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With the latest popular vote tallying in at 63,649,978 votes for Hillary Clinton and 61,943,670 votes for Donald Trump, America is truly a nation divided. Fortunately there are sources out there offering more than "wait and see." If you are of the more-than-half of the population who voted for Hillary Clinton, here is an action plan I recently found that will help raise awareness, while giving us all permission to be human.
1) Feel free to scream. Just don't do it in a public place. "If you are really, really upset and want to yell, go in the bathroom and close the door and yell," says psychotherapist Fran Sherman. "You have to get it out." This type of "verbal vomit" can be helpful, she says: "I equate it to when you are sick to your stomach and you let it out and you feel better." Not a screamer? Aerobic activity, which will release feel-good endorphins, is a good way to shed some angst, she says.
2) Practice acceptance. Feel better after that therapeutic scream? Good. Now you can think more clearly and face the facts. "You don't have to like it to accept that it's the reality," says psychologist Vaile Wright, who is a member of the American Psychological Association's Stress in America team. "Say to yourself, 'I don't like this outcome, but this is the way it is and I'm going to move forward.' Fighting it is just going to prolong one's disappointment."
3) Take action. Decide what you can do to make a difference, says Wright. For instance, volunteer with a group that supports an election issue that was important to you. "Disappointment can motivate us to action – ideally in a positive way," she says. This can make people feel empowered, adds psychologist Mary Alvord. "You're not helpless, you're not a victim," she says. "Focus on what you can control. ...Take your passion and put it into some kind of action."
4) Create an exit plan. No — not to leave the country. Have a strategy that lets you gracefully exit any anxiety-provoking political conversation, politely change the topic or ably defuse tension.
5) Heed your early-warning signs. "Pay attention to your body and your brain," says Molitor. "If you start to think, 'This person is an idiot' and 'I can't believe they are saying this,' recognize that it's only going to escalate." There are signs when we start to get worked up, such as a tight throat, a dry mouth, a tight back or a shrill voice, so "know your triggers," she advises.
6) Manage your exposure. "We all know who those problem people are in our lives, whether it's the guy in the cubicle next to us at work or the cousin on Facebook who keeps talking about a candidate," Molitor says. If certain in-person conversations, social media posts or TV outlets fuel aggravation or depression, then avoid those or limit exposure. "If two people at work are spouting things, then avoid getting into a conversation with them," she says. "Don't engage."
7) Think broadly. "Try to understand that people are not crazy just because they are supporting another side," Molitor says. "It doesn't make them a villain." Practice kindness and empathy, says David Palmiter, a professor of psychology at Marywood University in Scranton, Pa. Sure, it can be challenging at times, but "it is possible to be empathetic with someone and disagree with their thoughts," he says. "People who are therapists learn that quickly."
8) Build a support system. It's OK to vent — people want their feelings to be heard and acknowledged, says Palmiter. Just do it in a healthy, self-controlled way. "Talk to other people who you think are positive and support you," advises psychologist Alvord.
9) Slow down and self-soothe. This is an ideal time to try meditation. "It's not nearly as hard as people think," says psychologist Elaine Ducharme. Too woo-woo for you? Then employ other relaxation methods such as listening to music, lying on a beach or even riding a motorcycle, if that's what gives you some inner peace, she says.
10) Be thankful. Think of what you are grateful for, even if it's just small things, says psychotherapist Sherman. It can be "I'm grateful that it's a sunny day" or "I'm grateful to have good friends," she says. "When you feed your brain that positive information, you feel better."
11) Get some perspective. "Turn on a comedy, watch a classic movie or turn off the TV and go for a walk," suggests Molitor. "Be with your animals or kids or grandkids. Do something to get out of that silo."
12) Model good behavior. This is a great opportunity to show children how to deal with disappointment. "We can teach kids to be a gracious loser," says Alvord. That good behavior can go beyond educating kids. "Whether or not you are in a leadership position, have co-workers or fellow students, we all set examples for each other with positive ways to cope," she says. And there is a payoff for all that discipline: "Typically, we feel good when we help others, and we definitely feel a sense of accomplishment when we exhibit self-control," Alvord says. Here's an added bonus: By doing those things, we strengthen our own resilience, she says.
Source: US Today


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1956 Chrysler Windsor Convertible
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subset: commoncrawl


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It IS tempting, but I won't.
Instead, I'd like to try to provoke a conversation about where this President sits on the left-to-right political continuum. There are nearly unlimited lenses through which to view Mr. Obama's policies, including even the bleary beer-bottle goggles of those inebriates who loudly declaim him as a socialist. To the ardent progressive liberals who thought they'd found true love in 2008, he's been a bitter disappointment. Old-timey Dems are confused by his flat emotional affect, and his refusal to mount the bully pulpit and hurl rhetorical lightning bolts at GOP intransigents. And at least one commentator with nearly unassailable conservative credentials considers him "The Democrats' Nixon."
Bruce Bartlett consorted with Ron Paul in the 1970s (before it was cool), and was a senior economic advisor to both the Reagan and Bush1 Administrations. Writing in the Fiscal Times, he reviews the last nine Presidencies, and concludes that Nixon was remarkably liberal. He accepted the realities of both the New Deal and the Great Society, and presided over a broad expansion of Washington's regulatory reach – most notably the creation of EPA and OSHA; both agencies are despised by Right Wing plunderers of The Commons.
By contrast, Bartlett cites ample evidence that our current President has demonstrated a conservatism that confounds those who thought they were electing Obama the charismatic leader. Among the items: Obama's stimulus bill was half the size his advisors recommended, he caved on rescinding the Bush2 tax cuts (getting nearly nothing that Democrats value in return), his defense policies and personnel have pretty much stayed the prior course – and even his health care reform modeled itself on Mitt Romney's successful Massachusetts plan.
The best proof so far produced, however, was Obama's curious performance in the debt ceiling catastrophe, where he signed-on to a preposterous "fix" that overshot the political middle, and landed in the Boston harbor – deep in Tea Party orthodoxy. Polls repeatedly showed that most Americans favored a mixed approach of cuts and tax increases, but the outcome he approved ignored revenue – again.
So I know it's a hard swallow, Conservatives, but are you ready to acknowledge that Obama is a surprisingly pleasant bedfellow? Or is he just a pliant pragmatist? Or a lousy tactician and timid negotiator who's afraid to demonstrate his BATNA?
There's an argument to be made that every President disappoints his followers on either extreme by playing to The Middle, but does that explain this President's policies? Your turn to opine, Forum Faithful.


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Cell phone usage doesn't seem like a race issue, or a gender issue. But it is!
According to analysis conducted by the Nielsen Company, black people talk on their cell phones twice as much as white people. And women talk and text more than men.
It's probably best not to ask why Nielsen is tracking how much black people talk and text, even if you find it alarming. But here are some good questions: Why are white people the "least talkative" in the study? Why do black people need to talk so much? AP reporter Peter Svensson writes:
One reason blacks talk more on cell phones may be that fewer of them have home phones, but this hardly explains the whole difference.
Yeah, no, that doesn't really explain anything, and also doesn't explain why women also chitchat more.
Here's a theory: Since white males have a history of running shit, perhaps being oppressed makes you want to communicate? I'm not sure, but as a black woman, I'm going to need to call and text a few people and see what they say.
Study: Blacks And Women Talk And Text More [AP]
[Image via Colleen E. Scott/Scott Designs/Shutterstock.]


