text:
Influence Strategies
A two-part series on developing effective stragety to avoid "blind spots" and create effective social change.
Organizations working to make the world a better place have strong ambitions. They want to reduce gun violence in the wake of Sandy Hook, get Americans off the couch and active, and keep children safe from climate change. These groups need to wield influence to succeed—not in a Machiavellian way but in a public interest way. Yet often, they can't articulate exactly how this influence will happen. It is a missing link in their plans to create change. When there is no clear idea for how influence will happen, it often doesn't. Social change remains elusive.
Charting influence is a tricky proposition. It is made trickier when organizations don't approach planning with a clear idea of what the possibilities are for cultivating and using influence effectively. Rather than clarity, they have blind spots in their change strategies and these blind spots can undermine even the most worthy campaigns. Spitfire Strategies has developed a short guide to help nonprofits and foundations navigate a trail of influence by identifying—and eliminating—blind spots before they sabotage change strategies.
First order of business is to figure out how blind spots sneak into change strategies. Here are some top culprits:
- THE FAST AND FURIOUS. Groups start fast and don't do their homework. They don't completely think through the influence question, assuming they can safely figure it out as they go along or "build the plane while flying it." The consequence of this approach is that these groups fail to take the time to understand upfront how decisions will get made, and while they may get lucky, their efforts are inefficient and not as strong as they could be.
- READY, FIRE, AIM. This is a close cousin to those in the fast and furious category. Here, groups handicap their efforts by making strategic decisions out of order. For example, some groups form a coalition before they identify which decision makers they need to influence or on what grounds they will make their case. Rather than crafting a strategy based on the interests and passions of the decision maker and then picking the strongest partners to bring that strategy to life, they are stuck developing an approach based on the assets and self-interest of the partners already assembled.
- THE UPSIDERS. This crew sees only the upside and approaches influence with rose-colored glasses. They don't look at who stands to lose if their campaign is successful. The Upsiders don't think about who is working against their effort, publicly or behind the scenes. The consequence? By not seeing any downsides, the group leaves itself vulnerable to opponents it doesn't even realize it has.
- THE OVERESTIMATORS. These folks overestimate a decision maker's willingness to step out on a difficult issue. They overestimate what they have to work with, such as relationships or credibility. They overestimate the simplicity of influence and as a consequence underestimate the difficulty of tasks necessary for their proposal to get traction. They never stop to ask: "If this is such a no brainer, why hasn't it happened yet?"
- THE NARROW FIELD OF DREAMERS. These groups lack objectivity. They pick and choose which facts support the idea that influence is possible, and they dismiss any evidence to the contrary. Buoyed by selective facts and a perceived urgency that may or may not exist, these groups end up with an effort based on fantasy rather than reality.
- THE GUT REACTORS. These organizations think the decision will get made for certain reasons (such as moral imperative) when, actually, it will be based on something entirely different (such as job creation). They lament, "Why do people act against their own self-interest?" The truth is that the people in question are acting in their own interest—it's just not the interest the group thought it would be. If their gut is wrong, these groups will end up on the sideline of an important debate rather than front and center.
- THE NO GPS CREW. Some efforts just get lost. Pick any mix of the culprits above, and you'll find them present and accounted for here. The group picked the wrong decision at the wrong time, misjudged how complicated it would get, or chose the wrong grounds for arguing its case. Instead of stopping, taking stock, and trying a new direction, they keep plugging away. At best, these efforts are futile and waste valuable resources. At worst, they end up alienating the very partners, champions, and potential supporters that they will ultimately need to succeed.
Part two of this post will describe the four elements needed to eliminate blind spots and craft a successful influence strategy.


text:
5:00 pm
Moyers & Company "Distracted from Democracy" Smart talk & new ideas aimed at helping viewers make sense of our tumultuous times.G
6:00 pm
British Antiques Roadshow "Hampton Court Castle 1" Fiona Bruce and the team head for Hampton Court Castle, near Leominster, where the treasures include an important record of the days of early photography, an exquisitely decorated and moving book painted by an invalid in Victorian days, and a grandad's collection of jade turns out to be more valuable than previously thought.G
6:31 pm
Rick Steves' Europe "Stockholm" Rick ponders gilded royal staterooms, samples gourmet reindeer and sips vodka in an ice bar as he experiences the city's cultural highlights. Then he sails the archipelago experiencing the prettiest island-hopping in northern Europe.G
7:00 pm
The Lawrence Welk Show "Strike Up The Band" This classic black-and-white program first aired in 1964. Barbara Boyland and Bobby Burgess dance to a medley of songs that includes "The Buggy Hug" and "The Twist." Myron Floren kicks off a Norwegian segment with "Happy Norwegian Polka." The Lennon Sisters visit "Mockingbird Hill."G
7:58 pm
Are You Being Served? "Hoorah for the Holidays" Staff members are excited when the store management offers them a tour while the store is closed for redecorating.G
8:30 pm
Keeping Up Appearances - The Memoirs of Hyacinth Bucket "The Art Exhibition" Hyacinth bones up on art knowledge when she and Richard are invited to a showing at a gallery. Her polish stands to be stripped when her father shows up too.G
9:00 pm
As Time Goes By "Surprising News" Jean's sister-in-law and husband raise envy by announcing they will retire to Spain to live on their pension plans.G
9:30 pm
The Thin Blue Line "Road Rage" Patricia joins an environmentalist group, the Dongers, who are protesting against a bypass. Soon the rest of the Gasforth police are called in. D
10:00 pm
The Red Green Show "Men's Night on the Mountain" Harold is finally invited to spend the night out with the boys. Red turns a grocery cart into a lounge chair, complete with snacks.G
10:30 pm
My Family "It's Training Men" Ben insults a patient, who storms out. Roger tells Ben their employer is using an undercover patient to evaluate customer service skills and he must attend a weekend of retraining where clips of the incident are used in class.G
11:00 pm
Doctor Who Series "The God Complex" The TARDIS lands in what looks like an ordinary hotel. But the walls move, corridors twist and rooms vanish. There is a room for every visitor that contains their deepest, darkest fears. Fears that will kill them. There is a room waiting for the Doctor.G

subset: commoncrawl


text: I gather that the analogue phones were the ones implicated in causing problems; as far as I am aware the digital ones don't unless they are in the very close vicinity of sensitive equipment. Here it is not allowed to have your phones on as Intensive Care is above our heads, literally. That phones addle your brain is another matter and looking at some of our youngsters I wonder. Kemlo Rogerson Pathology Manager Ext 3311 DD 01934 647057 Mob 07749 754194 "Following the line of least resistance makes both men and rivers crooked" This e-mail is confidential and privileged. If you are not the intended recipient please accept my apologies; please do not disclose, copy or distribute information in this e-mail or take any action in reliance on its contents: to do so is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. Please inform me that this message has gone astray before deleting it. Thank you for your co-operation -----Original Message----- From: Patti Loykasek [mailto:ploykasek <@t> phenopath.com] Sent: Monday, March 13, 2006 10:57 PM To: histonet Subject: Re: [Histonet] Use of cellular (mobile) phones in the Lab I have mixed feelings on the cell phone issue. So far, it has not been enough of an interruption to have to form a policy or limit it. It might be a matter of, do the employees have access to a phone & time to make personal phone calls? On another slightly "off topic" - how do people feel about the use of portable music devices by co-workers?? Patti Loykasek > Hi Guys. > > This is a slightly "off topic" query, but I need to draw up a policy on the > use of cellular (mobile) phones in the Lab environment and would appreciate > input from the Anatomical Pathology side. > > The main reasons for not using a phone are: > > 1. Danger of infection (primarily in the Micro/Virology Labs) > 2. Interference with some electronic circuitry (primarily with the analytical > units in the Biochemistry, Immunology & Haematology labs) > 3. Interruption of the work flow and annoying to others (all labs). > > Is there any reason/s that you can think off pertaining to the > Histopathology/Cytopathology labs? > > Thanks in advance. > > Mike Kirby > National Health Lab Service > Johannesburg > South Africa. > > P.S. I'll accept replies from any Australians, that is if you are speaking to > us after our one run win in the Cricket! (smirk, smirk!). > > **************************************************************************** ** > **** > The views expressed in this email are, unless otherwise stated, those of the > author and not those of the National Health Laboratory Services or its > management. The information in this e-mail is confidential and is intended > solely for the addressee. > Access to this e-mail by anyone else is unauthorized. If you are not the > intended recipient, any disclosure, copying, distribution or any action taken > or omitted in reliance on this, is prohibited and may be unlawful. > Whilst all reasonable steps are taken to ensure the accuracy and integrity of > information and data transmitted electronically and to preserve the > confidentiality thereof, no liability or responsibility whatsoever is accepted > if information or data is, for whatever reason, corrupted or does not reach > its intended destination. > > **************************************************************************** ** > ***** > > > > _______________________________________________ > Histonet mailing list > Histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu > http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This e-mail message, including any attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipients and may contain privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message, or you may call PhenoPath Laboratories, Seattle, WA U.S.A. at (206) 374-9000. _______________________________________________ Histonet mailing list Histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet


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Emergency Management Coordinator Dave Hall has Passed Away
Long-time Emergency Management Coordinator, and our friend Dave Hall has passed away, he was 69-years-old. (Though when asked, he was always 59, again.)
Dave Hall spent most of his life serving the community. He was with Emergency Management for more than 30 years, and before that, he was one of the first people to give me an opportunity to work in radio. Dave spent many years at local AM station KTFS with many different titles ranging from news director, to program director, to operations manager. Dave was influential to dozens of people that chose broadcasting as a career, whether with news and sports, or different music formats. The radio community has been buzzing with memories of Dave Hall, and his contributions to the early days of radio here.
Dave told me many years ago,
We don't play the hits, we make the hits."
For some reason, I always thought that was cool, and it has stayed with me for years.
He loved baseball, and spent a lot of time coaching Dixie Youth teams, and he never got tired of the oldies. Dave knew all the hits, and whats more, he could tell you more trivia on classic hits than anyone I ever met. Who wrote it, when it was recorded, what type microphone they used, etc...
I know as a neighbor of Dave's for the last dozen years, he received great enjoyment from putting up his Christmas light display, and every year it got bigger and better... (just the other day we talked about how his lights make me feel bad about my little inflatable snowman.)
Dave was a good neighbor, and a great man that will be missed by many.
A Memorial Service for Dave Hall will be this Saturday, 10 a.m. at the Rader Dome in Liberty-Eylau. Visitation is Sunday, 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at East Funeral Home, Moores Lane. Services for Dave will be Monday, December 17, at 11 a.m. at First Baptist Church on Moores Lane. If you can make it to at least one of these it would be really nice for the family, they are good people, and would appreciate you being there.
Dave has been involved in Emergency Management and protecting the community since the 60's, back when it was called "Civil Defense".
Recently Dave was working on photos for a file chronicling the departments history from the earliest days of Emergency Management in Texarkana, and Dave's long-time friend, and colleague Deputy Coordinator Kathy Reynolds sent a few of the photos to me by email...


text:
Google exec urges Myanmar to embrace free speech
Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt on Friday urged Myanmar's government to allow private businesses to develop the country's woeful telecommunications infrastructure, emphasizing the importance of competition and free speech.india Updated: Mar 22, 2013 13:03 IST
Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt on Friday urged Myanmar's government to allow private businesses to develop the country's woeful telecommunications infrastructure, emphasizing the importance of competition and free speech.
"Try to keep the government out of regulating the internet," he said to a round of applause from a group of students at a technical university in Yangon. "The answer to bad speech is more speech. More communication. More voices," he said. "If you are a political leader you get a much better idea of what your citizens are thinking about."
Schmidt said the Internet can help cement political and economic opening in Myanmar, which has undergone rapid changes following elections in 2011 that gave the country a civilian leadership after decades of direct military rule.
"The internet will make it impossible to go back," he said. "The internet once in place guarantees communication and empowerment become the law and practice of your country."
Today, inadequate infrastructure and prohibitive prices mean only about 1 percent of people in Myanmar have access to the Internet and less than 10 percent have mobile phones. The Internet is so slow during peak hours that sometimes it is impossible to use Gmail.
"The government has to make it possible for the private sector to build the telecommunications infrastructure," Schmidt said. "If we do that right, within a few years the most profitable businesses within Myanmar will be the telecommunications companies."
He said Google's first priority in Myanmar will be to improve access to information through its search, translation and mapping applications.
"Right now the thing Google can do most is get information into the country," he said. Google recently launched a local homepage for the country, www.google.com.mm.
He said he is scheduled to meet with Myanmar's president, Thein Sein, on Friday afternoon.
"I'll say they've made a courageous step to open the country," he said. "Now they have to follow through with it."
Schmidt's visit to Myanmar comes after trips to Libya, Afghanistan and North Korea, which he said was a "truly wacky place."
First Published: Mar 22, 2013 13:01 IST


