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TechRadar Verdict
Well built and feature packed. Its ease and speed justify the price tag
- +
DirectLink is a major plus
- +
Laden with controls – that work
- -
Non-pro keyboard actions
- -
There are many cheaper options
Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you're buying the best. Find out more about how we test.
Any MIDI keyboard can make your copy of GarageBand or Logic come to life. But in a crowded market of bargain-priced 'boards you need something with that little bit extra. M-Audio's Axioms have been around for years and last year the new Pro line added the ability to control your software directly from buttons on the keyboard.
This feature has now filtered down to the more affordable Axiom 61 (£305), 49 (this model) and 25 (£195). So, rather than have your mouse in one hand while your other belts out Bach, you can pretty much forget your computer and get on with making music.
It's amazing how simple additions such as dedicated buttons for stop, play and record speed up your workflow, and 'tweaking' synthesizers and effects with dedicated knobs finally feels like grappling with an antique Moog. (Antique Moog plug-in not supplied.)
It's M-Audio's DirectLink that's the star. A quick install and the Axiom found our Logic setup (we had similar success with GarageBand and Ableton Live too), and all the obvious features such as track levels and pan appeared on the keyboard's controls.
And if you use complex third-party plugs, you can get locked into the world of control changes and make any dial do anything in your DAW. It works too, and after grappling with controllers that promised the earth only to glitch and grump, that's the biggest praise we can give.
The Axiom's keyboard is 'ultra-expressive semi-weighted', but this amounts to it being very firmly sprung in the initial stages and rather 'clacky' and weak when depressed. However, the large angular profile does help fool the senses into thinking you're pressing something more piano-like.
The drum pads are well-sized but spongy. Likewise, the rest of the rubberised controls require a good push to operate.
That said, compared to the frail plastic on other keyboards, this is much more gig-resistant. You're paying for something just that little bit more 'pro' here, but it's worth the extra.
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Babeside 20'' Adorable Reborn Baby Doll Girl Blue Eyes Yaney (Pre-Order, Ship Date: October 13)
Cherish Your Sweetheart: She's so lively & cute, you're sure to fall in love with this little sweet baby from the first moment you hold her. When you hold her, the first thing you'll want to do is to hold her close and cherish every adorable inch of her, from her adorable face, those layers of baby chubbiness on her arms and legs to her tiny wrinkled feet.
About Yaney
Name: Yaney
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Length: 20" (50 cm)
Doll Weight: 0.85kg/1.87lb
Head/Neck Material: Vinyl
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Eyes: Always open, cannot close
Lashes: Hand-Rooted
Hair: Short Blonde Hair
Paint: Hand-Painted
Heartbeat Coos / Heartbeat Coos and Breath Requires 3 "AA" batteries (not included)
1. Shipping Area:
The countries we currently ship to: United States,Australia,Canada,United Kingdom, New Zealand & Countries in Europe.
2. Shipping Fee:
Shipping Countries
Shipping Time
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7-10 Workdays
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3. Delivery time =processing time + shipping time
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It might take 1-2 business days to ship out your order, excluding holidays, to process your order. You will receive a notification email with tracking information once your order has been shipped.
Note: If you purchase multiple items, your order may be split into multiple packages. If you only receive one of the packages, please don't worry and wait patiently.
4. Taxes
When applicable, you are responsible for paying import taxes and duties. For further details please get in touch with your local customs office.
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A confirmation email will be sent to you once you complete the order and we will prepare your order immediately. If you need to change or cancel your order, please reach us at firstname.lastname@example.com as soon as possible and we will do our best to help.
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Once your package is shipped, we will send you the package's tracking number via email. You can enter your tracking number here Or you may get in touch with our customer service via email: email@example.com and our customer service staff will respond within 24 hours!
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We are so confident that you will be delighted with your purchase; If not, we will gladly take it back.
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Any claims not related to the quality of the product but only for other reasons such as "don't like it" "don't want it" must be submitted to firstname.lastname@example.com within 14 days from the date that the item was received. But the time can be extended to 30 days if you don't use your items and keep your items in their original condition and packaging.
-Please do not send your return to the sender's address on your package. This is NOT the return address and will affect the processing of your return.
-Any return requests not authorized by the customer service will not be honored.
-It is customer's responsibility to provide a tracking number once item has been returned.
-All refunds will be made in the original payment method used at checkout.
PayPal account refunds: Up to 48 hours
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Warehouse Address (Not For Return):
We want you to be 100% satisfied with your purchase. Items can be returned or exchanged within 30 days of delivery.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
It's a rare kind of research that incites a frenzied panic before it's even published. But it's flu season, and influenza science has a way of causing a stir this time of year.
Epidemiologists have long debated the pandemic potential of H5N1, a.k.a. avian bird flu. On one hand, the virus spreads too inefficiently between humans to seem like much of a threat: it has caused less than 600 known cases of human flu since first emerging in 1997. On the other hand, when it does spread, it can be pretty deadly: nearly 60 percent of infected humans died from the virus. For years now, the research has suggested that any mutations that enhanced the virus's ability to spread among humans, would simultaneously make it less deadly. But in a recent batch of as-yet-unpublished studies, two scientists - Yoshihiro Kawaoka from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and Ron Fouchier of Erasmus Medical Center, in the Netherlands – have shown otherwise.
Working separately, they each hit on a combination of mutations (five, in Dr. Fouchier's case) that makes H5N1 airborne (enabling it to spread readily between humans), without making it less deadly. In laboratory experiments, ferrets infected with this mutant strain passed it to other ferrets in nearby cages (ferrets are a common subject of flu studies because they react to flu viruses in a similar way to humans). A significant proportion of infected subjects died.
Efforts to publish those findings have been fraught. Critics say that making the methodology or gene sequences widely available, amounts to giving would-be bioterrorists an easy recipe. They also worry that these manmade strains might escape from the lab.
Proponents counter that the threat of a global pandemic, were this mutated strain to arise in nature, is far greater than the threat of bioterrorism. Understanding what combination of mutations could transform H5N1 into a human pandemic virus, helps epidemiologists know what to watch out for in the wild, and gives them a leg up on preparing countermeasures; they can, for example, test existing H5N1 vaccines and antiviral drugs against the new strain in the lab, before it actually emerges in the natural world.
Both papers are being reviewed by the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB), which will then advise researchers and journal editors how to proceed. In the meantime, most experts agree that we need a better way.
"This is not new for science," says Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities and a member of the NSABB. "Physicists have been doing sensitive, classified, and need-to-know work for 70 years, including academic researchers. We have to find a way to do the same in the health sciences, to work on agents that yield important information without compromising our safety and security."


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China Faces Dilemma In Ukraine, Where Both Trade And Ties With Russia Are In Play
By Stuart Leavenworth, McClatchy Foreign Staff
BEIJING — China wants to think of itself as a player on the world stage, but in the Ukraine standoff that pits Russia against the West, it has stayed mostly on the sidelines, issuing oblique statements that have left many outside observers shaking their heads.
Asked earlier this week if Russia had violated international law with its incursion into Crimea, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Qin Gang, offered this response to a roomful of befuddled reporters:
"I want to point out that we are aware of the historical facts and realistic complexity of the Ukrainian issue. There are reasons for why the situation in Ukraine is what it is today."
China's position was similarly obscure in the White House's report on the meeting Thursday between national security adviser Susan Rice and her Chinese counterpart, Yang Jiechi. The two sides "share an interest in supporting efforts to identify a peaceful resolution to the ongoing dispute," the White House statement said. China's state media offered a different slant, without illumination. "The legitimate rights and interests of all ethnic groups in Ukraine should be accommodated," Yang reportedly told Rice.
Nearly all analysts agree that China is uniquely positioned to help resolve the crisis. China has close relations with Russia and important trade interests in Ukraine that could be threatened if the new government were to prove unfriendly. It has a longstanding position of opposing foreign interventions in the affairs of other countries. It also has a seat on the United Nations Security Council and so could pressure Russia to withdraw troops before there was a possible vote on international sanctions.
Yet China is clearly leery of the optics. It doesn't want to be seen as siding with the West. And it doesn't want to alienate Russia, a country it depends upon for oil and strategic cooperation.
"China faces a dilemma, which is precisely the reason they are unlikely to help resolve the crisis or say anything at all about it," said Lowell Dittmer, a political science professor at the University of California Berkeley who specializes in China and Asia.
China and Russia have a strategic partnership and a friendship treaty, Dittmer said, but they also have an explicit understanding that they won't meddle in each other's dealings with third parties, unless national interests are involved.
For that reason, Dittmer said, Russia has declared itself neutral on China's territorial claims in the South China Sea and the East China Sea. Previously, China disagreed with Russia's decisions to go to war against Georgia in 2008 "but tried to publicize it as little as possible," he said.
There are signs that China is similarly displeased with this latest Russian incursion but doesn't want to make its concerns public. While Moscow has said that China and Russia have "broadly coinciding points of view" on the Ukrainian situation, Beijing hasn't made any statements that could be viewed as supportive of Russia's use of force outside its borders.
On Tuesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping reportedly talked by phone with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. According to Chinese state media, Xi told Putin that "China believes that Russia can coordinate with other parties to push for the political settlement of the issue so as to safeguard regional and world peace and stability." Xi reportedly added that "China supports the proposals and mediation efforts of the international community that are conducive to reduction of tension."
China's statements to date are far more guarded than those that Beijing issued when the United States last year was contemplating military action against Syria for alleged use of chemical weapons. And it stands in contrast to the recent condemnations of Russia issued by some other Asian nations.
On Tuesday, Indonesia's foreign minister urged the U.N. Security Council to intervene against Russia's incursion.
"It threatens not only the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, but also risks raising tensions in relations between the affected countries," said Foreign Minster Marty Natalegawa.
From an economic standpoint, China has good reasons to maintain friendly relations with both Russia and the new Ukrainian government. China last year became the world's largest importer of crude oil, and Russia is its fourth largest source. China also has been negotiating to lease vast tracts of farmland in east Ukraine, a deal that Moscow reportedly frowns on, given that Ukraine is Russia's breadbasket.
In a speech Wednesday at the National People's Congress, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang pledged that China will actively participate in international, multilateral affairs and "will play a constructive role in resolving global and hotspot issues."
But there are countervailing forces pressuring China's leaders to play a role that the United States and the European Union would find less than constructive. The same day Li spoke to China's version of parliament, a state newspaper, Global Times, ran an editorial urging Chinese leaders to side with Russia in Crimea.
"We prefer to agree with voices supporting Russia," the newspaper said. "Russia has been resisting the eastward trend of Western forces in Ukraine, which is important not only to its own fate but also to China's strategic interests."
Photo: akasped via flickr