text:
Become a magnet for prosperity simply by adopting the psychology of the MEGA-RICH!
You don't have to sell your soul to be rich. Nor do you have to sacrifice your relationships in order to build wealth. You don' even have to scrimp and save! Sure, you can get wealthy that way - but it's no fun!
Fabulously wealthy people have a much better strategy for having it all: money, harmonious relationships, the right connections, the right opportunities, and more. It's not so much that they do things differently; it's that they have a different psychology.
Now you can get the tools you need so that you can replicate this psychology and achieve wealth beyond your wildest dreams, in the Wealth Magnet: Principles of Wealth Attraction.
This is breakthrough information that's tested and measured - a system that can be applied by anyone. For instance, when Dolf de Roos, a successful real estate investor and author of the Wealth Magnet began teaching his real estate students the foundational beliefs that all rich people share, his student's success rate went from 5 percent to over 80 percent!
Now, in the Wealth Magnet, you can apply this same knowledge to grow rich in any field. For example, you'll learn:
- Why it's crucial to get rid of destructive beliefs like "Money is the root of all evil," "Money can't buy you happiness," and "Rich people get wealthy at the expense of the poor," and replace them with empowering beliefs like "Money gives me choices," "I will make a ton of money, have fun doing it, and be generous with it."
- The critical difference between an abundance mentality and a scarcity mentality- and how to develop and apply an abundance mentality right away.
- Why scrimping and saving is a "defensive" strategy to grow wealth - and why it's much better to expand your opportunities and create wealth in abundance.
- How your newfound "millionaire mindset" will make every aspect of your life richer - you'll discover more opportunities to create value, to make contributions to others, and to express gratitude for the abundance you already have in your life.
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Dolf will cover everything - from what rich people think about work/life balance…economic conditions and world eventslifestylerunning a business… career success… parenting and more… so you know how to handle every life situation like a fabulously wealthy person!
And in so doing, you'll soon find yourself attracting more money, more opportunities, and more time for your family than you ever dreamed was possible. And it's truly as simple as adopting the psychology of the mega-rich!
Additional Information
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text:
Capsule Credo:
|Some of my writings
Thinking Our Anger
Why U.S. military policy on civilian casualties is philosophically indefensible.
Equality: The Unknown Ideal
Why libertarians are the only real egalitarians.
Privatization, Viking Style: Model or Misfortune?
A reply to Jared Diamond�s critique of stateless medieval Iceland.
Civil Society in Ancient Greece: The Case of Athens
Why the Greeks were more libertarian than you think.
Why Does Justice Have Good Consequences?
Hint: it has nothing to do with utilitarianism.
The Libertarian Case Against Intellectual Property Rights
Why you have the right to copy all my stuff.
Two Cheers for Modernity
What the medievals and the postmoderns got right.
|Libertarian Feminism: Can This Marriage Be Saved? (with Charles W. Johnson)
Why we should put the feminism back in libertarian feminism.
My Libertarian Life
If not the reasons, at least the causes.
|Herbert Spencer: Libertarian Prophet
Why Spencer was right (PDF file).
|Herbert Spencer: The Defamation Continues
Why there really is, believe it or not, a difference between libertarians and Nazis.
See also: Defaming Herbert Spencer? A Reply to Edwin Black and
Too Awful to Read? Susan Jacoby on Herbert Spencer
Kucinich and the Politics of Nonviolence
How politics corrupts language. See also: Separation Anxiety
|Rituals of Freedom: Austro-Libertarian Themes in Early Confucianism
Why the real Chinese libertarians were the Confucians, not the Taoists
(PDF file; see also the shorter published version).
|Robert Nozick: Philosopher of Liberty
Why Nozick�s libertarianism is not �without foundations.�
|Realism and Abstraction in Economics: Aristotle and Mises versus Friedman
Why Friedman�s �Methodology of Positive Economics� is positively wrong (PDF file).
|R. G. Collingwood: Historicist or Praxeologist?
Some of each, is the answer (PDF file).
|Thinking Beyond the Next Election: A Strategy for Victory
Why a vote for a third party is not a wasted vote.
|Review of Leland Yeager�s Ethics As Social Science
Why utilitarianism and empiricism are self-defeating (PDF file).
|Review of Anthony de Jasay�s Justice and Its Surroundings
Why the state is either unnecessary or impossible.
|Review of Deborah Achtenberg�s Cognition of Value in Aristotle�s Ethics
Why Aristotle is right as usual (PDF file).
Other online articles in Formulations:
Constitutional design, natural law, anarcho-capitalism, and more.
|Still more online articles at Austro-Athenian Empire:
Miscellaneous gassing � I mean, insightful commentary � on various topics.
Reason and Value: Aristotle versus Rand (PDF)
Why Ayn Rand should have been more of an Aristotelean.
Free Choice and Indeterminism in Aristotle and Later Antiquity
My Ph.D. dissertation. Great beach fare!
Wittgenstein, Austrian Economics, and the Logic of Action
Why the laws of economics are a priori. An early draft (PDF file).
|Journal of Libertarian Studies content summaries
Brief descriptions of each issue that I edited.


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text:
- AnonymousFebruary 20, 2013 at 6:52 PM
Soooo cute. I saw a basket exactly like this a the Goodwill a month ago. I kept talking myself out of it and have been sorry ever since. It looks awesome!ReplyDelete
Very pretty. I love the addition of the antique wooden wheels! Where did you find them?!? Everything you create turns out beautiful. LesaReplyDelete
very fun project Susan! I've had a board outside weathering for about 2 years now... still not weathered. lolReplyDelete
Hi Susan,ReplyDelete
a great idea. I always again happy to come here.
Greetings from Dresden,
Wonderful casters/love the 5. You are so productive!ReplyDelete
LOVE it! Perfectly weathered look! Mother Nature always does it best!ReplyDelete
Jenna @ http://rainonatinroof.com
I love the idea of the bow for the handle.. I like to buy this type of basket and most often the handle is missing. (Actually I only have 2, but I always look for them at the Sal. Army.ReplyDelete
Too cute...LOVE it :)ReplyDelete
Stopping by from Shabby Creek Cottage. LOVE this! A. Dorable. Lisa @ HouseOfFabForLessReplyDelete
Great little basket. Love the way you gave it some charm and aging!ReplyDelete
Mary Alice
I have a couple of baskets that I have been trying to figure out what to do with. I really like this weather look. I'm following you via GFC. I host Fluster Creative Muster Party on Wednesdays and I would love it if you would come by and party with us. Hope to see you there!ReplyDelete
Hugs, Smiles, and Blessings,
Fluster Buster
First.... you were on The Chew??? Congratulations!!! You must have been over the top thrilled! (now back to our regular programming..lol!) What a darling basket and love the vintage wheels on it! Thanks for the tip on using Gorilla Glue as I do have a few of these wheels, but, like you, not all the parts! The cloth handle added even more charm making this one beautiful addition to anyone's home!ReplyDelete
Man....I just found myself asking myself (lol)..."why can't you think up stuff like this"? lol. This is brilliant. I have no clue what I would use it for, but if I found it at a store, I'd buy it :)ReplyDelete
Thanks for sharing.
newest follower...thanks for the idea....i have a large square basket that my cat clawed up on the side...i think i'll distress it and put wheels on it for my shop..i can use it to hold homemade pillows in...the wheels will make it easy to move around...ReplyDelete
ashley @ CL&J
This turned out great!! I think I'm going to do something similar to the extra drawer I took out of my dresser turned media cabinet. Although, I can't do wheels otherwise the grandkids would think it's their very own "car" to wheel around my house. I'm going to do small wooden legs, paint and distress it and then keep it in the corner to put pillows and throws in. Now watch the cat think "my very own litter box"!ReplyDelete
That patina is just the BEST! And the addition of those wooden wheels and bow? Perfection, Susan!!! Love it all! :)ReplyDelete
xoxo laurie
Wheels make everything better. Love what you did with this right down to the bow!ReplyDelete
Fantastic idea... the possibilities are endless!ReplyDelete
I love, love,lovethisproject!ReplyDelete
LOVE the basket and those great casters really bumped it up a notch! great job. I'll be featuring this post tomorrow for Be Inspired!ReplyDelete
i really love this idea, susan! happy weekend!ReplyDelete
great idea to glue the casters on. Love this look!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousMarch 4, 2013 at 10:22 AM
love the basket! great job. Little Bit from www.DecorateWithaLittleBit.comReplyDelete
Love the basket...and the antique casters!ReplyDelete
I'm a new follower from http://nostalgic-summer.blogspot.com/
Sweet, functional and great looking!! Very clever!!ReplyDelete
Love those old wooden wheels - thanks for sharing at our spring party!ReplyDelete
Love, love, love what you did with this...I have old wheels I've been wanting to use!ReplyDelete


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Vince Young is broke and out of work, so you'll forgive him if he retweets the occasional encouraging note. Today, for instance, he retweeted a picture from his Titans days, showing him handing the ball off to Chris Johnson. The fun memory became a desperate plea, however, when VY took the picture and tweeted it @TennesseeTitans:
How running an NFL team is like running a restaurant | Chef Emeril Lagasse
I know both you and the Titans are in a bad place right now, Vince, but that doesn't make getting back together a good idea. Did you forget what happened last time—why everything went so wrong in the first place?
Let's hope for Titans fans' sakes that Bud Adams doesn't check the team's @ mentions, or Jake Locker could be giving up his number pretty soon.


text:
Driving simulators help older adults improve their road skills (w/ Video)
Older drivers could benefit from training programs that put them behind the wheelin a driving simulator, with an observer who helps them develop their skills. That's the conclusion of a new article published in Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
Older people are at much higher risk of car crashes than younger drivers. Some states and provinces test older drivers, hoping to get the riskiest drivers off the road. But the tests they use are inadequate, says Normand Teasdale of Université Laval in Québec, who cowrote the study with Pierre-Luc Gamache, Carol Hudon, and Martin Simoneau. Some governments only test vision; others test cognition, too. In some cases, on-the-road tests also are required.
But none of these tests is enoughthey lack accuracy, sensitivity and specificity. To drive effectively, you not only have to be able to see, hear, and think about what's going onyou also have to be able to turn this sensory input into the right action, like stepping on the brake when you see a red light ahead of you. (And not stepping on the gas instead, a common mistake.)
Teasdale and his colleagues think a better approach is to help older adults improve their skills through the use of proper training using a driving simulator and appropriate feedbacks. In experiments, they've found that coaching helps older drivers improve. For example, in one experiment, older adults were tested on the road, then coached in a driving simulator. "We actually walk them through their errors by showing them their own response," Teasdale says. Then the drivers were tested again on the roadwithout coachingand their driving improved. "After the training, they really were aware of why they were making errors and what not to do."
Older people should be able to treat driving the way they do golf or tennis, Teasdale says. "Elderly people, if they want, can pick up the phone and they'll have a golf pro or a tennis pro that will gladly help them for as many hours as they want, on the same day." Driving is just another set of motor skills, but there's no such service for driving. The services that are available are mostly to test older people and tell them if they aren't fit to drive anymore. "So I fully understand why older individuals are reluctant to get into this," Teasdale says.
Teasdale and his colleagues hope that coaches and driving simulators can be made available to more older drivers who are worried about their safety on the road. These methods may help keep older drivers behind the wheel longer without compromising road safety.
More information: Gamache, P.L., Hudon, C., Teasdale, N., and Simoneau, M. (2010). Alternative Avenues in the Assessment of Driving Capacities in Older Drivers and Implications for Training. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 19. doi: 10.1177/0963721410388641


