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Investigating Consciousness: Buddhist and Contemporary Philosophical Perspectives
The 2012 NEH Summer Institute for College and University Faculty, "Investigating Consciousness: Buddhist and Contemporary Philosophical Perspectives," focuses on the convergence of western traditions in philosophy and Buddhist approaches in the field of philosophy of mind. It is held at the College of Charleston in South Carolina.
Led by directors Christian Coseru, Jay Garfield, and Evan Thompson, the institute aims to forge new paths in philosophy. It provides a forum for disciplinary, cross-cultural, and historical studies of human consciousness, and the careful analysis of ideas, regardless of their source, by philosophers with differing training and orientations. The resulting intellectual stimulation leads participating faculty to fresh research projects and challenging new materials for teaching today's undergraduates.
Summer Institutes for College and University Faculty
EH-50292-11, College of Charleston
Visit the seminar website
Click here to view other funded projects in this grant category.

subset: commoncrawl


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PACE (Partnership for Academic Commitment to Excellence) is a program of academic assistance for freshmen on academic probation. You will be placed on academic probation if your accumulative grade-point average is less than 2.000. Freshmen who are on academic probation after their first semester are expected to participate in the PACE program in order to improve their academic performance in subsequent semesters.
As part of the PACE program, you will meet with your academic advisor during the first week of the new semester to review academic progress and make plans for the semester. You may be advised to repeat courses, enroll in no more than 12 credits, attend academic progress meetings sponsored by the Office of Registration and Academic Progress, attend workshops and seminars on academic success, and enroll in class sections that offer supplemental instruction.
Helpful resources for many students who participated in the PACE program, and who were successful in going off Academic Probation status are: the Learning Center; keeping track of and projecting a GPA (grade point average) with an online calculator; and understanding the withdrawal procedures.


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Orange police find drugs in apartment
Captain C. J. Hargrave of the Orange Police Department released information of a major drug bust within the city Friday, March 18.
According to his statement, shortly before 9 a.m. officers from the Orange Police Department Narcotics Division, with the assistance of the Pinehurst Police Department and the Pct. 2 Constable, executed a search warrant at an apartment located at 2600 Allie Payne Rd. (Fox Run Apartments). Officers seized approximately 32 grams of crack cocaine. The two adult residents of the apartment, 33- year-old Tramaine Collins and 21-year-old Britney Brown, were arrested for Possession of a Controlled Substance, 2nd degree felony.


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DH bought me back the book Yarn Bombing from the library (for those that have been following my blog for a while you may remember that I requested that the library stock the book and they did!) and flicking through it again I was inspired by a pattern for monster feet. They are easy enough to do; a rectangle with some claws made out of crocheted triangles. As with most of the things that I make they are, yes you've guessed it, quick and easy.
The furry yarn was part of the stash I acquired from the abandoned suitcase full of yarn found by my friend at the dump. It is actually two balls crocheted together, but they were only small balls so I had to supplement with some blue Stylecraft DK.
I stole out in the dead of night (ok, about 9.30pm) to sew them to the bottom of my street sign. As per usual, I just concentrated in the task at hand, not looking at anyone who passed me by, possibly staring at me strangely. The joy of this endeavour was greatly increased by the addition of DH's head torch that I bought him for Christmas, something I will definitely consider for my future yarn bombing tool kit.
I managed to stop quickly on the school pick up to take a daylight picture. Now, I swear this is the honest-to-God truth, the anagram of my street name is Monster Alive Rd. DH pointed this out to me this morning; how he discovered this I have no idea. You'll have to take my word for this, as obviously I don't want to show you all my real road sign. Some of my die hard blog fans may try and stalk me; I'm not sure my real life persona is ready for that kind of fame…But I promise you it's true!


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NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — The dollar rose to its highest level against the Japanese yen since mid-January on Tuesday as investors weighed decreasing monetary stimulus in the U.S. with an increase in the Japanese consumption tax that could pave the way for further easing in Japan.
"There are growing expectations in the marketplace that, if indeed there is economic weakness in Japan, [Prime Minister Shinzo] Abe is prepared to announce further stimulatory measures," said Michael Woolfolk, global markets strategist at BNY Mellon. Additional monetary stimulus in Japan would weaken the yen.
The dollar USDJPY, +0.05% rose to ¥103.70 from ¥103.23 late Monday. That's the highest level since Jan. 22. The consumption tax in Japan was boosted to 8% from 5% on Tuesday, marking the second increase in that tax rate ever. The Bank of Japan's Tankan survey showed expectations of a sharp drop in sentiment for the year.
"Although some deterioration in the outlook was anticipated, the scale of the decline was more than expected, a development that suggests downside risks to capital expenditures going forward," said Robert Lynch, a currency strategist at HSBC.
Yen losses Tuesday were also linked to broader market movements, according to Lynch. The S&P 500 SPX, -0.28% hit an intraday record while Japan's Nikkei Average NIK, -0.18% closed 0.2% lower.
U.S. manufacturers grew at a slightly faster pace in March from the previous month, with the Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing index rising to 53.7% from 53.2%. Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected a reading of 53.9%. Data released Tuesday also showed a 0.1% increase in February construction spending and an unchanged final Markit PMI reading in the U.S. of 55.5.
Investors also paid attention to Chinese economic data on Tuesday in an attempt to gauge the growth of the world's second-biggest economy. The official Chinese manufacturing data improved slightly in March, with the official version of the manufacturing PMI rising to 50.3 from 50.2 in February. But the closely watched HSBC China PMI showed a decline to a final reading of 48.0 in March from 48.5 in February, indicating contraction.
China is Australia's largest trading partner. "It's getting to the point where China sneezes, Australia catches a cold," said Woolfolk of BNY Mellon.
The Australian dollar AUDUSD, -0.2330% fell to 92.45 U.S. cents from 92.73 U.S. cents late Monday. The Reserve Bank of Australia held policy steady and RBA Gov. Glenn Stevens made specific references to the currency's strength.
The pound GBPUSD, -0.1280% fell to $1.6631 from $1.6666 late Monday. Data released Tuesday showed the U.K. manufacturing sector in March grew at a slower pace than in February, missing expectations.
The euro EURUSD, -0.0722% rose to $1.3794 from $1.3777 late Monday. Euro-zone manufacturing PMI for March was unchanged at 53, down from 53.2 seen in February.
Other data showed German unemployment fell by more than expected in March, while the euro-area unemployment rate held at 11.9%, but was better than the 12% that economists expected. Unemployment for the European Union fell to 10.6%, from 10.7% in January.
The European Central Bank will meet on Thursday, as the region skirts as close to deflation as it's been in more than four years. Euro-zone inflation declined Monday but not by enough to strengthen bets on a policy response from the ECB, sending the euro higher. Read: Will the ECB succumb to low inflation?
The ICE dollar index DXY, +0.03%, a measure of the dollar's strength against six rivals, eased to 80.085 from 80.113 late Monday. The WSJ Dollar Index BUXX, +0.07%, a gauge of the currency against a broader basket of rivals, edged up to 73.38 from 73.32 late Friday.
More must-reads from MarketWatch:
Is there an opportunity in the energy sector?
Japan steps off the tax cliff Tuesday — Can it survive?


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Orion/Server API
Server API Overview
The Server API in Orion is not a single monolithic API. Rather Orion defines a series of distinct, standalone APIs for various kinds of tasks. A given server may implement one or more of these APIs, but not necessarily all of them.
All Orion server APIs have common design principles:
- They are built on simple HTTP GET/PUT/POST/DELETE verbs with standard HTTP semantics.
- GET operations are always non-destructive read-only operations
- GET/PUT/DELETE are always idempotent, meaning the same operation can be safely repeated multiple times.
- The relationship between resources is specified in links within response representations, rather than being inferred from the URI structure. For example a file's parent is specified by the Parent element in the response object, rather than by removing the last segment of the file's URI.
- The default representation for request and response bodies is JSON, although a server may provide additional representations based on content type negotiation.
Preference API
See EclipseWeb/Server API/Preference API.
File API
See EclipseWeb/Server API/File API.
Workspace API
See EclipseWeb/Server API/Workspace API.
Import/Export API
See EclipseWeb/Server API/Transfer API.
Search API
Version Header
All server API requests must include the Orion-Version header. This allows the server to identify what protocol version is being used by the client, and produce appropriate responses for that version of client. This also allows a server to support other protocols for accessing the same resources (such as WebDAV). When the version header is absent, by default all modifying (PUT, POST) operations will fail. GET operations may return a reasonable default HTML response suitable for display in a browser.
Exception Handling
When using the Orion Server API, errors are conveyed back to the client via a non-OK error code (4xx or 5xx). The response body contains a representation of a more detailed error status from the server.
Currently only a JSON representation is supported, with the following attributes:
|Integer HTTP response code
|Application specific integer response code
|One of "error", "warning", "info", "cancel", or "ok"
|A high level error message
|Detailed error message
|JSON object representation of another status that is the cause of this status (used for exception chaining)
|URL of a page for more information on how to resolve the error
{ "severity":"error", "code":0, "message":"This is the error message", "detailedMessage":"This is the exception message", "httpCode":500 }
Resource Locations
All server API resources have a "Location" attribute. This attribute has the following properties:
- When a resource is created, the POST operation that created it will return the location property both as an HTTP header, and in the response representation (attribute "Location" in JSON representations).
- Invoking GET on the resource location will return a representation of the resource.
- Invoking PUT on the location will modify or replace the contents of the resource.
- Invoking a DELETE on the location will delete the resource


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Fight Comp Of The Week: Strippers Fight For $10K, Girl Scrapping With A Midget, Security Guard KO, Drunk Teens In The DMV, & More
Edited by Jerry P
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Tony Chiu-Wai Leung
STARmeterSEE RANK
Up 696 this week
Tony Leung Chiu Wai was born in Hong Kong on 27 June 1962. He and his younger sister were raised by their mother after his father left them. In 1982, after passing the training courses of TVB, Tony became a TV actor and became famous for his comedy style in such TV shows as Lu ding ji (1983) or Jue dai shuang jiao (1979). However, he didn't limit ... See full bio »
Born:in Hong Kong
More at IMDbPro » Contact Info: View agent, publicist, legal on IMDbPro


