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Top Items:
PRESS RELEASE: Swedish Police Shuts Down Pirate Bay - Again — Inskrivet av Nyhetsgruppen 6 juli, 2007 — This Friday, it became known that the Swedish Police Board will shut down The Pirate Bay, the popular file sharing site, by classifying it as a child pornography site in the blocklist that Swedish Internet Providers respect.
Discussion: Techdirt and UNEASYsilence
Carlo Longino / Techdirt: Sweden To Try And Block The Pirate Bay, Again
Brokep / Copy me happy:
Swedish Police will CENSOR The Pirate Bay July 6 — Working online gives you a lot of friends. Some of those gives you heads up when something big is going on, and sometimes really big things happen. — A couple of hours ago I got one of those - The Swedish Police is going to put The Pirate Bay in it's child porn filter!
Discussion: TECH.BLORGE.com and TorrentFreak
George Gardner / TECH.BLORGE.com: The Pirate Bay - shut down again?
Thomas Mennecke / Slyck:
Swedish Police Attempt to Block The Pirate Bay — A press release from the Swedish Pirate Party is reporting that the Swedish police are attempting to block access to The Pirate Bay by reclassifying it as a child porn site. ISPs would then be asked to voluntarily block access to all Swedish citizens.
Discussion: Geek News Central
Todd Cochrane / Geek News Central: Swedish Police may ask ISP's to Block The Pirate Bay
Dawn Kawamoto / CNET News.com:
AMD invests $7.5 million in Transmeta — Advanced Micro Devices announced Friday a $7.5 million investment in chip designer Transmeta, strengthening the bond between the two chip companies. — As part of the investment, AMD will receive preferred shares of Transmeta.
Discussion: The Tech Report
Cyril Kowaliski / The Tech Report: AMD sinks $7.5 million into Transmeta
Bryan Gardiner / ExtremeTech: AMD Invests in Transmeta
Scott Ferguson / eWEEK.com: AMD Invests $7.5 Million in Transmeta
Aditya Agarwal / Facebook Blog:
Do we really need to write our own search engine? — We asked ourselves this question more than once while working on improvements to search in March 2006. At the time, there were bigger search engines out there, including some good open source ones, that we could have used to power Facebook search results.
Ashkan Karbasfrooshan / HipMojo.com: Facebook's Not So Subtle For Sale Sign
Nick O'Neill / All Facebook: Facebook Becomes the People Search Engine
Donna Bogatin / Insider Chatter: Facebook Search Engine: Who Needs Google PageRank!
Burtonator / Kevin Burton's NEW FeedBlog: Facebook Search — Niall pointed me out this post about Facebook's search:
Doug Caverly / WebProNews: Facebook Discusses Personalized People Search
Kristen Nicole / Mashable!: Facebook Claims to Lead in People Search
Robert Strohmeyer / Maximum PC:
2008: Year of the Linux Desktop — When Evans Data released its survey on Tuesday showing a sharp shift toward Linux (and away from Windows) among developers in North America, the Linux world went wild. Wistful pengiun heads heralded the coming Open Source Age.
UPDATE: FTC Clears Microsoft's $6 Billion AQuantive Buyout — SEATTLE (AP)—Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT) $6 billion acquisition of online advertising group aQuantive Inc. (AQNT) has cleared an antitrust regulatory hurdle, the companies said Friday. — The Federal Trade Commission mandates …
Discussion: ParisLemon, HipMojo.com and Search Engine Land
MG Siegler / ParisLemon: Does the FTC Feel Bad for Microsoft Now?
Ashkan Karbasfrooshan / HipMojo.com: Someone Made a Bundle, Risk-Free
Chris Sherman / Search Engine Land: FTC OKs Microsoft's aQuantive Acquisition
Todd Bishop / Todd Bishop's Microsoft Blog:
Microsoft's Xbox 360 move: What took so long? — The Xbox 360's "red ring of death" hardware failures were hardly news to video gamers. So the natural question to ask, following yesterday's news, is why Microsoft waited so long to acknowledge and address the problem.
Discussion: Digital Media Wire
Mark Hefflinger / Digital Media Wire: Microsoft Extends Xbox 360 Warranty, Takes $1 Billion Charge
Patrick Klepek / ExtremeTech: Microsoft's Peter Moore on New Xbox 360 Warranties
Global Business News Online:
exclusive: rupert murdoch buys dow jones, owners of the wall street journal — Rupert Murdoch has succeeded with his $5 billion bid for Dow Jones. Negotiations are now complete and a formal announcement is expected next week. — Rupert Murdoch has succeeded with his $5 billion bid for Dow Jones …
Robert MacMillan / Reuters: Dow Jones says News Corp. deal not yet reached
Jason Lee Miller / WebProNews: Dow Jones Denies News Corp. Buyout
John Evans / SYNTAGMA: Dow Jones and WSJ sell to Rupert Murdoch
Lucas Grindley / Lucas Grindley's blog: Was WSJ sold? Reporter versus commenter
Adario Strange / Epicenter: UK Tip: Murdoch To Seal Wall Street Journal Deal Next Week
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines: Rupe ready to close Dow Jones deal?
Alan Patrick / broadstuff: THE WALL STREET SUN
Peter Judge / CNET News.com:
Auction site sells security exploits — An eBay-like auction site that sells vulnerabilities will improve security by ensuring researchers get a fair price for their work, its founders say. — "The existing business model to reward researchers is a failure," said Herman Zampariolo …
Discussion: Download Squad, TechSpot News, Computerworld and Network World
Peter White / Download Squad: Finally, a place to buy software vulnerabilities
Jose Vilches / TechSpot News: WSLabi launches auction site for security exploits
Robert McMillan / Computerworld: Security company launches eBay for 0days
Robert McMillan / Network World: Security company launches eBay for bugs
Ryan Naraine / Zero Day:
Auction site opens up for exploits, vulnerabilities
Auction site opens up for exploits, vulnerabilities
Discussion: Bits and The Register
Brad Stone / Bits: A New Market for Software Flaws
John Leyden / The Register: Security flaw marketplace lays out its wares
Nick Gonzalez / TechCrunch:
Video Ads: Every Startup Has A Different Solution — It may seem weird, but I've been eagerly awaiting the day when I see ads in my viral video. eMarketer expects online video advertising to nearly double in 2008 to $1.3 billion, but no one's really nailed a scalable ad platform for video.
Discussion: HipMojo.com
Ashkan Karbasfrooshan / HipMojo.com: Online Ad Supremacy: Up For Grabs
Yazan Gable / Symantec Corp.:
Scammers make friends with charities — Symantec has observed an interesting trend in the world of Internet-based credit card fraud: fraudsters are donating money to charity. How could this happen? In the world of carding, where stolen credit card information is bought and sold …
Discussion: Security Fix, InfoWorld and CNET News.com
Brian Krebs / Security Fix: Scammers Play Robin Hood to Test Stolen Credit Cards
Matt Hines / InfoWorld: Hackers go Robin Hood?
Robert Vamosi / CNET News.com: Credit card thieves donate to charity
Rich Miller / Netcraft:
Performance Issues for Yahoo — Yahoo's web sites experienced brief performance problems earlier today, with users in some areas experiencing more significant problems than others. Yahoo is one of the world's busiest web sites (currently the number two Web destination for users of the Netcraft toolbar) …
Discussion: Crazy Canuck Chronicles, InfoWorld and Mashable!
Kristen Nicole / Mashable!: Yahoo Downtime Today
Gina Trapani / Lifehacker:
Lifehacker Top 10: Top 10 Ways to Declutter Your Digital Life — There's been lots of talk about de-cluttering your physical workspace in the productoblogosphere lately, but virtual clutter can drag you down and create as much stress and anxiety as physical junk can.
Discussion: digg
Ruth Gledhill / Times of London:
Manchester Cathedral says Sony apology not enough and issues new digital rules — Manchester Cathedral is calling for all video games manufacturers to sign up to a new set of "sacred digital guidelines" to prevent future "virtual desecration" of religious buildings.
Discussion: Joystiq, GamePolitics.com and Kotaku
Alexander Sliwinski / Joystiq: Behold 'Sacred Digital Guidelines' by the Church of England
Luke Plunkett / Kotaku: A Vengeful God: 4 Ways To Avoid S**tting Off The Church Of England
Danny King / Bloomberg:
EBay Chief Spurs Growth on PayPal, Beats Google Unit — EBay Inc.'s Meg Whitman is doing what most Internet chiefs can only dream of: She's beating Google Inc. in at least one corner of the Web. — In recent surveys, the world's largest auctioneer found that less than one out of five users …
Discussion: Valleywag
Eas / iPhone Unlocked:
iPhone Hacking News Update: iPhoneInterface Tool is Out!! — Major Update: See iPhone Hacking News Update (Noon 7/6/07): Something Big Coming for more. — Hot on the heels of the announcement of the iPhone Activation tool, the team behind all the work on the iPhone Dev Wiki is getting ready …
Discussion: The Unofficial Apple Weblog, Engadget Mobile, Engadget and digg
Nilay Patel / Engadget Mobile: iPhone hacked for shell access
Joshua Topolsky / Engadget: iPhoneInterface hack gets you inside the phone


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Anderson Cooper Brought His Boyfriend to Mardi Gras
Anderson Cooper was one of the grand masters of the Endymion parade yesterday, one of the largest in New Orleans annual Mardi Gras celebration. But he couldn't do it alone. No, he brought his "companion" along for the ride.
Cooper, Kelly Ripa (New York's A-gay fag hag numero uno), and her husband Mark Consuelos presided over the parade yesterday as grand marshals and partied at the New Orleans Convention Center the night before during the coronation ceremony. That's where this picture of The Coop and his main man, Benjamin Maisani was snapped. To up the queer factor, we hear Bravo honcho Andy Cohen was rolling with the group, too. It makes perfect sense for Ben to be there. He's the perfect Mardi Gras "companion," because he has no compunction about going shirtless in public.

