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HPSDRwiki:Community Portal
- 1 HDSDR Project Overview
- 2 FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions
- 3 ATLAS - Backplane
- 4 JANUS - ADC/DAC Board
- 5 OZY - HPSDR Host Interface & Control
- 6 MERCURY - 0-30MHz Direct Sampling Receiver
- 7 PENELOPE - Companion Transmitter to Mercury
- 8 SASQUATCH - DSP back-end
- 9 GIBRALTAR - GPS-disciplined Frequency Standard
- 10 PROTEUS - Prototyping Board
- 11 HORTON - Receiver Module
- 12 PINOCCHIO - Extender Card
- 13 PHOENIX - QSD/QSE Receiver/Transmitter Module
- 14 ODYSSEY - Low Power Handheld SDR
- 15 EPIMETHEUS - General Purpose I/O
- 16 ANCILLARY - A Catch-all page for ancillary stuff of interest to HPSDR
- 17 EXPERIMENTERS-CORNER - Ideas not yet projects
- 18 ADMINISTRATION-NEWS - Messages about HPSDR web, wiki, discussion list
HDSDR Project Overview
For an interesting audio-visual overview, see our website at http://hpsdr.org for links to download KK7P's Dayton Talk!
Introduction -- What's It All About?
The HPSDR is an open source (GNU type) hardware and software project intended as a "next generation" Software Defined Radio (SDR) for use by Radio Amateurs ("hams") and Short Wave Listeners (SWLs). It is being designed and developed by a group of SDR enthusiasts with representation from interested experimenters worldwide. The discussion list membership currently stands at over 500 and includes such SDR enthusiasts as Ray Anderson WB6TPU, Steve Bible N7HPR, Phil Covington N8VB [1], Rick Hambly W2GPS, Phil Harman VK6APH, Lyle Johnson KK7P, Ulrich Rohde N1UL, and Bill Tracey KD5TFD to name a few.
The rationale behind the project is to break the overall design up into a number of modules. Each module is designed by an individual or group and connects to other modules using a pre-defined and common bus -- rather like plugging boards into a PC motherboard.
This modular approach enables users to incorporate just the modules that interest them as well as designing their own variants if desired. The approach also enables new ideas and circuits to be tested by replacing an existing module. Since the majority of modules will be retained, such experimentation can be done with minimum disruption to an existing working system.
The modules vary in complexity from simple bandpass filters and input/output interfaces, to full blown DSP functions. Such variety enables experimenters with varying degrees of experience to contribute. For example, members with PCB layout skills are highly sought after at the moment! If you wish to contribute your skills to this project, the best way is to advise your availability on the discussion list and communicate with project leaders.
The modules have each been named for easier identification when talking or writing about them. On this wiki, each module has its own page, as noted by the links below. Some of the modules are being designed so that they can be either used in conjunction with others or stand-alone. Each module board size (except the backplane) will be 100 mm by 120-220 mm and use either a 64 pin or 96 pin DIN41612 type connector.
Block Diagram
Here is a block diagram showing the Janus, Ozy, Mercury and Sasquatch modules and their functions.
Future Modules
In order to provide a complete SDR transceiver other modules will be required. These include bandpass filters, a narrow band I/Q down converter to supplement the Mercury A/D converter, and low power transmitter functions etc.
There is still much to be done in bringing the HPSDR project to fruition. For those experimentally minded Amateurs this may turn out to be the golden age of (software defined) radio!
Open source design
Brief definition of Open Source
In a "nutshell", open source is a term that is applied to a philosophy, in that the production and organization of a project or system is created through open and cooperative efforts.
Open source software refers to computer software available with its source code and under an "open source license" to study, change and improve its design and functionality.
There are many "Open source software" licenses, the most prominent being the GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL), originally written by Richard Stallman. The GPL grants the recipients of a computer program the following rights, or freedoms:
* The freedom to run the program, for any purpose.
* The freedom to study how the program works, and modify it.
* The freedom to redistribute copies.
* The freedom to improve the program, and release the improvements to the public.
The users are treated like co-developers, are encouraged to submit additions to the software, code fixes, bug reports, documentation etc. Having more co-developers increases the rate at which the software evolves. Furthermore, each end user's machine provides an additional testing environment. This new testing environment offers the ability to find and fix a new bug quickly.
This GPL philosophy extends to the hardware for this HPSDR cooperative project. In "Open Source" we are referring to the "source" as being the "instructions" of how to construct the various boards for the HPSDR project. The "source" or "instructions" includes the schematics, PCB layout, gerber files, firmware, software, drawings, and documentation. At the present time, TAPR is attempting to formulate an "Open Hardware License" along the lines of GPL.
[Note: this definition does not go into the various obligations and legalities and is intended to be brief and non-exhaustive. The original was supplied by Kevin, M0KHZ and a few words "Americanized" by the WikiSysOp.]
TAPR Affiliation
In early June (2006) it was announced that agreement had been reached with TAPR http://tapr.org for TAPR to provide assistance and a "storefront" for the "products" of the HPSDR group. TAPR has a long history of supporting various digital amateur radio related ventures. We would encourage our members to become TAPR members, not only to support a worthy organization, but also to receive a member discount (usually around 10%) on their HPSDR and other purchases from them.
Starting with the Atlas backplane board and its parts kit, TAPR will be most likely the only source for HPSDR boards. (This does not preclude individuals having their own PCB boards made in keeping with our open-source philosophy.)
Visit the TAPR ordering and information page (listed under HPSDR) for current news and offerings.
AMSAT Affiliation
In July (2006) the following announcement was made by Rick Hambly W2GPS, AMSAT President:
AMSAT will immediately initiate support for The High Performance Software Defined Radio (HPSDR) project, an independent team that is dedicated to bringing high performance software defined radio devices within the reach of amateurs in terms of access to the hardware and software and at manageable prices.
This is a rare opportunity for AMSAT to easily join a major technological development and have a positive impact on both that development and AMSAT's own primary interests. The High Performance Software Defined Radio (HPSDR) project is a completely open source software (GNU Public License) and open hardware design. It has an extremely capable group of core designers, many of whom are also key AMSAT design team members, supported by a cast of hundreds.
AMSAT will support HPSDR with a modest amount of financial, personnel and other resources. Financial resources will be under AMSAT control and will be used to support activities such as joint HPSDR and Eagle design meetings. AMSAT's Engineering team will submit a 2007 budget for the AMSAT Board's approval at the annual meeting in October. The modest resources that are needed in 2006 can be provided by the Eagle team project.
Please be aware that we have a website with pages devoted to each sub-project plus other information and resources. The website will not necessarily contain the latest information (that's the reason we have this wiki) but is a good starting place for a little less technical overview of the project and its parts. The website is at http://hpsdr.org
For the very latest scoop, join the HPSDR discussion list (reflector). You'll find information on the http://hpsdr.org/reflector.html webpage on how to subscribe to this email list.
To contact the webmaster/wikisysop/list-administrator, email ae5k at hpsdr dot com.
FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions
This is a new section started to allow asking and hopefully answering questions about HPSDR.
Individual Project Wiki Pages
Click on the NAME of the project to get to its page!
ATLAS - Backplane
The Atlas is a passive backplane that all other modules plug into.
JANUS - ADC/DAC Board
The Janus module is a very high performance, dual, full duplex, A/D and D/A converter board.
OZY - HPSDR Host Interface & Control
The OZY module is an FPGA based interface controller card that provides the input and output connections to the real world.
MERCURY - 0-30MHz Direct Sampling Receiver
Perhaps the most exciting of all the modules, the Mercury board will enable direct sampling of the 0-65MHz spectrum.
PENELOPE - Companion Transmitter to Mercury
SASQUATCH - DSP back-end
The Sasquatch board is a hardware DSP back-end intended for use by constructors who would like to operate the HPSDR stand-alone rather than attached to a PC.
GIBRALTAR - GPS-disciplined Frequency Standard
GIBRALTAR is a GPS-disciplined frequency standard board.
PROTEUS - Prototyping Board
This is the planned prototyping board.
HORTON - Receiver Module
A receiver module integrating the Janus ADC with a QSD on a board for a version of the HPSDR RX board.
PINOCCHIO - Extender Card
Pinocchio is an extender card to allow measurements and troubleshooting of an active card in an ATLAS backplane.
PHOENIX - QSD/QSE Receiver/Transmitter Module
QSD based HF Receiver, a QSE based HF Exciter and a supporting synthesizer.
ODYSSEY - Low Power Handheld SDR
Odyssey includes a low power SDR based on the QSD, QSE, and a dsPIC33 as the basic radio core.
EPIMETHEUS - General Purpose I/O
Epi is a general purpose I/O board for the Atlas bus and includes relays, open collectors, IF switching, etc.


