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How the Religious Action Center Changed My Life
It was January of my sophomore year of college and the thought passed through my mind: What am I going to do this summer? Going back to camp just did not seem like a realistic choice for me; my only options seemed to be a real internship or job. Then, as if it were completely besheret, a postcard came in the mail advertising the Religious Action Center's Machon Kaplan experience! Hmm, I thought… After reading about the Machon Kaplan program I realized it was (and still is) so desirable because participants are matched with an internship in Washington, D.C., and also have the option to obtain six college credits for the summer. What a win-win situation. Great program, live in a dorm with the best people, and get college credit. Does life get better than this? As participants in the program, my peers and I were placed in internships at the RAC and with other non-profit organizations in the area. My placement was with Hadassah's Washington Action Office.
It is difficult to pick a moment during that summer which had the greatest impact on me. Was it the opportunity to hear then-President George W. Bush and then-Prime Minister of Japan Junichiro Koizumi speak side by side on the South Lawn of the White House? Or was it hearing then-Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff speak about our border issues with Mexico? Or was it the unending, fascinating, influential leaders that we heard during our classes at the RAC? There were just too many choices. As the summer progressed, I recognized a change in myself, in the way I saw myself both as a human being and as an American Jew. Since having become a bat mitzvah and a confirmand, I knew I had responsibilities as a Jewish adult, but I was not able to translate these responsibilities into action until the Machon Kaplan program. Yes, I need to preserve our precious heritage by fasting on Yom Kippur, etc., but I also need to advocate on Israel's behalf and make sure I vote in every election. We also built lifelong friendships similar to those created in Jewish summer camps and similar to ones I have built in other URJ experiences. Does the networking never end? Great bonding moments included the time walking from the dorms to the RAC building and the nighttime trips to the Lincoln Memorial and Reflecting Pool. Where else can you do that? Machon Kaplan was my "next step" in the transition from childhood to adulthood, from summer camp to the working world. While the courses we took at the RAC enhanced our knowledge of Judaism and politics(as every Jewish program includes a learning component), the nights and Shabbatot spent in the dorms helped to create our young professional kehilah (community). Living and interning in Washington, D.C. was a summer I will never forget because of the effect it had on my life. The semester after Machon Kaplan, I took a course in American Government, and it made so much sense. I now had a first-hand working knowledge of creating legislation, and I know how a bill formed a law because I had experienced it. Even if my passion for politics did not lead to my career choice, it helped me focus on what I really love: Jewish education and the importance of being a knowledgeable and active participant in our political system. My Jewish summer experience in Machon Kaplan kept me connected to the Reform Movement during a time when I was just beginning to truly enter the work force. I love the fact that my fellow participants are working in many areas outside of politics. We have a crucial understanding of our unique opportunity as Jews in the United States. In my current position of Education Coordinator working at The Temple in Atlanta, GA, I'll never forget my time in Machon Kaplan and how it enhanced my ability to lead and engage the American Jewish experience of our community. Stephanie C. Fields is the Education Coordinator at The Temple in Atlanta, GA. This entry was originally posted on RJBlog as part of the Summer Youth Experience series.


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The Big Definitions in Economics
When studying any subject, a key first step is to learn the lingo. Here are definitions for three of the most important words in economics:
Economics studies how people allocate resources among alternative uses. The reason people have to make choices is scarcity, the fact that we don't have enough resources to satisfy all our wants.
Microeconomics studies the maximizing behaviour of individual people and individual firms. Economists assume that people work toward maximizing their utility, or happiness, while firms act to maximize profits.
Macroeconomics studies national economies, concentrating on economic growth and how to prevent and ameliorate recessions.

subset: commoncrawl


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Which of these songs do you like the most?
Happy Landings nudged out Ocean Blue by 1 vote in Round 1 as the third selection.
Click here to see the results of Round 1 for Elemental.
For me it would be a toss up between Happy Landings and Two Different Views. Love Jamie's guitar solo on 2DV so that's what I went with.


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A list of F# related stuff I've been involved with.
Free chapter of "Beginning F#" my book. Download the pdf or view in google docs.
All the examples from the book can be found on codeplex.
A layer on top of NHibernate to allow users to create "code first" mappings in F#. Inspired by the Fluent NHibernate project.
A thin veneer of F#ness arround several different frameworks to make a light weight Mvc framework.
Help using RavenDB from F# (and Newtonsoft.Json)
A thin veneer of F#ness arround log4net
A twitter client written in F#
A number of tools for Programming Collective Intelligence with F# (mainly inspired by Toby Segaran's book).
+33 6 79 57 09 34
Beginning F# Workshop
Beginning F# Workshop is a two day course that will teach you all about F#. You will discover how F# can be used to express programs concisely and efficiently; you'll also learn how to start having fun with this enormously productive language. More ...
Would like to attend the workshop but you are not based in London? Get in contact!
My Stack Overflow CV
Follow me on Twitter
View my Facebook
View my LinkedIn Profile
Viadeo Profile (Français)
The views expressed on this weblog are mine and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.
All postings are provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confer no rights.
© Robert Pickering 2011
Key West theme by
Robb Allen.


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O'Dowd open to all possibilties with Holliday trade
Rockies general manager Dan O'Dowd increased the likelihood of trading Matt Holliday, and to a lesser degree, Garrett Atkins with his admission today that the club doesn't necessarily have to get pitching in return.
During afternoon meeting at the St. Regis, O'Dowd said the following:
"There is not much pitching in the market available. Period. And any pitching we get will likely be projection pitching. Not that guy that been there done it. We are completely open-minded to anything."
That explains why the trade picture in O'Dowd's mind has begun crystallize and narrow regarding Holliday. There are fits if a premium starter doesn't have to be involved. That would open the door to the Yankees, who have prospect Phil Hughes. Or Tampa Bay, which has Edwin Jackson and outfielder Carl Crawford. Or the Mets, A's or even Royals.
O'Dowd made it clear that Holliday and Atkins' situations are different. There's more urgency to trade Holliday, who is entering the final year of his contract, than Atkins, who won't be a free agent until after the 2010 season.
Interestingly, O'Dowd said that trading Holliday should not be interpreted as a concession speech regarding contending next season.
"I think (the division is) absolutely winnable," he said "It comes down to with us, certain guys have to play well, certain guys have to bounce back, and there's Todd (Helton's) health. There are a lot of uncertainties."


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Sir Syed Ahmed Khan Bahadur, (also Sayyid Ahmad Khan) October 17, 1817 – March 27, 1898), commonly known as Sir Syed, was an Indian educator and politician, and an Islamic reformer and modernist.
Sir Syed pioneered modern education for the Muslim community in India by founding the Muhammedan Anglo-Oriental College, which later developed into the Aligarh Muslim University.
His work
His work gave rise to a new generation of Muslim intellectuals and politicians who composed the Aligarh movement to secure the political future of Muslims in India.
Born into Mughal nobility, Sir Syed earned a reputation as a distinguished scholar while working as a jurist for the British East India Company.
During the Indian Rebellion of 1857 he remained loyal to the British and was noted for his actions in saving European lives.
After the rebellion he penned the booklet Asbab-e-Bhaghawath-e-Hind (The Causes of the Indian Mutiny) — a daring critique, at the time, of British policies that he blamed for causing the revolt. Believing that the future of Muslims was threatened by the rigidity of their orthodox outlook, Sir Syed began promoting Western-style scientific education by founding modern schools and journals and organizing Muslim intellectuals. Towards this goal, Sir Syed founded the Muhammedan Anglo-Oriental College in 1875 with the aim of promoting social and economic development of Indian Muslims


