text:
By Glenn Ruffenach
If you're thinking about applying for a reverse mortgage any time soon, you'll soon learn that the regulations are getting tighter. And that, most financial advisers say, is actually a good thing.
In a reverse mortgage, homeowners borrow against the equity in their house. They can take the money in a lump sum, monthly payments, or as a line of credit to be tapped when needed. Used wisely, reverse mortgages enable older adults to tap the value of their homes without having to uproot themselves and sell.
But these complicated loans aren't free of problems. Some reverse-mortgage borrowers pull too much equity from their homes, use up the cash, and then find they are unable to afford insurance, taxes and maintenance for the property. Some couples have been foreclosed on when only one spouse was listed on the deed – and that person subsequently died or moved into a nursing home.
The good news, as Tom Lauricella reported in The Wall Street Journal's Sunday edition, is that the federal government is tightening guidelines on such mortgages, which should help protect borrowers from their own mistakes.
"These changes are all positive," says Alicia Munnell, an Encore contributor and the director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.
Reverse mortgages are generally made by specialist lenders, and the most common loans are backed by the Federal Housing Administration's Home Equity Conversion Mortgage program (they're widely known as HECM loans). Borrowers must be 62 or older to qualify.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development in 2013 changed the rules, setting a limit on most loans – in the first year – to 60% of the available equity in the house as determined by FHA standards. In subsequent years, borrowers can tap the remainder of the equity in their home.
In addition, HUD is weighing a requirement that lenders first assess would-be borrowers' ability to meet their financial obligations on the property. Depending on the outcome of the evaluation, the new rules could require a homeowner to set aside money upfront to pay insurance and property taxes.
"The important thing about these mortgages that people really need to remember is that they are loans, and as with any loans they come with a set of obligations," says Lori Trawinski, a policy adviser who specializes in reverse mortgages at AARP, the advocacy group for retirees.
NeighborWorks America, based in Washington, D.C., is one organization that helps train counselors and provides referrals to counselors that specialize in reverse mortgages across the country. The group operates a hotline for those looking for general information or counseling referrals: 888-990-4326.
Also on Encore:
Retirees' mortgages can outweigh low taxes
Plan to downsize your home? Don't wait
New rules could revive reverse mortgages
Glenn Ruffenach edits The Wall Street Journal's guide to planning and living the new retirement. Reach him at email@example.com.


text:
These e-mailers are writing about a wrong
- |
OK, maybe I jumped the gun a little. I got caught up in the moment. On the eve of the Super Bowl, I wrote that Peyton Manning was better than Tom Brady. I was positively Peytonized. And as Rick Pitino once said, "that's how I felt at the time.''
Fortunately, this is sports and opinions change every day. Now that Manning lost the Super Bowl with his Favre-like pick six, he's a mere .500 quarterback (9-9) in postseason play. He's still two rings shy of Brady, who is 14-4 in NFL tournament play.
Nothing beats being wrong on the sports pages of The Boston Globe. And that is because of you, gentle readers.
Choosing Manning over Brady in these parts is like taking Magic over Larry. You invite a ton of dispute and insult. And these days, dissent arrives faster than a Jonathan Papelbon fastball.
There's a spectacular immediacy about e-mails and message boards. In the bygone era of US Mail delivery, several days would pass before I'd open letters and read about how stupid I am. Many of the missives, some in Crayola, arrived long after I'd moved on to another topic.
Not now. In 2010, you hear about what a dope you are before you pack up and leave the press box.
Especially in Boston. Especially if you type without pompoms dangling from your wrists.
Sunday night in Sun Life Stadium, I started getting "I told you so e-mails'' before the game was even over.
The avalanche of anger was triggered when Tracy Porter jumped the route, picked off Manning, and ran 74 yards into the end zone with just over three minutes to play. While Garrett Hartley was kicking the extra point, my computer blinked.
You have new mail.
New mail? Suddenly my inbox was hotter than the switchboard at your local
Subject lines hinted at the tone of the messages:
"Eating crow.''
"Have you had a change of heart?''
"Mr. Right.''
"Peyton ain't no Brady.''
"You know how to pick 'em.''
"Shame on you.''
Something told me these were not high school students asking about a job-shadow opportunity for the spring semester.
As always, the commentary was astute and hilarious.
■"Dan - You are like a TV weatherman in New England. How much of the time are you really seriously right? Would you like some seasoning with your order of crow? Better luck next time.''
■"I understand you got an assignment to write some usual BS for the Super Bowl. That's how you get paid. But, you have to get into people's nerves and create some controversy in order for some people to read your stuff; know that I am being polite with the word 'stuff.' ''
■"You, just like the "Who'' stinking at halftime, are washed up.''
■"You need a haircut. Manning is not better than Brady, just different.''
■"Boy Dan, does your column look foolish now! Peyton The Playoff Choker was back to his old self on Sunday, throwing a critical Pick Six in the 4th Quarter of a big, no BIGGEST, playoff game to seal the win for the Saints.''
■"Attaboy Dan . . . you finally showed the entire sports readership of Boston.com exactly how stupid you are by announcing that Manning is better than Brady BEFORE the results from SB 44. How'd that work out for you?''
■"Dan - I took the Saints for the game. When I read your article about Manning, I doubled it. Thanks for your input.''
■"In light of new information are you willing to admit you were wrong? Is Manning still better than Brady? I think you should probably write a public apology.''
■"You are the perfect reverse barometer. Whenever you jump on someone's bandwagon, the wheels fall off.''
■"Why don't you move to Indianapolis?''
It was great stuff. And there was a lot of it. I even got CC'd on a message delivered to Globe football guru, Albert Breer:
"Nice call Al . . . did you say something about Jim Irsay accepting the Lombardi Trophy @10p.m tonight? It's hard to believe, but you are almost as big a boob as Shaughnessy, which is just about impossible.''
Seven minutes later, the same reader sent me my own critique:
"Danny, You did it again you idiot . . . idolizing, glorifying, Pats-bashing. Still with one (1), uno Super Bowl title - you are almost as much of a moron as Albie.''
Now there's a guy who needs to make up his mind. Boob, idiot, or moron? Which is it?
Welcome to the wild west of web readers and reactors. This must be why my head always snaps around when I'm in the middle of a big crowd and somebody yells, "Hey, stupid!''
Keep 'em coming, people. We love to know that you're out there and that you care.
I might even get a haircut.
But I am not moving to Indianapolis.
Dan Shaughnessy is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Happy Birthday
Katie Holmes, actress and Bride of Scientology, turns 31 today. Hard-charging hedge fund manager Dan Loeb is turning 48. Brad Pitt turns 46. Steven Spielberg is turning 63. Christina Aguilera is celebrating her 29th birthday today. Dan Klores, the publicist turned documentary filmmaker, is marking his 60th. The head of the American Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten, is 52. Memorial Sloan-Kettering president (and Nobel Prize winner) Harold Varmus is turning 70. Troubled rapper DMX is 39. Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones is 66. Ray Liotta is turning 55. Model agency owner Faith Kates is 52. And former Miss USA Tara Conner is turning 24 today. A bunch of weekend birthdays is below.
Saturday: Hotelier Eric Goode (52); Jake Gyllenhaal (29); Alyssa Milano (37); Tyson Beckford (39); Lady Sovereign (24); Criss Angel (42); actress Marla Sokoloff (29); and real estate developer Douglas Durst (65).
Saturday: David Wright (27); Law & Order creator Dick Wolf (63); actor Jonah Hill (26); Chris Robinson (43); model Lara Stone (26); singer JoJo (19); American Idol winner David Cook (27); and interior designer James Huniford (52).


text: On Thu, 5 Feb 2009, Nifty Tom Mitchell wrote: > In my youth I worked at an ice house with a massive ammonia based cooling > system. Given the green movement I suspect that some on this list will > see central brine and ammonia systems as primary chiller resources in > their future. Hmmm, except for the fact that ammonia is oh, oh so toxic should you spring a leak... > This is an interesting topic to discuss but when distilled to its > core it mostly boils down to lots of hot air. Ooooooo, baaaaad. rgb > > > -- > T o m M i t c h e l l > Found me a new hat, now what? > > > _______________________________________________ > Beowulf mailing list, Beowulf at beowulf.org > To change your subscription (digest mode or unsubscribe) visit http://www.beowulf.org/mailman/listinfo/beowulf > Robert G. Brown http://www.phy.duke.edu/~rgb/ Duke University Dept. of Physics, Box 90305 Durham, N.C. 27708-0305 Phone: 1-919-660-2567 Fax: 919-660-2525 email:rgb at phy.duke.edu


text:
I grew up watching television, so I saw Kukla, Fran and Ollie and Howdy Doody. I liked to act and sing, and in college I started to perform. But I WAS A TERRIBLE ACTOR, and I think the focus on my own person was sort of a problem for me. And at that time, I saw Bread and Puppet Theater, and I saw this was a way of making theater, but instead of focusing on yourself, you could focus on this object and make it move.
PUPPETRY IS PERFORMANCE that involves the focus of the performer and the audience both being on this material object, which can be sculpted to represent Punch or Kermit or Elmo or a Shalako puppet from the Zuni people or whatever.
In Occupy Wall Street, they had a puppet of the STATUE OF LIBERTY. Bringing that super-important American symbol into the middle of the gathering was an attempt to say, "Hey, what we're doing is as American as the Statue of Liberty." IT'S A SIMPLE OBJECT, but the ideas connected to it and the context in which it's placed make it a pretty complicated means of performance.
The idea of the festival is to bring together a variety of different types of contemporary puppetry — it's called PUPPETS! AN EVENING OF UNCOMMON THEATER [it's free, but reservations are required; e-mail email@example.com]. I'm hoping that the audience sees the different ways performers today use puppets to articulate really interesting ideas, things that can't be done with actors.
I think I'm a little nuts, because I'm thinking about puppets all the time. I was working at MIT for a while, and in the Media Lab they are building ROBOTS WITH EYES and faces and expressions and emotions. And when I look at those, I think this is the field of puppets. — As told to Joel Brown
Interview has been edited and condensed.