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USN Hyperbolic Mass 6 kg Bag - Vanilla
Key Features
The HyperBolic Hard-gainer stack provides a wide array of other power enhancing amino acids, ß-alanine, HMB, natural testosterone optimizers, as well as different creatine forms with absorption boosters. Mass has been scientifically designed to help you achieve very high levels of muscle mass and stamina. It provides many positive attributes all delivered in a compact, tasty drink.
|Free UK Delivery?
|As a dietary supplement, start off by adding 3 level scoops to 375-450ml of cold water or full cream milk, and then move onto 6 level scoops with 750-900ml water/milk after a week.
|4-Stage Glyco-Matrix Carb system (Long and medium chain glucose polymers, Dextrose monohydrate, Fructose, Waxy maize starch), 6-Stage Protein Matrix [Whey protein concentrate and isolate blend, Ultra purified (water filtrated) high isoflavone soy protein isolate, Calcium caseinate, Micellar casein, Milk protein isolate], Creatine monohydrate, Di-creatine malate, L-glycine, Rice starch, Cocoa powder (only in chocolate variant), Stabilizer: cellulose gum, Taurine, Flavourants, Magnesium oxide, Calcium phosphate, Non-nutritive sweetener: Sucralose, MCT (Medium Chain Triglyceride) oil, Avena sativa (10:1 extract), Zymatech Lactazyme blend (lactase), Sodium chloride, HMB, Leucine, Valine, Isoleucine, Beta-Alanine, EPA (Eicosapentaenoic acid) powder, Ascorbic acid, Alpha-tocopherol acetate, Niacin, Calcium pantothenate, Pyridoxine-5-phosphate, Riboflavin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Biotin, Retinol, Folic acid, Cholecalcipherol, Colourant (only in Strawberry variant): E124, Red beet powder, Chromium polynicotinate, Cyanocobalamin.
|Nutritional Breakdown Per Serving
|Serving Size: 3 scoops (300g) provide: Total Calories: 1113 Protein: 50g Total Carbohydrates: 220g -Sugars: 35g -Dietary Fibre: 1.7g Fat: 2g -Saturates: g Sodium: 927g Potassium: 235mg Phosphorous: 446mg Magnesium: 47mg Vitamin A: 375mg (RE) Vitamin D: 1.9mg Vitamin E: 3.8mg(TE) Vitamin C: 23mg Vitamin B1: 0.5mg Vitamin B2: 0.6mg Niacin: 6.8mg Vitamin B6: 0.8mg Folic acid: 75mcg Vitamin B12: 0.4mcg Biotin: 30mcg Pantothenic acid: 1.5mg
Delivery and Return Details
Free Delivery:
Free delivery to mainland GB addresses on orders over £99 are by either a parcel courier or a pallet courier. See below for further information.
Standard Timescales:
Expected delivery is within 3-7 business days.
One Man Pallet Delivery:
Expected delivery is 3 - 5 business days. All deliveries are made Monday - Friday between 7am and 6pm. These are kerbside only. We advise having two bodies available to help the courier with larger or heavy deliveries. Please note, Powerhouse Fitness advise against one man delivery for larger or heavy orders.
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Order before 3pm for delivery within 48 hours. Available on selected products only and subject to availability. Friday after 3pm, Saturday and Sunday orders will normally be delivered on a Tuesday.
Two Man/Ground Floor Delivery: (Up to a maximum of 350kgs)
This service is available on larger orders or premium priced products. You will be called to book a delivery day in advance. Subject to suitable and safe access, the couriers will place the product into a ground floor room of your choice.
Parcel Delivery:
All parcels will require a signature.
Please note: Any installations ordered during the month of December will be carried out in January 2019. Installations are a two-man service and are booked with you in advance. Installations are normally within 10-14 working days.
Life Fitness Install is UK mainland only
Commercial/Business Orders Delivery:
For commercial gyms/studios please call the sales team to discuss delivery and installation options.
Delivery times can increase during busy periods of the year. Please call to confirm current lead times if you require a quicker or dated delivery.
Different Deliver Address / ID Checks
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Delayed Delivery
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McGrady uses Beasley as example of what's wrong with NBA
Tracy McGrady, who recently retired from the NBA, had a career free of off-the-court problems and an on-court persona of cool and calm. And while his demeanor rarely changed, McGrady enjoyed the game of basketball and the lifestyle it afforded him.
So, McGrady doesn't like it when he sees players who lose their cool on the court and fail to stay out of trouble off it, as he told the Toronto Star. He used the case of new Heat signee Michael Beasley as an example.
"You've got some guys in the league now who are just knuckleheads," McGrady told the Star. "What turns me off is guys doing the wrong thing. Just the legal part of it, hanging out, getting these DUIs, marijuana -- all that crazy stuff, just doing the wrong thing, setting a bad example for the young guys . . . "
"I don't quite understand it. I take a guy like Beasley. Had all the potential in the world but he's not level-headed. He just doesn't get it. And a very talented player.
"But where else are you going to make this type of money doing something you love to do every day, take care of your family and play basketball. I mean, are you serious? You get millions of dollars for it and you mess these opportunities up? I don't get it."
As the South Florida Sun Sentinel noted, Beasley has made more than $33 million in his NBA career. Still, he has had constant brushes with the law and was waived by the Phoenix Suns, who chose to cut ties and pass on Beasley's enormous potential.
In Miami, with veterans around him, Beasley could blossom, at least that's what the Heat are hoping will be the case. He will have an opportunity to show the Heat he plans to make the most of this recent opportunity in training camp, where he will have to earn his chance to stay on and cash in on a non-guaranteed contract offer.


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Your welcome to bring your own builder! Nice lot in the Autumn Woods Subdivision. Utilities available on lot site. Minimum house size, no smaller than 1700 square feet. Located on the outskirts of Belleville, but easy access to shopping, restaurants, schools, and Route 15. Lot 71. (8 available Lots)
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Jeff's Poetry
Order Chapbook
Poetry Contests
Literary Links
Two Weeks After Your Death
The columbines' long, backward spurs swaying
I mistook as welcome, waves hello—
nothing else—
ignorant of the good-bye
equally evident. I look closer now,
at everything:
a bee bobbing from cup to cup, a flower's calyx—
early September and already stripped
of sepals—dark mauve,
a shade of rot. I keep remembering
the bright day we picnicked naked, each flower
a small, petaled mirror reflecting the sun.
I lie down, cuffed
to this grief, flat against the cold
slab of earth.


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After months of anticipation, Joe Flacco and the Ravens kick off the 2013 regular season against Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos tonight. Much less anticipated is the season debut of my weekly gameday feature, Four Ravens predictions sure to go wrong. Each week, I'll make four semi-bold predictions for the Ravens game. Try not to take them too seriously, OK?
1. TORREY SMITH WILL BEAT THE BRONCOS DEEP AGAIN: In last year's playoffs, Smith twice beat Champ Bailey for long touchdowns receptions. Bailey could be sidelined Thursday with a foot injury, so new Broncos cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie may instead draw the assignment of covering Smith. Either way, though, I like the speedster's chances of getting behind the Denver defense to produce another big play against a secondary that could start youngsters Rahim Moore and Duke Ihenacho at safety. Outside of that, though, don't be surprised if Smith struggles to shake free of press coverage. That's what happened when these teams met in the 2012 regular season.
2. THE RAVENS WILL STRUGGLE INSIDE THE RED ZONE: The last time we saw the Ravens play meaningful football, they were extremely efficient inside the red zone. The Ravens scored on 10 of their 14 trips inside the red zone during the postseason, including two of four trips in the Super Bowl. But much of their success had to do with wide receiver Anquan Boldin and tight end Dennis Pitta being big, reliable targets in the middle of the field. Neither will be on the field Thursday and tight end Ed Dickson is dealing with a hamstring injury. Flacco's lack of familiarity with his new possession receivers should be a factor when the windows get tighter inside Denver's 20-yard line.
3. WES WELKER WILL BE PEYTON'S FAVORITE TARGET: Denver's big offseason addition was former New England Patriots slot machine Wes Welker, who caught 672 passes in six seasons with Tom Brady and the Patriots. Now the lucky guy is running routes for another sure-fire Hall of Famer in Manning. The Broncos already have a pair of tall, dangerous outside receivers in Demaryius Thomas and Eric Decker, and those guys will be a handful for the Ravens secondary. But I see him targeting Welker the most Thursday. Graham is likely to cover Welker in the slot and he had trouble sticking with him at times in the playoffs last season.
4. ELVIS DUMERVIL WILL SACK HIS FORMER QUARTERBACK: Dumervil only played one season with Manning in Denver, but in practice every day he saw how difficult it was to get to Manning. Not only do the Broncos have a pretty good offensive line, but Manning also has one of the NFL's quickest trigger fingers. Even with Dumervil, Terrell Suggs and Haloti Ngata, the Ravens' rush might only sack Manning a couple of times. But look for Dumervil to get at least one of them. This week, he downplayed playing his old team, but he is supremely motivated to have a monster game.


