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Clouds hover, but rain has not yet begun to fall on a recent Wednesday. It is 6:18 p.m., and Larry Fitzgerald has just finished the job he has done more than a hundred times before: witnessing a Texas inmate being put to death.
This time, it is a 44-year-old man named John Albert Burks.
During a six-minute stroll from the execution chamber to his office in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice administrative building in downtown Huntsville, Fitzgerald keeps quiet, his head bowed.
None of the noisy throngs of protesters who will be present the next week for the controversial execution of Houston criminal Gary Graham line the streets this night. Only an eerie calm greets Fitzgerald.
Convicted more than a decade ago of shooting Jesse Contreras, a Waco tortilla factory owner, during a botched robbery attempt, Burks has died in obscurity. No Bianca Jagger, no Jesse Jackson, no Danny Glover -- all of whom lobbied for Graham -- has voiced objections about Burks's fate.
"Aw, you're just going to see somebody going to sleep," Fitzgerald, the state's spokesman for death row, had told a reporter -- an anxious newcomer to the execution process -- 20 minutes earlier.
At 6:24 p.m., 13 minutes after the executioner had injected a lethal cocktail of sedatives, muscle relaxants and heart-stopping potassium chloride into intravenous tubes inserted in Burks's arms, Fitzgerald finally speaks. He doesn't sound as cavalier as he had before Burks's death.
"With an execution, everyone is a victim," he says quietly. "I never believed that crap about closure."
The moment stands out as an uncharacteristically dour one for Fitzgerald, who is professionally responsible for putting the best face on Texas's death row. His job has become a lot tougher lately.
The worldwide press has focused, often with horror, on the rapid-fire execution machinery that has operated under presidential candidate George W. Bush's tenure as Texas governor.
The numbers alone have stirred some of the attention: 133 prisoners have been executed since Bush became governor; 14 more are scheduled to die before Election Day in November. Since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, Texas has executed 222 men and women and has distinguished itself far and away as the most prolific and resolute among the states that allow capital punishment. Virginia, the closest rival, has killed 76. Awaiting execution on Texas's death row are 455 inmates, 180 of them black men; another 104 are Hispanic males.
The national media's interest intensified after Bush issued in early June an unprecedented 30-day stay for Ricky Nolen McGinn, a death row inmate who had been scheduled to die for the 1993 rape and murder of his 12-year-old stepdaughter. The governor agreed that additional DNA testing could possibly prove that McGinn didn't rape the child.
One day before Burks's execution, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee called upon a former Texas Court of Criminal Appeals judge to defend at a public hearing the state's high rate of death row convictions. A day earlier, newspapers around the country had run front-page stories about a Columbia University study that claimed to have found serious errors in 68 percent of the murder trials nationwide that ended in a death sentence between 1973 and 1995.
This winter, Illinois Governor George Ryan, a Republican, declared a moratorium on executions in his state after 13 condemned men were freed based on new evidence. In Texas, Bush ally state Senator David Sibley of Waco helped draft legislation to allow for DNA testing of inmates before executions. And state Attorney General John Cornyn ordered a review of six Texas death row cases, specifically ones for which Walter Quijano, a psychologist, had testified. The attorney general's move followed a U.S. Supreme Court decision to send back to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals the case of death row inmate Victor Hugo Saldano, specifically because Quijano had told jurors that the defendant represented greater danger to his community because of his Hispanic background.
Other than his 30-day reprieve for McGinn, however, Bush has shown no inclination to halt Texas's fast-moving execution machinery. "I'm absolutely confident that everybody who has been put to death has two things: One, they were guilty of the crime charged, and secondly, they had full access to our courts, both state and federal," he told a debate audience in March.
With his swagger about death row convictions, the presumed Republican nominee has set himself up to be proved wrong. National and international reporters have descended on Texas's death row, smelling blood: a big story.
Managing publicity for a modern-day death row is Larry Fitzgerald's ticklish task. "We have nothing to hide," he says. "Make no mistake about it. All we are doing is carrying out the court's orders."
Fitzgerald and TDCJ do their job with some flair, maintaining a macabre Web site (www.tdcj.state.tx.us/statistics/stats-home.htm) where any voyeur can read about the condemned prisoners' last meals -- there is a preponderance of cheeseburgers and fries -- as well as gory details of their crimes. "While it certainly has drawn some attention to us, it has helped me," Fitzgerald says about the bizarrely detailed site. "What drove the site is reporters' questions."
Now that the Bush factor has reporters crawling all over his agency, Fitzgerald, a wry, understated 63-year-old, describes the execution atmosphere in terms of a spectacle.
"It is just a goddamn circus here," Fitzgerald says.
John Albert Burks's execution, the 21st this year, however, was carried out far away from the big top.
Five hours before he witnessed Burks's execution, when the day was still bright, Fitzgerald pulled into TDCJ's maximum-security Terrell Unit parking lot for his usual midweek drill.
For Fitzgerald, Wednesday means men's day. At the Terrell Unit, where TDCJ houses all male death row inmates, it's the day each week when members of the press are allowed to visit from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. with the condemned men whom Fitzgerald and the warden have approved for interviews. (Monday is women's day. At their separate unit in Mountain View, the eight women on death row have their weekly opportunity with the press.)
Located in Livingston, the prison, built in 1993, sits amid the same kind of lush, green and hilly East Texas terrain that surrounds Governor Bush's lake house 100 miles to the north in Athens.
Inside, 2,879 prisoners reside. Death row inmates don't participate in activities with the other prisoners and stay in isolated 60-square-foot cells. It costs taxpayers $49.54 per day to house each one, higher than the system-wide average of $37.03.
A slight breeze blows from nearby Lake Livingston. The sunny weather has infected people's dispositions. From the watchtower, guards yell greetings to colleagues below.
In the parking lot, Fitzgerald stands in front of a television camera crew. Deborah Wrigley, a reporter from KTRK-Channel 13, is taping a story about the extra security precautions that TDCJ and other law enforcement officials will take for Graham's execution.
Convicted of the robbery and murder of an Arizona salesman visiting in Houston, Graham attracted famous supporters in part because of the flimsiness of the case against him. Only one eyewitness -- she recently held press conferences to reconfirm her testimony -- linked Graham to the crime. The inmate would go on to die handcuffed to his gurney.
By 1 p.m. on this day, an ABC network crew, a cub reporter from the Austin American-Statesman, a correspondent from the Spanish-language television network Telemundo, a veteran from the Plainview Daily Herald and Argentine journalists have all arrived punctually at the prison gate for their interviews with inmates.
Geraldo Rivera, the famed national television correspondent, is late.
Fitzgerald wants the group to wait a few minutes for Rivera so he can escort everyone to the inmates' interview room.
Today Graham is by far the most popular inmate. Both Rivera and the ABC team have asked to talk to him. The Telemundo correspondent plans to talk to Victor Hugo Saldano, whose sentence was overturned by the Supreme Court because of psychologist Quijano's statements.
The Plainview reporter wants to interview Paul Nuncio, a 31-year-old Hispanic security guard scheduled for execution the next day for raping and strangling a 61-year-old Plainview woman.
Jamie Manfuso, an Austin American-Statesman reporter who has been on the job for three weeks, has asked to interview Nuncio and Jessy San Miguel, a 28-year-old Hispanic man who is scheduled to be executed at the end of June for the slayings of four people in an Irving Taco Bell nine years ago.
No one interviews Burks today.
"Hope was executed around here a long time ago," Burks told Tommy Witherspoon of the Waco Tribune-Herald. Burks's appellate lawyer, Walter Reaves, says his client was resigned to his fate, and Burks made no effort to seek publicity, even though he too has maintained his innocence.
By noon, the warden will halt Burks's visits with friends so a large detail of TDCJ guards can take the condemned man at an undisclosed time and through a secret route to the death chamber in Huntsville, a 45-minute drive away.
As it happened, by the time of Burks's execution at 6 p.m., the network reporters and most of the out-of-town press had left East Texas.
"No one will be here," Fitzgerald says about Burks's execution. He doesn't count the AP, UPI and Huntsville Item reporters who witness all executions, regardless of newsworthiness.
"Remember, the bad guys always wear white," teases a prison chaplain when asked to identify Fitzgerald in a crowd. A lanky man with a long, lined face, Fitzgerald dresses casually for his job in cowboy boots, khaki pants and an open-collar white shirt.
During the week, he lives in Huntsville. But he owns a home in Austin, where his wife and daughter live. He drives to the capital city on the weekends when he is not too tired to make the three-hour trip.
A native of Austin and an Army brat who moved often as a child, Fitzgerald started his career as a newsman. He worked at radio stations, first in smaller markets such as Cleburne and then in Dallas and Fort Worth, including a stint at WBAP-AM. He spent some time in public affairs radio, reporting about such issues as bail bond reforms. For his reporting, he won American Bar Association awards and eventually the attention of the State Bar of Texas, which hired him in 1978 as its public information officer.
In 1994 prison public information chief Glen Castlebury recruited him for TDCJ. "I never thought I'd work for a prison system," Fitzgerald says. But the economics were alluring: His TDCJ post pays $4,100 a month. "Not enough," he says.
"He wanted an old graybeard," Fitzgerald says about Castlebury. Fitzgerald's appealing, low-key manner and competent management of logistics must have helped. "I wasn't looking for a touchy-feely guy," says Castlebury. "I was looking for a news professional."
All over the country, reporters have come to rely on Fitzgerald for fast and friendly service. He returns calls quickly, supplies information readily and simplifies bureaucratic issues.
Although barely detectable in Fitzgerald's genial manner, he and his boss seem to share an ever-present sarcasm directed at the national and international press -- particularly the French media, who swoop down for big controversial executions but rarely surface otherwise. "Karla Faye Tucker, her case was heard worldwide. But for the guy we executed the next night who was just as big or bigger a Christian, no one was there. It's ironic," Fitzgerald says.
"We are in a tremendous position to watch herd journalism," says Castlebury. "I guess we're a little like air-traffic controllers. It's going to be a heavy load tonight."
As for his opinion of the death penalty, Fitzgerald balks at giving it. "It's not germane to the story," he says. "I have never commented on how I feel publicly. If I come out and say I am for it and then I have to go every week and work with death row inmates," he says, pausing and letting his listener fill in the blank. "If I say I am against it, I have Justice for All [a victims' rights group] to deal with. Do I have an opinion? Yeah, I have an opinion. But I'm not going to say."
