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March Checklist
On dry days remove winter debris from lawn and garden beds. Check for broken branches (prune immediately) or plants damaged by snow loads or rodents. Remove burlap screens erected to protect plants from wind or road salt spray.
Consider a soil test of your entire yard or specific garden areas if you have not had one before. Consult the results of the test before adding amendments to your soil. Soil temperature must be 50 degrees for a proper reading. Tests can also be performed in the fall. Contact Plant Information at the Chicago Botanic Garden at (847) 835-0972 for a complete listing of soil-testing agencies.
To avoid compacting garden soil, wait until it has dried out before tilling, planting, or even walking in the garden beds. Mix in 6 inches or more of compost or leaf mold to lighten heavy soil.
Watch weather conditions for an appropriate window of time to spray fruit trees or large deciduous trees with dormant oil. Spray if aphids, scale, or mites were a problem in the past. Temperatures must be at least 40 degrees Fahrenheit with no chance of freezing or rain within the following 24 hours. Avoid spraying on a windy day. Certain trees have a phototoxicity to dormant oil and should not be sprayed. A few common ones are arborvitae, beech, red maple, Japanese maple, sugar maple smokebush, blue spruce, blue cultivars of juniper, and yew. Call Plant Information if in doubt.
To reduce the spread of oak wilt, all oak pruning should be completed in March, or before the oaks begin active growth. Pruning should not resume until after the first frost, or around November 1.
Prune fruit trees in early March on a dry day before buds swell. As with all pruning chores, sterilize pruning tools with a 10 percent solution of bleach before each cut. Prune out sucker growth, water sprouts, and any diseased or dead branches. Remove crossing branches, rubbing branches, or those that grow toward the center or the plant rather than outward, away from the interior. Fruit trees benefit from having their canopies opened up to permit more sunlight and air into their centers.
Prune spring-flowering trees and shrubs immediately after they flower to preserve this season's flower display.
Prune roses when the forsythia begins to bloom. When pruning roses, make a 45-degree cut above a healthy bud, angled away from the center of the plant. If not done last fall, prune hybrid tea roses and grandiflora roses back to 12 inches to reinvigorate growth. Prune out dried, darkened, and broken canes and any dead tips. Prune shrub roses to remove dead wood and very lightly to shape to size.
Fertilize woody plants four to six weeks before they begin new growth only if they have shown signs that they could use it. These would include poor leaf color, failure to completely fruit or flower, or stunted growth. Use a slow-release granular fertilizer or an organic product and water in well. Do not fertilize newly planted trees or shrubs. Wait one year before making this application.
Plant trees and shrubs before they break bud and when soil conditions permit. If spring weather is unusually wet, consider planting in the fall when the plants begin their dormancy. With all woody plants, avoid planting too deep. Research indicates that more trees suffer from being planted too deep in the hole than any other problem. Plant with one-third of the root ball above ground. Taper soil away from the trunk back to ground level. Mulch the entire root zone with several inches of shredded or chipped bark.
Look for early spring-blooming bulbs (sometimes beneath the snow or ground cover). If necessary, divide clumps of old, nonblooming bulbs or fertilize with a 5-10-5 granular fertilizer now and again in fall. Mark the spots with small stakes for locating next fall.
Gently press back any perennials that heaved out of the ground over the winter. Mulch those plants with several inches of shredded material.
As days warm up, gradually pull back mulch from around perennial crowns.
Remove dead leaves from perennial clumps taking care not to injure emerging new leaves.
Cut back to the ground all perennials and ornamental grasses that were left standing for winter interest.
Prune back to 12 inches stems of autumn-flowering clematis vines.
Prune grapevines according to selected method. For detailed information on pruning grapevines, contact plant information at (847) 835-0972 to order Plant Information Fact Sheet #36, Pruning Grapevines.
Prune raspberry bushes and reattach canes to support system, if necessary. Some gardeners mow their raspberry patches to the ground this month to encourage one big crop during summer. Everbearing bushes should not be mowed down.
When soil temperatures are consistently in the 50s, sow seeds of cool-season vegetables directly into the garden. If seeds were started indoors, small transplants can be moved outside after a period of adjustment. Cool-season vegetables that can be direct-seeded include the root crops of beets, carrots, radishes, parsnips and turnips; the leaf crops of chard, loose-leaf lettuces, spinach, mesclun mix, mustard and collard greens, and kale. The crops that should be started indoors and moved outside as transplants are broccoli, the cabbages, and cauliflowers.
Continue to care for indoor flowering gift plants.
Azaleas require even moisture and bright light. Deadhead to keep plants blooming for four to six weeks. Azaleas can go outside to a partly shaded location after May 15, but must come back in before fall frost.
Primrose plants can be discarded after flowering or planted directly in shaded, well-drained garden area. They will go dormant during summer months and require heavy mulch to protect from summer heat and winter cold. Indoor-blooming tulip, daffodil, hyacinth, or crocus plants can be planted outside and treated like outdoor bulbs after they have flowered but there is no guarantee they will flower the following year.
Get a head start on summer-blooming bulbs and tubers by starting them indoors in moist, soilless mix. Plant Caladium (caladium), Colocassia (elephant ears), Begonia x tuberhybrida (tuberous begonia), Crocosmia (montbretia), Agapanthus (Lily of the Nile), Canna x generalis (garden canna), Polianthes (tuberose), Acidanthera (peacock orchid). Keep warm until new growth appears. Move pots into a sunny window or under grow lights if necessary. Move these pots outside when all danger of frost has passed, after gradually introducing plants to warm weather conditions.
Repot houseplants, including orchids, after they have flowered and if they have become rootbound. Increase pot size by one inch. Change the potting soil/fir bark but do not change the level at which the plant was situated in the pot.
Fertilize houseplants as they begin new growth. Try low dosages of organic fertilizers or a very dilute, balanced granular fertilizer rather than stronger formulas. Telltale white salt markings on terra cotta pots indicate overuse of fertilizer. Flush out soil of overfertilized plants with plain water.
Propagate houseplants. Softwood cuttings, leaf cuttings, air-layering, cane cuttings, or division may all be done this spring.
Start seeds of warm-season annuals and vegetables in a moist, soilless seed mix. These seeds are started six to eight weeks before the spring frost date of May 15. Transplant tiny seedlings into a "growing on" mix in slightly larger containers when they have two sets of true leaves. Gradually introduce small plants to outdoor conditions. They can be planted in containers or garden beds after May 15.


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MEMORIAL FIELD — Most of the seniors on this season's Burbank High football team had never beaten cross-town rival Burroughs in the annual Big Game.
That same group also missed competing in the playoffs last year as juniors, as the Bulldogs failed to qualify for the postseason.
After Friday's effort against the Indians at Memorial Field, that senior contingent will be able to enjoy both accomplishments this season.
Paced by a defense that kept Burroughs scoreless for more than three quarters, Burbank jumped out to an early lead and attacked the Indians will a solid running game. The end result was a 37-14 Pacific League victory by the Bulldogs in the 64th installment of the storied rivalry.
With the win, Burbank (7-3, 6-1 in league) finishes in second place in league behind champion Muir (7-3, 7-0). The Bulldogs will begin the playoffs with a CIF Southern Section Southeast Division first-round game next week.
For Burroughs (4-6, 4-3), it misses automatically qualifying for the playoffs for the first time since 2005, when it finished fifth in the Foothill League. Although Arcadia (4-6, 4-3) — which lost to Crescenta Valley Friday, 23-7 — finished tied for third with the Indians, the Apaches were awarded the third and final automatic postseason spot via an 18-8 win against the Indians.
"It's a good thing for our seniors to be able to be going to the playoffs after missing out last season," Burbank Coach Hector Valencia said. "They've worked hard and they deserve to be going."
The win for the Bulldogs is the first over their rival since 2009, when they notched a 28-21 victory.
The Indians had a chance to make the postseason with a win Friday night. However, it was apparent early on that the Bulldogs were in control of the game, as they took advantage of Burroughs miscues to jump out to a 37-0 advantage.
"Burbank has been where we're at now their share of times in the past," Burroughs Coach Keith Knoop said. "We told our guys how good they were and if you gave them any opportunity they were going to punch you in the mouth. They are physical, they are aggressive and they came to play."
While its defensive was shutting down the Indians, Burbank's running game rolled along. The ground attack was led by sophomore running back James Williams, who had 14 carries for 149 yards and a touchdown, which came on a splendid 89-yard run. Teammate Teddy Arlington had 11 carries for 57 yards and a touchdown and Joseph Pendleton carried the ball 13 times for 42 yards and a touchdown
The Bulldogs scoring began modestly when they had to settle for a field goal on their first possession of the game. Senior Yervand Umrikyan made good on a 33-yard attempt with 6:48 remaining in the first.
When Burroughs' first possession stalled on its own 39, it was forced to punt. However, the punter shanked the effort, which ended up going just three yards.
The Bulldogs took over and drove the ball down the field, as the march ended with Pendleton punching it in for a one-yard touchdown.
With a 10-0 lead after one quarter, the Bulldogs mounted a scoring drive in the second quarter following an interception by Joshua Nersissian. Sophomore quarterback Ryan Meredith took the ball on a keeper from three yards out with 3:48 remaining before the half.
The Bulldogs were able to pad their lead just 24 seconds later on another Burroughs miscue. After an intentional grounding call backed the Indians up to their four-yard line, the Burroughs quarterback bobbled the snap in the end zone and the ball was recovered by defensive end Kyle Hunter for a touchdown.
Burbank went into halftime with a 24-0 lead.
"Our guys know what was at stake in this game, and they wanted to play well and get ready for the playoffs," Valencia said. "The way they came out just demonstrated how tough they can play. We have come out flat in some games this year, but that didn't happen tonight."
The Bulldogs defense limited the Burroughs offense to just 50 total yards in the first half.
In the third quarter, Williams showed why he has gained more than 1,400 yards this season when he broke loose on an 89-yard touchdown scamper with 8:56 left in the third quarter. It was Williams' 17th rushing touchdown this season.
Burbank made it 37-0 with 10:38 left on a one-yard scoring run by Arlington.
With a running clock in the fourth quarter, Burroughs — which ran the Wildcat on several occasions — finally had success moving the ball on offense. The Indians were able to end the shutout with 8:12 remaining in the contest. Senior Josh Storer found pay dirt on a 17-yard run up the middle to finally give the Burroughs fans something to cheer about.
"We were really banged up at a few positions," Knoop said. "But late in the game the guys were fired up to score. I put my three best running backs in to see what they could do."
Storer had 13 carries for 52 yards.
The Indians made it 37-14 with 42.4 seconds remaining when junior quarterback Andrew Williams found Storer on a 16-yard scoring pass. The touchdown was set up by an interception by Garrett Manoukian.