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Software ideas
From OLPC
|Projects and proposals +/-
|Content ideas
|Content projects
|Hardware ideas
|Hardware projects
|Software ideas
|Software projects
See also Category:Software ideas
This page is a brainstorming space for ideas which may eventually become Software projects. Keep in mind that the projects here are merely proposals or ideas. If you would like to add a new project idea, try to be reasonably thorough in your description.
When brainstorming, try to let your mind run free. When reading and looking for a project to start, keep in mind that we are looking for projects that encourage Playful Learning instead of Edutainment.
This section discusses whole application-classes that might be useful to have available on the OLPC laptops. That is, these are "requirements"-focussed ideas for what type of thing we want to provide. For many of the application classes there are existing PyGTK-based applications available that could be ported to Sugar (Sugarised).
Also, think about frameworks rather than just individual applications. Don't build MySpace. Instead, build a toolkit that could be used to build MySpace-like applications.
If you want to work on one of these ideas, add a section to the Software projects page describing your project (or just add your name below with contact information so that other interested people can contact you to organise into a project, or create a link to a Wiki page with more description about what you figure needs to be done):
- Logic Games (eg Hooda Math)
- Touchop - Drag-and-drop puzzle game for the browser
- Simple Calculations
- Comprehensive K-8 Math lessons, games, practice (eg AAA Math), but without the ads.
- OLymPiC Math: a series of team and individual competitive math games utilizing the mesh feature for grades K-8
- Basic Calculators (eg GCalculator)
- Calc for more basic tasks, BC for more difficult ones, and SC or a GUI based spreadsheet, perhaps.
- Data Analysis and Visualization (as opposed to statistics)
- Fractran interpretor in C from ADA graph language
- LaTeX, this is free and powerful typesetting system creating beautiful documents
- Spreadsheet software ( see request:Ban_Samkha )
- Financial tools
- Budgeting
- Loan calculators
- Accounting software
- Higher mathematics
- Scientific calculators (eg GCalculator)
- Graphing Calculators (eg GTKGraph (unmaintained))
- Typesetting/equation editing (eg ASCIIMath)
- Algebraic solvers/explorers (eg NumExp)
- Symbolic manipulation/Computer Algebra System (eg SymPy) ** Geometric exploration (eg PyGeo (note: not GTK))
- Fractal explorers (eg GnoFract4D)
- Mathematica for children, for modeling and calculating
- Financial Literacy
- Cash vs. Credit
- Banking
- Interest and Borrowing
- Basic Accounting
- International Monies
- Applied Mathematics
- Digital Signal Processing (filters, echo, etc. in Electronic Music, voice-changer game, etc.)
- Motion simulation (rocketry, planetary-motion)
- Estimation through sampling (eg the total height of all the children, based on a sample)
- Initial literacy (local language) See Category:Literacy ideas.
- Second-language learning - See Educational content ideas/language learning and Language learning
- Second-language literacy (WiXi?)
- Subtitling or captioning - (single-language/bi-lingual sub-titles for videos)
- Argument Mapping
- Logic, decision making, debate
- Story-book reader (illustrated story reader)
- Audio-book reader
- Dictionary (including meanings) (see also Words)
- ScriptExplorer - explore fascinating writing systems of the world. See [1] for some ideas.
- Phonetics toy - sort of like TamTam (Mini) but with IPA symbols and sounds. See PhoneticExplorer page.
- Thesaurus
- Spelling/vocabulary word list distribution, integrated homework exercises, practice quizzes, and teacher led tests live in class with results communicated to school server.
- Mad-libs, Exquisite Corpse
- Peer Editing Exchange
- Speech recognition
- Handwriting recognition
- Augmentative and alternative communication (communication prosthetic for children with severe speech disabilities)
- Speech synthesis
- Show and tell (child's video about an object or a slide-show illustrated by text and photos, to practice first/second language)
- Research and writing - a database program to store reference data when information is collected "cut-and-paste" style, or hard entered if a student has a book. For that information to automatically generate a reference list (MLA or APA style footnotes) to promote ease of preserving intellectual property. Additionally, a file of "notecards" to allow categorization, organization, and addition of personal summary notes that a student can then select from and insert into a document. Like traditional research notecards without all the paper and time spent copying reference data. Maybe something here would be portable.
- Picture book - similar to the photo dictionaries, picture with numbered items, corresponding list with the name of the item, can select the language to have the item described. May have sponsorship potential by having companies provide the photos (home furnishing, garage, theater, transportaion...).
- Automatic Language Translation Create a user-friendly application which can translation between any language pair, based on open-source technology from the Moses toolkit.
- Translation from pictures of text. (like Google goggles http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2010/05/translate-real-world-with-google.html ) Take a picture of a sign, etc. and get a translation. (Would be especially handy for languages that use other scripts.)
- Starfield explorers (e.g. nightsky, StarChart)
- PDF Organizer for Journal Articles Downloaded (capacity to automatically generate bibliography, keep track of running library, and the ability to search within the documents).
- Chemical simulators
- Physics simulators (Newtonian, for example Phun [2])
- Biological simulators (population simulators)
- Genealogy software (e.g. Gramps)
- Dynamic system simulators (e.g. ecological simulators, economic simulators)
- Geography (mapping) software, coordinates, maps, data-overlays, GIS operations, FindTheCountry, USStates
- Data collection tools
- Unit conversion tools (e.g. GConvert)
- Time-lapse photography tool
- Photogrammetric Astronavigation (i.e. analyzing pictures of the night sky to determine the child's location) I do not believe the XO can do this. I ran an experiment on September 17th, 2008 using Record to attempt to photograph the night sky in the direction of Sagittarius. Even after extreme contrast enhancement at the limit of the noise, the only thing visible in the image was Jupiter. -- Davewa 13:50, 18 September 2008 (UTC)
- Moon viewer for lunar phase information (e.g. Moon)
- Earth viewer day/night cycle, for off-line use, lat/lon location tagging/sharing (planning to port EarthGlobe) See also SunriseActivity -- Davewa 00:53, 1 October 2010 (UTC)
- Field Journal - where students can insert photos and commentary on native wildlife and domestic animals as a starting point to looking up those animals in field guides to expand with classification, behavior observations, etc. (keeping in mind a story I read of a 10 year-old boy who was so engrossed in his hobby of collecting and classifying ants that he identified several new species!)
- An angle measurement tool by looking at the horizon with the camera.
- Some motion or sound trigger with the camera to see a shy animal coming out of its hole.
- A photo tool to calibrate the camera' background/noise out for long exposure images at night
- An accoustic distance measurement tool using the loundspeakers and the microphone, or a tool which finds the resonance frequency of a pipe. I recall crawling through these huge concrete things to guide rainwater under a road, they have an awsome accoustics.
- A simple function generator: set frequency, shape, amplitude, and loudspeakers on/off. Find out about Young's double slit diffraction experiment with the two loudspeakers running in phase at a few kHz. Use a narrow band accoustic spectrum analyzer on another OLPC to measure the sound amplitude in a sea of background noise, and display it - in LARGE letters, so everyone can see it 8)
- Find out how far a lightning stroke is away; one could do that with a slow oscilloscope-type display with a trace for integrated light intensity seen by the camera and the response of the microphone
Measure distances between two XOs via sound propagation / synchronization via wireless
- See: Acoustical measure
- Synchronize a group of XOs, and use them as a coherent sound source: Find out how a grating works, or direct the sound in a particular direction. Here goes your acoustic phased array antenna. Can perhaps be extended to a receiving array to find out where noise sources are in a class room.
- Stick a transmission grating (perhaps a CD would do) in front of the camera lens and use it as a spectrophotometer. Should be good enough to see the difference between fluorescent lamps, sunlight, LEDs - and the OLPC computer screen?
- A cheapo 2D graphical raytracer with a lens, a few rays and a perhaps a mirror or a prism one can move around to see how light can be focused or deflected
- Listen to the ultrasonic sound of bats: mix down the Mic signal and reproduce it on the speaker. Watch the sound spectrum on the screen.
(Ideas by Abhishek Indoria, hackerboymayabhi_AT_gmail_DOT_com and abhishek_AT_fossfy_DOT_co_DOT_cc...I will love to work on them. If there is any interested user, please email me.)
- Maybe a firewall
- Anti-virus utility/software
- Anti-Spy utility AND/OR Anti-Spyware
- Security Log viewers
- Password protection for folders or files,maybe, activities.
- Screen Freezer-Teachers can analyze the laptop screen of Children.
Physical Education and Training
- Training program tracker (e.g. PyTrainer) (Idea added to Health Software.)
Art and Expression
- Vector graphic creation (illustration) moovl, An on-line program using Java that combines art with physics.
- Raster graphic creation (painting, sketching)
- Collage operations (Etoys?)
- Programmatic creation (Logo or the like)
- Video creation
- Animation
- Stop-motion
- Art History Studies
- Performance broadcast (school plays and the like)
- Panoramic photography (i.e. basic multi-photo stitching, to produce wide-angle/360-degree images - depending on the hardware specs, may also be used to produce higher pixel-count images than with the onboard camera itself)
- Video wall
- Self-organizing - Arrange bunch of laptops as an extended display (e.g. a matrix, a row, etc.) One laptop is turned to face the extended display. The camera image from the one laptop is used by the other laptops to determine the geometry of the display (which machine is next to which, etc.)
- Voice/Ear training (e.g. Solfege)
- Score display and creation (TamTam?)
- Instrument tuning (e.g. guitar)
- Viral OLPC Startup Sounds - edit short jingles and share them them with network neighbors. They could also "mutate" with each copy
- minimalist keyboard -> audio keyboard program like tinypiano
- track based editor like audacity
- simple vst-based sound processor like VST Processor, or, possibly more in the spirit of olpc, a more mathematical/visual sound processing environment like Max/MSP.
- Audio Editor (Audacity), possibly can work with Tamtam (MAGIX Music Maker)
- Is possible using Fedora's yum installer - see Audacity
- Video Editor?
- I am interested in developing it...anybody?-Abhishek Indoria(abhishek_AT_fossfy_DOT_co_DOT_cc)
- MIDI input (e.g. M-Audio Keystation) for TamTam.
- Chord Geometries
- Music creation (ABC Notation to write songs?) abc2midi abcm2ps
- Singing speech synthesizer (possibly built off of the voice function in Synthlab?)
- Onboard client for music streaming services (Google Music, Amazon Cloud, iCloud)
- VoIP phone
- Conferencing system, virtual classroom, shared presentations
- Email client (gmail-for-children?)
- Voice-mail (voice email and standard voicemail)
- Web-page editor (wikidpad?)
- Televised video (streaming video viewer)
- Blog Tool
- [Speech synthesis]
- Automatically connect Patient's Insurance/payment group to Doctor/Hospital to Pharmacy
For more school-to-school and internet-school communication, see the Internet and Radio and broadcast pages for a whole list of internet and non-internet communication methods, some of which would make good software-projects. This includes things like Sneakernet (moving files between schools and to an internet-computer on CD/DVD/Flash Drive, aided by routing software), one-way file broadcasting, etc.
- Role-playing systems
- Mind-mapping systems (outliners, free-form note-taking tools, e.g. Labyrinth, Gjots, )
- Integrate these into the bulletin board layer?
- A learning management system and collaborative work environment, for school servers. Moodle or similar.
- A groupware for project development and management, for school servers. eGroupWare or similar
- A repository system for multimedia content in school servers
- A wiki engine for school servers
- Drill and test software (Yes, even on a constructivist machine - follow the link for discussion)
- Software for supporting teachers' use of rubrics
- Software to enable simple anonymous group voting for a multiple choice questions. The class answers are then collated and displayed as a 4 element bar graph. Using the wireless mesh to enable the whole class to vote on a simple A,B,C,D multi choice question removes the social pressure to always provide the correct answer in frount of the group. In addition to quiz sessions it would also teach democratic behavoir and encourage voting amoung the young. ( think who wants to be a millionare ask the audience ! )
- Allow various forms of voting (e.g. single transferable vote).[8] Help familiarize students with various voting systems, facilitate group decision making.
- Notecard software
- Thinking Skills applications, such as the N-Back task. Note, this can also be made into a game, and possibly networked for multi-player.
- Executable English [9] software. Kids and others can learn to write logical reasoning rules, run the rules, and can see English explanations of the results. Non-commercial use is free.
- Catholic Education; teaching children to read the bible on their XO's. I am mainly thinking of Haiti and South America to deploy to. All coders are welcome to volunteer. (See Sword_read.)
Games (see also Games)
- Game framework: Multi-player, multi-team game architecture, so kids can make up their own games.
- Game console emulators (needs content)
- Strategy Games
- Turn-based
- Real-time Strategy
- Freeciv is a GPL'd version of the marvelous game Civilization
- Simulation Games
- SimCities micropolis
- Pioneer / Oregon Trail
- SimBusiness - (Lemonade Tycoon, Theme Park Tycoon, etc.)
- Open Transport Tycoon Deluxe openTTD
- CodeInvader CodeInvader
- Networked Version of the World Game (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Game)
- Balance of the Planet (open source versions: Balance of the Planet 2004 (Java), Flash)
- Etoys Games
- Puzzle Games
- Crosswords
- Jigsaw Puzzles
- Word Searches
- Word Jumbles
- Hangman
- Mazes
- Sodoku (e.g. Python Sodoku)
- Slither link (also called Loop the Loop), starting with very easy levels. See example in [10]
- Rube Goldberg-like puzzles (e.g., The Incredible Machine)
- Mastermind (see Wikipedia on Mastermind)
- Knight and Knave logic puzzles (see Wikipedia - Knights and Knaves)
- Card Games
- Solitaire (e.g. PySol or [PySolitaire http://pygames.sourceforge.net/])
- Bridge (e.g. PyBridge)
- Hearts
- Go Fish
- Texas Hold'em.
- Tournament framework: Allow kids to easily set up and manage a tournament
- Text-driven Adventure Games for 2nd language learning - Multi-user with pictures or 3D rooms.
- Massively Multiplayer Online Games for 2nd language learning - involving native speakers via the internet.
- Arcade/shooter
- Games like BoomingBang which require skills and quick actions as well as great fun!
- 2d arcade/shooter multiplayer game with several modes such as well-known Deathmatch, Capture the flag, Domination,
etc. But without violence and in child-oriented setting.
- Virtual 2D or 3D world where users can create avatars, chat with other users, etc. (Sort of like Second Life for kids)
Note: Can anybody please tell me how XO will be able to handle that much resources in 3D? Second Life LAGS on great machines and internet connection. It lags(not very much, though) on my 2 MBps internet Connection with Intel Core i7.
Responce: Even though, this is extreamly not the website/section to ask this question, i will answer your question anyways. Lag on any game can be based on CPU, Graphics Card (most likely), RAM (Second most likely), Disk Drive Speed (usually not the case), Internet Speed (third most likely).
Play (like games, without winners and losers)
- Peek-a-boom
- There is a literature of this kind of social team-building play. For instance, adapt ideas from No Contest by Alfie Kohn.
- A online system to sling capital items around (buy and sell at a good clip). That is a ebay for stocks, homes, art works etc.
- Microcontroller programmers/compilers (e.g. for irrigation systems, art installations and general automation)
- CAD/CAM applications (e.g. PythonCAD)
- Matrix CAD - a CAD system based on a standardized modular building system that lets students design, perform color graphic FEA on, and produce sharable 'recipes' for structures they can actually build and use. Matrix is a simple building system developed by designer Ken Isaacs in the 1960s as a DIY furniture building system and was later the basis of the Box Beam system promoted in the famous Box Beam Sourcebook of the 1970s. Based on 2x2 wood members connected with a tough but simple bolted 'trilap' joint, it allowed the creation of an endless variety of structures and was commonly used by renewable energy tinkerers of the late 1970s -until superseded by the introduction of aluminum T-slot profile products. Very well suited to solar energy projects, demonstration hydroponics, demonstration machines, puppet stages and school theatre sets, scroll or card picture boxes for traditional storytelling presentations, small animal enclosures, artists easels and pottery tables, light buildings and shade structures, and classroom or workshop furniture. Concept could be expanded to several different modular building systems such as T-slot, pipe clamp systems like Kee Klamp, the rod & clamp framing systems as currently employed in the RepRap design, or 'angle iron' space frame systems like that employed by the N55 design group, though these are using less easily obtained materials than simple 2x2 lumber.
