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Guy Fieri's '11 Camaro SS Convertible - Yella' Dog!
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There is something to be said for being a celebrity in the United States. It provides access to places and possibilities that the rest of us only dream about. Take this new '11 Camaro SS convertible. Master Food Network front man and game show host, Guy Fieri, got the very first yellow one to roll off the line in Oshawa, Ontario, this past spring.
Take note that Guy is not just a TV personality who likes to use muscle cars as props; he has been a diehard car nut since Tonka trucks and Hot Wheels hit the playroom floor.
The '11 Camaro is referred to in Chevrolet PR as a Sports Car, rather than a muscle car. Little wonder then that Guy was mesmerized by this machine when he discovered that the new SS had run the Nurburgring, in Germany, just 54 seconds slower than a Corvette ZR1!
"That's smokin'! I've got a C6, but to have the same performance with a four-seater made for some serious decision making!" according to Fieri.
The astounding performance record convinced Guy to make sure he got the very first yellow SS convertible. His personal garage is a mass of Detroit horsepower, but this latest addition had him collaborating with his head wrench: Glen Houde, who runs Fieri's own Knuckle Sandwich Garage.
They mulled it over and decided that improved handling and performance had to go with a crisp update in wheels and ride height. As you can see, the results are rockin.'
Houde garaged the Camaro for a month and installed an Edelbrock E-Force supercharger kit. This conversion added a smooth 100 horsepower to the already dynamic 6.2L 426hp OEM powerplant. "The supercharger is right there when you want it. It's all throttle, no bottle!" Mentions Fieri. To add some musical magic, they scored a new Flowmaster American Thunder stainless exhaust kit, which gives extra grunt as you start down the road.
Underneath, the suspension was reworked with Eibach Multi-Pro R-1 coilovers and sway bars. In combination with the larger Nuteck custom aluminum wheels and Pirelli Nero Zero tires, the outcome made a world of difference to an already well-handing machine. The fronts are 22x9 and the rears 22x11, capped with 265/35-22 and 315/25-22, respectively. The interior remains stock except for the new B&M short-throw shifter.
All these upgrades work well with the OEM Brembo brakes and the StabiliTrack stability control with its launch-control. It's all part of the OEM six-speed manual transmission option.
Guy notes, "I was stoked when it arrived, and now with the updates, I drive it every chance I can. It is, hands-down, one of my favorites."
Now that's saying something!


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text: You can make a difference for children that lasts a lifetime. The gift of your financial support, or your time as program volunteer will help to ensure that the programs of the Boys & Girls Clubs continue to change lives for the better. Our mission is to enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens.http://www.halifaxbgc.org/


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Commitment to Accelerate Home Energy Management Technology
Through Open Innovation
· Largest challenge of its kind continues with a global call for the best eco-home ideas
· GE and venture capital partners seek innovations to improve household energy efficiency and harness wind, solar, hydro and biomass power
Originally posted at Technically Incorrect
Scanning the body for cancerous moles is a laborious process; once the doctor has found a mark that looks suspicious, it has to be removed and sent to the lab for testing. But what if there was a simpler way to detect melanoma? A British Columbia-based startup called Verisante Technology thinks it has a solution with the Verisante Aura, a device that can detect melanoma in seconds when held above a suspicious mole.
The device, developed by the British Columbia Cancer Agency, compares a mole's spectral signature to others in a database to determine whether or not it warrants attention. It's a process that happens in under a second--the Aura uses Raman spectroscopy, a method that identifies molecules by their vibrational states, to scan for 21 cancer biomarkers.
The Aura isn't a replacement for biopsy. Instead, if the Aura detects a suspicious mole, doctors are expected to biopsy it for further testing.
The Aura has already spent six years in clinical testing, with great success, according to MIT Technology Review. Next up for the product: getting approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Canada Health. And Verisante had better hope that the Aura is 100% effective; otherwise, doctors may ignore cancerous moles just because the device gives it the all-clear.
Ariel Schwartz can be reached on Twitter or by email.


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We are loaded up this week!
Can Enbrel reverse Alzheimers? – Alzheimer's patients given a drug usually used to treat arthritis have shown dramatic improvements, leading to hopes of a breakthrough in treating the disease…more
Pfizer plunges on reduced profits – The pharmaceutical maker reported worse than expected results across the board in its first quarter, with its earnings plunging 18% following the advent of generic competition for blood pressure treatment Norvasc and allergy medication Zyrtec…more
Merck and ghostwriting – Two JAMA articles say Merck misrepresented the death risks in one study and routinely stuck the names of top researchers onto ghostwritten scientific reports…more
Memory loss due to incontinence drugs? – Commonly used incontinence drugs may cause memory problems in some older people, a study has found…more
Takeda buys Millennium, further expanding into oncology – Japan's largest drug company Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. (OOTC:TKPHY) said Thursday it's buying U.S. biotech company Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:MLNM) for $25 a share, in an all-cash deal valued at about $8.8 billion…more (here is an extended article from Forbes on Biotechs for Sale)
Eli Lilly cutting 500 jobs (not in sales) – Drugmaker Eli Lilly and Co said on Wednesday it would cut up to 500 jobs as it streamlines manufacturing operations in its hometown of Indianapolis…more
Abbott announces strong financial results – Abbott Laboratories Inc said on Wednesday first-quarter earnings increased 34 percent on higher sales of its prescription drugs and medical devices and favorable foreign exchange factors…more
Forest: Good revenue, dim prospects, shares down – A better-than-expected profit was not enough to boost Forest Laboratories shares Tuesday, especially after the drugmaker offered a dim outlook for 2009 and forecast significantly increased spending on research and development to improve its drug pipeline…more
Attacking Alzheimers: are we on the right track? – The drug industry has bet heavily on one theory about the disease. What if that theory is wrong?…more
PDI and Novartis sign deal for Elidel promotion – Contract sales firm PDI signed a four-year agreement with Novartis to deploy a field force promoting Elidel, a second-line eczema treatment for patients older than 2 years, according to Kim Golodetz, a spokesperson for PDI. The deal calls for deployment of "approximately 100 full-time equivalent sales representatives who will call upon physicians nationwide," a PDI statement said…more
Novartis promotes two more to top positions – Swiss drugmaker Novartis AG on Thursday said it promoted two senior U.S. executives to head its U.S. drugs unit and overall U.S. operations…more
Promising MS treatment results from Novartis drug – Novartis AG's once-daily FTY720 pill reduced the number of attacks suffered by patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) after three years, according to data presented on Tuesday. Nearly three-quarter of patients taking a 5 milligram dose of FTY720, and 68 percent on a 1.25 mg dose, remained free of attacks after three years, Novartis said in a statement…more
Wild new cancer therapy (no side effects?) getting a trial run – A promising new cancer treatment that may one day replace radiation and chemotherapy is edging closer to human trials. Kanzius RF therapy attaches microscopic nanoparticles to cancer cells and then "cooks" tumors inside the body with harmless radio waves. Based on technology developed by Pennsylvania inventor John Kanzius, a retired radio and TV engineer, the treatment has proven 100 percent effective at killing cancer cells while leaving neighboring healthy cells unharmed. It is currently being tested at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston…more
Migraine drug from GSK/Pozen finally cleared – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a combination migraine drug from GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Pozen Inc, the companies said on Tuesday. The two-in-one drug has faced repeated delays since Pozen sought U.S. approval in 2005. FDA officials had earlier expressed concern over heart safety and the risk of gene toxicity, asking for more data…more
Pre-emption: it's a big deal – The Third Circuit Court of Appeals found in favor of pharma last week, stating that FDA labeling preempts any liability on the part of the drug companies. According to the decisions in two cases—Colacicco v Apotex and McNellis v Pfizer—pharma can not be held accountable for adverse events caused by drugs that were being monitored by FDA…more
Carlat's drug rep free zone: one doctor decides to close the door – I've had it. As of today, I am no longer allowing drug reps into my office…more
Some docs no longer taking industry money – With little fanfare, a small number of prominent academic scientists have decided to stop accepting payments from drug and device makers for speaking at meetings or for sitting on advisory boards. And while they maintain that it's important for for knowledgeable scientists to help companies draw up and interpret studies, any work they do will be pro bono…more
Banning drug rep gifts in Mass.: not all docs are on board – Some legislators in Massachusetts would like to make the Bay State the first to ban any gifts to doctors from drug makers, right down to pens with product logos. Docs taking as little as a pen or a slice of pizza from Big Pharma could end up paying $5,000 in fines and serving two years in jail, according to penalties contemplated by drafters of the legislation. Today comes a counterpoint from some heavy-hitting academic docs, who argue that the legislation, rather than solving problems, would be a profound threat to good medicine…more
More transparency in grant $$ spending – For years, the nation's largest drug and medical device manufacturers have courted doctors with consulting fees, free trips to exotic locales and sponsoring the educational conferences that physicians attend. Those financial ties in most cases need not be disclosed and can lead to arrangements that some say improperly influence medical care. Now, under the threat of regulation from Congress, the two industries are promising to be more forthcoming about their spending…more
Internet vs. Sale Reps – which do doctors prefer?
And finally, how the flu travels the globe – interesting little article, but I really like the graphic!