subset: commoncrawl


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Houston represents the changing face of the nation
Of all of America's largest urban areas, perhaps none represents the changing face of the nation better than Houston. During the last century it has grown from a minor regional outpost in the sultry southeast corner of Texas to a cosmopolitan hub of about 6 million people that is home not only to the U.S. energy industry but also to thousands of small businesses - about a third, by census estimates - that cater to and were started by the rapidly increasing minority population.
Immigrants, legal and otherwise, have altered significantly the makeup of the fourth-largest city in the country. A population that was largely white at the start of the 20th century and remained so 50 years later is today a modern melting pot, having doubled in size in the last 30 years. Decades of influx from all over the world have changed a typically biracial Southern city into one where there is no majority population: About 40 percent of Harris County residents are Hispanic, 33 percent white and 18 percent black. In 1960, the Asian population was negligible, but 50 years later it has grown to almost 8 percent.
Houston's dramatic growth is owed in part to its reputation as a magnet for economic opportunity. Even in the midst of a national economic slump, the city continued to thrive. Oil has helped, of course. The worldwide demand for energy resources rarely seems to wane as it once did. But Houston also boasts a far more diversified economy than ever before. Its port is the busiest in the nation if measured by foreign tonnage and its medical center is the world's largest - two engines that keep people coming and business humming. Its proximity to Mexico also has ensured a stream of Mexican and Central American immigrants, a controversial trend that nevertheless has added greatly to economic activity.
Rice University sociologist Stephen Klineberg has overseen the Houston Area Survey over the last three decades and tracked significant population, demographic and employment changes in that time. While noting the demographic "revolution" Houston has undergone, his most recent survey also includes a big caution sign for the future.
"The 'resource economy' of the industrial era, for which this city was so favorably positioned, has been replaced by a new high-technology, knowledge-based, fully worldwide marketplace," Klineberg's 2012 report states. "The traditional 'blue collar path' to financial security has now largely disappeared. Almost all the well-paid jobs today require high levels of technical skills and educational credentials."
Three decades of exploding growth, however, has at least assured ongoing employment of some sort, with an abundance of low-end service jobs helping keep unemployment levels consistently low and immigration constant. The city's pro-growth and pro-business policies mean that even parts of the city that have undergone radical ethnic change have remained vibrant. Strip centers that once catered to a younger collection of Anglo office workers, for example, are now chockablock with small businesses that serve recent Hispanic immigrant arrivals.
Many of the suburbs have undergone similar transformation. Fort Bend County is the most ethnically diverse in America, Klineberg said. And as predominantly white baby boomers age and then die off, much of the country will resemble Houston's western suburbs, where the white population has dropped from half of the total to about a third in the last 10 years, with the remainder divided almost evenly between Hispanic, black and Asian.
Yet another trend finds Houston getting younger as it ages. Its median age was about 33 in 2010, making it the second-youngest of the top 20 metropolitan areas in the U.S. The future of all the new residents looks as bright here as anywhere, though there is a growing concern about a new form of class segregation that has emerged even as the ethnic profile has changed. The Houston metro area is becoming more residentially segregated by income than most cities in the country, experts say. Plenty of vacant land and rapid growth have created large communities whose residents are as similar in income level as they are different in racial and ethnic composition.
The good news is that the median household income in the Houston area - $54,146 - is higher overall, almost 8 percent above the national average.


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The Dr. Pat Show: Talk Radio to Thrive By!: Vaishali talks with callers and shares Spiritual wisdom and insights
05/24/2008 12:00 am PDT
Dr. Pat Baccili
Dr. Pat Baccili helps individuals and organizations break through their limiting Crust so they can reach their unlimited potential. Her specialty is assisting people face t...Find out more »
The Hit Syndicated Saturday Night Show"You Are What You Love"Live in Southern CaliforniaSaturdays 5:00- 6:00 PM PacificHosted by - Vaishali"You Are What You Love" is a weekl...Find out more »


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Our family WordPress themes are pre-made templates for the popular WordPress blogging software. Our WordPress templates will give your blog a professional, high quality look that will surely impress your visitors. These unique beautiful designs are simple to customize and will allow your family blogging website to stand apart from everyone else who use the free generic WordPress themes. If you already have a web blog powered by WordPress you may consider switching to one of our attractive themes we offer without losing any of the blogging content you have created.


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HARRISON, N.J. – Real Salt Lake (11-7-4, 37 points, West #1) lost a heartbreaker on Saturday night, giving up goals in the 89th and 94th minutes to fall 4-3 to the New York Red Bulls (10-7-5, 35 points, East #2) at Red Bull Arena.
Real Salt Lake FW Alvaro Saborio had all three goals for RSL, but his hat trick wasn't enough for the Claret-and-Cobalt, which went home losers after former FW Fabian Espindola buried his second PK of the game in the 89th minute and MF Dax McCarty scored the winner in the 94th.
New York MF Tim Cahill put the Red Bulls on top in the 11th minute. FW Thierry Henry curled a free kick in from the center of RSL's half, finding an unmarked Cahill at the left post. The Australian Designated Player buried the opportunity, running onto the ball at the top-left corner of the six and heading home.
New York doubled its lead just 12 minutes later. RSL DF Abdouliue Mansally was whistled for a soft foul at the top of the box on New York DF Brandon Barklage, giving the Red Bulls a penalty kick. Espindola buried the chance, chipping his spot kick down the middle to give the Red Bulls a 2-0 lead.
Real Salt Lake nearly pulled one back in the 33rd minute. MF Javier Morales curled a low 25-yard free kick from the middle of the field around the New York wall, forcing Red Bulls GK Luis Robles into a fine diving save at the right post.
RSL dodged a major bullet in the 38th. Henry picked up a loose ball in the middle of the Claret-and-Cobalt's defensive third, weaving his way past a pair of RSL defenders and into the left side of the box before hitting a cheeky right-footer off the far post from 15 yards. The Frenchman looked poised to finish the follow-up attempt, but RSL DF Nat Borchers made a big sliding block to keep Henry's close-range effort out.
RSL GK Jeff Attinella made a huge save to keep RSL in the game in the 39th. MF Eric Alexander crossed a ball in from the right flank to Espindola, who took advantage of a fallen RSL player to turn and hit a shot on frame. Attinella made a big stop, rushing off his line to block the former RSL man's attempt.
The Claret-and-Cobalt got on the board just before the break, with Saborio burying a PK to pull RSL within one in the 45th minute. FW Olmes Garcia earned the penalty, chasing down a long ball on the right side before rounding Red Bulls DF Markus Holgersson, who fouled Garcia in the box. Saborio buried the ensuing spot kick, hitting it low and into the left corner for his fifth goal of the year.
Attinella came up with another big stop in the 75th minute. Cahill got on the end of a corner kick at the right side of the six, putting a diving header on goal that Attinella stopped with a fantastic reaction save.
RSL made Attinella's big stop pay off in the 80th minute, when Saborio scored his second goal of the match to equalize. Substitute MF Luis Gil hit a deflected ball that fell to Garcia in the right side of the box. Garcia quickly squared to the top of the 18 to Saborio, who hit a right footed shot off of Robles and inside the right post.
Saborio completed his hat trick two minutes later, scoring an incredible goal to give RSL an improbable lead. Substitute FW Joao Plata collected a ball on the left wing, cutting into the middle and finding Saborio at the top of the box. The Costa Rican international took a couple of touches to his left, before chipping an outstanding shot with the outside of the right post and into the right netting.
Unfortunately, RSL couldn't hold the lead, conceding in the 89th and 94th minutes to fall 3-2. Espindola earned – and converted – a second penalty to tie, with referee Silviu Petrescu whistling RSL DF Aaron Maund for a controversial foul in the left side of the box. Attinella guessed correctly on Espindola's spot kick, but couldn't quite reach the shot, which found the left side of the net.
McCarty gave the Red Bulls the win in the 94th. Barklage collected the ball on the right wing, whipping in an early cross to the center of the area. McCarty got on the end of it, diving at full extension to redirect the ball past Attinella and into the left side of the net.
Real Salt Lake will return to action next Saturday, when it will take on the rival Colorado Rapids in the deciding game of the 2013 Rocky Mountain Cup Presented by Mark Miller Subaru.
Real Salt Lake Match Notes – RSL 3-4 NY
- Saturday's game is the second straight match that RSL lost in second half stoppage time. The Claret-and-Cobalt lost last Saturday's match to Sporting Kansas City after giving up a 96th minute goal to DF Ike Opara at Rio Tinto Stadium.
- Saturday's match was RSL FW Alvaro Saborio's first after missing RSL's last four games while on CONCACAF Gold Cup duty with Costa Rica. Prior to Saturday, Saborio had only played two league games since April 20 due to a combination of injuries and international calls.
- Despite his frequent absences from the lineup – Saturday's game was just his ninth league match of the season – Saborio now leads RSL and is tied for seventh in the league with seven goals this season. Saborio's hat trick on Saturday was the third of his MLS career.
- Real Salt Lake was without three regulars due to international duty on Saturday night. Captain Kyle Beckerman, DF Tony Beltran and GK Nick Rimando all missed the match while on international duty with the U.S. national team at the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
- Saturday's game was RSL's first without both Beltran and regular DF Chris Wingert – who was suspended due to a red card in last week's loss to KC – in 74 matches across all competitions. The last match that RSL played without both Beltran and Wingert prior to Saturday night was on Sept. 21, 2011, when the Claret-and-Cobalt beat New York 3-1 at Red Bull Arena.
- Saturday's loss broke RSL's six-game unbeaten run against New York.
Goals by Period 1 2 F
Real Salt Lake 1 2 3
New York Red Bulls 2 2 4
Scoring Summary:
NY – Tim Cahill (Thierry Henry) – 11'
NY – Fabian Espindola (Penalty Kick) – 23'
RSL – Alvaro Saborio (Penalty Kick) – 45'
RSL – Alvaro Saborio (Olmes Garcia) – 80'
RSL – Alvaro Saborio (Joao Plata) – 82'
NY – Fabian Espindola (Penalty Kick) – 89'
NY – Dax McCarty (Brandon Barklage) – 94'
Misconduct Summary:
RSL – Yordany Alvarez (Yellow; Foul) – 4'
RSL – Olmes Garcia (Yellow; Time Wasting) – 64'
NY – Jonny Steele (Yellow; Time Wasting) – 68'
NY – Jamison Olave (Yellow; Foul) – 76'
NY – Tim Cahill (Yellow; Dissent) – 78'
RSL – Aaron Maund (Yellow; Foul) – 88'
NY – Dax McCarty (Yellow; Celebration) – 95'
Real Salt Lake (4-1-2-1-2) – Jeff Attinella; Lovel Palmer (Joao Plata, 77'), Nat Borchers, Aaron Maund, Abdoulie Mansally; Yordany Alvarez (Khari Stephenson, 61'); Ned Grabavoy, Sebastian Velasquez (Luis Gil, 70'); Javier Morales (C); Olmes Garcia, Alvaro Saborio
Substitutes Not Used: Lalo Fernandez (GK), Brandon McDonald, Robbie Findley, Devon Sandoval
New York Red Bulls (4-4-2) – Luis Robles; Brandon Barklage, Jamison Olave, Markus Holgersson, Roy Miller; Eric Alexander, Tim Cahill (Lloyd Sam, 85'), Dax McCarty, Jonny Steele (Peguy Luyindula, 87'); Fabian Espindola (Marius Obekop, 92'), Thierry Henry (C)
Substitutes Not Used: Ryan Meara (GK), Ibrahim Sekagya, Michael Bustamante, Kosuke Kimura
Attendance: 18,604


