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Sanford Gay bars and clubs by distance
- Hanks (15.6m) Hank's is one of Orlando oldest and most friendly gay bars and offers pool table's, video games, darts, a jukebox with 10,000 song...more
- Barcodes (15.8m) Friendly gay bar with pool table and nightly events including karaoke, underwear, beer bust, movie, tattoo, and leather. (Formerly...more
- Savoy (16.9m) Savoy is a cool bar/lounge with friendly staff, 2 bars, video, DJ, pool table, and darts. Weekend entertainment includes a boy re...more
- St Matthew's (17.3m) Neighborhood gay bar with outdoor tiki bar, 2 pool tables, 6 video screens, electronic darts, video games, and happy hour daily un...more
- Parliament House (18.9m) Parliament House includes a hotel with huge swimming pool, a fab live theater, video bar, dance club, pool lounge, lakeside beach,...more
- Hamburger Mary's (19.1m) Busy gay Orlando burger chain with themed nightly entertainment and a good brunch hangout. Never a cover for shows....more
- Stonewall (19.3m) Small bar with a friendly atmosphere with musical, karaoke, underwear and leather nights. Gated parking available...more
Sanford Gay Bars and Clubs from ClubFly
ClubFly provides a gay bar, club, nightlife and GLBT center mapper for Sanford, Florida and the rest of the USA. Sanford gay bars and clubs are mapped in your gayborhood with ratings, tags, videos, tips, transit/walking directions, and driving directions.


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A Blueberry July
Just in time for July Fourth, here's a sweet little recipe for blueberry cake cupcakes. I know that's redundant- calling it a blueberry cake cupcake. I mean, how can a blueberry cake be a cupcake too? It's either cake or cupcake. It can't be both.
These may be...
|Colander filled with blueberries. ©2009 Karina Allrich.
Karina's Blueberry Cake Cupcakes Recipe
Recipe posted June 2008- updated.
The flour blend as well as the kind of sugar you use will influence the flavors in these cupcakes. If you don't care for the taste of buckwheat, use a brown rice flour instead. Also- I like to use organic golden brown sugar in my gluten-free dessert recipes because I think it adds more flavor and depth to my recipes. Gluten-free flours often taste a little strange. That is also why I use at least 2 teaspoons of bourbon vanilla in my recipes. Bottom line? Gluten-free baking needs a little flavor spike.
Whisk together in a mixing bowl:
3/4 cup sorghum flour
3/4 cup rice flour or GF oat flour
1/4 cup GF buckwheat flour or GF millet flour
1/2 cup tapioca or potato starch
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon very fine lemon zest- save the lemon for glaze, if you desire
In a separate mixing bowl beat together:
2 large free-range eggs, beaten- or Ener-G egg replacer
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup Spectrum Organic Shortening or organic coconut oil
1/2 cup warm non-dairy milk, more as needed
2 teaspoons bourbon vanilla extract
Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Line a 12-muffin tin with paper liners.
Add the wet into the dry ingredients and beat to combine; beat on medium for 3 minutes. If the cake batter appears too dry, add more non-dairy milk, one tablespoon at a time until it becomes a smooth batter.
If you'd like to do a lemon glaze, combine:
Juice of 1 large lemon
1/2 cup confectioner's (icing) sugar, more as needed
Drizzle glaze over still warm cupcakes.
Makes 12 cupcakes.
All images & content are copyright protected, all rights reserved. Please do not use our images or content without prior permission. Thank you.
Enjoy sugary treats in moderation. Gluten-Free Goddess advises consuming no more than 2 tablespoons of sugar a day.


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With the winter break truly upon us, it's time for this humble blog to pick a teamful of players who stood out in the first half of the 2012-13 Canadian Direct Insurance BC Rugby Premier League.
1 Alex Boyd (Meraloma) He's been played out of position – his preferred position is on the flank – but his contributions around the field are undisputed. The young Manitoban is a tireless worker with and without the ball. Will he see time in a national jersey? He's short, but strong as hell. Perhaps a move to hooker would help him get there? Nonetheless, he's a young forward very much on the upswing.
2 Mike Georgas (Meraloma) For years Georgas battled his longtime friend Dan Fumano for the number 2 jersey at the westside club, but with Fumano's departure to Ontario a year and a half ago, Georgas has made the Meraloma number two his own. He's not a flashy player, but he does everything well and has emerged as a leader in a veteran-laden club.
3 Hubert Buydens (Castaway-Wanderers) One of the finest scrummagers in B.C., his work on the Canada tour started poorly but impressed against the Maori. In a re-building season for CW, his leadership on the field goes beyond just his powerful scrummaging.
4 Adam Zaruba (Capilano) The standout young forward of the first half of the season. The ex-gridiron player is still learning the game, but the kid's a horse. Few in B.C. can equal his strength, size and speed. In the long run, he may find himself in the Canadian backrow, but for now, he's a fine anchor in an impressive North Shore pack.
5 Brian Erichsen (Meraloma) The old horse of the Meralomas' forwards, Erichsen's career-long focus on fitness is paying off as he cruises through his mid-30s. A ferocious tackler, Erichsen has found the fine edge of the discipline line. There was a time when he took yellow cards with regularity, but no more.
6 Calum Morrison (Meraloma) Another young forward talent, Morrison has mostly played on the open side in recent games, but must be in the lineup. As a flanker, he's worked very hard as a glue man in the Lomas' well-oiled offensive machine, as well as being a key cog in their league-leading defence. Still rather slight, will he be able to maintain his ferocious work rate as the second half wears on?
7 Scott Plummer (Burnaby Lake) The Burnaby Lake squad rumbled quietly along for much of the first half, not attracting much attention. But Kris de Scossa's men have bought into a team system that has worked remarkably well for them. One of the leaders in that system is open-side flanker Plummer. His work at the breakdown and in the tackle has been effervescent. His worker as a fetcher is the first driver to the Burnaby attack.
8 Glen McKinnon (Capilano) Hard to argue with his selection as CDI player of the year. McKinnon's presence at the back of the Capilano scrum is a steadying one. Need the game's pace dictated? McKinnon's your man. Need a powerful run with the ball? McKinnon's your man. Need a big, game-turning effort at a ruck? McKinnon's your man. Need a big tackle to force a turnover? Well, you get the point. In a league with a stack high-quality number eights, McKinnon's willingness to do everything, at any time, is on a level all its own.
9 Eric Wilson (Meraloma) The steadiest of the steady, Wilson's consistent work ethic, quality passing and ability to read the game earned him a callup to the senior men's tour of the UK in November. He's a massive influence on his team as a leader and as a decision maker; take him out of the lineup permanently and the Lomas would be hard-pressed to fire at the same velocity. That may be true of most of the elite-level scrum halves in BC, but none would be more missed than Wilson.
10 Chris Robinson (Capilano) Playing in Tom Larisch's system requires a flyhalf dynamic runner with excellent vision. Robinson has that and he's a solid kicker to boot.
11 Beau Parker (University of Victoria) An electric outside runner for the always-exciting UVic backline, Parker's 5 tries in 7 games leads the league. When the space is there he knows how to use; when the space isn't, he knows how to break through.
12 Remi Anctil (University of Victoria) A workhorse, Anctil has flown under the radar as one of the league's toughest defenders. Playing between sevens stars Sean Duke and Nathan Hirayama (when they are available), Anctil doesn't get much press, but there's no question he's been the glue in a backline that isn't always at full strenght. Killer 'stache too.
13 Joe Dolesau (Burnaby Lake) The outstanding back – and possible player – of the entire first half, Dolesau at times seems able to break tackles at will. Another player who is thriving in Burnaby's team-first approach. When a player finds himself the focus of opposing teams' defensive schemes, you know he's doing something right.
14 Brady Carpenter (Capilano) Another workhorse winger, Carpenter's as steady as they come under the high ball and cracks defences on outside runs and inside cutbacks. He only dotted down twice but he's a key reason why the Capilanos lead the league in points scored at the break.
15 Dan Kilpatrick (James Bay) An old school fullback who rarely takes a wrong step. Safe under the high ball and a top-notch outside distributor, he's also deadly with the boot, keeping a young James Bay squad close in every game.
Scott Mackay (Burnaby Lake) A tough customer in the front row, the Burnaby Lake pack is as solid as they come when he's in the lineup.
Drew Langer (University of Victoria) Dynamic and physical, Langer is an asset to the UVic forward pack. He's played both in the back row and as a lock, he's a key selection for UVic coach Doug Tate each week.
Andrew de Goede (James Bay) Another hustling openside, the latest de Goede is another chip of the old block. A close contender for this reporter's First XV.
Admir Cejvanovic (Burnaby Lake) As far as raw talent goes, the Burnaby number eight is as exciting as they come. A great runner of the ball and a capable goal kicker, Cejvanovic is only going to get better.
Matt Yanagiya (Capilano) A dynamic scrum half, Yanagiya's partnership with Robinson will be one to watch in the second half. He's also a quality goal kicker.
Nate Rees (Capilano) A beast in the backline, Rees has also been used as ball-carrying weapon in the back-row. Whether he continues in the backs – Taylor Dalziel's health will dictate that – when he's there, he's a powerful force outside of Charlie Jones' silk.
Justin Law (UBCOB Ravens) The young fullback is one of the most elusive runners in BC and just misses out on selection for the First XV.
Patrick Johnston is a Vancouver-based freelance journalist. Follow him on twitter at twitter.com/risingaction.


