reservists.
Air raid sirens sounded in Jerusalem on Friday, as Hamas militants said they had fired a long-range rocket at the city - the first attack on the holy city in Hamas' history. Israeli media reported the rocket landed in an uninhabited zone outside of the city.
In Gaza, Israeli aircraft targeted the rocket-launching operations of Gaza-based militants, the barrage only mildly relenting during a visit to the area by Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Kandil.
Israel also started to amass tanks and armoured personnel carriers near the border with the Palestinian territory, while ministers approved the call-up of as many as 75,000 reservists to ready for a broader operation, indicating that a ground invasion might be coming soon.
Across the Red Sea, Egypt threw its support behind Gaza, with President Mohamed Morsi promising that his country would "not leave Gaza on its own" in face of Israel's "blatant aggression against humanity", the MENA news agency reported.
Tel Aviv rocket a 'game changer'
At least 23 Palestinians and three Israelis have been killed since the fighting began last week, when Hamas launched rocket strikes against the Jewish state.
Cross-border fighting intensified after an Israeli air strike on Wednesday killed top Hamas commander Ahmed al-Jaabari, triggering a major flare-up in and around the tiny Palestinian enclave that is home to 1.6 million people.
Operation Pillar of Defence is Israel's biggest military campaign in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip in nearly four years.
On Thursday evening, sirens in Tel Aviv sent commuters scurrying home as a rocket crashed into the sea near the coastal city, but caused no casualties.
Gaza-based Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack. "We have widened the range of the battle to reach Tel Aviv and what is coming will be greater," the group said in a statement.
FRANCE 24 correspondent Iris Makler said the Tel Aviv rocket was "a game changer" for the Israelis. "Whether they take that next step and go in for a ground operation is not yet clear," she said.
The unremitting violence, which erupted as Israel heads towards a January general election, sparked expressions of deep concern from the international community and prompted an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council in New York on Wednesday.
Cast Lead fears
FRANCE 24 correspondent Gallagher Fenwick reported from Gaza City that Gazans feared the incursion could escalate to become comparable with the one they saw four years ago with Israel's Operation Cast Lead.
"There is a troubling coincidence that such a huge Israeli operation is taking place just two months before Israel's next legislative elections," he said.
Operation Cast Lead, which saw more than a thousand Gazans killed during three weeks of air strikes from December 2008 to January 2009, took place months before Israel's last round of legislative elections.
Global divide
The latest Israeli operation has prompted an outpouring of anger across the Arab and Muslim world, with Tehran accusing the Jewish state of "organised terrorism" and Qatar's prime minister saying the strikes "must not pass unpunished."
As Russia slammed Israel for "disproportionate" use of force in Gaza, Britain said it was Hamas that bore "principal responsibility" for the current crisis, with both governments calling for calm.
Middle East envoy Tony Blair also urged Hamas to stop targeting Israeli towns, warning that "the retaliation will increase" while the US White House said there was "no justification" for rocket attacks on Israel and blamed Hamas for the explosion of violence.
(FRANCE 24 with wires)


text:
Over the last few weeks I've been focusing on some personal and professional development. Part of that has included finally take a serious look at Adobe Flex.
In a nutshell Flex is a framework for developing applications with actionscript that run in Flash Player or Air.
Adobe uses the buzzword "RIA" or Rich Internet Applications when describing the nature of the applications you build with Flex. I'm not crazy about buzzwords, but I appreciate where this one comes from. I've been developing web-based applications for nearly eight years (that's over and above the time spent tinkering with web pages since the dawn of the web). The only limitation of web-based applications has been building exceptional (extraordinary) user interfaces for those applications that are on par with the user experience of desktop applications. Don't get me wrong, its been getting much easier to build those interfaces because of the ubiquity of faster processors, broadband and amazing javascript frameworks like jQuery. But even so, there are times when you bump into some technical or practical limitation of XHTML and javascript.
The folks over at IMAGEX MEDIA just posted one of the better/straightforward descriptions of how to use SVN vendor branches.
When managing several Drupal projects you must have a way to manage the code for each individual project in such a way as to reduce the likelihood of errors when updating or upgrading. It doesn't hurt that the same code management strategy also reduces the work required to do upgrades.
I personally use a strategy where Drupal (core), contributed modules and individual projects all have their own repositories. A project repository in most cases will only contain the 'sites' folder. And that sites folder will only actually contains settings files and custom modules, themes and theme assets. Everything else (Drupal and contributed modules) is brought into projects via SVN externals.
But the use of vendor branches and Externals are not mutually exclusive. Even in my configuration vendor branches can still be used to manage the core Drupal repository and the contributed modules themselves (particularly patched versions of contributed modules).
Today I added a tiny new feature to this website. Basically, I wanted a way to add a 'tweet this' link to posts of certain content types like blogs or maybe articles.
I did some searching and found that a module called 'tweet' exists. (Be Circle Rule 12 of Drupal states that if you have an idea for a module that module has already been written**). Tweet seemed to do everything I wanted, but on closer inspection I discovered it did a bit too much. The module does what it advertises, and appears to work, but it's just not for me.
What do you do in theses situations?
Today I finish up the series of articles about upgrading from Drupal 5 to Drupal 6. Earlier posts in the series included: Finally Time to Upgrade to Drupal 6, How to upgrade Drupal 5 to Drupal 6 - Step 1: Planning and Step 2: Getting Drupal 5 Upgrade Ready
The first few posts were all about getting you to the stage where you can actually go ahead and upgrade your Drupal installation. In 25 words or less, do rigorous planning and take several actions to prepare your Drupal 5 site for upgrade before upgrading to Drupal 6.
In this post I finally tackle the actual Drupal upgrade process and include some final thoughts on testing your success.
Last week I started a series of posts about upgrading to Drupal 6. Starting with Finally Time to Upgrade to Drupal 6 followed by How to upgrade Drupal 5 to Drupal 6 - Step 1: Planning.
If you are planning an upgrade to Drupal 6, you might want to read those posts before reading this one. In the last post I suggested making an upgrade plan and doing some legwork before you jumped into the act of upgrading. Part of that plan is to prepare your Drupal 5 site for upgrade. In other words, do everything you have to do to your Drupal 5 site ready before you finally start moving it to Drupal 6. Depending on your site and how up to date you like to keep it, this may be at least as time consuming as the actual move from Drupal 5 to Drupal 6.
Yesterday I posted an article about why you should upgrade to Drupal 6. Today I'm writing the first of a series of posts on how to upgrade, in an effort to make sure you have no excuses not to.
When you download Drupal it comes with an 79 line document called UPGRADE.txt. UPGRADE.txt is essential reading when going through an upgrade. So important in fact that you should go and read it now and come back.
Done? Very good. As you can see, the document only covers the mechanics of an upgrade. Important information indeed, but it doesn't include any of the dozens of things you may need to do even before you get started. You should not open the document and start executing the steps without planning ahead. If you jump right in you may get to step 9 (Re-install contributed modules) and find that there isn't an upgrade path for one of the contributed modules you use.
So as you may have guessed, the first thing you should do is start formulating your plan. The plan I created for the upgrade of this site had 4 basic phases:
Today, I'm only covering the first phase.
It's a week into the new year, and many of us are nearly finished breaking the last of our resolutions. However, there is one resolution you should not break if you're still running a Drupal 5 site. You've put it off long enough and it is finally time to upgrade to Drupal 6. If you're not convinced I'm going to tell you why you should.
First, a bit of background and a brief look to the future. It used to be that the world could expect a new Drupal release every 12 months or so. Drupal 5.0 was released about a year after Drupal 4.7. Drupal 6.0 was released February 13, 2008, 13 months after Drupal 5. And, you may have noticed that it is now January 2009 so you might expect that there is a Drupal 7 release on the horizon.
I wouldn't blame you for thinking this, but a funny thing happened on the way to a Drupal 7 release.
Even wonder what a site looks like during an upgrade?
Well this is it :)
As you can see a new theme is in place after @24 hours of garland. And while I am happy enough with the theme to enable it, I still have a list of about 27 //@TODO items left to... ummm... do.
Maybe down to 20 //@TODO items after attempting to pretty up some navigation elements and fine tune some positioning. Big work is making comments and forms pretty. But that will have to be another day.
If you're like me you've installed Ubuntu as a Virtual Machine inside of your day to day OS using Sun xVM VirtualBox (By far the Easiest to use freely available VM tool - it just works). And if you're like me you were perplexed that for all your efforts you couldn't easily adjust the screen resolution of the Ubuntu VM.
That is until you read either this post - or the post I link to: Installing Guest Additions for Ubuntu
I'm not going into all the specific details of this operation (the link provided does a good job). But, basically, once you've got Ubuntu running inside of Sun xVM Virtual Box you need to take one more step. If you click the menu item shown in the screen cap, Ubuntu will open its file browser exposing the location of the Guest Additions available to you. Once you know where they are, you pop open a terminal - cd to that location and run the Guest Addition .run file that matches your host OS.
After that you can reboot Ubuntu - and you will have the following:
A while back I was looking to get someone a bit more involved in services module development to take a look at a patch I'd made for the json_server module. (Provide support for binary/file field handling in case you're interested and want to comment)
In doing so I got in touch with dmitrig01 on IRC and after a bit of chatting he said he'd love someone on board actively maintaining the json_server module. While I insisted that I am the poster boy for worst module maintainer hall of fame he added me as maintainer anyway after I helped out with some documentation. http://drupal.org/node/239796
That was in September. So in worst module maintainer fashion, I am now finally getting around to cleaning out the issue queue.
So in the near future you can expect:


text:
0 Members and 5 Guests are viewing this topic.
http://www.leenks.com/link450450.htmlGREAT collection of the "good guys" in life that make things a bit more fair in a world that would rather kick you in the shin then uppercut you.
This tumblr is amazing (especially if you're a music student): http://musictheoryaugmented.tumblr.com/samples:Eighteenth-century audience: when a piece modulated to flat VIEvery time somebody calls an instrumental work a songAdding a new line to the curriculum vitaeJust jamming to some HildegardGrading figured bass homework for a freshman classRichard WagnerI could keep going all day with this, but this will do for now. Even if you don't understand most of the jokes, the reaction gifs are a merit of its own to check out. (I mean, look at that cute bunny).
But seriously though, why aren't you using repel?


text:
The wintery mix that fell Tuesday stuck throughout Eastern North Carolina, including Onslow and Carteret Counties.
The wintery mix that fell Tuesday stuck throughout Eastern North Carolina, including Onslow and Carteret Counties.
�It didn't get above freezing today,� Meteorologist Rich Brandy said. �The sun may have caused some melting, but not much.�
According to Brandy, Richlands had the highest total of sleet and snow in Onslow County, measuring at 4 inches. Jacksonville's had 3 inches while Hubert and Belgrade reported a wintery mix total of 2 and 1.3 inches respectively.
Carteret County's totals were more modest with Morehead City having the highest total at 2 � inches. Newport was close behind with 2.3 inches.
Though more precipitation isn't in the local forecast, commuters this evening aren't out of the woods yet. Since temperatures stayed low and the sun's presence was scarce throughout the area, Brandy said those returning from work may still face tricky road conditions made worse by earlier drivers.
�The snow and ice on the roads can be compacted by melted ice as well as other cars,� Brandy said. �You could get a little grip earlier today when the snow was fresh, but as it gets compacted, it turns into a solid sheet of ice which makes it harder to get any traction.�
Brandy said drivers should continue to drive slowly and cautiously as they make their way home this afternoon.
Christopher Thomas is a staff writer at The Daily News. Contact him at firstname.lastname@example.com.


text:
This is just a nice little example which might be worth noting for those who do not know Open Street Map (I am also a relatively new user of it).
I had a nice walk in Marseille yesterday, which included going down from the big cathedral on the top of the hill ("Notre Dame de La Garde") to the seaside. There is a not-very-well-known path behind the church that one can take which is, for my taste anyway, a gorgeous way of doing it.
The path of course appears on Google's Map: look at the small path going from the church to the "Rue du Bois Sacré". However: look at the same area using Open Street Map: not only is the path there, but it gives a bunch of details. Indeed, it is not really a simple path: it is a long series of steps, i.e., do not try to drive even a bike there:-( And because it is a hot city, it is also good to know that there is small public fountain along the path (and, indeed, it is there and it works!)…
It is not really Google's fault. They probably got the material from some sort of an official mapping system (they could not get their camera cars or bikes up there…) and there is no way a company, even as huge as Google, can cover such details. But a community-driven site can: people can add such details easily. (Actually, there was part of the path that was missing, and I will add it soon using my GPS readings.) Therein lies the power:-)


