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Doesn't seem to make much difference to Chino-based Yoshimura Suzuki exactly who sanctions Superbike competitions at Auto Club Speedway.
In Sunday's opener of the non-sanctioned SoCal Nationals of the Superbike Shootout at Auto Club Speedway, Martin Cardenas fought off a last-lap challenge by Yamaha's Cameron Baubier to win the 20-lap main event. Cardenas hit the finish line just 0.082 second ahead of Beaubier.
It was the eighth win for Yoshimura Suzuki over the 21-turn, 2.3-mile road course at the Fontana track. In previous AMA sanctioned events, Austrailian Matt Mladin won seven such races before the sanctioning body stopped racing locally in 2010.
In Sportbikes, also a 20-lap race, Bobby Fong ran away from the field and scored a 5.784-second win over Garrett Gerloff.
However, the biggest winner of the weekend might have been John Ulrich, who put together and promoted the Superbike Shootout upon learning that the 2014 AMA Superbike schedule had only five initial races and none in the West. He paired with amateur organizations Fasttrack Riders and WERA for the pro shows.
"This was such a great relief for me that everything went well," said Ulrich, publisher of Roadracing World and a team owner in the series. "It was a step out of our normal operations. I just didn't like the 11-week gap, no television and without a presence on the West Coast.
"We don't have a (attendance) number, but a lot of people showed up. I heard some say it was similar to what we used to draw here. I think it was successful on very level."
So said the riders, who took time to scan the crowds.
"It was an awesome crowd," said Fong, "It was awesome being here. I'm just happy that we get to race in California. I hope the crowd follows us."
Joshua Hayes, an AMA veteran at Fontana, had similar feelings.
"It was pleasantly unexpected," said the North Hollywood rider, "the sheer number of people. I couldn't believe how many were around the podium. It sure it rivaled anything we've seen in AMA."
The Superbike Shootout resumes Sunday at Sonoma and finishes May 25 at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah.
It will be difficult to duplicate the Superbike race that had three leaders. Hayes, who finished third, led the opening portion of the event before teammate Beaubier and Cardenas battled for the front position.
"On that last lap, I tried to stay inside. But (Beaubier) passed me at turn 3," Cardenas said. "When he went wide at five, I went inside and kept it. When we got to the front straight, I stayed on the lower part of the banking and it worked out."
Beaubier struggled at the start and fell back to fifth before rallying.
Cardenas is no stranger to the area. The native of Medellin, Colombia, he lived in nearby San Bernardino in 2000 while racing motocross. It was his second Superbike win.
Hayes had issues with lapped traffic and was forced off the line in order not to run into Cardenas late in the race. He turned around and fell back but rallied in the last lap to get past pole-sitter Roger Hayden for third.
"He gifted me one there," said Hayes. "I thought he might be backing off because he couldn't win and take it easy. In the last couple of turns, I just nailed it.
"I figured I owed Graves Motorsports, so hopefully the podium makes some amends."
In the Sportbike race, Fong had an early battle for the lead with Jake Zemke in the first turn, but the pole-sitter was the first one out and never looked back. The Triumph rider finished with a 5.784-second margin of victory over Garrett Gerloff's Yamaha and 17 seconds over Benny Solis.
"I was just racing my pitboard," said Fong, a resident of Stockton who turned in the race's top lap of 1:27.486 in the seventh of the 20 laps. "That was a first for me. I've never really ridden up front by myself. The track came to us."
Gerloff might have provided Fong with competition had he not struggled at the start. The Yamaha rider from Graves Motorsports lost the ignition on his bike on the opening lap and dropped steadily from his fourth starting spot.
"It bounced out of second gear, the revs shot up and the bike quit firing," said Gerloff, one of two riders in the top 10 not from California. "I restarted quite a bit in the back and had to work my way through the back.
"If I hadn't messed up, I might have given Bobby a race. My best laps were at the end because we cleared the traffic and I put my head down. But I couldn't see Bobby."
Gerloff's best lap was on the white flag lap.


text:
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
Talented and capable people are inspired, motivated and respected.
Ecolab Global Headquarters
Office of Corporate Sustainability
1 Ecolab Place
St. Paul, MN 55102
Submit your comments and suggestions via the form, and our Corporate Sustainability Team, based in St. Paul, will assist.
As a socially responsible company, Ecolab has concern for the well-being of people and communities. We conduct business fairly and ethically, respect human rights and comply with laws and regulations.
The safety of our employees, contractors, customers and communities is vital to how we operate. We work safely. Taking care in all we do.
We strive to make Ecolab a place where talented and capable people are inspired, motivated and fully engaged in their work.


text:
BROOKLYN — When Mikhail Prokhorov bought the New Jersey Nets in 2010, he famously said that his team would win a championship within five years.
Now in Brooklyn, the Nets finally have a roster that at least moves in the right direction. And their coach and players aren't in the least bit afraid to use the "c" word.
"Where we are now, the goal is to win a championship," coach Avery Johnson said during media day Monday at Barclays Center. "At the end of the day, that's what we all play for. I couldn't say that about the team the last two years, because we weren't there on any level."
They're a lot closer now, and they have a strong starting lineup from top to bottom. But are they on the level of the Miami Heat, Oklahoma City Thunder or Los Angeles Lakers?
"We're not a championship team today," Johnson said. "Hopefully, we'll be one as we move on in training camp and get on into the regular season, and as we move into the playoffs. But the goal is to win a championship this year."
This year. Really.
Players sometimes avoid such lofty goals, but new Net Joe Johnson was right there with his coach.
"I think we've got everything that you could possibly want on a championship-caliber team," Joe said. "So now we just have to come together as one and just make it happen. The sky's the limit for us, honestly."
But Joe, do you know the Heat, Thunder and Lakers are really good?
"You've got to go through those teams to win, right?" he said. "I'm not sugarcoating nothing. We understand right now that Miami's the favorites. And nobody's picking us to win anything. We understand that, but I think hard work is going to definitely pay off. We've got guys that have really been working.
Coach Johnson knows what it's going to take. Defense will be priority No. 1 in training camp, with the goal of being in the top 10 on that end of the floor, a long way from where they ranked (29th) last season.
"We must make a major step defensively," the coach said. "We've got to be in the top 10."
So the players have a training camp handbook, with Avery Johnson's defensive principles spelled out clearly. And during camp, they'll have four written tests on those principles.
"We have specific goals," Johnson said. "It's written out. They all have it in front of them."
Top 10 is a lofty goal considering the lack of impact defenders on the roster. But it's a goal that must be achieved if the Nets really want to talk championship.
"I think we've got the chance to win the whole thing this year," Joe Johnson said. "I'm not just saying that. I honestly believe it."


text:
Visit our main website at www.StDavids.com
Julie Riley, MS, RD
Urinary incontinence is the loss of voluntary bladder control that can cause leakage of urine. It can be temporary or last for a long time.
There are four types of long term or permanent incontinence:
People may have just one or a combination of these types.
Incontinence has several different causes. The cause could also be unclear.
Temporary incontinence can be caused by:
Copyright © Nucleus Medical Media, Inc.
Stress incontinence is an accidental loss of urine during physical activity or coughing, sneezing, and laughing. It may be caused by:
Urge incontinence is the accidental loss of urine when the bladder spasms for no reason. It may be caused or worsened by:
Overflow incontinence is leaking of urine due to overfilling up and overflowing from bladder. It may be caused or worsened by:
Functional incontinence may be caused by:
Some incontinence may be caused by a fistula. A fistula is an abnormal opening between the bladder and another nearby structure. The fistula can make it difficult for the bladder to act as it should.
Urinary incontinence is more common in women age 65 years or older.
Factors that may increase the risk of urinary incontinence include:
Any loss of bladder control can be considered incontinence.
Call your doctor if you have a loss of urine control. Your doctor can help you determine the underlying cause.
You will be asked about your symptoms and medical history. You will be asked how often you empty your bladder and patterns of urine leakage. A physical exam will be done to look for any physical causes, such as blockages or nerve problems. You may be referred to a specialist.
Your bodily fluids will be tested. This can be done with:
The flow of your urine will be assessed. This can be done with:
Your bodily structures may need to be viewed. This can be done with:
Treatments are based on the cause of the urinary incontinence.
Temporary incontinence may be relieved by managing the conditions associated with the incontinence.
Weight loss may help reduce the number of episodes due to stress or urge incontinence in people who are overweight or obese. Talk to your doctor about a
weight loss program
that is right for you.
Initial treatment relies on behavior changes and strengthening pelvic floor muscles. Behavior changes include:
Methods to increase strength in the pelvic floor muscles include:
Surgical procedures may be done for incontinence that is not responding to these treatments. Surgical options include:
Initial treatment depends on behavior changes and strengthening pelvic floor muscles. Behavior changes include:
Kegel exercises can help strengthen pelvic floor muscles and relieve some symptoms.
Medications may be recommended. Anticholinergics are the most common medication. They can relax the muscles of the bladder. Other medications may be used in combination to help manage symptoms, such as
botulinum toxin
Nerve stimulation may be used if urge incontinence does not respond to behavior modification or medication. A device will send pulses to the nerves that control the bladder. This has been shown to help stimulate bladder control. In some cases, the device is implanted in the back.
Treatment for overflow incontinence is to allow the bladder to completely empty. If a blockage is causing the problems, surgery may be needed to open the urine pathways.
Other causes of overflow incontinence may require the use of a tube called a catheter to allow urine to drain from the bladder. People can use certain catheters at home.
Absorbent pads or diapers can be used to manage urinary leakage. Plugs and patches can also be used to help hold urine in place.
A supportive device called a pessary may also be used.
Pessaries are devices that raise the uterus or the prolapsed bladder. It can decrease pressure on the bladder.
Incontinence is a symptom of many other conditions. There are several ways to prevent incontinence:
Please be aware that this information is provided to supplement the care provided by your physician. It is neither intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. CALL YOUR HEALTHCARE PROVIDER IMMEDIATELY IF YOU THINK YOU MAY HAVE A MEDICAL EMERGENCY. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider prior to starting any new treatment or with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
Copyright © EBSCO Publishing. All rights reserved.
Women's Center of Texas12221 N. Mopac Expwy.Austin, TX 78758Telephone: (512) 478-3627Map & Directions