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Last week I was joined by Team E's Will Jones on Periscope where we talked shop about restaurant magic, magic conventions, practice tips and a whole lot more. You can find the episode here.
Make sure to follow Ellusionist on Periscope so you'll know when we're doing another live episode!
Have more magic questions? Keep up with me on Twitter too! [url]http://twitter.com/lukedancy[/url]


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HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — Japanese stocks soared Friday in a post-holiday catch-up rally that was aided again by a weaker yen, while most other Asian markets fell on concerns U.S. central bankers were considering an end to their bond-buying program.
The Nikkei Stock Average NIK, +0.40% jumped 2.8% to 10,688.11, ending at a level not seen since early March of 2011. The rally came as trading began in Tokyo for the first time in this calendar year, and after U.S. lawmakers signed an agreement to avert the worst of the fiscal cliff.
But other markets that had already enjoyed fiscal-cliff relief rallies pared their recent gains. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 XJO, +0.33%, South Korea's Kospi 180721, -0.14% and Taiwan's Taiex XX:Y9999 each lost 0.4%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index HSI, +0.50% fell 0.3% after recent gains.
The Shanghai Composite Index 000001, +2.38% ended 0.4% higher, unable to rally as hard as stocks in Japan, as investors held out hopes for Beijing to enact large, market-friendly pro-growth measures.
"You still have to wait for the officials to announce some meaningful policies to spur the financial markets," said Lyncean Securities's Managing Director Francis Lun, who believes that such major reforms remain unlikely for now.
Overnight, U.S. stocks ended lower after the Fed minutes showed the central bank's bond purchases would likely cease by the end of the year, with investors also preparing for the December employment report due later Friday. Read: U.S. stocks drop after Fed signals end to bond buys.
More recently, Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -2.37% futures slipped 0.1% and S&P 500 SPX, -2.59% futures were marginally lower.
But stocks in Japan posted solid gains, with a wide swathe of major exporters rising sharply as the dollar USDJPY, +0.01% weakened to near ¥88, up from the ¥86 level last week, before the Tokyo stock market closed for holidays. Read: Dollar climbs ahead of jobs data.
Hitachi Ltd. 6501, -0.27% HTHIF, +0.70% surged 5.2%, Bridgestone Corp. 5108, +0.20% BRDCF, -2.54% rocketed up 7.5%, Toyota Motor Corp. 7203, +0.14% TM, -1.40% jumped 6.4% and Honda Motor Co. 7267, +0.50% HMC, -1.34% added 4%.
Financials also advanced in response to the U.S. fiscal-cliff deal, with Nomura Holdings Inc. 8604, +1.28% NMR, -0.52% trading up 4.2% and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. 8306, +0.38% US:MTU rising 5%.
Among the few blue chips losing ground, Sharp Corp. 6753, +1.10% SHCAF, -0.95% fell 2.6% after the Yomiuri Shimbun reported Tuesday that the company may issue more than $1.15 billion in new shares.
Unlike their Japanese peers, Hong Kong-listed banks moved lower, hit by the Fed news and a 0.5% drop for U.S. financials Thursday.
Top-weighted index component HSBC Holdings PLC 5, +0.44% US:HBC lost 1.6%, while Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. 1288, +0.33% ACGBF, +1.24% fell 0.3% and China Merchants Bank Co. 3968, +2.31% CIHHF, -0.75% declined 0.8%.
• MarketWatch Topics: Middle East
• | |
• | |
• Latin American and Canadian indexes
• European indexes | Asian indexes
More on the Markets
• Global Economic Calendar
• | | Earnings Watch
• | U.S. Economic Calendar
In Shanghai, however, banks were mostly higher, as the market opened for the first time after the U.S. fiscal-cliff agreement.
China Construction Bank Corp. 601939, +0.86% CICHY, -1.78% rose 2.2% and AgBank 601288, +0.00% 3.2%.
Outside of financials, several blue-chips fell in Hong Kong, with footwear major Shoe maker Belle International Holdings Ltd. HK:1880 BELLF, +35.06% losing 3.2% and Want Want China Holdings Ltd. 151, -1.46% WWNTF, -0.48% shedding 1.7%.
"I think what we have is some profit-taking because the market gained so much in the past few days, it is overbought," Lyncean's Lun said.
Also weighing on sentiment in the Hong Kong market were data from HSBC showing its Purchasing Managers' Index for the territory falling to 51.7 last month from November's 52.2, though it remained above the 50 mark separating expansion from contraction.
Over in Sydney, Australian stocks retreated after hitting a 20-month high in the previous session, as the heavily-weighted mining sector took a beating on sharply lower commodity prices.
The Fed minutes added losses to the commodities. Benchmark copper futures, for instance, lost more than 1% on the Comex overnight, while aluminum futures tumbled 2% in London trade, according to Reuters.
Tracking the losses, Rio Tinto Ltd. RIO, +0.94% RIO, -1.17% fell 1% and BHP Billiton Ltd. BHP, +0.63% BHP, -1.19% dropped 0.6%, while Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. FMG, +2.85% FSUMF, -2.77% closed 3.6% lower.
Hong Kong resource shares also dropped, with Angang Steel Co. 347, +0.36% ANGGF, -7.53% dropping 2.4%, and Zijin Mining Group Co. 2899, -0.67% ZIJMF, -0.53% 2.9% lower.
On the upside in Australia, MacMahon Holdings Ltd. MAH, -2.78% MCHHF, -8.18% rose 1.8% after it confirmed that a unit of India's Punj Lloyd Ltd. was bidding for its construction unit.
In Seoul, exporters mostly retreated after mixed trade earlier in the session, with Samsung Electronics Co. 005930, -0.23% SSNLF, +0.00% dropping 1.2%, while its chip-making rival SK Hynix Inc. 000660, +0.81% HXSCL, +0.00% fell 1.1%.