Fitzgerald goes back to the death row unit to prepare inmates for media visits. He has, with the warden's blessing, forbidden some of the condemned who are uncivilized from engaging in the interview process.
"I'm not going to let that guy who cut the preacher up talk to anybody," says Fitzgerald. He refers to a June 9 attack on volunteer minister William Paul Westbrook by Juan Soria. The 33-year-old inmate, scheduled to die this month for the killing of a 17-year-old Arlington boy in 1985, severely cut Westbrook's arm with razor blades.
Fitzgerald recommends certain inmates for interviews. Thomas Miller-El, a 49-year-old inmate who arrived on death row in 1986, is one of Fitzgerald's picks. "I would not say we have a friendship," says Fitzgerald of Miller-El, "but a relationship of a captor-captive type. We joke around with each other, kid back and forth. It's pleasant."
In November 1985, according to TDCJ's own Web site, a Dallas jury convicted Miller-El of murdering a 25-year-old clerk at a suburban Holiday Inn. Miller-El and his wife robbed the clerk, then tied him up in a closet and shot him with a 9mm handgun.
Asked about Miller-El's appeal chances, Fitzgerald shakes his head. "He's been here a long time."
At the inside gate of the Terrell Unit, 12 reporters, photographers and broadcast crew members are lined up with their bulky equipment.
One by one, they pass their driver's licenses through a slot in a window to the female guard inside. In return, they each get a two-inch red plastic visitor tag.
The group is ready to go in, but Fitzgerald wants to wait a little longer for Geraldo Rivera. As the group starts to get restless, one of Rivera's researchers enters the foyer, out of breath. "They are on their way. They are just stuffing cheeseburgers in their mouths."
Fitzgerald is not sympathetic. "Let's go ahead, I'm not going to wait for Geraldo. The hell with it."
Lining the pathway between the prison gatehouse and the main building, rose bushes, marigolds, zinnias and petunias are in spectacular full bloom. "You want to take a little time to smell the flowers," Fitzgerald jokes with ABC correspondent Mike Van Fremd.
As soon as the group arrives in the room set up for inmate interviews, Fitzgerald starts directing reporters to chairs. The interview room is shaped like a T, one long hall and a wider foyer with table, chairs and vending machines. Along both sides of the hall are eight bulletproof and shatterproof windows. Each looks into a cubicle. Each cubicle has a door on the other side that locks, a chair and a telephone. On the other side, prison guards lead the inmates one by one to the assigned cubicles and lock them in. The prisoners and reporters see each other through the windows and talk through telephones.
Each assigned to a window, the ABC, NBC and Telemundo camera crews start setting up their equipment before the inmates arrive. Some two dozen people and all of their equipment are crammed into a space no bigger than a good-size cloakroom. Most whisper.
Van Fremd's voice rises above the others. When Gary Graham, a thin man with a goatee and mustache and large intense eyes that are slightly bloodshot, enters his cubicle, Van Fremd grabs his receiver.
ABC-Monday Night Football, he says, by way of identifying his affiliation. Van Fremd tells Graham that he is going to call him sir. Graham recently had begun asking reporters to refer to him by the African name Shaka Sankofa.
Having made his introduction, the ABC correspondent moves from the window while his crew keeps tinkering with their equipment. Earlier, Fitzgerald says, he told ABC and the Rivera team that they each have about 40 minutes with Graham. Reporters have been known to ignore the time limits. "I've had to ask people to leave," he says. "I tell them, 'It's three o'clock. It's over.' I've told the correction officer to take the inmate out of his cell. So the reporter sits there looking at a blank window."
Right now, with Rivera apparently still eating, inmates outnumber the interviewers. Paul Nuncio, who is scheduled to be executed the next day, is staring at an empty chair.
As a freelance photographer snaps shots of Graham, the inmate puts his hand against the glass so the image the camera captures has a forlorn look. For an AP photographer, Graham will stand in the back of his chamber, fist raised in defiance. That's the photo that will appear in The Dallas Morning News.
"It's a lot more intense now," Graham says about the attention he is getting. "The media is beginning to examine the whole system."
He doesn't mind all the questions, even if they invade his privacy. At this late date, what's the value of privacy, anyway?
"It's beyond that now," he says.
After checking with his cameraman about whether he looks better with his jacket open or closed and warning the operator, "Try not to be too tight on me," Van Fremd says to Graham, "Stories like this are tough for me. As I understand it, it is not looking very good for you. I want you to say what you think of the system."
Van Fremd then proceeds to ask Graham what Huntsville Item staff writer Michelle Lyons later refers to as "television questions."
"How are you holding up? Is this any kind of life worth living?" Van Fremd asks.
Having matched everyone up, Fitzgerald usually sits back and watches, but today he has to fetch Rivera and his crew. They have finished their cheeseburgers.
In a black suit jacket, black shirt and black pants, Rivera slips into the chair in front of the cubicle where inmate Anthony Graves awaits. Now 34, Graves was convicted in a mass murder of six people in Somerville in 1992. "Anthony Graves had nothing to do with it. I lied on him in court," Robert Earl Carter, whose previous testimony had put Graves on death row, confessed in late May, moments before his own death by lethal injection.
Known for his pugnacious manner on television, Rivera redeems himself in person. He makes no lengthy introductions. He talks quietly and uses no notes. "You help kill those people?" he asks Graves. "Do you have nightmares about it?"
"Hey, God, I hate to ask this," Fitzgerald, looking at his shoes, tells Rivera's producer after the correspondent finishes his next interview with Graham. "I've got a secretary in the warden's office who wants to meet Geraldo."
"Not a problem, not a problem," the producer replies.
"I'm so glad I brought my get-out-of-jail pass," Rivera jokes a few minutes later with the woman and her colleagues.
Ready to head to Houston, Rivera trots to the Terrell Unit gate and sees that a Texas downpour has begun. "I have airtime at six-thirty. I can't go into that," he says, panicking.
The Terrell Unit assistant warden tells a prison trusty, "Go out there and get the car for them."
"We wouldn't want all that hair spray to run off onto our parking lot," Castlebury says later.
Fitzgerald has to leave the Terrell Unit promptly at 3 p.m. to make sure he returns to Huntsville in time for Burks's execution.
Calling ahead to the office, he learns that Burks's date is set in stone.
Two days before Burks's execution, Waco Judge Walter Smith ordered the state to postpone the lethal injection because he said a reprieve he'd issued two years earlier was still in effect. Within a day, however, the attorney general's office had successfully appealed the judge's stay to the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Burks's last hope was the U.S. Supreme Court. Burks had exercised the right of every death row inmate to have all of the justices in Washington review his case.
Justice Anthony Scalia, a hard-liner on criminal defense issues, is responsible for presenting death row cases that come from Texas to the others on the bench. But the highest court in the land that morning had denied his petition.
To prepare for Burks's death, Fitzgerald returns to his office in Huntsville, where the technology boom has yet to hit. The prison system is still the primary employer. The town has a population of 35,000; 13,000 inmates live in the seven surrounding prisons, and 7,000 TDCJ employees work to keep them incarcerated.
At 5 p.m., one hour before Burks is scheduled to die, downtown Huntsville is business as usual. At King's Candies on the town square, senior citizens merrily devour ice cream sundaes. None has any idea that John Albert Burks's execution is scheduled for that evening.
"There are so many these days," the owner of the store says. "It's hard to keep track."
By 5:30 p.m. in Fitzgerald's office, the regulars -- reporters whom he'd earlier referred to as "no one" -- have already gathered. Fitzgerald guarantees a witness seat at every execution for UPI, AP and The Huntsville Item. State law allows five reporters to witness any execution. But since Fitzgerald has permanently pledged three seats to the news services and the local paper, only two other slots are available. One goes to the Houston Press sister publication, the Dallas Observer.
Huntsville Item reporter Lyons and UPI correspondent Wayne Sorge have plopped themselves onto a couch in Fitzgerald's office. Mike Graczyk, the AP reporter, sits off to the side. Graczyk has worked this beat for six years. He has earned the dubious distinction of having witnessed more state-sanctioned executions than any other man in the Western world. He spends much of his time staring at his portable computer.
Passing time before execution officials telephone with the green light, Fitzgerald and the familiar gang talk about the commotion surrounding the Graham execution, scheduled eight days away. "It won't be like Karla Faye Tucker," says Fitzgerald, referring to the woman executed in 1998 amid an international outcry.
So far, the only international press that have shown an interest in Graham are English and German. Not the French, who failed to get a seat at the Tucker execution, something Fitzgerald recalls fondly.
"We are in Texas. That's been our policy: Texas media first," he says with a smile. "Not that I dislike the French. They always waved at me. With only one finger, but they waved. I didn't realize I spoke French until I saw that."
European journalists make no bones about their revulsion for Texas's killing machine. Two years ago Julia Stuart, a reporter for the London Mail, wrote a scathing column about Fitzgerald and his regular crowd of execution reporters. The story led with an anecdote about how Fitzgerald and the reporters had gobbled down birthday cake -- Graczyk's -- minutes before an execution.
Lyons concedes there is a tacit understanding not to talk death penalty politics among the regulars in Huntsville. Asked where she stands, Lyons responds: "None of us says. We can't say."
Fitzgerald speculates that the largest protest may have been for a Mexican national whose name no one in the office recalls.
"Who was that?" Fitzgerald asks Graczyk, who started on the beat before the TDCJ spokesman got his job. "Remember they shut down all the bridges to Mexico? Goddamn, what was his name?"
"I can't even remember the last one," says Sorge, the UPI reporter, with a laugh.
It's 5:58 p.m. when Fitzgerald's phone rings with the call from the death house.
"Let's go to the party," Graczyk says sarcastically as the group files out.
First they have to cross the street from the TDCJ administration building to the death house, a former prison known as The Walls. Inside, a guard searches each reporter with a metal detector. The condemned man's and the victim's families and friends arrived earlier and have been kept in separate waiting rooms. Members of the victim's family have spent the day getting counseling from a trained state employee for what they're about to see. "If you have a problem with it, don't do it," Dan Guerra, the assistant director of the victim services division, says he tells victims' survivors.
At this point, the reporters are split up. Some go into the witness rooms with Fitzgerald and the victim's survivors; others will follow Castlebury into the room with the inmate's family.
Fitzgerald warns a reporter not to ask any questions of Jesse Contreras's family.
Fitzgerald and Graczyk chat among themselves in the hallway. The AP reporter is an encyclopedic resource. Graczyk interviews every condemned man in Texas before his execution, unless the inmate refuses his request.