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This 1.8m adapter cable has a male 25-pin Sub-D connector to connect to the parallel port (LPT) on computers on one end and a USB-B connector to connect to the USB port of printers on the other end. It requires no drivers or software, and converts the SPP, ECP, IEEE1284 and IEEE1284.4 printing protocols to USB. The adapter also supports the bi-directional Nibble Mode, Byte Mode, ECPReverse and BECP-Reverse modes.
This adapter allows you to replace your old printer without having to replace your established system. Use it to connect modern printers and multifunction printers that have a USB connection to the LPT interface of legacy PCs, measuring devices, laboratory and diagnostic devices, control panels, medical devices as well as all other products that were designed with a parallel printer interface. Note however that only printing is supported.
The adapter cable comes with its own 100-240V, 50/60Hz power supply with interchangeable U.S., UK and European power plugs.

subset: commoncrawl


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This Sunday is Mother's Day (in the U.S.), and the mothers of our Child Survival Program have a message to share with you.
You are the reason our lives are changed. We thank God for giving you as helpers. Now, our faith in God is increased. And we are hopeful of a bright future for our children.
You can also view this Child Survival Program video on YouTube.


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Programme Guide
In this concert, we encounter works that impress with their powerful choral singing, while fascinating due to their unusual form: Beethoven's Choral Fantasy, followed by Mendelssohn's Second Symphony, known as the Lobgesang (Hymn of Praise). For this performance of these widely known but not often performed works, conductor Claudio Abbado had the services of first-rate soloists at his disposal: the pianist Maurizio Pollini and the singers Karita Mattila, Lioba Braun and Peter Seiffert.
Beethoven's Choral Fantasy is unique in its combination of human voice, piano and orchestra. The extended piano introduction is probably an impression of Beethoven's own improvisation style with which he charmed Viennese high society as a young man. The singers make their appearance only at the end of the piece. The choral finale may seem a little reminiscent of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, but without achieving or even aspiring to achieve its resoluteness. This is not about the utopia of a better world but a hymn to music and song.
It is also almost impossible to listen to Mendelssohn's Second Symphony without thinking about Beethoven's final symphony. At that time it was fundamentally regarded as sacrilege to copy Beethoven's merging of voice and orchestra in a symphony, and Mendelssohn was the first composer who dared to include a vocal conclusion following the Ninth. It begins with a four-part instrumental movement that is almost a symphony in miniature. The cantata which follows, with its interchange of the dramatic and of celestial beauty, vividly conveys the Romantic era's view of God: the mighty ruler who is also a comfort to mankind.


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|Page tools: Print Page
Industrial relations can be regarded as the relationships and interactions in the labour market between employers and employees (and their representatives), and the intervention in these relations by governments, government agencies and tribunals (e.g. the Australian Industrial Relations Commission).
Table 6.59 shows that 259,000 working days were lost in 2002, a fall of 34% from 2001. Over the same period the total number of employees involved in industrial disputes fell by 29% to 159,700. While the numbers of working days lost have generally been declining over the last six years, the number of disputes has been increasing. This indicates that the relative size of disputes, in terms of the length of the dispute or the number of employees involved, is decreasing. For example, in 1997 the average number of working days lost per dispute was 1,195, compared to 338 in 2002.
Table 6.60 shows that the number of working days lost per thousand employees has generally decreased over the last five years, falling from 75 in 1997 to 32 in 2002. Of the industries shown, Coal mining had the highest number in each year between 1997 and 2002, although the 357 working days lost per thousand employees in 2002 was considerably less than the number in 1997 (4,206). The Construction industry had the second highest number of working days lost per thousand employees in each of these years.
Trade union membership
A trade union is defined as an organisation, consisting predominantly of employees, whose principal activities include the negotiation of rates of pay and conditions of employment for its members. In August 2002 there were 1,833,700 employees who were trade union members in their main job. As shown in table 6.61, this represents 23.1% of all employees, down from 24.5% in August 2001. The public sector has a higher rate of unionisation, with 46.5% of employees having trade union membership, compared to 17.7% in the private sector. A higher proportion of males than females are trade union members (24.5% to 21.5%).
Trade union membership in Australia experienced growth throughout much of the 20th century, peaking at 61% in 1962 (graph 6.62). Between 1962 and 1970 trade union membership declined rapidly. This was followed by increasing membership during the 1970s. However, since then the proportion of employees who were trade union members has steadily declined.
Some of the factors contributing to the decline in trade union membership include the changing workplace relations environment and the changing industry composition of the labour market, for example, declines in employment levels in traditionally highly unionised industries and the emergence of industries that are not highly unionised.
Another factor in the decline in trade union membership is the increases in part-time and casual employment which historically have been less unionised than full-time employment. Graph 6.63 shows that the proportion of part-time employees has increased from 21% in 1989 to 29% in 2002. Over this same period the proportion of full-time and part-time employees who were trade union members has decreased, with trade union membership of full-time employees declining from 45% to 26%, and trade union membership of part-time employees declining from 25% to 17%.
The level of trade union membership varies considerably across industries, with Electricity, gas and water supply (48%), Education (42%) and Government administration and defence (38%) being the most unionised in 2002 (graph 6.64). The least unionised industries were Agriculture, forestry and fishing (5%), Property and business services (7%) and Wholesale trade (7%).
Between 1997 and 2002, all 17 industries experienced a drop in their rate of unionisation. The largest falls occurred in the more unionised industries, with the proportion of employees who were trade union members in Communication services falling from 60% to 33%, Electricity, gas and water supply from 66% to 48%, Finance and insurance from 36% to 18%, and Mining from 44% to 29%.
While the fall in the proportion of trade union members in Communication services was greater than in Manufacturing, the fall in Manufacturing had a more significant impact on the overall number of trade union members, as Manufacturing has a much higher level of employment.


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Ben Horowitz is a cofounder and general partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. He is the author of the New York Times bestsellers, "The Hard Thing About Hard Things" and "What You Do Is Who You Are." He also created the a16z Cultural Leadership Fund to connect the greatest cultural leaders to the best new technology companies and enable more young African Americans to enter the technology industry.
Prior to a16z, Ben was cofounder and CEO of Opsware (formerly Loudcloud), which was acquired by Hewlett-Packard for $1.6 billion in 2007, and was appointed vice president and general manager of business technology optimization for software at HP. Earlier, he was vice president and general manager of America Online's e-commerce platform division, where he oversaw development of the company's flagship Shop@AOL service. Previously, Ben ran several product divisions at Netscape Communications. He also served as vice president of Netscape's widely acclaimed directory and security product line. Before joining Netscape in July 1995, he held various senior product marketing positions at Lotus Development Corporation.
Ben has an MS in Computer Science from UCLA and a BA in Computer Science from Columbia University.
Ben serves on the boards of Anyscale, Caffeine, Databricks, Mayvenn, NationBuilder, Okta ($OKTA), Sisu, Tanium, TripActions, and UnitedMasters.


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This review originally appeared in the April 1987 American Historical Review.
Like John Ruskin and William Morris, C. R. Ashbee demands a biographer with a wide range of interests, sympathy, and expertise. He has found one in Alan Crawford, who has written an exemplary critical biography of this major figure in the Arts and Crafts movement. Ashbee offers much "of interest to the historian of architecture and of design, of social reform, technical education, homosexuality, conservation, the folksong revival, University Extension, 'Back to the Land,' pacifism, town planning, Jerusalem under the British Mandate and America seen through British eyes" (p. 427), and he also has much to offer to students of Carlyle, Ruskin, and Arnold and to all those concerned with the influence and afterlife of high Victorianism.
Crawford's critical biography divides into three sections, the first of which contains eight chapters tracing Ashbee's life. The six chapters of the following section treat in turn his contributions to design, architecture, furniture and interior decoration, metalwork, jewelry and fine printing. The final section's two chapters sum up his reputation and influence. Valuable appendixes list Ashbee's writings and architectural projects, items printed at his Essex House Press, and public collections containing his work. This lavishly illustrated volume exemplifies the fine design and production standards that characterize Yale's London-based publications on British art.'
One of the greatest strengths of this well-written biography lies in its skillful use of manuscript materials, and another lies in its many thumbnail portraits and background sketches. Whether relating him to Carlyle and Ruskin, life at Cambridge, late Victorian homosexuality, typography, design in America, or any number of other topics crucial to an understanding of Ashbee's career, Crawford's incisive, well-informed prose provides background needed to understand Ashbee's life in its many contexts. He sympathizes with his subject, and the chapters that gracefully blend biography with cultural and political history have an energy and a satisfying fullness not present in the drier, more summary chapters on Ashbee's contributions to individual arts—perhaps because these contributions are not as impressive as the man himself.'
Although he wrote a number of books, he was not a great writer as were Morris and Ruskin, and, although he designed and built some influential structures, he never produced the quantity of buildings of those with larger reputations. Nonetheless, his extraordinary range of interests and activities does not seem to have limited his achievements in any one particular art or enterprise, and, as Crawford shows, Ashbee repeatedly picked up and then dropped various interests after carrying them as far as he could. The financial failure of Ashbee and his Guild of Handicraft when equally dedicated rivals were prospering seems particularly significant. Crawford relates his bitterness at the success of Liberty and othe.r firms, which supposedly cluttered the market with inferior, imitative work. But was the work of Ashbee and his Guild of Handicraft much superior? Looking at Adrian J. Tilbrook's and Gordon House's Designs of Archibald Knox for Liberty Co. (1976), I was struck by the sheer range, abundance, and quality of Knox's work. In other words, the market may have acted justly. Certainly, Ashbee's fate as a jewelry designer parallels that as a town planner, furniture designer, social reformer, typographer, and architectural preservationist: he made major contributions, inspired others, and left his mark on America and Europe, but this honorable heir of Ruskin and Morris who cared about the conditions of labor neither dominated, nor achieved greatness in, any single field.
Crawford, Alan. C. R. Ashbee; Architect, Designer, and Romantic Socialist. New Haven: Yale University Press. 1985. Pp. 499. $45.00.
Last modified 29 July 2012


