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International Journal of Systems Science, Volume 36
Volume 36, Number 1, 2005
Peter J. Fleming, Visakan Kadirkamanathan:
IJSS Editorial.
Hiroaki Mukaidani:
Recursive approach of optimal Kalman filtering problem for multiparameter singularly perturbed systems. 1-11
X. Huang, Biao Huang:
Fixed-order Controller Design for Linear Time-invariant Descriptor Systems: a Bmi Approach. 13-18
Jianping Gao, Biao Huang:
Delay-dependent robust guaranteed cost control of an uncertain linear system with state and input delay. 19-26
Hongye Su, Xiaofu Ji, Jian Chu:
New results of robust quadratically stabilizing control for uncertain linear time-delay systems. 27-37
V. V. Petinis, Christos D. Tarantilis, Chris T. Kiranoudis:
Warehouse sizing and inventory scheduling for multiple stock-keeping products. 39-47
Guy Jumarie:
Optimal taxation in national economies. Net income entropy, weighted incomes-inequalities and fuzzy saving propensities. 49-56
Volume 36, Number 2, 2005
D. Simon, F. Benattar:
Design of real-time periodic control systems through synchronization and fixed priorities. 57-76
Jih-Gau Juang, Jern-Zuin Chio:
Fuzzy modelling control for aircraft automatic landing system. 77-87
Tsung-Nan Tsai, Taho Yang, Pao-An Hou:
Neurofuzzy modelling of the reflow thermal profile for surface mount assembly. 89-101
Hsi-Mei Chen, Cheng-Hung Huang:
An inverse European option problem in estimating the time-dependent volatility function with statistical analysis. 103-111
Volume 36, Number 3, 2005
Shu-Li Sun, Zi-Li Deng:
Distributed optimal fusion steady-state Kalman filter for systems with coloured measurement noises. 113-118
Ruey-Jing Lian, Bai-Fu Lin, Wun-Tong Sie:
Self-organizing fuzzy control of active suspension systems. 119-135
Stephen A. Billings, Hua-Liang Wei:
The Wavelet-narmax Representation: a Hybrid Model Structure Combining Polynomial Models with Multiresolution Wavelet Decompositions. 137-152
G.-Y. Tang, H.-H. Wang:
Successive approximation approach of optimal control for nonlinear discrete-time systems. 153-161
Jonathan R. Webber, Yash P. Gupta:
Design of a discrete robust controller using a first-order model approximation. 163-169
Volume 36, Number 4, 2005
H. M. Sun:
A new variable structure multiple-model algorithm for manoeuvring target tracking. 171-189
Xinhua Wang, Z. Chen, Z. Yuan:
Centre-manifold-based sliding mode output tracking for non-minimum nonlinear systems. 191-199
W.-J. Chang, C.-C. Shing:
Discrete fuzzy covariance control for specified decay rate. 201-208
G. J. Wang, Y. L. Zhang:
A shock model with two-type failures and optimal replacement policy. 209-214
Y. Zhang, F. Wang, Tim Hesketh, David J. Clements, Ray Eaton:
Fault accommodation for nonlinear systems using fuzzy adaptive sliding control. 215-220
Xiaoe Ruan, Z. Zenn Bien, Kwang-Hyun Park:
Iterative learning controllers for discrete-time large-scale systems to track trajectories with distinct magnitudes. 221-233
M.-S. Lee, J.-T. Lim:
Optimal supervisory control under partial observation. 235-242
Volume 36, Number 5, 2005
E. Ertugrul Karsak, C. Okan Özogul:
Valuation of expansion flexibility in flexible manufacturing system investments using sequential exchange options. 243-253
Daniel Merkle, Martin Middendorf:
On solving permutation scheduling problems with ant colony optimization. 255-266
Lirong Cui, Min Xie:
On a generalized k-out-of-n system and its reliability. 267-274
Zhi-Hong Guan, Wu-Hua Chen, Jianxin Xu:
Delay-dependent stability and stabilizability of uncertain jump bilinear stochastic systems with mode-dependent time-delays. 275-285
Y. K. Foo:
Discrete-time Hinfinity filtering with initial condition. 287-295
Rajeev Gupta, Bijnan Bandyopadhyay, A. M. Kulkarni:
Robust decentralized fast-output sampling technique based power system stabilizer for a multi-machine power system. 297-314
Volume 36, Number 6, 2005
Hui Peng, Yoshiyasu Tamura, W. Gui, Tohru Ozaki:
Modelling and asset allocation for financial markets based on a stochastic volatility microstructure model. 315-327
Rómulo I. Zequeira, Alfonso Durán, Gil Gutiérrez:
A mixed inventory model with variable lead time and random back-order rate. 329-339
Youngmo Han:
A robust algorithm for model-following control of under-actuated systems, and its application to a non-holonomic robot and an aircraft. 341-356
Ho-Lim Choi, Jong-Tae Lim:
Gain scheduling control of nonlinear singularly perturbed time-varying systems with derivative information. 357-364
Yen-Fang Li, Chee-Fai Yung, Hsin Jung:
On the design of a reduced-order Hinfinity controller for nonlinear sampled-data systems. 365-373
Yoshihiro Tanaka:
On the existence of duality gaps for mixed integer programming. 375-379
Volume 36, Number 7, 2005
Bharatendra Rai, Nanua Singh:
Forecasting warranty performance in the presence of the 'maturing data' phenomenon. 381-394
Zhijian Ji, Long Wang, Guangming Xie:
Quadratic stabilization of switched systems. 395-404
James F. Whidborne, Da-Wei Gu, Jun Wu, Sheng Chen:
Optimal controller and filter realizations using finite-precision, floating-point arithmetic. 405-413
B. Mukhopadhyay, Rakhi Bhattacharyya:
Influence of self- and cross-diffusion on wave train solutions of reaction-diffusion systems. 415-422
Jhy-Ping Jhang:
The optimal used period of repairable product with leadtime after the warranty expiry. 423-431
Elbrous M. Jafarov:
Robust sliding mode controllers design techniques for stabilization of multivariable time-delay systems with parameter perturbations and external disturbances. 433-444
Volume 36, Number 8, 2005
Qing Wang, James Lam, Shengyuan Xu, Huijun Gao:
Delay-dependent and delay-independent energy-to-peak model approximation for systems with time-varying delay. 445-460
X. Zhang, Z. Cheng:
Global stabilization of a class of time-delay nonlinear systems. 461-468
Qing-Long Han:
A new delay-dependent stability criterion for linear neutral systems with norm-bounded uncertainties in all system matrices. 469-475
Lalo Magni, Riccardo Scattolini:
On the Solution of the Tracking Problem for Non-linear Systems with Mpc. 477-484
J.-S. Chiou, C.-J. Wang:
An Infinite epsilon-bound Stability Criterion for a Class of Multiparameter Singularly Perturbed Time-delay Systems. 485-490
S. A. Billings, S. S. Mei:
A new fast cellular automata orthogonal least-squares identification method. 491-499
Carl Chiarella, Ferenc Szidarovszky:
On the stability of price-adjusting oligopolies with incomplete information. 501-507
Volume 36, Number 9, 2005
Chandra Kambhampati, S. Rajasekharan:
Robots and sensors for landmine detection. 509
A. A. Faust, R. H. Chesney, Yogadhish Das, John E. McFee, K. L. Russell:
Canadian teleoperated landmine detection systems. Part I: The improved landmine detection project. 511-528
A. A. Faust, R. H. Chesney, Yogadhish Das, John E. McFee, K. L. Russell:
Canadian Teleoperated Landmine Detection Systems. Part Ii: Antipersonnel Landmine Detection. 529-543
Pablo González de Santos, Elena Garcia, Joaquin Estremera, Manuel A. Armada:
Dylema: Using Walking Robots for Landmine Detection and Location. 545-558
Smriti Kansal, Gerald Cook, Charles Amazeen, Kelly Sherbondy:
Modelling uneven terrain for geo-location of mines detected via vehicular mounted sensors. 559-571
Remke L. Van Dam, Brian Borchers, Jan M. H. Hendrickx:
Strength of landmine signatures under different soil conditions: implications for sensor fusion. 573-588
Marco Balsi, Massimo Corcione:
Thermal detection of buried landmines by local heating. 589-604
Volume 36, Number 10, 2005
João Yoshiyuki Ishihara, Marco H. Terra, José C. T. Campos:
Optimal recursive estimation for discrete-time descriptor systems. 605-615
Seiichi Nakamori, Raquel Caballero-Águila, Aurora Hermoso-Carazo, Josefa Linares-Pérez:
New recursive estimators from correlated interrupted observations using covariance information. 617-629
Y.-H. Chien:
Determining optimal warranty periods from the seller's perspective and optimal out-of-warranty replacement age from the buyer's perspective. 631-637
Ton J. J. van den Boom, Miguel Ayala Botto, Peter Hoekstra:
Design of an analytic constrained predictive controller using neural networks. 639-650
Vincent Chanron, Tarunraj Singh, Kemper Lewis:
Equilibrium stability in decentralized design systems. 651-662
Chong Lin, Qing-Guo Wang, Tong Heng Lee:
Existence of Solutions to Mimo Relay Feedback Systems. 663-668
Volume 36, Number 11, 2005
Guest Editorial. 669 Chong Hyung Lee, Seung Min Lee, Dong Ho Park:
Evaluation of software availability for the imperfect software debugging model. 671-678
Zhengfang Chen, Timothy Chang:
Analysis and design of reliable control systems for urban traffic networks. 679-688
Wenbiao Zhao, Elsayed A. Elsayed:
Modelling accelerated life testing based on mean residual life. 689-696
Jhy-Ping Jhang:
A study of the optimal use period and number of minimal repairs of a repairable product after the warranty expires. 697-704
Taghi M. Khoshgoftaar, Kehan Gao, Robert M. Szabo:
Comparing software fault predictions of pure and zero-inflated Poisson regression models. 705-715
Jae-Hak Lim, Dae-Kyung Kim, Dong Ho Park:
Cost evaluation for an imperfect-repair model with random repair time. 717-726
Volume 36, Number 12, 2005
W. Chotkowski, Mietek A. Brdys, K. Konarczak:
Dissolved oxygen control for activated sludge processes. 727-736
N. Zong, Xia Hong:
Nonlinear channel equalizer design using directional evolutionary multi-objective optimization. 737-755
Jen-Shiang Chen, Jason Chao-Hsien Pan:
Minimising mean tardiness with alternative operations in two-machine flow-shop scheduling. 757-766
Wen-Hsien Ho, Jyh-Horng Chou:
Solutions of Time-varying Ts-fuzzy-model-based Dynamic Equations Using a Shifted Chebyshev Series Approach. 767-776
Larbi Afifi, Abdelhaq El Jai, M. Merry:
Detection and spy sensors in discrete distributed systems. 777-789
Volume 36, Number 13, 2005
Tang Hao, Hongsheng Xi, Baoqun Yin:
The optimal robust control policy for uncertain semi-Markov control processes. 791-800
Yung-Fu Huang:
Buyer's optimal ordering policy and payment policy under supplier credit. 801-807
J. T. Sun:
Impulsive control of Lur'e systems. 809-813
W. L. Pearn, W. C. Chiu:
Approximate solutions for the maximum benefit chinese postman problem. 815-822
Yu-Hung Chien:
Generalized spare ordering policies with allowable inventory time. 823-832
Ivan Nunes da Silva, Wagner Caradori do Amaral, Lúcia Valéria Ramos de Arruda:
Design and analysis of an efficient neural network model for solving nonlinear optimization problems. 833-843
C.-L. Chen, S.-H. Hsu, C.-T. Hsieh, T.-C. Wang:
A simple method for identification of singleton fuzzy models. 845-854
Volume 36, Number 14, 2005
Vladimir Simov Jotsov, Mincho Bankov Hadjiski, Vassil Stoyanov Sgurev:
Methodologies and applications in contemporary intelligent systems. 855-857
Krassimir T. Atanassov, Gabriella Pasi, Ronald R. Yager:
Intuitionistic fuzzy interpretations of multi-criteria multi-person and multi-measurement tool decision making. 859-868
Chiang Kao, Pei-Huang Lin:
Entropy for fuzzy regression analysis. 869-876
Rod Adams, Neil Davey, Paul Kaye, Wanida Pensuwon:
Gene sequence data sets analysed using a hierarchical neural clusterer. 877-885
Emilia I. Barakova, Tino Lourens:
Efficient episode encoding for spatial navigation. 887-895
Veselka Boeva, Bernard De Baets, Elena Tsiporkova:
Ranking of admissible alternatives in interval decision making. 897-907
Max Bramer:
Inducer: a public domain workbench for data mining. 909-919
Dimitar Vassilev Lakov, Mariana Vassileva:
Decision making soft computing agents. 921-930
Samarasena Buchala, Neil Davey, Tim M. Gale, Ray J. Frank:
Analysis of linear and nonlinear dimensionality reduction methods for gender classification of face images. 931-942
Volume 36, Number 15, 2005
T. Todo, Takehiro Mori, Yasuaki Kuroe:
Stability Estimation of Pfm-type Pulsed Neural Networks. 943-950
Dingwei Wang, W. H. Ip:
Ant search based control optimisation strategy for a class of chaotic system. 951-959
Lubomír Grman, Danica Rosinová, Vojtech Veselý, Alena Kozáková:
Robust stability conditions for polytopic systems. 961-973
Adnan Al-Smadi:
The Estimation of the Order of an Arma Process Using Third-order Statistics. 975-982
Jian-Xin Xu, Ya-Jun Pan, Tong Heng Lee, Leonid M. Fridman:
On nonlinear Hinfinity sliding mode control for a class of nonlinear cascade systems. 983-992
Y.-C. Lin, J.-C. Lo:
Robust mixed H2/Hinfinity filtering for discrete-time delay fuzzy systems. 993-1006