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Niagara Falls Events, Coupons, Reviews!
Subscribe to KidsScoop! The monthly family event and savings newsletter.
We had a very fun and exciting summer and visited many great places. Toward the end of August, we went to Lake Placid. Even though we live in New York State, we had never been to Lake Placid. Living in the Catskill Mountains, I was under the impression that the Adirondack Mountains were more or less the same. Living on a lake myself, I just never felt an urgency to travel up that way. I am so glad we did though because it is so very different.
I was truly amazed at how traveling a few hours in my home state brought us to a place that we were in awe of. As my husband and I started getting closer to Lake Placid we were so moved by the beauty of the majestic mountains. I think as we get older, we appreciate the beautiful landscape of our great country more and more. My husband had me snapping photos on the highway. Don't worry I was not the one driving.
We made our way through the shop lined streets of town to The Mirror Lake Inn. Family owned since the 1930's this resort has been owned and operated by Ed and Lisa Weibrecht since 1976. Their son Andrew's Olympic medals hang behind the front desk. The Inn overlooks Mirror Lake and every room has a lake view. There are always freshly baked chocolate chip cookies in the lobby along with coffee and tea.
The staff at the Mirror Lake Inn were so nice. Sandy Caligiore the PR Representative for the resort made sure everything was set up and ready for our arrival and helped us plan our getaway. The staff was there to assist us with anything we needed and were always around to greet us with a smile. We were so grateful for the warm welcome, luxurious accommodations and world-class dining they provided for us during our stay.
Our room was comfortable with a nice sitting area overlooking the lake. Waiting in our room for us was a nice fruit, cheese and cookie plate and 4 Saratoga sparkling waters.
We had dinner at the Taste Bistro our first night and it was fabulous. The menu is full of comfort foods infused with French, German and Italian elements. We started with their signature Fried Brussels Sprouts served with fresh lemon and sea salt. Our boys had the Kilcoyne Farms Burger which is of a half-pound of local beef served on a house-made kaiser roll with house smoked bacon, caramelized sweet onion, lettuce, tomato and NY sharp cheddar cheese.
I had the marinated and Seared Tenderloin Beef Tips served with mashed potatoes, farm vegetables and balsamic onions. My husband had the Kilcoyne Farms Pot Roast made from pasture-raised local beef, caramelized root vegetables, and local potatoes. The atmosphere, food and service was astounding. The boys had Shirley Temples and my husband and I had fresh lemonade. We even shared some chocolate cheesecake with fresh berries for dessert.
The boys wanted to swim in the indoor pool so we made our way down to the pool inside them main Inn on the lower level. It was nice and warm and had a very large whirlpool tub and large pool with a waterfall and bridge feature. There were nice chairs and lounges around to relax on as well as loads of soft fluffy towels for drying off.
They were pretty exhausted after swimming and we made our way up to our room where they promptly fell asleep. In the morning we had the Adirondack Breakfast Buffet at The View restaurant and it was so good. A very nice assortment of eggs or omelets cooked to order, french toast, bacon, sausage, cereals, fruit, yogurt and so much more.
After breakfast we had to go to Plattsburgh to get a battery charger for my camera. I have never left a charger home and this was a first. I could have kicked myself but we had to make the drive since there was nothing available any closer. When we returned we went down to the lake and the boys swam and then collected rocks that we are going to put in a jar as a memento.
After that we had a dinner reservation at The View restaurant, a 17 time winner of the Wine Spectator's Dining Guide Award.
My husband and I had the Prime Beef Filet grilled and finished with Maldon sea salt, potato pavé, baby vegetables, glazed cipollini onions, tarragon butter and pinot noir reduction. The filet was exceptional, my husband said it was the best he has every had and I have to agree.
We both had Cappuccino and Cheesecake for dessert and the kids had Ice Cream.
After dinner we all went swimming in the indoor pool.
Afterward Seth Dow, an account manager for Mirror Lake Inn took me on an informative tour of the Inn and all the different rooms available for guests. He was a very personable and knowledgeable, young man who provided me with a tremendous amount of information about the inn as well as the area. I was surprised to learn that the inn actually burnt nearly to the ground in the 1980's and the only things that were saved were the murals that were cut out of the wall and the grandfather clock. You would never know though because it was rebuilt to look exactly as it originally had when it was first built.
We went down to the lake, swam and then took a family paddle boat ride. Mirror Lake is lovely, if you are not used to the temperature of lakes in New York State you might be shocked but even though it is colder in Lake Placid than on our lake the water was only a tad colder. I appreciated that as on the lake I live on, they do not allow gasoline powered watercraft. This makes the lakes so much cleaner and nicer to swim and play in. There is a sandy beach area for kids to play, lots of lounges, fluffy towels and paddle boats and kayaks you can take out.
After the lake, the boys decided it was time to go to the outdoor pool, so we ventured up and spent some fun time in there. There are plenty of lounges, tables and chairs around the pool and the view of the lake from the pool is beautiful. It is very peaceful and serene all around.
There is a spa downstairs for full pampering as well as a gift shop where I picked up a Mirror Lake mug to reflect on our time spent there whenever I enjoy my coffee or tea. Our days at The Mirror Lake Inn were truly a grand experience that we cannot wait to repeat very soon. Next time we want to go with all of our kids to make some great memories!
Let me know if you have ever visited The Mirror Lake Inn or Lake Placid? If not, is it a destination you are
considering? Feel free to answer in the comments, I love to read your thoughts. You can book a reservation on their website or connect with them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.


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I'm quitting Facebook because it makes me feel like a loser.
I don't mean reading posts about babies taking first steps and people flaunting their engagement ring makes me feel bad.
I mean that the simple act of logging in, scrolling the news feed and posting about something mundane I did isn't worth my time.
I'm about to turn thirty, and as such, I'm looking at every decision in my life.
And after weighing the costs and benefits of visiting of Facebook, I've realized I get nothing out of it.
The truth of the matter is that Facebook is no substitute for a phone call or dropping by a friend's apartment to catch up over coffee.
For some people that's the point—all they want is a glimpse of their friend's lives. I don't want that. And I don't want to read the musings and rants of people that have floated through my life, but aren't really friends.
Which brings me to the second reason I'm quitting: the pressure to add people I'd rather not let into my life. Whether it's a parent's friend or someone I met out, I'd just rather not do it or feel guilty for letting their friend request go ignored. There's a professional me, an off-work me and neither need to be on full-display, all at once.
The mind-boggling privacy settings and inability to categorize "friends" has also been frustrating. Unlike Google Circles, which featured the ability to lump acquaintances in one group and family in another, achieving the same results on Facebook is a 30 minute endeavor that doesn't always work. With all the drop-down menus to click through and the confusing "Friends" vs. "Only Me" settings, I tend to abandon the process altogether.
Finally, and this might be the biggest thing pushing me to leave, I don't like the idea of Mark Zuckerberg having access to something I posted at 21 when I didn't know any better. A marketer doesn't need to know it, and I shouldn't have to wonder where that information is being stored or what it's going to be used for.
So I'm going to dump Facebook at the end of the month when I turn 30. Hopefully, I won't feel like a loser, standing on the outside of the world's biggest social network.


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by Vikrant Sawant
BEA WebLogic Server 9.2 provides out-of-the-box support for Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) to build single sign-on (SSO) solutions with minimum or no coding, depending on your security requirements. Using WebLogic Server 9.2, the single sign-on capability can be easily added between multiple online applications running on trusted domains. The SAML standard defines a framework for exchanging security information between the federation of trusted servers. The primary function of the security framework is to provide configuration tools and APIs to secure your applications.
This tutorial provides step by step instructions to configure the single sign-on capability between two simple Java EE Web applications running on two different WebLogic domains. The SAML configuration for single sign-on is performed using the WebLogic Server 9.2 Administration Console with no programming involved. The tutorial also briefly introduces the basic interactions between WebLogic containers, the security providers, and the security framework during the single sign-on process.
The SAML standard defines a framework for exchanging security information within the federation of trusted servers. For some background, read Introduction to SAML by Beth Linker (Dev2Dev, 2006). This tutorial shows how to set up SAML authorization between two Web applications. The source for these applications is provided here.
This tutorial looks at a simple example involving two Web applications; appA deployed on the source (local) site, and appB deployed on the destination (remote) site. You'll learn how to configure these applications using the WebLogic Server 9.2 Administration Console and participate in a SSO process using SAML.
The source site provides an authentication service and securely passes the authentication details using SAML Inter-site Transfer Service (ITS) when requested by the destination site. The server on the source site includes an ITS servlet, which is an addressable component that provides SAML processing functionality such as artifact generation and the ability to redirect a user to the destination site.
Figure 1 shows the basic interaction between source site and destination site during the SSO process.
Figure 1. Interaction between source site and destination site, using SAML, during single sign-on
The whole single sign-on process listed above requires no coding by the developer (except for the coding of applications appA and appB, of course) and can be easily configured using the Administration Console.


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Last week, we covered AT&T's coming upgrade to its U-Verse service and the potential impact of its faster speed grades on the company's overall position in the broadband market. Currently, it doesn't look as though much will change. AT&T is raising the maximum down speed of the U-Verse service to 10Mpbs, up from 6Mbps, but that gain, while significant, pales in comparison to the 150Mbps and 100Mbps connections Verizon and Comcast intend to offer in the future. Rim Semiconductor Company, however, doesn't think the future is necessarily that bleak for DSL-over-copper, and is demonstrating a version of its own technology that the company claims will allow for far higher speeds over traditional copper wire.
Exactly how fast "far higher" is remains something of a mystery. The company's PR blurb states that its Cupria transport processor "is now able to drive data traffic at 40 megabits per second (Mpbs) 5,500 feet (1.67km) on 26AWG (0.40mm) telephone wire." A Rim Semiconductor marketing paper (PDF) on the purported cost savings of Cupria, however, states that the company's technology can deliver 26Mbps within a 6,000-foot radius. That's still an impressive jump over AT&T's current U-verse implementation, which will use 10Mbps of its total 25Mbps of bandwidth for Internet service, but its well short of 40Mpbs and nowhere near the projected speeds for FiOS and cable. Rim's tech would be far more attractive for "pure" DSL players like Qwest or AT&T in areas where U-verse won't be arriving anytime soon.
It's hard to tell how much real promise lies behind Rim Semiconductor's PR statements, but the company is apparently in the process of demonstrating its Cupria line of products to various equipment manufacturers, has been testing the service in Monroe, Oregon, and has based its designs on the draft Release 1.0 of the Internet Protocol Subscriber Line (IPSL). The goal behind the IPSL standard is to create a network more appropriate for the needs of IPTV, advanced telephone communication, and higher broadband demands in general.
If Rim Seminconductor's optimistic statements regarding its own technology pan out into real results, current ADSL companies may be able to offer lower-cost solutions that are "good enough" for a majority of customers as broadband requirements continue to rise. There will always be consumers who want only the fastest and widest pipe available, but mass market solutions don't necessarily cater to such buyers. Thanks to Broadband reports for pointing out this particular gem—it's an interesting development, even if it doesn't give current FiOS subscribers a reason to toss their routers out the window just yet.