- Source-code editor with transparent native-language display.
- Sharable interactive disassembler for Linux ELF x86, FLASH ActionScript bytecode, wireless firmware, Python *.pyc files, 8051 firmware, and other things found on the laptop. It can be the ultimate fall-back "show source" operation. Interactive disassembly is particularly well-suited to being a shared activity; as each person defines things (code or data, function name, data structures, etc.) the shared understanding becomes clearer.
- Distributed WEP key cracking over the mesh, allowing a group of XO users to share the work of obtaining an internet connection.
- Map making software, allowing kids to make decent maps from poor-quality measurements. For example, measuring some distances or angles around a garden or playground should allow the creation of a map. (angles alone gives you no scale of course) The software could treat the distances as springs, then try to find the least-stress deformation that allows all the numbers to work out.
- A patch that acts on USB ports that makes the internal hard drive appear as a flash/thumb drive to another device (such as a car stereo that has USB in, or digital photo frame etc.)
- Vista-like sidebar for XP and/or Linux, Unix, Mac. (Similar to VistaRainbar)
- Clock (Clock activity)
- Contacts
- Scheduling
- To-do lists
- Personal Wiki (eg TiddlyWiki)
- juwo (please see http://juwo.com. I shall need help porting it to Linux)
- quizi
Teaching Software
eXe - an XHTML-Editor for creating E-Learnings. (You do not need any programming knowledge, a pretty easy tool: http://exelearning.org/)
Scratch - I think the OLPC team should consider the idea of including a version of Scratch in the OLPC machines. Created by the MIT, it's free, and it's an excellent and graphical way to create animations and games, to learn logic and how to program machines (specially for kids !), with no need of complicated instruction code : you make all by mouse clicks, and with a pretty interface. Try it, and you'll like it !
- Indeed. The Scratch folks are porting it to OLPC. I've just now created a stub Scratch page. Good thought. :) MitchellNCharity 17:02, 4 August 2007 (EDT)
I draw your attention to vpython.org, where VPython = Python + numpy + Visual + OpenGL.
The Visual module lets even novice programmers create mouse-navigable 3D animations, by making 3D graphics a side effect of Python calculations. This can be a highly enabling environment for kids. At an upper level, currently several thousand college students are writing VPython programs every semester in an introductory physics course at various institutions that include NCSU, Purdue, and Georgia Tech (see physics course).
This is free open-source multiplatform software and runs on Linux, Windows, and Mac.
There currently is a production version based on gtk1 and numeric and a beta version based on gtk2 and numpy. Most of the user base is on Windows and Mac, so the beta version hasn't gotten a lot of testing on Linux but seems to work fine (the Windows version is buggy, which is why the beta version hasn't been promoted to being the production version). The beta version adds the capabilities of transparency, surface textures, and sophisticated lighting (spotlights, specular highlights).
Here is a complete runnable VPython program that displays a yellow brick beside a red sphere (pos is 3D position):
from visual import *
box(pos=(2,0,0), size=(2,6,1), color=color.yellow)
sphere(pos=(-2,0,0), radius=1.5, color=color.red)
Holding down the right mouse button, you can rotate the "camera" around the scene. Holding down both buttons you can zoom in and out.
The beta version being based on gtk2 and Pango does provide some internationalization, but the Python program statements currently have to be written in English. For example, the object names "box" and "sphere" and their attributes are all English words. Obviously one could recompile the C++ code to change these names.
I'm the gatekeeper for this open-source project and have contributed to its development. Bruce Sherwood 12:15, 30 September 2007 (EDT)
Classroom tools
The idea of activity sharing supports several important forms of classroom interaction, and can be stretched to accommodate many more. However the focus on constructionism means there's a lack of support for teacher-centric interactions, even ones which are useful in constructionist learning.
Raising hands
The fundamental model that's missing is the idea of questions or assignments, posed by the teacher and answered separately by each student or team of students. It is possible to accomplish this 'manually', but the technical shuffling makes it impractical to do so in a real-time, classroom situation, especially if it is desirable to keep data for later.
For instance, I as a teacher want to be able to pose a question and have each student individually type a response. I could see, and record for later, who responded what and who didn't respond. After giving a brief interval, I could 'call on' a student either by my choice or randomly, and continue the discussion based on their answer. There are several obvious variations on this pattern - for instance, instead of typing a complete answer they could just indicate whether they have an answer, ie, 'raise their hands'; teams could present shared answers; etc. The software would help the teacher to keep track of each student's participation and to 'call on' students in a systematic manner.
This type of interaction is so fundamental that it would be great to have it available independent of the currently shared activity. The obvious place to put it, therefore, would be in the bulletin board. This means the bulletin board would have to have some support for active logic. There are 3 ways to do this that I can see: somehow using AJAX for the bulletin board (advantages: highly flexible, tools exist; disadvantages: memory and processor hog, needs some server technology on the teacher's side); hard-coding this one case into the bulletin board (advantage: can be optimized better; disadvantage: inflexible); or somehow making a plugin system for the bulletin board (advantage: flexible; disadvantage: security issues, the world doesn't need yet another plugin architecture)
(One disadvantage of using the bulletin board is that it could perpetuate the UI chasm between on-line and off-line communication. In-class questions are no more then small versions of out-of-class assignments, and the interface should be as similar as possible. But that is a bigger problem, one which permeates the XO, and deserves a separate discussion.)
Homunq 08:12, 14 January 2008 (EST)
Classroom management
Motivation and interest are the best ways to achieve engagement, but social pressure and good examples are also a part of the picture, and these are impossible without transparency. If there is no easy way for teachers (or, for that matter, other students) to tell the difference between a student who is working on the laptop, and one who is playing DOOM, bad things happen.
Intel/Microsoft's "Classmate" competitor is rumored to have tools for the teacher to freeze or take over the student's laptop, "to guide them through the interface". Regardless of whether this is a desirable relationship, it would be hard to accomplish within the security model and memory constraints of the XO.
However, it would be good to have tools for all members of a shared activity to see the current state and recent history of all other current members. This protects privacy (after all, you can just quit the shared activity for privacy) while creating transparency. For it to be useful, it has to be simple and fast. Useful things to see are which activities have been used, and whether out-of-band communication has happened, over the last minute.
Homunq 08:12, 14 January 2008 (EST) I can see this working by running a vncserver on all the XO laptops as a background task, the teacher laptop (which I see as being a conventional laptop) perhaps connected to a projector or interactive whiteboard (or a big OLED screen in a few years) would be able to run a vnc client like vinagre to be able to quickly bring up on screen any XO in the class.
System software
Follow System software link for some discussion of ideas.
System Software Enhancements
These are lower-level projects that would enhance the entire system's performance or usability.
- compiler optimization: if you are a compiler wizard, we understand that the Geode lacks a specific back end code scheduler, which limits performance, particularly FP performance. We'd love to see work go on in this area which would help everyone. (See Geode optimization effort.
- tickless operation: there are patches out of tree about to be integrated into Linux that allows Linux to function without periodic ticks; we've been experimenting, and while our tick rate is probably the lowest yet observed on a Linux system, it can and should go further. Nothing in the system should poll!
- power management desktop interaction: applications need to be better aware of their power usage and requirements, and communicate this better to the system.
- The OOM (out of memory) killer is naive, to say the least.
- Sugar optimization: While the Sugar environment will get substantially faster as soon as we deploy a rebuilt Python 2.5, further work, particularly on Python startup, is in order.
- Sugarizing applications: There are many applications that with minimal work can be made to work well in the Sugar environment for young children. We encourage you to pick one and help out.
- Remote display: we have begun work on a low-cost projector. Making it easy to run remote applications is well worthwhile. There are a number of ways (and difficulties) of doing this, so there are immediate techniques available, along with much more sophisticated ways of advancing the "state of the X Window System art", depending on your inclinations and abilities.
- Educational applications of all sorts.
- Server-based tools for schools and support of the laptops.
- memory usage: many applications and toolkits waste and/or leak memory. Fixing these will help everyone and most easily done on conventional systems.
- performance optimization: fixing memory usage will usually result in faster code.
- toolkit adaptation: the display's effective resolution will change from grayscale to color mode and back. Toolkits and applications need to be able to adapt, and themes that work well in both modes verified.
- UI: most of the user interface work can be done today on conventional Linux desktops. But our system will also have an e-book mode, with dual 4-direction keys and enter. Key applications will need updating to work well in this environment (e.g. evince, web browser). Testing application's behavior under grayscale conditions and making whatever changes are needed would be helpful.
- Applications: goes without saying. The "Sugar" environment under development can be run on conventional desktops, and many applications should be simplified and optimized for our systems. Our primary audience are younger children, rather than the middle and high school students that have been the primary child users of computers.
- IPv6 support, and service discovery, which are very important to us.
- Security: Bitfrost is a way to protect against Day 0 attacks; as a large ecosystem of similar machines, it is something worth seriously worrying about.
- An update/software manager to handle updates and new software that come out after the laptop is given to the child
- A pythonic database administrator for SQLite databases and a stepping stone towards MySQL client server web applications.
- Recipe-managing (allowing kids and parents to create and share recipes with friends and world. eg Gourmet Recipe Manager)
- Cultural Song Lyrics - search, share, contribute
- Cultural/Historical Stories - search, share, contribute
Social and collaborative
- Multi-person simulations of markets, agriculture, government.
- Yahoo Answers
- IM, chat, Skype
- Multi-person simulations of physics, biology, population,
- Wiki-like group drawing tools
- Wiki-like group music tools.
- Social Networking to connect young people worldwide
- Peoples safety
Porting Existing Software
This section explores existing applications that could be ported to the laptop in order to provide the functionality for the children. The List of PyGTK Applications is a good place to start. If you are porting an application, you'll want to contact the author and add an entry to the Software projects page describing the porting effort (and providing contact information for it).
Not knowing much about python, I wonder about the feasibility of emulation on the OLPC, specifically for Apple II software. It seems there is a project - ApplePy - in the works. There are a large number of great educational apple II titles, many of which have no more recent ports or versions. Though the graphics are limited, making these availible in the short term might be a good start. As a long term project, it would be great to port/reversion/internationalize some classics like Odell Lake, Number Munchers, and Robot Odyssey. Dialectric 19:22, 26 November 2007 (EST)
More generally, other emulators of older systems could open a wealth of already-written educational content. In addition to the Apple II, there's also a wealth of educational software for the Commodore 64 and early IBM PC (MS-DOS) platforms, among others. Most of it is poorly internationalized, but the C64 (the most widely produced single computer to date) spawned a large number of national communities in languages other than English, and the Apple II had a Soviet-made clone, the Agat. The C64 has at least two good modern emulators (Frodo and VICE), which could be profitably Sugarized. Early MS-DOS software can be run through dosbox, a Sugarization project for which is already under way. Emulators present the additional problem that ROM and OS images are copyrighted; any efforts by other volunteers to solicit donations of obsolete software from vendors (or their heirs and assigns) could help considerably here.
Emulating or porting Sugar into a website that could become a web portal for users of any platform with any machine. It could become a social networking site demonstrating the Sugar user interface and sharing the Sugar perspective of human and machine interaction.
Software for scheduling activities
Teachers sometimes find it hard to supervise mixed-ability groups, since each child learns at a different rate. There is a commercial program called Supermemo (an abbreviation of Super-Memorization), which demonstrates a Spaced repetition technique that might be used to schedule the learning-activities for each child. An open-source program similar to this might be found/written. It could be used, for example, to remind children to review and update mind-maps to stop knowledge fading from memory, which was acquired originally through constructionist activities.
(Further discussion of this concept, and why it does not necessarily clash with constructivism, moved to Drill and test software)
Mindstorms robot simulations
- A software interface where the program has the same abilities as Helen Keller. That is it can read characters on a screen (with the help of some type of computer arm. It can type characters (again with the arm). It can have its arm be pushed around with a cursor. And the interface can have some type of reward / punish system (dope slap and stroking). This type of interface will provide a starting point for the development of AI software where the interface is not too complex.
Seymour Papert, the father of constructionism and a leading-light of OLPC, wrote the book 'Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas'. The 'Mindstorms' name was licensed to Lego for their range of Lego Mindstorms NXT robots, programming software, motors, controllers, etc.
It would be good to see whether the OLPC could have some software simulation of Mindstorm-type activites (building and programming robots and sensors, production-lines, light/sound-detectors, etc). Since it might infringe some Lego intellectual property rights, the OLPC project could negotiate with them to see if any part of the Mindstorms ideas can be used for free, perhaps in exchange for some more advice on advances in constructionist education and activities. It shouldn't undermine their sales much, since children in Europe and North America prefer the physical toys to on-screen simulations.
Keyboarding/Typing Tutor
- Anything lightweight enough to reside on local XO laptop as a tutorial program or game
I wrote a typing method, THE ALPHABET TYPING METHOD, and have a copyright for teaching the keyboard, guaranttee 350 words in four hours. I taught 6 blind people to type. It does not follow the 'home-row' concept. I would like to offer it to OLPC. Can someone contact me about me how to conctact someone and get it the proper source for consideration? My e mail is: firstname.lastname@example.com. Thanks, John Del Monaco.
External links
Audio/Video edition of NGO-in-a-Box A set of Free Open-Source Video and Audio editing software-tools, documentation and tutorials for Non-Governmental Organizations and other groups for social change. They are available on CD or by download. Keyboarding Possibilities Could Tux Typing be a good addition? http://tuxtype.sourceforge.net/ It is developed and released under the General Public License (GPL). It is part of the Tux4Kids project (Tux Paint and Tux Math), which is a Schoolforge member. I just don't know if it can run on Linux. Those of you who understand the prgram spec's might want to email: email@example.com .
Software to create eLearning
Salasaga is software I've (Justin Clift) been writing for the last two and a bit years, nearing its first reasonable release. It's for creating eLearning for graphical apps, and could significantly enhance the ease of creating "documentation", PLUS make documentation that's easier to absorb.
See also:
- The SchoolTool Project: calendaring and resource management; student information system; skills tracking program developed by Virginia students and teachers to track which skills students are acquiring in their classes and at what level of competency
- Category:Software ideas contains many pages not yet indexed here
- Sample Applications has a few more examples