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Agent says Gruden has made "clear" his commitment to ESPN
Amid reports that former Raiders and Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden flirted with but ultimately rejected overtures from the University of Tennessee, Gruden's agent says that none of it was or is true.
And the agent says that he previously hasn't said anything because, well, none of it is true.
"I haven't said anything [about the ongoing rumors] because there's been nothing to say," Bob LaMonte told GoVolsExtra.com. "This, to me, is just a fantasy world. . . . Jon has made it clear he's committed to ESPN."
LaMonte explains that he spoke to Tennessee A.D. Dave Hart for the first time on Friday.
"He just said there had been a lot of rumors and he just wanted to clear the air," LaMonte said. "I said, 'Thank you for the call. I appreciate it.' He said thank you and that was it."
Later in the article, however, LaMonte suggests that Hart wasn't calling to simply squelch rumors, but to fuel them.
"He said, 'I just wanted to do due diligence,'" LaMonte said. "I said, 'Thank you but Jon has made it clear he's committed to ESPN.' He thanked me and said goodbye."
Here's the thing. Jon hasn't made it clear he remains committed to ESPN. On multiple occasions, he has made it clear he intends to coach again. And with rampant rumors that this year will be the year he abandons the broadcast booth, Gruden has not declared generally and unequivocally that he's not in play for coaching jobs.
Until he says that, it's fair to assume that he is in play for coaching jobs.


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The owners of the Jeffs school forbade Williams from practicing environmentalism or teaching biology. What gave her the courage to become an activist, despite so many restrictions?
Created: 03/08/13
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I think Terry believed so deeply in preserving the wilderness that she found the courage to speak up. She also grew up with her parents' and grandmother's love, and the love and support of an extended family. I think that gave her faith in her self worth.
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Tips for Healthy Aging and In Home Senior Care
There are many things we can control in our lives to make things easier on us; time, however, is not one of those things. It's inevitable that with every passing day that we are aging. While we may not be able to control time, we can help to make the aging process smoother and find ways to stay healthier along the way.
One tip for healthy aging is to remember to keep active on a daily basis. We don't have to run vigorously or lift heavy weights to stay active. It simply means making it a point to take a stroll around the block after a meal, take morning walks with friends around the mall, and park just a little further from the grocery store when shopping. All it really takes is little steps to create an active and healthy lifestyle.
Another tip for healthy aging is to treat your body like an important vessel. Fuel it with healthy foods such as low fat dairy, lean meats and protein, and fiber-rich foods like fresh vegetables. The less processing that is done to your food, the better it is for your body. While it is best to eat healthy whenever possible, it is important to remember that it's okay to indulge from time to time. Have that piece of cake at a birthday party; toast in the New Year with a glass of champagne. Eating well is all about balance.
Another important way to stay healthy and ease into aging, is to stay socially active. Keep up the girls' nights together with card games, and attend those outdoor concerts that you have been invited to. If you and the guys like to go out to the movies once a month, keep up the ritual and make time for friendship and socializing. Interaction with friends and family will lower stress and reduce the risk of depression and loneliness.
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Story highlights
NEW: Top Afghan officials postpone a visit to Washington, a U.S. spokesman says
1 dead, U.S. service members and police are wounded when a Sunday protest turns violent
U.S., France pull their civilians from Afghan ministries after the ministry shooting
30 have been killed, 200 hurt in unrest stirred by NATO members burning of Qurans
A demonstrator died and several U.S. service members and Afghan police were injured as protests over the burning of Qurans at a U.S. military base turned violent Sunday, said officials.
The bloodshed in northern Kunduz province came a day after a gunman killed two U.S. military officers inside their office in the highly secured Afghanistan Ministry of Interior – one of several incidents targeting allied forces after reports emerged last week that NATO troops had burned Muslim holy books at Bagram Airfield.
U.S. officials, including President Barack Obama, have apologized for the burning and called it inadvertent. A military official – speaking on condition of anonymity, given the sensitivity of the issue – said the materials were from a detainee center's library and had "inscriptions" that appeared to be used to "facilitate extremist communications."
Such statements, or explanations, haven't stopped protests from Muslims in Afghanistan, who believe the Quran is the word of God and so holy that people should wash their hands before even touching it.
On Sunday, the sixth day of protests, initially peaceful demonstrators in Kunduz attacked a police chief's office and a U.S. military base, Kunduz police spokesman Sayed Sarwar Hussaini said.
Some threw hand grenades at the base, known as Combat Outpost Fortitude, with resulting blasts injuring seven U.S. personnel believed to be Special Forces members, said Hussaini. Capt. David Yaryar, a spokesman with NATO's International Security Assistance Force, said there was an explosion and small arms fire.
ISAF did not comment on the number or positions of those hurt, though Yaryar did say those hurt were evacuated for medical care.
One protester was killed and three wounded in the violence at the military site, according to Hussaini.
Another 16 protesters suffered injuries as grenades, pistols, knives, sticks and stones were used to attack the police chief's office in Kunduz, said Hussaini, the police spokesman.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told CNN on Sunday that such unrest and targeting of Americans has gotten "out of hand and needs to stop."
She urged Afghans to abide by the call of their president, Hamid Karzai, for calm.
In a televised address, Karzai said the "emotions of our people" over the burned Qurans "are legitimate and valuable." Still, he added that staying calm will help stop "enemies of our peace and stability" from taking advantage and harming people and property.
U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, Ryan Crocker, acknowledged "some tough attacks up north" in a CNN interview Sunday, while adding that the "rest of the country … was pretty calm today."
"(Such anger generally) tapers off, and I think we're all hopeful that the appeal for calm that President Karzai made today – and he did so with the backing of the entire political leadership of the country – will create a condition in which this diminishes," said Crocker.
At least 29 people have been killed and nearly 200 wounded in recent protests, Karzai said. The death of the demonstrator in Kunduz would appear to raise that death toll to 30.
They haven't been the only ones killed in the wake of the Quran burnings.
Two U.S. soldiers were gunned down last week at a base in eastern Afghanistan by a man wearing an Afghan National Army uniform.
And then, on Saturday, a man went to the Afghan interior ministry, signed himself in and then retrieved his gun, according to an Afghan counter-terrorism official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk with the media about the incident.
ISAF said that initial reports indicated "an individual" – whom they did not name – shot dead two NATO service members, later confirmed by an Afghan police official to be an American colonel and major.
The Defense Department on Sunday identified one of the officers killed as U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. John D. Loftis, 44, of Paducah, Kentucky. Loftis was 44.
The Afghan official identified the suspected gunman as Abdul Saboor, a junior officer in the ministry's intelligence department who the official claimed had spent two months in a Pakistani religious school.
"We believe it was 100% linked to the Quran burning because of the religious background of this junior officer," the counter-terrorism official said.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the shooting, with its spokesman identifying the shooter by the same first name, Abdul, that the Afghan official used. The Afghan official did not say, though, if it was known the gunman was a member of the Taliban.
The Afghan interior ministry confirmed the gunman is thought to be one of its employees and that his "whereabouts are unknown."
Senior Afghan officials, including the defense and interior ministers, have postponed a scheduled trip to Washington to meet U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and others, Pentagon press secretary George Little said.
"(The officials) are consulting this week with others in the Afghan government and Afghan religious leaders on how to protect ISAF personnel and quell violence in the country," said Little.
Saturday's killing prompted Gen. John Allen – the commander of ISAF – to order the withdrawal of several hundred ISAF advisers from ministries in Kabul as a precaution.
Such a move raises questions about a U.S. military plan focusing on the use of small teams of military advisers as it withdraws troops. Yet Lt. Col. Jimmie Cummings, an ISAF spokesman, stressed the advisers are still in contact with Afghan personnel.
"We will not let this incident divide the coalition," Cummings said.
The United States also pulled embedded civilians out of ministries, said Crocker. And France announced Sunday that it was withdrawing all French public officials in Afghan institutions temporarily to ensure their safety.
Amid the protests, ISAF said Sunday that its efforts against the Taliban continue to move forward.
In fact, Afghan and coalition security forces captured Taliban leaders in the provinces of Kandahar and Ghazni, ISAF announced Sunday. So too was a commander with the insurgent Haqqani network, in his case in Logar province.
Crocker highlighted the progress that's been made in Afghanistan since the U.S. embassy opened more than a decade ago with "nothing – no institutions, no ministries, no police, no army."
Still, he stressed that the stakes remain high in calling for a continued commitment to the country.
"If we decide we're tired of it, al Qaeda and the Taliban certainly aren't," said Crocker.
CNN's Barbara Starr, Josh Levs and Chelsea J. Carter contributed to this report.