text:
Stories about general surgery, trauma surgery, dumb patients, dumb doctors, and dumb shit from the dumb world around us.
Wednesday, 25 December 2013
Jahi McMath
My wife brought this story to my attention after a friend of hers told her about it. It is incredibly tragic, and it makes me sad just thinking about it. What makes it worse is how the family has handled (and is continuing to handle) their awful misfortune. And what makes it worse still is how much misinformation is out there and how little the general public seems to understand the concept of death.
A 13-year old American girl named Jahi McMath went to a hospital in California for a routine adenotonsillectomy, uvulopalatopharyngoplasty, and resection of her inferior turbinates for treatment of her obstructive sleep apnea. Shortly after surgery she began bleeding. According to the family she continued to bleed so heavily that she eventually suffered cardiac arrest, and CPR was started. Her heart eventually restarted, but her body apparently had been deprived of oxygen for too long for her brain tissue to survive. An EEG done two days later confirmed everyone's worst fears - the little girl was brain dead. Over the next 24 hours a total of five physicians, two associated with the hospital and three not, confirmed the diagnosis.
Doctors told the family the heartbreaking news, but the family, either choosing not to believe them or not understanding the concept of brain death (or both), did not allow the hospital to take her off life support. Instead, they filed for a temporary restraining order from the court to continue life support. A judge granted the restraining order, and the hospital was forced to continue providing care for the deceased girl. She has been deceased now for 13 days, and yesterday the judge actually inexplicably extended the restraining order by another week while waiting for a sixth opinion. Not surprisingly, the diagnosis of brain death was confirmed yet again today.
Brain death is defined as an irreversible absence of brain function. Unlike all other tissue, the central nervous system (comprised of the brain, brainstem, and spinal cord) does not have the capacity to heal or regenerate. Once it is dead, it stays dead. As long as a brain dead patient is kept on a ventilator, the heart will still beat, the lungs will still function, the kidneys will still make urine, and muscle reflexes will still exist. But without brain function, the person is gone. Physiologically it is the same as cardiac death where the heart stops and all organs then fail. "Brain dead" is physiologically (and legally) exactly the same as "dead". And no court order can change that.
As a father, I can certainly understand how devastated the family is over the shocking, unexpected loss of an innocent little girl after what was supposed to be a routine surgery. But after reading numerous articles about the story, it has become clear that the family does not understand the concept of brain death, nor does a large segment of the population. "Despite what they say, she is alive. I can touch her, she is warm," her mother said. "With air she lives, her heart beats, her kidneys produce urine, she is warm and soft." The family staged a rally in front of the hospital, chanting "Keep Jahi alive! Keep Jahi alive!" There is a Facebook page (KeepJahiMcmathOnLifeSupport) with hundreds of comments by people who clearly don't understand that she is dead and are expecting her to wake up and walk out of the hospital.
No. As unspeakably depressing as it is, she is not alive, and she has not been for almost two weeks. She is warm and her kidneys function because her heart is pumping oxygenated blood through her. Her blood is oxygenated because a machine is breathing for her. But a beating heart does not equal life. This is not the 15th century - we know that the heart is just a muscular pump, and it does not determine the person; the brain does. And as sad as the situation is, the hospital obviously has no obligation to continue treating a deceased patient. The family's lawyer said, "It is our position that no doctor determination can end a life without parental consent." This is utter rubbish. The doctors did not determine when her life ended - all they did is confirm her death using a battery of tests.
Reading comments on some of the articles is even more disheartening. There are countless commenters who think the hospital is just trying to "pull the plug" and get rid of her. Several have even suggested the hospital is trying to get rid of evidence of wrongdoing. Many other commenters say that the girl should be kept on life support because "miracles" happen, and there are instances of people declared "brain dead" waking up.
I have been unable to find a single article in a reputable medical journal anywhere in the world that documents an actual brain-dead patient waking up. I suspect that every instance, including those on organfacts.net and lifesitenews.com, involves confabulation and confusion about the diagnosis. Many people equate brain death with a coma or a persistent vegetative state, but the three are not remotely the same. People can wake up from a coma. But brain death equals death.
Medical science has not advanced to where a deceased person can be brought back to life, no matter how many times we read "Frankenstein" and want it to be so. The hospital has been more than accommodating to a distraught family, but "life support" is for the living. As a father, I wish I could give this family a hug. As a physician, I wish I could sit down with them and explain why Jahi will never wake up. My heart goes out to them, but this grieving family needs to understand and let go, and their little girl needs to be laid to rest.
There is much more to this story, and it continues to evolve on a daily basis. I will update this and continue posting as the situation changes.
61 comments:
- Anonymous25 December 2013 at 00:51
It's hard to let go, but you never want to drag it out, especially if there's no chance they will recover.ReplyDeleteReplies
I must say myself the situation is sad,however the mom needs to let go. I buried my son almost 2years ago and he was a month old when he passed unexpectedly it was a surgery that went bad and unfortunately these things happen. My heart definitely goes out to the family and I pray for them to have strength and understanding in this tough time.Delete
I have been reading the articles & I believe the mother does not want to face the fact that get daughter is gone. I can't bland her. No parent wants to bury their child.ReplyDelete
The judge made a final verdict to remove her from the ventilators no later than 5 pm on Dec 30. RIP :(ReplyDelete
Doc, I understand that the ventilator pumps oxygen into her lungs and what not, but if the heart is beating and kidneys making urine, don't they need more than oxygen to work? You can power a computer with power, but w/o an OS, it does nothing. Sure the oxygen from the ventilator powers her heart and all the other organs, but what tells how fast her heart can beat? Supposedly she is still warm according to a report. I'm not doubting the claims of the 5 doctors, but how does it work?ReplyDeleteReplies
The heart rate is essentially reflex. It doesn't require the brain to function. Your computer analogy doesn't fit, unfortunately.Delete
'Muscle memory'?Delete
Not exactly. Muscle memory is essentially subconscious memory formation, motor memory. It is information stored in the brain.Delete
So in theory you could remove her brain and nothing would change. Her kidneys, heart and lungs would still function thanks to the ventilator?Delete
Won't her body start to decompose even if on the ventilator?
No, the body only starts to decompose if the cells are deprived of oxygen and die. The ventilator is continuing to oxygenate her blood and her heart is continuing to pump that oxygenated blood.Delete
Ahh, but if her actual brain was removed, there is absolutely no difference as it plays no role in anything. Correct?Delete
Possibly, but that's unclear. The brain flow scans in brain dead patients show no blood flow to the brain, so the brain is physiologically absent. Theoretically it should be the same as physically absent.Delete
So does this mean the brain will start (or has started) to decompose and the rest of her body remain intact as long as she is on a ventilator?Delete
No, it doesn't work that way.Delete
Okay, you claim, falsely, that the brain stem does not regulate heart rate. It does. The actual beating is triggered in the heart by the sinoatrial node, but the rate is controlled by the brain stem. and you make no sense when you claim there is no blood flow in the brain, but also no decomposition...Delete
As far as decomposition is concerned, I don't think anyone really knows. People who are brain dead aren't kept on machines for extended periods of time like this. So maybe I'm wrong and the brain will decompose. I'll take the hit on that.Delete
But I never once said the brainstem doesn't regulate heartbeat. I said the heart doesn't require a brain to function. There is a very distinct and very large difference.
You seem to be trying way too hard to discredit me. Why is that?
Doc, I've done some research and I've actually found that: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16970850Delete
Is it possible, that Jahi's body would actually calcify the brain the prevent infection from the otherwise decomposing brain?
The decomposition issue is an interesting one but perhaps partially semantic. Normally we think of decomposition as the visible putrefaction of a body from bacteria etc. The brain is, I believe, separated from the body by a barrier and in this case inside a working body with a presumably largely functioning immune system. It's likely sterile in there so it won't decompose visibly.Delete
Cells can die, however, and I suppose they must do when cut off from oxygenated blood. Debris from dying cells also cause inflammation and cell death in the vicinity. A bunch of that must happen in a brain with no blood flow. That could be considered "decomposition" but perhaps doesn't mean that the rest of the body need be compromised.
The link above is even more interesting because presumably in meningitis the brain is not sterile at death and even then the "decomposition" of the brain didn't stop the body functioning. I guess eventually the immune system beat the infection - just too late to save the patient.
Well, I actually wondered if the body couldn't use calcification as a measure against the infection (I dont have feeling the actual cause of the brain death must be necessarily relevant, be it meningitis or hypoxia). Like in lithopaedion...Delete
There are so few cases like this, I really don't know if anyone knows the answer. And here's the next question - when her heart does finally stop, will they then allow an autopsy? And how will they arrange that, drive her to the coroner's office and ask nicely?Delete
Questions questions!
- Anonymous6 September 2014 at 22:29
The partially completed death certificate asks for an autopsyDelete
This intrigues me as we try to fill the void between life and death. I wonder if we could take a dead person and give them a heartbeat. If we could resurrect the dead, faith would cease to exist. We would either be certain, is there an afterlife or not? It would make for an extraordinary Twilight Zone episode.ReplyDelete
I was listening to a report on this today. The mother said she would be a bad mother if she took her daughter off the ventilator.ReplyDeleteReplies
I don't think she's a bad mother, just horribly misinformed. Her daughter has died, and she obviously doesn't understand and has not come to terms with it. It seems that her lawyer (and others) are giving her false information that Jahi has a chance to wake up. She does not.Delete
She is not a bad mother and I don't think she's misinformed. I'm a mother who had to take a child off of life support and I can say with 100% certainty I will NEVER be able to do that again. It's agonizing and 6 1/2 years later I still have guilt.Delete
I'm sorry that you had to go through that, but I'm afraid she is terribly misinformed. A total of 6 doctors have all confirmed that her brain has no blood flow. Once brain tissue dies, it is dead forever. No amount of time, faith, or prayer can change that.Delete
Update: the family is trying to move her into a nursing home so they can keep her alive, since the hospital refuses to do so. One nursing home actually refused, but another offered. At least the girl feels nothing.Delete
- Anonymous6 September 2014 at 22:32
That's correct, she has no 'best interests' to be served. The legal test is futility. This treatment is manifestly futile.Delete
Isn't there more sense in donating her organs to anyone else, who's waiting for transplantation, than simply removing her from the ventilator? Just asking...ReplyDeleteReplies
That would be a wonderful Christmas present for a number of families. However, since they were trying to get Dr. Paul Byrne to examine her, I doubt they believe in organ transplantation. Dr. Byrne is an outspoken opponent of brain death, and believes it is a myth propagated by proponents of organ transplantation.Delete
Well, I've googled his webpage and the "life guardian foundation", to which he posted a link on his website. Are those people serious? Is he 1) insane, 2) evil or 3) total idiot?Delete
I can only hope, that if he'll some day need transplantation, the organ will be donated to someone, who actually isn't doing his best to screw as many lives as possible :-/
One last question: If someone like Dr. Byrne will be found somewhere unconscious, in urgent need of transplantation, will he get his new organ, regardless the fact, that he himself has signed the "I don't wan't to donate" paper?
It doesn't work that way. To get an organ transplant you need to be on a list. For an urgent or emergent transplant, you would need to get patient or family consent. I would assume Dr. Byrne's family knows his stance on organ transplantation.Delete
When I saw and read varies articles about what happened I almost cried. It's a tragic story but nothing can be done for her. The few articles I have seen where doctors thought a patient was brain dead but the patient was still alive the doctors discovered their mistake within hours not weeks. It should be noted that it was discovered in patients that wished to donate their organs at their death.ReplyDelete
Accepting the death of a loved one is hard. When my Gram died earlier this year it was so hard to say good bye. She had gone to visit my aunt two hours away and her health went down hill fast. She was in a hospital for about a week and doctors told her that she had little hope of recovery since her heart was beating at thirty percent capacity. She asked for her options and requested to be released into her daughter's care to die. I went to say good bye and it was the hardest thing I have done so far. I knew she wasn't coming home but I told her how my white cat was taking over her room and if she still wanted her room she should hurry back. Maybe I was trying to not talk about her dying but we knew; she didn't talk to us and the nurses helping my aunt said that she was in transition.
I know that not everyone is religious but a I am and a woman that lost her daughter after three battles with cancer is. The woman had prayed twice before that the doctors would be able to find and remove the cancerous tumors and that the treatments would work. The third time it was terminal. She told a family member of another child cancer patient that yes it takes faith for a miracle but there has to be greater faith to accept that there will be no recovery and that their loved one will die.
Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance... I think they're still stuck at the "denial" stage :( this is such a sad story thoughReplyDelete
How did such a routine procedure go wrong?ReplyDelete
This comment has been removed by the author.ReplyDelete
Thank you for attempting to address the lack of/misinformation in this tragic case. It is heartbreaking and serves only to exacerbate the family's pain.ReplyDelete
If there is no blood flow (the EEG showed that), this means oxygen is not reaching her brain thus it is decomposing, no? I can't imagine the gruesome horror of this and allowing her to rot if so :-(ReplyDeleteReplies
I think alot of peeps would benefit from a anatomy class!Delete
EEG showed NO BRAIN WAVES!
- Anonymous6 September 2014 at 22:38
PET scanDelete
In England the life support would already be off, at the end of the day the parents have no say what so ever if its believed what they want is not in the child's best interests.ReplyDelete
Hospital court papers http://www.docstoc.com/docs/165734995/jahi1ReplyDelete
Discussion on Public radio http://www.kqed.org/a/forum/R201312301000 "Defining Brain Death"ReplyDelete
Redacted notes on lack of neurological activity by Stanford doctor http://media.nbcbayarea.com/documents/Fisher+-+Redacted+Rpt_1.pdfReplyDelete
Thank you for addressing the fact that she had a uvulopalatopharyngoplasty performed & not a 'routine' tonsillectomy as so many other media sources are reporting.ReplyDelete
What could have caused the excessive bleeding after the surgery? There are no details due to privacy laws.ReplyDelete
Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty, wow. And CPAP is so much more effective. This is sad in every way possible. It sounds like the parents just want the child to be alive. Such guilt and sadness and remorse over letting a child go is awful.ReplyDelete
I don't think her organs would be any good. My little boy died in 2009 at the age of 2 years, 7 months after strangling. He was on life support and I can truly say the children's hospital did everything they could despite the fact that it was truly unlikely that he would recover. They didn't rush into "pulling the plug". They did a cat scan, EEG and various tests. His eyes were dead. As for decomposing, brown fluid leaked from Angel's nose, ears and into his diaper. I figured it was decomposition. His organs couldn't be donated because they already started breaking down. They were able to use his heart valves and corneas only. Another family in my grief support group couldn't donate any of her daughter's organs because they were no longer functioning -even though she also stayed on life support. I can't imagine it being a different situation for Jahi. Her body must be doing the same things.ReplyDeleteReplies
According to Doc here (from what I understand), this isn't the case. She is brain dead, but JUST brain dead. That means she IS dead, but everything but her brain is potentially just fine. Since they still have her plugged in and since her heart is still beating, then I would presume all of her organs are being maintained. That's all they need AFAIK: oxygen (heart+lungs) and nutrition (the machines probably take care of this too).Delete
- Anonymous7 January 2014 at 03:28
Kathleen- my heart aches for you. I'm so sorry.Delete
- Anonymous6 September 2014 at 22:42
God bless you in this awful loss, I'm so sorry.Delete
This comment has been removed by the author.ReplyDelete
I've been following this story for the last week and can't stop reading all of the articles and comments.ReplyDelete
It's such a sad story and even sadder that there is such a large population of people who are either misinformed (due to lack of factual research) or are failing to understand basic science. They are all jumping on this bandwagon and giving this family additional false hope. I feel like the more people that keep supporting them the harder the family is going to fight... How can they be wrong if they have so much "support"? I even read a comment by one person asking why Jahi couldn't just have a brain transplant…
Can you imagine the precedent that would be set if the court system allows this to drag out even longer? Imagine how many families would insist their loved ones remain on machines in hopes that they will miraculously recover someday? Imagine the costs that would be incurred by hospitals, insurance companies, and the government?
I think the fact that physicians and care facilities are not lining up and offering to care for her speak volumes about the prognosis. How can the family or close friends not see this?Replies
"Can you imagine the precedent that would be set if the court system allows this to drag out even longer?"Delete
I am worried about that also. :( I heard the hospital could of taken her off the vent(before court order) but I guess they were trying to not rush the family....now it is crazy. The hospital is having a meeting with the family in the court.
I hope the court does the right thing...and support the hospital.
Before the initial restraining order? I read somewhere that most of the time hospitals will give the family 2-3 days and usually they're ready at that point. This one hit 3 weeks today.Delete
I agree, I hope the court steps in as well. As sad as it is to lose a child, what's going on here is just not right on so many levels. I would never want my son kept on machine's like that. He deserves to rest peacefully and with dignity (as difficult as it may be for me).
Unspeakably sad situation here. Certainly the child has passed away, and it is time for a funeral. What can be said to a family that has no intention of accepting the demise of their beloved child, despite its occurrence? There is nothing that they'll listen to obviously. I hope that they are able to allow themselves acceptance soon. This is disturbingReplyDelete
- Anonymous16 January 2014 at 21:20
I am a bit (a lot) confused about the Jahi vs Munoz (Texas pregnant woman) case. They are both brain dead, I get that. In Jahi's case it is being said that she is passing the lining of her bowels, so she is decomposing and presumably there is nothing to stop this from continuing. If this is the case, how is it possible the docs in Texas are going to keep Ms Munoz from decomposing long enough to have any chance of delivering a viable baby, when she was only 14 weeks pregnant when brain death was declared? How is one situation different from the other?ReplyDelete
The way the world is today, I am losing trust in people, especially intelligent professional people. The good part of this is that it draws me closer to God in faith and trust.ReplyDelete
- Anonymous15 March 2015 at 17:21
Hope not hate.ReplyDelete
If you post spam or advertisements, I will hunt you down and eliminate you.
Comments may be moderated. Trolls will be deleted, and off-topic comments will not be approved.
Web-hosted images may be included thusly: [im]image url here[/im]. Maybe. I'm testing it.
Not dead
I'll start this post by answering a few questions that may or may not be burning in your mind: No, I'm not dead. No, I didn't g...
How many true surprises are there in life? This was the question I asked Mrs. Bastard when she was pregnant with our first child and wanted ...
EDIT: New and improved version, now with 83 of your favourite myths. Ooooooh boy. I have no idea what kind of rabbit hole I'm entering...