text:
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September 2013 Board Report
Below is a summary of the actions taken by the Board of Trustees Meeting at its September 18, 2013 meeting:
New Trustee
The President of the Cooper Union Alumni Association serves ex-officio as a Cooper Union Trustee. The Board welcomed its newest member, John Leeper (AR'85), who was elected as President of the Cooper Union Alumni Association effective July 1, 2013.
The Board of Trustees elected Kevin Slavin (A'95) as Alumnus Trustee to begin his term at the December 2013 Board of Trustees meeting for a four-year term. Mr. Slavin is Assistant Professor and Founder of the Playful Systems group at the MIT Media Lab, and is a former ad executive, entrepreneur, seed capital investor and educator.
Succession Planning
Consistent with the timeline distributed in June (2013), the Committee on Trustees reported on its selection process and recommended a candidate to succeed Chairman Epstein upon the expiration of his term in December. Upon motion duly made and seconded, the Board of Trustees placed Trustee Richard Lincer's name in nomination for election at the annual meeting of the Board in December as Chairman of the Board of Trustees. The trustees and the president expressed enormous satisfaction with this choice. Mr. Lincer is a Partner with the firm of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP in New York. He is the son of a Cooper alumnus (CE '42) and has been a trustee for nine years.
Student Representative to the Board of Trustees
In June (2013), the Board of Trustees approved a motion affirming the Board's intention to have student representation on the Board of Trustees, with details to be determined at the September Board of Trustees meeting. The Committee on Trustees was charged with researching and recommending to the Board the procedures and parameters for the student representative position. The Committee on Trustees consulted with other private institutions of higher education, higher education best practices organizations and legal counsel to develop the recommendations listed below for the Student Representative to the Board of Trustees.
The Board of Trustees is pleased to have taken this important step to bring the students' perspective to the Board at a critical time in the institution's history. The Office of Student Affairs, led by Stephen Baker, will now begin to work with the Joint Student Council to have the Student Representative to the Board of Trustees in place in time for the annual meeting in December.
Following a review and discussion of the recommendations presented by the Committee on Trustees, the Board unanimously adopted the following:
• Establish a Student Representative to the Board of Trustees with effect from December 2013.
• The Student Representative will be a full-time undergraduate matriculated student in good standing (the definition of which will be determined by the Office of Student Affairs).
• To be eligible to serve as the Student Representative to the Board of Trustees, a student must be able to serve a term defined by two consecutive academic years. The first Student Representative to the Board of Trustees would serve for a two-year term until the June 2015 meeting, and would be succeeded by a new Student Representative approved in the spring of 2015 to begin his/her term in September for two consecutive academic years .
• The Joint Student Council will establish the election process by which three candidates will be selected to interview for the Student Representative position with the Committee on Trustees.
• The Committee on Trustees, working with the Office of Student Affairs to meet with all three candidates will select one for confirmation by the Board of Trustees as Student Representative to the Board of Trustees. Upon confirmation of the nominee by the Board, the student will serve as the Student Representative for the term outlined above. The student would commence service immediately upon approval at the December meeting of the Board of Trustees.
• The Committee on Trustees will work with the Office of Student Affairs to educate prospective candidates on the responsibilities, duties, etc. of a Student Representative to the Board of Trustees and to further define the role of the Student Representative.
The student representative to the Board is intended to represent the voice of student body. The student representative will attend all board meetings and, to the extent determined by the chair, executive sessions of the Board. Consistent with the approach adopted by many university boards, and recognizing that there are certain recurring decisions that involve inherent tensions between the role of student and board member (such as tenure decisions), the Student Representative will not have a formal vote (or the same level of fiduciary liability as a voting board member), but his or her concurrence, objection or abstention will be reflected in the minutes.
Working Group
It was agreed on July 11 of this year that a Working Group comprised of trustees, administrators, full-time faculty, alumni and students, co-chaired by Trustees Michael Borkowsky and Jeff Gural, would be established. The Working Group co-chairs later agreed to include a part-time faculty member and a member of the staff.
The Working Group's charge, as stated in the July 11 agreement is to explore ways for The Cooper Union to:
- Revert back to providing full-tuition scholarships for all enrolled students,
- Establish a sustainable financial model, and
- Preserve and invest in academic excellence.
The Working Group is to submit its recommendations to the administration and Board of Trustees by December 1 for consideration at the Board's December meeting. The members of the Working Group, selected either through appointment or election, are listed below.*
Jakob Beirnat
Student (Art)
Michael Borkowsky (Co-chair) (ME'61)
Robert Brumer
Student (Engineering)
Lawrence Cacciatore
Teresa Dahlberg
Barry Drogin (EE '83, MEE '86)
Alumni (EE '83, MEE '86)
Atina Grossmann
FT Faculty (HSS)
Jeffrey Gural (Co-Chair)
Catharine Hill
Diane Lewis (AR'76)
FT Faculty (Architecture)
Sue McCoy
Christine Osinski
FT Faculty (Art)
Arta Perezic
Student (Architecture)
Victoria Sobel (A'13)
Alumni (Art '13)
Robert Tan (AR'81)
Alumni (AR '81)
TBD (election not yet held)
FT Faculty (Engineering)
TBD (election not yet held)
Staff Representative
TBD (election not yet held)
PT Faculty Representative
* Representatives as of September 23, 2013
It was also agreed that the definition of a sustainable financial model would be provided to the Working Group by the Finance Committee of the Board of Trustees. That definition was approved by the Finance Committee, and was accepted by the Board of Trustees at the September meeting.
Trustees Borkowsky and Gural reported that the elections of representatives by the various constituencies are nearly complete. They anticipate calling the first meeting of the Working Group within the next week or two.