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|Oregon State Bar Bulletin NOVEMBER 2008
|Lynn Ashcroft
There aren't many people who could look at a Harley Davidson motorcycle and imagine ways to make it better, but Lynn Ashcroft is one of them. When the Marion County Circuit Court judge and a friend bought Harleys several years ago, it inspired Ashcroft to begin custom designing and building motorcycles.
A self-confessed gearhead with obsessive-compulsive tendencies, Ashcroft discovered his affinity for designing motorcycles in an everlasting effort to keep busy. He already was respected for his woodwork, which includes a handcrafted, shaker-style conference table and several oak desks and chairs in his Salem law office. He's also made furniture for some of his colleagues.
In 1995, he opened Ashcroft Motorcycles in Salem. The shop employs half a dozen workers who do the paint and bodywork, while Ashcroft does the design and much of the fabrication work. Each year, Ashcroft produces a number of full custom motorcycles as well as hot rods that have been featured in videos and on TV as well as in national and international publications such as Robb Report, MotorCycling, Stuff and Easyriders.
Ashcroft's creations also have been displayed in museums and even aboard the Queen Mary ship. His customers range from riders and enthusiasts in most of the western United States to a contractor in Iraq who bought an Ashcroft creation he saw in a magazine. Perhaps his most famous customer is "CSI" actor Gary Dourdan, who purchased a model called the "Evil Bastard," which won Best of Show at an Easyrider show, for $48,000.
From designing award-winning, custom motorcycles to retiring from the Oregon Army National Guard as a brigadier general to his recent appointment as a Marion County judge, it's been an exhilarating ride for Ashcroft. However, he didn't plan to sit on the bench — or even become a lawyer. The Pendleton native's first love is history, and his early career plans involved a management position with a national retail chain.
"I grew up in a fairly small community and college — not only within my family but in the community — was nice to have but wasn't really expected," he says. "Coming out of high school, you could either go to work on a farm, drive a truck or go to college."
Inspired by a high school history teacher, Ashcroft enrolled as a history major at Brigham Young University. At just 19, he withdrew from college to enlist in the military. The Vietnam War raged overseas and Ashcroft wanted to avoid being drafted so he could somewhat control his options.
"Joining the military, other than being a dad, is the best thing I ever did," Ashcroft says.
By 1971, he was a commissioned lieutenant in the U.S. Army. Ashcroft's active duty with the United States Army, and reserve duty with the Army National Guard and Army Reserve, included assignments with I CORPS, the 91st Infantry Division, 116th and 163rd Armored Cavalry Regiments, the 41st Infantry Brigade, and various other military commands. These included temporary duties with the 1st Special Forces, 19th Special Forces Group (Airborne) of the Utah National Guard, and as an active duty advisor to 2nd Battalion, 75th Rangers, with duties and service performed both within the U.S. and overseas. Ashcroft concluded his military career as a brigadier general in command of the Oregon State Defense Force.
After completing his initial active duty tour, Ashcroft worked in retail for major national department store chains, including Macy's group, in management and as a buyer. Oddly enough, it was his goal to obtain an upper management position with the chain that led Ashcroft to pursue a law degree.
"Their top management all had law degrees or MBAs, so I really went to law school not necessarily to become a lawyer but to be in a top management position for Macy's or something like that," he says.
Ashcroft returned to college to finish his undergrad degree in history. However, because he had withdrawn to join the military — and possibly had what he called too much "recreation time" — he received a slate of low grades as a consequence. Ashcroft made up for his .7 grade point average during his last two years of undergrad studies and, ultimately, was accepted to study law at the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento.
Ashcroft earned his law degree in 1979 and launched his legal career as a military prosecutor where, ranked as a senior captain near the top of the pay scale, he cut his teeth in an aggressive environment.
"I chose the military because I knew I would be able to get lots of trial experience there," Ashcroft says, noting he prosecuted for three brigades representing about 10,000 soldiers. "For any crime that was committed by any soldier in that command, I was the prosecutor for it. Whether it was a murder case or an AWOL case, and whether it was committed in the United States or overseas, it fell into my charge.
"You got in with both feet early on, and the trial scheduling was very expeditious. It was not unusual for a prosecutor to try two or three cases a week to a jury," he adds.
After his military career, Ashcroft went into private practice with Rhoten, Rhoten Speerstra. He admits he had some initial misgivings about joining the venerable Salem firm because of the advanced age of its partners. He quickly discovered, however, that the colleagues he would later join as a partner were among the most honorable people he had ever met.
"I had an incredible opportunity and it wasn't because of my personality or strengths, but because I worked with some lawyers who had the experience and gave me the opportunity," he says.
Ashcroft became a partner with the firm, and continued to work there with fellow partner Sarah Reinhart after the three senior partners retired. Ashcroft and Reinhart eventually formed Ashcroft and Rinehart LLP, where his practice was primarily insurance defense, complex litigation and business law, and Reinhart practiced probate and estate.
After practicing together for a number of years, substantive differences in their practices led Ashcroft and Reinhart to dissolve their partnership. Ashcroft then partnered with a friend from the armed forces, David Wiles.
In addition to his role as managing partner of Ashcroft Wiles, Ashcroft began serving as a Marion County pro tem judge in 2004. Then in May 2008, Gov. Ted Kulongoski appointed him to fill the vacancy created by Judge Terry Leggert's retirement in Marion County. Along with criminal cases, Ashcroft has taken on civil, domestic and juvenile cases through the retirement of another judge and the succession of a new presiding judge.
His first few months on the Marion County bench have shown Ashcroft that it's one of the most rewarding, albeit toughest, jobs he's ever done.
"As a lawyer we sit out there and look at judges and think, 'He's got it easy, he gets to control everything,' and to an extent that's true," Ashcroft says. "As a judge, though, the hardest thing for me to do is keep from worrying about the consequences of what I do, and whether I made the 'right' decision. Sometimes it's very hard to decide these cases and make the decision in such a way that it complies with the law and serves the interests of justice, but also resolves the issues."
A recent sex abuse case involving juveniles is a prime example. "I found both sides to be very believable, and the decision I made is going to affect both of those children for the rest of their lives," he says. "That's very difficult. I will do it, but I don't always like the decisions I have to make. Neither judges nor attorneys make the facts."
Ashcroft strives to treat everyone — whether they are the plaintiffs, defendants or the attorneys representing them — equally and with respect.
"As a judge, it's my role to be fair and impartial and, in particular areas like juvenile and criminal law, I feel that as an individual I can make a difference in our society," he says. "It's not just a matter of processing the numbers, but of doing your best to do the right thing and the legal thing that will benefit the individuals and the rest of us. At the end of the day, it's about whether I did the right thing and made things better."
Melody Finnemore is a Portland-area freelance writer and a frequent contributor to the Bulletin.


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Statement on Educational Effectiveness
Catholic Theological Union (CTU) at Chicago is dedicated to offering quality theological education and ongoing formation for laity, religious, and clergy who are preparing for or who are already engaged in ministry in the United States and around the world. Institutional structures tasked with oversight of quality assurance and academic integrity include the faculty curriculum and development, academic policies and procedures, and assessment committees. Further, each program possesses learning outcomes which identify and measure academic and pastoral competencies. Course evaluations, student surveys and interviews, and program candidacy reviews further inform and measure the quality of student learning.
CTU is committed to assisting students with their financial and vocational needs. Through various forms of financial assistance – government loans, scholarship money, paid internships and student worker stipends – CTU is able to provide meaningful monetary support to those who need assistance. Approximately 65-70% of our lay students receive financial aid, much of which comes from internal sources of support such as our full-scholarship programs and general scholarship funds. CTU's current lay scholarship initiative, Building the Church of the Future, continues its mission of raising substantial scholarship support for a new generation of lay leaders.
Moreover, educational effectiveness is measured by students' ability to attain employment in respective career fields. Today, on average, 95% of our graduates find employment within 1 year of graduation. CTU alums now exceed 3,500, serving the Church across the United States and in 65 countries worldwide. They work in parishes, homeless shelters, prisons, hospitals, schools, colleges and universities, gang ministry, hospices, social service organizations, and myriad other ministry settings.
CTU's health and vitality is contingent upon our ability to offer quality, accessible, and effective programs for those seeking theological and ministerial training. To this end, we take seriously the need to continuously monitor and evaluate, update and enhance our programs when and where necessary to ensure our programs meet standards for academic and pastoral excellence.
For questions and inquiries about CTU's educational mission, assessment and effectiveness efforts, please contact the Academic Dean's Office at email@example.com or by phone at 773.371.5422.