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You remember when we analyzed the brand new Le Cellier Steakhouse Signature dinner menu a few weeks ago, right? Well, I finally had the chance to try it myself.
For those who are just tuning in, one of Disney World's most popular restaurants, Le Cellier in Epcot's Canada pavilion, began offering a signature dinner menu (e.g. super expensive) at the beginning of March 2011. While the restaurant remained priced at one Disney Dining Plan credit for lunch, the dinner menu cost two Disney Dining Plan credits. For those of us who don't purchase the dining plan, that means that the dinner menu was renovated and all prices bumped up a few bucks…or more.
The decor and atmosphere at Le Cellier hasn't changed at all. You're still dining in a very small "cellar," featuring candlelight sconces on the walls (not real candles, of course), rich woods and deep maroon fabrics, and stone archways creating the structure of the restaurant.
The only thing upon arrival that makes you think something might be slightly different is the presence of some snazzy new napkin rings (I'm pretty sure I've never seen napkin rings at a Disney World restaurant…) and candles on the tables…
But there are a few slight, though significant, changes on the menu. The menus, speaking of, are laser-printed now, which means menu items will probably change up quite frequently (something that only signature restaurants and few others get the option to do). The manager we spoke to mentioned that the menu would be tweaked as the signature launch goes on, and was eager to hear guest comments and suggestions to pass on to the chef.
You can see other changes in our previous analysis post, but basically many of your favorites remain on the menu. Cheddar cheese soup, mushroom filet, New York Strip, Chicken and Chipotle Sausage with Corn Polenta, maple creme brulee, and others remain virtually untouched. Yet the prices have been raised.
Before ordering our apps and entrees, we decided to sample some drinks. I ordered the Whiskey sampler. Why? I have no idea. I'm not a whiskey drinker, but after having some Scotch at the Bull and Bear the evening before, I thought it would be fun to branch out again this evening. Now, because I'm not a whiskey drinker, all I can tell you is that I really enjoyed the 40 Creek!
My husband tried the suggested Chateau de Charmes Cab-Merlot and very much enjoyed it.
When our server came by, we asked specifically about the Chicken and Chipotle Sausage appetizer. It's one of our favorites, but we didn't see a reason to order it if it was exactly the same as it is on the lunch menu. She told us that the onion jam is a little bit sweeter, but that's about all that changes from the lunch menu to the dinner menu. So we opted instead to order a couple of new items as appetizers — the Grilled Jumbo Asparagus Gratinee and the Assortment of Artisanal Cheese. We also ordered the "Poutine" Fries (quotes are theirs) and a Steakhouse Caesar Salad as appetizers.
The Grilled Jumbo Asparagus Gratinee was impressive-looking. Anything with a big blob of cheese on top will always get my attention. Digging a fork into the mass of veggies, cheese, and bacon, I was surprised to find the cheese light and airy — almost between a foam and a quiche. I asked our server how the cheese was prepared, and she mentioned that it was actually whipped (I'm guessing with a cream) before being plated and browned. I have to admit, this whipped, foamy cheese was my favorite part of the dish. The cheddar was sharp and spicy — delicious. The asparagus, unfortunately, were somewhat bitter. Granted, it's the beginning of asparagus season, so maybe I just had a bad batch. Usually I favor smaller stalks, but these were large had had more of a woody texture than I prefer. I ended up just eating a bunch of cheese off the top 😉
The Artisanal Cheese assortment was fabulous. I've been slightly disappointed with Disney's signature cheese plates lately, finding only a couple of cheeses I actually like on many of them. This one was different, however. Both of us loved every single cheese and accompaniment. From left to right, these were the Petit Agour (a mild cheese, somewhat oily); the Bandage Wrapped Cheddar (stronger, great flavor); the Woolrich Goat Brie (delicious! perfect with the honeycomb); and the Smokey Oregon Blue (another one that's great with the honeycomb; a less pungent blue — good for new cheese lovers). You can see the descriptions in the menu photo below.
Next up: the "Poutine" Fries. The quotes are there on the menu, so you know from the beginning that this is the "essence" of Poutine and not an actual recreation of Poutine you'd get in Canada. When we were discussing this dish with our server, she explained it very well: Poutine is a junk food in Canada. It's served on the bar menu next to the nachos. It's not meant to be a side item on a signature cuisine menu. So Le Cellier's doing its best to dress up the dish and make it something a bit more special, but as long as you're in a fine dining restaurant, it will never be "real" poutine. 😉
By the way, this is one menu item where you'll get a completely different dish when you order it on the lunch menu versus the dinner menu. At lunch, you get this:
At dinner, you get this:
While many Canadians will complain that the lunch version has multiple flaws (yellow cheese versus white cheese, melted cheese versus cheese curds, wrong fries, wrong gravy, etc), I think there will be the same number of complaints about the dinner version.
That said, It. Is. Delicious. Probably the best thing I ate all evening. I had to stop myself from ordering another. The Black Diamond Cheddar crumbled on top has so much flavor you'll think you've gone to cheese heaven. And the truffle salt on the fries gives the dish another subtle flavor. The red wine reduction as a gravy is brilliant. Tangy, but still very strong, meaty, and savory.
By the way, the dish comes to the table with a little pot of gravy that the server pours over the "poutine." It's not really hot enough to melt the "curds," but it does pay homage to how the whole poutine thing is supposed to work.
Finally, the Steakhouse Caesar Salad. This is slightly different than the lunch version, and it's served with pretzel bread croutons. Amazingly, those pretzel bread croutons are what made this dish!
On to the entrees! We ordered the mushroom filet, which we were told was being made during the signature dinner with a slightly more flavorful mushroom than is used at lunch. I have to say — the portion size looked much smaller than what we usually get at dinner at Le Cellier (looked more like the lunch portion), and the mushroom risotto was actually less flavorful on this visit than it has been in the past. The entree was still delicious, but I can't say it was worth the extra $5 to get it at dinner rather than lunch.
By the way, I also ordered a side of mushroom risotto even though it's not actually listed on the dinner menu as a side item. I wish I'd ordered it with the truffle butter, though — it really needed that flavor.
We also ordered the new Rib-eye steak with Herb-Parmesan potato wedges and Maple Pink Peppercorn butter. Now, this steak looked amazing when it came to the table. I learned at the end of the meal that the current Le Cellier chef came over from Yachtsman Steakhouse about 2 months ago, so it made sense that the Rib-eye very much reminded me of the version I often get at Yachtsman over in the Yacht Club Resort.
A huge portion of butter was rapidly melting on the steak, so I was snapping photos quickly, eagerly awaiting the chance to take a bite!
Now, I'm not sure if I was not expecting the flavor of the Maple Pink Peppercorn butter, or if it would have been just too darn sweet for anyone else trying it for the first time, but that butter really threw me for a loop. Upon taking my first bite of the steak, I felt like I was eating a breakfast waffle. Granted — it would have been a delicious breakfast waffle, because the combination of butter and Maple flavors on the steak was exactly what I try to create when I mix butter and syrup in those little waffle indentations. But I just wasn't expecting such a sweet and powerful taste. It really overpowered the steak itself for me.
If I'd been expecting the overwhelming sweetness, it would have been delicious. But as it was, I just couldn't enjoy the steak with such a strong maple syrup flavor as an accompaniment. It was a real bummer, as the steak looked gorgeous.
The herb-parmesan potato wedges were a decent side item. While the taste was nothing special (and the herb ended up being a bit too strong for me), the texture and cheesy flavors were right on.
Speaking of side items, I also asked our server if we could have an extra side of the Cheddar-Bread Pudding, which is new on the dinner menu as an accompaniment to the Duck entree. (Once again, this isn't an actual side dish — I just begged my server to bring me a serving.) It just looked too good to pass up! As it turned out, the Cheddar-Bread Pudding was delicious, but I didn't love the mushy texture. If this had been my only side dish, I could easily rave about it, though. It's creative and interesting, and the bread packed with cheese and butter looked phenomenal.
From here, we moved on to dessert! As is the case with so many signature restaurants, the desserts were somewhat boring and pedestrian. I know they try hard, but I can't help myself — I'm much happier with a big huge bowl of Bananas Foster Bread Pudding, Ice Cream, and Caramel Sauce than I'll ever be with a trio of tiny chocolate cakes. But, alas. This is what we ordered. The Trio of Chocolate included the Canadian Club Chocolate Mousse, Chocolate Sorbet, and Warm Chocolate Almond Cake. We also ordered the Lemon Cheesecake with Citrus Salad and Mandarin Orange Gelee. Incidently, these were the two new dessert menu items. The rest are available for lunch as well as dinner.
The Trio of Chocolate was…fine. Our favorite of the three was the chocolate mousse (all the way to the right in the photo), followed by the sorbet in the middle. The Chocolate Almond Cake was our least favorite, but for no real reason whatsoever. All three were rather indistinct.
The Lemon Cheesecake was very hearty, though small. The cheesecake was not overly sweet, but I was sorry to see that the only semblance of lemon was the bit of gel in the "well" at the top of the cake — it was not infused throughout the cake at all. Also, we really could have used a stronger crust on the cheesecake. As it was, there was barely any crust at all. We were longing for some graham cracker crumbs and melted butter.
While I'd book dinner at Le Cellier these days just to have the "Poutine" Fries and the "Poutine" Fries alone, there isn't much else on the menu that would draw me to pay the prices here. The mushroom filet is just as good at lunchtime, and it's still one of the best things on the menu as far as I can tell. I can't justify coming for dinner and spending significantly more on it, though.
I'll be visiting Le Cellier for lunch from now on until the dinner menu changes significantly. But you can bet I'll be watching that menu! I know the restaurant might be going through a few tweaks at the moment, but I have faith they'll pull it together.