text:
Let's give President Obama credit for his public line on Israel's conflict with Hamas. The White House has declared that Israel "has the right to defend itself" against attack and that the Israelis will make their own decisions about their "military tactics and operations."
If the conflict becomes particularly bloody and/or drags on for an extended period, Obama will likely go wobbly, as even George W. Bush did during Israel's war with Lebanon. Moreover, we don't know what Obama's real view is or what he is doing behind the scenes.
Still, supporters of Israel should be gratified by Obama's public statement. And Israel is entitled to rely on it in the days and weeks ahead.


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Last week I chaired a couple of podcasts organised by my old ZagMe colleague and mobilista, Helen Keegan and sponsored by the very nice people at Hotwire PR, hosted by the equally nice Mozilla London's offices.
The panel ranged far and wide across the mobile spectrum and consisted of Eamonn Carey from kiip, Roberta Lucca from Bossa Studios, Azeem Azhar from PeerIndex and Benedict Evans from Enders Analysis. We talked about…. well, why don't you just give it a listen for the most entertaining 38 minutes and 49 seconds you've ever heard people talking about our wonderful mobile world.
Get in touch with Helen if you're interested in being included in future podcasts or want to sponsor or host one. And if you have any feedback, don't forget to leave a comment.
—–>Follow us on Twitter too: @russellbuckley and @caaarlo


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Tonight is the night! That is the night the Real Housewives of Atlanta return for their long awaited 3rd season.
So what can we expect tonight? One word – DRAMA! Unlike the New Jersey Housewives' second season, which we had to wait almost 9 episodes before the infamous country club scene, the Atlanta ladies bring the drama on the season premiere! Nene Leakes and Dwight Eubanks will almost come to blows tonight as Nene decides to confront Dwight on rumors he has been spreading about her husband Gregg. Rumors which include Gregg trying to borrow money from him.
Meanwhile, the other housewives read about Kim Zolciak's article in Life&Style magazine, during which she comes out as a bisexual, and they all try to get the scoop on the real deal with Kim. Sheree Whitfield decides she now wants to act following the failure demise of her She By Sheree fashion line. Kandi Burruss tries to get back into the dating scene following the tragic death of her fiance last year. One of the new housewives, Phaedra Parks will also be introduced in tonight's episode.
In other Atlanta news, new housewife Phaedra Parks has found herself in the media headlines since the February announcement of her addition to the show. The reason? The Atlanta Entertainment Attorney just happens to be married to an ex-con named Apollo Nida.
Apollo, 31, was convicted in 2004 for racketeering. He was paroled last year in May 2009 after serving five out of his 18-year prison sentence. Phaedra and Apollo married late last year and the two recently welcomed a baby boy in July.
Phaedra, 38, defended Apollo and her decision to marry him in a recent statement. Part of that statement is below –
My husband was convicted of a white-collar crime. It was racketeering. He comes up for an appeal and we just hope that works out positively. But he wasn't guilty of harming any person or anybody and unfortunately that's what happened. I married my husband because I loved him and he loved me and I think that's the foundation of any good relationship. I didn't marry him because of his past or because of his future. I married him because I respected him and I realized⎯everyone should realize that people make mistakes.
I know who I am and I have a very good sense of my husband and what our relationship is built on. So at the end of the day I have to go home to him and so whomever you marry has to be your personal choice. And that has to be a choice that you're willing to live with. I married him because I love him, not because somebody else loves him and has to live with him and deal with him every day⎯it's because I do so if you can live with your decision then that's all that matters.
UPDATE – Apollo's mugshots have been added below.


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The federal government shutdown, worry about the U.S. government reaching its borrowing limit, Syria and world events have pushed immigration reform to the back burner for awhile.
Folks, including President Obama, want it brought back to the fore.
Rallies for immigration reform were conducted across the nation as a way to urge Congress to pass reform measures.
The day after Congress approved a bill that reopened government and avoided default, Obama said sweeping immigration reform should be acted on before the end of the year.
"We should finish the job of fixing our broken immigration system. There's already a broad coalition across America that's behind this effort of comprehensive immigration reform, from business leaders to faith leaders to law enforcement," Obama said.
"In fact, the Senate has already passed a bill with strong bipartisan support that would make the biggest commitment to border security in our history, would modernize our legal immigration system, make sure everyone plays by the same rules, make sure that folks [who] came here illegally have to pay a fine, pay back taxes, meet their responsibilities," he said.
If the Senate bill becomes law, economists estimate the U.S. economy would be 5 percent larger two decades from now -- $1.4 trillion in new economic growth, Obama said.
"The majority of Americans think this is the right thing to do. And it's sitting there waiting for the House to pass it," Obama said.
If the Republican-led House "has ideas on how to improve the Senate bill, let's hear them," Obama said. "Let's start the negotiations. But let's not leave this problem to keep festering for another year or two years or three years. This can and should get done by the end of this year."
While the Senate bill offers comprehensive reform, House leaders have said they would move incrementally.
Earlier in October, House Democrats introduced their version of an immigration bill to try to spark Republican action, The Hill reported. The House minority's bill basically mirrors the Senate measure sans some border security provisions added to win Senate Republican votes.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., told USA Today the measure was "basically the Senate bill."
And, he said, "I strongly oppose the Senate bill."
Democrats said they believe the Republicans' piecemeal approach is an attempt to beef up border security and employment verification measures and not provide a pathway to citizenship for workers in the United States illegally.
Many Republicans, especially those from the more conservative wing, don't want to include a pathway to citizenship for the approximately 11 million undocumented workers already in the United States.
Heritage Action for America, the advocacy arm of the Heritage Foundation, also opposes a comprehensive immigration reform bill and a path to citizenship, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said.
"Even before the recent crises, there was a willful ignorance of history and this idea that something would fly through," said Dan Holler, Heritage Action's communications director, noting his organization favors separate immigration bills dealing with border security and enforcement first.
"Right now, with a path to citizenship, I would say immigration reform absolutely will not pass," he said.
At a march in Washington Oct. 8, thousands of people rallied -- and 200, including several members of Congress, were arrested -- making the case for comprehensive immigration reform. Last week, 300 small groups from evangelical organizations in 30 states began nine days of prayer for immigration reform.
The clock is ticking, immigration reform advocates told the Journal Sentinel.
"The biggest issue is the calendar," said Darryl Morin, Midwest vice president for the League of United Latin American Citizens. "It's important for everyone to keep up the pressure on Congress and for everyone to remain engaged, but we're running out of time. We're not giving up, but if it doesn't happen in the fall, it could happen in the spring."
Marquette University law professor Ed Fallone, who specializes in immigration law, isn't optimistic.
"These legislative overhauls, especially big bills, need a sense of momentum behind them," he told the Journal Sentinel. "And any bill that will require bipartisanship has to happen at the right time on the calendar, so that it's not too close to the next election cycle. I do think we're starting to get close to the end of that window."
During a Chicago pro-immigration reform rally Oct. 12, a gathering of labor groups, community organizations and faith leaders organized the march numbering as many as 6,000 people carrying signs, chanting, banging drums and blowing horns, the Chicago Tribune reported.
"I thought I was a citizen because this is all I know," said Nestor Rivera, 22, a Chicago resident who said he came to this country when he was only a year old. Rivera said he has tried to become a citizen since high school, but the process has been arduous.
"It gives me hope," he said of the pro-reform march. "Things like this are getting to the government."
One of the Chicago rally organizers said October was a critical month.
"We want to continue the pressure to ensure they do pass immigration reform," Monica Trevino, spokeswoman for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, told the Tribune.
Immigration advocates have declared October a month of ramping up pressure for a comprehensive immigration bill, saying they fear that momentum has stalled since June when the Senate passed its bill that, among other things, includes a 13-year path to citizenship for most of the nation's 11 million undocumented immigrants.
Proponents of the Senate bill say they're concerned the government shutdown and the acrimonious atmosphere on Capitol Hill over the budget and debt ceiling will leave little time for lawmakers to focus on immigration, The Washington Post reported.
"It's going to be extremely tough to get comprehensive immigration reform, but it's not impossible," said Terry O'Sullivan, general president of the Laborers' International Union of North America, which has many immigrant workers on its member roles.
"I think there is a sense of urgency. If we don't pass something now, we won't get a vote until after the next election," said the Rev. Gay Jennings, president of the House of Deputies of the Episcopal Church and the mother of an adopted son from Colombia.
Julian Bond, a major figure in the civil rights movement in the 1960s, said at a Washington rally "immigrant rights are civil rights."
"Immigration reform must come," he said during the rally on the National Mall, which was closed because of the partial government shutdown that began Oct. 1. "It will come."