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The Michigan Economic Development Corp. announced today that several metro Detroit businesses received state incentives to redevelop properties and expand jobs in the region.
The Michigan Community Revitalization Program approved a $3.5 million equity contribution, labeled a performance-based incentive, to Strathmore Apartments Limited Dividend Housing Association LLC to redevelop the derelict Strathmore Hotel at 70 W. Alexandrine in Midtown. The University Cultural Center Association, a subsidiary of Midtown Detroit Inc., is a co-applicant on the grant.
The $28.4 million investment, which includes converting the eight-story hotel into 129 one- and two-bedroom apartments, is expected to create three full-time jobs and one part-time job.
The Detroit Historic District Commission approved the project in November.
The grant contains provisions allowing the Michigan Strategic Fund, overseer of the revitalization program, to sell its equity interest in the apartments upon completion. It's unknown when the project will be completed.
The revitalization program also approved a $1 million grant to support the redevelopment of the Milner Hotel, at 1526 Centre St. near Comerica Park.
Ashley Owner LLC will receive the grant to complete the $8.2 million redevelopment of the Milner, transforming the property once owned by the Ilitch family into 61 one- and two-bedroom apartments.
The project is expected to create 10 full-time and 30-part time jobs, according to the MEDC.
Livonia-based McLaren Performance Technologies Inc. received approval to expand its job creation credits to 109 from 34 beginning in 2015.
The engineering firm proposes consolidating its sales office in Southfield and engineering center in Livonia into one site in Livonia.
The Michigan Economic Growth Authority approved an expansion of the credit for the $28 million investment.
Plymouth Township-based AVL Powertrain Engineering Inc. also received approval for increased job creation credits for 100 new jobs.
MEGA approved two high-technology job creation credits for AVL in 2006 and 2009. The company now plans to create 225 total jobs in Plymouth Township and Ann Arbor through 2017.
The Strategic Fund board also approved a modification to an award for Detroit Venture Partners LLC, allowing the firm to raise more than $50 million in its investment fund.
In October 2013, the Strategic Fund approved an award of $2.25 million to DVP through the Pure Michigan Venture Development Fund to create an investment not to exceed $50 million. However, the fund is expected to exceed $65 million.
The MEDC said exceeding the initial target will have a net positive impact on the region.


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Obama's Finest Hour: Killing Innocent People For "Made-Up Crap"
Members of the National Trade Union Federation of Pakistan
demonstrate in Karachi against U.S. drones on Jan. 23, 2010
If ever I am tempted by the siren songs of my tribal past as a deep-fried, yellow-dawg Democrat, and begin to feel any faint, atavistic stirrings of sympathy for the old gang, I simply think of things like the scenario below, sketched last week by Johann Hari, and those wispy ghosts of partisanship past go howling back to the depths:
Imagine if, an hour from now, a robot-plane swooped over your house and blasted it to pieces. The plane has no pilot. It is controlled with a joystick from 7,000 miles away, sent by the Pakistani military to kill you. It blows up all the houses in your street, and so barbecues your family and your neighbours until there is nothing left to bury but a few charred slops. Why? They refuse to comment. They don't even admit the robot-planes belong to them. But they tell the Pakistani newspapers back home it is because one of you was planning to attack Pakistan. How do they know? Somebody told them. Who? You don't know, and there are no appeals against the robot.
Now imagine it doesn't end there: these attacks are happening every week somewhere in your country. They blow up funerals and family dinners and children. The number of robot-planes in the sky is increasing every week. You discover they are named "Predators", or "Reapers" – after the Grim Reaper. No matter how much you plead, no matter how much you make it clear you are a peaceful civilian getting on with your life, it won't stop. What do you do? If there was a group arguing that Pakistan was an evil nation that deserved to be violently attacked, would you now start to listen?
...[This] is in fact an accurate description of life in much of Pakistan today, with the sides flipped. The Predators and Reapers are being sent by Barack Obama's CIA, with the support of other Western governments, and they killed more than 700 civilians in 2009 alone – 14 times the number killed in the 7/7 attacks in London. The floods were seen as an opportunity to increase the attacks, and last month saw the largest number of robot-plane bombings ever: 22. Over the next decade, spending on drones is set to increase by 700 per cent.
Friends, it's very simple: if you support Barack Obama and the Democrats -- even if reluctantly, even if you're just being all sophisticatedly super-savvy and blogospherically strategic about it, playing the "long game" or eleven-dimensional chess or what have you -- you are supporting the outright murder of innocent people who have never done anything against you or yours. You have walked into a house, battered down the bedroom door, put the barrel of a gun against the temple of a sleeping child, and pulled the trigger. That is what you are supporting, that is what you are complicit in, that is what you yourself are doing.
But hey, let's be all super-savvy and eleventh-dimensional ourselves here for a moment. Let's be pragmatic, and technocratic, let's be grown-ups, let's not get sidetracked by a bunch of jejune, dorm-room, hippy-dippy moralizing. No, let's concentrate on practicalities, let's get down to brass tacks, let's be serious and focus on "what works" to protect our national security. OK, so here's the practical result of the illegal campaign of mass murder that Obama is waging on the sovereign territory of one of America's allies:
... Drone technology was developed by the Israelis, who routinely use it to bomb the Gaza Strip. I've been in Gaza during some of these attacks. The people there were terrified – and radicalised. A young woman I know who had been averse to political violence and an advocate of peaceful protest saw a drone blow up a car full of people – and she started supporting Islamic Jihad and crying for the worst possible revenge against Israel. Robot-drones have successfully bombed much of Gaza, from secular Fatah to Islamist Hamas, to the brink of jihad.
Is the same thing happening in Pakistan? David Kilcullen is a counter-insurgency expert who worked for General Petraeus in Iraq and now advises the State Department. He has shown that two per cent of the people killed by the robot-planes in Pakistan are jihadis. The remaining 98 per cent are as innocent as the victims of 9/11. He says: "It's not moral." And it gets worse: "Every one of these dead non-combatants represents an alienated family, and more recruits for a militant movement that has grown exponentially as drone strikes have increased. ... It could be poised to get even worse: Bob Woodward's Obama's Wars says the US has an immediate plan to bomb 150 targets in Pakistan if there is a jihadi attack inside America.
Why, it's almost as if the drone campaign was designed to create more and more enemies -- and more and more contracts for war profiteers to build more and more drones, which can then be used to create more and more enemies, which means more and more contracts for .... say, it is a practical plan, after all! A practical plan to create terrorism, not quell it.
And what is the "evidence" used by the Administration militarists as they draw up their target lists for the defenseless villages in Pakistan? What is the "intelligence" produced by the $75 billion lavished on our 200,000 security apparatchiks every year? On what basis is Barack Obama killing people in Pakistan? Hari reports:
...[The] press releases uncritically repeated by the press after a bombing always brag about "senior al-Qa'ida commanders" killed – but some people within the CIA admit how arbitrary their choice of targets is. One of their senior figures told The New Yorker: "Sometimes you're dealing with tribal chiefs. Often they say an enemy of theirs is al-Qa'ida because they want to get rid of somebody, or they made crap up because they wanted to prove they were valuable so they could make money."
That's right: Barack Obama is killing hundreds of innocent civilians in Pakistan on the basis of crap made up for money. Made-up crap. For money. That's why a child who is just as precious as your child is to a parent who is just as real a person as you are was killed this week, by Barack Obama and the Democratic Party and the entire bipartisan foreign policy establishment of the United States of America: crap made up for money.
And of course, it's not just tribal chiefs making up crap for blood money: the entire aforementioned bipartisan foreign policy establishment is now and has for years been making up crap "so they could make money" -- for themselves, for their corporate patrons, for their government agencies, for their defense and "security" stockholdings, for the perpetuation of their bloated, belligerent, pig-ignorant domination of world affairs and American society -- by killing innocent people all over the world.
"But oh my gosh, oh my lord, we have to support Obama! What if those Tea Party Republicans get into power? What would happen then?" What would happen? The same goddamned thing that's happening right now, that's what. More and more war, more and more murder, more and more domination by a militarist kleptocracy. As Glenn Greenwald notes this week, Obama and the Tea Partiers (and the neocons, and the liberal hawks, and the Bush Regime war criminals) are in lockstep (even goosestep) on keeping the War Machine stoked and rolling.
That's why the opposition to the Tea Party Republicans has been so anemic, focused almost entirely on personality flaws or asinine comments or resume padding or stupid things they did in college. The Democrats can't possibly attack them on substance -- i.e., the fact that the Tea Partiers are rabid warmongers who delight in murder, torture and repression and believe that the poor, the sick, the old, the weak, the unlucky, and the vulnerable should just eat shit and die already -- because these are the same positions the Democrats hold! Who "reformed" health care into a gargantuan, guaranteed boondoggle for rapacious conglomerates? Who bailed out the bankers and left millions in the hands of savage "robo-signers?" Who set up the "Catfood Commission" and stocked it from top to bottom with long-time, deep-dyed haters of the poor and the weak? It wasn't Dick Cheney, bub.
I don't want to see the Tea Partiers in power. But I'm not going to support one faction of murderers and plunderers just to keep out another faction of murderers and plunderers. Hari makes this good analogy about the drone program:
Yet many people defend the drones by saying: "We have to do something." If your friend suffered terrible third-degree burns, would you urge her to set fire to her hair because "you have to do something"? Would you give a poisoning victim another, worse poison, on the grounds that any action is better than none?
Similarly, I say: would you support one murderer -- who likes to break into children's bedrooms and blow their brains out -- in order to stop another murderer, who would do the same thing, from taking over a vicious gang of murderers? What would be the basis, the reason for your support? That the first murderer wears nicer suits? Digs cooler music? Throws better street parties? Leaves a pretty little flower next to the blown-out brains?
For a system sunk so deeply in evil, there is no "lesser" evil to choose. The militarist kleptocracy itself is evil, and every political faction that does not denounce it and seek to dismantle it is complicit in this evil. The choice is to stand outside such factions; the choice is non-cooperation with evil, as advocated by Thoreau, Tolstoy, Gandhi, King. I'm not going to spend my brief time here on earth standing with blood-soaked killers, no matter what factional name they give themselves, or what loyalties they might claim on our myth-clouded memories of the past. I'm not going to teach my children that all we can do is to grovel before one child-murdering maniac or another, to keep quiet, to never speak the truth, to sell their votes, their dignity and their souls to murderers who would pervert every good instinct -- and every bad instinct -- every worthy hope and every nasty fear, to keep themselves in power.
Dead children. Made-up crap. For money. That's what our leading "dissidents" want us to support. There is much that could be said about the utterly puerile arguments being offered for this murder-abetting stance; but in the interests of brevity, and civility -- and my own sanity -- I will forbear, and simply say: no thanks.
Chris Floyd has been a writer and editor for more than 25 years, working in the United States, Great Britain and Russia for various newspapers, magazines, the U.S. government and Oxford University. Floyd co-founded the blog Empire Burlesque, and is also chief editor of Atlantic Free Press. He can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com.
URL: http://www.a-w-i-p.com/index.php/2010/10/21/obama-s-finest-hour-killing-innocent-peo