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There's no sign of Norman Rockwell in George Packer's America: no turkeys carved, no carols sung, no smiling dads or sizzling logs. Instead, Packer's new book, "The Unwinding," gives us tales of abandoned factories, broken families, Beltway lobbyists, wilting Florida subdivisions and blue-collar Americans struggling to keep their heads above the quicksands of poverty, bankruptcy and crime.
Packer, a Gunn High graduate and veteran writer for The New Yorker, has a sharp eye for crumbling institutions. In "The Assassin's Gate," his nuanced 2005 collection of dispatches from Iraq, he illustrates America's misadventure in Mesopotamia by chronicling the stories of soldiers, bureaucrats and regular Iraqis. Other Packer stories took us to Sierra Leone, Egypt and the Ivory Coast.
In his new book, Packer demonstrates that you don't need a passport to chronicle misery, poverty, destruction and resilience. The book's title refers to the whittling away of long-standing American institutions, a phenomenon that in Packer's account begins at around 1980, when union jobs began to fade away. If you were born after 1960, he writes, "you have spent your adult life in the vertigo of that unwinding. You watched structures that had been in place before your birth collapse like pillars of salt across the vast visible landscape."
"When the norms that made the old institutions useful began to unwind, and the leaders abandoned their posts, the Roosevelt Republic that had reigned for almost half a century came undone," Packer writes in the prologue. "The void was filled by the default force in American life, organized money."
The phenomenon isn't all bad. The unwinding shakes things up but it also brings freedom, "more than the world has ever granted, and to more kinds of people than ever before." It also raises the stakes. Winners "win bigger than ever, floating away like bloated dirigibles, and losers have a long way to fall before they hit bottom, and sometimes they never do."
No one illustrates the dark side of "unwinding" better than Tammy Thomas, a factory worker from Youngstown. In the early 1980s, as one steel mill after another shuts its doors, her hometown becomes one of the first to go through now familiar phases of post-industrial decay: white flight, gang takeover, drugs, violence and poverty.
Nothing comes easy for Thomas. As a child, she is embarrassed to invite friends to her Grandma's house, where she is staying, because thieves have stolen the front door. At 15, she has her first baby (two more quickly follow). After high school, she gets her first job as a factory worker at Packard, making electrical components for General Electric on an assembly line. The wages are meager but they suffice, even if the work "beat you down." Her friends and relatives get gunned down. Her mother is a crack addict. She moves to safer neighborhoods just before they cease to be safer neighborhoods. We follow Thomas as she develops asthma from dipping copper wires into melted lead and ends up with "Packard hands" (what we now call carpal tunnel syndrome) that were so painful they woke her up at night years after she stopped working.
After her company gets sold and rebranded in 2009, Thomas accepts a buyout, turns to political activism and has her "I'm not going to take this anymore" moment. Writes Packer:
"She thought about being forced to retire from Packard, and the CEO, and upper-level staff getting their bonuses while leaving all these people without jobs, decimating a community, and some of the banks getting bailed out with her tax dollars, and she still couldn't get a loan from them while she had to pay her mortgage every month. 'That makes me want to say, 'What the F? It's the injustice of it.'"
Thomas is one of many characters in Packer's book to channel populist rage against the American machine, a sentiment that hits its highest note in Packer's brilliantly reported chapter on Occupy Wall Street, which was adapted from his New Yorker story and which is one of the book's highlights.
But things get dicier when we get to some of other main characters in Packer's book. Jeff Connaughton's story, if anything, runs counter to the book's central message.
As a youngster, this political idealist with the "lifelong inferiority complex that's bred into boys of Alabama" becomes infatuated by a charismatic politician named Joseph Biden. He spends a few years in investment banking before joining Biden's campaign, where he takes on the thankless role of a fundraiser. He becomes, in D.C. parlance, a "Biden guy" and learns all about D.C.'s incestuous revolving-door culture, where who you know is the key to power, respect and recognition. Years later, Connaughton joins the lobbying giant Quinn Gillespie and officially becomes a card-carrying member of "the class of Washingtonians lobbyists, lawyers, advisers, consultants, pundits, consiglieres, fixers who shuttled between the shower of corporate cash ever falling on the capital and a series of increasingly prominent positions in Democratic Party politics."
Packer's writing is never dull, even if the substance sometimes feels familiar. You don't need to watch "House of Cards" or read Mark Leibovich's much-hyped Beltway expose, "This Town," to know about D.C.'s dirty mix of money and power. This isn't news. Packer starts his book in 1978, but the time frame for this "unwinding" feels almost arbitrary. His point about "organized money" filling the void doubtlessly would've been just as valid half a century ago, if not earlier. "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," after all came out in 1939, nearly two decades after the Teapot Dome scandal rocked the Harding administration. In fact, if there is one thing apparent to anyone who watches CNN or reads the paper it's just how resilient the nation's political structures are, for better or worse.
For this reason, the entire idea that America is undergoing an "unwinding" feels less like a real argument and more like a device meant to staple the disparate stories together. Packer's assertion that Americans are now "alone on a landscape without solid structures" is rarely supported by the book's own evidence. When her union life collapses, Tammy Thomas becomes a community organizer, effectively exchanging one structure for another. Dean Price, a biofuel pioneer who gets intoxicated by Napoleon Hill's "Think and Grow Rich" dictums, is a lone wolf, but mostly by choice. Even when Price hits rock bottom when his business partners reject him, the legislature he is banking on fizzles and his debts mount there remains the hope that through the bankruptcy process (another stable American institution) he will find a fresh start. As for Connaughton, if he is is "alone," then so is everyone else in his "class of Washingtonians."
Packer is at the top of his game when writing about the exuberance of Bay Area's start-up culture. He revisits Silicon Valley and gives us an expanded version of Packer's New Yorker profile of Peter Thiel, the quirky, libertarian "disruptor" for whom the unwinding is a chance to shine. Writes Packer,
"He believed in striking out into the void alone, inventing oneself out of ambitious, talent, and abstractions so the unwinding allowed him to thrive. But he also stood at the center of a tight-knit group of friends, almost all men, most of them young, like-minded Silicon Valley successes who had gotten rich around the same time."
So what does this libertarian champion of individuality and nonconformity do once he makes his billions off Facebook, PayPal and Palantir? Naturally, like every other champion of individuality and nonconformity, he begins to "live the life of a Silicon Valley billionaire." He hires "two blond, black-clad female assistants, a white-coated butler, and a cook, who prepared a daily health drink of celery, beets, kale and ginger." He buys a Ferrari, flies in private jets and throws parties in his lavish mansion. Needless to say, Thiel came to work in a T-Shirt the official uniform of champions of individuality and nonconformity. His venture firm, Clarium, develops a reputation "of a Thiel cult, staffed by young libertarian brains who were in awe of their boss, emulating his work habits, chess playing, and aversion to sports."
A "cult" of "libertarians" may sound like the ultimate contradiction to a reader who hasn't encountered an Ayn Rand fan lately. In Thiel's case, it's just one of many. Take, for example, the Thiel Fellowship, which pays bright students $100,000 to forgo college for two years in favor of pursuing their own ideas. According to the book, Peter Thiel started the fund because he "disliked the whole idea of using college to find an intellectual focus."
"Majoring in the humanities struck him as particularly unwise, since it so often led to the default choice of law school. The academic sciences were nearly as dubious timid and narrow, driven by turf battles rather than the quest for breakthroughs. Above all, a college education taught nothing about entrepreneurship," Packer writes.
This idea is a dubious one, even if we set aside the fact that Thiel himself had spent seven years at Stanford and had graduated from Stanford Law School. Thiel's assertion that college education teaches nothing about entrepreneurship may come as a surprise to the Larry Pages and Sergei Brins of the world, whose entrepreneurship skills remained intact even despite(!) Stanford. Nor is it clear that a humanities major is as worthless as Thiel claims. A student who spends her days reading Aristotle and Kant may never build the perfect drone, but she might be better equipped than Thiel when it comes to knowing when to use it. And while a humanities major may not lead a student to the Promised Land of white-coated butlers and kale-and-ginger shakes, it just might protect her from the type of demagoguery espoused by Thiel and his past and present heroes, Ayn Rand and Ron Paul.
It would have been nice to see someone like Packer engage perhaps even challenge Thiel's ideas rather than simply lay them out. But that is not the function of "Unwinding." This book is about narratives, not arguments. It's about showing us scenes from today's America and letting us jump to our own conclusions. Despite a populist undertone, Packer shies away from directly articulating any Thomas Friedman-like theory or seriously engaging the argument he makes in his prologue and title. Rather, Packer is an observer and a reporter and Thiel is just another colorful fragment in his vivid kaleidoscope of America.


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PA 173 Section 1249 Evaluation Information
Welcome to the Madison School District where great things are happening every day!
The combined efforts of our highly qualified and dedicated staff and our supportive community are producing results and fulfilling our mission to enable each of our students to be successful in an ever changing world.
Ryan Rowe, Superintendent


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Protecting wildlife habitat is at the center of the work of Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever.
Between 1991 and 2012, the Colorado chapters of Pheasants Forever have worked on 8,000 habitat projects and spent about $10 million on those projects, said Bob Hix, PF's Colorado and Wyoming regional representative.
He was on hand with members of Pheasants Forever from several states and Colorado wildlife professionals at the Colorado State Habitat meeting at the Clarion Inn in Fort Morgan on Saturday.
Those projects protected about 97,000 acres of land. Members planted 1.3 million trees, and $810,000 was spent on youth projects, he said.
In 2012 alone, members supported 276 habitat projects that impacted 9,000 acres, and had 14 youth hunts that involved 800 youth, Hix said. Altogether, 1,300 kids participated in programs during 2012.
Farm Bill biologists have met with about 3,900 landowners, who were willing to work with the state and Pheasants Forever to protect about 500,000 acres and make them available to hunting in some cases, he said.
Much of the work was enhanced by partnerships with agencies like Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the Natural Resources and Conservation Service. Combining resources allows PF and the agencies to do more than they could separately, Hix said.
A big concern among PF members is declining membership and declining interest in conservation, said Dave Nomsen, regional PF representative.
A question arises whether the children and grandchildren of hunters will be able to enjoy this heritage, he said.
But Pheasants Forever has met this challenge. Ten years ago, few chapters would have held youth events, but now almost all chapters hold multiple events each year, Nomsen said.
Those kids make up a whole generation of youth who started their hunting experiences on conservation reserve program land, he said, but the future of CRP is uncertain.
In the last Farm Bill debate, it seemed likely that the federal government would pay for fewer conservation acres, reducing funding by about $6 billion, Nomsen said.
The plan was to cut CRP by 25 million acres, although language was strengthened on conservation and stewardship, he said.
However, the U.S. House of Representatives did not take up the U.S. Senate bill, which meant the current Farm Bill will be extended, and CRPP land is exempt from the sequestration that could happen if a federal budget is not agreed upon, Nomsen said.
This was the first U.S. Congress that did not complete a Farm Bill, he noted.
Although it also did not pass, some legislators pushed for the Sportsmen's Act, which would have created habitat programs, cooperative land management programs and public land and water access, Nomsen said.
Despite the fact that the Sportsmen's Act did not pass, legislators are trying to use funds already designated by the federal government, said Pam Shaddock, who works with U.S. Senator Mark Udall of Colorado. This is an opportunity to teach youth and get them involved in constructive activities.
A representative of U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado said Bennet wants to form partnerships between agricultural producers and hunters to get things accomplished for both groups.
Bennet has said the nation has to live within its means, but that it cannot compromise on conservation.
Both senators are also committed to gun rights, the representative said.
Nomsen said he was among those speaking with Vice President Joe Biden about gun control. His particular emphasis was on how taxes on guns and ammunition have been used for protecting habitats and wildlife.
Phyllis Phillips, state conservationist for NRCS, said the key is targeting habitats to species, especially for species of concern.
Because Colorado has the partnerships between agencies and organizations like Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever, and makes things happen, the state will receive $10 million more this year than last for a total of $39 million to spend on habitat protection, she said, while other states are seeing declines in funding.
Part of that funding is for forest fire recovery, Phillips said.
It is important to target specific habitats, she said. In the past, funding was scattered out among many projects, but concentrating on specific habitats will allow projects to get further in their work. Stakeholders like PF will provide guidance on how to use the funding.
If for instance, a project works to protect habitat to protect land needed for animals that are threatened, the project benefits other animals in the same area, Phillips said.
The idea is to target areas where the most animals live to have the biggest impact, she said.
For example, focusing on an area to protect the lesser prairie chicken would benefit other species like pheasants and quail, Phillips said.
Agencies would work with ag producers to find the best ways to protect species and habitat without interrupting operations, she said. This can be a benefit for ranchers.
"It's not mutually exclusive," Phillips said.
One issue is how federal regulations are handled, one producer said. Regulations have a one-size-fits-all approach to dealing with land in areas where species may be threatened.
However, different areas of land have different terrains, and treating them all in the same way is counterproductive, he said. Land management should be different in areas that have a lot of precipitation and dry areas like Colorado.
Shaddock said some legislators are also concerned with regulations that don't fit the situation. She urged people to let their legislators know about problems so they can tweak regulations and legislation.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife has three challenges from its regulating commission, said Rick Cables, director of CPW.
One is dealing with the loss of habitat to development pressures, sprawl and the need for water.
Another is relevance, since only five percent of the population hunts and fishes, and not everyone likes the outdoors, especially in a time when many people spend their time in front of screens of various types.
Lastly, there is the loss of revenue. That comes from the loss of hunters and fishermen, who buy the bulk of licenses, Cables said. There is no state funding for wildlife.
It is vital to increase park users and hunters and fishermen, he said. The reason the parks and wildlife departments were merged is because they needed to reduce costs.
One way to help the situation is by recruitment and retention, i.e., attracting more people to outdoor activities, Cables said.
One way Pheasants Forever is trying to protect the future of hunting is by introducing young people to the sport.
It has the No Child Left Indoors project, which works to get kids outside, learning firsthand about natural resources and having fun. The idea is to promote ethical hunters, develop conservation-minded citizens, encourage stewardship and make wildlife habitats a priority.
Part of that effort are the T.U.N.E. camps, where youth enjoy fly fishing, archery, shooting sports, ropes courses, studies of ecology, dog training and survival skills.
The Northern Colorado chapter ranked seventh in the nation out of 750 chapters for the amount spent on youth outdoor activities.
Sam Lowry, regional western director of Pheasants Forever, said his organization has seen some changes recently. In a short period of time, the number of Farm Bill biologists has increased from 60 to more than 100. These biologists approach landowners about habitat conservation, which helps protect pheasants and other animals.
PF has reorganized so that the grassroots members can be heard, he said.
The mission has expanded. It is hard to promote pheasants in areas that do not have the birds, but conservation is of interest to people all over the U.S., Lowry said.
As the other speakers emphasized, partnerships are key, and joint ventures with other wildlife conservationists allows them to pool their limited resources, he said.
Hix presented the Visionary Award to Cables for his work on the pheasant habitat improvement program over the years. By 2012, that protected more than 280,000 acres and improved bird populations.
His work also boosted hunter numbers in Colorado.
Hix said he hopes to make Fort Morgan the home of the conference each year.
— Contact Dan Barker at email@example.com