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PDF files are, after all, just plain text files with specific markup syntax that describes what should happen to objects within the document, such as text and images. It follows that, armed with some PDF logic; anyone can create a PDF file. In this tutorial you will be shown the basic features of the PDF language, to enable you to put together your own PDF document.
Learning Objectives
At the end of this first part of the tutorial you should be able to put together a simple PDF class that can:
- Create and output a PDF document
- Set up page size and orientation
- Insert simple text into the page
- Handle simple font attributes
- Activate compression.
{mospagebreak title=Prerequisites}
You need to have a fully functional PHP install (either PHP 4 or PHP 5 will work here) and a running web server to output the PDF file from your script.
Acrobat Reader, XPDF, or an equivalent is required to see the results of your work.
You do not need any external library, either separate or compiled into PHP, to generate your PDF files.
How It Works
The best approach is to set the code up as a class. This allows for greater flexibility later.
The primary (public) methods deal with the main operations on a PDF document: setting it up, adding pages, setting font, adding text, activating compression, and output of the document.
We shall review the various methods and features of the PDF language, and then eventually put it all together as one class.
Setting up Class Variables
We will need a few class variables to keep track of output, pages, objects, settings, etc.
The following is a list of the essential variables, with brief comments. You will later see each one of these variables in its context, which will give you a better idea of how they are used. For now just briefly get yourself acquainted with them.
var $_buffer = "; // Buffer holding in-memory PDF. var $_state = 0; // Current document state.
var $_page = 0; // Current page number.
var $_n = 2; // Current object number.
var $_offsets = array(); // Array of object offsets.
var $_pages = array(); // Array containing the pages.
var $_w; // Page width in points.
var $_h; // Page height in points
var $_fonts = array(); // An array of used fonts.
var $_font_family = "; // Current font family.
var $_font_style = "; // Current font style.
var $_current_font; // Array with current font info. var $_font_size = 12; // Current font size in points.
var $_compress; // Flag to compress or not.
var $_core_fonts = array('courier'=> 'Courier',
'courierB'=> 'Courier-Bold',
'courierI'=> 'Courier-Oblique',
'courierBI'=> 'Courier-BoldOblique',
'helvetica'=> 'Helvetica',
'helveticaB'=> 'Helvetica-Bold',
'helveticaI'=> 'Helvetica-Oblique',
'helveticaBI'=> 'Helvetica-BoldOblique',
'times'=> 'Times-Roman',
'timesB'=> 'Times-Bold',
'timesI'=> 'Times-Italic',
'timesBI'=> 'Times-BoldItalic',
'symbol'=> 'Symbol',
'zapfdingbats' => 'ZapfDingbats');
{mospagebreak title=The Factory Method}
This method will give us the PDF object with which we can build our document. It sets the initial values for the document, such as page orientation and size, and returns the object.
function &factory($orientation = 'P', $format = 'A4')
/* Create the PDF object. */
$pdf = &new PDF();
/* Page format. */
$format = strtolower($format);
if ($format == 'a3') { // A3 page size.
$format = array(841.89, 1190.55);
} elseif ($format == 'a4') { // A4 page size.
$format = array(595.28, 841.89);
} elseif ($format == 'a5') { // A5 page size.
$format = array(420.94, 595.28);
} elseif ($format == 'letter') { // Letter page size.
$format = array(612, 792);
} elseif ($format == 'legal') { // Legal page size.
$format = array(612, 1008);
} else {
die(sprintf('Unknown page format: %s', $format));
$pdf->_w = $format[0];
$pdf->_h = $format[1];
/* Page orientation. */
$orientation = strtolower($orientation);
if ($orientation == 'l' || $orientation == 'landscape') {
$w = $pdf->_w;
$pdf->_w = $pdf->_h;
$pdf->_h = $w;
} elseif ($orientation != 'p' && $orientation != 'portrait') {
die(sprintf('Incorrect orientation: %s', $orientation));
/* Turn on compression by default. */
return $pdf;
Also in this method we turn on compression by default. This makes the output PDF files a lot smaller.
The actual setCompression() method is as follows:
function setCompression($compress)
/* If no gzcompress function is available then default to
* false. */
$this->_compress = (function_exists('gzcompress') ? $compress : false);
However, whilst learning you may wish to explicitly turn off compression, so that you can open your created PDF document with a text editor and see easily what is happening.
{mospagebreak title=Writing Content}
We will not be writing directly to the PDF file, the content is going to be buffered as it is created. Only after the PDF document is closed, and after some rearranging, will it be sent as a PDF file to the browser for download. So, as a first step, we will need to create a function to buffer the output. As it will be used internally within the PDF class, let's make it a private function.
function _out($s)
if ($this->_state == 2) {
$this->_pages[$this->_page] .= $s . "n";
} else {
$this->_buffer .= $s . "n";
Here you can see straight away a number of class variables being used. Let's take a moment to work through them. The $_state variable keeps track of four different states that the PDF document can be in:
The state is important in this method for determining how to buffer the output. If there is an open page, output is sent to the $_pages array. For any other state it is sent to the main buffer held in $_buffer variable.
This distinction is necessary because page content is handled as a separate object within PDF and hence will need extra work on it when it is finally written to the main buffer.
As you will later see, the $_state variable is used elsewhere to similarly add logic according to the document state.
It is recommended to use the newline ("n") following each output, as it is required in some cases (for example certain PDF instructions have to begin on a new line). Also, remember that PDF is case sensitive, so always follow the exact spelling of PDF syntax.
Starting the Document
The following two lines of code are required for initializing the document. These two lines must be called before any output:
function open()
$this->_state = 1; // Set state to initialized.
$this->_out('%PDF-1.3'); // Output the PDF header.
The second line writes the initial header that is required to identify the file and the PDF version being followed. The version number helps PDF readers handle the file properly.
This tutorial will not be covering anything exotic, so you might as well stick with version 1.3. If you do start incorporating the more advanced PDF features found in 1.5 you will need to change the version number.
{mospagebreak title=Adding a Page}
We can now add a page to our document. The following code is quite straightforward.
One point worth noting is the $_font_family check. For any text to be written to a page we need to set the font. However, we have to take into account the possibility that the font was set before any page was added, or that the font was set for a previous page in the current document. Either way we need to check the font class variable, and output the font information to the page. The function setFont() is used for this, which we shall cover later.
function addPage()
$this->_page++; // Increment page count.
$this->_pages[$this->_page] = "; // Start the page buffer.
$this->_state = 2; // Set state to page
// opened.
/* Check if font has been set before this page. */
if ($this->_font_family) {
$this->setFont($this->_font_family, $this->_font_style, $this->_font_size);
Output of Simple Text
As mentioned earlier, before any text can be output, font information must be supplied. We therefore need a function to define which font will be used. PDF specifications offer a core set of fonts which can be used with no extra information supplied to the PDF reader. You can also embed your own custom fonts into a PDF file, but for this you need to create font definitions, which are beyond the scope of this tutorial.
For now, limit your output to the following fonts:
- Courier, Courier-Bold, Courier-Oblique, Courier-BoldOblique;
- Helvetica, Helvetica-Bold, Helvetica-Oblique, Helvetica-BoldOblique;
- Times-Roman, Times-Bold, Times-Italic, Times-BoldItalic;
- Symbol;
- ZapfDingbats.
The following method sets the font family name, and also (optionally) a style such as bold, italic or both, and a font size.
function setFont($family, $style = ", $size = null)
$family = strtolower($family);
if ($family == 'arial') { // Use helvetica.
$family = 'helvetica';
} elseif ($family == 'symbol' || // No styles for
$family == 'zapfdingbats') { // these two fonts.
$style = ";
$style = strtoupper($style);
if ($style == 'IB') { // Accept any order
$style = 'BI'; // of B and I.
if (is_null($size)) { // No size specified,
$size = $this->_font_size; // use current size.
if ($this->_font_family == $family && // If font is already
$this->_font_style == $style && // current font
$this->_font_size == $size) { // simply return.
/* Set the font key. */
$fontkey = $family . $style;
if (!isset($this->_fonts[$fontkey])) { // Test if cached.
$i = count($this->_fonts) + 1; // Increment font
$this->_fonts[$fontkey] = array( // object count and
'i' => $i, // store cache.
'name' => $this->_core_fonts[$fontkey]);
/* Store current font information. */
$this->_font_family = $family;
$this->_font_style = $style;
$this->_font_size = $size;
$this->_current_font = $this->_fonts[$fontkey];
/* Output font information if at least one page has been
* defined. */
if ($this->_page > 0) {
$this->_out(sprintf('BT /F%d %.2f Tf ET', $this->_current_font['i'], $this->_font_size));
The following method enables easier changing between font sizes, without having to go through the whole setFont() function.
function setFontSize($size)
if ($this->_font_size == $size) { // If already current
return; // size simply return.
$this->_font_size = $size; // Set the font.
/* Output font information if at least one page has been
* defined. */
if ($this->_page > 0) {
$this->_out(sprintf('BT /F%d %.2f Tf ET',
{mospagebreak title=And Now to Output the Text}
You will need to pass to this method the x/y position of your text, as well as the actual text.
function text($x, $y, $text)
$text = $this->_escape($text); // Escape any harmful
// characters.
$out = sprintf('BT %.2f %.2f Td (%s) Tj ET',
$x, $this->_h – $y, $text);
Note how for simplicity we allow the user to specify the y position measured from the top edge of the paper (whereas in fact PDF measures from the bottom). To achieve this we subtract the y value from the page height in the actual code ($this->_h – $y).
Also note how actual text needs to be escaped to ensure that it is safely inserted into the file. Since text in the PDF file is denoted using parentheses around it, any parentheses in the text itself should be escaped.
The best solution is to create a separate function to handle any cases when text needs to be inserted safely. This will be used a couple of times in this tutorial, but it will also be useful if you add more functionality to this class later.
function _escape($s)
$s = str_replace('\', '\\', $s); // Escape any '\'
$s = str_replace('(', '\(', $s); // Escape any '('
return str_replace(')', '\)', $s); // Escape any ')'
{mospagebreak title=Closing the Document}
The closing function is a bit more involved: we need to clean up a bit, set some PDF tags, and create a few references. This is the code that does most of the work in setting up the buffered content to finally look like a PDF file.
Begin by checking that there is at least one page, and setting the state to "page closed".
function close()
if ($this->_page == 0) { // If not yet initialised, add
$this->addPage(); // one page to make this a valid
$this->_state = 1; // Set the state page closed.
Now output the couple of objects that we have been buffering separately: pages and other resources. We shall go through each method later.
/* Pages and resources. */
Include some document information. PDF treats this information as a separate object, and here we introduce the _newobj() function. You could add other information to this section, such as author, subject, title, keywords, etc. For now we'll just put in the producer.
/* Print some document info. */
$this->_out('/Producer (My First PDF Class)');
$this->_out(sprintf('/CreationDate (D:%s)',
The next section is the PDF catalog, which defines how the document will initially look in the reader. You can take this as it is for now. There's nothing exciting going on here, but it is needed.
/* Print catalog. */
$this->_out('/Type /Catalog');
$this->_out('/Pages 1 0 R');
$this->_out('/OpenAction [3 0 R /FitH null]');
$this->_out('/PageLayout /OneColumn');
The cross reference section is very important. It brings into use the $_offset array that has appeared before. PDF stores a byte offset reference to all objects in the document. This allows the PDF reader to read objects in a random access way, without having to load the entire document.
/* Print cross reference. */
$start_xref = strlen($this->_buffer); // Get the xref offset.
$this->_out('xref'); // Announce the xref.
$this->_out('0 ' . ($this->_n + 1)); // Number of objects.
$this->_out('0000000000 65535 f ');
/* Loop through all objects and output their offset. */
for ($i = 1; $i <= $this->_n; $i++) {
$this->_out(sprintf('%010d 00000 n ', $this->_offsets[$i]));
Each object is printed on a separate line. The offset for each object is printed as a 10 digit integer, followed by a generation number, and an in-use/free indicator. You need not worry about either the generation number or the in-use/free indicator, since those will only be used if editing PDF files and deleting objects. Since we shall be generating from scratch, the generation number will always be 00000 and the in use indicator will be set to 'n'.
{mospagebreak title=The Trailer}The final lines to be printed are the PDF trailer.
/* Print trailer. */
/* The total number of objects. */
$this->_out('/Size ' . ($this->_n + 1));
/* The root object. */
$this->_out('/Root ' . $this->_n . ' 0 R');
/* The document information object. */
$this->_out('/Info ' . ($this->_n – 1) . ' 0 R');
$this->_out($start_xref); // Where to find the xref.
$this->_state = 3; // Set the document state to
// closed.
Now let's look at the new functions we've met in this document closing method. The _newobj() function above is used simply to keep track of objects added to the document.
function _newobj()
/* Increment the object count. */
/* Save the byte offset of this object. */
$this->_offsets[$this->_n] = strlen($this->_buffer);
/* Output to buffer. */
$this->_out($this->_n . ' 0 obj');
The _putPages() function handles the output of the page content. Here we go through the $_pages array that has been buffering the page content separately, and output it to the main buffer.
{mospagebreak title=Compression}
If compression is required page content will be passed through the gzcompress() function before being written to output. Here you also can see why the $_n object counter starts from 2. We set the root pages parent as object number 1, and later you will see that we set resources as object number 2. This is just so that it is easier for us to reference these when required, for example in each page object.
function _putPages()
/* If compression is required set the compression tag. */
$filter = ($this->_compress) ? '/Filter /FlateDecode ' : ";
/* Print out pages, loop through each. */
for ($n = 1; $n <= $this->_page; $n++) {
$this->_newobj(); // Start a new object.
$this->_out('<</Type /Page'); // Object type.
$this->_out('/Parent 1 0 R');
$this->_out('/Resources 2 0 R');
$this->_out('/Contents ' . ($this->_n + 1) . ' 0 R>>');
/* If compression required gzcompress() the page content. */
$p = ($this->_compress) ? gzcompress($this->_pages[$n]) : $this->_pages[$n];
/* Output the page content. */
$this->_newobj(); // Start a new object.
$this->_out('<<' . $filter . '/Length ' . strlen($p) . '>>');
$this->_putStream($p); // Output the page.
/* Set the offset of the first object. */
$this->_offsets[1] = strlen($this->_buffer);
$this->_out('1 0 obj');
$this->_out('<</Type /Pages');
$kids = '/Kids [';
for ($i = 0; $i < $this->_page; $i++) {
$kids .= (3 + 2 * $i) . ' 0 R ';
$this->_out($kids . ']');
$this->_out('/Count ' . $this->_page);
/* Output the page size. */
$this->_out(sprintf('/MediaBox [0 0 %.2f %.2f]',
$this->_w, $this->_h));
Let's look at another method now: _putStream(). We could have included the code in the actual _putPages() function, however, since this method is required for other objects (such as images), we might as well separate it out now.
function _putStream($s)
{mospagebreak title=Resources}
Whilst the content streams define the objects on a page, sometimes they need to reference objects outside the content stream. These are called resources. Resources are named objects such as font information or image data. The following method includes any resources defined so far into the main buffer. In this first part of the tutorial fonts are the only resources we will be dealing with.
function _putResources()
/* Output any fonts. */
/* Resources are always object number 2. */
$this->_offsets[2] = strlen($this->_buffer);
$this->_out('2 0 obj');
$this->_out('<</ProcSet [/PDF /Text]');
$this->_out('/Font <<');
foreach ($this->_fonts as $font) {
$this->_out('/F' . $font['i'] . ' ' . $font['n'] . ' 0 R');
This last private function, called in the above _putResources() method, includes any font names into the PDF file. As we are only covering core fonts in this tutorial, nothing more than listing the font names is done here.
function _putFonts()
/* Print out font details. */
foreach ($this->_fonts as $k => $font) {
$this->_fonts[$k]['n'] = $this->_n;
$name = $font['name'];
$this->_out('<</Type /Font');
$this->_out('/BaseFont /' . $name);
$this->_out('/Subtype /Type1');
if ($name != 'Symbol' && $name != 'ZapfDingbats') {
$this->_out('/Encoding /WinAnsiEncoding');
Document Output
The following function, the actual output of the document, does nothing more than make sure the document is closed, send a few headers according to browser type, and echo the buffered data.
function output($filename)
if ($this->_state < 3) { // If document not yet closed
$this->close(); // close it now.
/* Make sure no content already sent. */
if (headers_sent()) {
die('Unable to send PDF file, some data has already been output to browser.');
/* Offer file for download and do some browser checks
* for correct download. */
$agent = trim($_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT']);
if ((preg_match('|MSIE ([0-9.]+)|', $agent, $version)) ||
(preg_match('|Internet Explorer/([0-9.]+)|', $agent, $version))) {
header('Content-Type: application/x-msdownload');
Header('Content-Length: ' . strlen($this->_buffer));
if ($version == '5.5') {
header('Content-Disposition: filename="' . $filename . '"');
} else {
header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="' . $filename . '"');
} else {
Header('Content-Type: application/pdf');
Header('Content-Length: ' . strlen($this->_buffer));
Header('Content-disposition: attachment; filename=' . $filename);
echo $this->_buffer;
The Script
The complete class
You can download the entire class for use with Part 1 of this tutorial.
Example Use
require 'PDF.php'; // Require the lib.
$pdf = &PDF::factory('p', 'a4'); // Set up the pdf object.
$pdf->open(); // Start the document.
$pdf->setCompression(true); // Activate compression.
$pdf->addPage(); // Start a page.
$pdf->setFont('Courier', ", 8); // Set font to arial 8 pt.
$pdf->text(100, 100, 'First page'); // Text at x=100 and y=100.
$pdf->setFontSize(20); // Set font size to 20 pt.
$pdf->text(100, 200, 'HELLO WORLD!'); // Text at x=100 and y=200.
$pdf->addPage(); // Add a new page.
$pdf->setFont('Arial', 'BI', 12); // Set font to arial bold italic 12 pt. $pdf->text(100, 100, 'Second page'); // Text at x=100 and y=200.
$pdf->output('foo.pdf'); // Output the file named foo.pdf
? >[/code]