text:
For two winters (folks here in Minnesota measure time by winters) we've lived cozy and warm in our hay house. Now before you start to spout three-little-pigs legends, let me assure you that our unorthodox home has been quite comfortable in 40-below weather, and — because it was always intended to be a temporary structure — we'll "huff and puff" our inexpensive little shelter down all by ourselves, someday.
Inspired by a Round Straw House
In the summer of 1977, we began to build an octagonal stone house, using the slip-form method popularized by Helen and Scott Nearing . . . but we had little concept of how long our project would take us. We simply proceeded with our plans, worked hard, and made a great deal of progress.
However, the area's first heavy snowstorm hit on October 11, and with it came the sobering realization that — however furiously we might work — it would be impossible for us to occupy our house before winter settled in.
At the time, we were living in a 10-by-11 foot screened hunting shack (the only building on our property when we bought it). We had crammed our bed, all the supplies for our stained-glass window-making home business, an Ashley stove, a gas plate, a sink, a kitchen cupboard, tools, clothing, and (occasionally) two Russian wolfhounds into the small shelter. Of course, these were clearly impossible conditions under which to spend a long Minnesota winter ... especially since we expected a child in February! What's more . . . we couldn't afford an apartment in town, and moving in with friends for a whole winter was likely to result in damaged relationships.
Just when the situation looked hopeless, though, we remembered an article in MOTHER EARTH NEWS about a round haybale structure ... searched our copy out ... and realized we could modify that plan to produce a dwelling with a larger living and storage area and a stronger roof. We'd also seen diagrams of Mandan — and other Indian tribes' multi-sided pole lodges. Such a form seemed practical, because it would provide lots of internal space without requiring excessively long poles. Since a rounded shape appealed to us, we combined the two ideas . . . and decided upon a pole structure with stacked hay walls. The center support area — at the greatest possible distance from the highly flammable walls — would be a perfect spot for our wood stove.
Building the Round Hay House
Luckily, our early October snow melted quickly, and we went into the woods to cut poles from some of the plentiful spruce trees. Because we knew winter could arrive at any moment, we didn't bother to peel the timber (although we found time to perform this important chore later). Nor did we creosote the wood used in the temporary shelter.
Our land had been a homestead years before, so it wasn't difficult to find a cleared, flat site with good drainage (a very necessary consideration, since we planned to use the ground for a floor).
We measured out our six-sided area and — with a post-hole digger — dug evenly spaced, 2 and a half foot deep holes. The 90-foot circumference of the structure consisted of a pole at each corner and one in the middle of each wall. We also sank six similar posts — in a hexagonal pattern around a six-foot diameter center area . . . and started to notch and lay cross beams and tie-in supports. It wasn't what you'd call "finish work", as the cuts and notches were done with a chain saw and all of our timber was simply spiked together.
With the walls framed in, we began work on the roof . . . because we didn't want to lay our hay bales until there was covering to protect them from rain or snow. We couldn't afford lumber, but with the help of friends managed to cup lots and lots of poles and create a nearly solid umbrella-like roof ... which would be sturdy enough to support "shingles' of plastic, hay, and sod. (We were careful to make the eaves project far enough to cover the walls . . . and then some! )
It was necessary to partially peel the roof poles . . . to prevent bark or rough spots from wearing holes in the plastic that went over the timbers. When the "umbrella" was assembled, we spread about 45 bales of hay — taken apart into pallets that we laid as close together as possible — on top of the plastic-covered wooden latticework. (This was to serve as insulation . . . but — as it turned out — wasn't adequate for our cold northern winters.) Another layer of plastic went over the hay, and then we started to cut and lay sod . . . again with the welcomed help of friends.
Unfortunately, we didn't get the whole roof sodded before a big freeze came . . . and then snow. (When we finished the job — during the next spring and summer we found that the sod had been a big factor in protecting that top layer of plastic.
The sections of roof that weren't covered had already started to deteriorate, and we had to patch them up before we could lay the rest of the turf. Also, if we'd had time, we would have ordered some more durable, heavy-gauge plastic . . . but we were forced to make do with what was available in our small town.)
The most complicated part of the construction involved the freestanding center section of the roof which would house our stovepipe ... and which required the use of store-bought lumber. We built a small mitered hexagon to fit around the Metalbestos stovepipe . . . and supported the wooden form with 2-by-4's radiating in and up from the center poles. Then we laid boards over the top of this entire center-roof structure and cut out square holes for three glass blocks that would serve as miniature skylights. No hay was used on this section — in the interests of fire safety — and the whole area was waterproofed with a layer of clear plastic placed topside.
Tricks for Using Hay Bale "Bricks"
When we learned that a friend had extra hay that year, we considered ourselves lucky to pay $200 for 200 bales. However — when we built our shop addition this fall — we found year-old hay selling for 35 cents a bale . . . so such leftover feed is the way to go if it's available. (We also think straw might be even better than hay, because it's mostly stalks and has more dead air space.)
It was, of course, important that the bottom row of hay not get damp, so we laid plastic down . . . put the bales on top of it . . . and then folded the sheets up and over our hay "bricks". Baling twine was used to tie each bale to its "neighbors" . . . and — since we had nailed diagonal braces between some of the outer posts — many of the blocks could be attached to a pole as well.
Quickly, in a bricklayer's pattern, the walls went up . . . with lots of loose hay crammed into any open cracks as we went along. There were a number of places — at corners and around window areas — where we needed only a portion of a bale. In such cases we took the hay apart, retied as much of it as we needed, and saved the rest for stuffing.
We didn't have any problem obtaining windows, since we had a lot of old storm and casement units that we'd picked up for a dollar apiece at auctions or "discontinued" sales. We chose the worst of these for the hay house and saved the good windows for our future stone "mansion". But we did need frames that were deep enough to sit on a hay bale, and strong enough to support the 15-to-18 inches of fodder above. We also wanted to "double up" our glass surfaces for extra insulation.
At first, we built 12-inch-deep window frames from rough 2-by-6's. We later decided that this was "overkill engineering", however, so the rest of our units were made from salvaged 1-by-6 foot lumber. The corners were toenailed, and 2-by-4's were fastened around the inside to hold the two matching frames together and help create a tighter insulating air space between them.
Finally, we wedged the windows in on top of the third row of bales-in pairs, one from the inside and one from the outside-and nailed each frame to a support pole. (When spring came . . . we hinged some of our windows to open either up or to one side, and stapled screens on the outer wooden "borders".)
The door frame was made in much the same way as were the window supports . . . and it surrounded a heavy "double door" that had two inches of styrofoam sandwiched in the middle.
Weatherproofing the Hay Bale Building
We were almost done and glad of it, because the nights in our little shack were getting colder all the time and we didn't like trying to heat the great out-of-doors with our poor Ashley.
Our "final touches" consisted of stuffing as much hay as we could under the eaves and into the space that was left between the roof poles. We also laid our plastic vapor barrier on the ground, and then our rugs . . . and some used linoleum that designated the kitchen area. Last of all, we placed bricks in a bed of sand in the center section . . . to make a heatproof base for our new Defiant stove (and — although we've never had to use it — installed a fire extinguisher in a handy spot nearby)
It was 10 degrees below zero outside when we lit the first fire in our temporary home. Winter had arrived, but we were grateful that the cold weather had waited for us to finish — or almost finish — our house. During that first night, though, we realized that our home was simply not warm enough yet and that we would have to cover the walls with a good ol' plastic windbreak. Granted, such material isn't aesthetically pleasing, and it's a high-tech, petroleum-based product . . . but it seemed to be the only practical solution at that moment. The plastic was stretched over the inside walls and all the way around the outside of the structure. And, ah . . . what a difference the extra windproofing made!
However, we were still losing a lot of heat up through the roof ... we could tell — by the rate of snow-melt — that our six inches of hay simply didn't provide a sufficient barrier! So we had to solve the problem of how to hang fiberglass batts without damaging them (after all, you should be able to recycle the materials used in a temporary house!) when there were no conventional rafters to support the insulation.
Finally, we decided to string lengths of previously acquired army field telephone wire from the center cross-ties out to the circumference of the house . . . which created a loose webbing to support the fiberglass. Then — with great difficulty — the batts were pushed up through the network, flattened out, and all the spaces between them closed up. Once the fiberglass was in place, we pulled the wires taut — drawing the batts up against the ceiling — and retied each "cable". With additional insulation stapled against the central roof section, our house — which had taken a month to build and two more weeks to winterize — was as cozy as anyone could wish.
Our last cold-weather job was to build a doghouse...which we accomplished in about an hour, using hay bales and old lumber. Once that was done, we knew the whole "family" would be warm.
An Extended Stay
When spring finally arrived, our minds turned to a garden . . . so, we constructed a sun-heated greenhouse against the hay home's south walls, with old railroad ties for a base and a recycled lumber framework to support more salvaged storm windows. This hothouse allowed us to start plants early, as well as grow tomatoes and cucumbers well into the following October . . . which is quite late for northeastern Minnesota.
Last fall, to prepare for our second winter here, we restuffed the spaces under the eaves where the hay had settled. We also decided that the time had come to get our stained-glass work out of the living area proper . . . because our little daughter, Chris, was starting to get around the house on her own.
As it turned out, we had no trouble building an adjoining 9-by-12 foot shop . . . again, using the pole-and-hay technique. We replaced a window with a door that leads to the "crafts" area . . . and we heat the extra room — with a small gas stove — only when one of us is out there. What a joy to have so much room to work! And, by moving the shop to other quarters, we effectively increased our living area . . . so the 30-foot-diameter house with its 12-foot center ceiling and lack of interior walls feels more spacious than ever.
As another tribute to our daughter's new mobility, we closed off our wood stove by using the six center posts to support a chicken-wire fence . . . and installed a hinged gate to simplify the firetending chores.
When we built our hay home, we planned to occupy it for no more than one winter and summer . . . but it's proven to be so comfortable that we no longer feel rushed about completing our stone dwelling. Many people must go heavily in debt for a place to live, but we have ours . . . right here where our construction work is. And — besides our stained-glass-window business — we've taken part-time jobs to pay for our building materials as we go along. We've even bought a small saw-mill to make lumber — not only for our house — but for many projects to come.
If we'd rented a place in town until the "permanent" house was built, we would have been forced to take out a mortgage to cover our construction costs. So, even though the hay structure hasn't been as "temporary" as we originally intended, it has enabled us to live comfortably and do what we want to do.
And although we've enjoyed our $400 home (the greenhouse and shop combined cost another $100), we still anticipate the day when we'll look out from our great stone house and see an open area up here . . . knowing that the hay has gone for mulch and compost, the poles have been used for other projects, and we've recycled as many of the other materials as possible.
Other Straw Bale Buildings
When you need to shelter some livestock or poultry inexpensively — and in a hurry — consider building a hay or straw shed. Such structures have been around since the first thatched roof, and can be emergency livestock housing problem solvers, or (with well-constructed frames) can last for years . . . although the sides and/or roof may have to be repaired or renewed from time to time.
The most important consideration when erecting this type of shelter is the choice of a dry, well-drained location. If such a spot is unavailable, it'll be necessary to do some filling and grading to make sure the floor and the area outside the entrance is higher than the surrounding ground . . . to avoid flooding.
The frame of an 18-by-24 foot shed, for example, should consist of at least three rows of firmly set (sink 'em three to four feet deep!) posts . . . one group making up the front of the structure, one the back, and the third running down the "middle" of the room. The distance between rows — and between the individual poles in each group — shouldn't be more than six or eight feet. Remember, too, that the frame supports should be tall enough to provide ample headroom for both humans and animals.
When the uprights are in place, heavy girders can be set along the tops of the three rows of posts. If sufficiently sturdy poles aren't available for this application, a pair of 2-by-10 inch or 2-by-12 inch planks — set on edge side by side and bolted together — will make a satisfactory beam.
Lighter poles can serve as cross pieces from the center girder to the outside walls. If these supports are placed 1-1/2 to 2 feet apart, they'll keep most of the straw from falling through. (By covering the poles with a thick layer of plastic, you can both increase the straw's insulating abilities and help prevent leaks.)
When you use straw for a roof, keep in mind that — while flax straw and long hay tend to shed water — oat, barley, or wheat straw will absorb considerable moisture, add to the roof's weight, and tend to leak in the spring. Any straw or hay roof, however, will provide good insulation and waterproofing if it's at least two feet thick at all points . . . and built up even higher at the center. Make sure, too, that you build the roof out over the side walls ... to carry the water away from the structure.
Old railroad ties, concrete blocks, flat stones, or plastic can be used to keep the hay walls off the ground. When building with bales in extremely cold climates, consider using a double row of "blocks" for each wall. Also, be sure to stuff hay between the walls and the roof to keep heat from escaping . . . and examine the structure periodically to make sure it hasn't settled. And, of course, wire fencing must cover all exposed hay surfaces ... to keep your critters from "eating themselves out of house and home".
The size of the building's openings will be determined by the type of livestock to be housed there, but try to put all doors and windows on one side (preferably the south) to avoid excessive drafts. Cloth or plastic may be tacked over the windows in the winter and taken off when more air is needed. Usually, you'll want a tight door . . . sometimes both storm and inner doors are necessary.
Loose hay can — when bales aren't available — also be used in outbuilding construction. Simply pack the material into a form consisting of two parallel rows of sturdy posts that are "walled" with strong wire fencing. (The packed hay should be three to four feet thick, and — of course must be closed in well enough to keep hungry livestock from pulling at the fodder.) As the straw settles, be sure to add more material to prevent cracks and drafts.
A cattle yard that's exposed to the wind can also be protected by constructing thick fences from bales of hay enclosed with posts and woven wire. However, open windbreaks generally need to be eight to ten feet high to provide adequate protection.
When straw and hay shelters are properly constructed and maintained, they can provide ideal places in which to fatten lambs, cattle, and hogs ... or for use as farrowing and lambing sheds, as shelter for wintering cattle, poultry houses, or simply as welcome summer shade.
So even if your budget is stretched to the breaking point, you can provide for your livestock's needs. Just remember that hay is the way!