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George Michael Steinbrenner III (July 4, 1930 – July 13, 2010) was the principal owner and managing partner of Major League Baseball's New York Yankees. During Steinbrenner's 37-year ownership from 1973 to his death in July 2010, the longest in club history, the Yankees earned 7 World Series titles and 11 pennants. His outspokenness and role in driving up player salaries made him one of the sport's most controversial figures. Steinbrenner was also involved in the Great Lakes shipping industry.
Known as a hands-on baseball executive, he earned the nickname "The Boss." He had a tendency to meddle in daily on-field decisions, and to hire and fire (and sometimes re-hire) managers. Former Yankees manager Dallas Green gave him the derisive nickname "Manager George."
He died after suffering a heart attack in his Tampa home on the morning of July 13, 2010, the day of the 81st All-Star Game.

subset: commoncrawl


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You're screwed
Power of prosecutors grows as defense resources wither
Your insurance policy got canceled last month. Didn't receive your notice in the mail? Me neither. I just happened to stumble across it recently while doing some research.
The good news is, you'll probably never, ever need this insurance. The bad news is that it's kinda like an earthquake rider — a safety net you won't appreciate unless and until something unforeseen, unthinkable, and cataclysmic happens. If you do need it and you don't have it, you are, frankly, screwed.
It's called the Rural Public Defense Services Fund and you porbably haven't heard of it unless you've had the singular experience of tinkling in a stainless-steel jail potty. The fund — back when it had money in it — could provide assistance to anyone accused of a crime outside Cook County.
You think such a thing couldn't happen to you? Or your kid? Your nephew? Your friend? Well, here's something to think about next time you have a spat with the spouse:
Guy and his gal get into a shouting match. Their neighbors call the cops. Guy leaves. A few nights later, the gal turns up dead, her corpse burned to a crisp inside their trailer home. When the cops discover that the woman's skull has been fractured, they conclude that she's been beaten, and the ex-boyfriend — a blue-collar laborer with a low IQ — becomes their No. 1 suspect. They charge him with murder.
He lucks out when his court-appointed attorney hires a forensics expert to review the evidence. Turns out, the gal hadn't been beaten at all. She died of smoke inhalation, and (skip this part if you're eating breakfast) the bones of her skull simply separated along the natural suture lines in the intense heat of the trailer fire. The only crime committed was stupidity: Either the gal or perhaps someone she met at a bar that night had fallen asleep smoking a cigarette.
I'm not making this stuff up. The gruesome tale above happened in a tiny Illinois town called Wolf Lake in July 2003.
God forbid it should ever happen to you, because now there would be no bucks for the expert, unless the crime ranks high enough on the meter o' evil to warrant the death penalty. Then you could tap into the Capital Litigation Trust Fund, which would guarantee you a pair of qualified lawyers happy to work for $140 an hour, plus money for investigators and experts, their travel expenses, and other incidentals.
However, if the prosecutor decides, "Eh, what the heck — let's just ask for a really long prison sentence," then you suddenly become David up against a gazillion Goliaths. You may be facing the local state's attorney, or he may call in extra lawyers from the attorney general's office or the Office of the State's Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor. They have investigators and experts already on the payroll — all manner of law-enforcement officers, crime-lab employees, and medical examiners.
You, on the other hand, would have a public defender — and that's it.
Brian Otwell, chief public defender here in Sangamon County, says that his annual budget for investigators and experts is a measly $25,000.
"It is never enough, obviously. The routine fitness examinations for people with mental-health histories and psychiatric issues normally sucks that up," Otwell says.
Should he need extra legal brainpower, the Office of the State Appellate Defender can't help. Unlike the SAAP's menagerie of "special prosecutors," OSAD has no parallel complement of attorneys. I mean, think about it: Have you ever heard of a "special defender"?
Maybe you think this disparity is common. It's not. Just ask Ed Parkinson, the special prosecutor who recently retried Julie Rea Harper. He tells me he doesn't know of another state with "special prosecutors." In the other 49 states, prosecutors who need help rely on the attorney general's office. "They do same thing with much bigger staff," Parkinson says.
Ron Safer, one of Harper's attorneys and a former chief federal prosecutor himself, suggests that SAAPs, who are not elected officials, simply have too much power. "From my perspective, the reforms to the system should be aimed at ensuring that the prosecutors are accountable. Elected prosecutors are accountable," Safer says. "The SAAPs are responsible to no one, best I can tell."
The power of the SAAP office has mushroomed over the years, from a small commission handling drug forfeitures and tax objections into a phalanx of prosecutors governed only by a board of county prosecutors (Sangamon County's John Schmidt is secretary of the board).
The resources available to defendants, meanwhile, have shrunk. The RPDS grant, previously financed by the state's Criminal Justice Information Authority, was a paltry $250,000 per year. The only expenses eligible were investigators and experts — not lawyers. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing. It gave public defenders a way to help their most worthy clients — people, perhaps, just like me and you.
Contact Dusty Rhodes at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Archive for February, 2011
Awesome Sauce
Posted by dan in Totally Random but Decidedly Awesome on February 4, 2011
SO, I've received a few comments about how planetdan has been puttering out, and it's obviously a little true. Mostly, I've kinda started to question the purpose of planetdan. Not in an existential way, but more in a practical/content-driven way. I like to communicate and tell stories, and I like to make new friends online through my blog, but as the internet has evolved over the last nine years, I feel like I've kinda lost focus.
Planetdan was started as a way to keep in touch with my family and friends and to share fun stuff I found online. Then I started to create some original content and eventually I made some new friends, and in the meantime planetdan became a big disorganized hodge-podge of anything and everything.
But the internet has millions of blogs by billions of people and I don't feel it's necessary to post random stuff anymore. There are plenty of blogs out there that do that better and more often than I ever could. Plus, my own personal life hasn't been very exciting lately, so I couldn't mine that for new material either. I wanted to think of more original content to post but it was tough without a focus to reign in any ideas.
Retiring planetdan was never an option, but I decided I wanted to go a new route: evolve and diversify. And so while some of you think I've been blogging less, I've actually been blogging more than ever over at a new site with a new focus and an actual declared purpose: OSMsauce.com
It's a simple concept. I was tired of pessimistic malcontents complaining about how humanity is doomed and how everything sucks when there are clearly a million awesome things out there that can make you stupidly happy if you just take the time to view them from all angles. So I decided I would think of one awesome person, place, thing, or concept every day and write an essay about why I think everyone should appreciate it. Sometimes I purposefully choose things that are decidedly not awesome just to act as the devil's advocate. This means that the perspective can get a tad snarky or skewed, but basically, you can put a positive spin on anything if you just look at it right. People can even submit ideas for what they think should be featured as awesome or under-appreciated or decidedly not awesome, and maybe I will spin it for you. It's almost a challenge: is there anything that can't be spun in a positive light? Probably, but I certainly won't admit defeat so easily.
I suppose the theme of the site is: unless you are living under a bridge or breathing your last breath, then you need to quit your bitchin', because things are way more awesome than you are giving them credit for, and eventually things always get better, even if they get worse first. Plus I also get to promote bands and movies and books that I like. Cuz I'm an expert at having opinions.
I've had to scale back my ambitions a tad, though. Posting daily was far too time consuming. But I've been doing pretty good, posting at least every other day or so. And with each post, the site's purpose gets more refined.
So planetdan will revert to its original purpose, which is to inform friends, family, and random internet acquaintances about what I've been up to lately or what fiasco has transpired at the gym. But obviously it won't get updated that often because I'm just not very interesting these days.
I may also spin off another site devoted more to random original content I might feel impelled to create, like my old Senior Pics site and the like. But I don't want to think about that endeavor right now.


