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Installing and Running Mac OS X in Linux Using VirtualBox: Are you in the mood to install Apple's Mac OS X 'Snow Leopard' on Linux? If your answer is yes, then get your desktop ready and download the latest version of one of the most popular free and open-source virtualization software, VirtuaBox.
But before installing VirtualBox, you should check first if your CPU supports hardware virtualization. From the Linux terminal, run this command:
$ egrep '(vmx|svm)' /proc/cpuinfo
If the command returns "vmx" (Intel) or "svm" (AMD), then your CPU is supported thus you will be able to install and run Mac OS X as guest operating system on Linux. For others, you may also check your BIOS settings and see if there is an option to enable hardware virtualization.
If your CPU is supported and you have already downloaded and installed VirtualBox, you will need to get the hacked Mac OS X Snow Leopard installer from HERE. It's a torrent file so for those of you who don't know anything about torrents, see: How to Use BitTorrent in Linux.
Inside VirtualBox, you can now create a new virtual machine. It is recommended to allocate at least 15GB of virtual machine hard disk and 1GB of VM RAM for better performance. The Mac OS X installation process should be as easy as that of Windows or Linux so I'm sure most of you can handle it well.
The above instructions on installing and running Mac OS X (Snow Leopard) on Linux is pretty much a shortcut and is intended for advanced users. There is a more detailed how-to HERE, which uses Windows as host OS. However, most of the instructions from that page can also be applied if you are using Linux (host) so I encourage you to check it out.


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Use GetApp to find the best Content Marketing software and services for your needs. Our intuitive directory allows you to make an easy online Content Marketing software comparison in just a few minutes by filtering by deployment method (such as Web-based, Cloud Computing or Client-Server), operating system (including Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android), pricing (including Free and Subscription), platform (including Google Apps, Salesforce, Intuit, NetSuite, SAP) and supported location.
GetApp's Category Leader ranking is for business owners and decision makers looking for a comprehensive list of the leading cloud-based software products in the industry.
The ranking serves as a point of reference highlighting key factors that small businesses should look at when assessing a piece of software. These factors include user perception (reviews), compatibility (integrations and mobile compatibility), market presence (media presence), and security features (security).
An app's score is calculated using five unique data points, each scored out of 20, giving a total score out of 100. The ranking and scoring methodology ensure complete impartiality and independence from any relationships that GetApp has with app vendors.
Review scores are calculated using reviews collected from GetApp and its sister sites, Software Advice and Capterra. Scores are calculated based on the total number, average rating, and recency of reviews.
The number of reviews and average user rating are scaled against the category average. A weighting is then applied to reward recency of user reviews: reviews written in the last 6 months score up to 10 points, those written between 6 and 12 months ago score up to 6 points, and those more than 12 months old score up to 4 points. These numbers are added together to give a total maximum score of 20.
Integration scores factor in a number of variables. Up to 16 points are awarded based on the number of integrations an app has; the first 10 points are awarded based on the number of integrations relative to the category average, while 4 points are awarded based on the number of integrations relative to the leaders in the category. An additional 5 points is awarded for an integration with Zapier, a widely used software integration platform, while an extra point is given for having an open API. The total possible score for integrations is 20 points.
Mobile scores are calculated based on the availability of an iOS and Android app. 5 points are awarded for the presence of each app, with an additional 10 points being awarded for the number and average rating of reviews in both the App Store and Google Play. These review scores are calculated and scaled against the competition for a maximum of 5 points per platform and an overall maximum score of 20.
If there isn't a native iOS or Android app, the product's website is assessed using Google's PageSpeed Insights to measure mobile usability. The score is returned out of 100, then scaled to a score out of 5 for a maximum of 5 points.
Media presence is calculated using the number of Twitter followers and Facebook fans that an app has. The number of fans and followers are added together, and each app is scored based on this overall number, compared with others in the category. The first 15 points are awarded for the combined number of followers and fans scaled against the category average, while the final 5 points are awarded for the combined number of followers and fans scaled against the top leaders in the category. These two scores are added together for a total out of 20 points.
Security scoring is calculated using answers from a vendor-completed survey. The questions in the survey are based on the Cloud Security Alliance self-assessment form as part of the Security, Trust & Assurance Registry. With 15 questions, each answer is assigned a point value based on vendor response, with additional points given for security certifications, for a maximum possible score of 20.
In the event of a tie, each data point is weighted for importance, with security taking precedent, followed by reviews, integrations, mobile apps, and media presence, respectively.
*All data points combining calculations for both ratings and reviews are calculated using a Bayesian estimate, which is a weighted average that includes the number of reviews and the rating of an app, benchmarked against others in the category.

subset: commoncrawl


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Nothing says US American like a cute, dumb, South Carolinian teenager proclaiming our need to help the "education like such as South Africa and, uh, the Iraq everywhere like, such as"… well, I mean, nothing says US American like that and fireworks. Of course.
And boy are the fireworks a flyin'.
Satiating our drama-seeking souls, Placido Polanco provided plenty of fireworks after getting clipped in the nuts by a foul tip in last evening's 16-inning game against the Twins. He took a long, painful breather before getting back in the batter's box and hitting the game-winning single right back up the middle.
In Cincinnati, Albert Pujols — BASEBALL GOD INCARNATE — made a strong case for his being walked with the bases loaded. Instead, David Weathers (whom Albert owns) threw one right down central. Pujols wasted no time in hitting his fourth grand slam of the season.
Still, these on the field heroics have nothing on the fireworks Sarah Palin shot off Friday by announcing her resignation as governor of the great state of Alaska.
We put our faithful RSBS interns on the beat and they discovered the following reasons behind Palin's controversial gubernatorial departure:
- Alaska is boring
- wants to move to Canada, where people actually know what a "hockey mom" is
- needs more time to combat pro-choice, but only in cases involving middle to upper class white people
- Todd Palin is tired of being shown up by his librarian-hot wife
- the Washington Nationals are holding tryouts and she's been working on a knuckle ball
- wants to hunt down Katie Couric, shoot her and feed her to bears
- Lorne Michaels offered her a permanent role on SNL as the new reincarnation of Dana Carvey's Church Lady (Tina Fey's position as Palin will not change)
- experimenting with new medical procedure that will allow her to "grow a pair"
- embarrassed she misunderstood the TransCanada Pipeline project did not involve weed
- earmarked billions to provide maps to US Americans out there in our nation who don't have maps, which will eventually aid the education like such as South Africa and, uh, the Iraq everywhere like, such as so everyone can plainly see that the "bridge to nowhere" does go to a town with a population of 50 people, all of whom desperately need maps to find that $442 million bridge
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Happy 4th, my fellow US Americans!
Don't hate me 'cuz I'm right.


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If you've been following this week's series of "21st century" blog posts, you'd see it appears every segment of the genealogy world EXCEPT websites has done a whole lot better about citing sources - making it easier to evaluate the variety of information that is available in a document. (The only exception are those quick-click "genealogy buffs" who still have a long way to go.)
Although there may be some challenges of late about just which of the many citation examples to follow, 21st century genealogists GET IT. They know they have to leave that big audit trail, if for nothing more than to readily compare newly acquired information with what's already been concluded about an ancestor.
This past February, Mark Tucker of ThinkGenealogy.com wrote A Better Way to Cite Online Sources–Reprise where he referred to his April 2009 video [emphasis added] showing how citing online sources could be done. It would be a partnership between online record repositories and desktop genealogy software. He even went so far as to "create a prototype close enough to the real thing to prove that it could be done and to help others visualize how it would work."
Nope. In fact, FamilySearch, one of the largest genealogy sites has totally messed up citations. See GeneJ's posting Are FamilySearch "Historical Record Collection" sources really subject to open addition/edit? After reading GeneJ's comments, Ol' Myrt here must conclude that:
Apparently, FamilySearch trusts every Tom, Dick and Harry out there to be capable of composing reasonably accurate source citations. But if Tom, Dick and Harry don't work for FamilySearch, and didn't physically load the FamilySearch servers with scanned images to match the index, then how can end-users like GeneJ and Ol' Myrt here say for sure what the collection is about?
Also see GeneJ's subsequent blog post, A closer look at FamilySearch 'Historical Record Collection' source. where she writes "I don't know why someone chose to give the wiki a different name ("New Hampshire Statewide Deaths") than the database (New Hampshire Death Records, 1654-1947"). Personally, I found that a little confusing." Ol' Myrt here couldn't agree more. The title of an index to scanned images should appear precisely in the title of the scanned image collection, and a proper source citation should accompany both.
Aside from poor citation samples online, there is another problem.
Where websites fail is that in printing a typical scanned images from a website, we are left with nothing more than our operating system's default to print the URL across the bottom of the page. That doesn't bode well for researchers who look for complete citations. In a recent Second Life genealogy voice chat, several researchers shared how they get around the problem:
- If one is printing out a document from a website, put the paper back in the printer, and using a word processing program, insert a proper source citation to print along the margin of the document print-out.
- If keeping the scanned image in digital format, open it immediately in photo editing software to add a border across the bottom, and then insert several lines of text that comprise the citation.
It has been some 2 years since Mark Tucker's suggestion. WHERE are the citation innovators? Maybe it is time to switch working on "improved search engine capability" and deal with citations, eh?
Until genealogy websites step up to the plate making accurate source citations an integral part of our online and offline experience, genealogists will be forced to jump through hoops to figure out the true source of the information each image at those sites provide.
Happy family tree climbing!
Myrt :)
Your friend in genealogy.