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Welcome to the CRG Discussion Forum!Forum registration problems: Make sure you enter your email correctly and you check your spam box first. *Then* email KurtS2@gmail for help.Classified ads are not allowed on the forum.
Paul,Do you have a VIN for that tag?
I think it was on TC. I'll search.
according to jerry's book, 124379n636 vin should be 05A production. this is 04C. is that close enough?


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Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Waiter, there is something in my ... roasted onions with blue cheese
Indeed. Who would have thought that the Reigning Queen of Braai, Jeanne of Cook Sister, would choose a meatless barbecue for the 8th round of Waiter, there is something in my ... foodblogging event? But meatless she chose, and I'm happy to oblige. Although we're by no means vegetarian, we don't eat much meat in our house. If faced with a rich meaty stew and a slightly lighter vegetable stew, we'd most likely opt for the later..
I decided to roast some onions. My logic was following: if my vegetable dish was to have any chances against all the roasted, grilled and barbecued meat at the braai or grilliõhtu, then it needed to be strong and bold and flavoursome. A combination of roasted onions and my current favourite blue cheese (yes, I am still raving about the Finnish Valio Aura blue cheese), and some potent herbs - thyme and savoury - would be surely shining. The onions (the white ones are famous local Peipsi sibulad or from the traditional onion-growing areas alongside Lake Peipus, the fifth-largest lake in Europe) sweeten up while roasting, nicely complemented by the potent cheese. I used thyme for red onions and savory for white onions, but I don't think there're hard rules for that..
Roasted onions with blue cheese
(Röstitud sibulad sinihallitusjuustuga)
Onions, medium-sized
Blue cheese (I used Valio Aura)
Fresh thyme or savory
Peel the onions, cut off a small slice from the top & bottom and then cut in half cross-wise. Place onion halves on a piece of foil, cover with a slice of blue cheese and some herbs.
Fold into parcels, so the steam wouldn't escape, and cook on your BBQ for about 20-25 minutes, until onions are softened and cheese melted.
Alternatively, roast in a very hot oven (say 250 C) instead.
Serve as an accompaniment to grilled meat, or on its own with chunks of good bread.
Here are links to my previous Waiter there is something in my ... entries:
July 2008 (SAUCES): Munakaste alias my grandma Senta's egg & smoked ham sauce.
June 2007 (DUMPLINGS): Vareniki dumplings with curd cheese filling, served with home-made apricot jam & pistachios.
May 2007 (STUFFED VEGETABLES): Stuffed tomatoes with two types of salad - cod liver salad & cucumber and wild garlic salad.
April 2007 (BREAD): a traditional Estonian quick mushroom bread, Seenekarask.
March 2007 (EASTER BASKET): a selection of various Easter delights.
February 2007 (PIE): a great Russian puff pastry and fish pie, Salmon Kulebyaka.
January 2007 (STEW): my version (in collaboration with Anthony Bourdain:) of the French classic Boeuf Bourguignon.
16 comments:
- K & S said...
mmm great combination!
- 1:18 pm, August 28, 2007
- lobstersquad said...
I´d have thought the cheese would melt too soon, but it looks fantastic.
- 2:06 pm, August 28, 2007
- Kalyn said...
Looks quite delicious!
- 3:28 pm, August 28, 2007
- joey said...
Sounds delicious Pille! What a great combination and so easy to make too :)
Your first photo is sooo pretty! I love it! :)
- 5:01 pm, August 28, 2007
- Garrett said...
Beautiful photos and it sounds wonderful!
- 6:06 pm, August 28, 2007
- MyKitchenInHalfCups said...
Yee gods, this is on my table tonight!
- 7:41 pm, August 28, 2007
- Jeanne said...
What a wonderful combination - and a far cry from the onions in foil that I remember from braais in my youth. The whole onion, skin and all, would be tossed into the coals, wrapped in foil. By the tiem it was done, you had to peel away the scorched skin and outer layers to get to the sweet, soft flesh inside. Delicious, but yours are far more sophisticated!
- 8:20 pm, August 28, 2007
- Figs Olives Wine said...
How fabulous! That's exactly what I want this time of year as the evenings turn slightly (ever so slightly) less humid and sticky. I've been using savoury a lot lately and really enjoy it. Thanks for a wonderful recipe!
- 8:35 pm, August 28, 2007
- Honeybee said...
Nice!! It just reminded me that I had a pasta dish with caramelized onions and blue cheese in mind. The combination of the onions and the blue cheese sounds delicious.
- 9:39 pm, August 28, 2007
Hmm interesting combination. hHow was it? I am not sure if I am brave enough to bite into that, but then I am still ignorant when it comes to food.
- 9:52 pm, August 28, 2007
- Wendy said...
So simple and yet I'm drooling shamelessly!
- 9:53 pm, August 28, 2007
- Meeta said...
Pille! I can imagine what wonderful flavors this has. Onions and bluecheese. I have not tried it yet - but I hope the next BBQ to give it a try!
- 10:32 am, August 29, 2007
Brie on top of garlic halves is just as good, with a nutty flavor. You knew exactly what to do with an overgrown squash. Are you the same creative when it comes to deal with white asparagus (The Asturian type)? I hope so, and I look forward to read your ideas on it!
- 2:47 pm, August 30, 2007
- thepassionatecook said...
oh yes! i'll have some of those! it looks like the bbq season here is well and truly over, but i am sooo making this next year!
- 11:24 am, September 04, 2007
- Nikki said...
I made this recipe as part of our Labor Day barbecue, except that I used Vidalia (sweet) onions, and the combination was fantastic. Thanks so much for posting that!
- 2:11 pm, September 06, 2007
- Pille said...
K&S - I quite agree :)
Lobstersquad - I guess the foil protects the cheese?
Kalyn - thanks!
Joey - thank you! (PS I've now swapped the other two photos for better ones, too:)
Garrett - thank you! Taking nice photos is more difficult now that our long summer days are getting swapped for shorter autumn days..
Tanna - did you enjoy this?
Jeanne - I guess blue cheese 'sophisticates' many dishes, including onions :) Thanks for a great WTISIM theme!!!
Figs Olives Wine - I only discovered savoury early this summer, and I'm happy to see it thrives on my windowsill..
Honeybee - mmm, I love the idea of caramelised onions & blue cheese alongside pasta!
Mainyacha - there's nothing brave about that combination, so I urge you to try it a.s.a.p.!
Wendy - that's perfectly acceptable :)
Meeta - I have made them twice already - a great, easy & satisfying dish!
Mariac - i've never tried that, but it certainly sounds delicious. Sadly, I've got no clue about white asparagus, but check out my friend Johanna's blog - she's bound to have some great ideas!
Johanna - you can easily make & eat these indoors to accompany sausages, for example:)
Nikki - thank you for telling me, and I'm glad you liked them! I've never tried Vidalia onions myself, though I keep reading about them in various blogs..
- 12:55 pm, September 09, 2007


text:
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South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences
On-line version ISSN 2222-3436
Print version ISSN 1015-8812
VAN VUUREN, Gary. Basel III countercyclical capital rules: implications for South Africa. S. Afr. j. econ. manag. sci. [online]. 2012, vol.15, n.3, pp.309-324. ISSN 2222-3436.
The financial crisis has been blamed on many entities, institutions and individuals as well as the Basel II accord which had just begun to be implemented globally when the crisis erupted. The criticisms resulted in the construction of Basel III, a series of measures designed to augment and repair (but not replace) the Basel II accord. One of these adjuncts addresses the problem of economic procyclicality and suggests ways to mitigate it through capital charge increases when economies overheat and capital charge reduction in economic contractions. The consequences of this proposed measure's introduction for South African banks is explored.
Keywords : Basel III; procyclical; countercyclical; buffer capital.