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Fixing Brazilian Portuguese Front Page link
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|* [http://mysite.verizon.net/kevin.mark/newdebian2.png DebianOverviewDiagram] [http://mysite.verizon.net/kevin.mark/newdebian2.dia DiaSource]- a Debian development overview diagram (500kb png 2000x3000 px)
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This wiki is a support and documentation resource for the [http://www.debian.org Debian] project, as well as a means of communication between developers. Like all wikis, this wiki is constantly changing and we welcome your edits. If you are looking for something in particular try FindPage.
This page explains where to find the various stuff contained in your debian system.
Official and unofficial Debian-related news
[http://people.debian.org/~damog/wiki/feed.php http://people.debian.org/~damog/wiki/feed.png] Read more at PressCoverage2007 , ?presscoverage
For users
["DebianIntroduction"] - What is Debian? Where can I find Debian?
["WhyDebian"] - Why choose Debian over another Unix/Linux?
["DebianInstall"] - So, you want to install Debian?
- ["Manual-Howto"] - How to install and configure software on Debian. Step by step.
["DebianSystem"] - Documentation about Debian (Desktop, System Administration, Packages, various tips & tricks)
["Sarge2EtchUpgrade"] - Upgrade from Sarge (Debian 3.1) to Etch (Debian 4.0)
["DebianNetworkInstall"] - How to install Debian over a network such as the Internet.
["DebianHosting"] - Want a Debian server online as fast as possible?
- ["From Windows To Debian"] - Want to move to Debian from Windows? This guide is for you!
["DebianSupport"] - A list of places for getting help and the way they work
["MeetDebian"] - Meet Debian local usergroups, Debian on conferences and expos
["DebianReleases"] - How Debian releases work.
For developers
["BundleSplitting"] How to split a Debian package into smaller packages
["OngoingTransitions"] - Information about current package transitions in Debian.
- ["Status/Unstable"] - Current problems in Unstable.
["LowThresholdNmu"] - Packages that may be NMUd without waiting.
["ComaintainersAreWelcome"] - People that agree to having their packages co-maintained.
["CategoryEtchReleaseRecertification"] - Deciding what architectures are suitable to release with etch.
- ["EtchTODOList"]
- ["qa.debian.org"]
["?DebianAdminFoo"] - state of the debian machines
["DebianMachines"] - Using Developer Machines to fix architecture-specific packaging problems
- ["BSPMarathon"] - BSPs for the release of etch
[http://mysite.verizon.net/kevin.mark/newdebian2.png ?DebianOverviewDiagram] [http://mysite.verizon.net/kevin.mark/newdebian2.dia ?DiaSource]- a Debian development overview diagram (500kb png 2000x3000 px)
["ArmEabiPort"] - Project for the creation of a new ARM architecture (see page for why)
["DebianEdu"] - Free Software for Education.
["DebianInstaller"] - Developing the installation system.
[http://wiki.debian.org/DebianLive/ DebianLive] - Debian in a ["LiveCD"] and installation tools into ["harddisk"] and ["USB"] keys.
["DebianScience"] - Packaging Free Software for scientific research.
["DeMudi"] - Free Music and Audio Software
- ["Embedded Debian"] - Tools to build Debian for smaller devices.
- ["Games/Development"] - Debian Games Team
- ["HugAFinn"]
["DebianEvents"] - Events in which the people involved in the Debian project participate
- ["XStrikeForce"] - Maintaining packages for the X Window System in Debian.
- ["TeXTaskForce"] - Maintaining TeX systems in Debian and developing the Debian TeX Policy
[http://pkg-grass.alioth.debian.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl DebianGis] - Maintaining and packaging GIS related tools and programs.
Other CustomDebian
- ["Java"] - Packaging free java software
["DebianHistory"] - Place to collect information and files about the history of Debian
- ["I18n"] - Internationalization
- ["L10n"] - Localization
- ["About"] - about this wiki, how to log in and edit pages.
- ["FrontPage/Discussion"] - discussion about the contents of this page.
Other Languages
[:FrontPageFrench:French - Français]
[:StartSeite:German - Deutsch]
- [:%e3%83%95%e3%83%ad%e3%83%b3%e3%83%88%e3%83%9a%e3%83%bc%e3%82%b8:Japanese - 日本語]
[:PortugueseBR/FrontPage:Brazilian Portuguese - Português Brasileiro]
[:DebianRussian:Russian - Русский]
[:FrontPageSpanish:Spanish - Español]
[:FrontPageTurkish:Turkish - Türkçe]
[:FrontPageItalian:Italian - Italiano]
[:FrontPageKurdish:Kurdish - Kurdî]
[:StartSide:Norwegian - Norsk]
[:FrontPageSimplifiedChinese:Simplified Chinese - 简体中文]
[:StartSida:Swedish - Svenska]
[:FrontPagePersian:Persian - فارسی]
[:FrontPagePolish:Polish - Polski]
[:FrontPageDutch:Dutch - Nederlands]