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Meet Daniel Doheny (Alex from Netflix's 'Alex Strangelove')
"Alex Strangelove," which premiered last week on Netflix, tells the story of Alex Truelove, a well-rounded high school senior played by Canadian actor Daniel Doheny. In the film he has a wonderful girlfriend Claire (Madeline Weinstein, "Beach Rats") and a bright future ahead of him - and with plans to achieve his last teenage milestone by losing his virginity.
Things get complicated when he meets Elliot (Antonio Marziale), a handsome and charming gay kid from the other side of town, who unwittingly sends Alex on a rollercoaster journey of sexual identity, kicking off a hilarious and moving exploration of love, sex, and friendship in our liberated and confusing modern times.
In reviewing the film on IndieWire, critic Jude Dry wrote: "Director Craig Johnson, who had a hit with 'The Skeleton Twins' in 2014, wants his movie to be cool, even though his protagonist is so clearly not. Still, Johnson hits all the expected beats of a teen coming-of-age comedy, marching to his own distinct rhythm. Landing somewhere between 'Love, Simon' and 'Superbad,' 'Alex Strangelove' is a strange delight indeed."
EDGE spoke with star, Daniel Doheny, for a conversation about the film.
Madeline Weinstein, Daniel Doheny and Antonio Marziale in a promotional photo from "Alex Strangelove."
EDGE: What made you say yes to this film?
Daniel Doheny: Being a young actor I would say yes to lots of work. I don't have to opportunity to say no yet [he laughs]. Honestly, to get to work with Craig Johnson was awesome. He really wrote an amazing script and to be a part of such a great message is a dream come true for me.
EDGE: Did you bring any of your own high school experiences into your characters?
Daniel Doheny: I definitely did. I have gone through a lot of confusing relationships in the past. I think it really helps when you can work from and bring your own personality and memories to your role. Believe me, I brought a lot of my old baggage to the table.
EDGE: How did you work on your on-screen chemistry with costars, Antonio Marizale and Madeline Weinstein?
Daniel Doheny: It is tough to create it, so you have to let it happen naturally. Luckily for us, we got along so well. It also helps that we supported it and helped it grow. I feel like it was there from the beginning.
Daniel Doheny and Antonio Marziale in "Alex Strangelove."
EDGE: Favorite scene of the film?
Daniel Doheny: I really like the scene when Claire (Madeline Weinstein) and I go to the hotel and try to have sex. It such a great scene and totally relatable.
EDGE: Do you remember your high school crush?
Daniel Doheny: I sure do! I was in love with a girl but never could get out of the friend zone.
EDGE: How important is it that we continue to see more teen coming out romantic comedies?
Daniel Doheny: I hope we see more films like this. I think they are great. The story really has a positive message and I hope that it really inspires others. Also, I think it is great when a film comes out that really reflects who you are as a person.
Daniel Doheny and Madeline Weinstein in "Alex Strangelove."
EDGE: What message are you hoping that the LGBTQ community and those outside of it will take away from this story?
Daniel Doheny: I think the message is going to be different for everyone. We all watch movies and get a different result. I think "Alex" is a fun and positive movie and should be celebrated. We all have different experiences and with that we will all take away something different.
EDGE: If "Heter-Os," "Gay Flakes" and "Bi-Crunchies" were real cereals which one would be your favorite?
Daniel Doheny: Definitely "Bi-Crunchies." Those sounds the best. Plus, I am more of a Rice Krispies kind of guy.
EDGE: Your thoughts on "Alex Strangelove" being compared to "Love, Simon?"
Daniel Doheny: That was a given. Both films were being made at the same time. We are the rock and roll version of "Love, Simon." Since we are being released on Netflix, we didn't have to really follow a ratings system. We definitely have more swearing and sex in our film.
"Alex Strangelove" is streaming on Netflix.


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The more we hear about the enormous cost overruns projected for the Veterans Affairs hospital being built in Aurora, the more incredulous we are that it could get this far.
Though a contract appeals board ultimately will decide whether to accept the version of events presented by the VA or its contractor, there are steps that could be taken now to reduce the damage.
First, the $1 billion project clearly ought to be scaled back to reduce costs. Had the design been adjusted earlier on, the savings could have been significant. There was a chance the hospital could have been built for the $604 million budgeted.
However, the skeleton of the expansive medical center has been erected, and the potential for cost-cutting is diminished. That doesn't mean the VA should abandon all effort at economy.
Second, the VA should find the money to keep the contractor, a Kiewit-Turner joint venture, from digging into its own pockets to keep the work going. By Jan. 2015, the contractor is expected to expend $96 million more than the VA will have paid in order to continue construction.
Republican Rep. Mike Coffman blames the VA for the fiasco and is pushing legislation to reform its management while placing its larger projects under the oversight of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers special project managers. It's a good idea — especially since the Government Accountability Office has identified three other VA facilities with similar cost-overrun issues — but this particular hospital needs flexibility from the VA now.
Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet informed the VA's inspector general last week of a "growing number" of complaints he'd received from companies burdened by the VA's plodding schedule for approving payments and change orders. He's asking for a thorough review of construction delays and cost overruns.
The crux of the dispute between the VA and its contractor centers on design, and whether they ever had an agreement that could be executed on the government's budget.
The VA says there was one, while the contractor contends its people sounded warning bells all along, insisting that the evolving design was too posh for the budget.
Kiewit-Turner points not only to its own warnings but the assessment of an outside engineering firm that priced the design as over budget. And yet the VA trudged on, apparently content to leave the contractor on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars.
If true, it's a tale of stunning incompetence — with veterans and taxpayers as the victims.


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Every morning, the fine folks at Sports Radio Interviews sift through the a.m. drive-time chatter to bring you the best interviews with coaches, players, and personalities across the sports landscape. Today: A specialist in the press box is apparently good enough for the NFL.
NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith joined Inside the Locker Room on ESPN 980 in Washington, D.C., to discuss the ongoing lockout of the NFL's officials, the replacements, and Smith's belief that they threaten the health and safety of the players he represents.
On the health and safety concerns the NFLPA has with the replacement officials:
"We're not looking to interfere or become involved with the negotiations between the referees and the National Football League, but what a lot of people miss - and certainly what a lot of commentators appear to miss - is the decision to pull the real referees off the field is just a unilateral one by these NFL owners. The fact that they could have left these guys on the field while they worked out their contract situation - that's an easy call if you really care about the health and safety of the players on the field."
On where the NFLPA stands right now and a potential lawsuit:
"We've asked the league to make sure that there is a sideline concussion expert at every game and - believe it or not - they're fighting us on that, too. So where we come out on this is, one, we will continue to make sure that our players are informed and vocal about their opposition to having second-rate people on the field to make sure that their health and safety is protected. And we continue to look at whether or not we've got legal claims against the National Football League for violations of the CBA or violations of their obligation to keep the workplace as safe as possible."
On the game being slower and more "choppy" with the replacement officials:
"You and I - even me as a casual fan of the game - can see first-hand just how slow, choppy, uneven this game is. Sometimes it's like looking at video under the old dial-up."
On his belief that the lockout is hypocritical:
"How can you come to a conclusion, in a new era of health and safety, to make a decision to pull the real referees off the field? And my guess is - in the direct telephone conversations between general managers and owners to the league office - my guess is that more general managers and more owners are upset about the situation than they let on. It's time for the league office to come to the conclusion that this was just a really stupid idea, and certainly inconsistent with a true obligation to health and safety."
This post, written by Brad Gagnon, appears courtesy of Sports Radio Interviews. For the complete highlights of the interview, as well as audio, click here.
More from Sports Radio Interviews
• Greg Aiello expects the replacement refs to get better.
• Ryan Zimmerman says the real celebration will come with the division title.
• Mike Trout expected the average. It's the home runs that surprise him.