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SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — The yen climbed sharply versus the dollar and euro Friday after Japan's finance minister said the currency's fall had caught the government by surprise — a remark the ministry later described as a misstatement.
The dollar USDJPY, +0.01% traded at 92.75 yen in recent action, down from ¥93.41 in North American trade late Thursday. The dollar had bought as much as ¥93.70 early Friday. For the week, the greenback is little changed versus the yen.
The euro EURJPY, +0.85% fetched ¥123.93, down from around ¥125.32. For the week, the euro has lost more than 2% versus the yen.
On Friday, during a parliamentary session, Japan Financial Minister Taro Aso said the dollar had "abruptly risen to the ¥90 level from the previous ¥78-¥79 level in a manner we didn't anticipate."
Later, however, a finance ministry official said Aso had meant to say the yen's drop had been "fast paced" rather than unexpected. See: Japan: Aso meant to say yen's fall 'fast-paced'.
Combined with indications Japanese exporters are starting to re-emerge as yen sellers, Aso's comments were "sufficient to drive a stop run down to a low of ¥92.17 before a partial retracement," said Adam Cole, currency strategist at RBC Capital in London.
Aso's remarks certainly don't imply the yen's fall is unwelcome, "but does call into question the ¥95-100 range [versus the dollar] that many were beginning to talk of" as a government objective, Cole said.
Taking a look at the bigger picture, seasonals are "in favor of yen strength," with March representing the end of Japan's fiscal year, and the yen typically strengthening from mid-February through late-April," said Christopher Vecchio, currency analyst at DailyFX, in an emailed note.
Given that, "we very-well may be on the verge of the next bout of risk-aversion if political concerns stemming from Italy and Spain boil over," he said. "A drop back to ¥120 in EURJPY can't be ruled out at [the] present time."
Euro falls vs. dollar
The euro, meanwhile, moved lower against the dollar.
European leaders reached an agreement Friday on a seven-year budget plan for the European Union, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy announced on Twitter without providing details after a final set of negotiations that stretched to around 24 hours. See: European leaders agree on 7-year EU budget deal.
"The EU budget deal, which confirms the EU's appetite for austerity, provides continued support for the euro bears to bet against the euro based on a weak growth outlook," said Richard Hastings, a macro strategist at Global Hunter Securities. "But the market already understands this, so it looks like the budget conversation is a small catalyst in the same general direction."
The euro had taken a tumble Thursday after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said policy makers would watch the currency's appreciation for any sign it is affecting the euro-zone inflation outlook. Draghi also said the euro's recent rise is a sign of confidence in the shared currency.
He emphasized repeatedly that the ECB was maintaining an "accommodative" monetary policy. Read Draghi: Euro reflects confidence, but eyeing rise.
The euro EURUSD, +0.8614%, which pushed above $1.37 earlier this week, changed hands at $1.3365 in recent trade, down from $1.3392 in late North American action Thursday. For the week, its down about 2%.
Although down about 2% just this week, the currency is still up nearly 4.9% against the greenback compared with three months ago.
"What we note is that the latest data shows the euro-zone is stabilizing. More work is needed, however," said Evan Lucas, a market strategist at IG Markets.
"Mario Draghi's 'whatever it takes' comments that came [at midyear] last year was the flash point for the current rally and he is holding true to his word, meaning Europe is going to be a distraction, not a disaster," Lucas said.
The ICE dollar index DXY, -0.92%, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major global currencies, rose to 80.234 from around 79.721 late in New York on Thursday. The index was about 1.4% higher for the week.
The WSJ dollar index BUXX, -0.44%, a gauge that measures the greenback's moves against a slightly wider basket of currencies, slipped to 71.53 from 71.66 Thursday.
Among other major currency pairs, the British pound GBPUSD, +0.2531% climbed to $1.5794 from $1.5696, while the Australian dollar AUDUSD, -0.0148% fetched $1.0317, compared with $1.0284.


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Predicting a short trial, the judge overseeing the looming court battle between Donald and Shelly Sterling said Monday that the provisions of the Sterling family trust appear to favor Shelly's effort to assert control over the Los Angeles Clippers.
The pretrial hearing set the stage for the July 7 trial in Los Angeles Superior Court that will determine whether Shelly can take control of the family trust that owns the team because, as she alleges, Donald Sterling is mentally incapacitated.
Shelly Sterling's attorneys argued that the case boils down to the provisions of the Sterling Family Trust — and whether or not they grant her permission to sell the franchise. But Donald Sterling's lawyers asked for a delay in the trial and laid out their case for bringing in their own medical experts.
Superior Court Judge Michael Levanas frequently questioned why something so seemingly unambiguous required court intervention in the first place.
"It's not going to be a long trial," Levanas said Monday, before setting another hearing on June 30.
Weeks after her husband was banned from the NBA for life for racist comments, Shelly Sterling declared herself sole trustee last month — paving the way for a record $2 billion sale of the team to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. When her husband vowed to fight the sale, she asked a court to confirm her control of the team.
"(The judge) is convinced there is no ambiguity in the trust," Adam Streisand, Ballmer's attorney, said outside the courthouse. "He clearly provides that if this procedure is followed, getting two doctors to say he lacks capacity, we're done. The other side is attempting to bring in a lot of noise, and try to rewrite the trust to say something it doesn't say."
Donald Sterling's attorney, Bobby Samini, disagreed: "I think the court was very clear it has not made a determination on this issue … We've got to provide our evidence, show the judge that there are some ambiguities and there are some other issues that are important for the court to consider."
Levanas gave deadlines for both parties to file any more papers, oppositions or replies to oppositions by the morning of June 30.
He spent most of Monday afternoon's hearing stressing that — although the Sterlings' trust agreement was very broadly written — he felt it was clear in setting the parameters for determining mental incapacity and the ensuing ousting of a trustee.
However, Donald Sterling's attorney Bobby Samini said he has "serious issues" with the trust document and the examinations of his client.
Court documents filed by Donald Sterling's attorneys argue that Shelly Sterling "fabricated and implemented this disingenuous basis to override" his objections to the sale. The document also states that Donald Sterling was "induced to submit to medical examination under false pretenses," and argue that a key provision of the trust was "inadvertently omitted" when it was revised last December.
That provision would have allowed an ousted trustee to gain reinstatement by producing contrary evidence.
Outside the courthouse, Samini denied that he and fellow Sterling attorney Maxwell Blecher were in the next room as Sterling was being examined — something Shelly Sterling's attorneys claimed.
Both parties also filed witness lists for next month's trial. Shelly Sterling's list included Meril Platzer and James Spar, the doctors who ruled her husband mentally incapacitated last month.
Key on Donald Sterling's witness list was Dr. Jeffrey Cummings of the Cleveland Clinic, who Samini said has performed a preliminary examination on the 80-year-old real estate mogul. Monday's court filings included a declaration from Cummings stated that he will be traveling from July 4 to July 20 for a medical conference — leaving him unable to testify at next month's trial.
Donald Sterling's attorneys cited that when asking Levanas to postpone the trial by a month, arguing that there was no evidence a delay would hurt the value of the team.
"I'm going to need a very detailed declaration of why it is someone needs to be gone for two weeks to speak at a conference," Levanas said.
Streisand suggested that absent experts could also testify by deposition.


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Roy Hodgson has paid a glowing tribute to "fantastic" Ashley Cole as the player approaches the milestone of 100 caps for his country, despite the fresh problems the left-back has heaped on the England set up on the eve of two crucial World Cup qualifiers.
Cole is expected to become the sixth player to reach the century in Warsaw a week on Tuesday, presenting the Football Association officials – whom on Friday he labelled a "bunch of twats" – with a dilemma over how to mark the moment.
But after another taxing week that included a storm over an aside made by Hodgson to a punter on the London underground about the international future of Rio Ferdinand, the manager says he could even consider making Cole captain for the occasion. Hodgson was speaking before Cole's outburst and subsequent apology on Friday, but stands by his comments in praise of the Chelsea left-back. It is understood that while Hodgson said he deemed the idea worthy of consideration, Steven Gerrard is expected to lead the team as normal against Poland on his return from suspension.
Hodgson and Cole spoke on Friday afternoon and the player will join up with the squad as planned on Monday. The 31-year-old has previously shown little interest in wearing the captain's armband but when it was suggested to him, Hodgson said the idea was "worthy of consideration" to mark the achievement. "It is something that would need an awful lot of consideration and you would need to discuss it with Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard, who have been captaining the team. It is not something you should take lightly. It is certainly worthy of consideration," he said.
"What is more worthy of consideration is the fact that Ashley, at a relatively young age and with more football left in him, is likely to get his 100th cap very soon – and that is fantastic. I don't think we should ever underestimate the value of that."
Hodgson said he put Cole in the same bracket as the Italian international Paolo Maldini and that he respected Cole's decision not to speak to the media in the wake of the off-field incidents that have sullied perceptions of his stellar career on the pitch. "I for one respect that wholeheartedly and have found him to be an excellent professional and a very, very enthusiastic and important member of the group and I'm looking forward to working with him for a period of time to come," the England manager said.
"He has done it with consistency and there is no reason why he cannot set his sights higher. I must say it is an achievement we shouldn't be underestimating and if people are going to praise his achievement it is something I would endorse."
Hodgson, who defended Cole's right to do his talking on the pitch, said that was also true on the field of play: "Every player has the right to be true to their own feelings, and his is that he will do his talking on the field, I don't want to give lots of interviews, I want to be judged as a pure footballer."
The FA was hoping that the issues around John Terry and Rio Ferdinand would blow over by the time the squad convened on Monday, so the focus of the media could coalesce around the official opening on Tuesday of its new £100m national football centre at St George's Park. But the fallout from Cole's criticism of the "evolution" of his evidence contained in the written reasons for Terry's four-match ban for racially abusing QPR's Anton Ferdinand is just the latest example of the shadow the incident continues to cast over the FA despite the Chelsea captain's decision to retire from international football.
Hodgson was also forced to again justify his decision to leave Rio Ferdinand out of his latest squad for the games against San Marino at Wembley on Friday and in Poland the following Tuesday despite limited options at centre-half. "There may be a time when I need to go to Rio if he hasn't himself called time on his career – and I have no reason to believe he has. When the day comes that I need to go to him it will be because I want him to go straight into the team for one particular reason," he said.
"I haven't made that decision on this occasion so next time I will have to make that decision is in March. Who knows in March what the situation will be, who knows what Rio will say?"