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You Are Here:
Home > News And The Champion > Champion Magazine
Search the Champion Looking for something specific?
Access to The Champion archive is restricted to NACDL members. However, this page and others deemed to serve the public interest - as opposed to a narrower benefit to the criminal defense profession - are left unprotected for access by all interested persons.
By Robert L. Weinberg
Read more
Letter to the Editor columns.
The Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post recently presented some sobering statistics on the high rate of uncontested federal convictions. The editorial in the Post (Oct. 4, 2012) both copied and adopted the Journal's figures: "The Wall Street Journal reported recently that 97 percent of cases the Justice Department prosecuted last year ended with guilty pleas."
Both papers were misreading Justice Kennedy's opinion for the Court in Missouri v. Frye, 132 S. Ct. 1399 (2012). The opinion observed that guilty pleas account for "97 percent of federal convictions," not "97 percent of cases the Justice Department prosecuted," as the Post and Journal said.
The Journal's statistic overlooks the substantial number of cases that are not prosecuted to conviction at all. The Bureau of Justice Statistics Sourcebook for 2009, to which Justice Kennedy's opinion cites for the guilty plea figures, shows that guilty pleas were secured in only about 88 percent of the cases disposed of in 2009 (83,707 out of 95,206), not 97 percent. In the remaining 12 percent of the federal prosecutions, the Sourcebook's Table shows about 3 percent of the total number of defendants were found guilty at a trial, and about one-half of 1 percent won acquittals at trial from the jury or the court. That leaves about 8½ percent of the cases that are listed in the Statistical Table as Dismissed.
But the Department of Justice's published statistics give no breakdown of the grounds on which these numerous defendants (about 1 in every 12 charged, or 8,408 of the 95,206 dispositions in 2009) secured dismissal of their cases.
It would be of great interest, especially to the defense bar, to have a breakdown of the large "case dismissed" category. For example, among the 8,408 dismissals in 2009, what number or percentage of the dismissals were secured through a successful defense motion to dismiss the indictment for (1) failure to charge an offense against the United States, (2) discriminatory or otherwise improper grand jury selection practices, (3) violation of grand jury procedural rules, (4) prosecutorial misconduct, or (5) other defects in the indictment or prosecution? And how many of the cases were dismissed on motion of the government under Fed. Rule Crim. P. 48 because (1) the prosecution believed it lacked sufficient credible evidence to win a conviction at trial, (2) defense counsel presented persuasive argument, or new exculpatory or favorable evidence, to the counsel for the government, (3) the government moved to dismiss the indictment pursuant to a plea bargain, or in return for supplying testimony against others, or (4) the defendant died or had otherwise become unavailable?
The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts apparently compiles only the number of dismissals, not the supporting grounds.
To compile the suggested breakdown would probably require the Administrative Office to perform a laborious review of the pleadings files in the dismissed cases to find the supporting grounds. In some instances the Administrative Office might need to seek out and review internal memoranda of each U.S. Attorney's Office that would show recommendations for dismissals by line prosecutors and approvals of their superiors. Or the Administrative Office might request that each U.S. Attorney's Office provide that information to it.
Perhaps the Administrative Office could select 2009 — the year whose statistics were used by the Supreme Court in Frye — to conduct a pilot study of the records showing the reasons for each of the 8,408 dismissals that year. Or possibly a foundation concerned with criminal justice could fund such a study. I would even suggest that NACDL's leadership consider submitting a request to the Administrative Office to compile the relevant information on dismissals.
The "vanishing trial" is undermining our traditional adversary system of justice. (See John Keker's article, The Advent of the Vanishing Trial: Why Trials Matter, in the September-October 2005 issue of The Champion.) It is some comfort to see that it is 12 in 100 defendants — not merely 3 in 100 — who do not waive their constitutional right to trial by entering guilty pleas.
Robert L. Weinberg
Adjunct Professor, George Washington University School of Law
Visiting Lecturer, University of Virginia Law School
Write us at The Champion, 1660 L Street NW, 12th Floor, Washington, DC 20036, or email@example.com. Please include your name, address, and daytime telephone number. All letters become property of The Champion and will not be returned. We reserve the right to select and edit the letters we publish.
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Transparency Market Research Reports included a detailed market survey and analysis trends on Ophthalmic Drugs Market. This report also includes more info about basic overview of the industry including definitions, applications and global market industry structure. The global ophthalmic drugs market is rapidly growing due to increasing prevalence of eye disorders such as glaucoma, dry eye diseases and retinal diseases. Changing lifestyle, improved medical infrastructure, technological changes, increase in healthcare spending and aging population is also supporting the growth of the ophthalmic drugs market. Browse Full Report:- http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ophthalmic-drugs-market.html Glaucoma is the largest drugs segment in global ophthalmic drugs market. Some of the major drugs for glaucoma treatment are Lumigan, Combigan, Xalatan, Ganfort and Saflutan. Diquas, Hyalein and Restasis are the major drugs for dry eye diseases. The retinal drugs market includes Ozurdex, Macug
Monday, 3 February 2014
Ophthalmic Drugs Market – Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2013 – 2018
Posted on 05:49 by Sandy Researcher
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FORTUNE — Windows 8's growing pains could deliver a major blow to Microsoft's already dwindling market value. The company has bet the farm on the success of its new operating system as well as its new Surface tablet and Windows-branded smartphones. But with a lukewarm reception by users and sporadic issues with system migration, it's possible that Microsoft may soon have to make a lot of awkward, value-destroying apologies about Windows 8.
It has been just three weeks since the launch of Windows 8 and the new operating system has claimed at least two victims: 1) Steven Sinofsky, the head of the Windows division at Microsoft and 2) the, Z580, my relatively new Lenovo laptop.
I'm not the first person to have issues migrating from Windows 7 to Windows 8. A number of users have taken to social media outlets like Twitter and Facebook to vent their frustration. Many report that their systems have completely crashed as a result of the upgrade. One user went on a diatribe about how, after he installed the new operating system on a "high-end" computer, he found numerous errors and problems, noting "You guys released too early, and I know you are working around the clock to fix issues. But now I'm a man without a functional computer, without Steam, without Office, without even an ability to run ANYTHING correctly."
That was actually one of the more polite complaints – the vast majority contained expletives, for obvious reasons. Meanwhile, those that have successfully installed Windows 8 have found that programs, (which Microsoft, creatively, seem to call "apps" now), consistently crash. Others are reporting that key drivers are not compatible between Windows 7 and Windows 8 — meaning that parts of their computer simply aren't working, like the audio or the wireless card. This is extremely frustrating because in an upgrade users want to be "wowed" by all the new cool functions, but instead, many are getting angry.
MORE: Why the Wii U will make or break Nintendo
Then there is my personal experience. While I am not a tech blogger, I do know my way around a PC. I tested out the developer's version of Windows 8 a few months ago and I was dismayed to see a flashy but overall inefficient upgrade of Windows 7. Programs didn't work as well as I wanted them to, if at all, and some drivers were not talking to the computer. But it was a beta version – this was to be expected.
Never to be behind the curve, I decided to upgrade my personal computer when Windows 8 was released to consumers, naively thinking that the company had resolved all the big issues. Boy, was I in for a ride. On my first attempt to install, I found that simple things like my touchpad and screen dimmer didn't work properly. The audio was spotty and my screen flickered on and off.
I went to the Lenovo website where I began to reinstall the Windows 8 version of many of my drivers, which apparently Microsoft (MSFT) didn't pick up. But when I went to download them I was prevented from doing so because the installer – yes, the installer – for the downloads was not compatible with Windows 8. I then had to manually download every one of the drivers, one-by-one.
After installing a few, there was no change in how the system ran. Then the computer crashed. On reboot I just got the new teal Windows logo saying it was "trying to repair or refresh" my system – I let it run through the cycle many times but it was apparent that my computer, a three-month old laptop, was on its deathbed.
Microsoft support sprang into action and I was eventually elevated to a "Level III" support manager. You can't get any higher – this person sat in Dallas, not somewhere in India, so in my mind he was the real deal. We decided to do a fresh install of Windows 8 on my computer, meaning that all my data on my hard drive would be obliterated (note: please backup your computer before installing anything, especially a new operating system).
MORE: Intel's Otellini won't be remembered for mobile
But just doing a fresh install didn't work – neither did the "one-touch" emergency Lenovo backup. My hard drive was dead. The engineer said he had seen compatibility issues with solid state hard drives so I decided to switch it out for a totally blank SATA drive and reran the set up. After three attempts (the installer kept crashing – really?), the operating system was on the hard drive and my computer was back in action.
Success? Hardly. Windows 8 still didn't work properly on my machine — there were a bunch of drivers that didn't download correctly again. So we then started to download the Microsoft update for the system. But when we went to install the updates the computer refused to do it, noting that the updates were not compatible with my computer.
I then stepped away and let the Microsoft engineers figure out what was going on. After five hours on the phone, the final verdict was that my computer simply wasn't compatible with Windows 8.
Apparently, certain critical parts on my computer just have no Windows 8 drivers available. The driver that they think is the problem was for my controller. It was made by a small company named Intel – yes, Intel (INTC). So apparently Microsoft didn't get Intel to update the drivers for their controller on my particular model. The engineers went on to blame my PC manufacturer for other compatibility issues. The solution? Call the manufacturer and get a Windows 7 recovery disk and reinstall my old operating system. (Microsoft later sent me a fresh copy of Windows 7 through the mail).
The Microsoft engineers told me the issues I was having was unique and would probably only impact PC users who have the exact same configuration as my computer, which they estimated to be around 200,000 computers. I told the boys down in Dallas to keep working on finding a solution. I found it hard to believe that the world's largest chip maker, Intel, and the world's largest PC manufacturer, Lenovo, had anything on the market today that couldn't talk with Windows 8 – that would be ridiculous, right?
So, for now, my new computer is one heavy paperweight. My friends remind me of how obstinate I am about sticking with my PC instead of being "cool" and getting a Mac. But beyond the social humiliation, this problem I am having in installing Windows 8 should be a huge red flag for Microsoft. It is one thing if some programs might not run on Windows 8 just yet. It's another if users can't even get it to work.
MORE: The best of everything in tech this year
What's alarming is that Microsoft seems to be blaming others for these issues instead of taking responsibility for them and proposing meaningful solutions. Engineers inside the company are reportedly blaming the PC manufacturers for its lackluster sales and now seem to be blaming every component maker for not updating their parts to interface correctly with Windows 8. Microsoft representatives declined to comment for this story.
But in the end it is Microsoft that looks foolish because if everything isn't perfect out of the box then Windows 8 will have a dark cloud over it. Microsoft's is new tablet and phones are running versions of Windows 8. If we're reluctant to upgrade our computers to Windows 8, why would we go buy a Windows 8 device?
Microsoft still has its dominance in the PC space, but that is becoming less and less relevant as people ditch their desktops and laptops and start exclusively using their tablets and smartphones for much of their computing needs. It will be several weeks before we know how Windows 8 has sold, but its first few weeks out of the gate has been marred in controversy – culminating in the execution of its father and now my PC. If Microsoft doesn't get its act together, it could soon face a revolt that could put the company on the path to technological irrelevance.