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Alumni Glee Club Debut
Alumni Weekend began at a sold out luncheon for seniors Thursday noon in the Diamond Club and ended with the first appearance ever of the Alumni Glee Club on Sunday afternoon.
Alumni Glee Club, you ask?
Yep, led by the Phanatic wearing a tux, Gary Matthews, Larry Andersen, Tommy Greene, Ozzie Virgil, Von Hayes, Wayne Gomes, Ricky Bottalico and Ricky Jordan sang "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" in the bottom of the seventh inning. American Idol next? No chance.
Mike Lieberthal became the third catcher in the Toyota Wall of Fame on Friday night, surrounded by 12 Wall of Famers. Missing was Jim Bunning who was attending the wedding of one of his 35 grandchildren.
Forty-five Alumni from eight decades were introduced on the field Saturday night. First was the oldest living Phillie, 96-year-old Freddy Schmidt, who pitched for the Phils in 1947. Five All-Star catchers followed Freddy and began the parade. The five Bob Boone, Ozzie Virgil, Lance Parrish, Darren Daulton and Lieby.
First ball ceremony was a reversal of a long-time successful battery of Hall of Fame pitcher Steve Carlton and Tim McCarver, honored in Cooperstown last month with the Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasting excellence. Between the Cardinals and Phillies, Timmy caught Lefty 251 times, over 1,680 innings. McCarver's first pro game was in Waterloo, IA, in 1959 and the home plate umpire was a young man named Brent Musburger. We brought him in from Montana to ump. McCaver lobbed a toss that Lefty backhanded way off the plate. "Strike" bellowed Musburger.
Timmy was as excited as a child at Christmas when asked to throw the ball to Lefty. MLB.com's Marty Noble wrote a great story on phillies.com. Check it out.
Throughout the weekend, Alumni interacted with fans unannounced. Some signed autographs, others were gate greeters. John Kruk announced the lineups after picking up some fans in the Citizens Bank golf cart. Darren Daulton and Mitch Williams surprised a young fan celebrating her birthday on Sunday by singing Happy Birthday. "Hollywood is next," laughed Darren.
Dick Allen (first), Tony Taylor (second) and Kevin Stocker (third) changed the bases also on Sunday. "First base is a long way away," proclaimed Allen as he exited the field by the third base dugout. When the Phanatic came on the field with the hot dog shooter on Sunday, a man in a dark cap and gray shirt was doing the shooting. Yep, Mike Schmidt had a ball.
For the three days, suites on the Hall of Fame Club level served as the hospitality headquarters. Dinner was provided in the Executive Dining Room. Saturday the guys from the 1980 club occupied the largest table in the room. Instead chicken, crab cakes or filet mignon, Greg Luzinski treated the table to Bull's BBQ ribs.
It didn't matter if you were a teammate or not, you were a Phillie. That was a strong and common bond. Tony Taylor introduced himself to Larry Milbourne, who said, "I remember seeing you play." Both got a big laugh.
Von Hayes' college roommate for three years was George Descalso, whose son, Daniel, is an infielder with the Cardinals. Von made sure to check in with Daniel. "I remember him when he was a baby."
Pat Burrell who last played a year ago, was attending his first reunion. He bonded with everyone from Howie Bedell to Bobby Wine, Alumni he had never met. He said he had a ball and is looking forward to next year. In two years, he's eligible for the Wall of Fame and should be a first-ballot winner.
Other first-timers were Larry Bowa, Todd Pratt, Parrish, Hayes and McCarver. Normally, Timmy is broadcasting a FOX game on Saturdays. Because of the Olympics, FOX didn't televise Saturday and a week ago Saturday. "Do I have to wait four more years to be invited back," he laughed.
Soon we'll have the 2013 schedule which means we can begin planning next year's Alumni Weekend.
(Still photographs and video of Alumni weekend can be found on www.phillies.com).


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Blue Coat virtualizes WAN appliance
Trim bandwidth without the box width
If there's one thing branch offices linked back into a data center don't need, it's another box taking up space and generating heat in the local data closet.
That's one of the reasons why Blue Coat Systems - a provider of WAN optimization hardware appliances, along with Cisco Systems, Riverbed, Citrix Systems, and a few others - has created a virtualized version of its ProxySG WAN optimizers, which accelerate the performance of applications running from the data center as they are piped out to branch offices. The ProxySG hardware appliance accelerates TCP/IP network, MAPI email, and CIFS file serving protocols, so users at remote offices don't smash their computer screens in frustration.
he devices also provide SSL encryption and decryption and can compress video streams and cache various objects as they are used by applications. The idea is to reduce the amount of bandwidth necessary to give end users working from branch offices over a wide area network, which cuts costs while at the same time improving performance - which reduces frustration.
With the ProxySG Virtual Appliances, Blue Coat is taking its WAN optimization software and plunking it atop a virtual machine formatted for VMware's ESX Server hypervisor. Since most branch offices already have x64-based servers and ESX Server is the volume leader in server virtualization, this is an easy technology case to make. (The virtual WAN optimization appliances sold by Citrix - which El Reg told you about here and there - run atop XenServer hypervisors, of course, since Citrix wants to promote its own technology).
The ProxySG virtual appliances are designed to support from 5 to 300 users, and more or less overlap in capability to the ProxySG 210 and 510 series of hardware appliances sold by Blue Coat. The company sells a higher-end line of WAN optimizers, the Proxy SG 810 and 9000 lines, which are regional and data center appliances, respectively, and which support many more users. Blue Coat also sells a personal WAN accelerator, called ProxyClient, that is aimed at remote workers who link into centralized applications and who need better performance from their home PCs or laptops. All of the devices share the same software and differ merely in scale, says Chris Webber, product marketing manager at Blue Coat.
The one thing the ProxySG hardware and virtual appliances also have in common is how they boost performance and reduce response times. Depending on the application, required WAN bandwidth for typical applications can fall by anywhere from 50 to 99 per cent, according to Webber, and response times improve by a factor or 5 to 30. Those are big numbers, and the wonder is why Microsoft hasn't jumped into this market yet.
The virtual appliances are priced based on the number of users and also in the bandwidth that they allow per user. For instance, the ProxySG Virtual Appliance comes with a five-user license with 2 Mbit/sec of bandwidth per user; it costs $1,110, including the software license and one year's worth of support. The ProxySG 210-5 hardware appliance, which has the same features and functions and supports five users as well costs $2,995 and that does not include one year of support. So clearly, going virtual can mean big savings.
Not all SMBs or remote offices will be big on VMware's ESX Server hypervisor, which is why support for running the ProxySG virtual appliances inside of Microsoft's Hyper-V is almost certainly in the works. Webber would only admit that Blue Coat is working on various things with Microsoft and was not going to pre-announce any products. It would not be surprising at all to see Microsoft even rebadge the ProxySG software and bundle it into Windows Server running atop Hyper-V. Then again, Microsoft could so the same thing with Citrix virtual appliances, and Citrix never met a Microsoft partnership it didn't like. ®
Sponsored: How to Process, Wrangle, Analyze and Visualize your Data with Three Complementary Tools