text:
I've got all the other classes, all my buildings are lvl 3 but the alchemist, just finished Doubledoom's quest, and now I'm looking at the long list of quests, wondering which are actually worth doing.
I've got the big list of unlikely heroes quests, Ice and Fury, The hard dungeon quests (beat x with all the classes in building y) in each direction, as well as Halflings, Ho!
Considering how small all the rewards are for the effort involved, I'd rather focus on doing what it takes to get the monster classes, but the wiki is mute on how to go about doing this.


text:
oceandoctor necesitaba un nuevo diseño de logotipo y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 30 diseños de 6 diseñadores freelance.
To commemorate my recent 50th birthday, I will be donating speeches about the oceans and my "adventures" in ocean exploration to at least one school in all 50 U.S. states plus all U.S. territories. My blog, http://www.oceandoctor.org, describes this special "expedition" in detail. I am looking for a compelling logo to capture the spirit of this special project, to be used on the web, for media, t-shirts, etc.
The design should be effective at communicating the essence of this unique "expedition" while doing so in a way that also conveys some of the emotion of children learning about the world around them. Optionally, it might convey the diversity of the children that I will be visiting, from Barrow, Alaska to Meridian, Idaho to San Juan, Puerto Rico, for example.
- The design should incorporate the text: "Ocean Doctor's '50 years, 50 States, 50 Speeches Expedition'"
- The design should also incorporate a portion of the Ocean Doctor logo for branding purposes. This artwork was a 99designs contest winner by the very talented, "Echoes." You can see the artwork in the masthead of http://www.oceandoctor.org. You can download the .ai file of this artwork here. (You need not include everything...perhaps just the turtle and/or the Ocean Doctor lettering)
- Since I am a sub pilot, that will be a strong theme in my talks. While not required as an element, it's something to consider.
- The students will range in age from elementary school to college age.
- Looking for something fun, engaging, memorable.
Descubre cómo funciona un concurso de diseño u obtén más información sobre nuestros servicios de diseño de logo.


text:
New York State of Mind
As many of you already know, today is one of the only days in the year where none of the four major sports are playing a game.
But the MLB All-Stars have all descended upon Manhattan for tonight's home run derby and tomorrow's Midsummer Classic. We arrived here at about 1 a.m. and were at the hotel by 2 a.m., with Russell sure to have a busy few days ahead of him. You forget how much extra equipment a catcher comes with until you share a ride with him from the airport to the hotel.
This morning it will be mostly media duties, as there is a press conference in about half an hour with Clint Hurdle and Terry Francona to announce their lineups and starting pitchers. Then each of the players is available to speak to reporters for about an hour-long session before everyone heads up to the Bronx Zoo…a.k.a. Yankee Stadium. There are going to be insane amount of people there but I expect it will be a very unique All-Star week.
Yesterday at the Futures Game, Ivan DeJesus played the whole game at second base and had a couple hits and a walk. He's among the best prospects in our system and hopefully everyone around the country is getting a chance to watch him play.
That's all for now. I'll continue to try posting items from behind the scenes as often as possible. Enjoy the "break."
61 Comments
1st post!! This is a first for me!! Glad to see that Ivan had a good futures game, I'd love to see him called up one of these days, he looked good. On a side note, I saw that last year, we were also a game out of first, but with a record of 49-40…. let that set in for a second…. 49-40 this year and we are declared winners of the division at the All Star Break. I don't know what that says.. but think about it this way.. We've got basically the same team right now, that we did last year at the break… How do we have suck a huge discrepency in our record!?!? Well, hopefully we can come out of the break with a run and take over first, and keep it going and play to the potential that we all know that this team has!!
Go Blue!! Russ Martin for All-Star MVP!!
Whats the lineup? has anybody seen it.
Hanley SS
Utley 2B
Berkman 1B
Pujols DH
Chipper 3B
Holliday LF
Braun RF
Kosuke CF
Soto(should be Martin) C
Sheets P
Great Game Used Memorabilia at Reasonalbe prices!
Lot's of cool Dodgers stuff too!
Nelly, Grady Sizemore in home run derby tonight!!
Should be fun!!
How much do you guys think that Martin will get to play in the game? Maybe an inning or 2?
jhall – can't wait to see Grady in the HR Derby – should be fun. Hey, Peralta had a good night for my fantasy team last night.
Did you know that our two real outfielders, Ethier and Kemp, have come close too or surpassed their season totals for last year in their batting categories? It amazing what can happen when they are allowed to play everyday.
Good luck to Russell and hope he has fun with his family.
Hey Nelly… Another hot day over here… Kemp and Ethier need to play every single day, Ethier would be having a border line all star caliber season if he was playing everyday from the start of the season. I think what we really need badly is a RA RA type of guy… someone to get everyone hyped up, they all seem too quiet and excepting of defeat.
Yep Nelly, Peralta and Grady are great. It is obvious that if Kemp and Ethier play everyday, they will thrive and become better than average major leaguers and possibly all-stars. But we're stuck with expletive CowPhew!!!
LMAO!!!! very funny!! Am I allowed to use the "A" still? LOL!!!
Brandon – I know what you are saying, both with weather and the outfield. It's too bad Ethier sat those days where Andruw and Pierre were in there. We knew Kemp would do well, but who knew Ethier had it in him,too. He really hasn't had a full year of play time yet, and when he finally does, he will be a solid all-around player for years to come, all-star or not.
I think that should be LM(expletive)O.
Yeah, nelly, I would certainly say that Ethier is our best all around player outside of Martin. I'm always surprised to see if he's had an 0-fer day. I still get worried when I read stuff like Nomar saying he's giving it all he's got, and not holding back. He makes it sound like he could break down at any minute, I also hate how he uses his scar tissue disorder as an excuse for when he will eventually get hurt.
enchanted – so, are you saying I can't use LM(expletive)O anymore? LOL!!!
Brandon – even in Ethier's "0 for days", it's not due to 4/5 strikeouts. It's usually hit balls that just happen to go to somebody. He always seems to be putting the ball in play and at least making the fielders make a play unlike Andruw these days. And this is one situation, that I would actually approve Pierre over Andruw because as much as we hate seeing Pierre and his groundouts and pop ups, at least he is making the fielders field the ball. That's the only good thing I will say about him because I think Pierre's defense sucks big time.
enchanted – is the word sucks allowed? LOL!!!
Gotta go run errands – see ya later!!
Catch you later Nelly!!!
LMAO (sorry folks) IMO must be used in the proper form LM(expletive)O.
Sucks as a noun and transitive verb are fine, but not as an intransitive verb.
Good morning ITD boys and girls,
It's been a while since I've been here and from the looks of things that went on, Josh's scolding, etc, I'm not sure if I really wanted to read what was actually going on the other night. I personally don't like using expletives but I don't condemn a person who uses it on occasion. All I say is don't make it crass and vulgar. I don't believe that the regulars on this board are vulgar; not even close. I'm just sorry for those that were on here Saturday night (is that when all this went down?) had to endure it.
Getting back to baseball!!! 🙂 I was at the game yesterday with my husband, my mom and my nephew. I was thrilled to see Bills pitch such a nice game! It was even better when we actually scored 6 runs in the first inning!!! All-Star break. I like the HR Derby but I love the game itself more. I want the NL to win this year! No, I don't want them to win, I want them to CRUSH the AL this year!!! I would love nothing better than to kick those AL-loving fans off their high horse and bring them down a few notches.
Hey CP. Glad you got to see a great game and nice performance by Billz. He is emerging as our ace. I too want to annihilate the AL.
good to be back jhall. I've missed you guys!!! 🙂
oh, and enchanted – from the last thread, I loved and am still laughing at your "What's in a name?" comments!!! 🙂
oh and jhall, I'll do you one better and say that Billz IS our ace and will be for a long time!!! 🙂
Yep CP, I have to agree with you there!!
Actually CP, his first post that got deleted was better. LOL!!!!
jhall – I know he's not there this year, but now that CC is in the NL (and hopefully after he's thru with the Brewers he'll stay in the NL) I hope CC gets on the All-Star team next year. Since it'll be in St. Louis next year, the pitcher hits (hah, take that Hank Steinbrenner!) It would be very nice if CC hit 2 or 3 HRs in that game, just to stick it to his old AL buddies!!! 🙂 (I'm not being too negative here, am I???)
"Actually CP, his first post that got deleted was better. LOL!!!!"
jhall – who are you talking about???
Question for Josh.
Are the Dodgers looking into purchasing the LA and Brooklyn statues of liberty. They would look incredible in the stadium or in the new concourse they are planning.
If not, you might want to suggest it.
Hello everyone!
Well, I have a dire recipe for long term success that will be painful in the short term. The safest long term solution for our beloved Dodgers is for the snakes to come out hot and for us to stink it up post break and fall way behind early. This way, there will be no dreams of grandeur by Ned & Joe about acquiring more vets for the stretch run while dumping Kemp, Ethier, etc. in the process.
Result: The PVL's are the ones dealt to other desperate Ned clones around the league, Ned is fired in mid August in favor of Logan White, the young guys get valuable playing time the last month and a half and Torre resigns since there is no one left who will listen to his lies.
I was referring to Enchanted, CP.
Also, I would love to see CC in the All-Star game with the NL and hit one out against the AL. It would be too cool.
He will be a free agent after this year, so he could be a Dodger. They certainly have the means to get him. I'm glad they didn't trade for him and give up anything as I want to see how he pitches the rest of the season and the playoffs if applicable. A rotation of:
Whoever(Penny, Schidt, Stults, Kuo, etc…)
Totally agree Scott. However, there are no Ned clones. His DNA was destroyed by order of the Baseball Protection Agency. LOL!!!!
Actually scott, I think that this might happen. If the short-term is painful but it ends with Ned getting fired and Ng or White get promoted, that's fine with me. I've always held the belief that the Dodgers could make the post season but that we wouldn't make it out of the first round. (1) More playing time for our youngsters and (2) Ned getting fired would be great for me and most everyone here on this blog!!!
Billz pitched a great game yesterday and I think is working rapidly towards "ace" stature – glad you got to be there cpompe!!!
I think we'd find however that most of our pitchers will pitch more ace-like if we can give them some early run support like Billz received yesterday. Much harder to pitch when every pitch has to be so fine so as not to give up a hit or run.
thx for the clarification jhall. And it would be great to have CC with the Dodgers next year. I know they have the means ($) to get him. I too am glad they didn't trade for him and give up (thx again Frank) our youngsters…
I know it was posted a few days ago, but I am struggling to process what I read? Is Nelly actually suggestion we sign Bonds? Bonds in Dodger blue would be the crown of shame on an already disgraced organization.
Yes cpompe, I'm the kinder, gentler, more articulate, less bombastic Enchanted…
Or am I ??? AHHahhahahahahahaha
No ed – that was somebody else's post from a different blog. Nells was pointing out the inanity (is that a word?) of it that anyone would even come up with the idea.
It was great being at the game yesterday enchanted. You want to know what is even more exciting to me than having Billz as our ace??? Knowing that Kershaw is just behind him and come 2009 (no later than 2010), Kershaw will be what Billz is now!!!
edwcarter – no, dnel is not actually suggesting that we sign Bonds. She just copied and pasted those words from another "Dodger" blog.
very funny enchanted… 🙂
No Ed, she wasn't. Shad misinterpreted one of her replies to an earler post. The earlier post was from another site, Dodger Addicts or something like that, that proposed the idea. Nelly would puke if we signed Barroid. As would I.
They'd make a terrific one-two punch, even better than Webb-Haren.
Edwcarter – No, that is NOT my lineup – it was stated in another "Dodger Addiction" Blog. I was roaming the other Dodger blogs because of our issues from the previous day, and I ran across that comment from another Dodger blog. I was just pointing out what other fans are thinking and how stupid their thinking can be.
For the PC police – the word stupid is a bad word in 1st grade. How far should we take this issue. LOL!!!
Hey CP – glad you got to see a great game yesterday!!!!
Billz-Kersh will be terrific. Put CC in there with our coming KidCorp and we will have a perennial contender for many years. Even without CC, the future is bright if they don't let Ned screw it up.
Thank you jhall 🙂 I live with gnat fans -why in the world would I want "HIM" playing for this team. I am not a huge Jeff Kent fan, but I would not wish that on him or anybody on this team.
thank you cp and enchanted – LOL!!!!!
Nor would I Nelly. That is a freaking nightmare.
CC followed by Billz – yes enchanted, a very nice one-two punch!!! 🙂
I got to read your comments while on the road. I'm so glad that you got to see our boys up close. I'm jealous, you know that! 🙂 It seems like you had a great time! I don't know if you saw my comment, but since you brought the team luck 2 out of 3 games, you should consider getting season seats! 🙂
also, remember that Ben Sheets is a FA after this year too! I wouldn't mind having him!
Stupid, though not an expletive, is derisive. Let's try misguided, aptitudinally challanged, or friggin dumb.
First and foremost – Anything that involves Ethier in a trade gets me going anyway so that in itself made me mad, and then he added "HIM" into the mix and I about died that somebody would have the nerve to suggest it, much less profess it would be a good idea. Also, if this so-called fan actually knew the Dodgers at all, he/she would know the Jeff Kent can't stand him.
I can't believe I misspelled challenged. Guess we know what that makes me!!
Sheets would also be a great choice. I'd rather have Haren than all of them, but his injury history scares me too much.
CP – It was a lot of fun!! I have been there often enough this year where I should have looked into it. However, those seats were once in a lifetime – couldn't afford them normally. My mom and I are coming back for the Dbacks series and we are sitting in the loge deck. I didn't want to risk field level by Andre knowing Pierre may be back by then. So, I got loge deck between home and 3rd base for that series.
I'm still of the opinion the Yanks or BoSox get Sabathia – they'll throw stunning amounts of money his way that on the heels of Schmidt and Druw, Frank won't/can't match. Sheets though I fully expect to see in blue next year.
Josh Do you know how long the all star statues are going to be up? I'm going to be in New York in September and if they are still around I'd like to see them (especially the dodger one!!!)
The Dodgers should purchase those statues!!
Some of those are REALLY nice. Last year my husband and I got some free tickets and they just happened to be on the loge level, sect 135 I think. Anyways, the section was right in line with 3B. I didn't know it but my brother, his wife and their niece/nephew were at the same game. I just happened to bump into my brother at the concession stands. Anyways, his seats were his business' season seats, in section 125 I think. I sat there, those were such terrific seats!!! The seats were cushioned (it was row B or C) and they were right above the Dodgers on-deck circle. Ethier was there and I couldn't believe how close I felt!!! Remember, I usually sit on the Inner Reserved (right behind the plate, between 3B and 1B). Are you going to all three games???
actually dnel, I just found out that it's a four game series, not a three game series!!!
new thread…