text:
Flow adjustable water pump is designed fully submersible for both fresh water and saltwater. This pump creates water flow and aerates your aquarium to simulate natural ocean / river environment. The pump is a must have accessory for you fish tank, fountain and more.
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text:
Worst Craigslist Wanted Postings Ever: "I Want a Positive HIV Test" Edition
Never underestimate the buying power of a day on Craigslist. New furniture? It's there. Old furniture? It's there, too. Scalped tickets to the Bowery Ballroom at four times face value? Oh yes. But this...is something else.
hiv test result. My girlfriend is hinting that we should get married. I don't want to. In fact I want to dump her but I want her to think it is her idea. I'm looking for some guy who is between 24 and 27 and is HIV positive to got to a doctor with my name and SSN and get tested. When the results come in, send me the printed results letter. I will then show this to my girlfriend and see how long it takes before she dumps me. LOL. I will pay for your time and the testing costs. Thanks
Now, has everybody done their reading? Good.
1. Is it real?
2. What kind of man needs a positive HIV test to dump a woman? You can't just, you know, do it like everybody else?
3. What if it backfires and she professes her love and devotion to her man, willing to stand by him no matter what? Then what do you get tested for?
4. Isn't this what they call tempting fate?
5. What the fuck kind of person is this?
1. Does it matter?
2. The kind of men who can afford for someone to do this, to start out with. Because they think they can more or less buy everything. Like a positive HIV test.
3. The fact that she doesn't know what kind of man she's with right now is as awful as the possibility of this person actually existing.
4. Yes.
5. Again, possibly the "real" kind.


text:
Of cowboys and Indians: Ravi Malhotra helps rural businesses
Delta, Colorado
Ravi Malhotra steps from an air-conditioned SUV and inhales the stench from mounds of human waste chips and rows of evaporation ponds cooking in the rising summer sun. This is the CB Industries-Delta Inc. Composting Facility, tucked along a back road among adobe buttes and gullies just outside of Delta, Colo., a conservative agricultural community.
With his trim mustache, business-casual clothes, deep brown skin and unmistakable Indian accent, Malhotra appears thoroughly out of place. Born and raised in Mumbai (which he still calls Bombay), Malhotra is progressive, well-educated and tech-savvy. He looks like someone you'd see walking briskly down a city street with a Bluetooth snugged in his ear, not casually chatting about the finer points of septic systems with cowboy-clad and bearded local septic pumper John Caven -- a conversation that began hours earlier over continental breakfast in a chain hotel.
But this is a typical day for Malhotra. He and his colleague Christopher Jedd are on a 72-hour journey around the state's Western Slope on behalf of Malhotra's Denver-based nonprofit iCAST -- the International Center for Appropriate and Sustainable Technology. The group's name and mission -- "to provide economic, environmental, and social benefits to communities in a manner that builds local capacity" -- make it sound like an aid group at work in the developing world.
And in a way, that's what iCAST is. The economic hardships in small Western communities are a far cry from the persistent poverty in developing nations. But even so, unemployment in Delta County reached over 11 percent during the recession, surpassing the statewide average. And average per capita income ranks near the bottom for Colorado counties. As in many rural areas, families scramble to get by, shuttered storefronts punctuate the streets, and wireless Internet remains a novelty. It doesn't help that educated young people tend to flee depressed rural areas for jobs in cities, leaving locals without much access to technical expertise. That makes it harder to tackle small engineering projects, develop ambitious business or marketing plans, or gain access to much-needed capital or credit. And many locals don't want help directly from the government.
ICAST tries to bridge those gaps, helping rural residents learn how to maintain or expand their businesses in ways that also benefit the environment. Malhotra is quick to say that he and his staff are not experts on sanitation or forestry, ranching or horticulture, although iCAST projects have addressed all those fields.
John Caven's predicament, though unique in its particulars, is hardly uncommon. He's a plumber with 40 years' experience, and most of his recent work comes from pumping septic systems and hauling waste in his truck, up to 2,000 gallons of sludge per trip. The recession has hit him hard because people put off septic maintenance when money's tight, and the rates he must pay to dispose of sludge at local facilities are two to three times the national average. In 2010, he had to cut his staff from 11 to two.
Caven explains that finding alternatives to expensive disposal areas might help; perhaps he could get equipped to handle treatment himself. Malhotra nods quietly. He doesn't react when the septic dump manager blames the economic slump on the state's Democratic leaders. And Malhotra knows better than to shift the conversation to talk about "sustainable development." After all, he's not here to promote an ideology or a specific approach. He's just here to help.