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A host of celebrities have turned out to view the breathtaking gardens at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2015.
Well-known personalities including Alan Titchmarsh, Kirstie Allsopp, Bianca Jagger, Joanna Lumley, Bill Bailey and Zara Phillips braved pouring rain to visit the impressive show gardens at the annual event.
Designed by Marcus Barnett, this year's Telegraph Garden draws inspiration from his childhood memories of the countryside around his parent's house near Colchester, as well as his passion for the De Stijl movement.
Alan Titchmarsh braves the rain at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2015 (Julian Simmonds/The Telegraph)
"It surprises you," says gardening guru and Chelsea regular Alan Titchmarsh.
"It's good to see within the formality [that] all the planes are used here, vertical as well as horizontal and lateral, and it's interesting."
The Telegraph Garden in its final stages
Many visitors to Chelsea are searching for inspiration for their own gardens at home.
Property presenter Kirstie Allsopp told The Telegraph: "Every year I come I'm inspired, and I leave with a long shopping list."
Kirstie Allsopp visits the Telegraph Garden
"I hope that in ten years time it will have all gone into the grey matter and I will know where to start."
- Bloomin' marvellous: the best pictures from the 2015 Chelsea Flower Show
- Watch the building of The Telegraph's Chelsea Flower Show garden from start to finish
• Buy tickets for the Chelsea Flower Show from our partners at Viagogo


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Jason Douglas Hanson (born June 17, 1970 in Spokane, Washington) is an American football placekicker for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League.
Hanson attended Mead Senior High School in Spokane, Washington and lettered in football, soccer, track, and basketball. As a senior, he won All-Greater Spokane League honors as both a kicker and punter and was named a first team All-State honoree by the Washington Sportswriters Association.
Hanson attended Washington State University, where he set or tied many NCAA records. At WSU he was a teammate of quarterback Drew Bledsoe. Hanson's percentage of 57.1 for field goals from 50 yards or greater is both a school and Pacific-10 Conference record. He holds the record for most field goals from 50 yards or more (20), and 40 yards or more (39). His school records include most points scored (328), most games with two or more field goals (20), field goals (63), and PATs (139). He received a bachelor of science degree in Premed.


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Domain name lists
List of all registered .tr domain names.
The following list contains 180,357 registered domain names for the .tr top-level domain (TLD).
Order details
Type: List of currently registered domain names
Item: Domain names list: TLD .tr (Turkey)
Available formats: Zipped text file
Details: This list contains 180,357 domain names.
Updated on: 18 September 2019
Price: $19
|Domains - IP to Org - AS - GeoIP - Github - Twitter
|Rendered in 0.01s


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Flash is quickly emerging as the preferred way to overcome the nagging performance limitations of hard disk drives. However, because flash comes at a significant price premium, outright replacement of HDDs with flash only makes sense in situations in which capacity requirements are relatively small and performance requirements are high. Learn how deployment approaches—including hybrid storage arrays, server flash, and all-flash arrays—that combine the performance of flash with the capacity of HDDs can be cost effective for a broad range of performance requirements.
© 2019 BenefitsPro. A Summit Business Media publication. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy


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Neurolinq API
Neurotic Media provides technology-enabled marketing and distribution services for digital media including music, videos, and ringtones. Neurotic Media gives clients control over how they commercialize digital media using private-labeled stores and API services. Neurolinq is Neurotic Media's API suite. Use Neurolinq Products for file delivery, Neurolinq Awards for award redemption and POS card activation services, and Neurolinq Checkout for hosted or non-hosted checkout and payment services. Neurolinq uses the XML-RCP protocol.


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Rod Perry said he averaged between 10 and 12 hours per day at the golf course during his 54-hole debut in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am this week. He wasn't about to let a 79 in Saturday's third weather-hampered round get him down.
"It was a tough three days; I don't think that I've ever played in weather like this anywhere," said Perry, the reigning PGA Professional National Champion and 2013 PGA Professional Player of the Year. "It was a cool experience to be here. I met a lot of great people.
"Last night, my wife and I went to a really great party, sitting with Kenny G and hanging out with Darius Rucker and Huey Lewis. It doesn't get much better than that."
Perry, the PGA head professional at Crane Lakes Golf & Country Club in Port Orange, Fla., finished his Pebble Beach experience with rounds of 69, 77 and 79 for a 10-over-par 224 total. The 54-hole cut was even par, which made Perry marvel at those who could grind through near par or better in the Monterey Peninsula weather. Third-round leader Jimmy Walker finished with a 4-under-par 67 Saturday to build a six-stroke lead at 13-under par.
SECOND ROUND: Perry manages 77 in difficult weather conditions
"Jimmy played the same rotation of courses as I did and is really on a roll. With Ryder Cup points going out, he's doing well," said Perry. "That is pretty fantastic golf under the conditions. I look at what I went through this week as a learning experience. It can only help me with what I need to work on when I get home to play at this level."
Perry's Pebble Beach trip was one of five exemptions he earned for winning last summer's National Championship. His North Florida PGA Player honor also earned him a trip to the Valspar Championship, and capturing the Section Championship guaranteed him a berth in the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Perry also will compete in the Wells Fargo Championship, the John Deere Classic and the Reno-Tahoe Open, along with defending his title June 22-25 in the 47th PGA Professional National Championship at Myrtle Beach, S.C.
"I'm just looking forward to coming home to Florida weather," said Perry.


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Gettysburg Wedding Venue
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
- 2 Large Ballrooms
- Outdoor Ceremony Site
- Private Outdoor Party Pavilion
- 150+ Picturesque Acre Resort
- Overnight Lodging & Suites
- Celebration for up to 450 Guests
Celebrate your love and your new lives together at the Gettysburg Eisenhower Hotel & Resort, one of the finest Gettysburg wedding venues. Experience our fun and festive Gettysburg wedding packages, delicious culinary delights and impeccable service from our staff that will create memories to last a lifetime.
Whether your wedding plans include a large celebration of friends and family, an intimate reception or a fun and relaxed outdoor gathering; our team of professional planners will help make your dreams a successful reality.
Your Gettysburg Wedding Venue
Planning your wedding at the Eisenhower Resort is an exciting process full of opportunities to create your dream celebration. Whether you are seeking an indoor or outdoor ceremony, we have the ideal setting for you.
Personalize your celebration with special signature touches that represent you and your style. Relax, our experienced Gettysburg Wedding Consultant will assist you throughout the planning process, offering creative suggestions and a superior level of service allowing you to relax and enjoy the celebration with your loved ones.
Gettysburg Wedding Services
Regardless of the complete wedding package you select, you and your guests will enjoy a wide range of services including:
- 4-Hour Open Bar
- Cocktail Hour featuring International Cheese & Vegetable Crudites
- 4 Course Served Dinner or Dinner Buffet
- Champagne Toast
- Table Centerpieces
- Table Linens, Napkins, China, Glassware and Flatware
- Bridal Party Hospitality Room Prior to Reception
- Use of Landscaped Grounds for Bridal Party Pictures
- Complimentary Wedding Night Accommodation for Bride & Group, with Champagne
- Discounted Overnight Accommodations for Guests
- Special Discounts for Rehearsal Dinners, Bachelor Golf Outings
- Special Prices on Bridal Showers and Celebration Brunch
2019 Special Wedding Offer
The Eisenhower Resort, the finest of Gettysburg wedding venues, gladly extends a 20% discount off Wedding Package prices when your Gettysburg wedding reception is reserved on selected Fridays and Saturdays; please ask for details


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Provided by: libjifty-dbi-perl_0.78-2_all
Jifty::DBI::Filter::Truncate - Filter used to enforce max_length column trait
You do not need to use this filter explicitly. This filter is used internally to enforce the "max_length" in Jifty::DBI::Schema restrictions on columns: column name => type is 'text', max_length is 10; In this case, the filter would be automatically added to the column named "name" and any value put into the column longer than 10 characters would be truncated to 10 characters.
encode This method performs the work of performing truncation, when necessary.
Jifty::DBI is Copyright 2005-2007 Best Practical Solutions, LLC. Jifty::DBI is distributed under the same terms as Perl itself.


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Exploring NFS in UNIX
If your computer is on a LAN, the computer is probably set up to share files with other computers. Quite a few different schemes enable computers to use files on other machines. These schemes are named mostly with TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms) such as AFS, RFS, and NFS. Here, you find out about NFS (you'll never find your stuff) because that's the most commonly used scheme, even though it works, in many ways, the worst.
What's NFS?
The NFS (Network File System) program enables you to treat files on another computer in more or less the same way you treat files on your own computer.
You may want to use NFS for several reasons:
- Often you have a bunch of similar computers scattered around, all running more or less the same programs. Rather than load every program on every computer, the system administrator loads one copy of everything on one computer (the server) so that all the other computers (the clients) can share the programs.
- Centralizing the files on a server makes backup and administration easier. It's much easier to administer one disk of 4,000 megabytes than to administer 10 disks of 400 megabytes apiece. It's also easier to back up everything because everything is all in one place rather than spread around on a dozen machines.
- Another use of NFS is to make a bunch of workstations function as a shared time-sharing system. It is reasonably straightforward to set up a bunch of workstations so that you can sit down at any one of them, log in, and use the same set of files regardless of where on the network they physically reside. This capability is a great convenience. Also, by using programs such as ssh, you can log in to another machine on the network and work from that machine (which is handy if the other machine is faster than yours or has some special feature you want to use).
- In heterogeneous networks, NFS is a fancy term for networks with different kinds of computers. NFS is available for all sorts of computers, from PCs to mainframes.
Ignoring NFS
Except when NFS screws up, you don't have to worry about using it. Your system administrator did all the hard work when she installed it.
Files passed over the network act almost exactly like those on the local machine; in most cases, you can treat them the same. The primary difference is that access to files through NFS is about twice as slow as access to files on the local machine. This problem usually isn't a big one because, for most of the stuff you do, the machine doesn't spend much time waiting for the disk anyway.
Wnen you do something really big and slow (such as repaginate a 500-page document), seeing whether you can log in to the machine on which the files reside and run the program there may be worth the time.
Where are those files, anyway?
NFS works by mounting remote directories. Mounting means pretending that a directory on another disk or even on another computer is actually part of the directory system on your disk. Files that are stored in lots of different places can then appear to be nicely organized into one tree-structure directory.
Whenever UNIX sees the name of a directory — /stars/elvis, for example — it checks to see whether any names in the directory are mount points, which are directories in which one disk is logically attached to another.
Your system may have the directory /stars mounted from some other machine, for example, and then the directory elvis and all the files in it reside on the other machine.
The easiest way to tell which files are where is with the df (Disk Free space) command. It prints the amount of free space on every disk and tells you where the disks are. Here's a typical piece of df output:
Filesystem kbytes used avail capacity Mounted on
/dev/sd0a 30383 6587 20758 24% /
/dev/sd0g 157658 124254 17639 88% /usr
/dev/sd0h 364378 261795 66146 80% /home
/dev/sd3a 15671 1030 13074 7% /tmp
/dev/sd3g 1175742 758508 299660 72% /mnt
300481 190865 79567 71% /var/spool/mail
300481 190865 79567 71% /usr/lib/news
298068 243877 24384 91% /var/spool/news
In this example, the directory / resides on a local disk (a disk on your own computer) named /dev/sd0a; /usr resides on /dev/sd0g; /home resides on /dev/sd0h; and so on. The directory /var/spool/mail is really the directory /usr/spool/mail on machine server-sys, /usr/lib/news is really /usr/lib/news on machine server-sys, and so on.
Some of the local directory names are the same as the remote machine's directory names — and some aren't. This situation can and often does cause considerable confusion; unfortunately, it's usually unavoidable. A system administrator with any sense at least mounts each directory with a consistent name wherever it's mounted so that /var/documents/bigproject is the same no matter which computer you're working on.
A database known as NIS (Network Information System) makes keeping straight the naming process easier. Don't worry about it unless your system administrator messes up.
NFS and system crashes
What happens if you're working with NFS, your files are stored on a server, and the server crashes? The answer is, you wait. Eventually, when the server comes back, you continue from where you left off. If the crash is severe, you may wait a long time.
The worst practical problem is that, if a program stalls while it is waiting for a dead NFS server, you have no way to stop or kill the program, short of rebooting your UNIX computer.
Recent versions of NFS have features called soft and hard mounts that make stopping a program that has stalled while waiting for a dead server possible. The problem is that, if a server is merely slow and not dead, a client may assume that the server is dead and stop a program. Had the client been a little more patient, the server would have responded, and the program could have completed its task.