text:
The Southern California Prestige series headed south towards the border this past weekend for double days of racing in San Diego. The Saturday event was created by the series' presenting sponsor, Spy Optic, and hosted by Ranchos Cycling along with Team SPY-Blue. Everyone came together to put forward an event to benefit the San Dieguito river park's open space and multi-use trails.
Along with raising money for the open space Spy wanted a fun event that would challenge competitors. They explained it best, "it's a crusty 2.5km, spectator-friendly, all-dirt course that's fast and furious, difficult and delirious, with downhill sections of varying speed and width, tight sandy turns, a unique "beach" section that runs along the shore of Lake Hodges, a sandpit and long, steady uphill sections with agonizingly placed barriers. This course will challenge every muscle in your body, every cubic inch of your lungs, and we'll see just how good you are at handling your bike. Somewhere in the mix of it all you will realize just how much fun pain and suffering can be … it doesn't hurt that there is a strategically placed beer garden where you can sit and imbibe glorious malt beverages while watching others suffer over much of the course or you can hike to the top of a nearby hill and see the entire course." And, it was exactly that.
Elite Women:
The women pedaled out on the crusty course into the first set of right turns. It was The Team SoCal 'Cross's own Christina Probert-Turner, (CPT) with the hole shot and Allison Mann (Rock N Road) close behind. First time cross racer and pro triathlete Heather Jackson joined the mix and the rest filed in as the women set out on course.
By the far-end of the course Mann took the lead before entering the first chicane. By the time the women came through the sandy beach section it was obvious Mann had the race won. Jackson was making moves and chasing down Mann but an unfortunate flat gave CPT an opportunity to monopolize upon. CPT took second, with a hungry Jackson, Dorothy Wong (The Team SoCal Cross), and teammate Nancy James-Klinger.
Elite Men:
Four-time cyclocross national champion Steve Tilford (Tradewind Energy) came to town and showed his experience as he snatched the hole shot and set an amazing pace, putting down the fastest lap time of the day. Tilford's effort split the elite men apart halfway through lap one. A group of five stayed with him and John Bailey (Bailey Bikes) was the first to counter Tilford as the front group was crushing the course.
The front group stayed in tact exchanging work and by the third lap John Behrens (Bailey Bikes) and Brent Prenzlow (Celo Pacific/Focus), who was in ninth after a bad start, caught their ways back on the lead group. Coming into the fourth lap Bailey and Chris Jackson (Rambuski Law) had both flatted and crashed putting them of the group. By the end of the lap Prenzlow attacked on the climb, Tilford was immediately on his wheel, and Behrens held in too. Brandon Gritters (Rock N Road), Phillip Tintsman (Masi) and Gary Douville (SDG/Felt p.b. Irt) faded back.
The next lap coming out of the sand steps, Tilford hit his knee on this stem (a knee he already he had an issue with), and had to pull out of the race. Behrens was the only one left of the group. Prenzlow rode Behrens off his wheel with 2 to go, and soloed in for the win. When the rest came in the top five were Behrens, Gritters, Tintsman, and Douville.
It was a fun day for a good cause thanks to Spy Optic and a great first day of racing as the SoCal Prestige Series headed deeper south day two for Adams Avenue Cyclocross event, part cross, part track, and tech fun.