subset: commoncrawl


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One Direction is a British-Irish boy band consisting of Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan and Zayn Malik. The group signed to Syco Records after finishing third in the seventh season of talent show, The X Factor
Go & Get your One Direction Tickets Now!
Ticketexecutive is your one-stop shop for online tickets. We carry tickets for the most important events including sports, theater, concerts with prices much lower than our competitors. When purchase tickets on TicketExecutive you make the right choice to get premium tickets and save money.Ticketexecutive Tickets © 2011 Privacy Policy • Terms Of Use


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Thermal-Powered Technology Could Be Used For Superhuman Exoskeletons, Realistic Robots, Adjustab
An international team led by The University of Texas at Dallas has discovered that ordinary fishing line and sewing thread can be cheaply converted to powerful artificial muscles.
The new muscles can lift 100 times more weight and generate 100 times higher mechanical power than a human muscle of the same length and weight. Per weight, they can generate 7.1 horsepower per kilogram, about the same mechanical power as a jet engine.
In a paper published Feb. 21 in the journal Science, the researchers explain that the powerful muscles are produced by twisting and coiling high-strength polymer fishing line and sewing thread. Scientists at UT Dallas' Alan G. MacDiarmid NanoTech Institute teamed with scientists from universities in Australia, South Korea, Canada, Turkey and China to accomplish the advances.
The muscles are powered thermally by temperature changes, which can be produced electrically, by the absorption of light or by the chemical reaction of fuels. Twisting the polymer fiber converts it to a torsional muscle that can spin a heavy rotor to more than 10,000 revolutions per minute. Subsequent twisting, so that the polymer fiber coils like a heavily twisted rubber band, produces a muscle that dramatically contracts along its length when heated, and returns to its initial length when cooled. If coiling is in a different twist direction than the initial polymer fiber twist, the muscles instead expand when heated.
Compared to natural muscles, which contract by only about 20 percent, these new muscles can contract by about 50 percent of their length. The muscle strokes also are reversible for millions of cycles as the muscles contract and expand under heavy mechanical loads.
"The application opportunities for these polymer muscles are vast," said corresponding author Dr. Ray Baughman, the Robert A. Welch Distinguished Chair in Chemistry at UT Dallas and director of the NanoTech Institute. "Today's most advanced humanoid robots, prosthetic limbs and wearable exoskeletons are limited by motors and hydraulic systems, whose size and weight restrict dexterity, force generation and work capability."
Baughman said the muscles could be used for applications in which superhuman strengths are sought, such as robots and exoskeletons. Twisting together a bundle of polyethylene fishing lines, whose total diameter is only about 10 times larger than a human hair, produces a coiled polymer muscle that can lift 16 pounds. Operated in parallel, similar to how natural muscles are configured, 100 of these polymer muscles could lift about 1,600 pounds, Baughman said.
On the opposite extreme, independently operated coiled polymer muscles having a diameter less than a human hair could bring lifelike facial expressions to humanoid companion robots for the elderly and dexterous capabilities for minimally invasive robotic microsurgery. Also, they could power miniature "laboratories on a chip," as well as devices for communicating the sense of touch from sensors on a remote robotic hand to a human hand.
The polymer muscles are normally electrically powered by resistive heating using the metal coating on sewing thread or by using metal wires that are twisted together with the muscle. For other applications, however, the muscles can be self-powered by environmental temperature changes, said Carter Haines, lead author of the study.
"We have woven textiles from the polymer muscles whose pores reversibly open and close with changes in temperature. This offers the future possibility of comfort-adjusting clothing," said Haines, who started his research career in Baughman's lab as a high school student doing summer research through the George A. Jeffrey NanoExplorers Program, which Baughman initiated. Haines earned an undergraduate physics degree from UT Dallas and is now a doctoral student in materials science and engineering.
The research team also has demonstrated the feasibility of using environmentally powered muscles to automatically open and close the windows of greenhouses or buildings in response to ambient temperature changes, thereby eliminating the need for electricity or noisy and costly motors.
Other UT Dallas NanoTech Institute researchers involved with the work are Dr. Shaoli Fang, associate research professor; Dr. Márcio Lima and Dr. Mikhail Kozlov, research scientists; Dr. Na Li, Dr. Mônica Jung de Andrade, Dr. Jiyoung Oh and Dr. Xavier Lépro, research associates; and Benjamin Swedlove, graduate research assistant.
International collaborators are Dr. Geoffrey M. Spinks, Dr. Javad Foroughi, Dr. Sina Naficy and Dr. Gordon G. Wallace from the University of Wollongong (Australia); Dr. Fatma Göktepe and Dr. Özer Göktepe from Namik Kemal University (Turkey); Shi Hyeong Kim and Dr. Seon Jeong Kim from Hanyang University (Korea); Seyed M. Mirvakili and Dr. John D. W. Madden from the University of British Columbia (Canada); and Xiuru Xu from Jilin University (China).
The research was principally funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, with additional funding from the Air Force, the Office of Naval Research, the Robert A. Welch Foundation, the Creative Research Initiative Center for Bio-Artificial Muscle, the Korea-U.S. Air Force Cooperation Program, the Australian Research Council, the Australian National Fabrication Facility, a Canada Discovery grant, the China National 973 Project and NSF China.


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Comic book series : Old jewish comedians
Old jewish comedians
Allowing Drew Friedman to indulge his fondness for wrinkles and liver spots to the hilt, this portrait gallery of Jewish comedians born before 1930 includes the famous (Milton Berle, George Burns, Groucho Marx, Jerry Lewis, Alan King, Mel Brooks, Buddy Hackett, Phil Silvers, Jack Benny, Henny Youngman), the not-so-famous (Irwin Corey, Benny Rubin, Shelly Berman, Shecky Greene) and the largely unknown (Al Kelly, Menasha Skulnik). Old Jewish Comedians traces a direct link not only to the traditions of vaudeville and burlesque but to the once-thriving international Yiddish theatre and culture. Featuring a fascinating historical introduction by none other than Leonard Maltin!
"Drew Friedman is the unchallenged living master of the art of caricature, pushing it far beyond the centuries-old tricks of clever physiognomic exaggeration and social skewering into a new, almost biological realm; his portraits and drawings have a lucidity that's unsettlingly scientific, as if Honore Daumier, Ivan Albright, and a forensic doctor were all guiding his hand. He makes me feel the fat hanging off my face and those tiny bumps on my arms that never seem to go away no matter how hard I scrub at them." – Chris Ware


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From Ryan Gile: Is CUPCAKERY a generic term for a cupcake bakery?
At first, the word "cupcakery" seems somewhat suggestive–a unique play on the words cupcake and bakery. However, with the explosive growth of these specialty "cupcake" stores, several other "cupcakeries" have opened up in different parts of the country. Just a quick internet search revealed the following third parties using the word "cupcakery" to identify their cupcake store:
And at least one company (with stores in St. Louis, MO and Knoxville, TN) is using the identical mark as The Cupcakery)
So would most consumers really associate the word "Cupcakery" with a single source–or more likely a merely descriptive term describing a cupcake bakery? . . .
While "cupcakery" may have been a unique word at one time, because The Cupcakery did not pursue trademark protection early (assuming that the company was the first one to use the phrase – a fact I have not verified), such oversight may have resulted in the word "cupcakery" joining the general lexicon as a word identifying a "cupcake bakery" rather than a word identifying a single source of goods and services.
Ryan's made out a nice case for genericness. But I think there's still an argument for the term being protectible, at least in theory–there's a lot more going on in the case than the genericness question, and you should read Ryan's whole piece. It is not usually the case that third party uses, in and of themselves, prove genericness. A relatively new business that belatedly gets its act together and begins an IP enforcement program can, under some circumstances, recover its trademark, as long as it really is the senior user (and sometimes even if it's not).
Overcoming such a problem may not be easy. In the CUPCAKERY case, involving a former employee accused of violating all sorts of agreements and then opening up a competing business using the CUPCAKERY name, it may be easier than in other contexts.
Anyway, it's a fitting dessert to the week, especially now that Passover is behind us!
Originally posted 2013-03-29 13:18:10. Republished by Blog Post Promoter


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Handmade Miniature Rattan Suitcase - Picnic Basket 1/12 Scale Dollhouse Accessory
Handmade Miniature Rattan Suitcase - Picnic Basket 1/12 Scale Dollhouse Accessory
Low stock: 1 left
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Measuring approx. 5 cm x4 cm x1.9 cm (1.97" x 1.57" x 0.75").
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text: 16:34pm Monday 15 Dec 2014 ACT Emergency Services Agency Commissioner Dominic Lane has declared a Total Fire Ban for the whole of the ACT under Section 114 of the Emergencies Act 2004 from: 12:00am Tuesday 16 December, 2014 to 11:59pm Tuesday 16 December, 2014. The Bureau of Meteorology is forecasting hot and north westerly winds tomorrow with a predicted temperature of 34 degrees. The Forecast Fire Danger Rating (FDR) for tomorrow is predicted to be SEVERE. If a fire starts at the forecast fire danger level of SEVERE it may be uncontrollable and move quickly. Flames may be higher than roof tops. Expect embers to be blown around. Spot fires may occur up to 4 km ahead of the main fire. There is a chance people in the path of a fire may be injured or die. Some homes and businesses may be destroyed. Leaving early is the safest option for your survival. Well prepared and actively defended houses can offer safety during a fire. The ESA advises you to make sure you know where you will get more information and monitor the situation for any changes. You can do this through local ACT media outlets, the ESA website esa.act.gov.au ,the ESA Twitter and Facebook accounts or by calling Canberra Connect on 13 22 81. Territory and Municipal Services advises that due to the total fire ban declaration, the following nature reserves and roads will be closed:Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve, selected roads within Namadgi National Park including Apollo Road, Orroral Road, Old Mill Road, Warks Road, Mount Franklin Road and the Corin Dam Road, Googong Foreshores, Kowen Forest, Lower Molonglo River Corridor, Molonglo Gorge Nature Reserve, Mulligans Flat Woodlands Sanctuary and the Centenary Trail between Goorooyarroo Nature Reserve and Hall.The Boboyan Road and Brindabella Road remain open to through traffic. The Tidbinbilla and Namadgi Visitors Centres will remain open. Swimming areas at the Cotter and along the Murrumbidgee River such as Kambah Pool, Pine Island Point Hut and Uriarra Crossing will remain open.Electric BBQs in Parks and Reserves including the National Arboretum Canberra and in Canberra's urban parks will be available, however all gas barbeques will be turned off. If a fire starts during the Total Fire Ban declaration period, the ESA advises you monitor the situation for any changes through local ACT media outlets, the ACT Emergency Services Agency website esa.act.gov.au or by calling Canberra Connect on 13 22 81. To find out more about Total Fire Bans log on to the ACT Emergency Services Agency website esa.act.gov.au or call Canberra Connect on 13 22 81.