text:
Got this from Lowes for $30. Its a palm I didnt already have so I thought id splash out.
Its in the front where it will get some light once it gets taller but until then its a fairly shaded spot. Its a hard call really as the entire front gets scorched. The label said that it likes partial shade though.
Still there. I have trimmed the porch hedges back quite a lot and will continue to do so to give this a little more light and space. I can almost walk behind it currently which is a big step up from being almost under the hedge.
Still there. I think I might need to trim back the hedge to give it some extra help and light.
Still there.
Just planted.


text: Collier Family wrote: > I have a DVICO NANO but I am having the same troubles others had in June. It appears it is not being recognised as being cold. > > I have followed the instructions at http://fremnet.net/article/228/dvico-fusionhdtv-dual-digital-4-under-linux and all went well except the frontend not set. dmesg follows > > usb 5-8: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 9 > usb 5-8: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice > dvb-usb: found a 'DViCO FusionHDTV DVB-T NANO2' in warm state. > dvb-usb: bulk message failed: -22 (2/0) > dvb-usb: will pass the complete MPEG2 transport stream to the software demuxer. > DVB: registering new adapter (DViCO FusionHDTV DVB-T NANO2) > dvb-usb: bulk message failed: -110 (1/0) > dvb-usb: bulk message failed: -110 (3/0) > dvb-usb: bulk message failed: -110 (3/0) > dvb-usb: bulk message failed: -110 (5/0) > dvb-usb: no frontend was attached by 'DViCO FusionHDTV DVB-T NANO2' > dvb-usb: DViCO FusionHDTV DVB-T NANO2 successfully initialized and connected. > > Is there any other information that may help I am running vanilla 220.127.116.11 kernel on Scientific linux 5.0 > > Thanks a lot for the work so far. The DVB-T NANO2 does not require the bluebird firmware -- the fx2 boots it from the eeprom. So, the device does not have a "cold" state. The only firmware that you need for it is the xc3028 firmware that was used in Markus' xc3028 kernel driver. However, there is alternate firmware required for the xc3028 for use in Australia. I assume that you already have that. -Mike


text:
January, 2006
Immunology is as much an art as a science: visual in its concepts, philosophical in its interpretations, and rather beautiful in its truths.
It remains a gloriously unpredictable detective novel, with multiple subplots that, when resolved, reveal still more subplots. Characters interact with one another in diverse ways to produce allergy, inflammation, and other immune responses. After the golden age of immunization in the early twentieth century, interest in immunology lessened for many decades, but powerful new tools and therapies are now bringing it back to center stage in medical research.
With improved imaging systems, we can now see the immunological cast of characters interacting in front of our eyes, rather than mentally reconstructing their activities from indirect experiments. I am filled with wonder when I actually watch a T cell, one of the body's immune cells, bustling around inquisitively until finally it finds a tumor cell in the crowd, latches on firmly, and remorselessly kills its target. We can even infuse T cells into a mouse and, with sophisticated imaging techniques, watch them travel to a tumor, where we can see them multiply as the tumor shrinks. Immunologists are beginning to apply these techniques safely and effectively to patients with catastrophic diseases.
How and why did I choose this fascinating and rewarding career? I was given the opportunity to study immunology at Cambridge University, where I was determined to succeed, but those three years of graduate school were probably the hardest of my life.
I found the field of immunology complex, full of weird terminology and intimidatingly brilliant people, who ate, slept, and talked—endlessly talked—immunological ideas, experiments, and interpretations. Ultimately it was worth the struggle and has given me a career that is demanding but always interesting, takes me around the world, and introduces me to intelligent people from diverse backgrounds.
Although I rarely perform experiments anymore, I rejoice in the findings of my graduate and postdoctoral students, who daily bring me new insights and new findings to digest and analyze. And while the piles of paperwork and the constant need to publish research can be oppressive at times, I wouldn't change a thing about my career choice.
Get the latest neuroscience news delivered to your inbox.


text:
A Christian apologetics ministry dedicated to demonstrating the historical reliability of the Bible through archaeological and biblical research.
ABR is always pleased to help sincere seekers get sound Biblical and archaeological answers to their questions. We hope our readers will clearly see that the Bible is trustworthy... Continue reading
Our Ministry relies on the generosity of people like you. Every small donation helps us develop and publish great articles.
Please support ABR!
Recently, a visitor to the ABR Website contacted us with the following message and questions in italics. Dr. Bryant Wood responds.
Re: Egyptian Domination of Canaan During Joshua/Judges
Hi, I find your theory about the date of the exodus and the conquest really exciting, for it is really hard to fit these events with the end of the late bronze age (circa. -1200) as do Kenneth Kitchen and Hoffmeier.
For my critique of the 13th century Exodus-Conquest theory, please see:
The Rise and Fall of the 13th Century Exodus-Conquest Theory
I think there are good correlation for the destructions of the cities, and also for egypt, but there is an huge problem: if the exodus really occurred in 1500-1450 BC, the Israelites were present in Palestine between 1400 and 1200. But there are a lot of evidences proving that the Egyptians ruled the whole territory during this period of the time, and all the kings of Canaan (who were numerous and divided as it is reported in the Bible) were in fact nothing more than Egyptians vassals with a few autonomy.
You are quite correct that the Egyptians had political control of Canaan in 1400 BC and they maintained that control by means of suzerainty treaties with the kings of the local city states. The reality of the situation, however, was that the Egyptians had very few troops and other personnel in Canaan. They had several administrative centers in the lowlands, such as Gaza, Joppa, Megiddo and Beth Shan, but did not maintain a similar presence in the highlands. It was in the highlands that the Israelites settled, in the area that is often referred to as the central hill country. The areas that the Israelites could not conquer, listed in both Joshua and Judges 1, were the lowlands, the areas occupied by the Egyptians.
I also find the equation Hebrew = Habiru/Apiru really attractive, and I think they could be the Israelites during the period of judges (and perhaps also Joshua, although the names of the involved rulers do not correspond to the names of the rulers in the book of Joshua, but that does not discredit the accuracy of the Bible). However, it is clear that some pharaohs have sent troops to fight against the Habirus, and some of them even boasted over having taken into captivity thousands of them. If this is the case, why is it not mentioned in the bible ?
The term Habiru/Apiru was used in antiquity for a social class of individuals who lived outside the city-state political system of the time. The term is used over a broad range of space and time, and was used of political refugees, outlaws, nomads, etc. Israel in the Exodus-Judges period certainly fell into this class and could be referred to as such by the Egyptians, but there were many others in this social class. So the large numbers of Apiru captured by Amenhotep II, probably to replace the escaped Israelites, could have been comprised of Apiru from Canaan and possibly some Israelites from Sinai. Not everything that took place in Israelite history is recorded in the Bible. We have several examples in Assyrian records of events involving Israel that are not mentioned in the Old Testament.
The same problem also come up with regard to the stela of Merenptah: it is rightly regarded by conservative scholars as a proof of the existence of Israel during the period of judges in spite of the denials of the minimalists. However, it also poses a problem: why was this battle not mentioned in the book of Judges, although it was certainly noteworthy for the Israelites?
The Merneptah Stela, dating to ca. 1210 BC and written in poetic style, was a eulogy extolling the accomplishments of Pharaoh Merenptah. At the end of the document is a section describing a campaign to Canaan in which Israel is mentioned. The author claims that Israel was obliterated: "Israel is wasted, its seed is not; and Hurru [Canaan] is become a widow because of Egypt." Since we know that Israel was not obliterated in 1210 BC, it is clear that the stela is propagandistic in nature and greatly exaggerated. Since the Israelites were most likely the most powerful people group in Canaan in 1210 BC (they had just defeated the largest city-state, Hazor, Judges 4-5), it is only natural that the author would claim that Merenptah had defeated them. In actual fact, however, he might not have had any contact with Israel.
For more on the Merneptah Stela, see the following:
Bryant G. Wood, Pharaoh Merenptah Meets Israel, Bible and Spade 18.3 [2005]: 65-82.
Great Discoveries in Biblical Archaeology: The Merenptah Stela
Kenneth A. Kitchen, The Physical Text of Merenptah's Victory Hymn [The "Israel Stela"], The Journal of the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities 24 [1994]: 71–76.
Another related problem with the isrealite presence in those days concerns the archaeological reconstructions of the canaanites towns between 1440 and 1200: the culture was absolutely similar to the pagan one before the coming of the isrealites (remains of porks, widespread idolatry and so forth).
Could that really match the way living of the isrealites as it is depicted in Judges ?
Or does that mean that the isrealites were not present in the towns, but in small unfortified villages or campments, whose remains elude us ?
When the Israelites arrived in Canaan in 1406 BC they had no material culture of their own since they had been living in the Sinai as nomads for the previous 40 years. What is more, those with craft skills learned in Egypt had died in the wilderness. As a result, the Israelites purchased their pottery, tools and weapons from the Canaanites making it difficult to distinguish Israelites from Canaanites until the Israelites began making their own material items ca. 1200 BC. There is one finding, however, that may point to an Israelite presence. A number of cemeteries from this time period have been found in the central hill country with no town site nearby. This suggests a pastoral-nomadic population, possibly Israelite.1
That really puzzling questions for me, and I would be really grateful if you could answer me. With best regards-M.
Best Regards, Bryant Wood.
Editorial Note: ABR is always pleased to help sincere seekers get sound Biblical and archaeological answers to their questions. We hope our readers will clearly see that the Bible is trustworthy, and Christians should know that the assertions of the minimalists and skeptics are fraught with interpretive and methodological errors and anti-Biblical philosophical presuppositions. For other articles on the historicity of the Exodus-Conquest Narratives, please see: http://www.biblearchaeology.org/category/Exodus-Conquest.aspx