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By the community. For the community.
Continuing in the tradition of open source and open platforms, Liferay Community Projects offer new and established projects a place to evangelize and collaborate on significant open source on the Liferay Platform.
While official Liferay Projects are sponsored and driven primarily by Liferay itself, these projects spring from the innovative and creative minds of our global community. Read below to find out how to start your own Liferay Community Project!


text:
|Page tools: Print Page Print All
GOODS AND SERVICES(a)
Goods Credits
The trend estimate of goods credits rose $255m (1%) to $26,517m in the March quarter 2004. Seasonally adjusted, goods credits were $26,918m, up $845m (3%) on the December quarter 2003, driven by increases in exports of rural goods and smaller increases in non-rural and other goods.
GENERAL MERCHANDISE CREDITS(a)
Goods Debits
The trend estimate of goods debits rose $237m (1%) to $32,680m in the March quarter 2004. In seasonally adjusted current price terms, goods debits rose $1,273m (4%) to $33,280m.
GENERAL MERCHANDISE DEBITS(a)
The trend estimate of net services in the March quarter 2004 was a surplus of $152m, a turnaround of $168m on the December quarter 2003 deficit of $16m. In seasonally adjusted terms, net services recorded a surplus of $95m, a decrease of $60m on the surplus of $155m for the December quarter 2003.
IMPLICIT PRICE DEFLATOR, (a)
Relationship to IPI and EPI
Both the goods export IPD (in original terms) and the chain Laspeyres price index for goods exports rose 0.7%. The exports price index (EPI) remained steady during the March quarter 2004.
Net income
Current Transfers
In seasonally adjusted terms, net current transfers was a deficit of $34m, a decrease of $45m on the $79m deficit recorded in the December quarter 2003. Current transfer credits rose $34m (3%) and debits fell $11m (1%).
During the March quarter 2004, the level of net debt liabilities rose $4.0b (1.1%) to $373.8b. New debt raisings of $7.7b and price changes of $0.9b were major contributors to this increase, partially offset by exchange rate and other changes of -$4.5b.
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text:
Archiv für Sozialgeschichte
Archiv für Sozialgeschichte [Archive for Social History], which has been published once a year since 1961, is one of the major, internationally acclaimed historical journals. It deals with the modern social history of Germany, Europe and North America. Each volume contains articles on a specific featured topic, as well as detailed research reports and cumulative reviews on current developments within the field of historiography. Individual reviews are published online.
Archiv für Sozialgeschichte is available in full text online (except for the last three volumes to date):
Sourcebooks including documents on the history of the working class and the labour movement, as well as contemporary history, are published as supplements to Archiv für Sozialgeschichte.
Archiv für Sozialgeschichte and all other publications of series can be acquired from bookshops.
- Published on behalf of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation by
Kirsten Heinsohn, Thomas Kroll, Anja Kruke, Philipp Kufferath (managing editor), Friedrich Lenger, Ute Planert, Dietmar Süß, Meik Woyke
- Publisher
Verlag J.H.W. Dietz
- Publication Frequency
reviews (online): monthly; journal: once a year
Friedrich Ebert Foundation
Archiv für Sozialgeschichte
Philipp Kufferath
Managing Editor
Godesberger Allee 149
53175 Bonn
Tel.: +49-(0)228-883-9033
Fax: +49-(0)228-883-9209
URL www.fes.de/afs