At 6:01 p.m., before anyone enters the witness rooms, guards are removing Burks from a holding cell and strapping him to a gurney to wheel him to the death chamber.
Once Burks is in place, other guards lead all the witnesses to their designated rooms. Throughout this procedure, the guards keep the inmate's family and the victim's family separated. They never pass in the hall. But to get to their respective witness rooms, they all have to walk through a courtyard.
Again, like the pathway at the Terrell Unit, the space is landscaped with bizarrely cheery flowers. Roses, marigolds and periwinkles are all blooming. An armed guard looms above.
The death house, Fitzgerald says, is "probably about the most low-maintenance place in the system." "Changing sheets," he says. "That's about it."
As the guard opens the door to small quarters from which witnesses will view the death chamber through a Plexiglas window, Fitzgerald says in apparent jest, "Do I have to go?"
For the uninitiated, the sight of the occupied death chamber is unsettling. With a warden standing directly behind him, Burks lies on the gurney. His legs, arms and chest are strapped down. Only his head can move.
Burks, who told his lawyer and reporters that he cannot read and can only copy what others have written, has a youthful, open face for a 44-year-old man. He looks surprisingly calm. From the ceiling, fluorescent lights cast a glare. A microphone hangs with its business side inches away from Burks's mouth. Allowed to choose his clothes from a selection of street apparel available at TDCJ, Burks is wearing brown pants, a T-shirt and sneakers with dark blue laces. Non-toxic saline solution, used to keep the poisons from crystallizing in his veins, has already started flowing into the intravenous tubes.
At 6:07 p.m., Burks, with only a slight quaver in his voice, begins to give his last statement. He talks fast. "Hey, how y'all doing. All right. It's going to be all right. There are some guys I didn't get a chance to visit with, ah, I met when I first drove up here, Lester Byers, Chris Black, Alba and Rosales Rocky. You know who you are. The Raiders are going all the way, y'all. Y'all pray for me. And it's going to be all right. That's it, and it's time to roll up and out of here. It's going down. Let's get it over with. That's it."
He then adds, "You take care, Sonya," naming one of his friends who is present. But this comment is left out of the official version of his final words, which Fitzgerald will pass out to reporters minutes later.
The nervousness in Burks's voice seems strangely familiar. It's like the chatter of any adult before a doctor performs a medical procedure.
With his final words, Burks has cheered on a football team, said good-bye to his friends and assured his loved ones that he made his peace with a higher power. But the inmate, who had spent 3,905 days on death row, made no mention of the crime that led to his execution.
January 20, 1989 -- the day of the elder George Bush's presidential inauguration -- also sealed Burks's fate. That day, he is said to have fired four bullets into Jesse Contreras, a 63-year-old tortilla factory owner who threw trash cans to defend himself against the burglar. Contreras died of his wounds 27 days later. Contreras had not given up any cash. But as his daughter later noted in court, he gave up his life.
A twice-convicted burglar on parole at the time, Burks got picked up by the authorities some 370 miles south of Waco. At his trial, several witnesses placed Burks at the crime scene. A relative testified that he had bought bullets similar to those found lodged within inches of Contreras's heart.
But only Burks's cousin, Aaron Bilton Jr., who has since died, identified John Albert Burks as the shooter. Testifying for prosecutors, Bilton fared the best of the three co-defendants. Mark McConnell, Burks's half-brother, who was also a co-defendant and refused to take the stand against his sibling, was sentenced to 40 years.
"He got screwed by the system," says Walter Reaves, Burks's appellate lawyer. "He had an extremely strong claim on direct appeal."
In 1994 the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals reviewed Burks's trial record and acknowledged that the presiding state judge, George Allen, had committed errors. Specifically, the judge had barred the testimony of Regina Burks, a former in-law of the condemned man, who had claimed that she heard Bishop McConnell III, Burks's other half-brother, brag drunkenly a few hours after Contreras was shot that he'd done the deed. Today, McConnell, whom a witness spotted in the getaway car an hour before the murder and who eight days before the crime bought a gun similar to the weapon used in the slaying, maintains he was home all day. "I was sick and asleep on the couch," he says.
Reaves contends the trial judge also failed to recognize that the prosecutors withheld information from the inmate's lawyers that could have helped Burks's defense. The trial lawyers testified at a later hearing that they never knew during the trial that two hospital nurses who had cared for Contreras had told state prosecutors that the tortilla factory owner said his assailant spoke with a Hispanic accent and used some Spanish words. At the hearing, the judge accepted the prosecution's claim that he had informed the defense lawyers about the nurses' comments, even though Burks's attorneys had no recollection or notes reflecting that information.
Despite finding that the judge erred, the Court of Criminal Appeals kept the conviction on the books.
Two of the appellate judges, however, dissented. "Given the weakness of the State's evidence, Regina's testimony if believed, could have created in the jury's mind a reasonable doubt as to whether [Burks] shot Contreras," one wrote.
Reaves says he didn't expect much better from the Austin-based appeals court. The Court of Criminal Appeals has earned a national reputation for its tendency to support death row convictions.
"It's a fact of life with death cases and the court of appeals -- they get affirmed," Reaves says. Since January 1995 the court has affirmed 266 of the approximately 300 death penalty convictions brought before it.
In federal court, Reaves says, he was tied to the faulty record of evidence that Judge Allen had allowed to be developed in state court. Therefore, no real review could occur, Reaves contends.
Ralph Strothers, who prosecuted Burks and now sits as a state judge in Waco, is untroubled by the issues Reaves identifies. "I'll always maintain the right guy got put to death," he says. "I'm not going to try to second-guess it at this point."
Specifically, Strothers says he did disclose to the defense lawyers the nurses' comments about the Hispanic accent. Moreover, he believes Burks, who had made a second home and started a second family in Harlingen, could have adopted a Hispanic accent for the robbery.
Strothers also contends that Burks's cousin Bilton, who died in 1997, had plenty of opportunity to recant his testimony if he really thought Burks didn't murder Contreras.
But Nancy Cobb, Burks's sister, recalls that her cousin had told her from the get-go that he was pressured into his testimony by Strothers. "He said, 'They were going to nail his balls to the wall,' " she recalls. "Everyone knew it was all lies anyway."
Strothers says he seriously considered attending Burks's execution after one of Contreras's family members requested his presence. In the end, however, he stayed home. "It's not that I don't have the stomach for it," he says. "I don't mind shooting my dog. But now I am a sitting judge, and it would look funny if I went to executions."
At 6:09 p.m. the executioner began injecting what the TDCJ Web site says is $86.08 worth of drugs, the same drugs doctors sometimes use to save patients. At 6:11 p.m. the executioner signaled to other officials that he had administered the lethal dose.
In the tight quarters of the witness room, where five of Contreras's family members, two reporters, Fitzgerald and two other TDCJ officials had squeezed into a space of about four feet by ten feet, Burks's heavy last breaths were picked up by the mike and readily audible to the witnesses. His eyes closed.
Coming from an air vent, a cry pierced the air. "Oh, no, Lord have mercy," the voice called. It was Burks's sister Cobb, in the other witness room, separated by one wall.
Lyons, who was watching in Cobb's room, said the sister pounded at the wall and muttered something like, "Get me out of here." The guards ushered her out.
Fitzgerald was among the most restless in the Contreras family's room. One of the man's daughters dabbed her eyes. But Fitzgerald paced in the corner the whole time, constantly glancing at his watch.
"When's the doctor coming?" he whispered to a guard. He sighed and shook out his legs as though they had knots in them.
The doctor, a bearded man in a blue suit and glasses, whom Fitzgerald would not identify, finally entered at 6:15 p.m. For three long minutes, he examined the patient's chest and face. Then a voice pronounced Burks dead.
The guard standing beside Fitzgerald immediately knocked on the door, and someone outside opened it.
When Fitzgerald and the reporters reassembled in his office, Graczyk, the AP reporter, started typing his account. Fitzgerald grabbed a stack of phone message slips and began dialing.
For the reporters, one more event that evening needed to be recorded. The victim's family had prepared a statement, which Fitzgerald said they would read shortly.
Castlebury popped his head in the office to offer another detail for the newspapers. Burks's body would be cremated, and a Swedish woman, the Sonya he mentioned in his last words, would take the remains back to Europe. The two of them had been writing each other.
Many of the bodies of executed men, Fitzgerald says, are never claimed. They are buried in a cemetery maintained by supervised inmates a mile and a half from the Walls Unit.
Soon Fitzgerald's assistant distributed a fill-in-the-blanks form to the reporters. It is the official account of the execution. The one-page sheet gives the precise time when guards took Burks from the holding cell and strapped him to the gurney, when the executioner injected the saline solution, when Burks started his final statement, when the executioner injected the lethal dose and when the doctor pronounced Burks dead.
The form also has spaces for what are categorized as unusual occurrences. For Burks's execution, those were left blank.
Fitzgerald's office puts together a complete press package for each execution. The white folders include a page titled "Deathwatch" that lists Burks's activities for the past three days, including his hefty last meal: fried chicken, a pound of bacon, a 16-ounce T-bone steak (well done), Big Red soda and coffee. TDCJ rules forbid gum, alcohol and tobacco. His prison record and a summary of the crime for which he was condemned are also included.
Back at his office, Fitzgerald asks the reporters simply, "Why did the turkey shoot the guy?"
"The old man wouldn't give up the money, and I think he may have used the N-word," replies Witherspoon, the Waco reporter and the last one to interview Burks.
It's nearly 7 p.m., and the victim's family has still not emerged. Lyons, like most of the witnesses, wants to go home. "Can you give us a copy of the statement?" she asks Fitzgerald.
"They want to read it," he says.
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No one in the room seems ready to defy Fitzgerald and leave.
A few minutes later Gloria Torres, the victim's oldest daughter, stands in the TDCJ administration building lobby in front of the reporters. Torres is composed. She did not witness the execution. "We wish to express our sincere condolences to his survivors," she says. "We, too, know how devastating is the unnecessary and premature loss of one that we greatly love."
A TV reporter who has joined the group asks whether she feels better knowing Burks is dead. "The Bible says an eye for an eye," Torres says. "But had he not been executed, I could have lived with that."
Larry Fitzgerald had already headed back to his office. He'd had enough for one day.