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From the Texas State Historical Association -- SLAVERY. Texas was the last frontier of slavery in the United States. In fewer than fifty years, from 1821 to 1865, the "Peculiar Institution," as Southerners called it, spread over the eastern two-fifths of the state. The rate of growth accelerated rapidly during the 1840s and 1850s. The rich soil of Texas held much of the future of slavery, and Texans knew it. James S. Mayfield undoubtedly spoke for many when he told the Constitutional Convention of 1845 that "the true policy and prosperity of this country depend upon the maintenance" of slavery. Slavery as an institution of significance in Texas began in Stephen F. Austin's colony. The original empresario commission given Moses Austin by Spanish authorities in 1821 did not mention slaves, but when Stephen Austin was recognized as heir to his father's contract later that year, it was agreed that settlers could receive eighty acres of land for each bondsman brought to Texas. Enough of Austin's original 300 families brought slaves with them that a census of his colony in 1825 showed 443 in a total population of 1,800. The independence of Mexico cast doubt on the future of the institution in Texas. From 1821 until 1836 both the national government in Mexico City and the state government of Coahuila and Texas threatened to restrict or destroy black servitude. Neither government adopted any consistent or effective policy to prevent slavery in Texas; nevertheless, their threats worried slaveholders and possibly retarded the immigration of planters from the Old South. In 1836 Texas had an estimated population of 38,470, only 5,000 of whom were slaves. The Texas Revolution assured slaveholders of the future of their institution. The Constitution of the Republic of Texas (1836) provided that slaves would remain the property of their owners, that the Texas Congress could not prohibit the immigration of slaveholders bringing their property, and that slaves could be imported from the United States (although not from Africa). Given those protections, slavery expanded rapidly during the period of the republic. By 1845, when Texas joined the United States, the state was home to at least 30,000 bondsmen. After statehood, in antebellum Texas, slavery grew spectacularly. The census of 1850 reported 58,161 slaves, 27.4 percent of the 212,592 people in Texas, and the census of 1860 enumerated 182,566 bondsmen, 30.2 percent of the total population. Slaves were increasing more rapidly than the population as a whole.
The great majority of slaves in Texas came with their owners from the older slave states. Sizable numbers, however, came through the domestic slave trade. New Orleans was the center of this trade in the Deep South, but there were slave dealers in Galveston and Houston, too. A few slaves, perhaps as many as 2,000 between 1835 and 1865, came through the illegal African trade.
Slave prices inflated rapidly as the institution expanded in Texas. The average price of a bondsman, regardless of age, sex, or condition, rose from approximately $400 in 1850 to nearly $800 by 1860. During the late 1850s, prime male field hands aged eighteen to thirty cost on the average $1,200, and skilled slaves such as blacksmiths often were valued at more than $2,000. In comparison, good Texas cotton land could be bought for as little as six dollars an acre. Slavery spread over the eastern two-fifths of Texas by 1860 but flourished most vigorously along the rivers that provided rich soil and relatively inexpensive transportation. The greatest concentration of large slave plantations was along the lower Brazos and Colorado rivers in Brazoria, Matagorda, Fort Bend, and Wharton counties. Truly giant slaveholders such as Robert and D. G. Mills, who owned more than 300 bondsmen in 1860 (the largest holding in Texas), had plantations in this area, and the population resembled that of the Old South's famed Black Belt. Brazoria County, for example, was 72 percent slave in 1860, while north central Texas, the area from Hunt County west to Jack and Palo Pinto counties and south to McLennan County, had fewer slaves than any other settled part of the state, except for Hispanic areas such as Cameron County. However, the north central region held much excellent cotton land, and slavery would probably have developed rapidly there once rail transportation was built. The last frontier of slavery was by no means closed on the eve of the Civil War.
American slavery was preeminently an economic institution-a system of unfree labor used to produce cash crops for profit. Questions concerning its profitability are complex and always open to debate. The evidence is strong, however, that in Texas slaves were generally profitable as a business investment for individual slaveholders. Slave labor produced cotton (and sugar on the lower Brazos River) for profit and also cultivated the foodstuffs necessary for self-sufficiency. The effect of the institution on the state's general economic development is less clear. Slavery certainly promoted development of the agricultural economy; it provided the labor for a 600 percent increase in cotton production during the 1850s. On the other hand, the institution may well have contributed in several ways to retarding commercialization and industrialization. Planters, for example, being generally satisfied with their lives as slaveholders, were largely unwilling to involve themselves in commerce and industry, even if there was a chance for greater profits. Slavery may have thus hindered economic modernization in Texas. Once established as an economic institution, slavery became a key social institution as well. Only one in every four families in antebellum Texas owned slaves, but these slaveholders, especially the planters who held twenty or more bondsmen, generally constituted the state's wealthiest class. Because of their economic success, these planters represented the social ideal for many other Texans. Slavery was also vital socially because it reflected basic racial views. Most whites thought that blacks were inferior and wanted to be sure that they remained in an inferior social position. Slavery guaranteed this.
Lake Jackson Plantation, home of Abner and Margaret Jackson and headquarters of a thriving sugar refinery. First slaves, then convicts provided the backbreaking labor necessary to grow and process the cane. This photograph, taken prior to 1900, preserves the mansion's final days before a hurricane destroyed many of the buildings on the plantation. Image courtesy Brazoria County Historical Museum. (source: Texas Beyond History)
Although the law contained some recognition of their humanity, slaves in Texas generally had the legal status of personal property. They could be bought and sold, mortgaged, and hired out. They had no legally prescribed way to gain freedom. They had no property rights themselves and no legal rights of marriage and family. Slaveowners had broad powers of discipline subject only to constitutional provisions that slaves be treated "with humanity" and that punishment not extend to the taking of life and limb. A bondsman had a right to trial by jury and a court-appointed attorney when charged with a crime greater than petty larceny. Blacks, however, could not testify against whites in court, a prohibition that largely negated their constitutional protection. Bondsmen who did not work satisfactorily or otherwise displeased their owners were commonly punished by whipping. Many slaves may have escaped such punishment, but every bondsman lived with the knowledge that he could be whipped at his owner's discretion.
The majority of adult slaves were field hands, but a sizable minority worked as skilled craftsmen, house servants, and livestock handlers. Field hands generally labored "from sun to sun" five days a week and half a day on Saturday. House servants and craftsmen worked long hours, too, but their labor was not so burdensome physically. Theirs was apparently a favored position, at least in this regard. A small minority (about 6 percent) of the slaves in Texas did not belong to farmers or planters but lived instead in the state's towns, working as domestic servants, day laborers, and mechanics .
After the emancipation of slaves in Texas in 1865, sugar growers leased prisoners from the state prison system to continue operations in the fields and mills. Photo : Brazoria County Historical Museum.
The material conditions of slave life in Texas could probably best be described as adequate, in that most bondsmen had the food, shelter, and clothing necessary to live and work effectively. On the other hand, there was little comfort and no luxury. Slaves ate primarily corn and pork, foods that contained enough calories to provide adequate energy but were limited in essential vitamins and minerals. Most bondsmen, however, supplemented their basic diet with sweet potatoes, garden vegetables, wild game, and fish and were thus adequately fed. Slave houses were usually small log cabins with fireplaces for cooking. Dirt floors were common, and beds attached to the walls were the only standard furnishings. Slave clothing was made of cheap, coarse materials; shoes were stiff and rarely fitted. Medical care in antebellum Texas was woefully inadequate for whites and blacks alike, but slaves had a harder daily life and were therefore more likely to be injured or develop diseases that doctors could not treat (see HEALTH AND MEDICINE). Texas slaves had a distinct family-centered social life and culture that flourished in the slave quarters, where bondsmen were largely on their own, at least from sundown to sunup. Although slave marriages and families had no legal protections, the majority of bondsmen were reared and lived day to day in a family setting. This was in the slaveowners' self-interest, for marriage encouraged reproduction under socially acceptable conditions, and slave children were valuable. Moreover, individuals with family ties were probably more easily controlled than those who had none. The slaves themselves, however, also insisted on family ties. They often made matches with bondsmen on neighboring farms and spent as much time as possible together, even if one owner or the other could not be persuaded to arrange for husband and wife to live on the same place. They fought bitterly against the disruption of their families by sale or migration and at times virtually forced masters to respect family ties. Many slave families, however, were disrupted. All slaves had to live with the knowledge that their families could be broken up, and yet the basic social unit survived. Family ties were a source of strength for people enduring bondage and a mark of their humanity, too. Religion and music were also key elements of slave culture. Many owners encouraged worship, primarily on the grounds that it would teach proper subjection and good behavior. Slaves, however, tended to hear the message of individual equality before God and salvation for all. The promise of ultimate deliverance helped many to resist the psychological assault of bondage. Music and song served to set a pace for work and to express sorrow and hope.
Slaves adjusted their behavior to the conditions of servitude in a variety of ways. Some felt well-treated by their owners and generally behaved as loyal servants. Others hated their masters and their situation and rebelled by running away or using violence. Texas had many runaways, and thousands escaped to Mexico. Although no major rebellions occurred, individual acts of violence against owners were carried out. Most slaves, however, were neither loyal servants nor rebels. Instead, the majority recognized all the controls such as slave patrols that existed to keep them in bondage and saw also that runaways and rebels generally paid heavy prices for overt resistance. They therefore followed a basic human instinct and sought to survive on the best terms possible. This did not mean that the majority of slaves were content with their status. They were not, and even the best-treated bondsmen dreamed of freedom. Slavery in Texas was not a matter of content, well-cared for servants as idealized in some views of the Old South. On the other hand, the institution was not absolutely brutal or degrading. Slaves were not reduced to the level of animals, and they did not live every day in sullen rage. Instead, bondsmen had enough "room"-time of their own and control of their own lives-within the slave system to maintain physical, psychological, and spiritual strength. In part this limited autonomy was given by the masters, who generally wanted loyal and cheerful servants. Slaves increased their minimal self-determination by taking what they could get from their owners and then pressing for additional latitude. For example, slaves worked hard, but they tried to work at their own pace and offered many forms of nonviolent resistance if pushed too hard. Slaves in general were not revolutionaries who overcame all the limits placed on them, but they did not surrender totally to the system, either. One way or another they had enough room to endure. This fact is not a tribute to the benevolence of slavery, but a testimony to the human spirit of the enslaved blacks.
Though slaves obviously freed their owners from the drudgery of manual labor and daily chores, they were a troublesome property in many ways. Masters had to discipline their bondsmen, get the labor they wanted, and yet avoid too many problems of resistance such as running away and feigning illness. Many owners wished to appear as benevolent "fathers," and yet most knew that there would be times when they would treat members of their "families" as property pure and simple. Most lived with a certain amount of fear of their supposedly happy servants, for the slightest threat of a slave rebellion could touch off a violent reaction. Slavery was thus a constant source of tension in the lives of slaveholders.
White society as a whole in antebellum Texas was dominated by its slaveholding minority. Economically, slaveowners had a disproportionately large share of the state's wealth and produced virtually all of the cash crops. Politically, slaveholders dominated public officeholding at all levels. Socially, slaveholders, at least the large planters, embodied an ideal to most Texans.
The progress of the Civil War did not drastically affect slavery in Texas because no major slaveholding area was invaded. In general, Texas slaves continued to work and live as they had before the war. A great many did, however, get the idea that they would be free if the South lost. They listened as best they could for any war news and passed it around among themselves. Slavery formally ended in Texas after June 19, 1865 (Juneteenth), when Gen. Gordon Granger arrived at Galveston with occupying federal forces and announced emancipation. A few owners angrily told their slaves to leave immediately, but most expressed sorrow at the end of the institution and asked their bondsmen to stay and work for wages. The emancipated slaves celebrated joyously (if whites allowed it). But then they had to find out just what freedom meant. They knew that they would not be forced to labor anymore and that they could move about as they chose. But how would they make their way in the world after 1865? Blacks had maintained a degree of human dignity even in bondage (most owners had allowed them to do so), and Texas could not have grown as it had before 1865 without the slaves' contributions. Nevertheless, slavery was a curse to Texans, white and black alike. (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/yps01)