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You can only stare at the water for so long.
That's the reason, on my recent Anna Maria Island road trip, I took advantage of the unlimited mileage on the rental car to venture off the lovely gulf barrier island to the Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota.
The aquarium is ideally reserved as a rainy-day diversion, especially handy with kids in tow, but the attraction has plenty to offer even on a postcard-perfect afternoon. How many times does a person get to go eye-to-eye with a sea turtle, after all?
The pleasures of the Anna Maria-Mote excursion start with the commute. The picturesque stretch of Gulf Drive (State Road 789) that winds south out of Bradenton Beach is bordered by the deep-blue waters of Sarasota Bay, to the left, and the Gulf of Mexico, to the right.
An assortment of boats dots the surface of the water at the high-end marinas in Longboat Key and when the water gives way to the land on Gulf of Mexico Drive in Sarasota County, there's lush landscaping and lovely, luxury homes and high-rises that contrast with Anna Maria's salty charm.
The Mote is only a few blocks off the main drag, about 20 minutes south of Anna Maria. Compared with the bells and whistles of the Florida Aquarium in Tampa, for instance, this aquarium exudes the low-key vibe of working research institute, which it is.
That's especially true of the Ann & Alfred Goldstein Marine Mammal Research & Rehabilitation Center, which houses the sea turtle, manatee and dolphin exhibits. It's a short walk across the parking lot from the main aquarium, a path marked by manatees and turtles painted on the sidewalk.
A pair of dolphins frolics in the utilitarian outdoor tank, swimming laps and executing the occasional leap. Inside, other tanks offer an underwater view of manatees Hugh and Buffett, and a chance to observe sea turtles from mere inches away.
In the main aquarium is Immersion Cinema, where undersea life unfolds on a 40-foot, high-def screen, and Shark Zone, home to three varieties of sharks. For hours and admission, visit mote.org or call 941-388-4441.
You can only stare at the water for so long.


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Though it is a myth, of course, that American Robins are not around in winter, I still enjoyed my first robins of spring yesterday in Flushing Meadows Park and Kissena Park in Queens. They were around in numbers, feeding on invertebrates found in both grassy and disturbed areas. Their tut-tut-tuts when disturbed were music to this birder's ears and as welcome as the bright sunshine that shone down all day long. And while I saw some rather large flocks this winter I still appreciate seeing good old Turdus migratorius in springtime acting in a manner more fitting the stereotypical view of robin behavior. Though some say the European Robin is the real red robin we all know that the American Robin is the cool red robin…
Here's hoping we all see many robins this year, regardless as to what species of robin it is! And let's also hope that they keep making more robins so there will always be some to see!
This post has been submitted to Bird Photography Weekly #30. Go check it out!
My state bird and a personal favorite! I did see several wintering robins this year but the first one I see in the yard in spring is always a thrill.
I saw a lot of Robins this winter here in Oklahoma. They come in flocks (10-20)and land on our property. Do they travel in flocks?
Hey Corey, great captures of this iconic bird. I love watching the robins and hearing their sweet songs in the springtime here. The fourth shot of the bird standing on the rock is exceptional. I'm looking forward to seeing many more in the coming months.
The robins are back for spring! I was birding at Kissena Park and there was a large flock of robins on the lawns. The same thing today.
for the second year in a row a robin has started flying towards my deck glass doors and attacing the window with her beak. goes on all day……what is this about?
Hi Julie – are you sure it's female bird, because my guess would be that at this time of year the sun is shining straight onto your windows and the Robin is seeing its reflection and in a bit of a 'rising sap' hormonal state is also 'seeing' a rival and is repeatedly trying to drive it away.
Can anyone explain the strange springtime behaviour of a robin which flies continually into my front window and back to a tree just in front of the window? It has happened for the past couple of years without fail, and I simply don't understand it! It starts early in the morning, and until I realize what it is, it sounds as if someone is incessantly tapping on my front window! Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
Corey – Thanks for the advice! I'll try that and see what happens. Best wishes…
I've been informed by a "Medium" that a robin pecking at your window suggests that the bird is a "Angel Friend Guide" and wants you to consider what your thoughts or actions are when it strikes the window. I was informed that the bird knows what you are thinking.
I hope he/she didn't charge you for that piece of advice Dave? I guess your medium isn't much of a birder because Corey gave the answer a few comments above, and that's the right one…What makes me so certain – because birds all over the world have been doing the same thing to reflections in water, mirrors, windows, metal doors etc etc for many, many years. Sorry to be a mythbuster.
I just saw robins on my neighbors gutters yesterday. They were looking down at the four feet of snow and thinking what the hell.
I was needing to know what i could do to stop the robin from pecking on my windows. Please if anyone knows anything that i could do please let me know.
I had a robin flying into my window repeatedly causing quite a mess on the window. Poor thing. I put up a black felt drawing of a face on white paper and it moved on!!!
When I was a boy growing up in Iowa some sixty years ago, we would "stamp" the first robins in spring. You licked your thumb, press it into the palm of your other hand followed by a "stamp" with the bottom of your fist. You could "stamp" as many robins as you wanted and once "stamped", that was your robin and no subsequent "stamps" were binding.
I am mostly sane and not nearly creative enough to think this up, but nobody has heard of this. Can anyone help?
Fred…where in Iowa did you grow up? I think we must be about the same age. I'm from Waverly, Iowa.
I grew up in NW Iowa, and my father and I stamp robins all the time!! I live in Chicago now, people think I'm crazy here!
Your description of the stamping technique is PERFECT! I can not stop smiling! 🙂
Hi Fred,
I grew up in Boone Iowa. My dad taught me the tradition of stamping robins. My daughter and her husband are now stampers too and so will my granddaughter Lucy! Fun little tradition.
We "stamped" the first Robbin we saw in spring. My mom taught me. I think it was to bring good luck. I live in southern Wisconsin. And that's 60 odd years ago, too. Maybe it's regional. Wherever I was I stamped and then called mom. It was a race to see who stamped first. My grandmother also stamped.
"Stamping" the first robin of Spring is a Pennsylvania Dutch custom that is supposed to bring good luck for the year!
My sister and I grew up in Napanee Ontario Canada (200 miles east of Toronto) and we "stamped" robins when we were kids…. in fact we still do! I'd never heard of anyone else doing it and I have no idea where we learned it.
I grew up in Kalamazoo, Michigan. My mother, born in 1924, taught my sister and me to stamp robins when we were kids in the 50's and 60's. What a joyous memory particularly after a winter like this! Kalamazoo had early families from the Netherlands…not sure if the custom was popular there.
The last two years, starting the end of March, every day a flock of 15-30 Robins gather in the yard, and all of them heading the same direction, run about 3 feet, stop, run 3 feet again, and continue to do that repeatedly. What are they doing?
I have been "stamping" the first Robin I see each Spring since I was a kid. My mom always said it was lucky to do so – needing all the luck I can possibly get I continue the ritual.
Being raised in Eastern Nebraska I assumed the ritual was a midwestern thing.
I have shown this to a number of my friends in hopes that they pass it on. I think it is sweet.
Oh yeah, I grew up stamping the first robin – just as you explained Fred Jacob, licking the thumb and pressing to palm of other hand etc. And I grew up in Nebraska and did this as a youngster. Happy spring to everybody.
Fred Jacob, when I was a little girl my mom would stamp the Robins. She past away when I was 8. Everytime I see a Robin I think of her. I googled for an hour looking for anything on this. Thank you for posting. I also grew up in Iowa.
thanks to all for shedding light on the tradition of stamping robins—my mother who died several yrs ago at the age of 89 always stamped robins, but none of us ever knew the reason—-she is looking down on all of us robin stampers—keep stamping!
So fun to hear everyone's comments on stamping robins. I, too, grew up with the tradition in NE Iowa… passed on by my dad. We never knew, exactly, why we did it.. just "because Dad did", I guess. I love remembering him this way and I'm so happy others grew up with the same tradition!
thank you so much for posting about "stamping" robins. My grandmother ALWAYS stamped robins and as she grew older w/ diabetes she couldn't see that well but she could always see the robins!! I still do it and my bf thought I was crazy for doing so!!! Now I know I'm not!! oh and I'm from NE Indiana!!
I see many of the responders grew up in Iowa. I too, grew up in Northern Iowa and have never heard of "stamping" robins. My sister has and her daughters do it, one who moved to Oregon still continues. Moving out of Iowa didn't "cure" her! 🙂 Anyway I'm glad another niece found this site to answer the questions. LN
Southern Ontario, too. My dad stamped the first robin each spring, and I have been doing it wrong until I read about the lick-palm- stamp technique. I can see him doing it, gone though he is six years. If you don't have snow, you don't get it.
I just saw my first two robins of the spring on my front lawn and promptly stamped them just as I did as a kid, and taught my kids and grandkids to do. I'm from southeast Iowa. I'd been told by my mother that as soon as you've stamped 100 robins, you can make a wish and it will come true.
I was curious about this custom but nothing came up on a search until I found this website, so thank you to everyone for sharing and letting me know I wasn't stamping alone!
Reporting in from Northern Illinois here — the tradition (passed down from my grandmother) lives on here, too! Get to 100, and you can make a wish!
Had no idea other people stamped robins. Thought my sister and I were the only strange ones! )
© 2013 10,000 Birds. All words, images, and opinions are the property of their respective authors unless stated otherwise.