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What are the thoughts of the collective mind about this situation?
A judge who openly states that allowing a Junior to show and APBT is careless and on a power trip? Who goes on to belittle the junior with her present? Who then goes on to state that the breed is unstable and will snap and attack without warning?
Now remember this is in a public place where non-dog-show people are gathering. The statements were easily loud enough for all to hear.
Who states that an APBT getting the taste of blood gets them "going"? Who says no bait in the ring they judge in because the dog will attack them as the dog will feel that they are trying to steal its' food?
What does this say to you? How does it make you feel? What does this say about this judges judging ability when they don't even know what is correct for an APBT's temperament? What does this say about the breed, if a one who judges them spreads urban legends and has no tact with exhibitors or children? What does it say when a judge licensed to judge a specific breed destroys that breed to the general public, feed stereotypes?
What do you all think? Should they be a judge? Would you show under them?

subset: commoncrawl


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text:
Anthony Verdi is a young man caught between his dream of being a full-time musician and the conventional life of his security-minded father and long-time fiancé. But Anthony has the encouragement of several important people around him. There is Bill Verdi, his loving great-uncle, who is determined that Anthony will not meet with the same fate as his musician brother, Anthony's grandfather whom he never knew. Anthony's outrageous bass-playing roommate knows first-hand the joys and satisfactions of a musician's life. The head of his great-uncle's nursing home recognizes Anthony's talent and leads him to an important break. First and foremost there is Christine, the beautiful older woman he meets in an out-of-this-world forties night club he chances upon, who teaches him to swing dance. From her he also learns that swing is a metaphor for life and that, only if he follows his heart and starts being who he truly is, can real happiness be his. Along this journey of self-discovery, which includes confronting his father's expectations and coming to the realization that he and his fiancé no longer share a common future, a young woman named Tina keeps reappearing, a sure sign that Anthony is heading in the right direction.
Jacqueline Bisset, Jonathan Winters, Innis Casey, Jim Hanks, Nell Carter, Mindy Cohn, Adam Tomei, Dahlia Waingort, Constance Brenneman, Emily Dean, Tom Skerritt, Barry Bostwick


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Chances are that if you are looking at this web site, you may be experiencing a pregnancy related issue. There are approximately 3 million unplanned pregnancies every year, so you are not alone with your questions. This website is designed to provide you with education and information about the things you want to know concerning pregnancy. Feel free to call the helpline and speak with someone confidentially if you have any further questions.
Health Info
This site is primarily geared towards teenagers and young adults. For pregnancy information, we recommend the American Pregnancy Association. For those trying to conceive, you will find information on ovulation, pregnancy symptoms, and an ovulation calendar.
For women who are already pregnant, you will be able to learn more about prenatal vitamins, doulas, midwives, and birth centers, and Prenatal Massage.
Nurse Hotline: An educational site to get connected to nurse and other health care helplines.
Additionally, the APA site is good for common complications like miscarriage, bleeding during pregnancy, ectopic pregnancy and morning sickness. There are things for helping you plan your pregnancy and birth such as cord blood banking, birth plans, a pregnancy calculator.
If you have an unplanned pregnancy, you will be able to find information about adoption, parenting and abortion. Some women have questions about who the father is, and you can find information about paternity testing.
Travel During Pregnancy
For those who are trying to get pregnant and looking for inspiration, you might find some good insights from the sites below. Similarly, if you are pregnant and wanting to travel, you may have questions about good destinations.
Seven Wonders: Protecting the original wonders of the world.
When To Go: A good site for pregnant moms to use for planning vacations and needing to know the best time to go to different destinations.
Natural Wonders of Africa – Discover the many wonderful wonders of nature found throughout Africa.


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The Armory Show/Volta NY
The Armory Show shares its name with its historically significant predecessor following a brief stint at the same 69th Regiment Armory. While today's Armory Show is now in its twelfth year and situated on expansive piers along the Hudson River, it no doubt benefits from association with the formative 1913 International Exhibition of Modern Art. However, positioned within a global art context that is increasingly[…..]


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Posts tagged Sebastian
Tomorrow the Madness Begins1
Tomorrow I start work on creating an animation in 48 hours. Yes, two days. Me and and a bunch of other CGI artists will be working hard from dusk till dawn, twice over, to create the most stunning, whacky, incredibly-insane short animated movie you've ever seen. And it's the fourth year in a row that we will succeed.
Tomorrow I hit the road to go down to Richmond, VA, which is nearly 5 hours away, to work with the Hand Turkey Studios team to create a film in 48 hours for the Richmond 48-Hour Film Festival. I'll be at homebase, which will be graciously hosted by Hal Dowdy at Broadscope Media Inc., where we will be kicking off at 7:30pm on Friday, July 22, and start planning, voicing, modeling, animating, texturing, compositing, and rendering constantly until the deadline exactly two days later.
We will be given a few items to include in the short film (a line, a prop, a genre, etc.) to prove we made the animation on within the time constraints.
We're bringing incredible talent onto the team this year, including Bassam Kurdali (Director of Elephant's Dream,) who'll be joining us from Team International; Sebastian König, Dolf Veenvliet, Beorn Leonard (animator for Sintel,) Jarred de Beer (winner of Suzanne Award for Best Animation at the Blender Conference,) Jonathan Williamson (author at CGCookie,) Lee Salvemini, Kernon Dillon (BlenderNewbies,) and Reynante Martinez, to name some. And in Richmond, none other than Roland Hess (author of The Essential Blender and a score of other books,) Sam Brubaker, and our producer and mastermind, Jason van Gumster and his wife, Heather van Gumster. It truly will be a magnificent team – and there is simply too many awesome exploits be each of these names and others on the team to write here, but let it suffice to say: we rock.
I'll be down in Richmond, VA, this year to capture all the action first-hand and meet other real Blenderheads for the first time. Last year I was on the team for my first time, heralding from the International Team, when we created the sensational Grey Justice: Puncher of Men animation. This year, we can only top the awesomeness by getting closer to the source.
Let it begin.