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The Persistence of Vision Raytracer (POV-Ray).
This is the legacy Bug Tracking System for the POV-Ray project. Bugs listed here are being migrated to our github issue tracker. Please refer to that for new reports or updates to existing ones on this system.
FS#87 - Add new feature: Reference object
Opened by Juha Nieminen (Warp) - Monday, 22 March 2010, 16:55 GMT
Last edited by William F Pokorny (wfpokorny) - Monday, 10 April 2017, 14:04 GMT
When you instantiate an object several times, eg:
object { MyObj translate -x*10 } object { MyObj translate x*10 }
POV-Ray will copy that object in memory, at least for most types of objects. Not for all of them, though. Most famously if MyObj is a mesh, it won't be copied, but only a reference to the original will be used, thus saving memory. (There are a few other primitives which also don't cause a copy, such as bicubic_patch and blob, but those are naturally not so popular as mesh, so it's a less known fact.)
AFAIK the reason why referencing (rather than copying) is not used for all types of objects is rather complicated, and mostly related to how transformations are applied to these objects. For example if the object being instantiated is a union, the translates above will be (AFAIK) applied to the individual members of the union rather than to the union object itself.
Copying, however, can be quite detrimental in some situations. For example if you have a huge union, and you want to instantiate it many times, the memory usage will be that many times larger (compared to just one instance). This is sometimes something which the user would not want, even if it made the rendering slightly slower as a consequence. (In other words, better to be able to render the scene in the first place, rather than running out of memory.)
Redesigning POV-Ray so that all objects would be referenced rather than copied would probably be a huge job, and in some cases a questionable one. There probably are situations where the current method really produces faster rendering times, so redesigning POV-Ray so that it would always reference instead of copy, could make some scenes render slower.
So this got me thinking about an alternative approach: How hard would it be to create a special object which sole purpose is to act as a reference to another object, without copying it? This special reference object would act as any regular object, would have its own transformation matrix and all that data related to objects, but its sole purpose is to simply be a "wrapper" which references an existing object. It could be, for example, like this:
object_ref { MyObj translate -x*10 } object_ref { MyObj translate x*10 }
The end result would be exactly identical as earlier, but the difference is that now MyObj behaves in the same way as a mesh (in the sense that it's not instantiated twice, but only once, even though it appears twice in the scene), regardless of what MyObj is.
In some cases this might render slightly slower than the first version (because POV-Ray has to apply the transformations of the object_ref first, after which it applies whatever transformations are inside MyObj), but that's not the point here. The point is to save memory if MyObj is large.
An object_ref would behave like any other object, so you could do things like:
#declare MyObjRef = object_ref { MyObj }; object { MyObjRef translate -x*10 } object { MyObjRef translate x*10 }
(The only thing being instantiated (and copied) here is the "MyObjRef" object, not the object it's referring to, so that actual object is still stored in memory only once.)
In some situations it might even be so that referenced objects actually render faster than if the objects were copied because references increase data locality, lessening cache misses.
I believe this could be a rather useful feature and should be seriously considered, unless there are some major obstacles in implementing it.
To be exact, POV-Ray will create a new geometric object for all primitive types; however, for primitive types based on bulk data (most notably mesh/mesh2 and blobs), this very bulk data is shared between copies wherever possible. Another common feature of such "bulk objects" is that they have internal bounding mechanisms in place.
Allowing for arbitrary objects to be referenced by "reference objects" in a similar manner would seem to open up quite a can of worms: For instance, lifetime management of geometric primitives would need a major overhaul to make sure that objects are not deleted prematurely (e.g. right after parsing when they are not used directly in the scene) nor create memory leaks; care must be taken when to add an object's bounding box to the global bounding data structure, while properly adding it to some local bounding data structure of any reference objects that refer to them; and problems may arise regarding the desired effect of manipulations of a reference object other than transformations.
This certainly is a worthwhile feature, but requires changes only planned for the long term. The basic issue that is holding up implementation is as simple as the corresponding code having a strong C history and adding the feature requires cleaning up the use of C pointers first, by replacing them with container classes.
- Field changed: Status (New → Tracked on GitHub)
Now tracked on github as issue #274.


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Rice player comes to Johnny Manziel's defense on Twitter
Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel's return to college football Saturday came with mixed emotions from fans and TV analysts after the 2012 Heisman Trophy winner's electric second-half performance, which included impressive numbers — 97 yards in the air, three touchdown passes — and a benching by his coach, Kevin Sumlin, after an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for pointing at the scoreboard after a TD pass in the fourth quarter.
COLUMN:Finally someone stood up to Manziel
TIMELINE:Manziel's tumultuous offseason
In the end, the scoreboard read 52-31. And the buzz of Johnny Football was undoubtedly back.
After sitting out the first half serving a suspension based on an "inadvertent violation" of NCAA rules, Manziel energized a suspension-depleted Aggies team almost immediately. He found Mike Evans in the end zone for a 23-yard pass on A&M's second drive. Just before that play, Manziel got into it with a Rice defender, appearing to mimic signing an autograph.
FOR THE WIN:Manziel on the money in debut
After the game, the backlash ensued in light of Manziel's antics. "Lead with your actions and not your sign language. He should learn a lesson from this," college football analyst Jesse Palmer said.
On Twitter, Rice player Nick Elder came to Manziel's defense, claiming he was the one who had an exchange with Manziel.
"@espn I was the one who johnny was talking too. He said 'what's up nick, nice hit.' True story."
Afterward, Manziel retweeted Elder, but later deleted the retweet.


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Gallery: Action from the Berlin Six Day
102nd edition of storied German race
Four days of racing have been completed in the Berlin Six Day with Madison world champion Kenny de Ketele and partner Luke Roberts holding the lead for the second straight evening. The Belgian/Australian duo have amassed 150 points and are the only team on the lead lap.
Related Articles
Three teams trail at one lap, with Franco Marvulli and Andreas Müller (the leaders after night two) in second with 140 points, Mike Kluge and Peter Schep in third at 128 points followed by Robert Bartko and Theo Reinhardt in fourth at 123 points.
Five-time German Madison champions Robert Bengsch and Marcel Kalz led on the opening night but now hold fifth at two laps and 174 points. Sixteen teams in all are contesting the 102nd edition of the Berlin Six Day.
Germany's Maximilian Levy, a multi-time world champion in the team sprint and keirin plus Olympic silver medalist in the keirin at the London Games, leads the six-man sprint competition with 46 points, closely trailed by Robert Förstemann at 45 points.
Mario Birrer stands atop the steher competition, one point ahead of both Robert Retschke and Florian Fernow. American Zachary Kovalcik holds seventh in the standings.
Click on the gallery to take in the action from Berlin.
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(Parenting.com) -- Did you know that most people who develop type II diabetes have a potentially dangerous condition called prediabetes for five to 10 years before their diagnosis?
Who is at risk: Anyone who's overweight and has a family history of diabetes, high blood pressure, or low HDL ("good") cholesterol and high triglycerides. Also, moms who've had gestational diabetes, are overweight, or have delivered an infant weighing more than nine pounds are especially prone to developing prediabetes.
If you have any of these risk factors, get your blood glucose level tested, and ask your doctor how often you should have follow-up screenings, advises Florence Brown, M.D., codirector of the diabetes and pregnancy program at the Joslin Diabetes Center, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.
What if your prediabetes test comes back positive? "Research shows that even modest lifestyle changes can keep prediabetes from progressing to type II," says Dr. Brown.
Your doctor may still prescribe a medication like metformin to help prevent the onset of diabetes, but here's what you can do to reduce your chances of developing the disorder:
Exercise. It helps your body metabolize sugars and keeps you fit. Try to squeeze in 30 minutes of vigorous exercise (biking, jogging) or 60 minutes of moderate exercise like walking five days a week.
Up your fiber count. Fiber, especially when combined with exercise and weight reduction, can help lower your risk of gestational and Type 2 diabetes. Vegetables, fruits, and whole-grain breads and cereals are all high in fiber.
Limit simple carbs. Refined sugar, white grains, and white potatoes can up your blood sugar level.
Reduce fat intake. Eat fewer saturated fats and eliminate trans fats by choosing lean meats and checking the nutrition information on boxed foods. E-mail to a friend
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Copyright 2007 The Parenting Group. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.


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Contact: Jerry Horn, Priests for Life, 540-220-0095
ATLANTA, November 1 /Christian Newswire/ -- Dr. Alveda King, Pastoral Associate of Priests for Life and niece of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., today said that the story of alleged domestic abuse suffered by gospel singer and televangelist Juanita Bynum reminded her of the pain she herself suffered from abortion.
"Hearing of the trauma that Juanita Bynum endured makes me reflect on another form of abuse that I suffered twice, abortion," said Dr. King. "Both domestic abuse and abortion are violent attacks on women's God given, natural roles as wives, mothers, and nurturers. God intends that husbands and wives love and care for each other and that mothers and fathers love and nurture their children. Abuse and abortion are contrary to God's will. They are blows not only to the flesh, but also the spirit."
"The good news, as Sister Juanita already knows, is that there is healing through Jesus. I know that my own healing, especially the recovery that came after being victimized by an involuntary abortion, came from the grace and mercy of God. I pray that women who have also been victimized by the lies of the abortion industry or threats from husbands, boyfriends, or parents will seek out groups like Rachel's Vineyard for comfort and renewal, as I did. Love is what God commands us to do, and love never fails."
Priests for Life is the nation's largest Catholic pro-life organization dedicated to ending abortion and euthanasia. For more information, visit www.priestsforlife.org.