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As you'd expect at an event dedicated to showing off the latest in high end cycling stuff the Core Show featured a lot of verrrry lovely high end road bikes to look at. So here's our pick of the bunch including a stainless steel beaut from Cinelli, an all new De Rosa Idol, the new carbon Litespeed and assorted loveliness from Argon 18 (including the TT bike with the UCI compliant sticker), and Time.
We've said it before, and we'll say it again: Cinelli make good looking bikes right at the moment. You can talk all you like about the vertical compliance and lateral stiffness, but we've talked to plenty of bike brands who've had a shocking year just because they picked the wrong colour.
That's not to say there isn't good technology on show too, though. Cinelli are also famous for some esoteric work on the translation front (see the fixed bikes feature for more on that) so it's not a surprise to learn that the beautiful XCR frameset is made from 'bi-phaisic seamless stainless steel tubing, so close to perfection'. We're not scientists, so we googled 'bi-phaisic' and it seems to mean two things that don't mix, like oil and water. or Cinelli product descriptions and sense.
Anyway the XCR is an achingly beautiful frameset with an eye-popping £3,000 price tag. You can have it built up with Super Record for twice that, though we'd swap out the Bora Ultra wheels for something with a bit more of a classic look. As it's stainless steel the finish is the bare metal, with the decals seemingly sandblasted on.
Not massively cheaper is the Strata (main pic) at £2,600 for the frame and fork. Bristling with the new technologies – BB30 bottom bracket, asymetric head tube – that most top-end bikes are adopting these days, it's very much aimed at the pro racer: 'the ultimate Olympics bike', read the label. In terms of frame design the Columbus High Modulus monocoque had a few interesting touches. The down tube is almost hexagonal in profile, giving a flat top section to fit your bottle cage to without disrupting the airflow too much. Cables are mostly internal, with Cinelli opting to go traditional on the tricky chainstay bit, a wise choice in our opinion.
Time were showing off the RXR Ulteam which is the latest semi-aero incarnation of their top-dollar technology. If you ever feel like you're not getting enough acronyms and icons with your frame, you could do worse than head over to the Time website and check out the acres of terminology under this beast. How much difference 'Liquid crystal polyamide fibers incorporated longitudinally for a smoother ride' make is anyone's guess. It's got Nanostrength, a Vibraser, Stiff+ (missus), a Quickset, a Translink and CMT too. And RTM. beat that.
All those technologies rack up the cost to a stratospheric £3,300 for the frame and fork. Time do throw in a bottle cage though, so it's not all bad news. Or you can have it built up with Super Record for £6,300. It's certainly a purposeful-looking frame, a bit heavier and slightly softer than its predecessor but Time's boffins have presumably calculated that the dual benefits of extra comfort and aero-ness more than make up for a little bit more material in the frame.
Probably of more interest to everyone except sponsored roadies is the NXR Instinct, which is Time's top end sportive frame. It's borrowing plenty of the clever stuff from the top bike, including asymetric chainstays – in fact the whole of the back end seems to be lifted from the RXR. Up front however that's plugged into a new monocoque design that's a touch more upright (just a touch, this is a French bike after all) and designed to be forgiving over long distances. If you want one then be prepared to wave goodbye to £2,600 of your hard-earned.
Argon 18
When we were at Eurobike we arrived at the Argon 18 stand just as the UCI quantity surveyors were leaving, having deemed the E-114 illegal under the current guidelines. The problem was the junction of the seat tube and the seatstays, the shape of which constituted a fairing in the gimlet eye of the technical folk from the governing body. This would seem to be a rather big problem, but fortunately there's a very cheap and simple solution: "we just put a sticker over it for those races", the Argon 18 chaps told us, which speaks volumes for both the ingenuity of the Canadian manufacturer and the cockeyed nature of the current regulations.
Anyway, we never tire of looking at the E-114, it's got just the right mix of the angular and the curved and that fork setup is functional and clever. Given that the frameset includes the fork, brakes, seatpost and 'bars it isn't that expensive – in terms of the competition, anyway – at £2,499. You just need to chuck some wheels and half a groupset at it, and it's ready to go.
Argon 18 also had their E-80 at the show, which is a triple butted Aluminium frameset mated with a Carbon fork and seatpost. Brakes are included too for a very reasonable £800. There's been a lot of work put into the frame, smoothing the welds to give an appearance – and, more importantly, an airflow – resembling a Carbon bike. There's a reversible seatpost to give you a choice of two seat angles and internal cables will shave half a second off your ten. For more info on bikes and pricing check out the Argon 18 section at www.i-ride.co.uk.
Litespeed were showing off their Archon Composite range, which features one frame - the C1 - and two full bikes, the C2 and the C3. All three share the same basic design but the C1 is built from higher grade Carbon and also features internal cable routing.
Bike headtubes seem to be getting bigger and bigger but even though the C1 features a 1.5" crown race – almost the standard now at the high end – the profile of the front is very sculpted, with scooped sides that Litespeed claim make a big difference to the aerodynamics.
The down tube is flared around the bottle bosses which is designed to improve airflow if you fit a water bottle, and Litespeed have been doing a lot of work on the Carbon layup around the seat tube junction to ensure the bike is comfortable as well as stiff.
The Archon Composite bikes feature integrated seatposts and you get a cutting guide for those scary minutes with the hacksaw. You can fit up to 30mm of spacers to tweak the fit if you don't get it exactly right, and there's going to be a retrofittable seatpost available if you really screw it up.
The C2 and C3 bikes use a lower grade of Carbon and as a result the frame is about 60g heavier. For the Ultegra-equipped C3 you'll need £2,700 and it's another grand on top for the Dura-Ace-bedecked C2. The C1 frame is £2,200, which doesn't sound too salty when you consider it's made from the same grade of Carbon as bikes like the Cervelo S3 and the Pinarello Prince.
Ibis are probably best known for their handbuilt high end mountain bikes, but they've never limited themselves to one type of bike and they were showing off the second generation of their Silk road bike frame at Core as well as the Hakkalügi 'cross bike… we'll come back to that name later.
Although it's got a decidedly racey weight, 950g for the 58 cm and a very raceable Easton EC90 fork, the Silk is designed as an all rounder, yep the geometry backs up the weight and is aggressive enough for racing, but it also has a longer head tube for all day riding (so sportives then). Q factor* fans take note this one has a narrower Q factor - so your feet are closer together when pedalling as they would be if you were walking or running. That is actually a pleasing by-producut of Ibis wanting to make sure the Silk has a compliant ride - their angle, as explained to us by Tom Morgan one of the men behind Ibis, is that a lot of manufacturers have stiffened up their carbon designs by over building the bottom bracket area and consequently requiring much wider tube profiles at the bottom bracket junction the consequence being that carbon's natural compliance being sacrificed. Ibis though wanted to build a bike with a comfy ride.
Seat stays and chainstays are much more "reasonable in size" Ibis instead stiffen things up using a slightly bigger top tube diameter. As you'd expect on a top end bike all the tube sizes and profiles are size specific – so which of the size sizes from 47 through to 61 has the smallest diameter top tube? Ha, it's the 53 because in the two smaller sizes (47 and 50) the top tube diameter goes up because to stiffen the proportionately smaller headtube.
You can have an Ibis Silk as a frameset for £1549.99 or with a choice of either Shimano Ultegra or Dura Ace build kits at £3149.99 or £4549.99 respectively, and it's available in a choice of three colours (British Racing Green, Sangria Red, or Clear Carbon) and six sizes from 47 through to 61cm.
The Silk is planted enough that the guys from Ibis found that it will even handle a bit of off road - that led in turn to the Hakkalügi, 'cross bike. Ibis have mated a Silk front triangle with a new longer rear end and added a bit of carbon where it might be needed to toughen things up - the end result was a nice handling cross bike which was well received on its debut last year.
Don Mira 4xUS cyclo cross champ and 1987 MTB world champ tested the prototype and liked it so much he came out of retirement and raced to second at the US Cyclo cross Masters.
Not just a pure race bike, the Hakkalügi is designed to be a fire road blaster too for a big day out in the Californian hills - we can see that working in the UK too though – there are plenty of fire roads on Forestry Commission land all over this country, and Ibis reckon it would be a great bike to tackle something like the Three Peaks.
The Hakkalügi is available as a complete bike with a choice of Shimano Ultegra or SRAM Force build kits for £2999.99 or as a frameset for £1549.99
47 50, 53, 55, 58- 61
It's a one colour option: Phlegmish yellow, with the same choice of sizes as the Silk 47cm, 50cm, 53cm, 55cm, 58cm 61cm.
To find out more about Ibis visit their website www.ibiscycles.com.
De Rosa
Hmm… how many shows have we been to in the last few months featuring a De Rosa stand? Lots, is the answer, but finally at CORE we noticed that they've launched a new version of their big seller, the Idol - better late than never.
So what's different? Well, it's s completely new frame, the previous model was a thing of curves and beauty, very much what Italian road bikes have been about in the last few years. The new Idol is a much more purposeful looking beast, straight is the new curved… at De Rosa at least. One thing that is retained is the integrated seat post. A straight top tube makes it easier to integrate cables, from the look of it this is a bike that is about stiffness and fast power transfer to the back wheel. It is a very fine looking piece of kit too the top tube's flattened top and straight bladed fork reminded me of the new Felt, the De Rosa's top tube is wider at the head tube and more tapered at the seat tube junction, plus the cable entry points are different too.
It's not like anything else at the back though, that's what De Rosa reckon, because they've come up with a novel way of joining the seat stays to the seat tube, they attach via a crescent moon section in to the integrated seat tube, not only does this look elegant, De Rosa reckon it increases the "reactivity" of the whole frame for greater rider comfort.
A burly looking bottom bracket area, with a larger section downtube an asymmetric head tube and some sculpted looking deep section chainstays should give a stiff pedalling platform and if you want to make it stiffer still, the bottom bracket shell comes with an adapter so you can fit a BB30 bottom bracket.
It's a looker, though personally the grey version we saw doesn't do it full justice.
The new Idol can be yours as a complete bike with Campag's Athena 11 speed groupset and Fulcrum Racing 3 wheels for £4199. For more information check out www.i-ride.co.uk. or you can have it as a frameset for £2299.
Plucked from the obscurity of his London commute back in the mid-Nineties to live in Bath and edit bike mags our man made the jump to the interweb back in 2006 as launch editor of a large cycling website somewhat confusingly named after a piece of navigational equipment. He came up with the idea for road.cc mainly to avoid being told what to do… Oh dear, issues there then. Tony tries to ride his bike every day and if he doesn't he gets grumpy, he likes carbon, but owns steel, and wants titanium. When not on his bike or eating cake Tony spends his time looking for new ways to annoy the road.cc team. He's remarkably good at it.