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SF CAN CRC MisFITS
It's More than a Race.
We've formed a team for Get Your Rear in Gear and are joining thousands of others from across the country to make a difference in the fight against colon cancer, our nation's No. 2 cancer killer.
We'll go the distance. Will you join us? We'd love your support as we prepare for this meaningful day.
We've got an ambitious fundraising goal but with support from people like you we can get there. The money raised will fund local programs to increase screening and awareness for colon and rectal cancer, as well as programs and services to support those living with the disease.
10 Facts about Colon Cancer
- Anyone can get colon cancer.
- One in 20 Americans will be diagnosed in their lifetime.
- Colon cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death.
- Colorectal cancer affects men and women equally, and people of all races and nationalities.
- Screening for colon cancer should begin at age 50.
- Screening should begin earlier for many ethnic groups and those with a family history.
- Many of those diagnosed with colon cancer report no signs or symptoms before the diagnosis.
- Those with a parent, sibling, or other relative with colon cancer have an increased risk of developing the disease.
- Incidence of colon cancer is increasing among adults under age 50.
- Younger adults were more likely than older adults to be diagnosed with late-stage cancers.
(Bonus Fact) Screening is easy, there are many affordable options that can be done in the privacy of your own home. Talk to your doctor about the right one for you.
If you prefer to mail your donation, download the donation form here.
Learn more at coloncancercoalition.org/get-educated.


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Teacher resources and professional development across the curriculum
Teacher professional development and classroom resources across the curriculum
Course Goals and Structure
|Overall Goal | Observe | Explore | Define | Apply | Evaluate
Part A: Observe, See the Standard in Action
The first part of the session, Observe, is designed to let you observe the process standard in action. In this part you will view examples of student work, observe classrooms through streaming video, and record your own work in a journal. The material in this part is generally based on one aspect of a subject area and a related age-range-appropriate mathematics problem.
Here are specific features of Observe:
Student Work and Discussion
In this feature you will be able to observe hypothetical examples of student work for your grade band. You will be presented with a problem, shown how students worked on the problem, and asked to consider questions the teacher may ask students and ways they might answer.
For example, in Session 5, Reasoning and Proof, you will be introduced to a classroom in which groups of students are working on an estimation problem. The teacher has given each group a collection of blocks and asked for an estimate, based on a reference, of how many blocks are on their table. After the groups have made their estimate, they will count and record the actual number. Here are two examples of how students recorded their count.
Observe Classroom
Another feature of this part is the Observe a Classroom interactive activity. This is a viewer that allows you to focus on specific aspects of a featured video depicting students and a teacher working on the problem in a regular classroom setting. There are annotations that help focus attention on the process standard under consideration. Take a moment to familiarize yourself with the sample screen below for this activity; it is a tool that will be used in each session. Note that these activities require the Flash Player plug-in, version 5 or later, as noted earlier in this session.
Streaming Video
Another feature of the Observe part is streaming video. In conjunction with student work and the Observe a Classroom interactive activity, you will view streaming video and reflect on questions related to the material. All of the videos require the Windows Media Player plug-in, as noted earlier in this session. The videos will play in a popup window like the one below.
At the end of each part of the course, you will have an opportunity to think about and record your observations and thoughts. Completing the journal is an important part of your learning, because it will allow you to reflect on what you've just observed and relate it to your own practice. The journal will accumulate as you work through each course session and will be useful for self-evaluation. Please note that students taking this course for credit in conjunction with Colorado State University must be prepared to present the journals as well as a term paper for evaluation.
There are several different ways you may complete the journal: using pen and paper, using a word-processing program, such as Microsoft Word, or by using the Web-based form we provide and printing your entries. Whichever format you choose, keep track of your entries and organize them into a notebook or computer folder for reference. After you have completed the course, we hope you will find these materials of use for continuing review and professional development.
|Teaching Math Home | Grades K-2 | Introduction | Site Map | © |
© Annenberg Foundation 2017. All rights reserved. Legal Policy


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BY Kacia Hosmer
Good morning, lovelies! We are so excited to begin a new plan together today! As we prepare our hearts for Easter, we will be reading through a collection of scripture that was written to be sung–you can find the new plan on You Version by clicking here. {Or you can subscribe to receive each daily post by email!}
Imagine a journey.
You are tired. You are hungry and thirsty, yet you will not rest until you've completed this journey.
This journey is a marathon–it is long, and it is tiresome. You don't worry about winning: you simply want to make it to the goal. You want to reach the finish line.
As you are walking or running, you begin hearing voices. These voices are singing, and the noise grows louder and louder until soon everyone around you is singing with all of their might. As you hear the words, you realize you know the words and begin singing with them.
One might think that singing would cause more exhaustion–how on earth could you continue walking or running? Instead you gain more momentum as the songs continue.
Each word brings encouragement and hope.
Each verse takes you to a memory–a moment in your life's journey.
Each song begins and ends: bringing you closer to the finish. Preparing your heart as you close the gap.
Sisters, these are the Songs of Ascent. We are so excited to raise our voices together with you as we read through this section of the Bible found in the book of Psalms. Each chapter is a song that was sung as the annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem was made in celebration of the Passover. Whether you're new to us or been along for several of our journeys through the Scriptures, we can all agree that there is something powerful about a group uniting around God's truth, just like his people did years ago on the way to Jerusalem.
Each day we will look at one chapter of Psalms together, followed by a New Testament selection–each grouping tied together with a common theme. And while these verses were written many years ago, the truth is that they are just as applicable to us as ever before. Time changes, culture shifts: His truth stays constant. Always.
Persecution. Hope. Community. Peace. Thankfulness. Blessing.
As we prepare our hearts for tomorrow, I encourage you to take time to do a few things–I'm a big believer of marking the day.
Read through Psalm 120-134. Read it as you would a story or a letter. We will focus on each chapter in the upcoming days, but today? Just let His truth wash over you.
After you've read these chapters, write out a prayer. You don't have to write it out, but I urge you to take time to do so. Remember sister, He knows your hurts, your insecurities, your struggles, and your fears. He is also rejoicing with you! He knows these things, yes, but He loves to hear from you.
Take time to tell Him, and ask Him to speak loudly in your life as we embark together.
Post Comments (93)
93 thoughts on "introduction"
Im praying that over this plan the Lord will guide me out of my fears towards my health issues and bring strength like i never have and healing! Already psalm 125 has ministered to me and I cannot wait to dig in. Today was such a struggle with my health and that first verse preserved me. I hope im not too late!
I'm new to #shereadstruth. I started this plan on you version today! I'm already overwhelmed with Gods sweet love for me, just reading these 15 chapters. He's faithful!!