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Critics Fear Collider Could Doom Earth
Critics Fear Collider Could Doom Earth
By DOUGLAS BIRCH,
Posted: 2008-06-29 23:04:48
Filed Under: Science News
MEYRIN, Switzerland (June 29) - The most powerful atom-smasher ever built could make some bizarre discoveries, such as invisible matter or extra dimensions in space, after it is switched on in August.
But some critics fear the Large Hadron Collider could exceed physicists' wildest conjectures: Will it spawn a black hole that could swallow Earth? Or spit out particles that could turn the planet into a hot dead clump?
Scientists have been working for a generation to build the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) particle collider, called the largest science experiment in history. It consists of a ring of supercooled magnets 17 miles in circumference, buried 330 feet below the French-Swiss border.
Ridiculous, say scientists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, known by its French initials CERN - some of whom have been working for a generation on the $5.8 billion collider, or LHC.
"Obviously, the world will not end when the LHC switches on," said project leader Lyn Evans.
David Francis, a physicist on the collider's huge ATLAS particle detector, smiled when asked whether he worried about black holes and hypothetical killer particles known as strangelets.
"If I thought that this was going to happen, I would be well away from here," he said.
The collider basically consists of a ring of supercooled magnets 17 miles in circumference attached to huge barrel-shaped detectors. The ring, which straddles the French and Swiss border, is buried 330 feet underground.
The machine, which has been called the largest scientific experiment in history, isn't expected to begin test runs until August, and ramping up to full power could take months. But once it is working, it is expected to produce some startling findings.
Scientists plan to hunt for signs of the invisible "dark matter" and "dark energy" that make up more than 96 percent of the universe, and hope to glimpse the elusive Higgs boson, a so-far undiscovered particle thought to give matter its mass.
The collider could find evidence of extra dimensions, a boon for superstring theory, which holds that quarks, the particles that make up atoms, are infinitesimal vibrating strings.
The theory could resolve many of physics' unanswered questions, but requires about 10 dimensions - far more than the three spatial dimensions our senses experience.
The safety of the collider, which will generate energies seven times higher than its most powerful rival, at Fermilab near Chicago, has been debated for years. The physicist Martin Rees has estimated the chance of an accelerator producing a global catastrophe at one in 50 million - long odds, to be sure, but about the same as winning some lotteries.
By contrast, a CERN team this month issued a report concluding that there is "no conceivable danger" of a cataclysmic event. The report essentially confirmed the findings of a 2003 CERN safety report, and a panel of five prominent scientists not affiliated with CERN, including one Nobel laureate, endorsed its conclusions.
Critics of the LHC filed a lawsuit in a Hawaiian court in March seeking to block its startup, alleging that there was "a significant risk that ... operation of the Collider may have unintended consequences which could ultimately result in the destruction of our planet."
One of the plaintiffs, Walter L. Wagner, a physicist and lawyer, said Wednesday CERN's safety report, released June 20, "has several major flaws," and his views on the risks of using the particle accelerator had not changed.
On Tuesday, U.S. Justice Department lawyers representing the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation filed a motion to dismiss the case.
The two agencies have contributed $531 million to building the collider, and the NSF has agreed to pay $87 million of its annual operating costs. Hundreds of American scientists will participate in the research.
The lawyers called the plaintiffs' allegations "extraordinarily speculative," and said "there is no basis for any conceivable threat" from black holes or other objects the LHC might produce. A hearing on the motion is expected in late July or August.
In rebutting doomsday scenarios, CERN scientists point out that cosmic rays have been bombarding the earth, and triggering collisions similar to those planned for the collider, since the solar system formed 4.5 billion years ago.
And so far, Earth has survived.
"The LHC is only going to reproduce what nature does every second, what it has been doing for billions of years," said John Ellis, a British theoretical physicist at CERN.
Critics like Wagner have said the collisions caused by accelerators could be more hazardous than those of cosmic rays.
Both may produce micro black holes, subatomic versions of cosmic black holes - collapsed stars whose gravity fields are so powerful that they can suck in planets and other stars.
But micro black holes produced by cosmic ray collisions would likely be traveling so fast they would pass harmlessly through the earth.
Micro black holes produced by a collider, the skeptics theorize, would move more slowly and might be trapped inside the earth's gravitational field - and eventually threaten the planet.
Ellis said doomsayers assume that the collider will create micro black holes in the first place, which he called unlikely. And even if they appeared, he said, they would instantly evaporate, as predicted by the British physicist Stephen Hawking.
As for strangelets, CERN scientists point out that they have never been proven to exist. They said that even if these particles formed inside the Collider they would quickly break down.
When the LHC is finally at full power, two beams of protons will race around the huge ring 11,000 times a second in opposite directions. They will travel in two tubes about the width of fire hoses, speeding through a vacuum that is colder and emptier than outer space.
Their trajectory will be curved by supercooled magnets - to guide the beams around the rings and prevent the packets of protons from cutting through the surrounding magnets like a blowtorch.
The paths of these beams will cross, and a few of the protons in them will collide, at a series of cylindrical detectors along the ring. The two largest detectors are essentially huge digital cameras, each weighing thousands of tons, capable of taking millions of snapshots a second.
Each year the detectors will generate 15 petabytes of data, the equivalent of a stack of CDs 12 miles tall. The data will require a high speed global network of computers for analysis.
Wagner and others filed a lawsuit to halt operation of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, or RHIC, at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York state in 1999. The courts dismissed the suit.
The leafy campus of CERN, a short drive from the shores of Lake Geneva, hardly seems like ground zero for doomsday. And locals don't seem overly concerned. Thousands attended an open house here this spring.
"There is a huge army of scientists who know what they are talking about and are sleeping quite soundly as far as concerns the LHC," said project leader Evans.
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Cadalyst Labs Review: Bentley Systems MicroStation V8 XM31 Oct, 2006 By: Randall S. Newton
New interface promises to triple user efficiency on routine tasks
Bentley Systems has worked hard over the years to position itself as the enterprise-class provider of design software in the AEC and geospatial fields. It seeks to distinguish itself from its much larger competitor Autodesk by catering to the industry's largest firms. More than a dozen acquisitions in recent years have expanded the Bentley portfolio to more than 120 products, allowing it to be a one-stop shop for its customers. The foundation for all these products is MicroStation, Bentley's 2D/3D CAD platform.
The latest version of MicroStation is officially called MicroStation V8 XM edition, but most users are calling it XM, which doesn't stand for anything in particular. It was introduced with much fanfare at the 2005 BE (Bentley Empowered) Conference, but did not ship until July 2006. Bentley never commits to a specific release date. The long period between its first public preview and its general availability is attributed to the need to ensure a tight fit with Bentley's wide portfolio of applications for architecture, civil engineering, plant design and geospatial users (figure 1).
MicroStation V8 XM
When Bentley released the first iteration of MicroStation V8 in 2001, the company told users that its vision for the product was larger than its ability to deliver at one time. Key deliverables in that first release were a new file format (only the second time in 20 years that Bentley had changed the DGN format) and the ability to choose an optional AutoCAD-like user interface with Autodesk DWG as a second native file format. It was a tacit acknowledgment, much appreciated by MicroStation users, that full DWG compatibility was too important to leave to the file-translation approach to interoperability. To this day, Bentley tells its users that if they can't open or use a DWG drawing in MicroStation, the company considers it a bug that it needs to address immediately.
Figure 1. A rendering of a dock site created with MicroStation XM.
Bentley updated V8 in 2004. Improvements included a new print engine, support for digital signatures, revision control, standards management, support for Visual Basic and nested references (the AutoCAD equivalent is xrefs). Bentley also broke ground by being the first major CAD platform to embrace Adobe PDF as a key publishing format.
MicroStation XM builds on these and many more features with a complete overhaul of the graphics subsystem, a modernization of the user interface, compatibility with Google Earth and Google SketchUp, distributed file access and many more under-the-hood improvements.
Cozying up to Microsoft
In the late 1990s, Bentley made a detour toward Java that co-founder Keith Bentley has since regretted publicly. It wasn't uncommon in those days for Bentley employees to belittle the foundational support provided by Microsoft. Today, Bentley seems to have done a 180° turn with enthusiastic support for Microsoft products and services.
XM will be Vista ready whenever that next version of Windows ships, but that's just the warm-up. Previous versions of MicroStation, including the two previous V8 editions, used OpenGL as the graphics display technology. In XM, Bentley drops OpenGL in favor of DirectX, the gaming industry's preferred display technology. The immediate benefit to users is a significant speed increase in 2D and 3D redraw, navigation and geometry creation.
Moving to DirectX made possible much of the work required to modernize the user interface. Of the major CAD programs, MicroStation was the last to leave behind a look and feel more at home with DOS than Windows. MicroStation XM features modern tool palettes, element transparency, 24-bit color and support for Pantone and RAL color systems (figure 2). Bentley claims the new interface can improve user performance of some routine tasks by as much as 300%. Such increases will require learning how the new tools work, something old-time MicroStation users will no doubt grouse about at first. The software gives users the option of using a classic MicroStation interface, but the wise CAD manager will put that possibility out of bounds as soon as possible.
Figure 2. MicroStation XM features a new graphical user interface that meets contemporary expectations.
DirectX requires a close working relationship with a computer's graphics card and software drivers. Bentley provides a utility with XM that analyzes and diagnoses the system for best compatibility.
The tight relationship with Microsoft technology doesn't end with the visuals. New in XM is ProjectWise StartPoint, an entry-level CAD management and collaboration tool that is one part Bentley ProjectWise and one part Microsoft Office SharePoint (figure 3). StartPoint can be used to find, manage and share CAD and geospatial content stored in DGN and DWG files. Bentley is big on managed environments as keys to productivity and touts StartPoint as a entry-level tool that will help firms that currently lack a management platform. StartPoint works with two new XM features: Link Sets and Element Templates. Think of Link Sets as custom hyperlinks that connect objects to manage relationships within multiple files. Saved views, references or any element type in CAD, PDF and Microsoft Office files can be linked. Element Templates allow users to apply CAD standards to specific MicroStation Tasks to control production workflows. All these new management features require forethought up front—the payoff comes in the ability for teams to apply and stick to corporate or project standards.
Figure 3. ProjectWise StartPoint, an entry-level CAD management and collaboration tool based on Microsoft Office SharePoint, ships with MicroStation XM.
Support for De Facto Standards
In addition to stronger ties to Microsoft technology, MicroStation XM also shows Bentley's interest in working with de facto industry standards. Bentley was the first CAD company to demonstrate publishing in 3D to Adobe PDF. In XM, PDF files can be used as references within a DWG model (figure 4). A 2D PDF shows up like a flat sheet, complete with any existing markups. The reference link is dynamic—any subsequent changes to the PDF will appear in the XM reference.
Figure 4. PDF files can be attached to MicroStation XM models as references.
2006 seems to have become the Year of Google in AEC and GIS, with Google SketchUp and Google Earth capturing attention far beyond what competing products receive. Bentley wasted no time supporting Google Earth with a KML file exporter that allows project models be viewed in their intended settings. XM also lets MicroStation animation paths to be applied to the model within Google Earth (figure 5). MicroStation XM also imports Google SketchUp files, which means any model in Google's 3D warehouse is now fair game for MicroStation users.
Figure 5. MicroStation XM can import Google Earth imagery for use in models.
Distributed Access
In the pre-V8 era, Bentley introduced ProjectBank, a technology that attempted to provide simultaneous file access to multiple users. ProjectBank required both MicroStation and ProjectWise, Bentley's CAD management solution. The technical challenges were complex, and when Bentley made the decision to overhaul MicroStation, ProjectBank was too closely tied to the old technology to bring forward. But multiuser file access always has been a dream of company co-founder Bentley, who calls XM's soon-to be released Distributed DGN technology his favorite improvement. As scheduled to be implemented (I was unable to test it), several users can work on the same DGN file at the same time, each creating and editing independently. ProjectWise (required) then sorts out all the changes and merges them into one DGN for approval. For large projects and dispersed design teams, Distributed DGN likely will be one of the first features to be implemented when available.
Power Keyboard and Programmable Mouse
Bentley got a patent on the new Keyboard Position Assignments feature of XM. Part of the user interface update, it links toolboxes and specific tools to user-assigned keystrokes. Letters and numbers are assigned to various tools and toolbars; the numbers are visible on the tools. Accessing a tool becomes a one- or two-keystroke experience. Power users who have cursed the dawn of the mouse era will be overjoyed. More passive users who like the guidance of a mouse-based interface will warm more slowly to this feature. These users may prefer the new MicroStation Tasks feature, which allows users to combine specific tools into custom toolbars. A programmable mouse functionality lets users further specialize their CAD experience.
Final Look
Bentley claims that MicroStation XM will work well with users' existing computer hardware. My tests on a clearly inferior CAD computer (1GHz processor, 256MB RAM, motherboard-based graphics) confirm its claim. I was surprised by the program's overall speed. But running MicroStation XM on older hardware is like driving your Ferrari two blocks to the grocery store. Try to schedule your upgrade to MicroStation XM to match hardware upgrades. Large amounts of system RAM and a PCI Express graphic processing unit with at least 256MB of dedicated RAM are more important to MicroStation XM performance than a dual-core CPU. Go for dual-core only if you need to run multiple applications simultaneously, because MicroStation doesn't recognize more than one CPU.
Bentley is still working on support for AutoCAD 2007 DWG. The official line is that it will be available in the first quarter of 2007.
MicroStation users often work on large multiyear projects and won't upgrade their CAD software in the middle of a project. Administrators may want to rethink that policy in regard to MicroStation XM. This upgrade carries a big upside in immediate productivity improvements. Highly Recommended.
Randall S. Newton is editor-in-chief and publisher of AECnews, and editor-in-chief of CADCAMNet.com and Engineering Automation Report. He was editor of MicroStation Manager Magazine from 1997 to 2002 and has written seven books about CAD.
About the Author: Randall S. Newton
For Mold Designers! Cadalyst has an area of our site focused on technologies and resources specific to the mold design professional. Sponsored by Siemens NX. Visit the Equipped Mold Designer here!
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Conference Info Menu
Founded and Managed
Speaking Topic: "You're a Girl!?!" ... and Other Reactions Women Encounter in Open Source Software
Stormy Peters joins OpenLogic from Hewlett-Packard (HP) where she founded and managed the Open Source Program Office. As an early adopter of open source, Stormy was responsible for HP's open source strategy, policy and business practices. She was also a founding member of HP's Linux Division.
Stormy is a frequent keynote speaker on business aspects of open source software at major conferences such as the Open Source Business Conference and the O'Reilly conferences. She has addressed the United Nations, European Union and various U.S. state governments on open source software. Stormy is a co-founder of the non-profit GNOME Foundation, which is based on open source principles to encourage the development of a computing platform, comprised of free software, for use by the general public.
Stormy joined HP ten years ago as a software engineer in the Unix Development Lab after graduating from Rice University with a B.A. in Computer Science.Why are less than 2% of open source software developers women ... and why do we care? We care because women are missing out on the opportunity to participate in great projects in a software development model that is changing the industry. In addition, open source projects are not benefiting from the value added by very talented women developers who could bring expertise, help grow projects more quickly, and help take projects in new directions to meet more user needs. With all these potential benefits, why aren't more women getting involved with open source? Is it due to a lack of role models? The response they get from the community? Lack of opportunity awareness? This session will explore solutions to the challenge of attracting more women into open source communities and ensuring the future impact of this valuable resource on community projects.
Are you interested in getting more women involved in open source softwareListen Now! [.mp3]