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20% off all wall art! Today only! Offer ends tonight at midnight EST.
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by Peter Piatt
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Here it is... the towel that's taking the internet by storm. Our round beach towels are 60" in diameter and made from ultra-soft plush microfiber with a 100% cotton back. Perfect for a day at the beach, a picnic, an outdoor music festival, or just general home decor. This versatile summer essential is a must-have this season!
60" Diameter Not Including Tassles
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Machine wash cold and tumble dry with low heat.
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Wow - I didn't realise it was going to be that big! It's a gift for a young member of the family - I think he'll be thrilled as he's a tractor fanatic at 6 years old. A practical gift too. The towel has a smoother upper side so it'll be more comfortable to sit on at the beach. It seems to have a thick absorbent power so no usual skinny beach towel.
The snow came swiftly from the east in the early morning leaving a blanket of snow and ice.
Hello, and thank you for visiting my portfolio. My name is Peter Piatt, (last name rhymes with quiet). I am a gallery exhibited Fine Art photographer, traditional graphite pencil & charcoal sketch artist, 3D modeler, and sculptural /architectural component designer. If you wish to know more about me, please go to my Blog titled Biography Continued, or browse through several of my artwork galleries, then return to learn more about what is behind the scenes of who and I am as an artist. There are several techniques and mediums that will suite all tastes and decors. I also have a Zazzle store SHADOWDESIGN with over a thousand products such as T-shirts and bags, that are available and are all customizable. Not everything I...
Our return policy is very simple:
If you're not happy with a purchase that you made on Pixels.com, for any reason, you can return it to us within 30 days of the order date. As soon as it arrives, we'll issue a full refund for the entire purchase price. Please note - Pixels does not reimburse the outgoing or return shipping charges unless the return is due to a defect in quality.
Pixels sells thousands of pieces of artwork each month - all with a 100% money-back guarantee. We take great pride in the fact that hundreds of thousands of artists have chosen Pixels to fulfill their orders, and we look forward to helping you select your next piece!
All round beach towels ship from our production facility within 2 - 3 business days of your order.


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A new movie is in the works starring Jennifer Lawrence as Zelda Fitzgerald, the novelist, painter, socialite and wife of author F. Scott Fitzgerald. Fellow Oscar winner Ron Howard has signed on to direct, according to the Hollywood Reporter, which adds that producers and financing is coming together.
Could Asheville factor into plans for research or locations? It would make sense on several fronts.
Zelda Fitzgerald spent a lot of time in Asheville. Over the course of 12 years, she was a regular patient at Highland Hospital in Asheville, in what we know today at the Montford neighborhood. Highland was known as home to a renown psychiatrist, who treated patients from around the country for mental and nervous disorders and addictions. F. Scott Fitzgerald was also familiar with Asheville – he spent two summers at Grove Park Inn battling his own demons.
Tragically, Fitzgerald and eight other women died in a fire at Highland Hospital in March 1948. Buildings that were part of Highland Hospital still stand today. (In 2015, the site on Zillicoa Street sold for $1.25 million and is now home to center for young men battling substance abuse.)
Lawrence is also familiar with Asheville, having spent a good amount of time around Western North Carolina when she was filming the first Hunger Games movie back in 2011.
Earlier this year, Asheville celebrated Zelda Fitzgerald in fine fashion, with the help of fan Jim MacKenzie, who wanted to honor her creative spirit, often lost in discussions of she and her husband. Zelda was a dancer, accomplished painter and author of a novel, Save Me the Last Waltz. Asheville City Council proclaimed a March day "Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald Day." The day included readings, music, an art auction and more.
Image link for Jennifer Lawrence.
- Hot Sheet: Original Papa Nick's now open at French Broad River BrewingOctober 19, 2019Also, a new baker's collaborative in Asheville is planning its first pop-up even on Wednesday at Fleetwood's in West Asheville, and more.No Comments
- Asheville development roundup: New Haywood Street condos planned, moreOctober 18, 2019Also, plans for the major redevelopment of the Sears property at the Asheville Mall have once again been continued, and more.No Comments
- The Nude Party kicks off concerts at amphitheater in Asheville's Montford neighborhoodOctober 17, 2019Kitty Tsunami and Self-Help will join The Nude Party on stage for the Wednesday evening show.No Comments
- New mixed-use project, the Bier Haus, planned for downtown AshevilleOctober 12, 2019The Bier Haus project calls for the renovation of the building at 34 S. Lexington Ave., which is adjacent to Button & Co. bagel shop.No Comments
- Ashvegas Hot Sheet: The Asheville hangover nanny, and moreOctober 8, 2019Also, Down Dog Bar & Yoga Studio is a new business in the works that would combine a yoga studio with a dog bar, and much more.No Comments
- Ashvegas Hot Sheet: Popeyes open on Airport Road in South AshevilleOctober 6, 2019Also, Chef Steven Goff of AUX Bar in Asheville was recently named the North Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association's "chef of the year" following a cook-off competition.No Comments
- Chow Chow food festival in Asheville, reviewedOctober 5, 2019Chow Chow crowned a new culinary star on the Asheville food scene: Benne on Eagle restaurant.No Comments
- CURVE Studios to celebrate 30th anniversary in Asheville River Arts DistrictOctober 3, 2019There will also be a dedication of a special "chair arch" in the CURVE Studios garden to help mark the occasion.No Comments
- Sovereign Remedies' recipe for success: host a James Beard House dinnerOctober 2, 2019How an Asheville restaurant crew went to New York City to serve up a prestigious dinner at the James Beard House.No Comments
- Asheville musicians mourn death of Grateful Dead lyricist Robert HunterOctober 1, 2019"Robert Hunter's lucid visions painted a landscape across my most formative years," says Josh Blake.No Comments
- It's wheels up on major Asheville Regional Airport expansionSeptember 30, 2019Airport officials recently agreed to contract with the architectural and engineering firm Gresham Smith for the design and engineering of a multi-million dollar airport terminal renovation and expansion project.No Comments
- New downtown Asheville police district coming online soonSeptember 17, 2019The downtown police district proposal faced criticism when it was first proposed about two years ago.No Comments
- List: Asheville benefits for Hurricane Dorian relief in the BahamasSeptember 17, 2019Packs Tavern will host a "dining day out" to benefit the Bahamas Red Cross Society on Wednesday (Sept. 18).No Comments
- Marcus King's musical journey homeSeptember 17, 2019Marcus King will host his third annual Family Reunion show at Pisgah Brewing on Sept. 27-28. Scheduled performers include The Marcus King Band, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, Yonder Mountain String Band and much more.No Comments
- Asheville police chief set to resign after two months on the jobSeptember 11, 2019The city of Asheville plans to contract with Robert C. White, a retired former police chief, to serve in the interim.No Comments
- Asheville Oktoberfest set for Oct. 5 at Pack Square ParkSeptember 10, 2019Tickets are on sale now for Asheville Oktoberfest.No Comments
- Asheville craft beer attorney Derek Allen to open own firmSeptember 10, 2019The new firm, Allen, Stahl & Kilbourne, is set to be up and running full bore in October.1 Comment
- Asheville branding company GIGANTIC! to join forces with Allegra, Image360September 7, 2019The new, expanded shop will be located at 2 Westgate Parkway (previously Autostar in Westgate plaza).No Comments
- Asheville P&Z votes down proposed riverfront restaurantSeptember 5, 2019The Jettie Rae's Fish n' Such restaurant proposal heads to Asheville City Council next for a final decision.No Comments
- Asheville short-term rental skirmishes continueSeptember 4, 2019Also, the Asheville Homestay Network is getting better organized.No Comments
- Duke Energy tests turbines as new Asheville gas plant nears completionSeptember 2, 2019The existing coal-fired units will retire no later than January 2020 after the new plant starts serving customers at the end of this year.No Comments
- One step closer to hotel development moratorium in AshevilleAugust 28, 2019Asheville City Council is scheduled to set a public hearing on a hotel development moratorium at its Sept. 10 meeting.No Comments
- WIN TICKETS to Session Fest at Zillicoah Beer Compay in WoodfinAugust 16, 2019Win tickets!4 Comments
- Proposed Asheville riverfront restaurant set to move forwardAugust 16, 2019The Asheville Planning & Zoning Commission is the next stop for Jettie Rae's Fish n' Such, proposed to built along Riverside Drive.2 Comments
- Want a say in how Asheville hotel tax is spent? Here's your chanceAugust 15, 2019There are two public meetings today (Thursday) and a third Friday, as well as an online survey.No Comments
- Ashvegas Hot Sheet: Grayson Morris produces new immersive performance art installationAugust 14, 2019Also, Pansy Fest music festival and Another Carolina Anarchist Bookfair will be held on the same August weekend, and more.No Comments
- Asheville City Council to consider spending $290,000 on 'pit of despair' consultantAugust 12, 2019The finance committee of Asheville City Council decided last year not to spend $340,000 on a consultant.3 Comments
- The future of Asheville's daily newspaper in flux with proposed mergerAugust 11, 2019GateHouse Media, which owns more than 150 newspapers in the U.S. and is backed by an investment company, plans to buy Gannett Co., the second largest newspaper company in the U.S.1 Comment
- New downtown Asheville hotel and condo development passes P&ZAugust 8, 2019The Asheville Planning & Zoning Commission approved a slightly revised plan that calls for a 138-room hotel, 37 condos and about 1,100 square feet of commercial space.1 Comment
- 6 more Asheville development projects to trackAugust 7, 2019Also, an update on planned Thomas Wolfe Auditorium renovations, and more.No Comments