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Words confusion
Hello everybody!
I've got cultural, let's say, issue... Maybe it's trivial, but, neverthless, interesting from a sociological point of view.
I've noticed that folks from around US/Canada use word "hacker" pretty often and loosely. It confuses me, because in Europe nobody uses it... at all, in fact.
There is a strict hierarchy established in "computerists language" in my country. Of course, individual may belong to several groups at once. It goes something like this:
1) Scripter: knows handful of hi-level languages, and he/she will do the scripting job in a few hours. It'll work, yeah, but don't expect any firecrackers...
Usually does websites/donkey work for a programmer.
2) Programmer: Now that guy/chick will think for a moment before opening vim. Better skilled, probably with academic background, does the job for a computer scientist.
3) Computer Scientist - thinks all day about algorithms. About improvements. About mathematical proves of his/her new shiny recipe for cloud computing. You'll find his/her in an optimization cathedral at your nearest university. Don't need to be even a programmer (but usually is)
4) Hacker: Now that's a legend.
Nobody knows any hacker.
And "Anonymous" guys are NOT hackers. Not at all.
Hacker checks out operating system of a target, reads this system from source [if available] or from hex editor [if not], sees an opportunity for a sploit, drinks his sugar-aspartame flavoured soda, writes the sploit, jumps through TOR and thousands of proxies, exploits a bug, deletes logs, eats his/her potato chips, scans another target...
How does it look like in the other hemisphere?
DDoS-persons are usually called vandals, or internet hooligans. And I cant stop laughing when watching fox/cbs/nbc/whatever news with "Anonymous Hackers Group" on a lead
The term "hacker" has lost its meaning from being overused by those who don't really understand. If you were to ask ten people what the word means, you will likely get ten different answers -- regardless of whether they are in the industry or not.
The problem is further complicated by the fact that many slinging the term about are doing so to associate themselves with a mystique or inflate their own prowess.
So is there confusion on the part of many? Yes, but the world still continues to rotate.
huh, You're probably right... Thanks.
I didn't mean anyone in particular... Well, maybe just this guy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4oB28ksiIo
2. Cracker- a bad/malicious/ ungoodly hacker.
Hello there !
I think both punk0x29a's taxinomy and ninguem's are valid .. word confusion may emanate from where we stand and whst syntagmatic/associative sets we consider :
If I consider what 'they WANT to achieve' , I'd say there are 3 :
Mere users < crashers/lamers < Hackers
If I consider what 'they CAN do' : then punk0x29a's post is to the point ..
The term 'hacker' must preserve its ideal epistemic attire .. Theo de Raadt is a Hacker .. Patrick Volkerding is .. jggimi/ocicat/J65nko are Programmers :-) .. the term computer scientist seems to me to be an 'academic label' that we may drop .. ie .. who can prove than Richard Stallman is to be granted the label 'computer scientist' while de Raadt is to be denied ? both hackers have contributed great pieces of software that have influenced cyberspace and IT .. and not just that .. ok ok :
In Karate terminology : we have a variety of titles on the basis of how much expertise is gained not just how many belts (dan) : shihan .. sensei .. renshi .. kyoshi .. hanshi .. O'sensei .. etc .. so we find people with different opinions about a master .. as much as about a hacker .. why ?
Because those people differ in how much they know about those they judge .. as much as about know-how to judge ..
So, I don't think about this night and day, bouncing my head off the wall and stuff
But, what concerns me is that... Dunno how to call that.. Doublespeak, yeah. That's the good word.
Not only in nothern America. Everywere, it seems.
While loitering through this forum, I've found link to this awesome site:
I've been thinking... If using "MZFT ArchMacroVirus" [ (C)daemonfowl ;-) ] makes people lazy, what about overusing words that should mean something significant?
For example: word ,,Friend''
I'm not really sure if people belonging to (my_age_group.val() - 5*years) know true meaning of this word anymore - at all.
Regular behavior: Guys ,,talking" @ cigarette break with headphones plugged into their ears, listening to some pure-commercial radio stuff (I wont call it music, no way!), dazzling on telephone screens at the same time!
What a quality attention division! What a multitasking skill! ;-)
"Hey guys, wait" - says one of them, interrupting so-called "conversation", which is actually based on a mutual speech-jamming. - "Got to say hi to my girlfriend, or she'll be pissed off"
He opens up a F***book window on his phone, writes down "hi", presses down "send" button and - boom! Girl just 5 meters away (sic!) receives the message, replies "hi" and goes somewhere...
When I've asked him why he just didn't say "hi" he replied, quote:
It's easier this way...
Well then... Something went wrong...
But, returning to main conversation:
So, to be clear, I'm not trying to insult anyone here and I don't want anybody to feel resentful because of me.
Intelligent persons wont call themselves "intelligent" , right?
Charismatic person wont say "I'm charismatic" ( unless this person is a celebrity ;-)
As Richard Dawkins once said:
"There is nothing wrong in redefining words, as long as they're used in a clear and unambigous way"
Only the last part is something, in fact, hard to achieve...
While it's easy to catch term meaning on a forum like this, where one can find mostly adult people with no intention of
Yeah, I know, I know... It's all just a show and stuff, must be interesting... But... Still...
O!... Or watching this kind'a "art"
Now, after Edward Snowden's action, I wanted to find all these documents. After typing "nsa leaked documents" in google I've got:
50+ news/blog sites with titles like: "ANONYMOUS HACKER GROUP LEAKS SECRET NSA DOCUMENTS"
Ant then, somewhere deep, there is a site with: "Anonymous leaks not-so-secret NSA documents"
And, as it turns out, those "leaked" data were available publicly for a long, long time ;-)
And I still cant find nothing but those few ugly PPT slides...
Last edited by punk0x29a; 13th June 2013 at 07:35 AM.
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Bombardier Inc. used the summer doldrums to revamp itself into a significantly different company. Gone are two top aerospace executives — with more departures and changes coming soon, said Marc Duchesne, spokesman for Bombardier's commercial aircraft division.
Bombardier revamps itself amid CSeries challenges
Bombardier Inc. used the summer doldrums to revamp itself into a significantly different company.
Gone are two top aerospace executives — with more departures and changes coming soon, said Marc Duchesne, spokesman for Bombardier's commercial aircraft division.
The post of president of Bombardier Aerospace, which included commercial and business aircraft and which was held by Guy Hachey for six years before he left abruptly on July 23, has been abolished. Presidents of both aerospace divisions will now report directly to Bombardier president Pierre Beaudoin.
Hachey's departure was divulged by the company but Bombardier made no announcement last week when Philippe Poutissou, the executive vice-president of marketing for the CSeries, also left suddenly.
Neither departure was expected.
The company did not link the changes to the problems selling its future CSeries airliner, an ambitious program that involves not just a new-technology aircraft but a future-generation engine by Pratt & Whitney as well. Technical and other problems have delayed the jet's entry into service, which is now planned for the latter half of 2015.
Bombardier said that a major engine failure in May at Mirabel is not expected to set back that target further.
Perhaps the bigger overhaul over the long term, however, is a new emphasis on and expansion of what has long been a marginal business for the Montreal-based aircraft and rail manufacturer; designing, manufacturing and distributing aircraft components, including wings, fuselages and engine nacelles.
The new Bombardier Aerostructures and Engineering Services division is now one of four Bombardier divisions, along with the two aerospace groups and the rail equipment unit.
Bombardier spokesperson Isabelle Rondeau said that the new company structure would be in place on Jan. 1, that the new division would be based in Montreal and that it would include four sites; Montreal, Belfast, Queretaro, Mexico, and a new plant in Morocco.
But no other details are available, she added, including the number of employees, revenue targets or components to be developed.
Bombardier has long supplied some parts to Boeing and Airbus — notably for the latter's A319, a direct competitor to the CSeries — but it has been a negligible business segment for the company.
Rondeau said that "it's now really going to become a sector of activity that will stand on its own."
"It will enable us to showcase our expertise better. There's currently a need for suppliers of quality and we're extremely well positioned."
"As to who will do what where and how many people it will involve, it's far too early for that. The pieces of the puzzle are just falling into place."
Aviation analyst Scott Hamilton of Leeham Co. LLC in Seattle, said that Poutissou's exit "was real shocker."
In December, Chet Fuller, the CSeries's chief salesman and Poutissou's boss, also left unexpectedly and was replaced by Raymond Jones, the current senior vice president, sales, marketing and asset management for Bombardier Commercial Aircraft — notably the CSeries.
"The info I have," said Hamilton, " is that Jones wanted his own team coming in."
Duchesne added: "I have the impression (changes in the commercial aerospace division) are not finished. There will be more personnel movements."
One executive who seems safe — for the moment — is Mike Arcamone, president of Commercial Aircraft.
As a protégé of his longtime friend Hachey, who hired him in 2012, Arcamone might have been thought to be vulnerable when his friend and boss left. The two had similar career paths after launching their long careers in the auto industry at the Ste-Thérèse General Motors plant in Boisbriand in the 1980s.
But Duchesne noted that Beaudoin "specifically confirmed Mike in his functions as president of Bombardier Commercial Aircraft on July 23rd."
"So Mike seems solidly in place — it's a good sign."
Hamilton said that Arcamone had "gone around to the Bombardier supply chain to fix some (CSeries) problems. My understanding is that it's what kept him safe. That the CSeries program would be in worse shape had it not been for him."


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Terror and justice
How could people bomb innocents like those who were victims in Madrid on 3/11 asks one of the survivors? They were 'normal' people, he says. One can only agree with such a sentiment. How could one disagree? One has to however, seek answers. It's not about feeling sympathy for bombers, but it's about trying to understand in order to prevent further suffering.
Of course, for the sake of decency, as well as honesty, one should before anything else put things into perspective. On march 11th 2004 in Madrid, 191 people were killed and 2050 wounded. On september 11th 2001 in New York, 2974 died. On July 7th 2005 in London, 52 people were killed and 700 were wounded (source: Wikipedia). If we were to count the numbers of people killed in bombings by western forces and others supported financially as well as militarily by western nations, where would one start? In the Second Lebanon War of 2006 over a thousand lebanese lost their lives under israeli fire. In the invasion phase of the 2003 Iraq war, 7,299 iraqi civilians were killed. 290 Iranian civilians were killed when the airliner they were travelling was downed by USS Vincennes during the Iran-Iraq war. (Source: Wikipedia).
Coincidentally perhaps, today in Spain, some of those responsible for the March 7th attacks were condemned while simultaneously a bill has been approved which formally condemns Franco's dictatorial and terrorist regime. Though of course the mainstream media does not link the two events, what comes to mind is a certain paradox. We all accept justifiably, that those responsible for the deaths of 191 innocent civilians in Madrid should be brought swiftly (and democratically) before the law, and yet condemning an equally (in numbers no doubt more) horrifying period of spanish history, takes over thirty years, and still there are those who complain (mainly right-wing conservatives). This seems to me to be a fitting example of the double-standards with which our media and authorities treat history and contemporary events.
On this day, the BBC aired a programme dealing with the upcoming Annapolis Israel/Palestine peace conference. Several commentators from the region or elsewhere were questioned. None of whom I had personally heard of. None but one palestinian commentator mentioned the hypocrisy of the 'offers' made by Israel and the US to the palestinians. Commentators such as Amira Hass, the israeli journalist who lives in and reports from Gaza, Robert Fisk, the British journalist who has spent thirty years living in and reporting from Beirut on the middle east and the arabo-muslim world, Noam Chomsky, who has written extensively and with excellent sourcing about the 'conflict' and US-Israeli rejectionism, Israeli peace activist Uri Avnery, or Meron Benvenisti, former Jerusalem mayor and proponent of a binational state were not interviewed.
Recently, the US congress was censored in it's attempt to officially recognise the ottoman genocide of Aremenians in 1915 by Turkey and it's lobby. At least it's relatively uncontroversial to speak of a turkish lobby in the US. Meanwhile, Israel continues to deny the Armenian Holocaust and the Ukrainian Holocaust (for example). It is up to historians to decide what is holocaust and what is not, and not politicians, according to Israel. Maybe it should apply this wisdom to all holocausts.
Mr Zapatero has claimed, that justice has been done. But where are Bush, Blair, Howard, Aznar, Berlusconi and all the others before them? Are they behind bars?


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Halestorm's Lzzy Hale Performs Guns N' Roses Classic 'Out Ta Get Me' With Slash
We recently reported that Halestorm frontwoman Lzzy Hale took the stage with Slipknot's Corey Taylor to perform AC/DC's 'You Shook Me All Night Long.' The songstress was at it again this past weekend as she shared the stage with Slash featuring Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators on Saturday, June 10, at the Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam.
Slash is currently on a worldwide tour with his band Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators in promotion of their new disc 'Apocalyptic Love.' Check out our photo gallery and review of the album release party in New York City.
At the Amsterdam show, singer Myles Kennedy took a breather as Hale belted out the Guns N' Roses classic 'Out Ta Get Me,' which she is very familiar with since Halestorm did a cover of song for their disc titled 'Reanimate: The Covers EP.'
When we talked to Hale she discussed her excitement for Halestorm wanting to record more cover songs, saying, "It's fun for us and you have no idea how much you learn as a musician and as a singer and songwriter by learning somebody else's material and having to own it and make it your own; it's really like homework."
She went on to say, "You come out on the other side better for some reason, as a better musician so we definitely want to do it again."
Who knows what band Ms. Hale jump onstage with next, but whoever it is, be prepared to have your eardrums rocked.