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Adjust to the changing winter conditions in this North Face Women's Gore Tex Performance Shell Blue. Paired as one, these North Face Gore Tex Xcr Jacket combine to create a warm, waterproof barrier, or can be worn as separates as conditions permit. Rider-specific features throughout.
* Waterproof, breathable, fully seam sealed* Center front zip and Velcro closure with stormflap* Zip-in compatible integration with complementing garments* Wrist accessory pocket with goggle cloth* Helmet-compatible, removeable hood* North Face Gore Tex Xcr Jacket* Waterproof, breathable, seam sealed* Two secure zip hand pockets* Fleece backer* Gender: Women* Size Available: S,M,L,XL,XXL* Manufacturer Warranty: Lifetime* Recommend Use: Cold Weather


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Friday, July 20, 2007
Aside from time passing too quickly, I actually like being older. I think I'm happier and more accepting of myself. I do detect an increasing impatience that's a little worrisome, but perhaps that is forgivable in light of my increasingly accelerated sense of time. In general though, life is good. Very good. I have wonderful friends and a fantastic family, good health, a comfortable place to put my head down at night, and not least of all this little blog which has brought me a sense of community and some friendships that I will treasure always.
There are certainly things I miss from my younger years, but then again I am SO much closer to retirement and the prospect of that thrills me to no end! I really can't complain about my job. People there have been good to me; I work in a place where I can feel that I'm contributing to the public good; and it has given me a comfortable life. BUT... the things I long to spend my time on are not the things I can make a living from and these days they seem to get bumped by work and general busy-ness: cooking, weaving, sewing, knitting, genealogy, etc. I will be able to do the job I wish most to excel at - being Aunt Cathy - so much better when I finally am able to step away from the more mundane work-a-day world! More time to bake cookies with Cassidy, sew with Christina, weave with Catelynn (yes, I've decided that 3-month-old Catelynn will be the next weaver in the family!), hug Tommy, and chase Brian around the house trying to plunk a kiss on his cheek.
But I shouldn't and I won't wish away the remaining working days, for at the very least there are evenings and weekends to be enjoyed: cooking in my little kitchen, catching up on hobbies, reading a good book, delving into a new weaving project, or simply enjoying the company of friends and family. There's also time to stay in touch here and I honestly look forward to that.
When I started blogging in 2004, I felt that I was an anomaly. It seemed to me at that time that every other blogger was at least 20 years younger than me. I suspect I was mistaken then and I know that's not true now - and thank goodness for that! Blogging brings all sorts of people together and the variety of ages is no less than the assortment of hometowns, ethnicities, or favorite ice cream flavors! Anyway, I have come to feel very much at home here, so I am finally ready (though still with slight trepidation) to post my picture here. Hello everyone!
I'm home from work today and since it's a weekday morning it's very quiet. A little while ago, I heard a rattling sound which was a little alarming. Leo (my cat) and I gave each other puzzled looks and then I heard it again. It was coming from this room. It turned out to be a goldfinch tapping on the window. There was a minute or so when I was able to look him right in the eye, but of course the moment I turned to grab my camera he was off. It was such an unusual and wonderful thing to happen on my birthday, that I have decided to take it has a good omen. I think the next fifty years are going to be great!
22 comments:
- July 20, 2007 12:44 PM
- chuckless said...
Happy happy birthday Cathy. Your post is wonderful and you're an absolutely beautiful person (and I'm not just talking about the photograph!!!). I wish you only wonderful things for the future.
- July 20, 2007 2:57 PM
Happy Happy Birthday Cathy!
I'm fortysomething. You are an inspiration! So much energy!
Thanks for the picture. It is nice to have a face to go with the "voice".
- July 20, 2007 5:27 PM
- Anne said...
Happy birthday!! :) I've been reading your blog for years, and I'm thrilled to see a picture, I love being able to finally put a face to the words. :)
- July 20, 2007 5:58 PM
Happy Happy Birthday Cathy! I saw the title and the first thing I thought was "She's posting on Jack Lord? Huh?!"
You don't look your age young lady, so it must really be true that life is treating you pretty good. (Or you've got some secret youth cream stashed away). On behalf of the food blogging community, I wish you a very fine day and look forward to what's next in the future!
- July 20, 2007 6:41 PM
- Zarah Maria said...
Happy, happy, HAPPY Birthday Cathy! I hope you had a fantastic day. And you know, I know the next 50 years will be incredibly cool - with your enthusiasm for everything LIFE, how could they not?
Like, one of the things you have to do is a return visit to Denmark - and how could that NOT turn out cool??:)
CONGRATULATIONS and big birthday hugs from the both of us!
- July 21, 2007 3:26 AM
- Nupur said...
Cathy, the photo is so cute!! No, you absolutely do not look your age! I'm smiling to think how you were so reluctant in 2005 to even use your real name while blogging :D
Hope you had a wonderful birthday! The next fifty years are going to be better than great: and I hope you will keep sharing nuggets of your life with us through this blog!
- July 21, 2007 6:59 AM
- Leigh said...
Happy Birthday Cathy! I can't tell you how much I have enoyed your blog. Thanks so much for sharing yourself with the rest of the world.
- July 21, 2007 8:31 AM
- Cathy said...
Hi doverptchef! I will, and thank you!
Hello dear Chuck - thank you for these sweet thoughts and for everything!
Hi Lisa - thank you! I don't know about the energy part, though ;)
Hi Anne - thanks for the birthday wishes and for being a "regular" around here!
Hi Rowena! Leave it to you to make me laugh! The Hawaii Five-O angle hadn't even occurred to me! Thank you too for being here week after week and thank you for the birthday wishes!
Hello Miss Zarah!! I really do hope to visit you someday soon. Hmmm... maybe that's something I should do BEFORE retirement, while I still have an income, huh? Thank you and hugs to you and Martin as well!
Hi Nupur!! I'll never forget the look on your face when I told you how old I was - thank you for that! Thank you too for all your wonderful birthday wishes. So funny you mention about me not wanting to use my name originally - I was just talking about that with Bob and Chuck yesterday! I hope to continue blogging here for years to come and I hope to see you again very, very soon!!
Hi Leigh! Thanks so much! I feel the same way about you and your blog - I enjoy it so very much and am constantly awed and inspired by your amazing work!
- July 21, 2007 9:02 AM
- Christy Woolum said...
Hi Cathy,
I have been reading your blog and decided to leave a comment. I also love food writing and love your site! Happy Birthday
- July 21, 2007 11:01 AM
- Cathy said...
Hi inland empire girl! Thanks so much for the birthday wishes!
- July 22, 2007 3:35 PM
- Jannett said...
Hi Cathy
I wish you the very best birthday. Fifty is pretty young these days. And you do not look your age for sure.
- July 22, 2007 8:56 PM
- Cathy said...
Hi Hendria! Thank you! I have to say - I don't feel my age, I barely feel like a grown-up :)
- July 22, 2007 10:33 PM
- Heleen said...
Happy belated birthday Cathy!! I for one want to thank you for the inspiration you're passing on through your blog, I hope you'll keep at it for many years to come :o).
- July 23, 2007 1:40 AM
Happy Birthday, Cathy! It is so nice to put a face with the name. :)
- July 23, 2007 9:41 AM
Dear Cathy, Belated Happy Birthday to you! Like everyone else here, I enjoy reading your blog. Mondays feel off, almost, if I haven't read a "Mondays with Maida" post, and it is because of you that I discovered the lovely Maida. If I'm around, you know I'll be reading your posts for the next 50 years. :)
- July 23, 2007 10:54 AM
Hello there,
I have been reading your blog for awhile now, following along with your Mondays with Maida. Thought I would finally comment and wish you a happy birthday as you see the 20th of July is also my birthday. I turned 47.
Mary D in Texas
- July 23, 2007 12:22 PM
- Cathy said...
Hi Heleen! Thanks so much! I can't imagine abandoning this blog anytime soon - I'm having too much fun with it!
Hi Ann! Thank you for the birthday wishes!
Hi Mari! Thank you so much for your kind words and birthday wishes. I look forward to your visit here every week and always enjoy stopping by your blog too. I am thrilled that you were introduced to Maida through my blog!
Hi Mary and happy birthday to you too! Thank you for the birthday wishes!
- July 24, 2007 11:06 PM
- Lis said...
Happy belated birthday, Cathy!
- July 25, 2007 12:13 PM
- Cathy said...
Hi Lis - thanks so much! It was a wonderful weekend and still more celebrating ahead!
- July 25, 2007 8:55 PM
- Caroline@Bibliocook said...
Happy birthday Cathy!
- July 26, 2007 5:32 AM
- Cathy said...
Hi Caroline - thank you very much!
- July 29, 2007 8:23 PM