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Heart Photo (Collage)
Share love on Valentine's Day or any day with an animated collage that's all heart. Choose music, layout, colors and washi tape embellishment. Email, post to Facebook or print.
Great for: love, romance, Valentine's Day, printing 8x10
What is Smilebox?
At Smilebox we believe that how you share your photos should be as memorable as the photos themselves. So we've designed a new way to bring your photos and videos to life.
Our simple application lets you quickly and easily create slideshows, invitations, greetings, collages, scrapbooks and photo albums right on your computer. With more than 1000 customizable templates to choose from, you'll find inspiration around every corner.
Whether you want to drop a photo into an everyday greeting, put together a slideshow for your sports team, or create a special holiday keepsake book, the result is professional and one-of-a-kind.
And Smilebox gives you more ways to share: Facebook, email, blog, printing at home or to a store, and burning to DVD. Smilebox makes sharing photos with your family and friends easy, unique and memorable.


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How To Open an Existing Microsoft Works Document
After you create a Microsoft Works document and save it, you can open the file to add to or edit its contents, or to print it. With the Microsoft Works word processor, you can create anything from simple letters to posters or brochures. You can even print envelopes or labels, so you can send those holiday newsletters or fund-raising letters for the local food bank on their way.
To create these wonderful documents, you may have to work on them in more than one session. If so, you'll need to save your document at some point and open it later on when you are ready to work on it again.
The word processor is just one of the programs included in MS Works; you can follow these same steps to open any of the files you create with it (and not just word processing documents).
1To open a file after you save it, with the Works word processor open, choose File→Open.
The Open dialog box appears.
2Locate the file on your laptop, storage device, or disc by opening the Look In list and clicking the drive or folder where your file is located.
Files stored in the folder you selected are displayed in a list.
3Click the file you want to open, and click the Open button.
The document opens, ready for you to edit or print it.


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- home
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Government and Health Care
How should you navigate the health care marketplace?
Need health insurance? Here are some tips.
- Michigan's insurance marketplace is run by the federal government at www.healthcare.gov . The best times to visit are mornings, nights and weekends. The middle of the day is the busiest time for the website.
- Last week was the deadline for coverage by Jan. 1. Enrollment continues through March 31. Miss that deadline and pay a penalty of $95 or 1 percent of your income in year one, whichever is higher.
- Federal tax credits will help make premiums more affordable for households earning between 100 percent and 400 percent of the federal poverty line. That's about $11,500 to $46,000 for an individual, roughly $23,500 to $94,000 for a family of four.
- If your household income is less than 250 percent of the federal poverty level (about $59,000 for a family of four), you also may qualify for lower out-of-pocket costs when you buy a silver plan on the marketplace.
- Assess the provider network available. Do doctors and hospitals match what you have today? Cheaper plans typically have more limited networks.
- Having trouble picking plan? You have four options: Contact the call center at (800) 318-2596, make an appointment with an in-person assistant by visiting this website, call the insurance company directly if you know which one you want to work with, or call an insurance agent or broker.
- Low-income adults making up to 133 percent of the poverty level can qualify for Medicaid around April 1. You can sign up at the government website, go to this website, call (855) 275-6424 or visit a local Department of Human Services office. Enrollment can't begin, however, until Michigan's Medicaid expansion plan is officially approved by the Obama administration.


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Dodgers beat Tigers on Crawford's 10th-inning double
Dodgers manager Don Mattingly is going to have a difficult time keeping all five of his outfielders happy, because four of them are regulars. And the way Carl Crawford has been hitting lately, it isn't likely he'll get a day off anytime soon.
Crawford hit an RBI double in the 10th inning, lifting Los Angeles to a 3-2 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday night.
Joba Chamberlain (0-1) struck out the side in the ninth for Detroit, but walked pinch-hitter Chone Figgins to open the 10th and was replaced by Phil Coke.
Dee Gordon popped out to first baseman Victor Martinez on an attempted sacrifice bunt, but Figgins scampered home when Crawford lined a 2-0 pitch past left fielder Rajai Davis.
"I was just trying to stay short and take it the other way," Crawford said. "Once it got past the outfielder, I knew Chone was fast enough to score."
The Tigers were down to their final out in the ninth when Victor Martinez got Max Scherzer off the hook with an RBI single against Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen — who had just struck out two-time AL MVP Miguel Cabrera — to make it 2-all. Ian Kinsler started the rally with a leadoff double.
J.P. Howell (1-0) pitched a perfect 10th.
Austin Jackson homered for the Tigers in an interleague matchup between division winners from last season.
Gordon led off the first with a homer against Scherzer, and Justin Turner had a sacrifice fly in the seventh.
Scherzer allowed two runs and eight hits over seven innings and struck out eight, after throwing eight scoreless innings of four-hit ball last Wednesday in another no-decision against Kansas City at Comerica Park.
"I can only control what I can control," Scherzer said. "The win-loss thing is a fluke. All last year, I said: `I'm 21-3 because I had a good offense behind me.' But I'm sure those guys will pick it up and they'll score 10 more runs for me."
Matt Kemp, who hit his first two homers of the season in Sunday's win over the Giants, was 0 for 2 against Scherzer and is hitless in 18 career at-bats against him.
"He's a great hitter, so you've got to be aggressive right back at him," Scherzer said. "You've got to go up there with a plan, just kind of feel what kind of pitches are working in a particular at-bat and keep attacking."
The Tigers got a scare in the second when 38-year-old Torii Hunter tried to make a sliding catch of a foul ball by Tim Federowicz down the right field line and jammed his left knee as the ball landed in the seats.
"It was a tough play," Hunter said. "It's weird over there, because you have the foul line right next to the wall. But you don't want to give up on the ball because it might stay fair. So you use whatever maneuver you can come up with and try to keep the ball from bouncing on that line."
The nine-time Gold Glove winner, who homered in each of his previous three games, remained down for several minutes while a trainer looked him over and flexed the knee. Hunter gingerly went back to his position, but left the game when his teammates took the field in the fifth. The Tigers called the injury a bruise.
"The style that I play, I play rough. I try to get everything. It's just my instincts. I can't help it," Hunter said. "Unfortunately, I've got a swollen knee because of it. We iced it three times just to get the swelling down. My wrist is jammed up and my shoulder's a little sore. But it's not going to keep me out — hopefully not at all, and I'll be ready to go tomorrow."
Dan Haren pitched six innings and allowed three hits, including Jackson's homer in the second. Alex Avila followed with a single, Detroit's last hit until Ian Kinsler's double in the ninth.
The injuries kept mounting for the Dodgers, who just got Kemp off the disabled list Friday and are expecting to activate right-hander Josh Beckett to start Wednesday night.
Catcher A.J. Ellis joined Clayton Kershaw, setup man Brian Wilson and Chad Billingsley on the DL, and right fielder Yasiel Puig sat out his second game because of a swollen left thumb.
NOTES: Don Kelly replaced Hunter in right field. … Ellis had arthroscopic surgery to repair a torn meniscus, and is expected to be sidelined four to six weeks. Federowicz was recalled from Triple-A Albuquerque.