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Excerpt from The Last Winter of Dani Lancing
Read the first four chapters of the chilling debut thriller from P. D. Viner
Twenty years ago, college student Dani Lancing was kidnapped and brutally murdered. The killer was never found. Dani's family never found peace.
Thrust into an intense devastation that nearly destroys their marriage, Patty and Jim Lancing struggle to deal with their harrowing loss. Patty is fanatically obsessed with the cold case; consumed by every possible clue or suspect no matter how far-fetched, she goes to horrifying lengths to help clarify the past. Meanwhile, Jim has become a shell of his former self, broken down and haunted—sometimes literally—by his young daughter's death. Dani's childhood sweetheart, Tom, handles his own grief every day on the job—he's become a detective intent on solving murders of other young women, and hopes to one day close Dani's case himself.
Then everything changes when Tom finds a promising new lead. As lies and secrets are unearthed, the heartbreaking truth behind Dani's murder is finally revealed. The Last Winter of Dani Lancing is a shockingly disturbing and deeply powerful debut, and P.D. Viner immediately joins the ranks of Tana French, A. S. A. Harrison, and Gillian Flynn.


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Choose from print-only or framed prints (with mount) in a variety of sizes and frame colours;
Print Sizes;
A4 (29.7 x 21cm / 8.3 x 11.7")
A3 (42 x 29.7cm / 11.7 x 16.5")
A2 (59.4 x 42cm / 16.5 x 23.4")
A1 (84.1 x 59.4cm / 23.4 x 33.1")
Print Only; expertly printed on a museum-quality 200 gsm heavyweight paper which is acid and lignin-free and proven to be light resistant for at least 100 years. Both the paper and the premium quality giclee inks we use are archival quality. Your print will come rolled in a protective tube.
Framed prints in a choice of white, black or natural wood frames; created from high-quality wood, milled with simple clean lines and presented with a satin finish. The frame has a square, modern profile which works well in both contemporary and traditional environments.
We use Acrylic Plexiglass to glaze your print; this provides increased UV protection, is extremely robust and offers less glare than float glass.
All mounts are 'conservation' grade, FSC certified, 100% acid free, and will not discolour or fade with age.
Our Gillian Kyle art prints are carefully printed and framed to order by our specialist fine art printer and framer. Returns can only be accepted through our error or faulty/damaged product. We aim to deliver your prints in around a week. Thank you.


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About two and a half years ago I wrote a blog post entitled, Decoding skills: a neglected part of listening comprehension? In the time since then it seems that many of us have stopped neglecting those poor decoding skills, and that an interest in how decoding can help develop both listening and reading skills is on the rise.
A recent question posed by Mike Harrison on the IATEFL Facebook page about developing (rather than testing) listening skills led to a flurry of useful links in the comments, which I list below:
A presentation by John Field on Rethinking the Comprehension Approach to Listening
A summary of Sandy Millin's 2014 presentation at IATEFL on teaching rather than testing listening
Olga Sergeeva's blog on using authentic video clips to focus on bottom up skills.
A series of Listening Skills books written by Sheila Thorn (which I have mentioned before but which have now been re-published by Collins)
Hancock and McDonald's forthcoming Authentic Listening Resource pack, which looks great.
Richard Cauldwell's innovative app Cool Speech
And last, but not least, I can now reveal (drum roll), that I have spent the last eighteen months working on a new adult coursebook series for OUP, Navigate, which has a spread in each unit focusing on decoding activities to develop listening and reading skills. Here's a short video of me talking about the theory behind a listening skills lesson I gave in Oxford over the summer.
You can also see a fuller version of the lesson and download the materials and lesson plan here.
It's great to see so much happening in this area, and I'd be very happy to add any other links that people have- just comment below.


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5 up, 5 down for the playoffs
In the aftermath of Indianapolis' fourth comeback this season from a double-digit halftime deficit, which included the eighth game-winning drive of quarterback Andrew Luck's two-year career, Colts General Manager Ryan Grigson was comparing Luck to Michael Jordan in an interview with NFL Network's Albert Breer.
While that's a tad apocryphal, there is no question that Luck is on the right path, particularly as he faces off against one of the great comeback masters of NFL history, New England's Tom Brady on Saturday night in Foxboro, Mass. In two seasons, Luck has 11 fourth-quarter comebacks and eight game-winning drives.
Luck already has 11 fourth-quarter comebacks in just two NFL seasons.
Brady, who is in his 14th season, has 42 comebacks and 31 game-winning drives. That includes two game-winning playoff drives during his historic 2001 season, when he took over as the starter and led the Patriots to the Super Bowl title.
All of which sets up a fantastic look at the once and future of NFL quarterbacking in the second round of the AFC playoffs. However, Luck has been doing this game-ending stuff for quite some time.
As a junior in high school, Luck was playing in a Texas seven-on-seven tournament with his teammates from Stratford High in Houston when they faced a squad from Lufkin High. On the Lufkin team was Dez Bryant, who was as unstoppable then as he is now.
Luck engineered a final, game-winning drive. Almost as important, Luck did it by eating up nearly five minutes of the clock. That's absurd in seven-on-seven football and Luck did it with the kind of precision that left Lufkin with no chance to get the ball to Bryant for a miracle finish.
Stratford coach Eliot Allen, who was sitting in the stands and watching because high school coaches aren't allowed to run seven-on-seven teams in Texas, shook his head as he watched Luck finish the drive. Allen turned to his assistant coaches and called the exhibition "brain surgery."
On Saturday, Luck put on another show that was as much mind over matter. Luck and the Colts put themselves in yet another first-half hole. Luck contributed to that deficit with back-to-back interceptions in the first half and a third in the second half.
But as the saying goes, if you don't mind, it doesn't matter. Luck kept throwing and, most importantly, did it aggressively. Despite Kansas City being able to pass rush with impunity, Luck found a way to hit deep passes of 64 yards to T.Y. Hilton (who finished with 13 catches for 224 yards) and 46 to Da'rick Rogers.
Those throws were critical to the Colts putting together one of the most stunning comebacks in playoff history. In just two years, this is becoming old hat for Luck. Then again, he's been at it a lot longer than that.
1. San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick – While Kaepernick didn't replicate his record-setting rushing performance from a year ago against the Packers, he was still good enough that Green Bay will have more nightmares about him running around. His 28-yard touchdown pass to Vernon Davis in the fourth quarter was a brilliant throw and a great response after Green Bay took the league only moments before. Likewise, Kaepernick rushed for 98 yards on seven carries, setting up San Francisco's first touchdown with a 42-yard run and then set up the game-winning field goal with a critical 11-yard run on third down for a first down.
ICONPayton and the Saints found a way to get it done on the road Saturday in Philadelphia.
2. New Orleans coach Sean Payton – In a season when his team has been fraught with doubt for its inability to win on the road, Payton was able to keep his team focused for its toughest road test of the season. Payton didn't lose his cool after quarterback Drew Brees threw two first-half interceptions, sticking with the running game in the second half.
3. Old kickers – Between 38-year-old Phil Dawson and 36-year-old Shayne Graham, this was a brilliant weekend. Both hit game-winning field goals as time expired and went a combined seven for seven in brutally cold weather. Both also ended long careers of playoff futility. Dawson was playing in only the second playoff game of his career and hadn't been in the playoffs since 2002. As for Graham, he has been on a four-season, 10-team odyssey that started with an ugly playoff performance in Cincinnati in January 2010. That's the day that Graham missed field goals of 28 and 35 yards in a 24-14 loss to the New York Jets in the first round of the playoffs. After the game, Bengals coach Marvin Lewis sadly admitted that Graham's performance "killed us." While Lewis allowed that Graham felt worse about it than anyone, that didn't stop the Bengals from letting go of Graham in the offseason, ending his seven-year run in Cincinnati. Since then, Graham hasn't been with any team for longer than seven months. He landed in New Orleans three weeks ago after the team cut Garrett Hartley. On Saturday night, Graham hit four field goals, including two as time elapsed in both the game and first half. At 36, Graham might have earned a return to New Orleans next season.
4. Indianapolis running back Donald Brown – Like Graham, Brown hasn't appeared in the playoffs since playing in three postseason games in the 2009 season. In both 2010 and 2012, Brown didn't get any playing time in the playoffs and his inconsistent career was largely to blame. On Saturday, Brown played a vital role in the Colts comeback and continued what has been the best season of his career. He scored two touchdowns and had 102 yards combined rushing and receiving. His back-to-back scores in the third quarter got the Colts within two touchdowns. Moreover, Brown is doing this just as he's heading into free agency.
5. San Diego offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt – One year removed from getting fired by Arizona, Whisenhunt has become the hottest name on the coaching front. He is on the short-list for Detroit and Tennessee and will be considered by Cleveland if the Browns don't get Josh McDaniels. Whisenhunt's work this season to get Philip Rivers back on track has made him a prime target for Detroit, which is trying to get Matt Stafford on the right track.
1. Kansas City coach Andy Reid – It's hard to blame a coach who loses his best offensive player (Jamaal Charles) on the first drive and still manages to put up 44 points. However, Reid is going to take his lumps after a game in which he had a 28-point lead at half and called 23 passes and only 11 runs in the second half. Time management has never been an area of expertise for Reid, even when he has the lead. Not a good way to end such a glorious season for Reid and the Chiefs.
2. Running backs – After only one week of the playoffs, none of the top five leading rushers in the NFL this season remain in the playoffs. League leader LeSean McCoy was knocked out on Saturday night when Philadelphia lost to New Orleans. As mentioned, Charles, who led the AFC in rushing, was knocked out in the first quarter. Worse for Charles, the Chiefs were able to score quite easily without him. The trend for years is that running backs are less and less valuable. This year, the playoffs are merely further proof.
Another year, another postseason disaster for Andy Dalton.
3. Cincinnati quarterback Andy Dalton – The postseason nightmare continues for Dalton, who had three turnovers in the second half for Cincinnati. While Dalton has led the Bengals to the playoffs all three years he has been in the league, he now has seven turnovers (six interceptions and one fumble on a play in which he wasn't even hit) in three playoff games.
4. Philadelphia's third-down offense – After converting two of its first four third-down situations, Philadelphia converted only one of eight the rest of the game. As a result, coach Chip Kelly's electric offense was limited to only 256 yards of total offense. Ugly.
5. Green Bay backup cornerback Jarrett Bush – Bush doesn't blitz a lot and it's really hard to come down on a guy who doesn't play much, but he made a huge technical error on a third-and-8 play in the fourth quarter, allowing Kaepernick to get away. The 11-yard run not only converted for a first down, but set up the game-winning field goal and put San Francisco in position to run out the clock.
Follow Jason on Twitter: @JasonPhilCole