1. Gonen, Rivka
1984 Urban Canaan in the Late Bronze Period. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 253: 61–73.
1992 Burial Patterns and Cultural Diversity in Late Bronze Age Canaan. Winona Lake IN: Eisenbrauns.
Recommended Resources for Further Study
100 Reasons to Trust OT History
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It is true the Israelites were in the highlands and the Egyptians were in the lowlands of Canaan. (Judges 1:19) It was after Ramses VI withdrew all forces from Canaan, Judge Jair built 30 cities in Israel. (Judges 10:4)
Lujack Skylark - 5/9/2012 11:43:21 AM
Judges 11:26 The Hebrews lived for 300 years after the conquest of Jericho in conquered Canaanite towns Heshbon and her towns, all the cities along the coast of Arnon, Aroer and her towns outside of Egyptian influence. Hebrews in this area only had 140 years to build Hebrew housing for archaeologist to discover. 40 years in the wilderness + 300 years + 140 years = 480 years after the Exodus is Solomon's 4th year. (1 Kings 6:1)
Judge Jair only began building 30 Hebrew cities a generation before the Hebrews had lived 300 years in Heshbon, Aroer and along the coast of Arnon. This is the reason why archaeologist date the Exodus at a later date trying to reduce the 480 year Exodus chronology cause they don't find Hebrew homes. Why? For one generation before 300 years the Hebrews lived in conquered Canaanite homes and did not build their own cities.
The Israelites built their own cities throughout Canaan after Egyptian pharoah Rmases VI withdrew all Egyptian forces from Canaan.
Tom - 9/22/2013 11:56:05 AM
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text:
Friends forever: The story of Sportsfriends
May 5, 2014 Page 1 of 3
"Originally Joust wasn't even part of the conversation. We kinda knew it in the backs of our minds that that might be interesting, but it wasn't really a serious discussion."
When Douglas Wilson first created the prototype for Johann Sebastian Joust back at grad school in early 2011, he had no way of knowing just how much that simple demo would consume his life for the next three years.
The game, as has been detailed many a time before, does not utilize your television screen -- rather, it's a physical game in which players attempt to knock the PlayStation Move controllers in the hands of the other players. Whoever keeps their controller steady throughout play wins.
After being carted all over the world to various festivals and meetups, and being bigged up in the press on numerous occasions, the PlayStation Move game is finally getting a release alongside a bunch of other fellow local multiplayer games.
Sportsfriends is the brainchild of Wilson, Ramiro Corbetta, Noah Sasso, and Bennett Foddy, with programmers Jonathan Whiting and Edward Di Geronimo Jr. also putting in plenty of work. It's being released this month on PS3, PS4, and PC, meaning that the general public will finally be able to play it themselves.
So why exactly has it been such a long time coming, and why did J.S. Joust need to cuddle up with a bunch of other games to receive the proper release it deserved?
"It's been a very long road," says Wilson. "I got really fortunate. Joust made IndieCade in 2011, and then it made IGF in 2012. The IGF nomination and then winning the Innovation Award at the GDC Awards was big. Business people take notice of that -- at least, 'insiders' of the industry."
"So I was actually talking to some publishers, and spent way too many months in 2012 possibly trying to negotiate a deal or two. Ultimately, the game was kinda too weird, and it didn't really make sense for publishers."
This was Joust's core problem -- people seemed to love it when they got their hands on it, but it was a hard sell when it came to actually releasing it. How many people would buy a local multiplayer only game that required multiple PS Move controllers?
"I was actually talking to some publishers, and spent way too many months in 2012 possibly trying to negotiate a deal or two... It turns out that negotiating with publishers is kinda the worst."
"In retrospect, I wasted way too many months," Wilson admits. "That's part of the reason development got stalled. I was also finishing up my PhD at the time, so I wasn't paying attention to the game's development."
"But it turns out that negotiating with publishers is kinda the worst," he laughs. "Who knew! So that kinda fizzled, and I was pretty bummed and not sure what to do."
Meanwhile, the beginnings of what became Sportsfriends were already set in motion without him realizing it. In early 2011, around the same time that Wilson was inventing Joust, Ramiro Corbetta was putting together his own strand of local multiplayer brilliance.
Hokra is a barebones sports game for four players, that has colored squares bounding around a plain playing field and attempting to knock a ball into goals in the corners of the screen. It may sound simple, but in action it's a frantic, fantastic experience to have with friends and strangers alike.
"Immediately we were obsessed with this stupid, really simple squares game," says Wilson of the first time he saw the game in 2011. "It was kinda dumb, and wasn't that amazing-looking, but it was pretty much the funnest game I had ever played."
Wilson had actually met Corbetta a year before, when the pair put together some Babycastles exhibitions in New York. What they both came to realize rather quickly was that they were in the very same boat -- they both had these great local multiplayer games that a publisher were never, ever touch. Either they were both going to be doomed to be exhibition-only games, or end up in the pit of Xbox Live Indie Games.
"So we were thinking through these problems, and then at some point we thought well, maybe inspired by Wii Sports, if we put a bunch of these small games together..." Wilson recalls.
"This was in 2011, and it's the moment when local multiplayer was exploding. Nidhogg wins Nuovo, TIGSource did their multiplayer compo. I feel like 2011 was the watershed year where this kind of stuff was exploding. So we were like well, maybe we should try to make some kind of compilation, and I had this company Die Gute Fabrik, so maybe I could be the producer."
"I thought 'Wii Sports has five, maybe we should have five.' ... A few people talked me down from that."
Here's where Bennett Foddy comes into the story. The QWOP, GIRP, and CLOP developer, best known for creating games that make people want to scream, was in New York in the summer of 2011, when Wilson was part of the Babycastles exhibition.
"I'd never met him in person," notes Wilson. "I was hugely obsessed with GIRP, and I had already been in touch with him online about MEGAGIRP, which is how I kinda got to talk to Bennett one-on-one. So we were like, 'You should come to Babycastles, we can show MEGAGIRP, you can curate this show with us.'"
But Foddy had a different game on his mind. He'd attended a game jam in Cambridge, UK three or four months before, and created a multiplayer game called Pole Riders. While it showed huge potential, he just couldn't find that little extra something to give it the push and polish it deserved.
"I'd be waiting for more inspiration to strike," Foddy tells me. "After sitting on it for a while, I thought, 'Fuck it, I'm just gonna launch it.' It seemed like it lined up with the show pretty well, so I decided to premier the game as a global thing at Babycastles."
Interestingly, when the idea for Sportsfriends began brewing around this time, Pole Riders and Hokra were the two "confirmed" titles for the package. Wilson was still doing a jig or five with publishers. He was happy to be producing Sportsfriends, but Joust wasn't in the picture.
"Very early on, it was me, Bennett, and Ramiro thinking, like, 'What should this compliation be?'" says Wilson. "Super Pole Riders and Hokra were the two confirmed games. Originally, I thought it should be more than four games -- which I was definitely wrong about. A few people, including Bennett, talked me down from that, saying it would devalue them if we put too many in the package."
"I thought 'Wii Sports has five, maybe we should have five.' But actually these games are pretty meaty -- so four at most, otherwise you start losing track of the games you have."
So it was decided - Sportsfriends would have four games. But this meant that the team still needed two more games, and the big problem was that, well, there aren't really that many sports-related games out there, especially indie ones. In fact, it took nearly another year before the third game was added to the package.
"I originally really wanted TENNNES from Vlambeer's JW," notes Wilson. TENNNES, a stylish tennis game, was made for No Quarter in 2012 -- the same year that Noah Sasso's BaraBariBall was also a No Quarter game.
"JW was pretty burnt out from Ridiculous Fishing and all his Vlambeer stuff, and he was like, 'I can't commit to this.'"
"We were all super hooked on TENNNES," continues Wilson. "It's really pretty incredible. But JW was pretty burnt out from Ridiculous Fishing and all his Vlambeer stuff, and he was like, 'I can't commit to this.' He foresaw how much work this was actually going to be for everyone involved. But he was nice enough to let us give it as a Kickstarter backer-only goodie later on."
Fortunately, BaraBariBall was also a bit of a winner. Wilson had gotten the opportunity to try the fighter/ball-dunker out before No Quarter, and he immediately saw potential in the game. Sasso was approached for Sportsfriends, and he accepted.
"So then we had a few ideas for the fourth game, but nothing was really sticking," says Wilson. "We didn't really just wanna do just general-purpose local multiplayer -- this was even before we had the name Sportsfriends."
He adds, "I was pretty keen on keeping it with weird sporty games, because I thought -- listen, I love games like Samurai Gunn and Towerfall, but we thought the sword/gunplay genre was already established, and it'd be cool to do this game that was a little bit more abstract."
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Austin Collie's hope to continue his NFL career has taken the wide receiver through Foxborough.
Mike Reiss of ESPNBoston.com reported Tuesday that the New England Patriots had Collie in for a workout.
Why play fantasy football anywhere else? Play the official free fantasy football game of the NFL. Sign up today in under two minutes.
Collie, 27, is working his way back from surgery to repair a ruptured patella tendon in his right knee, an injury he suffered last season with the Indianapolis Colts.
Collie also has a history of concussions, three in total, the most recent coming during the 2012 preseason. He told USA Today last week that he was willing to risk a permanent brain injury to continue his football career.
"I'll sign a waiver, all right?" he said. "They're not going to have to worry about me suing. I'll hold myself to be accountable."
A deal with the Patriots might be unlikely. Collie works out of the slot, a position the Pats have covered with Danny Amendola and Julian Edelman.
Collie's drive to return to football is commendable, but it's fair to wonder how many teams are willing to overlook the obvious medical red flags.
Follow Dan Hanzus on Twitter @DanHanzus.