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Linkin Park's Music For Relief & Sandisk Lend a Hand to California Wild Fire Victims
Los Angeles, CA (Nov. 1 2007) - Music For Relief is reaching out to their supporters and artist partners to help victims of the sixteen California wild fires which have consumed over 420,000 acres from Santa Barbara to San Diego County. Linkin Park's initial contribution of $50,000 will be matched by SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK). Proceeds will benefit the relief efforts of Direct Relief International during the initial crisis followed by an ongoing effort by Music for Relief to rebuild and reforest the affected areas. Additional donations can be made at www.musicforrelief.org/donate.
Established in 2005 by Linkin Park in response to the Southeast Asian Tsunami, Music For Relief was founded with the goal of bringing the music community together to provide aid to victims of natural disasters and combat global warming. "The wild fires are an unfathomable tragedy." says Linkin Park's Dave "Phoenix" Farrell, "Being able to help victims of a natural disaster like the wild fires is exactly why Music for Relief was founded."
All money donated to Music For Relief for the California wild fires will help support the health needs of those affected by the fire. Direct Relief has already provided medical supplies including particulate masks, wheelchairs, eye wash, inhalers, and personal care items requested specifically by community clinics, health centers, and other health-service organizations in the region caring for evacuees, affected residents, and first responders. Cash support will be aimed at community clinics, health centers, and other health-service organizations in affected communities to ensure they are able to maintain their service levels for low-income, uninsured patients.
The concept of Music for Relief originated amongst the members of the band Linkin Park with the goal that if they would make a donation, then asked their musician peers and their fans to make a donation as well, a huge impact could be made in assisting relief efforts. Since 2005 Music For Relief has raised over 2 million dollars.
About Linkin Park
Linkin Park is Chester Bennington (vocals), Rob Bourdon (drums), Brad Delson (guitar), Joe Hahn (DJ), Dave "Phoenix" Farrell (bass), and Mike Shinoda (vocals). They have earned two Grammy Awards, the first for Best Hard Rock Performance in 2002 with their hit single "Crawling" and the second for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration with Jay-Z in 2006 for the innovative "Numb/Encore." Linkin Park has sold 40 million records worldwide since their debut in 2000. The Diamond-Certified Hybrid Theory has alone sold more than 18 million copies. In addition, Linkin Park established Music For Relief in January 2005 to help aid victims of world catastrophes and combat global warming, the organization is currently working with Habitat for Humanity and American Forests to achieve these goals. For more information on Linkin Park and Music For Relief, please log on to www.linkinpark.com or www.musicforrelief.org.
About Direct Relief International
Founded in 1948, Direct Relief International is a Santa Barbara-based nonprofit organization focused on improving the quality of life by bringing critically needed medicines and supplies to local healthcare providers worldwide. Direct Relief is one of two charities ranked by Forbes that has received a perfect fundraising efficiency score for five consecutive years. For more information, please visit www.DirectRelief.org.
About SanDisk
SanDisk is the original inventor of flash storage cards and is the world's largest supplier of flash data storage card products, using its patented, high-density flash memory and controller technology. SanDisk is headquartered in Milpitas, California, and has operations worldwide, with more than half its sales outside the U.S. Linkin Park recently made an exclusive performance at SanDisk's "Wake Up Your Phone" on Sunset Strip where it launched its high-capacity cards for mobile phones.
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Seasonal campfire restrictions commence in national parks and reserves
Fly Neighbourly Advice for the Tasman National Park
Hybrid diesel-electric shuttle buses at Cradle Mountain - a first for National p
The thylacine is one of the most fabled animals in the world. Yet, despite its fame, it is one of the least understood of Tasmania's native animals. European settlers were puzzled by it, feared it and killed it when they could. After only a century of white settlement the animal had been pushed to the brink of extinction. Full details of the demise of the thylacine can be found at our threatened species site.
The thylacine looked like a large, long dog, with stripes, a heavy stiff tail and a big head. Its scientific name, Thylacinus cynocephalus, means pouched dog with a wolfs head. Fully grown it measured about 180 cm (6 ft) from nose to tail tip, stood about 58 cm (2 ft) high at the shoulder and weighed up to 30 kg. The short, soft fur was brown except for 13 - 20 dark brown-black stripes that extended from the base of the tail to almost the shoulders. The stiff tail became thicker towards the base and appeared to merge with the body.
Thylacines were usually mute, but when anxious or excited made a series of husky, coughing barks. When hunting, they gave a distinctive terrier-like, double yap, repeated every few seconds. Unfortunately there are no recordings.
The thylacine was shy and secretive and always avoided contact with humans. Despite its common name, 'tiger' it had a quiet, nervous temperament compared to its little cousin, the Tasmanian devil. Captured animals generally gave up without a struggle, and many died suddenly, apparently from shock. When hunting, the thylacine relied on a good sense of smell, and stamina. It was said to pursue its prey relentlessly, until the prey was exhausted. The thylacine was rarely seen to move fast, but when it did it appeared awkward. It trotted stiffly, and when pursued, broke into a kind of shambling canter.
Aboriginal art depicting thylacine, Kakadu,
Northern Australia (Photo by Ina Johnson)
Breeding is believed to have occurred during winter and spring. A thylacine, like all marsupials, was tiny and hairless when born. It crawled into the mother's rear-opening pouch, and attached itself to one of four teats. Four young could be carried at a time, but the usual litter size was probably three. As the pouch-young grew, the pouch expanded, and became so big that it reached almost to the ground. Large pouch-young had fur with stripes. When old enough to leave the pouch, the young stayed in a lair such as a deep rocky cave, well-hidden nest or hollow log, whilst the mother hunted. Thylacines lived in zoos for up to 9 years, but never bred in captivity. Their life expectancy in the wild was probably 5-7 years.
The thylacine was a meat-eater. In fact, the world's largest marsupial carnivore since the extinction of Thylacoleo the marsupial 'lion'. Its diet is believed to have consisted largely of wallabies, but included various small animals and birds. Since European settlement, the thylacine also preyed upon sheep and poultry, although the extent of this was much exaggerated. Occasionally, the thylacine scavenged. In captivity, thylacines were fed on dead rabbits and wallabies, which they devoured entirely, as well as beef and mutton.
Fossils and Aboriginal rock paintings show that the thylacine once lived throughout Australia and New Guinea. The most recent thylacine remains have been dated as being about 2 200 years old. Predation and competition from the dingo may have contributed to the thylacine's disappearance from mainland Australia and New Guinea.
Bass Strait protected a relict population of thylacines in Tasmania. When Europeans arrived in 1803, thylacines were widespread in Tasmania. Their preferred habitat was a mosaic of dry eucalypt forest, wetlands and grasslands. They emerged to hunt on grassy plains and open woodlands during the evening, night and early morning.
The arrival of European settlers marked the start of a tragic period of conflict that led to the thylacine's extinction. The introduction of sheep in 1824 led to conflict between the settlers and thylacines.
In 1863, John Gould, a famous naturalist, predicted that the Tasmanian tiger was doomed to extinction:
When the comparatively small island of Tasmania becomes more densely populated, and its primitive forests are intersected with roads from the eastern to the western coast, the numbers of this singular animal will speedily diminish, extermination will have its full sway, and it will then, like the Wolf in England and Scotland, be recorded as an animal of the past...John Gould, 1863
Every effort was made, by snaring, trapping, poisoning and shooting, to fulfil his prophecy. Bounty records indicate that a sudden decline in thylacine numbers occurred early in the 20th century. Hunting and habitat destruction leading to population fragmentation, are believed to have been the main causes of extinction. The remnant population was further weakened by a distemper-like disease.
The last known thylacine died in Hobart Zoo on 7th September, 1936.
Since 1936, no conclusive evidence of a thylacine has been found. However, the incidence of reported thylacine sightings has continued. Most sightings occur at night, in the north of the State, in or near areas where suitable habitat is still available. Although the species is now considered to be 'probably extinct', these sightings provide some hope that the thylacine may still exist.
There have been hundreds of sightings since 1936, many of which may have been clear cases of mis-identification. However, in a detailed study of sightings between 1934 and 1980, Steven Smith concluded that of a total of 320 sightings, just under half could be considered good sightings. Nonetheless, all sightings have remained inconclusive.
Interestingly, just as many sightings of equally good quality are reported from mainland Australia -- perhaps a comment on the poor evidence that sightings alone represent.
There have been a number of searches for the animal. None of these searches have been successful in proving the continued existence of the animal. The results of a few of these searches are given below:
The thylacine is the only mammal to have (possibly) become extinct in Tasmania since European settlement. This is in vivid contrast to mainland Australia, which has the worst record of mammalian extinctions of any country on Earth, with nearly 50% of its native mammals becoming extinct in the past 200 years. Tasmania is unique in that our fauna is abundant, and that the State acts as a refuge - a final hope -- for many species that have recently become extinct on mainland Australia.
Despite our wishes to have a perfect record, the lack of any hard evidence of the thylacine's continued existence supports the increasingly held notion that the species is extinct. Nonetheless, the incidence of sightings introduces a reluctance among some authorities to make empahatic statements on the status of the species. Even if there did exist a few remaining individuals, it is unlikely that such a tiny population would be able to maintain a sufficient genetic diversity to allow for the viable perpetuation of the species in the long-term.
Recent attention has been given to the possibility of cloning the species. However, it is very unlikely to be achievable from a single individual preserved in alchohol. Even if cloning were possible, it should be asked whether such effort and expense is justifiable when many other species are currently threatened with extinction, and when we allow the same processes that threatenen habitats and wildlife to continue.
Perhaps the lesson to be learned from the loss of the thylacine is to ensure that the rich natural heritage of our island State is no longer jeopardised.
ABC Video (1994). Clash of The Carnivores. Natural History Unit.
Guiler, E. (1985). Thylacine: The Tragedy of The Tasmanian Tiger. Oxford Uni. Press.
Guiler, E. & Godard, P. (1998). Tasmanian Tiger: A lesson to be learnt. Abrolhos Publishing.
Park, A. (1986). A Tasmanian Tiger Extinct or Merely Elusive. Aust Geographic. Vol. 1 No 3.
Smith, S. J. (1980). The Tasmanian Tiger. NPWS, Tas.
This page produced by the Parks & Wildlife Service,
a unit of the Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment This page was last modified on Friday, 18 June 2010


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The Ardweeny BackPack - free your Ardweeny from the breadboard, and set it free to the world!
The Ardweeny has proven to be a very popular Arduinotm compatible microcontroller because of it's tight package and cost-effective performance. But without a breadboard or power supply, it's not going to see much of the world. Give it an Ardweeny BackPack, which offers:
GREEN LED VERSION(also available in red & blue): The bottom of the BackPack has 8 green (surface-mounted LEDs preinstalled to lines D0 to D7. Ideal for building a POV (persistence of vision) device, or use it as a linear bar graph. The LEDs can be isolated individually (or as a group) with a simple knife cut.
So free your Ardweeny from the breadboard, give it a backpack, and send it on its way!