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Last Sunday, camp HASC held it's 32st annual benefit concert, A Time For Music, at David Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center in New York City. Photos by Chaim Tuito • Photos
Tags: Hasc
Shmuli Karp (ben R' Zalman) – Crown Heights to Chanie Raskin – Melbourne, Australia
L'Chaim: Tuesday night at Lubavitch Yeshiva
Avi Berman – Stamford, CT to Miriam Kudan – Albany, NY
L'Chaim: Tonight, Monday, at 'The Shul' – 481 Albany Ave.
Mendel Gorman – Toronto, Canada to Chana Polter – Detroit, MI
L'Chaim: Tonight, Monday, at Bais Levi Yitzchak
Shmuel Sholom Lokshin – Crown Heights to Miriam Leah Lieblich (bas R' Shmuel) – Crown Heights
L'Chaim: Tonight, Monday, at the Jewish Children's Museum
Yehuda Leib Bondar – Melbourne, Australia to Ilana Rotblat – Melbourne, Australia
Mendy Brown – Los Angeles, CA to Goldy Pekkar – Florida
Baby boy to Zalman & Rochel (nee Posner) Chein – Binghamton, NY
Baby girl to Zecharia & Rivka (nee Sandberg) Phillips – Crown Heights
Let's start with who I am and why I started this project: Those who know me know that I have always been involved with Mivtza Mezuzah. When I was in Brunoy, I personally took down all the Mezuzos, had them checked and put them back up. I did the same in Montreal camp and Cincinnati Yeshiva • Full Article
Rabbi Zalman is a well-known and respected, beloved Rebbe and Mashpia for over 10 years. He has always put others first and works tirelessly to help and guide his students, both past and present. He has been battling a tough sickness, and for more than a year he has gone through many treatments. As his condition has worsened recently he has begun a promising new treatment that is costly and not covered by his insurance • Full Story
Wednesday night, at the central Yud-Yud Alef Shvat Farbrengen in 770, thousands of Bochurim, Anash and guests participated. At the end of the evening they heard from Rabbi Shmuly Avtzon, who has taken over his father, Rabbi Yonah Avtzon's role as director of Sichos in English • Watch
Thursday night, in honor of Yud Alef Shevat, world-renowned speaker Rabbi Reuven Wolf, founder of Maayon Yisroel, Los Angeles, came to Chicago to lead a Farbrengen which took place in the Tzemach Tzedek School • Photos


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Jimmy Hoffa Body Hunt Called Off, No Remains Found
The FBI says it has found no sign of the remains of former Teamsters union leader Jimmy Hoffa and is ending a dig in suburban Detroit.
The announcement was made Wednesday by Robert Foley, head of the FBI in Detroit, just a few hours after digging resumed. The dig began Monday.
Authorities have pursued multiple leads on Hoffa's whereabouts since his disappearance in 1975. He was last seen outside an Oakland County restaurant where he was to meet with a New Jersey Teamsters boss and a Detroit Mafia captain.
The latest tip about Hoffa's remains came from reputed Mafia captain Tony Zerilli, who, through his lawyer, said Hoffa was buried beneath a concrete slab in a barn in Oakland Township, north of Detroit.
The barn is gone, but FBI agents on Monday starting poring over the field where it used to stand.
On Tuesday, authorities used a backhoe to dig and move dirt around in the section of land. Authorities also called in forensic anthropologists from Michigan State University and cadaver dogs from the Michigan State Police.
Hoffa's rise in the Teamsters, his 1964 conviction for jury tampering and his presumed murder are Detroit's link to a time when organized crime, public corruption and mob hits held the nation's attention. Over the years, authorities have received various tips, leading the FBI to possible burial sites near and far.
In 2003, a backyard swimming pool was dug up 90 miles northwest of Detroit. Seven years ago, a tip from an ailing federal inmate led to a two-week search and excavation at a horse farm in the same region. Last year, soil samples were taken from under the concrete floor of a backyard shed north of the city. And detectives even pulled up floorboards at a Detroit house in 2004.
No evidence of Hoffa was found.
Other theories have suggested he was entombed in concrete at Giants Stadium in New Jersey, ground up and thrown in a Florida swamp or obliterated in a mob-owned fat-rendering plant.
Zerilli, now 85, was in prison for organized crime when Hoffa disappeared. But he told New York TV station WNBC in January that he was informed about Hoffa's whereabouts after his release. His attorney, David Chasnick, said Zerilli is "intimately involved" with people who know where the body is buried.
Details are in a manuscript Zerilli is selling online.
(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved)


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Posted on March 23, 2012
Adoption Searches Past and Present
When: Monday, March 26, 7:00 pm
Where: Arlington Heights Memorial Library, 500 N. Dunton Ave., Arlington Heights
Who: Matt Rutherford
More information & registration: Arlington Heights Memorial Library
You've just discovered that an ancestor was adopted. What do you do now? Researching adoption records is very challenging. Matt Rutherford, curator of genealogy and local history at the Newberry Library, will discuss the history of adoption records, policies and research in the United States.
Submitted by Douglas R Dexheimer on March 28, 2012 Permalink
Submitted by frereg on March 29, 2012 Permalink


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Clarkson men's hockey hosts Capital District foes in weekend series at Cheel
Coming off its best weekend in ECAC Hockey play this season, the Clarkson University Hockey team will look to continue its momentum when it hosts Capital District foes Union College and Rensselaer this weekend to close out a four-game home stand at Cheel Arena. Guided by second-year head coach Casey Jones and assistants Phil Roy '00 and Andy Jones, the Golden Knights face off against the defending conference champion Dutchmen on Friday and then battle the rival Engineers on Saturday. Both games are 7:00 p.m. starts.
After gaining three points in league play in Potsdam over the weekend, Clarkson finds itself challenging for a top-four spot in the ECAC Hockey standings with eight games remaining in the regular season. Led by junior captain Ben Sexton (Kanata, ONT) and senior defenseman Andrew Himelson (Monroe, NY), the Green and Gold own a 5-6-3 league mark and are in a five-way tie for sixth place. The Knights are just three points out of third, but also just three points in front of 11th-place Cornell. Clarkson, which has gone 2-1-2 since mid-January, owns a 6-13-7 overall record.The Knights, who have struggled to find the back of the net this season, are starting to discover their scoring touch with 19 goals during the past five games. Clarkson enjoyed its best offensive outing of the New Year over the weekend, recording 10 goals combined in the 4-4 tie against Colgate and the 6-3 win over Cornell.
Four different Knights scored goals in the draw against the Raiders. Sophomore defenseman James Howden (Edgeley, SASK) tied the game with 66 seconds left in regulation after Colgate had taken a 4-3 lead with two late, third-period goals.
Against the Big Red, freshman T.J. Moor (Lake St. Louis, MO) highlight the Green and Gold's productive offensive outing with two power-play goals and one assist. The Knights overcame a Cornell goal just 58 seconds in by scoring three times on a five-minute major penalty assessed to the Big Red. Howden tallied the eventual game-winning goal midway through the second period for his second goal of the weekend and fourth of the season. The six goals given up by the Big Red equaled the most goals allowed by a traditionally strong defensive Cornell team this season.
Junior Allan McPherson (Kinburn, ONT) leads Clarkson in points with 20, including a team-high 14 assists. He tallied a power-play goal in both games over the weekend. Sophomore Joe Zarbo (Grand Island, NY) scored his team-high 12th goal of the season on Friday against Colgate and picked up an assist on Saturday to extend his current point-streak to four games. He is one of three Knights with 16 points. Moor, who finished the weekend with four points and three goals was named ECAC Hockey Player of the Week.
Defending ECAC regular season and tournament champion, Union is riding a four-game unbeaten streak (3-0-1). Guided by second-year head coach Rick Bennett, the Dutchmen are ranked 18th in the USCHO.com poll with a 13-8-5 overall record, and are tied for third in the league standings at 6-4-4. In its lone action last week, Union tied Dartmouth 2-2 at Messa Rink in Schenectady on Friday. The Dutchmen, who are 6-5-3 in away games, are playing their first game on an opponent's home ice in nearly a month.
Rensselaer enters the North Country playing prehaps its best hockey of the season having gone 4-1 since mid-January, including a pair of shutouts this past weekend. The Engineers, guided by seventh-year head coach Seth Appert, play at St. Lawrence on Friday. RPI owns a 10-11-5 overall record. and is tied for 6th in the league at 5-6-3. RPI posted back-to-back 3-0 wins over Harvard and 16th-ranked Dartmouth at Houston Field House last weekend. The Engineers are 2-8-3 in away games.
The Series:
The Knights hold a significant advantage in their all-time series against Union, leading 27-19-5 in the rivalry, but recently the play as all belong to the Dutchmen. Union has won a series-record nine straight games, outscoring the Green and Gold 50-16 during that stretch, and is 16-13-3 against the Knights in games played during the 2000s.
Clarkson battled the Dutchmen tough in Potsdam last year, falling 3-1 on November 5, 2011. Union took down the Knights 5-2 at Achilles Rink in their last meeting on January 27, 2012.
The Knights' last win in the series was a 4-3 overtime victory in Potsdam on January 23, 2009. Clarkson is 14-6-1 all-time against Union at Cheel Arena.
Allan McPherson is the only current Knight with multiple points against the Dutchmen with two assists. Ben Sexton and Sam Labrecque are the only current Clarkson players to have scored a goal against the Dutchmen.
Cody Rosen has seen action in two games of the series, turning aside 20 of 24 Union shots through 35 minutes.
In a heated rivalry which dates back to the 1924-25 campaign, Clarkson leads the overall series against Rensselaer 84-46-8. The Knights have won seven of the last 10 regular-season meetings against RPI, including a 4-1 triumph in Potsdam on November 4 and a 3-2 victory in Troy on January 28 last season. The Engineers, however, took two of three games in an ECAC first-round playoff series at Cheel last March (5-1, 3-4 3ot, 4-1).
The Knights are 13-8-3 against Rensselaer at Cheel Arena, but the Engineers have won four of their last six games in Potsdam.
The Knights' last win against Rensselaer was a triple overtime thriller in Game 2 of last year's playoff series with the Green and Gold over taking the Engineers 4-3 after almost two hours of playing time in the longest Clarkson game ever played at 113:48.
Sam Labrecque has scored a team-high five points (2-3) through five games in the series. Alex Boak has also scored two goals against the Engineers. Adam Pawlick and Ben Sexton, with the triple OT winner last year, are the only other current Knights to have scored a goal against RPI.
Knight Notes:
As Clarkson hits the stretch run with eight games remaining in the regular season, the Knights' offense appears to be coming together. The Knights have scored three-or-more goals in four of the last five games and put up 10 on the scoreboard this past weekend … Clarkson has the second-ranked offense in ECAC Hockey, averaging 3.14 goals per game in conference play … Beginning with the third period of the 3-3 draw against St. Lawrence on January 19, when the Green and Gold rallied for the tie by scoring three unanswered goals over the final 12 minutes of regulation, Clarkson has combined for 19 goals in the past five games. The Knights had totaled only seven goals prior to that in a five-game losing skid … Clarkson is 2-1-2 since January 19 with the lone setback during that span, a 5-1 loss at nationally-ranked Dartmouth … Joe Zarbo has played a key role in the Knights' offensive resurgence. He has a current four-game, point- scoring streak with five goals and three assists during that span … Six different Knights scored goals over the weekend, led by T.J. Moor with three. The rookie right wing, who joined the team at the start of the New Year, tallied his first collegiate goal on Friday against Colgate and then struck for two power-play markers during a five-minute major in Saturday's win over Cornell. He also assisted on the game-winner. Moor was named ECAC Hockey Player of the Week … Defenseman James Howden, who only had a pair of goals coming into the weekend, came through with two big goals in the Knights' three-point weekend. He tallied with 66 seconds remaining in regulation of the 4-4 draw against Colgate. Howden followed with the eventual game-winning goal against Cornell, scoring Clarkson's fourth goal 72 seconds after the Big Red had made it a one-goal game at 3-2 … The Knights' leader on the stat sheet, Allan McPherson has a team-high 20 points and 14 assists. He scored a power-play goal in each game over the weekend … Juniors Jarrett Burton (Echo Bay, ONT) and Will Frederick (Allison Park, PA) broke out of lengthy goal-scoring slumps with third-period scores against Cornell. Burton tallied his eighth goal of the season and first since December 8 and Fredericks netted his sixth of the season and first since January 5 … Freshman Pat Megannety (Oakville, ONT) earned an assist in both games over the weekend. He is the Knights' leading rookie scorer with seven goals and nine assists. Megannety is tied with Joe Zarbo and Burton for second on Clarkson in scoring with 16 points … After posting two assists through the seasons' first 21 games, junior defenseman Alex Boak (Norwood, NY) has recorded one goal and four assists over the last five contests … Freshman Simon Bessette (St. Jean, QUE) tallied three assists on the weekend, including a career-high two helpers against Cornell … The Knights went an eight-game stretch without a power-play goal (0-of-26) from December 1 through January 12. Since then Clarkson has scored on the man-advantage at least once in four of the past five games (6-23, 26%), including a 3-for-7 effort in the win over Cornell. Overall, Clarkson is 17-105 (16%) on the power play, led by four goals from Joe Zarbo … Freshman Greg Lewis (Mars, PA) has made nine consecutive starts in the Clarkson crease and 24 appearances overall for the season. He posts a .903 save percentage and a 2.83 goals against average.


