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What could possibly be more exciting than a new multiplayer trailer for EA's Medal of Honor: Warfighter? Look at those explosions! Check out that air strike! Did you see that bridge crumbling? Let me catch my breath.
This multiplayer footage takes place on the Tungawan Jungle map, situated along the Philippine Coast. You can tell because there are fronds. You never find fronds outside of a jungle. Maybe a botanical garden, but why would you fight a war in a botanical garden? That's for advanced warfighters.
Lovely, isn't it? No one's gonna be thinking about Call of Duty after seeing this.

subset: commoncrawl


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Law Enforcement Is Not About Generating Revenue: Speed Trap And Booking Fee Edition
from the petty-cash-for-petty-people dept
People "ruining" speed traps by warning oncoming drivers usually results in some sort of interdiction by law enforcement. In most cases, what the citizen is doing isn't actually illegal, but that usually doesn't stop the person for being charged with something. A federal court ruled that warning other drivers of hidden cop cars (in this case by flashing your lights) is protected speech. Holding a sign saying "police ahead" is basically the same thing.
The Frisco traffic officer was camped in an unmarked Chevy, trying to catch drivers going above the speed limit, when he noticed something suspicious. Some of the motorists could see him. They waved. He had a feeling that a man named Ron Martin might have had something to do with it. Also aiding his suspicions:Because Ron Martin wasn't doing anything necessarily wrong, Officer Mrozinski has to dig deep to find a criminal charge to use against Martin. He fell back on "violating a city ordinance." Martin's sign was confiscated and he was booked on misdemeanor charges.
Another officer had given him a heads-up via radio that he'd seen Martin out that day.
Martin is well known among the Frisco traffic cops. He has a history of "holding signs in the center median of traffic," as officer Thomas Mrozinski explained in a police report. His signs carry a simple message: "Police Ahead."
Mrozinski drove eastbound down Eldorado Parkway, Frisco's main artery. Sure enough there was Martin, standing in the median of the busy road. He hoisted a "Police Ahead" sign above his shoulder. "The sign appeared to be self-constructed with a yellow background and lettering in black attached to a wooden stick," Mrozinski writes in his police report.
In Martin's case, the officers charged him with violating Frisco's human sign ordinance, a Class C misdemeanor. The police report doesn't explain how he violated that specific law, and it doesn't seem to apply in this case. Frisco's city code defines human signs as humans who are in costume or otherwise holding or wearing signs for advertising purposes. And though he is a professional sign painter, Martin maintains that he wasn't advertising anything that day in the Eldorado median, just protesting.Martin claims he was just trying to make the road "safer." Arguably, he was. Drivers were slowing down after reading his sign (and waving to the cop in the unmarked SUV). In that way, his ends were no different than the cop's: discourage speeding. But the cop arresting Martin felt the sign "interfered with enforcement duties." But unless Mrozinski had a quota to fill -- something that has been ruled illegal nearly everywhere -- the lack of speeders meant there was nothing to enforce.
The other argument used to justify hassling people who point out speed traps is that the person's actions prevent the department from collecting needed funds. Ticket revenue may fund police departments to a certain extent, but that's not the reason tickets exist. A police officer's purpose isn't to generate revenue. It's to enforce laws. With tickets, the two coincide, but if police departments rely heavily on tickets and fines for revenue, it becomes a perverse incentive. Police departments may not like seeing a source of revenue drying up thanks to someone holding up a warning sign, but there's little they can do about it. Generating revenue should never be the purpose for any law enforcement action.
Unless, of course, a very dubious circuit court decision declares generating revenue to be a legitimate part of "police business."
In this case, the court found that charging an arrested person a $30 booking fee was perfectly legal, as the PD had every right to earn money. So, anyone being arrested has to pay, whether or not the charges stick. No refunds.
Under Title 5 of its Village Code, the Village of Woodridge charges every arrestee in its custody a $30 booking fee. Indeed, after Woodridge police arrested the plaintiff-appellant for retail theft on January 8, 2011, the Village collected its $30 booking fee from him, without any opportunity to contest that collection either before or after the fee was taken. Mr. Markadonatos is not alone—Woodridge has taken the same $30 fee from each of the large number of people arrested and booked in its vicinity.According to this decision, it's perfectly fine for the Village of Woodridge to generate revenue this way, either to simply "make ends meet" or turn a profit.
Woodridge's booking fee clearly passes the rational basis test. In imposing the fee, Woodridge hopes to offset the cost of booking arrestees, or at the very least to collect revenue, either of which is a legitimate goal.Scott Greenfield (along with the dissenting judge) tears that argument apart:
This is sheer insanity.This sort of decision will encourage those -- officers and supervisors -- who honestly believe police departments exist to generate revenue. Seeing as anyone being booked is charged $30, the incentive shifts from enforcing the law to booking as many people as possible. The actual charges aren't important as the fee is mandatory and backed by law. Routine infractions become trips "downtown," rather than warnings or tickets.
In dissent, Judge Hamilton writes what any person whose vision isn't obscured by his rectum walls already knows:
"This should be a simple case. The village's 'booking fee' ordinance is unconstitutional on its face. It takes property from all arrestees—the guilty and the innocent alike—without due process of law. The deprivation occurs at the time of arrest, immediately and finally. It occurs based on only the say-so and perhaps even the whim of one arresting officer. By no stretch of the imagination can that be due process of law."
This $30 booking fee, imposed immediately upon arrest because, well, a cop decided to arrest someone (and the donuts are ready, but that's too snarky to say), is as facially, flagrantly, offensively unconstitutional as it gets. This isn't a tough call.
The same goes for stretching an advertising ordinance to fit some guy warning other drivers about a speed trap. Both people involved have ostensibly the same goal -- a reduction in speeding. Only one of them believes slower drivers means police business has been interfered with. And those defending this officer will often point to the loss of revenue, as if that were the point.
Even a majority of the commenters at Police One News, a law enforcement-oriented site, side with the guy holding the sign. Basically: he's doing our job and he's doing it for free. An empty marked police car will have the same effect as a guy holding a sign on the median. People slow down. But somehow, Officer Mrozinski managed to view it as an illegal act, one that prevented him and his unmarked vehicle from pouncing on speeders and making them pay. Someone took the fun out of his job and that someone needs to learn that you don't screw with cops, even if all he managed to throw at him was a misdemeanor based on an obscure advertising ordinance.
Filed Under: law enforcement, police, revenue, speed traps


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Our Nicaraguan nightmare continues in the boring of the boringest suckfest we call night. An ill-placed harmonica sighs languidly and The Cuddler (Steve) drags his old carcass over to His Majesty Of Frosted Flakes, Phillip Sheppard, to make amends. That whole racist N-word thing at the last Tribal Council left a bad taste in the The Cuddler's mouth and now he'd like to be friends with the Duke of Candyland if possible. With a crispy voice and an aching in his bones, The Cuddler sticks an olive branch in Phillip's ear and says, "Here. Take it." Phillip takes it, breaks it in half and declares that the gesture wasn't the least bit "genuous". It also wasn't "authenterocious", "sinceraneous" or "honorific" either. Knowing that Phillip is one chromosome away from being a goldfish, The Cuddler smiles satisfied that he's made a new friend and is now safe from any eliminations down the road. His next tactical move is to woo the ladies of the tribe with sticky sweet compliments and poofs of old man smell. "That was some great blindside.", he farts. The Fembots look at him with that glazed glassy eyed stare of theirs. The Cuddler knows that is also how they look at their lord and master so, again, he's confident that he's made some headway and is now an honorary Omarion (Ometepe). No way Rob will get rid of him now!
A new day dawns. The ocean rolls in and out, pretty and blue, while the last two Zappas (Zapateras) sit on a log enjoying some suicidal fish. The scene is gentle and peaceful. One might imagine a palm tree blowing gently in the breeze or a dolphin leaping playfully in the sea. Instead, we find a giant bald man roaming the sand muttering to his guardian angel Jessica Hairyface (Jessum Harring). You see, Jessica Hairyface was 85% Albanian, 36% Martian and 213% Smurf. He lived long ago, but will still appear from time to time to his puffy sticker of a great grandson Phillip Sheppard. Today is one such time. In an early morning premonition (that's code for hallucination), Jessica Hairyface told the Seargant of Saggy Bottoms to look near the water hole, radio to Langley for the precise coordinates and there, underneath a rock in the shape of a rock, will be his long lost shorts. As all rocks are in the shape of rocks, this wasn't exactly the easiest task. Phillip lurches, balls swinging in the breeze, and begins to dig under every rock he can find. The first rock yields nothing, but a leaf he can use later to make a pipe bomb out of. The second rock reveals tiny crab people on their way to a tiny crab people convention. The third rock reveals *drumroll* the missing salmon colored shorts! Like Anthony Michael Hall in Sixteen Candles, Phillip holds the shorts over his head for all to see. He didn't even need a clue to find them! Never mind the fact that Leatherface told him point blank they were buried under a rock and Jessica Hairyface told them they were under a rock and Sydney Bristow told him they were under a rock and the tiny crab people told him they were under a rock. Nope. Phillip did it all by himself so suck on that Julie! The Underwear Specialist is master of uncovering the truth and like most people, Julie, you can't stand the truth! He-e-e-e-e-re's Jeremy! You make me want to be a better manhole. They was giving me ten thousands watts a day, you know, and I'm hot for toaster strudles! Good times and nickelodeon salad. With a sassy kick in the air and a jaunty skip, Phillip murders the last of the Jack Nicholson quotes and prances off to collect the rock that hid the shorts. Not only will it make a fetching foot stool, but it's good to kill people with... while they sleep.
Over on Rhode Island (Redemption Island), the scene isn't quite as merry. A pair of leather slippers is trying to make a fire while a downtrodden and forlorn pony wanders the beach searching for inspiration. Waking up in the morning no longer holds promise for the Pretty Pony (Matt). The sea holds no answers. The sun, although shining, is just a giant yellow ball of mediocrity. His hair hangs limply, his eyes sag sadly and the Pretty Pony wonders if this is really what God had in store for him. Beautiful delicious tears (that probably taste like frosting) stream down his face as he searches for a meaning to this hell he's endured for so long. Memories of family have faded into tiny little snippets of "I think I may know those people from somewhere." His faith, which up til now has been a guiding force in his life, seems to be toying with him in the cruelest of ways. My pony is broken. He can no longer hear the angels sing. All that lies inside of him is a deep cavernous void of emptiness and all he can do is weep. He covers his face, but it's not in shame. It's actually in gratitude. Somehow, through the darkest of wildernesses, he's found a graciousness and serenity knowing that God has carried him this far. The droplets that fall may taste sugary sweet and be absolutely scrumptious on brownies, but, in reality, they're filled with thanks and praise. I don't claim to understand it. I'm not even sure I endorse it. Let's be honest here, I'm just glad he did it shirtless. Hot.
And now we arrive at the big duel. As Pretty Pony, Leatherface and Mike wander in, Phillip begins to fondle himself underneath his salmon shorts. I think it was a screw you to Julie, but in reality it looked like something that could land him on the sex offenders list in the great state of California. Julie simply smiled and cracked her skin in response. It was a nonevent that amounted to nothing more than a grown man touching himself. Dimples ignores it and turns his attention to the Pretty Pony who's been on Rhode Island for 21 days now. Pretty Pony says he's found tremendous peace and if he goes home, so be it. He's accomplished what he's needed to do - which I can only assume is "look majestic while starving and playing the worst game imaginable" - but nevermind all that. Let's get to today's duel. Since Survivor is an intense game of endurance and pushing oneself to the limits of human survival, this competition is a rool doozy - Survivor Shuffleboard! Yes, let's play a game that 80 year olds play on cruise ships while sipping prune juice and bitching about how their grandkids don't call anymore. Ridiculous. Anyhow, the first two Survivors to shoot three pucks into the end zone stay alive. The loser becomes the second member of the jury and can never show their face down at the community center ever again. Survivors ready, go.
The Pretty Pony halfheartedly shoots his puck right into an obstacle. That lump of skin in combat boots, Mike, makes it into the end zone, but, seriously, who cares? Who cares! The only way I could possibly force myself to care about Mike would be if he started hurling his boots at Assley's (Ashley's) head or maybe shoved a giant machete up Julie's nose. He's boredom squared. Blah to the nth power. A gray t-shirt crumbled on the floor. Some stale saltines lying sad and lonely in a cupboard. How the hell did he end up on this show?! Then, that crinkly bunch of cowhide shot her puck and it went somewhere. I don't know. Shoot, shoot, shoot, crinkle, crinkle, crack. Pretty Pony finally feels the power of the Holy Spirit and starts to score. Mike starts to choke a little and that drink coaster Julie makes me want to start buying vegan footwear. In the end, PRETTY PONY AND MIKE STAY ALIVE!!! Happily, we're forced to bid adieu to that shoehorn. Apparently, she came on the show to get her house out of foreclosure. I expect to see her on Jeopardy, The Price Is Right and Are You Smarter Than A Backpack? by the end of the week. She also plans on joining a church because she was so inspired by the Pretty Pony. Oh shut up. Just shut up! Go back to the land of hypocrites from whence you came and never ever ever appear on a CBS reality show again. Thank you and later alligator (face).
Back at Murlonio, Mascaroni (Andrea) is feeling a little guilty and naughty for stabbing the Pretty Pony in the back after making googly eyes at him and swearing her allegiance to him. She feels responsible for breaking the pony's spirit and wonders if they'll ever be able to cuddle again under the stars. Who will whisper bible verses to her now and ply her with ice cream floats at the church social? Torn up and uneasy, Mascaroni vocalizes how sorry she feels for Pretty Pony and makes a mental note to join a church faster than Julie can join a church as soon as she gets back home. Grant hears Mascaroni fretting over her equine lover and he doesn't like it one bit. He tells Rob they should vote out Mascaroni as soon as possible because not only is she good at challenges, but she could team up with Pretty Pony again if he were to reenter the game at some point. Rob agrees and together they wonder if dumping Mascaroni now, before the remaining Zappas, is a better move than dumping her later where there's a possibility she could win Immunity Challenges and stay in the game.
Speaking of Immunity Challenges... splish, splash, kerplop... here we are at another one. I wonder if it'll be Survivor Bingo or Hide The Metamucil. Thankfully, it's not either of those. This week's Immunity Challenge is a good ole fashioned log roll. Survivors will match up against another tribe member and try to stay on the log. The winner of each match moves on to the next round where they'll compete again against the other winners. Last person standing wins not only Immunity, but a giant chocolate cake and an ice cold pitcher of milk. Dimples unveils the cake and I couldn't help but frown because I knew, and you knew, that the frosting was made from none other than fresh pony tears. Decadent, scrumptious pony tears. The milk was squeezed fresh from delicate little pony nipples. Can you milk a pony or did I just make that up? Alright, this is getting too weird. Survivors ready, go!
First up is Grant and Rob. As Grant is a yoga doing new age-y kind of guy, he balances on one leg, chants Meka leka hi meka hiney ho and splash! Rob is out. Grant wins. Next up is Mascaroni and Assley. I secretly wanted Mascaroni to just leap across the log and strangle Assley to death, but it wasn't meant to be. Mascaroni falls first and that godawful Assley wins. Rooster and The Cuddler are up next and I honestly didn't even need to watch to know who would win. I think we all know that Rooster is a log roller from way back. Out in the hills of Virginie after brewin' up some 'shine and skinnin' some 'coons, a party just isn't a party without shootin' rifles in the sky, settin' some squirrels on fire and rollin' on some logs. Also, The Cuddler is rickety with bones like a hummingbird so yeah, Rooster wins and The Cuddler collapses into a pile of dust. Last up is Phillip and Tattalie (Natalie). While I thought Phillip and the weight of his craziness would automatically plunge him into the water, he managed to scat his way to victory putting Tattalie out of the game.
Round two begins and first up is Grant and Assley. Grant goes into Tree Pose while simultaneously trying to run and plop goes Assley. Bitch is out. Rooster and Phillip go next with Rooster smoking Phillip and sending the Postmaster Genereal into the water. The final round is Grant and Rooster. The Karate Kid vs. The Log Rolling Champion of 2004. Roll, roll, roll, skip, skip, Ralph Macchio... GRANT WINS IMMUNITY!!!
Rob smiles from the sidelines because he knows what's coming. It's cake time! Clearly, Grant can't eat that entire cake all by himself so Dimples tells him to pick someone else to take part in the cake celebration. As love is a many splendored thing and his microchip is permanently programmed to the Rob Mariano setting, Grant picks Rob. Dimples then tells Grant to pick a second person. In a strangely awkward moment, Rooster offers Grant a little bit of man love for cake - "Mayun, ah'll hug yer nick iffin ya lemme ayt somma dat". Rooster's not gay, but he thought it was worth a shot. Meanwhile, Phillip sat smugly, so sure, so positive, that the assassin would pick him to join the cake party next. Instead, in a move that was designed to throw her off the scent of possible elimination, Grant picks Mascaroni . Personally, I think the idea of having to share his cake with those Stepford minions (Assley and Tattalie) was just too much for Grant to handle. Phillip would stick his head in face first and blow, The Cuddler was out of the question, Rooster wanted some sort of manly carressing so that left only Mascaroni. Tattalie got all sad and teary eyed while Mascaroni simply smeared the cake all over her face instead of eating it. I like to think it was a personal "fuck you" to Tattalie, but maybe Mascaroni is just a little clutzy. In addition to the cake party, Dimples tosses The Cuddler a package and tells the Survivors not to open it until Tribal Council. Unless that package is a detonator to a bomb Julie placed in Phillip's shorts, I'm completely uninterested in it. No more twists! It's enough already.
Back at camp, everyone wonders what could possibly be in the secret package. The Cuddler hopes it's a bottle on Boniva, Tattalie hopes it's a personality and Phillip hopes it's a colorful array of sea monkeys. Only Mascaroni thinks it might be something to do with a second elimination. Since she's confident in her alliance of six, she's not too worried about a second elimination. As far as Mascaroni is concerned, The Cuddler and Rooster are the next to go and her alliance is solid. Speaking of Rooster, his spark is gone, his feathers are plucked and he's all out of cock-a-doodle-do's. That chop block looms in the distance and all he can do is sit and wait for his number to come up. The Cuddler, on the other hand, lies still and begs for grim death. His sunken in sallow cheeks and papery thin skin look like he's been embalmed, wrapped in papyrus and covered in hierolgyphics. He could attract quite a crowd if you stuck him in a temperature controlled glass box and put him on display. Charge at the door and make a tidy profit. That's what I say.
Rob sees the dying Cuddler in the shelter, but he's much too preoccupied with the new twist to worry about an old man with one foot in the grave. What he has to worry about now is how to vote appropriately in case this damn twist means two people will go home, but they'll only get to vote once. With a push of some buttons, the Fembots are activated and instructed to vote out Rooster first and, if there's a second elimination, Mascaroni next. He also throws in a map to the LaBianca house and tells everyone to meet back at Spahn Ranch. Assley receives the transmission, nods dumbly and says, "Rob smart. Rob leader. Kill LaBianca. Race war imminent." and then she gnawed on Tattalie's underarm hair and all was back to normal.
Meanwhile, The Cuddler rolled himself out of bed and came up with a plan to get rid of Boston Rob. It was actually a good idea and a smart idea. He and Rooster will vote out Rob, maybe some Omarions will join them and then Charlie Manson will be out of the game. The only problem is that he pitched his plan to the Fembots who have been programmed to not only feed Rob grapes one by one, but to report any and all mentions of dissension within the camp. So, within seconds, the two idiots take Rob into the woods and dutifully tell him all about The Cuddler's plan and this is why I'm really beginning to hate this season. Look, I really like Rob and I think he's playing with a finesse we've never seen before, but this is a game that everyone should be trying to win - not just Rob. How those dumbass girls can't see how Rob's loyalty lies with Grant and Phillip is a mystery to me. Their complete and utter contentment with doing as little as possible and contributing nothing to strategy or drama is disgusting. I don't care how young Tattalie is Dimples. She sucks and both her and Assley's willingness to do whatever Rob says has completely ruined this season. I've worked out in my head the various ways the rest of this season can play out and there's not one outcome I can live with. Let's say in the next week or two, Rob does go home. Then, what are we left with?! A tribe of uninteresting zombies. Now, let's say Rob stays. Well, that scenario isn't very good either because it's just him picking everyone off one by one. There is no way I can see this season getting nasty and dirty and evil and all the things that make Survivor great in the first place. Even if Matt or Mike comes back... so? Everyone is still pretty boring. Everyone still fucking sucks. I'm mad. I'm Joan Crawford damn mad! Reality shows depend first and foremost on casting. Throw in as many silly twists or complicated competitions as you want, but if the casting isn't there, then you're dead in the water.
Yadda yadda yadda, Tribal Council. Point blank, Rob says that The Cuddler or Rooster are next to go. The Cuddler says he's tried to mix things up and start some chaos *eye roll* but those Zappas are just too hard to penetrate. Rooster, looking smart in overalls, thinks he'll be the one going home. The Cuddler thinks so too, you know, since he's close to death and all. Grant poo-poo's that idea citing that The Cuddler was an NFL player and that NFL players don't give up. They may not give up, but they sure do suck giant Survivor ass and waste a whole lot of my time Grant. Then Phillip had to get his two words in so he says, "Peanut butter, doorknobs, chapstick... indivisible for justice and all... nam myoho renge kyo... para bailar la bamba!"
Talk then turned to Amber and Rob's past season alliances. Since my memory is only good for maybe two seasons deep, I have no idea what they're talking about. Rob betrayed Lex or something like that, but he's married to Amber now and that's the best alliance in the world. So there! In the end, Rooster is the 12th person voted out of Survivor: Redemption Island and it's sort of bittersweet. I was a big fan of Rooster in the beginning. He had gumption, a crazy accent and the balls to stand up to Lucifer. Over time though, he lost his swagger and became merely a faint memory of what he used to be. It's sad how the game broke him. Sure, he's not the smartest guy around, but he had a lot of potential in those first few weeks. I wouldn't mind seeing him back again in a future season although I don't think he'll ever quite be the Rooster he was once was. Godspeed Rooster. Best of luck to you. Save me a bottle of that 'shine and we'll have a banjo party or something.
OK so now we have this weird twist to deal with. The Cuddler opens the package and the Survivors are instructed to play another Immunity Challenge right then and there. Immediately after the challenge, they'll vote out someone else and this season will continue to fast forward itself into oblivion. For this challenge, Dimples will hold up some picture cards and the Survivors have to remember the order in which the cards appear. Is the Challenge Department on vacation or something? Has there been an intern mutiny back at Survivor HQ? What in the sam hell is going on here? Canteen, hook, pot, fire, canteen, blah, blah, blah... ROB WINS IMMUNITY!!!
It's time to vote again and, thankfully, that decrepit curmudgeonly old coot The Cuddler is the 13th person voted out of Survivor: Redemption Island. So, how much did last night's episode suck? Is crazy Phillip footage the only drama we have left to look forward to? Will the Fembots or Grant ever turn on Rob? Do you think it's fair if a Rhode Island person ends up in the final? Can't we just bury Assley and Tattalie in the sand and pretend we've never heard of them? Comment it out bitches and have a great day!
Please to enjoy, Life At Ponderosa (I forgot to post last week's episodes so I put those first):


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PHOTO: AP PHOTO/Seimone Augustus
One of the leading players in the WNBA says she will wed her girlfriend next year and will become more vocal about LGBT equality.
Seimone Augustus (right) is a guard for the Minnesota Lynx, a three time WNBA All-Star and won gold medals in women's basketball at the London and Beijing Olympic games. Augustus will wed her fiancee LaTaya Varner (left) in May. The November vote on a proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage in Minnesota prompted her to "speak out ... now", the openly lesbian athlete told the AP.
"I felt like it was the perfect time for me, being on a platform where I can make a change with my voice and my situation," Augustus [said]. "Maybe inspire someone else to come out and be comfortable with themselves. Or maybe someone else's parents will see my parents saying that it's OK to be with your child and love your child unconditionally regardless of your sexual preference."
Augustus came out to supportive parents when she was still in high school and has never hidden the fact that she's lesbian. But it wasn't until she proposed to Varner on Miami Beach that she started feeling comfortable with the idea of taking things public.
"I just never understood why someone else's love life and who they love and who they choose to be with affects so many other people's lives," Augustus said. "Is it a scare of, 'Gay people are going to be running around and everyone's going to turn gay?' I never understood the whole point of opposing or hating someone else's happiness."
Augustus and Varner met in June 2007 There's a beautiful feature in today's Star-Tribune that describes how they met, their first date ("Chicken and waffles") and how they fell in love. "I couldn't see myself with anybody else than her," said Varner.
The couple talks more about their relationship and the marriage amendment in a video interview. Note: Augustus erroneously says that "if it passes" in November, their marriage would be legal. Not true. Same-sex marriages are prohibited by statute in Minnesota. With that aside, it's still a great interview. Watch it AFTER THE JUMP ...


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Talk:Hebrew phrasebook
I don't know if a Hebrew native speaker wrote it or not... LIGH-lah TOHV, I would write as LY-lah, and Eh-rev is surly without the h - it's with Ain (ע) and not with Heh (ה).
"The months are numbered starting from Nisan or Aviv (March-April), but the year number is incremented in Tishrei; thus Elul 5760 is followed by Tishrei 5761."
And yes, Erev is indeed with an Ain, but the diffrence between Ain and Alef has mostly withered. It wasn't very common among the Ashkenazy Jews in Europe, and was much more common among Sepharadic and Mizrahi Jews, but Sepharadic and Mizrahi Jews of 40- usually use the more Alef-ish version of Ain. And that opens a whole new discussion. Alot of the pronouncations in this article are severely de jure, and do not conform to commonspeech in Israel. I'd say it's going to be much of a hinderance to any foreign who isn't well-familiar and comfortable with Hebrew already to speak in the way the article suggests. Such a distance from the commonspeech will be very bizzare and awkward, and could lead to confusion or even patronization of either side (I've seen quite a few times that an Israeli will ask a foreigner to speak in English, as the Israeli simply doesn't understand the foreigner's Hebrew, and it sounds like garbled gibbrish instead. Note that it happens mostly to foreigners who are very sure of their own Hebrew, and such a request appears to deal a massive blow to the ego of any foreigner who gets it.) Perhaps a revamp of the pronouncations to a less snobbish way is needed. Any expansion of this article in its current state could perhaps cause a wave of foreigners to come to a kiosk and asking for כעכים (ke-A'KH-im). Could be a good laugh. 188.8.131.52 17:19, 9 Dec 2005 (EST)


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I have a strong interest in the mathematical structure of quantum mechanics. I'm particularly interested in discrete systems, i.e. systems whose state is in a finite-dimensional Hilbert space. Up to now I've been thinking of the Hamiltonian in such cases as just being some arbitrary Hermitian matrix that governs the system's dynamics.
However, it would be really helpful to have some idea of what these Hamiltonian matrices and their elements represent in particular (idealised) physical situations. For example: what is the Hamiltonian for the spin state of an electron in a magnetic field (if that's a meaningful question to ask) and how is it derived? The Hamiltonian for an evolving spin state is a $2\times 2$ Hermitian matrix - do its individual elements have any particular physical significance? What about systems with more than two states? For example, can one write down a Hamiltonian for the spin states of two interacting electrons in some particular situation?
It's difficult to search for such examples, because what tends to come up are systems like the quantum harmonic oscillator, whose Hamiltonians have discrete spectra, but which nevertheless live in infinite-dimensional Hilbert spaces.


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Wedding Is Believing
You all know we have a "professional cakes only" policy here at CW, but when it comes to wedding cakes that can be a tough call. See, apparently most of you wreckporters feel a little awkward accosting the bride and demanding to know if her baker actually considers himself a professional. (Cowards.)
So, today, I'll let you guys decide. These really are all wedding cakes served at actual weddings, and in many cases the photographers claim to believe the baker was paid. For your sanity, though, you may want to go on believing someone's Aunt Sally made them as a last-minute "favor."
Needs more rose petals.
Is that...meat? And more importantly: if your cake looks like a giant meat slab, wouldn't you think about maybe slapping some frosting over that sucker?
Aw, now that's a shame; if only they had a few more bunches of fake flowers you wouldn't have to see the cake and tinfoil at ALL.
Does anyone else get the feeling this should be rotating and spraying water out of the swan's mouths?
And speaking of water...
Mmm. Wet tissue paper.
Proof that there aren't enough gaussian blurs and hazy vignettes in the world to make a wreck look like a Sweet.
Thanks to Heather H., Michele T., Connie P., AG, Samantha B., Allli B., Jessica H., Zoe H., & Skye C., for providing nightmare fuel for future brides everywhere.
PS. Believe it or not, I actually DID wean out a few that were even worse than these, because, for example, the baker put the wedding cake on a rusty pie plate:
So I'm REALLY hoping that means it's homemade.
Still, the important thing to remember is that THIS IS A WEDDING CAKE.
And hey, put it on a regular cake board and I've totally seen worse.


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Two Ships
John Waller
Genre : HistoryIssue : 30/12/2012 Editor : New Ed Publisher : CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform Format : Paperback Pages : 176 Language : en Dimensions : 11.00 x 8.50 x 0.42 in ISBN-10 : 9781466479852 ASIN : 146647985X
World War II started in Europe with Germany attacking Poland on 1 September 1939. Britain and France gave Germany two days to withdraw from Poland, but she did not. The two countries then declared war on Germany. For a while not much happened till Germany launched a blitzkrieg against the west of Europe, with France, Netherlands, and other countries capitulating. Britain had her back to the wall, while Germany unleashed unrestricted submarine warfare. The USA remained neutral but supported Britain through Atlantic convoys. Meanwhile, Western countries were watching Japan. Negotiations between Japan and the USA broke down with US supplies of fuel oil to Japan embargoed. Japan shocked the world by a sneak attack on Pearl Harbor 7 December 1941. The avowed intention was to obtain fuel oil from the Netherlands East Indies. In a massive southward campaign, Japan swept almost to the shores of Australia. The USA agreed to use Australia as a springboard for a campaign to stop the Japanese, as well as a major role defending Australia. Britain, with her back to the wall, could not do this. But before the above could be put into place the Japanese had overrun the Netherlands East Indies, who surrendered on 9 March 1942. Many Allied assets were lost in this process, including our two ships, USS Houston (CA-30) and HMAS Perth I, who were sunk together at the north end of Sunda Strait, with great loss of life, including the two captains. Our story describes the events leading up to this sinking, and the subsequent events whereby the Netherlands East Indies became the Republic of Indonesia after the Japanese surrender.


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LONDON — No commercially exploitable oil had been discovered in Kenya until Tullow Oil began drilling this year in the blazing savanna of the Rift Valley, about 250 miles northwest of Nairobi.
In May, the company said that its first well had produced promising results, finding more oil-bearing sands than wells drilled in the geologically similar Lake Albert region of Uganda, where Tullow discovered a 1.1-billion-barrel field in 2006.
If Kenya turns out to be another Uganda, Tullow will have been instrumental in opening up no fewer than four new oil basins in the last six years. Three, including the jumbo-size Jubilee field in the deep waters off Ghana, are in sub-Saharan Africa. The fourth, off French Guiana in South America, was the payoff of a bet that the same oil-bearing rocks found in West African waters would also be present off the coast of Latin America.
Is it luck? Competitors do not think so. "On their track record — you have to say it is really good," said Neil Piggott, a longtime explorer, who now heads exploration in Brazil for BP.
Named for a small town outside Dublin, Tullow was founded in the mid-1980s by Aidan Heavey, an accountant for the Irish airline Aer Lingus. He was intrigued by the idea of working over small oil fields in Africa that the large companies had missed. He knew little about the industry, but a friend at the World Bank helped him gain access to some gas fields in Senegal.Continue reading the main story
Under Mr. Heavey, who remains chief executive, the London-based company has grown into an exploration juggernaut with operations in more than 20 countries, a stock market valuation of about $22 billion and an exploration force of some 200 geologists and geophysicists. Tullow plans to spend $1 billion this year on exploration and appraisal, nearly as much as its 2011 operating profit of $1.1 billion.
Despite Mr. Heavey's early inexperience, his company has proved better than most of its larger rivals at making big discoveries. "It wasn't me being a good geologist," Mr. Heavey, 59, said in a telephone interview. "I did what I was good at and picked the best people."
The company's output is growing fast, but remains small at 78,200 barrels a day of oil and oil equivalents for 2011.
Analysts place Tullow in the vanguard of a cutting-edge group of oil companies that also includes the American companies Anadarko Petroleum and Kosmos Energy.
"The thing that is incredible about Tullow over any of the other companies is their consistent track record of going into frontier basins, where no one else has found anything, and turning that into hundreds of millions of barrels," said Rob West, an analyst at Bernstein Research in London. "They are an absolutely top performer."
Tullow strikes oil in about 70 percent of its exploration and appraisal wells, about double the industry average, according to Mr. West.
Tullow's challenge is that as it grows bigger and tries to produce oil, not just find it, it will run into increasing problems and costs. For instance, the company has encountered delays and been hit with a $472 million tax bill in Uganda, which it is disputing.
"They are trying to turn themselves into a Shell. It is difficult to do that successfully," said Stuart Joyner, an analyst at Investec Securities in London.
The company's exploration chief, Angus McCoss, who moved to Tullow from Royal Dutch Shell in 2006, said that Tullow ignored industry dogmas and did "its own thing."
BP, for instance, decided not to participate in early drilling in the deep waters off Ghana, because the type of geology there often leads to expensive dry holes, according to Mr. Piggott, the BP explorer. Kosmos and Tullow wound up finding Jubilee, one of Africa's larger fields, in 2007.
Once Tullow's geologists discover oil, they try to think about what other areas might be similar. Mr. McCoss says he believes the Jubilee field is part of a rich geological trend that stretches up the coast of West Africa and is found across the Atlantic. According to this theory, under the waters off Latin America is a mirror image of the rich oil deposits off West Africa, left there when an ancient land mass called Pangaea split apart.
Late last year, Mr. McCoss tested his thinking when Tullow drilled a well off French Guiana. By then, Tullow had enough credibility to draw in two European majors, Shell and Total, to assume much of the estimated $250 million cost. In September, Tullow announced that it had found a large quantity of oil. Mr. McCoss says the field could be larger than Jubilee, with a billion barrels or more of recoverable oil.
This month, Tullow announced a discovery off Ivory Coast, buttressing Mr. McCoss's theory.
The Kenya discovery is a land-based application of Mr. McCoss's approach of finding oil in one place and then looking for analogies. After raising cash from its Uganda find by selling two-thirds to Total and the China National Offshore Oil Corporation, or Cnooc, for $2.9 billion, Tullow went in search of similar rift valley plays in Kenya and Ethiopia. Taking advantage of the lack of interest in those countries, Tullow has been able to put together about 38,610 square miles of exploration territory, an area about the size of Indiana, for only about $23 million.
There are risks, of course. The company's earnings and market valuation will very likely be tightly pegged to the price of oil, which has fallen sharply in recent months. Deepwater exploration wells can cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and a run of bad luck could sour investors. In addition, as the company expands, new finds will have less impact.
The company could also run into political difficulties in countries new to oil. Already, Uganda's government is pushing Tullow, Total and Cnooc to build a refinery in the country.
Still, the industry is likely to keep pouring money into sub-Saharan Africa because it is less explored than other parts of the world and because of its proximity to China and other energy-hungry Asian economies. Explorers had strong years in the region in 2010 and 2011, finding the equivalent of more than five billion barrels of oil each year. This year already looks substantially better, with volumes approaching 10 billion barrels.
"Africa is very much an important exploration province," says Martin Kelly, chief sub-Saharan Africa analyst at the Edinburgh-based consulting firm Wood Mackenzie.
As Tullow and other companies move into areas new to oil drilling, one concern is disruption to local environment and culture.
Tullow, for example, is working in the Turkana Basin of northern Kenya, the location of some of the richest early hominid sites on the planet. The paleoanthropologist Richard Leakey, who has been working in the area since 1968, said he was worried when Tullow obtained its licenses.
In a telephone interview, Mr. Leakey said that there were still scars on the landscape from Shell's exploration activities years ago. But Tullow's attitude has been different, he said, giving credit to Mr. Heavey. "He has shown to be a very decent person with a very good attitude toward the responsibilities an oil company might have to an area like this," Mr. Leakey said.
He said the local people were nomadic herders, and he feared the central government would use the oil for its own purposes and just give the local people "sweets and little gestures."
Mr. Heavey said that his company was open to creative ways to share the wealth. For example, Tullow has listed its shares on the Ghana Stock Exchange.
"We have to make sure we are transparent in what we do and make sure we do things properly," Mr. Heavey said.Continue reading the main story


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A $5.23 million research program that will combine stem cell therapies with a rebuilding of a key part of the immune system – the thymus – to treat diseases such as autoimmune gastritis, multiple sclerosis and diabetes is being pursued at Monash University following today's announcement that it has been funded through the National Health and Medical Research Council's Programs scheme.
The Minister for Health and Ageing, The Hon.Tony Abbott today announced funding for Monash University of more than $43 million through the NHMRC's Program, Project and Career Development schemes.
This included funding for nine Research Fellowships, two Practitioner Fellowships, two enabling grants - $2.5 million for the National Non-Human Primate Breeding and Research Facility and $1.84 million for the Australian Mouse Brain Mapping Consortium – and an $822,000 equipment grant.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Edwina Cornish said the NHMRC funding announced today was testament to the innovative medical research being pursued at Monash.
Professor Richard Boyd, principal investigator on the stem cell program, said diseases such as autoimmune gastritis, multiple sclerosis and diabetes arose because a "rogue" immune system had turned inwards to attack the body's organs. "The organ destruction follows from recognition by the immune system of specific molecules – insulin in the case of diabetes, and a protein called MOG in the case of MS - in the organs," Professor Boyd said.
"These "autoimmune" diseases are incurable and controlled mainly by long-term administration of substances that suppress the immune system, often with serious side-effects. A rational approach is to render the rogue immune system harmless by removing the immune cells that recognize these particular molecules," he said. "We plan to use stem cell therapies combined with a rejuvenated immune system to treat these diseases without the need for excessive immunosuppressive regimes that are detrimental to health and well-being."
The same technologies should be applicable to minimising or even preventing the rejection of foreign transplants, Professor Boyd said.
Other projects funded today that will be pursued at Monash include a study of Australian box jellyfish venoms, an investigation of whether coeliac disease causes a loss of coordination or cognitive impairment, the factors that affect knee structure in healthy women, and a trial of the effect of substantial weight loss on obstructive sleep apnoea.


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2015 Volkswagen Golf Sportwagon Sportwagon 1.8T Trendline 5sp
- Our Price $16,998* + tax and licensing
- Exterior Colour Pure White
- Interior Colour Titan Black - Zoom Clth
- Engine 1.8L I-4
- Transmission 5 Spd Manual
- Drivetrain FWD
- Odometer 46,692 KMS
- Stock # P2893
Vehicle Details
- Overview
2015 Volkswagen Golf Sportwagon for sale in Toronto, Ontario
ANNUAL SERVICE COMPLETE, 2 NEW TIRES, NEW REAR BRAKES, NEW BATTERY. Recent Trade in. Car Fax verified. Special 0.9% financing available. 2/40 extended warranty also available. Very well equipped with REAR VIEW CAMERA, HEATED SEATS, ALLOY WHEELS, BLUETOOTH, IPOD CONNECTIVITY, MANUAL TRANSMISSION, and much more! At Volkswagen Downtown Toronto, all of our pre- owned vehicles come CERTIFIED (112 inspection report) and Car Fax history report available. See store for more details.
BUY WITH CONFIDENCE at Volkswagen Downtown Toronto. Our knowledgeable staff can assist you in purchasing the vehicle that best suits your expectations and budget. Book a test drive today! Volkswagen Downtown Toronto is conveniently located at 550 Adelaide St E, just north of the Distillery District, and right off the DVP!
- Equipment
- Annual Service
- Battery
- 2 Tires
- Rear Brake Pads and Rotors
Volkswagen Downtown Toronto
550 Adelaide Street East
Toronto , Ontario M5A 1N7
* Although every attempt is made to ensure the accuracy of the data above, due to the possibility of human error, we cannot guarantee the accuracy of the displayed information, the availability of this vehicle, or the accuracy of its photo or stock photo. Such information may not reflect exact vehicle colour, trim, options, price or other specifications. Please contact the dealership for verification or if you would like more information on this vehicle. * Prices for the provinces of Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia include dealer-installed accessories, optional equipment physically attached to the vehicle, transportation charges and any applicable administration fees, but do not include taxes, insurance or licensing fees. For all other provinces (excluding Quebec), prices exclude taxes, insurance, licensing and other applicable fees. Price may not include dealer installed options, accessories, administration fees and other dealer charges. * All prices are in Canadian Dollars unless otherwise stated. * The Payment Calculator is for comparison purposes only and is based on the vehicle price, the entered term in months and the entered percentage rate. Taxes and License are additional. All financing is OAC. Please contact our dealership for more information. Vehicle may not be exactly as shown. Some vehicles may be shown with optional equipment or equipment not available in Canada.
* in the past 30 days


text: Halo Water Systems from Service Experts Heating & Air Conditioning in Provo Our flagship HALO 5 Whole House Water Treatment System is the optimal solution for homeowners dealing with any and all hard water, chlorine, or other common Provo household water conditioning problems. Call 801-396-0637 now to learn more about HALO Water Systems and schedule your FREE estimate. HALO 5 conditions your entire home's water, providing these great benefits:Provides crystal-clear, premium tasting pure water Chemical-free water treatmentMaintenance-freeWhole-home water conditioningAll-natural and environmentally safe filtration mediaDissolves existing Scale and prevents new Scale formationNo 'slimy' feelingInhibits corrosionHelps eliminate hard waterEliminates the need for saltRemoves gasses, dyes, fuels, heavy metalsChlorine, chloramine and chlorination by-product reduction or removalHelps eliminate water odorsInline ION water conditioning10 Year manufacturer warranty Beyond the benefits of great drinking water throughout your home, the HALO 5 contributes to longer life for your home's water heater, dishwasher copper piping, as well as clothes. And, eliminating the need to purchase bottles of water and extend the use of shampoos and soaps, may significantly reduce your annual household expenses. Saving an average of $100 per year on bottled water purchases over 10 years equates to a savings of $10,000! Contact Service Experts Heating & Air Conditioning at 801-396-0637 right now to learn more, and receive for a free, no-obligation estimate for your new HALO 5.


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The Hudson City School District, in partnership with our community, advances the intellectual, social and emotional development of all students to prepare them for college, career and citizenship.
© Copyright 2019 • This website was produced by the Questar III Communications Service. If you have something school-related you would like posted on the site, if you notice something incorrect, or if you cannot access certain content on the website, please email District Communications


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Helen Mirren eyeing BAFTA success to promote Hitchcock
The Queen star is tipped in the Leading Actress category for her portrayal of Alfred Hitchcock's wife Alma Reville in the project, which features Sir Anthony Hopkins as the legendary director.
And Mirren is praying her name is called out at the London ceremony on Sunday (10Feb13) – because the film needs extra promotion due to its small budget.
She tells the BBC, "Awards are important for a movie, especially for a small, low-budget movie like this one, although it doesn't look it.
"These kind of movies don't have huge marketing budgets, so awards are very important because they draw attention. We make movies because we want people to see them."
Mirren faces tough competition for the award – Emmanuelle Riva (Amour), Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook), Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty) and Marion Cotillard (Rust And Bone) are also nominated.


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As we all know, a proper diet is really important for optimal performance of all of our bodily functions. What we put into our bodies affects our energy levels, metabolism and even information processing!
This dish is what my sister, Lily, would call "diet-y." It is made with whole wheat pasta and [everybody's favorite] broccoli.
Those of you who still haven't discovered whole wheat pasta must be living under a rock. Whole wheat pasta has a whole lot of protein and fiber, which I'm sure all of our diets could use more of. The body takes a long time to digest fiber and protein and that is why eating proteins and complex carbohydrates keep us full longer.
Broccoli is also rich in fiber, as well as Vitamin C, Calcium and Iron.
Besides being delicious, this dish is also vegetarian.
So, you will need:
About ¾ of a box of any whole wheat short pasta – for example: Fusilli, Penne or Farfalle
1 large head of broccoli
1 large garlic clove
½ cup walnuts
1 tbs. lemon juice
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
½ cup Parmesan cheese
Salt, pepper
Start by boiling two large pots of water, one for the pasta and one for the broccoli. Season the pasta water with about 1½ tbs. of salt. Season the broccoli water with ½ tbs. of salt. Cook the pasta until it is al dente (Italian for 'to the teeth'-soft on the outside, with a slight bite on the inside. See box directions.) Set aside.
Cut the broccoli florets off of the stalk and boil for no more than 2 minutes, you don't want the broccoli to be soft or mushy. Put the cooked broccoli into a food processor and add the garlic, walnuts and lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. Puree to a fine consistency. While the food processor is still on stream in the olive oil. Once everything is combined move the mixture into a bowl and stir in the cheese. Now combine with the pasta and it's ready to eat!


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The Dachshund UN - dachshunds re-enacting a meeting of the United Nation Commission on Human Rights -
The world's leaders spent an hour barking, sniffing one another, and chasing their own tails in what was far from a normal United Nations meeting.
Dachshund UN, a miniature version of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights where the world's leaders are replaced by dogs, made its North American debut in Toronto on Thursday night.
Harbourfront Centre's Enwave theatre was host to 36 dachshunds that filled in for United Nations representatives from France, Germany, the United States and other nations.
"It's a powerful, profound piece of work but it's kooky on the surface," said Tina Rasmussen, artistic director of Harbourfront Centre's World Stage 2013 performances.
Rasmussen said that the audience plays an important part in the performance as well because they gauge what the dogs' actions along with what the nation that they are representing signifies.
"The audience reaction is nearly as powerful."
"What does it mean when China is asleep or when Chile is aggressive," asked Rasmussen.
Australian artist Bennett Miller created the show to question humanity's potential for creating a universal justice system.
Miller, who had already showcased the installation in the United Kingdom, says many of his works use animals to stand in for humans.
"It gets the audience to consider human behaviour differently," said Miller.
The artist chose dachshunds specifically for what he says is an interesting correlation between the breed and members of the United Nations.
"Dachshunds are impressive but restricted, you can match that to the United Nations," Miller said.
The diversity of dachshunds also played a crucial role in the artist's decision.
"Their racial variety of red, black, tanned, short-hair and long-hair makes them (as diverse as humanity) and is similar to a United Nations meeting."
World Stage officials said that a near maximum capacity audience of about 350 packed into the theatre to watch the dachshunds interact with one another.
The United States representative was the most vocal and aggressive, often barking loudly at his companions.
Argentina's representative was quiet and still for most of the performance, barely mustering a whimper.
And Nigeria mounted Saudi Arabia for a few moments while Germany and France exchanged a few harsh barks throughout the evening.
Susanne Feeley, owner of Mr. Smalls who represented Ukraine and Carrots who represented France, was proud of her dachshunds.
"I don't have kids but tonight it was like I was seeing my kids at a school performance," said Feeley.
Feeley said that she heard that Miller and World Stage were looking for volunteers and she immediately filled out the application along with sending in pictures so that the brother dachshunds could participate.
Dachshund UN will be performing in Toronto through March 4 as part of Harbourfront Centre's World Stage 2013 productions, and in Montreal in May.
Read more: -


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Do you have questions about SharePoint? Want to learn more about the recently launched SharePoint 2010? By popular request, SharePoint MVPs from around the world are participating in a live chat event about SharePoint. These Q&A events are a great opportunity to tap into the vast knowledge of these industry professionals who are regarded as the best in their field.
Please join us on Wednesday, June 23rd between 9:00 AM and 10:00 AM PDT. Learn more and add these chats to your calendar by visiting the MSDN event page http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/chats/default.aspx


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Fugitive Ex-Hospital CEO Arrested in Thailand
June 8, 2013 (AP)
A former Wyoming hospital CEO who disappeared before being tried on charges of defrauding his employers has been arrested in Thailand.
FBI spokesman Dave Joly (JAHL'-ee) tells the Powell Tribune Paul Cardwell was arrested early Friday after fleeing in August.
Joly says it could take up to a month to return Cardwell to face charges in Wyoming and Indiana.
Cardwell is accused of stealing about $848,000 from Powell Valley Healthcare in Wyoming in 2011 and about $846,000 from White County Memorial Hospital in Monticello, Ind., between 2003 and 2009.
He had been CEO of both.
Prosecutors allege Cardwell would send funds to a bogus recruiting firm supposedly run by Michael Plake of West Lafayette, Ind., and that the two split the money.
Plake received a 30-month prison sentence in May.


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Now you can upload more than just JPEGs to your galleries. We have added the option to store RAW, DNG,
NEF, PSD and other source files alongside your images, all in one convenient location.
Source files are archived just like your images are, in secure and geo-distributed locations. That
means you'll never have to worry about losing data.
Uploading is easy. Just use the web uploader to drag & drop your source files along with your JPEGs.
Raw files will be automatically linked to JPEGs for easy downloading and access, either by matching file
names or by date and time taken whenever possible.
Source files can also be linked to JPEGs later after they have been uploaded by going to the new
RAW FILES tab when viewing any gallery in the Edit View.
Your visitors will never see your source files displayed in your galleries, but if you allow Original File
Downloads you can choose to include raw files by selecting this option in
Access Control.
As a result of making significant investments in our infrastructure inover the past year, we are able to
bring you Raw File Storage at the lowest per GB price available from any photography service. The first 2GB
of Raw Storage are completely free. Beyond the first 2GB here are the rates:
See our Raw
File Storage
article for more information. Raw File Storage is not available for Basic accounts.
Photographers using Zenfolio self-fulfillment can streamline their workflow by downloading the complete
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Using the Zenfolio API you can access the list of pending orders, download complete details and photos for each
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See our API guide on Self-fulfilled URL
for more information, or contact us for information on our high
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If you have a merchant account, collecting payments for self-fulfilled orders is a snap. Using a payment gateway
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For more information visit our Support Center article on
Merchant Accounts to Collect Payments
To enhance the security of your password-protected galleries, our system will now detect too many failed password
attempts and lock the user out of the gallery for a period of time. They will be advised to contact the photographer
for the correct password, and you will receive an email alert when a lockout occurs on your site.
Clients may visit your site and have a Shopping Cart full of products, but that doesn't mean they will complete
the purchase. To help you avoid missing out on these sales, registered clients can now receive up to three friendly
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You can set your preference for sending cart reminders in the Client Communications section of the
Edit View.
Good news for Pinterest fans: if you have a Pinterest business account you can now verify your website by going to
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Pinterest provides verified business accounts with analytics to track how your site is doing on Pinterest, as well
as a badge showing pinners that your content is from a trustworthy source.
Elegant foil stamping is now available for Art Cloth hard cover photo books from MpixPro, Mpix and Miller's. Choose
from gold or silver foil stamping over any of the art cloth cover colors for a book that's sure to impress.
Photo Strips have been updated to include subtle movement. When hovering over one side or the other, the strip will
automatically begin to scroll in that direction. You also have the option to display arrows instead of a scrollbar.
When using the full screen photo grid layout for your home page, the bottom pad will slide into view when hovering
over the lower part of your screen. This allows you to maximize the photo grid as well as display a useful welcome
message to your visitors.
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HappyMunchies Now Available from HappyBaby
New York-based HappyBaby rolls out HappyMunchies, portable, baked organic cheese, veggie and whole grain snacks, which are perfect for small hands. HappyMunchies are crafted with all-natural and organic ingredients including organic white cheddar cheese, organic whole grain corn meal and organic vegetables.
They offer parents a convenient way to serve their children food that is packed with the powerful nutrients they need to achieve optimal health and wellness.
Formulated and endorsed by pediatrician Dr. Robert Sears, USDA-certified organic HappyMunchies are high in choline to help babies' growing brains, and fortified with necessary vitamins and minerals for a healthy start to life. They contain no added sugar and 60 percent less sodium than conventional brands. And they come in BPA-free packaging that contains more than 60 percent post-recycled content.
Varieties include: Organic Cheddar Cheese with Carrot -- with just the right amount of cheesy crunch and naturally sweet carrot, this classic flavor is made with organic yellow corn meal, organic white cheddar cheese and organic carrots; and Organic Broccoli, Kale & Cheddar Cheese -- made with organic kale and organic broccoli, this flavor offers a great way to include additional green vegetables into a happy baby's daily snack.
"Our new HappyMunchies will not only leave babies reaching for more, but also boost parents' confidence by ensuring they are making smart food and nutrition choices for their own happy baby," said Shazi Visram, founder and CEO. "We created these tasty snacks specifically to help babies learn tactility and self-feeding with littleness, while also providing a rich source of essential nutrients critical to a baby's growth and development. Happy Munchies also encourage the development of a healthy palate, vital at this early stage of growth."
Suggested retail price per 1.63-oz. canister is $2.99.


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Maieutic: The midwifery of knowledge.
Parataxis: The juxtaposition of ideas, without connection or conjunction
Maieutic Parataxis is a series of five-minute vignettes drawn from topics and ideas that, while perhaps not yet fully formed, are likely to impact your thinking about how we design, build, and interact with software in the future.
The idea is to get across an idea - a single point.
We search the globe for ideas that we think qualify as cool, thought provoking, and potentially relevant to the COFES community. Suggestions are welcome, either via email or via http://apply.cofes.com
A Cyon Research Event


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Ben R
21-Oct-2007, 12:48
Just how obnoxious are recessed Linhof boards to use (Copal 0)? It would seem that there is little room to do anything but are they unuseable if that is the only choice, should they be avoided at all costs? Is the 11mm recession just as bad as the 19mm? I notice that most of them are of the offset type, no doubt to allow more finger room, will they all fit through the neck of the camera or is the amount of recession sometimes blocked by the front standards design?


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With the Syria situation still up in the air, the sloshing in oil will persist.
We have seen a $4 range in the Tuesday morning session, as oil continues to be ubersensitive to the Syrian news that drips out every few hours.
President Barack Obama has required congressional authorization in order to proceed with an attack, and that has certainly increased the volatility in the market, as it has added another catalyst to an already unsteady situation. Indeed, there is still little clarity regarding what the regional or global response would be to a limited U.S. attack, or a "slap on the wrist."
(Read more: As Syria boils, Obama looks to Congress for next steps)


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Depression and Diabetes - it's not all in your head
Ryan Bradley, ND, MPH February, 2008
Diabetes is a complex, long-term disease that affects your day-to-day life, and can add a burden to an already complicated life. Yet, the relationship between depression and diabetes isn't clearly known; it is very much a chicken vs. egg question: does depression predispose to diabetes? Or vice versa?
Depression is important to detect and treat in diabetes because diabetes requires special attention to self-care, and making good choices that lead to improved health and physical fitness anytime you can; depression can be a huge barrier to making healthful choices, including dietary choices and seeing your doctor on schedule.
In this article I will review what we know about the relationship between depression and diabetes, and review some conventional and natural treatment options. Be warned, some interactions between natural depression treatments and medications for diabetes may be significant - so speak with a trained professional!
So, how do you know if you are depressed and, more importantly, what can you do about it? Read on. Most importantly, if you believe you may have depression- talk to your doctor and/or complementary health care provider about your treatment options.
Neurotransmitter basics
Thanks to the effective marketing of the drug Prozac, the average adult has heard of "serotonin" and has a general idea that having more of it around in the brain appears to be a good thing. Serotonin is only one neurotransmitter that impacts mood, but it appears to be a rather important one. Other important neurotransmitters that regulate mood include epinephrine, norepinephrine, and dopamine.
Serotonin is made by the body in the brain from an amino acid named tryptophan; amino acids are the smaller building blocks of proteins in the body and come from dietary protein like meat, fish, dairy and grains. Serotonin performs many bodily functions, including mood, but also regulates blood flow to the brain and the stomach.
Interestingly tryptophan is also a precursor to the neurotransmitter melatonin. Perhaps you may have heard about melatonin as a natural sleep aid? Melatonin is also the "hibernation" hormone, because it is in higher concentrations in the winter. The conversion of tryptophan into serotonin or melatonin appears to be controlled by - guess what? - vitamin D! As you may recall, vitamin D is made in our skin in response to sunlight which is why some degree of seasonal depression - or really mild hibernation - is normal! (See Complementary Corner, March 2007 for more information about vitamin D)
Let me explain. During the winter months the intensity of sunlight is lower, and we are outdoors less. Our vitamin D levels tend to be lower, and thus so is our serotonin (our melatonin tends to be higher). This is why, during the winter season, most people have lower physical energy, lower libido, and a reduced mood - all of these symptoms tend to last until spring.
The other fascinating connection relates to carbohydrate cravings, and how they impact serotonin production. It turns out that when you eat and your body releases insulin, the insulin helps selectively remove amino acids from the blood into the liver and the muscles, however tryptophan is left in the blood for the brain to absorb [1]. Thus carbohydrate cravings may actually be tryptophan cravings! So during the winter months, when the carbohydrate cravings strike, seek the sunlight or eat a higher protein meal instead. Your body is really asking you for more protein and vitamin D!
What is "depression" and how do I know if I have it?
We all have good days and bad days, our mood ebbs and flows depending on feedback we got at work, how things are going in our family, whether or not we made the bus on time that day, etc. These swings are normal, and not likely to be considered depression. However, if you always feel blue, have difficulty sleeping or sleep too much, have had a change in body weight (either weight loss or gain), or just can't concentrate, you may have depression.
According to the National Institute of Mental Health [2], the symptoms of depression include:
- Persistent sad, anxious or "empty" feelings
- Feelings of hopelessness and/or pessimism
- Feelings of guilt, worthlessness and/or helplessness
- Irritability, restlessness
- Loss of interest in activities or hobbies once pleasurable, including sex
- Fatigue and decreased energy
- Difficulty concentrating, remembering details and making decisions
- Insomnia, early morning wakefulness, or excessive sleeping
- Overeating, or appetite loss
- Thoughts of suicide, suicide attempts
- Persistent aches or pains, headaches, cramps or digestive problems that do not ease even with treatment
Reputable online medical resources offer depression screening questionnaires; one example is WebMD. There depression questionnaire can be completed here.
If you score high, and suspect depression, talk to your doctor or complementary health care provider about your treatment options.
Depression - the chicken or the egg?
Depression appears to be more common in people who have diabetes than in similar adults without diabetes. Estimates from the United States show nearly double the rate of depression in adults with diabetes [3]. Given the discussion above regarding carbohydrate cravings and their affect on serotonin production, it is reasonable to ask, which comes first, the depression or the diabetes? Does a depressed mood and increased stress lead to more carbohydrate cravings and thus diabetes? Or does the burden of diabetes lead to more depression because it is such a difficult disease?
The question has been asked in several large studies, following very large numbers of people for quite a while and it turns out there is evidence for both scenarios, so we don't know for sure.
For example, in a large study of approximately 6,500 people, called the Multi-ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA), depression was associated with having treated diabetes, but not with pre-diabetes or un-treated diabetes, suggesting diabetes may come first. However, this study could not determine a temporal relationship between diabetes and depression [4.]
In the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), a very large survey in the United States, symptoms of depression did not increase the risk of developing diabetes during the nine-year follow-up study [5]. However, the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study of over 11,000 people in the United States, demonstrated a 63% increased risk of developing diabetes in the participants with the most symptoms of depression, compared to those with the least symptoms [6].
So, the mystery persists. I suspect both scenarios are true: those people with the greatest symptoms of depression are more likely to make poor diet choices and probably be less active. And, once some people develop diabetes, the extra attention required to health and the medical burden of the disease likely leads to feelings of depression.
So why should I care about depression in diabetes?
The obvious answer is that you should care because effective natural and pharmaceutical treatments exist. Isn't life too short to walk around sad?
The more medical answer is that depression appears to increase mortality, i.e. the risk of death in older adults. In fact, the risk of death related to depression was nearly equivalent to the risk of death following a heart attack, or from diabetes alone! [7] Imagine the risk from the combination of diabetes and depression! In the short term, people with diabetes and depression appear to be more likely to smoke, less likely to take their prescribed medications for diabetes, and less likely to follow dietary advice and get more exercise [8,9,10].
What treatments have been studied? Do they work?
The results have been mixed on the treatment of depression in diabetes, depending on the exact question asked. Improving the detection and treatment of depression in medical clinics appears to "work" in identifying and treating those people with depression, and in most cases, depression symptoms appear to improve [11]. The more difficult issue is that treating depression, typically with prescription anti-depressants, doesn't reliably translate into improved health behaviors, i.e. following diet better, etc., and may not improve blood sugar [12, 13, 14].
You may ask, why the paradox? Isn't depression at the root of why I'm not taking care of myself as well as I could?
This is a fair question, and I think the issue relates to how depression is treated. Evidence supports that techniques that address the fundamental emotions and behaviors appears to be effective. For example, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) appears to be effective at improving depression symptoms, blood sugar control and improves self-care [15]. Simply put, CBT is a behavioral counseling technique that assists you in recognizing harmful thoughts and addressing them before these negative thoughts becoming negative actions.
More information about CBT, and a directory of providers, can be found on the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT) website.
What are the natural treatment options for depression?
Although natural treatments have not been approved by the FDA for the treatment of depression, in my opinion, many of the natural treatments make more sense, especially for people with diabetes, than many of the prescription options available.
For example, does it make sense to prevent reuptake of serotonin, i.e. using a SSRI- or "selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor", if the fundamental issue is not having enough serotonin to begin with? Because diabetes is known to be a condition of insulin deficiency, as well as insulin resistance, if the body cannot produce an adequate amount of insulin, it is feasible that tryptophan just does not enter the brain in adequate quantities. Preventing its reuptake may not do the trick if there isn't enough around to start with!
Light Boxes
As briefly mentioned above, seasonal changes in sunlight normally impact mood and reduced serotonin availability leads to reduced mood and often and increased craving for carbohydrates [16, 17]. This is thought to be related to the reduction of vitamin D production which is regulated by the amount of sunlight that reaches your skin, and also by the amount of sunlight you literally see, i.e. the amount that goes through your eyes and tickles your optic nerve! Isn't that amazing?!
Light boxes have been best studied in seasonal depression, or seasonal affective disorder (SAD), and are effective [18]. In order to be effective, the light box has to be of sufficient strength (2000-10,000 lux - a unit of light intensity) for 30-120 minutes daily is required during the winter.
Interestingly, light boxes also appear to be effective for non-seasonal depression as well [19]. This may be because vitamin D is such a common deficiency!
Vitamin D3
As mentioned above, much of the seasonal variation in mood is attributable to reduced vitamin D levels (review Complementary Corner from March 2007 for more information on vitamin D in diabetes). Vitamin D3 has many hormone-like actions, including the regulation of calcium levels,but vitamin D3 also appears to improve mood and regulate the production of serotonin [20, 21]. Vitamin D3 deficiency is common in most latitudes, with prevalence estimates reaching 36% in the general population, and higher in people with diseases like diabetes [22, 23]. In my practice, granted it is in Seattle, WA, I would estimate 80-90% of my patients are vitamin D deficient.
Typical doses of vitamin D are 400-2000 IU per day. Ideally you would get your blood levels checked so that your replacement dose can be properly determined because not knowing your blood level may delay getting your levels back up to normal.
Vitamin B6
Vitamin B6, or pyridoxine, is an essential nutrient for the enzymes that synthesize many neurotransmitters including serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) [24, 25]. Although not shown in humans, administering B6 to Rhesus monkeys (a primate with very similar neurobiology to humans) increased serotonin production in the brain [26]. In rats, B6 increased production of serotonin precursor 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) [27].
Typical doses of vitamin B6 range from 1-20 mg, although doses of 3.5-5 mg are common in most "B-complex" vitamins and multivitamins.
Chromium picolinate
Chromium is a mineral essential in human nutrition for the regulation of insulin sensitivity, a hormone that regulates blood sugar levels in humans [28]. Chromium has been extensively reviewed in diabetes. (Read Complementary Corner October 2006 for more information on chromium in diabetes.) Chromium picolinate (600 mcg/day) has been shown in human clinical trials to improve mood in some forms of depression, and to reduce carbohydrate craving [29, 30]. Chromium picolinate has demonstrated superior absorption than some other commonly available forms of chromium, e.g. chromium nicotinate [31].
Rhodiola is a botanical medicine used for stress and exhaustion. Rhodiola has been shown in human clinical trials to improve the capacity for work under stress, reduce the effects of reduced sleep on performance, improve physical energy during stress, and may improve symptoms of some forms of depression [32-35]. The mechanism of action appears to be the prolongation of neurotransmitters, including serotonin and dopamine, in the brain [36].
My clinical observations using Rhodiola for many years have been that low doses (<200mg per day) appear to be mildly energizing, whereas higher doses appear to be more relaxing and border on sedating. The reasons for this paradox, - higher doses being more calming - are unknown. Also, several patients have reported mild anxiety from using an alcohol extract, i.e. a tincture, of Rhodiola, whereas the whole, ground herb does not appear to cause this effect. This may be due to different herbal compounds being extracted by the alcohol in higher concentrations.
5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP)
Derived from the amino acid tryptophan, 5-HTP is an immediate precursor to serotonin production. The vast majority of well-designed clinical studies support the effectiveness of 5-HTP in treating numerous forms of clinical depression [25]. 5-HTP is well absorbed from oral dosing, with up to 70% absorbed into the bloodstream for oral dosing [25, 37, 38].
Typical doses of 5-HTP are between 50-300 mg per day. Using 5-HTP in combination with other treatments may allow for lower doses. Although technically there are safety concerns about using 5-HTP in large doses or in combination with prescription anti-depressants, "serotonin syndrome" has not been reported due to 5-HTP, even in research studies that have used it in combination with medications [25]. If you are taking prescription medication for depression, first talk with a doctor trained in nutritional medicine prior to starting 5-HTP in order to discuss the correct dose and how to monitor symptoms to ensure efficacy.
St. John's Wort
As mentioned above, St. John's Wort, despite having some excellent clinical research support of efficacy in depression [39, 40], may cause more harm than good in diabetes because of the potential for drug interactions, including diabetes medications [41]. I discourage taking St. John's Wort, especially in patients taking "statin" medications such as Lipitor or Zocor for cholesterol because the interactions may impact the safety and effectiveness of the drug [42, 43].
Depression and diabetes co-exist very frequently, despite not clearly knowing which comes first. Depressive symptoms may impact healthy daily behaviors in diabetes, including following your diet, getting more exercise, and taking medications as recommended. Natural, pharmaceutical and counseling therapies are available for depression and are effective in reducing depression, and in some cases, improve healthy behaviors. Some natural treatments for depression may actually treat the cause of depression, e.g. vitamin D replacement, while others may also offset other common concerns in diabetes, e.g. chromium reducing carbohydrate cravings. Because depression and diabetes are a very serious combination, and because life is too short to be sad, if you think you are depressed, talk with your doctor and/or complementary health provider about appropriate treatment.
In health - Ryan Bradley, ND, MPH
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40. Rahimi R, Nikfar S, Abdollahi M. Efficacy and tolerability of Hypericum perforatum in major depressive disorder in comparison with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors: A meta-analysis. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. Feb 1 2009;33(1):118-127.
41. Xu H, Williams KM, Liauw WS, Murray M, Day RO, McLachlan AJ. Effects of St John's wort and CYP2C9 genotype on the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of gliclazide. Br J Pharmacol. Apr 2008;153(7):1579-1586.
42. Andren L, Andreasson A, Eggertsen R. Interaction between a commercially available St. John's wort product (Movina) and atorvastatin in patients with hypercholesterolemia. Eur J Clin Pharmacol. Oct 2007;63(10):913-916.
43. Eggertsen R, Andreasson A, Andren L. Effects of treatment with a commercially available St John's Wort product (Movina) on cholesterol levels in patients with hypercholesterolemia treated with simvastatin. Scand J Prim Health Care. Sep 2007;25(3):154-159.