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Every day, Watch This offers staff recommendations inspired by a new movie coming out that week. From 2013: Trance had us hallucinating.
Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas (1998)
By 1971, writer Hunter S. Thompson was feeling the strain of being the standard-bearer for the new kind of highly subjective, style-conscious journalism dubbed "gonzo." So when Sports Illustrated assigned Thompson to cover a motorcycle race in Las Vegas—and then rejected the article—he responded by writing the angriest, most impassioned piece of his career. Thompson's Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas is a vicious, drug-fueled screed about the meaning of the gambling mecca, and how the hippie ideal had become corrupted by the Nixon-era version of the American Dream. Director Terry Gilliam's 1998 film adaptation doesn't just translate Thompson's opus into pictures; it's also a comment on Thompson's larger-than-life personality and the underlying themes that are often hard to find beneath his freeform prose. Johnny Depp stars as Thompson's pseudonymous character Raoul Duke, who along with attorney Oscar Zeta Acosta (played by a bloated Benicio Del Toro), races across the desert in a rental car stocked with bizarre pharmaceuticals. Like the article that precedes it, there's not much plot to Fear And Loathing, beyond a brief digression where Thompson abandons the motocross story to cover a convention of narcotics agents. Mostly the film consists of Depp and Del Toro cavorting around Vegas, rambling nonsensically, and leaving a trail of destruction and filth in their wake.
Gilliam conveys all this with the help of a staggering visual style that would make Oliver Stone nauseated. He shoots with a relentlessly wobbling camera, while shifting color schemes on a whim, relying heavily on Depp's bellowing narration to explicate the action. Depp's sweet face belies the rage and dementia in Thompson's words. (The man's loathing has always been easy to grasp; Depp gets beneath the fear.) Gilliam sprinkles in moments of crystalline clarity to justify the foulness, as in the key image of the film: Depp and Del Toro howling with sorrow while tooling down the Strip in a vomit-streaked convertible, as four elderly tourists ride in a car beside them and try to avoid meeting their gaze. Here are two sets of Americans, each looking for artificially induced happiness in a world of glitter, with neither wanting to acknowledge the other. This is the soul of Thompson's writing at its best: a drunkard suddenly seeing through all the fake politeness and hypocrisy of society and not knowing whether to laugh at it or throw up in its face.
Availability: Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas is available on DVD and Blu-ray from Universal and Criterion, and for digital rental or download from multiple online retailers.


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Maze Runner: The Death Cure
In the epic finale to The Maze Runner Saga, Thomas leads his group of escaped Gladers on their final and most dangerous mission yet. To save their friends, they must break into the legendary last city, a WCKD controlled labyrinth that may turn out to be the deadliest maze of all. Anyone who makes it out alive will get the answers to the questions the Gladers have been asking since they first arrived in the maze. Will Thomas and the crew make it out alive? Or will Ava Paige get her way?
Released: 2018
Country: United States
Director: Wes Ball


text:
Butler goes deep, Royals win 4-2 over Giants
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Billy Butler is hot at the plate and Kansas City Royals are even hotter.
Butler homered and drove in three runs and right fielder Nori Aoki threw out two runners in the same inning as the Royals beat the San Francisco Giants 4-2 Friday night for their fifth straight victory.
The Royals, who have not been in the playoffs since winning the 1985 World Series, hold a half game lead for the second AL wild card. They have won 13 of 16.
Butler, who is hitting .423 in the past seven games, homered with two out in the first off Madison Bumgarner (13-9). In the past 13 games, Butler has four home runs and 11 RBIs.
"Those are feeling really good," Butler said. "Bumgarner is one of the best pitchers in the National League and in baseball in general. I just caught one out front. He battled all night, throwing a complete game. We capitalized on a few mistakes and got some runs across."
Said Bumgarner of Butler's homer, "It just caught a bit too much of the middle of the plate. He's a good hitter."
Butler singled home the go-ahead run in the two-run sixth, which was aided by throwing errors on Giants infielders Michael Morse and Matt Duffy. Alex Gordon had an RBI single.
"Morse had more time than he thought," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "You'd just like to get one out there. Duffy knew he came of the bag and was trying to get the out (at first)."
The Giants scored twice in the third on Joaquin Arias' double and Matt Duffy's single. Aoki prevented a bigger inning, throwing out Hunter Pence at third and Arias at home.
"You might get two in a game, but never two in an inning," Aoki said through a translator.
The Giants out hit the Royals 12-7, but self-destructed with three errors and base running blunders.
Bumgarner went the distance, allowing four runs on seven hits, while walking none and striking out five. His road scoreless streak was snapped at 17 innings.
Jason Frasor (3-1), the second of five Royals pitchers, threw a spotless sixth, striking out two. Greg Holland pitched a flawless ninth for his American League-leading 33rd save in 35 opportunities. It was Holland's 100th career save.
Giants: First baseman Brandon Belt was placed on the concussion list for the second time within a month. Belt missed 12 games after a July 19 concussion before being activated Aug. 2, but left the game Wednesday with a headache.
Royals: Left-hander Jason Vargas made his second start after a July 9 appendectomy, giving up nine hits and two runs in five innings.
Giants: Tim Hudson will be making his 11th career start against the Royals, but his first since 2004 when he was with Oakland.
Royals: James Shields, who has a 1.99 ERA in his past six starts, has a 26-12 career record with a 3.15 ERA in August.
Aoki became the third Royals outfielder and the first since Royals Hall of Famer Amos Otis on April 25, 1970 to log two assists in an inning. The first was Bob Oliver on Sept. 16, 1969. Aoki said he was not familiar with Otis, a five-time All-Star. "I wasn't even born in 1970," Aoki said.
Wade Davis extended his scoreless streak to 15 2/3 innings, although he gave up two hits in the eighth. Kelvin Herrera worked a scoreless seventh and has allowed one run in 20 2/3 innings since June 7.