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Published on January 25, 2012
Also available in: French
|Foreword and Acknowledgements
|Abbreviations and acronyms
|Executive summary
|Greening development
|Greening national development planning processes
|Greening national budget processes
|Greening key economic sectors
|Capacity for development support providers
Policy summary
Economic growth based on the unsustainable use of natural resources is no longer viable in a world facing the pressures of a growing population, climate change and increasing risks of food shortages. Against this background ensuring the sustainability of the natural resource base is crucial. Moving to a greener development path requires incorporating the environment into every aspect of the national planning and budgeting process. A key obstacle for many developing countries in meeting this objective is a lack of capacity for identifying environmental challenges and priorities and their implications for development, formulating policy responses and implementing strategies. It is against this background that the OECD's Development Assistance Committee (DAC) and the Environment Policy Committee (EPOC) have combined their expertise to develop this report Greening Development: Enhancing Capacity for Environmental Management and Governance. The guidance focuses on three levels: that of the individual, the organisation and the enabling environment. It provides practical recommendations on how to develop capacity for greening development through integration of environmental concerns into policy frameworks and budgetary processes. Recognising the different country contexts, this guidance advocates an iterative approach to strengthening country systems for the management of natural resources and the environment.
» Download a summary: English, French, Spanish
» Download a flyer
E-learning courses
Two sets of e-learning materials building on the OECD guidance have been developed by Evidence on Demand. These are:
Both courses are open-access and aim to help development professionals without specialist knowledge of climate and environment to integrate these policy areas into their projects and programmes. Each module is estimated to take around 20 minutes.
To access the course, sign up by clicking the link "Click here to enter our new interactive e-learning portal" here.


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"We are very positively surprised by the high performance of the ETERNUS DX440 S2 storage systems. Thanks to Fujitsu's Storage Integration Services, the switch to running operations was extremely quick and absolutely smooth."
Werner Gruber Systems Management, LEW Service & Consulting GmbH
Case Study Lechwerke AG (1.70 MB )
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Stay on-trend with chic, fashionable, and stylish backpacks. At Neiman Marcus, we offer you high-end designer backpacks in a variety of colors, sizes, and shapes.
Our collection features designer backpacks for women for all occasions and seasons. We have leather backpacks in classic designs, and our medium backpacks with spacious inner compartments are great to carry while you're traveling. Looking for something chic? Choose from our selection of nylon backpacks in funky and trendy prints.
Functional and stylish, our backpacks complement the fashion-forward travelers of today. You can easily choose the perfect backpack by color and size from our collection. Shop Neiman Marcus for designer backpacks by some of the world's leading fashion designers and brands.


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This eBook includes the following formats, accessible from your Account page after purchase:
EPUB The open industry format known for its reflowable content and usability on supported mobile devices.
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PDF The popular standard, used most often with the free Adobe® Reader® software.
This eBook requires no passwords or activation to read. We customize your eBook by discreetly watermarking it with your name, making it uniquely yours.
The first real-world, applied guide to managing a product and service as it evolves over the entire lifecycle of the supply chain.
Optimize supply chains throughout their entire lifecycle: creation, growth, maturity, and decline! Reflecting up-to-the-minute "in-the-trenches" experience and pioneering research, this book illuminates the complex transformational processes associated with managing complex supply chains that incorporate multiple products and services within ever-changing networks. Marc J. Schniederjans and Stephen B. Legrand walk you through: starting, creating, and building new supply chains; then, realigning those supply chains for growth, adjusting to dynamic change, readjusting networks, building flexibility, and managing new supply chain risks. Next, they offer practical, realistic guidance for realigning "mature" supply chains, innovating, controlling costs; and smoothly managing declining demand. Throughout, they offer invaluable insights and tools for negotiating, measuring performance, anticipating change, improving agility and flexibility, meeting commitments to social responsibility and the law; and much more. Based on the authors' up-to-the minute supply chain experience and pioneering academic research, Reinventing the Supply Chain Life Cycle contains many real-world examples and interviews with executives from some of the world's top organizations. It integrates content related to key certifications and offers valuable material that can be incorporated directly into existing supply chain practices, procedures, and policies.
Preface to Reinventing the Supply Chain Life Cycle
Download the sample pages (includes Preface and Index)
About the Authors xiii
Preface xv
Chapter 1 Developing Supply Chain Strategies 1
Terms 2
1.1 Prerequisite Material 5
1.2 Supply Chain Strategic Planning 12
1.3 Critical Success Factors in Developing a Supply Chain Strategy 21
1.4 Supply Chain Strategies 23
1.5 A Procedure for Supply Chain Strategy Development 25
1.6 Starting Place for Strategy Development: Customer Value 28
1.7 What's Next? 31
Chapter 2 Designing Supply Chains 33
Terms 33
2.1 Prerequisite Material 37
2.2 Design Consideration in a Firm's Supply Chain Organizational Structure 41
2.3 Approaches to Supply Chain Design 46
2.4 Other Topics in Supply Chain Design 53
2.5 What's Next? 57
Chapter 3 Staffing Supply Chains 59
Terms 60
3.1 Prerequisite Material 64
3.2 Staffing Supply Chains 67
3.3 Global Staffing Considerations 72
3.4 Other Staffing Topics 86
3.5 What's Next? 91
Chapter 4 Managing Supply Chains 93
Terms 94
4.1 Prerequisite Material 97
4.2 Managerial Topics in Planning/ Organizing Supply Chains 97
4.3 Managerial Topics in Staffing Supply Chains 105
4.4 Managerial Topics in Leading/ Directing Supply Chains 111
4.5 Managerial Topics in Monitoring/Controlling Supply Chains 115
4.6 What's Next? 120
Chapter 5 Social, Ethical, and Legal Considerations 123
Terms 123
5.1 Prerequisite Material 127
5.2 Principles and Standards of Ethical Supply Management Conduct 130
5.3 Principles of Social Responsibility 132
5.4 Measuring Social Responsibility Performance 133
5.5 Other Social, Ethical, and Legal Topics 136
5.6 What's Next? 141
Chapter 6 Sustainable Supply Chains 143
Terms 143
6.1 Prerequisite Material 147
6.2 Managing Sustainable Supply Chains 149
6.3 A Model for Sustainability 153
6.4 Other Topics in Sustainability 155
6.5 What's Next? 163
Chapter 7 Aligning Supply Chains to Meet Life Cycle Customer Demands 165
Terms 166
7.1 Prerequisite Material 169
7.2 Demand Planning Procedure 172
7.3 Aligning Supply Chain Resources 176
7.4 Other Alignment Topics 187
7.5 What's Next? 190
Chapter 8 Negotiating 193
Terms 193
8.1 Prerequisite Material 198
8.2 Guiding Principles in Negotiating Agreements 202
8.3 Other Negotiation Topics 213
8.4 What's Next? 218
Chapter 9 Building an Agile and Flexible Supply Chain 221
Terms 221
9.1 Prerequisite Material 225
9.2 Agile Supply Chains 229
9.3 Flexible Supply Chain 235
9.4 Other Topics Related to Agile and Flexible Supply Chains 238
9.5 What's Next? 243
Chapter 10 Developing Partnerships in Supply Chains 245
Terms 245
10.1 Prerequisite Material 249
10.2 Supplier Relationship Management Implementation Model 253
10.3 Other Topics Related to Developing Partnership in Supply Chains 261
10.4 What's Next? 266
Chapter 11 Risk Management 269
Terms 269
11.1 Prerequisite Material 273
11.2 A Risk Management Process 277
11.3 Strategies and Tactics for Mitigating Risk 283
11.4 Other Topics in Risk Management 288
11.5 What's Next? 293
Chapter 12 Lean and Other Cost-Reduction Strategies in Supply Chain Management 297
Terms 298
12.1 Prerequisite Material 302
12.2 Lean Supply Chain Management Principles 308
12.3 Other Cost-Reduction Strategies 319
12.4 Other Topics in Lean and Other Cost-Reduction Strategies in Supply Chain Management 323
12.5 What's Next? 327
Chapter 13 Strategic Planning in Outsourcing 329
Terms 330
13.1 Prerequisite Material 333
13.2 Strategic Planning and the Outsourcing Process 336
13.3 Other Topics in Strategic Planning in Outsourcing 359
13.4 What's Next? 363
Chapter 14 Interview with Mr. Mike Orr of Genuine Parts Company 367
Introduction 367
About the Interviewee 367
About Genuine Parts Company 368
Interview Questions and Answers 369
Chapter 15 Interview with Mr. Mark Holifield of The Home Depot 379
Introduction 379
About the Interviewee 379
About The Home Depot 380
Interview Questions and Answers 381
Chapter 16 Interview with Mr. Yadi Kamelian of Lincoln Industries 387
Introduction 387
About the Interviewee 387
About Lincoln Industries 388
Interview Questions and Answers 389
Chapter 17 Interview with Mr. Eddie Capel of Manhattan Associates 395
Introduction 395
About the Interviewee 395
About Manhattan Associates 396
Interview Questions and Answers 396
Chapter 18 Interview with Mr. Ron Robinson of LI-COR Biosciences 403
Introduction 403
About the Interviewee 403
About LI-COR 404
Interview Questions and Answers 404
Chapter 19 Interview with Mr. James Chris Gaffney of The Coca-Cola Company 413
Introduction 413
About the Interviewee 413
About the Coca-Cola Company 414
Interview Questions and Answers 415
Chapter 20 Interview with Mr. Brent Beabout of Office Depot 421
Introduction 421
About the Interviewee 421
About Office Depot 422
Interview Questions and Answers 422
Chapter 21 Novelette: So You Want to Build a Plant in a Foreign Country 429
Chapter 22 Novelette: So You Want to Eliminate a Plant in a Foreign Country 435
References 443
Index 461


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The Pythagoreans considered all mathematical science to be divided into four parts: one half they marked off as concerned with quantity, the other half with magnitude; and each of these they posited as twofold. A quantity can be considered in regard to its character by itself or in relation to another quantity, magnitudes as either stationary or in motion. Arithmetic, then, studies quantity as such, music the relations between quantities, geometry magnitude at rest, spherics magnitude inherently moving.
A Commentary on the First Book of Euclid's Elements
Wherever there is number, there is beauty.
Quoted in M Kline, Mathematical Thought from Ancient to Modern Times
This, therefore, is mathematics:
she reminds you of the invisible form of the soul;
she gives light to her own discoveries;
she awakens the mind and purifies the intellect;
she brings light to our intrinsic ideas;
she abolishes oblivion and ignorance which are ours by birth.
Quoted in M Kline, Mathematical Thought from Ancient to Modern Times
It is well known that the man who first made public the theory of irrationals perished in a shipwreck in order that the inexpressible and unimaginable should ever remain veiled. And so the guilty man, who fortuitously touched on and revealed this aspect of living things, was taken to the place where he began and there is for ever beaten by the waves.
Scholium to Book X of Euclid V.