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Posts Tagged 'Paul'
Ron Paul: Secession is right, Civil War maybe not
National Constitution Center
Outgoing Republican U.S. representative Ron Paul has waded into the secession debate, saying that states have the right to leave the Union, and that the Civil War may not have been "right."
The libertarian politician made the comments on his official House website.
The latest secession controversy was started by a series of petitions on a White House website called We the People. They asked the Obama administration to comment on the possible secession of Texas, Louisiana, and other states after the president defeated Mitt Romney earlier this month.
The Texas petition received about 115,000 online signatures as of Tuesday morning, with a number of people not living in Texas signing up.
Paul's comments were picked up on political websites on Monday night.
"While I wouldn't hold my breath on Texas actually seceding, I believe these petitions raise a lot of worthwhile questions about the nature of our union," Paul said.
"Many think the question of secession was settled by our Civil War. On the contrary; the principles of self-governance and voluntary association are at the core of our founding. Clearly Thomas Jefferson believed secession was proper, albeit as a last resort," he added.
"Keep in mind that the first and third paragraphs of the Declaration of Independence expressly contemplate the dissolution of a political union when the underlying government becomes tyrannical.Do we have a 'government without limitation of powers' yet? The Federal government kept the Union together through violence and force in the Civil War, but did might really make right?" Paul added.
Legally, there is little evidence that any secessionist movement would have a chance of winning a legal challenge.
Constitution Daily contributor Lyle Denniston outlined the issue last week for us.
"No state, however frustrated some of its citizens may be with the present state of government in America, is going to be able to leave the Union and go its own way. That is one of the most firmly settled issues on the meaning of the Constitution," Denniston said.
The issue was settled by the Supreme Court in the case of Texas v. White in 1869, and the only theoretical path to secession would be the passage of a constitutional amendment.
Associate Justice Antonin Scalia confirmed that opinion in 2006, when he responded to a letter from a screenwriter, who was writing a fictional story about Maine dumping the U.S. to join Canada.
"To begin with, the answer is clear. If there was any constitutional issue resolved by the Civil War, it is that there is no right to secede.(Hence, in the Pledge of Allegiance, "one Nation, indivisible.") Secondly, I find it difficult to envision who the parties to this lawsuit might be. Is the State suing the United States for a declaratory judgment? But the United States cannot be sued without its consent, and it has not consented to this sort of suit," Scalia said.
Paul didn't bring up the issue of slavery in the Civil War on his official House website, but he has discussed it in the past.
Recent Constitution Daily Stories
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In 2007, Paul told "Meet The Press" said that the North should have bought the slaves living in the South and freed them, rather than pursue a war.
"Every other country in the world got rid of slavery without a Civil War," Paul told Tim Russert.
In another undated video on YouTube, Paul told an audience that slavery was an important factor in the Civil War, but not the biggest reason the conflict was fought.
"It really wasn't the issue of why the war was fought in my estimation," he said.
Paul said that Abraham Lincoln, like Alexander Hamilton, believed that central government should benefit the industrial base in the North, along with a central banking system.
"When they saw this opportunity, they used the issue of slavery to precipitate the war and literally cancel out the whole concept of individual choice," he said.
Related articles
- Ron Paul Stands By Secessionists (usnews.com)
- Ron Paul: Secession is right, Civil War maybe not (constitutioncenter.org)
- Ron Paul: Petitions on secession raise 'worthwhile questions' (thehill.com)
- Ron Paul: Secession Is an American Principle (dprogram.net)
- Ron Paul: Secession a 'Deeply American Principle' (breitbart.com)
- That Dreaded " S " Word … No , Not Submission … (youviewedblog.wordpress.com)
- Ron Paul Defends Growing Secession Movement (marketdailynews.com)
- Ron Paul: Secession- Are We Free To Go? (silverdoctors.com)
- Ron Paul: Secession Is an American Principle (ronpaul.com)


text:
Jaguars coach Mike Mularkey's Mondays are starting to resemble a less amusing Groundhog Day.
Every week he comes to the podium to answer questions about how the team will find a second win this season, something that's hard enough when he doesn't also have to rule out the team's best player before the week of practice even starts. Gene Frenette of the Florida Times-Union reports that Mularkey did that for the third straight week this Monday, which means Jones-Drew will not be available for this Sunday's game against the Texans.
While Mularkey did express some hope that Jones-Drew would be able to return this week, the running back said that he was about two weeks away at the end of last week. Whether he's able to make it back to play in Week 12 against the Titans will likely hinge on how much he's able to do in practice between now and Nov. 25. Given the length of the layoff, the Jaguars would likely want to be sure Jones-Drew's foot was up to the work before throwing him out there in a game.
The Jaguars offense has missed Jones-Drew, although it's hard to say that his presence would have led to different results in any of the team's last three games. They've been outscored 82-39 in those games which indicates that Jacksonville is missing more than a running back.


text:
End of Season Concert – Summit Music Festival at Manhattanville College
Purchase, New York
August 10th, 2015
Festival Orchestra Concert
Yoram Youngerman, Conductor
Grieg: Suite For Strings, From Holberg's Times
Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E Minor, Op. 11, first movement
Aleksandr Bolotin, Piano
Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 4 in D Major, K. 218, first movement
Ihao Cheng, Violin
Beethoven: String Quartet in F Minor, Op. 95, arranged for Orchestra
The Summit Music Festival concluded last night in grand fashion with performances by two string orchestras and two fine young soloists, the presentation of awards and plaques, and much talk of the history, as well as the future of the Festival on this, the 25th anniversary of the Festival. This event took place in the large and elegant Reid Castle before a packed house.
Robert Sherman, of WQXR, introduced the program.
In honor of their leadership for 25 years, plaques were given to Festival founders, pianist and Artistic Director, Efrem Briskin, and cellist and Executive Director, David Krieger. Both said they were touched and grateful, and that they could not imagine that the Festival would expand to its current size, with a large faculty teaching 180 students from over 20 countries.
Much was said about the Summit "family." Vice Chairman of the Board, Jeffrey Shah, said he was a student the very first summer of the Festival, and became close friends with fellow student, pianist Massimilano Mainolfi, now the Festival's Program Director.
The 2015 Mary Smart Awards were presented by Ms. Smart, an important benefactor of the Festival. The two soloists who performed at this concert were the winners of last year's awards.
The two halves of the program were played by two different string orchestras, both led by the very fine conductor, Yoram Youngerman. Ensemble was excellent, and it was impressive that these student groups, in addition to their lessons, and solo and chamber performances, could play the Grieg Holberg Suite and the Beethoven Quartet, in addition to the concerto accompaniments, on this high level with just a few weeks of rehearsal.
Sixteen year old violinist Ihao Cheng played the Mozart Concerto at a brisk speed, and produced a big sound. In the familiar cadenza, written by Brahms' friend, Joseph Joachim, his control of double stops and fast passagework was impressive.
The first movement of the Chopin Concerto is marked Allegro Maestoso, though in this performance, fourteen year old pianist Aleksandr Bolotin played a bit more "Maestoso" than "Allegro." But this approach worked well. Bolotin is a solid, elegant player, who produced some lovely shadings. His technique is certainly up to the demands of this difficult work. Among other things, he handled the tricky runs in the development well, and played the return of the second theme in the recapitulation quite beautifully.
This was a fine, and fitting end to a Festival whose international reputation is increasing as it continues to grow in size and quality.
Donald Isler
End of Season Concert - Summit Music Festival
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More than 200 members of Greater Taunton's business community packed a second floor conference room at the Holiday Inn Wednesday afternoon.
Chamber members bid farewell to the outgoing Taunton Area Chamber of Commerce chairman at the organization's annual meeting.
Now former chairman of TACC's board of directors, William D. Lewis, of Bristol County Savings Bank, received an engraved chair for his years of service.
The crowd welcomed new chairwoman Maureen Cody, of Leahy, Cody & O'Donnell, LLC.
Originally slated for Feb. 5, snow forced planners to postpone the event to Wednes-day.
This year's guest speaker was Andrew Dreyfus, president and CEO of Boston-based not-for-profit health care provider Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts.
"I had a great conversation before lunch with the mayor," Dreyfus told the crowd, which included Taunton Mayor Thomas Hoye Jr. "The city of Taunton is a long-standing customer of Blue Cross, and a great customer, and I get to hear a lot about some of the exciting ... economic development work going on in the area."
Dreyfus began his address by recognizing "longtime friend and teacher" state Sen. Marc R. Pacheco, D-Taunton, who was seated at a table near the podium.
During his 25-minute address, Dreyfus discussed the ongoing efforts of his company aimed at altering the way health care is provided across the state.
"First we have to change the way we pay for care," Dreyfus said. "Second, we need to redesign our benefits so that we are creating some incentives for our members to really think about the cost of their care. Finally, we need to focus on helping our members with chronic illness and promoting wellness."
A vast portion of the company's resources go toward treating a relatively small portion of the provider's members.
"Every year, Blue Cross spends $13 billion ... on health care in Massachusetts for our almost 3 million members," Dreyfus said. "And half of that money, 50 percent of the money ... covers services for 5 percent of our members."
"If we give to our members some incentive to actually engage in their care and think about the cost and the value of the services they're buying ... and if we both manage those 5 percent of our members who have chronic illness, and then try to lift the health and wellness of the remaining 95 percent of our members, then that too will improve quality and drive cost down."