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Interactive nonlinear regression
nlintool(X,y,fun,beta0) is
a graphical user interface to the
nlinfit function,
and uses the same input arguments. The interface displays plots of
the fitted response against each predictor, with the other predictors
held fixed. The fixed values are in the text boxes below each predictor
axis. Change the fixed values by typing in a new value or by dragging
the vertical lines in the plots to new positions. When you change
the value of a predictor, all plots update to display the model at
the new point in predictor space. Dashed red curves show 95% simultaneous
confidence bands for the function.
nlintool(X,y,fun,beta0,alpha) shows
confidence bands. These are simultaneous confidence bounds for the
function value. Using the Bounds menu you
can switch between simultaneous and non-simultaneous bounds, and between
bounds on the function and bounds for predicting a new observation.
nlintool(X,y,fun,beta0,alpha,'xname','yname') labels
the plots using the character matrix or string array
'xname' for the
predictors and the character vector or string scalar
'yname' for the
The data in
reaction.mat are partial pressures
of three chemical reactants and the corresponding reaction rates.
The function
hougen implements
the nonlinear Hougen-Watson model for reaction rates. The following
fits the model to the data:
load reaction nlintool(reactants,rate,@hougen,beta,0.01,xn,yn)
Version History
Introduced before R2006a


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Learning Goals
Jeremy's market is structured to help students understand:
- Consumer choice theory.
- Opportunity cost.
- Gains from trade.
- Profit maximization.
- Price determination.
- Market structure.
- Labor demand.
- Labor supply.
Context for Use
The simulation is most appropriate for principles of microeconomics. The simulation works equally well for both small and large classes, although a class size of 30 or more is recommend. Each student needs his or her own computer connected to the internet or a computer in a school computer lab.
Description and Teaching Materials
The MaketSim web site provides a detailed presentation of the two simulations. An instructor interested in using MarketSim should read the general overview first. The next step is to read the two brief overviews of how a student would react during the simulation. Finally, the instructor can play the simulation game with a small number of participants. Other links on the MarketSim page give advise to instructors, a project history, and the research papers on student learning using MarketSim . The Quick Start Manual, the Instructor's Manual, and the Student Manual are not directly accessible from the MarketSim introductory page but can be seen by clicking the links shown here or going into the "Play a Game" portion of the site.
To see a screen cast of Adam's market, click on this link: Screen Cast of Adams Market
To see a screen cast of Adam's market, click on this link: Screen Cast of Adams Market
Teaching Notes and Tips
MarketSim was developed and refined over a number of years of classroom use by several different instructors. As a consequence, the instructor support material is very well developed. Instructors electing to use MarketSim for the first time will find most of their questions answered and suggestions for class use that reflect actual classroom experience. The MarketSim web site itself has been subject to peer review and is one of the selections in the Online section of the Journal of Economic Education.
Instructors who have used the simulation have the following suggestions for new users:
Class preparation: 50 minutes
Class simulation: 1-1.5 hours
Instructors who have used the simulation have the following suggestions for new users:
- Instructors need to thoroughly review the program with their students. Instructors need to spend time explaining the worksheet because that is the page that students use to plan their strategy. For example, they need to understand that they can use this page to determine how utility will be affected by trades before they make a trade.
- Students should be advised to check the simulation frequently so that they can take advantage of offers that are being made.
- Students should be warned against waiting until the period is almost over to try to make their decisions.
- Students need to be reminded that when they make a trade the goods will go into their stock. They then have to take the action to consume the goods. Students often forget to take this action.
- One strategy that students should follow is to make their offers in small quantities. They probably won't find someone who wants to buy a large quantity of either good.
Class preparation: 50 minutes
Class simulation: 1-1.5 hours
The simulation allows an instructor to assign points. Points are assigned on the basis of participation and performance. The instructor can determine how much weight to give to these two factors.
In addition, all traditional forms of assessment can be used. For more information about assessment, see the SERC assessment module.
In addition, all traditional forms of assessment can be used. For more information about assessment, see the SERC assessment module.
References and Resources
Porter, T.S. Results from the Use of Two Simulations in Principles of Micro. Paper presented at the 2005 Allied Social Science Association meetings.