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Facebook's "Like" feature is vital to 500 million people who share ideas on the social network and must have free-speech protection under the U.S. Constitution, a lawyer for the company told a federal appeals court.
"Any suggestion that such communication has less than full constitutional protection would result in chilling the very valued means for communication the Internet has made possible," Aaron Panner, Facebook Inc. (FB)'s lawyer, told a three-judge panel today in Richmond, Virginia.
Facebook is seeking to reverse a lower-court ruling, which came in a retaliation lawsuit brought by six people fired from the Hampton, Virginia, sheriff's department, that a Facebook "Like" isn't First Amendment speech. The case involves Danny Carter, a former Hampton jailer, who claims he was fired after he posted a picture of his boss's opponent in the sheriff's race on his Facebook page, along with a link to the contender's website.
The post, made almost four years ago because Carter clicked the "Like" button on the "Jim Adams for Hampton Sheriff" Facebook page, was the subject of arguments today over how to view one-click, online endorsements of a person, idea or product.
"Carter clicked the Like because he liked something," U.S. Circuit Judge Stephanie Thacker said to a lawyer for Hampton Sheriff B.J. Roberts during the 40 minute hearing. "How is that any different than perhaps putting a sign in the yard saying 'I Like Ike'?" she asked. Thacker's question backed Facebook's contention in legal briefs that hitting the 'Like" button on a candidate's website or Facebook account is no different from a yard sign, which were ruled protected speech by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1994.
The Menlo Park, California-based company was given three minutes of argument time today and received no questions from the judges. Carter, 40, joined by five others, sued Roberts when they were fired after the sheriff won re-election in 2009. They claim Roberts retaliated against them for supporting Adams, violating their rights to political affiliation and to speak as citizens on issues of public concern.
U.S. District Judge Raymond Jackson in Norfolk, Virginia, on April 24, 2012, dismissed the lawsuit, rejecting the plaintiffs' First Amendment claims. He ruled that simply "liking" a Facebook page didn't amount to "a substantive statement" that warrants constitutional protection.
In his decision, Jackson said two federal court decisions in 2011 that held constitutional protections extended to Facebook involved actual statements posted on a user's page.
"The court will not attempt to infer the actual content of Carter's posts from one click of a button on Adams's Facebook page," Jackson, appointed by Democratic President Bill Clinton, wrote in his decision. "For the court to assume that the plaintiffs made some specific statement without evidence of such statements is improper."
Jackson's ruling was criticized by constitutional lawyers who said he ignored the fact that other protected speech on the Internet, such as uploading a video or donating money to a campaign, are done with one click of a button.
Roberts said in a deposition that he doesn't use Facebook, and found out about Carter's online support for Adams from someone else. He contends Carter and the other employees weren't fired for their opposing him. Rather, they were let go for performance or other reasons, he said. Jeff Rosen, a lawyer for Roberts, argued that "liking" a Facebook page means many things and was too obscure an act to warrant protection. People may "like" Target's page to get a coupon or because they're curious about something that can only be seen by hitting the feature, he said.
"It's like opening a door into a room," Rosen, of Pender & Coward PC in Virginia Beach, Virginia, said. "You can't see what's in there until you click on the button. That's not speech."
"Facebook has 3 billion 'like' clicks a day," he said. "Is each one of those speech? I don't think so."
Rosen said one of the plaintiffs in the case had liked Adams's page accidentally, and asked how that could be considered protected speech. "That's the problem with Facebook," he said. "You don't know what your actions will do or the consequences they will have."
James Shoemaker, a lawyer for the fired employees, countered that an e-mail or note inadvertently sent to the wrong person about a political candidate would still be protected speech.
The case is Bland v. Roberts, 12-1671, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (Richmond).
So, bottom line – is "Like" free speech or just pushing the right buttons? What do YOU think? How do you think the Appellate Court will rule?
Thanks to Tom Schoenberg and Bloomberg.net, and
Thanks for "listening".
Comments are closed.
The Neu Facebook


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Tag Archives: alpha center
IASEM in Montenegro at REACT 2016 organized by ALPHA Centre
Posted on Focus, Insights | 0 commentsin
From 5th to 10th of September 2016, the IASEM staff has participated to the React Camp 2016, organized by the ALPHA Centre in the village of Ivanova Korita (Montenegro). The President Giuseppe Papaleo and the Scientific Coordinator, Pierpaolo Grezzi, have been two panelists of the rich agenda of the summer school organized by ALPHA Centre. […]


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Walt Kelly created dozens of Our Gang stories by the end of its 59-issue run in 1949, the year he quit comic books to switch careers a final time — as syndicated artist/writer on the immortal newspaper strip, Pogo.
In Our Gang's third volume, Kelly begins to hit his stride by relying more on original ideas than following trite MGM scripts which had lacked in charm since the departure of producer Hal Roach in 1938. Keeping alive the wit that had been absent from the film series, this volume contains eight adventures of the mainstay offbeat personas as well as other whimsical characters, from mad scientists to eccentric animals. Suitable for adults and children alike, the work has been lovingly restored from the original comic books, giving Kelly's art a renewed four-color splendor. With an all-new cover by Jeff Smith (Bone).
96-page full-color 7" x 10" softcover • $14.99
Add to Cart • Read More…


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This Valve game is a DotA based game (Dota genre).
Dota 2 Heroes
The 1st 4 Dota 2 heroes revealed for DotA 2 are:
Morphling, Lina, Drow Ranger and Bloodseeker.
Just click on the images / pics to zoom in.
You can also click right and save as to download these DotA 2 pics.
Dota 2 Screenshots
Screenshot of Doom Bringer in Dota 2
source: Dota2Updates
Additional notes:
There is a new DotA 2 Logo.
You can discuss and debate about DotA 2 in the Valve DotA 2 Project.