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Photos no longer work on PS3
Posted: Sun Apr 24, 2011 11:52 am
Sometime in the last couple of weeks, I stopped being able to view photos on my PS3 through Twonky. The folders show up and I can open them and see the thumbnails of the photos but when I view a photo, it just opens the thumbnail picture (something like 105x107) and scales it to fit the screen in a pixellated mess. This appears to be an incompatibility with the PS3. I can select DLNA on my Samsung TV and it views fine at full size but the PS3 gives me nothing but giant pixellated copies of the thumbnails. Anyone have any ideas?


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Encyclopædia Iranica
Table of Contents
Sajjad H. Rizvi
term coined to describe a philosophical and mystical movement patronized by the court of Shah ʿAbbās I (r. 1588-1629), centered in the new Safavid capital of Isfahan.
ISFAHAN viii. QAJAR PERIOD
Heidi Walcher
The historical changes affecting the Isfahan of this period included loss of its status as the royal capital and its transformation into a major provincial city.
Rüdiger Schmitt
author of the Stathmoì Parthikoí (in Latin Mansiones Parthicae) "Parthian Stations," which is the only Greek text preserved at all of the genre of the itinerary or route description.
Rüdiger Schmitt
in the Avesta the name of a mountain and of the land (situated in the Hindu Kush region) which is dominated by this mountain.
Ursula Sims-Williams
(Eslām-āḵūn), treasure-seeker and swindler active in Khotan and neighboring areas between 1894 and 1901, best known, however, as an adept forger of manuscripts and block prints. He was eventually unmasked by Sir Aurel Stein (1862-1943) in 1901.This Article Has Images/Tables.
ISLAM IN IRAN i - iv
Multiple Authors
The following series of articles provide an overview of some historical, contemporary, and especially political aspects of the topic that are of special interest and relevance in the world today.
ISLAM IN IRAN v. MESSIANIC ISLAM IN IRAN
Abbas Amanat
Messianism is one of the most powerful, diverse and enduring expressions of Islam in Iran throughout its long history.
ISLAM IN IRAN vi. THE CONCEPT OF MAHDI IN SUNNI ISLAM
Said Amir Arjomand
The Savior is a descendant of the Prophet whose expected return to rule the world will restore justice, peace, and true religion.
ISLAM IN IRAN vii. THE CONCEPT OF MAHDI IN TWELVER SHIʿISM
Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi
Mahdism in Twelver Shiʿism inherited many of its elements from previous religious trends.
ISLAM IN IRAN viii. THE OCCULTATION OF MAHDI
See ḠAYBA.
ISLAM IN IRAN ix. THE DEPUTIES OF MAHDI
Verena Klemm
according to Twelver Shiʿite tradition, the four intermediaries between the Hidden Imam and the faithful during his "Minor Occultation," 874-941 CE.
ISLAM IN IRAN x. THE ROOTS OF POLITICAL SHIʿISMs
Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi
By "political Shiʿism" we mean here the politicization of theological and legal doctrines of Twelver Shiʿism among some thinkers, in order to make of these doctrines an ideology of legitimization of religious authority and power.
ISLAM IN IRAN xi. JIHAD IN ISLAM
David Cook
The term jihad (Ar. jehād "struggle, striving") occurs (either in its root or derivatives) about forty times in the Qurʾān with the secondary, but dominant, meaning of "regulated warfare with divine sanction."
ISLAM IN IRAN xii. MARTYRDOM IN ISLAM
Forthcoming online.
ISLAM IN IRAN xiii. ISLAMIC POLITICAL MOVEMENTS IN 20TH CENTURY IRAN
Ahmad Ashraf
New Islamic political movements first emerged in the Near East, the Indian Subcontinent, and Indonesia in the middle of the 19th century.
ISLAM IN IRAN xiv - xviii
Multiple Authors
a major Shiʿite Muslim community. The Ismaʿilis have had a long and eventful history dating back to the middle of the 2nd/8th century when the Emāmi Shiʿis split into several groups.
ISMAʿILISM i. ISMAʿILI STUDIES
Farhad Daftary
In its modern and scientific form, dating to the 1930s, Ismaʿili studies represents one of the newest fields of Islamic studies.
ISMAʿILISM ii. ISMAʿILI HISTORIOGRAPHY
Farhad Daftary
The general lack of Ismaʿili interest in historiography is well attested by the fact that only a few works of historical nature have been found in the rich corpus of Ismaʿili literature.
ISMAʿILISM iii. ISMAʿILI HISTORY
Farhad Daftary
On the death of Imam Jaʿfar al-Ṣādeq in 148/765 his followers from among the Imami Shiʿites split into six groups, of which two may be identified as proto-Ismaʿilis or earliest Ismaʿilis.
ISMAʿILISM iv - x
ISMAʿILISM xi. ISMAʿILI JURISPRUDENCE
Ismail K. Poonawala
The Ismaʿili system of jurisprudence was founded after the establishment of the Fatimid dynasty in North Africa.
ISMAʿILISM xii. ISMAʿILI HADITH
See HADITH iii.
ISMAʿILISM xiii. ISMAʿILI LITERATURE IN PERSIAN AND ARABIC
Ismail K. Poonawala
Ismaʿili literature (all the written products of scholarly disciplines delineated by learning, religion, and science) refers to the literary production of more than a millennium.
ISMAʿILISM xiv. ISMAʿILISM IN GINĀN LITERATURE
Ali Sultaan Ali Asani
Nezāri Ismaʿili texts from the Indian Subcontinent exhibit an adaptive response to the region's complex religious, literary, and cultural environment.
ISMAʿILISM xv. NEZĀRI ISMAʿILI MONUMENTS
Peter Willey
The principal monuments of the Nezāri Ismaʿili state, which also defined and defended its boundaries, were the exceptionally well-constructed and provisioned castles.
ISMAʿILISM xvi. MODERN ISMAʿILI COMMUNITIES
Azim Nanji and Zulfikar Hirji
The Ismaʿilis consist of two main branches—the Nezāri Ismaʿilis and the Mustaʿlian Ṭayyebi Ismaʿilis. Both have their roots in the Fatimid period of Ismaʿili history.
ISMAʿILISM xvii. THE IMAMATE IN ISMAʿILISM
Azim Nanji
in common with all major Shiʿite groups, the Ismaʿilis believe that the Imamate is a divinely sanctioned and guided institution.
Multiple Authors
: relations with Iran. OVERVIEW of the entry: i. Diplomatic and political relations. ii. The Jewish Persian community: forthcoming. iii. Iranian Studies in Israel: forthcoming. iv. Persian art collections in Israel: forthcoming.
ISRAEL i. RELATIONS WITH IRAN
David Menashri, Trita Parsi
The relationship between Israel and Iran has, since the very inception of the Jewish state in 1948, been a complex function of Iran's geo-strategic imperatives as a non-Arab, non-Sunni state.
ISRAEL ii. JEWISH PERSIAN COMMUNITY
David Yeroushalmi
Jews of Persian origin and their descendants who live in the State of Israel and constitute an integral and active part of its general population.
ISRAEL iii. IRANIAN STUDIES
Shaul Shaked
A department of Iranian Studies was only formally established in Israel in 1970, but scholars working in Israel have been interested in aspects of Iranian history and culture since long before that date.
ISRAEL iv. PERSIAN ART COLLECTIONS
Iron Age II-III is represented by a few clay rhytons, including one with human face and hands; anthropomorphic and zoomorphic vessels; tiny animals made of baked clay and frit; a metal figurative comb; an Elamite figure of a goddess; a finial of a standard portraying two lions from Luristan; and various kinds of daily objects.This Article Has Images/Tables.
See QEṢAṢ AL-ANBIĀʾ.
Multiple Authors
: relations with Iran. Overview of the entry. i. Introduction. ii. Diplomatic and commercial relations. iii. Cultural relations. iv. Travel accounts. v. Iranian Studies, pre-Islamic. vi. Excavations in Iran. vii. Iranian Studies, Islamic period. viii. Persian manuscripts. ix. Persian art collections. x. Lirica Persica. xi. Translations of Persian works into Italian. xii. Translations of Italian works into Persian. xiii. Iranians in Italy. xiv. Current centers of Iranian Studies in Italy. xv. IsMEO
Italy i. INTRODUCTION
Carlo G. Cereti
Direct relations between the Italian peninsula and the Iranian plateau date at least from the Parthian period, when the border between the Arsacids and the Roman Empire was set on the Euphrates.
Italy ii. DIPLOMATIC AND COMMERCIAL RELATIONS
Mario Casari
A privileged relationship between Iran and Italy dates back to the age of the ancient Roman and Persian empires. Despite their ever-changing internal affairs, the two political centers of Europe and Asia, throughout the entire ancient time, experienced long lasting contacts.This Article Has Images/Tables.
Italy iii. CULTURAL RELATIONS
Mario Casari
during the Middle Ages, when Italy and Persia were not clearly definable cultural entities, the translated works of significant Persian literature had a great influence on Italian and European culture.
Italy iv. TRAVEL ACCOUNTS
Michele Bernardini, Anna Vanzan
Italian travel accounts represent a major source for the history of Iran, especially that of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
Italy v. IRANIAN STUDIES, PRE-ISLAMIC PERIOD
Carlo G. Cereti
Although Italian contacts with Iran date from ancient times, scientific interest in pre-Islamic Iran cannot be traced earlier than the second half of the eighteenth century.
Italy vi. ITALIAN EXCAVATIONS IN IRAN
Pierfrancesco Callieri, Bruno Genito
From the early 20th century on, Italians participated in the scholarly investigation of ancient Iran, but direct involvement in field archeology dates from relatively recent times.
Italy vii. IRANIAN STUDIES, ISLAMIC PERIOD
Mario Casari
The earliest known references to Persia by Italian writers are gleaned from numerous notes in the oldest medieval travel accounts, dating from the 13th century onwards.
Italy viii. PERSIAN MANUSCRIPTS
Paola Orsatti
Italy houses 439 Persian manuscripts in two public archives and thirty public libraries located in fifteen different cities.
Italy ix. PERSIAN ART COLLECTIONS
M. V. Fontana
ix. PERSIAN ART COLLECTIONS Since the Middle Ages, Italians have been some of the greatest collectors of Islamic art in Europe. The Islamic market that Italy drew on was very large, and some of the most opulent works were imported from Persia.This Article Has Images/Tables.
Italy x. LIRICA PERSICA
Daniela Meneghini
a project set up in 1989 by the School of Persian Literary Studies at Venice University to create a database for Persian lyric verse.
Italy xi. TRANSLATIONS OF PERSIAN WORKS INTO ITALIAN
Mario Casari
The period of Italian translations of Persian literary works from the Islamic era began, and not by accident, in the post-Risorgimento (Italian unification) age (1880s) with epic poetry.This Article Has Images/Tables.
Italy xii. TRANSLATIONS OF ITALIAN WORKS INTO PERSIAN
Two texts by Italian authors appear to be the first known translations of European literary works into Persian carried out in the modern age.
Italy xiii. IRANIANS IN ITALY
Mario Casari
The presence of Persians in Italy has always been fragmentary and discontinuous, which never led to any extended, cohesive social groups of permanent residents.
Italy xiv. CURRENT CENTERS OF IRANIAN STUDIES IN ITALY
Carlo G. Cereti
Studies on subjects related to the Iranian cultural world can boast an ancient tradition in Italy, but not as an independent field of study at academic level. Things have considerably changed in recent times.
Italy xv. IsMEO
Antonio Panaino
acronym for the Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente ('Italian Institute for Middle and Far East'), founded in 1933.