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South China Sea tensions escalating
China's assertion that almost all of the South China Sea and adjacent waters are part of its territory seems to be growing more dangerous with each passing week.
China and Japan are scrambling fighter jets in their faceoff over disputed islands. Last month, China "painted" a Japanese military helicopter and destroyer with weapons-lock radar — bringing harsh criticism from Japanese and American military officials.
Story Continued Below
The Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan and several other states are responding angrily to their own territorial disputes with China, so that a common refrain among analysts and observers has become "one stupid mistake could start a war." Already, Xi Jinping, China's new leader, has told the state's military to "prepare for war."
But as this crisis continues and worsens month after month, the one player seldom heard from is the United States. And China is making it plain that Beijing is little worried about America.
"From a Chinese perspective, 2013 appears to bear similarities to 1913," Ruan Zongze, vice president of the China Institute of International Studies, the Foreign Ministry's official think tank, said last month at the Foreign Correspondents' Club in Hong Kong.
One century ago "marked the rise of the West," he intoned. But today, "the opposite is happening with money, power and influence flowing away from America and the West into Asia.
"It's déjà vu all over again" — except in reverse, he said.
Ruan, like many other Chinese, also blames the United States military's "pivot" to Asia for stirring trouble in the region. But in fact, China's aggressive expansionism began even before that — born of two domestic political needs.
Xia Yeliang, an economics professor at Peking University, noted in an interview that a few years ago some in the military were growing restless and wanted to start some kind of military conflict with Japan, China's longtime adversary, to regain their relevance. President Hu Jintao was unwilling to go along with that.
But as China's social and economic situation continued to deteriorate, Xia and others said, in the spring of 2009 another opportunity arose for re-establishing military relevance — while also distracting disgruntled Chinese with a new foreign conflict. That's when most nations had to file papers with the United Nations stating their offshore jurisdictions as part of the Law of the Sea Treaty.
Much earlier, in 1946, pushed by the West to clarify its maritime position, the Republic of China had issued an official map showing its claim to nearly all of the South China Sea. Few paid attention then because a few years later the Chinese Communist Party defeated the nationalist Kuomintang and seized control of the country.
But in 2009, when it came time for each nation to give the United Nations documentation of its claim to maritime territory, the Chinese government officially submitted that 1946 map. Since then, it has repeatedly asserted that nearly the entire sea and adjacent waters are "an inherent part of Chinese territory."
"This was the first time China had brought this up since 1946," Yann-huei Song, a research fellow at the Institute of European and American studies in Taipei, Taiwan, said in an interview.
So China's claim that U.S. provocation is responsible for the South China Sea dispute is wrong. President Barack Obama didn't first raise his notion of the pivot from the Middle East to Asia until late in 2011. And since then, the State Department has repeatedly said it would not take sides in the debate — even after China changed the map of its territory printed in Chinese passports to include 80 percent of the South China Sea. (Vietnam refuses to stamp those new passports. Instead, it stamps a piece of paper and inserts that into the passport.)


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Nature Abhors a Vacuum Cleaner, or Maybe Not
I'm always drawn to the orderly, spare, modern designs you see in glossy home magazines and books. But my house is not so spare and not everything is in its place. I'm kind of a pack rat as my wife — and office mates — will tell you. I go through periodic bouts of frenzied cleaning but the tide of newspapers, magazines, and books rises regularly. So I was pleased to come across the ingenious new book by Molly Jane Quinn and Jenna Talbott aptly titled It's Lonely in The Modern World (Chronicle, 2011), which is an ironic primer on how to navigate the field of architectural minimalism.
These are the people who started the clever blog Unhappy Hipsters, which takes a wry look at ambitiously artful modern homes like this one and the way they're
portrayed, where the individuals on the stoop seem quite unaware of what's behind them (or perhaps it's the elephant on the deck; image courtesy ifound). In these sorts of houses messy realities — like the need for windows and daylight, for example — never intrude, especially in architectural magazines. But spoofs are the sign of a publication's success. (Remember the Tolkien parody Bored of the Rings by the Harvard Lampoon, and the one of Sunset magazine with a photo of a family picnicking in front of a nuclear reactor.) So I started looking around for ways to be both hip and realistic — i.e hide the clutter in sleek and elegant ways — like this handsome storage bench from Herman Miller. It would help with all the bags
and blankets at the bottom of our bed. Or maybe we just need a new bed frame that incorporates storage drawers, like this version from Bluedot, which
streamlines a storage idea that was popular in the 1960s and 70s. Then what about a place for charging cameras, iphones and ipads? Bludot's "Juice box" is
a clever solution in the way it hides the plugs and keeps the wires under control (image courtesy Mashable). This loft bedroom by Jordan Parnass Digital Architecture includes an
especially clever stair/bureau with pull-out storage drawers — though I would
probably need a railing, and I notice that the books seem to be piling up…
So in the end I confess I am impossibly conflicted because I am a huge fan of spareness and the uncluttered look and am always promoting it, while only rarely achieving it myself. Our Plan 491-2 by Braxton Werner and Paul Field
might be one answer to my dilemma — it's uncluttered but not severe, there is storage, and pillows are scattered on the floor!


text: PS-Tech is a technology provider that specializes in Professional 3D Visualization and Optical Tracking & Measurement Systems for medical and industrial applications. PS-Tech's technology is used in growing industries such as industrial design, automotive and oil and gas. The company's mission is to make the interaction of professionals with complex 3D and 4D data more effective and efficient.


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MediaCoder Forum Rules and Etiquette
How to Post
1. Subjects: Choose clear, informative subjects. This is more likely to elicit response from experienced users who have knowledge about that particular topic. It also makes the topic easy to reference and find in forum searches by future users with similar problems. Subjects that are confusing or don't provide enough information will be edited.
Example: If you are having a problem with converting a FLV to an AVI, then say: "conversion fails (FLV to AVI/Xvid/MP3)". This provides much more information than just saying: "error"
2. When asking questions, provide as much information as possible, including:
a. Error messages
b. Version/build number
c. Console output. (To display the console, press your F6 key. Right clicking and selecting "Edit" allows you to copy and paste the information).
d. Source or Original file specifications. (To display file information, highlight the file and press your F8 key).
e. Type of destination file. What your trying to convert to?
f. What do you plan to do with the converted file? Where will it be used or played back? On What?
3. Choose one topic per thread. Long many-paged threads are typically discouraged except in the "Miscellaneous" section. Try not to post multiple questions in a single topic -- this makes it difficult to search for specific problems.
4. Post your question in only one forum; pick the most relevant forum and post there.
5. When responding to an existing thread, attempt to focus on the original topic.
6. 'Bumping' a thread is not allowed. Use time wisely and update the thread by providing details of other steps you have taken to resolve the issue, rather than calling further attention to the thread without adding any further useful information.
Ineffective Discussion
Threads stating the equivalent of "there is a problem, we need to discuss it" are ineffective. MediaCoder is a "Do It Yourself" program through your experimentation. If you have a problem, find a solution that works for you, implement it, then post.
Furthermore, questioning or editorializing the methods used by the MediaCoder development team will be monitored closely and locked if unhelpful and/or unproductive. (Harsh, unproductive criticism is also uncalled for.)
If you have a question regarding MediaCoder development, please ensure that your topic poses a specific question or idea and post it in the "Feature Request". If possible, provide a solution or partial solution.
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Old Threads/'Necro-Bumping'
Do your part to keep the forums tidy. Do not post in threads that are 6 or more months old. Resurrecting old threads generally creates disjointed zombie information for everybody and can also make forum moderation complicated. If necessary, link to the older thread in your new thread. MediaCoder is a changing release distribution, and is always moving forward. Don't dig up the past.
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Power-posting is best described as posting empty and worthless messages. It is not tolerated. People may have two reasons to do this: to increase their post count meaninglessly, or to lend support to an idea (as if it were a vote). Examples of power-posting include, but are not limited to, replying with '+1', 'lol', 'me too', 'I agree', or ':)'.
When you reply to messages, make sure you have something to say. These empty posts clutter up threads and discussion, invalidates the 'View New Posts' function, and wastes bandwidth and server space.
Cross-Posting or Double Posting
Cross-posting is posting the same question multiple times (for example, posting in both "Basic Discussion" and "Bugs"). This is a waste of resources and is not permitted.
Posting a single word or useless message (bumping) to attract attention to your thread is not allowed. Do your own research, continue to troubleshoot, post the results, and be patient with the forum community. If people are reading your thread without answering or offering help, you may try supplying more details, or ask to be pointed in the right direction.
Often, the reason for posts remaining unanswered is due to lack of details in the original post itself, or, the obvious availability of solutions on the forum (by using the search function) or on the web.
Thread Hijacking
Thread hijacking is the process of replying to an existing thread with a different topic. This is discouraged. It is better to start a new thread if you have a problem that is related to an existing posted issue but clearly different. On the other hand, it is better to respond to the existing thread with additional information if you have what appears to be the same problem with the same version of MediaCoder.
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Spam, either as part of a signature (links), or within the body of a post is not allowed. Commercial advertising or links to "paid for" products is not allowed. Please report the offending post with the forum report function and a moderator will review it for removal. Users who violate this policy will be banned and their posts deleted without discussion.
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Posts that don't follow the above policies may be subject to editing and deletion.
The free and open exchange of assistance, ideas, and opinions is highly regarded and encouraged on these forums, but it must be noted that the freedom granted to forum members is "relative freedom". It exists within the boundaries and constraints of the above guidelines and principles. Complaints of 'censorship' are therefore baseless and unfounded, since this necessary framework must simultaneously provide reasonable limitations.
MEDIACODER FORUM RULES AND ETIQUETTE (How and What to Post)
Discuss about generic usage of MediaCoder.
Moderator: HuggiL
1 post • Page 1 of 1
1 post • Page 1 of 1