text:
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text:
Should I wait until I'm rich to give back?
This is a question I have fought with a lot over the years.
Spending time with the upwardly mobile in places like NYC and LA, one can't help but believe the consensus: It is better to wait until you have made a lot of money before trying to change the world. The idea (excuse?) is that you can then have a greater impact. But is it really true?
I no longer think so. There are a few reasons I have decided to commit at least $100,000 of my own money to education in the next 12 months:
1. Giving back is like investing with compound interest.
Less money earlier often beats more money later.
$1,000 invested now may very well have a much greater impact — due to growth and ripple effect — than $10,000 invested in ten years. How many world leaders and innovators could you create or save if you acted now instead of at an undefined "someday"?
Here's an extreme example of how time changes value: Manhattan was bought for $27 in 1626. Invested at 7.5% then, compounded yearly, that $27 would be worth $22,224,711,000,000 now. Or compounded quarterly: 4.73442004 × 10^13 ($47.3 trillion). To put that in perspective, the entire yearly GDP for the USA these days is around 7 trillion. (Thanks to Ryan for this example).
Act now and very little can do a hell of a lot.
2. Prevention costs much less than cure and is ultimately more powerful.
For example: to educate a girl for 10 years in the developing world, ultimately producing an economically self-sufficient family and ending the cycle of poverty, costs a total of $2,500 with Room to Read. How much does it cost to provide aid or welfare to an entire family for decades on end, not to mention treating the famine, disease, and violence generated from this collective poverty? Look at Africa and the $50 billion+ that has been given as aid.
Charity doesn't work — empowerment does. The good news is that the latter depends on acting early and precisely, not lots of money.
3. Giving is an investment in yourself.
Giving shouldn't be viewed as losing anything.
Based on previous polls on this blog, 32.2% of you make $51-100K per year and more than 20% make $100-200K per year. Regardless of income, could you afford to empower 100s or 1,000s of others with 5-10% of it, especially if it permanently increased your feeling of self-worth and contribution? Of course.
In fact, this self-perception boost is one of the greatest bargains, and performance enhancers, on the planet.
4. Changing the world is cheap.
Changing the world doesn't require much money. Again, think in terms of empowerment and not charity. How much were Gandhi's teachers paid? How much did it cost to give Dr. Martin Luther King the books that catalyzed his mind and actions?
Just imagine that you and your friends make $40,000 per year. Imagine that you convince just 5 of them to join you in building a children's school in Nepal dedicated to your parents (or your lifelong friendship). The total cost? 5 people x $3,000 each= $15,000. I know that most people, myself included, will put $3,000 of crap on credit cards in the next few months that could instead create a miracle… a miracle that you can visit.
You and your friends could plan the trip of a lifetime in 6-18 months to visit the completed school, teeming with dozens or hundreds of students who greet you with smiles and thank you letters. You'll know it's your school because your names will be on the door.
If that seems like too much, you can finance a girl's education for 10 years ($2,500) and effectively guarantee a future without poverty to an entire family. How would you feel about yourself if you just did it and pulled the trigger now?
I can tell you — it's amazing. It changes your life almost as much as it changes theirs, and you won't miss the $2,500. I guarantee it.
If you haven't given before, I encourage you to do it now. Just do it. Take it for a test drive and see how it changes you. On the personal side, you'll feel great about yourself for a long, long time. On the results side, especially with the groups I've researched and selected, you'll measurably improve the world, something few people do, and possibly win some amazing prizes I and others are offering to people who donate this month.
To whet your appetite, check out some of the projects to pick from here. From there, it's as simple as checking out the next step.
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[Note: If you want to find my responses to comments/questions below, just search (Ctrl + F) "###", which I put before each of my responses in all posts.]
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text:
DUFOURNEL, LOUIS-GASPARD, parish priest; b. 15 Sept. 1662 at Lyons, France, son of Guillaume Dufournel, a lawyer in the parlement and at the court of justice of Lyons; d. 30 March 1757 at L'Ange-Gardien (Que.).
Louis-Gaspard Dufournel was ordained a priest in 1687 and shortly afterwards obtained the canonical benefice of the church of "Notre-Dame de Trevolse," in the principality of Dombes (now in the dept. of Ain, France), which he resigned 3 Nov. 1693. He had come to New France in 1688 and first served the parishes of Champlain and Batiscan until October 1694, when Bishop Saint-Vallier [La Croix*] appointed him parish priest of L'Ange-Gardien; he spent the rest of his life there. From his 63 years as priest of this parish there remain only the records of baptisms, marriages, and burials, which he drew up himself without a break until June 1749, and a few notarial deeds, which are listed in the inventory made after his death, on 5 April 1757. The archives of the seminary of Quebec, however, preserve several documents written by Father Dufournel, when he, in conjunction with the parish priest of Beauport, Étienne Boullard*, decided in 1705 and 1706 to exact tithes on all products of the soil.
At the founding of his seminary at Quebec on 26 March 1663, Bishop Laval* had assigned to the upkeep of his institution "all tithes of any sort whatever and as they will be levied in all the parishes and localities of the said country." On 10 October of that year the Conseil Souverain registered this deed of foundation which allowed the institution of tithes. In April 1663 letters patent from the king for the foundation of the seminary stipulated: "All tithes of any nature whatsoever, whether arising from what is produced by men's work or from what the soil produces itself, will be paid at the rate of only one in thirteen"; they would be allocated forever "to the founding and upkeep of this Seminary and Clergy." All products of "all the lands of the said country of New France" would be tithed. The settlers' protests forced Bishop Laval to restrict the scope of these measures. On 26 Oct. 1663 he declared that in view of the present state of the country he had deemed it fitting to concede to the settlers that tithes be paid "only at the rate of one-twentieth for a period of six years." On 1 Feb. 1664 he had to concede that tithes would be levied at the rate of one-twentieth during his lifetime. Finally, on 10 March 1664, to clarify the expression "arising from what is produced by men's work," which the settlers feared would be held to apply to an unlimited variety of products, Bishop Laval specified that it did not signify "anything other than the tilling of land" and consequently that it could apply only to cereals.
Bishop Laval was nevertheless not willing to let the rights which the letters patent of 1663 accorded him be lost by limitation, and on 23 Aug. 1667 he is supposed to have obtained from Tracy [Prouville*], Courcelle [Rémy*], and Jean Talon* an ordinance by virtue of which "tithes of any nature whatsoever, whether from what is produced in Canada by men's work . . . or from what the soil produces by itself, will be levied on behalf of the Ecclesiastics who will serve the Parishes, at the rate of the twenty-sixth part, provisionally and for the present, without prejudice to the Edict mentioned above or for the future." This document, preserved in the archives of the seminary of Quebec, is a copy which the notary Claude Auber* said he collated on 22 Oct. 1671 "with the original on paper . . . the said original having been given back." The copy consequently bears no signature, and the Conseil Supérieur later refused to recognize its authenticity because of flaws, doubtful omissions, lack of registration, and other irregularities which the king's attorney general, François-Madeleine-Fortuné Ruette* d'Auteuil, set forth at length in his conclusions on 20 Jan. 1706 and in his report of 30 May 1707 on the difficulty that had arisen over the question of tithes.