text:
Meep, belatedly catching up with blogging about Music Hackday London, which happened back in December 2011 and was held in the wonderfully retro boardrooms of the Barbican, London.
My hack for Music Hackday was an interactive musical t-shirt and as you can see I've 'hacked' the official Music Hackday t-shirt 😉 I didn't win any prizes, possibly because just about every sponsor awarded prizes only to people who made apps with their APIs – so a bit disappointing and a bit of an issue for Hackdays.
Basically I wrote a script that allows a LilyPad Arduino to use its pads as a musical keyboard. I've elongated these pads to make a musical scale and the user can play tunes in the C scale – C,D,E,F,G,A,B,C
The piece uses LilyPad Arduino with sewable conductive thread, rather than wires to conduct voltage and signal.
To play it the user takes a stylus and plays the notes on the LilyPad pads or can play by touching the conductive thread tracks or pad on the corresponding LEDs which also light up individually when a note is played.
It was also an exercise in acknowledging one's blushing embarrassment in that it's quite odd and one feels self conscious to be wearing a musical t-shirt played by someone else – maybe better to stick to playing such things yourself 😉
If you'd like to see some of the hacks, have a peruse of the Music Hackday wiki.


text:
Sorry about the short notice, but to those who didn't get the evite we are having an event and we want you to come:
When: Wednesday, January 27, 6:00PM
Where: Park + Vine
1109 Vine Street
Cincinnati, OH 45202
Please join Slow Food Cincinnati for our 2010 Kickoff Meeting at Park+Vine downtown! We are excited to meet Slow Food Cincinnati Members and food enthusiasts alike for an evening of delicious local food and beverages, conversation, and information about our group. The event is free of charge, however we welcome any donations to offset the costs of refreshments.
Please bring your appetite, ideas, and interest in supporting good, clean, fair food. We look forward to seeing you soon!
For more information on becoming a registered Slow Food member, please visit www.slowfoodusa.org. We welcome both Slow Food members and non-members to this event.
RSVP here:
Facebook Event Page


text:
Illustration: Hands
Your love is all in you hands. - Inspired by this poem by Carol Shlyakhova: «My friend once told me she liked this guy because of his hands And I found it absurd that anyone would develop feelings over one feature, and not care about the rest It wasn't until you used your hands to cup the back of my neck the first time we kissed and I could feel your firm grasp pull me closer, and my insides exploded and my head buzzed with bliss. And the first night you slept over, you fell asleep with your hand laid over my stomach and your fingers felt like a fire that I didn't mind burning my skin. The first time we got drunk, was the first time you played with my hair, and my god I was hooked, I'd drink forever if it meant you'd never stop. And in public you'd hold my hand, and rub your thumb in little circles that left me wanting you more, no matter what you would never let me go, I was glued to you, and I honestly didn't mind When we talked about breaking up, you saw my lips quiver with fear, and you brushed over my lips with your fingers before pulling me into your lap and you kissed me like never before. With your hands on my hips pulling me so close to you, leaving no space in between us. It was then I realized I never wanted you to go Its now that, I finally understand why hands were the only feature that mattered.»