text:
Cutting the Cord Part 5 - Media Center Add-Ons, Options and Wrap Up
Windows Media Center Add-ons and Plugins – Page 1
Missed any installments of our Cutting the Cord Series? Catch up on them here:
- Cutting the Cord Part 1: The Assessment
- Cutting the Cord Part 2: Building your HTPC – The Hardware
- Cutting the Cord Part 3: Building your HTPC – OS Install and Tuning
- Cutting the Cord Part 4: Building your HTPC – Installing and Configuring Windows Media Center
- Cutting the Cord Part 5: Wrap up - Media Center Add-ons and Options
Now that we have our Windows Media Center up and running, we can investigate a few additional add-ons and plugins that can further improve upon the experience you can get from your Media Center. In addition to discussing some great add-ons, I'm going to discuss how well our HTPC build has done with our power efficiency goals, so without further ado let's jump right into it!
My Experience: The add-ons and plug-ins that I'm going to walk through are by no means all that's out there. There are tons of add-ons that will add anything from Local Weather to full overlays for your movie collection. One thing to keep in mind is that any add-on or plugin can completely bork up your Media Center. Always test the add-on on another box first, or even better, do a full image/backup of your Media Center before you try any new add-on or plugin. You do have a full image of your brand new Media Center build on another machine that you can re-image yourHTPC with right? (Check out Clonezilla or Acronis True Image if not…)
Windows Media Center Add-ons and Plugins
Windows Media Center is excellent right out of the box, but there are a few add-ons and plugins I like to add to our Media Center to give us some additional functionality and increased usability. By a wide margin, the one we use the most is Netflix.
Back when Netflix was a scrappy newcomer, trying to get subscribers, they were putting their client on every device and platform that would talk to them. They worked out a deal with Microsoft to have the Netflix client pre-installed right into Windows Media Center menu.
My Experience: The built in application was apparently a joint project between Microsoft and Netflix, which may seem great, but has actually turned out to be a quagmire of finger pointing. Since it was originally released, the application has not been updated since and both companies have washed their hands of it and point to the other as being responsible for the application. The UI badly needs a facelift, in particular with the way you navigate through titles that have multiple seasons. While all seasons of the title will show up as a single entry in your Instant Queue, there is no way to easily jump from season to season and the only way to navigate episodes is to pull up episode lists that starts at Season 1, Episode 1, every time you open up the episode list. While this may not seem like a big deal, if you watch a show with a lot of episodes (like Cheers with 11 Seasons and 275 episodes) you have to scroll past every single prior episode to get to the next one you want to watch. Clicking the down arrow on your remote over 200 times to get to the next episode you want to watch not only gets old real fast, but eats batteries like mad.
Episode list problems aside, we still use Netflix on a daily basis and it's relatively easy to setup. First, scroll up to the "Movies" line and select the Netflix tile.
You'll be greeted with a full Netflix splash screen. Put a check in the "I have read and understand the Terms of Service and Privacy Statement" checkbox which will then activate the "Install" button. Click on Install and off we go.
Read on to see more add-ons that you can add to your Media Center!
Netflix will install required components like Silverlight and the core components for Netflix itself. Once installed, you will be asked for your Netflix account email address and password, or given the option for a 30 day trial if you don't have one. Enter your membership information, make sure there's a check in the "Remember me on this computer" box and hit the Continue button.
That's all there is to it. The Netflix UI lets you navigate and watch titles in your Instant Queue as well as search for other shows and movies by title or popular categories.
Video News
FYI - Container guidance is off. Rename "C:\Windows\System32\mfds.dll", install LAV Filters. Done.
If you want HBR bit streaming LAV Audio will need some configuring. Same is true on the video side if you want HWA decoding.
Almost forgot. The installer should register LAV for MKV, but if it doesn't put this in a .reg (mkv.reg) file and run it.
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
"Content Type"="video/mkv"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Media Type\Extensions\.mkv]
"Source Filter"="{B98D13E7-55DB-4385-A33D-09FD1BA26338}"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Media Type\Extensions\.m2ts]
"Source Filter"="{B98D13E7-55DB-4385-A33D-09FD1BA26338}"
Concerning leaving the box running 24/7 to make sure extenders can access content on demand... I'm not 100% clear on what settings I've got configured for this to work but my own Media Center recording box actually just wakes up automatically if it's asleep when I load up Media Center on my Xbox. It's maybe an extra 2 second delay (if that) compared to loading it up when the machine is already running. I don't have one of those Ceton extenders to see if it works with that as well, but I don't see why not.
Too bad about your IR receiver not liking sleep mode, but I just thought I should mention that you don't NEED to leave such a box running 24/7 if your goal is to stick it in a corner and only really use extenders.
I'm pretty sure setting up the BIOS/UEFI to wake on LAN would work fine if I can figure out why the IR receiver won't wake up. I'm going to keep experimenting :)
if you put a cross in the green and black wire on the 24 pin connector, it will leave the psu on, thus leaving the IR sensor functioning. hope this helps.
Two things I would recommend based on my own personal experience. First, if you ever plan on watching copy protected content, I can't recommend the Gefen HDMI Detective enough. Windows HDCP support is terrible, especially if you have a receiver with an HDMI splitter. The HDMI detective stores the EDID's of devices down the chain making the EDID always available regardless of the status of the devices. This is really useful for setups in which you want to have it go to sleep and wake up.
This also leads into my next suggestion. Media Center Standby Tool is a great utility to make your HTPC act even more like a regular DVR.
For premium cable I recommend the Silicondust HD Homerun Prime CableCARD tuner. I currently use it because cable service is included with my rent. All I pay the cable company for HD channels is a $2 CableCARD rental. The HDHomeRun is much better than Ceton's option in my opinion because of the versatility it has by being a network tuner. Unlike the Ceton which requires the primary HTPC to be on at all times for tuner sharing the Prime is always there ready to go. I also had issues with resuming from standby with the Ceton. Having TV available on every computer in the house is really nice, and HDTV over WiFi is actually pretty good. Dropouts occur occasionally, but not much.
My HTPC:
Intel Celeron G530
ASRock H61M/U3S3 Motherboard
HIS Radeon HD 7770
4GB Corsair DDR3 1600
WD Green 750GB
ASUS Blu-Ray Drive
Corsair CX430 PSU
Hauppauge HVR-2250
Silverstone GD05B Case
Logitech K400 Keyboard/Mouse
Rosewill RHRC-11001
Silicondust HDHomeRun Prime
This build was designed with being my one stop shop for everything (TV, Couch Gaming, Blu-Ray, etc.) It has served me well as believe it or not the Celeron has more than enough juice for HTPC/Light gaming duties while running cool. It was definitely a learning process, and I went over budget when I decided to add CableCARD into the mix.
My recommendation to anyone deciding to build their own HTPC, especially if you plan to use CableCARD, is to plan ahead, do tons of research, and expect headaches.
Overall, you had a very well written, informative, and conclusive article series. Well done good sir.
Like many people who have a serious media collection I have it all stored on a NAS.
Sadly on my HTPC I installed w8 because the interface seemed more sensible on an HTPC than classic windows (rookie mistake no 1!).
The NAS is on a workgroup because I also have desktops running XP (for work, why change), laptops running Vista (the laptop was free). W8 libraries do not play nicely with this, in fact but for a dreadful fudge they will not play at all. The idea of switching everything to a homegroup may not work either because of the multiple OSs across the home network and my HTPC is not on 24/7.
MS have not really understood the concept that home users might use a NAS.
Time to build a small server and set up an active domain !
Great article Chris!
A few other things to do with your HTPC. If you haven't checked out PLEX or XBMC, give them a look (for watching content off your network etc). I have XBMC running on my Raspberry Pi :-) I too have a (couple of) NAS drives/servers and like to store all my stuff for streaming around the house. I can do it with WMC, but I prefer PLEX for compatibility (too may iOS, Mac, Win, Android devices).
For control, I gave up on trying to use a remote. My Silverstone LC16M case came with a nice WMC remote and I'll occasionally use it but for controlling my HT"PC", I use a wireless Logitech keyboard with a built in trackpad. Its actually the one they made for their failed Google TV (have one of those too) but I picked it up online for $30. There are a few custom Google TV buttons and it isn't backlit but I love it.
There are some great iPhone/iPad/Android remote apps out there that can be slick. Mobile Mouse is one of my favorites. If you have a smartphone or tablet already, these can give you really nice custom UI's for different apps on the HTPC.
Boxee TV is crap, but there is a new product from a Kickstarter project called Simple.TV. Similar to Boxee but you record locally. Might be an option for those people that don't want to build an HTPC.
There are a few alternatives out there for people if they don't want to use WMC. I still use BeyondTV on one of my machines. I don't think the development is too active on it but you can still buy it. It isn't cheap, but it had a lot of post-processing features that I really loved.
I still use my old Hauppauge HVR-850 USB tuner and also a 1850. I'm lookiing to pick up the Centon quad tuner since I havne't convinced the wife/kids to drop cable yet. (my goal for 2013).
Something to keep in mind as well for those that are afraid about lack of content. I can't remember if you mentioned iTunes or Amazon Instant Video but both of these are great options for picking up content. RedBox has also just started a streaming service. I unfortunately have Hulu Plus and Netflix Subscriptions (dropping Netflix soon). the reason I like iTunes (no groaning) is that I can pick up a season pass for certain shows and watch them they day after they air. You may have to wait for some premium content like Game of Thrones, Homeland etc since HBO/Showtime want to milk their own services as much as possible first. Amazon has really turned out to be a suprise for me. $70/yr for Prime and I get free 2-day shipping on most purchases, Instant Video and a number of other perks. They just released a player for iPhone/iPod so they now cover the array of iOS devices for Instant Video streaming.
I don't know your specific use case, but I'd highly recommend looking into the HD Homerum Prime over the Ceton. The Prime changes channels significantly faster, and if you want to have your htpc go to sleep the Prime is much better at handling that than the Ceton. I kept having issues with the Ceton on resume. Plus, the Ceton gets really really hot. Also, because the prime uses your network any computer on your network can access TV using one of the three available tuners.
Just food for thought. In my experience the Ceton was nothing but headaches whereas the Prime has been fantastic. Also, keep in mind that the CableCARD tuners are only supported by Windows Media Center right now. That being said however Silicon dust just added DLNA certification to the Prime which means thou can view channels on DLNA devices like the PS3. Yet again though, the PS3 is currently the only DLNA device that will allow viewing of protected content.
When you say protected content, can you elaborate?
As for my use case - good luck :-) I just like this space so I've been playing with devices, hardware, software for at least 10 years now. I have 2x Rokus, 2x Apple TVs, Google TV, Sony SMP-N100 media player (tried N200), Boxee TV, Raspberry PI (running XMBC), Popcorn Hour 100, 3-4 devices no longer made, WD stuff, Seagate stuff, and 3 HTPCs.. I'm sure I'm missing a bunch too. (not including all the "smart" TV's, Blu Ray players etc).
I've looked at the Home Run. I almost bit the bullet a few times on that. I'm probably picking up the Smart.TV thing I mentioned first and after that I'll have to check out the Home Run. The Centon was really just a replacement for my Hauppauge that is getting a little old and figured I'd go with something that could do CableCard/Multi-Tuner. May have to rethink that.
In the end, the Beyond TV software I used to use would run on a box in the back (4tuner cards) it would record everything I wanted, post-process it all into various formats, move it to my media servers and bob's your uncle. I tore apart that box 4-5 years ago so I'm looking to go back to something similar. I want the family to be able to EASILY click a few buttons and find content on the network without a lot of fuss. Since some of them are stuff watching Housewives of who gives a crap, I'm still going to be stuck using stuff like iTunes/Apple TV to give them access to that. I just picked up a Mac Mini to possibly turn into another HTPC using XBMC, PLEX and iTunes. Probably put that up with them in the main viewing room.
This is the problem with this space, so many options, so many media content owners, so many people trying to "own" it. As a result, consumers get the shaft. I don't pirate content - period. But here I am waiting more than a year to PAY for it on iTunes because HBO is such a dumbass company. Drives me nuts.
I ranted about this on my site...
Oatmeal has a great comic about this too... awesome stuff
Yeah, for you I would not recommend either the Ceton or the Homerun Prime because of the CableCARD requirement. Those tuners will function without a CableCARD after initial setup, but they, and I can't stress this enough, can not tune anything other than digital or clearQAM streams. For you I would recommend a Hauppage 2250. It supports ATSC and ClearQAM with the ability to tune 2 streams at once. Your other option could be the regular HD Homerun which is an ATSC/ClearQAM network tuner with 2 tuners as well. You could get two of them which would provide a total of 4 streams for any compatible device on your network.
Now, to explain what I meant by protected content. TV programming has two flags that the companies can set: copy-freely or copy-once. Copy-freely has virtually no restrictions allowing it to be played back on pretty much any device. Copy-once are your protected channels which only allow playback on the device they were recorded on. The flags are set differently by each cable provider. My cable provider sets the standard OTA networks (Fox, ABC, etc) as copy-freely, and everything else to copy-once. This means that Discovery HD, BBC America, etc are all copy-once and can only be played back on the HTPC that recorded them. You can't even use a media center extender to watch those recordings. The DRM system implemented for cable is a total pain, and based on what you told me digital cable is really not an option for you unless you decide to go ahead and run Windows. As I said before Windows Media Center is currently the only software that supports CableCARD devices, leaving Mac and Linux users out in the cold.
I hate DRM, but like you I choose to enjoy content legally and as such I have had to work through several headaches to get everything working as I like. If you read further up you will see how my setup is arranged.
If you would like to see the backbone of my cable setup:
The way I have everything setup is the router serves as my NAS with the 2 TB hard drive (mainly for XBMC and backups), and you can also see my Prime and the SDV adapter provided by the cable company. SDV is also another PITA that you have to deal with. I wont go into detail about what it does, but I will just say that it is required to view certain channels (yet again depending on who your cable provider is).
Thanks. Thats what I thought you meant about the protected content, but wanted to make sure they didn't slip in something else when I wasn't paying attention.
Lunar, I did get a laugh out of seeing SIN on the shelf. I was at BFG when NVIDIA suckered us into paying to bundle SIN Episodes... We had so many of those laying around.. (That and GRAW).
I'll take a pic and diagram my stuff some time.
SIN lol. I actually enjoyed that game even though it wasn't good by any stretch. I can't believe you worked for BFG. I loved BFG products. I was sad to see them go. Although, it sounds like you guys were screwed by NVIDIA.
I would like to see your setup. I love to see the different HTPC setups that people have.
It is perfect time tto make some plans for the future and it's time to
be happy. I have read this post and if I couyld I wish to suggest you some interesting things or advice.
Perhaps you can wrfite next articles refdrring to this article.I wish to read more things about it!
Do you use an amp on your antenna? I'm about 50+ miles from Chicago (and Milwaukee) and pretty much north/south so I picked up a decent antenna http://www.amazon.com/Antennas-Direct-DB2-Directional-Antenna/dp/B000EHU...
I get about 30 channels (some dupes) but with a $20 amp from local home improvement store, it cleans up the signal on a few and brings in another 7 channels I didn't get before. I'm sure there are better/cleaner amps but for $20, I'm not complaining.
I watched the SuperBowl in Jan on the projector 100inches, 720P and full surround - all over the air. Was amazing. Way better than the "HD" from comcast.
Yeah, I have an inline booster on the antenna to help boost the signal and push it down the coax. I was using a simple Radio Shack inline booster that I don't believe is available anymore. I've since gone with the Antennas Direct CPA19 booster and had pretty good luck with it.
Yeah I need to look at some other stuff. I have one channel I'd like to get a better signal on. The booster I'm using is only a 10db gain but then again it was under $20 :-)
An impressive share! I've just forwarded this onto a co-worker who has been conducting a little research on this. And he actually bought me dinner because I stumbled upon it for him... lol. So allow me to reword this.... Thanks for the meal!! But yeah, thanx for spending some time to talk about this issue here on your web page. watch Bethlehem online