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Visiting Haiti for the first time since the devastating earthquake three years ago, FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter has pledged to boost the country's football infrastructure with a new dedicated task force.
Following intensive discussions on the Caribbean nation's development with President Michel Martelly, the pair agreed that a unified group comprising members of FIFA, CONCACAF, the Haiti FA and the national government would best provide the necessary impetus the game needs.
Speaking from the Sylvio Cator Stadium, development for which was supported by a special FIFA development fund, President Blatter outlined the plans to aid the game there. "We have come here to support Haiti in its efforts to rebuild football in the country after the 2010 earthquake.
"There is so much talent in the country, and we need to do more to let that talent flourish. The will of the Haitian President is there, and we decided together to create a working group with FIFA, CONCACAF, the Haiti FA and the government which by the end of this year should establish a plan to revive Haitian football."
It was a deal that excited CONCACAF President Jeffrey Webb, who was also in attendance, seeing real potential in the proposal. He said: "Today is a defining moment for CONCACAF and for Haiti. When we join forces with football and the governments, we can obtain more investment for our sport."
After the earthquake, football was the first to restart its activities in Haiti, and it was only possible thanks to the support of FIFA.
Following the investment Haiti has received since the disaster, President Martelly expressed his passion for rebuilding the country's ability to play football, as well as outlining how sport can help the country beyond the lines of the pitch. "We love football in Haiti. I am a big fan and a former player, and we need to make an effort in our country to put Haitian football back in the top of our region.
"The government supports the game and we will focus on infrastructure, having built over 40 stadiums in the last two years. We need to give our youth an opportunity, because football has so many positive aspects, not only in sport, but in terms of education and health."
It was a note that rang true with President Blatter too. "Education and the development programmes are at the base of football. We need to bring football to the schools, and for this we need the support of the governments. And we need to train the educators," he said. "At FIFA level, we will continue to support Haiti as we have done with the USD 4 million provided in a development fund following the 2010 earthquake."
Dedicated development
That total built on the USD 3 million donated to the post-earthquake cause, including funds from emergency aid and revenues from friendly games played by the 32 participating teams at the FIFA 2010 World Cup South Africa™. This has gone towards developing infrastructure - including the Sylvio Cator Stadium - and re-energising competitions in the nation, as well as the foundation of a women's U-17 team.
In addition to that, the new Haitian FA headquarters - also supported by the fund - was inaugurated during President Blatter's visit amidst a dazzling display of local culture for the onlooking crowd.
Amongst those there was Yves Jean-Bart, President of the Haiti Football Association (FHF), who on President Blatter's provided a terrifying first-hand account of the disaster when visiting the Home of FIFA following the event. Haiti lost several members of its football family in the tragedy, indeed, Jean-Bart was still bandaged in the pair's meeting three years ago.
The United Nations estimate that some 220,000 people were killed and 1.5 million others were made homeless by the earthquake, and the FHF themselves saw 32 bodies pulled from the wreckage of the previous headquarters, but Jean-Bart emitted positivity during today's visit.
"After the earthquake, football was the first to restart its activities in Haiti, and it was only possible thanks to the support of FIFA," he said. "Step by step, we are rebuilding the facilities and the football activities."
On the pitch there has also been cause for optimism. With the future of Haitian football on show as the U-17 and U-20 sides both participated at their respective CONCACAF tournaments this year, the opening of the new centre is another positive step forwards which is in keeping with improvements in the national side's fortunes. Haiti may have failed in their quest to reach the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil, but they reached their highest-ever position in the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking in January this year, climbing to 38th place, jumping an impressive 18 places between November and December last year.


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|Music promoter Pete Knapp says, "When referring to it as a genre, "Americana" can be best explained as an amalgam of roots music fused by the confluence of the shared and varied traditions that categorically make up the American musical ethos; specifically those sounds that are merged from folk, country, rhythm & blues, rock & roll and other external influential styles."
Americana is popularly referred to, especially in print, as "alt-country" or sometimes "alt.country". The genre is also referred to by many other names, including "insurgent country", "no depression", "rockabilly", "cowpunk", "progressive country", "regressive country", "roots rock", "twang core", "new americana", "cowpunk", "y'allternative", and many others. While some of these nomenclatures may seem derogatory or unintelligent, they capture the essence of what the New York Times considers "the coolest music scene today".
Americana, as defined by the Americana Music Association, is "American roots music based on the traditions of country. While the musical model can be traced back to the Elvis Presley marriage of 'hillbilly music' and R&B that birthed rock 'n roll, Americana as a radio format developed during the 1990's as a reaction to the highly polished sound that defined the mainstream music of that decade." Because of listener interest in the artists who do not fit as comfortably in the Country or Rock genres, a radio format called "Americana" has been developed by the Americana Music Association and reported by R&R. Born out of the "Triple A ", "Non-Commercial", "Country" and other varied formats, the Americana format is the sum of the parts that have showcased Americana music since its inception.
Some of the most significant artists in the genre are Johnny Cash, Gram Parsons, Lucinda Williams, Uncle Tupelo, BR549, Soloman Burke, Mavis Staples, John Prine, Rodney Crowell, The Band, Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris, Elvis Presley, Steve Earle, Alison Krauss, June Carter Cash, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Radney Foster, Wilco, Jay Farrar, The Jayhawks, Jim Lauderdale, The Derailers, Loretta Lynn, Ryan Adams, Kelly Willis, Son Volt, Patty Griffin, Marty Stuart, Jay Boy Adams, Joe Ely, The Subdudes, Gurf Morlix, Avett Brothers, Jimmy LaFave, Neil Young, Bobby Bare, Chip Taylor and Carrie Rodriguez, The Greencards, Kathleen Edwards, Adrienne Young, Peter Case, Joan Osbourne, The Steel Wheels, Sarah Borges, Sunny Sweeney, Old Crow Medicine Show, Doug Spartz, Holmes Brothers, Whiskeytown, Gillian Welch, Alejandro Escovedo, Golden Smog, Kendel Carson, Freakwater, The Gourds, Lyle Lovett, Ricky Scaggs, Bruce Hornsby, Eilen Jewell, Bill Kirchen, Amy LaVere, Blue Mountain, Hoots & Hellmouth, The Handsome Family, Vic Chessnutt, Ted Russell Kamp, J.J. Cale, Avett Brothers, Uncle Earl, Bob Dylan, Buddy Miller, Cord Lund, V-Roys, Dale Watson, Ruthie Foster, Tangletown, Cheri Knight, Southern Culture on the Skids, Guy Clark, Hackensaw Boys, Mindy Smith, Porter Wagoner, Stoll Vaughan, Robbie Fulks, Mary Chapin Carpenter, The Derailers, and hundreds more.


text:
Facebook Shares Slide Despite Topping Street
Facebook Inc. shares were volatile in the wake of the company's fourth-quarter earnings report, reflecting just how much attention is on the social-media heavyweight.
Facebook's earnings were down 79% from a year ago amid heavy spending as it builds out its mobile platform. But while the company's operating earnings and sales were both above Wall Street consensus, shares immediately dropped 10%, although they've since recovered most of that.
Facebook earned $64 million, or 3 cents a share (17 cents non-GAAP), on revenue of $1.59 billion.
Street consensus was for earnings of 3 cents a share (15 cents, non-GAAP), on sales of $1.51 billion. A year ago, the company earned 14 cents a share on sales of $1.13 billion.
Shares took a nosedive right as the report hit the Tape, falling 10% almost immediately. You wonder what number was programmed into the algos, because the main numbers, adjusted earnings and sales, were both above consensus.
But shares have been whittling away those losses, on heavy volume, and the stock is down 2.6% at $30.45.


text:
Coming to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, the game is "a new HD title inspired by Sega Rally Revo and Sega Rally 3." As the name would indicate, Sega Rally Online Arcade will allow players to face-off against drivers from around the globe in online multiplayer. According to the announcement press release, the game will feature six-player races and 13 rally vehicles to choose from.
Sega Rally Online Arcade will also feature Championship Battle and Time Attack modes and leaderboard support.
Sega Rally Online Arcade is set to launch sometime in 2011 for the PSN and XBLA.
From The Chatty


text:
Introduction to Mean Curvature Flow
A surface moving so as to decrease its area most efficiently is said to evolve by mean curvature flow. Mean curvature flow is the most natural evolution equation in extrinsic geometry, and shares many features with Hamilton's Ricci flow from intrinsic geometry. Mean curvature flow and its variants have many striking applications in geometry, topology, material science, image processing and general relativity.
In this course we will provide a general introduction to mean curvature flow and some of its applications. In the first half of the course we will focus on the evolution up to the first singular time, which can be described in the classical framework of smooth differential geometry and partial differential equations. A central challenge is then to extend the solutions beyond the first singular time and to analyze the structure of singularities. This is crucial for the most striking applications, and will be our focus for the second half of the course.
Some basic background in geometry is required, i.e. you should be familiar with basic concepts such as surfaces, manifolds, Riemannian metrics and the second fundamental form. Some prior knowledge of PDEs is also helpful, but not strictly required.
K. Ecker: Regularity Theory for Mean Curvature Flow, Birkhauser, 2004
R. Haslhofer, B. Kleiner: Mean curvature flow of mean convex hypersurfaces, CPAM, 2016
T. Ilmanen: Elliptic regularization and partial regularity for motion by mean curvature, Memoirs of the AMS, 1994
B. White: Lecture notes on Mean Curvature flow, available at https://web.math.princeton.edu/~ochodosh/MCFnotes.pdf


text:
Almost a decade after the Pixar hit "Finding Nemo" made clownfish seem downright warm and fuzzy, environmentalists are now looking for a real-life sequel: Saving Nemo. The Center for Biological Diversity is petitioning the National Marine Fisheries Service to extend the protections of the Endangered Species Act to the clownfish as well as several other coral reef dwellers.
Does this mean that Nemo has disappeared? Not exactly. In fact, there's no documented loss of clownfish population. For that matter, no one has a real grasp of how many of the orange-and-white striped fish there are or what's been happening to their population. The request is based on the declining health of coral reefs from climate change and related ocean acidification.
If the little fish received protection, it would be swimming in the footsteps of the mighty polar bear, which was declared threatened during the George W. Bush administration even though its numbers had recently increased. The melting of ice floes on which the bears spend much of their lives was reasonably considered a serious threat to their future.
In ways it makes more sense to move to protect a species when its habitat declines rather than its actual population. The backbone of the Endangered Species Act is the protection of critical habitat; without that habitat, there's almost no hope of saving an endangered animal, except perhaps in a zoo. But in the case of polar bears, scientists were talking about a population in the tens of thousands. (There has since been controversy about whether the expected decline of polar bears has taken place; some scientists claim they are thriving despite the lack of ice.) In the case of the clownfish, there are no numbers.
But with green (and blue) messages all the rage, it would be easy to imagine a computer-animated movie featuring a fish fight for the future of the reef.