It was on the ordinance of 1667 that the two parish priests, Boullard and Dufournel, took their stand in insisting upon the tithe "not only on cereals, as has been practised up until now, but also on everything that the soil produces through cultivation or without cultivation." For its part the council took its stand on a king's edict of May 1679 which stipulated that tithes would be levied in accordance with a regulation of 4 Sept. 1667, that is to say "on cereals only at the rate of the twenty-sixth bushel, taking into account the fact that the settlers would be required to harvest, thrash, winnow, and bring it to the presbytery." As this regulation existed neither in its original form nor in a copy, the two parish priests denied its authenticity. The council maintained that it had been deposited with Intendant Talon's secretariat, "and although it does not appear there, because the greater part of this secretariat has been dispersed . . . it has been carried out in good faith on both sides." In short it was alleged that the usage followed since 1667 could not be otherwise than in conformity with this regulation.
According to the "replies" the two priests, Boullard and Dufournel, made to the Conseil Supérieur on 22 Dec. 1705 – following the council's decree of 18 November summoning them to explain the new tithe exacted and instructing other parish priests to maintain the old one – Boullard would seem to have insisted only upon the tithe on flax, which the settlers had begun to cultivate two years earlier. For him, as for the legal experts in France, "the substance of the soil not having changed, although the surface or the nature of the produce that is sown upon it changes, remanet eadem causa debendi, and the tithe imposed on the soil still being due and remaining in existence as long as the soil exists, the produce which grows there is subject to the tithe." The parish priests pointed out that the tithe on cereals was going to diminish gradually, for experience showed them "that a great part of the lands which formerly grew grain crops are now left in pasture, that others are going to be taken over for hemp and flax, and others for large orchards which are already being prepared in several places."
In his own reply Father Dufournel went further than Father Boullard. He maintained not only that "wheat, peas, and all other cereals, flax, hemp, pumpkins, tobacco, garden produce, particularly that which is for trade, apples, and all other fruits and products of the soil . . . are the result of men's work and consequently are subject to the tithe," but also that hay and other products "that the soil produces by itself," are likewise tithable, "the king by his edict [of 1663] excepting no product and no ground." He observed too that the settlers, having little sale for their cereals, "endeavour to raise as much live-stock as they can and consequently turn the greatest part of their lands into pasture, a practice which is general throughout the country."
After examining the decree of 18 Nov. 1705, the replies of 22 December by the two parish priests, and the conclusions of the attorney general on 20 Jan. 1706, the Conseil Supérieur announced its decision on 1 Feb. 1706, ordering that tithes be levied and paid "according to the usage that has been followed until now . . . until the matter is settled by the king." Boullard and Dufournel replied with a long indictment, signed 6 April 1706, in which they refuted in 40 points the decrees of 18 Nov. 1705 and 1 Feb. 1706 and even expressed displeasure that the party opposing them, "which is interested in the matter inasmuch as it owns several pieces of land and domains subject to the tithe, should be admitted to give its findings against them."
When the council failed to take this indictment into consideration, the "parish priests of Canada" presented a petition to the king, "as to the protector of the Church in New France," asking him to annul the decrees of 1705 and 1706 and to allow them "to collect the tithe in the fields at the rate of one part in thirteen," or else to receive it "pure and clean" at their presbyteries, but "at some other quota more advantageous to the parish priests than 1 in 26." This was all in vain, for on 12 July 1707 the Conseil d'État pronounced a judgement, in conformity with the views of the attorney general, Ruette d'Auteuil, that the decisions of the Conseil Supérieur of Quebec be carried out, reserving the right for the parish priests and missionaries to provide themselves with the supplement, in pursuance of the edict of May 1679.
It seems clear that in this whole affair Boullard and Dufournel were not supported, at least officially, by their superiors, for nowhere can the intervention of Saint-Vallier or of his vicars general be detected; the attorney general's task was thus eased. Bishop Laval, though often cited by the two parish priests as confirmation that there had never been any ordinance concerning tithes other than that of 23 Aug. 1667, maintained the silence which his great age and his long retirement enjoined on him.
The decree of 1707 was therefore adhered to. Only in 1737 was the question raised again by the parish priests of Canada in a request to Bishop Dosquet*, Governor Charles de Beauharnois, and Intendant Hocquart*. In it they requested permission "to levy the tithe at the field," as well as continuation of the supplement of 6,000 livres "which His Majesty has distributed to the poor parish priests of Canada." When this request remained unanswered, they presented another in 1738 asking that "tithes be paid to the priests at the field thus and in the manner prescribed by the custom of Paris," and "that lands that have once been sown in grain always be tithable . . . even if they were converted from arable lands to meadows, pastures, or bore products not subject to the tithe such as tobacco, flax, hemp." This new request was no more successful, and the following year the vicar general, Jean-Pierre de Miniac*, repeated these requests vainly to the minister Maurepas.
It is not known whether Father Dufournel took part in the latter proceedings. Whether he did or not, there is no more mention of him concerning tithes. He continued to attend to his duties as parish priest faithfully until his death, on 30 March 1757, at the age of 94 years, 6 months, and 15 days, as his burial certificate specifies; he was buried in the sanctuary of his church on 1 April. On 12 Feb. 1753 he had made his will before the notary Antoine Crespin, and on 5 April 1757 the same notary drew up the inventory of his belongings at the request of Colomban-Sébastien Pressart*, superior of the seminary of Quebec. On 22 April 1757 the habitants of L'Ange-Gardien divided up at auction the few belongings that remained after their parish priest's specific legacies had been taken care of.
ANQ, Greffe de Jacques Barbel, 5 oct. 1736, 10 oct. 1737; Greffe de Gilbert Boucault de Godefus, 3 avril 1752; Greffe d'Antoine Crespin, 12 févr. 1753, 5 avril 1757; Greffe de François Genaple de Bellefonds, 3 nov. 1693. ASQ, Polygraphie, V, 3–26; Séminaire, III, 54–54H. Édits ord., I, 231–33, 305–11; II, 133–35, 139. Jug. et délib., V, 184–86, 230–31. "Lettres et mémoires de François-Madeleine-Fortuné Ruette d'Auteuil, procureur général du Conseil souverain de la Nouvelle-France," APQ Rapport, 1922–23, 22–29, 32–36. Mandements des évêques de Québec (Têtu et Gagnon), I, 160–61. Provost, Le séminaire de Québec: documents et biographies, 1–3, 8–10. Ivanhoë Caron, "Liste des prêtres séculiers et religieux qui ont exercé le saint ministère en Nouvelle-France (1680–1690)," BRH, XLVII (1941), 264. R.-É. Casgrain, Histoire de la paroisse de L'Ange-Gardien (Québec, 1903). Auguste Gosselin, Vie de Mgr de Laval, premier évêque de Québec et apôtre du Canada, 1622–1708 (2v., Québec, 1890), I, 395–414. Émile Chartier, "Notre droit ecclésiastique sous le régime français," BRH, XXX (1924), 360–63. Auguste Gosselin, "Un épisode de l'histoire de la dîme au Canada," RSCT, 2nd ser., IX (1903), sect.i, 45–63.
© 1974–2023 University of Toronto/Université Laval
Cite This Article
Raymond Gariépy, "DUFOURNEL, LOUIS-GASPARD," in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 3, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed October 1, 2023, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/dufournel_louis_gaspard_3E.html.
The citation above shows the format for footnotes and endnotes according to the Chicago manual of style (16th edition). Information to be used in other citation formats:
|Author of Article:
|Raymond Gariépy
|Title of Article:
|Publication Name:
|Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 3
|University of Toronto/Université Laval
|Year of publication:
|Year of revision:
|Access Date:
|October 1, 2023