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LUBBOCK, TX -- Texas Tech University students kicked off summer on June 1 in the school's newly opened $8.25 million outdoor aquatics complex.
The facility features an outdoor pool with a 15-foot slide and diving board, a lazy river, a hot tub that seats up to 20 people, water volleyball and basketball areas, and a "bubble couch" aquatic bench with massage jets.
In addition, the complex has a poolside snack bar that offers fresh sandwiches and smoothies, covered tables and chairs, as well as wireless Internet access.
The project at the Robert H. Ewalt Student Recreation Center was three years in the making. The facility was fully funded by students, who approved an increase in student recreation fees in an October 2006 election.
Melissa Hogle, student recreational sports assistant director for aquatics, said the 2-acre complex is unique in its versatile arrangement of activities, size and design.
"I really think the key for us was having a variety of things for the students to do," she told student reporters. "We already cater to a lot of fitness swimmers by having the indoor Olympic-size pool, but we really wanted a place where the students could go to feel comfortable and really hang out and have fun."
Hogle said the leisure pool presents Texas Tech with an opportunity to recruit more students and makes a statement to the faculty and Texas Tech community regarding the university's commitment to expand and have unique, top-of-the-line facilities.
Access to the leisure pool is free for currently enrolled students and $75 for those not currently enrolled. The cost also includes membership to the school's rec center.


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Honey of a Thousand Flowers and Alixanne Loosle Photography
Francoise Weeks and David Barss Photography
Blossom Sweet and Kate Osborne Photography
Rosegolden Flowers and Mandy Busby Photography
Resendiz Brothers Protea Growers
Tinge and Ciara Richardson Photography
I'm so proud of the designers I've featured during 2013. You all have accomplished much and inspired many. I can't wait to see what 2014 holds. Have a safe and fabulous New Year's Eve!


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About Us | Our Team | Contact Us | Join Our Team
A Division of My Luxury Cruises
(416) 486-4646 | (800) -518-3435
Some cruises of the Eastern Mediterranean and Aegean Seas include port calls in a country that many cruise travelers have yet to discover: Turkey. These cruises offer a look at a land where ancient roots mingle with modern sensibilities.
Istanbul is a sprawling city where East literally meets West: the city lies on two continents, Europe and Asia, divided only by the Bosphorus Strait. Cruise ships dock in the city center, near the Galata Bridge that spans the romantically named Golden Horn estuary. Some of the many fabulous sights of the city include Topkapi Palace, home of sultans; the Hagia Sophia, (Church of Divine Wisdom), a marvel of engineering from the sixth century; and the Blue Mosque, with its beautiful minarets and cascading domes. You can browse 4,000 shops at the Grand Bazaar or enjoy the aromas of the Spice Market. There are many more historic sites within a short distance of Istanbul, including Bursa, the first capital of the Ottoman Empire, and Gallipoli, site of the World War I battle for control of the Dardanelles. In fact, there is so much to see that some ships dock at Istanbul for two days.
Kusadasi, once a sleepy village, is now a bustling resort town on the Aegean. There are beaches to enjoy and a market to browse, but Kusadasi is also a perfect starting point for some memorable excursions. It's not far to Ephesus, one of the best-preserved ancient Roman cities in the Mediterranean region. Pirene, Miletus and Didyma are more places to see spectacular Roman ruins.
Dikli is a fast-growing city on Turkey's northern Aegean coast. It's a gateway to Bergama, which was famous in Roman times for its massive library and medical center. There's a fabulous view of the countryside from the ancient acropolis and its dramatic hillside theater.
In Antalya, on the Mediterranean coast, a modern city surrounds a small but charming historic neighborhood. Many of buildings there date from the Roman and Ottoman Empires, with some serving as inns, museums and restaurants today. If you're an outdoor enthusiast, you can take a break from antiquities on a hiking or river-rafting excursion to Koprulu Canyon National Park.
To consider cruise itineraries that includes some of these Turkish ports, talk with the experts at Cruise Holidays.


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On Thursday, the United States rolled back prohibitions against American companies doing business in Burma. The announcement marked the latest diplomatic reward given to President Thein Sein's quasi-civilian government for initiating reforms in what has historically been a military-run country. In making the announcement, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the democratic changes initiated so far were "irreversible," but that is a characterization few of the country's journalists would share.
The government has flip-flopped on media regulations in the past few days, a troubling indicator that there might be no media policy at all in place. First, the official version: The government-owned newspaper and website published by the Ministry of Information, New Light of Myanmar, reported that Information Minister Kyaw Hsan met with several journalists and writers' groups earlier in the week, pledging to "cooperate fully" with all the associations as the ministry drafts a "print media law, gradually but systematically releasing the grip over press in order that journalists can practice in harmony with that law after its ratification." The government has also said it plans to get a new media law through parliament in the coming months. But that doesn't mean there will be no censorship. After the government forms a press council, publications will be allowed to go to press under what it calls a check-after-publish system, New Light of Myanmar reported. Under current conditions, all copy must be submitted to censors first, and then be printed and distributed.
The minister said the press council would eventually replace the government's current censorship arm, the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division (PSRD), but the council would remain under his ministry's control. The proposed regulations stipulated that the press council must ensure that journalists abide by the 1962 Printer and Publisher Registration Act and the Ministry of Information's still-standing 12-point censorship policy.
That did not sit well with Burma's press corps. The exile-run Irrawaddy news site reported on Thursday that three Burmese media groups--the Myanmar Journalists Association, the Myanmar Journalists Network and the Myanmar Journalists Union--objected to the proposed rules for the soon-to-be-created press council.
Then today, Friday, PSRD Deputy Director Tint Swe told journalists that they could "forget about" the three-page proposal for press council regulations that Kyaw Hsan had handed out earlier in the week, journalists who took part in that meeting told Irawaddy. The PSRD will not insist that the journalists and writers groups follow the proposed regulations, they said.
That sort of U-turn raises questions about whether the government has thought out its approach to media, or if it is just dishing out edicts to see how they play in the eyes of the public and of the diplomats who control Burma's integration into the global community.
During the transition from military to quasi-civilian rule, censorship has eased informally, especially over economic matters and the opposition led by pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, but there are still no-go areas for local reporters. Newspapers do not report on the ongoing conflict with ethnic Kachin rebels in the country's northern frontier. More recently, the PSRD banned reporting on the resignation of hard-line Vice President Tin Aung Myint Oo for apparent health reasons. And no local paper has dared to push boundaries by investigating and reporting on past abuses under the previous Than Shwe-led regime.
All the while, journalists remain under threat of the Printer and Publisher Registration Act that was implemented after military takeover and that allows for imprisonment for "harming the ideology and views" of the government. The vague and arbitrary Ministry of Informaton's 12-point censorship policy still broadly bars any reporting on matters considered a threat to national unity or security.
Zaw Thet Htwe, a formerly jailed journalist and current organizing committee member of the Myanmar Journalists Union, told Irrawaddy that his group would not join the press council under the rules that, until today, had been the standing proposal. "Our union aims to protect freedom of expression and journalists' rights, but based on the minister's description of the Press Council's role, we are reluctant to participate in it," he told Irrawaddy. "I don't think that the press council will be different from the old censorship board if it includes former members of the PSRD."
Whether Friday's U-turn was a genuine response to journalists' concerns; or there is conflict between government officials or departments; or the left hand simply doesn't know what the right hand is doing, the situation appears closer to chaos than to an earnest and measurable process of media reform. In announcing the removal of restrictions on U.S. companies investing in Burma, the White House acknowledged in a statement that Burma's reforms are still "nascent" and that certain sanctions would remain in place as an "insurance policy." That policy may yet come due.