text: > > hi ya > > > > i claim ... that the same problem that occurs for > > 1U will also be a problem for cooling the cpus in 2U cases > > > > what you need to watch out for is to make sure the > > cpu fan has enough air gap between the fan and the cover > > > > 0.5" for 1U cases is sorta a minumum requirement so > > that the fan can do its magic in cooling the heatsink. > > - most fans are just too close to the cover > > and is just a noise maker ... or place the fan on the side of the heat sink and blow through it... The stock intel socket603 xeon heats sinks do this, although they're to tall for 2u cases... supermicro's 2u and 1u cases do the same although the 1u's use rotatry blowers mounted off the board rather than fans mounted on the heatsink proper. used in conjunction with intake and exhaust fans and decent cable mangement an airgap on top of the heatsinks should't be than critical... > > mroe air gap above the fan is better ... and someplace > > where the air after hitting the cpu can go elsewhere... > > ( something to suck the hot air off the heatsink > > > > have fun > > alvin > > http://www.linux-1u.net ... amd 1800+ of faster(?) in 1U ... > > -- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Joel Jaeggli Academic User Services joelja at darkwing.uoregon.edu -- PGP Key Fingerprint: 1DE9 8FCA 51FB 4195 B42A 9C32 A30D 121E -- In Dr. Johnson's famous dictionary patriotism is defined as the last resort of the scoundrel. With all due respect to an enlightened but inferior lexicographer I beg to submit that it is the first. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"


text:
Polybead® Amino Microspheres are monodisperse polystyrene microspheres that contain surface primary amine groups. Protein coupling using glutaraldehyde as a coupling agent will result in protein binding 11-12 carbon atoms from the surface of the bead. These microspheres are packaged as 2.5% solids (w/v) aqueous suspensions.
Nominal Reference Values:
- 6.00µm mean diameter
- 2.5% solids (w/v) aqueous suspension
- Coefficient of Variance (CV): 10%
- 2.10 x 108 particles/ml
- Hazards:
- Harmless-use normal precautions
- Handling:
- Exercise normal care
- Storage:
- Store at 4 degrees celsius;Do not permit to freeze


text:
Washington: The head of the US Anti-Doping Agency accused Lance Armstrong of lying during an interview earlier this month with Oprah Winfrey, in which the former cyclist acknowledged using performance-enhancing drugs for most of his career.
In an interview with CBS on the show "60 Minutes", extracts of which were released Saturday, Travis Tygart said the former cyclist - despite finally coming clean about his PED use for the first time - lied about several key points during the Jan 14 interview with the TV talk show host.
The USADA director also said he has sent a letter to Armstrong giving him until Feb 6 to fully cooperate in the investigation into his doping in exchange for a possible reduction in his lifetime suspension from all sports that adhere to the World Anti-Doping Agency code.
Tygart said Armstrong lied when he told Winfrey that the last time he used PEDs was in 2005 and that he was not a heavy user of the blood-booster EPO.
Those statement are not true and his blood tests in 2009 and 2010 - when Armstrong made a comeback - prove that, Tygart, who has been investigating Armstrong for years, said.
"His blood tests in 2009, 2010 - expert reports based on the variation of his blood values - from those tests, one to a million chance that it was due to something other than doping," the USADA chief said.
"He used a lot of EPO. You look at the `99 Tour de France samples and they were flaming positive, the highest that we`ve ever seen," Tygart added.
The USADA chief also contradicted the former cyclist`s assertion that he did not pressure the fellow members of his US Postal Service Pro Cycling Team to dope.
"He was the boss. One of the ringleaders of a conspiracy that has deceived millions of fans and competitors," Tygart said.
Armstrong, a cancer survivor, was stripped last year of all seven of the Tour de France titles he won consecutively from 1999 to 2005 after refusing to defend himself from doping allegations compiled by USADA.
The International Cycling Union, or UCI, decided in October not to award the titles to the second-place finishers of those races, a move that lends credence to Armstrong`s contention that he used PEDs as part of a larger doping culture in cycling.
The former cyclist, in fact, told Winfrey that he does not think any cyclist could have captured the Tour de France in the years he won the race and that he believes he was competing on a "level playing field".
Armstrong has lost lucrative endorsement contracts as a result of the scandal and in October he stepped down from the board of directors of the cancer-fighting Livestrong Foundation he founded in 1997.