text:
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C++ Programming As A Set Of Problems/Chapter1
Introduction - Solving The Tower of Hanoi Edit
The Tower of Hanoi is a fairly simple puzzle. It consists primarily of three poles and a set of rings. The rings are in different sizes, stacked from largest to smallest on the first pole. Your objective: to move all the rings to the second or third tower. Sounds simple? Rules: You can only move the top ring on a given tower, and you can't place larger rings on top of smaller rings. If you already know how to get a solution, you can skip the next part.
Let's start off with a simple version of Hanoi, it is from this version that we will base larger versions. Let's start with two ring Hanoi. I'm sure it shouldn't be a challenge for you to move two rings to the target location. We will call these rings #1 and #2. #1 is stacked on #2 on the first pole. We want to get both #1 and #2 to the second pole; so eventually, we will have to move #2 to the second pole. #2 is the bottom ring, so it can't be placed on top of anything else; the second pole has to be clear. So, from this, we formulate a solution. We move the #1 ring onto the alternate pole, then we move #2 on to the target pole, then move #1 back onto the target pole.
Now, let's move onto a larger example. How about 4 ring Hanoi. We will try to use some of the knowledge present in the previous example. First, we have to move the #4 ring onto the second pole at some time in the solution, and for that to happen, the second pole has to be empty. For #4 to be movable there can be nothing on top of it, so we have to stack #1, #2, and #3 on the alternate pole first. Now we can move #4 to the target pole and reassemble the tower on top of it.
The solution has gotten slightly more complex. We can't simply pick up #1, #2, and #3. We have to move them according to the same rules. So we apply the same pattern, #3 has to be moved to the alternate pole, and that pole has to be clear of rings with lower numbers than #3, meaning no #2's, or #1's. So, the alternate pole becomes our target pole, only we're moving less rings. See the pattern? Its called a recursive pattern. So, let's define a basic rule: To move n rings from pole a to pole b, using c as an alternate, first we move n-1 rings to pole c using the same rule, then we move the ring n to pole b, then we move n-1 rings back from pole c to pole b. Note that when n=0 we should do absolutely nothing. Now, let's turn this into a program.
Proudly, Your First Program Edit
Open up your favorite text editor with a new file called "hanoi.cpp". This file will contain our source code.
First of all, we told ourselves that there is a recursive pattern. This pattern seemed to take four variables, n, a, b, c. We should give these slightly better names, perhaps, depth, from, to, and alternate. So, let's make a function. A function, as in math, is just a list of instructions for the computer to follow. It has a name, unlike in math where everything is named "f" or "x", which makes little to no sense. We will name our function "hanoi". Type or copy/paste into your text program the following:
void hanoi(int depth, int from, int to, int alternate)
Let's dissect this for a moment. The first part of the line is "void". What does this mean? Well, in reality, the first part of the line is the return type. This is what the function will return, which is what it will evaluate to, what its result is. A type just means a type of data, like a number, a letter, a string (which is a bunch of letters that make up sentences and stuff), or even our own data type (we will explore this later). The void type means nothing, literally, so this function doesn't have a result, it does some other thing, like output its result to us, instead of returning it. The second part of line is "hanoi", which, as you may have guessed, is the name of the function.
Then a pair of parentheses, "(" and ")", and within them is a set of arguments. You may have also guessed that these arguments are what we named earlier: depth, from, to, and alternate. They are separated by commas, which is logical. However, what is the int part, you may be wondering? Remember I said earlier that all data has a type. The int is a type that your compiler knows, it stands for integer. So, our four variables are integers, in that they represent negative or positive numbers. The depth is a number that represents the number of rings the system should be moving. The from, to, and alternate are all integers that specify what pole we are working with. Indeed, these could also be done with strings, which would allow the output to be more like "Move ring #3 from tower a to tower b", instead of "Move ring #3 from tower 1 to tower 2". We can, and will, do this later.
The next lines consist entirely of an opening bracket "{", and a closing bracket, "}". These two brackets show what is in the function, what the function does.
Now, we are going to start making up the function. Remember our rule? Part of it said that we should do nothing if n, or depth, is 0. So, let's do that first. Make a new line in between the brackets, and we will add in an if statement. An if statement consists of a few parts, mainly, it follows the following pattern:
{ ..do something.. }
You can note that the "..do something.." is only done if the "something" is true. In our case, the something is "depth is 0", and the do something would be to do nothing, as confusing as that sounds. Our code, then, is:
if(depth == 0)
I can hear the screams already! You shout "Wait, that doesn't match the pattern! It's supposed to be on one line, not three!". Let me explain. You're allowed to put spaces and new lines anywhere, absolutely anywhere in the code, except in dumb places like between the "i" and the "f" in the "if", or inside the "depth". But in most other places, it's perfectly OK. So you might be asking, "Why bother?". There are notable benefits to spacing things out. It makes code more readable. You will find that as you get more experienced that more than two-thirds of your time is spent reading code you wrote at some other point in time, rather than writing code right there and then. You will spend lots of time finding mistakes, or computer bugs, in your code. So, it becomes essential that your code be easy to read.
All this being said, we should discuss the code. First of all, our "something" in the if statement is "depth == 0". You might be wondering why there are two equals signs instead of one. This is because using only one equals sign would change depth, "depth = 0" causes depth to become 0, and we lose whatever used to be the value of depth. Two equals signs denotes comparison, we are comparing depth to 0, and if it is true, we are going to execute the return statement, otherwise, we skip past everything contained in the curly brackets. The return statement causes the function to return immediately, meaning there is nothing more to be done in this function, so no more code is executed in that function. This is exactly what we want: if the depth is 0, then do no more, just go back up a level. Also note that the return statement has a semicolon (;) at the end, yet the if statement does not. This is extremely important to remember: all statements, except for ones that use curly brackets, must end in a semicolon.
So, on to the next part. First things first, we move all of the rings above the nth ring to the alternate. So, basically, the function is calling itself to do this. Add in the following code:
hanoi(depth-1, from, alternate, to);
You can see that we are calling the hanoi function again. Except, we've now swapped the alternate and the to, to represent the fact that we want to move all the above rings to the alternate pole, rather than onto the pole we are trying to move the bottom ring to. This is simple enough.
On to the next part. We have to move the nth ring from the from to the to. Let's decide how we're going to do this. We are not literally doing it in code—there is no Pole data and we are not moving Ring data between poles, we are simply issuing the command so that a human reader who had the three poles in front of him could do it himself. We will get into more advanced forms later. For now, add in the following code:
std::cout << "Move ring " << depth << " from pole " << from << " to pole " << to << "." << std::endl;
This is the code that will output our information. Let's dissect it. First, it starts with "std::cout". The "std::" part specifies that we are using something in the standard library. The standard library includes lots of useful things, and it comes with every implementation of C++. The "cout" part means we are using cout from the standard library, which stands for "Character-OUTput". The next part is "<<". This is called the format operator. It sends what's on the right into what's on the left. This operator is used almost exclusively for "std::cout", although, if you really wanted to, you could use it for your own purposes. The next part is "Move ring ". This simply means we're sending the text "Move ring " into std::cout, which will, in turn, come out for us to see.
Then you see another "<<", so we are sending more into std::cout, except this time, we're not sending in text that is to be replicated exactly, we are sending in depth, which means whatever the value of depth is, be it 17, 42, or 15843, it will be output that number. The next part is another piece of text. Again, notice that there is a space at the beginning. This is because when the program is outputting the 'depth', it doesn't add in spaces at the beginning and end, as that may not be what you want. So, you have to add in the spaces manually. The rest of the line may be easily deciphered; we are just outputting more information. The last part, however, is std::endl. Another thing from the standard library. "endl" stands for "end-line", it causes the line to end, and all the previous output to be sent to the screen.
Let's go onto the next part of our pattern. Now we have to move all the rings, which would now be on the alternate pole, back onto the target pole. For that, we use a similar command to what we used the first time:
hanoi(depth-1, alternate, to, from);
We've swapped things around again. We are moving from the alternate pole to the target pole (named "to"), and we use the from pole as a new alternate pole. Lost in confusion? I hope not. Now that that is over with, the rings should all be on the right poles, so that is the end of our function. The completed function looks like this:
void hanoi(int depth, int from, int to, int alternate)
if(depth == 0)
hanoi(depth-1, from, alternate, to);
std::cout << "Move ring " << depth << " from pole " << from << " to pole " << to << "." << std::endl;
hanoi(depth-1, alternate, to, from);
You can take notes on how I space things, as it's probably not how you did it in your text editor. You can see that for every "{" bracket, I indent things by four spaces. Again, this is a style choice, but it's commonly agreed upon that four spaces makes code look neat and tidy, while still allowing lots of code to fit on-screen at once.
The terror is not over yet! All we have is a function. We haven't told the computer what we want done with the function. We also forgot to include some header files, but we'll get more on that later. For now, let's add in the following code:
int main(int argc, char** argv)
hanoi(4, 1, 2, 3);
return 0;
We made a new function, main, and it returns an integer. The main function is special, it specifies the entry point to your program. It takes two arguments. The first one we can figure out easily—it's another integer. The second one is slightly more confusing. "What is with the char** thing?" Well, a "char" stands for character. But the two stars changes this somehow. I can't entirely explain what this does at this point, it's fairly complex. For now, just be certain that it stands for the arguments passed into the function on the command line.
Let's jump into the body of the function. It seems to execute our hanoi function, it provides a depth of 4, and it wants you to move rings from tower 1 to tower 2, using tower 3 as an alternate. Then we see that return statement again, except this time, we are returning nothing (as we did in our hanoi function, which returned void, which is basically nothing). This time we are returning a 0, which is compatible with the int return type. That is the end of our main function. It seems pretty simple, heh?
We are missing just one last thing to make the program complete. Remember how we used std::cout? Well, the compiler doesn't just assume std::cout exists, you have to ask for it. To do this, you "include the header file". This is done by adding the following to the very top of the file:
#include <iostream>
This copies and pastes the iostream header file into your file at compile time, rather than you doing it manually (which is both error prone and time consuming, and, if the iostream header file were to change, you'd have to repeat the whole process over again). You will have to memorize this one fact, std::cout is contained in the iostream header file. If you want to use std::cout, you have to #include the iostream header file.
Here is the entire program. Note that the compiler may care about the order, so 'main' should be placed after the 'hanoi()' function definition.
#include <iostream>
void hanoi(int depth, int from, int to, int alternate)
if(depth == 0)
hanoi(depth-1, from, alternate, to);
std::cout << "Move ring " << depth << " from pole " << from << " to pole " << to << "." << std::endl;
hanoi(depth-1, alternate, to, from);
int main(int argc, char** argv)
hanoi(4, 1, 2, 3);
return 0;
We now have a complete program! Your first! Congratulations! I think it's about time we test it out, don't you think? At this time, pull up a console, go into the directory where hanoi.cpp is located, and type in "g++ hanoi.cpp -o hanoi". Wait about 2 seconds, and you have your program. You can execute it by doing "./hanoi". Amazing, isn't it? It's giving you the commands for 4 ring Hanoi. I think you should give yourself a pat on the back, and move onto the next section when you're ready.
Extending, What More Could A Man/Woman Want? Edit
So, we have a Hanoi program. It tells us how to solve Hanoi. Big deal. This won't impress an interviewer at Google who's qualifying you for "Head Of Development." Our program needs to become a little more involved. Heres a list of things we want the program to do:
- Allow us to choose the number of rings when we start the program
- Show us the actual towers of Hanoi, and where the rings are placed.
- Update the image, on the console, in real time as the computer finds the solution
- Not to go too fast, as we would like to see the solution, rather than have it blaze by us in the blink of an eye.