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The China Clean Development Mechanism Fund (CCDMF) is a national climate fund that supports low carbon growth and climate resilience in China. It is a revolving fund that receives regular capital injections from levies collected by the government on clean development mechanism projects in China.
Fast facts
- More than USD 81 million in grants committed to support over 200 projects;
- Direct reduction of over seven million tonnes of CO2 equivalent through funding enterprises, mobilizing market capital and achieving verified emission reduction effects;
- Government representatives from Brazil, Vietnam, and Cambodia have already visited CCDMF to learn more about this type of climate financing.
Installing equipment of a renewable energy combined heat
and power plant supported by CCDMF with a concessional loan
The problem
The CDM cooperation under Kyoto Protocol has generated additional income and advanced concept for some Chinese enterprises. However, without an effective financing mechanism, the income cannot be guaranteed to be used for tackling climate change, which is a problem for China, a country still with large climate financing gap. Managing the revenues collected from CDM projects through the CCDMF ensures that all collected levies are used to directly support projects that address climate change in China.
The solution
The revenues collected by the CCDMF are specifically earmarked to finance climate actions in China. The revenues are mainly used to finance investment programs to leverage additional resources from the private sector and to test innovative financial and economic instruments to support actions to address climate change.
Through investments, CCDMF provides enterprises with needed funding, mobilizes significant market capital, and achieves verified emission reduction effects (direct reduction of over 7 million tons of CO2 equivalent). CCDMF provides valuable experience to help address the enormous climate financing gap and support ambitious climate actions in China. CCDMF also partners with various international institutions, including the World Bank and Deutsche Bank, as well as domestic public and commercial entities to explore innovative ways to support low-carbon development in China.
Helping the planet
CCDMF provides grants for projects that support activities related to policy studies, research, capacity building and public awareness related to climate change. More importantly, the fund has implemented several investment projects to generate contributions from the private sector and to test financial and economic instruments to ensure cost-effective approaches to address climate change in China.
The CCDMF focuses particularly on leveraging private sector engagement to finance climate actions by bridging between the gap between the government and the market. This focus ensures the CCDMF will play a long-term role in China's climate finance because national budget support cannot cover the entire cost of low-carbon development. Therefore various financial sources, especially private sector sources, are required.
Helping people
In order to be funded by CCDMF, a project's social and environment impacts are evaluated. This is done by using the assessment standards of the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank as well as domestic financial institutions and NGOs that have social requirements and environmental safeguards. Project developers must ensure the whole process of project planning, implementation and assessment meets all social and environment safeguards requirements.
Spillover effect
While one concrete project can be replicated in different places, an innovative climate financing mechanism not only creates many replicable projects, but also introduces, innovates and reproduces many climate finance tools and sparks great ideas.
The CCDMF model is scalable and replicable as it provides a concrete mechanism to channel funds to climate smart activities originating from carbon markets. In the case of CCDMF, seed funding is associated with the CDM while in other countries, such funds may be raised from carbon taxes, national trading mechanisms or other nationally appropriate mechanisms. Government representatives from Brazil, Vietnam, and Cambodia have already visited CCDMF to learn more about this type of climate financing.
Farmer transporting and selling straw to
biomass power plant supported by CCDMF
Images owned by the activity partners, all rights reserved.


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Lori Walter has opened Walter Realty, a new brokerage at 742 Hallmark Lane in Longmont.
Walter has worked with Coldwell Banker and ERA Tradewind and she was also the managing broker for Re/Max Horizons in Firestone and Re/Max Alliance of Longmont.
Walter intends to serve buyers and sellers from Denver to Fort Collins and Boulder to Brighton with her new brokerage. The Colorado native invites her past and future clients to contact her at 303-868-4835.


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This documentation is archived and is not being maintained.
TechNet Library
The TechNet Library contains technical documentation for IT professionals using Microsoft products, tools, and technologies.
In this library
- Exchange
- Identity and Access Management
- Internet Explorer
- Skype for Business Server
- Microsoft Dynamics Products and Technologies
- Microsoft Intune
- Office
- Office 365
- Online Services
- Project Server
- Scripting with Windows PowerShell
- SharePoint Products and Technologies
- Solutions using Windows Server, System Center, Azure, and more
- Solutions using Office Servers and the Cloud
- SQL Server
- System Center
- Windows
- Windows Azure Pack for Windows Server
- Windows Server
- Yammer
- Other Microsoft Products and Technologies
See also


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PCs in the Sky with Diamonds?
If you like the concept of a computer that could double as an engagement ring, you'll love this. Just expect to pay quite a bit more than three month's salary for the quantum computer in a 1mm-by-1mm diamond that an international team of scientists has created.
The tiny computer, created by researchers from the University of Southern California, Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands, Iowa State University, and the University of California, Santa Barbara features a pair of quantum bits, or qubits, composed of subatomic particles, the team reported in the current issue of Nature.
Quantum computing, first proposed by the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman in 1981, is still highly theoretical, with experiments in the science and its cousin, quantum cryptography, limited to laboratory settings thus far. In other words, there are no practical quantum computers yet, just experimental ones.
The basic concept is to use the odd nature of the entangled qubits that one uses to build a quantum computer to perform computational tasks much faster and much more securely than is possible on digital computers that use silicon transistors.
The use of a solid-state material, in this case a diamond, means that unlike other attempts to build a quantum computer out of gases or liquids, this system could potentially be scaled up in size to achieve computational speeds that rival traditional computers, the researchers said.
The diamond-based quantum computer also is the first of its kind to protect against quantum decoherence, the loss of information from a subatomic systemlike entangled qubits in a quantum computerinto the environment, lead researcher Daniel Lidar of USC told USC News on Thursday.
The team's quantum computer uses the nucleus of a nitrogen atom as one qubit and an electron as the other. Each subatomic particle has a benefit and a drawback, Lidar saida nucleus has a slow rate of decoherence but is also fairly sluggish at performing computations, while an electron is a number-crunching speedster but is much more unstable.
The nucleus and electron themselves aren't actually the qubits, Lidar explained. Instead, it's the spin of the particles that should be considered as driving a quantum computer. The way the team was able to offset the decoherence problem was by shooting a steady stream of microwave pulses at the electron to reset the direction of its spin rotation, which the scientist described as "a little like time travel."
The researchers were able to demonstrate the tiny diamond computer performing a search of an unsorted database of four choices (a test of "Grover's algorithm") with results they said showed it was operating in a quantum fashion. While a non-quantum search of such a database for a single, correct item of data would, on average, yield the correct answers after two tries, a quantum computer should be able to get the answer right the first time, every time.
The team's diamond-based quantum computer made the correct choice on its first try 95 percent of the time, Lidar said.
Other researchers around the world have produced some encouraging results in quantum computing and related fields over the past few months. In February, scientists in Australia fashioned a working transistor from a single atom and later that same month, IBM scientists said they'd worked out several kinks and were "close to the minimum requirements for a full-scale quantum computing system as determined by the world-wide research community."
For more from Damon, follow him on Twitter @dpoeter.


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jeffk wrote:I am using a Canon 5D with a Kaidan Quickpan Spherical system (http://www.kaidan.com/Detail.bok?no=43)
I am trying to find the best lens to purchase to shoot the least amount of shots to get a good 360 pano that the Autopano Pro software will like. Right now, I use a 19mm-35mm Promaster (I use the 19mm) and I have to take too many shots for a full spherical (converted into a 360 degree virtual tour).
I was looking at a fisheye lens...would this be the best solution? I am shooting these photos to convert to 360 degree virtual tours.
Here is one lens I was looking at: Tokina Zoom FISHEYE-WIDE Angle 10-17MM (http://www.tokinalens.com/products/tokina/atx107afdx-a.html)
Any help on lenses would be appreciated. Again, this is for 360 virtual tours (I use Pano2VR to convert my images http://gardengnomesoftware.com/)
jeffk wrote:Andrew,
Thanks for the reply. It seems that there about a $200-$300 difference between the two lenses. Are both lenses going to do the same thing in the end or is one lens better than another for the 360's? If you were going to make a purchase, which one would you buy?
jeffk wrote:OK great...well I'd love to hear what some other folks think as well! I don't know about this shaving with the Tokina. Thanks for pointing that out. Is this something AutoPano pro does by chance?
jeffk wrote:So has anyone heard if the Sigma 15mm or Canon 15mm is better on the Canon 5D for 360 degree shots? I shoot real estate and building interiors mostly.
bigwade wrote:The Sigma 15mm FE is designed for FF !
a 15mm FE on a crop camera is of no use.
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Available ebook formats: epub mobi pdf rtf lrf pdb txt html
I write a wide variety of things. Poetry, sci fi, fantasy, YA, historical adcenture, scripts, and things that don't quite fit anywhere else. Google my name, or type it into any webseach opage to find several litings of my publication.


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Sea Shores – Samphire
Sea Shore coastal landscapes were inspired by many family walks across the South Downs & along the Estuaries near Cuckmere, passing under the white chalky cliffs of the Seven Sisters across the pebble beaches to the crashing waves of the sea. These walks were a constant of my childhood and a treat if ever returning to visit my parents in East Sussex.
Each piece has been sandblasted, which like the winds & the seas of the region, have eroded the surface revealing colours & patterns underneath and resulting in an appearance of mottling and pitting, which you also see on the pebbles washed up on the beaches.
Medium – 20 cms H & 17 cms Dia £200
Small – 16 cms H & 13 cms Dia £100
Tall Vase
Medium – 24 cms High £160
Small – 19 cms High £96
Teardrop Vase
Medium – 24 cms High £160
Small – 20 cms High £96
Medium – 21 cms High £170
Small – 17 cms High £128
**Stoppers not included in sizes
Round Stoppered Bottle
Medium – 19 cms High £156.00
Small – 15 cms High £128.00
**Stoppers not included in sizes
Shop the Sea Shore Samphire range
For more information please contact Tom


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Young Girl Seductions 9Favorites [+]
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Running Time: 218 minutes
Studio Name: Pure Passion
Series: Young Girl Seductions
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