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Cyrille Regis – Footballer
Cyrille Regis, Is a famous black British footballer, he was one of the earliest black players in the modern leagues. The striker, whose trademark was scoring highly spectacular goals, began his playing career at West Brom with star players like Laurie Cunningham, Brendon Batson, Derek Statham, Len Cantello and Tony 'Bomber' Brown.
Regis broke into the first team at West Bromwhich Albion within a few months of signing for West Brom in May 1977 and remembers some of the racial abuse that he endured initially from some of the Hawthorns crowd;
"I think they were rebelling against me 'cause I'd taken a white guy's place in the team." (Quoted in Cashmore, 1981, p154).
However, the West Brom fans, impressed by his early scoring exploits were quick to warm to the former electrician who had joined Albion from non-league Hayes. Regis believed that it was this early recognition and acceptance of his talents by both the club and fans alike, which allowed his career at West Brom to develop.
Large black communities in nearby Handsworth also provided support for Regis and his colleagues at a time when black fans were reluctant to attend matches for fear of their own safety. Regis would later reach the pinnacle of his career in 1987, when he was a key figure in Coventry City's F.A. Cup winning triumph.
He stayed at Coventry City where another seven years winning the only major medal of his career. He then played two years for Aston Villa and ended his career at Wolverhampton Wanderers, Wycombe Wanderers and Chester


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This documentary is going viral so I thought I might as well get on the bandwagon and tell you, dear readers, about it.
It's no secret that The Economist has been ripping Berlusca a new one for a really long time.
So Bill Emmott, former editor of The Economist, teamed up with director Annalisa Piras to create this documentary, whose mission as stated (on their website) is:
to build awareness in Italy and around the world of the true nature and severity of the decline of this once-great western democracy, to warn other countries that a similar destiny could await them, and to serve as a call to action, at all levels of society.
The only way to see it as far as I know right now, if you're outside of Italy, is in a theatre screening, and the list of those screenings can be found here.
In Italy, for the next two weeks (up til March 13), you can purchase a download for 3,90 EUR in a special promotion by L'Espresso magazine.
The documentary includes interviews by many big names in Italian finance, politics, business, and culture. You can read an article by CNBC about the documentary here.
Here's a clip I found on YouTube of Emmott somehow cornering Berlusca. Watch in awe as Silvy generously offers to give his take on the situation. God bless the man!
If you watch the full documentary, let me know what you think in the comments.


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Summary of the April/May 2003 commissioning runs
You are here
01 July 2003
After a 3 months rework at HIA and at Gemini (December-February 2002), Altair was back on the sky for 2 successful commissioning runs in April and May. The integration with the telescope, TCS and sequexec is basically completed. The system is now robust and has a high level of automation. Altair now achieves 55 to 85 milliarcsec images for seeing below 0.9 arcsec.
The third and fourth Altair commissioning runs took place from April 15 to 22 and May 8 to 16. After three months of rework at HIA and Gemini, these runs has been very successful. One by one, the major functionalities of the system, including the interactions with the telescope control system and the data acquisition sequencer, were successfully debugged, tested and characterized. Altair is now able to: (i) Receive signals from the instrument OIWFS (On-Instrument WaveFront Sensor) and use them to compensate for slow drift of image centering and defocus due to flexures; (ii) Offload at a slow rate the quasi-static shape of the deformable mirror to the telescope primary mirror; (iii) Offload the centering tip/tilt and defocus errors to M2; and (iv) Optimize several of the system operating parameters in real time such as modal gains and WFS centroid gain.
Altair is well integrated both with the TCS (Telescope Control System) and the TCC (Telescope Control Console). The telescope operator may now start and stop adaptive optics corrections from its TCC control screens.
After dealing with system functionalities, the main thrust of the team's effort during the last run shifted toward performance evaluation and improvements. Things are taking shape on this front. Images of full width at half maximum were obtained from 59 to 85 milliarcseconds (mas) on the vast majority of objects observed. This is slightly short of the ultimate diffraction limit (42 mas in H and 57 mas in K), but the main culprits have been identified. We have specific plans for improving these areas to reach our diffraction limited goals.
The team was generally very pleased with the behavior of the system. The rework at HIA and Gemini in the three months preceding the March run- including the refitting of a new lenslet array, work on the NIRI OIWFS gimbal mechanisms and several software improvement and fixes - has brought considerable improvements in the stability and overall performance of Altair. Following these successes, we are more confident than ever that the Gemini facility AO system will be fully competitive with its most serious competitors (e.g. NAOS).
Investigation of how faint a guide star the system can use were done during the May run. We have been able to close the loop successfully on a M6 V=15.4 magnitude guide star at 100Hz. Of course, this is a very red star. For K0 stars, the limiting magnitude is expected to be around 14.5, obviously providing partial compensation only (see the pages on Altair performances for more details).
During the next commissioning run in July, we expect to concentrate on the remaining problems and gray areas, including:
- A relatively strong vibration induce image broadening of up to 40 mas per axis. We have been able to identify the NIRI cryo-coolers as the source of the vibration, shaking the Altair bench and mirror mounts. We also found that there is a small vibration of the tip-tilt mirror itself, probably due to the mirror being loose in its mount, but although we plan to fix the latter problem eventually, it does not amount for a significant part of the image broadening now. We have been routinely achieving 60-65 mas at H and K wavelengths.
- Some high spatial frequency static aberrations on the telescope secondary mirror are aliasing into the Altair WFS and reduce the performance of the system. This depends on the relative position of M2 with respect to Altair and are therefore difficult to calibrate. We are fully aware of the problem, and are making plans to address and fix it in the next 6 months. In the meantime, we are working on a patch implemented inside Altair that could reduce the amplitude of this effect.
- Regarding the isoplanatic angle, the offloading of the Altair DM static shape to M1 has done a lot to improve the performance off-axis. We are fully aware of the importance of this issue. To address this, we regularly observed stellar fields during the runs. The data are been analyzed and a database has been established which will help us characterize the anisoplanatism (see the pages on altair performance for more details).
Left: 22x22 arcsec K prime band image of V1318 Cygni (click to enlarge).
Last update March 3, 2003; Francois Rigaut.


