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Given a finite set, a permutation is an arrangement of its elements into a sequence. For example, here are three permutations of the numbers 1 to 5:
Where it gets interesting is if the set we are permuting is the underlying set of some mathematical object - such as the vertex set of a graph. For example, we saw last time that we can label the vertices of the cyclic graph c 5 (the pentagon) with the numbers 1 to 5. In that case, the permutations above correspond to the following diagrams.
The permutation [1,2,3,4,5] - the diagram on the left - can be thought of as the starting position. (So the convention is that we read the numbers clockwise from the top.)
The permutation [1,5,4,3,2] - the diagram in the middle - is a reflection of the starting position in the vertical axis.
The permutation [2,1,3,4,5] - on the right - just swaps the 1 and 2 vertices.
When we write a permutation as a list of vertices, we're taking a static view of it. But we can also take a dynamic view, where we think not about where the vertices end up, but about what we had to do to get them there (from the starting position).
For example, for the reflection [1,5,4,3,2], what we had to do was swap the 2 and 5 vertices, and swap the 3 and 4 vertices. (As a hint of what's to come, we will end up writing this as [[2,5],[3,4]].)
In this view, the permutation is not the end position, but the function or map that we used to get there from the starting position. Hence, in the module Math.Algebra.Group.PermutationGroup, permutations are defined as follows
import qualified Data.Map as M
newtype Permutation a = P (M.Map a a) deriving (Eq,Ord)
Notice that, as for our Graph datatype, although we will often consider permutations as acting on integers, we have left ourselves the option of acting on other things too. Again, this will prove to be extremely useful.
The library provides three ways to construct permutations:
> :load Math.Algebra.Group.PermutationGroup
> fromList [1,5,4,3,2]
> fromPairs [(1,1),(2,5),(3,4),(4,3),(5,2)]
> fromCycles [[2,5],[3,4]]
Notice that permutations are always shown in cycle notation. Once you get used to it, this is the most natural way to think about permutations. For this reason "p" is provided as a shorthand for "fromCycles", as this is how we will most often construct permutations.
Given a permutation, we can ask what is its action on a vertex, or on an edge:
> 2 .^ p [[2,5],[3,4]]
> [1,2] -^ p [[2,5],[3,4]]
This says that our reflection sends the vertex 2 to 5, and the edge [1,2] to [1,5].
Finally, if a permutation is something you do, then we can ask what happens if you do g then h, or how to undo g:
> p [[2,5],[3,4]] * p [[2,5],[3,4]]
> p [[2,5],[3,4]] ^-1
This says that if you do our reflection, and then do it again, you end up back at the starting position; and that if you want to undo our reflection, just do it again.
Exercise: Write implementations of the (.^), (-^), (*), and (^-) operators shown above, and compare with the library implementations.
There's quite a lot more in Math.Algebra.Group.PermutationGroup, which I hope to talk about at some point. But for now, that's all we need. (Although, if you want to keep following, it would be a good idea to play around and make sure you've got the hang of cycle notation.)
Next time, graph symmetries (hopefully).


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Well Hell's bells kids, so much for Midwest manners!
Researchers at the Marchex Institute named Ohio the most foul-mouthed state in the U.S. based on the amount of swear words used in consumer phone calls, Twitter and Facebook posts, The Atlantic reported. Congratu-Effing-Lations everybody! We did it! Our grandmothers are going to be so proud... Well, maybe not.
Infographic from Marchex Institute
Ohio was followed by Maryland, New Jersey, Louisiana and Illinois. Washington was found to be the state least likely to get their mouths washed out with soap, followed by Massachusetts.
I guess Washington makes sense, but I'm totally baffled by Massachusetts. I mean, have you seen "The Departed", it has Nicholson in it for f--- Oh, there I go again.
Uncle Jack says "Watch your f*!king mouth, Ohio."
Apparently we are also pretty unlikely to say "please" and "thank you." I blame this on Chillicothe. I blame all of Ohio's downfalls on Chillicothe.
Other fun facts:Men are more likely to swear than women. Morning calls/conversations are twice as likely to contain swearing. The calls where swearing occurred were more than 10 minutes long.
If you ask me, if you are calling me first thing in the morning, and keeping me on the phone for more than 10 minutes, you bet your sweet ass I'm going to swear at you.

subset: commoncrawl


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The majority of the "track" bikes that I see in the shop are set up single speed and on the Cycle Memphis ride I think there were but a few people actually riding fixed. So does anyone in Memphis still ride fixed gear?
I'm actually thinking about a new frame. Maybe someone will let me borrow a bike so I can remind myself why I started riding and perhaps, why I stopped. 56cm, y'all.
Monday, April 16, 2012
Fixed Gear Memphis
4 comments:
- notquitealibrarian said...
Eh, well, ya know I ride fixed for polo, but I still need a new fork for my track bike. Just hasn't been a priority lately.
I hear legend of a group of new fixed riders but I don't know any of 'em...
- April 16, 2012 at 8:25 PM
- adamhite said...
come on, there's still several people in memphis riding fixed.
- April 17, 2012 at 8:53 AM
- Cort said...
Well sure, but is it the same 8 people or is it more like 30?
- April 17, 2012 at 12:31 PM
If you see the black and green bigshot bike, I've got it fixie;)
- April 17, 2012 at 12:42 PM
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A group for networking and friendship between atheists in the Australian/New Zealand/South Pacific region, and for discussion of political and religious topics relevant to these regions.
Members: 340
Latest Activity: Mar 1, 2018
This group is hosted by Richard J and Chrys Stevenson
Another High Court Challenge Against the National School Chaplaincy Program
Website: http://www.highcourtchallenge.com
Breaking News! After successfully challenging the Commonwealth government in the High Court of Australia over funding for the National School Chaplaincy Scheme, Ron Williams is to take them on again. In an attempt to circumvent the High Court ruling, the government has passed some extremely questionable legislation which tears at the heart of parliamentary democracy and public accountability. Williams has consulted with his crack legal team and the decision has been made today (Saturday, 7 July) to mount another challenge.
For more information see here:
Mounting a High Court challenge is extremely expensive and Ron Williams is just an average, suburban Dad. If all of us who care about a secular, democratic Australia can chip in as much as we can, it will help enormously. Please consider donating at:
This is your chance to be a part of making Australian Constitutional history!
Embiggen Books - Your Australian Atheist/Skeptical Bookshop
Embiggen Books, an Australian bookstore devoted to promoting science, philosophy, rationalism and skepticism is now on Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne. Warren Bonett and Kirsty Bruce of Embiggen are also passionate and active members of the atheist and skeptical communities.
Australian Atheist Issues
For new members, if you want to get a grasp of some of the issues effecting atheists in Australia, you might like to take a look at the Atheist Nexus (Australia) submission on "Freedom of Religion and Belief in the 21st Century" made to the Australian Human Rights Commission early last year. It's long, but easy reading, and worth spending some time on. A report, using information compiled from submissions, should be released later this year.
Atheist Meetup Groups - Australia
If you'd like to meet up with some local atheists, there's no better way than joining your local Atheist Meetup, Skeptics, or Freethought Groups:
Adelaide Atheists
Ballarat Atheists
Brisbane Atheists
Canberra Social Skeptics
Melbourne Atheists
Launceston Skeptics
Macarthur Atheists (Macarthur Region, Sydney (NSW)
Perth Atheists
Perth Skeptics
Sunshine Coast Atheists
Sydney Atheists
Sydney Freethinkers
Western Sydney Freethinkers
Wollongong Skeptics Society
Have we missed your meetup group? Just let me know and I'll add it in.
Started by Ted E Bear. Last reply by Chrys Stevenson Jan 17, 2013. 6 Replies 0 Likes
Started by Therese Monteath-Carr. Last reply by Blamer on twitter Dec 10, 2012. 3 Replies 0 Likes
Started by VeganApe. Last reply by Dogly Jul 8, 2012. 158 Replies 1 Like
Started by Phillip A. Ellis. Last reply by Alice Apr 17, 2012. 3 Replies 1 Like
I'm with you brother - public funding of private brainwashing is bloody outrageous! I understand why the Whitlam government introduced the change that opened the floodgates later to private schools rorting the system but it was a BIG mistake! Churches should also pay all the back taxes on the public land they scammed for private use as well!
Now Christian schools want full public funding!!
If one Christian school I know of--with its poor teaching and spoonfeeding of students--is a representative example, evey cent spent is wasted--and they want more and more.
As far as I am concerned, all education funding should go to state schools. If these other people want to indoctrinate the next generation, let them do it at their own expense--not with my tax dollar!
Sorry if that's a rant, but I think it's outrageous.
Here's a link to an ABC article on the tussle between the PM and the Mad Monk. I think what's referenced in the SMH is the appalling behaviour in Question Time. Not sure if it is on iView.
There have been a few letters to the SMH on this, also reader comments.
Hope this helps.
Chrys, Richard, Luke, Rigbyt--all points taken, and agreed. There's a lesson for me in this about not letting enthusiasm rule the day--and also that doing too many things means that none of them are done well..
I will take Richard's advice to lighten up.
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hedgehog777 wrote:I'm still not sure...how to prevent it.
hedgehog777 wrote:I'll try to figure out how this could be done,.. still not good in web scripting.. ^^
encadyma wrote:The question is, how did you get to the file in the real world?
encadyma wrote:Hello, I have a question, and I hope I don't duplicate someone else's question or give any spoilers:
The question is, how did you get to the ***i**ex.**ml file in the real world? I've been wondering for a long time. Do you just enter it randomly on the address bar? or what?
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- Written by webmin
If your travel plans include an excursion through the Hershey region of southeastern Pennsylvania between now and April 30, you might want to stop by the AACA Museum and check out the rare 1922 Dixie Flyer Firefly Speedster on display, which is on temporary loan from Kentucky Trailer. Rare might be a bit of an understatement: It's the only example known to exist.
The car was manufactured by the Kentucky Wagon Manufacturing Company (established in 1879), which produced automobiles from 1917-1923. The Dixie pictured above was one of a special batch of right-hand-drive cars sent to Australia; it spent its usable life on a ranch in Taggerty, then was placed in a barn where the owner's grandchildren disassembled the car in an effort to learn of its workings. According to the rest of the story – briefly – it was later rediscovered by a scrap metal dealer, who sold the mass to Melbourne collector Bernie Jacobson. The Dixie then spent the next three years undergoing a complete restoration.
Some of our Hemmings faithful may have seen it in Louisville, Kentucky, at the AACA's 75th anniversary celebration; Bernie had shipped it back to the States in time for that gathering. He later sold the car to Kentucky Trailer, which is the current name of the old Kentucky Wagon Manufacturing Company.
After April 30, the Dixie will be returned to Kentucky Trailer's Louisville headquarters, where it will be placed on permanent display, joining their amassed collection of other historical artifacts forever linked to the company.