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Kolkata, previously the national capital is among the largest and the five metropolitan cities in India. Situated on the bank of River Ganges, Kolkata is home to billions of people who earn their livelihood from endless varieties of profession. Though majority of the city population are office goers, Kolkata is home to a significant percentage of people who are engaged in different types of businesses. Large business centers are scattered in all parts of the city where hundreds of businessmen are making money from their operations.
Being one of the most developed cities in the country, Kolkata is home to millions of a people who have got a high purchasing capacity and that's what encourages businessmen even from other states to do business here. Business in Kolkata is a great way of earning livelihood if one knows how to do it. People here are quite smart and are known all over the country for their bargaining power. However, that doesn't mean earning profit from business is difficult. There are hundreds of business organizations that bag huge amount of profit from their sales in Kolkata everyday.
Thanks to the high purchasing power of the people, Kolkata is a city where one can start business for any kind of product. Just get into the big markets and shopping complexes in the city and check out the stores that are doing business there. Starting from groceries to garments, food to fertilizers, machineries to medicines, electrical goods to electronic items, households to home decoratives, you will find store for all kinds of product that are saleable. No matter what kind of product or item you are looking for, you can be rest assured of getting that in Kolkata.
But finding out a store for a particular kind of product in Kolkata is not an easy task, especially for outsiders. So how would you find one? Well the best option is to surf the net and browse the Kolkata-based B2B portals. There are plenty to help you out. But to get the most genuine and updated information on Kolkata you need to log on to ebizzkolkata.
A city-based B2B portal, ebizzkolkata caters to the need of all kinds of people. Information on everything that is available in Kolkata is available on ebizzkolkata too. If stores and shops for a particular product is what you are looking for just search for it on ebizzkolkata. You will get a list of names of shops along with addresses and contact numbers. With its world-class information network and regularly updated data, ebizzkolkata wishes to become the tops e-guide for people who want to know Kolkata. Its is our duty to introduce you with everything that our city has got. Though a newly-launched company, we have got tremendous response from the people of the city. People engaged in all kinds of profession have been enlisting their names and profiles on our portal because they have realized that it is the place that can help others the best in recognizing them.
If business in Kolkata is what you want to know about, then log on tom our portal now. We are here to provide you with all answers.