text:
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KDE 4.1 in the Press
Our latest release, KDE 4.1, has had a great reception in the media so far. The KDE Promotion team has been collecting articles and blog entries, and put them together. Very interesting reviews have been published, and we thought you might want to read some. There are reviews in English, German, Italian, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish, and Brazilian Portuguese. If we missed one, feel free to add them to the comments below.
KDe 4.1
Which distribution do you recommend me to test if KDE 4.1 suits my needs?
By velum at Sat, 2008/08/16 - 5:00am
Re: KDe 4.1
openSUSE 11. It ships with 4.0.4, but you can easily update to 4.1.
By T. J. Brumfield at Sat, 2008/08/16 - 5:00am
Re: KDe 4.1
I tried kubunutu and fedora. While I like the backend of kubuntu better, OpenSuSe does kde4 the best.
By chuck at Sat, 2008/08/16 - 5:00am
Re: KDe 4.1
Fedora 9, a few days from now, when the KDE 4.1 update goes stable. (It's currently in updates-testing.)
By Kevin Kofler at Sat, 2008/08/16 - 5:00am
Re: KDe 4.1
Is it correct though that the Fedora 9 KDE 4.1 will lack (KDE 4 version of) KDE PIM? Or is this an issue that is fixed before the push to stable?
By Simon at Sun, 2008/08/17 - 5:00am
Re: KDe 4.1
It's not an issue, it's fully intentional. Fedora 9 shipped with kdepim 3.5, upgrading from 3.5 to 4.1 is a major upgrade which breaks several things, especially dependencies of other packages, but there are also some reported bugs which we hope will get fixed before the Fedora 10 release (which will be the first to include kdepim 4).
You can get kdepim 4.1 for Fedora 9 from the kde-redhat unstable repository. (You'll also have to pick up the kdeutils from there, because kdeutils in F9 also includes kjots from kdepim 4.1, because kjots used to be in kdeutils until 4.0. The kde-redhat unstable package of kdeutils doesn't include kjots, it's shipped in kdepim 4.1 instead, which is where upstream includes it.)
By Kevin Kofler at Sun, 2008/08/17 - 5:00am
Re: KDe 4.1
Mandriva 2009?
When I've made sure that the programs that I need are availible in opensuse or mandriva I'll switch my laptop to one of them. Kubuntu isn't what it could/should be.
By Oscar at Sat, 2008/08/16 - 5:00am
Re: KDe 4.1
openSUSE doesn't have everything in their main repositories, so sometimes you need to add additional repositories. However, I've found there are two great tools to locate these packages.
http://software.opensuse.org/search - that will search all repositories, and provide you with an RPM download, or a 1-click installer for what you need.
http://rpm.pbone.net/ - this should cover everything else. It is a big, global RPM search.
By T. J. Brumfield at Sat, 2008/08/16 - 5:00am
Re: KDe 4.1
Also this search page, http://packages.opensuse-community.org/ Useful as it also includes packages in the massive http://packman.iu-bremen.de/suse/11.0 repository. And for 1-click mp3 support etc.. http://opensuse-community.org/Welcome_to_openSUSE-Community.org>opensuse-community.org
By guy at Sat, 2008/08/16 - 5:00am
Re: KDe 4.1
you are right, mandriva 2009 beta is the only one that hasn't pissed me off when it comes to working right. they do a good job polishing releases.
By madpuppy at Sat, 2008/08/16 - 5:00am
Re: KDe 4.1
it all comes down to a person's view. Personally, I've never had a problem with openSUSE. the only real wayt o find a distro, is to try all of them and settle with the one you like the most. To ask which is the best, just leads to this constantly boring slam of other distros. But hey, it's what the linux community does best, slam microsoft, slam different linux desktop environments, and slam different distro's. I find it is the one thing that stops people I try to convince to come to linux, the constant in house bitching in the linux community.
By anon at Sun, 2008/08/17 - 5:00am
Re: KDe 4.1
Same here. I have tried a lot of distros but kept coming back to sweet Suse. I love the flexibility of openSuse especially during the installation and 11.0 is simple great. It's stable, fast, very reliable and is the most KDE friendly Linux that I have used up to now.
By Bobby at Mon, 2008/08/18 - 5:00am
Re: KDe 4.1
Versio 4.1.1 (KDE 4.1.0 (4.1 >= 20080722)) "release 38.1"
from openSuse's repositories today ;)
By Jake at Mon, 2008/08/18 - 5:00am
Re: KDe 4.1
I've had no trouble so far with latest Kubuntu and KDE 4.1
By NabLa at Sat, 2008/08/16 - 5:00am
Re: KDe 4.1
Is there a KDE4.1 for Kubuntu7.10?
Would love to use KDE4.1 in 7.10 though.
By Oscar at Sun, 2008/08/17 - 5:00am
Re: KDe 4.1
better upgrade to a more recent distro and install firefox manually, that will be easier than installing kde 4.1 manually... :)
By Yves at Mon, 2008/08/18 - 5:00am
Re: KDe 4.1
I think FF2 is available for Kubuntu 8.04.
By yman at Mon, 2008/08/18 - 5:00am
Re: KDe 4.1
reeally any distro but Kubuntu. They are doing a really bad job nowadays :(
By ac at Sun, 2008/08/17 - 5:00am
Re: KDe 4.1
Like how? Everything's fine for me.
By Jonathan Thomas at Sun, 2008/08/17 - 5:00am
Re: KDe 4.1
Hmm, I can understand that if you look at just one distro you don't see the differences. But kubuntu is certainly making lots of little mistakes that make the experience worse.
Its just depressing to see people walk away from kde because printing doesn't work and then to discover that if you install opensuse cups actually *does* detect all printers flawlessly.
There comes a time when the distro ships KDE in such a way that, honestly, they are no longer helping kde.
By anon at Sun, 2008/08/17 - 5:00am
Re: KDe 4.1
> Not sure if you are the jonathan from kubuntu
That is Jonathan Riddell.
By Stefan Majewsky at Sun, 2008/08/17 - 5:00am
Re: KDe 4.1
Having a different prefix is not a bug. Most instruction pages I've seen use the Kubuntu prefix anyway. The lastest cmake should be shipped in the KDE4 PPA along with the rest of the KDE 4.1 packages.
Fonts... honestly I'm not an expert, but they look fine here to me. Bug reports would be appreciated rather than having whispering rumors going around the interwebs that Kubuntu craps up fonts.
I do happen to be a Kubuntu contributor. (Though I am not Jonathan Riddell, who you are probably thinking of) We do actively look in to bug reports we receive and fix packaging bugs on our end. But if we don't receive bug reports for these kinds of things... People insinuating that Kubuntu is hurting KDE more than it helps doesn't help either. :( I seriously don't think anything Kubuntu is doing is doing that.
One could also say that any upstream KDE bug OpenSuse has will make people walk away from KDE. I'm sure many people have used OpenSuse to test KDE4.x and have walked away. Should they stop packaging KDE because it's not perfect software and will cause people to walk away from KDE? :P
Anyway, no hard feelings here either. In conclusion:
By Jonathan Thomas at Sun, 2008/08/17 - 5:00am
Re: KDe 4.1
What about the cmake versions ?
By Alex at Mon, 2008/08/18 - 5:00am
Re: KDe 4.1
I helped a friend install some software and dig an apt-get of the developer packages of kdelibs.
I had to compile cmake 2.6 before I could continue.
By Thomas Zander at Mon, 2008/08/18 - 5:00am
Re: KDe 4.1
Unfortunately I'll have to agree.
Their heart (Kubuntu people) just isn't in it. (KDE 4.1)
I wish they would spend 1/2 the effort they spend on Ubuntu, on the K(de)buntu version.. :(
By Max at Mon, 2008/08/18 - 5:00am
Re: KDe 4.1
"Their heart (Canonical people) just isn't in it. (KDE 4.1)"
Fixed it for you.
By anon at Mon, 2008/08/18 - 5:00am
Re: KDe 4.1
Try archlinux, does a decent job... But it's rather basic (you gotta love the commandline). It does have a rolling release schedule, which means you're always up-to-date.
By Jos Poortvliet at Sun, 2008/08/17 - 5:00am
Re: KDe 4.1
It is a good distro, but be aware that it is very bleeding edge. You will get cut. :-)
By anonymous coward at Sun, 2008/08/17 - 5:00am
Re: KDe 4.1
Try Mandriva 2008.1 with KDE 4.1 packages from ftp.kde.org. Mandriva 2008.1 is a stable release and KDE 4.1 packages are excellent. I haven't had any crashes yet and I am using it on my laptop.
By samurai at Mon, 2008/08/18 - 5:00am
akonadi on fd.o
Excuse me for being off-topic, but I'd like to know why akonadi doesn't get hosted on freedesktop.org.
Does anybody know?
By anonymous coward at Sat, 2008/08/16 - 5:00am
Re: akonadi on fd.o
The request for being added there is still pending at fd.org
By Thomas Zander at Sun, 2008/08/17 - 5:00am
Article in todays c't from heise
In the german c't-magazin issue from heise there is a KDE4.1 review, too. "Alles wird gut: KDE 4.1" http://www.heise.de/ct/ and TOC: http://www.heise.de/ct/inhalt.shtml
By gttt at Sat, 2008/08/16 - 5:00am
here you can test it , it's great!
By wkl at Sun, 2008/08/17 - 5:00am
Kubuntu support?
This is not intended as a flame, so please don't treat it as one.
When will Kubuntu finally support KDE 4.1 better?
Shouldn't we encourage friendly competition between openSUSE (which we know is great for KDE) and Kubuntu just to drive technology further?
I think in the end variety will benefit both KDE, Kubuntu, and openSUSE.
Hopefully people could join me in this effort.
It would be great if this Fall's KDE based distros would be the best ever. Especially if each strives to be better than the others.
Good for KDE and Linux fans.
By Max at Mon, 2008/08/18 - 5:00am
Re: Kubuntu support?
"When will Kubuntu finally support KDE 4.1 better?"
In October, when the release with KDE 4.1 is.. well.. released.
And that's Blue-Headed stepchild ;)
By Yuriy Kozlov at Tue, 2008/08/19 - 5:00am
Missing Articles in french
Publication de KDE 4.1 : http://fr.kde.org/announcements/announce-4.1-alpha1.php
I've definitively fully migrated to 4.1 from 3.5.x last week, and that's true : it rocks ! Congratulations :-)
By Nicolas Dumoulin at Mon, 2008/08/18 - 5:00am
Small review in french...
In my small blog (http://www6.cssmi.qc.ca/harfang_danym/index.php?2008/08/07/152-migration...), i made a quite positive review in french. Unfortunately, i came back to KDE 3.5.9 as my laptop has an NVIDIA card. I was using OpenSuse 11.0 with latest KDE 4.1.1 update, but there was some visual annoyance due to my video card. I've tried many modifications in xorg.conf but in vain. I'm just hoping that NVIDIA will release a new driver soon! I also await stable QT4 based releases from amarok, digikam and k3b! I'm pretty confident that i'll be back to KDE 4 in few weeks....
By Dany Martineau at Mon, 2008/08/18 - 5:00am