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Last year, the British Islamist and all-round comedian Anjem Choudary ("Fox's Favorite Muslim Radical") popped up alongside three of four local Islamists in Walthamstow, East London to declare, before of a press audience pushing double figures, the instigation of Sharia law in the surrounding borough of Waltham Forest! This, to be sure, had as much meaning as would my declaring the legalization of methamphetamine in New York State, but a couple of tabloids duly trotted out the story all the same. Choudary laid it down in his usual disconcertingly suburban tones.
"This will mean this is an area where the Muslim community will not tolerate drugs, alcohol, pornography, gambling, usury, free mixing between the sexes – the fruits if you like of Western civilization. We want to run the area as a Sharia controlled zone and really to put the seeds down for an Islamic Emirate in the long term."
A year on, I can testify (as a relatively hard-livin' resident of Walthamstow) that the Islamic Emirate of Waltham Forest looks a fair old way off regardless of last year's stunt, while the local Islamist movement remains more depressing than intimidating.
Take my local Internet café (please!) which has the following admonition on the wall: "PLEASE NO MORE LOOKING AT TERRORIST AND PORNOGRAPHY SITES. POLICE WILL BE CALLED IMMEDIATELY." The impression is of a minority of "armchair Jihadists" –losers paying a pound an hour to haunt chat-rooms almost certainly observed by (and likely moderated and maintained by) Anglo-American intelligence agents.
Many–including many Islamists–consider Choudary himself to be an embarrassingly obvious British Intelligence Asset. You can see why. There's something distinctly phony about him, while his associated groups (such as the snappily titled Islam4UK) seem solely focused on generating supremely banal controversy rather than advancing any sort of Islamic agenda.
For example, Choudary first acquired widespread notoriety when he led a small group in heckling soldiers' coffins back from Iraq and Afghanistan. Unsurprisingly, this upset a lot of people, among them Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, aka "Tommy Robinson," a seething Islamophobe from Luton, who decided, along with some like-minded berks, to surf the wave of public outrage and announce the formation of the EDL, or English Defence League, the self-styled "street protest movement," predominantly consisting of angry rough white working class men–many of them former soccer hooligans–who up to very recently have regularly descended on various English towns by the coach-load to get pissed and chant about Mohammed being a pedophile (this is literally what they do).
Initially identifying "radical Islam" as the object of its drunken ire, the EDL has since expanded its scope to include Islam in general. (It's like I always say, if you're gonna pick a fight, pick one with a billion people.) Robinson–a surprisingly baby-faced monomaniac–explained the reason for this on Newsnight a couple of years back.
"I didn't know anything about the Koran when this first started. I didn't know wot left wing or right wing woz. I never even turned the computer on. I just knew things were seriously wrong."
It ain't every day someone admits founding a political movement in a state of total ignorance! Rest assured that Robinson's computer has since remained very much on, and his prejudice blossomed into the full-blown Islamophobic ideology recognizable the world over. As such, Robinson publicly eschews many of the traditional hatreds of the British far right–gays, Jews, women–so as to concentrate entirely on Muslims…
Hence the intermittent presence of right wing Californian rabbi Nachum Shifren–"the surfing rabbi"–at various EDL outings. That the fundamentalist Shifren (no less a comedian, in his own way, than Anjem Choudary) advocates the stoning of gay people arguably complicates the EDL's LGBT pretensions, but then the following extract from a Shifren EDL speech suggests there might be number of crossed wires here.
"I've a question for you today. Is there a man or a woman here–I want you to step forward if you are here–if there's anybody here that wants to forever forgo reading Locke, Chaucer, Dickens or Goethe, can we hear from them now, because that's what you're gonna get if the Islamists take over!?!"
Got quite a small cheer, that–the likelihood of any of Shifren's audience knuckling down to some Locke, Chaucer, Dickens or Goethe (or even knowing who they are) being pretty darn slim.
Tommy Robinson, of course, much better understands the EDL demographic, and began a recent speech with the following, more attuned opening gambit: "At half four this morning, I was in a strip club in Slovenia…" (banging on, you suspect, about Muslims, while a bored blonde wriggled her ass in his crotch). ""I was at my mate's stag weekend… I got a taxi from the airport." Got a big cheer, that, the stag weekend representing a kind of hoodlum Hajj, the central pilgrimage of an inverse Islam.
It can seem that there is something antithetical about Islamic and British culture (the EDL's version of it, anyway). Which is to say that the latter seems founded almost solely on what the former deems haram –"forbidden." First of all, you've got booze… haram. Then you've got the fried breakfast, with its fifty-seven different uses for pig flesh… haram. Random naked women (whether in a strip club or the pages of a tabloid newspaper)… haram. The bookies… haram. The gram of sniff… haram. Headbutting your mate in jest… haram. Even soccer (according to many Sharia scholars I came across)… haram.
Might it not be credible that, beneath all the cant about clashing civilizations, beneath even the tacit aversion to anyone that isn't bright pink, the EDL are motivated by a fear of having absolutely fuck all to do in the extremely unlikely eventuality of a Sharia UK? This, they must figure, is why Muslims pray five times a day. It kills time!
Anyway, obediently following Anjem Choudary's breadcrumb trail of provocation, September saw the EDL undertake a day trip to the aforementioned "Islamic Emirate of Waltham Forest"… where they were told, by a very wide cross section of locals, to fuck off. In fact so many people turned out to deliver this message, that the whole demo was disrupted, the speeches were cancelled, and the entire "street protest" approach was thrown into contention among the EDL rank-and-file.
Adding to the fall-out was a campaign from Nick Griffin–leader of the British National Party and the traditional big kahuna of the British far right–accusing the EDL of being some kind of dastardly Zionist ploy (the presence of "the surfing rabbi" presumably giving the game away there). Robinson took to YouTube to brandish an assortment of mortgage arrears and unpaid bills, apparently at breaking point. "If I've got all this rich Zionist funding," he shouted, "why's my phone been cut off for two bloody weeks?"
Shortly after, and with a view to regaining the whole race-hate initiative, Robinson led a bunch of EDL goons in an attempt to occupy a mosque. Fortunately, the cops got wind of it and nipped that scheme in the bud, arresting over fifty potential participants. All were bailed apart from Robinson, who was remanded on a charge for having accessed the US with a fake passport in order to attend an anti-Islam conference hosted by the lovely Pamela Geller. Locked up and facing extradition to the US, Robinson can do little to prevent what looks like the final disintegration of his movement. Ah well, Tommy, at least you were indirectly responsible for the immortal "Muslamic Ray Guns" (see below).
And what of that old fraud Anjem Choudary? He's got some pretty big fish to fry, let me tell you. Remember that young lady Malala Yousafzai, the fifteen-year-old shot by the Pakistani Taliban after she campaigned for education rights for girls? Well, never one to miss an opportunity to humiliate his supposed co-religionists, Choudary latest organization–Sharia4Pakistan–is reportedly holding a conference in Islamabad to call for her execution! Comedians, the lot of them…


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ALISO VIEJO – Soka University students showed off the results of their travels to South America last week.
The group traveled to Brazil to volunteer for Olhares Em Foco, a program under ChildFund Brazil, which teaches rural youth photography.
Professor Ian Read and 12 Soka students traveled 12 hours on rural roads to the town of Vale do Jeguitinhonha in southeastern Brazil to teach workshops.
Last week, they showed photography from their trip – capturing the bright turquoise facades, tanned faces of kids and cows roaming on property.
Similar to the award-winning documentary "Born into Brothels," a film that shows what happens when kids in Calcutta's red light district are given the gift of cameras, the nonprofit project aims to show the effects of social stratification through the eyes of the children.
The students are developing a photo book and documentary from the trip. The finished product will be available on the ChildFund Brazil website at childfundbrasil.org.br. Find information about Olhares Em Foco at http://olharesemfoco.wix.com/projecto#!__in-focus.


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Malaysia Airports Promotes '1Safety Culture' at KLIA
23 November 2009
Sepang, 23 November 2009 - Malaysia Airports today launched the '1KLIA 1Safety Culture', a joint safety campaign with the objective to promote awareness of
safe working area and further stimulate safety-conscious to all airside workers.
KLIA in collaboration with the agencies such as Department of Civil Aviation Malaysia (DCA), Malaysia Airlines System (MAS), KL Airport Services (KLAS), AirAsia, MASKargo, LSG Sky Chefs, Petronas, ExxonMobil, Shell, Sinar Jernih, Omniwise Sdn. Bhd., jointly organised this apron safety campaign to educate all the apron users on the importance of safety while carrying out their duties and responsibilities at the apron area.
This safety campaign is an annual programme for the ultra-modern airport since its opening in 1998. Among the activities during this month long campaign are Safety Talk by agencies, Safety Exhibitions, Safety Quiz, Airport Fire- Fighting course, Airside Safety Workshop and also Airside Vehicle Display.
During this campaign, the apron users are exposed on a proper handling and management of all the equipments used at the apron area so as to safeguard the safety of the aircraft, crew and other workers, hence minimizing the occurrences of accidents.
En. Daud Hosnan, General Manager, Operations of Malaysia Airports, who launched the campaign this morning said: "KLIA achievement is not only measured from the number of passengers, aircraft and cargo handled every year but safety aspect in the operations of the airports are also very important and must be in compliance to the regulatory-bodies such as International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and Airports Council International (ACI)."
He added, "The campaign is themed '1KLIA 1Safety Culture' as we would like to summon all agencies, especially those working at the apron area, to embrace one belief on the importance of working safely and keeping the workplace safe at all times. We would like to stress not only on physically safe-conscious way of doing work, but also to encourage staff to always think and put safety as top priority at all times, at work and even at home. This safety culture should be imbedded in our body and soul."
The ultra modern airport was one of the five international airports in Malaysia to receive the Safety Management System (SMS) certification from DCA recently. The certification acknowledges the airport's conformance to all safety requirements and achieving continuous improvement in safety performance. These include the essential features of safety such as policy, strategy and planning and implementation as well as promotion, records, staff training and competency.
En. Daud Hosnan said: "The SMS certification is a testimony of our commitment to ensure the highest level of safety at our airports and to fully comply with the ICAO Safety Management System. This certification further creates the need for us to keep the airport as a safe place to work and to maintain, sustain and further elevate the level of safety standards to the next level that we are committed to."
Although the campaign will only be a month long, Malaysia Airports hopes that the entire apron's workforce will continue to work safely, maintain a safe working environment and further reduce numbers of accidents at the apron.
The Occupational Safety & Health (OSHA) Act 1994 provides the legislative frame work to promote, stimulate and encourage high standards of safety and health at work. The long term goal of the act is to create a healthy and safe working culture among all the employees and employers and KLIA advocates this act strictly as a working culture. OSHA 94 is under Department of OSHA, Ministry of Human Resources Malaysia.


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Maverick Devine was recently named to the fall semester dean's list of the W. Fielding Ruble School of Business at Bellarmine University. He is a son of Rick and Connie Devine and a graduate of Spencer County High School.
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The city of Austin, Texas, last week broke ground on its new Central Library, establishing a major civic presence and community gathering space in the heart of the city's redeveloped Seaholm district. The library, which is scheduled for completion in 2016, is designed by the architectural joint venture of Lake|Flato and Shepley Bulfinch.
The building is defined by a light-filled, six-story atrium space wrapped by collections and event space. Distinctive elements include a series of reading porches that overlook Shoal Creek and Lady Bird Lake, a quiet reading room, café, and Recycled Reads bookstore. Special areas that support the city's emerging culture and arts scene include a 350-seat special events center.
The library is targeting a minimum of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver certification. Its sustainable strategies include a major photovoltaic panel array, which will generate electrical power for the building; a rainwater harvesting system that will provide water for landscape irrigation and restroom plumbing fixtures; and a landscaped roof.
The facility supports alternative transportation, with charging stations for electric cars; a 150-bike corral, and direct links to the multi-use paths that run along the water.
The 198,000 square foot facility will replace the city's 1979 Faulk Central Library.