text:
X7 Crankset
The SRAM X7 crankset delivers consistent performance every time out. Featuring SRAM's X-GLIDE™ chainrings, the X7 crankset is engineered for 2x and 3x shifting performance. Flawless shifting means you'll never again compromise your speed and power in unpredictable off-road terrain. X-GLIDE™ puts you in the right gear, right now.
- X-Glide™ 2x10 and 3x10 shifting technology
- Optimized AL7050 crank arms deliver high-performance strength and power transfer
Euro: €166 - €210
Euro MSRP includes VAT
Some variations of this product featured on this page are not available for purchase and are installed on bicycles as original equipment only. See your dealer for details.
*Maximum Suggested Retail PriceFind a Dealer Product Matrix
Specifications for X7 Crankset
|Arm Material
|Chainring Material
|872g (24mm spindle, 175mm, 38-24t, with GXP® bottom bracket)
|Available Arm Lengths
|170mm, 175mm, 180mm
|Available Ratios
|2x10: 42-28t, 39-26t, 38-24t, 36-22t; 3x10: 44-33-22t
|Performance optimized with SRAM Chains
|Storm Grey
|Bottom Bracket
|PressFit 30™, BB30, GXP®, PressFit GXP®
|24mm, 30mm
Besides serious weight savings, this bottom bracket means narrow Q-factor, more ankle clearance, greater bearing durability and stronger crank construction.
GXP's Gutter Seal design cuts friction and weight—improving both feel and performance.
- PressFit™
A variant of the external GXP bottom bracket, PressFit cuts weight by up to 40 grams and eases installation by allowing you to press the bearing cups into the frame instead of threading them. It requires no change to the crank spindle length and diameter.
- Pressfit 30™
This is a new design led by SRAM. It's all the best from BB30 and Press-Fit bottom brackets in one captivating package. This bottom bracket is designed for 30mm spindle cranksets. The key difference with PressFit 30 is how the bearings are fitted into the frame. Bearings are housed in nylon cups which will be pressed into the frames bottom bracket shell. PressFit 30 will feature an integrated seal, pre-assembled into the cups, to further prolong bearing life. Frames will need a 46mm inner-diameter bottom bracket shell to accommodate this system. PressFit 30 for road will require a 68mm wide shell while PressFit 30 for MTB will require a 73mm wide shell. Advantages: Huge weight savings, narrow Q-factor, more ankle clearance, greater bearing durability, stiffer/stronger crank construction, simple installation. Allows for larger diameter frame tubes increasing frame stiffness. Drawbacks: Still searching.
- X-Glide™
Imagine being able to shift smoothly at any time, no matter what. We're talking full-power shifts. Up, down, whatever the trail demands. The benefit of the X-Glide drivetrain is simple, yet, when you think about it, incredibly impactful to the way you ride. Flawless shifting means you'll never again compromise your speed and power in unpredictable off-road terrain.
Here's how we did it: TRUVATIV's crank engineers threw away the old standards and developed a new chainring geometry from the ground up. They precisely paired the different-sized chainrings and redesigned where and how the chain engages with the rings. By aligning the chainring pick-up rivets to the chain pivot pin—rather than the middle of the chain link—you get double the shift opportunities.
No more missed shifts, ever. X-Glide puts you in THE RIGHT GEAR, right now.
Documents Available for X7 Crankset
See more documents available for SRAM MTB products.


text:
#IOC (International Olympic Contradictions)
Pure Sport, a platform created by sports wear company SKINS, is leading a campaign challenging the International Olympic Committee's decision to award the 2014 Winter Olympics to Russia. The campaign #IOC (International Olympic Contradictions) will highlight what Pure Sport says is the "hypocrisy and contradiction" within the IOC. It will unfold across primary social media channels for the duration of the games. There has been international concern at some aspects of Russia's hosting of the games, including recent laws concerning homosexuality and the treatment of black sportspeople in the country.
Pure Sport will roll out a series of messages via its Twitter account highlighting "how fundamental Olympic principles have been compromised and certain social groups left isolated, by the staging of the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi". Further information has been made available on the Pure Sport website. The messages will include key elements from the IOC charter as well as quotes from officials, with one of the messages to be released quoting the IOC's declaration that it will "act against any form of discrimination affecting the Olympic movement".


text:
How Stuff Is And Things
So here are some completely random udpates. It makes me feel like I'm clearing the decks to write more stuff later.
I will also number these updates for no reason.
- Townsend is a delightful baby. He is happy ALL OF THE TIME.
Unless he's cutting teeth AND sick at the same time, which of course is happening right now. The amount of snot that can crust over a baby's nose in the middle of the night is astounding. And if you're not a parent, NOW YOU KNOW THAT. Still, I'm pleased that he will soon have 3 visible teeth. Eve spent 4 months of her life with only one tooth poking out from below.
- Oh, hey! Boys and girls are different! Based on my extensive knowledge of having had exactly one (1) girl and one (1) boy, I am now an expert. Eve was hesitant to crawl, hesitant to climb, thoughtful about her physicality. Towns wants to run despite that he can't yet stand on his own. He tries to climb and mount everything in his path. He crawled up a flight of stairs yesterday. Also, banging. He bangs. LET'S BANG THINGS INTO OTHER THINGS. So, boys.
- I am still 100% hellbent on losing weight and will resume posting videos AS SOON AS I get back to the weight I was pre-holidays. I took November and December "off" because I felt like it. I gained a little weight back.
Now I'm trying to settle into the mentality that the best approach is one that isn't 100% all-or-nothing. Medifast works REALLY REALLY well when you're on-plan completely. But here's the reality: it still works well even if you're not on-plan at all times every day forever and ever.
BTW, watch this "Shit Dieters Say" video immediately:
I say this because one of the worst things I do, and have always done, is think if I go "off" the diet/plan at one point during the day, then the whole day -- or, let's be honest, weekend -- is shot. I'm trying really hard to stop that dangerous thinking and be more trade-off oriented. I know WW is well suited for this, but I think Medifast can be, too. I just need to be smart and realistic about myself.
- I read The Hunger Games because everyone told me I had to. I don't really know what to make of them.
By way of comparison, I haaaaaaaaated Twilight mostly because I didn't especially enjoy being a conflicted, forlorn, overly ridiculous teenaged girl when I WAS one, and adding sparkly vampires to the mix doesn't make it more bearable. (I prefer my conflicted, ridiculous girls to be adults on reality television shows.) So Hunger Games is way better in that regard.
But while THG is thoroughly engrossing and page-turny, it's also horrifyingly bloody and gory and gray and awful. And humorless. And post-apocalyptic. So really not my thing. And plus there's like no sex at all, not even with vampires. So somehow murderous teenagers are compelling, but sexually active teenagers is totally over the line.
- The holidays have come and gone and this year was a doozy, in the good way. Both of my sisters came to visit, which has never happened before in the whole ten+ years I've lived in California, and we had a wonderful time being silly, drinking wine, and carrying on.
We* took lots of pictures. (*My sister, Sam.)
|Eve @ Ravenswood Winery
|Us @ Ravenswood Winery
|My kids, niece & nephew, and Grandma & Grandpa
|Healy @ William Hill Winery
|Mike (my Brother-in-law) @ William Hill
|Charlie, Evie & Towns @ our backyard
|Samantha @ our backyard