text:
A single bark of attention by a rather big dog (0:01).
This animal sound effect was recorded for games, movies, films, entrance flash presentations, business projects, news, telecasts, podcast, slideshows, corporate videos, backgrounds for websites etc.
Useful for realistic, sci-fi (especially cyberpunk, glitchcore or steampunk) or fantasy settings and comedic or serious themes.
Available in both 320kbps mp3 and 16 bit, 44100 hz wav audio file format.


text:
The environmentalist movement's latest target is fracking. Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is the process of extracting shale gas from deposits underground. Natural gas releases less CO2 than oil into the environment. For this reasons, environmentalists concerned with global warming should be pleased to be moving away from oil and toward natural gas, but instead they are trying to stop it, state by state as well as on the federal level.
This is because their real goal is not about reducing carbon emissions, but the radical change of getting people out of their cars and into public transportation. Not satisfied with incremental moves, environmentalists want to rush the process of moving people out of the suburbs and into tiny apartments located in big cities in order to satisfy their unproven, junk-science speculation that using natural sources of energy like oil and gas is bad for the earth.
Fracking started becoming prevalent in the U.S. about five years ago. The U.S. has plenty of natural gas reserves; the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates supplies will last for 230 years.
Environmentalists claim that fracking pollutes the drinking water supply and releases methane into the atmosphere, since it utilizes the high-pressure blasting of sand, chemicals and millions of gallons of water into the ground. They claim fracking is dwindling the water supply, and may be increasing earthquakes. The Oklahoma Geological Survey found that earthquakes in Oklahoma increased from 22 in 2009 to 222 in 2013, and are on track this year to reach over 780.
However, water can be conserved by reusing it; mixing it with quantities of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, or can be replaced completely with liquified petroleum gas in gel form. The amount of water used by the fracking industry is tiny compared to the amount used by other users, particularly agriculture. In Colorado, fracking uses just .08 percent of the water used statewide, whereas agriculture uses 85 percent.
Most concerns about fracking appear to based on speculation and junk science. Simply because earthquakes and pollution are occurring near fracking does not prove a correlation. Studies that are being done on the correlation are lamentably funded by special interest groups or are emanating from parts of the government that have an agenda, such as an ongoing study started by the Department of Environmental Regulation.
Fracking has been a boon for states' economies, creating jobs and drastically increasing tax revenues. North Dakota has benefited in particular. Fracking is probably the biggest factor lifting the country out of its deepest economic slump since the Great Depression. A recent study from USC found that drilling one of California's largest shale deposits will bring in $25 billion in taxes and create 2.8 million jobs by 2020. It reduces our dependency on foreign oil. Venezuelan imports of crude oil are down to their lowest levels since 1985. The U.S. and Canada currently lead the rest of the world in fracking.
A few states like New York have caved into pressure from environmental activists and banned fracking. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo put a hold on fracking in 2008 when the state Department of Environmental Conservation began a review of the practice. Vermont has completely banned it, and other states have introduced legislation that would prohibit it. The federal Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management is putting into place onerous rules restricting fracking on federal land.
Each state has unique needs and resources and should be permitted to regulate its own fracking operations. The federal government shouldn't be permitted to overrule the states using the deceitful and tired old argument that the Constitution's Commerce Clause authorizes its infringement upon the Tenth Amendment. Fracking is about energy, not commerce between the states. When the federal government attempts to regulate things, they inevitably become less efficient and more burdened by taxes and regulations.
Fracking is inevitably going to become more controversial in the future. It will be decided soon whether or not to export much of the natural gas obtained from fracking. The Department of Energy projects that the U.S. will export more natural gas than it imports by 2018. Extracting natural gas for our own use is one thing, but selling it to other nations presents an entirely new issue. If we sell off our own energy, then we're back to being subject to the prices and conditions of foreign oil set by totalitarian countries like Venezuela, unless we start drilling for more oil within the U.S., which has proven to be an even tougher sell to politicians.
The environmentalists don't care, they want to stop the U.S. from using any oil or natural gas, so the ends justify the means, no matter how much we all have to suffer economically. They don't care about working with others to forge a solution, it's their way or the highway, science notwithstanding. Hopefully our political leadership will stand up to them and their sky-is-falling, goofy predictions.


text:
'The free enterprise system has lifted more people out of poverty than all the government anti-poverty programs combined'
Video via Val Prieto's Facebook post, quote via Instapundit.
In the same evening (h/t Andrew Malcom's Twitter), Marco Rubio to the rescue! Freshman senator saves a falling Nancy Reagan
VIDEO: Nancy Reagan falls : MyFoxORLANDO.com


text:
Saunders comes out swinging in live BP
PEORIA, Ariz. -- After having pitchers throw strictly in bullpen sessions while hitters took batting practice against easy-tossing coaches the first five days of camp, the Mariners began live batting practice for the first time Monday.
As usual on the first day of live hitting, most batters just tracked the ball and rarely swung as they worked to see pitches and get their timing down. But a few players, including outfielder Michael Saunders, jumped right in and took some healthy hacks from the get-go.
Saunders said the condensed early schedule this year -- with Cactus League games already beginning Friday due to the impending World Baseball Classic -- has him on fast forward.
"I just heard today we're not doing any intrasquads since we're starting games earlier," Saunders said. "This is something I definitely need to take seriously to get the timing back as quick as possible. When you see live pitchers, you really know you're in Spring Training again. It was fun today."
As for being one of the few players swinging away?
"Everyone has their own routine," he said. "Today I tried to get as many swings off as I could. Anything around the zone, I try to swing. That's just my approach. I'm trying to figure out my own timing and the only way I'm able to do that is to swing it. I know a lot of other guys just like to take and see pitches, but that's just kind of me.
"For the first day, I actually felt pretty good. I put a couple balls in fair territory, so I'll take that as wins."
Saunders came to camp last year vowing to be more aggressive and carried that over through a breakout season that now has him firmly in a starting role. Monday's approach reaffirmed that mentality will continue in 2013.
"Be aggressive, right from the chute," he said. "Nothing has changed."


text:
Tell me I'm not alone in this: You saw Ratatouille, fell in love with Remy (though you still jumped a foot in the air when you saw a significantly less-charming rodent scamper across your path on the way home) and found yourself with a pressing craving, not for the heavy and too-often soggy traditional Provençal ratatouille, but that kaleidoscope of spiraled colors they served to the haughty and (spoiler!) soon-humbled restaurant critic.
I can't believe how well this worked out. I also can't believe I cooked a cartoon dish created by an imaginary rat. But I can believe I'll be making this again tomorrow, because it's delicious, seasonal, and an incredible cinch to make.
We're just getting to the point in the summer where all of the vegetables are readying themselves for their farmers' market close-up, so the timing couldn't be better. And aside from some needling parchment paper origami and fine-slicing of vegetables (which, as we well know, with my new BFF is frighteningly easy, although the rankings are more like Deb's thumbnail: 0, Mandoline: 1 right now), you need a minimum of dishes and time to get this together. Not bad for something showy enough for a dinner party ta-da, right?
There are a lot of things not traditional about this version of ratatouille–the lack of herbes de province, that it's baked and that we ate it with both couscous and a dollop of soft goat cheese–but if you're like me, and the chunkier authentic stuff has never done it for you, it's time for this re-creation.
And here is where I will introduce you to d'oh!-moment number two-thousand-seventy-four: Guess what the New York Times ran in their Dining section last month? The recipe for Thomas Keller's Confit Byaldi, the accordion-fanned version of ratatouille used in the movie! It's available on their website, looks gorgeous, but although it's fairly simple for a French Laundry recipe, it's a bit more involved than my recipe. Though I am sure I will try it one day, I'm almost glad I didn't see it first as I might not have gone out on my own to find my layered ratatouille nirvana. And wasn't that the whole theme of the movie in the first place?
Ratatouille's Ratatouille
As envisioned by Smitten Kitchen
1/2 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, very thinly sliced
1 cup tomato puree (such as Pomi)
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 small eggplant (my store sells these "Italian Eggplant" that are less than half the size of regular ones; it worked perfectly)
1 smallish zucchini
1 smallish yellow squash
1 longish red bell pepper
Few sprigs fresh thyme
Salt and pepper
Few tablespoons soft goat cheese, for serving
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Pour tomato puree into bottom of an oval baking dish, approximately 10 inches across the long way. Drop the sliced garlic cloves and chopped onion into the sauce, stir in one tablespoon of the olive oil and season the sauce generously with salt and pepper.
Trim the ends off the eggplant, zucchini and yellow squash. As carefully as you can, trim the ends off the red pepper and remove the core, leaving the edges intact, like a tube.
On a mandoline, adjustable-blade slicer or with a very sharp knife, cut the eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash and red pepper into very thin slices, approximately 1/16-inch thick.
Atop the tomato sauce, arrange slices of prepared vegetables concentrically from the outer edge to the inside of the baking dish, overlapping so just a smidgen of each flat surface is visible, alternating vegetables. You may have a handful leftover that do not fit.
Drizzle the remaining tablespoon olive oil over the vegetables and season them generously with salt and pepper. Remove the leaves from the thyme sprigs with your fingertips, running them down the stem. Sprinkle the fresh thyme over the dish.
Cover dish with a piece of parchment paper cut to fit inside. (Tricky, I know, but the hardest thing about this.)
Bake for approximately 45 to 55 minutes, until vegetables have released their liquid and are clearly cooked, but with some structure left so they are not totally limp. They should not be brown at the edges, and you should see that the tomato sauce is bubbling up around them.
Serve with a dab of soft goat cheese on top, alone, or with some crusty French bread, atop polenta, couscous, or your choice of grain.