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STARmeterSEE RANK
Up 7,453 this week
Ross Bagdasarian (1919–1972)
Soundtrack | Actor | Writer
Composer, prolific songwriter ("Come On-a My House", "Witch Doctor", "Chipmunk Song"), author, actor, producer, impressionist, educated at Coll. Writer, and has made many records. He joined ASCAP in 1951, and specialized in catchy, hummable melodies. Some of his other popular-song compositions include "Armen's Theme"; "Safari"; "Freddy, Freddy"; "... See full bio »
Born:in Fresno, California, USA
Died:(age 52) in Beverly Hills, California, USA


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The board and staff of the Housing Authority of Southeastern Utah and Grand County are hosting the training and invite Moab area employers to participate in the three-hour seminar called "Human Behavior 101: Dealing with Difficult People." The seminar was presented on the afternoon of Wednesday, July 17 and will again be offered Thursday, July 18 and Friday, July 19 at 8:30 a.m. at the Moab Valley Inn, 711 S. Main St., in Moab.
The cost for the seminar is $25 per non-county employee, and may be paid by cash or check at the door. Checks should be made payable to Claritypoint Coaching. As part of the training, Giles offers a free, confidential Personal Fear Assessment, available online at www.claritypointcoaching.com. To reserve a spot for the seminar call 435-259-1342 with name of organization and number of attendees by day.
The training is designed to provide individuals a better understanding of human behavior so as to eliminate office drama, lessen annoying behavior, manage difficult people, and gain clarity about the human race, according to the news release from Grand County.
Giles has appeared on local and national TV and radio programs, sharing her unique insights about life and relationships. The program brings together her most popular, and life-changing, lessons on life and people, according to the news release. Giles also writes a column for KSL.com and appears regularly on KSL-TV.
Giles is also donating a fourth seminar as a fundraiser for the Canyonlands Care Center. That seminar is open to the general public and 100 percent of the proceeds will benefit Canyonlands Care Center, Moab's only long-term care center, according to the news release.
The fundraiser will be held Friday, July 19, from 7 to 9 p.m. at Star Hall, 125 E. Center St., in Moab. Sponsors of the fundraiser include Grand County, Canyonlands Healthcare Special Service District, Friends of Moab Canyonlands Healthcare, Moab Regional Hospital, and Moab Free Health Clinic.
Fundraiser tickets are available for $20 in advance or $25 at the door. Checks should be made payable to Friends of Moab Canyonlands Healthcare, a non-profit organization.
Tickets are available at several locations in Moab including the Canyonlands Care Center, Moab Regional Hospital, Moab Free Health Clinic, Canyonlands Copy Center, Back of Beyond Books, and Moab BARKery. For more information, call 435-260-1504. .


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Chequers Menu
To Start
Soup of the day with crusty baguette £6.50
Smoked Salmon with Lemon and Capers, served with wholemeal bread £9.95
Prawn Cocktail with Marie Rose sauce and wholemeal bread £6.95
Whole Flat Mushroom grilled with Red Onion Relish and Goats Cheese £6.50 or as main with salad or vegetables and chips £12.50
*Daily special
Aged Rib Eye Steak with Vegetables, chips and Béarnaise sauce £17.50
Steak and Kidney Pudding served with Vegetables and Mashed potatoes £14.80
Rack of Lamb on a bed of Mediterranean Vegetables consisting of peppers, onions, garlic and courgettes cooked with olive oil and a hint of chilli served with Sauté Potatoes and Pepper Sauce on the side £17.50
Whole rack of BBQ Pork Ribs served with Chips and Coleslaw £12.65
Whole tail Scampi served with Chips and Peas £12.50
Beer Battered Littlehampton Cod or Haddock, Chips and Peas or Salad £12.35
Grilled Cod or Haddock Fillet served with fine beans, new potatoes and a Leek and White Wine Sauce £12.95
Tagliatelle Pasta with Large Prawns in a Garlic, Onion and Tomato Sauce £13.95
Chicken sweet chilli Stir fry with noodles £12.95
Brie Leek and Red Currant Tart served with Salad and Chips £13.50
Mediterranean vegetable tart with salad and chips £13.50
*Daily special
To finish
Homemade Apple Crumble with Cream or Custard £5.95
Hot Chocolate Fudge Cake £5.95
Vanilla ice cream on a meringue nest and warm mixed berries £5.50
Eton Mess £5.95
Selection of cheese and biscuits £9.00
*Daily special
Liqueur Coffee made with Fresh Cream, Espresso or just Plain Coffee with a Liqueur or Cognac can be enjoyed at your table or in the Sitting room.
*We have a specials menu which is updated daily. This consists of seasonal foods which, where possible are locally sourced (even from our own garden).
Sample Daily Specials Menu:
Friday 25th April
Mature Fillet Steak, Field Mushroom, Peas, Chips & Peppercorn Sauce £16.50
Chicken Cacciatore with Peas & Mashed Potatoes £9.50
Skrei Cod Poached in white wine and served on a bed of Mediterranean vegetables with Mashed Potatoes £10.95
Salmon fillet poached in white wine served with fine beans, broccoli and creamed potatoes £11.95
Crème Brulee with Fresh Strawberry pieces £5.00
Chequers is also available for private functions and meetings.
- Eight en-suite bedrooms plus one with private shower all with flat screen TV showing Freeview and Tea and Coffee making facilities.
- Free WiFi connection throughout the hotel.
- Meeting room for 16 delegates, 50inch Plasma TV with HDMI and PC connection for presentations and a flip chart.
- Bar area.
- Conservatory restaurant adjacent to the bar and meeting room.
- Meetings can be fully catered for at any time between 0800 and 2000.
Please call John Trembling 07772 453184 to discuss your requirements.


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Abbie Cornish & Jamie Chung 'Sucker Punch' Their Way to the 24 Hour Plays
Bryan Greenberg gets sandwiched in between his fiancee Jamie Chung and her pal Abbie Cornish while attending the 24 Hour Plays Los Angeles on Friday (June 20) at The Shore Hotel in Santa Monica, Calif.
The ladies gave us a little Sucker Punch reunion just days after Jamie spent some fun time with their other co-star Vanessa Hudgens!
Other celebs participating in the Montblanc presented charity event that benefits the Urban Arts Partnership included Gavin Rossdale, Kelly Osbourne, Ashley Madekwe, Michelle Trachtenberg, Wilmer Valderrama, Ramon Rodriguez, Jason Ritter, John Cho, Sasha Alexander (and husband Edoardo Ponti), and Alanis Morissette.
FYI: Michelle is wearing a Shop PrimaDonna necklace, Khirma Eliazov clutch, and 7 For All Mankind pants. Jamie is wearing Schutz heels.
25+ pictures inside of celebs at the 24 Hour Plays…


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Game 1
Stevens, 6
Farmingdale State, 4
Game 2
Farmingdale State, 10
Stevens, 0
Farmingdale, NY � The Farmingdale State baseball team (17-18, 10-6 Skyline) split a conference doubleheader against visiting Stevens Institute of Technology (28-9, 12-4 Skyline) on Saturday afternoon in Farmingdale, NY. Ducks' junior Eric McCormick (Edison, NJ/JP Stevens) pitched five innings for the 6-4 win in the first game, giving up two runs (one earned) on six hits. Sophomore Rob Savarese (Syosset, NY/Syosset) secured the complete game shutout for the Rams 10-0 victory in the second game. Savarese pitched seven innings allowing only two hits and striking out five.
In game one, Stevens scored two early runs in the first. Sophomore first baseman John Frustaci (Franklin Lakes, NJ/Paramus Catholic) hit a two-out double down the left field line. Frustaci would later score off a single through the left side by junior infielder Ryan Birkenstock (Smithville, NJ/Absegami). Stevens added one run in the third and fourth to make it a 4-0 lead. Farmingdale State got two back in the bottom of the fifth with an RBI-ground-out by freshman shortstop Joe Sorrentino (Shoreham, NY/Shoreman Wading River) and the help of an error to allow a second run to score later in the inning. The Ducks added two unearned runs in the eight giving them a 6-2 lead. The Rams fought back in the bottom of the inning, loading the bases with one out. Farmingdale was only able to get two runs as freshman Mike Labrozzi (Sag Harbor, NY/ Pierson), with bases loaded, lined into a double play to end the inning.
In game two, the Rams jumped out to a 6-0 lead after two innings and never looked back. Junior right fielder Nick Barone (North Babylon, NY/North Babylon) finished the game 3-for-4 with two doubles, two runs batted in, and two runs scored. Sophomore left fielder Rich Santoro (Massapequa, NY/Massapequa) and Labrozzi both added two hits each. Junior catcher Bryan Ciminelli (Wantagh, NY/Wantagh) and sophomore shortstop Luis Feliciano (Bronx, NY/Park West) both added doubles.
Farmingdale State will finish their season with a conference doubleheader aganist Mt. St. Mary on Sunday, April 30 at Noon in Newburgh, NY.


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Ed Harris, a lifeguard sergeant and union spokesperson, said December's vast tidal swings can make for potentially treacherous days along San Diego's beaches in the winter.
"In November and December we get large tidal flows," said Harris. "There are several days with a six-foot change in the tide. [This] Dec. 13, we have a high tide of 7.7 feet at 7:31 a.m. that drops down 9.6 feet to a -1.9 at 3:25 in the afternoon. Tides are complicated. Generally, we have two high tides and two low tides per day, but not always."
These rapidly fluctuating tidal changes can lead to especially strong undertows at the confluence of the San Diego River and Dog Beach in Ocean Beach, he said.
"The San Diego River backs up with those tides and you get an enormous amount of water backing up," he said. "The river is raised all the way back when the tide turns and starts flowing out, so it creates strong, strong currents along the jetty there at Dog Beach."
Harris said the case of the Eureka family trying to save its dog from the ocean's unforgiving currents is also not an uncommon sight at local beaches.
"We routinely rescue dogs and their owners at Dog Beach during these tides," he said. "When the tide turns, the current is extremely strong. People unknowingly throw balls out and watch their dogs get swept out."
Typically, when dog owners enter the same dangerous waters as their beloved pets, they, too, find themselves in danger, fighting for their own lives amid harsh currents that push and pull them as if they were ragdolls. Although it may be heartwrenching to watch a furry family member struggling against the current, Harris said dogs are more likely to return safely ashore than are humans.
"Dogs go at one pace and they don't panic. That's what kills most people in the water is panic. They're also more resilient to the cold and have natural instincts that guide them," Harris said, likening a dog's instincts in ocean currents to deer crossing rivers at a 45-degree ferry angle.
Some beaches, like Sunset Cliffs, are neither under constant surveillance nor easily accessible by San Diego lifeguards. Harris urges caution to those who frequent San Diego's beaches in the wintertime, since lifeguards may not be able to see them in the water.
"It's very difficult for a lifeguard on duty who is watching all of Ocean Beach to pick out a head, which is all they can see," said Harris. "From the tower in Ocean Beach, you can't see most of the riverbank, so if a dog or a human is in the river and getting pulled out by the current, because of the bank and the slope of the beach in the distance, we can't see them until they get into the ocean, and with the backdrop of the dark jetty, it is difficult to spot a lone head of a person or a dog."
Harris urges beachgoers to be aware of their surroundings, remain vigilant and call officials quickly if it appears that someone has been swept out by the tide.
"If you see something at Dog Beach or Sunset Cliffs, call 911 quickly," he said. "Don't assume that we're seeing it because it's difficult for us."