text:
The 2007 season was marked by the acquisition of Borasbot (and the depletion of the farm system). The trade was supposed to put the Braves over the top but they were doomed by a porous rotation beyond Huddy and Smoltz.
Fellow 20 worsters Kyle Davies, Jo-Jo Reyes and Mark Redman received a significant number of starts. Buddy Carlyle started 20 games. Chuck James, 30.
Lance Cormier, who walked 39 and allowed 90 hits in 2006, re-entered the rotation in June and was consistently awful. He had a 6.85 ERA in 9 starts, walking 4.3 and allowing 11 hits per 9 IP — and these were starts made during a pennant race that wasn't.
Cormier as a Brave: 6-11-5.73, 119.1 IP, 146 H, 61BB, 24 HR, 1.735 WHIP.


text:
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- This event has passed.
Meat + Wine Pairing
Thu 3 May @ 7:00 pm - 9:30 pm£25
Who's Attending
21 people are attending Meat + Wine Pairing
This series of tasting events runs on one Thursday every month and is hosted by our very own bon viveur, Sean Cannon. He will show his passion for drinking and eating well, and during the course of the evening will pass on his enthusiasm and knowledge whilst matching different fine wines with a range of British cured meats and artisanal foods.
These are informal evenings, in which you will learn about the provenance of a range of intriguing wines, and hear the wonderful stories behind the cured meats we source from the length and breadth of the UK.
After the pairing we have on offer some very tasty platters of meat, cheese, pickles and breads/crackers, and a selection of further wines and beers are available for those who wish to extend the evening.
And on past form, many do! We promise you a very enjoyable and indulgent evening…


text:
"Cotton was my first love until I found wine grapes," says Neal Newsom of Plains, Texas.
High Plains farmers Neal and Janice Newsom traded a life of traditional Texas row crop agriculture for wine grape production.
Neal Newsom grew up a cotton kid. His father and grandfather raised cotton in East Texas and later developed and operated cotton gins in West Texas. When Newsom attended Texas Tech University, chemistry professor Roy Mitchell, a pioneering Texas winemaker, piqued Newsom's interest in wine grape production.
"Cotton growers are taught to think big at birth; the more rows on the planter and the more acreage you farm is better," Newsom said. "It's the reverse for a grape grower."
The Newsoms diversified their 2,400-acre Upland cotton, milo, and watermelon operation in 1986, with five acres of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes purchased from a California nursery.
"We farmed cotton and grapes for 20 years and planted a few more acres of grapes each year," Neal Newsom said. "We finally got big enough to become commercially viable in just grapes."
Today a neighbor farms most of the Newsoms' row crop ground. The Newsoms, including Neal's mother Laverne, own and operate the 95-acre Newsom Vineyard. Wine grape yields average 2 to 3 tons per acre; about 250 tons total annually. Harvest runs from late August and to early October. The grapes are grown conventionally.
Grapes have made the Newsoms more financially solvent.
"When I was a big row crop farmer and a smaller-sized grape grower, it seemed like most years I was taking grape money to prop up the cotton farm," Newsom said. "After 20 years I decided that wasn't the thing to do."
"Cotton farming allowed me to buy a lot of land to get where I am. Grapes have always generated more income than row crops. I set the grape price instead of being told what I can take for my cotton crop. That's a huge difference."
Newsom sells the grapes to 10 Texas wineries plus a few bins to an Oklahoma winery. Texas-grown wine grapes sell for $1,500 to $2,000/ton depending on the quality and variety, according to the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA).
Texas is the nation's seventh largest wine grape grower with about 280 commercial vineyards on more than 3,100 acres. Texas is the fifth largest wine-producing state with 177 wineries producing about 2.4 million gallons of wine annually.
The High Plains Appellation is one of Texas' best microclimates and terroirs for grapes, the TDA says. Shallow, sandy soils over caliche, warm daytime and cool nighttime temperatures, plus low rainfall and humidity create the good grape-growing environment. Texas has eight official wine grape-growing regions.
Newsom Vineyards is located at 3,700 feet in elevation and just 15 miles east of the New Mexico state line. About 1,000 plants are planted per acre in 11-foot spacing between rows and 4 feet between the vines.
"Cabernet Sauvignon has always been our kingpin grape," Newsom said. "It's probably the hardest variety we grow and it's difficult to get consistent yields. It's the grape the wineries want."
Newsom receives about a 25 percent premium for Cabernet Sauvignon grapes. Yields average 2.5 tons/acre.
Other varieties grown include Merlot, Sangiovese, Orange Muscat, Tempranillo, Malbec, Pinot Grigio, and Cabernet Franc grapes.
The grapes require 18 to 20 inches of water annually. West Texas rainfall varies from 4 to 25 inches annually. Additional water is pumped as needed from a well drilled to the Ogallala Aquifer.
Newsom utilizes a simple, non-moveable, two-wire vertical shoot positioning trellis system. The vines remain erect naturally due to smaller canopies that result from low vigor soil. The calcareous-type soil includes 1 foot of sandy loam over 1 foot of red clay over caliche.
Newsom shared his cotton-to-grape journey during a TDA-sponsored High Plains Planting Tour for journalists in the late spring.
Newsom strives to reduce labor costs. He developed a mechanical transplanter in 1988, and first mechanically harvested grapes in 1993.
"We mechanically harvested in 23 hours what had previously taken 60 people more than five days to accomplish," Newsom said.
A mechanical hedger pre-prunes canopies in the spring.
Grapes are harvested at night when the temperatures (and grapes) are cooler. Neal runs the harvester while Janice directs the loading of refrigerated trucks for individual wineries.
Most of the vines are self-rooted. Most commercial rootstocks developed for the California and European wine grape industries do not grow well on the High Plains, Newsom says.
"Research underway at various agricultural research centers around the country could provide commercial rootstock in the next five years designed for nematode control and high pH," Newsom said. "We need vines that harden off early in the fall to prevent winter kill following the first freeze, plus vines that remain dormant through the winter despite warmer temperatures in January."
The main canopy pest pressure is powdery mildew which causes stunted berries, scarring, and poor flavors in wine. Newsom uses sulfur all-season long for mildew control. Dithane is applied in the early season. Pristine and Flint provide summer-time control. Three sprays are applied during drier summers and five sprays under wetter conditions.
Pierce's disease, vectored by the glassy-winged sharpshooter insect, was found on the High Plains several years ago, according to Edward Hellman, viticulture professor and Extension specialist with Texas AgriLife Extension and Texas Tech University. Pierce's disease kills grapevines, and there are no effective treatments.
"Some vines have tested positive for Xylella fastidiosa, the causal organism of Pierce's disease on the High Plains," Hellman said. "To date we can't confirm that vines have been killed by PD or that it is being spread. An intensive trapping program in 2008 yielded a handful of glassy-winged sharpshooters."
Newsom plants elbon rye in the fall between rows as a cover crop to reduce soil erosion and cool the soil in the spring to delay bud break. The rye is sprayed with Roundup after the last freeze date to stop the competition for moisture and later plowed under to mix the organic matter into the soil.
Today the push in Texas is to rapidly increase wine grape acreage. Most Texas grapes are grown for the Tier 1 market, premium wine selling for more than $20/bottle. Newsom believes 10,000 to 12,000 acres are needed to fulfill that demand.
"We need more growers," said Newsom, immediate past-president of the Texas Wine and Grape Growers Association. "We need to significantly increase grape acreage – double or triple it – to meet the demand of wineries."
The Newsom family has no regrets about leaving cotton production for grapes.
"Our grapes are like our kids; we brag on them nonstop," Newsom said.
email: firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
June 9, 2006
Wabash College Professor William C. Placher has received the Indiana Humanities Award from the Indiana Humanities Council, which honors leaders in contemporary American society who exemplify thoughtful leadership and character.
Placher, Lafollette Distinguished Professor in the Humanities, received the award Wednesday at the Indiana Leadership Summit, a premier annual leadership event that convenes over 500 corporate, government, education, and non-profit leaders from across Indiana.
"Bill Placher's teaching, writing, and thought prepare Wabash students, national scholars, and people of many faith traditions for humanistic leadership in society," said Wabash College Dean Raymond B. Williams, who spent more than 25 years as Placher's colleague in the Philosophy and Religion Department at Wabash.
The Indiana Humanities Award recognizes outstanding scholars and academic leaders in the field of the humanities whose teaching, writing, and thought help to prepare future humanistic leaders in society. Placher is one of five recipients of the award's inaugural presentation.
"We now need—more than ever before—the skills of humane judgment that the humanities help develop; guiding us back from information on the Internet to the knowledge embedded in books and moving on to the kind of practical wisdom that has historically made America both stable and innovative," said James Billington, Librarian of Congress, whose ideals guide the Indiana Humanities Council in the selection of the award recipients.
Placher is author and editor of eleven books, including A History of Christian Theology, used as a resource in many academic settings; Jesus the Savior: The Meaning of Jesus Christ for Christian Faith; and Callings: Twenty Centuries of Christian Wisdom on Vocation, funded by Lilly Endowment Inc. He also edited Essentials in Christian Theology, honored in 2004 by the conservative magazine Christianity Today and the liberal journal Christian Century as one of the year's outstanding books.
His works on religion and theology reach a wide audience in the academy, church, and the wider society. He has served on the Visiting Committee for Harvard Divinity School and as a consultant to Lilly Endowment. For many years he has been a member of the Center of Theological Inquiry at Princeton and he serves on the Advisory Board of the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion. The American Academy of Religion, a scholarly society with 10,000 members, awarded him the Excellence in Teaching Award in 2002.
"In his quiet and unassuming way, Bill Placher has a greater national impact on the humanities in colleges and universities and on theological reflection in theological schools and churches than any theologian I know," added Dean Williams. "His intellectual leadership in the College and influence on Wabash students for several decades has been profound."
Placher is a 1970 Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Wabash College, where he majored in religion. He earned his master's degree and Ph.D. from Yale University, and joined the Wabash College faculty in 1975.