text:
The Future, According to Eric Schmidt
In a new book out in April, Google's Eric Schmidt lays out his views for hot-button topics like anonymity and Twitter but also warns on China. Tom Gara joins digits. Photo: Getty Images.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
... I ... it's a ... straight line I'm Simon Constable wheel China's hacking disadvantage or us funds well you ... might think Sundays when it bought back and a new book tall dark ... handsome half the ... people the forthcoming book it's it's going to come and in April but you've read It's ... and some ... he's written about a lot of stuff from let's let's focus in on the China what she singer ... well we know one thing about the book is a ... very positive about the crime you are moving into the new office is a lot of ER doc ... potential ... effect because everything's going all digital ... not only does the Korea Times on the Chinese people ... it also creates a lot of prep nimble and willing to be malicious in the digital world I mean any particular pointing out that to China about the defendant in the world of malicious ... state backed militias into stuffed runner is ... basically enemy number one that they come to the country ... the focus most heavily armed to strategically using fire backing off of the espionage ... studies ... no not just in individual packets another country with Tommy ... the intelligence of the kind of things ... to use the north and filter the Internet to make a ... can of the great firewall of China that makes basically a separate Internet in China than the rest of the Internet ... hello you've read through to the damage to the tothe spoke to one region ... they get into thinker lot people are mean ... on the stoppage of generic comment in the bright new future world view album of all fund for dinner ... along with it by generic but I think people are interested in what someone ... by the really key role in her goal ... and Google is a very important company now not just in such but also in the Internet policy that will be watching some very odd ... to have a very strong role in most of the politics of the tech industry ... and ... you know when you board when he told The the conference he sees coming from a regulation two things that need it ... the way the state could only one to react to the New York and his new threats online ... I think is a very ... relevant Dalai in terms of a lot of political and social battle for the gonna go on sale I just techies would like ... the one hand that BP went to student in technology and technology policy and interest is even if it is this gonna be like an Apple book in a walk in the Apple of the new bundle What's Willis and then thats ... dominance to my normal fiercely nutty oak Healthcare numbing when you read the introduction when you read most of that ... has been pretty tough Boehnlein region of most people are really familiar themes that were fun a lot of the stuff can come home from incentive ... the idea that ... you know of the cattle had been in the Serengeti of an idiotic check prices on immobile phone and a comparing in ... the Dominican government on around for decades he's been reading books about the future solvent ... a lot of it is not breaking stuff but I think ... someone inches the market treading in policy and especially in its ... forthcoming but solid using money comes I'm impressed I don't know enough about the book market effect that the Deathly fence twenty people but you you enjoyed it though ... really looks up nut to crack right absolutely ... content ... for its off ... country much Toys R Us Wheeler appreciating read mall Mac post on the tubers day don't come


text:
|2005-12-18, 19:25
|Link #1
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2004
Age: 38
Kagihime Monogatari Eikyuu Alice Rinbukyoku
鍵姫物語 永久アリス輪舞曲
Key Princess Story, Eternal Alice Rondo
Based on a manga for young men.
The manga is serialized in the seinen(young men's) manga magazine Dengeki Daioh.
For now there are 4 volumes released of this manga, here are the covers:
Mangaka: Kaishaku (the creators of the shounen manga Kannaduki no Miko)
From AnimeNfo:
Genre: Seinen, Fantasy.
Last edited by NeoSam; 2006-07-30 at 14:39.
|2005-12-19, 01:52
|Link #2
worshipping the pantyhose
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Manila, Philippines
LOL, I went to the site through a tv guide, wondering what's this about, of course two things stuck out in my mind the moment the page loaded. Can you guess?
No, you like not to guess?
....come on, you know me well enough anybody
Spoiler for manga wanted to keep this from open sight lol:
Err, I'm revealing too many qualities of myself these days...
By the way, I'd like to contribute to neosam's post, with a few info of my own:
Set to begin airing 2006 January 03, (01/03/2006 american format date), [03/01/2006 European format date] at 25:45 hours, KBS-Kyoto, Episode 1 title,..."A Rabbit-Hole" minus the emote lol
Episode 1 will also air on TVK-Yokohama on the 4th, 26:45 hours. Will also air on 4 other different channels gradually.
Confirmed to be 13 episodes in total.
|2006-01-02, 10:33
|Link #4
Join Date: Nov 2003
I checked out the trailer for this one. The production quality seems kinda iffy, but on the plus side, there are bunny ears...
The art in the manga looks really good too. It's just that it looks like they don't have the budget to make the anime look good. I guess we'll see though.
EDIT: Here's my review w/ screencaps n' OP/ED.
Last edited by froinlaven; 2006-01-09 at 18:46. Reason: Adding addititional info
|2006-01-03, 11:04
|Link #5
worshipping the pantyhose
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Manila, Philippines
I was watching the Kagihime special that aired earlier, and the animation is alot like Canvas 2. I mean, I sweeer I could've been tricked into thinking this was an alternate universe of Canvas 2 It does really look great, and the girls, yeah you know my answer
The program also featured Magikano, ACCESS (Live Action), Kaleidostar Legend of Phoenix, the Ani10 News, singers Joe and Yoffy, among other things. I tell you that Joe and Yoffy is weird I also saw a ad for Lamune, well, the DVD that is. The DVD version of Lamune looks great, animation flows well...makes me wonder why they didn't air those To wrap up the program they showed a little clip of hm3's music video
Overall, Kagihime looks great. For one thing, I'm definately gonna watch it to extend the Canvas 2 love
And cute girls!
Girl meets boy....what's hm3 thinking...
|2006-01-03, 17:04
|Link #6
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2004
Episode 01 Screencaps
Just watched the first episode...
Last edited by Omniscient; 2006-01-03 at 20:22.
|2006-01-03, 20:23
|Link #9
worshipping the pantyhose
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Manila, Philippines
You know, this was everything I expected it to be after watching the special, it still amazes me how the VA's can be somewhat composed....
Anyways, mind my mumbling, I don't mind the fanservice. Heck, there was some in the manga too, that was very much anticipated. Ok, now I don't want to let my past history of being a massively insane bishoujo-con, but really, I seemingly wasn't fased, both in the expected and unexpected manners.
I like the colors of this show too gives me that feeling of taking me away from real life to another world...ehem, something bothered me though. In a trend I have seen before, where 2 or more different series have something in common, in this case Magikano apparently featured the Sis with a brother complex so early in the show, why Kagihime made me see so as well I'll probably never know, but that aside I'm liking this series. A fair warning to all; do expect me to go all out and nosebleed over this series as such to the tiniest of details
Really though, I'm not sure if any series is safe from my nose blood lol
|2006-01-03, 22:21
|Link #10
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Monterrey, México
Age: 38
I could swear that for a moment, Kagimono (abbreviated form of the title), seemed like an ultra-bishoujo, bunny girl, mellow fairy-tale version of Kannazuki no Miko.
I making this comparison based on the art animation for the female characters; carefully watching their sparkling eyes and faces.
Arisu and Kiraha, for example.
Besides, not something secret that Kiraha harbor's a fraternal complex thing of sorts for her brother Aruto.
|2006-01-04, 14:24
|Link #11
Join Date: Oct 2004
I think Kaishaku is going to become next Clamp. It's their forth manga been animated. IMHO, first is honor(Steel Angel Kurumi). Second is growth(UFO Princess Valkyrie). Third is charm(Kannaduki no Miko). Forth one is going to make Kaishaku remembered in the manga world(considered how many manga artists out there). The show looks like any other show appealing to otaku. Hail, this formula works so well.
|2006-01-06, 23:16
|Link #14
Yuuki Aoi
Join Date: Jul 2004
Well.... I guess "questionable" is a good way of putting it. So are "fanservice," and "enjoyable," and "can't stop smiling." I guess it's working from a formula, but I have to say the idea of the key is pretty interesting, and if we ever get to see the stories that come out, that could work pretty well. Can't guarantee I'll keep watching, but this episode was sure fun. Had a good feeling, especially...
Spoiler for ep1:
And thanks, LytHka, for focusing my attention on Kisa-tan and the tiny voice of Matsuki Miyu. That was a fairly riveting few seconds.
|2006-01-07, 04:33
|Link #15
Join Date: Nov 2003
Ok I got to let this out of my chest before anything else- what's so good about that prevert that makes his story so popular these days in anime? Is it because he had predicted, with Alice, the whole loli-jail baiting fetish a good 100 years before Japan? Or is it because of his the-father-of-all-main-character-in-harem-anime-personality, which is [sic]shy, eccentric, and seemingly incapable of having a mature relationship with a woman?
And second of all, anyone sees the striking resemblence between this and...Rozen Maidens; they all have to fight and retrieve something from each other to get the ultimate prize?
And how the hell did the main character gets a cute (similar age) sister?! This just _doesn't_ exist in real life;Neither does the yuri relationship, unforturnately.
Is that guy a reincarnation of Carroll or what?! Writing fan fictions for Alice; this just boggles my mind.
Also does the main female character appears a bit...evil, when she takes the pages (and their memories I presume) from the other girls? Of course, I won't say anything about her questionable tactic of subducing the dude and turning him into her servant (I am willing!! *wave flags* ) .
And of course, no mahou shoujo show is complete without body transformation, in full nudity.
On the topic about the mangaka- if you look at the first and last book of Steel Angel Kurumi manga, you will be forgiven to think that they were drawn by different people. The changes in terms of drawing style is enormous (for the better, as you can see from newest series).
Last edited by Thelastguardian; 2006-01-07 at 04:59.
|2006-01-07, 06:52
|Link #16
worshipping the pantyhose
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Manila, Philippines
I have a cousin who has 2 years younger twin sisters, and they are jail bait on sight And we're all old enough to, you know.... ....party!
I had a couple more friends in Germany that had cute sisters. One guy was born 5 minutes before his twin sister. I think, to my knowledge, that girl sorta liked me
Uhm, where were we? Oh ya, Kagihime...
Hey, not many a recent anime that have bunny ear girls, so, yeah, I'm liking this
|2006-01-07, 16:16
|Link #17
Join Date: Jan 2004
I hate you, mangatron! I hate you, your cousin, your friends, Germany, but most of all,
but I love you, and everyone. And your cousin. And your friends. But not Germany. Why? No idea. I like Germany.
And I still hate everything.
|2006-01-09, 18:42
|Link #18
Join Date: Nov 2003
Just finished writing up a review of the first episode with screencaps and OP/ED.
I feel this series is lacking something. The character designs are alright, but did anyone notice the giant noses in some scenes? The music is pretty weak too. I did like the whole key penetration stuff though. I can't seem to tell if that's enjoyable or not...
Last edited by froinlaven; 2006-01-09 at 20:44.
|2006-01-09, 22:20
|Link #19
Disciple of the Flames
Join Date: Sep 2004
A new release this season. The first ep was pretty good, apart from the group doing it made a hash of both editing and typesetting.
Seems to be a twist to the alice in wonderland story, but with more than a few odd twists. The music is okay, not as good as other shows of late, but it has potential to be a good series. Hopefuly Nameless will fix the problems they have with the first release in the next ep, other wise i'll be droping this one.
Last edited by NoSanninWa; 2006-01-09 at 23:17. Reason: Threads merged. Please SEARCH before posting a new thread. It will keep you from annoying the moderators or making yourself look stupid!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
|2006-01-09, 22:38
|Link #20
I am mowing clowns
Join Date: Dec 2005
I thought the animation in the first episode was "fair". Frame rate was choppy in parts and semi-fluid in a few shots. Definitely a show that doesn't have much of a budget, but they do a decent job…especially on many of the close-ups (some flaws though…facial features a bit out of whack here and there). Colors were WAY over saturated (what the hell was up with that purple?)...and the hair styles look ghastly on the long shots (80's hair bands).
The bunny ears a cute and it all seems like a good twist on Alice in Wonderland...though I must admit that I'm tired of this recent Japanese fascination with the word "Alice". It seems to be popping up more and more lately (Rozen Maiden for example).
I'll keep watching it for the bunny ears.
|kaishaku, kemonomimi, shounen
|Thread Tools