text:
U.S. Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission
Verdict for Federal Agency on Behalf of Two Teenaged Servers Who Were Verbally and Physically Harassed
MILWAUKEE – The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced today that a federal jury in Milwaukee has returned a $105,000 verdict following a four-day sexual harassment trial in a sexual harassment case brought by the agency.
The jury's verdict awarded an aggregate of $5,000 to two teenagers who worked at a Racine, Wis., IHOP restaurant who, the EEOC alleged, were sexually harassed by their assistant manager, who subjected them to sexual propositions, groping and hair-pulling. In addition, the jury found that the IHOP had acted recklessly with respect to one of the servers and awarded her $100,000 in punitive damages. The EEOC said that punitive damages may be awarded by juries to punish such conduct and to discourage it in the future.
The IHOP at which the servers worked, and where they were harassed, was owned by Salauddin Janmohammed, and managed by a management consulting firm, Flipmeastack, owned by his wife. In defending the case, the IHOP contended that the restaurant had a strong policy against sexual harassment and that the victim's complaints about the harassment were not sufficient -- defenses which the jury apparently rejected.
The case, captioned EEOC v. Management Hospitality of Racine, Inc.; Flipmeastack, Inc. and Salauddin Janmohammed, E.D. Wis. No. 06-C-0715, was filed by the EEOC in 2006, and presided over by Judge Lynn Adelman. Management Hospitality of Racine was one of approximately 20 IHOP restaurants located in Wisconsin, Illinois and Iowa owned by Janmohammed, and managed by Flipmeastack. The jury returned its verdict on Thursday, November 19.
The EEOC was represented at trial by Trial Attorneys Brain Tyndall of Milwaukee and Nicholas Pladson of Minneapolis, under the supervision of EEOC Chicago District Associate Regional Attorney Jean Kamp.
Regional Attorney John C. Hendrickson of the EEOC's Chicago District said, "The trial and the verdict in this case should send a couple of very clear signals. The first is that, although the EEOC resolves many cases by consent decree, we are always ready to take cases to trial. The second is that when we do take sexual harassment cases to trial, juries do not shy away from requiring employers to pay large damage awards."
EEOC Senior Trial Attorney Brian Tyndall added, "We're proud to have worked with the two women in this case, who were teenagers at the time of the harassment. It's never easy to stand up in the face or harassment, especially if you're young and you really need your job. Nor is it easy to go through the rigors of litigation for a period of years. But these women did that, and because of them and this case, women will have more equal opportunity while working at IHOP and elsewhere in the restaurant industry in Wisconsin."
The EEOC enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. Further information about the EEOC is available on the agency's web site at www.eeoc.gov.
The EEOC Chicago District Office is responsible for processing charges of discrimination, administrative enforcement, and the conduct of agency litigation in Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and North and South Dakota, with Area Offices in Milwaukee and Minneapolis.


text:
U-T San Diego Profile Of Anti-Immigrant Coalition Hides Group's Nativist, Minutemen Connections
The U-T San Diego profiled a new anti-immigrant coalition in the San Diego region working to lobby against immigration reform but failed to note the coalition's ties to the nativist group, the Center for Immigration Studies, and to a former Minutemen organization.
In its profile [1] of the San Diegans for Secure Borders Coalition, the U-T San Diego quoted a member of the coalition, Peter Nunez, who the U-T San Diego identified only as "a member of the coalition and a former U.S. attorney in San Diego." It also discussed the founding of the group by two San Diego residents, Jeff Schwilk and Rob Luton:
A new coalition in San Diego County is lobbying members of Congress to support a plan that calls for enhanced border enforcement, decreased legal immigration and the end of automatic citizenship for those born in the United States.
The coalition was formed by San Diego residents Jeff Schwilk and Rob Luton.
"Amnesty is a bad idea in general, but certainly it's a bad idea if you are not first going to ensure border enforcement and workplace enforcement," said Peter Nunez, a member of the coalition and a former U.S. attorney in San Diego. "If you don't secure the border and have a viable workplace enforcement program, then you will just be dealing with the same issue over and over and over again."
However, the newspaper did not note that many of the people highlighted in its story have a connection to nativist and former Minutemen groups. Nunez is the board chairman [2] for the anti-immigrant nativist group [3], the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS). CIS is part of the John Tanton network [4] of anti-immigrant nativist groups, which include the hate group [5] the Federation for American Immigration Reform and NumbersUSA. CIS Executive Director Mark Krikorian is known [6] for making derogatory remarks about Muslims [7] and the American-born [8] children of immigrants.
The coalition's founder Jeff Schwilk was "the hot-tempered leader of the San Diego Minutemen (SDMM), a nativist extremist organization with a reputation for violent confrontations and crude insults," according to the Southern Poverty Law Center [9]. In 2009, Schwilk was ordered to pay $135,000 [9] to a Korean-American civil rights activist who filed a defamation lawsuit after the SDMM circulated photos of her and referred to her in derogatory and racist terms.
In addition, Schwilk's group physically intimidated [10] people they suspected of being undocumented immigrants:
On Saturday mornings, when they travel to the sleepy suburban gas stations where immigrant day laborers go to find work, they create scenes that would play well in a show called "Nativists Gone Wild." They call immigrants "wetbacks" and "Julios." They pull out Mace and threaten passing motorists who disagree with them. Calling those who hire day laborers "slavemasters," they've been known to slap flashing amber police lights on their SUVs and chase the would-be employers down. When they're not busy physically intimidating migrants, they take to the airwaves and the Internet to accuse them, without a shred of evidence, of running child prostitution rings and practicing "voodoo Santeria rituals."
Following these incidents and other intimidation methods [10], including pushing and shoving immigrants and health care workers and vandalizing immigrants' homes, the group and Schwilk remained under police surveillance.
- Posted In
- Immigration [11]
- Show/Publication
- San Diego Union Tribune [12]
- Stories/Interests
- State Media [13]


text:
An East Hampton family that has tried for many years to gain final planning board approval for a four-lot commercial subdivision on land between Springs-Fireplace and Three Mile Harbor Roads expressed frustration and pleaded for help at a town board meeting earlier this month. They were hoping, it appeared, to find allies in Town Supervisor Bill Wilkinson and Councilwoman Theresa Quigley, who from the start of the administration last year have said the planning process here is onerous.
However, opposition to the proposal among some who live in the area has again been galvanized by the revived suggestion that the landlocked parcel be accessed over the southern portion of West Drive, routing commercial vehicles through what is now a quiet, dead-end street.
Carolyn Lester Snyder and her husband, Harold, who has since died, applied to the planning board for subdivision approval in 1999. She still hopes to offer the spaces as storage and vehicle depots for service businesses, such as construction companies, plumbers, and landscapers. The lots would be created on seven acres behind the family's popular gourmet and fresh produce market, Round Swamp Farm, on Three Mile Harbor Road, stretching east toward Springs-Fireplace Road.
It was determined then that the family had legal access to the property from the southerly portion of West Drive, which adjoins Springs-Fireplace Road. However, John Jilnicki, the town attorney, said last week that an urban-renewal map of the area appears to show conflicting information.
The planning board granted preliminary site plan approval in 2009, but required instead that access to the subdivision be over the northern portion of West Drive, a stretch bordered by industrial properties.
That plan was formalized in a 2004 resolution by the town board, which called for the creation of a cul-de-sac at the end of the southern West Drive, to prevent through traffic.
That is when things became mired down.
Gaining the right to use the northern portion of West Drive required the town to condemn land from uncooperative property owners, and that process has now stretched over six years, according to Laurie Wiltshire, a land planner representing the Snyders, who spoke at the East Hampton Town Board meeting on May 3.
Ms. Quigley said that the board must take costs to taxpayers into account. Condemning the land will cost an estimated $60,000, plus incidentals, she said.
"Six years is a lot to impose on an individual, and $70,000 is a lot to impose on the taxpayers," she said. "I don't know why we went down this road."
"The planning board is not allowed to make decisions in a vacuum," she later remarked.
"I just remember a lot of residents years ago, begging us not to change the character of their quiet little street," said Councilman Pete Hammerle.
"Every road in town has trucks on it," said Carolyn Snyder. In a shaky voice she said, "We should be suing the town for what we have lost over 25 years." The family has spent $80,000 on roadwork on the northerly end of West Drive, Lisa Niggles, her daughter, said.
The process has been inching forward, according to Mr. Jilnicki, the town attorney. He said the town has acquired title to some of the needed land (some through a land swap), but that it has encountered a number of legal snags along the way. One property owner, he said, will not cooperate unless the town creates a road improvement district, in which the changes to West Drive would be funded by taxes assessed on landowners bordering it.
"I think it's reprehensible," Ms. Quigley said. "I don't know what the problem is."
"You've been present at discussions with the condemnation counsel," Mr. Jilnicki told her.
If the process cannot be completed soon, Ms. Quigley said, then the southern access option should be used. "I'm with Ms. Snyder," she said. "There are trucks on every road in this town."
But in order for the southern option to go forward, the planning board would have to modify its conditional subdivision approval.
Both Ms. Snyder and Charlie Niggles, another family member, said that when the family began the subdivision process, the southern portion of West Drive was a dirt road, without residences.
Ms. Niggles said that a neighborhood resident she had spoken to expressed concerns about drug trafficking at the dead end of West Drive, and noisy dirt bikes in use. The area would be safer if the road were opened up, Ms. Niggles said: Lights and a gate would be installed if that becomes the entrance to the Snyder subdivision.
Residents of West Drive, Morris Park Lane, and the environs painted a different picture when they spoke to the board last Thursday night.
"What you saw at the last work session was what I call theater at its best," J.B. D'Santos told the board. "They could go through their own land at any time, but refuse to do so because they want more freebies."
"There is a socioeconomic problem," Mr. D'Santos suggested, with the decision to route trucks through "a neighborhood that is basically formed by African-Americans, Latinos, and a few whites."
"Quality of life has to be an equal playing field, and we can't just take a longtime family in East Hampton and place their quality of life above ours," said Elizabeth Cotter, a West Drive resident, of the Snyder family, which has deep roots in East Hampton. "I'm asking you guys to slow down," she told the board.
"Whatever the decision has to be, it's taken too long," said Mr. Wilkinson.
"It's about the planning process for me," said Ms. Quigley. "I'm looking at a process that's completely unacceptable, because that's a quality of life issue."
"It's been 20 years that we've been dealing with this," said Jennifer Stephens, who grew up in the Morris Park neighborhood. "Why is it that they can't use their own property?"
Ms. Stephens took issue with Ms. Niggles's comments about drug trafficking. "That's how it seems, that the Snyders are saying that we're beneath them," she said.
After watching a videotape of the board's discussion with the Snyder family, Mr. D'Santos said it appeared as if the family had found allies among the board members. "You were smiling," he said.
"I've been told I should smile more," Mr. Wilkinson replied.
"You should smile more; it's good for your face," said Ms. Stephens. "You don't look like you're approachable. You were smiling when you needed those election votes."
"My passion is to figure out why the process is taking so long," Ms. Quigley said. "I don't care about the color of skin of the applicant. I care about the people of our town who should be treated with respect."
The town attorney had been asked to provide information for a discussion of the Snyder application at a board work session on Tuesday, but speakers last Thursday night asked for the discussion to be moved from a daytime work session to a nighttime meeting, so that working people could attend.