text: Ryan Sweet wrote: > Here's what I propose: let's make a "Beowulf.org Guide to Linux > Clustering", or whatever the heck else you want to call it. Let us > outline, review, improve, and comment on it here on this mailing list. > Here's the hard part - lets also set a deadline, with realistic goals, > and try to stick to it. Lets assign any publishing rights or other > "details" like that to the FSF or Linux Documentation Project. [...] > Second, please take this opportunity to tell me why this is a bad idea, > and while your at it send your comments on the questions above. I'd say a wiki would be an easier start as it is self-organizing. Depending on how it develops, you can still turn it into a book. Joachim -- Joachim Worringen - NEC C&C research lab St.Augustin fon +49-2241-9252.20 - fax .99 - http://www.ccrl-nece.de


text:
SANTA ANA — The defensive effort was obvious, as the Costa Mesa High girls' water polo team pitched a shutout late into the fourth quarter Wednesday night.
But as the season enters the home stretch, there were other areas where Coach Tim Postiff saw room for improvement after his team's 10-2 Orange Coast League victory over Godinez at Santa Ana Valley High.
Costa Mesa (14-8, 2-1 in league) had to work for everything it got offensively. And the Mustangs were just two for five on their power play.
Part of the kudos for that had to go to Godinez, which fell to 11-14, 0-2.
"We couldn't get anything going offensively on a consistent basis," Postiff said. "Last week [in a 20-4 win over Estancia] our defense led to some counter goals and quick offense, and we couldn't get that established today at all. It was just a grind the whole game, and that's a credit to [Godinez]. They didn't allow us to get out in transition. They got up in the lanes fast."
The Mustangs still now sit in second place in the five-team league. They can clinch second place outright by topping Saddleback at home on Jan. 30 in their league finale.
Senior Kellie Thorsness had a game-high four goals Wednesday for Costa Mesa, and she also had four steals. Senior defender Aubry Hill had two goals and seven steals. Junior Devon Christensen (four steals), sophomores Melissa Folkerts and Lauren Smith and senior Ashley Tfaye all added goals for the Mustangs.
Tfaye and Thorsness drew two exclusions each, and Hill also drew an exclusion and a five-meter penalty shot.
Tfaye, Hill and Thorsness (six-on-five drawn by Smith) scored in the first quarter for Costa Mesa.
Junior goalkeeper Kaitlyn Hill had to make just two saves for Mesa, which led, 6-0, at halftime. The lead reached 10-0 in the fourth quarter, when Aubry Hill scored on the counterattack.
"We've been practicing things, what to do and not to do, so I think that helped a lot," Tfaye said. "They were pretty grabby, but I think we did a good job of keeping up with them. I wasn't expecting as physical [a game], I was thinking a little bit more mellow, but it was good defense to keep up with.
"The chemistry we have now really helps a lot in the game. We make eye contact with each other off the counter; the bonds that we've made so far really help. We've been trying a couple of new drives when we're on offense too, and I think a lot of the things we're trying this year are really working. We're doing a lot better than I expected."
Colleen Sloan and Kimberly Ramirez scored in the fourth quarter for the Grizzlies. Aliyah Nunez had five steals, and goalie Aylin Castro made four saves.
Costa Mesa faces a challenge in its next two nonleague games. The Mustangs play host to Huntington Beach on Friday and Edison on Saturday. Edison is ranked No. 8 in CIF Southern Section Division 1.
"It's going to be a good test for us," Postiff said. "It'll be interesting to see how well we do against that competition. We are in D1, and those are two schools from the Sunset League. It'll give us a look at where we stand, in regards to a lot of the other teams in Division 1."
Tfaye agreed with her coach.
"I know they're going to be a little bit faster than us, but we've been working really hard in practice and trying to get our speed up," she said. "If we come out like we did for our Estancia game and the way we played today, we can hopefully keep up with them and maybe win.
"We're always ready for a challenge," she added.
Twitter: @mjszabo


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More fashion: Top seed Roger Federer and Nike don't deviate too much from the black and blue they used during the 2007 U.S. Open. (Why fix what ain't broke, right?) For Roger's 2008 Aussie Open day wear, the colorway is New Blue, Soft Grey, and White.
Some nice detail, too. Notice the grey stripe running the length of his blue wristband. And of course the monogram on the polo.
What do you think? Tell us!
Buy: Federer Control Polo, $65 (order will ship on 2/6/08); Global Control Short, $45. Alas — the headbands and wristbands are not available.
Scoreline: Roger has taken out Diego Hartfield, Fabrice Santoro, and Janko Tipsarevic so far. His opponent in the fourth round is Tomas Berdych, the first seed Roger will face in this tourney.
>> previewing roger's aussie open gear


text:
Words to Remember from Edward R. Murrow
It was a little over 59 years ago that Edward R. Murrow publicly criticized Wisconsin Senator Joe McCarthy, who had alleged the federal government was full of Communists.
Now, I was very young then, but I do remember the McCarthy hearings, which were televised, in which McCarthy accused anybody and everybody, it seemed, of being subversive.
Of course, it was a different time. In post-World War II America, there was fear of Communists and fear that they would take over the world, the US included. McCarthy played on that fear and exploited it, even if he had nothing to back up his accusations.
Eventually, McCarthy was repudiated and he died of cancer.
But on March 9, 1954, Edward R. Murrow took the Wisconsin Senator to task on "See It Now" with some of the most effective words I've ever heard:


text:
Cat's Cradle Presents
Robert Randolph and The Family Band
BIG Something
Haw River Ballroom
1711 Saxapahaw-Bethlehem Church Road
Saxapahaw, NC, 27340
Doors 7:00 PM / Show 8:00 PM (event ends at 11:30 PM)
Robert Randolph ~ We Walk This Road
This record is a celebration of African-American music over the past one hundred years and its social messages from the last thirty. Although we cover a whole timeline of different eras on We Walk This Road, what ties these songs together remain their message of hope, their ability to uplift.
After we finished our last record, Colorblind, we began searching for a great producer to help guide the follow up. We wanted someone who understood me and the road I've walked this far, who understood our connections of my roots within rock and gospel and the church, who would help us put those things in their most compelling context.
T Bone Burnett shared the vision of how gospel, blues and rock could be put together in a way that could relate to my history and connect to my present. It was important to us that we make the record we wanted to make, even if the end result was unclassifiable. We just focused on making great songs and great music that spoke to me, and that reflected the way I try to speak to the world.
We recorded We Walk This Road over about two years, after T Bone had finished his record with Alison Krauss and Robert Plant. We went into the studio with virtual libraries of songs, whole volumes worth of material to go through. T Bone brought in old archival songs from the twenties and thirties and many of them were in the public domain. I had songs that I had written with the band, or that other artists had sent me, and we sat down and starting sifting through history.
When we found something we liked, we would either cover it or re-work it using our own words or melodies. Through this creation came an education. T Bone opened a lot of doors for me serving as a link between the past and the present. He knows how to take something from the past and bring it into the present while still allowing the artist to make it his own, in the same way that Hendrix took Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower" and made it belong to him.
T Bone listens to music that our grandmothers would listen to as children–not even music that our fathers listened to, but songs that go even further back…some from Gospel and Christian blues, the music that people working in fields across the south likely sang nearly a century ago. Those are the real roots of rock and roll, where everything else comes from.
I was only allowed to listen to modern Christian and gospel music growing up, so there was so much I didn't know about. My mind is expanded now. The record is finished and I still feel as if I'm not done. I've spent over $5,000 on iTunes in the past eighteen months just catching up. Before this record, I didn't sift through music past the Seventies. I didn't know about Blind Willie Johnson, or Chess Records. I thank T Bone for being a tour guide into the deepest parts of my musical roots.
We connected the last one hundred years of African-American music in the way people used to: You write your own songs, you cover other people's material, you re-work older songs. We had some amazing people come in to help. Leon Russell came by to hang out and wound up playing piano on the last track, "Salvation." Ben Harper plays guitar and sings on "If I Had My Way." The base of that song came from Blind Willie Johnson, and it was really difficult to get right. It was a country tune for a while. I had honestly given up on it. But Ben came down and said, "Let me get in there! I know just what to do!" He went in there and smoked the choruses, and I thought, "Now we've got a tune." It's one of my favorite songs on the record.
Where We've Been
I grew up in the House of God church. The pedal steel was a big part of our church tradition. I grew up watching older guys play, and I started playing when I was fifteen. When I was nineteen, someone gave me tickets to a Stevie Ray Vaughan concert. After that, I wanted to play pedal steel like Stevie Ray played his guitar. I wanted to take another path than the people who played traditional pedal steel to take it to a whole new level.
We started playing and touring around New York City in 2000, playing clubs like Wetlands, and things started to take off. We were selling out large New York clubs with no record deal, and it started to spread to Philly and Boston. Soon, we signed to Warner Brothers, and word began to get around about us nationally. Great artists like Eric Clapton and Dave Matthews and B.B. King accepted us. Young artists, too: we toured with the Roots and Pharrell and John Mayer. We have been fortunate to be accepted by a wide range of fan bases, and we have been able to build from there. I definitely feel as if everything has been working up to this moment, to this record.
Where We're Going
I'm very excited to play these tracks live. Those people who have been our fans and followers should see the progression from our last record to this one, and the road we've taken won't seem too foreign to them. When people come to see us, they know that it's really about the message, about making them feel good. Hopefully, this record will inspire them in the same way. It certainly makes me feel happy. I can't see myself recording depressing lyrics, lyrics that leave people without a sense of hope. It's not in me to use the power of the microphone to make music like that. That's why this record is uplifting - it's got great messages. It's all there.
My goal is to open the door for people, in the same way that musical doors have been opened for me. I want to take this musical history and make it relevant to give people a better idea of who I am and where I came from. I think even though I'm a young guy who was born into the era of hip-hop and contemporary gospel, I can help bridge the cultural gap between people who are seventy-five years old and kids who are fifteen years old by reaching back into this history of music.
We Walk This Road was done in our belief in what we all need right now: young voices saying something positive without preaching in hopes of inspiring people. When you stick to what you believe in, and with the roots of where you come from, things will always work out.
BIG Something
The BIG Something is a high-energy, groove-based modern rock band. Their new album, "Stories from the Middle of Nowhere," produced by Grammy nominee John Custer, is an adventurous outer space thrill ride with a truly BIG sound. The songs are catchy and charming, layered and soulful with great hooks and colorful storytelling.
$22.00 - $25.00
Upcoming Events
Haw River Ballroom
Thu, April 25
SwitchPoint Conference
Fri, May 3
The Jayhawks
Sat, May 4
Haw River Festival & Launch of Saturdays in Saxapahaw
Thu, May 9
Son Volt
Thu, May 16
Second Chance Dine & Dance for Benevolence Farm