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Difference between revisions of "WavPack"
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* Mp3tag Universal Tag Editor
* Mp3tag Universal Tag Editor
* [[Exact Audio Copy]] CD Ripper
* [[Exact Audio Copy]] CD Ripper
==Technology description==
==Technology description==
Revision as of 03:35, 17 April 2005
WavPack is a free, open source lossless audio compression format developed by David Bryant.
WavPack allows users to compress (and restore) both 16 and 24-bit audio files in the .WAV format. It also supports multichannel streams and high frequency sampling rates. Like other lossless compression schemes the data reduction varies with the source, but it is generally between 25% and 50% for typical popular music and somewhat better than that for classical music and other sources with greater dynamic range.
WavPack also incorporates a unique "hybrid" mode that provides all the advantages of lossless compression with an additional bonus. Instead of creating a single file, this mode creates both a relatively small, high-quality lossy file that can be used all by itself, and a "correction" file that (when combined with the lossy file) provides full lossless restoration. For some users this means never having to choose between lossless and lossy compression!
Feature Summary
- Fast and efficient encoding and decoding
- Open source, released under a BSDish license
- Multiplatform
- Error robustness
- Streaming support
- Supports multichannel audio and high resolutions
- Hybrid/lossy mode
- Tagging support (ID3v1, APE)
- Supports RIFF chunks
- Supports embedded CUE sheets
- Includes MD5 hashes for quick integrity checking
- ReplayGain compatible
David Bryant started development on WavPack in mid-1998, with the release of version 1.0. This first version compressed and decompressed audio losslessly, nothing else, but by then it already featured one of the best efficiency vs. speed ratio among lossless encoders.
Very soon after the release of version 1.0, Bryant released v. 2.0, which featured lossy encoding (using only quantization for data reduction - no psychoacoustic process was applied to the stream).
In 1999, the developer released version 3.0, which featured novelties such as a fast mode (with reduced compression ratio), compression of RAW files and error detection using CRC checksums.
WavPack development is still going on, and a major feature added in late 3.x versions is the hybrid mode, where the encoder generates a lossy file + a correction file, so that both can be decompressed back to the original PCM stream.
WavPack 4 has been recently released. It included important changes, such as fast seeking, multichannel support, high resolution audio support, etc. turning it into one of the most full featured and modern lossless audio compressors.
Software support
- Custom Windows Frontend (by Speek)
- NullSoft Winamp (plugin w/ ReplayGain & Media Library support)
- Foobar2000 Advanced Audio Player (official encoding/decoding addon, w/ ReplayGain & Cuesheets support)
- VUPlayer (official plugin, supports encoding)
- Windows Media Player (with CoreWavPack directshow filter)
- XMMS (with Kuniklo's plugin)
- LAMIP (official plugin)
- Adobe Audition (and CoolEdit) (filter w/ 32-bit floats & extra info save support)
- dBpowerAMP Music Converter / Audio Player / CD Writer (official addon)
- Apollo Audio Player (plugin w/ ReplayGain support)
- Ahead Nero Burning Rom
- Mr. QuestionMan / Audio Identifier
- Mp3tag Universal Tag Editor
- Exact Audio Copy CD Ripper
Technology description
To ensure high-speed operation, WavPack uses a very simple predictor that is implemented entirely in integer math. In its "fast" mode the prediction is simply the arithmetic extrapolation of the previous two samples. For example, if the previous two samples were -10 and 20, then the prediction would be 50. For the default mode a simple adaptive factor is added to weigh the influence of the earlier sample on the prediction. In our example the resulting prediction could then vary between 20 for no influence to 50 for full influence. This weight factor is constantly updated based on the audio data's changing spectral characteristics, which is why it is called "adaptive".
The prediction generated is then subtracted from the actual sample to be encoded to generate the error value. In mono mode this value is sent directly to the coder. However, stereo signals tend to have some correlation between the two channels that can be further exploited. Therefore, two error values are calculated that represent the difference and average of the left and right error values. In the "fast" mode of operation these two new values are simply sent to the coder instead of the left and right values. In the default mode, the difference value is always sent to the coder along with one of the other three values (average, left, or right). An adaptive algorithm continuously determines the most efficient of the three to send based on the changing balance of the channels.
The developer has developed a unique data encoder for WavPack that he believes is better than Rice coding in two different areas. It is impossible to encode more efficiently than Rice coding because it represents the optimal bit coding (sometimes known as the Huffman code) for this type of data. WavPack's encoder is slightly less efficient than this, but only by about 0.15 bits/sample (or less than 1% for 16-bit data). The first advantage of WavPack's coder is that it does not require the data to be buffered ahead of encoding, instead it converts each sample directly to bitcodes. This is more computationally efficient and it is better in some applications where coding delay is critical. The second advantage is that it is easily adaptable to lossy encoding because all significant bits (except the implied "one" MSB) are transmitted directly. In this way it is possible to only transmit, for example, the 3 most significant bits (with sign) of each sample. In fact, it is possible to transmit only the sign and implied MSB for each sample with an average of only 3.65 bits/sample.
This coding scheme is used to implement the "lossy" mode of WavPack. In the "fast" mode the output of the non-adaptive decorrelator is simply rounded to the nearest codable value for the specified number of bits. In the default mode the adaptive decorrelator is used (which reduces the average noise about 1 dB) and also both the current and the next sample are considered in choosing the better of the two available codes (which reduces noise another 1 dB).
The decoder has decided to not use any floating-point arithmetic in WavPack's data path because he believes that integer operations are less susceptible to subtle chip to chip variations that could corrupt the lossless nature of the compression, the Pentium floating point bug being a blatant example of this. It is possible that a lossless compressor that used floating-point math could generate different output when running on that faulty Pentium. Even disregarding actual bugs, floating-point math is complicated enough that there could be subtle differences between "correct" implementations that could cause trouble for this type of application. To further ensure confidence in the integrity of WavPack's compression, the encoder includes a 32-bit error detection code to the generated streams.
External Links
- Official website
- Historical versions at ReallyRareWares
- Lossless Codec Comparison by Rjamorim
- CoreWavPack DirectShow filter
- Windows Frontend by Speek