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Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime must step down immediately—without Western military intervention. Certainly, the Syrian people deserve support to protect them from the brutal and barbaric onslaught of the Syrian's security forces. But such assistance and safe haven should come from Arab countries and Turkey. Help from other Arab or Muslim countries would be less offensive to the Syrian people, would be less likely to entail an occupation force, and would likely be less long-lasting than an intervention by Western countries.
The 10-month-old Syrian revolution is struggling against both a well-entrenched security apparatus and a divided citizenry afraid of what will come next. In a country populated by a large number of religious and ethnic minorities, the Assad regime has exploited widespread division and fear of civil war to continue killing protesters and to frighten outsiders from interfering. The UN estimates that over 5,000 people have been killed since the unrest began.
Some Syrian rebels have asked for NATO's help in instituting a no-fly zone over sensitive parts of the country, but Western powers are reluctant to get involved militarily even after ten months and 5,000 deaths. To be clear: I did not support NATO's military intervention in Libya and I do not support such an intervention in Syria. But NATO began talking about intervention in Libya scarcely a week after the start of the insurgency and a few hundred deaths. With the killing dragging on in Syria now much longer, it's hard to imagine that Libya's oil wasn't a factor in the West's rush to intervene.
Similar to Libya, Syria's amorphous opposition lacks a strong political infrastructure like political parties or civic organizations. But there are signs that the opposition is attempting to close ranks despite visible internal differences in attitudes toward violence and foreign intervention. The revolt has spread from its origins in Deraa, Hama, and Homs in the south and west to the previously quieter cities of Aleppo and Idlib in the north, as well as to the capital Damascus and Kurdish towns to its north and northeast.
The UN, Arab League, and Western powers have all urged that Syria's revolution remain nonviolent. However, a small, loosely organized group of military defectors called the Free Syrian Army (FSA) has taken up arms against the Syrian military—with mixed results. Despite the FSA's increasingly violent tactics, the Syrian National Council (SNC), an umbrella group of opposition leaders outside Syria, recently recognized the FSA under pressure from internal leaders of the revolution. Similarly, the SNC and the National Coordinating Committee for Democratic Change (NCC), a rival opposition group, recently brokered a fragile agreement to unify the opposition. SNC advocates a no-fly zone while NCC opposes one, but the joint statement supports the protection of civilians by all means short of foreign intervention. This is welcome news: the rebel groups should unite quickly for the sake of the revolution.
Assad's regime respects neither life nor liberty nor justice; it has lost all moral legitimacy. Assad's thugs collect, torture, and kill wounded demonstrators in utter defiance of international standards regarding the wounded. His snipers on rooftops randomly shoot demonstrators and passersby. The Arab League monitors, mostly representing corrupt regimes, have utterly failed to stop the killing of civilians.
Assad's contempt for human life was expressed in a recent interview with ABC reporter Barbara Walters. In response to Ms. Walter's question about whether he feels regret or remorse about the death of civilians, he callously replied, "No, you regret when you [make] mistakes…How can I feel remorseful if I try to protect the Syrian people?" A moral human being regrets the loss of any life. Assad's policy of not negotiating with the opposition, a policy he sustains with lies and brutality, renders him a morally justifiable target of the revolutionary forces.
It is hard for most people to watch the slaughter of innocent civilians in Syria without advocating military intervention from Western countries. However, even with the most morally upright intentions, such interventions are ripe with potential for abuse. An open-ended policy of military intervention is too easily exploited by those who would pursue it for political or economic ends, including not least for control of natural resources. The policy implications of such ostensibly humanitarian actions are dangerous for many other countries, as we have seen most dramatically in the tragic case of Iraq.
Syria's revolution is on the long road to freedom, but the leaders of the revolution must navigate very carefully to avoid stepping on mines.


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St. Florian History
Saint Florian
Patron Saint
Fire Fighters
All firefighters are aware that Saint Florian is the patron Saint of firefighters. Many have purchased and are very proud to wear the Saint Florian medallion around their neck. These medallions are usually gold and many are shaped in the form of a Maltese cross with the image of Florian stamped in the center of it. If you ask who Florian was or why he is our Patron Saint, most firefighters don't know. They assume it is because he made some heroic fire rescue or maybe he was a priest who was involved in the fire service. These answers are the typical response but neither is accurate.
Florian was a Captain in the Roman army. He was a brave soldier and a tenacious fighter. Rome recognized the danger of fire and was the first to employ a fire department. This first fire department was made up of slaves. They had no real desire to risk their lives battling the flames of their captors. Rome desperately needed fire protection. They called on Captain Florian to organize and train an elite group of soldiers whose sole duty was to fight fires. Captain Florian indeed organized such a group. They were highly trained and very successful at protecting Rome from fires. A brigade of firefighters followed the army and provided fire protection at their encampments. These firefighters were highly respected and easily recognized. They wore the traditional Roman soldier uniform except the skirt was green. The most famous picture of Saint Florian depicts him with a young boy pouring water from a pitcher onto a fire. This picture if seen in color reveals this green skirt.
Rome was very impressed by this young Captain and all that he had accomplished. They decided to reward him by making him a general. Generals were often given large tracks of conquered land to govern. The only rules were that they had to enforce the laws of Rome and collect the taxes. Florian's area included almost all of Poland.
Rome began to hear some rumors about the way Florian was governing his land. It was reported that he was not enforcing Rome's law forbidding Christianity. Rome did not believe this, but they did sent investigators to check. They reported back that it was true. Rome sent a group of soldiers to confront Florian. They warned and threatened him that he must enforce the laws of Rome and abolish Christianity. Florian not only refused he confessed that he had embraced the faith and become a Christian himself. Rome was furious. They tortured him and demanded he renounce his faith. Florian steadfastly refused. Rome ordered his execution.
It is only fitting, that firefighters, committed to their duty, and instilled with the spirit to dedicate themselves to the protection of life and property, should choose such a man as their patron saint."Honoring Our Past Makes Us Appreciate Our Future"


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I've had numerous conversations and e-mail exchanges with bloggers asking me why I don't put ads on my site.
It's not that I couldn't use the extra money. After all, cashmere boxers, gold-laced shower curtains, and beluga mayonnaise don't grow on trees, right? And am I the only one who cares that the price of domestic help is starting to reach stratospheric levels? Just this past week, my personal foodtaster Toto asked for more dough because his maid needed to get the tires on her BMW rotated. So yeah, who couldn't use a little extra green in their pockets?
All kidding aside, I generally find the idea of advertising on personal blogs to be the complete antithesis of what blogging should be about and that's generally why I've shunned them on this site.
However, I've never really been able to fully articulate my feelings on exactly why I dislike the idea of ads on personal blogs. Thankfully, I have Mimi Smartypants. As she writes in a recent post:
I got into a minor debate recently about ads on blogs, because I was naively shocked to see one of my favorites with a big old honking McDonald's ad in the sidebar. I am sure when you sign up with Federated Media or any of the other blog-ad conglomerates, you don't get much of a say in what ads show up. Which is precisely the point.
When you attach your personal output (your song, your blog, your likeness) to a corporation, you align yourself with everything that corporation has ever done. In a small way, to be sure: no one is going to hold the aforementioned blog writer directly responsible for junk-food marketing to children or the destruction of the rainforests. But the fact remains that when you get advertising money from McDonald's, you become part of their business. If that is cool with you, then fine---it would be a cold day in hell, personally, but whatever.
It is not really my intent to pick on McDonald's, as my insides are not entirely Filet O' Fish free. My point is more that, through my lame, idealistic, aging-punk, Diaryland-colored glasses, I have a hard time seeing personal web pages as a business. There is something so cool about getting to read the thoughts of people I have never met, and then over there in the sidebar is this big honking ad for a multi-billion-dollar corporation, and that punctures the pleasure balloon somewhat.
Ads are fucking everywhere. It would be nice to see just a sliver of handcrafted, non-commercial, free-to-all, personal-expression space in the world, even if just on the internet.
I couldn't agree more, Mimi.
Now I might not be most objective guy to lecture anyone on the dangers of advertising and pervasive consumerism, given the fact that my apartment is overfilled with a random array of useless shit and makes Charles Foster Kane's basement look like an empty breadbox.
But you know the omnipresence of advertising in our daily lives is getting out of hand when parents start auctioning off naming rights for their unborn babies and college girls start tattooing corporate logos on their breasts.
As usual, I'm not passing judgment on any personal bloggers who feel the need to post ads on their site. Advertising is a biological impulse found throughout the natural world. Peacocks attract the attention of a mate through a multicolored feather display. Baboons signal their sexual readiness with a pair of red, swollen buttocks. And shit, my wife and I just got a great deal on some attractively priced insurance from a fucking gecko!
So yeah, you probably won't be seeing any ads on this site anytime soon (of course, should the good people over at Aston Martin feel like sponsoring the site and donating the use of one of their fine automobiles, I'll be the first in line to tattoo their logo on my ass and name my second child DB9.)
But just out of curiosity, how do you feel when you see ads on personal blogs? Do they turn you off? Do you even care? If you have ads on your blog, do you feel they're worth it? Have you ever considered removing them? In all honesty, I've stopped reading more than a few blogs because I couldn't deal with the advertising. Have you ever done the same?
An inquiring mind wants to know...