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After the Cold War's end, the paths of the two former enemies should have diverged dramatically. No longer locked in a nuclear rivalry known as Mutually Assured Destruction, or MAD for short, each should have been going its own way: the United States to enjoy the fruits of victory and its status as the world's only superpower, and Russia to learn the democracy and free-market capitalism it had newly embraced.
But ever since, the two countries have followed a remarkably similar downward spiral.
America's victory in the Cold War was unprecedented. Without firing a shot, it brought about the collapse of the Soviet Union, liberating its vast empire. It got Russia to acknowledge its errors, junk its Communist creed and join the capitalist economic system. The U.S. should have seen its own economy strengthen and its prosperity increase, since the dollar-based economic system which it had created after World War II now extended into the former Eastern Bloc as well as China. Russia, too, after a period of tough reforms and adjustment in the 1990s, should have been entering a new era of economic success on the model of Poland or the Czech Republic.
Commodity Exporters
Instead, Russia chose a different path. The Soviet industrial base was never reformed or modernized, since factories and plants remained in the hands of Communist-era managers, who were more interested in stripping assets than building viable private enterprises. While it became de-industrialized, Russia also became addicted to easy petrodollars flowing in as a result of steady price increases in world markets for its oil, gas and other natural resources.
Russia has overtaken Saudi Arabia as the world's largest producer of crude, pumping 10.3 million barrels per day. Its output is at a post-Soviet high, with some 60 percent going to export. Russia has been constrained to pump crude flat out to satisfy rapidly growing domestic demand and earn petrodollars. However, unlike in Soviet times, the main source of domestic consumption is not heavy industry, but motorists. Russia is wealthier than it has ever been, but its wealth comes from oil and non-oil commodity exports.
The U.S. has a world-leading technology sector and its business management is still beyond compare: American companies continue to expand their global footprint, successfully penetrating new markets, introducing new goods and services and beating out competitors. Despite a sluggish economic recovery since 2009, the U.S. corporate sector has maintained spectacular earnings growth. The $2 trillion-plus cash pile on the balance sheet of top 500 American multinationals is a measure of their success.
But in many ways the American economy has become eviscerated. Industrial jobs have disappeared, while service sector jobs have proved fickle, disappearing the minute the financial bubble popped. The problem is that over the past two decades, the U.S., too, has become a commodity exporter. Our largest export today is Treasury paper. In the past year, China for example purchased some $300 billion of new Treasuries, raising its holdings to $1.3 trillion.
For China, U.S. Treasuries are raw materials much like oil, metals or soybeans. It uses metals and oil to make products, soybeans to feed its workers and U.S. Treasuries to beef up exports to the United States. Had China's central bank not bought U.S. government paper, the dollar would have plunged, making Chinese exports prohibitively expensive at WalMarts across the United States. Meanwhile, without China lending to the U.S., we wouldn't have had the ability to finance our budget deficit and aggregate demand in the U.S. would have shrunk by as much as 8 percent in each of the past three fiscal years.
Bureaucrats at the Trough
Commodities that come out of the ground are often considered a national asset, belonging to the entire nation. All citizens are supposedly entitled to a portion of profits from the extraction and sale of such commodities. Of course, in order to collect and distribute the rent on this national asset you need an army of bureaucrats. Commodity-producing countries tend to have a highly bureaucratized political system, where government officials and politicians invariably turn out to be the true — and only — winners. Russia has become notorious during Vladimir Putin's rule both for its populist rhetoric about controlling its own national wealth and for the blatant thievery by corrupt government officials.
Much of Russia's commodities production has been renationalized or heavily taxed. But little of the huge earnings the commodities sector provides goes to alleviate poverty, develop the economy or rebuild Russia's terrible social and industrial infrastructure. Most tend to find their way into numbered accounts offshore and choice properties in resort areas around the world.
But don't rush to criticize Russia. The U.S. is moving toward a similar economic model, except its commodity exports are not oil but Treasuries. Printing Treasury bills is even easier than pumping oil out of the ground. As in other commodity-producing nations, the money is distributed through politicians and government officials. This explains why the District of Columbia has grown so much over the past quarter of a century. Its expansion closely parallels the structural widening of the Federal budget deficit and the expansion of our national debt. American public servants are less likely to steal than their colleagues in Russia, and their enrichment involves legally acceptable, if somewhat convoluted, schemes, such as becoming lobbyists. But the end result is similar.
After the 2008 financial debacle, which hit Russia especially hard, Russian leaders declared that they would rid the economy of its dependence on oil and diversify the industrial base. But diversification was entrusted to Russian bureaucrats. Not surprisingly, Russia is entering what may become the second dip in a double-dip global economic crisis while being even more dependent on oil exports than before.
In a very similar fashion, political Washington spent weeks over the summer debating the budget deficit, national debt and the size of the government only to come up with a putative $2 trillion deficit cut over the next decade, or about the same as the projected federal deficit in fiscal 2011. After Standard & Poor's downgraded its sovereign debt rating on the U.S., prompting severe criticism from the White House, Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin also lashed out against the credit agency. He too believes that his country's credit rating is too low.
Poisoning the Well
It is an old truth that you've got to use your faculties in order not to lose them. Since making money for Russian and American bureaucrats has been such a no-brainer, they seem to be losing their ability to use their brains. They are starting to undermine demand for their countries' respective commodities.
Several times in recent years Russia has tried to use its oil and gas exports as a political weapon. It has attempted to blackmail leaders in neighboring ex-Soviet republics Ukraine and Belarus and has even brandished this economic weapon before its customers in Western Europe. The result has been predictable. While falling into line in the short term and placating the angry Russian bear, Western Europeans began exploring alternative sources of natural gas, including the North Sea, North Africa and Israel.
Russia is building several pipelines to supply Western Europe, but it may find itself with a lot of spare capacity when those multibillion dollar projects are completed.
Americans, too, are playing with fire as far as their own commodity exports are concerned. The world seems to have an insatiable appetite for Treasuries, as evidenced by historically low yields on U.S. government paper going into mid-August. This means that the U.S. remains the global safe haven. However, unlike Russia's oil — which people still need to power their cars and to produce chemical products — Treasuries have value only as long as investors don't doubt the full faith and credit of the U.S. government that backs them. Trust is something that you can lose only once.
The spectacle in Washington over the summer has chipped into the trust for the U.S. over the long term. Treasuries may one day become an unexportable commodity — but, paradoxically, it may do the country a world of good to stop being a commodity-exporting nation.


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There's a lot of tension on the Ukraine border, especially considering Russia has built up a force of somewhere in the neighborhood of 40,000 troops.
While Moscow has denied any intention to invade — they've called the military buildup a "training exercise" — there's plenty of reason to believe the exact opposite, as Michael Weiss explains in a post at Foreign Policy.
Considering the Kremlin's shameless lies during and after the invasion of Crimea, the U.S. and NATO are very worried about what could happen next — but Weiss lays out many more reasons to be suspicious of Moscow's intentions.
First, the level and activity of troops in the border region has gone well beyond "exercise" level. Weiss estimates as many as 50,000, while U.S. officials peg the number at around 40,000, but either way, that's a lot of guns pointed in Kiev's direction. To put this in perspective, the U.S. has only about 33,000 troops still in Afghanistan.
And even more telling is that the Pentagon has also not seen anything to indicate that a training exercise is even taking place.
Then there's the type of units in the area, which U.S. intelligence has found to be motorized — meaning they can move very quickly. A classified intelligence assessment also found high levels of activity from special forces, airborne, and air transport troops inside Russia, with some forces "reinforcing" the border region.
But one of the most compelling reasons is to think of the possible U.S. response if Russia does invade eastern Ukraine. As Weiss writes, "well, seriously, what are we going to do about it?"
The U.S. has hit back with economic sanctions, knocked Russia out of the G-8, and refused to recognize the Crimean annexation — and Moscow has basically responded wth a collective sigh. While NATO may be worried, they are not likely to have a military response and Putin knows it. "There's not even a bluff he has to call," writes Weiss.
While denying any intention to invade, it's also worth noting that the vitriol aimed at Kiev has reached fever pitch. Just read Moscow's readout from a Friday phone call between Obama and Putin, with the Russian leader calling the situation in Ukraine a "rampage of extremists." This is comparable to talking points used over Crimea, in which Russia said it was simply "protecting" the people there.
With all these variables in play, it's a very real possibility that troops and tanks will eventually roll across the border.
"Whether or not Putin invades mainland Ukraine," wrote former NSA counterintelligence officer John Schindler in a recent Politico article, "NATO must understand that the Kremlin has decided to begin a new Cold War by attacking the settlement of the last one."


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The morning after a freak power outage delayed the Super Bowl for 34 minutes, some commentators are ripping CBS for its coverage.
Will Leitch of Sports on Earth wrote this scathing review:
"That was the worst display of broadcasting I've seen in my entire life. CBS probably would have been better off if it had just kept the screen blank for the whole half hour. We are all stupider for having witnessed it. I spent most of the rest of the third quarter sweeping up all my dead brain cells off the floor."
Drew Magary of Deadspin wrote that the blackout showed how useless sports studio shows have become:
"Last night's blackout was a historic demonstration of vapidity. There was no information. There was no backup plan. The commercial stretches to fill time (drink Bud Goth!) were ENDLESS; it was as if CBS were terrified of letting its studio crew talk again."
The San Francisco Chronicle and the NY Daily News also criticized elements of the coverage, and Deadspin posted this embarrassing video mash-up of the blackout coverage.
The main criticisms seem to be that 1), CBS didn't give the audience information about what was going on, 2) the studio show guys were just talking out of their butts.
In our opinion, the studio crew of James Brown, Shannon Sharpe, Bill Cowher, and Dan Marino wasn't that terrible, given the circumstances. But it was clear that they were at a loss for words when Cowher awkwardly suggested that the 49ers put in Alex Smith at quarterback, and then immediately backtracked.
The circumstances were really tough for CBS. Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated reports that 51 of their 62 cameras weren't working. The studio crew also had to rush to the set so they could have something to air during the delay.
Still, some people were outraged.


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Further south in England, Blythe, Lancashire has an interesting history. It was originally held by Geoffrey Travers, whose son Henry, was called "de Blythe." Henry de Blythe's descendants "John and Robert de Blythe occur among the names of subscribers to the stipend of a chaplain at Ormskirk in 1366 and the latter also in the Poll Tax Roll of 1381. John de Blythe attested Scarisbrick charters in 1399 and 1401, and was the father of Roger, who in 1397 was charged with breaking into the parsonage house at Crossens. From him descended Roger Blythe, whose daughter and heir Margaret by her marriage with John Blakelache (or Blackledge) conveyed the estate to this family. " [2]CITATION[CLOSE]
'Townships: Scarisbrick', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 3, ed. William Farrer and J Brownbill (London, 1907), pp. 265-276. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol3/pp265-276 [accessed 21 January 2017].
Another source notes, William de Blithe was listed in the Hundredorum Rolls of 1273 in Oxfordshire and Willelmus de Blythe was listed in the Yorkshire Poll Tax Rolls of 1379. [3]CITATION[CLOSE]
Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)
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