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Volume 34 Issue 5: (May 2011)
Kicking Back
Issue: Volume 34 Issue 5: (May 2011)
Kicking Back
Poor Po. In
Kung Fu Panda
, he finally achieved his dream to fight alongside the Furious Five, who protect the Peaceful Valley with their unique styles of kung fu. And then what happens? The people at DreamWorks Animation bring Po back for
Kung Fu Panda 2
and give him a new villain, a treacherous albino peacock named Lord Shen, who commands an army of brutal wolves. Worse, the nasty bird is manufacturing a new secret weapon in his family's fireworks factory, a weapon designed to destroy kung fu. So, take that, aspiring kung fu master.
"It's an animated film, so we can do what we want," says director Jennifer Yuh-Nelson. "Po is still the same guy. He doesn't change into kung fu dude. But everything he believes in is in danger."
Yuh-Nelson, who was head of story for
Kung Fu Panda
, brought back most of the cast and crew from the first film to help Po battle the latest villain. Jack Black again voices Po, Dustin Hoffman is master Shifu, and Seth Rogan (Mantis), Angelina Jolie (Tigress), Jackie Chan (Monkey), David Cross (Crane), and Lucy Liu (Viper) are the Furious Five. Joining the voice cast is Gary Oldman as the peacock Lord Shen.
But the story has an emotional side, as well. "We've met the characters, so we have the opportunity to get to know them in more depth," Yuh-Nelson says. "It's a sweet, heartfelt story." A story that plays out on a far bigger stage in this film—emotionally and physically.
"We had the opportunity to add more scale and ingredients because of technical advances," Yuh-Nelson says. "We didn't reinvent the look; we stayed true to the first film. But, we expanded the playground. For the first film, we fleshed out more of the world than we let on. In this film, we get to see characters and backgrounds, and parts of the environment we didn't get to play with. The characters start in the same place, but we widen the scope."
Yuh-Nelson singles out three areas in which technical advances allowed them to broaden and deepen the kind of movie they made. First, Lord Shen. "We could never have done that guy in the first film," she says. "He's so complicated. He moves fluidly, but he's complicated."
Second, the playground. "In the first film, we had to cheat the distance people traveled because we didn't have the ability to make an environment beyond a certain size," Yuh-Nelson says. "The limitation was a few blocks at most. Now we can make an entire city, so we can have a character run from one side of the city to the other. And, we could increase the number of characters in a shot."
Third, stereo 3D. "We didn't do stereo 3D for the first film, so the environment is more immersive in this film," Yuh-Nelson says. "And, the action is enhanced by the 3D aspect."
Lord Shen
In addition to rigging the new characters, because the studio has advanced the proprietary rigging technology since the first film, the
Kung Fu Panda 2
crew had to re-rig all the original characters. "We tried to make them look the same," Yuh-Nelson says. "But, they all had to be rebuilt." (For a look back at the work done on the first film, see "Stuffy Fight," June 2008.)
But that work paled next to the task of rigging the albino peacock. "The peacock represents the pinnacle of all the challenges we had," says Alex Parkinson, visual effects supervisor. "He was the hardest character, but he was one of the most important characters, so that justified the work we put into him."
Supervising animator Rodolphe Guendoen choreographed the fighting style for Lord Shen, as he did for all the characters in this film and the first film. A martial arts practitioner himself, Guendoen developed and supervised the fighting sequences. "I would explain each of the moves by drawing traditional animation passes and give those to the animators," he says. "It was faster to sketch out the key poses for the choreography by drawing them than by jumping on a machine and doing them in CG."
For each of the Five, Guendoen had developed a fighting style in the first film based, as much as possible, on various forms of kung fu—monkey, tiger, and so forth. The character Viper, for example, uses a viper style of fighting, minus the biting. "She's just a long tube, so having her do kicks and punches and conveying a silhouette that differentiates between them was a good challenge," Guendoen says. "We would shift her breaking point from her lower body to her upper body. When she coils around a wolf, we used two viper models and hid the head of the second one because otherwise the skin texture would break."
The Rhino, a kung fu master who guards the city and a new character in this film, fights by leaning his head, neck, and upper body forward, and uses his horns to deflect blades that Lord Shen throws at him. The Bull, a similarly massive second guard, also uses his horns to fight. "For every character, we try to look at their physical attributes and play with that to create their own style on top of the basic academic training," Guendoen says.
In addition, for Po, Guendoen needed to consider his level of training. "He had to be more accomplished than in the first film, but he's still in training," he says. "He's not as accomplished as Tigress, he doesn't have the same level of confidence, so we show that in his breathing and rhythm. It takes a lot of energy for Po to fight."
To create Po's style, Guendoen referenced baby pandas. "When we went to China, we saw baby pandas bumping each other, being super cute. There was a lot of rolling into giant fur balls, and we thought it would be fun to include that. So in Po's panda style of kung fu, we have a lot of rolling, tumbling, and a lot of comedic improvisation."
Creating a style for Lord Shen was more difficult. "His appearance isn't threatening," Guendoen says. "He's a big bird. But, we had to make him menacing. So, we did that with his posture, his intensity, and his fighting."
Because Lord Shen is a sword master, Guendoen started with a traditional sword-fighting style, and then he discovered rhythmic gymnastics. "The Beijing Olympics happened when we were developing the movie, and I saw these rhythmic gymnastic girls throwing ribbons, doing these weird moves with incredible flexibility. So that became an inspiration. Through the movie, the peacock is almost creepy in his flexibility and movement. He has a twisted way of handling his sword—but still with pure grace. Until he actually loses his mind and gets frantic."
As always, Guendoen choreographed Lord Shen's shots with pencil and paper in traditional animation style. "I had him doing all these moves with swords, passing his legs over his head," he explains. "We also played a lot with his tail, using it almost as another weapon, a fifth limb. He's a sneaky guy. He'd sweep open his tail and block with it to hide his opponent's vision so he could strike in a treacherous way. It was cool. I didn't know how complicated it would be to rig the CG character. In drawing, you can cheat a lot. But we [also] found ways."
Fighting Feathers
Lord Shen's "tail," of course, is made of individual feathers that can splay open like a fan or fold over each other and close. "It's like six tail rigs all combined," Parkinson says. "It represents all the work we did on Crane, on Viper, and on the tail rigs for Monkey and Tigress."
Originally, the crew planned to have the peacock fan his spectacular tail only as a one-off special move, but as soon as everyone saw how good it looked, it became impossible to resist. "Animators had multiple levels of control," Parkinson says. "They could move individual feathers, but in general, they used a higher level of control that's spline-based, to hit specific shapes to fan and bend the feathers; we define the shapes based on particular controls. The big problem, as with all feathers, was the interpenetration. We have multiple layers of feathers that we needed to keep apart. We achieved that in the rigging."
The crew used some of the same techniques developed for Crane to feather the rest of the villain's body, but placed more complicated procedural feathers on his neck and "hands." "The peacock uses his feathers as fingers, so we added complexity to the rig to keep those feathers out of each other's way," Parkinson says. "We had developed software for the first Panda movie that treats hairs like individual NURBS surfaces, which is what keeps them apart. So, when the peacock bends his neck and the feathers splay out, they don't interpenetrate. On top of that, we have a shader that creates the individual hairs. When you look at the feathers, you see that they have individual barbs, which adds complexity to the character."
Also adding complexity is the lordly peacock's robe, a second challenge. "We didn't want to cheat," Parkinson says. "We wanted him to wear a single outfit when he's standing regal and kung fu like, and when his action starts." In the classic kung fu pose, the peacock folds his wings and poses like a monk, with his hands in his sleeves and with the sleeves together. When his tail is down, the robe forms a train-like shape.
"This huge train sticks to his tail and becomes part of his shape," Parkinson says. "But if he spins round, it flies out and off the tail. We thought of having him change into an easier outfit, but our character effects department created a complex set of controls on the robe so it follows him and also can flow and accentuate his motion. It was the hardest cloth we had to do, but it really works with the animation."
To simulate the cloth, the effects artists used Qualoth, a Maya plug-in from FXGear. They would first look at an out-of-the-box simulation based on the underlying performance, and then tweak and mold the cloth to achieve a more artistic look. "Qualoth is the base, but we built a lot of controls on top that the character effects animators used," Parkinson says. "They would even get to the point of shaping the cloth by hand using individual deformers."
As with Lord Shen, all the characters were dressed with simulated cloth to layer the stylized performances with realistic motion. "The simulated cloth adds a sense of gravity," Parkinson says. "If you have a fantastical world without the sense of gravity, you don't get as much impact from the action sequences. The challenge is to get movement with a sense of weight with cloth that sticks with the character."
Deep Emotion
DreamWorks Animation initially tested stereo 3D with a shot from the Tai Lung fight sequence in the original
Kung Fu Panda
. That test helped persuade the studio to design all future features with stereo 3D in mind. DreamWorks' first stereo 3D film,
Monsters vs. Alien
s, released in 2009, lent itself to stereo gags—elements exploding out from the screen. By the time work began on
How to Train Your Dragon
, released in 2010, stereoscopic supervisor Phil McNally had developed a tool called "Happy Ratio" that, based on the distance of objects and the camera lens in a shot, set default interaxial and convergence; that is, the roundness of objects (the volume) and how far away or close they would appear (depth). That tool and others gave the artists more time to experiment with the stereo design for each film's unique story.
For example, McNally and head of layout, Yong Duk Jhun, began playing with depth of field in Shrek Forever After, using a blending technique that moved characters subtly in depth through a shot to intensify an emotional story point. In Megamind, McNally and Kent Seki discovered new ways to compose spatially interesting shots using, for example, a clothesline with bits of paper hanging in space and, most notably, deep reflections.
Kung Fu Panda 2
, layout supervisor Damon O'Beirne pushed the artistry of stereo design further. "We tried a very different approach to stereo," he says. "Before, we concentrated on getting volume into our stereo. This time, we concentrated on keeping the point of interest 'on screen.' " "On screen" is the point at which the left and right images sit on top of each other. This technique is not a new concept in stereoscopic design—James Cameron employed it for Avatar, and Bob Whitehill often sets stereo depth based on point of interest for Pixar's films—yet O'Beirne found it particularly useful for this film.
"Keeping the point of interest on screen really helped us because one of our big challenges was that the camera and the character are super dynamic," O'Beirne says. "Everything moves so fast, making sure we could get a good read on the characters was important. When the eyes are 'on screen,' it's like looking into the character's soul."
The artists then began using stereo to enhance the story. "We have a concept of 'story stereo,' " O'Beirne says. "We use stereo to underline or contrast the story over the whole course of the movie. If we want something to be disturbing or unnerving for the audience, we tend to go deep. When we want the audience to feel comfortable, we go flatter. All cinematography is about the juxtaposition of one shot to the next, and the ability to do that with stereo made the film fun to work on. We used the contrast from shot to shot to create visceral impact."
For example, during the battle, the stereo artists might set the camera at the Happy Ratio, then as an explosion bursts on screen, reduce the volume to 75 percent, 25 percent, five percent, and then pop it back to 100 percent in the next shot.
"Moving the volume around in space changes the feeling," O'Beirne says. "I like to think of it as air. If you're [taking a picture] in Montana, you open the lens to get more space in the shot. It's the same with stereo. You can take more and more air out of a shot, and then, suddenly, add it back in. In our movie, depending on the story, we'd rest the stereo for a while in flat space, then go into deep sequences, and then flat, deep, flat, deep to create contrast. It's very effective."
O'Beirne and his crew used this technique in one of his favorite sequences, and one of the most emotional in the film. O'Beirne calls it the "truth sequence." It starts with Po floating in a river.
"When a soothsayer finds Po and takes him to a village, we reduce the stereo to middle range," O'Beirne says. "There, Po is standing in the rain in an old, destroyed panda village, and memories flood in. We make sure his eyes are perfectly set on the screen so the audience connects with him. He catches a raindrop and starts to do an amazing water-drop kung fu move. As he does that, the shot dissolves into 2D artwork, traditional animation of nightmare scenes from his past, and we go deep. When we have positive images from his childhood, we make the 2D a bit flatter. Within this one sequence, we have a gamut of techniques and stereo settings. And, Ramon did fantastic lighting, green and then neutral, and then flashbacks with white and red, and very graphic. It's an incredible sequence."
To move the flat artwork, the traditional animation that plays out Po's memories, the stereo artists layered sheer surfaces in Adobe's After Effects and angled the artwork toward the viewer to create a feeling of depth. "It's like looking down the edge of a wall," O'Beirne says. "I'm excited to see how audiences respond."