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Candidate presented by: Dr. Patrick W. Carey, Professor of Theology
Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J., is the Laurence J. McGinley Professor of Religion and Society at Fordham University, a position he has held since 1988. An internationally known scholar, he was the first American-born theologian who was not previously a bishop to be named to the College of Cardinals. Pope John Paul II elevated him to that office in 2001. Cardinal Dulles is one of the principal theological interpreters of the Second Vatican Council and a creative and faithful scholar of the longer Catholic theological and creedal tradition. The author of 27 books and more than 700 articles, he has become during the past 45 years one of the most prolific theologians in the United States. He is well-known in Protestant and Jewish as well as Catholic theological centers around the world. Many of his books and a number of his articles have been translated into German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Indonesian, Polish, and other foreign languages, making him the 20th century American theologian most widely read outside the United States.
Born in Auburn, New York, the son of John Foster Dulles (Secretary of State under President Dwight Eisenhower) and Janet Pomeroy Avery Dulles, Cardinal Dulles received his early education in New York City, Switzerland, and Connecticut, before graduating summa cum laude from Harvard University in 1940. His senior thesis won the Phi Beta Kappa Prize, an award bestowed only six previous times at Harvard, and was published by Harvard University Press -- the first of his many publications. After graduation he attended Harvard Law School until the outbreak of World War II, when he joined the Navy, was commissioned as a Lieutenant, and became a liaison officer to the French Navy in the joint Allied invasion of Southern France in 1944. While at Harvard Law School he converted to Catholicism, and after the War he joined the Jesuits and was ordained a priest in 1956.
After studying for the priesthood, Cardinal Dulles spent a year in Germany before attending the Gregorian University in Rome, where he earned his doctorate in theology in 1960. He then served as a faculty member at Woodstock College from 1960 to 1974, the premier Jesuit seminary at the time, and at the Catholic University of America from 1974 to 1988. He has also taught as a visiting professor at the Gregorian University, the Catholic University of Leuven, Yale University, Weston Jesuit School of Theology, Union Theological Seminary, Princeton Theological Seminary, and a number of other colleges and seminaries in the United States.
During his long and illustrious career, he has been president of both the Catholic Theological Society of America and the American Theological Society. He has also served on the Vatican's International Theological Commission, the Advisory Committee to the United States Catholic Conference, the American Bishops' Committee on Doctrine, and the United States Lutheran/Roman Catholic Dialogue. During the past 65 years he has won numerous awards and received more than 35 honorary doctorates.
Because of his distinguished and prolific career as a theologian, author, educator, and priest, Reverend President, I hereby recommend His Eminence Avery Cardinal Dulles of the Society of Jesus for the Marquette University degree of Doctor of Religious Studies, honoris causa.