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Compaq's Approach to Linux in Your Hand
Digital, Compaq and evolution bring us another embedded Linux solution.
While the Palm has always been the top dog of palmtops for Linux users and Yopy (see "Linley on Linux", LJ, September 2000) is the first kid on the block with Linux inside, there is Linux brewing at Compaq as well. iPaq, the handheld pocket PC from Compaq, should have the attention of most Linux lovers. While the shipping version runs Windows Pocket PC, getting a Linux version of this 200MHz handheld with 32MB of flash RAM is as easy as surfing to the Compaq web site. And what's more, the iPaq owes its very existence to open source and Linux in general, and a research project called "Itsy" in specific.
As Dick Greeley, program manager for the Open Handheld program and a member of Compaq's Corporate Research team, said in a recent interview, Compaq's study of handheld computing devices—seeing what it was that made them so popular and what could be done to improve on some of the product's deficiencies—had it origins not in Compaq, but in Digital Equipment Corporation, which Compaq acquired in 1998. Getting Digital's significant research labs as part of the bargain, Compaq became the home for Digital's "Itsy" project. The "Itsy" project was an attempt to marshal many of the technological innovations in computing power, screen quality and memory capacity for the burgeoning handheld computer market. It is this project, started four years ago, that eventually produced the iPaq.
"Our goal in research," said Dick Greeley, "is to look into the future, to look beyond the time horizon of the existing business units, so to that extent, we're looking out further than a lot of these groups do." What he and his researchers saw was that issues of power management and user interface were key to developing handhelds that would be popular and able to exploit the developments that were leading to the incredible shrinking machine. "While all these devices could shrink," Greeley noted, "our fingers can't, our eyes and ears can't...so we needed to start thinking about how the user interface of the future is going to work with these devices...what can and can't be done and how will people really want to relate to them."
Building a better user interface for handhelds led the Itsy team to a number of interesting innovations, one of which was the addition of a 3-D accelerometer which enabled a user to measure when the Itsy unit was tilted or moved. What good was this? Greeley calls it a "rock and scroll" interface. "The idea is that as you flip the unit around in your hand, it would be basically programmable and would do different things for you," he explained, using the example of being able to turn pages on a particular application simply by flipping the wrist. So giddy had the Itsy team become with the success of their early prototype device—which was about the size of a deck of playing cards—that they even loaded the popular action-shooter game, DOOM, onto it. Recalled Greeley, "I think my favorite aspect was how you cocked the shotgun, by flipping the unit forward and backward."
Why did the Itsy team choose Linux as the development operating system? Dick Greeley offers a number of reasons. For one, like many developers, they wanted something they could play with—from the source-code level up—on their own, without any proprietary strings attached. Second, the fact of the matter was that the Itsy project was not a secret; numerous developers from the academic and research communities were also involved to one degree or another. This involvement also led to the founding of the www.handhelds.org web site and the Open Handhelds program, which has as its goal the continued support of Linux on the iPaq, making the device available to the research/development community.
While the Itsy team choose Linux as their operating system, Greeley admits that, within Compaq, his research team is pretty "operating system agnostic". He adds, "I think what's more critical than necessarily the OS choice is the notion of going open source, to be able to share and interchange the fruits of many people's efforts and to have access to a wide variety of applications that are out there, which makes innovation really possible."
The transition from Itsy to iPaq took place when the newly Compaq'd Itsy research team went looking around the company for a new home for the project. Greeley says they found that home in Compaq's iAppliances Group, who had been working on an iPaq desktop PC and a new StrongARM-based handheld pocket PC. The iAppliances pocket device did not have the Itsy's 3-D accelerometer, but it did have the memory and expansion capabilities the Itsy researchers wanted. As Greeley said, "We proposed to them: Hey, let's launch this, what we'll call the Open Handheld program...We'll take our Linux port that we had originally done for Itsy, get it up to the latest revision of the Linux kernel, and at the same time, adapt it to work with the iPaq. This would be a great way to get people innovating on our platform."
As for what might be called the Itsy/iPaq premium, Dick Greeley points to a number of things he believes help set his handheld apart from the rest of the pack. "First of all," he says, "is the processing power. We've got a much faster processor than everybody else." Second, he points to the iPaq screen, which he suggests is at least as good, if not better, than others on the market. "You can look at the screen in bright daylight and still see it," he insists. "You could find your keys in the dark using the screen like a flashlight," Greeley adds by way of example. The iPaq screen also has both a variable brightness control as well as an ambient light sensor that automatically adjusts to the environment. The unit also gets a maximum of 12-14 hours on its battery, but one of the key features as far as Greeley is concerned is the fact that the operating system (Microsoft Pocket PC standard or Linux, available from the Compaq web site) is stored in flash memory as opposed to being burned into ROM. This gives the user increased ability to load Linux on the iPaq by loading into flash instead of burning a new ROM. Says Greeley, "That proved to be an important thing for us and it's actually made our whole program possible."
Only recently started, it is probably impossible to gauge how much Linux developer interest will flow toward the Itsy/iPaq project. Greeley himself notes that, with regard to the Linux port to the iPaq, "we don't have all the bells and whistles yet," meaning there is no browser and the wireless Ethernet is enroute, but has not yet arrived. The Linux Itsy does feature the X Window System, however, and Greeley expects progress to come quickly. "We've started shipping the new iPaq in the last several weeks and there's been very good demand for them...One of the things we've heard a lot of the last week and a half is a lot of Linux people saying, "Finally! I've got my thing I can play with now! Thank you for following through!"--even though the product is not exactly the same as the Itsy.


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This article is more than 1 year old
Hasselblad CFV-39 digital back
39Mp upgrade for your 50-year-old camera, anyone?
Similar to other RAW conversion software available, Phocus allows you to adjust the white (black, grey) balance after the event and a whole lot more from Hasselblad's 3F RAW lossless compressed native format images captured on the CFV-39.
Just about every conceivable adjustment can be made in Phocus before you export it to the next stage. Presets you make can be saved and used for whole collections or for new images imported. Calibration is important here, and profiles will help you use settings for certain printers or publishers that you work with.
Back to the future, literally
There's Simple mode too, if you just need a faster workflow and Hasselblad does update Phocus frequently, currently at version 2.0.1. It takes a little while to find out just how much it can do, but once workflow is sorted, it's a breeze. If you need convincing regarding the cost of this gear, Hands on a Hasselblad is a programme of training events, which will soon to be updated to include the new, exclusive Hasselblad studio opening in Hoxton, London in May.
Overall, the CFV-39 is a very positive nod, letting you know this company values its loyal user base with equipment of old. It is a real pleasure to not see this gear go to waste and be passed by and really, the image quality that can be achieved speaks volumes. Download this 50MB zipped, full-res TIFF file here and see for yourself. UK buyers also get the advantage of a complete service of camera bodies and viewfinders included in the digital back's purchase price. With the inevitable migration to pure digital systems, secondhand lenses and bodies are much cheaper than they used to be. Time to grab a bargain? At least for the front end. ®
James Cumpsty is a professional photographer and videographer working in the music industry.
Thanks to the Pro Centre for the equipment loan.