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A working woman in a society abiding by the morality of ignorance receives more respect in society than the housewife. Because according to the criteria set by ignorant societies, they are thought to have higher ideals, and more important responsibilities than housewives. Indeed, the main reason why a woman decides to have a career is to avoid being a housewife, and the negative perception some people attach to it, and, in her own way, to rise to a more respected position in society. For a person possessing such a mentality, being a working woman will, above all, grant her a different identity; it will allow her to stand on her own two feet, which will bring her a greater measure of equality with men.
Indeed, this is exactly what is expected of a working woman in a society of ignorance. For those who live their lives divorced from the morality of religion, the most important thing is the financial independence that wealth offers. For this reason, such people consider an independent woman superior to other women. Their level of morality is not an issue; what is important is their bankbooks, assets, company privileges and reputation.
Working women who are aware of these perceptions in their society abiding by the morality of ignorance ambitiously cling to their work. The more successful they are in their profession, the more, they believe, they achieve for themselves. For that end, they will do their utmost to prove themselves to others in their workplace.
Rising to the management level, alongside other men, they regard as a major success. They regard this as a very important opportunity. They can order others around; if some complete a job incorrectly, or are late finishing a project, these women do not hesitate to berate them publicly. On one hand, they do so to try to prove themselves to the men; on the other hand, they are competing with the other women in the company. They will seize any opportunity to advance themselves by pointing out the failings of the other women.
They think they are in gain because they do not have the image of a housewife in society. But their lives are not as different as they imagine. Fundamentally, their character possessing the morality of ignorance has not changed much. The only things different are the environment and the people around them. No longer the housewife concerned about her house and her family, and arguing with her husband or her mother; in her place is a working woman concerned about her work, competing with her fellow workers and proving herself. Otherwise, the gossiping, arguments, jealousies and emotional outbreaks persist. Because the way to escape a life-long anxiety and a somber spiritual state, is not to change one kind of ignorant identity for another; it is only possible by making a change in one's spirit, according to the teachings of the Qur'an. The character of the working woman adhering to the morality of ignorance ignores this essential fact, and so continues to experience all the trouble and torment of the morality of ignorance.
However, a woman who is a believer is aware of this important truth. In order to reform herself, she does not just make superficial adjustments in her life, but devotes her attention to developing her spirit, and her moral character. For this reason, she is always progressing.
And, unlike the majority of women in a society of ignorance, they do not suffer from complexes. They do not stoop to getting into competition with other women around them, men in their workplaces or other people for material and mundane values. After all, such competition is meaningless. According to the morality of the religion, there is no such thing as superiority or inferiority of the male or female over one another, and therefore no competition between men and women. Both men and women behave in the way that suits to their creation. They do not try to imitate each other, but to conform to the model of a believer described in the Qur'an. It is only the measure of faith and morality that is of any value in the Sight of Allah. And men and women, all believers compete only for good.2012-01-21 02:42:28


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Narnoo API
Narnoo is a digital media platform for tourism and hospitality-based industries. It allows distributors and operators to upload media onto a centralized platform and distribute it from there. This allows users to conveniently manage their online content and distribute it to their audience as needed. They provide a REST-based API that exposes the platform's media storage functionality. Developers can request images, movies, their metadata and more. The API returns JSON and XML-formatted data.


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- Monday: 10:00 am - 6:00 pm
- Tuesday: 10:00 am - 6:00 pm
- Wednesday: 10:00 am - 6:00 pm
- Thursday: 10:00 am - 6:00 pm
- Friday: 10:00 am - 6:00 pm
- Saturday: 10:00 am - 6:00 pm
- Sunday: Closed
Our area is experiencing road closures from TS Imelda flooding. Please refer to TXDOT's DriveTexas.org to check for road closures.
Begin planning your adventure by viewing the Official Southeast Texas Visitors Guide. Or, request a copy by mail and sign up for email updates.
Located near Houston & the Gulf of Mexico, Beaumont hangs its hat in Southeast Texas. Explore our trip planning tools to get started!
Get your fill of all of the amazing restaurants Beaumont has to offer! From Asian cuisine to BBQ, Beaumont has it all!


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Nation & World
Black History Month: The remarkable life of Lewis Hayden
When the Marquis de Lafayette visited Lexington in May 1825, during his celebrated national tour, a slave child of 13 slipped away from his chores long enough to try to catch a glimpse of the French hero of the American Revolution.
Lewis Hayden would later recall sitting alone on a fence as the parade passed through town. As Lafayette's open carriage approached, the most famous man Hayden had ever heard of turned and bowed his head to acknowledge him.
"That act burnt his image upon my heart so that I shall never need a permit to recall it," Hayden would later tell friends. "I date my hatred of slavery from that day."
One of the things I love about reading history, especially black history, is discovering fascinating people of great accomplishment I previously knew nothing about.
I had never heard of Hayden until last year, when William Thomas gave me an old library copy of Joel Strangis' 1999 book, Lewis Hayden and the War Against Slavery. That led me to other sources that also told the story of a Lexington man who escaped slavery, settled in Boston and led a remarkable life.
Thomas, a Lexington retiree, is the leader of a nonprofit foundation trying to raise money to buy and preserve the old First African Baptist Church building at Short and Deweese streets. Thomas dreams of turning this handsome old church, built about 1856 by a slave congregation, into a performance hall and arts academy.
Like Hayden, Thomas found success in Boston. After graduating from Lexington's then-segregated schools, Thomas became an accomplished musician, built an outstanding orchestra during a 36-year career at Phillips Andover prep school and headed Project STEP, a classical music academy for gifted minority students run by the Boston Symphony and New England Conservatory of Music.
Thomas says the restored church building would be a fitting tribute to 19th-century Lexington blacks who accomplished great things against all odds. Coincidentally, he said, the church is at the site of a former clock and cabinet shop where Hayden worked for one of his masters, Elijah Warner.
Strangis' book tells how Hayden was sold to Warner by his first master, the Rev. Adam Rankin, whose circa 1784 house is the oldest still standing in Lexington.
While Hayden belonged to Warner, he married another slave, Esther, and they had a son. But when Esther's owner's business failed, she and their son were purchased by Henry Clay. The statesman later sold them South, and Hayden never saw his family again. He married a second time, to Harriet Bell, a slave who had a young son.
Hayden was sold in 1840 to a man who whipped him, then two years later to two businessmen who leased him to the Phoenix Hotel, where he worked as a waiter.
Through his various jobs, Hayden learned more than most slaves did about the white world, including how to read. Inspired by Lafayette and angry with Clay, Hayden vowed that he and his second family would be free someday.
In the fall of 1844, Hayden planned his escape with help from two white abolitionists, Delia Webster, a Vermonter who ran a Lexington girls' school, and Calvin Fairbank, a ministerial student at Oberlin College in Ohio who helped free several Kentucky slaves. They smuggled the Hayden family across the Ohio River, and the Underground Railroad helped them all the way to Canada.
Webster and Fairbank were not so fortunate. Convicted of helping the Haydens escape, Webster became one of the first women imprisoned in Kentucky, although she was pardoned two months into her two-year sentence. Fairbank spent five years in prison.
After a short time in Canada, Hayden felt called to return to this country and join the anti-slavery movement. His family settled in Boston, running a clothing store and boarding house, and assisting escaped slaves.
Hayden learned in 1849 that if he repaid his Lexington owner $650 as compensation for his loss, the man would petition Kentucky's governor to free Fairbank. So Hayden bought the freedom of the man who had helped him secure his.
If Lewis Hayden's story ended there, it would be remarkable. But he went on to do much, much more. Read about that in my column next Wednesday.
First of two-part story about the amazing life of Lewis Hayden, who was born a slave in Lexington in 1811.


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Vid is good, solid brain food: You'd rather watch this than the sportscaster's loose, wiggling hairpiece
Famous atheist Christopher Hitchens vs.
ID friendly Oxford math prof John Lennox here:
There are nine in all, from the Fixed Point Foundation.
(Note: Christopher Hitchens: This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.)
Labels: Christopher Hitchens, John Lennox


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NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Financial stocks rose in volatile trading Thursday, making afternoon gains following a Federal Reserve decision to increase its bond buying in a bid to jumpstart hiring and U.S. economic growth.
The policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee, culminating a two-day meeting, said it was concerned that, without the action, "economic growth might not be strong enough to generate sustained improvement in labor market conditions." Read text of FOMC's statement.
In addition to bond purchases, the central bank said it intends to keep the federal funds rate, its benchmark short-term interest rate, at nearly zero until mid-2015. Previously, this had been set for late in 2014. Read more on Fed decision
The Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF XLF, +0.11%, which tracks financial components in the S&P 500 index SPX, +0.26%, rose 1.1%. At $15.92, it lately stood within a fraction of its 52-week high.
It took the index two efforts to hold the gain, and following a bump immediately after the news, the sector retreated before launching a second assault on the 52-week high-water mark.
The ETF traded at $16.01, its high for the year, on March 27. It hit its low for the past 52 weeks on Oct. 4, when it closed at $10.95.
The banking sector also got a boost, albeit a narrower one. The KBW Bank ETF KBE, -1.10% added 1.3% after the decision, while the KBW Regional Bank ETF KRE, -1.25% rose 0.9%.
Also Thursday, shares of Equinix Inc. EQIX, +1.63% rallied Thursday as the data-center technology specialist said it plans to convert to a real estate investment trust by the start of 2015, as part of a plan to "maximize long-term shareholder value."
The company plans to make a special distribution before 2015 to shareholders, in a range of $700 million to $1.1 billion, representing undistributed accumulated earnings and profits. The distribution will be paid out in a combination of up to 20% cash and at least 80% common stock, Equinix said.
Meanwhile, Oppenheimer and Credit Suisse analysts downgraded T. Rowe Price Group Inc. TROW, +0.93%, as the trading tone for asset managers remained comparatively subdued.
But the quartet of Dow Jones Industrial Average financial shares all gained, basking in the Fed's policy decision in favor of further accommodation, with Bank of America Corp. BAC, -0.63% setting the pace, adding more than 3%. American Express Co. AXP, +1.20% rose 2%.