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Sixty-nine of Hope College's graduating seniors and recent graduates are being initiated into the Zeta of Michigan chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the nation's oldest scholastic honorary society.
For more than 200 years, election to Phi Beta Kappa has been a recognition of intellectual capacity well-employed, especially in acquiring an education in the liberal arts and sciences. The objectives encouraged by Phi Beta Kappa include intellectual honesty and tolerance, range of intellectual interests and understanding--not merely knowledge.
Hope faculty who are members of Phi Beta Kappa elected the students in recognition of their high grade point average in liberal arts courses, their broad cultural interests, and their independent and creative scholarly activities outside the classroom.
A formal initiation ceremony and reception will take place on Sunday, April 15, at 2 p.m. in Winants Auditorium of Graves Hall. The honorees will also be recognized during the college's Honors Convocation on Thursday, April 26, at 7 p.m. in Dimnent Memorial Chapel.
Hope College is one of only 280 colleges and universities in the country and eight in Michigan to have a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. Hope's chapter was chartered in 1971.
Hope College Phi Beta Kappa Honorees
Michael Blauw, East Grand Rapids
Joel Boersma, Zeeland
Jessalyn Bolkema, Flushing
Lien Brusselmans, Plainwell
Lauren Bull, Dallas, Tex.
Hilary Bultman, Hamilton
Alyssa Carlburg, Wheaton, Ill.
Elena Caruthers, Des Plaines, Ill.
Jeffrey Corajod, Fort Wayne, Ind.
Scott DeClaire, Oak Park
Ashley Drew, Spring Lake
Alexandra Egedy, Grand Rapids
Elizabeth Fast, Grand Rapids
Rebecca Fry, Grand Rapids
Jonathan Gabhart, Spencer, Ia.
Lauren Gaines, Brighton
Katherine Garcia, Battle Creek
Helen Gay, Lexington
Anne Georges, Ramsey Minn.
Heather Gill, Rockford, Ill.
Joe Habbouche, Sterling Heights
Katelyn Hemmeke, Hamilton
Matt Herm, Port Huron
Xisen Hou, Qingdao, China
Gregory Hubers, Kalamazoo
Erin Johnson, Slidell, La.
Sarah Johnson, Traverse City
Laine Klopfenstein, Chicago, Ill.
Bryan Kunkler, Ada
Cory Lakatos, Howell
Jacob LaViolet, Westbrook, Me.
Kaitlyn Leikert, Ludington
Ziye Liu, Chongging, China
Kelly Lufkin, Houghton
Eric Lunderberg, Grandville
John Lutz, Canton
Samantha Madson, Avon, Ind.
Katherine Maguire, East Lansing
Erin McIntyre, Munster, Ind.
Kyle McLellan, Fort Wayne, Ind.
Heather Mills, Grandville
Kelsey Moore, Okemos
Kate Nelson, Williamston
Regina O'Brien, Saline
Andrew Peterson, Orange City, Ia.
Colin Rathbun, Grand Rapids
Blair Riddle, Louisville, Ky.
Ann Rodwell-Lawton, Altamont, N.Y.
Matthew Rutter, Sylvania, Ohio
Mia Savagian, Bloomfield Hills
Megan Scholten, Grand Rapids
Jessica Simmons, Chanhassen, Minn.
Lindsey Sisson, Holland
Sioned Sitkiewicz, Downers Grove, Ill.
Robert Sjoholm, Burnsville, Minn.
Ingrid Slette, Holland
Brent Smith, Owosso
Kerry Smith, Zionsville, Ind.
Sarah Sohn, Arlington Heights, Ill.
Erin Stier, Traverse City
Heather Stiff, Galena, Ohio
Marco Tori, Pinckney
Emily Van Wieren, Grand Ledge
Molly Vass, Valparaiso, Ind.
Matthew Vermaire, Fruitport
Stacy Victory, Hudsonville
Emily Wheeler, Washington, D.C.
Chelsea Wiese, Rochester Hills
Renee Wynveen, Des Moines, Ia.


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|8th June 2009
Join Date: July 2005
Posts: 1,784
Gallery tour with Kailee
Here, at last, is the second part of my Valentine's Day interview with Click agency superstar Kailee O'Sullivan.
For years, fans have wanted to know more about this dazzling young beauty, and the first section of this chat delves into who Kailee really is--her likes, dislikes, and her personality as a whole. Miss O'Sullivan is very frank and candid about her character traits and inclinations, and admirers will be captivated by the revelations that emerge from this discussion. Music, food, travel, beauty, romance--it's all covered here.
In the second section, Kailee answers several challenging questions about size-celebration, about the fashion industry, and more. Fans who were already awed by her intelligence in the first part of the interview will be doubly impressed by her thoughtful and perceptive observations.
And in the final section, Kailee tours the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and shares her reflections on some of the greatest masterpieces of Western culture. Rest assured, this is the most compelling part of the entire interview, as Kailee reacts to a host of artworks that mirror her own full-figured beauty. Art and fashion collide as a muse of the present encounters muses of the past, and the synergy of the experience points the way forward to the aesthetics of the future.
Modelling for Anna Scholz, spring/summer 2009:
|9th June 2009
Junior Member
Join Date: August 2008
Posts: 10
Re: A gallery tour with Kailee
Wonderful interview! It's a joy to learn so much about Kailee, to know that she is such an intelligent, multitalented, perceptive, and genuinely sweet individual, as well as a stunning beautiful model. I also love how you injected your personality into the interview by describing both your inward and outward responses to Kailee's words and facial expressions -- deliciously entertaining!!
|10th June 2009
Senior Member
Join Date: July 2005
Posts: 517
Re: A gallery tour with Kailee
There is something utterly perfect about this narrative. The concept of a plus-size model responding to works of art that depict timeless beauty -- it's an ideal scenario, and I'm thrilled that it actually happened.
I can picture the scene in my mind -- it's as if one of the models from the paintings stepped out of the canvas, and joined the interviewer right there in the museum.
And Kailee's specific observations about the artworks are truly fascinating. I'm not surprised that she interpreted the paintings in such original and insightful ways. The interview as a whole demonstrated her intelligence. She claims not to be a "super-smart bookworm," but I think she's brilliant.
I especially love the fact that she zeroed in on the plus-size aspects of the goddesses in the artworks (their "feminine hips"), and celebrated those as beautiful traits. If someone cannot appreciate full-figured beauty in others, they cannot appreciate it in themselves.
Oh, and I already said that she was cultured based on the first part of the interview, but I'm even more convinced of that now. Goodness, she even sings opera. I would love to hear her sing an aria, or a classical soprano song.
|10th June 2009
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 238
Re: A gallery tour with Kailee
I was very happy to read her positive comments when she discovered a male figure in the Winterhalter painting:
We live in a society that has taught women to devalue male appreciation, but Kailee is an independent spirit, and isn't the prisoner of any ideology. She sees that it's natural to appreciate beauty, and she shares that appreciation herself. Yet another reason to admire her.
I was also impressed that when she was asked what she looks for in a guy, she didn't say "money" or "power" or GQ-ness, but "honesty." That's a very mature and wise answer.
She really is an "old soul." I got the sense that she is privy to timeless knowledge of all kinds - timeless beauty, timeless art, a timeless love of nature (instead of urban modernity), timeless relationships between people.
The interview read like a real conversation, and while reading it I had the feeling that I was there in the moment. Kailee is a remarkable young lady.
|10th June 2009
Junior Member
Join Date: June 2009
Posts: 1
Re: A gallery tour with Kailee
Just finished the interview, and I have to say... Amazing. She truly is beautiful, both inside and out. The level of maturity she has is just as amazing. As someone who just graduated high school, I can say with near-certainty that to find such maturity in someone who seems to have just graduated herself not long ago (only a year or possibly two), is simply extraordinary.
|11th June 2009
Senior Member
Join Date: August 2005
Posts: 352
Re: A gallery tour with Kailee
What I think is especially wonderful about Kailee is that to anyone who reads this profile, she redefines the concept of a "model." She completely turns around the negative image of a model, (a negative image produced by the straight-size fashion industry,) and redefines "model" as something inexpressibly wonderful.
Think about it: Most people's impression of a model is of some "heroin chic" mess, an emaciated girl addicted to narcotics, perpetually starving, leading a brain-dead existence of gym torture by day and seedy urban nightlife by night. Basically, a tragic ruin of a human being.
Kailee shows what a whole different kind of model, a plus-size model, can be. This idea of a "model" is:
-someone who loves classical music (opera), great literature, and high art, and can discourse in an eloquent and original manner on these things
-someone who adores food, and indulges in it freely
-someone who is successful and capable in the modern world, but rejects modernity and modern values and embraces timeless ideals
-someone who prefers touring a museum to reality television
-someone whose idea of travel is discovering the Old World and appreciating its culture, not lying comatose on a beach getting skin cancer
-someone who values modelling as a way to undo the damage (to women's body image) that is done by the other kind of model, the anorexic model
-someone who, far from resenting or rejecting beauty (as political ideologues do), is both personally extremely beautiful (a cheerleader even) and appreciates beauty
That's the kind of model girls should aspire to be. That's the kind of model mothers could feel good about encouraging their daughters to be. It's the new, unmodern concept of a model - and it's a stupendous improvement.
|12th June 2009
Senior Member
Join Date: July 2005
Posts: 633
Re: A gallery tour with Kailee
I like how both parts of the interview end with a section that discusses pictures; so at the end of the first part, "Modelling," there is a conversation about Kailee's greatest modelling pics, and at the end of the second part, "Art," there is a conversation about the museum's greatest paintings. That's a nice parallel. It reinforces the idea of plus-size-model images as being similar in nature to works of art, both celebrating the same ideal of beauty.
I also like how, just as the art discussion includes several paintings of "light beauty" and several of "dark beauty," the modelling discussion also includes that kind of polarity, with several images in which Kailee looks sweet and doll-like, and several in which she looks darkly sensual and alluring.
She is so versatile and multifaceted in her interests, and she is similarly versatile as a model; she has an absolutely amazing range, to go from dark to light to all emotional notes in between.
|14th June 2009
Junior Member
Join Date: March 2009
Posts: 12
Re: A gallery tour with Kailee
Art holds a special place in my heart, and I really appreciated Kailee's observations on it. So intelligent; so original. Like someone who truly knows beauty when she sees it. And I can't express to you how refreshing it is that she viewed those classical works with eyes untainted by modern cynicism or any loathsome "deconstructionist" attitudes.
This harmonizes with a little personal belief of mine: Those who possess beauty will naturally appreciate it in others. It makes perfect sense to me that someone as lovely as Kailee could intuitively recognize, and even revel in, the beauty of classical art. Really, how could it be otherwise, considering that she could easily be a model for such paintings herself?
|31st December 2009
Senior Member
Join Date: November 2008
Posts: 417
Gallery tour with Kailee
In this, the second half of the Kailee interview, the following comment from Miss O'Sullivan really struck me:
That's a very personal answer, a subtle indictment of the media and its negative effect on vulnerable young girls, and a confirmation of the beneficial effects of plus-size imagery.
Kailee deserves to feel very proud of the fact that today, her images, her beauty, is similarly undoing media-inflicted damage for a whole generation of young women. She is an inspiration in every way. What a marvellous interview.
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* Pentagon cleared Allen in probe following Petraeus scandal
* Allen preparing options on future US force in Afghanistan
* White House must resubmit nomination, timing unclear
(Adds background, detail)
By Steve Holland
WASHINGTON, Jan 23 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will
proceed with General John Allen's nomination as NATO's supreme
allied commander in Europe after the Pentagon cleared him of
professional misconduct over emails to a Florida socialite, the
White House said on Wednesday.
Allen, the outgoing commander of U.S. and NATO forces in
Afghanistan, was ensnared in the scandal that prompted retired
General David Petraeus to resign as CIA director last year after
his affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell, was exposed.
The Pentagon announced on Tuesday that an investigation
launched in November had cleared Allen of any wrongdoing after
looking into email exchanges between him and Jill Kelley, one of
the women at the center of the Petraeus scandal.
"General Allen's nomination ... will proceed," White House
spokesman Jay Carney told reporters.
"We hope the Senate will consider it in a timely manner.
And, you know, we will press the Senate to do just that," Carney
Allen's nomination for the U.S. military's top job in Europe
must be resubmitted to Congress because his original nomination
expired at the end of the last congressional term, a Senate
Armed Services Committee spokeswoman said.
Carney said he did not have a specific timetable for the
next steps on Allen's nomination. Obama put the nomination on
hold when the investigation was announced in November even as he
expressed confidence in Allen's ability to serve out the final
months of his command in Afghanistan.
Allen, who is married and has two daughters, has not spoken
publicly since the results of the investigation were announced.
He was described by an aide as pleased and focused on leading
NATO forces in Afghanistan.
"He is grateful for the support he received throughout this
process from his chain of command, friends, family and
colleagues," an Allen spokesman, Major David Nevers, said.
Allen has been preparing options for Obama on the future
U.S. military presence in Afghanistan once NATO declares the
combat mission over at the end of 2014.
The White House is considering keeping between 3,000 and
9,000 troops in Afghanistan after 2014 - a lower range of
options than those initially put forward by Allen.
The inquiry by the Defense Department's Inspector General
centered on the emails between Allen and Kelley, a Tampa woman
who knew Allen when he served as the No. 2 officer at the U.S.
military's Tampa-based Central Command from July 2008 to June
Those emails surfaced when the FBI investigated Kelley's
allegations of receiving anonymous, harassing emails from
someone else about Petraeus. Those other emails led the FBI to
uncover the affair between Petraeus and Broadwell.
Questions about the nature of the Kelley-Allen emails
prompted Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to order a Pentagon
investigation, a move that triggered speculation about their
Kelley, in a piece written with her husband Scott and
published on the Washington Post website on Tuesday, said "the
insinuation that Jill was involved in an extramarital affair is
as preposterous as it is hurtful to our family."
(Additional reporting by Roberta Rampton, Jeff Mason and Phil
Stewart; Writing by Phil Stewart; Editing by Will Dunham)