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PHP frameworks allow you to quickly develop web applications and websites. In an application setting, there are two types of people that will be working on the project. The first is the web designer, whose primary concern and interest is the look and feel of the website (the "presentation"). The second is the PHP developer/programmer that writes the PHP code to do the logic and database communications.
Using a framework, each team will be working separately at the same time to attain the project objective to complete the website. PHP frameworks that rely on MVC (Model-View-Controller) architecture makes it possible for the entire website application to be broken down into 3 modules. Each of these modules can, in turn, be easily updated, managed and improved upon by each team without necessarily interfering with other modules.
These 3 modules handle the following web development/designing tasks:
- Model – data handling (database communication) and management section of the web application.
- View – the view is the design layer of the website.
- Controller – the business logic and PHP code to accomplish the website functionality/features.
It is not necessary to use a PHP framework in every PHP website project; however, using a PHP framework does have some benefits, such as:
1.) Separating Logic from Presentation – makes the website source code easier to maintain, manage and update.
If you need to change the templates, you will only be dealing with the markup affecting the design and not the PHP code that controls the logic. This implies that the design is "clearly" isolated from the PHP code.
2.) Speeding up the development of web applications – a framework already provides all the necessary elements of a website. These include sessions, HTML sanitization/input validation, database interfaces, etc. It only requires a very simple configuration/installation (like a copy and paste operation) and your project can be completed within a reasonable time frame. Working without a framework can cost a lot of time in the development process, because everything must be created from scratch.
This article will examine 7 great and lightweight PHP frameworks released in open source.
Criteria of a Good PHP Framework
There are so many PHP frameworks that it can be hard to keep track of them all. Some are already very popular, while others are relatively new and unknown. Whatever the case, when selecting a good PHP framework, make sure it satisfies the following criteria:
- Speed/performance – this is likely the most important criteria. A super-fast framework can have huge impact on your website success because it translates into better user experiences and a faster website. Website performance in terms of speed is now a factor in the Google search engine rankings: http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2010/04/using-site-speed-in-web-search-ranking.html
- Lightweight – the framework files are light and reasonable in size. In this case, Zend framework is too heavy to be classified as lightweight.
- Flexibility in hosting – is it OK to install the framework normally in a shared hosting environment or does it require a VPS to operate efficiently? Most lightweight PHP Frameworks operate very well with shared hosting although they have different speed performances which will be examined thoroughly in this article.
- Security – are inputs thouroughly sanitized?
- PHP supported versions – does it support the latest PHP versions?
- Database support – does it support MySQL or SQLite? These databases are available in most hosting companies using PHP.
- WYSIWYG Design support – "What you see is what you get" is important to ease the design of HTML templates.
- Documentation – does the framework already have complete documentation for its users?
Of the seven criteria, this article will examine only the speed and performance. The following are the seven PHP frameworks to be tested:
- Cakephp-1.3.7: http://cakephp.org/
- CodeIgniter_2.0.0: http://codeigniter.com/
- Symfony 2: http://www.symfony-project.org/
- yii-1.1.6.r2877: http://www.yiiframework.com/
- RainFramework 2.3: http://www.rainframework.com/
- Doophp 1.4.1: http://www.doophp.com/
- Kohana-3.1: http://kohanaframework.org/
{mospagebreak title=Benchmarking PHP Frameworks}
Benchmarking Methodology
First Test: Hardware and software used:
Mac OS X/10.6.7
Processor 2.5 GHz Intel Core Duo
Memory 2 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM
Macintosh HD
Second Test: Hardware and software used:
Intel Pentium4 2.4 Ghz Processor
Linux/Ubuntu 10.04 Operating system
Apache server version (XAMPP): Apache/2.2.14 (Unix) DAV/2 mod_ssl/2.2.14 OpenSSL/0.9.8l PHP/5.3.1 mod_apreq2-20090110/2.7.1 mod_perl/2.0.4 Perl/v5.10.1
Local test folders in encrypted sector.
Load Test Factors:
In all of the tests, we will be using the Apache Bench utility (ab). To simulate a practical scenario the following load testing factors will be employed:
Number of Connections: 500
Number of Concurrent users: 50
Note: No caching implemented.
Methods employed for First Test:
Step 1.) Download these benchmarking files to be used in this article: http://bit.ly/inWQQa or this URL: http://cid-c3bc6a3c5463e218.office.live.com/self.aspx/.Public/php%5E_framework%5E_test.zip
Step 2.) Right click and extract them.
Step 3.) Copy all of those files to your test server. Make sure the path is right; for example benchmark.php must be accessible as http://localhost/benchmark.php in your browser. Below are the localhost path of each of these frameworks to be tested:
Cakephp-1.3.7: http://localhost/cakephp-1.3.7/index.php/hello
CodeIgniter_2.0.0: http://localhost/CodeIgniter_2.0.0/index.php/
Symfony 2: http://localhost/symfony-2.0/web/app.php/hello
yii-1.1.6.r2877: http://localhost/yii-1.1.6.r2877/demos/helloworld/
RainFramework 2.3: http://localhost/rainframework%202.3/ajax.php/hello
Doophp 1.4.1: http://localhost/doophp-1.4.1/app/
Kohana-3.1: http://localhost/kohana-3.1/index.php/welcome
Step 4.) Before running the benchmark, try executing all of the above paths provided above in your browser to make sure they output "Hello World".
Step 5.) If the output is OK, you are now ready to start the benchmark – clear all the browser cache and history. Close the browser, then restart again. Close all other running applications in your computer. Make sure only this test is running.
Step 6.) Copy and paste this URL to the browser: http://localhost/benchmark.php
It will take some time, because there are around 7 frameworks to be tested. Wait until the script provides some output.
Methods employed for the Second Test:
Step 1.) Follow Step 1 to 6 of the First step procedure.
Step 2.) Do 3 trials for each framework, then reboot the server.
Step 3.) Average the results of the 3 trials.
{mospagebreak title=PHP Framework Benchmarking Test Results}
Results of the First Test and Second Test
Below are the results for the first test:
Doophp 1.4.1 is the fastest of the 7 tested PHP frameworks, followed by Rainframework and then CodeIgniter.
Below are the results for the second test:
This time, on a Linux machine, Rainframework is the fastest PHP framework, followed by Doophp, then Codeigniter.
Results of the Third Test (Command Line in Linux)
The first and second test were done using a PHP script and using the PHP Exec function to execute ab. Now the Apache benchmark utility will be installed on Ubuntu OS independent on the XAMPP localhost and PHP. The tests are carried out using a command line method, for example for CakePHP the localhost URL: Cakephp-1.3.7: http://localhost/cakephp-1.3.7/index.php/hello
The command line test method will be:
ab -n 500 -c 50 http://localhost/cakephp-1.3.7/index.php/hello
Below are the detailed steps:
Step1.) Install Apache2 utils in Ubuntu to be used in benchmarking (if you don't have it already):
codex-m@codex-m-desktop:~$ sudo apt-get install apache2-utils
Step2.) Execute all the benchmark tests for all the PHP frameworks and reboot the server for each trial.
Step3.) Gather the results and average them.
Below are the results of the third test:
RainFramework is on top, followed by Doophp with 543 ms, and CodeIgniter with 888ms.
Final Advice: There is more to consider than speed when selecting a PHP framework; other factors such as security, ease of installation and database support have to be examined as well. Other frameworks may be slower but have greater and wider community support, in case you have some trouble with the framework there are lots of users that could help who have working experience with that framework. This is true with CakePHP, Symfony and Zend framework, all of which are very popular among PHP developers.