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Tour 3: Notation
Rosegarden includes a powerful notation editor – essential if score is your preferred way to compose, or just to give you a different view on your work.
You can edit notation at the same time as any of the other standard editing windows, and Rosegarden unobtrusively keeps everything up-to-date for you.
Unlike other MIDI sequencers, Rosegarden really knows about notation, storing details of the musical structure and presentation far in excess of what can be described in MIDI. And Rosegarden can even tidy up recorded notation using a powerful heuristic notation quantizer, without losing the original performance timings.
You can prepare printed scores, editing and previewing in a clear multi-page layout...
... and then print directly, using LilyPond to generate high-quality typeset output:
Next: Audio


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The BEAM Links Collection is a BEAM Reference Library site.
BEAM Reference Library Links:
Disclaimer: I live in the US (Colorado, to be specific), so the following list of vendors will be pretty US-centric. It's not that I'm parochial, I just don't have much feedback from folks that live elsewhere. Consider yourself warned.
All Electronics -- Lots of odds and ends -- not a very complete selection, but worth a look for what they (temporarily) have in stock.
Digi-Key -- Huge supplier (US / Canada); they stock just about any electronic part you could want
Future Active -- Electronics components and tools
Jameco - Good prices on some things (particularly "grab bags"); oriented more toward service parts rather than chips & such.
Mouser -- Another big supplier; very pokey website
Solarbotics -- The best all-around BEAM supplier there is. They have lots of components at good prices, but they're located in Canada, so US buyers have to (for the time being) deal with the US Customs Dept. "aging bins"
Solar Cells
Conrad Electronics -- Good prices but only ships in Europe
Jameco -- misc. solar cells
Plastecs -- solar cells, including flexible ones!
Scientifics -- what's left of the former Edmund Scientific; good selection of solar cells
Solarbotics -- a really good source for BEAM-sized (i.e., small) solar cells
SolarElectric -- primarily oriented toward folks that want to live "off the grid," they still sell individual cells too
Motors and gears and such
Balsa Products -- good prices on servos.
BG Micro -- the good news: they carry really great, affordable gear motors; the bad news: they hardly ever have them in stock
Budget Robotics -- Tamiya gearmotors
Hobby People -- Servos (not as extensive a selection as Tower, but generally cheaper)
Jameco -- Various sets of gears (but they're not too cheap)
Micro Precision Systems -- really incredibly tiny motors
Mondo-tronics Inc. -- anything and everything involving "muscle wire" (a.k.a., Nitinol)
Servo City -- very good servo prices
Solarbotics -- very low-current pager motors
TechMax -- some interesting motors here
Tower Hobbies -- good selection of servos, replacement gear sets
Major Hobby -- broad selection of servos, gears, etc.
Misc. robotics parts, kits, and such
Acroname -- they carry really neat Sharp IR proximity sensors, plus other assorted goodies (books, PIC boards, even piezoelectric gyros if you're feeling rich).
Bawtz.com -- Canada-based reseller of other folks' robot kits
Budget Robotics -- they sell a number of basic robot kits (just add "brains"), plus a decent variety of 'bot parts (wheels, gear trains, motor bases, sensors, etc.). Most parts (and some kits) are straight from Tamiya -- at very competitive prices.
Carl's Electronics, Inc. (Electronickits.com) -- MOVIT and OWI robot kits; good basis for further "robohacking"
Cybug Central -- Craig Maynard's site on his interesting little bugs; available in kit form.
Didel -- a Swiss company with some really, incredibly, small robot kits and parts (sad to say, many of them are not cheap). Site in English and French.
Electric Pets -- Bill Bigge's line of really artistic and interesting BEAM "critters"
Electronics Goldmine -- they live up to their name, they have all sorts of goodies (tho' not always well-described)
Fastener-Express.com -- a good on-line fastener store, good selection of metric stuff too.
FirstBOT Robot Store -- primarily geared toward selling (processor-driven) robot kits, they also sell a few components separately.
GlobalSpec -- if you need some oddball thing, and have absolutely no idea where to find it...
Hobbytron -- a hobby supplier with a very broad selection of robot kits -- Solarbotics, MOVIT / OWI, Cybug, Mindstorms...
HVW Technologies -- a few kits, mostly CPU-based (but all hackable)
Jameco -- section dedicated to robotics
Lynxmotion -- they have some pretty pricey robot kits, but some very interesting (and affordable) robot parts
Micro Fasteners, Inc. -- dedicated to selling small nuts and screws and such. If you live in the U.S., and need / want to buy metric fasteners, this is definitely the place to go.
Middlesex University Teaching Resources -- teaching materials vendor, lots of goodies useable by BEAMers -- gears, gearmotors, electronic components, building material... Based in the UK, but ships all over.
Mondo-tronics Inc. -- has lots of odds & ends
MPJA -- a surplus house, often have good motors, tools, etc.
Andy Pang -- just an average guy, but he's got robot parts and part kits for sale.
Robotikits Direct -- OWI kit robots; good basis for further "robohacking"
Robot Store -- kits, books and various parts
Robot Store (HK) -- a Hong Kong based outfit that ships world-wide; motors, solar cells, sensors, CPU-based goodies
Rogue Robotics -- makers of the "Rogue Blue" series of robots
Scientifics -- what's left of the former Edmund Scientific
Solarbotics -- just about everything you could want for a BEAM bot, including kits
Sozbots -- kits and parts for small fighting robots; lots of Tamiya stuff
Tamiya -- a number of interesting robotic parts, available through distributors (try Budget Robotics or Sozbots if none of your local hobby stores carry Tamiya gear)
Vikon Technologies -- lots of CPU-based stuff
Jaycar Electronics -- they're in Australia, so I have zero experience with them
Oatley Electronics -- Ditto
Supplies & tools
DynaArt Designs -- makers of "Toner Transfer Paper" sheets for making PCBs; also some interesting tools for PCB creation and "stuffing"
Micro-Mark -- they bill themselves as "The Small Tool Specialists", and they live up to it! They're really oriented toward modelers (model railroad, model ships, etc.), but have lots of tools useful for detail work on small things (like BEAMbots!).
Ramsey Electronics -- tools, kits, etc.
Techniks -- makers of "Press-N-Peel" transfer film (the blue stuff) for making PCBs
CPU-based stuff
Dontronics (in Australia) has some very cost-competitive (and very small) BASIC StampTM-based hardware.
The OOPic is a bit bigger, but has a higher-level programming interface, and is available from a number of vendors, including Acroname.
Acroname also has their own budding line of CPU-based boards, called the BrainStemTM.
Fred Martin (formerly) at MIT came up with a small CPU board, called the Handy Board, which is also available from a whole slew of vendors.
Fred Martin also came up with the Mini Board, a tiny, business card-sized robot controller, great for connecting motors and sensors to desktop machines. The design is distributed publicly and you can buy blank boards from Douglas Electronics. More information on parts for the boards and schematics is in Fred's paper at MIT Mini Board Info; complete documentation is on the MIT FTP server.
Electronics will make PCBs
to your specs; they use proprietary software for board
layout, but it's pretty cheap ($25 US).


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- Water requirements, infant
- Water is an important part of a baby's diet because water makes up a large proportion of the baby's body. When properly prepared, all infant formulas are approximately 85% water. Infant formulas are available in three forms: liquid ready-to-use, liquid concentrate, and powder concentrate. Liquid ready-to-use formulas do not require the addition of water, while the liquid and powder concentrates require the addition of water. It is of prime importance for parents to read, understand, and follow the manufacturer's directions when adding water to liquid and powder concentrates. Too much water: Adding too much water to these formula concentrates or adding water to ready-to-use formulas can lead to water intoxication in the baby. In severe cases, water intoxication can cause low blood sodium levels, irritability, coma, and even permanent brain damage. Not enough water: failing to adequately dilute the concentrates with water causes the formulas to be too "hypertonic." Hypertonic formulas can induce diarrhea and dehydration. In extreme cases, ingestion of overly hypertonic formulas can lead to kidney failure, gangrene of the legs, and coma. Therefore, parents should not adjust the amount of water that is added to concentrates to either "fatten the baby up" or "put the baby on a diet." Instead, parents should discuss their concerns regarding the baby's calorie intake with his/her pediatrician.
Medical dictionary. 2011.