text:
Reality TV is experiencing something of a "Mad Men" moment, with bandannas and iced tea in place of fedoras and highballs.
Last week, the Season 4 premiere of "Duck Dynasty" drew nearly 12 million viewers, making A&E;'s celebration of backwoods Alabama the No. 1 "nonfiction" show on cable and the No. 1 show of the week. Suddenly people who wouldn't know a Louisiana cedar if their Prius ran into it were chattering about the Robertsons, an extended clan of duck-call magnates who have been entertaining an increasing percentage of the population with their family-centric, redneck 'n' proud high jinks.
With the shoulder-length hair and Old Testament beards, the Robertson men catch and eat bullfrogs, race souped-up riding mowers, and take their wives deer hunting. They fight over who blew up the duck blind, pull pranks on their eccentric Uncle Si and do anything to avoid the wrath of their wives.
PHOTOS: Cable versus broadcast ratings
Amid the preening culture of today's Golden Age of television, "Duck Dynasty" might seem an actual reality check — critics and cable execs can brag all they want about the growing sophistication of the idiot box, but in the end, people want to watch what they've always wanted to watch: A bunch of good ol' boys trying to weasel out of work so they can go fishin'.
This is true, and not true. "Duck Dynasty" certainly celebrates those things, but like "Mad Men," it is also a carefully produced, tightly controlled curation of American mythology, in this case a canny mix of red- and blue-state ethos.
The Robertsons occupy a unique but very American cultural sweet spot, in which great wealth coexists with the sort of nationally beloved folksiness last seen on "The Beverly Hillbillies." Like Jed and all his kin, the family of Phil and "Miss Kay" Robertson — four sons (the eldest of which just joined the show), three daughters-in-law and a passel of grandchildren — fulfilled the American dream by hitting it big. Their duck calls, handcrafted still from Louisiana cedar, now fuel an empire called Duck Commander, and the opening of the show hinges on the contrast between the bling and the beards.
INTERACTIVE: Fall 2013 TV preview
But unlike the Clampetts, the Robertsons stayed put, in West Monroe, La., where they continue to hunt, fish and mingle with the locals down at the hardware store.
In sharp contrast to reality's other beloved rednecks, Honey Boo Boo and company, the Robertsons require neither coupons nor subtitles. They may be backwoods, but they ain't poor nor are they ignorant, which allows audiences to revel in their homespun ways without any distracting worries about dental insurance or access to education.
Patriarch Phil, who invented the golden duck call, was a star quarterback for Louisiana Tech who turned down an offer from the Washington Redskins because, as he told Sports Illustrated, professional football would have interfered with duck season.
Third son Willie, who expanded Duck Commander and now serves as CEO, has a business degree; he and his wife, Korie, a local who has known Willie since childhood, attended the same college. Willie and his brothers Jase and Jep, may tell the occasional fart joke and prefer play to work, but they are all smart, articulate and equally deft with a well-placed one-liner as a deadpan pause.
Likewise the sins associated, often with alarming fondness, with hillbilly culture — drinking, sloth, prejudice and a propensity for violence (see, please "Hatfields & McCoys") — are utterly absent here. The Robertsons are prayerful Christians, and any divisive issues that might arise from that simply don't.
PHOTOS: Hollywood Backlot moments
Beyond Phil's continual celebration of women who know how to cook and carry the Bible, "Duck Dynasty" is resolutely nonpolitical. We have no idea how the Robertsons feel about gay marriage or civil rights or the current presidential administration. Their heated opinions are reserved for pesky neighbors who challenge them to lawn-mower races.
"Duck Dynasty" has cast itself, smartly and now successfully, as a classic mischief-maker tale. The Robertson males are modern-day Tom Sawyers and Huck Finns messing around with snakes and fireworks, endlessly launching adventures, while their wives provide a Greek chorus of slim blonds, lovingly shaking their heads.
Unlike many situational reality shows, "Duck Dynasty" does not rely on acrimony or shock. Animals may be harmed, on screen and off — pop singer Morrissey refused to be on the same show with the Robertsons, calling them animal serial killers — but people are not. To ensure that the message is clear, Willie provides a John-Boy-like voice-over at the end of each show reminding viewers that the only thing that matters is family.
PHOTOS: Celebrities by The Times
The miracle of the show, and the family, is that they are at once quite sincere about who they are and very much in on their own joke. With their looks, they court assumptions that are valid and then again not — the telltale bulge of Skoal is real, but so is the ability to oversee a successful business or a Martha Stewart- goes-woodsy wedding. The contrivances of "nonfiction" television — Let's race lawn mowers! Let's give Miss Kay and Phil the wedding they never had! — are inevitably balanced by moments of surprising honesty.
While renewing her vows in this season's premiere, Miss Kay said she had loved her husband for years, including those in which "you weren't very nice." The pain in her voice — loving and forgiven pain, but pain nonetheless — told a truth about loving someone long that is rare on television.
Too often these days, we are told we must choose between the simple truths and sophistication. "Duck Dynasty" proves you can have both.


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