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Clostridium(redirected from clostridian)
Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Encyclopedia.
a genus of gram-positive, obligate anaerobic or microaerophilic, spore-forming, rod-shaped bacteria. Several species cause gas gangrene, including C. bifermen´tans, C. histioly´ticum, C. no´vyi, C. perfrin´gens (the most common cause), and C. sep´ticum. Other species are C. botuli´num, the cause of botulism; C. diffi´cile, the cause of antibiotic-associated colitis; and C. te´tani, the cause of tetanus.
clostridium[klo-strid´e-um] (pl. clostri´dia) (L.)
any individual of the genus Clostridium.
A genus of anaerobic (or anaerobic, aerotolerant), spore-forming, motile (occasionally nonmotile) bacteria (family Bacillaceae) containing gram-positive rods; motile cells are peritrichous. Many species are saccharolytic and fermentative, producing various acids and gases and variable amounts of neutral products; other species are proteolytic, some attacking proteins with putrefaction or more complete proteolysis. Some species fix free nitrogen. These organisms sometimes produce exotoxins; they are generally found in soil and in the mammalian intestinal tract, where they may cause disease. The type species is Clostridium butyricum.
[G. klōstēr, a spindle]
clos·trid·i·um, pl.
clos·trid·i·a(klos-trid'ē-ŭm, -ă),
A vernacular term used to refer to any member of the genus Clostridium.
Clostridium/Clos·trid·i·um/ (klos-trid´e-um) a genus of anaerobic spore-forming bacteria (family Bacillaceae).
Clostridium bifermen´tans a species common in feces, sewage, and soil and associated with gas gangrene.
Clostridium botuli´num the causative agent of botulism, divided into six types (A through F) which elaborate immunologically distinct toxins.
Clostridium diffi´cile a species often occurring transiently in the gut of infants, but whose toxin causes pseudomembranous enterocolitis in those receiving prolonged antibiotic therapy.
Clostridium histoly´ticum a species found in feces and soil.
Clostridium kluy´veri a species used in the study of both microbial synthesis and microbial oxidation of fatty acids.
Clostridium no´vyi an important cause of gas gangrene.
Clostridium oedema´tiens C. novyi.
Clostridium perfrin´gens the most common etiologic agent of gas gangrene, distinguishable as several different types; type A causes human gas gangrene, colitis, and food poisoning and type C causes enteritis.
Clostridium ramo´sum a species found in human and animal infections and feces and commonly isolated from clinical specimens.
Clostridium sporo´genes a species widespread in nature, reportedly associated with pathogenic anaerobes in gangrenous infections.
Clostridium ter´tium a species found in feces, sewage, and soil and present in some gangrenous infections.
Clostridium te´tani a common inhabitant of soil and human and horse intestines, and the cause of tetanus in humans and domestic animals.
Clostridium wel´chii British name for C. perfringens.
clostridium/clos·trid·i·um/ (klos-trid´e-um) pl. clostri´dia an individual of the genus Clostridium. clostrid´ial
n. pl. clostrid·ia (-ē-ə)
Any of various rod-shaped, spore-forming, chiefly anaerobic bacteria of the genus Clostridium, such as certain nitrogen-fixing species found in soil and those causing botulism and tetanus.
clos·trid′i·al (-əl) adj.
Etymology: Gk, kloster, spindle
a genus of spore-forming anaerobic bacteria of the Bacillaceae family: Clostridium novyi, C. septicum, and C. bifermentans are involved in gas gangrene; C. botulinum causes botulism and produces the toxin Botox used in some cosmetic procedures; C. perfringens causes food poisoning, cellulitis, and wound infections; C. tetani is the cause of tetanus.
A genus of anaerobic (or anaerobic, aerotolerant), spore-forming, motile (occasionally nonmotile) bacteria containing gram-positive rods. Exotoxins are sometimes produced by these organisms. They may cause disease in humans and other animals. They are generally found in soil and in the intestinal tract of humans and other animals. The type species is C. butyricum.
clos·trid·i·um, pl. clostridia (klos-trid'ē-ŭm, -ă)
A vernacular term used to refer to any member of the genus Clostridium.
Clostridium,Any bacterium of the genus Clostridium . These are rod shaped and spore-forming and mostly able to reproduce in the absence of free oxygen (anaerobic). The genus includes Clostridium welchii which causes gas gangrene, Clostridium tetani which causes TETANUS and Clostridium botulinum which causes BOTULISM.
A genus of deadly bacteria that are responsible for tetanus and other serious diseases, including botulism and gangrene from war wounds. Clostridia thrives without oxygen.
Mentioned in: Tetanus
Genus of anaerobic, spore-forming, motile bacteria that may cause disease in intestinal tract.
a genus of anaerobic spore-forming bacteria of the family Bacillaceae. Most are gram-positive rods.
Clostridium bifermentans, Clostridium sordelli
see malignant edema.
Clostridium botulinum
causes botulism from neurotoxin produced during vegetative growth. C. botulinum types B, C and D are associated with disease in animals but the type prevalence varies geographically. See botulism.
Clostridium butyricum
involved in the spoilage of meat.
Clostridium cadaveris
may be associated with colitis X in horses.
Clostridium chauvoei
formerly called C. feseri. See blackleg.
Clostridium colinum
cause of ulcerative enteritis and liver necrosis in quail, turkeys, grouse, partridge and chickens. Not an accredited species.
Clostridium difficile
see antibiotic-associated colitis.
Clostridium feseri
now called C. chauvoei (above).
Clostridium haemolyticum
formerly called C. novyi type D. See bacillary hemoglobinuria.
Clostridium histolyticum
a species found in feces, soil and sometimes wound infections. An important cause of meat spoilage.
Clostridium nigrificans
a thermophilic spoiler of canned meat producing hydrogen sulfide gas and causing purple staining of the inside of the can. Now called Desulfotomaculum nigrificans.
Clostridium novyi
see infectious necrotic hepatitis. See also C. haemolyticum (above). Previously called C. oedematiens. Type A causes malignant edema in cattle and sheep, and big head in rams, type B causes infectious necrotic hepatitis (black disease), and type C has been associated with osteomyelitis in buffalo.
Clostridium overgrowth
see bacterial overgrowth.
Clostridium parabotulinum
a proteolytic subgroup of C. botulinum; not a valid species.
Clostridium perfringens
cause of enterotoxemia. Type A causes malignant edema, type B causes dysentery in lambs and enterotoxemia, type C causes struck in sheep and necrotic enteritis in piglets, type D causes enterotoxemia and type E causes necrotic enteritis. Previously called C. welchii.
Clostridium putrefaciens
causes deep bone taint in hams. See also C. putrificum (below).
Clostridium putrificum
a cause of bone taint in cured hams. There is no detectable abnormality on the surface of the ham.
Clostridium sordelli
cause of a small proportion of cases of gas gangrene in ruminants. See also abomasitis.
Clostridium spiroforme
associated with enteritis and enterocolitis in rabbits, guinea pigs and foals.
Clostridium sporogenes
an apathogenic clostridium often found in lesions of gas gangrene.
Clostridium tetani
a common inhabitant of soil and human and horse intestines, and the cause of tetanus in humans and domestic animals.
Clostridium villosum
found in fight abscesses and pleurisy in cats.
Clostridium welchii
see C. perfringens (above).
pl. clostridia [Gr.] any individual of the genus Clostridium.


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La Rioja Flag Patch
Spain La Rioja flag embroidered patch in size 60x80 mm may be sewn or ironed on.
The patch is coated with a special adhesive that melts when heat is applied and thereby sticks well to fabrics. Simply place the spanish patch in the desired position, place a sheet of paper over it and iron it.
Ideal as a gift or as part of a collection.
Further details:
To sew on, or to iron on, 20-30 seconds with any iron.
Buy Spain La Rioja flag patch online.
Your Flag Store | Shop online for Flags - Royal-Flags.
Here you can find all sizes and designs of our La Rioja flags for sale.
|Item number:
|MaxFlags® · Flags for businesses and individuals
|approx 60x80mm
|Coated with iron-on glue
Delivery in the European Union is within 5 business days.
Orders placed before 4:30 pm will be dispatched the same day.
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Here's actress/writer/director Lake Bell, attending the Dior & I film premiere with her husband on Tuesday night in NYC. She's wearing a bold, multi-colored pair of Christian LouboutinVagachina Squiggle Heel Mules. The squiggle heel is brand new for Spring 2015, but these squiggle-heeled shoes are not yet available for purchase online. You can shop for Christian Louboutin mules, sandals, and pumps
Lake's mules only recently made their big debut as part of Christian Louboutin's Tribalou Collection, which, as you might've gathered, is "Native American-inspired" (or, it appropriates native aesthetics under the guise of "inspiration," depending on your view). We've had some rather heated commentary from readers about this collection, but strangely enough, no one in the mainstream media seems to have touched on the controversy.


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Volcano Riding - Indonesia
When the lights is this good who doesn't want to go ride inside a live volcano...right?
The City Of Rock in New Mexico is one of the most dramatic night time spots we've camped out. Outstanding!
Into The Light
In Tajikistan on the Silk Route, Lisa rode this piece of road, several times before I was able to get the camera settings anywhere close to capturing the drama and intense and formidable light of this shot. She wasn't happy! This was at altitude and running low on fuel. But totally worth it I think!
Blazing Plains - Mongolia
the hazy colours of this shot really capture the diffused light and dust that we rode through most days as we navigated Mongolia. We'll head back and ride it again one day! If you haven't visited this incredible country, put it on your bucket list,
The Sleeping Giant - Indonesia
The smokey dark scene created by this rumbling volcano was just too good a backdrop to pass up. With Lisa sitting in the foreground you get a sense of scale. The photo doesn't do justice to the incredible heat, humidity and smell of sulphur in the air :-)
The Three Amigos - USA
We'd camped under the stars in the City Of Rocks National Park, where the Milky Way made for a perfect backdrop to photograph the three bikes that had taken us across the USA and back.
Out of The Clouds - Atigun Pass
We spent an hour riding into and out of the thick cloud base that blanketed Alaska's Atigun Pass. This image is one of my favourites.
Storms Ahead - Alaska
This was shot just south of Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, as we rode back to Coldfoot trying to dodge these immense storms clouds on the way.
Tungurahua Volcano - Ecuador
We posed for this image on the outskirts of the Ecuadorian town of Baños de Agua Santa, as the Tungurahua volcano erupts.
The Pamirs - Kyrgyzstan
South of the village of Sarry Tash, we start our long cold ride across one of the most spectacular mountain ranges in the world.
Storm Over The Altai - Mongolia
We raced over the Altai Mountains in North West Mongolia to keep ahead of the snow storm that had been chasing us all day. But, this light and landscape was just too good not to stop. Surreal!
The Haul Road - Alaska - USA
this shot was snatched as we headed south from Prudhoe Bay, desperately trying to avoid the snow that was falling around us. By some miracle, we missed the lot and arrived back at Coldfoot in one piece.
The Desert Dragon - USA
This image alone was worth the ride out to Borrego Springs in California. This wee beasty is just one of 26 incredible metal sculptures by a local artist.
Camped In the Great Thar Desert - India
After weeks of riding in India, our senses were overwhelmed. South of Jaisalmer in Rajasthan India, we simply rode into the dunes until our bikes became stuck. We then simply hid from India, the noise, the filth and everything else that we finally came to love about one of the most vibrant and intoxicating countries in the world.
Volcano Sunrise - Island of Java
So, I'm sat there, thinking "how am I going to get my bike up there?"
New Zealand Adventures
The valley ride to New Zealand's legendary Milford Sound is nothing short of breathtaking.
Himalayan View - Nepal
North of Pokhara and just outside our tent, I managed to talk Lisa into standing by her bike, bearing in mind she's terrified of heights. Well, there is a two thousand foot drop just over the edge she's stood next to.
Dune Camp - India
We literally hid from the chaos that is India for three days until our provisions ran out in the dunes of the Great tar Desert in West India. The light was incredible.
The Route Ahead - Uzbekistan
Being the gentleman I pretend to be, I hoped on Lisa's F650GS to get her bike across a very fragile bridge that was little more than a few struts with loose metal sheets laid across the top. Those long legs of mine came in handy.
Pastel Plains - Mongolia
At the end of another long day, Lisa snatched this image of me trying to turn. The pastel plains of Mongolia are just one of the reasons to visit and explore this magical and ancient country.
The Smile - Mongolia
Lisa pops a quick smile for the camera at the end of a very long days ride south to the GOBI Desert. This was our camp spot for the night. The sunset was spectacular.
Rock Camp - USA
As Lisa and David prepped for dinner I took a walk into the shadows and snapped this little gem. Location: City of Rocks, New Mexico