text:
Formation and Education for the Life of the Church
The term "hands free" will never enter your mind if you've got
two small toddlers with you in church. If I'm not holding the
squirmy one, I'm holding the other who's restless and ready to fall
asleep. Because of this, being able to use a hymnal or a missalette
during the liturgy can be a rare occurrence for me.
This became especially evident when the changes in the Mass were
introduced. I even thought about buying a new daily missal to help
learn the responses, but I wasn't sure if my kids would give me a
chance to use it!
So a few weeks ago, I found a free app for my smartphone that
contained the commonly used texts and responses in the liturgy -
the Confiteor, Gloria, Creed, etc. I thought this would be really
helpful since I'm not able to use the reference pages in the hymnal
or reach one of the worship aids in the pew while holding a small
One Sunday as I held my daughter when the Nicene Creed started,
an idea came to me. While holding her with one arm, I could use my
free hand to look at my smartphone and I could finally recite the
Creed without stumbling over the words!
Well, what I thought was divine inspiration quickly became
something else. Toward the end of the Creed, I realized how out of
place this must have looked and quickly put the phone away.
Sure, I was legitimately using my smartphone as a worship aid,
thumbing through the text of the Nicene Creed. But to the people
around me, I'm sure it looked like I was reading email, checking
Facebook or playing Words with Friends. My wife's
"what-are-you-doing" glance definitely confirmed my suspicion.
A Catholic radio show host tells another interesting story about
mobile devices in the liturgy. He was attending a wedding at a
parish he had never been to before. As the bridesmaids lined up at
the door of the church, a well-dressed man began slowly walking
down the center aisle, carrying an iPad prominently above his head
- the same way a deacon carries the Book of the Gospels in the
entrance procession.
No one was really sure what was happening. Was this some type of
e-Gospel book? Was this the beginning of the procession? If so,
should he stand up? As the guy walked by, he realized what was
going on. It was just the wedding photographer taking a video
recording of the aisle that was decorated so nicely.
It's no surprise anymore seeing people use smartphones, tablets
and other similar devices in public. (In fact, it's more of a
surprise to find someone without one.) But in church, we're not
there yet and I'm not sure why.
Already popular are the Divine Office app, the eBreviary and
other similar programs for those who want to pray the Liturgy of
the Hours using a mobile device. My parish deacon will tell you he
actually prefers the electronic version of the Breviary - it's more
portable, easier to read and the pictures are nicer!
It's easy to envision future generations of Catholics
incorporating these devices into the Mass. Imagine the ambo or
pulpit with a touchscreen, complete with an eLectionary and a
Prayers of the Faithful app. Instead of a thick, heavy Roman Missal
for the celebrant, a thin, lightweight tablet with a cover that
matches the color of theMass.
It could even receive automatic updates with the latest
liturgical revisions and new prayers for recently canonized saints.
For the faithful, the parish would have WiFi capability and
charging stations in the pews next to the hymnals. (Okay, I think
I'm getting a little carried away now, but there's already an app
called the iMissal.)
We may not be ready for all this now; however, anything that
enhances genuine participation in the liturgy is a good thing. It
would be interesting if the Congregation for Divine Worship or the
USCCB issues norms or similar documents for guidance. If that's
going to be the case, how do you say mobile device in
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Housing Market Information Portal
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Tag: in-house video
RaceTrack picks IEBA for 100th store celebration!
by IEBA on Aug.15, 2013, under CLIENT VIDEOS, Corporate
RaceTrac 100th DFW Store Celebration
RaceTrack has over 600 stores nationwide and when they wanted to really celebrate their 100th store opening in the DFW area, they decided to throw a party– at Cowboys Stadium! This huge event needed an appropriate way to celebrate the history of RaceTrack, convey a message from the company president to DVW employees, and to celebrate the stores and activities of everyone in the DFW area. They chose Anthony Burokas of IEBA Communications to craft a video that did all this, and was entertaining as well.
CLICK TO READ MORE: (continue reading…)