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Bert Harkness
See No Evil Season 3Eps8
IMDb: 8.4
45 min
Every second of every day, millions of Americans are caught on CCTV. Most of them are honest citizens going about their everyday lives. But a ...
Country: Canada
Genre: Drama
Actor: Ross Huguet, Craig Cyr, Lora Burke, Bryan Edwards, James J. Wilson, Shaeane Jimenez, David Parisian, Drew Riedstra, Tracy Rowland, Alex MacPherson, Bert Harkness


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Saliva does not seem to stop once you pop this candy inside. It is a good exercise to facial muscles. If you don't know how to wink, this candy will teach you with ease!
Do not go by its looks, I know the picture is not so good, but the candy itself is slurrp!!!!!!!!
You need :
Cleaned and deseeded tamarind : 1 fistfull (break it down into smaller pieces for blending
Roasted Cumin Powder : 1tsp
Jaggery : as need***
Red Chilli powder: 1tsp
Salt: as needed
*** - Jaggery is to balance sour levels. You can add little more after you have balanced just to make it nice!
Method: 1
1.Take all the ingredients in a blender. Blender Jar- 'used to grind dry ingredients' so, choose the right jar from your collection.
2.Blend them together. Resulting product is a sticky mass. Scoop our and mix well. Let it rest for 4-5 hrs for the flavors to blend well. Knead this mixture again with oiled hands and cut it down into smaller pieces and wrap in a candy wraper. Store in refrigerator.
Method 2 : Take all the ingredients in a pessel and mortar. Pound them to mix the ingredients well. Rest of the process is same as above.
Enjoy this candy!!! Till the next post, take care and have a happy weekend :)


text: Interspecies family alert! Abandoned by her mother, Pippin the fawn was lucky enough to encounter Kate the Great Dane. Kate took an instant shine to the little deer and the two have been looking out for each other ever since. They even play and cuddle! Now, what's a girl got to do to get in on that friendship?


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Harold M. Messmer, Jr. holds an AB from Loyola University Chicago and is currently the chief executive officer of Robert Half International, the Menlo Park, California-based professional staffing and consulting firm that operates over 400 locations worldwide. Messmer was featured in a 2002 BusinessWeek cover story "The Good CEO" that highlighted ethical CEOs who ran strong companies without bending the rules. The article noted Messmer's insistence on building up the company from within and resisting the pressure from Wall Street to buy up other firms through risky mergers and acquisitions. In addition to Robert Half, Messmer has been a partner at the law firm of OMelveny & Myers, and is affiliated with the boards of First Interstate Bancorp, Spieker Properties, Inc., Airborne, Inc., and Accountemps Inc., a branch of Robert Half.
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Babies still put at risk of sudden death, study finds
Parents in the United States changed how they put their infants to sleep after a campaign to prevent sudden infant death, but the decrease in babies dying has stabilized in recent years and some deaths remain preventable, according to a study.
Sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS, kills about 2,500 babies each year in the United States, most often those who are between two- and four-months-old.
Babies put to bed on their stomach and side, especially with blankets and pillows, or those who share a bed with their parents, are known to be at extra risk of SIDS, also known as "crib death."
So doctors and public health officials tried to get the message to parents that infants should be put to sleep on their back on a firm surface, starting in 1994 with the "Back-to-Sleep" campaign. Parts of the message, however, still haven't gotten through, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine found.
"Far and away, the safest sleep environment for a baby is to be placed in a crib with a well-fitting mattress, the mattress is firm, there are no soft objects in the bed - no bumper pads, no blankets, no overstuffed toys - and the baby in the crib is sleeping alone," said Henry Krous, who worked on the study.
"When caretakers put an infant down to sleep, they shouldn't just think about putting a baby on its back, they should think about these other risk factors."
Krous and his colleagues compared the cases of all babies who came through the San Diego medical examiner's office with SIDS as the cause of death between 1991 and 2008, a total of 568 infants.
They found that fewer babies died suddenly after the word got out about dangerous sleeping positions. About one in 750 babies were killed by SIDS in 1991, compared to one in 1,600 in 2008. Most of that drop came in the decade after the campaign began, and the number dying has stabilized in recent years.
The study team also noticed there were still preventable risks involved in most recent SIDS cases.
The number of infants who'd been put to sleep on their stomach, for example, fell from 85 percent before the campaign to 30 percent afterwards, but the number found deceased in an adult bed increased from 23 percent to 45 percent.
"People are getting part of the message, but not all of it," said Debra Weese-Mayer, a pediatrician at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, who wasn't involved in the study.
Most of the babies who died since 1991 had at least one innate risk for SIDS, such as being a boy or African American or being born prematurely. Infants were also more at risk if their mothers smoked or drank alcohol.
Krous told Reuters Health that "the best of both worlds" is to let the baby sleep on a separate surface immediately next to the parents' bed. Keeping the mother and baby close promotes breastfeeding, but avoiding bed-sharing cuts the SIDS risk.
Weese-Mayer said she thinks preventable risks haven't been eliminated for multiple reasons: because some parents never learn about the dangers of stomach sleeping or sharing beds and because others know the risks but choose alternative sleeping positions anyway.
"What's sad is, because the (decreased number of deaths) has suggested to people that SIDS is going away, it decreases the public visibility of SIDS, and there couldn't be anything farther from the truth - it's not going away," she said.


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Thankyou to everyone that has followed the blog, supported our efforts and been with us every pedal of the way. You still have time to sponsor us by following the information below.
Remember you can sponsor us with My charity being The Erskine charity - go here to sponsor http://www.justgiving.com/Gregor-Miller0 or text LLCI81 £5 (or whatever amount) to 70070
and Ewans charity is Alzheimer Scotland - you can go here to sponsor:
http://www.justgiving.com/ewan-jamieson0 or text JGGO80 £5 (or whatever amount) to 70070
Any sponsorship will be greatly appreciated.


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Anti-Piracy Company Seeks Patent On Automated Copyright Trolling
from the copyrights-and-patents-together dept
A system for resolving an act of copyright infringement, comprising: an infringement module configured to identify an infringing computer, wherein the infringing computer includes a computer associated with an infringement event; an identification module configured to identify an ISP associated with the infringing computer; a notification module configured to notify the ISP that the infringing computer is associated with the infringement event; a receiving module configured to receive a redirected request for access to Internet content, wherein the request for Internet content has been redirected by the ISP; and a generation module configured to generate a redirect webpage, wherein the redirect webpage includes a link associated with a settlement webpage that includes a settlement offer to resolve the infringement event.This seems ridiculously broad, as do so many software-focused patents these days. Of course, if the patent did get awarded, it would be interesting to see what happened next. Would copyright maximalist copyright trolls start complaining about too much enforcement on the patent side?


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Innovation is in our DNA. That's why we combined our radical Graphics Core Next architecture, designed with compute workloads in mind, with ample memory and multidisplay technology to create one of the most powerful workstation graphics cards available.
Compute Performance
Display Outputs
API/Features/OS Support
Cooling/Power/Form Factor
System Requirements
OpenCL and the OpenCL logo are trademarks of Apple Inc. used by permission by Khronos.