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BART to airport connector is on track
The long line of asymmetrical concrete columns in the median of Hegenberger Road, some topped with a half-mile of white steel trestle, are a sure reminder that there will soon be a new way to get to the Oakland International Airport.
After years of hoping, planning and fighting, BART's long-awaited and controversial Oakland Airport Connector is taking shape. Construction crews have been working on the 3.2-mile link between the Coliseum/Oakland Airport BART Station and the airport since late 2010. It will replace AirBART, a shuttle bus operated by the Port of Oakland.
"We're making a lot of progress," said Luna Salaver, a BART spokeswoman. "By this time in 2014, people will be able to take the connector to Oakland airport."
The connector will not be a BART extension or use the transit system's familiar trains or technology. Instead, it will be a modern cable car, using a motorized cable to pull automated and driver-less three-car trains between BART and the airport in eight minutes. Doppelmayr/Garaventa, a Swiss and Austrian company, designed and will operate the system. The firm has constructed similar "people mover" systems in Las Vegas, between the Mandalay Bay and Excalibur casinos, and at Pearson International Airport in Toronto and other locales around the world.
Construction crews have planted the columns for the connector along a route snaking west from the BART station on the edge of the Coliseum parking lots, down the median of Hegenberger Road to Pardee Road, where a short subway is being built, alongside the airport access roads at ground level then up again on elevated tracks through the parking lots to a station between the airport's two terminals.
All of the columns and foundations were finished in July, marking the halfway point in construction. Scott Yamasaki, an Oakland airport spokesman, said the most recent construction update estimated that 65 percent of the work has been completed.
Workers are installing the steel trestles, which serve as guideways or tracks, atop the columns, and building the stations and maintenance center. Next they'll install the electrical and mechanical systems that pull and control the cable. Construction is scheduled to be completed in late 2013, allowing at least nine months for testing, Salaver said. She said the $484 million project is on time for a September 2014 opening and is on budget.
"It's coming along," Yamasaki said. "It's exciting to see all this construction."
A connection between BART and the Oakland airport has been discussed since 1970, before the transit system started operating. Subsequent studies were done in the 1970s, '80s and '90s. The project moved closer to reality in 2000 when Alameda County voters approved a transportation sales tax that steered $89 million to the connection.
BART struggled to find the rest of the funding, stalling the project, then lost $70 million of federal money in 2010 when federal officials decided BART had not done enough to get comments from minority and low-income communities. That ruling came after complaints from project critics, who said the money dedicated for the airport connector could be better spent on other regional transit needs and that a cheaper but fancier bus shuttle would suffice as an airport link. Regional officials found enough state funding and federal loans to make up the difference, however, and construction started in 2010.
About 750,000 passengers a year take AirBART buses that can require frustrating waits while passengers drag their luggage aboard and scrounge for $3 fares. The ride typically takes about 20 minutes but can vary widely depending on traffic.
BART and airport officials project that 3.2 million passengers a year will pay between $4 and $6 each way to ride the Oakland Airport Connector with the number rising to 4.9 million if a fourth car is added to trains. BART officials say it will take passengers 15 minutes including transfer and waiting time to get from their BART train to the airport terminal. Connector trains are expected to depart every four minutes.
"It will be nice," Salaver said, "for both airports to have a seamless connection to BART."
Michael Cabanatuan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: email@example.com Twitter: @ctuan


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There's an old saying: "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is." That is exactly the case with the proposal that calls for a ban on political fundraising during sessions of the California Legislature.
What could be wrong by putting an end to lawmakers soliciting contributions while they are doing the people's business? Plenty.
• It would create an uneven playing field for candidates.
Although there are notable exceptions, the candidate who spends the most usually wins. Under proposals under consideration, incumbent candidates would be unable to raise a penny for most of their terms for 23 of the 24 months before voting begins, while their challengers could raise unlimited funds. With the most competitive legislative campaigns now costing upward of $5 million, such a ban would put incumbents at a huge disadvantage. They'd be handcuffed while their opponents could raise millions.
• It would empower independent expenditure campaigns.
Banned from giving money directly to lawmakers, special interests would likely funnel their money into independent expenditure committees. These special interest campaigns can spend unlimited amounts with limited disclosure — the worst kind of political spending.
• It would give millionaire candidates a leg up.
Steve Poizner, for example, spent millions to try to win an open Assembly seat a few years ago. Had his opponent been an incumbent, the legislator would have had just a few weeks to match those dollars. Fundraising bans invite more millionaires (incumbents and challengers) to run for office knowing they have a competitive advantage.
• It would result in more negative campaigning.
Opponents to sitting legislators could run advertisements bashing them for nearly 23 months — and the legislators would be unable to respond. Banned from fundraising, they couldn't purchase ads to counter the attacks (most TV ads require prepayment and need to be reserved in a station's schedule).
• It would mean less time talking about issues during a campaign.
With a year's worth of fundraising time squeezed into a couple of weeks before ballots are cast, candidates would be forced end door-to-door campaigning, rallies and debates. Instead, they would be forced into four weeks of frantic dialing for dollars just as voters focus on issues.
• It's unworkable for special elections.
Incumbent members of the Legislature often run for higher office and other seats during the legislative session. For example, this year saw several special elections where Assembly members competed for Senate seats, and some lawmakers filled congressional and local seats. Under this proposal, they'd be banned from fundraising. How would they compete?
• It doesn't make sense because of the legislative calendar.
The California Legislature is full time. Although sessions are over at the end of September, the Legislature holds hearings outside of session days. And why would it somehow be OK to accept checks on Aug. 30 but not Sept. 1?
• Ultimately it won't stop fundraising during the legislative session.
Even if checks weren't being written during the sessions themselves, you can bet that commitments would be made for fundraising long before then. Instead of reading stories about checks changing hands, we'd read about upcoming fundraising events that were planned during the waning days of the legislative session.
But perhaps the worst thing about this campaign reform gimmick is that it reinforces the cynical notion that money buys a legislator's votes in California. Yes, there's been one indictment springing from an FBI investigation going on at the Capitol, but no one has been convicted. In New York, Illinois, and other states, headlines are filled with convictions of bribery. But not here.
Fifty years ago, former Assembly Speaker Jesse M. Unruh was famously quoted as saying, "If you can't drink their booze, take their money, sleep with their women and then vote against 'em, you don't belong in politics." That holds true today.
Yes, it's time to end special-interest funding of political campaigns. But the Legislature should enact bold reforms to end reliance on special interest cash year-round, not just for most of the year. The only way to do that: public financing of campaigns.
Steven Maviglio is a Sacramento-based Democratic political strategist who has worked for three Assembly speakers and former Gov. Gray Davis.


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Max Smith officially assumes duties of Oneida mayor; continues representation of Ward 3
ONEIDA - The council took a moment of silence at the beginning of Tuesday's meeting to honor Mayor Don Hudson, who passed away Friday, before delving into the order of succession in the wake of his death.
City Attorney Nadine Bell clarified the city charter's directive in the circumstance that the mayor is unable to serve his term. While the charter provides careful language as to the order of succession, she said it doesn't particularly explain what to do in the situation of the mayor dying while in office.
The charter governs that the deputy mayor, Ward 3 Councilman Max Smith, will now serve as acting mayor. While he won't become mayor, he will assume the office's duties and responsibilities. He is the first black man in the city's history to hold the administration's top position. Smith will hold that office until the next general election. Because the 2012 election is just weeks away, the next election is considered the general election in 2013.
Smith will maintain his right and privilege to vote, Bell said. And will still represent Ward 3. Where the mayor would have held the deciding vote in a tied vote by the council, now a tied vote will result in the motion failing.
Tasked with deciding who would replace Smith as acting deputy mayor, Ward 2 Councilman David Cimpi was unanimously nominated. Cimpi refused the $500 stipend the deputy mayor receives. Smith will resume the mayor's salary but will return $6,220 back to the budget next year for his earnings as councilor and deputy mayor.
Smith never truly appreciated the gravity and seriousness of the responsibilities that fall on the mayor as a councilman, he said.
"I'm feeling that fully now," he said, pledging to do his best to serve the city and to continue what Hudson started, to continue a "proud legacy of Don."


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