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SCons / AdvancedBuildExample
The SCons wiki has moved to https://github.com/SCons/scons/wiki/AdvancedBuildExample
NOTE: This page was edited by hand into its current format by cutting-and-pasting a copy of the page that was saved at archive.org. It is entirely possible that some formatting or other errors crept in during the editing process. If you notice any errors, please correct them.
This document describes the build used on the Bombyx Project in a way that is a tutorial of SCons. It covers various advanced topics in a bit of detail, and gives pointers to other documents that describe the technique in more detail. Some of the things shown here are "voodoo" and probably not standard. If you find a better way to do something, then please contact me with your suggestion.
Table of contents:
The great thing about SCons is that it is very flexible, but still very easy to use. The one bad thing is that there are few examples to get a person started. You can read the man page, but there's nothing that really shows you some best practices to follow at first. After working with SCons for a while, I've come up with a fairly well laid out build environment that works on multiple platforms with very little configuration. It follows a logical configuration where SCons can configure itself based on information it finds. It also breaks out the "configuration" of the build (such as where libraries are, and what header file paths are needed) from the actual Environment object specification. This is important when supporting multiple developers who use different systems, or when building on heterogeneous systems. This lets the user configure the build for the target system without modifying the operation of the build.
Key Terms
I'll be filling these in as I find things that I need to explain a bit better.
Build Design
The goal of the Bombyx build system is to create a logical build configuration that will make it very easy to build the software on multiple systems in a consistent manner. It also tries to separate the different levels of configuration from each other to allow for a modular design. Finally, it has a couple of advanced features which might interest you.
I also wanted to make it easier to localize builds in the right place, and "autoconfigure" from the common config scripts found in many libraries (like, GTK+ has gtk-config, and FLTK has fltk-config).
To accomplish this, I have the following:
* A file that contains the general build variables that you need to set no matter what target platform you have, like targets and sources and so on. * A file that contains any functions you need to support your build outside of those provided by SCons. * A single top-level SConstruct file that handles the major configuration work and target build directory selection. * A SConscript file in a target build directory that makes final configurations for that platform. This also localizes build results into a single directory.
The next section covers this layout in detail and gives some of the benefits of it.
Layout & Structure
First, we need to configure the locations of the different files necessary for the build, and describe what each does:
* _ROOT/_ * build_config.py * build_support.py * SConstruct * _src/_ * main.cpp * _build/_ * _linux/_ * SConscript * _freebsd/_ * SConscript * _win32/_ * SConscript * _darwin/_ * SConscript * _default/_ * SConscript * _tests/_ * testrunner.cpp * test1.h
The italicized things are directories (root, src, build, etc.) the other things are files used SCons in the build (SConstruct, build_support.py), and the .h and .cpp are example source files. The root directory is just whatever you call the directory where you do your work.
The first thing to notice is that, in addition to the SConstruct file in the ROOT/ directory, there's two more files, "build_config.py" and "build_support.py". The build_config.py file has basic configuration information that each developer would probably need to modify on different platforms. The build_support.py file contains any support functions you need that don't fit into the SCons system. I have a few nice little tricks in this file that make builds more automatic.
The next thing of importance is the build/ directory and its contents. The build/ directory is where the program is built for each target system, using additional configuration information necessary for that system (in the SConscript file there). This build directory is switched automatically by a function in the build_support.py file depending on the platform indicated by Python.
Finally, there's the tests/ and src/ directories, which hold the source code for the system. The tests/ directory is currently not used quite yet, but it will eventually hold Unit Tests from the CxxTest project which this build configuration will run automatically and produce reports. The src/ directory just holds the source for your system. You can organize this directory how you wish, and I may have a configuration in the future that will allow SCons scan this directory and build different targets depending on how it is structured.
Based on this, here's an example of what happens when you run SCons from the ROOT/ directory on a Mac OS X (Darwin) system:
1. SCons reads the SConstruct file 1. SConstruct imports the contents of build_support.py and build_config.py 1. SConstruct uses a function ([SelectBuildDir](SelectBuildDir)) from build_support.py to figure out what the target build directory should be. 1. The [SelectBuildDir](SelectBuildDir) function does some magic (explained later) to figure out that the darwin target should be built in _ROOT/build/darwin_. 1. SConstruct switched to _ROOT/build/darwin_ and loads the SConscript file there 1. This final SConscript file makes any last minute changes necessary to build on the target system and then starts the build like normal.
While this may seem complex at first, it has a few very big advantages over just a single SConstruct build:
1. If you want to change the configuration for a build, you just edit build_config.py 1. If something weird needs to be done on a target platform, you just edit the ROOT/build/<target>/SConscript file. 1. You shouldn't have to edit the ROOT/SConstruct file after you have it configured (even when you switch to a new target). 1. Adding a new target is as easy as just making a new directory in _ROOT/build_ and adding an SConscript file with the required changes. 1. SCons will default to the _ROOT/build/default_ directory if present, letting you put a generic SConscript file for any unkown targets. 1. The build is localized to a single directory, which makes it a bit easier to organize multi-target builds.
Finally, I have done most of the work for you, so you should just have to modify the files a bit to get things going and then you're done.
Support Library
The build_support.py file has some functions that the SConstruct build uses to do some work. These files really don't have anything to do with the current build setup, and only clutter the SConstruct files if you put them there. By moving these support routines into your own file, you localize them and make them easier to maintain. It also keeps the SConstruct files clean from anything unecessary.
The code for the first function used in Bombyx is very interesting:
def ParseConfig(env,command,options): env_dict = env.Dictionary(); static_libs = [] # setup all the dictionary options if not env_dict.has_key('CPPPATH'): env_dict['CPPPATH'] = [] if not env_dict.has_key('LIBPATH'): env_dict['LIBPATH'] = [] if not env_dict.has_key('LIBS'): env_dict['LIBS'] = [] if not env_dict.has_key('CXXFLAGS'): env_dict['CXXFLAGS'] = [] if not env_dict.has_key('LINKFLAGS'): env_dict['LINKFLAGS'] = [] # run the config program to get the options we need full_cmd = "%s %s" % (WhereIs(command), join(options)) params = split(os.popen(full_cmd).read()) i = 0 while i < len(params): arg = params[i] switch = arg[0:1] opt = arg[1:2] if switch == '-': if opt == 'L': env_dict['LIBPATH'].append(arg[2:]) elif opt == 'l': env_dict['LIBS'].append(arg[2:]) elif opt == 'I': env_dict['CPPPATH'].append(arg[2:]) elif arg[1:] == 'framework': flags = [env_dict['LINKFLAGS']] flags.append(join(params[i:i+2])) env_dict['LINKFLAGS'] = join(flags) i = i + 1 else: env_dict['CXXFLAGS'].append(arg) else: static_libs.append(arg) i = i + 1 return static_libs
What this function does is take an SCons Environment object to work on, a command to run which should output compiler options, and a list of options to pass to the command. It then takes the standard output from this command, parses it, and modifies the Environment appropriately so that the library will work. It is used like so:
#!python ParseConfig(env, "fltk-config","--static")
The function then runs "fltk-config --static", takes the output that the script gives (which are the compiler options needed to use FLTK), and modifies the Environment object env so that it reflects those options. Since SCons doesn't allow you to specify static libraries in the list of libraries, it returns the statis libraries so you can append them to the build sources in your targets.
/!\ Bombyx currently doesn't use this function since I've switched to using FOX, which doesn't have a configure script. Still, it's a very useful function, feel free to steal it.
The next function simple takes a build directory and a platform (if you don't give a platform, it will ask Python what it thinks the platform is). It then for a build directory under ROOT/build that matches the platform name. If a platform is not found then it defaults to the ROOT/build/default directory, so that you can at least attempt building on unknown platforms.
#!python def SelectBuildDir(build_dir, platform=None): # if no platform is specified, then default to sys.platform if not(platform): platform = sys.platform print "Looking for build directory for platform '%s'" % platform # setup where we start looking at first test_dir = build_dir + os.sep + platform default_dir = build_dir + os.sep + 'default' # we look for a directory named exactly after the # platform so that very specific builds can be done if os.path.exists(test_dir): # make sure it is a directory target_dir = test_dir else: print "Exact match not found, finding closest guess" # looks like there isn't an exact match # find the closest matching directory dirs = os.listdir(build_dir) found_match = 0 for dir in dirs: if platform.find(dir) != -1: # found a match (hopefully the right one) target_dir = build_dir + os.sep + dir found_match = 1 break if not(found_match): print "No match found, looking for 'default' directory" # looks like this platform isn't available # try the default target if os.path.exists(default_dir): target_dir = default_dir else: # bad, nothing is available, tell the user print "No build directories found for your platform '%s'" % platform return None print "Found directory %s, will build there" % target_dir return target_dir
This function is the core of the Bombyx build setup, as it allows you to create different build target directories and easily configure them. I would like to add the ability to select the closest matching build directory if an exact match isn't found. So, if netbsd doesn't exist, then it will try bsd, and if that isn't found then default is chosen.
The next file is simply a nice thing to have if you absolutely must have a file. SCons doesn't give good error messages when a missing library or something (it just lets the compiler do it). Using this function let's you require a particular set of files before continuing. It exits whenever it encounters a file not found so that the user can correct the problem.
#!python def RequireFiles(files, found_files, search_path): i = 0 for file in found_files: if not(file): print "ERROR: Could not find the %s file in:" % files[i] print "ERROR: \t%s" % search_path print "ERROR: Edit the build_config.py file and add" print "ERROR: the location of this file to the appropriate variable." sys.exit(1) else: i = i + 1
These functions are hidden away in the build_config.py so that the SConstruct files are easier to understand and modify later.
Configuration File
The next part of this build is the build_config.py file, which contains the variables that all targets need, usually consisting of variable assignments. Here's the build_config.py from Bombyx:
#!python import os ## where we find libsilcclient.a, libsilc.a, and other STATIC libraries lib_search_path = ['/lib','/usr/lib','/usr/local/lib','/usr/local/silc/lib'] ## where we should find things to include include_search_path = ['/usr/local/silc/include','#src'] ## These are our source files sources = ['ChatWindow.cpp', 'dbg.cpp', 'FXBroadcast.cpp', 'MainWindow.cpp', 'Server.cpp','main.cpp'] test_sources = ['ChatWindow.cpp', 'dbg.cpp', 'FXBroadcast.cpp', 'MainWindow.cpp', 'Server.cpp','#tests/testrunner.cpp'] # update the environment with options from fltk-config static_libs = ['/usr/local/lib/libFOX.a'] #### You should not change these. These are only here #### If you want to start your own build setup with a #### different layout than mine. source_base_dir = 'src' build_base_dir = 'build' target_name = 'bombyx'
As you can see, this is pretty simple stuff. The nice thing is that even the source_base_dir, build_base_dir, and target_name variables are configurable. This lets potential users change the layout of the directory structure if they don't like the name 'src' and 'build'.
The target_name variable is probably not useful if you need to compile multiple target files (programs, libraries, etc.). Right now Bombyx just has one target file (bombyx) and eventually a test target. I'll have to develop a way that you can configure multiple sources->target configurations. But, this is good enough for now, and any more would probably just confuse things.
The key to this file is that, when you go to a different target platform, you can just go into this file and make the changes you need easily. Also, if you need to add a new source file, you just edit the build_config.py file again.
/!\ Currently the test_sources is only used for my development of the testing framework for Bombyx. I'll be updating this document with that when I'm done with it. For now, just ignore.
Top Level SConstruct File
Now that all the support stuff is out of the way, I'll cover the top level SConstruct file. This file acts as the major configuration entry point, and coordinates all the other SConstruct files. It does as much configuration as it can for all target platforms, then it switches to the platform specific SConscript file for each platform in ROOT/build.
The top level SConstruct file follows:
#!python import os import sys from build_support import * from build_config import * # Setup some of our requirements env = Environment() # setup the include paths where FLTK and silc should live env.Append(CPPPATH=include_search_path) env.Append(LIBS=['m', 'jpeg', 'png', 'tiff', 'z', 'Xext', 'X11']) env.Append(LIBPATH=['/usr/X11R6/lib']) # variables the sub build directories need Export('env', 'sources', 'static_libs', 'test_sources') # start the build target_dir = '#' + SelectBuildDir(build_base_dir) SConscript(target_dir + os.sep + 'SConscript') BuildDir(target_dir, source_base_dir, duplicate=0) Default(target_dir + os.sep + target_name) # this sets up an alias for test that will compile the unit tests # into the resulting testrunner program. env.Alias('test', target_dir + os.sep + 'testrunner')
You should be careful of line #23 since it contains the "duplicat=0" argument to ?BuildDir. This tells SCons to not copy files to the platform build dir (like .h and .cpp stuffs) when it does the build. This is important because the scons -c command does not properly clean these files out, and when there are errors you'll get the line numbers from the copied files and not the actual files. This makes it really difficult to find the errors automatically in things like Emacs or Vim.
This file imports the stuff it needs, sets up the basics of the Environment variable, exports the necessary variables to the platform SConscript file, and then switches to that file. It also has some stuff specific to the Unit Testing framework I'm developing for SCons which we'll ignore.
I'll cover this file line by line as it is the general culmination of what we've covered so far: [[!table header="no" class="mointable" data=""" 1 to 4 | Imports some Python libraries and the build_support.py and build_config.py files to get the required configuration variables and support functions. Notice it uses a from statement to to the imports for build_support.py and build_config.py so that they can be refered to directly (it's inconvenient to have to say build_config.build_dir). 9 | Sets up the Environment object env that we'll use to configure the build. 12 to 14 | Appends some additional information that all targets need (targets that don't need it can remove them in the platform SConscript file). 17 | Exports the variables that each platform SConscript file will need to complete the build configuration. These are later Imported by the platform SConscript file. 21 | This runs the ?SelectBuildDir function defined in the build_support.py file to figure out what the platform build directory should be. 22 | Tells SCons to use continue processing with the SConscript file in the platform build directory. 23 | Tells SCons to use the build directory that SelectBuildDir returns. The duplicate=0 says not to copy the files from source to the build dir when it builds. This has some consequences, but gives you better error messages. 24 | Sets up the default target to whatever we described in the build_config.py file. This is only a convenience so that people can type "scons" without having to say "scons build/darwin/bombyx". 28 | This is for the future Unit Test running setup. It creates an alias from "test" to the testrunner program. This lets users do "scons test" and have the testrunner build. This currently works, but I need to add running the test program and also building reports. """]]
This is pretty straight forward and demonstrate some of the features of SCons. You could move things from build_config.py as you see fit. For example, if I wanted to have multiple targets, I would probably want to move them to this file where I have more flexibility (build_config.py usually just has variable assignments, where SConstruct files can use all of SCons).
Platform SConscript Files
Next I'll cover the most complicated platform SConscript file, that for the Mac OS X platform. This platform is interesting since it has such a wildly different installation of GCC, which defaults to strange locations and uses GCC 2.95.2 by default. This requires us to make major changes to the environment in the platform SConscript file. Here's the file:
#!python # import these variables from the parent build script Import('env', 'sources', 'static_libs', 'test_sources') # add the specific things needed by MacOSX GCC macosx_incs=[] env.Replace(CXX='g++3') env.Replace(CC='gcc3') env.Replace(CPP='gcc3') env.Replace(LINK='g++3') env.Append(CXXFLAGS='-DDBG_ENABLED') env.Append(CPPPATH=macosx_incs) # add the bombyx target to the environment env.Program(target='bombyx', source=sources + static_libs) # add the testrunner target to the environment env.Program(target='testrunner', source=test_sources + static_libs)
We'll cover this file line by line also so that you can understand each thing going on. It's pretty simple, and I'll demonstrate a regular build for the Linux platform later. [[!table header="no" class="mointable" data=""" 2 | Imports the variables the the root SConstruct file Exported previously (go look, this is really, really important in this build setup). Make sure you understand this concept. You can call Export() from one SConstruct, switch to another SConscript and then Import those same (or less) variables. 7 to 12 | We just replace some variables that Mac OS X needs configured differently. This is an example of modifying what the root SConstruct file thinks is correct. Usually you won't have to do this, but Mac OS X is just weird. You could also add extra libraries and other options here. 16 | This adds a Program target for the 'bombyx' program and sets the sources to the sources and static_libs variables. The sources and static_libs variables were variables we set in the build_config.py file, which were exported by the root SConstruct file (and then imported by us). I decided not to use the target I configured in the build_config.py to demonstrate that you can change it. 19 | This file sets up a Program target for 'testrunner' that is used to run the Unit Tests. it works the same as what we did in lin 16. """]]
Pretty simple huh? Now, the nice thing is that, when you hit another platform that is similar to Mac OS X (NeXT?), you just make a new directory, copy this SConscript file into it, and make any changes you need. You shouldn't have to edit anything else.
When you run SCons with this command:
Then SCons will read the build_config.py, build_support.py, ROOT/Sconstruct, and then the ROOT/build/darwin/SConscript file to figure out how to build your program. After that, it just builds it as specified and puts the results in the ROOT/build/darwin directory.
Just for completeness, here's the build file for Linux:
#!python # import these variables from the parent build script Import('env', 'sources', 'static_libs') # add the bombyx target to the environment env.Program(target='bombyx', source=sources + static_libs)
That's it. You just import the stuff you exported and setup your targets. Actually, this is so common that you could just put this file in the ROOT/build/default directory, and then you'll only need to create a directory for the strange platforms.
Modifying The Setup
If you want to modify this setup, just make sure you understand it and then change the files that are appropriate. This list will help guide you in where to go to make major changes. If you just want to use the setup, then you should only need to change the ROOT/build_config.py file, and create platform specific files in the ROOT/build directory.
* This is where you put common variable assignments that are used in all SConstruct files (or most of them).
* Put your support functions and other code that you need for your build.
* This is primary place where SCons does most of its work. Generally, you put things in here if they require SCons features, but they are common to all targets.
* Set this file up for the targets that you can configure with the same platform configuration.
* Put the things that are specific to PLATFORM in here. This localizes what is needed for each platform in a consistent location.
Once you figure out where you need to make your changes, pick a familiar platform and get your build to work with it. Once it works for that platform, go onto another and try configuring it by just creating a platform SConscript file. If you need to make changes to the other files, then see if the changes are necessary to your already working platforms. If not, try using the SCons methods mentioned in the man page to modify the build in the platform SConscript file.
Further Information
I hope this document helps you get some work done. This configuration is a bit complicated, but once you grok it, it is very nice to work with. There are some bugs in it (which I've noted with /!\ symbols) but these are minor and only affect a few platforms.
If you want to get this build, then you can go to the Bombyx site and check out (anonymously) the CVS root. You'll need to check-out the BOMBYX_MS1 branch to get these changes. If you don't know how to do this, then just wait a while and I'll make a release with all the changes in it. Until then, all the code in the Bombyx build is in this document. You could just hit the "Edit" link below and cut and paste the code right out (it's inlined verbatim).
If you have any suggestions for improvements, or questions, then just e-mail me at firstname.lastname@example.com. Enjoy!