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When Pranking Goes Too Far: Actor Almost Died! (Latina Woman Gets Scare Of Her Life) (Old Vid)
"Latina woman is finished working. When she is done with grabbing her car keys, she is going to the garage. The minute she steps in the car.... Grudge is facing her in the mirror. then she is going to get insane!! she is scared, screaming her friend want to seem to help her but he is helping her to get it worser and scarier then ever! Will she survive" - blackhod_man
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Insight: GM's Volt - The ugly math of low sales, high costs
(Reuters) - General Motors Co sold a record number of Chevrolet Volt sedans in August but that probably isn't a good thing for the automaker's bottom line.
Nearly two years after the introduction of the path-breaking plug-in hybrid, GM is still losing as much as $49,000 on each Volt it builds, according to estimates provided to Reuters by industry analysts and manufacturing experts.
Cheap Volt lease offers meant to drive more customers to Chevy showrooms this summer may have pushed that loss even higher. There are some Americans paying just $5,050 to drive around for two years in a vehicle that cost as much as $89,000 to produce.
And while the loss per vehicle will shrink as more are built and sold, GM is still years away from making money on the Volt, which will soon face new competitors from Ford, Honda and others.
GM's basic problem is that "the Volt is over-engineered and over-priced," said Dennis Virag, president of the Michigan-based Automotive Consulting Group.
And in a sign that there may be a wider market problem, Nissan, Honda and Mitsubishi have been struggling to sell their electric and hybrid vehicles, though Toyota's Prius range has been in increasing demand.
GM's quandary is how to increase sales volume so that it can spread its estimated $1.2-billion investment in the Volt over more vehicles while reducing manufacturing and component costs - which will be difficult to bring down until sales increase.
But the Volt's steep $39,995 base price and its complex technology the car uses expensive lithium-polymer batteries, sophisticated electronics and an electric motor combined with a gasoline engine have kept many prospective buyers away from Chevy showrooms.
Some are put off by the technical challenges of ownership, mainly related to charging the battery. Plug-in hybrids such as the Volt still take hours to fully charge the batteries - a process that can been speeded up a bit with the installation of a $2,000 commercial-grade charger in the garage.
The lack of interest in the car has prevented GM from coming close to its early, optimistic sales projections. Discounted leases as low as $199 a month helped propel Volt sales in August to 2,831, pushing year-to-date sales to 13,500, well below the 40,000 cars that GM originally had hoped to sell in 2012.
Out in the trenches, even the cheap leases haven't always been effective.
A Chevrolet dealership that is part of an auto dealer group in Toms River, New Jersey, has sold only one Volt in the last year, said its president Adam Kraushaar. The dealership sells 90 to 100 Chevrolets a month.
The weak sales are forcing GM to idle the Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant that makes the Chevrolet Volt for four weeks from September 17, according to plant suppliers and union sources. It is the second time GM has had to call a Volt production halt this year.
GM acknowledges the Volt continues to lose money, and suggests it might not reach break even until the next-generation model is launched in about three years.
"It's true, we're not making money yet" on the Volt, said Doug Parks, GM's vice president of global product programs and the former Volt development chief, in an interview. The car "eventually will make money. As the volume comes up and we get into the Gen 2 car, we're going to turn (the losses) around," Parks said.
"I don't see how General Motors will ever get its money back on that vehicle," countered Sandy Munro, president of Michigan-based Munro & Associates, which performs detailed tear-down analyses of vehicles and components for global manufacturers and the U.S. government.
It currently costs GM "at least" $75,000 to build the Volt, including development costs, Munro said. That's nearly twice the base price of the Volt before a $7,500 federal tax credit provided as part of President Barack Obama's green energy policy.
Other estimates range from $76,000 to $88,000, according to four industry consultants contacted by Reuters. The consultants' companies all have performed work for GM and are familiar with the Volt's development and production. They requested anonymity because of the sensitive nature of their auto industry ties.
Parks declined to comment on specific costs related to the Volt.
The independent cost estimates obtained by Reuters factor in GM's initial investment in development of the Volt and its key components, as well as new tooling for battery, stamping, assembly and supplier plants a price tag that totals "a little over" $1 billion, Parks said. Independent estimates put it at $1.2 billion, a figure that does not include sales, marketing and related corporate costs.
Spread out over the 21,500 Volts that GM has sold since the car's introduction in December 2010, the development and tooling costs average just under $56,000 per car. That figure will, of course, come down as more Volts are sold.
The actual cost to build the Volt is estimated to be an additional $20,000 to $32,000 per vehicle, according to Munro and the other industry consultants.
The production cost estimates are considerably higher than those for the Chevrolet Cruze, the Volt's conventional gasoline-engine sister car, which Munro estimates at $12,000 to $15,000 per vehicle.
Production costs typically include such items as parts, material, labor and the cost to run the factory, according to manufacturing expert Ron Harbour, who heads the North American Automotive Practice at Michigan-based consultant Oliver Wyman.
The Volt costs more to build for several reasons, mostly related to the car's richer content, complex technology and still-low sales and production volumes.
The basic model has a higher level of equipment and features than the Cruze, which is assembled in Lordstown, Ohio, and has a starting sales price of $17,925. The Volt also has a number of unique parts, including the battery pack, the electric motor and the power electronics.
Some of GM's suppliers also impose cost penalties on the automaker because the Volt's production volume remains well below projections.
Still, as the company wrestles with how to drive down costs and increase showroom traffic, Parks said the Volt is an important car for GM in other respects.
"It wasn't conceived as a way to make tons of money," he said. "It was a big dip in the technology pool for GM. We've learned a boatload of stuff that we're deploying on other models," Parks said. Those include the Cruze and such future cars as the 2014 Cadillac ELR hybrid.
The same risky strategy gambling on relatively untested technology drove massive investments by Toyota Motor Corp in the Prius hybrid and Nissan Motor Co in the Leaf electric car.
Toyota said it now makes a profit on the Prius, which was introduced in the United States in 2000 and is now in its third generation. Sales of the Prius hybrid, which comes in four different versions priced as low as $19,745, have almost doubled so far this year to 164,408.
Other such vehicles haven't done nearly as well. Nissan's pure-electric Leaf, which debuted at the same time as the Volt and retails for $36,050, has sold just 4,228 this year, while the Honda Insight, which has the lowest starting price of any hybrid in the U.S. at $19,290, has sales this year of only 4,801. The Mitsubishi i, an even smaller electric car priced from $29,975, is in even worse shape, with only 403 sales.
Toyota's unveiling of the original Prius caught U.S. automakers off guard. GM, then under the leadership of Rick Wagoner and Bob Lutz, decided it needed a "leapfrog" product to tackle Toyota and unveiled the Volt concept to considerable fanfare at the 2007 Detroit auto show.
The car entered production in the fall of 2010 as the first U.S. gasoline-electric hybrid that could be recharged by plugging the car into any electrical outlet. The Obama administration, which engineered a $50-billion taxpayer rescue of GM from bankruptcy in 2009 and has provided more than $5 billion in subsidies for green-car development, praised the Volt as an example of the country's commitment to building more fuel-efficient cars.
GM's investment in the Volt has so far been a fraction of the $5 billion that Nissan said it is spending to develop and tool global production of the Leaf and its associated technologies and the reported $10 billion or more that Toyota has plowed into the Prius and various derivatives over the past decade.
But there will inevitably be more development costs for future generations of GM plug-ins and it could still could be years before GM sells enough Volts to bring the cost down to break even.
The average per-car costs for development and tooling will drop as sales volume rises. But GM will need to sell 120,000 Volts before the per-vehicle cost reaches $10,000 and that may not occur during the projected five-year life cycle of the first-generation Volt.
Parks said the company also is continuously reducing production costs on the current Volt and its successor. "There is a strong push on the cost of the Gen 2 to get the car to make money and to be more affordable . . . Virtually every component in the next-gen car is going to be cheaper," he said.
One obvious way to pull down costs is to push up volume but GM is paying a hefty price to do so.
The automaker just ended a special Volt lease program that offered customers a low monthly payment of $279 a month for two years, with some high-volume dealers dropping the payment to $199 a month after receiving incentive money from GM, with down payments as low as $250. The company said about two-thirds of Volt customers in July and August leased their vehicles, compared with about 40 percent earlier this year.
Before GM resorted to discounting Volt leases, sales were averaging just over 1,500 cars a month. A huge part of that reason was consumer push back over the price, according to Virag of Automotive Consulting.
Volt's nearest competitor, the Prius, is priced at $24,795, with a newer version, the Prius Plug-In, starting at $32,795.
Parks said the sales pitch for the Volt was "difficult" because of the sticker price and the car's technical complexity. But the discounted leases have helped lure more non-GM buyers into Chevy showrooms. Their number-one trade-in: Toyota Prius.
Raymond Chevrolet, in suburban Chicago, sells an average 1,000 Chevys a month, including three to seven Volts. Dealership president Mark Scarpelli said that "some people who like the concept of an electric vehicle find it cost-prohibitive."
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Chevy Volt sales triple in 2012.
Chevy Volt sales are cranking up. General Motors sold three times as many Chevrolet Volts in 2012 as it did in 2011, which was the car's first full year on the market.
Winter is coming.
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"Osama Bin Laden is dead, and General Motors is alive!" - Vice Fool, dozens of times, DNC convention speech 2012
"Ambassador Stevens is dead, and the Chevy Volt is alive!" - The reality
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The Fisker Karma is more up my alley (can't afford one and they still like to commit suicide through self immolation). I like the direction auto makers are headed for the most part.
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So I did finally get one. It is awesome. I expected to love not buying gas, didn't expect to love driving it. It handles very well. Really didn't expect it to rock in snow. I used the gas tank to road trip to KC and then Texas. Left KC the morning the snow hit just before Christmas. Cars and trucks of all types were sliding and stuck on ward parkway and johnson drive by Pembroke Hill and the Carriage Club. Huge backup, people pushing cars to the side to wait for tow help. Only 2 trucks with 4wd and my volt drove up it with no problem. There was a subaru with shitty tires that should have gotten through too, but everyone on the hill was impressed.
My only issue is with the back seats. They are buckets too which is strange, but I'm getting used to it. I averaged 40mpg, while in 70mph states, and 35mpg in Texas with 75 and 80mph. Plus at home, I never use gas at all, charge at night for about 30 cents to go 40 miles. I get to drive in the carpool lane too. Overall, very happy with it, and the aggressive lease rates aren't offered in CA since they are so popular here. I still leased since it is new tech, but I could see buying the next round. I am expectinh more options for buyers by the time my lease is up.
My boss has the new Tesla sedan, and it is beautiful. Too pricey at 60k, but looks great for a CEO.
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*If you are reading the post above in the Lounge, it is not intended to be political bullshit.
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Even a superstitious man has certain inalienable rights. He has a right to harbor and indulge his imbecilities as long as he pleases. . . He has a right to argue for them as eloquently as he can, in season and out of season. He has a right to teach them to his children. But certainly he has no right to be protected against the free criticism of those who do not hold them. He has no right to demand that they be treated as sacred. He has no right to preach them without challenge." -H.L. Mencken
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And what is the temperature forecast for kickoff in Denver Saturday?
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December 13, 2006
by Canadian Architect
Ryerson University President Sheldon Levy announced the selection of the Master Planning Team that will lead the development of Ryerson's Master Plan, a blueprint to revitalize the campus and act as a catalyst for change and renewal in the unique downtown Toronto community surrounding the University.
Following a rigourous search process, Ryerson has selected a team of four acclaimed Canadian firms, distinguished by their visionary leadership and reputation for excellence in architecture, urban planning, urban and landscape design, and economic analysis.
The four firms are: Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects (lead proponent) and Daoust Lestage Inc. (urban and landscape design), in association with Greenberg Consultants Inc. (urban planning) and IBI Group (economic analysis).
The Master Planning Core Team consists of five principals from the firms: Bruce Kuwabara and Marianne McKenna (KPMB Architects); Renee Daoust (Daoust Lestage Inc.); Ken Greenberg (Greenberg Consultants Inc.); and Randy Grimes (IBI Group).
"This Master Planning team is absolutely outstanding. They understand that Ryerson University has grown and changed dramatically, and that the Master Plan must support Ryerson's goals of improving quality and the student experience, providing more student study space, expanding graduate studies and research, and building pride within our community and our neighbourhood," said Levy.
"The team also shares our vision of a revitalized campus that recognizes no boundary in the traditional sense between the University and its downtown neighbourhood," added Levy. "The Master Plan is an opportunity to renew not only the University campus — including the creation of handsome public spaces where people can gather — but also the unique downtown community surrounding it."
Toronto Mayor David Miller said: "Building a great city requires bold thinking and decisive action. I applaud President Sheldon Levy for his vision, the Board of Governors and everyone involved in this Master Planning process. This transformation will change the way Ryerson connects to the downtown and the way Torontonians connect to the University. The City of Toronto will work with Ryerson and we celebrate this exciting initiative."
"Ryerson is a very contemporary, dynamic institution that is totally integrated with the city itself," said Bruce Kuwabara (Principal, KPMB Architects) on behalf of the Master Planning Team. "What Ryerson is embarking on is a transformation of its campus that is really about city-building far beyond the property it owns, to leverage the public benefit, the public value of Ryerson as a great university."
The Master Plan, called "RU The Future: Ryerson's Master Plan," will be developed over the next 18 months and implemented over the next 15 to 20 years.
For further information, please visit http://www.ryerson.ca/about/masterplan/