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Någon vill skada mig.
100 procent kan jag förneka detta.
Ingen har sagt att jag har gjort fel.
Jag beklagar verkligen djup att jag inte har tänkt ett varv till om detta.
Men frågorna finns där. Besvikelsen och tvivlet har lagt sig som en tjock dimma över Juholt och i förlängningen partiet. Många är förbannade.
Vaclav Havel on the temptations of political powerOn May 28, 1991 President Václav Havel of Czechoslovakia accepted the Sonning Prize for his contribution to European civilization. The biennial prize has been awarded by the University of Copenhagen since 1950. This is the text of Havel's acceptance speech.
With your permission, I would like to take advantage of my unusual experience and try to cast a critical eye of an intellectual on the phenomenon of power as I have been able to observe it so far from the inside, and especially on the nature of the temptation that power represents.
Why is it that people long for political power, and why, when they have achieved it, are they so reluctant to give it up?
In the first place, people are driven into politics by ideas about a better way to organize society, by faith in certain values or ideals, be they impeccable or dubious, and the irresistible desire to fight for those ideas and turn them into reality.
In the second place, they are probably motivated by the natural longing every human being has for self-affirmation. Is it possible to imagine a more attractive way to affirm your own existence and its importance than that offered by political power? In essence, it gives you a tremendous opportunity to leave your mark, in the broadest sense, on your surroundings, to shape the world around you in your own image, to enjoy the respect that every political office almost automatically bestows upon the one who holds it.
In the third place, many people long for political power and are so reluctant to part with it because of the wide range of perks that are a necessary part of political life -- even under the most democratic of conditions.
These three categories are always, I have observed, intertwined in complicated ways, and at times it is almost impossible to determine which of them predominates. The second and third categories, for instance, are usually subsumed under the first category. I have never met a politician who could admit to the world, or even to himself, that he was running for office only because he wanted to affirm his own importance, or because he wanted to enjoy the perks that come with political power. On the contrary, we all repeat over and over that we care not about power as such but about certain general values. We say it is only our sense of responsibility to the community that compels us to take upon ourselves the burden of public office. At times, only God Himself knows whether that is true, or simply a more palatable way of justifying to the world and ourselves our longing for power, and our need to affirm, through our power and its reach, that we exist in a truly valid and respectable way.
The situation is made more complicated because the need for self-affirmation is not essentially reprehensible. It is intrinsically human, and I can hardly imagine a human being who does not long for recognition, affirmation, and a visible manifestation of his own being.
I am one of those people who consider their term in political office as an expression of responsibility and duty toward the whole community, and even as a sort of sacrifice. But, observing other politicians whom I know very well and who make the same claim, I feel compelled again and again to examine my own motives and ask whether I am not beginning to deceive myself. Might I not be more concerned with satisfying an unacknowledged longing for self-affirmation -- a desire to prove that I mean something and that therefore I exist -- than I am with pure public service? In short, I am beginning to have suspicions about myself. More precisely, my experience so far with politics and politicians compels me to have these suspicions. In fact, every new prize I receive compels me to be a degree more suspicious.
The third category of reasons for desiring political power -- longing for the advantages power brings, or simply getting used to those advantages -- deserves special attention. It is interesting to observe how diabolical the temptations of power are, precisely in this sphere. This is best observed among those of us who have never held power of any kind before. Bravely, we used to condemn the powerful for enjoying advantages that deepened the gulf between them and the rest. Now we ourselves are in power.
We are beginning, inadvertently but dangerously, to resemble in some ways our contemptible precursors. It bothers us, it upsets us, but we are discovering that we simply can't, or don't know how to, put a stop to it.
I will give you several examples.
It would make no sense whatever for a government minister to miss an important cabinet discussion of a law that will influence the country for decades to come simply because he has a toothache and has to wait all afternoon at the dentist's until his turn comes. So -- in the interests of his country -- he arranges to be treated by a special dentist, someone he doesn't have to wait for.
It would certainly not make sense for a politician to miss an important state meeting with a foreign colleague simply because he has been held up by the vagaries of public transport. So -- he has a government car and a chauffeur.
It would certainly not make sense for a president or a prime minister to miss such a meeting simply because his car is caught in a traffic jam, so he has the special right to pass cars that are ahead of him or to go through red lights, and in his case the traffic police tolerate it.
It would certainly make no sense for a politician to waste valuable time sweating over a stove and cooking an official meal for a counterpart from abroad. So he has a personal cook and waiters to do it for him.
It would certainly make no sense for the president's cook to go from butcher shop to butcher shop like a normal homemaker in a postsocialist country in search of meat good enough to offer without shame to an important guest. So special deliveries of supplies are arranged for prominent people and their cooks.
It would certainly make no sense if a president or a premier had to look up numbers in the telephone book himself and then keep trying again and again until he reached the person or until the line became free. Quite logically, then, this is done by an assistant.
To sum up: I go to a special doctor, I don't have to drive a car, and my driver need not lose his temper going through Prague at a snail's pace. I needn't cook or shop for myself, and I needn't even dial my own telephone when I want to talk to someone.
In other words, I find myself in the world of privileges, exceptions, perks; in the world of VIPs who gradually lose track of how much butter or a streetcar ticket costs, how to make a cup of coffee, how to drive a car, and how to place a telephone call. I find myself on the very threshold of the world of the communist fat cats whom I have criticized all my life.
And worst of all, everything has its own unassailable logic. It would be laughable and contemptible for me to miss a meeting that served the interests of my country because I had spent my presidential time in a dentist's waiting room, or lining up for meat, or nervously battling the decrepit Prague telephone system, or engaging in the hopeless task of finding a taxi in Prague when I am obviously not from the West and therefore not in possession of dollars.
But where do logic and objective necessity stop and excuses begin? Where does the interest of the country stop and the love of privileges begin? Do we know, and are we at all capable of recognizing, the moment when we cease to be concerned with the interests of the country for whose sake we tolerate these priviliges, and start to be concerned with the advantages themselves, which we excuse by appealing to the interests of the country?
Regardless of how pure his intentions may originally have been, it takes a high degree of self-awareness and critical distance for someone in power -- however well-meaning at the start -- to recognize that moment. I myself wage a constant and rather unsuccessful struggle with the advantages I enjoy, and I would not dare say that I can always identify that moment clearly. You get used to things, and gradually, without being aware of it, you may lose your sense of judgement.
Again, being in power makes me permanently suspicious of myself. What is more, I suddenly have a greater understanding of those who are starting to lose their battle with the temptations of power. In attempting to persuade themselves that they are still merely serving their country, they increasingly persuade themselves of nothing more than their own excellence, and begin to take their privileges for granted.
There is something treacherous, delusive, and ambiguous in the temptation of power. On the one hand, political power gives you the wonderful opportunity to confirm, day in and day out, that you really exist, that you have your own undeniable identity, that with every word and deed you a leaving a highly visible mark on the world around you. Yet within that same political power and in everything that logically belongs to it lies a terrible danger: that, while pretending to confirm our existence and our identity, political power will in fact rob us of them.
Someone who forgets how to drive a car, do the shopping, make himself coffee, and place a telephone call is not the same person who had known how to do those things all his life. A person who had never before had to look into the lens of a television camera and now has to submit his every movement to its watchful eye is not the same person he once was.
He becomes a captive of his position, his perks, his office. What apparently confirms his identity and thus his existence in fact subtly takes that identity and existence away from him. He is no longer in control of himself, because he is controlled by something else: by his position and its exigencies, its consequences, its aspects, and its privileges.
There is something deadening about this temptation. Under the mantle of existential self-affirmation, existence is confiscated, alienated, deadened. A person is transformed into a stone bust of himself. The bust may accentuate his undying importance and fame, but at the same time it is no more than a piece of dead stone.
Kierkegaard wrote Sickness unto Death. Allow me to paraphrase your excellent countryman and coin the phrase "power unto death."
What may we conclude from this?
Certainly not that it is improper to devote oneself to politics because politics is, in principle, immoral.
What follows is something else. Politics is an area of human endeavor that places greater stress on moral sensitivity, on the ability to reflect critically on oneself, on genuine responsibility, on taste and tact, on the capacity to empathize with others, on a sense of moderation, on humility. It is a job for modest people, for people who cannot be deceived.
Those who claim that politics is a dirty business are lying to us. Politics is work of a kind that requires especially pure people, because it is especially easy to become morally tainted.
So easy, in fact, that a less vigilant spirit may not notice happening it at all.
Politics, therefore, ought to be carried on by people who are vigilant, sensitive to the ambiguous promise of self-affirmation that comes with it.
I have no idea whether I am such a person. I only know that I ought to be, because I have accepted this office.
Media: Aftonbladet, Aftonbladet, Aftonbladet, Aftonbladet, Aftonbladet, Allehanda.se, Arbetarbladet, Barometern, Barometern, Bohusläningen, Borås Tidning, Borås Tidning, Borås Tidning, Borås Tidning, Dagen.se, Dagen.se, Dagen.se, Dagens Industri, Dagens Media, Dagens Nyheter, Eskilstuna-Kuriren, Eskilstuna-Kuriren, Expressen, Expressen, Hallands Nyheter, Hallandsposten, Kristianstadsbladet, Laholms Tidning, Laholms Tidning, Laholms Tidning, Laholms Tidning, Länstidningen Östersund, Metro, Nerikes Allehanda, Norra Skåne, Norra Skåne, Norra Skåne, Norra Skåne, Norra Västerbotten, Nyhet.nu, Nyheterna, Nyheterna, Skånskan.se, Skånskan.se, Skånskan.se, Smålandsposten, Smålandsposten, Smålandsposten, Smålandsposten, Sundsvalls Nyheter, Sundsvalls Tidning, Svenska Dagbladet, Svenska Dagbladet, svt.se, Sydsvenskan, Sydsvenskan, Sydöstran, 0 Comments och 0 Reactions, Sydöstran, Upsala Nya Tidning, Upsala Nya Tidning, Upsala Nya Tidning, Vestmanlands Läns Tidning, Västerbottens Folkblad, Västerbottens-Kuriren, Västerbottens-Kuriren, Västerbottens-Kuriren, Västerbottens-Kuriren, Västerbottens-Kuriren, Ystads Allehanda, Östersunds-Posten.
Tack Sandro Wennberg för länkväggen!


text:
Rechercher une page de manuel
Langue: en
Version: 261001 (debian - 07/07/09)
Section: 1 (Commandes utilisateur)
NAMEpnmindex - build a visual index of a bunch of anymaps
SYNOPSISpnmindex [-size N] [-across N] [-colors N] [-black] [-title T] [-quant|-noquant] pnmfile ...
DESCRIPTIONpnmindex creates an index image containing thumbnail (small) versions of a bunch of PNM files you supply.
pnmindex labels each thumbnail and, optionally, contains a title.
- -size N
- The size of each thumbnail. The image is scaled to fit maximally inside a N x N pixel box without changing its aspect ratio. Default is 100.
- -across N
- The number of thumbnails in each row. Default is 6.
- -colors N
- The maximum number of colors allowed in the overall image. If it would otherwise have more colors than these, pnmindex quantizes the result. The default is 256.
However, this value is meaningless if you specify the -noquant option.
- -black
- This controls the color of the padding between the images; normally it's white and the labels are black lettering on white background, but the -black flag reverses this.
- -title title
- Specifies a title top place at the top of the image. Default is no title.
- -quant
- Enables quanization (to the number of colors specified by -colors ). Quantization is on by default but you can disable it with -noquant.
- -noquant
- See -quant.
SEE ALSOpnmscale(1), pnmcat(1), pbmtext(1), ppmquant(1), pnm(5)
AUTHORCopyright (C) 1991 by Jef Poskanzer. -title and -noquant added 2000 by John Heidemann.
Contenus ©2006-2023 Benjamin Poulain
Design ©2006-2023 Maxime Vantorre


text:
Questions - Maine President - September 25, 2012
See Article
See Toplines
See Crosstabs
Platinum Page
Conducted September 25, 2012
By Rasmussen Reports
*Please note that we split the survey to rotate the order of the candidates, so while half will hear the Republican first, the other half hears the Democrat mentioned first.
1* If the 2012 presidential election were held today, would you vote for Republican Mitt Romney or Democrat Barack Obama?
2* Do you have a very favorable, somewhat favorable, somewhat unfavorable, or very unfavorable impression of Mitt Romney?
3* How would you rate your own personal finances these days? Excellent, good, fair, or poor?
4* Are your personal finances getting better these days, or worse?
5* I'm going to read you a short list of issues in the news. For each, please let me know which presidential candidate you trust more to handle that issue.
Health care
National security
Energy policy
6* How would you rate the job Barack Obama has been doing as president…do you strongly approve, somewhat approve, somewhat disapprove, or strongly disapprove of the job he's been doing?
NOTE: Margin of Sampling Error, +/- 4.5 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence


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An earpiece that inflates like a tiny airbag inside human ears can create the perfect fit for any music-listening experience or hearing aid. The futuristic twist on earbuds could even arrive in Apple stores sometime in the near future.
The inflatable earpieces represent the newest invention of Stephen Ambrose, a pioneer in audio technology and founder of Asius Technologies. His technology aims to deliver better sound for consumer earbuds, hearing aids and the in-ear monitors used by performing artists, but without the collateral hearing damage caused by cranking up the volume to compensate for imperfect listening devices.
"We went to Apple, and they said we have the holy grail of in-ear devices and they just can't wait for us to be in their store," Ambrose said.
Asius earned early rave reviews from people with hearing loss during a study funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. Electronics industry representatives and journalists also had a chance to try out the earpieces during the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week.
How it works
The inflated earpieces create an oddly comfortable feeling inside the ear that resembles the slight change in air pressure when riding an elevator, according to one CES attendee. In a clever twist, the earpieces can harness the sound pressure from the headphone or hearing aid speakers to inflate themselves.
"You don't have to slide it into the ear because it actually crawls into the ear canal and unfurls," Ambrose told TechNewsDaily.
Such inflatable earpieces can create an "isolation" seal in the ear that blocks outside noise, but remain flexible enough to absorb some of the excess sound pressure pumped into the ear by headphone or hearing aid speakers. Excess sound pressure can "beat up" the eardrum and trigger an acoustic reflex that defensively dampens loud sounds — often leading headphone users to crank up the volume even more in a vicious cycle.
The Asius technology can also reduce the "occlusion effect" that creates the booming, resonant sound of having your ears plugged.
Finding the perfect fit
But the earpieces required flexible, yet strong, material that could withstand being inflated and deflated countless times. Asius looked around at several custom and commercial materials before settling upon medical-grade ePTFE material (Gore-Tex), said Samuel Gido, vice president for materials technology at Asius Technologies and a polymer engineer at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.
The Asius earpieces could eliminate the need for custom-fit earpieces used by professional hearing aids and expensive custom headphones, Gido said. Custom-fit molding currently relies upon an uncomfortable and imperfect "ear impression" process of pouring silicone "goop" into a person's ears to create a mold of their ear canals. [3D Ear Scanning Enables Custom-Fit Headphones]
Inflatable earpieces could also prove more flexible in adjusting to the changing shape of human ear canals as people yawn, chew and talk. Human ear canals even change their shape as people get older.
"This device gives you an excellent seal as good as a custom mold, but you don't need the custom molding," Gido explained.
Getting it right
Audio device manufacturers such as Apple, Sony and Sennheiser have already begun discussing how to use the Asius earpiece technology. Ambrose has even successfully retrofitted existing commercial earpieces, such as an $800 pair of in-ear headphones owned by his wife, Garnet Ambrose. (They originally didn't sound much better than a cheaper pair of headphones.)
Garnet Ambrose has spent hours peering into microscopes to work on the Asius earpiece prototypes and retrofits by hand. She recalled her earlier days working with musicians such as Nick Mason, the drummer of Pink Floyd, as she demonstrated the inflatable earpieces to CES attendees crowding around the booth.
"I wore this all day while I was cooking, cleaning, and doing all my normal things," Garnet Ambrose said. "The only thing I was disappointed in was that I ran out of music and had to download more."
The early prototype earpiece she held in her hands looked like two inflatable bags dangling from the ends of headphone cords — a cruder version of the final product consumers can expect. Yet the prototype had survived constant inflation and deflation during demonstrations over the past two years.
Maybe durability from a soft, flexible material should not come as a surprise. After all, Gore-Tex has become a material of choice for surgeons repairing hernias and heart defects. The stuff is made for heavy lifting, right?
"You got it," Garnet Ambrose said.
In the background, her husband echoed the same words in a completely different conversation.
"You got it!"
You can follow TechNewsDaily Senior Writer Jeremy Hsu on Twitter @jeremyhsu. Follow TechNewsDaily on Twitter @TechNewsDaily. We're also on Facebook & Google+.


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So guess what I had to try — and add to our "You Won't Believe This!" Snack Series — when I went to Disney World in April?
Guys, this Zebra cupcake is massive. Its construction is akin to one of our favorites over at Disney's Hollywood Studios — the chocolate peanut-butter cupcake — with piles of frosting and chocolate shavings stuck in at odd angles.
It's clearly the Disney dining equivalent of avant garde artwork — a representation of a zebra vs. an actual molded animal, as you find in the White Chocolate Elephant Cupcake, also sold at Kusafiri Bakery. Personally, I think it's beautiful, and it actually reminds me of the puppeteer-ed floats that prowl the streets of the Animal Kingdom during the parade each afternoon; the angular puppets, stark color contrasts, and artistic animal representations in the parade make me feel that this cupcake is right at home with the way the Imagineers are presenting the animal details in the park. They'll often give you the impression of the animal, and your imagination takes it the rest of the way.
But, we're not here to talk detail and design. Let's talk cupcake. As I said, the thing is giant; easily the size of the chocolate peanut-butter cupcake and easily enough to split between two (or three!) people. The vanilla cake is incredibly moist and super-sweet (I'm always amazed how they keep the mass-produced cake tasting so fresh and moist). And the mounds of vanilla buttercream frosting, again, have a great texture. This frosting is creamier than your typical birthday cake frosting, though — it's not the same stuff you find on the Butterfinger Cupcake. While just as thick, it's smoother.
My favorite part, though, were the white and dark striped chocolate shavings. You simply pluck these off of the top, pop them into your mouth, and let them melt right on your tongue. It's like the best snowflake in the world.
So, now we've covered all three of the new Animal Kingdom "You Won't Believe This!" Snacks — which one will you choose the next time you're in Disney's Animal Kingdom?: The White Chocolate Elephant Cupcake, The Paw Print Brownie, or The Zebra Cupcake?


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Handmade Greetings Cards Using Felt
I was talking about making things from spare felt recently. I never throw any pieces of felt away, however ugly or small. Even the tiniest slivers cut from the edges of felt get saved up for re-using, usually between the layers of textured felt. I was looking at some of my smaller pieces and wondered if they'd be any use to my mum who makes her own greetings cards, so I asked on the forum if anyone knew the best way to attach felt or fabrics to card. I got some good advice and when Ruth and Lyn both said the easiest way is to sew them on, I thought I'd give it a go myself.
I spent a good few hours cutting, measuring and scoring card, cutting out felt, choosing colours of thread to use…and then my machine wouldn't work 🙁 I think I must have done something to it when I tried to sew organza, no amount of cleaning and oiling seemed to help, it just kept making grinding noises and chewing the thread. But, a few days later, it was back to normal! It must have needed the oil to soak in or something.
So, I got all my supplies out again and started sewing away. Before long, I had a nice pile of almost finished felt greetings cards.
When I was asking on the forum about attaching the felt, Lyn also suggested using cards with a double fold, so that the sewing on the back could be hidden. I do have some of these, but they have an aperture, so weren't any use.
After lots of measuring and dividing and practising, I worked out a good system for scoring the cards so they folded well. I used standard A4 size card, cut in half, so that I had two long strips. On the back side, I measured 98mm in from the left side, and 99mm in from the right, and scored gently. This left the centre panel where the felt would go, approximately 100mm wide.
After working out where the felt would go, I then sewed it into place. You don't need a fancy machine, mine is an old electric Singer without power 🙂
Once all the felt was attached, I turned the card over and added a couple of strips of double sided sticky tape.
Once the flap is folded over to cover the sewing you have a gorgeous, unique greetings card 🙂
I've made a PDF file with more photos and more detailed instructions. If you'd like more info on how to make your own cards, just click the link below
Handmade Greetings cards Using Felt
Do you use fabric, felt or fibres for greetings cards? Do you have any photos or tips you'd like to share?