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'Working with the phone and menus is very easy, the order is intuitive and logically connected and will hardly be difficult for you.'
'most striking phones'
'a powerful phone with a broad range of features.'
'the unique keypad wasn't terribly user-friendly'
'If you're tempted, however, be warned: that "stylish" fabric label starts to look pretty grubby, pretty quickly.'
'there is no memory expansion slot, and only 10MB of built-in memory.'
'All of the buttons are exceedingly difficult to push.'
'In the 7370, part of the L'Amour series of handsets, Nokia has created a fashionable phone that unfortunately substitutes quality and ease of use for the sake of style; in this case an annoying swivel design that hinders an otherwise solid handset.'
'The device is
compatible handset.'
'The Nokia 5140i includes a built-in flashlight, a handsfree speakerphone mode built-in and EDGE high speed data'
'The feature set of the Nokia 5140i has been designed to offer extra motivation during workouts or for enjoying downtime.'
'if you have expected something super new - you will be disappointed - this is still a typical Series 40 phone.'
ReviewGist helps you find the best products to buy by making sense of online reviews.
We are currently aggregating 376,500 reviews
covering over 29,477 products.
© 2019 ReviewGist.com. All Rights Reserved.


text:
Detox Diet
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Your body is under attack! Corrupt food companies and an overly-contaminated food supply are robbing your health.
Discover The Simplest and Most Powerful NATURAL Detox Strategies 19,379 Men and Women Between the Ages of 26 and 65 Used to Evaporate Fat, Expel Life-Threatening Toxins, And "Fix" Existing Health Problems.


text:
Express. Home of the Daily and Sunday Express.
Ferguson fined for criticising officials
Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has been fined £12,000 after being found guilty of misconduct by the Football Association.
The FA brought the charge following Ferguson's outspoken attack on assistant referee Simon Beck following the 1-1 draw at Tottenham last month. Ferguson appealed against the charge and requested a paper hearing.
However, the verdict, which has been released by the FA on Friday afternoon, has gone against the Scot. "Following an Independent Regulatory Commission hearing today, Sir Alex Ferguson has been fined £12,000 in relation to media comments made after Manchester United's game at Tottenham Hotspur on 20 January 2013," said an FA statement.
The statement continued: "It was alleged that the Manchester United manager's post-match media comments implied that the match official was motivated by bias. Ferguson had denied the misconduct charge and requested a paper hearing at which the Independent Regulatory Commission found proven the breach of FA Rule E3."
Ferguson was furious with Beck for not spotting Steven Caulker's challenge on Wayne Rooney inside the Tottenham box when his side were already leading 1-0. In his post-match interviews, Ferguson brought up Beck's part in a goal awarded to Chelsea's Didier Drogba at Old Trafford in 2010 that proved pivotal in that season's title race.
"It was a clear decision. And he was 10, maybe 12 yards away from the incident and he doesn't give it. And yet he gave everything else," Ferguson said. "There was no way we were going to get a decision from (Beck)," Ferguson said.
"We have got history with him. He never gave offside with (Didier) Drogba at Old Trafford when he was three yards offside. Everyone remembers that. I certainly do."
Ferguson subsequently claimed his criticism of Beck had been fair, and hinted the FA was pursuing a personal agenda against him.
"You never know the FA," he said. "We are high profile and the profile of me is such that the FA naturally panic as soon as the press criticise them.
"I think that is what you will find. That is why they have sent me a letter. Whether I think it is unfair or not doesn't matter to them really at this point. I just think it is more about me than what I have said."


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To use all features of KLM.com safely, we recommend that you update your browser, or that you choose a different one. Continuing with this version may result in parts of the website not being displayed properly, if at all. Also, the security of your personal information is better safeguarded with an updated browser.
Colourful walls, irregular lines and a cascade of plants, the Hundertwasserhaus is a very striking structure. Designed in 1983 by artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser, the building is one of Austria's architectural masterpieces and one of the most photographed. Yet it caused quite the controversy when it was completed in 1985.
Friedensreich Hundertwasser (1928-2000) believed that architecture should be more in harmony with people and nature. No unnatural straight lines but unpredictable shapes and bright colours. When the Mayor of Vienna commissioned him to design an apartment complex he incorporated this exact philosophy. Foremost an artist, Hundertwasser appealed to architect Josef Krawina for assistance. However, Krawina was too attached to straight-lined orderly patterns and this was a reason for Hundertwasser to call on architect Peter Pelikan instead.
The Hundertwasserhaus was built in 2 years. The complex consists of 52 apartments, 19 patios and 250 trees and bushes that grow on the roof; some even emerge from the windows of some of the rooms. The vegetation adds a real liveliness to the building. This is also one of the finest principles of Hundertwasserhaus: the architect wanted every tree or bush that was destroyed in construction of the building to be brought back to the roof and the complex itself. Each apartment is unique - a combination of wavy walls, uneven floors and brightly coloured façades. Residents of the famous apartments are free to customize their window sills anyway they want. That was another key characteristic of Hundertwasser, who was a strong proponent of people's personal influence on architecture. Today the building is praised for its special design, but it generated quite the controversy when it was first completed. Various critics even classified the building as kitsch.
Friedensreich Hundertwasser was born on 15 December 1928 in Vienna. After the Second World War he studied for 3 months at the Vienna Academy of Arts, where he became inspired by artists such as Egon Schiele and Gustav Klimt. In the 1950s and 1960s, Hundertwasser had a reputation as a versatile artist and architectural theorist. He fought against rationalism in architecture and advocated for a human approach. In addition to the Hundertwasserhaus in Vienna, he also designed the power plant in the Spittelau district.
Although the Hundertwasserhaus can only be admired from the outside, the Kunst Haus Wien is only a few hundred metres away and houses a permanent exhibition on the complex. The Kunst Haus was also designed by Hundertwasser and straight lines will be few and far between here. The façade is very similar to that of the Hundertwasserhaus, but it is less colourful, featuring a lot of black and white. 2 of the 4 floors of the museum are dedicated to the Hundertwasserhaus. The other 2 floors host temporary exhibits on other artists.


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WASHINGTON, DC — In mid-September, President Bush approved and sent the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission's (BRAC) report to Congress for review. The plan calls for closing 22 major military bases and reconfiguring 33 others, which would affect military fitness facilities at those bases.
Congress has 45 legislative days to accept or reject the report in its entirety and cannot make changes to the final report. The report lists the recommendations for revamping the U.S. military's infrastructure and force structure.
The Department of Defense (DoD) took two-and-a-half years to study and compile its recommendations for the 2005 BRAC. The BRAC commission approved 86 percent of DoD's original recommendations, which would reduce excess military infrastructure between 5 percent and 11 percent and save $48.8 billion over 20 years, said Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.


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While there are steps your firms should generally take when arranging transportation for a body (either embalmed or cremated) from the United States to a foreign country, requirements may vary by country. NFDA maintains the following list of country-specific requirements; this information will be updated when new information is made available to NFDA.
Questions regarding country-specific requirements are usually best answered by officials at the receiving country's embassy. Contact information can be found on the Embassy.org website. You can also call NFDA at 800-228-6332 for assistance with how to contact the appropriate embassy.
There are also several shipping companies that are ready and able to assist you. Visit the NFDA Supplier Directory and search "Shipping" to get started.
Some countries require documents accompanying human remains or cremated remains to be translated. If so, use NFDA's endorsed document translation service.