text:
Owning a San Juan pool is... having a pleasant place for healthful relaxation
and family fun... an ideal center for informal outdoor social gatherings... a
natural "spa" for mental and physical therapy... an area for toning muscles and
building bodies... an architectural feature that will enhance the splendor and
value of your property. A masterful blending of stylish design and state-of-the-art
engineering makes a San Juan pool the best dollar value on the market today.
Owning a San Juan pool is... having a private lounge... a colorful garden... a
moonlit terrace when the sun goes down... a place to share... a place to care... a
place to be alone.
Owning a San Juan pool is all of these things... and more.


text:
Billy Wilder was a lover of words, and a writer above all else. He said many times in interviews that his move into the director's chair was simply to protect his scripts. Wilder cared deeply about the language, rhythm and timing he spent months crafting with his Hollywood writing partners. Actress Marian Collier remembers watching him on the set of 1959's "Some Like It Hot" as he silently mouthed every syllable of dialogue with the actors.
"Good writing, good acting, good directing," Collier says now, more than 50 years later. "The main thing was, it was a great script. The director, Billy Wilder, was the whole thing. I don't think anybody else could have done it."
Wilder was a unique figure in the history of American film, and two of his greatest works are the subject of a mini-film festival Feb. 16 with screenings of "Some Like It Hot" and "Sunset Blvd." at the Alex Theatre in Glendale. He won six Academy Awards for directing, writing and producing during his career, and multiple other honors for an astonishing run of film classics, including the noir thriller "Double Indemnity" in 1944 and "Lost Weekend," which won the Golden Palm at the very first Cannes Film Festival in 1946.
His stories and characters could be deeply cynical about human behavior, but Wilder relished in the humor of all that darkness. There was less darkness in "Some Like It Hot," though even the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre could be a setup for laughs. It was the same with William Holden's body floating face-down in a pool during the opening moments of 1950's "Sunset Blvd.," as the actor's narration begins weaving a bizarre knot of comedy and tragedy in a fading Hollywood mansion.
Wilder was utterly American as a filmmaker, despite the heavy Austrian accent he spoke with onset. He fled Europe during the '30s, leaving for Paris immediately after the Reichstag fire. A year later he was in the United States, a writer who spoke no English. But he carried a wealth of tragedy and experience with him. He'd lost his mother and grandmother to Auschwitz, and understood that darkness was a part of human existence, just as wordplay and slapstick could help make it bearable.
Wilder pushed the boundaries of Hollywood with stories of sexuality, innuendo and craven human behavior, playing a big part in smashing the paternalistic Production Code. "The Apartment," his 1960 comedy-drama about a man who lends his apartment out for sexual dalliances, ignored the code and won Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director. He ignored it also with "Some Like It Hot," with its risque setup of men on the run dressed as women and the many layers of gender confusion that follows.
Collier had only a small role in "Some Like It Hot," as a member of the Sweet Sue and her Society Syncopaters band accompanying stars Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon. She has been a working actor in all the decades since, but fans still want to talk to her about what has turned out to be a classic. It was only her second movie.
"I knew it was going to be great, but I had no idea it was going to be this great," says Collier of the long shoot in Hollywood and Coronado Island. She was assigned a clarinet, which she had dabbled on in grade school. In the movie, she has a memorable scene in the bathroom with Monroe and Lemmon. She is also in the famous gag where each of the women musicians climbs into Lemmon's train bunk for an impromptu party.
Monroe was famously a challenge for the director. She often arrived late for shooting and had problems remembering her lines. "He had a difficult time with her," Collier says. "You know, 28 takes to say 'Where is that bourbon?' — that's a little tough.
"It was very loose. She was never there. We sat around waiting for her all the time, which was good — we had a lot of laughs, a lot of fun," she recalls. "She couldn't get there in the morning because she couldn't sleep. We were signed for six weeks and we worked four months."
Wilder continued to direct through the 1970s, including a vivid interpretation of "The Front Page," the ribald newsroom comedy, to mixed reviews, despite a cast led by Lemmon and Walter Matthau. His legacy still rests mainly in the black-and-white '40s, '50s and '60s. After 1981's "Buddy Buddy," one more outing with Lemmon and Matthau, his career as a director was essentially over, though he kept turning up at the office to write and write. He lived for another two decades, wondering out loud why he couldn't get another directing job, picking up an Irving Thalberg Award among many honors for his great film successes, and noting the irony every time.
In a later era, he might have found a home directing high-end TV for HBO, or at least a gig directing an occasional episode of "CSI." Instead, he continued as a benched elder statesman until his death 11 years ago at age 95. His work is a potent legacy, forever drawing new generations into his dark and hilarious worldview. Next weekend's big-screen presentation by the Alex Film Society is a rare opportunity to see and hear the master's words in action just as they were intended.
What: "Wilder Weekend," the Alex Film Society's presentation of "Some Like It Hot" and "Sunset Blvd."
When: Saturday, Feb. 16; "Some Like It Hot," 2 p.m., with guest appearances by Sweet Sue and her Society Syncopaters all-girl band cast members (including Marian Collier); 8 p.m., "Sunset Blvd."
Where: Alex Theatre, 216 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale
More info: (818) 243-2539, alexfilmsociety.org