The crew pushed the stereo artistry even further for the IMAX version of the film. "We wanted the stereo to be great for the general audience, but we thought the IMAX audience wanted an even bigger experience, so we looked at moments where we could push things farther back and make them bigger," O'Beirne says. "We'll know we've done our job well if little kids reach up to touch the elements." –Barbara Robertson
Armies of Wolves
One of the biggest differences between the first and second film is the kind of action that takes place. In
Kung Fu Panda
, the fighting was mainly one on one. In the sequel, Po and the Furious Five fight Lord Shen's army of wolves. In fact, early in the film, during one of the first sequences in which we see Po in action, he and the Furious Five battle a pack of wolves, and in doing so, develop an important story point.
"We have maybe 20 or 30 wolves on screen, piling on Po and the Furious Five, who fight together in a balletic way," Guendoen says. "We wanted to show Po is still in training but living his dream. We wanted to be sure the audience witnessed Po as part of the Furious Five (I guess Furious Six now). We had to hit that story point. So, it was very challenging."
Not as challenging, though, as the final battle in which Po and the Furious Five fight an army of wolves riding in boats. "It took hours to plan it," Guendoen says. "All those sketches I did. I had to plan that after a wolf was hit and flew out of camera, we could re-use him as another wolf coming in. Like a loop. Otherwise, the scenes would be too heavy to handle because there were so many characters on screen." The wolves don't practice kung fu; after all, the peacock wants to eradicate kung fu. Instead, they're brawlers. "They're feral," Guendoen says, "and they have a lot of weapons."
The climactic battle takes place over several sequences, which include crowd simulations for the wolves as well as hero animation. For the crowd simulations, DreamWorks turned to Massive software, which the studio had tested on
(see "Mind over Matter," November 2010).
"We wanted to use it for our battle sequences to get great performances out of the crowds," Parkinson says. "It was important to have the good-guy characters among the army doing hand-to-hand fighting."
During the battle, the hero characters run and jump from boat to bobbling boat filled with the feral Massive-controlled wolves. The system for keeping the boats rocking with the currents and the wolves planted inside started with layout. "Layout installed the boats in a basic position," Parkinson says. "We created the ambient motion of the water with a noise function, that is, a fluid simulation. The battle isn't in the middle of a storm; we just had to keep the water alive."
The effects artists parented the wolves to the boats and moved the boats using the same noise function that moved the water. "So everything had a base movement to it," Parkinson says. "Then, we gave animators control so if they had a hero character land on a boat, they could tip it or move it in some way.If they did, because we had parented the crowd characters to the boats, they'd stick to the motion of the boat. But, we had to send the shots back to simulation to add ripples and splashes in the water."
For water simulations, the effects department uses proprietary software, Autodesk's Maya, and Side Effects' Houdini. "The choice depends on the skill set of the artist and the nature of the effect," Parkinson says. "Houdini's strong point turned out to be creating stylized motion in the water, and we used proprietary software for the interaction."
Similarly, the artists turned to all three solutions as appropriate for fire, explosions, and destruction. As the story goes, Lord Shen perverted the family's fireworks factory into a weapons-manufacturing plant, and the explosive result sparked several sequences in the film.
"In the first [Panda] movie, we had to be careful about what we broke," Yuh-Nelson says. "During the battle with Tai Lung, we punched one building and a gate. It looked good, but that's all we could do, and it was complicated making that one building collapse. Now we have more ability to destroy things convincingly. We don't have to stop with one small building. So, we took advantage. But, not for bling. Everything is character- and story-based; we aren't just flapping around making noise."
The effects crew, however, took advantage of their expertise to slip a little bling to the action, anyway. "We've gotten good at blowing things up and knocking things down, but we wanted to push the effects," Parkinson says. "Because [Lord Shen's] family had been in the fireworks business, we decided to give everything a fireworks sparkle. A building might crumble realistically, but we added a firework effect to the destruction. Hopefully, it's an original kind of look."
Red Versus Blue
The combination of fire and water meant the lighting crew faced the same problem that they had in the first film, the battle of red and blue, and not only during explosions, but also because the sequences take place on a moonlit night and each boat is lit by torches. Lighting supervisor Dave Walvoord explains. "We describe
Kung Fu Panda 2
as an alternate universe," he says. "It's a place where animals talk and do kung fu. But, there are a certain physics in this world. It's not present in our world, but it's rigorous. There is a certain way light should behave, and that helps create the style of the movie." To hold true to the alternate physics in the Panda world, the lighting team developed a set of rules, and one rule caused the battle between red and blue. "We don't allow lights to mix," Walvoord says.
In the first movie, the design of Tai Lung's prison-escape sequence called for strong blues and reds, but the problem arose when red light and blue light mixed: The light became purple, and they could not have any purple in the sequence. "At first we tried using the lights like paint," Walvoord explains. "Like when you paint red over blue in Photoshop so they don't mix, but it looked horrible because the lights started behaving like paint. Light is so important for understanding space, and we were destroying space. We didn't know who was going where."
Instead, to keep a strong red and a strong blue and nothing between, they placed lights so the two wouldn't mix naturally, and inserted rocks and shadows to block the light and further keep the colors from mixing. "It was not natural at all," Walvoord says. "But it kept our design quality."
So, when the lighting team saw red fire over blue water in
Kung Fu Panda 2
, they knew they would need to correct the same problem. "It took a lot of handwork," Walvoord points out. "There is so much action, such quick cutting, such strong colors between red and blue, and it's very dark. It was the worst-case scenario for trying to light a sequence so the audience could follow and understand the action. We had hundreds of wolves fighting and hero characters running, so visually there was a lot going on in a frame. It took artistry, not technology."
The lighting crew decided that real-world physics aside, everything in the foreground would have higher contrast than the background. Also, they would use the torches as key lights and turn the moonlight into fill light. "We always have a single direction of light," Walvoord says. "Even when there are two lights in a scene, one is dominant. So the torches are the dominant light and the moon is the bounce light. That's not exactly how it would work in real life, but we tried to find a basis in what a camera would do and skewed it for our stylized world."
There were other rules for the film, as well. The lighters always maintained what Walvoord calls "hue identity" by increasing saturation when hue values decreased. "The rule is, 'Never let your darks get dirty,'" he says, adding, "keeping the colors clean is something painters do intuitively."
A third rule also brought painting principles into play. "We use global illumination, just like everyone, but we have little hooks so that right before the light bounces back out, we can nudge it somewhere else," Walvoord says. "We intercept the light and make it change color."
Walvoord uses the example of Po standing outside on a stone floor: Warm sunlight hitting the floor bounces an orange color into the panda's shadow, and that color mixes with light from the blue sky. "The warm orange and cool blue bleed together and neutralize," Walvoord says. "Lots of people brag about using color bleeding, and it's a gorgeous look. But, it fights the graphic design part of the world we are trying to create."
So, to keep the richness that bouncing light contributes to a scene, they found a way to shift the color. The light still bounces, but it bounces with the color they choose. With this technique, the light in the scene with Po on the stone floor would be strongly warm outside his shadow and strongly cool where the sun doesn't shine. "We have a warm side and a cool side separated by a shadow," Walvoord says. "It's a clean graphic read. If we do that too much, though, it doesn't look right with the world. So, we light the scene until it fights our design principles, and then we nudge it as little as possible."
For one of the most emotional scenes in the film, the artists kept the lighting completely cool. "It's a sequence when Po remembers what happens to his family and how he got to be where he is," Walvoord says. "It's an overcast, rainy, gray, foggy scene. We lit it blah. If you look closely, it's still the Panda world, but there is a lot less detail. We're always looking for ways to drive points home with contrast, and this is a point in the movie where all the saturation backs off. It feels like one of those cold, rainy days when you just don't go anywhere. It provides a calm springboard for the 2D flashbacks, which are saturated, violent, and emotionally intense."
Working with the lighting team to heighten the contrasting emotions in this sequence was the stereo 3D team, which devised artistic ways to use stereoscopy, even for flashbacks created with 2D artwork (see "Deep Emotion," pg. 10). Fighting choreographer Guendoen helped create these traditional animation dream/nightmare sequences in which Po discovers his past and the audience learns more about Po. But, it isn't the only technique used to expand our understanding of Po and for Po to learn more about himself.
"We take Po out of his comfort zone," Yuh-Nelson says, "across China, to a challenging place for him, a large metropolis by ancient Chinese standards."
To build the city, the team experimented with procedural modeling techniques and then decided to create 12 city blocks, some in a poor to modest style and some in a more affluent architectural style. "We physically modeled the entire city and created the different looks with surfacing," Parkinson says. "We could position and orient the blocks in various ways so you wouldn't see the repetition."
In town, a population of new characters also added visual complexity. "In addition to our geese, pigs, and rabbits, we now have sheep and antelope," Parkinson says. "So we had to create animation cycles for five different species that act in different ways. The antelopes are tall and the sheep are round and fluffy with an amazing wool bib that we put on them. They're cool characters. Having so many species adds complexity to the crowds and makes our city a bustling metropolis." For the environment around the city, though, the artists created matte paintings.
Production designer Ramone Zibach designed the Panda universe for the first film, and his vision carried into the sequel. "He took the best of design principles from 2D, the quick, simple reads, the simplicity, and moved them into 3D," Walvoord explains. "Po's black reads simply and elegantly against the sky, but when you turn the lights on him, he has gorgeous fur detail, with all the richness of a 3D world."
For the director, the crew, and the millions of fans who kicked the first film into an Oscar-nominated box-office hit, it's a world happily revisited. "I didn't sign on just to be a director," Yuh-Nelson says. "I wanted to keep going in the world in whatever capacity I could. It was fun to have had the opportunity to do that."
Barbara Robertson is an award-winning writer and a contributing editor for Computer Graphics World.
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text:
Senators Pushing Legislation Aimed At Reducing The Abuse Of The Most-Used FOIA Exemption
from the a-bit-more-patch-than-fix,-but-still... dept
If anything useful has been redacted from documents obtained with by a FOIA request, chances are the b(5) exemption has been invoked. Theoretically narrow in scope, the exemption has expanded to cover everything from a historical recounting of the CIA's involvement in the Bay of Pigs to someone's hand-scrawled commentary ("What a bunch of crap!") on a bill asking for Pakistan to be designated as a state sponsor of terrorism.
Here's the entirety of the exemption according to FOIA statutes.
Inter-agency or intra-agency memorandums or letters which would not be available by law to a party other than an agency in litigation with the agencyThe reality of the situation is that nearly every agency has deployed the exemption to redact information at one point or another. Almost prophetically, the b(5) exemption claims the withheld information can only be released to "agencies in litigation" with the withholding party. And there are certainly plenty of "agencies" engaged in litigation with these government entities, albeit mainly in the form of FOIA lawsuits.
Two senators are hoping to fix this and, at the same time, force the government to start following up on its promised FOIA reform.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Leahy and Cornyn, the ranking Judiciary Republican, introduced the FOIA Improvement Act of 2014, which would strengthen Obama administration transparency mandates and reform one of the most abused FOIA exemptions.On the indisputable plus side, documents over 25 years old are no longer subject to this exemption, meaning long-withheld documents like the previously mentioned Bay of Pigs recounting will no longer be withheld for bogus "deliberative" reasons.
President Barack Obama and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder directed federal agencies in 2009 to update their FOIA guidelines and operate with a presumption of openness. However, many agencies ignored the directive.
The bill would codify the administration's reform directives and force responsive agencies to limit use of the b(5) exemption to only information that would cause "foreseeable harm" if disclosed. Granted, that still leaves government agencies with plenty of room to maneuver, but it should trim down the number of b(5) redactions applied to documents like a Presidential Policy Directive ordering the State Department to be more transparent.
If this bill passes the Senate, it will likely be merged with a House FOIA reform bill being shepherded by Darrell Issa and Elijah Cummings. From that point, it will need to emerge mostly unscathed from the sausage-making on its way to the President. If it does survive intact, longtime FOIA offenders may have to find new reasons to apply black bars and withhold pages. Hopefully, this will cut down on the number of FOIA responses containing nothing but page-after-full-page of redactions.
Filed Under: b5, exemption, foia, secrecy, senate, transparency