text:
Quote from: Lost Girl on May 21, 2007, 08:40:00 AMWhy do schools require a second seat deposit? I'm not that fat so I won't take up two seats. Can I just pay the first one and promise to maintain my current weight? as a 1L you will probably be in more than one classroom. therefore, you have to pay a deposit for each of those seats.
Why do schools require a second seat deposit? I'm not that fat so I won't take up two seats. Can I just pay the first one and promise to maintain my current weight?
Do you think LEEWS is a good guide?
Did you read Law School Confidential? If so, how do you regard their study methods in light of your experience?
Quote from: SMUJD2010 on May 23, 2007, 07:19:47 PMDo you think LEEWS is a good guide?I had a few friends who used that. I glanced through the primer for maybe 15 minutes and I talked with these people for maybe 20 minutes (combined) total about leews, so take the following advice with a grain of salt. My take is that LEEWS is good for people who had undergrad majors that weren't heavy in logic. Logic heavy majors = hard sciences, philosophy(or so they say ) Logic light majors = english, history. It seems like leews focuses on how to 'sort out' large hypothetical fact patterns, and to break them down to their smallest parts so it can teach you how to put them back together in an 'A' exam answer. This will be second nature to many law students with more logic-heavy majors, however it will be a huge hurdle for some with the lighter ones. If you fall into the latter camp, I'd say it can't hurt as long as you don't let it cut into your study time. Anecdotally (and with a whopping sample size of 4,) half my friends who used leews will probably be with me on law review, half will be a little above the median. So overall, I don't think it can hurt. Personally, I think its value lies more in giving the readers peace of mind (as opposed to having some 'secret' to getting A's), but that's just my take. Quote from: SMUJD2010 on May 23, 2007, 07:19:47 PMDid you read Law School Confidential? If so, how do you regard their study methods in light of your experience?Haven't read it. If you could give me a brief synopsis of their suggested study methods, I can comment on/critique them though.
the rainbow highlighter briefing method for case briefing
followed by the daily method of outlining.
the highlighter method is for people who want a system and who like pretty colors. you highlight the holding in one color, and the rule in another, and so forth. i think its a waste of time. once you have read a few weeks worth of cases for four classes and attended the corresponding lectures you should know what to look for in the cases and what to ignore. its one of those things that you learn by feel, and once i knew what to look for i could do 20 pages of reading in a half hour and be ready for class.buuuut, you can do just fine by getting a commercial outine with case summaries thats geared to your text book, and never actually read or brief a case.
I don't really have any specifics at the moment, I'm still a few months away from starting school so I'm mostly just reading all this crap about law school while trying to stay interested in work for another month. I'm starting SMU in August. Only semi-unique thing about me is that I'm a nontrad, worked for 10 years, software developer background with a computer science degree.


text:
The world's craziest dog training video. Well, I think it's a dog training video. It might also just be cult indoctrination via hynotherapy. There are horror scenes in here titled "placing on a cold wet towel" and "tactile stimulation." This is like Waco for dogs. There's a whole bit with puppies nursing while Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" and gun shots play in the back ground.
Then, there's some Guantanamera on a flute? Or maybe that's whistling? I'm not sure, what is happening?! Classical music is played so the dogs won't become "phonophobic," then they do lights so they won't become "photophobic." It's just the craziest thing I've ever seen, but also very cute, because German Shepherd puppies are ridiculously adorable. I've watched it twice and I'm pretty sure I'm in a cult now.
But seriously, you guys, spay and neuter your pets, we cannot support this insanity!


text:
For the second year in a row, Abacus Solutions has won a workplace award, and I'd like to tell you that it was the result of a very detailed plan — but it wasn't. It started with a simple premise of respect and teamwork. Along the way, we learned specific behaviors that attract and keep talent.
Our efforts to create a great place to work have been paid back many times over in employee and client loyalty, as well as in profits. Here are specific ways your efforts to improve workplace culture bring a return on your investment.
General productivity
When employees feel respected and enjoy coming to work, productivity rises. If you foster a culture of teamwork, then people are less likely to be worrying about competitive advantage over each other and more likely to be focused on advantage over competitors.
This directly impacts the bottom line because you are not adding more people to the payroll to drive business. Teamwork gets the job done with less personnel and better results.
Better ideas
Creating a safe space where employees are free to try out new ideas and then get honest and respectful feedback about them means you are getting the best out of your in-house brain trust.
Discouragement and a dismissive attitude breed passivity. Respect and encouragement breed innovation. With a global marketplace competing for business, you want to be the company with the best ideas.
Retention and new talent
We've all worked jobs in our career where we had to deal with a nasty manager or co-worker. Employees know that when they find a supportive place to work it elevates their everyday lifestyle.
We have very little turnover at our company and rarely lose a team member to competitors. Part of this is being very selective of whom we bring onboard.
Retention is also about paying people what they are worth. We look at the going rate for positions and reward talent and extra effort financially. And, when you have a great workplace culture, it also makes it easier to attract the best talent for new positions. Word gets around.
Client interaction
So now we get to the client-facing side of where workplace culture meets bottom line. At Abacus Solutions, we help customers leverage IT to solve business problems with managed solutions and infrastructure improvements. This is where our high employee retention rate is such a bonus. Clients genuinely fear having to deal with a changing roster of support.
High retention lets us give them what they want — a stable resource that knows their business inside and out. In-house retention translates into client retention.
Here is another way workplace culture helps us meet client needs: personal initiative. By empowering employees to make decisions and paying them well for their work, clients get the best of our team without multiple layers of accountability.
Every week we get an email from a client about someone on our engineering team who went the extra mile to solve an issue.
Strategic planning
As CEOs, we are responsible for looking at the big picture and making sure the company continues to grow and evolve in the right direction. It's hard to do that if we are intimately involved in every detail.
I can tell you that it feels great to know that I am not needed on a daily basis. I can focus on adding clients and growing partnerships. The proof for us that this kind of workplace culture brings meaningful ROI is the growth in revenue and profitability we've enjoyed every year we have been in operation.
Patrick Hiller is the CEO of Abacus Solutions, an IT solutions provider in Atlanta, Ga., specializing in vendor neutral solutions that help companies manage IT to protect and grow core business. Contact him at www.abacussolutions.com


text:
The New Orleans Pelicans have a new name, new colors and new uniforms. And with a complete rebrand, naturally, comes a new mascot. The Pelicans unveiled "Pierre" to fans on Wednesday, and he is completely and utterly terrifying. Seriously. Don't try to stare into his eyes for more than a few seconds. The responses to the team's tweet speak for themselves.
One thing's for sure: the Pelicans' opponents won't be able to focus on the game with that thing on the sidelines.
The terror knows no bounds—neither space nor time can contain it. http://t.co/FHl2NYo74y—
Caitlin Kelly (@atotalmonet) October 31, 2013
this game is rigged. http://t.co/Zz0khT1yru—
Caitlin Kelly (@atotalmonet) October 31, 2013
HOWS THIS ONE?!? http://t.co/UMk35xyHQi—
Derek Kevra (@dkevra) October 31, 2013
(GIFs via @nick_pants)


text:
Product 98/298
Emile Henry Large Salad Bowl - Juniper The 10 - inch Large Salad Bowl from Emile Henry is a durable, stylish addition to your table setting. With Emile Henry's quality ceramic, this salad bowl can be served hot or cold and washed in the dishwasher without worry of chipping or fading. Emile Henry has made the finest ceramic ovenware, gourmet cooking products, and ceramic kitchenware products since 1850; when the company was founded. All Emile Henry products, including ceramic kitchenware, are still manufactured by the Henry family. The products produced by Emile Henry are manufactured with their state of the art Ceradon manufacturing process. This process helps ensure that all Emile Henry Ceramic Dinner Ware and other products are of the finest quality, as well as durable. Unlike other ceramic kitchenware and tableware, Emile Henry has extremely high resistance to shocks, temperature changes, and fading colors from washing. Emile Henry Ceramic Kitchenware can go directly from the refrigerator to a pre heated oven (up to 500°F). This allows you to re-heat your leftovers, or even just keep your food warm before serving. All Emile Henry Ceramic Products are dishwasher safe. Emile Henry Large Salad Bowl - Juniper features: Size: 11 - inch Color: Juniper
Emile Henry Large Salad Serving Bowl 11 Blue Flame B00913ARQY