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text:
***Apologies for multiple postings***
Call for Submissions
Modeling, Design, and Analysis for Service-oriented Architectures Workshop
co-located with the 2006 IEEE International Conferences on
Services Computing (SCC 2006) and Web Services (ICWS 2006)
September 18, 2006, Chicago, Illinois, USA
A new paradigm – service-orientation – is currently emerging for
computing and e-business processing; it has evolved from object-oriented
and component-based computing to enable building agile networks of
collaborating business applications distributed within and across
organizational boundaries. This new paradigm utilizes services (autonomous
platform-independent computational elements that can be described,
discovered and accessed over the Internet using standard protocols) as
fundamental elements for developing applications/solutions; services
will be
important for customers and not the specific software or hardware component
that is used to implement the services. In this context, services become
next level of abstraction in the process of creating systems that would
automation of e-businesses. This paradigm shift is changing the way the
computer software is developed and used (designed, architected, delivered,
consumed, and analysed), and this way of reorganizing software applications
and infrastructure into a set of interacting services is usually
referred to as
Service-oriented Architectures (SOA).
In recent years, various forms of service-oriented architectures have
amongst them, Web services, Grid services, Semantic Web Services, and
e-Services are the most important. Although they share some of the
of service-oriented architectures, they differ in many other aspects,
which is an
undesirable situation in the context of service-oriented architectures.
standard protocols are a basic principle of SOA, this undesirable
situation is
partly due also to the fact that there are currently no mature
and techniques to support analysis for service-oriented architectures.
all these forms of service-oriented architectures have developed
different conceptual
models, resulting in different methodologies for modelling and designing
service-oriented architectures.
In this context, this workshop aims to tackle the research problems (as
well as
practical experiences) around methods, concepts, models, languages and
technology that enable computing in service-oriented environments. Of
interest are the architectural, technical, and developmental foundations of
service-oriented architectures, and showing how they combine
to enable distributed computing on the scale required by today's
This proposed workshop aims to bring together researchers and industry
practitioners (e.g. leading modelers, architects, system vendors,
projects, developers, and end-users) addressing many of these issues
recent developments in tools and techniques, and real-world
implementations of
service-oriented distributed applications), and promote and foster a
understanding of how service-oriented architectures can assist business to
business and enterprise application integration, thus helping people
and manage business processes more efficiently and effectively.
The following indicates the general focus of the workshop. However, related
contributions are welcome as well.
* case studies for service-oriented architectures and systems
* analysis methodologies for service-oriented architectures and systems
* languages and methods for service-oriented architectures
* specification of service-oriented architectures
* modeling and simulation of service-oriented architectures
* verification and validation of service-oriented architectures
* evaluation of service-oriented architectures
* analysis and design of mobile service-oriented architectures
* patterns in modelling, design, and analysis for service-oriented
* guidelines for developing service-oriented applications
* techniques for integrating service-oriented architectures
* semantic aspects and ontologies for service-oriented architectures
* formal models for service-oriented architectures; reasoning with
service-oriented architectures
* service-oriented architectures and service application design and
integration using MDA
* quality of services (QoS) analysis and modelling in service-oriented
* services level agreements (SLAs) modelling and negotiation in
* analysis and modelling of security, privacy, and trust in
service-oriented architectures
* policy-based service-oriented architectures
* methods for migrating legacy systems to service-oriented architectures
* discovery, composition, execution, monitoring, and mediation in
service-oriented architectures
* adaptability and recovery strategies in service-oriented architectures
* governance in service-oriented architectures
* technologies for service-oriented architectures: Web services, Grid
Semantic Web Services, and e-Services
* middleware in SOA
* standards for service-oriented architectures
* tool for modelling, designing, and analysing service-oriented
The program will occupy a full day, and will include presentations of
papers selected from the full papers category (see 'submissions' below).
Please note that at least one author of each accepted submission must
attend the workshop. The ICWS/SCC 2006 conference formalities are applied
for fees and respective organizational aspects. Submission of a paper
is not required for attendance at the workshop. However, in the event
that the workshop cannot accommodate all who would like to participate,
those who have submitted a paper (in any category) will be given
priority for registration.
The workshop invites different types of contributions:
* Papers
* Demos
* Posters / Position papers
Papers:The papers should not exceed 8 pages and should have the
IEEE layout.
Demos: Detailed description plus sufficient number of screenshots or
a video of the demo are required. For paper-based submissions,
please follow the IEEE layout. Please note that at the workshop itself
no technical support is provided except possibly Internet connection
and power (to be confirmed).
Posters/Position papers: The posters/position papers should not
exceed 4 pages and should have the IEEE layout.
All contributions will be peer reviewed by a program committee that
will incorporate well recognized experts in the area of service-oriented
All submissions should be formatted in the IEEE layout, and should
be submitted in electronic format using the link:
All accepted full papers and all position papers of attendees will be
published in the proceedings of the workshop. Workshop proceedings
will be published with IEEE Computer Society Press and will be available
at the workshop.
Submissions: April 27, 2006
Acceptance: May 22, 2006
Final copy: May 31, 2006
Workshops day: September 18, 2006
Christoph Bussler (Cisco Systems, Inc., USA),
Dumitru Roman (DERI Innsbruck, Austria),
Simon Shim (San Jose State University, USA),
Jian Yang (Macquaire University, Australia)
Mikio Aoyama, Nanzan University, Japan
Ali Arsanjani, IBM, USA
Siegfried Benkner, University of Vienna, Austria
Pautasso Cesare, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
Roy Grønmo, SINTEF, Norway
Sung-Kook Han, Wonkwang University, South Korea
Mihhail Matskin, Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden
Barry Norton, Open University, UK
Guadalupe Ortiz, University of Extremadura, Spain
Claus Pahl, Dublin City University, Ireland
Brahmananda Sapkota, DERI, Ireland
Ioan Toma, DERI Innsbruck, Austria
Jari Veijalainen, University of Potsdam, Germany
Liang-Jie Zhang, IBM, USA
Andrea Zisman, City University, UK
to be extended...
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text:
- Home
- Town Government
- Departments & Services
- Davidson Design for Life
Davidson Design for Life
Davidson Design for Life (DD4L) was an initiative of the Town of Davidson, North Carolina to foster healthy community design through the use of health impact assessments (HIA), public participation, and collaborative efforts in Davidson, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg region, and North Carolina. In September of 2011, the Town of Davidson received a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Healthy Community Design Initiative to conduct three HIAs and to train others in conducting HIAs. This grant, which required no direct costs to the town, enabled Davidson to hire a DD4L Coordinator to conduct these HIAs and promote healthy community design.The grant was highly competitive and ranked Davidson equal to public health departments in Oregon, Massachusetts, San Francisco, Baltimore, and Douglas County Nebraska (Omaha). The initiative was funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from December 2011 to November 2014. As a result of the initiative, nine HIAs were completed, six HIA trainings took place, including the creation of the Southeast Regional HIA Summit, and a documentary was created. For additional information about the DD4L initiative or the following HIA reports, please contact Katherine Hebert former DD4L Coordinator at email@example.com.
Health Impact Assessment
HIA is a decision support tool, providing information on the potential health impacts of a policy, plan, project, or program to decision makers (commonly outside of the health sector) prior to the decision being made. The purpose of doing an HIA is to encourage public participation in a democratic, decision-making process when feasible, and to bring the potential health impacts (whether positive or negative) to the attention of decision-makers who then have to weigh this information with other factors of the decision being made. HIA can be used to choose between potential alternatives identified by stakeholders or to make recommendations of ways a proposal can be improved to limit harmful health impacts and promote positive health outcomes.
HIA is a democratic process used to promote health in all policies and incorporates a broad definition of health and the social determinates of health to promote health equity. HIAs have been done all over the United States starting in the early 1990s on a wide variety of topics including transportation projects and plans, economic policy, housing and redevelopment projects, agricultural and nutrition policies, energy and sustainable growth plans, and many more. Each HIA is different and the beauty of the practice of HIA is that as long as the overall process is followed, the data sources and analytic methods used can be changed to meet the needs of each HIA.
2012 HIA Reports:
- Senate Bill 731: Zoning/Design and Aesthetic Controls
- Town of Davidson Street Design Standards
- Red Line Regional Rail
- Davidson Parks, Recreation, and Public Spaces Master Plan
- Universal Design in Single-Family Housing
- Davidson Walks & Rolls Active Transportation Master Plan Appendix A
- Worksite Wellness in Davidson, NC
- Food System Plan to Promote Healthy, Local Food Production and Consumption in Davidson, NC
- Comprehensive Plan Update
Other Resources:
- Documentary: "Davidson Design for Life: An Initiative to Improve the Health of a Community"
- HIA Training Video


text:
pdf.js' approach to enabling text-selection is actually quite clever. The library overlays divs over the PDF, and these divs contain text that matches the PDF text that they are floating over. So when you select the text, you are actually selecting the text inside the overlaid divs. This was fine and dandy, but I was still stuck as far as getting this to work on my project. What I needed was a minimal example that I could adapt for my uses. After a day or two of tracing code, experimenting, debugging, and staring at the screen in frustration, I was eventually able to come up with a minimal example! To accomplish this, I extracted code that was relevant to creating the overlays out of the viewer code, into its own independent file. I also removed a lot of code that was dependent on the viewer itself. Keep in mind that this example doesn't have functionality like text finding or matching, and that code is also heavily intertwined with the viewer code. All this example does is render a PDF with text-selection enabled. However, I think this is a good start!
If you are interested, you can check out the code on github and a working example on this fiddle.
The pertintent code is as follows (keep in mind you still require additional resources; all of that information is available on github):
window.onload = function () {
var pdfBase64 = "..."; //base64 representing the PDF
var scale = 1.5; //Set this to whatever you want. This is basically the "zoom" factor for the PDF.
* Converts a base64 string into a Uint8Array
function base64ToUint8Array(base64) {
var raw = atob(base64); //This is a native function that decodes a base64-encoded string.
var uint8Array = new Uint8Array(new ArrayBuffer(raw.length));
for (var i = 0; i < raw.length; i++) {
uint8Array[i] = raw.charCodeAt(i);
return uint8Array;
function loadPdf(pdfData) {
PDFJS.disableWorker = true; //Not using web workers. Not disabling results in an error. This line is
//missing in the example code for rendering a pdf.
var pdf = PDFJS.getDocument(pdfData);
function renderPdf(pdf) {
function renderPage(page) {
var viewport = page.getViewport(scale);
var $canvas = jQuery("<canvas></canvas>");
//Set the canvas height and width to the height and width of the viewport
var canvas = $canvas.get(0);
var context = canvas.getContext("2d");
canvas.height = viewport.height;
canvas.width = viewport.width;
//Append the canvas to the pdf container div
var $pdfContainer = jQuery("#pdfContainer");
$pdfContainer.css("height", canvas.height + "px").css("width", canvas.width + "px");
//The following few lines of code set up scaling on the context if we are on a HiDPI display
var outputScale = getOutputScale();
if (outputScale.scaled) {
var cssScale = 'scale(' + (1 / outputScale.sx) + ', ' +
(1 / outputScale.sy) + ')';
CustomStyle.setProp('transform', canvas, cssScale);
CustomStyle.setProp('transformOrigin', canvas, '0% 0%');
if ($textLayerDiv.get(0)) {
CustomStyle.setProp('transform', $textLayerDiv.get(0), cssScale);
CustomStyle.setProp('transformOrigin', $textLayerDiv.get(0), '0% 0%');
context._scaleX = outputScale.sx;
context._scaleY = outputScale.sy;
if (outputScale.scaled) {
context.scale(outputScale.sx, outputScale.sy);
var canvasOffset = $canvas.offset();
var $textLayerDiv = jQuery("<div />")
.css("height", viewport.height + "px")
.css("width", viewport.width + "px")
top: canvasOffset.top,
left: canvasOffset.left
page.getTextContent().then(function (textContent) {
var textLayer = new TextLayerBuilder($textLayerDiv.get(0), 0); //The second zero is an index identifying
//the page. It is set to page.number - 1.
var renderContext = {
canvasContext: context,
viewport: viewport,
textLayer: textLayer
var pdfData = base64ToUint8Array(pdfBase64);