text:
Manama (Bahrain): Riot police and mourners have clashed in Bahrain following the funeral of an 8-year-old boy whom opposition groups claim died from respiratory problems triggered by heavy tear gas.
Officials did not immediately comment on the cause of the boy`s death after he was hospitalized January 19.
Rights groups and others have complained about intense tear gas use by Bahraini forces during nearly two years of unrest.
Hundreds of mourners staged a protest march following today`s burial, but were dispersed by riot police firing tear gas and stun grenades. Some protesters hurled firebombs.
Bahrain has been wracked by conflict between the Sunni-led monarchy and majority Shiites seeking a greater political voice.
More than 55 people have died in the unrest in the strategic kingdom, home to the US Navy`s 5th Fleet.


text:
To go from phone to Arduino, you could use Blue Tooth, wifi shield, or Ethernet shield with Cat 5 cable. You can connect a Max232 chip to Arduino to get RS232 output. The Arduino can most likely do what you need with time to spare. We need more specifics to give more specific information.
suppose to use....android phone
transmit the signal from wifi
RS-232 and send out to a RS-232 wireless controller
Hi,I just posted a way to do this using a windows phone, no app required, so it should work with the android. The Arduino doesn't need to be connected with a wifi shield. I used the wireless router in the house, just an ethernet shield and a cable. The Arduino serves up a webpage and then it runs the x10 which do the dimming. So, you access the web page from the android and click the buttons. I have put 'dim and brighten', along with a number of x10 on/off command buttons. The thing about x10, you have to select a specific address and then send an on, then you can dim/brighten. Here is the video link. I posted the code in a previous post.http://youtu.be/0a1vkSB2LQYRegards,Walt,
ah... another question, is it possible to directly connect my arduino uno r3 board TX and RX and gnd pin to RS232 serial port pin 2,3 and 5?
Quoteah... another question, is it possible to directly connect my arduino uno r3 board TX and RX and gnd pin to RS232 serial port pin 2,3 and 5?You need a max232 chip for that. A link for example: http://sodoityourself.com/max232-serial-level-converter/
The voltages of RS232 are different and sometimes higher.Look on this page about the middle area where it talks about voltages. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RS-232
how abt the device has the input voltage of 5V?
i tried to directly wire up from arduino to RS-232 ( yea seriously). and I try to write a program.i tested this program and i watched the status from the serial monitor, it kept print the value 2FF000D repeatedlywhile i send 1 to the monitor, it changed the value to 2FF400D but still repeatedlyand i tried to send another num to monitor, it stopped.how come the value keep looping, how can i send hex once only?however i tried the above step after i connected between TX,RX and GND of arduino board and 232port 2,3,5 pin.i sent 1 out , i could see the monitor that showed the hex of 2FF400D, but the remote dimmer didnt turn on.what's the problem here?


text:
Raksha Bandhan is a annual festival falls on fullmoon (Purnima) day of the Hindu month Sravana. In 2016 Raksha Bandhan is on Thursday, 18th of August.It is celebrated as a big festival in India.
Raksha means Protection and Bandhan means bond. Raksha Bandhan is a festival that respects and celebrate the relationship between brothers and sisters. Rakhi Purnima is a festival which celebrates the bond of affection between brothers and sisters.It is celebrated to make the relationship more stronger. On Raksha Bandhan day sister tie rakhi on the wrist of her brother. The brother in return offers a gift to his sister and vows to look after her as she presents sweets to him. Hence Raksha Bandhan is nothing but a thread that is tied and which promises a protection to the one to whom it is tied and to the one who ties it. This is considered to be the festival that symbolizes the relationship of brother and sister.
Here is the Raksha Bandhan memes and trolls here


text:
Jessica Simpson Is Getting A $30,000 Push Present From Eric Johnson
What a lucky lady! The mom-to-be is getting a sparkly surprise from her fiance!
Jessica Simpson will be getting more than just a baby when she gives birth soon! The 31-year-old's fiance Eric Johnson plans to surprise her with jewelry worth $30,000 as a push present, according to OK! magazine. "He made a big deal about how ridiculous he thought the idea of push presents was, so she has no idea that she's getting anything at all," a source reveals.
But Eric isn't getting just any jewelry — the thoughtful ex-NFL player is ordering from Jessica's favorite jeweler on the Italian island of Capri, where the couple spent a romantic vacation.
"He loves to surprise her, which is why he's pretending he hasn't got anything, but he's actually planning to totally spoil her," the source says. "He didn't just get her one thing — he really went crazy!"
The 32-year-old was so excited about his baby-to-be that he splurged on several platinum bracelets, a matching necklace with a huge amethyst and a band that will be engraved with the baby's birth date.
"He got in touch with the store in Capri because he knew that would be really meaningful to Jess," the insider adds. "They shopped there on her 30th birthday, which is when they first talked about spending the rest of their lives together."
But the secret might not last for long… "He's so excited he's been telling practically everyone!" the source says.
Do YOU think $30,000 is too extravagant for a push present?
More Jessica Simpson:
- Pregnant Jessica Simpson Can't Get Any Bigger — Can She?!
- Ashlee Simpson: Jessica Simpson 'Will Be Such A Good Mommy'
- Jessica Simpson: The Beauty Side Effect Of Being Pregnant


text:
Contrary To Fox's Claims, The Obama Administration Is Not Defying The Supreme Court
Blog ››› ››› REMINGTON SHEPARD
Fox News is falsely accusing the Obama administration of "thumbing its nose" at the Supreme Court's recent decision to strike down most of Arizona's controversial immigration law. In fact, the federal government is continuing to enforce immigration law in a manner consistent with the Supreme Court decision.
The court on Monday struck down most of the law, but allowed the so-called "show me your papers" provision of the law to go into effect. In response, the Department of Homeland Security announced that federal officials will not respond to every traffic stop at which Arizona authorities claim to have an undocumented immigrant in their custody. Federal officials will continue to take into custody immigrants with a criminal record and other people who meet federal immigration enforcement authority. DHS is also rescinding its immigration enforcement partnership program with Arizona.
While this announcement is in no way at odds with the court's ruling, Fox News is citing as evidence that the Obama administration is in defiance of the court.
Sean Hannity claimed that Obama was "basically thumbing his nose at the judiciary branch."
Other Fox commentators made similar comments. Fox News contributor Charles Krauthammer claimed that Obama was acting "high handed and lawless." And Fox News host Greta Greta Van Susteren claimed the president "snub[bed] his finger, a little bit, at the full court."
In fact, the DHS announcement is perfectly consistent with the Supreme Court's decision. The Supreme Court said that ICE must "respond to any request made by state officials for verification of a person's citizenship status." And DHS will indeed continue to verify an individual's immigration status on request. But the Supreme Court did not impose additional limitations on the federal government such as a requirement that the federal government must arrest all the people that Arizona wants arrested.
Under the court's ruling, the federal government retains its well-established power to use its discretion to decide who it wants to deport.
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- Fox News Channel
- Person
- Sean Hannity, Charles Krauthammer, Greta Van Susteren, Shannon Bream
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- On The Record with Greta Van Susteren, Hannity, Special Report with Bret Baier
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text: Thanks for all of you for giving me the ideas for setting up a script for user accounts managements... Here is what I did and at this point of time it is working just fine ( Might not be very fancy for some of you) for our cluster...... I created a script for password change like this passwd $1 matchusers.sh This will prompt for the new password and will update all the nodes.... matchusers.sh script looks like this rcp /etc/group geonode1:/etc/group rcp /etc/passwd geonode1:/etc/passwd rcp /etc/shadow geonode1:/etc/shadow rcp /etc/group geonode2:/etc/group rcp /etc/passwd geonode2:/etc/passwd rcp /etc/shadow geonode2:/etc/shadow rcp /etc/group geonode3:/etc/group rcp /etc/passwd geonode3:/etc/passwd rcp /etc/shadow geonode3:/etc/shadow . . . for all the nodes in cluster, Now if the password is changed for any user it being automatically updated on all the nodes. I did some reading on LDAP that also looks a nice options for accounts managements. Seems like none have done worked on it, I am Still hunting for some time to work on LDAP, I will try to post some more info on that soon... Jai Rangi ------------------------------------------------------- In the world with no fences, why would you need Gates ? - Linux -------------------------------------------------------


text:
Out of the archives of Fun-1, Ewan finds an old post of mine about the tragic events at Imola in 1994, which I had also revisited in 2009.
18 years on, I'm still stunned when I think of the event, although Asif Kapadia's Senna documentary has softened my viewpoint on Ayrton. Perhaps the events of the day should be required viewing for anyone desiring a motorsport license; a little reflection is never a bad thing.
Roland, Ayrton, rest in peace.