text:
Northern Michigan Events: Aten Place Releases it's Summer 2012 Line-Up
Northern Michigan Events: What began in 1996 as a potluck dinner has grown into one of the most looked-forward to concert series in Northern Michigan. The Aten Place, a nonprofit venue owned by Bill and Maxine Aten in Boyne Falls, an hour's drive from Traverse City, is a truly unique concert experience. Once a simple barn, Aten Place has been converted into a performance space that comfortably seats 175. The down-home flavor of the old days still remains though, as guests gather around the picnic and bonfire pit before and after events. Concerts run all summer long, all shows beginning at 7:30. Tickets go on sale at 6:30 the day of the performance, or you can purchase both advance tickets and season passes online. Celebrate the 18th year of "Concerts in the Barn" at this characteristically Up North location.
Terri Hendrix with Lloyed Maines
Saturday June 30th
A classically trained vocalist, this Texas songwriter mixes influences from the blues, folk, pop, and country to create an uplifting and energetic sound.
Josh White, Jr.
Saturday July 7
The very first artist to ever perform at Aten Place, Josh White Jr. has been a lifelong musician. White started playing up and down the East Coast at the age of four before spending almost fifteen years on Broadway. Don't miss the guitarist/vocalist who has performed at the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, and Madison Square Garden.
Lindsey Lou and the Flatbellys
Saturday July 14th
This Michigan based group tells true-life tales of life and love in their bluegrass inspired Americana. Lindsey Lou and the Flatbellys live performances are a non-stop party with set lists that include traditional American folk, Beatles classics, and contemporary hits.
Yellow Room Gang
Saturday July 21
The Yellow Room Gang, comprised of eight Michigan song writers, got it's start in 2005 when the group met for dinner in a member's yellow living room. Since then, The Yellow Room Gang has met once a month for dinner, conversation, and jam sessions that give birth to their truly unique music.
"Children's Matinee" Ventriloquist Vikki Gasko-Green
Wednesday July 25, 2pm
For over twenty years Vikki Gasko-Green has been entertaining audiences with her interactive shows and original characters. The New York Times praised her work, saying that "Vikki's lips don't so much as twitch."
An Dro
Saturday July 28
Attending a performance by An Dro is a truly global experience. The group incorporates Irish Celtic, medieval French, Scandinavian, American Appalachian, and African sounds into their repertoire. Even their name, An Dro, is a cultural import, coming from a folk dance of Brittany.
Saturday August 4
A self proclaimed troubadour and bard Johnsmith believes that the role of a musician is to "reflect society's soul" by addressing pressing social questions.
Ronny Cox
Saturday August 11
Following in the tradition of Southern folk sound, this New Mexico native tells stories of American life through his teasing, tart humor, and Texas-swing, rock and roll inspired music.
Jack Williams
Saturday August 18
Jack Williams, a South Carolina export, has been delighting audiences across the country for over fifty four years with a melange of folk, jazz and rock, intermixed with hits from the 30's, 40's, and 50's.
Alley Cats
Saturday August 25
Founded at Fullerton College in California, the a cappella Alley Cats preform the greatest hits from the 50's and 60's interspersed with some on-stage comedy.


text:
Hand-Picked Products
Hand-Picked Products
Wonderful light
Dec 13, 2016
This is the second one I bought. The first one got lost in a move and I felt lost without it. I use it for chores in the early morning and after dark. A little cranking and you have a charge. No dead batteries. No worries. Just a great light. I could not do without mine and had to order another. Thanks, Lehman's, for a great product.
Terrific light
Jul 25, 2016
Bought one for every member of the family and we all love them. They were a lifesaver when our power was out for a week. Have had no problem with them except the dog got hold of one and chewed most of the handle that winds it off but even after that it still works great.
Feb 17, 2016
Great little light. I have used it every night for chores for three years, have accidentally dropped it on a concrete floor more than a few times, and it is still going strong! Tough enough, bright enough and small enough to fit in a pocket. I won't ever be without one.
Oct 25, 2014
I have not used the product, and I expect I will be satisfied with it. I am dissatisfied with the packaging. The hard plastic shell surrounding the flashlight was sealed shut. This means two things to me: one is that any plastic packaging is not necessary, and two, it is hard plastic which will take even longer to break down in our Earth. I am giving the product a bad rating, because this is unacceptable packaging to me. Had I known it would come this way and be so wasteful, I would not have ordered it. I am trying to nearly get rid of plastic from my life. Lehman's is a spectacular company with many good intentions. But the only reason anyone would sell such an item packaged this way, is that in this instance money is the bottom line. I would rather pay more for something made a little closer to home, and have it be of high quality, with as little packaging as possible. Find a company somewhere else that can produce a product that is packaged in a way more in line with the true Lehman's character. Peace, Mari Braveheart-Dances - a loyal customer
Oct 13, 2014
I love this light! I have been forever buying batteries. This light pays for itself! It lasts forever when I do night chores. I am planning on getting more of these because everyone wants to use them. I regret not buying more. Well made and great quality product.
Jun 17, 2014
I've had this solar flashlight for at least three years and keep it handy for power failures and other emergencies. This is the best flashlight I have ever purchased because of its brightness, reliability and superior quality. The first time you initially crank it you feel the quality. I am ordering another one for my family and one for my brother and one for my son's family.
Feb 14, 2014
I cranked this when I received it for maybe a minute or two, then forgot about it. One night decided to try it rather than put on a light AND it was still working a few months later! not sitting in any sunlight either! So, I bought all the family one for Christmas and some friends. Great to keep handy. I highly recommend this crank flashlight, the price is very good for this, too. Great quality, well made. Thank you for a good product. Bow and family.
Dec 26, 2013
I just got this solar flashlight. It seems to be well made, have not had to charge but leave in front of a window. I too would like to know where the port is to charge a cell phone. I will probably buy more for other family members. Thanks.
Nov 14, 2013
Hey, is there a charge your phone port or not?
Mar 7, 2013
We've had this flashlight for months, and use it nearly every morning. We had been living in a very dark basement apartment, and still hardly ever had to charge it. It was always bright & reliable. We will likely order a couple more soon! (if you're looking for a good solar LANTERN, however, d.light makes a nice one. Plus, they give one to a developing country for every lantern purchased.)
Aug 7, 2012
This flashlight is great. We keep it on a window sill and it's always ready when we need it.
Jul 20, 2012
Got this flashlight and left in sun about one hour. Well, it works great! Got 3: one for each of us. My daughter used hers in car when out with baby to charge her phone. Nice product.
Jul 11, 2012
I haven't had this flashlight for long, but so far, so good. I left it on the countertop, underneath a skylight, for a day or so. Then I used it on the following mornings for reading. I had it on for at least 3 hours (one bulb), and it was still shining brightly. Three bulbs didn't seem to produce a markedly brighter light than only one, so I'm guessing that for most applications, using one should be sufficient.
Jun 15, 2012
Built good, wind up seems like it will last, solar panel built on the side is a huge plus. I haven't found a port to plug in, even so I am going to order a couple more. Gave it a 4 only because I can't find the port.
May 17, 2012
I love the fact that this can be recharged by solor or crank. I got one for both my Mom and my Mother in-law. I also have one at home. We all leave it in a sunny place, so it is always charged. It even floats!
Apr 24, 2012
I love my little flashlight. So far it has done everything i have asked of it with VERY little charging needed. I only wish it was a little brighter, but i tend to feel that way about all LED lights.
Apr 24, 2012
This is a quality, well made product. The package state you charge a phone with an adaptor but I can't find anywhere to plug in a cord. In spite of this small flaw the product is rugged and well worth the money.
Dec 5, 2011
I Love this flashlight!!I lay it on the back of my sofa,and the light that comes through my mini blinds Always keeps it charged.I have never had to use the hand crank.It fits in the pocket of my sweatshirt.First click is 1 led light,2nd click is 3 led lights,(which shines brightly),and the 3rd click is off.I can not believe how heavy,and well made this flashlight is!! This is my First experience with solar products,and I will definitely buy more!!I am really positively Impressed!!