text:
- Saint Joseph, Missouri
- Saint Joseph, MissouriDiocese of St. Joseph† Catholic_Encyclopedia ► Diocese of St. Joseph(SANCTI JOSEPHI)The City of St. Joseph, Missouri, was founded by Joseph Robidoux, a Catholic, who in 1830 became sole proprietor of the trading post at the mouth of what is now called Roy's Branch, just above the Blacksnake Hills. In 1838 an itinerant Jesuit visited the obscure trading post at this place and said Mass in the rude log house of Robidoux. In 1840 Rev. Father Vogel administered to the spiritual wants of the faithful. Robidoux, alive to the importance of his trading post, began preparations to form a town. The population was about two hundred at that time. He had surveys and plats made by Fred W. Smith, a Catholic. Smith named his plat St. Joseph; it was taken to St. Louis and recorded on 26 July, 1843. The first permanent pastor was the Rev. Thomas Scanlon, who began his labours in 1847. On 17 June, 1847, a brick church was begun and in September of the same year was dedicated by Archbishop P.R. Kenrick of St. Louis. The "Overland Period" was the most important one in the infancy of St. Joseph. Early in the spring of 1849 began the rush to California. As a starting point St. Joseph offered advantages which no other place possessed. There was at that time a population of 1900 souls.At the Second Plenary Council of Baltimore in 1866, St. Joseph was among the new episcopal sees proposed. Rev. John J. Hogan was chosen its first Bishop, 3 March, 1868. The area assigned to the new diocese was that part of the State of Missouri lying between the Missouri and Chariton Rivers. On Investigation the bishop-elect found that there were in the Diocese of St. Joseph 600 families, about 3000 souls, attended by five secular priests. The church edifices were of the poorest kind; the largest (pro-cathedral) was a low, narrow, brick building, built at three different times. Bishop Hogan was consecrated by Archbishop P. R. Kenrick, 13 September, 1868, and at once took charge of his new field of labour. In 1869 ground was broken for a new cathedral which, three years later, was opened for Divine service. The number of priests increased gradually, religious consciousness and enthusiasm were awakened, churches were built, parish schools erected, and charitable institutions founded. On 10 September, 1880 Bishop Hogan was transferred to the newly-erected Diocese of Kansas City, Mo., and appointed Administrator of St. Joseph. When he resigned his administration of the Diocese of St. Joseph, in 1893, the Rt. Rev. M. F. Burke, D.D., was transferred from the Diocese of Cheyenne, Wyoming, to St. Joseph. His reception by clergy and laity was most enthusiastic. Under his able administration great progress has been made in the material to well as in the spiritual upbuilding of the diocese. A heavy debt on the cathedral has been liquidated, an episcopal residence built, a school of the cathedral parish erected at a cost of $60,000, new missions opened and new parishes organized.The City of St. Joseph has at present 8 parishes with 12 resident pastors, 6 parish schools attended by 1340 pupils, 1 commercial-college conducted by the Christian Brothers, 1 academy for the education of young ladies conducted by the Ladies of the Sacred Heart conducted by the Sisters of Charity. Catholic population: 10,000. Outside of the City of St. Joseph may be mentioned the Benedictine Abbey at Conception, established in 1874; the Conceptión Classical College conducted by the Fathers of the Abbey; the Franciscan Fathers at Chillicoth and Wien; two charitable hospitals, one at Chillicoth conducted by the Sisters of St. Mary, the other at Maryville conducted by the Sisters of St. Francis; an academy for the education of young ladies at Chillicothe conducted by the Sisters of St. Joseph; the mother-house and academy of the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration at Clyde; an orphan asylum at Conception; twenty churches with resident priests; thirty-two mission stations; and seven parochial schools. By a decree of the Sacred Congregation of the Consistory, dated Rome, 16 June, 1911, the territory containing the Counties of Adair, Clark, Knox, Lewis, Macon, Marion, Monroe, Ralls, Radolph, Shelby, Schuyler, Scotland, and that part of Chariton County east of the Chariton River was detached from the Archdiocese of St. Louis and attached to the Diocese of St. Joseph. By reason of this extension the Diocese of St. Joseph now comprises the whole northern part of the State of Missouri, extending from the Missouri to the Mississippi River, and is bounded on the south by the Counties of Howard, Boone, Audrain, and Pike. By the increase of territory 16 parishes have been added, and 20 more priests have been affiliated with the diocese. The Catholic population is (1911) about 34,000.HOGAN, On the Mission in Missouri (Kansas City, 1892); LINNENKAMP, Historical Souvenir of the Immaculate Conception Parish (St. Joseph, 1907); Official Catholic Directory (1910).C. LINNENKAMPTranscribed by Jeffrey L. Anderson
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume VIII. — New York: Robert Appleton Company. Nihil Obstat. 1910.
Catholic encyclopedia.