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For all of those who are renting and may be considering buying a home..this article, from California Association of Realtors, has very good information in it. If you are looking for real estate in the Lake Oroville – Oroville area, there are some awesome deals right now making it more affordable to own your own home than to rent.
This year California housing market conditions make a strong and compelling case for homeownership. With prices still well below the historic highs of just a few years ago and attractive mortgage rates, qualified buyers have a unique opportunity to own their own home. As seen below, a rigorous analysis of renting versus buying hears this conclusion out. As shown in the following chart, the monthly housing costs (principle, interest, taxes, and insurance or PITI) associated with buying a median-priced home of $301,430 is $1,590 (Fourth Quarter 2010 median priced home in California). This assumes the buyer is making a 20 percent downpayment and financing with a 30-year fixed rate mortgage at 4.62 percent. In comparison, the median rent on a three-bedroom two-bath apartment with renter's insurance in California is $1,810. That means buying a home would save the homeowner $220 per month when compared to renting and the homeowner would save over $2,600 a year.
click on graph for larger view
In addition, existing tax laws allow homeowners to itemize and deduct the mortgage interest and property taxes from their taxable income. For example, compare the tax implications for two households both earning $63,430 a year, the minimum income required to purchase the statewide median-priced home of $301,430.* The household that purchases the home with a 20 percent downpayment and finances the mortgage at the current rate of 4.62 percent will receive a tax deduction of over $14,000 in the first year of ownership. The renter household will most likely utilize the IRS Standard deduction of $11,400, $2,600 less than their homeowner counterparts. The homebuyer reduces their total tax liability by $400 compared to the renter in the first year of ownership. Accounting for the out-of-pocket savings as well as the tax savings, the homebuyer saves over $3,000 in their first year of ownership.
click on graph for larger view
The mortgage rate is a significant factor in determining just how much a homebuyer can afford. Today's low mortgage rate environment tips the scale—for some—in favor of buying versus renting. For a home priced at $400,000, with a 20 percent downpayment and a 4 percent mortgage rate, the monthly PITI will be $1,990 for the homebuyer. The monthly PITI jumps to $2,180 at 5 percent and to $2,380 at 6 percent. For each one percentage point increase in the mortgage rate, the payment goes up by almost $200 under these assumptions. Even for a lower priced home at $200,000, the difference in the monthly payment is significant as each percentage point rise in the mortgage rate tacks on $100 to the monthly PITI.
click on graph for larger view
Of course, there are many other socioeconomic benefits that homeownership brings to communities. And there are other costs associated with homeownership above and beyond the downpayment and monthly PITI. So as long as one has considered all of the costs and benefits of owning a home and is in the financial position to do so, there are some pretty compelling reasons to strive for the "American Dream."
Other resources you may find useful for your clients:
NY Times Interactive Rent versus Buy calculator:
Bankrate.com's questionnaire for potential homebuyers on whether or not to buy a home:
The National Association of REALTORS® resources for clients on renting versus buying:
1. Underlying assumptions for the Mortgage Interest Deduction and Property Tax (1 percent of the purchase price) deduction are based on the Traditional HAI Q4-2010 assumptions of: The prevailing median price in the 4th quarter 2010 (Median Price $301,430), effective FRM interest rate of 4.62%, a 20% downpayment, and a $241,144 loan amount.
2. Incomes are based on the underlying assumptions for the Traditional HAI. The same income is used for both Renters and Buyers and is assumed to be the Minimum Qualifying Income needed to purchase a median priced home in the 4th quarter 2010.
3. Tax rate based on 2010 IRS Schedule Y-1 Married Filing Jointly in 15% tax bracket (latest available from the IRS) assuming no changes over the 5 year horizon
4. Interest deduction based on the Traditional HAI Q4-2010 underlying effective FRM interest rate
of 4.62%, a 20% downpayment, and a $241,144 loan amount.
5. Property taxes are assumed to be constant over this 5 year analysis, thereby assuming the underlying market value remains unchanged. If the home value were to increase, under Proposition 13, the property tax assessment would increase at a rate of 2 percent per year. Along these same lines, income is also assumed to be constant over this 5 year analysis in order to keep the analysis simple and determine the basic 5 -year tax benefit of buying a home in 2010.
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Oct. 19, 2005
NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Yale's women's crew has been busy this fall. There are many new faces and young athletes filling seats in boats that were opened up by the graduation of 10 seniors in 2005. Fresh off an Eastern Sprints Championship in 2005, this year's team looks to make its mark in its own way.
"Every year is different," says Yale Head Coach Will Porter "This team is an interesting mix of experience and youth. We'll see how it will all turn out by spring, but I like the way this team works. They get after it."
The fall season has been spent teaching the technical aspects of the rowing stroke while working to build a solid fitness base. The first test for the 2005-06 Bulldogs comes this weekend at the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston.
"Although the Head of the Charles has no bearing on the spring season, NCAA selection or the overall record of collegiate crews, it is the first chance to see how you line up against your future competition," Porter said.
Yale has three crews set to compete - a championship eight, championship four and youth eight. All three crews will race Sunday. The Yale varsity has a record of success at the Head of the Charles. The Bulldogs have been the fastest college program in two of the last three years and finished second behind Princeton in 2004. Once again this year Yale will start right behind the perennial powerhouse Tigers who always seem to post great results on the Charles.
Yale coxswain Emily Cleveland, who is studying in Paris this fall, refers to steering the Charles as "a walk down the Champs-Elysees on a lovely fall day."


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The trouble with lawmakers is that once elected, they start meddling in places they don�t belong.
The trouble with lawmakers is that once elected, they start meddling in places they don�t belong.
Power derived from the ballot box does not grant permission to usurp decisions that rightly lie outside of government � decisions that belong to individuals.
Such is the case with abortion.
In the current session of the General Assembly, lawmakers have introduced bills that politicize this intensely personal decision for women.
House Bill 716 � Prohibits abortions for the purpose of sex selection.
Senate Bill 132 � Requires health education classes to include the questionable information that an abortion can cause premature births in later pregnancies.
Senate Bill 308 � Requires doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at hospitals within 30 miles of the location where the abortion takes place.
Unfortunately, there has been little publicity about these bills. Abortion is not the politically charged issue of times past, placed on a back burner by more immediate issues such as the economy and overall size of government in North Carolina.
With public attention focused elsewhere, it sets the stage for legislators to fast-track new laws on issues that have no place in the public arena.
It is obvious, however, that some lawmakers haven�t given up on inappropriate intervention into one�s personal life, attempting bit by bit to chip away at freedom and force their will and beliefs on others.
To truly understand freedom is to accept that individuals will make decisions with which you, indeed society in general, disagree. To prohibit those decisions is also to limit your freedom.
It is difficult to understand opting for an abortion simply because one prefers a child of one gender over the other, but the prohibition proposed in House Bill 716 opens the door for government decide what reasons are allowable.
Reasonable people, no doubt, would deplore such a decision today, but what other reasons will government outlaw tomorrow? Once the door is cracked, you can count on politicians to open it wider and walk through with their own agenda.
The freedom to choose an abortion is a constitutional right guaranteed to American women. No matter where you stand on that issue, it is one should be left to individuals, not to government.
Women facing what is surely a wrenching decision need the support of people they know and trust. That means parents, friends, clergy, doctors, nurses or others of their choice. It does not mean politicians who believe they know what is best for someone they might never have met or circumstances they might never have faced.
All things in life cannot be regulated and legislated. Abortion is one.
These bills, introduced in a legislative session that has the public focused on bigger and more appropriate issues, have not reached the floor of either legislative chamber for a vote. They should not move forward.
Protect your freedom. Tell your legislator to stick with business that belongs to government, not decisions that belong with individuals.


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A spreadworthy message
05/11/08 19:20 Filed in: Contagion
An excellent viral video from a recent political campaign.
Political book preferences
11/09/08 08:35 Filed in: Politics
Amazon has an interactive map of the US showing which political books are bestsellers as a function of state. You'll notice that Vermont is rather blue.


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Rams to Face Gettysburg in Opening Round of NCAA's
Host Site - Moravian College - March 5th and 6th
5:00pm - Farmingdale State (25-1) vs. Gettysburg College (22-4)
7:00pm - Utica College (21-6) vs. Moravian College (25-2)
Tickets: $6 for general admission; $3 for students
Farmingdale, N.Y. - The Farmingdale State women's basketball team will face Gettysburg College in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. The game will be played at Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania on Friday, March 5th at 5:00 p.m.
Farmingdale State enters the Tournament with a 25-1 record and
takes on a Gettysburg team who holds a 22-4 record and competes in
the Centennial Conference. The Rams defeated Mount Saint Mary
College to earn the Skyline Conference's automatic bid, while
Gettysburg fell to McDaniel College in the Conference Tournament,
but received an at-large bid into the Tournament.
The host institution, Moravian College, will take on Utica College in the other opening round game. Moravian defeated Scranton, 66-47, in the Landmark Conference Championship game earning an automatic bid, while Utica defeated Ithaca, 38-37, in the Empire 8 Championship to capture the conference's automatic bid.
The winner of both games will square off on Saturday, March 6th at 7:00 p.m. at Moravian College.
To view Moravian's Tournament website w/ info and directions, click HERE
NCAA 2010 Division III Women's Basketball
Championship Bracket