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text:
RIDGECREST — After a sloppy start, the Burroughs volleyball team rallied to victory on Tuesday night. The Burros beat Silverado in four sets 11-25, 25-19, 25-21, 25-21 at the Burroughs Barn to win the first game back on their home court following a three-week stretch of road games.
RIDGECREST — After a sloppy start, the Burroughs volleyball team rallied to victory on Tuesday night. The Burros beat Silverado in four sets 11-25, 25-19, 25-21, 25-21 at the Burroughs Barn to win the first game back on their home court following a three-week stretch of road games.
"We needed this win tonight because we needed a confidence boost," Burros head coach Michele Lazaro said. "Losing to Granite Hills and Victor Valley hurt us, and hopefully we realize that we can play volleyball and be successful."
Burroughs (14-7, 10-3 DSL) committed a host of errors and had communication problems en route to dropping the opening set. Silverado closed the set on an 11-4 run to decisively grab the early lead.
"We started out really flat — we made too many hitting errors in the beginning," Lazaro said. "We just told the girls to focus on doing the little things — playing defense, keeping the ball in play and letting them make mistakes."
After the first set, Cielo Martinez replaced starting libero Rebecca Floyd. Playing libero in a match for the first time this season, Martinez finished with 28 digs and provided a defensive spark that led to the Burros' comeback.
"We were flat and we needed a change," Lazaro said. "Every person on the team is important, and every person has to be ready to come in, and step up and do their job.
"Cielo put that libero jersey on and really wanted it and worked hard. It's going to make that position more competitive — Cielo wants some action and it's good to see."
Burroughs stayed in front for most of the second set, and outside hitter Allie Sliva closed the stanza out for the Burros. Sliva had three kills and a block in the final five points, and tied up the match with a cross court kill that fooled the Hawks' defense.
"Allie was really smart with her hitting," Lazaro said. "She was constantly working trying to make adjustments, and she didn't swing the same every time. She rolled shots, she went line and that's what we've been trying to get her to do."
In the third set, Burroughs broke a 21-21 tie with four straight points off Silverado errors to jump back in front. After taking a 6-5 lead in the fourth set Burroughs never trailed, and with the Burros ahead 22-21 outside hitter Michaela Metcalf hit three straight kills to close out Silverado.
"When our girls give effort, it makes all the difference," Lazaro said. "When we stand still and balls fall between us, we get into trouble."
Metcalf had a team-high 20 kills in the victory. She also tallied nine service points, four aces and 10 digs as part of a good all-around performance.
"She hit the floor a couple of times, and I was proud of her for that — she plays all the way around and she's always trying to hit the floor," Lazaro said.
Setter Chantia Jennings had 41 assists and one kill for Burroughs; opposite hitter Bridget Ingle (six kills), middle hitter Kristel Teuscher (four kills) and middle hitter Megan Smith (two kills) also played well offensively. Defensive specialist Metzli Heck had a team-high 11 service points in the win.
With the victory, Burroughs moved into second place in the DSL, one game ahead of Granite Hills with two matches remaining. A second-place finish would bring an easier path in the Southern Section playoffs.
"We have a good team and they've done a great job this season — now they need to finish strong," Lazaro said.
Burroughs hosts league champion Victor Valley on Thursday at the Burroughs Barn. The Burros conclude the regular season at home next Tuesday against Adelanto.


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Concrete evidence of nouveau Brutalism with Alexa Lixfeld
Both Dezeen and The Dieline featured Alexa Lixfeld's wonderuously Brutalist bottle designs this week. How I love a bit of concrete (Corbusier would be so proud)! And it's amazing how much better Brutalism seems to work on a small scale. These bottles are interesting... so textural. The equal ratio of concrete to glass makes this item light and beautiful... not too heavy or dark. Sadly the same can't be said for the post WWII building effort in London.
No doubt, bigger brands will be snapping up this creative wonder soon.


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"Nogle Viser IIII (Vi er i marts, men martsviol)" [Danish title] is number 2085 in the Hans Christian Andersen Center's register of Andersen's literary works, i.e. no. 585 in the category poems (the range 1501 - 2900). BFN 671.
"Nogle Viser IIII (Vi er i marts, men martsviol)" [Danish title] was first published 19 December 1854. Further information: Digterens danske Værker 1822-1875 number 671.
The work was published as a part of Samlede Skrifter af H. C. Andersen. - Femtende Bind [Danish title]. (Number 1017. BFN 669. Category/genre: Collected and miscellaneous writings).
Show this work in its context: all new Andersen publications from 1854.
In modern Danish on p. 463 in Johan de Mylius (editor): H.C. Andersen. Samlede digte ('Collected poems', Copenhagen, 2000).


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Hidden amid the daily rumblings about Apple's
As the telecom giants prepare to report, investors will get a full glimpse of how subsidized iPhone sales impact overall profit margins. While analysts are increasingly seeing reason for subsidies to cause earnings to fall short of expectations, they also argue an earnings miss by Verizon or AT&T could create a long-term buying opportunity.
Understanding the dynamics at the heart of Verizon and AT&T's much anticipated earnings gets to some of the key drivers of telecom sector investments. Apple, as it turns out, is a major factor that often goes underappreciated in the daily speculation on whether the iPhone and iPad maker is overvalued or undervalued.
The key issue for investors to consider is whether they are impressed by the strong overall subscriber and earnings growth posted by the likes of Verizon and AT&T, or whether they're fearful of falling wireless profit margins every time Apple rolls out a new iPhone.
Jonathan Schildkraut, an analyst with Evercore Partners says that while subscriber additions at Verizon and AT&T will push overall wireless margins lower for the fourth quarter, it could represent a buying opportunity for investors.
Schildkraut highlights that a big surge in subsidized fourth quarter iPhone subscriber additions could clear the air for both carriers in 2013. Currently, Schildkraut expects Verizon and AT&T to sell nearly 10 million smartphones for the quarter, with iPhones accounting for 75% to 80% of handset sales.
"Similar to what we are expecting with
The argument is borne out in the numbers and gives investors reason to decide, in fourth quarter earnings, whether they favor overall wireless subscriber and revenue growth, or quarter-to-quarter improvements on profit margins.
According to Schildkraut's calculations, Verizon will add 2.3 million total retail smartphone subscribers, representing an over 50% year-over-year surge that will also drive overall wireless revenue nearly 10% higher to $19.1 billion for the fourth quarter. Margins, on the other hand, are estimated to fall over 15% versus the third quarter as subsidized iPhone sales cot wireless margins from an estimated 46.7% to 41.7%.
At AT&T, a similar story of wireless revenue growth and margin pressure is expected to play out in the fourth quarter.
- 1
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entertainment, education and
smart market commentary.