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Should Latina/o Roles Be Cast with Non-Latina/o Actors?
The casting of white actors in roles specifically written for people of color is nothing new. In recent memory, the original production of Miss Saigon in 1991 was embroiled in controversy when Jonathan Pryce was cast as The Engineer, the half-Vietnamese and half-French owner of Dreamland. And 1996 saw the infamous casting debate between August Wilson and Robert Brustein in which Wilson denounced color-blind casting leading Brustein to label Wilson's thoughts as an "appeal for separatism."
Nearly twenty years later, we are still having this debate.
Exhibit A: Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado. The New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players cancelled their production of The Mikado after a poster promoting the show circulated online causing an outcry over the use of yellow face. (Find HowlRound coverage here.)
Exhibit B: Katori Hall's The Mountaintop. Only after the production at Kent State University did playwright Katori Hall learn that the director had cast a white actor in the role of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Exhibit C: Lloyd Suh's Jesus in India. Playwright Lloyd Suh halted the production of his play at Clarion University when they refused to recast roles written specifically for actors of color. The university had two white actors and one mixed-race actor in those roles.
The last two examples were college productions.
Productions at colleges and universities offer Latina/o playwrights opportunities to make a livelihood and have their work seen by the next generation of theatremakers. However, as the diversity of a theatre program's acting pool can greatly vary—are there Latina/o actors to take on roles written for them by Latina/o playwrights?
In light of these recent controversies over casting white actors in ethnically specific roles, the Café Onda Editorial Board asked several Latina/o playwrights the following questions:
Should Latina/o roles be cast with non-Latina/o actors? How do you approach productions at colleges and universities when your play calls for characters of color but the acting pool at the university may or may not have the actors? How are you thinking about casting?
Martín Zimmerman: First I want to say I wholeheartedly support playwrights who stop a university production of their work that has cast white actors in roles written for actors of color. But I also feel I'm in no position to judge playwrights of color who agree to change a casting breakdown because a university has said it won't produce their play otherwise. I'm sympathetic to the fact that refusing such requests can mean taking money out of the hands of playwrights of color.
I would not let a department exclusively cast white actors in all (or even most of) the major roles of one of my plays. That's where I draw my own line (since I've never been in a position to have this discussion with a university department). But beyond that line I'm open to discussion. That personal rule also goes for plays of mine in which I don't specify ethnicity in my character breakdowns. For those particular plays (most of my plays), I make it clear that no specified ethnicities in the character breakdowns does not mean the play should have an all-white cast, but rather that it should have a racially diverse cast.
But it also would be important for me, personally, to try to turn a university's request to alter one of my casting breakdowns into a dialogue about how to increase diversity in that university's department.
And that's because I've been fortunate enough to see university faculty lead efforts to diversify departments by programming work in which they needed to go outside their known actor pool to cast. These faculty just firmly believed they would find good actors of color to fill those roles if they worked hard enough. And 100 percent of the time they found those actors of color.
I've been fortunate enough to see university faculty lead efforts to diversify departments by programming work they needed to go outside their known actor pool to cast. These faculties just firmly believed they would find good actors of color to fill those roles if they worked hard enough. And 100 percent of the time they found those actors of color. — Martín Zimmerman
Given that, I would be reticent to outright reject a university's request to do one of my plays if they asked me to alter the casting breakdown. I would instead try to seize it as an opportunity to strategize about the real and immediate steps that university can take to cultivate a more racially diverse pool of actors. And if altering my casting breakdown somewhat ends up creating opportunities for several actors of color who wouldn't have had those opportunities were that university to produce a different play? And leads that university to cultivate a more diverse actor pool? In that case, I'd think my decision was worth it.
Marisela Treviño Orta: Almost all of my characters are Latina/o. And most of them are women. Back in the Bay Area my Latina actress friends loved this.
Why are the worlds of my plays populated like this? At first, that was who just showed up in my imagination. Now I'm more intentional. I see that I am creating roles for Latina/o actors. I am creating stories that need to be told and added to the American canon.
In the Bay Area I had go-to actors for readings and productions. But now I'm in graduate school. In Iowa. There are three other Latina/o grad students in my program. Only two of them are actors. And I know of one undergrad in the theatre department.
How will I cast my own shows?
I feel very conflicted. Not just about casting for the private workshop reading I have each semester. But for the potential university productions that are in discussion.
Can my work be done at a university level without causing harm? And by harm I mean perpetuating brown face?
Can my work be done at a university level without causing harm? And by harm I mean perpetuating brown face? —Marisela Treviño Orta
I recently shared these thoughts with a fellow playwright, friend, and graduate of my program. He said, "Don't write for the program.."Meaning, don't adjust what I write about to fit the acting pool that's there. I need to write for myself. I agree with that. But where does that leave me with casting?
Again, conflicted. And my thoughts are ever evolving.
I have thought about allowing the other actors of color to step into those roles. If I was writing to provide Latina/o actors with opportunities, perhaps giving opportunities for other actors of color is my answer.
Magdalena Gómez:
(This poem was originally written in 1996 in support of August Wilson on the "color blind" casting debate.)
Casting Call
Yes, of course
you may audition
for the role of an Asian
if you are willing to
walk down the street
and have somebody's
nine year old
give you his version
of Jackie Chan
as Mommy
gushes over his
Yes, by all means
let a white man
play Paul Robeson,
a white woman play
Ma Rainey;
no problem.
you will be expected
to understudy
for all accusations,
ridicule, exile and lynchings,
verbal, political
or otherwise.
Yes, let's have
an all white cast
of Fences
wait in the wings
for the moments
when you will have to get
out of your jogging clothes
and into a suit
to withdraw money
from your own bank account
without being wrestled
to the ground,
or followed when
attempting to buy socks.
Be prepared to get
pulled over
for the insolence
of driving a Lexus
or any car
with a working
First Nation Peoples may be played
by white acting students.
They must be willing
to submit to
public interrogations
on the status of
their Indian-ness,
be poked by curious
index fingers
and greeted with
They will be expected
to heal canker sores
and hemorrhoids
with a rattle,
impart wisdom
to the New Age rich,
and respond
when called
regardless of gender.
It would be my pleasure
to have white actors
play Arabs
as long as they are
available for extended runs
in prison camps,
and be on call
for career ending
cameos and extended solos
that will separate them
from their agents, families,
friends, and union reps.
I myself would
prefer to be played
by a white man
as long as he is willing
to undergo my yearly mammogram,
pap smear
and be paid much less
than he's worth.
Oh, yes, he must be willing
to be called a Puerto Rican whore
with a chip on her shoulder
when he disagrees with anyone
who was born with clout
and thinks the Great White Way
should stay that way.
Reconnaissance can be a form of resistance to the tyranny of exclusionary racism, outright negligence, or the ignorance of convenience. People of color may also suffer from whiteness, a by-product of the colonized mind. We cannot rule out the complicity of our own in any situation regarding racial and ethnic parity.
Prevention as intervention. Ask the questions before you sign, and the most important question of all: At what price production? —Magdalena Gómez
If one is either pursuing, or invited to have a play produced in an academic institution, or anywhere for that matter, one must first be clear of one's casting vision for the work.
Once, at an audition to perform one of my solo shows for a women's festival, at the turn of the 21st century, I was thrust into a time machine of insult. The festival was to be held at a university affiliated theatre. After the audition I was told my audition was "fabulous" and left fairly certain I had been cast. Soon thereafter, I learned that the same team that had auditioned me, put out a casting notice for my solo show that read: "Seeking a Latina or someone who can pass." I ended up having to educate that team of theatre "professionals" as to why what they had done was reprehensible. I performed my own work in the festival, each night dealing with childish retaliatory behaviors by one of the festival directors. That experience affirmed the decision I had made in the early 1970s, when a high-powered casting agent, dangling a golden carrot asked me "to pass" and I refused. The agent pushed regardless of how clear it was that the request was deeply wounding: "You're beautiful, you can sing, you're the perfect ingénue and Maybelline is interested in you." That moment affirmed my earlier decision to be a performance poet. I knew it would be the only way I could get my work performed and allow me to maintain control of my cultural production.
Since getting work produced all too often feels like a miracle, the playwright might not think to ask questions regarding the director's vision. Yes, it is the director who does the casting, however, the playwright might insist on having a conversation prior to auditions to clarify expectations. In the case of colleges and universities it would be in alignment with "town/gown" initiatives, to share audition notices with surrounding communities. Prevention as intervention. Ask the questions before you sign, and the most important question of all: At what price production?
Irma Mayorga: I think the permissions you want to put on your plays is a personal choice for every playwright. For me, there is no all-encompassing "yes" or "no" answer to inquiries. And, I also believe there is no blanket answer that can be applied to every school: location matters, for example. For me, it is a case-by-case basis, which takes time, care, and energy. "Why this play for your school/community?" is one of my top questions—especially if you do not have the population to fill the roles? With this query, it becomes a conversation, not an edict on my part.
I cannot easily envision non-Latina/o actors in the roles of my plays about Mexican American life-worlds. I have written plays that hope to articulate the US Latina/o body in different social contexts and, with that, a certain representation of the US Latina/o life-world through means of a live-based art form, theatre. Stories of this sort are not the only stories I have crafted nor am capable of writing, but I chose to write stories of this kind in the name of the absence and invisibility of Latina/o bodies and life-worlds on the US American stage: this is why I started writing plays.
Plays are also the images constructed, the moods conjured, the totality of sensory and verbal devices used in a liminal space that is inhabited for that moment of telling a story to folks seated around you. —Irma Mayorga
As a woman of color, that is, as a Latina who can never under any circumstances pass for white, I am all too aware of the racial significations inscribed on my body that proceed and oftentimes impede me. These impediments and the way bodies have learned to mediate their racial significations is part of the story I want to tell on the stage.
As a playwright I am not solely concerned with words on a page; plays are more than thoughts and dialogues spoken aloud, more than words said. Plays are also the images constructed, the moods conjured, the totality of sensory and verbal devices used in a liminal space that is inhabited for that moment of telling a story to folks seated around you.
Elaine Romero: Here's the call I've received many times, "I love your play, but we don't have Latina/o actors," This has been true not only of all-Latina/o plays, but plays with as few as two Latina/o characters. Universities that have performed my work have cast the Latina/o actors outside of their theatre departments and even outside of their universities. These artists have received pushback from students for taking a role and making it not available to them. The authentic representation of my work has cost these artists.
Should universities who do not have students of color still be able to do my plays? The educator says yes and the playwright says no.—Elaine Romero
As writers of color, we need highly trained actors. These actors need the full benefit of the education at all universities without obstacles to entry via the canon itself, presuppositions about who should play whom, and being limited to roles that writers of color have written for them. Color-blind casting has to happen when students audition for program entry. It has to happen in high school and grade school. It has to become normalized, second-nature. If students of color have limitations on their ability to grow in a program, they will not dedicate their education to the theatre.
I want Latina/o actors to play Latina/o roles in my plays. A recent statement by the Dramatists Guild notes:
Play Licenses clearly state that 'no change to the play, including text, title, and stage directions are permitted without the approval of the author,' or words to that effect. Casting is an implicit part of the stage directions, to pretend otherwise is disingenuous.
No matter how a director slices it, casting falls under the purview of the playwright's copyright and must be legally handled as such. Yes, I do not want my diversity to be a barrier. The truth is that universities are worried about diversifying and are wondering how. Playwrights want students exposed to their work and wondering how. The educator in me fights with the playwright in me. Should universities who do not have students of color still be able to do my plays? The educator says yes and the playwright says no. If universities produce ethnically specific plays with any of the available swap-out options, what are we teaching the next generation of theatre artists? Experience has taught me that artists will duplicate whatever they have learned in school. I propose a national Diversified Guest Artist Program. This Diversified Guest Artist Program would include directors as well. The program would include training and mentorship for students of color. As a field, we have to find out what the barriers of entry are for students of color and find ways to address the diversification of our future. Otherwise, our future will be our past.


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