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Maccabi Hockey Tryouts Attracts Talented Players
Goal tending should be a strength for Canada at the 2013 Maccabiah Games.
When 22 Canadian skaters take to the ice in Metulla next summer to compete in the Maccabiah Games, they'll be wearing official Team Canada sweaters –"the same uniforms worn by Canadian teams at the Olympic Games and World Championships. Hockey Canada has given Maccabi Canada the green light to use the jerseys, along with other hockey apparel", said Alex Voihanski, manager of Maccabi's Team Canada. "It's a testament to the stature possessed by the Maccabiah Games and signals to players that the event is held in high esteem", he said.
Judging from the quality of the competition at tryouts last week, Team Canada should have plenty of good players to justify using Team Canada uniforms.
About 50 skaters took part in scrimmages at the Pavilion sports complex north of Toronto. Among them were professionals or NHL draftees; NCAA Division I and III players, plus junior and major junior players. They auditioned in front of a battery of Maccabi coaches, headed by former NHL bench boss Mike Keenan. "The coaching staff, which includes OHL coaches Greg Gilbert (Saginaw) and Mike Polino (Peterborough), was suitably impressed", said Voihanski.
There's an embarrassment of riches in the Jewish community when it comes to high-end hockey talent, he said. In addition to the players vying for a spot on the "open" team, another 90 or so tried out for the under-19 squad. Mario Cicchillo, head coach of the Toronto Junior Canadiens and coach of the under-19 team, said "a lot of AAA to A calibre players were on hand". Two weeks before, at tryouts in Montreal, 27 kids showed up; 11 skaters and three goalies made the cut to the second round of tryouts. "Quite a few could play on the Junior Canadiens. I think we've got a pretty good crop here in Toronto," said Cicchillo, who served as head coach of Team Ontario at the World Under 17 Hockey Challenge in 2009.
Junior hockey will be making its debut at the Maccabiah Games in 2013, though the "open" version has already been a medal sport at the Games. In 1997 Canada won a gold medal in the sport. The Canadian team was loaded with quality players, led by AHL skater Harold Hersh, the brother team of Mikhail and David Nemirovsky (David played for a time with Florida Panthers before ending his career in the KHL), ex-NHLer Brian Wilks and bolstered by youngsters (and future NHL draftees) Michael Henrich and Cory Pecker. As in 1997, the United States is expected to provide Canada with the stiffest competition. Israel and France round out the competition.
Judging from the quality of players at the tryout, the Canadians should be good starting from the goal out. Among a talented group of netminders, Daniel Altshuller possesses the most impressive hockey resume. Altshuller plays for the Oshawa Generals of the OHL and is rated by NHL Central Scouting 12th among North American goalies heading into the 2012 entry draft. Playing for the Nepean Raiders in the tier two Central Canadian Hockey League in 2011, he was selected to the OHL-dominated Team Ontario and backstopped the squad to a gold medal in the World Under-17 Tournament. Later, he was Canada's number one goalie at the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Under-18 Tournament, where he won another gold medal and was named player of the game in the final game.
Others vying for goal tending duties include Cody Rosen, a New York Islanders draft pick who plays for Clarkson University in the NCAA, and Kevin Kliman, who played for Brown University. Two other prospects who could not attend the camp include Mark Segal, a goalie with Vancouver Giants of the Western Hockey League from 2009 to 2011, and Josh Tordjman, who played two games for the Phoenix Coyotes during a four-year AHL career. He now backstops EC Red Bull Salzburg in the Austrian Hockey League.
Up front, brothers Michael and Adam Henrich stood out at the tryouts with their size, skating and skill. Michael was a first-round pick, 13th overall, by the Edmonton Oilers in 1998 – the highest ever for any Jewish player – while Adam was selected 60th overall by Tampa Bay in 2002. They play in the Italian pro league and two years ago were on the same team and led the Asiago Lions to a championship. Zach Hyman, drafted by the Florida Panthers in the fifth round in 2010, played for the University of Michigan this past season. Zach Sternberg, a defenceman with Lake Superior State of the NCAA stood, out as did Andrew Calof, a centre for Princeton University. "Dylan Smoskowitz, who played the last two years with the Barrie Colts and Benjamin Rubin, who played for Patrick Roy's Quebec Remparts in 2006-07 and in France this past season, were also impressive", Voihanski said. "Rubin had an excellent camp," he said. "Playing in Europe has done wonders for him… He has NHL-calibre skating."
"A number of players who were unable to attend the tryouts are still in the running for the final roster", Voihanski said. Among there are Winnipegger Jacob Micflikier, who plays for the AHL Hershey Bears; Vancouver native Trevor Smith, second leading scorer on the Calder Cup champion Norfolk Admirals; Barrie Colt Daniel Erlich, and Ethan Werek, a 2009 second-round pick of the New York Rangers who played last season with the Portland Pirates of the AHL Voihanski said he plans to reach out to Calgary Flame Mike Cammalleri, but believes injury concerns and prohibitive insurance costs make the participation of NHL players unlikely. Still, no one has yet turned down his offer to participate in the tournament. "We've gotten very enthusiastic responses from the players. A lot of guys were into the fact it's a real Maccabiah tournament where you walk into a stadium in front of thousands or people," he said.
Players are also impressed with the quality of coaching. "They'll be playing for a staff they've never played for thewir entire lives. Between the coaching staff, the opportunity to represent Canada and [the fact] it's the Maccabiah Games, the response was tremendous," he said. At the rink, the enthusiasm was apparent. Matt Silcoff, 19, took part in the World Cup of Jewish Hockey in Metulla three years ago. A left winger who'll attend Middlebury Collegiate, a Division III school in Vermont next fall, he said that "it's a good level of hockey. There are a lot of good players here fighting for a few spots."
Adam Henrich said he was excited to hear hockey was returning to the Maccabiah Games. "It's a pretty big tournament, and it's an honour to play for your country, your religion," he said. Henrich spent 10 days in Israel on a personal trip two years ago and hopes to return on the same team with his brother. "Ideally, that's what we're here for," he said. Dustin Laren, 22, played for Canada at the World Cup of Jewish Hockey. "It was one of the most fun trips of my entire life. Everyone's so close, you're in Israel and you have the chance to represent Canada as a hockey player. It's unbelievable," he said. Unfortunately, not all the prospects will make the final 22-man roster or five-man reserve unit. Fourteen guys were thanked for their efforts after the first day of scrimmage and didn't return for the second. That still leaves a core of about 35 players whom the team's management will monitor over the next few months.
The deadline for submitting a roster for the Games is May 31, 2013, and a decision on the Canadian team won't be made until next winter – sort of like Hockey Canada's timetable for the Olympic Games, Voihanski said.


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The Houston Astros leave Florida hoping to bounce back from a pair of dreadful seasons. The Astros ended the Florida portion of their exhibition schedule by hitting four home runs in an 11-4, split-squad win over the Detroit Tigers on Thursday.
KISSIMMEE, Fla. (AP) ? The Houston Astros leave Florida hoping to bounce back from a pair of dreadful seasons.
The Astros ended the Florida portion of their exhibition schedule by hitting four home runs in an 11-4, split-squad win over the Detroit Tigers on Thursday.
Prospect Jonathan Singleton hit two home runs, and Jason Castro and Rick Ankiel also homered for the Astros.
"I'm extremely confident," new manager Bo Porter said. "You'd rather be in this position than have a spring where you're trying to figure out whether they can hit or not. We believe we have 25 quality major league baseball players."
Preparing for their first season in the AL, the Astros have 46 homers in 32 spring training games ? 17 more than last year ? boosted by the additions of Ankiel (four), Carlos Pena (four) and Chris Carter (six). They were 21st in the major leagues with 146 during the regular season in 2012.
"Of our two goals this offseason, one was the rotation depth and the second was to get more thunder in our lineup, and I think we're seeing the results of that right now," general manager Jeff Luhnow said. "I don't think it's a fluke. I think we're going to see more home runs at Minute Maid from our team than we did last year."
The pitching rotation was rounded out with Thursday's announcement that Brad Peacock will pitch the fourth game of the regular season and Erik Bedard will pitch the fifth, both against Oakland.
Facing the A's will be a thrill for the 25-year-old Peacock, who was on his way to Arizona to train with them on Feb. 4 when he learned he was traded to the Astros.
"I turned right around and started heading back to Florida," Peacock said. "I know a lot of those guys over there. Two of my best buds are on that team, but I didn't have as good a chance as I did here. This is a great opportunity for me."
He has two major league starts, both with Washington in 2011.
Peacock's starting assignment means Alex White will be in the bullpen as a long reliever, although Porter said the competition for starting spots will continue all season.
"I'm excited about making the team and feeling a part of this organization," White said. "Peacock pitched really well. He deserves that fourth spot, and I'm getting an opportunity in the pen."
Philip Humber, Houston's No. 3 starter behind Bud Norris and Lucas Harrell, allowed four runs ? all unearned ? and six hits in six innings. Most of the damage came on Prince Fielder's three-run homer.
Detroit's Anibal Sanchez gave up nine runs and 11 hits in five innings, including three homers. He has allowed 13 runs in his last two starts over 11 innings following three scoreless outings.


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