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A few hours into God of War: Ascension, you'll find yourself running atop a massive, mechanical snake battling waves of monstrous goat men. It's marvelous and immense, with gold and blue scales that glisten in the sun, as the serpent's metallic body twists and bends during its ascent through beautiful mountains, garnished with remarkable stone architecture. Slowly, the camera pulls back, revealing the absurd scale of the environment as Kratos becomes smaller and smaller, continuing to tear apart his enemies in a rock opera of blood. It's here, during this unforgettable, awe-inspiring set piece encounter, that you'll realize you have absolutely no idea what's going on.
And for a majority of the game, you won't mind. You'll be too busy slashing at enemies with the Blades of Chaos and taking part in some of the most breathtaking cinematic moments in gaming's history. You'll be sliding down ice-covered corridors at breakneck speeds and leaping between crumbling buildings. The action is unrelenting, keeping you distracted with constant movement instead of relatable motivation or, really, any motivation at all.
Kratos battles some of the most impressive foes he's ever fought during Ascension's eight-hour campaign. Though few actually pull from the Greek pantheon (since those mythical figures need to be alive for Kratos to kill in the sequels, after all), they're absolutely thrilling, punctuated by the series' signature quick-time events that conclude in grandiose displays of violence and brutality. Ascension also introduces a welcome new addition, sidelining QTEs in favor of action-based finishing moves, turning tearing an enemy apart into a mini-game. These scenes are amplified by Ascension's incredible visuals, which are not only the best the franchise has seen, but some of the most impressive on the PlayStation 3. Your attention will be pulled away from the substanceless story and uninteresting characters by big, shiny encounters.
You won't care about the story, and, usually, you won't care that you don't care about the story. But eventually, through attrition and repetition, you'll start to feel like something is off with Ascension's tone. Taking place mere months after Kratos was tricked into murdering his family by Ares, the game provides a glimpse at the Ghost of Sparta before he was consumed by rage. He's a more human protagonist, spending a lot less time bellowing at his enemies about how he's been betrayed and how he's going to get revenge and how much he's going to kill them.
Kratos' anger has been removed, as promised, but it wasn't really replaced with anything. Ascension feels hollow and motiveless, and it's hard to get excited when the hero himself isn't capable of mustering up any enthusiasm. You'll be dragged from remarkable location to remarkable location, never knowing why you're there or what you're supposed to do. Ascension doesn't flesh out Kratos' life or give you better insight into why he becomes the ferocious avatar of anger. Instead, it just happens. Kratos isn't deeper for it, he's still just a blender--an excuse for you to spin around and act as a whirlwind of chains and blood and meat.
God of War's combat hasn't changed all that much over the past decade because it didn't need to. Slicing apart foes is infinitely rewarding, fulfilling your deepest power fantasies. Ripping the wings off of harpies and snapping off minotaur horns is brutal, but the lack of new, interesting weapons is a disappointment. Kratos can empower his blades with different elemental types aligned to the different gods, but these are hardly a replacement for finding new toys to play with.
The only other actual weapons you can equip besides the Blades of Chaos are swords, hammers, and javelin scattered around the world, but the fact that they only last for a few attacks limits their use. It's well-paced, for the most part, save for a few difficulty spikes that'll test your patience, rather than your skills--including one that's easily the most difficult section in any God of War game to date, for all the wrong reasons.
Kratos spends nearly as much time killing as he does pushing crates, pulling levers, and climbing through intricate and well-designed levels. Each location is a puzzle within itself, enhanced by the addition of the Amulet of Uroborus, a tool that allows you to either give life to or decay an object. Rebuilding destroyed bridges is visually enthralling, but you'll never feel all that challenged--or rewarded--by Ascension's puzzles. In the rare event that they're more complicated than climbing a ladder and pushing the button, the solution is spoiled by a go-this-way-you-idiot camera pan. Sometimes, puzzle solutions don't really make much sense, and you'll feel more annoyed than satisfied when you figure out how to open the locked door that's been preventing your progress for 30 minutes.
Also somewhat disappointing are the newly added multiplayer features, which are held up by clever level design and strong game modes, but smacked down by uninteresting gameplay. It sounds great in theory, but in practice it turns out there's nothing less fun than being beat up by someone as powerful as Kratos. God of War's combat is at its best when you're battling many things smaller than you or few things bigger than you; fighting enemies that are just as strong as you isn't all that engaging. The exception is Trial of the Gods, a two-player cooperative mode that teams up warriors to take down waves of enemies, but even then it's not going to hold your attention for too long.
God of War: Ascension is confident, executing the franchise tropes flawlessly with an amount of self-awareness not often seen in gaming. It knows it's good--it knows it doesn't have to try hard to be good--but it struggles to be anything more than that. While it's worth experiencing for the massive battles, remarkable cinematic moments, and strong combat, it doesn't feel like a necessary chapter in the God of War franchise. As it would turn out, the God of War isn't worth much as a mere mortal.


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Media Scrooges: 'Bah, Humbug' To Wall Street's Christmas Bonuses
When Santa came to Wall Street this year, the media cried and pouted.
With the Dow Jones Industrial Average at an all-time high and commodities markets experiencing one of their best years in decades, Wall Street firms were feeling especially merry this year. The media responded as if they had seen Jacob Marley's ghost.
NBC's John Seigenthaler gloomily downplayed Wall Streeters' good fortunes by stating, "Most U.S. businesses – 66 percent – give no bonuses at all." ABC's Nancy Cordes quipped, "You could feed 700,000 children for a year" with what the top earner at Goldman Sachs received.
The Washington Post was concerned that these bonuses were "another reminder of the ever-widening gap between the super-rich and everyone else." And, the Boston Globe worried that what was being lavished on Wall Street types was "more than three times the average salary of a Massachusetts surgeon."
Amid all the squabbling was a convenient amnesia about how pleased the press were about these bonuses the final Christmas season of the '90s, right before the NASDAQ peaked and the three-year bear market in stocks began.
NBC's Pat Dawson said on the Dec. 22, 1999, "Nightly News," "Wall Street's billions in profit means a Big Apple boom." CBS's Anthony Mason interviewed a Manhattan business owner on the Dec. 11, 1999, "Evening News" who was celebrating the announcements of the leading brokerage firms: "Thank God Wall Street's having a good year."
It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Coveting
Evoking envy is certainly not a new affectation for the media. In fact, the class warfare card is regularly played throughout the year. However, this Christmas journalists have displayed Ebenezer Scrooge-like disgust, finding it unimaginable that people should be paid large bonuses.
The worst offender was certainly NBC. On the December 16 "Nightly News," anchor John Seigenthaler drearily stated: "Most U.S. businesses – 66 percent – give no bonuses at all. Those employees lucky enough to receive a cash gift will get an average of $837. Compare that to the bonuses Goldman Sachs gives out, a jackpot so big they could give every employee more than $600,000."
Mike Taibbi's report followed, and he later expanded on the divide between rich and poor: "But to many, today's version of the haves and have-nots feels different. In the boom of the Clinton years – and I'm talking a chronological, not a political distinction – the rising tide of that bull market truly did lift all boats, or at least a whole lot more of them."
After interviewing a finance assistant who was "[living] paycheck by paycheck just to pay for mortgages, gas, electric, everything," Taibbi added: "Working Americans now pay more of their pension and health care costs; and food, fuel and service costs have risen faster than most salaries. That means even those who do get small bonuses still struggle."
In second place for this year's Scrooge award was The Washington Post, which published a business briefing on December 17 with a concluding paragraph that could have been uttered by the Grinch himself:
Still, news of Wall Street's Very, Very Good Year is likely to stir some resentment on Main Street – not because the economy is so bad as much as it is yet another reminder of the ever-widening gap between the super-rich and everyone else. Are those pay packages really a reflection of the Wall Streeters' superior skill, training and ingenuity? Or are they a reflection of the lack of price competition in an industry that is allowed to earn monopoly-like fees and profit? Or could it be that the new barons of finance are merely the beneficiaries of some old-fashioned dumb luck?
The Boston Globe also seemed to be lacking the free-market Christmas spirit when it published an article on December 13 stating the bonuses given out by Goldman Sachs this year were "more than three times the average salary of a Massachusetts surgeon; four times that of a Massachusetts chief executive; and nearly 12 times that of a Massachusetts high school teacher, according to the state's Department of Workforce Development."
The Globe's Robert Gavin continued: "Still, these outsized earnings renewed concerns about the growing gap between rich and poor in the United States, and whether the benefits of the economic expansion are getting distributed equitably. The payday also renewed questions about the value society places on different kinds of work."
But pay doesn't depend on the value society as a whole places on work – it depends on what individual professions deem valuable. Professional athletes are but one example, clearly making more than police, firemen or doctors. While journalists worry about economic benefits getting "distributed equally," they haven't reported on the millions pulled in – or any charitable "distribution" doled out – by some of their own.
"News anchors are paid stratospheric salaries," reported the New York Daily News on April 5, 2006. Salaries reported in the article included Katie Couric, $15 million; Diane Sawyer, $13 million; Charles Gibson (who has since been promoted), $7 million; and Brian Williams, $4 million.
But Maybe It's Ok if They Earned It …
CNN took a different approach on its December 16 "In the Money" – acknowledging that bonuses could be tied to actual work. "Headline News" correspondent Jennifer Westhoven introduced the president of a recruitment firm by stating: "It's just the holiday bonus that's disappearing, right? We're not talking about performance bonuses, which actually seem to be on the rise." Her guest agreed, "The holiday bonus is disappearing and certainly the performance bonus is taking its place."
CNN correspondent Christine Romans then interjected another point lost on the envious: "I think a lot of those people are getting those big bonuses worked like a 100 hours a week."
Romans elaborated on this theme: "In a weird way the bonuses are little more justifiable than maybe a holiday bonus that is just because you have worked there for a year. Because those bonuses are tied to how well you did for the firm."
Ignoring Christmases Past
The press seemed to miss how jubilant they were during the 1999 Christmas season before that bull market came to an unhappy end. In particular, the "NBC Nightly News" – quite dour in 2006 – was marvelously merry on Dec. 22, 1999. Correspondent Pat Dawson even stated that Wall Street was responsible for saving New York's economy: "In fact, so much money is being made here, it's turned around the fortunes of this entire city. A few years back, New York was in a tailspin; then the bulls started running. Now, Wall Street's billions in profit means a Big Apple boom."
The Dec. 11, 1999, "CBS Evening News" also saw the upside to brokerage firm bonuses as Anthony Mason interviewed an absolutely joyous business owner who proclaimed: "Thank God Wall Street's having a good year. We – we have more parties this year than we've ever had before."
Certainly, the tone has changed in seven years. However, despite forgetting the past, there is something far more unfortunate about the Christmas bonus reporting this year: given how the nation suffered during the three-year stock bear market that mercifully ended in March 2003, Main Street should always be merry when Wall Street is doing well.
Noel Sheppard is a contributing writer to the Business & Media Institute. He is also contributing editor for the Media Research Center's NewsBusters.org. Noel welcomes feedback at email@example.com.
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