text:
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
1. Rob, have you gotten any feedback from the guys who run Wednesday league at Rosedale on if we could co-mingle with them one week?It seems like there would be enough room for 15 extra players out there. I just think if we are going to wander around the courses on the KS side, Rosedale should be included.2. Another thought is playing down under, but I don't know how everyone else feels about having DU rounds count towards their rating, OR if RDU is even PDGA-recognized.I know there is still one date that is TBD, and it would be fun! I am looking forward to making it out this Wednesday, and for the official rated rounds to start the next week.3. One other question: To play in the Open division AND collect $$$ would I have to have a Professional PDGA membership?
5:30pm sign up still?


text:
I have featured other programs here at What's On My PC that will scan your drive(s) and identify which files and folders are using the most disk space. They all are good, but the scanning process often can take some time to complete. Also, I have found that one of the most difficult concepts to grasp, when it comes to managing space on a computer (or tablet, or smartphone), is understanding how the disk space is gauged in terms of kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes, terabytes, petabytes, etc…
Recently I came across another disk space analyzer, called WizTree, that I found to be very impressive and fast.
Where WizTree excels is in its' scanning speed; and, what makes it so fast is that WizTree does not scan the physical drive, but scans the hard drive's Master File Table (MFT) directly from the disk.
Please Note: When using programs such as this to identify the space hogs on your computer (or device) make sure you do not delete a spacehog (file or folder) that is needed for the operation of the computer (or other programs). Typically, I use programs, such as WizTree, to determine what personal files I have saved (such as documents, pictures, movies, etc…) are consuming the most space. Programs such as this are also great for troubleshooting problems, as well.
The MFT is a special hidden file used by the NTFS file system to keep track of all files and folders on a hard drive. Scanning for files this way completely bypasses the operating system (Windows) and provides a huge performance boost.
- Finds the files and folders using the most space on your hard drive
- Work VERY Fast! We think it's the fastest application of this type in the world!
- Finds the top 1000 largest files on your hard drive
- Sort the contents of your entire hard drive by folder size and optionally delete files and folders
WizTree, is a portable app that works on 32 and 64 bit versions of Windows 2000, XP, Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8 with drives that are formatted in the NTFS format (which most modern drives are formatted).
Tech Thoughts Daily Net News – December 10, 2012
Today's FREE Android App of the Day
Which are the Greatest iPad Accessories to choose?


text:
Opening Events for Fidel Center Planned, May 1, 2006
by Kathy Hedges
SOCORRO, N.M., May 1, 2006 – Now that several New Mexico Tech offices and services have moved into the new Joseph A. Fidel Student Services Center, two events are being planned to introduce the building to the public.
First, the building will be dedicated on Saturday, May 13, immediately following commencement. This ceremony will include Sen. Fidel, his wife and family, and various other dignitaries.
Then, when the new semester starts in August, a Grand Opening is scheduled to introduce students and other members of the Tech community to the new building.
The dedication on May 13 will feature a "ribbon cutting" ceremony that is unique to New Mexico Tech. The ribbon will actually be split in two by a tiny explosive, operated by experts from Tech's Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center (EMRTC).
The ribbon "explosion" ceremony will be held directly after the close of Tech's graduation ceremonies, which begin at 11 a.m. and are expected to end around 12:30 p.m. The recessional at the end of graduation will proceed to Fidel Center, where the brief ceremony will be conducted, followed by a reception for all new graduates and their families. The ceremony is open to the public, as is graduation itself.
The Grand Opening is scheduled for the week of Monday, August 21 to Friday, August 25. This marks the beginning of a new semester at Tech, as classes start on August 22. Events are still in the planning stages but are expected to include give-aways, contests, and other fun activities.
According to Melissa Jaramillo-Fleming, assistant vice president of Student and University Relations, "We thought that the best time to introduce the building to both old and new students would be at the beginning of the semester, marking a series of new beginnings for everyone. We want everyone to be able to relax and enjoy this fabulous new building, and a new semester is the perfect time for that."
The 92,000-square-foot Fidel Center houses all university functions that relate to student needs, such as Admission, Registrar, Financial Aid, Auxiliary Services, Residential Life, the Book Store, Food Services, Campus Post Office, Career Services, International and Exchange Programs, the Student Health Center, Counseling and Disability Services, the Advising Resource Center, Advancement, student financial accounts, and cashier.
In addition, Fidel Center contains a food court with grill, pasta station, pizza station, wok station, salad bar, pastry bar, and comfort food stations, according to Louise Chamberlin, Auxiliary Services director for New Mexico Tech. In addition, there is a coffee shop serving Starbucks coffee, baked goods, personal-sized pizzas, calzones and similar fare.
As befits a student services center, Fidel also contains the campus bookstore and post office.
Other building amenities include a computer pod, a small student lounge/television room, scattered seating areas throughout the hallways, a large game room, and outside patios.


text:
14 members10 Comments 0 Likes
70 members11 Comments 0 Likes
73 members12 Comments 0 Likes
65 members65 Comments 0 Likes
74 members8 Comments 1 Like
Started this discussion. Last reply by Allison A. Bailes III Dec 5, 2010. 2 Replies 0 Likes
If you thought getting Manual J reports and correct sizing have been difficult in ENERGY STAR Version 2, just wait till Version 3 kicks in. HVAC contractors have to report subcooling/superheat…Continue
Tags: ENERGY-STAR-Version-3
Started this discussion. Last reply by dale conner Dec 22, 2010. 21 Replies 0 Likes
RESNET announced an alliance with Home Depot this week, and I've heard from a couple of our raters already. They're concerned that this will undercut their efforts to build a market for trained &…Continue
Started this discussion. Last reply by Mandy Leazenby Nov 8, 2018. 13 Replies 0 Likes
Do you work on qualifying homes for ENERGY STAR? If so, what do you think of Version 3? I'm going through a 2-day session in Raleigh this week on the new guidelines and the training that will be…Continue
Posted on October 2, 2014 at 2:34pm 0 Comments 0 Likes
In case you haven't heard, last year RESNET created a task force to look at ways to improve the consistency of results among certified home energy raters (aka HERS raters). In mid-August, executive director Steve Baden sent an email about the latest developments in the process. He also attached a document titled…Continue
Posted on January 25, 2013 at 3:22pm 0 Comments 0 Likes
I've been going to the RESNET conference at the beginning of each year since 2009. I also went in 2004, and I can tell you that it's a great learning and networking opportunity if you're in the home energy industry. Are you on the fence about coming to the RESNET conference this year? Are you not on the fence but just haven't registered yet? Even if neither of those apply, see…Continue
Posted on November 12, 2012 at 9:00pm 2 Comments 0 Likes
The most terrified I've ever been was was the time I got called to do a home energy audit of the haunted house-as-a-system down the street. I still shudder when I think of that night. Yes, it was nighttime. The caller who hired me, a woman with a sultry voice, said that was the only…Continue
Hi Allison,
I heard a little bird tweet that it's your birthday today! Happy Birthday!
© 2019 Created by Building Performance Association Powered by