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Google Inc. has started to test with a limited number of Microsoft Office users a plug-in that lets them share and collaboratively edit their documents by storing them on Google's cloud infrastructure.
Google got the technology for the plug-in through its acquisition of DocVerse in March of this year. The product, expected to be available to all Google users next year, has been renamed Google Cloud Connect.
The plug-in works with Office 2003, Office 2007 and Office 2010. Once a document is stored in Google servers, multiple fellow Office users can simultaneously access and edit it from within the Office interface.
Cloud Connect keeps track of all changes and allows users to revert edits. It also displays alerts if the same portion of a document was changed in different ways by more than one user, offering them the option of favoring one edit over the other.
From their PC and mobile browsers, even users who don't have Office can access and view, but not edit, documents, which are given a unique URL and added to the Google Docs account of their author.
For years, Google has allowed users to import Microsoft Office documents into its Docs hosted productivity suite to collaborate on them, and then export them back to Office. However, the Office-Docs process to import, export or convert files can foul up document formatting settings.
Those problems are avoided with this plug-in because users are working on the documents using the Office software, not Docs, said Jonathan Rochelle, a Google Docs group product manager.
The free plug-in will be available to users in the consumer market through their Google account, as well as to workplace users through the Google Apps hosted collaboration and communication suite.
Of course, Google would prefer that people ditch Office altogether and opt for Docs, but for users and organizations that stick with Office, this plug-in offers some benefits of cloud collaboration within a desktop product, he said.
"This introduces a layer of storage. It doesn't change the nature of the [Office] product," Rochelle said.
In addition, Microsoft is pushing Office 2010's group collaboration capabilities as it prompts customers to upgrade from the 2003 and 2007 versions, but Google Cloud Connect fills that cloud collaboration gap in the older versions, he said.
"We're at a bit of an inflection point with the 2010 upgrade," he said. "The only benefit with Office 2010 is the capability for collaboration. You don't need to upgrade."
Microsoft evidently would disagree with that statement, but it highlights the intensity of the competition in the enterprise collaboration and communication market as the cloud model for software delivery keeps gaining steam.
Microsoft, which critics consider has been slow in integrating cloud options for its software, offers Office Web Apps, a hosted companion to the on-premise suite.
Next year, it plans to release Office 365, which adds Web Apps and in some cases the full Office suite to its Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS), which currently includes hosted versions of Exchange, SharePoint and Lync.
Google testing Office collaboration plug-in
Google Inc. has started to test with a limited number of Microsoft Office users a plug-in that lets them share and collaboratively edit their documents by storing them on Google's cloud infrastructure.
We'd love to hear your opinion about this or any other story you read in our publication.
Jim Love, Chief Content Officer, IT World Canada
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The emergence of biofuelsThe global emergence of biofuels over the last two decades has been met with increased concerns over climate change and sustainable development. This report addresses the core issue of biofuel sustainability and related feedstocks, drawing from a wide range of sustainability related studies, reports, policy initiatives. The report critically examines the economic, environmental and social sustainability dimensions of biofuels and reviews the major certification initiatives, schemes and regulations. In doing so, the report relies on extensive review of a number of country case studies covering a broad range of current biofuel-feedstocks systems.
Feedstock efficiency versus sustainabilityThe report analysis clearly distinguish feedstock efficiency (in terms of biofuel yields per unit of land) from sustainability, especially under limiting resource (irrigated water) or sensitive areas (carbon stocks). Also, long run economic viability depend on the future policy support, technical innovations in biofuel systems, economics of biofuel supply and demand and tradeoffs between food and energy uses as well as feedstock productivity gains. Biofuels can present both advantages and risks for environmental sustainability; the latter being often difficult to measure or monitor and may conflict with economic sustainability unless great strides in productivity gains are achieved. Social sustainability is the weakest link in current biofuel certification schemes owing to intrinsic local factors and as efforts target more few negative social impacts; much less focus is placed on inclusive processes that strengthen marginal stockholders participation and benefits.
Biofuel certification schemesBiofuel certification schemes need to be more smallholder inclusive, perhaps through policy initiatives. Poor developing countries, especially with abundant land and biomass production potential, need to prioritise food security and poverty reduction. In many cases, biofuel models that encourage small scale integrated bioenergy systems may offer higher rural development impacts. FDI-induced largerscale biofuel projects, on the other hand, may be suitable in those situations where countries have sufficient industrial capacity, besides land and biomass potential, and when these biofuel projects can be fully integrated into domestic energy strategies that do not conflict with food production potential and food security.
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Cincyscape Sunset
From atop the Carew Tower
One of Cincinnati's best kept secrets is the Carew Tower 49th floor observation deck. For two whole dollars you get a 360 degree view of downtown, Over-The-Rhine, Covington and Newport Kentucky, the West Side, East End and the list goes on and on. It is hands down the best view around. So yesterday after my lovely Lisa and I did a super cool photo shoot of local band Buffalo Wabs And The Price Hill Hustle in the old Decorsey Train Yard south of Latonia, Kentucky (and after much debate on if we should wait for better clouds) we headed over to the Carew Tower for sunset. When we reached the top and as we were setting up the sun was literally sinking below the horizon, after a few minutes it seemed like nothing was going to happen so I moved on to shooting some cityscapes. About 10 minutes had passed when Lisa said something to me and when I turned around to respond I realized there was a show going on behind me. "Oh my gosh!" And I ran over to the western side of the deck as the sky over Price Hill and Western Hills had turned aglow with a beautiful Red. I've said it once, and I'll say it again, never underestimate a sunset. Just when you think it's a dud, it will prove you wrong, and my friends I've been proven wrong on several occasions.
The Face Atop The Tower
Sunset from atop the 49 story Carew Tower looking out over Northern Kentucky, the Ohio River and the Cincinnati west side.
Purple Haze
With the national spotlight being focused on Cincinnati this week as the Major League Baseball All-Star Game and Home Run Derby being played here tomorrow and tonight, respectfully, I thought I post a Cincinnati Skyline shot this week. In my opinion Cincinnati has the prettiest skyline in the Midwest and the most photogenic. This past Thursday I got out to do some late evening shooting before heading out on the town to celebrate my birthday. We've had a lot of rain and cloudy days around here so sunsets have been few and far between, but I was hopeful that sunset would be a doosy. Well it was really weird and I wasn't able to get a good shot of it, however while I was shooting the skyline I noticed the gloomy clouds had turned an eerie purple. A tone that I'd never caught the skyline in before, turning out to be the start of a great night out!
At The End Of The Night
Roebling Suspension Bridge
Cincinnati Skyline
From Covington, Kentucky
Last week a fellow photographer contacted me about purchasing a print and since we lived in the same city I thought a good place to meet would be on the Covington, Kentucky Waterfront so I could knock off two birds with one stone. One, I could give her the print. Two I could shoot the Cincinnati, Ohio skyline at sunset while I waited for her to arrive. As usual the skies completely cleared that day and on my way there I got pretty disgusted but as I got closer to the city I saw there was some thin clouds hanging over the skyline. When I arrived I realized I had miscalculated the angle where the sun set, it was actually to my back, but that would turn out to be a mute point for after few minutes the clouds above turned a beautiful pink and the city was ago with the last rays of the sun.
The City Aflame - 1
Cincinnati, Ohio
On this night I had a meetup with my photography club Misfits With Cameras to shoot the Cincinnati Reds postgame fireworks at General James Taylor Park in Newport, Kentucky. With the river up many of the fireworks had been submerged and did not go off and although the show was still awesome the real show was at sunset, one of the most spectacular I have ever witnessed!
The City Aflame - 2
Blue Hour Cincinnati
Cincinnati Skyline
From Mt. Adams
I can only take so long where I haven't done any shooting. On my way home from work the clouds began to break after several days of cloudy skies, when I arrived at home I had no intentions of going and shooting sunset, although the thought had crossed my mind. Turns out I forgot to pick up milk and cereal, so I thought I would make the best of it and drive over to Mt. Adams and shoot sunset over Cincinnati. As it would turn out the skies filled back up and sunset was pretty much a dud, but as I stood there and watched the gridlock on I-71 and I-471 I figured I might as well stick it out for a while, who knows what will happen. I ended up staying to near dark and just as blue hour gave way to night the light of the city against the blue of the sky created a scene that made the trip worth more than just cereal and milk.
Big Sky In The Big City
Downtown Cincinnnati
Big storms came through yesterday as well as one of the coolest cloud formations I'd ever seen, too bad I didn't have my camera with me, but in knowing everything was going to move out by sundown I collected up my wonderful other half and we headed up to Mt. Adams to catch sunset over Cincinnati. My, what drama we had in store for us!
Burning Sky
Saturday afternoon when I stepped outside with the pup it was quite apparent there was some good cloud action going on. Go shoot sunset? Absolutely. So Lisa and I hopped into the car and headed up to Mt. Adams, a hillside neighborhood that not only overlooks downtown Cincinnati but also nearly puts you right on top of it. Looking for somewhere new to shoot I decided to stop by a short dead end street that a couple years back I had shot the city skyline with my 68 Impala Convertible in the foreground. Even though it was 50 degrees the wind made it feel like it was 30, we were freezing. But as the sun set behind the city we were treated to gorgeous display of light on the clouds above the city and for a little while we forgot how cold we were.
Summer Afternoon
Late Afternoon
From Mt. Adams
Cincinnati, Ohio
I don't know what the rest of you got to see but this past Saturday the skies during the day were absolutely stunning. It was like it was polarized, high definition clouds against a higher thin layer of clouds. We had a couple hours to kill before my birthday dinner at Eli's BBQ in the East End of Cincinnati so Lisa and I decided to hit a couple of the overlooks that were nearby. After stopping by Anderson Park in Columbia/Tusculum, where things turned out to be a bit dull, we headed over to Mt. Adams and to one of my favorite views of the city. I've almost exclusively shot here for sunsets and nighttime images and I even mentioned that to Lisa that it was the first time I'd ever shot here in the middle of the day. When we arrived it was just as I had hoped, the sun was just how I wanted it over the city and those hd clouds were just popping. I had no idea how the photos would turn out when I was shooting, I was definitely in some unfamiliar territory as I rarely shoot in direct sunlight. In fact I had little confidence they would turn out good at all. I'm glad I was wrong, because I really like this one.
Winter From The East Side Of Downtown
4th Street/Great American Tower
Downtown, Cincinnati, Ohio
I love finding photos I forgot I took. I couple Friday's ago we got our umpteenth snowstorm here in Northern Kentucky so my good friend Jason came over in his Jeep Grand Cherokee and picked up myself , my other half Lisa and a cooler of beer and out into the storm we went. For those of you who don't know one of my all time favorite pastimes is riding around in a vehicle, drinking beer (Jason didn't drink any)and taking photographs during a snowstorm. This here is my favorite from the evening and I was feeling pretty good about this time.
Great American Tower - 1
Great American Tower
Downtown Cincinnnati
I decided to get up early and go have a peek at the Cincinnati skyline at sunrise hoping there was some fog around the city and to my delight there was. Shot from Devou Park in Covington, I've never been a real fan of this view of Cincy, and I can't really explain why. However one thing I do like about it is you can get some great isolations of the city. In actuality I like the view from Mt. Adams much more, which can be seen in the background poking through the fog and next time that's where I'm going to shoot a foggy morning from.
Great American Tower - 2
Great American Tower
Downtown Cincinnnati
Cincy Skyline Reflection
Cincinnati Sunset
Cincinnati, Ohio
From Newport Catholic High School
Newport, Kentucky
A photograph from our photo shoot up at Newport Catholic in an attempt to shoot Neowise over Cincinnati with good friends Josh Lowe, Adam Thompson and Chris Morris! Though I did catch the comet I doubt I'll ever publish the photos of it, I'm pretty uninspired. I definitely need more practice at shooting celestial bodies. However, I really enjoyed this shot I got of the city! In fact it is my favorite shot of the Cincinnati skyline I've taken from this perspective!


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Gallery: What Your Holiday Gift Wrapping Says About You
Did anyone else spend the last 48 hours with pop-up tape strips, gift wrap of every color and ribbon knotting in the bottom of their supply bag? That's right, it was the weekend of wrapping. We're all preparing for Christmas, getting ready to share our presents with our excited and anxious children. All the shopping may be done, but that doesn't mean that the work is over.
I'm sure that you're all professional wrappers, with bells and pine cones attached to beautiful hand-made bows. You have matching ribbon for every paper you've bought and your gift tags are shaped like ornaments and tied to all that pretty ribbon. No sticker tags for you, right? Well Perfect McPerfectpants, not everyone can be you. Some of us resort to gift bags!
In the spirit of holiday joy, I thought we would take a quick minute to judge you based on your wrapping choices and ability. A book is only as good as it's cover, right? Wait, that's not right…
Oh well, here we go anyways.


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Snoop Dogg -- Promoter Sued for $115k Over Botched Appearance
Snoop Dogg Promoter Sued for $115K Over Botched Appearance
Snoop Dogg's name (we refuse to call him Snoop Lion) is being dragged into a nasty lawsuit between a promoter and some nightclub -- all over an appearance gone wrong -- and now, the club wants over $100,000 in damages.
Exchange LA -- the nightclub in question -- filed a lawsuit in L.A. against a promotion company called Movement Management, claiming Movement promised to book Snoop for an appearance on June 30th ... for a fee of $25,000.
Exchange claims it paid a $15,000 deposit to secure Snoop -- but days after making the payment, Movement said Snoop had been double-booked ... and couldn't make the June 30th appearance as previously promised.
(For the record, Snoop was in Europe at the time.)
Exchange says it asked for its money back -- but it's been months ... and Movement still hasn't coughed it up, so now Exchange is suing for breach of contract and fraud.
Exchange wants its $15,000 deposit back stat -- in addition to $100,000 in punitive damages.
Attempts to reach Movement Management were unsuccessful. Calls to Snoop's reps were not returned.