text:
Love 2.0: Peter Rojas and Jill Fehrenbacher
As part of our Geeks We Love series, I caught up with a few couples that, through the beauty of the internet and technology have influenced both our lives and each other.
If there was an award for cutest hipster bloggers with actual street cred, Peter Rojas and Jill Fehrenbacher would take the cake. He is the cofounder and editor-in-chief of Engadget, a heavily trafficked tech blog about gadgets and consumer electronics, and the cofounder of Joystiq, which covers the world of video games. She is the founder of Inhabitat, a sensible and chic blog that looks at the future of design, tracking innovations in technology and practices and materials that are pushing architecture and home design toward a smarter future. Though they describe themselves as "art school geeks" rather than your "average geeks," the newly-engaged couple stands out in the Love 2.0 generation for using technology to spread their passion for life and their work. What do they love about their jobs and each other?
Geeksugar: How do you describe your profession?
Peter: I blog about gadgets, more or less.
Jill: I'm a designer, architecture student, publisher, blogger and all around green design evangelist.
Geeksugar: Bloggers often have the fortune/misfortune of having incredibly unorthodox schedules, what's a typical day like for you?
Peter: I work from home, so a typical day for me involves getting up and going straight to my computer to deal with email and get a handle on what I have to do that day. I work a lot, but it's broken up by errands and meetings, with maybe an event in the evening. Then back to work before bed.
Jill: The beauty of being a blogger is that each day is different! That said, each day does involve a lot of time in front of the computer for sure.
Peter: It's funny that neither of us has a real job where we have to go an office every day. We both used to when we were younger, it's weird to have more freedom as you get older, I always thought it would be the other way around.
Geeksugar: And are you totally connected to technology all day or more focused on the concept/bigger picture of what you want on your sites?
Peter: We spend a lot of time at home on our computers, but my schedule varies a lot, so I'm often out and staying on top of things via my Treo.
Jill: We're right next to each other but working. I work from home usually about half day, and usually spend the other half of the day online at my studio up at Columbia. And when I'm not in front of a computer, I am online with my Treo.
Geeksugar: And Peter - what's your "hours online" guess?
Peter: I suppose I'm always online in one way or another from the moment I wake up until the moment I go to bed. If I'm out I'm connected with my Treo and checking emails or monitoring things with that. Not that I can't unplug if I need to, but I don't see my work as this completely separate part of my life I need to escape from.
Geeksugar: To go a little bigger - what do you each think is your greatest contribution to your field? Don't be modest.
Pete: Well, I've been blogging for a long time and I think I've had an effect on both blogging and technology journalism. How important or major that impact might be is for others to judge.
Jill: My goal is to bring the worlds of design and sustainability together, and I think I've been successful in this regard. I think people are finally starting to realize that sustainability is a design issue. You can see it in that most of the "green" organizations are focusing more on design and aesthetic presentation now, and most design and architecture magazines are focusing more on sustainability as well. Essentially, I'm an evangelist for thoughtful, sustainable design...
Peter: I just want Engadget to be a site that people want to read. That they feel like is a must-read.
Geeksugar: How did you two meet?
Peter: We met in San Francisco in late 1998 in the dot com boom, though neither of us worked in tech at the time. I was broke and had a job doing media planning at an ad agency. I was really bad at it - my boss thought I was incompetent. It turned out the job was lots of numbers and I was a poor fit for it.
Jill: I worked in a number of dot coms - doing things like HTML support, graphic design, and then I got a job as a web designer at a marketing agency.
Peter: I had a friend at the ad agency who was friends with someone I'd gone to high school with. We all went for drinks one day after work and my friend's friend had invited her friend Jill to come out with us.
Geeksugar: And clearly now you have found a perfect match…
Peter: You could say that!
Geeksugar: Would you describe yourselves as "geeks"?
Peter: Yes and no. In a lot of ways we're not typical geeks at all.
Jill: Yeah, I don't think we fall into the traditional definition.
Peter: I don't think "geek" is a pejorative term at all. Obviously I love gadgets and tech - I'm the kind of guy who likes to geek out by installing Ubuntu on old PCs - but we're also really into design and art and fashion and music. It's just that we think tech is as important and as cool as all that other stuff, too.
Jill: I like being really nerdy about building materials!
Geeksugar: Why do you think the tech world is so important/interesting right now?
Peter: It seems like technology is driving a lot of cultural, social, and now even political change. It's hard to separate tech out from everything else. Some people are scared by that, but I think it's awesome how technology enables our lives – I know how cliché it sounds, but I know tons of people who are doing what they love now and that's because of the internet or because of some other technology. I thought I'd spend my life locked up in a cubicle somewhere doing a job I hated.
Geeksugar: And instead?
Peter: I more or less get to do what I want, in a sense. I have complete editorial freedom with Engadget, and because of the nature of the job I can work from wherever I want as long as I have broadband. Right now it's a good time to be creative - you can just follow your interests and build businesses around them.
Geeksugar: So for the fluffy part - tell me what you love about one another...
Peter: Jill is really driven and ambitious and smart. It'd be hard to for me date someone who wasn't always working on amazing projects.
Jill: Peter is witty and very funny - he is fabulous at making me crack up - even when I am in a foul mood. He is the only person in the world able to make me laugh when I am upset.
Geeksugar: So what are your Valentine's Day plans?
Jill: Peter? Do we have any?
Peter: Not yet... depends on how busy Jill is with school!
Jill: I'm sure Peter will come up with something fabulous, right Pete?
Peter: Perhaps I just want to lull you into thinking I have nothing planned. I did blow it out for your birthday, remember?
Jill: He did indeed - he's good like that. He rented one of those double decker tourist buses and gave all of my friends a tour of Manhattan - with vegan cupcakes. How's that for geeky & sweet?
Geeksugar: This one is probably harder for Peter given the nature of his daily duties, but what are a few gadgets you both want right now?
Peter: I want a Vista Media Center with CableCARD support so I can throw out this awful Time Warner Cable DVR. Plus I'd like Palm to improve the Treo.
Jill: My stuff is all more blue sky. I want a sunlight transport device so I can brighten up my dim Manhattan apartment and an electric car!
Geeksugar: What about favorite websites other than your own, or each other's?
Peter: Fimoculous, PSFK, waxy, lifeiscarbon, BuzzFeed, TheSimpleMission, and Mashable.
Jill: I can never get enough of cute overload and Overheard in New York. Of course I read a lot of design websites everyday: archinect, bldgblog, core77, treehugger, mocoloco, etc..
Geeksugar: Who makes the final decisions about big ticket gadgets at home?
Jill: Peter because mostly - I just don't care except when it comes to lighting or home décor.
Peter: I did just buy a 37-inch TV and I think Jill found out when she saw it in the apartment.
Jill: Pete and I endlessly debate HDTV, because I don't really see the point of the technology.
Peter: Even HD isn't enough for me. I want Ultra HD
Jill: I care about the REAL WORLD, Peter, not TV.
Peter: Cool, you can just go for a walk while I watch Lost in HD.
Jill: Well, if we're talking about Lost, then I'll stay in and watch it with you - HD or no.


text:
Wow. Just... wow. The Jenn Sterger thing. The $50,000 slap from the commish. The concussion. And worst of all, the sideline. Not even Brett himself—no stranger to crushing disappointment in recent seasons—could have imagined things would end quite that badly. As Favre's old team, the Packers, prepares to play for a trip to the Super Bowl, Jason Fagone chronicles the last days of a fallen hero
I realize that no one will remember this in ten years, or even one, because LOOK, BRETT FAVRE'S COCK SHOT!, but it's beautiful tonight in Minneapolis in the hours before the Vikings-Bears game. The snow is falling and the city buses are skidding on the roads to the stadium. I'm on one of the buses, jammed between Vikings fans in purple jerseys and blaze-orange hunting caps. The doors open with a blast of cold air and we walk down to the street in the dark. Off to the left is the stadium: Not the softly glowing Teflon balloon of the Metrodome, which imploded last week and spilled tons of snow onto the turf, but a different field, an outdoor field, stark and loud, all split open with white light and Jumbotron noise. Beautiful and weird—like a portal opened and now we've got this throwback NFL.
The weirdness has been building all day, actually. Partly it's the snow, and it's also the backup-stadium thing, and it's the fact that the Vikings are 5–8 and the game is therefore meaningless, freeing the fans to goof around. (Also, because the stadium belongs to the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers, it doesn't sell alcohol, so a lot of fans spent the afternoon getting a buzz on.) But the most potent dose of weirdness was delivered by Brett Favre. An hour ago the Vikings changed starting quarterbacks. They were all set to go with Joe Webb. Webb is a sinewy draft pick, largely untested but full of potential. "Good kid," a heavyset man in a Santa costume tells me at the front gate. "Big hands. And he was drafted 199th, same as Tom Brady." But now that Favre has apparently begged his coach for one last chance to play in front of his fans at the last home game of his 20-year career—by the time you read this, he will have filed his official retirement papers, for the second time in his life—well, who can deny him? "Favre is Favre," shrugs a mustachioed Vikings fan in a #69 Jared Allen jersey. "The guy can pull crap out of his ass."
I head up to the press box to watch the kickoff. Vikings receive. On the first drive of the game, Favre rolls nimbly to his right and fires a crisp 11-yard completion to Percy Harvin. No hesitation. No apparent pain. This is a surprise, because two weeks ago, Favre, age 41, the only known grandfather in the NFL, was laid out like a box of puzzle pieces by Bills linebacker Arthur Moats, age 22. The hit sprained Favre's throwing shoulder and swelled his collarbone. He was inactive last week. But Favre is Favre. Two plays later he gets the ball to Harvin again, short left, on a bubble screen, Harvin breaking a tackle and running down the left hash to the end zone for the first score of the game. The fans scream and chuck snowballs straight up into the air, hundreds of them, making the stadium seem to fizz. Two for two so far. 34 yards and a TD. The veteran staggering to one last victory, in a blizzard, on some college field...
And then come the interceptions. Two in less than a minute. The first, a deep floater to Sidney Rice, is underthrown, picked off, and nullified by an offside penalty. No play. Then Favre's next pass is tipped at the line of scrimmage, landing in the arms of a Bear at the Vikings' 15-yard line. The interception results in three points for the Bears, but more than that, it fatally wounds the blaze-of-glory narrative, which crawls along for 11 more minutes before a rookie Bears defensive end named Corey Wooton delivers the kill shot: Favre's in the shotgun. He takes the snap and steps back, looking to his receivers. He doesn't notice Wooton groping through to his blind side. Favre clutches. The rookie lunges. He wraps his arms around Favre's torso and spins him around 180 degrees and slings him with all of that extra centripetal force headfirst to the frozen ground in a terrible fluid gesture that seems, from my perch up high in the press box, to unfold in slow motion. Favre falling, falling. Favre crunched and splayed. Favre limp as a fresh-clubbed fish.
Joe Webb relieves him. At halftime, a fresh buffet is laid out in the press box. Seventy reporters line up for steak fries. Down at field level, the fluid in Favre's brain is doing something unusual.
Brett Favre built the modern NFL. This is why his final moments matter. They throw a light backward and show us where we've been and what we may have gotten wrong. When Favre was a rookie, the league was one thing, a game and a business, and now it's something else. Now it's so seamlessly integrated into American life that it's hard to talk about as something apart from culture.
I don't think it's a coincidence that for the bulk of 20 years, while this transformation was taking place, Brett Favre was the most world's most ubiquitous football player at the game's most visible and iconic position. Between 1991, the year the Falcons drafted him in the second round, and 2010, his final season, the league's revenue sextupled, from $1.3 billion to $7.8 billion. Team owners went from rich to stinking rich. Favre is important not merely because his career neatly brackets this explosion. He is important because his myth concealed the explosion's causes: The exorbitant TV deals, the cutthroat recruiting, the baldly Darwinian uptick in player size/speed/strength, the rise of fantasy football and ESPN, and generally the transmogrification of a simple game that any kid can play on a patch of lawn into a terrordrome league of zany mutants.
Because here's the thing: When you watched Brett Favre play, the league didn't seem like what it was becoming. As football floated out into the stratosphere of freakdom, Favre was the tether. He kept the game grounded in the familiar. You knew this guy. Hell, with a couple of lucky breaks, you could have been this guy: The small-town jock, drawly/southern/white, large but hardly gargantuan, smart enough to read a defense but not all poindexterish about it, like Peyton Manning. Maybe you were some cracked-mirror version of Favre, a former high school athlete with your trophy from State framed on the wall of your cubicle. Maybe you were a woman and Favre was your dream boyfriend. Whatever the case, the crucial quality of Favre was the smooth projection screen of his personality. He had something for everyone, even if it was just an archetype to define yourself and your fandom against. He made it possible for the league to grow to a point where you could reap followers on Twitter for making fun of a boring guy who played, we were always told, like a kid out there.
But in light of recent events, it seems worth questioning what we were always told. All these years, were we getting Brett Favre wrong?
I tried to answer that question the obvious way, by asking Favre to talk to me, but he wasn't talking to any reporters (except the odd text message, the bulk of them to ESPN's Ed Werder), so I did the next best thing and went to Favre's hometown, to all the old hallowed places, to see if there was anything that other sportswriters had missed. And a lot of what I found in Kiln, Mississippi, on the bayou an hour northeast of New Orleans, is exactly what I expected: the bronze statue of Favre; the road named after his father and high school coach, Irvin "Big Irv" Favre; and the Broke Spoke, the world's last temple of Favre worship, a shack with plywood floors and walls festooned with biker regalia, Confederate flags, and the colors of every team Brett has ever played for. For twenty years, women have been coming here and removing their underwear and stapling it to the ceiling, scrawled with erotic messages to Brett (some more erotic than others—a frighteningly large pair of panties reads, "IF YOU LOVE THE PACKERS RUB MY G SPOT"), and men have been writing in Sharpie directly on the walls: "COONASS DON," "GENTRY JANY," "ROLAND SALTERS," "NICK LACROSSE," "WI." I watched a game or two at the Spoke, starting with the Saints-Rams game on December 12, the week prior to Favre's concussion. That day fifty of the locals, several of them former players of Big Irv's, drank lite beers and procured moonshine from bell jars stowed in their truck beds. And all afternoon I collected affectionate stories, possibly apocryphal, about Brett: about his drinking in the bad old days, before he went sober ("If you thought you could drink more beers than him, all you had to do was tell him and he'd prove you wrong"), his mythic freight ("He is the symbol of all the men in this area—to sum it up, it's Iron Man!"), and his toughness vis-à-vis the new Packers QB and longtime Favre backup, Aaron Rodgers. ("[Rodgers] is small, and he's got a glass jaw. Today Rodgers goes out of the game with a concussion. Did you ever see Brett Favre go out of the game with a concussion?")
What struck me wasn't so much the content of the stories as the way Favre was situated within them. The popular image of Favre right now is that of a narcissist, even a predator, thanks to the twinned Deadspin.com scoops you can't really help but have seen. Scoop one: The cell phone cock shots, allegedly sent by Favre when he was with the Jets to a Jets sideline reporter and former nude Maxim model named Jenn Sterger. Scoop two: The "nasty" text messages he (also allegedly) sent to a masseuse for the Jets, trying to arrange a threesome with her and another Jets masseuse who was married. This dude is out-of-control aggressive—above all, a man of action. But the Favre that his friends portrayed is a curiously passive Favre—a guy stuff happens to. Here's a sad one. Favre retires from the Packers; the Packers offer to retire his locker; Favre thinks that's nice; Favre signs with the Jets; next thing he knows, the Packers ship him his locker in the mail as a final fuck-you. (This story came from Rodney Ladner, a cousin of Deanna, Favre's wife: "Brett couldn't talk about it, but I can.") You almost never hear about Favre getting mad. You hear about him cracking wise or retreating into some private oblivion. (A particularly telling detail from his autobiography, Favre, is that Deanna only discovered that Brett was addicted to Vicodin after she noticed him staying up all night, night after night, playing video games.)
Listen to enough of these stories and it's impossible not to wonder about Big Irv—described by Stevie Haas, co-owner of the Broke Spoke, as "one tough sumbitch"—and what it must have cost his kids, emotionally, to survive him. Big Irv was half Choctaw. Big Irv didn't bench you if you were bleeding. Hell, welcome to football, boy. Big Irv whipped his kids with a black rubber hose. He was a classic small-town tyrant—a brick wall for some, a catapult for others. Either way, ineradicable as God. Which is why my favorite stories from Kiln were about how Brett got the better of his daddy: Brett casually flipping the ball to a red-faced Irv unhappy with Brett's throws, saying, "Here, big boy, if you can do it better, you do it"; Brett refusing to take a knee before halftime of one game and instead running the option, faking the pitch and keeping the ball himself, sprinting down the sideline for a TD and screaming back at Big Irv when he comes rebel-yelling down the sideline, "I told you to kneel down!" The difficulty and poignancy of Brett Favre's childhood is that he manages to overcome the man who must be overcome, and he does it through the only means available in his daddy-dominated redneck town: football. In later years, Favre came to appreciate and forgive Big Irv, famously playing his finest game on the day after Big Irv dropped dead in his car from a heart attack. But this doesn't change the ridiculousness of interpreting Favre's contentious childhood as some kind of American ideal. (And this isn't even getting into the recent arrest of Brandi Favre, Brett's younger sister, for allegedly cooking meth in a condo about nine miles from the Broke Spoke.)
On my final day in Kiln, the Monday after the Saints game, I returned to the Spoke to watch the Vikings play the Giants. The Vikings had already listed Favre as inactive. He would be sitting out for the first time in 297 straight starts, breaking his historic streak. I figured that Favre's hometown fans would want to mark that occasion together. But when I opened the Spoke's front door a few minutes before kickoff, the place was desolate. The only people sitting at the bar were the ones who either didn't hear the news or didn't believe it when they heard. Mabel Haas, Stevie's wife and fellow Spoke proprietor, a purple ribbon in her raven hair, looked up at the screen and saw a black guy under center—backup QB Tarvaris Jackson. "Did Brett suit up?" she asked.
"Brett's not playing?" said a blonde in a Favre jersey. "Unbelievable."
"Dang dang dang," said bartender Derek Peterson, another of Deanna's cousins. He shook his head. "This ain't worth shit."
"He shoulda stopped at 250," said the blonde.
On TV, the sideline camera was zooming in on Favre's right hand, obscenely swollen, the color of borscht.
"Way-ell," said Stevie, "we may have seen the last of Brett Favre."
A week later, Brett Favre suits up against the Bears.
He takes the sack that smashes his helmet against the ground, his skull against his helmet, and his brain against his skull.
Bears win, 40–14, in snowy Minneapolis.
After the game, I try to locate Favre in the locker room. But I can't see him. I don't normally cover the NFL, so it takes my eyes a few minutes to notice any patterns in the chaotic flickers of towels and blasts of steam. There are easily one hundred people roaming around—the players, of course, most still in their purple jerseys or white towels. But also: Vikings PR guys with hunted looks; an old wizened coach in dark jeans and a parka and a knit cap pulled down almost over his eyes, leaning gingerly into a locker; forty or fifty journalists in scrums around Visanthe Shiancoe and Percy Harvin; and a Catholic priest with a white collar. As I scan the room, my eyes keep returning to the old coach. He represents a disturbance in the flow of bodies, an awkwardly jutting rock in a pond. No one touches him or talks to him. A thought occurs to me that I immediately dismiss: The coach is Brett Favre. Of course, I knew that Favre was old. Is old. It can't be Favre, though, because not a single journalist is trying to ask him a question, and he is the biggest story in football, and he is utterly alone in the middle of his own locker room while all around him reporters are harvesting anecdotes from his teammates about how amazing it has been to play football with Brett Favre. He puts two hands on the small of his back and extends his knees until he has achieved a standing position and bares his teeth from the ertion. He begins to inch diagonally across the locker room toward the priest, his steps comically tiny, the players standing ten feet clear. I approach him to ask a question. It's then that a man in a sweater intercepts me. Without introducing himself—I learn later that this is Tom West, assistant director of Vikings PR—he starts scolding me for violating Vikings policy. ("We have a—a certain way of doing things at the Vikings, a certain way.") The whole time I'm arguing with West, Favre never turns around.
Fifteen minutes later, I'm next door in the press-conference room with the rest of the journos when Favre walks in from a back door, takes the podium, shoves his hands into his pockets, looks out as us, and nods gravely, like: Well, yeah, this didn't work out too well, did it? No snark in it, no pride or defensiveness. It's disarming and sets the tone for what feels, for a couple of minutes, like an actual conversation between decent human beings. The first question is, "How's your head?"
"Um," Favre replies in a froggy voice, jaw barely moving, "it's one of the few times I kinda went blank there for a while, in my career." He shakes his head. "Jus' the way I, I guess I was, slung around on the turf."
There may have been a point where Brett Favre played football because he loved it. But he kept playing it long after it made sense, because he doesn't know how to do anything else. He never bothered to create another identity. The fact that others conspired to bestow this shallowness with meaning and virtue isn't Brett Favre's fault. I use my one question here to ask him about "life after football." He instantly shoots back, "Is there?" It functions as a laugh line in this room of reporters—and Favre is indeed quite funny in other parts of the presser ("I think my stubbornness, my hardheadedness, and stupidity at times has enabled me to play for twenty years")—but when Favre says the thing about life after football, he isn't smiling. "I don't know exactly what that means," he adds. "What I will do... I look forward to a little free time, and spendin' it with the family. And cuttin' a little grass. And, um." Which is completely consistent with what Favre's friends told me in Kiln, who must have been repeating Favre's own words when they shrugged and said, "You can only cut so much grass." I think reporters misread Favre because they assume a depth and ulterior motive that isn't there; they assume a guy comfortable with his fame, a guy who knows what to do with it, even when he's telling them to their face in pretty bald terms that he hates his life. (Favre to Playboy in 1997: "Maybe that's how I got in trouble with pain pills. When the game ends, you have to go back to thinking about all the damn things in your life. The pills help you not think.") He agonizes about whether to take the field with a sprained sternoclavicular joint, and the guy up in the cozy TV box calls him a "drama queen."
The media absurdity ratchets up several notches in the final two weeks of the 2010 season as two lingering uncertainties suddenly become clear: the consequences of Favre's penis and the status of Favre's brain. After apparently refusing to cough up his alleged cock-shot phone to the NFL's investigators and generally being "not candid" in several respects, Favre gets fined a mere $50,000, not for the harassment of Jenn Sterger but for obstruction of the investigation. So that's over. And then Favre fails a series of concussion tests, forcing him to sit out the last two games. The moment it becomes official that Favre won't play in the season-ender against the Detroit Lions, at Ford Field, analysts on multiple networks, convulsing with sheer gratitude that they don't have to pretend anymore that the athlete-dong story, which they never really addressed, is illegitimate and beneath them, slap up the video tributes they've had in the can for two years. On the NFL Network, Steve Mariucci, Favre's old coach in Green Bay, starts to cry. On ESPN, Chris Berman says that his lasting memory of Favre will be the shot of him on the sideline last week against the Eagles, "just hangin' out, joshing, 'I'm not even playing this game in Philly, but I'm here, having a good time, being with the fellows, right?' " Berman's comment is the apotheosis of getting Favre wrong, a little tumor of misunderstanding that opens like a blossom, until Favre has become not merely a graceful, instinctive athlete or a pillar of the game but an emplar of maleness, of how men should act and be.
The Lions-Vikings game itself, which I watch from the Ford Field press box, is hardly worth mentioning. The Vikings lost. Look up the details on Wikipedia if you want. I'm here as a Favre completist; I'm here to witness the absolute end, which Favre today, uncharacteristically, is trying to hurry along. He tries to leave the field while his teammates are still desperately lateraling. When the clock reads zero, he is one of the first Vikings to jog into the tunnel. By the time the media is let into the locker room, he has already changed into blue jeans and a white T-shirt, and he's standing at his locker surrounded by a classic press gang bang. I count more than a dozen cameras. No one speaks. "Hey, Brett ain't got nothin' to say, man," shouts wide receiver Greg Lewis. "He's gonna go home and ride his tractor." Favre walks past us into the bathroom, and we stand there mutely, idiotically, watching him brush his teeth.
Then PR man Tom West bleats, "Press conference. Next door."
So here they are—the last of the last of the last words of the Last American Quarterback, who lived and loved and fucked and did drugs and drank and had kids and a grandkid and survived rehab and a mean old cuss of a daddy and endured to see his brother-in-law die in a mishap with his own fucking ATV on his own fucking own property, and who granted the identical dying wishes of sixty-two terminally ill Make-a-Wish children (personal visit from Brett Favre), and who threw for 508 touchdowns with a career passer rating of 86.0. What did he learn? What did it all mean?
"Um, I just wanta, um, thank the NFL, want to thank the Vikings, um, my teammates, um, the fans.... I don't regret comin' back.... It goes without saying, ah, the fans have been absolutely wonderful... a wonderful ride for me....
"...One game, one season, does not define me....
"...I got a chance to play this game and play it at a high level.... For a kid who always dreamed of just playing in the NFL...."
Tom West stands to Favre's side wearing the expression of a murderer on Law Order whose scheme is about to be unraveled.
"...That's what you miss is the guys. Fellowship. Bus rides. Locker rooms....
"...It's time. I'm okay with it."
The questions are as soggy as the answers. Ed Werder asks two generic questions about feelings and emotions; no one, to my mounting amazement, asks about the NFL ruling, which seems to me like the only way to crack the yolk before West returns the egg to the carton. It's all so unbearably anticlimactic. If this were the third act of a tragedy, the story of a rise and a fall, we would at least get the consolation of a piercing soliloquy. All Favre gives us is the rickety roller-coaster track of a tragic arc that we never get to ride. No catharsis, no redemption. He's the same fucked-up guy today as he was twenty years ago. He's not some tragic figure. He's just a flailing goof. It may make for a boring press conference, but it's the truth. And isn't this what should ultimately make Brett Favre real to us? And yes, sympathetic? Willful stasis is more common in this life than enlightened transformation. How many of us can honestly say that our wins and losses, our own years' worth of surges and subconcussive insults on our own home fields, have made us wiser, better people?
And really, what were we expecting, anyway? Some wounded-animal howl from a dude his teammates used to call "Brett Fart"?
He pushes away from the podium and takes a step into the aisle. Exit Favre, forever.
"Brett," I shout, "what's your reaction to the NFL's ruling against you?"
Looking back on it, I think he would have kept walking, but too many people were looking at him too intently. So what he does is he freezes. This part won't be included in any of the transcripts of the presser, or in the video posted on YouTube. He throws his hands to his sides, palms downturned. He glances at me.
Tomorrow, the two masseuses who talked to Deadspin will file a sex suit against Favre, the Jets, and the Jets' massage coordinator. (The Jets have said the suit is "completely without merit," and that the team was previously unaware of the accusations.) The complaint's most unintentionally hilarious line? The defendant Brett Lorenzo Favre... is currently believed to be a quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings.
"I'm," he stammers.
I think, for a split second, he's going to lose it. But he maintains composure. I'm the one who craves catharsis. Brett Favre is the one who craves the hum of his tractor and the smell of cut grass, and a vast lawn as peaceful as the dead. "I'm done," he says.


text: You don't have HBO (which means you don't have HBO Go). It's not on iTunes. You can't stream it on Netflix or Hulu. For the love of all things dwarven, won't somebody please just take my money and let me watch an episode of Game of Thrones? Please? [Virtual Shackles; Click image to biggie-size]


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Whoever thought of mashing up Teen Wolf and Miss Piggy deserves a free beer, because this silly-looking Wookie seems to be a hot topic of discussion today. I understand that Rumble, the new mascot of the Oklahoma City Thunder, was a last-minute replacement for the team's original mascot idea, a fun-loving, knife-wielding chimpanzee.
The Thunder concocted a background story for the mascot, saying Rumble helped save the rest of his herd of bison during a ferocious storm before he was stranded alone in the Arbuckle Mountains and was struck by a bolt of lightning that gave him added strength and agility.
The bolt of lightning also gave him a huge, 17-inch penis and a profound fear of loud household appliances. Just don't spend too much time out with your friends this weekend, or you might come home to sheets full of hybrid bison semen. You've been warned.


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Maria Orlicka
Born: July 2, 1928
Jaworzno, Poland
Maria was born to a poor family in the industrial town of Jaworzno, not far from Krakow, in southwestern Poland. Both of Maria's parents worked. Like her parents, Maria was baptized in the Roman Catholic faith.
1933-39: I took care of the house when my parents were working. I was 11 years old when the Germans invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. German troops reached Jaworzno that same month. Jaworzno was in an area of Poland that became formally annexed to Germany.
1940-44: The Germans arrested me when I was 14 for using black-market ration cards to get food, which they said I then sold at "profiteering prices." I was deported to Auschwitz, and put in the "Bunker of Death," which was near the wall where prisoners from our Bunker 11 were executed every day. For some reason, instead of being shot I was transferred to a slave-labor camp for children in Lodz's Jewish ghetto. My parents, meanwhile, were notified that I had been executed, and my father died of a heart attack from the shock.
Emaciated from typhus, scurvy and malnutrition, 16-year-old Maria was released from the camp on November 9, 1944, towards the end of the war. She returned to Jaworzno.


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Mexico has signed the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) in Japan, a week after the European Union parliament rejected the agreement.
ACTA has been a controversial agreement, with widespread protests and criticism around the world, and aims to combat copyright and IP issues on an international level, particularly when it comes to enforcing breaches. It covers the digital environment, but also targets counterfeit goods and generic medicines.
However, the Mexican government agency, Instituto Mexicano de la Propiedad Industrial, said the agreement does not contravene human rights in its constitution and other treaties which is a party to.
"…the application of ACTA will not generate an environment of permanent monitoring and surveillance of the daily activities carried out over the Internet, and will not be an excuse for checking or seizing computer equipment or personal audio and video players," it said in a statement.
Mexico plans to use the agreement to combat counterfeiting and the piracy of trademarks, inventions and intellectual property more effectively.
"ACTA comes in a time when Mexico faces a serious problem of trademark counterfeiting and piracy in different industrial sectors, from clothing, athletic shoes, music and films, to items that pose a threat to consumers' health and safety, such as drugs, alcohol, tobacco and auto parts," Instituto Mexicano de la Propiedad Industrial said.
"…Additionally, the Mexican State shall abide by the secondary legislation that the Mexican congress passes on intellectual property matters, where the protection and safeguard of fundamental rights, such as freedom of speech, privacy, legality, due process, access to information and culture, shall always be preserved."
Other countries currently considering ACTA include Australia, the US, Canada, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore and South Korea. The European Union was recently part of the negotiations. However, the European Union rejection of ACTA means it cannot be introduced in the European Union or any of its states.
The agreement still needs to be ratified by Mexico's parliament. However, ACTA's future in Mexico remains uncertain, with a congressman stating in 2010 reportedly stating: "it is clear that the ACTA negotiations are aimed at the excessive regulation and control of the Internet, and therefore of information and knowledge exchange".
The agreement is also facing challenges in being introduced into Australia, with an Australian joint standing committee recently recommending it should not ratify the treaty until the Federal Government can properly assess the agreement's economic and social costs and benefits.
Follow Stephanie McDonald on Twitter: @stephmcdonald0
Follow Computerworld Australia on Twitter: @ComputerworldAU
Take part in the Computerworld conversation: LinkedIn: Computerworld Australia


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Jeremy Bird '00 to Talk Politics, Careerby Howard Hewitt • October 16, 2013 Share:
Wabash students have admired the accomplishments of Jeremy Bird '00 from afar since his work in the 2008 presidential campaign. The Wabash Community will host Bird on campus Tuesday and Wednesday.
Bird '00 graduated Wabash and attended Harvard where he got interested in community organizing and politics. He worked for the political campaigns of Howard Dean, John Kerry, and then signed on with Sen. Barack Obama in 2008. Bird was a state field organizer in the President's first campaign. Bird was one of the key leaders as Obama's national field manager in 2012.
The St. Louis native and Wabash religion major will spend two days on campus. He will give two public talks but meet with several groups and attend classroom sessions.
Bird will speak at 8 p.m. Tuesday in Baxter 101. His topic will be "After the Election." He will talk specifically about the 2012 election in a noon talk Wednesday, also in Baxter.
He will have private events with College Republican, College Democrats, and The Bachelor. Bird was a Bachelor writer while a student. He also helped found the Wabash College Lacrosse Club.
You can see a short video from the Wabash You Tube channel of Bird discussing the 2012 campaign here. Here is a Wabash Magazine story about Bird's work in the 2008 Obama campaign.
Bird is a founding partner of 270 Strategies which is a private company built to organize grassroots campaigns for successful presidential campaigns. The company has already joined forces with Ready for Hillary – a group encouraging Hillary Clinton to seek the presidency in 2016.
Others have certainly taken notice of Bird's success and impact in politics. He has been regularly featured in national print and electronic media. Most recently, Bird was named to Fortune Magazines 2013 40 Under 40 list of influential executives and "the year's most important young innovators, risk-takers, and rule-breakers in business."
Bird's 8 p.m. Tuesday, and noon, Wednesday, talks are free and open to the public.


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Quotes from past customers:' 'Reliable', 'High standards','Value for money', 'Definitely use again'.
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By mikecapstick on 8th Nov, 2017
Grant David Building8 Feedback reviews, 100% positive
I'm a qualified bricklayer with site experience now working on my own business Since I've started on my own I've had nothing but good feedback from my customers partly because I don't bite off more than I can chew. I'm a polite and friendly fella and please don't be put...
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By sue70014 on 13th Nov, 2018
Julian Ackland Complete Building Services12 Feedback reviews, 100% positive
I have over 30 years experience in building work such as bricklaying, conservatories and stonework. I have been self employed for 20+ years and have a great reputation with customers, resulting in a lot of repeat business.
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By alice_789 on 16th Dec, 2017
Streamline Construction4 Feedback reviews, 100% positive
Streamline Construction are a family based company operating from Bridgwater, Somerset. Trading in the Somerset and surrounding areas for all your building and construction needs. We pride ourselves on top quality customer service and workmanship. We will guide you...
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By christine_624 on 10th Nov, 2018
Andy Fountain Bricklayer/ Stonemason6 Feedback reviews, 100% positive
I have over the years completed many projects in Brickwork , and Natural Stone. I have over 30 years experience in the Building Trade and I am City and Guilds Qualified. I especially like to undertake projects in Natural Stone, and also have experience with Dry Stone...
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By dairy_house_farm on 5th Dec, 2017
A J S4 Feedback reviews, 75% positive
8 years experience in bricklaying completing jobs to high standard all kinds of bricklaying work from repointing to extensions. I can ensure a high quality job completed at a competitive rate.
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By asim59623 on 6th Dec, 2018
Collier Building Contractors44 Feedback reviews, 95% positive
I have been in the construction industry for 18 years, building up a portfolio of many happy customers who either keep referring me to friends and family or keep relying on my services for future projects. I try my best to keep customers pleased with the quality work and...
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By gordon_922 on 22nd Nov, 2017
P K Perrett Building9 Feedback reviews, 100% positive
Highly experienced building and maintenance team. Reliable, high quality and competitive pricing.
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By nick_p1k on 24th Nov, 2017
A. Prouse Building Contractors7 Feedback reviews, 100% positive
We are a committed and high performing team. With a fully qualified bricklayer, fully qualified carpenter and a fully qualified plasterer. I pride myself and my team on offering outstanding workmanship on all we do and a professional and reliable service with many years...
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By martin_158 on 27th May, 2015
Rob.S.General Builder5 Feedback reviews, 100% positive
I passed my apprenticeship in 2010 in bricklaying with all the appropriate certificates. I have a portfolio of work I have done and been part off. I've been in the building trade since 2005 doing all aspects of the trades. I have recently left my position as site foreman...
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By maria_241 on 5th Dec, 2017
Curtis Construction2 Feedback reviews, 100% positive
Curtis construction aims to please by producing a very high standard of work. Attention to detail is everything in a job. We have a great working relationship with customers and cover all aspects of jobs at very competitve rates.
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Reference taken by MyBuilder on 12th Mar, 2013
Andrew Green Building33 Feedback reviews, 100% positive
Local company trading for 25 years. A wealth of knowledge in all aspects of building and property maintanence and an in depth experience of dealing with listed buildings Large local client base with references avaliable
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By budleigh_farm on 27th Jun, 2018
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A traditional Japanese Swords That the blade between 30 and 60 cm (12 and 24 inches), with an average of 50 cm (20 inches). The wakizashi swords was usually worn together with the katana sword by the samurai or swordsmen of feudal Japan.Wakizashi Swords It is similar to but shorter than a Japanese Swords, and mostly longer than the tanto Swords. When worn together the pair of swords were called Daisho, which translates literally as "large and small". The katana was often called the sword or the long sword and the wakizashi swords the companion.
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To use all features of KLM.com safely, we recommend that you update your browser, or that you choose a different one. Continuing with this version may result in parts of the website not being displayed properly, if at all. Also, the security of your personal information is better safeguarded with an updated browser.
The Kremlin symbolises the Russian-Orthodox church, the tsars and communism, all in one place. Over time, the walled complex in the heart of Moscow has grown into the Russian centre of architecture and icon art. There are important year-round exhibits that bring the history of the federation to life.
Construction of the modern Kremlin, a fortified citadel, began at the end of the 15th century. Italian architect Aristotele Fioravanti designed the Assumption Cathedral, where for centuries the tsars were crowned. Several religious leaders have been laid to rest here. The stone wall around the Kremlin was built to protect the citizens of Moscow against attacks. Until the 20th century, the complex has undergone various constructions, demolitions and renovations. The result is a variety of cathedrals, churches and government buildings that line the Moskva River.
It is due to the bad weather in 1812 that much of the Kremlin has been preserved. This was the year in which Napoleon occupied the government complex for a month. He ordered his army to blow up the Kremlin, but due to heavy rainfall they only partially succeeded. The Palace of the Patriarch is one of the buildings that was spared; today it displays 17th-century jewellery, household objects and furniture. The Church of the Twelve Apostles is adjacent to the palace. This private home church of the Russian Patriarchs is famous for its gilded wooden panel adorned with beautiful icons.
As well as some incredible wall paintings, the 5-domed Assumption Cathedral also houses an iconostasis, a partition composed of 17th-century religious icons. The church also contains several older icons. Just outside of this sanctuary, near the wall, we find the graves of several church leaders. Be sure to visit the Ivan the Great Bell Tower, the arms collection in the Armoury Chamber, and the Aleksandrovsky Garden which is located not far from the Kremlin.
Vladimir Lenin, one of the most influential leaders of the 20th century, is laid out in a tomb on the Red Square. After Lenin died in 1924, Josef Stalin decided to preserve the father of communism for all eternity. It took Russian scientists six months to develop an embalming chemical that could prevent the decomposition of Lenin's body. The mummy is on display in a granite tomb on the square. The clothes are replaced every few years.


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U.S. Stock Futures Start July on the Rise
U.S. stock futures rose to start the month, as strength in overseas markets provided a positive backdrop. Polya Lesova reports.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
... the ... stock markets are pointing to a higher open MarketWatch's palsy Lesova joins me now morning good morning what was that whilst it will start in July and an upbeat now Twilight people at the good and I well for Saul we had quite a big decline on Friday which we think maybe some investors feel was a little bit overdone in on the ballot of one hundred points ... this morning Dow futures are ... down seventeen points ... out we're also expecting an improvement in key ISN manufacturing index in June that the closely ... what's indicate Dan and I think if I ... expectations are and what and how we made ... the half ... of the skunk session ... today for what state you you mention the ISN data that's actually the first on its latest in the news this week including ... Friday's jobs report yet absolutely so I don't support is ... the most important piece of data will get this big but before that on Wednesday ... will get the ADP private sector employment data point in awe so we can tell this claims and ... we'll get on Wednesday we use and kiddos on Thursday but of course Tuesday is our July for an hour ... so that the mica disclosed OS ... and Android and found a quantity to find talent I ... Khomeini known from a dose of what they did was to hit the big indicator determined ... now ... well where the Fed is going ... yet ... with policy on the a very important indicating expectations are for ... around a hundred and fifty five thousand the nose ... and I'm fine and change the unemployment rate is okay let's let's jump over to three stocks you're watching today Onyx Pharmaceuticals is the first one yes the odd that stock is having a big rally this morning to set up more than fifty percent sell on ekes I announced over the weekend it appears that the subject of an unsolicited ... buyout report proposal from Amgen ... on selling these at all for undervalues the company and so it says take a snowy looking for on the bias that well ... up in the twenty I and does so that the shares have more than fifty percent meanwhile to ... also ran handset makers we've got some good news for Nokia and yet meanwhile RIM is is still not people I so excited after their earnings yes oh yes he says shares of Nokia up about seven percent in premarket trade after the company announced that it will ... buy out the Siemens to speak ... I in their joint venture that makes a panic on equipment ... on so it will be a pretty good price to cushion a two billion or so they pay at around two point two billion euros though is that the boat race ... and Siemens wanted to get out the bantering thing to ... and that investors know they feel it it's a pretty valuable business and get some IDPs an intellectual property at last his Blackberry for us is that they were bad news for BlackBerry We count of just the fate of Baird it's broken now looks out this morning as several brokers downgraded the shares ... several other city in the day-to-day OED bear this view ... on the stock was downgraded for the very disappointing without ... a hint of last week and assisted on four percent to twenty eight ... people


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1.Down, Down, Down
4.Good Time Charlie
5.Larger Than Life
6.Calling You
7.Cry (If You Want To)
8.You've Got A Secret
9.I Can See Clearly Now
2.Cry (If You Want To)
3.Calling You
4.Down, Down, Down
6.Larger Than Life
7.Train Song
8.Tea For Two
9.You've Got A Secret
10.I Can See Clearly now
Documentaries: Holly in Japan, The Trio, Coming to Toronto
BONUS TRACK: I'd Like You For Christmas
Have you met Miss Cole? In the past, this - slightly modified - question from the title of a famous Rodgers & Hart classic had to be answered negatively when it came to Holly Cole live on DVD. Fortunately, Steal This Night puts an end to this frustrating situation by presenting a wonderful concert filmed at a legendary place: Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto. After many albums and concerts in Canada, the US, the Far East and in Europe, the celebrated songstress from Canada finally presents a live concert performance on CD and DVD. It stands as a many things at the same time among them a nice encounter with a hometown audience on home turf, also a reunion of the original Holly Cole Trio featuring pianist Aaron Davis and bassist David Piltch. The band is completed by Davide Direnzo (Drums), John Johnson (reeds) and Bob Piltch (guitar). But mostly Steal The Night stands as another demonstration of Holly Coles immense talents as a performer highly musical, profoundly intelligent, exquisitely intense.
The Steal The Night event took place in August 2011 and this recorded document was released in Canada only six months afterwards. Finally, its coming out in Europe as well. As the concert was organized with the utmost attention and care, the result is filled to the brim with quality technical, musical and emotional. Singer and band present a repertoire that include favorites from all stages of Holly Coles career - 9 songs on CD, 11 on DVD, excluding an additional live track in the DVDs bonus section, next to fundamental biographical info about all players and three fascinating documentary films (Holly In Japan / The Trio / Coming To Toronto).
Its well known what makes Holly Cole special: the emotional complexity of her interpretative approach, the unique attention to detail, a strong sense of minimalism, space and silence creating tension and beauty as a result. All of this filtered through a telepathic sense of understanding with musicians who know every nuance of the music. They create the musical whole with authority and ease, an infallible sense of feel, color and expression. Its probably fair to say that due to all of this, Holly Coles music today is richer, more sophisticated and more subtle than ever before even when it comes to song staples she has sung many times. Some of them are present here: Calling You, I Can See Clearly Now, Train Song and others. They are songs that have played a major part in the singers career. And with all respect due to the singers expert work in the studio, its on the concert stage where she really shines the most. Her unique talents comes to the fore - improvisation, fun, intensity, entertainment, audience seduction. Musical magic made possible.
A special mention is more than apt for the DVDs three extra films: Holly In Japan talks about the special love affair between the artist and her Japanese audience. The Far East has embraced her from the beginning, she is considered a role model for modern 21st century women, smart and strong, sexy and romantic. Her music is viewed as individual artistic expression belonging to more than just one category, whatever that category may be. Holly Coles attitude seems to correspond with profound far-eastern life principles of personal integrity and fondness of musical intensity. So we accompany the band in Japan a little, we get to know places like Blue Note Tokyo and the Holly Bar
The film also presents a ruminative flashback to the terrifying Kobe earthquake of 2009, an event the Canadian musicians had to live through while on tour.
Documentary 2 The Trio is a recollection of the early days of the Holly Cole Trio in Toronto. Holly, Aaron and David remember their early days of playing together, the first mutual steps as a unit, the phenomenal sense of surprise when falling into a mutual thing almost accidentally - as it was meant to be. The original empathy for each other is still there and respective attitudes still correspond in a rare kind of quality. Its the story of a musical quest leading to deep connections on a personal level.
Finally, Coming To Toronto is adding a very important group of people to the picture: The Cole Family. Parents Leon and Carolyn Cole plus older brother Allen Cole, music people all of them. They reminisce about the daughter / sister they knew and still know. They also tell loving and humorous stories of days gone by. The Cole Family are obviously full of pride and respect for what their younger female member has achieved: She has chosen her own path, Carolyn says and the loving look on her face makes for a window into the familys distinctly positive emotional make-up.
Steal The Night is one more fascinating step on this path. To watch Holly Cole take it is a joy and a pleasure to behold.


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2014 KTM 690 Duke R Review
2014 KTM 690 Duke R
2014 KTM 690 Duke R
2014 KTM 690 Duke R Review
2014 KTM 690 Duke R on Totalmotorcycle.com
Pure speed.
The KTM 690 Duke R cultivates the sporty genes of the 690 Duke – and differs not only visually very little from the lightning-quick cup rockets that caused such an uproar in the 2012 European Junior Cup: A formidable hot rod for enthusiasts and experts alike, light as a feather, lightning quick, amazingly suitable for everyday use, but with everything that makes a 690 Duke even sportier.
2014 KTM 690 Duke R Totalmotorcycle.com Features and Benefits
Thanks to the mechanical and electrical refinements, the new 690 Duke R is endowed with incredible fuel economy. Even though the Duke before last had already won international consumption comparison tests with ease. Duke R riding is therefore not only fast, but also economical, while remaining unashamedly fleet-footed, sporty and dynamic.
The finely balanced crank drive of the 690 single-cylinder converts terrific combustion pressure into unrivalled single-power – thanks to its balancer shaft, which eliminates vibration even better than ever without having any detrimental effect on the life of the super-single.
The electronic engine management system always gets optimum performance out of the ingenious LC4 engine. The most advanced technology is employed for this purpose: Twin ignition with individual mapping for each spark plug ensures that the mixture always combusts effectively, irrespective of load and engine speed. And then genuine ride-by-wire, in other words electronically controlled throttle valve actuation without any mechanical linkage.
So that the electronics always apply the power as perfectly and therefore smoothly as possible, above all on transition from throttle closed to throttle open. How good does that feel? Simply indescribable.
So check it out!
The Duke R bears the most cutting-edge single-cylinder engine in the world in its most powerful form: Apart from a full 690 cc, the legendary LC4 uses a freer-breathing Akrapovic titanium silencer for even deeper bass and an extra two horses as a result. 70 hp all in all – or one and a half able-bodied 125 Duke's more than the next strongest single-cylinder competitor. The 690 Duke R has adopted such well-known series production goodies as the slipper clutch and active engine casing ventilation.
Genuine ride-by-wire also provides it with unexpectedly smooth, yet always immensely explosive power development; twin ignition with plug-selective mapping ensures the most effective combustion and sensationally low fuel consumption. Add to this service intervals of 10,000 km – never has it been as elegant, cultivated, sporty and effective to be powered by one cylinder. And never has the need for more cylinders been more questionable, since these horses make very light work of the lightweight 690 Duke R.
Well-equipped for every situation: The Duke's 43 mm upside-down fork from WP raises the ride height by 15 mm for even greater freedom to lean. It excels with perfect tuning and an unbelievably broad spectrum of use, from relaxed cruising to racing around closed circuits. It's tuning is child's play: The appropriate level of compression damping is set on top of the left fork tube and rebound damping on the right.
Why? In contrast to normal rebound-compression cartridges, separate oil circuits work independently from each other. Hence the compression stage setting only influences spring compression damping and the rebound setting only that of spring rebound.
A precise setup is achieved completely in line with the rider's wishes, without any mutual interaction.
The pivot-arm articulated WP pressurised-gas monoshock with remote reservoir raises the 690 Duke R in order to generate virtually endless freedom to lean. Alongside perfect tuning, it provides an unbelievably broad spectrum of use, from relaxed cruising to racing around closed circuits. Of course it's also fully adjustable (spring preload, high/low-speed compression damping, rebound damping).
In the European Junior Cup, it has impressively demonstrated its racing potential, not even succumbing to the incredible cornering speeds or the braking and acceleration forces with slick tyres. Nevertheless, this doesn't mean that a comfortable setup isn't possible in line with the rider's wishes – on the Duke R, the rider determines the ride behaviour.
Three words: attack, control, effortless. Significantly more aggressive than the 690 Duke, the new 690 Duke R shifts its rider precisely into the position required for hitting the gas – after all, it has the same seat position as the EJC bikes. Bent slightly forwards, with a good foothold on the sportily positioned footrests, with great feel and plenty of freedom of movement on the taut yet comfortable seat, with perfect control on the sportily angled handlebar (840 mm wide, 38 mm rise).
Relaxed Supermoto racing and command of wicked manoeuvres made easy. And still a good overview, comfort for relaxed trips and all-in-all surprisingly little exertion. Want to bet?
Those who prefer to race alone can attach the rear cover to the pillion seat cushion and dismantle the passenger footrests.
Good to have if the worst comes to the worst: The orange, steel crashbars protect the 690 Duke R if things should ever get too serious – so that you're up and running again as quickly as possible without any damage.
The best from over 20 variants: The KTM test riders had fun selecting the hardware, although they had to spend a lot of time braking at the limits. Brembo rewarded this hard work with a tailor-made radial hand pump that activates the new M50 high-end calliper (substantially lighter than the previous top model and machined from a block of high-strength aluminium for perfect stiffness). Together with a fat 320 mm disc, this team guarantees on-the-spot braking!
The machined triple clamps are not simply machined aluminium with a cool anodised skin. Rather, the KTM chassis engineers have tuned the stiffness of these works-of-art precisely to the flex pattern of the fork. Why?
Only so can sensitive suspension still be guaranteed under high loads, such as that experienced when braking with the bike leant right over. This in turn generates more grip and a superb feeling of grip. Therefore you'll be riding a little bit faster.
In other words, ahead of the others.
Lightweight components in a large, lightweight entirety: The 9 kg lightweight tubular space frame made from chrome-molybdenum steel and the 4 kg lightweight, high-quality, pin-jointed, die-cast swingarm impress with extreme levels of torsional stiffness, providing the less than 150 kg 690 Duke R with excellent tracking stability.
The silencer has been tailor-made for the Duke R by Akrapovic in cooperation with KTM. Not only does it save weight; it also supplies two additional horses. Moreover, it assists the brushed stainless steel pre-silencer underneath the engine in centralising masses – thereby contributing to the playful handling and razor-sharp precision of the new 690 Duke R.
Just like the 690 Duke, the R is equipped with a very sportily tuned Bosch 9M+ ABS with outstanding endo prevention. One innovation is the Supermoto mode, activated by a dongle (available as an accessory), with which the front wheel is still prevented from locking by the ABS, but the rear wheel can slide or lock as the whim takes you. After all, a KTM is a KTM.
New rims may not appear to be such an innovation at first sight. What new rims mean for a manufacturer perhaps becomes clearer measured against the present-day level of perfection of practically all the components of a motorbike: Major improvements don't just take a couple of minutes any more.
KTM has nevertheless allowed the best technicians to play around with very clever computation software until an extremely lightweight, aesthetically elegant but still very stable and durable set of rims emerged from the casting die. Slightly lighter, but far less rotationally inert because the weight was saved predominantly at the rim ring. The result?
Faster acceleration, shorter braking distance, quicker changes of direction – hence a faster motorbike.
Due to ambiguous or even incorrect press reports, confusion currently prevails in the KTM community throughout the EU regarding the A2-compliancy of the following models:
– 390 Duke
– 690 Duke
– 690 Duke R
– 690 Enduro R
The corresponding press reports convey the impression that the mentioned models are too light and hence not approved for A2 beginners. This impression is inconsistent with the truth. The A2 driving licence prescribes a minimum power-to-weight ratio of 0.2 kW/kg, which is why KTM has homologated performance mappings for all the aforementioned models to make them A2-compliant.
Thanks to the mappings, all the listed models achieve the minimum power-to-weight ratio precisely – quite the contrary to most of the overweight competition. Assisted by the mappings, every A2 beginner can benefit from the dynamic advantage of the models being so light – whether it be due to increased riding pleasure when accelerating, when riding demanding trails or due to the much more significant safety factor when braking, in general vehicle control or when evading sudden hazards. The models are therefore not only A2-compliant, but also highly recommendable for novice riders, since they guarantee greater riding pleasure yet even more safety.
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Message Board
Andrew Neiderman Message Board
Talk about the novels, new and used books that Neiderman has written!
Author Neiderman's Book Reviews
Pocket, August 2004, 7.99, 400 pp. ISBN 0743483219 Paige Thorndyke is supposed to meet her friend at a bar but she never shows up. Instead, she meets a handsome stranger and after uncharacteristically taking a few drinks, she goes to a hotel with him. After having sex with him, she becomes very ill; she is rushed to the hospital where she dies. An autopsy shows that she was suffering from an acute form of scurvy unheard of in modern in America...
The Baby Squad
Pocket, August 2003, 6.99, 374 pp. ISBN: 0743412702 In the not too distant future, becoming pregnant is almost impossible as all female newborns are given a vaccine to prevent their eggs from fertilizing. Children are conceived in a natal laboratory with only some of the DNA coming from the parents. People who were born the old fashioned way are called Abnormals and treated like second class citizens by the Natals who believe they are genetical...