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Looney Tunes exclusive clip: Coyote Falls
We still don't know whether the new Looney Tunes Show for Cartoon Network will meet our lofty expectations, but I was invited to a screening this past week to preview the three new CGI Road Runner-Coyote shorts for theatrical release — and my verdict is in: They're terrific!
Coyote Falls is the first one out (it'll be attached to Cats and Dogs 2 opening next Friday, July 30th). These are three-minute, three-dimensional cartoons in widescreen (scope). It works perfectly for these characters – the feeling of space in the vast desert only adds to Coyote's desperation. This time he has ordered an ACME bungee cord and has set up a birdseed trap under a highway bridge. It's a "foolproof" plan that takes everything into consideration … except oncoming traffic.
The characterizations, posing, even the sound effects and music (by Chris Lennertz) are spot on. I especially liked the explosions, which in cg have a stronger impact and thus are funnier. The 3-D is even used to extend into the audience – something most modern filmmakers are loathe to exploit. At three minutes these films really are too short (I think some trailers are longer than that), but they show real potential. This is the first Looney Tunes short produced by Sam Register's new Warner Bros. Animation division. (BTW, the film is simply a Warner Bros. Cartoon with no Looney Tunes or Merrie Melodies designation). Spike Brandt and Tony Cervone are supervising producers along with Allison Abbate (Fantastic Mr. Fox, Corpse Bride, Iron Giant), Matthew O'Callaghan (Curious George) directed in respectful homage to Chuck Jones. The film begins with a very cool 3D CG WB-rings logo designed by Peter Girardi. Below is a 25-second clip to give you a taste. Below that are three exclusive images (click thumbnails to enlarge).
[clip removed at request of producer]


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This article is more than 1 year old
Publishing giant hits delete on internal IT staff
Job cuts ahoy
Business publisher Reed Elsevier is outsourcing its IT support staff. Their jobs will go to HCL Technologies, a leading Indian offshorer.
The move has not gone down well, in part because TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings Regulations - essentially moving staff from one employer to another) will not cover staff's increasingly rare final salary pension scheme. Reed's pension scheme is a particularly nicely gold-plated, copper-bottomed example of the genre.
Staff who contacted us complained that the process, billed as a review, actually aims to get staff moved by 1 October. The email sent to staff also warns that some people will lose their jobs.
The review of help desk functions aims to move to one global support unit for the whole business. The email, which talks of "open dialogue" and "sharing as much detail as possible", said a decision should be reached by 18 September.
Two senior staff - Hank Hamilton and Ray Raggi - "have decided to pursue interests outside the company", according to the email.
The mail says that Reed is still considering external partners but our source named HCL as the likely recipient of the work. HCL is also named in the FAQ sent to staff. The document says HCL staff will soon start attending weekly forum meetings to discuss the move.
It also answered the question, Why did you choose HCL? Answer: "HCL best met the needs of the business and its strategy. They are leaders in infrastructure operations and are one of the few vendors approached that were prepared to TUPE staff to themselves."
About 60 people in operations, systems administration, business systems and infrastructure services will be affected by the move.
Desktop support, another 60 people, is a possible future target, according to our source. They added that the announcement had sent morale to rock bottom because most believed redundancies last year were the end of a difficult period for the company.
Reed refused to comment on the plans. ®


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At a glance
We use fashion to celebrate our individuality. It's a statement about who you are as a person. Yet when you buy a t-shirt or pair of jeans in a store, do you know how or where it was made? Do you trust the brand behind the clothing? Do they create products that align with your values?
Cambodia is one of the major players in the textile industry. Our Fast Fashion Project, based in Phnom Penh, gives you unique insight into how the industry works. It shows you the real cost of what you're buying, and gives you inside knowledge of fast fashion ethical issues.
You'll visit communities and villages that aren't easily accessible to regular tourists. You'll meet people who work in the industry, as well as local producers who stand for fair trade and create ethical products. It's an exciting and unique introduction to ethical fashion consumption.
This trip gives you first-hand experience with the supply chain, and plenty to think about! Use the knowledge you gain to make ethical choices as a consumer. Your decisions can be part of something bigger: the fight against the fast fashion industry.
Start Dates:
Throughout the yearSee Dates
Minimum Duration:
One Week
18 or over
Is the Fast Fashion Trip to Cambodia right for me?
If you're interested in learning where the clothing you buy come from, and how to fight fast fashion, this project is for you. It's a group trip, so you'll share the experience alongside other like-minded travelers.
Throughout your time in Cambodia, you'll have 24/7 support from Projects Abroad. We'll help you engage with Cambodian life, people, and the culture.
This is what you can expect from our Fast Fashion Project:
- Learn how clothes are made
- Get an insight into how the industry affects people and communities
- Discover the environmental impact of fast fashion
- Visit textile factories and meet with people who work in the industry (NGOs and local manufacturers - silk, clothing- who stand for fair trade and ethical products)
In addition to learning about the fast fashion industry, you'll take part in must-do tourism activities in Cambodia. After all, no trip to Cambodia is complete without visiting Angkor Wat and the bustling local markets!
What will I do during my Fast Fashion Trip in Cambodia?
Your journey to learn more about ethical fashion consumption will help you see Cambodia in a different light. As a major player in the textile industry, you will see Cambodia's models of fair trade, and its social and economical impact on communities. You'll do things like:
Visit textile factories and meet the people who work there
After settling in, and getting an introduction to Cambodia culture, language, and etiquette, your trip begins in earnest with a visit to a textile factory. The factory is approved by Better Work, an organisation that fights to improve working conditions in the clothing industry.
You'll speak to people who work in the factory, many of whom worked previously in fast fashion factories. You'll hear their experiences first-hand, and how fast fashion impacts working conditions, their health, among other consequences. It will give you a lot to think about, and help you answer questions like "Is fast fashion sustainable?"
Get an insight into the ethical side of the industry on Silk Island
During your trip, you'll visit Koh Dach, known as "Silk Island". Silk is ethically produced here, with respect to the environment and with consideration for the local community. You'll learn about the traditional silk-weaving process from local artisans.
Koh Dach is also the location of our Microfinance Project in Cambodia. Here, we work with entrepreneurs and help them support themselves through their own businesses.
Learn about labour law and human rights practices
In Phnom Penh, you'll meet unions from the Cambodian Labour Confederation. They'll share information about human rights and labour law in Cambodia. After this meeting, you'll watch a documentary about the clothing industry.
Experience local markets and visit cultural and historical sites
In Siem Reap, we'll take you to several markets where you can experience the local trade yourself. At the night market, you can sample dishes with enticing flavours, and browse original, hand-made products.
You'll also visit Genevieve's Fair Trade Village. This is a social enterprise focused on creating a fair trade environment that benefits artisans and craftspeople with disabilities in Siem Reap. They create quality goods for fair prices.
Of course, no trip to Cambodia is complete without watching the sunrise at Angkor Wat. We'll go to the temples early in the morning, and you can capture the moment on camera, and simply enjoy a quiet moment as you witness nature's beauty.
Where in Cambodia will I be based during my travels?
Your trip to learn more about fast fashion and ethical consumerism in Cambodia will take you to two different locations.
Phnom Penh
The city is Cambodia's capital and economic centre, and home to more than 1.5 million of the friendliest people in Asia. The economy is based on commercial interests such as clothing, trading, and small-to-medium businesses. And due to a growing tourism industry, the city is changing rapidly.
Siem Reap
This city is a popular resort town and a gateway to the Angkor region. With its laid-back vibes, it's a relaxing and beautiful place to stay while you tour temples and indulge in the rich history. It offers a compromise between observing every-day Cambodian life while enjoying the amenities of modern services.
What are the aims and impact of this trip to Cambodia?
Our main goal is to raise awareness on ethical consumerism. We want to give you the information you need to empower yourself to make better choices as a consumer.
By making conscious choices, you can influence industries, fight for human rights, and combat climate change. Choose to spend money on ethical, sustainable products, and slowly but surely, more companies will move in that direction.
We want you to learn about and experience all aspects of the clothing industry in developing countries Cambodia. We strongly encourage you to ask questions, and have discussions within your group. And it shouldn't stop when your trip to Cambodia ends! When you go home, share your experiences, and continue asking questions.
Be part of long-term, sustainable change, and help the world move toward ethical consumerism.
Measuring our impact
Our projects work towards clear long-term goals, with specific annual objectives. Every volunteer and intern we send to these projects helps us work towards these goals, no matter how long they spend on our projects.
Every year we take a step back and look at how much progress we've made towards these goals. We put together a Global Impact Report, which documents our achievements. Find out more about the impact our global community of volunteers, interns and staff make, and read the latest report.
Food and accommodation
You'll share accommodation with other Projects Abroad volunteers and interns during your stay in Phnom Penh. This is a great way to get to know your fellow volunteers and interns, share experiences, and explore your surroundings in your free time together.
The accommodation is safe, clean, and comfortable. Your programme fees include three meals a day.
Find out more about our accommodation.
Safety and staff support
Your safety and security is our prime concern. We have many procedures and systems to ensure you have the support you need to enjoy your trip with peace of mind. Our Projects Abroad staff are available 24 hours a day to help, and will be on-hand to make sure you settle in well at your accommodation and placement. If you encounter any problems, they will be available to help at any time.
Find out more about safety and backup.
Not quite what you're looking for?
Take a look at the following pages where you'll find collections of similar projects: